Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / “We should be trying to build 90-win teams here.”

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“We should be trying to build 90-win teams here.” · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: They all need to be better, and I think that
0:02
Speaker 1: the standard needs to be what it was from fifteen
0:06
Speaker 1: to seventeen, even eighteen. Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory
0:17
Speaker 1: Network Cubs podcast. I'm Sadi Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney,
0:22
Speaker 1: where your Cubs beat writers for the Athletic Patrick. We
0:26
Speaker 1: recorded last right before Thursday's game.
0:31
Speaker 2: And a lot happened.
0:32
Speaker 1: That was a The council had some very pointed comments
0:38
Speaker 1: about the direction of this organization. You know, he didn't
0:43
Speaker 1: mince his words. There's a big gap this team needs
0:47
Speaker 1: to be, you know, building ninety win teams. And then
0:52
Speaker 1: the players backed him up and on Monday in Philadelphia,
0:56
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer agreed. So they're in agreement. They got to
1:00
Speaker 1: go do it. Everybody wants to win, now build a team.
1:04
Speaker 3: Right.
1:05
Speaker 2: Uh.
1:06
Speaker 4: It was somewhere Carlos Sombrano is saying, we stink, smuttering.
1:09
Speaker 3: That everyone this is this is uh, you know, I
1:16
Speaker 3: don't think this is shocking in any nobody should be
1:19
Speaker 3: shocked by it.
1:20
Speaker 1: I think it's nice for the fans to hear. I
1:23
Speaker 1: think it was good for counsel to be so blunt.
1:26
Speaker 1: I wasn't there on Thursday when when this was said, so,
1:30
Speaker 1: why don't you kind of share how it came across
1:33
Speaker 1: and and kind of like the reaction to that.
1:37
Speaker 5: Well started Thursday with like five minutes of questions about
1:42
Speaker 5: Julian Merriweather's knee surgery or something like that, Like there
1:45
Speaker 5: was a long drawn out injury.
1:47
Speaker 4: Update line of questioning and then you know counsel as
1:51
Speaker 4: you know Sid it had been very much deferential in
1:56
Speaker 4: terms of like just one kind of how he came
2:00
Speaker 4: into this job, of not being like I have all
2:02
Speaker 4: the answers or like I'm going to put my stamp
2:04
Speaker 4: on this.
2:05
Speaker 5: But also evasive when.
2:11
Speaker 4: Asked those like big picture questions like he wanted he
2:14
Speaker 4: didn't want to send a message that quote, we're done
2:17
Speaker 4: when we're not done, and the Brewers clinching the division
2:22
Speaker 4: that early and the Cubs playoff odds at that point,
2:26
Speaker 4: you know, at zero or slightly above zero, kind of
2:29
Speaker 4: gave him.
2:30
Speaker 5: An opening to.
2:33
Speaker 4: I think I'd essentially asked him about, you know, areas
2:36
Speaker 4: to improve now that you know the division race is over,
2:40
Speaker 4: and that he had this chance to awk a little
2:43
Speaker 4: more directly and frankly, and he said, there's there's a
2:47
Speaker 4: big gap, and like that's not controversial, right, I mean,
2:49
Speaker 4: it was like roughly a ten game deficit at that
2:52
Speaker 4: point the team that they're chasing. But I think one
2:57
Speaker 4: you could tell he was annoyed, not the question, but
3:01
Speaker 4: just at the he's bothered by this season, and that
3:04
Speaker 4: you could tell in the urgency to his voice.
3:07
Speaker 5: There's a little different edge to his voice.
3:10
Speaker 4: And then I think it landed differently because he's always
3:15
Speaker 4: been about win tonight's game. We got a game tonight,
3:18
Speaker 4: and we got a game tomorrow, We've got a game
3:20
Speaker 4: the day after that, and I have out getters and
3:22
Speaker 4: we got to just stack up good at bats.
3:24
Speaker 5: Like, oh, all that stuff, you know.
3:26
Speaker 4: And then for him to just, you know, in the
3:29
Speaker 4: middle of THEMB to September be like we should be
3:31
Speaker 4: trying to build ninety win teams around here, which you
3:35
Speaker 4: know the way it kind of struck me a couple
3:37
Speaker 4: of days later as I was kind of processing all this,
3:40
Speaker 4: like it was like super direct and also vague enough
3:44
Speaker 4: to just like point the finger at everyone. And I
3:46
Speaker 4: don't think he was. He wasn't saying, he wasn't putting
3:50
Speaker 4: it as us versus them. He used we over and
3:52
Speaker 4: over again. He did not use any specific names, but
3:56
Speaker 4: I think it all falls under the same umbrella of
4:00
Speaker 4: like ownership setting priorities, the business side giving the Cubs
4:07
Speaker 4: maximum resources as a big market team, and then clearly
4:11
Speaker 4: Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins their baseball operations department delivering
4:17
Speaker 4: more talent over and over again, and this just had
4:20
Speaker 4: not been good enough. The standings tell us that every
4:22
Speaker 4: single day. But I just think, you know what it's
4:24
Speaker 4: like in that Wrigley Build bubble, like day after day
4:27
Speaker 4: of like a lot of positivity or a lot of like,
4:31
Speaker 4: you know, even keel it's a long season, it's a marathon,
4:34
Speaker 4: blah blah blah, and then all of a sudden you
4:36
Speaker 4: look up and your ten games behind the team you're chasing.
4:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. I liked how some of the team leaders backed
4:45
Speaker 2: it up. Yeah.
4:46
Speaker 1: And two guys in particular, Jamison Tyne and Dansby Swanson,
4:51
Speaker 1: are guys that came from winning organizations. Tyne spent multiple
4:56
Speaker 1: seasons with the Yankees. He'll talk about his time there
4:59
Speaker 1: a lot because it made a make you know, it
5:03
Speaker 1: had an impact on the way he ba behaves, the
5:06
Speaker 1: way he looks at the game, what expectations should be
5:10
Speaker 1: for players and the team as a whole. It doesn't
5:15
Speaker 1: like a bad season there a disaster season. There is
5:19
Speaker 1: like the season the Cups are going through right now,
5:21
Speaker 1: that's a disaster, right. This is a step forward for
5:25
Speaker 1: the Cubs right now. The last two seasons are like
5:28
Speaker 1: a step forward from what they were in twenty one
5:30
Speaker 1: and twenty two. That cannot be the standard, right, So
5:35
Speaker 1: Tyne is very aware of what needs to be done.
5:39
Speaker 1: And you know what it feels like when ninety wins
5:45
Speaker 1: is the minimum, right, Like, that's what should absolutely be
5:48
Speaker 1: happening every year. You know, Dansby Swanson came from Atlanta
5:54
Speaker 1: where they've built this juggernaut and you know they're going
5:57
Speaker 1: through one of those down seasons again, they're ahead of
6:00
Speaker 1: the Cubs. He said some interesting things. I thought, you know,
6:05
Speaker 1: his brother in law is Jace Peterson, who played with
6:08
Speaker 1: the Brewers, and he talked about how they're really good
6:11
Speaker 1: at identifying very specific traits, whether it's on field, offield,
6:16
Speaker 1: whatever it is, style, the style of play, and and
6:20
Speaker 1: having that fit into the team.
6:22
Speaker 2: Now, I think that's interesting.
6:25
Speaker 1: I think, you know, are the Cubs good enough at
6:27
Speaker 1: finding those things those little edges?
6:30
Speaker 2: Right?
6:31
Speaker 1: And then It's just as simple as like spending aggressively,
6:34
Speaker 1: being aggressive, being creative. He did mention Dancy Swanson said,
6:39
Speaker 1: you know, we're a big market team where you know,
6:42
Speaker 1: we have money like you act like it, and I think,
6:47
Speaker 1: you know, they want to dominate this division. They think
6:50
Speaker 1: they should. I thought it was interesting to listen to
6:54
Speaker 1: the players speak so frankly because it wasn't like last year.
6:57
Speaker 1: It was like, you know, there was a disappoint in
7:00
Speaker 1: of not just falling short having it, you know, in
7:03
Speaker 1: your control. So it wasn't as like we gotta be better,
7:07
Speaker 1: this is unacceptable type stuff, right Like, I just didn't
7:11
Speaker 1: get that vibe. It was like, ah, we we had
7:14
Speaker 1: this and we yeah, and and this year it's this
7:19
Speaker 1: is not good enough, like we we need to be
7:21
Speaker 1: better and that and Swanson to like, I mean, all
7:25
Speaker 1: of them, to their credit, it didn't seem like they
7:27
Speaker 1: were Nobody really seemed like they were saying like this
7:29
Speaker 1: is everyone's fault of mine. You know, it wasn't one
7:32
Speaker 1: of those situations. Swanson said, I have to look inward.
7:35
Speaker 1: How can I make sure that my second half is
7:37
Speaker 1: is a full season, Like you know, I can't have
7:40
Speaker 1: down moments like I did this season though, that was
7:43
Speaker 1: you know, I appreciate hearing that council wasn't like it.
7:47
Speaker 1: You know, uh, everyone else is doing terribly. Jed was
7:51
Speaker 1: clear that it's from the top down. Uh, and he
7:54
Speaker 1: needs to be better. They all need to be better.
7:57
Speaker 1: And I think that, uh, the standard needs to be
8:04
Speaker 1: you know what it was from fifteen to seventeen, even eighteen,
8:08
Speaker 1: like eighteen, remember when eighteen was a disappointment and it
8:11
Speaker 1: was ninety five wins?
8:14
Speaker 5: Was that our offense broke that year?
8:16
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, that was the offensive broke.
8:19
Speaker 5: And I mean to do that without Darvish or Chatwill.
8:22
Speaker 4: I mean they spent you know, just a ton of
8:24
Speaker 4: money on pitching and to piece together ninety five wins
8:27
Speaker 4: and just the how furious THEO was and how I
8:32
Speaker 4: think that was the post game clubhouse where like John
8:37
Speaker 4: Lester was kinding. Sometimes you need to get you know,
8:40
Speaker 4: kicked kicked around. You know the quote I'm talking about, Yeah,
8:44
Speaker 4: for you sometimes that has to happen in order for
8:48
Speaker 4: you to to kind of grow. And I do think
8:53
Speaker 4: that was sort of my interpretation of Craigs being like,
8:57
Speaker 4: we should be shooting for ninety one teams around here
8:59
Speaker 4: of just the like, you know, not that everything has
9:04
Speaker 4: to be what would THEO do or anything like that,
9:07
Speaker 4: but just the the sense of purpose and the focus
9:12
Speaker 4: and intensity that I think the entire Cups organization had
9:17
Speaker 4: kind of heading into fifteen and sixteen when you look
9:21
Speaker 4: at the stadium renovations, you know, signing John Lester number
9:26
Speaker 4: one farm system in the game, and not just because
9:28
Speaker 4: they had like a lot of death, because they had
9:30
Speaker 4: an MVP coming, they had all stars coming, they had
9:35
Speaker 4: postseason legends coming. Like, looking up and down this organization
9:40
Speaker 4: right now, being around it every day, you do not
9:42
Speaker 4: get that sense at all. You get a sense of like,
9:45
Speaker 4: our process is well reasoned and smart, and we have
9:50
Speaker 4: a lot of flexibility, and you know, we want to
9:54
Speaker 4: be sustainable.
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10:56
Speaker 4: I guess that's probably a good place to pitot, like,
10:58
Speaker 4: what was the scene like in Philadelphia on Monday?
11:01
Speaker 5: As you know, Jed Hoyer.
11:02
Speaker 4: Certainly had a few days to process those comments, and
11:06
Speaker 4: he's always someone who is very thoughtful in his responses
11:12
Speaker 4: but also very careful in terms of how he tailors
11:16
Speaker 4: his messages.
11:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, he agreed with him.
11:20
Speaker 1: I don't know how you can disagree there. I don't
11:24
Speaker 1: know what the standings are at this very moment, but
11:26
Speaker 1: it was nine and seven entering yesterday, nine games back
11:29
Speaker 1: of the Brewers, seven games back of the wild card.
11:33
Speaker 1: You know it's around there still, right because they lost
11:36
Speaker 1: on Monday. But you know he agreed, look at the standings,
11:43
Speaker 1: this is obvious. You know we have more work to do.
11:47
Speaker 1: I think this You can listen to all of that
11:50
Speaker 1: and feel encouraged if you if you're a fan, right,
11:52
Speaker 1: But I think it's nice to have the acknowledgment. I
11:57
Speaker 1: think fans that are expecting the opposite of what we've
12:01
Speaker 1: been saying, which is, you know, like they're not you know,
12:05
Speaker 1: don't expect un Soto, don't like you know, corn Burns
12:08
Speaker 1: is even a long shot. It's it's they're they're going
12:12
Speaker 1: to be more aggressive. They're going to make more moves
12:15
Speaker 1: this winter. In my opinion, I believe. I think they
12:17
Speaker 1: know they have to. I just don't think the philosophy
12:21
Speaker 1: is going to be shifting drastically. I think this quote
12:25
Speaker 1: is important to to listen to, to hear all of us.
12:29
Speaker 2: For me, down, we have to look at what we
12:33
Speaker 2: need to.
12:33
Speaker 1: Do this offseason and going forward to get to that
12:36
Speaker 1: place consistently. It's not about doing it once. It's about
12:40
Speaker 1: getting to a place where we feel like we can
12:42
Speaker 1: do it consistently.
12:44
Speaker 2: Eh, I mean you hear that?
12:47
Speaker 1: And and I hope fans can can interpret that they're
12:52
Speaker 1: not looking for the quick fix. They're not going to
12:56
Speaker 1: They're not going to have this off season where they
12:59
Speaker 1: make a bunch of trades to like they make you know,
13:04
Speaker 1: they trade, they empty out the farm system and they
13:07
Speaker 1: spend on the biggest free agents.
13:09
Speaker 2: Now, is that like that doesn't I'm not.
13:12
Speaker 1: I don't want to make it sound like I'm setting
13:15
Speaker 1: fans up for disappointment, right Like I don't. I don't
13:18
Speaker 1: want fans to think like, ah, well, that means they're
13:20
Speaker 1: doing nothing. There is there there's there's another way to
13:24
Speaker 1: do it right, And I think even uh when Tyne
13:27
Speaker 1: was asked like he he brought up like how Aaron
13:30
Speaker 1: Judge is you know like that that helps a lot
13:32
Speaker 1: of things with New York and and someone followed up
13:36
Speaker 1: He's like, you brought up Aaron Judge. Does this team
13:38
Speaker 1: need a superstar? And he's like, He's like, superstars help.
13:41
Speaker 1: But I don't want to act like there's one way
13:43
Speaker 1: to win. He's like, look at what the Brewers are doing,
13:46
Speaker 1: and uh, And I think he's right. I think that's
13:50
Speaker 1: frustrating for fans to hear and I and I empathize
13:53
Speaker 1: with them, Like I totally get where they're coming from,
13:57
Speaker 1: because listen, Juan Soto solves a lot of problem problems,
14:00
Speaker 1: and I think you could absolutely justify whatever bad maybe
14:05
Speaker 1: on the back end of that contract. I think it
14:08
Speaker 1: you know, you reap the benefits tenfold in the first
14:11
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say, five seven years of that deal.
14:16
Speaker 1: But it like, I think you're wasting time thinking about
14:19
Speaker 1: that too much because it's it's not the reality that
14:22
Speaker 1: the Cubs are living in. So I don't think you
14:25
Speaker 1: have to have a Michael Bush showo in min Auga
14:28
Speaker 1: season off season, which it turned out to be great acquisitions, right,
14:32
Speaker 1: but at the time it was kind of felt underwhelming.
14:34
Speaker 1: I think they can have an off season that feels
14:36
Speaker 1: really strong but isn't want Soto and and the obvious
14:42
Speaker 1: and training all the prospects. So there's there's somewhere in between, right.
14:46
Speaker 1: But it's just like, this is not it's interesting that
14:48
Speaker 1: they're playing the Phillies, as he says all this stuff,
14:51
Speaker 1: because that's what the Phillies did, And in my mind,
14:53
Speaker 1: I wonder, like, is there a way to do both,
14:57
Speaker 1: and I think you're seeing that with the Dodgers, you're
15:03
Speaker 1: starting to see it with the Mets. I think the
15:05
Speaker 1: Mets are fascinating with what they've been able to do
15:09
Speaker 1: because they had that down year where they spent so
15:12
Speaker 1: much and they were able to quickly reset, and they
15:15
Speaker 1: have this executive that's lauded around the game, and you know,
15:20
Speaker 1: you could make the argument that it's Andrew Friedman, David
15:22
Speaker 1: Stearns and then all the rest, right, Like, it's impressive
15:27
Speaker 1: with how quickly and their system has turned around.
15:31
Speaker 2: Right, So you can do it. You can do it.
15:35
Speaker 2: There's a way to do it.
15:36
Speaker 1: I just don't know if if the Cubs are ever
15:39
Speaker 1: going to spend like a top five market should I
15:44
Speaker 1: am a little surprised that they're all the way.
15:47
Speaker 2: Down at like nine or ten. I'm not sure if
15:49
Speaker 2: they're going to get up to top five.
15:51
Speaker 1: And I think that's something we'll have to continue to
15:53
Speaker 1: look at Patrick, because I don't like I think that's
15:56
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that I point to. It's like, well, yeah,
15:58
Speaker 1: you can be frustrated with at Hoyer and and I
16:01
Speaker 1: get it. He has to he has to spend, he
16:03
Speaker 1: has to use the money that he has well, right,
16:08
Speaker 1: he has to you like you if there's if there's
16:10
Speaker 1: if he's been inefficient in any way, you can say like, well,
16:13
Speaker 1: why is he spending money here?
16:14
Speaker 2: Why is he why is he paying this guy? Why?
16:16
Speaker 2: Why is any uh?
16:17
Speaker 1: Why isn't he act like why are the Brewers able
16:20
Speaker 1: to do this? And and the Cubs aren't? Right, that's fair,
16:24
Speaker 1: but you also have to point higher, uh and and
16:26
Speaker 1: say like why aren't you acting like a top five market?
16:29
Speaker 2: Like why why are.
16:30
Speaker 1: You acting like like this team, you know, can be
16:34
Speaker 1: outspent by by you know, San Diego or Texas or Atlanta,
16:40
Speaker 1: Like there's no reason for that?
16:42
Speaker 2: In my opinion, there's there's just no reason. Uh.
16:45
Speaker 1: They they packed that stadium, they packed that ballpark. Uh,
16:48
Speaker 1: they make loads of money around the ballpark. There's there's
16:52
Speaker 1: no issues there. Finances shouldn't be an excuse.
16:56
Speaker 4: And even if Counsel didn't say this, just his presence
17:01
Speaker 4: and this record has really exposed.
17:04
Speaker 5: Almost everyone in the Wrigley Field office building. I mean
17:10
Speaker 5: sure it was. It's what's the word I'm looking for?
17:14
Speaker 4: It is smart of the Cubs, or it's empowering for
17:19
Speaker 4: ownership to tell the lead Baseball executive of like, hey,
17:25
Speaker 4: go out hire the best person you think for the job,
17:29
Speaker 4: and you know, whatever the salary scale is, like, don't
17:33
Speaker 4: worry about it. It's your These are your resources, allocate
17:36
Speaker 4: them however you see fit. It's great in theory, but
17:43
Speaker 4: Council is still basically like paid, like what like maybe
17:48
Speaker 4: like a number four starter, you know what I mean?
17:50
Speaker 4: Or if you look at you know, a decent leverage reliever.
17:55
Speaker 4: You know, however you want to look at it, whether
17:56
Speaker 4: it's the annual value or the overall value, it is
18:00
Speaker 4: obviously substantial. It's reset the bar for managers, but it's
18:05
Speaker 4: not that big in the grand scheme of Major League
18:08
Speaker 4: Baseball economics.
18:10
Speaker 5: And I think we.
18:12
Speaker 4: All agree Craig Council has a great resume and totally
18:18
Speaker 4: understand the higher clubs should be in a good place
18:22
Speaker 4: for the next four years with him running their team.
18:24
Speaker 4: But he has not made any sort of dent in
18:28
Speaker 4: the standings or has not closed that gap. The Brewers
18:35
Speaker 4: obviously still kept running away with it. And I think
18:38
Speaker 4: that exposes some of the payroll stuff you're talking about. Like,
18:43
Speaker 4: if you go back to twenty sixteen, a lot of
18:47
Speaker 4: teams economic outlooks changed and a lot of those teams
18:52
Speaker 4: are in.
18:53
Speaker 5: The National League.
18:54
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not sure exactly when John Middleton took
18:58
Speaker 4: over the Phillies, but obviously you're talking about.
19:00
Speaker 5: Out that Bryce Harper pursuit. He was involved in that,
19:04
Speaker 5: Steve Cohen taking over the Mats.
19:06
Speaker 4: You have the Braves, forget when that stadium opened, but
19:11
Speaker 4: obviously it's been a huge economic.
19:15
Speaker 5: Boom for that team.
19:17
Speaker 4: You had what the Padres did with Peter Seidler before
19:24
Speaker 4: his passing. So you have all these teams that are
19:27
Speaker 4: in the playoff mix, and that has shown how team
19:30
Speaker 4: though on last year's World Series. The Texas Rangers obviously
19:33
Speaker 4: they kind of retreated this year, but the Cubs staying
19:37
Speaker 4: essentially flat while these other teams just kind of raced
19:40
Speaker 4: towards the top of the payroll scale. It makes a difference.
19:44
Speaker 4: And you know, I think everyone expected the bullpen to
19:50
Speaker 4: be better, the Cups to be better in one run games,
19:53
Speaker 4: just because of the guy in the dugout. It doesn't
19:55
Speaker 4: quite work that way. I think the Cups pipeline has
19:57
Speaker 4: not been good enough. Clearly, I'm not sure how much
20:02
Speaker 4: they can count on. And and it gets to when
20:06
Speaker 4: we're talking about sustainability and things like that, like what
20:08
Speaker 4: is this best version of this next Great Cups team?
20:11
Speaker 4: Like are you gonna wait around for Owen Casey and
20:14
Speaker 4: Matt Shaw to figure out how to hit major league
20:16
Speaker 4: pitching and then to like get to whatever Joe Mann's
20:20
Speaker 4: level five stage of only caring about winning, Like there's
20:23
Speaker 4: a lot of steps to go. They've squandered some you know,
20:28
Speaker 4: great seasons from you know, Justin Steele and show to
20:31
Speaker 4: In mi Naga over the last couple of years. Cody
20:34
Speaker 4: Bellinger's comeback Player of the Year campaign last year, Like
20:39
Speaker 4: you can't like it all sounds great in theory, the
20:42
Speaker 4: stuff that Jed is talking about.
20:44
Speaker 5: I just don't know if that's how baseball really works.
20:47
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah?
20:49
Speaker 1: No, I mean that last point is is so it's
20:53
Speaker 1: so true, you know great seasons for certain individuals, right
20:59
Speaker 1: that guarantee it's nothing for twenty twenty five.
21:03
Speaker 2: I don't know.
21:04
Speaker 1: I you know, I do I feel good about Ian
21:07
Speaker 1: Half having his third consecutive, you know, consistent strong season. Yeah,
21:12
Speaker 1: that that makes me confident that he'll he can do
21:15
Speaker 1: it again in twenty twenty five. Does Dansby Swanson's second
21:18
Speaker 1: half ease any concern that he was falling off a cliff.
21:23
Speaker 1: Post thirty sure showed him anauga like go down the list,
21:27
Speaker 1: Michael Bush breakout rookie season. I don't know which one
21:29
Speaker 1: of them is going to go back down next year.
21:31
Speaker 1: One of them will. It's not multiple, right, yeah, and
21:35
Speaker 1: I don't know which one. And then there's gonna be
21:37
Speaker 1: someone that pops up. But who gets hurt who? You know,
21:41
Speaker 1: you cannot predict these things. So you have to have
21:43
Speaker 1: a deep roster.
21:44
Speaker 2: You have to have it.
21:45
Speaker 1: You have to have multiple talents that can carry the
21:50
Speaker 1: load when someone else is struggling or hurt or you know,
21:53
Speaker 1: whatever it may be.
21:56
Speaker 2: They haven't built that yet. They don't have that right now, you.
21:59
Speaker 1: Can the Brewers will just keep going back to the
22:02
Speaker 1: Brewers because we have said it over and over again.
22:06
Speaker 1: But it does like so many different things happened to
22:10
Speaker 1: them in the off season and during the season, and
22:12
Speaker 1: they are going to win the division by nearly double digits,
22:16
Speaker 1: and and that that that says something about the organization.
22:21
Speaker 1: Maybe there's a little luck involved, but when it happens
22:24
Speaker 1: year after year after year, you got to stop, you
22:26
Speaker 1: know something, They're doing something right, you know, And I
22:30
Speaker 1: think it stands out to me this season in particular,
22:34
Speaker 1: when you lose everyone that you did, your manager, your
22:37
Speaker 1: head of baseball operations, your ace. In the middle of
22:41
Speaker 1: the season you're superstar bat and and you don't miss
22:48
Speaker 1: a beat and you never really get threatened for the division.
22:52
Speaker 1: There's there's something there. And that's just one organization, right,
22:56
Speaker 1: I'm not even talking about finances there and being aggressive
23:00
Speaker 1: being the National League Central's biggest market by far and
23:05
Speaker 1: not leveraging your finances in a way where you can
23:09
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, just you know, barrel through the
23:14
Speaker 1: competition and just dominate. And that's what they want. They
23:16
Speaker 1: that's the players have said it. And it's not you know,
23:21
Speaker 1: it's not as you know, and it's not just as
23:26
Speaker 1: simple as signing wants so too. But there are there
23:28
Speaker 1: are ways that it's like, well, why does it have
23:30
Speaker 1: to be two hundred and thirty, two hundred and forty
23:33
Speaker 1: million when all these other teams are up to two
23:35
Speaker 1: sixty two seventy that's and you know, I know it
23:39
Speaker 1: feels like we're repeating ourselves, but I think that's sometimes
23:43
Speaker 1: I you know that this this blame gets spread around.
23:46
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer needs to be better and get the right players.
23:49
Speaker 1: But it really needs to work. You should be working
23:52
Speaker 1: with more as well.
23:54
Speaker 4: I mean you're talking about at least I mean thirty million,
23:58
Speaker 4: at least one great player, maybe two good players, maybe
24:02
Speaker 4: one solid player, and then a bunch of other you know,
24:07
Speaker 4: kind of role players that you know, your model tells
24:10
Speaker 4: you will work with this group, and no doubt, Like
24:14
Speaker 4: teams do win without the biggest payroll.
24:17
Speaker 5: Maybe they don't win the World Series, but they win annually.
24:20
Speaker 4: But like it's not like the Cubs are charging Tampa
24:23
Speaker 4: Bay prices for a Tampa Bay ballpark experience. And so,
24:29
Speaker 4: you know, I do think the Cubs have it down
24:31
Speaker 4: pat just looking at the standings of like they're pitching
24:36
Speaker 4: and depth and sort of like just uh two way
24:41
Speaker 4: competence and kind of organizational systems, like they haven't bottomed out.
24:47
Speaker 5: And I think they are good at you.
24:49
Speaker 4: Know, padding their run differential and sort of like you know,
24:55
Speaker 4: finishing with that eighty two eighty three wins. I think
24:58
Speaker 4: they could probably roll that out for a couple of
25:01
Speaker 4: years and they'd be pretty confident that they're not going
25:03
Speaker 4: to be in last place. But you look at you know,
25:07
Speaker 4: something as small as like all those tie breakers, right,
25:10
Speaker 4: like have they had a winning record against anyone that's
25:16
Speaker 4: going to make the playoffs?
25:17
Speaker 5: There may be one. Maybe they tied the Dodgers.
25:24
Speaker 4: Either way, Like when yeah, when we're looking at sort
25:27
Speaker 4: of the like you know we're in September, Oh yeah,
25:30
Speaker 4: add one more game to the games back because they
25:32
Speaker 4: lost the season series to the Diamondbacks, the Padres the break.
25:35
Speaker 4: It just you know, they're not better than these playoff teams,
25:42
Speaker 4: and like this stuff isn't static, like not saying, you know,
25:48
Speaker 4: the Nationals are going to make the playoffs next year,
25:50
Speaker 4: but like they're clearly trying to build something Like I
25:54
Speaker 4: don't know if the Reds next manager will have some
25:56
Speaker 4: sort of like magic formula, but like they got a
25:59
Speaker 4: lot of interesting young players that they were supposed to
26:02
Speaker 4: take a step forward this year. Like don't know what's
26:05
Speaker 4: gonna happen with the Giants, but like they're a team
26:09
Speaker 4: that wants to spend money and that has spent some
26:13
Speaker 4: money on players, and like is sort of in that
26:15
Speaker 4: same bracket as the Cubs of like the middle of
26:19
Speaker 4: the National League trying to break through. And you're right
26:22
Speaker 4: about the Mets, I mean the Mets could be building
26:24
Speaker 4: like the Dodgers of the East, and you know, maybe
26:30
Speaker 4: the Phillies will fall off a cliff, but like who
26:32
Speaker 4: knows where we'll all be by then, you know, like
26:34
Speaker 4: this is Baseball Council put it well the other day
26:39
Speaker 4: of like nothing is promised for next year and so sure,
26:44
Speaker 4: like I will give Jed credit in terms of like
26:48
Speaker 4: I did not see Isaac Paradis trade coming.
26:52
Speaker 5: Michael Bush was not really on our radar.
26:57
Speaker 4: Showeda certainly was, but I did not expect them to
27:01
Speaker 4: be this good, this fast, and this good on a
27:04
Speaker 4: sustained run really from wire to wire, like dominance as
27:09
Speaker 4: the most valuable player on this team. So sure, there
27:11
Speaker 4: are definitely moves that they could pull off this winter
27:15
Speaker 4: that takes them there. Just like we always say what
27:19
Speaker 4: THEO would say, they just have to be right.
27:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned those moves there at the end,
27:25
Speaker 1: like the est ocparatist Michael Bush showed a like more
27:30
Speaker 1: of those are going to be needed. There's not you know,
27:33
Speaker 1: if it's not the quick fix, then there's not an
27:35
Speaker 1: obvious way to do this. So it takes creativity, aggressiveness,
27:40
Speaker 1: and count like a lot of due diligence and it starts.
27:44
Speaker 1: It started probably around the deadline, right, Like a lot
27:48
Speaker 1: of times when you talk to scouts out out at
27:51
Speaker 1: ballparks at the deadline, they're scouting for the off season
27:54
Speaker 1: as well.
27:54
Speaker 2: Yep, that's kind of when it starts.
27:57
Speaker 1: So it so this is this process is started, but
28:00
Speaker 1: we're not really gonna know what's happening for like another
28:04
Speaker 1: six weeks or so, right, we we've got some time
28:07
Speaker 1: before we really understand what and even then, geez, it's
28:11
Speaker 1: probably longer than that, right because that's only like a
28:13
Speaker 1: week into November. So like this is gonna, this is
28:18
Speaker 1: gonna We're gonna have to wait to really understand what's happening,
28:22
Speaker 1: how they're gonna attack this. So we've got some time
28:26
Speaker 1: to figure it out and break it all down. Uh,
28:29
Speaker 1: six more games, five more games, five more games to.
28:31
Speaker 2: Get through on this season.
28:33
Speaker 1: Obviously they don't mean much, you know, there's not a
28:36
Speaker 1: lot to break down there. But this is it's gonna
28:39
Speaker 1: be a long yet again a critical Every off season
28:42
Speaker 1: is critical. I've realized. I've been saying that for ten years.
28:45
Speaker 1: So so every off season one one. So so they
28:52
Speaker 1: have some work to do and and it's gonna be
28:55
Speaker 1: fascinating to see how they execute. If they can execute
28:59
Speaker 1: and and put together, they're a team that you know,
29:01
Speaker 1: you feel good about on paper, uh and and you
29:05
Speaker 1: know even ultimately none of that matters. We're gonna have
29:09
Speaker 1: to see how next season goes. That's that's it's a
29:13
Speaker 1: It's a big one for Jed and Carter in the
29:15
Speaker 1: front office.
29:16
Speaker 2: In my opinion, it's it's when when I say critical,
29:20
Speaker 2: it's for that.
29:21
Speaker 1: It's this is this could be the off season that
29:24
Speaker 1: determines how long they're they're around. Patrick Will. We'll have
29:29
Speaker 1: more for the fans the rest of this week. Thanks
29:31
Speaker 1: so much to all of you for listening to North
29:33
Speaker 1: Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, and subscribe
29:39
Speaker 1: to the YouTube channel. Subscribe to The Athletic where you
29:41
Speaker 1: can read all of our work. We're happy to provide
29:44
Speaker 1: all the insight we can for the on the Cubs.
29:46
Speaker 1: For all of you, thanks for listening.
29:49
Speaker 2: Take care,