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Top 5 Cubs Hot Stove Pitching Targets · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, presented by Fox One Foul Territory
0:08
Speaker 1: Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney.
0:12
Speaker 1: We are your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick.
0:17
Speaker 1: We know the Cubs are going to be active in
0:19
Speaker 1: the pitching market, whether it's trade, whether it's signing free agents,
0:25
Speaker 1: whatever it may be. They are always looking for pitching.
0:28
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what type of season they're coming off of.
0:32
Speaker 1: You have to be active in the pitching market if
0:35
Speaker 1: you want to be competitive.
0:37
Speaker 2: Pitching depth is essential.
0:39
Speaker 1: The pitching staff was solid, if unspectacular, I guess, is
0:43
Speaker 1: how i'd describe it. Like a lot of trusted guys
0:46
Speaker 1: in there. You feel comfortable with a lot of these guys,
0:49
Speaker 1: but also they were lacking stuff. They're lacking strikeouts in
0:55
Speaker 1: the starting rotation, and they're always rebuilding the bullpen. That's
0:59
Speaker 1: just kind of of how it's going to go for
1:01
Speaker 1: the foreseeable future. On this episode, we were let's touch
1:05
Speaker 1: on you know, five five guys and they kind of
1:09
Speaker 1: like all fit a mold in a sense, and maybe
1:14
Speaker 1: each guy is representative of maybe it's not just that
1:19
Speaker 1: one guy, but like a category or something like that
1:22
Speaker 1: that they this is what they're going to pursue. Trade
1:28
Speaker 1: candidates I think are going to be really interesting this year.
1:31
Speaker 1: It seems like there's some big names that may be
1:33
Speaker 1: out there. One name of a team that's selling that
1:37
Speaker 1: seems like they're selling Minnesota Twins. Joe Ryan is a
1:41
Speaker 1: name that we heard during the deadline. Joe Ryan is
1:45
Speaker 1: the type of picture that I think it would fit
1:48
Speaker 1: just brilliantly with the Cubs and exactly what they're looking for.
1:54
Speaker 1: High strikeout rate, doesn't walk guys, and then you know,
2:00
Speaker 1: just like front of the rotation stuff, really what the
2:04
Speaker 1: Cubs could use.
2:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know.
2:07
Speaker 4: Our buddy Dan Hayesen in Minnesota covered that fire sale,
2:11
Speaker 4: which really was kind of wild because I was in
2:16
Speaker 4: Minnesota in early July and I'm pretty sure they won
2:19
Speaker 4: a series against the Cubs and looked pretty good and
2:22
Speaker 4: thought they were.
2:24
Speaker 3: Maybe making a case to not sell.
2:26
Speaker 4: The deadline and you know, there's been all this ownership
2:29
Speaker 4: uncertainty there and it just doesn't make much sense to me.
2:33
Speaker 4: If the ownership group takes on some investors and takes
2:37
Speaker 4: the franchise off the market, and if the front office
2:41
Speaker 4: you know, makes all of these wholesale changes at the
2:46
Speaker 4: major league level, including firing a manager who did a
2:51
Speaker 4: pretty good job on balance over the years. Like, if
2:53
Speaker 4: you're starting over, why do you keep this guy around?
2:58
Speaker 4: I'm still I'm not sure like what the Cubs have
3:04
Speaker 4: to offer in terms of like if you're going to
3:06
Speaker 4: be kind of building around Owen Casey and moist Spy
3:09
Speaker 4: Asteros as part of a post Kyle Tucker plan. You
3:15
Speaker 4: outline this very well around the trade deadline of like
3:18
Speaker 4: Cubs don't have a lot of those sort of like
3:21
Speaker 4: far away guys that are easier to trade, and like
3:25
Speaker 4: the middle of their system isn't quite there. It's just
3:29
Speaker 4: very top heavy with those sort of Triple A Iowa
3:33
Speaker 4: Wriglely adjacent prospects that you need throughout the course of
3:36
Speaker 4: the season, and pitching wise is just there's just not
3:41
Speaker 4: a lot of like intrigue there at this point of
3:44
Speaker 4: that can change relatively quickly, but outside of maybe Jackson
3:52
Speaker 4: Wiggins and obviously Kate Horton is a leading Rookie of
3:55
Speaker 4: the Year candidate, but other than that, there's not a
3:58
Speaker 4: ton of like super interesting young pitching. If you're trying
4:02
Speaker 4: to entice the Twins to make that deal.
4:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point. It's not as easy as
4:08
Speaker 1: we want this guy. Let's go get them. They there
4:12
Speaker 1: are you know, how do they decide what they're going
4:15
Speaker 1: to do with those prospects. How do they decide, you know,
4:19
Speaker 1: are they going to bring a veteran in as far
4:23
Speaker 1: as a position player to allow them to trade some
4:26
Speaker 1: guys or does it you know that that's you know,
4:30
Speaker 1: we talked about Alex Regman. The potential reunion with Kyle
4:35
Speaker 1: Tucker seems like a huge long shot. You bring in
4:39
Speaker 1: a veteran, a trusted veteran, then you feel more comfortable
4:42
Speaker 1: trading someone like ohen Casey or even Matt Shaw or
4:46
Speaker 1: Moyses Biasteros. You don't love it because these are major
4:52
Speaker 1: league talents right now, guys that can play in the
4:54
Speaker 1: big leagues right now and have and you don't that's
5:00
Speaker 1: to give up if you're in this, if you're if
5:02
Speaker 1: you're trying to be this team that's constantly churning out
5:05
Speaker 1: talent and constantly you know, has a long window of success.
5:09
Speaker 1: There there's you need that young talent and Jed Hoyer
5:13
Speaker 1: loves to talk about how you know, young talent is
5:15
Speaker 1: the lifeblood of an organization. Uh, if you're constantly trading
5:20
Speaker 1: those guys away, it makes it a little more difficult
5:23
Speaker 1: to to have sustained success. Joe Ryan under control for
5:27
Speaker 1: two years, That's something that makes it a little bit
5:31
Speaker 1: more palatable maybe to give him, give up prospects for him. Uh,
5:36
Speaker 1: he will be going into his age thirty season. That's
5:41
Speaker 1: probably a knock against him. So you know, these aren't
5:44
Speaker 1: easy decisions, and these aren't things that I think are layups.
5:50
Speaker 1: Free agency may be the better route to go. You know,
5:54
Speaker 1: it may just be what what they what they end
5:59
Speaker 1: up doing. Let's let's put our next player under the
6:02
Speaker 1: DraftKings spotlight, all right, Patrick Dylan Cees. Dylan Cees is
6:11
Speaker 1: going to be our DraftKings player spotlight. He is, you know,
6:17
Speaker 1: a former Cubs prospect, part of that draft class with
6:21
Speaker 1: Justin Steele, you know, traded in the Big hoose a
6:26
Speaker 1: Quintana deal, and and you know he's when you talk
6:30
Speaker 1: about stuff, when you talk about strikeouts, you're talking about
6:33
Speaker 1: a guy like Dylan Cees. He's coming off a down season.
6:36
Speaker 1: I think that's that's kind of the question, right, what
6:41
Speaker 1: is his price? And that I don't think it matters
6:44
Speaker 1: that he's coming off a down season in the sense
6:46
Speaker 1: that the Cubs don't care if they believe he can perform,
6:50
Speaker 1: If they believe he can be a solid pitcher, then hey,
6:53
Speaker 1: go go get him.
6:54
Speaker 2: If the price is right.
6:55
Speaker 1: I think that's that's the debate that we need to
6:58
Speaker 1: like focus on. What's the rice here for for a
7:01
Speaker 1: Dylan Seas.
7:03
Speaker 4: I almost think his down season makes him more attractive
7:06
Speaker 4: to the Cubs, just knowing how they think and how
7:08
Speaker 4: they project out potential deals the costs. I for me,
7:17
Speaker 4: I think the stuff, the durability, the background they have
7:23
Speaker 4: on him is really appealing, which probably means the Cubs
7:28
Speaker 4: won't do this. Like if I think this is a
7:30
Speaker 4: good idea, they probably are gonna say, well, he's well,
7:33
Speaker 4: last I checked.
7:34
Speaker 3: He's a Scott Boris guy. Unless something has changed recently.
7:37
Speaker 4: He's been with Scott Boris for quite some time, and
7:42
Speaker 4: the Cubs don't have like a they have an okay
7:44
Speaker 4: relationship with him, but they don't.
7:46
Speaker 3: I don't think they're like, you.
7:48
Speaker 4: Know, first calls for each other. I'm assuming he'll be
7:52
Speaker 4: attached with a qualifying offer, which will be a lot
7:56
Speaker 4: of these pictures kind of in this bucket, which I
8:01
Speaker 4: think will give the Cubs some pause. But you know,
8:05
Speaker 4: when you talk to people in the Cubs organization throughout
8:08
Speaker 4: the years, as we have done, I just had these
8:11
Speaker 4: different checkpoints, whether it's the that Kyle Schwarber draft class
8:17
Speaker 4: and his blow Slot deal which allowed them to take.
8:19
Speaker 3: Justin Steele and Dylan Cease out.
8:22
Speaker 4: Of high school, or some of the people who dealt
8:26
Speaker 4: with Cease during his rehab program. He underwent Tommy John
8:32
Speaker 4: as a Cup I believe that was almost like the plan.
8:35
Speaker 3: Basically when they drafted him, but that you know, they
8:37
Speaker 3: would supervise him.
8:38
Speaker 4: People raved about his his work ethic, and his commitment.
8:44
Speaker 4: He was someone who was very intrigued by some of
8:48
Speaker 4: these new pitching concepts and new pitching technology that the
8:53
Speaker 4: Cubs were bringing on board around that time. So I
8:56
Speaker 4: think there's kind of a lot to work with. Having
9:02
Speaker 4: said that, the Padres are also known as a very
9:04
Speaker 4: progressive pitching organization with some great instructors and a really
9:08
Speaker 4: good pitching environment. So it's not like you're taking him
9:11
Speaker 4: from the Washington Nationals and thinking, like, all of a sudden,
9:16
Speaker 4: we can unlock something here. Yeah, but I don't know,
9:20
Speaker 4: you've gotta at least explore this opportunity and see where
9:24
Speaker 4: it leads.
9:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's it's all about what his market
9:28
Speaker 1: ends up being. It's going to be hard to assume,
9:30
Speaker 1: like to think this guy's gonna get like, you know,
9:34
Speaker 1: be looking for like a bounce back type deal. He
9:38
Speaker 1: mentioned durability, thirty two starts in twenty twenty one, thirty two,
9:41
Speaker 1: thirty three, thirty three, and then thirty two in twenty
9:44
Speaker 1: twenty five. I mean, he's out there every start. The
9:49
Speaker 1: era is elevated, but the strikeout rate is pushing thirty percent.
9:54
Speaker 1: He does walk guys, but that's part of that's just
9:57
Speaker 1: Dyllancyes has had success walking guys. When you strike out
10:00
Speaker 1: nearly thirty percent of the batters you face, it's okay
10:03
Speaker 1: to have a walk rate pushing ten percent. You'll figure
10:08
Speaker 1: it out. He's you know, playing in Wrigley Field probably
10:12
Speaker 1: beneficial to him. But I think it would be all
10:18
Speaker 1: about like what type of contract is he willing to take,
10:24
Speaker 1: you know, is he looking for two or three years?
10:28
Speaker 1: Is that the type of deal he's looking for. I'd
10:30
Speaker 1: be very surprised he's going to be entering his thirty
10:34
Speaker 1: age thirty season. I believe he'll be turning thirty over
10:40
Speaker 1: over the off season this December.
10:42
Speaker 2: So like, this is probably a five year deal.
10:47
Speaker 1: And when you start talking about that at the price
10:50
Speaker 1: that you know how much strikeouts cost nowadays, I just,
10:56
Speaker 1: you know, I don't see him being in the price
10:58
Speaker 1: range that the Cubs are looking for. I could be wrong,
11:02
Speaker 1: maybe that maybe the market doesn't materialize for him because
11:05
Speaker 1: people are concerned about this past season.
11:08
Speaker 2: I still i'd be surprised.
11:09
Speaker 1: Are the Cubs the only team that are gonna look
11:12
Speaker 1: past these things? No, there are other teams that see, like, hey,
11:15
Speaker 1: we're not that worried about the four whatever er it
11:19
Speaker 1: was because we think the strikeouts will play and we
11:21
Speaker 1: can do this, blah blah blah whatever.
11:23
Speaker 2: So that's my general thought on whether.
11:28
Speaker 1: It would make sense, Like it makes complete sense, but
11:30
Speaker 1: whether that contract is gonna make sense, I just don't
11:33
Speaker 1: you know. And you mentioned the probably the biggest factor
11:35
Speaker 1: of them all.
11:36
Speaker 2: It's Scott Boris.
11:37
Speaker 1: Unless he's looking for Cody Bellinger type deal something like that,
11:41
Speaker 1: opt outs or anything like that, I'd just be surprised.
11:46
Speaker 1: We don't have a clear idea on the market yet
11:48
Speaker 1: for him. All right, let's throw it to Alana Rizzo
11:52
Speaker 1: for our North side territory pick.
11:55
Speaker 5: All right, thanks the hot, I appreciated my World Series
11:57
Speaker 5: Game one pick is the Dodgers to win by two
12:00
Speaker 5: at plus one thirteen. Forget the Dodgers rust on the
12:03
Speaker 5: road in a rackus ballpark. I'll take the series' favorites
12:07
Speaker 5: to pick up or they left off against the Brewers.
12:10
Speaker 5: I put one hundred dollars on the Dodgers run line
12:12
Speaker 5: minus one and a half, so to win by two
12:14
Speaker 5: at plus one thirteen. It's the hot, even Patrick, back
12:18
Speaker 5: to you.
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13:19
Speaker 2: Patrick.
13:20
Speaker 1: I think we went over these names. I think this
13:23
Speaker 1: is the perfect cub's name as far as what they do,
13:29
Speaker 1: what type of deal he may be looking for.
13:32
Speaker 2: Michael King. Michael King.
13:34
Speaker 1: When he's right, he strikes guys out. When he's healthy,
13:37
Speaker 1: he has good peripherals, he has good results. He's a
13:43
Speaker 1: really good starting pitcher. He's coming off injury and he
13:48
Speaker 1: didn't pitch a ton this past season, seventy three and
13:51
Speaker 1: a third innings in fifteen starts. But you know, he's
13:56
Speaker 1: got kind of what you're looking for when it comes
14:00
Speaker 1: to what the Cubs pursue. I'd be surprised if he's
14:05
Speaker 1: getting like a five or six year deal or anything
14:08
Speaker 1: like that, and you know it's.
14:11
Speaker 2: Probably going to be.
14:14
Speaker 1: A couple of years and you take the you know,
14:17
Speaker 1: not a huge AAV but maybe a decent one. Maybe
14:21
Speaker 1: a little bit more than Jamison ty Own, who knows,
14:24
Speaker 1: But this is the type. This is the profile you're
14:28
Speaker 1: looking for when you're talking about players that the Cubs
14:31
Speaker 1: may pursue.
14:33
Speaker 3: Without a doubt.
14:34
Speaker 4: I think you laid that out really well for our
14:38
Speaker 4: listeners in terms of when we're when you're trying to
14:43
Speaker 4: understand rumors or where the front office is going or
14:47
Speaker 4: how they're evaluing and stuff like. This guy is sort
14:50
Speaker 4: of it. And you know he came up.
14:57
Speaker 3: With the Yankees. I think he wasn't drafted by the Yankees.
15:01
Speaker 4: Sorry, I just set it up here on base. So
15:03
Speaker 4: he wasn't draft directed by the Marlins, draft by the Marlins,
15:06
Speaker 4: but you know, he came up and through that Yankee system,
15:12
Speaker 4: which the Cubs time and time again have sort of targeted,
15:15
Speaker 4: Like we like what they do and kind of the
15:18
Speaker 4: attributes that they seek out and tease out through development.
15:24
Speaker 4: I also give him credit just kind of following his
15:26
Speaker 4: career from AFAR like seems like someone who really advocated
15:30
Speaker 4: for himself and believed that he can and should be
15:35
Speaker 4: a major league starting pitcher, which to me, I think
15:41
Speaker 4: shows some of that intelligence that the Cubs are looking for.
15:46
Speaker 3: I think that.
15:49
Speaker 4: We've talked to Tommy Hottvey about this before of like
15:52
Speaker 4: they seem to have this type in free agency.
15:54
Speaker 3: And what do they want.
15:55
Speaker 4: It's it's it's pitchability, baseball IQ, A willingness to learn,
16:03
Speaker 4: a strong work ethic, and obviously, you know you want
16:09
Speaker 4: your team to just be the Dodgers and just go
16:11
Speaker 4: out and spend the most money and sign the best
16:14
Speaker 4: players period.
16:16
Speaker 3: It doesn't always work like that.
16:19
Speaker 4: I mean, well, even even the Dodgers have to get
16:22
Speaker 4: creative and be diligent and stay on top of things.
16:25
Speaker 3: And I think King sort of is that profile.
16:29
Speaker 4: Off to go back and you know, pull up some
16:32
Speaker 4: of our old stories on the athletic and just kind
16:34
Speaker 4: of you know, you could really just cross reference King's
16:37
Speaker 4: trajectory and what the Cubs are looking for and you'll
16:40
Speaker 4: see see a lot of matches.
16:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's you know, when the Padres have been
16:46
Speaker 1: talked about as kind of trying to unload players more
16:51
Speaker 1: for salary relief over the past year year and a half.
16:54
Speaker 2: I don't know how long that's been. Now been like
16:56
Speaker 2: about two.
16:57
Speaker 1: Years now that they've been kind of in that in
17:00
Speaker 1: that area of maybe they need to lower their their
17:05
Speaker 1: total costs. Michael King was a name that we'd heard
17:09
Speaker 1: bandied about. Would the Cubs be interested as a guy
17:12
Speaker 1: that and yes, he fits well with what everything that
17:15
Speaker 1: the Cubs you're looking for.
17:16
Speaker 2: I think he'd fit well in that clubhouse.
17:20
Speaker 1: I believe he was a teammate with Jamison ty Own
17:24
Speaker 1: and they go way back and they're close.
17:27
Speaker 2: I just think it makes a ton of sense this
17:32
Speaker 2: one reliever.
17:35
Speaker 1: Look, if you're gonna make a splash, I think this
17:38
Speaker 1: is a splash name coming off a down season. I'm
17:43
Speaker 1: not sure if the price will be low enough for
17:46
Speaker 1: the Cubs because he's a reliever and he's a big name.
17:50
Speaker 1: But obviously there's a connection here Devin Williams coming off
17:55
Speaker 1: of season where his era was pushing five, where it
17:58
Speaker 1: seemed like that change up that he has wasn't as
18:04
Speaker 1: effective at times. Obviously you look at peripherals. I think
18:10
Speaker 1: a great strikeout rate. Still it was healthy tossed to
18:17
Speaker 1: what is it, sixty seven appearances coming off of a
18:21
Speaker 1: season where he was hurt in the previous year in
18:23
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. I guess there's a chance that he
18:27
Speaker 1: doesn't get like a like a three four five year
18:31
Speaker 1: deal or something like that, and that leads to lesser years,
18:37
Speaker 1: and I think years is probably the biggest thing. And
18:40
Speaker 1: then yeah, probably AAV is going to be decently high.
18:43
Speaker 1: It's an interesting name because of the Craig Council connection,
18:46
Speaker 1: you know, and he trusts him and he knows how
18:50
Speaker 1: good he can be, and there's a comfort level there.
18:52
Speaker 2: I'm sure is he you know, I think everything else
18:57
Speaker 2: is a fit.
18:57
Speaker 1: You look at all the other stuff coming off of
18:59
Speaker 1: bat ye quote unquote, in the sense that the era
19:03
Speaker 1: was elevated, I think he was still a pretty nasty pitcher.
19:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.
19:07
Speaker 4: I mean, if you're not if you think Brad Keller's
19:10
Speaker 4: market's going to go to a place where you know
19:12
Speaker 4: he's gonna take I don't know, like could he get
19:15
Speaker 4: three years? Like if that makes you uncomfortable, then I
19:20
Speaker 4: don't know. Devin Williams is a pretty nice option. I
19:24
Speaker 4: think we both agree they have to invest somewhere in
19:27
Speaker 4: that bullpen. Like maybe it's not bringing back all those guys.
19:32
Speaker 4: Maybe it's not Andrew Kittridge's club option.
19:36
Speaker 3: Uh. I think you need some certainty back there.
19:41
Speaker 4: I mean, the one thing Jed Hoyer will acknowledge is
19:43
Speaker 4: that you need veteran guys who've done it before to
19:47
Speaker 4: help sort of set the tone lead the way we've
19:50
Speaker 4: seen Craig Counsel and he sort of downplays a lot
19:54
Speaker 4: of this stuff, but he's heavily involved in that front
19:58
Speaker 4: office for for a manager, I mean, compared to other
20:01
Speaker 4: managers in today's game. And it's not that he was,
20:06
Speaker 4: you know, obsessing over Drew Pomeranz. But when he heard
20:09
Speaker 4: about that possibility, he gave the thumbs up, like that
20:12
Speaker 4: would be interesting, let's let's do it. And I do
20:15
Speaker 4: wonder if Williams would fit in that, coming off of
20:18
Speaker 4: his experience in New York. I wonder if he would
20:21
Speaker 4: value maybe some familiarity or a comfort level. And I
20:26
Speaker 4: don't know if you want a platform if the market
20:28
Speaker 4: says you're not going to get that, you know, crazy
20:32
Speaker 4: mega deal for a all star closer. I don't know,
20:37
Speaker 4: going to a ninety two win team where you know
20:39
Speaker 4: the manager and you know the division and would have
20:43
Speaker 4: an opportunity to rack up a ton of saves. The
20:47
Speaker 4: Cubs can offer that. They can go to any of
20:49
Speaker 4: these free agency you get first crack at closing. You're
20:52
Speaker 4: we're not going to make you our closer. You know,
20:54
Speaker 4: Ryan Presley was just first primary save getter or however
20:58
Speaker 4: they did it before floated. But they can offer that
21:02
Speaker 4: because I think as good as Daniel Plentsy was in
21:05
Speaker 4: the playoffs and for most of them, you know, big
21:09
Speaker 4: middle chunk of the season, I don't think he's going
21:11
Speaker 4: to be handed the ninth inning next year.
21:16
Speaker 2: To kind of push back against myself, I guess they were.
21:22
Speaker 1: They did trade for and then paid Ryan Presley a
21:26
Speaker 1: decent amount they were willing. They were willing to pay
21:30
Speaker 1: Tanner Scott pretty hefty price. Would they be willing to
21:36
Speaker 1: give Devin Williams what the market bears for him? Maybe
21:42
Speaker 1: it's not as unreasonable as I initially felt just like
21:47
Speaker 1: going over those two things like, well, we'll see. I
21:51
Speaker 1: guess it all depends on how much do they like
21:53
Speaker 1: him and then what is his market? And with like
21:57
Speaker 1: this is now the second time I've said that for
22:02
Speaker 1: a player. It's just kind of how things are with
22:05
Speaker 1: the Cubs.
22:07
Speaker 3: A certain point though, they got to like stretch a
22:09
Speaker 3: bit right and.
22:10
Speaker 1: And I agree with you, like they can't go in
22:13
Speaker 1: they did Ryan Presley work, No, but it wouldn't have.
22:17
Speaker 1: It just feels really uncomfortable going into a season without
22:21
Speaker 1: someone that you can say like, Okay, this guy's done
22:23
Speaker 1: it before, this guy's or at least like a veteran
22:27
Speaker 1: who has had a lot of high leverage moments. So
22:31
Speaker 1: they're going to be in on guys like that. And
22:33
Speaker 1: Devin Williams is you know, a good option, as good
22:38
Speaker 1: as it gets, you know. Frankly, if he's right then
22:42
Speaker 1: in assuming health, assuming that they don't see any like
22:45
Speaker 1: stuffed degradation. Uh, And they just generally feel good about
22:49
Speaker 1: what he can bring to the table.
22:51
Speaker 4: Uh.
22:52
Speaker 1: I see no reason why they wouldn't go after him
22:56
Speaker 1: or at least check in on on what it costs
22:59
Speaker 1: to bring him in. All right, let's take a quick
23:03
Speaker 1: break and talk about Fox one. All right, Patrick, the
23:13
Speaker 1: moment you've been waiting for all season has arrived. The
23:17
Speaker 1: World Series. Two teams take the field, but only one
23:20
Speaker 1: will leave a champion. Every swing could change the game,
23:23
Speaker 1: every play could make history. Stream the World Series live
23:26
Speaker 1: on Fox one. It is Dodgers Blue Jays. I believe
23:31
Speaker 1: we have Blake Snell going Game one. I don't think
23:35
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays have announced a starter as of yet.
23:39
Speaker 1: I guess it could be Kevin Goussman. I don't know
23:43
Speaker 1: off the top of my head who that could be
23:45
Speaker 1: other than him, Trey Savage, I guess the rookie. That
23:49
Speaker 1: would be exciting to see a rookie start Game one
23:51
Speaker 1: of the World Series. It feels like the Dodgers are
23:54
Speaker 1: the heavy favorites here. It wouldn't be the first time
23:58
Speaker 1: we've seen a big upset. Toronto is the number one seed.
24:01
Speaker 1: They do have home field advantage. Those fans are obviously
24:04
Speaker 1: desperate for a winner in any sense. I guess they
24:09
Speaker 1: had an NBA championship recently, but it's been a real
24:13
Speaker 1: long time since the Blue Jays have.
24:15
Speaker 2: Been you know, afforded.
24:17
Speaker 1: This opportunity even but it was the last time they won,
24:21
Speaker 1: was the last time they were in the World Series, right,
24:23
Speaker 1: I'm remembering this correctly, So I believe if I'm remembering correctly,
24:27
Speaker 1: the last Blue Jays moment we've had in the World
24:29
Speaker 1: Series was Joe Carter hitting a walk off home run.
24:34
Speaker 1: We didn't call them walk offs back then, did we.
24:38
Speaker 1: But so hopefully if it's even half as intriguing, that
24:43
Speaker 1: would be wonderful. You can also, you know, watch you
24:47
Speaker 1: can watch the World Series on Fox one, streaming on
24:50
Speaker 1: Fox one. You can watch NFL games streaming on Fox one.
24:54
Speaker 1: Start your seven day free trial today offers our subject
24:59
Speaker 1: to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions.
25:05
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's get back to talking Cubs and
25:10
Speaker 1: and who could be a potential you know, target for
25:15
Speaker 1: this team. Here's you know, I think something that we've
25:21
Speaker 1: talked about a lot over the the this past year.
25:25
Speaker 1: Really they started the season in Japan. It was a
25:28
Speaker 1: big focus for the two of us uh and and
25:31
Speaker 1: and something that we dug into and and look, going
25:35
Speaker 1: over to Japan and having your I guess presence felt
25:40
Speaker 1: was important for this front office. The Dodgers are going
25:42
Speaker 1: to be number one, but it's a smaller group of
25:45
Speaker 1: teams that you're competing with, so it's not just it's
25:48
Speaker 1: so like obviously showed him an Aga and say it's
25:52
Speaker 1: Azuki matter for for the Cubs and their ability to
25:56
Speaker 1: show like, hey, look, look, we have a nice presence
25:58
Speaker 1: here in Japan. I think something interesting and you brought
26:02
Speaker 1: this up, and I think it's fascinating. It's not just
26:05
Speaker 1: Japanese players that they're out there scouting. And a name
26:11
Speaker 1: that you heard and I looked up his numbers. I
26:14
Speaker 1: remember this name, first round draft pick years ago out
26:18
Speaker 1: of high school. Foster Griffin has some really good and
26:24
Speaker 1: some really good numbers out in the MPB. And how
26:31
Speaker 1: old is he he is he's going to be thirty,
26:34
Speaker 1: he's going to enter his age thirty season, or he
26:36
Speaker 1: just turned thirty two months ago, you know, Lefty.
26:42
Speaker 2: I think he fits this. That kind of fits the
26:45
Speaker 2: Cubs to a t.
26:47
Speaker 1: Not going to be crazy expensive, I think, you know,
26:51
Speaker 1: I think that's a great pull on your part and
26:53
Speaker 1: a name that we need to be, you know, keep
26:56
Speaker 1: on our radar at minimum.
26:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he was on their radar before.
27:02
Speaker 4: The start of the Tokyo series, been on their radar
27:08
Speaker 4: for quite some time as the Cubs sort of planted
27:14
Speaker 4: their flag in Asia. That was something that Jed Hoyer
27:19
Speaker 4: made a priority as he took over for theo Epstein
27:23
Speaker 4: and as a sort of reorganized the front office. And
27:28
Speaker 4: I think for our purposes here, Foster Griffin is not
27:31
Speaker 4: just the target, is sort of symbolic of like that
27:35
Speaker 4: list of names, like might have been a bit a
27:39
Speaker 4: dozen when we were kind of working on one of
27:41
Speaker 4: those stories, and that was all at the time they
27:44
Speaker 4: didn't know exactly who'd be coming out, and maybe some
27:46
Speaker 4: of these names are staggered and they kind of look at,
27:50
Speaker 4: you know, classes on a fluid basis of maybe this
27:52
Speaker 4: off season, maybe the following off season. But you know,
27:58
Speaker 4: Griffin follows a trend that we've seen of guys, you know,
28:04
Speaker 4: who don't make it in the States and need a
28:07
Speaker 4: chance to reset, a chance to focus, a change of scenery.
28:14
Speaker 4: Maybe they mature overseas. I don't know exactly his own
28:19
Speaker 4: his individual story, but I think enough of these success
28:23
Speaker 4: stories have happened that you sort of have to be
28:29
Speaker 4: in that market, uh and and be open to those possibilities. Now,
28:34
Speaker 4: I don't think the cops have as good as an advantage,
28:38
Speaker 4: you know, with an American born player, obviously they've they've
28:41
Speaker 4: sort of carved out this space of you know, what
28:44
Speaker 4: was Jed's phrase, like say as Shoda and many more.
28:49
Speaker 3: This is a little different.
28:51
Speaker 4: But I think, you know, you saw with their investment
28:55
Speaker 4: in Shoda that they had a lot of context, They
28:58
Speaker 4: had a lot of data, They had a lot of
29:00
Speaker 4: eyes on him to where they could be nimble and
29:05
Speaker 4: pounds you know when he sort of lingered on the
29:10
Speaker 4: free agent market, maybe a little longer than he had expected,
29:14
Speaker 4: and they had the conviction because they had sort of
29:17
Speaker 4: the people in the process behind it. And I think
29:21
Speaker 4: Foster Griffin will be, you know, part of that next
29:25
Speaker 4: wave that they'll be on this offseason.
29:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, he makes a lot of sense, probably won't break
29:31
Speaker 1: the bank. There are players being posted, Japanese players being posted.
29:38
Speaker 1: You know, one name that's probably going to get a
29:41
Speaker 1: lot of buzz is Tatsuya and my big name could
29:47
Speaker 1: be a big number. Price wise, we'll see if the
29:49
Speaker 1: Cubs are involved. Well, well, we don't know yet. We
29:52
Speaker 1: don't have a good feel on that just yet. Could
29:57
Speaker 1: be priced out of that market or maybe not. Maybe
30:00
Speaker 1: maybe the numbers aren't as crazy and they love this
30:03
Speaker 1: guy and then think it's worth the worth whatever the
30:08
Speaker 1: cost may be. There are bats that the Cubs will
30:11
Speaker 1: mean the Cubs will surely show interest in, and then yeah,
30:15
Speaker 1: I think players like Foster Griffin just we need to
30:19
Speaker 1: keep an eye out on that who could bounce back,
30:22
Speaker 1: who could be looking for a return. And it's not
30:26
Speaker 1: just Japanese league, it's a Korean league as well. It's
30:32
Speaker 1: worth keeping an eye on former draft picks that, you know,
30:37
Speaker 1: guys that came over to Japan or Korea and have
30:41
Speaker 1: reinvented themselves. It's certainly something we've been alerted to to
30:44
Speaker 1: keep an eye out for. So we'll tell you Cubs
30:48
Speaker 1: fans to do the same. All right. We will be
30:51
Speaker 1: back next week with more episodes of Northside Territory. Make
30:54
Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
30:58
Speaker 1: and subscribe to the Athletic. Patrick and I are on
31:00
Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening
31:03
Speaker 1: to everyone.
31:03
Speaker 2: Take care