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Wrapping up the trade deadline: Was this a missed opportunity for the Cubs? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: He needs to figure some things out. He said it himself.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: If the offense.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Doesn't perform over the next two months, they have some
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: hard questions to answer. Welcome into North Side Territory. I'm
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney, where your Cubs
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: beat writers at the Athletic covering the Chicago Cubs and
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the trade deadline, where the Cubs have added a reliever
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: in Nate Pearson, added the third baseman in Essac Paratis,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: and traded away Mark Lighter Junior along with Christopher Morrell.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Of course, in the trade to get Paradis. Patrick, we
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: have our first game with Paradis in a Cubs uniform.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: We have Mark Lighter traded to the Yankees, a place
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: where I think UH was built for Lighter and his
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: or maybe he was built for Yankee Stadium. I'm training
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: that yeah one, I think, yeah, it's it's Uh. I'm
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: excited to see how he does. I hope, I hope
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: they make the postseason. I hope he gets a shot
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: to pitch UH in the postseason, because that is a
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: guy that UH is built for the big moment. You know, mentally,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: he certainly carries himself in a way that makes it
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: clear that you know he he can handle anything, and
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and uh is ready to pitch in those in those moments,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I will you know, we'll see what wood Lighter does
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: in a Yankee uniform. But return is an infielder that
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Jed Hoyer let us know is out for the rest
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: of the season, likely after after getting hit in the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: wrist a couple of days ago.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: And then a.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Reliever that both both of them minor league. Is a
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: reliever that has.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: A chance to impact the team this season. We'll see.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I think the real story, which we've already talked about
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: on the podcast, is Paratus.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Who is over four today, uh and and Christopher Morrell
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: hit a home home run and Hunter Biggie pitched a
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: scoreless ninth, which means it comes lose the trade.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Rays are gonna get a lot
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: of shots at this one, right, Like, I don't see
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: the Rays going what like, oh for seventeen eighteen in
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: terms of years of club control on these guys, And
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I'm sure they're gonna hit on something like that whole
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: trade tree stuff. It is pretty amazing. There was a
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: graphic of that on MLB Network that was playing silently
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse the other day. And if you go
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: back to you know, the Chris Archer trade, which leads
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: you to glass Now and Austin Meadows, it leads you
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: to parade Ase And I mean, who knows what Morel's
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: gonna do. We're kind of joking about that. Is it
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Is it gonna get non tendered winter or two from now,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: or is it gonna like just go off and hit
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: forty to fifty home runs and find a defense position
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: and then like get traded for the number one prospect
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: in baseball, you know, like in his second year of arbitration.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: So I don't know. To me, if Parades is a
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: good player and a playoff team, like you don't look back.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, to me, that's the thing, Like if he
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: is who they think, then they're fine. But it does
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: make you wonder, like what's the catch? Like why are
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: the Rays trading him? And maybe it is just as
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: simple as his arbitration status and whatever, you know, projection
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: system they're running down there in Tampa. Far be it
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: for me to question that. But yeah, it's just a
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: weird deadline. I feel like, overall, for the amount of
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: like effort and energy we put into it to have
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: them be like sort of the same, maybe a little better,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: but not trually buying and still just being a really
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: tough team to watch.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Right, Yes, I think the past two nights of baseball
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: just more of the same, Right, you know, Justin Steele
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: has an all off night.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Whatever.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I don't think we need to break down results of
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: games right now, but it's it's the same, same old,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: same old. Here's before we kind of talk about what
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: with Jed Hoyer had to say, I just wanted to.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I did this. I wrote this in the story. I
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: didn't get into super details, but I looked this up
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: because I was curious because Jed. One of the things
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Jed Hoyer said was it's a unique profile. Right, It's
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: a different look in the lineup for Paradis so and I,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm a well aware of his stats. I
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: know what type of hitter he is, and they don't
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: have this type of guy. But I was curious, like,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: how rare is this type of guy? So I looked
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: up a walk right above ten percent, a strikeout rate
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: below twenty percent, and a WRC plus above one twenty
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: since twenty twenty two. Right, and and Paridis is well
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: within all those marks. So it's not like he barely
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: passes those marks. I didn't like just fitted in so
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: he barely fit into those marks. He's he's well beyond
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: all those marks. Twelve batters in all of baseball, all right,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: that that have met that criteria a thousand played appearances
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: since twenty twenty two. Jordan Alvarez, Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Mooki Bets, Yandy Diaz, Kyle Tucker, Ronald Ucunya, Junior Estoc Criatis, Adleye.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Rushman could tell Marte Alex Bregman, Will Smith, those are
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the best offensive players in baseball essentially, and Esoc preatis
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: so yeah, I mean, if you want to include him
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: among that, like in the same conversation, I don't know.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Yandy Diaz and Esac Criatis are are like these weird
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Tampa Bay finds, right, but they're in that list that
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: of Rarefied Air. When it comes to this offensive profile,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: it's something that Cubs don't have. It brings a different
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: look to the lineup, and he's under control for three
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: years beyond this season. He's going to be in the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: middle of this lineup. Jed was not concerned about the
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: pole happy nature of his game. Like we said yesterday,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Craig Council is not concerned about that. They they're aware
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: of these things, that they liked the profile, and they're
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: trying to win for twenty twenty five. I think that
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: was a big theme. He opened up his press conference
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: with US saying, this is not like the twenty twenty
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: one deadline where he got an injured Pete Crow Armstrong
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and injured Nick Madrigal, low A Kevin al Contra.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: This is very different.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: This is a situation where and you know what my
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: guess is that's why there weren't more moves. They probably
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: could have gotten some really good prospects that were high upside,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: low A guys or something like that. That probably could
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: have for Jameson taie On for you know, maybe not
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: for Drew Smiley and Hector Naires, but probably for Jameson Tyon,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: probably for Nico Horner, right, But that's not what they're
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: trying to do.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Cubs just didn't really have much
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: of a choice, you know what I mean. It's like,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: you gotta they need to put a competitive product on
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: the field next year, and it's like, you know, whatever
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: praise to get paid next year round number, say six
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: million dollars, six million dollars. So the Cubs is not
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: the same as it is to the Rays. And it's
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: like when you don't find a third baseman for years,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: you need to just go out and get one. And
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: I do like the fact that they recognized the kind
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: of prospect grab bag didn't exactly work out. Now it
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: could work look better the twenty twenty one sell off
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: over time, like Alcantara al Katara, maybe Caleb Killian comes
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: back as some sort of like flamethrowing reliever. There's time,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: and that's what the Rays get with this deal. But
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: like the Cubs right now had to do something, and
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: you can't keep rolling this team out over and over again.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: And they've really boxed themselves in with by paying like
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: pretty good players, pretty substantial salaries and long term commitments,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: and like that was the one spot where you had
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to upgrade and you had some maneuverability. And I think
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: parade As is probably better than like I wrote, like
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: I said, trying to sign Alex Bregnant to some huge
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: deal or like hoping match r cam Smith. You know
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: already like you he's kind of a bridge guy who
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: makes sense. And this is what you do when you're
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: a big market team. You trade trade with the Raise
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: and hope your guy works out because you know they'll
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: find something out of the optionality within those three players
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: over the course of whatever it is twelve fifteen, sixteen seasons.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Right, And and that's you know it, That's that's what
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: they do. The Rays, they're they're looking for cost control,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: they're looking for years of control. That doesn't mean they
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: always win a trade, right. People like to just focus
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: on the times that they always win. I mean, the
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Dodgers are getting plenty out of Tyler Glass now. This
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: year they sign them to an extension. The Rays weren't
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: going to do that. So if you just look at
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: this year, you do that deal. When you're the Dodgers, right,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: don't forget about the extension, you do that deal because
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: what you're trying to do is win now.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: The Cubs are trying to win in a shorter window
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: of time than the Rays are constantly trying to turn
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: their roster over. It just does not matter what happens
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: with those prospects. If East oppres is impactful for this offense,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: it just doesn't because you need impactful offensive talent on
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: this team. Jed Hoyer is going to evaluate this team
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: over the next two months, right he has to. He
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: has to look at this. It's valuable data for him.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: He needs to figure some things out. He said it himself.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: If the offense doesn't perform over the next two months,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: they have some hard questions to answer. They have some
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: things to figure out that they didn't think they had
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: to figure out, you know, nine months ago. They're they're
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: going to have a difficult offseason if the offense continues
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: to flounder. It is it doesn't look good enough right now.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: There are small signs of things that you like, but
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: there are far too many question marks. Isakparatus answers one
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: question mark, but there needs to be more. One thing
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: that I thought was interesting, He wasn't interested in just
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: a shake up, right when I When I asked him
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: about the desire to shake this team up, he said,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: that's dangerous, just to make a move, to make a move.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: He doesn't want to do that. That's how you get
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: in trouble. He did say, uh, there's a benefit of
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: having a different profile of hitter. He wanted that different profile.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I think he did not take any bait when when
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: tried to be asked about Christopher Morrell's failures, he they
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: still seem to believe that Christopher Morell has talent. He
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: said he believes in expected numbers.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: But I think this move. I think what he didn't
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: say was this.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: He said it when talking about Paradis, he didn't say
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: it when talking about Morell.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: But this gives him certainty at third. They have a
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: position that.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: He can play, and they know he can play it
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: and play it at an average level, and then they
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: trust his offense. It's been there for two and a
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: half years now, so I understand why they trust it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: So I think that's an obvious move there. I think
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: the smaller moves are interesting and and what's interesting to
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: me about the lighter trade is if this if Jack Neely,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: who I believe is the son or of Cam Neely
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: or something like that, I may I may have made
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: that up. Really, I may have just googled Jack Neely
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: and seen something about Cam Neely and and made a
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: leap that I shouldn't have.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: To high school in San Antonio, oh maybe attend in
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Iowa Western Community College before going to the Ohio State
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: University and Texas at Austin. So I don't mean, were
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: you like watching Dumber and Dumber or something like that
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: on your mind?
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: He was in Dumb and Dumber, right, I think you're right.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: He does have a son named Jack.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: This is there's a picture of him with his son
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Jack in the twenty twelve NHL entry draft, like he's
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: just with his son when he was working with the
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: with the Penguins or no, sorry, the Bruins, right, the Bruins.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: And he looks like he could be old enough now
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: to be that he adds a son named Jack. I
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: cannot put the I swear I saw this, but I
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: could be wrong. Now now I'm realizing I was. I
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: was like running errands and and and writing paragraphs for
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: for the Mark Live her trade and I may have
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I may have made a leap there.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: So so don't don't don't don't go.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: On the trade deadline. Cam Neely, who made an awesome
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: cameo appearance in Dumb and Dummer to Jack Nearly, the
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: six foot eight reliever who was born in San Antonio, Texas,
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: to the Cubs, though this is I don't think it's
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: a test to see if Cam Neely and Jack Neely.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: There should have been a like it would pop up
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: quicker and I think we would have heard it by now.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Cam Neely has a son named Jack. This is not
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: I don't think this is the I think that's what happened.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: I Google Jack and and his cam Neely's son popped
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: up as well, so I think they're separate people. But
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: that's either here and there there. I've completely derailed our
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: conversation by incorrect likely incorrect inftion. Okay, no, he's but
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: he's Jack. Really, you.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Can call the Sea Bass nickname. As soon as he
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: comes up that that will be yours. I will give
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: that to you. And when it becomes a dumb like
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: T shirt or something like that, you can get credit
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: for it.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, he's six eight, righty, that throws in the mid nineties,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: that has a nasty slider. I've been told, Yeah, he's
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: he's a major league reliever. You know, nobody's like bowled
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: over by this return for Mark Lighter Junior. I think
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: that's just the reality of trading a thirty three year
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: old reliever that doesn't have a long history of being
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: a shutdown guy.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: I've been clear about what I think about Mark Lighter
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Junior and what I've seen from him over the last
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: year year plus. He's I think he's a really good reliever.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I think relievers are really volatile, and it makes sense
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: to get what you can for him. What do you
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: think this was a missed opportunity this trade deadline or
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: did they do what they needed to do and this
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: team it's probably best for them not to completely gut
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: this team or make drastic changes for the sake of changes.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: That's a good question. I think this season has been
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: a massively wasted opportunity. I mean, I think watching this team,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: it's not like you're like, oh, man, if you're another team,
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: like I need this guy in my clubhouse right now.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: The Yankees remind me of the Rays in the sense of,
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: like the Yankees seem to always pump out some pitching
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: prospects at the deadline or whenever they need to acquire someone,
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: and they rarely get burned in those deals. And not
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: to say anything against mister Neely here, but I do
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: think the jury is kind of out on all these
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: pitching prospects that the Yankees wisely churn into trade chips
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: because they always have these forty man roster crunches and
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: instead of leaving them exposed in the rule five, they
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: go out and get something. I thought overall, it was
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: they kind of did about what we thought. We didn't
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: necessarily think paradase would come through. And I do think
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: that's that's a huge deal. I do think if you
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: get an everyday guy to play one hundred and fifty
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: games at a hard to fill position and he can
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: lengthen your lineup, and he's young, and you got him
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: for several years, like those guys are hard to find.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: That's why those guys get paid a lot of money.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: I remember David Ross saying that, you know, like when
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: you get rid of even if Rizzo, KB and Hobby
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: were we're sort of flood players and maybe they weren't
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: the right investments, but like they get paid because dudes
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: who post up one hundred and fifty games a year
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: that have enough skill to convince coaching staff and front
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: office that they deserve to be in the lineup that
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: many times a year hard to find, and they get paid.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And so I think that all made sense.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: It's just gonna be.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: But if like the last two months are gonna be
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: like these two games in Cincinnati on top of the
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: previous months we watched. It's just like, you know, like
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: is it too soon to start asking about Mois's Ballastero's.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: It's just like, give us something different here, because this
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: definitely feels like the dog days of August have sort
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: of already arrived here.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: That's sort of the.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: My vibe in Cincinnati, which, as you know, is just
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: kind of a sleepy, hot place in the summer. Anyways,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: there's not a whole lot of juice. In my opinion's
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: always Cubs fans and you know, you know, schworeber Y
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: and Hab usually hit a bunch of bombs, and there's
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: usually a rain delay, and you know, maybe there's like
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: an a mere Garrett Hobby Baias kind off, but otherwise
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: this is not a place where like it feels like
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: the nth degree of the show to be, to be honest,
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: and so you know, I do think it'd be interesting
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: to see like how much they just kind of continue
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: to spin their wheels or like does the bottom like
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: really fall out, like all of a sudden, there's like
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: an eight game losing streak and they do just truly
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: punt and you see what they have but otherwise I'm
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: kind of glad we got at least some clarity here
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: because the trade deadline is revealing to your point, like,
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, did you see this as as a misopportunity
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: or like kind of just an indication of their value
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: obsessed kind of approach manifesting in a couple of different
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: deals on either side.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I I so I saw a lot of disappointment,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: like they had to take advantage of this moment. And
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: here's here's the thing, like, what what impact are you
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: getting by trading Drew Smiley or Hector nairis right, those
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: are the two names that were probably that you could
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: justify moving easy, easiest, right, like as far as like
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: not hurting the team next year. Beyond that, you're saying like, Okay,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Jed didn't want he admitted he's not shaking the team
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: up just to make a move.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: He's not making move just to shake the team up.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: That's it's a bad way to go about business. You
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: need to find good value. You get value for Justin Steele,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I don't think it makes sense to trade him. You
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: probably get value for Nico Horner. I don't know what
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: you were getting for him in the at this trade deadline.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: It didn't seem like he was a hot commodity at
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the trade deadline. I don't know how aggressively they were
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: looking to move him either. If they decide to, you know,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: if Matt Shaw has a great final two months, ends
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: up in Triple A for a month and does well there,
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: if he gets a cup of coffee and looks good, yeah,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: I would not be surprised if they talk about it
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: in the winter. You're sacrificing defense in all likelihood there.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: But I don't know what type of return you get
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: for him at the deadline right now. I don't think
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: you just give a guy like that away. The one
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: that everyone seemed to be obsessed with was Jamison tie On,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: as if the.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Cubs have these obvious replacements.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: It really is frustrating to see people say, like, just
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: put just put Jordan Wicks there, Just put Brn Brown there.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Those two guys have a combined like one hundred and
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: thirty innings I can't remember what I wrote, one hundred
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: and something innings in the big leagues combined, and like
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: they don't they have proven nothing in the big leagues.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Don't tell me howvi Risade has proven himself in.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: The in the big leagues.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: He's look he's looking like he's wearing worn down already
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: this season, and he's not at one hundred innings. He
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: has not proved that he can pitch in the big
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: leagues for a full season as a starter. And you're
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: and because people have only watched jameson Tyn for a
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: year and a half, they think he has improven.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: What he can be. He's at worst a league average.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: He had three bad months to start his cub's career,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: and he's been one of the better pitchers in baseball
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: since then, as far as one hundred and twenty innings
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: plus since July first. Essentially, there's like twenty guys with
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: a better ERA in all of baseball. If you have
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty innings plus, he's a really good
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: starting pitcher league average at worst.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: For six out of his seven full seasons, he's.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Had a league average or usually better ERA, and he
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: gives you one hundred and sixty plus innings.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Those guys are hard to find.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Don't act like you can just pick that up on
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: the Just go get a free agent that's going to
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: cost you more than eighteen million. Just go get Corbyn Burns.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: That's gonna cost you thirty five million or something like that.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Max Free gets hurt every season, Okay, if you want
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: to go sign him. It's not easy to fill these
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: these roles. It's maddening to act.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Like it is.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: It's to see people talk about like this is so
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: easy to fill Just trade him and get another guy.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: It's not that simple.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: I mean the Cubs tried to remember where the Cubs
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: tried to do that going into twenty was it twenty
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: twenty one, yes, going into twenty twenty one. Oh, the
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Cubs can just take these guys, Trevor Williams to get
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: him and fix him. Jake Arietta, Yeah, bring back Arieta.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: They'll just make They didn't make the They fell apart
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: that season because they're pitching stunk. Like you cannot just
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: pick these guys up off the scrap heap and make
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: starting pitchers. It's really hard to find reliable starting pitching.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: There's a reason the prices were so high as far
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: as the trade deadline to get started pitching. Every team
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: wants it, so it's not as simple to fill that
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: role as possible. And I don't think people understand how
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: consistent Tyan has been in his career. They're gonna lose
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: a veteran leadership in Kyle Hendricks. You just don't give
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: a guy like that away. And if you need to
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: be bowled over, And who knows what teams wanted to
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: give up for Jameson tye On, it may not have
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: been what the Cubs needed. Yes, prices, there were a
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: lot of deals that seemed to like, you know, return
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: some pretty high, high high prospect capital.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: But I still don't know how that helps them in
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. It may not at all.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: So I think the assumption there that they had to
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: make more moves was just wrong. I think they I
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: just don't think there was enough to matter. Like we
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I think what we were talking about two weeks ago
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: when we were debating or three weeks ago whatever, when
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: we were debating whether they should buy or sell, I
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: think we were right then. There just wasn't that much
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: to sell. Yeah, there just wasn't enough. This wasn't an
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: obvious sell situation for this team in terms of here
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: are all these guys that make a ton of sense
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: to move. There wasn't that, you know, stud guy that
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: everyone wanted like Cody Bellinger last deadline. So I don't
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: think it was a missed opportunity as much as is
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: the reality of the team. Frankly, there's pressure on Jed
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: to win. He has to win next season. It's the
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of pressure here for him to win.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: I know he's not addressing that directly as far as
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: hit whether his jobs on the line or whatever. He
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: can't and I get what he's saying, he can't think
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: about it that way. But I think these two months
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: are important for evaluation's sake and to kind of understand
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: where they're at. And then this offseason everyone's important, right,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Every off season is important because it's your opportunity to
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: reshape the team and try and win the next season.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: But he's heading into really important season for himself personally.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm glad you steered it in that direction because
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: that's exactly what I was thinking of. It's like we
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: can understand a lot of the general market factors of
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: like you know, teams don't give up Addison Russell type
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: prospects anymore in deals. I certainly agree with your take
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: on tie On in terms of like finding a guy
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: like that is extremely hard, trusting these young pictures would
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: be just a terrible mistake. Maybe one or two of
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: them do pop next year, and you know where they
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: stay healthy enough to help you here and there. But
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: like counting on internal replacements when you're a Cups team
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: that has historically struggled to develop pictures from within, and
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: then even when you do have like these bright spots,
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: there's just a wave of injuries crashing into it, like
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: almost immediately after. They don't need you know, whatever, you know,
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: theoretal theoretical prospects you could have gotten. I mean unless
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: I'm like rogue Cardinals employee like hacks into your database
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: and they wiki leaks it. Like we never know all
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: the deals, right, so like, okay, find the deadline, we
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: understand the context and circumstances. This is absolutely on them
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: this offseason two. Okay, you kept a lobbious pieces in place.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Now go out and get a catcher, get a legit hitter,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: get another starter. Like, I know it's easy for us
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: to say that we don't know exactly what the budgets are.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: You know what the price points are gonna be, but
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: like that's not our job, Like it's for them to
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: go figure out and make those impactful moves so that
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: they're not in this same position at the same time
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: next year.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, even if even if Bellinger opts in that they're
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: gonna have like seventy million coming off the books like
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: dead money with like Tucker Barnhart and Trey Mancini and
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: then you have Drew Smiley, you have Kyle Hendrix.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I'm probably missing a few there.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: It possibly hector neis right, there's a solid amount of
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: money coming off that doesn't that isn't like a bunch
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: of players who are like, oh, how do you replace that? Uh,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: you know, production, right, solid players but not irreplaceable, or.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Just increase the payroll of your ownership that too.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, not only yes, yes, definitely one hundred percent
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: agree there and and I and and Jed brought it up.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You said it that they need to find a catcher.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: He agrees, there's there's time to continue to hopefully. I
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: think he said hopefully they improve production.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: The rest of the way. But I don't think that
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: means he's not looking.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Uh he know, he knows that's an area of weakness
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: and that's a way to He admitted they were looking
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: at the deadline to see if they could address.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: That so.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Obvious areas to upgrade in the winter. I do like
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: that he's he's addressed some of those. Uh you know,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: you have some replacements. You have an obvious replacement at
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: third and maybe some younger relievers coming in. These next
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: two months are going to be interesting in the sense
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: that it's all about evaluation in.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: I agree, it's a bummer that we don't get to
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: write about the games the rest of the way. It's
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: just we're right back to twenty twenty two. We had
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: one year where we could write about games in August
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: and September, and it is back to where we were.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: But you know, big picture stuff. The rest of the way,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: we'll see. We'll see where what we can look at Peeker, Armstrong,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: things like that, the young pitchers, those are the topics
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: that we're going to have to pay attention to. Guys
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: staying healthy, guys continuing to develop the offense. Those are
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: the esoparatus. Of course, at wrig Leary, seeing how he
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: does all those things. All those things are what will
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: be monitoring because the final score will not matter as
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: much that that's just the reality the Cubs face. Uh.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Patrick, Well, we'll wrap it up here.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: We'll be back at it in uh shortly, We'll we'll
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: come right back to you soon with a kind of
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: an overview of of things and and then look forward
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: and uh and wrap up the week that was as
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: far as the trade deadline and and uh and all
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: that's happened. Thanks so much for listening.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure to great review all
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: those good things. Subscribe to this.
• 29:28
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• 29:31
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• 29:34
  Speaker 2: where we're covering the Cubs and and all sports for you.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening, and everyone take care