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Top 5 Cubs Who Won’t Be Back In 2026 · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory, presented by Fox one Foul
0:08
Speaker 1: Territory Networks. Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadi Sharma with my partner
0:11
Speaker 1: Patrick Mooney. We are your Cubs beat writers over at
0:15
Speaker 1: the Athletic Patrick. It is officially the off season. Well,
0:21
Speaker 1: the World Series is about to start, so off season
0:24
Speaker 1: for everyone but two teams. So we have our Rows
0:27
Speaker 1: Series matchup Dodgers and Blue Jays. You know, not the
0:34
Speaker 1: two to one seeds. My son corrected me. I said,
0:36
Speaker 1: it's the two one seeds because I just assumed the
0:39
Speaker 1: Dodgers were the one seed, completely forgetting that they were not,
0:43
Speaker 1: and they're not. But they're playing like the one seeds,
0:47
Speaker 1: so should be a hopefully it's an entertaining matchup and
0:52
Speaker 1: not a complete Dodgers beat down. But I have a
0:53
Speaker 1: bad feeling that it may be a Dodgers beat down.
0:56
Speaker 1: But let's get to the Cubs talk and going to
1:00
Speaker 1: touch on some cubs who won't be back or probably
1:06
Speaker 1: won't be back. I think we're going to just stake
1:08
Speaker 1: it out and say these these are cubs that we
1:10
Speaker 1: don't expect coming back in twenty twenty six, and we're
1:15
Speaker 1: going to start with the one that we've been saying,
1:18
Speaker 1: we didn't expect, you know, it was a long shot
1:21
Speaker 1: for him coming back from the moment they traded for him.
1:25
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker. I don't think he's getting the you know,
1:29
Speaker 1: vlad Guerrero Junior deal. I don't think he's maybe not
1:34
Speaker 1: four hundred million. But there are teams that are going
1:37
Speaker 1: to be coming after him, and it just doesn't look
1:40
Speaker 1: like the Cubs. Our feeling has been all along that
1:44
Speaker 1: you know, long shot here for the Cubs to bring
1:47
Speaker 1: him back, and I don't think that's changed much over
1:49
Speaker 1: the past six seven months.
1:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did not take long for potential suitors to emerge.
1:56
Speaker 2: I think the latest one that caught people's attention was
2:00
Speaker 2: in the New York Post and the idea that the
2:03
Speaker 2: Dodgers could be in play for Tucker. And you know,
2:08
Speaker 2: beyond the obvious their money and they seem to get
2:11
Speaker 2: every good player anyways, is you know, a relative hole
2:18
Speaker 2: in their outfields that they'd have a spot to incorporate him.
2:24
Speaker 2: They're always kicking the tires on the top free agents,
2:28
Speaker 2: whether it's you know, Juan Soto, it's how they get
2:33
Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman. They're just in that deal flow and like,
2:40
Speaker 2: if the Dodgers want you to play for their budding dynasty,
2:44
Speaker 2: that probably means there are other teams that are going
2:47
Speaker 2: to have interest in you. And look, I don't I
2:53
Speaker 2: don't know if Kyle Tucker's an LA guy or not.
2:58
Speaker 2: I don't know how if the Dodgers will follow through
3:02
Speaker 2: with this to the extent that they actually land the player.
3:06
Speaker 2: But we've been over some of these other teams before.
3:12
Speaker 2: It just feels like in the moment when he's getting
3:16
Speaker 2: booed and benched at Wrigley Field, and when his playoff
3:21
Speaker 2: performance is a little eh and the injuries pile up,
3:24
Speaker 2: you start to question, wait, what is the market really
3:27
Speaker 2: going to be like for him? And I'm with you,
3:29
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to get to four hundred million,
3:33
Speaker 2: but I think it's going to get to a place
3:35
Speaker 2: that makes the Cubs very uncomfortable. And like you said,
3:41
Speaker 2: from the moment they traded for him, we thought he'd
3:43
Speaker 2: be playing somewhere else in twenty twenty six. And I
3:45
Speaker 2: think a lot of different factors has only reinforced have
3:50
Speaker 2: only reinforced that belief.
3:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Dodgers sound like they'll be in it.
3:57
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees are in it.
4:00
Speaker 1: Mets are probably more focused on spending on pitching, would
4:03
Speaker 1: be my guess. And then Red Sox are another big team,
4:09
Speaker 1: big spending team that could be in on him. And
4:13
Speaker 1: you know, does Tampa Bay, with new ownership his hometown,
4:17
Speaker 1: try and make a splash. It'll be interesting to see
4:21
Speaker 1: the teams that are involved. And I think what I'm
4:23
Speaker 1: most curious about with regards to the Cubs is, so
4:27
Speaker 1: the Cubs, is this purely going to be one of
4:30
Speaker 1: those situations that we've seen over the years where if
4:34
Speaker 1: he lingers on the market, the Cubs are interested. Are
4:38
Speaker 1: the Cubs even going to be in it from you
4:41
Speaker 1: know early on, are they going to be engaged or
4:44
Speaker 1: is this like, hey, let's keep tabs on things, but
4:48
Speaker 1: we're not making aggressive offers. I think that's where I
4:54
Speaker 1: kind of assume it'll go. But sometimes the Cubs, I mean,
4:57
Speaker 1: I think we were a little a little bit surprised
5:00
Speaker 1: that they were trying to be aggressive with showe Heyo Tani.
5:04
Speaker 1: Obviously that's show heyo Tani, and that's the you know,
5:08
Speaker 1: someone who's starting to look like the greatest of all
5:10
Speaker 1: time to play the game, but you know, they they
5:15
Speaker 1: haven't really been in on those top top whether it's
5:19
Speaker 1: pitchers or position players, Juan Soto, when Yamamoto, they weren't
5:25
Speaker 1: even in the you know, they weren't even making legitimate
5:28
Speaker 1: offers for Yamamoto. You know, they were never in on
5:33
Speaker 1: Corbin Burns or Max Freed. Obviously some of these guys
5:39
Speaker 1: don't work out, but it's just like, where are the Cubs.
5:42
Speaker 1: Are they going to be willing to spend on top
5:46
Speaker 1: tier free agents? Are Like, what I've come away from
5:51
Speaker 1: the past few off seasons is the feeling that, no,
5:53
Speaker 1: they don't. They look for things to fall through the
5:57
Speaker 1: cracks when it comes to the top. Look, they look
6:00
Speaker 1: for players to fall through the cracks when it comes
6:02
Speaker 1: to the top of the market. And then maybe they'll
6:05
Speaker 1: sign Cody Bellinger if he doesn't get what he's looking for.
6:08
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll be in on Alex Bregman if he's not
6:11
Speaker 1: getting what he's looking for. Those types of those types
6:15
Speaker 1: of deals. And I'm talking about the past, not even
6:17
Speaker 1: this winter. But you know I wouldn't I wouldn't put
6:22
Speaker 1: them at the top for those guys. They should be
6:25
Speaker 1: interested in anyone and they need a bat. Obviously, they're
6:28
Speaker 1: losing Kyle Tucker if if our assumption is correct, So
6:34
Speaker 1: you know, it'll be interesting to see where if they
6:36
Speaker 1: if they are doing that, And I think that's probably
6:40
Speaker 1: the most frustrating things for fans. I think there's going
6:43
Speaker 1: to be fans that are fine with Kyle Tucker walking.
6:47
Speaker 1: I think the way his season ended the final few
6:51
Speaker 1: months were very frustrating for fans, both the production and
6:54
Speaker 1: the injuries. But the lack of the Hubs being like
7:01
Speaker 1: shopping at the top of the market, I think is justified.
7:05
Speaker 1: Those frustrations are justified. But this is the way it
7:08
Speaker 1: seems like the Cubs are going about business, Like Matthew
7:11
Speaker 1: Boyd great signing, but that's just you know, that's it's
7:15
Speaker 1: a mid market deal. That's not that's that's being aggressive
7:18
Speaker 1: in one sense where it's going and getting you know,
7:22
Speaker 1: targeting a player and going and getting them. But it's not.
7:26
Speaker 1: It's not shopping at the top of the market. And
7:28
Speaker 1: it just seems so it's like the antithesis of what
7:34
Speaker 1: these teams should be. The Chicago, the LA the New
7:37
Speaker 1: York teams should be, and the Cubs are the kind
7:39
Speaker 1: of one of the few that aren't really playing with
7:41
Speaker 1: the big boys when they should be. Uh So, it
7:46
Speaker 1: like the Kyle Tucker stuff. It's it should be coming
7:50
Speaker 1: to an end in the next couple of months. But
7:53
Speaker 1: kind of the story of the Chicago Cubs and and
7:56
Speaker 1: I and I think it's also you know, they they
7:59
Speaker 1: took their one shot at that big trade, the guy
8:03
Speaker 1: with the one year I'm not sure when we'll see
8:06
Speaker 1: that again.
8:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, that seemed like they're sort of reckless in their
8:11
Speaker 2: minds and out of character move. I don't see them
8:16
Speaker 2: like doubling down on that amount of risk after seeing
8:23
Speaker 2: everything that unfold this year. I mean, look, we'll see
8:26
Speaker 2: what we hear at the GM meetings and how things emerge.
8:30
Speaker 2: I think they're on the one hand, this labor deal
8:35
Speaker 2: that's about to expire after twenty twenty six and the
8:39
Speaker 2: possibility of a long lockout, I do think that could
8:43
Speaker 2: tamp down some of the spending or some of the wild,
8:49
Speaker 2: you know, over zealous investments that we've seen in the past.
8:54
Speaker 2: But at the same time too.
8:55
Speaker 1: Like.
8:57
Speaker 2: Certain teams kind of emerge, or an owner could just
8:59
Speaker 2: wake up one and want something done, or a player
9:02
Speaker 2: like Corbyn burns to your point of wanting to be
9:05
Speaker 2: in Arizona and have that security and ability to do
9:13
Speaker 2: spring training near his home like like, stuff like that
9:16
Speaker 2: happens like there, there's always a couple of deals that
9:18
Speaker 2: just kind of come out of nowhere we didn't see coming,
9:21
Speaker 2: and that I think plays to Kyle Tucker's advantage that
9:25
Speaker 2: he has a really long track record of being a
9:28
Speaker 2: great hitter. He's at the the right kind of age
9:33
Speaker 2: for this, and you know, the type of deals that
9:37
Speaker 2: the Cubs are comfortable with are going to be sound
9:40
Speaker 2: appealing to a lot more teams than just the Cubs.
9:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, before we hit a break and talk about other
9:50
Speaker 1: things that the Cubs typically do when it comes to
9:52
Speaker 1: letting players go this offseason, I've been thinking about this
9:57
Speaker 1: and it kind of reminds me of the season after
10:00
Speaker 1: twenty twenty in the sense that teams may be reluctant
10:04
Speaker 1: to spend and spend big, but there's going to be
10:07
Speaker 1: one or two teams like the Padres where that off
10:09
Speaker 1: season that are like, this is our opportunity. Nobody's spending big.
10:13
Speaker 1: We're going to be the aggressors and go and get
10:15
Speaker 1: these players. So, yeah, I completely agree that I think
10:20
Speaker 1: there's some unpredictability due to the CBA almost being done.
10:26
Speaker 1: And this is a big one. This is one that
10:28
Speaker 1: it sounds like there's going to be a big battle,
10:30
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of talk about a cap and
10:32
Speaker 1: all these things and fighting for a cap. So we
10:35
Speaker 1: don't know what spending will be like post twenty twenty six.
10:39
Speaker 1: I just feel like there's going to be one or
10:40
Speaker 1: two teams that try and take advantage of that. And
10:42
Speaker 1: the Cubs just haven't been that team. They they won't
10:46
Speaker 1: be that team. They're not in that fashion. No, so
10:50
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10:53
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Northside Territory presented by Fox one Patrick.
12:00
Speaker 1: When we talk about the way the Cubs behave and
12:04
Speaker 1: what's typical for the Cubs, one kind of obvious area
12:11
Speaker 1: where we can expect some players to not return is
12:15
Speaker 1: the bullpen and look, this bullpen was really good. They
12:18
Speaker 1: really figured things out and it didn't take that long
12:23
Speaker 1: for Craig Counsel to find his guys there. You know,
12:29
Speaker 1: the numbers of the bullpen I don't think represent how
12:32
Speaker 1: good the key contributors were. I think some openers leading
12:38
Speaker 1: to other guys coming in and being relievers at times
12:42
Speaker 1: skews some numbers for the bullpen. But there were five
12:47
Speaker 1: really good relievers. This was a group that started with
12:50
Speaker 1: Ryan Presley as a closer, and he was dfade middle
12:56
Speaker 1: of the season, and they still had this core of
12:59
Speaker 1: five Danel Palencia, Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomerantz, and
13:06
Speaker 1: eventually Andrew Kittridge, who was acquired at the deadline. One
13:11
Speaker 1: of those guys is guaranteed to be back unless he's
13:14
Speaker 1: part of some trade or something like that, and that's
13:16
Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia and then those other four, like I'm not
13:23
Speaker 1: sure if any of them are coming back. I would
13:26
Speaker 1: be surprised if any of them coming back. I think
13:28
Speaker 1: the only one that you have a chance is Keller,
13:32
Speaker 1: and then the rest of them it would be like
13:35
Speaker 1: late off season deals because they don't get the deal
13:39
Speaker 1: they're looking for from others. That's kind of how I
13:43
Speaker 1: look at it.
13:44
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I was going to ask you of those
13:47
Speaker 2: four and if you're saying all four out, we got
13:49
Speaker 2: our five cubs that you know, like the kind of
13:53
Speaker 2: prominent ones, and I'm with you. I thought maybe there's
13:58
Speaker 2: a chance one or two comeback, like under that circumstance
14:04
Speaker 2: of hey, it's almost a super Bowl, like do you
14:06
Speaker 2: have a job yet?
14:07
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah.
14:09
Speaker 2: But otherwise I think Kittridge is sort of an easy
14:14
Speaker 2: decline for them. That it's a nine million option, I
14:17
Speaker 2: believe a one million dollar buyout. Yeah, that's just a
14:21
Speaker 2: lot I think in their minds to commit in terms
14:24
Speaker 2: of not just the money, but also like the roster spot,
14:30
Speaker 2: the opportunity cost, Like it just seems like he was
14:36
Speaker 2: very good for them. He did, you know, what they
14:39
Speaker 2: hoped for when they acquired him. It just seems like
14:44
Speaker 2: very much out of their character to lock themselves in
14:49
Speaker 2: that early, like basically you know, before or around the
14:54
Speaker 2: GM meetings to say like, oh, yeah, he's one of
14:56
Speaker 2: our guys. I think they would look at that eight
15:00
Speaker 2: million dollars and say, well, what if we're able to
15:04
Speaker 2: sign I don't know, six guys to minor league deals. Yeah,
15:12
Speaker 2: and maybe two of those guys pop, Like I just
15:15
Speaker 2: this is how they how they look at kind of
15:17
Speaker 2: the volume game and the bullpen. I think Brad Keller
15:21
Speaker 2: had such a good experience and the Cubs were so
15:25
Speaker 2: on top of his evolution as a pitcher that I
15:29
Speaker 2: think they have to stay in touch and that the
15:33
Speaker 2: Cubs might be willing to overextend themselves a little bit
15:35
Speaker 2: and Keller might be willing to be a little more
15:38
Speaker 2: open minded to hear what they have to say. But
15:40
Speaker 2: I still think he was so good last year. And
15:46
Speaker 2: you were writing about Keller from the startup spring training
15:48
Speaker 2: like he was opening eyes in the Cactus League before
15:51
Speaker 2: he had a great regular season and an eye opening
15:56
Speaker 2: postseason as well. That like teams were already on him
16:01
Speaker 2: at that point and that was just like seeing his
16:03
Speaker 2: stuff and his numbers in meaningless exhibition games in Arizona.
16:09
Speaker 2: So when you stack on a legit impactful major league
16:13
Speaker 2: season on top of that, it just seems like, I
16:17
Speaker 2: don't know, the Dodgers go sign him like just something
16:20
Speaker 2: like along those lines. And then Fieldbalre palmerdes again, you
16:26
Speaker 2: know very you know they're not old in real life,
16:30
Speaker 2: but in baseball terms. They're pretty old, and they were
16:32
Speaker 2: looked like their career had stalled out at different points
16:37
Speaker 2: before this, So maybe there's a way. But I'm with you.
16:40
Speaker 2: I think kind of new blood, new opportunity is how
16:44
Speaker 2: they're gonna look at it. I think the Cubs are
16:45
Speaker 2: probably excited that they have, like all these spots left,
16:49
Speaker 2: almost have to entirely rebuild a bullpen over the course
16:53
Speaker 2: of an offseason.
16:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's it's incredibly risky. And you when
16:58
Speaker 1: you do this and you're turning over a bullpen, you
17:01
Speaker 1: just you're leaving so much up to chance, because bullpen arms,
17:05
Speaker 1: you can you can nail the picks. And then those
17:07
Speaker 1: guys get injured or they just have an off season
17:10
Speaker 1: where with a ton of bad luck and and things
17:13
Speaker 1: and they end up with a five E R instead
17:15
Speaker 1: of a two e R because a couple a few
17:17
Speaker 1: blow up outings. You just don't know how these guys
17:21
Speaker 1: are gonna look. Jeff Hoffman and Luke Weaver are guys
17:24
Speaker 1: that kind of remind me of Brad Keller in a sense,
17:27
Speaker 1: and and they they had they were they're good relievers,
17:30
Speaker 1: but their eras weren't, you know, as dominant as they
17:33
Speaker 1: were last year or twenty twenty four compared to twenty five.
17:39
Speaker 1: I you know, I wouldn't be surprised if Brad Keller
17:42
Speaker 1: ends up with one of those aggressive spending teams that
17:46
Speaker 1: are kind of mid to lower tier. Maybe that's not fair,
17:51
Speaker 1: Like in my head, I'm thinking like Texas or that
17:54
Speaker 1: that's not fair for Texas to call them mid or
17:56
Speaker 1: lower tier. They recently won a World Series, but like
17:59
Speaker 1: the Angels, they love to spend, and then they just
18:03
Speaker 1: don't do anything in the regular season as far as production.
18:07
Speaker 1: And I could see him wanting to kind of come
18:11
Speaker 1: back to the Cubs just talking to him and knowing
18:13
Speaker 1: like listening to what he's had to say over the
18:16
Speaker 1: course of the season. He's not with some tiny agency
18:19
Speaker 1: that pushes uh, pushes there or that kind of lets
18:23
Speaker 1: their players kind of dictate those things as much. And
18:26
Speaker 1: that's you know, these bigger agencies are gonna say, look,
18:28
Speaker 1: you got to take the most money. Like if it's
18:31
Speaker 1: if it's like barely a difference, then maybe maybe we're
18:35
Speaker 1: you know, you can talk about it. But like there's
18:38
Speaker 1: my guess is those types of teams are going to
18:40
Speaker 1: offer a bigger deal. I mean, maybe the Phillies. The
18:42
Speaker 1: Phillies kind of makes sense as an aggressive team that
18:45
Speaker 1: need bullpen help. Uh the I'm just kind of throwing
18:49
Speaker 1: out like that. Kind that's kind of where my mind
18:52
Speaker 1: goes with Brad Keller. It the Cubs somehow and Keller
18:58
Speaker 1: decide like, hey, let's try you as a starter and
19:01
Speaker 1: kind of do the Clay Holmes idea. I guess it
19:05
Speaker 1: would be different than Clay Holmes because Brad Keller was recently,
19:08
Speaker 1: very recently a starter, and I know he's he's wondered it.
19:13
Speaker 1: He's wondered, you know, could I could I be a
19:16
Speaker 1: starter again? I think that would be an interesting thing
19:21
Speaker 1: to discuss. It's just the price, Like, eventually, I think
19:26
Speaker 1: we're going to get to a price that doesn't make sense.
19:29
Speaker 1: As far as the Cubs think, the lefties would be
19:33
Speaker 1: my concern. It's so hard to get good lefties. They
19:36
Speaker 1: had two really good ones that they kind of, you know,
19:41
Speaker 1: just found randomly, especially Pomranz. Theal Bar wasn't random, but
19:45
Speaker 1: I mean nobody was clamoring to pick up Caleb Thelbar.
19:48
Speaker 1: It's just hard to do this over and over again.
19:50
Speaker 1: And I agree with your point is like they look
19:53
Speaker 1: at it, it's like this could be a good thing almost,
19:56
Speaker 1: and I agree, Like I think in some instances they
19:58
Speaker 1: kind of look at it like, look, can go get
20:01
Speaker 1: ten guys in the off season, have them compete and
20:04
Speaker 1: look at their stuff over the spring training and be
20:07
Speaker 1: like and then like there are teams like the Dodgers
20:10
Speaker 1: that couldn't have had Brad Keller make their team because
20:13
Speaker 1: they signed too many guys guaranteed contracts and they have spots.
20:19
Speaker 1: The Cubs almost like that flexibility, and it's you know,
20:25
Speaker 1: it doesn't guarantee them anything by them resigning those guys too.
20:28
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to say like this is the
20:30
Speaker 1: bad path. You can't like it. That gives you no
20:33
Speaker 1: certainty either. It's not like just because those guys did
20:35
Speaker 1: it last year, I would like half of these guys
20:38
Speaker 1: are going to struggle, if not all four of them,
20:40
Speaker 1: you know, in twenty twenty six. It's just how relievers are.
20:43
Speaker 1: So I'm not against this idea. It's just so hard
20:46
Speaker 1: to do it over and over again. And it's just
20:48
Speaker 1: like always, the concern about a bullpen for me is
20:51
Speaker 1: I just don't know what it's gonna be a year
20:52
Speaker 1: to year, sometimes a month to month. So it's it's
20:56
Speaker 1: a risk. I it's it's uns settling to always have to,
21:01
Speaker 1: you know, wonder what a bullpen is going to be,
21:04
Speaker 1: and it's pointless for us to try and predict it. Uh,
21:07
Speaker 1: we're kind of making guesses. Uh. You know, am I
21:10
Speaker 1: glad that I was right about Brad Keller? Sure?
21:13
Speaker 4: Like?
21:13
Speaker 1: That feels good. It was luck like people told me
21:17
Speaker 1: that he looked good and and it turned out that
21:19
Speaker 1: he stayed healthy and did all that stuff and was
21:22
Speaker 1: really good. It's it's a random guessing game half the time,
21:28
Speaker 1: you know, for them, it's a little bit more of
21:30
Speaker 1: a science. I would hope they're not guessing as much. Uh.
21:35
Speaker 1: And they have the right, hopefully the right pieces in
21:37
Speaker 1: place as far as talent evaluators and and whatever their
21:40
Speaker 1: model is is picking up and and all those things.
21:43
Speaker 1: So well, we'll see what direction the bullpen goes. But
21:46
Speaker 1: I think that's a big area where it's just we're
21:48
Speaker 1: gonna see a ton of turnover, and we're gonna have
21:50
Speaker 1: a lot of questions and and and wonder like, how
21:54
Speaker 1: how good can that area be next year? And is
21:57
Speaker 1: it going to hold him back? Let's talk about uh
22:00
Speaker 1: some you know, players that were just unsure about or
22:05
Speaker 1: or you know that would be surprises in our eyes
22:07
Speaker 1: if they're not back. Take a quick break.
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23:24
Speaker 1: Welcome back to North Side Territory presented by Fox One. Patrick.
23:28
Speaker 1: I feel like there are names that you know we've
23:32
Speaker 1: heard bandied about about maybe being traded. And when I
23:36
Speaker 1: say heard, I mean like just like people throwing their
23:39
Speaker 1: names out there, whether it's you know, on social media
23:42
Speaker 1: or hearing it on sports radio, or just casual conversations,
23:47
Speaker 1: not within like not not our sourced conversations as much.
23:54
Speaker 1: One name that you know, I think we always here
23:58
Speaker 1: wondered if could the Cubs trade him open up a
24:00
Speaker 1: spot for Owen Casey or or Kevin Alcantra is Ian
24:05
Speaker 1: Hap look. Ian Hap has one more year left on
24:08
Speaker 1: his deal. He has a no trade clause. Ian Happ
24:13
Speaker 1: loves Chicago. He has said this multiple times to both
24:18
Speaker 1: both of US and other members of the media. How
24:22
Speaker 1: veterans that come to Chicago used to tell him when
24:26
Speaker 1: he was younger and first came up, the grass isn't
24:28
Speaker 1: always greener. You know, this is a great place to play.
24:32
Speaker 1: The fans love you, They treat you well. In this organization,
24:36
Speaker 1: you know it generally there's a decent amount of winning.
24:40
Speaker 1: And like, it's just it's where he wants to be
24:43
Speaker 1: and and his wife is from Chicago. He wants to start,
24:46
Speaker 1: he wants to be here. This is where he wants
24:49
Speaker 1: to be. If anything, he's going to be looking to
24:52
Speaker 1: get years added on to that one year. I don't
24:56
Speaker 1: think there's a scenario where if the Cubs approach him,
25:00
Speaker 1: he's going to accept a trade, Like it would have
25:04
Speaker 1: to be a really bad situation where they're essentially, you know,
25:10
Speaker 1: like they're souring a relationship, and I just don't envision
25:14
Speaker 1: them doing that. And I can't. I just don't see
25:17
Speaker 1: it's in area where he would agree to any of that.
25:21
Speaker 2: No, it's funny. I was just going over some of
25:24
Speaker 2: the audio from Milwaukee after that Game five loss, and
25:30
Speaker 2: you know, it was half talking about when he first
25:34
Speaker 2: broke in with the Cubs and his quote here I
25:38
Speaker 2: fell in love with this city and this fan base
25:40
Speaker 2: and being a Cub because my first year we went
25:42
Speaker 2: all the way to the NLCS. I saw that atmosphere.
25:47
Speaker 2: I saw what those guys got to see in those
25:48
Speaker 2: playoff games. At really I knew how special it was,
25:51
Speaker 2: And I had veteran guys that told me how special
25:53
Speaker 2: it was. They said, Hey, the grass isn't always greener.
25:56
Speaker 2: This is a pretty special place. He continues. This is
25:59
Speaker 2: how it never ceases to amaze me when veteran players
26:03
Speaker 2: who've been all over the place come here and have
26:04
Speaker 2: a full season here or parts of the season here.
26:07
Speaker 2: At the end of the season, they're saying, Hey, this
26:09
Speaker 2: is the most fun I've ever had playing baseball, or
26:11
Speaker 2: this is the most special place I've ever played baseball. Like,
26:15
Speaker 2: so keep that in the back of your mind the
26:18
Speaker 2: next time you hear an Ian Hap trade rumor or
26:21
Speaker 2: an Ian Hap fantasy baseball trade scenario. Like, I don't know,
26:27
Speaker 2: I guess never say never. Weird stuff happens in the offseason,
26:30
Speaker 2: But there's absolutely no inkling to where this makes sense
26:35
Speaker 2: to where he would wave it. And also, like, if
26:38
Speaker 2: you're the Cubs, having a solid, reliable player on a
26:43
Speaker 2: reasonable salary on a one year deal is not the
26:48
Speaker 2: end of the world. Like this is kind of like
26:51
Speaker 2: how this team is built in terms of flexibility, dependability,
26:57
Speaker 2: And yeah, I wouldn't waste too much time thinking about
27:02
Speaker 2: Ian apptrade scenarios when he's almost certainly your opening day
27:06
Speaker 2: left fielder in twenty twenty six.
27:10
Speaker 1: Here's a player that I am not as convinced is
27:14
Speaker 1: coming back, but I think I'm leaning coming back just
27:20
Speaker 1: because pitching depth is so important starting pitching depth is
27:24
Speaker 1: so important. But like that, and I think we've discussed
27:28
Speaker 1: this already, and you kind of pointed out how like
27:31
Speaker 1: we shouldn't let the last month month plus kind of
27:34
Speaker 1: color our opinion too much, and I think I am,
27:36
Speaker 1: I'm letting it color my opinion way too much. But
27:39
Speaker 1: showeda minaga I just and it's it really has to
27:43
Speaker 1: do with this front office, the way they look at
27:46
Speaker 1: salaries and the way like it's a model oriented group.
27:50
Speaker 1: What does the model say about showdas three year option
27:56
Speaker 1: and if he doesn't get that picked up, he's not
28:00
Speaker 1: you know, he's not coming back for that what is
28:02
Speaker 1: it fifteen million dollars he could opt in for fifteen plus?
28:09
Speaker 1: That's the only thing that I hesitate with, like the
28:12
Speaker 1: pitching depth, all that stuff. His track record of you know,
28:16
Speaker 1: basically a year and four months of great pitching. I
28:20
Speaker 1: know he was injured in there a little bit, but
28:22
Speaker 1: it was basically the final month and a half and
28:25
Speaker 1: then what he made two he had two outings in
28:30
Speaker 1: the postseason and one was dreadful. So yeah, Like I
28:36
Speaker 1: think I'm letting recency bias impact me here too much,
28:39
Speaker 1: is essentially what I'm saying. But I just don't know,
28:41
Speaker 1: Like I don't feel strongly about him definitely coming back,
28:45
Speaker 1: but I'm not convinced that they'll let him go.
28:49
Speaker 2: Well you feel that way because you know how they
28:50
Speaker 2: think that they're going to be very skeptical and wary
28:54
Speaker 2: of a three year commitment to a pitcher in his
28:57
Speaker 2: early to mid thirties. And I still think there's a
29:03
Speaker 2: scenario in which he comes back because of the qualifying offer. Like,
29:06
Speaker 2: without the qualifying offer, I would probably lean heavily towards
29:10
Speaker 2: he's gone. Again. That's not necessarily what I would recommend
29:14
Speaker 2: if I was a special assistant in the room, because
29:16
Speaker 2: I'm with you, I think pitching, good pitching is hard
29:20
Speaker 2: to find and very difficult to maintain, and it seems
29:24
Speaker 2: like both sides have invested a lot in this, and
29:28
Speaker 2: it's just hard for me to totally ignore all the
29:30
Speaker 2: great things they said about Shoda for like almost two years.
29:36
Speaker 2: But knowing how they operate, they're going to be very
29:40
Speaker 2: skeptical of that type of long term commitment at this stage.
29:46
Speaker 2: So if they decline a three year option, he will
29:52
Speaker 2: almost certainly decline his player option, which, given the complicated
29:58
Speaker 2: nature of this, is essentially two years, years and thirty
30:00
Speaker 2: and a half million, because he would have two player
30:03
Speaker 2: option stagger, so that would be the baseline guarantee. I
30:08
Speaker 2: think in that scenario he would seriously consider the qualifying
30:13
Speaker 2: offer worth one year slightly north of twenty two million dollars,
30:19
Speaker 2: and then that way he could go and try to
30:22
Speaker 2: have another cy Young Award caliber season. But I just think,
30:27
Speaker 2: you know, the Cubs can't take show to for granted
30:30
Speaker 2: of like, oh, well, he's had a good experience here,
30:32
Speaker 2: like we could sort of do whatever we want, like
30:33
Speaker 2: he's going to have leverage, and I think teams that
30:37
Speaker 2: didn't maybe make it to October will look at that
30:41
Speaker 2: and be like, this is kind of an interesting attractive
30:45
Speaker 2: player and honestly, if he wasn't on the Cubs, the
30:47
Speaker 2: Cubs would be looking at that of like, wow, maybe
30:49
Speaker 2: we could get a discount here. Maybe he's on the rebound.
30:52
Speaker 2: So that's gonna that will be resolved, I'd imagine relatively
30:57
Speaker 2: early in the offseason. But it is a very important
31:00
Speaker 2: piece on the front end of this offseason that I
31:02
Speaker 2: think we'll illuminate a lot.
31:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it'll tell us a lot as far
31:07
Speaker 1: as you know, what if they have how much money
31:11
Speaker 1: they have available, I guess what we won't. It's not
31:13
Speaker 1: super clear what what their budget will be this this winter,
31:17
Speaker 1: but we'll start to get a better idea as we
31:20
Speaker 1: get closer to the GM meetings and into and get
31:22
Speaker 1: to the GM meetings. Uh. There are some obvious names
31:26
Speaker 1: that won't be coming back. I think that we didn't
31:28
Speaker 1: really touch on Justin Turner, probably seen the last of
31:31
Speaker 1: him with the Cubs, Willie Castro, Taylor Rogers, Michael Yeah,
31:39
Speaker 1: Michael Soroka. Uh. You know a lot of those trade
31:43
Speaker 1: deadline deals or smaller deals or veteran additions. Uh, you know,
31:49
Speaker 1: they didn't tear the cover off the ball or or
31:51
Speaker 1: deliver on the mounds as hoped, but uh, I think
31:55
Speaker 1: justin Turner's value, we maybe we'll end up talking about
31:58
Speaker 1: that in the long run, because I think players will
32:00
Speaker 1: still mention him years down the line, guys like Pete R. Armstrong. Uh,
32:05
Speaker 1: but yeah, those are some obvious ones. Uh, you know,
32:09
Speaker 1: is there a surprise trade coming? Uh? Do they start
32:12
Speaker 1: acting like the Brewers or the Guardians or the Rays
32:18
Speaker 1: and start getting rid of five plus guys everybody? Nico?
32:25
Speaker 1: I mean, look like I'd be shocked by that one.
32:29
Speaker 1: Like and frankly, like we we talked about that last offseason,
32:32
Speaker 1: and I can't believe like we even thought it was.
32:36
Speaker 1: Like now I look back and I'm just like, what
32:38
Speaker 1: you would trade? Nika Horner? Like, Hey, I can't put
32:41
Speaker 1: anything past him. Because if that's the way they need
32:43
Speaker 1: to behave, do they start doing stuff like this? Uh,
32:46
Speaker 1: say Suzuki has a no trade, but I think he'd
32:50
Speaker 1: be more willing to wave it. If push comes to
32:53
Speaker 1: shove then then Ian happ I doubt they Like that's
32:57
Speaker 1: such a step back on offense, Like You're it's just
33:00
Speaker 1: a like, you know, you just have a lot of questions.
33:03
Speaker 1: But if this is the direction they want to go,
33:05
Speaker 1: do they start doing the You know, the Brehs are
33:07
Speaker 1: already talked like it's already rumors about Freddy Peralta, Right,
33:10
Speaker 1: is this the direction they go? Do they kind of
33:13
Speaker 1: lean into that type of stuff. We haven't really seen
33:17
Speaker 1: it from them, but are these the type of unpopular
33:20
Speaker 1: decisions that they may decide to make to try and
33:24
Speaker 1: make sure that, hey, we're not spending two hundred and
33:27
Speaker 1: sixty million, but this is how you build a sustainable organization.
33:31
Speaker 1: I don't love that, you know, I don't think I
33:33
Speaker 1: think fans would hate it obviously, but I just can't
33:37
Speaker 1: rule it out because I don't know what direction they're
33:39
Speaker 1: going yet. Well, we'll have more information soon, you know
33:42
Speaker 1: where we're We'll be heading to Vegas in jeez, what
33:45
Speaker 1: is it two weeks? Three weeks, So we'll be out
33:48
Speaker 1: there soon enough. We'll get more information as that approaches
33:53
Speaker 1: and have a better idea. But that's just those are
33:56
Speaker 1: some you know, ideas to throw around to kind of
34:00
Speaker 1: consider as the off season approaches and free agency starts up.
34:05
Speaker 1: Oh man, it's starting all over again. The hot stove
34:09
Speaker 1: will eventually be upon us. It's a good time. Thanks
34:12
Speaker 1: so much for listening. This is Northside Territory presented by
34:15
Speaker 1: Fox One Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
34:20
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
34:23
Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs. Thanks
34:26
Speaker 1: for listening to everyone. Take care,