Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Brad Keller gets paid while the Cubs go in a different direction

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Brad Keller gets paid while the Cubs go in a different direction · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sada Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We have not recorded since Brad Keller departed for Philadelphia.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: What a season for Keller and he cashed in on
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that deal on that season like a I mean, just.
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  Speaker 2: Dominant in every way.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I think a little blip before the All Star break,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: but really didn't give up much. He had a stretch
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: after the All Star break where he just wasn't giving
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: up anything. I don't think he gave up anything until
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: like his last outing of the regular season something like that.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: It was ridiculous.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously looked good in the postseason, and now he parlays
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: that into a role which I think is perfect for
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: him where he doesn't have to be the closer and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: he gets to set up for an established closer and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: you know, like a guy that jumped significantly and be low.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Strikeouts were crazy, walks were low, and he was still
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: getting the ground balls that made him, you know, effective
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  Speaker 1: as a starting pitcher. Just a really nice success story
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  Speaker 1: for the Cubs in general.
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  Speaker 3: Very nice person as well. For someone who's like enormous,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: this enormously built monster is very friendly and very introspective
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: and insightful and good.
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  Speaker 4: To talk to. He's got a nice perspective.
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  Speaker 3: After bouncing around to a couple of different organizations, I
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: still can't like this guy was released by the worst
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Major League team of all time, the twenty twenty four
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: White Sox, and for him to go to Boston figure
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: out some things with the Red Sox still get kind
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: of bounced around there, and then to do this kind
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: of offseason reboot, figure some things out, sign a minor
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: league deal with the Cubs, to be closing games of
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Wrigley Field, to be on the mound for some electric
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: postseason moments. It's amazing, and I think his appreciation came through.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: I think fans saw that just in talking to him.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: You know him, Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar a lot of
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: that bullpen guys who were discarded, overlooked, forgotten about, and
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: they came together in a way that they're all at
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: the stage of their career where they really appreciated that
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  Speaker 3: the day to day stuff and the chance to be
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: in a pennant race. They hung out a lot off
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: the field, you know, going for breakfast, coffee on the road,
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  Speaker 3: stuff like that. And I do think Keller's role with
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Philadelphia is what the Cubs would have envisioned if they
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: ever if he ever came back. I mean, he was
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: obviously priced out. They had talked throughout different points of
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: the off season about a return, and it was out
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: there that he had fielded interest in maybe converting back
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: to rotation. That's not how the Cups saw him, That's
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: not how the Phillies see him moving forward. And yeah,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: he lands in a really good spot for him where
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: he doesn't have to pitch the ninth inning every night
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: in Philadelphia. He can rather be part of you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: it's a kind of a mix of arms in.
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  Speaker 4: Front of Iran on an annual World Series contender.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a it's a good it's a good
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: fit for him, and I think it's like being able
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to do this with pitchers over and over again is
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: good for the Cups. Just keep doing this. You've you've
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: kind of built this reputation up since what Tapara and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: those guys Chris Martin, who is still pitching at age forty, Like,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: there's there's a number of these guys dating back to
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: like nineteen and twenty, it seems like the Cubs have
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: been able to do it.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Over and over again.
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  Speaker 1: Keller is probably the best of the success stories in
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the sense that this guy was like there was no
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: history there and now he's as far as being this
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  Speaker 1: type of pitcher and now he's parlayedd In two. Really
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  Speaker 1: one of the better free agent, you know, bullpen reliever
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  Speaker 1: deals of the off season. Great story for him, great
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  Speaker 1: story for the Cubs, Like it works for both of them,
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  Speaker 1: Like this isn't oh no, he's left the Cubs. What
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  Speaker 1: have the Cubs done? You know, the Cubs had interest
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  Speaker 1: and it would have been nice to have a reunion.
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  Speaker 1: I think both sides would have liked that. But that's
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  Speaker 1: like he went and got paid, and I think that's
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  Speaker 1: what ultimately in the end, that's a good scenario for
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  Speaker 1: the Cubs as well for both sides. It's like, look
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  Speaker 1: what we can do. We have a setup here that's
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  Speaker 1: conducive to kind of getting the most out of guys,
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  Speaker 1: and we can we can help you, you know, maximize
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  Speaker 1: your talent. And if you're not gonna get paid here,
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna get paid elsewhere.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a good, good end.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, he he earned it. He really found out
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  Speaker 3: ways to get better. He took to coaching, He applied
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  Speaker 3: a lot of the lessons he learned. I mean, there's
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  Speaker 3: no sort of you know, metric for this, but I
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  Speaker 3: do think he can be a quality reliever year over year.
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  Speaker 3: Like I don't think this was a flash in the pan,
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  Speaker 3: partially because there's no real metric for this, but I
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  Speaker 3: just like the dude looks like he's like could be
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  Speaker 3: a defensive end in the SEC.
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  Speaker 4: Like he's just like and you kind.
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  Speaker 3: Of get like, oh, like the Vlo jump, like once
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  Speaker 3: you kind of get a couple of things in line.
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  Speaker 3: Like just a big, strong, powerful guy who also had
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: carried a lot of innings as a starting pitcher. I
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: think I think the Royals were so bad and I
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: think probably Royals White Sox kind of in the dark
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  Speaker 3: ages there for a while, like during that period when
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  Speaker 3: he was in those organizations. So maybe he didn't get
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  Speaker 3: the best teaching, but he had logged a lot of
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  Speaker 3: starts and had been pretty good, you know, over stretches
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  Speaker 3: on bad teams, And I think when you have that
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  Speaker 3: know how and that foundation underneath you. I think it's
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  Speaker 3: more reasonable to expect him to be a more a
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  Speaker 3: better bet than some of these other kind of like
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  Speaker 3: one year wonders you might be skeptical about. Still, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: he I'm sure he would have liked a three year deal.
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  Speaker 3: I think that was sort of a thought out there.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe he could get three. I don't know if he
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: was offered thee but clearly he took two, which makes
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: me think he probably didn't get three or that that's
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  Speaker 3: kind of how the industry valued him. But yeah, it
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  Speaker 3: comes just gotta go find the next one, right And
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: I think you saw this as well with the decision
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  Speaker 3: to trade Andrew Kittridge back to the Orioles. I believe
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: that was like a nine million dollar option slash a
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: million dollar buyout. Either way, the Cubs did not want
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  Speaker 3: to make that decision that early in the season. Committing
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  Speaker 3: that chunk to a late thirties reliever who's not really
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: wouldn't have been like their set closer. They like some
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  Speaker 3: of those deals later in the winter, which I get.
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  Speaker 3: That's not a criticism of letting the market kind of
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  Speaker 3: filter out.
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  Speaker 4: And then.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you kind of the other thought was, okay,
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  Speaker 3: nine million dollars. Again, it's not like a cheap thing.
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  Speaker 3: Just like if you have nine million dollars, would you
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  Speaker 3: like to take maybe six to nine bets on relievers
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  Speaker 3: and see if two to three of them work or
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  Speaker 3: do you just want to put it all into Andrew
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  Speaker 3: Kitch's age thirty whatever season.
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  Speaker 4: It's it's an interesting debate that they've settled.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, internally right right, They're They're not the team to
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  Speaker 1: set the market on relievers. I think, you know, Mayton
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  Speaker 1: is a good deal. Starting to look like a you know,
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  Speaker 1: a decent discount almost on a on an established reliever
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  Speaker 1: who has a who's had a lot of success. It
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  Speaker 1: seems like almost like two twenty to twenty two is
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  Speaker 1: the going rate right now, and the Cubs got them
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  Speaker 1: for less than that. Uh, that's a that's some nice savings.
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  Speaker 1: That's a that's a good move on their part. The reason,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a big part of this, a big part
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  Speaker 1: of their success right now, I think in their eyes
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  Speaker 1: is Tyler's Zmbro, a guy that you know just joined
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  Speaker 1: the organization about a year now, a little over a
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: year ago, Zombro was hired. Zambro is a guy that
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  Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if Cubs fans are how
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: familiar they are with Zambro, but I would suggest getting
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: familiar with him. He's holding a pretty prominent role in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the organization. He's been promoted to VP of Pitching, which
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: was the role that Craig Breslo eventually was promoted to
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  Speaker 1: after about I think two or three years in the
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  Speaker 1: org and then you know, obviously Breslo went on to
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  Speaker 1: be AGM MVP of Pitching and then now he's running
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: things in Boston, doing pretty well with what he working
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  Speaker 1: with there, what he's working with there, and seems to
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  Speaker 1: be producing a lot of pitching out in Boston, at
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  Speaker 1: least prospect wise.
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  Speaker 2: We'll see how it all pans out at the big
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  Speaker 2: league level. That's the most important thing, obviously, but.
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  Speaker 1: Zambro has an incredible reputation around the league. Patrick Lake
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  Speaker 1: when he was hired, a lot of times I get
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  Speaker 1: this guy's overrated. This guy's a dad, a door who
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  Speaker 1: cares both the scouts and the R and D people.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody that I talked to, they're like, look, he's legit,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: like he and he's got a and he's not like,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't He's a incredibly smart guy that doesn't come across
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  Speaker 1: as like condescending or I'm the smartest guy in this room.
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  Speaker 1: Let me show off how smart I am. He was
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: like a pre med at George Mason. I want to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: say former player if you if you have heard of
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: him and you're not sure why. He's a guy that
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: he took like one hundred and four mile per hour
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  Speaker 1: liner off his skull and like he was in.
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  Speaker 2: Bad shape.
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  Speaker 1: And and you know, obviously recovered. He's all good now
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and tried to make a couple comebacks. I think injuries
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: caught up to him, and eventually I think he was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: helping out the Rays in like a non full time role,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and he works at this place called Tread. If you
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: have kids right now that play baseball, they probably watch
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: YouTube videos of Tread. I know my son does. And
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: that's without me even mentioning any of this stuff to him.
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  Speaker 1: It's just kind of pops up on there. If they
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: like baseball, they may they may have seen some of
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: this guy's videos. And now he's like one of the
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  Speaker 1: most influential voices in this cub's front office. Like he's
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  Speaker 1: he has a huge impact on their pitching decisions. And
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: it's not just MLB acquisitions, It's it's all over the place.
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  Speaker 1: And I think you know that that his role is
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: really you know grown over the last year and and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: this offseason, the the Washington Nationals came after him, offered
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: him the role of pitching coach, and I think there
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: was an opportunity to do a little bit more within
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the organization, and and the Cubs said, you know, we're
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: going to make sure you stay here and then upped
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: his role and then changed gave him like a lot
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of influence at this organization. And I don't think they
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: were you know, disappointed to do that. I think they
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: were happy to do that because they believe that this
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  Speaker 1: guy has a lot of potential impact.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would highly recommend reading two pieces. That's how
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: I wrote. The first one was to sort of like
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: get to know Tyler Zambro that was published shortly after
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: he joined the Cubs organization, kind of sketching out some
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: of his backstory, his motivations, his interests, how he got
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: to this point. And then more recently the Newsy piece
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  Speaker 3: of him being elevated to vice president of pitching and
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: taking on a role, as Sodive said, being involved in
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: a little more in amateur scouting and a.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Little more in.
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  Speaker 3: Player development. And you know, pitching has been a huge
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: focus this offseason. So that's you know what Craig Council says,
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: you never stopped looking for more pitching. That's twenty four
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: seven three sixty five type of endeavor. And so he
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: is involved in that. He is a riser in this organization.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: And I think you'll probably see some of this reflected
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: on how they pivot for the in filling out the
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: rest of their bullpen because a lot of names have
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: gone off the board. Not too many of those closer
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: like surefire closer types still out there after run on
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: relievers that interestingly, a lot of other nationally contenders kind
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: of loaded up their bullpens while the Cubs have been
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: rather picky.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously, I don't think we expected them
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: to be in on Devin Williams or Edwin Diaz. They
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: get their big deals. Luke Weaver, I believe got the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: same deal as Brad Keller, Am I remembering that correctly?
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: A few other names like that. Brad Keller and Luke
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: we were two names we thought they were interested.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: In, and of course they go elsewhere.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: There's just not a lot of high leverage relievers left,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and I think we kind of expected one more. There's
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Pete Fairbanks, There's Sir Anthony Domingez. I'm probably missing a
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: name that's that's out there, but there are a few
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: names left. It doesn't seem like the Cubs are willing
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: to go to the price range that it's taking to
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: get these guys. It has worked out in the past
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: for them. I will say that they have figured out
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: ways to make it work.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: We will see what falls through the cracks. I guess
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: that's often how this works. Where what three weeks from
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Cubs convention at that point last year, I think the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Cubs were still in on Tanner Sky, Yeah, Roki Sasaki
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: still hadn't signed. You know, things like that, We're still
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: happening at that point. Who's going to be available around
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: that time, Who's going to be available early February? When
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: teams are like, Okay, you got to make a decision
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: do you want to be a spring training or not?
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: And they take a one year deal instead of asking
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: for two, or they take a little less money over
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: two years, whatever it may be.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: That may be where we're headed.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: If the Cubs are going to get another big arm,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: or they're just going to do the Hey, we we
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: got a couple.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Of guys we trust. You know.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Obviously, theield Bar is back, and I think that's a
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: big deal. They have two lefties Hoby Milner, Hoby Milner
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: and and field Bar, and then they have their right's
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and Mayton and Palencia and then kind of go from there,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: kind of figure it out. Hope a guy like Colin
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Snyder bounces back, and probably the six other names that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: we've probably not even paid attention to that they've signed
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to minor league deals that they'll continue to add over
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the weeks. Someone will pop up, a young guy will
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: bounce back. Is that the direction that they're going, Well,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: I guess we're going to find out.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Look, I think another year of seeing these results in
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: out of the bullpen helps.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: You have Craig Council making those decisions, who's widely regarded
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: as being a good in game tactician and someone who
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: doesn't burn out his relievers. You have a coaching staff
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: that's year over year been pretty good at assembling this bullpen.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: I think they would prefer to not have to rebuild
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: it on the fly to the extent that they've done.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, council said it at the winter meetings, like
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: we were wrong about our bullpen.
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: If you look back at it.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: At the start of the season, the guys who they
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: thought would play prominent roles sort of receded or disappeared.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: But they want up pitching pretty well, and I just
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: think you can. That has to be squared though, with Okay,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: who's the picture and is there another big time hitter
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: at it?
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: Like if you.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Sign a starting pitcher such as Zat Gallen and somehow
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: bringing Alex Bregman and you kind of go low budget
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: the rest of your bullpen.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: I think people are fine.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: With that if you if Bregman goes somewhere else and
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: the bullpen the rest of the bench is sort of
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: low cost additions, and you're waiting around to sign another
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: starting picture. You miss if you miss under my Gallon,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: we haven't even got into the Rangers, soars Franbur Valdez
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: kind of territory of guys who's marks have not been
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: sort of clearly defined yet. Like I'm like, that's okay
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: if you wait to fill out the bullpen, but you know,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: I want to see once we get past Cubs Convention
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: getting close towards the Super Bowl. Like, if there are
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: some of those bigger names out there that can help
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: other airs of your team, I think the Cub's better
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: better be in on them.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at roster resource right now on Fangrafts,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Patrick and the Cubs luxury tax payroll is estimated at.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Just under two hundred and four million.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, they have money to spend still, if we're
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to believe that they're going to be right around the
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: first luxury tax threshold, which I believe I'm going off
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the top of my head now to forty four.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Is that right? Yes?
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Forty four.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: So they have money to spend if they don't like
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it has to go somewhere. Where's is going to go? Like,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: they can't be sitting it too. I guess we said
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: this last year too after they traded Bellinger, that money
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: is going to be spent, and then it, you know,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: really wasn't.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: So yeah, so.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Hopefully this is not the same situation. There are far
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: too many holes for it to be the same situation.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: They have to add and they have to spend to add.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: So whether it's like you said, whether you go big
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: on Bregman and make a trade for a starter and
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: go small on the bullpen, and I hope it all comes.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Together or whatever it may be.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: There has to be one move left, in my opinion,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: one maybe two, if it's a trade that gets the
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: fan base a little more, you know, settled and feeling
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: confident about the direction of things, because it is.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: It's tough right now.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: When you get that taste of a playoff baseball again,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: you see what a good team looks like, and there
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: are obvious holes and the team clearly isn't as good
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: as anyone wants it to be, including this front office.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: Uh you know they.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I think it's good to remind every ourselves and everyone
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that there's still a lot of the off season left
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and that we shouldn't be hitting the panic button, but
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: also be well aware that, hey, moves need to be made,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: things need to be done, and there's plenty of resources
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: to do that.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: So let's see what they do. But yeah, it does.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: It does get unsettling when you get this close to
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the holidays and the big moves haven't been made.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: And this is not even just like a fan thing.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: It's like honoring the the players who've draw the crowds
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: that fill up Wrigley Field, the players who pour their
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: you know, so much energy into getting to this point,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: and you know, the products that was put out in
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty five was compelling and entertaining, and is a
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: front office that is you know, colored within the lines,
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: so to.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: Speak, of kind of the parameters of what they've been given.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: They've done a pretty good job here of getting to
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: a place of ninety plus wins and winning a playoff round,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: and you would think you would want to build off
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: of that and give some more latitude and more resources to.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: Make that happen, and it very well could.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Like this front office, as you know, as our listeners know,
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: is very conservative by nature, very disciplined, so they're not
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: going to force deals.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: They're not going to.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Make signings and trades just for the sake of doing something.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: But they're well aware of that sort of ticking clock
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: and you know, as options dwindle, and.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: You know, the scarcity of these opportunities.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: When you have a a playoff caliber team on paper
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: right now, but you're we're also a second place team
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: that got bounced by your small market rival. So like,
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: stuff has to get done here over the next couple
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: of months, even if it's not going to happen at
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: the pace we would all like to do it. Like
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: we could just write our you know, off season recap
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: stories and just like you know, Ce and mesa like.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Doesn't really really.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Work that way, right, We're let's hope that there's there's
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: something done by the time we talk to listeners again,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: or you know, maybe not directly with the Cubs, but
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: there's some clarity of Okay, these guys are off the board,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: here are their targets. Something should we should be a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: little closer over the holidays, but even before the holidays,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: we'll see where we're at. But next time we talk
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: to you, it'll be inching closer to the holidays. But
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: we hope to get to We will get two episodes
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: out during the holiday weeks and then talk to you
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: guys and update you guys on what's going on Cubs.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Why.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. This is north Side Territory.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and are on
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Take care