Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs mailbag: Are the Cubs resigned to going after second-tier free agents? And have they learned their lesson in the bullpen?

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Cubs mailbag: Are the Cubs resigned to going after second-tier free agents? And have they learned their lesson in the bullpen? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Like, I don't care that your internal what your internal
0:02
Speaker 1: projections say. Better be a better team. You need to
0:06
Speaker 1: make the playoff after you just missed it last year.
0:13
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:17
Speaker 1: Sahad Sharma with my co host Patrick Mooney, where your
0:20
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, the Cubs
0:24
Speaker 1: have done the bare minimum this week so far, you know,
0:27
Speaker 1: winning two of three from each of the Toronto and Detroit.
0:33
Speaker 1: You know, they need a sweep here for us to
0:35
Speaker 1: really start diving into playoff talk, and they need it. Frankly,
0:40
Speaker 1: they need Atlanta to stop winning series as well. They're
0:43
Speaker 1: keeping pace with Atlanta after that sweep. Essentially they've kept pace.
0:48
Speaker 1: So they need Atlanta to lose and they need to
0:53
Speaker 1: get going. They can't. This isn't time. I think I
0:55
Speaker 1: wrote essentially this yesterday or for today was you know,
0:59
Speaker 1: like they win the series like this in in May
1:02
Speaker 1: and June. We're having different conversations right now. For sure,
1:05
Speaker 1: winning series is a good thing. I'm not I'm not
1:08
Speaker 1: complaining about that. I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
1:10
Speaker 1: At this point that backed themselves into a corner. It's
1:13
Speaker 1: just kind of this is where we are. So so
1:15
Speaker 1: we're not gonna we're not gonna spend a lot of
1:17
Speaker 1: time talking about the wild Card race until they give
1:21
Speaker 1: us a reason to. Patrick would be asked for questions.
1:25
Speaker 1: The fans immediately responded, so why why don't why don't
1:30
Speaker 1: we get to that and and hear what the fans
1:33
Speaker 1: want to know about?
1:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's I think we got some some good ones.
1:38
Speaker 3: I think, honestly, like what we're interested in, what we're
1:41
Speaker 3: writing about is some of the stuff that like.
1:44
Speaker 2: Immediately surfaced on Twitter here.
1:47
Speaker 3: So let's start with aptly named Cubs account. The stars
1:52
Speaker 3: are perfectly aligned in terms of roster and payroll for
1:57
Speaker 3: a Wan Soto chase. What is the point of Jed
2:00
Speaker 3: Hoyer's cherished financial flexibility if the best they'll ever attempt
2:04
Speaker 3: to do is spreads around to second tier free agents?
2:10
Speaker 2: Ouch, what do you got?
2:11
Speaker 1: Sided? Yeah? You know, that's it's a fair question. And
2:16
Speaker 1: I don't know, like what more I can say for
2:19
Speaker 1: my end other than I think they should go after
2:21
Speaker 1: Juan Soto, like he's the right type of free agent.
2:25
Speaker 1: I think that you spend insane amounts of money on
2:28
Speaker 1: he's he's twenty five, he's put up Hall of Fame
2:31
Speaker 1: numbers already. He You know, there are probably some questions
2:37
Speaker 1: right defense, which I believe he's improved upon this year.
2:42
Speaker 1: There are gonna be questions about like clubhouse fit, right
2:46
Speaker 1: because I think there were rumors that he wasn't a
2:47
Speaker 1: perfect clubhouse fit in San Diego. Well, some of that
2:51
Speaker 1: is just like when you have like six superstars or
2:54
Speaker 1: guys that think they're superstars. The Cubs don't have a superstar.
2:58
Speaker 1: Let him be the superstar. Let him enjoy himself on
3:01
Speaker 1: the field. And I don't know, some would call it antics.
3:05
Speaker 1: I think it's just like having fun on the field.
3:07
Speaker 1: The stuff that he does when he takes a ball
3:09
Speaker 1: and things like that, or challenging a picture to throw
3:12
Speaker 1: more strikes things. Here's the bottom line. He's a stud
3:15
Speaker 1: and he changes the lineup. Hit him two, hit him
3:18
Speaker 1: three and four, wherever you want to hit him. Everyone's
3:20
Speaker 1: going to benefit from it. From his presence, it changes everything.
3:25
Speaker 1: Why isn't Jed going to do that? Well, first of all,
3:28
Speaker 1: like it's not one hundred percent guaranteed that he doesn't,
3:31
Speaker 1: but I would put it like ninety nine it's just
3:36
Speaker 1: how you know. I don't think you and I are
3:39
Speaker 1: like off, like on different pages on this right, So
3:43
Speaker 1: I don't want to speak for you, but like everything
3:46
Speaker 1: that we've gathered and everything that we've watched this front
3:50
Speaker 1: office do suggests this isn't the route they're going. Now,
3:55
Speaker 1: does that mean it's an utter failure? Does that mean
3:57
Speaker 1: they can't win?
3:58
Speaker 4: No?
3:59
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's the quickest path and uh
4:05
Speaker 1: and not only the quickest paths of success, but also
4:08
Speaker 1: also it feels the most secure, the most safe, and
4:11
Speaker 1: that's just what I'm talking about is wins on the field. Now,
4:15
Speaker 1: this guy talked the Cubs account said the magic word
4:19
Speaker 1: financial flexibility. I don't think that's just on Jed to
4:23
Speaker 1: be fair, like ownership wants that ownership is the one
4:29
Speaker 1: If Jed was told you have a you have a
4:32
Speaker 1: limit of two hundred and eighty million for the next
4:34
Speaker 1: six years or whatever that is, for the next decade,
4:37
Speaker 1: you can go up to you can go up to
4:39
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty million, and as the taxes go up,
4:43
Speaker 1: you can go up push a three hundred million whatever
4:45
Speaker 1: whatever it is. I think Jed would be like, Okay,
4:48
Speaker 1: let's be a little bit more aggressive. Let's go get
4:50
Speaker 1: Wan Soto. This is this is about like Jed's trying
4:53
Speaker 1: to work with what he has. So yes, tommerk Iss
4:57
Speaker 1: love to say, like Jed's allowed to spend however he wants,
4:59
Speaker 1: use that money how he wants. But it's a budget,
5:01
Speaker 1: it's a real budget. And the reality is like the
5:05
Speaker 1: top tennis teams now in payroll go over the first
5:08
Speaker 1: threshold essentially, that's like where it is. So going over
5:12
Speaker 1: that first threshold isn't even that big of a deal anymore.
5:15
Speaker 1: The CUB should be a top five payroll. They should
5:17
Speaker 1: be spending more. They're just not. And they the way
5:19
Speaker 1: they act, the way they spend that And this isn't
5:22
Speaker 1: just on Jed, but Jed will you know, Jed's trying
5:25
Speaker 1: to find a way to win and not make it
5:28
Speaker 1: so they fall off a cliff, So you know, it
5:31
Speaker 1: spread the blame around. I'm not saying don't blame Jed,
5:34
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying, like it's not like Jed's like
5:36
Speaker 1: I don't like Juan Soto or I don't want players
5:39
Speaker 1: like Juan Soto. He's trying to make that that financial
5:42
Speaker 1: flexibility is important and it's something that ownership likes as well.
5:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean every employee has a boss, right And
5:50
Speaker 3: you go back to what Tom Rickets said at the
5:52
Speaker 3: start of Spinning training referencing Scott Boris and his signature
5:57
Speaker 3: move of going over the head of a GM or
6:00
Speaker 3: a team president to talk directly at the ownership level.
6:03
Speaker 3: And that is what happened in large part in San
6:08
Speaker 3: Diego before Peter Sidler passed away. It's been kind of
6:13
Speaker 3: this pipeline in Philadelphia with their owner John Middleton. You know,
6:20
Speaker 3: there are certain owners who want to be involved in
6:25
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's like a great thing overall
6:29
Speaker 3: of like negotiating actual contracts are kind of inserting themselves
6:33
Speaker 3: and looking for the spotlight. That's not always a great move,
6:37
Speaker 3: but that is how a lot of the or enough
6:42
Speaker 3: of the you know, premium level Boris deals get done.
6:47
Speaker 3: And that is something that Tom Ricketts is simply not
6:50
Speaker 3: willing to engage in. And I think the next question
6:55
Speaker 3: to kind of answer what Cubs account was getting at,
6:58
Speaker 3: I think Davy base Ball makes a point that I
7:01
Speaker 3: wanted to get into of why should we expect anything
7:05
Speaker 3: different from Jed Hoyer and company in the lame duck
7:07
Speaker 3: off season. It hasn't worked for three straight years. I'm
7:10
Speaker 3: expecting the same next year. And I think these two
7:14
Speaker 3: ideas line up of like even within an off season,
7:19
Speaker 3: things changed. I go back to after the twenty fifteen
7:23
Speaker 3: NLCS being at those GM meetings and THEO being really
7:27
Speaker 3: annoyed and frustrated and sort of like resigned to, well, yeah,
7:31
Speaker 3: it'll be really nice to do whatever two nine figure
7:35
Speaker 3: deals in one offseason, and it sounded like, well, until
7:40
Speaker 3: we get our TV situation resolved, we're kind of in
7:42
Speaker 3: this spot. And then THEO went back to Chicago or
7:45
Speaker 3: this process had already started, and he and you know,
7:49
Speaker 3: several people in the business and baseball sides decided to
7:51
Speaker 3: do this, like two off seasons and one idea, and
7:54
Speaker 3: all of a sudden you had Heyward sober and it
7:59
Speaker 3: took a lot of a lot of.
8:00
Speaker 2: Different things kind of coming together.
8:03
Speaker 3: They use those resources off that surprising NLCS run so
8:07
Speaker 3: like even Cody Bellinger right like, there was only one
8:12
Speaker 3: scenario in which he'd come.
8:13
Speaker 2: Back to the Cubs and it happened.
8:16
Speaker 5: And so.
8:18
Speaker 3: I do also think that they have shifted a bit.
8:22
Speaker 3: I think the Michael Bush trade, the parades trade, even
8:25
Speaker 3: though the Paraders trade to this extent you wrote about
8:27
Speaker 3: it for us on the athletic doesn't look great at
8:30
Speaker 3: the moment. But those are different types of deals that
8:34
Speaker 3: the you and Jed didn't traditionally.
8:38
Speaker 1: Make.
8:39
Speaker 3: You know, I think they got maybe the best pitcher
8:43
Speaker 3: on the free agent market last offseason in signing Shota,
8:47
Speaker 3: Like they're good at finding guys like Shoto or Jamison
8:51
Speaker 3: Tile Like, there are things that they do well. And
8:58
Speaker 3: I think you also have to take an account that
9:01
Speaker 3: the lame duck pressure that is mentioned that is a
9:04
Speaker 3: factor they know they need to make the playoffs next year.
9:08
Speaker 3: We don't know exactly the extent of Craig Council's influence,
9:11
Speaker 3: but he's a different actor within this who will have
9:14
Speaker 3: had a full year managing the club and will have had,
9:18
Speaker 3: you know, clearly much more fully developed relationships within the
9:22
Speaker 3: front office and the baseball op side than he did
9:26
Speaker 3: when he first came on.
9:28
Speaker 2: From the Brewers. And just I don't know, off seasons
9:32
Speaker 2: are weird.
9:33
Speaker 3: I feel like you kind of go into it with
9:34
Speaker 3: some preconceived notion that you just never quite no. I
9:38
Speaker 3: go back to something Crane Kenny had said of last
9:42
Speaker 3: off season kind of sitting down with you or really
9:45
Speaker 3: every off season of like.
9:49
Speaker 2: Him taking all this information from Major League.
9:51
Speaker 3: Baseball that centralized and being like, well, I think these
9:54
Speaker 3: these teams have money to spend. These teams, don't you
9:59
Speaker 3: do the payroll and now and then Jet's side has
10:01
Speaker 3: the whole roster evaluation side of this team needs this,
10:05
Speaker 3: This team needs that. And Okay, what who are going
10:08
Speaker 3: to be our competitors here, who are going to be
10:10
Speaker 3: aggressive in the market, who may need to move guys.
10:12
Speaker 2: To shed payroll. So like, maybe I'm being overly opt
10:19
Speaker 2: ormistic here.
10:19
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to be like a Pollyanna, but like,
10:22
Speaker 3: there are lots of things that can happen. I just
10:26
Speaker 3: don't think either one of us are expecting a Scott
10:29
Speaker 3: Boris wan soa of a press conference with Jed Hoyer
10:33
Speaker 3: up there at the Winter meetings.
10:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's something that fans listen and I
10:40
Speaker 1: sometime we all get like stuck in these things where
10:43
Speaker 1: it's like you have to take this route. There are
10:46
Speaker 1: multiple ways to succeed, right, And I know Cubs fans
10:50
Speaker 1: are disappointed with how the past couple of seasons have
10:54
Speaker 1: have played out. I think this is the only one
10:57
Speaker 1: that's truly disappointing as compared to how we entered the season.
11:02
Speaker 1: And guess what, like they're like external projections and probably
11:06
Speaker 1: internal projections aren't too far off from what they're gonna
11:10
Speaker 1: end up being. They needed to outperform projections. It was
11:14
Speaker 1: mostly like us and and fans that were like, you
11:17
Speaker 1: got to make the playoffs, and now a lot of
11:19
Speaker 1: it was and I think I said this at the beginning,
11:23
Speaker 1: it's like that's what the cub should be. The Cubs
11:26
Speaker 1: should be better, Like I don't care that your internal
11:28
Speaker 1: what your internal projections say, be better, be a better team,
11:32
Speaker 1: Like you need to make the playoffs after you just
11:36
Speaker 1: missed it last year. So this this season is a
11:38
Speaker 1: disappointment in that sense, But I don't think they're just
11:41
Speaker 1: like devastated and like, we totally miscalculated everything. How did we?
11:47
Speaker 1: How are we so off? And now you can make
11:49
Speaker 1: an argument that they're going to end up close to
11:52
Speaker 1: their wins, but in a way that probably projections didn't expect.
11:55
Speaker 1: Pitchings better than they expected, an offense isn't as good, right,
11:58
Speaker 1: So yeah, but the reality is I don't think they're
12:03
Speaker 1: as far off as some of it feels at times
12:06
Speaker 1: just look around the league. Look, I thought Jeff Passon
12:11
Speaker 1: had a really interesting tweet the other day kind of
12:14
Speaker 1: shedding light on we're we're in an era where everyone
12:18
Speaker 1: is just like kind of around the same. There's like,
12:21
Speaker 1: no team is on pace to win one hundred games?
12:23
Speaker 1: Is that right? Is that what I think?
12:27
Speaker 3: It?
12:27
Speaker 1: Like? There's it's it's remarkable, Like I'm shocked by that.
12:32
Speaker 1: And I guess watching games and like seeing other teams,
12:36
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be because I watch other games. I watch
12:38
Speaker 1: other teams and I'm like, they're not like the great teams.
12:42
Speaker 1: I'm like, they're not that much better than the Cubs.
12:45
Speaker 1: Some of them have stars. So then you just feel like, ah,
12:47
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of like how they win those extra
12:50
Speaker 1: five to ten games. But I just don't I don't
12:54
Speaker 1: think they're that far off. Again, the easy solution I
12:57
Speaker 1: feel is Juan Soto. I don't think Hoyer is made
13:01
Speaker 1: move after move that's awful, Like when you talk about
13:05
Speaker 1: actually moves that matter, you know, like moves around the
13:08
Speaker 1: edges like Trey Mancini, Tucker Barnhardt. People want to fixate
13:11
Speaker 1: on Eric Hosmer and things like that. Those are just
13:14
Speaker 1: like those should be like the bottom of the roster moves,
13:17
Speaker 1: those are those move the needle for me either way.
13:20
Speaker 1: Like you can't say, like, oh, that's devastating to this club,
13:23
Speaker 1: and it shouldn't be five ten million, fifteen million, that
13:26
Speaker 1: type of stuff shouldn't matter much to a big market team.
13:29
Speaker 1: Make to make more moves. So like, yes, paradis first,
13:33
Speaker 1: whatever month, three weeks, whatever it's been, I'm not going
13:36
Speaker 1: to freak out, Like, look at how consistent he's been,
13:39
Speaker 1: Like he didn't have a month until this month this
13:42
Speaker 1: season below one hundred way to runs great at plus.
13:45
Speaker 1: So you can freak out if you want, but like,
13:47
Speaker 1: he's a pretty consistent player, and he may have he
13:51
Speaker 1: just may have a rough rest of the season with
13:53
Speaker 1: the Cubs. Maybe he needs an offseason to reset. Maybe
13:56
Speaker 1: he just felt really comfortable in Tampa Bay. Well we'll see,
13:58
Speaker 1: we'll see. But I'm not I'm not the type to
14:00
Speaker 1: take too much away from three weeks or whatever it's been.
14:04
Speaker 1: But they've made smart moves, I feel like, and it's
14:09
Speaker 1: it's always been for me, the moves that Jed didn't make,
14:11
Speaker 1: and that's getting a superstar. But you look at most
14:14
Speaker 1: of the moves where he's invested more than like two
14:17
Speaker 1: years on a guy, none of them have been devastating
14:21
Speaker 1: to this team. None of them have been really bad.
14:23
Speaker 1: I'd point to and say, like, that's not a good move.
14:26
Speaker 1: Tyo showed to say, even extending Hap and and Nico, Like,
14:31
Speaker 1: I know, I know Hap gets a lot of criticism.
14:34
Speaker 1: He's a good ballplayer. He just is it a above.
14:38
Speaker 3: Average player who winds up like in the same play.
14:42
Speaker 3: I was just looking at the other day of like, yeah,
14:44
Speaker 3: one twenty ops plus like it's basically each the last
14:49
Speaker 3: three or four seasons, like he'll hit twenty ish. Homer's
14:53
Speaker 3: eighties on marbais like, and that's where he's going to
14:57
Speaker 3: be again this year.
14:59
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Speaker 1: Right. And So, I mean, I get all the criticism
16:01
Speaker 1: and I get the like the feeling of like, what's
16:04
Speaker 1: what's going to be different? Listen, they may not behave
16:07
Speaker 1: differently that differently in the off season, but I do
16:09
Speaker 1: believe they know. I shouldn't say I do believe. I
16:12
Speaker 1: know they know they need to win. They need to win,
16:15
Speaker 1: so they're going to They're going to be a little
16:18
Speaker 1: bit more aggressive. It may not be in the sense
16:20
Speaker 1: of Juan Soto and Corbyn Burns, but there's a lot
16:24
Speaker 1: of other free agents and there's a lot of ways
16:25
Speaker 1: that I think they can win. There's gonna be a
16:27
Speaker 1: question coming up that I think is we should really
16:30
Speaker 1: like I don't know if the player gets priced out
16:33
Speaker 1: of them. We'll get to that later. But I think
16:36
Speaker 1: there are paths to success and we have to, Like,
16:39
Speaker 1: I get fixated on certain players sometimes, and I know
16:42
Speaker 1: fans do as well. And it's very easy to say,
16:44
Speaker 1: like they didn't get Shoheo Tani failed off season, they
16:47
Speaker 1: don't get Won Soto failed off season. It's very easy
16:50
Speaker 1: to do that, and I get that, but there are ways.
16:53
Speaker 1: It's not like the Dodgers are the only team that
16:55
Speaker 1: are good because they got the best free agents, right,
16:58
Speaker 1: So that's like, this is again what you said. I
17:02
Speaker 1: don't want to be Pollyanna. It's just I'm trying to
17:04
Speaker 1: look at this in different ways and make sure like
17:08
Speaker 1: it's not just like one path to success. And I
17:11
Speaker 1: think that's really important to keep in mind for fans,
17:13
Speaker 1: even if it's frustrating that they're not acting like the Dodgers,
17:17
Speaker 1: the Mets and the Yankees, because I believe they should
17:21
Speaker 1: behave that way. It's just they're not. So you kind
17:24
Speaker 1: of have to figure out how you move forward from that.
17:29
Speaker 1: Let's get to some bullpen questions. Patrick Tyler Dershel says
17:34
Speaker 1: the bullpen has been great lately. Sorry, just clicked away.
17:39
Speaker 1: How can the Cubs avoid the really bad bullpen play
17:41
Speaker 1: for the first couple of months of twenty twenty five
17:43
Speaker 1: that has plagued this team in back to back years now.
17:46
Speaker 1: Matthew Friedman similar question, What can the Cubs learn from
17:49
Speaker 1: how they constructed their opening day bullpen?
17:53
Speaker 3: This is probably not the answer of people want to hear.
17:55
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna do the exact same thing. I
17:58
Speaker 3: don't see them. I guess Josh Hater is kind of
18:02
Speaker 3: a you know, an extreme outlier, But I don't see
18:07
Speaker 3: them investing huge money in the closers closer position, or
18:13
Speaker 3: like trading a bunch of guys, a bunch of big
18:17
Speaker 3: time prospects just for say a Mason Miller type. I
18:22
Speaker 3: think if you look at I feel like David Bednar
18:25
Speaker 3: was like a name that was sort of rumored. He's
18:30
Speaker 3: not been very good this year.
18:34
Speaker 2: I think they think it's too volatile.
18:36
Speaker 3: I mean, Craig Counsel was asked this the other day,
18:39
Speaker 3: kind of in his first year of observing and you know,
18:44
Speaker 3: gathering all this information, like how do you kind of
18:47
Speaker 3: apply that moving forward?
18:50
Speaker 2: And I think they're going to get more out getters.
18:54
Speaker 2: To use a council phrase, I think it's going to be.
18:57
Speaker 3: Very much what he's talking about is just developing lots
19:01
Speaker 3: of good options.
19:01
Speaker 5: Now.
19:02
Speaker 3: That could be something like Porter hot who is not
19:04
Speaker 3: at all on the major league radar in spring training.
19:06
Speaker 3: It could be trading for a guy like Tyson Miller.
19:10
Speaker 3: It could be acquiring a guy off the scrap heap
19:13
Speaker 3: like Jorge Lopez, who saw it that you have reported
19:17
Speaker 3: as a guy that comes would be interested in bringing
19:19
Speaker 3: back next year, someone Counsel had.
19:23
Speaker 2: Someone whom Darren Holmes had worked with in Baltimore. I
19:29
Speaker 2: think you're.
19:31
Speaker 3: Again, this is us being special assistants. I think you
19:33
Speaker 3: go out and get a legit starter and then you're
19:35
Speaker 3: gonna have some more overflow towards the bullpen as well
19:39
Speaker 3: in terms of these young guys, and so I think,
19:43
Speaker 3: you know, it's probably not satisfying to hear in the moment,
19:49
Speaker 3: but I think they're going to stick with their process
19:53
Speaker 3: and it's just one of those weird things. We're gonna
19:55
Speaker 3: be writing about it on the Athletic this weekend. Of
19:57
Speaker 3: like if you how you remember the Cubs bullpen at
20:01
Speaker 3: the beginning of the season, it's not as bad as
20:04
Speaker 3: it looked. Then it's also not good enough to like
20:09
Speaker 3: make the playoffs and win multiple postseason rounds. So like
20:13
Speaker 3: they need just need to execute in the big moments.
20:17
Speaker 3: They need to figure it out faster, they need to
20:20
Speaker 3: just bring more options to the table. And then part
20:22
Speaker 3: of it is just kind of crossing your fingers and
20:25
Speaker 3: hoping guys don't just.
20:28
Speaker 2: All go down at once the way it sort of
20:31
Speaker 2: happened at the beginning of the year. And then you
20:32
Speaker 2: also didn't have these young pitchers.
20:36
Speaker 3: We remember when we were talking about like managing Ben
20:38
Speaker 3: Brown's innings, like how are they gonna do that?
20:40
Speaker 2: How are they gonna you know, and.
20:41
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's kind of you know, disappeared after uh, you know,
20:47
Speaker 6: seven no hit innings in Milwaukee two kind of starts,
20:51
Speaker 6: and then it's you know, where is this young pitching coming.
20:54
Speaker 3: So I think they're gonna attack it from multiple angles.
20:58
Speaker 3: And you know, the nar release is kind of reminder
21:02
Speaker 3: like we all were like, oh, one of the Cubs
21:04
Speaker 3: gonna like spend more on their bullpen, and they did,
21:06
Speaker 3: and this guy did.
21:08
Speaker 2: Not last the entire season.
21:12
Speaker 3: So I think they will in a weird way look
21:15
Speaker 3: at this year as validation for their entire bullpens, right,
21:18
Speaker 3: not saying they're right, but that's very much the sense
21:21
Speaker 3: we're getting from the coaching staff, the front office, the
21:26
Speaker 3: relievers who have very much, you know, enjoyed their time here.
21:31
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, Patrick, you you were out on the field
21:35
Speaker 1: during council's session on Thursday, and I asked him as
21:41
Speaker 1: as a bullpen turned into a strength for this team,
21:44
Speaker 1: Like can you look at it as a strength? And
21:46
Speaker 1: he kind of, you know, thought about it in his
21:47
Speaker 1: council way and then and essentially his point was, I
21:52
Speaker 1: don't think you can say that until you, like, a
21:54
Speaker 1: season is six months long, then it's the strength of
21:57
Speaker 1: the team. He's like, it was rough the first couple months,
22:00
Speaker 1: and we got it. He's like, we figured it out,
22:03
Speaker 1: and like that can be a process. He's like, but
22:05
Speaker 1: a season is full six months and like without the playoffs.
22:09
Speaker 1: He's like, so to talk about it as a strength
22:11
Speaker 1: of the team. I think his point was essentially, no,
22:14
Speaker 1: you can't say that is it? And I what I'm
22:17
Speaker 1: I'm kind of extrapolating here. Is it a strength right now? Sure?
22:21
Speaker 1: Is it a strength of the for the team? For
22:23
Speaker 1: the season. I don't think you can say that because
22:25
Speaker 1: it cost them games early on, right developed into the
22:27
Speaker 1: strength they got hot at one point. You could say
22:30
Speaker 1: that about the Diamondbacks bullpen last year. Right, they got
22:33
Speaker 1: hot at the right time and a lot of random
22:36
Speaker 1: things happened towards the end of the season, and and
22:38
Speaker 1: it helped them get to the World Series. So could
22:41
Speaker 1: this bullpen currently constructed help them get to the World
22:44
Speaker 1: Series if they made an insane run. Yeah, I think
22:46
Speaker 1: it's good enough. Now, I don't think what you want
22:50
Speaker 1: is you need to find a way. And I had
22:53
Speaker 1: someone tell me this in spring training. It like I
22:56
Speaker 1: would They said, I would be shocked if by the
22:59
Speaker 1: end of this season, I'm gonna get the names wrong
23:02
Speaker 1: because I don't even remember who it is. If Hector Naris,
23:06
Speaker 1: Julian merriwether Adbard Alzalai, and whoever the fourth person would
23:09
Speaker 1: have been, are our four main relievers? Uh by August
23:14
Speaker 1: in September, And the person said, in frankly, I don't
23:18
Speaker 1: think that'd be a good thing, because you want new
23:20
Speaker 1: names to pop up over the course of the season.
23:22
Speaker 1: What you want, though, is for those four whoever, whoever
23:27
Speaker 1: the fourth one was I'm blanking. What's that lighter? Yes, yes, exactly, yes,
23:34
Speaker 1: that's exactly what was How can I forget lighter? Jeez
23:38
Speaker 1: gone gone for a couple of weeks and then for
23:41
Speaker 1: my mind. But the point wasn't like, uh, those guys
23:48
Speaker 1: aren't good relievers. It's that bullpens just naturally of all
23:52
Speaker 1: over the course of a season, right, other guys step up,
23:55
Speaker 1: Guys go through ruts. It's how bullpens are. So what
23:58
Speaker 1: you need is those guys to hold it down for
24:00
Speaker 1: a few weeks or a few months, right, and then
24:03
Speaker 1: one guy gets hurt. Okay, Porter Hodge is ready now
24:06
Speaker 1: he had two months in Triple A and he's ready.
24:10
Speaker 1: Whatever it may be. Okay, we made this trade. We
24:12
Speaker 1: have this reliever. This guy's ready. You want stuff like that. Oh,
24:16
Speaker 1: the Mets made a mistake. They dropped Lopez or horror,
24:19
Speaker 1: Lopez was in a down point in his career and
24:22
Speaker 1: whatever was going on in his life, and and and
24:24
Speaker 1: he got released during a bad moment. Cubs take advantage, right,
24:29
Speaker 1: Tyson Miller, Like the Mariners have too much pitching, they
24:33
Speaker 1: don't have room for him on their roster. Take advantage, right,
24:35
Speaker 1: Stuff like that happens over the course of the season
24:37
Speaker 1: where you can reinforce your bullpen, but you just can't
24:41
Speaker 1: have it be like they they just had a lot
24:45
Speaker 1: of like the volatility hit them early on in the
24:48
Speaker 1: negative sense, right, like it just got them bad or
24:51
Speaker 1: like early and it all kind of happened at once,
24:54
Speaker 1: and that's that's uh. You need to be a little
24:57
Speaker 1: like I think the younger players should need to step pup.
25:00
Speaker 1: And when I talk about that, it's a lot of
25:02
Speaker 1: guys that we need to see down the stretch. We
25:05
Speaker 1: need to see Hayden wass Nesky get healthy and make
25:07
Speaker 1: a few appearances. We need to see Ben Brown get
25:09
Speaker 1: healthy and make a few appearances. Whether it's whether it's
25:13
Speaker 1: you know, just a few winnings or a full month.
25:17
Speaker 1: You need those guys to to kind of get their
25:19
Speaker 1: footing back and then they're either a part of the
25:22
Speaker 1: bullpen to start the season and others are depth whatever
25:25
Speaker 1: it is, like you need, you need these guys to
25:27
Speaker 1: step up. Neely getting back out there yesterday important like that. Stuff.
25:31
Speaker 1: Little things like that matter, Like I like how console
25:34
Speaker 1: didn't hesitate there, They're up big, This is perfect. Put
25:37
Speaker 1: Neely back out there. Yeah, let him. Let him get
25:39
Speaker 1: an outing and flush that first one, you know, and
25:42
Speaker 1: maybe he's gonna have to be used in a bigger
25:45
Speaker 1: moment later on this weekend or next week whatever it is,
25:48
Speaker 1: right that that's just how it how it has to be.
25:50
Speaker 1: Sometimes like they're they're not changing the way they do things.
25:55
Speaker 1: They're not signing whoever the Josh hater is of this winter.
25:58
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure if there is a huge jarm
26:00
Speaker 1: like that. I think it's a it's a there's a
26:03
Speaker 1: guy in the Phillies that's a stud. Jeff Hoffman is
26:05
Speaker 1: probably like the big money Uh he was a scrappy guy.
26:09
Speaker 2: I mean right, big time prospect. He didn't pan out.
26:12
Speaker 1: And remember what what THEO was would tell us, like,
26:17
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm sharing anything, even if this was
26:19
Speaker 1: background stuff back then. But like, the goal isn't to
26:22
Speaker 1: find to sign Brandon Morrow after he breaks out and
26:25
Speaker 1: get a three year deal. The goal is to find
26:28
Speaker 1: Brandon Morrow before he breaks out, right, And uh, there
26:32
Speaker 1: was a there was a oh no, this is this
26:35
Speaker 1: is kind of comparison. This is a crossboard comparison. But
26:38
Speaker 1: I loved what Sean Payton said about what's the what's
26:42
Speaker 1: the guy that was drafted high by the Jets and
26:44
Speaker 1: is now a quarterback for the Broncos. I'm blanket on
26:47
Speaker 1: his name went to b Yu. Zach Wilson, Zach Wilson.
26:51
Speaker 1: I always want to call him Kyle Wilson for some reason.
26:53
Speaker 1: I don't know why. Zach Wilson. He's like, my goal,
26:55
Speaker 1: Like he's he's raving about Zack Wilson. Apparently, he's like,
26:58
Speaker 1: my goal is to get him paid. He's gonna be
27:00
Speaker 1: there for a year, have them be a stud for
27:02
Speaker 1: a year or look good for a year, being like
27:05
Speaker 1: whatever it is, and then get him paid, right, Okay, Yeah,
27:09
Speaker 1: Like that's I think how they look at free agent relievers,
27:13
Speaker 1: and they did that for a little while, Ryan Topair
27:16
Speaker 1: of Chris Martin, Andrew Chafin, They've they've done that, done
27:21
Speaker 1: it well, continue to do that, even if it costs
27:25
Speaker 1: a little bit more. Plus there's young guys emerging. They're
27:28
Speaker 1: just not going to do it. They're not going to
27:29
Speaker 1: spend like crazy and and make these aggressive moves, especially
27:34
Speaker 1: when I think you said it and I think this
27:37
Speaker 1: is I think the one big key is bring back
27:40
Speaker 1: Jorge Lopez. You do that, and I feel like you
27:44
Speaker 1: have a couple veterans that you can trust, you have
27:48
Speaker 1: a couple of young guys, a few young guys that
27:49
Speaker 1: you feel good about. Then you have like other young
27:52
Speaker 1: guys like we mentioned was an esky Ben Brown. If
27:55
Speaker 1: Jaby Rosada ends up in the bullpen because they add
27:57
Speaker 1: another starter or whoever, you know, just like go down
28:02
Speaker 1: the list and you can swint and be like, Okay,
28:05
Speaker 1: they finally have some depth here, some young guys emerging.
28:09
Speaker 1: We'll see what next year produces as far as pitching
28:11
Speaker 1: a triple A all those things, and there's there will
28:14
Speaker 1: be smaller moves. They will add relievers. Maybe not nine
28:17
Speaker 1: million dollars on the ners, but maybe they do spend
28:20
Speaker 1: nine million dollars on a reliever, but it could be
28:23
Speaker 1: just like you know, we'll see how they do it
28:25
Speaker 1: and how they allocate those funds. I don't and trades
28:28
Speaker 1: as well, Let's not forget like I would not be
28:30
Speaker 1: surprised if they go out and trade for whether maybe
28:34
Speaker 1: they'll trade for like a position player, but in that
28:37
Speaker 1: they also get a reliever, like they got Yanzy right,
28:40
Speaker 1: completely forgot about Yanzy al Monte.
28:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, another guy who disapeared. I just say I'm not
28:44
Speaker 3: disagreeing with what you said. I do think that's what
28:47
Speaker 3: the reporting side of it is. This is what we
28:49
Speaker 3: think they're going to do. I do the opinion side.
28:53
Speaker 3: I would just push back a little on them. In
28:56
Speaker 3: that twenty one they had very good bullpen, but not
29:01
Speaker 3: nearly enough pitching to get through it. And then those
29:05
Speaker 3: trades they pretty much whiffed on the relief side of
29:11
Speaker 3: Camberrell's this great asset, and you get Cody Hoyer and so,
29:17
Speaker 3: and then it's like they trade Robertson and Ben Brown
29:23
Speaker 3: is an interesting guy, but like they pitched well in
29:25
Speaker 3: garbage time right like after the trade, we were surprised
29:28
Speaker 3: how they pitched. And then last year they figured out
29:32
Speaker 3: the bullpen for a big part of the year, but
29:34
Speaker 3: not enough of the year, and.
29:35
Speaker 2: They missed the playoffs by one game.
29:37
Speaker 3: And then here it seems like a similar thing, where
29:39
Speaker 3: like the Cubs are good at like kind of amassing
29:44
Speaker 3: these options and figuring out just enough to be competent
29:49
Speaker 3: in this pitching space at a time when all of
29:51
Speaker 3: the advantages are towards the pitching side, and like everything's
29:55
Speaker 3: working again, like hitting is harder than it's ever been.
29:57
Speaker 3: That's all that we hear so like, you're pitching should
30:00
Speaker 3: be average TUPO average, right, And so that's where I
30:05
Speaker 3: do wonder how, I don't know comfortable they are or
30:08
Speaker 3: how how much pushback internally they're going to get if
30:11
Speaker 3: someone like counsel is going to say, like, you know,
30:15
Speaker 3: this is how things have been done, I think we
30:16
Speaker 3: could do X, Y and Z differently. So that would
30:22
Speaker 3: be my for fans who are annoyed at watching this
30:25
Speaker 3: bullpen and frustrated at some of the process talk we have.
30:28
Speaker 3: I do think there's a lot of room for disagreement. Yeah,
30:32
Speaker 3: Bratt Wrigley feel to be like, hey, yeah, this works
30:35
Speaker 3: to a certain extent, but it has not been nearly
30:39
Speaker 3: good enough for years.
30:41
Speaker 1: And you know what, and I'll agree with you there.
30:43
Speaker 1: It's not I'm not saying they should stick to the
30:46
Speaker 1: exact process. I'm just saying I don't think there's a
30:49
Speaker 1: value in spending big on the relievers, and I don't
30:53
Speaker 1: know how would argue that there is either, I think,
30:56
Speaker 1: But but there may be something you tweak and how
30:58
Speaker 1: you attack getting those relievers, or maybe it's something to
31:02
Speaker 1: do with player development, maybe it's something to do with
31:05
Speaker 1: keeping them healthy, whatever it is yeah, and I think
31:10
Speaker 1: usage is part of that which council. Uh. He sometimes
31:14
Speaker 1: like I'm seeing the reverse of what happened with Ross.
31:17
Speaker 1: Ross leaned on these guys a lot, right, and council
31:20
Speaker 1: sometimes is like, I got to try and get two
31:22
Speaker 1: innings out of this guy because I'm not going to
31:25
Speaker 1: you know, Tyson Miller again, I'm just going out the name.
31:28
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes people are like, why is he
31:29
Speaker 1: pushing Julian Merriweather for two innings? He's barely pitched. It's like, well,
31:33
Speaker 1: he's barely pitched. That's why, you know, Like he doesn't
31:37
Speaker 1: have a ton of innings on his arm this year.
31:38
Speaker 1: He's built up and ready to go, like let him,
31:40
Speaker 1: let him pitch. Uh does it always work? No, But
31:44
Speaker 1: like he's he wants to make sure that guy's ready
31:46
Speaker 1: for another outing in the future, and that that's kind
31:50
Speaker 1: of how it works, you know. I think that's important.
31:53
Speaker 1: Julian Merriweather is another name that we forgot to even mention.
31:55
Speaker 1: But and he'll be around next year, so that they
31:58
Speaker 1: have actually accumulated decent day that that would they have
32:01
Speaker 1: to stay healthy and they have to perform, right.
32:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's funny too, because counselor like one day says,
32:09
Speaker 3: you know, well, you have to take the full season
32:12
Speaker 3: before you can evaluate the bullpen, and another day it's, well,
32:16
Speaker 3: we all know about bullpens. They change from here to year,
32:19
Speaker 3: so it's just like you can't really it's hard to
32:22
Speaker 3: hang hang your hat on it. But yeah, that's I
32:26
Speaker 3: got another name for you. I thought this was a
32:30
Speaker 3: good We kind of teased it earlier in terms of
32:33
Speaker 3: free agency from Taylor Maxwell, do you think Anthony Santander
32:37
Speaker 3: is a viable option for the Cups next year?
32:40
Speaker 1: I think he's like, he should be high on the list.
32:44
Speaker 1: I don't. I like And this is me, just me
32:48
Speaker 1: saying this. This is I I haven't even like brought
32:51
Speaker 1: that name to anyone in the front office. I probably
32:55
Speaker 1: should at some point, and I'm like, and we'll figure
32:58
Speaker 1: this out as as the season goes along. And but
33:00
Speaker 1: right now, thirty seven homers, one thirty way to runs,
33:04
Speaker 1: great A plus, a really great platform season for this guy.
33:07
Speaker 1: He's twenty nine, he'll be thirty, you know in October. Okay,
33:13
Speaker 1: what type of deal is that? I you know, I'm
33:15
Speaker 1: not going to speculate on a deal. I'm not great
33:17
Speaker 1: with that stuff. Kylie McDaniel over at ESPN had a
33:20
Speaker 1: good piece kind of looking at what type of contracts
33:24
Speaker 1: a tiers he essentially had. And I believe he had
33:27
Speaker 1: Santander in like a forty to eighty million dollar tier
33:31
Speaker 1: if that's the case, like, like depending even if it's
33:34
Speaker 1: a three year eighty million dollar deal, do you think
33:37
Speaker 1: that's the type of thing that Jed would be Like
33:38
Speaker 1: I can't do that, you know, Like you know, like
33:44
Speaker 1: I don't I do about Jed's sweet spot, right and
33:47
Speaker 1: I don't know what and and to be clear for
33:50
Speaker 1: people that don't know Santa Andder, I'm going to go
33:52
Speaker 1: through like twenty twenty obviously a short season, had a
33:55
Speaker 1: great year, down kind of down year in twenty twenty one.
33:59
Speaker 1: But basically, you know, just slightly below average one twenty
34:01
Speaker 1: two way to run scrade a plus in twenty two, one,
34:03
Speaker 1: nineteen and twenty three and one thirty this year. Uh,
34:07
Speaker 1: he's a switch hitter. He can play the corner outfield
34:10
Speaker 1: spots with the Cubs. He'd you know, he would be
34:14
Speaker 1: like DH and then and and corner outfield spots right
34:18
Speaker 1: like give hap and say a time off if they
34:20
Speaker 1: want to switch him and say it between DH if
34:23
Speaker 1: that's what they feel.
34:24
Speaker 2: His best makes say a DH makes.
34:27
Speaker 1: Say a straight up pH sure replace right right? And
34:31
Speaker 1: if Bellinger rops out, that's who steps in, and you're
34:34
Speaker 1: getting a guy that is a proven power hitter, hits
34:38
Speaker 1: from both sides of the plate like this is This
34:41
Speaker 1: is the type of guy that the Cubs should be
34:43
Speaker 1: going after if they're not gonna go get the very
34:47
Speaker 1: top of the market second tier guys. When when I
34:50
Speaker 1: say second tier, that's not a rip on the guy.
34:53
Speaker 1: He is an impactful player, Like, I think he makes
34:57
Speaker 1: perfect sense. I don't know what his market's going to be, like,
34:59
Speaker 1: I don't know what type of contract he's going to get.
35:02
Speaker 1: I think Jet at least has to be very aware
35:06
Speaker 1: of what's going to happen with him and be on
35:09
Speaker 1: top of that. And if that falls into a range
35:12
Speaker 1: that they're kind of comfortable with and looking at, you know,
35:15
Speaker 1: I think that's an easy, easy guy that makes a
35:18
Speaker 1: lot of sense and should be near the top of
35:21
Speaker 1: their wish list when it comes to upgrading this offense.
35:24
Speaker 7: I think you'd be calling Orioles, manager, Brandon Hyde, and
35:28
Speaker 7: Core Cousins to very impactful people. During the last ramp
35:34
Speaker 7: up rebuild period. I've had this guy while.
35:39
Speaker 3: I mean performing in the American League East on a
35:42
Speaker 3: really good playoff team.
35:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for the tip, Taylor Maxwell. We will be
35:50
Speaker 2: following up.
35:54
Speaker 3: As a guy that I think you'd have to kind
35:56
Speaker 3: of circle that name, particularly the switch hitting component as well.
36:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right. One last question from David Lutter.
36:05
Speaker 1: How long before DFA's happened to make room for Owen Casey,
36:08
Speaker 1: Matt Shaw, Moyses by Steros and Kevin all Contra on
36:12
Speaker 1: the forty man. Well, Kevin ol Contrary is on the
36:14
Speaker 1: forty man and and I think that gives him a
36:19
Speaker 1: leg up to make the team or make the team
36:23
Speaker 1: to be pulled up at some point at some point,
36:27
Speaker 1: So you wouldn't need to DFA someone maybe, I guess
36:31
Speaker 1: you would. I'm not sure who has options that's currently
36:33
Speaker 1: on the position player side that you'd want to send down. Yeah.
36:39
Speaker 1: I don't think we're that far away. We're probably like
36:43
Speaker 1: like get into September type thing, right, and what is it?
36:47
Speaker 1: It's it's then we're a week away from September, right, Yeah,
36:49
Speaker 1: We're about a week away from September, So you know, like,
36:53
Speaker 1: I don't think it's really far off. I would put
36:58
Speaker 1: it in order of, like, you know, Casey and and
37:02
Speaker 1: al Contra are are close, you know, as far as who,
37:06
Speaker 1: I don't know who I'd give the edge to. Casey
37:08
Speaker 1: has to be added to the forty man after the season.
37:11
Speaker 1: Al Contra already is a Contra is like really good defensively.
37:14
Speaker 1: I think that matters to Craig council a Ton. He's
37:18
Speaker 1: hitting well ow in Case. He's been at Triple A
37:20
Speaker 1: all season long. They haven't been afraid to challenge him.
37:23
Speaker 1: That tells me something about what they think about his
37:25
Speaker 1: makeup and what he can handle. Maybe they'll give him
37:27
Speaker 1: the challenge. Shaw. I don't think there's a great chance
37:32
Speaker 1: he comes up this year. He's now he's tearing the
37:34
Speaker 1: cover off the ball though he's he started off slowly
37:37
Speaker 1: at Triple A and now he's hot again and and
37:40
Speaker 1: that's like great sign for him. Bia Steros, We'll just
37:43
Speaker 1: see he's a natural hitter and he has a high
37:47
Speaker 1: I think that. I mean, he's twenty years old at
37:48
Speaker 1: Triple A and hitting well. That doesn't happen very often there.
37:51
Speaker 1: That's he's in rare company there. And I think the
37:56
Speaker 1: bottom line for all of these is playing time. Will
37:59
Speaker 1: they get playing time for someone like Kevin al Contra,
38:02
Speaker 1: Like are you sitting hap Sayah Bellinger or PCA to
38:06
Speaker 1: play him? Like what are you doing? Like that's it's
38:10
Speaker 1: gonna be tough, right, So so I get those questions,
38:13
Speaker 1: same with Casey, Like I don't know how they plays
38:17
Speaker 1: players like that if if there's unless there's an injury, right,
38:21
Speaker 1: so so if if now if they're if they're still
38:26
Speaker 1: in it, that I could see them calling these guys
38:29
Speaker 1: up as like to come off the bench or like
38:31
Speaker 1: situational stuff to upgrade their bench or upgrade situational matchups,
38:35
Speaker 1: so that like there are different ways to go about that,
38:38
Speaker 1: and that'd be the guys that are on the forty
38:39
Speaker 1: man or like someone like Casey that you add to
38:41
Speaker 1: the forty man. It's yeah, I I but I do
38:45
Speaker 1: think there's a shot of defang players in like a
38:49
Speaker 1: couple of weeks as we get into September, if they've
38:52
Speaker 1: fallen out of it fully and they're ready to say
38:54
Speaker 1: okay firmly, like they've already kind of showed us that
38:57
Speaker 1: they're looking at twenty twenty five, but now it's like
39:00
Speaker 1: firmly all in on twenty twenty five, twenty four is
39:03
Speaker 1: kind of like they can't you know that they're not
39:07
Speaker 1: competing anymore type situation.
39:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've come a long way from the great forty
39:13
Speaker 3: man roster crunch of what was it twenty two or
39:15
Speaker 3: twenty Oh my god, we have so many great players
39:19
Speaker 3: in this organization. I don't know how we're going to
39:20
Speaker 3: add this in that. It's like, you look at it now.
39:23
Speaker 3: You look at the major league bench, you look at
39:25
Speaker 3: the forty man, you look at all these injuries. There's
39:27
Speaker 3: a lot of sort of feelack of a better term,
39:30
Speaker 3: dead weight here that you know, I think you take
39:34
Speaker 3: another week or two off the calendar.
39:36
Speaker 2: The Cubs don't sweep like every series. If the Braves keep.
39:39
Speaker 3: Performing, if that gap gets bigger, I would bring some
39:45
Speaker 3: guys up, especially the guys who are already on the
39:46
Speaker 3: forty man or have to come up, Like I think
39:48
Speaker 3: there's a lot of value in that, even if it's
39:52
Speaker 3: Owen Casey and Kevin Alkatara, just being around.
39:56
Speaker 2: For a couple of weeks and observing and learning.
39:59
Speaker 3: Like, what more are the Cubs going to get out of,
40:03
Speaker 3: say David Bodie, I think there's a lot of there,
40:07
Speaker 3: the Nick Madrigals on this roster that Matt Murvis, I
40:10
Speaker 3: think you've kind of seen what they are and I
40:13
Speaker 3: don't really see a path forward for them in this organization.
40:17
Speaker 3: Maybe it works out for them somewhere else, but I
40:20
Speaker 3: do think they're going to be in a place where
40:25
Speaker 3: we'll see a little bit of that young talent. And
40:27
Speaker 3: also you've alluded to this before, sohat I have to
40:31
Speaker 3: be able to take some chances on guys this offseason,
40:34
Speaker 3: you know, the a Julian Merriweather type pops up, you
40:40
Speaker 3: go claim them.
40:41
Speaker 2: Like, I'm kind of scanning.
40:42
Speaker 3: This forty man roster down now, I see a lot
40:44
Speaker 3: of guys on the sixty day I l I see
40:48
Speaker 3: you know, some guys who are going to be free agents.
40:51
Speaker 3: I see some roster filler. They certainly have a core group.
40:57
Speaker 3: I'm not, you know, trashing what they have. It's just set.
41:01
Speaker 3: They've given themselves a lot of flexibility here moving forward
41:06
Speaker 3: of how they want to keep building it.
41:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, there's no forty man crunch from what From
41:13
Speaker 1: what both of us understand that they're not worried about
41:16
Speaker 1: that they'll have some space on the forty man. They
41:18
Speaker 1: will do what you said, like the Julian Mary, whether
41:21
Speaker 1: they'll be scanning looking for players, maybe even via trade.
41:26
Speaker 1: You don't want to make a mistake there and and
41:30
Speaker 1: trade someone low a that's not on the forty man
41:33
Speaker 1: that blossoms, right, but you do like you can take
41:37
Speaker 1: advantage and get like teams have forty man crunches and
41:39
Speaker 1: and and they stress out about what are they going
41:42
Speaker 1: to do with this guy. We've got to get some value.
41:45
Speaker 1: We got to get someone, and they'll dump them, right.
41:47
Speaker 1: Don't do that with the Rays though, don't don't trade
41:49
Speaker 1: with the Rays if you're dumping, if they're dumping forty
41:51
Speaker 1: man guys. It never works. Well I shouldn't say it
41:54
Speaker 1: never works. The Philly's got a really good starter out
41:57
Speaker 1: of that, but they also gave up a really good
41:59
Speaker 1: h infielder named Curtis Meat. Uh so yeah, like there
42:04
Speaker 1: there's there's gonna be moves. There's gonna be I think
42:08
Speaker 1: that'll be. You know, that's always interesting to me because
42:11
Speaker 1: we never pay attention to that stuff. And then by
42:14
Speaker 1: like June, it's like, wait, this guy was just like
42:16
Speaker 1: randomly picked up off this squad like he's in fact
42:19
Speaker 1: in the teams. It's always It's always interesting, uh, to
42:22
Speaker 1: kind of follow those path the path of that because
42:25
Speaker 1: like I'm not, I'm not gonna spend a lot of
42:27
Speaker 1: time dwelling on it in November and then all of
42:29
Speaker 1: a sudden it matters. Uh, all right, thanks for all
42:33
Speaker 1: the questions. Uh, you guys really stepped up on short
42:37
Speaker 1: notice too. Patrick and I just tweeted all those out
42:39
Speaker 1: and you guys all responded much appreciated. Yeah, just shows
42:43
Speaker 1: the interest in this team and the passion you all have.
42:45
Speaker 1: We really appreciate you listening. Appreciate everyone behind the scenes
42:49
Speaker 1: doing all the work to turn these podcasts around. Make
42:52
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to North Side Territory either on whatever
42:55
Speaker 1: podcast platform you listen to, but really try and do
42:59
Speaker 1: it on you Tube as well. That'd be awesome. Subscribe
43:02
Speaker 1: to The Athletic Patrick and I have you covered all
43:05
Speaker 1: things Cubs. We will be on the road where Pittsburgh
43:08
Speaker 1: and DC. Make sure you're falling along. We'll see if
43:12
Speaker 1: they can make a run or if it's just full
43:14
Speaker 1: steam ahead to twenty twenty five. Thanks for listening, everyone,
43:17
Speaker 1: Take care,