Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / What we’re hearing about the Cubs as a big offseason kicks off

Transcript

What we’re hearing about the Cubs as a big offseason kicks off · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside territory file territory networks, Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner, Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the athletic and Patrick, the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: season is officially over. The Milwaukee brewers are world series champs. Uh,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: they pulled it off at pretty dominating fashion. Uh, they weren't,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: you know, I'd say that Padre series was really, uh, compelling. Uh,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the games were really close. Uh, there were some close
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: games in this world series.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: But it never, I, I think you wrote just kind
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of talking about how the Cubs need to catch the Brewers.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Just saying like, it felt like.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: The Brewers could have played another series. We, you mentioned
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: that last podcast as well. It did feel like that.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It felt like they could just keep going and keep
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: playing and then find a way to, score runs and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: they had the pitching to just keep going on forever. Uh,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: impressive run, uh, for a team that doesn't look like
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: it's slowing down. Um, the Cubs have a lot of
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: work to do. I, you know, I don't think, you know,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: they're going to be doomsday scenarios for Cubs fans. Obviously
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: it's like that, but no matter what, as long as
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the season doesn't end in a win, there are a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I think there's a path, but they have a lot
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of work to do, and it's one of those things
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that Jed Hoyer has said in the past. They have
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to be right. They're going to need to make a
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: lot of moves over this next month and then whenever
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: things open up again, but this could be a busy month.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: When I say busy month, I mean the next month,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: not October.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: You and I have covered enough crazy games at Miller
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Park slash American Family Field to where you're constantly rewriting.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: It's an awesome atmosphere.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: And oftentimes you walk away like, well, those are two
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: evenly matched teams, like a play here, a play there,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: a bounce or two, games on the margins decided by inches.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: And I think that impression is right. kind of on
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: the daily basis. But when you look at the aggregate here,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: it's kind of stunning how the Brewers really are light
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: years ahead of the Cubs. And, you know, whether the
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Brewers had another quick playoff exit or finally won the
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: World Series, I don't know how much it changes things
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: for the Cubs.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: They still have the same set of challenges this offseason.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: They're not very reactive to like what another team does,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: nor probably.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Should they be.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: But, you know, this October left no doubt that the
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Brewers are are the best team in baseball and they
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: are in that top two, three of best organizations in
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: baseball over the last say decade or so. Uh, it's
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: hard to believe that 2017 was the last time the
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: Cubs finished ahead of the Brewers after a full 162
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: game season. Um, They've just done this at a time
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: when the Cardinals have sort of started to retreat and
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: are going to try to build back up, and we'll
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: see what happens out of that next CBA whenever that
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: is executed.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: But it was entertaining watching the Brewers this offseason. I
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: think just.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: Following them the way we have over the last couple years,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: I think they're just an interesting team.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: They have a cast of characters. They have a great environment.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Um, our buddy John Greenberg was up there for the
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: clinch party. Uh, they have a lot of good things
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: going for them. I knew, I think it will be
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: hard for once.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: You win things change.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: We saw that in Chicago of like sort of, um,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: Pat Murphy's persona, uh, you know, William Contreras, they have
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: a club option. Is he the next, you know, Brewers
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: way decision that, uh, winds up, uh, in kind of
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: a painful forward-looking trade. They will be the hunted whenever
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: baseball resumes. But outside of that sort of stuff, they're
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: going to be good for a long time. And even
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: for all the issues the Cubs had kind of post-championship,
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: they were still a highly competitive team for several seasons. Obviously,
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: they went back to the NLCS. They had that amazing
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: 2018 season.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: I think they won.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: 95 games somehow, even though almost all of their off-season
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: pitching moves went wrong. You're talking about 2019. They were
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: in it in the playoff hunt until late September. I
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: forgot to look this up. If there was a third
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: wild card back then, they probably would have been right
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: in the thick of that. And then obviously you have
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: 2020 and 2021. They were in it until the Brewers
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: kind of dashed those dreams. So I think they're just,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: they're just so well positioned for the future. We're talking
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: about arguably the number one farm system, arguably the best
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: collection of young talent, maybe the best pitching development organization
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: in the sport.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: Like maybe they're not number one.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: But they're certainly like, you know, top five in all
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: this international, all these different areas, you know, they, They
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: have their formulas.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they do a really good job. I mean, right,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: it just goes beyond one thing. There's so many different
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: things they're good at. I thought Mizorowski is a perfect
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: example of, okay, here's a guy that we're drafting, and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I believe he was a second-round draft pick. He wasn't
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: real late, but he wasn't a top-ten pick or here's
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the next great pitcher. And even as recently as last year,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: it was like, I don't know, is that guy going
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to be like a front-end starter? He's got great stuff,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: but he walks too many guys. And he put in
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: an off-season of work.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Whatever plan they had for.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Him, he executed it perfectly, and he brought his game
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: to another level.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's not like the Cubs have no examples
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of that, right?
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Like, Pico Armstrong's a pretty great example of a guy
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: putting in the work and taking his game to another level.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the Cubs don't have a lot of pitching examples of that.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Not guys that have stayed healthy, at least. I guess
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you could say like, hey, Ben Brown was on that path.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: There are little things that you can point to and say, like,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I feel good about this with the Cubs. When you
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: compare it to the Brewers, the Cubs are in a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: division with this team that just, this organization that just
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: does everything well. Add in that they're, you know, just
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: direct directly to the North of us and, and the
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: indivision rival, uh, had spend a hundred million less on their, uh,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: you know, on their MLB payroll that the Cubs took
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: their manager, their, you know, top tier manager. They don't
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: miss a beat. Uh, they lose their team president to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the Mets. Don't miss a beat. Like there's all these
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: things that just had like, and it's just this well
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: run organization from top to bottom, uh, that continues to
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: produce talent. Uh, I would not be surprised if William
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Contreras and McGill and whoever else is a pending free
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: agent are traded. And I would not be surprised if
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: the Brewers go out there and win a hundred plus
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: games again.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Um, William Contreras is a unique situation.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know, reading stuff about him and watching him play,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: he brings something to the team that maybe they don't, that,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that is, uh, like an intangible quality. Um, Maybe it
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: was his first home run of the postseason, whichever one
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: it was. I just remember watching and I'm like, that
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: is an insane celebration for a fourth inning home run
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: that like cut a lead. I mean, cut a deficit,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: didn't even give them the lead.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: And I loved it.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Like, you know, I'm sure there were Cubs fans watching
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: who hated it, but he had like this, I think
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: it was against the Padres. And he just like, enjoyed
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: every second of this, like third or fourth inning home run.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I was like, that was wild. That was a wild celebration.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: And he brings an edge to the team. He, you know, obviously, uh,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: made a name for himself this post season with his performance.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: At the plate.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: And even with his performance, you know, with his ABS challenges, yes. Amazing.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: So, uh, but all that said, like he's, he's going
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to be 29 next year. Cashers fall off a cliff
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: pretty quickly sometimes. Uh, And the Brewers are smart. They
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: know what types of players to target in trades. There's
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: going to be, like, catchers are hard to find. So
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: it's like a double-edged sword. Catchers are hard to find,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: so he's hard to replace. But the Brewers are really good.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: And maybe they'll find a deal that they're like, this
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: is too good to pass up.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I just don't, like, whatever happens with these guys, I
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: don't expect the Brewers to suddenly become like an 85-win team.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: There's too much talent there and too much history of,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: losing talent, quote unquote losing talent, trading away talent, and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: still getting better. It's just an impressive way to do things.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: And when you talk about that, how well they're able
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to just move on from players and they have this system,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: whether it's trades or through their system, whatever it may be,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: small free agent pickups, they find a way to replenish.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: And go out there and perform.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: That is the task that the Cubs are essentially dealing
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: with right now. And to like a pretty extreme degree,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and especially with the rotation, um, you know, I think
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the bullpen is probably in better, much better shape than
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: it has been in previous, like the last few off seasons.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I don't think you need to go crazy there. Uh,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the offense is, is, has a really nice base. You
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: need to make some shrewd moves in my opinion, maybe
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: spend big, like on a shorter term deal. I just
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: don't see them handing out like a huge five-year contract
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: just because there's no, there's nobody that, if there was
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: like a 26 year old out there, maybe the Cubs
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: would be like, Hey, we can continue to invest on offense.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Just don't see them going long-term deal. There, there could
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: be like a two or three year deal.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: That makes sense.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: And I'm just kind of speculating just because it's like,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: where do you put the money? Um, and then, and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: then it's the starting rotation. Like, that's just going to like,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: how do you rebuild this starting rotation when it's clay homes,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: David Peterson, show to him, a Naga, Matthew Boyd, um,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I'm missing one person.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Kevin Gossman.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: Kevin Gossman.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all headed to free agency. And Cade Horton, unknown
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: when he'll return. Ben Brown's status pretty much up in
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the air. Justin Steele returning from a significant– he's healthy,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: but returning from a significant injury. Right now, if the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: season started right now, you're talking about Justin Steele, Edward Cabrera,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: two question marks with health and performance with Cabrera, Javier Asad– Uh,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Ben Brown, obviously a huge question mark. And then like
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Braxton Garrett, who I really like is like your eighth
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: starter as a depth guy who you can call up
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: and down on. Like, I like that idea of having
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: this younger guy with upside and talent right now. He's your,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: probably your fifth starter. And then Jackson Wiggins as your
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: sixth starter.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Like they'll, the depth part isn't what worries.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Me because you can build that out, uh, with NRIs
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and figure that out and hope guys develop. But it's
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the top of the rotation. It's the guys that you
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: know are going to make or want to make 30 starts.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: This is why we both think the Cubs are going
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: to be pretty active in November, that they're going to
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: be aggressive. And I know Cubs fans will probably roll
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: their eyes at this. at that statement, but I do
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: think the need is so acute and the, the template
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: is kind of there and that we're going back to
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: the last lockout and the Cubs did that buzzer beater
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: deal with Marcus Stroman. And there wasn't that sort of
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: blueprint that we're kind of working from now. There was
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: a lot of deals done during that, last window before
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: the last lockout, Kevin Gosman, Robbie Ray, Max Scherzer, uh,
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: you know, they were one year pillow deal for Noah Syndergaard,
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: the Giants, you know, signed their Alex Cobb, Alex Wood
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: type pitchers. I mean, the Cubs were, you know, kind
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: of looking at Steven Matz and then he gets four years,
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: $ 44 million from the Cardinals. Cause there was a, ton
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: of activity, particularly within the pitching market. If you go
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: back to that time too, the Cubs were coming off
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: that sell-off at the deadline.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: So there was just a ton of work to do.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: I think they were a little more cautious or conservative
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: with how they were going to invest long-term. Like you say,
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: the base of this team is solid. There's a foundation
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: to work from, to build off of. Uh, and I
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: think all of those forces will translate, uh, into a
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: pretty hectic period for the Cubs before things go dark indefinitely.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Uh, I'm curious to see exactly how they attack it.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I was just looking at their payroll situation, uh, you know,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: they were at 265 as far as luxury tax payroll,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: 265 million approximately.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: This is according to Roster Resource.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And right now they're looking at with ARB, like this
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: is an estimate, like ARB estimates and all these different things,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: around 159 million. So you're assuming they're working with around
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: 100 million if they're going to be spending around the same.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the plan because, you know,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: we don't really know budget ideas exactly. And also we
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: just don't know what spending will be like, because we
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: don't know what the CBA is.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I think they think they kind.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Of are going to treat it, uh, that they can
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: be aggressive before, at least before the lockout starts, they
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: can be kind of aggressive with their spending. Um, yeah, I,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I think we're going to see, you know, I think people,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I think a we're focused on free agency right now,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: but I think we're just going to see a lot
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: of movement.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I wonder how.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Aggressive they will be with trades, uh, trying to, you know,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: we know that they were trying to acquire, uh, a
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: pitcher who was under control beyond 2026 at the deadline.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: They couldn't pull that off. Do they revisit some of that? Uh,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: like they did last winter and, and actually pulled off
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: the Edward Cabrera deal. Uh, like there there'll be a,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: there'll be more pictures available than there were at the deadline. Uh,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: I wonder what type of deal they can pull off. Uh,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: if they, if that's the route they go, uh, and then,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: and then how does that change the mentality about how
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: you spend your money? Like do you, if you can
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: get a pretty significant piece by a trade and, and
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: that doesn't ding your, uh, your, the bottom line as
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: far as money spent, uh, how do you distribute that money?
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: It's going to be interesting to see. I do think
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: there's going to be more trades than, than we've seen
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: in the past, uh, or the Cubs will try to
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: make more trades than the, than they have in the past. Um,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I think it makes sense to kind of spread the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: wealth around and see, and try and get as many
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: different types of pitchers or, or, um, especially pitchers that
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: have options. And you could say like, we'd like to
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: see this guy's a starter, uh, but he could also
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: help in the bullpen. Um, I think the Brewers have
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: guys like that, right, where Aaron Ashby could be a
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: starter down the line, but he's dominant in the bullpen.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Chad Patrick is someone that does both. I don't think
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: he was impactful in the postseason as much, but definitely
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: a quality pitcher who Cubs fans should be familiar with,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: who's done good work, and just quality depth. It's about
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: getting through the season and then leaning on your best
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: guys in the postseason, right? So you have to kind
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: of look at it in different ways. Is Chad Patrick
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: someone you'd lean on in the World Series? No.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: But was he pretty important to getting them to 103 wins?
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: I think so.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I've watched enough of their games that it's like this
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: guy was a quality pitcher. The Cubs need guys.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Like that as well as the guys that you'd lean on.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Cubs are good at some of
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: the boring stuff.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Some of the fundamentals, I think, you know, you don't
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: go to the playoffs two years in a row, like
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: by accident there. It sounds, it sounds very much kind
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: of like a participation trophy when you're talking about the Brewers,
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: you know, getting a world series parade and lifting a
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: world series trophy, but like the Cubs do do certain things. Well,
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: I know they're, they just kind of have to wear
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: it now of this comparison to the Brewers. And like
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: most of the other 29 clubs don't stack up well
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: against the Brewers. And, you know, I go back to,
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: you know, basically Alex Bregman talking about this minutes, or
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: actually it was more like an hour plus by the
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: time we got to him. But shortly after season ended
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: in San Diego and he's there, in the visiting clubhouse
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: at Petco Park, you saying this wasn't good enough, need
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: to get better and hope this fuels the entire organization.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: And so, you know, we're going to keep going back
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: and forth on this of like, you know, amazing opportunity.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Like if, if you're right, that's the only thing that matters.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: You could have a vastly different, you know, dynamic team
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: whenever baseball resumes. Or, like, you could get stuck trying
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: to replace all of these viable major league pieces at
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: a time when your farm system is just very imbalanced
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: and sort of devoid of top-shelf pitching.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think... You know, you can't make decisions... Quick,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: poor decisions.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Right. But I think there has to be some sort
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: of feeling when you're talking about the lockout coming at
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the end of the day on December 1st. There has
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: to be some sort of feeling like you want to
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: feel like a little bit more comfortable about your pitching situation.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: heading into the lockout where it's not like, oh, crap.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Like what are we going to do?
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So I don't know what that number is to be sure.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Like is it– let's just use two names that are
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: impending free agents like is it just signing Clay Holmes
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: and David Peterson and being like, okay, now, now focus
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: on like, now we, now we can kind of focus
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: on a big trade or something like that, or, or
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: a bigger name to lead the rotation. But like, how
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: many do you need to get to, to, to be like, okay,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I feel like semi comfortable that we don't have a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: ton of work to do or an insane amount of
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: work to do once.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: The lockout is lifted.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I think that's a question they kind of have to,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: are probably like throwing around, and trying to understand for themselves.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: And maybe that number, maybe there isn't a specific number
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: because Jed will always say, you know, you always want
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: more pitching. So it's going to be an interesting month
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: here because you want, I think it's important to get
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: to a point where it's just like, okay, we have like,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem as daunting of a task. You need
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: to get to that point by December 1st of like, okay,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Now it's just a couple more moves and you're good
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and you feel good about the team or like the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: roster is set, whatever it may be. Can they get
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: that work done is the question. I expect them to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: be very busy. It's going to be active. That'll start
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: early next week, middle of next week. We'll start hearing things.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: And when it comes to pitching overall and trying to
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: catch the Brewers and trying to become a better team,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: we're like, we've talked about this a lot. We're going
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to be writing about it more. And like, this is
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: something that we're digging into. They are making changes. They
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: are making adjustments. They're continuing to evolve. Um, whether it's
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the right decisions or the right moves, like only time
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: will tell there. Uh, but they, they are, uh, trying
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: to make changes. They're not just like, okay, all is well. Uh,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Jed was pretty clear on that at the end of
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the season. we've been talking about talking to people about
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: this since really since last off season. I remember asking Jed,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I believe it was at the GM meetings last year
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: about this and Jed kind of saying he wasn't happy
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: with the pitching development and, and it was something that
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: they needed to adjust. So those things started last off
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: season and they're continuing, uh, now. And, uh, and it's
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: not something that, you know, they're, they're just sitting on
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: their hands about, um, One other thing, Patrick, they didn't
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: sit on their hands when it came to, uh, John Maley. Uh,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: John Maley has been with the organization back with the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: organization now for a few years, uh, really popular among players. Uh,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: you're going to have to help me on the years,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: but I know he was, obviously he was originally with
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: the team back in the championship, uh, during the championship years. Uh,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: has been to multiple different spots since including the Phillies.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: Uh, we, we went over this before.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: And I'm, I'm blanking on all the angels, the Phillies, uh,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and he is, uh, before he was with the Cubs that,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that first stint with the Cubs, he was with the Astros,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: I believe. Uh, and, and he is back and he's, uh, not.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Going to the Mets. Uh, you have more information there,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I believe.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Yes, the Cubs were proactive in sort of cutting off
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: the Mets. They had shown preliminary interest, and there was
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: a story out of New York, I believe it was MLB.com,
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: that first reported that he was sort of on a
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: candidate list. I think that caught the Cubs off guard
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: to a degree. And so you go back to his
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: Houston days, David Stearns, the– former Brewers top baseball executive.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: He was an assistant GM in Houston when Maley was
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: working with Dexter Fowler and Jose Altuve and made a
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: really good impression on an organization that was kind of
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: slowly back on the upswing. Obviously, Maley did a great
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: job with the Cubs' previous young core of hitters, Chris Bryant,
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: Anthony Rizzo.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Javi Baez worked.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: With all of them. Uh, and I think you actually
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: got this at the time. It was really interesting how
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: coming off that sell off in 21, the Cubs brought
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: him back to work at AAA Iowa, which at the time,
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: you know, they knew Pico Armstrong and others, and they
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: wanted to kind of implement a major league style to
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: the clubs, the affiliates preparations. And, um, I think it's
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: credit to both sides that they were able to forge
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: that reunion because it felt like, you know, Mailey was
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: sort of, um, I don't know if scapegoated is the
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: right word, but you know, the team goes to three
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: straight NLCSs and you fire your hitting and pitching coaches.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: It was, it was a lot of change. It was
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: obviously a disappointment.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: He's a Chicago native, but Fast forward, he's been a
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: huge influence on Peter Armstrong, and Pete has said that
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: repeatedly on.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: What will almost certainly be remembered as an MVP campaign.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: And so basically what the Cubs did was they reworked
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: his contract so that, you know, I think his– I
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: don't know if his title– I don't think his title
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: is changing. His role is not really changing. He's an
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: assistant hitting coach now. The Mets have an open– sort
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: of director of hitting position. They retained some hitting coaches.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: It's obviously a great opportunity there. He knows Andy Green,
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: the Mets manager as well, because Green had been the
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: bench coach for David Ross in Chicago during that sort
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: of gap year back in Iowa. But in any event,
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: Maley is expected to stay on with the Cubs under
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: a reworked contract. And As we head into award season
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: here with Pete Crow Armstrong probably picking up hardware left
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: and right, I think to have that situation settled is
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: a nice piece of information when you look at all
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: the uncertainty around the lockout and all the work they
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: have to do on the pitching side.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't want to lose staff members. You
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: don't want to lose front office members. They've already lost
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: one front office member and Jared Banner going to the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: G going to the Baltimore Orioles to be GM. They
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: could lose a second with Kanzler, Jason Kanzler, a finalist,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: one of two finalists. Now it's been reported for the
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Mariners job. That's, that's fascinating as well. We'll, we may
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: get news on that in the coming days. That's, that's
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: an interesting, uh, tournament events for.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: The Cubs as well.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: We'll see, uh, if they can retain Kanzler, uh, But
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: retaining Maley does feel important. I believe, I'm going off
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: memory right now, when he was promoted to assistant hitting
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: coach from AAA, I believe he had opportunities elsewhere as well,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and the Cubs were proactive in saying, like, what can
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: we do.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: To keep you here?
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Here's an assistant hitting coach role. So obviously he's valued,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: and the players reflect that as well. So nice to
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: have him back for the team.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Northside Territory. We'll be
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: back next week. Free agency will be starting. We're on
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the precipice of the GM meetings, all that good stuff.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to Northside Territory. Make sure
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening and watching, everyone.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Take care.