Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Five free agents the Cubs should target to fix their pitching

Transcript

Five free agents the Cubs should target to fix their pitching · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome it to Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast.
0:09
Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
0:11
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at The Athletic. Patrick, the
0:16
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Brewers are two wins away from the World Series.
0:20
Speaker 2: Clearly injured. I don't know. Compromise.
0:24
Speaker 1: Shohei Otani is not producing for the Dodgers. And they
0:29
Speaker 1: just do not look like the same team today. without
0:32
Speaker 1: his power bat in the lineup. And, uh, the brewers are,
0:36
Speaker 1: they're not just brewers in their way. They, they, they're,
0:38
Speaker 1: they're doing it in all different ways, but they're, they're
0:42
Speaker 1: up to, Oh, uh, I think you'd have to call
0:46
Speaker 1: them the favorite to win the world series right now.
0:49
Speaker 2: And, uh, that's going to just, uh.
0:52
Speaker 1: Provide more angst for Cubs fans and probably this Cubs
0:56
Speaker 1: front office to, uh, to do what they need to
0:59
Speaker 1: do this winter to try and, uh, catch up to
1:03
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee brewers. And I think we all know the
1:06
Speaker 1: primary vehicle for getting, uh, for, for doing that for
1:11
Speaker 1: the Cubs is going to be to improve their pitching.
1:14
Speaker 2: Uh, that's what this episode is about. Five players.
1:19
Speaker 1: We think the Cubs should look at, should pursue however
1:22
Speaker 1: you want to put it. Um, Look, I think there's
1:25
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of different ways for them
1:28
Speaker 1: to improve their pitching because their pitching just wasn't that good.
1:32
Speaker 1: And free agency won't be the only way. There's probably
1:35
Speaker 1: going to be some trades, ones that I think I
1:39
Speaker 1: may have– I'm not sure if I mentioned this to
1:40
Speaker 1: you off the air once or said this on the show.
1:44
Speaker 1: But basically, like, there's probably going to be some moves
1:47
Speaker 1: that we don't pay attention to, like smaller level moves that–
1:52
Speaker 1: the Cubs hope kind of pop over the course of
1:54
Speaker 1: the year, because that, that happens to the brewers. That
1:56
Speaker 1: happens to the rays. It happens to the guardians. Um, you,
2:00
Speaker 1: you have to make smaller moves as well as the
2:03
Speaker 1: big ones. Those aren't as fun to predict and try and, and, uh, uh, uh,
2:10
Speaker 1: guess what's going to happen. So we're going to start
2:12
Speaker 1: with the big one. And that's the biggest name to
2:16
Speaker 1: hit free agency. I think, you know, as far as
2:18
Speaker 1: pitchers go and it feels like a little while, maybe
2:21
Speaker 1: I'm wrong, Uh, I guess Shohei Otani was a pitcher
2:24
Speaker 1: when he had free agency. Uh, look, Derek Scooble is
2:29
Speaker 1: arguably the best pitcher in baseball going right now. Uh,
2:34
Speaker 1: it's funny right before the Mizorowski Scooble matchup, I asked
2:39
Speaker 1: my son just point blank, who are the two best
2:41
Speaker 1: pitchers in baseball just to see, get, get an idea
2:43
Speaker 1: of what the teenager was thinking. And he said, Mizorowski, Cam,
2:47
Speaker 1: Cam Schlitter ruining my, uh, ruining my idea of like,
2:50
Speaker 1: come on, it's, it's the two best pitchers matching up
2:53
Speaker 1: in baseball in the game. One of the NLCS, but Scooble, uh,
2:58
Speaker 1: is right up there. And, and I think, uh, you know,
3:00
Speaker 1: I don't know if you had a semi down year, uh,
3:04
Speaker 1: for him, but still, uh, he's still going to cash in,
3:07
Speaker 1: in some form.
3:08
Speaker 2: I don't think the Cubs are the leaders here.
3:11
Speaker 1: In fact, uh, pretty sure your buddy Jesse and some
3:15
Speaker 1: other ESPN writers had a, had a piece kind of
3:17
Speaker 1: guessing where Scooble would go. And, and I don't think
3:21
Speaker 1: the Cubs got much of a mention in that. But I,
3:27
Speaker 1: I think, I think it is, it certainly shouldn't be
3:31
Speaker 1: ruled out. And it, there are, there are so many
3:34
Speaker 1: different factors in this that I think are impacting it,
3:37
Speaker 1: including like some weirdness going on with the Dodgers. We'll
3:41
Speaker 1: see how they react if they're, They're eliminated.
3:47
Speaker 2: I'm just not sure which teams.
3:48
Speaker 1: Are definitely going to be in on him, and I
3:52
Speaker 1: do think the Cubs make sense for a lot of
3:55
Speaker 1: different reasons. We'll see if financially they're going to be
3:59
Speaker 1: aggressive with someone like Scooble and what kind of deal
4:03
Speaker 1: he ends up with, but I think it's a perfect
4:05
Speaker 1: fit for a lot of different reasons.
4:09
Speaker 3: We're starting with Scooble because the Cubs are not going
4:12
Speaker 3: to rule out Scooble at this point, which should be obvious,
4:18
Speaker 3: which should be standard operating procedure. But when you mentioned
4:23
Speaker 3: top free agent pitchers, it wasn't that long ago when
4:26
Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer all but confirmed at the GM meetings that
4:30
Speaker 3: there's no chance they're going after Corbin Burns, which was
4:36
Speaker 3: kind of stunning just to have it sort of dismissed
4:40
Speaker 3: out of hand before Thanksgiving. Obviously Burns' contract has not
4:45
Speaker 3: worked out well thus far.
4:47
Speaker 4: He's been hurt.
4:51
Speaker 3: I think when you say semi-down year, that's like music
4:54
Speaker 3: to the Cubs' ears, right?
4:59
Speaker 2: But I think.
5:01
Speaker 3: His health history, the wonkiness of this offseason, the Dodgers'
5:09
Speaker 3: dynasty potentially maybe not crumbling, but being put on pause,
5:16
Speaker 3: a new CBA. Those are just kind of general big
5:21
Speaker 3: picture factors, which I don't know if you can really
5:25
Speaker 3: hang your hat on that if you're the Cubs.
5:27
Speaker 4: But from Scooble's perspective, there are.
5:31
Speaker 3: Only a small number of teams at any given point
5:35
Speaker 3: that are going to be in play for the top
5:36
Speaker 3: pitcher on the free agent market. Like who can comfortably
5:40
Speaker 3: fit his contract onto their books, how many teams are
5:46
Speaker 3: in a winning cycle, how many teams have that glaring need,
5:50
Speaker 3: and how many destinations hold appeal to the free agent.
5:55
Speaker 3: And the Cubs check all of those boxes. I mean,
5:58
Speaker 3: Scooble's from Arizona. His family is rooted there. He has
6:02
Speaker 3: a home base not far from the Cubs' Mesa facility.
6:09
Speaker 3: Does that get a deal across the finish line alone? No.
6:13
Speaker 3: But when the entire focus is pitching, you have to
6:19
Speaker 3: look at the best pitcher out there. And when you've
6:22
Speaker 3: already tried to acquire him at the trade deadline, you've
6:26
Speaker 3: done a ton of homework on him already. You have
6:31
Speaker 3: a pretty good idea of maybe some of his geographic preferences. Again,
6:39
Speaker 3: If the Mets come out of nowhere with some deal,
6:41
Speaker 3: then I'm sure Arizona isn't that important. But if you
6:44
Speaker 3: read Will Salmon in The Athletic, it's not entirely clear
6:47
Speaker 3: where the Mets go from here after an extremely disappointing year.
6:52
Speaker 3: They haven't shown a willingness to go long-term on the
6:57
Speaker 3: pitching side. And when you look at Burns' deal, like
7:01
Speaker 3: six years, $ 210 million, I think Scuba would probably be
7:04
Speaker 3: aiming higher. We know that once... the Dylan Cease negotiations
7:11
Speaker 3: got towards $ 200 million. The Cubs are like, yeah, no,
7:13
Speaker 3: we're not going to go there. Scott Boris represents Scooble, Cease,
7:18
Speaker 3: and Burns, which does not scream hometown discount just because
7:25
Speaker 3: it's an easy commute to spring training. But they were
7:29
Speaker 3: able to circle back on Alex Bregman with Boris. We
7:32
Speaker 3: all thought we didn't expect Cody Bellinger to essentially sign
7:37
Speaker 3: two free agent contracts with the Cubs.
7:40
Speaker 4: So there's certainly a lot of.
7:43
Speaker 3: Working history there, a working relationship there that I just
7:47
Speaker 3: don't think it makes no sense to rule it out
7:48
Speaker 3: this early. You might as well aim high and start
7:52
Speaker 3: from there.
7:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay.
7:54
Speaker 1: So here are just some facts about school. So, so
7:58
Speaker 1: we have these numbers, which are, I mean, they're ridiculous.
8:01
Speaker 1: This is a, I called it a semi down year,
8:04
Speaker 1: 158 point, 158 and two thirds innings, two 72 ERA
8:10
Speaker 1: sub one whip. That's his fourth straight season with the
8:13
Speaker 1: sub one whip 30% strikeout rate, 4.4% walk rate.
8:17
Speaker 2: At like 5.2 war. According to fan graphs.
8:19
Speaker 1: I mean, this is, you know, very, I'm stating the obvious,
8:24
Speaker 1: very high level pitcher here.
8:26
Speaker 2: Like that.
8:27
Speaker 1: He would be a game changer. If the Cubs signed him,
8:30
Speaker 1: it would be his age 30 season. So you're talking
8:34
Speaker 1: about age 30 at age 35, uh, for a six
8:37
Speaker 1: year deal. If that's what it takes, if he's, if
8:40
Speaker 1: it's a six year deal, you know, I just don't
8:44
Speaker 1: know the finance, the financial aspect of it. It's really
8:49
Speaker 1: hard to break down and think about right now when
8:51
Speaker 1: you just don't know what teams are thinking CBA wise.
8:56
Speaker 1: And even Jed seemed a little bit like hard to
9:00
Speaker 1: pin down on the CBA talk when we talked at,
9:03
Speaker 1: when we were asking at the end of season press conference, because,
9:06
Speaker 1: they can't, he admitted like they can't assume that it's
9:10
Speaker 1: hard to like make assumptions about what the new financial
9:12
Speaker 1: structures will be. And it's also like, do you completely
9:15
Speaker 1: ignore it and just treat it like normal? Like it's
9:18
Speaker 1: going to be the same. He kind of hedged on
9:21
Speaker 1: that as well. He didn't give a direct, there was no,
9:24
Speaker 1: like you can't do that. So yeah, it'll be interesting
9:28
Speaker 1: to see how like, and no team's going to have a,
9:31
Speaker 1: since they're all kind of, guessing as to what it's
9:34
Speaker 1: going to look like nobody's going to have like the
9:36
Speaker 1: same strategy like they're all going to have different thoughts
9:39
Speaker 1: on it so if the cubs are a little bit
9:42
Speaker 1: more aggressive than others maybe maybe that works out i
9:45
Speaker 1: i i still think it's a long shot i i'd
9:48
Speaker 1: probably say that about any year even like heading into
9:52
Speaker 1: the 2015 offseason john lester i'd still put the cubs
9:56
Speaker 1: odds at low and that was and we all kind
9:58
Speaker 1: of assumed like that was a really good chance.
10:01
Speaker 2: Just because free agency can be weird. All those things.
10:04
Speaker 1: I still don't, I would not put the Cubs as favorites.
10:07
Speaker 1: I just, I think what we're trying to lay out
10:09
Speaker 1: here is you just can't rule them out. Like don't
10:13
Speaker 1: make it them. Don't eliminate them right now. Let's see how,
10:18
Speaker 1: let's see what we, I think it's going to be important.
10:21
Speaker 1: You and I will be at the GM meetings. What
10:22
Speaker 1: we hear at the GM meetings, uh, that will, you know,
10:26
Speaker 1: lay out a lot of things, uh, going forward because
10:30
Speaker 1: the free agent rumors prior to the end of the
10:32
Speaker 1: world series are very different from post GM meetings. That's
10:35
Speaker 1: when we start to hear more things. All, all, uh,
10:38
Speaker 1: reporters start to hear a little bit more and then
10:40
Speaker 1: you have a better idea.
10:41
Speaker 2: It's like, Oh, okay.
10:42
Speaker 1: Maybe they're not going to rule this guy out as,
10:45
Speaker 1: as we originally thought. Let's take a quick break and,
10:48
Speaker 1: And then talk about some other pitchers that may make
10:50
Speaker 1: some sense here.
10:52
Speaker 5: Hey, at FK and the Foul Territory Network, we have
10:55
Speaker 5: so many shows, so many schedules, so many hosts. It
10:58
Speaker 5: is really hard to stay organized. That's why there's House
11:01
Speaker 5: Call Pro. If you work in the HVAC, if you
11:03
Speaker 5: work in plumbing, if you work in construction, you work
11:06
Speaker 5: with your hands, they'll organize your schedule. They'll make your
11:09
Speaker 5: bill paying easy. It's all right there in House Call Pro.
11:13
Speaker 6: Yeah, AJ, you can have a plumbing business, electrical, HVAC.
11:16
Speaker 6: Housecall Pro will help keep you organized. Estimates, invoices, the
11:20
Speaker 6: next lead. So you can do the job, focus on
11:22
Speaker 6: the task at hand, but still keep the business cranking.
11:24
Speaker 6: And on average, pros using Housecall Pro save more than
11:27
Speaker 6: eight hours per week. On average, pros grow the monthly
11:30
Speaker 6: revenue they generate through Housecall Pro by more than 35%
11:33
Speaker 6: in their first year. And Housecall Pro is already trusted
11:36
Speaker 6: by over 200,000 pros. Ready to save time and win
11:39
Speaker 6: more jobs for a limited time only? FT listeners get 50%
11:42
Speaker 6: off base plans for their first three months when you
11:44
Speaker 6: head to housecallpro.com slash foul. That's housecallpro.com slash foul for 50% off.
11:49
Speaker 6: After you sign up, they'll ask you where you heard
11:50
Speaker 6: about them. Please support our show and let them know
11:52
Speaker 6: we sent you.
11:55
Speaker 2: All right, Patrick.
11:57
Speaker 1: So as far as other names, a couple episodes ago,
12:01
Speaker 1: we talked about the idea of resigning guys. The Cubs
12:05
Speaker 1: are going to look at pretty much everyone that was
12:08
Speaker 1: on their staff. They're not going to eliminate any of
12:12
Speaker 1: those names just yet. They could, you know, the right
12:16
Speaker 1: deal for anybody. Any of those guys could be back
12:21
Speaker 1: because they need pitching. We both agree that, you know,
12:24
Speaker 1: Peterson and Clay Holmes, their ground ball tendencies, especially Peterson.
12:29
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to break the bank. I
12:31
Speaker 1: think it makes a lot of sense. We haven't really
12:36
Speaker 1: dove into the Japanese pitching issue. realm yet uh that's
12:41
Speaker 1: something that we'll definitely dig into as the offseason goes
12:46
Speaker 1: uh and obviously we know that the cubs uh are
12:49
Speaker 1: interested in the japanese market in general and and that.
12:53
Speaker 2: There are um.
12:55
Speaker 1: There's so there's some big name players that are available
12:58
Speaker 1: we'll see if the cubs are aggressive there uh But
13:02
Speaker 1: maybe we'll save that for another episode just before we
13:05
Speaker 1: can actually get some real information here. But we know
13:08
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer has said, especially lately, that they want to
13:11
Speaker 1: remain in the Japanese market. And he goes there at
13:15
Speaker 1: least once a summer to join his scouts on a
13:19
Speaker 1: scouting trip.
13:22
Speaker 2: I think a name that we mentioned, was.
13:24
Speaker 1: It last offseason that we were discussing this? But whenever,
13:27
Speaker 1: it's all blending together.
13:29
Speaker 2: But Michael King.
13:33
Speaker 4: All these free agents the Cubs tried for and whiffed on.
13:36
Speaker 2: Yeah. Michael King.
13:38
Speaker 1: I think Cubs fans saw firsthand what makes Michael King
13:42
Speaker 1: so good. I was looking through some of the starts
13:46
Speaker 1: of the postseason and And it's like drew Rasmussen cam
13:50
Speaker 1: Schlitter and Michael King. I think they're the only pitchers
13:54
Speaker 1: to get complete seven so far in this post season,
13:58
Speaker 1: Michael King dominated the Cubs.
14:00
Speaker 2: We Cubs fans. I don't need to tell you that
14:02
Speaker 2: you saw it, uh.
14:04
Speaker 1: Had a really good game plan against Peter Armstrong and,
14:07
Speaker 1: and Alex Bregman.
14:08
Speaker 2: Um, and, and he's just a good pitcher overall.
14:12
Speaker 1: Like he's got a lot of what we're talking, like
14:14
Speaker 1: what the Cubs are talking about. Um, And I think
14:18
Speaker 1: pretty much any of these names that we're probably going
14:20
Speaker 1: to mention are like veterans and kind of can help
14:24
Speaker 1: lead a staff. I think our buddy Dennis Lynn wrote
14:29
Speaker 1: about like a turning point in the Padres season. Manny
14:33
Speaker 1: Machado was a big part of that, but so was
14:35
Speaker 1: Michael King. We're talking about like intangible leadership qualities here.
14:39
Speaker 1: And Michael King was the one that got the team
14:42
Speaker 1: together for, I believe it was, if I'm remembering the
14:44
Speaker 1: story right, it was like a sushi dinner. Just like
14:47
Speaker 1: a team bonding moment to kind of like reiterate, hey,
14:50
Speaker 1: we got to get our crap together and play as
14:53
Speaker 1: a unit.
14:54
Speaker 2: And how do we do this? How do we figure
14:55
Speaker 2: this out?
14:56
Speaker 1: And, you know, who knows what those things actually matter.
14:59
Speaker 1: But Michael King is known as someone that can kind
15:02
Speaker 1: of bring a group together. And I don't think that
15:04
Speaker 1: hurts when you don't have a true veteran right now
15:08
Speaker 1: in that group. He can help in that manner. But
15:12
Speaker 1: obviously what he does on the mound is most important.
15:14
Speaker 1: And he's pretty damn good there, too.
15:18
Speaker 4: No doubt.
15:18
Speaker 3: And I think you look at his history and there
15:24
Speaker 3: is a similarity to Clay Holmes in that he is
15:26
Speaker 3: someone who advocated for himself. I mean, he could have
15:28
Speaker 3: had a very comfortable sort of path in the bullpen
15:32
Speaker 3: with the Yankees coming from a very like buttoned up culture,
15:37
Speaker 3: a very progressive pitching organization. And he kind of just
15:42
Speaker 3: took that opportunity and.
15:44
Speaker 4: Ran with it. I think the Cubs interest last year
15:48
Speaker 4: was sincere. I don't think.
15:54
Speaker 3: They were all that, I guess, strong in the end
15:57
Speaker 3: in terms of making a push, but the interest was there.
16:02
Speaker 3: He was kind of coming off a weird season with
16:05
Speaker 3: the Padres. They never liked those opt-outs after one year,
16:09
Speaker 3: and we're assuming here that King will use that because
16:13
Speaker 3: he had an awesome season. And in talking to someone
16:16
Speaker 3: during that Padres series, or at the start of it,
16:19
Speaker 3: I should say, you know, I think the breakdown from
16:24
Speaker 3: a scouting perspective was it was two pretty evenly matched teams,
16:30
Speaker 3: but the Padres definitely had the better bullpen and they
16:33
Speaker 3: probably had the best starting pitcher in that series. And
16:37
Speaker 3: now you could say maybe Kevin Gossman has a better
16:42
Speaker 3: track record or you know, maybe like other guys in
16:47
Speaker 3: different moments, but like in terms of, to use a
16:50
Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer phrase, a pitcher who was like optimized for
16:53
Speaker 3: the post season, it was Michael King. And, you know,
16:57
Speaker 3: in talking to Dennis who did, that was an awesome story.
17:01
Speaker 3: I think the other part of it was like Manny Machado.
17:03
Speaker 4: Kicking the coach's kids out of the clubhouse before.
17:06
Speaker 3: Games, which was awesome. But that, you know, King is
17:10
Speaker 3: a new England player.
17:12
Speaker 2: Guy.
17:13
Speaker 3: Um, he has very strong roots on the East coast.
17:15
Speaker 3: So I think that is probably a factor, but that he,
17:18
Speaker 3: he loves San Diego. There's a comfort level there that
17:22
Speaker 3: he'll be open. I mean, not just new CBA there,
17:25
Speaker 3: you have new ownership. So not really sure that will go,
17:27
Speaker 3: but the Cubs would be probably one of those few teams, uh,
17:33
Speaker 3: in the middle, you know, obviously they're not on the
17:35
Speaker 3: East coast, but, um, I think the Cubs could put
17:39
Speaker 3: together a pretty, uh, appealing offer.
17:43
Speaker 4: And I think they should, I think.
17:45
Speaker 3: That there's going to be, I think there's something to
17:48
Speaker 3: a guy like Craig Council says that bets on himself
17:52
Speaker 3: and takes, you know, a successful career in the bullpen and,
17:56
Speaker 3: and says, I want to try something different and has the,
18:00
Speaker 3: not only the skill, but the work ethic and the
18:03
Speaker 3: mindset to do something like that.
18:05
Speaker 4: It's very impressive.
18:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:07
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just a lot of characteristics that he
18:09
Speaker 1: has that I think make a lot of sense. Uh, and, and,
18:13
Speaker 1: you know, as much as, um, look, Scooble is going
18:17
Speaker 1: to be the top free agent and he's going to
18:19
Speaker 1: get the most money. My guess is like kind of
18:22
Speaker 1: looking at the free agent market that King is second there. Uh, probably, uh,
18:30
Speaker 1: he's still going to get a healthy amount of money,
18:32
Speaker 1: but I think it's in a realm that the Cubs
18:34
Speaker 1: should be comfortable with. Uh, so, you know, I, We
18:39
Speaker 1: give the Cubs a little bit of– we have in
18:43
Speaker 1: the past said they're not spending enough. They're not spending aggressively.
18:46
Speaker 1: They changed that last winter when they signed Bregman. I
18:50
Speaker 1: think the way they're talking about pitching right now– look,
18:55
Speaker 1: it's not like– open this up. Free agency isn't the
18:57
Speaker 1: only way, but I do think they're going to be
18:59
Speaker 1: a little bit more aggressive with how they spend and
19:01
Speaker 1: maybe Michael King– Makes sense there. He's entering his age
19:05
Speaker 1: 32 season. We'll see how long of a deal it is.
19:08
Speaker 1: His strikeouts did go down this season in 185 innings pitch.
19:13
Speaker 1: Strikeout rate, ground ball rate was pretty solid, though. Those
19:18
Speaker 1: are two things, you know, we'll see how the Cubs
19:20
Speaker 1: look at that. Obviously, he stepped up in the playoffs
19:23
Speaker 1: and looked great when called upon. I think he makes
19:27
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. And the Cubs certainly have ideas
19:30
Speaker 1: and ways that maybe they can get that.
19:32
Speaker 2: Strikeout rate ticking back up.
19:34
Speaker 1: Another guy that you'd have to have some ideas for,
19:37
Speaker 1: but I think had a nice second half after the
19:39
Speaker 1: trade deadline. Freddie Peralta obviously walking into heading into free agency.
19:46
Speaker 1: It seemed like or at the start of the season,
19:49
Speaker 1: it seemed like. he was going to head into free
19:51
Speaker 1: agency on a really down note uh he gets traded
19:55
Speaker 1: to the rays uh who are you know always thinking
19:59
Speaker 1: differently and always thinking of ways to to improve anyone
20:03
Speaker 1: that they get their hands on uh their their solution
20:07
Speaker 1: seemed to seem to be this season a lot of
20:09
Speaker 1: change-ups I'm not sure if that's exactly what the Cubs
20:12
Speaker 1: would do if they got Freddy Peralta, but you can't
20:16
Speaker 1: rule out Freddy Peralta, a reunion with Greg Council, someone
20:21
Speaker 1: that the Cubs did do their due diligence on and
20:24
Speaker 1: were interested in. You know, I cannot remember if they
20:28
Speaker 1: were interested. Well, they wouldn't have traded for him because
20:30
Speaker 1: the breweries weren't going to trade with the Cubs, obviously.
20:33
Speaker 1: But they were certainly doing their due diligence and interested
20:36
Speaker 1: in him at the trade deadline.
20:38
Speaker 2: Obviously, he went to the Rays.
20:39
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah.
20:40
Speaker 1: And I think they'll be doing their due diligence and
20:45
Speaker 1: interested in him again as a free agent.
20:50
Speaker 3: It's worth noting Peralta has a great reputation around the game,
20:54
Speaker 3: and that is what a Cubs person said, that even
20:57
Speaker 3: when he was at that low moment with the Mets,
20:59
Speaker 3: that they expected a strong bidding war for him and
21:03
Speaker 3: some pretty aggressive offers just because of how he's regarded
21:09
Speaker 3: within the sport, just as, as a teammate, um, as
21:14
Speaker 3: a leader, as someone who can start.
21:18
Speaker 4: A playoff game.
21:19
Speaker 3: I mean, there aren't enough of those guys going around
21:24
Speaker 3: and it will be interesting to see where he ultimately
21:27
Speaker 3: lands in terms of the years and numbers, because when
21:30
Speaker 3: he was traded to New York, it was this idea of,
21:32
Speaker 3: oh man, like, Steve Cohen's money. This is a team
21:35
Speaker 3: that's supposed to compete for a World Series title. On paper,
21:40
Speaker 3: the idea was he'd be very comfortable in New York.
21:43
Speaker 3: And now I'm wondering how do you weigh those two
21:48
Speaker 3: halves or before and after the trade deadline? Most organizations
21:55
Speaker 3: aren't as good as the Rays are. at taking these
21:58
Speaker 3: guys and building them up. But look, Peterson was very
22:03
Speaker 3: good after leaving the Mets. Holmes was very good out
22:08
Speaker 3: of this in August, not great in September, but this
22:13
Speaker 3: idea of leaving that particular Mets team, like maybe it
22:16
Speaker 3: was just one of those, one of those years in
22:19
Speaker 3: New York and that it does not foreshadow the rest
22:23
Speaker 3: of Peralta's career. And, you know, I think, Craig Council is,
22:29
Speaker 3: like a lot of people throughout the game, has a
22:30
Speaker 3: lot of admiration for who Freddy Peralta is. And I
22:36
Speaker 3: think if Scooble, for all the reasons we mentioned, is
22:40
Speaker 3: sort of a long shot, you have to look at
22:44
Speaker 3: this next year, Bobby King, Peralta, and then another old
22:48
Speaker 3: guy we had, an old guy we have on the
22:50
Speaker 3: list there with the requisite Vanderbilt connections that seem to
22:54
Speaker 3: be a part of the Cubs way these days.
22:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sonny gray, uh, veteran been around man forever. It
23:03
Speaker 1: seems like he's going to be older. It's not going
23:05
Speaker 1: to be this huge deal. Uh, strikeouts went down and
23:10
Speaker 1: everyone that we've mentioned after Scooble, the strikeouts went down
23:13
Speaker 1: this year.
23:14
Speaker 2: Who knows if they bounce back?
23:16
Speaker 1: Uh, but this is one of the best ground ball
23:17
Speaker 1: guys in the game had a great results, uh, at
23:21
Speaker 1: great results in Boston. Um, and, I think he checks
23:26
Speaker 1: a lot of boxes, maybe not the stuff swing and
23:30
Speaker 1: miss box, but a very solid option that isn't going
23:35
Speaker 1: to break the bank. I think he makes a ton
23:39
Speaker 1: of sense for those reasons. You probably want someone that
23:44
Speaker 1: strikes more guys out, but like I said, when we're
23:49
Speaker 1: talking about the Cubs and pitching, there's not many guys
23:52
Speaker 1: you should rule out right now. I just don't think
23:55
Speaker 1: we should be ruling guys out.
23:59
Speaker 4: It goes back to what they like to say.
24:01
Speaker 3: There's no such thing as a bad one-year deal. Sonny Gray,
24:06
Speaker 3: I believe, texted the Boston Globe saying, I want to
24:08
Speaker 3: pitch next year. I think there's a mutual option, which
24:12
Speaker 3: usually doesn't happen. Cubs have a ton of money coming
24:17
Speaker 3: off the books. Jed was hard to pin down during
24:21
Speaker 3: that end of season press conference, but he was pretty
24:25
Speaker 3: clear in saying if there are deals out there that
24:27
Speaker 3: make sense, we're going to do them.
24:29
Speaker 4: They did that coming off, leading into the last lockout
24:33
Speaker 4: and signing Marcus Stroman. Gray, from reading the coverage.
24:41
Speaker 3: Over the years, has a home base in the Nashville area,
24:45
Speaker 3: which that made the Cardinals appealing, which made kind of
24:48
Speaker 3: the East Coast appealing. Obviously, Nashville and Chicago are not
24:53
Speaker 3: that far, and when you have a general manager, Carter Hawkins,
24:57
Speaker 3: who went to Vanderbilt, a bench coach, Ryan Flaherty, who
24:59
Speaker 3: played at Vanderbilt. You have a gold glove shortstop at
25:02
Speaker 3: Danby Swanson, who played at Vanderbilt. Like, I think, I mean,
25:08
Speaker 3: you remember this, going all the way back in the
25:10
Speaker 3: day when like the Cubs hired Derek Johnson from Vanderbilt
25:13
Speaker 3: to be a pitching quarter, right? And wasn't that the
25:15
Speaker 3: idea of like, oh, they want to get close to
25:19
Speaker 3: Sonny Gray and props to him for still being you know,
25:24
Speaker 3: this healthy and this effective, I definitely a throwback guy.
25:28
Speaker 4: And I loved his reaction, you know, after getting pulled from.
25:32
Speaker 3: That playoff game at Yankee stadium of, you know, saying
25:36
Speaker 3: how he's the best, uh, in the league, the third
25:39
Speaker 3: time through the lineup, uh, really it was pretty salty
25:43
Speaker 3: and chopped, which I think, uh, you love to see, um, from,
25:47
Speaker 3: from your starting pitchers.
25:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the playoffs especially, you want guys that want
25:53
Speaker 1: to be out there. Whether it's the right move or not,
25:56
Speaker 1: that's not– they should be saying, I want to be
25:58
Speaker 1: out there.
25:58
Speaker 2: I want to be pitching.
26:01
Speaker 1: I certainly like the attitude and the toughness. As far
26:07
Speaker 1: as like a fifth guy, like I think there's a
26:10
Speaker 1: lot of directions we can go here. And my general
26:13
Speaker 1: thought with this was like how about raw guys with
26:17
Speaker 1: stuffed and maybe it hasn't come together yet.
26:21
Speaker 2: These shouldn't be.
26:24
Speaker 1: The headline acquisition for the Cubs, this name that I'm
26:27
Speaker 1: going to mention. But the guy that I singled out
26:31
Speaker 1: while looking through names was Dustin May. Dustin May has
26:35
Speaker 1: yet to really put together this great season.
26:39
Speaker 2: He does it. He has yet to really miss a
26:42
Speaker 2: ton of bats with his stuff.
26:45
Speaker 1: I believe he's primarily a sinker guy, and it's not
26:50
Speaker 1: like he has these, at least recently, the last couple seasons,
26:55
Speaker 1: he hasn't had monster ground ball seasons.
26:57
Speaker 2: He has had good ground.
26:59
Speaker 1: Ball rates in the past, but he just doesn't have,
27:02
Speaker 1: outside of the last two years, he didn't have a
27:05
Speaker 1: lot of health. There weren't these long seasons, this long
27:09
Speaker 1: track record. It's okay strikeout rates, but With the stuff
27:13
Speaker 1: he has, you kind of wonder, is.
27:15
Speaker 2: There a little bit more?
27:16
Speaker 1: And this very much feels like, okay, we think if
27:21
Speaker 1: he does.
27:21
Speaker 2: This, this, and this. We have so many conversations with people.
27:27
Speaker 1: I don't remember if we've had a conversation with anyone
27:30
Speaker 1: that said, oh, yeah, we like Dustin May as far.
27:33
Speaker 2: As with the Cubs. And we could do this, that,
27:36
Speaker 2: and the other with him.
27:37
Speaker 1: I don't remember any of those conversations. He's not a
27:39
Speaker 1: name that I've heard that the Cubs are like, oh yeah,
27:41
Speaker 1: I would love to get our hands on him. It
27:44
Speaker 1: was different like with Edward Cabrera. We knew that the
27:47
Speaker 1: Cubs loved Edward Cabrera and wanted to get their hands
27:49
Speaker 1: on him. Obviously, that hasn't worked out yet. That's a
27:52
Speaker 1: different story. We'll see how they can right the ship
27:55
Speaker 1: there if they can. But, you know, Dustin May is
27:59
Speaker 1: certainly someone that is tantalizing to good orgs. I think
28:04
Speaker 1: orgs that see A pitcher with his type of stuff,
28:08
Speaker 1: it's not where it was pre-injury. It's still pretty nasty
28:12
Speaker 1: and something that the Cubs just don't have. Can they
28:16
Speaker 1: get him to be consistent? Can they get the results?
28:20
Speaker 1: How long of a deal is he going to get?
28:22
Speaker 1: Is this the type of situation where, well, this guy
28:25
Speaker 1: has stuff, so someone's going to pay a little bit
28:27
Speaker 1: more than you would with a guy with his results
28:31
Speaker 1: but doesn't have the same stuff? All those factors matter,
28:34
Speaker 1: but the Cubs need need guys that are interesting in
28:38
Speaker 1: that sense and can't really shy away from them.
28:44
Speaker 3: I go back to the trade deadline when the Cubs
28:46
Speaker 3: did not get Scooble, but they got two solid options.
28:51
Speaker 3: It didn't work to perfection, but Kevin Gosman and Clay
28:53
Speaker 3: Holmes were certainly capable, trustworthy, major league starting pitchers, period.
29:02
Speaker 3: And so I'm wondering here, if you don't if you
29:06
Speaker 3: land Scooble somehow, what's the trickle down effect of like,
29:10
Speaker 3: do you take more Dustin Mays and just kind of
29:12
Speaker 3: grab bag that, or if you don't get Scooble, like
29:16
Speaker 3: if you do say King Peterson, I don't know if
29:22
Speaker 3: you'd get King and Peralta, but if Sonny Gray is
29:26
Speaker 3: only a one year deal, like there's all these plan
29:28
Speaker 3: a through triple Z when you go through an off season.
29:34
Speaker 3: And that's where I think, whether it's the Padres, decline
29:41
Speaker 3: their option on Nick Pavetta, maybe take a chance there.
29:45
Speaker 2: I love Pavetta. I think Pavetta would be great.
29:48
Speaker 3: Whether it's May, another shot at Michael Soroka, a Zach
29:55
Speaker 3: Allen bounce back change of scenery thing. I know He
29:59
Speaker 3: did not have a great year with the Diamondbacks, but
30:01
Speaker 3: he's still durable. I mean, how much health uncertainty can
30:08
Speaker 3: you take on at this point? I'm glad you mentioned Cabrera,
30:14
Speaker 3: because if you're looking at it on paper, it's like Cabrera,
30:16
Speaker 3: Justin Steele, Cade Horton, eventually Ben Brown, maybe Javier Assad.
30:23
Speaker 3: The Cubs need to do a ton of work on
30:26
Speaker 3: the pitching side, but it's not totally.
30:30
Speaker 4: Barron and I'm, it.
30:31
Speaker 3: Will be fascinating to see like just how much certainty
30:33
Speaker 3: they bank in and how much risks are willing to
30:35
Speaker 3: take on obviously the years dollars. And I think what
30:42
Speaker 3: you said, the start really resonates as well of just
30:46
Speaker 3: the trade market taking chances. Like, like free agency is
30:49
Speaker 3: not the only way they're going to build it, but
30:51
Speaker 3: I'd be shocked if they don't come away with, you know, two,
30:55
Speaker 3: at least like two legit starting pitchers from the free
30:58
Speaker 3: agent market. And then maybe a couple, wild cards as well.
31:02
Speaker 3: It's just hard to, you know, rebuild a rotation through
31:08
Speaker 3: your farm system.
31:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. That's not to give them an excuse. Like they,
31:13
Speaker 1: they should have some more, a few more options from
31:16
Speaker 1: their farm system. They don't, that kind of puts more
31:19
Speaker 1: pressure on them. One final thing, looking at the date here,
31:24
Speaker 1: anyone that listens to our show or follow, follows our
31:27
Speaker 1: work should know that like a month from now, these
31:31
Speaker 1: names may change drastically. We're going to get more information
31:33
Speaker 1: when the season ends. We're going to understand like the plans,
31:37
Speaker 1: the off season a little bit better. They're going to
31:41
Speaker 1: understand their plans a little bit better. Like when Jed
31:43
Speaker 1: talks to us, whatever, right when the season ends versus
31:46
Speaker 1: when we talk to them again in the GM at
31:49
Speaker 1: the GM meetings that they've just.
31:51
Speaker 2: Had a lot of like.
31:54
Speaker 1: A lot more time to kind of set their plans and, and,
31:57
Speaker 1: And it's not even like a perfect plan because now
31:59
Speaker 1: like the market isn't even fully open, right? They don't
32:04
Speaker 1: really know what the market trends are and what the
32:06
Speaker 1: conversations are like. But they have at least a little
32:09
Speaker 1: bit better idea of what they would like to get
32:12
Speaker 1: done with names specifically. So we'll see how much this changes,
32:18
Speaker 1: like what sort of– it could come into a little
32:21
Speaker 1: bit more focused in a couple of weeks when, when
32:24
Speaker 1: we get, when we have time to chat with these
32:27
Speaker 1: front office people and agents around the game as well.
32:31
Speaker 2: We'll see how different it is than the list we
32:32
Speaker 2: laid out. It could be pretty different, but.
32:35
Speaker 1: This is, this is the episode. This is, this is
32:37
Speaker 1: the theme pitching, pitching, pitching. We will get to some
32:40
Speaker 1: position players. We, they're not going. Like I said, Jed's
32:45
Speaker 1: comment was like a hunt. It's not going to be,
32:47
Speaker 1: We'll see if it's 100 to 0 as far as
32:49
Speaker 1: ratio with what they spend pitching to position player.
32:52
Speaker 2: It won't be. It just can't be.
32:55
Speaker 1: It may not be at the top of the position
32:57
Speaker 1: player market while they should be shopping at the top
32:59
Speaker 1: of the pitching market. So we'll see what type of
33:03
Speaker 1: names they go after pitching-wise. Long off-season ahead in multiple
33:08
Speaker 1: meetings when I say that.
33:10
Speaker 2: All right.
33:11
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening, everyone. This is Northside Territory.
33:14
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe. subscribe to the YouTube
33:17
Speaker 1: channel and subscribe to The Athletic. We're Patrick and I
33:19
Speaker 1: are a type of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening
33:22
Speaker 1: and watching, everyone.
33:23
Speaker 2: Take care.