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NST: Cubs make BIG splash with Alex Bregman signing · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moody. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick. It
0:15
Speaker 1: was a massive sports night in Chicago Saturday night. Just
0:23
Speaker 1: an insane Bears victory, a comeback that I don't think
0:27
Speaker 1: many expected while watching that game, holding out hope and
0:31
Speaker 1: praying for it. I know I was excited while watching that,
0:35
Speaker 1: sitting there on my couch, really enjoying the game with
0:38
Speaker 1: my son, hoping for that comeback. And I see the
0:41
Speaker 1: news Alex Bregman to the Cubs. Obviously nearly derailed my evening,
0:50
Speaker 1: but thanks to you ticking over and writing so I
0:55
Speaker 1: could enjoy the Bear the rest of the Bear's game
0:59
Speaker 1: and have some on that night. But just a huge
1:03
Speaker 1: move for the Cubs, kind of the biggest signing since,
1:10
Speaker 1: you know, since Stansby Swanson, but also maybe the most
1:14
Speaker 1: unexpected one in a sense since like when they signed Darvish.
1:20
Speaker 1: Really being aggressive and free agency. Now, It's what we
1:24
Speaker 1: talked about at the end of last episode of Stop
1:27
Speaker 1: with these half measures, These these good, not great off seasons.
1:33
Speaker 1: They they had a pathway to a great off season.
1:36
Speaker 1: There was a path to it, and they nailed it.
1:38
Speaker 1: They got it. This is outside of you know, grabbing
1:43
Speaker 1: an established stud closer to kind of top this off,
1:47
Speaker 1: which is something that maybe they could do with the deadline.
1:51
Speaker 1: This has been a great off season. You gotta win.
1:53
Speaker 1: You gotta go perform. Off seasons don't win you championships.
1:58
Speaker 1: But this is what they wanted to do and they
2:00
Speaker 1: pulled it off. You've got to get props to all
2:02
Speaker 1: aspects business side for being finally willing to spend a
2:06
Speaker 1: little to first some money and Jed Hoyer in the
2:08
Speaker 1: front office really taking care of business here.
2:12
Speaker 2: I think the unexpected element here was just the timing
2:15
Speaker 2: of it.
2:15
Speaker 1: I think we both thought.
2:18
Speaker 2: If Bregman fell to the Cubs, it would have been
2:21
Speaker 2: one of those sort of spring training type deals, or
2:26
Speaker 2: that the staring contest would go on much longer until
2:33
Speaker 2: finally one side blinked. And for it to come together
2:39
Speaker 2: in this manner, it's kind of staggering. I mean, it
2:42
Speaker 2: was just a delirious Saturday.
2:46
Speaker 1: Night for Bears fans. You could feel the energy.
2:51
Speaker 2: In the city of just people walking around in Bears gear.
2:57
Speaker 2: You know, got their cases, a beer, walking over to friends'
3:02
Speaker 2: houses of just like this was a massive event. And
3:05
Speaker 2: then for in the middle of it to have the
3:07
Speaker 2: Bregman signing drop was good, good stage craft. I'm not
3:14
Speaker 2: sure exactly who gets credit for that, but look, this
3:19
Speaker 2: is a reminder that the Cubs can be a big
3:24
Speaker 2: market force when they choose to. And this was the guy.
3:32
Speaker 2: That's how I led my piece Saturday night. I guess
3:36
Speaker 2: it technically published maybe some morning, but and that's why
3:40
Speaker 2: I jumped on it because I had this anecdote in
3:42
Speaker 2: the back of my head of last year, Cubs win
3:46
Speaker 2: a game early in the season. I'm sort of minding
3:48
Speaker 2: my own business, and I can't remember which game it
3:52
Speaker 2: was or the circumstance, but it was an entertaining It
3:55
Speaker 2: might have been a comeback win or something. There was
3:57
Speaker 2: a lot of positivity in that clubhouse. A player just
4:03
Speaker 2: kind of broke my train of thought was saying something
4:05
Speaker 2: along the lines of imagine how good this team would
4:08
Speaker 2: be with Alex Bregman, like they had not gotten over it.
4:12
Speaker 2: I and Jed Hoyer gave probably his most candid, slash
4:17
Speaker 2: passive aggressive press conference in regards to finances after Bregman
4:24
Speaker 2: chose the Red Sox like this gnawed at the Cubs
4:28
Speaker 2: and even when we reported earlier this offseason, it's kind
4:35
Speaker 2: of all blending together now. But when we said renewed
4:38
Speaker 2: interest in Alex Bregman, we kind of had to, you know,
4:43
Speaker 2: really be careful with that information. We wanted to hear
4:45
Speaker 2: it from multiple different places, which we did, but even
4:49
Speaker 2: we were just kind of like, all right, what are
4:52
Speaker 2: they gonna like finish third again? Like are they gonna
4:54
Speaker 2: be so rational that they're gonna finish third?
4:56
Speaker 1: For Bregman?
4:57
Speaker 2: And he becomes this, you know, kind of caricature for
5:01
Speaker 2: Cubs fans, and you know, they stepped up in a
5:05
Speaker 2: major way because he fits and as you and I
5:10
Speaker 2: have discussed, he's one of those rare players who like
5:14
Speaker 2: the projection models really value and people with more old
5:21
Speaker 2: school sensibilities who recognize in tangibles also really love.
5:25
Speaker 1: The player too. Yeah, there's a lot to like about
5:29
Speaker 1: this move. I want to get into some of that
5:31
Speaker 1: in a second. But what you said about like this
5:35
Speaker 1: surprise is when it happened, like how it happened. You're
5:39
Speaker 1: right that I was thinking about that when last night,
5:43
Speaker 1: how if this was going to happen. We thought, Okay,
5:49
Speaker 1: the Red Sox end up signing Bishett, and the Blue
5:53
Speaker 1: Jays get Tucker, and the Diamondbacks have kept Marte and
5:58
Speaker 1: Boris is searching for or a home come February eighth,
6:03
Speaker 1: and and the Cubs are like, here's your opt out
6:09
Speaker 1: layden deal you know, will give you a big you know,
6:14
Speaker 1: a v opt outs, all this stuff whatever, whatever it
6:18
Speaker 1: may be, but it it was. It was not they
6:22
Speaker 1: flexed their financial might and outbid the competition and did
6:27
Speaker 1: something that we've been on them for years now not doing.
6:32
Speaker 1: They finally did it. Now. Don't expect this. I don't
6:36
Speaker 1: expect this to be like a trend where they're there,
6:39
Speaker 1: they signed Jason Hayward or they sign what John Lester,
6:43
Speaker 1: Jason Hayward. You know, you Darvish like have these big
6:47
Speaker 1: money expenditures almost every off season. You know, it'd be
6:53
Speaker 1: nice to see that. We don't know what the CBA
6:55
Speaker 1: looks like, you know, a year from now, so so
6:57
Speaker 1: I guess it's it's hard for me to really, uh
7:01
Speaker 1: forecast what spending looks like for anyone. But it was
7:05
Speaker 1: nice to see them be aggressive like this. It was
7:08
Speaker 1: nice to see them not wait for you know, the
7:12
Speaker 1: player that they have targeted, that they have zeroed in on.
7:15
Speaker 1: You're right, all. I mean, how many comments did we
7:19
Speaker 1: get during spring training? Through like that first month, month
7:23
Speaker 1: and a half, people still brought it up. It wasn't
7:25
Speaker 1: just like that one incident of you running into a
7:27
Speaker 1: guy in the clubhouse, Like we heard people grumbling about it,
7:30
Speaker 1: like yeah, exactly, it's stuck in their craw you know.
7:34
Speaker 1: It just felt like the right move last year, and
7:38
Speaker 1: it and I and when we talk about fit, I
7:42
Speaker 1: think some people from the outside that don't follow this
7:45
Speaker 1: team or or think the whole is right field. Look,
7:51
Speaker 1: you're right, like this is the perfect mix of all
7:55
Speaker 1: the different attributes of what goes into you know, analysis
8:00
Speaker 1: and evaluate talent evaluation because their projection systems do like
8:06
Speaker 1: how he's going to age there. I've seen some talk about,
8:11
Speaker 1: oh didn't the Cubs learn their lesson from esak Paritis,
8:14
Speaker 1: Like this is a pull hitter. I've tried to explain this. Look,
8:18
Speaker 1: he is not a dead pull hitter. The wind impacts
8:22
Speaker 1: lefties more than righty's At Wrigley, he goes to the gap,
8:27
Speaker 1: that left center gap a lot. Is he going to
8:30
Speaker 1: hit forty five home runs. I don't think he's a
8:32
Speaker 1: forty home run hitter. I don't know if he's ever
8:34
Speaker 1: done that, but he's you know, he's he's going to slug,
8:38
Speaker 1: he's going to play elite defense. And then you talk
8:41
Speaker 1: about the intangibles. Look, Justin Turner was great in that
8:46
Speaker 1: clubhouse last year. I think I think you couldn't talk
8:50
Speaker 1: to someone in that clubhouse, especially of the position player side,
8:54
Speaker 1: who didn't seem to have an affinity for him. He
8:58
Speaker 1: really seemed to be able to get through to the
9:00
Speaker 1: young players especially. He was just fine on offense. He
9:04
Speaker 1: was a role player who could hit lefties. That was
9:07
Speaker 1: his role, and you'd be in there against lefties, pinchhit
9:10
Speaker 1: on occasion, had that one big hit. Really wasn't impacting
9:14
Speaker 1: the team overall, you know, on a daily basis on
9:18
Speaker 1: the field, great guy off the field for as far
9:21
Speaker 1: as impact goes for that team. I think Bregman can
9:26
Speaker 1: be both. Bregman's that right handed hitter. Bregman's an elite
9:29
Speaker 1: glove at third base. Bregman can you know, give you
9:32
Speaker 1: one twenty to one thirty way to runs great at
9:34
Speaker 1: plus that's that's not MVP level that's really good though,
9:39
Speaker 1: that's impactful, and and then you're talking about him. I
9:44
Speaker 1: believe it was Jen McCaffrey right that wrote a story
9:49
Speaker 1: about Bregman's impact on the young players in Boston, and
9:54
Speaker 1: Boston is similarly built in the sense that like just
9:57
Speaker 1: stacked with young talent, kind of like the Cubs, a
9:59
Speaker 1: bunch of young players that they expect to be a
10:02
Speaker 1: huge part of this organization. If this team's gonna win
10:05
Speaker 1: a lot of games beyond twenty twenty six, these young
10:07
Speaker 1: guys have to continue to develop. And he seems to
10:12
Speaker 1: have this ability to get through to these kids and
10:15
Speaker 1: be like a coach on the field and really take
10:18
Speaker 1: them under his wing. And he sees the game the
10:22
Speaker 1: way that allows him to kind of, you know, give
10:27
Speaker 1: them lessons that impact them. You know, you can say stuff.
10:31
Speaker 1: It's it's easy. I mean, we're both dads. We can
10:33
Speaker 1: talk to our kids and try and impart wisdom. If
10:35
Speaker 1: you don't get it across the right way, it just
10:37
Speaker 1: goes right over their heads or one ear out the other,
10:39
Speaker 1: you know, like to be able to actually get through
10:42
Speaker 1: to them, I think it's like they respect him. They
10:44
Speaker 1: already talking to some players even before the signing happened,
10:48
Speaker 1: they'd heard how much of an impact this guy is
10:51
Speaker 1: in the clubhouse. They know it wasn't like we'll see.
10:54
Speaker 1: They understand this guy can have an impact in the clubhouse.
10:58
Speaker 1: And I think that's rarer than and then we give
11:02
Speaker 1: it credit for like, that's not something that's easy to find,
11:05
Speaker 1: especially the guys that do it all, that do it
11:07
Speaker 1: on the field and can really make an impact off.
11:11
Speaker 2: Those are kind of unicorns. And that's a front office
11:14
Speaker 2: word term to describe those types of players. And Bregman
11:19
Speaker 2: hit forty one home runs back in twenty nineteen, runner
11:23
Speaker 2: up finished in the MVP voting. Obviously he has not
11:27
Speaker 2: kind of scaled those heights again individually, but you look
11:34
Speaker 2: at the overall resume of the year to year consistency,
11:38
Speaker 2: just that solid floor that he has as a player,
11:42
Speaker 2: And I think that was part of the frustration last
11:47
Speaker 2: year when he picked the Red Sox after the Cubs
11:51
Speaker 2: made a very underwhelming, half hearted offer that was very
11:55
Speaker 2: easy to turn down. I mean the Cubs were not
11:58
Speaker 2: the offer the most year, the most guaranteed money, the
12:02
Speaker 2: best opt out situation, the highest overall number, Like they
12:07
Speaker 2: were not close. And I think from an our organizational perspective,
12:14
Speaker 2: there was a sense of like, what did we just
12:17
Speaker 2: go through this rebuild? For it was when you trade
12:21
Speaker 2: away those twenty sixteen World Series legends and you kind
12:27
Speaker 2: of get your budget or your your your books in
12:31
Speaker 2: a really clean place. When you graduate some young talent
12:38
Speaker 2: to the majors, when you have a like a solid
12:41
Speaker 2: pitching infrastructure in place, and the guy checks so many
12:47
Speaker 2: boxes for you, why not go in then? And that's
12:52
Speaker 2: kind of a a whole separate thing, you know, once
12:55
Speaker 2: kind of the dust settles here of you know, not
12:58
Speaker 2: trading for Cabrera at last year's trade deadline and not
13:03
Speaker 2: signing Bregman in uh spring training, Like what changed? I
13:10
Speaker 2: think that we we know, you know, bits and pieces here,
13:14
Speaker 2: We have a general understanding of that, but I am
13:17
Speaker 2: curious of like, you know, why now? And part of that,
13:22
Speaker 2: i'd imagine is like there is proof of concept here
13:25
Speaker 2: that the Cubs delivered ninety plus wins. They hosted two
13:29
Speaker 2: playoff rounds at Wrigley Field and watch it. I know,
13:35
Speaker 2: we don't want to draw too many conclusions from short
13:38
Speaker 2: playoff series, but the Cubs were you know, short at
13:42
Speaker 2: least one starting pitcher and at least one hitter. You know,
13:48
Speaker 2: you know Matt Shaw, you know, looked a little overmatched there.
13:51
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean he will if he gets back to
13:55
Speaker 2: the playoffs, but like a proven, postseason tested clutch hitter
14:02
Speaker 2: is what the Cubs are getting here.
14:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just looking at you know, stat cast
14:09
Speaker 1: shows expected home runs by park. This isn't a perfect science,
14:14
Speaker 1: but last year he had eighteen home runs if all
14:16
Speaker 1: his games were at Wrigley according to this when plays
14:19
Speaker 1: a factor. I understand that you can't. This doesn't work perfectly,
14:22
Speaker 1: but it had him at nineteen for Regley eighteen if
14:26
Speaker 1: he was at what is it called. I always forget
14:29
Speaker 1: Dacon last year, So I mean, you look back at this,
14:34
Speaker 1: I'm looking at his numbers daycon versus Wrigley. Yeah, there
14:39
Speaker 1: are times when it's obviously better in Houston, but this
14:43
Speaker 1: isn't some huge difference. He's just not that extreme of
14:48
Speaker 1: a poll hitter. I think like when people are going
14:51
Speaker 1: to talk about this, there are going to be people
14:53
Speaker 1: that suggest that this isn't that this is a bad signing.
14:57
Speaker 1: Because of that, I really disagree with it, and I
15:01
Speaker 1: just don't think it's esoc paratus. It just don't think
15:04
Speaker 1: it's it's similar. It is interesting what change when you
15:09
Speaker 1: talk about what changed, Like suddenly they're deferring money like
15:13
Speaker 1: all this stuff like that's that's a huge factor here.
15:16
Speaker 1: I think too. So they are according to Roster Resource.
15:20
Speaker 1: I was looking at this earlier. I want to say,
15:22
Speaker 1: they're at like two forty three in change according to
15:26
Speaker 1: Roster Resource. That's with the deferred money. I believe they
15:30
Speaker 1: have that in the in their numbers. Now, these public
15:34
Speaker 1: numbers from our understanding are usually they're like two forty
15:38
Speaker 1: three and one hundred and thirty five K. So that
15:41
Speaker 1: that's that's just below the first threshold. What that means
15:46
Speaker 1: going forward? Are they looking to shed payroll? I you know,
15:50
Speaker 1: I don't think you can go and make this type
15:52
Speaker 1: of move and then say we need to trade Nico Horner.
15:55
Speaker 1: I think that's insane. We can talk about that more
15:57
Speaker 1: in another episode, but I just think that's insane. Just
16:01
Speaker 1: you cannot do that if you're if you're moving Matt shaw, Ah,
16:09
Speaker 1: it has to be for like some either you're getting
16:12
Speaker 1: another stud starting pitcher like, it has to be for impact.
16:16
Speaker 1: It's either like top prospects and you're replenishing your farm
16:21
Speaker 1: or you're or you know, like impact players, like an
16:26
Speaker 1: impact guy veteran like I don't know, like a deal
16:30
Speaker 1: to get Trek's schooble or something like that. I like,
16:33
Speaker 1: I know that's ridiculous and it won't and it won't happen.
16:36
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like, you don't like you only when
16:38
Speaker 1: it comes I got it. You just you you don't
16:42
Speaker 1: do it like he's just so valuable. And I think
16:45
Speaker 1: that's you know, Carter and Jed, we're both saying that
16:49
Speaker 1: as at the Winter Meetings, I believe it was was
16:52
Speaker 1: a Winter GM whatever it was, they that's what they
16:55
Speaker 1: were saying when talking about Matt Shaw. There were a
16:59
Speaker 1: lot of questions about Matt Shaw. Uh, you know, this building,
17:06
Speaker 1: what they've built is you know, if they if they
17:08
Speaker 1: had signed Dylan Ceese, I don't think we'd be talking
17:11
Speaker 1: about Alex Bregman. Right now. They they did. They they
17:14
Speaker 1: found this this path it had to They had to
17:17
Speaker 1: get starting pitching. That was the focus. You're right when
17:20
Speaker 1: when we look back at the playoffs, Yes, there were
17:23
Speaker 1: moments where that clutch hit wasn't didn't come, especially in
17:26
Speaker 1: that final game. Uh, it really felt like did the
17:29
Speaker 1: offense let them down in that game. I think you're
17:32
Speaker 1: you're probably not in a Game five if you have
17:34
Speaker 1: the right start, if you have starting pitching depth and
17:36
Speaker 1: you're not forcing Matt Boyd, Matthew Boyd to pitch on
17:40
Speaker 1: short rest, you're not just stuck. Look, I think showed
17:43
Speaker 1: him and Aga, I agree with you. He's gonna have
17:45
Speaker 1: a bounce back season. I don't know how great it's
17:47
Speaker 1: going to be, but it's not going to be bad
17:49
Speaker 1: like we saw the final whatever month and the postseason.
17:52
Speaker 1: I don't believe that. But he wasn't right and they
17:56
Speaker 1: kind of I think they knew it and they just
17:58
Speaker 1: kind of felt there there. You know, their hand was
18:01
Speaker 1: being forced here and they had to put him out
18:03
Speaker 1: there and it didn't work. It didn't look right. I
18:07
Speaker 1: think if they had more starting pitching depth, that series
18:11
Speaker 1: could look very different. So you had to go out
18:13
Speaker 1: and get a starter. But if you spend on it,
18:15
Speaker 1: even if it was a my, we wouldn't be talking
18:18
Speaker 1: about Alex Bregman right now. They they found the path
18:21
Speaker 1: to get this guy they've been enamored with in Bregman.
18:24
Speaker 1: For all the reasons we've said, both on and off
18:27
Speaker 1: the field, all that stuff. It really has done something
18:30
Speaker 1: to this front office where they they were infatuated with them,
18:34
Speaker 1: and they got a picture that they were infatuated with
18:39
Speaker 1: in Cabrera, and they pulled off and got this position
18:42
Speaker 1: player that's gonna lead this team on and off the field.
18:45
Speaker 1: I didn't expect it to happen. I didn't think they
18:48
Speaker 1: would pull it off. So I got to give them
18:50
Speaker 1: props for that, because they, like I just did not
18:53
Speaker 1: see them behaving in this manner. And and you don't,
18:57
Speaker 1: you just you don't take the foot off the accelerator
19:00
Speaker 1: when you do something like this. Trading Niko Horner would
19:03
Speaker 1: be just a deflating feeling for this group. You know,
19:08
Speaker 1: just keep your debt, make this a damn good team
19:12
Speaker 1: all around, and go and try and win a World series.
19:14
Speaker 1: That's the point of this all. It's not to like
19:16
Speaker 1: maneuver around the luxury text and how much money can
19:19
Speaker 1: we save and you know, let's save a couple million dollars. No,
19:23
Speaker 1: be aggressive at the deadline, set yourself up to go
19:26
Speaker 1: get a closer and go dominate and go win a
19:28
Speaker 1: World series. I think that's that's how they That needs
19:31
Speaker 1: to be the mentality of not just the players and
19:34
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and the front office, but the business
19:37
Speaker 1: side as well. Just go do it. You've done it.
19:40
Speaker 1: This has been a really impressive offseason.
19:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I don't think the Cubs exactly cave
19:47
Speaker 2: to public pressure here, but the timing is very interesting
19:50
Speaker 2: leading into Cups convention this.
19:53
Speaker 1: Week, that it won't be an airing.
19:56
Speaker 2: Of grievances that you get Bregman in the fold. Uh,
20:03
Speaker 2: you get that controllable starting pitcher that we've been talking
20:05
Speaker 2: about and asking about for years now.
20:10
Speaker 1: The bullpen has been rebuilt.
20:14
Speaker 2: Uh, you have Piko Armstrongs just everywhere all over the city,
20:20
Speaker 2: you know, like yeah, it's you know, like.
20:23
Speaker 1: He uh, the bars with random Gubbs fans I've been
20:26
Speaker 1: seeing all like having fun.
20:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've got They've got there, They've got their star
20:32
Speaker 2: and so you know, I think obviously the games are
20:38
Speaker 2: not played on paper or on computers. Cabrera's arm could
20:42
Speaker 2: blow out, Bregman could fall off a cliff when he
20:47
Speaker 2: gets uh you know into his you know, early to
20:50
Speaker 2: mid thirties here, or as he's in his early thirties,
20:54
Speaker 2: the bullpen maybe they run out of that sort of magic. Uh,
20:58
Speaker 2: you know, this coming year, but I don't know. By
21:02
Speaker 2: and large, when when you look at the all the
21:07
Speaker 2: various paths that they could have gotten down here, I
21:09
Speaker 2: think this is pretty close to what their ideal was,
21:17
Speaker 2: both just kind of philosophically and also just kind of
21:21
Speaker 2: reacting to the marketplace, and also the moment that everyone
21:28
Speaker 2: could feel if they were at Wrigley Field last October.
21:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's a great point, Like the way it
21:36
Speaker 1: felt in that ballpark. I hope you know you You
21:39
Speaker 1: and I both said like, don't don't forget that feeling.
21:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't take it.
21:43
Speaker 1: So, yeah, don't take it for granted. We don't know
21:45
Speaker 1: when it'll happen again. I feel like this front office
21:48
Speaker 1: acted that way. It was a weird start. You and
21:51
Speaker 1: I both heard rumblings of like, hey, they're acting differently,
21:56
Speaker 1: and then for months we're like, shoot, we're wrong, Like
21:58
Speaker 1: we're those people wrong.
22:00
Speaker 2: Well we call them like a team to watch at
22:01
Speaker 2: the winter meetings and yeah.
22:04
Speaker 1: Okay, it just took a little while, and I guess
22:11
Speaker 1: the the reality was, it really feels like the way
22:14
Speaker 1: everything lined up, it was like they had to Their
22:17
Speaker 1: priority was getting that starting pitcher, and and once they
22:21
Speaker 1: traded for him. I think they were like, Okay, now
22:24
Speaker 1: we can do this. Now we have the money to
22:26
Speaker 1: go do this, and that's what it looks like. We'll
22:28
Speaker 1: get confirmation on that when when we start talking to people,
22:31
Speaker 1: When when people you know, when there's press conferences and whatnot.
22:35
Speaker 1: But just you know, a great day for the city
22:38
Speaker 1: sports fans. I'm excited for sports fans. I know personally
22:42
Speaker 1: as a Bears fan, that was you know, it doesn't
22:44
Speaker 1: get much better than that, especially enjoying that game with
22:46
Speaker 1: my son. Uh. But you know, I'm happy for Cubs
22:50
Speaker 1: fans because this is it's been a while since we've
22:55
Speaker 1: seen the big move and then it followed up by
22:59
Speaker 1: another big move that was absolutely necessary and like don't
23:02
Speaker 1: know half measures they've they've they've done, hadn't they've pulled
23:06
Speaker 1: off a really nice offseason. Uh well, we'll save any
23:09
Speaker 1: criticism for spending for future offseasons because they did what
23:13
Speaker 1: needed to be done and give them props. Uh, go
23:18
Speaker 1: enjoy it, you know, Strutt at Cubs convention. Enjoy the
23:22
Speaker 1: praise and then go win a bunch of games, like
23:24
Speaker 1: go do it on the field, Like you have the manager,
23:27
Speaker 1: you have the roster, Go go in go go have
23:30
Speaker 1: some fun and bring playoff baseball back to Wrinkley again,
23:33
Speaker 1: because that was awesome last October, and maybe they'll be
23:36
Speaker 1: an even deeper run. We will obviously talk more about
23:40
Speaker 1: this any any further fallout whenever Jed talks, whenever Bragman
23:45
Speaker 1: is introduced, and then obviously Cubs Convention is coming up
23:47
Speaker 1: next weekend. That is going to be a fun, fun
23:50
Speaker 1: time for Cubs fans and and hopefully the players and
23:53
Speaker 1: coaches and for an office as well. We will talk
23:55
Speaker 1: to you soon. Thanks so much for listening to This
23:57
Speaker 1: is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate reviews, scribe, subscribe
24:00
Speaker 1: to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic, where
24:03
Speaker 1: Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs,
24:06
Speaker 1: including all the Alex Bragman fallout. Thanks so much for listening.
24:10
Speaker 1: Take care everyone,