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What you need to know about Pete Crow-Armstrong’s contract extension · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sada'm Charma with my partner Patrick Muoney for Cubs beat
0:12
Speaker 1: writers over at the Athletic Patrick Pete crow Armstrong has
0:17
Speaker 1: an extension. This is something the Cubs have been trying
0:22
Speaker 1: to get done for over a year now.
0:24
Speaker 2: Really they I.
0:26
Speaker 1: Don't think they were trying to work through it last summer,
0:29
Speaker 1: but they certainly talked about it last spring. The price
0:33
Speaker 1: has gone up a COMPCS are no longer Ezekiel Tovar.
0:36
Speaker 1: This is more not not quite Jackson Merrill range, not
0:41
Speaker 1: really at Corbyn Carroll level, but still a healthy, healthy
0:45
Speaker 1: deal six years, one hundred and fifteen million that starts
0:51
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty seven, just to you know, eating a
0:54
Speaker 1: buying out two free agent years for Pete, no options.
0:58
Speaker 1: It seems like one of those deals where you can
1:00
Speaker 1: look at it and say, like, this isn't hugely team friendly.
1:04
Speaker 2: This isn't like some.
1:06
Speaker 1: Huge get by Pete, but each side can kind of
1:09
Speaker 1: claim some victories. He it's one of those win win
1:13
Speaker 1: situations with some good pr for the Cubs to start
1:16
Speaker 1: the season off.
1:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard, it's hard to tell. Like if Pete
1:21
Speaker 3: wasn't you know, air quotes PCA, Like, what would they be.
1:27
Speaker 2: Doing this?
1:30
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I think I do think it
1:31
Speaker 3: makes sense for both sides. I think if you're in
1:34
Speaker 3: Pete's position, it's hard to turn down the nine figure
1:38
Speaker 3: offer you had already kind of bet on yourself once
1:43
Speaker 3: those comps. I think Michael Harris was another one that
1:48
Speaker 3: was more in the seventies range. Yeah, it didn't quite
1:53
Speaker 3: get Corbyn Carrol, but I think the no options is
1:57
Speaker 3: a big deal for Pete's to become a free agent
2:03
Speaker 3: after your age thirty season is pretty nice. And I think,
2:09
Speaker 3: you know, the way for Pete was probably kind of
2:15
Speaker 3: you know, scraping a career together on like ten million
2:19
Speaker 3: dollar contracts the year after year after year. I think
2:22
Speaker 3: that that's kind of been his floor. He's that good
2:25
Speaker 3: on defense. Center field is that hard to fill with
2:31
Speaker 3: capable two way guys. And yes, like it's possible that
2:38
Speaker 3: something clicks for Pete and his first half performance is
2:42
Speaker 3: more indicative of the player he's going to be for
2:44
Speaker 3: his entire career. But also there's a chance that the
2:50
Speaker 3: offensive cratering that we saw in the second half is
2:52
Speaker 3: more indicative of his kind of future outlook, and so
2:56
Speaker 3: I think this is probably a good compromise where neither
3:00
Speaker 3: side is like sort of spiking the football that it's
3:04
Speaker 3: just like, all right, this makes a lot of sense.
3:06
Speaker 3: And also like after doing it last offseason, last spring training,
3:11
Speaker 3: this spring training again, like I sort of wonder I
3:15
Speaker 3: don't have like no one's explicitly told me this, but
3:18
Speaker 3: I'm just curious how many like bites at the Apple
3:21
Speaker 3: you have there. You know, there are people who are
3:23
Speaker 3: putting time and effort into this, and for him to
3:28
Speaker 3: get that sort of guarantee today is his twenty fourth birthday,
3:34
Speaker 3: is pretty nice. Now I can just go out and play.
3:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a I mean it is a good feel
3:41
Speaker 1: good moment to start the season. The cub's most exciting player,
3:45
Speaker 1: most marketable player. You can debate whether he's the best
3:50
Speaker 1: player when he is playing at his best. I think
3:54
Speaker 1: I think that's the case. He's their best player. But
3:57
Speaker 1: you're right what you said there about we still don't
4:01
Speaker 1: know what player he is.
4:03
Speaker 2: We don't know who he is. That's what that there's
4:05
Speaker 2: there's give and take with these types of deals.
4:09
Speaker 1: Nobody's neither side is guaranteed to know like what this
4:13
Speaker 1: how this works out, and what the player is I
4:18
Speaker 1: think the Cubs are betting on. On the Cub side,
4:22
Speaker 1: it's you're not this isn't deep into his thirties. Yes,
4:25
Speaker 1: you didn't get the options. Obviously you want options when
4:29
Speaker 1: you when you try and get this deal.
4:30
Speaker 2: But to get two.
4:31
Speaker 1: Free agent years and it goes through his age thirty season,
4:35
Speaker 1: that's like produce. I'm sure the model loved that. Like
4:38
Speaker 1: the model was quite happy with, you know, not going
4:41
Speaker 1: into thirty four or something like that, like getting into
4:45
Speaker 1: his mid thirties at all with any guarantees. It signed
4:50
Speaker 1: early enough that it's like one of those pr wins
4:54
Speaker 1: for the agency where they can say, like they can
4:58
Speaker 1: they can give you like here's all the quote unquote
5:02
Speaker 1: records or whatever.
5:03
Speaker 2: That may have been set with this deal.
5:05
Speaker 1: You know, like this is the first deal with X,
5:07
Speaker 1: Y and Z, and the team gets a player that's
5:11
Speaker 1: incredibly exciting and incredibly marketable and just really talented for
5:17
Speaker 1: a long time. This is a team built, like its
5:20
Speaker 1: backbone is built on defense, and Pete obviously plays that
5:26
Speaker 1: part of his game. Doesn't slump that he plays elite
5:29
Speaker 1: center field defense. At all times offensively, He's I don't
5:35
Speaker 1: want to call him a work in progress because we
5:39
Speaker 1: saw what he can do, but he's still searching for
5:42
Speaker 1: that consistency.
5:44
Speaker 2: I don't know what it's going to be.
5:45
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and profess to know or
5:49
Speaker 1: predict what type of season he's gonna have, because that's
5:51
Speaker 1: really hard to do with him because we saw.
5:55
Speaker 2: It's that that first half.
5:57
Speaker 1: It's just one of those things where it happened long
6:01
Speaker 1: enough where you're like, wow, is this is this who
6:03
Speaker 1: he is? Is he really this good? And then it
6:06
Speaker 1: came crashing down to earth. It was it was pretty bought.
6:10
Speaker 1: You you've seen what he can do. You you've seen
6:13
Speaker 1: what he's capable of, and that's that's where you, you know,
6:16
Speaker 1: you feel comfortable handing out something north of one hundred
6:21
Speaker 1: million like they did, which is probably they were hesitant
6:25
Speaker 1: to go in that area last last spring. They were
6:29
Speaker 1: they were unwilling to do that last spring. Now that
6:32
Speaker 1: they've seen here's here is what it looks like when
6:36
Speaker 1: it comes together and he's capable of doing that, you know,
6:39
Speaker 1: for months at a time, you feel.
6:41
Speaker 2: A little more comfortable with the expenditure.
6:46
Speaker 3: And you watch Pete. When you see him chucking his
6:50
Speaker 3: helmet or slamming his bat. You know, I'd imagine there
6:54
Speaker 3: are some old school types out there who you'll see
6:57
Speaker 3: a guy with blue hair or blue stars in his hair, Like,
7:00
Speaker 3: is this the guy we want to give, you know,
7:03
Speaker 3: a nine figure contract? But that's just those are just
7:07
Speaker 3: very brief snapshots. And what the Cups have seen for
7:09
Speaker 3: years is someone who loves baseball, who has a burning
7:17
Speaker 3: desire to play every day, who gets excuse me involved
7:24
Speaker 3: in like the finer points and details within the game,
7:29
Speaker 3: Who's made adjustments, who has a routine, who's showing up
7:36
Speaker 3: in an empty stadium several hours before first pitch and
7:39
Speaker 3: going through his hitting routine with some veteran teammates, and
7:44
Speaker 3: so like all that stuff we've heard about Pete. Yes,
7:51
Speaker 3: he can be sort of mercurial, and it's not always
7:55
Speaker 3: you know, the greatest look with some of his outbursts,
8:00
Speaker 3: But the Cubs making this investment have made it clear
8:05
Speaker 3: like how much the person as well.
8:07
Speaker 2: Let's take a quick break.
8:08
Speaker 1: I want to touch a little bit more on what
8:10
Speaker 1: you were just talking about there. All right, everyone, I know,
8:17
Speaker 1: if you're like me, you're ready to get out of
8:19
Speaker 1: the house as these summer months arrive. I am so
8:22
Speaker 1: excited to see John Mullany at Wrigley Field. I'm looking
8:26
Speaker 1: forward to taking my kids to a game at Wrigley
8:28
Speaker 1: and hopefully knock off another ballpark off our list. We
8:33
Speaker 1: try and hit one every summer, which is why I
8:35
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9:25
Speaker 1: Patrick, you talked about Pete kind of you know, his
9:29
Speaker 1: reactions to bad moments and the frustrations sometimes boiling over
9:34
Speaker 1: on the field seeing him slam a helmet.
9:37
Speaker 2: I also don't think.
9:38
Speaker 1: They would have given that deal out without knowing him
9:43
Speaker 1: as the person right they know, Yes, would they prefer
9:50
Speaker 1: that Pete not do that as often as he does? Yeah,
9:54
Speaker 1: I think it's something that he wants to reduce, like
9:56
Speaker 1: he knows he can control his emotions better. Look, I
9:59
Speaker 1: think some people don't care like some of us. Some
10:02
Speaker 1: people watching just don't care that that he's doing that.
10:06
Speaker 2: I think it can u there.
10:09
Speaker 1: There are veterans, there are coaching people on the coaching staff,
10:13
Speaker 1: people in the front office that are like, Okay, look
10:16
Speaker 1: you can do that at times, but there are moments
10:18
Speaker 1: when you just gotta you gotta move on.
10:21
Speaker 2: And also there's a way to not.
10:24
Speaker 1: It can impact your play if you're thinking about these
10:27
Speaker 1: things and thinking about your failure beforehand in the previous
10:31
Speaker 1: at bat. He doesn't seem like someone that brings it
10:34
Speaker 1: out onto the field, but these are just these are
10:37
Speaker 1: little things that show maturation that they want him to
10:41
Speaker 1: take the step forward. I think they believe he's he's
10:45
Speaker 1: hearing that. At least, it's not like he's downplaying those
10:48
Speaker 1: things or doesn't understand, like I can get better with this.
10:52
Speaker 1: My body language can matter. Sometimes is at the end
10:56
Speaker 1: all be all No, But veterans around me have justed,
11:01
Speaker 1: you know, keep it be a little. You know about
11:04
Speaker 1: these things. Everyone expresses themselves differently. It's not change who
11:08
Speaker 1: you are. It's knowing the situation. Hey, we're up seven
11:12
Speaker 1: to one and you ground it out. It's different than
11:16
Speaker 1: we're down three to two and you missed the game
11:20
Speaker 1: tying hit. You know, there are different moments when these
11:24
Speaker 1: emotions make sense, and sometimes sometimes taking a step back
11:30
Speaker 1: and not you know, reacting in such a way is necessary.
11:36
Speaker 3: That that is one side of them. I think it's
11:39
Speaker 3: also import I didn't maybe lead with this, but he's
11:44
Speaker 3: also like exceptional around fans signing autographs. I think understanding
11:55
Speaker 3: he already understood his responsibilities as a face of the franchise,
11:59
Speaker 3: So I don't think signing this contract really changes that.
12:04
Speaker 3: He can be exceptionally insightful and thoughtful during his interviews
12:13
Speaker 3: with us. You know, for someone who's very young, he
12:18
Speaker 3: can also come across as mature beyond his years, and
12:22
Speaker 3: I think a lot has been thrown at him and
12:27
Speaker 3: he's handled it with a lot of grace by and large,
12:32
Speaker 3: and so you know that probably doesn't go into the model,
12:37
Speaker 3: but it's still human beings who have to make these
12:40
Speaker 3: decisions and sign off on the contracts and you know,
12:44
Speaker 3: kind of ask for recommendations on you know, what should
12:47
Speaker 3: be done, and you know, he's really an ideal player
12:53
Speaker 3: to build around at this point. I think the Chicago
12:57
Speaker 3: connection is pretty real too. I know, sometimes we roll
13:00
Speaker 3: our eyes like it's gonna be an Opening Day. It's
13:03
Speaker 3: all these softball questions about coming back to Wrigley and
13:05
Speaker 3: players gonna say how great it is. But like Wrigley
13:09
Speaker 3: is a great place. I mean that's just been kind
13:12
Speaker 3: of proven over time. And I think the fact that
13:14
Speaker 3: Pete's dad was from Chicago, I mean sort of the
13:19
Speaker 3: peak of Armstrong wears Waldo off season in Chicago and
13:23
Speaker 3: like popping up at like Butch McGuire's or the Bears
13:25
Speaker 3: game or the United Center. Like, I think people respond
13:32
Speaker 3: to that, and he's going to get a lot of
13:36
Speaker 3: latitude in that regard, and he'll still be too that
13:44
Speaker 3: guy who gets boot on the Road. I think, you know,
13:48
Speaker 3: opposing fans. I'm picturing Dodger Stadium. Yeah, Cubs go there
13:52
Speaker 3: in April, like he's going to be like that lightning rod.
13:55
Speaker 3: And that is you know what the Cubs had sort
13:59
Speaker 3: of missed during that we wouldn't call a rebuild. That
14:04
Speaker 3: the Cubs became a little boring. They lacked an identity
14:09
Speaker 3: and like Pete puts them in the conversation in a
14:12
Speaker 3: way that very few other players on the planet could.
14:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't remember if I mentioned this on the show,
14:19
Speaker 1: but I went on Dodgers Territory about two weeks ago
14:23
Speaker 1: and was asked about Pete's comments and and that like
14:29
Speaker 1: that response got clipped and put online. Dodgers fans don't
14:32
Speaker 1: like him. I can tell you from their responses. They
14:35
Speaker 1: don't want any excuses for why he said that.
14:38
Speaker 2: They just don't like them anymore. They're done with them.
14:41
Speaker 1: They they have issues with Pete, and I think Pete
14:45
Speaker 1: is going to be a polarizing player. I think Brewers
14:48
Speaker 1: fans aren't going to like him, you know, Cardinals fans
14:53
Speaker 1: certainly won't, and even White Sox fans I think are
14:55
Speaker 1: annoyed by him.
14:58
Speaker 2: And that's fine.
15:00
Speaker 1: You need, you need put you know, illicit emotion from
15:04
Speaker 1: the opposition, And and Pete is going to be that
15:07
Speaker 1: type of player. He's going to get booed a lot
15:09
Speaker 1: by the opposition as long as he's performing for the Cubs.
15:13
Speaker 1: Cubs fans should love that, like good if your guys
15:15
Speaker 1: getting booed, you know, you know they don't boo nobody's
15:19
Speaker 1: Isn't that the saying? Uh so, Uh, He's going to
15:23
Speaker 1: get a lot of heckling. I don't think it bothers Pete.
15:27
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I guess we'll see. Is he the
15:29
Speaker 1: kind that kind of embraces that and embraces the.
15:33
Speaker 2: Idea of being a villain.
15:35
Speaker 1: We're going We're going to find out, because I think
15:37
Speaker 1: that first trip to l A. You're absolutely right, he
15:40
Speaker 1: is going to get booed. It's his you know, hometown
15:44
Speaker 1: kind of and and he he will certainly be booed
15:48
Speaker 1: after after the things he said in that in that
15:51
Speaker 1: Chicago magazine article, Patrick, I was I was wondering, Uh,
15:57
Speaker 1: hold on one second, let me just see where we are.
15:59
Speaker 1: You know, let's let's take one question for you since
16:02
Speaker 1: we haven't this is our first show since the WBC
16:07
Speaker 1: wrapped I believe.
16:08
Speaker 2: No it's not.
16:09
Speaker 1: But it's the first first show since Pete's been back.
16:12
Speaker 1: I think I don't think i've heard from you. I'm
16:16
Speaker 1: curious what he gained from that experience and anything you
16:21
Speaker 1: may have gleaned during the final week there in camp.
16:26
Speaker 1: Let's take one quick break and we'll talk about that.
16:30
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17:34
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, Obviously, the the craziness of the final
17:39
Speaker 1: stretch before before the season starts, Pete's extension, we never
17:45
Speaker 1: really got a chance to discuss any of this, like
17:47
Speaker 1: how this how it all felt for these guys, and
17:52
Speaker 1: I guess Pete in particular, what did Were there any
17:55
Speaker 1: takeaways from WBC, Like we were discussing, this is a
17:59
Speaker 1: guy that likes to soak in as much as he
18:02
Speaker 1: can from veterans. Was that just another experience for him
18:09
Speaker 1: to take it all in and see what he could
18:11
Speaker 1: learn from people who have been around the game longer
18:14
Speaker 1: than him.
18:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great question. I'm glad you brought that up.
18:20
Speaker 3: If I start from the top here, Pete, I would
18:24
Speaker 3: say the day he was back in camp and reporters
18:30
Speaker 3: approached him, he seemed a little cranky or disconnected or
18:37
Speaker 3: just kind of Now we knew they were working on
18:42
Speaker 3: some of the contract stuff, So I don't know if
18:44
Speaker 3: it was that or just as he said, he's like
18:46
Speaker 3: every day I was just so focused on winning the
18:48
Speaker 3: w the next WBC game that it was just kind
18:52
Speaker 3: of weird to kind of be in that high pressure,
18:55
Speaker 3: condensed environment and then to kind of come back for
18:58
Speaker 3: like stretch of spring training was just a little disorienting.
19:03
Speaker 3: There's also, like, you know, one hundred degrees in Arizona.
19:05
Speaker 3: It was not the most like you know, glamorous, uh
19:09
Speaker 3: locale to return to. And so we're at his locker
19:14
Speaker 3: and it was this was just hilarious. Uh. He's he
19:19
Speaker 3: was asked this sort of you know, softballish question of like, hey,
19:25
Speaker 3: what was it like seeing your teammate Daniel Palenci get
19:27
Speaker 3: that last out? And he was like, we lost. You know,
19:33
Speaker 3: he said something on us, it had nothing to do
19:35
Speaker 3: with Danny. And as he's like standing there, he sees
19:42
Speaker 3: Daniel palency a walk into the clubhouse with a gold
19:45
Speaker 3: medal around his neck, a backwards Venezuela hat and his
19:49
Speaker 3: Venezuela jersey. You just Repete's like what timing and then
19:53
Speaker 3: you see Poalency just give him like a double point
19:57
Speaker 3: like that, and Pete gave him a a middle finger salute.
20:02
Speaker 3: But he did in a way that did not appear
20:04
Speaker 3: on the camera, which makes it like Pete always kind
20:06
Speaker 3: of has this great sense of the geometry or the
20:10
Speaker 3: dimensions of the situation. And then Pete said, I do
20:16
Speaker 3: this ten out of ten times. When I asked about
20:19
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty eight Olympics back home in LA he said, absolutely,
20:22
Speaker 3: I'm there. If I'm asked, you know, sign me up.
20:26
Speaker 3: That was essentially his response once again, Pete's unpredictability, why
20:33
Speaker 3: we always write about Pete, why he is so interesting.
20:36
Speaker 2: One of his main takeaways was that.
20:38
Speaker 3: Like American fans could take a lot away from these
20:43
Speaker 3: international crowds, their passion, their energy, and that's like a
20:46
Speaker 3: whole another conversation. I think that's why, you know, didn't
20:52
Speaker 3: really make that the headline. I use a quote, but
20:54
Speaker 3: didn't make it the headline because there's just a lot
20:56
Speaker 3: there and to kind of unpack that answer realistic in
21:00
Speaker 3: that moment. And then I had asked Matthew Boyd just
21:03
Speaker 3: his impressions of Pete and during that experience, and he
21:09
Speaker 3: said he heard Pete asking a lot of questions and
21:13
Speaker 3: he just kind of noticed him gravitating towards Bregman, towards
21:16
Speaker 3: Aaron Judge, interacting with Paul Goldschmidt, you know, a seven
21:21
Speaker 3: time All Star that you know, he felt Pete was
21:24
Speaker 3: really soaking up the entire experience. And you know, I
21:28
Speaker 3: didn't write this, but I was kind of in case
21:32
Speaker 3: they won the gold medal. I was going to kind
21:34
Speaker 3: of you know, lay something out and in more specific
21:39
Speaker 3: to the Team USA experience. But it really struck me
21:42
Speaker 3: of you know, at this time last year, even Ryan
21:45
Speaker 3: Flaherty acknowledged this to come as bench coach. They're sitting
21:48
Speaker 3: there kind of like, is this going to work? Like
21:50
Speaker 3: they know he could play defense, but is he like
21:52
Speaker 3: going to be they're nine hitter and really trying to
21:56
Speaker 3: ring out of offense production to where now he was
22:01
Speaker 3: you know, maybe not the everyday starting center fielder, but
22:03
Speaker 3: he was sort of like a you know, a co
22:06
Speaker 3: starter at least in center field for Team USA. You know,
22:09
Speaker 3: on paper, you know, maybe the most talented team ever
22:13
Speaker 3: assembled in American baseball history, and you know, they didn't
22:17
Speaker 3: quite live up to that billing. But to have him
22:20
Speaker 3: there on Team USA, not just as a defensive replacement
22:26
Speaker 3: and not as kind of like a roster filler guy,
22:29
Speaker 3: but as you know, someone who you could see starting
22:33
Speaker 3: in center at Dodger Stadium for the twenty twenty eight Olympics.
22:36
Speaker 3: It's really kind of a breathtaking transformation for Pete.
22:39
Speaker 1: Yeah you talk about a year ago. Yeah, absolutely. I
22:43
Speaker 1: did a piece about him and asked multiple players about it,
22:49
Speaker 1: and while they agreed with the premise like this, if
22:52
Speaker 1: the offense shows up, yeah, you're right, like that's MVP
22:56
Speaker 1: ceiling like someone I can't remember it was probably Ian
22:59
Speaker 1: Half like said like just calculate the war or something
23:03
Speaker 1: like that, like like already you know, like he's he's great,
23:08
Speaker 1: but if the if the offense shows up, like that's
23:12
Speaker 1: that's otherworldly. I specifically remember Dansby, and this was kind
23:16
Speaker 1: of a theme among those players, like we kind of
23:20
Speaker 1: just tell Pete, don't worry about the offense, like you
23:23
Speaker 1: are incredibly valuable to us even without that. So that's
23:26
Speaker 1: how they looked at it going into last season. He
23:29
Speaker 1: is a really important player for us even if he
23:32
Speaker 1: just is okay on the offense and or repeats what
23:36
Speaker 1: he did the year before, which was slightly below average
23:39
Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly. So there now we're in a
23:45
Speaker 1: place where the expectations have been lifted, and you're talking
23:48
Speaker 1: about the Olympics in twenty twenty eight and this guy
23:52
Speaker 1: being like the face of you know, one of the
23:54
Speaker 1: faces of Team USA.
23:56
Speaker 2: He was one of the.
23:57
Speaker 1: Hotter hitters for Team USA. Yeah, coming into that WBC finals.
24:04
Speaker 1: The Cubs have been lacking this type of star power
24:07
Speaker 1: since the selloff of twenty twenty one. Even before then,
24:11
Speaker 1: those guys, the shine had kind of worn off on
24:13
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys, right, like they they're beloved
24:16
Speaker 1: in the city of Chicago, but were they faces of
24:20
Speaker 1: MLB any longer, Like Chris Bryant, Obviously that had stopped happening.
24:23
Speaker 1: Hobby Baia's kind of like they wasn't as big of
24:28
Speaker 1: a star as he was probably in seventeen eighteen nineteen ish,
24:34
Speaker 1: Like those years were kind of like Hobby's peak. Chris
24:37
Speaker 1: Bryant was sixteen seventeen eighteen, you know, like Rizzo was
24:42
Speaker 1: more steady, but like had by that point was not
24:45
Speaker 1: like thought of as like the best first basement in
24:47
Speaker 1: baseball like he was during the peak years. It had
24:50
Speaker 1: been a while since they had like this star face
24:53
Speaker 1: of MLB, someone that MLB would put on their cubbles
24:57
Speaker 1: or or when a game was you know, a national
25:00
Speaker 1: game with the Cubs was on, like who is the face?
25:03
Speaker 1: Who are they picking? It's been a little while now
25:05
Speaker 1: it's you don't have a lot of debate anymore. It's
25:08
Speaker 1: you know, throw peaker arms trung his face up there.
25:11
Speaker 1: We're gonna get some viewers. I think that matters. You know,
25:15
Speaker 1: it's not the most important thing. Winning is what matters
25:18
Speaker 1: the most. But like, these things are important, and you want,
25:22
Speaker 1: like one of your biggest franchises, like the Cubs, to
25:25
Speaker 1: have like a guy like that, Like the Yankees have
25:28
Speaker 1: Aaron Judge that matters. The Dodgers obviously have Shoheo Tani.
25:32
Speaker 1: The Cubs need someone and and Pete's that guy, and
25:35
Speaker 1: now he's around for a while. It's it's just a
25:38
Speaker 1: it's a good story to start the season off. You know,
25:42
Speaker 1: obviously there are bigger tasks at hand, but this is
25:44
Speaker 1: one thing checked off the list that I think the
25:47
Speaker 1: Cubs wanted to get done.
25:48
Speaker 2: Pete wanted to get done.
25:49
Speaker 1: You said it earlier in the episode, like just needed
25:52
Speaker 1: to like you had this window. Not sure if we
25:55
Speaker 1: got past this opening day and this didn't get done,
25:58
Speaker 1: like was had had a pass?
26:01
Speaker 2: Had the moment passed?
26:02
Speaker 1: Have you tried now twice and is it it's just
26:05
Speaker 1: not going to work or or it's going to have
26:08
Speaker 1: to be something where it's a you know, both sides
26:11
Speaker 1: wait until like he's much closer to RB or free
26:16
Speaker 1: agency and it's you know, the prices changed dramatically by
26:20
Speaker 1: that point, so it it's a it's a nice way
26:24
Speaker 1: to start the season off. Now it's about you know,
26:29
Speaker 1: going out there and playing. What type of player is
26:31
Speaker 1: Pete going to be? Can he develop that consistency? Do
26:33
Speaker 1: we see that first half player more often? And then
26:37
Speaker 1: how good is this comes team? Like those those are
26:39
Speaker 1: the things we're facing, and you know, we you know,
26:42
Speaker 1: in the future episodes we can discuss, like we'll get
26:45
Speaker 1: what I'm sure Jed will be asked, but like, is
26:48
Speaker 1: can they get something done with Nico Horner?
26:51
Speaker 2: Is it? Or is that done now? Because opening day
26:54
Speaker 2: is twenty.
26:54
Speaker 1: Four hours away, all these things us to we can
26:57
Speaker 1: touch touch on it now, I mean in future episodes
27:01
Speaker 1: and in the coming weeks and over the course of
27:03
Speaker 1: this season. But yep, I think that's it for this episode.
27:07
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
27:10
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to the athletic
27:13
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
27:16
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everyone.
27:17
Speaker 2: Take care,