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Mapping out the potential next moves for the Cubs in 2026 · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadim Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick. Last episode,
0:16
Speaker 1: we broke down Tatsuya My what the Cubs thought of
0:21
Speaker 1: him and him ending up in Houston. Now Cubs fans
0:26
Speaker 1: are wondering what's next. What are the Cubs going to do?
0:28
Speaker 2: Who's who?
0:29
Speaker 1: What free agent or trade rumor are Cubs fans going
0:32
Speaker 1: to obsess them over? Now? Uh, there is work to do.
0:37
Speaker 1: They you know, there's no denying that they came into
0:40
Speaker 1: this offseason making it clear that adding a starting pitcher
0:44
Speaker 1: was a priority. Pitching, pitching, pitching was what we were told,
0:49
Speaker 1: what we've been talking about. Uh, they still need a
0:52
Speaker 1: starting pitcher. I mean they've brought back Colin Ray.
0:58
Speaker 2: They have.
0:58
Speaker 1: You could say that they have I mean showed him
1:01
Speaker 1: and Aga is back obviously. You could say that they
1:04
Speaker 1: have five starters with Ray as the fifth starter. They
1:08
Speaker 1: have a good group and then they have some depth
1:10
Speaker 1: if you want to say Javi Rasaud, Ben Brown, Jackson Wiggins,
1:15
Speaker 1: all these guys. I still think it's hard to deny
1:19
Speaker 1: that they have to go get another starter. I think
1:23
Speaker 1: this team would look a lot more intimidating and a
1:25
Speaker 1: lot more impressive if you add a starting pitcher. I
1:29
Speaker 1: think the name probably primarily that comes up right now
1:34
Speaker 1: is Zach Galland I think he's a little underrated in
1:38
Speaker 1: the sense that I think fans are obsessing over this
1:43
Speaker 1: most recent season and not really looking at his body
1:46
Speaker 1: of work and what he could be. It's fair to
1:48
Speaker 1: wonder is it was this last season the start of
1:52
Speaker 1: a decline phase for him, or was it a blip?
1:56
Speaker 1: And I think that's probably what the Cubs are thinking
1:58
Speaker 1: through and or I'll probably already have and like trying
2:02
Speaker 1: to figure out what his value is and what they
2:05
Speaker 1: can get him at. And he's probably one of a
2:07
Speaker 1: few options remaining right now.
2:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, even Gallon's down season had some really productive months
2:16
Speaker 3: and good stretches that I think you could sort of
2:22
Speaker 3: dream on of, like, all right, this is a quality
2:26
Speaker 3: major league pitcher who's experienced some really high highs of
2:31
Speaker 3: cy Young votes going to the World Series. If he
2:37
Speaker 3: just unfortunately timed it wrong his free agency, that if
2:41
Speaker 3: he was going to the market after almost any of
2:47
Speaker 3: those other full seasons he had had with the Diamondbacks,
2:50
Speaker 3: he'd be in a really great position. Now he's just
2:53
Speaker 3: in like a pretty good position. I'd imagine he's looking
2:58
Speaker 3: for some of that opt out flexibility as well. And
3:01
Speaker 3: the Cubs generally, I don't know under jet have they
3:04
Speaker 3: ever given an opt out clause after year one? Uh
3:07
Speaker 3: maybe they've offered it in a deal that didn't come together,
3:10
Speaker 3: But clearly it's been a sticking point with other free agents.
3:18
Speaker 3: And Yeah, I've said this before, but I don't quite
3:21
Speaker 3: get the like Emaya's this assumption that Amaya is going
3:28
Speaker 3: to be awesome and that Gallon's going to be terrible. Like,
3:33
Speaker 3: I don't know, I think a lot of these starting
3:34
Speaker 3: pitchers that came out in this class, this is not
3:37
Speaker 3: exactly like Max Schuurzer and John Lester one, you know,
3:41
Speaker 3: free agent one and one a out there of you know,
3:44
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame caliber, uh, you know, big game pitchers.
3:50
Speaker 3: For me, a lot of these starters are kind of
3:53
Speaker 3: bunched together. Some of them have obviously gotten are off
3:56
Speaker 3: the board now and are no longer options for the Cubs.
3:59
Speaker 3: But I would imagine Gallon is still a focus that
4:06
Speaker 3: they are going to be in the mix for him,
4:10
Speaker 3: I'd surprised. I just don't really see them like bowing
4:13
Speaker 3: out or saying like, okay, we're good now. And you know,
4:18
Speaker 3: this is part of a wider thing that we're going
4:19
Speaker 3: to get into here. Of there's still a lot of unsigned,
4:23
Speaker 3: high profile free agents, and on the Athletics big board,
4:28
Speaker 3: of the top nine, six are still unsigned, and they
4:30
Speaker 3: are hitters and pitchers in that mix, and you know,
4:34
Speaker 3: on the starter, and like we don't think they're on
4:40
Speaker 3: Framber Valdez. I'd still think he's going to get a
4:44
Speaker 3: bigger deal, a longer deal than the Cubs are probably
4:48
Speaker 3: comfortable with. He's not exactly the type of picture that
4:51
Speaker 3: they want. Ranger Suarez also sort of falls in that
4:59
Speaker 3: bucket of not that you know, swing and miss machine.
5:06
Speaker 3: He also doesn't have a ton of volume on his
5:09
Speaker 3: resume in terms of like innings. But with all of
5:14
Speaker 3: these free agents, as things drag throughout the winter, we
5:20
Speaker 3: get closer to Super Bowl Sunday, pitchers and catchers start reporting,
5:25
Speaker 3: maybe players or their families get a little antsy, and agents,
5:31
Speaker 3: you know, keep hearing from teams, Oh, we don't have
5:34
Speaker 3: any money left. We spend everything the Cubs have positioned
5:37
Speaker 3: themselves as one of those few teams that are kind
5:41
Speaker 3: of always in the deal flow for those last minute
5:45
Speaker 3: free agents. That doesn't mean they always get them. And
5:47
Speaker 3: sometimes Cody Bellinger comes back and sometimes Alex Bregman goes
5:51
Speaker 3: to the Red Sox. But this is probably shaping up
5:55
Speaker 3: as another one of those markets where there's gonna be
5:57
Speaker 3: like really good impact players still out there and the
6:01
Speaker 3: Cub's roster won't look totally set.
6:03
Speaker 2: When we all go to Arizona.
6:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like, I think one thing I'm going to
6:10
Speaker 1: be watching this season, whether the Cubs get him or not,
6:13
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see Gallen versus I who has a
6:17
Speaker 1: better season. You said that early in your what you
6:21
Speaker 1: were just talking about there, Like there's this assumption that,
6:23
Speaker 1: am I, this is such a better free agent acquisition
6:28
Speaker 1: than Gallen, Like I I don't know if I agree
6:32
Speaker 1: with that, Like I I feel more comfortable saying that
6:36
Speaker 1: Gallen is going to have a pretty solid season and
6:38
Speaker 1: bounce back, Like this is a veteran that has established
6:42
Speaker 1: himself as a really good pitcher and he's coming off
6:44
Speaker 1: of a rough season, and I'm not seeing like some dramatic
6:49
Speaker 1: decrease in velocity or stuff like this. You know, nothing
6:55
Speaker 1: jumps out as me at me as saying like, this
6:58
Speaker 1: guy is a mess right now, and there's a lot
7:01
Speaker 1: of work that needs to be done. I'm sure there's
7:04
Speaker 1: some things that the Cubs or other teams or he
7:07
Speaker 1: himself have identified that need to be worked on. I
7:12
Speaker 1: think you'd be a good value signed depending on what
7:15
Speaker 1: they can end up getting him for. If he's a
7:18
Speaker 1: real option for them, which I believe he is. Something
7:23
Speaker 1: I think we need to touch on. Patrick is like,
7:26
Speaker 1: can they snag both a starting pitcher and position player? Like,
7:34
Speaker 1: is that something that's realistic? Well, I mean, I think
7:39
Speaker 1: if they sign the free agent pitcher, it's going to
7:42
Speaker 1: be harder. Right there are trade options for a starting pitcher,
7:47
Speaker 1: and I think that may be the path of what
7:49
Speaker 1: you were just talking about who falls through the cracks.
7:52
Speaker 1: If there's a position player that kind of falls through
7:54
Speaker 1: the cracks and then they are able to trade for
7:57
Speaker 1: a starting pitcher, is that that's probably kind of like
8:01
Speaker 1: the dream off season I think for the Cubs and
8:06
Speaker 1: for their fan base to get both an impactful starter
8:10
Speaker 1: that can kind of you know, compete at the top
8:13
Speaker 1: of the rotation along with the bat that maybe isn't
8:18
Speaker 1: equal to Kyle Tucker's production, but you know can come
8:22
Speaker 1: close to that or almost replace that in a sense.
8:27
Speaker 1: That's I don't know how realistic that is. I think
8:31
Speaker 1: we need to see how the market plays out, and
8:34
Speaker 1: it purely is that situation you're talking about, who falls
8:38
Speaker 1: through the cracks, who's left a month from now, and
8:42
Speaker 1: what type of deal are they willing to take? But
8:45
Speaker 1: if they trade for a picture, I think that's the best.
8:47
Speaker 1: That's the path to getting that bat as well.
8:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we just went through the holiday season.
8:53
Speaker 3: I'm in a notorious last minute Christmas shopper, so you know,
8:57
Speaker 3: I can't criticize the Cubs for just hanging around and
9:00
Speaker 3: waiting until the last possible moment before making a decision.
9:04
Speaker 3: It is sort of exhausting for fans. It is, you know,
9:10
Speaker 3: a bit repetitive for us to be writing those types
9:14
Speaker 3: of stories. But like it could still work, right, Like
9:16
Speaker 3: we could look up one day in Mesa and all
9:21
Speaker 3: of a sudden there's this you know, all star player
9:24
Speaker 3: there that we never expected. I mean, this is a
9:27
Speaker 3: different era, but you know, Dexter Fowler showing up and
9:30
Speaker 3: people being like, is that an extra Fowler? Yeah, so
9:35
Speaker 3: those things happen. The Cubs are equipped to do something
9:39
Speaker 3: like that. I don't think they're purposely you know, uh,
9:43
Speaker 3: waiting until the last minute all the time. I think
9:45
Speaker 3: there's an element of strategy of being patient and deliberate
9:48
Speaker 3: and not forcing things. But absolutely, you know there are
9:51
Speaker 3: things that you know could pop up, you know, between
9:56
Speaker 3: now and Cubs Convention. I feel like when we were
10:03
Speaker 3: at the Winter meetings, our heads were kind of spinning.
10:05
Speaker 3: We were like chasing our tails on all these sort
10:07
Speaker 3: of like vague rumblings of trade rumors. Obviously nothing has
10:12
Speaker 3: come to fruition yet, but I'd imagine as they've sussed
10:17
Speaker 3: out some of these free agent options and certain players
10:20
Speaker 3: have come off the board, maybe some of those trade
10:25
Speaker 3: concepts resurface. Even going all the way to back to
10:28
Speaker 3: last year's trade deadline. Again, like, I don't think any
10:33
Speaker 3: of those guys was exactly like trading for Randy Johnson
10:37
Speaker 3: at the trade deadline. They have their own sort of
10:42
Speaker 3: question marks, and you know, knowing how obsessed Jen and
10:47
Speaker 3: Counsel are with pitching depth, I have a hard time
10:50
Speaker 3: seeing them not coming away with another starting pitcher. It's
10:54
Speaker 3: just is that guy gonna start game one of a
10:57
Speaker 3: playoff series next year? Is he gonna be able to
10:59
Speaker 3: pay into the seventh inning of a game in October?
11:03
Speaker 3: Or is it sort of like another solid number three
11:08
Speaker 3: or four starter. And I think Zach Gallon could kind
11:11
Speaker 3: of go either way, where a lot of other remaining
11:15
Speaker 3: pitchers are more of the kind of like depth filler,
11:20
Speaker 3: you know, veteran who could help stabilize things, but maybe
11:24
Speaker 3: not you know, really raise the ceiling that high.
11:27
Speaker 1: Sure, I think that would probably end up being a
11:31
Speaker 1: disappointment for the fans, probably, like for what our expectations
11:36
Speaker 1: were as well. The trade market, I think is what's
11:41
Speaker 1: fascinating in the sense that it did not really material
11:45
Speaker 1: It hasn't so far materialized the way I think a
11:48
Speaker 1: lot of us were expecting. I thought we expected some
11:51
Speaker 1: bigger moves to happen, whether involved the Cubs or not. Yeah,
11:55
Speaker 1: I think we were just expecting some bigger trades. Unless
11:58
Speaker 1: I'm missing something, know, like it's been like Shane Baz,
12:03
Speaker 1: there's probably another trade out there that I'm I'm forgetting
12:06
Speaker 1: about that was significant, but nothing that was like, Wow,
12:12
Speaker 1: I can't believe that guy got moved, you know, like
12:14
Speaker 1: whether it's not not just that, but just like the
12:17
Speaker 1: names that we heard haven't haven't really been We haven't
12:23
Speaker 1: seen their names in trade rumors lately. Mackenzie Gore was
12:27
Speaker 1: someone that seemed like, Yeah, this guy's being moved.
12:30
Speaker 2: Barely hearing that.
12:31
Speaker 1: Joe Ryan, what direction are the twins going with this
12:36
Speaker 1: court and what do they want to do? Uh So
12:40
Speaker 1: it's hard to there's someone delivering something at my house
12:43
Speaker 1: so that my dog has to greet them.
12:45
Speaker 2: Sorry about that, Uh.
12:49
Speaker 3: Not really not really feeling your hot takes.
12:52
Speaker 1: No, No, Miami Marlins. They haven't moved a picture yet.
12:56
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of there's stuff that we were
13:00
Speaker 1: talking about in November, and now come the new year,
13:06
Speaker 1: we're not We're not hearing a ton of trade rumors.
13:09
Speaker 1: I'm curious where that goes if that heats up now
13:12
Speaker 1: that some of these starters have signed the trade discussions,
13:17
Speaker 1: do they get back involved in that to Alex Bregman,
13:22
Speaker 1: rumors creep back into this space, do we start hearing
13:27
Speaker 1: more talk about him? I you know, I think the
13:33
Speaker 1: pitching options have to you know what, when it comes
13:37
Speaker 1: to the trade market, what are they going to do
13:40
Speaker 1: with these top level like these prospects that they have
13:44
Speaker 1: either play them or move them, something that we've talked
13:47
Speaker 1: about a bit, particularly that trio by Asteros Casey and
13:55
Speaker 1: Kevin ol Contra. These are three guys that getting to
13:59
Speaker 1: a point where, you know, playing at Triple A seems
14:02
Speaker 1: kind of pointless. I think there's plenty of room for
14:04
Speaker 1: these guys to play this year, but also all three
14:07
Speaker 1: of them, I'm not sure do you want to continue to,
14:10
Speaker 1: you know, sit and wait for them to impact the
14:13
Speaker 1: team in twenty twenty seven?
14:15
Speaker 2: Is that what we're talking about?
14:17
Speaker 1: Or are you gonna try and move them for value
14:21
Speaker 1: right now and try and get an impactful pitcher for
14:25
Speaker 1: this team or make a big move. I don't know
14:28
Speaker 1: what the trade market holds exactly, but I think that's
14:31
Speaker 1: something that the Cubs have to explore and probably are
14:35
Speaker 1: to a certain degree.
14:37
Speaker 3: And the Orioles gave up a haul to the Rais
14:40
Speaker 3: and that deal you mentioned, I'm sure. I'm sure the
14:44
Speaker 3: Cubs sort of recoiled when they saw the terms on
14:49
Speaker 3: that one. I am still curious, like I don't I
14:54
Speaker 3: don't think Kyle Tucker's coming back to the Cubs, But
14:57
Speaker 3: when you see the top three names on the athletic
15:00
Speaker 3: big board, Kyle Tucker, Boba Schett, Alex Bregman. You know,
15:04
Speaker 3: you do start to wonder more in a theoretical sense.
15:09
Speaker 3: This is not like having hard information, But I'd imagine
15:13
Speaker 3: the Cubs. This is their job, this is what they do.
15:15
Speaker 3: They sit around the front office and be like, hey,
15:17
Speaker 3: what if this happens or what would do you know?
15:20
Speaker 2: What would it take?
15:21
Speaker 3: Send this? What would make sense for us? Would he
15:23
Speaker 3: be willing to do that? And you know, the there's
15:27
Speaker 3: a small group of agencies that generally represent the tip
15:32
Speaker 3: top group of players. So they're already talking to Scott
15:36
Speaker 3: Morris and he has Bregman, he has my he has Gallen.
15:41
Speaker 3: You know, Kyle Tucker's represented by Excel, which has had
15:45
Speaker 3: lots of UH, you know, X Cubs, lots of current
15:50
Speaker 3: Cubs and probably some future cubs UH in their stable
15:54
Speaker 3: of clients. You know, I think we have not focused
15:58
Speaker 3: on Boba Schett. I don't don't really know where that is.
16:01
Speaker 3: I think that would make a ton of sense as
16:04
Speaker 3: like a long term piece. However, I just don't really
16:08
Speaker 3: see the Cubs going all out on any sort of
16:11
Speaker 3: like mega long term contract for a premium free agent.
16:15
Speaker 3: At this moment, I was like, never say never. I am,
16:21
Speaker 3: and you always have to be open to different possibilities.
16:24
Speaker 3: I know we sort of sound that can sound naive,
16:28
Speaker 3: and maybe Cubs fans don't want to hear it. But
16:33
Speaker 3: they have some money to spend, not as much to
16:36
Speaker 3: spend as you know people would probably want. They have
16:41
Speaker 3: some clear needs. They have a very strong foundation. I
16:44
Speaker 3: think we've sort of glossed over that throughout this offseason
16:49
Speaker 3: in our times of like this isn't like the previous
16:54
Speaker 3: off seasons where it was an eighty three win team
16:57
Speaker 3: or it was like a you know, kind of bottom
16:59
Speaker 3: half team. This is a playoff group that has a
17:03
Speaker 3: pretty solid nucleus. There are you know, you know, very
17:07
Speaker 3: targeted moves that can be made to push this to
17:11
Speaker 3: the next level. And the deck has been cleared. You
17:14
Speaker 3: wrote about this the other day, like the bullpens sort
17:17
Speaker 3: of set. Maybe they'll maybe there's another guy out there.
17:20
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm sure they'll take more flyers, but this bullpen's
17:27
Speaker 3: mostly rebuilt.
17:28
Speaker 2: Now. Yeah, I mean, I gotta give them credit.
17:31
Speaker 1: They've done a really good job without spending a crazy
17:34
Speaker 1: amount of money.
17:36
Speaker 2: Is there that no doubt closer.
17:38
Speaker 1: No, there isn't a you know, I think they would
17:41
Speaker 1: have liked to have gotten someone who had, you know,
17:45
Speaker 1: was like a big stuff monster that they could have
17:48
Speaker 1: thrown at the back of that bullpen and closed out
17:52
Speaker 1: games that never came together.
17:56
Speaker 2: But you know, I think they have a lot.
17:59
Speaker 1: Of like base flying guys, the type of guys that
18:01
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, we feel good that this guy can
18:03
Speaker 1: deliver an average season and maybe has a little bit,
18:08
Speaker 1: you know, more that they can give. That's like Caleb Theelbar,
18:13
Speaker 1: Hoby Milner, Jacob Web is it jacob Web? It's Jacob Web, right,
18:18
Speaker 1: I'm not making up that name? Or did I make
18:20
Speaker 1: up that name? Now?
18:24
Speaker 3: You got me conviews like that sounded right? And then
18:27
Speaker 3: he started, you know, kind of riffing there. Yeah, yeah,
18:33
Speaker 3: jacob Web.
18:34
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah.
18:35
Speaker 1: Is there another writing that they got before Hunter Harvey?
18:41
Speaker 1: So they've gotten a lot of veterans. I think this
18:45
Speaker 1: is a very stable group in the sense that I
18:49
Speaker 1: really like that they've gotten guys that it's like, hey,
18:53
Speaker 1: we think this guy's going you know, he has a
18:56
Speaker 1: history of success.
18:57
Speaker 2: He's going to give you a round a three, three five.
19:00
Speaker 1: IVRA maybe below and then I like the bet on Harvey.
19:06
Speaker 1: Oh Phil Mayton, that's the guy that I forgot. And Mayton,
19:09
Speaker 1: I think is you know, not a stuff guy, but
19:11
Speaker 1: strikeout guy and then veteran like he can work later innings.
19:17
Speaker 1: Harvey's the upside play that they didn't have that guy
19:20
Speaker 1: in this in this group that they've brought in him
19:26
Speaker 1: paired with Palencia or two guys that you're like, let's
19:29
Speaker 1: bet on the stuff, Let's see what the stuff can do,
19:31
Speaker 1: Porter Hodge, Luke Little. These are guys that they have
19:34
Speaker 1: in their system that have stuff. Hunter Harvey when he's healthy, Like,
19:40
Speaker 1: that's the question. If he's healthy, he has the type
19:43
Speaker 1: of stuff that you want at the back of a bullpen.
19:48
Speaker 1: He has a strikeout rate when he's helped with his
19:50
Speaker 1: best seasons. I want to say, we're like twenty two
19:52
Speaker 1: and twenty three, who's striking out nearly thirty percent of
19:55
Speaker 1: batter's good walk rate sitting in the upper nineties. Uh,
20:00
Speaker 1: you know, just I believe the secondary pitch is a splitter.
20:06
Speaker 2: Uh just pretty nasty, pretty nasty guy.
20:09
Speaker 1: I like upside bets and I think this is a
20:11
Speaker 1: guy that you know when you have, you've gotten, You've
20:15
Speaker 1: collected a bunch of arms that come at you at
20:18
Speaker 1: different angles, that deliver in different ways. Veterans give you
20:21
Speaker 1: a base on and then you make the upside bet
20:23
Speaker 1: and look, I think the price is what you need
20:26
Speaker 1: to look at and say, this is what it costs
20:29
Speaker 1: to get strikeouts and stuff. He has a long injury history,
20:34
Speaker 1: but they know what the upside is and that's just
20:37
Speaker 1: what it costs. So when you when people are frustrated
20:39
Speaker 1: that the Cubs don't go out and get these types
20:42
Speaker 1: of guys, like, go, look at what a guy with
20:45
Speaker 1: this type of risk, But that also the upside that
20:48
Speaker 1: he has costs. He costs six million bucks, Like that's
20:51
Speaker 1: that's a I mean, that's the second most they spent
20:54
Speaker 1: on a reliever behind Mayton. Like that's it's kind of
20:59
Speaker 1: remarkable that that's how much it costs. But like when
21:02
Speaker 1: you have stuff, people will pay and they'll take the
21:07
Speaker 1: risk and say, that's why Dylan sees coming off of
21:11
Speaker 1: so so results here got what he got right, Like,
21:14
Speaker 1: he's got stuff and that's what you pay for.
21:17
Speaker 3: Also, like the pedigree here, I mean Harvey's dad, Brian,
21:21
Speaker 3: saved one hundred and seventy seven games in the big leagues.
21:26
Speaker 2: He was with the Angels.
21:28
Speaker 3: And the Marlins, A two time All Star, Harvey, a
21:34
Speaker 3: first round pick out a high school. When you have
21:39
Speaker 3: that sort of upside, that's always intriguing. He does have
21:44
Speaker 3: some late inexperience, a guy who was valued at a
21:47
Speaker 3: trade deadline and targeted as an impact reliever for a
21:53
Speaker 3: playoff push.
21:53
Speaker 2: I think that matters as well, And so.
21:59
Speaker 3: I thought that was like a needed element just to
22:01
Speaker 3: sort of change things up here and we'll give them
22:05
Speaker 3: the benefit of the doubt with the bullpen stuff and
22:09
Speaker 3: also realize that, like some of these guys are going
22:11
Speaker 3: to be non factors, and there's gonna be guys who're
22:13
Speaker 3: not talked about, are going to be just s catching
22:15
Speaker 3: big moments at Wrigley Field, Like not gonna sweat that
22:21
Speaker 3: in January. It is really like this off season is
22:26
Speaker 3: really still to be written here of it's do they
22:28
Speaker 3: get the picture?
22:29
Speaker 2: Do they get another hitter?
22:30
Speaker 3: Like how do they kind of make this work to
22:34
Speaker 3: where you know, the group that assembles in Mesa is
22:39
Speaker 3: sort of only looking ahead. I know the players do it,
22:44
Speaker 3: and staff do a pretty good job of trying to
22:46
Speaker 3: put those blinders on, But we've been there in spring
22:50
Speaker 3: trainings of just sort of like hey, what are you hearing?
22:52
Speaker 3: Oh man, like Bregman would have been great, you know,
22:55
Speaker 3: stuff like that and some frustrations. This is a chance
23:00
Speaker 3: to kind of nip that in the butt and make
23:03
Speaker 3: sure it doesn't happen.
23:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good to have the bullpen stabilized or done.
23:09
Speaker 1: Focus on what the remaining holds. There's plenty of them,
23:13
Speaker 1: plenty of frustration for fans to feel right now. We'll
23:16
Speaker 1: see where this goes the rest of this offseason. But
23:19
Speaker 1: there there is money to be spent and moves to
23:23
Speaker 1: be made there for sure, absolutely are. So you know,
23:27
Speaker 1: we'll see if a month and a half from now
23:31
Speaker 1: fans are still frustrated, Because I I understand the frustration
23:36
Speaker 1: and I agree with it to an extent. I think
23:38
Speaker 1: both you and I expect more from them.
23:43
Speaker 2: We'll see what they can pull off.
23:44
Speaker 1: What it is I think that's the that's the question, like,
23:47
Speaker 1: what what is it that there's plenty left as far
23:51
Speaker 1: as options and for the need? What is it that
23:56
Speaker 1: they are able to pull off? We'll figure that out
24:00
Speaker 1: out over the coming weeks.
24:01
Speaker 2: I guess. Happy to hear it everyone.
24:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, this is North Side territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
24:10
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
24:13
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things cubs.
24:16
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening for everyone. Take care,