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Cubs mailbag: Now what would a Pete Crow-Armstrong extension look like? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahad Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, let's do
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: everyone's favorite mail bag episode. You guys are always great
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: about sending in your questions. We appreciate it. Let's get
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: right to it. Regular contributor Tyler Dershell. With it looking
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: like the Cubs will be very much in playoff contention,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: do you anticipate the team being more aggressive and acquiring
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: starting pitching or bullpen pitching.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, I think Tyler's always spot on with his questions.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I think they got to be aggressive in both areas.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: You've kind of shared this before, Sahadev, But the idea
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: of they just don't know yet where they're going to
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: be in July, Like what looks like a strength now
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: could suddenly become a weakness. A bullpen that's been a
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: little all over the place could solidify in ways that
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: are not obvious at this point. But yeah, I think,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: especially if Matt Shaw kind of gets right in Iowa
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: and the Cubs trust him as a regular third base option,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: you gotta go big on pitching, right, I would, I.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Mean, pitching is is what they have to go after.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I just can't.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I can't see a situation where they're not. But I'll
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: say this, so look at look at Ben Brown over
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: his last three starts, twenty six point two percent strikeout rate,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: eight point four percent walk rate.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: What is the era? Oh, the era is actually kind
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: of high. I didn't realize that.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's it's four point seventy five in the last
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: three starts, but it was six innings, no runs, five innings,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: three runs, five and a third innings two runs. I
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: feel like he's he just looks really good out there
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: right now.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: What's what's Kate Horton going to do over the.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Next two weeks, three weeks whatever he's up here before
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: showed him Monagah gets back? How healthy? How quickly to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: show him Monaga get back. That's not to say you
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: don't go get more started pitching. I think it may
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: determine what type of started pitching you go and get though.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Are you getting a back end rotation guy that you
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: just put in there and that's eating innings or are
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: you looking for an ace? And if you're looking for
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: an ace, are you looking for one who's here long term?
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Are they willing to pay up that type of price
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: someone that's here for twenty six and twenty seven whatever
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: they can get. I don't know who's available yet. I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: don't I don't love speculating on who's available in May.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: We know the Marlins are selling. We understand that the Rockies.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think the Rockies have a start, at least
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: that I haven't looked recently. But I don't think the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Rockies have a starter that anyone's desperate for. The White
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Sox have a solid pitching. I'm not sure if they
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: have a picture that you just that's just like you
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: have to go get him, so so there there, there
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: will be I agree with you. It's both but that
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: and I could say the same about the bullpen. I
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: don't know who their best option is for closing yet.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe you just have to go get a closer. And
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: we continue to have this date debate in the dugout.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I feel like every week we debate with someone about the.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Value of the bullpen.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I like the direction the bullpen is going, and I'm
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: gonna stick with that. I just I like the direction
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: it's going. I think you need more to add more,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and maybe that is a lockdown closer to kind of
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: solidify all the rolls and and get guys so you
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: could use them where they need to be. I do
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: not think Ryan Presley is completely done. I am concerned
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: about Julian Merriweather and his performance, especially when he's throwing
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: ninety six instead of ninety eight. I thought Porter Hodges
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: outing yesterday was important or two days ago, whatever day
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: it was, Wednesday was important. But to see some swing
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: and miss again, finally, I feel like I hadn't seen
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of swing and missage. He walked a guy, whatever,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: but he needs to get those strikeouts back going again.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: You can't have he's a strikeout guy. He needs to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: be striking out guys at a high clip. Otherwise I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: start to wonder. But you know that, I think this
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: is I think you hit it spot on. Yes is
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the answer. They go get both.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know if there's such thing as being more.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Aggressive, because you're always getting relief pitching at the deadline.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: You always aren't if.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: You are in I mean, crap, the Cubs got a
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: relief pitching last st're at the deadlining.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: They weren't in contention. Yeah, you know, you know what
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: they're gonna get. They're gonna get out getters.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, exactly, so so they there will be aggressive
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: to go get pitching. We will figure out what those
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: holes are by late June, and then they will be
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: aggressive from that moment on. I would be surprised if
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: there's if there are any big moves but before then.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: But I wouldn't be.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Surprised if if they just continue to like hover and
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: search for smaller moves. But they have so many of
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: these depth pieces right now, even at Triple A, so
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: maybe they don't need to keep backfilling because at a
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: certain point is you have to wonder what are you
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: doing with Tyson Miller and Ryan Brazier because that's probably
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the type of level of pitcher that unless there's someone
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: that they see where they're like, hey, we've always wanted
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: to get our hands on this guy and this team
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: is defaying him or something like that. But I think
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: we'll start hearing more things in about a month and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: then and then you'll start seeing moves in about six
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: to seven weeks. If you know that that's when the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: that's when you kind of start to see it like that.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: After the first week of July, but it's mostly like also,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the draft kind of screws things up too, right, the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: draft screws up how they how aggressive teams want to be.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: So it's kind of after the All Star break, I
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: guess when things ramp up. Yeah, yeah, uh, all right,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: let's let's actually take a break. Let's let's take this
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: break now and then and then we will come back
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: with the next question.
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• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, Patrick, My guess is we're going to be getting
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: this question every single time.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: We ask for a mail bag.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: When you look at the value that PCA brings to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: the team, is their contract that is comparable to the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Cubs offer the comparable contract or do they just take
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: him to arbitration every year? The answer for me, the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: way he's playing now is Corbyn Carrol. I did not
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: expect myself to say that he's playing better than I thought,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: and I was higher. I was pretty high on PCA.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: He is playing at an MVP superstar level. He has
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: three or four SOSO games and fans are are already
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: saying he's coming down to earth.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: That's how good he has played.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: That if he's not constantly playing at this elite level,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: fans suggests that it's not lasting, and then he goes
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: out there and he has a big hit, or he
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: hits a big home run, whatever it may be. Eight years,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: one hundred and eleven million. That was Corbyn Carroll's deal.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I think that's kind of the ceiling you can't it's
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: gonna be hard to top that. Corby and Carroll was
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: a borderline MVP. I'm pretty sure he's having a monster season. Yes,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: he's having a monster season again, fourteen homers, one sixty
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: three way to runs created plus. But his first two
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: years in the big leagues, or his first full season
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: in the big leagues was a one to thirty two
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: way to runs greade plus. I want to say he
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: signed that before he had that season. I could be wrong, though, Patrick,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: maybe you looked that.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I think Carol comp was sort of a reach for
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: PCA's side, but like kind of something to shoot for
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: before Pete exploded offensively, and that now you can sort
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: of let things both sides can just let things play out.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Cubs have him underclub control through twenty thirty.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Pete's game is such that and he's so young that
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: he doesn't need to be an offensive monster every single
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: year before free agency. He just has to have you know,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: one or two or you know, close enough twenties for
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: agent to get the enormous mega deal coming his way.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And so the one contract that is not a comp
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: for him is the Jackson Merrill deal with the Padres
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: that was sort of like widely regarded as a very
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: team friendly deal, and that was a nine year deal
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: guaranteeing him one thirty five and a club option tacked
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: on for twenty thirty five. And I think when you
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: think about the structure of this deal, the Cubs are
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: obviously one would want to go out, you know, as
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: far as they can into the future to kind of
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: stretch it, you know, lower the aav kind of manage
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: their rice that way. If you're Pete's side, you don't
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: want to be just giving away free agent years to
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: get a deal done. You'd probably have to give up one,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: maybe two if there's a scenario where he could still
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: become a free agent around the age of thirty. But
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: like the Cubs can present a really big number that
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: just doesn't make sense for Pete because his floor is
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: really high. Like as a worst case scenario, a ten year,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: big leaguer, if he stays healthy and maybe he gets
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: to a really high number in a Kevin Kiermeier way
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: of where you know, it's ten million here, ten million there,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: or you know, if he has one or two seasons
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: like this, if he has you know, three All Star selections, like,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be I think it's gonna be hard. As
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: much as the Cubs love peakrow Armstrong and as much
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: as Peak Armstrong loves the regular experience, I think it's
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: gonna be hard just kind of knowing how this front
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: office thinks, and you know, knowing that he's at CIA,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: a big time agency. I think finding that that common
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: ground will be difficult. But like that's not a big
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: deal because he's already under Cup control through the rest
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: rest of the decade. So I hope that's sort of
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: a grounding because you're right, this question is gonna keep
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: popping up, Like if his performance dips, he's like, oh
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: is this you know, maybe this is the guy the
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Cubs have it opening, or if he just keeps performing
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: like this, it's kind of like, you.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Know, he almost has to let it ride. Yeah, Uh,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: it's you're right.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: There were a lot of things that you said there
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: that that I have to nod an agreement. It's going
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to be hard for them to come to an agreement
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: if he if he especially if he continues playing like this.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: He's just and.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: There's also this value of he's your he's your headline guy.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: He's your guy that you're going to be putting on billboards.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: He's the guy that's going to when you start making
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the playoffs.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: And and major League Baseball is advertising about the playoffs.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: He's one of the first. It's going to be sho Tani,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: then Pete crow Armstrong that they advertise. Yeah, so there's
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: so there's a value there that do the Cubs consider.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: That Maybe not, maybe not as much.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: It's not shoo Tani level advertising income that they don't
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: you know, reap the benefit of paying him and then
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: getting all this advertising money.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: But he is a face of the MLB type play. Uh.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: He's fun to watch, he's he's easy to.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Just easy to root for if your if your Cubs fan,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: and easy to hate if your basic sports hate. So
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: to say, if you're if you're you know, a Cardinals fan,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: or or a Brewers fan, or or just playing the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Cubs on that day, He's an irritant out there and
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and it's fun, it's it's you know, Hobby was like
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: that in a way, and and now PCAs doing doing
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: similar things. I don't I appreciate Pete's ability to to
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: say the right things, and when asked about these things,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: he he loves Chicago.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: He loves the way he's been treated here. You know,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: I think there is value in that. I think that
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: could go somewhere.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know, And I think something that we can't
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: ignore that you said that that I want to emphasize it.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: He's had a big agency.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: A lot of these deals that we see are done
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: with smaller agents, smaller agencies, uh, CIA, Excel, Boris Korp.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: You don't see it as much. The player can dictate it.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: The player can.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Make it happen. Uh.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: And that's not That's not me saying Pete has to
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: go make it happen.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: It's on him.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying that the advice he's gonna get if
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: he's playing like this is going to be heavy.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: You have. It's not one person.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: There are eight powerful agents or whatever it is that
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: have been doing this for a long time and have
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: been getting money, a ton of money for their clients
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: for a long time that are gonna say, hey, this
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: is what we can do for you, and this is
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: these are the benefits of waiting it out. And I
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: think it's just something that you know, fans need to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: understand that when that that's it's going to be hard
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: to lock him up. And that's not to say that
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the Cubs didn't try, but they maybe they maybe they
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: should have just given them the Corbyn Carroll deal. I
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: think it would have been insane to do so in
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: the spring.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: And no, it's important to.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Remember that I think Corbyn Carroll is a CIA client,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: so it's not impossible. But you're right, you can trace
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: back some of these deals over the years.
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: One like.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: There are certain agencies that are maybe more inclined to
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: do that. I feel like CIA is not as extreme
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: as say Bors Corp, which you know very rarely does
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: something like that. You know, the Cubs can certainly try
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: to make this work, but again you're dealing with the
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: front office in a lame duck year, a CBA that
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: will be expiring after twenty twenty six. Every time Pete
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: does something, your mind can like drift to this or
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: jump to this, but there is no rush, and maybe
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: you just kind of let the dust settle bit and
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: get a better idea of like who this player is
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: while acknowledging that he is certainly someone you want to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: build around and that he is that baseball Jim Ratt
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: who wants to get better and is heavily involved in
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: the process.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: So it's on.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: One hand all the reasons why it won't happen, and
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: then there's, you know, some very compelling reasons why it
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: should happen.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: All right, Patrick, let's.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Take another quick break and then we'll be back with
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: a couple more questions.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, question from Rob in a hypothetical trade
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: is there any Are there any restrictions on the amount
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of salary that Cubs would take on? Would they be
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: willing to push this year's payroll into the luxury tax or.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Try to reset it? What are your thoughts there, Patrick.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, of course there's restrictions, right, I mean, it's
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: not unlimited, but you know, I will say that there
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: is this idea that the Cubs have kept at least
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: some powder dry for the trade deadline.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: It's not like.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: An enormous war chest, but that is at least part
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: of the calculation. What we learned in spring training is
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: that there is sort of a case by case basis
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: here where baseball operations can present ideas to ownership in
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: which it can be approved or vetoed depending on how
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: you know the valuations of those deals, whatever their process is.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: You know, you see the Cubs payroll relative their revenues.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: It does not make a whole lot of sense from
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: the outside, but that idea has been bandied about of
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: maybe at the trade deadline there's a you take on
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: a bad contract to get a good player, or you
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: can do different things in certain in terms of, you know,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: maybe not paying as much of a prospect price to
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: get the impact player. Tom Ricketts was someone who approved
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Nick Castiano's deal in I guess twenty nineteen, and obviously
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: he was awesome. The team collapsed, but that was ownership
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: saying we need to shake things up, we need to boost,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: we need to change, and that Tom Ricketts helped push
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: that over the finish line, so that you know, those
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: dynamics are still in play. I guess if the most
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: you know, the absolute right player at the right time
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: comes along, I guess they could go over the luxury
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: tack I tax. There's a long way to go to
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: get there, and a lot of convincing to do, you know,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: in terms of dealing with business operations and ownership.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't have much to add there outside of
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: the one thing I would be surprised I think they'd
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: be willing to add. I would be a little surprised
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: if they go over the luxury tax again. But and
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: if they do, then they have to get approval to
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: go way like you go barely over again.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: It just be odd to me. I'd be a little
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: surprised by that. So, uh, that's it. We'll see where
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: it goes. But you have to be willing to add
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: payroll right now.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: You just have to be if you're if you're shuffling
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: things around in a season like this. It's just an
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: odd way to go about things. You should a minimum
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: be able to push too close to the luxury tax.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: And that's that's salary. Those salaries are talking about essentially
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: like a third of whatever the number it is.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Like to so the it'd be really hard to get there.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not as exorbitant as maybe it seems. And
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: that is, you know, certainly top of mind as they
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: go through all this stuff.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: Think about it. You'd have to add season wise sixty.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Million in salary more than that right there, they're about
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: twenty million under twenty something under close ish. Yeah that
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: that'd be sixty million in total salary.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's really hard to do. So.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, players that get paid that much, they usually are
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: really really good and teams aren't looking to dump them.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Where the teams that are selling don't really have players
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: like that with.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Those numbers exactly.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, final question here, long term, how do you see
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: bias moyses bias there fit working considering the emergence of
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Carson Kelly and the growth of Miguel Amaya. Uh So,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the Robert Buten asked this question. He had a longer beginning,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and he was saying the short term fit is obvious
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: because they've found a way here to stick him at
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: d H. While he inhaps on the shelf says in
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: left field, my answer is this, if you don't re
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: sign Kyle Tucker, that's your answer.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Uh, your outfield.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Is set and and you shift say it back to
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: right field, and boy, Biasteros is your is your everyday
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: d H. That's if he hits and then he produces,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: he has to produce and show that he he can
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: he can hit at the highest level. I'm not I'm
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: not gonna judge him off one game. I don't. I'm
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: not suggesting I doubt that he's capable of doing that.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I just say he has to do it before you
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: hand him the job. But I think that's the long
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: term fit. And then you and I think unless he
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: gets much better, and this is why we've talked about this,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: he probably has more seasoning at triple A, even if
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: he rakes for you know, until half's back, because they
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: you need to get better at catcher. I don't know
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: if they even how much work is it going to
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: take for him to get to a point where he
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: is a capable everyday catcher. I don't know if he
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: can get there. He's not there yet. So right now
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I think long term fit. What I see realistically is
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: dhing and then once a week getting to catch. Maybe
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: you're someone's personal catcher something like that, And that's probably
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: an optimistic view. I just have not heard enough to
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: suggest this is your part time. You know, you're Carson
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Kelly or Miguel Amaya co catcher.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: It's not there yet.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: It's pretty amazing that basically at this time last year,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: we were wondering if the Cubs had the worst catching
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: situation in the entire game, and now we're trying to
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: figure out how this hot shot prospect is going to
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: fit in. I'm with you that probably the ideal scenario,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: or the most ideal slash realistic scenario is maybe he
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: catches once a week, is paired up with a particular picture.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe he's like passable at first base occasionally. But if
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: this dude rakes, that's your answer. It kind of sorts
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: itself out. And I'm reminded of what Craig Council had
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: said in spring training. If you look at the Cubs roster,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: look out on the field, so a lot of first
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: round picks out there that you know hitting, Identifying hitting
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: talent seems to be a little more predictive. I think
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: there's a little more real, liable, whatever their models are,
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: whatever the data is showing them, whatever his track record
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: at a really young age has shown, I think they
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: can probably feel pretty good about that. Whereas pitching is
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: more volatile, guys can kind of come from all over.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's not as sustainable, but like exactly that, if
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: this guy is a legitimate left handed bat on a
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: league minimum salary for whatever three years you you take
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: that and kind of invest elsewhere.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't want to, you know, I don't want
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: to crap on Cubs fans happiness right now and suggest
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: that Kyle that that's the only way he did.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Sort of speak that in Kyle Tucker's gone. So don't
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: you want to watch Moist's hit learn how to hit
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: big league pitching?
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: I don't know who knows, who knows what.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Let's say, you know, I'll remain optimistic for the sake
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: of Cubs fan sanity.
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: I will.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: I will remain optimistic on that. But we won't dwell
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: on that. We don't need to talk that there's gonna
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: be so much more Kyle Tucker talk. I'm sure he's
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: he's slumping now, so fans are fans are upset. Maybe
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: they can maybe they can get them for a deal. Now,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you know, he'll take that discount. Now it's been it's
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: been a slow two weeks. I don't I don't think
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: that's happening, all right, Thanks so much for listening everyone.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate you guys sending in all your questions.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sending them in. Thanks for listening, make sure
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: to rate, review and subscribe to north Side Territory and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are on
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening. Everyone, take care.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: I will meet the ang