Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Jon Lester: The 2026 Cubs are a World Series contender that can match up with the Dodgers

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Jon Lester: The 2026 Cubs are a World Series contender that can match up with the Dodgers · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and today we
0:16
Speaker 1: are joined by Cubs legend John Lester. John, as always,
0:22
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us, Man, I really appreciate your time.
0:25
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
0:26
Speaker 1: Let's start it off with a little I don't think
0:29
Speaker 1: we've had you on since the the reunion, so let's
0:34
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that.
0:35
Speaker 2: How that was.
0:37
Speaker 1: It was a pretty fun day, I'm sure for the fans,
0:39
Speaker 1: but it seemed like you guys were enjoying that entire weekend.
0:43
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about getting together with everybody
0:45
Speaker 1: and what that meant to you.
0:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was good. We had a great time.
0:51
Speaker 2: You know. Obviously, Rossi and and.
0:53
Speaker 3: Riz did their level of reunion thing on Thursday night,
0:57
Speaker 3: which was nice. It was kind of like the prelimbs
1:01
Speaker 3: to the to the whole weekend.
1:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's always good to get everybody.
1:06
Speaker 3: Back and see, you know, kind of the gang and
1:09
Speaker 3: what's been going on. I think the coolest part for
1:12
Speaker 3: all of us was getting the kids back together. You know,
1:17
Speaker 3: they haven't seen each other in a long time, and
1:19
Speaker 3: you know, they went right back to fame their room days.
1:22
Speaker 3: You know, they were all hanging out and you know
1:25
Speaker 3: we'd be like, hey, where the boys or you know whatever,
1:28
Speaker 3: and they'd be off, you know, at Wrigley or wherever,
1:30
Speaker 3: doing whatever.
1:31
Speaker 2: They wanted to do. So it was good. It was
1:33
Speaker 2: a lot of fun.
1:35
Speaker 3: Cubs did a great job with everything as usual, you know,
1:39
Speaker 3: very accommodating obviously for you know, not just us, but
1:42
Speaker 3: you know our families that were you know, parents that
1:45
Speaker 3: were their brothers, sisters, you know, extended family friends, all
1:49
Speaker 3: that stuff.
1:49
Speaker 2: So it was it was a great time.
1:52
Speaker 4: That was you know cool too. Just like the way
1:55
Speaker 4: the team is playing this year. I feel like if
1:57
Speaker 4: the Cubs were still re building or having one of
2:01
Speaker 4: those off years, I feel like the reunion stuff would
2:05
Speaker 4: have I think I think it would have felt different.
2:08
Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, you guys would have felt different.
2:10
Speaker 4: You guys probably have a great time no matter what.
2:12
Speaker 4: I was just curious, like watching this team from the
2:15
Speaker 4: bleachers or you know, from afar, what sort of stands
2:20
Speaker 4: out to you in terms of what my play in
2:24
Speaker 4: October They're twenty games is over five hundred now four
2:26
Speaker 4: games back of the Brewers. What's your kind of snapshot
2:30
Speaker 4: as someone who knows what a World Series win.
2:32
Speaker 3: It looks like, Man, they've been fun to watch, you know,
2:37
Speaker 3: obviously it's it's always better when you get to get
2:39
Speaker 3: up there in person or you know, see them at
2:42
Speaker 3: another ballpark, but you know, watching them from Afar on TV,
2:48
Speaker 3: it's a fun. It's a fun group to watch play,
2:51
Speaker 3: you know. I mean, their defense is obviously electric. You know,
2:56
Speaker 3: they've been hitting the ball out of the ballpark, which
2:58
Speaker 3: is which is always fun for fan. And you know
3:01
Speaker 3: they're pitching seems like is getting back to where you know,
3:05
Speaker 3: they're getting some guys back into the rotation, back into
3:09
Speaker 3: the bullpen, you know, which is always good coming down
3:14
Speaker 3: this stretch and get them you know, hopefully locked back
3:17
Speaker 3: in going in you know to this final race, you know,
3:20
Speaker 3: down towards the end of September. So yeah, man, I
3:24
Speaker 3: mean the couple of days we were up there, it's
3:26
Speaker 3: fun to watch them. Like I said, it's just a
3:28
Speaker 3: fun it's a fun group to see. They got young,
3:30
Speaker 3: they got older guys, you know, kind of kind of
3:34
Speaker 3: some guys in the middle of their careers and all
3:36
Speaker 3: that stuff. But it's just a it's a good atmosphere,
3:39
Speaker 3: they project themselves well, they play the game the right way.
3:43
Speaker 2: It's just a it's a good it's a good watch.
3:46
Speaker 1: When when you do watch this team and and kind
3:49
Speaker 1: of project forward to October, is there something that stands
3:52
Speaker 1: out that that brings a little bit of concern as
3:55
Speaker 1: to I wonder how this will play in the playoffs.
3:58
Speaker 2: Or will this end up them in the playoffs?
4:02
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I think when you get into
4:04
Speaker 3: the playoffs, it's it's always going to come down to pitching.
4:07
Speaker 3: Right Like your your offense, You're not going to have
4:12
Speaker 3: very rephrase that. Not very often are you going to
4:17
Speaker 3: have games where it's a you know, one team's got
4:20
Speaker 3: twelve hits, the other team's got ten hits, and it's
4:22
Speaker 3: a you know, eight seven game or whatever the score
4:26
Speaker 3: may be. So you know you've got the lower the
4:29
Speaker 3: lower run totals, the closer games, the high intensity. So
4:35
Speaker 3: I may be a little biased to that, but I
4:37
Speaker 3: think it always comes down to pitching, and if you
4:39
Speaker 3: can get the back end of the bullpen situated healthy
4:46
Speaker 3: figured out as far as semi roles for guys. I
4:51
Speaker 3: think when you get into those high leveled situations, if
4:53
Speaker 3: they have if they have an idea of where they're
4:56
Speaker 3: going to be in that and let's just call the
4:59
Speaker 3: back end of the of a bullpen the rotation, If
5:02
Speaker 3: they have an idea of where they're going to be
5:03
Speaker 3: in that rotation on a nightly basis, it makes them
5:06
Speaker 3: their jobs easier to get prepared and to come into
5:09
Speaker 3: those situations and succeed.
5:11
Speaker 2: So I think they have what they need to do it.
5:16
Speaker 3: It's just a matter of you know, hopefully not running
5:19
Speaker 3: into a buzzsa off somebody getting hot or vice versa
5:24
Speaker 3: them getting cold. You know that that's never a good
5:27
Speaker 3: recipe for playoff baseball.
5:31
Speaker 4: It is crazy too, how just you know, seeing you
5:34
Speaker 4: know a lot of those players introduced at the Wrigley's ceremony,
5:37
Speaker 4: like you guys really leaned on in the playoffs a
5:42
Speaker 4: couple starting pitchers and like maybe two and a half relievers,
5:48
Speaker 4: and now like the Cubs are like, you know, they
5:51
Speaker 4: might have we'll get into this the next segment, but
5:54
Speaker 4: maybe like twenty pitchers and like the the idea of
5:58
Speaker 4: getting through four rounds. It's just it's just crazy watching
6:01
Speaker 4: some of those old highlights and just how much the
6:03
Speaker 4: game has changed in that regard that pictures like yourself, Lackey,
6:07
Speaker 4: Areata Hendricks. Just there just aren't many round like that
6:10
Speaker 4: anymore where the game isn't played that way anymore.
6:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean everything was was based on your starters, right,
6:17
Speaker 3: Like everything was based on you know, six or seven innings.
6:20
Speaker 3: You hopefully they get to the seventh. If there's a
6:23
Speaker 3: bridge there, you've got a guy that can come in
6:25
Speaker 3: and get maybe one or two outs, and then you
6:27
Speaker 3: got your eighth and your ninth inny guys.
6:28
Speaker 2: And yeah, now you don't really have that.
6:32
Speaker 3: I mean, you've got you've got World Series games where
6:34
Speaker 3: they're they're they're doing bullpen days, you know.
6:37
Speaker 2: So it's like whether it's right or wrong, I don't
6:42
Speaker 2: I don't know if we know the answer to that.
6:44
Speaker 3: But I think at the end of the day, if
6:47
Speaker 3: you get the w you figure out a way to
6:49
Speaker 3: keep guys off base and runs from crossing on plate,
6:51
Speaker 3: it really doesn't matter the formula in today's game. You know,
6:56
Speaker 3: my idea would be, all right, I got my dudes
6:59
Speaker 3: out there are going six seven, I got my.
7:02
Speaker 2: Eighth and got my ninth. Any guy you know, it
7:04
Speaker 2: obviously makes it makes.
7:05
Speaker 3: The planning a little bit easier, but uh, you know
7:08
Speaker 3: that's the game that we're playing right now, and and
7:11
Speaker 3: you know you just got to have those arms at
7:13
Speaker 3: the back end of that bullpen.
7:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Cubs certainly have a number of pitchers and
7:18
Speaker 1: could almost too many, it may seem like, but I
7:23
Speaker 1: don't think that's a that's that's real. I don't think
7:25
Speaker 1: there's such thing as too much pitching in today's game,
7:28
Speaker 1: especially when we watched the first half of this team
7:30
Speaker 1: and all the injuries pile up. Let's take a quick
7:32
Speaker 1: break and talk about some of the moves they made
7:35
Speaker 1: and if they did enough.
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8:38
Speaker 1: All right, John, So the Cubs made a number of moves,
8:43
Speaker 1: added two starters with plenty of experience, including playoff experience
8:46
Speaker 1: at a high leverage reliever and Zephyr John's and then
8:50
Speaker 1: an up and down guy Garrett. We'll see if he
8:53
Speaker 1: has a role much this year in twenty six, but
8:55
Speaker 1: obviously Gossman and Homes are pretty big pieces for this
8:59
Speaker 1: tea team this season. What what did you think of
9:02
Speaker 1: the deadline? Is that enough pitching to get through it?
9:05
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's a completely different game than when
9:07
Speaker 1: you guys won the World Series at sixty. That's you
9:11
Speaker 1: guys had those five starters. I think you guys made
9:13
Speaker 1: pretty much every starter outside of one or two.
9:15
Speaker 2: All season long.
9:17
Speaker 1: That's just not today's game. So you need as much
9:20
Speaker 1: pitching as possible, even through the playoffs.
9:23
Speaker 2: Would you think of that? I mean, I thought, I
9:26
Speaker 2: thought Jed did a great job.
9:27
Speaker 3: He addressed the issues that they needed, and then you know,
9:31
Speaker 3: you get kind of a bonus in there as far
9:35
Speaker 3: as the level of the guys you got. You know,
9:39
Speaker 3: it's one thing to just go out and and you know,
9:42
Speaker 3: pick a starter or pick a bullpen guy. But when
9:45
Speaker 3: you get dudes, you know, that's that's a big trade deadline.
9:50
Speaker 2: You know, he got the.
9:53
Speaker 3: Who I'm trying to blank on his name, the right
9:55
Speaker 3: handed bat off the bench kind of platoon outfielder Taylor, Yeah,
9:59
Speaker 3: Tyron Taylor.
10:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.
10:00
Speaker 3: And I thought that was that was big for them
10:03
Speaker 3: because if it seems like, you know, their bench guys
10:05
Speaker 3: are lefty dominant, uh or I guess platoon. I don't
10:10
Speaker 3: know if they really have bench guys anymore, but yeah,
10:14
Speaker 3: I mean I think I think to get that right,
10:15
Speaker 3: handed bat with you know, his defense and then uh,
10:20
Speaker 3: you know speed on the bases. I think that was
10:24
Speaker 3: a big, a big plus for him as well. I
10:26
Speaker 3: think he did a great job. You know, not every
10:29
Speaker 3: trade deadline is going to be a role as Chapman
10:31
Speaker 3: or you know, a Justin Verlander or a Max Chers
10:35
Speaker 3: or whatever like that, or or a Schooble. That's not
10:38
Speaker 3: going to be every trade deadline. But when you are
10:42
Speaker 3: able to do what Jed did and bring those multiple
10:44
Speaker 3: guys in, uh, because obviously they needed the arms. I
10:47
Speaker 3: mean that the injuries have been you guys have talked
10:50
Speaker 3: about it numerous times.
10:51
Speaker 2: They're the detrimental to.
10:53
Speaker 3: The team for for probably half the year, if not more,
10:57
Speaker 3: if not less, not one hundred percent sure in the
10:59
Speaker 3: timeline there, but.
11:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought it was big for him. I think
11:04
Speaker 2: it'll help them, you know.
11:05
Speaker 3: Hopefully set up well for this last you know, last
11:09
Speaker 3: month and a half of pushing into October.
11:14
Speaker 4: John, you taught me something a long time ago because
11:16
Speaker 4: when you came to Chicago, I had never actually covered
11:20
Speaker 4: a team that bought at the trade deadline. Like basically
11:22
Speaker 4: it was questions about so like Jason Hamil's first as
11:26
Speaker 4: spring training like, hey, what do you think of being
11:28
Speaker 4: traded at the trade headline?
11:29
Speaker 2: Yeah? And so, yeah, you made it.
11:31
Speaker 4: You made a great point though that stuck in the
11:33
Speaker 4: back of my head of like like came, man, I'll
11:35
Speaker 4: answer your questions. I get what you're doing, but how
11:38
Speaker 4: I answer this like reflects on the other guys currently
11:42
Speaker 4: in the room, So I have to kind of be
11:44
Speaker 4: balanced in terms of like anything I say about what
11:47
Speaker 4: else could be out there is a reflection on the
11:49
Speaker 4: players in here. And I actually reference that to a
11:52
Speaker 4: Cubs player I was talking to before the deadline of
11:54
Speaker 4: like it really stuck with me, and so kind of
11:58
Speaker 4: what I'm getting at now is when you have several
12:02
Speaker 4: new personalities kind of popped into a room that has
12:07
Speaker 4: been very steady, you know, players will now have to
12:12
Speaker 4: accept reduced roles or maybe not have roles anymore. Like
12:16
Speaker 4: a players, how do you navigate these new guys showing
12:21
Speaker 4: up when you know you guys are just traveling so
12:23
Speaker 4: much together, you work so closely, you're kind of stuck
12:27
Speaker 4: with each other.
12:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think.
12:32
Speaker 3: When so most of the time, when when guys get
12:35
Speaker 3: traded over, they're coming from not so good situations, right,
12:39
Speaker 3: and and they're on losing teams. And at the end
12:43
Speaker 3: of the day, you hope that the guys that you
12:45
Speaker 3: trade for are great dudes and care about winning. And
12:51
Speaker 3: ninety nine point nine percent of the time that's the case, right,
12:54
Speaker 3: So when they do get traded, and and most of
12:57
Speaker 3: the time, these guys are not long term guys that
13:01
Speaker 3: you get, so they're they're gonna be there for two
13:03
Speaker 3: months and their objective is to do the best help
13:08
Speaker 3: you the best way they can for two months, hopefully
13:10
Speaker 3: three and they leave with a ring. So with that
13:15
Speaker 3: being said, when you come over, and I'll give you
13:19
Speaker 3: an example, we had Rondon in sixteen, right, he did
13:22
Speaker 3: an unbelievable job for us for three quarters of the
13:24
Speaker 3: year closing out ball games. When you get a dude
13:28
Speaker 3: like a role as Chapman, you you got to take
13:31
Speaker 3: a back seat to that guy. I mean potential Hall
13:34
Speaker 3: of Famer, I mean I shouldn't say potentially Hall of
13:36
Speaker 3: Fame closer. You gotta you gotta accept that lesser role
13:42
Speaker 3: right now. Sometimes you trade for guys that have to
13:45
Speaker 3: accept lesser roles because they're closers on terrible teams.
13:50
Speaker 2: You just have you have to.
13:51
Speaker 3: When you get into the room, you have to understand
13:53
Speaker 3: what the greater good is, is potent, what the what
13:56
Speaker 3: potentially the greater good can be. Right, So you gotta
14:00
Speaker 3: sometimes be like, Okay, well I was an everyday player
14:04
Speaker 3: for this team. Well I'm not gonna be in everyday
14:06
Speaker 3: playoff Petter Armstrong, you know, like just use an example.
14:11
Speaker 3: So you just you, Like I said, most of the
14:14
Speaker 3: time in those trades, those guys are coming from terrible
14:16
Speaker 3: teams and they just want a chance to win. And
14:19
Speaker 3: then when you get on the other side of that,
14:21
Speaker 3: when you're on the team that you bring guys in,
14:24
Speaker 3: you're like, all right, we're improving our team. And there's
14:27
Speaker 3: nothing against the guys that are already there. It's just
14:30
Speaker 3: the fact as a matter of maybe a reinforcement, maybe
14:34
Speaker 3: to take some workload off to this off of this
14:36
Speaker 3: guy or whatever. It's never what you had in the
14:41
Speaker 3: room wasn't good enough. It's it's good enough, let's make
14:44
Speaker 3: it better and.
14:47
Speaker 2: No, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
14:49
Speaker 1: I was just thinking, you know, you've you've been on
14:52
Speaker 1: both sides of this. And Gossman was traded from a
14:57
Speaker 1: team that almost won the World Series his last year.
15:01
Speaker 1: He was very emotion He seemed very emotionally connected to
15:04
Speaker 1: that team and that city. That kind of reminds me
15:08
Speaker 1: of your situation in Boston, where, if I'm remembering correctly,
15:12
Speaker 1: you guys want it all in thirteen, right, and then
15:14
Speaker 1: in fourteen you're traded to the A's a team the
15:19
Speaker 1: only team you'd known for your entire career. Trades, you
15:24
Speaker 1: can you kind of describe the emotions. I'm sure it's
15:26
Speaker 1: not a one to one comparison. You're different people, but
15:30
Speaker 1: it seems like there's some overlap there between you and
15:32
Speaker 1: Gosman what Gosman just experienced. I know he's been on
15:35
Speaker 1: plenty of other teams and he's been traded before, but
15:38
Speaker 1: he was very emotional about his time in Toronto and
15:42
Speaker 1: it seemed like it, you know, you had obviously a
15:46
Speaker 1: huge connection to Boston when you were traded. That just
15:49
Speaker 1: the human side of it and the emotions that you
15:51
Speaker 1: were dealing with as you were kind of, you know,
15:53
Speaker 1: taken away from the only team you know and then
15:56
Speaker 1: thrown into a playoff race.
15:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:59
Speaker 3: I think what what the fan doesn't realize is when
16:03
Speaker 3: guys are in a place for an extended period of time,
16:06
Speaker 3: whether that's you know, as short of two years, as
16:10
Speaker 3: long as you know, I was in Boston for eight years.
16:13
Speaker 3: You know, it doesn't matter the time that you're there
16:18
Speaker 3: that guys get attached to cities. Guys get attached to
16:22
Speaker 3: fan bases, they get attached to having their families there,
16:25
Speaker 3: They get they buy houses, they meet people in the community. Like,
16:30
Speaker 3: we're not just baseball players that show up to the
16:33
Speaker 3: field and hit and throw a baseball and then go
16:37
Speaker 3: crawling back into our shell and and aren't a part
16:40
Speaker 3: of anything in the city.
16:41
Speaker 2: Right.
16:42
Speaker 3: So I think that's what you know, people have to realize.
16:46
Speaker 3: I think, you know, media fans, that the people that
16:49
Speaker 3: look at or watch baseball, you become invested in where
16:53
Speaker 3: you're playing, and.
16:55
Speaker 2: You develop those those friendships.
16:58
Speaker 3: You develop the relationship with the front office, with the people, uh,
17:02
Speaker 3: the staff members at the field, the you know, concession
17:06
Speaker 3: stand people, the security guards, like all these people.
17:08
Speaker 2: You develop those relationships.
17:10
Speaker 3: And when you don't have a choice and and your
17:14
Speaker 3: your employer says, hey, we don't need your services anymore.
17:17
Speaker 3: We're going to send you this new city. That it's
17:20
Speaker 3: it's hard, it's not an easy it's not an easy thing.
17:23
Speaker 3: And I commend guys that, you know, unfortunately are fortunately unfortunately,
17:29
Speaker 3: however you want to look at it, are traded you know,
17:31
Speaker 3: year and year out, or you know, finding free agent
17:34
Speaker 3: deals here, free agent deal there, because it's it's it's
17:36
Speaker 3: a hard thing to do. But yeah, we all become
17:40
Speaker 3: invested in in our city. I mean, you look at
17:42
Speaker 3: a guy like Ian Hap, you know, I mean he's
17:44
Speaker 3: been there his whole career, and you know, he's kind
17:47
Speaker 3: of knocking on the door of of of the unknown
17:49
Speaker 3: right now of what's going to happen with him, and
17:52
Speaker 3: you're going to see some emotion out of him if
17:54
Speaker 3: he has to, you know, move on and go to
17:56
Speaker 3: a different team, you know. So it's it's there's a
18:00
Speaker 3: human aspect of it that I don't think a lot
18:02
Speaker 3: of people understand. And I enjoy seeing, you know, not
18:07
Speaker 3: enjoy the you don't want to see the bad emotions,
18:10
Speaker 3: but I enjoy seeing guys getting attached to cities and
18:13
Speaker 3: being attached to the fan base and the people around them.
18:18
Speaker 3: I just like seeing that human element of guys in
18:21
Speaker 3: the game.
18:24
Speaker 4: I do think happ is one that I think we
18:26
Speaker 4: kind of circled for, you know, that last homestand in September.
18:29
Speaker 4: I think that's going to be he As you know
18:31
Speaker 4: John very well, he's not one to show emotions to
18:35
Speaker 4: the rest of the world, but he's a really thoughtful,
18:40
Speaker 4: well put together person in terms of how he's gone
18:45
Speaker 4: about it, and obviously the people in the bleachers, the
18:49
Speaker 4: support staff you mentioned. I mean, perhaps it seems like
18:52
Speaker 4: he's been there forever and it will be interesting to
18:55
Speaker 4: see how kind of what comes out, because I don't
18:58
Speaker 4: think he'll be able to hold it all in. I
19:00
Speaker 4: guess they'll have the playoffs on the other side and
19:02
Speaker 4: maybe that changes it a little bit. But yeah, how
19:07
Speaker 4: is the one we kind of have on.
19:08
Speaker 3: Our radar hair, Yeah, for sure, and he deserves every
19:13
Speaker 3: bit of of whatever is entail for him in September
19:18
Speaker 3: for that last home stand. He deserves it, I think.
19:22
Speaker 3: I think if you ask any player that's been in
19:26
Speaker 3: a place for a long time, their ultimate I don't
19:31
Speaker 3: want to say goal, but like we we want to
19:35
Speaker 3: show our appreciation. If if it doesn't work out and
19:38
Speaker 3: he's not a Cub next year, all I would I would.
19:42
Speaker 3: I don't want to speak for all players, but I
19:44
Speaker 3: would like to think majority of the players would like
19:48
Speaker 3: to thank the fans, would like to walk off that
19:50
Speaker 3: field and tip their hat and and show the place
19:55
Speaker 3: what it meant to them. We go back, go back
19:58
Speaker 3: to the human aspect of it, right. You give every
20:00
Speaker 3: everything for the city, everything for the fans. You immerse
20:03
Speaker 3: yourself in the city. You've got, you know, charitable work,
20:06
Speaker 3: you do, whatever that is, the relationships you've built over there.
20:09
Speaker 3: However many years you've been there, and for us to
20:14
Speaker 3: be able to walk off the field and be like, hey,
20:17
Speaker 3: thank you, this was this is an incredible ride. Thanks
20:20
Speaker 3: for the opportunity, thanks for the ups and downs, thanks
20:22
Speaker 3: for all the memories. Hopefully this is a Nolan Voyd
20:26
Speaker 3: thank you. But if it's not, thank you, you know.
20:31
Speaker 3: And like I said, I think he in my opinion,
20:34
Speaker 3: I think he deserves every ounce of whatever the fans
20:37
Speaker 3: give him and whatever the city gives him, and I'm
20:40
Speaker 3: sure he'll show his appreciation back to everybody there.
20:46
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and talk about
20:48
Speaker 1: the scary DoD Dodgers and what they did at the deadline.
20:54
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Speaker 1: All right, John, So the Dodgers obviously throw their weight
22:03
Speaker 1: around every off season every you know, October. They're not
22:07
Speaker 1: usually this aggressive at the trade deadline, or they haven't
22:11
Speaker 1: been in recent years, but this year they made the
22:13
Speaker 1: biggest move. It felt like Beata Compley, and I think
22:17
Speaker 1: that frustrates fans and everyone. But before we.
22:19
Speaker 2: Get to what they did.
22:23
Speaker 1: Theo Epstein back when he was ready to sign you
22:27
Speaker 1: and then made you the number one goal in that
22:29
Speaker 1: off season before twenty fifteen. This was before the Dodgers
22:34
Speaker 1: were what they are now. He was constantly worried about
22:38
Speaker 1: the Dodgers lurking and whether they'd try and make a
22:41
Speaker 1: big splash and approach you and make you an offer
22:44
Speaker 1: that you couldn't refuse. What was that experience like with
22:47
Speaker 1: La Like how interested were they? What do you remember that?
22:52
Speaker 1: And how did they kind of approach you and what
22:55
Speaker 1: did they pitch you?
22:58
Speaker 3: We never really got to like a formal offer with them.
23:03
Speaker 3: They came in at the end and it had kind
23:06
Speaker 3: of pretty much come down to Cubs and Giants. But
23:12
Speaker 3: I mean at the very end, I don't know to
23:15
Speaker 3: the extent of how serious they were or what kind
23:20
Speaker 3: of the details of it, but they basically came in
23:22
Speaker 3: and said, what, you know, how many years and how
23:24
Speaker 3: much do you want and we'll we'll figure it out.
23:29
Speaker 2: And you know, our our.
23:30
Speaker 3: Whole thing, our whole thing was I didn't want to
23:34
Speaker 3: go back out you know, being in Oakland, I didn't
23:36
Speaker 3: want to go back out to the West Coast and
23:38
Speaker 3: and do all that stuff, so that it got shot
23:43
Speaker 3: down pretty quick. It didn't get past really anything. But
23:48
Speaker 3: from having that experience with them and seeing how they
23:51
Speaker 3: operate now, it I can imagine that's kind of how
23:55
Speaker 3: they're doing stuff still. You know, it's like, let every
23:59
Speaker 3: let every everybody else, you know, go through the frenzy
24:03
Speaker 3: of the offers and the back and forth and all
24:06
Speaker 3: this other stuff, and then they come in at the
24:07
Speaker 3: end and be like, all right, what do you need?
24:10
Speaker 3: And you know, you make your decision from there. But
24:14
Speaker 3: uh yeah, I mean it wasn't a it wasn't a
24:16
Speaker 3: big conversation. It wasn't a long conversation. It was it
24:19
Speaker 3: was pretty pretty cut and dry and pretty short.
24:24
Speaker 4: That's funny because I've always wondered that of, like, you know,
24:27
Speaker 4: where the Dodgers and Theo's head, THEO sort of naturally
24:30
Speaker 4: paranoid at times.
24:33
Speaker 7: And that that is a perfect description. And I do
24:37
Speaker 7: think that's how they operate now that you know, whether
24:39
Speaker 7: it's Kyle Tucker, h the pictures coming over from Japan,
24:43
Speaker 7: they can just kind of come over the top and
24:45
Speaker 7: figure things out later.
24:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's it's a it's a good business model.
24:51
Speaker 3: I mean, if you've if you've got if you've got
24:54
Speaker 3: the backing to be able to do it, I mean,
24:58
Speaker 3: it saves you a lot of time, It saves you
25:00
Speaker 3: a lot of effort.
25:01
Speaker 2: It saves you.
25:02
Speaker 3: I mean it not money on the contract, but you
25:05
Speaker 3: know as far as like all right, hey fly out
25:08
Speaker 3: to LA see the stadium, see the stats, Like you
25:10
Speaker 3: don't have to do all that stuff.
25:12
Speaker 2: You just come in and it's like, hey, we're really
25:14
Speaker 2: good and we'll pay you.
25:15
Speaker 3: So what do you want and you know, cut all
25:18
Speaker 3: the cut all the bs out of the out of
25:22
Speaker 3: the whole middle part and you know, get to get
25:24
Speaker 3: down to the nitty gritty and what you need to do.
25:28
Speaker 1: So they so they acquire schoobl It felt like that
25:31
Speaker 1: was going to happen.
25:32
Speaker 2: I think if they wanted it.
25:35
Speaker 1: It was one of those things that's like if they
25:36
Speaker 1: wanted it's that they're going to get it done type thing,
25:39
Speaker 1: and it happened. How do you kind of look at
25:42
Speaker 1: their deadline that them pulling off the biggest move and
25:47
Speaker 1: is it frustrating to you as a as a fan
25:49
Speaker 1: or do you just kind of shrug your shoulders and say, like, yeah,
25:51
Speaker 1: that's what they're supposed to do. They're they're the best
25:53
Speaker 1: team in baseball, and they wanted three peat to go,
25:55
Speaker 1: go do your job.
25:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it. I was talking about
26:00
Speaker 2: this the other day.
26:01
Speaker 3: I think it's you know, we're kind of back into
26:03
Speaker 3: the nineties with the Yankees, you know, like the Yankees
26:06
Speaker 3: would would do the same thing, and people were mad
26:09
Speaker 3: that they weren't scared to spend the money and trade
26:12
Speaker 3: the prospects or trade the people they need to do
26:16
Speaker 3: to get a deal done. I'm not mad at it.
26:21
Speaker 3: I don't, you know, obviously playing against them for those years,
26:25
Speaker 3: I don't care for the Dodgers that way, you know,
26:28
Speaker 3: like I don't. I don't really pay attention to them,
26:31
Speaker 3: and I don't I don't necessarily think it's good for baseball.
26:37
Speaker 3: I don't think it's bad for baseball, you know, like
26:39
Speaker 3: if you as an owner. I feel like people got
26:43
Speaker 3: to look at it as a as an owner. And
26:45
Speaker 3: those guys are competitive too, and they're not dumb, right,
26:47
Speaker 3: they didn't. They didn't become gazillionaires by being stupid, so
26:53
Speaker 3: and also by not being competitive. They had to be
26:56
Speaker 3: competitive in their jobs and whatever they did, it'd be
26:58
Speaker 3: the best at it in order to succeed, right, So
27:02
Speaker 3: that carries over to the game, which I respect, and
27:06
Speaker 3: I think if you ask players in the big leagues
27:08
Speaker 3: that are established, we'll all say the same thing about prospects.
27:12
Speaker 3: Prospects are great, and they're great for your future, but
27:15
Speaker 3: they're not great for now, and you don't necessarily know
27:20
Speaker 3: what that prospect is going to do or be in
27:23
Speaker 3: three years. So do you want a chance at a
27:27
Speaker 3: World Series now or do you want a chance at
27:29
Speaker 3: a World Series in maybe five years?
27:33
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
27:34
Speaker 3: So I'm not saying that's the case for everything, but
27:38
Speaker 3: I do respect the fact that the Dodgers are like, hey, listen,
27:41
Speaker 3: we are willing to part with these guys to give
27:45
Speaker 3: us the best chance to win now because if we
27:50
Speaker 3: don't try to win now, we might not win for.
27:54
Speaker 1: X.
27:54
Speaker 3: We don't know, right, Like, winning is hard and winning
27:57
Speaker 3: the World Series is hard. So, like I said, I'm
28:02
Speaker 3: not a fan, but I'm a fan of some of
28:05
Speaker 3: the guys on the team. You know, I root for
28:08
Speaker 3: those guys individually, and like I said, I don't think
28:11
Speaker 3: it's I don't think it's bad for baseball. I don't
28:13
Speaker 3: think it's good for baseball. I think it it's the
28:16
Speaker 3: business aspect of it. And you know, if if front
28:19
Speaker 3: office guys want to complain about it, then you know
28:23
Speaker 3: you can go do those deals just as easy as
28:25
Speaker 3: they can. It's just a matter of, you know, kind
28:30
Speaker 3: of giving up what the other team wants in order
28:32
Speaker 3: to get that guy.
28:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess I don't like it. Play better, right,
28:37
Speaker 4: isn't that an old baseball say?
28:38
Speaker 2: Yeah?
28:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I know we're getting way too far
28:45
Speaker 4: ahead of ourselves. Like the Cubs are still a second
28:47
Speaker 4: place team, but after the trade deadline, looking at the
28:51
Speaker 4: totality of it, Like, how do you think the Cubs
28:54
Speaker 4: and Dodgers match up if they should happen to meet
28:58
Speaker 4: in the playoffs?
29:01
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I think they match up pretty well.
29:07
Speaker 3: I think the Cubs do a lot of things very well.
29:13
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously, you know, you guys have talked about it.
29:15
Speaker 3: You hear about it that their defenses is not comparable
29:20
Speaker 3: to anybody else in big leagues. I mean, it's it's
29:22
Speaker 3: stupid the ability that those guys have to get out.
29:26
Speaker 3: And I think when you're facing a team like the Dodgers,
29:30
Speaker 3: you have to be able to get the outs. You know,
29:35
Speaker 3: like balls, balls hit to you, you make the play,
29:38
Speaker 3: you get the out. I don't need the spectacular, you
29:43
Speaker 3: know what. Those are great, those are bonuses. But the
29:47
Speaker 3: biggest thing with them, and like we were talking about earlier,
29:49
Speaker 3: is the big inning with them, you gotta you gotta
29:53
Speaker 3: keep it. Otani's gonna get his, Mookie's gonna get his,
29:57
Speaker 3: you know there their firepower is too strong to allow
30:01
Speaker 3: free base runners. And that's where you know, the two
30:06
Speaker 3: three run homer kills you. In the playoffs. You can
30:09
Speaker 3: give up, you can give up that solo homer. You
30:11
Speaker 3: can give up two solo homers, but you start giving up,
30:15
Speaker 3: you know, an inning where you give up one or
30:18
Speaker 3: two and then all of a sudden, you got a
30:19
Speaker 3: through run homer. That game's basically over with their bullpen.
30:22
Speaker 3: So but I do like, I do like their matchup.
30:27
Speaker 3: And we saw what was it last week or they
30:30
Speaker 3: played the Dodgers. Yeah, and they you know I know that,
30:33
Speaker 3: I know, I know the Dodgers are beat up, but
30:35
Speaker 3: the Cubs are beat up as well. So you can't
30:37
Speaker 3: really use that as an excuse, but you know the
30:40
Speaker 3: biggest thing, they just got to catch the ball and
30:43
Speaker 3: get out, and I think they've got a really good
30:45
Speaker 3: chance at at going up against those guys.
30:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Cubs certainly their defense can help them win games.
30:53
Speaker 1: We've seen it all season long, and and we, like
30:55
Speaker 1: we've talked to Patrick and I have talked about this
30:57
Speaker 1: a lot. They won that series against the Padres last
31:01
Speaker 1: year primarily because of defense, some clutch hits, obviously some
31:04
Speaker 1: big home runs, but that was that. You don't have
31:07
Speaker 1: that series win without Nico and danceby up the middle.
31:11
Speaker 1: So incredibly important for them.
31:14
Speaker 2: To kind of advance.
31:15
Speaker 1: And just like you said, just get the basic outs
31:17
Speaker 1: and the spectacular plays will come. We've seen it all
31:20
Speaker 1: season long, but just just do what you need to do,
31:23
Speaker 1: and the Cubs seem to be able to do that
31:24
Speaker 1: pretty consistently. All right, John, thanks so much. We'll definitely
31:29
Speaker 1: be chatting with you soon. This is Northside Territory. Make
31:31
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31:34
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31:36
Speaker 1: of all Things Cubs. Thanks for listening and watching.
31:39
Speaker 2: Everyone. Take care