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What we’re hearing about the Cubs, free agents and spending · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, foul Territory Network's Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moody. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers at The Atlantic. I'm Ron Burgundy. I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I miss It's something that I don't norally say, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: now my head has run off. Anyways, we are the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: This is the Cubs podcast for foul Territory Network. Patrick,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk a little bit about Kyle Tucker here.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: You know, I feel like for a year now, it's
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: been about a year since they acquired Kyle Tucker, we
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: have been talking about this.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Or alluding to this, the inevitable.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Departure of Kyle Tucker, that this was a one year
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: stint with the Cubs. This is not something that we
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: are surprised by that the Cubs are not. You know,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: when you see these public lists of who the Cubs
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: or who is interested in Kyle Tucker, you're not seeing
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the Cubs on there. So, you know, I don't think
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: it's a huge surprise to see all these other teams.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: And now we're seeing noise that.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: The Toronto Blue Jays, who have been incredibly active, already
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: signed Dylan SE's Cody Ponce a solid bounced by a
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: candidate who was in Korea for the last couple of years.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: And now they're showing real interest in Kyle Tucker, who
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: was out touring their spring training facility.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Apparently.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a nice local trip for Kyle who grew
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: up in Tampa, not all that far from Toronto's longtime
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: base in Dunedin, I believe, and so that facility have
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: good coverage of that in the athletic with our colleagues
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Ken Rosenthal as well as Mitch Bannon. Uh, they've made
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: some substantial upgrades there over the years, and I think
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: that was the big moment when shoe Otani was also
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: spotted there.
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: Clearly they need better better security or something or I.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Don't know, why do people keep getting spotted.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Or I mean maybe you know the various agencies, UH
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: want that out there. But no, look, when we had
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: to do this sort of Kyle Tucker tears of where
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: he might land, the Cubs were in this kind of
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: category onto themselves of like, you know, maybe if everything
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: goes wrong for Kyle Tucker and free agency and he
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: needs kind of a soft landing spot. Whereas the Blue
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Jays were had this unbelievable momentum coming off their pennant
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: winning run to the World Series Game seven of the
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: World World Series, and there's a lot of components that
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: go into that. It's obviously the revenues generated as Canada's team,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: to have an entire country to yourself essentially as a market.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: They're just the viability as a contending club for the
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: next several years, the momentum from signing Ladd Junior to
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: that monster extension, then also seeing that atmosphere on TV
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: and kind of the stage the Blue Jays were on.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Players certainly notice things like that, and after years of
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: kind of being the bridesmaid or perhaps being used for
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: leverage in talks with your player's actual preferred destinations, this
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: is a great time for them to strike. And I
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: do think Kyle Tucker is probably better suited to being
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: kind of more of a complementary player next to Vladd
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: Junior than being that face of the franchise time.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: This is something that's fascinating to me.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: When I saw this, I don't think I maybe I
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: had seen the Blue Jays connected to Kyle Tucker before,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: but I never really thought of them as like one
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of the top candidates for Kyle Tucker. But also you know,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: once Lad Junior signed that extension, we were talking Kyle Tucker,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: you know, comps with Blad Junior. So to think that
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the Blue Jays have a shot to have both of
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: them on their roster, just I just thought that was interesting.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I didn't It was not something that had entered my
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: mind as a possibility, certainly not when last season started
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and Glad steigned that extension. I think in the spring,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: right or was it right before the spring?
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: It was right after opening day because I remember, well,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: we talked to Tucker in the Wrigley Field clubhouse. I
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: think he had won some sort of like I don't know,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: player of the Week award or something like that, And
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: it was right right around that's maybe the day after
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Vlad's deal, And that was obvious, the obvious question, and
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: like he was now the clear consensus, you know, far
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: and away number one position player in this class.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that what you were kind of
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: touching on before, the idea that the Cubs were only
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: in on this if somehow his market cratered, that's like
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: an impossibility with this class, With this free agent class,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: there's just no one there, like even if even if
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you want to say like that second half, uh brought
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: about questions and are is he is he going to age?
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: For go with every negative thought you want to have,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: like someone's going to pay him, Like it's just inevitable
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: when you are when when this is what the class is,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: When this is what the free age classes, and he's
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: as talented and has the type of ceiling that he has,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: it's just hard. There's just no way you can get
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: away from the idea that this is going to be
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: a highly paid player. Now it's just like who are
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the true suitors and who's coming after him and who's
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: gonna pay him. Toronto is kind of like in this
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: perfect situation where like you said, I think they're better
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: set up financially than maybe San Diego, But it kind
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of does feel like they're having their San Diego moment
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: where it's like, Okay, it's time to go get us
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a world series. We were really close, and I think
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the Padres have been really close over the years. You
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: don't want to miss that window, and they're kind of
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: looking at it in that sense. I don't know what
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: that payroad is gonna look like if they do sign Tucker.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: But you know, I don't think fans really care about that.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Go go get them. I think that the Cubs Cubs
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: fans to kind of put this to the Cubs. I
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: think they would like to see that type of aggression
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: from their team.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: But you know, I think I think.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: We're seeing while we aren't seeing the big signings yet,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: I think you and I are hearing enough to make
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: it feel like there's the Cubs will do something that
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: should at least, you know, upgrade the roster, if not
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the offense in in whole like that, the roster should
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: be getting better in the coming weeks.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: As we you know.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: We're a few days away from heading to Orlando in
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the Winter meetings.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: That's two points here. I think.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: I don't think the Cubs are necessarily done adding to
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: the position player side.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: I know that has sort of been you know.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: One conclusion that has been jumped to when they say
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: we're focused on pitching. We could play a game tomorrow
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: with our group, and yes, they're not desperate. I also
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: don't think, you know, days before the Winter Meetings, that
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: they're totally shutting off that possibilit I think they're actually
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: exploring some of those concepts and then look like Kyle Tucker.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: I wrote it the other day. Throughout his career has
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: been highly valued by the baseball industry, so there's no like, oh,
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: who cares he's gone, like not a big deal, Like no,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: like coming out of high school, you know, this powerhouse
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: high school program in Florida, he was number five pick
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: in the draft, and then he was like a top ten,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: top twenty consensus prospect on all those lists.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: When you go on to his Baseball reference page, then
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: he you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Know, was a what he made the he's made the
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: playoffs every year of his career. He's got all this hardware,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: you know, great back of the baseball cards. So yeah,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: like that's that's gonna sting. Like the Cubs on Opening Day,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: unless and make another big move, will probably not have
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: as good an offense on paper.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: But I do think certain things have changed since.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: You know, the time they acquired him. Obviously, Peter Armstrong,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: it was not you know, necessarily consistent or a smooth
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: level production. But he was a whatever thirty thirty guy,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: All Star mv P candidate for months, Like will he
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: exactly duplicate that?
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: We don't know?
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Could he find maybe a more consistent level that certainly
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: seems reasonable, especially given his intelligence, you know, and passion
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: for the game. Michael Bush becoming an everyday first baseman,
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: you know, a monster in October, that's a big deal.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Say a Suzuki took kind of a next step forward.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: He can play some more right field. And then one
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Casey and moist is by a stereos are going to
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: be a part of this one way or the other.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: We don't know exactly how, you know. I think things
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: can change quickly in the offseason, and that's kind of
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: what play are told generally, you know, in those exit
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: meetings or you know, kind of off season communications of
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: like this is kind of our plan. It could change,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: but we see envision these roles for you and and
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: I think Casey and Biasteros will get some runway. You
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: saw how Matt Shaw improved from the first half to
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: the second half, and even both those hitters have stacked
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: up a lot of good experiences from from when the
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Cubs acquired Tucker that like, if you could not have
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: gone into last year, we're like, oh, and Casey moys
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: this boy Steros, like that's ye, Like you couldn't have
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: done that. I think now it is reasonable to expect
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: them to contribute to winning team because they did last year. Obviously,
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Casey missed some of that runway because of the concussion.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: Right Biasteros looked good.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, these are we don't know what they're going
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: to become, but the baseball industry he has valued them
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: fairly highly as a top level as top level prospects
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: like these are not like retreads, Like they're there. It's
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: kind of a moment for them to sink or swim
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: to some extent, and they have a manager, Craig Council,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: who's proven to be very patient in that regard.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's probably still a way to I mean there
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: is there are ways to upgrade this offense with a
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you know, a more established presence and get those guys
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: regular playing time.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I think you want to see what they can do.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I think you, you know, you'd feel a lot better
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: if Casey got a little bit more time and showed
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. By Sterrus, obviously by Starrus, I
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: think it was like two or three weeks whatever it
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: was where he was really hitting. It was nice to see, though,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Like those are things you want to see young players
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: do when they get their opportunity. And obviously Shaw's second
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: half showed that, you know, this guy can handle the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: big leagues.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: There's growing pains with all these guys.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: There will be, but I think fans in general and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: maybe this front office would be feel more secure if
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: they had another bat, you know, if they could go
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: out and get another bat. And you know, I don't
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: think we should rule it out. It's not something we're
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: going to rule out. But that said, I think we've
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: seen where the priority is uh and and and it's pitching.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Something that that we found that you know that happened
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: over the last week. Was it last week early this week?
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Whenever it was Dylan Ceeses off the market? Uh, that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: the Cubs were in on Dylan Cees, I think is
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: something that uh, nobody wants to hear that, right, and
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the fans that want to hear that the Cubs were interested.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: The Cubs were willing to spend up to a certain point,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: but they were and that's just not something we've heard
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: of late when it comes to the Cubs and free agency.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, the last time they spent huge in free agency?
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Am I remembering this right? Like the last really big
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: contract was Dansby Swanson.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Is that right? Uh?
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: And then the last pitcher was Darvish. The last nine
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: figure pitcher was you, Darvish? I mean, that's pre pandemic,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: that's a that's a long time for this team to
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: be aggressively pursuing pitching. Maybe they were out there hunting
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: some pitching beforehand. They haven't landed a nine figure pitcher
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: in a while. They still haven't, but at least at
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: least they were in on and Dylan Cees and they're
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: showing real interest in getting an impactful arm that can
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: miss some bats for this rotation.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Totally understand the skepticism. Cubs fans don't want to hear
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: oh wow, like they were interested, but it is useful
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: to know that the Cubs are engaging at that level
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: of the pitching market this early in the offseason.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: As well. We've seen the Cubs sort of hang.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Back a lot of the time, you know, waiting deeper
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: into January, sometimes after the start of spring training to
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: kind of strike on some of these guys. So the
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: fact that you know, that Sea steal kind of came together,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: i think right before Thanksgiving. The fact that the Cubs
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: were in on that makes you think they're not going
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: to withdraw from the market like obviously Dylan sees is
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: kind of a unique picture in a lot of ways.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: But there are still lots of quality starting pitchers out there,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: and there's no reason to think the Cubs are just
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: going to like give up on that pursuit. Obviously, Cease
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: has that swing and miss, he has great durability, but
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: he's not He's not the only option out there there.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: And I'd imagine as we get we get down Orlando,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: if not before then, to see see some more movement
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: in that direction. And the Cubs have money to spend,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: it's not probably as much as fans and media would
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: expect or want, you.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: Know, those opening day payrolls next year.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: Don't expect the Cubs to like, you know, lap the Dodgers, Phillies,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Mets Blue Jays. And that's a separate conversation, that's a
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: whole nother episode of where they should be.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: But where I they will be will be closer to
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: like that CBT.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: And again, the CBT should not be the end all
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: be all, that should not be this like firm guard rail,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: But the Cubs have not been you know, up or
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: past that except for that kind of one off year.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: I forget which one it was.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: It just barely trip twenty four, right, it was twenty four,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: they barely went over, and then last season they dip
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: back there.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Said okay, so it's like if they're around that mark,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: that would be honestly progress, I mean, smaller relative progress,
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: but they have they have some maneuverability here and they
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: can go go bigger on pitching.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Look so right now, according to roster resource, they're at
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: like one ninety six, well between one ninety six and
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: one ninety seven, let's say, and the and the first
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: threshold is to forty four. Uh, you know, so let's
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: let's give them between forty five and fifty million. You're
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: gonna you're gonna want.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: To leave some maybe I don't. I don't know.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I assume normally they want to leave some space for
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: deadline acquisitions.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: But but this is this at least sounds like it's
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: going to be better than last offseason, where you know,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: they were pretty much at their budget, pretty much at
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: their budget and then had to possibly make an exception
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: to even think about adding someone like Bregmant. Now it
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: sounds like, okay that the budget may be a little
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: bit higher and closer to the CBT, and we'll see
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: if that means, you know, you go past the CBT
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: at the deadline or that is like the full full
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: season budget. Who knows, but it should give some optimism
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: that they can continue to be aggressive and try and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: add a swing and mispitcher, you know, missing out on
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: ceases not the end of the world. There there are
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: a lot There's going to be a lot of action
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: over the next ten days, probably ten days to two weeks.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I think we're going to hear a lot of things.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: We're going to see a.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Lot of movement, and and the Cubs almost certainly, I.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Would say, will be will be involved.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Whether they get one of those big names, we'll see, uh,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: but you know they're there are there's you know obviously,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: uh Tatsuya in Ma is A is a name that
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the Cubs have been linked to. Uh. You would expect
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: that they'll continue to be linked to him. We'll see
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: where that ends up. Michael King, Zach Gallon. These are
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: all names we've mentioned before and that I think the
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Cubs are going to continue to be involved in.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: And I think that's you know.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: That that that's incredibly important for them to add to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: this rotation. And we've even heard like they continue to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: be involved in inclosers and high leverage relievers.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: You know, multiple names have gone off the board and
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: they've been involved, uh in general. Uh for for those
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: guys outside of like the Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, I
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: don't think we've heard much on that front. But beyond that,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: like the the next step, Uh, they're involved. And again,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I think fans are going to be frustrated until they
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: don't want to hear involved.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: They want to hear the signing, but.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: The budget news and the fact that they're that they're
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you know, I guess you know back in the mix
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: for these types of players that they just weren't like
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: really they they're constantly searching for that deal and constantly
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: searching for that lower level h type free agent and
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: hoping for what was Jed's line outperformed projections that was
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: their hope, right, and and projections are important like that.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: That's a lot of these front officers rely on those things.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: But you don't want to like strictly be relying on outperformance,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: uh to get to where you need to be. Uh.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: So you know, I think that this is a better
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: feeling for the offseason. Uh, to complete that you need
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to sign and and get the players, but it does
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: it does feel a little bit more optimistic as we
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: headed to the Winter meetings from where we were even
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: a year ago, even though they did pull off that
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: massive trade for Kyle Tucker. It just it's a it's
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: a different feeling around this team and what they can
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: or cannot pull off.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Without a doubt. And look at I mean, just look
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: at the team on the field. I mean those two
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: playoff rounds, the postseason atmosphere at Wrigley Field, the the
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: big crowds, the revenues generated off of a you know,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: compelling season, competitive season start to finish like that is
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: all that matters.
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: And you do see.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: Like a stable enough foundation to where they can go
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: out and do some of that stuff. And these last
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: couple of years had been kind of like building almost
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: from scratch. They had a lot of holes to fill,
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: they had a lot of pieces to put together, and
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: now you're really looking for impact and those type of
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: talents are out there and available.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Okay, we're gonna have plenty going on next week.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: We have one more episode this week, but we'll save
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: all the info. We have plenty of info and things
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: where we're gonna gather and share with all of you.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: So hopefully there's plenty of Cubs rumors for us to
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: track down over the next ten tennis days. But we
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: will be in Orlando starting Sunday. We'll have one more
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: episode this week. Thanks so much for listening everyone, This
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: is north Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to the Athletic.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: We're Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening everyone.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Take it. No I wave do they do?
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Relisted