Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / What’s going on here? Explaining the Cubs’ big moves

Transcript

What’s going on here? Explaining the Cubs’ big moves · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, it is official.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Nico Horner is a Cub for the next seven years
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: at least no trade clause. Six years tacked onto this
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: this season at one hundred and forty one million dollars.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Healthy payday for a non power hitting second basement but
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: someone who brings a ton of value to the field
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in various ways and just you know, one of those
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: guys that it's rare in today's game that you can say,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: like a X player for life, who knows if he's
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a if he tacks on a couple of years after
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: this in another uniform, But this is going to be
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a long career in a Cubs uniform for someone that
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: really symbolizes, you know, it's kind of like the heart
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and soul of what this Cubs, this generation of Cubs players,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: what they want them to be and who they are
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and what type of baseball they play.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to go back to kind of the start.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: It's where you led your story for the athletic of
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: just that pre draft scouting process. You know, names like
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: sam Use, Matt Dorry, you know Cubs, you know, high
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: ranking Cubs scouts who were heavily involved in that process.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: And it reminded me of I think you had gotten
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: this at one point of just sam Use went into
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: maybe Texas or something like that, and it was like, I
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: can't like love watching him. And I remember Matt Dorry
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: saying something like, you know, are we falling in love
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: with the Stanford thing or maybe overestimating it? And I
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: think you see a moment like that, you know, press
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: conference on Sunday of things coming full circle and really
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the Cubs absolutely committing to him as a sort of
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Cubs way. I mean, could you take our listeners back
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: to like why did they identify that guy and what
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: did he show them?
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Kind of immediately, first of all, I'm going to warn
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: you and the listeners yet again, the dog has chosen
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: to eat her breakfast right next to me right as
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: we start the podcast. She really likes to get involved
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: in the podcast. So if you hear the crunching of
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the dog food, that is that is my buddy Scout
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: making her presence felt So Yeah, I mean I remember
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: talking to Sam Hughes not long after they drafted Nico,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and maybe over the years for some follow up stories,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: but Sam really pounded the table for for Nico Horner.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: They fell in love with not just the play, but
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I think the person, like this is what like what
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: like what what Jed was saying was this is this
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: is a player, like all the scouting reports said, like,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: this is a cub. This is what it means to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: be a Cub. This is what this is a type
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of player we're looking for. Uh and I and I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: get what they were saying. You know, you get to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: know Nico Horner. I walked around the clubhouse yesterday in
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: pregame and and I had similar reactions to like from
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: his teammates, even new teammates. I talked to Michael Conforto
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to try and get an idea of like what does
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the opposition kind of think of him? And he's like, yeah,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: we were like you gotta watch out for this guy.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Tough out, like doesn't like he does these things like
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: just because he's not Aaron Judge up there hitting sixty
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: home runs, Like he impacts the game in so many
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: different ways. I think the Cubs saw that when he
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: was you know, at Stanford, and and they kind of
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I think everyone agree, He's like, oh, they like there
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: seems to be a theme going around whether it's Nico
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Jed Craig Counsel that there's Nico can get better, But
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: as far as the power department goes, I'm not sure
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: if he really needs to. Like, this is a guy
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: that I mean, he's so valuable in so many different ways,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and we've talked about a defense base, running contact, no strikeouts,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: and then everything he does, all the intangible stuff that
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: he does that that just brings so much value to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: this team.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: And I think it was clear what he means to
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: the group looking around the room there. I mean, let's
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: start naming names like who was there? And I know
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: it's it's not a far trip for them to basically
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: like walk through a tunnel and up an escalator or whatever.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: But still after a Sunday game right at the start
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: of the year, for a fair amount of teammates to
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: be there for the press conference, I think is is telling.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was. It was a good chunk
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: of players.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Pete ker Armstrong was there, obviously, his manager Greg Counsel
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: was there, Matthew Boy, Jamison, Tyonnean Hap, Dansby Swanson, Matt Shaw,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Michael Bush, Kate Horton, maybe Moises Biasteros was there. I'm
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: maybe missing a player or two. They they were all
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: there and it meant a lot to Nico, he said
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: off when we talked to him to the side, like
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: you know, he he didn't know that was going to happen,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and it did mean a lot. It was nice, you know,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: he said, that's kind of like what this is all about.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Part of the reason why he wanted to stay. He
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: knows what the culture is with this group. And and
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: you know, I think he's when we talk about Nico
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: and what he's like, I think they believe that's their culture,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: like he this isn't like a unique quality, uh that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: that you know, limited just to Nico like that. They
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: they've It's proliferated across the clubhouse. Sometimes it's just like
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: players that that were already liked that to a degree,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: you know. Danceby Swanson, Alex Bregman. I think that's what
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: they're known for, stuff that Nico is kind of known for.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I think it meant a lot, and it
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: was It was one of those things that he kind
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: of looked around. He's like, this is what it's about.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: This is why I love this place, this is this
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: is why it feels like home, Like these guys make
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: it feel that way.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: The other part of your story that really jumped out
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: to me was the idea of comps. Yeah, and like,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: we all know how much the Cubs love Nico, but
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: you know you have to show that love in terms
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: of years and dollars. And the final number was higher
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: than I thought it would be. Yeah, I thought as
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Nico and his agent did a good job of positioning
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: him as a guy who doesn't hit a ton of
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: power and is that he's an up the middle player,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: but second base is probably the least important up the
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: middle position. And for them to get north of what
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: one forty to get six years, I thought was interesting
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: and also sort of unprecedented. Right, It's not like you
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: could just look up Baseball Reference and start pointing out easy,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: easy comps.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think we talked about this last episode.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: It was is the fourth highest contract for a second baseman, right,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: and it was Cano Semian and who am I forgetting Altuve?
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: So these are all guys that have had thirty plus
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: homer seasons at least one may be multiple, probably multiple
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: for most of them, and definitely multiple twenty home run seasons.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Niko has thirty six for his career.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I think you pointed that out in the text chain
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: we were in, like this is not like, this is
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: not a power hitter. And I started looking for comps
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: even like once we heard this deal was done and
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: before we had the numbers, I'm like, are there comps,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Like what can I like? Or maybe are there even
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: similar plays that haven't signed a deal yet? And like
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: what I found like was like, okay, yeah, you can
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: find one year of a guy like Ernie Clement was
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: kind of similar last year.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you'd.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Put him in the same bucket as Nico, but that's
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: one season of a guy doing it. Jed admitted to us,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: He's like, I can say this now, but I wasn't
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: admitting it as much during the negotiations. But this is
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: a guy that can play shortstop. We know we can
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: play short stop if a team wanted them, Like, teams
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: would have paid him to play short stop, and that's
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: another level of money for him. But yes, I think
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: they struggled to find comps like in negotiations. It wasn't
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: like they were like, here are three names that are
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: similar deals, let's work around this framework. They couldn't do that,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: so they had to be creative. They had to think
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: outside the box. Jit pointed it out. Look, I think,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: like just going off fangraphs war, I think he's actually
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: more valuable via a Baseball reference War. But if you
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: go off fangraphs war, he was twentieth last year. If
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: you go in like two year chunks, three year chunks,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: four year chunks, it's like twenty one, twenty two, nineteen,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Like he's he's top twenty player via WAR, and he
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: doesn't hit home runs. He just doesn't. He doesn't hit
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of home runs. And that's that is so rare.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: You go look at those numbers of who is in
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: that top twenty, you're going to see twenty plus home runs.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: It just that's how it is. It's rare to find.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Someone that brings value like Nico Horner does. So good
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: luck trying to find the comp. I mean, yes, you
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: can start off with the crazy comp like Willia Domas,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: but Willi Domas was coming off a free agency like
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: he had thirty something Homers thirty two. I want to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: say for the Brewers, he was playing shortstop. Like I
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: get Nico Horner can play shortstop, but he hasn't done
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: that since twenty twenty two, I believe. So it's just
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: it's hard to like put that put that all into perspective.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: They did, and if you want to argue it's he's
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: being overpaid or that's too much money for him. I look,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna argue with someone about that.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: I think I think it was clear.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And we talked about this in the off season, right Patrick,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: with the with the trade rumors surrounding Nico that it
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: wasn't like the Cubs were shopping Nico. People came and asked.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: That's what happens when you're an impending free agent. People
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: will come and ask. And the Cubs quickly realized that
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: no team was gonna value Nico Hoer as much as
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: they do. The Cubs know that this is a guy
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: that look, the numbers are there, yes, Like like I said,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: war and all that stuff, but they're not the typical
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: way that you expect someone to accumulate value, and that
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: kind of throws things off for sometimes people on the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: outside looking in like, how can you pay this guy
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: twenty three million dollars a year. I don't think if
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: you watch Nico Horner every day, I don't think there's
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: many Cubs fans complaining about this. And I don't think
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a single player in that clubhouse is like, you know,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: behind closed doors, like this guy's getting overpaid. I can't
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: believe they paid Nico Horner. Nobody is saying that. I
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: guarantee that, Like, it's just it's not part of the
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: discussion because they they see what he brings to the table.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know, if you're around him, even media,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: like I think we see it, like it's very clear
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to us, like this is a guy that is incredibly valuable. Patrick,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Why don't we take a quick break then, and then
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: we can come back and talk about the Cubs being
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a little bit more aggressive with their spending in the
• 11:57
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• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Patrick.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't think we can say that the
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Cubs are now you know, the Dodgers or the Mats
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: or or anything like that.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: We're not going to go that far.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: But the Cubs are being aggressive with to go get
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: what they want. They understand where they sit, like what
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: they don't have a lot of commitments like Jed Hoyer,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Carter Hawkins. They've been very careful about how they spend
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: this smart spending or intelligence spending. Intelligence spending, Yeah, intelligence
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: spending that Jed talked about. However, many years ago that became,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you know, part of the lexicon in Cubs world that
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: that is paying off in a sense where because they
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: were smart about how they were spending money and handing
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: out long term contracts, now they're able to be a
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive with those deals and they can
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: hand out some money because even with this, like go
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: look at their few you're spending they they have a
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: ton of flexibility and they've spent on players that they
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: truly like. These are the guys that they like, their
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: projection systems like. And then as like when you get
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: to the human side, they're like, yep, that's the type
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: of person we want to spend big on.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: And that's kind of a departure from what has been
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: a very model driven approach to player acquisition, a very
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: dispassionate way of evaluating players. And I'll just pull them
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: up here. I got Bregman, Pete Nico four hundred and
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: thirty one million dollars committed to those three players within
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: one financial quarter, and that will cover seventeen total seasons.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: So that is significant. I mean the Cubs went longer
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: with Bregman with this offer than they did when he
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: was a year younger. Yeah, for a variety of reasons,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: the Cubs were never quite rarely we're able to find
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: that sort of PCA deal with their prior group of
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: star players. And Nico like, maybe another team out there
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: would have paid him like like an adamis, but maybe
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: they wouldn't, you know it just like it's you never
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: really never really know. As much as everyone appreciates necos
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: and tangibles, and certainly he's an easy player to invest
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: in that you know, it won't change his work, habits
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: or disposition at all. But still, I think taking all
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: those together, it's it's significant in that they used a
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: lot of deferred money to get it done, which was
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: something they had kept off the table for a while.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: They're going over this CBT this year. That is their plan,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: and that is a departure from most of the past
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: several seasons. And how you led this off it was
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: perfect of they're investing in people like ever since they
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: won the World Series, there's been a lot of times
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: where they just felt sort of a drift or kind
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: of in this defensive or reactive pose like this is
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: them going out and identifying the people that they want
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: to build around. And of course they have a ton
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: of money coming off the books, like they had to
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: put their money somewhere. Yea, when like roughly roughly half
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: of your projected opening day roster can become free agents,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: like yeah, you gotta you gotta invest something like there's
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: gonna be a team after the lockout at some point, right,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: you need players, right and so like again, they're not
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: becoming the Dodgers. But it's also like when the comes
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: do this, you can't then complain like like, oh, they
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: didn't spend even more, you know what I mean, Like
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: like they've had a good they've had a good run here.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think if you look at people's reactions,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: talk to people in the clubhouse, uh you optimism have
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: come back to Rigley Field after a playoff season, like
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: this is this has been you know, an important, impressive
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: moment for them.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, you know, it isn't too far of
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: a departure of what kind of Tom Rikins has always
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: said he's wanted to do. Yeah, right, like he he
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: never he never said we're going to be at the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: top of the league and spending every season. What he
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: said is like, it's going to fluctuate. He's you know,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: this will go through cycles. Like he didn't word it
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: exactly like I'm wording it, but yeah, there will be
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: seasons where they're uh with the bigger spenders, and then
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: years they pull back. Like you and I don't have
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: to like that. The fans don't have.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: To like that. But he's been pretty clear about that.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: It's not like you said we're not spending or we're
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: always spending. It's he's said, like this, it'll be a
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: back and forth type thing almost, and it appears to
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: be happening again. We're in that cycle. They're in that
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: cycle of being a little bit more aggressive. They also,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, they have to spend somewhere, Like you said that,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: like where's their money going to go? They have so
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: much money coming off the books. Who was a free
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: agent that you target? I think you said this when
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: we started hearing Nico Horner trade rumors. It's like, go,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: look at the free agent class. This is the perfect fit.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: If you look at the free agent class, who is
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the best fit of the free agents?
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: It's Nico Horner. He makes the most sense for them.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: It gives them it. You know, that they haven't tied
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: themselves up with so much money going forward that they
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: can't spend on others. They can probably go out there
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and be aggressive once again. I don't know what the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: new CBA is going to look like. I don't know
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: what all the rules are going to be. I do
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: think that the Cubs will will be flexible enough to
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: act on free agents if they see someone that they
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: want to be aggressive with.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Uh. That's that's looking.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Too far into the future and trying to you know,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: can't read those tea leaves now because there's just so
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: much that's unclear.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: About the CBA.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: But the Cubs are in a good spot financially, even
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: though they've spent so much money lately. Like that's this
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is They're in a good situation.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: You just have to hope these players continue to you know,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: stay healthy and produce at the level that they've been
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: producing at. But it is, it's they're in a good
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: situation and I'm curious to see how how they can
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: continue to add going forward. That's probably an episode six
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: months from now, nine months from now, a year from now, uh,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: depending on when baseball starts up again after the CBA expires.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well Leanna Scooble Scooba Botch maybe, but I do
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: think I think you alluded Tode in your piece for
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: the athletic Sunday night Monday morning. Probably gonna need some
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: power at some point, a more you know power bat
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: to kind of elevate the group. But I think this
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: lineup has a pretty high floor. I mean outstanding defense,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: as you talked to Jet about, that was the backbone
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: of the twenty sixteen team. It's consistently very good, sometimes spectacular,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: you know, with this particular alignment, and to have basically
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: your infield set for you know, almost four, you know whatever,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: three more years beyond this one, obviously, you hope by
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: a Steros Shaw, you know, start to really establish themselves,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: be a piece or two you'd probably add. I think
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Miguel Amaya your all star pick, Like, if he can
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: stay healthy and establish himself as an everyday player, that
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: would be another kind of nice boost to the group.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I mean the pitching, they'll always be kind of in
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: that space. I don't know if they're going to go
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: for the top tier aces looking for like half a
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: half a billion dollar Yeah, if Dylan sees that two
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: hundred million was a non starter. Like, I don't know
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: exactly where that market will be heading, but look, I
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: know all those players from that twenty sixteen class, like
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: have not been awesome every single year. But like the
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: owner pointed to the lack of contract extensions repeatedly in
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: the infrequent times he talks to the media, like Ricketts
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: knew that was a big deal, like to get they
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: could have gotten one or two done. Maybe it looks
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: a little differently, maybe that transition is a little smoother.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I think you and I as people who are around
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: the game a lot, like in clubhouses, talking to people
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: who believe in feel. I think there was a distinct
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: lack of feel when you looked at some of those
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: rosters that were put together during the rebuild. They wouldn't
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: call a rebuild. So I think betting on people who
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: are like obsessed with the game is usually the good
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: way to go about it. And it is just cool too,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: whether it's Pete or Nico, people who decide to sign
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: these extensions. It is just different than a free agent,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: like the vibes of the press conference, the sort of
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: like journey it took to get there. I mean, Pete,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: you know Jed considers him a homegrown player even though
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: they passed on him in the draft and technically started
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: with the Mets. I understand his point, which have about
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: two one legit homegrown player and another essentially a homegrown player.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: I took a lot of a lot of people, a
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: lot of conviction to kind of get to that point.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: So I think that's another cool kind of angle that
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: we've written about of just like it takes a village.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, all right.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: We we didn't talk about a disappointing weekend.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: We will.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit more about Cubs baseball.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: It's one weekend. I hope fans aren't freaking out.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I hope the listeners of this this podcast understand it's
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: one bad weekend and the Cubs. You know, I actually
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: thought showdam and Aga looked pretty good. But that's a
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: we can talk about that later. Let's let's wrap this
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: baby up. We'll be back with a couple more episodes
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: this week. We will talk about the product on the
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: field after Extension week. Now that Extension Week is over,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to the athletic
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Thanks everyone, take care,