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Alex Bregman would make the Cubs a legit 90-win team · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
0:09
Speaker 1: I'm Sahade Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
0:13
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick,
0:17
Speaker 1: there is optimism in Cubs world for multiple reasons. Right,
0:22
Speaker 1: but the training is about to start. Pitchers and catchers
0:26
Speaker 1: report on Super Bowl Sunday. You are heading out to
0:29
Speaker 1: Arizona on Saturday. I believe, am I right on that Saturday.
0:33
Speaker 1: And there's always optimism at the beginning of this, at
0:37
Speaker 1: the beginning of spring. But the Cubs have done good work.
0:40
Speaker 1: They've done good work.
0:42
Speaker 2: You know.
0:42
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it's a slam dunk amazing off season
0:46
Speaker 1: like the Dodgers head or maybe even you wanted to
0:48
Speaker 1: say the Mets ad. But it's been a really strong
0:52
Speaker 1: off season. They look like a better team. And here's
0:56
Speaker 1: here's the crazy thing, Dakota that's spelled wrong. But Pa
1:04
Speaker 1: Koda projections love the Cubs. They have them at ninety
1:10
Speaker 1: one wins. I believe ninety one wins with eighty seven
1:16
Speaker 1: point five percent chance to make the playoffs. I mean,
1:21
Speaker 1: that's wild to me, that's aggressive in my opinion. But
1:25
Speaker 1: you know, let's run with optimism. It's a progression projection system.
1:29
Speaker 1: It's not you know, it isn't perfect, but that these things,
1:34
Speaker 1: you know, tend to be low. So to see ninety
1:37
Speaker 1: one wins is really aggressive.
1:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Mooney projections all Caps have the Cubs at
1:45
Speaker 3: eighty three wins. That's as they are until they prove
1:49
Speaker 3: us otherwise. But now I was I was kind of
1:54
Speaker 3: stunned seeing that, Like, did they know something we don't like?
1:58
Speaker 3: Is Alex fregnant already in in Mesa? But I do
2:04
Speaker 3: agree generally with like I have a hard time seeing
2:09
Speaker 3: this team collapsing. I think the pitching is good enough.
2:13
Speaker 3: I think it's deep enough. I think the bullpen looks better.
2:18
Speaker 3: I'd imagine Kyle Tucker may hit a couple more three
2:22
Speaker 3: run homers that swing some of those close games into
2:25
Speaker 3: blowouts or maybe you know, stop that three game losing
2:29
Speaker 3: streak from becoming like.
2:30
Speaker 2: A two month spiral.
2:34
Speaker 3: It is amazing though, Like if, like, if they don't
2:36
Speaker 3: win this division.
2:38
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just an absolute failure. Like I'm not.
2:43
Speaker 3: I'm not sold on the Brewers collapsing yet. Yeah, that's
2:48
Speaker 3: more of your job, it seems like.
2:52
Speaker 2: But just like, and I.
2:54
Speaker 3: Do think the Reds will be okay, Like, I don't know,
2:56
Speaker 3: there's something about that team, bringing in Francona, the hitting
3:00
Speaker 3: that ballpark. I have a feeling they'll they'll figure it
3:03
Speaker 3: out and probably have a winning season. But just to
3:05
Speaker 3: see like the the Cardinals just punt on an entire
3:10
Speaker 3: offseason and like higher coordinators instead, like we're not going
3:14
Speaker 3: to sign any major league players, but we're gonna have
3:16
Speaker 3: like way more minor league assistant coaches, Like okay, that's
3:22
Speaker 3: one way to do it.
3:23
Speaker 2: And then yeah, I mean the Pirates.
3:25
Speaker 3: The Pirates are the Pirates right, Like they have not right,
3:28
Speaker 3: They've got some awesome pictures and just a lot of
3:32
Speaker 3: question marks otherwise, So so.
3:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they should clean up in this situation,
3:38
Speaker 1: right listen, I I would I agree with you on
3:40
Speaker 1: the Reds, and I actually think the Pirates, we should
3:43
Speaker 1: not overlook them false skins, Like when you have a
3:45
Speaker 1: number one like that and you have young talent that
3:48
Speaker 1: is interesting and hasn't fully emerged yet, like oh they're
3:53
Speaker 1: scratching the surface. They're good, they're not great yet, you
3:55
Speaker 1: never know like that, I don't like, I can't rule
3:58
Speaker 1: those teams out the Cubs have that and established talent now,
4:05
Speaker 1: Like I you know, I found it interesting. I was
4:07
Speaker 1: curious about this because Ian Half gets a lot of
4:11
Speaker 1: hell on the internet, right, Like, he just he just
4:13
Speaker 1: takes a lot of heat for not being this. I
4:15
Speaker 1: don't know what they expect him to be, but he
4:17
Speaker 1: just takes a lot of heat. There are eleven players
4:22
Speaker 1: in baseball that have had five hundred played appearances each
4:25
Speaker 1: of the last three seasons and put up a one
4:26
Speaker 1: to twenty way to runs great, A plus or better.
4:29
Speaker 1: His consistency that was his biggest question mark, right being
4:32
Speaker 1: consistent year after year, month after month, being a consistent
4:36
Speaker 1: offensive producer. He has turned himself into one of the
4:39
Speaker 1: most consistent baseball players in the game. He stays healthy,
4:42
Speaker 1: he's on the field, He's a really productive player. They
4:46
Speaker 1: have production from Saya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker. You kind of
4:49
Speaker 1: know what you're going to get from guys like that, right, Like,
4:52
Speaker 1: really solid producers, great producer in Kyle Tucker's case. You
4:57
Speaker 1: could argue that in Saya Suzuki's case, Uh, you kind
5:01
Speaker 1: of know what you're getting from h Nico Horner. I
5:05
Speaker 1: don't know if you know what you're getting from Dansby Swonson.
5:07
Speaker 1: But I guess there's a floor there. Uh, and then
5:09
Speaker 1: there's wildcards, right PCA. It's gonna happen at third base?
5:13
Speaker 1: Is at Matt Shaw? Is there a surprise coming? Is it?
5:16
Speaker 1: Michael Bush seems pretty good. We'll see if he can
5:18
Speaker 1: take it to another level or just keep it where
5:21
Speaker 1: it was last year. But there's a lot of stuff
5:23
Speaker 1: that we've seen, you know, we've seen production. So I
5:26
Speaker 1: like that combo of I don't know what we're getting,
5:29
Speaker 1: but it could there's some upside. And also like here's
5:31
Speaker 1: a floor, here are some solid offensive producers, and the
5:34
Speaker 1: wind is just not gonna play like it did last year.
5:36
Speaker 1: It just isn't. And there's I mean, if it does,
5:38
Speaker 1: there's something red like there's like it just made no sense.
5:42
Speaker 1: I don't believe Wrigley will play like it did. I
5:46
Speaker 1: believe like these players, like this offense is going to
5:48
Speaker 1: be better. Obviously. The counter to that pitching, I think
5:52
Speaker 1: their pitching is deep enough is the thing, like they
5:55
Speaker 1: both the bullpen starting pitching, they've done a really good
5:57
Speaker 1: job to they do they add that ace they didn't,
6:00
Speaker 1: and that's fine. I don't think it's the end of
6:02
Speaker 1: the World. I think it would have looked a lot nicer.
6:05
Speaker 1: But I do think that overall, like the bullpen, they
6:08
Speaker 1: didn't make like this huge, splashy move. I do like
6:12
Speaker 1: the addition of Presley. I do like all the death moves.
6:16
Speaker 1: So much death there that they can they're gonna be
6:20
Speaker 1: aggressive with cycling through guys. You know how counsel is,
6:23
Speaker 1: You know how he thinks if guys don't work, they
6:26
Speaker 1: can be aggressive. Because of the death last year, there
6:29
Speaker 1: wasn't as much depth, so they couldn't be as aggressive
6:32
Speaker 1: with making changes. It was a combo of lack of
6:34
Speaker 1: depth and a lack of health. If they if they
6:37
Speaker 1: get waylaid by injuries. You know that that always changes
6:40
Speaker 1: the conversation. I'm just saying, right now, it looks very healthy.
6:44
Speaker 1: You're gonna get down there a weekend. We're gonna hear
6:46
Speaker 1: about ten injuries.
6:48
Speaker 2: Right.
6:48
Speaker 1: It's just like kind of how it is. And it
6:49
Speaker 1: may be minor. It may be like this guy's behind,
6:52
Speaker 1: this guy's this, this barking, this guy has a serious injury.
6:56
Speaker 1: It just happens, right because they come in, they go
6:59
Speaker 1: through their health protocols, and then and then we hear
7:02
Speaker 1: about X, Y, and Z. But I do like the
7:07
Speaker 1: bullpen in particular when you don't make a splashy move,
7:10
Speaker 1: but you do what you did, Like I like it.
7:12
Speaker 1: And there's going to be somebody we haven't heard of.
7:15
Speaker 1: It's gonna just be this awesome reliever this year. It's
7:17
Speaker 1: just it just happens. It happens more often than than
7:21
Speaker 1: we even like care to like acknowledge. I feel like,
7:24
Speaker 1: just I always say this when talking about relievers. Go
7:26
Speaker 1: look at like the top twenty, like sort by war
7:30
Speaker 1: if you want to sort by whatever you want to
7:32
Speaker 1: on fangraps, go look at it, the top twenty relievers,
7:35
Speaker 1: eighteen of them, Like it's gonna be like eighteen. You're like,
7:38
Speaker 1: where did this guy come from? Like there are guys
7:40
Speaker 1: in that Because I don't watch the al as much
7:42
Speaker 1: that I that I see that, I'm like, who who's
7:45
Speaker 1: this guy? Like when when they played Cleveland, I was like,
7:48
Speaker 1: what how many of these guys are stucks? And I
7:50
Speaker 1: barely know their names. It's just it's just how bullpens are.
7:55
Speaker 1: I think this is a much better much. I like
7:59
Speaker 1: the floor of this team better. I feel more confident
8:02
Speaker 1: that they can outperform projections. I do not think they're
8:06
Speaker 1: a ninety one projection team. I don't think the Cubs.
8:10
Speaker 1: My understanding is if you look at Fangrafts Projections has
8:13
Speaker 1: them at eighty four point five, Kakoda has them at
8:16
Speaker 1: like ninety point seven. I would say that, like, from
8:19
Speaker 1: what I know, the Cubs internal projections are like in
8:22
Speaker 1: the middle of that, like they're they're not they're they're
8:26
Speaker 1: they're within shouting distance of ninety from my understanding, and
8:32
Speaker 1: that's it. You know, we'll see what the season holds.
8:36
Speaker 1: But I think that's that's a that's a big step forward,
8:42
Speaker 1: and you know what, like we can get to this
8:45
Speaker 1: there are they done? It's another big move coming. We
8:49
Speaker 1: don't know, but you and I've been hearing enough that
8:53
Speaker 1: makes us makes us wonder that something may happen.
8:57
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean you and I have gotten kind
8:59
Speaker 3: of the messages you know internally that like there are
9:04
Speaker 3: people who are not on edge, but people who are
9:09
Speaker 3: hopeful that there is another move to come, or that
9:12
Speaker 3: there are kind of like indications of the Cubs are
9:15
Speaker 3: still very much in the mix for other things.
9:20
Speaker 2: I thought.
9:20
Speaker 3: Bob Nightingale had an interesting tweet this week after the
9:25
Speaker 3: ped Alonzo thing goes down of say, Alex Bregnan is
9:29
Speaker 3: still looking for six or seven year deal, and that,
9:31
Speaker 3: you know, as of a couple of days ago, was
9:33
Speaker 3: also what we had heard. Right Like as much as
9:35
Speaker 3: Cubs Twitter wants to like kind of force this to happen,
9:42
Speaker 3: like oh, maybe it'll take like a you know, three
9:44
Speaker 3: year deal with opt outs after every single year. Well no,
9:48
Speaker 3: I mean if you look at the Bellinger deal, I
9:51
Speaker 3: mean that wasn't finalized until roughly like February twenty fifth,
9:55
Speaker 3: February twenty seventh. That was the guy the Cubs had
9:58
Speaker 3: already had on their team, a guy who basically lived
10:02
Speaker 3: down the street and had all this familiarity with all
10:06
Speaker 3: the coaching staff and stuff like that. So if you
10:10
Speaker 3: go even go back farther, not saying Bregman is as
10:14
Speaker 3: good as Machado or Bryce Harper, but those both of
10:17
Speaker 3: those moves I believe were more like.
10:21
Speaker 2: Early March maybe. So when you hire Scott Boris, you
10:26
Speaker 2: kind of know what you're getting into.
10:29
Speaker 3: I think when you're in his position and you reportedly,
10:33
Speaker 3: you know, turned down an offer from the Astros that.
10:37
Speaker 2: Was roughly six years and one hundred fifty six.
10:39
Speaker 3: Million dollars, you're going to be patient, and now all
10:44
Speaker 3: it could take is one phone call to change those things.
10:46
Speaker 3: I think it's interesting that if you look at some
10:49
Speaker 3: of the teams that we've heard are in the mix, Cubs, Tigers,
10:54
Speaker 3: Red Sox all run by like THEO Tree executives who
10:58
Speaker 3: i'd imagine see the game fairly similarly and are very
11:03
Speaker 3: wary of long term contracts. You know, the Blue Jays, well,
11:10
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess everyone likes talking to the Blue Jays,
11:12
Speaker 3: but you know, they're kind of I think our colleagues
11:15
Speaker 3: at the Atletic have called them the silver Medalists. And
11:18
Speaker 3: then Houston just has that wildcard, not just the hometown poll,
11:22
Speaker 3: but also Jim Crane, who is very much the like
11:27
Speaker 3: anti Tom Ricketts, and that he likes talking to agents,
11:32
Speaker 3: he likes making deals. He's sort of this at times
11:36
Speaker 3: shadow GM and that Bragman is a you know, foundational,
11:42
Speaker 3: transformational player in in Astro's history. So, you know, we've
11:48
Speaker 3: had a couple of these off seasons now where we
11:51
Speaker 3: get to spring training and we're still like bugging people
11:54
Speaker 3: of like what you got, what are you're hearing?
11:55
Speaker 2: Is there anything on horizon?
11:58
Speaker 3: And uh, I'd imagine that's what it'll be like when
12:01
Speaker 3: we get down Arizona. Even maybe by the time you
12:03
Speaker 3: get down there, when you tap in for me, yeah,
12:06
Speaker 3: to drag out right.
12:07
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I was complaining to someone. I'm like, this
12:09
Speaker 1: better happened before before Patrick leaves. I don't want to
12:13
Speaker 1: deal with this. I want to have my stories ready,
12:17
Speaker 1: my ideas ready, come in and execute them. I got
12:19
Speaker 1: completely waylaid last year where I came in with a
12:23
Speaker 1: bunch of ideas and then twenty four hours after I
12:26
Speaker 1: arrived Cody Bellager news breaks and I'm like, well, can't
12:29
Speaker 1: write any of the stories that I had play out.
12:31
Speaker 1: Everything changes, which is fine. That's how this That's how
12:35
Speaker 1: this job works. I think something you touched on there,
12:39
Speaker 1: Jim Crane can be kind of I don't want to.
12:42
Speaker 1: I don't know if you want to use the word
12:44
Speaker 1: medalsome tom or kinsism like that that is a positive
12:48
Speaker 1: of his. Okay, I'll give him that he doesn't medal
12:52
Speaker 1: and tell Jed how to spend the money. I know
12:56
Speaker 1: we've talked about this, but I just like it's becoming
12:59
Speaker 1: clear and as time passes, the Cubs would really like
13:02
Speaker 1: to this front office would really like to add Alex Bregman.
13:05
Speaker 1: They believe that he could help this team builds an
13:09
Speaker 1: obvious hole, like there's no it's not hard for me
13:12
Speaker 1: to make the to rationalize at adding Alex Bregman. The
13:17
Speaker 1: fact that they have to be so creative with money.
13:21
Speaker 1: I listen, it's probably the front office doesn't love to
13:24
Speaker 1: give out a ton of years. So maybe that's I
13:26
Speaker 1: don't know how much of that is them being restricted
13:28
Speaker 1: with finances or or just how they like to, you know,
13:33
Speaker 1: come up with creative ideas with a length of deals
13:37
Speaker 1: as far. But the reality is this team is still
13:40
Speaker 1: not a top five, uh like top five in the league,
13:44
Speaker 1: and it's it's getting really frustrating to have to keep
13:47
Speaker 1: talking about this, But it is the reality that they face,
13:51
Speaker 1: and it should not be They should not be passed
13:54
Speaker 1: up by certain teams. They need to be in the
13:56
Speaker 1: top five and it should not if it's if you're
13:59
Speaker 1: resetting once every few years, I understand that, but you
14:02
Speaker 1: need to get back up there in a timely manner.
14:05
Speaker 1: It cannot be five six years without being in the
14:07
Speaker 1: top five. It is bad. It is not how how
14:11
Speaker 1: you should run the Chicago Cubs, and you should not
14:14
Speaker 1: be comparing yourself to the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Tampa
14:17
Speaker 1: Bay Rays, or the Cleveland Guardians or the Milwaukee Brewers.
14:20
Speaker 1: Those teams are in different markets. Hey listen, their owners
14:25
Speaker 1: could probably spend more too, but that's that's not I
14:29
Speaker 1: don't cover those teams, so I'm not gonna talk about
14:32
Speaker 1: them as strongly as I will the Cubs, who absolutely
14:36
Speaker 1: should be spending more money, and it just like they
14:39
Speaker 1: should be being they should. This front office should feel
14:42
Speaker 1: more comfortable to be aggressive with Alex Bregman if they
14:45
Speaker 1: think he's the type of guy that can put them
14:46
Speaker 1: over the top. You want to build a ninety win
14:48
Speaker 1: projection team. I think Alex Bregman may get them there internally, right,
14:53
Speaker 1: and that they have to like kind of pinch pennies,
14:56
Speaker 1: and that there's even talk. I don't know if they
14:59
Speaker 1: would absolutely have to do this, But what what happens
15:01
Speaker 1: if they signed Bregman and it's like a thirty million
15:04
Speaker 1: dollars added, right? I think? For I think right now,
15:07
Speaker 1: Roster Resource has them at like two eleven for the
15:10
Speaker 1: luxury tax that would get so then that would get
15:12
Speaker 1: them right at the luxury tax that's probably low so
15:15
Speaker 1: that means they probably need to shed salary, you know,
15:17
Speaker 1: and and the most logical move would be trading Niko Horner.
15:21
Speaker 1: I just think it like you cannot operate that way.
15:24
Speaker 1: You should not have to operate that way. I don't
15:27
Speaker 1: know if that's what would happen if they added Alex Bregman.
15:30
Speaker 1: We haven't heard that directly, but.
15:34
Speaker 2: That makes no sense.
15:35
Speaker 3: That makes no sense, and that is not a serious
15:36
Speaker 3: operation if you're only going to get bregmant if you
15:39
Speaker 3: get rid of another goal to love infielder. I mean,
15:43
Speaker 3: the whole point of this is they're short one player,
15:47
Speaker 3: and maybe Mattchhaw is awesome from the jump and just
15:50
Speaker 3: run takes the job for years.
15:53
Speaker 2: Maybe everyone magically stays healthy.
15:55
Speaker 3: There's no uh, you know, oblique strains and you know,
16:00
Speaker 3: any collisions on the field, probably not, you know. I
16:05
Speaker 3: don't think you want to be in a position where
16:07
Speaker 3: you're counting on all of these top one hundred players
16:10
Speaker 3: to like have to produce next year.
16:11
Speaker 2: Like there, I still.
16:12
Speaker 3: Think after moving Cody Bellinger, they're like a little bit short.
16:17
Speaker 3: I think you could even put like Mike Takman in
16:19
Speaker 3: that bucket of like established major league talent that you
16:25
Speaker 3: know what you're gonna get, and so to me to
16:29
Speaker 3: to move Nico makes no sense. I think you nailed it.
16:35
Speaker 3: Like there's no like question about the evaluation of the player, right,
16:40
Speaker 3: Like everyone knows Alec Bregman is a very very very
16:45
Speaker 3: very good major league player at a premium position.
16:49
Speaker 2: He's gonna post, he's probably gonna hit.
16:52
Speaker 3: You get you twenty five homers, ninety arbis you know
16:58
Speaker 3: an ops plus any like a like an E and
17:01
Speaker 3: happ twenty percent better than the league.
17:03
Speaker 2: Average at least.
17:05
Speaker 3: But like, yeah, if you're looking at a seven year deal,
17:08
Speaker 3: let's look at the previous seven years of why Jed
17:11
Speaker 3: or anyone around him may.
17:13
Speaker 2: Be a little wary of that, Like look.
17:15
Speaker 3: At kind of the hayroll shifts the Cubs have had
17:19
Speaker 3: during the previous seven years we're talking about, I think
17:23
Speaker 3: we're going all the way way back to not getting
17:27
Speaker 3: involved in Bryce Harper and Manny Machado because that was
17:30
Speaker 3: just like a non starter and you know, clearly a
17:36
Speaker 3: move that the coach would have liked to had a
17:39
Speaker 3: do over on or more ability to go get that
17:42
Speaker 3: piece you have them. Yes, twenty nineteen, the highest payroll
17:48
Speaker 3: in the Major leagues, but it's essentially at best been
17:51
Speaker 3: flat since then, and you have all these teams that
17:55
Speaker 3: have jumped them since then, like Phillies.
17:58
Speaker 2: I guess the.
17:59
Speaker 3: Piters may come back down the Mets under new ownership.
18:04
Speaker 3: The Braves just have it rolling there with their stadium
18:09
Speaker 3: real estate development set up they have going on there.
18:12
Speaker 3: So then you have COVID and essentially Jed the beginning
18:18
Speaker 3: of Jed's tenure of god Drop salary. So you're non
18:22
Speaker 3: tendering Kyle Schwarber and trading you Darvish and hoping that
18:29
Speaker 3: at some point this year maybe you get something out
18:31
Speaker 3: of own casey like from that return from that deal.
18:35
Speaker 3: Then you have a lockout. We have another lockout probably
18:40
Speaker 3: coming almost certainly coming if.
18:42
Speaker 2: You listen to Rob Manfred. So like the.
18:47
Speaker 3: Marquee TV network that they launched has been a financial disappointment.
18:53
Speaker 2: So like.
18:55
Speaker 3: I understand from their perspective of like, yeah, you know,
18:58
Speaker 3: they're you know, the ownership stay out of it, the
19:00
Speaker 3: business side stays out of it. But I think there's
19:04
Speaker 3: a very clear track record of like you know, if
19:05
Speaker 3: you really make that huge commitment to Alex Bregman for
19:08
Speaker 3: seven years, you may regret it.
19:11
Speaker 2: A lot sooner than you imagine, And I do.
19:16
Speaker 3: Understand why they would want some flexibility on that kind
19:21
Speaker 3: of term. The now, the short term dollars trying to
19:24
Speaker 3: make that work like that is not that is not
19:28
Speaker 3: a serious organization, right if you have to like trade
19:31
Speaker 3: Nico to do. But if you're looking seven years out,
19:34
Speaker 3: I understand why they may be more than a little
19:37
Speaker 3: hesitant on that one.
19:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I get, I get the long term issues.
19:42
Speaker 1: And that's and that is I guess tied into ownership,
19:47
Speaker 1: you know, and how what they're willing to do, right,
19:50
Speaker 1: that's what you're saying, because that's what happened with like
19:53
Speaker 1: essentially that's what happened with Bryce Harper. There were too
19:56
Speaker 1: many deals that had taken place that and ownership was
20:00
Speaker 1: basically like, no, we have enough and we've spent enough,
20:04
Speaker 1: payroll's high enough. Go in with what you have, like,
20:07
Speaker 1: go get Daniel descalso to finish off the puzzle, not
20:11
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper. So it's a it is frustrating to continue
20:19
Speaker 1: to have to talk about this stuff, but it is
20:21
Speaker 1: also what is happening. And it's like I think a
20:27
Speaker 1: lot of that Like, look, j Jed Hoyer deserves some blame.
20:32
Speaker 1: This team should be better, but he's also not working
20:37
Speaker 1: with the type of payroll that some of these other
20:41
Speaker 1: big market teams are, and he's he basically started this
20:48
Speaker 1: small market front office a few years ago, right like,
20:52
Speaker 1: and that takes years to build that infrastructure. Like Milwaukee
20:56
Speaker 1: didn't just decide to like become this team and instantly
20:59
Speaker 1: start winning games. You know, Tampa Bay didn't just turn
21:03
Speaker 1: on a corner. Like it's like, uh, turn on a dime.
21:06
Speaker 1: Like these things, Uh take time to build and you
21:10
Speaker 1: have to build it out and then you hope that
21:13
Speaker 1: it all comes together properly. I don't know if if
21:16
Speaker 1: they if they've done all that properly. I don't know,
21:19
Speaker 1: Like we've talked about that, right like, is this is everything?
21:22
Speaker 1: All the infrastructure that they've built, Is that good enough?
21:26
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like they need to prove it, you know,
21:29
Speaker 1: with the results on the field for me to really
21:31
Speaker 1: buy in. I feel like they've done better, but I
21:34
Speaker 1: don't until they start winning ninety games consistently, I can't
21:38
Speaker 1: say they've they've created this draft and development machine and
21:42
Speaker 1: that they're a standout organization. I don't think. I don't
21:45
Speaker 1: think we're hearing that from others around the league and
21:48
Speaker 1: that and until they prove it, it's how how are
21:51
Speaker 1: we supposed to defend such a such a statement, right? So, uh,
21:56
Speaker 1: I think it's it's really as simple as that. Like
21:58
Speaker 1: they I'd like to see them spend more. I'd like
22:00
Speaker 1: to see them behave like the big market team that
22:02
Speaker 1: they used to be and that they are. But you know,
22:06
Speaker 1: there are other ways to get there. So we can't
22:09
Speaker 1: take we can't completely take blame away from the front office.
22:12
Speaker 1: But I do believe that they that they sometimes take
22:15
Speaker 1: a little bit too much criticism and we need to
22:17
Speaker 1: make sure that the spotlight has shown on Hey, this
22:20
Speaker 1: is they're not behaving like a top five market and
22:23
Speaker 1: they need to.
22:24
Speaker 2: Well, I think that's going to be the conversation.
22:27
Speaker 3: You know, with this being the final year of Jet's contract,
22:32
Speaker 3: you know, it is not unreasonable for ownership to look at,
22:37
Speaker 3: you know, a payroll around the luxury tax threshold, say
22:40
Speaker 3: two hundred and forty one dollars, Maybe their tick under,
22:44
Speaker 3: Maybe they wind up a little over. We'll see and
22:47
Speaker 3: look at the rest of your competitors in the division
22:49
Speaker 3: and be like, why can't you build a team better
22:53
Speaker 3: than the Pirates, the Reds, the Brewers, and the Cardinals.
22:56
Speaker 3: For the Cardinals at this moment, you know, and I
23:01
Speaker 3: do think it is a strength of the Cubs that
23:04
Speaker 3: because Tom is so hands off, really baseball operations within
23:10
Speaker 3: those parameters have total autonomy. So like that is why
23:15
Speaker 3: we're stuck, you know, heading into Super Bowl weekend. We
23:19
Speaker 3: do the Cubs still have a big move in it,
23:21
Speaker 3: and I mean a Jed is kind of working within
23:22
Speaker 3: this structure and Tom is giving them the freedom to
23:28
Speaker 3: really do whatever they want within that. And so that
23:32
Speaker 3: is why, you know, if the Padres are curious about
23:38
Speaker 3: Dylan seats, they got to check in with the Cubs,
23:40
Speaker 3: right because they Cubs do have some at what Tom
23:43
Speaker 3: would say that dry powder, right, Like that's like his
23:46
Speaker 3: his metaphor of like the Cubs can strike the Cubs.
23:49
Speaker 3: We'll have a ton of resources available at the trade deadline,
23:53
Speaker 3: and I think it would be very wise to unload
23:57
Speaker 3: some of that talent for some major league pieces. And
24:00
Speaker 3: I know you'd rather have a player on Opening Day
24:04
Speaker 3: than waiting until the end of July. But like there
24:07
Speaker 3: is you know, I guess there are no perfect owners, right,
24:11
Speaker 3: Like there's pluses and minuses, with everything, and I think
24:16
Speaker 3: this is just kind of where the Cubs are, and
24:20
Speaker 3: you know, we're not, you know, trying to rip the
24:25
Speaker 3: front office and ownership. We're not trying to make excuses
24:27
Speaker 3: for the front office and ownership. It's more of just
24:29
Speaker 3: like if you want to be a Cubs fan to
24:31
Speaker 3: understand like what is happening, you have to take all
24:34
Speaker 3: of these things into account. And it's like, yeah, you know,
24:39
Speaker 3: he Tom is not gonna pull a Jim Crane and
24:41
Speaker 3: call up Scott Boris like tik talked maybe twice in
24:46
Speaker 3: the entire span of Tom's ownership, unless that's changed recently,
24:51
Speaker 3: I kind of doubt it. But they're very, very minimal
24:54
Speaker 3: contact between those two parties. So it becomes, you know,
24:59
Speaker 3: a baseball value and then you know, as team president,
25:03
Speaker 3: Jed controls where all of those dollars go within base operations.
25:08
Speaker 3: So when he sees Craig Counsel approaching free agency, he
25:11
Speaker 3: gives him the biggest deal, uh ever for a manager,
25:16
Speaker 3: and he can go trade for Kyle Tucker and not
25:19
Speaker 3: know whether he's gonna sign him or not, but like
25:21
Speaker 3: that's totally within his purview, and they'll run stuff by
25:26
Speaker 3: Tom like they you know, Tom says they talk every day,
25:29
Speaker 3: but it is not a you know, an owner trying
25:34
Speaker 3: to play fantasy GM and that's unbalanced.
25:37
Speaker 2: Probably a very good thing, right.
25:39
Speaker 1: A couple of things I just want to make sure
25:41
Speaker 1: I mentioned so the Cardinals didn't strip down and throwback
25:46
Speaker 1: Cardinals to like Jordan Walker click.
25:49
Speaker 4: And then uh the you know, Nolan Aronado find find it,
25:53
Speaker 4: you know, the fountain of Youth and and like Brandon
25:56
Speaker 4: Donovan turn into like this pesky Uh do the drives
26:00
Speaker 4: the Cubs and their fans nuts.
26:03
Speaker 1: I'm not going to rule them out just because they
26:06
Speaker 1: didn't completely strip down, right, and Hellsley is still closing
26:08
Speaker 1: games for them. All that stuff. We'll see if wil Yeah,
26:12
Speaker 1: Wilson Contreras Yeah, and he can hit like there's no
26:15
Speaker 1: doubt about it. Like the dude puts a you know,
26:18
Speaker 1: gets on these heaters and can consistently carry an offense. Uh.
26:23
Speaker 1: The other thing is I look at the roster resource
26:25
Speaker 1: has that comes up I believe two oh nine and change. Uh. So,
26:29
Speaker 1: you know that's the public stuff, like we said it
26:31
Speaker 1: last year, reiterated, it's always low. It's a few million low.
26:35
Speaker 1: It was at the end of it was last year,
26:38
Speaker 1: it will be again this year. So that's let's say
26:40
Speaker 1: it's a couple of millions, so around two eleven to
26:43
Speaker 1: twelve guestimating. I don't know for sure. Uh, that's still
26:48
Speaker 1: like that's you know, there's plenty to go add, plenty
26:52
Speaker 1: to go add, but not Bregman would be pushing it.
26:57
Speaker 1: It would be just Bregman and not anything else would
27:01
Speaker 1: be pushing it. Final thing I wanted to say, you
27:04
Speaker 1: talked about, Yes, it is better to have the player
27:06
Speaker 1: for the full season. One thing that was pointed out
27:08
Speaker 1: to me years ago and I and this is absolutely true.
27:12
Speaker 1: We may see things as they have these needs X
27:17
Speaker 1: y Z right now in February, by June July, those
27:21
Speaker 1: needs may look very different injury, production, whatever it may be.
27:28
Speaker 1: So it there is a benefit that that's I think
27:30
Speaker 1: that that's the value in a having some payroll flexibility
27:34
Speaker 1: at the trade deadline to just add whatever, and having
27:38
Speaker 1: more knowledge of what your team is and what your
27:41
Speaker 1: team needs are right now. We need this. We we
27:44
Speaker 1: thought we had this set this guy got hurt or
27:47
Speaker 1: this guy's not producing, this guy had a you know setback, whatever,
27:50
Speaker 1: he's taking a step back this season. Now we need
27:52
Speaker 1: to go out and get this type of player. I
27:54
Speaker 1: think that's valuable, and I think it's good to have
27:57
Speaker 1: more knowledge of what you're dealing with. That for me,
28:00
Speaker 1: is more an argument. It's not to add. It's more
28:04
Speaker 1: an argument to like, make sure you have the flexibility
28:06
Speaker 1: to add at the deadline. That's it. And I still
28:11
Speaker 1: think go out and get Bregman. I still think payroll
28:14
Speaker 1: should be at two sixty. But you know, these aren't
28:17
Speaker 1: things that are going to change as far as we know,
28:20
Speaker 1: you know, unless unless something changes at the ownership level
28:24
Speaker 1: where they decide to you know, hey, maybe this makes sense,
28:27
Speaker 1: but I don't think we've heard any rumblings of that.
28:30
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that's it. Patrick, You're going to
28:34
Speaker 1: be down there. We will be, you know, talking cubs
28:39
Speaker 1: from Arizona. You'll be from Arizona. Eventually I'll be in Japan,
28:43
Speaker 1: and then the season will be upon us before we
28:45
Speaker 1: even know it. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. This
28:48
Speaker 1: is north Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review and subscribe.
28:51
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel, and please subscribe to the
28:54
Speaker 1: Athletic for Patrick and I are on top of all
28:56
Speaker 1: things Cubs. We'll be back with you early next week,
28:59
Speaker 1: Patrick will be enjoying the nice weather in Arizona and
29:02
Speaker 1: I'll be freezing my butt off here in the Chicago
29:04
Speaker 1: Land area. But that is life and I will eventually
29:07
Speaker 1: get out there. You will be stuff here in the cold.
29:11
Speaker 2: Everyone exactly