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Cubs mailbag: Contract extensions, lineup questions, roster decisions and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast.
0:08
Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Charma with my partner Patrick Moody. We are
0:11
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. It
0:15
Speaker 1: is day two of the mail Bag. Like I said,
0:19
Speaker 1: last episode, fans delivered gave us plenty to talk about
0:24
Speaker 1: pitching heavy last time, so we will focus more on
0:28
Speaker 1: position players and just general questions here. But there was
0:31
Speaker 1: a lot, there's a lot to talk about. Let's kick
0:35
Speaker 1: it off right away. I mean, I think this is
0:37
Speaker 1: something we will probably be talking about a bit during
0:40
Speaker 1: spring training. We'll see if it lingers into the season.
0:44
Speaker 1: This stuff usually doesn't. But where do you think the
0:46
Speaker 1: front office stands with extensions? Does the CBA put them
0:50
Speaker 1: in a holding pattern or would it behoove them to
0:52
Speaker 1: get them done before, not only with young players, but
0:56
Speaker 1: with vets two that's from Dan Price and you know
0:59
Speaker 1: name names in there. I to shorten it up, but
1:02
Speaker 1: I think we know like the young players would be
1:05
Speaker 1: primarily Pca and Bush. I think maybe you could, you know,
1:10
Speaker 1: you could make cases for guys like Kate Horton even
1:15
Speaker 1: match like you know, just get super early extension type stuff. Whoever,
1:21
Speaker 1: and then there's three big names coming off the books
1:24
Speaker 1: as far as vets with Nico, Ian Happ and Saya Suzuki.
1:30
Speaker 1: I'll let you answer start this off. I obviously have thoughts,
1:33
Speaker 1: but go ahead, and you've talked to people about some
1:37
Speaker 1: of this stuff and you have your own opinions, so
1:40
Speaker 1: go for it. Patrick.
1:42
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, when you and I will be in Arizona
1:44
Speaker 2: essentially every day of spring training, just not at the
1:48
Speaker 2: same time, and so when we talk about this stuff
1:50
Speaker 2: they'll be covering is looking for the player on his
1:54
Speaker 2: phone walking in circles Aro on the parking lot, right,
1:58
Speaker 2: That's usually the good tell. They look a little stressed
2:01
Speaker 2: out and it's kind of the middle of the day
2:04
Speaker 2: and you know in there in their shorts, their sandals
2:07
Speaker 2: and a T shirt, just on the horn, walking in circles,
2:11
Speaker 2: trying to get some brivacy.
2:12
Speaker 3: That's usually that can be a tell.
2:16
Speaker 2: That's also for kind of the bubble players if they
2:18
Speaker 2: just found out their release.
2:19
Speaker 3: But our eyes will be peeled for that.
2:22
Speaker 2: I think the two names will be focusing on, you know,
2:28
Speaker 2: these two different buckets that Dan outlined young players obviously,
2:32
Speaker 2: Pete Crow, Armstrong the Cubs are beyond their arbitration cases
2:39
Speaker 2: this year. That's usually something you know, both sides want
2:44
Speaker 2: to get out of the way first. Pete is not
2:45
Speaker 2: an arbitration player, but his agency obviously has, you know,
2:49
Speaker 2: an arbitration group that they have to go through first.
2:53
Speaker 2: Same with the Cubs. So I think Pete, I mean,
2:56
Speaker 2: this happened last spring. It went all the way over
3:00
Speaker 2: to Japan, or my understanding is kind of around the
3:04
Speaker 2: start of the Tokyo series. It was kind of when
3:07
Speaker 2: they decided, like, hey, let's table these talks. It didn't
3:12
Speaker 2: really leak out until a couple of weeks later when
3:16
Speaker 2: we were in LA and I think both sides are
3:21
Speaker 2: just going to keep at this. I don't know if
3:25
Speaker 2: there's anything imminent or it would get done before opening day,
3:28
Speaker 2: but there's just such a long runway for them to
3:29
Speaker 2: get this done that I would kind of.
3:32
Speaker 3: Be surprised that they didn't.
3:34
Speaker 2: At some point when a guy is under this many
3:37
Speaker 2: years of club control and there's you know, seemingly a
3:40
Speaker 2: lot of motivation on both sides to get it done,
3:42
Speaker 2: and then veteran players like I think Nico kind of
3:47
Speaker 2: stands alone at this point. I think he is the
3:50
Speaker 2: guy that you want to invest in early and commit to.
3:57
Speaker 2: Nothing against Ian Half, nothing against Seya Suzuki. I just
4:00
Speaker 2: think he's a unique player, an exceptional leader, and he's
4:06
Speaker 2: he's done the extension with them before. Our expectation is
4:13
Speaker 2: he will not get traded in the next two weeks here,
4:16
Speaker 2: and you know that those are the two names. To me,
4:20
Speaker 2: I think a Kate Hortner match out. That's kind of
4:23
Speaker 2: more of like a theoretical like thought exercise, like those
4:30
Speaker 2: are the two guys, Like, Okay, this should be really
4:33
Speaker 2: towards the top of your agenda this spring.
4:38
Speaker 1: Right with Nico, he's he's kind of looking like he
4:44
Speaker 1: has a chance to be one of the best, if
4:47
Speaker 1: not the best, free agents next offseason. But you can
4:52
Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think he has
4:54
Speaker 1: a huge agency. It's a smaller agency. And look, this
5:02
Speaker 1: isn't that isn't the be all end all of these things,
5:04
Speaker 1: but it can be. It can be a factor where
5:08
Speaker 1: the smaller agencies seem a little bit more willing to
5:12
Speaker 1: take these before you hit free agency extensions, and they're
5:17
Speaker 1: not they're not always bad deals. Like if it's if
5:20
Speaker 1: it's a solid extension, My guess is, and I don't
5:25
Speaker 1: want to put words in Eco's mouth because we haven't
5:29
Speaker 1: heard him say this, but I think he would be
5:33
Speaker 1: willing to listen on something that maybe isn't like huge,
5:38
Speaker 1: purely obviously open market deal. He'd be willing to take
5:43
Speaker 1: what yeah, yeah, that that's plenty of money. And also
5:47
Speaker 1: I'm giving you a little bit of a deal perhaps,
5:49
Speaker 1: and we also don't know what it like. And when
5:53
Speaker 1: I say that, I'm not saying like this huge discout.
5:55
Speaker 1: He's not taking twelve million dollars a year again, right
5:58
Speaker 1: or whatever that was. He's gonna he deserves to get
6:02
Speaker 1: paid pretty well. He's also not that old, He's not
6:06
Speaker 1: he will be. I think this is age twenty nine
6:09
Speaker 1: season that he's entering, So you're talking about an extension
6:13
Speaker 1: for like, if it's a four year deal age thirty
6:15
Speaker 1: to thirty three seasons, that's a solid, solid especially for
6:19
Speaker 1: his skill set. I think the CBA is something worth
6:25
Speaker 1: talking about here. I don't know how that will impact things,
6:29
Speaker 1: if at all the cubs needs matter here. The Cubs
6:37
Speaker 1: have so much money coming off the books, where do
6:39
Speaker 1: they spend that money? Is at all on extensions for
6:42
Speaker 1: young players? I don't think so. And the free agent
6:48
Speaker 1: classes the next two free agent classes just don't look
6:51
Speaker 1: that appealing at the moment, and usually that gets paired
6:54
Speaker 1: down because one or two of those guys ends up
6:57
Speaker 1: signing extension. So the Cubs should be proactive here. I
7:00
Speaker 1: think they should be thoughtful and aggressive with this. We'll
7:06
Speaker 1: see where they are. I think the CBA stuff is stuff.
7:09
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we'll have to ask around about
7:12
Speaker 1: how does that impact these things. I think it's really
7:16
Speaker 1: hard for them to know for sure, but they that's
7:18
Speaker 1: their job to kind of figure these things out and
7:21
Speaker 1: plan ahead. So yeah, I think I agree with you.
7:25
Speaker 1: Those are the two names. Maybe Bush, I just don't know.
7:31
Speaker 1: We just haven't heard anything there.
7:33
Speaker 4: I mean Bush is represented by Scott Boris, and forgot
7:38
Speaker 4: that typically Scott likes, historically likes to take his clients
7:43
Speaker 4: to the open market.
7:44
Speaker 3: Bush is a little older for a guy at his.
7:52
Speaker 2: The sort of salary scale stage of his career, like
7:54
Speaker 2: he's gonna have to wait to hit free agency because
7:58
Speaker 2: he's a college guy who I spent a lot of
8:00
Speaker 2: time in the Dodger system. But that one would seem
8:05
Speaker 2: to be more of a back burner one.
8:07
Speaker 3: If at all.
8:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we focus on the two names, and
8:10
Speaker 1: I think we'll probably hear something, maybe not like breaking news,
8:14
Speaker 1: but we'll probably hear something over the next six weeks,
8:17
Speaker 1: six to eight weeks of you know what's going on there?
8:21
Speaker 1: All right? From W Kennedy, How does the organization feel
8:24
Speaker 1: about by Asteros catching? His bat seems ready but they
8:29
Speaker 1: but have they given up on his defense or will
8:31
Speaker 1: that be something to wash Daring spring training. I don't
8:33
Speaker 1: think they've given up on his defense. If you would
8:35
Speaker 1: have asked me a year plus ago, I would say,
8:40
Speaker 1: I'd say their confidence in his ability to catch has
8:43
Speaker 1: grown since then. I would also say that there's a
8:47
Speaker 1: development thing going on here where his bat is ready
8:51
Speaker 1: and he right now is clearly can help this team offensively,
8:58
Speaker 1: and they believe impact this lineup. So it's a balance.
9:04
Speaker 1: I mean, think back to fifteen and sixteen and seventeen
9:08
Speaker 1: when the young guys were coming up. They sometimes had
9:10
Speaker 1: to sacrifice the development because it's like, well, this guy
9:13
Speaker 1: can help us win and we're trying to win World
9:15
Speaker 1: Series right now. I think Kyle Schwarber is one of
9:18
Speaker 1: those guys like they kind of had to sacrifice the
9:20
Speaker 1: times development to get them like to just play him
9:24
Speaker 1: or you know, it couldn't always send him down for
9:28
Speaker 1: three months to work on his swing. Whatever it may be,
9:33
Speaker 1: there were moments like that over those years where you
9:38
Speaker 1: had to sacrifice development to win. Now, that may be
9:41
Speaker 1: it something that we see happen with Biastais, but yes,
9:44
Speaker 1: I do think it's something we'll wash during spring. I
9:46
Speaker 1: do think it's something that they're going to be monitoring.
9:50
Speaker 1: And I think the response I got from Craig Council
9:55
Speaker 1: was essentially, you know, I asked him straight up, are
9:58
Speaker 1: you confident in him catching? And you know, I thought
10:01
Speaker 1: there was a little pause there, so not a like
10:03
Speaker 1: emphatic yes, but it was almost like a yes because
10:07
Speaker 1: we have to be because he's on the roster. He's
10:09
Speaker 1: going to be one of the twenty six men, and
10:11
Speaker 1: he will be our third catcher essentially, and maybe if
10:16
Speaker 1: it comes to it, the backup catcher, the second catcher.
10:19
Speaker 1: We'll see how all those things shake out, if injuries
10:22
Speaker 1: pop up, whatever, But I think he's going to catch
10:24
Speaker 1: some games this year. I you know, probably get behind
10:27
Speaker 1: the plate a couple times, and probably they'll they'll work
10:29
Speaker 1: on it in the spring. Maybe he'll get a bunch
10:31
Speaker 1: of innings back there.
10:33
Speaker 2: If I remember correctly, I believe Council's response to your
10:36
Speaker 2: question also it involves something like, well, he's not a
10:41
Speaker 2: better defensive catcher than Miguel and Myles or Carson Kelly.
10:45
Speaker 2: So until he crosses that threshold, he's probably not going
10:49
Speaker 2: to be behind the plate. But Miguel and Mayas had
10:55
Speaker 2: an injury prone career, Carson Kelly took on a huge
10:59
Speaker 2: work last year. I don't know how realistic it is
11:02
Speaker 2: to think that he's going to like match last season's performance.
11:08
Speaker 3: So I'm with you, you have to kind of read
11:10
Speaker 3: between the lines.
11:11
Speaker 2: With some of this stuff, and that I I noted
11:15
Speaker 2: a little more optimism about Biasterois is catching and also
11:20
Speaker 2: just kind of an acknowledgment that he used his time
11:24
Speaker 2: well in the majors.
11:26
Speaker 3: Just some of that exposure.
11:28
Speaker 2: Helps in the long run that it's he It's will
11:35
Speaker 2: still be an enormous responsibility, But I think they started
11:39
Speaker 2: to sort of chip away at that. And the bottom
11:41
Speaker 2: line is what you alluded to, that they absolutely believe
11:47
Speaker 2: his bad is ready that they're willing to commit hundreds
11:50
Speaker 2: of at bats to him as a designated hitter at
11:53
Speaker 2: that age and given his limited experiences, kind of tells
11:57
Speaker 2: you all you need to know.
11:59
Speaker 3: Now it's up to him to go out and do it.
12:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think one big question with him is like
12:03
Speaker 1: his athleticism behind the plate, his his blocking ability, his
12:07
Speaker 1: ability to really move behind the plate. You know, if
12:11
Speaker 1: you're throwing a lot of breaking balls, do you trust
12:12
Speaker 1: this guy to block those pitches in a big moment
12:16
Speaker 1: with a guy on third and a one run game
12:18
Speaker 1: or something like that. I think those are the little
12:20
Speaker 1: things that you have to like. He can probably be passable,
12:23
Speaker 1: but is he someone that you like, you don't want
12:25
Speaker 1: him costing you runs? Like this is a you know,
12:28
Speaker 1: team built on defense and run prevention. So that's that's
12:32
Speaker 1: just a major aspect of the game that I think
12:34
Speaker 1: is harder for us to like see. Clearly it may
12:38
Speaker 1: not show up in a box score, but but there
12:40
Speaker 1: are ways a catcher can impact the game and and
12:44
Speaker 1: you know, hurt your team that aren't obvious to us.
12:48
Speaker 3: So relationships with pitchers as well.
12:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's certainly, I think, is the type of guy
12:53
Speaker 1: that could get that done in the sense like you
12:57
Speaker 1: know he could uh, well, what's the word I'm looking
13:00
Speaker 1: for he'll put in the work. He has a work
13:02
Speaker 1: ethic to get that done. And I assume he was
13:05
Speaker 1: in all the meetings and stuff like that, and that
13:08
Speaker 1: goes to what you were talking about. It was a
13:09
Speaker 1: good experience for him at the end of the year
13:12
Speaker 1: there all right, the Cubs bench players are all right handed.
13:17
Speaker 1: Do you think this gives an advantage to someone like
13:19
Speaker 1: Dylan Carlson who can switch hit over Chas McCormick or
13:23
Speaker 1: Kevin Alcontra for the final spot? So right now, Chas
13:27
Speaker 1: McCormick signed to a minor league deal, Dylan Carlson signed
13:31
Speaker 1: to a minor league deal. Kevin Alcontra on the forty
13:34
Speaker 1: man roster, so he's the only one that is on
13:36
Speaker 1: the forty man roster. Obviously a highly thought of prospect
13:39
Speaker 1: with the Cubs still young, still developing. McCormick Astros guy
13:46
Speaker 1: right He came from the Astros, right handed hitter, outfielder
13:51
Speaker 1: who has had some really good seasons and crushed some
13:55
Speaker 1: lefties over the course of the season, coming off a
13:57
Speaker 1: couple of bad seasons. Dylan Carlson, also highly thought of
14:00
Speaker 1: with the Cardinals, has been a couple of different orders
14:03
Speaker 1: since switch hitter. Yes, and solid defender. I don't know
14:08
Speaker 1: where his defense and I'm not sure if he's been
14:10
Speaker 1: banged up over the past couple of years. I know
14:12
Speaker 1: McCormick has had a bunch of injuries. Carlson, I think
14:15
Speaker 1: just kind of struggled. It didn't like he kind of
14:18
Speaker 1: looked like he was about to break out and then
14:20
Speaker 1: kind of plateaued and then now he's not. Obviously he's
14:24
Speaker 1: been you know, let go a couple of times and
14:28
Speaker 1: signed as a minor league free agent. I think my
14:31
Speaker 1: quick answer would be yes, it does give Dylan Carlson
14:35
Speaker 1: an advantage being a switch hitter. He has had some
14:40
Speaker 1: really good seasons. He's still young. I think you want
14:43
Speaker 1: Kevin Olkontra and Triple A playing every day. You want to, like,
14:46
Speaker 1: there's two reasons for that. Build up his trade value
14:50
Speaker 1: and just get him better, Like he needs to be better,
14:54
Speaker 1: Like he needs consistency at Triple A, and like he
14:58
Speaker 1: shows these flashes of being a star and then he
15:01
Speaker 1: should like and then there's like a month where he
15:03
Speaker 1: disappears and his strikeouts jumped. There's just a lot of
15:07
Speaker 1: stuff you want, Like I think he chases breaking balls
15:09
Speaker 1: a lot. He just like you want to see him
15:12
Speaker 1: kind of fix some of these things. And whether it's
15:15
Speaker 1: he's impacting the team in twenty seven or he's a
15:18
Speaker 1: huge trade piece in July, whatever it is, he has
15:22
Speaker 1: value to this organization, and I think it's probably more
15:26
Speaker 1: so in that way than as a bench player this year.
15:29
Speaker 1: Those two other guys I think could help this team
15:32
Speaker 1: a lot. Yes, I think I lean towards Dylan Carlson
15:36
Speaker 1: having the advantage.
15:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I highly doubt the Cubs would feel great about
15:42
Speaker 2: Kevin Alkintara playing once twice a week and maybe facing,
15:48
Speaker 2: like you know, the other team's best reliever in those
15:53
Speaker 2: some of those moments, I have a feeling, you know,
15:57
Speaker 2: that final bench spot or a bench spot that may
16:01
Speaker 2: go to a player who isn't even signed yet. I
16:03
Speaker 2: think there's enough time left, there's enough inventory out there
16:08
Speaker 2: that I don't think it will be limited to only
16:12
Speaker 2: those three names. I mean in a vacuum. Yes, I
16:15
Speaker 2: would say the switch hitter has the advantage, the guy
16:18
Speaker 2: with the option has a disadvantage. But like you know,
16:24
Speaker 2: I was, I went down that Baseball Reference rabbit hole
16:27
Speaker 2: with Carlson McCormick the other day, and like they've each
16:31
Speaker 2: had like that one really strong season that made you like,
16:34
Speaker 2: if the Cubs had gotten this guy those guys three
16:37
Speaker 2: four years ago, like that would be almost like a
16:40
Speaker 2: headline move for the offseason. Now, it's like, I don't know,
16:44
Speaker 2: like see how they present in mesa kind of listen
16:48
Speaker 2: to how Cubs people talk about them, and then kind
16:55
Speaker 2: of evaluate who's healthy who's not, Like how the roster
16:58
Speaker 2: takes shape way deeper in March. Like, I think this
17:04
Speaker 2: is very much it's gonna be sort of a last
17:08
Speaker 2: minute type of call. I mean there's usually like a
17:10
Speaker 2: buffer window between opening day and towards the end of
17:14
Speaker 2: camp when guys have have the opt outs and teams
17:16
Speaker 2: have to make decisions, and you know this is a
17:20
Speaker 2: group that never makes any decisions until the last possible moment.
17:24
Speaker 1: Yeah ude, I mean the bench was really right handed
17:28
Speaker 1: last year too, right justin Turner backup catcher Reese McGuire
17:33
Speaker 1: was a lefty right? Uh oh no, wait was he? Yes?
17:37
Speaker 1: I can't even remember, uh either way, Like I don't,
17:41
Speaker 1: I don't, like until they got Willie Castro, like there
17:45
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of lefties on the Yeah, yeah, Reese
17:49
Speaker 1: McGuire was a lefty, but that he was kind of
17:51
Speaker 1: emergency like that. The plan was pretty right handed bench
17:56
Speaker 1: wise gauge workman, I think was it started this season
18:00
Speaker 1: on the bench anyways, Yes, you'd like some balance. I
18:03
Speaker 1: think Carlson has an advantage. And you made the point
18:06
Speaker 1: I was hoping you would make exactly like, maybe they're
18:09
Speaker 1: not done. There's a good chance where there's a name
18:11
Speaker 1: we're not that's not on this list that we're talking about. Yeah,
18:16
Speaker 1: more left handed talk. Tim powers as is their concern
18:20
Speaker 1: that comes offense is too right handed, especially against Milwaukee's
18:23
Speaker 1: good right handed pitching. PCA chases too much, which leaves
18:26
Speaker 1: hap Mo and Bush. I think we're one good left
18:29
Speaker 1: handed batch short. Look, I loved Tim. He's in my
18:32
Speaker 1: mentions a lot, and he talks about chasing a lot
18:35
Speaker 1: like that is a focus of his and he's right
18:37
Speaker 1: to focus on that. It's a really important characteristic want
18:41
Speaker 1: to you want players that don't chase. But also I
18:44
Speaker 1: think he's eliminating PCA is being valuable against against right
18:50
Speaker 1: handed pitchers, and I don't think you could do that
18:53
Speaker 1: if I if I'm going I look this up earlier,
18:56
Speaker 1: PC I wanted to say had like a one twenty
18:59
Speaker 1: five way to runs great a plus against righty's. He
19:02
Speaker 1: crushed righty's. He chases, and that's part of his game.
19:07
Speaker 1: Chasing doesn't eliminate you from being a good player. If
19:10
Speaker 1: your entire team chases, it's a concern. You don't want
19:13
Speaker 1: your entire team to chase. There are good teams who
19:17
Speaker 1: have pretty high chase rate rates. Actually, you know it
19:21
Speaker 1: can work. I don't think that's what the Cubs want.
19:24
Speaker 1: Talk to Dustin Kelly and he'll tell you. You know,
19:27
Speaker 1: you want to be aggressive in the zone, really focus
19:30
Speaker 1: on your pitch. That's kind of like what they preached.
19:33
Speaker 1: They don't want to chase. Pah when he stopped chasing
19:38
Speaker 1: was like in August, like July and August. He's stunk,
19:41
Speaker 1: like he wasn't getting results. He's just kind of like
19:44
Speaker 1: an outlier. So I wouldn't eliminate him. And then when
19:48
Speaker 1: you don't eliminate him, or if you do, because then
19:51
Speaker 1: you're eliminating him. Last year too, This is the same
19:53
Speaker 1: number of lefties they had in last year's starting lineup,
19:57
Speaker 1: just replacing Tucker with replacing Biasterios with Tucker. Obviously, Tucker
20:04
Speaker 1: is expected to be much better than by a Saros
20:08
Speaker 1: next year. That's just the reality. Could buy a Saro's
20:11
Speaker 1: put up like a one thirty one forty way to
20:13
Speaker 1: run screat a plus. Yeah. Maybe maybe he's just a
20:16
Speaker 1: stud offensive player. I don't think anybody would be that
20:19
Speaker 1: surprised by that, because that's his potential Offensively. I'd be
20:22
Speaker 1: a little surprised if he did his rookie year or
20:25
Speaker 1: his first full year. But he's certainly like a really
20:28
Speaker 1: good uh has a high offensive upset. I am not
20:31
Speaker 1: concerned about this. I am not concerned about them being
20:36
Speaker 1: too right handed. I think it's a very balanced lineup.
20:39
Speaker 1: I think the concern last year was there was it
20:41
Speaker 1: they were one righty short. They they've added Bregman and
20:47
Speaker 1: now they have Shaw on the bench. What we talked
20:51
Speaker 1: about before about the bench, you'd like to have someone
20:55
Speaker 1: like Dylan Carson or a lefty on the bench. But
20:57
Speaker 1: they I think it's a really balanced lineup.
21:00
Speaker 5: Uh.
21:00
Speaker 1: They hit righty's. Yeah, they hit righty's last year. They
21:06
Speaker 1: crushed lefties I want to say, in the first month
21:09
Speaker 1: and then fell off. And that's because why am I
21:13
Speaker 1: blanking on their catcher's name? Oh my god, Carson, Kelly, Carson,
21:20
Speaker 1: Kelly Geez Carson Kelly was Babe Ruth in the first month,
21:25
Speaker 1: so that Barry Bonds whatever you want to call him,
21:28
Speaker 1: He was a stud in that first month, and Ian
21:30
Speaker 1: Happ had a really like guys struggled after that. I
21:35
Speaker 1: don't think this is a concern and I and and
21:37
Speaker 1: I love you, Tim. You just gotta you can't just say,
21:40
Speaker 1: like if a guy chases, you eliminate him. There are outliers.
21:44
Speaker 1: There are different ways to succeed in this game. I
21:46
Speaker 1: agree that chasing is it like if a guy doesn't
21:48
Speaker 1: chase and really minimizes his zones and focuses on that
21:52
Speaker 1: stuff and can like hone in on what he's trying
21:54
Speaker 1: to do, you can become like a superstar in certain
21:59
Speaker 1: ways by doing that. But also like PCA is a
22:02
Speaker 1: rare bird and you just kind of have to accept
22:04
Speaker 1: his flaws and see if he can thrive.
22:08
Speaker 2: I think that the chase is part of why he
22:11
Speaker 2: does so much damage, and that's what modern offenses look for.
22:16
Speaker 2: And I know that, like this is our job to
22:19
Speaker 2: explain it to fans. I think we've we've tried in
22:21
Speaker 2: our articles for The Athletic and talking here on this podcast,
22:26
Speaker 2: But like the Piko Armstrong. You see slamming helmets and
22:34
Speaker 2: you know, wearing that frustration all over his face is
22:41
Speaker 2: not necessarily the guy that the Cubs get when the
22:43
Speaker 2: stadium's empty. And so whether it's like four hours before
22:46
Speaker 2: first pitch and they're doing their quiet batting practice with
22:50
Speaker 2: a small group off the whatever pitching machine, and then
22:57
Speaker 2: a pitcher comes in, Like hearing how teammates talk about him.
23:03
Speaker 2: In terms of his preparation, I think it's reasonable to
23:07
Speaker 2: expect him to make some improvements and or to at
23:12
Speaker 2: least put an honest daily effort into that pursuit. And
23:18
Speaker 2: this guy is still super young, extremely raw. I think
23:24
Speaker 2: you don't want to take away, you know, what's made
23:26
Speaker 2: him so dynamic. But there's definitely another level of refinement
23:32
Speaker 2: that I think everyone will be chasing here this year.
23:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a level that PCA can reach, and we'll
23:40
Speaker 1: see if that development can take place. I'm curious, all right,
23:46
Speaker 1: it's a general question here, how good is this team
23:48
Speaker 1: on paper? I know the projections are sort of all
23:51
Speaker 1: over the place, with anything from eighty six to ninety
23:53
Speaker 1: nine wins. I'm not sure if I've seen projections for that.
23:57
Speaker 1: I think they could win ninety two. Yeah, that's that.
24:01
Speaker 1: That was where they were at last year, right, So
24:02
Speaker 1: what about you guys, Dan Northrop, look, I like this
24:05
Speaker 1: question because it just gives us a chance to gotta
24:08
Speaker 1: give a general overview of their potential. I said it
24:11
Speaker 1: when they signed Bregman, and I think they made a statement.
24:13
Speaker 1: I think they're going to continue to look to get better.
24:16
Speaker 1: I expect them to improve at the trade deadline. I
24:20
Speaker 1: think this team, you know, wins about ninety five ish
24:23
Speaker 1: games and competes for the World Series. You know, obviously
24:29
Speaker 1: the Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series,
24:32
Speaker 1: and we'll see if that changes in the next few years.
24:35
Speaker 1: But that's kind of how we have to enter the season.
24:38
Speaker 1: I think. I don't think they're unbeatable. I don't think,
24:43
Speaker 1: you know, the Blue Jays were one, you know, pitch
24:47
Speaker 1: away really from from winning the World Series would be
24:52
Speaker 1: having a very different conversation about this. And you know,
24:57
Speaker 1: these things can come down to this, all these things,
25:00
Speaker 1: and that's why the Dodgers are so good is because
25:04
Speaker 1: it comes down to the smallest thing and even and
25:07
Speaker 1: they have so many advantages, right, they have the margin
25:11
Speaker 1: for air, they have so much so a bad season
25:13
Speaker 1: for them is is ninety two wins, and then they
25:16
Speaker 1: can still make the playoffs and be healthy and crush
25:19
Speaker 1: and dominate like they've They've built a lot of room
25:22
Speaker 1: for air. The Cubs aren't that deep, that good, but
25:27
Speaker 1: they are really good. And I think I think they're
25:30
Speaker 1: a ninety five ish win team. And the reason I
25:32
Speaker 1: say that is because I think they're they're probably true talent,
25:35
Speaker 1: like ninety two. I don't know, like I don't know
25:37
Speaker 1: what their projection systems say, but maybe ninety two ish,
25:40
Speaker 1: maybe ninety But I think there. I think there's going
25:43
Speaker 1: to be some pop, like a guy like I like
25:44
Speaker 1: Biasteros this year. I like Edward Cabrera this year. I
25:47
Speaker 1: think Caate Horton takes it to another level. Health is
25:49
Speaker 1: going to be the biggest thing for me with pitching.
25:52
Speaker 1: How healthy are they? I'm assuming health with all this stuff.
25:55
Speaker 1: When I say this, I just think they're going to
25:58
Speaker 1: be a really good team. And I think the offense
25:59
Speaker 1: is going to be fine, like above average. It probably
26:03
Speaker 1: won't look like the team that we saw in the
26:05
Speaker 1: first half last year, but maybe they'll be more consistent
26:07
Speaker 1: and just you know, very steady offense. And I think
26:10
Speaker 1: they have potential to pop. Like I said, I like
26:12
Speaker 1: Bias Saros.
26:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely don't see like ninety nine wins on paper. Yeah,
26:19
Speaker 2: you know, looking back on last year, it was kind
26:22
Speaker 2: of weird how they never like truly got hot all
26:27
Speaker 2: the time I had. I can't remember their longest winning streak,
26:30
Speaker 2: but I feel like they did that thing where they
26:32
Speaker 2: would like avoid getting swept repeatedly and avoided the really
26:37
Speaker 2: long skin, which is a big part of surviving in
26:40
Speaker 2: the one hundred sixty two game schedule. You know, I
26:45
Speaker 2: see them in that you know, eighty seven to ninety
26:49
Speaker 2: three win band. I think I don't see the bottom
26:53
Speaker 2: falling out. That's just not really. I think they're deep
26:57
Speaker 2: enough in the rotation, still expecting more additions here between
27:06
Speaker 2: now and when you're in Mesa. In Mesa, Sahadev, And
27:12
Speaker 2: don't think the division is that great. The National League
27:15
Speaker 2: does not look as intimidating as it did. I want
27:19
Speaker 2: to say the past couple of years when you had
27:24
Speaker 2: where it seemed like all these talented players were going
27:28
Speaker 2: from the American League to the National League.
27:29
Speaker 3: I think that's not quite as pronounced right now.
27:36
Speaker 2: And I'm with you on the trade deadline, like this
27:41
Speaker 2: is the year where no one's going to want to
27:44
Speaker 2: hear about twenty thirty two. Like if they are in it,
27:51
Speaker 2: they have to like make serious upgrades and really kind
27:57
Speaker 2: of go for it. I know, I don't think anyone
28:00
Speaker 2: thinks they're as good as the Dodgers, but I don't
28:03
Speaker 2: really look at it that way. They're not in their division.
28:09
Speaker 2: They may not even have to face them in the playoffs.
28:12
Speaker 3: Like if the Dodgers get caught in a short series.
28:15
Speaker 2: I know they seem invincible now, but that's not really
28:17
Speaker 2: how it always plays out. So what I wrote the
28:21
Speaker 2: other day, I think has to be the goal of,
28:23
Speaker 2: like when your division secure that first round, by augment
28:30
Speaker 2: the team in a major way at the trade deadline.
28:33
Speaker 2: Not just the little kind of incremental stuff, but get
28:36
Speaker 2: a difference maker, like the skill sets that play in October.
28:41
Speaker 2: Maybe that's a high leverage reliever or just a flat
28:44
Speaker 2: out closer. Maybe they do need another start, Maybe they
28:48
Speaker 2: don't get that starting pitcher that they really want during
28:53
Speaker 2: this kind of last stage of the offseason.
28:54
Speaker 3: They have to go to it.
28:55
Speaker 2: Then maybe bia Steros flops or Bragman gets hurt and
29:02
Speaker 2: they have to go do something else.
29:03
Speaker 3: But like, I think this team on paper is not
29:08
Speaker 3: close to done yet.
29:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if that's the case, there's always you know,
29:14
Speaker 1: then we change the projection and we see, like it's
29:17
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see how deep they want to
29:18
Speaker 1: get this is started. I was thinking about this, and
29:20
Speaker 1: it feels very much and we've talked about this on
29:23
Speaker 1: the podcast. It's starting to feel very much like the
29:25
Speaker 1: theo Epstein obsession with depth before twenty sixteen, where he
29:31
Speaker 1: was like almost like paranoid about what could go wrong
29:34
Speaker 1: and like we have to, you know, plan for everything,
29:37
Speaker 1: and then sure enough, two days into the season or
29:39
Speaker 1: however many days it was four days into the season,
29:42
Speaker 1: something major did go wrong and they were able to
29:45
Speaker 1: cover for it and still be the best team in
29:47
Speaker 1: baseball pretty much all season long. Last question here that
29:50
Speaker 1: we'll wrap up with from the Lizard King, what are
29:53
Speaker 1: both of your favorite all time interviews? Look, I feel
29:58
Speaker 1: like we've covered a lot of like fun people that
30:00
Speaker 1: are able to talk and uh, you know, get really
30:04
Speaker 1: in depth on stuff. And I love talking to pictures.
30:07
Speaker 1: I mean, current team. There's a lot of guys I
30:09
Speaker 1: like talking to Nico Dansby, u Pca Happ, jameson ty
30:14
Speaker 1: Own like that. There's some good talkers in that room
30:18
Speaker 1: that will give you, like I like digging in on stuff,
30:22
Speaker 1: and Nico's really good with that. Phaps really good with that.
30:24
Speaker 1: Tyne's really good with that. Over the years, it's been like,
30:28
Speaker 1: here's one off the wall. Is Scott E f Ross
30:31
Speaker 1: just like a really nice dude who would get into
30:33
Speaker 1: the weeds with it. With me, I kind of liked
30:37
Speaker 1: Lackey and his sneering answers, like he was almost mean
30:41
Speaker 1: to us all the time, and I don't know, I
30:44
Speaker 1: kind of liked him into it. He was mean to us.
30:48
Speaker 1: Ben ZEBs was great. Kyle Hendricks, of course. I think
30:52
Speaker 1: for me it is John Lester. It was almost like
30:56
Speaker 1: he didn't want to talk to you at first, or
30:57
Speaker 1: we would act that way and then and you'd just
31:01
Speaker 1: be talking to him for thirty minutes and be looking
31:04
Speaker 1: around like John, like I got to talk to other people.
31:07
Speaker 1: I thought you had two minutes to talk. He was
31:10
Speaker 1: the one that like he would tell me things about
31:13
Speaker 1: what's going on with other players and would lead me
31:15
Speaker 1: to get like great stories. Like one of my favorite
31:17
Speaker 1: stories that I wrote was about Kyle Hendricks kind of
31:20
Speaker 1: breaking out and figuring out how he could be a
31:23
Speaker 1: take his game to another level in twenty sixteen. And
31:26
Speaker 1: I got that because of a conversation with John Lester
31:29
Speaker 1: where we were just shooting the shit and trying to
31:31
Speaker 1: figure out, like how good is this cub's defense versus
31:35
Speaker 1: how good is this starting pitching, and Lester like was like,
31:39
Speaker 1: I know you, this defense is awesome, but we're awesome too,
31:42
Speaker 1: like basically telling me like how good they are and
31:45
Speaker 1: like how they helped the defense by missing barrels and
31:48
Speaker 1: things like that, and then pointing to Kyle Hendricks and
31:50
Speaker 1: told me some things that I wasn't aware of at
31:52
Speaker 1: the time about the changes he's made, and it led
31:55
Speaker 1: me to a really fun story that I like, I
31:58
Speaker 1: just love that and these and it's all the more
32:01
Speaker 1: reason why it's like, spend your time just chatting with
32:04
Speaker 1: these guys. You don't always have to be recording, you
32:07
Speaker 1: don't always have to be you know, it doesn't have
32:11
Speaker 1: to be about the idea you came into the clubhouse with.
32:14
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll discover something just chatting with them. And that's
32:17
Speaker 1: kind of how that happened. And Lester was great at
32:19
Speaker 1: that because sometimes you go up to him with an
32:21
Speaker 1: idea and it would veer off into so many other things.
32:24
Speaker 1: And I just really like talking talking to him and
32:28
Speaker 1: getting ideas for other things.
32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would echo everything you just said, or I
32:35
Speaker 2: would second that pretty much every name you mentioned there,
32:39
Speaker 2: I guess sticking on twenty sixteen, it was certainly a
32:41
Speaker 2: privileged to cover two Hall of Fame caliber leaders in
32:46
Speaker 2: Joe Madden and theo Epstein. THEOG in particular always kept
32:51
Speaker 2: you on your toes. You really had to be prepared.
32:56
Speaker 2: He would throw stuff back at you, kept you on
32:59
Speaker 2: yours in that clubhouse. Obviously, Miguel Montero is an all
33:04
Speaker 2: times is great guy like and I mean Wilson, contrast
33:10
Speaker 2: too with the unpredictability. You never knew what you would get.
33:14
Speaker 2: And then I would wrap it up with two names
33:16
Speaker 2: who've been sort of in the news lately, like I
33:18
Speaker 2: always appreciated Chris Bryant's honesty and his someone who was
33:26
Speaker 2: on top of the baseball world, was extremely humble and
33:30
Speaker 2: respectful and polite and funny. And then seeing the news
33:37
Speaker 2: that Anthony Rizzo is reportedly joining NBC Sports, I wouldn't
33:43
Speaker 2: say he was my favorite interview of all time.
33:44
Speaker 3: He was just one of.
33:45
Speaker 2: Those like and this is not ripping riz because he's obviously,
33:50
Speaker 2: you know, an enormous figure. It's he was more just
33:53
Speaker 2: an unpredictable interview you never know, like he was just
33:57
Speaker 2: like we got to know him so well, spend so
33:58
Speaker 2: much time around him that sometimes he'd be tired or cranky.
34:02
Speaker 2: Sometimes he'd be super chatty. Sometimes he would purposely, it
34:07
Speaker 2: seemingly purposely say things just to be productive. And when
34:11
Speaker 2: you put all that together, it is great. I think
34:15
Speaker 2: Rizzo could be really good in studio if he wants
34:18
Speaker 2: to be. I think he you know, he still has
34:21
Speaker 2: relationships in the game which matter.
34:23
Speaker 3: I M clear he's tight with Aaron Judge. He'll be
34:27
Speaker 3: around the Cubs.
34:30
Speaker 2: He has this kind of like amazing personal brand where
34:36
Speaker 2: people in Chicago love him, people in New York respect him.
34:40
Speaker 2: He's been in two huge markets. He came up with
34:44
Speaker 2: the Red Sox. Like he has a lot of knowledge.
34:47
Speaker 2: He has a goofy side to him.
34:50
Speaker 3: He when he.
34:51
Speaker 2: Wants to, he can really dish it too, like get
34:54
Speaker 2: inside the game and kind of like you know, poke
34:57
Speaker 2: people just into terms of you know, whether it's inside
35:02
Speaker 2: jokes or kind of knowing what's going on in the clubhouse.
35:05
Speaker 2: So I think he has a long way of saying
35:07
Speaker 2: I think he has like enormous potential as a broadcaster
35:11
Speaker 2: if that's what he really really wants to do and
35:14
Speaker 2: sort of, you know, commit to it and really share
35:17
Speaker 2: the full breath of his experience.
35:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are all great names, and I wasn't. I
35:22
Speaker 1: was only thinking players, but that's a good call on
35:25
Speaker 1: both Madden and and Theo. Miguel Montero was a big
35:30
Speaker 1: one that you mentioned. I almost forgot about him, Jake Arietta, Oh, yeah,
35:34
Speaker 1: I forgot. David Ross was was always great. I thought
35:38
Speaker 1: he was better as a player than as a manager
35:40
Speaker 1: with what he'd give us. But you know, we had
35:44
Speaker 1: great relationships with these guys, so it was there's probably
35:48
Speaker 1: there's probably like a handful. There's probably there's so many
35:50
Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss over the years. I feel like we've
35:54
Speaker 1: been pretty lucky with these with some of these players
35:57
Speaker 1: giving us really good info and and mostly very kind people.
36:02
Speaker 1: I don't have like memories of like, oh man, that
36:06
Speaker 1: guy made my life miserable.
36:08
Speaker 2: For the most part, all the people we described, you know,
36:11
Speaker 2: understood our jobs and where we were coming from and
36:15
Speaker 2: recognized part of their responsibilities was you're dealing with us
36:21
Speaker 2: and communicating with fans, and that is always appreciated.
36:26
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely all right, well, thanks so much for all
36:29
Speaker 1: the questions. Everyone, make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe
36:33
Speaker 1: to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic, where
36:36
Speaker 1: Patrick cana are on top of all things Cubs. We'll
36:38
Speaker 1: be back next week with more episodes of North Side Territory.
36:40
Speaker 1: Thanks so much everyone.
36:42
Speaker 5: Take don't you know I do? Do they do? Lord