Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The early buzz about the Cubs at the GM meetings

Transcript

The early buzz about the Cubs at the GM meetings · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What we're going to talk about here and the realistic
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: option here is a time share with Miguel Amaya. It's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: not going to blow anyone out of the water. Welcome
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadev
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney, where your Cubs beat
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: writers for the Athletic Patrick, Let's get right to it.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: It is GM meetings time. Uh. We talked to Jed
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Hoyer already a couple.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Times and uh, you know, there are a few things
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: we can we can talk about that we've gathered during
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: our couple days here in San Antonio.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I think the first is is what we've kind of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: been talking about for you know, since the season ended,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: maybe before the season ended, and that you know, starting
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: pitching will be a priority. Starting pitching is the way
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: that this this front office will look to, uh, to
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: upgrade a roster that obviously needs more wins it. You know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're going to ignore the lineup, but
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: starting pitching is an obvious path to success and improvement.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: I would say it was obvious even before Cody Bellinger
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: opted in and took out a thirty million dollar chunk
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: of that budget for baseball operations, right, I mean the
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: lineups sort of Boxton here or the front officer is
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: sort of boxed in with their lineup.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: We've talked about it for a long time.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Jen and Carter, even Council are not big on giving
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: out those like three four year deals to relievers. So
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: what do you look at. It's it's the pitching and
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: the farm system is lined up in a way where
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: they do have lots of hitters coming that they want
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: to create some lanes for. It's not exactly clear like who,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: when and how, but that cluster is there, and quite frankly,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: I don't think the organization's young pitchers like proved enough
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: this past year just like, oh we can trust him,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: him or him to be a fifth starter next year,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: much less up front of the rotation guy. And I
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: remember think too. I think it is interesting. I know
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: you'll be getting into it in a future piece, but
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: if the Cubs thought their offense was better then it
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: performed at Wrigley Field, they also have to acknowledge that
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: they're pitching probably overachieved last year.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I think that's you know, that's the counter
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that we've kind of avoided, right, we haven't talked enough
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I think we kind of touched on it.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And one thing I realized was, you know, like Jameson
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Tyan has massive splits home road splits. Right, he struggled
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: at home. I looked at his career that that's kind
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of the norm, like he struggles at home, struggles on
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the road, and and does well at home. I'm not
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: sure if I said the opposite when talking about that originally,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: but he struggles on the road, does well at home.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: He's more comfortable in his home ballpark for some reason.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's just randomness, well whatever, It's been that way
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: since twenty twenty one. I think the person you point
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: to that's most you know, like what's going on here?
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: What do we trust? Is Javier Asad.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Those splits are big, like Imanaga Steel. It's all okay,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the splits aren't huge. Those are the two main guys, Right.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Then you go to Tyne and Assad and you look
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: at a Sad and this is a guy that kind
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: of established himself as you know, he can give you
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty plus innings, Like let's rely on
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: him as a fifth starter. I think there's a little
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: bit of a you know, squint, tilt your head, wonder
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: what's going on, and that that makes it all the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: more important that you have to lock in someone.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Patrick. I like your idea of, hey, the Cubs.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: The Cubs kind of you know, THEO and Jed have
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: always had this idea. THEO then now Jed have had
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: this idea of these nine figure guys coming every few
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: years for the rotation.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure if we're certainly.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Going to see that, but I do appreciate the philosophy
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of what you were kind of trying to present.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: It sort of got shot down, but I think it
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: was more theoretical makes sense more than in practice for
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: this exact off season. I still think Max Reid makes
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: a lot of sense. I would anticipate the Cups have
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: to like see where that goes. I think is a
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: really good fit. Sort of lines up with the profile
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: of what they like, I mean, World Series champion, comes
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: from a winning organization, all that stuff. But in terms
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: of that like top absolute top of the market, I mean,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: we've been given indication.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Is like that's not going to happen. I mean, I
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: mean obviously.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Like it's not even like, oh, well, him and council
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: will work together. Like no, like that's not how this
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: is going to work. And you know, Blake Snell, we're
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: assuming won't get the type of deal that Burns will.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: But I don't think he's the guy that's going to
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: light up the IVY system in terms of control command.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Uh, his year to year variance.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Just an overall reliability factor. I don't really see the
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Cubs going there. So then it's kind of freed or
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: that next year.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: Which they've been good at. Uh.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: But it is a weird sort of like we're not
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: even done with the GM meetings and we're just kind
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: of crossing off a lot of stuff with a big
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: market team that has payroll flexibility and a very good
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: farm system in a pretty good Major League nucleus.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's you know, we've touched on it so much,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: but like it's it hurts for fans to like enter
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: the off season and be like, well, we know we
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: aren't shopping there at the very top, and to cross
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: off the superstars almost immediately is a frustration. One way
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: that the Cubs can improve their lineup is kind of
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: solidifying the catching spot. Again, this is something we've talked
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: about since July, we're getting a.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Little more clarity there.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Like, first of all, I think it's important to like
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: we talked a lot about like them trading for this big, impactful,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: established catcher.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I think as we get into the off season.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: We're realizing, like that's going to be near impossible, if
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: not just flat out impossible, Like Logan o'hoppy isn't like
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: wasn't realistic at the deadline. As much as Jed may
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: have tried, it seems like that's gonna be the same case.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: One name that has come up on the internet circles
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and I think we may have mentioned on the.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Podcast was cal Rally.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: No, like Seattle isn't going to trade this impactful catcher
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that's in the prime of his career if they want
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: to get creative and try and get a young catcher,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: like a prospect. Maybe, But I think what we're going
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to talk about here and the realistic option here is
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a time share with Miguel Amaya. And there are some
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: solid names there. It's not going to blow anyone out
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: of the water. But what you want is some stability
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: and some trust and and someone that you know, a
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: veteran presence to kind of make sure that Miguel Amaya
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: isn't overexposed, and you can try and play pitching matchups.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: It won't be left right matchups as much as just
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: like maybe skill set matchups. But but there are some
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: veteran names there that that would make you feel a
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: little bit more comfortable about the spot.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, this is not.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Really one where it's like criticizing ownership with the front
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: office for a lack of conviction or imagination or resources.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: It's just these guys are really hard to find. I
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: don't think the Cubs are going to trade for Wilson Contraras.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Let's throw that across, that name off the list as well,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: But yeah, when when it's such a premium position that
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: I think the two or three takeaways we had on
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: the on the catching front was Miguel Maya is not
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: viewed as a number one starting catch, right, and that's
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: sort of obvious. But they're not going to like go
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: out of their way to like kind of give him
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: wider birth here that it's going to be at least
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: sign kind of a co catcher here. That free agent
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: list is like, Okay, the Travis Darnault's, the Danny Janssen's,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Carson Kelly's like that with another step from Maya would
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: be an upgrade at a spot that was what.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Like maybe thirty out of thirty for a big portion.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Or a big chunk, yeah of.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Or you know whatever third of the season, you know,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: near the bottom of the majors, if not almost half
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: season in that you know, kind of bottom third. So
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: that would be a substantial improvement, especially if you get
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: a guy who can contribute on both sides of the ball.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: That if he does click with some pitchers or help
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: help the bullpen come together a little faster and just
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: adds a little more thumb towards the bottom of the lineup,
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: which I think is something you've written about at length
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: of like what happened in that second half of the offense.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: It was.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Dansby finally getting on track, Pa becoming this you know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: dynamic presence, and Miguel Maya making some significant in season
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: adjustments to his credit to become like a credible offensive presence.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Right And and you know, I don't think it's ripping
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Miguel Amaya.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: There's just so few of those guys, right, It's just
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: there's that that isn't those guys aren't prevalent across the game,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: and that's why it's hard to find him in free
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: agency because they very rarely hit free agency, and that's
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: why it's hard to trade for him, because nobody's gonna
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: trade him because they.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Cling to him. That's why you kind of have to
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: get a prospect. So I wouldn't rule that out.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: And I think when people hear that, they're like, well,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: don't they have their own prospect? What about Moises Biasteros. Look,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any doubt that they're in love
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: with his bat, and why wouldn't he be, Like, there's
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a reason he's he's on top one hundred prospect lists
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: when he barely When people are like Kenny's take a catcher,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: usually that means you're not gonna make the top one
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: hundred prospect list. You have to be a no crap catcher.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: His bat is that special that they're high on it.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: They love the offense, everything about that bat. It's a
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: well rounded, dangerous bat. Everything we've we understand and is
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: that you know, Wiley's improved there. They don't envision everyday
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: catcher status down the road, even down the road right,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: like maybe maybe he can help out at that position.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: But he's a prospect.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: He's in this system, and they like him for his offense,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: so that that he's a and I think like that's
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: kind of that's not just like an internal evaluation, it's
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: kind of how the league sees him. So his value
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: is his offense. That's how he's going to eventually help
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: this team. Maybe as soon as like June or July
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: or something like that.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: We'll see. He's young still.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: But you know, I don't think you can count on
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: him being developed into the everyday catcher. So that that
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: is a question, and I don't know if it'll get
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: answered this offseason, but it'll remain a question as far
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: as can they find like that one hundred and twenty
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty start catcher. Maybe they're gonna be
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: timeshare for a little while longer, but absolutely, and you
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: mentioned his name. I think Darno hitting the the market
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: is a huge boon for them because it gives them
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: another really solid option with Danny Jansen and Carton Kelly,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: like those three names.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: I think we just focus on that.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: It would you know, we don't have like solid info
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: that those are the three guys that they're hell bent on,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: but I think like when you look at their history
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: and what they're looking for and all the signs, like
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: one of those three names makes a lot of makes
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of sense.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: I think one theory I had heard was for Moises
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: to you know, start next year at Triple A Iowa
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: and the Cubs will added some sort of like minor
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: league depth, maybe a defense first veteran guy who could
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: work with.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Him and help them on that side of the game.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: And it comes also hired catching guru right side of
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: away from from the Rockies.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jerry, I believe it's pronounced Weinstein. Weinstein.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, older guy that is just revered for his ability
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to work with catchers.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he will.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: That's that's part of the puzzle there, like to get
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: via Steros to a point where you know, again, is
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: it is it everyday status? Likely not, but very likely not,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: but it you know, can he help catch well? Can
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: he be it back like a third catcher like that?
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: That's that's valuable, right if you're impactful d H slash
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I catch one time through the through the rotation, or
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: or give guys a break and a blowout, whatever it
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: may be, that's valuable because that also keeps them fresh
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and allows that offense and not dip because what's the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: biggest issue with catchers in their offense that they get
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: ground down over the course of the season and they
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: can't they can't hit because their lower bodies just shot right,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And like that's what happens to catchers a lot. Like
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: there's there's so rare that you can find these guys
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: that help on both sides of the ball and catch
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: every day. So it's an interesting theory, but we'll see
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: how how it all plays out there.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean his position is hitter, right, Yeah, Like this.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: Dude's twenty years old, you know, Raking double a Tennessee
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Iowa Arizona Fall league, and I realized, you know, some
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: of those numbers could be inflated for for various reasons.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: And there's still a huge leap to go for him
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: in terms of future competition. But like man a left
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: handed hitter, the way the Cups talk about him leaves
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: like no doubt that they are extremely high on his
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: offensive ceiling. And you've made the point as well, saw
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: that defensive growth can come later or more incrementally for
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: a catcher, right, and so that you give him some
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: of that time to figure it out. You know, his offense,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: you highly expect that his offense will carry you at
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: stretches and then see how the rest of the kind
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: of lineup and roster shakes out for a manager who
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: does love kind of playing the long game and you know,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: finding matchups and really highlighting rest and recovery for his
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: everyday guys. All right, Soadam, what do we got on
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Nico corner? Should Cubs fans expect him in Japan for
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: opening Day?
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: And I mean it seems like it's it's similar to
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: what we've heard since we heard about the surgery right
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: like the time, Like this doesn't sound like a timeline
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: where they're worried about him.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Not you know, outside of setbacks or whatever.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: As long as there's no setbacks and it's a normal recovery,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: they're not worried about him like you know, not showing up.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Till June or July or something like that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: But especially with that early opening day, it may be
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: pushing it for him to be ready for opening day,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: or maybe he's ready right at opening day. Like it's
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: it's not like there's kind of like this window that
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: sounds like a few weeks to a month of where
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: he could like show up, like maybe it's he misses
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: like the first couple of weeks of the season. But
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: this is like, this is not something that where they're
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: considered concerned long term about his recovery. They're not concerned
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: about the type of player he'll end up being, Like he, Uh,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: they kind of knew about this, right, Well, it's not
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: one hundred percent clear if they if they definitely knew
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: about this, uh when when it initially happened, as much
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: as it is like he he kind of knew about
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: this and then pushed through and uh, and and and
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: played and it didn't. I don't think this was I
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: think the other injuries that occurred probably impacted his play
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: more than this one. What what this impacted sounds like
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: was his throwing. It didn't you know. I guess you
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: could go back and watch clips, but he just wasn't
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the same type of player. But that doesn't impact him
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: as much at second base, right like that that's you
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: need an arm to turn that double play sometimes.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: But I think you could see that he was.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Still an elite glove there and was able to make
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the plays at that position.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe he just didn't have quite the same zip
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: on his throat, and Jed indicated that it was roughly
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: half the season, maybe more in terms of bothering Nico,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: not to the point where he had to shut it down.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: But the idea is that this surgery will allow him to,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: you know, consistently and fully play shortstop at a high
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: level should the Cubs need him to step in for
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Dansby Swanson. That's also something that other teams may take notice.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: I still have a hard time thinking that some team
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: is going to blow the Cubs away with an offer,
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: right that the Cubs are going to kind of get
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: the right value on a guy who's recovering for surgery
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: with no timeline until he shows up for spring training.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: But it's an interesting thought exercise. It's something that I'm
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: sure will be bandied about at times. But this could
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: create an opportunity for a young player or I think
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: the Cubs may try to address their bench.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: What are you hearing, sad If.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they they don't have like I mean,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: do they have a left handed presence on that bent
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: that can kind of roam the infield right like rarely
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: go around to different spots and spell Nico spell danceby
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: spell Essekparatis. It's it's a pretty right handed group obviously
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: most of the time. That's how it works. Those those players,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: you know, I guess we should look at the free
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: agent list, or who are these utility left handed guys
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: or switch hitting guys that could help them. I'm not
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: sure if they have If that's readily available on free
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: agency and like a bench type bat trade market, perhaps
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: that guy's there. I do agree with you when you say, like,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: it's hard to envision someone trading for Nico when he's injured,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: right like, or at least giving proper value exactly because
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: right I will say this because of the shortstop market,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: which is Willie Adamas and then nothing else after that.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: It could see what I.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Could squint and see a team getting like being like,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: we really need a shortstop. We know, like, let's check
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: out the medicals here. Can can we go over the
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: medicals on this? Okay, he's gonna be back no later
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: than April fifteenth. We're very confident in that. Or maybe
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: it's January and like we've also heard all any that
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: this market may be slow again. This may be another
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: slow playing market. Scott Boris has every single big name
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: for the most part, Uh, he's gonna do a Scott
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Boris thing and uh and and it may be like
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you know, Willia Domas signs and and teams are scrambling
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: for shortstops, and by January the cups are like, Okay,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: maybe we got to move. Maybe we maybe we have
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: enough offers that this makes sense. They love Nico Horner though,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: That's another thing, right, like and yeah, you and I
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: have talked to him a thousand times, like what's not
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that this this is a legit good makeup guy, And
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and he works his butt off, and and that he
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: put up the numbers that he did while kind of
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: battling multiple little things over the course of the season,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: I think says.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: A lot about him.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious about depth at that in those areas,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, we've kind of entered a period
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: where we have to like we can keep it on
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: our radar.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: But it's very.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: I agree with you, it's it's probably an unlikely scenario.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to envision the scenario. That's why what I
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: was presenting. I don't think it's likely. I agree that,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: like moving Nico Horner just gets really hard when when
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: he's he's recovering from a decently significant surgery, so it
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: does kind of.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Hamper their ability to get creative, which brings.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Us back to what we were talking about with the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: catcher spot and the offense, and from the very first
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: segment here like, I don't know what it's gonna be,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and I think we'll have to continue to dig into that.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: They do have to get creative.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I think I don't think you can go into next
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: season with the same offense and have it be like, hey,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: we got a time share catcher and here's the lineup
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: again and say, well, well, the second half was better.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Third in run scored from July first on. I think
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: that's gonna be a hard sell. Maybe maybe they don't
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: need to maybe selling it doesn't matter. Maybe that's real
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: and we'll all be proven wrong that. Look, this offense
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: from May in June was the aberration, and what they
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: are is this is is this impactful offense at Wrigley
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: will play like a normal regular season and we'll all
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: see like, oh, okay, the offense is good enough, We'll see,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: you know, But I'm not.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: I'm not.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I'm also not resigning myself to like them not trying
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to be creative and adjusting this offense in some way.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's it's early November.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: I still think going big on pitching, stretching for the bullpen,
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: creating some opportunities for these young guys that they believe in,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: changing the shape of the bench, like.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: I think those things could add up.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: It's not going to be like very sexy or what
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: you know Cubs fans probably want.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: But we gotta let this play out, right, and the
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: GM meetings have not ended yet.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: So we'll probably come back next week with kind of
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: an overall what we learned, and maybe the tone will
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: will shift a little.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Bit as we head in toward the holiday season.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Yep, we'll see what. Let's just hope that there's a
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: move before Cubs Convention.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I think we got our first move right before Cubs
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: convention last winter, so let's let's let's hope for that
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: so fans aren't in full panic mode by the new year.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's that's right now what we're hearing.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: After a couple of days of the Winter Meetings, we'll
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: be back early next week with a full wrap up
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: of the week and make sure you all have as
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: much information as possible. Thanks so much for listening. This
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review and subscribe.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Subscribe to The Athletic where
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Patrick and I will be on top of this off
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: season that the Cubs are in the midst of or
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: are just entering.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening everyone. Thanks take care.