Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / First impressions of Alex Bregman at Wrigley Field

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First impressions of Alex Bregman at Wrigley Field · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: with my partner Pretor Sooni, we are your Cubs be writers.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Over at the Athletic Patrick Alex Fregman has been introduced
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  Speaker 1: to Chicago. He is a Chicago Cub. He has signed
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  Speaker 1: a five year, one hundred and seventy five million dollar deal.
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  Speaker 1: A big chunk of that is deferred. Something kind of
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  Speaker 1: unique for the Cubs, or you know, newer for the
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  Speaker 1: Cubs that this is not something they've done recently. But
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  Speaker 1: you know, I think we came away with similar feelings
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  Speaker 1: about Jed opened it opened the presser with this. This
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  Speaker 1: is obviously he's being paid for what he does on
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  Speaker 1: the field, but this is someone Jed Hoyer and this
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  Speaker 1: front office have long coveted for multiple reasons beyond his
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  Speaker 1: production on field. I think they felt like he would
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  Speaker 1: have been the perfect finishing touch to that twenty five
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  Speaker 1: roster couldn't get it done, and then this winter, from
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  Speaker 1: the moment pre agency started, he was a priority. I
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  Speaker 1: think things had to come together and they had their
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: off season fell into place in the right way, and
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  Speaker 1: I think the Corprera deal getting done kind of allowed
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  Speaker 1: them to say like, okay, this is we can go
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  Speaker 1: all in on on Alex Regman, and Jed Hoyer got
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  Speaker 1: his man. He was very clear that this is someone
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  Speaker 1: that he has wanted on his team for a while.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think the cynic may say, why didn't this press
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  Speaker 3: conference happen last January? It would have been that perfect
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  Speaker 3: finishing piece. But I think the optimists can feel the
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  Speaker 3: renewed energy around this team. It had been a long
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  Speaker 3: time since the Cubs that had a press conference quite
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  Speaker 3: like that. Obviously, Danzy Swanson's was a big deal, and
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  Speaker 3: hiring Craig Council was.
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  Speaker 2: A big deal.
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  Speaker 3: But like by and large, these winters have been sort
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  Speaker 3: of the Cubs in their four corners offense, just kind
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  Speaker 3: of delaying, delaying, kind of waiting out the clock to
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  Speaker 3: see if they could sort of score at the end there.
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  Speaker 2: And this was.
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  Speaker 3: A big step forward. Ragman our colleague John Greenberg wrote it.
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  Speaker 3: I mean he must have said winning, you know, four
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  Speaker 3: or five times within his first whatever sentence or two
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  Speaker 3: of his opening statement, and you could tell how badly
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  Speaker 3: Jed wanted this player, and that's not a place that
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  Speaker 3: he normally goes to. I mean, that was the same
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  Speaker 3: room where we had that post trade deadline media scrum
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  Speaker 3: where he just looked, you know, a little annoyed, a
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  Speaker 3: little defensive, you know about why they were rather cautious
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  Speaker 3: at that trade deadline and him walking in there. Scott
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  Speaker 3: Boris up on up on stage dropping some some metaphors
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  Speaker 3: about you know, wanting more, wanting more pig than lipstick
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  Speaker 3: when you're talking about deferrals and the overall deal framework.
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  Speaker 3: But just a really energizing moment for a fan base
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  Speaker 3: that honestly deserved it. Anyone who was in Wrigley Field
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  Speaker 3: last October could feel it. And this is this is
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  Speaker 3: what a team like the Cubs is supposed to do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, fans should be excited listening to Bregman
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  Speaker 1: because his focus is is singular in the sense that
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  Speaker 1: he wants to win. You know, he had a good
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  Speaker 1: line about why he has number three. He wants that
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  Speaker 1: third championship. That's a good line. That's as you know,
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  Speaker 1: fans should be motivated by that. I think this is
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  Speaker 1: a World Series contender. This is a championship contender with
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  Speaker 1: Bregman on this roster. I you know, I came in
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  Speaker 1: with the idea with an idea, and I found it
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  Speaker 1: interesting that right away that that was kind of the
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  Speaker 1: focus of what Jed was talking about, in the sense
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  Speaker 1: that Alex Bregman brings something to this team beyond the numbers,
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  Speaker 1: beyond what he does on the field. Jed was talking
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  Speaker 1: about things like he immediately asked for players numbers, and
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  Speaker 1: they're hitting plans, their off season plans, so he knows
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  Speaker 1: what to talk about with these kids. He wanted to
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  Speaker 1: talk to the staff in Arizona to understand like player
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  Speaker 1: development plans for younger guys, like this is I didn't
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  Speaker 1: even like I if you have read this piece by
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  Speaker 1: Jen McCaffrey from I want to say it was like
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  Speaker 1: June or July ish of last summer, just kind of
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  Speaker 1: how Bregman kind of took over that clubhouse much younger
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  Speaker 1: team in Boston. You know, no Dansby Swanson Ian half
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  Speaker 1: Nico Horner types established themselves as quality leaders and the
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  Speaker 1: clubhouse presence for that Boston team just yet. But Bregman
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  Speaker 1: really like took control. So talk guys like this is
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  Speaker 1: how you prepare, this is how you you know, this
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  Speaker 1: is this is how you make sure every day you're
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  Speaker 1: ready for the opposing pitcher, he's giving them advice on
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  Speaker 1: their swings, on mechanics. If he can do that for
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  Speaker 1: guys like Moises by a Stero's PCA PCAs great, great guy,
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  Speaker 1: willing to learn, has some things about him that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think he needs to tighten up, whether it's on
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  Speaker 1: the field or off. And and look, I don't I
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  Speaker 1: don't like to be the guy that's like over analyzing
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  Speaker 1: a guy's body language. But I think when you're throwing
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  Speaker 1: your helmet after every out, like you got to and
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  Speaker 1: he's an emotional guy, and that's okay. But I think
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  Speaker 1: someone like Justin Turner helped with that and I think
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  Speaker 1: can continue that growth. Pa wants to learn, he wants
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  Speaker 1: to be a great teammate, he wants to be a
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  Speaker 1: great player, and I think having a guy like Bregman
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  Speaker 1: to kind of look out for him and say like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: here are some mechanical things and here are some mental things,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like here are some things like that can
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  Speaker 1: make you a better all around baseball player. I think
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  Speaker 1: that's kind of exciting when people talk about that son
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  Speaker 1: like that is like one of the first things that's
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  Speaker 1: brought up because it's like, you know, the guy's gonna play, well,
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  Speaker 1: what else can he do? It really stood out to
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  Speaker 1: me that that was such a big focus, and I
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  Speaker 1: think it's I think it's incredibly important to have guys
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  Speaker 1: like that in this club. You know, we'll talk about
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  Speaker 1: it more in another episode, but it's why you don't trade,
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  Speaker 1: in my opinion, don't you don't trade Meco Horner. You
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  Speaker 1: have all these guys like Dansby wants to win. Like
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  Speaker 1: that was a big thing that he talked about. People
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  Speaker 1: were like, why are you signing with the Cubs and
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  Speaker 1: they haven't you believed they had a plan to get
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  Speaker 1: to you know, get to the playoffs in the near
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  Speaker 1: future and do so regularly. Ian Half is desperate to
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  Speaker 1: be on a regular winner after you know, coming through
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  Speaker 1: the system and seeing these guys win a world series
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  Speaker 1: and regularly be in the playoffs. Uh. So they have
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  Speaker 1: guys that have that edge, and Bregman just adds to it,
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  Speaker 1: and he's got a couple of real series to boot.
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  Speaker 3: I think you look at Bregman's career, there's the Astros
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  Speaker 3: period that obviously ah put him forever linked to that
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  Speaker 3: science stealing scandal, but I think it also probably gave
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  Speaker 3: him thicker skin, and you know, put him.
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  Speaker 2: In a role where he was used to being.
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  Speaker 3: Challenged and under pressure and the focus of you know,
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  Speaker 3: opposing ballparks, and he put together, you know, at the
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  Speaker 3: beginning of like you know, maybe a borderline Hall of
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  Speaker 3: Fame type career, and it's like that type of year
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  Speaker 3: and not saying he's a Hall of Famer, but if
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  Speaker 3: you look at that period in Houston, it is a
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  Speaker 3: very interesting launching point for the rest of his career.
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  Speaker 3: And then you see what organizations have done to get
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  Speaker 3: Alex Bregman on their team and all the Raphael Devers drama.
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  Speaker 3: You know, the Red Sox being willing to move that
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  Speaker 3: contract in the in the middle of.
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  Speaker 2: A season and really kind of.
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  Speaker 3: Disrupt and rearrange their club because they thought he was
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  Speaker 3: that valuable. And then you see the Cubs executing conversations
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  Speaker 3: that Jed Hoyer said started last summer of working with
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  Speaker 3: chairman Tom Ricketts, President of Business Operations Crane Kenny, and
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  Speaker 3: the rest of the business side to get the Cubs
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  Speaker 3: back on board with deferrals using deferred money the way
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  Speaker 3: they did for John Lester's contract and Jason Hayward's contract,
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  Speaker 3: Like these are you know, not out of the ordinary
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  Speaker 3: and not unprecedented, but it just shows you how valuable
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  Speaker 3: he is viewed within the baseball industry. That the Cubs
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  Speaker 3: clearly went out of their comfort zone here, whether it's
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  Speaker 3: roughly seventy million deferred, whether it's investing huge money and
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  Speaker 3: a guy in his early thirties, maybe obviously he lights
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  Speaker 3: up the models, no doubt. Think Jed made that clear
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  Speaker 3: when you asked him about it. That's what we had
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  Speaker 3: heard during spring training last year. That's why they were
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  Speaker 3: so frustrated. But he kind of, you know, organizationally moves
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  Speaker 3: mountains like they the Cubs are like a fundamentally different
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  Speaker 3: team right now just by his presence, his rival.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's take a quick break and talk a little
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: bit more about some of those things that you brought up.
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• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, Patrick, So the deferrals was something I did find
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  Speaker 1: that interesting. You know, Jed was openly talking about how
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  Speaker 1: this is not something that came together the last minute,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't think it could be right. I think
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  Speaker 1: there was frustration among the front office that they weren't
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  Speaker 1: able to do this. They'd lost it was a competitive
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  Speaker 1: advantage in a sense, like if you're not willing to
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  Speaker 1: do this, you're losing a competitive advantage. Or you're falling
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  Speaker 1: behind other teams. It's become pretty regular practice for the
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  Speaker 1: bigger market teams, for the teams that are spending the
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  Speaker 1: really big money. For the Cubs not being able to
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  Speaker 1: do it, it was setting them back. They had it
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  Speaker 1: was a disadvantage, just put it that way. And I
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  Speaker 1: think whether it was with Bregmant in mind or just
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  Speaker 1: in general, Jed New we had to have this conversation
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  Speaker 1: over the summer and slowly how do we how do
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  Speaker 1: we make this work? How how can we get to
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  Speaker 1: a point where where this makes sense for us? It
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  Speaker 1: really feels like that because they were able to do that,
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  Speaker 1: now they're able to get back in the business of
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  Speaker 1: spending big money and giving the big long term deal.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like it's almost essential now if you don't
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  Speaker 1: defer money, how are you going to get these Like
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  Speaker 1: how many? How many big contracts are signed nowadays with
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  Speaker 1: without deferrals, Like it's it's pretty rare. If you're if
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  Speaker 1: you're going over four or five years, you know you're
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  Speaker 1: you're deferring a big chunk of money.
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  Speaker 2: It's fun.
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  Speaker 3: I'll have a story on this on the Athletic UH
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  Speaker 3: this weekend. Just the timing the Bears element to all this,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: the post Bregman agreement comeback. My understanding is that kind
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  Speaker 3: of the the nitty gritty at the end, there was
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  Speaker 3: just figuring out the schedule of deferrals, meaning both sides
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  Speaker 3: had agreed to like the structure, sorry, the amount, and
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  Speaker 3: then it was just figuring out when all of those
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  Speaker 3: dollars are paid out and how that is reflected in
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  Speaker 3: the net present value of the deal. With that you're
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: getting into, you know, luxury tax threshold considerations. And so
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  Speaker 3: that was why Jed Hoyer at Thursday's press conference joked
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  Speaker 3: like this could have been done before kickoff of the
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  Speaker 3: Bears game if there weren't all those spreadsheets.
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  Speaker 2: And so you have.
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  Speaker 3: Scott Boris told me he has one hundred and sixty
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  Speaker 3: three employees in his company. And so that Saturday there,
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: the Cubs are so rewinding last Friday, the Cubs since
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  Speaker 3: this was coming to a head, that the weekend would be.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of a defining moment for Bregman.
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  Speaker 3: And so kind of as they're going through this, here
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  Speaker 3: you have one of Boris's vice presidents communicating some with
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  Speaker 3: Jed like these are all collab drive efforts.
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  Speaker 2: That's kind of what I'm getting at.
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  Speaker 3: And so you know, Scott Chamborino from Boriscarp talking to
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  Speaker 3: Jed at certain points, and then Jed takes that back
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: and he has his whole team kind of review the things.
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  Speaker 2: And then when.
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  Speaker 3: Jed comes back to Boris, Scott Boris has his own
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: analytics team and kind of their interpretation of what that deal.
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  Speaker 3: And eventually they got there. I think the metaphor that
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  Speaker 3: I was told, it's not like they were on say
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  Speaker 3: the fifteen yard line, like it was close, you know,
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  Speaker 3: kind of.
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  Speaker 2: Around kickoff of that Bears game. And then you get
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  Speaker 2: once they.
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  Speaker 3: Get past the nitty gritty, you get just this awesome
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  Speaker 3: sort of Alex Bregman Chicago Sports Store of he's out
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  Speaker 3: to dinner celebrating the game is on. Afterwards he goes
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  Speaker 3: to Jamison ty Owne's house, who lives basically down the
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  Speaker 3: street from him, he said, in the Phoenix area, not
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: far from the Cubs training complex. You get Bregman at
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: a Blackhawks game in the suite. It was a court
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: side at the Bulls game.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: That's what ye court side and then him on the
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  Speaker 1: pictures I saw the video.
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  Speaker 3: I thought, Yeah, him in town for Cubs convention and
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: then saying he'll be at Soldier Field.
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  Speaker 2: On Sunday.
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  Speaker 3: Just a really cool, whirlwind, kind of epic Chicago sports
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  Speaker 3: moment that I think confirmed what Bregman already knew, what
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  Speaker 3: Bores already knew that, you know, winning in this town
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  Speaker 3: is is another level. And the Cubs, Bregman, think they
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  Speaker 3: have have a legitimate chance.
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  Speaker 1: Now, yeah, you took the word I was going to
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  Speaker 1: use in epic Chicago. Yeah, FOURTS week. I mean, he's like,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: it's it's kind of cool that he's, uh, he understands
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: how important it is to kind of, you know, endear
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: yourself to the fan base like that and just like
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: kind of immerse yourself in the sports world, the Chicago
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: sports world. He he appreciates, uh, you know, good sports sounds.
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  Speaker 1: I think you know, Boston is a pretty damn good
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: sports down as well. Yeah, your passionate, the fan base
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  Speaker 1: is passionate. So he's he's been there. You know, I
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: can't speak to Houston. I haven't been there enough, and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I don't you know know how crazy they are about
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: their their teams, but Chicago certainly is. Chicago is insane
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: about their teams. Even the Black Owks and Bulls who
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: aren't like powerhouses right now. I think the Bulls regularly
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: sell out remarkably despite being incredibly average year of the year.
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  Speaker 1: But uh, it's just you know, fans loves their sports
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  Speaker 1: here and I think you're you're absolutely right, Gregman brings
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: them back to that level where you know, I think
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the argument can be made is how much better are
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: they than last year. I feel like they're better because
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: the pitching depth looks a lot better and it just
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: feels like a more complete, very balanced line up. The
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: younger guys have a year under their belt. It feels
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  Speaker 1: like a very exciting moment. And and for it to
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  Speaker 1: kind of line up in this way for Bregmant to
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  Speaker 1: be watching that game while these things are going down
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: and then saying come back, and then Cubs Convention leading
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: into uh, you know what, the biggest Bears game in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: a decade and a half, or maybe the biggest Bears
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: game in a week, however you want to look at
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: it either way, it just feels like it. You know,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: it's like this perfect, this perfect moment sports moment in
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Chicago's getting getting that. It's it's fun. We will be
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: at Cubs Convention this weekend to take that.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: I gotta cut you off before you start turning this
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: into an Illinois basketball podcast.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, don't even get me started. We will wrap this up.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: We will be at Cubs Convention this weekend. We have
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: one more podcast coming up. Thank you so much for listening.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and Aaron type
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: of all things Cubs. Thanks everyone,