Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs news and notes: Freddy Peralta trade, Jon Lester’s Hall of Fame case and more

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Cubs news and notes: Freddy Peralta trade, Jon Lester’s Hall of Fame case and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast.
0:07
Speaker 2: I'm Sahai of Charma with my partner Patrick Moody.
0:10
Speaker 1: We are your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick.
0:15
Speaker 1: It is late January and we are still talking movement
0:20
Speaker 1: here in baseball. A lot of trades still happening. You know,
0:24
Speaker 1: if people were wondering if there would be action, It
0:28
Speaker 1: kind of heated up here in the last month where
0:32
Speaker 1: teams that we thought hadn't done much or what's going
0:36
Speaker 1: on these teams? The Cubs probably fall into that category.
0:39
Speaker 1: We're like, man, they really haven't made the big moves,
0:42
Speaker 1: and then January comes and they make a pair of
0:45
Speaker 1: big moves. The Mets fall into that category now as well.
0:49
Speaker 1: They've made significant moves over the last month and completely
0:53
Speaker 1: reshaped their team, the biggest one perhaps being acquiring Freddy
0:59
Speaker 1: Peralta from the Milwaukee Brewers. Obviously big implications for the
1:02
Speaker 1: Cubs there. Mackenzie Gore just got traded to the Rangers.
1:08
Speaker 1: We could talk a little bit about that as well,
1:10
Speaker 1: because I think I think fans may wonder, like, oh,
1:13
Speaker 1: should the Cubs have paid up for Mackenzie Gore?
1:15
Speaker 2: Instead of Edward Cabrera.
1:17
Speaker 1: I mean, quickly for me on that this is not
1:21
Speaker 1: like after the fact thing. I don't think we wrote
1:25
Speaker 1: much about interest in McKenzie Gore, and that's because we
1:28
Speaker 1: weren't hearing much about interest in mackenzie Gore from the Cubs.
1:33
Speaker 1: I'm sure there was interest, but I don't believe it
1:37
Speaker 1: was like, this is a guy we need to get.
1:39
Speaker 1: While that was kind of the feeling about Edward Cabrera,
1:44
Speaker 1: Freddy Peralta being moved, obviously the Cubs weren't going.
1:47
Speaker 2: To be in on that Brewer. They don't want a
1:51
Speaker 2: one year rental anyways, I don't believe that.
1:57
Speaker 1: I don't think we should waste our time saying like,
1:58
Speaker 1: well the Brewer is still, can.
2:00
Speaker 3: No just say it. I thought you're gonna say they're
2:02
Speaker 3: toast Write them off, dude. January twenty third, Sharma, brewers
2:10
Speaker 3: are toast.
2:11
Speaker 2: Brewers are no chance.
2:15
Speaker 1: We know Jet Williams will somehow like crush the Cubs
2:19
Speaker 1: in various ways. Brandon Sprout will strike out twelve guys
2:23
Speaker 1: and seven innings against the Cubs, all sorts of stuff.
2:26
Speaker 1: This is just inevitable. But losing Freddy Peralta moving him
2:30
Speaker 1: to the Mets. That changes some things, and then El Central.
2:33
Speaker 1: I think, on paper, we're going to go into the
2:36
Speaker 1: season saying the Cubs are the favorite.
2:39
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean that they'll win the division.
2:41
Speaker 1: And we all know, we all have to kind of
2:43
Speaker 1: accept the Brewers will find a way to compete and
2:47
Speaker 1: maybe win this division. But it seems like I don't
2:50
Speaker 1: know what the betting odds are. I don't pay enough
2:53
Speaker 1: attention to that, but my assumption is the Cubs are
2:57
Speaker 1: the favorite right now, and this kind of solidifies it.
3:01
Speaker 3: I think, you know, the betting favorite. The assumption here
3:05
Speaker 3: is that Jet Williams will be the National League Rookie
3:08
Speaker 3: of the Year and MVP, while Brandon Sprote will be
3:12
Speaker 3: the National League's Young Award winner. I think that is
3:14
Speaker 3: the only conclusion one can draw from whatever magic brew
3:22
Speaker 3: or whatever they were calling it up in Milwaukee during
3:24
Speaker 3: the playoff run. They had all those signs up at
3:29
Speaker 3: American Family Fields. Yeah, I mean, it's funny this broke.
3:33
Speaker 3: We were out to dinner the other night with a
3:34
Speaker 3: bunch of colleagues and we were, you know, making those
3:39
Speaker 3: jokes about you know, the Brewers just keep doing this.
3:42
Speaker 3: You know, whether it's Andrew Vaughan Quinn Priester, and now
3:47
Speaker 3: you get two pretty talented guys. Having said that, I
3:54
Speaker 3: still think you can't pat a thousand on these deals
3:59
Speaker 3: all the time. Certainly not every year, you know, they've
4:03
Speaker 3: acquired an enormous amount of club control. Not every year
4:07
Speaker 3: it's going to click and maybe next year it is
4:10
Speaker 3: that just some period they step back, you know. But
4:14
Speaker 3: it's not like the rest of the NL Central has
4:17
Speaker 3: gotten a whole lot better. I mean, the Cardinals clearly
4:22
Speaker 3: are in retreat.
4:24
Speaker 2: The Reds, you.
4:25
Speaker 3: Know, the Reds and Pirates made a big show about,
4:28
Speaker 3: you know, their offers to Kyle Schwarber, and they've been
4:30
Speaker 3: pretty quiet since. And I think, you know, you got
4:34
Speaker 3: to respect the Reds like they always have, like you know,
4:38
Speaker 3: like just enough talent, and they have a Hall of
4:41
Speaker 3: Fame caliber manager, like you know, they probably won't bottom out,
4:46
Speaker 3: but it's hard to see them, you know, winning ninety games.
4:49
Speaker 3: And you know, with Pirates, I think like when you
4:53
Speaker 3: trade away pitching like that, you're sort of playing with fire.
4:57
Speaker 3: Like I know, they had to do different things, but
5:00
Speaker 3: it's not that hard to see you know, a couple
5:03
Speaker 3: elbows barking or shoulders aching and all of a sudden,
5:06
Speaker 3: like you know, if the Pirates don't have the pitching,
5:09
Speaker 3: then like where do they go. It's it's hard enough
5:12
Speaker 3: for them to compete as is when they had, you know,
5:15
Speaker 3: an awesome rotation, and so I think the Brewers will
5:20
Speaker 3: still certainly have enough to compete. I think if you're
5:24
Speaker 3: a Cubs fan, it's just encouraging that they are not
5:27
Speaker 3: just setting their payroll out.
5:28
Speaker 2: Well, look, we spent a lot more than the rest
5:30
Speaker 2: of you in all Central.
5:31
Speaker 3: It's like, no, the expectation is to go with the
5:32
Speaker 3: luxury tax.
5:33
Speaker 2: That's still not.
5:35
Speaker 3: Maybe where you ideally would want it to be, but
5:38
Speaker 3: it's a more reasonable marker for a team with legitimate
5:44
Speaker 3: October hopes. And then you know, we'll see kind of
5:49
Speaker 3: where how it shakes out in the NL East. I
5:51
Speaker 3: think it's it's gonna be a fascinating division. Obviously, the
5:55
Speaker 3: Dodgers are the Dodgers, They're going to be there. But
5:58
Speaker 3: the National League continues, even if in the flyover states,
6:02
Speaker 3: you know, these the hot stove it's kind of mad
6:04
Speaker 3: like the the National League is loading up again, and
6:09
Speaker 3: you know, the Cubs, clearly, I think are gonna be
6:13
Speaker 3: very vocal about winning the division. You saw there's a
6:17
Speaker 3: clear advantage in that. I think in that five game series,
6:22
Speaker 3: the home team won all five games, right between the
6:25
Speaker 3: Cubs and Brewers.
6:26
Speaker 2: And yeah, you're looking.
6:27
Speaker 3: At you know, the Cubs after if they had somehow
6:31
Speaker 3: won that game five count Creig Council acknowledge like they're
6:35
Speaker 3: pitching was not in good shape like that. You know,
6:38
Speaker 3: Brewers had that first round buy and they still got
6:41
Speaker 3: swept and they didn't obviously did not have enough and
6:44
Speaker 3: that you know, there's a lot of value in winning
6:48
Speaker 3: your division and lining it up and just taking another
6:51
Speaker 3: series off the table.
6:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree that when when talking about the division,
7:00
Speaker 1: little surprise we had all that talk, like you said
7:02
Speaker 1: about Reds and Pirates making noise in in uh in
7:06
Speaker 1: free agency with trades. I mean the Pirates made a
7:08
Speaker 1: lot of moves. Neither team upgraded the offense, and and
7:12
Speaker 1: both these teams are gonna be a pain and bud,
7:15
Speaker 1: because you're gonna go to Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. They're gonna
7:18
Speaker 1: come into town and throw three pitchers that just suppress
7:22
Speaker 1: runs and keep you to two three runs at max
7:25
Speaker 1: a game, and you're going to lose a series and
7:28
Speaker 1: fans are going to be up in arms.
7:29
Speaker 2: How are we losing to.
7:30
Speaker 1: This team that's barely five hundred whatever it may be, right,
7:33
Speaker 1: and it's because they're throwing out three awesome pitchers every series, uh,
7:38
Speaker 1: three awesome starters. So they're they're going to be maddening
7:41
Speaker 1: to face. But you're like, I think in the end
7:43
Speaker 1: they're gonna end up losing. You know, they're they're going
7:46
Speaker 1: to be around five hundred and they that's just you
7:50
Speaker 1: know what, I'm what I foresee that I don't. I
7:54
Speaker 1: would not be shocked if they if either team does well,
7:56
Speaker 1: because you have seasons like that when you have pitching
7:59
Speaker 1: and someone on offense, or you score enough where you
8:02
Speaker 1: just go on a run. It certainly they can they
8:06
Speaker 1: can make some noise. Then they're going to be a
8:08
Speaker 1: pain in the butt. But the Cubs and Brewers just
8:12
Speaker 1: have kind of proven year over year, well, the Brewers
8:15
Speaker 1: and now the Cubs kind of announcing themselves they're going
8:18
Speaker 1: to be the class of this division.
8:20
Speaker 2: Ah. It like the Cubs have set themselves up nicely.
8:25
Speaker 1: They have They've they've done They've had a really good
8:27
Speaker 1: off season and they've set themselves up really well. To
8:32
Speaker 1: have a good season and the expectations are high, and
8:35
Speaker 1: I guess that's you know, that's what you're asking for.
8:38
Speaker 1: It's not perfect, it's not Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Philly spending,
8:45
Speaker 1: but it is it is aggressive.
8:46
Speaker 2: It's more aggressive.
8:47
Speaker 1: Than than we've seen in a while before we get
8:50
Speaker 1: to like some smaller moves the Cubs are making.
8:54
Speaker 2: Just one of the touch on Hall of Fame stuff.
8:58
Speaker 1: I voted for the second time, and this was the
9:02
Speaker 1: first time I started really thinking about pictures.
9:06
Speaker 2: I guess of our generation.
9:10
Speaker 1: That like pitching is so different now, starting pitching is
9:13
Speaker 1: completely different. I put Mark Burley, Felix Hernandez, and Cole
9:19
Speaker 1: Hammil's on my list. I voted for them. If you
9:24
Speaker 1: would have asked me five years ago, if I would
9:27
Speaker 1: have done that, I would have said no, Felix, I
9:29
Speaker 1: would have thought about hard. Cole Hamilt's I wouldn't have
9:32
Speaker 1: get I would have been like, really cold, Hammils. I
9:36
Speaker 1: think we just have to completely change the way we
9:38
Speaker 1: think about starting pitching. And I doing some research, talking
9:44
Speaker 1: to some people, reading some articles that convinced me like, okay,
9:47
Speaker 1: this is this is I got to completely reframe things
9:52
Speaker 1: and I've said this two people before.
9:56
Speaker 2: I said, my son will ask me, are.
9:58
Speaker 1: There any Hall of Famers on the twenty sixteen Cubs,
10:01
Speaker 1: And I'd say, like, I don't think so. And now
10:04
Speaker 1: I think that conversation is changing because of starting pitching
10:07
Speaker 1: and John Lester is a guy that is going to
10:09
Speaker 1: get real backing for the Hall of Fame.
10:12
Speaker 2: And I think they like, we.
10:14
Speaker 1: Just had he's you know, he's in the Cubs Hall
10:16
Speaker 1: of Fame. That happened over Cubbs convention weekend, and and
10:22
Speaker 1: I think he's got a real shot. We'll see how
10:25
Speaker 1: crowded the ballots get. I think that's that's always, you know,
10:29
Speaker 1: a big part of it. But I think Lester has
10:31
Speaker 1: a shot. Maybe he doesn't. I don't know if the
10:34
Speaker 1: advanced metrics like him as much as like some of
10:37
Speaker 1: the advanced numbers. I was looking at some of the
10:41
Speaker 1: projections of like does this guy belong to the Hall
10:43
Speaker 1: of Fame if we change the way we look at things.
10:46
Speaker 2: Cole Hamil's got a lot of love for that. I haven't.
10:49
Speaker 1: I haven't dug in on Lester yet, so I'm not
10:51
Speaker 1: sure if he's in a similar range, but I think
10:54
Speaker 1: he's in that conversation.
10:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll probably sound like a Homer here, but I
10:59
Speaker 3: think think Lester has, you know, a stronger case than
11:04
Speaker 3: any of those three pitchers you previously mentioned.
11:08
Speaker 2: I think.
11:11
Speaker 3: Burley was not a guy I covered a ton like he's,
11:15
Speaker 3: you know, at the beginning of my career, you know,
11:18
Speaker 3: briefly touched upon the sort of the end of his
11:21
Speaker 3: certainly his numbers and his body of work, like really
11:25
Speaker 3: pops when you see the way the game has trended.
11:30
Speaker 3: I didn't quite get there on Felix Hernandez or Cole Hammil's,
11:37
Speaker 3: but I think when John Lester's name is on that ballot,
11:42
Speaker 3: I'm going to have to sort of reassess because to me,
11:48
Speaker 3: maybe Lester is not a slam dunk candidate, but I
11:50
Speaker 3: think he's going to get it really strong support right
11:54
Speaker 3: out of the gate, and you know, when that happens,
11:58
Speaker 3: there's usually a good chance you're eventually gonna get there.
12:03
Speaker 3: I just think his his volume, his world series rings,
12:09
Speaker 3: and just to you know, I'm I'm someone everyone has
12:13
Speaker 3: their own sort of criteria, and even within that year
12:16
Speaker 3: to year, it sort of changes, like you're constantly, you know,
12:19
Speaker 3: thinking about it. But I I like not thinking about
12:22
Speaker 3: how it too hard, Like I like, is he a
12:24
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer?
12:25
Speaker 2: Yes?
12:25
Speaker 3: Like when Coal Hammils, when the Cubs traded for Coal Hammils,
12:30
Speaker 3: do you think like, oh, like they're getting a future
12:32
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer and like big name, great picture, really
12:37
Speaker 3: good dude. Like I just like the end of his
12:41
Speaker 3: career there, Like I think he just needed maybe one
12:43
Speaker 3: or two more seasons instead of bouncing around. But like that,
12:47
Speaker 3: even in saying that, you just feel like you feel stupid,
12:52
Speaker 3: sort of like nitpicking over like you know, these guys
12:54
Speaker 3: who had amazing careers, I think you just sound really petty,
12:58
Speaker 3: sort of like, well what about this that you know?
13:00
Speaker 3: And you know it was at king Fields's fault that
13:04
Speaker 3: the Mariners were bad and that they really, you know,
13:07
Speaker 3: seemingly from Afar overworked him, you know, so hard, so
13:12
Speaker 3: early in his career. So I think those those guys
13:17
Speaker 3: will be grouped together for a while. I love the
13:20
Speaker 3: who's a Hall of Famer from the twenty sixteen group,
13:23
Speaker 3: I think sort of walking in you know, I guess
13:26
Speaker 3: they're not eligible yet, but you know, Thugh Epstein obvious
13:32
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer whenever he's you know, eligible, assuming some
13:38
Speaker 3: sort of scandal doesn't wreck the rest of his life.
13:40
Speaker 3: I think that's kind of I think with everything here
13:44
Speaker 3: Joe Madden, Yeah, very in my book, he's a Hall
13:49
Speaker 3: of Famer. I mean just what he accomplished. And then
13:53
Speaker 3: player wise, I think Lester is certainly like trending that way.
13:58
Speaker 3: I think maybe the day he retired it was borderline.
14:01
Speaker 3: And I think as we sort of appreciate and put
14:06
Speaker 3: more context around the era in which he played, like
14:09
Speaker 3: his accomplishments will shine even brighter. And then, uh, Kyle Schwarber,
14:15
Speaker 3: if Kyle Schwarber has jeez, I didn't even think about
14:19
Speaker 3: a good run during this, you know, this next Phillies
14:24
Speaker 3: contract that he just signed. I mean, he's going to
14:29
Speaker 3: be creeping towards five hundred career home runs, and like
14:35
Speaker 3: you know, right now he's at three forty. He's got
14:38
Speaker 3: a five year deal on a team that's gonna be
14:42
Speaker 3: trying to win the World Series every year of that contract,
14:46
Speaker 3: or at least the first several years, you know, before
14:49
Speaker 3: the bottom might fall out in Philly, But you're clearly
14:53
Speaker 3: an ownership group that's willing to spend a lead baseball
14:57
Speaker 3: executive who's always going for it surrounded by other star players.
15:03
Speaker 3: He's got the postseason resume already and a reputation for
15:08
Speaker 3: just being an all time teammate, which John Lester does
15:12
Speaker 3: as well.
15:12
Speaker 2: Like, so you look at it that way.
15:15
Speaker 3: You know, if Schwarber stays healthy and we I think
15:18
Speaker 3: we both think he sort of figured something out, Like
15:20
Speaker 3: his body has sort of changed a little bit from
15:23
Speaker 3: when he first came to Chicago. Being a d H
15:28
Speaker 3: is a very hard job, but it's not as physically
15:31
Speaker 3: taxing as playing the field every day. And you know,
15:35
Speaker 3: he won't get the defensive metrics to help his cause,
15:39
Speaker 3: but I think leadership qualities, clubhouse reputation, just you know,
15:45
Speaker 3: an all time postseason legend in Chicago. You add it up,
15:50
Speaker 3: he's going to have a very compelling case.
15:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as I was thinking through that roster, Earla
15:57
Speaker 1: Chapman probably gets in.
16:00
Speaker 2: Too.
16:00
Speaker 1: I mean, he's become one of the Like I thought
16:03
Speaker 1: his career was like on the downswing a couple of
16:06
Speaker 1: years after he left the Cubs, and he's he's still
16:09
Speaker 1: one of the best relievers in baseball a decade later.
16:11
Speaker 1: It's kind of remarkable how how long he's been doing
16:14
Speaker 1: it and how well he's been doing it. Yeah, I
16:18
Speaker 1: hadn't considered Sharper and that's a great that's a great call.
16:22
Speaker 1: I think a big, big part of it for me.
16:24
Speaker 1: And this is why I put like Pettit in even
16:27
Speaker 1: though I don't think the regular season numbers really line
16:31
Speaker 1: up well again for the for the Hall of Fame.
16:34
Speaker 1: Cole Hamil's has awesome postseason numbers. John Wester really good
16:39
Speaker 1: postseason numbers. Look when you're like I had to, like
16:42
Speaker 1: I said, I kind of changed the way I looked
16:44
Speaker 1: at it, and then I there are things that you know,
16:47
Speaker 1: maybe I normally wouldn't put at the top of my list,
16:51
Speaker 1: but push them into the Hall of Fame for me,
16:55
Speaker 1: and postseason numbers are one of those things.
16:57
Speaker 2: It's like, it's not going to be like I.
16:59
Speaker 1: Don't love the well, he was awesome in the postseason,
17:01
Speaker 1: so he just automatically put him in type stuff.
17:03
Speaker 2: That's why I remember him, So I'm putting him in.
17:06
Speaker 2: I get it, like it.
17:08
Speaker 1: A lot of our memories are created because of postseason success.
17:12
Speaker 1: But you know, I want to focus on what's the
17:14
Speaker 1: overall body of work? Okay that's borderline, Well, what are
17:17
Speaker 1: some things that I'm gonna look at to push you
17:19
Speaker 1: over the edge.
17:20
Speaker 2: Okay, you did this, XYZ.
17:22
Speaker 1: And one of those is postseason and it's like you
17:24
Speaker 1: dominate in the postseason, I'm gonna push you over the edge.
17:27
Speaker 1: And Hammil's did that. Lester did that, And you're right
17:30
Speaker 1: about Hamilton. I think if he could have had a
17:33
Speaker 1: Verlander type and to the season, to his career instead
17:37
Speaker 1: of just like it was cut short because injuries.
17:40
Speaker 2: He was so good with the Cubs.
17:42
Speaker 1: And then if you remember, I can't remember what year
17:46
Speaker 1: that was, so it was they acquired him in eighteen,
17:49
Speaker 1: was it? And they kept him for nineteen or am
17:51
Speaker 1: I missing whatever year it was?
17:52
Speaker 3: Correct, Yeah, theyre eighteen. They put all that money into
17:55
Speaker 3: the pitching staff, and it just like did not work right.
17:58
Speaker 3: He was not pitching well in Texas change of scenery.
18:02
Speaker 3: And then when they pick up that option that was
18:05
Speaker 3: essentially their big off season move and they had to
18:08
Speaker 3: try Drew Smiley to do it right. It was sort
18:11
Speaker 3: of like, yeah, you're not You're not getting getting Bress
18:13
Speaker 3: Harper right.
18:15
Speaker 1: So so I remember this distinctly. In spring training, he
18:21
Speaker 1: he and I talked and he wanted to be like
18:24
Speaker 1: Justin Verlander. That was his that was his plan, like
18:28
Speaker 1: he felt really good.
18:31
Speaker 2: I had a big story lined up.
18:33
Speaker 1: I was going to write it, had a bunch of people,
18:35
Speaker 1: talk to a bunch of people from his past who
18:37
Speaker 1: believed he could do something like that. And I don't
18:40
Speaker 1: think people remember how good he was to start the season.
18:44
Speaker 1: He was one of the better pitchers in baseball to
18:47
Speaker 1: start that season. Got an injury, tried to kind of
18:50
Speaker 1: pitch through it, and that screwed up his numbers, I believe, and.
18:53
Speaker 2: Then and then they.
18:54
Speaker 1: Sat him and he just could not come back, Like
18:57
Speaker 1: the injury was significantly worse than anyone And I'm pretty
19:01
Speaker 1: sure that was pretty much the end of his career.
19:03
Speaker 1: He may have pitched a little bit, but he was
19:05
Speaker 1: done after that. And it was just like, injuries crushed
19:08
Speaker 1: this opportunity to have this, like, hey here, here's you know,
19:13
Speaker 1: this swan song ending to my career where I have
19:16
Speaker 1: three more brilliant years when you all thought I was
19:18
Speaker 1: cooked and it turned out, you know, injuries just kind
19:22
Speaker 1: of sunk him. I liked him a lot. I really
19:26
Speaker 1: thought there was more there, and I liked the mentality
19:30
Speaker 1: that he that he had. But it's a bummer that
19:32
Speaker 1: he never got that got healthy again after that and
19:35
Speaker 1: could really chase, you know, pitching into his forties and
19:38
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Patrick looked quickly, just go over some
19:42
Speaker 1: stuff that the Cubs they're not done. We tried to
19:47
Speaker 1: say this at the end of last week or or
19:51
Speaker 1: in our last episode.
19:52
Speaker 2: I guess they there may be a big move coming.
19:56
Speaker 1: I don't want to rule that out, but there to
20:00
Speaker 1: continue to add, I think there was a smaller move
20:02
Speaker 1: over the weekend in Trent Thornton. Trent Thornton, I believe
20:05
Speaker 1: it was an achilles injury. Really good reliever with really
20:10
Speaker 1: good stuff, who's had good seasons. He'll probably I'm sure
20:15
Speaker 1: he says he's ready to go, and then we'll have
20:17
Speaker 1: it and we'll be pitching in spring training. My guesses
20:19
Speaker 1: the Cubs are gonna take him very slowly well with him.
20:23
Speaker 1: But if there are if you're I don't think there's
20:26
Speaker 1: going to be a repeat of Brad Keller, just because
20:28
Speaker 1: that was an exceptional season. But if there are names
20:31
Speaker 1: to watch of guys that you know are not on
20:36
Speaker 1: the forty man just yet, it'd be it'd be Trent
20:39
Speaker 1: Thornton and Corbyn Martin.
20:40
Speaker 2: Two names to just file away. Now.
20:42
Speaker 1: We have not seen them. So this is before we've
20:45
Speaker 1: seen what they're doing in spring. They could go out
20:47
Speaker 1: there and be throwing eighty five and it's like, oh, okay,
20:49
Speaker 1: this guy's not close to ready h But those are
20:52
Speaker 1: two names that you know, very early on you should
20:55
Speaker 1: put on your radar, like maybe these guys can help
20:58
Speaker 1: the bullpend. And then we we said it, like do
21:01
Speaker 1: they need a veteran outfielder to sit on the bench
21:05
Speaker 1: and like come in and hit lefties. They got that
21:08
Speaker 1: guy in Chas McCormick is right now a minor league deal.
21:12
Speaker 2: It's been a couple of years since Chez.
21:15
Speaker 1: Crushed, but he he has a history of hitting lefties.
21:21
Speaker 1: Good bench bat, I believe, solid defender, good, good guy
21:26
Speaker 1: to have around. If you know, if he's if he
21:29
Speaker 1: can bounce back, that's a that's how you build a bench.
21:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a name Like if you acquired
21:35
Speaker 3: this guy a couple of years ago, it would be
21:37
Speaker 3: like a you know, huge headline, like a whole we
21:39
Speaker 3: do a whole show around it. And obviously he sort
21:43
Speaker 3: of fell off a cliff offensively. And you know, we've
21:48
Speaker 3: talked about this before in the context of pie Crow
21:50
Speaker 3: Armstrong and what he could be like it's so hard
21:52
Speaker 3: to find a guy who can play center fields. I
21:57
Speaker 3: feel like there are not many. He's right handed bat right,
22:01
Speaker 3: I mean, there's not a lot of right handed bats
22:04
Speaker 3: out there in this particular cycle either. And so like
22:06
Speaker 3: if he's signing a minor league deal for the Cubs,
22:08
Speaker 3: like that tells you what the industry thinks about him.
22:14
Speaker 3: Both the Cubs love this, like you know, ex Astros pipeline,
22:17
Speaker 3: They're constantly getting guys from there, and you know, I
22:21
Speaker 3: think it it makes sense just in terms of what
22:25
Speaker 3: council told us, uh last week. I really listened to
22:30
Speaker 3: it yesterday and it was it was so funny of
22:35
Speaker 3: just like he's already in mid season form. That's like
22:40
Speaker 3: kind of how I described of it. Like if those
22:42
Speaker 3: what you think, I don't know what you're looking at.
22:44
Speaker 3: You know, it's just like you can tell he's pushing
22:47
Speaker 3: the front office. Jed and Carter are naturally sort of
22:51
Speaker 3: paranoid about injuries as well, what could go wrong. So
22:56
Speaker 3: I'd imagine at minimum we're going to see more of
22:59
Speaker 3: deals like this. As we've discussed, the idea of trading
23:04
Speaker 3: Matt Shaw is not totally far fetched. Maybe it's not
23:08
Speaker 3: realistic but not out of the question. And then yeah,
23:12
Speaker 3: they they love acquiring pitching depth and they love being opportunistic.
23:18
Speaker 3: I think that's what we've both sort of heard, like, look,
23:20
Speaker 3: we're going to be opportunistic, you know, that's how they
23:23
Speaker 3: always go about things. And they are signaling that they
23:28
Speaker 3: have more money than recent off seasons and that they're
23:31
Speaker 3: not totally maxed out on their budget. Yet that doesn't
23:35
Speaker 3: mean they're just gonna, like, you know, I guess there's
23:39
Speaker 3: not that many great free ads out there, but then
23:41
Speaker 3: I like totally blow the market away with some sort
23:45
Speaker 3: of like free agent signing. But like, yeah, if this
23:48
Speaker 3: makes sense, if this is a better deal than maybe
23:51
Speaker 3: what they're going to have to go out and do
23:52
Speaker 3: at the trade deadline, if the acquisition costs makes sense,
23:56
Speaker 3: versus giving up prospects at the trade deadline, if you know,
24:01
Speaker 3: something else happens, you know, we don't know what that
24:03
Speaker 3: could be. But one of their existing pitchers, you know, oh,
24:07
Speaker 3: by the way, we didn't tell you that, you know,
24:09
Speaker 3: I forgot to tell you. You know, so and so
24:11
Speaker 3: is you know, seriously injured. Right now, Maybe that's where
24:17
Speaker 3: they pivot, but like, yeah, we haven't like, yeah, I
24:20
Speaker 3: think Jed's phrase is like pencils down, Like that's not
24:22
Speaker 3: how they're operating right now.
24:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
24:24
Speaker 1: No, absolutely with McCormick, a couple injuries over the past
24:29
Speaker 1: couple of years, so maybe I don't know how much
24:31
Speaker 1: that impacted him. I mean, he was on the IL
24:34
Speaker 1: a few times over the past couple of years risk
24:36
Speaker 1: oblique hamstring. So those are the types of things that
24:39
Speaker 1: can really derail a season. But even last year was
24:43
Speaker 1: much better against lefties. Not not above average last year
24:46
Speaker 1: against lefties, but the numbers against lefties were much better
24:51
Speaker 1: than verse aryeties. And then you look at when he
24:54
Speaker 1: was healthy in twenty three twenty two, he destroyed lefties,
24:58
Speaker 1: Like this is the if he's healthy and if he
25:01
Speaker 1: can get find that twenty twenty three type performance, a
25:06
Speaker 1: perfect bench bat, put him in there, like he's going
25:08
Speaker 1: to be playing against the lefties probably regularly if he
25:11
Speaker 1: has the numbers that I saw, like one seventy five
25:14
Speaker 1: way to runs created plus in twenty three, one ninety
25:17
Speaker 1: against lefties, like just crushing them.
25:19
Speaker 2: So we'll see, we'll see if there's value there.
25:23
Speaker 1: But these are the types of moves that you may
25:25
Speaker 1: see going forward, and like you said, we'll see if
25:27
Speaker 1: they have another big one waiting for them, you know,
25:30
Speaker 1: out there for I'm not guaranteeing anything, but like you said,
25:35
Speaker 1: I just don't think they're they're ready to just like
25:37
Speaker 1: shut it down.
25:39
Speaker 2: All right.
25:40
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week talking more Cubs preparing for
25:44
Speaker 1: spring training. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to
25:48
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick
25:51
Speaker 1: and I are on top of all things Cubs.
25:52
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening. Everyone, take.
26:00
Speaker 4: The game and the day.
26:19
Speaker 3: The le