Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Trade deadline buzz: The pitchers the Cubs are pursuing

Transcript

Trade deadline buzz: The pitchers the Cubs are pursuing · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadem Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, it
0:17
Speaker 1: is getting hot and heavy on the hot stove where
0:23
Speaker 1: it is. It's going to get busy by the time
0:26
Speaker 1: this podcast releases. Who knows what trades will have happened,
0:31
Speaker 1: but there have been some decent ones. Nothing huge, but
0:36
Speaker 1: we've seen some moves already over the past twenty four hours.
0:40
Speaker 1: The Twins getting Dean Kramer, an interesting trade between Cleveland
0:45
Speaker 1: and Milwaukee. There was another trade last night that I'm
0:50
Speaker 1: blanking on right now. But I know there's been multiple
0:53
Speaker 1: moves over the past twenty four hours. These aren't the
0:55
Speaker 1: huge moves. These aren't the earth shattering moves. I think
0:59
Speaker 1: everything that we're hearing makes it seem like it's going
1:02
Speaker 1: to be a fun deadline. I don't think it's going
1:05
Speaker 1: to be uneventful. But right now, prices are high, and
1:10
Speaker 1: that's part of what we're going to talk about. The
1:13
Speaker 1: big prize of the deadline for probably one of the
1:16
Speaker 1: highest prices of a rental that we're going to see
1:21
Speaker 1: definitely this summer, maybe like for a while, like in
1:24
Speaker 1: a long we haven't seen the price this high for
1:27
Speaker 1: a rental in a while, not in this era where
1:31
Speaker 1: young prospects are so valued. But Trek's gouble. In all likelihood,
1:36
Speaker 1: it seems like we're headed towards inevitably Terrek School is
1:40
Speaker 1: going to end this season on another team and not
1:43
Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers.
1:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this will be obviously the biggest story
1:50
Speaker 2: of the deadline, and the Cubs are involved. I think
1:54
Speaker 2: we were both sort of like waiting to hear kind
1:59
Speaker 2: of a firm know or oh that's crazy, And yes,
2:03
Speaker 2: they think the you know, projected asking prices are crazy,
2:06
Speaker 2: but they haven't shot.
2:08
Speaker 3: It down, they haven't ruled it out.
2:11
Speaker 2: And I think that doesn't tell us that, you know,
2:14
Speaker 2: schoobl is coming in to Wrigley Field. I think it's
2:16
Speaker 2: more of just how ambitious and open minded they are
2:21
Speaker 2: at this particular transaction transaction cycle. Obviously, the way the
2:27
Speaker 2: team has played. If they were in the Brewers position,
2:30
Speaker 2: I think, you know, their odds forgetting Schooble would have
2:33
Speaker 2: gone up a.
2:34
Speaker 3: Lot higher, but it's not zero.
2:38
Speaker 2: And I think kind of an interesting part of this
2:41
Speaker 2: as we were reporting it out. I don't think this
2:44
Speaker 2: is going to be like the deciding factor. But it's
2:47
Speaker 2: interesting to hear how Scooble really enjoys Chicago and that
2:53
Speaker 2: his family is very rooted in Arizona. My understanding, he
2:59
Speaker 2: has a home very close to the Cubs MESA Complex,
3:04
Speaker 2: which would make spring training in the Cactus League a
3:09
Speaker 2: very appealing option. And if if you're a free agent
3:13
Speaker 2: at that level, there's only so many teams that are
3:17
Speaker 2: gonna be willing to pay in that range. Granted, for
3:22
Speaker 2: the Cubs, it will probably be an unprecedented commitment to
3:26
Speaker 2: a pitcher. So not saying like the Cubs are slam
3:30
Speaker 2: dunk there by enemies, but it's another like layer to
3:32
Speaker 2: this as you sort of game out different scenarios.
3:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, it so the price is is what, like I
3:41
Speaker 1: just cannot get past fully for this, for this to
3:44
Speaker 1: be realistic for the Cubs for two reasons. One, I
3:49
Speaker 1: don't think the Cubs are just like I don't think
3:51
Speaker 1: they're going to get over that hump of like being like, Okay,
3:54
Speaker 1: let's just do this. I know it's ridiculous. I know
3:57
Speaker 1: it's what the model says is that we should not
4:00
Speaker 1: do this, but we're gonna do it, Like I struggle
4:03
Speaker 1: with them getting over that hurdle, and then there's just
4:07
Speaker 1: gonna be a team like Milwaukee or Milwaukee may stick
4:10
Speaker 1: to that mentality as well, because Milwaukee is probably like
4:14
Speaker 1: probably needs to be more disciplined than the Cubs to
4:17
Speaker 1: that philosophy in order to thrive. Right, Like, one misstep
4:21
Speaker 1: and giving up the wrong prospect can set them back.
4:24
Speaker 1: That's just how it works for them. They're so talented,
4:27
Speaker 1: they have so much young talent prospect wise, especially, but
4:33
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, like I feel like if you want to
4:36
Speaker 1: kind of overpay, like the Dodgers can do that. Like
4:38
Speaker 1: they can give you a starter that can go like
4:42
Speaker 1: this year, you know, or a young pitcher that can
4:45
Speaker 1: go right away, and a prospect, you know, a highly
4:49
Speaker 1: thought of prospect that would probably be like in the
4:52
Speaker 1: middle of their top ten. But most other teams, like
4:56
Speaker 1: you know, number one or two prospects. So it just
4:59
Speaker 1: feels like that's that's likely what happens. But I don't
5:04
Speaker 1: want to rule it out because it could, you know,
5:07
Speaker 1: it could become that moment where it's like, look we're
5:10
Speaker 1: going to we're really good. I mean Jed is not
5:15
Speaker 1: I know people. I think people listen to Jed sometimes
5:18
Speaker 1: and just get this idea that he doesn't do aggressive moves.
5:22
Speaker 1: He doesn't do things that you know, because of the
5:27
Speaker 1: intelligence spending became such a big deal twenty thirty two
5:30
Speaker 1: became such a big deal with Carter, they just think
5:34
Speaker 1: they don't give up prospects ever, and I don't think
5:36
Speaker 1: that's true. You have there has to be a balance here.
5:40
Speaker 1: I mean, they paid up for Kyle Tucker and the
5:42
Speaker 1: prospect like with prospects and talent. They gave money to
5:46
Speaker 1: Alex Bregman. He spent in that big shortstop class. Yes
5:51
Speaker 1: it was the cheapest shortstop of that class, but it's
5:53
Speaker 1: also the most valuable shortstop from that class. So it's
5:57
Speaker 1: not like he's afraid to make moves. And he was
6:00
Speaker 1: right hand man during all those big moves. I know
6:03
Speaker 1: everyone only wants to give credit to the THEO on that,
6:06
Speaker 1: but Jed was a part of that, so he does
6:08
Speaker 1: get some credit for it. So maybe he proves me
6:12
Speaker 1: wrong here. I also just don't know if it's the
6:15
Speaker 1: right move, But like Terrek Schooble would obviously change things,
6:19
Speaker 1: and I think with an elite defense, and in a
6:23
Speaker 1: damn good offense. I guess you can say lead offense
6:26
Speaker 1: because by war it's the best in baseball. Uh, it
6:29
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. Add Schooble, add some relievers,
6:33
Speaker 1: and and you have one of the best, if not
6:35
Speaker 1: the best team in baseball, certainly a team that can
6:38
Speaker 1: compete with the Dodgers, no doubt.
6:41
Speaker 2: I mean the players in the clubhouse, Craig Counsel, his
6:44
Speaker 2: coaches have you know, put together a product that makes
6:50
Speaker 2: them seriously consider Scooble, Like you know, they have passed
6:55
Speaker 2: the eye test, and.
6:56
Speaker 3: They've shown a lot of resiliency in that.
7:00
Speaker 2: Regard overcoming injuries, not letting the season go off the rails.
7:07
Speaker 2: You're right about Jed, And I get it why fans
7:12
Speaker 2: are skeptical. Like we write about this stuff, we talk
7:15
Speaker 2: about this stuff. You can sometimes feel the eye rolls,
7:18
Speaker 2: or you see the comments on social media or within
7:22
Speaker 2: the comments section itself. And yeah, he did not have
7:27
Speaker 2: like the greatest trade deadline last year, and it looked
7:31
Speaker 2: odd to get a contract extension in a lame duck
7:36
Speaker 2: year before the deadline, and then to really just sort
7:39
Speaker 2: of play it safe and like every move made sense
7:44
Speaker 2: on paper. But it did not substantially raise the ceiling
7:48
Speaker 2: for that team. So I get all that. But and
7:53
Speaker 2: part of this is, you know, Jed's personality, how he
7:58
Speaker 2: presents himself. To his credit, he's very available. He talks
8:03
Speaker 2: to the media a lot, so I think, and I
8:07
Speaker 2: think that helps him in the long run. You know,
8:09
Speaker 2: fans can see his point of view, but it is
8:14
Speaker 2: a lot of like payroll flexibility model projects playoff probabilities.
8:20
Speaker 2: But that's not the entire breath of his experience as
8:23
Speaker 2: someone who was you know, you know, I wrote the
8:25
Speaker 2: other day at Kurt Chilling's house for Thanksgiving. You know,
8:29
Speaker 2: he's meeting with a rod trying to get him in
8:32
Speaker 2: the Red Sox, the Nomar trade, throws Chapman trade, and
8:37
Speaker 2: even more recent, hey, Kintana, the Tucker trade. And I
8:44
Speaker 2: also think the pursuit of Bregman and how they circled
8:47
Speaker 2: back to him and you know, raised their offer and
8:51
Speaker 2: fundamentally changed it in several different ways, clearly demonstrated level
8:55
Speaker 2: of aggressiveness and creativity. And I do think the dynamics
8:59
Speaker 2: of in the front off this, you mentioned Carter, you know,
9:02
Speaker 2: he is sort of a governor on some of this stuff.
9:05
Speaker 3: He is obviously very hype.
9:07
Speaker 2: He's hyper rational, and I think as Jed has done
9:10
Speaker 2: this for such a long time, and he has adopted,
9:14
Speaker 2: you know, some of Theo's qualities. I mean, THEO is
9:16
Speaker 2: sort of a one of one, very unique character. But
9:23
Speaker 2: you know, Jed knows what a really good team looks like,
9:28
Speaker 2: and this is it.
9:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that's that's the big thing. Right, He's
9:33
Speaker 1: been around for a long time. It's not like he
9:36
Speaker 1: can't identify the keys to He identified when he saw
9:42
Speaker 1: how important defense was to that twenty sixteen team, and
9:45
Speaker 1: he's like, I want to make that the bedrock of
9:47
Speaker 1: my next great team. And he executed it really well.
9:51
Speaker 1: And this team is an elite defensive team once again.
9:55
Speaker 1: And that's a big reason why they have a chance
9:58
Speaker 1: to go far in the playoffs. It's a big reason
10:00
Speaker 1: why you know, they can weather the storm and sometimes
10:04
Speaker 1: overcome pitchers that don't miss a lot of bats. That
10:08
Speaker 1: it makes them a better team, like in ways that
10:11
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we don't fully appreciate. It is it's
10:17
Speaker 1: their like bedrock, it's what they can fall back on.
10:19
Speaker 1: It's like, oh the bats are kind of slumping, Okay,
10:22
Speaker 1: maybe we can win a game two to one because
10:26
Speaker 1: because our defense will just you know, smother the other
10:28
Speaker 1: team in a sense. All right, let's, uh let's take
10:32
Speaker 1: a quick break and then when we come back, we'll
10:34
Speaker 1: we'll talk about uh more pitchers and uh you know, pitching, pitching, pitching,
10:40
Speaker 1: I think is the thumb process going forward.
10:44
Speaker 4: Big second half of the season coming up. There might
10:46
Speaker 4: be a hot ticket, a rivalry series, a sold out
10:50
Speaker 4: experience they need to get your hands on, and seakeeek
10:53
Speaker 4: is the spot for that. You can find good good pricing.
10:57
Speaker 4: They help you with the pricing green dot good, red
10:59
Speaker 4: dot not as good. And they help you with your
11:02
Speaker 4: view of the seat for some big matchups coming up
11:04
Speaker 4: in August, September and eventually leading up to playoffs.
11:07
Speaker 5: Why would you not use se geek if you want
11:09
Speaker 5: to view from your seat. You want to know if
11:10
Speaker 5: it's a good seat, if it's a good deal. It
11:13
Speaker 5: has all of it on the app. It's easy to use.
11:15
Speaker 5: It's one click boom. You buy the tickets, they send
11:17
Speaker 5: them right to you, get them on the app, and
11:19
Speaker 5: then you can go check out whatever game whatever you're
11:21
Speaker 5: a fan of, if you can go to whether it's baseball,
11:23
Speaker 5: whether it's concerts, whatever you're into. You can find a
11:26
Speaker 5: ticket and you can always try to find the green
11:28
Speaker 5: dot on seekk.
11:29
Speaker 4: And for MLB tickets you can get ten percent off
11:32
Speaker 4: with that promo code running all season long. Territory one zero.
11:35
Speaker 4: That's Territory ten off your next set of MLB tickets
11:38
Speaker 4: at Sea Geek. Make sure you click the link in
11:40
Speaker 4: the description to download the app and have the code
11:42
Speaker 4: automatically added to your accounts so you can use it later.
11:45
Speaker 6: There is one place to be entrede deadline day watching
11:49
Speaker 6: Foul Territory of course. Aj Perdinski, Aeric Kratz, and Scott
11:53
Speaker 6: Brown will be live all afternoon speaking with insiders, reading
11:57
Speaker 6: tea leaves and reacting to unfolding deadline dry Join us
12:01
Speaker 6: on the FT YouTube channel at one pm ET and
12:04
Speaker 6: stay locked in through the six pm deadline next Monday.
12:07
Speaker 6: Foul Territory Network, It's baseball the way it should be.
12:11
Speaker 1: Covered Patrick, There's obviously going to be a lot of
12:17
Speaker 1: names talked about. Prospects will be a big part of
12:23
Speaker 1: this deadline, as they always are, so go to Baseball
12:26
Speaker 1: America and check out their analysis on the players traded.
12:31
Speaker 1: Baseball America is the best place to learn about all
12:33
Speaker 1: the prospects on the move this trade deadline season. Now
12:36
Speaker 1: through Monday, our viewers get thirty percent off the first
12:39
Speaker 1: year of any digital annual digital annual subscription with promo
12:45
Speaker 1: code north north Side thirty. That's code north Side thirty
12:50
Speaker 1: at Baseballamerica dot com. Speaking of prospects, Freddy Peralta is
13:00
Speaker 1: a name that's out there that is, you know, attractive
13:04
Speaker 1: to a lot of teams, including the Cubs. And one
13:07
Speaker 1: thing about Paralta, one thing that we're hearing right now
13:12
Speaker 1: is the asking price for Paralta is pretty high. I
13:15
Speaker 1: believe our buddies Ken Rosenthal and Will Salmon reported that
13:20
Speaker 1: it is a top one hundred level prospect right now.
13:23
Speaker 1: Is the current asking price. I think both of us
13:26
Speaker 1: have been told, like to just in general, the asking price.
13:29
Speaker 1: Asking prices are really high these things. That's just the case.
13:34
Speaker 1: In like seventy two hours, forty eight hours, like it
13:37
Speaker 1: starts to change in then around now, like it can
13:41
Speaker 1: start to like prices can start to change, but right
13:44
Speaker 1: now it's it's high.
13:47
Speaker 3: Yeah.
13:48
Speaker 2: We're recording on Saturday morning ahead of a night game,
13:52
Speaker 2: weather permitting at Wrigley Field, And I think the sense
13:56
Speaker 2: we got was Okay, once you get into the weekend,
14:00
Speaker 2: things might start to pick up a little little more,
14:04
Speaker 2: teams start to find at least a bit more common ground.
14:10
Speaker 2: But there is nothing like a deadline to get these
14:13
Speaker 2: things done. And you know where is the Cubs are
14:18
Speaker 2: all over the pitching mark. We obviously have to start
14:21
Speaker 2: with schooble, like both with our show and our sort
14:24
Speaker 2: of reporting process, Like you know, if they're not setting
14:28
Speaker 2: a cap there, they're going to be looking all over
14:32
Speaker 2: peralta obvious connection to Craig Council.
14:36
Speaker 3: You know, they have a good relationship. I looked at it.
14:40
Speaker 2: I was surprised at how many pitchers the Cubs have
14:43
Speaker 2: added from the Brewers over the last you know, two
14:48
Speaker 2: and a half seasons, three years, wherever you want to
14:51
Speaker 2: start it from when he left the Brewers. I think
14:55
Speaker 2: the Cubs have a couple ideas about, you know, how
15:00
Speaker 2: to help unlock him and get him back on track.
15:04
Speaker 2: And it's the same logic that drove the David Peterson deal.
15:07
Speaker 2: Just change of scenery, better defense, see what happens.
15:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this is one like when he's right
15:15
Speaker 1: one of the best pitchers in the game, like great
15:19
Speaker 1: stuff like good competitor, like just you know, maybe not
15:25
Speaker 1: Cy Young Award winner, not as dominant as Schoobale, but
15:30
Speaker 1: certainly someone that you can trust when he's right. And
15:35
Speaker 1: right now he isn't so or he's just not getting
15:38
Speaker 1: the results. It doesn't seem like he's way off. But yeah,
15:42
Speaker 1: certainly teams and we know the Cubs have ideas of like,
15:46
Speaker 1: this isn't you know, this isn't something that's unfixable. There's
15:49
Speaker 1: a way that you know, you can get this guy
15:53
Speaker 1: back to who he was. He's he came off one
15:56
Speaker 1: of the best seasons of his career, Like it wasn't
15:59
Speaker 1: like we're years removed from Freddy Peralta being great, Like
16:04
Speaker 1: he's a very good pitcher. Who was you know, borderline
16:09
Speaker 1: Cy Young contender and and now it's just been an
16:13
Speaker 1: awful season with the Mets. You know, some things are
16:16
Speaker 1: a little different with him, and and if the Cubs
16:18
Speaker 1: can get that right, the question is do you believe
16:21
Speaker 1: you can do it, Like is it a quick fix? Right,
16:25
Speaker 1: Like you don't you can't have a project. And my
16:29
Speaker 1: understanding is that they don't see it as like something
16:31
Speaker 1: that would be like weeks or months long project that
16:36
Speaker 1: they there are some tweaks that could get him back
16:38
Speaker 1: to being pretty damn good pretty quickly going to be executed.
16:41
Speaker 1: Cant like, what does he feel really good right now?
16:44
Speaker 3: Is it?
16:45
Speaker 1: Is it as simple? Is there any mental are there
16:46
Speaker 1: any mental hurdles that need to be crossed?
16:48
Speaker 3: Whatever?
16:49
Speaker 1: Those are questions that they need to figure out. And
16:52
Speaker 1: obviously the price. I think they're hoping the price goes
16:55
Speaker 1: down because they don't want to pay that hefty price.
17:00
Speaker 1: There have been Like I think there's a little more
17:03
Speaker 1: pitching available this year than there was last, so maybe
17:08
Speaker 1: prices won't be as crazy as last year. We didn't
17:12
Speaker 1: see as many deals last year, but the deals we
17:14
Speaker 1: saw there were some solid prospects moved Merrill, Kelly, Dustin May.
17:19
Speaker 1: These aren't like huge needle movers, and they got decent
17:23
Speaker 1: packages in return, nothing like overwhelming. It wasn't like the
17:28
Speaker 1: Mason Miller package, but they were solid, solid players traded
17:33
Speaker 1: in those moves. I personally thought that dust and May
17:37
Speaker 1: trade was kind of crazy at the time, and I
17:41
Speaker 1: mean he did not perform well enough for Boston to
17:45
Speaker 1: give up a prospect that ended up being top one
17:47
Speaker 1: hundred and James Tibbs at the third.
17:51
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:51
Speaker 2: I think that's what we've heard as well as just
17:53
Speaker 2: like they discuss everyone essentially, they look into just about
17:59
Speaker 2: everything and like cost is a factor here, like they're
18:04
Speaker 2: going to weigh all of that. That's why you know
18:08
Speaker 2: you could always tweet out cubs interested in pitcher X.
18:12
Speaker 2: You're probably right, like to some varying degree, we're focusing
18:16
Speaker 2: on the ones that we know and kind of why.
18:21
Speaker 3: They're interested in them.
18:22
Speaker 2: And I think you know one name you've been on
18:24
Speaker 2: top of a side of is Kevin Kevin Gosman.
18:27
Speaker 1: What do you gotta Yeah, yeah, I mean they are interested.
18:30
Speaker 1: They the peripherals are the same as last year. Uh,
18:34
Speaker 1: it's not like the velo is like ticked down to
18:38
Speaker 1: a scary level. Uh, it's still the same pitch mix. Uh.
18:42
Speaker 1: You know, he's what is a fastball, splitter slider. I believe,
18:47
Speaker 1: uh it everything looks the same under the hood, and
18:52
Speaker 1: then you see the cra at like four and a half,
18:56
Speaker 1: like a full tick above last year. He is not
18:59
Speaker 1: the the guy that was did he win a cy
19:03
Speaker 1: Young or he was competing for US cy Young? I
19:05
Speaker 1: believe when he was with the Giants. He's not fully
19:09
Speaker 1: that guy. That guy was pushing like thirty percent strikeout
19:12
Speaker 1: rate like his first couple of years, his last couple
19:14
Speaker 1: of years in San Francisco, and then his first couple
19:16
Speaker 1: of years in Toronto. This was like an exceptional level.
19:21
Speaker 1: This is a guy that would be really good in
19:23
Speaker 1: my opinion, I like, I think he makes a lot
19:27
Speaker 1: of sense, and I'm hearing that they are interested in
19:30
Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman. Again, it's price. My guess is he's going
19:34
Speaker 1: to cost less than Freddy Beralta. He's just not having
19:38
Speaker 1: as good of a season. He's an a pending free agent.
19:41
Speaker 1: But I like the fact that the peripherals look. I
19:44
Speaker 1: think I said this on the last last podcast, or
19:46
Speaker 1: maybe I said this when we went on with our
19:47
Speaker 1: buddy Jesse Rodgers, but he just feels like the guy
19:50
Speaker 1: that is, you know, has the experience, has done it before.
19:54
Speaker 1: Is kind of like just not getting the greatest results
19:56
Speaker 1: right now, but it is very similar to who he
19:58
Speaker 1: was in the past and could have like two great months.
20:02
Speaker 1: I know that's not that I think fans get a
20:04
Speaker 1: little worried about that. I remember, I'll just bring this
20:08
Speaker 1: up and not to like be like, see I told
20:10
Speaker 1: you it was right, But like when I mentioned Raso
20:13
Speaker 1: Grace Iglesias last year, the comments, the pushback I got
20:19
Speaker 1: on that was like people were like, that is dumb,
20:24
Speaker 1: Like he's having a terrible season, he stinks. His second
20:28
Speaker 1: half with Atlanta last year was awesome. Like he was dominant,
20:34
Speaker 1: he was a stud reliever, and like there was a
20:37
Speaker 1: chance that he was available. He didn't get traded, but
20:39
Speaker 1: he was a stud. He figured it out and because
20:42
Speaker 1: he's a good reliever, he's a veteran reliever, and he's
20:46
Speaker 1: having another great season right now. But that's the type
20:50
Speaker 1: of idea this is. This is a guy with the history,
20:52
Speaker 1: This is a guy that performed in the postseason, and
20:55
Speaker 1: this is a guy whose stuff hasn't just like completely
20:58
Speaker 1: fallen off a cliff. And there's a lot of indicators
21:00
Speaker 1: that say he's the same guy. The era is the
21:03
Speaker 1: only thing that's different, and teams don't look at only er.
21:08
Speaker 6: Yeah.
21:08
Speaker 2: I like the Cole Hamil's comp from twenty eighteen. I
21:13
Speaker 2: think Jed sort of explained that over our podcast last year,
21:21
Speaker 2: and so that that makes a ton of sense.
21:25
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
21:28
Speaker 2: You know it'll come down to pretty close to the
21:31
Speaker 2: deadline there, all right, Was it cost between these two guys.
21:34
Speaker 2: I like the idea of someone you can just sort
21:37
Speaker 2: of plug in and let him figure it out. You're
21:40
Speaker 2: in a pretty good position regarding the wild card. This
21:47
Speaker 2: sounds like less of a project than Freddy, which I
21:52
Speaker 2: know you said they don't think it's like a major project,
21:54
Speaker 2: but there is still it seems a little riskier with Freddy.
22:00
Speaker 2: Maybe the upside's higher because of his age and what
22:03
Speaker 2: he did last year.
22:05
Speaker 3: I don't know. I guess this is one of those
22:06
Speaker 3: classic like like just be right. You know, the guy
22:10
Speaker 3: will have whatever it is, maybe ten twelve starts, you know,
22:14
Speaker 3: playoff appearance or two like you know, he'll just have
22:16
Speaker 3: to be at his best.
22:17
Speaker 1: Then absolutely, we're also hearing that. You know, I think
22:23
Speaker 1: this was obvious. I think the Cubs are going to
22:26
Speaker 1: add bullpen help. And you know, when when Jed talks
22:31
Speaker 1: about this in the past, I mean they've had good
22:34
Speaker 1: bullpens in the past and still added because it just
22:37
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You have to add arms. And I thought
22:41
Speaker 1: Council explained it well when we were talking about it.
22:45
Speaker 1: What day are we at Friday? Pregame? He I was
22:50
Speaker 1: kind of pushing him on adding bullpen and basically is
22:53
Speaker 1: he ultimately came to the very simple point that, look,
22:58
Speaker 1: you cannot add after after Monday, Like the waiver wire
23:02
Speaker 1: deadline doesn't exist anymore. You used to be able to
23:05
Speaker 1: like sneak guys through the waiver wire and then trade
23:08
Speaker 1: them and you could add like depth pieces for your bullpen.
23:13
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen anymore. So this is your roster after
23:16
Speaker 1: August third or whatever booth Like this weird date is
23:21
Speaker 1: now throwing me off. I think that's right. Right, today's
23:24
Speaker 1: August first, So that makes sense. So they are going
23:28
Speaker 1: to add bullpen help. What level of bullpen help, I
23:32
Speaker 1: think is the question. There's some big names that I've
23:35
Speaker 1: heard that they're interested in. I think Adrian Morojone would
23:40
Speaker 1: be like the only lefty that they'd like be really
23:42
Speaker 1: interested in. But that's different. He's like a game changer.
23:46
Speaker 1: They have some good lefties. I at first, I was like,
23:49
Speaker 1: initially I almost forgot about like their kind of depth
23:52
Speaker 1: of lefties. Like Ryan Rollinson's having a really good season.
23:55
Speaker 1: Caleb Thielbar is having a weird season, like giving up
23:57
Speaker 1: more home runs than he normally does, but his strike
24:00
Speaker 1: gout rate is insanely good, you know, I wouldn't be
24:04
Speaker 1: shocked if he's you know, the final two months, he's
24:07
Speaker 1: just dominant again. Like, he looks good, he looks fine,
24:10
Speaker 1: just some weird home run issues every now and then,
24:15
Speaker 1: and then you know, decent depth. If Hobe Milner comes back,
24:18
Speaker 1: and we'll see what this Kelly kid is, Antoine Kelly,
24:21
Speaker 1: I don't want to put anything on this kid. Yet.
24:22
Speaker 1: He looked good for like an inning and a third
24:26
Speaker 1: that's one one in a third inning. But you know
24:29
Speaker 1: they like him. He's got good stuff. So that's but
24:32
Speaker 1: if that's your fourth option, I think they'll be they'll
24:35
Speaker 1: take that right. But Morahane is the type that it's
24:39
Speaker 1: like you don't think about whether he's right handed or
24:41
Speaker 1: left handed. He's just a dominant reliever that you can
24:45
Speaker 1: probably have close games. And I think the biggest question
24:48
Speaker 1: there are two questions here, will the Padres actually move him.
24:51
Speaker 1: The Padres are kind of back in it now. Everything
24:56
Speaker 1: we're hearing is like back and forth on that. So
24:59
Speaker 1: I I wouldn't be shocked if Prowler hedges and says,
25:03
Speaker 1: let's move some of the pending free agents. Let's let's
25:06
Speaker 1: keep Mason Miller and the guys that aren't pending free agents.
25:11
Speaker 1: His system is pretty rough right now, so it could
25:14
Speaker 1: make sense for them to move him. The two other
25:18
Speaker 1: big names that could be available stuff wise, Luke Weaver
25:21
Speaker 1: and Jeff Hoffman. I think the biggest thing there. It's like, yeah,
25:24
Speaker 1: the Cubs are interested, it's going to be prospect costs,
25:26
Speaker 1: and also they have to consider, like both of those
25:29
Speaker 1: guys make eleven million dollars a year next year, Like
25:32
Speaker 1: do the cut? Like, yeah, the Cubs went out of
25:34
Speaker 1: their comfort zone and added film Aton and that didn't work.
25:39
Speaker 1: Do they want to allocate eleven million dollars for reliever
25:44
Speaker 1: next year when we know nothing about the CBA? But
25:47
Speaker 1: then they're set second tier?
25:49
Speaker 6: You know.
25:51
Speaker 1: I asked around to try and figure out, like, do
25:55
Speaker 1: you have to get like a bat misser? Do you
25:58
Speaker 1: have to like is it absolutely necessary that you get
26:02
Speaker 1: someone that you can really trust? And they're like, we
26:03
Speaker 1: could also just like kind of spray around and get
26:06
Speaker 1: a few. That's what they did last last deadline, And
26:10
Speaker 1: they did not expect Kittridge to be the pitcher that
26:13
Speaker 1: he was for them. He was much better than expected.
26:18
Speaker 1: I think the era may have been a little bit elevated,
26:20
Speaker 1: but he was striking out like nearly like thirty five
26:23
Speaker 1: nearly forty percent of the guys, and he wasn't walking anyone,
26:26
Speaker 1: and he became this huge piece in the postseason. So, like,
26:30
Speaker 1: you add two or three guys like that lower level
26:33
Speaker 1: that you know don't cost you much prospect wise, maybe
26:37
Speaker 1: one clicks. I don't love it. It also is kind
26:40
Speaker 1: of sometimes what you kind of have to do with
26:42
Speaker 1: a bullpen. But I think they need to add one
26:45
Speaker 1: more bat misser and then hope for some help and
26:49
Speaker 1: get guys like Palencia back. I think Hunter Harvey's a
26:53
Speaker 1: wild card. You cannot rely on him. Justin Steele, Ben Brown,
26:58
Speaker 1: if they're coming out of the bullpen, those would all
27:00
Speaker 1: be like bonus bets that you can hope for. But
27:04
Speaker 1: I think it's risky to rely on that.
27:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was.
27:10
Speaker 2: Kind of listening to your explanations and our various slack
27:14
Speaker 2: and texts exchanges, and I do think if we're sort
27:17
Speaker 2: of tempering expectations or creating a realistic framework, Like you
27:22
Speaker 2: don't get Scooble, but you get a guy you trust
27:25
Speaker 2: to start a playoff game, and you get at least
27:28
Speaker 2: one reliever who can pitch like the eighth inning of
27:31
Speaker 2: a playoff game, Like that's a good deadline, Like even
27:34
Speaker 2: if it's not scooble like that significantly that can make
27:37
Speaker 2: your team better in a really significant way. And I
27:40
Speaker 2: think it when you add a piece at the front
27:43
Speaker 2: of the rotation and like piece at the back of
27:46
Speaker 2: the bullpen, it just it just kind of shrinks the
27:48
Speaker 2: game and it pushes players into just better spots on
27:52
Speaker 2: the roster. Like I think you're limiting some exposure that way.
27:59
Speaker 2: I think you know, we've seen it with some of
28:01
Speaker 2: these relievers, you know, like it was regression coming. Can
28:07
Speaker 2: you trust them the rest of the way? And I
28:11
Speaker 2: think you just you build the depth, You give yourself
28:15
Speaker 2: a couple more insurance policies, And I think the Cubs
28:18
Speaker 2: have shown enough to this point where they if they
28:21
Speaker 2: do do that where they do kind of the grab
28:24
Speaker 2: bag approach and the bullpen, like one of them probably
28:27
Speaker 2: will stick.
28:28
Speaker 3: And one will be bad and one you know will
28:30
Speaker 3: be like.
28:30
Speaker 2: Sort of you know, okay, but we'll make a playoff
28:34
Speaker 2: roster and you know, getting lucky with small sample sizes,
28:37
Speaker 2: Like I've heard that via another organization, Like that's not
28:41
Speaker 2: only a Cups thing. It's not totally unreasonable to think.
28:49
Speaker 2: I think we're still at I think the over under
28:51
Speaker 2: now on pitchers they get might be two and a half.
28:55
Speaker 2: I think that's it's probably right right around there, you know,
28:59
Speaker 2: depending on the level of starter. But I think you
29:01
Speaker 2: gotta you gotta get at least one in both areas
29:04
Speaker 2: rotation in both then.
29:06
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely agree. I would be surprised if they don't.
29:10
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't think it'll be an underwhelming
29:15
Speaker 1: starter like Soroka. Soroko has had a really good season.
29:20
Speaker 1: I think with the yeah.
29:22
Speaker 3: They hurt, but the yeah, but he was good and
29:25
Speaker 3: the hurt.
29:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, So he's clearly they see the talent there. They didn't.
29:31
Speaker 1: They didn't get the talent evaluation completely wrong there. It's just,
29:36
Speaker 1: you know, the pictures get hurt and and it's not
29:39
Speaker 1: like it was out of the blue that he got hurt.
29:41
Speaker 1: But all right, we're going to have our next episode,
29:47
Speaker 1: will be right after soon after the deadline. Uh so
29:50
Speaker 1: by the time we are talking to you guys, there
29:52
Speaker 1: will be new cubs. They're they're they're not sitting still.
29:55
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyd, it doesn't matter buying selling, what type of
29:59
Speaker 1: season is teams having. He makes moves. Moves are going
30:02
Speaker 1: to be made. We'll see what they are. We'll see
30:05
Speaker 1: what the Cubs get done. But that's it for right now.
30:08
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make
30:10
Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
30:14
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and are on
30:16
Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening and watching everyone.
30:20
Speaker 1: Take care.