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All the Cubs angles to the stunning Rafael Devers trade · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, the Cubs
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: split two weeching series with the Milwaukee Brewers. They lose
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: on Thursday when we're recording this eight to seven.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: It was not a great day.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: For Jamison ty Own, a rough inning of work for
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Genesis Cabrera, but the offense fought back made it close
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and the story of the day he had again is
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Peek or arms wrong. Their brief lead after one inning
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: was due to Pete hitting a two run homer, his
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: twentieth of the year. That's seventy three games to get
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to twenty twenty, fastest for a Cub ever and then
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: fastest tied for fourth fastest with Ken Williams in nineteen
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: twenty two. I believe was the name to tease Conseko
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and Eric Davis are three to two and one. That
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: so just I mean, it is a nightly or daily
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: where Pek Armstrong has to be talked about because he's
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: doing something amazing.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: And here it is again, I mean, this is it.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Feels whole hum but he's doing pretty impressive things, no doubt.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: And I think that's a good segue for what we're
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: going to talk about this show, of like when you
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: have a player performing like this, you have to maximize it.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: You know, Piker Armstrong have an MVP level season, Kyle
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Tucker's last year of before free agency. There's already been
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: one out of nowhere blockbuster happen to sort of kick
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: off trading season. And I think in our job, and
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: you know, our listeners, I think are probably wondering the
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: same thing of like, what does this Giants Red Sox
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: blockbuster mean in Chicago?
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think obviously Jed's talked about how
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: this probably doesn't kick off like a flurry of trades.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: He still believes that will happen after the trade deadline.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: But there is Cubs impact. There's a lot of I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: think there's a lot of Cubs ties here and and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: just interesting aspects to this trade that impact the Cubs.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: They you know, this impacts the NL race, makes the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Giants for the short term at minimum, if not long term,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: as well, a better team. They they've been searching for
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: superstars and you know, this is you know, they got
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Matt Chapman on a long term deal and now they
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: have Rafael Devers, and I think it says something that
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: there's a couple, there's a couple. A lot of different
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: things that run through my mind with this. So one
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of the things, one of the first things I remembered was,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: you know, Rafael Devers could be on the Cubs. He
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: was someone that this front office saw as a sensible
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: fit at the time, I believe it. So he would
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: have been a free agent the year after Xander Bogart's
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was a free agent.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: If I'm remembering my.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: History right, I don't think they would have been free
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: agents at the same time. I think what ended up
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: happening is they let Xander Bogarts walk and they extended
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Devers before he hit free agency the following off season.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So that would have been the off season the Cubs
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: signed Dansby Swanson. They would have been set up to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: go after and you know, make a splash, right and
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Endeavors could have been that guy. I don't know if
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: that would have played out, if you would have hit
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: free agency. I don't know, because the Cubs haven't pursued
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: as doggedly as I as I think we expected the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: biggest free agents, So maybe maybe it just would have
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: been another one of these big runs or half hearted
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: runs or non runs at a big name free agent.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But he did make a lot of sense as a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: power bat, left handed bat, pure superstar bat. And like,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: imagine if he does, this team isn't looking like it
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is at all. Do they trade for Michael Bush, trade
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: for Michael or Kyle Tucker?
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So I think that's.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Probably the one for sure that you're not doing that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: in this situation, because I mean, there's so many different
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: ways you could go here, but I just think it's
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: fascinating what if right there? But it also ties into
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Tucker because the Red Sox have a lot of money
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to spend, and now here's another team that you're gonna
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: have to watch out for in the winter, no doubt.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: And I remember that Winter Meetings of twenty twenty two.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: It was that great shortstop class. You have Bogars to
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: San Diego and the Red Sox sort of overreacting and
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: kind of the way I believe you had heard it
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: was like that would have been a left handed bat
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: like that guy. You know, they would have gone after
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: And in January of twenty three is when he finalized
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: that extension with the Red Sox. And you know, I
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: don't think I don't know how much Jed and Buster
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Posey have in common as lead baseball executives. And clearly
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: the Giants were sort of boxed into a corner after
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: with thing on so many big time free agents.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: The Cubs, uh don't really have.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: That problem because I just don't don't really try for
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: the absolute top guys. But if they did, I don't
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: think there'd be a whole lot of problems in terms
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: of loring guys to play at Wrigley Field every day.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: You know, I think it makes sense for the Giants.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: I think I have the best player in the deal,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: and it I think you have to add the Red
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Sox to that list of teams that are at least
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: going to kick the tires on Kyle Tucker, are going
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: to lurk out there for Kyle Tucker, or use their
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: kind of cachet to drive up the price for whatever
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: team eventually signs Kyle Tucker. It's hard to get a
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: read kind of on what the Red Sox are doing exactly,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: and we'll get into that in a little bit here,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: but they got to say, like Sunday night, coming home
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: and like seeing that on on Slack before you I
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: had dinner plans for for Father's Day. It was just
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: like like what like that was one of those you know,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Luca Luca type trade, just an out of nowhere, just
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: jaw dropping deal. Particularly just because of the timing. I think,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: you know, I think that clearly the Red Sox were
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: probably ready to move on. The Giants are one of
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: those teams that are sort of hard to pin down
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: now that Posey is running things. But I think this
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: is something that the Cubs are gonna feel, and you know,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: they go to San Francisco in August and it just
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: goes to something that Jed has said for a while
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: now that the National League is really strong right now
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: and that will behoove the Cubs to win their division,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: no doubt.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yes, it was one of those jaw
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: dropping trades I think because of it was one of
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: those for me.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: The difference between this and Luca.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Was when I saw it, I was like okay, Like
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I was flabbergasted, but then it was like, Okay, I
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: get it. There's been some drama there with Luca. It
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: just it still doesn't make sense to me, but that's
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: a different story. Let's take a quick break in and
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: then we can talk a little bit about Craig Breslo
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: and the decision he made here.
• 8:33
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• 8:39
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• 8:56
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• 8:59
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• 9:00
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• 9:03
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• 9:06
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• 9:11
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• 9:12
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• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Patrick Craig Breslo is the one that pulls the trigger
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: on this massive deal. And there's a lot of things here,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: and I guess the main one that comes to mind
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: is is this a result of a little bit of
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: an experience all of this primarily the fact that right
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: pil Devers was unhappy and you had to go through
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: this whole process, and it's just, you know, you want
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: to avoid these situations, and it starts with signing bregnant
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: when you have a star.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Some people may.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Say, like, you know, Devers just needs to suck it
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: up and go do what he needs to do to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: help his team win.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: I understand that point of view.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I think the one thing that I believe probably was
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: you know, not done as well as it could have been.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm not saying.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: It wasn't done, but communicating with Devers throughout the entire
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: process of pursuing Bregman probably needed to happen at least
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: in a more satisfactory fashion. I guess for Devors, because
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: it seemed like that it was never they were never
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: on the same page with that, and there was some
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: he was pretty miffed about it all.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: And I can't imagine that it.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Was just purely for adding Bregman, like he was upset,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: like like. It seems like there was that there was
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: more going on here and there was a frustration and
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the lack of or Like I said, I don't think
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: it was a complete lack of communication, but clearly Defies
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't pleased with it. And then when he says he's
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: willing to play wherever he's needed in San Francisco, you
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: know something. There's something different going on here.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: I don't think anyone looks great in this. I think
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Craig Brezlo during his time with the Cubs showed a
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: lot of growth in terms of being able to communicate
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: and sort of implement a plan. I think that's something
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: that we had heard of. Just there was some trial
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: and error with the Cubs pitching program that he overtook,
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: and I think he acknowledged, you know, certain areas where
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: they had to get better and maybe tighten up that communication.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: I think you've seen, you know, his fingerprints are kind
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: of on this Cubs team, and in a sense in
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: terms of some of the pictures they've been rolling out,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: some of the depth that they have. I think it's
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: just what always sort of surprised me in talking to
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: him over the years is just he did not you know,
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: really talk like a player or sort of like which
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I think is admirable in a way, Like he didn't
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: come in of like, well, this is how I did
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: things when I was a player, this is how it
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: should be done. Like He's very open minded and curious
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: and systematic, but clearly in a place like Boston, you
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: have to be able to deliver certain messages. And that's
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: basically why theo Epstein is going to be in the
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame. Like he was just a master at
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: that of just sort of relating two players, communicating, you know,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: managing up you know, towards ownership and managing down to
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: the clubhouse and the dugout and then being able to
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: sort of triangulate whenever he met with the media. Uh,
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: you wonder how much influence or what type of sounding
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: board THEO was during this whole process, because everyone remembers
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: in O four, I mean trading nomar Garcia Para just
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: an absolute stunner at a time when THEO was a
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: you know, relatively unknown and inexperience. I'd imagine you know
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: that at some point Reslo asked THEO for his two cents.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: I don't know that for uh a fact, and that
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: you know Alex Cora as well. I mean, he's a
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: highly paid, decorated, accomplished manager. Like just in reading the
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: coverage on The Athletic and other outlets, it did not
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: seem like he was, you know, dramatically effective in this either.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: And so that's why I think, like I think everyone
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: every it'll come out of this looking better. I feel
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: like because it just it's been pretty bad. But you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, Devors is really
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: good for a while and then really bad for a while.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: And I think for the Red Sox, this comes down
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: to how much they reinvest in their product after really
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: kind of getting out from underneath this contract. And that's
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: another sort of Cubs parallel. I think some of the
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: frustrations in Boston mirror Cubs fans frustrations up until I
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: don't know, maybe a couple of weeks ago, when the
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Cubs kind of, you know, proved that they were like
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: a legit team this year, because for years now it's
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: just been this sort of whatever the Red Sox do,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: the Cubs do like two or three years later. And
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: so I think a lot of that frustrations if you're
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: a Cubs fan, frustrated about how the team has has
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: spent and declined and seemed somewhat less than all in
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: I think in Boston all those feelings are magnified. And
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: they've won four World Series this quarter century and it
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: still hasn't been enough, has not been satisfactory in New England.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this could work out well for Boston in
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the sense that they have a stacked farm system, They
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: have a lot of young talent with potential stars.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Across, you know, all across that team.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of young talent, but we don't know
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: when they'll blossom and how good they'll be.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: But there's no doubt that there's there's good players there.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: And now they have the financial flexibility that teams like
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: that grave. But you gave up a superstar for the
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: second time in five years about and you know you're
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: on your third team president in about six years. So
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: and and just the rise of Breslo was he was
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: hired by the team prior to the twenty nineteen season
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and then put in a position of power prior to
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty season.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: And quickly rose.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: And now he's team president of one of the biggest
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: This is his second season, so in less than five
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: years on the or five years on the jobs, he
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: becomes team president of what the fourth top five biggest
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: baseball team, right, yeah, that so you know, one of
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the faces of MLB. It's a big gig and it's
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a quick learning curve.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: And I think you.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: For whatever, I don't think Jed Hoyer is getting as
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: much criticism as he was a year ago. But for
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: whatever criticism is levied at Jed Hoyer, there's something to
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: be said for a stability. I don't think you should
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: all just lean on stability at all times, but I
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: think that's important at times. And I also think he's
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: been through it all. He's experienced all these things you mentioned,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the No Mark trade, he dealt with Manny Ramirez, and
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the ups and downs there. He's been through a lot
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: of situations, whether it's in Boston, brief time in San Diego,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: or or with the Cubs, of how to handle players
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: that may not be the happiest, or when the best
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: time is to to you know, cut the cord or
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: whatever it may be, when the best time is you
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: know how much and when to communicate and what to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: communicate to each player. It's there's there's something to be
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: said for that with Jed Hoyer. And they've also not
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: had a lot of drama recently. They've done a good
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: job of avoiding these types of situations. They've they've had
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: some really rough moments in the past five years, and
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: you know that there's in moments, certainly players.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: That were unhappy.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: I don't think Wilson Controller's was always thrilled with how
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: things were done here, and and at times he'd let
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: it be known, and you know, things aren't always perfect,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: especially when you're not winning. But they've turned things around
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: and this is a pretty happy clubhouse right now. They've
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: avoided any of the drama you see in Boston or
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you know, in other places.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was something I was kind of thinking about today.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: You know, and leaving rigs.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna sorry, I'm gonna be a jerk in and
• 18:36
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• 18:39
  Speaker 1: right back to it.
• 18:40
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  Speaker 2: all good.
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: The Cubs thus far in the regular season portion of
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty five have been pretty drama free. And that
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean it's going to stay that way for the
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: next several months. Clearly, Alex Bregman saga frustrated people within
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: the organization. The lack of maximum all out spending disappointed
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: fans as well as team personnel. It was pointed out
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: by you know, people in the Chicago media, the Wilson saga,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: the deconstruction of the twenty one team, all of those
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: World Series legends certainly had to wear that. But at
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: this particular moment, I think you see, you know, a
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Cubs team that is competent, capable, steady, you know, all
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: of the things that you know usually get rewarded for
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: over one hundred and sixty two games. Just this devors
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: a news cycle or storyline. I should say, It's been
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: one news cycle after another. It's you know, it had
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: been you know Bregman, Bregman Signsman shows up, you know
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: Devas off third base and Devors adjusting to d H.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: He has he had an awful start to the season.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: Uh if you remember then he then he rakes. Then
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: it's the you know, owner flies in to meet him
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: in Kansas City. The first basement gets hurt, like just
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: over and over and over, and you know, at this
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: particular moment in covering the Cubs, you know, it's really
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: hard to see that type of friction. Obviously, it's a
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: combustible sport. You know, it shows who you are just
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: because of how long it is and the relentless nature
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: of the season. But I'm sure there's a lot of
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: people in the Wrigley Field office tower sort of like
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: you know, exhaling in general this first half of the
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: season of just how things have have played out. And
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: you know, you see in Boston, you've seen it in Chicago,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: just how in certain markets, momentum good or bad can
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: just sort of like take off in just in different directions.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: And I think you've you've definitely seen that at Wrigley
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Field this year, and then Boston will sort of see
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: how they corral it and you know whether or not,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: you know, two old colleagues and friends, Craig Breslo and
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer could reconnect on some sort of deal. I
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: know Breslo you know, says this said it wasn't a
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: white flag trade, but it probably bears monitoring to see,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe the Red Sox take off or maybe
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: this kind of the botom falls out.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: We have no idea.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly will be interesting. And they I appreciate
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: how you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Kept saying like at this moment.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: In time, you know things are well because these things
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: get shifted so quickly. Like I said, a year ago,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: people were saying, no way should Jed Hoier be back.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: They didn't even want him back for this season. Two
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: months ago you could be ripping the Cubs apart for
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: their inability to build a bullpen. There's just yeah, what
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: zero Homer's middle of April. Yes, yeah, So these things
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: shift quickly in both in either direction.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: We don't know where things will stand. Uh, you know
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: three and a half months from now. Uh, it'd be.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Foolish, like I don't think they're going to crumble in
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: that sense. If this team crumbles, it won't be because
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of dis array in the clubhouse, they both their manager,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and I believe the players, the key players, the most
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: vocal players, the highest paid players.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: All of that and none of none of none of
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: them are going.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: To cause an issue. Very well could have seen it
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: this season. And not that Saya Suzuki is the type
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: of player Rafael Devers is. He certainly doesn't have the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: history in this league that Rafael Devers has. But he
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: could have been annoyed. He could have been ticked off.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: And it wasn't perfect at the was it that? That
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: was the winter meetings? His agent Let it be known,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Joel Wolf, Let it be known that you know, if
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: he was going to come.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Here to b d H, he probably wouldn't have signed. Uh.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: And that's a but it wasn't like sitting back and
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: complaining the entire time or being a disgruntled player in
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse. You get to spring training, you start playing games,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and you you get to work. And that's how we
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: treated it. And h seems like all is well. He's
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: having one of his best seasons in MLB, So.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: It can it can be handled differently.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Who knows if that's a clubhouse dynamic, if that's a
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: front office dynamic, or if that's a sayas.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: A zoo key thing. I couldn't. I couldn't pinpoint that
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: right now, because it could all Like I said, it
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: could all shift.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I just think that this is a fascinating trade that
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: will continue to have ripples that impact the Cubs. I
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: think that you don't want for Cubs fans, they just
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: don't want to suddenly see Raphael Devers in the playoffs
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: in a huge moment that that would that would sting.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see if Asloan and Hoyer
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: can get together for a trade, though they do have
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: some you know, I don't know what type of pitching emerges,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: but we'll see.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I think it could be fascinating what they have to offer.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: Well, you know that the Cubs liked Walker Buehler. They
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: just felt his market was going to go to place
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: that they could not realistically play in, and that proved
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: to be the case. And I was also thinking too,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: you know this, there's certainly a salary dumb component to
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: this deal. But they did get back, you know, some
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: major league caliber talent and like functional pieces to their roster.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: And I mean it wasn't Breslo someone who sort of
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: advocated for the Hayden was an Esky Scott E. Frost
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: deal for the Cubs, or at least was like in
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: the loop on that, like that's you know, something to
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: where maybe the Red Sox aren't you know, in total
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: cell mode, but maybe there are deals line up just
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: because of the history. I'm kind of just spitballing here,
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: but I think we've seen, you know, the trademarket used
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: to be so sort of binary and last minute, and
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: we saw what the Cubs did last year and getting parades,
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: getting Nate Pearson that I don't know, we probably we
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: talked about the trade deadline so much that we have
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: to also kind of have to allow for the fact
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: that different things just can pop up that you know,
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: maybe we hadn't truly seen before or aren't really thinking
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: of right now. And there's still a lot of time
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: to go for the market to kind of reshape.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, you don't know what direction a team like Boston
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: will go. And they could go like the Cubs did
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: last year where they bought and sold. Tampa Bay does
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: that almost every year, and and Breslo certainly that type of.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Uh, he wouldn't be afraid to try and do both
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: things and think both.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: You know, a move like the Cubs made last year
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: to buy, but it was also with the future in mind.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: All those moves, those by now moves that they made
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: were with twenty twenty five in mind. All right, Patrick,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: we will be back at it next week. The Cubs
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: have three this weekend against Seattle, then a steamy trip
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: to Saint Louis. I'm looking forward to ninety five degrees
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and humid in that press box, my favorite place to be.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: So well, I'm excited to see the Cubs play the Cardinals.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be miserable weatherwise, but it's gonna be I
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: think it's gonna be fun. I think it's been a
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: while since both teams were in it. And you know,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals aren't playing their best right now, but maybe
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: they get they get a little happy and healthy against
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the White Sox, and maybe we'll see where they are
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: in the stayings and how the Cubs are feeling after
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: this weekend.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: But it should be fun next week.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, We'll be back at it next week.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening everyone. This is Northside Territory
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. Make sure to rate review subscribe,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs. Thanks
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: for listening to everyone.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Take care,