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North Side Territory’s Spring Training Preview · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. Spring training
0:15
Speaker 1: is right around the corner. We are recording this on
0:18
Speaker 1: a Friday. This will go up over the weekend and
0:22
Speaker 1: I'm heading out to Arizona on Tuesday. Sorry to make
0:28
Speaker 1: everyone jealous that's sitting looking out their windows right now
0:31
Speaker 1: with the snow yet again, more snow, but.
0:37
Speaker 2: Baseball is here.
0:39
Speaker 1: Spring training is about to start a great off season,
0:41
Speaker 1: a fun off season for the Cubs, and I think,
0:46
Speaker 1: you know, if we're going to talk about spring training storylines,
0:51
Speaker 1: part of it is what more are they going to do?
0:54
Speaker 1: And when I say that, I'm not talking about adding.
0:57
Speaker 1: I'm talking about are they going to, you know, extend
1:01
Speaker 1: the window of this team or try and get one
1:05
Speaker 1: of these young guys on an extension, whether it's Nico.
1:09
Speaker 1: I think the two names that we can really zero
1:11
Speaker 1: in on. There's there's others, and maybe they're surprised in there,
1:14
Speaker 1: but the two names are Peak Row Armstrong and Nico Horner.
1:18
Speaker 1: Two very different situations, but two guys that I think
1:22
Speaker 1: both you and I and many people are going to
1:24
Speaker 1: be like keeping our ears and eyes open. Is something
1:27
Speaker 1: going on here? Can they get anything done here? Will
1:31
Speaker 1: they try with Nico? I think we're we're pretty sure
1:34
Speaker 1: they'll at least approach PCA. What will they do with Nico?
1:39
Speaker 1: And can they get anything done with either of these players?
1:42
Speaker 3: Certainly different contractual situations and very different personalities. But I
1:48
Speaker 3: think if if you're a fan or even someone covering
1:53
Speaker 3: the team, you've seen that they represent a lot of
1:55
Speaker 3: like what the Cubs aspire.
1:57
Speaker 4: To be and a lot of their best.
2:00
Speaker 3: In terms of just competitiveness on field performance, how they
2:08
Speaker 3: handle themselves off the field. They both seem to get
2:11
Speaker 3: the Wrigleyville experience, and I think fans would be very
2:19
Speaker 3: excited if both of them are extended. I think they
2:23
Speaker 3: would be very perturbed if Nico was somehow traded, which
2:28
Speaker 3: is not our operating assumption at all. That we fully
2:33
Speaker 3: expect Neco to play out this final year with the Cubs.
2:35
Speaker 3: It's just a matter of, you know, are you going
2:39
Speaker 3: to keep building around Nico and we'll see what next
2:44
Speaker 3: year's for agent class ultimately finally looks like.
2:48
Speaker 4: But he's got to be at the top.
2:50
Speaker 3: Of the list for all teams, and certainly in terms
2:53
Speaker 3: of fit for the Cubs, he's probably either.
2:57
Speaker 4: One or one A.
2:59
Speaker 3: So do you try to get ahead of that and
3:02
Speaker 3: take that distraction or uncertainty off the table. And there's
3:06
Speaker 3: not much of a rush with Pete, but if both
3:11
Speaker 3: sides want this to happen, and I think both sides
3:13
Speaker 3: are at least open to the idea of seeing if
3:15
Speaker 3: it could happen, like why not? And the price has
3:20
Speaker 3: certainly gone up since the last time we know that
3:26
Speaker 3: they had serious discussions. I'm not sure exactly what transpired
3:31
Speaker 3: sort of you know, during last season, but around that
3:35
Speaker 3: Tokyo series they exchange proposals, and this was before Pete
3:39
Speaker 3: became an All star, you know, a first half MVP candidate.
3:44
Speaker 3: You know, he's certainly shown flashes of what he can do,
3:49
Speaker 3: and that's enormously valuable. And even like the you know,
3:54
Speaker 3: ten percent outcome of Pete crow Arms Trump's career, it's
3:57
Speaker 3: still like a highly productive, maybe like ten year big leaguer.
4:02
Speaker 3: So when you're I don't know how they put a
4:04
Speaker 3: number on this, I don't obviously don't know if it
4:10
Speaker 3: will happen, but it's certainly worth exploring, and spring training
4:14
Speaker 3: is the time.
4:14
Speaker 4: To do that.
4:16
Speaker 1: When when Jed Hoyer started building for this team, right,
4:20
Speaker 1: I think the first piece is probably Dansby Swanson if
4:24
Speaker 1: I'm remembering my timeline correctly here as far as you know,
4:30
Speaker 1: obviously Nico was around before Dansby.
4:33
Speaker 2: Halp was around before Dansby.
4:34
Speaker 1: But I mean the idea of building a winning team
4:38
Speaker 1: and bringing in Dansby Swanson was winners, guys that like
4:42
Speaker 1: put in the work, dedicated, like good makeup, great makeup,
4:45
Speaker 1: potential leaders, but also like when it comes to on
4:50
Speaker 1: the field, it's defense, defense, defense, defense. It's what Jed
4:53
Speaker 1: has been. Jed saw how they won in twenty sixteen.
4:57
Speaker 1: They had a great pitching staff, really great youth, lot
5:00
Speaker 1: of offensive talent, but that was one of the best
5:03
Speaker 1: defensive teams we've seen, and I think he wants that
5:08
Speaker 1: he has built a great defense. Yet again, why not
5:14
Speaker 1: keep that around. It's not easy to find players like
5:17
Speaker 1: Nico Horner. I don't think he's it easily replaceable, especially
5:23
Speaker 1: that defense. He is, if not the best, one of
5:27
Speaker 1: the best defensive second basemen in baseball, and you pair
5:33
Speaker 1: him with Peco Armstrong in center field and dance by
5:36
Speaker 1: Swanson in shortstop. And that's how you build this like
5:39
Speaker 1: elite backbone to your defense and everything kind of falls
5:43
Speaker 1: in around it.
5:44
Speaker 2: And you said it about the future free agent classes.
5:48
Speaker 1: There's not that much talent out there and the system
5:50
Speaker 1: isn't good enough to just say like, oh, we'll replace
5:53
Speaker 1: go Horner. It makes a lot of sense to start talking.
5:58
Speaker 1: Whether he wants to listen, I think he'll listen. Whether
6:02
Speaker 1: they can come to a deal, that's another story. And
6:05
Speaker 1: with Pete, you know, I think this is something that
6:10
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see where the momentum goes. But I
6:12
Speaker 1: do think like it has felt like this is something
6:15
Speaker 1: that you know, both sides are just like there's no
6:17
Speaker 1: animosity there, nothing bad happened last year.
6:21
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of respect on going both ways.
6:24
Speaker 1: Yes, I don't want to say it feels inevitable because
6:28
Speaker 1: I don't, like there's not momentum there yet. But it
6:32
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like something outlandish. It feels like it's very doable.
6:38
Speaker 1: They just like what the financials?
6:41
Speaker 2: Look, what is it? What are the comps now? Right?
6:44
Speaker 1: I think that they were like Ezekiel Tovar and a
6:47
Speaker 1: couple other names.
6:48
Speaker 2: Last year.
6:49
Speaker 1: I think it may be different now, how different Gorbyn
6:53
Speaker 1: Carroll I don't know.
6:54
Speaker 2: Gorbyn Carrol was like put together the full season.
6:59
Speaker 1: This is still like, you know, we'll see where Pete is,
7:03
Speaker 1: Like what what Pete? Where Pete values himself and where
7:06
Speaker 1: the Cubs value Pete? Can they come together as something.
7:09
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's like it has to be
7:11
Speaker 1: something where like our antennas are up for until opening
7:17
Speaker 1: day essentially, and maybe even like it drips into a
7:20
Speaker 1: couple of days after opening day. I don't think this
7:23
Speaker 1: is the type of thing that lingers deep into the season.
7:26
Speaker 2: We'll we'll see, we'll see.
7:28
Speaker 1: Where everyone is on this and where the players and
7:31
Speaker 1: the agents in the front office are. But I think
7:34
Speaker 1: it's a storyline that that's inevitable to be talked about
7:39
Speaker 1: all all spring long.
7:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think before Pete's breakout first half, Corbyn Carroll
7:44
Speaker 3: was a comp you know, his agency is the same
7:47
Speaker 3: agency that represents Pete. But yes, Carroll's resume, you know,
7:54
Speaker 3: is stronger. But he also plays with the Diamondbacks. And
7:58
Speaker 3: like if Corbyn Carroll walked down Michigan Avenue, would anyone
8:02
Speaker 3: recognize him terrific player, but like Pete is the engine
8:08
Speaker 3: that is going to drive the Wrigley Fields machine over
8:12
Speaker 3: the next several years. And I go back to something
8:16
Speaker 3: I think David Ross said sort of off handedly years ago,
8:19
Speaker 3: like good everyday position players are hard to find. That's
8:23
Speaker 3: why they make so much money. And whether it's Nico,
8:28
Speaker 3: whether it's Pete, or even whether it's match out, we haven't.
8:32
Speaker 3: He hasn't done it like for the full season, like
8:36
Speaker 3: on both sides of the ball and into the playoffs yet.
8:41
Speaker 3: But he's another lingering piece to this offseason. Will they
8:45
Speaker 3: trade him? The Boston Red Sox are the team that
8:48
Speaker 3: everyone keeps talking about. I don't know if they're the
8:51
Speaker 3: only team or just the team that has the most
8:54
Speaker 3: reporters covering them. But we talked about the previous episode
9:00
Speaker 3: a lot of shared connections between these two front offices.
9:03
Speaker 4: They're always talking and.
9:07
Speaker 3: I guess the other component here of there isn't really
9:09
Speaker 3: a finish line to the offseason, it seems like. And
9:14
Speaker 3: while we don't expect a Cody Bellinger deal or a
9:18
Speaker 3: Alex Bregman style offer being thrown out in February, there
9:23
Speaker 3: are still lots of free agents out there, and I
9:25
Speaker 3: think once you get to the Sloan Park Complex, you'll
9:28
Speaker 3: be asking about this, We'll be sending texts about this
9:32
Speaker 3: of like what else is out there? And the team
9:36
Speaker 3: looks solid but still a little bit incomplete, whether it's
9:40
Speaker 3: adding more pitching, another credible position player who may have
9:48
Speaker 3: to come off the bench or fill multiple roles, like,
9:50
Speaker 3: it still feels like there's something else out there for
9:53
Speaker 3: the Cubs.
9:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, the bench can be beefed up. Depth is always
9:59
Speaker 1: an issue. You never can have enough depth. You're always
10:03
Speaker 1: planning for something to go wrong and you have to
10:07
Speaker 1: have a solution.
10:09
Speaker 2: For that.
10:10
Speaker 1: So I don't think they can stop thinking in that manner.
10:14
Speaker 1: Not when you're at this point of your contention cycle.
10:17
Speaker 1: It is all about what can go wrong and how
10:20
Speaker 1: do we solve for that. Let's get ahead of it.
10:23
Speaker 1: And I think they're thinking like that, and I think
10:26
Speaker 1: you're right, it's not going to be. It doesn't feel
10:30
Speaker 1: like other springs where it's like, man, there's this lingering,
10:33
Speaker 1: huge name that that we're just going to have to
10:37
Speaker 1: spend weeks following around and digging into. But it does
10:43
Speaker 1: feel like there's more work to be done.
10:46
Speaker 2: I don't think Jed Hoyer.
10:49
Speaker 1: I don't think the message he's sending to his front
10:51
Speaker 1: office is that like, Okay, time to relax, our job
10:54
Speaker 1: is done. Let the players play that They're not at
10:57
Speaker 1: that point of the offseason yet the guy that he
11:01
Speaker 1: did bring in, I think it's going to be a
11:04
Speaker 1: storyline all spring, the big name they brought it, maybe
11:08
Speaker 1: all season. I found it fascinating last season how quickly
11:15
Speaker 1: Justin Turner was kind of able to become like this
11:18
Speaker 1: leader and like how the young players and you know,
11:22
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's encouraged by coaches, but I also think
11:27
Speaker 1: it's just like there are certain guys that have this
11:29
Speaker 1: natural ability where where guys gravitate to them, and I
11:33
Speaker 1: think Turner did that last year. Now Turner didn't. Turner
11:36
Speaker 1: was fine for what he was, for what they needed
11:38
Speaker 1: him to be. He was supposed to hit lefties, and
11:41
Speaker 1: he did that well enough. He wasn't an everyday player,
11:45
Speaker 1: he was not the player he was at his peak
11:47
Speaker 1: a lot more as expected of Alex Bregman on the field.
11:52
Speaker 1: But I do think we may see and I think
11:56
Speaker 1: it's something when you're in spring, when I'm in spring,
12:00
Speaker 1: we're going to be watching how do the young players,
12:02
Speaker 1: especially even veterans. How do the coaches beaver at, like
12:06
Speaker 1: is Bregman going to be going out of his way,
12:08
Speaker 1: like coming like watching other people's vps giving thoughts.
12:13
Speaker 2: We may not see all of it.
12:14
Speaker 1: Some of it will be done in the cage, some
12:15
Speaker 1: of it will be like private moments and we'll hear
12:17
Speaker 1: about it. But like, these are the types of things
12:20
Speaker 1: that that you know, I think he was brought in for,
12:24
Speaker 1: and like he obviously going to reiterate it. It's the
12:28
Speaker 1: stuff on the field that he was brought in for,
12:30
Speaker 1: that he was paid for. But it's all these it's
12:33
Speaker 1: just going the extra mile to be a team leader
12:36
Speaker 1: and to be a great teammate that is given him
12:40
Speaker 1: this reputation, and it sounds like it's well deserved. I
12:44
Speaker 1: think watching it in action is going to be fascinating.
12:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think there's gonna be any sort of
12:48
Speaker 3: like definitive like judgments about you know, bregman Is personality
12:54
Speaker 3: or what. But it's always interesting, right you walk into
12:57
Speaker 3: the clubhouse and it's like where is his lock who
13:01
Speaker 3: has lockers around him? Is he at his locker during
13:04
Speaker 3: the times when it's open to the media and who
13:07
Speaker 3: is he chatting with during stretch? Who is he hitting
13:10
Speaker 3: with during BP?
13:12
Speaker 2: Like?
13:13
Speaker 3: What is the manager saying? What are the coaches observing? Like,
13:17
Speaker 3: there's spring training for us. This is why we front
13:21
Speaker 3: load our coverage, why we put a lot of our
13:24
Speaker 3: travel resources into spring training, is because you can just
13:27
Speaker 3: learn so much and you can do it in a
13:30
Speaker 3: more relaxed, casual setting. Some of it is just you know,
13:34
Speaker 3: shutting up and listening and watching what's going on. Other
13:39
Speaker 3: times it's talking to various people throughout the organization. It's
13:42
Speaker 3: not just counsel in the sort of controlled contained press settings.
13:48
Speaker 3: It's talking to the guys behind the scenes. I mean
13:52
Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer gave that anecdote at the Bregman presser of
13:57
Speaker 3: supposedly Bregman's asking for to see these individual player plans
14:02
Speaker 3: for hitters, and he wants to know what the organization's
14:05
Speaker 3: hitting instructors are teaching to young players, and he wants
14:10
Speaker 3: to know that so he can sort of be in
14:13
Speaker 3: the loop and help out. Believe he's playing for Team
14:20
Speaker 3: USA and the World Baseball Classic, right, So there's kind
14:22
Speaker 3: of a balance there of him coming in and out
14:25
Speaker 3: curious to see kind of how he splits his time
14:29
Speaker 3: and how he makes his presence known. But look, we've
14:35
Speaker 3: covered enough of these, Like the guy who signs the
14:38
Speaker 3: big contract is the story in spring training, Like he is,
14:42
Speaker 3: if not the number one story, he's like one A,
14:46
Speaker 3: one B.
14:46
Speaker 4: And he is a constant story.
14:48
Speaker 3: And that this is our job is to get to
14:50
Speaker 3: know him, how he fits into the broader picture and
14:54
Speaker 3: like explain him as a character to our readers and listeners.
15:00
Speaker 3: And that starts, you know, really from the first day
15:04
Speaker 3: of spring training.
15:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you you mentioned something there that I hadn't really
15:08
Speaker 1: thought about that much in just realizing WBC will impact
15:13
Speaker 1: some of this, Like I he's he's made it clear
15:17
Speaker 1: that he doesn't want it to like he's going to
15:19
Speaker 1: try and go out of his way to to to
15:22
Speaker 1: still be around early in the morning and things like that.
15:24
Speaker 1: But but at a certain point, he's he's will be gone,
15:27
Speaker 1: Like he won't be in Arizona while his teammates are.
15:31
Speaker 1: But there's a chunk of cubs that are going to
15:33
Speaker 1: be gone. And Peter Armstrong, Jameson tie On h There's
15:38
Speaker 1: there's a few others.
15:39
Speaker 2: That that are escaping me at the moment.
15:42
Speaker 1: But it's it's it's more than it's more than you know,
15:46
Speaker 1: just one or two guys beyond that, beyond these you know,
15:51
Speaker 1: like I guess the other new guy, big name new guys,
15:55
Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera, but he falls into this category I think
15:58
Speaker 1: of like they have a lot of pictures that we
16:02
Speaker 1: just need to watch health wise, Like like I was like,
16:07
Speaker 1: it's not just like Edward Cabrera. It's like a long
16:10
Speaker 1: history of like random stuff, but especially like an elbow
16:14
Speaker 1: of late, you have to pay attention, like is he
16:17
Speaker 1: making his bullpen sessions? Is are they like going slowly
16:22
Speaker 1: with him? Are they dragging anything out? But it's not
16:25
Speaker 1: just him. Justin Steele is recovering from major surgery.
16:29
Speaker 2: Showed him and Naga.
16:31
Speaker 1: Look, he was apparently healthy at the end of the year,
16:35
Speaker 1: but we don't know, Like I think we can say that, yeah,
16:39
Speaker 1: his recovery from the hamstring didn't go exactly as they
16:43
Speaker 1: wanted and he was never exactly how they wanted him.
16:46
Speaker 2: To be.
16:48
Speaker 1: When he came back, like it, he was fine, I
16:51
Speaker 1: think health wise, But I think sometimes when these injuries happen,
16:54
Speaker 1: especially for him, some that type of injury before maybe
17:01
Speaker 1: not letting loose exactly like you wanted to maybe compensating
17:04
Speaker 1: in some ways with his delivery. How where is he
17:08
Speaker 1: right now, both mentally and physically, and how does he
17:11
Speaker 1: look in spring training and how is he feeling and
17:13
Speaker 1: what type of and how did he attack his off season?
17:16
Speaker 1: You know, like it was a completely normal off season.
17:19
Speaker 1: Was he training in any different ways all those types
17:21
Speaker 1: of things. And then the other name I would mention
17:24
Speaker 1: is Hunter Harvey because you know, we mentioned the last
17:27
Speaker 1: episode they don't have a closer, like a no doubt closer.
17:30
Speaker 1: I think Hunter Harvey has that ceiling that that's his potential.
17:34
Speaker 1: He's the guy that has the stuff. I think he's
17:35
Speaker 1: got a little experience there. If he's healthy and he
17:40
Speaker 1: looks good and he's throwing, you know, like he we
17:44
Speaker 1: know he can throw, it's a game changer for their bullpit.
17:47
Speaker 1: It really like it really adds something unique. I can't
17:52
Speaker 1: remember exactly how much he got, but he got a
17:55
Speaker 1: good chunk of money, especially like for what maybe Yeah,
18:01
Speaker 1: I think that's what my guess was.
18:03
Speaker 2: So we're probably right out there.
18:06
Speaker 1: So like guys like he barely pitched and he got
18:10
Speaker 1: six million dollars and it's because of the stuff. It's
18:13
Speaker 1: because of the potential. You don't like if he if
18:15
Speaker 1: he barely pitched and he threw ninety, nobody would like
18:19
Speaker 1: he would not have he would have gotten be An Nrie.
18:23
Speaker 1: He has this potential and he shows these flashes, and
18:27
Speaker 1: if he's healthy, it really changes the dynamic of things.
18:30
Speaker 2: I think, Yeah, it.
18:31
Speaker 3: Comes, got great depth on paper, and they are going
18:34
Speaker 3: to need it. I mean that's just kind of the
18:36
Speaker 3: way baseball is now. But you can really go up
18:39
Speaker 3: and down the depth chart and you don't have to
18:44
Speaker 3: squint to see some of the the trouble spots there. Obviously,
18:49
Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd was fantastic last year, kind of like a
18:52
Speaker 3: legit cy Young Award contender for a long stretch, a
18:56
Speaker 3: great clubhouse guy. Uh came through in the playoffs more
19:04
Speaker 3: often than not. But he had a I mean he
19:09
Speaker 3: had a huge gap kind of in his whatever that
19:12
Speaker 3: was like early thirties there of.
19:15
Speaker 4: Not pitching a whole lot.
19:19
Speaker 3: And you know, he put up a ton of innings
19:22
Speaker 3: last year to his credit, and I know he'll say
19:26
Speaker 3: he trains for that. And you know another WBC guy,
19:31
Speaker 3: am I correct for Team USA?
19:33
Speaker 2: Yes, I forgot.
19:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure it comes. Officials will sort of be
19:38
Speaker 3: holding their breath on that one. Jameson ty On pitching
19:41
Speaker 3: for Team Canada, if I remember correctly, as well, a
19:45
Speaker 3: guy we sort of just take for granted as just
19:49
Speaker 3: a good, solid mid rotation pitcher, and he'll probably be
19:52
Speaker 3: that again. But that doesn't it's not always how it works.
19:58
Speaker 3: And I don't I think we'll ever quite get to
20:02
Speaker 3: this place with showed Up because he's so professional and uh,
20:08
Speaker 3: you know, really optimistic, but and the comes have been
20:13
Speaker 3: great to him for his this phase of his career.
20:16
Speaker 3: But I did wonder kind of how the partnership works here,
20:20
Speaker 3: from going from like this guy was like show to
20:24
Speaker 3: Mania Show today to using an open in front of him,
20:28
Speaker 3: not using him in that elimination game in Milwaukee, declining
20:33
Speaker 3: their option, putting the qualifying offer on him showed to
20:38
Speaker 3: not getting that obvious can't refuse multi year deal out
20:43
Speaker 3: there as a free agent, like, all of that is
20:47
Speaker 3: sort of a new new history for him and different
20:50
Speaker 3: data points in his relationship with the organization. I don't
20:53
Speaker 3: think it's going to be some major conflict by any means,
20:58
Speaker 3: but things that I think the ground has sort of
21:01
Speaker 3: shifted a little bit. I'm curious to see how that
21:05
Speaker 3: plays out. Maybe, as Counsel said, Showda is going to
21:10
Speaker 3: be super motivated that he's had that chance to take
21:13
Speaker 3: a step back and get some clarity about where things
21:17
Speaker 3: went off. Maybe the Cubs will be more proactive and
21:21
Speaker 3: maybe a little more observant, you know, with some of
21:25
Speaker 3: the stuff that Shoedo kind of lost track of their
21:30
Speaker 3: last season. But it's I think the Cubs are going
21:34
Speaker 3: to have a really good starting pitching. I just don't
21:36
Speaker 3: know exactly, like who will will kind of be on
21:41
Speaker 3: their leader board by the end of September and exactly
21:44
Speaker 3: the shape of their rotation, you know, how it's going
21:49
Speaker 3: to kind of play out here.
21:50
Speaker 4: I don't think they know either.
21:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, and don't disagree. I mean, Justin Steele probably
21:57
Speaker 1: won't get back till May. Maybe they'll push it back
21:59
Speaker 1: even later. And I you know, I think that'd be smart.
22:03
Speaker 1: Just be really patient with him. I'm sure he wants
22:07
Speaker 1: to be there for opening Day. It's just not how
22:09
Speaker 1: it is going to go.
22:11
Speaker 2: Or how it should go.
22:11
Speaker 1: Really like, you can't let this guy dictate those things
22:14
Speaker 1: because you just want him for the most important part
22:17
Speaker 1: of the season.
22:19
Speaker 2: But yes, like, how how will it all fit together.
22:21
Speaker 1: Who will be a part of that rotation by seasons
22:24
Speaker 1: and uh, like how who stays healthy, who's effective?
22:29
Speaker 2: Who are the best of the group.
22:30
Speaker 1: I Like, nothing would really surprise me because it's a
22:34
Speaker 1: you know, I've said, like I'm high on Horton and
22:38
Speaker 1: if Carbrera is healthy, I'm high on him. But I
22:40
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if someone pops, someone else pops. If
22:43
Speaker 1: James Adion has a great uh season. Uh, just a
22:47
Speaker 1: really consistent guy who continues to work and try and
22:51
Speaker 1: reinvent himself. He's he added that kick change last year
22:55
Speaker 1: that proved really valuable for him and just you know,
22:58
Speaker 1: they have guys like that that are I think what
23:00
Speaker 1: you're saying about showed. It's almost like he's gonna come
23:03
Speaker 1: in with a chip on his shoulder a little bit
23:05
Speaker 1: and try and you know, prove that.
23:08
Speaker 2: That second half was not who he is.
23:12
Speaker 1: And sometimes when you have a player that that that's
23:15
Speaker 1: refocused like that and and and kind of like, okay,
23:18
Speaker 1: it kind of got kicked, you know, got got hit around,
23:23
Speaker 1: got punched in the face, and like, okay, now he's
23:26
Speaker 1: gonna bounce back. Let's see, let's see how it looks
23:29
Speaker 1: curious to see that, just the pitching in general, how
23:32
Speaker 1: it all shakes out, and I think spring will tell
23:34
Speaker 1: us a lot. The spring the WBC is going to
23:37
Speaker 1: be interesting too. Nobody loves their pitchers going to WBC.
23:41
Speaker 1: They don't really like restricting them either. But you know,
23:45
Speaker 1: the reality is the Cubs have a couple of guys,
23:47
Speaker 1: and they're guys that they're gonna need from the start
23:50
Speaker 1: of the season to be big parts.
23:51
Speaker 2: Of the rotation. So we'll see how Ty and Boyd
23:55
Speaker 2: come out of that.
23:55
Speaker 1: I think those are the only starters going for the Cubs.
23:59
Speaker 2: I could be wrong.
24:00
Speaker 1: It's hard to keep track of all the WBC stuff
24:03
Speaker 1: right now. It all just came out the other day.
24:06
Speaker 1: All right, we will be back. I think next time
24:09
Speaker 1: we'll talk to everyone. I will be in Arizona for
24:11
Speaker 1: spring training. Spring training will have started, pitchers and catchers
24:17
Speaker 1: will probably have talked to everyone, Jed Hoyer, Craig Council,
24:20
Speaker 1: all that good stuff.
24:22
Speaker 2: So we will come to you with a.
24:24
Speaker 1: Report from out there and you know, being the full
24:27
Speaker 1: swing of things for the next few months. Thanks so
24:30
Speaker 1: much for listening, everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
24:33
Speaker 1: subscribe to Northside Territory YouTube channel and subscribe to the
24:37
Speaker 1: Athletic where Patrick and I are on top of all
24:39
Speaker 1: things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening everyone, Do
25:05
Speaker 2: They Leader