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Looking ahead to the GM meetings · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: They're definitely in have avenues to be able to upgrade
0:02
Speaker 1: this team, and obviously it's gonna be on JED to
0:04
Speaker 1: show that you can pull the right lovers to get
0:07
Speaker 1: them over that hump.
0:14
Speaker 2: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:18
Speaker 2: Saharev Sharma with me as always is Patrick Mooney, Patrick
0:23
Speaker 2: and I. On this episode we will interview Chicago Tribunes
0:29
Speaker 2: Megan Montemuro, the Cubs beat writer for the Tribune. Meghan
0:33
Speaker 2: has been covering the Cubs since twenty twenty one, but
0:37
Speaker 2: she was with us in Chicago, oh Man towards the
0:42
Speaker 2: end of the Mike Quaddy, the Jim Hendry and Mike
0:45
Speaker 2: Quaddie years, and I think she got one year of
0:50
Speaker 2: Dale Swain in there, and then headed to Philadelphia where
0:54
Speaker 2: she covered one of the more dysfunctional, you know, half
1:00
Speaker 2: decades or so of Philadelphia Phillies baseball. She's seen a
1:05
Speaker 2: lot of interesting stuff, covered a lot of different types
1:09
Speaker 2: of managers, seeing different ways teams have been built, saw
1:14
Speaker 2: the beginning of what the Phillies have become now a
1:19
Speaker 2: very you know, impressive team that has made the playoffs
1:23
Speaker 2: three years in a row. Megan is you know someone
1:26
Speaker 2: we talk a lot of baseball with, always chatting in
1:29
Speaker 2: the press box. And she had a great interview with
1:33
Speaker 2: Tom Ricketts, chairman of the board, who had some thoughts
1:38
Speaker 2: about payroll, Jed Hoyer's contract status, the disappointment of twenty
1:46
Speaker 2: twenty four, and and just you know, the expectations were
1:51
Speaker 2: probably higher because of quick council in my opinion, But
1:56
Speaker 2: you know Tom Ricketts saying this was the most disappointing
1:59
Speaker 2: season he's he's had as far as him being in
2:04
Speaker 2: charge of things with the Cubs.
2:07
Speaker 3: I think that says a lot. And Megan gets into that.
2:11
Speaker 2: It's a good, good twenty minutes with Megan that Patrick
2:15
Speaker 2: and I enjoyed.
2:17
Speaker 3: Let's get to that.
2:20
Speaker 4: Megan, thank you for joining us. How you been How
2:23
Speaker 4: is your off season going fast?
2:26
Speaker 1: I feel like it's gone fast, but otherwise good.
2:31
Speaker 4: One of the reasons we want to have you on
2:33
Speaker 4: besides is your in general, you know, great work at
2:36
Speaker 4: the Tribune. Your interview with Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts caught
2:41
Speaker 4: people's attention, as well as his annual form letter to fans.
2:46
Speaker 4: I learned more reading your your story and interview than his.
2:51
Speaker 3: I was just curious, like.
2:54
Speaker 4: Once that interview ended, what was sort of your general
2:57
Speaker 4: take on his frustration level or kind of where his
3:03
Speaker 4: head is that with Jed in this front office and
3:06
Speaker 4: just a general direction of this team.
3:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I thought it was really strong wording
3:12
Speaker 1: on his part to say that this was the most
3:14
Speaker 1: disappointed season for him since he had taken over as chairman,
3:21
Speaker 1: because I mean, as obviously you guys would know better
3:24
Speaker 1: than me. I mean, there were some disappointing seasons after
3:28
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen with the talent that they had, and so
3:31
Speaker 1: for him to frame it that way, I thought was
3:34
Speaker 1: really interesting. And I mean, to be clear, I mean
3:37
Speaker 1: in spring training, you know, he said that on paper
3:40
Speaker 1: that they were the best team in the division, and
3:43
Speaker 1: they finished ten games back of the Brewers. So I
3:47
Speaker 1: mean you could argue, if that is true, what was
3:49
Speaker 1: true going into the year, But I mean clearly that
3:51
Speaker 1: was that was the view he had and certainly people
3:54
Speaker 1: in the organization had. And so I do think that
3:59
Speaker 1: the disappointment is genuine, and I know I'm sure there's
4:03
Speaker 1: a faction of fans would have liked to have seen
4:05
Speaker 1: that mean moving on from Jed Hoyer, but I do
4:09
Speaker 1: think it was interesting too, Like, you know, I asked
4:11
Speaker 1: them in multiple ways about you know, Jed's job security
4:15
Speaker 1: and how he views him going forward, and he basically
4:19
Speaker 1: pointed pretty bluntly of you know, he views it that
4:21
Speaker 1: he's under contract for twenty twenty five, and so I
4:26
Speaker 1: think that certainly signals that, like they need to make
4:29
Speaker 1: the playoffs next year, Like there aren't going to be excuses.
4:33
Speaker 1: You know, there can't be another disappointing season. They have
4:36
Speaker 1: to figure out why for a second straight year in
4:39
Speaker 1: a little bit of a different way, but that the
4:41
Speaker 1: offense you know, was non functional basically for two months,
4:45
Speaker 1: and so you know, those were the two things that
4:48
Speaker 1: really stood out to me. And as you know Tom
4:52
Speaker 1: is said in the past, like he gives Jed the
4:55
Speaker 1: budget and it's on him to figure out how he
4:57
Speaker 1: wants to allocate those resources, and you know, it'll be interesting.
5:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I think another thing that stood out was,
5:05
Speaker 1: you know, he basically indicated that budget wise there there
5:08
Speaker 1: he's anticipating that it'll be at the same point as
5:12
Speaker 1: it was less or this past year for twenty twenty
5:15
Speaker 1: five in terms of payroll, which I mean obviously they
5:18
Speaker 1: ended up as he put it, tripping over the CBT threshold.
5:24
Speaker 3: So while you know he.
5:25
Speaker 1: Wouldn't commit to whether he would give the okay for
5:28
Speaker 1: them to go over it for a second year in
5:31
Speaker 1: a row, it does indicate at the very least that
5:34
Speaker 1: they should be near you know, the max, you know,
5:37
Speaker 1: before hitting that that first tier in twenty five. So,
5:41
Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna have potentially a lot of money
5:43
Speaker 1: to play with, you know, around ninety is sha million,
5:46
Speaker 1: depending on what Cody Bellinger does with his player option.
5:49
Speaker 1: So they they're definitely gonna have avenues to be able
5:52
Speaker 1: to upgrade this team, and it's obviously it's gonna be
5:54
Speaker 1: on Jed to show that, you know, he can pull
5:57
Speaker 1: the right levers to get them over that hump.
6:00
Speaker 3: Uh Megan.
6:01
Speaker 2: One of the one of the areas where he used
6:04
Speaker 2: that budget or allowed Jed to use that budget, was
6:08
Speaker 2: signing Craig Counsel, the surprise that happened about a year ago.
6:12
Speaker 3: Now.
6:13
Speaker 2: I don't know if if last season this past season
6:16
Speaker 2: was the most disappointing under Ricketts time, because I think
6:20
Speaker 2: back to twenty nineteen, but I think because of adding Council,
6:23
Speaker 2: I see how expectations were heightened. What were your thoughts
6:27
Speaker 2: you've You've covered probably more managers than I've covered. I
6:30
Speaker 2: think over your time with the Phillies and Cubs. What
6:35
Speaker 2: were your thoughts on council It probably the most successful
6:38
Speaker 2: manager you've covered, if I'm remembering correctly.
6:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, my career manager list covered is quite the list.
6:49
Speaker 3: I don't run through it.
6:52
Speaker 2: Uh okay.
6:53
Speaker 1: So since covering cubs and Socks at the beginning of
6:55
Speaker 1: my career like that included Asiegian, Rob Ventura socks. What
7:01
Speaker 1: our cubs was my Quaddie and Dale Swam. When I
7:05
Speaker 1: went to the Phillies it was Ryan Sandberg, h Pete mccannon,
7:13
Speaker 1: Gabe Kapler, Joe Girardi.
7:16
Speaker 3: Uh okay.
7:17
Speaker 2: And are successful I shouldn't. I shouldn't have both won
7:21
Speaker 2: World Series, So I'll give them that.
7:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, beyond that questionable, Yeah, you know, I think the
7:29
Speaker 1: thing that immediately stood out, even in spring training was
7:33
Speaker 1: just unprompted how many players talked about their appreciation for
7:38
Speaker 1: just his honesty and being upfront, and then like in
7:42
Speaker 1: spring that looked like I remember you know, Miles Master
7:46
Speaker 1: Boney talking to us and and him saying how Craig
7:50
Speaker 1: made clear like you're gonna be going up and down
7:52
Speaker 1: from Triple A in the majors this year, like that's
7:54
Speaker 1: gonna be your role, and that he appreciated that. It
8:00
Speaker 1: wasn't like if you play really hard and really good,
8:03
Speaker 1: you're gonna make the team out of camp like stuff
8:05
Speaker 1: like that. That like he was honest about what their
8:08
Speaker 1: individual situations were so they could prepare as needed, you know,
8:13
Speaker 1: whether it was mentally, you know, understanding physically what their
8:17
Speaker 1: role might entail. So that immediately stood out. And the
8:21
Speaker 1: fact that even some veteran guys talked about that, I
8:24
Speaker 1: thought was really telling. And I think in general, like
8:29
Speaker 1: he put his players in position to succeed, and obviously
8:34
Speaker 1: that it's on the player to do that, but I
8:35
Speaker 1: think a lot of the times like he found a
8:38
Speaker 1: really good way to use Patrick Wisdom, and I know fans,
8:42
Speaker 1: especially later later in the season, perhaps you know, understandably
8:46
Speaker 1: got a little frustrated when maybe he would be pinch
8:48
Speaker 1: hitting for Michael Bush and stuff like that. But you know,
8:52
Speaker 1: it felt like he got the most out of the
8:55
Speaker 1: roster he was given. And I think the one interesting
8:59
Speaker 1: thing going to see would be and he talked about
9:02
Speaker 1: this early in the season of you know, he was
9:04
Speaker 1: still learning his pictures still understanding like, Okay, what does
9:09
Speaker 1: not being on or being fatigued to look like. And
9:13
Speaker 1: so I do think that will help, especially in the
9:16
Speaker 1: bullpen moving forward. I think just in that first month
9:20
Speaker 1: or two, he was really relying on the coaches around him,
9:23
Speaker 1: and so I think his feel for that will continue
9:25
Speaker 1: to improve. But I really think he did a pretty
9:28
Speaker 1: good job. And yeah, when you when you hire somebody
9:32
Speaker 1: like him and give him the contract, you give him like, yeah,
9:34
Speaker 1: you're wanting more wins than last year, And I think
9:37
Speaker 1: that is a fair expectation. But I mean, given some
9:42
Speaker 1: of the issues they had early in the season, I mean,
9:45
Speaker 1: I think he did a good job navigating those things
9:49
Speaker 1: as he was continuing to learn his personnel and who
9:52
Speaker 1: he had in the clubhouse.
9:54
Speaker 4: All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be
9:55
Speaker 4: right back with Meghan Mountimoor of the Chicago Tribune. Megan,
9:59
Speaker 4: we're appro wishing sort of the I don't know if
10:02
Speaker 4: anniversary is the right words. It's such a weird event,
10:04
Speaker 4: but Craig Council being hired by the Cubs, David Ross
10:08
Speaker 4: fired by the Cubs, and we were talking about this
10:10
Speaker 4: kind of off air, what was kind of your reaction
10:16
Speaker 4: at the GM meetings, because I think we all had
10:18
Speaker 4: a very similar one in Arizona last November.
10:23
Speaker 3: Yeah.
10:24
Speaker 1: I think I literally had just put down my bags
10:27
Speaker 1: in my hotel room and was setting up my laptop
10:30
Speaker 1: to do a little bit work when I saw the
10:34
Speaker 1: tweet come through. And then I think the other thing
10:37
Speaker 1: that really stands out is reading the press release. In
10:41
Speaker 1: the same press release is talking about how they fired
10:44
Speaker 1: David Ross and just slip in that they hired Craig
10:48
Speaker 1: Council as manager. So I think those are the two things,
10:52
Speaker 1: like the scenario of like just getting to the GM
10:54
Speaker 1: meetings and the hotel room all this news happening, trying
10:58
Speaker 1: to process that, and then reading the press real on
11:00
Speaker 1: it and just being like, oh, okay, they're just putting
11:03
Speaker 1: that all in one.
11:06
Speaker 2: Oh man, that that has to be the most surprising
11:10
Speaker 2: thing I've ever covered. Like most it just did not
11:13
Speaker 2: see it coming, wasn't on my radar. Uh And I
11:16
Speaker 2: was already there because I got there early and did
11:19
Speaker 2: some Arizona Fall League work, and it was just one
11:23
Speaker 2: of those situations where I'm like, I don't I don't
11:25
Speaker 2: know what to do, and I'm like in my hotel room,
11:28
Speaker 2: like pacing in circles, not knowing should I go, should
11:31
Speaker 2: I go to the to the resort, should I Should
11:34
Speaker 2: I be texting people?
11:35
Speaker 3: I don't know where what I'm doing? What should I
11:37
Speaker 3: be doing with my hands? Uh? I think we all had.
11:40
Speaker 4: These great plans for Arizona Fall League, covering like there's
11:44
Speaker 4: a Pulitzer committee that did not get to readvolve our
11:47
Speaker 4: work on little Cubby prospects that immediately got ignored when
11:51
Speaker 4: we had to drop it.
11:53
Speaker 3: Scott's Oh, I got my James Triato's piece out there.
11:56
Speaker 3: You go there, you.
12:00
Speaker 2: Megan h you got to cover the first year of
12:04
Speaker 2: Bryce Harper in a Phillies uniform, right, is that right?
12:10
Speaker 3: Okay? The first two years of Bryce Harper.
12:13
Speaker 2: We know, we know the Cubs are missing a star,
12:15
Speaker 2: like we We've talked about this, You and I talk
12:17
Speaker 2: about this a lot in the press box. I you
12:21
Speaker 2: know Wan Soto, I don't think any of us believe
12:25
Speaker 2: the Cubs are going to be real players for for him.
12:27
Speaker 2: But I'm curious what we we know what the needs
12:31
Speaker 2: are for this team, right, like we talk about it
12:33
Speaker 2: all the time. I'm curious what you when you look
12:37
Speaker 2: at this team what what do they need to do
12:39
Speaker 2: to get out of the middle. What's the off season
12:41
Speaker 2: plan to get out of the middle Where they are
12:43
Speaker 2: right now? They're not a bad team. We talk about
12:46
Speaker 2: all the talent they have because we see it. They're
12:48
Speaker 2: good players on this team, but they're not good enough obviously.
12:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I mean just thinking back to
12:55
Speaker 1: covering like the Phillies before, like that offseason leading up
12:58
Speaker 1: to when they got Harper. I mean, that team was
13:01
Speaker 1: not a playoff team. I mean, they honestly really were
13:03
Speaker 1: not that close. But it was a situation where it
13:06
Speaker 1: was like, this is an opportunity to add a star player,
13:09
Speaker 1: like we will make this team ready and better around him.
13:13
Speaker 1: And then like you see, like even like not on
13:16
Speaker 1: the field, stuff like off the field things matter too
13:21
Speaker 1: and winning. And I mean one of the things that
13:23
Speaker 1: still sticks with me is that first year. You know,
13:26
Speaker 1: so obviously I didn't see it as much in the
13:28
Speaker 1: COVID years, sintween the clubhouse access or anything. But after
13:31
Speaker 1: every game Homer, especially at home, win or lose, whether
13:36
Speaker 1: Bryce had a good game or not, he would collectively
13:39
Speaker 1: ask us do you need me? And like and like
13:44
Speaker 1: you know, he would be in there and there they
13:45
Speaker 1: had a lot of bad losses under Gabe Kapler, and
13:49
Speaker 1: you know, he a lot of the time took the
13:51
Speaker 1: heat off of everybody else. There were some young guys
13:54
Speaker 1: in that clubhouse, and you know he made he made them,
13:58
Speaker 1: He made himself the face of that team, winneror lose.
14:01
Speaker 1: And so I think star power goes so far beyond
14:04
Speaker 1: just on field, and the Cubs have to find a
14:09
Speaker 1: way not not obviously finding a Bryce Harper is gonna
14:13
Speaker 1: be hard if you're not doing the Wan Soda route,
14:15
Speaker 1: but like they have the prospects that you have to
14:20
Speaker 1: find a way to acquire a more proven hitter, like
14:26
Speaker 1: and something that Jed talked about at the end of
14:27
Speaker 1: the year press conference of like in twenty three when
14:30
Speaker 1: they had Cody Bellinger and he was putting up you know,
14:33
Speaker 1: top ten MVP numbers. You know, they were able to
14:36
Speaker 1: weather some of those issues a little bit better. And
14:40
Speaker 1: you know, for two months they had a third of
14:42
Speaker 1: the lineup that was a black hole. And one of
14:44
Speaker 1: those guys cannot be Nancy Swanson. I mean, I think
14:47
Speaker 1: that's a big part of it too. Like they have
14:49
Speaker 1: to get obviously his defense, that's like a very big
14:52
Speaker 1: role in what made him so appealing. But he has
14:55
Speaker 1: to be better than he was those first two and
14:58
Speaker 1: a half months. Have to get more out of him offensively.
15:03
Speaker 1: But but but finding a way, I think it's gonna
15:06
Speaker 1: have to come through a trade where you're acquiring somebody,
15:09
Speaker 1: whether it's a Vlaggerer junior. Maybe then you find a
15:13
Speaker 1: way to extend him and bringing him bring in a
15:16
Speaker 1: star talent that way. But I just don't see how
15:20
Speaker 1: they have a lot of really good players, so I
15:23
Speaker 1: don't know how adding another really good player offensively really
15:29
Speaker 1: moves the needle a whole lot for that group. I mean,
15:33
Speaker 1: you also don't know, like what is Nigal Horror gonna
15:35
Speaker 1: look like? Is he even gonna be ready for the
15:37
Speaker 1: beginning of the season, And he was looking really good
15:40
Speaker 1: that final six weeks. So I just think you have
15:45
Speaker 1: to find a way to get a start. If you're
15:47
Speaker 1: not going to pay for it, then with the prospect
15:50
Speaker 1: that depth that they have, that you have to go
15:52
Speaker 1: that route. And and and it shows like with the
15:55
Speaker 1: Bush trade. I mean, they obviously can be good at
15:58
Speaker 1: at you know, identifying who are these guys that can
16:01
Speaker 1: fit in our lineup and fit the offensive profile we want,
16:05
Speaker 1: but I think it has to be finding a way
16:08
Speaker 1: to add that star.
16:10
Speaker 4: Do you come away from your conversation with Rick Gets
16:14
Speaker 4: thinking like as much pressure as Jet is under, isn't
16:17
Speaker 4: he also kind of who he wants running his team?
16:21
Speaker 4: Like from Carter Hawkins GM to Jet Hoyer to Rick
16:26
Speaker 4: Gets even to counsel they it doesn't mean it's gonna work,
16:29
Speaker 4: but they sort of seem to be on the same
16:32
Speaker 4: page right where they have the same sort of like
16:35
Speaker 4: fears or kind of risk management strategies.
16:39
Speaker 1: Right, And that's the thing, Like from covering the Bryce
16:42
Speaker 1: Harper Manny Machado off season, like that was ownership driven, yea,
16:46
Speaker 1: Like ownership went to the front office and said, you
16:49
Speaker 1: are signing one of these two guys. I don't care
16:51
Speaker 1: how it happens, but you're doing it to the point
16:55
Speaker 1: where you know, the team owner and his wife flew
16:58
Speaker 1: to Las Vegas on their private jet to meet with
17:00
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper and his wife and then flew them all
17:03
Speaker 1: to clear Water, you know, once he sealed the deal.
17:06
Speaker 3: Obviously Tom is.
17:07
Speaker 1: Not that kind of guy, and I think, but I
17:11
Speaker 1: think it's important to note that, like, yeah, like Jed
17:17
Speaker 1: with those kind of big decisions. Ownership is involved, and
17:21
Speaker 1: you know Tom has definitely managed that from like the
17:25
Speaker 1: fan perspective of you know, I give I give Jed
17:29
Speaker 1: the budget. He's allowed to allocate those resources however he wants,
17:34
Speaker 1: which is true, but like you said, both sides have
17:38
Speaker 1: pretty much made clear they don't feel comfortable taking that risk.
17:42
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think you're right, Like it is an
17:45
Speaker 1: alignment of vision of and so then Tom talked about
17:50
Speaker 1: a lot of like La Kyle, great our farm system
17:52
Speaker 1: is and that's what we need to be able to,
17:57
Speaker 1: you know, have that susame success. It's been talked about
17:59
Speaker 1: for the last five years. And so that's great, And yeah,
18:04
Speaker 1: you do need to have young talent, but if somebody
18:07
Speaker 1: like Pete k Armstrong isn't turning into a Bobby Witt
18:11
Speaker 1: type all star, like, you still need to pay for it.
18:15
Speaker 1: And and I thought something that interesting that Tom said
18:18
Speaker 1: to me was like, if if winning was determined by
18:22
Speaker 1: how much you spend, we would win the division every year.
18:26
Speaker 1: And that's not how it works. And so yes, like
18:29
Speaker 1: there is clearly UH an alignment on risk aversion, and yeah,
18:37
Speaker 1: he has the people in place that that agree with
18:40
Speaker 1: that approach.
18:42
Speaker 2: I would say so, And this is what I always
18:46
Speaker 2: come back to, and I agree with you.
18:49
Speaker 3: I like, I think we're all on the same page here.
18:51
Speaker 3: So what's the.
18:54
Speaker 2: How why is Jed on the hot seat? Then he's
18:57
Speaker 2: doing everything everything Ricketts wants. So thetom line is he
19:00
Speaker 2: just has to win, but he has to win under
19:02
Speaker 2: the same like whoever is in charge is going to
19:05
Speaker 2: be working under the same conditions.
19:07
Speaker 3: Like nothing changes. So when fans demand.
19:09
Speaker 2: Like like fans want want Soto, fans want Bryce Harper,
19:14
Speaker 2: fans want the superstar, just changing Jed Hoyer doesn't change that, right,
19:19
Speaker 2: Like that's it. That's why I feel like, Okay, Jed
19:22
Speaker 2: Hoyer is on the hot seat, Yes we all agree
19:24
Speaker 2: with that, But what changes that if he's got you
19:27
Speaker 2: get someone else that that just you know, manipulates the
19:31
Speaker 2: limited budget. That that when I say limited limited compared
19:35
Speaker 2: to Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Right, So that that's where I like,
19:40
Speaker 2: I always come back to that, what's the point of
19:42
Speaker 2: having Jed Hoyer on the hot seat if nothing changes financially?
19:46
Speaker 1: I mean, I think for for ownership perspective, it's there
19:50
Speaker 1: has to be at least some sort of accountability.
19:52
Speaker 3: Right If we say like.
19:54
Speaker 1: Playoffs are the expectation and they haven't gotten there in
19:57
Speaker 1: a full season since twenty eighteen. Like, that message doesn't
20:02
Speaker 1: mean a whole lot if you know, Jed, who's been
20:05
Speaker 1: in the organization for you know, more than a decade
20:08
Speaker 1: at this point, is able to keep his job falling
20:12
Speaker 1: short of what is a pretty clear goal. And I
20:15
Speaker 1: think too, like the argument would be, like, yes, he
20:20
Speaker 1: doesn't have the resources that a big market team like
20:24
Speaker 1: the Cubs should be tapping into, but it's also on
20:27
Speaker 1: him for extending Ian Half, extending Nico Horn or deciding
20:32
Speaker 1: like this is the collection of really good players we're
20:36
Speaker 1: going to build our offense around, and yet the offense
20:40
Speaker 1: continues to not be that consistent, reliable output over the
20:46
Speaker 1: course of the season. So like, yes, if Jed were
20:50
Speaker 1: to not be brought back after next season, it's going
20:53
Speaker 1: to be another you know, person in his position who,
20:56
Speaker 1: like you said, has those same risk averse you know know,
21:01
Speaker 1: approach and team building approach that Jed has. But like
21:05
Speaker 1: I think, I think, yeah, I think for I think
21:06
Speaker 1: it just comes down to accountability that you can't keep
21:09
Speaker 1: the same guy there that's not getting into the postseason.
21:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think it should.
21:15
Speaker 4: We're getting ahead of ourselves. But if it did happen,
21:17
Speaker 4: it would be probably similar to Philadelphia, right, Megan, And
21:22
Speaker 4: that wouldn't necessarily Dave Dombrowski convincing Tom rake Is to
21:26
Speaker 4: spend like crazy, but there'd be a pretty like the
21:30
Speaker 4: growing pains would have already happened, and there would have
21:33
Speaker 4: been a pretty nice, like kind of canvas to work
21:36
Speaker 4: with whoever is running the team at that point.
21:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and like and kind of you know what's
21:43
Speaker 1: been talking about before, Like that's that that THEO Jed balance,
21:47
Speaker 1: Like you have to have somebody that pushes you one
21:50
Speaker 1: way or the other where it's Jed pushing THEO being
21:53
Speaker 1: like you know, maybe we should be a little bit
21:55
Speaker 1: more conservative with this part, but like you need that
22:00
Speaker 1: balance to push you one way or the other. And
22:03
Speaker 1: so I think you always see that in like the
22:06
Speaker 1: course corrections of Like I think the Phillies are a
22:08
Speaker 1: good example going from Gae like Gabe Papler to Joe Girardi.
22:11
Speaker 1: You're going with like the analytics guy that was not
22:14
Speaker 1: welcomed into the city for a variety of reasons, to
22:17
Speaker 1: Joe Girardi, one of the more old school managers left
22:21
Speaker 1: and I think you always see kind of that that
22:24
Speaker 1: shift back and forth when something doesn't work out, So
22:27
Speaker 1: I think it would. I mean, I think there would
22:28
Speaker 1: clearly be a ton of interests if you are somebody
22:32
Speaker 1: who you know has for an office leadership like the Cubs,
22:37
Speaker 1: job would be very appealing, even with not having the
22:41
Speaker 1: spending capabilities of you know, the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers. So yeah,
22:46
Speaker 1: I think it would be a highly appealing job. And
22:48
Speaker 1: I do think you would have like some proven potentially
22:53
Speaker 1: more like you know, old school perspectives like you mentioned,
22:57
Speaker 1: like Dobrawski going to Philly. I think I think you
23:00
Speaker 1: could have a shift in that direction. So I think
23:03
Speaker 1: it's a it's going to be a really interesting season
23:05
Speaker 1: for a lot of reasons because I mean, it's it's
23:09
Speaker 1: pretty clear, like like playoffs, you know, even though you
23:12
Speaker 1: know Tom says playoffs is well every year, Like the
23:15
Speaker 1: fact that jet is seemingly not going to be extended
23:17
Speaker 1: before next year, I think says a very strong message.
23:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't want to go too far down
23:25
Speaker 2: this because I think it's something we'll we'll continue to
23:27
Speaker 2: talk about as twenty five. But I just you saying
23:31
Speaker 2: that makes it has my mind wandering now and thinking
23:35
Speaker 2: he absolutely needs someone that that would push him in
23:38
Speaker 2: the more take a risk direction like I just that's
23:42
Speaker 2: absolutely true. We've all we all talked to Carter and
23:45
Speaker 2: he's very much all about value and dollar per war
23:49
Speaker 2: type stuff. So it's it's just like a similar method
23:53
Speaker 2: and it's not someone that's going to push them out
23:56
Speaker 2: of their comfort zone in terms of we have to
23:59
Speaker 2: be more like looking at more taking more risks when
24:02
Speaker 2: it comes to spending and being aggressive to get guys.
24:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a fascinating topic.
24:08
Speaker 2: I think we'll continue to explore it and debate it
24:10
Speaker 2: in the press box Megan, Megan, thanks so much for
24:13
Speaker 2: joining us. It's always fun chatting and you can read
24:17
Speaker 2: Meghan's work at the Chicago Tribune, always covering the Cubs
24:22
Speaker 2: doing great work there, tough competition for Patrick and I
24:26
Speaker 2: and always fun conversations in whether we're on a podcast
24:30
Speaker 2: or hanging out in the press box. Appreciate the time, Megan,
24:35
Speaker 2: Thanks for.
24:35
Speaker 1: Having me on.
24:38
Speaker 2: Thanks so much to Meghan mont Tomorrow. Always a pleasure
24:40
Speaker 2: talking to her. Thanks to all of you listeners for listening.
24:45
Speaker 2: Uh this is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate review
24:49
Speaker 2: and subscribe. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel that helps
24:53
Speaker 2: out a lot, and of course subscribe to Patrick and
24:55
Speaker 2: I work over at the Athletic. We are on top
24:59
Speaker 2: of all things cubs for you guys.
25:02
Speaker 3: Hopefully you enjoy all the work that we have for you.
25:05
Speaker 2: We'll see what this winter holds for the cubs, but
25:08
Speaker 2: it's obviously a critical one for Jed Hoyer, especially as
25:13
Speaker 2: we discussed on this episode. Thank you all for listening.
25:17
Speaker 2: We appreciate it.
25:17
Speaker 3: Take care,