Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Previewing what 2026 may bring for the Cubs

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Previewing what 2026 may bring for the Cubs · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul of Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: it is our twenty twenty six preview episode looking ahead
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to kind of the main storylines for twenty twenty six,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and I think it all kind of comes down to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: one big team. Maybe this is a theme that you know,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we'll be talking about all season long, but it's kind
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of you know, obviously, you know, don't want to go
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to negative town with this worrying about just go for it,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to go for it twenty twenty seven holds who knows
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: it's something we can deal with a year from now
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: in all likelihood. But the specifically with the Cubs like
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: this is that cliff that I mean, how long is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Like Jed and even before him THEO, they talked about
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: these cliffs and there was a cliff coming up in
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, and now it feels like potentially there's
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: another cliff with Seye Suzuki, Ian Hap, Nico Horner, Jamison Tyne,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you know, Carson Kelly, so many others as Matthew Boyd.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of pending free agents for this
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Cubs team, a Cubs team that is built to win
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: right now, just made the playoffs and is looking to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: do that again. But I think, you know, what do
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: they do to take advantage of a very clear two
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: year window and also how do they make sure they
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: avoid it being a cliff? What are what actions are
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: they going to take? And I don't want to make
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: it seem like they're devoid of talent. There's young talent
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: on this team and that's something that twenty twenty one
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: did not have. But there's a lot of talent up
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: for you know, free agency that could be walking at
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty six.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: The cliff was I believe one of Jed's lines after
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the Darvish trade was that when he sort of called
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: out the Tigers, Phillies maybe another organization of this idea
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: of sort of running all the way to the edge
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: of the cliff. And you know whether or not you're
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: willing to do that, you know, at what point do
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: you start to build something different and hopefully better. I
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: think this group, I'm not going to call this some
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: sort of like Last Dance. I don't think this group
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: has accomplished enough. I don't think there's that sort of
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: connection to the city the way that the prior group
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: obviously had made an in double mark on franchise history,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: on baseball history like period. But I do think it's
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: kind of fascinating of just like, how do they manage that?
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And we're joking off air like it feels like a
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: big trade should be coming, but we also felt that
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: way like years ago. Yeah, obviously Kyle Tucker trade was
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: obviously a blockbuster trade, but just sort of like but
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: that was less kind of minor league talent that was
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: more kind of moving. I guess Cam Smith just became
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: major league so quickly that I'm already forgetting that part
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: of it. But just this idea of like, you know,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: they had a you know, really strong farm system and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: some of them have graduated and performed in the majors.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Matt Shaw, Kate Horton, Pete kow Armstrong. Do they do
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: that or I mean, we're still starting on our spring
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: training schedule, but I'm guessing there's gonna be some big
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: names still out there, and I'm guessing we're gonna be
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: covering free agency in Arizona again, because that seems to
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: be the way the market has unfolded in recent years,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: and this out of the Cubs position themselves sort of
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: like hanging around the basket, you know, trying to like
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: get a put back at an easy, easy basket instead
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: of setting the market and having the big show at
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: the winter meetings.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: If they're adding someone like Alex Bregman, it feels like
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: you have to make a trade that has to be
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: coupled with the trade. Now I'm not saying it has
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: to be an infielder. I'm just saying there's not enough.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I'm saying it, whether it's by Astero's casey, Kevin Olcontra,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: like someone. These guys have to play. You can't just
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: have them stay in triple A for the rest of
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: their careers. Eventually their value plummets if you don't play
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: them or move them. And we were getting to that point.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I guess we're there where we're so you have to
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: make some decisions here. There was you know, like Kevin
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: el Contray, I think is an interesting name in the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: sense like this guy has high upside talent. There are
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: talent evaluators that believe he can be a really good player.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Where does he fit on this team? This is a
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: guy that can handle center field. Well, he's not playing
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: center field on the Cubs. At some point you have
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: to get some value for a guy like that. If
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: you add a bat, if you add Alex Bregman, who
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: are you moving? What do you You can't just shift
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: everyone to the bench or uh. It just like there
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: needs to be something done. There needs to be moves made.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I agree like it. When when's that big trade coming?
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: You know, we saw them pull the trigger last winter.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Curious if if that comes at any point this this winter,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: in the spring.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: Where whenever it may be, I agree, I what I
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: do wonder? I don't know.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's enough rumblings with Regman that that'll get done
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: before the spring, but there'll probably be something that we're
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: talking about.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: There's going to be a move.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: There's gonna be something still happening in the spring that
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: we're covering. Uh And and the roster isn't fully settled
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: by the time pitchers and catchers. It used to be
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: you didn't have to worry about this stuff, and that
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: era kind of seems gone.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: We'll see if the new CBA changes that at all.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But certainly something that I feel like we're just going
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to be talking about uh for.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: For a while here.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: And I think there's pressure on them to make these
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: things happen, because, like I said at the start, like
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: they have this kind of too. They even view it
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: as a two year window. You know, this isn't something
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: that we're kind of throwing out there.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: They see this. They they are aware of their contract status,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: they are aware of what's going on, what type of
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: team they have right now.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting to think about some of
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the players that are coming up. I know he's not
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: beloved by every fan, but Ian Happ is a career
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Cub and like, is this his final run with the Cubs,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: what does that look like for him? What kind of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: season can he put together? And of course the name,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I think fans nobody, there's nobody that's in this fan
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: base that has bad things to say about Nico Horner.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I would guess, consummate teammate, consummate player, like the type
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of guy that you want on your team. We reported
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: earlier this winter about you know, teams asking about him,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and sure enough, there was a report in the San
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Francisco Chronicle by Susan Sluss. I believe that the Giants
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: are asking about Nico Horner.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: It would make a ton of sense. He's from the
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Bay Area.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: You know they can he can help any team looking
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: to win. For my money, I just don't see like
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: a point in moving him. I get but again, when
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you're at this point with so many free agents coming up,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: you have to entertain these things. Any pending free agent,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: you kind of have to listen. That's a that's a
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: very Cleveland philosophy, and CARTERI. Hawkins obviously has brought that
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: with him from Cleveland. I don't think it's a bad
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: thing to have an open mind.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: I do think it.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Would look optically be really rough, and it may take
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: a little while for.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Anyone to see it at.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: The fruits of a move like that. If it were
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: to go down, Yeah, I think is really unlikely. By
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: the way, I wanted just to emphasize that. I think
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: we both feel this is a very unlikely thing to happen.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I am curious as the winter plays out, like
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: could they trade someone on an expiring deal. I'm sure
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: they'll entertain it. I still think that'd be a hard
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: thing to execute. I still think Nico Horner or someone
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: you probably discuss the contract extension with. I don't know
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: if that's happened like that yet or if they wait,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: wait a bit and know that they'd probably have a
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: pretty good shot at matching or getting something done in
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: free agency as well. I still think looking at to
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: kind of spring training, I think a Pete Chrome's frown
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: extension is something that will likely be discussed. I think
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: it's that kind of window of spring training before opening
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: day that's usually a time when teams and agents and
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: players get together on those sorts of things. Once the
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: arbitration site goes through, once those final free agents are
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: off the board, you can kind of look at internally,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: look ahead and do it in a way that you
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: try and take, you know, the distraction off the table
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: one way or another to get some sort of clarity
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: or resolution. I believe it was around opening day in
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Tokyo last year when Pete was considering, you know, some
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: some concepts. We don't have all the details, but that
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: was a general timeline. And and then I think it also,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: I mean you've written about this a lot recently to
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: hot of like like dude, where's the pitching? And I
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: think that'll be a fascinating, like kind of going back
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: over our notes, I feel like we've covered a lot
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: of different sort of iterations here of the cups trying
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: to figure out that pitching pipeline, and there has been progress,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: there has been success stories. There are different ways to
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: do it. See the twenty sixteen World Series. So we're
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: not you know, think about this one dimensionally. It's just
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: kind of kind of obvious that there's not a whole
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: lot coming And maybe that's fine. If Kate Horton like
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: contends for the cy Young every year for the next
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: six years, and Jackson Wiggins follows Horton's path and is
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: pitching in the big leagues, pitching big innings, big moments
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: in the big leagues this year, and they add a nice,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: you know, medium long term piece to the rotation via
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: free agency or trade this offseason. All that could happen.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: But like they they've acknowledged that it it's an issue.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting how quickly it happened.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: There were some names that I think, you know, it
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: had been traded over the past couple of years. They're
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: not they haven't turned into top prospects, but they were
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: valuable enough to be you know, used in trades. Ty
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Johnson comes to mind, a guy that they moved to
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: get Esach Paratis. I'm probably missing a few. Uh, there's
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: but there's been arms that have been traded that are like, oh,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: that's an interesting guy. Oh look, he added five miles
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: per hour to his fastball over the past three years.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Those guys don't exist in the system. It's Jackson Wiggins.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Then a steep decline and talent. Something that I had
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: heard was the Cubs were like a bottom five team
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: this past season and velocity gained. That was something that
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: they changed drastically under Craig Breslo. This was a focus.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: This was something that was a major issue with the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Cubs during you know, the THEO years, during their best years,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and it was a complaint within the organization. They're bringing
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: in guys and nobody's adding stuff, nobody's adding velocity.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Where is the player development?
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's like one thing leads
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: to another, Craig Breslo leaves, this happens. It's hard to
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: pinpoint exactly what went wrong? Is this player development? Is
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: this draft? There are things that I've heard from outside
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: the organization that you know, like I don't love these drafts.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I got a lot of that this past draft of
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I liked their strategy, I don't know if I love
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: the players that they selected in that strategy. Why where
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: are the upside swings for pitching? You know, there's who's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: going to work with like or who where's the talent
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to work with? So you know that some things need
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to change and that they're making changes. I will say
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: that was something that we didn't see as much, you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: in the previous years, a last decade, as much of
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: like there weren't changes made. It took a while before
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: THEO finally made some sweeping changes.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Uh and and now there are changes being made.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: And you know, I don't want to act like Tyler
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Zambro can fix everything. Obviously we've talked about him a
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: lot on this podcast, and there's a reason for that.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Like he's a he's a pretty big part of this
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: front office, and he's being tasked with some pretty big things.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he can fix everything. I don't
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: know how long it takes to make changes and and
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and get things on the right path.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: If he can get them on the right path, I.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Will say he's respected in in the baseball world and
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and you can you can do enough that changes can.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Show up pretty quickly.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: I felt like they did under Breslo. We we started
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to see almost immediate changes and and went from like,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: how come we never see a player develop, a pitcher developed,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: to here's Edward al Zalai, here's Justin Steele, Here's Keigan Thompson.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: You know, did all those players turn into great players
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and stars? No, but we just weren't seeing that. Javier
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Assad now Kate Horton, We'll see, We'll see where this leads.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I think for me that they have acknowledged the issue,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: are aware of it, and are addressing it. That that's
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: like you just need to see that. You can't like
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: you can't be in denial that like things are fine.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: We have Kate Horton, Jackson Wiggins is coming. Look at
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: you know, we developed Justin Steele. You're not hearing excuses,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And I think you know that that's that's what you
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: want to see. You want to see them say like, Okay,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: this isn't going well enough for us, because if you're
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: not developing pitching, it's the same thing. It's the same
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: thing that happened and it's sunk a much more talented core,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: you know, it sunk them. And this whole thing is
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: being built on player development. If you don't develop talent,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: if you're not going to spend like the Cubs and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: flex your financial might, then you have to develop talent.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So you got to get this right. And and I
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: think there there's some uh, you know, what's the word
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I'm looking for. They're being aggressive about it, and and
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: there's there's some fire here and they're trying to make
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: things happen.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that previous career of Time Out had
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: a little bit more talent, right. It was like basically
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: the youngest core to like win a World Series ever.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: And here we're talking about a core where like maybe
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: roughly half the everyday players are going to be free
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: agents right in you know, several months. So, uh, I'm
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: curious to see this year. You mentioned Justin Steele.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: M h.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: He is to me a fun pitcher to watch, just
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: looking seeing how fans engage with him on social media.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Him screaming in the dugout a couple of years ago
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: in Milwaukee, I think he spoke for a lot of
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Cubs fans. I think it was his wake up, you know, screaming.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: I think there's another word thrown in there and the
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: return of show to in Monaga. Like for me, I
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: think I think it's that good year. I believe in
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: what we've seen for what like ten of his twelve
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: months as a Cubs pitcher, you know what, over twelve
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: months and over two seasons, whatever, however you want to
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: break it down, I think the way Craig Council talked
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: about him, how motivated he is. I think anyone who's
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: encountered showed to understands where he's coming from. On that
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: we've seen him make these adjustments before. You don't want
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: to use injuries as an excuse, but if that set
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: off a tiny chain, tiny chain change on that whole
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: chain of mechanics that have to happen for him to
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: be effective in the majors, maybe is a relatively simple fix.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: And if you have steel and showed a uh, you know,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: you go out and add another picture and an unidentified
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: pitcher this offseason, we still't know who that is yet,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Boyd tie on Colin Ray like I have a hard
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: time seeing the twenty twenty sixth season going off the rails.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I think they do have enough credible starting pitching.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: The bullpen will frustrate people in April. Eventually they'll figure
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: it out with guys we've never heard of before.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: And then just the.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: The Jed having his contract extension, Craig Counsel being one
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: of the most established managers in the game, very professional
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: group of players. I don't see it snowballing with like
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: off the field stuff or distractions or personality conflicts like
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: that does not mean the Cubs are winning like a
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: hundred games and like dusting the Brewers. But with this
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: extra wild card, like meaningful baseball in September almost feels automatic.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: I know it doesn't work like that in baseball, but
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: I just have a hard time seeing them like losing
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: ninety games or being on that sort of track you
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: know where they where they set the deadline like they
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: they should be in it for the long haul here
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: and then it's just a matter of being healthy again,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: right breaks, And at what point do they sort of
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: go outside their comfort zone and maybe do a big
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: move that shakes things up.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I agree on a lot of that.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Outside of injuries, you know, just hitting them hard. There
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: is a core here and I know fans just think
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: like losing Kyle Tucker means it's a huge step back,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and you can't just assume that the young players take
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: all take steps forward everyone stays healthy. I do believe
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that there's a lot of young talent here that can
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: whole serve on on the offensive side, maybe not have
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: a top five offense, but a top ten offense with
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: you have to add on pitching. But I do believe
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that there's a step forward coming from from Kate Horton.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: What I saw from that guy this past season, Like
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: he's the one that if I'm watching anyone in this staff,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I agree with everything you said, like I think showed
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: a will bounce back. I'm excited to see what he
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: can do. I'm curious to see how Justin Steel looks
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: when he's healthy. But Kate Horton showed me something that
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I was just so impressed by everything both on the
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: field and off the field, that I think something special
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: is coming with this kid. I don't like being hyperbolic
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and saying, you know this guy, you know, just assuming
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: stardom for young players when they show flashes, but it
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: was the complete package, and that's why I'm impressed.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: He got better with each start. The strikeout started to come.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: You look at the overall numbers and you think he's
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: not striking out enough guys. They started to come, and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: he learned how to pitch in the big leagues. He
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: expanded his arsenal, like to do that all in one season,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: to add pitches, to use them differently, to learn how
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: to command your pitches better, and what parts of the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: zone to attack hitters, and to have like these mental challenges.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: The Houston start, everyone talked about that, and and that
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: did not sink his confidence. It made him tougher. I
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: really have a ton of respect for the kid and
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: think think special things are coming for him. And I
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: think just on the offensive side, I really want to know,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: like I don't. Maybe we don't get an answer to this.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Maybe up and down is his career. But Peter Armstrong,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: those two halves were so fascinating to cover, and just
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: like that, that second half was a lot of questions
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: spring up from that. And I don't think it's this
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: is a disaster and he can't handle the moment as
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: much as how does he learn from this? What kind
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: of player can he be? How consistent can he get?
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Can he reach those highs a little bit more consistently
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: and spread it out over a full season and what
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: can he learn from the struggles and kind of bottle
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: that up take those lessons.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: There's one thing that you know, like as.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: As crazy as he can see sometimes as like is undisciplined,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I guess as he can see him at times, I
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: think his teammates really like him and they know that, like, hey,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: look it can sometimes be a little limature. And you
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: know why, he's a kid. He's still young, he's still learning,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: but he's learning. He wants to learn.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: He wants to get better.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: He wants to how do I how do I improve
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: in all facets of the game, whether it's on the
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: field or smashing my helmet or you know, getting ticked
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: after a rough at bat, whatever it may be. He
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: wants to get better at all that stuff. And that
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that's something that I'm curious to see how that unfolds.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: And ultimately, I like, I think it's what everyone's waiting for.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: It's like what what is? And it's what we kind
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: of started this with, like how do you what are
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: you going to do to make this not the cliff?
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Like is it going to be some trade that adds talents.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: So now it's like okay, yeah, look yeah in in
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: case he's taking a step forward, feel good about him
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: stepping in at left field. If that's the case, a
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: right field for sayah by a stereo your everyday dage
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: say it's the kids.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: You go with a lot of kids.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: But is there a deal to be made to kind
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of extend, like add some pitching and like, you know,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: cover the gap of like okay, well the pitching development
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: isn't where we want it to be right now, but
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: here's how we cover the gap. We got a young,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: controllable pitcher and him with Kate Horton and Justin Steele,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: we we have pitching for the next couple of years.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: What what is it? What are you going to do?
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: Are you going to sign Alex Bregman?
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: And now you have Dancy Swanson and Alex Bregman as
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: your cornerstone veterans?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Is that?
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: Are you going to extend Nico Horner? What is it?
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: What are you gonna do? How are you going to
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: extend this? So it's not the cliff.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: We'll see what it is. I don't know if there's
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a hard and fast answer coming in the next month.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: That'll be during the season what we're going to see.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: But it's a it's a fascinating season in so many levels.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Obviously we're going to be talking a lot about the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: CBA a year from now. Hopefully it doesn't eat into games,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: but you know, that's a depressing thought for another day.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll leave negative town and say thank you to
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: all of our readers and listeners and the great behind
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: the scenes people at the foul Territory Network who are
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: on like twenty four to seven, always hustling to put
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: out a ton of shows around the clock.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: And these shows don't happen without the passion.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: From our listeners and readers who give us this great
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: opportunity to cover a team that people really care about.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: We see it in the numbers, and we thank you
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: for your support.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you to everyone behind the scenes putting in
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: all that work. Happy holidays to all of you. Thanks
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: for listening. We really appreciate the support. It has been
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: great to see you over the past almost two years
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: now that we've been doing this show. Everyone really supporting
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: this show and we're growing with each episode and we
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: appreciate you guys listening and spreading the word. Uh hope,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: hope to hear a lot more Cubs news in in
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the new year, and we'll talk to you then. Well, no,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: we'll talk to you before the new year. We'll talk
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to you after Christmas time. Thanks so much for listening
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: to everyone. Happy holidays and take care.