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Why the Cubs made the Edward Cabrera trade · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I've
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sadave Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick. Last
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: week the Cubs missed out on Tatsuya and I we
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: were wondering what is the move? What this team has
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: been talking about. This organization has been talking about the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: need for starting pitching, and they go out and claim
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Ryan Rollison. Obviously, the big trade happens on Wednesday.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Edward Cabrera to the Cubs.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: This is a name we've been talking about for what
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: six months now longer than that, basically a little bit
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  Speaker 1: before the trade deadline, we've been hearing his name. I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: think the Cubs really like this guy. Give up Owen Casey.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Obviously a big prospect. It's a hefty price. There's a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: ton of risk because of the injury history. But there's
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: upside here, and it adds the type of picture, almost
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: exactly the type of picture that they're looking for. Someone
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  Speaker 1: to under control, someone with stuff, someone that gets strikeouts,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: and someone that has he's not up front of the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: rotation picture yet not consistently has improven that. But he
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: has that potential and they're really desperately we're looking for that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my only sort of concern here is
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: just the volume, the workload. Someone who has not come
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: close to making thirty starts in a year, not even
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: made one hundred and fifty innings, accounted for one hundred
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: fifty innings in the season. I think that injury history
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: is going to be something we're going to be monitoring
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: over his entire time with the Cups. I know that
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: holds true for every pitcher. But as we've talked about,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Pebrera reported out this story, like you said, not just
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: for months, I mean going all the way back to
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: last offseason when the Cubs and Marlins almost came together
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: on another deal for pitching. I was a little surprised
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: that they circled back here just because of that injury part.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: But I want to hear your thoughts on hot of
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: like why has this guy been like such a target?
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Why are they so intrigued by him? What is it
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: about his potential that's so tantalizing.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so the fastballs are interesting in the
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: sense that you look at just the velocity, and this
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: is a guy that sits ninety seven with two types
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  Speaker 1: of fastballs, you know, a four seamer and a sinker.
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  Speaker 2: But they get pounded, they get hit hard.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: That's not why he's he has like I mean, I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: assume that the Cubs have some ideas on how to
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: better use his fastballs perhaps, But what's like he's he's
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: got this weird change up that sits at like ninety four,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: so doesn't have it's not like it's like eighty eight right,
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  Speaker 1: and has this ten mile per hour gap between his fastball.
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  Speaker 2: It is.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: It is a weird change up that bears in on righty's.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: He's a right hand pitcher, bears in on righties, and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: he uses against writies. From my understanding, just a weird pitch,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: unique pitch. And I think Council likes to say this.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Anything that's different can be good, can be like when
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: hitters aren't used to see something.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not used to.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Seeing it, so it's it's weird and it throws them off.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: And his breaking balls are good. He's got good breaking balls,
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  Speaker 1: So I believe he's one of like a handful of
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: pitchers that uses his change up more than any other pitch.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Very you know, unique way pitching we'll see how it
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: goes at the pitch usage. I'm very curious eager to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: talk to the people that are going to be working
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  Speaker 1: with them pitching wise, what the plans are. But they've
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: liked this guy for a while. This front office, multiple
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: people in the front office like Edward Cabrera quite a bit.
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  Speaker 1: There's a reason that they were going after him hard
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: at the deadline.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously it was a higher cost back then.
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  Speaker 1: I try and get some confirmation on what the difference
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: was at some point we'll hopefully get exact names, but
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  Speaker 1: we know that they were asked like the prices were
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  Speaker 1: kind of hefty, and a lot of the deals that
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: they were looking at had at least one of the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: guys on the big league roster attached their names attached.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if Edward Cabrera was one of those
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  Speaker 1: names that was like Shaw or or I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have that confirmed. Uh, But I assume Casey
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  Speaker 1: was part of it back then too.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: And it was probably it had to have been a
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  Speaker 1: bigger price, otherwise you don't not make it then and
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  Speaker 1: make it now.
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  Speaker 2: Uh. And also he got hurt. You know, it comes
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  Speaker 2: out a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, this is this is the guy with a
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  Speaker 1: ton of stuff. And and look when when Jed Hoyer
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: sat in front of us after the season ended, I
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: asked him, like, you need to add more stuff than
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: strikeouts to the rotation, and and he he, you know,
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  Speaker 1: kind of didn't flat out say we have to because
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: he loves his defense and and it and it is
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a huge benefit to this team and and helps their
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: pitchers a ton, But he also said, like it it's
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: just like everyone wants stuff in the strikeouts. Now that
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the problem with that is that costs a ton of money.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: They wanted to get that. They were in on Dylan Cees,
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  Speaker 1: but not a what was it, two hundred and ten million,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: not a rice, which none of us should be surprised
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  Speaker 1: by with the way the Cubs behave with how they
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: spend money. But they want strikeouts, strikeouts number one and stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Would be like, you know, secondary, that's good, you want stuff,
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  Speaker 1: but like, the strikeouts is what matters most.
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  Speaker 2: They have it. Now.
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  Speaker 1: They have a guy that strikes out guys that sits
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  Speaker 1: in the upper nineties with his fastball.
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  Speaker 2: He's got stuff. They just don't have that in their rotation.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, now.
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  Speaker 1: Him and Kate Horton, and then you think about years
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  Speaker 1: down the line, Jackson Wiggins, Like, if you can have
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: these guys like, you know, I don't want to sound
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: like Carter Hawkins and talk about twenty thirty two, but
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: you know, twenty twenty seven when all these guys, you know,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: when you lose all these free agents, if you have
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: a rotation led by Horton, Edward Cabrera and Jackson Wiggins,
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  Speaker 1: that's completely different looking rotation than than what the Cubs
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  Speaker 1: have had and you know, probably twenty years.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, you waited almost seven minutes before talking about
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Jackson Wiggins. I like, he's been this mystery man. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I get like, I get it. I think Cabrera will
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: probably be pretty good as long as long as he
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  Speaker 3: stays healthy. If you see in recent years, Justin Steele
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: became an All Star, showed him, Monaga became an All Star,
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  Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd became an All Star. The defense. If Wriggley
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Field again plays like an extreme pitchers park, that would
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: probably help as well. I'm also curious just the going
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: from Miami in kind of a very sleepy baseball market
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  Speaker 3: to you know, Wrigley Field with forty thousand every night,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, a team with playoff expectations that usually
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  Speaker 3: bodes well for the right type of pitchers. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: I have no reason to think that won't help Cabrera.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: But I think you're kind of getting at the other
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  Speaker 3: kind of nagging thing about this trade that you know,
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  Speaker 3: I wrote about in The Athletic and Ken Rosenthal did
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: as well on The Athletic of just like whyt to
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  Speaker 3: just go sign a free agent, like there's roughly nine
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: eight to nine like pretty good to maybe great starting
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: pitchers out there, and I know all of them have
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: you know, certain awards, you know, the draft pick compensation stuff,
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  Speaker 3: the the opt outs, all of those things, but it
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: just seems like, you know, the Cubs would rather trade
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: in the off season and you get that guy via
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  Speaker 3: trade rather than just paying the going rate for the
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  Speaker 3: best free agents. And this, all this maneuvering that they
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: have to do to stay within certain financial parameters is
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  Speaker 3: seems like a lot when we're just talking about forty
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  Speaker 3: thousand at Wrigley every single night, a team that won
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  Speaker 3: ninety plus games and its first playoff round in several years.
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  Speaker 3: They better be right about Cabrera and then We'll get
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  Speaker 3: into this later, but they also got to go get
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  Speaker 3: another hitter. And you know, I'm not saying Owen case
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: he's going to be a star. I think he's probably
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  Speaker 3: gonna be better in that situation in Miami where they
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  Speaker 3: should just give him six hundred at bats and see
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: what happens. I don't know exactly how patient the Cubs
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: would have been. Obviously, Craig Council is a very deliberate,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: patient manager who's good with young talent. But would he
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  Speaker 3: have gotten the same runway with the Cubs. Probably not.
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  Speaker 3: And this all goes back to where did Owen Casey
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: come from? Oh, the U Darvish salary dump trade? And
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  Speaker 3: now six seasons later, the Cubs should finally get some
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: sort of you know, tangible, real major league value from
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: that Darvish trade.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I like going Casey.
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  Speaker 1: I think this is so the risk on as far
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  Speaker 1: as just purely Edward Cabrera. We talked about that. It's
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  Speaker 1: the injury, right. I think he has a chance to
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  Speaker 1: be great. I think he's just scratching the surface of
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  Speaker 1: how good he can be. But that can all just
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  Speaker 1: be derailed with one major injury, and then you know,
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  Speaker 1: who you lose a picture for a year, a year
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  Speaker 1: and a half.
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  Speaker 2: This is that's not uncommon.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like the risk is a little higher with
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  Speaker 1: him because of what's happened recently. I think it's I
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: was looking at the injury history before, but plenty of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: elbows up last year, shoulder stuff in years before that.
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  Speaker 2: That's worrisome.
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  Speaker 1: That's a legit concern, and it's why it didn't cost
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: them three of their top ten prospects. Right. That's that's
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  Speaker 1: part of why you're seeing that Owen Casey.
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  Speaker 2: It's scary to.
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  Speaker 1: Give up a guy like that because extreme power from
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  Speaker 1: the left side, crazy eggs of velocities, stuff like that.
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  Speaker 1: Though those are hard to find that those attributes are
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  Speaker 1: hard to find, they're sought after. The pictures with stuff
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  Speaker 1: and lefty power bats, those are like great commodities.
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  Speaker 2: And the Cubs gave up one of those.
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  Speaker 1: The Cubs gave up a guy that has the potential
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  Speaker 1: to slug forty plus home maybe not four. I mean
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: he has the potential to slug forty plus. He does,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: but I mean, you know, thirty plus is probably more realistic.
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  Speaker 1: Just has a chance to be an impact power bat.
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  Speaker 1: There's obviously risk with him too, with the swing and miss,
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  Speaker 1: defensive value things like that. I'll say this about what
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: why why you take this risk? As the Cubs A
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: like the need for the picture by the one area
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  Speaker 1: that they're deep in in their system is outfielders. There's
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: you know, you have Kevin ol Contra at the top,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and then look at this last draft. Ethan Conrad, Kane Kepley,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Cad Snell, Josiah harsh Heartshrom Hartshorn. I got to learn
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: how to say this kid's name, that that kid's a
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: high school's.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Good you can't even pronounce.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Remember that's that's four of their top six picks were outfielders.
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  Speaker 1: Three of them college guys. I think two of them legit,
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  Speaker 1: Kane Kepley looked really good, Ethan Conrad. They're really high
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: on this kid and the kid whose name I can't say,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Josiah Hartshorn. Uh, he's a he's a high school prospect
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: that that fell that that that I think that they're
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: high on as well. So, I mean they have outfield prospects.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: This is the it's the one area they're deep in,
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  Speaker 1: Like that's the one place you can say, like, look
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: at the Cubs system, and it's a yeah, they gave
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: up someone that you can say, like, this guy could
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: be really good, but they have outfield prospects. Uh, they
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: desperately need pitching after Wiggins, there's nothing in the system.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And then you have Jamison ty One, Matthew Boyd and
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: showeda in Minaga and Colin Ray all impending free agents
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: after this season.
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  Speaker 2: Uh, you had to go get a starter.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: The argument that you make and I agree with, would
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: then just go out and sign a guy that you
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: know is good, but like it? I think sometimes while
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: I agree with that and and like it, we should
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: bring that up every single time something like this happens
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: and and say, like, why don't the Cubs act like
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: a team that you know that, like they're in Chicago
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and make a crap ton of money and fill up
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Wrigley Field every summer. It's worth mentioning every single time
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: it is. But we also have to I think there's
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: a certain point where Okay, we talk about it, we
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: understand it, but also, okay, so how do they what
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: are the moves they make because they don't behave that way.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: So that's why this deal makes sense, because they don't
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: behave that way, they don't spend two hundred and ten
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: millions on Dylan two hundred and ten million dollars on
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Dylan C's. It's maddening because they should, but they're not
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: doing those things. So this is the path that they
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: have to take. I think this is less of a
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: risk than Kyle Tucker Kyle Tucker trade because it's not
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: one year, it's not three really like three legit like
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: two major leaguers and a top and your top prospect.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: It's a top prospect and two lottery tickets, So it
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: feels very different.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: The risk is different in the return.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: As well, but it's just a I was surprised by
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the return because of what Shane bas cost uh and
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and just what starting pitching is going for. I just
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: thought it was going to be an unreasonable return. Obviously,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the risk of injuries mitigates the return here.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to ask you about Christian Hernandez, one
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: of those lottery tickets in there. I feel like, you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, he was what like a
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: three million dollar, you know, bonus signing. I think kind
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: of the industry and kind of the hype machine was saying,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: like a little a rod Ish maybe ra shato ish,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: like what could you give us some of the backstory
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: and maybe how he had sort of plateaued in the
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: CUB system, Like there is a lot a lot of
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: time for you know this to you know, look really
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: good for the Marlins, but it seems like they're buying
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: lo which probably makes sense for the situation that they're in.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I would say that he came in
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: and really disappointed early christ Internet like he struggled. I
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: don't think he I think he could get by. I
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: think he thought he could get by on talent, a
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: ton of talent there. I think that attitude changed from
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: my understanding that attitude. The attitude got better, the work
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: ethic got better over the years, and that's not uncommon.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Think it was what seventeen or some whatever, sixteen when
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: he first came so like, I don't think anybody should
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: be shocked by that. But he wasn't this like crazy
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: work ethic guy and willing to put it like, willing
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: to make the changes needed to handle professional pitching. It
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: just doesn't seem to have clicked fully, Like this is
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a guy that was, like you said, a rotten Manny
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Machado comps.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's crazy.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: The offensive numbers are just like have been average at
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: best every level. I think he got to high a
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: last year. Just nothing, nothing jumps out at you, nobody.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: When I talked to scouts, it's just like, you know,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: it doesn't look like someone that's going to shoot through
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the system. I think it just kind of speaks to
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the Cubs, like in general, they haven't gotten a lot
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: of return on investment on those big money those big
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: money if as we haven't seen a lot from them,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I guess we're seeing some of them moved in trades
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and that's that's how you get the return on investment.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: If you can't get them to the big leagues, this
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: is the best thing you can do. But I have
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: not the power never fully materialized. I think the contact
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: in the bat got a little bit better over the years,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: but I never heard great things about Like people were
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: optimistic coming into this past season and he was fine.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: He wasn't he was.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: I think it ended up being a very league average bat.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So it never he never fully popped. And I've written about.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Him over the years like it.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: You know, he's clearly ultra talented. The other kid, Edgardo
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: de Leone apparently. I mean, he put up some decent numbers.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: It was its Arizona Complex League. I just don't trust
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: that stuff. It's hard to look at numbers of that
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: and be like, oh, yeah, this guy's legit. But apparently
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: he's got great eggs and velocities and bat speed. But yeah,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes you look at the data. These guys
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: get our data, darlings, and it's like, Okay, we'll take
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: a flyer on this guy. If they sounds like we're
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: talking to a scout the other day or yesterday, he
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: said it's a high effort swing. There's bat speed there,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: but it's a type of bat speed that you worry like,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: will he make enough contact to get like past double A?
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, Well, I mean I think we'll we'll get into
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: this more in our next episode. But I still think
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: the concluding thought that you and I and Ken Rosenthal
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: had as we're texting back and forth yesterday and going
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: over our different story angles and coverage plans, it's like, Okay,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: now go get a hitter, and and I think everything
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: almost everything we've said, or a lot of what we've
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: said during this episode will sound a lot different if
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: they go out and get one of those big four
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: free agents.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll dig into this more in our next episode.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: But I think I think this is when you when
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: you map out the Cubs offseason, when I was thinking
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: about it, and we kind of understood, like as we
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: kind of the off season went along, and we kind
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: of understood it's like, Okay, they're not They're not going
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to spend crazy money. It's just and I think we
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: knew that going in. I think we've said, like we
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: just we need to get over this idea that the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Cubs are going to act like the Cubs.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: This is they just they don't spend like that.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: The only way to make this work, to get both
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: the bat and the pitcher was to trade for the picture.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: You had to trade for the under control picture that
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: was a little cheaper, and even then it's gonna be tight.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Well, we can dig into numbers and look at the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: payroll next episode, but you know, I think it makes
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: all the sense of the world. Like this is where
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: I think we get back to what we were talking
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: about before, and it's like, stop with all the hemming
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and hawing about payroll. Stop with like, well, what about
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: you know, flexibility for the future, Like you have enough
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: of that, go out and get the bat. There are
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: multiple fits here. Go out and spend the money. Finish
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: this off, make a playoff run in twenty twenty six,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and see what happens beyond that. But I think it
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: makes all the sense in the world. It's your set
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: up for it right now. Your payroll isn't too high.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: You haven't extended yourself. It's just it makes too much sense.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: We'll see if they can get it done. But this
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: once again where we are. Remember Craig Council higher. Okay,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: go make the big move, Kyle Tucker move, Okay, go
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: add a pitcher. Now you have the Edward Cabrera move, like,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: go add that bat. Finish it off. You did a
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: great job with the bullpen. You added that starter. Then
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: go finish it off. Have a great offseason and enter
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the season as the clear favorites in the NL Central
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: and just quiet all the haters and all the complainers
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and just go out and win a division finally, you know,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: against a small market club that just continually embarrasses you
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: season after season.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that reminds me how to go look up the
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: exact quote. But wasn't Jed Hoyer's quote after the twenty
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: one deadline something like no half measures, something along those lines.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: And you know, these past several off seasons, as you
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: pointed out so well, have been a lot of kind
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: of one step forward but not going all the way,
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: you know, not taking full advantage of the opportunity in
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: front of them. And so I think we're going to
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: be in this holding pattern for a while unless say
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: somehow jump out and like sign the guy they want
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: to sort of what that guy wants to sign for. Otherwise,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: like as each name comes off the board, you can
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: kind of picture the Cups just sort of hanging around,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: hanging around, because all four of them, to varying degrees,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: do fit what this team needs. Although I we'll get
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: into the rankings another time. I would probably put Kyle
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Tucker towards the bottom of that that lits in terms
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: of like realistic expectations and fit. But who knows. I
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: mean that we've got we've gotten to this point and
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: it's still still unresolved exactly.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: There's the fact that there are so many bats left
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I think also sets up nicely for the Cubs.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: We'll see if they can finish it off.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: We'll talk more about that next episode This is north
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Thanks so much
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: for listening. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic for Patrick
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and Iron top of all Things Cubs. Thanks for listening
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: to everyone.