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What will a new year bring for the Chicago Cubs? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: You know, this closing stretch here of the off season
0:04
Speaker 1: is going to be massively important for this front office.
0:12
Speaker 2: Welcoming to North Side Territory Fowel Territory Networks, Cubs Podcast.
0:16
Speaker 2: I'm Sada Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
0:20
Speaker 2: back at it in the new year, Patrick twenty five. Uh.
0:25
Speaker 2: We we were hoping for good things for all of
0:28
Speaker 2: us and and hopefully it's a a much more entertaining
0:31
Speaker 2: season than the average NICHE average.
0:36
Speaker 1: We're focused on on marginal value and you know, consolidation
0:42
Speaker 1: of podcasting. Uh, things like that. You know, gotta waiting
0:49
Speaker 1: to see how the market develops, you know, waiting, waiting,
0:53
Speaker 1: hanging back obviously, you know it's the true holiday is
0:58
Speaker 1: really Cubs Convention. We'll get into that next weekend. But
1:01
Speaker 1: a lot, a lot on the horizon, good stuff on
1:04
Speaker 1: the way.
1:05
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well, I mean they're better be because it
1:08
Speaker 2: has been slow since Kyle Tucker was traded to the Cubs,
1:12
Speaker 2: and you know, not much has happened. And it's not
1:16
Speaker 2: like the rest of baseball that the hot stove is
1:19
Speaker 2: not burning and that like this is normal, This isn't crazy.
1:22
Speaker 2: When Christmas hits and then the New Year's like, but
1:25
Speaker 2: it's a little slow right now. We got the Corbyn
1:28
Speaker 2: Burns surprise signing that was that was a little out
1:32
Speaker 2: of left field. I don't think anybody really had that
1:35
Speaker 2: on their radar, him going to the Diamondbacks. So I
1:39
Speaker 2: guess the big names are off the board in that sense.
1:42
Speaker 2: But maybe Rokie Sazaki is holding up the market in
1:46
Speaker 2: some sense that should be coming to a conclusion sometime
1:50
Speaker 2: around Cubs convention, I would expect, right so we could
1:54
Speaker 2: we could be hearing about that in the next week
1:56
Speaker 2: to ten days. But right now, the Cubs have made
2:00
Speaker 2: some smaller moves to start the year right like, this
2:03
Speaker 2: isn't this isn't you know, earth shattering news. Vidal Breuhan
2:10
Speaker 2: traded to the Cubs for Matt Mervis. Kind of two
2:13
Speaker 2: underwhelming prospects former highly thought of prospects that haven't panned
2:19
Speaker 2: out yet. But Breuhan is someone that, you know, we've
2:24
Speaker 2: known that the Cubs need either a left handed or
2:27
Speaker 2: switch hitting, versatile infield or someone that can kind of
2:31
Speaker 2: play all over the place. Estoch Breatus is gone, they
2:34
Speaker 2: have a whole at third base. They took gauge workmen
2:37
Speaker 2: with the rule five pick and now they've traded for Breuhan.
2:41
Speaker 2: Gauge workmen, Vidal Breuhan. None of these guys are the
2:44
Speaker 2: type that, like, coming into the season, we're going to
2:48
Speaker 2: be like, this is a guy that's a difference maker.
2:50
Speaker 2: But it's clear what the Cubs are looking for there
2:52
Speaker 2: when they acquire someone like Brewhan. Yeah.
2:56
Speaker 1: I mean some of these guys. I look back, and
2:59
Speaker 1: particularly the earlier stages of the Theojed regime and other
3:04
Speaker 1: certain cycles where it's like, why bother writing about some
3:07
Speaker 1: of these guys when you know they're just going to
3:09
Speaker 1: get like DFA a week or two later. I mean,
3:13
Speaker 1: we'll see how some of these shake out, but clearly
3:17
Speaker 1: we know what they're targeting, right, I mean it's that
3:22
Speaker 1: infielder you just mentioned. The bullpen stuff is never going
3:27
Speaker 1: to stop. Maybe they get another starting pitcher. I'd be
3:32
Speaker 1: surprised if they didn't. And I do think part of
3:36
Speaker 1: the pace of this too. This week is what I
3:38
Speaker 1: was told is arbitration week. I think that's what agents
3:43
Speaker 1: and front offices are really focused on, the exchange of
3:48
Speaker 1: salary numbers for this upcoming season. Either reach an agreement.
3:54
Speaker 1: In rare cases, you know, maybe it's a multi year
3:58
Speaker 1: agreement or teams now are in this you know, file
4:02
Speaker 1: and trial stage where the essentially the Major League Baseball
4:09
Speaker 1: Central Office and encourages or strongly encourages teams, you know,
4:15
Speaker 1: to make a deal for the deadline or take them
4:17
Speaker 1: to an arbitration hearing, which really no one wants. Neither
4:21
Speaker 1: side really enjoys that process. So, I mean the two
4:24
Speaker 1: big ones here would be Justin Steele and New Cub
4:29
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker.
4:31
Speaker 2: When when's the date for that? Do you know the
4:33
Speaker 2: exact date off the top of your head, Sorry.
4:34
Speaker 1: But I think it's Thursday or Friday. It's also one
4:37
Speaker 1: of those things you see in different places. But it
4:40
Speaker 1: was just, you know, someone who I was communicating with
4:42
Speaker 1: earlier this week was like, arbitration week is the focus
4:50
Speaker 1: right now, which may slow some of the the bigger stuff.
4:55
Speaker 1: And also it's kind of like you get to this
4:57
Speaker 1: point right of like if you don't sign right before Smith,
5:00
Speaker 1: you know, the next kind of leverage point is when
5:04
Speaker 1: players start showing up in spring training. So maybe you
5:07
Speaker 1: waited out a little bit. And we were talking about
5:09
Speaker 1: this off the air too of like there's a lot
5:12
Speaker 1: of good bullpen names out there. I mean, remember it
5:15
Speaker 1: was a year ago, well what was it, Like Matt
5:19
Speaker 1: Stram signed with the Phillies and it was like, oh great,
5:23
Speaker 1: And now it's like, all right, couple of probably wound
5:27
Speaker 1: up with a really good like name pitcher for their
5:31
Speaker 1: bullpen right.
5:32
Speaker 2: Right, Well, so they got it. Looks like they have
5:35
Speaker 2: their lefty, right, they have their LEFTI and Caleb Field
5:38
Speaker 2: bar that they needed one. He has had some really
5:44
Speaker 2: solid seasons with the Twins. Last year, the strikeouts went down,
5:50
Speaker 2: the walks went up, but everything else was fine, Like
5:53
Speaker 2: there was that, there was a lot of he had
5:56
Speaker 2: some odd things going on. Talk to some people both
6:00
Speaker 2: with the Cubs and outside.
6:01
Speaker 3: The org that they like this move.
6:04
Speaker 2: You know, as far as you know, he's not he's not. Again,
6:08
Speaker 2: this isn't a needle mover. This is a smaller move.
6:11
Speaker 2: This isn't something that completely transforms the season like Kyle Tucker.
6:14
Speaker 2: But it's it's a good it's a good ad. And
6:17
Speaker 2: and now now we we have to think about they
6:20
Speaker 2: are going to.
6:21
Speaker 3: Add a bigger reliever.
6:24
Speaker 2: Who is that going to be? How much how willing
6:29
Speaker 2: is Jed to get out of his comfort zone? My
6:32
Speaker 2: guess is it's exactly what you just said, that we're
6:35
Speaker 2: at the point now that he's not going to feel
6:37
Speaker 2: like getting out of his comfort zone. We're we're too
6:39
Speaker 2: far along. This is this there's too many relievers out
6:44
Speaker 2: on the market, still, big names, solid names, whatever it
6:49
Speaker 2: may be, whether it's Kirby Yates, someone like you know,
6:54
Speaker 2: Jeff Hoffman, would keep hearing about him possibly starting maybe
6:58
Speaker 2: that's what his lever, Tan or Scott is still out there.
7:02
Speaker 2: I would be really surprised if he ends up with
7:04
Speaker 2: the Cubs. That's a that's another lefty. But like I'd
7:07
Speaker 2: be shocked if he ends up with the Cubs that
7:09
Speaker 2: it's just not a Jeed Hoyer.
7:11
Speaker 1: Like a four year deal, yeah, you know whatever the
7:14
Speaker 1: projections are like four times fifteen or twenty.
7:17
Speaker 2: Like yeah, yeah, that's that's not like it just doesn't
7:22
Speaker 2: that's not their mo o so. But but I'm saying,
7:26
Speaker 2: like there's big names out there and then there's solid
7:29
Speaker 2: names out there. They're going to you, they're going to
7:31
Speaker 2: end up with someone you've heard of that is a
7:33
Speaker 2: quality reliever, and you just have to hope it's not.
7:37
Speaker 2: It doesn't end up like hector Nerris right. They need
7:41
Speaker 2: to make sure it's a it's a quality reliever. But yeah,
7:45
Speaker 2: I think that's that's probably you know, when we talk
7:49
Speaker 2: about what are the remaining needs, I would say, you know,
7:54
Speaker 2: for me, when I look at this team, i'd say
7:56
Speaker 2: that's probably my number one when I say remaining need.
7:59
Speaker 2: That's like I'd be surprised if they go into spring
8:02
Speaker 2: training and don't have that guy. I'm curious. I wonder
8:07
Speaker 2: if that's their number one priority, right or is it
8:12
Speaker 2: still starting pitching, which yeah, they added Matthew Boyd, but
8:17
Speaker 2: you know they've been trying since that Matthew Boyd moved
8:21
Speaker 2: to continue Tod starting pitching. We know this, like we
8:24
Speaker 2: know they were in on Lozardo? Is this a trade?
8:28
Speaker 2: Is this what we're talking about? With the market kind
8:30
Speaker 2: of being slow and then someone lingers out there, Jack
8:35
Speaker 2: Flaherty doesn't have the QO attached to his name, still
8:39
Speaker 2: still lingering on the free agent market, And that's the
8:42
Speaker 2: type of stuff we have to be paying attention to.
8:45
Speaker 2: And I wouldn't I wouldn't rule out a trade either.
8:48
Speaker 2: Just because Lozardo it was traded, doesn't mean the Marlins
8:51
Speaker 2: are closed enough shop. That's a that's a team that's
8:54
Speaker 2: in full on rebuild, and it seems like Bendix kind
8:57
Speaker 2: of wants to set up his own you know, he's
9:00
Speaker 2: trying to rebuild, and he's trying to bring in his
9:02
Speaker 2: guys and target specific types of players and and and
9:06
Speaker 2: all that. And this is a full on rebuild. So
9:08
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if Miami's moving guys.
9:11
Speaker 3: Uh.
9:12
Speaker 2: You know, there's like Arizona just signed h Burns. Are
9:17
Speaker 2: they willing to move anyone yet? Like that? Those are
9:19
Speaker 2: the types of things. Yeah, I think we have to
9:21
Speaker 2: keep an eye on.
9:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, for whatever reason, those Marlon's talks fizzled out and
9:28
Speaker 1: we're not exactly sure what happened, but clearly it shows
9:33
Speaker 1: a lot of interests and the Cubs still have those
9:37
Speaker 1: trade chips available. There are some some interesting names out there,
9:45
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's the you know, the old guy
9:48
Speaker 1: you know, sure as are Verlander. They're serviceable guys. I mean,
9:53
Speaker 1: like Kyle Gibson hasn't signed anywhere yet, Like just a
9:56
Speaker 1: guy like that Hoffman, great stuff, wants to start. Worst
10:02
Speaker 1: case he become like your best reliever tomorrow, right, like
10:06
Speaker 1: so the most accomplished reliever. Just looking at the depth
10:10
Speaker 1: chart now, I mean you know, some of these guys
10:14
Speaker 1: are going to regress, some are going to get injured.
10:16
Speaker 1: But it's like an it's a nice foundation. It's just
10:22
Speaker 1: that they just need more. And you know, this is
10:25
Speaker 1: something that Craig counsel, Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins obsess over,
10:31
Speaker 1: and so be surprising to not see what a legit starter,
10:39
Speaker 1: maybe not at top of the rotation in his prime guy,
10:42
Speaker 1: and a legit proven late inning reliever. And I do think,
10:50
Speaker 1: I don't know, you look at this division. You got
10:52
Speaker 1: a couple of teams that have not spent a single
10:55
Speaker 1: dollar on a free agent. Yet you know, it's a
11:01
Speaker 1: division once again just there for the taking. And so
11:08
Speaker 1: it will be interesting to see what they do leading
11:12
Speaker 1: into Cups convention and sort of what the tenor is
11:17
Speaker 1: by the time we get to the Sheridan in downtown Chicago,
11:21
Speaker 1: because I think it's gonna be another one of those
11:23
Speaker 1: years where there's gonna be a lot of interesting names
11:26
Speaker 1: out there. The Cubs will still have some flexibility and
11:32
Speaker 1: they're still I don't know, I don't see a ninety
11:36
Speaker 1: one team yet on paper, do you?
11:39
Speaker 2: Oh no, not on paper? You know this is like
11:42
Speaker 2: ninety wins is outperforming projections.
11:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly exactly right now.
11:49
Speaker 2: You know I wrote the I wrote like a roster
11:54
Speaker 2: like kind of overview. And one thing I was kind
11:58
Speaker 2: of surprised by. I don't thinking I really processed it.
12:02
Speaker 2: And especially it's even odder now that Matt Mervis was traded.
12:05
Speaker 2: They don't have a backup first basem like I don't
12:08
Speaker 2: know who, Like I know that's not like the most
12:10
Speaker 2: important thing got your roster, but like it just seems
12:14
Speaker 2: odd to me, Like I like, who who plays first
12:18
Speaker 2: base when Michael Bush needs a day off or or
12:21
Speaker 2: he gets hurt, Like I don't know right now, so
12:23
Speaker 2: you have to add someone like that, just even like
12:25
Speaker 2: a like a veteran that like a minor league guy
12:29
Speaker 2: that you you throw on on the Iowa roster because.
12:32
Speaker 1: I don't know.
12:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I guess, like I mean, that's not happening, right,
12:40
Speaker 2: make sure we don't get I would think it has
12:44
Speaker 2: to be a right handed hitter too, I would think so,
12:49
Speaker 2: but that and and I still think like even though
12:53
Speaker 2: we talked about it earlier with with all the guys
12:56
Speaker 2: that they have, like do they need to get that
13:00
Speaker 2: stop gap at third before Shaw or are they going
13:04
Speaker 2: to push Shaw to start the season and try and
13:07
Speaker 2: get that extra draft pick if he can win the
13:09
Speaker 2: Rookie of the Year. I don't know, like that's those
13:12
Speaker 2: are the types of that's something that I'm really curious
13:15
Speaker 2: about right now. The first base thing is not a
13:17
Speaker 2: big deal. It's not a huge deal. You find someone
13:20
Speaker 2: eventually that falls slips through the cracks and it's like
13:22
Speaker 2: signs of minor league deal. Or is your bench guy.
13:25
Speaker 2: You prefer that the guy can play more positions right
13:29
Speaker 2: than just first base, because like having a first base
13:32
Speaker 2: only guy, or he has to be like a pretty
13:34
Speaker 2: good bat that can that can.
13:36
Speaker 3: Be at d H every once in a while.
13:39
Speaker 2: So it will be interesting to see how that plays out,
13:42
Speaker 2: how those two spots they're not they're not unless the
13:47
Speaker 2: thinking changes. You know, Alex Bregman isn't going to be
13:50
Speaker 2: their starting third basement. Things like that aren't happening. So
13:54
Speaker 2: so we like that how they put this together and
13:56
Speaker 2: get to that ninety win team is going to be
14:00
Speaker 2: It's a little right now, there's no obvious move for
14:04
Speaker 2: those those spots, at least that I'm seeing. But you know,
14:09
Speaker 2: I guess until we started hearing the rumors Kyle Tucker
14:12
Speaker 2: like it came out of nowhere too, So who knows
14:15
Speaker 2: what they have planned. The bigger stuff is obviously starting
14:19
Speaker 2: pitching and relieving. Uh, and I think it and I
14:23
Speaker 2: think those will be addressed, Like those are the things
14:26
Speaker 2: that you know, maybe by the time Pubs convention wraps up.
14:30
Speaker 3: Will know what they're doing there.
14:32
Speaker 2: And like I mentioned before, Sasaki probably like what you
14:36
Speaker 2: said with the arbitration makes sense, and then Suzaki probably
14:40
Speaker 2: kind of is. It's kind of a domino effect.
14:44
Speaker 1: There perhaps, Yeah, no doubt, I mean the same way
14:48
Speaker 1: that Soto kind of created a chain reaction. I think
14:54
Speaker 1: we'll see that in the in the back half of January.
14:58
Speaker 1: And it's funny when you mentioned the first based off
15:00
Speaker 1: because they have to get this right. The Cody Bellinger
15:06
Speaker 1: money has to be reallocated at least in full. Obviously
15:13
Speaker 1: they should just keep spending more when you're this close
15:15
Speaker 1: with that, but take all that money and you have
15:20
Speaker 1: to deploy those resources the right way. I mean, that's
15:23
Speaker 1: kind of obvious. But Cody Bellinger was a real nice
15:27
Speaker 1: fit for this for a lot of teams. Maybe it
15:30
Speaker 1: was he was a tad expensive. There's some unpredictability to it.
15:35
Speaker 1: He'll probably hit better at Yankee Stadium than at Wrigley Field. Uh,
15:39
Speaker 1: you know what Raally Field turned into last year. But yeah,
15:43
Speaker 1: like what happens when you already have two middle infielders
15:47
Speaker 1: who are coming off surgeries at the end of last season.
15:53
Speaker 1: Third base is a question mark at best. Maybe Matt
15:57
Speaker 1: Shaw is the rookie the year next year here and
16:00
Speaker 1: you know, asked an answer, but you know, Michael Bush
16:05
Speaker 1: is certainly a nice hitter at a very affordable salary.
16:11
Speaker 1: They think he's a gold Glover, but there's not a
16:14
Speaker 1: ton of Major league track record there either. So it's
16:17
Speaker 1: a It just kind of goes back to kind of
16:20
Speaker 1: the weird, weird spot this team is in, you know,
16:25
Speaker 1: of kind of all these interchangeable pieces on the on
16:29
Speaker 1: the pitching side, some clear holes that have not been addressed,
16:34
Speaker 1: and then just the you know, you add Kyle Talker
16:39
Speaker 1: to that line up, and before we could even like
16:41
Speaker 1: put together like a mock lineup, Cody Bellinger's always trade
16:44
Speaker 1: it right on those salary. So you know, this closing
16:48
Speaker 1: stretch here of the off season is going to be
16:52
Speaker 1: massively important for this front office.
16:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, you bring up a good point that I hadn't
16:59
Speaker 2: touched on before or in this episode. And like fans
17:04
Speaker 2: are probably getting a little restless about that money, right,
17:08
Speaker 2: the Bellinger money, Like I know, it's what has it
17:11
Speaker 2: been like two weeks, three weeks? I don't know, I
17:13
Speaker 2: like the holidays have me in a blur. I don't
17:17
Speaker 2: really know how much time has passed. But yeah, that money,
17:23
Speaker 2: they cannot sit on it, and they've spent very little
17:26
Speaker 2: of it. Right, It's like field Bar and that's it.
17:30
Speaker 2: Am I missing anyone that they've signed since then? That's
17:35
Speaker 2: not where the money's going, right, It's not they didn't
17:38
Speaker 2: move Cody Bellager and then say like phew, we can
17:41
Speaker 2: sign Kitlin field Bar. Now that that money has to
17:45
Speaker 2: go somewhere. And it's not like not just that, right,
17:49
Speaker 2: Like it's what you said, Like they have a lot
17:52
Speaker 2: more money to spend than just that. And if if
17:55
Speaker 2: I'm looking at Roster Resource, it says they're at one
18:00
Speaker 2: ninety three luxury tax. That's twenty twenty five, one ninety three, okay,
18:05
Speaker 2: and that's probably a little low. Let's say they're at
18:07
Speaker 2: one ninety seven. Let's put another four million on there, okay,
18:11
Speaker 2: one nine ninety eight. That's like about they have about
18:14
Speaker 2: forty million, let's say to spend maybe thirty five let's
18:19
Speaker 2: say thirty five million to spend. That should be enough
18:22
Speaker 2: to get you some solid players, especially if you're doing
18:26
Speaker 2: making trades like it. They should be able to take
18:29
Speaker 2: care of this roster pretty without much like stress. I
18:35
Speaker 2: guess when I say like stress, financial stress, they should
18:39
Speaker 2: be able to do that. How they allocate those funds,
18:44
Speaker 2: how close they get to the luxury tax threshold. I
18:47
Speaker 2: think these are these are things that fans are going
18:52
Speaker 2: to be up in arms about until they spend that money,
18:55
Speaker 2: right until they until we head into spring training all
18:57
Speaker 2: the free agents are off the board, and the foster
19:00
Speaker 2: a set and and we and we can say this
19:03
Speaker 2: is the team, right or maybe until maybe it'll take
19:05
Speaker 2: as long as until we, you know, go to Japan
19:08
Speaker 2: and and see what they what the team looks like. Right,
19:13
Speaker 2: But they have that I think that's a that's probably
19:16
Speaker 2: kind of an underrated thing. That that underrated, like at
19:20
Speaker 2: least that I overlooked just in the past, in the
19:22
Speaker 2: past hour at least uh fans, like I said, I'm
19:25
Speaker 2: sure are well aware and and and stressed about it.
19:28
Speaker 2: But like that that was spending that money and making
19:31
Speaker 2: sure you don't just like that. It cannot be we
19:36
Speaker 2: said it at the time. This isn't a salary dump
19:38
Speaker 2: in this in the in the pure sense, right, it's
19:41
Speaker 2: a reallocation of funds. Okay, go spend that right, like
19:45
Speaker 2: make sure that we were not wrong on that or
19:48
Speaker 2: or that, like you don't you don't miss an opportunity here,
19:52
Speaker 2: and and be aggressive when the time calls for it.
19:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean very rough back of the Napkin math here.
20:02
Speaker 1: I mean Bellinger's money get you a nice starting pitcher
20:06
Speaker 1: and a nice reliever fairly easily, right, I mean, this
20:12
Speaker 1: is not It kind of goes back to really that
20:17
Speaker 1: Jets press conference right after the season ended of he
20:21
Speaker 1: feels a very stable, solid roster without like huge holes,
20:31
Speaker 1: with a clean financial sheet, but like Tucker is obviously
20:38
Speaker 1: a great player, Like that is a move. I don't
20:41
Speaker 1: care what camp Smith does seven years from now, Like
20:44
Speaker 1: that was a move you have to make, But like,
20:47
Speaker 1: what are the other moves to kind of build around him.
20:50
Speaker 1: It's the Craig Council thing all over again. You're go
20:53
Speaker 1: to higher Craig council, but then not really follow through
20:57
Speaker 1: in free agency and so you know, in the big name,
21:00
Speaker 1: but then still take a very measured approach and you know,
21:04
Speaker 1: try to win on the margins and you know, try
21:06
Speaker 1: to get the details right. It's just I don't know there,
21:11
Speaker 1: there's gonna be h. They don't really get the benefit
21:16
Speaker 1: of the doubt at this point. But there's a huge
21:21
Speaker 1: opportunity in front him. I mean, I really think one
21:23
Speaker 1: or two moves, you'll be like, wow, like this team
21:25
Speaker 1: should win the division because Saint Louis isn't trying.
21:29
Speaker 3: To win the division this year, No, not at all.
21:31
Speaker 1: I mean one of these years the Brewers will have
21:33
Speaker 1: to take a step back. Pirates, right, yeah, I mean
21:39
Speaker 1: the Pirates are not not exactly going full throttle. And look,
21:46
Speaker 1: I think the Reds are going to be pretty good.
21:48
Speaker 1: I think Francona, their talent that ballpark, I don't know there.
21:55
Speaker 1: I think they'll be an interesting team. I think they'll
21:57
Speaker 1: they can give the Cups a nice challenge. And there's
22:01
Speaker 1: you know, there's always gonna be surprises. But you know,
22:05
Speaker 1: when we go down to Mesa, like there's no reason
22:08
Speaker 1: why the expectations shouldn't be winning the division, Like, come.
22:13
Speaker 2: On, right, right, and you know, it's like it doesn't
22:18
Speaker 2: seem like anyone's being super aggressive right now outside of
22:22
Speaker 2: the Dodgers just acting like maybe maybe the Mets to
22:26
Speaker 2: a degree, but like they've kind of I mean, I
22:30
Speaker 2: guess they've made plenty of moves that they've made that
22:32
Speaker 2: they've i mean.
22:33
Speaker 4: The biggest contract in Yes, I was thinking outside of
22:39
Speaker 4: Soto and then I was like, no, they signed Clay Homes,
22:41
Speaker 4: they signed Sean and they've they've they've done plenty.
22:43
Speaker 2: They they're they're them, and the Dodgers kind of set
22:46
Speaker 2: the standard when it comes to finances.
22:49
Speaker 1: Uh.
22:50
Speaker 2: The Yankees have done a good job of spreading the
22:52
Speaker 2: Sodo money around exactly what we were talking about with
22:55
Speaker 2: the Cody Bellinger money, like they need to the Cubs
22:57
Speaker 2: need to behave in that manner, kind of spread that
22:59
Speaker 2: money around. Then if you're not spending it on Cody Bellinger,
23:03
Speaker 2: we'll see what they do. I think. I think this
23:07
Speaker 2: maybe by the time Cubs convention is done, will have
23:11
Speaker 2: some news to talk about, something real, some more action
23:15
Speaker 2: happening that's more than just like these smaller moves. But
23:20
Speaker 2: for now, that's that's what's going on. It's not the
23:23
Speaker 2: most entertaining holiday stretch of baseball hot stove action. But
23:29
Speaker 2: it's the reality that we're dealing with, and I do
23:31
Speaker 2: think it kind of does as annoying as it is
23:35
Speaker 2: for the fans, it does set up well for what
23:37
Speaker 2: Jed Hoyer loves. Right the way this is kind of
23:40
Speaker 2: dragging on, it's going to it could end up well
23:44
Speaker 2: for him, just like it ended up well, uh in
23:47
Speaker 2: the sense that like it was the was Cody Bellinger's
23:49
Speaker 2: season perfect, No, but that the way that played out
23:52
Speaker 2: was kind of how he wanted it to play out
23:55
Speaker 2: at the time. So we'll see. We'll see what these
23:58
Speaker 2: next ten days two weeks have for us. It's going
24:02
Speaker 2: to be critical, like Patrick wered, a month away from
24:08
Speaker 2: like heading to Mesa, Like I think people like they
24:11
Speaker 2: report early this year because of Japan.
24:13
Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's an off air that
24:23
Speaker 4: we that we can have.
24:26
Speaker 2: Well, this is our first episode of the new year.
24:28
Speaker 2: Thanks everyone for listening. We had a great first year.
24:31
Speaker 2: It wasn't even a full year, and you guys gave
24:33
Speaker 2: us a lot of support, So thank you so much.
24:36
Speaker 2: We appreciate and make sure to continue to support us. Subscribe,
24:39
Speaker 2: rate and review, subscribe to the YouTube channel. Please subscribe
24:42
Speaker 2: to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are on top
24:45
Speaker 2: of everything Cubs all off season and into the spring
24:47
Speaker 2: training and all summer long. Thanks so much for listening
24:50
Speaker 2: to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
24:52
Speaker 3: Take care.
25:00
Speaker 2: Then I met them on the d