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Top 5 Cubs Hot Stove Hitting Targets · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into nord Side Territory, presented by Fox one Foul
0:08
Speaker 1: Territory Networks.
0:09
Speaker 2: Cubs Podcast.
0:10
Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
0:13
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. I
0:17
Speaker 1: did not make it all eighteen innings last night, so
0:22
Speaker 1: I got a decent amount of sleep.
0:23
Speaker 2: I tried to make it.
0:25
Speaker 1: I woke up at three in the morning and checked
0:27
Speaker 1: my phone because the TV was still on and that
0:30
Speaker 1: game was epic. Pretty fun World Series Game three. It's
0:36
Speaker 1: been a fun World Series so far. I gotta be honest,
0:39
Speaker 1: I thought the Dodgers were just too hot and it
0:41
Speaker 1: wasn't going to be as competitive as it as it is.
0:44
Speaker 1: But that's why it's fun. That's why baseball is so fun.
0:48
Speaker 1: It's so hard to predict. But we'll we'll get to
0:51
Speaker 1: Cubs stuff right now. This episode is some names that
0:58
Speaker 1: the Cubs may pursue position player wise. We did pitchers already.
1:04
Speaker 1: I think that's probably I think we both agree that
1:07
Speaker 1: pitching is is the focus, but there are names that
1:11
Speaker 1: they could go after. You know, it's hard for us
1:15
Speaker 1: to really say how hard they're going to go after
1:19
Speaker 1: some of these players at this point in time, but
1:22
Speaker 1: the first one that you and I both agree that
1:25
Speaker 1: you know they're going to be what's the easiest way
1:28
Speaker 1: to put.
1:29
Speaker 2: This, kicking the tires on?
1:30
Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, just like last year, Alex Bregman, I feel
1:36
Speaker 1: like you spent your entire first stint of spring training
1:40
Speaker 1: writing Alex Bregman stories.
1:42
Speaker 2: Hopefully that's not the case again this year. Yeah.
1:46
Speaker 3: I think it might have been like ten or eleven
1:48
Speaker 3: straight days of Alex Bregman headlines. There may have been
1:51
Speaker 3: like an off day built in there where I wrote
1:53
Speaker 3: something else, but that was the saga. It seems like
1:57
Speaker 3: the Cubs, more than other teams, get wrapped up in
2:01
Speaker 3: these dramatic sweepstakes that go down towards the end of
2:06
Speaker 3: the offseason and spill into spring training and sometimes even
2:10
Speaker 3: around the start.
2:11
Speaker 2: Of Cactus League games, And.
2:13
Speaker 3: Based on our reporting from that time, it's really hard
2:19
Speaker 3: to rule out the idea of them trying again. It
2:24
Speaker 3: doesn't mean I would put them as like the number
2:26
Speaker 3: one favorite, or that they're going to change their spending
2:31
Speaker 3: habits or patterns, but their projections were very robust for Bregman,
2:40
Speaker 3: even going out years into the future, and I don't
2:45
Speaker 3: think his very good year with the Red Sox would
2:48
Speaker 3: have fundamentally changed that. Obviously, Matt Shaw had a nice
2:52
Speaker 3: second half and sort of blew everyone away with his defense,
2:56
Speaker 3: but you saw in the playoffs it was a struggle
2:59
Speaker 3: for him. And I know that young players can get better,
3:02
Speaker 3: and Jed Hoyer likes to call him, you know, the
3:04
Speaker 3: lifeblood of an organization. But there's really kind of one spot.
3:13
Speaker 3: We're kind of working under the an assumption here of
3:16
Speaker 3: how we see the roster at this point. There's kind
3:18
Speaker 3: of one one spot where you could probably go to upgrade,
3:24
Speaker 3: and it's a guy that not only can move around
3:28
Speaker 3: to different positions even deeper into his career, he also
3:32
Speaker 3: just brings a ton of like baseball knowledge and experience,
3:37
Speaker 3: and I think would really fit and well with a
3:39
Speaker 3: group that is kind of a bunch of baseball gym rats.
3:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The clubhouse fit
3:46
Speaker 1: is ideal. I think he'd fit really well, fitting really
3:52
Speaker 1: well with this group, especially the position players really seem
3:58
Speaker 1: to bond and love to talk baseball and talk hitting.
4:04
Speaker 1: Do you spend that much money on a thirty one
4:08
Speaker 1: year old That's going to be the question asked in
4:11
Speaker 1: that front office and by us, I guess and fans, Uh,
4:16
Speaker 1: you have a guy that I think they believe in
4:18
Speaker 1: at third base, that that has a ton of potential
4:22
Speaker 1: to grow. But you know, it was the opportunity missed.
4:27
Speaker 1: I guess was it the right time to make that
4:30
Speaker 1: push a year.
4:31
Speaker 2: Ago and not now? Now?
4:34
Speaker 1: What what type of deal is he going to get there?
4:37
Speaker 1: There are two questions that aren't directly related to Bregman.
4:42
Speaker 1: Well one, I should say one big question that's not
4:45
Speaker 1: directly related to Bregman and it kind of ties into
4:47
Speaker 1: it that that's been kind of like going around in
4:49
Speaker 1: my head for the past few days as I think
4:52
Speaker 1: of what I want to write and what I want
4:54
Speaker 1: to attack this offseason? What time of what type of
4:57
Speaker 1: team are the Cubs during these winters?
5:01
Speaker 2: Like we have we established what they are?
5:04
Speaker 1: Are they permanently are kind of going forward? Are we
5:09
Speaker 1: just to expect that they're very rarely in on the
5:13
Speaker 1: top three free agents unless they filter down the top
5:18
Speaker 1: maybe not three, top five to ten those top top guys.
5:22
Speaker 1: Are they not in on them at the start of
5:25
Speaker 1: free agency outside of like here's this generational talent, Hey, yeah,
5:31
Speaker 1: that we're going to check in on and try to
5:34
Speaker 1: be aggressive for but really understand that he's going to
5:37
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, you know. But like that, I'm trying to
5:42
Speaker 1: wrap my mind around that, and we need to do
5:44
Speaker 1: more talking to people around the game and within the
5:47
Speaker 1: front office. I want to understand that. Like it was
5:51
Speaker 1: last year when when we knew early that don't waste
5:56
Speaker 1: your time digging in, Like we didn't waste our time
6:00
Speaker 1: trying to figure out if they were going after Corbyn
6:02
Speaker 1: Burns or Max Freed.
6:03
Speaker 2: Or won Soto.
6:05
Speaker 1: Right, we knew, we knew not to waste our time.
6:08
Speaker 1: Is that how it is going forward? I think I
6:11
Speaker 1: think I think that's a question I'd like answered at
6:15
Speaker 1: some point over the next few months to to really
6:18
Speaker 1: understand what this organization is. And maybe we can't get
6:21
Speaker 1: that answer because it's all dependent on the CBA, right
6:24
Speaker 1: and and maybe that's just the bottom line. I I've
6:29
Speaker 1: kind of derailed the Alex Bregmant topic. That's that's just
6:32
Speaker 1: where my mind goes because he is the big Like
6:36
Speaker 1: it's going to be years and money with Alex Bregmant.
6:39
Speaker 1: He's a really good fit. Is this the type of
6:42
Speaker 1: thing they do now? They have money coming off the books,
6:45
Speaker 1: and and they and you know, I don't know what.
6:48
Speaker 2: Their payroll is supposed to look like, they can they
6:52
Speaker 2: can fit this in without going crazy. And then and
6:55
Speaker 2: then you can also add pitching via trade.
6:58
Speaker 1: There are ways to make this work where it's not
7:01
Speaker 1: unreasonable and where we don't have to talk as much
7:04
Speaker 1: about money and payroll. I think he's a really good fit.
7:08
Speaker 1: And if and if what you're saying holds true in
7:12
Speaker 1: the sense of their projections liked him going forward. If
7:15
Speaker 1: that's still the case, if one year of data, I
7:18
Speaker 1: thought it was pretty positive data. You know he was hurt.
7:22
Speaker 1: How many games did he play? He played one hundred
7:26
Speaker 1: and fourteen games, so that you know, does that data,
7:28
Speaker 1: what does that data tell them that you know, whatever
7:32
Speaker 1: the injury was. I didn't follow the Red Sox enough
7:35
Speaker 1: to know exactly what his injury was. It did say
7:39
Speaker 1: he had a couple he had it was a long
7:43
Speaker 1: iyel stint from just looking at the transactions.
7:47
Speaker 2: He went on at the end of May and came.
7:49
Speaker 1: Back on at the beginning, you know, halfway through July,
7:52
Speaker 1: so that that's a decent stint. So though, those are
7:55
Speaker 1: the questions that I think they need to answer like
7:57
Speaker 1: health wise, did anything change for them health wise? And
8:01
Speaker 1: what type of what type of team are they spending wise?
8:05
Speaker 1: Those are the big things for me when I look
8:08
Speaker 1: at Alex Bregmant. But I agree with this, This is
8:10
Speaker 1: like a really good fit in so much of what
8:13
Speaker 1: they're trying to build.
8:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think to wrap up Reregman in a way
8:18
Speaker 3: that applies to everyone else we talk about on this
8:20
Speaker 3: episode and the way you began this show of it
8:24
Speaker 3: still feels like it's pitching, pitching, and more pitching, Like
8:28
Speaker 3: we can't just totally ignore the offense side of the ball.
8:31
Speaker 3: And they're not.
8:34
Speaker 2: Locked in.
8:34
Speaker 3: I think we've seen that, Like it is all about
8:36
Speaker 3: their projections and their valuations. So they're not going into
8:40
Speaker 3: this like, oh, we have to get this particular component
8:45
Speaker 3: to our team, a specific component or a specific player.
8:50
Speaker 3: It's like, No, they're going to assess the marketplace, trades
8:55
Speaker 3: and free agents and see what fits best for them.
8:57
Speaker 3: But that is why kind of the disclaimer for the
9:01
Speaker 3: rest of this episode is like, don't see them going
9:04
Speaker 3: absolutely huge on the position player side because they're largely
9:08
Speaker 3: set and they have obvious needs on the pitching side.
9:11
Speaker 3: But like you said, you don't really know what's gonna
9:14
Speaker 3: how the rest of the market's going to shake out.
9:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're largely set, and their youngest players are positioned players.
9:21
Speaker 1: Their youngest talent, they're on the verge of needing every
9:24
Speaker 1: day time, every day playing time. So there's all these
9:27
Speaker 1: reasons why it makes sense they could even trade from
9:30
Speaker 1: that and still have plenty of position young position players.
9:34
Speaker 1: So it's just, you know, it's not number one priority.
9:37
Speaker 1: Perhaps the look, like you said, assess the market seem
9:40
Speaker 1: for ways any way that you can improve. That's kind
9:42
Speaker 1: of the summation of how we'd look at the off
9:45
Speaker 1: season going forward. All right, let's take a quick break
9:48
Speaker 1: and talk about two familiar names as potential targets.
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10:53
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Northside's Territory, presented by Fox one. Patrick.
10:57
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a couple familiar names. Uh, let's just
11:02
Speaker 1: start it off with with the guy we've been talking
11:04
Speaker 1: about for nine months, it seems like maybe a year.
11:07
Speaker 3: Uh.
11:08
Speaker 1: They they're going to they're they're not going to just
11:12
Speaker 1: let Kyle Tucker walk without uh without engaging in some
11:17
Speaker 1: form uh, you know, whether it's a formal offer, whether
11:20
Speaker 1: it's just checking in seeing how that market develops, keeping
11:24
Speaker 1: in contact, seeing what he's looking for. They're not ignoring
11:29
Speaker 1: the Kyle Tucker market. This isn't like Juan Soto where
11:33
Speaker 1: they were just like we're that they weren't going to
11:35
Speaker 1: be in.
11:36
Speaker 2: On the yeah piece.
11:39
Speaker 1: Uh so you know as much as you and I,
11:43
Speaker 1: I guess have both been saying since they've traded for
11:47
Speaker 1: him that, uh it.
11:48
Speaker 2: Was it felt like a one year thing.
11:51
Speaker 1: You can't ignore it, you can like, I'm happy to
11:55
Speaker 1: admit that I've been wrong before and and I could
11:58
Speaker 1: be we could be wrong. Maybe something happens and there's
12:02
Speaker 1: a return. They're certainly not going to just dismiss it
12:06
Speaker 1: out of hand.
12:09
Speaker 3: It's a good point to reference kind of Soto and
12:13
Speaker 3: how he's represented by Boris Corp. Which also had Matthew
12:18
Speaker 3: Boyd last offseason. And why bring that up is that
12:23
Speaker 3: both Kyle Tucker and Kyle Schwarber are represented by Excel
12:27
Speaker 3: Sports Management. So obviously during the course of this offseason,
12:32
Speaker 3: Jed and Carter we'll be talking to various agents and
12:39
Speaker 3: checking in. That's kind of how they operate in general.
12:42
Speaker 3: They always want to have the pulse of the marketplace.
12:45
Speaker 3: They never want to rule anything out. They want to
12:48
Speaker 3: make decisions at the last possible second. And so, yeah,
12:54
Speaker 3: the Cubs were not interested in Juan Soto, but Scott
12:57
Speaker 3: Boris had a bunch of kind of pitchers in that
13:03
Speaker 3: sort of sweet spot of like not super long, not
13:08
Speaker 3: super expensive in terms of the overall number, but they
13:13
Speaker 3: could get some really nice AAVs and a little bit
13:15
Speaker 3: of security. And that's how Matthew Boyd wound up with
13:18
Speaker 3: the Cubs. And I think, yeah, excels in a spot
13:22
Speaker 3: here where they have two left handed hitters who are
13:26
Speaker 3: extremely accomplished but bring different things and will be in
13:30
Speaker 3: different sort of pricing tiers. And I think both Schwarbur
13:36
Speaker 3: and Tucker fall under that category for the Cubs of
13:39
Speaker 3: like definitely checking in, sort of intrigued, but obviously going
13:46
Speaker 3: to set a very firm price point on those negotiations
13:51
Speaker 3: and won't be very easy to move off of.
13:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Kyle Tucker's coming off of Kyle Tucker.
13:58
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber is coming off his like it's his best season.
14:03
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it's just you know, like just a
14:06
Speaker 1: monster offensive season, really impressive numbers and kind of became
14:13
Speaker 1: the player. I mean, he's been on this track since
14:17
Speaker 1: basically since he left the Cubs, but he's really he
14:20
Speaker 1: really turned into something fun and special this year. Fifty
14:25
Speaker 1: six homers, is that right? I Mean, just that's awesome
14:28
Speaker 1: and like I don't think having covered him, I could
14:31
Speaker 1: be like much happier for a player that I've covered
14:34
Speaker 1: that left and went on to like become something like
14:37
Speaker 1: everything that we kind of envisioned was possible for him,
14:40
Speaker 1: he fulfilled it. Like he's this great team leader, team
14:44
Speaker 1: spokesman for Philadelphia and just this like you know, otherworldly
14:50
Speaker 1: slugger that you know is fun to watch, comes up
14:54
Speaker 1: in big moments and delivers. I think there's value to
14:59
Speaker 1: a with what he brings on the field and off
15:01
Speaker 1: the field.
15:02
Speaker 2: He'd fit in well as d H.
15:05
Speaker 1: You know, if you if you're happy, if you're comfortable playing,
15:08
Speaker 1: say every day in right field, you could use some
15:13
Speaker 1: of those position player prospects to go get pitching, Like
15:17
Speaker 1: there is a fit here.
15:21
Speaker 2: I think he's thirty two. I think the cost.
15:24
Speaker 1: Makes it makes it make less sense if he's somehow
15:27
Speaker 1: if if it's one of those situations where we're talking
15:30
Speaker 1: about this in February, then he's still out there, that
15:34
Speaker 1: suddenly makes a lot more sense, don't I don't see
15:36
Speaker 1: that with him, Like he's just he I really do
15:40
Speaker 1: think like he's he's made a name for himself across
15:44
Speaker 1: the league, is being too valuable to like kind of let.
15:47
Speaker 2: Linger out there.
15:48
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong, Alex Bregman lingered out there, and he's
15:52
Speaker 1: certainly valuable in multiple ways. So I think it'd be
15:57
Speaker 1: really fun. I'd be all for it in like baseball
16:01
Speaker 1: terms and like coverage terms for us, like it would
16:04
Speaker 1: be nice to cover him again. Uh.
16:06
Speaker 2: He's one of the guys.
16:07
Speaker 1: That when when I go to Philly or when when
16:10
Speaker 1: the Phillies come, I make sure to go say hi
16:12
Speaker 1: to Uh.
16:13
Speaker 2: Like he's he's just that type of guy.
16:14
Speaker 1: He's fun to be around, and and he's like a
16:16
Speaker 1: good talker, and and he kind of gets he has
16:18
Speaker 1: good perspective on things, and and and and he's honest too,
16:22
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't he's not the type that like gives
16:25
Speaker 1: you these answers that you're like, Okay, well that was nothing.
16:28
Speaker 1: He's he's always willing to chat. Like there's a lot
16:32
Speaker 1: of value there that that maybe the fans don't care
16:35
Speaker 1: about in some of those things. But but I think
16:37
Speaker 1: it is fun. And then obviously there's the there's the
16:40
Speaker 1: homer potential that you know, you this team is losing
16:46
Speaker 1: if if you're not bringing back Kyle Tucker, they're losing
16:48
Speaker 1: some power what what the the jump in strikeouts with
16:54
Speaker 1: with Kyle Schwarber, But not this isn't a team that's
16:57
Speaker 1: struck out at a at a high rate. It's struck
16:59
Speaker 1: out at a pretty low rate. So they could probably handle that.
17:03
Speaker 1: You know, it wouldn't be much of a detriment to them,
17:05
Speaker 1: and and that power jump would be really uh important
17:09
Speaker 1: and impactful.
17:10
Speaker 4: Uh.
17:11
Speaker 2: I think he'd be fun to bring back.
17:12
Speaker 1: And you're right, like the the Excel connection there, you
17:16
Speaker 1: know they're they're going to be in contact with them,
17:18
Speaker 1: like what what what?
17:20
Speaker 2: What can they massage here? What? What can what can
17:24
Speaker 2: they make happen?
17:24
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to follow if there's any whispers of
17:28
Speaker 1: a reunion.
17:30
Speaker 3: I think fans see what you're talking about. So lot
17:33
Speaker 3: of he's just a real person, like a real personality,
17:38
Speaker 3: I should say, of just like what what you see
17:40
Speaker 3: is sort of what you get. There's not an ounce
17:44
Speaker 3: of phoniness to Kyle Schwarber from the Midwest, went to
17:50
Speaker 3: Big ten school very much. Someone who treats people extremely
17:57
Speaker 3: well behind the scenes and gets along with a lot
17:59
Speaker 3: of differ from people in the clubhouse. I'm looking up now,
18:02
Speaker 3: I think twenty nineteen might have been the only year
18:04
Speaker 3: of his career he did not make the postseason, which
18:08
Speaker 3: is kind of crazy to think about a guy who
18:11
Speaker 3: debuted in twenty fifteen. Love the fit for our purposes,
18:17
Speaker 3: still think that if the Phillies want him back, and
18:22
Speaker 3: all indications are that they do, I do not see
18:25
Speaker 3: the Cubs entering a bidding war for that much less
18:28
Speaker 3: winning a bidding war for a guy who, let's face it,
18:33
Speaker 3: from the front office perspective.
18:35
Speaker 6: Is.
18:36
Speaker 3: Sort of one dimensional. That's kind of from their perspective
18:42
Speaker 3: of Yes, I think they recognize all those intangibles. No,
18:45
Speaker 3: I don't think they're going to overpay wildly for that.
18:49
Speaker 3: LOO get how this team has been built. It's been
18:50
Speaker 3: a lot of sort of two way players who bring
18:54
Speaker 3: a lot of defensive value, which does not cost as
18:58
Speaker 3: much as home runs. So yeah, I think we're gonna
19:03
Speaker 3: be covering Schwarber until he returns to the Phillies. I
19:07
Speaker 3: don't know, maybe there's maybe there's a mystery team out there,
19:10
Speaker 3: Maybe there's a team that you know sees the same
19:13
Speaker 3: things and and you know, really pays for it. But again,
19:18
Speaker 3: don't see the Cubs locking up a thirty something designated
19:21
Speaker 3: hitter for huge dollars and that many years. It's gonna
19:27
Speaker 3: cost more years than you think. I mean, perhaps to
19:28
Speaker 3: the forgetting Schwarber at that time. I mean we could say,
19:32
Speaker 3: obviously the Cubs business department should have given baseball more
19:38
Speaker 3: money so that he was not non tendered for nothing
19:41
Speaker 3: during the pandemic. I think it's fair to say, you know,
19:45
Speaker 3: should they have signed Schwarber instead of sayah, maybe signed both.
19:51
Speaker 2: But at this point, uh.
19:54
Speaker 3: You know, not really holding out hopes for a Schwarber reunion.
19:57
Speaker 2: But I don't know. Crazier things have happened, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:00
Speaker 1: And you talk about how it's going to cost more
20:03
Speaker 1: than you think. I think that's true for everything. Like
20:05
Speaker 1: I think around this time, we think the prices are
20:10
Speaker 1: at least this is my trend. What happens with me,
20:12
Speaker 1: I think the prices are going to be a little
20:13
Speaker 1: bit lower, and then we start getting into the offseason,
20:16
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, right, there's all the ways these bidding
20:18
Speaker 1: wars and it goes higher. So like even with Kyle
20:20
Speaker 1: Tucker when I was talking about that, whatever a few
20:23
Speaker 1: episodes go, it's probably going to be more than what
20:26
Speaker 1: we speculated at the end of September because this is
20:28
Speaker 1: just like people are going to forget. It's not that
20:31
Speaker 1: they forget, it's just that you look at the overall
20:33
Speaker 1: numbers and that's an elite player. So you're not gonna
20:37
Speaker 1: like you just overlook at the time, like you start
20:40
Speaker 1: getting these bidding wars, and you overlooked that he missed
20:42
Speaker 1: a month and a half or whatever, or that there
20:44
Speaker 1: were issues with the calf and people thought, he you know,
20:47
Speaker 1: why is any playing right now?
20:49
Speaker 2: What's taking so long for him to come back? Two
20:51
Speaker 2: things on Schwarber.
20:53
Speaker 1: I think the clubhouse stuff him and Nico that type
20:57
Speaker 1: of attitude, Like he has a very simil or mindset
21:01
Speaker 1: to Nico Horner where it's just like all about winning
21:03
Speaker 1: and it's very hard nosed. Uh.
21:05
Speaker 2: I like that.
21:06
Speaker 1: I think it's really fun to have in a clubhouse
21:08
Speaker 1: and it and it's it's easy to like kind of
21:12
Speaker 1: digest and and root for. Like you hear it and
21:14
Speaker 1: you're like this is genuine and like, yeah, how how
21:18
Speaker 1: can you not root for someone that cares that much.
21:21
Speaker 1: The other thing is, uh, the way he's kept in shape,
21:25
Speaker 1: Like I I don't think anyone would have projected his
21:31
Speaker 1: body type to look the way it does now.
21:34
Speaker 2: At what age thirty two ish? Uh, He's he's done
21:37
Speaker 2: a great job.
21:38
Speaker 1: That, Like, you gotta you gotta give him a ton
21:41
Speaker 1: of props for staying in shape, not only staying in shape,
21:44
Speaker 1: but looking like better than he did when when he
21:47
Speaker 1: was probably with the Cubs. He's in great shape and
21:49
Speaker 1: and I think that that probably wasn't the projection for him,
21:53
Speaker 1: So props to him for that. All Right, we'll come
21:56
Speaker 1: back and talk about a couple more players that maybe
21:59
Speaker 1: are on the radar.
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23:01
Speaker 1: Welcome back to North Side Territory presented by Fox one.
23:04
Speaker 2: Patrick.
23:05
Speaker 1: We have talked about the Cubs and their connection to
23:12
Speaker 1: the Asian market, Japan in particular. We know Saya Suzuki
23:18
Speaker 1: and show Him Monaga have been huge pieces of the
23:21
Speaker 1: cubs kind of resurgence here. Uh, they've been interested in
23:25
Speaker 1: other players from Japan. We'll see how active they are
23:30
Speaker 1: in the pitching market there. But there are two big bats.
23:34
Speaker 1: I'm going to take am going to take a Murakami
23:38
Speaker 1: and I gotta get this right, Kazuma Okamoto. Those are
23:42
Speaker 1: the two bats.
23:43
Speaker 2: Probably. Yeah, as far.
23:46
Speaker 3: International travel has paid off.
23:52
Speaker 1: They those are the two biggest names as far as
23:54
Speaker 1: position players.
23:56
Speaker 2: I think both have played third.
23:58
Speaker 1: I think we'll see if either plays third in the
24:01
Speaker 1: big leagues. It's kind of like first base dh Okamoto,
24:05
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what.
24:07
Speaker 2: I think.
24:08
Speaker 1: Murakami is more like this guy's first base. Dh Okamoto
24:13
Speaker 1: is pretty much first base. I think I've heard some
24:18
Speaker 1: some thoughts about maybe he'll he'll play the outfield. Maybe
24:21
Speaker 1: I'm misremembering that or miss misrepresenting that, but these guys
24:27
Speaker 1: aren't going to be paid for their defense. It sounds
24:32
Speaker 1: like Murakami is more like power oriented, like a ton
24:35
Speaker 1: of power, and Okamoto has a little bit.
24:39
Speaker 2: More contact than Murakami. Both interesting.
24:44
Speaker 1: Murakami's twenty five I believe, I believe in Okamoto's twenty nine.
24:50
Speaker 1: So that's probably the big gap in cost, which makes
24:54
Speaker 1: me think Okamoto is where they would focus their attention
25:00
Speaker 1: and see if they can get, you know, a better
25:04
Speaker 1: deal and fewer years, fewer, a lesser av That's that's
25:09
Speaker 1: where my mind goes when thinking about how the Cubs
25:11
Speaker 1: attack things.
25:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, as we were outlining the show before we started recording,
25:18
Speaker 3: we felt same thing. Kind of on the pitching side,
25:20
Speaker 3: of we have to at least explain this wave of
25:25
Speaker 3: Japanese talent that's coming over, and that the Cubs had
25:29
Speaker 3: already built kind of scouting reports on these guys before
25:33
Speaker 3: showed to Imanaga through the first pitch of the twenty
25:36
Speaker 3: twenty five season inside the Tokyo Dome. That that is
25:40
Speaker 3: how far ahead you have to be to be involved
25:46
Speaker 3: in this marketplace. And that's years of building relationships and
25:52
Speaker 3: establishing a presence. The Cubs have that they have a
25:55
Speaker 3: lot of info on these guys, and I think it's
25:59
Speaker 3: important to me number two of like that doesn't mean
26:03
Speaker 3: they're aggressively going after them. It's more of like, Okay,
26:08
Speaker 3: they are going to be sort of like in this
26:12
Speaker 3: flow of Japanese players continuously, And I think back to
26:17
Speaker 3: really how showdo landed here, like that sort of fell
26:20
Speaker 3: in their laps, Like they were aware of him, they
26:22
Speaker 3: were intrigued by him. They thought maybe his market would
26:26
Speaker 3: go to a place that didn't make sense for them,
26:29
Speaker 3: but they also had the information in the background to
26:33
Speaker 3: be like, Okay, these certain elements within his game have changed,
26:38
Speaker 3: or this is how we could maybe coach up some
26:42
Speaker 3: of these elements. This is how our system would help
26:46
Speaker 3: his individual talents flourish, and like that deal came together
26:52
Speaker 3: more towards the deadline of his posting window. And so
26:57
Speaker 3: that's kind of why we're mentioning these guys.
27:00
Speaker 5: Now.
27:00
Speaker 3: I'm not saying they're like the number one name on
27:02
Speaker 3: a whiteboard somewhere in the Wrigley office building, but very
27:06
Speaker 3: much aware of these guys, and they're among a small
27:09
Speaker 3: handful of teams that are kind of in play for
27:11
Speaker 3: these guys a year after year.
27:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that the latter point that you're making there,
27:16
Speaker 1: like they there's just not as much competition in general
27:20
Speaker 1: for Japanese players. Just because they you know, that they
27:24
Speaker 1: want to they end up wanting to play for a
27:26
Speaker 1: select group of teams and not as many teams are
27:30
Speaker 1: in the market or put in the effort to be
27:33
Speaker 1: in that market. The Cubs have put in a lot
27:35
Speaker 1: of work to be in this market, and they will
27:38
Speaker 1: monitor every situation. Like you said, in Monaga was one
27:41
Speaker 1: of those situations that maybe they weren't their aggressor, but
27:46
Speaker 1: it worked out in their favor. And who knows if
27:50
Speaker 1: one of these bats kind of okay, we're not paying
27:53
Speaker 1: this exorbitant price that may be what everyone's talking about.
27:58
Speaker 1: But suddenly it gets to a a area that that
28:01
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense for them, and and they
28:04
Speaker 1: see it as like this is just incredible value and
28:07
Speaker 1: we can get creative like they did with him in
28:09
Speaker 1: AGA's deal.
28:10
Speaker 2: Who knows.
28:12
Speaker 1: I think in particular, Okamoto has kind of just like
28:19
Speaker 1: kind of a skill set that makes sense.
28:22
Speaker 2: Can they coach up.
28:23
Speaker 1: Like the difference would be, do they think they can
28:25
Speaker 1: coach up Murakami's in zone swing and miss? Can they
28:29
Speaker 1: correct that? Do they are they confident enough in that
28:32
Speaker 1: or do they think they can like kind of tap
28:34
Speaker 1: into this. Okamoto I think has hit for power in Japan,
28:38
Speaker 1: But do they think that translates And if they don't,
28:41
Speaker 1: are they confident enough that the contact skills are just
28:43
Speaker 1: so valuable that he can, you know, slug a decent
28:46
Speaker 1: amount and be valuable and hit the ball hard enough
28:49
Speaker 1: it stateside. I'm fascinated to see how these players' skills
28:55
Speaker 1: translate in the US and and just curious to see
28:59
Speaker 1: how how aggressive the Cubs would be with the position players.
29:01
Speaker 1: I think they're going to get someone or I think
29:04
Speaker 1: they're going to be active in the market in general
29:07
Speaker 1: and maybe sign someone that played in.
29:10
Speaker 2: Japan last year.
29:11
Speaker 1: It just just seems like there's so many players that
29:15
Speaker 1: are options that it makes sense for the Cubs to
29:18
Speaker 1: go that route. We'll see if it's a big name
29:23
Speaker 1: or if it's someone like like you mentioned last episode,
29:26
Speaker 1: Foster Griffin. I think that's an interesting pitcher name. Well,
29:31
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's a lot more time here
29:34
Speaker 1: too for us to kind of suss out exactly what
29:37
Speaker 1: they're doing, Like I like I started with earlier. I'm
29:40
Speaker 1: really curious with how they how they how they kind
29:45
Speaker 1: of behave financially going forward. And uh, well, we'll see.
29:50
Speaker 1: Maybe this is kind of like the last offseason where
29:53
Speaker 1: we're kind of talking about that and and it'll be
29:55
Speaker 1: more structured for everyone by the time we're doing this
29:59
Speaker 1: again next You're well, by the time we're doing this
30:01
Speaker 1: a year from now, we may be in the middle
30:02
Speaker 1: of a lockout.
30:03
Speaker 2: But that's a I don't want to bring to bring
30:06
Speaker 2: everyone down.
30:07
Speaker 1: Uh, all right, I think those are some those are
30:11
Speaker 1: five names. I think you made the best point of
30:15
Speaker 1: the of the show, and that's this is you know,
30:19
Speaker 1: you're well, you're welcome. It's it is pitching, like that's
30:24
Speaker 1: the priority.
30:26
Speaker 2: But they're they're going to be monitoring this market. They
30:30
Speaker 2: have to. You're losing. And you even had another name too.
30:34
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't even did I did I skip? Did
30:38
Speaker 2: we only did?
30:40
Speaker 1: Yeah?
30:40
Speaker 3: You mentioned him at the trade deadline. I think around
30:42
Speaker 3: the trade deadline.
30:43
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I almost file type Yeah yeah, I.
30:47
Speaker 1: Almost ended the show before mentioning my my guy. Uh yeah, no,
30:51
Speaker 1: they look if they if they depending on how they
30:54
Speaker 1: fill out the rest of their position players. Uh, they're
30:57
Speaker 1: going to need a bench bat. They're going to need
30:59
Speaker 1: some one. They did not have some This was a
31:01
Speaker 1: This was an issue. They tried to address it with
31:04
Speaker 1: Justin Turner. They tried to address it with Willie Castro.
31:06
Speaker 1: Someone that could hit lefties. Rob Refschneider is a veteran.
31:12
Speaker 1: He can play the corner outfield spots, he can step in,
31:16
Speaker 1: He's played other positions in the past. Well, who knows
31:20
Speaker 1: where he can play in twenty twenty six.
31:24
Speaker 2: But he crushes lefties.
31:27
Speaker 1: He had a one fifty nine way to runs great
31:29
Speaker 1: at plus against lefties.
31:32
Speaker 2: Last year in his career.
31:34
Speaker 1: I believe those numbers are pretty pretty darn good. One
31:37
Speaker 1: twenty nine against lefties for his career. So it's not
31:41
Speaker 1: just like a one year wonder thing. Willy Castro was
31:43
Speaker 1: a little bit of a like this. He hadn't always
31:46
Speaker 1: crushed lefties in the past, justin Turner. It just wasn't
31:51
Speaker 1: used to the part time thing as much. And he
31:53
Speaker 1: was forty. You know this, he's Refstider's thirty five or
32:00
Speaker 1: am I right?
32:00
Speaker 2: Yeah? Thirty five I believe, so you know he's older,
32:04
Speaker 2: but not you.
32:06
Speaker 1: Know, he's still got some time left there and in
32:09
Speaker 1: some years left.
32:10
Speaker 2: In all likelihood, I think it's a good fit and
32:12
Speaker 2: just a name that.
32:15
Speaker 1: You're right, like a type that kind of fits representative
32:18
Speaker 1: of yeah, yeah, what of what they could be looking
32:21
Speaker 1: for because they're gonna need to fill out the bench.
32:24
Speaker 1: I think Jed Hoyer thought he did a good job
32:26
Speaker 1: with the bench and then learned that, oh I did
32:28
Speaker 1: not do a good job with the bench. So maybe
32:31
Speaker 1: he's gonna look for a little bit more certainty. I
32:33
Speaker 1: wonder if he spends a few million more on the bench,
32:36
Speaker 1: or maybe it's as simple as it adding Alex Bregman
32:40
Speaker 1: and not trading Matt Shaw and that upgrades your bench.
32:43
Speaker 1: So there are ways, but I think bench is something
32:45
Speaker 1: we can overlook. One other thing quickly that that. I'll
32:49
Speaker 1: I wonder if they look at Catcher at all as
32:53
Speaker 1: an area, because can you expect Carson Kelly to repeat
32:58
Speaker 1: that Carson Kelly isn't going anywhere. I'm just wondering, like,
33:02
Speaker 1: this is just something that entered my mind while while
33:05
Speaker 1: thinking about how at all the positions and how you
33:07
Speaker 1: talked about how they're kind of set. I don't think
33:10
Speaker 1: there's much they can do. I'm not sure what they
33:13
Speaker 1: can do. But do you need do you need to
33:16
Speaker 1: at least like look like, are there opportunities to stabilize
33:20
Speaker 1: the position or upgrade the position or get whatever it
33:23
Speaker 1: may be. I like Miguel Amaya, but I you know,
33:27
Speaker 1: obviously injuries really hurt this past season for him, but
33:30
Speaker 1: when he was out there, it was really really solid.
33:33
Speaker 2: Just something that you know, to consider.
33:35
Speaker 1: All right, We'll be back next week with more episodes
33:39
Speaker 1: or no, not next week. We have another episode this week,
33:42
Speaker 1: and I think we're going to try and do a
33:44
Speaker 1: mailbag episode, so we will send out requests for that.
33:48
Speaker 1: Get some listener interaction. Thanks so much for listening. This
33:51
Speaker 1: is Northside Territory presented by Fox One. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
33:55
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to the Athletic,
33:57
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
34:00
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening everyone, take care,