Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Listener Mailbag: Will Jed Hoyer spend big? Do the Cubs need a closer? Bellinger opting in or saying goodbye?

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Listener Mailbag: Will Jed Hoyer spend big? Do the Cubs need a closer? Bellinger opting in or saying goodbye? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: There's no secret sauce to Milwaukee's success, but Craig Council
0:03
Speaker 1: certainly has some insight that he could help and provide
0:06
Speaker 1: to the Cubs, and I think it would be foolish
0:08
Speaker 1: if Jed didn't lean on him in a sense. Welcome
0:14
Speaker 1: into north Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:19
Speaker 1: Sahad Sharma, your Cubs beat writer at the Athletic. Patrick Mooney,
0:24
Speaker 1: who is with me on the beat, is on vacation
0:27
Speaker 1: this week enjoying the Jersey Shore with his family, so
0:31
Speaker 1: it's just me writing solo for this episode. I'll be
0:33
Speaker 1: taking your questions via Twitter mailbag episode. Always enjoy hearing
0:40
Speaker 1: from the fans. What you guys do. Supporting us is
0:44
Speaker 1: essential for this podcast to keep going. Three months in,
0:47
Speaker 1: We're really excited with the response so far, So keep listening,
0:51
Speaker 1: keep subscribing, spread the word, tweet about us. Tell your
0:55
Speaker 1: friends at parties. You know, this is big, big party
0:59
Speaker 1: barbecue topic. Right north Shore Territory or north Side Territory.
1:04
Speaker 1: There I go again, the North Shore, My north Shore
1:07
Speaker 1: tendencies coming out again. But north Side Territory should be
1:10
Speaker 1: a topic of conversation at all barbecues. As far as
1:12
Speaker 1: I'm concerned. I mean, the Cubs are getting good again, right,
1:16
Speaker 1: so you should be talking about them. I don't know.
1:18
Speaker 1: That's probably going a little too far for you saying
1:21
Speaker 1: the Cubs are good, but they've been playing better of late.
1:24
Speaker 1: I'm sure Patrick and I if they if they win
1:27
Speaker 1: this weekend against the White Sox, Patrick and I will
1:30
Speaker 1: well we'll get back into talking about games and whether
1:34
Speaker 1: this team can get relevant again. It's kind of what
1:37
Speaker 1: we expected this. This team didn't sell off at the deadline.
1:42
Speaker 1: They didn't have anything to really fully sell off. That
1:45
Speaker 1: wasn't going to be the plan. So they didn't get
1:48
Speaker 1: bad enough to tank. They arguably got better, so they're
1:52
Speaker 1: going to stay in it. And whether it's a tease
1:56
Speaker 1: or not, we'll see. But they're playing better baseball. This
1:59
Speaker 1: isn't it terrible team, So it's not. It's just in
2:02
Speaker 1: the NL just isn't dominant enough for teams to pull away,
2:06
Speaker 1: although it's kind of looking like some teams are starting
2:08
Speaker 1: to pull away, including Arizona and San Diego. We'll see
2:11
Speaker 1: how it goes. Let me take some of your questions here.
2:15
Speaker 1: Some you know, there's always going to be Jed questions,
2:19
Speaker 1: and I think that's fair. How he's going to spend
2:23
Speaker 1: what he's going to spend on has he done enough
2:27
Speaker 1: to stay in this role? So I think that's kind
2:30
Speaker 1: of where we're going with a lot of these questions here.
2:36
Speaker 1: Let's start with I think this is an interesting question
2:39
Speaker 1: because I think fans sometimes get confused as to what
2:43
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say confused. I think there's a debate as
2:45
Speaker 1: to what is the biggest issue with this team, the
2:48
Speaker 1: offense or the lack of a dominant closer. So let
2:51
Speaker 1: me answer Jim Sellinger's question here, what are the chances
2:56
Speaker 1: that the Cubs will sign or trade for a lights
2:58
Speaker 1: out closer in the offseason. Bullpen has made great strides,
3:01
Speaker 1: but the shutdown guy to get out number twenty seven
3:04
Speaker 1: isn't a part of this group. I think that's fair. Listen,
3:09
Speaker 1: fans are used to a traditional closer. They're used to
3:12
Speaker 1: seeing that. I believe for teams that win. Obviously, in
3:16
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen that was the case. Right in twenty seventeen
3:20
Speaker 1: they had Wade Davis, that was the case. So it's
3:23
Speaker 1: easy to look at that. That's if that's what you're
3:26
Speaker 1: going with. I just think it's a little too simplistic
3:30
Speaker 1: to say, go get an established closer. What good teams
3:34
Speaker 1: really do that anymore. I'm just I'm just looking at
3:38
Speaker 1: the most valuable relievers right now in baseball. Okay, just
3:43
Speaker 1: by fangrafts. Just that, just that alone. Mason Miller drafted
3:47
Speaker 1: by Oakland right as a starter. Not someone that's spent
3:51
Speaker 1: big money on Cade Smith. I don't even know who
3:54
Speaker 1: that is. Cleveland Guardians. He was drafted in the sixteenth
4:00
Speaker 1: by the Twins in twenty seventeen. He was acquired by
4:06
Speaker 1: Cleveland in June of twenty Like, I don't even you know,
4:12
Speaker 1: really valuable reliever, not a closer, but really valuable reliever.
4:16
Speaker 1: Jeff Hoffman Phillies another great reliever, picked up off the
4:20
Speaker 1: scrap heap, former high draft pick. Philly's paying him well now,
4:24
Speaker 1: Manuel Class a closer for the Guardians. Trade right, big trade.
4:28
Speaker 1: Griffin Jacks closer now for Minnesota. I believe Gryffin Jacks
4:32
Speaker 1: was drafted by the Twins round three. A decent prospect
4:36
Speaker 1: turned into a decent prospect. That's just a look at
4:39
Speaker 1: the top five. I look at the top ten relievers,
4:42
Speaker 1: similar story. I mean, there's nobody paid big money. Matt
4:45
Speaker 1: Strom is the biggest paid. I'm talking top ten relievers
4:49
Speaker 1: by war if I go by top ten saves, if
4:51
Speaker 1: I just look at saves. Ryan Helsley drafted about eight
4:55
Speaker 1: years ago by Saint Louis Manuel class A again, Kyle Finnegan.
5:00
Speaker 1: I believe he was a free agent pickup. But maybe
5:02
Speaker 1: a DFA Clay Homes like, there's one guy here that
5:07
Speaker 1: spend big money on Josh Hater Right, obviously, great reliever,
5:11
Speaker 1: great closer. It's got a three seventy five ERA this season,
5:14
Speaker 1: he hasn't been as dominant. He's a great He's a
5:16
Speaker 1: great closer. Though, you got to develop these guys. You
5:19
Speaker 1: got to figure out how to get these guys in
5:21
Speaker 1: different ways than just paying him. Right, So Iglesias is
5:23
Speaker 1: someone Atlanta's paying, But I mean other than that, it's
5:26
Speaker 1: just not how you get a closer anymore. They develop them.
5:30
Speaker 1: They I don't think the Cubs are have some disaster
5:35
Speaker 1: situation with their relievers. I think you'd like to add
5:38
Speaker 1: a veteran in the off season that you can trust,
5:41
Speaker 1: maybe two, right, you want those guys. I don't think
5:44
Speaker 1: they have to get a closer. I think there's also
5:47
Speaker 1: something to the idea that when when we focus on
5:51
Speaker 1: the blown saves stat that the Cubs have a lot
5:54
Speaker 1: of people just go to assuming that that's an issue
5:57
Speaker 1: with the closer. I think it's twofold. I think yes,
5:59
Speaker 1: they had issues with the closer. Obviously, Edward Elsli was
6:02
Speaker 1: not getting the job done. And if you missed the
6:04
Speaker 1: news Edward als Al is getting Tommy John surgery, he's
6:08
Speaker 1: likely They didn't they Craig Counsel didn't want to tell
6:11
Speaker 1: us that he's out for next season, but he's he's
6:13
Speaker 1: likely out for next season. So this is going to uh,
6:17
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a blow to the bullpen. But
6:19
Speaker 1: the reality was he wasn't good this season. This is
6:22
Speaker 1: probably something that's been coming that that you know that
6:24
Speaker 1: ucl probably was partially damaged in some way. But guys
6:28
Speaker 1: try to pitch through it. Guys try to rehab. Guys
6:31
Speaker 1: try to stay you know, try to try to stay
6:35
Speaker 1: on the mound and on the field, even though they're
6:38
Speaker 1: not perfectly healthy. This is pretty typical for pitchers, especially relievers.
6:42
Speaker 1: It's unfortunate that this happened to Al's a lie because
6:44
Speaker 1: he worked through a lot of injuries to get to
6:46
Speaker 1: the Cups, right, So it's a bummer, but you know
6:50
Speaker 1: they're they're going to have to find more relievers. I
6:53
Speaker 1: think Porter Hodge is really interesting. I think Luke Neely
6:56
Speaker 1: is going to be interesting. I want to see him
6:58
Speaker 1: come up and impact this team over the final whatever
7:03
Speaker 1: forty something games. Though, those are two names that saying
7:07
Speaker 1: out as far as young guys, and then there's you know,
7:11
Speaker 1: we'll see the rest of the way. I mean, Julian
7:14
Speaker 1: Merriweather has the talent, right, he has the talent to
7:17
Speaker 1: be a closer. We've seen it. I don't know if
7:21
Speaker 1: they have the closer on the roster right now. Ben Brown,
7:26
Speaker 1: which you know, I don't know when Ben Brown is
7:28
Speaker 1: coming back. There's gonna be a question about that I'll
7:30
Speaker 1: ask I'll address that more later, but yeah, Ben Brown
7:35
Speaker 1: is someone that I could see becoming a closer someday.
7:39
Speaker 1: My point is I don't think the Cubs need to
7:42
Speaker 1: spend big money on a closer. The point I was
7:47
Speaker 1: trying to make about, you know, the blown saves is
7:50
Speaker 1: they don't always happen in the ninth inning. Those can
7:52
Speaker 1: happen in the seventh and eighth inning. That's an issue
7:55
Speaker 1: that was caused by That's an issue that I think
7:57
Speaker 1: are two issues there. The Cubs didn't have a stable
8:01
Speaker 1: bullpen early on, and then this is also an issue
8:04
Speaker 1: with the offense. The offense can't can't always force close games.
8:09
Speaker 1: This was the issue for two and a half months, right.
8:12
Speaker 1: The offense was struggling. If they're constantly playing games, that
8:16
Speaker 1: leads to a bunch of issues when it comes to
8:20
Speaker 1: that leads to a bunch of issues when it comes
8:22
Speaker 1: to kind of pulling away and using your you're constantly
8:30
Speaker 1: using your high leverage relievers. Right if you can't pull away,
8:33
Speaker 1: you're constantly using your high leverage relievers. This was the
8:35
Speaker 1: problem at the end of last season. Guys got worn down.
8:37
Speaker 1: September was an issue with the bullpen because Julian Meriwether,
8:41
Speaker 1: Edward Als, Lie, Mark Lighter Junior all hurt, right, they
8:44
Speaker 1: were all banged up, and Michael Fulmer as well, so
8:48
Speaker 1: they were either all pitching through injuries or on the
8:51
Speaker 1: shelf at that point. And you have to be able
8:54
Speaker 1: to pull away so you're not constantly relying on the
8:56
Speaker 1: same you know, three four high leverage reliever. I think
9:00
Speaker 1: that changes a lot of things when it comes to
9:02
Speaker 1: concerns about the bullpen, but yes, address the bullpen this offseason. Absolutely,
9:07
Speaker 1: who those guys are. Listen. I don't think it's worthwhile
9:10
Speaker 1: getting into it because this this front office has generally
9:14
Speaker 1: been good. Not this. I'm not going to say Hector
9:16
Speaker 1: Nerris was a slam dunk they but they've generally been
9:19
Speaker 1: good at finding, unearthing quality relievers maximizing that talent. Another
9:24
Speaker 1: guy I didn't mention, Nate Pearson. We'll see. You know,
9:27
Speaker 1: there's been some hard contact. I think he's been a
9:29
Speaker 1: little bit better when it comes to facing lefties using
9:32
Speaker 1: the slider. More not perfect. Obviously, stuff is there. Let's
9:37
Speaker 1: see what happens. Let's let's get to some more questions.
9:42
Speaker 1: Scott Brown, who is with the Foul Territory Network, of course,
9:47
Speaker 1: is asking and another fan asked this, Caleb, I want
9:50
Speaker 1: to give you, give you some love to Caleb asked
9:54
Speaker 1: as well, is there any chance that Bellinger opts out
9:56
Speaker 1: of his deal or really roll with at least one
9:58
Speaker 1: more season? Listen, I think we're on the borderline with that,
10:01
Speaker 1: with Bellinger opting in opting out, and I think it's
10:06
Speaker 1: kind of interesting as to whether that's a good thing
10:10
Speaker 1: or a bad thing. There's one way to look at
10:13
Speaker 1: it is listen, he's a lefty bat. You know, there's
10:16
Speaker 1: kind of like, unless he gets hurt again, I think
10:19
Speaker 1: the baseline is kind of what he is right now,
10:22
Speaker 1: like a one ten way to runs create a plus guy.
10:24
Speaker 1: I don't know about his health right now. So this
10:28
Speaker 1: is Thursday when we're recording. This will go out on
10:31
Speaker 1: Thursday as well. Off day he missed Wednesday. He kind
10:36
Speaker 1: of was feeling something in his hamstring after If you
10:39
Speaker 1: watch Tuesday's game, he kind of tried to beat out
10:42
Speaker 1: a infield single. I think he did beat out that
10:44
Speaker 1: single that was right before he sat Paratus's home run.
10:47
Speaker 1: Right he kind of tweaked his hamstring. They didn't even
10:53
Speaker 1: use the word tweak or pull or anything like that.
10:55
Speaker 1: He was feeling something there. We'll see hamstrings can be tricky.
11:00
Speaker 1: Hearing that, I don't think that's a good thing. So
11:03
Speaker 1: we'll see where he's at, what what the if there's
11:06
Speaker 1: any lingering issue, if he's in the if he's in
11:11
Speaker 1: the lineup on Friday, so we'll have a better idea
11:15
Speaker 1: on that. I think. I think I think there's I
11:21
Speaker 1: think we're on the border of whether he opts in
11:23
Speaker 1: or opts out like these these two months are going
11:26
Speaker 1: to be huge, right if he if he gets hot,
11:28
Speaker 1: if he hits ten homers, that's huge, right, Like he's
11:33
Speaker 1: got eleven only right now, so he's got to hit
11:36
Speaker 1: a few more homers show that he's got that power there.
11:39
Speaker 1: If he gets to like twenty ish homers and if
11:42
Speaker 1: he has like a if he has above like a
11:45
Speaker 1: one to twenty way to runs, great A plus he's gone.
11:47
Speaker 1: He's not opting in, I just don't see it. But
11:49
Speaker 1: if it's like where it is now one ten, it's
11:53
Speaker 1: going to be really hard to predict, and it may
11:55
Speaker 1: make sense for him to opt in and get like
11:59
Speaker 1: I think it's thirty million correct, So if he's doing that,
12:03
Speaker 1: if he's opting in, I think the Cubs have a
12:06
Speaker 1: really interesting decision. You know they're going to they have
12:13
Speaker 1: guys that can play the outfielders, and Kevin o'contra is
12:16
Speaker 1: at triple as. He's a good defender. He's already on
12:20
Speaker 1: the forty man roster. Craig Council loves guys that can
12:23
Speaker 1: play defense. This guy has high upside offensively, a ton
12:28
Speaker 1: of power. He's a he could be part of the
12:33
Speaker 1: plans in the future. Owen Casey obviously a corner outfielder.
12:37
Speaker 1: You know, lefty slugger twenty one at Triple A. He's
12:41
Speaker 1: been there all season. These are two outfielders that you
12:44
Speaker 1: can talk about as saying like, okay, where is their
12:49
Speaker 1: future with the team? They're they're kind of locked in
12:53
Speaker 1: right because Ian Happ and says as Zuki are in
12:56
Speaker 1: the corner outfield spots. No trade clauses. I'd be surprised
13:00
Speaker 1: if they're moved. If they try to move them, maybe
13:03
Speaker 1: we'll see again. Jed Hoyer has talked about it. These
13:05
Speaker 1: final two months are important, so we'll see how the
13:08
Speaker 1: final two months ago. But I PCA is locked in
13:12
Speaker 1: a center for now. Crek Council all but said that.
13:14
Speaker 1: He said he's going to get the bulk of the
13:15
Speaker 1: playing time. If you haven't been watching the last two weeks,
13:19
Speaker 1: I implore you to watch those at bats that PCAs
13:21
Speaker 1: have had. He looks like a different player. If you're
13:25
Speaker 1: not seeing it, I'm not sure what to tell you
13:28
Speaker 1: other than he looks really good at the plate. The
13:31
Speaker 1: results aren't always there. The past Tuesday and Wednesday, he
13:35
Speaker 1: hit a couple of balls that probably would have gone
13:37
Speaker 1: out if the breeze was going in the different direction.
13:40
Speaker 1: But it's been blowing in art at Wrigley. Kind of
13:42
Speaker 1: weird early in August, but hey, this is Midwest weather.
13:46
Speaker 1: We should be used to it by now. So I
13:50
Speaker 1: don't know where Cody Bellinger fits. Then it's never a
13:54
Speaker 1: bad thing to have a veteran left who's wont to
13:56
Speaker 1: MVP and hasn't isn't completely fallen off. This isn't twenty
13:59
Speaker 1: twenty two Beer anymore, twenty twenty one Bellinger. He's he's
14:02
Speaker 1: a solid player, puts up a good at bat. I
14:06
Speaker 1: think they'll have some decisions to make. Is he tradable,
14:09
Speaker 1: That's something if he opts in, It's just something we're
14:13
Speaker 1: gonna have to discuss. It's something I haven't really dove into,
14:16
Speaker 1: talked much about with the front office yet, so I
14:18
Speaker 1: don't know, don't have good insight on that yet, but
14:22
Speaker 1: it's something we're going to have to figure out because
14:24
Speaker 1: if he opts in, there's just a lot of like it.
14:28
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a bad thing for the Cubs,
14:30
Speaker 1: but I think it's something they can leverage in their favor.
14:33
Speaker 1: We'll we'll figure out how that how that plays out.
14:36
Speaker 1: But I think it's it's going to be an interesting topic.
14:39
Speaker 1: It's going to be something we talk about for a
14:41
Speaker 1: while because I think it's incredibly important to nail this offseason.
14:46
Speaker 1: I think every off season is important. I say this
14:48
Speaker 1: every offseason, but obviously this is a big one because
14:51
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer is on the hot seat. Let's not you know,
14:54
Speaker 1: we don't need to dance around that topic. Everyone knows
14:57
Speaker 1: that he's got to he's got to have a great
14:59
Speaker 1: offseason in a great twenty twenty five, and he'd love
15:02
Speaker 1: to have a good ending to twenty twenty four. Let's
15:04
Speaker 1: get to Matt Gill's question. He asked, with the Cubs
15:07
Speaker 1: treating the CBT as a salary cap, what realistic additions
15:11
Speaker 1: can fans expect next year? Okay, let's address that first part.
15:16
Speaker 1: Excuse me, with the Cubs treating the CBT as a
15:19
Speaker 1: salary cap that that's not really accurate. Last year, Absolutely,
15:24
Speaker 1: they were dancing around that number. They were they had
15:28
Speaker 1: to stay under. There was a reason that weird Adrian
15:31
Speaker 1: Samson Manny Rodriguez trade to Tampa Bay took place while
15:35
Speaker 1: they were buyers at the deadline. They made that weird trade.
15:38
Speaker 1: They stayed under. It was it was a goal this year.
15:42
Speaker 1: I think they kind of used it coming into the
15:44
Speaker 1: season as like, Okay, we're going to hover around there.
15:46
Speaker 1: But the reality is those numbers you see publicly, they're
15:48
Speaker 1: about five to ten million dollars low. From my understanding,
15:51
Speaker 1: all the like moving around that you see during the
15:54
Speaker 1: season up and down, guys go up and down. That
15:56
Speaker 1: costs money. So you know, I wouldn't fully believe those numbers.
16:02
Speaker 1: My understanding and my understanding based on conversations with people
16:06
Speaker 1: around the league and within the organization. And this is
16:09
Speaker 1: also conversations with Patrick and that Ken Rosenthals have had.
16:14
Speaker 1: We're under the impression that this wasn't like some mandate
16:17
Speaker 1: that they have to stay under. I don't think it
16:19
Speaker 1: was a big concern for Jed. He he added, you
16:25
Speaker 1: know he'd lost you know, the Mark Leider junior's payroll number, right,
16:31
Speaker 1: which was what a couple million? And then but added Pearson,
16:35
Speaker 1: who's eight hundred thousand. He added, esach paradis, what's esoch paratist?
16:42
Speaker 1: I'll find that, but you know he's he's a couple million.
16:45
Speaker 1: I believe he's three point four million. You know, like
16:49
Speaker 1: this is I just don't think like it wasn't a
16:54
Speaker 1: big concern for them this year. They were willing to
16:57
Speaker 1: go over. I think you don't. You probably don't want
17:00
Speaker 1: want to go over in a season that you're not competing,
17:02
Speaker 1: and you don't want to barely go over, and then
17:04
Speaker 1: it just kind of causes issues going forward. I don't
17:07
Speaker 1: think it's I don't think that's the big concern. I
17:10
Speaker 1: think fans, some fans have glombed onto that. Some people
17:13
Speaker 1: think that's a real issue. I don't think it's a
17:15
Speaker 1: real issue. Are they going to go into three hundred
17:19
Speaker 1: million dollar range? They're just not that. That just doesn't
17:22
Speaker 1: seem to be something Tom Ricketts wants to do. Is
17:24
Speaker 1: he willing to go over? He said on the record
17:26
Speaker 1: he's willing to go over, but he's not going to
17:28
Speaker 1: be someone that goes over for three, four or five
17:30
Speaker 1: six years in a row. He likes to reset. Most
17:33
Speaker 1: teams do. Most teams likes to reset, but he's he
17:36
Speaker 1: doesn't seem that interested in constantly being a top five payroll,
17:41
Speaker 1: but he's willing to get into that top five payroll range.
17:45
Speaker 1: We'll see what that means. Because top five payrolls kind
17:47
Speaker 1: of shifted with teams like San Diego and others being
17:52
Speaker 1: willing to spend as much Texas being willing to spend
17:55
Speaker 1: as much as as like, not as much as Dodgers
17:57
Speaker 1: and Mets, but Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees are like the
17:59
Speaker 1: top three always, right, and now it's now you add
18:02
Speaker 1: in San Diego and Texas, and I'm probably missing a
18:06
Speaker 1: couple of teams that are spending solidly right now. The
18:09
Speaker 1: Cup should be up there. Absolutely. I don't disagree with
18:11
Speaker 1: fans I'm saying that type of stuff, but I don't
18:15
Speaker 1: think that's the big hurdle. Okay, So let's I just
18:20
Speaker 1: want to get that out of the way. Matt Gill
18:22
Speaker 1: continues to ask what realistic additions there's limited money for
18:25
Speaker 1: multiple impact players with Hendrix Naris Smiley, Gomes body saving
18:29
Speaker 1: about forty one million, admits, Okay, so he's going through
18:33
Speaker 1: going through what they say. Listen, they save quite a bit.
18:36
Speaker 1: There's there's According to Roster Resource, the Luxury Text payroll
18:42
Speaker 1: estimate for them is one hundred and twenty six million.
18:47
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, that's nothing. They don't have a
18:50
Speaker 1: lot committed going forward, especially you know, it's like half,
18:54
Speaker 1: it's it's half Nico, Dansby and Sea and then then
18:58
Speaker 1: you get you know, there's a Shoda contract tie on,
19:03
Speaker 1: of course, but there's not that much. They have Smiley
19:05
Speaker 1: coming off, they have Nearest likely coming off, body likely
19:09
Speaker 1: coming off Mancini and Barnhardt. That money's coming off. We'll see.
19:14
Speaker 1: Like we discussed about Bellinger, I think I don't think
19:17
Speaker 1: that number that I have there includes Bellinger's number. So
19:20
Speaker 1: it's either one twenty six or it's one fifty six. Right,
19:24
Speaker 1: either way, that's a ton of money. The rotation feels good, right,
19:28
Speaker 1: the rotation feels good. There's a base for the offense.
19:31
Speaker 1: I know there's frustration with the offense, but I don't
19:34
Speaker 1: think it's a disaster. There's a lot of young talent
19:38
Speaker 1: that coming up or on the verge or already up.
19:41
Speaker 1: Michael Bush. You have pitching like Ben Brown and Jordan
19:46
Speaker 1: Wicks that's coming up. I mentioned Porter Hodge in the
19:49
Speaker 1: bullpen PCA. These guys are all those players are under
19:54
Speaker 1: control and cheap in pre ARB, so that helps the payroll. Yeah,
20:00
Speaker 1: I think they have to make impact moves this winter.
20:05
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep saying it. It's a big winter
20:08
Speaker 1: for Jed Hoyer. What those moves are, I don't know
20:11
Speaker 1: what they're going to be. I think there's going to
20:13
Speaker 1: be trades. I think there's there's going to be a
20:16
Speaker 1: lot of movement this winter, and they're going to look
20:19
Speaker 1: to be aggressive and go into next year with a
20:23
Speaker 1: very obvious playoff caliber roster. I think that's the reality
20:27
Speaker 1: what those moves are. I think we have to wait
20:30
Speaker 1: until these next two months really unfold and kind of
20:34
Speaker 1: see more like get a better idea of how how
20:37
Speaker 1: much they want to change the offense. I think some
20:39
Speaker 1: people misread Jed's idea of like he wants to see
20:42
Speaker 1: the next two months. Yeah, he wants to see the
20:44
Speaker 1: next two months play out, because it's it's not like
20:46
Speaker 1: he's going to do nothing if they play really well
20:48
Speaker 1: in the next two months. It's how much does he
20:50
Speaker 1: need to change? How much? How how much? Like how
20:54
Speaker 1: much of this is was? Were they just wrong on right?
20:57
Speaker 1: He needs to figure that out. I think that's important
20:59
Speaker 1: to figure out. Out. Here's here's one from x cub Factor.
21:03
Speaker 1: Is there any indication that Jed's willing to make the
21:05
Speaker 1: serious contract offered to Juan Soto this offseason? I wish
21:09
Speaker 1: I had a good answer for this, because I'm really
21:12
Speaker 1: curious about this as well. I think Juan Soto so
21:16
Speaker 1: I think it's I think Jed talked about this on
21:20
Speaker 1: the radio, right if anyone heard his interview on six
21:22
Speaker 1: seventy the Score, there was some some clips got taken out,
21:25
Speaker 1: and I think it got taken out of context that
21:27
Speaker 1: you know, he's he is a little he does like
21:31
Speaker 1: to hold back on spending those big money deals. They
21:33
Speaker 1: were talking about the three hundred million dollar deals. I
21:35
Speaker 1: think good Wan Soda is probably more than that, right,
21:38
Speaker 1: Like Scott Morris is gonna ask for more than that,
21:40
Speaker 1: That's for sure. We'll see how crazy that gets. Is
21:44
Speaker 1: is Jed willing to go there? I think Jed's answer
21:47
Speaker 1: to that was like, yeah, is he a little more
21:49
Speaker 1: conservative on those? Absolutely yes, But he's he said he's
21:54
Speaker 1: willing to do that for a hall of fame talent.
21:56
Speaker 1: I don't know, if you like, go look at Juan
21:59
Speaker 1: Soto's numbers, like he's a Hall of fame talent. Now
22:04
Speaker 1: the question is how high is that going to get?
22:08
Speaker 1: Are the Cubs going to be in on this? He
22:10
Speaker 1: is uh da da da da dah. He's twenty five
22:12
Speaker 1: years old. He's going to be twenty six in October. Okay,
22:15
Speaker 1: so he'll be twenty six next season. I mean, this
22:19
Speaker 1: is the type of guy you give a ten year
22:20
Speaker 1: deal too. This is the one ninety one way to
22:24
Speaker 1: runs great A plus. Okay, A down year was twenty
22:28
Speaker 1: twenty two. Okay, one forty five weighted runs great A plus.
22:32
Speaker 1: His worst ever season was twenty one forty three way
22:36
Speaker 1: to runs great A plus. Like, he doesn't have enough power?
22:41
Speaker 1: Worst ISO was two ten. That would be like among
22:45
Speaker 1: the team leaders for the Cubs. I believe like and
22:50
Speaker 1: I say he doesn't have enough power. Saying like that's
22:52
Speaker 1: a criticism of him, I just don't think it's it's
22:55
Speaker 1: a good criticism of him. For one hundred play appearances
23:00
Speaker 1: this year, say a Suzuki as a two to eleven ISO,
23:04
Speaker 1: so he'd beat his Wan Soto's worst power season would
23:08
Speaker 1: be right there, would say a Suzuki this season, so
23:10
Speaker 1: obviously he'd add so much to this offense. Lefty, bet,
23:14
Speaker 1: I don't think I need to debate this. If someone
23:16
Speaker 1: wants to debate whether wan Sota would completely change his lineup,
23:20
Speaker 1: I feel free to reach out. But yes, I think
23:24
Speaker 1: he changes the lineup, I think you have to go
23:26
Speaker 1: after him. I don't know if Jed Hoyer my until
23:31
Speaker 1: I see it, it's gonna I'm gonna struggle to believe it. Right,
23:34
Speaker 1: he went and got Dansby Swanson. That was one hundred
23:36
Speaker 1: and seventy seven million, I believe off the top of
23:38
Speaker 1: my head. I wasn't shocked by that, just because of
23:43
Speaker 1: where that market went. If you would have asked me
23:45
Speaker 1: at the beginning of that offseason if he would have
23:46
Speaker 1: spent that, I would have said no. But that market
23:50
Speaker 1: was crazy that season that offseason, and he he adjusted
23:54
Speaker 1: and he went and got the defense first shorts up
23:57
Speaker 1: that he wanted. I don't know if he's going to
24:01
Speaker 1: go out and be crazy aggressive to get Juan Soto.
24:04
Speaker 1: Like I said, I need to see it before I
24:06
Speaker 1: trust it. I think they are very interested in a
24:09
Speaker 1: guy like Sodo. I think they need to figure out
24:14
Speaker 1: how they're going to kind of get that star in
24:18
Speaker 1: the lineup. Soto's the most obvious, and free agency is
24:22
Speaker 1: the easiest way I guess to do it. As far.
24:24
Speaker 1: When I say easy, you know the guy's available and
24:26
Speaker 1: you just spend money. But you're gonna be bidding against
24:29
Speaker 1: the Yankees obviously, and we'll see who else. We'll see
24:33
Speaker 1: who else this offseason. I don't think the Dodgers are
24:35
Speaker 1: going to be going crazy this offseason, and maybe the Mets.
24:41
Speaker 1: Probably the Mets are spending again, so we'll we'll see.
24:45
Speaker 1: But if you're going up against the Yankees and Mets, okay,
24:48
Speaker 1: that that complicates things. But listen, you gotta start acting
24:51
Speaker 1: like a big market club and you're going to have
24:55
Speaker 1: to outbid teams. So we'll see, we'll see if he
24:58
Speaker 1: does it. I I just I just need to see
25:02
Speaker 1: it before I feel confident in saying like, oh, yeah,
25:05
Speaker 1: he can do that, because there's been no indication that
25:08
Speaker 1: he can because he just he's never done it before.
25:11
Speaker 1: So how am I supposed to just say yes, I
25:14
Speaker 1: believe he's going to do that. Okay, this is a
25:19
Speaker 1: longer question, and I could probably do a whole episode
25:22
Speaker 1: on this, and maybe we will. Maybe this is an
25:25
Speaker 1: off season episode, so I'm going to take it, but
25:28
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a quick quick answer. Okay, William Boguelli,
25:34
Speaker 1: sorry if I blew your last name there. Eight years on,
25:36
Speaker 1: is there a consensus among baseball people as to why
25:38
Speaker 1: the Cubs after twenty sixteen changed so much, achieved so
25:42
Speaker 1: much less than people had expected of a team that
25:45
Speaker 1: was young, talented, and broke the biggest curse in sports?
25:47
Speaker 1: Was it one big thing or lots of little ones? Yeah?
25:50
Speaker 1: I think it was probably lots of little ones. I'll
25:55
Speaker 1: give you off the top of my head. I'll give
25:57
Speaker 1: you three one. Lack of development of pitching a huge
26:04
Speaker 1: issue with that with that run there, they just did
26:07
Speaker 1: not develop. I've written so much about this. Go back
26:10
Speaker 1: and read some of these pieces because I like going
26:12
Speaker 1: back and reading them because it's really informative and it's
26:14
Speaker 1: kind of jaw dropping to think about how few innings
26:18
Speaker 1: they got from homegrown players during that run and the
26:22
Speaker 1: names that they are, Like, they tried so hard. There's
26:25
Speaker 1: a reason they made that trade for Jose Quintana. They
26:27
Speaker 1: had nothing in the in the system coming up pitching wise,
26:30
Speaker 1: and they needed a cost control pitcher that could be like,
26:34
Speaker 1: you know, looked at as a one or two or
26:35
Speaker 1: even a three in Katana at the time of the
26:38
Speaker 1: trade was viewed that way. But they had to be
26:40
Speaker 1: aggressive and they overpaid and you know, look back on
26:43
Speaker 1: as a mistake and it's hard to dispute that when
26:46
Speaker 1: you see what Dylan Ceesa has become and how kind
26:48
Speaker 1: of that played out, that's a big one, right, It's
26:52
Speaker 1: starting to shift. Obviously we've seen more homegrown talent, Justin
26:56
Speaker 1: Steele at the front of that. So I think that's
26:58
Speaker 1: more on player development than it was on amateur scouting.
27:02
Speaker 1: Player development got better under Craig Breslow. We'll see if
27:05
Speaker 1: it continues to go that way. Uh, you know, pitching development,
27:08
Speaker 1: I should say, under Craig Breslow. We'll see if it
27:10
Speaker 1: continues that way. Ryan O'taro's director of pitching now Jason
27:13
Speaker 1: Kansler's director of player development. Will see how how those
27:17
Speaker 1: guys both their first year this year, So a lot
27:20
Speaker 1: of evaluating and seeing how things are done. We'll see
27:22
Speaker 1: if changes are made in the winter. Who knows Canceler
27:26
Speaker 1: comes with a really good rep. I just talked to
27:28
Speaker 1: someone this week who reinforced that for me, like really
27:32
Speaker 1: excited about cancer outside the org. Really cubs should be
27:36
Speaker 1: really excited about having Canceler, is what I was told
27:38
Speaker 1: by someone outside the org. We'll see. It's all it's
27:42
Speaker 1: all wait and see, right, Uh. With with stuff like that,
27:45
Speaker 1: that that's number one for me, I don't know if
27:47
Speaker 1: i'd say if I'm ranking these, but that's a that's
27:49
Speaker 1: a big one. The young that. I mean, you can't
27:54
Speaker 1: ignore what happened to Addison Russell. You can't. I don't
27:57
Speaker 1: want to gloss over that. It's a it's much bigger
28:00
Speaker 1: deal than just baseball. It's a you know, he he
28:05
Speaker 1: was not focused on baseball. He did awful things off
28:10
Speaker 1: the field and and did not improve as a player.
28:13
Speaker 1: He was a key part of that twenty sixteen team,
28:15
Speaker 1: at least defensively, and was one of the top prospects
28:18
Speaker 1: in baseball and completely fell off the face of the earth. Uh.
28:21
Speaker 1: He did awful things off the field and doesn't deserve uh,
28:26
Speaker 1: you know, any any appollot like, you know, any whitewashing
28:29
Speaker 1: of what he did. Uh. That's that's a big issue there.
28:32
Speaker 1: But in general, that that core offense didn't grow the
28:36
Speaker 1: way uh they kind of expected or hoped and and
28:40
Speaker 1: and it's not just it's not as if they didn't produce.
28:43
Speaker 1: But again we've written about this, that offense didn't didn't evolve,
28:48
Speaker 1: and a big part of it, and this is kind
28:50
Speaker 1: of tied in, they didn't spend on they stopped spending
28:56
Speaker 1: right on on bats. They hope that they could either
29:01
Speaker 1: develop or get them off the scrap heap. But remember,
29:04
Speaker 1: like Ben Zoberst retired, Dexter Fowler left by a free agency,
29:09
Speaker 1: those are two different types of bats that they had
29:10
Speaker 1: in the lineup. Then they had these similar swing and
29:13
Speaker 1: miss bats. The game was changing right, Pitchers were changing
29:18
Speaker 1: a lot of fastballs up in the zone, a lot
29:20
Speaker 1: of breaking balls away, and that hurt the offense. That
29:24
Speaker 1: they had similar types of hitters that could be attacked
29:26
Speaker 1: in similar ways, they didn't go out and get another
29:29
Speaker 1: bat that could kind of change things up. Whether it
29:31
Speaker 1: could have just been it didn't have to be Bryce Harper.
29:33
Speaker 1: It would have been great if they got Bryce Harper right,
29:35
Speaker 1: that would have been a great addition. He'd still be
29:37
Speaker 1: helping the team now, could have been Dj Lemayhew. Instead
29:40
Speaker 1: they went and got Daniel Descalzo. They went cheap. They
29:43
Speaker 1: went cheap and got Daniel Murphy off the scrap heap
29:46
Speaker 1: in two thousand and I believe eighteen, it could be nineteen,
29:51
Speaker 1: I can't remember which year that was. So those were
29:57
Speaker 1: ways that they didn't you know, Tom Rick had said
30:00
Speaker 1: it's time to stop spending. You've spent enough. You won
30:02
Speaker 1: ninety five games in twenty eighteen. That's enough. And they
30:05
Speaker 1: went and got Daniel descalso instead of you know, getting
30:08
Speaker 1: dj lem Mayhew, things like that, or fixing the bullpen
30:11
Speaker 1: and getting Andrew Miller, you know, stuff like that that
30:14
Speaker 1: could have happened, That could have changed the way you
30:18
Speaker 1: look at that run. There's probably other things now. I
30:22
Speaker 1: think I said I was gonna say three, but I
30:24
Speaker 1: kind of mixed mixed in a couple there with the
30:26
Speaker 1: not they stopped spending and the offense didn't develop, so
30:29
Speaker 1: that that kind of makes it three. Right. There's so
30:32
Speaker 1: many little things that I could point to, and I'm
30:34
Speaker 1: probably missing something obvious. Those are the ones that came
30:37
Speaker 1: up off the top of my head. I think it's
30:38
Speaker 1: worth diving into that at a future date. Here's a
30:42
Speaker 1: quick one. Any chance either Wicks or Ben Brown come
30:44
Speaker 1: back soon? Wicks is pitching in Iowa on Saturday. He
30:49
Speaker 1: will be back, I believe two or three, likely three.
30:53
Speaker 1: I was told rehab starts. If they want him fully
30:56
Speaker 1: stretched out, three rehab starts. I don't think there's any
30:58
Speaker 1: need to rush them right now, but maybe there may
31:01
Speaker 1: be a reason. Will pop up right Ben Brown holding pattern.
31:05
Speaker 1: I do not know when he's coming back, if he's
31:07
Speaker 1: coming back, Like, yes, it was put to me that yes,
31:10
Speaker 1: there's a chance he doesn't come back this season. It
31:12
Speaker 1: was once guaranteed. Now it's not. I don't think they're
31:15
Speaker 1: like looking at it that way that he's going to
31:17
Speaker 1: miss the rest of the season. But it is not improving.
31:21
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say it's not improving. It improved his neck
31:24
Speaker 1: issue improved significantly, but he's still feeling it. There's no
31:28
Speaker 1: consensus among doctors whether this can get worse right if
31:31
Speaker 1: he pushes through it. He doesn't seem to be comfortable
31:34
Speaker 1: pushing through it, which is really important. You need pictures.
31:37
Speaker 1: You need players to be comfortable when they're out there
31:39
Speaker 1: on the mound. Here's one from Tyler Dershel. In terms
31:44
Speaker 1: of coaching, how much leeway does Craig Council have on
31:47
Speaker 1: picking his staff or is there significant influence on the
31:49
Speaker 1: front office assisting in those decisions coming this offseason. I
31:52
Speaker 1: think it's you know, is there a potential philosophical approach
31:55
Speaker 1: coming with new voices? Change in Phillips approach. I assume
32:00
Speaker 1: as this with new voices, with this team team strug
32:03
Speaker 1: slugging troubles. You know, I don't think there's a need
32:07
Speaker 1: for like a change in voice as far as the
32:10
Speaker 1: hitting coaches go. Uh, they're like, it's the lack of slugging,
32:15
Speaker 1: isn't because Dustin Kelly's telling them to like hit the
32:18
Speaker 1: ball on the ground more or not hit for power.
32:22
Speaker 1: There's no overall philosophy where it's like you have to
32:25
Speaker 1: hit the ball like this, or you have to wait
32:27
Speaker 1: three pitches before you swing. My dad used to tell me,
32:31
Speaker 1: don't swing until you see a strike. That that's you know,
32:35
Speaker 1: that's not a that's that's not a thing that that
32:39
Speaker 1: hitting coaches do. Uh. You know, I don't think there's
32:43
Speaker 1: an issue with coaches per se. Does that mean Craig
32:48
Speaker 1: Council agrees with me? I don't. I don't know that
32:51
Speaker 1: for sure. I think if there are changes, you know,
32:56
Speaker 1: maybe they come in strength and conditioning like that area
32:59
Speaker 1: like training. There's been a lot of injuries this year.
33:03
Speaker 1: Is that something that Council views as an issue? Player development?
33:08
Speaker 1: Like where where is that happening enough? I actually think
33:13
Speaker 1: if you look at Peker Armstrong, there's been really good
33:16
Speaker 1: development there. It's taken a little while. It takes a while.
33:20
Speaker 1: PCA is a tweaker, like he likes to tweak things.
33:24
Speaker 1: Right now, he's feeling good with what he's doing. He's
33:26
Speaker 1: on his back leg. He's got this leg kick. We'll
33:29
Speaker 1: see if that works for him going forward. But I mean,
33:32
Speaker 1: like I said earlier in the show, like he looks
33:34
Speaker 1: so good right now. He's seeing the ball well, hitting
33:37
Speaker 1: it on the line, hitting it hard. You do that
33:41
Speaker 1: if he gets if he's a hundred, way to runs
33:43
Speaker 1: great at plus next year, that is impactful. That's four
33:47
Speaker 1: wins for you. That's a lot. That's that's just a
33:50
Speaker 1: really good player. If he's better than that, he gets
33:53
Speaker 1: to one twenty, you're talking MVP votes. Okay, Like that's
33:56
Speaker 1: just the reality of how this stuff works when you're
34:00
Speaker 1: that good defensively. Yeah, I think pitching is like pitching
34:05
Speaker 1: coaches are fine, right, Like he gets along really well
34:08
Speaker 1: with Tommy Hotbeby. I know that for sure. I think
34:11
Speaker 1: when when an offense disappoints like this, you have to
34:13
Speaker 1: start asking questions about the coaching staff. It's just how
34:16
Speaker 1: it works. It's unfair, but it's kind of how the
34:19
Speaker 1: game works, and I think it's fair to ask. Sorry,
34:27
Speaker 1: I think it's unfair when those questions when when that
34:29
Speaker 1: happens in the sense like it's not on the coaches,
34:32
Speaker 1: it's on the players. But it's fair to ask because
34:34
Speaker 1: that's just what happens, right, Like, I don't think he,
34:38
Speaker 1: like Dustin Kelly or John Maylee or any of these
34:41
Speaker 1: hitting coaches deserve to lose their jobs because of this season.
34:45
Speaker 1: But we'll see how Craig Council feels about that and
34:48
Speaker 1: how the front office feels about that. The rest of
34:51
Speaker 1: the staff. You know, we'll see. I don't you know,
34:55
Speaker 1: I think he got to choose two coaches essentially, he
34:58
Speaker 1: was he was pretty meticulous this. It wasn't like he
35:01
Speaker 1: was like if these guys were forced on him. It
35:04
Speaker 1: was he took a while, he wanted to get to
35:06
Speaker 1: know all these guys. He couldn't take anyone from Milwaukee,
35:10
Speaker 1: so there were some factors there. Pat. Once Pat Murphy
35:13
Speaker 1: was hired, he you know, I think that changed some plans.
35:18
Speaker 1: Hired by Milwaukee. That is, he seems to really like
35:22
Speaker 1: Brian Flaherty. But if this is someone he just didn't
35:24
Speaker 1: know beforehand, not well. But but he's given him some
35:28
Speaker 1: responsibilities and he's done well with them. So yeah, is
35:32
Speaker 1: there a potential shakeup coming. I wouldn't be shocked by it,
35:35
Speaker 1: But I don't think there's going to be a drastic
35:37
Speaker 1: change in the coaching staff. Well again, we'll see these things.
35:41
Speaker 1: We've been surprised by moves before. I mean, Craig Council
35:44
Speaker 1: being hired was a big surprise. So I don't think
35:47
Speaker 1: there's a big shakeup coming. I'm not sure if there's
35:49
Speaker 1: a big one necessary. I do think there are some
35:51
Speaker 1: things he'd like to tweak, and that's not just with
35:54
Speaker 1: the coaching staff. I think it's imperative for Jed to
35:58
Speaker 1: pick Craig Counsel's brain. He saw an organization that spends
36:02
Speaker 1: very little money continue to succeed for years. He was there,
36:06
Speaker 1: He was a big part of it. He observed it,
36:08
Speaker 1: he took it all in. He saw what worked. He
36:11
Speaker 1: was a part of what worked. But he also there's
36:13
Speaker 1: other things. It wasn't just him, obviously, As his team continues,
36:16
Speaker 1: as that Milwaukee Brews team continues to win, they need
36:19
Speaker 1: to figure out some things that can help them. It'd
36:23
Speaker 1: be foolish to not pick his brain and get more
36:27
Speaker 1: information and try and become a better team a better organization.
36:31
Speaker 1: I don't think that just means coaching staff. I think
36:33
Speaker 1: there are other things all around the organization, whatever it
36:38
Speaker 1: may be, R and D, player development, training staff, strength
36:44
Speaker 1: and conditioning, pro scouting, amateur scouting. He was involved in
36:49
Speaker 1: that stuff in the sense that he saw how it
36:52
Speaker 1: all went down. Was he actively making changes in those
36:55
Speaker 1: departments or impacting those departments? Not as much, but he
37:00
Speaker 1: clearly observed and took it all in and knows what works.
37:04
Speaker 1: So does he. Is there a secret sauce or anything
37:07
Speaker 1: like that. No, like Carter Hopkins said, there's no secret
37:09
Speaker 1: sauce to pitching development. But it just like there's no
37:14
Speaker 1: secret sauce the Milwaukee's success. But Greig Council certainly has
37:18
Speaker 1: some insight that he could help and provide to the Cubs.
37:21
Speaker 1: And I think it would be foolish if Jed didn't
37:23
Speaker 1: lean on him in a sense this winter to try
37:26
Speaker 1: and continue to improve this organization. All right, that's it.
37:31
Speaker 1: That's it. I really appreciate your guys input, insight, and questions.
37:37
Speaker 1: It helps make the show go. Please rate, review, and
37:40
Speaker 1: subscribe to north Side Territory. We're really enjoying doing the podcast.
37:45
Speaker 1: Three months in and it's a success and would like
37:48
Speaker 1: to continue to grow this podcast and really make it,
37:52
Speaker 1: you know, the standard for all Cubs podcasts. Hopefully you
37:56
Speaker 1: guys are enjoying it, Please give your feedback. Like I said, rate, subscribe, review,
38:01
Speaker 1: subscribe to Patrick and my work. Patrick will be back
38:04
Speaker 1: next week. I'll have a White Sox episode coming up.
38:07
Speaker 1: We'll preview this dreadful White Sox team that just fired
38:11
Speaker 1: their manager, Paedri Griffol. We'll have that coming for you
38:16
Speaker 1: later this week, probably Friday morning, and then Patrick will
38:19
Speaker 1: be back next week. Make sure to subscribe to The
38:21
Speaker 1: Athletic to read all our great cup stuff. We appreciate
38:25
Speaker 1: you guys listening and reading and all that good stuff.
38:27
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Take care everyone,