Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The Cubs get a much-needed boost with the Isaac Paredes trade

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The Cubs get a much-needed boost with the Isaac Paredes trade · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: I just don't see how they could have just kept
0:03
Speaker 1: going down this path, and I think it very much
0:06
Speaker 1: changed the conversation.
0:07
Speaker 2: In an instant.
0:14
Speaker 3: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast, I'm
0:18
Speaker 3: Sahadev Sharma with Patrick Mooney, where your Cubs beat writers
0:22
Speaker 3: at the Athletic Patrick, we thought the Cubs were sellers,
0:26
Speaker 3: and here they are their first two moves. Jed Jed
0:29
Speaker 3: told us Craig Council warned us, don't make you black
0:33
Speaker 3: and white, and there I wouldn't say they're they're done
0:37
Speaker 3: and and they're obvious buyers. I think it's important, like
0:40
Speaker 3: this is a nuanced thing. But they're the first two
0:45
Speaker 3: moves or buys. They They added Nate Pearson, a quality
0:49
Speaker 3: reliever who has tremendous upside, and obviously the big move
0:53
Speaker 3: on Sunday esak pretis from the Rays. The Cubs have
0:58
Speaker 3: their third basement. Uh, there's there's a lot to dive
1:02
Speaker 3: into here. I was shocked by the initial news, but
1:07
Speaker 3: it's it makes a ton of sense and uh there's
1:11
Speaker 3: there's some pluses, there's some minuses. But Christopher Morrel heads
1:14
Speaker 3: to Tampa along with Hunter Biggie in another prospect Ty Johnson. Uh,
1:19
Speaker 3: this is a this is a pretty big move. It's
1:21
Speaker 3: a significant move, and it's and I think it improves
1:25
Speaker 3: the team now and it it gets it checks something
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Speaker 3: off the box for the off season shopping list in
1:32
Speaker 3: my opinion.
1:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just kind of shocked that Christopher Morrel's
1:37
Speaker 1: value had tanked so low that the Cubs. I thought
1:42
Speaker 1: the Cubs are kind of be out on something like this,
1:44
Speaker 1: and I I clearly had kind of this is my
1:46
Speaker 1: bad take confessional.
1:47
Speaker 2: I'd kind of rolled when Craig.
1:50
Speaker 1: Counsel had said it would be a mistake, it would
1:53
Speaker 1: be the easy story to write this or that, when
1:57
Speaker 1: to be honest, the Cubs have not shown a whole
1:59
Speaker 1: lot of crazy creativity in this realm, and they'd all
2:04
Speaker 1: been very clearly defined buyers or sellers since THEO first
2:10
Speaker 1: arrived in Chicago. But you know, there is a part
2:15
Speaker 1: of me that is like buyer beware with the Rays, right, Like,
2:18
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised, you know, And someone said, oh, who
2:22
Speaker 1: cares like Chris Archer, you know what I mean, Like
2:26
Speaker 1: you played with the Rays for Matt Garza. However, I
2:30
Speaker 1: do think Paraise is a great fit. I mean you
2:33
Speaker 1: and I covered him or covered the trade when he
2:36
Speaker 1: was sent out in twenty seventeen, and I distinctly remember
2:40
Speaker 1: Jamer was the big name, Jamer Kendelere at that point.
2:42
Speaker 1: I remember someone from the Cubs saying kind of off handedly, like, man,
2:45
Speaker 1: the Tigers had a good job, like they were and
2:48
Speaker 1: you heard the same thing, like they were on parades.
2:51
Speaker 1: It was a very like low level guy and was
2:53
Speaker 1: not is not like a physical specimen, doesn't like, you know,
2:58
Speaker 1: crush the ball. Just at that time, the perception was
3:03
Speaker 1: he just seems to be in the right place at
3:04
Speaker 1: the right time and makes the right play.
3:07
Speaker 2: There's just kind of a subtle, subtleness to his game.
3:11
Speaker 1: That has obviously carried him a long way and just
3:14
Speaker 1: I mean just a total maybe not a one to eighty,
3:19
Speaker 1: but just like a wow, like when don't we discussed
3:23
Speaker 1: something like this, you know what I mean? Like how
3:25
Speaker 1: many times have we talked about I think about an Sell,
3:27
Speaker 1: the problems selling. To have something like this kind of
3:29
Speaker 1: drop out of the sky seemingly is is kind of amazing.
3:34
Speaker 3: What he has three more years of control after this season.
3:39
Speaker 3: Christopher Morrell has four. He's four months older than Christopher Morrell.
3:45
Speaker 3: H So you know that's a wash right there. He's
3:48
Speaker 3: an obviously better defender right now. You know, I'm not
3:52
Speaker 3: ruling out Christopher Morrell. Get like E's oparatus with suspect
3:56
Speaker 3: defensively at third base, and he's brought himself to average
3:59
Speaker 3: defender at their base. But you know, the Cubs want
4:02
Speaker 3: to win in twenty twenty five. I think it, you know,
4:07
Speaker 3: they'll I think they'll be in it the rest of
4:11
Speaker 3: the way. I'm not going to When I say that,
4:13
Speaker 3: I mean that. It's what I've said all along. The
4:16
Speaker 3: NL is just so mediocre. I don't think anyone's really
4:18
Speaker 3: pulling away just yet. So they're they're gonna be hovering
4:21
Speaker 3: like they have been for the past month, which is
4:23
Speaker 3: just kind of like they're there. But yeah, yeah, sure
4:29
Speaker 3: we can do those those graphics with the bears in
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Speaker 3: the bottom right corner, right, But it's a it's one
4:39
Speaker 3: of those moves where it's like, have they done this before?
4:41
Speaker 3: Have they It's always it's always sell for pieces that
4:46
Speaker 3: are far away or buy for immediate gratification. So I
4:52
Speaker 3: do like the concept of that there's a there is
4:56
Speaker 3: an in between and I think this is this is
4:59
Speaker 3: a different side of this front office that that we
5:03
Speaker 3: haven't seen that we didn't see when THEO was around.
5:06
Speaker 3: It was a different time obviously, and they weren't They
5:10
Speaker 3: never really had seasons like this. I think maybe we
5:13
Speaker 3: would have seen it. There were seasons that I think
5:16
Speaker 3: THEO would have liked to have seen them kind of
5:19
Speaker 3: stall in July, so he could have made moves like this,
5:23
Speaker 3: you know. I think I think he had that desire
5:26
Speaker 3: at times to be creative, but the team just always
5:29
Speaker 3: did enough to stay in it. And then that that
5:31
Speaker 3: meant he was buying and and he and that because
5:34
Speaker 3: they'd won a World Series, He's like, I gotta invest
5:36
Speaker 3: in this team. I know what they can do in
5:38
Speaker 3: October given the opportunity type thing. Right, So this is
5:41
Speaker 3: just a we haven't seen something like this because they've
5:46
Speaker 3: never really fully had the opportunity. So while I doubted
5:51
Speaker 3: it would happen, I was on, I was, I was
5:53
Speaker 3: fully with you.
5:54
Speaker 2: I I agreed.
5:54
Speaker 3: I was like, I just don't see them pulling something off.
5:58
Speaker 3: I do understood what Jed was saying when he said
6:01
Speaker 3: that last Monday about you know, looking for for help
6:05
Speaker 3: for twenty twenty five and what council was talking about.
6:08
Speaker 3: I just didn't think they'd be able to pull it off.
6:10
Speaker 3: I will say, I am I agree with you that
6:13
Speaker 3: I'm a little surprised that Morell had the value that
6:15
Speaker 3: he did. But the Rays are the exact type of
6:17
Speaker 3: team that will look at those expected SATs and say, like,
6:21
Speaker 3: you know what we can get. We can get him
6:23
Speaker 3: to be that player that he's supposed to be, you know,
6:25
Speaker 3: quote unquote, Yeah, they they like that, they like they
6:30
Speaker 3: like pictures with stuff and both these guys, to Ty
6:33
Speaker 3: Johnson is a strikeout guy, hunter, biggie strikeout guy.
6:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:38
Speaker 3: Like I understand what the Rays are looking at here.
6:42
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if if this is going to bite
6:45
Speaker 3: the Cubs in the end, and like I think it
6:49
Speaker 3: buys them time. It'll it gives them a little flexibility
6:54
Speaker 3: because Isak Pratis doesn't have to play third base. If
6:58
Speaker 3: the Cubs want to get created in the winter, there
7:02
Speaker 3: are different things they can do. We'll see what they
7:04
Speaker 3: do over the next two days. I wouldn't be surprised
7:06
Speaker 3: if there are Cell moves that upset fans in certain ways.
7:10
Speaker 3: But this is an interesting move because it gives them
7:15
Speaker 3: a lot of options, and he's under control for three
7:18
Speaker 3: years at our prices, and if he produces like he has,
7:23
Speaker 3: that's going to be a bargain. And it gives you
7:25
Speaker 3: financial flexibility too, not to the extreme probably of the
7:29
Speaker 3: jose Kintana, like how they justified jose Kintana allowed them
7:32
Speaker 3: to add to the rotation and go get Darvish. Probably
7:35
Speaker 3: not to that extreme as far as the discount, but
7:38
Speaker 3: it's Arber's and he's not like a crazy price guy.
7:42
Speaker 3: He's not going to make twenty five thirty million in
7:44
Speaker 3: his final ar Beer, so it's going to be that
7:47
Speaker 3: he's under control. It gives them financial flexibility and maybe
7:53
Speaker 3: even some positional flexibility. We'll see what type of moves
7:57
Speaker 3: they make at the debt before the deadline and then
7:59
Speaker 3: in the winter. Yeah, I think it's a really interesting
8:03
Speaker 3: move and I'm very curious to see how how they proceed.
8:07
Speaker 2: No, I'm with you.
8:08
Speaker 1: My thoughts were I went down an internet rabbit hole
8:12
Speaker 1: the other day, which is a good idea, but part
8:14
Speaker 1: of it was one of the mailback questions about you know,
8:17
Speaker 1: a prospect pushing morel and I was like, well, it's
8:20
Speaker 1: probably get more of someone like Alex Bregman. And do
8:22
Speaker 1: you think THEO would feel very comfortable after not signing
8:24
Speaker 1: Matt Chapman to go back to Scott Morris for an
8:27
Speaker 1: Alex Bregman deal, Like as he's in his early thirties,
8:30
Speaker 1: Like how many years is that going to take? You know,
8:32
Speaker 1: does that start with a one? Does it start with
8:34
Speaker 1: a two? Like what where is that going to go?
8:36
Speaker 1: And that's not go Jed's not gonna be comfortable with that.
8:39
Speaker 1: And you know, I do think Parade it's just fascinating
8:44
Speaker 1: a year after trading for jam Or Candelario, right, And
8:49
Speaker 1: you're right, THEO, THEO was getting itchy in twenty seventeen, Like,
8:53
Speaker 1: I don't think he felt great about making that trade
8:55
Speaker 1: for Vila and Wilson. There was a scenario which he
9:00
Speaker 1: could have just kind of said screw it and traded
9:02
Speaker 1: Wade Davis and Jake Arieta and tried to like clean
9:06
Speaker 1: up that way, and understandably kind of had to honor
9:11
Speaker 1: the World Series title defense, uh at that moment. And
9:15
Speaker 1: so yeah, I could totally see a scenario in which
9:20
Speaker 1: Morrell just has one like Monster season, right, I mean
9:23
Speaker 1: over the next four years with the Rays, sure, or
9:27
Speaker 1: he has like one great year next year and the
9:30
Speaker 1: Rays immediately trade him.
9:34
Speaker 2: I value like Hunter Biggie.
9:37
Speaker 1: Maybe his arm blows out because he throws throws a hundred,
9:40
Speaker 1: or maybe he does like slide in there and all
9:43
Speaker 1: of a sudden is like closing games for Tampa. Like
9:45
Speaker 1: They're gonna have lots of shots at this to make
9:48
Speaker 1: this deal look bad for the Cubs. I just don't
9:49
Speaker 1: see how they could have just kept going down this path.
9:54
Speaker 1: And I think it very much changed the conversation in
9:58
Speaker 1: an instant in a positive of direction. I mean within
10:02
Speaker 1: your own clubhouse, people in the media be like, oh wow,
10:06
Speaker 1: like Cubs can actually do stuff like this. And you know,
10:11
Speaker 1: Christopher Morel I was big in that. I felt like
10:13
Speaker 1: the Cubs had to find out what they had in him.
10:16
Speaker 1: I think his talent, his energy, all of that stuff
10:21
Speaker 1: is unique and should not be dismissed or taken for granted.
10:24
Speaker 1: But like, this guy's had a lot of runway here.
10:28
Speaker 1: I mean it's like three seasons with one hundred plus games,
10:32
Speaker 1: and he doesn't have a position in his tenth season
10:35
Speaker 1: in the organization.
10:37
Speaker 2: And so while.
10:40
Speaker 1: Good dude, a homegrown success story was a you know,
10:45
Speaker 1: kind of a comple bunch of player on three bad
10:48
Speaker 1: cups hereies. You know, it's not like he went to
10:50
Speaker 1: the playoffs with the Cubs. It's not like he all
10:52
Speaker 1: Star games with the Cubs. It was like, he's a
10:55
Speaker 1: really interesting talent, a good dude who came up in
10:59
Speaker 1: your organization. But certain point, like enough's enough, Like you
11:02
Speaker 1: need to see production.
11:04
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, no, I mean, and listen, I still believe
11:08
Speaker 3: those for like he should have better numbers. But the
11:12
Speaker 3: last two months, the first two months ish, yes, he was.
11:17
Speaker 3: He looked. He's a better player than what the number said.
11:19
Speaker 3: The last month and a half or whatever. He is
11:22
Speaker 3: what he is, he this is what he's been. And like, uh,
11:27
Speaker 3: the contact hasn't been as good the advats. He's still
11:30
Speaker 3: taking his walks and not striking out at a crazy rate,
11:32
Speaker 3: but it just wasn't looking as good as it did
11:35
Speaker 3: that first month or two. And and like you said,
11:39
Speaker 3: you just have to I mean, eventually it's about results,
11:42
Speaker 3: and Pratis gets him. I mean, we can. There's going
11:45
Speaker 3: to be a lot of discussion about how he gets
11:48
Speaker 3: all his home runs straight to the pull side, okay,
11:51
Speaker 3: And I believe right down the line and Tropicana is
11:55
Speaker 3: three fifteen. It's very easy if you're a pull, like
11:59
Speaker 3: heavy pull, and he is. Go look at his at
12:02
Speaker 3: his home run charts. But I mean, yes, Wrigley is
12:06
Speaker 3: deep at the corner, but then it kind of juts
12:09
Speaker 3: in and and the left field alley is shallow. It's
12:13
Speaker 3: the shallowest in baseball, I believe. Uh. Now he's more
12:18
Speaker 3: extreme pull and not straight up put ali. But there
12:23
Speaker 3: are things that like it's really rudimentary to just go
12:26
Speaker 3: look at stat gusts and say, like it says it's
12:29
Speaker 3: nineteen home runs at Tropicana and eleven homers at Wrigley.
12:33
Speaker 3: That doesn't include the wind and the wind like it's
12:36
Speaker 3: the wind. I know people are gonna say, well, it
12:38
Speaker 3: blows in a lot at wrily What happens at Wrigley
12:41
Speaker 3: is it blows in from right. It kills lefties in
12:46
Speaker 3: at Wrigley. Uh, there's a lot of crosswind at Wrigley.
12:49
Speaker 3: And if you pull the ball hard. Uh, he doesn't
12:53
Speaker 3: have crazy eggs of velocities. But if you pull the
12:56
Speaker 3: ball in the air, you can get some cheapies to
13:00
Speaker 3: to left field. Uh.
13:02
Speaker 1: There's like, are you trying to push me on a
13:05
Speaker 1: you know, global warmings impacts on regular field story, isn't
13:09
Speaker 1: that what everyone wants to read. That's kind of then
13:13
Speaker 1: like room in your house with all these charts. Yeah,
13:17
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out again, figure it out, like
13:20
Speaker 1: the it's always sunny in Philadelphia.
13:24
Speaker 3: Uh, that that's a it's a project for another day.
13:26
Speaker 3: But I do believe. I do believe there's like we
13:32
Speaker 3: can't just like I've gotten kind of sick of like, well,
13:35
Speaker 3: if you look at this chart, it's a it just
13:37
Speaker 3: overlay Wrigley over his home runs. Like Wrigley is one
13:40
Speaker 3: of the weirdest ballparks when it comes to wind, So
13:43
Speaker 3: we just cannot do that. It doesn't work like that.
13:45
Speaker 3: There's often a cross wind. There's it's often blowing out
13:49
Speaker 3: straight to left like this is, let's see what happens.
13:52
Speaker 3: I agree that it's a question mark. I want to
13:54
Speaker 3: I want to understand it more and I want to
13:56
Speaker 3: see it more.
13:57
Speaker 2: Uh.
13:57
Speaker 3: He is very pull extra. It's it's an extreme thing.
14:02
Speaker 3: But this is something that like I asked counsel about
14:05
Speaker 3: it after the game on Sunday and and he he
14:08
Speaker 3: did not hesitate. He's like pulling the ball in the
14:11
Speaker 3: air is a skill. It is something that it's very
14:16
Speaker 3: hard to do, and it's something you want players to do.
14:19
Speaker 3: If you can do that consistently, that's a good thing.
14:22
Speaker 3: And and then I talked to a couple of players
14:25
Speaker 3: about it, and and one was adamant that it's a
14:28
Speaker 3: great thing to do that at Wrigley if you're right handed.
14:30
Speaker 3: If you're a lefty, it's not the best thing in
14:32
Speaker 3: the world. If you're righty, you're going to get extra
14:35
Speaker 3: home runs if you can pull it the ball in
14:37
Speaker 3: the air consistently. I just I just think looking at
14:41
Speaker 3: those charts and straight up stat cast is is the
14:44
Speaker 3: wrong way to do it. And guess what, uh, I
14:47
Speaker 3: think the Cubs may know about those things. There's there's
14:49
Speaker 3: a chance that they've that they've seen the stat cast data,
14:53
Speaker 3: Like my guess is they have, they have maybe a
14:56
Speaker 3: little more advanced analysis going on. I'd to hear their
15:00
Speaker 3: deeper explanation if they're willing to share it. But but
15:04
Speaker 3: I don't think like we should fans to just that
15:07
Speaker 3: are super aware of that, to just assume that that
15:09
Speaker 3: means he can't succeed at Wrigley.
15:12
Speaker 2: I mean, nerds are the worst. I mean, we all
15:14
Speaker 2: know that.
15:15
Speaker 1: I think this is pretty straightforward, like I don't played
15:19
Speaker 1: on a ninety nine win team last year. He has
15:24
Speaker 1: a position and can play multiple positions. He's under long
15:27
Speaker 1: term control. Like you said, he's not old, it's twenty five,
15:31
Speaker 1: can fit on the air quotes's next Great Cups team,
15:34
Speaker 1: buys time for the Matt Shaw's and the James Triontoses
15:39
Speaker 1: and the camp Smith's and your farm system, the same
15:42
Speaker 1: way that signing Cody Bellinger was supposed to, you know,
15:46
Speaker 1: give him some backup plans in case Michael Bush didn't
15:48
Speaker 1: work out or if PCA wasn't quite ready. And so
15:53
Speaker 1: this is a very it's a very Jed Hoyer move.
15:57
Speaker 1: I feel like this is kind of the stuff that
15:59
Speaker 1: you know, he has kind of pined for and talked
16:02
Speaker 1: about when he mentions you know, value and looking at
16:06
Speaker 1: what small market teams do. And now obviously the Cubs
16:09
Speaker 1: have to like go out and do more. I thought
16:16
Speaker 1: the Nate Pearson deal was another walk down memory lane
16:20
Speaker 1: for us. That was a guy the Cubs almost drafted
16:25
Speaker 1: but did not, And then we were pointing out how
16:29
Speaker 1: awesome he was, like, you know, when things weren't looking
16:34
Speaker 1: so great for the Cubs, and then I never followed
16:37
Speaker 1: him ever again after writing that turns out he's pretty bad.
16:42
Speaker 1: But now it's time to pitch lab him up and
16:45
Speaker 1: see what happens.
16:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, it sounds like the focus will be his fastball.
16:51
Speaker 3: I had started writing this and the estac paratus news broke,
16:55
Speaker 3: So that'll be a story for another day. But the
16:58
Speaker 3: focus is the fastball. It's getting hit hard. Lefties are
17:01
Speaker 3: hitting it hard. You know, this isn't unusual for the Cubs.
17:06
Speaker 3: Like teams like to eliminate pitches or just say like
17:11
Speaker 3: that that's a split neutral or that's not a split
17:14
Speaker 3: neutral pitch. Don't use that against lefties. It sounds like
17:16
Speaker 3: they want to use a slider more against lefties. And
17:20
Speaker 3: then there's some deception with the fastball that he may
17:22
Speaker 3: have lost due to some you know, mechanics that are
17:27
Speaker 3: how to be kind of compared it to what happened
17:29
Speaker 3: with Tai on last year. He was opening up a
17:32
Speaker 3: little too early against lefties and they were catching his
17:35
Speaker 3: fastball early and it allowed him, It allowed him to
17:38
Speaker 3: jump on the fastball. He believes that it's a minor
17:42
Speaker 3: tweak and that may be a more long term thing.
17:44
Speaker 3: And when I say long term, like that's not something
17:47
Speaker 3: that will happen over this over the next two months.
17:51
Speaker 3: But the pitch usage is a simple fix, right, Like
17:54
Speaker 3: he knows how to throw those pitches. Just change up
17:58
Speaker 3: how often you're throwing certain pitches to certain players. That
18:02
Speaker 3: and and maybe located, try and locate in different zones.
18:06
Speaker 3: This guy's gotten nasty stuff. Like when when he was
18:09
Speaker 3: coming up through the miners, I've heard I've heard stories
18:13
Speaker 3: about amateur guys like getting a look at him before
18:16
Speaker 3: he was drafted, Like he had workouts for teams and
18:20
Speaker 3: and like his bullpens. You know, it was it was
18:24
Speaker 3: the seventeen draft, eighteen draft, seventeen seventeen draft, so this
18:28
Speaker 3: is right when the Cubs didn't have all the fancy
18:33
Speaker 3: pitching pitch lab stuff. But it was just it was.
18:36
Speaker 3: It was pretty common with teams like the Brewers and
18:38
Speaker 3: the Astros and things like that, and they like I heard,
18:42
Speaker 3: like some of the workouts he had with when like
18:45
Speaker 3: taking into data was like whoa, this guy's nasty, and
18:49
Speaker 3: scouts were like, this guy's got four plus pitches, Like
18:51
Speaker 3: what's going on? So like it's the stuff is there now,
18:56
Speaker 3: it's about harnessing it, right, And like the Cubs love
18:59
Speaker 3: guys like that. They I mean, they took Julian Merriweather
19:02
Speaker 3: and had a brilliant season out of him last season.
19:05
Speaker 3: They're certainly going to be optimistic about this now. It's
19:08
Speaker 3: it's about let's see what he can do. I think
19:11
Speaker 3: it's an interesting addition. You didn't give up any any
19:14
Speaker 3: like huge prospect. It's definitely worthwhile he's under control for
19:19
Speaker 3: a few more years. He could turn into a high
19:21
Speaker 3: leverage arm in the bullpen. And they certainly need more
19:24
Speaker 3: stuff guys, especially when you send out Biggie and you
19:28
Speaker 3: get someone like Nate Pearson in a separate deal.
19:31
Speaker 2: I think it's worthwhile to see what he can do.
19:34
Speaker 3: And he strikes, I mean, he's like, his peripherals are good.
19:37
Speaker 3: He's striking out nearly thirty percent of the guys he faces,
19:40
Speaker 3: and his walk rate is it's nearly ten percent. That's
19:43
Speaker 3: not great. But when you strike that many guys out
19:45
Speaker 3: like that's it's a it's a it's an interesting ad
19:49
Speaker 3: and the type of ad that it's like when things
19:52
Speaker 3: were going when they had the arms to work with, right,
19:55
Speaker 3: when they had those arms and they were churning out
19:57
Speaker 3: like like guys in like facing them Yeah, like they
20:02
Speaker 3: do a solid job of fixing these guys. I think
20:06
Speaker 3: it's it's worth worth a flyer, absolutely, It's It's been
20:11
Speaker 3: an interesting first two moves, that's for sure. I did
20:14
Speaker 3: not expect to be breaking down major league additions that
20:18
Speaker 3: can impact the team over the over the next two months.
20:22
Speaker 1: Well, I certainly thought, you know, Jed, like with most things,
20:25
Speaker 1: would have waited until like the absolute.
20:27
Speaker 2: Last minute to execute these things.
20:30
Speaker 1: But clearly the Rays kind of disrupted the trade market.
20:34
Speaker 1: And I do think that's a good like pivot point
20:37
Speaker 1: here for us because you had mentioned it earlier of
20:38
Speaker 1: like be prepared if there are a couple of trades
20:41
Speaker 1: that you know, as a Cubs fan, you're like, wait,
20:43
Speaker 1: what just happened, Like why did they trade Mark Letter Junior,
20:48
Speaker 1: Julian Mary.
20:49
Speaker 2: Whoever it is.
20:50
Speaker 1: I mean, the clubs have made it clear that they
20:52
Speaker 1: don't really value relief individual relievers that highly, and if
20:57
Speaker 1: they think they can go a Nate Pearson a waiver
21:03
Speaker 1: claim like Julian Merriweather and kind of get them to
21:05
Speaker 1: a place where they're trusted late inding reliever and if
21:08
Speaker 1: teams are you know, we had a story up on
21:11
Speaker 1: the Athletic of how there's been some sticker shock in
21:14
Speaker 1: terms of like how much some of these even rental
21:18
Speaker 1: relievers are going to cost, and knowing how Jed Hoyer
21:22
Speaker 1: and Carter Hawkins operate, I'm sure they're looking at that
21:25
Speaker 1: of like, oh, what what can we get?
21:27
Speaker 2: Like why don't we get in on that?
21:28
Speaker 1: And that. If you look at it, you know they're
21:31
Speaker 1: not under duress because guys like Lighter and Merriweather are
21:35
Speaker 1: under club control for two more years after this. But
21:39
Speaker 1: if you are incorporating Pearson, you're gonna get some pictures
21:45
Speaker 1: healthy issue. You only have to cover whatever fifty five
21:49
Speaker 1: games and if you can get some team will make
21:53
Speaker 1: it worth your while.
21:54
Speaker 2: I don't think they'd hesitate, right, No, I absolutely.
21:58
Speaker 3: It's it's all about like I think every single thing
22:02
Speaker 3: boils down to this. This front office is.
22:04
Speaker 2: All about value.
22:05
Speaker 3: Anybody's available for the proper value, right you you get
22:09
Speaker 3: a good return, you anybody is available. It's yes, there
22:14
Speaker 3: are some caveats to that right now, because they're not
22:16
Speaker 3: building towards the long term future like they're they're looking
22:20
Speaker 3: to win in twenty twenty five, so they can't if
22:24
Speaker 3: they're sending out you know, three war they need to
22:28
Speaker 3: be able to say we're getting three plus war in
22:31
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five in this deal. So there's there's that
22:35
Speaker 3: that they have to consider. But certainly and Mark Lighter
22:39
Speaker 3: Junior listen, like I felt this way watching him when
22:43
Speaker 3: when he was struggling, I just did not think he'd
22:46
Speaker 3: looked that bad. I did not, and then I started
22:48
Speaker 3: digging into the numbers and they backed that up. Like
22:51
Speaker 3: all the peripherals said, his bad stretch was just pure
22:55
Speaker 3: er stuff where great contact, great strikeouts, slightly elevated walks,
23:01
Speaker 3: that's it. But he was getting babbit to hell. He
23:04
Speaker 3: was still like just getting no luck. And now he's
23:07
Speaker 3: back and healthy and he is he looks nasty and
23:10
Speaker 3: and talking to the dude, he's he's always confident. He's
23:14
Speaker 3: as confident as ever right now. And I think like
23:17
Speaker 3: the Cubs should if the like from what we're hearing,
23:22
Speaker 3: the asking price is high, and it should be like
23:25
Speaker 3: he's like if if if teams are doing their homework,
23:28
Speaker 3: they're going to be well aware that this guy's this
23:31
Speaker 3: guy's a valuable picture in in in high leverage moments,
23:36
Speaker 3: and he can face any part of a lineup, UH
23:39
Speaker 3: with the fact that his curveball has gotten so good
23:41
Speaker 3: this year too. I mean he can get left he's
23:43
Speaker 3: out with the splitter, he can get anyone out with
23:45
Speaker 3: the curveball. Like he's he's a really good pitcher right now.
23:48
Speaker 3: It's it's it's impressive to watch and and you know
23:51
Speaker 3: he's not. I think that il Stint has kind of
23:55
Speaker 3: refreshed him and kept him from kind of having that
23:59
Speaker 3: like it happened last year.
24:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
24:01
Speaker 3: I believe it'll keep him from burning out in September. Uh,
24:05
Speaker 3: he's going to be rested and ready to help a contender.
24:08
Speaker 2: Uh.
24:08
Speaker 3: If that's the direction they go, they someone's got to
24:11
Speaker 3: pay up. I don't think they're giving any of these
24:14
Speaker 3: guys away. There's no reason, do you said it? There's
24:16
Speaker 3: they don't have anyone that they just have to move.
24:19
Speaker 3: There's nothing.
24:20
Speaker 1: Yea.
24:21
Speaker 3: They want to win next year, so these if they
24:23
Speaker 3: believe that these guys can still help them, they're going
24:25
Speaker 3: to keep them around.
24:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this may wind up being in old take
24:30
Speaker 1: exposed or whatever.
24:31
Speaker 2: But I do think like.
24:34
Speaker 1: Getting Paratus in the fold to keep some of those
24:37
Speaker 1: bullpen guys, you just have less work to do in
24:40
Speaker 1: the offseason.
24:41
Speaker 2: You can commit more resources towards you know, obviously you
24:46
Speaker 2: need a catcher, maybe.
24:49
Speaker 1: Two catchers, depending on how things go with certainly like
24:54
Speaker 1: one guy that you can really count on to work with,
24:56
Speaker 1: a Maya at the very least, and then it becomes that,
25:00
Speaker 1: you know, where do you get the bat where do
25:03
Speaker 1: you get the slugging percentage?
25:05
Speaker 2: But I do think Prada's really does lengthen the lineup in.
25:09
Speaker 1: A way that Morrell didn't, even if he doesn't have
25:11
Speaker 1: the same like thump, I do think he is a
25:16
Speaker 1: guy who can like find a way to contribute in
25:20
Speaker 1: different forms or his performance and production will take maybe
25:24
Speaker 1: different shapes than Morrel. But I do think definitely gives
25:27
Speaker 1: you much steadier baseline and like to look out, you know,
25:32
Speaker 1: from where we sit up in the press box, to
25:34
Speaker 1: see Parade, Swanson, Horner and Bush like as your infield
25:39
Speaker 1: you know, through at leate for the next two years
25:41
Speaker 1: at least.
25:44
Speaker 2: I think that's pretty good.
25:46
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, yeah, like, you know, obviously Dansby's not
25:51
Speaker 1: hitting the way he's supposed to, but like that's pretty solid.
25:57
Speaker 1: And then I think if you just kind of like
26:00
Speaker 1: couples were really like I'm still kind of stunned at
26:04
Speaker 1: just how much. I don't think there's like a blockbuster deal.
26:07
Speaker 1: I remember Jeed as an aside a long time ago.
26:11
Speaker 1: I feel like he was kind of surprised when the
26:14
Speaker 1: Samarga deal was like called the Blockbuster and it's like,
26:17
Speaker 1: well that happened on the fourth of July, that Billy
26:21
Speaker 1: Bean and THEO to like these huge moneyball like Hollywood
26:26
Speaker 1: style executives. Addison Russell was like a top five prospect
26:31
Speaker 1: in the game, and even like almost every casual sports
26:36
Speaker 1: fan i'd heard of, guests of margin for the most part,
26:38
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like he was a really
26:40
Speaker 1: big name for obvious, you know, two sport reasons.
26:45
Speaker 2: But you know this is the raise.
26:47
Speaker 1: It's parade ase, you know, it's a little more even
26:51
Speaker 1: Morell is not like a star, but it just totally
26:55
Speaker 1: shifts the conversation here of just like, okay, like the
27:00
Speaker 1: aren't as stuck as.
27:01
Speaker 2: They appear to be.
27:03
Speaker 1: And now that when you kind of had a guy
27:05
Speaker 1: like this, you know you still have And I know
27:09
Speaker 1: people were rolling their eyes when Jed said this, and
27:13
Speaker 1: I get that, you know, because he had not been
27:16
Speaker 1: the results just haven't been there. But he does have
27:18
Speaker 1: lots of options in terms of currency, prospects, financial flexibility.
27:23
Speaker 2: That's what you go out and do. Yeah.
27:26
Speaker 3: No, And he didn't give up like he still has
27:29
Speaker 3: like his best what ten, fifteen, twenty prospects still like
27:34
Speaker 3: he hasn't given them up yet. He's got a lot
27:36
Speaker 3: of currency and financial flexibility. And again I hate saying
27:40
Speaker 3: financial flexibility, but it's it's true. They they've done a
27:44
Speaker 3: good job here and it's like the season hasn't gone
27:48
Speaker 3: the way anyone expected it or hoped it would go.
27:51
Speaker 3: But it's this is an interesting move and I think
27:55
Speaker 3: you and I and many fans and onlookers have said
27:59
Speaker 3: this team needs a shit make up. It's happened. Now
28:02
Speaker 3: we'll see what the what the rest of the moves are,
28:07
Speaker 3: you know, Jameson tay On is scheduled to pitch Monday night.
28:11
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens there. I you know, I could
28:16
Speaker 3: be it depends what the like, what the return is,
28:18
Speaker 3: That's all it is. I think there because I think
28:22
Speaker 3: moving him when you have him for two more years
28:24
Speaker 3: beyond this, what he brings, like the stability in the
28:27
Speaker 3: middle of that rotation, I think it's a risk. Uh,
28:30
Speaker 3: But I also understand, Hey, this is a seller's market.
28:34
Speaker 3: So we'll see what if if that's the direction they go.
28:37
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we'll we'll have to like have
28:39
Speaker 3: to hear what the return is. Same with these relievers there,
28:42
Speaker 3: there's gonna be more. There's gonna be more moves. I'd
28:45
Speaker 3: be surprised if if Jed's done. Uh, they're they're busy
28:48
Speaker 3: and hold up. There's a reason Jed didn't talk to
28:50
Speaker 3: us today and just put out a statement in the
28:52
Speaker 3: press release. He's he's he's waiting till the dust settles
28:55
Speaker 3: and and everything is finished here. There's they've got about
28:59
Speaker 3: forty eight more hours. There's a little a little less
29:01
Speaker 3: than that. Right, you'll be in Cincinnati. You'll be there
29:04
Speaker 3: to cover it all. There's going to be more news
29:06
Speaker 3: to break and for us to talk about. We will,
29:10
Speaker 3: we will be on top of it, just like we
29:12
Speaker 3: were on this one. And thanks for listening. This is
29:16
Speaker 3: I did not expect to have to be recording this
29:19
Speaker 3: podcast and be talking about this, but it's it's fun
29:22
Speaker 3: and it's exciting. I hope fans are, you know, as
29:27
Speaker 3: fascinated as we are by this. But there's more to come,
29:31
Speaker 3: so so we'll be on top of it. Make sure
29:33
Speaker 3: you're reading the Athletic. Listen to subscribe, rate review all
29:38
Speaker 3: those good things to North Side Territory. We appreciate you listening.
29:42
Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, we'll talk to you soon. Take care,