Latest / Foul Territory / Cubs president Jed Hoyer visits North Side Territory ahead of the trade deadline

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Cubs president Jed Hoyer visits North Side Territory ahead of the trade deadline · Foul Territory

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  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sadeve Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
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  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, we have
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  Speaker 1: a special guest today. It is team president Jed Hoyer.
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  Speaker 1: Let's get right to it with Jed. Jed, thanks so
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  Speaker 1: much for joining us. Appreciate you jumping on the show.
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  Speaker 1: Looks like you're at the offices, is that right your.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's meeting week, so yeah, we're here a lot
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  Speaker 2: fun times.
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  Speaker 1: We're we're not going to dive into the draft. I
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  Speaker 1: think you know what the topic, Djur is. Uh, it's July.
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  Speaker 1: Your team is in the thick of it, obviously one
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  Speaker 1: of the best records in baseball. Looks like you're headed
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  Speaker 1: towards buying this summer, which is exciting to have a
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  Speaker 1: clear direction. Uh, can you kind of give us as
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  Speaker 1: we had to the All Star break? We know like
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  Speaker 1: the draft does kind of slow things down. But where
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  Speaker 1: is where? Where do you feel everything is right now
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  Speaker 1: as far as the trade market. Do you feel like
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  Speaker 1: anything could get done during the All Star break? And
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  Speaker 1: where do you kind of see not not only your
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  Speaker 1: team but the market in general, and how you expect
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  Speaker 1: things to move this this July.
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  Speaker 2: All right, let me unpack the seven questions you ask you.
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  Speaker 2: So I guess to start with so typically, I guess
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  Speaker 2: not typically because we've only done this for I guess
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  Speaker 2: a handful of years. But there's always a lot of conversations,
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  Speaker 2: you know, kind of this week, people will talk about
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  Speaker 2: the draft, talk about their teams or whatever, and then
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  Speaker 2: it kind of quiets down as we get sort of
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  Speaker 2: into the draft, and then really the minute the draft
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  Speaker 2: is over, now the trade conversations really pick up. I
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  Speaker 2: spent the last couple of days of the of the
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  Speaker 2: All Star break last year in Cooper's town with one
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  Speaker 2: of my sons, and you know, my my phone is
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  Speaker 2: ringing off the hook, and I was like, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I thought, maybe we get a couple of days off
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  Speaker 2: here after the after the draft, and I just think
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  Speaker 2: people now kind of jump right in right into it.
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  Speaker 2: So I think it'll it'll become active here for probably
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  Speaker 2: after the draft. There's a lot of conversations going on,
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  Speaker 2: but feels more exploratory.
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  Speaker 3: Than about to get things done.
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  Speaker 2: In general, I guess to sort of educate the listeners,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the way.
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  Speaker 3: The way it usually works is like people are always
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  Speaker 3: say they're.
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  Speaker 2: Willing to move early, but then normally the early price
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  Speaker 2: is really exorbitant and therefore you end up kind of
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  Speaker 2: moving into closer to the deadline.
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  Speaker 3: Is usually how it works.
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  Speaker 2: So my expectation is that the deals will get done
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  Speaker 2: in a handful of days before July thirty first, but
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't mean you don't try to make deals and
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  Speaker 2: try to be active in advance. And then, as for
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  Speaker 2: where we are, think that you know, the team has
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  Speaker 2: played really well so far, a lot of really great
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  Speaker 2: individual performances, and I think as a as a group,
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  Speaker 2: it's been really impressive. I think there's obviously areas to add.
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  Speaker 2: In any year, I think there's areas to add, you know,
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  Speaker 2: trying to create more depth, trying to sort of fire
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  Speaker 2: proof your team, so to speak, by insurance on certain areas.
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  Speaker 2: But I do think in our situation this year, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the position playing group has been really terrific, both offensively
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  Speaker 2: and defensively. I think are starting pitching is hung in
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  Speaker 2: there well in the absence of steel and assad and
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  Speaker 2: then showed it for two months. But certainly that's an
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  Speaker 2: area that we'll be in discussions on and then I
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  Speaker 2: think like every team, every team needs, you know, additional relievers.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think there's a team out there that feels
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  Speaker 2: like okay, Bullpens completely said, I think everyone will be
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  Speaker 2: in that market.
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  Speaker 3: So that's really my expectation.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, certainly it'll be a very active month, both
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  Speaker 2: with the draft and obviously the deadline.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, Jed, after selling at the twenty twenty one
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  Speaker 4: trade deadline, you memorily memorably said no reason to go halfway?
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  Speaker 4: Does the same logic sort of apply here in a
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  Speaker 4: different way because you've always been someone who you always
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  Speaker 4: pick a lane. Yeah, and I was just wondering, how
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  Speaker 4: how does that apply here?
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  Speaker 3: That's a good question.
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  Speaker 2: It's certainly going to be buyers and we're going to
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  Speaker 2: try to improve the team thing. It's hard to say now,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, you know what's going to percent itself. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: you want to do good deals, the you know, deals
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  Speaker 2: that you feel like you know makes sense for the
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  Speaker 2: organization this year and long term. You never want to
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  Speaker 2: take for granted where you are right now. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I think that's ultimately the one thing that we know
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  Speaker 2: is where we are. But also you know you can't
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  Speaker 2: just you can't buy with with no restrictions and they
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  Speaker 2: say we're gonna do whatever, because you know that that
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  Speaker 2: can be really damaging. So I think the biggest thing
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  Speaker 2: right now is we're of pushing our staff is be
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  Speaker 2: creative and come up with a lot of different ideas.
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  Speaker 3: You know, this is it's gonna be.
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  Speaker 2: An interesting market. I think it'll sort itself out over
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  Speaker 2: the next few weeks. But there's not a ton of
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  Speaker 2: obvious sellers right now. That might change, you know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as some teams realize it's not there, the odds aren't
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  Speaker 2: great for them, but it may be a year we
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  Speaker 2: have to be a little bit more creative because I
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  Speaker 2: do think the new playoff system and I do think
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  Speaker 2: that the way the American League get set up this
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  Speaker 2: year could lead itself to fewer sellers, and therefore maybe
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  Speaker 2: you have to be creative and how you put a
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  Speaker 2: deal together.
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  Speaker 1: You're touching on it there, Jed. But there's there's a
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  Speaker 1: few teams that feel like they're they're going to wait
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  Speaker 1: to see where they where they sit, and they have
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  Speaker 1: really interesting players Arizona, Kansas City, Boston even I think
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  Speaker 1: any of those teams have players that you guys would
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  Speaker 1: likely be interested in. How do you kind of balance
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  Speaker 1: the the idea of, Okay, maybe you want to be
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  Speaker 1: aggressive and ad, but then also be patient and say,
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  Speaker 1: what if these teams start selling and we've made an
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  Speaker 1: aggressive move and now we don't have the assets to
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  Speaker 1: go get a player that you may seem as see
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  Speaker 1: is really desirable.
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  Speaker 3: That's a great question, and that's what you have to prioritize.
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  Speaker 2: And I'd say most of the conversations I've had this
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  Speaker 2: week with teams have been sort of what you described,
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  Speaker 2: where teams acknowledge their position but realize, like, hey, we
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  Speaker 2: got I don't know how many games exactly we have left,
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  Speaker 2: but we call it twenty games left roughly, maybe a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more before the deadline. I'm going to wait
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  Speaker 2: and see where we stand in the last couple of days.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a very common refrain right now. You know,
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  Speaker 2: there's a very small handful of teams in the obvious
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  Speaker 2: selling lane, and then there's a bunch of teams in
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  Speaker 2: that lane, and I think that that's going to be
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  Speaker 2: what really determines how the deadline feels.
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  Speaker 3: And so you're totally right, like jumping at a deal early.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you may look.
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  Speaker 2: Back and say, oh, man, if I had known this
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  Speaker 2: team was going to end up selling, I would have
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  Speaker 2: positioned it differently.
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  Speaker 3: So I think that's going to be a real balance
• 6:53
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• 6:57
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  Speaker 4: Jenn I spent a lot of time trying to think
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: of a different Kyle Tucker question because you're so scripted
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  Speaker 4: in your no comments, But like, how does he change
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  Speaker 4: his calculus at the trade deadline? You obviously want to
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  Speaker 4: maximize this year just in case maybe his replacement could
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  Speaker 4: be an Eyebell right now, or maybe you have to
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  Speaker 4: like budget forty fifty million dollars for him for the
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  Speaker 4: next decade annually and you need a lot of young,
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  Speaker 4: cheap talent to surround him with, Like how do you
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  Speaker 4: it's not about one player at any deadline, but what's
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  Speaker 4: kind of the internal debate just around that idea?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that kind of goes back to what
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  Speaker 2: I said before, like what we know the most about
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  Speaker 2: is where we are right now.
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  Speaker 3: I think that you know, certainly you're you're always.
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  Speaker 2: Trying to balance those things, but you know, what's in
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  Speaker 2: front of us is really important, and obviously he's had
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  Speaker 2: a huge impact.
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  Speaker 3: On our offense. I think you know he's been terrific.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly you know, having him.
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  Speaker 2: On base all the time, and you know, watching the
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  Speaker 2: quality of his bats, and I think has really had
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  Speaker 2: a huge impact. And he's just a great all player.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's really benefited us in so many ways.
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  Speaker 2: And so you know, clearly, you know, this has been
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  Speaker 2: a really impressive position playing group so far, and he
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  Speaker 2: and he's sort of he's a big part of that,
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  Speaker 2: and obviously.
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  Speaker 1: That's going to factor into our calculusm Jack, You've You've
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  Speaker 1: talked to us a lot about how you kind of
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  Speaker 1: you look at these moments, these deadline opportunities as moments
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  Speaker 1: to you know, actually make a move. Sometimes teams just
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  Speaker 1: don't seem as motivated and you kind of enjoy the
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  Speaker 1: fact that there's a deadline here. How like how rare
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  Speaker 1: and fleeting are these opportunities to improve your team and
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  Speaker 1: find motivated teams to work with.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was talking to another team president the other
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  Speaker 2: day and he sort of said that, like a hey, listen,
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  Speaker 2: this is the one time I know you've got you
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  Speaker 2: had twenty nine teams that are going to other teams
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  Speaker 2: that are going to be, you know, looking to do deals,
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  Speaker 2: and you know sometimes you know, other times of the year.
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  Speaker 3: You know you don't have it, You don't you don't know,
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  Speaker 3: you have everyone's attention.
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  Speaker 2: I guess this is the best way to say it, right,
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  Speaker 2: And I think this time of year people get themselves
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  Speaker 2: into into deal making mode, and you know, sometimes those
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  Speaker 2: are deals that are clearly like, you know, either a
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  Speaker 2: rental or a buy.
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  Speaker 3: Now for this team.
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  Speaker 2: But like that was kind of what I did last
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  Speaker 2: year with Paratus with Morell, was that it felt like
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  Speaker 2: a deal. You know, we didn't have very high playoff
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  Speaker 2: odds last year at that time because of how we
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  Speaker 2: played early the year. We played great the last three months,
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  Speaker 2: but ultimately it wasn't enough. But you know, that was
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  Speaker 2: sort of a good example of a deal that was
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  Speaker 2: it was like, hey, this is an active time. I
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  Speaker 2: started talking to Tampa actually right around this time of year,
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  Speaker 2: and we ended up doing that deal towards the end,
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  Speaker 2: and that was a good example. I don't think for
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  Speaker 2: either team that wasn't a typical deadline trade, right, you know,
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  Speaker 2: neither team was had very high playoff odds, but it
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  Speaker 2: made sense for both sides to do it. So I
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  Speaker 2: do think that it's a time for activity, and I
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  Speaker 2: think that a lot of teams want to sort of
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  Speaker 2: honest say, take advantage of that, but they want to
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  Speaker 2: be part of that that action and people get really
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  Speaker 2: creative this time of year, and I think that's a
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  Speaker 2: great thing.
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  Speaker 4: Hey jed to what extent does like what could go
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  Speaker 4: wrong enter your thought process here? Like you're a pretty
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  Speaker 4: optimistic guy, but you're realist because you've been in the
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  Speaker 4: game for so long, Like, how does that enter the
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  Speaker 4: equation here of like planning for potentially three months.
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  Speaker 3: After this, no question? I think that, you know, I
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  Speaker 3: kind of I said it earlier.
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  Speaker 2: I think when you think about roster, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: think about you got to play you know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: two months of baseball after the deadline and you don't
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  Speaker 2: have August waiver trades anymore, So you do have to
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  Speaker 2: think about, you know, what your roster looks like, what
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  Speaker 2: could go wrong.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a big part of the job.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Counsel and I talk about that all the time,
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  Speaker 2: that that is a big part of the job, is
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  Speaker 2: trying to.
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  Speaker 3: See around corners and trying to you know, it's.
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  Speaker 2: Not a great way to go through life thinking about
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  Speaker 2: what can go wrong, you know, but at the same time,
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  Speaker 2: you have to think about, like, you know, these two injuries.
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  Speaker 2: You know, what would we do in this situation because
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  Speaker 2: that is the nature of baseball, and it doesn't the
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  Speaker 2: best case scenario doesn't often happen. So I do think
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  Speaker 2: that's a big part of my job. I think it's
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: big part of Craig's job as well, thinking through, you know,
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  Speaker 2: if this goes wrong or that goes wrong, how do
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  Speaker 2: we handle it?
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  Speaker 3: Because that's the job.
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  Speaker 1: So much of this pitching staff has been built with
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  Speaker 1: undervalued players, whether it's pretty much the majority of the
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: bullpen has you know, picked up in various ways, and
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  Speaker 1: then they're dominating and then Matthew Boyd's an All Star.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think many people expected this type of performance
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  Speaker 1: for him, but clearly you guys have some trust in
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  Speaker 1: the pitching infrastructure, whether it's Tommy and Casey or the
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  Speaker 1: addition of Tyler's ombro or even others behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 1: I know you're not going to get into names of
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  Speaker 1: players you're pursuing, but are there.
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  Speaker 3: I guess this is a two part question. Can you
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  Speaker 3: do that?
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  Speaker 1: Can you think of it in the same way, where
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  Speaker 1: can you say, like we see something, we like this
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  Speaker 1: guy may not have the ra or the results exactly
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  Speaker 1: that we want, but we think we can do something.
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  Speaker 1: Is that Can you do that mid season as much?
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  Speaker 1: Can you have that same thinking and are there profiles
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  Speaker 1: or characteristics that you can kind of point to that
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  Speaker 1: you say like this is what we're looking for.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you can.
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  Speaker 2: I mean I think that for rental, it maybe a
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  Speaker 2: little bit harder than it would be with someone you're
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  Speaker 2: going to control. You realize you have you know, a
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  Speaker 2: year and a half or two and a half years
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  Speaker 2: to make some of those changes and.
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  Speaker 3: Recoup that value. I do agree with you, like getting.
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  Speaker 2: A guy for if you're getting a reliever that's going
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: to make fifteen to fifteen to eighteen appearances, somewhat hard
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  Speaker 2: sometimes to make significant changes. But I mean, I know
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  Speaker 2: what the Braves did in twenty twenty one was brilliant.
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  Speaker 2: You know, they whether it's Josh Peterson wasn't having a
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: good year, Eddie Rosario wasn't having a good year, so
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Layer wasn't having a good year. But those players had
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: track records and then they basically bought on the you know,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the idea that they would you know, the regression to
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the meme, and they did, and I think that was
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: really effective and I do think there's a tendency at
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the deadline to like who's the who's hot right now,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: who's playing really well, and it it is definitely comforting
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: to to get that guy who's doing that. But at
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: the same time, like there's also a really good argument
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  Speaker 2: that like sometimes like you know, listen, like this guy's
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: a good player, he has a good track record, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: he you know, he's having a down year. Sometimes it's
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: just a matter of time until he plays well. So
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  Speaker 2: we have both those discussions both on like this guy
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  Speaker 2: is a better player than this but also I mean
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  Speaker 2: I'm talking to our pitching guys all the time about
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  Speaker 2: you know, different guys like you know, adding a pitch
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  Speaker 2: or you know.
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  Speaker 3: A delivery adjustment.
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  Speaker 2: I do think on the pitching side, I think that's
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  Speaker 2: a little bit more prevalent than on the hitting side.
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  Speaker 2: And I would also, like you said, you talk about
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  Speaker 2: our our pitching and our pitching infrastructure has been really good,
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  Speaker 2: Like I would also make note that our eight defenders
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: are really good too, you know, And I think that
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  Speaker 2: that is a significant part of our pitching value honestly,
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  Speaker 2: is that we play really good defense. We have a
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: lot of really good defenders. We make plays, and I
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  Speaker 2: think that you know, that is that is a part
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  Speaker 2: of our pitching infrastructure in a way as well.
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  Speaker 4: Cole Hammil's would be another good one too, if you
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: guys just betting on the track record.
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  Speaker 2: There well, and you know, honestly like the Cole Hamil's deal,
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  Speaker 2: I mean I learned a lesson on Justin Verlander the
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  Speaker 2: year before, you know, where you know, he was available
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  Speaker 2: in trade. His stuff was down. He didn't look good
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: with Detroit. You whenever a player of that age has
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: declining stuff, it's hard to you know. And then he
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: went to Houston and immediately his stuff ticked up. And
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: that's when it's like trying to.
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  Speaker 3: Balance the what is injury? What his age?
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  Speaker 2: What is I'm frustrated in this bad situation right now?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: And so the next year with Cole Hamil's, we sort
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: of didn't overthink it. You know, he was struggling and
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: we went and got him and the like felt like
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: literally the minute he put our uniform on that year,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: he was dominant. And so I do think that's a
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: little bit of the human factor sometimes and you could
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: go pretty poor making that bed over and over, you know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: But I do think there's times.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: That that that that can make.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Sense with a veteran guy with that kind of track record,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: and certainly, like I said, Cole came in and immediately,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: you know, pitch fantastically down the stretch.
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: Hey, let's do a little player spotlight thanks to Arena Club.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: AJ give me a player this season that you think
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: is underrated and you might want to try and grab
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: his card.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: James would.
• 16:47
  Speaker 7: I don't know that he's underrated, but Washington National's superstar
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: in the making, and the first slab pack I ever
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: opened had him in his rookie card and the value
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: is only going to.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Go up and up and up. And I'm not going
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: to sell it Kwie yet. Scott.
• 16:58
  Speaker 7: I'm gonna hold on too, because after he continues to
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: hit big homers and put up the stats make All
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: Star teams, it's going to get more expensive for someone
• 17:06
  Speaker 7: to buy.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: For me. This is his first full season in the majors.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Keep that in mind. I think he's underrated. He's on
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: a Nationals team that's man putting enough attention.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: He might underrated.
• 17:16
  Speaker 7: When he makes the All Star team this year, They're
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: not going to be underrated.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: That helps.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: He's been intentionally walked four times in a game. Anyway,
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: if you want to try and find a wood rookie card,
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: go check out slap packs on Arena Club and right
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: now you can get twenty percent off your first slab pack.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: Or if you just want to go with a card purchase,
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: go to Arena club dot com. Slash foul, use code foul.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: If you buy, sell, trade, collect, go for it.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: We're a council, obviously a unique mind has his favorite
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: saying of these pictures are just out getters. It pushes
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: us not to think of roles. How would you explain
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: his role and outlook on acquisitions? And he kind of does.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: He play like kind of a devil's advocate role sometimes
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: in there room.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: I think that's his personality in a good way. He's
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: always pushing us on different things. But now he's a
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: he's a significant voice. I mean, we're constantly talking to
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: him about about what we're doing. I think he takes
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: a real interest in it, you know, Like I'd say,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: every other day when I walk in his office, he's like, yeah, here's.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: My idea of the day, and he throws it at.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Me and and they're they're good ideas, they're they're like
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: he thinks very much along the lines of a front
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: office person a lot of times.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: And so I think I've said this before, like other.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Managers I've had didn't really take a significant interest in
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: the acquisition space, and he really does. And I really
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: enjoy it because you know, he knows why we're doing things.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: He's pushing us to do certain things. And I think
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: that way when you get the you trade for that player,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: you pick up that player, he's already invested. And that's
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: happened a couple of times this year with guys like
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: you know, the Palme Rans transaction for example, and you know,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: he's sort of we got him and he threw him
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: right into the fire, you know. And I feel like
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: that's easier to do when you're sort of in lockstep
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: with the front office. You know why they're doing things,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: and you're able to you know, we got him and
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: he put him. He put him to work right away,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: didn't didn't have any any hesitation, And I think that's
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: that's because he's part of the process.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Generously.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Peekrow Armstrong was a guy who acquired several years ago.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: I'm curious, can you explain to you know, fans, just
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: like the growth you've seen in Pete behind the scenes,
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: and maybe the moments that stand out in terms of
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: him just kind of slowing the game down, but also
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: handling this kind of sudden burst or next level of
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: fame with I think a lot of grace.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: And humility he has.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've actually told him that a lot of times,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: how much I appreciate the way he treats people, because
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: you know, you see after a game, we down on
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: the field after a game, there's like tons of family around,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: and he's trying to have a moment with his parents
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: or or family friends whatever, And every single kid that's
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: down there wants a picture, wants an autograph, like he's
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: the guy. And he's just so patient and and and
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: and takes every picture and signs every autograph. And it's
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: really hard to do that, you know, and he does.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: It really well. He was certainly raised right. I think
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: he was also good by his parents.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: I think he's the program he was in high school,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: you know, I think prepared him well.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: He's just he's a good human being.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I think it shows up as for as a player.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, I expected all of this kind of minus
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: the power. I guess it's the honest way of say
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: it that I really thought he'd be one of the
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: handful of very best defenders in baseball. I thought he'd
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: be an elite based runner. I didn't think he'd have
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: his kind of power. I was always pushing him to
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: work on spunting more.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: You know, good thing he didn't listen, So yeah, it
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: fouls it off the right.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: But but like, but I think that's what I would say,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: is like, you know, the shape of the player is
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: the same as I expected, minus hitting balls off the scoreboard,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: you know, And that's the part that I've been really surprised.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: But like, these aren't wall scraper home runs. He's not like,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: you know, hitting balls in the basket with a wind
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: blowing out. I mean, he's hitting balls that are way gone.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: And that's you know, again, like this game surprises you,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: which is kind of the fun part of the job,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: right that you know, it would have been impossible to
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: predict that he would come into this kind of power,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: but he has, and you know, it's it's vaulted him
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: from you know, really good player to a star and
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: it's been fun to watch.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Uh, this this question is probably hard to answer as
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: far as the last five years, So I'm going to
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: go with the do O years. And was there a
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: move that either maybe maybe wasn't like about to be
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: made or you thought was done, but something that was
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: you know, discussed quite a bit that you think maybe
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it would have changed those World Series years that the
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: World Series and in that time in either direction like
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: either this would have extended it by years or this
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: this could have blown things up. Was there a deal
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: that never came together that you guys discussed the.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: One I just mentioned, I think would be a fair
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: a fair one that like you know, you had we
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: traded for Verlander in seventeen, does that does that change
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: things a little bit?
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: You know, he was on the market again.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I look back at the decision making process and I
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: think the process was good. I think the logic was good,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: but like obviously we got it wrong.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: We should have been aggressive and we should have traded
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: for him that year.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: And I think that's one that I think about sometimes,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: like how different things could be had.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: That happened, you know, you know, flipping it around.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Like I think about that, like if you know, if
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Houston takes Chris Bryan and we take a Pell, I
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: do think that that's you know, I do think with
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: all of these different things, there's a sliding doors aspect
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: of so many moves that you know, I think that yes,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: like had we gotten Berlin or maybe that would have
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: extended things, for example, but obviously have we not drafted Chris,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: that might have short circuited.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: The whole process. So yeah, that's probably one that I
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: would I would think about.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: I know, you're not gonna do something just to do
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: something or to make headlines, but like you said, this
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: is a rare sort of opportunity. And you you've talked
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: before about how you know, the best years in base
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: you know, those those rings that you have are kind
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: of you know, the they're the thing like if you're
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: definitely buying. I guess the next threshold would be like
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: can this team win a World Series? And I realized
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: we're in the middle of July, but you know what
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: it looks like, you like, what are the as this
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: team kind of reached those indicators?
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, I guess I would say this. I think
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: we've we've played really well for quite a while.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I do think though it's a long season. You sort
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: of said, like my mindset is sort of going back
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: to the previous questions. Okay, what things can go wrong,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: what things are we're trying to fix. But certainly, yeah,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I think that we've we've we've show our position playing
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: group has.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Been really good. I do think that I.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Think we've pitched well considering some of the injuries. But
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: I do think that's an area that we need to
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: continue to bolster. So yeah, I think there's areas we
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: certainly need to upgrade. And it's just a long season.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: You know, you don't get it. You know there's no
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: metal for halfway. You know you gotta you gotta keep going.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: And that that's probably how I look at it.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Jed, thanks so much for joining us. Well we'll leave
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: it there. Appreciate you giving us some of your time.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll be bugging you over the next month plenty.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: See it Wrigley and on the road and whatnot.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: I did this podcast so you wouldn't sorry.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: It was not a great beforehand, Sorry and fulfill that problem.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: All right, Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: This is Northside Territory.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening to
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: everyone