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Cubs news and notes: The latest on Kyle Tucker and their trade chips for the deadline · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sadeve Charmer with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. Final episode
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of the week. Let's kick it off right away with
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: our Draft Kings player spotlight. All right, Patrick, we're doing
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Kyle Tucker this week. I mean,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: obviously one of the best players in baseball, one of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the best players, I mean the best, arguably the best
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: player on the Cubs. Let's start with a little poking
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the bear. I guess yes, yes. Our colleague Ken Rosenthal
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: had some notes come out on Thursday, and one of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: those notes Kyle Tucker, Tampa Bay native. New ownership should
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: be approved at some point in the near future for
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Rays. Will that new owner want to
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: make a big splash and bring a hometown guy back
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and spend some money? Are the Rays and actual player
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: for Kyle Tucker.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I'm envisioning the comments section if we wrote that news story,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: if it actually happened, or the amazing episode we could
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: put together of the angst of like the Rays stealing
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the number one free agent away from the Cubs. I
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: think more was interesting to me, and I think just
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: by Ken raising that possibility was like there's always kind
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: of like a team out there, like the mystery team,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: and sometimes like the mystery team is real, and like
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: there's a team that you're not always thinking of that
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: could decide at any point to sort of put their
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: foot on the gas. And I'd be surprised if it's
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the Rays with Kyle Tucker. But I think it gets
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: to something that even within the Cubs, they don't really
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: have a great sense for what exactly Kyle Tucker wants.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: And I think obviously it will come down to money.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: And I do think there's something about Tucker that he's
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: shown this year is that he's pretty flexible. Like I
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: think he just loves playing baseball. He loves being in
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: a clubhouse, like that is his most natural element. You know,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: his brother played in the show. He grew up in Florida.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: He went to the same high school that produced you know,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Pete Alonzo and Wade Bogs. Like this is kind of
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: that baseball gym rat and talking to him at Yankee
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Stadium last weekend, you know he's not a KG rat.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: And then he's going to take a hundred swings every
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: day or go there for early work and then do
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: extra sessions in the cage later. Like he's very much
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: a feel vibes type guy. If it's twenty whatever, fifteen swings,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: ten flips and he feels good, then he's done. But
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I think you've seen actually not really seen it, because
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: he's rarely in the clubhouse when the media is available,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Like he kind of has his own thing. But you
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: hear about how connected he is to this group, that
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: he is very much woven into this team's fabric. And
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: you know Dansby Swanson who gave him a lot of
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: credit for that. He says he's like, honestly, I don't
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: know what affects this guy in general, like contact to
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: your pressure. He is just the same all the time.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: But the word Dancy Sponsors used was just sort of
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: the transparency in which Kyle Tucker is operated of, Like, look,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: everyone knows that he can become a free agent after
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: this year. No one knows where he's going to be
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: playing next year. But I think the Cubs have certainly
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: put their best foot forward. I think Kyle Tucker has
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: shown how adaptable he is and proven his value. Not
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: just the numbers that if he when he's playing in Houston,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: you can look up his Baseball Reference numbers, whatever, his
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: stat cast data. But I think watching him every day
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: and seeing how he interreacts and how sorry, how he
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: interacts with others, how the crowd reacts to him, how
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Cubs players have become better by hitting around him. I
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: think all of those things, Uh, all those boxes have
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: been checked, and then it'll just come down to money.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I liked I think I was there for this,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: or maybe I just saw it. It wasn't when we
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: when you were on the road. I'm pretty sure Counsel
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: was talking at Wrigley when he gave the quote about
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: how Kyle Tucker kind of he sometimes makes the game
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: look easy. Yeah, and it's just like and it and
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: it can be frustrating to other people. And I know
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I understand that that feeling. There's this, uh you watch
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: these natural athletes and like someone like picks up a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: that you know, it's like Mookie bats goes in like
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: bolts of three hundred. It's like, what you shouldn't be
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: able to be that good at so many different things. Uh,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker just goes up there he has this swing
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that you would not teach to your kid, and and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to go swing like that. There there are some unorthodox
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: movements in there, and then he goes out and performs
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: like an MVP year and a year out. Uh, it's
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: pretty pretty remarkable. If Patrick he's been, you know he's not.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: You don't splash a Kyle Tucker quote in a headline,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: you don't. You're not going to get these Pete R.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Armstrong quotes that Marquee is gonna throw up on on
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: their social media pages.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Sprinkled with like F bombs and stuff like that.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: The way he tucks. Yeah, yeah, I saw so much
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: petekro Armstrong content early this week from Atlanta. I barely
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: noticed that Kyle Tucker was out there. That that's nothing
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: against either one of those players. Yeah, different players, different personalities,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: different ways of going about business. But I feel like
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you had a solid conversation with Kyle Tucker and got to,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know, see a different side of him is
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the right way to put it, But you just you
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: had like an engaging, thoughtful conversation that sometimes I feel
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: like it is hard to get with a guy like that.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the good way to describe as like
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: he's not a standoffish person. I think, you know, everyone
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: around the clubs finds him to be very pleasant and agreeable.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: But he just shows a different inside to his like
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: teammates and the people in uniform. And I think that
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: has been the strongest kind of vibe that he's presented
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: to the Cubs. It's the way he loves just to
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: be one of the guys and like hang out with
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: the boys. I asked him about that that boat trip
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: on Lake Michigan that caught a lot of attention on
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: social media, and he was like, it just seemed like
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: a fun off day thing to do. Like he credited
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Justin Turner for it. He said he was open to players, families,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: clubhouse staff. I do think that showed how this is
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: a pretty tight knit group. But he just sort of
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: laughed when you know, I said, you know, it seems
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: like people kind of read into that lot is Yeah,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: people are going to do that, Fans have fun with it.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: We were just like we should do a boat day
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: every day, like just this kind of like you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: he's so tall, uh, and he just carries himself as
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: if you know, he sort of just rolled out of
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: bed but you know, like what Council said, it's just
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: so smooth, and I think it's been a good counterbalance
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to a team that is very like serious and guys
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: are all about their process and you need that. It's
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: not a criticism, but players notice this immediately in April
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: of just like he brings this like loose energy and
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: this easy confidence because of who he is and how
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: he carries himself. And that's something that you know is
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: impossible to measure, but shows up across a really long season.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I get a kick out of fans, you know, kind
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: of reading into everything. I have no problem with it.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I think it's fun. I hope they you know, they
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: play it up and you know, do whatever they can get,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: get themselves in whatever mindset they need to be, and
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: to convince themselves that Kyle Tucker is coming back. Look,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: he's he is doing things that seems like he's getting
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: ingrained in the community. That's great. It just seems like
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: he's a good guy and also likes being around his
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: team mates, likes this city. I just don't know if
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: that's gonna matter come this offseason, and I would I
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: would recommend to fans to just enjoy this summer right now,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: because he is really good and he is really impactful,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and this season has been wildly entertaining after years of
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: like middling performance or bad performance from the team overall.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: So it just, you know, I get the desire to
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: look past this season and it is something that we
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: do and it's something we will continue to do. But
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: also just enjoy this guy. He's incredibly talented, a rare talent.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: And it's nice too. And I've said this a lot
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to keep saying it. It's just nice
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: to have that reminder of what it's like to see
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a star every day. We had it, you know, at
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the core the World Series Champions, and we had it
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: for a few years. Some of those guys didn't always
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: play like stars, but they were stars. Uh. We have
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: two right now in Chicago, uh, for the Cubs and
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: one guy that you know, we don't know how long
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: he's going to be here. So I like, that's why
• 10:09
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• 10:13
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• 10:15
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• 11:22
  Speaker 1: There there was a question in our last mail bag
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: that we didn't get use that I think is a
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: worthwhile segment, and essentially it was who are the players
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: most likely to be traded the prospects most likely to
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: be used in trades. Lets First of all, I'm just
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: gonna say, like, I don't think anyone's untouchable. Like it's
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: different if you're talking about the major league roster, but overall,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I just I wouldn't assume that there that you know
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: that anyone at Triple A is you know, or even
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: like really talented guy like Jefferson Rojas. Look, I don't
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: think they're gonna trade Jefferson Rojas. It's not someone that
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: would be in my that i'd mentioned. But I also
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: don't think that they would just say like he's off
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: the table for certain players. Sure he's not gonna be
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I would be surprised if they're moving him for a rental.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: But if someone's available, they can help this team for years.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Anyone's available. My number one player that I think has
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: a good chance to be traded is Jordan Wicks. I
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: think Jordan Wicks hasn't fully come into his own, but
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: he is a major league pitcher. I think a team
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: that maybe has that that's willing to have some patience
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: with him and and just give him, however many starts
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: down the final two and a half months of the season,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: two plus months of the season, just say here, you're
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: in our rotation. Take your lumps if if they you know,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: or or here, make two starts to drip. We want
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to try something with you. This is what we see. Okay,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: now you're in the rotation. You go start every day.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Because he is I feel like there's not much left
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: to prove at Triple A, but he's not really consistent
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: enough at the big leagues for the clubs to keep
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: him up there. He shows these flashes. He's matured as
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: a person, I believe, and understands the work it takes
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: in between your outings to really be ready and prepared.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: It just hasn't all come together, and it just feels
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: like this is the right type of guy that can
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: be used in a trade.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Jefferson Rojas because he was
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: kind of on our radar last year as like a
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: guy to monitor, and I think this year, just the
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: major league club has just came out of the gates
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: so fast, we just haven't really had the time to
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: focus on the same way. But he's twenty years old,
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: signed out of the Dominican Republic, at high a south bend,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: can play shortstop as an eight seventy one ops Like,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: this is a guy. If you go back to spring
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: training in twenty four I was kind of asking around
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: just to do a different type of story, and it's like, no,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: you're You're on the right track.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: This is the guy.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: And I think that's a team. That's a player that
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: other teams are going to ask about, particularly if they
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: try to get the guy who comes under club control
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: for multiple years, or really high end player that maybe
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: we're not thinking of. I think right now teams would
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: love to get like major League adjacent sort of players,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: and the Cups have a bunch of those guys at
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Triple IOWA. I think Owen Casey is probably the number
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: one guy on that list. When you think back to
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: twenty one that trade deadline, when Jed shipped out all
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: those players in the twenty sixteen World Series, team, it
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: was hard, hard for them to get traction with like
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: guys who could just plug into their lineup. I mean,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: and even the guy that they did get once he
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: was healthy, Nick Madrigal, did not you know, perform. And
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: so if Casey is that left handed hitter that spent
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: a lot of time at Triple A Iowa, I want
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: to say, maybe parts of two maybe three years at
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: this point where he's been an upper level minor league
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: hitter for a long time, that to me is a
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: guy that might have to wind up going. And I
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: do think there's a cluster of those players there with
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Moises by Asteros, James Treanto's, Kevin Acontara, Like it'd be
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: interesting to see how much, if at all, they deal
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: from that because they are concerned about that cliff, Like
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I know, the cue they just got good this first half,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: but they're already like aware of after twenty twenty six,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: all the guys who can become free agents. In addition
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to the be honest, the likelihood that Kyle Tucker will
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: be gone for this year, like that is something that
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: is very much front of mind. And I think one
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: other quick note pitching wise, I mean, Jackson Wiggins, we
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: were told who is kind of popping more as a prospect. Now,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: I believe they'd sort of, you know, not totally shut
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: him down, but they're kind of concerned about his work
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: if workload management in mind, if he has not pitched
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: in a bit, I think they were kind of looking
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: at after the All Star break as a way to
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: kind of reincorporate him into a pitching staff.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I heard the same workload management, and he'll be
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: back out there at some point later this month. I'd
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: be a little surprised if he's also like he's one
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: of like I put him in the Jefferson rojasal category.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: But you know, like I said, you don't take anyone
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: off the table. I'm not saying that they're not. That
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: this is a thing where they're just not going to
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: do that, but I wouldn't. I would. I would put
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: him in that category. I would put I think Owen
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Casey is certainly like in that category of like this
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: guy is going to be asked about a ton he
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: is hitting the cover off the ball. It's one of
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: those situations where if the Cubs kind of had like
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: this average outfielder out there that that wasn't like locked
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: into the lineup. They're not. They're not moving Ian Half
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: to the bench. You know, like Ian Half is a
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: big part of this team. I know he's been slumping.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: They're not They're not moving him to the bench. They're
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: just not doing that. But if they had a spot,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I think it would make sense. You'd be wondering, like, oh,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: can Owen Casey come up and help this team right
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: now and then maybe like have two weeks before he's
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: traded or maybe so good that they keep them. I
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: don't think that's gonna happen. I think that he is
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: exactly what you were talking about. Teams are desperate for
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: these types of players immediate, like someone that can come
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: up right away and has upside of the power upside,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the power impact, the type of player that he could be. Yeah,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of swing a miss. He's not a
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: perfect player. There's flaws there. But that's why you know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: that's that's why he's not like a top ten prospect.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: But he's a very good prospect. He's a top fifty prospect,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and I think he's gotten a little bit better this
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: year results wise, and that that's important. Al Contra just
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: had a leg injury. I believe nothing significant. I think
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: he's out in Arizona getting some work in, just getting hot.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Absolutely prototypical al Contra season right now slow April, not awful,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: but not opening any eyes, slowly gets better than has
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: monster June in July, and now he's battling like a
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: very minor injury. This is just kind of what happens
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: with Kevin Olcontra. But he's so talented. Wouldn't be shocked
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: if teams want him. A random name, we'll see if
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: he works his way up. Back up is Brandon bird Cell,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: who's who's finally healthy and working his way back into things.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Uh Toreanto's has had a really rough season. I don't
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: know where he stands, but yeah, that that's a guy
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: that that I would keep an eye on as far
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: as UH trade talks. Here, here's another name if they
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: want to keep, if they like. If you're just looking
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: at they have a lot of outfielders in Casey and
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: al Contra. Christian Franklin is probably a major league player
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: at some point in the near future. He's he's hitting
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: pretty well this season. I don't think he's He's not
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: owing Casey level obviously, but if I remember well he
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: started off hot, uh and and now he's kind of
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: he's just maybe a little bit above league average. If
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: he is, he's Yeah, he's about like a one toweight
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: way to runs great, a plush, solid power, can play
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: center field, takes a ton of walks. The swing and
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: miss was a concern out of out of college. It's
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: not as as awful as as one's concerned, you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: as ones considered. I think that's like a major league
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: player that you could include in a trade. Those are
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the types of like Owen Casey is probably the big
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: like the centerpiece of a trade, of a big trade.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: But you don't give this is my opinion, if you're
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: getting one rental player back, I wouldn't give up Owen Casey. Yeah,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Like I don't. I think he's too valuable for that.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Like if if you're talking about two rental players, Okay,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: now you start thinking about it, But I think you
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: want a little bit more club control if you're giving
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: up Owen Casey, especially when we're talking about the idea
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: of losing Kyle Tucker, there are different ways to fill
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: that in. We haven't touched a lot on Moses' biosteris
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't know, Like I think that's an
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: interesting one, but you do have to consider that there's
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: a lot like you don't want to empty out the
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: farm twenty twenty six, Like you said, they don't want
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: to fall off that cliff. That's why I say, Jefferson Rojas, listen, Look,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: he can play short I'm not sure if people look
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: at him as like this guy's a lockdown shortstop. He's
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: playing there for sure. Nico Horner has two years left
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: on his contract, like Jefferson Rojas fits in perfectly. One
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: final thought for me on this, at least, I like
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to kind of get your thoughts. I don't I haven't
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: heard anything about this. This would be pure speculation. I
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: don't think they'd do it. But in the right move,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: does Matt Shaw suddenly because is he suddenly available? You know?
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I had that exact same thought, sort of reading my mind.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: I have no intel on that. I still think you'd
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: be trading him at a low point. I'm not sure how.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he really has that wow factor
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: at that point. And I think it's kind of one
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: of those things too, of you know, the timing of
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: when you trade guys. But certainly you can't, can't dismiss it,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: and that was our understanding. Was sort of like the
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: name a lot of teams would have asked for last
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: off season. Like I don't think the Cubs were totally
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: off in their evaluation. I think he was the name
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: outside of really you know, the Astros wanting Cam Smith,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: but we know Jed and how he operates. It's kind
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: of rare to deal off your major league roster, but certainly,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: and he's not a cell Low type guy. If anything,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: you'll hold on to seaw way too long. But yeah,
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: I his name is one that in the back of
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: my head, and the other one would be like Ben Brown,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Like if you need pitcher right away, there's got to
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: be a team out there that looks at Ben Brown's size,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: the flashes he swe in, the majors, his stuff, all
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: that of kind of a why not ah, similar to Wicks,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: just not in terms of stuff, but just plug them in,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: see what happens, sees, see what clicks in in a
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: different environment, and you may have a really nice long
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: term piece for your for your club.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I that's that's the other name. I was
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: thinking there. I knew there was one more. Uh yeah,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I think there and there's Look, there's there's pieces all
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: throughout the miners that we're not gonna touch on right here,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: but there's there's guys that at every level that are
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: that are interesting, whether it's Christian Hernandez, whether it's the
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: lower levels some you know recent guys that have pot
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: like that were recently drafted that haven't really popped yet,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: or or you know, teams, teams identify talent all over.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Like Ty Johnson wasn't on our radar when he was
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: traded to the Rays last year, and then I looked
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: at his numbers, I was like, this guy was pretty good. Okay, Uh,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't think he's dominating like he was
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: last year. But you know, there's all sorts of players
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and you got to you you have to be pretty aware.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, you have to have your strength needs to
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: be evaluating your own talent internally and feeling confident that, uh,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: it's not going to bite you giving up giving up
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a guy they knew what they had. It wasn't like
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the Cubs were clueless when they gave up camp Smith.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: They didn't want to give up camp Smith. The Astros
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: weren't going to weren't going to make that trade without
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: camp Smith included. That's that's the reality of these things.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Sometimes the other team wants good players, uh.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: As all you get the right players, I think you
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: can't worry that much about what happens later, and like,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: whoever they give up, there's gonna be way more chances
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: for them to make you look bad. But that's just
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: how how it works. Like if you have Kyle Tucker,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: we started the show with it like he's been awesome, period,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Like you have a chance to win a world series, period,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: and you know, you figure out the other the next
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: you know, six years as it comes, Like I just
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: don't like even looking back to what they did after,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: you know, leading into twenty sixteen and out of twenty sixteen,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: like Eloi Jimenez, I think just got released again the
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: other day, Like it's just you know, Dylan c has
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: been really awesome for stretches, but he's also been kind
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: of like at certain times, you know, and Glaboratorius so
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: good for him making the All Star Game, and he
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: had some nice moments in New York, but I think
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Yankees weren't like distraught when when he left. I think
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: just with all these guys, you see it like it's
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: hard to be great every single year, and that's why
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: guys like Kyle Tucker get paid.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, Let's take one more quick break and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: wrap this up when we come back. Hey, have you
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: heard of Built? No? Do you pay rent? Yes? Okay, good,
• 26:09
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• 27:08
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, The Cubs start three against the Boston
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Red Sox this weekend. I believe that the Red Sox
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: have one ten in a row. That's so they're they're
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: red hot, probably not selling. Yeah, so so let's not
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: let's not talk. Let's not start the Yeah, we don't
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: need to get back to the are they selling? Are
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: they moving? Lucas Giolito, you know how many of these
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: relievers are they moving? We don't need to monitor them
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: for now. That Al East is uh, I guess it
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: looks like it's anyone's division really outside of Baltimore who's
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: really struggled this year. Uh, this is this is probably
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: one of the tougher series outside of Milwaukee that the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Cubs have for a while. Like it's Milwaukee, Toronto later
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: in August, and Boston. They have a schedule coming up
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: that should line them up pretty well. I saw something
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: that said, Patrick that they have the easiest strength of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: schedule for the second half, that brutal April. You know,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: we'd be said it all along. You survive that, we'll
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: see what happens. They did really well in that really
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: weak stretch. They they've they've kind of held served through
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: some difficult through another difficult stretch, and now now we'll
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: see that they could be a much better We just
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: last episode and early on in just the last segment
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: we're talking about the trade deadline. They should be a
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: better team by August first. So if you're a better team,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: other teams are weaker. You know. I just think like
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: we could be looking at a chance that they have
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: a great opportunity here. Like we talked about earlier this week,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Craig Council does a great job managing his team in
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the second half as well, no doubt.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I just feel I just have a gut feeling we're
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: going to see like a huge Alex Bregman game this
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: weekend that would certainly be a good storyline for us.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: The Brewers simply will not go away and definitely circling
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: that three game series in Milwaukee, the last one before
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: the trade deadline. I think things could get uncomfortable for
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: the Cubs. I think this team is going to be
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: tested or face adversity at a level they have not
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: seen yet. I know they've dealt with injuries to the rotation,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: not everything has gone right, but they haven't had that
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: one really long skin yet. Maybe they could avoid it
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: for the entire year. Most teams usually don't. And also
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: right after that Red Sox Series two the Kansas City Royals.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I mean that's three games against a team that has
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: some interesting pitching and you know, kind of a recent
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: history of being able to match up with Cubs on
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: sort of like you know, not minor deals but not
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: like blockbusters, just kind of like basic roster maintenance. They've
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: kind of matched up a couple of times over the years.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: So like do they leave Wrigley Field fully confident selling
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: or they kind of on the fence. Like, I think
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a lot kind of packed into these
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: next two weeks here, and then to your point, there's
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: gonna be that kind of exhale. I think there kind
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: of always is right after the deadline of like, okay,
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: you know that this is the group you have going forward.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, talk about facing their first series after the
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: trade deadline is the it's gonna be the Orioles at home.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Like I think you much rather face the Orioles than
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: than when they're sort of, you know, trying to furiously
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: rally back and make things interesting. And the other thing too,
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: is like we learned the last couple of years, like
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: these series matter. We saw it happened in twenty three
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: when the Cubs got hot, Like front offices like pay attention,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: Like we're not it's not a media thing. We're not exaggerating.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: We say, like the season can hang in the balance
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: on this like week in July, Like the Cubs just
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: kept winning in that July twenty twenty three, Yeah, and
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: force Jed it's not only hold on to Cody Bellinger,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: but also go out and acquire Jamber Candelario. So it's
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: kind of a fascinating week. Then like it's kind of
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: dog days of August to a certain extent, and then
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: obviously September, we'll see, like if the Brewers can keep
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: winning at this absurd pace. What did the Cardinals do
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: at the trade deadline? Do the Reds sort of figure
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: things out? Like because they have a lot of really
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: interesting pieces and you know, a Hall of Fame caliber manager.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean that Baltimore series should be one of
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: those like, Okay, the Cubs should be feeling kind of
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: high and Baltimore may may be feeling low. And that's
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: one of those that like, let's kick off the final
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: two months with the bang type thing. I do think
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee is a really tough schedule in these finals. They're
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: a good team though, so they can maybe they can
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: overcome that. And and I just would not write them off.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I keep writing them off and they keep getting better. Uh,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: they just have so much talent and they have always
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: found ways to win that Cincinnati series. They are going
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: to be pesky with Terry Francona at the helm. He
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know if they'll get fully hot and make
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: a full run for this division, but they certainly have
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the talent. They have a ton of young talent. They're
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: pitching can be scary, but then they do have some
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: injury issues that pop up. This is you know, I
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: do think that I agree with you. I'm really curious
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: to see what Kansas City does and when they if
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: and when they start moving. And you're right, like this
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: next week we are going to see a lot of
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: teams make that call Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: There's probably a few others that I'm missing that they
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: want to be in there. They want to be in it.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: They probably believe their teams are good enough to be
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: in it. But whatever happens in a span of like
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: seven to ten games could change the direction. It sounds ridiculous,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: but these teams have to make decisions. They have to
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: And like Jed loves it, Jed loves it. He always
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: talks about how deadlines spur action, and you know, we're
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: going to see some teams that thought they were, you know,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: buyers a month ago suddenly have to make the shift
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: and start selling off pieces. Especially these smaller markets like
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the ones I mentioned of Minnesota, Kansas City, and Arizona.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: They can't miss these opportunities. If they have impending free
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: agents and they keep them and then they fall ten
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: games short of the playoffs, it looks really bad and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: it's a huge missed opportunity. So you can't you can't
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: allow that to happen. So these these teams have to
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: be aggressive. They have to make a decision and then
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: quickly be aggressive. Time to be opportunistic, Yes, exactly all right, Patrick,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: it should be a fun, fun weekend. Cubs Red Sox
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: is always fun wherever it is regular Fenway. It's just
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: a fun time. Red Sox are playing so well. We'll
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: see how it goes. See if the Cubs can start
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the second half off well, we'll be back at it
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: next week. Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: is no side territory. Foul territory networks cut this podcast.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Take it