Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / What we’re hearing about the Cubs: Michael Conforto’s new deal and more

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What we’re hearing about the Cubs: Michael Conforto’s new deal and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moody. We are your
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, we
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have Swisch spots. I'm back in Chicago, well Evanston technically,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and you are in Arizona catching up on all things Cubs.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Uh it is I missed the nice weather, so I'm
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I'm a little bitter. Uh, but at least my yard
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: is not covered in snow anymore, so, so that's a win.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: And you you've you've missed the so so weather of Arizona.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to complain about the weather in Arizona,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: but it's better now for you than it was for me.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: And you know, we we've got a slight bit of
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's it's not news. Yeah, I
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: guess it's news. Uh we'll start, Uh yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: go ahead. We got an addition to the fold here,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a non roster invite of significance.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: I think Michael Conforto is a big enough name. I
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: mean I remember as I'm sure you do as well.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: Of just sort of like the names coming out in
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: the twenty fourteen draft, and Michael Confordo checked a lot
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: of kind of Cubs way boxes from that time as
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: a college hitter with a really nice, well rounded background,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: and obviously they felt pretty good about their Kyle Schwarber pick,
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: and both of those players actually wound up playing in
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: the NLCS the next year. Conforto with the Mets, and
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: he looked like he was about to become a star
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: in New York and he was a one time All Star,
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: and he showed these really nice flashes over multiple seasons,
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: but just like didn't quite put it all together for
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: like one hundred and fifty games year after year after year,
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: and you know, injuries derailed his career. A weird sort
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: of decline the qualifying offer if there's a lockout, he
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: gets hurt, misses the twenty twenty two season, becomes more
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: of a complimentary player with the Giants, and then just
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: last year it just did not come together. With the Dodgers.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: They get a really long runway and then let him
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: off their playoff roster in each of the four rounds.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: A two million dollar minor league deal plus performance bonuses
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: for a player who's not that old and has been
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: really good in the past. I think it makes a
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: ton of sense. I think you get into trouble when
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: you do those types of deals like the Giants did.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: I think it was like two years for thirty six million.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: I think the Dodgers deal is one year for seventeen
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: or eighteen million, something like that. Like, this is zero risk.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: I don't know if there's a huge amount of upside,
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: but it's a nice fit. And as Craig Council said,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: you know, maybe opportunity isn't as obvious right now, but
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: with a lot of these things, you could show up
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: for work five days from now and all of a sudden,
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: there's a huge opportunity in front of certain individuals.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're absolutely trying to get as prepared as possible
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: for anything that could go wrong. Conforto is actually someone
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I thought, like before they traded for Kyle Tucker last year,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I was like, oh, you know, assuming that the Cubs
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: were going to go what was the phraseology that Jed used,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: always intelligent spending. I was assuming they were going to
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: go the intelligent spending route all last that that off season,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and I was like, here's someone who you look under
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the hood. He you know, hits the ball hard. Still
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: his expected stats were supposed to like were better than
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: the actual results. You know, was coming off off like
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: kind of some injuries. Maybe he'll be healthy and you
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: catch lightning in a bottle for a year. It never
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: really happened for him. The result, like, he's still got
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: some good not as good as the twenty four season,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: but the underlying stats are still pretty good. His walk grade,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I believe last year was better than even in twenty four.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: He's got a good eye, Like he can when he's right,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: he can hit. Like there was a stretch from like
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty twenty one where he was one of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the better like just hitters in the game. And you know,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I don't think I remember that as well. That's probably
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: one of the first drafts I like clearly remember like
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: talking to people a lot in amateur scouting and having
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: an idea of what direction they were looking, and Confordo
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: was one of like six names, six to eight names
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: that they were like really focused on, and obviously they
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: went the Sharber route. But yeah, like I distinctly remember that. Yeah,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I think this is a nice They just continue to
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: stack solid options for depth. I don't know if this
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: moves the needle in the end. But when you have
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: now you have three outfielders, a switch hitter in Carlson,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: a lefty and m or a rightyan McCormick, and a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: lefty in Confordo, and you know all of them. Each
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: one of them has had periods of success, with Confordo
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: probably the one with the longest track record. You hit
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: on one of them. If I don't know how many
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: of them, if any of them stick beyond you know,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: spring training, if they don't make the opening day roster,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know, like we could see, we'll probably find
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: that out because not all of them are going to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: make the team. It's a it's a solid group and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it's part of what you have have to do to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: build a championship team is constantly seek depth. And this
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: is a quality quality addition in that sense. You I
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: guess if you're if you're talking about leaning on Michael
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: conferdo uh, You're you're running into trouble. But if he's
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: you know, ends up getting some big at bats for
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: you at a certain point because of injuries or whatever.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: In effectiveness, I don't think it's the end of the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: world because he's shown he can produce. We'll see if
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: he if they catch lightning in a bottle with him.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: But it's a it's a good depth move.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: I think that's a good point when you look at
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: just his overall body of work. And I remember going
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: into that draft. I think I was put on the
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: spot of like, who are they gonna pick like in
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: two days from now? And I just liked kind of
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: the story of Conforta. I believe his mother was an
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: Olympian and his dad was like a Penn State linebacker
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: and you see the like, you know, really a high
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: level or against state program and putting up numbers. I
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: want to say I believe Matthew Boyd was around there
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: during that time just to really a program that produced
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: a lot. And you know, when you look at Accormick Carlson,
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: like those guys, they've done it, but it was more
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: of just like those flashes. And I think I think,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: you know, ideally, the Cubs don't need Michael confordo. Right,
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: like there are three primary outfielders play one hundred and
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: fifty something games. Masis Biasteros is awesome, a says NATed
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: hitter Kevinncintara carves out a role and you know, puts
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: himself on the map for next season and you know,
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: years to come. But like you said, that's not how
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Craig Council's brains work. That's not how Jed Hoyer operates.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: And this is only my opinion, but he seems sort
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: of like a guy that maybe has a little bit
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: of a heads up when you choose to sign with
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: the Cubs. I don't know, I don't have that as
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: reported information, but it just seems like his name and
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: pedigree is it's just a notch above some of these
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: other guys who are competing for spots. That's not to
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: say they're out of the mix by any means, or
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: that Conforto's a lock, but this is very much an
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: opportunistic Cubs move and why we were saying, I know,
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: it took a while. We were saying that offseason's not
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: done yet, and the Cubs internally discussed a lot of
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: those like veteran bench players who were out there, and
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: they finally got one that it seems like, I don't know,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: close to a finishing piece to this offseason.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see a piece, the one
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: that makes the team and how everything kind of fills out.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and talk about some of
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the you know, other pieces that kind of fit with
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: conferdo here for this team.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Tricia, I'm here at spring trames have started, the weather
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: is beautiful, and soon enough I'll be at the WVC
• 9:26
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• 10:21
  Speaker 1: With Confordo. If Confordo makes the roster, Patrick, if he's
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: on this roster, obviously he's a bench guy assuming help Well,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: you know what, I don't want to assume that he's
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: a bench guy. But we'll see, we'll see how it
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: all plays out. Really, but I see like the fit
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: is if you believe Matt Shawk can handle everything that
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: you're throwing on his plate, that's alrighty on the bench,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: you have the backup catcher, and now you have a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: little bit of flexibility because of show of how you
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: kind of fill things out. You want like a backup
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: center fielder. Conforto's not really that, but you know he
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: if he's you do have another lefty on the bench. Now.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: I think the probably the debate of does Conforto become
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: more impactful for this team is do they decide that
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Biasteros isn't the guy to moyses Bia Saros to open
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the season as the DH. I think that would be
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a surprise, But there was a
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: speaking there's the Confordo news, and then there's a tiny
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: bit of news of Moys's bias Starios finally showing up
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: to camp. When I left, the feeling was when talking
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to council that this isn't enough of a delay for
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: him for it to really hurt his chances to make
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the team. Obviously you want him there because he's also
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a catcher, and you want him there as early as possible.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: That obviously didn't happen, but VS issues finally resolved, he
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: got there. I'm still losing track of days. I think
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: he got there Saturday, am I writer, did he get
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: their Sunday? He got there over the weekend, and now
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: he can kind of start the process. We'll see when
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: he gets in games and when he gets in any action.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I guess you probably have more info on any of
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: that stuff than I do. As far as updates there, Yeah.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: I just don't like as much. I know we spent
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: a lot of the first segment, you know, highlighting Conforto's
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: career and you know his pedigree, but also like if
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: he signed a minor league deal in late February, I'm
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: assuming there weren't major league deals out there, and just
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: the way the Cups have talked about Biasteros over the years,
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: how they sort of mapped out their post Kyle Tucker plans,
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: what he showed when Tucker was sidelined last year, uh
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: late in the season. I think all these things point
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: towards them wanting to see what they have in Moises Biasteros,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: and they see a really kind of flexible hitting approach,
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: just someone who knows what he does well, makes good contact,
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: just has a lot of natural gifts. And you know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: I don't think Conforto's arrival totally changes that, but stuff
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: happens all the time, and I think it's great to
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: have this stable core of everyday players, but guys get hurt,
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Guys underperform, guys get visa and travel issues, like just stuff.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: The season doesn't stop, and I think adding him, adding
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Confordo just gives you another option beyond by Asteros. Obviously,
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: we're kind of assuming Matt Shaw can just handle the
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: outfield and the infield and maybe sporadic at bats, Like
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: who knows you have what two of your three primary
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: outfielders playing in the WBC. Hopefully they escape that without injuries,
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: but you know, that kind of remains to be seen,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: and I think you know counsel Milwaukee showed he's really
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: good at, you know, finding those matchups and pressing those
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: buttons and explaining roles to players and keeping guys engaged,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: and like, you know, why wouldn't you want a left
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: handed bat like Conforto's available to you at all times.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's like the fit is interesting in the sense that,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: let's assume Tyler Austin is making this team. That's your
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: backup for at baseman slash DH right handed bat, shaw,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: right handed bat. Let's say one of Miguel Amaya Carson
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Kelly on the bench, right handed bat. So your choices
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: are are Dylan Carlson or Michael Confordo. I think that's
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: like do you want the backup center fielder, Like who's
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: playing center field? Like we'll talk more about Saya Suzuki,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: but you know he's gonna go place center field for Japan.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: He played one game there for the Cubs and lost
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: a ball in the sun. But then the very next
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: day Pete Armstrong lost a ball in the sun the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: sun in Arizona. It's really tough. It's the complications. Like
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna take too much away from that. I
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: just don't know who your backups are. Centerfielder is if
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: you do go with Confordo, assuming Tyler Austin is your
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: backup for a basement, which it feels like he is.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, we've got a month to go, so
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lock that in just yet. And I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: haven't talked to enough. I haven't I haven't dug in
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: on Tyler Austin. I apologize. I spent twelve days there
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and didn't do my Tyler Austin homework. But it I
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: think you're right in the sense that like it's good
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: to have this veteran around and just another option. I
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: do think Biastero's the path is clear for him to
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: make a real impact here. I don't know. I'm curious
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: to see how far behind missing whatever two weeks of
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: time with his pictures sitting in those room, sitting in
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: that room. It's I once had this conversation, I think
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: with theo Epstein, and I've had people disagree with this concept.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: But his thought was, like the value of getting this
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: was when they were like looking for possibly a veteran
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: backup catcher or Victor Krrottini taking that job. This was
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: before Victor Krottini had established himself as a really quality
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: backup catcher, and the longer it went into spring training,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: THEO said, the better, like the less chance that they
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: add a catcher, because these six weeks of time are
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: so valuable for the catcher by a stericism, the primary backup.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: It's not the most important thing in the world, but
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: it is kind of important for his development for him
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: to be here. So I'm glad he got here eventually,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: but I do think that's a little that's just a
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: little tiny thing that those missed two weeks you not
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: ideal for the development as far as getting to know
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: his pictures and and getting to know like the way
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: they gain plan or really locking in on that stuff.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: He had his time last year. I think he was
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: sitting in on meetings and all that last year. But
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: still like you want you want him there for as
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: long as possible. I don't think it's the end of
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the world that he missed that time, but it is
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: it's just like one little point that that you know,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: you wish he could have gotten here a little earlier.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: But sometimes these things don't work out. I think last
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I heard Beth and courts even longer and they don't
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: have like an end date there at least uh when
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: when we were there, when I was there, whatever day
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: I left, council was like, yeah, we're we're at the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: finish line here with biastereos. He's I think he last
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: we talked to him, he was like stuck in Houston,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: uh with with like flight delays. So not only did
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: he have VS issues that he had more flight issues.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: So you know this, this stuff never ends. All right,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: let's take another quick break and talk a little say this, Azuki.
• 19:04
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• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Patrick says Azuki left for the WBC World Baseball Classic
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: on Monday. Yeah, he left today when we're we're recording
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: on him, Monday, he left today. I believe flight.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: The flight was scheduled for Monday.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, that does Yeah, we don't We don't want to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: make any assumptions here. He's he's one of the first
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: to leave camp. He is the first to leave camp
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of the WBC players. I think most most others weren't
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: traveling as far as him. Obviously, this is a big
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: year for say Suzuki. Uh. He is, he's really hard
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: on himself and he thinks he hasn't lived up to
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: his contract. The reality is he's he's outperformed his contract
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: even from year one. They they got him at a
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: price that you know, unless he was a complete bust,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: he was going to outperform that contract. He's done it
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: every season, and last year, you know, he had that
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: slump of like a month, month and a half maybe
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I can go back and look, but bounced back the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: final week and a half of the season and then was,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: you know, their best player in the postseason outside of
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Michael Bush. They had two really good runs. So him
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and Michael Bush were just like an insane tandem for
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: that offense. And he's this is a free agent year
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: in a class that I mean, the best free agent
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: position players may all be Cubs like like this is.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: It's kind of fascinating. I'm not sure if Cubs fans
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: fully appreciate They definitely appreciate Nico Horner, but I'm not sure.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: I think some, hopefully some those people that were on
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the fence about say Suzuki, saw what he did, especially
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: at the start of last season, and then how we
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: ended last season.