Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / At the trade deadline, Cubs president Jed Hoyer did not mess around

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At the trade deadline, Cubs president Jed Hoyer did not mess around · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. Jed Hoyer
0:17
Speaker 1: does not like the phrase going all in. He's not
0:24
Speaker 1: one to you know, it was theo Epstein's quote if
0:26
Speaker 1: not now when I don't think that that's Jed Hoyer's
0:30
Speaker 1: mentality exactly. But the way he behaved on Sunday and
0:35
Speaker 1: Monday right before the deadline, he clearly believes in this team.
0:39
Speaker 1: He was extremely aggressive and he comes away with four pitchers,
0:46
Speaker 1: two added to the staff, one bat missing reliever that
0:50
Speaker 1: is under control through twenty thirty adapth piece in the minors,
0:55
Speaker 1: in the right handed bench bat. I mean, that's everything
0:59
Speaker 1: that Cubs need. I started thinking right handed bench bat
1:02
Speaker 1: as we kept hearing shaw injury news that they don't
1:07
Speaker 1: really know when he's back. But it wasn't like our
1:11
Speaker 1: primary focus. But that's this is this team is built
1:17
Speaker 1: out pretty well right now. And Jed Hoyer, I mean,
1:22
Speaker 1: he takes a lot of criticism for last deadline, for
1:25
Speaker 1: saying things like intelligence spending, for his GM saying telling
1:31
Speaker 1: our buddy Jesse Rogers last year that you know, they
1:34
Speaker 1: got to think about twenty thirty two as well, that
1:39
Speaker 1: none of that stuff seemed to be on their mind.
1:41
Speaker 1: They were extremely aggressive on Monday.
1:47
Speaker 2: Jed may not like the phrase all in, but he
1:50
Speaker 2: is the one who told us five years ago at
1:53
Speaker 2: the deadline, there's no reason to go halfway. And this
1:57
Speaker 2: was a pretty robust trade deadline. This roster looks pretty
2:04
Speaker 2: stout right now. It's interesting timing with the Yankees leaving
2:09
Speaker 2: town and the Dodgers comeing in. And I think you
2:13
Speaker 2: and I both know I have known Jed for a
2:16
Speaker 2: very long time, and we have been hearing this for
2:22
Speaker 2: a while, just how aggressive he's been, how much he
2:27
Speaker 2: believes in this team, how he's kind of grown into
2:31
Speaker 2: more of a THEO role within the front office, not
2:33
Speaker 2: just in terms of title, but also kind of trusting
2:37
Speaker 2: his instincts, having conviction, coloring outside the lines a little bit.
2:44
Speaker 2: And I mean, we look up today, this is a
2:48
Speaker 2: much better team than it was Sunday morning. We're recording
2:51
Speaker 2: here Monday night, and we've talked about Kevin Gossman in
2:57
Speaker 2: the previous episode, and I think this first SEC Clay
3:01
Speaker 2: Holmes go, why is he a great fit for this
3:04
Speaker 2: Cubs team?
3:06
Speaker 1: I mean he's a perfect fit for this Cubs team
3:09
Speaker 1: because he gets a ton of ground balls, and I
3:13
Speaker 1: mean we watch just the way they're playing defense overall
3:17
Speaker 1: right now. I mean I can name all the stats.
3:20
Speaker 1: I looked it up. I don't think I realized how
3:23
Speaker 1: much better they are than every other team by the
3:24
Speaker 1: advanced metrics. But any number you want to look at
3:27
Speaker 1: any of those advanced metrics that you like, they are
3:30
Speaker 1: significantly better than every other team defensively. And then you
3:33
Speaker 1: have a guy like Clay Homes that just gets missus
3:36
Speaker 1: barrels and puts it all the ground all the time.
3:39
Speaker 1: He just feels like a really perfect fit for this
3:42
Speaker 1: for this team, and someone that when he was healthy,
3:47
Speaker 1: before he broke his leg, was already looking good for
3:50
Speaker 1: the Mets. And now like it just seems like this
3:55
Speaker 1: is a real like a guy that can start game one,
3:57
Speaker 1: game two, whatever you want, you got Gosman could start
4:00
Speaker 1: game one, game two. I think they have four guys
4:02
Speaker 1: that you could probably are they aces? Are they studs?
4:07
Speaker 1: You know? I wouldn't put them in that category. I
4:10
Speaker 1: think some people, I mean Gossman was there at one point.
4:15
Speaker 1: But I mean, four guys, if you're including Boyd and Shoda,
4:18
Speaker 1: that I think you'd feel comfortable starting game one of
4:21
Speaker 1: a playoff series. They're not Trek Skoubel, but these are
4:24
Speaker 1: really good pictures. And that's that's four guys. That's a
4:28
Speaker 1: ton of depth. You're pushing probably a sad and Ray
4:31
Speaker 1: to the bullpen. David Peterson's you're five, Edward Cabrera's coming
4:36
Speaker 1: back at some point. Maybe they'll go with six man,
4:40
Speaker 1: maybe they'll start doing different things. I don't know, but
4:43
Speaker 1: like good problems to have, it's what we I think
4:46
Speaker 1: we talked about this yesterday when we were recording the
4:51
Speaker 1: most recent podcast after they got Gosman. But if they
4:55
Speaker 1: basically our point was if they pulled this off, like
4:57
Speaker 1: they may have some really fun to decisions to make,
5:00
Speaker 1: and it looks looking like they will. We'll see who
5:03
Speaker 1: gets healthy. But that's that's I mean, suddenly, like and
5:08
Speaker 1: we know, good offense, great defense, great offense. It's by war,
5:12
Speaker 1: it's the best offensive baseball. And now they have the
5:15
Speaker 1: pitching depth. You gotta like the way this team looks
5:19
Speaker 1: right now. And that's without it, I mean, forget about
5:21
Speaker 1: world series odds. Forget about the division lead, like, yeah,
5:24
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard with that first round. They're likely
5:27
Speaker 1: going to have that. I think Jed talked about. You know,
5:30
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. They're not out of the division,
5:33
Speaker 1: but you have to like where they sit right now.
5:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this should be, you know, a ton
5:43
Speaker 2: of insurance against some sort of late season collapse. You
5:46
Speaker 2: start from there. I think you at least slightly raise
5:51
Speaker 2: the possibility maybe they could catch the Brewers, Like I
5:54
Speaker 2: don't think they will, but yeah, I think you give
5:58
Speaker 2: yourself a chance to do that, and if not, you're
6:02
Speaker 2: certainly better equipped if you have to win four playoff
6:05
Speaker 2: rounds to win a World series, Like that is what
6:09
Speaker 2: this does. We talk about payroll a lot when the
6:12
Speaker 2: Cubs don't spend to their capabilities. I mean, adding Gosman,
6:17
Speaker 2: Holmes and David Peterson in late June, that's like a
6:21
Speaker 2: fifteen million dollars added to payroll for three starting pitchers
6:27
Speaker 2: who combined have made forty playoff appearances in their career.
6:33
Speaker 2: So it's like a significant upgrade there, just you know,
6:37
Speaker 2: raising the floor, raising the ceiling as well. And I
6:41
Speaker 2: think this is kind of a moment. I think the
6:45
Speaker 2: headline on the athletic we put was like this is
6:48
Speaker 2: the moment Jed Hoyer's been waiting for, Like this is
6:50
Speaker 2: his team. You know, he went through the twenty one
6:52
Speaker 2: cell off, he went through some rebuilding years. He picked
6:58
Speaker 2: his guys in free agent. See, he overhauled scouting and
7:05
Speaker 2: player development. And I think, well, I think you wrote
7:07
Speaker 2: about this. We'll get into the next segment. Just like
7:10
Speaker 2: they've created more options for themselves as an organization just
7:14
Speaker 2: by building everything up to where they could be one
7:18
Speaker 2: of those like instant trade deadline winners. When the pundits
7:22
Speaker 2: and talking heads go over what just transpired.
7:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they you know, they would have loved
7:28
Speaker 1: to have gotten that under control starter. We'll talk about
7:30
Speaker 1: that as well, but gave us some solid talents. Let's
7:34
Speaker 1: touch on that real soon, but real quickly. I just
7:39
Speaker 1: wanted to touch on the other two guys that they
7:40
Speaker 1: picked up. We didn't get a ton on Braxton Garrett,
7:43
Speaker 1: like he it just sounds like he's depth right now,
7:45
Speaker 1: he's gonna be in the minors. Doesn't sound like he's
7:48
Speaker 1: coming up right away. Nice to have that option. They've
7:51
Speaker 1: liked him for a while. They went and got him
7:54
Speaker 1: while they could. Maybe he's he's a part of the
7:56
Speaker 1: puzzle next season. I mean he likely is a part
7:59
Speaker 1: of the puzzle. Well next season. Maybe we see him
8:02
Speaker 1: this season. Ryan Zephyr John from the Angels, I haven't
8:08
Speaker 1: watched I don't remember watching this guy. I probably did
8:11
Speaker 1: watch him, and I just don't remember him. I remember
8:13
Speaker 1: when I was looking at Angels pitchers just to kind
8:15
Speaker 1: of be like, who do they have because we know
8:17
Speaker 1: they were one of the obvious sellers. I saw his
8:20
Speaker 1: like strikeout numbers. I was like, damn, this guy's good.
8:23
Speaker 1: Probably not available because he's you know, under control for
8:26
Speaker 1: so long, hefty price, but the dude, missus bats, he's
8:31
Speaker 1: got stuff like this is what they wanted, you know,
8:34
Speaker 1: they wanted someone nasty at the back end of the bullpen.
8:38
Speaker 1: I think it really helps and we'll see who gets
8:40
Speaker 1: healthy among Palencia, Harvey, Ben Brown, a few others right
8:46
Speaker 1: Justin Steele, whoever else, Hoby Milner's coming back, all those guys.
8:51
Speaker 1: But bullpen could suddenly be a strength by September. We'll see.
8:56
Speaker 1: They did enough to make you really, you know, intrigued
9:00
Speaker 1: by how things could look by September. Obviously, October, let's
9:04
Speaker 1: take a quick break and then talk about a couple
9:08
Speaker 1: of big names that were traded away.
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10:12
Speaker 1: Right, Patrick, In the Zephyr John, I'm gonna like, I
10:16
Speaker 1: don't want to say it that way. For some reason,
10:18
Speaker 1: I have to really think about it. Zephyr John deal.
10:21
Speaker 1: Bias Steros was a key piece of that, was the
10:25
Speaker 1: main piece. Mason MacGuire was the second piece, the son
10:28
Speaker 1: of Mark McGuire, starting pitcher who's had a nice breakout
10:32
Speaker 1: season in the minors this here, but bias Teris is
10:36
Speaker 1: a big part of that. And then to get Clay
10:38
Speaker 1: Holmes and Tyrone Taylor, they traded Jefferson Rojas. Entering the season.
10:46
Speaker 1: You could make the argument, maybe not even make the argument,
10:49
Speaker 1: maybe those were two the consensus top two prospects coming
10:54
Speaker 1: into the season, and like that they did not get
11:00
Speaker 1: They didn't get a controllable starter for either one of them.
11:04
Speaker 1: They got two rentals in Homes and Taylor, and then
11:08
Speaker 1: a controllable reliever that they probably believe has like if
11:12
Speaker 1: not consistent setup man maybe closer upside, but obviously, as
11:17
Speaker 1: I just explained, he's pretty nasty. But that's like Biasteros
11:21
Speaker 1: was their DH to open the season. He was the
11:24
Speaker 1: you know, quote unquote Kyle Tucker replacement I don't think
11:28
Speaker 1: they were looking at him exactly one for one in
11:32
Speaker 1: that sense. But yeah, like he's supposed to eat up
11:35
Speaker 1: some of that production. And if I would have said
11:39
Speaker 1: bias Steros was traded, if I told you that in
11:43
Speaker 1: May on May first, you would have said they got
11:46
Speaker 1: the best starting pitcher on the market that is under
11:50
Speaker 1: control for multiple years. If you're building a deal around
11:53
Speaker 1: Moys's Biasteros, that's how well he was playing one month,
11:56
Speaker 1: one and a half months into the season, fell off,
11:59
Speaker 1: kind of fell off quick, and other guys passed him up.
12:02
Speaker 1: He's not a catcher. I mean, maybe he can catch,
12:04
Speaker 1: but Owen Ayers is a really good prospect now, so
12:10
Speaker 1: he got passed up. But it's still a big name.
12:12
Speaker 1: That's a big like I I I had heard his name.
12:17
Speaker 1: As far as teams being interested, I did not think
12:20
Speaker 1: it would be for a reliever, even for a reliever
12:23
Speaker 1: that's under control through twenty thirty and is as nasty
12:25
Speaker 1: as this dude is.
12:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, not surprised at all he was traded. Honestly, kind
12:30
Speaker 2: of shocked that he trade for a reliever with Angels
12:35
Speaker 2: Like I just did not see that coming. I thought
12:40
Speaker 2: this year had kind of reinforced everything the Cubs had
12:43
Speaker 2: said about relievers and how volatile and unpredictable they are,
12:47
Speaker 2: that it's a bad place to spend your money or
12:51
Speaker 2: invest your resources. We'll see, you know, if this guy
12:57
Speaker 2: is good, if he gets out, you know, I don't
13:00
Speaker 2: think anyone will care. I think this is a reflection
13:04
Speaker 2: of a lot of guys popping. I know the Cubs
13:08
Speaker 2: don't have that top rated farm system. Cubs fans understandably
13:12
Speaker 2: roll their eyes at Cubs prospects, but you know, you
13:17
Speaker 2: go back to spring training. Pedro Amirz probably made the
13:20
Speaker 2: best impression out of any young player in camp, and
13:25
Speaker 2: he is now contributing regularly for a playoff contender. There's
13:33
Speaker 2: the Hartshorns, There's you know, a bunch of players at
13:36
Speaker 2: Triple A. Some guys, some of them got moved in
13:39
Speaker 2: deals for pitching, but they still have kind of a
13:41
Speaker 2: lot left over. When they talk about a scouting and
13:47
Speaker 2: player development machine, that Dodgers obviously do it better than anyone.
13:52
Speaker 2: But I think this deadline showed that the Cubs have
13:57
Speaker 2: gotten better in those areas that they they created these opportunities.
14:02
Speaker 2: They were able to find matches with multiple teams and
14:09
Speaker 2: lots of deals with different sort of structures and horizons
14:13
Speaker 2: and expectations. Like I thought, overall that was pretty impressive
14:20
Speaker 2: and kind of you know, we look at these deadlines
14:24
Speaker 2: as one day. Craig Council sort of rejected that premise
14:28
Speaker 2: when I mentioned to him because he just was not
14:31
Speaker 2: outwardly excited about the deadline, And I said, I get
14:33
Speaker 2: it's repetitive, but like your life changed at the trade deadline,
14:37
Speaker 2: he got moved to the Marlins. There has this great
14:41
Speaker 2: world series moment and although it was interesting, your life
14:47
Speaker 2: never changes in one day. It is all about doing
14:49
Speaker 2: it every single day and sticking with it. And I
14:52
Speaker 2: think this deadline was an outgrowth of like decisions that
14:55
Speaker 2: were made years ago.
14:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Pedro Ramirez's development, I think is huge
15:02
Speaker 1: in being able to give up Jefferson Rojas. Yes, you
15:05
Speaker 1: have Matt Shaw as well. We'll see when he gets back.
15:10
Speaker 1: Jed didn't make it seem like he's a return is imminent,
15:14
Speaker 1: made it sound like they will see him again this year.
15:18
Speaker 1: But clearly they got Taylor because they wanted the right
15:21
Speaker 1: hand at bat that they could trust coming off the bench.
15:24
Speaker 1: I also wouldn't be surprised if we see fewer Ian
15:27
Speaker 1: happ at bats against Lefty's Kevin Old Coontrac got the
15:31
Speaker 1: start tonight. We're recording on Monday Night. But Ramirez's development
15:36
Speaker 1: was huge. On Ayers development was huge. King Kepley is
15:40
Speaker 1: a name that we heard was getting asked about a lot.
15:44
Speaker 1: Of course, Hartshorn is a huge development. So like Pedro Ramirez,
15:49
Speaker 1: I think has quickly become a really trusted piece of
15:53
Speaker 1: this team. I'm not surprised people were asking about him.
15:58
Speaker 1: He can play all over, he's good defender. He made
16:01
Speaker 1: a hell of a play on Monday Night, the really
16:05
Speaker 1: nice diving play, and he can hit. I think the
16:09
Speaker 1: power isn't you know, really a huge part of his game,
16:13
Speaker 1: but I think it's there. I think it's going to
16:15
Speaker 1: start to come. We saw it in the minors this year.
16:17
Speaker 1: And he knows how to get a hold of the ball.
16:19
Speaker 1: Really valuable player. Made Rojas expendable. Like and I'm not
16:24
Speaker 1: sure if the public rankings are as accurate as what
16:31
Speaker 1: other teams value, right and like one team may have
16:34
Speaker 1: loved maybe a half dozen teams love Jefferson Rojas. Perhaps
16:39
Speaker 1: none of those teams had pitchers that were available, or
16:42
Speaker 1: none of them were sellers. But I don't think it
16:46
Speaker 1: didn't sound like the teams that like had the controllable
16:50
Speaker 1: starters were salivating to get their hands on Jefferson Rojas.
16:53
Speaker 1: That's not a knock on him. It's just that you know,
16:56
Speaker 1: teams value different players differently. One team may we love
17:00
Speaker 1: Argent Nimola who was traded for Jose Cerriano, and another
17:04
Speaker 1: team maybe like that guy's not a top one hundred prospect.
17:07
Speaker 1: It's it's it's all over the place. You know, different
17:09
Speaker 1: front offices value guys differently. But you're right, it was
17:13
Speaker 1: a big It's been a big season for player development,
17:17
Speaker 1: particularly with the bats not great. With the pitching. They'd
17:21
Speaker 1: love to have better pitching. I think some guys took
17:24
Speaker 1: his stuff forward. They traded one Mason McGuire. I think
17:26
Speaker 1: Brooks Caple has had a good season. Jackson Wiggins has
17:29
Speaker 1: been unremarkable this year, injured and when he's been out
17:33
Speaker 1: there it hasn't looked great. Uh, But the position players,
17:37
Speaker 1: you've got to give him props, and they seem to
17:39
Speaker 1: believe that they can just kind of replenish it. That
17:42
Speaker 1: was kind of Jed's point. It's like, well, you got
17:46
Speaker 1: to draft, got to keep drafting me. We trust that
17:48
Speaker 1: we'll be able to draft and sign guys international free
17:51
Speaker 1: agents that can you know, do with Rojas and and
17:55
Speaker 1: Biasteros and Jonathan Long and Brett Bateman and all these
17:58
Speaker 1: guys that got pieces. And that's the other thing we
18:02
Speaker 1: talked about this last episode. They have that last playoff
18:07
Speaker 1: run the Great Team, the World Series team. They went
18:10
Speaker 1: and got eroldas Chapman. They went and got Jose Quintana,
18:14
Speaker 1: and then after that the system was done. The system
18:18
Speaker 1: was barren. They did not draft well, they did not
18:22
Speaker 1: develop well, they did not sign international free agents. Well,
18:26
Speaker 1: nothing was working. They had a really down period for
18:29
Speaker 1: a while there, and that's why, you you know, it
18:33
Speaker 1: kind of went away quickly. They didn't have the depth
18:36
Speaker 1: to replenish via trade or even backfield. But like this
18:41
Speaker 1: team is backfilling with Peyed Ramirez and then trading with
18:44
Speaker 1: like Jefferson Rojas. That's it's really important.
18:48
Speaker 2: I think ROAs is going to be a good major
18:50
Speaker 2: league hitter, not sure if he's gonna stick at shortstop.
18:57
Speaker 2: I think by Asteros needed to change the scenery at
19:01
Speaker 2: this point, just an opportunity, I you know, someone be
19:04
Speaker 2: curious to see what he does out in Anaheim with
19:07
Speaker 2: five at bats next year. I don't think it really
19:11
Speaker 2: matters as long as you get what you want out
19:14
Speaker 2: of the out of the deal. Like, who cares what
19:16
Speaker 2: they do if you have a potential closer for years
19:20
Speaker 2: to come and Clay Holmes is either you know, starting
19:25
Speaker 2: game one or two or closing out a clinching game,
19:29
Speaker 2: uh in a playoff series.
19:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and we didn't even mention that they have
19:34
Speaker 1: Alex Bregman, Dan Swatson, Nico Horner, Like where are these
19:40
Speaker 1: guys playing? Like you barely have spots for Matt Shaw
19:43
Speaker 1: and and Peedro Ramirez. Uh, think they're valuable guys on
19:47
Speaker 1: this team. But still it makes sense. You gotta you
19:51
Speaker 1: gotta move when you have this type of depth, like
19:54
Speaker 1: you gotta leverage it before it doesn't like it. Someone
19:59
Speaker 1: like Kevin all Cotra or maybe James Treanto's isn't as
20:02
Speaker 1: valuable as they were maybe a year or two ago.
20:05
Speaker 1: So you've got to strike when the iron's hot and
20:08
Speaker 1: and try and maximize the value. Here, let's take a
20:11
Speaker 1: quick break and talk about something I guess that they
20:14
Speaker 1: didn't do, and let's get that controllable starter.
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Speaker 1: Patrick. There there was one big picture, I guess moved
21:24
Speaker 1: who is under control beyond this season. Jose Soreano traded
21:28
Speaker 1: to Toronto. Kind of a weird deal since Toronto was selling,
21:31
Speaker 1: But you know they can build a strong rotation for
21:36
Speaker 1: next year. Perhaps names that we heard that we're bandied about,
21:44
Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly, read Dept. Meers Emerson, Hancock with Seattle,
21:49
Speaker 1: and George Kirby with Seattle, deptmers Is with the Angels.
21:53
Speaker 1: None of them were moved, certainly, Like we know, Deptmers
21:58
Speaker 1: would have cost more than Soriano. I think Kirby and
22:03
Speaker 1: Hancock were in similar situation. Hancock was under control for
22:07
Speaker 1: a year longer than those other three that we've mentioned
22:11
Speaker 1: a lot. I think the Cubs wanted one of those guys.
22:15
Speaker 1: I think they would have liked to come away with
22:18
Speaker 1: one of those guys. One thing that we heard was
22:22
Speaker 1: just like last year. Jed said it, like last year,
22:26
Speaker 1: the cost was too high. Again at the deadline, the
22:30
Speaker 1: cost is too high. It's interesting, like when these prices
22:33
Speaker 1: go up and down like deadline, starting pitching under control
22:39
Speaker 1: is hard to get. It's a little cheaper in the
22:40
Speaker 1: off season. Perhaps maybe they revisit this in the off season.
22:45
Speaker 1: We'll see what the off season looks like. We can
22:47
Speaker 1: talk about that later. But I did think it was
22:50
Speaker 1: interesting that they gave up so much and they couldn't
22:53
Speaker 1: get that one elusive thing that they kind of feel
22:56
Speaker 1: kind of felt like was probably priority number one. Uh
23:01
Speaker 1: maybe priority number one was just get pitching, and then
23:04
Speaker 1: like right below it was like, hey, get a controllable starter.
23:08
Speaker 1: Let's let's find a way to do that. I don't
23:10
Speaker 1: think it was an unwillingness to pay up. It was
23:13
Speaker 1: just like that price is a little bit crazy. I
23:16
Speaker 1: think it would have cost like I think Rojas would
23:18
Speaker 1: have been like maybe not the first piece, but the
23:21
Speaker 1: second or even third piece. And when you start talking
23:25
Speaker 1: like that, like that's a little that's a lot, and
23:27
Speaker 1: you're taking away maybe Peter or Marez or you can't
23:30
Speaker 1: move by Asteris because you have to give up Bowen,
23:32
Speaker 1: a Ors, whatever it is. It sounds like it was
23:36
Speaker 1: very you know, robust price. Yeah.
23:41
Speaker 2: I mean, look that they I think planned a bit
23:45
Speaker 2: for the future by adding this much pitching to where
23:48
Speaker 2: Ben Brown and Justin Steele are not on the clock
23:51
Speaker 2: in the same way. Not that they're going to be
23:54
Speaker 2: reckless or careless otherwise, but I think that could buy
24:02
Speaker 2: you a little bit of time or maybe not put
24:06
Speaker 2: them in the same stressful situations now that they're gonna
24:13
Speaker 2: run him out there like a role as Chapman. But
24:15
Speaker 2: I think brings a little more order to the pitching staff.
24:21
Speaker 2: Look these guys they got, We'll see how they do.
24:25
Speaker 2: But I'd imagine Clay Holmes when he opts out of
24:29
Speaker 2: his contract, would be an attractive free agent target for
24:31
Speaker 2: the Cubs. I don't know how long Kevin Gosman wants
24:37
Speaker 2: to play or exactly how much he has left, but
24:40
Speaker 2: you know, Alex Bregman Danzy Swanson were absolutely raving about
24:45
Speaker 2: this guy. It lines up with what Mitch Bannon has
24:48
Speaker 2: some really cool stories in The Athletic about covering Gosman
24:51
Speaker 2: and how he came to love Toronto. Gosman had hosted
24:58
Speaker 2: Bregman as a high school student when he was visiting LSU.
25:03
Speaker 2: Dansby played with him in Atlanta and they both just said, like,
25:08
Speaker 2: like just a great dude. And I think it's a
25:11
Speaker 2: lot of respect for how he had to bounce around
25:15
Speaker 2: for a while before kind of finding himself as a
25:17
Speaker 2: pitcher and like getting paid and then just producing year
25:24
Speaker 2: after year, and so yeah, the controllable starters are nice.
25:28
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe Jackson Wiggins does take that step forward.
25:32
Speaker 2: I mean at this time last year, you're kind of like,
25:34
Speaker 2: why didn't I was singing, that's like, why not just
25:36
Speaker 2: give up Ben Brown? He needs to change series, obviously.
25:39
Speaker 2: He he totally kind of changed things up in the
25:43
Speaker 2: off season, in part thanks to Clay Holmes.
25:46
Speaker 1: They worked out.
25:47
Speaker 2: Together in the Nashville area, so a lot of connections there,
25:52
Speaker 2: a lot better team if you're a Cup span, you know,
25:54
Speaker 2: if you have tickets for August and September or you know,
25:58
Speaker 2: wondering about October, like it's a crapshoot. But they are,
26:03
Speaker 2: like they loaded up on pitching, like this is a
26:05
Speaker 2: legit pitching staff. When you start looking at the names
26:08
Speaker 2: and trying to figure out, you know, how the thirteen
26:13
Speaker 2: are going to be put on a playoff roster.
26:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think it's a bad selling point to to,
26:20
Speaker 1: you know, pending free agents like Clay Holmes and Kevin
26:23
Speaker 1: Gossman to come play at Wrigley packed ballpark, really you know,
26:29
Speaker 1: intense fan base, and then you put them in front
26:31
Speaker 1: of that defense for whatever. However, many starts they're gonna
26:35
Speaker 1: get each Like that's attractive. That defense, like all that
26:40
Speaker 1: other stuff is nice. Chicago is a great city, great ballpark,
26:44
Speaker 1: fun atmosphere. It's going to be great in the playoffs.
26:47
Speaker 1: We saw that last year. Those playoff games were crazy
26:50
Speaker 1: at Wrigley Field. This defense is a selling point and
26:54
Speaker 1: then you play in front of it and it's like
26:55
Speaker 1: a game changer and it's like, oh, my life is
26:58
Speaker 1: different now. David Peterson has made whatever six starts five
27:03
Speaker 1: have been awesome. It is because he puts the ball
27:06
Speaker 1: on the ground and those guys are gonna suck it
27:08
Speaker 1: up and take care of it like it's it's game over.
27:11
Speaker 1: You put the you have week contact. That's how good
27:13
Speaker 1: this defense is. It's a huge strength for this team.
27:18
Speaker 1: And it could like get tracked free agents. It should
27:21
Speaker 1: like it. These guys aren't. This isn't you know, Like
27:25
Speaker 1: pitchers are pretty smart now, like they they understand like, yeah,
27:29
Speaker 1: they have to do a lot of the work too,
27:31
Speaker 1: but you put a good defense. That's gonna make me
27:33
Speaker 1: look good. They like that. So someone wants to sign
27:37
Speaker 1: a one year deal especially, it's like, hey, this is
27:39
Speaker 1: how I'm gonna get my value up playing in front
27:41
Speaker 1: of the Cubs defense. There's there's a lot of ways
27:43
Speaker 1: that they can they can kind of sell that, but yeah,
27:45
Speaker 1: it's this is a ultimately I think this is a
27:49
Speaker 1: fun team now. It already was, but I really I'm
27:54
Speaker 1: impressed with this deadline. Even without getting that cost control guy.
27:58
Speaker 1: I thought they were going to pull it off. I
28:00
Speaker 1: thought maybe prices would wouldn't be as exorbitant. But what
28:05
Speaker 1: they did and how quickly they pivoted, I think they
28:08
Speaker 1: realized coming into Monday, they weren't getting that controllable starter,
28:11
Speaker 1: so they were working on one more starter that and
28:16
Speaker 1: and Homes seemed to be the guy they were focused on,
28:18
Speaker 1: and they pulled it off and got that reliever and
28:21
Speaker 1: got some depth. It's a really strong, really strong deadline.
28:26
Speaker 1: I agree with you, like fans, get get out there
28:28
Speaker 1: and watch this team because it's it's going to be
28:30
Speaker 1: a crazy atmosphere. I mean these next few days especially,
28:33
Speaker 1: but come September and October, it's gonna be great.
28:38
Speaker 2: I'm just glad this wasn't a show about nothing, because
28:41
Speaker 2: I feel like we did our trade names episode and
28:45
Speaker 2: articles probably in April, like the Yes earlier. However, well
28:52
Speaker 2: we we had homes on there. I don't think we
28:54
Speaker 2: had Gozlin on there because we didn't think they would
28:57
Speaker 2: yeah sell, which I think Jad sort of said by
29:01
Speaker 2: like Friday ish slash Saturday. He had a pretty clear
29:05
Speaker 2: idea that's what they were gonna do. But yeah, we
29:10
Speaker 2: spent a lot of time on this, so it's good.
29:13
Speaker 2: It wasn't just total wasted breath and energy that they
29:18
Speaker 2: brought it. They definitely kept us entertained today.
29:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, props to that front office for pulling off
29:25
Speaker 1: a solid and entertaining trade deadline. I mean, overall, it
29:28
Speaker 1: was a fun trade deadline. There were a lot of moves.
29:30
Speaker 1: This was not a boring, boring trade deadline. All right,
29:33
Speaker 1: we will be back with one more episode this week.
29:35
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to Northside Territory. Make sure
29:39
Speaker 1: to subscribe, rate and review, subscribe to The Athletic, and
29:44
Speaker 1: whatever else I say. I can't I lost my train
29:46
Speaker 1: of thought. Thanks so much for I appreciate you listening.
29:51
Speaker 1: Take care,