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Speaker 1: It started with Saya Suzuki continued with showed him and

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Speaker 1: Naga they want to be a destination. Welcome into North

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Speaker 1: Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sadev Sharma

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Speaker 1: with my partner Patrick Mooney, where your Cubs beat writers

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Speaker 1: over at the Athletic Patrick Roki Sazaki is coming to

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. That news broke over the weekend late

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Speaker 1: at night. This this is one of the better pictures

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Speaker 1: more hyped pitchers to come from Japan. Let's let's kind

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Speaker 1: of introduce who he is to the audience, make sure

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Speaker 1: everyone knows him. Not everyone is like us, we've been

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Speaker 1: he's I believe he's twenty three, but we've been hearing

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Speaker 1: about him for the past like six seven years.

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Speaker 2: This is not a.

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Speaker 1: New name for people really plugged into this, but it is.

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Speaker 1: He's finally coming over and it's gonna be a it's

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Speaker 1: a gonna be pretty big deal.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I think the question with him was, you know,

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Speaker 3: would he be posted this winter? When is he coming

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Speaker 3: over to Major League Baseball? And now that that's been resolved,

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Speaker 3: it's going to be kind of a recruiting contest and

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Speaker 3: we'll get into that later, but there's like no doubt

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Speaker 3: about the talent. I mean, this is a guy who

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Speaker 3: just physically gifted a fastball that can reach one hundred

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Speaker 3: miles an hour kind of when he's right. There are

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Speaker 3: not many other just pictures in the world who have

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Speaker 3: more raw ability than he does. I think we've seen

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Speaker 3: this of like pictures coming over from Japan have a

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Speaker 3: pretty successful track record. There's a lot of data and

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Speaker 3: information available on them, and I think teams are better

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Speaker 3: equipped to help them with that assimilation process. And so

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Speaker 3: this is the guy who's had you know, club's president

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Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer visit him, Mets president David Sterns go over there. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: there are teams like the Dodgers and Padres who have

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Speaker 3: huge presences in Asia, and so this has been the

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Speaker 3: name for a while now. Really a player who could

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Speaker 3: absolutely transform a franchise, not just because of his ability,

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Speaker 3: but also the unique circumstances in which he's become available

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Speaker 3: affordable to all thirty teams, not unlike Shoheo Tani when

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Speaker 3: he came out after the twenty seventeen season.

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Speaker 1: Right if he would have waited, I believe two more years,

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Speaker 1: who would have been a free agent, right, And what

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Speaker 1: happens now is he's under the IFA bonus pool rules

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Speaker 1: and he's he's limited in how much he can make.

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Speaker 1: He's essentially a minor league. Is it a minor league?

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Speaker 1: He's got to sign a minor league contract. It's it's

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Speaker 1: kind of fascinating, and you're right, it's like, it's like

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Speaker 1: what happened with Otani. I was looking at the pool.

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Speaker 1: So it depends when he's posted under what pools the

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Speaker 1: teams are gonna be under. Uh, if they're patient and

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Speaker 1: wait to post him until like some point in December,

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Speaker 1: I believe it transitions on December fifteenth to next years

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Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty five pool.

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Speaker 2: Uh, and that's that's.

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Speaker 1: Then everybody's not equal footing exactly, but but pretty good footing.

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Speaker 1: I think the highest pool, the highest teams are at

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Speaker 1: seven point five just above seven point five million, and

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Speaker 1: that's a bunch of you know, really small market teams

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Speaker 1: from like Cincinnati, Tampa, Oakland that type, and then six

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Speaker 1: point nine million Diamondbacks Orioles teams like that. So the

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Speaker 1: next tier of small market. The Cubs are in that

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Speaker 1: third tier. They're not in the lowest tier. They're they're

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Speaker 1: in like six point two million in teams like San Diego,

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Speaker 1: the Cubs, the Red Sox, the Mets, the Yankees, So

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Speaker 1: a lot of teams that we're gonna be hearing like

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Speaker 1: probably want Sucky and the bigger markets if he wants

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Speaker 1: to go to a team set up to win, those

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Speaker 1: are some of the teams.

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Speaker 2: The Dodgers actually have the lowest pool.

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Speaker 1: When it comes to the twenty twenty five pool, but

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Speaker 1: they have what the highest remaining in the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: four pool. So if he's posted early, the Dodgers are

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Speaker 1: the team. Right, we will get into that competition.

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Speaker 3: Everyone else's hopes.

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Speaker 1: But right, But I mean there's certainly other teams that

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Speaker 1: are in this one thing I was told about him.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned the hundred mile power fastball, so you know,

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Speaker 1: we can talk about fastball shape and all those things.

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Speaker 1: How good is the fastball just because it's velocity. There

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Speaker 1: are some grades out there that say that the fastball

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Speaker 1: isn't as as good as it should be. There's also

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Speaker 1: some stuff out there that just love the splitter. I

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Speaker 1: was told by one scout it's the best splitter ever,

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Speaker 1: like not not like, yes.

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Speaker 2: Shockingly better than his uh so they're there.

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Speaker 1: Scouts love this guy, and and I think there's something

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Speaker 1: to be said for you know, working in in the US,

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Speaker 1: and you know, how you use your pitches will will

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Speaker 1: be different. How pitching coaches in the US want him

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Speaker 1: to attack hitters will be different. It's you know, it's

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Speaker 1: so it's it's hard to just go off how things

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Speaker 1: went with the fastball in Japan because hitters are different there,

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Speaker 1: the zone is different there. We talked about this a

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Speaker 1: year ago with Shoda Monaga. Uh so that that'll be

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Speaker 1: an interesting factor. I think as well, how he's used

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Speaker 1: by teams, how his arsenal is implemented, and how teams

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Speaker 1: are maximizing uh what he has.

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Speaker 2: I think he's he has. I mean, those are the

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Speaker 2: two things that stand.

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Speaker 1: Out about him, the fastball velocity and the splitter. But

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Speaker 1: he's's not like he's a two pitch pitcher. And like

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Speaker 1: I was saying, this is a guy that I can't

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Speaker 1: remember the big teenage Japanese tournament what it's called, but

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Speaker 1: he that's that's you know that he's one of those

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Speaker 1: kids that made a name for himself in that tournament,

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Speaker 1: became this superstar, was touching one hundred as a teen

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Speaker 1: just just one of the most hype names. Yamamoto got

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Speaker 1: all this hype last year, but we only heard about

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Speaker 1: Yamamoto or he was only hyped for about six months

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Speaker 1: before that, like Sasaki has been hyped for years. Like

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Speaker 1: this is a really big deal, and it's the biggest

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Speaker 1: name since Otani maybe you know, maybe just a tier

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Speaker 1: below Otani and like close to the Darvish level of

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Speaker 1: hype here.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty big.

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Speaker 1: This is a and and the fact is the Cubs

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Speaker 1: are being mentioned, and that's gives Cubs fans a kernel

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Speaker 1: of hope after we've crushed everything else we have written

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Speaker 1: and said.

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Speaker 3: One quick snapshot, I'm glad you brought up Yamamoto, who

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Speaker 3: came over here as an extremely polished pitcher that's not

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Speaker 3: quite Sazaki yet. He's dealt with some injuries over the years,

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Speaker 3: his workload has not been the same over in Japan.

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Speaker 3: I don't think it's realistic to expect him to be

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Speaker 3: what Yamamoto was this year for the Dodgers. Granted he

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Speaker 3: dealt with some injuries, he had some availability issues, but

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Speaker 3: I mean, that's the guy who beat the Padres in

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Speaker 3: the playoffs, won a World Series game like that two

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Speaker 3: year gap, not just in terms of the money, but

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Speaker 3: in terms of development. That is a big thing here

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Speaker 3: as well, that he has room to grow, and I

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Speaker 3: do think there's a feeling that getting him out of

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Speaker 3: his comfort zone and a place where it will be

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Speaker 3: challenged in a lot of different ways could accelerate some

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Speaker 3: of that too.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, why don't we take a quick break

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Speaker 1: and then come back and talk about how teams will

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Speaker 1: be recruiting him, particularly the Cubs?

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Speaker 2: What's their pitch to Roki Sasaki?

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Speaker 1: Obviously, the Cubs have had some success in recent years

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Speaker 1: when it comes to signing players from Japan. You and

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Speaker 1: I have talked to a lot of people in the

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Speaker 1: front office. Ever since Jed Hoyer I became team president,

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Speaker 1: this has been a focus of his. It hasn't been

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Speaker 1: at the forefront, hasn't been something that has been like

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Speaker 1: super well publicized. But it started with Saya Suzuki. It

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Speaker 1: continued would show to him and Naga they want to

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Speaker 1: be a destination. I mean really, I mean, to be honest,

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Speaker 1: from what I understand, this really like this idea. This

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Speaker 1: concept started when they first pitched you Darvish back in

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Speaker 1: I mean when they first started two thousand and what

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Speaker 1: was it thirteen, when Jed and THEO were first here

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Speaker 1: like that's that's when this concept, this idea kind of

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Speaker 1: came into their minds and it's kind of grown since then.

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Speaker 1: They ended up getting Darvish as a free agent, and

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Speaker 1: I think that really spurred a lot of this, like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we have a big name that we can say, look

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Speaker 1: look at what we've done. Look at how comfortable we

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Speaker 1: made him, look at how we helped him.

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Speaker 2: And they did.

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Speaker 1: They did make you Darvish very comfortable. They did make him,

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Speaker 1: you know, they did help him maximize some of his arsenal.

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Speaker 1: And now Jed Hoyer has you said he's been He's

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Speaker 1: been there multiple times for my understanding, Yes, year, he

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Speaker 1: like this is a priority of his. And some of

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Speaker 1: that may be because they understand that the way our

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Speaker 1: budget works, the way the money that we're working with,

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Speaker 1: doesn't allow us to go in on this true superstars

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Speaker 1: of free agency. But here's a way to get around that.

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Speaker 1: How much would say a Suzuki established to say, Suzuki

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Speaker 1: go on free agency right now, how much would he

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Speaker 1: make this year if he was hitting free agency right

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Speaker 1: compared to what they ended up signing him for. How

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Speaker 1: much would show to him Anaga be making if he

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Speaker 1: hit free agency now after the season he just had

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Speaker 1: with the Cubs, right, So they're they're looking for ways

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Speaker 1: to kind of work around and then find impact talent.

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Speaker 1: It's the same thing we talk about, but like with

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Speaker 1: that they try and do all the time, but this

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Speaker 1: actually is like these are established talents in another league

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Speaker 1: that somehow have their in different different situations, have their

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Speaker 1: salary kind of camp down a bit, and in this

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Speaker 1: case it's especially so I think the pitch is simple.

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Speaker 2: Uh Darvish is a fan.

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Speaker 1: Of what's going on with the Cubs, has it like,

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Speaker 1: has nothing but good things to say. Yes, Saya Suzuki's

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Speaker 1: transition wasn't perfect, but it was he eventually found comfort

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Speaker 1: and he eventually, like you know, found a way to

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Speaker 1: live comfortably in Chicago, showed to in Monaga's I think

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Speaker 1: they learned from those experiences and really helped him his

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Speaker 1: transition in his transition to a new country, a new team,

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Speaker 1: a new league. I think those are three great selling

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Speaker 1: points that this team has, and that's just with their

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Speaker 1: history of Japanese players.

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Speaker 3: Without a doubt, I think there's a select, a small,

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Speaker 3: select group of teams that can really invest in the

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Speaker 3: scouting infrastructure in Japan to kind of pay for that

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Speaker 3: coverage to also have like the connections and the credibility

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Speaker 3: to forge relationships and close deals and gather information that

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Speaker 3: gives you more confirmation confidence to make what are still

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Speaker 3: sizeable investments. I mean, particularly when you factor in the

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Speaker 3: posting fee for those major league contracts. I mean, says

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Speaker 3: one hundred million dollar player. Essentially Shoda could wind up

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Speaker 3: being close to that if he maxes out his deal

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Speaker 3: and you include the posting fee and then the numbers

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Speaker 3: we're talking about, there aren't that many teams that are

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Speaker 3: willing to kind of go to those numbers for guys

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Speaker 3: who've never played professional baseball in America before, and if

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Speaker 3: your player coming over from Japan, there aren't Like certain

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Speaker 3: cities are way more attractive than others, right, and Chicago

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Speaker 3: is a very cosmopolitan, world class city. It has that

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Speaker 3: reputation that you're talking about side of amongst Japanese players

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Speaker 3: as a comfortable place to live where families feel good

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Speaker 3: about the opportunities in front of them. The Cubs are

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Speaker 3: really good at this recruiting stuff. I mean Joel Wolf,

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Speaker 3: who's part of the represent representation team at Wasserman, who

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Speaker 3: will be handling part of the Sasaki stuff. Once described

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Speaker 3: the Cubs as recruiting like the University of Alabama football team.

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Speaker 3: That was after they lured Darvish. And there are certain

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Speaker 3: ways to sort of pitch guys from Japan that it

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Speaker 3: is a little different than you know, some major league

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Speaker 3: player who may be a little more jaded, or may

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Speaker 3: have a little more understanding of the landscape or more

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Speaker 3: you know, they may rule things in or out in

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Speaker 3: different ways, and the comps have a ton of credibility,

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Speaker 3: uh in this space.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that's actually something that they've built.

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Speaker 1: My understanding is they were a little you know, ten

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Speaker 1: years ago, whatever, five years ago, whatever it may be,

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Speaker 1: they were a little concerned with the reputation of Chicago

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Speaker 1: compare not that it was bad, but you compare it

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Speaker 1: to Seattle, La San Diego. They were they thought they

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Speaker 1: were just a full tier, if not further behind those

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Speaker 1: teams for when it come when it came to trying

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Speaker 1: to bring Japanese players over to Chicago. They just they

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Speaker 1: were concerned about that. They've built a really good reputation.

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Speaker 1: There one one underrated area. I think part of the

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Speaker 1: pitch is Tommy Hoddevey does really well when he's put

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Speaker 1: in front of these players. He did really well from

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Speaker 1: our understanding when they were recruiting show Heyo Todi when

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Speaker 1: he first came.

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Speaker 2: Is that right? Am I remembering that? Or was it

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Speaker 2: darbish that he did he did? Whatever?

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Speaker 3: I'm mi understanding is he did both, and that they

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Speaker 3: sort of have it down not to a science, but

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Speaker 3: they have their their go tos. They have which you've

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Speaker 3: written about extensively, kind of technology, the innovation, the player

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Speaker 3: development infrastructure that I think speaks to a lot of players,

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Speaker 3: but in particularly a young guy coming out who's going

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Speaker 3: to want to maximize his career in the majors.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's something that you know, Hatoby

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Speaker 1: doesn't get a lot of love nationally, but every single

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Speaker 1: time pitchers come to play for the Cubs, that's one

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Speaker 1: of the first things.

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Speaker 2: You hear, like, what do you like about it here?

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Speaker 1: What have you what have you enjoyed? Whether they're coming

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Speaker 1: or going? I mean Jameson Tye and Drew Smiley, You Darvish,

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Speaker 1: You darvish is part of this pitch. He plays for

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Speaker 1: another team and you can still sell other players on

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Speaker 1: look at how much you darbish loved his time here.

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Speaker 2: Now we'll we'll get to this soon.

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Speaker 1: But San Diego is also competition here, so uh, maybe

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Speaker 1: that's not Maybe he's not going to give direct support

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Speaker 1: this time around, but who knows. And I think you're right.

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Speaker 1: You brought up Joel Wolfe. Joel Wolfe has like this

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Speaker 1: is an agent that has repeatedly done deals with the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: like his his group, but they consistently have clients that

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Speaker 1: that work well that they come to Chicago. He's got

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Speaker 1: a good relationship with this front office. I mean, this

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Speaker 1: isn't lining up where it's perfect for the Cubs, but

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Speaker 1: it's not. It's not something you can rule out because

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of good, good things going for

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Speaker 1: the Cubs.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you have to consider them, like in

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Speaker 3: the conversation, because you Darvish years ago could have buried

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Speaker 3: the Cubs and just said, you know, he's traded midway

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Speaker 3: through a six year contract, in the middle of a pandemic,

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Speaker 3: after they won a division title, after he had a

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Speaker 3: cy Young Award caliber season, and what did he do.

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Speaker 3: He actually recommended Chicago to say a Suzuki, And he

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Speaker 3: didn't advise Shotta specifically about the Cubs. It was more

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Speaker 3: of a you know, as he was kind of enter

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Speaker 3: before he entered the process, it was you know, what

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Speaker 3: should you value? And Darbish's main point was you go

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Speaker 3: somewhere that shows you love that it's not always going

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Speaker 3: to be perfect. It can't only be about money. It

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Speaker 3: has to be a place that you know will support you.

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Speaker 3: And Darvish felt that from the Cubs, from Wrigley Fields,

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Speaker 3: from Cubs fans for a long time, and that word

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Speaker 3: of mouth stuff goes a long way, especially when it's

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Speaker 3: a sort of godfather figure among Japanese players. That's Starvish

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Speaker 3: and he gives the thumbs up to the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, why don't we take a quick break

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Speaker 1: and come back and break down the competition.

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Speaker 2: Here for Sasaki?

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Speaker 1: Patrick, rookie Sasaki gonna be a big name. Obviously, everyone

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Speaker 1: is kind of in Onu and depending when he's posted, right,

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Speaker 1: we know who the number one team is, right of course,

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Speaker 1: who the favorites are.

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Speaker 2: It's it's the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Speaker 1: Now, I think some people have kind of just said

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Speaker 1: this is it, that it's done. You know, don't don't

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Speaker 1: bother thinking about any other team, you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: know how the push back I've gotten on that. I

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Speaker 1: don't know how much of that is just like trying

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Speaker 1: to stir up competition, or if it's really legit like

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Speaker 1: there is this is uh, you know, this is more

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Speaker 1: than just the Dodgers, you know, race to win, and

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Speaker 1: some of it makes sense, right, Does he really want

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Speaker 1: to be on a team that like is followed like

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Speaker 1: the Dodgers are, where he'll he'll just be one of

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Speaker 1: you know, like the It's already an insane media following, right.

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine what their clubhouse access is like and

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Speaker 1: what it's like to try and interview anyone in that

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Speaker 1: in that area, it would it would reach another level,

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Speaker 1: which Iszaki. You'd have three of the you know what

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Speaker 1: ten five eight something like that, biggest Japanese stars ever

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Speaker 1: on one team, plus two other super two other star American.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Like it would just be insane.

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Speaker 1: Maybe he doesn't want that, And I think what's most

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Speaker 1: interesting is we don't know what he wants. He hasn't

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Speaker 1: come out and said it. He hasn't come out and

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Speaker 1: said this is what I prefer, this is what I

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Speaker 1: like a lot of times you have a better idea.

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Speaker 1: This guy's been really quiet him and his representation everyone

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Speaker 1: around him. They haven't been blasting out there what is wanted,

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Speaker 1: which makes our assumptions like all the more faulty, right,

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Speaker 1: like where we can't make great deductions here.

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Speaker 3: I do think a lot of this is second or

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Speaker 3: third hand information from you know, which may have originated

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Speaker 3: in a different language, you know what I mean. I'm

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Speaker 3: just like trying to decipher this is certainly difficult. I mean,

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Speaker 3: lets be upfront, like the Dodgers in almost anything have

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Speaker 3: to be considered a front runner. If they want a player,

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Speaker 3: they usually get what they want. That's what we see.

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Speaker 3: History has shown us. They are an extremely attractive place

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Speaker 3: to play. Their player development systems are kind of a

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Speaker 3: best best in class, right, I mean, there's not it's

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Speaker 3: really hard to poke holes in their argument. But like

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Speaker 3: you said, we just don't know, and we've heard lots

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Speaker 3: of conflicting things just the looking at the players we've

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Speaker 3: covered over the years here, it was you know, I

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Speaker 3: think at one point conventional wisdom was, well, Japanese players

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Speaker 3: don't like to be on the same team. They kind

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Speaker 3: of want their own space or their own spotlight. And

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Speaker 3: then obviously Otony totally changed that, and then you have

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Speaker 3: Jed and the Cups saying, you know, we've actually learned

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Speaker 3: a lot from Saya's assimilation process. We be able to

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Speaker 3: apply those lessons to Showta and to being very grateful

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Speaker 3: for kind of what the Cubs had put in front

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Speaker 3: of them, I think, and Padres also can point to

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Speaker 3: an excellent relationship with Darvish and Joel Wolf and history

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Speaker 3: of you know, find out just being good and being

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Speaker 3: competitive and being having a great atmosphere in their ballpark

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Speaker 3: as well as, you know, a beautiful place to live.

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Speaker 3: The Mets under Steve Cohen and David Stearns have also

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Speaker 3: made a concerted effort to be a presence in Japan.

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Speaker 3: The Phillies have as well. The Phillies don't have that history.

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Speaker 3: I think they saw a gap in their organization frankly,

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Speaker 3: much wider one than the Cubs had, and they've tried

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Speaker 3: to ramp up there. They kept extending themselves trying to

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Speaker 3: sign Yamamoto last year. Now, obviously this is a different

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Speaker 3: sort of competition here where money isn't the kind of

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Speaker 3: end all be all, But I would imagine that they

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Speaker 3: have to explore a lot of different options here. Unless

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Speaker 3: he is absolutely dead set on the Dodgers, like, why

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Speaker 3: wouldn't you open this up and see what you can

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Speaker 3: learn and ultimately what you value.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think there may be pushback, like from

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Speaker 1: some fans, especially jaded Cubs fans, right, and understandably jaded

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Speaker 1: Cubs fans say, why would you come to the Cubs

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Speaker 1: over the Dodgers or the Padres?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 1: Dodgers and Padres probably two of the best teams, if

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Speaker 1: not the two best teams in baseball this past season. Right,

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Speaker 1: and they don't look like they're headed for at least

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Speaker 1: not a serious swing next season. Right, They're both going

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Speaker 1: to be right there. The Cubs are not not at

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Speaker 1: that level yet.

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Speaker 2: They're just not.

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Speaker 1: But the pitch is as simple as look at you know,

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Speaker 1: we have this established talent, We have these two Japanese

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Speaker 1: players that have done well here and feel comfortable here,

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Speaker 1: and you'll be part of our stable of young players

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Speaker 1: coming up, Right, And that that would be the like,

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Speaker 1: this isn't we're we're about to hit you know, their pitches,

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Speaker 1: We're about to hit like these next five years of

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Speaker 1: great success. That's in their minds, right, Like, that's what

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Speaker 1: they envision and that's how you present it to Sazaki

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Speaker 1: versus all those other teams you mentioned, who are all

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Speaker 1: playoff teams, right and MaTx, Philly's Padres Dodgers, those are

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Speaker 1: playoff teams. Those teams all just you know, showed what

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Speaker 1: they can do already. So this is more about envisioning

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Speaker 1: what could be harder sell. But it's it's possible, I

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Speaker 1: guess if that. It all depends on what he's looking for. Uh,

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Speaker 1: but I mean you you name teams that should put

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a you know, feeling in your

418
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Speaker 1: stomach if you're a Cubs fan, Like, oh, I don't

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Speaker 1: love hearing that, because they all have really good pitches,

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Speaker 1: and they all have really good uh teams, So and

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Speaker 1: and any one of them would happily welcome a league

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Speaker 1: minimum starter.

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Speaker 2: That's a big thing here.

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Speaker 1: I mean yeah, like all of them want you know

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Speaker 1: that they if bonus pool, you know, you just max

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Speaker 1: out your bonus pool and say, I'll just take whatever

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Speaker 1: you can give me. If that's what this ends up being,

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Speaker 1: that that's kind of a game changer for any team

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Speaker 1: adding this to your rotation. A league minimum salary for

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Speaker 1: the first you know, a couple of years of that contract,

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Speaker 1: that's uh, I mean it's a it's got to It

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Speaker 1: would be a dream for Jests and there their payroll.

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Speaker 3: I mean, our colleague Dennis Lynn wrote this up in

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Speaker 3: The Athletic of the Padreser kind of getting squeezed with

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Speaker 3: their payroll at this point, and he'd be like the

436
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:09,880
Speaker 3: dream solution. If Jed and Carter and their group could

437
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 3: somehow close this, they would immediately change the perception. They'd

438
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 3: still have, you know, a lot of flexibility left over,

439
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,200
Speaker 3: but you could run that team back and put Sazaki

440
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 3: in there. It just changes the just a whole perception

441
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,880
Speaker 3: and kind of aura around this team and the program

442
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,199
Speaker 3: they're trying to build. And I will say it was

443
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 3: good to see like Shoda and say this year up close,

444
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 3: and to remember like they have two very different personalities,

445
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,120
Speaker 3: Like if I always trying to think of like if

446
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,920
Speaker 3: if John Lackey and Kyle Hendricks went to go pitch

447
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:49,440
Speaker 3: in Japan, like you wouldn't think, oh, those two guys

448
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,640
Speaker 3: are exactly alike, right, And so Sazaki may have preferences

449
00:27:55,080 --> 00:28:00,400
Speaker 3: or personal histories or just kind of interest priority parties

450
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 3: that are obviously unknown to us and maybe different than

451
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:08,199
Speaker 3: just the conventional wisdom of oh he's definitely going to

452
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:11,239
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, even though I think if anyone had to

453
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,880
Speaker 3: bet on this, you you'd go with the Dodgers.

454
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a they're the heavy favorites right now just

455
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 1: based on what we know, and like you said, we

456
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,159
Speaker 1: just don't know a lot. There's not a lot that

457
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 1: is concrete fact here, But it would be hard to

458
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 1: bet against them. I think that's the reality. One thing

459
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: we do know for certain is upgrading the rotation is

460
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,360
Speaker 1: an absolute priority for this team.

461
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 2: For the Cubs.

462
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:47,080
Speaker 1: Sazaki would be the just like that, that would win

463
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 1: the off season for the Cubs' that's how you turn

464
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 1: public opinion in your favor. It would be the home

465
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:59,800
Speaker 1: run signing probably the only realistic addition possible this winter

466
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 1: that I could see fans finally like starting to turn

467
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: that because right now, especially with the rest of sports

468
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: in this city, all the other teams, nobody's happy right now.

469
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 1: If you're a sports fan in Chicago, it's hard to

470
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: find much joy. Every Sunday is like a lesson in

471
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: misery in this town watching the Bears. So they they

472
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 1: some organization needs to turn the tide, and that that's

473
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: the only way I really see it as realistic unless

474
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: there's a trade out there that I'm missing, But because

475
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 1: like we're like.

476
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 2: We've re boorded.

477
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: No Corbyn Burns, no Wan Soto. Those are the two

478
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 1: of you know, two names that that could have turned

479
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: the tide when it comes to morale with the fan base.

480
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: I think Sazaki is the only other one.

481
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 3: You make a great point with the Bears. I've been

482
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 3: thinking of that of you know, the Cubs are to

483
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 3: Japanese players in a total opposite to what the Bears

484
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 3: and first round quarterbacks are right in terms of I

485
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 3: didn't probably phrase that exactly as smoothly as I would

486
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 3: have liked, But when you talk about infrastructure, track record, credibility,

487
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 3: the Cubs have that in a way that the Bears

488
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,880
Speaker 3: certainly don't at the quarterback position. But you know, if

489
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 3: you're a Japanese young Japanese pitcher who wants to challenge

490
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 3: himself and maximize your talents, you could do a lot

491
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 3: worse than the Cubs. And in the end, maybe that

492
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 3: maybe Dodger Stadium show, Hey Yamamoto, Southern California just blows

493
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:45,480
Speaker 3: the Cubs out of the water. It's not going to

494
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 3: come down to money, but I think the Cubs have

495
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 3: put in a lot of work to give themselves a

496
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:54,479
Speaker 3: chance here.

497
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's all you can really ask for at

498
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: this point. Us to see when he's posted. I'm curious

499
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,960
Speaker 1: to see what we hear from that side of things,

500
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 1: how quiet it'll be there was There weren't a lot

501
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 1: of Imanaga rumors, right, they just weren't. And that was

502
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:18,040
Speaker 1: very quiet until the end. Like obviously we knew Otani

503
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 1: would be a quiet process. That we were told it

504
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 1: would be quiet, and it was. All the rumors out

505
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 1: there were like not not the not the strongest at

506
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: at times.

507
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 2: So I don't know what this is going to look like.

508
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 1: And maybe we'll have a better idea when we're down

509
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: in Dallas, uh, like in a few weeks.

510
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 2: But uh, this is going to be a fascinating one

511
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 2: to follow it.

512
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm I'm glad he's posted because it kind

513
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 1: of spices things up here and uh, we'll make for

514
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 1: for an entertaining off season.

515
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,240
Speaker 2: It gives us a gives us a little bit of excitement.

516
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 1: With Burns and Soda kind of crossed off to start

517
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: to start the winter, that had to be hard for

518
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: Cubs fans, so so at least we get to spice

519
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 1: things up and make things a little bit more entertaining.

520
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 2: Here.

521
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 3: We can get back to our regularly scheduled doom and

522
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 3: gloom for our second episode. But our good friends at

523
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 3: Foul Territory, our advisors and producers there, I had a

524
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 3: great suggestion to just only focus on Sazaki here because

525
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,440
Speaker 3: it helps crystallize my thoughts as well of just like

526
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:28,040
Speaker 3: this is this is the off season home run. Yeah,

527
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:28,640
Speaker 3: that's it.

528
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 1: You want to you wanna see some happy fans at

529
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:32,600
Speaker 1: Cubs convention.

530
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,120
Speaker 2: Uh, this is the path. We'll we'll see if they

531
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 2: can pull it off.

532
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,960
Speaker 1: We'll have more for you later this week on just

533
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: the general you know, free agency kind of kicking off,

534
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 1: starting to get we're probably close to things happening. Maybe

535
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,840
Speaker 1: a week from now we'll start seeing some actual movement.

536
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see.

537
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it'll be earlier, Maybe it'll be some things happening.

538
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 1: We'll we'll be on top of all of that. Please

539
00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 1: make sure to rate review, subscribe to Northside territ Toy,

540
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, Subscribe to The Athletic where

541
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: you can find Patrick and my work. Thanks so much

542
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: for listening, Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate all

543
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 1: of you take care of