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Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moody. We are your

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Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, we

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Speaker 1: have Swisch spots. I'm back in Chicago, well Evanston technically,

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Speaker 1: and you are in Arizona catching up on all things Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Uh it is I missed the nice weather, so I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm a little bitter. Uh, but at least my yard

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Speaker 1: is not covered in snow anymore, so, so that's a win.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: And you you've you've missed the so so weather of Arizona.

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Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to complain about the weather in Arizona,

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Speaker 1: but it's better now for you than it was for me.

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Speaker 1: And you know, we we've got a slight bit of

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it's it's not news. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: guess it's news. Uh we'll start, Uh yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: go ahead. We got an addition to the fold here,

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Speaker 1: a non roster invite of significance.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I think Michael Conforto is a big enough name. I

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Speaker 4: mean I remember as I'm sure you do as well.

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Speaker 4: Of just sort of like the names coming out in

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Speaker 4: the twenty fourteen draft, and Michael Confordo checked a lot

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Speaker 4: of kind of Cubs way boxes from that time as

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Speaker 4: a college hitter with a really nice, well rounded background,

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Speaker 4: and obviously they felt pretty good about their Kyle Schwarber pick,

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Speaker 4: and both of those players actually wound up playing in

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Speaker 4: the NLCS the next year. Conforto with the Mets, and

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Speaker 4: he looked like he was about to become a star

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Speaker 4: in New York and he was a one time All Star,

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Speaker 4: and he showed these really nice flashes over multiple seasons,

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Speaker 4: but just like didn't quite put it all together for

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Speaker 4: like one hundred and fifty games year after year after year,

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Speaker 4: and you know, injuries derailed his career. A weird sort

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Speaker 4: of decline the qualifying offer if there's a lockout, he

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Speaker 4: gets hurt, misses the twenty twenty two season, becomes more

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Speaker 4: of a complimentary player with the Giants, and then just

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Speaker 4: last year it just did not come together. With the Dodgers.

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Speaker 4: They get a really long runway and then let him

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Speaker 4: off their playoff roster in each of the four rounds.

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Speaker 4: A two million dollar minor league deal plus performance bonuses

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Speaker 4: for a player who's not that old and has been

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Speaker 4: really good in the past. I think it makes a

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Speaker 4: ton of sense. I think you get into trouble when

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Speaker 4: you do those types of deals like the Giants did.

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Speaker 4: I think it was like two years for thirty six million.

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Speaker 4: I think the Dodgers deal is one year for seventeen

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Speaker 4: or eighteen million, something like that. Like, this is zero risk.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if there's a huge amount of upside,

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Speaker 4: but it's a nice fit. And as Craig Council said,

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Speaker 4: you know, maybe opportunity isn't as obvious right now, but

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Speaker 4: with a lot of these things, you could show up

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Speaker 4: for work five days from now and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 4: there's a huge opportunity in front of certain individuals.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they're absolutely trying to get as prepared as possible

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Speaker 1: for anything that could go wrong. Conforto is actually someone

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Speaker 1: I thought, like before they traded for Kyle Tucker last year,

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh, you know, assuming that the Cubs

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Speaker 1: were going to go what was the phraseology that Jed used,

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Speaker 1: always intelligent spending. I was assuming they were going to

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Speaker 1: go the intelligent spending route all last that that off season,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, here's someone who you look under

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Speaker 1: the hood. He you know, hits the ball hard. Still

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Speaker 1: his expected stats were supposed to like were better than

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Speaker 1: the actual results. You know, was coming off off like

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Speaker 1: kind of some injuries. Maybe he'll be healthy and you

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Speaker 1: catch lightning in a bottle for a year. It never

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Speaker 1: really happened for him. The result, like, he's still got

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Speaker 1: some good not as good as the twenty four season,

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Speaker 1: but the underlying stats are still pretty good. His walk grade,

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Speaker 1: I believe last year was better than even in twenty four.

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Speaker 1: He's got a good eye, Like he can when he's right,

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Speaker 1: he can hit. Like there was a stretch from like

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Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty twenty one where he was one of

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Speaker 1: the better like just hitters in the game. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't think I remember that as well. That's probably

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Speaker 1: one of the first drafts I like clearly remember like

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Speaker 1: talking to people a lot in amateur scouting and having

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Speaker 1: an idea of what direction they were looking, and Confordo

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Speaker 1: was one of like six names, six to eight names

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Speaker 1: that they were like really focused on, and obviously they

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Speaker 1: went the Sharber route. But yeah, like I distinctly remember that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think this is a nice They just continue to

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Speaker 1: stack solid options for depth. I don't know if this

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Speaker 1: moves the needle in the end. But when you have

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Speaker 1: now you have three outfielders, a switch hitter in Carlson,

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Speaker 1: a lefty and m or a rightyan McCormick, and a

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Speaker 1: lefty in Confordo, and you know all of them. Each

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Speaker 1: one of them has had periods of success, with Confordo

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Speaker 1: probably the one with the longest track record. You hit

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Speaker 1: on one of them. If I don't know how many

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Speaker 1: of them, if any of them stick beyond you know,

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Speaker 1: spring training, if they don't make the opening day roster,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, like we could see, we'll probably find

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Speaker 1: that out because not all of them are going to

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Speaker 1: make the team. It's a it's a solid group and

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Speaker 1: it's part of what you have have to do to

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Speaker 1: build a championship team is constantly seek depth. And this

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Speaker 1: is a quality quality addition in that sense. You I

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Speaker 1: guess if you're if you're talking about leaning on Michael

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Speaker 1: conferdo uh, You're you're running into trouble. But if he's

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Speaker 1: you know, ends up getting some big at bats for

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Speaker 1: you at a certain point because of injuries or whatever.

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Speaker 1: In effectiveness, I don't think it's the end of the

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Speaker 1: world because he's shown he can produce. We'll see if

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Speaker 1: he if they catch lightning in a bottle with him.

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Speaker 1: But it's a it's a good depth move.

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Speaker 4: I think that's a good point when you look at

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Speaker 4: just his overall body of work. And I remember going

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Speaker 4: into that draft. I think I was put on the

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Speaker 4: spot of like, who are they gonna pick like in

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Speaker 4: two days from now? And I just liked kind of

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Speaker 4: the story of Conforta. I believe his mother was an

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Speaker 4: Olympian and his dad was like a Penn State linebacker

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Speaker 4: and you see the like, you know, really a high

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Speaker 4: level or against state program and putting up numbers. I

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Speaker 4: want to say I believe Matthew Boyd was around there

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Speaker 4: during that time just to really a program that produced

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Speaker 4: a lot. And you know, when you look at Accormick Carlson,

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Speaker 4: like those guys, they've done it, but it was more

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Speaker 4: of just like those flashes. And I think I think,

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Speaker 4: you know, ideally, the Cubs don't need Michael confordo. Right,

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Speaker 4: like there are three primary outfielders play one hundred and

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Speaker 4: fifty something games. Masis Biasteros is awesome, a says NATed

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Speaker 4: hitter Kevinncintara carves out a role and you know, puts

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Speaker 4: himself on the map for next season and you know,

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Speaker 4: years to come. But like you said, that's not how

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Speaker 4: Craig Council's brains work. That's not how Jed Hoyer operates.

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Speaker 4: And this is only my opinion, but he seems sort

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Speaker 4: of like a guy that maybe has a little bit

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Speaker 4: of a heads up when you choose to sign with

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Speaker 4: the Cubs. I don't know, I don't have that as

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Speaker 4: reported information, but it just seems like his name and

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Speaker 4: pedigree is it's just a notch above some of these

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Speaker 4: other guys who are competing for spots. That's not to

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Speaker 4: say they're out of the mix by any means, or

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Speaker 4: that Conforto's a lock, but this is very much an

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Speaker 4: opportunistic Cubs move and why we were saying, I know,

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Speaker 4: it took a while. We were saying that offseason's not

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Speaker 4: done yet, and the Cubs internally discussed a lot of

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Speaker 4: those like veteran bench players who were out there, and

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Speaker 4: they finally got one that it seems like, I don't know,

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Speaker 4: close to a finishing piece to this offseason.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see a piece, the one

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Speaker 1: that makes the team and how everything kind of fills out.

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Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and talk about some of

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Speaker 1: the you know, other pieces that kind of fit with

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Speaker 1: conferdo here for this team.

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Speaker 3: Tricia, I'm here at spring trames have started, the weather

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Speaker 3: is beautiful, and soon enough I'll be at the WVC

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Speaker 3: with a stacked team USA Schooble Schemes. Judge Raleigh Bobby

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Speaker 1: With Confordo. If Confordo makes the roster, Patrick, if he's

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Speaker 1: on this roster, obviously he's a bench guy assuming help Well,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I don't want to assume that he's

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Speaker 1: a bench guy. But we'll see, we'll see how it

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Speaker 1: all plays out. Really, but I see like the fit

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Speaker 1: is if you believe Matt Shawk can handle everything that

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Speaker 1: you're throwing on his plate, that's alrighty on the bench,

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Speaker 1: you have the backup catcher, and now you have a

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Speaker 1: little bit of flexibility because of show of how you

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Speaker 1: kind of fill things out. You want like a backup

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Speaker 1: center fielder. Conforto's not really that, but you know he

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Speaker 1: if he's you do have another lefty on the bench. Now.

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Speaker 1: I think the probably the debate of does Conforto become

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Speaker 1: more impactful for this team is do they decide that

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Speaker 1: Biasteros isn't the guy to moyses Bia Saros to open

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Speaker 1: the season as the DH. I think that would be

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a surprise, But there was a

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Speaker 1: speaking there's the Confordo news, and then there's a tiny

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Speaker 1: bit of news of Moys's bias Starios finally showing up

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Speaker 1: to camp. When I left, the feeling was when talking

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Speaker 1: to council that this isn't enough of a delay for

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Speaker 1: him for it to really hurt his chances to make

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Speaker 1: the team. Obviously you want him there because he's also

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Speaker 1: a catcher, and you want him there as early as possible.

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Speaker 1: That obviously didn't happen, but VS issues finally resolved, he

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Speaker 1: got there. I'm still losing track of days. I think

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Speaker 1: he got there Saturday, am I writer, did he get

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Speaker 1: their Sunday? He got there over the weekend, and now

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Speaker 1: he can kind of start the process. We'll see when

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Speaker 1: he gets in games and when he gets in any action.

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Speaker 1: I guess you probably have more info on any of

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Speaker 1: that stuff than I do. As far as updates there, Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I just don't like as much. I know we spent

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Speaker 4: a lot of the first segment, you know, highlighting Conforto's

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Speaker 4: career and you know his pedigree, but also like if

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Speaker 4: he signed a minor league deal in late February, I'm

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Speaker 4: assuming there weren't major league deals out there, and just

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Speaker 4: the way the Cups have talked about Biasteros over the years,

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Speaker 4: how they sort of mapped out their post Kyle Tucker plans,

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Speaker 4: what he showed when Tucker was sidelined last year, uh

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Speaker 4: late in the season. I think all these things point

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Speaker 4: towards them wanting to see what they have in Moises Biasteros,

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Speaker 4: and they see a really kind of flexible hitting approach,

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Speaker 4: just someone who knows what he does well, makes good contact,

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Speaker 4: just has a lot of natural gifts. And you know,

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Speaker 4: I don't think Conforto's arrival totally changes that, but stuff

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Speaker 4: happens all the time, and I think it's great to

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Speaker 4: have this stable core of everyday players, but guys get hurt,

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Speaker 4: Guys underperform, guys get visa and travel issues, like just stuff.

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Speaker 4: The season doesn't stop, and I think adding him, adding

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Speaker 4: Confordo just gives you another option beyond by Asteros. Obviously,

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Speaker 4: we're kind of assuming Matt Shaw can just handle the

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Speaker 4: outfield and the infield and maybe sporadic at bats, Like

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Speaker 4: who knows you have what two of your three primary

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Speaker 4: outfielders playing in the WBC. Hopefully they escape that without injuries,

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Speaker 4: but you know, that kind of remains to be seen,

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Speaker 4: and I think you know counsel Milwaukee showed he's really

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Speaker 4: good at, you know, finding those matchups and pressing those

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Speaker 4: buttons and explaining roles to players and keeping guys engaged,

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Speaker 4: and like, you know, why wouldn't you want a left

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Speaker 4: handed bat like Conforto's available to you at all times.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's like the fit is interesting in the sense that,

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Speaker 1: let's assume Tyler Austin is making this team. That's your

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Speaker 1: backup for at baseman slash DH right handed bat, shaw,

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Speaker 1: right handed bat. Let's say one of Miguel Amaya Carson

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Speaker 1: Kelly on the bench, right handed bat. So your choices

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Speaker 1: are are Dylan Carlson or Michael Confordo. I think that's

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Speaker 1: like do you want the backup center fielder, Like who's

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Speaker 1: playing center field? Like we'll talk more about Saya Suzuki,

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Speaker 1: but you know he's gonna go place center field for Japan.

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Speaker 1: He played one game there for the Cubs and lost

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Speaker 1: a ball in the sun. But then the very next

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Speaker 1: day Pete Armstrong lost a ball in the sun the

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Speaker 1: sun in Arizona. It's really tough. It's the complications. Like

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna take too much away from that. I

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Speaker 1: just don't know who your backups are. Centerfielder is if

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Speaker 1: you do go with Confordo, assuming Tyler Austin is your

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Speaker 1: backup for a basement, which it feels like he is.

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Speaker 1: But you know, we've got a month to go, so

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lock that in just yet. And I

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Speaker 1: haven't talked to enough. I haven't I haven't dug in

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Speaker 1: on Tyler Austin. I apologize. I spent twelve days there

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Speaker 1: and didn't do my Tyler Austin homework. But it I

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Speaker 1: think you're right in the sense that like it's good

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Speaker 1: to have this veteran around and just another option. I

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Speaker 1: do think Biastero's the path is clear for him to

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Speaker 1: make a real impact here. I don't know. I'm curious

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Speaker 1: to see how far behind missing whatever two weeks of

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Speaker 1: time with his pictures sitting in those room, sitting in

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Speaker 1: that room. It's I once had this conversation, I think

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Speaker 1: with theo Epstein, and I've had people disagree with this concept.

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Speaker 1: But his thought was, like the value of getting this

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Speaker 1: was when they were like looking for possibly a veteran

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Speaker 1: backup catcher or Victor Krrottini taking that job. This was

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Speaker 1: before Victor Krottini had established himself as a really quality

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Speaker 1: backup catcher, and the longer it went into spring training,

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Speaker 1: THEO said, the better, like the less chance that they

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Speaker 1: add a catcher, because these six weeks of time are

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Speaker 1: so valuable for the catcher by a stericism, the primary backup.

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Speaker 1: It's not the most important thing in the world, but

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Speaker 1: it is kind of important for his development for him

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Speaker 1: to be here. So I'm glad he got here eventually,

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Speaker 1: but I do think that's a little that's just a

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Speaker 1: little tiny thing that those missed two weeks you not

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Speaker 1: ideal for the development as far as getting to know

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Speaker 1: his pictures and and getting to know like the way

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Speaker 1: they gain plan or really locking in on that stuff.

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Speaker 1: He had his time last year. I think he was

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Speaker 1: sitting in on meetings and all that last year. But

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Speaker 1: still like you want you want him there for as

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Speaker 1: long as possible. I don't think it's the end of

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Speaker 1: the world that he missed that time, but it is

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Speaker 1: it's just like one little point that that you know,

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Speaker 1: you wish he could have gotten here a little earlier.

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Speaker 1: But sometimes these things don't work out. I think last

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Speaker 1: I heard Beth and courts even longer and they don't

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Speaker 1: have like an end date there at least uh when

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Speaker 1: when we were there, when I was there, whatever day

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Speaker 1: I left, council was like, yeah, we're we're at the

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Speaker 1: finish line here with biastereos. He's I think he last

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Speaker 1: we talked to him, he was like stuck in Houston,

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Speaker 1: uh with with like flight delays. So not only did

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Speaker 1: he have VS issues that he had more flight issues.

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Speaker 1: So you know this, this stuff never ends. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's take another quick break and talk a little say this, Azuki.

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Speaker 1: Patrick says Azuki left for the WBC World Baseball Classic

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Speaker 1: on Monday. Yeah, he left today when we're we're recording

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Speaker 1: on him, Monday, he left today. I believe flight.

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Speaker 4: The flight was scheduled for Monday.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that does Yeah, we don't We don't want to

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Speaker 1: make any assumptions here. He's he's one of the first

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Speaker 1: to leave camp. He is the first to leave camp

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Speaker 1: of the WBC players. I think most most others weren't

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Speaker 1: traveling as far as him. Obviously, this is a big

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Speaker 1: year for say Suzuki. Uh. He is, he's really hard

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Speaker 1: on himself and he thinks he hasn't lived up to

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Speaker 1: his contract. The reality is he's he's outperformed his contract

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Speaker 1: even from year one. They they got him at a

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Speaker 1: price that you know, unless he was a complete bust,

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Speaker 1: he was going to outperform that contract. He's done it

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Speaker 1: every season, and last year, you know, he had that

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Speaker 1: slump of like a month, month and a half maybe

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Speaker 1: I can go back and look, but bounced back the

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Speaker 1: final week and a half of the season and then was,

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Speaker 1: you know, their best player in the postseason outside of

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Speaker 1: Michael Bush. They had two really good runs. So him

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Speaker 1: and Michael Bush were just like an insane tandem for

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Speaker 1: that offense. And he's this is a free agent year

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Speaker 1: in a class that I mean, the best free agent

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Speaker 1: position players may all be Cubs like like this is.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of fascinating. I'm not sure if Cubs fans

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Speaker 1: fully appreciate They definitely appreciate Nico Horner, but I'm not sure.

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Speaker 1: I think some, hopefully some those people that were on

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Speaker 1: the fence about say Suzuki, saw what he did, especially

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Speaker 1: at the start of last season, and then how we

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Speaker 1: ended last season.