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

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Speaker 1: Sadam Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your

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

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Speaker 1: a little bit of I don't know if it's news,

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Speaker 1: it's an interesting pit of information that you and I

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Speaker 1: have been gathering. I think we kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: we had an inkling about it when we recorded the

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Speaker 1: other day, and you know, the way we are is

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Speaker 1: we prefer to get a little bit more confident about

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Speaker 1: that information that we have, and we did.

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Speaker 2: And yet again.

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Speaker 1: For the second winter in a row, the Cubs are

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Speaker 1: in on Alex Bregman early showing interest in Alex Bregman.

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Speaker 1: We've talked so much about pitching. That remains the focus,

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Speaker 1: that is a priority, But I think it's important for

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Speaker 1: Cubs fans to know, like they've been clamoring, we've seen

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Speaker 1: the questions that they have when we've done mailbag episodes.

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Speaker 1: They're not going to do anything on offense. They're just

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Speaker 1: gonna sit on their hands. It doesn't appear that that

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Speaker 1: the Cubs are sitting on their hands. Whether they get

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Speaker 1: something done is a different question, but yet again Alex

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Speaker 1: Bregman third base, trying to upgrade on offense. There's interest there.

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Speaker 3: Bregman's opt out clause is a great gift to us

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Speaker 3: of you know, right, just we thought we were out,

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Speaker 3: they pull us back in. Uh, it's hard to play.

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Speaker 3: I mean that was still within the same calendar year

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Speaker 3: here of you know, February. Yeah, Bregman saga dominated the

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Speaker 3: beginning of camp and here we are, here we go again. Look,

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Speaker 3: I don't I'm not making any sort of guarantees here. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: but it is telling that the Cubs are showing renewed interests,

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Speaker 3: that they are a part of the Bregman conversation again,

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Speaker 3: which shows, like you said, Sahadi, that they're not planning

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Speaker 3: to simply run it back. Maybe in the end they

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Speaker 3: do more of a complementary move or two. But this

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Speaker 3: is an acknowledgment that Kyle Tucker's loss, anticipated loss will

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Speaker 3: be felt, that they need some presence, a little more stability,

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Speaker 3: all the reasons why they wanted Bregman in the first place,

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Speaker 3: going back to you know, last off season and into

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Speaker 3: spring training, and I do think it's interesting when you

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Speaker 3: look at this team and how many contracts are falling

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Speaker 3: off the books after this season. You know how many

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Speaker 3: players who are not unguaranteed deals beyond twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 3: It's basically Dansby Swanson as the only position player like

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Speaker 3: Regman was viewed as a unique fit for this group,

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Speaker 3: as a really sound long term investment. And that is

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Speaker 3: still the calculation now. And if you're trying to project,

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Speaker 3: you know, a Cubs opened a lineup in twenty twenty seven,

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Speaker 3: assuming there is a twenty twenty seventh season after a

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Speaker 3: work stopage, like I don't know, will that opening day

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Speaker 3: be like fourth of July, Like, we'll see how that goes.

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Speaker 3: But they're gonna need players, and he is that two

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Speaker 3: way type that they really have valued highly over the

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Speaker 3: last couple of years.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know they need a right handed back.

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Speaker 1: You could, like just very simply put, you could use

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Speaker 1: a right handed bat in this lineup. There's two lefties.

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Speaker 1: Are the young guys in bias Terris and Casey. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't imp they're playing time. I guess you could question,

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Speaker 1: you know, what are they gonna do with Matt Shaw? Look,

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Speaker 1: they need to improve their bench too, Like that's part

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Speaker 1: of what they need to do.

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Speaker 2: He's not a he's not a finished product.

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Speaker 1: It could you could make the argument that it's impeding

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Speaker 1: his development, but he's gonna play and and and Bregman

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Speaker 1: adds a lot to the team off the field as well.

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Speaker 2: He's he's a guy that can help a guy like Bias.

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Speaker 1: Heros help a guy like Casey, help a guy like Shaw,

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Speaker 1: all these young guys, PCA, all of them. He's he

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Speaker 1: could be like an impactful and productive on the field.

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Speaker 1: I think it's It makes a lot of sense in

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Speaker 1: a lot of different ways.

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Speaker 3: No doubt. When you're looking at this, you can't just

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Speaker 3: look at what it means for Matt Shaw on like

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Speaker 3: April first, next year. It is thinking about what if

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Speaker 3: the Cubs don't stay as healthy next year, what if

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Speaker 3: there's an oblique strain, you know, more lower half injuries,

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Speaker 3: you know, freak play on the basis guy gets hit

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Speaker 3: by a pitch like they were exceptionally healthy last year

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Speaker 3: and banking on that to happen again is probably not

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Speaker 3: a great strategy. You have players who can't move around,

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Speaker 3: and this is obviously getting ahead of ourselves, but obviously

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Speaker 3: Nico can move to short when needed. Matchad played multiple

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Speaker 3: positions in college and in the minors. You know, Bregman,

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Speaker 3: that was the whole drama in Boston of you know,

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Speaker 3: whether he'd move off third or not. Like as he ages,

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Speaker 3: he does have some experience at second base. His bat

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Speaker 3: is more than enough to justify him being a DH occasionally,

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Speaker 3: and just you know, that'll be an interesting part I

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Speaker 3: think in this winter meetings for us of like, there's

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Speaker 3: obviously stuff you have to do right now, but also

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Speaker 3: just looking ahead of planning and trying to avoid that

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Speaker 3: cliff that could be coming after twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Yet one thing that I got a couple questions about,

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Speaker 1: and it's something that I.

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Speaker 2: Wondered even you know, a couple of years ago.

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Speaker 1: I've been I've been wondering about how much does Bregman

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Speaker 1: benefit from playing in Houston and and you know what,

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Speaker 1: I you know, he obviously then he went to Boston

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Speaker 1: similarly set up ballpark, you know, easier for righty's to

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Speaker 1: hit the ball out there. I think with the research

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Speaker 1: that I've done and the talking to people with the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: that that's not as big of an impact as some

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Speaker 1: may think. In particular, I think the comparison would be

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Speaker 1: esoch paritis versus Alex Bregman and parritis is the type

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Speaker 1: of guy that hit like wall scrapers to the extreme

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Speaker 1: pole side, like right down the line, and that's harder

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Speaker 1: at Wrigley Field, where for multiple reasons, but in particular,

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Speaker 1: it's the deepest uh foul pole in baseball, like the

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Speaker 1: power from pole on the poles, but it kind of

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Speaker 1: goes in at the in the alleys for the like

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Speaker 1: at Wrigley Field. So right center and left center is

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Speaker 1: actually the most shallow in baseball, and that's kind of

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Speaker 1: more Bregman's game, and I think that's why it wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be you know, a big impact on his performance. And

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Speaker 1: just looking at like, you know, the the stat cast numbers,

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Speaker 1: if you go to uh baseball Savant and check out

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Speaker 1: like what his home runs would be at other ballparks,

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Speaker 1: he would have actually had more home runs at Wrigley this.

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Speaker 2: Past season than at Fenway.

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Speaker 1: Like it's just because of that left center gap being

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Speaker 1: so shallow. That's a huge benefit for a guy like Bregman,

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Speaker 1: and I think he could take advantag that, and you know,

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Speaker 1: not saying like it'd be as beneficial as Houston's. That's

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Speaker 1: a you know, for right handed hitters It's just like

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Speaker 1: if you could pull the ball in Houston, like what

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Speaker 1: would a dream?

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Speaker 2: But it is it.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it would impact his power numbers significantly

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Speaker 1: to the point where it's a major concern.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't want to step on your toes here

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Speaker 3: as our resident weather conspiracy expert emeritus, But broadly speaking,

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Speaker 3: we don't know how Wrigley feel is going to play

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Speaker 3: from one year to the next. The Cubs certainly don't.

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Speaker 3: But by reputation at least, it has been a little

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Speaker 3: friendlier to right handed hitters, or at least more of

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Speaker 3: the grumbling or kind of a puzzlement has been coming

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Speaker 3: more from left handed hitters at least, Yeah, anecdotally, so

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Speaker 3: if you remove that as an obstacle, and also not

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Speaker 3: just bregmant just in general with players, like they don't

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Speaker 3: really care as much about the ballpark stuff if they

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Speaker 3: have the long term deal, right, And we don't know

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Speaker 3: what a long term deal will look like for Bregman.

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Speaker 2: One year older.

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Speaker 3: From you know, coming into this season, but like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: maybe Wrigley isn't the greatest platform place if you're say,

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Speaker 3: a left hand hitter on a one year deal trying

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Speaker 3: to reestablish your value. But if you're a right handed

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Speaker 3: hitter who's viewed as a winner, clubhouse leader, a two

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Speaker 3: way force, like I'm guessing, you just want to get

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Speaker 3: paid and set up, you know, kind of for most

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Speaker 3: of or if not.

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Speaker 2: All, of the rest of your career.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it makes a ton of sense. I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, for those clamoring for the Cubs to be

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Speaker 1: in the market for a bat, they should at least

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Speaker 1: appease some of them. Well, you know, I don't think

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Speaker 1: they're the leaders. We haven't gotten any indication that they're

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Speaker 1: you know, close to signing him or anything like that.

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Speaker 1: It's just the fact that there's interest. I don't think

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Speaker 1: it should be ignored. I think it's important, and it's

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Speaker 1: it's something that we kind of have to reiterate that. Look,

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Speaker 1: the Cubs are going to be active this winter and

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Speaker 1: they're going to be going after pitching, but they aren't

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Speaker 1: ignoring the offensive side of the ball that they need

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Speaker 1: to add. You know, maybe, like you said earlier, they

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Speaker 1: don't have to add an impact that maybe they end

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Speaker 1: up kind of adjusting around the margins.

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Speaker 2: But this, this would.

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Speaker 1: Be one of the more significant additions they could make

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Speaker 1: to this lineup in general, I think this is going

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Speaker 1: to this this week that we're heading into we leave

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Speaker 1: for Orlando on Sunday, I think we're going to start

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Speaker 1: seeing some movement, whether it's directly related to the Cubs

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Speaker 1: or just in baseball.

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Speaker 2: I think it's it's about to get active.

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Speaker 1: And and the Cubs we keep hearing that, you know,

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Speaker 1: this is this there's a different feeling around the Cubs

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Speaker 1: than previous off seasons. The Cubs are looking to spend

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Speaker 1: more or be more aggressive with their spending than they

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Speaker 1: have in previous winters.

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Speaker 2: That doesn't mean that they're going to we said.

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Speaker 1: This last episode, they're not the Mets and they're not

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Speaker 1: the Dodgers. But there's a little bit more activity and

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Speaker 1: we're just hearing their name a little bit more.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I can't wait for the banner raising of

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Speaker 3: you know, talking to agents about better players or you know,

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Speaker 3: different vibes in the front office. But at this point,

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Speaker 3: that's kind of what we have to go on. And

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Speaker 3: it's not nothing.

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Speaker 2: It is.

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Speaker 3: An indicator of, you know, where the roster is at,

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Speaker 3: where this front office is at. I think the perception

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Speaker 3: of the Cubs is in a pretty good spot right now.

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Speaker 3: Again not Mets, Dodgers, Phillies Blue Jays, which is frustrating

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Speaker 3: for Cubs fans to hear. But they have some resources,

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Speaker 3: They have some financial flexibility, and they have some like

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Speaker 3: obvious areas that they have to attack, and our understanding

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Speaker 3: is they are aware of that and are working towards that.

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Speaker 3: We don't know if the big move will come in Orlando,

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Speaker 3: but just with the pace of the market, with some

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Speaker 3: of these relievers coming off the board, you've seen some trades.

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Speaker 3: I think you could start to see some of that,

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Speaker 3: you know, actually coming to fruition for the Cubs. That's

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Speaker 3: not a like dropping a seak hint that like we

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Speaker 3: know a move is about to happen, but just that

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Speaker 3: if you kind of observe and listen and pay attention,

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Speaker 3: like things are things usually pick up around this time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it could be something smaller.

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Speaker 2: They could just start by.

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Speaker 1: I mean we've started to see like the the minor

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Speaker 1: league signings trickle in. It had been a little while. Uh,

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Speaker 1: the Cubs usually make a bunch of those early on,

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Speaker 1: and they didn't make one until we got the the

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Speaker 1: Scott kingree text and and and learn that that signed

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Speaker 1: him to.

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Speaker 2: A minor league deal.

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Speaker 1: And I noticed another one the other day or maybe

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Speaker 1: on Thursday.

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Speaker 2: They made him smaller move.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: And those those are the types of things I think

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Speaker 1: they're going to do a ton of. And and while

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Speaker 1: we won't have any clue because it's just hard to

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Speaker 1: know which one of those are going to impact, but

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Speaker 1: almost assuredly one of those smaller moves that none of

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Speaker 1: us talk about, that we probably won't even mention in

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Speaker 1: this podcast, is going to like impact the team in

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Speaker 1: some significant fashion, because I don't think we've mentioned Brad

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Speaker 1: Keller until March when he was throwing ninety eight in

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Speaker 1: in spring training. But that's how it should be. You

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Speaker 1: need to find some under the radar guys that nobody

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Speaker 1: else is really paying attention to. But you know they're

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Speaker 1: also going to it sounds like they're still active in

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Speaker 1: the relief market and you know, they made one significant

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Speaker 1: addition there and they're not kind of done in that realm.

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Speaker 1: And I think in general, pitching remains the biggest focus

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Speaker 1: and really the kind of what we were talking about

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Speaker 1: from the moment the season ended, swing and miss and

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Speaker 1: like stuff, both in the starting rotation and the bullpen.

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Speaker 1: I think they want more of that, and I think

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Speaker 1: they're looking to add that to their roster.

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Speaker 3: I'm dating myself here, and I think it happened that

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Speaker 3: a winter long ago winter meetings, but talking to kind

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Speaker 3: of a scout about you know, uh, a prospect a

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Speaker 3: team was interested in, or some kind of what if

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Speaker 3: draft type stories, and the response was like a fishing analogy,

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Speaker 3: like you gotta get them on the boat, meaning it's

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Speaker 3: it's great to be have your lines in the water

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Speaker 3: and like be engaged on this stuff, but you gotta

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Speaker 3: you gotta bring them in. And I think this is

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Speaker 3: that moment for the Cubs of like, you built this

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Speaker 3: team to this point. We saw what Wrigley Field was

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Speaker 3: like in October. There are these obvious areas that you

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Speaker 3: have to upgrade, Like it is for us exhausting to

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Speaker 3: constantly be like, well, Cubs are interested in player X,

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Speaker 3: but he's probably gonna sign with another team because the

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Speaker 3: Cubs don't have the baseball budget for it, like which

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Speaker 3: in certain cases, yes, okay, like Wan Soto's contract was

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Speaker 3: just ginormous. All right, fine, like if you don't want

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Speaker 3: to do that, But it just happens so often over

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Speaker 3: the last couple of years that is just just kind

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Speaker 3: of tiring to cover, to be honest with you, and

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Speaker 3: so I think, like now is that moment where you

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Speaker 3: know whether it's pregnant or not, whether it's you know,

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Speaker 3: he my, Michael King, Zach Gallon. We're not really sure

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Speaker 3: where what Framber's market looks like, but they're interesting names

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Speaker 3: out there. There are ways to like turn up this team,

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Speaker 3: and like they got to do it. I think Jed sometimes,

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Speaker 3: you know, likes to downplay expectations. You know, one of

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Speaker 3: the first answers during that first media session of the

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Speaker 3: GM meetings, he was talking about, you know, we're gonna

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Speaker 3: be aggressive in minor league signings, and like that would

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Speaker 3: have been the perfect quote to just put on Twitter

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Speaker 3: just to troll Cubs fans. But it's like, yeah, you

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Speaker 3: have to do everything. And the Cubs sort of taking

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Speaker 3: themselves out at the top of the market for years,

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Speaker 3: like you would think at some point that would sort

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Speaker 3: of swing back the other way and would allow them

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Speaker 3: to kind of get back into that deep end.

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Speaker 1: There's it is kind of setting up well for the

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Speaker 1: Cubs in a sense too. There's no insane bidding war

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Speaker 1: for Wan Sota or Showtani type to to kind of

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Speaker 1: make it to to enrage the fans, like they're not even.

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Speaker 2: Trying for this very obvious fit.

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Speaker 1: Or I guess they did try for show hey, but

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Speaker 1: you know that, like it was kind of fade a

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Speaker 1: company there.

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Speaker 2: But there's not that guy. You could argue it's Kyle Tucker, but.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think Cubs fans have been prepared for

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Speaker 1: his departure for a while. It's also it doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: like it from what I've heard and gathered, Like it

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem like other organizations are being as aggressive as

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Speaker 1: as they have in previous winters outside of Toronto. Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's no crazy spender this this winter.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: That kind of works in the cubs favor where they

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Speaker 1: can kind of stay in on all these you know,

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Speaker 1: players that they're interested in and and perhaps real one

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Speaker 1: in and and and and like getting back to the

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Speaker 1: fact that there are players that kind of fit that

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Speaker 1: you know that that aren't going to break the budget.

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Speaker 1: I think Michael King is kind of the perfect example

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Speaker 1: of that, Like a better Matthew Boyd or yeah, like

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Speaker 1: a higher end Matthew Boyd. He's probably gonna cost more,

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Speaker 1: and he's definitely going to cost more than Matthew Boyd.

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Speaker 2: Uh, but.

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Speaker 1: Uh, he has the he's not going to in all likelihood,

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Speaker 1: it's not going.

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Speaker 2: To be like this five or six year deal.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like maybe if the market is robust

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Speaker 1: enough for him, it pushes to there. These things can

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Speaker 1: always and you know, you just don't want to make

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Speaker 1: complete assumptions there.

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Speaker 2: But he's not.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't seem like a break the bank type, really pitcher,

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Speaker 1: and and I think that's kind of like right in

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Speaker 1: the Cubs wheelhouse, especially with the upside that he has,

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Speaker 1: Like he has the potential to be exactly what they're

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Speaker 1: looking for, someone that can compete and look like a

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Speaker 1: number one at times, someone that strikes a ton of

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Speaker 1: guys out and could be a little undervalued because you

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Speaker 1: know of his injury history. But that also gives some

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Speaker 1: benefit of like like like Boyd, it's like, well, he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have a ton of mileage on his arm, and

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Speaker 1: it's like maybe his best years are ahead of him.

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Speaker 2: Maybe the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: See some ways that they can keep him healthy and

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Speaker 1: keep him fresh. He seems like a really good fit.

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Speaker 1: You could make the same argument in my opinion for

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Speaker 1: like like am I could be a really good Fit

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Speaker 1: and Gallon if they especially if they see like fixes

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Speaker 1: for Gallon or or their ideas where like.

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Speaker 2: This is what went wrong and you can get them

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Speaker 2: back to.

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Speaker 1: The previous version of Gallen at potentially discouted price for

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Speaker 1: maybe not you know, he's a Scott Boris client, so

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Speaker 1: you're not getting them for cheap, but you're still you're

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Speaker 1: not paying what it would have cost to get Sack

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Speaker 1: Gallon two three years ago.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think this is where using the infrastructure

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Speaker 3: terms sometimes people probably roll their eyes, but like, look,

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Speaker 3: they've they've done a good job of identifying these starting pitchers,

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Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd, Jamison Tyona in Minaga, how they helped Justin

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Speaker 3: Steele turn the corner here and again you're looking at

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Speaker 3: probably wanting to invest a little bit.

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Speaker 2: In the long term of Tyne.

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Speaker 3: Showeda Boyd all potentially becoming free agents to the twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty six season. I guess con Ray now has a

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Speaker 3: club option, but obviously he's in his what late thirties

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Speaker 3: now mid to late thirties. Kate Horton, you had a

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Speaker 3: good story on him the other day of like what

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Speaker 3: he is becoming could become the evolution of his game

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Speaker 3: has been very impressive, but there's not a ton of

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Speaker 3: workload to kind of maybe I think that that lack

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Speaker 3: of workload, I should say, is probably going to give

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Speaker 3: you a little bit of pause of like what is

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Speaker 3: this going to look like? Hopefully he just stays healthy

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Speaker 3: and doesn't have to deal with that, but that's usually

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Speaker 3: not how it works. So yeah, I think any of

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Speaker 3: these guys you're looking at, you know, kind of a

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Speaker 3: potential playoff caliber starter over you know, a multi year window.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we'll be digging into that over the course

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Speaker 1: of the next seven days and and really you know,

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Speaker 1: the rest of this month and into next year. But

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Speaker 1: we expect things to to kind of pick up over

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Speaker 1: the coming days. Like I said, we're we're heading to

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Speaker 1: Orlando for the Winter Meetings on Sunday. We'll have a

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Speaker 1: couple of shows for you from there, hopefully with some news,

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Speaker 1: certainly with some news around the league, like there's something's

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Speaker 1: gonna happen, and I'm sure the dam will break and

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Speaker 1: and and there will be a lot of action, uh

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Speaker 1: in the coming days as we head into the full

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Speaker 1: swing of the Hot Stoves season. All right, this is

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Speaker 1: North Side Territory. Thanks so much for listening, make sure

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Speaker 1: to rate, review and subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel

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Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and Iron top

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Speaker 1: of all things cubs. Thanks for listening, everyone, Take care.

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Speaker 2: Everything I really do.

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Speaker 1: How I Redd