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

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Speaker 1: sah Dave Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are

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Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic.

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: First of all, I need to tell that the listeners

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Speaker 1: and the YouTube watchers, we are using a different program.

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Speaker 2: Especially you YouTube watchers.

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Speaker 1: If there's any hiccups here, I apologize, but it should

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Speaker 1: look better. Hopefully it sounds better or or no worse.

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Speaker 1: And as always, we appreciate you watching and listening and

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Speaker 1: I will make sure not to screw anything up here

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Speaker 1: as best as I can. It's my job to write,

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Speaker 1: not as much to produce, but you know we'll make

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Speaker 1: it work. That's not the big news. The big news

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Speaker 1: is spring training has begun. Pitchers and catchers reported today.

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Speaker 1: It is Wednesday. I'm out here in Arizona. Patrick, I

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Speaker 1: know you watched the opening pressers, but yeah, the excitement

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Speaker 1: is back. We saw jameson ty Owne Live Bullpen. We

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Speaker 1: got to talk to some guys. The position players are like,

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Speaker 1: I'm not here, don't bug me until Monday when I'm actually.

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Speaker 2: Supposed to report.

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Speaker 1: But we talked to plenty of people, including Jed and

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Speaker 1: Carter Craig Council and spring training vibes.

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Speaker 2: Can't beat it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it always bothers me of seeing like some of

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Speaker 3: the like videos on social media or this, like you

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Speaker 3: know we're talking about practice, like oh the swing looks different,

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Speaker 3: or like someone hit a.

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Speaker 2: Home run or a double in like live batting practice.

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Speaker 3: Don't care, but yeah, I am very curious, Like what

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Speaker 3: were your you know, first impressions of day one. You've

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Speaker 3: covered a lot of these, you got a lot of

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Speaker 3: experience to draw from, Like when you were kind of

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Speaker 3: walking back to the rental car and back to the hotel,

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Speaker 3: what was kind of running through your mind?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's they you don't want it to

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Speaker 1: be different than any other spring training. I don't think

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Speaker 1: they want it to be completely different and feel like

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Speaker 1: you want to come in every spring training and feel optimistic.

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Speaker 1: But I think everyone agrees there's a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a different feeling. Tyne kind of said what I'm saying, Like,

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Speaker 1: you don't want it to be different, but there's you know,

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Speaker 1: there's always optimism on day one, but it feels like

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Speaker 1: let's get to work type thing, is what Tyone said.

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Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, we got something special we could do here.

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Speaker 1: Let's get to work and then get after it. Craig

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Speaker 1: Counsel said it, Yeah, they got a taste of it,

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Speaker 1: and now there's more to do. Jed Hoyer kind of said,

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Speaker 1: like they're all saying that last year was great. They

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Speaker 1: had a good season, they got to the playoffs, ended

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Speaker 1: that playoff drout, but now there's you know, higher goals

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Speaker 1: that they they want to win a World Series. They

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Speaker 1: want to go much deeper in October, and that seems

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Speaker 1: to be the clear message. You know, they haven't had

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Speaker 1: that meeting with the full group where Craig Council kind

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Speaker 1: of gives his message for the season and what they

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Speaker 1: need to do. But I assume a lot of it

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Speaker 1: is going to be with this is the ultimate goal.

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Speaker 1: It's it's not just make the playoffs. It's not you know,

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Speaker 1: personal statistics, it's none of that's it's winning a World

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Speaker 1: Series and they have the group that can do it.

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Speaker 1: You know, a lot of them brought up moves that

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Speaker 1: were made made this off season feel like there was

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Speaker 1: one directive for this season, and I think we all

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Speaker 1: agree on that, like this this did feel like a

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Speaker 1: different offseason for them, and and you know, I think

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Speaker 1: now it's time to get to work, and the task

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Speaker 1: at hand is, you know, make sure you're healthy and

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Speaker 1: ready prepared for a start of a long season with

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Speaker 1: ultimate goal being a World Series.

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Speaker 3: In listening to Jed and Carter, I thought it was

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Speaker 3: interesting just how much work they've already done that comparing

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Speaker 3: to previous years of like there was that like one

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Speaker 3: free agent hanging over everything, whether it was Alex Bregman

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Speaker 3: or Cody Bellinger or there wasn't that really you know,

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Speaker 3: proof of concept yet. I mean it was only a

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Speaker 3: year ago. Jed Hoyer's on the hot seat. Craig Council,

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Speaker 3: you know, finished with an eighty three and seventy nine record,

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Speaker 3: the same one that David Ross did when he got fired.

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Speaker 3: There were just a lot of unknowns. They were still selling,

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Speaker 3: selling hope and you know, kind of crossing their fingers

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Speaker 3: about certain players taking steps forward. And there's not gonna

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Speaker 3: be a whole lot of that this year. They just

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Speaker 3: have to go out and perform and do it and

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Speaker 3: all of that. But the Cops are projecting a lot

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Speaker 3: more stability than they have in recent years.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's.

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Speaker 1: You know, some of these players that there were so

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Speaker 1: many questions about I think you feel a little bit

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Speaker 1: more comfortable with what they can do. Obviously, there's work

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Speaker 1: that needs to be done with the younger players like

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Speaker 1: Peter Armstrong needs to show some consistency or take maybe

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Speaker 1: not a leap forward, but a step forward. That's what

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Speaker 1: every young player's goal is. Kate Horton, I think with

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Speaker 1: you know, I think the word that council used was

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Speaker 1: he dominated last season, met every challenge he did. You know,

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Speaker 1: after that Houston start, he dominated. Now it's build upon that,

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Speaker 1: improve upon that, Go do it for a full season,

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Speaker 1: go do it in the playoffs. So you know, there's

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Speaker 1: there's those young players that there were so many questions

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Speaker 1: about last year, and they've answered those questions and now

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Speaker 1: it's like build upon your success. Yes, so it feels

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Speaker 1: a little bit less like can these guys perform at

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Speaker 1: the highest level? We know all even that Shaw who's

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Speaker 1: essentially a bench player. Now, you know, we saw his

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Speaker 1: second half. Okay, he can have success in the big leagues.

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Speaker 1: We saw what he did on defense. Okay, he can

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Speaker 1: handle their base if if that's where he's going to

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Speaker 1: play on occasion, he's going to play all over obviously,

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Speaker 1: but it's just like all these young players have shown like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: they can handle it to a certain degree. But I

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Speaker 1: think when you add veterans like Alex Bregman, when you

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Speaker 1: make a trade for a guy that you've been desperate

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Speaker 1: to get for a year now, Edward Cabrera, they've had

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Speaker 1: him on their radars, like, those are the types of

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Speaker 1: moves that make it feel a little bit more concrete,

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Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, okay, you know, I think you

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Speaker 1: and I talk about this a lot on the podcast

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Speaker 1: about the frustration fans feel about not finishing these offseasons,

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Speaker 1: are not doing what you can to be a winning team,

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Speaker 1: that that type of team building can be kind of

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Speaker 1: plotting at times for certain organizations, and it felt like

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Speaker 1: that with the Cubs, certainly weren't finishing off off seasons

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Speaker 1: in the manner that anyone would have liked to have seen.

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Speaker 1: This feels different, and you can kind of feel it

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Speaker 1: from the start of spring training. I'm not surprised. This

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Speaker 1: is kind of what I came into the day thinking about.

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Speaker 1: And they said all the things you'd expect for a

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Speaker 1: team that had the off season they did, and for

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Speaker 1: a team that you know has a lot of high expectations.

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Speaker 1: It's not just internal. This isn't you know, this isn't

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Speaker 1: the far fetched. Oh, anybody can make it. You know,

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Speaker 1: anybody can make the playoffs. It's spring It's day one

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Speaker 1: and spring training.

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Speaker 3: You know this is if you squint, If you squint,

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Speaker 3: you can see it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, like twenty twenty three, twenty four, Like you know,

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Speaker 1: you had to like, Okay, well, they've made some moves,

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Speaker 1: they've done some things. They haven't really added en up

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Speaker 1: impact or anything. But these past two years at least

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Speaker 1: you felt like they've made enough moves to be a

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Speaker 1: playoff team. And this year especially, it feels very different.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, when Jed was sort of asked to compare the expectations,

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Speaker 3: I feel like nineteen oh eight like hungover this franchise

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Speaker 3: in such a way that it's just like a total

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Speaker 3: before and after, Like I don't think anything will you know,

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Speaker 3: sort of replace that. But it did make me think of, like,

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Speaker 3: you know, getting to the NLCS and like kind of

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Speaker 3: tasting the playoffs certainly increase the appetite to spend and

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Speaker 3: to think bigger and do more. And you know, obviously

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Speaker 3: the last playoff appearance the Cubs came off of was

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Speaker 3: twenty into twenty one, and that was obviously a weird

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Speaker 3: spring training. There was just so much uncertainty about that group,

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Speaker 3: Like it was just such a like an in your

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Speaker 3: face angle to the entire season. It was the defining

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Speaker 3: angle of that season. And so it's it's been a

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Speaker 3: while to where you could sort of circle the Cubs

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Speaker 3: as a clear off season winner, where you can say, look,

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Speaker 3: they spent money, not as much as some of their

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Speaker 3: big market competitors, but certainly they creatively addressed a lot

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Speaker 3: of pressing areas in a timely manner, because it does

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Speaker 3: make a difference when you have almost your entire group

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Speaker 3: there from the start. And I think we'll get into

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Speaker 3: this more kind of after the break of just like

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Speaker 3: there was a good news item today and as well

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Speaker 3: as like what else is still out there in this

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Speaker 3: sort of off season slash spring training phase of the calendar.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, let's take that break now and talk about some

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Speaker 1: things that Greig Council brought up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Patrick Craig Counsel not one to label his relievers, and

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Speaker 1: our buddy Jesse Rogers asked kind of about April and

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Speaker 1: is this going to be in April where where you're

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Speaker 1: kind of figuring out roles and then and then after

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Speaker 1: Counsel gave his answer on that, he Jesse followed up

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Speaker 1: with if if the season started tomorrow, uh, is Daniel

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Speaker 1: Plancio working the ninth Then Council shocked us out, but

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Speaker 1: shocked us all by saying yes, that was his answer. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we're I think everyone, even Jesse was shocked, kind of

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Speaker 1: looked over at the other reporters like, oh, okay, like

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Speaker 1: we were all we were. Council noticed everyone's shock and

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Speaker 1: made a joke about a nice scoop Jesse. Uh, and

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Speaker 1: you know, I don't think I'll be I was surprised.

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Speaker 1: I'm surprised that he said that. I figured he'd go

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Speaker 1: closer by committee. But look, Daniel Plancy, I saw him today.

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Speaker 1: We talked to him today, like if like he looks

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Speaker 1: better than he did coming into last spring, and he

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Speaker 1: looked great last spring, Like I had to he was

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Speaker 1: walking off the field, would already talk to him, so

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Speaker 1: I'd already seen him, and like, as he's approaching coming

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Speaker 1: off the field, I'm kind of like, is that Daniel Plancy?

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Speaker 1: Is that someone I don't know? Because he is he

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Speaker 1: looks good, like I mean, you know.

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Speaker 6: You say that, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but he's he's doing

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Speaker 6: it again, and like I I appreciate that he did

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Speaker 6: it coming into last spring, got himself physically right, got

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Speaker 6: himself mentally right, Like that was a big part of it.

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Speaker 2: I think the mental aspect of the game.

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Speaker 1: Was wearing on him and and you know, relievers can't

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Speaker 1: you can't do that.

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Speaker 2: You can't allow that to happen. And I think it

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Speaker 2: was leading to some of his struggles, you know.

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Speaker 1: And he's fixed both aspects and he looks great, and

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Speaker 1: I think he's excited to get this opportunity at least

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Speaker 1: to start the season. Look, this stuff is I wrote

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Speaker 1: about this today and bullpens have been saying this for

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Speaker 1: a long time, and it gets annoying if you've if

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Speaker 1: you've listened to me.

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Speaker 2: Talk about it.

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Speaker 1: But I just like, good luck predicting a bullpen. Good

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Speaker 1: luck predicting who's going to be great in the bullpen.

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Speaker 1: Porter Hodge last year was was a stud for this team.

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Speaker 1: Ryan Presley was supposed to be the closer. So who knows.

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Speaker 1: Who knows what's going to happen in May, June, and July.

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Speaker 1: You know what, I'll tell you. One thing I know

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Speaker 1: is going to happen, they're going to trade for a

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Speaker 1: reliever at the deadline, assuming they don't struggle mightily in

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Speaker 1: the in the in the first half of the season.

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Speaker 1: But that's the only thing you can really predict when

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Speaker 1: it comes to bullpits.

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Speaker 3: It's funny. I was thinking about when I tap in

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Speaker 3: for you February twenty whatever in Arizona. I was trying

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Speaker 3: to think of, you know, kind of annoying questions to

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Speaker 3: ask counsel as soon as I got there, and like

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Speaker 3: I assumed, I assumed who's your closer would still be

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Speaker 3: kind of on the board of something that had been

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Speaker 3: asked many times and that he had you know, bypassed

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Speaker 3: several times. So I guess we'll be down there, you know,

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Speaker 3: who's your opening day starter? And then the classic, you

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Speaker 3: know house Pete crow Armstrong swing looking.

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Speaker 2: Because I had that really annoyed him last year.

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Speaker 3: Well, we went to like every road city, there'd be

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Speaker 3: a question about, you know, Pete's swing. So at least

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Speaker 3: I said, of those two in my in my back pocket.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, on our slack message shame with our editor

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Speaker 3: at the Athletic, I was, yeah, I was really kind

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Speaker 3: of stunned that Craig would go there that early. Maybe

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Speaker 3: it's a whole new Greig counsel. I'm not holding my

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Speaker 3: breath at all, but one can dream on.

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Speaker 2: The first dance of spring trending.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if you want to complain about anything

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Speaker 1: in this off season, that's probably it.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 1: The Cubs didn't go out and get a no doubt closer.

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Speaker 1: They have time to go do that. If this doesn't work,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's what you can. I think I appreciate

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Speaker 1: how Jed kind of said, like you can't do like

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Speaker 1: they really learned their lesson and he probably knew it,

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Speaker 1: but he probably he was taking a risk by not

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Speaker 1: getting it done last offseason getting a starter, and he

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Speaker 1: couldn't get it done at the deadline. It's really hard

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Speaker 1: to acquire at least an impact starter, depth starter.

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Speaker 2: I think you can do that.

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Speaker 1: It's really hard to swing the trade because those prices

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Speaker 1: are high, and especially it's a seller's market always now

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Speaker 1: because of how many playoff teams there are. Everyone feels

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Speaker 1: like they can sneak in, so maybe they go get

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Speaker 1: a closer. Maybe Daniel Palentcy isn't the closer come July.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, but you know, I do. I do

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Speaker 1: think we were all kind of taken aback there that

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Speaker 1: that he's willing to do that. I'll make sure to ask,

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Speaker 1: you know, who's he did, get asked whose opening day

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Speaker 1: starter he did, he wasn't willing to say that. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna make sure I ask who the leadoff it or

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Speaker 1: is just to get us another Yeah.

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Speaker 3: That's another good one.

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Speaker 1: We'll get a lecture about how lineup instruction is overrated

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Speaker 1: and then you know, maybe he'll actually tell.

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Speaker 2: Us, uh Patrick apside of that. It's depth for this team.

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Speaker 1: Right, We're still we're still waiting on Yeah, what more

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Speaker 1: will they do?

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Speaker 2: Can they do?

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Speaker 1: I I've said it, We've said it on the podcast.

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Speaker 2: I said it to Jed at the opener.

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Speaker 1: I said, you know, felt like going in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: THEO was obsessed what could go wrong?

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Speaker 2: What can go wrong?

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Speaker 1: And obsessed with trying to address every potential pitfall. And

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Speaker 1: I said it's out. I wonder if you're kind of

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Speaker 1: like that right now, And he's like, yeah, real healthy mindset.

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Speaker 2: But I enjoyed that. Yeah, but it is it is

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Speaker 2: his mindset and he is trying.

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Speaker 1: He with Carter and the rest of that front office

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Speaker 1: They're trying to figure out what could possibly go wrong

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Speaker 1: here and how do we address it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know, we talked about this a

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Speaker 3: couple episodes ago, Like it still feels like there's another

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Speaker 3: move out there, but the options are sort of dwindling.

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Speaker 3: We've talked about this before, but with certain negotiations, all

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Speaker 3: it could take is on one phone call, one text message.

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Speaker 3: But I think our understanding is still Zach Gallon is unlikely, right,

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Speaker 3: I mean.

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Speaker 1: I'd be I'm, like we said, very surprised. I'd be

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Speaker 1: even more surprised than I was a week ago.

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Speaker 3: All Right, So I got don't you know, unless while

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Speaker 3: we're recording, momentum suddenly accelerates, it sounds like Cubs are

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Speaker 3: probably not the front runner heavy favorites for him.

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Speaker 1: So Patrick, one thing I want to say on that.

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Speaker 1: Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to point out,

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Speaker 1: like there have been injuries all across camps. We see

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Speaker 1: that trickling in like crazy Atlanta is now. You know,

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Speaker 1: people are speculating are they in on Gallon because Spencer

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Speaker 1: Schwellenback is injured. You know, it's early, it's day one,

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Speaker 1: but we asked both the Jed and council. Right now,

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Speaker 1: there's no health issues. Javier A sad Moises Biasteros and

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Speaker 1: one other player are having visa issues. Other than that,

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Speaker 1: it's you know, they seem healthy and ready to go.

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Speaker 1: So that's just one other thing I wanted to point out.

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Speaker 1: When it comes to Gallon, this is not a team

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Speaker 1: that's desperate for that that move because someone got banged up. Look,

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Speaker 1: injuries happen in the pitching staff. We understand that. But

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Speaker 1: right now they're they're healthy, they're you know, Justin Steel's

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Speaker 1: on the road to recovery. But he's on pace. It's

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Speaker 1: not like he's behind.

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Speaker 3: You know. That's a great point, and just the motivation

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Speaker 3: or the urgency just hasn't seemed to be there. While

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Speaker 3: this front office has received more resources this year, it's

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Speaker 3: not like the Cubs are suddenly spending like the Dodgers

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Speaker 3: or the Mets or the Yankees, like fitting him in,

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Speaker 3: making the draft pick, bonus pool stuff work, you know,

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Speaker 3: promising him the runway he would want, including probably an

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Speaker 3: opt out after year one, like all of that stuff.

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Speaker 3: Don't really see it happening. Do you think they give

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Speaker 3: someone a major league deal, someone.

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Speaker 1: Who'd Yeah, I think there's you know, there are there

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Speaker 1: are still plenty of players out there, so I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be shocked by a forty man. Addition, it would be depth.

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Speaker 1: I think this is the starters are kind of set.

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Speaker 1: I think I don't know if we've recorded since Boston

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Speaker 1: acquired Caleb Durban.

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Speaker 2: I don't think we have.

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Speaker 1: That I think reduces Matt Shaw trade potential significantly. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think there are always teams that could be interested

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Speaker 1: in a player like that, but Boston was like searching

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Speaker 1: for that type of player and they went and got

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Speaker 1: someone else from Cub's rival. Obviously, they got three infielders

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Speaker 1: in that deal, so I don't think they're looking for

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Speaker 1: any infield help in Boston, at least not right now.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I think we're we're looking at like

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Speaker 1: is it twenty six man?

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Speaker 2: Roster said no, but it could be. They don't.

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Speaker 1: They're not desperate to go out and make major league editions,

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Speaker 1: but the bench is still a little unsettled, and you

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Speaker 1: can always add to the bullpen. I think that's you know,

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Speaker 1: whether it's December, February or July, you're always looking to

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Speaker 1: improve your bullpen. So I don't think they'll rule anything

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Speaker 1: out there, it's just not it's improving upon around the margins,

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Speaker 1: not this impact guy. Like I think right now, any

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Speaker 1: of that type of stuff would be a surprise.

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Speaker 2: Okay, that's good. I mean I think it.

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Speaker 3: We'll still be on high alert for that stuff, but

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Speaker 3: I think that's it's good to give our listeners a

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Speaker 3: snap shot of like this is where it's at on

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Speaker 3: day one, and maybe things change, maybe you know, certain

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Speaker 3: stance ins, stances soften and they find common grounds somewhere.

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Speaker 3: But I mean, looking at if this is it, I

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Speaker 3: think you Cubs fans have a ninety plus win team.

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Speaker 3: I mean on paper, that's what it looks like. And

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Speaker 3: if you have that, you have a legit World Series contender.

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Speaker 3: I think that's kind of the bottom line.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's all about health, especially on the rotation,

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Speaker 1: which we talked about quite a bit. We'll get into

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Speaker 1: that more in future episodes see who El's Talks, See

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Speaker 1: what else trickles out over the next couple of days,

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Speaker 1: but we'll be back with more from spring training.

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Speaker 2: Eventually.

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Speaker 1: You'll be out here and given dispatches. But nice to

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Speaker 1: get out to Arizona see some baseball and hopefully plenty

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Speaker 1: more to talk about coming up here. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make sure

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

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Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on

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