Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Sahadem Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, it
Speaker 1: is getting hot and heavy on the hot stove where
Speaker 1: it is. It's going to get busy by the time
Speaker 1: this podcast releases. Who knows what trades will have happened,
Speaker 1: but there have been some decent ones. Nothing huge, but
Speaker 1: we've seen some moves already over the past twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: The Twins getting Dean Kramer, an interesting trade between Cleveland
Speaker 1: and Milwaukee. There was another trade last night that I'm
Speaker 1: blanking on right now. But I know there's been multiple
Speaker 1: moves over the past twenty four hours. These aren't the
Speaker 1: huge moves. These aren't the earth shattering moves. I think
Speaker 1: everything that we're hearing makes it seem like it's going
Speaker 1: to be a fun deadline. I don't think it's going
Speaker 1: to be uneventful. But right now, prices are high, and
Speaker 1: that's part of what we're going to talk about. The
Speaker 1: big prize of the deadline for probably one of the
Speaker 1: highest prices of a rental that we're going to see
Speaker 1: definitely this summer, maybe like for a while, like in
Speaker 1: a long we haven't seen the price this high for
Speaker 1: a rental in a while, not in this era where
Speaker 1: young prospects are so valued. But Trek's gouble. In all likelihood,
Speaker 1: it seems like we're headed towards inevitably Terrek School is
Speaker 1: going to end this season on another team and not
Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this will be obviously the biggest story
Speaker 2: of the deadline, and the Cubs are involved. I think
Speaker 2: we were both sort of like waiting to hear kind
Speaker 2: of a firm know or oh that's crazy, And yes,
Speaker 2: they think the you know, projected asking prices are crazy,
Speaker 2: but they haven't shot.
Speaker 3: It down, they haven't ruled it out.
Speaker 2: And I think that doesn't tell us that, you know,
Speaker 2: schoobl is coming in to Wrigley Field. I think it's
Speaker 2: more of just how ambitious and open minded they are
Speaker 2: at this particular transaction transaction cycle. Obviously, the way the
Speaker 2: team has played. If they were in the Brewers position,
Speaker 2: I think, you know, their odds forgetting Schooble would have
Speaker 2: gone up a.
Speaker 3: Lot higher, but it's not zero.
Speaker 2: And I think kind of an interesting part of this
Speaker 2: as we were reporting it out. I don't think this
Speaker 2: is going to be like the deciding factor. But it's
Speaker 2: interesting to hear how Scooble really enjoys Chicago and that
Speaker 2: his family is very rooted in Arizona. My understanding, he
Speaker 2: has a home very close to the Cubs MESA Complex,
Speaker 2: which would make spring training in the Cactus League a
Speaker 2: very appealing option. And if if you're a free agent
Speaker 2: at that level, there's only so many teams that are
Speaker 2: gonna be willing to pay in that range. Granted, for
Speaker 2: the Cubs, it will probably be an unprecedented commitment to
Speaker 2: a pitcher. So not saying like the Cubs are slam
Speaker 2: dunk there by enemies, but it's another like layer to
Speaker 2: this as you sort of game out different scenarios.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it so the price is is what, like I
Speaker 1: just cannot get past fully for this, for this to
Speaker 1: be realistic for the Cubs for two reasons. One, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Cubs are just like I don't think
Speaker 1: they're going to get over that hump of like being like, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's just do this. I know it's ridiculous. I know
Speaker 1: it's what the model says is that we should not
Speaker 1: do this, but we're gonna do it, Like I struggle
Speaker 1: with them getting over that hurdle, and then there's just
Speaker 1: gonna be a team like Milwaukee or Milwaukee may stick
Speaker 1: to that mentality as well, because Milwaukee is probably like
Speaker 1: probably needs to be more disciplined than the Cubs to
Speaker 1: that philosophy in order to thrive. Right, Like, one misstep
Speaker 1: and giving up the wrong prospect can set them back.
Speaker 1: That's just how it works for them. They're so talented,
Speaker 1: they have so much young talent prospect wise, especially, but
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, like I feel like if you want to
Speaker 1: kind of overpay, like the Dodgers can do that. Like
Speaker 1: they can give you a starter that can go like
Speaker 1: this year, you know, or a young pitcher that can
Speaker 1: go right away, and a prospect, you know, a highly
Speaker 1: thought of prospect that would probably be like in the
Speaker 1: middle of their top ten. But most other teams, like
Speaker 1: you know, number one or two prospects. So it just
Speaker 1: feels like that's that's likely what happens. But I don't
Speaker 1: want to rule it out because it could, you know,
Speaker 1: it could become that moment where it's like, look we're
Speaker 1: going to we're really good. I mean Jed is not
Speaker 1: I know people. I think people listen to Jed sometimes
Speaker 1: and just get this idea that he doesn't do aggressive moves.
Speaker 1: He doesn't do things that you know, because of the
Speaker 1: intelligence spending became such a big deal twenty thirty two
Speaker 1: became such a big deal with Carter, they just think
Speaker 1: they don't give up prospects ever, and I don't think
Speaker 1: that's true. You have there has to be a balance here.
Speaker 1: I mean, they paid up for Kyle Tucker and the
Speaker 1: prospect like with prospects and talent. They gave money to
Speaker 1: Alex Bregman. He spent in that big shortstop class. Yes
Speaker 1: it was the cheapest shortstop of that class, but it's
Speaker 1: also the most valuable shortstop from that class. So it's
Speaker 1: not like he's afraid to make moves. And he was
Speaker 1: right hand man during all those big moves. I know
Speaker 1: everyone only wants to give credit to the THEO on that,
Speaker 1: but Jed was a part of that, so he does
Speaker 1: get some credit for it. So maybe he proves me
Speaker 1: wrong here. I also just don't know if it's the
Speaker 1: right move, But like Terrek Schooble would obviously change things,
Speaker 1: and I think with an elite defense, and in a
Speaker 1: damn good offense. I guess you can say lead offense
Speaker 1: because by war it's the best in baseball. Uh, it
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. Add Schooble, add some relievers,
Speaker 1: and and you have one of the best, if not
Speaker 1: the best team in baseball, certainly a team that can
Speaker 1: compete with the Dodgers, no doubt.
Speaker 2: I mean the players in the clubhouse, Craig Counsel, his
Speaker 2: coaches have you know, put together a product that makes
Speaker 2: them seriously consider Scooble, Like you know, they have passed
Speaker 2: the eye test, and.
Speaker 3: They've shown a lot of resiliency in that.
Speaker 2: Regard overcoming injuries, not letting the season go off the rails.
Speaker 2: You're right about Jed, And I get it why fans
Speaker 2: are skeptical. Like we write about this stuff, we talk
Speaker 2: about this stuff. You can sometimes feel the eye rolls,
Speaker 2: or you see the comments on social media or within
Speaker 2: the comments section itself. And yeah, he did not have
Speaker 2: like the greatest trade deadline last year, and it looked
Speaker 2: odd to get a contract extension in a lame duck
Speaker 2: year before the deadline, and then to really just sort
Speaker 2: of play it safe and like every move made sense
Speaker 2: on paper. But it did not substantially raise the ceiling
Speaker 2: for that team. So I get all that. But and
Speaker 2: part of this is, you know, Jed's personality, how he
Speaker 2: presents himself. To his credit, he's very available. He talks
Speaker 2: to the media a lot, so I think, and I
Speaker 2: think that helps him in the long run. You know,
Speaker 2: fans can see his point of view, but it is
Speaker 2: a lot of like payroll flexibility model projects playoff probabilities.
Speaker 2: But that's not the entire breath of his experience as
Speaker 2: someone who was you know, you know, I wrote the
Speaker 2: other day at Kurt Chilling's house for Thanksgiving. You know,
Speaker 2: he's meeting with a rod trying to get him in
Speaker 2: the Red Sox, the Nomar trade, throws Chapman trade, and
Speaker 2: even more recent, hey, Kintana, the Tucker trade. And I
Speaker 2: also think the pursuit of Bregman and how they circled
Speaker 2: back to him and you know, raised their offer and
Speaker 2: fundamentally changed it in several different ways, clearly demonstrated level
Speaker 2: of aggressiveness and creativity. And I do think the dynamics
Speaker 2: of in the front off this, you mentioned Carter, you know,
Speaker 2: he is sort of a governor on some of this stuff.
Speaker 3: He is obviously very hype.
Speaker 2: He's hyper rational, and I think as Jed has done
Speaker 2: this for such a long time, and he has adopted,
Speaker 2: you know, some of Theo's qualities. I mean, THEO is
Speaker 2: sort of a one of one, very unique character. But
Speaker 2: you know, Jed knows what a really good team looks like,
Speaker 2: and this is it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that's that's the big thing. Right, He's
Speaker 1: been around for a long time. It's not like he
Speaker 1: can't identify the keys to He identified when he saw
Speaker 1: how important defense was to that twenty sixteen team, and
Speaker 1: he's like, I want to make that the bedrock of
Speaker 1: my next great team. And he executed it really well.
Speaker 1: And this team is an elite defensive team once again.
Speaker 1: And that's a big reason why they have a chance
Speaker 1: to go far in the playoffs. It's a big reason
Speaker 1: why you know, they can weather the storm and sometimes
Speaker 1: overcome pitchers that don't miss a lot of bats. That
Speaker 1: it makes them a better team, like in ways that
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we don't fully appreciate. It is it's
Speaker 1: their like bedrock, it's what they can fall back on.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh the bats are kind of slumping, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe we can win a game two to one because
Speaker 1: because our defense will just you know, smother the other
Speaker 1: team in a sense. All right, let's, uh let's take
Speaker 1: a quick break and then when we come back, we'll
Speaker 1: we'll talk about uh more pitchers and uh you know, pitching, pitching, pitching,
Speaker 1: I think is the thumb process going forward.
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Speaker 6: There is one place to be entrede deadline day watching
Speaker 6: Foul Territory of course. Aj Perdinski, Aeric Kratz, and Scott
Speaker 6: Brown will be live all afternoon speaking with insiders, reading
Speaker 6: tea leaves and reacting to unfolding deadline dry Join us
Speaker 6: on the FT YouTube channel at one pm ET and
Speaker 6: stay locked in through the six pm deadline next Monday.
Speaker 6: Foul Territory Network, It's baseball the way it should be.
Speaker 1: Covered Patrick, There's obviously going to be a lot of
Speaker 1: names talked about. Prospects will be a big part of
Speaker 1: this deadline, as they always are, so go to Baseball
Speaker 1: America and check out their analysis on the players traded.
Speaker 1: Baseball America is the best place to learn about all
Speaker 1: the prospects on the move this trade deadline season. Now
Speaker 1: through Monday, our viewers get thirty percent off the first
Speaker 1: year of any digital annual digital annual subscription with promo
Speaker 1: code north north Side thirty. That's code north Side thirty
Speaker 1: at Baseballamerica dot com. Speaking of prospects, Freddy Peralta is
Speaker 1: a name that's out there that is, you know, attractive
Speaker 1: to a lot of teams, including the Cubs. And one
Speaker 1: thing about Paralta, one thing that we're hearing right now
Speaker 1: is the asking price for Paralta is pretty high. I
Speaker 1: believe our buddies Ken Rosenthal and Will Salmon reported that
Speaker 1: it is a top one hundred level prospect right now.
Speaker 1: Is the current asking price. I think both of us
Speaker 1: have been told, like to just in general, the asking price.
Speaker 1: Asking prices are really high these things. That's just the case.
Speaker 1: In like seventy two hours, forty eight hours, like it
Speaker 1: starts to change in then around now, like it can
Speaker 1: start to like prices can start to change, but right
Speaker 1: now it's it's high.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: We're recording on Saturday morning ahead of a night game,
Speaker 2: weather permitting at Wrigley Field, And I think the sense
Speaker 2: we got was Okay, once you get into the weekend,
Speaker 2: things might start to pick up a little little more,
Speaker 2: teams start to find at least a bit more common ground.
Speaker 2: But there is nothing like a deadline to get these
Speaker 2: things done. And you know where is the Cubs are
Speaker 2: all over the pitching mark. We obviously have to start
Speaker 2: with schooble, like both with our show and our sort
Speaker 2: of reporting process, Like you know, if they're not setting
Speaker 2: a cap there, they're going to be looking all over
Speaker 2: peralta obvious connection to Craig Council.
Speaker 3: You know, they have a good relationship. I looked at it.
Speaker 2: I was surprised at how many pitchers the Cubs have
Speaker 2: added from the Brewers over the last you know, two
Speaker 2: and a half seasons, three years, wherever you want to
Speaker 2: start it from when he left the Brewers. I think
Speaker 2: the Cubs have a couple ideas about, you know, how
Speaker 2: to help unlock him and get him back on track.
Speaker 2: And it's the same logic that drove the David Peterson deal.
Speaker 2: Just change of scenery, better defense, see what happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this is one like when he's right
Speaker 1: one of the best pitchers in the game, like great
Speaker 1: stuff like good competitor, like just you know, maybe not
Speaker 1: Cy Young Award winner, not as dominant as Schoobale, but
Speaker 1: certainly someone that you can trust when he's right. And
Speaker 1: right now he isn't so or he's just not getting
Speaker 1: the results. It doesn't seem like he's way off. But yeah,
Speaker 1: certainly teams and we know the Cubs have ideas of like,
Speaker 1: this isn't you know, this isn't something that's unfixable. There's
Speaker 1: a way that you know, you can get this guy
Speaker 1: back to who he was. He's he came off one
Speaker 1: of the best seasons of his career, Like it wasn't
Speaker 1: like we're years removed from Freddy Peralta being great, Like
Speaker 1: he's a very good pitcher. Who was you know, borderline
Speaker 1: Cy Young contender and and now it's just been an
Speaker 1: awful season with the Mets. You know, some things are
Speaker 1: a little different with him, and and if the Cubs
Speaker 1: can get that right, the question is do you believe
Speaker 1: you can do it, Like is it a quick fix? Right,
Speaker 1: Like you don't you can't have a project. And my
Speaker 1: understanding is that they don't see it as like something
Speaker 1: that would be like weeks or months long project that
Speaker 1: they there are some tweaks that could get him back
Speaker 1: to being pretty damn good pretty quickly going to be executed.
Speaker 1: Cant like, what does he feel really good right now?
Speaker 3: Is it?
Speaker 1: Is it as simple? Is there any mental are there
Speaker 1: any mental hurdles that need to be crossed?
Speaker 3: Whatever?
Speaker 1: Those are questions that they need to figure out. And
Speaker 1: obviously the price. I think they're hoping the price goes
Speaker 1: down because they don't want to pay that hefty price.
Speaker 1: There have been Like I think there's a little more
Speaker 1: pitching available this year than there was last, so maybe
Speaker 1: prices won't be as crazy as last year. We didn't
Speaker 1: see as many deals last year, but the deals we
Speaker 1: saw there were some solid prospects moved Merrill, Kelly, Dustin May.
Speaker 1: These aren't like huge needle movers, and they got decent
Speaker 1: packages in return, nothing like overwhelming. It wasn't like the
Speaker 1: Mason Miller package, but they were solid, solid players traded
Speaker 1: in those moves. I personally thought that dust and May
Speaker 1: trade was kind of crazy at the time, and I
Speaker 1: mean he did not perform well enough for Boston to
Speaker 1: give up a prospect that ended up being top one
Speaker 1: hundred and James Tibbs at the third.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think that's what we've heard as well as just
Speaker 2: like they discuss everyone essentially, they look into just about
Speaker 2: everything and like cost is a factor here, like they're
Speaker 2: going to weigh all of that. That's why you know
Speaker 2: you could always tweet out cubs interested in pitcher X.
Speaker 2: You're probably right, like to some varying degree, we're focusing
Speaker 2: on the ones that we know and kind of why.
Speaker 3: They're interested in them.
Speaker 2: And I think you know one name you've been on
Speaker 2: top of a side of is Kevin Kevin Gosman.
Speaker 1: What do you gotta Yeah, yeah, I mean they are interested.
Speaker 1: They the peripherals are the same as last year. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's not like the velo is like ticked down to
Speaker 1: a scary level. Uh, it's still the same pitch mix. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, he's what is a fastball, splitter slider. I believe,
Speaker 1: uh it everything looks the same under the hood, and
Speaker 1: then you see the cra at like four and a half,
Speaker 1: like a full tick above last year. He is not
Speaker 1: the the guy that was did he win a cy
Speaker 1: Young or he was competing for US cy Young? I
Speaker 1: believe when he was with the Giants. He's not fully
Speaker 1: that guy. That guy was pushing like thirty percent strikeout
Speaker 1: rate like his first couple of years, his last couple
Speaker 1: of years in San Francisco, and then his first couple
Speaker 1: of years in Toronto. This was like an exceptional level.
Speaker 1: This is a guy that would be really good in
Speaker 1: my opinion, I like, I think he makes a lot
Speaker 1: of sense, and I'm hearing that they are interested in
Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman. Again, it's price. My guess is he's going
Speaker 1: to cost less than Freddy Beralta. He's just not having
Speaker 1: as good of a season. He's an a pending free agent.
Speaker 1: But I like the fact that the peripherals look. I
Speaker 1: think I said this on the last last podcast, or
Speaker 1: maybe I said this when we went on with our
Speaker 1: buddy Jesse Rodgers, but he just feels like the guy
Speaker 1: that is, you know, has the experience, has done it before.
Speaker 1: Is kind of like just not getting the greatest results
Speaker 1: right now, but it is very similar to who he
Speaker 1: was in the past and could have like two great months.
Speaker 1: I know that's not that I think fans get a
Speaker 1: little worried about that. I remember, I'll just bring this
Speaker 1: up and not to like be like, see I told
Speaker 1: you it was right, But like when I mentioned Raso
Speaker 1: Grace Iglesias last year, the comments, the pushback I got
Speaker 1: on that was like people were like, that is dumb,
Speaker 1: Like he's having a terrible season, he stinks. His second
Speaker 1: half with Atlanta last year was awesome. Like he was dominant,
Speaker 1: he was a stud reliever, and like there was a
Speaker 1: chance that he was available. He didn't get traded, but
Speaker 1: he was a stud. He figured it out and because
Speaker 1: he's a good reliever, he's a veteran reliever, and he's
Speaker 1: having another great season right now. But that's the type
Speaker 1: of idea this is. This is a guy with the history,
Speaker 1: This is a guy that performed in the postseason, and
Speaker 1: this is a guy whose stuff hasn't just like completely
Speaker 1: fallen off a cliff. And there's a lot of indicators
Speaker 1: that say he's the same guy. The era is the
Speaker 1: only thing that's different, and teams don't look at only er.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I like the Cole Hamil's comp from twenty eighteen. I
Speaker 2: think Jed sort of explained that over our podcast last year,
Speaker 2: and so that that makes a ton of sense.
Speaker 3: I'm sure.
Speaker 2: You know it'll come down to pretty close to the
Speaker 2: deadline there, all right, Was it cost between these two guys.
Speaker 2: I like the idea of someone you can just sort
Speaker 2: of plug in and let him figure it out. You're
Speaker 2: in a pretty good position regarding the wild card. This
Speaker 2: sounds like less of a project than Freddy, which I
Speaker 2: know you said they don't think it's like a major project,
Speaker 2: but there is still it seems a little riskier with Freddy.
Speaker 2: Maybe the upside's higher because of his age and what
Speaker 2: he did last year.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I guess this is one of those
Speaker 3: classic like like just be right. You know, the guy
Speaker 3: will have whatever it is, maybe ten twelve starts, you know,
Speaker 3: playoff appearance or two like you know, he'll just have
Speaker 3: to be at his best.
Speaker 1: Then absolutely, we're also hearing that. You know, I think
Speaker 1: this was obvious. I think the Cubs are going to
Speaker 1: add bullpen help. And you know, when when Jed talks
Speaker 1: about this in the past, I mean they've had good
Speaker 1: bullpens in the past and still added because it just
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You have to add arms. And I thought
Speaker 1: Council explained it well when we were talking about it.
Speaker 1: What day are we at Friday? Pregame? He I was
Speaker 1: kind of pushing him on adding bullpen and basically is
Speaker 1: he ultimately came to the very simple point that, look,
Speaker 1: you cannot add after after Monday, Like the waiver wire
Speaker 1: deadline doesn't exist anymore. You used to be able to
Speaker 1: like sneak guys through the waiver wire and then trade
Speaker 1: them and you could add like depth pieces for your bullpen.
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen anymore. So this is your roster after
Speaker 1: August third or whatever booth Like this weird date is
Speaker 1: now throwing me off. I think that's right. Right, today's
Speaker 1: August first, So that makes sense. So they are going
Speaker 1: to add bullpen help. What level of bullpen help, I
Speaker 1: think is the question. There's some big names that I've
Speaker 1: heard that they're interested in. I think Adrian Morojone would
Speaker 1: be like the only lefty that they'd like be really
Speaker 1: interested in. But that's different. He's like a game changer.
Speaker 1: They have some good lefties. I at first, I was like,
Speaker 1: initially I almost forgot about like their kind of depth
Speaker 1: of lefties. Like Ryan Rollinson's having a really good season.
Speaker 1: Caleb Thielbar is having a weird season, like giving up
Speaker 1: more home runs than he normally does, but his strike
Speaker 1: gout rate is insanely good, you know, I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: shocked if he's you know, the final two months, he's
Speaker 1: just dominant again. Like, he looks good, he looks fine,
Speaker 1: just some weird home run issues every now and then,
Speaker 1: and then you know, decent depth. If Hobe Milner comes back,
Speaker 1: and we'll see what this Kelly kid is, Antoine Kelly,
Speaker 1: I don't want to put anything on this kid. Yet.
Speaker 1: He looked good for like an inning and a third
Speaker 1: that's one one in a third inning. But you know
Speaker 1: they like him. He's got good stuff. So that's but
Speaker 1: if that's your fourth option, I think they'll be they'll
Speaker 1: take that right. But Morahane is the type that it's
Speaker 1: like you don't think about whether he's right handed or
Speaker 1: left handed. He's just a dominant reliever that you can
Speaker 1: probably have close games. And I think the biggest question
Speaker 1: there are two questions here, will the Padres actually move him.
Speaker 1: The Padres are kind of back in it now. Everything
Speaker 1: we're hearing is like back and forth on that. So
Speaker 1: I I wouldn't be shocked if Prowler hedges and says,
Speaker 1: let's move some of the pending free agents. Let's let's
Speaker 1: keep Mason Miller and the guys that aren't pending free agents.
Speaker 1: His system is pretty rough right now, so it could
Speaker 1: make sense for them to move him. The two other
Speaker 1: big names that could be available stuff wise, Luke Weaver
Speaker 1: and Jeff Hoffman. I think the biggest thing there. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Cubs are interested, it's going to be prospect costs,
Speaker 1: and also they have to consider, like both of those
Speaker 1: guys make eleven million dollars a year next year, Like
Speaker 1: do the cut? Like, yeah, the Cubs went out of
Speaker 1: their comfort zone and added film Aton and that didn't work.
Speaker 1: Do they want to allocate eleven million dollars for reliever
Speaker 1: next year when we know nothing about the CBA? But
Speaker 1: then they're set second tier?
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: I asked around to try and figure out, like, do
Speaker 1: you have to get like a bat misser? Do you
Speaker 1: have to like is it absolutely necessary that you get
Speaker 1: someone that you can really trust? And they're like, we
Speaker 1: could also just like kind of spray around and get
Speaker 1: a few. That's what they did last last deadline, And
Speaker 1: they did not expect Kittridge to be the pitcher that
Speaker 1: he was for them. He was much better than expected.
Speaker 1: I think the era may have been a little bit elevated,
Speaker 1: but he was striking out like nearly like thirty five
Speaker 1: nearly forty percent of the guys, and he wasn't walking anyone,
Speaker 1: and he became this huge piece in the postseason. So, like,
Speaker 1: you add two or three guys like that lower level
Speaker 1: that you know don't cost you much prospect wise, maybe
Speaker 1: one clicks. I don't love it. It also is kind
Speaker 1: of sometimes what you kind of have to do with
Speaker 1: a bullpen. But I think they need to add one
Speaker 1: more bat misser and then hope for some help and
Speaker 1: get guys like Palencia back. I think Hunter Harvey's a
Speaker 1: wild card. You cannot rely on him. Justin Steele, Ben Brown,
Speaker 1: if they're coming out of the bullpen, those would all
Speaker 1: be like bonus bets that you can hope for. But
Speaker 1: I think it's risky to rely on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: Kind of listening to your explanations and our various slack
Speaker 2: and texts exchanges, and I do think if we're sort
Speaker 2: of tempering expectations or creating a realistic framework, Like you
Speaker 2: don't get Scooble, but you get a guy you trust
Speaker 2: to start a playoff game, and you get at least
Speaker 2: one reliever who can pitch like the eighth inning of
Speaker 2: a playoff game, Like that's a good deadline, Like even
Speaker 2: if it's not scooble like that significantly that can make
Speaker 2: your team better in a really significant way. And I
Speaker 2: think it when you add a piece at the front
Speaker 2: of the rotation and like piece at the back of
Speaker 2: the bullpen, it just it just kind of shrinks the
Speaker 2: game and it pushes players into just better spots on
Speaker 2: the roster. Like I think you're limiting some exposure that way.
Speaker 2: I think you know, we've seen it with some of
Speaker 2: these relievers, you know, like it was regression coming. Can
Speaker 2: you trust them the rest of the way? And I
Speaker 2: think you just you build the depth, You give yourself
Speaker 2: a couple more insurance policies, And I think the Cubs
Speaker 2: have shown enough to this point where they if they
Speaker 2: do do that where they do kind of the grab
Speaker 2: bag approach and the bullpen, like one of them probably
Speaker 2: will stick.
Speaker 3: And one will be bad and one you know will
Speaker 3: be like.
Speaker 2: Sort of you know, okay, but we'll make a playoff
Speaker 2: roster and you know, getting lucky with small sample sizes,
Speaker 2: Like I've heard that via another organization, Like that's not
Speaker 2: only a Cups thing. It's not totally unreasonable to think.
Speaker 2: I think we're still at I think the over under
Speaker 2: now on pitchers they get might be two and a half.
Speaker 2: I think that's it's probably right right around there, you know,
Speaker 2: depending on the level of starter. But I think you
Speaker 2: gotta you gotta get at least one in both areas
Speaker 2: rotation in both then.
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely agree. I would be surprised if they don't.
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't think it'll be an underwhelming
Speaker 1: starter like Soroka. Soroko has had a really good season.
Speaker 1: I think with the yeah.
Speaker 3: They hurt, but the yeah, but he was good and
Speaker 3: the hurt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So he's clearly they see the talent there. They didn't.
Speaker 1: They didn't get the talent evaluation completely wrong there. It's just,
Speaker 1: you know, the pictures get hurt and and it's not
Speaker 1: like it was out of the blue that he got hurt.
Speaker 1: But all right, we're going to have our next episode,
Speaker 1: will be right after soon after the deadline. Uh so
Speaker 1: by the time we are talking to you guys, there
Speaker 1: will be new cubs. They're they're they're not sitting still.
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyd, it doesn't matter buying selling, what type of
Speaker 1: season is teams having. He makes moves. Moves are going
Speaker 1: to be made. We'll see what they are. We'll see
Speaker 1: what the Cubs get done. But that's it for right now.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make
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Speaker 1: Take care.