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the rant live it used to be live it's not live anymore I mean it's live because we're doing it live but uh I'm
just an AI bot actually so yeah if in case you guys are wondering
where uh where Evans personality comes from it's it's all AI That's you can't
do that that's I'm sorry but like you're just your approach and and and the way
you write a AI can't copy that well I'm I'm hoping I could just blame my bad
takes on it like if stuff backfires on me I be like n man the algorithm screwed that one up
there you go I like that approach but we're not live we're we we do this live
we don't do any editing so we like to take the easy approach right we just record it live however it sounds there's
no editing you get what happens and it doesn't change so so you know that we're
not and that's probably why there's you know we always talk about the high quality that we bring to to to the Cubs
world it's real yeah tons of tons of production value which we've uh you know
we've dropped although what was funny uh and I don't know if you if you clocked this and I can't remember if it was one
that I don't even remember if we posted this on the site because it's been a couple weeks right so my brain only
works about one day in any direction and um maybe it's on Facebook I don't know
but the like the first comment was that they wanted to video stream back and I'm just like it's it's funny to me because
you know nobody nobody gets on there we don't get too many views and then when we stop doing it for a while all of a
sudden like all I got were these comments from people like when's it coming back what are you going to record again I'm like the hell are you talking
about like You' never interacted with us before um which is a good I mean that's a good thing it means people are
listening and they care and and they want to see it but I think that um it I
don't know it's probably the prevalence of podcasts and the ease with which
they're consumed and it's a very different Prospect from like television
show or a movie that that you know I think we all kind of inherently understand how much has to go into
putting that out into the world because you hear about it all the time but like and we're doing this with very very
little effort right like you said we're not there's no editing you're not going back in there and cutting bits out and
taking out Parts where we kind of stumble over our words or whatever but it it actually takes quite a bit of work
to really do it right and so uh I even doing the videos and getting that out on YouTube YouTube and all those extra
things so when you kind of have like a busy life going on otherwise uh for us to dumb this down as much as possible
it's really about the only way we can actually continue to produce it on any sort of a semi-regular basis that's a very long way of saying like totally get
it totally understand that and a lot of podcasts do the YouTube thing right
they've gone to that to where it's like people are watching podcast via YouTube maybe more so than they're even using a
podcatcher of some sort but you know never say never but um it is easy not to
have to look at myself when I'm when I'm recording so I'll say that we're doing the opposite yes we we try to uh go with
the the the least amount of effort for the uh the it's like
effort and and quality it it meets somewhere and and pretty it's pretty
low where it meets that's where we try to publish the content it's like where the X and the y axis meat in the lower
left of the graph like that's we're down here you know go find if you if you want
some people who are putting effort into this and really editing and having the highest quality sounds and the and the
best takes and uh multimedia involved right like the ones where you know I
could be sitting here and and I'm nobody can see me of course uh but I'm pointing up to you know where it's like and the
ones where somebody's actually going back in and producing that to where a graph will pop up you know on the screen like n you're not getting that here
that's the joy of blogging right I mean let's let's let's remember that that
blogging was supposed to be kind of like fans doing like fan things and not being
ESPN because ESPN was ESPN but but now it seems like like not there's still
bloggers who kind of do blogging things but it feels like like a blog when blogs
grow certain blogs become more popular and then they become more and more kind of that that big fancy feeling like
a ESPN or an SB Nation or whatever um but not us we're committed to um to
giving you the best possible quality product at the with the least amount of
effort yeah I think that is probably like our new tagline like instead of you know bringing you serious Cubs news
without taking ourselves too seriously it's like bringing you the best we can with the least possible effort you know
thanks which you know is to some extent that sounds like being
factious but at the same time like I I kind of feel the same way about it like I edit the the work that goes up on the
on the site right but like I'm not pouring over it like are there going to be factual errors that maybe come up in
somebody else's piece because I didn't go back in and completely fat fact check 1500 words uh in a in a rundown like
yeah that can happen sometimes you know and I'm not like I'm not wearing that like it's a badge of honor like I'm
saying I'm intentionally putting out misinformation right like I'm not running for office or anything like that
but um but I do think there's a there's a point at which you run into diminishing returns I guess as as we're
at the end of the day where I'll just you know tldr this thing that like you could put a ton more effort into making
just the the best quality audio and and the the best visuals and
and Immaculate writing but at a certain point you're not actually gaining any
value in it you're not gaining readership or listenership or viewership or any other kind of ship uh for that so
I'm kind of like n you know there's a certain point at which like uh hey if it's a piece of news and the Cubs put
out a press release on it and I'm a little bit tied up I'm just going to cut and paste the press release give you a little header that says that and publish
that because you know what's the point right you know what though it's it's funny I know
people are probably like why what does this have to do with the Cubs it actually has a lot to do with the Cubs because it kind of feels like the Cubs
are approaching running the Chicago Cubs in a manner very similar to how we are
approaching running Cubs Insider try to do the most possible with
the least we're we are seeking value in all moves I think is is what uh man and
I tell you what that was I Jed Hoyer never says much of
anything like the like Theo Epstein didn't say much but I mean Jed has taken
the art of using a lot of words to say nothing just to like he's he's Picasso
level at that you know Monae like it is just like what's even
the point and I noted that we're going back and forth right like I was like you want to watch this I don't need to I
don't need to see it I know what he's going to say or not say but you know but it kind of felt like it was like like
we've reached the crescendo of that approach right where it was just kind of
like everything he said was like he had to like say more
things like it felt like he he felt like he had to say more things and he
actually like tried to say more things but like the more he said the harder
became to understand what he just said and to put in context of the Chicago
Cubs and what has happened over you know the last several years and then like
trying to interpret what that means for the 2025 version of the Chicago Cubs
because we've just had back-to-back Seasons with identical records and it does not feel like the Cubs got any
better in any way shape or form and there's still like a lot of questions
now it does feel like the Cor or is the young cores kind of developing
right I mean like PCA took some steps forward I think sh imanaga was a was a nice signing he's worked out well um and
there's some guys uh we were just talking about the AFL Moises B estros is
uh is headlining for the Cubs in the AFL the Arizona fall
league name again but but uh was it did I butcher it I think so but it's cool
okay bios I believe bios my bad you guys just
so everyone knows I am the like the worst pronouncer is that a word you you
and my dad you and my Dad could have a name mispronounce off at some point and I think it would be kind of
entertaining I've turned into that guy I've turned into the the the guy the old guy who mispronounce his words uh really
well and so but yeah I mean like there's there's things around the Cubs that can
you know make you feel a little bit better about where they are but it's just looking back and knowing where we've come from it feels like the Cubs
should be in a different place and we talked last time on the show how it felt like the Cubs needed like two guys that
could hit over 30 home runs at least two more bats there and and how looking at
the uh the minor league system you really don't see those guys and maybe they're there and we just don't know and
they have to come up and do their thing but but then Hoyer kind of capped it right like with his comments about what
he was saying how you know he feels like you know players need to beat their projections which seems like a very like
like you know for someone who doesn't like for me and you me let's say me I think you're more knowledgeable than I
am on this for me to say that you'd be like all right yeah the guy doesn't totally know what he's talking about and
whatever but for jedo the president of the Chicago Cubs to say
that I think that's where people were kind of like does he really think that that's what needs to
happen yeah and what's so here here's the thing and and what's I don't know if interesting is
the right word or just it it falls into place a little bit when you sit there and really the last two years the the
kind of pre-season commentary has been pretty much the same which is that it's
it's a nice roster flawed certainly no I think everybody can agree on that but
both of the last two seasons which have gone somewhat similarly right they've
had hot stretches you know fairly you know I don't know prolonged as much but
like very prolonged cold stretches and just bad points in there but but going into the season that the talk was a lot
of us were looking at saying hey they'll be okay they're just they're kind of mid
but if enough of them perform at like the 90th percentile of their
potential they could make some noise right well then here you have it now and
and here's here's kind of the problem is that two years later the man running the show is like well we really need guys to
outperform their projections because if you look at the playoff teams and I look at this a couple different ways right
one way is that if if we look let's the pessimistic way would be to look at this and say dude that is no way to construct
a baseball team to say we're going to need guys to outperform the projections that's one way because we're
looking at it and saying Hoyer is hoping that that happens that that is his strategy to Hope on that the other is to
say that just the reality of the situation is that the teams that have
the most success have one or two or three players who do perform their projections and so
I would say that Hoyer is leaning more toward that ladder to say we're not just
going to try to again you know Target mediocrity and then hope a few of these guys surprise us but rather it's hey
we're going to try to put together a good team but the reality of the situation is unless a couple of them
really step it because other teams are going to have that right and I think that's that's the missing context when
we look at the first negative side is that he's saying the reality other teams other good teams are going to have very good players do better than
what people thought and therefore we need the same now when you start that's interesting
yeah because because really that that to me says like that's on management
because it's their job to be player evaluators right and so like it's their
job to identify players who are going to be able to beat their projections
because if they if they if they didn't beat their projections that's why they're you know wherever they are in
terms of an organization or a draft and and so it's your job Jed to look at
players and to say these are the players maybe there's 10 and two or three can
beat their projections so it's really something that it's not on the players as much and but I don't feel like he
came out and necessarily said that directly like it's on me to find the
players who's who are going to beat their projections no and and if you the other thing he
said I mean he said it it may be external it may be internal but he he seen to
be more I mean he he definitely leaned more into the idea that rather than
being hyper aggressive in free agency because we know they're not going to go get Juan stto that he he talked about
creating a better environment within which their players can can do that can
exceed their expectations but my issue with it is this right so let's say I'm I'm at the blackjack table right
I'm I'm laying down my bets and but I'm at a $5 you know I'm making $ doll bets
and I'm winning you know I'm not doubling down I'm just winning what's the most I can win $ five right I I I
made more money I exceeded my expectation as it were but I only made five bucks because
that's all I bet if on the other hand I'm at $100 hand and I win that hand I'm winning
$100 right I put in more money and the greater return even though percentage
wise right it was 100% return but a 100% return on $100 is a hell of a lot better than on five and my point there is that
if the Cubs are going to continue to seek value-based players right and they
definitely hit big on on imanaga but largely they have targeted free agents they've looked for these guys who fit
only signed Cody Bellinger because again he made sense as a value play once he
came down to 71 million instead of the 250 or whatever that he may have been seeking initially but when you get guys like
that you are naturally starting from a lower point and so for them to exceed
those projections in a meaningful enough way to propel your team into contention
and and even farther and get into the second round third round of the play playoffs postseason
they would need to exceed it by so much more than if you do have a superstar like a Juan stto like an Aaron judge now
we're talking about the highend here like a Bobby Whit Jr right like Bobby Whit Jr did much better this year than
people would have expected but everybody expected him to be like a four or five War player so if he doubles that and
goes to 10 that's huge whereas and that's tell evaluation yeah like Michael
Bush exceeded expectations but he's still in up at what like three war or whatever like all
right like that's that's fine that's a good player it's a it's a perfectly cromulent baseball player but that's not
a superstar who's going to lead you to the promised land right and so unless you go out and get those dudes whose
base level is already very high like who
just have to walk on the field do their job do their thing and they're putting up four and five war and then if they
exceed expectations now you're talking about adding two three four War right not if you expect him to do one and they
do two and a half like that's but he but Jed Hoyer certainly seems to be leaning
into we're gonna we're gonna still right he loved to thread the needle he and and
again he talked about exceeding expectations and I and I appreciate that
they need that but at the same time and now I'm kind of going backwards from what I said before I don't
know that they're willing that they the ability is one
thing we could talk about them being willing to pay for stuff right I think it's more and we've talked about this at
nauseum right like Jed Hoyer the Cubs whatever they love their algorithms they love those
again those projections they are looking at those numbers and he's like the smart
day trader guy right who's who's sitting there making his deals he's not gambling
his money so that he might lose everything one day right he's he's finding the the spots he's buying at the
right times he's doing things to to be safe to to grow his own access RIS yeah
at a at a lowrisk level but as before the less you risk the less you have the
potential to gain unless you get lucky right like unless you're willing
to get a and we you know saw a little bit the the eso paradus trade you know
Christopher Morell like that that felt much more aggressive and uned likee than
than what we've seen but he's going to need to do a lot more of that this winter like dudes are gonna have to be
trade it their top six prospects seven prospects whatever all at Triple A you can't just leave them there in
perpetuity somebody's got to be dealt to find someone else who has that kind of
potential and and I talked about that with a potential raise trade another raise trade that could happen if they're
going to deal from pitching could they go out and find that dude who's gonna all of a sudden you
know who projects to like nothing like if it's Shane mclanahan who hasn't pitched in over a year could you find a
guy like that would the Rays be willing to deal him at enough of at a good enough price the Cubs could get him and all of a sudden this guy bounces back to
near sa young caliber that's the type of over performance you need but they willing and able to go get that I don't
know it just yeah it doesn't feel great though as a Cubs fan right like where you're coming from you know what
happened in 15 16 17 even um you know
like the the way it felt when you had a team full of
guys that could potentially and did uh in a for a
couple years exceed expectations like like you're saying Beyond just that five
War up to like seven eight nine 10 War type players and and be there and that's
that's what the Cubs do not have right they don't have any guys like if if right now if you look at the roster as
it's constructed and I'm gonna throw Cody Bellinger in there is you see a
bunch of players who they're projecting to two three to three War right maybe a little
higher and and if they beat expectations they're at five and so this is like to your point where you were using the
analogy of being at a poker table is they they have to have more players who
are already projected at five and and can exceed expectations to
10 and where hoyya was asked a question about what he his approach was and how
he felt about this his being his last year of his contract he his response was
he felt like this was an opportunity he was he was seeing this as an opportunity
and he wasn't didn't sound like he was real worried about pressing for an extension on his contract which there's no way that's going to happen I I mean
if it does I would be shocked um and but it's like all right well let
let's just walk through this we all know you know the Cubs the team the roster
the guys they have in the miners um there's not going to be a lot changing I mean they're going to sign some guys but
as you mentioned probably not going to sign want stto and so it's like the only way for I mean how do the
Cubs get into the playoffs next year what what does what does the off season have to look like for the Cubs to not
just get into the playoffs next year but to be successful in the playoffs and I have a hard time
envisioning it yeah I mean I I have a hard time like
to me and this is it's it's wild to think this but I I just think there much
better off if Cody Bellinger opts out because of what it means for their ability to go out and whether it's spend
that money whether it's to fill that slot with with a young guy be it Owen Casey Kevin alcanta yeah Matt shaww
right whatever positionally that but but that doesn't make his you know where where else do you upgrade right do can
they go get a Vlad Guerrero and you know because that we talked about Michael Bush and and Michael Bush is a nice
piece he's he's a perfectly nice player but if you can go out and find a
star like Vlad Guerrero Jr now you plug which oddly enough I if Cody Bellinger
comes back I would say the Cubs need and desire to do a trade like that to to
maybe flip Bush or Bellinger I mean who knows the op back in then maybe they flip him not that the not that the Blue
Jays would want to pick up Bellinger but Bush might make sense and then you get Vlad Guerrero Jr although you know some
people say he still wants to play Third then what do you do with Matt Shaw I mean the the moving pieces are all over the place but if Bellinger comes back
you're effectively running back the exact same team exactly
juston right I mean like isn't he I don't know I I think because the thing
here and and here's here's I want to put this out because where a lot of people get it wrong he's got two years left uh
525 million do on that um 27 and a half next year 25 the year after If he if he
hops into 26 but the dude's only 28 years old right he's going into his age 29 season so it's his last season as a
sub30 year old probably his last chance to make any money because a lot of people like
nobody's gonna pay him 27 and a half million well no he doesn't he's not trying to go get more than 27 and a half
million for next year he's trying to get more and it really only needs to get more than 50 because if he hops out he
has a $2.5 million dollar buyout on it so if I'm Cody Bellinger I'm looking for
more years and more overall money now there's a certain point at which and I I kind of put out a threat on this but I
like to me I I think it's got to go beyond four years 80 million that he could get right because like at that
point that's only 20 million a year he's got 52.5 in the bank right could could
he after he's done in two years with the Cubs could he get another 30 million out there probably you know 10 years 10
three years at 10 million he could probably get another of that but if if somebody's willing to give him like five years at 100 million to be a four War
player if they believe he can still play some Center and and you know he's got that capability because it is kind of a
thin free agent Market again if he feels he can get that I think he bounces um
because it's really like it's not it's only two more years like I I somebody
out there could probably give him I think his problem right like well you had to back off his problem was he was
trying to get $200 million and there was no no way in hell that was ever going to happen like that was the dumbest thing
although MLB trade rumors and I will skew them for this forever their projection was 12 years 264 and that's
just a dumb like I saw that I thought somebody was just trolling I don't know where where did they get that yeah
that's insane that's again that's like 80 million more than anyone else thought and even that was right so like when
you're asking for so much and you're holding on for so long what a certain point people have all gone elsewhere
right they're all going no we're not going to touch you for $200 million we're going to go get somebody else and
and then by the time he was sitting around by the time spring training had already started then there wasn't
anything left everybody had already taken care of their needs and the Cubs were like the only ones and that was because it was a value thing so I think
if he were to go into it with much more realistic asks and he we could put G to
pair him as one because Scott Boris is clearly driving that train um but it's just I I think if he
goes into it looking at that saying hey if I can I'm I'm looking for 80 to 100 instead of double that you know for
twice as many years like I think that possibility is there but it's it's it's
just funny because the Cubs I think what they felt was going to be this great value deal because I really think they
felt he was gonna have a very similar season and then would opt out and they'd have that flexibility but now I think
they're left with a situation where what was supposed to be of value will not only push them into like barely and I'm
still pissed about this like barely into the CBT like if you're going to go in yeah go in go go over by 10 or 20 or 30
million why are you going over by like 200,000 like that that in of itself was stupid and I think it was a terrible
miscalculation and he may come back and ruin your flexibility when it comes to
how you can not ruin it but hamper it when it comes to who you can add whether
it's intern or external I just I that the deal I think just worked out the
exact wrong way like what do you say like oh it' be okay if he did this you know if he's a five War player and he
opts back in because he loves it hey that's pretty damn good uh if he was a six War player this year and he opts out
great you got this awesome performance at a pretty cheap value and then you get that money to go shop for somebody else the next year what they didn't count on
was him just kind of falling back to being good but not great and more expensive than what they could get from
a Poss replacement so I I think they hit like they uh they did not get the right
result there the dealer was showing six and still beat him is basically what happened
here oh man so yeah you're you're you're right on there and where you're that's
that's the way I look at it too it's like Cody Bellinger's coming back uh unless he can get like some some deal
and I mean does he when does he have to exercise that option is there like
what's how how do the dates align and and could he go out and shop before
because he's still he's still under contract right I mean now Scott Boris clearly is gonna have you know his ear
to the wall on some of the stuff because it's tampering because he's under contract until he's not but I think the
options all have to be decided within a week of the world series ending I believe maybe I'm and maybe I'm
confused that but um and some of the stuff has has changed some of the different dates have changed you know
with the new CBA and I'm uh again my brain is smooth like an egg so um to to
quote the late great Scott Wampler um but I think it's within a week so like
the thing is Boris kind of knows what's going on he's talking to teams about different things he he'll be KY about it
and I think it comes down to I don't think it's going to be a situation where like you know they're going to land the
plane somewhere with an offer in hand right after it's over but I think it's a matter of if he believes the market is
enough you know because you're looking at it and Bellinger obviously had a he had a couple injuries that slowed him
down a little bit but he still got 569 plate appearances this year like that's
that's most of the Season he's played 130 games so that's far from terrible
and you know 2.2 War uh F War according to Fan graphs right just just below and
you know we said Michael bsh 2.3 somehow Dansby Swanson led the team with
4.3 right but like look up and down yeah largely on defense but you look up and
down that that so Swanson 4.3 that ceiling is super limited now could he
have a better offensive performance but like I think you're looking at five as like his ceiling Nico horer same thing
3.9 his offense will never be enough because he doesn't have the power to
outperform that again five I would say is the max Ian hap who had a tremendous season yet again right 122 WRC plus 3.6
War same deal say SE Suzuki I think is the one who you could look at all these
guys and be like you know what if he because he really got it together
again 132 games so right there with Bellinger if he puts it together and hits like he's shown the capacity to 138
WRC plus I think he's a guy but even there I think we're talking super limited because what if he's a DH and
his defense kind of sucked anyway so again you're still talking it like like six you know if he so like who Pete Crow
Armstrong to me is the one who if we get to Pete Crow Armstrong we saw from Late
July on that's a six seven War player like for sure you know he's the guy but he's
gonna do he's gonna have some pop but get yeah I think he could get 1520
but he's not scary no no one in no one no one that I me they have a bunch of
good to stretching into very good right I think PCA is GNA end up being very
good I think SE Suzuki if he can perform where we've seen him can be very
good but they've got a bunch of nice players and you know is is oh I think
Matt Shaw I I'm super high on Matt Shaw I'm not as high on on Owen Casey as a
lot of people but I think those guys but like look at it man if you want to tell like I have all the faith in the world
that one or two at least of these prospects they got coming up can outperform 2.2 to 2.3 W that the Cubs
got from Bellinger and Bush I'm not saying you got to replace Bush but I'm just saying like that exists right but if you're
gonna pay Cody Bellinger 27 a half million dollar to give you not even three War like you need to get somebody
up from the system and replace that because I I really I mean
I yeah I I just Shaw is a dog and I just really in in the best possible way and
but you you have to go out and add if it if it's internal right but but like you said I
think I think again these process they have there's no Chris Bryant there's no jav bayz this isn't a Surefire thing
where you're like oh no Bryant's goingon to be rookie de like from the moment he steps on the field he's gonna be the
best player on your team and he's going to do that granted his run was cut short by the injuries whatever but he had that
15 16 17 that three-year stretch like that's among the best we've seen
certainly in recent memory I mean if you want to go back and you know we look at sanberg and you know obviously Sosa some
of these guys who had these these tremendous that was kind of insane for a different sort of reason but like Bryant
stepped right up and was the best player on the team from the jump and remained that yeah it was and you saw that coming
right that wasn't like out of nowhere right like you knew it it was like man they got lucky to be able to get this guy a two like yeah holy cow and it and
it and it worked out and he just he marched all the way like best player in college best player in the miners best rookie MVP like just this steady March
that you yeah you could see literally a year and a half before it happened right and and that they don't they don't have
that guy and maybe that materializes maybe Matt Shaw becomes an MVP level player but if doing no I I
don't I think they've given up on canar he's not even ranked in their top 30 prospects anymore which is kind of wild injy I
think I I have to think the injury had something to do with it well he had some other issues this year too right because the injury cut him short in 23 uh he had
some other stuff going on this year and he still hit like he hit pretty well I because I wrote about that with the with
the ray the rays are looking for offense they've got a ton of pitchers some of
whom are are whether they're under contract for this level or because they're getting ARB raises or they're
hurt and they've got other young guys coming up you know if you look at uh
Rashon or mclanahan who you know but the Cubs can
easily proba like Canario is not part of the future at this point not if you've got you got your Outfield locked up you
got Casey and alcantra uh it's going to the Nelson Velasquez thing all over again which actually didn't end up working out that poorly for the Cubs
because he hasn't done anything with the with the Royals but I think you know hey Canario is a dude who's got thump you
know and like he could develop into something he he could be the one I could see that um and I'm not saying the Cubs
shouldn't get rid of him for this reason but I could see him being a dude who goes somewhere where he gets a chance
and is a 30 to 35 home run hit he's got the power like undoubtedly but would the raay be willing to do that and take a
shot at him to unload a pitcher that they don't want to pay and who's you
know injured or is kind of a tweener starter reliever I would love for the
Cubs to make a deal like that and just like hey let's you you got some dudes who are expendable on your end we got a
dude who's Expendable on our end let's make it work yeah and that's where that's where having Bellinger on the team really complicates everything right
it's like if Bellinger's not there then yeah Canario can play right I mean like he'll be on the big league team I would
guess and he'd have a chance at playing pretty regularly you would think but
with Bellinger there that's not going to happen yeah even even when they had the injuries and that was part of the thing
about PCA kind of coming up and thankfully they actually gave him a lot more leash you know with those injuries
with talkman missing all that time and with Bellinger missing time with Suzuki missing time you know even then like
Canario barely got a shot part of that was his own injuries you know and and he did I mean hit a home run I think he had
he had a lot of strikeouts but his his overall offensive production numbers have 39% strikeout rate yeah which is
you know Sub sub optimal of course but um you know okay so here's what's funny
you know when I was reading off all those guys earlier and I was I was giving their war and I had Bush and Bellinger uh listed at 2.3 2.2 they are
but uh that was only because it fangraph defaults to qualified Pete cow Armstrong
only had 410 plate appearances so he didn't pop up in there as soon as you drop it down um he had
2.7 so he's fifth on the team and were after after just sucking out loud for
the first half of the season so you look at more than doubling that so anyway again so but I digress but then you look
at some of these guys it's like they they are going to need to move and again we can look at this like the
chances at all and I don't know if we have time for me to express my concerns
for Kate Horton and uh and and that injury and and what's going to happen there and I can spill maybe a little tea
if we if we want to um nothing nothing to inside I don't have specific knowledge of of
his exactly but but some reasons that I have for concern but when I look at all these guys like the idea that you've got
of those top prospects right you look at Mo baller um who's like 5'9 and 250
pounds or whatever he is um the Stout fella who's probably not gonna be a
catcher uh that that is and there's I don't think he's playing first base he's not playing field I don't think I think
he's a DH but if say Suzuki's your DH and where's BOS playing if you have
alcantra and Casey but are those guys both going to come up when you've got Ian hap and SE Suzuki with no trade
Clauses and two years left on their deals Pete Crow Armstrong is locked down Center so those guys aren't both coming
up and taking Corners that's not going to happen and you can't leave in the miners for two more years um there's no
spots on the infield right now so where's Matt Shaw going let alone James triantos like they have to trade at
least two of their top six players at least in order Ju Just to make any sense
of it right because to you gotta give those guys a chill like they gotta get a shot somewhere like those guys gotta play somewhere and and I don't think any
of them at this point have anything left to prove at Triple A personally exactly and it gets to a point where like you
can't keep them in Triple A any longer right I mean it starts to look it starts to look bad it's bad for them
career-wise development wise um it it lowers the value of their sock
right just in terms of if you've got it I mean and it's it becomes real obvious that other teams start looking and
saying hey you have either trade him to me for what I'm offering you or or keep
this player in in Triple A you know I mean that yeah other teams understand
the Quagmire yeah it's just uh and and and
that's where and I think so to me is I'm looking at it I would think and I've said this for a long time but I think triantos and alcantra are the two in my
opinion who would be the most likely to be moved and it and it sounds as though I mean I've thought that for a while but
it sounds like that that they were kind of being dangled you know as as the Cubs were kind of looking to make a a big
trade and and do some things kind of ahead of the deadline or whatever and it makes sense right because they're they're pretty redundant in terms of
when you when you've got kind of player one and player you know player one and Player 1 B and and Nei like both Shaw
and triantos are kind of like not not positionist but it's like okay where do they play do do you move paradus and and
have one them play Third do you trade Herer have one of them play second I would personally rather have him trade paradus because to me the his floor his
ceiling's higher and his floor is lower Nico hor like you know what you're gonna get plug him in there you're getting three War every year three to four done
like just put it Mark it in Sharpie right cuz that dude like he's going to hit
270 he's going to hit 5 to 10 homers he's going to steal 30 bags he's going to play Gold Glove caliber defense like
known commodity and then you can gamble a little bit more if it's a rookie or whatever um but there again like you you
gotta have a spot to play him and I know I saw somebody bringing it up and and I respect this the the idea but they were
saying well you know you can't say he's blocked or you don't need to trade someone because the Cubs gave whatever
it was 400 plate appearances to I don't know if it was like Madrigal
Master bony wisdom whatever and it's like okay yeah but they only did that
because they made the stupid decision to continue to run Christopher Morell out there and then realized very quickly he
couldn't play Third Base and then all these other dudes that was known that was known going into the season everyone
like how's this going to play out well saw yeah and they they ran with for too long but like those guys don't get all
those at bats if they had a competent everyday third baseman from the start
right and if that's isach paradus yeah Shaw's not coming up and getting 400 plate
appearances as currently constructed right even if you like what's he GNA get you know couple games a week between uh
horer and paradus like that's not gonna happen I think one of them's got to go uh in order and and like Shaw's ready
like he does not have anything left he he the dude is the goods he doesn't need more time at Triple A the question is
how do you find him time at the majors but again um I don't know you want me
you want me to talk about Kate Horton and why I'm a little freaked out yeah I just want to comment real
quick though is is that just to kind of pair that uh that conversation we were just having
is the Cubs need roster Clarity yes right like there it's very very kind of
foggy right now and I kind of felt like going into this year 2024 there wasn't
roster Clarity um with what was going on with Morell and and the unknowns there and
like how PCA was going to play in there and what was going to happen where Bellinger was going to play and Bush and all that they've got to be able to get
past this point and really have Clarity and commit to Shaw to your point and
commit to who's going to be playing what position from the very beginning and I
think if they can get and if it's it's going to have to be through trades to your point and and if they can get rid of some of the um you know the ambiguity
around what's happening and really just come out and say this is our team I think that will help the fans I think it
will help the management I think it will help everybody the the players on the
team with how at least we know from day one what it looks like versus like this
ambiguity and so I think if they can do that you know you could see a path to to
being successful but it'll be interesting to see so no tell me about Kate Horton though because I'm very
interested to hear like your take on this yeah so I'll I'll do that but that but that's I think you you hit on
something there that I do want to tie back because what you just said right there is I think what was between the
lines of what Jed Hoyer was saying when it came to putting their their players in a position to exceed those
expectations you know creating that environment like they're not in that Environ that that environment doesn't
exist if it's sort of this malleable you know who's playing where and we don't
know what the positions are going to be and we'll kind of find it out as we go um the bullpen and Mike caner wrote a
good piece for the rundown the other talk about the bullpen like the bullpen needs to be more established you can't just have a bunch of castoff dudes
thrown in there and trying to find their roles you know in May and June like they
need to know that you know and it's because it's very hard to exceed expectations if you don't even
know what the expectations are what role is so um I I think what you just said is
what they are gonna try to do first of all but so so back to Horton right who
was just recently supplanted as a by by Matt Shaw as the number one Cubs Prospect but he's like two or whatever
now right he's he's been one of the top pitching prospects in baseball but he missed the second half missed most of
the season with what was initially called a back issue and then a lat issue and then
they said it was a subscapular strain which is the the subscapularis is I think the largest if
if I'm remembering my WebMD research correctly it's like the the largest muscle uh that that uh comprises what is
known as the rotator cuff which anytime you any anytime you say rotator cuff
yeah and pitcher like that that's bad so first of all but um but in and of itself
right I wouldn't take too much away from that but I had a conversation recently
with um a former professional pitcher uh who you
know won't share names but who had been diagnosed with the same thing um which
wasn't really it was kind of a it's kind of like one of those uh diagnoses that
they give when they don't know entirely what it is or or they'll say that even if that's not what it really is because
it maybe sounds less severe to say SC subscapular strain versus like a rotator
cuff tear or something like that and this person in question ended up having to have uh labram surgery some other you
know some shoulder surgery and and has since um since out of baseball so my
concern and and to the whole while though was like Hey try to pitch through it hey maybe it's this oh you ended up
having a rib impingement that you had to go get uh you know some separate stuff
on maybe separate from the team because you didn't really trust their diagnos like I am concerned not that the Cubs have
misdiagnosed it but that they have diagnosed it and are kind of gaslighting
us a little bit I guess as it were if if I'm I know that phrase has been used too much and I I feel like it's kind of lost
its juice so maybe that's not even but I'm really worried about this idea that
they're almost like kidding themselves with like well maybe we can get him to rehab through this and it's just going
to end up having to be that anyway part of this is also and this is like my conspiracy theory to an extent it's like
okay no in the Cubs and how much they seek value and how how long it's how much they desperately need and want to
develop some more homegrown pitching and as good as Horton was and I thought he should have been up in the majors even
earlier try to get him up there immediately because this is what happens right you waste those bullets in the miners and you don't know when the you
know powder might get wet um but if they're truly and I don't believe for a second that they're gonna go out and pay
um Corbin Burns $200 million I don't think that's real that they're after Corbin Burns but the but there does seem
to be a lot of smoke about them pursuing starting pitchers and you always need depth and that's great but you don't
sign a dude for nine figures you know and then be like oh this is depth like
no that's the dude who's going to be Ace yeah and and do you do if if Kate Horton profiles as an Ace and should be ready
next year would you then go out and sign a
dude for giant money over a ton of years this year to come in when you've
already got imanaga when you've got steel when you've got tyion you've got Assad there right Hendrick is
gone and then you figure there's Horton would you go and and I know some people say like yeah you go out and sign that
dude as a Bonafide Ace and you got those and then Horton doesn't need to be that dude I don't know it concerns me
that there's that a that an area of strength you should always you shouldn't
only address weaknesses you should always try to get more strengths but I I feel like the tea leaves are telling me
that his injury is more severe than what they seem to be letting on but I I would
gladly be wrong I will gladly be proven as just a quack conspiracy theorist when
he's perfectly healthy and just throwing darts yeah in uh in February but I I
don't know man I I I just something something smells fishy to
me I hope I hope you're wrong and I hope the Cubs do sign somebody for over $200
million but I I'm I'm hoping it's not a picture I'm hoping his name's one SoDo yeah there imagine like just I I know
there's no way in hell and and all the things that that that's not going to happen in this but but let's just say it
does what does Juan stto bring to the Cubs like I mean that's a you're a
playoff team suddenly right you've got that guy who's who can as long as he's healthy who's who's got 30 plus uh home
run power uh you know he's prodigious he's he's all the things that you you
that the Cubs are lacking right yeah and does it do well and there
there's a couple of aspects to it right the first of which go so stto was fourth in war with
8.1 right behind Aaron judge 11.2 Bobby Whit Jr 10.4 Shay sh Otani 9.1 so 8.1
that is um right there more than the Cub's top two players combined from last
year exactly yeah that is a scary dude right who walked more than he struck out right
his his on base percentage is 419 slugged 569 he hit 41
homers scored 128 runs drove in 109 more
over 73 plate appearances like he a 180 WRC like he is that scary dude like that
all of a sudden in the middle of your order legitim IES everything but more
than that it was there was something I saw on Facebook was like or not on Facebook this is actually on Twitter but it was like is is MLB shoving Otani down
our throats or is this just an example of them promoting a superstar now the answer could be both but that dude I
mean he he is that dude like he went out got the largest contract of all time and
then all he proceeded to do was be an absolute monster and he'll be the NL MVP
right like didn't fall off got better and still didn't yeah and so stto to me
is that guy and here's the thing about s he's only like 26 years old right so like exactly you can reasonably project
him to still be very good for another eight nine maybe 10 years and so he's
that he he would be on a different level of course but but John Lester what he
brought was far more than just being a very good pitcher he legit legitimize the Cubs as being willing to go for it
being ready to go for it exactly you sign Juan SoDo it says to the rest of the league it's on like we're we're
ready to go now we're we're not screwing around that and that's where I that's where I'm at right like like we've
talked about a bunch of things and we're going to have to wrap this up soon but that's where I am at the end of our
conversation and just in general uh when it you know when you look at what Jed Hoyer said during his presser and and
the fact that he's got a year left that he feels as an opportunity and and if you start to
think what the offseason needs to look like and we started talking about getting some clarity on the roster and
then what it takes to get to the playoffs I mean if Jed does kind of the
Cutie thing like and tries to like fit everything perfectly together I mean the chances for Success aren't like maybe
they're 5050 maybe they're lower than that but then you talk about going out and Swinging for the and signing a guy
like Juan stto that we know is transformational and if he's healthy is
going to make a huge impact on the team I mean it just it it feels like to me
like it's an easy I mean the money's a lot obviously it's going to be a lot of money or you trade for somebody like
that and I don't know that there's anybody out there that the Cubs could trade for that's going to be that type of an impactful player uh and what they
would have to give up to do it obviously there's a lot they have a lot of prospects but it does feel like if
you're Jed Hoyer and uh you want to be assured of having a job next year you kind of got a swing
for the fences with somebody like Juan SoDo yeah I mean to to kind of go back and maybe tweak my betting analogy a
little bit you know a guy like SoDo is that's that's putting a million-- dooll
bet on the favorites you know at like even suboptimal odds because like you're
going to make $10,000 on it right but but you got back your million
dollars and you added to it because the the I mean his his value is so high his
floor is so high I don't know how much higher his ceiling is than what and that
that's kind of my point is like an 8.1 War well how how much can you he was protected in that lineup though too
right you're not GNA get that protection with the Chicago CS or almost any other team you don't have the same the same
setup but and so so the SE is I don't want to say it's lower it's
not it's very high but the floor is also so low right and that's the thing there's there's less of a Delta U you
know when you're talking about Hoyer and that but that's the thing that's what you need but I feel like again I feel
like Hoyer is that dude as I keep doubling down on these things who's like this like me when I play like if I when
I do sports betting I'm just doing it for for fun just jacking around with stuff and I'll do some stupid parlay
stuff which is really what like that's the problem between having fun and being a degenerate as a lot of these people get in there and that's all they're
doing is parlays and they're losing all their money and that's why DraftKings loves it uh that's why they keep advertising the stuff because parlays
are absolutely a sucker bet um but but Hoyer feels like that guy who's going in
and trying to put together this eight leg parlay that if all of them hit if all of them hit man it's gonna pay out
but it's like yeah dude but you're just giving away money at that point because they were never all gonna hit
put the smart bet put more money on a smart bet and even though your profit
won't be as high e monetarily or percentage wise or however you want to
look at it you're gonna win right like your your chances of winning are now so
much higher and guess what that just means you don't need to get as many
people to outperform the projections you can have that protection in the you can have one or two of them do it because
look man we just talked about it the Cubs didn't have two guys combined for 8.1 War so if stto comes in and and
let's say oh he has a down year let's I just wanna I know we need to wrap but I just want to look at this and see kind of what is his worst year is like 2.5 uh
his career I'm on where's he at where's he at each season so around like his
worth was 2.5 War that's his Worst season with the Nationals in 20 that was
in 2020 that was yeah that was in in 196 47 games right so we could double that
up 3.7 he had 3.7 in 2022 that's when he was traded so you can kind of understand
that but like you're looking at a dude who's probably six war is what you can
safely Bank yeah right that's your floor again 50% higher than anything any of
the Cubs did and as you remember earlier in the conversation we were looking at you're like yeah I think the these guys all max out at five if they Max like if
they do their best if they have a career year they're probably at five and this dude's like H you could pencil them in
for six and maybe more so like again you have to PCA is probably the only one PCA
could hit six maybe more yeah but I just like that's you need that because now if
he outperforms you're talking about eight you're talking about nine literally double what anybody is
going to do like at their and that's that's multiple more
wins that's the difference between ring and 88 wins or 90 it carries and the
thing is who's who's getting all the publicity who's getting the pressure that pressure now is relieved from other
guys every's not bitching about Ian hap having a cold stretch you know what I mean like not things it it levels out
those those run those low points so I yeah I it's not going to happen but but
the Cubs need someone like that who's who's at that higher level who's gonna
next year to save Jed hoyer's job right he he has to go find if it's that if he
it's a trade for vadito um I I I don't know what else because I think they man I wanted to get
Matt Chapman and man people shouted me down for that one and I'll just say I was right on that
were right so uh in a in a big way um I wanted him over Bellinger just let the
record show anyway I'll showed up now we we figured it out we figured out all that alss the Cubs and exactly how to
fix it in less than an hour so hopefully Jed listens to us yeah
we'll see I don't have a lot of faith in it love you jedward we love you uh it's
been good it's been real we'll Circle back uh you know probably in another couple weeks or something if anything
big nothing big is going to happen because the playoffs are going on so uh we'll just kind of see what happens in
terms of when we Circle back but keep us like subscribe subscribe like follow
like all the things the kids are doing these days yeah give us a five star rating on whatever podcatcher you have
because uh you know Lord knows we're probably not worth that but you can lie I don't think we're going to be hurt by
a we're okay with that by higher rating than you need so that's cool okay cool all right all right until then thanks
everyone
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