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happy labor day I hope you're not working today I'm I'm not well you know other than
other than this right uh the most important job
that I have I think there are some Facebook commenters who would argue that this is not working at all
yeah I I think it's probably the opposite of work um yes most of them would believe but uh
yeah I'm uh I think I should take a nap I've been to
two concerts in the last four days and I'm kind of tired um so it's it's uh for like the month I
mean if I did that I would I I don't think I could do it yeah well I have two more uh later this
month so I'm going uh I got two more in the space of three days uh coming up later and uh but
those will be a little bit more low-key like I'm in the lawn you know I'll be chilling the the problem with it was
that the first one we did was kind of Old National Young yeah no not not so much but uh we'll see
you know yesterday the problem was that um it was supposed to rain all day and
the forecast was getting better and better and it was like okay no rain in the forecast cool and it's an outdoor it
was like a festival kind of a thing small festival and there there was some indoor stuff there one of the stages was
indoors but the the one uh and we we saw uh like a Tom Petty they call it a dream
set but it's like a bunch of different artists from like from Dawes and Cage the Elephant uh John Oates of Hall and
Oates right like and they're playing how's that how to say playoff you know
it was weird well you know it's it's all a mix well Hall and Oates please
yeah like I was just you know I want to hear some more stuff I was like oh I
want to hear Private Eyes um but uh but no they played a good you know like an hour-long Tom Petty said
that was indoors of school it's all general admission right but then we want to see John Fogerty and he was supposed
to start at eight been like eight to nine thirty um but the sky's opened up and it poured
for like 45 minutes and so they they had to stop the setup and and wait on it thankfully right I had I had purchased
ponchos ahead of time and we were wearing Crocs you know because I was like we're not don't wear normal shoes
and my son's like but the weather looks really nice I said just bear with me
um sure enough and it opened up so he didn't go on until about nine and they played an abbreviated set
because Cage the Elephant was coming on after um but when he'd been standing there when you're old and you're standing and
it's raining and you're just fighting through that um you know it was but but it ended up
being fine and it was nice because it was Sunday evening and so the traffic once we left like we didn't want to see Casey elephant and a ton of people were
there to see them uh and so it was great because when the Fogerty show was over it's like Boop get out of there and uh
and done and we were home but uh you know the the show I went to on Thursday night was Wu-Tang Clan Nas and Busta
Rhymes and then that you know that one didn't get over till about 11 and I had a bit of a longer commute home from that
one about an hour which is not late you know but uh I think my ears stopped
ringing sometime yesterday so that was nice you're making me tired just just talking about it so uh maybe we should move on
before we can sleep here talk about the Cubs at some point maybe I don't know yeah what the heck uh yeah
I mean speaking of the Cubs they uh they are not good against the Cardinals at all the the let me tell you the Cubs in
the second half of the season have been really good um except against the Cardinals yeah
their their record in the second half is 21 and 21 the 500 record which for the Cubs is respectable uh but they're two
and nine against the Cardinals in the second half and so if you eliminate the Cardinals from that equation they're 19
and 12 against every other team so they're really good the Cubs are a good team they're just not better than the
Cardinals and that's it yeah and then well when you have freaking I
mean Albert pools is a fossil and yet all of a sudden he's just caught fire and it no sense to me it's like did
David Ross go out there and say pump him too that's right why didn't he throw ing
her I mean at least one will the fact that it's against the left you know here's the Lefty who who holds
has been crushing this season already right yeah like that that alone the
announcers were talking about that yeah and it's like like even even the one now I'll give Smiley credit because the
Pitch pooholes hit against him for a homer in the previous Series yeah it was like a foot above the strike zone there's no way no I mean that's not a
bad pitch that's not a mistake that's not that's just a pitch that Pujols got a hold of but
I I don't know it did feel a little bit like he was like hey man listen
but it's a but it's also a Thai game at that point too it's not like I know down
eight like that's that's zero zero pitcher's duel and Hughes had just come into the game
and and you're thinking like I'm thinking for sure we're not gonna see a fat ball and the first the first pitch
was a fastball but it was high and uh and out of the Zone fools didn't swing at it and and then I'm thinking
for sure slider 100 and a fastball right down the middle of the plate I mean it's
it was a BP fastball it wasn't even a quality pitch yeah that's yeah like I would I would be
more willing to kind of fall into the conspiracy of it all had the game situation been different right if the
Cubs were either up a lot or down a lot but it's it's a curious decision in general
right just just having a lefty going up against pool holes going fast particularly where where Ross came out
yeah and they had a meeting at the mound he couldn't have possibly said
throw him two fastballs here yeah that that seems very odd you know
so I mean again was it was Hughes and I uh admittedly right like when that
happened I was kind of following it and I was I was there at that concert and so I didn't follow up on the post game I
mean did he but did he come back and was there any commentary afterwards right like well I don't know was the slide or
not did it not feel right did was there something else going on no he had uh the batter that he had just faced I he
struck out on I think three sliders no I mean the slider was looking good
yeah that just seems curious whoever he had faced right before pools I believe was a right-handed hitter and
that slider was breaking down towards his feet you know it looked good yeah I mean he got some uh two ugly swings from
the batter before and then the third pitch I believe was a slider that that the guy just reached for and and hit to
Nico it was an easy ground up so then Ross comes out as uh pool Holst
is coming up to bat they talk for a little while and you know they're talking about how you know Hughes uh you
know is a left-handed pitcher and pool holes crushes left-handed pitching and
uh and then Ross leaves the mound and and you're thinking okay they've got a game plan here and the first pitch he
throws is a high fast ball and the second Pitch he throws is a fastball right in the middle of the plate I mean why would Ross come out for that you
know what I mean like for a normal the manager shouldn't be going out there to be talking strategy and all that that's
part of his job like why would I don't know that's just it's super weird to me
it was weird it was weird so whatever it happened I just it sucks that you know
it's like the last at-bat that Albert Pujols will ever have against the Chicago Cubs and listen I know there's a
lot of people I guess I'm just not a good guy or something like that because there's a lot of people out there who are like uh you know this is baseball
history and I want pools to get 700 I don't want pools to get 700 I wanted to get 699 I don't like Albert Pujols he
has killed the Cubs his entire career I don't have to like Albert pools because he has killed the Cubs his entire career
and then you just displayed it in his last step back no I want him to be stuck
on 699 home runs and I want him to have to decide whether he's going to come back next year or not so there
well we're also talking about a guy who left his wife when she had cancer so I think there's uh you know everybody
talks about him being this great classy dude and maybe there's something more to that story that I know about but boy that
certainly seemed odd uh you know among other things but as long as here's the
thing I don't mind I don't mind him getting 700 um he has slowed down slightly so I mean
he's still gonna get five more here over the next month which you know is a it's
MLB like just basically gonna just give him oh I I think I think there's
definitely going to be an effort I think they wanted to pass Alex Rodriguez right is Rodriguez at 696 is he still right
ahead of him is that worth 697 something like that he came up short but you you know they want pool holes to get to 700.
I mean as as a league not just the Cardinals but like the league would love to see it Major League Baseball loves to
celebrate those types of moments right like they love to hoist you know kind of the Batters and players up on their
shoulders and celebrate these these what they call Great Moments even though they may be players that you don't particularly care for so
yeah it'll it'll definitely be something they want to try to track so you know and I mean again when you're the Cubs
the winning and losing doesn't really matter at this point you know I know there's a lot of other even though it's
like again I'm not saying this not that it's not important to the players I always like to make that clear like like
players are and that's what's tough right is if you effectively ask a player to kind of lay down
now there are times right if we go back to like the Barry Bonds home run Chase
and I know Carrie Wood was talking about facing him and like Wood's going like now I'm gonna pitch to him like I'm not
gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna give him my best and and with wood you know I mean you're talking fastball curve that sort of thing but he's like
these dudes want to be if they got a big fastball they want to beat you with that right these these pitchers want to beat
you they want to pitch to these guys right you don't necessarily want to be the one that gave up number 700 but if
you're truly a competitor you want to go out there and beat the best who else isn't the best anymore but
he's sure hitting like it right now right and he's crushing Lefty so if you're huge you know I mean maybe it's a question like Hey kid do you think you
can beat him with the fastball yeah I think I can all right then go do it you know
um and so I think there's something to be said for that if you're a competitor right you like it might be intimidating
to face Nolan Ryan back in the day you know and a lot of guys at a certain point might not want like Randy Johnson
you know when he was going at his best I mean Randy Johnson his best was I mean I
don't know if we go top five but that run that he had once he figured stuff out he was
insanely good just dominant so like not you know facing someone like that is
different from facing someone like Maddox even though again Maddox had just some incredible runs there uh you know
degrom now sureser at times right most of the time now Verlander and so you
know you flip that to some of these hitters whether it be trout or Otani or whomever but in in today's game pitchers have a greater advantage over hitters so
if you're a pitcher man you want to go after these guys tonight and I get it just it's kind of a weird
it's it's a it's an odd scenario but if I'm a pitcher going up against Blue holes the rest of the way I'm going out
there and I want to pitch to him I don't want to walk the dude you know what I mean like all right if you got it if
you're gonna get it I'm gonna make you earn it but yeah we'll see walking him seems a little a little bit of a stretch
but uh yeah so if you're lucky throw it to him though he's got a good chance of
taking you out yeah leaving the yard like he left his his uh
his wife when she had cancer the the Cubs uh that's a good transition
the Cubs have definitely have a lot to build on as they kind of go forward and
I think there's a lot to look forward to but one thing that we've noticed is that the Cubs really seem to be slow on on
calling up some of their prospects uh and some of the guys that that it would
seem that they would call up I mean they they brought David Bodie up the other day which I was completely confused by I
mean because they don't have enough middle infielders right I mean come on yeah I guess it's that because he's on
the 40-man roster but we have talked about this ad nauseam that the Cubs are going to have to address the 40-man
roster situation sooner or later and that David Bode is not likely to be part of the Cubs future and there's a number
of other players uh that are at Iowa um or or wherever they are that are not
going to be part of the Cubs feature either and there are another a number of players such as Alexander Canario and
Matt Mervis who uh people would love to see up in Chicago who it doesn't feel
like we're gonna see I mean I don't know why we wouldn't see Canario to be honest with these on the 40-man roster already so there's really no excuse to to see
him um I I understand the Cups have a lot of outfielders but uh but still you could
work them in there somehow um and and Matt Mervis I mean here's a
guy Matt Mervis just an interesting guy right I mean he was an undrafted free agent signing in
June of 2020 uh largely undrafted because it was only a five round draft
due to covid um he signed with the Cubs a minor league deal and uh really didn't hasn't
put up great stats until this year well he only had the One season I mean yeah
it wasn't one at least he wasn't like a super stud at Duke
um which is where he went to school uh but this this year he's just crushing I mean at Duke he never had more than six
home runs this year part of that that was because he was also a pitcher and he didn't hit very much he had fewer
at-bats because he was a pitcher uh 437 at-bats uh 30 home runs 76 runs
106 RBI his average is 314 he's got a an on base percentage of 376 and a slugging
of 613 which is just ridiculous and he only has 93 strikeouts over 437 at bats
which is really impressive now compared that I compared that to Chris Bryan in 2014 and these numbers are gaudy uh I
mean he had 492 at bats so he had what 64 uh more or not 64 54 more at bats at
the time 118 runs to 76. 43 home runs to 30 110 RBI so not nearly as many RBI and
then this last one was 325 438 661. but
he had 162 strikeouts and that was something that continued to haunt uh Bryant into the major leagues and still
does to this day and 87 86 walks so that that was a home run every 11.4 at bats
for Bryant and a home run every 14.6 at bats for Matt Mervis
uh the guy is tearing it up and it's kind of crazy uh I think I mean
what do you think the reason is for the Cubs not not bringing him up to Chicago
I mean
yeah I mean I listen I get you're the one of the 40 man and and when you make
a decision on that right you've got but Bodhi schwinddel
Ortega uh I mean we could go through any number feral
we go you know I don't you don't normally swap out a picture for a position player but there's there are three position players and okay let's
let's look at this I mean let's let's look at this very pragmatically okay the
Cubs need a first baseman Swindell clearly was not the answer um Alfonso Rivas
has not appeared to be the answer and and Alfonso the other thing is the Cubs
need left-handed hitting specifically left-handed power they need power in general well yeah you got a guy slugging
over 600 and to me when you look at Mervis you know what else has happened his strikeout rate has dropped at each
level he's striking out less in Iowa than he did in Tennessee then he did a South Bend he's 25 years old right
College hitter as you mentioned um played both ways part of the reason you know I mean he was also a righty
pitcher who threw 95 plus now part of that means fewer reps at first fewer at-bats in general fewer against
left-handed pitchers now it should be noted two of his last three homers came against left-handed pitchers in Columbus
and both of them were bombs this is not a dude who hits wall scrapers right I
mean he he put it out whatever that building is like an apartment or a you know a party deck thing whatever it is
if you hit one off the roof yeah then put one over it then hit the scoreboard
I mean he his hitting streak ended last night second half of a doubleheader but
he had like a 13-game hit streak um and again I will note that if you look at his numbers pre August 20th and
and post uh they're gonna look a lot better post 820 which is when uh my son and I wore our match Mervis t-shirts to
the game here in Indianapolis I'm not saying coincidence correlation causation who's to say but
he is hitting really back to facts yeah it's not just looking at saying hey this
guy hits will the Cubs should pull him up it's going like listen he's he's at an old enough you
know you're not looking at it saying that some 20 year old who broke out of nowhere right um the Cubs made some
specific moves with his swing to kind of help improve a few things to bring this out of him he plays first base he's a
left-handed hitter it fits all these things you know and maybe we've talked about
this I mean he's decided that he's going to be assigned to the Arizona fall league hell maybe they just want to let him pitch again and and the AFL and then
they can make him a two-way player again I don't think that's really the case I think they do want him to get no sense
yeah more reps at first it's a little bit weird still to have a guy who's again the best offensive season in the
system since Chris Bryant in 2014 to have him get more work in the AFL but he
has DH some I assume that they'll be wanting him to work explicitly at first base to get more played appearances
against left-handed pitchers and just to kind of prove some of those things but I
mean what is it what has he got to do like there did I again I get the 40-man thing but are
you telling me that Frank schwendell and Rafael Ortega and others are more deserving of a 40-man roster spot right
now than Matt murvis is that is what they're telling you yes right very very much
as a matter of fact and uh or Rivas for that matter although I you know again I don't want to part with with Alfonso
Rivas just yet but here's the problem with Rivas right is he can he can pick it pretty well over first base
but the dude has no power yeah yeah there's no power there what's I mean you're talking like like on par with
Nick Madrigal no and I'm not joking like his his ISO unless it's taking a jump
lately over his last season uh two seasons his ISO is is right on par with Nick
madrigals and that's not where you can you cannot have a first baseman
who I'm not saying doesn't hit for a lot of power I'm saying hits for no power your first baseman has to be hitting 20
home runs yeah not two um and that's that's where and if you've
got PJ Higgins on the roster right you've got I mean you've got franville Reyes I'd love to see Mervis come up so
if you if you are going to have and the thing is Mervis bats left-handed so he's not going to platoon with Rivas but give
me give me like a nervous Higgins kind of first base platoon with a Mervis
Reyes DH platoon and now all of a sudden and that's the thing is Mervis is balancing out that
power with a little bit more contact the Cubs are trying to go that route it just makes a ton of sense and that's
where I'm like this is a dude wouldn't you want to get this look at him what is the AFL gonna do for him I know there's
some things they maybe want to try to work on but of all the players they've got out there right because that's the thing with Canario
he struggled pretty significantly to make those adjustments right now at AAA he's still you know and that doesn't
that doesn't mean you can't call him up give him a little bit of a cup of coffee but again when you look at the I mean
Mervis should be the player of the year uh for the team by the time it's all said and done he was a player of the month for August he he's hit three home
runs already in September and he's getting better right I mean it's it's him or Pete Crow Armstrong and then a
very wide Gap before maybe and it's saying something because canario's got 30 homers Canario
got to 30 before Mash did making him the first player since Bryant to do it but clearly the overall numbers
favor Marvis and the fact that he's right on the precipice but you know I I think there's a few other moves and
that's what I wrote a little something today about that like and it's a bold prediction but I think he could be the
the Rookie of the Year next year I really think that he could continue like I just he's a dude whose game I think
fits well um and we'll continue to play out really well although you know I look at that too but I see
Pete Crow Armstrong making his way up by next year I see Brandon Davis being with the club next year and you know if if
those are two dudes that's a center fielder and a left fielder you've already got to say a Suzuki
I'm I you know I I think Ian happ's uh time in Chicago is is most definitely
still limited despite the fact that they did not trade him I think that's a dude we might maybe we
see on the move you know here this off season as a result so we'll see yeah I mean there's a
definitely a lot to be excited about for the next season and I mean I think some
of the things that we thought were going to happen particularly Davis uh coming up this season didn't happen you know I
think that we kind of took the position all along that we didn't know if we'd see Davis a lot of people were pounding
on the table saying you know he should be up right away and why are they doing Chris Bryant's service time manipulation all this other stuff and I think our our
position had been uh the entire time that you know it was like he still got some work to do he hadn't played at Iowa
at all and uh still needed to kind of prove himself there and as he was trying to do that he got injured and so uh it
was a moot point anyways but I really think next season is the season where you're going to see a lot of exciting
things happen going to be very very much like 2015. you're you're probably going
to start the season with some guys at Iowa that we think should be in Chicago and I don't think that'll be a service
time manipulation thing but uh you know it'll just be kind of the way that it works I mean maybe Davis is down maybe
he's up Mervis Canario there's going to be some interesting things going on and
you mentioned hap yeah I mean if if they're going to bring Canario up I mean just one more guy right and you don't
really have room for hap anymore um so but the thing is that hap is is
that left-handed bat and so you hate to lose the left-handed you know power bat too
um and so it'll be interesting to see kind of how they manage him and and how they manage that extra outfielder
whether they I don't know if they DH hap uh I mean I guess they could but yeah
but if you if you bring Reyes back right and you've got Mervis there
there's very little and and perhaps power has has not really come along as
much as I think we had expected it too early and and some of that's right he's he is hitting
for better average he is playing better left field defense there are things that help to make up for that a little bit but you know as you sit there and look
at it you go well okay out of their their Corner spots you know let's and
and really write Chris Morell has been playing a lot more Third Base but but let's let's say Patrick wisdom is at
third but you know Suzuki has shown some pop but in general if you look at him versus
traditional right fielder less power now could that change absolutely I mean you
know we saw show Ohio Tani have to adjust we've seen some of that but but if you look at their corners and we mentioned Rivas
you know and you can you can split Higgins over there too but if you look Rivas Higgins you look wisdom Morel and
then you have Suzuki and hap at those four corner spots the only one of those players
with above average power is Patrick wisdom right the rest of them have average to
below average power again they make up for with other things but the Cubs could very conceivably
upgrade to those positions this off-season in the power Department right like without
I mean internally without having to make much of a move for it uh they could also upgrade power
at the middle infield right if they go after one of the big shortstops though I still feel if they do that that person needs to be moved to either second or
third because they're not playing better than Nico Horner you're not going to go
sign a better defensive shortstop than Nico Horner at this point unless like maybe James B Swanson but I don't think
he's he's the one that they'll you know Target expensive than Nico Horner is well yeah but I'd rather see one of
those guys move over to Third right and now you've got a more balance if they're trying to balance you
mentioned Morel at third base and I gotta tell you I don't like it double triple pump thing that he does yeah I
don't understand he's not an accurate thrower from third base I know he's played third which is crazy he he is not
a good third baseman he's just not and and I doubt listen Suzuki obviously
isn't going anywhere in the Outfield but dude I've never seen more confusion in the Outfield in my life than I have from the Cubs this season particularly when
Suzuki's involved I mean there's so many times where it just seems like there's miscommunication between him and the center fielder and I don't know if it's
a Raphael Ortega thing or what but it it seems like there's all these near collisions in the Outfield uh that just
it's unnecessary and like it just happened the other day as a matter of fact where Suzuki's pulling up at the
last second and I just I I just hopefully they can work that out but Morel at third base makes me uneasy so
just give me Pete Crow Armstrong at center field immediately and then we can eliminate that yeah you know everybody else okay right field right field and
left field you guys just stay there yeah just if it's not hit directly to you don't worry about it Pete we'll go get
it done yeah but or towards the line yeah that's fine but I mean and and
again that but that's where I go with it too is you say you know will it take him continuing on this path yeah I mean he
should start the season next year at double A at which point he's One Call Away from Chicago and I'm not talking Iowa being
that call I'm saying he could move from double A if he shows that he can hit that level uh we've seen that happen before with Morel right yeah and and you
know maybe he does get some time at Triple A but the thing is and I keep saying this like his defense is is top
level Elite MLB quality now right he doesn't that's not the development thing
at all and the same thing that makes him so good his we've mentioned this before right whether you want to call it
kinesthetic awareness that's one of the things that he patterns it um or you could call it proprioception
his ability to move his body through space to adapt physically is and we're
talking among Elite athletes he is Elite at that level and I think that's going to help him to continue to adjust at the
plate and we've seen him make those adjustments at South Bend uh But there again that's that's going to happening
once PCA comes up he's there like that's your center fielder done move on in Center Field in
Chicago is not nearly as challenging it's not a big center field yeah that's how Dexter Fowler got so good there you
know exactly I mean a guy like PCA he's going to be you know he'll go glove every every single year uh in Chicago
and so that'll be interesting it's not a place like Chicago like Colorado where you know you could you could run for a
mile and still not be yeah Colorado and Houston right that's those are the places that that Fowler have been
playing and the you know these massive center field areas and then he gets to Chicago and like oh wait you mean I can
play a little shallower here and uh and still get you know Jim Edmonds was playing like five feet back a second
base when he played there um and and you can still cover hell Andrew Jones would have probably played
in the infield grass uh if he had played it Wrigley he could have played that shallow but but there's yeah there's so many things
that they could make some of these moves internally I mean they're going to have to I think they're going to have to swing a trade with some of these
prospects because if you look at all those outfielders even even assuming and I think again I think Armstrong Crow
Armstrong is the surest BET of them because of that singular tool that he
has that's going to enable him to play you know Billy Hamilton style right Hamilton doesn't have to hit but the
speed and the defense have kept him in the league forever um but if you look at that and then go to uh you know again it's Pete Crow
Armstrong It's Brennan Davis it's Kevin Alcantara those are their top three we've got Suzuki out there and then
you've got well what about Owen Casey coming up what about uh I mean there's any number of other outfielders they've
got and when we talk about hap part of that comes down to
this is part of what I was mentioning as well or what I what I recently wrote about my little predictions so they
won't be extended not not because he's not an excellent ball player I mean he was an All-Star and somebody was kind of
arguing with me about this I said but first of all he doesn't have that singular defining tool right and the guy
was like well hitting forever is a tool like yeah okay you know this is great you can bet 275 280. that's really good
especially in today's game but that's not that's not a carrying tool batting 315 in today's game is a carrying tool
hitting for a bunch of power you know having Gold Glove level defense having Elite Speed those are all loud tools
that can can allow you to establish value better but when you're looking at a team that's got a bunch of outfielders
coming off that decreases haps residual value moving forward like okay if we
sign you to a long-term deal five six years now we've got two longer we have one
Outfield spot that's remaining and so we need to know that you're and I'm telling you this I think Pete Crow Armstrong is
a dude who could be four to five War every year moving forward I think Brennan Davis can be a more productive
hitter than Ian have and so right there what is Hap's value unless he is willing to take a really
steep discount to stick around in Chicago I just don't think the Cubs and Ian have can come to an agreement on the
terms that would keep him in there that would make sense for him I think he'd be able to go get a lot more money somewhere else for a team that needs
that kind of a a player I just don't see the Cubs making that work and they they need those spots
desperately dude and I mean hell they're giving like again they're giving all this run to Rafael
Ortega who runs into an out every now and again every time I talk [ __ ] about him he ends up like getting a home run the next day so we'll see but talk more
about him but yeah he's terrible yeah that just you know it feels like
maybe the Cubs are keeping some of these guys down in the miners just so as you mentioned you know they're going to need
to trade some of the guys away and maybe they see value and then uh you know kind of being minor Leaguers and not tempting
fate so to speak to see kind of you have a bad couple weeks or a month in the majors and then suddenly you know their
trade value goes down I I have no idea I'm just spitballing yeah um but at the end of the day I think
you're right I think uh I think they have to trade some of these prospects
probably in the off season I would say yeah if they can get uh you know a power
arm y these prospects yeah that'd be that'd be great you know what I mean they've
got so many guys that they can trade a base that they can trade from and so many outfielders and you know if they're
if they're able to trade some of these position players for a pitcher that'd be great that would that'd be really good
uh and then maybe get you know a prospect or two back uh as well with with some upsides so it'll be
interesting to see kind of how it all plays out I think the off season this is probably going to be the most interesting off season for the Cubs in
years uh I mean last season was you know obviously the the lockout was kind of
stopped everything in its tracks and that was a bummer for us too because our website did literally no traffic
whatsoever you're like what should we write about today let's what's the latest rumor you know
it will it it was it was nice because at least they at least they boosted us into it with the last second Marcus Stroman
signing right and then there was the whole say a Suzuki thing but I mean in
between when when they can't talk about anything when they can't make any moves they couldn't do any of that stuff yeah there's nothing going on there was
nothing there but but here's hard it and I know like it's really it's funny
because there's this you see I or I do at least there's there's Trends in
kind of the the the Cubs fandom and the and the consumption of of news like you
know a decade ago when I got started writing about this team you know for public consumption right
it was hey it they're gonna suck right they're they're trying to suck
they're trying to rebuild and then you had a whole bunch of people who didn't believe it didn't buy it Theo Epstein's
a liar Tom Rickett's a liar they're not trying to win this sucks they don't know what they're doing and then you know
that obviously changed dramatically within the next like two years right because 2012 2013 everybody's like Theo
Epstein's a liar he sucks he's stupid too like oh my God he's a genius he's the best person ever to then
then it became like okay this team is what the hell are they doing why aren't they spending they're not going to spend
and and you've always had and then there's always a flip side to all those things right there people who said this is stupid why are they doing this and
then the other half of the people were like no this makes total sense then it flipped to like why aren't they spending
money and then you had a lot of people like they are spending money look at their payroll you know it's like well you gotta understand how that
expenditure works now we've gotten back to where there's a lot of people saying hey look they've actually established a
pretty nice basis from which they could spend and then there's a bunch of people saying No Time Records will never ever spend money again he doesn't care he got
his World Series they'll never increase payroll and again I'm not trying to let him off the
hook for things that have happened I'm not trying to let anybody off the hook I I feel like and this is what's difficult to have a conversation with
somebody because you run into uh the the pitfall of being like
do you know who I am like if I'm talking to somebody and I'm not trying to be like I am awesome
you know believe me because but I'm but it's more like I run an entire website I have an entire
video slash podcast on which we discuss all these topics multiple times a week
right like I've got a 10-year backlog of covering the team I've hit on all these
types so if I'm addressing this one topic today your foundation of knowledge is is much greater than pretty much
everybody else well not not only that but it's like yeah like I've written
about this you know they're like they'll argue with me about it but what about like yeah what up here are 15 links or
whatever that I've already covered that in depth like I'm I'm on this one topic now but anyway that brings me around to
you know when you look at it the projection right now is the Cubs should be around 110 million dollar
payroll you know with with money falling off that's estimated ARB raises that's you know raises for non-armed players
somewhere in there 110 to 115 million that's with the players they have now right just before they would go out and
sign anybody and so and that's the luxury tax threshold that's really low the luxury tax
threshold for next year is 233 million right they don't even have to get to they should be at 200 million every year
I mean they they should be past 200 million right but let's just say they were like 150 this year that's where
they're at right now I think the estimate they go to 175 they could spend 65 to 70 million dollars or 50 55 to 75
million dollars in the off season which is a lot let's be clear so so let's be clear that when you say these numbers
just so everybody understands like 65 to 70 million dollars that's a year and so
when you go and sign somebody to a 150 million dollar contract that's not all in one year that's right out over
multiple years and so typically your biggest signing the biggest signing the
Cubs could probably make would be 40 million dollar salary per year right and
so but that would be uh degrom basically yeah and so beyond Jacob degrom anybody
under every other player is going to come in under that number and so for 65
to 70 million that's that's a two or three Superstars yeah they could easily go out
easily Right add those players and and we're taught I'm saying still only be at
175 to 180 million dollar payroll we're talking about 50 to 60 million dollars
50 to 60 under and then you have Jason Hayward falling off after next year and
Kyle Hendrick's falling off after next year possibly Ian Happ falling off after next year so right there is another 50
or 60 million dollars that clears up they could go and make a huge Splash without stressing the books then they go
and make another huge Splash to follow they they could right I'm not saying they will but they could do that and
they're taking it all next year they could do it all next year and just to absorb kind of what was happening knowing that those stories are going to
drop off right and they can do it in a very targeted manner you go get a I mean [ __ ] go get the Grom whatever or go go
get a Top Line pitcher and go get one of those shortstops you get those too and again everything's like when I talk
about stuff like this like will one player won't do it okay I'm not saying that one player those two players are
who does it nobody's saying that but if you improve with those if you get you
get an Ace and and there's another thing I wrote about is I think Justin Steele basically elevates himself to the number
two I I would trust Justin Steele over there over yeah he probably is
um he's number one if they don't sign somebody else I think but you go get an Ace and you give me that that Ace and
then steal and strowman right and then you know do whatever you want I still think Keegan Thompson probably profiles
better as as more that middle relief type of guy that's my thought um but you get that you get that Top
Line shortstop you move into either second or third I'd kind of actually like to see him at third with the way
Madrigal is hitting and reaching base right now if he can continue that which is what we've kind of expected and then
you get Brenna Davis to come up right and then eventually Pete Crow
Armstrong but that really profiles again that we've kind of followed this timeline getting a couple of those top
guys that all of a sudden turns next season into your 2015. again even if it's just once right and and so that's
not one player making the fix it's that player then allowing other things to fall into place with who they then
promote right whether that's Mervis at first base then you figure out okay is Brennan Davis the real deal
and if so you know again that that allows you then to figure out you got another year to figure okay is Peter
Armstrong the real deal cool now we start moving him up and then as we saw you know 15 the the young guys started
to come up and then they you know they were able to start bringing them in there and fill
those gaps and then you see again what okay now what do we need great now we can go get that
so I you know catcher is still an issue you know does does contrary I think I
did those numbers without Contreras being there I just I think he could but
I think he could take the qualifying offer or I think he could work out a kind of a shorter deal based off of the
qualifying offer you know that's entirely possible the cups are actually pretty strong in their system at the
catcher position though yeah you know you've got Amaya who could be up next
year if he does well in the Arizona fall league where he'll be catching right he's only been dhing so far because of
the elbow surgery but if he continues to hit and reach base really well and the
and the catching is always the defense and the game calling has been his carrying tool it's kind of the opposite
of Contreras right and you know you've got Jan Gomes there for another year and yeah PJ Higgins has been okay I mean I'm
not saying like ah get rid of Wilson he sucks but but I if I'm looking at it from the Cubs
perspective and saying we've got this dude who's again that
father time is maybe catching up with him a little bit it's going to cost x amount to keep him even for a shorter
period of time I mean you're definitely we've got these other guys saying offer to him which in turn
could make it so that no one nobody signs him right I mean so that's gonna happen
right or at least he doesn't get the offer I think somebody will sign him for it I don't know if he'll get what they
what he he certainly won't get as much as what he would get if he were not attached to it right if he had been
traded and could hit the free agent Market unencumbered by that qo
um but but yeah I think I think they absolutely make it which then if he turns it down and offers and goes to
sign elsewhere that compensatory pick might allow them then to to pursue someone like a Carlos Rodan or another
pitcher of that ilk right Who had who has a qualifying offer because then they don't mind as much losing the draft pick
because they're getting back another one for losing a qo player of their own um so it strategically it makes a lot of
sense to them and if he does I mean hell if he signs for whatever it is 20 million dollars for a year and he plays
under the qo great I mean again it's a short-term deal it's it's not anything that drags him down they could easily
stick with that and then they they see what happens um you know so I I think there's a lot of a
lot of different ways they could go with that I I know I had written that I feel like it makes an extension more likely
for him and I I still believe that only because it reduces his overall value and
you know the injury has certainly the ankle injury has slowed him down here in the second half so we could look at that
but I think while that is not tied to his hamstring issues that he's had in
the past you do have to keep looking at it say man that the second halves
he's he's had issues several seasons in the second half just due to durability
for one reason or another again I don't want to slap that injury we'd call you could say injury prone or whatever I
prefer to just look at it as bad luck uh although one the one year was a result of a lack of conditioning and he
admitted to that and that was kind of tough so I mean that's dude for a catcher and if if he's got a DH a lot
and you've got Reyes you've got Mervis you got some other guys there I just hit his value man it is not
nearly as great in my eyes as what it appears he may be seeking in a free
agent contract so he maybe he maybe let go or or
allowed to go see how green the grass is on the other side of the fence we'll see
yeah yeah I mean I think you know uh just from a Sentimental perspective you
know I think people want to keep uh keep them around but you've got some some prospects I mean
Moises by Astros uh by asteros sorry uh who is an 18 year old catcher at Myrtle
Beach right now who is looking really good uh with Ethan Hearn I think is he also
with the Pelicans yeah catch her with the Pelicans a little older I think so yeah Bryce I mean Bryce Windham not doing as well
yeah Bryce Windham I mean they've got they've got these guys who there it is they're not they're not like
on the radar quite yet like by by they're on our radar right but I don't think they're on like everybody else's
radar and I think that that they're just a step away from being there so I think the the catching situation in Chicago
looks a lot better than I think most people uh are going to give it credit for right now yeah
um but and that's and that's where that's where the front office looks at that and again it's similar to what I
said with hap right and it's not necessarily that like hey we believe one or two of these guys are going to come up immediately and replace Contreras but
when you're weighing anything beyond a year or you know especially if we're going
two and three years down the road like that incremental value from that player and you look at the age and and I
continue to bring this up but the athleticism with which Wilson Contreras plays and that he relies on to make him
a solid catcher that does not get better from this point forward and so they're going to have to
weigh those the potential for diminishing returns against being able to call up a couple guys who are going
to make a fraction you know combined you could call up two of these guys between Amaya and someone else I mean hell am I
on Higgins right that combination right there will make one-tenth of what contrary is is seeking
um and you know they have to look at it and say well if we're able to upgrade elsewhere right now even right yeah I
mean it'll and so 10 million yeah I mean you figure he'll be it like so if they're if they're each making
three quarters of a million there's 1.5 if he wants 20 you know there's that is
and so yes will the production be less yeah but at how much less cost that you
could then put into other areas and assuming his production continues to
decrease and the production of those young players continues to increase and if we look at you know look at the
defense that's one of the things that's been really tough for a staff
that they just do a lot of contact gets a lot of ground balls you know is do you need some more game
calling types and so guys even if we're talking about Robo humps there's more to it than just framing
um I don't know I I I'm speaking more from that front office perspective I'm not saying this is what I want to have
happen and I want him going because I'm still you know as you said sentimentally uh emotionally from the leadership
perspective I think those things all have to factor but I mean we've seen some of the things that Jed Hoyer some
of the moves he's made the hard moves that he's uh you know sent guys away and
um I I could see Contreras being a part of that because of how he's viewed moving forward and I
if I really break it down and remove the emotional quotient from it it's hard for me to find a lot of fault
with the idea that they could kind of finagle themselves into a into a really good spot
you know without having I mean how's how's you guys money Grendel working out for the White Sox right they
threw a bunch of money there I mean I know real Muto has been fine but what have the Phillies done the last few
years yeah you don't get a lot uh from 30 plus year old catchers that's just
what it comes down to typically yeah I mean yachty
but that's that's different but just don't all this recent stuff man if if
Contreras ends up in St Louis like I say all this like anything but that
just don't I do not want to see like that would be that would be awful
to see him in St Louis if Contreras ends up in St Louis like
Yadi is not going away I mean I know he says he's retiring so let's say they sign Contreras in the off season either
Yadi signs a cheap one-year contract and sticks around to work with Wilson
or or he stays on the coaching staff or something like that but he's not going to go away I don't think I mean he
wouldn't want to go away right yeah well it's funny because those fans those St Louis fans like feel like God like they
get their their culture and their their like we could we could make him better you know and it's it's just such a weird
there's such a a funny superiority uh complex that they've got over those things and uh The Classy baseball but uh
I you know whatever happens I just I want Contreras to like go to San Diego go to Seattle somewhere far far away
that the Cubs don't have to see very often Florida yeah hey I'll take that
um but yeah I I I don't want to say oh that would suck though I hate the
Dodgers um they seem to sign every big player yeah that's true they can go out and make it happen I just uh yeah I I don't
believe from an actual competitive standpoint particularly if we if we're
looking at kind of next year sort of being a real re-emergence or whatever we want to call it for the Cubs these next
two years really I think we'll we'll show I don't think losing Contreras
significantly impacts that timeline if at all yeah and and yeah I just I think
it would be nice it'd be nice to have him but yeah from a performance perspective I I don't know that there's
there's a big difference there and I'm probably gonna get strung up for that one but I know a lot of people will be pissed off about it but it's like I
don't know man well fortunately fewer people listen to the podcast and then read the website so
uh you got that going for you oh there we go well I should but I should put it
I think I have like I think I've kind of put that out there so so you know but
like at this point it's weird when you're sitting there talking about like his leadership qualities I think are probably more important than his actual
production not more important but if I were weighing those things like that's I think what's more helpful to overall
team development chemistry and things like that but yeah at the same time you know I've gotten to that point and I you
know I'm there on app as well uh I just he's he's a very he's a very good player
talk about hap now he's a player who does a lot of different things well
but doesn't do any one thing so well that you can't easily replace a lot of
that right I mean a you know if you were to if you were to say right now starting from today
over the next five years would you rather have Ian Happ or Brennan Davis
and I would suspect most people would say Brenda Davis but it's hard I would say in half personally and the reason I
would say inhab is because I've seen inhab do it at the major league level uh you know and so I'm always I I'd
always err towards somebody who's been at the major league level and proved it there than somebody who's just a
prospect but that's just me uh right and and that's but I'm not saying they need to move on from but but when I look at
like there's nothing that hap does that if you if you look at what Brandon Davis should do
or what it looks like he's capable of doing there's really nothing in Hap's game
that you're like oh yeah man half's Gold Glove Defender I mean he's gotten better out there but that's not it it's not and
he's fast the one the one thing about Ian Happ that that has been good is that he's State healthy yeah
yeah and so that's a good and you see Brendan Davis have the back issue and you know I mean so and and you get these
guys to come here what do these people come up with this anyway I'm sorry uh so one consistent
year he's had a lot of good years he's been an above average offensive producer every single season but continue um so so yeah I mean it's I I don't know
I I I see what you're saying but uh uh I I still think there's there's a lot
to like about hap I think what I'm trying to say is we shouldn't shall sell
haps short half short I think he's going to go I think he's going to be a really solid Major League player I think he can
continue to be an All-Star uh but to your point he just doesn't have that kind of that one thing that really makes
him stand out he he's he's a good all-around player I would say if there was one thing that made him stand out
it's the fact that he's a switch hitter yeah um I think that's his most valuable asset
um and so that to me is that one thing but uh but
but short of that at the end of the day he he's he's a guy that the Cubs are going to eventually move move on from
because they've just got they've got so much talent in the Outfield it's it's just something that's going to end up happening so yeah it is what it is
um the Cubs the schedule gets uh a lot easier in September thank goodness
because uh the cups there was a kind of a rough stretch there that we were really concerned about actually and the
Cubs didn't do nearly as poorly on the stretch as we thought they would do um they did they did lose well what four
of the series one two three four five those five five of the series say that
they played the Brewers twice they played the Cardinals twice and they
played the blue jays once and they managed to win one of those series we
were a little concerned but hey they didn't they oh they only got swept in one series and that was against the
Cardinals and uh otherwise they they finally went to an account for five six
they were they won six six of the and they and for the most part they look
competitive you know until going into St Louis and just getting waxed and then
and it's like man Saturday was like all right cool hey three nothing lead right out of the gate they're hitting wayno
this is awesome and then they give up eight unanswered runs and it was like yeah well so much for that and then you
know obviously with yesterday getting shut out um you know and giving up the well they got shut out twice right and so they
only scored in two separate Innings they had what three runs in the first Inning
on Saturday and then what was like the fourth or fifth fifth inning I think that whatever it was they scored another
run so they're they're only two innings out of three games which they scored a run
yeah against you know we knew it was going to be a tough stretch and listen it could
have been a lot worse than that so six and eleven uh didn't feel bad and to your point they were competitive and in
in a lot of the games I mean uh you know the the games against the Blue Jays they could have won all three of those games
um and the games that they lost to the Brewers a couple of them were very close
I think uh one or two of them were Extra Inning games and so you know all in all not a bad outcome and then now they're
going and they play what the Reds the Giants the Mets the Rockies the Marlins the Pirates the Phillies and the Reds so
uh it should be a lot easier it'll be interesting to see how they finish this out you know I mean they've got a a six
game home stand coming up right now against the Reds and the Giants and then they go and they play the Mets and the
Mets are still playing well they haven't they haven't choked yet which is kind of surprising yeah we'll see
uh it's 383 in New York and so it'll be interesting so just circling up we've
got uh looks like there's a date game on Thursday a day game on Friday but that's
three uh 3 P.M Central Day game so it's possible we could sneak a show in before
that day game I don't know what your schedule looks like so we'll have to figure that out but
possible yeah I gotta look at it I gotta remember I got some uh some stuff coming up it's a short week which is nice but
uh meetings and whatnot we'll figure some things out I blocked the [ __ ] that said Cubs are trash always have been and
always will be that's very nice Kenny Thomas if anybody would like to reply to Kenny Thomas that would be fine
um yeah the bullpen is horrible that's the point that's uh folks are commenting on his
yeah they they're not trying to win this year
wouldn't have traded away four of their best relievers
uh yeah I mean I mean they'd be good you know it's a different story but we kept
500 and this is what break this is what you know we've continued to say there were some bad stretches that they had
and even during their worst stretches the one streak that ended like when the
when the Cardinals swept them pretty badly there were some times where they were just playing bad baseball and that has has happened to you know
honestly even I mean hell look at the Yankees Yankees fans right now are freaking out about that um but there were a lot of times was
like the Cubs were losing these one-run games and Extra Inning games and and that's where we talked about having
having one more bat or one more starting pitcher right not not that that alone
makes them all of a sudden a good thing for everyone they're pretty healthy I mean Hendrix isn't there but mile is
pitching tonight and so you know he's coming back and so
didn't they just didn't they just move him to the 60 day Miley come on yeah you can't pitch
tonight they're not playing tonight they're not playing today tomorrow night whatever you know what I mean move them
to the 60 day what's going on here no well I guess I think they may have moved him to the 60 today but that was right
but then right but that's retroactive because you've been on there so they can pull it but they're gonna have to then who was who's coming off the 40 Man
they're gonna have to make another move yeah congratulations you're back up well
that lasted a couple days see you later you've just been df8 uh okay so uh so
all right so yeah the game's tomorrow so I was getting confused it's uh Labor Day thing has me all kind of uh
confused but anyways that's the show for today and uh and we'll try to Circle back with you guys uh come Friday uh and
uh hopefully we do and if we do then we'll see you then cool sounds good all right cool see you see ya
[Applause]
thank you