the rant podcast is brought to you by Cubs
[Applause] insider.com welcome to the
[Applause] rants hello fine fans of the Chicago
Cubs this is the rant podcast and I am John fer and I'm here with my co-host
Evan Alman Evan how are you I'm doing well it has been uh quite the
uh I guess is it it a sabatical is that is that what we've been on uh just we
we've have not had this bad boy up for quite some time so it's it's I don't
know I'm getting my sea legs back under me here yeah it's going to take a little while I think uh yeah we've been gone
for a while but yeah you know I you know work and all the things that get in the way but uh we're coming back we're
coming back we're doing uh the show as as just a podcast it used to be a webcast and a podcast but I got sick of
seeing my face on the screen so I thought we'd change that up and just do a podcast and uh maybe that'll be better
um but it's it's what's not going to be good is the Cubs postseason hopes
because as of today or yesterday I guess they have officially been eliminated so
we are starting the beginning of speculation season which man we've man
had a lot of specul a season going on versus postseason the last few
years yeah it's never a good thing when and I mean look it's always in this uh
whatever we want to call it industry or um you know little corner of the world
that we inhabit when it comes to kind of blogs and podcasts and things like that I think there's there's always a
tendency to uh for the fans to kind of lean toward what could be so when we
talk about free agency the trade deadline like those times are always far busier for us than than the regular
season but um that has been exacerbated by the fact that the Cubs really haven't given us anything of note outside of
like a week or two of hot play here in there so it's like we're kind of forced
to look forward to these things because living in the present and dealing with what the team has done on a regular
basis has not been all that fun for the last few years now so um yeah I mean
I guess I'm looking forward to it but at the same time I I'm kind of not because I'm just I'm I'm worried about some of
the things they they may or may not do and and that we just end up back in the same spot so um yeah we'll
see yeah fun fun and the Cubs haven't been a real kind of like they they
haven't coexisted well together and you know it's interesting I went to several
games this year I live in Phoenix Arizona Evan you live in uh Brownsburg
Indianapolis yeah Indianapolis adjacent and so we get up to Chicago frequently
uh you get up there more than I do but I try to get up there once a summer with my family and I did that again and I'll tell you it's it's it was so interesting
going to the Cubs game because you they they weren't doing well when we went up there and yet it's just packed and it's
kind of like the Cubs are like there the game is going on but it
feels like there's like the attemp s of the game are are like out there just
kind of partying and this isn't everybody I mean there are definitely people who are paying attention to the game but like out in the bleachers it
was just kind of like it's just like a party and and the fact that the Cubs were playing was just kind of like a
thing that was going on and and it needed to happen for everyone to come together at rickley field and it it felt
really like like is is this the dream that rickets had like is this what he's
wanted is just to fill the stum with as many people as possible and who cares why they're there as long as they're
spending a ton of money and having fun whether it's watching the Cubs or
whether it's just being in Wrigley Field drinking beers and having a big party and it felt like that's what was kind of
going on there was a little depressing to be honest with you yeah I will say this though so I was up there this past
Friday um they actually won you know but it was like and it was still a little on the warm side for me right like I'm
really concerned that we're going to have another one of these Falls where like we never really had fall it's just going to go from Summer straight into
winter because I mean it's been in the 90s pretty routinely here um which you
know uh not abnormal for you perhaps but for the Midwest uh you know now though
and I mean obviously you're a Midwest guy originally so you know how it it goes but mid September late September
we're not supposed to be pushing 85 Plus and you know um having to wear a tank
top all day long with shorts uh and so that's a little bit weird but still
Friday was beautiful like it was it was maybe 85 sunny but not um oppressively
so you know not humid anything like that and that place might have been half full
like maybe even the paid attendance was like 29,000 and there hell there were
even 20,000 people there the parties over all the kids are back in school well true but still like the second to
last Friday right it's Friday afternoon game the bleachers weren't even close to full the lower bowl wasn't close you
know it was maybe half and so it just it was a little bit weird and then you know our our mutual friend Tommy who who
lives in the area he's even been saying though lately um it's been like tough because he and he he Parks cars in um in
the neighborhood there and he's he's saying like it's abnormally slow right
for what you'd expect for being the weather being as nice as it's been and everything else and so there were a few other things going on on right Riot Fest
was happening I don't think the uh based on on my attendance there I I would go ahead and say there's not a ton of
crossover between riotfest attendees and cubs attendees maybe maybe not you know but
it's still it is something going on and again you know I was at both so I suppose I'm probably not the only one
who would and as a matter of fact my uh childhood nextdoor neighbor was also at
riotfest and is also a huge Cubs fan uh but he does he he goes all day and he didn't go Thursday night but so that's
one other person who would be kind of a crossover in that regard so um but
that's why like I'm still so here's you know you're old when you do something like that like I you know I took off work I drove up to Chicago I went to the
Cubs game I went to to riotfest and I'm still like two days
later still feeling like I'm uh I'm about a million miles behind so that
that's how you know you got old like back in the day I I could have done that and partied for three days straight now I'm like man I didn't even I had like
four beers over there five beers maybe all throughout the entire day I'm like
I'm so beat up from being on my feet you know yeah it's just it's awful but uh
but no it was it was cool and it was it was great to have kind of that experience you know the Cubs won as well
and it was a super fast game the last two games they played have averaged about two hours and 20 minutes which is
good or bad um for me it's good because again at this point I'm not really invested in in what the results are so
I'm like hey just let's get the game over quick um and and give me time to kind of walk around but um no I mean you
know again this is this season the kind of the end of it officially has been a long time coming
and so I I think if nothing else I'm happy to to pull the plug on the Cub's potential contention uh just so we can
sort of say okay yep we we know what this is now and and now we can look forward versus kind of seeing them
continue to try to win these futile games well and and giving us hope right
I mean and that's the thing is there was hope and I mean if you look at the second half of the season for the Cubs
they right now are at a winning percentage of 561 which when you look at the standings
would have them at the same record as the Arizona Diamondbacks had they done that over the entire season so it's just
kind of weird like how the whole season has transpired I mean we and we'll have plenty of time to break it all down I
don't have all the information here with me uh in front of me to break it down right now so just observing more
anything and we'll talk about it on another show but it's just like the
second half they they did play pretty pretty well um you know I mean
you look at their run differential and it's plus 62 uh you know I mean they there are some good things that they've
done and I know people are giving are kind of jumping on Craig Council uh and
and making comparisons uh between him and uh David Ross which I don't think are necessarily fair and I think that
Craig Council has done as good a job as he could have done but the real question
remains like what is going to happen in the off season what is I I assume
rickets wants a winner but I I think he would rather make money more than he wants to win I think making
money from the Chicago Cubs is more important to Tom Ricketts than winning
and if he can make money and lose as long as he's making money I think he's
okay with that and and so then where does that leave Jed Hoyer in terms of
his job going into next year feels like Jed's kind of done what he could do
right which which isn't much he hasn't really produced a kind of anything really at all and I he hasn't been to
the playoffs once and so what do you think is going to happen in the offseason in terms of
Jed Hoyer his job and what we see there I mean I I think I'm with you on
that right like I think if Bush came to shove uh Tom rickets would
rather lose or or and I'll say I don't not necessarily lose because I think
what what they really want at the end of the day is this concept of plausible competitiveness right because as long as
there because we we've seen it I mean the you know for a couple years part of that was the co rebound but when the Cubs were like truly bad and we knew
they were going to be bad people didn't show up in the same manner but when they're competitive and when they're
playing pretty decent baseball at least and they've got a you know a semblance of a chance at least then you know the
people will show up and they just really need to have it half full in order to at least break even so if they're three qus full then they're more than breaking
even so again I I think it's uh he doesn't necessarily I think rickets does
want a winner but I don't think he really cares so much about whether they make the playoffs or not right even
though they would make more money from that and I think he'd rather I mean you know it's not like he he wants to
purposely wants to lose right it's nothing like that because then they then they will you know the money will go down but I think if the choice was win
like meaningfully but lose money doing it because you've got to pump more into the payroll and and whatever make come
with that or you know be mildly competitive don't make the playoffs but
you made money I think you'd much rather have the latter because this is a business they purchased it as such You
know despite all the things that he'll say um it's an investment and and he's
through my face said that right and and I so I mean I like I that's that's what
it's about um that was a few years ago but I still think that holds up and so my concern with what they do in the
offseason comes down to a couple different things and it's largely that barring some really really difficult
decisions I mean a lot of this comes down to what does Cody Bellinger do because if he comes back if he Ops back
in there's nobody nobody's gone they all every
single one of their main players is still locked in for next year so if the
improvements got to be internal because Hendrick is gone right right Hendricks will be gone so you you've got
a a pitching spot open but you're goingon to have to fill that right and
but but do you but when we look at outside of Kate Horton who's been hurt the entire second half and who knows
what happens there and I mean you got Ben Brown uh who should be healthy and and we hope but when you look at their
six top prospects only one of them is a pitcher the others are all hitters all of them are at Triple A you can't just
keep running these guys out there at Triple A who are ready to be Major Leaguers you can't just hold them up and
say like oh you know who knows we'll just we'll just leave you down here and see what happens usually an injury replacement which is what they've done
in the past right we look at Alexander Canario is is a great example and he's a
guy who they I firmly believe they wanted to trade him before he got that
really terrible injury with the broken ankle and the broken collar bone uh in in the winter league a couple years back
right because they but they couldn't right because then he got hurt and then
he never really had a spot because then other guys came up and they kind of screwed up there um Nelson Velasquez
another one who they kind of [ __ ] around with didn't really use him properly ended up trading him and and
now you know he's he's kind of been drummed out but Owen Casey doesn't have anything left to prove at Triple A Matt
Shaw doesn't have anything left to prove at Triple A Kevin Alcantara maybe not either right um I would argue also that
Moises bios could come up and hit major league pitching right now but he's more of a DH type given his just kind of
where he fits from a positional standpoint but you don't even have room for one of those guys and you can't just
call them up and sit them on the bench because what good is that but they also don't have anything left to learn at Triple A so unless they're gonna trade
Nico horer and trade ESO paradus and Cody Bellinger opts out I don't know
what you do with those guys they're not all going to come up they're going to have to trade some of them too but I
I'm very concerned with how Jed Hoyer who seems to be kind of a hoarder we
could call him Jed hoarder because he doesn't seem to like to part with people um at least now which is weird because
he's the one that traded all the guys before so maybe I'm maybe I'm just making that up um but I do think they
hug prospects too tight so I don't know maybe he will be fine trading away some of these guys to make room for the young
F folks uh who knows I'm just it was a very rambling response to it I just
I guess my point is there are multiple levers to be pulled and buttons to be pushed but I think they've got to be
pulled and pushed in the correct sequence or you risk really screwing some things
up well you mentioned Isaac prus isak ptis
sorry and that trade right there is just a head scratcher and and so it's like I'm not
sure how much I trust Jed Hoyer trading away prospects just based on that trade
alone because I mean is paradus a better player than Christopher Morell time will
tell I mean I think he performed slightly better than him in the second half I I haven't looked at what Morel
has done but it it didn't feel like that much of an upgrade I got roasted by a ton of people
on Twitter when I put that out there when I said it felt like a lot to give up for what I thought was kind of a lateral move
right like it it to me it it raised the floor but it lowered the ceiling right
because we know what what petus is and it's make sense to do yeah and and like
given given where they were I I guess to me the other thing was if you know if
Morel continues to suck okay cool then you know you move him for something have some kind of and then you open up that
spot for Matt Shaw maybe to come up and play right but as it is now it's like okay well now you made this trade you
dealt away not not to mention you know I mean hunter bigy had come up and looked pretty good um the other guy that they
then what's gonna happen with predis right I mean like to me though like did
you did you make that as a same it's which is also funny because like in two consecutive years at the deadline they
made moves for third baseman both of whom they traded away to the Tigers a few years ago um you know for Alex Avila
and Justin Wilson right it was jamer candelario and and ESO paradus both got traded up there and the Cubs had to
reacquire both of them um you know and jamer worked out really well for like
two weeks or whatever and then he completely fell off the face of the Earth and uh parus had kind of some ups
and downs and you know was kind of up for a little bit and then back down and has been nicked up lately but do they
just end up moving on from him right and flipping him because you again if you
hey you ask me I'm doing it every day of the week and twice on if you're saying who do you want over the next three
years paradus or Shaw I'm going Shaw all day long younger cheaper and again a
much higher ceiling to me right and I also look at parus and he's supposed to have had the biggest difference there I
mean yes there's there's supposed to be less swing and Miss than there was with Morel which is kind of a given um but
Morel was so atrocious defensively that automatically you're gonna have this but then we saw this dude come in and make
like three errors in one game and just as lost right I mean like what what are
we doing here like if the bat's not going to play the and you know that was one game
but I just don't see again I'm not in favor this is not a team this is a team filled with high
floor guys right now can Suzuki be like this Elite hitter he's been tremendous since
moving into the DH role but is he an elite is he a superstar hitter no Cody Bellinger
getting paid 27 a half million is he a superstar hitter nope Ian hack maybe having the best offensive season of his
career is he a superstar hitter nope they have a bunch Dan B swans we could go through the entire they have a bunch
of perfectly fine very to very good you know good to
very good players and even very good would be you know a bit of a stretch they don't need to continue adding other
moderately good to good players they need to find great players Superstar
players even just one that that's what it takes they do not have that right now
though I don't think they have that coming up for the miners but if I had to bet on it I would put much greater odds
on Matt Shaw or Owen Casey or Kevin alcantra or one of those guys
potentially having that than I would any of the guys they've currently got on the roster so you you have to see what
you've got either that or you got to package multiple of those guys together and go find that dude who you think can
be that star player on your team because I'll tell you what man I'm not trying to
compare I know there's no way they could have gotten Otani but you look at that Dodgers lineup and you look at Otani mie
bets Freddy Freeman at the top the Cubs don't have one dude who can hold a candle to any of those three let alone
all three of them the say like you there's no nobody scares you in this lineup right who's that dude who if
everybody else is kind of falling short is going to be out there and picking him up and that's if there's one thing we
know that's that's the that's what was successful about the Cubs when they were when they won the World Series in 2016
because they had Anthony Rizzo and Javier bayz and Chris Bryant you know and I mean it's it's just they they just
don't have anyone that you have to pitch around right there there's no in the
lineup that that you've got to worry about in any way shape or form and and feel like you can't go right after and
as long as that's the case heck they can be over 500 but for them to get to a
point where they're not just qualifying for the playoffs but actually have a team that can win in the playoffs you
need those guys yeah like at least like you don't
need two or three but you need onean hey um but like Soto's not sto's
not coming to Chicago I like maybe I'd love to eat my words but I I look at
this and here's the other wild thing right look at both Chicago teams and obviously we could look it to the souths
side and compare and and say well the Cubs are clearly at least much better than this
but the Cubs have never signed a contract bigger than Jason hayward's 184
million right it's like Hayward and then what Swanson and then Lester they've never gone more than $200 million for
anybody are they gonna go from 184 million to 500 or 600 million for Juan
stto are they going to make that kind of a jump I I cannot imagine it and that's
why you know but the the white socks here's the crazy thing the white socks have never signed a deal greater than $75 million the one they got for Andrew
bendi which is just abysmally bad but you know I look at this too and I see
there's talk about them maybe trying to go and get um
uh how how's the Corbin Burns right former former Brewer uh I think a lot of
that's mostly because of the ties to to Craig Council right but he'll be a free agent but if you've never done a $200
million deal are you gonna do that for a pitcher heading into the wrong side of 30 exactly who strikeout numbers have
come down and when you don't when you who gives a [ __ ] if you got better pitching if you can't score but anyway
we well the Cubs need to sign somebody who's on their upward trip trajectory and they keep doing this and Jed Hoyer
keeps doing this and he keeps trying to get cute with this and that's where when you talk about are they going to sign
someone for $500 million and make that jump I just want to know I just want clarity as a fan is this on Jed or is
this on rickets just tell me like who is who is stopping the Cubs from going out
and signing that that big free agent is Ricket saying
no and and then Jed has to kind of do what he can with whatever the guidance
is from the top or is or is it Jed that's saying I can do it a different
way and you trying to get cute that's what we don't know I I think it's both
that's that's the only problem is I I I do believe there is an oh man I'm gonna
try to not go down this Rabbit Trail but it it still pisses me off to no in that they that they spun this yarn about
going over the luxury tax when they signed Cody Bell and being comfortable with that because
there is nothing dumber and this is I've made this this analogy before but it's it's like shooting the shot with your
toe on the three-point line like what the hell are you doing take step two
inches back and that thing's worth three if you're willing to only if you're going over and barely barely stepping
into that penalty range what the hell was the point yeah ex save some of your money then that's just stupid if you're
gonna go over go over because the penalties are still gonna be the same you know whether you obviously they go
up the the higher you go but like why only go over by a million bucks when
maybe another five 10 20 million was that a mistake yes I I firmly but I
think it was it's them covering their ass back up yeah because it's really stupid to have come out if that was the
point if that was true why are we hearing about it seven months later
right when when they couldn't and then clearly they were trying to I mean that's what putting Drew smiley on on
ear vote irrevocable waivers was about they wanted to cut some of that money off of there but if that was also the case like why the hell didn't you just
make a stronger move to trade and why not just try to get rid of it why not move some of these other dudes I mean that's you know they got rid of nerys
but that didn't really help because that was all guaranteed and it's not like anybody else is taking them off their hands but yeah you know you could ass
sign some more multi-year guys but then I but but anyway back to to that I mean it's does the money get freed up do
things become more likely if Bellinger opts out because his money falls off Hendrick's money falls off some of the
dead money from the the bad signings they have that falls off but you know I
do think there is a limit to what rickets is willing to spend and we know
for a fact that Jed Hoyer is opposed to these Mega deals so it's it's it's both
I so I guess which one let me let me throw this back at you which which do
you think is more likely a that that rickets would would okay the pursuit of
a half billion dollar contract but Jed Hoyer says no I don't think that's the
right option or B that Jed Hoyer is saying man we need to go get stto we
need to spend five or six hundred million dollar and rickets is like nope won't do it Whi which of those two do
you see as being the more likely scenario yeah I mean to your point like it's it's it's hard to see either of
those yeah I think both of them were like looking at each other to me it's like n that's a little bit too much
don't you think yeah I agree let's go spread that money around for a bunch of mediocre dudes
instead yeah thread threading the needle Hoyer I I think and
this this is oversimplifying it right so I want to put that out there but I
really I believe Hoyer loves the idea of threading the
needle wants to thread the needle I think he wants to be as you said to be
cute to to feel smart like he beat the system somehow that he that he found
this competitive Advantage somewhere to leverage rather than just buying a team
again I'm oversimplifying it with some of those terms right but I think that's how he likes to operate it's like he
wants to be looked at as you know like like Theo was looked at when Theo first did it with the Red Sox right like you
know kind of using the analytics and and finding a way to win uh you know in a way that was different maybe than that
had been done in the past even though they still had big free agents on those teams those Boston
teams I just don't think there's any way to get it done the current makeup of the
team I I man I just I I agree I the Cubs need two or three guys on their on the
team that have 30 plus home run potential yeah and who who is that
outside like I I really think I think Suzuki could be that guy I I almost wondered if playing rightfield got in
his head uh well I mean I think I think playing rightfield did get in his head I mean we saw some just atrocious play
from him out there but then I think that almost you know I don't know if that hurt him offensively because he's a d
remember uh last year and and he was really screwed up and David Ross sat him for a few days he was awesome and since
he's moved into the DH Ru he's got something like close to a 160 w RC plus um he he could be that dude but but even
then okay that's your DH right and that's not a huge it's not like we're talking this big improvement over what
he's been what he is but who else do you have yeah I mean and if you've already
got if your first baseman and Michael Bush has been really really good uh defensively and and he has some pop but
I think 20 to 25 maybe is where he's at Paratus can
get to 30 as but but I just I I they could have you
could have a couple of those guys but I don't I I just don't see there's not
outside of Pete Crow Armstrong there's nobody on this team right now who is truly like gamechanging
dynamic in what they do and to to your point from earlier Javier bayz could
change games in a number of different ways defensively at the plate with his legs Chris Bryant with his power with
his base running you know Anthony Rizzo platinum gold Glover over at first was the most consistent dude ever um as far
like production you could pretty much be like all right he's gonna hit you know 30 home runs you know 25 to 30 home runs
he's going to back close to 300 he's going to walk more than he strikes out and he's going to play great defense
like you you could just pencil that in and then you had some of those GameChanger type guys
they I mean Crow Armstrong legitimately and I'm not you know hey anybody can go out there and hit a home run at a big Point whatever but PCA is like the only
one that they've got who I could look at and be like that's the dude who can make a kind of play that nobody else can that
that changes a game that turns it around that that gets in the other team's head you know like when Javi used to be he'd
draw pickoff moves when he was standing on First Base still PCA is that kind of guy that you've got to be scared of for
what he can do he gets in other teams heads no nobody else on this team gets other people's heads they're not they're
not worried about oh how do how do we throw a hat look and half's very
good he's so underrated in my opinion I think cubs fans continue every year to
just [ __ ] on this guy and all he does is continue to go out there and put up tremendous numbers but again as you said
they they need that guy like who's who's the face of this team right now in your
opinion who who is the guy that you pick and be like yeah that's that's the guy
yeah when I saybs that's a good question actually like you have to think about it I mean Pete Crow Armstrong I guess but
I'm guessing a lot of like the Casual Cubs fans don't even know who he
is but if if you were asking but think about it so like I bet you could pull 10
Cubs fans and get five or six different answers probably but if you ask somebody who's not a Cubs
fan what are they saying oh yeah who do they think it is because I I gotta I gotta sit back
and think I was like is it imanaga you know like the newest guy
there I mean it's probably hap just because he's the longest tenured at
least among the position players yeah and you know he's got the gold gloves he's you know he's got All-Star
credentials but and this is again this is no disrespect to Ian hat who again I
think is a great baseball player he's he's excellent but if that is your best
player yeah that's and that's the problem is that the Cubs need three of those 30
plus home run players and Ian hap and Dansby Swanson right you get that two or
three of those Topline guys you've got to pitch to or pitch around and then add
it to this lineup and and and then we're talking right like and and and and it feels like
that's going to have to come from the system and then if it has to come from the system we know it's not happening
next year right because you're not going to have a young guy come up I I don't see any guy in our system that's going
to come up and hit 30 home runs next year I mean there's potential there but
there's nobody you can look at and be like that guy's a superstar on day one like you could with Chris Bryan
well and even then even if you could where's that guy playing unless you know and we talk unless they trade Nico horer
uh or paradus or they figure out a way to to get around ha or Suzuki's no trade
clause yeah uh you know and and Bellinger Ops out like how like a bunch of because again even if even if
Bellinger Ops out which I I still think there's a fairly good likelihood of despite what Bob Nale reports uh got two
years he's only got two years left I think I think he could get you know
three years and 60 million four years at 80 million I mean I I think he he's
probably more I think he would be targeting more the the longer term
security than what he's got over two years um and and and who knows part of it may come down to like he knows
basically he's done right field before does he want center field was he does he prefer that like could I get paid more
as a center fielder probably you know certainly more than as a right fielder um you know with somewhat limited power
but I hope he opts out I think the Cubs desperately hope he opts out but if he doesn't again like
where's where's that coming from like I that's like I have no idea because that
again we look at this dude and what he's got you know 18 homers he was hurt quite a bit
um but you know I mean maybe he missed out on three or four but I mean at this
point I think you're looking at a ceiling of maybe 25 for him right like they've got and if
that's the case these dud all come back like realistically Ian hap if he hits
another home run he'll have a career high but that would be 26 right Suzuki and he's missed some
time but I would put his ceiling at maybe 30 Bush's 20 home runs again 30 to me would
be a stretch Bellinger not a 30 home run guy anymore I don't think um you know
Swanson probably 20 is the cap there so they got a bunch of these guys but none of them like we're looking at Danby
Swanson currently leads a team I'm looking at Fang graphs 3.9 War which is pretty incredible after
this the horrid start that he had that he's leading in but a lot of that defensive metrics are built in there and he's still been tremendous over there at
at Short Stop but if your top dude finishes a season around four war and
and they I mean they have four guys at 3.2 or higher Swanson half at 3.7 Herer
at 3.5 Suzuki 3.2 right but that's that is all pretty
good that's not when we look at the rest of if I go all teams right let's see how many guys so I
said three what was what was Swanson 3. 3.9 five uh 3.9 3.9 he ranks 20 he's
tied with Corbin Carrol for 27th in baseball so there are 26
players who are are better than that a whole a whole roster literally a whole
right now granted you can just take it that way but they're top dude and and if we look at it look at that Freddy
Freeman from the Dodgers at four Mookie Betts at 4.4 and then otani's at eight
otani's got more than twice as much War as any cup Bobby Whit Junior's at 10.1
Aaron judge at 10.4 now though that's insane right but gunar Henderson eight Juan stto 7.9 again stto literally twice
as much as any Cub that is out there yeah and and we could look again the
younger players Vlad Guerrero Jr who you know there was some talk about 5.4 Ellie
Dela Cruz over in Cincinnati 6.5 so basically 50% higher is right than who
they've got Bryce Harper at a five War being paid moving
forward uh through the duration of D B Swanson's career D B Swanson will make more actual payroll per year than Bryce
Harper so take that for what it's worth but they don't doesn't have that war
based on his defense and that's that's the thing right is that we're talking about you know you look at Dans B
Swanson his off is one off offense 1.7 his defense score is 17 so it's like his
defense is just so good that that's why his war is 3.9 you take that away and is
offensively like I don't even know if he's got a positive War I mean maybe he does but it's not very much maybe maybe
yeah maybe not not by much and that's the other concerning thing is how long does that last right like where where does that
come in and if you look at yeah look at offensive score Bryce Harper 32.8 he's
12th in baseball right which and I know some people could argue that but but Harper
if you look at that Phillies team that has been winning lately that has a ton of personalities
unquestionably right and we're talking about a team that's got like big personalities Kyle schwarber and Nick
casos right but you ask who is the face of the Phillies unquestionably it is
Bryce Harper like Harper and then a big app and then some other dudes again with
big personalities these aren't just shrinking violet Wallflower type dudes
who don't do big thing like schwarber set the record for lead off home runs this year it's kind of wild that Otani
didn't but I I don't know maybe he wasn't the leading off the whole time or just he hits him later in games or whatever but but that's that's the thing
right is among other stars his shines brighter Otani right like you could put
Otani against any body and it's going to be him but again mukie Betts former MVP Freddy Freeman I think he was the MVP
with the Dodgers or with the uh with the Braves wasn't he does he have an MVP either way he's he's very very good and
will probably be in the Hall of Fame but it's again Otani and a big giant Gap you look at New York even with Juan stto
it's Aaron judge and to me a big gap and then sto so like stto deserves that
chance to me but then Soto was be I mean all all a free agent Soto is agent this
year and so like let me tell you Soo that would make a difference I mean comparing between obviously it'
make a difference I mean if you look at 2023 versus 2024 on
offense as a team the Cubs were worse across the board average on base percentage slugging um runs per game
home runs a game and and KS I mean it's just and War
obviously and so it's but the record is going to be pretty similar they had 79 losses last year and they've got 73
right now so they're going to end up with a with a pretty similar record and
you just kind of wonder if the Cubs could have signed a bigger free agent and had just just like you said one more
bat in the lineup that that's getting five war or
more like what the difference would be and the difference would be that the Cubs I think would be right there in the
playoffs probably the wild card and have a chance to compete for the
division and it's not happening and so it's it's what's going to make it what's going to make them make that next step
let me ask you this question and this is a pretty simple one to answer would the Cubs be better if they had a third
baseman with 5.2 War 26 homers Batten
250ish with a 121 WRC plus would they be a much better team with that player
I think they would be do you I do and Matt Chapman was a dude who they I think
easily could have signed I know they easily could I wrote multiple times
about them potentially being interested in Matt Chapman or how they should be interested Matt Chapman um I I compared
Chapman to Bellinger in terms of saying i' would rather sign Chapman than Ballinger largely because if you look at
their numbers you know Chapman had a really down offensive year last year Bellinger obviously was way up Bellinger
had some kind of crappy batted ball numbers that portended a downfall a lot of people attribute that to his two-
strike approach and that is certainly part of it um but Chapman on the other hand had tremendous batted ball numbers
and just had a lot of bad luck and I thought that portended a big bounce back for him so now you've got an elite you
know right back and forth with Nolan arado in terms of like maybe the best defensive third baseman in
baseball and the dude's hitting 26 bombs scored 95 runs 75 RBI 15 stolen bases I
mean we don't need to compare that to what Cubs third baseman have done but I'm gonna go ahead and say it's a hell
of a lot better than what the Cubs have gotten at thir now well and the the aav
his Chapman's aav is basically the same as Bellinger it's a longer contract
right I mean and it doesn't have these options in there uh because it's a six-year deal for for 150 some million
151 million but it is now but they they just extended him it was smaller it was
a it was a much shorter deal initially it was kind of like what Bellinger signed and they just extended him so his initial deal oh yeah it was three years
three year $54 million contract right like three years 54 million oh God
that's think which would you rather have like Bellinger's a good dude good dude
great dude awesome teammate but would you rather have Bellinger for three years and 7 million or whatever or mat
Chapman for three years in 54 like it's not even close it's just especially
knowing that it again you know but but to do that and to have that put them
into the luxury tax penalty and to have him possibly opting back in and kind of hosing up some things for just if
Bellinger opts out I think it it becomes less of a point but I just I feel like again this is a situation where Hoyer
maybe got a little bit too cute I think Boris got a little bit too cute too because both those guys but like Chapman
ended up playing himself into a tremendous extension whereas Cody Bellinger it's like
crap is he gonna op back in can somebody please throw more money at him than what the Cubs are gonna give him so he will
um it just and that's one of those deal it's not as if it was a flip of the coin for them um but but I also think part of
that had to do with the idea that and we knew knew this from the start at least some of us felt this way that them
trying to kind of make Christopher Morel third baseman happen like that experiment should not
have lasted nearly as long as it did but they kind of hosed themselves into it because of some other injuries and everything else right and and they just
played that for so long till finally we talked earlier about that trade it's like I think it just got to the point where they were just so fatigued by it
they were like sh we just got to get rid of this dude like we don't have any place to play him now and I think that
was I think Jed overplayed his hand I think he made a mistake uh in free agency because it could have had a
better player on a cheaper deal but I I guess we'll see how it plays out but
it's just kind of kind of jacked well as you can all tell and I'm
sure you all agree there's there's going to be quite a lot to talk about this this off season um and it's gonna be
interesting to see how it all plays out I think it'd be fun to do and we should do this in a a future episode it's just
like a position byos breakdown uh for the Cubs what it looks like uh going
into next season and maybe do some speculation around that um that could be
fun and could be very interesting actually uh but but as you say right as you're pointing out I mean it doesn't
feel like the Cubs have a lot of flexibility unless they start trading guys who are in their
lineup yeah that and that's what it comes down to I mean I really that's when you talk about those tough
decisions I mean I I think there's the the Bellinger option is the first Domino
and we'll know about that within a week of the World Series uh concluding right um but then it just comes out of like
that's the only way every every as of right now all of their main position
players are under contract or at least could be under contract depending on
again Bellinger's choice for at least the next year yeah um so
that's again so unless you're going to do what they did the whole time before and just cross your fingers and hope
that the guys from your roster do better next year which is a really crappy strategy like just cross your fingers
hope they do better uh unless you're gonna make some changes like the trades are gonna have to happen one way or the other so uh
that that'll be the that'll be definitely what we're following
yeah for sure well it's been a good uh it's been a good uh has it been reuniting no I don't know if we've
reunited necessarily because we've never not been United but we've coming back
together again and doing the show again we're GNA try to do a show probably once every couple of weeks you we might do an
emergency podcast here and there just depending on kind of what's going on and breaking news and things like that but
for now I think we're just planning on doing uh one show every couple weeks so
uh you can find us on on your favorite software platforms and uh we should be on most of
them and if we're not and if you need us on one of them just let us know we'll make sure we're on there but it's been a good
show yeah I mean I think uh I think it's good to get back at it hopefully the the
people feel the same way and and then we'll just kind of I guess try to try to
be as as regular with this as possible Right Kind of um maybe it'll give us something to do maybe maybe it'll take
some of the the sting out of my out of my tweets moving forward because I can just kind
of get my get my thoughts out here and that I won't get so pissy online well yeah and might might give us something
to do to pass the time scene as the Bears seem to be just as big of a mess as the Cubs good Lord yeah we you we you
just record you know we were going back and forth and saying Sunday afternoons I think it might get to the point where we just say what time are the Bears playing
on Sunday let's record then so we don't have to pay attention yeah or at least in the second half right so I don't have
to watch them lose um we we'll see just oh it's going to be a might be
a long winter it will be all right well until next time folks thanks for joining
and have a good week
[Music]
[Applause]
oh [Applause]
[Music]