Chicago Cubs linked to Japanese ACE Tatsuya Imai | Wrigleyville Forever

Chicago Cubs linked to Japanese ACE Tatsuya Imai | Wrigleyville Forever

Coming up on Wrigleyville Forever episode 40, the World Series is at 2 to2. Show Otani apparently offered the same contract that the Dodgers ended up giving him to the Cubs and the Cubs said, “Nah, no thanks.” Uh, also we’re going to talk about the uh the top free agent pitchers out there that perhaps the Cubs could get. And we’re going to end the show with a positive grading Pete Henry Crow Armstrong’s 2025 season. So, buckle up with us. Let’s ride. Let’s go. This is Wrigleyville Forever episode 40. I’m Cody joined by Blake. He’s back. He couldn’t stay away that long. Um, how you doing, man? Thanks for uh thanks for welcoming me back with open arms. Uh tried to tried to take a little hiatus for myself, a little mental reset, but uh unfortunately I’m a sick sick human that’s addicted to talking about the Cubs and baseball in general. So glad to be back and and get back in the swing of it. Yeah, man. No. Uh I won’t lie, doing the shows without you are not as fun. I just sat here and talked to myself for the last for 40 minutes for the last like two weeks. So, I’m happy that you’re back. I’m happy you got a little bit of a reset and uh you know, we’re just grinding away here. All right. I see some people in our YouTube chat already. Becky, uh Jeremiah, Cubs, Bears fan, hello. Um, we got a lot to discuss and we got to start with the World Series. But before we get to that, I want to invite y’all who are watching to hit the like button on YouTube and subscribe if you’re new here. All right, subscribe if you’re new here. If you’re listening on audio, please leave us a fivestar rating and a nice review. Nice reviews only. I looked today on Apple, we had like 24 ratings. 4.8 stars, Blake. 4.8 and eight stars, which means on out of 24 people who rated, we probably got like one or two like like bad ones. But, you know, whatever. I’m not I’m not here begging for everyone to like us, but most people like us, but I would like to have more more ratings. I would love to know everyone’s opinion. Okay. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Uh, also join the Wrigleyville Forever Discord. Link is in the description. Become a sicko. Uh, yeah. And before the end of the show, I will bring up uh the Discord and the YouTube comment of the day. Um before the end of the show, Blake, don’t let me forget. Okay. Okay. Uh World Series, we’re tied two to two. Game five tonight. Um all I can say is anyone who stayed up to watch game three in full and then went to work the next day, like credit to you. I’m giving myself credit because I did that. I got I watched the entire game and then I got up at 7:30 in the morning to go to my part-time job and man, it was crazy. It was I was so tired yesterday. Um yesterday’s game not nearly as exciting, but awesome just because we have a series. Best best of three here the rest of the way. And I, you know, a week ago, I feel like most people felt like that the Dodgers are going to run away with this thing and the Blue Jays are really making it fun. And I think all of America is rooting for them. Not because the Dodgers are ruining baseball, but just because the Blue Jays are a really easy team to like. Yeah. The only the only team that plays in Canada is also America’s team for this series cuz everyone’s just everyone’s rooting for him. Yeah. I made it to inning 11 on Tuesday night, Monday night. Today’s Wednesday. Yeah, Monday night. And I the Blue Jays just kept running into outs on the bases and I wasn’t even close to making it to the end. So, in hindsight, I don’t regret going to sleep. It was a It was a good World Series ending. Freddy Freeman now has backtoback years of iconic World Series moments for the Dodgers, which I like Freddy Freeman. I like Mookie Betts, but I just don’t like the Dodgers. So, it’s kind of like, well, at least it wasn’t Kik Hernandez or Max Muny. Like, at least it was one of the guys I like. But yeah, the series is pretty fun. I think uh I think America as a whole or the the world as a whole underestimated the Blue Jays. Just a shade, but people forget they won 94 games, too. They’re the home team in this series, and they have every bit of uh reason to be here as well. I think the Dodgers kind of shifted a lot of that mentality with how they played in the NLCS. So, I’m glad it’s kind of now shifted back toward, hey, like the Blue Jays are pretty good, too. They they’re they’re the home team. They’re the They’re the homefield advantage team. Yeah. Well, uh I I can’t move on too quick without mentioning my old pal Will Klein, Eastern Illinois, uh legend coming in late in the innings. Last guy in the bullpen, comes in and shoves it four innings. and honestly in my opinion is the reason the Dodgers won game three uh from small school in central Illinois east central Illinois didn’t get highly recruited gets drafted in fifth round by the Royals in five years ago and then you know DFA bounced around multiple teams the Dodgers decide to pick him up because he throws absolute gas just struggles with command but he had plenty of command in the in game three and um I was just extremely happy for him and it als Also, for me personally, and this is a selfish thing, like it was a full circle thing because I got a chance to interview him five years ago after he got drafted and to see him, you know, honestly like I whatever happens the rest of the series like I I feel like he’s going to be in like at least for Dodger fans like in their lore for a long time like to be able to do that and the only reason he made the World Series roster is because Vesia couldn’t be on the roster because of a family matter or some something that forced him to not even be there, I guess. And he was in Arizona like a week ago. And then he goes from that to being in the pitching in the 18th inning of the World Series, you know, like it’s it was crazy. So, when your number’s called, be ready. Exactly. I I think that’s that’s true. Then on the other hand, too, like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., man, he is Man, I wish the Cubs would have traded for that guy. I really do. And I tried to manifest it for the last couple years before he signed the extension. But man, like you want to talk about intangibles, you want to talk about leadership, you want to talk about an absolute dude. Like that is a guy. And we I think me and you are going until it happens, me and you are going to sit here and bicker at each other about Kyle Tucker and should we have him or should we not have him and and and debate on which side it is for the foreseeable next two months. And I’ll say this, as of right now, Kyle Tucker hasn’t proved to be what Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has proved to be, not only in the postseason, but just as an overall player. I think Yeah, he’s not that guy. Yeah, he’s not he hasn’t proved to be that guy. And and it this is this is kind of a a a negative on Kyle Tucker, but it’s not really his fault. But the fact that he was on those Astros teams, and he just wasn’t looked at as the guy. He he was awesome for them, but he everyone talks about Altuve, Bregman, Yordon Alvarez when Kyle Tucker was there. And now Kyle Tucker comes to the Cubs for one year and is looked at to be that guy. And as much as I want to keep him, I can’t objectively sit here and say that he was that guy for an entire year. And even though I think he showed up in all the elimination games outside of the very last one as far as production, as far as hits and stuff, he didn’t he didn’t will a team to a game five win when he had the opportunity to. And so that that again, I think that’s something that we’re going to debate a lot over the next two months. And Vlad, him and Vlad are not on the same planet right now. Just you can be a guy, but he’s not the guy. Yeah, he’s he’s the he’s a guy. Vlad’s a dude. We can debate that, too. If you want to tier rank dudes and guys and and hymns, maybe we can come up with a tier. That that seems like a good like middle of January tier list. Yeah, dudes, guys, and the guy. Either way, that is that does sound like a good January tier list. I I’ll put that in my notes, but um I’m watching this World Series and it’s it’s so obvious like obviously Vlad Jr. like you you watch when he’s coming up with the lineup. Same thing with Otani, too. I really liked uh Schneider’s game plan now of like we’re taking the bat out of his hands. He’s he’s just gotten too elite at the plate and gotten too hot at the plate. But, you know, watching what the Blue Jays have done more so because we know what the Dodgers can do, but you can draw a lot of parallels to what the Blue Jays do to kind of like what the Cubs want to be because when you watch the the Blue Jays in a lot of way, the Cubs are like this. They have guys who are just relentless at the plate. And especially last night, too, it was it could have been so easy for the Blue Jays to lose an 18 inning heartbreaker, come out last night, lay an egg, and they just didn’t. They turn the page like the Cubs did a lot this season, but you look at these guys up and down the lineup. Dalton Vo, Austin Barger, Ernie Clement, and Alejandro Kirk who just dude doesn’t dude refuses to whiff on a pitch. He’s making contact with everything and when there’s a mistake, he’s hitting it out of the ballpark. Um, so it’s fun to watch from that aspect, but two, I I’m making the comparison because the Blue Jays and the Dodgers alike don’t have the best bullpens in Major League Baseball. There were other bullpens in the playoffs that were way better than theirs. Starting pitching, I think what the Cubs have been trying to emulate, you can kind of compare a little bit to the Blue Jays, too, because there’s not they don’t have a a Snell or a Yamamoto. They have some guys like Shane Bieber pitched his butt off last night. I even think Yes. And is that how you pronounce his name? Yes. Yes. Savage. Yes. There you go. Savage. We’ll say Savage because he was a savage in game one. Like he you could tell he didn’t have his best stuff, but he just kept like gutting it out and giving him chances to win. Um, so I I’m I’m watching the Blue Jays and rooting for him, but also I see a lot of like there’s still a place in Major League Baseball in a world of this sport’s not fair anymore. You look at the Blue Jays and go, “Wait a second.” Like, yeah, they’re they’re top five in payroll. Like they’re the fifth top pay team, but they paid their superstar. They gave George Springer a big contract who I don’t know if he’s playing tonight, but he got hurt two nights ago or a night ago. And then Bo Bashette comes back and he’s hitting the ball. Alejandro Kirk, I mean, he’s not a huge contract, but he’s making a lot of good contact. So, I like what I’m watching for the Blue Jays because it gives me a lot of hope of what the Cubs can do this offseason and how they can get to that next step. Um because I’ll be honest after taking this little break and thinking about you know just different narratives and different things like obviously next year’s not the last year Major League Baseball will ever be played but in a way it’s like well shoot if they don’t get it done next year like have a really good season then that 2027 is going to feel like the longest year of my life. So this offseason’s big for the Cubs for more reasons than one. But I I like what the Blue Jays baseball philosophy and building this roster and I think the Cubs are I think the Cubs are right there. Yeah, to be honest. Well, I see some of our chat. They’re they’re talking about it. Is it Is it Is it Is his last name pronounced? I I don’t know. I I want to say it’s pronounced Tatsuya. That I could be completely wrong on it. I didn’t Google how to pronounce it before we started the show. That’s on me. Anyway, I see people mentioning him in the chat and we’re gonna talk about him, but I did want to start off with a little World Series conversation and with that, um, there was a report from John John Haymon. And before I finish, I just want to preface that again. It was by John Haymon and you can believe whatever you want to believe about John Haymon. I He is, in my opinion, he is a 5050 shot. He’s not nearly as bad as Bob. He He does know some people. It definitely in my opinion is is a puppet for Scott Boris. Let’s just just call a spade a spade. Uh this isn’t slander. May you can take it as slander if you want and the guy nice guy. Nice guy though. Met him in person last year. He is a nice gave me gave me some time to talk to him. That’s that good for him. Good good for you. I should just say good for good for him. You got to talk to you Blake. All right. Um yeah, I’m I’m He blocked me so I’m you know it is what it is. But uh anyway, he put a report out uh whether today or yesterday, I don’t remember, but like recently related to Otani’s contract. And I think the timing of this report is interesting, but the gist of this report said that Otani laid out the same 10-year, $700 million deal that he ended up taking from the Dodgers, uh with 97% of it deferred. But he also he laid it out to not only the Dodgers but to the Cubs, Giants, Angels, um, and the Blue Jays. And the Giants and the Blue Jays along with the Dodgers were the three teams that were like that said yes to to to this and the Angels and the Cubs said no. And I guess for me, even though it doesn’t matter, and I do still think that largely he was planning to go he was he was going to go to the Dodgers anyway because even though the Blue Jays and the Giants said, “Yeah, he still went to the Dodgers.” So I don’t if I’m a Blue Jays or a Dod or a Giants fan, whenever I read this report, I don’t really know how to feel. But from a Cubs perspective, I’m I’m I’m annoyed. But then I’m also thinking this philosophy has hurt them twice now the last two years because there was I think wasn’t it Tanner Scott or some some someone this past offseason and maybe it’s not hurting them yet but because Tanner Scott is not even on the roster with the Dodgers right now because of an injury or whatever but there this Otani would have been like the one of the most unique situations you could have possibly had and you could have made so much money off just having him just like the Dodgers probably have already made all that money from just having him on their roster. My my frustration, my annoyance about this is the fact that if this is an organizational philosophy, why like why is it an organizational philosophy? because you already basically have a budget that in my opinion, I think a lot of people’s opinions, you shouldn’t have the budget you have. You should you should have more money to invest into your baseball team considering all your renovations. Your game day experience is one of the most expensive in baseball. Um, I could go down the list. I’m not trying to bring all that up, but like these are the facts. You’re $30 million under the first tier luxury tax this year. Mhm. When you’re a big market team and you were in a scenario where you could have really benefited. I mean, this is one of the like is it I know I can’t be dealing with like Otani’s contract has to be one of the greatest contracts in all of sports based off how much he’s making on a annual basis from the Dodgers considering how much the Dodgers are making off him and what Otani is and does on a baseball field. Mhm. Right. Like I don’t know how else to really say it. Like I I just don’t understand why the Cubs were a no in this scenario if this report is true. I I don’t get it at all. Yeah. I think I think a lot of it has to do with like cuz the Hayward contract had some deferred money in it, too. I know the John Lester contract had some level of deferred money in it, too. Tough to say those contracts just didn’t work out because they won a World Series. But also, I understand how that could handicap you in the years 2021, 2, and three when you were trying to shell out more extensions or try to get creative with other extensions, too. I mean, I don’t know, but in this specific case, I mean, I agree. I mean, they should have at least said, “Yes, we’ll do it.” I don’t think that changes the final outcome of what actually did happen. Yeah. Um, and that’s becoming such a popular thing to do now with these contracts, but man, this lockout’s going to throw so much wrenches in the plan because what happens if they come back from this lockout and they say, “Okay, no more like deferred money or then they have to restructure the contract? Like, does that work?” Like, is he grandfathered in? Yeah. Are there are there legal repercussions? Like, do lawyers get involved? Like, there’s a lot of questions that I don’t have answers to because I have no idea. And that’s one of the big things I’m going to hammer down in December when I go to the winter meetings is like what are the repercussions of this year that affect next year because that’s going to affect a lot of what the Cubs do this offseason. But specifically for the Otani case one, he’s a phenomenal baseball player. I was always in the camp of give the give the dude a billion dollars if you have to, you know, because I mean, think of him hitting home runs at Wrigley Field right now. I mean, he’d hit 70 a season, but I don’t know. It it sucks to read, but it’s also not surprising because the Cubs have showed now, like I said, they are who they say they are. They don’t want to give the big contract that keeps them locked into something. That’s how they got that’s how they got stuck with Hayward. Like, is that the right stuck with Hayward? Um, but yeah, they’ve already shown they’re not going to do that. Now, it’s tough for me to see Otani regress. And even at that point, if he’s getting paid $2 million to be a DH in six years instead of pitching because he’s just done pitching, we’ll see. But also too, I it’ll be curious to see at least from a a baseball history standpoint in 10 years if the do if there is no salary cap or maybe if there is the Dodgers will then have to accumulate seven $70 million per year from a deferred Otani contract to that. What will their team look like then? that if they win six World Series, will it matter? You know, so it’s definitely interesting from a Cubs perspective. Sure, I wish they would have done it, but from a baseball history perspective, I’m more intrigued at this point to just see like, well, it looked really good. And if they win seven World Series and who cares, but if they only win if they start losing a 100 games a season in 10 years, like will that, you know, where’s the balance? I don’t know. We’ll see. Yeah. Well, you know, the worst thing about thinking about that, Blake, is knowing that I’ll be well into my 40s by that time, and I don’t want to think about that. So, uh, yeah. I I’m just h man, I I just I I I love the off season because we get to sit here and get delusional and and dream about, you know, potential guys add to this team. But I also hate the offseason because reports like this that don’t mean anything, honestly, in the grand scheme of things come out and it just piss me off, man. And I do think the timing of this article coming out means something, you know, with with just it was kind of noted in this Bleacher Nation article about this this stuff that um that I kind of forgot like exactly what they said. But I do think the timing of this article with, you know, the conversation about the Dodgers and, you know, the Dave Dave Roberts quote of we’re ruining baseball or whatever, all that like all coming out. I I do think the timing of it is interesting. Maybe it means nothing. Maybe it’s whatever. But that’s the gist. Um let’s uh move forward. Let’s try and shift the vibes back to a pro. All right. So this week, Jim Bowden, who Let me preface before we go any further. Just like I said about John Haymon, Jim Bowden, he used to be a what? He used to be a GM or a president of baseball operations for I don’t remember what team, but he used to do that and now he does he’s like an analyst slash writer, whatever you want to call it for the athletic and so he has I think he has quote unquote sources or he knows people within the industry obviously, but whenever he does this every year, whether it’s this top 50 rank top 50 free agent rankings or when he puts out rumors he’s hearing or whatever. More often than not, he’s wrong. So, I’m prefacing all of that before I go any further. Okay? But he put out a top 50 free agent rankings uh for this off season. And in this particular episode, we’re going to do pitchers. And I think next week we’ll do hitters uh from this list. Um, so and and I I chose pitchers first because I in recent episodes I’ve talked a ton about Kyle Tucker. Talked about Kyle Schwarber with my good friend Fred on Friday. Um, did talk about Dylan CE in Monday’s episode. So, you know, if you’re interested in more Dylan CE stuff and you missed it, go check out uh the episode from Monday night. But um one particular picture who I think is notable is a guy who’s on the thumbnail or the title of this um episode, uh someone in the chat pronounced it Emi. Uh Carter Hawkins, he thinks it’s his last name is pronounced Ei. Um Tats Tatsuya Eine. I don’t know, man. We’ll start there. We’ll get better over the years. We will figure it out. But he is uh I think he’s going to be a very popular commodity. I don’t think he’s going to get some massive contract like Yoshobu Yamamoto did getting over $300 million when he came over, but I do think he’s going to get a sizable contract and I do think that teams are going to be interested. Um but the Cubs were I I don’t want to say that they’re interested, but the Cubs have been linked. Maybe I don’t remember what I put on the thumbnail. Maybe I put interested. Maybe they are interested and I’m just manifesting. But I they are for sure linked. They they are linked in the Jim Bowden top 50 free agents saying like I think more so in general of the Cubs should be interested in this guy. And then Sahad of Chararma in a recent article mentioned him as a possible target for the Cubs as well. So, um, Blake, do you know anything about this guy before I tell you more about him? Um, Gemini says it’s pronounced Tatsu. Imani. Tatsu. Tatsu. Immani. Immani. Okay. I’m just going to say Imani. I’m not even trying to say his first name. Imani. U. The only things that I know is right-handed pitcher. I think he tops out on his fast ball around like 96 97 miles an hour. Um, which I like that at least from that perspective because I’m kind of over the 93 94 mph. Like let’s get a little VO in there. So tell me more and we’ll talk about it. Uh, well he’s 27 years old. I don’t know exactly when his birthday is. So he I assume would turn 28 next year sometime. Maybe during the season or at the end or maybe before. Uh last year in Japan he had 27% K rate, 7% walk rate with a 1.92 earn run average in 168 innings. And you were correct about fastball velocities anywhere from 95 to 99. I think he’s he’s been to he’s been seen topping out at 99 miles per hour with that fast ball velocity. Uh also uh sports a slider change up in Splitter. And when I see when I saw splitter, that’s when I got a little interested because I know how much the Cubs love guys who have that splitter. Um, Jody Managa, great example. Um, so Jeff Passen, he’s someone we should definitely listen to. Jeff Pass guessed that he was going to get somewhere between 140 and $150 million. And I just think that that’s right up the Cubs alley. Um, but as far as as far as um what Bowden says about this guy in terms of teams that are interested in him or he thinks teams that will be interested in him. Uh let’s see. He’s ranked number nine out of his top 50 by the way. He says best team fits Mets, Giants, Red Sox, Cubs, Orioles, Astros, and Padres’s. and he predicted 7 years 154 million. So after everything I just told you, Blake, how do you feel? Sign the dotted line. I’m in with with starting pitchers this off season. My initial prediction before I mean before we get too deep into the offseason is I think the Cubs are going to look to get some level of creativity in the trade market to to to solidify that asset. Now be quite honest that before a couple days ago I didn’t even know about this guy because I don’t really want Framber Valdez. Dylan CE is the most interesting piece for me because we know what’s in the tank and we know what the Cubs are able to do with pitchers. So I like that. Same thing with Zack Gallon but on a way lower level scale. But then I look at this guy and I go, “Okay, well look at all the guys who have I mean Japan right now is just posting guys who come to major leagues and find a lot of success.” I mean, you look at at least on our team alone, you look at Shodda and Sei who have had success at the major league level. Now, Sei fell or Shota fell off a little bit, but you know, we still know what’s there. Kenta, Mietta, Mashahiro, Tanaka back in the day, Yu, Darvish, and now Yamamoto, Roki, Otani, and there’s some other power hitters that are coming over too that I’m thinking like sure if I mean, if there’s a if there’s a spot for him, I don’t mind throwing that around, too. So, I think given what Japan has produced for Major League Baseball in the last 5 to 10 years, I don’t see there’s a reason why they shouldn’t be involved. I like the idea of getting that right-hander because if you’re welcoming Steel back, you got Kate Horton and this guy would be right-handers. Show Steel lefties boy lefty too. Tyone righty. And we just know that you need that starting pitching level depth. And again too, kind of what we saw in this postseason, guys get injured and I don’t want to run a bullpen game out there in a do or die game five again. So I think you should you should at least kick the tires and like you said, I think that’s a contract that the Cubs should at least think about doing. I seven years for a guy coming from overseas scares me a little bit just because injuries happen. They pitch a a really a six they pitch once a week really over there. So when you get to that more like every five days instead of every seven days, it scares me a little bit. But Sha’s had injuries not related to his arm. They’ve been related to his hamstring. And the Cubs do really well with, you know, trying to convince those guys from overseas. They have a lot of good international relations. And, you know, they put a lot of money in their pitch lab. And from what I’ve gathered is the Cubs have a very impressive, you know, pitch to these guys from Japan. So I think the Cubs will be involved. And I think given what I know about the starting pitching free agents, I I don’t see why we shouldn’t kick the tires on him. Not saying I want him, but you know, I need to do more. I haven’t really developed an opinion, but I do I will say this, he intrigues me more than three4s of the free agent starters that I have watched over here. All right? And we’re going to get to some of those here in a minute. But I think that’s the biggest thing is that he intrigues me more just based off reading about the guy. All right. Um durable. He’s undersized but still throws gas. Um the K rate is high which is something we me and you both know this starting rotation needs. Good hair. Um yeah, he’s got great hair. If you’re not if if you’re watching on YouTube, the the thumbnail with this guy on it. I mean, just yeah, we all get excited about the flow that Shodanaga has. I mean, this guy this guy’s he’s blowing Shota out the water in terms of hair. Um, and also like this has nothing to do with what if I want him or not, but one, the Cubs should be involved because they need a starting pitcher. Two, we know they have good relations with Japan, Japan athletes. Like, yeah, they don’t have Otani, they don’t have Yamamoto, but Seuki is one of the better hitters from Japan in America right now. Yeah. And Shota, I don’t know what what if he moves the needle or not for anyone, but he at least has experience over here. He’s got a great personality. They both have great personalities, man. Allstar game. Yeah, Maga was was an all-star in 2024. Yeah. I just think based off what we’ve seen with guys from Japan on this team in recent years, I could I could get up for another Japan pitcher over here. Yeah. Now, I’m I guess what gives me fear if I do decide that I am all in on this guy, will there be a bidding war? And few years ago, most people like when it was like pretty well serviced that the Cubs were interested in Yamamoto and how his number increased in like a way that no one expected because I believe going into that off season he was looked at as oh yeah he could get 150 two to 250 million. The guy ended up getting 300 and like $25 million from the Dodgers over like 10 years for a guy who never threw one baseball in in in the major leagues. And I said this I said this about Yamamoto on my last show because it was like the day after he threw that complete game or two days after he threw that complete game in Toronto. I said, “Hand up. I didn’t want to give Yamamoto $325 million or whatever it was because he had never thrown a pitch in Major League Baseball and you didn’t know what he was gonna be. He’s the first pitcher since 2001 to throw backtoback complete games in the postseason and he was healthy this year. He looks like he has earned every penny that was offered to him this uh you know in two years. I think you helped them win the World Series last year and they’re they could win another one this year, right? So to bring it back around when it comes to Japanese pitchers and stuff, I think you got to feel good about the Cubs pitching infrastructure and how they can help him not only stay healthy but maybe even improve some. And then number two, I like the personalities of all the Japanese players that come over uh at least for that have come over for the Cubs. So, I think it’d be a good clubhouse environment for for them and they could make the environment e better as well. Like perhaps even provide a little bit of more of a spark or more entertainment as far as when just the watching ability uh from a fan perspective. And number three, at the end of the day, he would be really valuable for this team just based off the position that he is and what the Cubs need. theoretically. Not for sure, obviously, but theoretically, he could. Um, so yeah, that’s that’s where I am at on him. We’ll need to get deep in the lab on YouTube and and search this guy and and give give more insight down the road. But I if if he is act if he is actually linked or if the Cubs are actually interested in him and, you know, we don’t just have reporters out here throwing his name out there, I’ll get more intrigued for sure. Yeah, I’m in the same boat. Like you said, Dylan Cece doesn’t excite me. Like it’ll be like a signing that happens. I’m like, “All right, cool.” Yeah, like we need that, but it’s not. This guy’s at least You don’t know what’s in the box. Hopefully, it’s something special. But yeah, I’m with you. Let’s just uh the offseason progresses, we’ll see what other teams are involved. I’d hate to say the Dodgers won’t be, but I know I’m just be I’d be lying to myself if I said that. Um but there’s other there’s other big market teams that can throw some money at them, too. So, all right. Well, speaking of Dylan CE, not only do me and you disagree on Kyle Tucker, we disagree on Dylan CE. I’m intrigued about Dylan CE. And it’s largely for the same reasons about this guy that we just talked about because the Cubs need they need more velocity and they need more whiffs in the starting rotation talked about in the last episode. Um, I read the wrong uh I read the wrong contract prediction from Jim Bowden. I think I said in the last episode I said 6 years 164 million. That one was actually Ranger Suarez’s. He actually predicted like uh like 180ome million. Here I’m going to throw up this graphic just that I made related to all this. Um 6 years 187 million. That is what Jim Bone predicts for Dylan CE. Let’s do a game of overunder for some of these names. We’ll go through them one by one, but we’ll start with Dylan C since you brought him up. Six years, 187 million. Do you think he goes under or do you think he that go he goes over in terms of years and money or do you think it goes under? I need to do my I’m not good at quick math. I like looking at it from like an AAV perspective. So that puts him at 30 really $31 million a year. Yeah. Gonna be 30 years old next season, I believe. Man, I’d say under, dude. Like, I It’s so tough because all the like the variables that go into it. Like, oh, you can frontload it, then you give a player opt out here, but just for sake of playing the game and trying to make this thing interesting. I’ll say I I I think he takes lesser years for more money because, man, baseball has just taken such a shift in contracts where a lot of these front offices are, “Hey, I don’t care what you’ve done. I want to I want to pay for what I’m going to get. That’s why Alex Bregman and Pete Allonzo aren’t getting the deals they Cody Ballinger isn’t getting those aren’t guys aren’t getting the deals they want to because no one thinks they’ll progress correctly. And being on the wrong side of 30 I think hurts Dylan CE a lot. So I’d say under. Yeah, I would agree. I think he’ll go under as well. Um I think the I mentioned in the last episode his underlying peripherals are good. Got a FIP in the threes even though he had a 4.55 earn run average last year. Um I I think that uh just the inconsistencies from him over the last handful of years. I think he was a Sai Young candidate two years ago, but even you can even go back to some of the years with the White Socks. He was a SA young candidate with the White Socks I think in 2022. Um but had a high erra in the fours the year after. Is that because the White Socks defense was terrible? Probably played a part. But the one thing that he has shown to be really good at over the years and this and to me is why he’s going to get plenty of money 30% K rate and a 95 percentile whiff rate. So, uh, the guy gets whiffs. Can he go deep into games though? Inconsistent. I think it’s fair to say it’s inconsistent. So, that was Dylan CE. Um, I go under on that. Um, the next guy, let’s start at the top of this list. Uh, for Amber Valdez, Jim Bowden predicts six years, 190 million. Now, I’ll admit I don’t watch a lot of the Astros over the last handful of years. Blake outside of postseason baseball, but I will say Val Farber Valdez has been healthy overall. He’s been consistent, but I really do think him crossing up that catcher could cost him some money, man. Six years, 190 million. I mean, and I think he’s also on the wrong side of 30. I’ll I’ll go under as well on that one. Yeah, I’m trying to get some like quick numbers of just other guys and like what they’re getting paid cuz Corbin Burns is getting paid 35 million. entire glass now is getting 32 and a half. Blake Snell 20. He’s not better than any of these guys. I would say I would say under as well. He’s but I do think he’s the best pitcher on the market for someone looking to shop that way, but I think it’s going to be from a team like I could see him pulling a move where a team that doesn’t usually dip into the big spending finds a way to go out there cuz he’s just like maybe not getting the big dollars from everyone else. Maybe a team like the Orioles see this as a chance of, “Hey, we just lost Corbin Burns. Let’s go pay for Valdez and we’ll pay him some money.” Um, but overall, I’d say he goes under as well. Yeah. Uh, I should mention this. Jim Bowden, he listed like salary comps to some of these to all these guys. So, for Valdez, he mentioned Garrett Crochet’s 6 years 170 million. Tyler Glass announced 5 years 136 million. Uh Carlos Ordon 6 years 162 million and Blake Snell’s five years 182 million. Yeah. So I’d say no way unless it’s one of those other teams that just need to spend just to sell a couple tickets, right? Yeah. Um okay, so next up we’ll go uh Ranger Suarez. six years, $164 million, I believe is was the second best pitcher in this ranking or the second highest ranked one. He’s ranked number seven in Bowden’s um list. Had a 4.7 baseball reference war last year. I’m more of a fan graphs guy, but um salary comps, Tyler Glass Now’s Robbie Rays, which was five years 115 million. Uh, you say Coochie Kikuchi 3 years 63 million. Um, Carlos Rodon, Nathan of Aldi’s three years 75 million. Sunonny Gay three years 75 million. Blake Snell as well. So around $25 million is I think that’s an estimate of what Ranger Suarez could get. Um, over under over under six years, 164 million. And we haven’t really talked about him. Are you intrigued? Are would you be into the Cubs being interested? I’d be in for the money, maybe not the years. I would love to see if they could get him on like a creative four, like fiveyear deal with maybe a player option after year three. Um, again, just he’s 30 years old. When I think of top pitchers in baseball, I don’t think of Ranger Suarez. And maybe that’s more of a me thing without digging too deep into the numbers, but he’s not Garrick Crochet. He’s not Glass Now. No, he’s not Snow, but I do think he gets the money. Think I could see him get 20. Nathan Evaldi, I think, was a really good comp there. I think Evaldi’s a little older, but he is. Yeah. Yeah, I I think he gets the money, but not the years. Yeah, Scott Boris is his agent. I’ll just go ahead and say over um I wouldn’t be surprised if he got more years and more money just because of his agent. And 30 years old for a pitcher, I mean, yeah, is it is it dicey? Is it is it a risk? Yes. But every contract, I think it’s something we always have to remember when we talk about these things. It’s like every like multi-year contract more than two or three years, let’s just call it, anything uh four years plus is a risk. It depending on the organization that you are can really set you back no matter what. So, um yeah, I’ll go over on Ranger Suarez. Six years, 164 million. Um so, that’s three pitchers down. Next up, we did see Zack Gallon. Five years, $135 million. No way. No way in hell. Was one of the worst pitchers in baseball this year. I think he ended the season strong, but I mean, no way. We were talking about Zack Gallon as like a death piece tra like addition at the trade deadline. Like no one wanted him. And then but we were like but if he’s available and the Diamondbacks are just trying to get something for him like yeah and then they didn’t move him because they were asking for too much from him probably. I think I think they could he might have an option or something. I I don’t know. Um I can look real quick. This this this reeks of Cubs though. This reeks of Cubs because he’s not going to get that and Jed Hoyer is going to say you know what I can do for you? I can give you a two-year contract with a player opt out after one and I’ll pay you $22 million this first season or I’ll pay you 20 million. The pitching market’s so inflated. I I remember noting that last off season. He can get a one he can get a shortyear deal for 20 to 25 million but man he’s not getting five years nor should he does not deserve that. Yeah. I mean, this guy was a he was a former Sai Young candidate or he was top 10 in Sai Young award voting for the third time in four years just two years ago. Um, but this year 13 and 15 if you care about pitcher wins and losses, some of you some of you older people out there do. Um, with a 4.83 83 earn run average and a 4.51 FIP over 33 starts. His strikeout rate per nine innings was the lowest of his career at 8.2, down from 9.5 the year before. He just turned 30. Um, it’s just very obvious the last two years he hasn’t been the same guy. Does he need a new does he need a change of scenery? One. Two, he played at Chase Field. We know how much chaos that park brings. However, the fact that his K rate and strikeouts per nine are down as well concerns me. I won’t lie. Could he be better with another organization? That’s something that teams will be asking and seeing if they could get him back to being a honestly a a one of the top pitchers in baseball and someone that I used to make fun of the Cardinals for a really long time. Yeah, I I’ll also say this too. Um Carson Kelly and Zach Gallon, they’ve played together before and fun fact, they were roommates together when they were in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. Um so there’s some familiarity there. I know that Tyler Zombro really likes Carson Kelly. Um and if you’ve ever been to college and have roommates, you usually keep in touch with those guys throughout the years unless you really hated them. So unless they really hate each other, maybe they don’t. Um, but I could see a world too where Carson Kelly and Zack Gallon are like the familiarity is there. Obviously, I I from what I’ve at least seen and heard, Carson Kelly probably has some nice things to say about the organization. So, there’s a recruiting pitch there. Um, and now that I’m talking about it, this is a story I’ve seen so many times. So, I think that the Cubs will at least throw an offer at Zack Gallon and I think it’d be for that two to threeyear deal. Um, but he’s not getting the 5135. No way. Yeah, I agree. I’ll go under on that. Especially on the years I think he could get the high AEV just because you know what he’s done over the course of his career. But, uh, I think one good salary comp that Bowden put down was Seth Lugo. Two years 46 million. Yeah, that’s a good That’s what the Cubs are that’s what the Cubs would do. Yeah. Um, and I will say that I would be interested in Zack Gallon, but if he’s your best pitcher that you acquire this off seasonason, I’m gonna have problems. And like to me, they need to at least get two pitchers, especially if they don’t bring Sha back. So, um, next up, uh, Shane Bieber predicts three years, $75 million. Hell yeah, he’s getting that. Yeah, I I feel like that’s sounds about right because he’s coming off Tommy John, but he’s he’s come back. He got traded to the Blue Jays at the trade deadline and he just pitched five and a third in the World Series yesterday. Looks healthy to me. Good good final. good final pitch. They say if you’re in like a if you’re in like some kind of like dance competition or anything, you always want to be last because that’s like your the judges last like sight of what you’ll see. And if you’re a front off and say, “Yeah, I mean, shoot, I won five and a third of one run baseball against the Dodgers in the World Series or two runs, whatever it ended up being.” Yeah, he’s going to get that $25 million in this market’s, you know, about what you’re looking at. I believe he has a player opt out. Like I obviously he would have to opt out. Um but I would expect him to. So uh especially with how he’s done in the second half with the Blue Jays. Um yeah. So, I will say that it’s interesting that Bowden did not list the Cubs as uh as a team best team fit, which is surprising considering Carter Hawkins is is here. And also, the Cubs need starting pitching. So, um I also in many ways though, I kind of view him just like I view Zack Allen. Like if he if you get him and he’s the only pitcher you require this off season, I’m going to be disappointed. Do you feel that way with Dylan CE? No, I don’t feel that way with Dylan CE. And I feel like a lot of people do. I feel like you do, but I I I I feel different about Dylan CE. And I think largely because the Cubs know Dylan CE because they liked him back in the day. Yeah. Right. He’s still he gets a lot of chase. He gets a lot of whiffs. The strikeouts are there. But the big question for me also he’s durable. 168 innings this year. He’s made 30 starts like each the last five years over 200 strikeouts. Like durable gets strikeouts which you need like whiffs all that stuff that you need. The big question for me is even though he threw 168 innings this year, he’s there’s this thing about him where sometimes he can’t get out of the fourth or the fifth inning because the pitch count is high because he gets in love with the strikeout and he can’t just get the roll over ground ball to second base and he get his walk total can get high. Right? Those are like my two things with Dylan Cece that gives me concern. Can the Cubs help him to keep Can Cubs help him to bring out his best self? I think so. We’ve seen it before. Yeah, absolutely. So, um Okay, I think we have like one left. Yeah, I maybe we didn’t have to put this one on here, but Mel Kelly, he listed two years 30 million. And I listed Mel Kelly largely just because the guy has pitched in the postseason. He’s had success in the postseason. He pitched well at a ballpark where there’s chaos, at least with Arizona. I don’t know exactly what he did with the Rangers. Two years, 30 million. I think he gets more than that. Uh, even in years. I I don’t know how I have to look and make sure how old he is, but I think he’s 37. So maybe maybe two years is about right, but maybe he gets more money. Um, yeah, he’s 37. So maybe two years is right. But um between the Diamondbacks and the Rangers last year, he went 12-9 with a 3.52 earn run average in 32 starts, 167 innings, only 48 walks. Um yeah, I he’s just he’s not a number one, but like I kind of view him like a Jame Tyion. Yeah. Gamer. Yeah. I’d say I’d say over. Maybe not. Maybe just he gets the one year. when you get start getting up there in age, it’s like or maybe it’s one of those again too where you give them a team option or it’s a mutual option or something after the first year. But I think AAV wise, yeah, it’s tough to see. It’s tough to see a it’s tough to see any starting pitcher that has like that track record of success and still like continued success in a lot of ways go under 15 million. Matthew Boyd got 15 million last year from the Cubs in a season where he was coming off, you know, never pitching over eight innings in his career and he got 15 million. So, I find it tough to see Mel Kelly not get that. Fair. Now, you using Boyd as a great example of pitchers are getting so much money these days because they’re so valuable, man. That’s why like having a guy like Kate Horton in the organization right now at the price is so valuable for them. Um, that’s just one example. But, um, yeah. Um, we’re going to talk about PCA. We’re going to grade his 2025 season. This would be the first grades of the off season. Um, but I’m going through the comments here. I like this comment from uh Jeremiah. He says, “Give me Steel Horton Cece Bieber or Gallonshoda SLB Boyd SL.” Was it Eay? E Tatsu Emani. Imani. Yeah, I’m It’s gonna take me a while to remember this. sourced by Gemini. So, we can we will blame the robots if that’s not true. Uh I kind I mean I think he’s as far as that comment I think you know if if the Cubs go out and get Dylan C Shane Bieber and and Zack Gallon that would be a wild off seasonason, but I think one that I’d be really excited about. But I think if you can if if you do get if you are getting Shane Bieber or Zack Allen, you got to get another one, man. And and so if if that were if that were the case to go with Boyd and Tyion and you know Jackson Wiggins coming up next year, I mean I think that’s it’s that’s a rotation that you can get up for in 2026. So yeah. Um All right. Pete Henry Crow Armstrong Blake. Yes, sir. I mean, I start with him because like I think it’s just going to be the easiest grade to give and I don’t really have to do much arguing or anything like that, but I guess I’ll start. Uh, Pico Armstrong for me. I got I can’t not give him an A+ despite despite the struggles in the second half of the season. Uh, offensively, he still is, in my opinion, the best defensive out outfielder in all of baseball. Um, he still stole nearly 40 bags. He hit he had the first 3030 season for you since Sammy Sosa. Um, and I think he brought an energy that none of us have felt since Sir Javier Bayz gave us in 2018. So, and he’s 23 years old and there’s room to grow and there’s plenty of reason to believe that he can get better right now. Now, obviously, if we go into next season and we’re sitting here in May and he’s still swinging at that high fast ball, nowhere near the strike zone and his chase rate outside the on pitches outside the zone, we’ll sit here and talk about it and we’ll say that we were wrong. But as we sit here right now at the end of October doing grades, I think you the best thing here is to remember that he’s 23 and then zoom out a little bit on, you know, whatever day he pissed you off because he struck out with couple guys on base or, you know, got thrown out trying to steal a bag or whatever. Like, forget that one moment and look at the overarching numbers and impact he made on the 2025 Cubs. The 2025 Cubs do not go to the NLCS without Pete Cor Armstrong or NLDS. I mean, sorry. I’m with you. I mean, I guess if we’re doing on the plus minus scale, yeah, screw it. I’ll go A+ too. I wanted to go A and just like try and play a little devil’s advocate, but like if you would have told me before the season, these are his stats. What are you giving him? I would say an A+ because the pre the expectations shift once the season progresses. The expectation shifts once he is one of the top vote getters, starts an all-star game. Like MLB is promoting the absolute out of this dude is like the next the next great superstar in Major League Baseball and he can still get there and then have the second half he did. Does that leave like a little sourness on his season in my mouth? Yes. But as the entire season as a whole, he’s still an A. He’s still an A+. He’s still a guy that I feel great about going into next year. Like you said, I still want to see him obviously make those changes, but you know a player’s good when all these other fan bases hate him. Like they don’t talk trash on guys who stink and they love calling him PCAA or you know bum. Yeah. They love they love posting the picture of his quote card of being born to play in October and he had a I don’t even want to say he had a bad October like in the elimination game he had three knocks like against the Padres. So he’s shown that he has can have some level of success in the postseason. He’s shown that he’s not quite there yet. Again too he’s 23 years old. I mean how many how many guys under 23 are you taking over PCA right now? Like not many. Like from a positional player standpoint, I think the only one that I would I’m gonna get a lot of hate for saying this, but the only guy that I think is like neck andneck with him and maybe just a shade better because I think he’s a good ball player is Chio. He’s 21, which is disgusting to think about, but you know, he debuted at 18, so yeah, it makes sense. Or 19, whatever it was. Other than that, I mean, these other young guys are getting older. Like Tatis is getting older. He’s probably 25. But, you know, uh, looking at it across the board, Pete Carmong’s still a budding superstar. And I’m g I give him an A+ because at the end of the day, he was still one of the best players on this team. And given our preseason expectations, he more than dominated those. Yeah, just to put some numbers out there for all of you nerds, um, if you’re into baseball reference war, he was a six war player. Uh, fan graphs 5.4. Um and uh overall in 157 games a durable he uh slashed 247 287481 with a 109 WRC plus 35 uh stolen bases and 43 attempts and MLB best 24 outs above average on defense and center field. So, um, I’m reading that from an article from MLB Trade Rumors, and the title of this article, and I recommend reading it if you want some Cubs offseason content to read, uh, is extension candidate Pico Armstrong. And, you know, we we we tal especially early in the year, we talked a lot about who the Cubs should extend, PCA or Kyle Tucker. And in my opinion, it should it should just be both. But um if if they don’t bring back Kyle Tucker or maybe it has nothing to do with whoever they whoever whatever they do in the offseason, but in my opinion like Pete Cor Armstrong should be a really strong extension candidate for you. Um you could look at other players around his age that have signed early. Um you know Jed Hoyer said in totality he had a great year. um is the the best defensive player in baseball and when he’s hitting he’s a superstar. So if Jed Hoyer wants to and and Tom Rickettts in this entire organization wants to keep a guy happy, wants to give the guy the confidence that you’re that they believe in him that much like I think an extension for him makes sense. I think he definitely blew out the whole like what what was it like 5 years 75 million or whatever it was or 7 years 75 million or whatever. Yeah. one of those something like I think he’s going to get more than that. I think he is somewhere around that Jackson Merrill. Yeah. Age like that was like 136 million over like nine years. Yeah. Nine for 135. Yeah. I think that that is right up what Por Armstrong deserves even after one year with room to grow despite the the the the hitting flaws. He if if you if you as an organization organization believe in in how you help develop young players, why not, man? Because this fan base deserves it. And I think he’s he’s earned he’s earned uh a long-term deal to give him some security knowing that like the organization believes in him. And I think that for a guy like him and his personality, I think that can really give him a lot of confidence going forward thinking, you know, I’m going to be here for a long time and I’m going to be the fa face of the franchise. Like that’s that’s something that it from an intangible standpoint I think is important especially what we already said given his age but I think making the postseason this year was huge for his growth but also his confidence and like hey if they’re going to invest money in me then I’m going to invest I’m not going to say energy and time into the franchise because I think he already does that but like seeing that like hey they can build a team around me And a lot of the guys on the team right now will be on that team around him moving forward. Like unless a big trade happens, Matt Shaw is not going anywhere. Bysteros, Casey, those guys aren’t going anywhere. Swanson, hopefully Nico, hopefully that’s another guy we can talk about getting an extension. Those that those core guys are around him. He’s already like, “All right, hey, like we can win with these guys. Like I’ve seen it before.” And then going to the postseason too, seeing the energy in Wrigley Field, not only in the regular season because we know that what energy that still brings, but in the postseason as well, and he’s talked about it countless times, too. Not that I thought he wouldn’t in terms of just like playing in front of the fans. But I’m with you. I I at least hope they go to the negotiating table in good faith and not try and screw him and piss them off because that’s just the last thing you want. And honestly, do I have a ton of faith that Jed Hoyer is not going to at least start with that knowing the financial constraints that he’s given every offseason? I can’t say I’m super confident he won’t, but we’ll see. I just think that the extension rumor that came out back in April is a good sign. I think back in April, like before every like if you you if you had told us in April that he was going to end up being having the season that he had, yeah, I would say that was a low ball deal. But when that that rumor came out there, everyone thought that that was an extreme overpay. Yeah. You know, uh so I thought the the Cubs deal that they put out there in many ways was an like an extreme. So I think you when you look at other center fielders or outfielders that are young around his age and that are performing and you know are under control like Jackson Merrill is at the top. I think Jackson Merrell as a hitter is better than him right now, but he’s not where PCA is as a defender. And again, if the Cubs believe in if the Cubs believe in their uh developmental program and how they think they can help him become a better hitter, like then I think they should do it whether they bring Kyle Tucker back or not. So, um, all right. We got all offseason to talk about extending homegrown players and so we will do that down the road. Um, thanks for coming back, man. Appreciate you being here and being able to talk some ball. I was tired of talking to myself into my MacBook Air. Yeah, I’m having a lot of fun. I I I miss it. I It’s good to reset, but with the World Series and winter meetings are re it’s going to come so fast. and I’m got my PTO approved for it and I was like, “All right, I got to get back talking about it. I just You try to get away from it, but you just can’t.” Yeah, I hear you. Blessing and a curse. Well, I haven’t even told you this and this is this will be this is for everyone that will uh that will be tuning in Friday. Uh my good pal Greg Hus will be joining me and perhaps you, Blake, if you want to join us. Uh talking uh he’ll be he’ll be guest Friday this week. So, um, we’re going to record it tomorrow and, uh, we’ll put have it up Friday morning for everyone on audio at least. And I think I might for these guest Friday episodes, I they probably won’t be live. They’ll probably be more so just on audio. And then, uh, maybe I’ll put a clip up from a certain conversation or a certain part of that conversation here on YouTube. So, subscribe on audio and give us a rating and review. And yeah, I know me and Greg are going to talk about guys who debuted this year and we’re going to talk about guys who could potentially debut next year from the Cubs farm system. Uh if you don’t know who Greg Hus is, he’s a great uh Cubs fan obviously, but also he knows a lot about the Cubs Farm System. So really knowledgeable uh hosts the Cubs on Deck podcast. Uh totally recommend everyone checking it out. But yeah, he’ll be a guest for this week tomorrow. So, um or on Friday, I mean, but um yeah, so unless you have anything else, Blake, I’m good. Um yeah, other than that, we’ll be back next week with more propaganda to push. Yeah, I Yeah, I don’t have much else. It’s It’s slow. We’re not in the We’re not We’re in the Cubs off season, but not the baseball off seasonason. So, Jay’s seven. That was my pre series prediction. So, I I would like to be right. Yeah. for this. I looked after game four, I I looked up like the Jay’s like odds to win the World Series and it was only plus 150. Yeah. Preseries it was only like 205. Like the Jays are good. Like they’re here for a reason. They’re good. So, and I also am saying that I’m like, man, I wish I’d taken it earlier because like I don’t want to take that now, you know? Yeah. No. But anyway, yeah. uh continue to watch the World Series and um looking forward to getting into the offseason whenever we decide to believe in the 2026 Cubs. So, uh I will see you all here live on YouTube next week. Uh check out the show on Friday. Just like the flags fly forever, Wrigleyville is forever. Appreciate y’all. Hit the like button on your way out. I really appreciate it. Goodbye.

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In this edition of Wrigleyville Forever, Cody and Blake react to the recent news related to Shohei Ohtani’s contract reported by Jon Heyman, break down the top starting pitchers predicted contracts available in free agency this offseason by Jim Bowden and grade Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 2025 season. Will the Cubs give him an extension this winter? MLB Trade Rumors believes he’s a great extension candidate.

Let us know below which starter you think the Cubs should go after (or avoid) this offseason — and why. Also share your ideal contract for them!

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Show start
3:09 World Series
12:44 Ohtani contract
22:33 Tatsuya Imai
33:54 Dylan Cease
37:11 Framber Valdez
39:13 Ranger Suarez
41:39 Zac Gallen
45:57 Shane Bieber
48:52 Merrill Kelly
52:14 Grading PCA’s 2025 season

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