CUBS Setting LOW Expectations? | Cubs Baseball Channel Rumors

CUBS Setting LOW Expectations? | Cubs Baseball Channel Rumors

Things are getting hot and heavy out there in the world of free agency, but no major players have signed yet. Guess the biggest news is that Shane Bieber didn’t opt out of his contract and he’s going to stay with the Toronto Blue Jays, maybe for some unfinished business. One guy that we’re keeping a close tab on is Kyle Schwarber and the Schwarber watch continues today. We’re going to talk about him. The Cubs, according to experts, not expect it to be in the race for Kyle Tucker. We’ll get into that. And also, don’t expect them to spend a lot of money on one position group. We’ll get into that as well. Former Cub could be the bench manager or the bench coach for a National League team and more. We’ll get into all that right here on the Cubs baseball channel. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, hit the bell. Let’s get this thing started. Good to see you guys today. And go Cubs. Love the sound of that. Go Cubs. [Music] [Applause] [Music] What do you say everybody? Mick Gillespie, Cubs baseball channel. been a Cubs fan for a long, long, long time. And like you, I love the team and sometimes maybe I put my heart out there and maybe that’s what’s going on right now, but I do feel like the Cubs need to pursue Kyle Schwarber. And I’m going to kind of get into this as we go through free agent season. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but you start to hear these reports about what the Cubs aren’t going to do. And one of those things right off the bat is according to experts, and it’s not just one, but a few different experts, don’t expect the Cubs to pay the Kyle Tucker money. And that’s, you know, over 350 million, you know, 400 million plus. Cubs apparently are okay with him walking away. And you know, to me it’s like I’m sure ownership’s going, “Hey, isn’t this the same guy who hurt his wrist and then couldn’t buy a hit for a while?” Or no, I’m sorry, hurt his hand and then couldn’t buy a hit for a while. You are we going to invest that kind of money in one guy and then he gets hurt and we get nothing out of it? Um, the problem to me and Jesse Rogers, who does a great job, is basically telling Cubs fans that he just, you know, probably Cubs probably aren’t going to pay um, you know, the money to get Tucker. And he also mentioned that the, you know, that the Phillies haven’t shut the door on a Kyle Schwarber reunion. But you’re talking about the Cubs needing to replace that production in the lineup and they don’t want to pay, you know, 35 to $40 million on one player. Um and and then of course over, you know, 10 or 11 years, right? And that’s what Tucker could command, you know. So we’ll see how the market is. The Cubs gave up a bunch to get him and he’s a good player. I mean, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s a risk. You know, anytime you see a guy that’s injured and and doesn’t produce and you’re thinking and we’re spending that much money on one guy, it is a risk. But you look at the teams that won the World Series, they have those players that were in the World Series that win the World Series, that those are the guys that lead the team. Lad Guerrero Jr., Without him, Toronto’s not, you know, in extra innings to win at all. Without Show Otani or Freddy Freeman or Mookie Bets, the Dodgers wouldn’t be in that situation. So, you know, here you are um looking at the fact that, you know, don’t expect the Cubs to spend that money and then of course you go, okay, well, what about Kyle Schwarber? make the case that Schwarber would be worth that as a DH. Well, first off, Shi Otani won the league’s most valuable player as a DH when he couldn’t pitch. Now, I know when he pitches and he hits, you know, he he’s like Babe Ruth. I mean, really better than Babe Ruth when you talk about like a season because, you know, he’s doing both things really well at the same time. But Schwarber kind of proves the point that in this day and age of analytics, having a a DH that produces like him is, you know, it’s really worth it. You know, you’re talking about Kyle Schwarber who’s 32 years old and I don’t think there’s any slowing down in his prime. I I feel like this is a guy that could play into his 40s and be productive, right? He hits a ton of home runs against left-handers. That makes him different. You know, his of his what 56 home runs, he hit 23 against lefties. Um his barrel rate, you know, for those analytic types was over 20% last year. That’s to me something that what when the guy makes contact, great things happen. He’s doing more of that. Um he doesn’t miss fast balls, right? 35 of his home runs came off of fast balls. But the thing that I that I think that the analytics crowd really likes is that over 31% of his balls pulled right were in the air. you know, that’s kind of like Barry Bonds type stuff, you know, where where where he’s pulling the ball and keeping them fair. And Barry Bonds was the best that I ever saw at doing that. I mean, there was a time when you just didn’t really want to pitch to Barry Bonds. Uh, you know, he was all bulked up on steroids and he was a great hitter on top of that and he just smashed the ball, right? So, uh, 39 of Schwarber’s 56 home runs were pulled. Even though he has power all over the field, you know, he’s just getting better and better at taking advantage of that poolside power. This is a guy that if he decided that he wanted to back up and and hit for average, he could. kind of the opposite of Hall of Famer Rod Karu who felt like he could have hit maybe 500 home runs. He could have led the league in home runs, but he was more of a contact guy and he wanted to get on base. Believe it or not, Kyle Schwarber has that ability as well. He he’s gone into slugger mode because that’s what baseball wants. They want guys that drive the ball in the air and hit them out of the ballpark. Now, some other teams that you’re starting to hear, including Jesse Rogers, making a very interesting point that Kyle Schwarber could end up with the Yankees, even though the Yankees have a DH right now. It things happen. And can you imagine the home runs that he would hit in that short porch at Yankee Stadium being in the same lineup as Aaron Judge? The Cincinnati Reds are a team that they’re hearing could possibly go out and spend on a Kyle Schwarber to go with all of those young star players that they have. Or maybe they trade some of those guys. Who knows? But um can you imagine having to face Kyle Schwarber in that lineup would make that team a whole lot better? You know, obviously the Phillies are in the mix for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if some other teams don’t pop in there and uh the Tigers could be one of those teams as well. Can you imagine the Jav Bayz and Kyle Schwarber reunion? But I’m still feeling like this is a possibility for the Cubs and one that they should really examine. And I’m sure that they are because you’re going to have to do something to find the production that you’re giving away by not having Kyle Tucker. And if you put Schwarber in the same lineup as Owen Casey, can think about the growth that you would have in that particular position. Love the outfield there and then obviously having him at the DH spot. And I know some of you guys, and I say this all the time, hey, Moyes Bisteros, really good hitter. He’s not even close to the threat level that Schworber would bring. And I think he’s going to be a very good big league hitter, but maybe you you swap him for say a catcher from Baltimore if they’d give him up, Richmond. That’s who I want. Maybe that’s why the Cubs made that deal to uh to give Hitridge back to the Orioles. Like, hey guys, we want to work a deal out maybe for somebody else here. You can have him back. We’re not even going to charge you. Um, talking about the Cubs and their future. I’m going to get there in a second, but I want to remind you guys that we have a lot of stuff going on at McNation Avenue D. I talk about this all the time. uh got the hats in. Some of you guys have gotten hats. Got some great texts uh or really emails back from people that won hats. I love the fact that you guys want to wear the gear that you like our logo right there. That’s it. That logo. Pretty cool. And we appreciate that so much and want to continue to uh to to outfit you guys. So, make sure that you check out Avenue D. It’s all free. Pick games. Right now, it’s NFL because baseball’s over. Maybe we ought to do what? Put a put a poll up there on whether Kyle Schwarber will sign with the Cubs or not. What do you think about that? Yeah, I think we’re going to do that. So, anyway, check it out. Avenue D, uh, Mick Nation, that’s our web three home. All right. This was not surprising to me either uh that the Cubs reportedly not spending for relief pitching. Now, I would love to hear the opposite. Hey, expect the Cubs to spend some money because we’d get excited about the possibility of players that we could potentially get if the Cubs were spending some money. But that is not the reports that we’re getting right now. And trading Kitridge back to Baltimore was kind of one of those things where it was like, okay, you know, uh, this bullpen’s probably going to be totally gutted from last year. just when you talk about the the the pitchers that are free agents and I’m sure the Cubs will try to do the same thing they did last year and build a bullpen from guys around the league that might not be as expensive right now as they potentially will be down the line, right? Uh but the Athletics kind of leading the charge basically saying league sources told the Athletic not to expect the Cubs to jump in on bigname free agent relievers. Um you know talking about that. So I guess that eliminates you know some of those guys that we kind of had our fingers crossed on. You know what could Don’t you guys want to hear uh you know some trumpets when your reliever comes in? Well, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case for the Cubs. You know, some of those relievers are worth a ton of money. And, you know, to get an Edwin Diaz or a Devin Williams or a Robert Suarez, you’re going to have to spend some money, right? And and you may be talking about 15 or 20 million. And the Cubs not not going to do that. you know, maybe they go out and make another trade for Orion Presley, which absolutely bombed last year. Bombed, you know, and you make a deal for this guy, he didn’t even make it through the season. Um, you know, it was kind of sad watching that. But then, you know, the emergence of a guy like Daniel Palencia, what about a Ben Brown who’s kind of proven that he’s not going to be a starter, but he’s got backend bullpen stuff. And if you don’t want Jackson Wiggins to start, you know, I know he’s had some injury issues, but he’s got an an amazing arm. You know, is he someone that you could throw in the bullpen? Are there some other guys who the Cubs have in their system that maybe could get an opportunity to help get some outs? There’ll be free agents, you know, they’ll they’ll kind of sit back like they always do and see where the deal is, you know, to try to, you know, buy low and get high returns or, you know, sell high and, you know, and and get a lot back for a player that maybe they don’t think is going to help them uh as much as, you know, maybe the resources that they get back from that player, right? And that’s just business. But, you know, it’s that time of year where the Dodgers are going to go out and try to buy everybody they can. And in a way, you know, you kind of feel a little frustrated if you’re a Cubs fan that uh, you know, that that there’s not going to be, hey, we’re we’re, you know, we’re not going to be in the Kyle Tucker sweep stakes. Uh, I don’t know that Cody Bellinger is a good fit. I think Kyle Schwarber would be, you know, and then you start going down the line. Are they going to be in the mix for Alex Bregman? You know, what would that look like? And then maybe some of the pitchers, you’ve heard of Dylan CE maybe being a guy that they want. He started out with the organization. All all those things said, the Cubs are going to probably do the same thing that they have done, and that’s spend some money, but also try to be strategic with their resources. Kind of uh playing the market. I I I don’t feel like the Cubs are being small market, but they’re they’re you know, they’re not like the Reds, which I can’t even imagine. And I just talked about the fact that the Reds might or reportedly could be interested in Kyle Schwarber who’s from Ohio. I I just don’t think that they’re going to put that money up. You know, when Ken Griffy Jr. hadn’t played in years and he was their highest paid player a few seasons ago, it shows you that they’re not spending that much money. Um, all right. David Ross, Cubs manager a few years ago. You look at what he did with the Cubs, I don’t think that it’s a whole lot different than what Craig Council’s doing. Don’t see a whole lot of difference. And he hasn’t gotten an opportunity to be a manager again. And so now hearing that the Nationals could hire him as their bench coach and I think that would be an excellent hire for them. You know, he the one thing that I criticized when the Cubs hired him is that he never at any level managed. You know, think about this. Tony Vitello, who is a college coach at Tennessee, managed more games than David Ross when he managed the Cubs. And because of that, you know, that I felt like there were times where he didn’t have the experience to do the job. And I think now he’s got the experience. And on top of that, being a bench coach is the perfect job to platoon yourself to the manager’s role to learn and then, you know, but still not be the guy who has to come come up with all the decisions. I mean, you do really help make a lot of them in game and and all of that stuff, but you’re you’re not the you’re not the face. And I think eventually he’ll get back to that. So, I hope he does. He’s a really well-liked guy in the organization. And I and I think that if he would have done this and then the Cubs hired him, I think he would have been a it would have lasted a lot longer than it did. All right, guys. That does it for today’s show. We’re keeping an eye on this market. You know, maybe I’m having pipe dreams with this Kyle Schwarber stuff, but I I really do think that he would fit. I think it would be a great reunion. And uh I think all of us would love to get those Schwarberers jerseys back out again. And uh and and wear them because he’s coming home. The pop that it would h that Cubs convention would have if this were to happen. All right, like, subscribe, thumbs up. Thanks for hanging again. Uh hit that QR code and we’ll talk to you guys in Avenue D. Appreciate you being here and don’t forget next vacation think about the Smoky Mountains in Sevirville. And look, there’s talking fish and bears to help you get. When you head to the Smoky Mountains, it’s only natural to visit Sevirville. Even we had to check it out. And we’ve been here our whole lives. Experience the adventure of a lifetime. I’m king of the world. Even you can get a bird’s eye view of the Smokies. You’re going down, Billy. [Applause] Whoa. Your smoke is start here. [Music] [Music]

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This Episode:
– Kyle Schwarber Watch: Latest News
– Cubs Reportedly Not Spending for Relief Pitching
– MLB Insiders: Don’t Expect Cubs to pay Kyle Tucker
– Nationals Could Hire as David Ross Bench Coach
– AveD “Join Mick Nation!”

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Mick Gillispie has covered the Chicago Cubs since 2007 and has been a fan of the team since the 1984 season. He has broadcasted spring training games or been heard on Cubs.com, MLB.com, 670 The Score, WGN, CSN-Chicago and Marquee Sports Network. He is an award winning play-by-play voice for the Tennessee Smokies Cubs Double-A Affiliate. He has also hosted many forums over the years at Cubs Convention including Down on The Farm.