BACK! | Shota Takes QO! | Cubs Protect Some Prospects | Cubs Baseball Podcast

BACK! | Shota Takes QO! | Cubs Protect Some Prospects | Cubs Baseball Podcast

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Who would have seen Shota Imanaga accepting the qualifying offer? Doesn’t happen a whole lot. He’ll be back with the Cubs. What about Kyle Tucker? How about another former Astro that the Cubs may be interested in, Alex Bregman? We’ll get into all that on the Cubs baseball channel today. Like, subscribe, thumbs up. Also, hit our QR code. Join MC Nation at Avenue D. We got some swag to give away. Let’s get this thing [Music] [Applause] [Music] Say everybody, Mick Gillespie, Cubs baseball channel. A pleasant day for you. And let’s talk about the Cubs and Shota Ianaga. I did not see this coming. Now, when he signed his initial deal, they were like, “Well, you know, it’s a three-year deal.” But then it turned out to be a two-year deal, but maybe it was a three-year deal, right? He accepted his qualifying offer, and I think you guys know I’m a big Show fan. I’m glad he’s coming back. I hope that he’s able to uh keep the ball in the park. That was something that kind of plagued him towards the end of his season. but he takes the $22 million and comes back with the Cubs. Uh he’s a guy that always wanted to play for the Cubs. He could have gone to a bunch of different places, but took I you know, from what reports say less money to pitch for the Cubs. He’s been such a great player for the organization, a fixture on the team and the starting rotation. Um and I think that he’s someone that is definitely uh going to help the Cubs. Now, I know he gave up a ton of home runs, 30 in the season. You know, it was like towards the end of the year, he struggled a lot, but I think those are things that he can get figured out. I mean, even with the way that things ended, he still has a 24-1 record in the Cubs uh in a Cubs uniform, right? A 328 RA. Now, he’s given up a ton of home runs, but you knew that he was a flyball pitcher when the Cubs got him. His whip’s only 101 and he’s got 291 strikeouts. And um I know that it wasn’t as smooth as we wanted it towards the end of the season, but pitching is hard, really hard to come by. It’s a big deal in the game of baseball. Starting pitching is the most valuable commodity. I think that he needs to tweak some stuff. maybe, you know, figure out why his ball was floating on him. I don’t know. You know, with the splitter wasn’t as good, but I would rather have him than not have him. You know, I would rather have him back and then, you know, they need to scrap up some more money to go out and get some more pitching. Whether that’s trades with a Edwin Cabrera like we talked about yesterday or, you know, maybe you go get one of these guys from Japan that are now posted. But I think there’s a lot more good in show to Ianaga than bad. And quite frankly, I was glad that he came back. I know some of you guys are going to disagree with me. You can tell me in the comments section, but uh I think that we’re going to look at the season and go, “Man, we’re glad we got Shota instead of not having them.” Now, you don’t have a lot of players that take the qualifying offer, you know? And that’s the that’s the the weird part about it is, you know, they had the qualifying offer, but not a lot of players take it, but he took it. And I I I and waited till the last moment. you know, I thought he would pretty much be a free agent, but you know, the good thing is is that obviously he wanted to come back. And um you know, the the the crazy thing is that the Cubs and the Yankees are among four teams to bring back players on qualifying offers, you know. So, you know, you don’t see that a ton, but it’s but I think it’s a good thing. You know, that’s why you put the qualifying offer out there. You know, maybe someone wants to take it. Uh, you know, one of the guys that we thought might potentially be someone the Cubs would be interested in was Trent Gisham. Um, but, you know, he took the qualifying offer. So, he’s going to be back as well as far as the uh Yankees are concerned. Um the Tigers end up with Glabber Torres, you know, he was someone that came up in the Cub system and got traded. And so that’s that, right? Like um show back in the rotation, you know, maybe he’s not a number one or a number two, but what I hope is that we can get him to a spot where when you need him in game five, you’re not afraid to pitch him, you know. And that that to me for the former all-star and someone that’s done everything right with the Cubs kind of told us where things were for him, you know, towards the end of his time with the Cubs. And you get the qualifying offer out because you’re like, hey, like we’re going to get a draft pick back. If he doesn’t take it, it’s a one-year deal. Not a bad deal for the Cubs to have showed to back. Now, the other guy that is in the thumbnail and someone that we’re wondering about is Kyle Tucker. We talked about Tucker to the Orioles. Seems like that the Toronto Blue Jays have become kind of the odds on favorite for Kyle Tucker. Um they got, you know, right to game seven of the World Series. He declined his qualifying offer. He’s a free agent. And all of a sudden, when you look at basically the experts, they say that the Blue Jays are the favorite to land Tucker. even though they signed Vlad Guerrero that they are possibly willing to spend over $400 million to get him. You know, you got other teams in the mix like the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees. We talked about the Orioles yesterday. Um, you know, would he would he potentially go to the Dodgers? Could they put a three million billion dollar payroll together? I don’t know. But, um, the Cubs know that they’re going to sit back and kind of see how this thing figures out and then when all of it’s said and done, they’ll try to make a move for Tucker or maybe they won’t and he won’t be back. You got Owen Casey as a backup plan. You know, I’ve seen reports where maybe Cody Bellinger could come back. I I don’t think that Cody Bellinger is the guy you want back. think you could go a different direction and maybe one of those guys is Alex Brag. One of the baseball’s uh one of baseball’s biggest insiders, Jeff Passen, says that the Cubs are going to be in the mix for Alex Bregman. And this doesn’t surprise me at all, right? Cubs were in the mix for him last year. He was with the Red Sox and then opted out of the final year of what would have been two years $80 million. Cubs are going to have to figure out a way to replace the production that Kyle Tucker brought to the table. And Jed Hoyer’s kind of talked about the struggles that Matt Shaw had as the Cubs everyday third baseman. I don’t think that means that Matt Shaw is not going to be eventually a pretty good big leager, but I think that where the Cubs are right now, they could see Shaw as a utility guy and then use Bregman to be a star third baseman. And I think that would really shure things up. And then I, if I was them, I would make a trade for a star catcher. and all of a sudden you have a pretty solid uh you know position player lineup wherever you’re looking at it. And I I’m all about Kyle Schwarber coming back as well and having Schwarbs as the you know the the main piece and what would be this lineup. So Bregman signed a three-year $120 million deal with the Red Sox. That was last year. Cubs were reportedly in the mix for that. you know, he was injured, but when he came back, he was just a really good player for them. You get the feel that the Cubs really like him, and um you know, obviously that third base position isn’t something that the Cubs uh are totally sold on. You look at Bregman’s projected contract for this year. Uh MLB trade rumors is like six years, 160. You know, you got other ones that say four years 140, five years 155. The athletics like six years 171, ESPN’s like five years 160. So, you’re going to be somewhere in there. Third base to me is one of the toughest positions to try to field. and Bragman a lot like Tucker on a world championship team knows what it takes to get things done and in a spot of need for uh for you know a team that’s looking for some help. So I I think that the Cubs are going to be squarely in the mix for Braggman. I just don’t think that Tucker is going to come back to the Cubs. Now the last thing I want to get into is the Cubs rule five decisions. And now this was, you know, kind of one of those things that we talked about yesterday and you’re like, okay, you know, who are the Cubs adding to the 40man roster and who are the Cubs going to leave off the 40man roster? So, here we go. Um, the Cubs at it. James Trianttos talked about him yesterday, contact hitter, one of their top prospects, maybe got pushed to TripleA a little bit earlier than I probably would have, but has the ability to be a really good big leager because of his ability to put bat the ball. did not have a great season with Iowa, but still a young dude and someone that you just wouldn’t want to give up to or give up on, right? J uh Pedro Ramirez, double A last year, 21 years old, one of the best players in the league, batted um you know, in the top five of the league, was in there for the batting title, didn’t win it, but plays third and second base. He he’s he just kind of to me looks like a really good utility guy, but could potentially be a starter. Someone that you’re definitely not going to give up on. Has a high batting average on base percentage and hits for power. Now, the other guy I mentioned, and I’m not surprised that the Cubs put him on, too, was Riley Martin. And I talked about this yesterday. I said, “Look, Riley Martin is a guy I think’s going to get to the major leagues, and he’s a left-handed pitcher.” I I know at 27 years old and a former sixrounder, you’re going, “Well, you know what? You know, easy come, easy go.” And this doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily going to be on forever. But the Cubs aren’t ready to give up on him yet, right? left-hander who is coming off of a great season in the minor leagues. 269 RA and 63 and two/3s innings for Iowa. Left-handed reliever. Uh a 30 plus strikeout rate. Um you know or you know 30.7 strikeouts and only a 13% walk rate, right? And he gets a ton of ground balls over 52% of those. He is a left-hander. Uh he’s got the flow going as well. At least last time I saw him he did. I really like him. I I think it would be tough to give him up because left-handers that are that effective are tough to give up on. So the Cubs decided to go James Triantos the 22-year-old second round pick from 21 big big high prospect. Pedro RmIrez 21-year-old uh international signing in 21 had a great year in DA. And then Riley Martin, which leaves some guys that are going to be eligible in this rule five draft. Christian Hernandez, who um I haven’t seen yet. Brandon Birdell, who’s coming off of an injury, but a starting pitcher, who I think if Woody stayed health, he probably would have pitched in the big leagues last year. Grant Kip pitched in double A last year. Um I I think it’s 50/50 or maybe a little less on on that for him, but he’s a guy that could end up being a big league starter. Connor Nolan, um you know, Triple A, tough guy, pitches like a football player would, right? Um potential there. And then, you know, some other guys that we talked about yesterday. Well, Tyler uh Schlaffer who was in double A, you know, you going to resign him. Brody McCulla, you know, missed last year with an injury. JP Wheat, you know, the guy in TripleA, like there’s a there’s some other guys that you’re going, okay, who we keeping and who we’re not keeping and and then kind of figure that out. You can’t keep them all because the Cubs have had so many good young players, but uh they kept the the the reliever Martin and then they kept two young position players that I think project to be at least utility guys, but maybe potential starters. All right, that does it for the show, guys. Again, I want to tell you that you need to join Avenue D McNation. Use that QR code right there. We got hats. People, some of you guys are like, “Hey, how can I get a hat?” Easy to get it. Uh just email me your um or message the email address or go to Avenue D and you can win one. Be part of Avenue D pick games uh message you know obviously comment on the comment board be part of what we’re doing. We give away a hat a week. So that’s an an easier probably the easier way to be buy one but maybe you can win one too. But thank you guys for being on here. Like subscribe thumbs up. Uh, shout out to my my my guy Kyle Babcock who said, “Hey man, I love watching your shows. I I love all of you guys that uh hang out.” And we’re brought to you by Visit Seavirville. Next time your maybe your your Christmas is coming up. You want to see the lights, you want to go to the mountains, you want to hang out with the bears, all that in the Smoky Mountains. 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] Wa! Your smoke is start here. 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This Episode:
– Surprise! Shōta Returns
– Shota accepts qualifying offer of $22.025 million
– Kyle Tucker to Blue Jays?
– Cubs Have Interest In Alex Bregman
– Cubs Rule 5 Decisions…

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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.