Yes, the Chicago Cubs should SPEND MORE (feat. David Kaplan)

Yes, the Chicago Cubs should SPEND MORE (feat. David Kaplan)

You are Lockdown Cubs, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. We are your team every day. Alongside Samber, I’m Matt Cozy. Sam and I are lifelong fans taking our passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, we’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. download the FanDuel app today. For the second straight year, we have a special guest right around the same time as last year. He has his own YouTube channel, The Recap. Go check that out. Watch him there. And he can be heard weekday mornings from 6:00 to 9 on ESPN 1000. He’s of course a diehard Cubs fan. David Kaplan, we have a lot to go over today. Thank you so much for being here once again. I’m a fan of you guys. I’ve told you guys that. I’m a fan of what you do. I love your passion that you bring to covering the Cubs. Yet, you’re willing to, you know, say what has to be said sometimes. And I’ve had friends of mine who go, “Boy, you ripped the Cubs. I thought you like the Cubs.” I do. But when I get this this microphone like you, I broadcast for them. Not for Tom Rickettts, not for Jed Hoyer, not for any of the players. It’s for the fan who honors us by giving us some of their precious time. Look, I uh I said this last year. I don’t want to be too repetitive, but the mutual admiration society. Yeah. Yeah. I I’m uh Yeah. You know, if if there was somebody in the industry that I would say is a mentor without actually having a relationship with them, I I I would go to you, Cap. I go to I I sometimes if I have takes, I I look see what you think about it. The first thing I do, and this is serious to our listeners that watch our show, we get a great following. Watch the recaps of the Cubs games, man. Go on his YouTube channel. What I do, my routine is, you know, we finish the game, jot down some notes. Matt and I go on about 15 minutes after, and then right when our show is done, I check out the recap and I just compare contrast. What did Cap say about the game? What did we say about the game? Um, it’s great stuff. I appreciate it. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a labor of love. Um, we do stuff on our channel seven days a week and it’s super cool. And you know, I have friends of mine be like, “Wait, you do how many baseball recaps?” 324. Cuz I do both teams. Yeah. You do the socks, too. Yeah. Yeah. And when they win 41 games and you’re out to dinner with your wife and friends and it’s a Saturday night, I literally have two phones and my phones sit right on the table and I have my MLB app or my CHSN or my marquee and they’re going and we were out with another couple and they’re like the wife not a sports fan that’s fine. And she said, “Uh, what are the two phones doing on the table here?” And my wife said, “I got this.” That’s how he pays our bills. He’s watching both games and then he has to do his recaps. And she’s like, “So every night when there’s a game?” My wife’s like, “Absolutely.” She’s like, “And you’re good with this?” And my wife said, “Yeah, a thousand%.” Needless to say, we don’t go out with that couple anymore. Well, hope hopefully that couple’s not a fan of lockdown cubs. Anyway, that’s it. All right, let’s get into it. Matt, I’m going to start if you don’t mind because I I I want to start with with the big question that I have that you may not be able to answer, but I know you you could answer it better than I can. And that is all the time, Cap, I get, Sam, the Cubs have so much money. Are they going to spend more? Are they going to spend more? Uh uh they need to spend more. My question to you is, are we positive that they actually have that much money? We know there’s a difference in business. We know they generate the revenue cap, but on your very show in your studio, I believe it was uh Mr. Rickettts, you and Ryan uh McGuffy, you guys did an unbelievable job. You had Rickettts in there and and that famous we’re trying to break even quote was your interview. Um is there something that maybe us fans are missing with the bottom line or the business operations that they don’t have that money to spend or is it just as simple as um they should spend more? They should spend more 100%. Now, do I think that they can spend what the Dodgers spend? I do not. The Dodgers have a 7 billion dollar TV deal that they got before cord cutting became a thing. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were locked into NBC Sports Chicago till 2019. And by that point, cord cutting was a reality. And so now you see all around not just Major League Baseball, but hockey and basketball, the NFL is different because all their games are national. They don’t have local TV deals. But in baseball especially, these regional sports networks are a losing proposition. And that’s why you see so many of these companies and these teams struggling to figure out how can we make this work. We got all this great content and we can’t make any money. And so do I think they could spend 700 million on show Otani and 400 million on Muki Betts and 365 with the post free for Yamamoto and 175 for Blake Snell and I can keep going. I don’t. Do I think they should spend more than they do? 1,000%. I believe, and I’ve said this before, it’s not earthshattering, but people don’t usually agree with me and that’s okay. I believe when you buy a team, it is a public trust. You are a steward of the franchise and it’s your responsibility to try your very best within reason to win. And I think when you look at what they did or did not do at the trade deadline, I think they missed the boat. You could tell me going into the season, yeah, you know, we’re projected to win 77 games. Okay, I’m not expecting you to go out and just push all your chips in. But guess what? When your team has the second best record at the deadline, you’ve got a shot. And you’re telling me you can’t go out. I didn’t see any starting pitching of no moved, but I did see relievers all over the place. Why aren’t you in on the Duran kid that goes to Philadelphia? Why aren’t you in on Hellley if the Cardinals would deal with you? Why aren’t you in on Griffin Jax who ends up with the Tampa Bay Rays? The guy Taylor Rogers, that’s not trying. Andrew Kitridge, he was fine. That’s like buying a Buick. He’s fine. It’ll get you to the mall, but that’s not going out and getting the Lamborghini that you go, “Whoa, who’s that dude pulling up to the country club in the Lamborghini?” That’s not how the Cubs operate. And that bothers me at times. And that’s not, I think, a shot at jet as much as organizational philosophy that starts at the top. We’ll spend with you and then they can come back and fair or unfair, I understand it. They could say to you, “Well, hold on a minute. We spend $90 million more than the Milwaukee Brewers and yet they keep kicking our ass. Why? Jed has to wear that part of the discussion. There’s no question about it. Why does Milwaukee have Cheerio and they get him locked up before he ever plays a game? Why does Milwaukee find a two-year deal for Willie Adamus, who kicks our ass while we’re spending $26 million on Dansby Swanson, who’s a good player. This is not a shot at him by any stretch of the imagination. But when you give him 177 million, I think was what his deal was, and they can go out and find a guy in a two-year deal and go, “We’re gonna beat you with our guy, and we’re going to spend less doing it.” And they have Freddy Peralta, and they develop Jacob Miserowski and Devin Williams, and then they move him and get players back. And then they can find another closer. I just don’t think we do a good enough job in that area. That’s my take on it. Sound familiar, Matt? Huh? It really does. two I mean two things can be true they need to spend more they need to develop better you develop better you’re probably better than Milwaukee but you got to spend more in order to get to the Dodgers land you know Matt go ahead well in cap last about a year ago we recorded you you forecasted uh hey if they’re in it at the trade deadline you anticipated them to to go that extra mile uh I think the TV money is a great point a lot of people myself included cancel Marquee in the off season um you know how many subs do they even have during the year? Last year they finished with the luxury tax payroll of 228. The the to the line was 241. Why do you believe they don’t go the extra 1213 million as far as you know? Why why didn’t why didn’t they get Shane Bieber at the deadline or Kyle Finnegan? Like why why didn’t that happen? because Jed’s organizational philosophy is I’m not going to and at the time Bieber hadn’t picked up the option to stay there. It was a rental. Jed’s like I’m not going to give you and they did give up two top prospects. Um Toronto I heard the two kids they got are very good players. Okay. So Jed said, “I’m not going to give you two of the prospects I’ve worked incredibly hard to develop to get a guy a who’s been on the injured list for four years, and I’m not sure I’m going to have him beyond however far our run in the postseason goes.” Now, my response to that is, okay, there was more than Shane Bieber that was available out there. There were guys out there to be had. I’m not talking about McKenzie Gore because someone in the other organization in Washington I said what did they ask for? You’ve been around a long time. Tell me what the ask was. He said Matt Shaw, Cade Horton, and Owen Casey. I said, “One of the three.” He goes, “No, you want a guy like McKenzie Gore. We wanted all three.” I wouldn’t have done that either. No because I would rather have Cade Horton. And when you factor in his salary versus McKenzie Gore and he’s a good pitcher. Same with Joe Ryan. So again, I still think you own an area now that they may as well call it Rickettsville. Uh they’ve bought up all the buildings. They have renovated their ballpark. They have a great local radio deal. They’re making money, whatever it is, through their TV deal. I don’t think it’s as anywhere near as lucrative as people thought it would be. But guess what? If you’re going to own the Chicago Cubs and you have the second best record in the National League trade deadline day, I don’t want to hear we just want to break even. That’s just my take. I want to hear, you know what? I don’t give a Can I swear on this? No. Preferably not. All right. I don’t want to hear that. They go, we just want to break even. I don’t give a crap about breaking even. I want to win the World Series and I want my owner to come out and go, look, I can’t spend with the Dodgers. I get it. I understand that. But I am going to push some chips in here and I have told my team president and my GM and we can get to the GM in a minute because I got a problem with him. Yeah. The I want you to go get me some pitching. I want to take a shot at this. like how what I would like to know is I like to ask Tom and if we ever get him back here in the studio I’m gonna ask him how can you sit in the first row during the playoffs my wife and her sister were in the bleachers for all the postseason games they saw them all and my wife said let me tell you hun the two the clinch game over San Diego and the two wins over the Brewers other than the World Series and the game we clinched to go to the World Series those were the loudest most exciting electric environment games I’ve ever seen at Wrigley and she goes probably 25 games a year. We met at Wrigley Field for crying out loud. So, how can you sit there as the chairman of the team, your family owns the team, look around and go, “Wow, this is freaking awesome in here.” Yeah, but I can’t spend because I want to break even. I don’t want to hear that. Much much more with Cap right after this. This episode is brought to you by a FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get into the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Folks, in honor of David Kaplan, I’ll put that one out there. Uh the Bears opened up as seven-point dogs in Philly uh on Friday. I was hoping it’d be around six and a half for a little respect. They went seven. Also, my Ali play right before uh that Bears game in Philly against uh Yukon. So, it’s going to be a packed uh Black Friday for me. Uh right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, we’re back on Locked On Cubs and thank you for making us your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. Sam Cap, is it fair for me to say, and I know in media you’re never supposed to ask yes or no questions, and I don’t care. Is it fair? How? What? Why? I got to I’ll take you off course for one second. I get hired by ESPN National to do college basketball. Yeah. And I’m a former coach, so I’m doing analyst work and they call one day and said, “Any chance you’d be willing to do the sidelines on this big tournament?” Oh, man. I’d be so bad. Sure. I I can figure it out. I’ll do that. And I asked whatever the coach was, who thank goodness was a friend of mine. I’m trying to remember where he was from. He didn’t give you a Papovic treatment. No. No. He He’s my buddy. I’m trying to think who it Well, it might have been the coach at St. Bonaventure and then I said, “Boy, you’re getting out rebounded.” And I put the mic in front of his face. Not even a question. A Jag could have gone, “Yeah.” Instead, I get the call from the VP of ESPN. Hey man, I understand it’s your first time on sidelines. H how? What? Why? How are you going to combat the rebounding advantage? You can’t give a yes no answer or be a jag. What do you have to do to get your offense on track? Why are they having success defending you? Right. He said, I don’t ever want to hear anything other than how what, why? Love it. With that being said, is it fair to say um Cap, you know, seriously though, I feel like when I’m listen to Jed and I listen to Carter Hawkins and Matt and I have had this discussion a little bit more like, you know, uh uh long about all all sports, does it feel like to you that the goal for the Cubs isn’t to win a title as much as it is to just be pretty good every year and and then hope that, you know, in Oto October. Uh things bounce the right way because that’s what it feels like the goal is to me. It is. Yeah. When I hear from Gordon Whittener who does my podcast with me. Another good another really good pod by the way. Thank you. I love Gordon. So Gordon had a friend who was in the room when Carter’s talking to a group and said, “Yeah, our goal is to win 87 games and then if we get overperformance of expectation and take a run and things break right, we can win a World Series.” I don’t want to hear that. And then when he tells Jesse Rogers, Jesse said, “Boy, you guys are taking a lot of heat for not doing much at the deadline.” He said, “We have to be as cognizant of the 2025 Cubs as we are the 2032 Cubs.” That comment made me puke. And if I was his boss, Jed, I would have blasted him at the office. Dude, you could think that. That could even be our mantra. You can never ever say that publicly. If you want to say we have to be as cognizant of the future as we are here and the prices were just ridiculous, nobody says a word. When you say it the way he said it or you are quoted in a meeting that yeah, our goal is to win 87 games and then go from there. No, your goal should be to win 90 plus, get in, win your division, and then what do we have to add to try and put us over the top? Period. Yeah. Champ I mean to me it’s championships. I mean, you know, it’s like Kobe Bryant always is like, it’s just about the banners and it’s not the divisional banners, you know, when you play for the Lakers. It’s not the conference titles. Did you get a ring or not? That’s it. And and Matt, after that happened, that that 2032 comment, we did a show and Matt said that that should cost him his job. Yeah, I don’t think they would ever do that. I understand your frustration with it. That’s just the level of how bad we thought it was. I thought it was inappropriate. Yeah, I did, too. I’m right there with you. I don’t know if I would have fired him for that, especially if he was a good employee. Sure. You know, if you were like, “Wow, this guy’s really good at his job.” And he may very well be. I’ve never met the guy. Obviously, I know Jed exceptionally well. And I like Jed a lot. I think Jed is a highly intelligent guy. I think he’s a first class representative of your franchise. And I like that he’s the president of our baseball ops. I just wish that his ownership would say, Jed, rather than wait till the deadline when the prices get stupid, let’s spend a little extra money in January and February and maybe have redundancy at a position. Like if you’re going to offer 4 for 120 for Alex Bregman, okay, then let’s go three for 120. Oh, well the Red Sox are three for 120. Okay, I’m at 3 for 125. If he doesn’t want to come, great. Good luck to you. But if you tell me I’m getting 120 for four and they’re at 120 for three, that’s a massive difference. You’re not seriously trying to sign him. So, I would rather as the owner go, Jed, what do we need? Well, I I really think we need to add a third baseman or Justin Steel is starting to feel a little bit I don’t know if he’s going to have an issue here, which he ended up having. Why don’t we go get an extra starter? Who’s out there? That guy, but he’s going to cost us $10 million. There’s the check. Go do it. That’s how I would run a team. Many mornings this summer, Cap. You and Jay Hood on 1000. Not only talk Cubs, but but talk Kyle Tucker and the possibility of him being around more than the one year. Mhm. And it seemed like maybe July, even August, you thought the Cubs were going to make that effort to try to bring him back. Here’s a guy that’s a star caliber player was down your hall a whole year and now it seems like they’re not even at the at the table to have that conversation. What happened? Well, I’ve always believed and in fact somebody that was in the room said to me the day they made the trade, they make it, they have a meeting at Wrigley and Tom says, okay, what’s our plan? How are we getting this guy ressigned? Like he was all in. And so I reported that, hey, I’m hearing that Tom’s all in. He understands the cost. They didn’t want to go down a road of that magnitude unless it was a guy they liked on the field and in the community and in the room like he’s got to have no warts. He doesn’t until July one his bat basically is left in his locker and he’s swinging a wet noodle up there. He looked horrible. So I think it’s as much how he produced and you could everyone could tell me well he had a broken hand. Well guess what? He broke the hand June 1st or 2nd. He had his best OPS month in June and then for whatever reason July, August, he was horrible. He was truly awful offensively. I hear he’s a great dude. He’s a solid baseball player. He’s so little vanilla for my tastes. Like I would like when you go out to right field, you engage with the bleacher creatures behind you. Like what’s up? Let’s go. just something. It takes 8/10 of a second to show a little passion like Sammy used to do, like other guy. I remember even not great players. Soraniano was all these guys just a little wave. I remember Larry Walker who wanted to be a Cub and they never signed him. Thanks Andy McFale. Uh Larry Walker was playing for the Rockies and I’m sitting in the bleachers with my then girlfriend, now wife, and we’re all there’s a whole group of us yelling at him, “Larry, move to the right.” and he would go three steps to the right. Larry, move to the left. He’d go three steps to the left and then he’d turn around and go, “Make your minds up.” Like he was having fun with us, right? You don’t get any of that from Kyle Tucker. So my question is, you guys watch the games as much as I do. Would you give him $360 million for eight years? I wouldn’t based on what I’m seeing on the field. So, for me, um, well, yeah, I it’s it’s I laugh because you and I just align on a lot of these things. Um, I feel the exact same way. I thought that if they really liked him and if they got it done, it actually would have been before July anyway. And so, that’s kind of where I lean on it. But, yes, based off of his second half. Look, they made a huge investment of Jason Hayward. We all know how that worked out. And so I just think if it wasn’t going to be a sure thing and and let’s be honest, no disrespect to Tucker, it’s far from a sure thing. I actually compared him a little bit um to Chris Bryant in in terms when when Bryant was in the back end of his prime, still really good, but when something was slightly off, right, the the bat went down. I agree with you. I just think I think performance-wise, it’s just it’s not worth it. I just thought if they were going to get it done, they had to get it done before July anyway, and that never happened. Well, here’s the other thing, and again, I still think they need to add another bat to their lineup. I do, but they a absolutely have to add more starting pitching. I wasn’t a huge fan of bringing Imanaga back. I I wasn’t. Some people have reported I haven’t that they were surprised he accepted the qualifying offer. I know a lot of people, Jesse Rogers included, had said he’s probably not going to accept it and so they’re going to get the draft pick. I wouldn’t have risked it. the draft pick doesn’t mean that much to me. Agree. That I’m going to take the risk because this is a guy and again I hear he’s great in the room. He’s had some good starts for the Cubs. But the bottom line is in the biggest game of your season, game five in Milwaukee. By their words, we can’t start him because he’s been getting the you know what beaten out of him. And I they don’t want to look up in the first inning and it’s four nothing because he’s given up two bombs. And so they could not pitch him in game five with the game on the line. They couldn’t start him. And it’s not 22 million. It’s not worth 22 million if you can’t do that. Yeah. $22 million for that guy. Like me personally, I would have said, you know what? I’m not going to even take the risk. Goodbye. Good luck to you. Good guy. We appreciated having you here. Best of luck. And then I would have taken that money and signed Dylan CER Valdez. Made a trade for Joe Ryan. whatever the case may be. The other thing I don’t understand is I keep hearing that they’re going to be very active in the pitching trade market. Well, why would you want to give up the Owen Casey’s and the Moises Bayisteros and the Jackson Wiggins to assume another guy instead of money? Pay pay spend right now. If you told me TK Scooble’s available and you’re going to get him and he also is interested in ressigning, not testing free agency, okay, I’ll take a shot. I’ll put a package together. He’s TK Scooble, but I don’t think that’s the case. And TKO is looking for somewhere around $400 million. 400 million for a position player is one thing. He better win the Sai Young for the third, the fourth, and the fifth year if you’re going to continue to pay $45 million a year for a high-end starter. And he’s got one year left. Why would he not test free agency? So, that’s my take on how the Cubs have handled things so far. I think it’s a mistake. Yeah. I think the framing around the Imanaga thing needs to change. Like they It’s not, oh, were they shocked. It’s like, did they screw up? I’m with you, Cap. Like did they screw up offering him the Qo? Because now does that impede if if you really even if you really like Michael King who’s projected to get an AAV of like 22ms that might impede your ability to do that especially, you know, that buffer for for inseason moves. Uh and and yeah, you do kind of go in this circle because oh, they’re going to trade Owen Casey as part of a package for Edward Cabrera. I’m just saying hypothetically. Okay. Well, then who’s playing right field? Who’s dhing? Correct. Um, you know, unless they’re interested in bringing someone in, another bat, it it does seem like they’re trying to go internal there. U, what what is the latest you’re hearing on on their approach? Because I I just think 26 with so many guys entering a walk year paired with the young talent, 26 20 26 should be an all-in year. Yeah. Especially when you look at what their books look like coming out of 26 going into a labor stoppage. Yeah. Give Jed a ton of credit here. Here’s something that people don’t talk about. Go look at their contract commitments going forward. Leave Danby Swanson to the side. They don’t have any. He’s the only guaranteed deal next year, right? Who do they have that they owe significant money to? Nobody. Nobody. That’s a great thing, but it can also be a scary time to be because what if they finally announce whenever it is that we got a deal done and we’re resuming Major League Baseball. You’re like, “Oh god, we don’t have anybody sign.” And now you’re fighting with everybody else to go and get players. So that’s why I think this winter you should be locking in a Dylan cease a Framber Valdez trade for Joe Ryan and extend him. Somebody has to be able to take the ball and take the money and then offensively is Matt Shaw going to take the next step. I hope so. Otherwise go sign Alex Bregman. I don’t want to hear we can’t afford it cuz well Shota picked up his QO. So guess what? we can’t afford to go get whatever it is we need. That is complete and total BS. It feels like all we’re all saying the same thing. First of all, I think they will extend one of their guys that’s up for a deal. Maybe it’s Nico. Uh one of these guys. Yeah. I just don’t think you could go into into the season because like you said, what if there isn’t a stoppage? You know what I mean? Like I think they have to extend somebody. But it feels like all three of us are saying the same thing and we wiggle around the same thing on the show. That’s why it’s great having you on. That for whatever reason they feel like there’s some financial uh barrier. And the biggest the best example is Tucker because I said this when they first got Tucker it was great and all but don’t forget don’t let yourself forget for one second that acquisition saved them money too because he he was on arbitration. So he got what 17 million. They got Bellinger out uh who was making more money and it saved him money. So it’s just it’s I don’t have a question. I just think we just keep want to reflect on the fact that look it would be awesome if Jed and I think I think the organization’s gotten better. The the Brad Kellers of the world, the Palencia of the world. They’re very good with their pitch last year. They’re they’re starting to get better. They’re starting to get a little bit more like the Brewers, but obviously not enough development wise. And on the other side, I’m sick of spending my November, December, and January talking about payroll and finances and stuff, as you said. Oh, well, maybe they’ll trade for Joe Ryan. Well, I don’t want to give up great players if I could just go spend money and sign them, you know, and that’s and that’s what we’re talking about. And that’s that’s the conundrum of of the Cubs. It just is right now. Look, if you told me that there was some amazing player like the Dodgers traded for Mookie Betts, right? Okay. They also got him resigned. Exactly. If there’s somebody out there, I don’t know if the Texas Rangers who it sounds like they’re cutting payroll. Yeah. They said, “Hey, we’re going to be willing to move whoever that player is and it fits what I need.” Mhm. No problem. Go get him. If he’s a great player, go get him. But if he’s a good pitcher, but there’s also another good pitcher where I just spend money, then I don’t want to give up the prospects that I’ve worked so hard to develop. And if you tell me, I’ll say it again. If I hear, well, Shota threw a wrench into our offseason plans because we didn’t count on that. That’s on you. That’s on you. And they screwed up. Right now, I did see Tommy Hottie today. He was excited. Right. Excited. were that close to getting him back to where he was, right? My response, and I like Tommy a lot. I think he’s a really good pitching coach and an even better guy. Like him a ton. Let me ask you a question. If you look at Show Imanaga, he throws 91, 92, maybe tops at 93. He’s never going to be a guy that blows you away at 98. No, he’s never going to be that guy. So, I think he’s a condition dependent guy. If you get him in April and it’s 45 degrees and the wind’s hauling in with all his fly balls, I I’ll I’m as confident in him as I am anybody. Uh but, you know, in September, if the, you know, or October and you’re going up against the monster lineup like the Padres’s or whatever, that’s that’s where, you know, I think he’s like a 14, 15, 16 million guy, not 22. Is PCA and I love PC. I’m glad he’s our guy. Is he going to be a 3030 guy again? Probably not. Probably not. No. So, you know, Michael Bush, I love that trade. They gave up Jackson Ferris, who’s a good prospect, and another player. I got a guy hit 34 bombs for me. Is he going to take the next step? I hope they’re right. Is there Last question before we let him go, Matt, I’m sorry. Is there any chance that that you’re hearing any chance if they make some trades, whatever, that they go after Schwarber or is that just not No way. That would shock me if they went after Schwarber. Of course it would. Why? Why would they? First of all, if you’re the Philadelphia Phillies, why are you letting that dude leave? Yeah. Well, maybe they wouldn’t. Yeah. Unless you wanted to come back home to a place that said get out. Yeah. Kicked you out. See you. See you later. I mean, I hope that he comes back here. I just feel like to me we had awesome. We had a guy. Do you know, have you heard the name Tim Grunhard? Played for Notre Dame and the Chiefs. Tim Grunhard. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I don’t know. St. Lawrence, right? St. Lawrence. He was on our show the other day on our show before. He’s on our show Friday and he was he was talking about how isn’t he like a pastor or something now or he’s very religious guy. Oh, I think he does radio in Kansas City. I didn’t talk to him about Yeah. Notre Dame grad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Played center for the Chiefs. Absolutely know who he is. Yeah. Yeah. So, he was on our show, big Cub fan. And he was talking about how bringing it Schworber, it’s more than just a baseball thing. And he compared it to when he was on the Chiefs and they brought in Joe Montana. But from the sense of just like a winner, like a guy that just changes like like bringing in Kyle Tucker, guy’s amazing, World Series champion, all that stuff. But as you said, he doesn’t have that that Schwarber, you know, that presence. And I think bringing Schwarber back I I the reason why I thought it was so possible is is it fits in great for Tom because it’s not a contract that Tom would never do. It’s not crazy 3 400 mil because he’s 32 turning 33, right? He’s a DH and he’d please all the fans. It’s It’s everything that Tom would like, but whatever. I I think Tom would do that deal. I Me too. Me too. I just will be surprised if Schwarber says, “Yeah, you guys kicked me out, but I’ll come back.” But he would have the last lap, especially if he played well, which I have no reason to doubt that he would. He wouldn’t. He would be outstanding. So, if you said to him four for I don’t know, four for 130, 140, whatever it is. Okay, Tom has told that’s a heck of an apology from Tom. Yeah, Tom has told me I would rather go higher AAV less years. I don’t want to be tied to people for 8, nine, 10, Bryce Harper 13 years. I get it. That’s a smart business philosophy, right? I just My question is why would Schwarber leave? Now, if they do it, huh, the fan base will go, “All right, we’re good. Now get me some pitching. That’s awesome. All right. Uh Cap, thank you so much for being on. Anytime. Anytime. I’m in this studio all day after radio. So whenever you guys need me, just yell. I’m a die hard like you. Everybody check out All Cap stuff. Radio, YouTube, all of it. Jay Hood weekday morning 6 to9 tonight on 1000 recap channel on YouTube. For David Kaplan, for Sam Olber, I’m Matt Cozy. This is Locked on Cove. I really enjoy that.

Matt and Sam are joined by David Kaplan of The ReKap YouTube Channel and ESPN 1000. They discuss payroll, the plan entering 2026, and much more.

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