Would Alex Bregman MOVE THE NEEDLE For Chicago Cubs?

Would Alex Bregman MOVE THE NEEDLE For Chicago Cubs?

The Chicago Cubs seem to have real interest in Alex Bregman. Do they need him? You are Locked on Cubs. Your daily Chicago Cubs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. You are Locked On Cubs, part of the Locked On Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. We are your team every day. I’m Sam Ober. I’m a lifelong fan taking my passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. A jam-packed episode for you on this Wednesday morning. Some updates about some big free agent moves across the league. Craig Council spoke for the first time at the winter meetings and really gave a lot of interesting information that we’re going to talk about and share. Uh but we start uh today’s show with I think the biggest news of Tuesday and that is the continued interest of the Cubs in free agent third baseman Alex Bregman. Uh MLB insider Robert Murray reported that a couple of weeks ago the Cubs and Bregman had a Zoom meeting. Uh he had a had a zoom meeting with a couple other teams. Uh Sahadav Sharma as Matt was talking about Sahadav from the Athletic um was talking about on a foul territory uh I think it was a video or a pod about how the Cubs do have real interest towards Bregman. I’m paraphrasing here. Um you know it would take some dominoes to fall i.e. the Red Sox going to get another infielder like a Catel Marte type that they have showed interest in which would then bring the Bregman market essentially down to the Cubs and Tigers where the Cubs um have a pretty good chance. That was discussed as well. So obviously uh some smoke there regarding Alex Bregman and his free agency. Uh the the question is is do the Cubs need Alex Bregman? How much better does he make you considering you’ll probably have to pay him somewhere between 26 and $30 million a year? And you know, if you guys have watched me a lot this off seasonason, I’m all for it, right? I I I want to add bats. I think this team needs more bats. I’m not sure that this is a a differencemaking bat um in the sense that replacing Kyle Tucker, you know, speaking on on replacing Kyle Tucker, but it’s it’s still a a better bat. And you know, we’re going to talk about council uh in the second segment, but you know, he made this point and it’s it’s relative to now is that, you know, the Cubs were really healthy last year uh around the infield. you know, at third, short, second, and first, you don’t know that they’re going to be that healthy. You can’t just plug and play and go, “Well, it’s gonna be Shaw. We’re all good there. It’s gonna be Danby. It’s going to be Nico. It’s be Bush.” You have to have some more depth. And, um, you know, their depth towards the end of the year wasn’t great. And so, if you do get a guy like Alex Bregman, Matt Shaw could still play some games at second base. He could still play some games, I’m sure, at shortstop. He could still play some games at third base. Bregman uh only played, I believe, the 114 games last season anyway. He’s a little bit older. You’re going to want to spell him, keep him fresh, keep him rested um for the long haul. And of course, you know, the other side of it is that the Cubs only have, you know, Danby uh uh in the infield and Bush, you know, under control through uh uh 2026 or after 26. So, you know, you don’t know what’s going to happen with her and and Hap and, you know, Suzuki. And so, you know, having another guy in the fold might be important. And, you know, I think that’s the all the reasons to get him. And the other part of getting him that’s interesting is I wonder if it is it is all related to the pitching market as well. What if the Cubs are starting to look at the pitching market free agent-wise and go, “Nah, uh, you know, we don’t like the prices here. We don’t think we’re getting great value there, but we actually think we’re getting really good value for Bregman.” And then that could open up a trade for a pitcher that, you know, potentially Matt Shaw um could could be around for. Like if I were to tell you the Cubs get Alex Bregman and then they they trade Matt Shaw, but in return for that is McKenzie Gore or Edward Cabrera, is that something you’d be interested in? I don’t know. You know, I personally would like to see them just go get Bregman in free agency, go get Amay in free agency and then, you know, figure out the rest later. And if they really want to go all in after that or at the trade deadline, then we could discuss uh trading away some of your young pieces. But I think a lot of this, you know, it makes sense. I think there is a an element that’s a little bit frustrating and that’s just more because I just wish they got him last year because I think if they got him last year that probably would have put them over the top just in terms of of winning the division and maybe beating Milwaukee. Not to say Matt Shaw wasn’t a really good piece last year in the second half, but the offense, you know, at third base for a lot of the season really struggled. And so, you know, you can’t go back. You could only go forward. Um, Bregman is, you know, a he he’s not a guy that you get and replace Kyle Tucker’s production with. Um, that’s that’s not what the purpose of this is. This would be more of, hey, we need more good hitters. we need more infielders and he qualifies for that and you know last season like I said he played about 114 games um he hit 18 homers in 114 games which is a pretty good number he opsed 821 he three and a half um I got uh baseball reference up here so be war um he’s not the defender uh u that Matt Shaw is now but he’s still competent over there and you know I think it would just give the Cubs more flexibility and as we’ve talked about a lot on this show I think you could do two things I think you can roll out the red carpet for the young guys, but also take some pressure off of them. And I think just adding Alex Bregman takes some pressure off of them. Right? If Moises Bisteros is struggling for a while at DH, okay, great. Bregman moves over to DH, Shaw slots in third. You you have more options. You have more flexibility. I’m not sitting here trying to tell you that this is the greatest addition. It’s like getting Tucker last year. It changes everything. No, but it definitely makes the Cubs a deeper uh baseball team. It definitely uh raises their floor in my opinion because now you have another veteran in the room, another, you know, baseball champion in the room and, you know, a guy that could help you win baseball games. So, I I’m interested in it. If you want my final take on it, I would not be devastated um if the Cubs don’t do this, but I also wouldn’t be upset if they do. I I really am kind of indifferent on this. I I understand why they’re doing it. And my biggest question is, when I say why they’re doing it, why they’re interested in it. My biggest question for them is is it all related to the pitching market or is it totally independent of that? Because that’s what I’m fascinated on. I would love to see the Cubs go out and get Bregman and one of the free agent pitchers without having to do a big trade in there because, you know, the goal is is to win baseball games and in this case because of the way the Cubs are put together, develop young talent at the same time. And and how fun would it be to have a team where you have your Bregman, you have your Dansby, you have your Nico, uh um you have your Ian, and then you also have your Pete, your Shaw, your Bush, your Baseros, your Casey. It’s it’s a real mix of veteran and young talent. And I just think they need one more solid veteran like a Bregman in order to be able to roll out the red carpet for those young guys, but not with too much pressure, right? We have another guy here um if you need that. Now, you could come back and say, “Well, that that you don’t want to pay $30 million a year for a guy to just take off pressure off the young guys.” And that’s fair, but it’s not my money, and I want the Cubs to spend, as you guys know. So, I’m intrigued by this rumor. Uh, we’ll see what happens with it. Uh, it seems very similar to last year, Boston, Detroit, and the Cubs. And it all depends on what Boston does uh with the position player uh uh particularly the infield market. They they showed some interest, it was reported today, in trading for Catel Marte. If they do that, I think Bregman then becomes a Cub or a Tiger. Uh if they don’t and they just resign Bregman, well then obviously we know how that goes. So, um it’ll be I it’ll be really interesting. I I I think the biggest point, the biggest takeaway from the Bregman situation is that don’t overestimate or, you know, take for granted the Cubs were really, really healthy last year. That doesn’t happen a lot. It’s a great point by council and you have to kind of plan for that not happening uh because of you know just how baseball and sports work. So um it’ll be really exciting to see what happens with that. Uh I talked about how Craig Council spoke. We’re going to talk about a lot of the things that he said some really interesting uh um answers and questions uh today at the winter meetings. We talk about that coming up next. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. I just got finished. It’s about nine o’clock central time Tuesday night. Just got finished watching my Fighting Ali beat the Buckeyes in Columbus. Obviously, we’re talking about basketball here. They they closed as only two and a half point favorites on FanDuel. Got a really nice road win and they’ll host uh Fred Hoyberg’s Nebraska Corn Huskers who are off to a really good start in Champagne on Saturday. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the games moves fast and so can you. We are back here on uh Locked On Cubs. Thank you for making Locked On Cubs your first listen of the day and thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go adree. Join the Everydayer Club today and get Locked on Cubs with no interruptions. All for just $5 a month or $50 a year. Go to lockedcubs.supcast. supercast.com or check the link in this episode description. The Everydayer Club. Awesome new new uh uh situation coming from uh the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m really excited about it and hope you guys are too. Um I’m really excited about what Craig Council had to say at the winter meetings because it was uh you know revealing if you will. I I I I got a lot of news on it. I I think the biggest thing was that finally somebody uh in in the Cubs front office or or manager was asked about Justin Steel and the answer was was interesting. Uh um councel said not opening day uh for Justin but at some point in the first half of the season and then on a different interview on the MLB network with Cliff Floyd he actually said they expect to have him for the bulk of the season just not opening day. So, I think when I first heard not opening day, but some point in the first half, that was a little bit I was thrown off by that because I thought, you know, in my head, I mean, we had Steel on the show. He didn’t give us a timeline. Um, he just told us that when he does come back, he’ll be on some sort of pitch count. I just kind of assumed for whatever reason, miday, something around there. And then when I heard council say, you know, at some point in the first half, that speaks to more Juneish, late Juneish, but then he said bulk of the season. So I’m still I’m still putting my timeline around mid to late May with this situation. But who knows? I think the goal with Steel is to just have him at his absolute best really come the second half, August, September stretch run of the season. And until then, you know, spell him, spell Iaga, spell Tyion when you need to spell whoever they’re going to get here in free agency or in trade and and you know, run a six-man rotation um if you have to to just keep everybody as fresh as possible because, you know, the postseason taught us last year that, you know, guys could could fade quickly. Now, you got to get to the postseason. You got to plan for 162. Council also talked about that you don’t plan for the postseason before the regular season starts. you know, the the the Cubs don’t have the luxury of doing that. Uh but I do think just just keeping their starters fresh will help them win games in the regular season uh uh and in the uh postseason. Speaking of Imanaga, uh Council talked about how excited he was um about Shota. Um he thinks that there are some things that they figured out uh and he’s really excited to see the way that that Sha responds. I I’m the same way. I I think I spoiled this uh on a show maybe a couple of weeks ago. One of my bold predictions, I’ll tell you right now, will be about Chota being the best guy on this team. I I starter-wise, I just think I think he’s a really competitive guy. I think it ended really poorly for him last year. It was probably a little bit embarrassing for him. I don’t think that’s too strong of a term. Not in terms of his performance, but it was game five. It was win or go home. It was the biggest game the Cubs have played since 2017. It was his time to pitch and he didn’t pitch. And and and no matter who you are, that’s going to stick with you in the offseason. And that’s going to motivate you and I think you’re going to get show to making adjustments. I think he’s going to be good next year. I I I I really do. I really do. I think we’ll look back at that whole $22 million things and and say, you know what, he pitched like a $22 million pitcher. Biggest biggest takeaway from council’s uh uh press conference. Uh Michael Bush has earned more opportunities versus lefties. He said they owe that to Bush and I agree. And I think that really takes the Cubs. Sure, they need a righty bench bat just in case, but it doesn’t have to be somebody like Matt was talking about. Doesn’t have to be a Gold Schmidt type of guy because if you go get Gold Schmidt, he’s got to play first base every time there’s a lefty out there. I don’t think the Cubs are going to need that. I believe that Michael Bush has earned a runway for at least a couple of months to start every day verse righties verse lefties. Let’s see if we have a real star level player here in Michael Bush because he hit like a star last year, but he hit like a star versus righties. Now, let’s see what he does every single day. He’s earned that right um early in the year. Give it until Memorial Day. If he’s hitting like 090, 130, 140 against lefties, then you got to make the adjustment. But he’s earned the runway to play every single day versus righties and lefties. I’m glad. Now, Council didn’t say every day to be fair, but he said more opportunities. I’m the one saying, “Let’s just run him out there for a month or two every day and see what happens.” Uh he was another one counseledled like Hoyer talking about how important Shaw was going to be in 26. But he said he goes, “You know, you could you could add depth. You know, we were really healthy last year. You could add depth. This guy could play multiple positions like what we talked about in the first segment.” So, I thought that was interesting. And then he emphasized uh that the Cubs have a a a lot of work to do uh in the bullpen, which we all know, you know, we all know they’re probably, if I had to guess, there probably three minimum, probably four like actual transactions, free agent acquisitions, trades, whatever. Um until the bullpen even looks close to complete. I mean, right now there there’s there’s Maton, there’s Palencia, and then there’s just a whole lot of whatifs. Uh the Brad Keller situation, I would love to bring him back, but if there’s going to be another team that offers him the opportunity to start, they’re going to offer him more money, and the Cubs aren’t going to be able to compete with three years 30 million for for uh Brad Keller in a closer role. Maybe two years 20 um but not not three years 30. So, uh, we’ll have to see what happens with that. But overall, I thought Council, you know, he looked refreshed. He he had great energy, good sense of humor. He looked like he was in a really good place. And, um, you know, it was a good year, I thought, for for Craig Council for the most part. I think the only thing that really hurts him is that everything that the Cubs came up short with happened to be against his former team. And, you know, for me, you know, that would hurt my ego a little bit. I don’t think Craig Council um is bothered by that. He just wants to win baseball games. And you know the Cubs have have have an interesting situation on how to win as many games as they can when you know DH is going to be Bisteros you know and even even uh Craig talked about Bisteros and said that you know it’s trending towards him basically you know being with the major leagues but he but he did acknowledge you know other transactions could determine that Bisteros is going to lock in lock up DH it looks like you know uh um shorts locked up second’s locked up first is locked up left center right it’s hard it’s hard to improve a team no matter how much you want the team to spend. I It’s hard to do that. And then you add in the fact that a lot of those guys aren’t under contract for 27. Um it creates a lot of um uncertainty around the team, which um is great for for media and podcasting, but you know, not so great if you’re you’re in it wondering what’s going to happen. Are the Cubs going to extend Nicoer at some point this off seasonason to at least create a little less uncertainty? I don’t want to go into a trade deadline if the Cubs are, you know, three, four games back having to do a show going, “Well, with all these guys up for contract at the end of the year, would the Cubs trade any of them?” I mean, I dread that show. Uh, so there’s a there’s a lot going on, but it seemed like council was in a really good place. Really confident in the team, confident in the direction, and uh, that’s a good sign. Uh, there were finally some big moves uh, today at the winter meetings. uh not Cubs related, but you know, the Cubs weren’t far off, especially with a guy by the name of Kylish Horber. We talk about those and talk about kind of where the Cubs are at here heading into Wednesday. We’ll do all that next. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. 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So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert, or event with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, download the app, make an account, use code locked on MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. We are back here on Locked On Cubs. And don’t forget, Thursday, December 18th from 7 to 900 p.m. live on YouTube. Come join Matt and myself for our annual holiday party. Matt does a magnificent job with that. Email him. Uh uh get get yourself in for that show. We have a great time. It’s one of my favorite nights of the year. Uh I can’t wait for it. Uh some big news today. Uh Kyle Schwarber uh once rumored to go to the Reds, ended up going back to the Philadelphia Phillies. No surprises there. uh five years, $150 million. Edwin Diaz, shocker here, went to the Los Angeles Dodgers uh on a uh I believe it was a three-year $69 million deal for Diaz. Um no surprises there. It just got the market going a little bit. I think for the Cubs, it was just nice that Schwarber didn’t end up on the Reds. I think I I learned the hard way a couple of weeks ago to to stop talking about Schwarber. It wasn’t going to happen. And yet I continue to talk about it because I wanted it to happen. Um, Cubs were obviously never involved in in in their former legendary DH and and outfielder and because of the bias situation because of the young players, you could understand why. Uh, but I selfishly wanted it to happen. As far as Edwin Diaz going to the Dodgers, the Dodgers needed a closer, so they went out and they got the best closer and paid the most money. That’s how it goes. Um, I I’m never gonna ask the Cubs to to be the Dodgers. And I think that’s what I want to wrap the show with today is I feel like I feel like I’ve I don’t want to say negative in terms of the offseason or not as excited, right? I I haven’t been as excited as I typically am about off seasons because I understand what the Cubs are doing, right? We’ve talked about it. We talked about it on the spaces last night. Cap talked about it on when he was on here. They’re trying to build 87 88 win teams on paper. They’re trying to outperform expectations, get themselves to 91, 92 wins. If they underperform expectations, now you’re looking at 84, 85, 83 wins. We’ve seen both uh um combinations of that. So, when I see what they’re doing, it’s not that I’m not excited about the off season or anything like that. It’s just you have a job to do when you get a player. And Matt and I, I think one of the reasons why Matt and I h have have such good chemistry is we’re very different thinkers. We feed off each other. He’s more of an in the- moment, in the now type of thinker where, hey, the Cubs got Zack Allen. Okay, I’m going to try and talk myself into Zack Allen. And I’m more of a all right, the Cubs got Zack Allen. Before I do that, I want to emphasize five times that he was the cheaper option and they’re going a different route. They’re being cheap, etc., etc. And there there’s really no winning way to do it because there’s a contingent of people that are going to say, “Sam, I want you to make sure you let everyone know that that’s the cheap route and that they could do better.” And then there’s going to be the contingent of people that say, “We don’t care if it’s the cheap route. We just want the Cubs to get better. Tell us and teach us about the player we got.” Right? And you try and land somewhere in the middle. And I I I think I’ve made my point about the direction of the team. Ever since they made it public, we’re going all in on pitching, yada yada. I knew, you know, I I I know how the offseason’s probably going to unfold of some sort, although it’s been a little bit more positive lately, but the the Matthew Boyd contract is the best example of where you want to be, where I’d like to be. I was excited about that move from a baseball perspective, but also had the ability to know that it was also, you know, a cheaper move on the, you know, rotation side considering who was available. And as I always say on these solo shows, right, every time two things could be true. You could be excited about the baseball acquisition and think, “Hey, this guy’s going to be really good.” But you could also say, “Man, I just wish they acted um with with more big market muscles.” But I think I could sense myself getting tired of talking about that. And so I’m gonna try and lock in a little bit more here towards the baseball side because I think that’s probably what most of you want. Uh but you know, it’s important every now and then and to acknowledge that these teams are not being run by teams. They’re be being run like businesses. You know, they’re being run like businesses. And when you have the the the playoffs uh that the Cubs had where I thought Wrigley was by far the best ballpark, best atmosphere to play in, you have these fans, you have this loyalty, you have this brand, you just wish that they could extend themselves uh um for some players a little bit more. Um but that I need to do a better job of making that not take away the joy of getting a new player because even if they do get a Zack Allen, there’s tons of good things that come with that. And when I saw the the Reds miss out on Schwarber and basically the Reds uh uh people I was following were like, “Yeah, they only were going after Schwarber to sell tickets, so they’re not going to take that 1201 130 that they had and offer it elsewhere.” It does remind you that it could could be worse. Now, that’s not that’s not defending Tom because like I said, there’s a contingent of people are like, “Is Sam now defending Tom?” No, but you know, you you do what you can, right? You do what you can. If you got a bad back injury, you’re not going to wake up every single day and it’s my back. It’s my back. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. No, you’re still going to try and enjoy activities and and do what you can and know that, you know, the back is limiting you a little bit, right? It’s the same with our owner. You know, uh I’m going to still enjoy this team. I’m going to still analyze and get excited when I think they make moves to help them win baseball games in 2026 and beyond, but I’m also going to acknowledge that they are being limited at the same time. And and and I think in this position, on this stage, um it’s my responsibility to do both. It’s Matt’s responsibility to do both. I think we both do that. We do it in different ways, which which makes it exciting. And uh, you know, I if it does ever feel like, h Sam’s just never, you know, going to just talk about a play or whatever, then I apologize for that because it it’s important for you guys to, you know, feel the excitement from me when good things happen. Now, the Cubs haven’t really done much yet, but but when they do, if if I like the move from a baseball side, I promise um I will be uh excited about it because at the end of the day, this is this is entertainment. This is really fun stuff, and I just want to win baseball games. You know, if the Cubs payroll ends up at 230 million instead of 245, but they’re uh you know, a game, you know, down 32 against the Dodgers in the NLCS, I’m still going to be pretty pumped for game six. and so are you, you know. So hopefully they could just turn it into as many wins as possible and and go forward. I’m interested to see what Wednesday brings. Last day I my my gut is, you know, probably some, you know, some more rumors, maybe some stuff Jed’s always talked about starting conversations at the winter meetings and then finishing them later. The the big question to look out for with the Cubs, what what happens with with the Red Sox and Bregman? And then do the Cubs explore the free agency market for a starting pitcher or the trade market? Because if they do jump and get a trade going, then I think it all but guarantees that they’re going to go big for a position player, too. Because I don’t think they need to trade for a big-time starting pitcher and get a free agent starting pitcher if they’re expecting Steel to pitch a bulk of the season. That’s, you know, they’d be they’d be like seven or eight guys. I mean, that’d be a lot. I mean, I’m all for it, but that would be surprising. So, uh, we’ll see what happens. Uh, um, not a whole lot going on, but, uh, um, it was it was definitely a more active Tuesday than Monday. So, hopefully Wednesday, uh, brings some Cubs news. Thank you for making Lockdown Cubs your first listen to the day. For those of you on video, we send you to the 247 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel. And on audio, make sure your second listen is locked on MLB. Have a great day, everybody.

Sam discusses the latest rumors which include Alex Bregman. He then digs in to see how much Bregman would really help the Cubs. The show continues with some reaction to an informative press conference with Craig Counsell on Tuesday in Orlando.

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