K’d on Schwards | Bregman Update | Cubs Baseball Rumors

K’d on Schwards | Bregman Update | Cubs Baseball Rumors

Maybe it was a pipe dream, but we hoped that the Cubs would hear us and sign Kyle Schwarber, but a reunion not coming right now. Schwarber reportedly agreed to resign with the Phillies. Alex Bregman had a Zoom meeting with the Cubs and we’ll talk Jed Hoyer’s reaction to Matt Shaw trade rumors. Could the Yankees be closing in on star Cub reliever Brad Keller? And the Cubs will pick 23rd in the 2026 draft. That’s a result of winning. All that right here on the Cubs baseball channel. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, hit the bell. I’m not going to mention the Cardinals. Maybe I will. I don’t know. Let’s get this show started. Good to see you guys today. [Music] [Applause] All [Music] right. What do you say everybody? Welcome to the Cubs baseball channel. Mick Gillespie here. Pleasure to talk to you guys as always on the show. Okay. Uh here, let me get into this and then I’m going to tell you how to win one of these hats right here. Kyle Schwarber resigning with the Phillies. Man, I know we all wanted them to come to the Cubs. Um, basically yesterday, and I’m sure everyone that’s watching already knows this, but Schwarber and the Phillies uh have agreed to a 5-year $150 million contract. So, the guy who came in second in the MVP race is going back to the Phillies. Uh Dave Dumbrossski, um basically the guy that made this happen. He’s the president of the Phillies, right? The ownership of the Phillies loves Schwarbs. He loves Schwarbs and they’ll have him back. There were other teams apparently that were in this mix including Baltimore which offered him the same deal. 5 years 150. The Reds came in at 5 years 125. Grew up a Reds fan in Middletown Ohio as you guys all know. Uh Pirates four years 125. Red Sox and Mets tried to get in the mix. Cubs no offer. So, Schwarbs, 32 years old, came in second in the NL MVP, won the All-Star game MVP, winning the first ever home run off or whatever they call that thing. Uh 56 home runs, 132 runs batted in, led the league. And I’ll tell you what, man, he he’s just a great guy. He’s a legend, you know, and he he comes up big in the games that matter. Cubs don’t win the World Series without him. It’s a living legend. It’s a shame that he’s not in a Cubs uniform, but doesn’t really, you know, I say this, the Cubs have been very transparent in what they want and I think it was just us that hoped that Schwarber would be what they wanted, but it it really doesn’t match. They they say they want pitching and we’re hearing that there’s the potential to add a third baseman. All right. So, we’re going to talk about that, but let me tell you guys to make sure you’re part of what we’re doing right there. There’s the QR code. It’s for Avenue D. That’s our web three home. MC Nation, these hats, you get to pick games, weekly prizes. We’ll have a store in there eventually. It’s a lot of big stuff coming uh at Avenue D. So, we appreciate you guys for being a part of. It’s all free and you know like you get to win and and it’s it’s fun and and it’s it’s under construction. So it’s still cool but it’s just going to keep getting better and better and better, right? So people were like a couple years ago like what’s AI? Web 3 is going to be the next thing and you’re going to be like man we’ve been on this for a while. So make sure you join us, hit that QR code and be a part of what we’re doing. All right. Uh here we go. Cubs and Alex Bregman had a Zoom call. And you’re going to yourself, now what does that mean? Well, first off, if you’re the Red Sox, you’re a little concerned about the guy who is shopping himself around. He opted out of the contract and the Red Sox won him back and other teams are interested and that includes the Cubs. So for the Cubs to have had a Zoom call with Bregman, they tried to get him last year and they didn’t and now they’re trying to get him again. So basically the the Cubs offered four years 115 last year. When I say 115, $115 million. He took the Red Sox three years 120, which makes sense. And then he opted out. He ended up hitting 273 uh with a a 360 on base percentage. He slugged 462 and he hit 18 home runs and 62 runs batted in. Dealt with some injuries, but when he was healthy, he was a differencemaker. And when he got back after his injury, the Red Sox got redot and they kind of surprised a lot of people and they made the playoffs. So, um, basically the reports are that there’s renewed interest in Bregman and I’m sure that the Red Sox are going, “Man, we we we just want this guy to be our third baseman.” Um, I don’t know, you know, how serious the Cubs are about Bregman because, you know, if the Red Sox gave you three years 120 and the Cubs offered you four years 115 last year, you Who’s not going to take the three years 120? You’re getting paid more for a year less. So, you wonder if maybe after missing last year and the Cubs knowing that they’re not going to sign Kyle Tucker that maybe this is kind of the, you know, the the okay, we’re going to do this because we’re not going to get this, you know, and that’s that’s kind of what I’m I’m curious about. Now, our friend Jesse Rogers was there at winter meetings when Jed Hoyer talked to everyone and uh basically he he made these comments um this is Jed Hoyer talking to the media. He’s like about Matt Shaw who was the Cubs third baseman last year. He says, “I’ve been surprised by the number of media reports that link us to different guys. There is zero lack of confidence in Matt. I would say the opposite. And then you look at Shaw who in the second half of the season hit 258 with a 317 on base percentage, slugged 522 and had 11 home runs and uh 20 runs batted in. Now, that’s not fantastic. That’s not even in the same neighborhood as Bregman, but it shows growth and I think we all saw that. But are the Cubs okay with him being their everyday second baseman? Right. And I think that’s or excuse me, see that? That’s a Freudian slip right there. Third baseman. Because I still think that Shaw’s better equipped to play second. And if the Cubs weren’t interested, then why would they have a Zoom call with Bregman? They’re obviously at least kicking the tires on a guy that they tried to get last year. But there’s too many reports that tell us that they’re interested in Bregman. So maybe what Hoyer was saying was we’re not trying to trade Shaw, but he’s versatile enough that we we know that we can use him doing other stuff if it’s not being our everyday third base, which is which is pretty interesting to me. Now, I think he’s a I don’t know if he’s a everyday big league shorts stop, but he can play short. you know, he’s not not going to be one of these guys that gets overmatched by the position and and I’ve seen that happen before. He’s not one of those guys, right? So, that’s one deal to keep an eye on. Now, the other one is that the Cubs are right now shopping for back-end relief. And we talked about Robert Suarez of the Phillies being someone, right? And then Edwin Diaz just signed with the Dodgers. Now, how do the Dodgers have all this money to go out and pay basically pay for every elite player that they want? And this is another guy partly because they backloaded Otani’s contract, which should be legal. Uh it goes against everything that the whole contract thing was set up for, right? To balance the amount of money that teams were spending from big market to small market. But that’s a whole another discussion for another day. I think they’re smart for doing it. It’s just not fair to the league and then they go out and they they can sign whoever they want and they just sign Diaz to get the trumpets ready in LA. Just one more thing for the Dodgers as they try to make it three straight World Series and they’re all in. And I mean, look, wouldn’t you love the Cubs to be all in? So now reports are coming out that the Yankees are paying close attention to Keller. Can you believe that? I mean, where Keller was at the beginning of last year and where he is at the beginning of this year where now he’s established himself as one of the top relievers on the market. Um, you know what the other thing too is that there’s reports that there’s teams that are interested in using him as a starter, which you’ll see sometimes too. But for the Cubs bullpen last year, he had a 207 RA and he was one of the guys that you could really count on. Um, you talk about just coming out of nowhere, the 30-year-old. I we didn’t even know if he’s going to make the team at the beginning of the season and now it looks like the Yankees are going to try to get him to come to New York and they and as one of their top guys. Uh, and I don’t blame him. I mean, he’s certainly worth it. I wonder if the Cubs, you know, and the Cubs are definitely interested in resigning him, you know, they want to sit back and wait and see how the market goes and then they’re going to make a decision on whether they want to pay him or not or do they go out and pay someone else, right? Uh, you know, do you go get a a Fairbanks or do you go get uh, you know, Suarez? I don’t know. But I think that the question is is where the value is compared to what they bring to the table. And the Cubs are going to spend money this year, but you know, you you you’d love to see it go to guys, different guys that could contribute in different ways, right? Like be great to get Bregman. It would be great to get uh you know a starting pitcher, you know, and there’s a lot of those guys like Zack Gallon who who’s been who trolled the Cubs because he was actually um when the report came out that he was nearing a deal with the Cubs, he was having getting married. So he was getting married and couldn’t have done his physical, you know, whatever. I mean, even if that’s the case, he could have done it when he got back. But bottom line, is it Gallon? Um, you know, is it is it whoever it is, right? Um, you know, we talked about I yesterday, maybe it’s him. I don’t know. But it’d be nice to get a starter. Be nice to get some help in that back bullpen. Love to have a big bat in there as well. And and it’s going to be tough to do that because these guys are so expensive. At least they’re really good players. And then finally, the uh draft lottery happened. And um I I I don’t know if I’m a fan of the lottery or not. Like I guess it’s way better than the old system where you could just tank, right? Um but the draft lottery came out and look who’s at the top of the list. And I got to put this up here so we can all look at it together. Uh none other than the White Socks. reward it for being terrible. But it was, you know, it was a lot different than it used to be. I mean, they had the most, you know, well, the Rockies actually had the most balls, but they weren’t eligible because they’ve been bad for so long, right? Uh Tampa Bay ends up second. I mean, think about this. Like, the funny thing about Tampa Bay is they have one bad year and there they are. They’re going to and they’ll stock up. And the Twins, you know, they have a bad year and they’re third, right? Giants are fourth. Um, so all of those organizations, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, San Francisco, known for player development, right? So there’s, uh, the Pirates in the Cubs division fifth. You got the Cardinals 13th in this. And, uh, then let’s see who’s who’s at the bottom of this list. Oh, Te the two Texas teams, Houston and and the Rangers in front of them, right? So, the Cubs are 23rd drafting and that’s because they were good, you know, and that’s that’s kind of the bad thing about having a good year is that is that you draft later in the draft. And I remember there was a guy named Russ Nixon. He was the first like major league manager that I ever worked with and he was talking to me about the draft and he was like as a young guy and he’s like, “Look, the thing about it isn’t just that you’re getting that first round pick.” He’s like, “You’re drafting ahead of everybody every single round. So, you’re going to get more quality every, you know, every time down the line.” So, it’s not like for the White Sox like get the first pick, but then they’re going to get the first pick in the second round, which could almost be of another first round pick, right? So, that’s that’s the value of of having that draft order. And, um, you know, interestingly enough, there you go. So, the Cubs will be picking 23rd in the draft and there’s still some good players that they could get there. Um, you know, but we’ll see, you know, and and al also too, you know, depending on qualifying offers, you know, sometimes you have to give up your draft picks if you sign free agents, and I hate that because I I I really do believe in player development. All right, guys. Uh, thank you for being here. Again, please like and subscribe. I ask you guys to do that. We’re our numbers are fantastic, but our subscribing numbers are a little down. You get these little arrows and it says we’re going down. So, let’s get some let’s get them up. Send it to other Cubs fans. Thank you for being a part of what we do here on a daily basis and uh we’ll keep it up. I mean, we’re keeping an eye out on uh everything going on at winter meetings and maybe something special could happen before it’s all said and done. Talking about something special, you’re looking for something special to do during uh Christmas. I got something for you. The Smoky Mountains, oh man, I’m telling you, it’s fantastic. The uh the Christmas lights, the winter lights that they’re going to have go from November all the way to February. The display is amazing. A million lights plus between Seirville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg. And um it’s just beautiful in the mountains. They said third the third or the fourth most visitors come from Chicago land. So you guys might have already been there, but I want to remind you to check it out. When you head to the Smoky Mountains, it’s only natural to visit Survivirville. 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. Whoa. Your smokies start here. [Music] [Music]

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This Episode:
– Kyle Schwarber reportedly agreed to return to the Philadelphia Phillies
– Cubs and Alex Bregman Had a Zoom Meeting
– Yankees Reportedly Considering Brad Keller
– The Cubs will pick 23rd in the 2026 MLB Draft

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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