Will Cade Horton be the Cubs’ ACE in 2026? | CHGO Cubs Podcast

Will Cade Horton be the Cubs’ ACE in 2026? | CHGO Cubs Podcast

Coming up next on the CHGO Cubs podcast presented by Toyota. The World Series is set. Dodgers and Blue Jays. Who do you have? Plus, will the Cubs dip into that Astros pool again? Or is there another superstar available via trade this winter? And uh we will talk a little Kate Horton. We’ll have a little fun. No cake this time, but it is Tuesday with Roman. Roll it. [Music] Get [Music] Hey Chicago, what do you say? It’s the CHGO Cubs podcast driven by Toyota. Let’s go places. It is Tuesday, October 21st. 10 days till Halloween. Luke Stuckmire, Joey Chrisopoulos, and it is Tuesdays with Roman, Justin Roman, as we squeeze into studio C for Cubby today. My first time being here in the studio in the studio. It’s great. It’s It’s cozy, right? It’s cozy. Feel like I’m walking you into my studio apartment right now. Like, this is the tour and this is it. It’s over. We got a wall. We got a wall here. We got a wall there and we got a wall there. I’m just glad I showered. I put I got clone. We’re good now. So, that’s right. Got to stay fresh in this one. Uh cuz the window is closed. Sean Anderson running the ones and twos for us. So, we are going to talk a little bit about Kade Horton and what we’re going to expect from him and some other Cubs. I have a mystery player thing going for you guys today. Uh we’ll talk about um a possible free agent that I didn’t expect to see, not free agent, trade possibility. And then the World Series, like I was watching that game last night and I thought to myself, I think the Blue Jays are done. Yeah. Right. Big dumper hits the home run and then that 3-1 carries and you’re like, I don’t think they’re gonna win this game. Brian was pretty good. Yeah, I had predicted. I thought the Blue Jays would pull it out and I was like, I don’t know. I think I’m wrong. And then that home run. The first thing I want to say about the home run is I’ve watched it five or six times today. He Cadillacs that pretty well. like he poses at home and that makes it even more crazy. But the ball landed in the first row of the outfield. Like it actually barely made it out. You see who caught it? A guy in a Springer jersey. No way. Yeah. He They said the only one more excited than George Springer was the guy who caught it wearing a Springer and his reaction was everything. He was out of his mind. Think about it. I mean, one of the biggest home runs in Toronto history. And I mean, you catch it from your favorite player. You know, I got to tell you, I tweeted out last night that I I don’t have a dog in that fight. I don’t I didn’t really care. Mariners, I really didn’t care. But that swing and that stadium being that electric, there’s nobody that could tell me that baseball isn’t the best sport in the world. I mean, it was just it was everything that like I wish was at Wrigley right now. But like again, just not being a fan of either team, it just again proved to me that baseball is just the best sport ever. And what’s a little bit different with the Chicago Cubs, right, is that the Toronto Blue Jays, they won those back-to-back titles in the early 90s. So there’s still like generations of those fans that now have had their kids and maybe their grandkids that still actually remember getting that taste and to see that feeling of them finally cracking through and making it happen was so great. The other part that I can’t help but feel like is it’s good to have the gang back together really by the way really fast because I I was thinking about the watch alongs right of like we would have been secondg guessing taking out Brian Woo and bringing in Bazardo who’s basically their version of Andrew Kitrich a guy they used a ton all postseason long. I saw all these tweets from Mariners fans wishing that they had brought in Munoz instead and and it backfired. And George Springer, Luke, is not um he is not a stranger to October histrionics and now he gets another chance to take on the Dodgers, a team that he’s played very well against in a World Series before. I feel bad for Mariners fans just because they’ve been with it, man. like they’re just trying to get there and when they had their glory team they didn’t even get there with the great record and then but the Blue Jays I’ve always been I’ve never really liked an American League team. Yeah, but they they got cool uniforms, right? As a kid you’re like man I got to respect those unis. I was a Blue Jay in third grade in my little league so I had the Blue Jays uniform and the hat. So, I I’m a little partial to the Blue Jay, but like honestly, uh the whole the whole series was crazy where like, you know, the the the visiting team steals two games from the jump, and then even this game, you know, Mariners are up three to one, and you you got to be feeling pretty good. Julio hits a bomb, the big dumper hits a bomb, and you’re right, you’re thinking, “Okay, well, this is I know how this is going to end.” And then with one swing of the bat, everything changes forever. And um it was pretty iconic. It was cool. Yeah. And also just from watching it from a Cubs perspective, that series specifically and a lot of these playoffs when we’re talking about like the depth that you have to have with arms and you have to have these bullpen pieces. Both of those teams use their starters. Blue Jays last night specifically Bieber comes in after that comes Gausman. Then you also see Basset in that game too as well. So it doesn’t necessarily matter if it’s a bullpen or a starter guy. It’s about having guys that can just get outs and and it seems that’s where the trend is is heading towards right now in baseball. I see Ron is in the live YouTube chat here at the allnew CHO Cubs YouTube channel. Uh make sure you subscribe, tell a friend, tell a neighbor, tell a total stranger and tell that total stranger’s neighbor. Um how does that work, by the way? They go some random house. Yeah. And they go to that neighbor’s house. That’s right. Okay. Just knock on the door. Or you just meet someone on the sidewalk and then somehow be like, “Where do you live? I’m going to tell your neighbor. Give me a number. I’m sending you a link. Springer hits that home run. I still think I don’t know about you guys. We don’t have to go too ind depth because it’s not starting right away. I still think the Dodgers win it easily, but you never know. Yeah. I mean, you never know. Blue Jays have a lot of momentum right now. You know, the Dodgers was easy. Like they they they’re resting. They mopped up with the Brewers super easy. You know, the Blue Jays have got to be just jacked right now. So, I mean, listen, if I’m putting my life savings on a team, it’s probably the Dodgers. Who do I want to win? I think the same team that everybody in the world wants to win minus maybe Japan and that is the Toronto Blue Jays. Yeah, it’s just it’s tough, right? I agree with you that they’ve got the momentum and they certainly whoever came out of that s series definitely has that like that juju, right? That little extra that maybe helps put it over the edge, but I just can’t help but feel like if you look around, every single series from the American League and the National League has been a complete dog fight unless you’re playing the Dodgers. And I can’t help but feel like, especially when it comes to Seattle, now Brian Woo was was great. Um, and not only did he pitch last night, I thought he looked really good. Granted, he got lifted, but he came out in relief earlier earlier on this series and pitched really well. But I can’t help but feel looking back, I think I said this yesterday that when we talk about that 15 inning game and we talk about having to use your starters in these high leverage moments on on when they’re supposed to be bullpen days or extending them in situations where they’re not really comfortable. I can’t help but feel like that that took a little bit of a toll on the Mariners rotation um heading into the Toronto series because Toronto’s offense, which has been really good all year. And Cubs fans, we should know because Toronto Blue Jays I thought were one of our tougher opponents. I think they kicked our butt pretty good this year. I do just wonder about can can Bieber Bieber if it is Bieber, Scherzer, Gausman, Basset, whatever the combo is, um is that enough to take out the Dodgers cuz the Dodgers have not had to sweat, Luke, and everyone else is going to the the the to the end of the line like game fives, game sevens, high tension, and and how do you take how do you take it walking into a World Series? Do you want that feeling or do you want to be rested and relaxed? I don’t know. I think I’d rather be rested and relaxed and have show Otani on my team and but like I I look at the these two teams and one thing that makes me happy about the World Series matchup is that I hope he’s paying attention. I hope the Cubs are paying attention. All these teams have some big money players. Yes, there’s some big money acquisitions there. And and you know, everybody laughed when I named some of these guys, but Bieber’s going to be in the World Series. You’re going to have Sherzer. you’re going to like some of these guys that everybody’s like, “Wow, I wouldn’t pay him for one year.” No, I I I want to think about that type of guy like Deg Grom for a one year, whoever that might be. And I So then I saw Springer hit the home run and I thought to myself, he’s not the player that he was early in his career. In fact, they were really bummed with him for a while, right? Like Springer was like a major disappointment. Great postseason though. He had I think four home runs. He did, but like he’s had times in Toronto where people were like, “Man, this was a bust.” Right. So, I look at it now and I’d say think of all the players, the Astros who went to like 10 straight postseasons were letting go, right? Tucker was let go, Springier was let go, Koreah was let go, Bregman was let go, and now maybe Frober Valdez is let go. Yeah. So, two things. Are you interested in Framber Valdez as the frontline pitcher that we’re looking for this off season? And two, just a note about the Astros. Look at all those guys go and they were still right up to the end in the hunt for a playoff spot. And they had this really long stretch of being like the team, right? Yeah. So, if the Cubs lose Tucker, it shouldn’t be the end of the world. If your team is built right, you ought to be able to lose some of these guys and replace them on and on. The Astros are proof of it. Yeah. So, as much as I want to be the Dodgers, and I do, and as much as I want to be some of this team and some of that team, the Astros are still one of those teams where I I want to be like, listen, if Tucker is too expensive, I don’t want to overpay for him if he’s not the right guy. That doesn’t mean I don’t want the Cubs to increase payroll. I just want you to have the right guys and not be terrified that you can let a guy go. So, that said, Framber Valdez, does he interest you? Well, I don’t want to steal your thunder because you got the same thoughts that I do about him. So, why don’t you go first? Okay. Well, I’ll I’ll keep it really brief and and then throw it over to you is that I’m Look, when you talk about the numbers and stuff, he is definitely a top of the rotation guy, right? He’s a three to four win player. Won 13 games this year. Um, and he’s a fantastic bulldog type player. But, but yeah, man, I’m I’m going to throw you this alleyoop here. Me and you are in agreement that that whole thing that happened with his catcher, whether it was a miscommunication or not, it wasn’t. No, it definitely was not. I can’t I can’t It is not the number one reason and I don’t think it would scare me off of being interested in a guy like Framber Valdez, but it’s it’s it’s rubbing me the wrong Yeah. way, Justin. I think it’s character flaw, you know, and I think that there’s no doubt in my mind watching that back and seeing when it was a big story, like he definitely he did it to his it wasn’t a mixup. He he did that on purpose to make a statement. You could tell in his body language, the way he turned around, everything, right? And to me, that’s a character flaw. Now, is he talented? absolutely is talented. But, you know, the Cubs are kind of built on some high character guys. You know, Nicoer, Ian Hap, Kyle Tucker to that end, you know, Danny Swanson, uh, Valdez, all talent in the world, but the character issue of that in particular play bothers me and I’d rather go for someone like Dylan Cece, who I think fills in more of the character that we have built here in Chicago. Interesting. I Does it work in baseball like it does in football? Like one thing that I like about Ben Johnson with the Bears is he’s a little bit of a red ass. He doesn’t like he doesn’t like a question to kind of question something he did. And he’s got a little more fire than Eberloose and those guys. I I don’t think it works the same way in baseball. Although I loved when Justin Steel was like, “Wake up.” Yes. Right. Yeah. This was a different way of doing it and this was not the right way of doing it. The way that Steel did it was leading and being like, “Wake up.” Right? This was hurting a teammate. Frankly, you could kill a teammate doing that if it hits them in the heart. And it was played by the rest of the organization as like unacceptable. Yes. I almost wish they would have been like, “Season or not season, you’re done.” Right. That was what was so weird about it. It was a disregard for a teammate’s well-being. And I look man, I’m right there with you that I love adults in the room. I love jerks. Whatever like cliche word you want to put into it. I think you need a different mix of people all the time. So I’m not saying I want Right. I’m the jerk. I understand you guys are the nice ones. Like who am I? The nice guy. I’m the jag. I know. I’m the weirdo. I’m not sure exactly. We’re just the three stooges all all the same. But no, uh there’s a part of it though that it isn’t about like again when you’re trying to do this, when you’re saying you’re going to give Fred Baldez five or six years at top dollar money, it might be it might work perfectly for the year after. I just I have I have a couple questions and I I have a sense of hesitancy that over the course of that five-year deal. There will probably be some transition moments with the Chicago Cubs. And when you get paid that type of big money, I’m not asking him to be John Lester, but also at the same time, can you still continue to be a stabilizing force in a in a clubhouse that might have to transition over several years? I He’s He’s really, really, really good. If they sign If we did a breaking news thing and he signed right now at the Chicago Cubs, I I would be elated. But I would be It would be wrong of me not to say that I don’t have that weird hesitation about what he did with that catcher. I just it was such a weird immature way to to deal with it and frankly it was a weird way of like throwing your teammate under the bus at the same time in the middle of a game and I just you don’t see it very often. The reason why you don’t is a lot of a lot of players don’t do that and he did and that still sticks with me. I don’t I mean we all love baseball. I’ve never seen that before. I know like now you have to I’ve seen little league kids do it and get tossed out of a game or at a college level but now but MLB we’ve never seen this before and normally like you’ve seen everything in baseball, right? Like that’s how crazy this was. And um yeah, I mean again I’m with you. We need talent on our Cubby team. So he would be definitely an ace, right? But I think there’s another ace out there, maybe a two that I’d rather have than Valdez. I wanted him last off season in a trade because I thought, well, if they’re getting rid of Tucker, why wouldn’t they get rid of Valdez, too? And I would have taken him last year. Now I don’t want him as a free agent because of that incident, which is sort of crazy, but that’s just the way I feel about it. So, there’s another guy. Last year, I wanted Valdez in a trade. Now, there’s a guy that might be available. We’ll talk about him in a second. Whatever the moment, Cubs fans, the sport to bet, and the app to bet is Circus Sports Illinois. Circus Sports, it’s sports betting the way that it should be. Circus Sports Illinois is high betting limits. It has low holds and exceptional customer service. So, bet on all your favorite teams in every game this season. They got spreads, they got props, futures, in-game, whatever it is, Circus Sports has it all. So, fun and bet like a pro from anywhere, anytime. time in Illinois. And keep in mind, Bulls are coming back tomorrow night. Blackhawks in full swing. The Chicago Bears college football. Whatever it is, remember, download your new bookie today at circusports.com. Remember, you must be 21 plus or older. If you have a gamble prom, call 1800 agambler. Fall is here, crisp air, football, maybe a bonfire or two. But if you’re like most guys, you’re still putting in the hard work. And yeah, that means sweat. But don’t let stink come along with it. You know that feeling. It’s game day. You’ve been working hard all week. your lucky jersey. Uh, it might be smelling a little too lucky right now. Or maybe you’re packed in studio C and it’s getting a little hot and you’re thinking, “Boy, I hope that thing worked.” Well, I’ll tell you what will work. Mando whole body deodorant. It’s a deodorant plus sweat control. Not just a cover up. Mando’s one stick, two jobs. Powerful odor and sweat control. One swipe, you’re good to go. It controls both sweat and odor for 72 hours. This stuff just works. Mando starter pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your choice like the mini body wash or deodorant wipes and free shipping. Special offer our listeners 20% off sitewide using our code cho. Shop mando.com for 20% off sitewide plus free shipping with Mando deodorant. It’s sweat control 2. Say goodbye to sweat stains and hello to freshness. I finally got Joey on that Mando a couple weeks ago and it has changed our studio. That’s the only reason why we’re doing shows in Studio B is that’s actually in your contract and we thank you for it, Luke. I told you Sean appreciates it, too. Hey, what do you want me to say, guys? We said don’t wash our jerseys, but during the watch along, right? But now it’s over. Oh, wait, wait, wait. I didn’t get that memo, so I can wash now. That’s right. And the reality was I I wasn’t on Mando either. I was trying to, you know, rub the chocolate icing under my arms, the frosting, and it was trying to smell like portillos, but that only works for so long. Lovely exfoliant. Yeah. Uh, we got some great comments here in the chat here. Uh, Godfather CHGO, hello, anybody home, Rick, it’s not signing top talent. Good to see you, Godfather CHGO. It’s more just that he br kept bringing up like, oh, it’s October 10th and he wanted you to name a a star on the Cubs or Dodgers that the Blue Jays would sign or the Blue Jays, you know, he was just more upset that we were ignoring it. I I like that comment a lot and that might have something to do with my crystal ball later, CHGO, so stick around to the very end. Well, this was two years ago when the Brewer or the U Blue Jays were struggling. And at the end of the season, I looked at Cody, I said, “They’ve got to convince a team that needs to mix it up to trade somebody that they don’t want to trade, but they’re like, we can’t keep marching out the same team. It’s not working.” Credit to the Blue Jays. They didn’t trade us Vlad Guerrero Jr. like I wanted to for a bunch of prospects or Bette. And he’s going to be a free agent, right? Yeah. Okay. I don’t know where you put him. You could put him at third maybe. Then you would have to trade shock. The Blue Jays have a decision to make too because he’s going to be eligible for the World Series. So like obviously you put him on the roster, but does he start? I mean he’s coming off injury and they’re rocking right now. So their problem, not ours, but they have a decision to make. I don’t know. But credit to the Blue Jays. They stuck with it and it has paid off at least so far. All right. So another team that’s making a tough decision. Did you catch Dave Dumbrossski, the GM and president of the Phillies the other day after their ugly exit? you know, to the Dodgers. I think if they played a different game, maybe it’s a different situation, but they played the Dodgers and there we are. He was asked about Bryce Harper, right, and the season that he had. And Dumbrossski said, “I guess we only find out if he continues to be good. Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that.” While the face of your franchise, that is your comment at the end of the season when he’s been the guy. He’s your big money guy. How much is left? Still six years and $196 million. He just turned 33 on the 16th of October. So at 33, he’s got six more years left. Basically $200 million. Some people started questioning, wait a minute, would the especially to Keith Schwarber, would would the Phillies start to tinker with the idea of trading Bryce Harper? Yeah. Would they consider that? And so I ask you I ask you that question. If you were the Cubs and you’re trying to make a bold move and you’re trying to do something Tuckeresque, but you’re not going to do Tucker, would you at least call Dumbrossski and ask, “Were you serious?” Would you trade Bryce Harper? My first impression is that he was doing it solely on the level of spark, spark, get healthy this off season, and I want you to be that guy next year. Yeah, I don’t think they’re trading him, but would you can would you at least kick the tires if you’re the Cubs? If he was available, absolutely. I’m with you. I don’t think he’s available, but if he was available, if if what six years $190 million is left, I mean, that is way cheaper than what Kyle Tucker is going to get. And you don’t really know what you’re getting with Tucker, right? So, I mean, Bryce Harper, I I don’t know about I didn’t really know you guys by then, but I wanted him to sign when he was a free agent here. Oh, yeah. You know, and I mean the whole they should have. Obviously, it was a great dog is named Wrigley and he wanted to come all those different things, right? So, absolutely. And you know what? Where would he play? You find you figure it out. You there’s a DH available, there’s Alfred, whatever it is, but you you absolutely do it, but I’m with you. I don’t think that Bryce Harper is available. And if he is available, it would be a hall. But um I think it’s more of kind of like a spark plug thing. Yeah. I mean, god, there’s two parts about this, right? The first one is when you look at Bryce Harper’s career in Philadelphia, it started like this and then went back up like this, they extended him. And now maybe is it on is it at the top of that roller coaster about to maybe head back down a little bit? And my question would be does Bryce Harper is he is he okay with all that? Right. at the end of the day, like he still is one of the better hitters in baseball. And if you’re gonna start playing, if you’re gonna start tugging on his chain every offseason about, hey, are you still elite? Are you still good again or not? Elite, is is he kind of is he kind of over it a little bit? Now, maybe Dave Dumbroski knows something that we don’t know. And obviously, we see these injuries pile up over the years, asking those types of questions of is he just entering a different phase in his career, but at 33 years old, I 100% would take a look at probably trying to acquire him because one, you might not have to give up top prospect capital because you’re taking on the money, right? And also, if you look at his contract, 27 million a year for the next three years and then goes down to 23 million the final three years. And I understand he’ll be a DH 36 37 years old, but if you talk about a player like Bryce Harper, it’s not it’s not about him where it’s like power or bust. He still is a guy that gets on base. He still is an incredibly professional hitter. And if you maybe wanted to like split the difference between what you think Kyle Tucker’s ceiling is or what Cody Bellinger’s floor is or whatever, I think Bryce Harper is, if not right in the middle, right at the top of that in terms of what he can do and effect to the Cubs lineup. So, if that phone call, if you if the phone rang, I would 100% pick it up and at least entertain it. All right, I want to get to two comments, three comments right before I give you this player comparison. Ron says, “If they don’t, the Phillies are going to soon look like the stranded old washed up 2008 Phillies.” And then says, “Ship has sailed on Harper. I don’t want them. Spark plug, yes, but power outage after the hand injury.” Now, Jake Tendo asks, “And Harper plays where? BCH is great.” You know what? He’s not playing first base for me. If you were to pull off a trade for Bryce Harper, say it goes back to right field, right? BCH stays at first and Harper becomes your DH or Harper Harper bat that replaces your Kyle Tucker. Or you try and see if Harper can play right field for you twice a week. Seiya can play left and it opens up the DH spot for something else. If you want to do the Moises Bayister Owen Casey type, whatever. and he’s your backup first baseman. You still have Ian Hap for a year though, too. And he’s not going anywhere. So, like, well, Ian Hap would just play a little less. A little less. Okay. Yeah. So, now here is So, then I was thinking, well, what type of player is he? Well, there’s no question that his numbers have slightly declined. The last time he was a five war player was 2021. Okay. All right. But he hasn’t been a bad player. Just like Dumbrossski said, he’s been a good player, but he hasn’t been an elite player. So, is he tiring of it? Do the Phillies feel like I thought maybe the the Jays would and like we got to mix this up. We’re not winning this way. We’ve got to do something different. And sometimes that means mixing it up even when you don’t want to. So, here’s Harper, right? Here’s the blind resume. There’s Harper sitting there with a 3.5 F last year, a 131 WRC plus, and 27 home runs. Now I have player B. Player B is a mystery player. 3.5 F war. Exactly the same. 140 W wrc plus. So better than Harper and seven more home runs than Bryce Harper last season. Then I go down to player C. And here is 4.5 Fore guys. A 136 WRC plus. So in the middle but still better than Harper. And then five less home runs than Harper. Well, I I know who player C is. Yeah, I know who C is as well. Player player C is Kyle Tucker. Player C is Kyle Tucker. One point better in the F4, a higher WRC plus, and five less home runs. Five less home runs. So, who’s the player above it? The guy in the middle with the same exact FR, a higher W wrc plus, and seven more home runs last year. The 34 is what’s what’s bugging me. It shouldn’t. Michael, is it Michael Bush? It’s Michael Bush. It’s Michael Bush. So, you’re you’re looking at those three players and you’re like, “Wow, they all got there in a different way, right? We’re talking about Harper being this declined player, but there he is with the same fir as Michael Bush.” Uh, Michael Bush had a higher W wrc plus and more home runs. And then Tucker has a higher F war than both even though he had this horrible second half of the season. And he has a higher W wrc plus but five less homers than Harper. So then that begs the question, like you were saying, compare Tucker to Harper. Well, Tucker’s younger. They both have had injury problems. It still comes down to do you believe which Tucker is going to be there in the Yeah. Is it first half or second half? Just real quick with that war number. It’s also because Tucker’s playing right field. So a part of this is how much do you trust Seiya in right field to put up that same production defensively that you know uh Tucker put up where you know Bush and Harper 25. I didn’t think Tucker was as great as I thought he was going to be in right field. Do I think he’s better than Seiya? Yeah, I do. Cuz I don’t think Seiya is a good right fielder. No. Well, I will say I don’t love I don’t love putting Seiya in right field, but I think there’s a real good chance he’s the right fielder next year. And and Tobiya’s defense in the playoffs, he played a pretty good right field. All right. I mean, I know he was horrible before, but I was a little worried about that. And it really we didn’t lose any games because of his defense. I thought he made all the plays he had to. Um, but I’m with you. I think that, you know, whether it’s you trade for Bryce Harper, my still my number one pick is signed Kyle Schwarber. I think Seya’s got to play right field because you’re looking at upgrading the DH spot and or you’re going with Moyes Basteros and he’s only a DH. So I think either way, no matter which way you cut it, Sey is your right fielder next year. Also, if you DH Moaler as your main DH next year, then you better throw tons of money into pitching. Yes, if you’re saving money at third and DH and first and center field and center field like you better spend and and your ace may be you know he’s going to be cheap too so you better start spending it somewhere else. So the question here is really is it Harper over Tucker? Don’t forget the other side of this like if he were really available Tucker only costs you money. Tucker costs you a financial gamble. Harper would cost you prospects and a financial gamble. But the question would be how which one makes how premier how premier would those prospects be to say to the Phillies that we’re going to take $190 million off of your books? And I will just say this that like of those three players, Michael Bush, highest upside maybe of the three we can maybe have that debate, Kyle Tucker in the prime of his career. If we want to talk strictly just hitting hitting the baseball, I think Bryce Harper is the best of those three. I think he’s the best hitter. Really? Oh, yeah. 33. Yeah. Even at 33 years old, and I think Kyle Tucker at brings a couple other things to the table, right? He can play right field. He swiped 25 bags this year. He is a smart base runner when he is healthy. Um, but when you look at it, I think Kyle Tucker and Bryce Harper, I think they control the zone the exact same. And I just maybe it’s just is a gut thing, but I think also probably the stats would bear out that I think Bryce Harper over his career, I think he’s just been he’s just been a better hitter. And I think that even at 33 years old, at least three of those years, I think you could get the Bri the Bryce Harper that you would expect out of that guy. I think starting today with uh Tucker being 27, I believe, and Harper Tucker’s 29 and Bush is 27. My bad. So, but but okay, so Tucker still being four years younger than Bryce Harper, right? I think right now Tucker is your better offensive player if healthy. And again, that goes for both those guys. If Harper’s healthy and Tucker’s healthy, big question marks on both sides because they both have kind of been injuryridden, you know? I I don’t know. And how does he We already know that Tucker kind of fits in the clubhouse because he’s super quiet. Yeah, Harper is a feisty, but but would that personality of Harper fit because it’s just a little different personality. He’s the leader. He’s become the Justin Turner. like you’d have to defer to the guy that won the World Series and we’re trying to armchair this, right? But I think he’s closer to the Justin Steel that I would love to have on my team than perhaps maybe the Framber Valdez on the team. I like Bryce Harper telling Rob Manfred to get out of his clubhouse, right? Because that’s not what he said. He says button. Go ahead, Justin. Get it ready. I love that. I actually I actually love that. That was crazy that he told him that. Um anyways, we’re going to talk more about it. Maybe we’ll talk a couple more seconds about that and then we’re going to get to our guy Cade Horton. But first, a word from our sponsors. Hey Cubs fans, Toyota has 25 vehicles with available all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. The RAV 4 has legendary versatility. The Grand Highlanders adultsiz third row is for real. And the Tacoma’s Wildside, it comes standard. Job sites, campsites, game nights, doesn’t matter. There’s an all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. Toyota, they will get you there in style. Also find yours at toyota.com or visit visit your Chicago land Toyota dealer today. Toyota let’s go places and guys it’s the perfect time to become a CHO die hard Bears little bit of a winning streak. Bulls kickoff tomorrow night. Blackhawks look like I don’t know maybe the young kids can play. So why not head on over to all CHO.com to get uh all the access to our exclusive written content, free t-shirt, plenty of discounts, free merch and events, plus access to our CHO disco lounge where we all just hang out and talk sports all day long. So again, all CHGO.com for the latest information how you can join the thousands and growing of CHGO dieards in our community. We can’t wait to connect with you on an even greater level. Let’s be real for a second. The world has gone soft. Everybody gets a trophy for just showing up. Everything needs to be bubble wrapped. Soda used to have some kick. Now it’s just about pretty colors and easy fizz. RC Cola is not a soft drink. It’s just a damn good cola. It’s the original cola that doesn’t fold under pressure. RC is an OG cola in a world of spineless soft drinks. No trends, no gimmicks, no glow up. They haven’t changed their stripes since 1905 because they don’t need to. It’s the same bold crisp flavor it’s always been. RC Cola tastes like a punch right in the thirst or your face. Either one. Stock up for all your favorite parties. Halloween right now. Maybe you got something going. Maybe you’re just getting ready for Thanksgiving already. Or maybe you’re that bold or watching a Bears game. 4 and two. RC is the move for whatever you’re doing. RC, baby. Uh, all right. So, we were talking about the Kyle Tucker thing. Ron has jumped in on this again. He says, “Cubs wouldn’t pay Harper’s contract in 2017. Why would the Cubs pay the remainder of it when he’s on the wrong side of 30?” Yes, I’m just throwing out a a hypothetical. I don’t think it’s really happening. I don’t think he’s actually available. Agreed. Although, do you think that um Harper being that feisty personality like might not like that comment because like you’re questioning him being a lead, right? And you know, if anybody’s got confidence in this world, it’s Bryce Harper. So, he thinks he’s elite. But Dumbrossski knows him. So, if he knows that’s the type of thing that will get him to seek whatever type of thing he needs to be healthy in the offseason, a different doctor, a different masseuse, whatever, whatever it might be, get right. Right. I don’t think if you were going to trade Bryce Harper that the best plan of action would be to tell other teams, I’m not sure if he’s going to be elite again. You know what I mean? Like like you’re you’re announcing to all the other teams that you might trade him to, yeah, we’re not sure he’s going to be elite anymore, so we got to get rid of him. Yeah. When maybe he finds maybe he still would find somebody. I don’t know. Yeah. And and I think Ron, that’s that’s a that’s a great comment. It’s a very very fair point. And I guess my push back on that would be they had two contracts over $und00 million at the time um with Jason Hayward. They’re still kind of stinging off of that a little bit. They still had Lester on the books. Maybe they had some other decisions to make about maybe back in 2017 they were living in a reality where they thought they were going to be able to sign a Chris Bryant, a Jav Bayz, a Kyle Schwarber or an Anthony Rizzo. Yeah. Never came to fruition. Right. And on the wrong side of 30 now. I mean, I understand that, but we’re seeing a lot of seeing a lot of players right now have a lot of success after 30. I hope that they do look at Kyle Schwarber, right? Who’s 32. So 32 and 33, it’s pretty damn close. All right, so let’s not split hairs on that one. I hope we do go after a guy like Kyle Schwarber. And also, when you seen what you’ve seen with the Chicago Cubs is they’ve targeted guys a little bit older, Matthew Boyd, their bullpen’s loaded with dudes that are 36, 37, 38 years old. So, I think it’s a incredibly fair comment, but I’m hoping and praying that maybe it’s a little bit of a different time right now with the Cubs in the position to succeed next year with a little bit of a different makeup payroll-wise in terms of who’s going to have to get paid, who’s already been paid. And I also think too is that back then the thought of this like 13-year deal was overwhelming. Yeah. And now you’ve seen where contracts have gone for. I mean, geez, Otani is making $700 million. Now, Bryce Harper’s 6190 doesn’t make uh Rickett suffocate. It’s kind of like, oh, I almost rather I do that than give Cal Tucker three $400 million, you know. So, I think that’s also very different as well from 2017 to 2025. And the fact the last three years are only at $23 million a year. Again, a little bit more palatable when you’re talking about maybe a guy who’s going to be solely a DH at the tail end of that deal. Sure. You’ll have to wheel him out to the plate probably, but you know, he’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. Uh, all right. So, one, we got a couple more things still left over from Jed Hoyer’s kind of state of the Cubs press conference, if you will, at the end of the season. One of them we didn’t touch on was his comment about Kate Horton. Like, Horton is one of the greatest things that happened in this Cub season. It wasn’t the whole season, but when he got here, boy, those numbers were pretty impressive. So impressive that we started talking about is this Jake Aretta like the super streak of Arietta? is this like is he going to be that good? We don’t know. We don’t know what’s going to happen. And then we were robbed of postseason Horton by a freak injury. We don’t even know how the guy fractured his rib. We think it was coughing, but we don’t really know. Okay. So, here is Jed Hoyer when asked about the future of Kate Horton. Yeah. Um, you know, he he was in a good position. He was going to he was going to be on the roster if we won on Saturday. you know, he would have he would have been on this next roster. He wouldn’t have been stretched out to probably pitch more than a couple innings, but I certainly that was our plan was to was to to be able to use him. His he was throwing bullpens by the end. And so, um, the expectation is that he has a totally normal off season. Um, he may rest it a bit now to like let that rib continue to heal. Um, but he was exceptional. Uh, and you know, he wanted to pitch so badly. I think that was one of the the hardest parts of that whole situation was that he tried. you know, he really did. He tried to to push through it and we just realized there was there was no way to do it. Um he was incredible in the second half. Um I just felt like start to start, you know, watching him evolve as a pitcher. Uh he picked up new things. I mean, he’s um change up was sort of a new pitch when we got him and he he developed that really well. He started using a two seamer more. Um obviously pounds the zone and and is super efficient. Um, yeah, his second half was was exceptional and he put himself in the, you know, in the in the conversation to be rookie of the year. Um, given how much of a competitor he is, I I was sad for him that he didn’t get a pit pitch in the postseason. Um, and I know that’s going to be his number one goal, you know, going forward. But, um, just a great development year. Great job by Kade, great job by the coaching staff with him and, uh, just excited for things going forward. And I expect he’ll have a completely normal offseason. We would love a completely normal off season for Kate Horton. Now, there are some injury things popping there even before that, right? Like that kind of delayed his arrival overall, but man, what a what a finish he had to the point where you thought to yourself, he he’s gone from I don’t know about playoff roster to ace game one starter. I I would say that going into last year, I love Justin Steel. Going into last year, if you asked me who was the ace of the staff, it went back and forth after Shota’s first season with the Cubs. It was like, well, I Steel’s the ace, right? But some people would say, no, no, it’s Imanaga. He’s he’s your all-star. He’s your ace. If Kate Horton pitches like that, he’s your ace. No doubt. So is it do you think Horton will be undeniably the Cubs ace next season? Yes. Yeah. I mean hands I think there’s no other um no other not option but like absolutely he he showed he was dominant and it wasn’t like he had good two weeks bad one week. He was great the entire since the day he came up. He was great, you know, and um and the injury thing, I hear you on that. The cough, broke a fractured rib or whatever. That was fluke, right? You can’t That’s not going to be a a nagging thing. I would hope not. But so without a doubt, Kate Horton is your ace pitcher next year and everybody else falls in line. And you know what? Finally having that ace, a costcontrolled ace is phenomenal for Jed Hoyer because now you can go out and sign someone like a Dylan CE or a Valdez or whatever and your pitching staff just everyone falls back in line. How great would it be if we wake up next year uh opening day and show Imanaga is your fifth starter. We take that, right? Yes, I would. And Kate Horton being a costcontrolled ace allows you to do that. Yeah, look, I mean, let’s just work with I mean, the numbers are eyepopping, right? and we we enjoyed every single pitch of them in the second half of the of last year. Uh but I’m kind of looking at sort of the stabilizers right now. Like the first one was, you know, when he got called up, Luke, we talked about the control, right? For a young pitcher, I think he showed um a fantastic knack of being able to control all of his pitches every time he went out there. He was able to keep his velocity where it needed to be consistently from start to start. Um you know, Sean, you talked about that on CHO White Socks about biomechanics, about making sure it’s consistent every single outing. I think he got great swing and miss on his breaking stuff. I will be honest with you though, now that the season’s over, right, and man, I wanted us to go on. Man, would I have loved to have seen him pitch in that national championship series, even if it was for a couple innings. But I will be honest with you right now, I’m a little bit feeling like you ever go out with a bunch of buddies one night and it’s about 1:32:00 in the morning and they’re like, either, “Hey, let’s go out to another bar.” Or, “Hey, let’s go get a burrito the size of your head.” and you don’t go and you wake up and you go, man, that would have been fun, but I’m kind of glad I didn’t do that. I’m a it’s maybe this is a little bit of for the best. If we’re looking for silver linings with the Cubs in the playoffs for the Horton because we were already watching his innings. He was already on a pitch count, right? And now he has an injury. He stops throwing. He’s throwing at his knees trying to get bullpen sessions together to come back and rock and pitch 9798 in NLCS. It kind of was begging a little bit for danger and it flew in the face of what their plan was originally. So have a great off season, right? Stay healthy, of course, but come back and then hopefully whatever the gloves are off or he gets a full complement of pitches and we get to see Kate Horton maybe throwing 80 to 90 pitches and hopefully 160 170 innings next year and that’s going to make the Chicago Cubs better. I think you’re underestimating how much of a good time you can have at Boss Bar at 3:30 in the morning. Well, no. Hey, if he takes us to the world, you want to go to Boss Bar 4:00 a.m. or 4 a.m. Boss. How good a TBK burrito is at 4 in the morning. All right, I’m buying, boys. I’m buying. I mean, just saying, dude, I’ve made a living over there. But didn’t it kind of feel like we were sort of like all year we were like, hey, 75 pitches, 70 pitches, keep him fresh, keep him fresh. They’re trying to protect him. And then when he got hurt, every single day we’re like, can he come back? Can he come back? It would have been very hard for them to pull him back, you know? I mean, you need him, right? because we were our pitching was defle uh deflated. Now, he was the cheat code. He was the cheat code for us. We’re going to make it to the NLCS. We were talking about him being game one, right? We didn’t know at the time only two innings, but like we thought game one starter Kate Horton, right? So, it’ be very hard for council to be like, “No, we’re going to ease into this because we needed pitching so bad.” Um, so we got good for Kate Horton, bad for the fan base because it’s I hate that we’re done, but yeah, maybe you know, Horton and Matthew Boyd come back stronger next year because of it. I was going to say, so now you got to think about Boyd, you got to think about Steel, you have to think about Shota potentially, you have to think, you have to think about Horton. Tyion is the only starter that you don’t have some sort of like slight hesitation or at least an asterisk on the side where you say, “Yes, but it could go wrong here.” Yes, but so Tyion’s the only one. That’s why when we’re looking at all this offseason stuff and we’re talking about Dylan CE or whoever it might be, that’s why they have to go get one probably two starters in my opinion. Like don’t get caught in the same thing again. Like if Steel doesn’t bounce back, you got to have someone. If if Horton just isn’t the same guy that he was at the second half of the season, he’s more like a PCA. He said some peaks and valleys. You got to have somebody ready to make some starts. And I don’t I’m not saying Colin Ray. I’m saying Flity or Cease or they have to have more certainty like we talked about yesterday in that rotation. In a perfect world, everything goes well. Horton is your ace. Steel comes back and is an amazing number two. Boyd is healthy again. He’s an incredible three. Tyion pitches like he did at the end of the year. He’s a four and show showed is a five and maybe those numbers all are adjusted by the addition of cease, but we don’t know that. That’s why they’ve got to have at least one starter. So, we’re going to talk about some of that uncertainty here in the second half. We still have time for stuck with me. Roman’s just in time and Joey’s Crystal Ball of course, but first we will take a short break for some of our sponsors here at CHGO. We’ve got deals sweeter than candy this Halloween at Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake. Coming today to shop the no tricks, just treat sales event and drive home with 0% financing, 0 down, and no payments until 2026. Zero hidden fees on select new Chevrolet models. Or check out their selection of over 125 vehicles priced under $20,000. With one of the area’s largest Chevy inventories, you’re sure to find the perfect vehicle for you. 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So, we were talking about Kade Horton real quick after the Jed Hoyer comment, and I came up with five things that are uncertain for the Cubs, right? Not guaranteed, but are all very possible next year. The first is we get second half Horton next year, all year. The next one is we get first half Kyle Tucker next year if they sign him. The next is we get first half Pete Crow Armstrong for a whole season. What about second half Matt Shaw or first half Matthew Boyd? Five great things that the Cubs had that have some uncertainty going into next year for different reasons. Whether it’s an injury history, whether it was heavy use, whether it’s they’re a young player or they might not even be on the team. Which one is the most likely? Let’s rank him. Of those five, which is the most likely to happen next year? I’m gonna bet my life on Kate Horton having a full stud ace year. I think that you think that’s one. I think that’s one. He’s been a winner wherever he’s gone. I know he’s had injuries in the past, but like he was a he was a bulldog in college. He was phenomenal in the minors. He came up and showed no signs of slowing down here in the majors. So, I say Kate Horton being an ace all the way through is going to be number one for me. So yeah, I got I got Kate Horton at number two. Just the only reason why it’s number two is that he was on a Jake area pace. So if he’s exactly exactly what you said he was, but if he’s a tick, maybe worse, we’re splitting hairs at this point. Like I find that to be very realistic. But I think Kate Horton’s going to have a big year next year. Um may and if he stays at JK Rider pace, shut my mouth. I’m glad to be wrong. The number one, honestly, Luke, is I’m going Kyle Tucker’s first half, man. I really do. I mean, look, he walked into the year and we spent a lot of time talking about like, as we said a lot, number eight, number nine, number 10 player in baseball the last three or four seasons. He came out and he showed it and it wasn’t a surprise. We weren’t shocked. Of all these things on the list, it has an element of surprise to it. The reason why Kyle Tucker is number one on my list is that it wasn’t surprising to me. It was what we expected. It was as advertised. And I think you’re more likely to see three months of that Kyle Tucker and and all those other things. I hope happen. I just think that there could be a slight if there was a slight drop off 10% on PCA’s first half where he’s not the starting center fielder in the All-Star game. He could still have a great season, right? But with Kyle Tucker, I’m going number one on that one. Let me ask you a question really fast. Yeah. So, by you putting him number one, you firmly believe they’re resigning him that the Chicago Cubs should resign him? No, because the way I was phrasing it was this could be first half Kyle Tucker for any team. Any team? Gotcha. If you’re saying he’s going to do it in a Cubs uniform, he can’t be number one. No, no, he cannot. And just to answer your question really quickly, as the days go on, I’m beginning to believe that it’s more and more unlikely that he stays with the Cubs next year, even though I’m as the days go on, I am growing more and more likely on the side of my stance, my take is that they should resign Kyle Tucker. Okay. Yeah. Uh Ron says he doesn’t want to put that pressure of Chicago on Horton to be the ace. Do better. Get Frober Valdez and then slot Kade to number two. Great. One, two, whoever. These are semantics, right? You can get Dylan CE, call him the ace and hort number two, whatever. But like having a double-headed monster would be great, right? Yeah. I’m fine if Justin Steel comes back and is an all-star again next year, too. Totally. All right. So, my I I would I would lead towards Horton, but because we’re not saying on the Cubs, Tucker number one would have been a nobrainer on this list going into last season. Agreed. So, are we letting a fractured finger and a calf strain for the second half? No matter how poorly they were handled, I’m not going to let him impact my decision more than I am. He’s still young and he’s coming off a fracture and he’s had some little things. So, I’ll I’ll go Tucker Horton. After that, it’s tricky. Like, I I don’t know if which one is the least likely that you think you’ll see out of those five because mine is and I’ll be honest, I love him as a player. I think Matthew Boyd repeating his first half all-star performance um I think is probably the most unlikely of the bunch. I think he’s still a really solid player and starter, but if I had to go with those five. So I’m my least one and I love this guy as a player. U Matt Shaw his second half because I think you saw in the playoffs he looked horrible offensively. So um you know second half of the season he was starting to hit bombs and he was hitting for slug and he was really crushing the ball but in the in the playoffs he got exposed. So, I think unless he can really this off seasonason figure out what went wrong, I could see out of those five, that would be the least likely to repeat his second half uh search. I’m with you on that. Shaw would be my bottom. But my follow up on that really quick is if we get if we don’t get second half Shaw next year, do we have a problem at third base or are you willing to also say development development development? I think I think the defense will be the same. What we’re specifically talking about is the offense, right? And I a good player batting number nine, but you hope the off because the offense has shown flashes for sure, but I think in the playoffs we all saw him get exposed. So, it’s like and we’re talking about a whole year. I I’m saying like PCA’s first half for a whole year. We’re talking Matt Shaw’s 11 home runs in the second half. And yeah, look, I mean, I I think the defense is going to carry the day for Matt Shaw, and I’m I’m complete agreement with that, but I think it isn’t it isn’t too much to ask that the dude the dude can’t hit 220 um and he can’t have an OPS that I believe was under seven. uh that was, you know, just a below average player. You do have to This was a guy that people thought was going to win rookie of the year. Yeah. Um so I’m not saying that I want him to hit 300. I’m also saying he can’t hit 220. Uh we need somewhere in between there in some kind of improvement. I would go Tucker one, Horton 2. I think I’d go Matthew Boyd number three. Don’t forget the last time we saw him, it wasn’t on the three days rest. That was a mistake by the Cubs. That wasn’t Boyd’s fault. When when they needed him to pitch well, he did. In his very last start, he had one more day rest and it was a huge difference. I love that he loves being a Cub. I love that he knows it’s not guaranteed that anything’s coming back next year. I would put him third. I would go PCA fourth, Shaw fifth. Mostly because they’re younger players. I would reverse the Matthew Boyd and the PCA thing only because Matthew um I had PCA three on the list, right? So, these guys are both PCA and then Boyd. I think PCA is a superstar in the making. I think he’s got all the tools that you need. Um first half, I I don’t think he’s the first half player, but I for sure don’t think he’s the second half player when he was I think he’s somewhere in the middle and that’s a really good player. And then defense is like all time, right? The thing about Boyd is you’re right, Luke, it wasn’t just the one clunker in the in the postseason. his second half or the last month or two weren’t stellar. So, did his arm get fatigued? Was it tired? Was it regression? I I don’t know. But there was there was more of a sample size of like him not being first half Matthew Boyd. So, I would again, we’re probably splitting hairs here, but I put him four in PCA three. I do think PCA is going to be a star in this league for years to come. All right. So, let’s go out of those five. Now, we got one through five. And we’re all kind of in the same mix. We all think Shaw is probably near the bottom of that list. Although Ron says he’ll be a five war player next year. Oh, I love it. You know what’s interesting about Shaw is he was bad in the postseason, but he was seeing 100 all the time. Like he was seeing the literally the best bullpens in baseball. Yes. Pretty much all game, right? His at bats. So he was getting that a lot. He won’t face those guys in the regular season. So if you’re talking about the regular season, you don’t see everybody’s best cranked out like that every single at bat. That’s why the off seasonason is different or the postseason is different than the regular season. So of those five, Horton having a great full season, Tucker having a great full season, PCA having the great full season, Shaw Boyd, two out of five, three out of five, four out of five. How many of those happen? Um I It doesn’t even have to be the names. How many of the five do we get next year? I’d say um three out of five I think we get because for me, Kate Horton for sure is happening. uh regardless of what team he’s on, I think you’re right, Kyle Tucker is going to have a good offensive season and I think PCA is is going to have his numbers. So, I think three out of five for me for sure going to happen. Yeah. I mean, I’ll say I think at least I think at least four out of five are most likely going to happen. I’m just saying like if there’s a 10 and some Mando too while we’re at it cuz I’m getting a little hot under the collar. I’m just saying if there’s a 10% drop off on some of this stuff, um I I like it. But again, I you can’t go five out of five because we don’t know if Kyle Tucker’s coming back, right? So, good. Yeah. All right. Uh we we’ll hit our things real quick. My stuck with me for what’s happened in the last like couple of days is watching watching those players, whether it’s Springer or more importantly Vlad Guerrero, right? The Blue Jays stuck with them. They stuck with him and it made me rethink a little bit my Kyle Tucker stance saying, “Ah, I think I’d let him go. I don’t know what the number is yet. I don’t know if he’s healthy yet.” I think it’s premature to say Tucker’s gone unless the Cubs pony up. Do It’s a different question to say, do I want him? I want first half Kyle Tucker. That’s the best. That is the best solution in right field if you can get it at the right price. So, what stuck with me is the Blue Jays stuck with Vlad Guerrero for now. I’m sticking with Kyle Tucker. I’m not I’m not totally out on that. All right. All right. Do you have a uh a Romans just in time? I do. So, uh this is very ALCSbased, but I was drawn by that series. I love game sevens. I think it’s all cool. Um you know, the the Blue Jays were kind of down and out for a while. Uh, I thought the Mariners fan base hit an all-time low when Springer got hurt and they were cheering for him to be hurt. And then when he got up and was able to walk, they were booing that. Very bad look for Mariners fans. Yeah. And just in time when the season was on the line, who’s the one that won the pennant for the Blue Jays? It was George Springer. talk about how that had to make him feel selfishly knowing that like he just ended Seattle season. Karma. Karma. Totally. So, that that’s my just in time for this week. Well, and now uh the 2017 Let’s see if he can stir the echoes, right, when he hit five home runs against the Dodgers uh in the World Series. Uh my Crystal Ball, Joey’s crystal ball is again very similar to your guys. It’s World Series themed. Hey Cubs fans out there, I know when you’re watching Blue Jays Dodgers, you’re going to be thinking about the Dodgers. The Dodgers, the Dodgers. Why can’t we be like the Dodgers? Well, take a look at what the Blue Jays have done and see if the Chicago Cubs can get a little bit closer to that. And you’re saying Toronto, I mean, beautiful metropolitan city, but we’re still Chicago, right? And if you look at their payroll, right? Let’s just pull it up really, really fast here. Uh, let me get this right here. Oh, yeah, that’s right. Oh, they have four uh they have four players right now with contracts over hund00 million. Uh, they go out and they sign Max Sherzer. They bring in a guy like Shane Bieber at the deadline. Um they shell out money. Now it’s not crazy $200, $300 million deals that they’re handing out, but they’ve got at least four guys making over $und00 million. Chicago Cubs right now have one. His name is Dansby Swanson. And the next one closest to that is Sea Suzuki at $85 million. So, and also take a look at how they did it. Dalton Vo via trade. Uh Barger, who’s a great player, hitting 240 something with 20 bombs and 74 RBI’s. You know those numbers, Cubs, because we got a ton of them on our team. Found him in the draft. There are other ways to what is it? Slice the onion or cut the apple or what is it? Something like that. Something like that. Make the pie, make soup. There’s a lot of ways to make the meatloaf. You know what I’m saying? Frost the cake. Yeah. And look at look at what the Toronto Blue Jays have done. They spent big money. I get on Vladimir Guerrero Jr., which is $500 million. You can do that with Kyle Tucker, but that also means you need to keep pushing your chips in and keep spending on money and bring it in highriced, high quality cost certainty talent. Watch the Blue Jays, not the Dodgers, cuz that’s who the Cubs need to be more than trying to compete with Dodgers, which I don’t think is very realistic. I wonder if the Blue Jays started their season by saying, “I think we have enough money to put together a good team. I don’t want that. I want a great team. I want a great team.” We deserve a great team. This fan base deserves a great team. And we’re so close, too. Like, when you’re really on the doorstep of doing something special next year and being dangerous and being a potent team, you got to go that extra step. And don’t just don’t just tread water. Don’t don’t stand in their tracks. Tom Ricketts has a chance to shut up a lot of haters because oh, he’s not going to spend even in our chat. He’s not going to spend. Okay, sign someone’s spend. Show that you will and it’s a different ballgame. Be a great team. Thanks for checking out the CHGO Cubs podcast. Justin’s back next Tuesday. We’ll see you tomorrow at two. Till then, thanks for watching and fly the Word. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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The World Series is set! The Los Angeles Dodgers will take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Who will WIN? Plus, Dave Dombrowski made some interesting comments about Bryce Harper. Should the Cubs’ entertain a Harper trade? Finally, Cade Horton ended the season looking like an ace. Can Cubs’ fans expect that from Horton in 2026 after his rib injury? Join the CHGO Cubs crew, Luke Stuckmeyer, Joey Christopolous, and Justin Roman as they discuss!

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