Revealing the Locked On Cubs Player and Pitcher of the Year!

Revealing the Locked On Cubs Player and Pitcher of the Year!

Nico her wins in a landslide, but the pitcher of the year separated by just two votes. Who won? We tell you that. Go Cubs. You are Locked on Cubs, your daily Chicago Cubs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. You are Lockdown Cubs, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. We are your team every day alongside Samber. I’m Matt Cozy. Sam and I are lifelong fans taking our passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app today. Well, to finish the show later, we’re going to go over comments just made in the last hour as we record here on a Tuesday evening. Stay tuned for that that Jed Hoyer made at the GM uh meetings, GM week in Las Vegas. Also, 300 votes were cast on the dot over a three to four day span last week on our inaugural locked on Cubs awards. And it is awards ve awards day here on the show, Sam. And two votes separated the pitcher of the year award. Uh we are going to start with the player of the year. The player of the year. Look, you already said it. Goes to Nicoer. You already said it in the beginning of the show. And Nicoer won with 58% of the vote. Michael Bush got 30%. Pete got 12. Oh, that was funny. Sam, I have some some nuggets about her that I don’t know if I even realized up up to today prepping for this show, but man, what a season he had. Made me laugh. Yeah. Look, um, so I voted for Nicoer, right? Um, I I I I could tell you this. I I did not vote for the winner, uh, in the in the pitcher side, which we’ll get to, but for me, it was just about the totality of the season. You know, I I I’m very interesting in terms of how I evaluate baseball players because I love moments, right? But I also value consistency over the long haul, the combination of the two. I’m not a huge fan of guys that are great for a month or two and bad for three months and so on and so forth. I actually did some digging because, you know, it seems like Kyle Tucker really brings out the best in our debates. It turns out it turns into locked on Cubs first take and you know I I did some homework uh uh actually after the show. I wish I did it before yesterday where you know you know for July, August, September, October it was a 61game stretch where he was a 228 hitter. You know I I you know so it’s like that to me that’s too long. Nico her was really really solid uh for almost the whole season and I think the fans yourself and me uh uh all appreciated just the consistency and and then you you you take into the fact that he’s just a brilliant defensive player and you know you have an excellent player. Matt, can can I read you can I read you the month by month? Can I do that? Yeah, that’d be a good exercise. Um, I’m just because because Nico is a batting average guy. I’m just going to go batting average for Nico. Okay, let’s hear it. Yeah. All right. So, remember he he he started the season a little bit later on, right? Uh yeah, just a little bit. He only missed like what, four games. So, he had four games in in March where he batted 375. Okay. April 281, May 290, June 295, July 284, August 283, September 33, playoffs 419. That is not that is that right there is a banner season in terms of consistency. And then he he he basically he didn’t have a bad month. He didn’t. And then No, he didn’t. And then he had one absolutely outstanding month. Um just an incredible season. Which one? Which one was that again? September he batted 333. Yeah, that’s crazy. And then if you want to just carry that over into the postseason where he hit 49, like a video game. Stellar season for Nicoer. Doesn’t even get into how he hit with runners in scoring position. Um I thought overall the best player on the Chicago Cubs from start to finish. And you and I just want to add one thing before I toss it over to the great uh Johnny Carson uh Matt Cozy and that is it’s so fascinating because it really wasn’t until September he was the best guy on the team that month because Pete was so great early on, Tucker was so great early on. Bush and Seya were so great at times, but what did Nico not have that everybody else did have? Just like a six, seven week stretch of just not contributing. Uh he contributed all the time and that’s why he was my player of the year. Yeah. He never had a a cold stretch, at least not of not of that that length. I mean, maybe there was a 10 game pocket, but even just going there’s always going to be that. Yeah, sure. But but month by month, you know, he really took the the full campaign in stride. Uh and and he played he played so so well. He played so well that again I want to reveal something at the end of this segment that I think we’re going to be really really excited about later this week with Nico when it comes to awards voting the real awards not our you know show awards. Oh, you think he’s going to get some MVP votes? Well, just okay. But uh that’s a weak class. Man, what a player. I think you need to get a jersey if he signs an extension. I have one. I have an Eco Warner jersey. Oh, shoot, man. Yeah. Oh, never mind. Yeah, Nick got me it for my birthday a few years ago. Okay. I I I sorry. I I I uh failed to remember that. No, because I don’t really wear it on the show much. Yeah, you should. You should wear it. Every now and then I wear it, but a banner campaign for him. Clear choice. Clear choice. And he was he was spectacular defensively as well. Spectacular. Uh good good on the bases. Uh this is a guy that also had extra base hits, right? 297 average. Oh, is he just all singles? No, we get some doubles. 29 doubles. Uh you know, some some home runs sprinkled in there, included in the playoffs. And in the playoffs, he was he was borderline dominant in the playoffs. It’s a great term. Uh and and so just a great year. Bush second in our awards, Pete third, which doesn’t reflect the overall MVP, which I believe Sam her going to finish top 12 at MVP. I think I think he’s going to get down ballot votes and I think Pete will too. I think will too. I think Pete will finish ahead of her. He will for MVP. Can I add one more thing? Bush is going to be in there, but if he is, that’d be impressive. Can I add one more thing on her? Yeah. 29 steals, just caught stealing uh six times. Geez. Um just and and and such a great example of a player where the general OPS doesn’t describe his ability. Yeah. His OPS was 739. Who cares? He gets a bunch of hits and his and his hits were important. He got hits with runners in scoring position. So those are like home runs. When you get a base hit with second and third and two outs to right field, about it right when that’s the same thing as hitting a two-run homer. It’s the same run value, right? That’s right. Um, so I don’t care that his OPS was in the sevens. He was the best player on this team. Don’t tell that to Boog. All right, coming up next. I won’t I won’t I won’t tell that to him. We have our our I won’t just What do you think? An interview couldn’t get worse. It did. Well, to no fault of Kyle’s. Coming up next, pitcher of the year awards voting. Wow, this came down to the wire. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. The NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle. Between cues, login screens, and prices jumping at checkout, it’s frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. 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You’re gonna get Thank you so much if you voted. I can see by your facial expression you’re already angry at me. Uh, no. I’m about what? This vote. Yeah, I think you’re going to make fun of me. No. Well, anger is would it be the right word? No, that’s true. I Well, I I debated this one heavily. Clearly, the audience did as well. So, maybe maybe you should lead off and tell us about your process and how you came to the conclusion of Brad Keller before we reveal that really the vote was between Boyd and Horton. Yeah. So, the the the vote was between uh Boyd and Horton for everybody pretty much but me. Um, and I I I I selected Brad Keller. And the reason why I selected Brad Keller is this. Number one, I I didn’t consider Horton even though he was so great because the first half of the year, he just he he same reason I took Nico. I looked at the totality of the season. Yeah. So, he wasn’t even around is what you’re saying. Yeah, he wasn’t around early on. Then he made his debut, baby steps, baby steps, and then the second half of the season, he was the best pitcher on the planet. But for me, I I really looked at the whole year. So, it came down to Matthew Boyd versus Brad Keller. And why did I choose Brad Keller? Because I thought And I thought about this extensively. I’m sure. How many times have we come on this show uh uh since we took over uh in July of 22? July 5th, 2022. Go ahead. and complained about bad losses from the bullpen. That was the worst loss I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe that just happened. Matt, my days ruined. Matt, my weekend’s ruin. Right. And for the first time since we’ve covered this team, their bullpen stabilized basically from late April, early May all the way until the end of the season. And the number one reason it did that was because of Brad Keller. And I just think there’s no way to value how many games he won because he’s a reliever. But the level of confidence and the level of u the decreased level of stress that he brought when he came into the game and and he he was great all year. He had one little hiccup for like two outings and then he was fine. And then I think by the end of the year he was getting tired and I still can’t believe that he came out for the second inning there against the Padres’s. Thank goodness Kitri came in to bail him out. But I just think he was the lynchpin of that bullpen. And that bullpen to me was one of, if not the biggest reason this team was able to be um as competitive and as good as they were. And so I I I I just wanted to give him his due. If Boyd didn’t slip the way he slipped, it it was Boyd all the way up until probably, you know, the very end of the year. But I went with Keller. Yeah. And and I I really appreciate your perspective on that because Keller for me was a close third. Um, I, you know, I was glad that we put him on there in the first place, right, to begin with. Um, but just to serve as that anchor proved to be so critical. And I’ll, I’ll miss him. I’ll miss him to be frank. Um, you know, I know he’s going to get paid and paid big by someone and good for him. He deserves it. Right. Right. I understand why the Cubs won’t do it, but maybe they do. Maybe they do. Okay. Yeah. that I’d be glad to see it. Yeah, I doubt I doubt it, but maybe they do. So, I before we reveal the winner, I voted for Matthew Boyd and and really my mentality was similar to yours in in that those that handful of starts down the stretch didn’t outweigh the other 27, right? And for him to enter this year with a innings goal of 120. Yep. And come out with, you know, 170 plus playoffs. Oh, it’s true. 109 whip, 321 erra, 154 strikeouts. Oh, he was really, really impressive. he was and uh you know for him and Horton to return to this rotation with a healthy Justin Steel, a playoff hero in Jame Tyion and Impact starter X, that’s that’s a big reason to be optimistic for 2026 100%. And uh the pitcher of the year goes to Matthew Boyd, who won by two votes over Kade Horton, 132 to 130 to 38 for Keller. Um, and that’s that’s the one-third portion of the fans. Yes. And so we were that close to a three-way tie if Orton was, you know, won by two votes or whatever it was. So, great call by the way on Drake Baldwin winning the rookie of the year. Thank you. Yeah, I really thought I really thought Kate had a great shot and it wasn’t even close. I know. I know. And I I think the fact that it wasn’t close is Can we say it’s a bad look for who voted? Because it it should have been closer. Yeah, I think that’s again I didn’t think he was going to win, but for that type of I don’t think I expected that. I think when you’re the best pitcher on planet earth for like a month and a half, it should be a close vote. Right. Right. Right. There was how many starts where he gave up zero runs? Yeah. I think the Cubs hurt him ultimately and and I get it. I I think if they let him go a little longer, probably he would have won it. Interesting. But they had to keep it. It is what it is. Um Boyd winning winning this award is fair. Um, I really, you know, we do this show a lot. There’s nobody that’s wrong more than me. There’s nobody that’s right more than me because we talk every day just like you do. This always felt like the right cell. Like I just I I was excited about this. I mean, it wasn’t What was it about about a year agoish to the day? What was it? Early December, late November. No, it was they signed him one of the first days of December. Yeah. Before the winter meetings. Yeah. And it they might do something like that again. Um yeah, like December 1, they could jump the mark and try to void like they pick a guy. I mean, he look this is how you have to say it. He had the best year of his career. Yeah. 14-8, 321 erra, like you said, 179 innings. How about this, Matt? Home runs per nine innings. one. I mean, we talk about this all the time. Ultra ultra impressive, man. Walks per nine innings, right? Two, when your home run plus walks per nine is three. Yeah. You You’re going to have a really really strong season. Right. Right. And uh he did that. He did. He did. Also, you know, his his game four performance in the NLDS. Great call. No runs in four and two/3, only two hits. He He did rebound there. Great call. Now, that technically isn’t taken into account for the awards or I mean, it could be for ours. Yeah, we could do it. But, um I I just mean in terms of memories, that was that was nice to see from him to go out like that. after he struggled earlier in the Well, we talked about that on the show after they lost game one. We were like, I both did. We’re like, I’d love to see Boy get a shot in game four. There’s no way he’s going to be bad twice. There’s no way. There’s no way. He’s too He’s too high level of a competitor. Yeah. Too much of a competitive spirit. I I did do a little bit of walking down memory lane today, Sam, with Cubs awards voting history because I do think they could have three guys that get MVP votes. really. Um, you know, yeah, I think Pete, Nico, and Tucker. Yeah, Tucker’s gonna get MVP votes. I think he might get like a 10th place vote. Yeah. And that and that counts just if you just get one 10 spots. Yeah. And you know, the last time the Cubs had three in MVP voting, I mean, it should it’s probably I mean, when when do you think that was? Yeah. Probably 16. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Bryant, we had four guys. Yeah, I mean Bryant Bryant Rizzle. Oh. Oh, I was gonna say Zus maybe. And then pitchers, they had three. Lester, Hendricks, Arietta. Russell got MVP votes in 16. Yeah, he finished 19th place. Well, he drove he drove in like a 100 runs or something like that, right? Pretty short. So, Hrix got some MVP votes. I’ll be talking about him uh Thursday. Yeah. Yeah. No, he did. He got MVP votes also, Sam, in 2020, the shorten year. Yeah, he was tremendous. So was Darvish. Darvish and him. Yeah. And Sai Young finished second to ninth. Yeah. Um All right. All right. Coming up next, we get to Jed Hoyer’s comments on Tuesday evening at the GM meetings in Las Vegas. Uh stay tuned for what those were. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get into the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game and want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Folks, the Illinois Fighting Alii get started tonight with their first significant game of the year against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech. Three and a half point favorites without uh their best player Thomas Lava Visich. But f folks uh Victor Webbmanyama last night in Chicago. I don’t know if anyone watched that. Bulls were were feeling good in control that game and then he decided um I’m just one of the best basketball players in the world. U man it’d be nice to have one of those uh in this city. Uh what a talent he is right now. FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Shout out to the Everydayers, and you can become a locked Cubs Everyday by joining us for every episode throughout the week. All right, a late addition to our uh show agenda here is uh to to go over Jed Hoyer’s first comments of the off season. He held that end of the season presser about four weeks ago now, maybe a little less than that, but uh I think that’s probably about right. Uh and now here we stand in early to mid November and the off season is underway. Uh really it’s probably going to get underway next week because there’s this technicality of the qualifying offers. So once Tuesday of next week passes, I think you’ll see, you know, you’ll see real rumors, real reports more often. You could see an early signing maybe. Uh then also next Friday, the 21st is the non-tender deadline. So really the off season, the rosters entering the off season will start to settle in and uh we’ll see what happens. Tucker will decline the qualifying offer, but yeah, definitely up in the air on Shota. He has until 400 PM Central uh Tuesday, November 18th. What any updates on, you know, like if we played a quick 0 to 100, like what’s the percentage that he takes that? Yeah, I thought it was like 8020. Um, and now I’m now I’m down to like 50/50. Yeah, I would say it’s like I I would say it’s about 40% for me. Yeah. Why? Yeah. I think he wants more certainty in his future. So he So he doesn’t feel very confident that he’s going to have a good year in 26. Well, I think he wants more certainty entering the year, you know, even despite how he would pitch in the 26 campaign. Okay. So you think he just wants it’s just more about years for him because the way I look at it a it’s just simp yeah because I look at it from a math perspective you take the you take the qualifying off for a 22 you pitch to like a 36 37 erra and then you can negotiate like even if you even if you go for a two for 30 after that that still adds up to a 3 for 52 which is you know a lot better than what he’s going to get which I think is about a 15 to 16 AV if he goes on the open market but Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s not as much AAV wise and it’s more certainty. It’s a fair play. It’s a fair play. I think he could get very similar AAV to that club option which was basically 19 million. Like maybe he gets two for 38 from someone. Um you know just the differences there’s might be asking, oh why didn’t the Cubs do that? Well, three years is a lot and and he also would have been it would have triggered a no trade clause. He’s not going to get that in the open market. It would really have to be a pitcher friendly team like a like a pitcher friendly park for two for 38. Yeah. Well, maybe the Giants. Yeah, I think that I think the Giants is honestly I think early before Thanksgiving. I think the Giants is is probably are the most likely team to give him something like that. I’d say that or San Diego. Those two those two come to mind just because of the Seattle. Yeah. Yeah, but does Seattle need pitching right now? That’s Yeah, they they’re pretty not necessarily. No, I feel like the Padres’s or the Giants would be the two most likely fits for me because of how their park plays. Yeah. Meanwhile, Jeff Passen, this was just a a fun thought exercise, wasn’t reporting, put out a piece today about perfect fits, free agent fits for each team. Oh, and and wait, don’t tell me who’s our Let me think who who who’s ours? Okay. Yeah. Was it CE for the Cubs? Yeah. No, he put CE for the Orioles. Sorry, excuse me. Oh, the Orioles. Okay. Was it a pitcher for us? Yeah. As top top name pitcher. Valdez. No, I forget where he had Valdez going. Ranger Suarez. Then you’re okay. The fourth option. Non Siver. I am Amay. Am I from Japan? Oh, really? Yeah. He thinks they might splurge for him. And what did he give a contract number? No. No contract number. No. Interesting. He has the best fit for the blue uh the best fit for the Blue Jays, Kyle Tucker. Wow. Yeah. That that would be like a perfect off season for them after finishing. Well, assuming they lose Bett. Yeah, he has Bett going to Detroit. Wow, this is incredible retention from you. Great reading comprehension. Bette going to Detroit. Schwarber going to the Reds. That would be massive. Are you serious? Yeah. He Well, he thinks that would be a perfect off season. Not Not that he’s hearing that. You know what I mean? If Schwarber goes to the Reds, he will hit 60 home runs. No, it would be a video gameish. At least a year. He hit 60 homers. Yeah, I think he could do that for a year. Yes. This year? No. That just ruined my whole night. Um, Jed Hoyer spoke at the GM meetings. Here’s Doesn’t he have Doesn’t he have Ohio ties? He does. Yeah, he’s from there. Here’s a 52 cut from Jed Hoyer in Las Vegas at the GM meetings on what type of offseason we should expect. I think we’re going to have an active offseason. Take that for what it’s worth. I think that we’ll um, you know, I think the largest focus I think will be on pitching. I think that’s obvious is I look at our depth chart that you know I think we’re in in pretty good position on the position player side on the pitching side we’re thinner and so I think that’s going to be our focus and I expect to explore trades I expect to explore free agency both you know um at the top of the market but then also looking at you know you looking at you know for minorly free agency I thought you know I thought last year in a lot of ways like we you know gave boy a multi-year deal and then we got a lot value out of Brad Keller who was a minor league free agent and I think all of those trans you know Drew Pomearans we made a tiny trade for I think all of those transactions matter and so I expect to be really active in doing that you know I think on the on the pitching side more than the hitting side we get it right you’re going to trade for a pitcher and then you’re going to sign a a mid-level also pitcher and you’re going to grow internally offensively we all know it we everyone knows what you’re going to do. I thought it was somewhat ridiculous of a of a Oh, tell tell us why. That’s obvious. Well, how is it obvious? Cuz you didn’t do it in the summer get a starting pitcher. So, why is it obvious now? Well, I’m going to talk. You’re gonna have three guys who finish in the top 10 of MVP and you didn’t expound on that year. Is her gonna have another respectfully to her, is he going to be top 10 MVP next year? They’re going to do the same thing they always You don’t know that. They’re going to be late to react obviously. They’re not going to anticipate offensively. They’re just gonna go, “Hey, we had a great offense last year. We’ll be able to repeat it.” Listen, well, Hoyer Hoyer’s had three really bad deadlines. Candelario and uh José Quas in 23 in 23. I mean I mean that was awful. Um it was really bad. 24 he traded for Perees who couldn’t hit a home run here if he if he started batting from third base. I think that’s obvious. And then in 25, I mean, Kitridge was out was outstanding. Willie Castro, uh, take that for what it’s worth, you know, um, Rogers, you know, didn’t exactly come in here. He didn’t even pitch really and pitch like Billy Wagner, you know, and Sroa, you know, he wasn’t exactly the second coming of, I’ll say Tom Siver for the second time on this show. Sroa. Yeah, I just said Sroa. Oh my. Yeah, you weren’t listening. You know, um, you know, he I got caught up in the Billy Wagner analogy. Sroa didn’t come in here and become Nolan Ryan, right? You know what I mean? Got to do a bingo card of this show. Did Willie Castro have a hit from September historical reference would be a square. Did Did he have a hit the last two weeks, three weeks of the season? Well, he So, the last two weeks he only played like two games. I don’t All right, before we get out of here, I know we got to go. I want to do a quick Candelario and Willie Castro comp of their numbers when they came to the Cubs. Okay. Okay. That’s Yeah, that should be a great time. Okay, I have it right here. Okay. Uh Willie Castro as a Cub hit 170, right, with a 485 OPF and he didn’t play the whole last week and I think last two weeks of the year. Uh he was worth negative half of war wins above replacement. Um in 34 games he had one homer. Okay. Now when the candyman please Candelario as a cub he was he was a lot better. That’s why I said uh uh Castro made Candelario looked like Ted Williams. He had 234 uh with an OPS of 764. He had six homers in 41 games. Um I hope it is an active off season. actually thought Candelario’s numbers, those numbers are actually better than I thought. So, all right, we will be back tomorrow with the roster breakdown and uh I’ll be doing that. The Schwarber of the Reds things got me freaked out. Tribute. Yeah. No, it’s not great. He’ll be Babe Ruth. Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn’t be ideal, especially in the division. He’d hit a ball out of that stadium into Kentucky. Yeah. Oh, I don’t want I don’t want to do that. I that that that’s not going to happen. If if that happens, the Cubs should just out bid him. All right. Well, that’s a that sounds like a good spot to end it. Yeah. Okay. I’m sorry. I got carried away. He’s Sam Olber. I’m Matt Cozy. This is Lockdown Cubs, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Yeah, I really enjoy that.

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