NICO’S TRADE VALUE | Cubs Baseball Rumors

NICO’S TRADE VALUE | Cubs Baseball Rumors

So far this off season, the Cubs lost show Ianaga. No, they didn’t. He accepted a qualifying offer. The left-hander is back. They added Phil Maton. Two-year deal club option. Pretty good back-hand bullpen guy. What’s the next move going to be? Can the Cubs find the money to sign Kyle Tucker? What if they don’t? I know Justin Steel and Kate Horton are going to return. That’s something that we could talk about. But what I want to get into today is the potential that the Cubs could trade Nicoer. He’s in a contract year. You know that they don’t want to pay him a bunch of money because they’ve got other guys that they feel like could slide into that spot. But he’s one of your favorite players. Let’s get into that right here on the Cubs baseball channel. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, hit the bell, and let’s get this party started. [Music] [Applause] [Music] We say everybody, Mick Gillespie, Cubs baseball channel. Great to talk to you guys today. Hit that QR code right there and win one of these sweet hat. I got my other hat on, but I I should wear this one. Boom. You can get one. Hit that QR code. Be part of MCN Nation Avenue D. We talk about it every day on the channel. It’s our web three home and uh all we’re doing is building this thing for you guys. It’ll be a spot where you can get to a store eventually, do all this other stuff. Right now though, we got games, weekly cash prizes, way to win stuff. So, be part of it. And again, thank you for hanging here and talking Cubs on a daily basis. And you guys make this worth doing. I want to say that. I love you all for that. I know when I said that Nicoer could be on the trade block, some of you guys immediately were like angry, like no way. You can’t give up the one guy that we rely on uh in a trade when we finally have a a player that’s good in the clutch, brings a lot to the table, won a gold glove, he’s one of the best players on the team. How could you get rid of this guy? Think about the double play combination. Danby Swanson, Nicoer, right? Michael Bush. Well, here’s what the speculation. Well, it really starts with, you know, when you see guys um that, you know, like like uh that that want to say, “Hey, wait a second.” Right? Here’s where the the deal could possibly make sense, right? Mark Feinstein, who’s uh an MLB insider, basically was like, “Look, the the Cubs have Nicoer, and he’s in the final year of a three-year $35 million extension that he signed in March 23. They’re probably not going to trade him, but if he they did trade him, they could get a lot for him, right? And they don’t know and we don’t know like what his value is going to be at the end of the season. But here’s the deal. If they don’t feel like they want to put the money in for a guy, and I know that the knock against him is that he doesn’t hit for power, and he barrels the ball up, but he never developed power. I don’t I don’t know why. I guess like the exit VO or whatever. Uh but he gets on base a ton. He’s great in the clutch. He’s he’s an excellent defender. The value would be say you go out and you sign Alex Bregman. Then you take Matt Shaw, you trade him, you get I mean uh excuse me, you you trade Nicoer who’s got more value than Matt Shaw right now. You slide Matt Shaw to second base, which is, I think, a more natural position for Shaw than third base, and you could get something good back for Nico, and then, you know, whoever got him would get an excellent second baseman. I’m not telling you guys that that’s what what they’re going to do. I’m saying that they could do that. There’s a logic there to building a roster. And the second base position, you got other guys, James Triantos could potentially play second base. Um, Pedro RmIrez could potentially play second base guys in your minor leagues on top of Matt Shaw. You just don’t have a lot of third base options that an Alex Bregman would bring if the Cubs decided to sign him, which is a potential deal that could happen. And Nico is a player that if I was a executive on a opposing team that I would love to have. does things the right way, shows up, he’s a baller, he’s a he’s a dirt bag, you know, like he’s going to get dirty, play the game the right way, and that’s a compliment in the game of baseball if you didn’t know that. He’s one of my favorite Cubs. He’s one of my favorite players that that came up through our system. Know Nico for a long time. I’d hate to see him go, but I’m just saying like from a business standpoint, it makes sense if you got the right deal back in return. And for Cubs fans, they’re looking at it or we’re looking at it. You better bring in an Alex Bregman if you’re going to get rid of Nicoer. Don’t pull this. Well, we’re not signing anybody over there. We’re going to keep Shaw there. We’re going to trade Nico and then we’re going to bring a guy up from the minor leagues with no experience to replace Nico. If you’re going to win now, you got to have big leaguers that are ready to go. And I feel like Shaw’s I think Shaw’s ready to have a big season. I really do. I mean, after watching him last year, maybe a year ahead of where I probably predicted he would be as far as the major leagues go, and he held his own. He He’s got a great discipline of the strike zone. He got hot there. He’s one of the best hitters towards the second half of the season after the All-Star break for a while. Uh didn’t do a whole lot in the postseason, but was it was really solid defensively. He’s going to give you more pop than Nico. I don’t know that he’ll get more hits and be on base more than Nico. I don’t think he’ll be better defensively than Nico, but I don’t think it that that that the drop off would be here. This is something to keep an eye on, you know. And the other part of it is that until the next year’s player owners deals done, it’s going to be interesting to see what some team owners do as far as making deals because this is going to be pretty contentious. Uh we’ve talked about it before. You know, you remember the Bryce Harper situation with uh Rob Manfred and and apparently he tried to kick him out of the of the clubhouse. Very disrespectful. And then one of Manfred’s guys, you know, one of his hitmen went over and basically he’s like, “Hey, it’s a bad idea to talk to the commission like that, if you know what I mean. Bad things happen.” Allegedly, right? Th This is going to get rough. So until that’s done, some some ownership is probably going to be and I don’t know if that’s going to be the deal with Tom Ricketts or not, but they’re going to probably be a little bit conservative on on the kind of deals that that happen. So that something worth kind of paying attention to. But when I look at the Cubs this past season, they finished exactly where I thought they would probably finish. win a wildcard round, come up short in the next round. They didn’t have enough pitching and they didn’t have enough hitting, but they weren’t that far off. You know, they were a couple of of big-time players from getting there. I think if they would have brought Owen Casey up earlier, he could have helped them in the postseason. I think they totally mismanaged the the Owen Casey situation because they and then when he finally got there, he got hurt. So, part of that’s bad luck. But look, would they have even used him? He didn’t had he not had the concussion issue? I don’t think so. He should have been up there way earlier. Um, and then, you know, they didn’t go out and do anything major at the deadline. And a lot of you guys were on their ass for that. And I don’t blame you. Like, why not? You know, if you’re all in, then you’re all in. If you’re not, you’re not. So, we’ll see. But, do I expect a Nicoer trade? No. But I could see it coming. And if they sign Bregman and he it’s a long-term deal and they’re looking at the financials down the road, they may say, “Hey, you know what? For the to be able to pay him, we’re going to get rid of Nico now. We’ll get something back for him. We’ll put Matt Shaw in that spot. If he doesn’t do it, we’ll have Tontos. Maybe we’ll sign a bunch of guys like they love to do off the scrap heap from other organizations that play second base.” They’ll have other options there. They just won’t have probably someone as well-rounded as Nico. Now, the second thing I want to get into is Ryan Hley. We just did a a show where we were like, “Hey, maybe all you Cardinals fans will hate Ryan Hley because he’s pitching with the Cubs.” And we know him from the Cardinals. He was really good. And then he gets traded to the Mets and he stunk. And Baltimore had to make a decision just like every other team. What Hellsley are you going to get? Are you going to get the a the Cardinals Hellley or are you going to get the Mets Hley? And Baltimore felt like obviously they were getting the late inning guy that we saw with the Cardinals and he ends up with a two-year contract with the Orioles, right? And a pretty big deal when you talk about a reliever. Two years, $28 million. It includes a player opt out after the first year. So that’s for a, you know, for a player, that’s exactly what they want, right? Like, hey, guess what? If I have a good year, I can get out. We saw Alex Bregman do that with the Red Sox. Didn’t get quite the deal he wanted. But this is an early signing, too. I mean, the the the we’re only uh we’re not even the Christmas yet. And so, a couple of big-time pitchers off the board, and you can tell right away that pitching’s at a premium. Dylan CE signs with the Blue Jays. American League East contender and rival Baltimore goes out and get Ry gets Ryan Helley to try to shure up their team. And if they’re going to compete with Toronto in what was what some of us might feel like the toughest division in baseball now that you got Toronto, Baltimore’s got a ton of talent. The Yankees are always good and the Red Sox. I mean that’s four of the five teams and Tampa Bay might come up and surprise you. I mean it’s it’s a really really tough division. So for Baltimore to go out there, small market team, and and make a signing like this really tells you that um that they feel like they’re going to have to jump on things early to make sure that they get someone that can go in there and get outs in the late innings. So when you talk about the Cubs and and I kind of talk got into this at the beginning of the show, like where are we at right now? Well, you know, Shota Ianaga uh the and the Cubs both kind of turned down that first round and then Shota took the qualifying offer. He’s back on the team. You know, what does that mean to the rotation? Because it feels like the Cubs are still very interested in adding a top front end arm. Uh would that mean if they did that, they go and trade one of these guys? I don’t know. But Justin Steel and Kate Horton, their two best pitchers, ended the season on the IIL. It was for Steel most of the year. and Horton right at the end of the season. Uh they’re they’re gonna hopefully be back and ready to go for the Cubs when the season starts. Um you know, what can the Cubs do to try to catch up with Milwaukee? You know, we keep hearing about Milwaukee having issues spending money and they always seem to find a good option. you know, the Cubs are going to try to do the same thing. Like, what can we do financially to take advantage of the fact that we got more money than every other team in our division? And then what are we going to do to try to build within, right? How can we go out there and find talent from within our system and take advantage of that? So, there’s two areas where, you know, you look at things and go, “Okay, this is where the the Cubs could could make some moves.” And, you know, it’s been a quiet off season. I don’t want to say it hasn’t, but every time someone comes off the board like a Hell’s, you know, it puts you in a spot as the Cubs to look around and go, “Okay, you know, how late do we wait, right? Are we going to sign Devin Williams? Are we going to sign Pete Fairbanks? Are we going to, you know, we’re going to bring back Brad Keller? Um, what are we doing here? You know, how much money are we going to invest in bullpen arms?” you know, and and what if we do and we get a guy that that comes in and gets hurt right away, you know, and that happens with these guys. So, all of that in consideration as we move forward and and and kind of wonder and then and then there’s the, you know, the the rotation guys, right? Right. Dylan CE off the board, Shane Bieber off the board, right? What about Nick Martinez, Zack Allen, Mel Kelly? You know, like there’s some guys out there, but how willing are you to make that investment? Do you do you take care of the bullpen first and then go back and add that starter? That’s another question. So anyway, that’s where we are right now. Uh we’re we’re closing in on the month of December, and that’s that’s crazy to me. I mean, just to think like Thanksgiving’s over and now we’re rolling towards December. That means we’re going into 2027. Is that true? Man, it’s crazy how fast life goes by. You know, it really is. So, anyway, um like, subscribe, thumbs up, hit the bell, do all those things. And uh thank you guys for being here. Go Cub. And I know you got to hit 2026 first, but I’m just saying like I don’t want to end this show saying 26 and then you guys being like, “What? What about 27? You said 27. You mean 26?” We’re getting there. 27 is the year where you get these the the the player contracts with the ownership’s going to be interesting. Anyway, thank you. Uh hey, and the last thing I want to tell you is now that we’re here and we’re closer and closer to the Christmas the Christmas season, I’ve got a trip planned for the Smoky Mountains, check out the Christmas lights, do all that stuff. You guys need to do the same thing. Visit Severeville has you covered. Visit severeville uh.com. all you need to know about the great Christmas lights, the Christmas tour, Shadri’s Christmas, everything for the holidays. Even if you’re not uh Christian, if you’re Jewish, hey, you’ll love it, too. It’s a great place in the Smoky Mountains. Um, check it out. And while you’re there, hey, maybe you’ll run into a bird that talks like this one. When you head to the Smoky Mountains, it’s only natural to visit Sevirville. 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. Wa! Your smoke is start here. [Music]

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This Episode:
– Nico Hoerner on the Trade Block?
– Orioles Scoop Up Ryan Helsley
– Off Season Review

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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