NO TUCKER? Expect Caissie & Ballesteros | Layoffs at Cubs TV | Cubs Baseball Rumors

NO TUCKER? Expect Caissie & Ballesteros | Layoffs at Cubs TV | Cubs Baseball Rumors

Looks like the Cubs are going to give runway to develop to Owen Casey and Moyes Spysteros. Going to get into that why they could have done this last year, but is definitely news as far as the direction of this team and franchise moving forward. Marquee Sports Network laid off a huge group of people. Some of our friends involved in that. I want to give you my opinions on Marquee and the competitive balance draft picks announced. We see the list. Everyone in the division but the Cubs with one of those picks. So that means that the Cubs are spending money. Some of you guys always worried about that. Let’s talk about all those things right here. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, get in the comments section, make fun of the Cardinals, whatever you want to do. Let’s go. [Music] [Applause] [Music] What do you say everybody? Mick Gillespie, Cubs baseball channel and it is great to talk to you guys today. Hey, don’t forget about our Avenue D MC Nation right there. That’s a chance to win swag. That’s a chance to win prizes. It’s all free. It’s our web 3 home. Eventually, we’ll have a store there. Maybe these shows will be on there one day. It’s what we’re moving towards as we build that destination. All right, let’s talk together as a group about some of the things that are going on right now. And let’s start with this right here. Um, our friend Patrick Mooney with the Athletic basically put a story together and in that story talks about the prospects Owen Casey and Moyes Bisteros are in the game plan right now for the Cubs. Now, is this significant? I think it is because first off, the main question is, are we going to resign Kyle Tucker? Now, I think the Cubs are going to kick the tires on it. I don’t think they’re out of it. I said that yesterday. It’s not a done deal. They’re going to see where the market is. They’re going to see if he’s happy with that market. They’re they’re known for being creative if they can, but are they going to just go and pound out $400 million over the course of whatever amount of years for him? I don’t think that’s going to happen. So, I think for them to get him, things are going to have to kind of fall their way. So, they’re they’re in it. They like him. He likes Chicago. had a great time with the Cubs, but does that mean that he’s going to end up going somewhere else or staying? I think for the most part, I would guess that he’s going to go somewhere else. And then if you’re the Cubs, are you interested in the next option from him in free agency, Cody Bellinger? We already had Cody Bellinger. Me? You know, I don’t dislike Cody, but you traded him last year plus $5 million. I mean, think about what you could do with $5 million. All of you guys hanging out right here, how many of you guys have $5 million? That’s what the Cubs gave the Yankees to take this guy. Oh, by the way, had a better season or as good of a season as Kyle Tucker, the guy we got. Both guys had good seasons. I don’t see the Cubs making that move. So then the other move would be Owen Casey in the outfield with Sea Suzuki. I’m fine with that. Moyes Spysteros would be the other guy that you would use in the DH spot. I’m sure it’ll be some kind of deal where those all those three guys probably platoon between DH and the outfield. And there could be some other players involved in this too. But why didn’t we do this last year? Um I I I just kept wondering like where’s Owen Casey? Where’s Owen Casey? When Kyle Tucker got hurt, it took forever to get him up. I would have had him on the roster and I would have played him. There felt like a reluctance by Craig Councel to put him in the lineup. Maybe it was somebody else there that didn’t want to do it. It was like he was on the team but he wasn’t playing a lot. He’s a different guy than Pete Crow Armstrong. And what I mean by that is that his game’s going to work differently transitioning to the big leagues than Pete’s. He’s going to run into some balls. He’s going to strike out eventually. He’s just going to run into more balls, but he’s still going to strike out. He’s going to be one of those dudes who has the potential to be a 50 home run guy if he’s able to develop. And you look at what he’s done at every step of the minor leagues, it tells you that he’s got, you know, I I would say not quite Kyle Schwarber pop, but in that neighborhood. And that’s why I would love the Cubs to get Schwarber for Casey to kind of learn from. I would love to see that. I don’t know that that’s going to happen, you know, and I think that’s where we’re wondering right now because it feels like the Cubs are kind of signaling to us that they’re going to spend money on the pitching side and that’s great, but we need a third baseman. Um, or are we going to stay are we good with Shaw? You know that and and basically the right third baseman would be Bregman. And are the Cubs going to go after somebody to put in the middle of that lineup to replace Tucker since I don’t think they’re going to have him back, but there’s a chance, right? Would that be Kyle Schwarber? Would they be willing to go out there and make Schwarbs that guy? I don’t know. But this kind of tells me that the plan that they’re setting up, those guys might not be on the team. They may just go into the season with some minimal offensive upgrades. Obviously the downgrades you’re not going to have Tucker and then hope that these guys like Casey and Bisteros are ready to to stay in the big leagues because a lot of times you get up, you fail, you go back down. I mean it happened with Pete. It’s h it happens with a lot of great players. Anthony Rizzo famously. Go figure it out, you get back and and then you turn it around. It’s it’s a really tough transition and it’s gotten a lot tougher because the minor leagues are so watered down now. So we’ll see what happens. But I I just saw that and I’m like, “Okay, now this one I I want to tell you guys that I’m I’m not surprised by this. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the reasons I started this channel. Love the Cubs, love ownership. Um, you know, just on a personal level, forget about the baseball part of it. Been friends with these guys forever.” um you know was one of the first people that was involved with Marquee and I think that it’s got a lot of potential. I think that this is a gold mine because people love Cubs baseball. So when that channel reflects that, I think they’re going to start making money. But you’re these guys are gone because they’re not making money. this and I and the reason I put that up there is I basically copied and paste the the headline um from you know I think it was uh from Sports Illustrated Cubs page that basically people are worried about the the issues at Marquee affecting the Cubs spending on the big league roster. I don’t think those two things are translate. think that you you look at it and from the inception, Maris leadership hasn’t gotten it done because the product’s there. But you have to connect with people. You have to feel, you watch this channel every day. If you don’t connect with me, you’re probably not going to watch it, right? There are thousands and millions of Cubs fans. You have to give them something like Harry Kerry did a place to go every day to have a good time and watch their favorite team. Now watch that channel. Cubs get shut out one nothing and one of the female commentators is talking about puppies in the studio. I I don’t want to hear that. I don’t I don’t care about the puppies in the studio. Tell me how we can get two runs, you know? Like there’s a it’s it’s like ah come on, man. There’s a vibe that you’re trying to get to and it’s it’s getting the pause of people like me and you who have been Cubs fans forever, been a Cubs fan since the 80s. You know what I I I think that’s a big part of this. Now, the other side’s going to say, “Well, there’s a carriage issue. We couldn’t get on some of these stations and the market’s changing, you know, because you get digital and all this stuff.” I I feel badly for the people like Tony Andrachie who we’ve had on this channel and hopefully we’ll have on again, Andy Martinez, pros that work there that busted their ass and they don’t have a job, right? But it comes down to put like anything else, put a plan out there, execute it, find the right people, have them create an experience that people want to be a part of. And I’m telling you that from having to get home every day to watch Harry and Steve on WGN every day. Could not get there fast enough. I want to know what Harry’s saying. I want to know what Steve’s saying. Nobody’s a cheerleader for the Cubs. They’re fans. We’re all fans, but they’re being honest. You know, nobody wants to show up and and and hear somebody tell them something that they know is not true. Or the sunny side of things. I I had a guy, one of my friends that’s a huge Cubs fan. He’s like, “Well, there’s two kind of Cubs fans. There’s a Cubs fan that’s like been through it and always looking for the things to go wrong.” And I’m like, well, we all kind of feel like that because there seems to always be a Bartman until 2016, right? Uh, and then there’s, you know, kind of more of a casual Cubs fan. You know, hey, I’m going to go sit out in the bleachers and make a Cub Snake, and if we win, we win. And if we don’t, we don’t. You got to merge those two. And uh, I hope that this doesn’t signal the end of Marquee. I hope that this this just signals the beginning of a new era for Marquee because um watching high school guys broadcast high school football games and the commentators are like kids is not something that I’m going to watch. I don’t I don’t care about watching women’s soccer. I just don’t I want to watch the Cubs. I’d rather watch a whole season of the 1984 Cubs every day than watch that stuff. I mean, am I the only one? Like, I want to watch Rick Suckliffe mowing them down for for months. I want to see the Rhino game and I want to see the games before and after that. It just never felt like Marquee touched what we hoped it would. And and when I saw these layoffs, I I saw the the leadership was a big part of that. And I just hope that we kind of get back into this direction, making it a place where you feel good about watching and knowing that it’s the stuff you want to watch instead of just trying to find programming, the ancillary stuff. You know what that means? It’s like the the before and the after show. I mean, put this channel on there. I’ll come on at 4 in the morning, drink a beer, and talk about the game. Anyway, look, I everyone that got laid off, seriously, I wish them nothing but success. And in life, when things don’t go your way and they don’t often, and in this business, and in that business, you deal with a lot of of of bad characters. Um, and I’m not talking about the people that laid them off. I’m not talking about the Cubs. I’m just talking about broadcasting in general. I’ve met some of the worst humans in my life that are in leadership positions that run networks or that are the people that you’re supposed to be answering to. Look, this is what I’ve do. It’s what I’ve done. And you make a decision in your life like, I’m not going to work for somebody that’s miserable or that far out of touch. If these people that are going out there and finding a job, I just wish and hope that they find what they’re looking for. And I really do. And I think they will. You do in life, you know, like you get knocked down, you get back up. Uh, but from a purely baseball standpoint, I just don’t think that this is going to have an impact on what the Cubs are doing in the offseason. And the other thing is that it’s like watching this to me, I look at the Cubs and I see like your neighbor that’s got this 57 Chevrolet that’s all rusted out and beat up on blocks. And I’m thinking, you know, I got a cousin, it’s true, restores cars. He takes those cars and by the time he’s done with them, they look brand new and they’re worth a lot of money. That’s what the marquee is. It’s this is it is a valuable commodity, but they got to get that vibe back that WGN had in the day and build a whole channel like that. If they do, a lot of people are going to be making money and then you can take that money and buy better players. All right, last thing I want to get into and and and I know that this is one of those things, too. It’s like the competitive balance picks. This is when you lose your guys. Uh it’s part of the collective bargaining agreement and and they get taken by other teams free agency and then you get picks back, right? So, it’s it really is uh for smaller market teams, you know, it’s like a extra draft pick. And um what I found interesting in this is that the first round it’s the Guardians, Royals, Dbacks, Cardinals, Orioles, Pirates, and Rockies, right? And then in the second round of this, it’s the Brewers, Mariners, Tigers, Reds, Marlins, Rays, A’s, and Twins. So, our buddies with the Cardinals get the fourth pick in the first round of this. Our buddies with the Pirates get number six. Our buddies in the second round, the Reds get the fourth one and um the Brewers actually get that first pick in the uh in the round. So, everybody in the division gets a pick but us. But that also tells you that the Cubs are spending money that that they’re not afraid to go out there in free agency and and throw some cash down. So, just I mean, keep that in mind too, right? like it’s a bad thing because you know they’re going to get some good players with these picks. Uh and and the Milwaukee see all these teams have drafted well. I mean I can think about star players on each one of these teams that they’ve developed through their draft and and I see a lot of these guys with Cincinnati coming up the you know the Lollos and the Greens and you know and and other players there and then the Pirates. I mean, who could have missed on skins? But, you know, they’ve got some some ballers coming up and Milwaukee’s got a whole team. Every time they lose somebody, they get one of these picks. They sign somewhere else and then they end up being better somehow, right? Uh, and then there’s the Cardinals. I mean, it hasn’t really worked that great for them lately, but, you know, history shows that that they’re good at developing. So, whatever. Uh, that’s it for the show today. You guys tell me what you think. I want to know if you what you like and don’t like about Marquee. Do you like the games? Do you like the the playbyplay of the games? Do you do you do you watch some of the shows? There’s the the one show that they do where they go they they have commentators sit in the studio and talk about the minor league games and then they’ll go like kind of flash to the different minor league games. You do you like that? Um, you know, are you a fan of the high school kids and maybe some of you guys are the high school kids calling the high school games on Friday? I think we all like the Bears stuff. Everybody’s kind of all got Bears Mania right now. A pretty good one. Uh, I I thought that they could do that reporter show that they used to have where they’d get all the reporters together and let them punch each other with like a big debate show. Um, you know, some stuff you like, some stuff you don’t like. Is it hard for you to get, you know, is it is it one of those things that you have at your house or you don’t have at your house? Um, you know, I I wonder for our international audience, is it hard to get, you know, for our friends in Venezuela, our friends in Japan, is it hard for you guys to get Cubs content in your own language or does it translate here? You know, would you like to have more of that stuff? But let me let me know what you guys think. Uh, like, subscribe, thumbs up. Thank you for being here as always and uh we’ll do it again tomorrow. Uh, and also, hey, don’t forget this. If you’re planning your next vacation and you’re looking for something good to do, uh, think about the Smoky Mountains. I’m excited about seeing the Smoky Mountains. I’m going there in a couple weeks. I’m going to see the, uh, all the Christmas lights. The the the run all the way through February. They leave them up. So, you get to go through the mountain. Uh, the the holiday light scene is amazing. You know, maybe we’ll get a little bit of snow, but it’s a beautiful place. And, uh, you hit Severeville on your way in. Don’t forget about the the great people in Severeville. Check it out. And uh go Cubs. When you head to the Smoky Mountains, it’s only natural to visit Severeville. 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 smokers start here. [Music] [Music]

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This Episode:
– Cubs will give prospects Owen Caissie & Moisés Ballesteros “runway to develop”
– Marquee Sports Network Layoffs Spark Worry About Cubs’ Offseason Spending?
– Competitive Balance Draft Picks

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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