Winter Meetings Preview: Will the Cubs make a splash?

Winter Meetings Preview: Will the Cubs make a splash?

[Music] Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Network’s Cubs podcast. I’m Save Chararma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, we had a little bit of I don’t know if it’s news. It’s a interesting uh bit of of information that that you and I have been gathering. I think we kind of, you know, we we had an inkling about it when we recorded the other day and, you know, the the way we are is we we we prefer to get a little bit more confident about that information that we have. And we did and yet again for the second winter in a row, the Cubs are in on Alex Bregman or at least showing interest in Alex Bregman. We’ve talked so much about pitching. That remains the focus. that is a priority. But I think it’s important for Cubs fans to know like it they’ve been clamoring. We’ve seen the questions that they have when we’ve done mailbag episodes that they’re like they’re not going to do anything on offense. They’re just going to sit on their hands. It doesn’t appear that that the Cubs are sitting on their hands. Whether they get something done is a different uh question. But, uh, yet again, Alex Bregman, third base, uh, trying to upgrade on offense. Uh, there’s interest there. Bregman’s opt out clause is a great gift to us of, you know, right just we thought we were out, they pull us back in. Uh, it’s hard to believe. I mean, that was still within the same calendar year here of, you know, February. Yeah. uh Bregman saga dominated the uh beginning of camp and here we are. Here we go again. Look, I don’t I’m not making any sort of guarantees here. Uh but it is telling that the Cubs are showing renewed interest that they are a part of the Bregman conversation again which shows like you said Sahare that they’re not planning to simply run it back. Um maybe in the end they do more of a complimentary move uh or two, but this is an acknowledgment that Kyle Tucker’s loss, anticipated loss will be felt, that they need some presence, a little more stability. all the reasons why they wanted Bregman in the first place going back to uh you know last off season and into spring training. And I do think it’s interesting when you look at this team and how many contracts are falling off the books after this season. Uh you know how many players who are not on guaranteed deals uh beyond 2026. It’s basically Danby Swanson as the only position player. like Reggman was viewed as a unique fit for this group as a really sound long-term investment and that is still the calculation now and if you’re trying to project you know a Cubs opening lineup in 2027 assuming there is a 2027 season after a work stoppage like I don’t know will that opening day be like fourth of July like we we’ll see how that goes But I think they’re going to need players and he is that two-way type that they really have valued highly over the last couple years. Yeah. And you know, they need a right-handed bat. You could like that. Just very simply put, you you could use a a right-handed bat in this lineup. There’s two lefties are the young guys in Bias and Casey. Uh it doesn’t impede their uh playing time. Uh, I guess you could question, you know, what are they going to do with Matt Shaw? Uh, look, they need to improve their bench, too. Like, that’s part of what they need to do. Uh, he’s not a he’s not a finished product. Uh, it could you could make the argument that it’s impeding his development. Uh, but he he’s going to play and and and Bregman uh adds a lot to the team off the field as well. He’s he’s a guy that can help a guy like Baseros, help a guy like Casey, help a guy like Shaw, all these young guys, PCA, all of them. He’s he could be like impactful and productive on the field. I I think it’s it makes a lot of sense in a lot of different ways. No doubt. And when you’re looking at this, you can’t just look at what it means for Matt Shaw on like April 1 next year. It is thinking about what if the Cubs don’t stay as healthy next year. What if there’s an oblique strain, you know, more lower half injuries, you know, freak play on on the bases, guy gets hit by a pitch, like they were exceptionally healthy last year and banking on that to happen again is probably not uh a great strategy. You have players who can move around and this is obviously getting ahead of ourselves, but obviously Nico can move to short when needed. Match played multiple positions in college and in the minors. You know, Bregman, that was a whole drama in Boston of uh you know, whether he’d move off third or not, like as he ages, you he does have some experience u at second base. uh his bat is more than enough to you know justify him being a DH occasionally and just you know that’ll be an interesting part I think of this winter meetings for us of like there’s obviously stuff you have to do right now but also just looking ahead of planning and trying to avoid that cliff that could be coming after 2026. Yeah. One thing it that I got a couple questions about and it’s something that I wondered even you know a couple years ago. I’ve been I’ve been wondering about how much does Bregman benefit from playing in Houston? Uh and and you know what I you know he obviously then he went to Boston a similarly set up ballpark. Uh you know easier for righties to hit the ball out there. I think the to with the research that I’ve done and the talking to people with the Cubs uh that that’s not as big of an impact as some may think. Uh in particular, I think the comparison would be Isach Paretis verse Alex Bregman. And uh Pettis is the type of guy that hit like wall scrapers to the extreme pull side like right down the line. And that’s harder at Wrigley Field for for multiple reasons, but in particular, it’s the deepest uh foul pole in baseball, like the p from pole on the poles, but it kind of goes in at the in the alleys for the like at Wrigley Field. So, right center and left center is actually the most shallow in baseball. And that’s kind of more Bregman’s game. And I think that’s why it wouldn’t be uh you know a big impact on his performance. And just looking at like you know the the statcast numbers if you go to uh baseball so savant and check out like what his home runs would be at other ballparks he would have actually had more home runs at Wrigley this past season than at Fenway. Like it’s just because of that uh left center gap being so shallow. That’s a huge benefit for a guy like Bregman and I think he could take advantage of that. And you know, I not saying like it’d be as beneficial as Houston. Uh that’s that’s a you know, for right-handed hitters, it’s just like if he could pull the ball in Houston, like what what a dream. Uh but it is uh it I don’t think it would impact his power numbers significantly to the point where it’s a major concern. Yeah, I don’t want to step on your toes here as our resident weather conspiracy expert ameritus, but broadly speaking, we don’t know how Wrigleyfield is going to play from one year to the next. The Cubs certainly don’t. But by reputation at least, uh it has been a little friendlier to right-handed hitters or at least more of the grumbling or kind of the puzzlement has been coming more from left-handed hitters at least yeah anecdotally. So if you remove that as an obstacle and also not just Bregman just in general with players like they don’t really care as much about the ballpark stuff if they have the long-term deal right and we don’t know what a long-term deal will look like for Bregman um one year older um from you know coming into this season but like yeah maybe Wrigley isn’t the greatest platform place if you’re say a left-hand hitter on a one-year deal trying to reestablish your value. But if you’re a right-handed hitter who’s viewed as a winner, a clubhouse leader, uh a two-way force, like I’m guessing you just want to get paid and set up, you know, kind of for most of or if not all of the rest of your career. Yeah, I I think it makes a ton of sense. I I think uh you know for those clamoring for the Cubs to be in the market for a bat uh this should at least appease some of them. We’ll you know I I don’t think they’re the leaders. We we haven’t gotten any indication that they’re uh you know close to signing him or anything like that. It’s just the fact that there’s interest. Uh I don’t think it should be ignored. I think it’s important and and it’s a it’s something that we we kind of have to reiterate that look, the Cubs are going to be active this winter and they’re going to be going after pitching, but they aren’t ignoring the offensive side of the ball. Uh they they need to add they, you know, maybe like you said in earlier, they don’t have to add an impact bat. maybe they end up kind of adjusting around the margins, but this this would be one of the more significant additions they could make to this lineup. Um, in general, I think this is going to this this week that we’re heading into, we we leave for Orlando on Sunday. Uh, I think we’re going to start seeing some movement, whether it’s directly related to the Cubs or just in baseball. I think it’s it’s about to get active. Uh and and the Cubs, we keep hearing that, you know, this is this there’s a different feeling around the Cubs than previous off seasons. Uh the Cubs are looking to spend more or be more aggressive with their spending uh than they have in previous winters. I that doesn’t mean that they’re going to we said this last episode, they’re not the Mets and they’re not the Dodgers, but there’s a little bit more activity and we’re just hearing their name a little bit more. Yeah, I can’t wait for the uh banner raising of, you know, talking to uh agents about better players or uh you know, different vibes in the front office. But at this point, that’s kind of what we have to go on. And it’s not nothing. Uh it is an indicator of, you know, where the roster is at. Uh where this front office is at. I think the the perception of the Cubs uh is in a pretty good spot right now. Again, not Mets, Dodgers, Phillies, Blue Jays. uh which is frustrating for Cubs fans to hear, but they have some resources. They have some financial flexibility and they have some like obvious areas that they have to attack and our understanding is they are aware of that and are working towards that. We don’t know if the the big move will come in Orlando, but just with the pace of the market with some of these relievers coming off the board, you’ve seen some some trades. Uh I think you could start to see some of that, you know, actually coming to fruition for the Cubs. That’s not a like uh dropping a secret hint that like we know a move is about to happen, but just if you kind of observe and listen and pay attention like things are things usually pick up around this time. Yeah. And you know, it it could be something smaller. Uh they could just start by I mean, we’ve started to see like the the minor league signings trickle in. It had been a little while. Uh the Cubs usually make a bunch of those early on and they didn’t make one until we got the the uh Scott Kingry text uh and and and learned that uh that they’d signed him to a minor league deal and I noticed another one the other day or maybe uh on Thursday they they made him a smaller move. Uh, and those those are the types of things I think they’re going to do a ton of. And and while we won’t have any clue because it’s just hard to know which one of those are going to impact, but almost assuredly one of those smaller moves that none of us talk about that we probably won’t even mention in this podcast is going to like impact the team in some significant fashion because I don’t think we mentioned Brad Keller until March when he was throwing 98 in in spring training. Uh but but that’s how it it it should be. You need to find some under the radar guys that nobody else is really paying attention to, but it you know uh they’re also going to it sounds like they’re still active in the relief market and you know they made one significant addition there and they’re they’re not kind of done in that realm. And I think in general pitching remains the the the biggest focus and and really like kind of what we were talking about from the moment the season ended. Uh swing and miss and like stuff uh both in the starting rotation in the bullpen. I think they want more of that and I think they’re they’re looking to add that to their roster. I’m dating myself here. And I I think it happened at a win a long ago winter meetings, but talking to kind of a scout about, you know, prospect team was interested in or some kind of what if draft type stories. And the response was like a fishing analogy of like you got to get them on the boat. meaning it’s it’s great to be have your lines in the water and like be engaged on this stuff, but you got to you got to bring them in. And I think this is that moment for the Cubs of like you built this team to this point. We saw what Wrigley Field was like in October. There are these obvious areas that you have to upgrade. Like it is for us exhausting to constantly be like, “Well, Cubs are interested in player X, but he’s probably going to sign with another team because the Cubs don’t have the baseball budget for it.” Like, which in certain cases, yes, okay, like Wanoto’s contract was just ginormous. All right, fine. like if you don’t want to do that, but it just happens so often uh over the last couple years that it’s just it’s just kind of tiring to cover to be honest with you. And so I think like now is that moment where you know whether it’s Bregman or not uh whether it’s you know Emi, Michael King, Zack Gallon, we’re not really sure where what Framber’s market looks like. Uh, but there are interesting names out there. There are ways to like turn up this team and like they got to do it. I think Jed sometimes, you know, likes to downplay expectations. You know, one of the first answers during that first media session, the GM meetings, he was talking about, you know, we’re going to be aggressive in minor league signings. And like that would have been the perfect quote to just put on Twitter just to troll Cubs fans. But it’s like yeah, you have to do everything. And the Cubs sort of taking themselves out of the top of the market for years. You like you would think at some point that would sort of swing back the other way and would allow them to kind of get back into that deep end. There’s it is kind of setting up well for the Cubs in a sense too. A there’s no insane uh bidding war for a Wanoto or Shoi Otan Otani type to to kind of make it to to enrage the fans like they’re not even trying for this very obvious fit or I guess they did try for show but you know that like it was kind of fat comple there. Uh, but there’s not that guy. You you could argue it’s Kyle Tucker, but you know, I think Cubs fans have been prepared for his departure for a while. Uh, it’s also it doesn’t seem like it, from what I’ve heard and and gathered, like it doesn’t seem like other organizations are being as aggressive as as they have in previous winters outside of Toronto. uh there’s no crazy spender this this winter. Uh that kind of works in the Cubs favor where they can kind of stay in on all these uh you know players that they’re interested in and and perhaps reel one in. Um and and and and like getting back to the fact that there are players that kind of fit that, you know, that that aren’t going to break the budget. I I think Michael King is kind of the the perfect example of that. uh like a better uh Matthew Boyd or Yeah, like a higherend Matthew Boyd. He’s he’s probably going to cost more. I He’s definitely going to cost more than Matthew Boyd. Uh but uh he has this he’s not going to in all likelihood it’s not going to be like this five or sixyear deal. It doesn’t seem like maybe if the market is robust enough for him, it pushes to there. these things can always change and and it you know you just don’t want to make complete assumptions there but he’s not he doesn’t seem like a break the bank type uh pitcher and and I think that’s kind of like right in the Cubs wheelhouse especially with the upside that he has like he has the potential to be exactly what they’re looking for someone that can compete and look like a number one at times someone that strikes a ton of guys out uh and and could be a little undervalued because you know, of his injury history. Uh, but that also gives some benefit of like like Boyd, it’s like, well, he doesn’t have a ton of mileage on his arm and it’s like maybe his best years are ahead of him. Maybe the Cubs see some ways that they can keep him healthy and and keep him fresh. Uh, he seems like a really good fit. Uh but you could make the the same argument in my opinion for like like MI could be a really good fit in and gallon. uh if they especially if they see like fixes for Gallon or or or if there are ideas for like this is what went wrong and you can get them back to the previous version of Gallon at a potentially discounted price for maybe not you know he’s a Scott Boris client so you’re not getting him for cheap but uh you’re still you’re not paying what it would have cost to get Zack Allen two three years ago. Yeah. And I think this is where so using the the infrastructure term sometimes people probably roll their eyes but like look they’ve they’ve done a good job of identifying these starting pitchers Matthew Boyd Jameson Tyion Shota IA uh how they helped Justin Steel turn the corner here and again you’re looking at probably wanting to invest a little bit in the long term. term of Tyion, Shota, Boyd all potentially becoming free agents after the 2026 season. I guess Colin Reo has a club option, but obviously he’s in his what, late 30s now? Mid to late 30s. Kate Horton, you had a good story on him the other day of like what he is becoming, could become. The evolution uh of his game has been very impressive, but there’s not a ton of workload to kind of um maybe I think that that lack of workload I should say is probably going to give you a little bit of pause of like what is this going to look like? hopefully he just stays healthy and doesn’t have to deal with that, but that’s usually not how it works. So, yeah, I think any of these guys you’re looking at, you know, kind of a potential playoff caliber starter over, you know, a multi-year window. Yeah, we’ll we’ll be digging into that over the course of the next seven days and and really, you know, the rest of this month and and uh into next year. Uh but but we expect things to to kind of pick up over the coming days. Uh like I said, we’re we’re heading to Orlando for the winter meetings on Sunday. We’ll have a couple shows for you from there. Uh hopefully with some news certainly with some news around the league like there’s something’s going to happen and I’m sure the dam will break and and and there will be a lot of action uh in the coming days as we we head into the full swing of the hot stove season. All right, this is North Side Territory. Thanks so much for listening. Make sure to rate, review, and subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening, everyone. Take care. [Music] here.

Before traveling to Orlando for baseball’s annual offseason convention, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney share what they’re hearing about the Cubs and where the expectations should be set right now. The two beat writers from The Athletic are reporting that the Cubs are back in the mix for Alex Bregman. What does that mean for Matt Shaw and the club’s wide-ranging search for pitching? Find out on North Side Territory, the place for the latest news on the Cubs all offseason.