Cade Horton Should Get The Ball Opening Day for Chicago Cubs!

0:00Who should get the ball March 26th opening day at Rigley Field for your Chicago Cubs? You are locked on Cubs. Your daily Chicago Cubs podcasts, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day. You are Lockdown Cubs from the Lockdown podcast networked on the number one sports podcast network. We are your team every day. I'm Sam the Sam over. He's back cozy and we are lifelong fans taking our passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs. This episode of Lockdown Cubs is brought to you by MLB the show 26 visit MLB the dot show slash locked on and use code locked on to unlock a pack for use in diamond dynasty pre order now available March 17th on PlayStation five Xbox and Nintendo switch rated E for everyone. We've got a pack show for you today some WBC

1:04updates some cubbies are showing out in the exhibitions for team USA Jed Hoyer spoke on that podcast Matt what's it called with John Heyman and Joel Sherman. I have it in front of me. I think it's called the show. Yeah, I think it's called the show. Yeah, I think that's right. Oddly enough. Oddly enough. And I want to start to see you by the way. Yeah, it's good to see you. You were in a bear shirt today after they found out their center will not be playing the best one of the best players left to do. You know, Go Hawkeyes against I believe Nebraska this weekend. They could really help out Illinois if they beat them. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. But let's start with who gets the ball in opening day. Now, you know, you floated out about all five names already. You started out with Tyone. I think you Yeah, that was an explicable. Yeah, you moved to boy, you moved to Horton. I actually, I typically don't think that this matters. But for the sake of the show, I actually have a fairly strong opinion on this, but I'd like to hear yours first. Yeah, so at this point, I've adjusted,

2:11like as you point out, I have adjusted my my thought process on this originally it was Tyone because I thought it would be a nice reward in a way for for his playoff heroism. But you were also thinking ahead to save some bullets for guys too when you said that. Yeah, I put the rotation order to lead off the the year at one point. I think shorter should be fifth to to that example, just to give him more elbow room to start the year with the amount of off days they have, which isn't a crazy thing. But I think it's got to be the runner up to the rookie of the year. It's it's one of the best pictures in the second half close last last year. And they're the dude that that put up the two six seven ERA in 23 games and is doing things, you know, for the first time since would prior Big Z and others at at this scope of his career and Kate Horton and I think Matthew Boyd has a good case for it.

3:14Curious to see how Mark Dorosa and team USA use him and we'll discuss that more later as well. He had an excellent year last year. Shoot, he was an all star. He's revered in the clubhouse. But I think for multiple reasons admittedly, yes, the show and the buzz around opening day, which this year I feel like is going to feel more like a holiday, especially with my my limited spring training watching either by choice or by Marquis choice. I think it's going to feel that much bigger and coming off the year that they had and to align with that and given the performance, I'm going with Horton. It's beautifully said. I have a pretty strong opinion on this and I think it needs to be Kate Horton. This is where sometimes this show I agree with everything you said. I'll just put some emphasis on it.

4:18It doesn't matter that much and I know council's going to if council are watching this show, he'd say it doesn't matter. And we're going to talk a little bit later about Jed Hoyer, who by the way might be watching the show because he shares a lot of our opinions. Anytime you want to come on, Jed. Hand the ball to Kate Horton and say, this is your ball club. I just I want to see him on opening day and let me let me say this. We didn't get a chance to see him pitch in the post season. And that felt like we all him everybody missed out on that. So come back and make a statement and say, you're going to be on the mound for the big games for this ball club this season. You're the opening day guy. We believe in you. It's not a knock on void. It's probably my guess is it's 50-50 between one of those two guys whoever doesn't get one will get two. I think Cabrera will go that that Sunday. But I he looked pretty good today. By the way, I watched watches out and

5:20missed missed some pitches here and there. But he looked good. I just think Horton deserves it. I think it's just kind of a statement to him to say, hey, you're young. You don't have a lot of innings on your belt. This and this. But we want you to be the ace of the staff because alongside Cabrera, he has the highest ceiling of the guy starting a year. And I just think it should be him. And to be honest with you, and this again, this is just my opinion. It might sound a little wild. I'll be a little bit more excited for opening day if he's starting than I would with Boyd. It just adds a little layer to it like our young stud getting the ball. You know, second and rookie of the year, I think he should have won it. And he's on the map. It's a Thursday. It's a Thursday 120, right? Correct. You know, and you know, they're playing a bat. Thursday the 26th. And he should dominate the snow. And I've been saying that for months. And they should sweep the net seriously.

6:24But open, but it would just be a, it just adds to the buzz. And again, not a knock on Boyd. I don't think there was anybody more team boy than me last year. I don't really think he cares particularly. I don't think any of these guys care. But it's just more of a, you know, Kay Horton could be a cub forever. You know, he could be, he could be a really special player. And how cool would it be to have him on the mound? You know, Pete right behind him in center field. You know, the, the future that comes in opening day, I just, I just think it should happen. Yeah. And by a steroids, getting a opposite field double in the gap, his first a B bat and a thousand, you know, he didn't, you know, you know, he didn't look half bad behind the plate today. He looked pretty comfortable. The brews ran all over him, but the brews run all over everybody. So you think he should catch more? No, I'm just, just pointing it out. And by the way, this will, this will, I know you, I know you, this is going to get a reaction out of you. In the first two winnings of the game, he had three successful challenges as catcher.

7:28That's a lot. Yeah, I told you you'd react to that. Wow. Yeah, I was actually the first one and a third. Well, that's, that's a good sign and just his knowledge of his own. Absolutely. And his own catching and framing. Absolutely. That's what I thought. Absolutely. But I just, I, I think it's, I think it's good. I think it's fun. Like this year, like let's, let's, the whole theme of this year, and we're going to talk about this in a second with Jed. There's, there's a little go for it. It's what? Let's do it. Should we do it? Yes. It's one is what? The theme is what? But no, yeah, right. We could, we could do better than that. Who's on first? Anyway, boyd was 12 and one at Riggly last year. Well, he'll be pitching it Riggly on Saturday. That's that they don't, you know, they don't go back. It's not like an, uh, an old school horn boy, Cabrera, Tyone Shoda. Yes. Maybe Ray Shoda.

8:33That's how I would go. That's how I would start. Yeah. Or, or, um, I probably go show to Tyone. What's interesting about that though, no, but I know we're, we're having fun as we always do, but that means Horton would also close the homestand in the sixth game of the year against the Angel. So I, I like that. And then, and then steel comes back later on. You skip Horton, you know, you know, or something, you'll get them every now and then. Yeah. What do you want him to throw this year? Like 140 innings? He's right around there. Yeah. I need to think about that still, but it sounds like a good number to me. Yeah. The whole theme this year is, let's go for it. And so why not start the year with your, your most intriguing guy on the mound? Why not start five in one? Why not? Yeah. Why not? Uh, Jed Hoyer had some interesting comments that I, I think you'll find, uh, that, that, I think you'll find, uh, noteworthy, but using that word a lot, um, and we're going to talk about those coming up next. Today, I'm absolutely thrilled to be talking about MLB, the show,

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12:46Jed Hoyer spoke on as you put it, the show with Joel Sherman and John Heyman. John Heyman still has me blocked on Twitter for just reporting simple information that he said directly. Here are two things I took away. No quotes here. Just two takeaways. Just want to hear your thoughts on this because these are two things that we've talked about quite a bit on the show, especially number one. He talked about PCA and trying to improve his swing decisions. Basically said the second half of the season, he thought the swing decisions really became a problem. Then he was kind of asked about something that you've talked about and Spiegel's talked about. A lot of smart people have talked about PCA's antics. Is that the right word after he makes it out, throwing the helmet and things like that? Yeah, extra curricular or something. And I think there's some people that are bothered by it. Some people aren't. And Jed said basically, and I'm paraphrasing, you have to be careful with addressing that because you don't want to extinguish the fire with his personality

13:50because as we've talked about the same thing that sometimes make you frustrated makes him great. What are your thoughts on that right now? Where are you at? You and your lovely life are watching a game. It's game five. Pete makes it out within the second inning and he whips his helmet. Where are you at with that sort of thing with him? Yeah, I don't want to be too much of a prisoner of the moment, but I think my desire is for him not to be. And so I think the preparation that he's put in the offseason, the mental side of the game as well as the physical adjustments he's trying to make. I just I don't expect to see that as much. I understand, especially as he gives context for it, like why it happened and I get why players do that. And of course, I've seen it myself as a coach many times, but I think for him to make the strides that he is desiring to make, you know, grounding

14:56out to short with nobody on, you know, with to end the fourth inning of a random game on a Tuesday, even if it is only the fifth game of the year, go to center field. Give your stuff to, oh, wow, I'm having a brain freeze on the first Jose Javier. And give him your batting gloves in your helmet and and half will bring out your glove in your hat, man. It's going to be okay. And I think there's leverage moments that should bug a player, especially for a team that has expectations. But I think the the subtler moments, I think I would expect for him to cut that out. I would go as far as to say he may need to. And I think for him to simplify what's complex about this game sometimes, not only is the physical adjustments needed to be made, especially the swing

15:56decisions, but but a little bit on the mental side as well, especially in response to making outs would be the big one. Yeah, I think I agree. I think there's a medium that that he'll find. You know, I think with me with him, I just want to focus on the performance. Like one thing I'm going to be looking at with him is like, he totally lost all his power in the second half. And to me that I disagree with yet, I don't know what that has to do with swing decisions. Like he was just missing pitches. You know, what did he hit six home runs in the second half or something like that? I don't believe he's gone deep yet to spring. I'm going to be watching the power with him. I'm going to try and stay away from that stuff. But I agree. I think there's I think he's smart enough to to know the time when it's appropriate and not to do that. We'll see if he makes the adjustment. Well, if you look closely at the data, Sam, he didn't really chase that much in the second half. So he really was missing a lot for the plate. I don't subscribe to that with him. Like I

17:00I think he like, like Jed said, I think he could make incremental progress, small progress. But I think when he's at his best, he just as a see it hit it guy. He's just a see it hit it guy. And sometimes he sees it at his head and hits it out of the ballpark. And sometimes he does it. And I just to me, I'm just I'm looking at his power and seeing if that first half was a mirage or not. And we'll find out a couple of months. Jed also talked about the CBA, the looming CBA didn't really admit anything, but kind of insinuated that the expiring deals at the exact same time the CBA's looming is not a coincidence. And maybe that they plan for it. And then that coincided with Ian Hap a couple of days ago, talking with Bruce basically kind of saying, you know, hey, I love to be back here, but if I'm not, I'm not. I think out of the three guys, the three main offensive guys, Nico, Sayah, and Hap that are my forgetting somebody offensively. That's

18:04I don't know. Out of those three guys, I do feel like it's almost a four gone conclusion Ian Hap will not be back. Is that crazy? No. No, I think his time is his time is at that point in this career. The time has come 10 years in. It was a good run. But I yeah, I think they're going to I think they're going to go the other direction because I just I think it's very hard to imagine losing Sayah and Hap and say it just provides you with more offensively. I know you have all the gold gloves, but it's left field. Nico's a different ballgame. We haven't even done a season preview with Hap. And I don't know. I just think he's kind of going under the radar with even that comment. And I actually think that that's what's best for Ian. I think Ian is at his best when he's under the radar. I actually I was doing my lineup yesterday for the show. And I just didn't even put him lead off. You know, probably makes the most sense for his shouldn't that lead off this year. Yeah, you know, let let him fly under the radar a little bit and and and see what happens. But it does feel like that 10 year literally, I think it's 10

19:11years could be coming to an end, Matthew. Yeah, and I and I can I am starting to see a a reality without saying half. I know it's difficult to. But I could see left to right, Shaw P and a trade or free agent acquisition. I could. And you're talking about the start of the 28 season 27. Uh, I don't know if that's going to happen, you know. Uh, lock out wise, make it a joke. Oh, gotcha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it's going to be it's going to be crazy when that happens because if they do figure it out, it might be like the MDA or the NFL then where all the signings start to happen at once because they don't have a lot of time after they figure it out. But a couple of guys are going to be with the Cubs, whether it's a season or not in 27, our Alex Breggman and PCA, we talk about their performances coming up next.

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22:28All right welcome back to lock dot cubs number one Cubs podcast Matt WBC just about I don't know 48 hours or so away. We have a couple of guys in the WBC. I don't know if Pete's going to start Friday. I actually am like really interested to see I think he should. He had a really big day against the Rockies on Wednesday afternoon or next edition. Curious that they decided to play that team. But he went two for three. A couple of stolen bases and a double pregnant homer in back-to-back games for team USA. I'm really enjoying this. I'm enjoying the pride I have in the fact that we have guys that are that are contributing and it going to be a big part of this team. I'm kind of like excited for this and I hope our guys do really well. Like I said yesterday. Yeah I'm going to keep tabs on all eight guys and I think my emphasis will be USA but I'm also

23:35looking at Amaya a little bit more closely. What's Polensia up to? What situations is he in? What matters is he facing? Yeah I think it would be valuable Sam. Don't you think if Tyone had a bounce back outing on that stage? Absolutely. And if he didn't you're starting to think about maybe some different ways things could open up the year with you know as harsh as that may sound but you know I think it's possible and I'm excited. I am. I think the heavy weights will emerge just like expected. Canada's pool actually I wonder if they could pull that off and win that pool. We'll see or at least finish top two for sure. But yeah I think the first weekend I'm not expecting a lot of surprises. A lot of March madness. Then I think it's just

24:36going to the matchups will get better and better as the the 10 days move along. Home runs today just just for fun. From Aaron Judge, Alex Breggman, Will Smith, Paul Goldschmidt and Byron Bucksdon in a 14-4 win for Team USA. Future first ballot hall, Famer Clayton Kershaw did give up to earn. And former Cobb Brad Keller got a hold in this game for Team USA. Not going to lie did not realize that he was on Team USA. That's Philly. Brad Keller. Yeah yeah you got to add it around the convention time. So what a what a what a story. A year ago at this time he's a non-roster invitee to Cubs camp and a year later he's pitching for the United States in the World Baseball Classic. That is pretty bizarre when you think about it like that. The other big news that came out today that really relates to the Cubs indirectly. If I were to make a list of NL central players

25:43that a team could not afford to lose. Pride Pete would be on it. I mean the Brewer seem to be able to afford anybody. At the very to lose anybody. At the very top of the list it would be 100 green for the Cincinnati Reds. And some news came out today that that he's been pitching through some elbow discomfort. Had it in the playoffs last year. Pitch through it. Gonna do an MRI. Nothing official. You know maybe just misses a little bit of time. But Matt when you hear elbow discomfort for a young flame throwing pitcher at this time of year that is about the worst thing that you could hear. Yeah that's a big loss. Hunter Green is one of the top 100 players in baseball. He would have a case to be the number one. Lays number two because Paul skiing is the division. But well I would say a clear number two. The teams would be at number one on that list to forget. Yeah clear number two in the in the division. And the red strength is their pitching.

26:48And so as they wait for their offense to catch up with the other side of the ball to lose the the guy that leads that charge. And a year that they they a year after they just snuck into the playoffs and have the expectation to to make a playoff run again. It's major and quite frankly it's hard to see them recovering from from that if Green's timeline ends up being a lengthy one. Last two years in 24 through 150 innings 2.75 ERA 6.2 war last year in just 107 innings. He had four and a half war a two seven six ERA struck out 132 guys and when he did pitch was as good as any in baseball. I agree if this is the worst case scenario which obviously nobody wants to see you want we want the best guys to be out there. I would go as far as I mean anything could happen in baseball. I the reds to me really become a non contender in the division without him. I

27:49I know they have I know they have some really good pitchers Abbott Ladolo you know to to replace him added Suarez but but when you take a guy out like that. I mean not having to face him. I just think that would be just a irreplaceable loss and really would change how the central looks and if I were the pirates I'd be looking up like well we can catch them. Absolutely 100% and a lot of systems like the pirates anyway and so that would be a clear calling for them to to make their run to take this next step and maybe even challenge the the brewers for second. Yeah right now it's it's on fan duel it's close between the pirates and reds reds or six to one excuse me reds or five to one pirates are six to one and then the cubs are plus one 10 as a favorite and the brewers are are plus two 30. I would love by opening day to see the cubs in that minus range but there's just there's too much too much too much respect that

28:57that needs to be given out to the brewers. I mean I still can't believe they're overunders so anything else anything you want to add a big big stuff coming Matt I mean we're we're a couple of weeks away selection Sundays coming up. No we're only three weeks from opening day and then three weeks away from cubs nationals do we have any idea who's going to start for the gnats? Yeah it's one of their their young righties that's highly thought of that's that would be my prediction that's not an official. Cade is a iteration Cade's last name with a C I don't know my national my national's trivia is that great. It would have been Mackenzie Gore I don't know the pronunciation but Cade Cade Cavalli got it. I think he was the first round pick a few years ago I expect him to to start opening day. I'm glad they traded Gore because if he started opening day everyone would freak out and be like what's this lineup because it'd

29:58be a lefty lineup right and you know it'd be a whole weird thing like it could be a variety yeah kind of like when Zagunis started opening day in 2019 that I've learned well what's really exciting is there's an outside shot that comes one of their first three games face Miles Michaelis who they've absolutely crushed the last uh 17 years. Wow I did not realize that I have a cube edge if they face him after I've won after having won the first two games they already won the series they roll up on Sunday it's 40 degrees real feel of like 31 and they just hit like five jacks of Michaelis three and oh thank you for making Lockdown Cubs your first listen to the day for those of you on video we send you the 24-7 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel and audio make sure your second listen is Lockdown MLB solely is the best we will see you as as Joe Buck would say we will see you tomorrow night except it'll be in the morning