CHGO Cubs Related: BIGGEST Questions Facing The Chicago Cubs As Spring Training Starts!

0:00This is the CHGO Cubs related podcast. My name is Corey. I am joined as always by Brendan. We are coming to you on February 12th. Brendan Pictures and Ketchers have reported a lot of the position players as well. But, you know, I think more importantly, like, you know, you want to be my Valentine or what's the vibe there? Oh my God. You know, this is just to take a step back. You know, we have Danzby Swanson Valentine cards coming out from Major League Baseball. Yes, it's getting a lot of national time. The Cubs are getting a lot of national time with the World Baseball Classic. Yeah. And we haven't felt this way in terms of hype for season, player recognition. You know where I'm going to say, I haven't felt this way in like 10 years where you have so much accolades and love coming our way. Well, and I think it's fair.

1:03You know, this certainly isn't the best team, at least going into the season on paper that you and I have discussed in our, you know, decade plus now of doing a podcast together. But it has been a while since we talked about a team that had these expectations and felt as complete of a roster. And again, you know, not perfect, right? Like, but it's been a while since we've gone into a spring training camp with these types of expectations. And I think a higher standard that we are going into it, expecting the team to meet. Yeah, I mean, from the last five years, you look at just the holes we've had to discuss them filling across the diamond third base, first base for multiple years to say true to Rizzo and KB. Now the discussion is, well, should Michael Bush bet lead off or clean up should match up play a little bit of third day. So we're going to play DH like it's a very different conversation where now the attention is

2:07shifted to who's filling out the 25th and 26 spots. These are conversations we frankly have not had in eight years. It's, it's, it's an unfamiliar yet historically familiar place to be in. Yeah, so setting the table for this episode, want to talk about kind of like we did last week, our episode last Thursday, we kind of looked at storylines to follow on the pitching staff. Brendan also followed that up with a really nice, I think it was 22 tweet thread. Yeah, that your longest stop there is up there. Okay, so if you're interested in some trends, there's, there's graphs, there's pictures, there's, did you read every single tweet? Every one of those 22 pictures? Sure I did. Do you take them? I think I know you got your no pattern front of it. I read it in bed every night. But if you want to check out more of that, our episode talks about that. And then, of course, you know, Brendan goes into some detail over on social on this episode similar, but taking a look at the position players and, you know, diving into again, just kind of as

3:09the first full squad workout is around the corner. Games are around the corner, just kind of, what to keep your eye on, things to watch for. And, you know, but before we jump into that, Brendan, I'll start with a good comment from Mike G15 in our YouTube chat. I think I speak for everyone, when I say the national should name Miles Mikolas, who they just brought in their opening day starter at historic Wrigley Field. I got to tell you, I think that's a Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken, at 120, there'll be a cool April day. There is nothing that gets the vibe started on a Cubs regular season. Then if they put Miles on the mound against that team, that would be an excellent way to start to start the year. You know what I'm proud of? I never figured out how to say it's the last name properly. All those years, I still don't know if it's Michaelist or Mikolas. And I love that about it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And was he the way I used to say it was because he was a cardinal that nobody cares. He's a former cardinal. Was he the one who threw at Ian Hap? That was that was Michaelist. Yes. So let's have Ian Hap that lead off.

4:15Is it a backswing? Is that what you're talking about? After the backsquake. Yes. Yeah. Well, let's have Ian Hap that lead off to start the season. Hap goes yard just like his 2018 again and we get this year going. Deal. Works for me. I'll be there at beautiful historic Wrigley Field. I'll take a day off work. Yeah. Sounds great. Sounds great. Eight runs off of miles would keep all of us warm, assuming it's going to be like 45 degrees. But let's let's jump into it. I think before we get into maybe some of the position player story lines, we're definitely going to talk about Alex Breggman. There was a really great piece from the athletic and Ken Rosenthal already kind of if you've been listening to us, you already know that Brendan and I read that piece and we're like, I very easily could have walked down the street to like Wrigley ville sports and just picked up as much Alex Breggman merch. I was fired up reading it. But I just want to start like, you know, now they're officially there. We're seeing footage. We're seeing workouts. We're hearing from the players. Anything jump out to you from these kind of like

5:15first couple days of everybody officially being there. We'll get into it. But I think we've heard several times now. Peter Armstrong talk about Chase. And I think that's a theme of this show, Chase, Chase, Chase, and growing as a player. And to your point about the Breggman piece, a lot of attention to leadership and veteran leadership and knowledge. That seems to be the one big takeaway so far in the first few days. Yeah, more than anything, it's just been fun to see them back there. I love watching that footage, you know, seeing some of the new faces, Breggman, Cabrera, getting out there, getting their work in. But yeah, I'm just thrilled. And as you said, I think it's not specific to them being there. But I do think the most exciting thing for me is it does feel like there's a different energy around this team, not just from them, but from the way the league itself and people around the league are talking about them. And you know, look, sometimes teams don't meet those expectations, but it's nice to have them. This team has expectations,

6:19you know, Dakota projections, you know, I think yesterday, you know, putting the Cubs, I think handily ahead in the division. Now, you know, whatever you make of those, it's up to you. We've certainly been on here yelling about them in the past. So I'm not going to, you know, when they fit my narrative, I think it's a great. The best projection system in the world. Way better the progress. But yeah, like I do think like those expectations are there. And I'm excited that that feels to be the energy this time, not necessarily as in years past where it was like, well, if this team outperforms their expectations and they get a jump from eight different guys, it feels like no, like they take the field on paper, like they have those expectations and they should be able to meet them. So that's that's been the most exciting thing for me. But I do want to jump into the position players, what's going on in spring training. And I want to talk about Alex Bregman and this segment is going to be sponsored by Gameday Men's Health, better father,

7:19better husband, better man, go to Gameday Men's Health, visit Gameday CHGO.com to find locations closest to you. And Alex Bregman already is our Gameday Men's Health difference maker. So we we talked about this before they signed him. When they signed him after they signed him. But even just getting these early returns for, you know, he's been in Mesa for what a couple weeks, maybe less week and a half, something like that. We got most like getting a piece like this. If you didn't read the piece, we'll we'll give you some of the highlights, but it was a very good story. We'll read the entire thing word for one here. Yeah. I think that's legal, right? Uh, but well, I'll popcorn to you. Uh, over at the athletic from Ken Rosenthal, uh, and it just kind of going through the clubhouse presence and the leadership from Alex Bregman. And what is really amazing, and we heard this from Jed, I think, and Craig Council, when he first

8:23signed about him, like calling the minor league coordinators and wanting to get scouting reports on everybody and learn the language of the organization so that he could communicate with everybody. But like reading this article too already, there's anecdotes of him talking to Hobie Milner and telling him offhand, no notes, no iPad, no anything. Just like, hey, man, like we we had a couple, you know, tips on you last year. Like here's what you were doing. You were tipping some of your pitches. And Milner said he knew about one of them, but another one he hadn't heard of yet. And, uh, you know, talking to Matthew Boyd, uh, talking to Phil Mehton, like, uh, I'm going to get that. Mehton, Mattone, I don't know. Mehton. Mehton. That's what I said sort of what I said. It was kind of in between, but that's okay. Phil Mehton. Uh, you know, again, like just tips and things that he sees on them, scouting reports, and, uh, it's, it's a really fascinating piece. The Milner one in particular, I, I loved. Like, of course, he could have looked it up

9:26beforehand, but like, he was explaining it that it's like, listen, he just walked up to me and was talking about like, he doesn't, of course, he doesn't go into specifically what it was, they don't want to tell us that. But I'm just envisioning him going up like being like, hey, man, like last July, you're doing a thing with your hip when you're throwing a curve ball, you know, whatever. And, you know, him being like, why, why did he remember that? He just knows this off the top of his head. Uh, it's a really great piece. And it speaks to what he's bringing to this clubhouse. I want to talk about the PCA section of it specifically, uh, but Brendan, I mean, it, one of the things that stands out about this is not just that this presence matters. I don't want to like over hype his mentorship or leadership or whatever, but what really stands out to me is not just that he's bringing this, this desire to make everyone around him better and study the game and study how they can get better, but specifically at this time for this team,

10:27a team that after years of not making the playoffs, winning 83 games, finally gets back to the playoffs, they knock over some of the hurdles, but not all of them, right? They didn't win the division, they win a pen and they didn't win the world series, bringing in a guy like this to help a, a group that has so many young players and budding potential stars to guide them with his experience to that next level. I think the timing of bringing him in, in addition to his value, it just feels so good reading this stuff and having him here. No doubt. And you talked about, well, he may have looked it up when he was talking to Hobie Milner. It's not the case. Like, you know how you and I talk about 2003, 2004 relievers, Michael Wertz, Redlinger, Scott Ear, Bob. I would have had a lot of money. I was not going to hear those names today, but okay, but those those are the things that like naturally come to our mind. It's because we're obsessed about the cups. Alex Breckman's obsessed about baseball. It just happens to come do his mind

11:33and it's why he remembers it. He loves the game so much. He's so in tune with the game so much that he doesn't have to look it up. He can just unprompted talk about what he may have remembered two years ago, because it's driven by that love. That's why as a fan, I gravitate towards those players the most. There's a reason why a large sect of fans did not gravitate towards past coach players such as Kyle Tucker. And it's not the, you know, a nag on Kyle Tucker, but fans can recognize when certain players exude a type of familiar fandom for the sport. And that's what Alex Breckman does bring. And to your point, do you want to hype this up and overhype the value of that and the leadership? Who knows is always difficult to fully understand what the value of that leadership is. Nevertheless, from a fans point of view, we get to talk about Alex Breckman and what he sees. That's an interesting storyline. We get to see what he's working on with other

12:38young guys like P. Cromes wrong. That's fun to talk about. We sometimes don't get there with other superstars with Alex Breckman. You do get that. Yeah. It's a great point about, you know, whether we know it or not, but that sort of perception that the fans can pick up on about a guy's desire and that kind of burning flame. It doesn't mean that guys don't have it, but when fans can sense it, right? They can express it. Like, I mean, even thinking of someone like Havi, right? Like seeing daily, like commitment to selling out and doing everything he can to win in that passion, it connects with my favorite Havi moment among several moments was when he was celebrating in the clubhouse and he was dancing or something like that. He stopped. He's like, all I do is baseball. I'm like, oh, that's kind of like you and I do like all I do is baseball and I relate to that. And those are the guys that I remember the most. You don't love the game enough

13:40to get the logo tattooed on your back, though, do you? I mean, I'll do it, you know, I got it. Listen, I, so listen, I'm just saying one, you see that? So let's say and do it. Just say to Shay, I literally to Shay, I forgot about that. Yeah. If you're listening on your podcast, he Brendan has the Cubs W tattooed on one of his fingers. That's right. That is a real thing. A sick person. So we're going to hit our first outbreak in a second here, but I want to finish before we get into the the PCA conversation with Alex Breggman and talking about some of our storylines for the season as they pair together, PCA being one of them. I want to finish the conversation just on that like leadership and and stuff from Breggman with the anecdote involving James and Tyrone at the end of this Ken Rosenthal piece. So again, I don't want to hype up his value and in the clubhouse and how much that matters too much. Though if you go back to like Anthony Rizzo talking about John Lester, David Ross, John Lackie, it certainly sounds like it matters a lot to these teams that go to the next level and end up winning a championship. But what I was going to

14:42say, Brendan is I don't want to suggest that just his mere presence helps the Cubs get over those hurdles and win the division or win a pennant or win a world series. However, I'll leave this first segment with an anecdote from James and Tyrone where he says Alex Breggman asked him, why didn't you win the division last year? Why didn't the Cubs win the division in 2025? Tyrone explains a little like, you know, well, you know, Milwaukee going 29 and 4 over a stretch didn't help and, you know, expanding that lead in July and August. But he ends the conversation by saying, well, we didn't have you. We didn't have Alex Breggman. So straight from the horse's mouth, maybe his mere presence does help them get over that. That's right. We're here our first ad break here and when we come back, we're going to talk about Pete Crow Armstrong. Okay. What if your Wi-Fi just worked smart, reliable, always one step ahead. And what if the price stayed the same for a full five years? That is the Xfinity five year price guarantee. Imagine Wi-Fi that keeps your home

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16:47during what I should be doing eating breakfast. And that's where he was. Black edition ready to go drink comes in. I keep one on hand for mornings when I'm rushing out the door. It's got 35 grants of protein, 27 essential vitamins and minerals. No artificial sweeteners gluten-free and it's under five bucks and it actually keeps me full for hours. Then at home, I use fuel black edition powder. That's my customizable option. Thicker blended more fulfilling. I'll toss in a blender with ice or fruit. And I'm hitting my protein goals without cooking or even thinking about it. Right now, give 15% off with my code. Cubs 15 for new customers only. Huge thanks to you for supporting the show for busy. This is an absolute game changer. All right, Brandon, back with you. And I want to talk about peak arms strong. So it'll pair a little bit following the Alex Breggman discussion and some of that article with Ken Rosenthal. And one of the things they talk about in there is his work, his conversations with PCA. But I think since this episode

17:48is about storylines, things to watch. I mean, I think naturally PCA is one of the biggest ones. We saw a massive year from him in 2025, really putting a ton together, especially in that first half that was absolutely explosive. And I think one of the key storylines, and this goes for a couple guys. But his chase rate certainly being one of them, obviously a lot was made of that. But in addition to that, how he fairs against left-handed pitching. And I think again, that goes for other guys, Michael Bush as well. And we can talk about that separately. But as we head into spring training here, things to watch for, I think how PCA is adjusting and how he is reacting to the struggles that he had at times in 2025, despite putting up overall a huge year, that's got to be one of the top few storylines, I think, for the 2026 Cubs. Because as we know,

18:48when we saw glimpses of it, if he puts it all together and maintains that consistency over the course of 162 games, along with being one of the best base runners in the league and the best defensive centerfielder in the league, the sky is literally the limit for what his value can be. Yeah, and PCA doesn't have to be chasing that league average rates. He can still chase and be aggressive. It's about fine tuning that balance between being over aggressive and being way, way, way, way over aggressive. So if we look at this chart over time, you can see when things started to click for Pete. This chart shows his chase rate from a month to month basis last year. When he first started the season, he was chasing around 55% of his pitches that slowly went down all the way up into about the all-star break. And at his peak, he was whipping around 40 or

19:54rather chasing around 40%. The league average is around 30%. So clearly, he needs to make strides in improving on that chase rate. But he did show from a course month to month progress improvements in that chase. And then if you look at this next graph, you overlay his bat speed. So his conviction with his swing, you start noticing that as he started to chase less, that bat speed started to go up. And they actually went up above league average, which coincided with his best chase rate of the year before July. So he had this pattern of chasing less and swinging fast showing conviction that led to the power of 25 home runs in that first half. It's not to try to get Pete to the point where you're only chasing, you know, at Alex Brugman's 15 to 20% clip. That's

20:54probably not going to happen. But if Pete can chase around a 35% to 40% clip on the month, the month basis, and you reduce, let's say, 15 played appearances where you're making weak contact or striking out. And you turn those into a few basics. Well, then your 324 weight on base average becomes 340. And you see the value that provide. It's not that much of a change. And I'm confident he can at least show signs of making that early on. We've seen him make adjustments several times not throughout his career. Yeah, 100%. And I think overall, I think what, you know, the cubs are certainly hoping for is at least some more consistency throughout 847 OPS before the all-star break 634 after, you know, obviously watching it was the disparity was very clear at times. The length of time he was sitting, you know, waiting for that 30th home run, things like that. But it wasn't due, I want to make this clear, the low production in the second half was not due to chasing more.

22:03So that's very important. You saw the success you had when he was still chasing at a very high rate. You can still chase. You can still be aggressive. You don't want to lose that innate nature. Some of those home runs he hit, those pictures were like Vlad Guerrero asked hitting the dirt or above you. So it is a delicate balance. He did not have poor production because he was chasing. It was manifested in other reasons as well. Yeah. And pairing back to the Breggman conversation, one of the quotes from PCA and the Rosenthal piece quote, he's excited to see my on base percentage go up and my swing rate go down. It's everything that everybody else probably wants to see, but the way he talks about it is really cool. It's a nerdy approach to hitting, but it's never overcomplicated. It almost kind of sounds like was was John Lester talking to about Tommy Hottie when he said that. Didn't he say it several years ago that he like is not an analytics guy, but if you can communicate it to him in a way that like it not I don't not a slight at you, but not

23:07like a bunch of charts and graphs like. Yeah, it sort of sounds like what what Pete's saying about about Breggman. And again, like it's not it's not to guarantee that like having his presence is going to inherently make Pete better, but I think when you think about the way Breggman thinks about the game and the maturity that you have to have to put up the the type of numbers and be the type of hitter that Alex Breggman is taking a little bit of that for Pete. You can imagine how that would would turn him into just an absolute monster of a player. And the charts we show like these are not charts for baseball players. These are charts for us fans. This is public data. Players making changes have to rely on intuition and clear obvious trends they can trace back to feel. So this is not like if I show Pete, hey, here's your chase free from

24:08July to August. Look at that. Go change it. No, that's stupid. So yeah, so let me ask you this though, as we think about what Pete might be trying to do and some of the the wisdom that Breggman might be imparting on him, is that the type of stuff that you expect a fan to be able to pick up on when we start seeing Pete in the cage or in some of these spring training games, or is it just a mental approach as he's going up to the plate? So I think it's going to be a mental approach when he's going up to the plate. I mean, I'm forgetting who it was. There was a recent article within the past month and he was talking about, and he had been related to Justin Turner actually, but they were talking about how some hitters relied on always being ready for every single pitch. Like if there was a fastball away, you still try to hit that. And it's one hitter. God, I forgot who it was. He was saying he was only looking for one zone. And if it wasn't there, it wasn't there, but he was not. I mean, I don't think it's who you're talking, but if I remember correctly,

25:08I thought a rod did that throughout his career. Maybe it was a rod, but I swear to God, regardless, I think maybe you see some of that, right? But this is the point I'm talking about to our first, you know, 10 minutes of his conversation. I want to hear more about that. How interesting is that when you have Alex from talking about, Hey, I know how you can improve your chase OBP. And it's not this nerdy way. I want to hear about that. I want to see how this actually be translated. Yeah, no, that makes sense. But so yeah, I think obviously that's a huge thing to keep an eye on how PCA develops the type of hitter he settles into being, you know, as he continues to make these adjustments, the league continues to adjust to them. And you know, certainly that was one of the more interesting parts of 2025 is especially in the early going, you know, you could, you can sense like pitching staffs, all of a sudden have to be like, Hey, wait a minute. Like this guy's pop and home runs left and right. Like, you know, not that everybody thought he was just a defensive player, but early in the going, it was like, this is their best hitter. We have completely just what we're doing here.

26:11I thought he was going to have 40 home runs. Yeah. I mean, he got to what 25th of the all-star brick we're thinking crazy thoughts. We're thinking MVP thoughts, especially with him and say, yeah, I mean, we were going nuts. So, so let's keep on offensive storylines. And I mentioned it earlier, but I think sticking on the left-handed side of the ledger, I think Michael Bush, another, you know, really big storyline. Firstly, how the Cubs and Craig Council structure this lineup, we saw him leading off a ton of the games when they were facing right-handed pitching. But we've also heard Craig Council Brendan talk about like, you know, not wanting him to be a platoon guy and really getting that opportunity to grow against left-handed pitching. He was one of the Cubs best hitters. He, you know, showed up in the playoffs. I mean, this guy, the leaps that he's taken, just massive, especially from, you know, where we come from when they make the trade in the first place. And I think one of the biggest storylines potentially for the Cubs in 2026 is if he does

27:13get that runway to learn and adjust against left-handed pitching in a serious regular basis, if he can pull that off even to somewhat of a close to league average clip, this is a monster of the hitter that the Cubs seem to have on their hands. Yeah, I mean, the overall peripherals you see with Michael Bush, I mean, they stand out pretty clearly. There's right across the board, squared operate, 96 percentile chase rate, almost 80 percentile. If you like those numbers, he kind of fits the mold. I have been, I don't want to say surprised with Bush, but he's exceeded my expectations. I really thought Bush would come in as a league average, slightly above league average hitter for a first baseman. I'm talking back to 50 to 60, 25 homeruns, you know, an average walker at a 335, 345. The standard for him has actually increased in my eyes because he shown strides

28:17in being able to barrel up with consistency and being selective. And so now that 40 homerun ceiling that I thought was available and that he hit last year, I'm thinking, okay, how do you sustain that output? And how do you have a guy that's not going from, you know, just a 360 weight on base average guy and some, but like being consistent month to month that you see guys like Brugman do. And so it goes back to like, how do you make this more consistent? How is Craig able to play him against lefties in a 650 played appearance sample? I'm fascinated to learn more about that and just, you know, anecdotally watching him. I thought he always took good out bass against lefties last year. I don't know if you and I were calling for it. I think we were, but I'm excited to see what that looks like. And it reminds me a lot different times, different ages, but it reminds me of the discussion with Rizzo in 2013 or 2014 where the splits against lefties were not good.

29:18All of a sudden, Rizzo developed and there was never a problem. Yeah. Yeah, and the St. Louis Cardinals never got that memo in the playoffs that switching in a lefty doesn't necessarily work. But yeah, before we hit our second ad break like continuing on Bush, I think it is one of those things where a lot of fans want to see this. It was certainly one of the more frustrating things, I think from the fans perspective, when he was being subbed out in the middle of games or not starting certain games, just because it was a left handed pitcher, when against righties, he was literally one of their best and most consistent hitters. I mean, I think the push back there was well, Justin Turner did have some average production against lefties. He improved as a year away from the middle of the year. Yeah, your guy, Justin Turner every time. We have more to say on Bush. So let's hit our second ad break here and then we'll come back and we'll keep talking about Michael Bush. Okay, is your home ready for the challenge because winter is here now. It's time to schedule your four seasons furnace tune up and make sure your heating system is

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32:29Now, granted, this was like 15 played appearances. Most of the months were 20 played appearances or less. So what you want to read into that is up to you. But I think that's one of the things that I would guess a lot of fans are excited for is give him the shot. Like, it would be one thing if you had a big gigantic sample that this just was not going to happen. But when you see the evolutions that he's made as a hitter overall and positioning himself into the top 10 and top five and in so many metrics of first baseman across the league, I think there's just going to be that desire to like, let's let him try. Like, I think he might have the skills to put this together and at least be productive against left-handed pitching, even if he's not playing every start, but just not so much. And again, Craig's counsel has said that this is going to be the case, but just not so much like, oh, a lefty, get, you know, we got to get pushed out of there, you know. And especially last year, it put a lot of pressure on those bench guys and Justin Turner being one of

33:31them to really be hitting in the way that you brought them in to do, which Turner ended up doing toward the summer. But the start of the season wasn't so much like that. And that's where you're going to get a lot of that. Like, hey, man, we have like a, you know, potentially budding top 10, top five first baseman in the league. Like, let's let him play instead of finding anybody else, just because they may or may not have had good platoons splits against left-handed pitching five years ago. I think there's an argument, too, because Justin Turner is not on this team right now. Your second option, whether it be Tyler Austin or let's say Matt Shaw against lefties, you overlap what Bush could provide versus what those guys Austin and Shaw could provide. There's some overlap in expectations with Justin Turner last year. There wasn't as much overlap against lefties when he was signed for six million. You're thinking undoubtedly he will produce against lefties. So when his season started and he had bullish coming off a season in which he was successful in

34:3424 with, you know, over 20 home runs, but not this 34 home run pop we saw. Obviously, those at bats against lefties are given to Justin Turner that persisted. Then Justin Turner needed to get the playing time. That way, you know, as the summer road along, those lefty availabilities would be more valuable for Justin having that type of volume. That's not the case right now. So I think correct council's perspective of going through maybe some growing pains with lefties for the short term for the long term benefit. It makes sense because the alternative with Shaw or the alternative with Austin, at least to start the season, it's not undoubtedly better than what Bush could provide. But that could change as well as the season goes along. Yeah. I mean, and that's, you know, again, I think it's one of the more interesting things to keep an eye on. There's the potential for Bush as he did from 2024 to 2025 to keep leveling up and keep adding more to his game.

35:41And, you know, look, there's always the potential to that they give him more runway there and they decide, you know, what, like, maybe we did like that a little better. Do we not talk about Bush enough? Do you think he's underrated by even, you know, us, you and I? I mean, 34 home runs, 40 home runs with a lot of credit. I don't, I don't think so. I mean, I, I know he was left off one of those like MLB network stupid top 10 lists or whatever. I don't care about those. Yeah. Like I mean, the numbers last year, 261, 34 home runs, three and a half war defense has gone a lot better. He changed positions that were coming over from the Dodgers from third base to first base. He's worked his butt off like, I, I think there was an expectation he would be good. But he's exceeded my expectations by a lot. Oh, yeah. I mean, 21 home runs to 34 home runs at the first base position is what you get from a top five output. Yeah. And it's a reason why

36:44the Cubs can go out and spend on Bergman and go make these other splats because Michael Bush is pre arbitration dude. Yeah. Like the value is so enormous. Well, and that's, that was one of the things I was going to say is that it, it allows them to be in this position at all. Of course, I mean, when a guy hits 34 home runs, 3.5 wins above replacement, like that's going to add value to your team, of course. But in terms of the structure, like this was a team that didn't have an answer at a major position. And, you know, of course, like, you know, Pete Alonzo was just a free agent like there were, you know, potentially options they could have explored, but would have cost money. I mean, I wanted that option. Yeah, they would have cost capital. And so to make this trade and have a guy develop that, as you said, is still, you know, cost controlled and someone they have under team control for years, it's a massive development for the organization. Well, we talk about stacking good decisions. That's what Jet Horror always talks about stacking

37:44good decisions and everything. This is one of those decisions. Two years ago, they were seeing have wide ranging effects. So you, you're able to trade, you know, Zaire Hope, who was a touted top prospect, but a very young one, you take the risk on getting a guy with maybe more projection at the immediate onset of his career in Michael Bush. And I think the value they got from him exceeded their own models. So Jet was able to, in the front office, able to secure that position, stack that one good decision. And then at the same time, you know, with Shaw last year, have the availability for him to play a third base to start the year, go through that fail process, right, adjust. By the second half, Matt Shaw was one of the better offensive producing third baseman in the league and a go glove candidate, right, another good decision, shifting him to start

38:44the year, a third base. And then by the time we roll along, now Alex Brackman becomes available. And because you now understand what you have in Bush, you understand what you have in Shaw, you're able to now spend that money on Brackman. And you have three guys on our roster that are projected to provide enormous value. Those are those like small decisions that we always go back and, and, and, you know, retrospectively evaluate, but that was one of the largest and most significant ones in Jed's 10 years so far. Yeah, absolutely. Continuing, I mean, you brought him up. I think a thing to watch, storyline to watch in this spring training, certainly how the Cubs utilize Matt Shaw and what we see from him, you know, again, like you can only glean so much from these spring training games, these spring training lineups, but just how they plan to utilize him when they find those opportunities for him to start, what positions he's playing. I think that's certainly one of the more interesting things to follow. You know, look, like I

39:44think that the trade rumors may persist, but I'm operating as though this is the roster, then that's not going to happen. Yeah, and I, again, like how much we'll be able to tell just from spring training, it's going to be hard, but you know, we've seen him at least taking some work in the outfield. And you know, once we start these workouts in these games, if you're consistently seeing him playing different positions, getting in there at second base, maybe trying in the outfield, how often he's mixing in at third base, I think how Craig counsel decides to utilize Matt Shaw. Now that he is solidified in this sort of super utility role, definitely one of the more interesting parts of this 20 2016. This is a guy who had a very big second half and was a great defender over third base, a very valuable tool for the Cubs to use and one that now they are not relying on to throw at a big time position like third base. And he better swim otherwise the

40:48offense may sink. So to speak. Yeah. When I'm looking for with Matt Shaw is the batting mechanics. We saw the changes from a six week rolling basis last year. It is you look a little bit different in game action. We've seen the videos to let's try and look different, but you know, batting practice is batting practice. I want to see the game action. What he looks like in those games. I will remember and or point to how the Cubs use Nico Horner. I think it was 2020. Maybe was 2021, but they tried Nico and center field. He may have even played a game in spring training there. There was discussion about moving Nico to the outfield. Why? Well, you have to buy us that shortstop in the infield. There wasn't really an obvious hole for Nico Horner to fill, but the roster shaped out in a way where Nico is now you're starting a shortstop in 22. And then he moved over to second base because he signed Danzby. The rosters naturally work their way out.

41:50And God forbid something unexpected happened to the infield. Bregg min, Danzby, Nico, then Shaw's values obvious right there, but at the same time, if Shaw can show some defensive competency in right field, maybe play a little bit of left field of spell app every now and then, then you can use them as a way that the Cubs use their utility guys in the past at Chris Bryant and Ben Zobris. The value there is obvious. It's a matter of how good he looks defensively and how those offensive adjustments continue to change. Yeah, so we'll see. I saw him released. Frankly, don't have any interest in Kasiados. I loved him in 2019. I loved him in 2019, but that was seven years ago. I love the lot of guys in 2019. They don't even plan to sport anymore. I don't think it's going to happen, Corey. No, I don't think so. Yeah. So I think the Shaw stuff is interesting. Again, however much we're able to kind of take away from how he's utilized in spring training.

42:52Look, he's also a guy that's made a ton of changes to his mechanics, his swing, everything he's doing. So I think he's a particularly interesting guy to watch just to see what he's doing on a given day and in a given period. Moving on, I think there are in terms of things I'm watching for. I think there's a good number of guys on this team that you, you know, I don't, I, they're pretty consistent. Like I feel like we kind of know what we're getting. And he's like the entire roster. Yeah, I mean, like, you know, with Nico, Dan's B half in particular, like they're kind of who they are. I don't know that anything you're going to see in spring training is going to be that interesting from them. They're pretty consistent in how they perform and who they are. And, you know, obviously we saw, you know, Nico take things to another level last year. He's in a contract year. So people did, and maybe Nico's power might emerge. We've been talking about Nico Hona's power emerging for like five straight

43:59years. I think he wants it to emerge. Of course, he's he's he talked about. He sees that left center basket at rigley. And he's like, I, I know I can hit line drives. Well, he's talked about the power value of Cubs convention and so on and so on and so on. The power did start to come out a little bit in a second app. He finished the year with seven home runs is the power in him that the swing shape, if you want to call it that, it clusters with Luis Sarayas, Steve Aquan. So like, the swing does not lend to power. Now, if Nico were to hit for more power, it would result in a swing change. And I'm wondering, is it worth even tinkering at this point? I mean, you're hitting 300, you're if you're above average, you're have four to five wins every year. Kind of just like how he is. But all the fault of Nico, if he ends up trying to make those changes. Yeah. So, you know, with those guys, you know, I don't know that there's much to really pay attention to. I do think

45:00how Craig Council structures these lineups is something I'm particularly interested in seeing. And again, who he, how do you have a preference Elito? You know, I was going to ask you that. I didn't hate Bush doing it. I really didn't against right hand in pitching. I know people will destroy us for saying this, but you know how, yeah, Ian Haps a good, like, he's a good on base guy. Like, he's a really good on base guy. And if Michael Bush is going to hit 35 or 40 home runs, like, maybe it would be better served in the middle of life. But he did a really good job there. And, you know, certainly in the playoffs too, like, he was a guy that was pacing the lineups. So I don't have any problem with that. And then, you know, I think if they're facing a lefty, I wouldn't be seeing Nico up there. I don't think it's, I don't think that's crazy. Yeah. I mean, I think those three guys in some respect are probably your best options.

46:01Yeah. I don't know. He's crazy to hit the Alchbregman lead off against lefties. Yeah. But well, I think it is. I mean, you saw how you're probably I meant. Yeah. Yeah. You want him hitting two through. I mean, if you'd best lead off, I don't care. I'm just thinking of like how Craig use a lot of blaster. Uh, he's going to bat his top three hitters. Yeah. Top three. Right. So that means Nico against lefties. Probably we're going to see to start the year bat lead off. It means against righties. I imagine we could see Bush batting lead off to your point. And that means you have to rely on trusting Sayah to be the guy who he was in the first half. Then you have, you know, Bregman that second maybe and he kind of replaced what we saw with Tucker. We could see that. But I think the lineup structure depends on how Sayah performs and how Pete performs. Those are three, four hitters at the various points of the year last year. And so if they do perform, then you can start molding the lineup a little bit better because

47:06at this offensive's peak, Ian half is not one of your top four best hitters. And as a result, he should have bat in the top top four. But if Pete and Sayah are struggling that he does become at times one of your best four hitters. So it's a balanced Craig will have to adjust to. Yeah. I like the idea of Nico hitting lead off. I think there were times last year where, you know, I know it was a constant frustration that he was, you know, sometimes deeper in the lineup than a lot of people liked. And, you know, when certain players would struggle, I think he's one of your better hitters. And I think his ability with his hit tool is one you want to see more often. I think having Nico involved with the top guys, either setting the table or, you know, being there to turn over the lineup, whatever it is, like I think you want him getting a lot of play appearances, rather than, you know, sticking him six, seven or something like that deeper down the lineup.

48:10I think that's what you want. Interesting too. Now that we get into maybe some of the role guys, but I think how someone like Moises by Astero performs also potentially changes this conversation. If he gets some run at DH and really shows you something and develops as an MLB hitter, you know, that can change how you structure these lineups as well, given the way that the handedness is structured from these guys, especially now that you are switching. We don't have to call Alex Breggman their best hitter, but last year your best hitter was at least in the first half before the injuries a left handed hitter and Kyle Tucker, who was not a guy that was such an extreme split sky like we talk about with like Bush or, you know, certainly PCA, but he's better against right hand pitching. So now, Breggman being a righty and, you know, putting Mo in the DH spot, it'll be interesting to see how that develops and if that changes the way Craig structures these

49:13lineups, because that to me is one of the things that's the most interesting about this team. There was such, it's not always the case, but we've seen teams in the past at least iterations of the Cubs that were relatively similar and it didn't really matter whether it was a lefty or a righty on the mound. They were going to roll out a pretty similar lineup maybe with a couple of changes. This group last year, I mean, a pretty different look depending on who was on the mound and for good reason. Yeah, I'm interested in seeing where Mo bats as well. Could he bat in the top three or top four times? Yeah, I could see it. Do I expect it to start the year in the first four weeks? Absolutely not. I'd be shocked. We did see Craig use Mo a little bit more towards the back end of the season. And we saw him talk glowingly of Mo's bat. What I want to see from Biosteros is the power. So we know the contact, the walks could be there. I want to see the power with Biosteros. And there could be a scenario where if he starts performing very well, I know people

50:14want speed in the lead off spot. But if he's seeing pitches, he's getting on base, he's having base hits. Maybe in some instances, he starts seeing Mo that lead off as well. There's also like, you know, bench pieces that we've seen on minor league deals, you know, Chasmacormick, he's career rate against lefties. Very good. I think he's a 364, weight on base average of 137 WRC plus against lefties. He could be a guy that gets played appearances against the lefties in some fashion, a certain type of lefty. There's different ways you can get those at bats and change your way the line up to where you can mold, you know, your best six hitters getting the most at bats. Yeah, I think some of those names and seeing how they build out the roster, you know, as you mentioned, like Austin McCormick, maybe Dylan Carlson, if he ends up breaking camp with the team, you know, and how they mixed those guys in the full because it was certainly a big part of the conversation last year, Brendan, when the

51:14bench was not particularly useful. And you feel about the outfield like, like the remain guys? The depth like part of me in the back of my mind, when I'm thinking like, what could go really wrong? And it is that outfield depth. And like, yeah, I'm a little surprised. They haven't bolstered that more. I understand the logic of like spending elsewhere. I'm just, maybe it is matcha, right? Maybe a go-gloved right-fielder matcha. But I'm just surprised they haven't gotten like a more projectible major leagueer, other than these. Yeah, I mean, you know, look, they kind of dealt with it a little bit, you know, when Tucker was missing time or at least just not as effective or needing to be the D.H., you know, they kind of confronted, you know, half PCA and say starting out there every day and that just being the group that you're rolling with. And I think you got to take your shots with some of these, you know, some of these lower risk signings. I think the logic is good. And, you know, for some of the guys they had in

52:19the bench last year, the logic was good, you know, looking at their platoon splits or just what they could bring in a limited role. It's a tough thing. It's similar to the bullpen. It's somewhat of a thankless job, you know, you're not in a position to get that starting role, which is why you're being offered a ventral in the first place. And it's hard to come off the bench in a limited set of plate appearances and, you know, hit your career best against only left-handed pitching when they call upon you. So I understand the not that not to concern, but at least wondering about the depth, you know, what if something happens, et cetera, et cetera. But I like the depth moves they made. And I'm curious if they do actually give Matt Shaw some runway out there. And I think it's overall, you know, half PCA say as a very strong group to start. So that would be my preference. If you had to pick all those guys and get in plate appearances or right field undoubtedly,

53:23if Matt Shaw can show confidence. If he can do it, dude, you talk about value, that boosts his value significantly. If you can do it at a competent level, right? Listen. I mean, it looked like you've got gold lovers everywhere on the field. Not that that necessarily makes playing, you know, probably would be right fielded at a windy, wriggly field any easier. But I, you know, we've seen crazier things, I suppose. And there's plenty of teams. I mean, we were just talking about them. I mean, the Phillies were trying to win a World Series, stick in Nick Castellanos in the outfield. Like, Shaw can do that. I'm sure of it. You know, like, so we'll see. I'm keeping on on some things. I think a name I want to at least mention too is how Miguel Amaya looks in spring training. I think, you know, Carson Kelly was so good for this team in the early going

54:24of 2025. Obviously had to come back to Earth a little bit. And I think as we go into 2026, expecting him to put up the numbers that we saw in those first couple of months where, you know, you were sort of jokingly tweeting, you know, comparisons of his swing to Barry Bonds, right? Like, it was a joke, but was it at the time with some of those, like, when a guy has a 1600 OPS, is it a joke? I don't know. I mean, he saw a video and you tell me, you know, yeah. So I think you can't expect that. But he was obviously really good. And you know, they got some strong production from some of the other guys that they put back there. It was a very good position for the Cubs overall. But if you can have Miguel Amaya, you know, when he got hurt last year, Miguel Amaya was in the middle. It was only 103 plate appearances, but he was in the middle of a season where he had four home runs, a 314 on base percentage 281 average of 124 WRC plus, you know, he looked really

55:25strong at the plate. He had some big moments had that big hit against Dodgers, like he had some big moments for this team. If he can carry a good bit of that load, keep Kelly fresh, they keep each other fresh, right? I think that's a potentially pretty big, pretty big thing to watch. If he can stay healthy, and I know you were talking about this the other day, but not just for the performance and, you know, his effect on the team, but just for him, man, he's lost so much time to injury. He just deserves a nice healthy season. I was looking at Dylan Carlson's numbers, and I saw Carlson got almost 2,000 plate appearances in his career so far. I'm like, wow, that's more than I thought. Oh, look at Miguel Amaya. 622 plate appearances in his career. This is a guy who's broken several bones. He's at surgeries. He's tripping over first, based lock in his kneecap. The guy can't catch a break. Despite those injuries and those

56:25obstacles throughout his development, he's still showing signs of improvement in production. We talk about the 2024 adjustments with PCA. Miguel Amaya was part of that as well, going from a stride to no stride at the plate, which by the way, he's still showing that no stride approach this spring. So yeah, of course, I'm following Miguel Amaya just as closely as I am following matcha's development in right field, as closely as I'm following peak crow arms drawings chase rate. Because Miguel Amaya, the value that you have to spend at the catcher position these days, there's a reason why Carlson Kelly got two years is 6 plus million dollars. If Miguel Amaya can be healthy and show what some projections think he could be, that's an enormous value for years to come. Yeah, all right. So last couple of minutes here, I mean, I think there's a lot to watch. There's a lot of guys who can continue developing take on bigger roles, continue their trajectory of

57:31you know, developing and then becoming potential stars in this league and getting that notoriety. There's consistent guys. I think this is a really strong group. I'm looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to seeing how Craig counseled deploys some of the things that we've talked about, how he structures these lineups, how often is Moises by Astero's playing, how often is matcha playing, where is he playing, is Bush given that runway to try and learn and adjust against left-handed pitching. In the last minute here, I'll just ask you like as we go into spring training, you've said it's your favorite time of the year. You love watching this stuff. Who's the player you're the most excited to see finally getting, you know, video in the cage and and watching them in these spring training games. I always say my most exciting player to watch is Alex Brugman. I'm already washing his swing. I'm like enamored by the short, compact swing. I really am. So I can't get enough of it. Alex Brugman is my guy right now. Yeah, fair enough. I mean,

58:32I mean, it's an easy answer, but I'm going to say PCA. It's just such a fascinating thing. I mean, the potential that he has and you think about the ways that he can grow his game. Even as you said, keeping true to who he is, not coaching the Hathi out of Hathi. So to speak, right? Like, but even in doing some small things, just the level that he can get to is extremely tantalizing to think of. We will keep it with you. Don't forget to tune in to Luke Joey throughout the week on the CHGO Cubs channels, the CHGO YouTube channel. Follow us on social. We'll keep you posted on everything. Brennan, I will be back with you next Thursday. And as always, go Cubs.