Should the Chicago Cubs Be WORRIED About Their Prospect Pool?

0:00Listen, I wanted it last year for you guys to be the kings of the division. And you had it and you let it slip away and the brewers did it to you again. They have traded away Freddie Peralta. They still won the division very handily last year. You cut the lead, but they still want it handily. Cannot happen again because I got to tell you the rest of the division is coming. The prospects lists, if you believe them, they're coming. The Cubs have only two guys in the top 100 now because a lot of guys have graduated. I get that. But when you look at the strength of some of these other teams and remember the brewers are still ahead of the Cubs. And then you look at this list and you say they have eight prospects in the top 100. Eight guys, they have eight of them. They have four short stops in the top 70, three in the top 32. That's a super valuable asset.

1:01And they have the number three overall prospect overall like that's that's terrifying. And then you see the pirates have the number one prospect and the way they list it is, it's not even close. Connor Griffin, yeah, Connor Griffin. And it's like, when you put in who has the most in the division, the Cubs have two top 100, the Reds have three, but higher rated. And then you start to evaluate. And then the Cardinals have five and the brewers have this massive list. And then here's the part that really got me. There are 10 prospects in the Cubs division right now. Still, even after last year, those prospects are ranked ahead of Mo baller. There are five pitching prospects in the division right now ahead of Jackson Wiggins, a guy that we both guys we look at as almost untradable. There are 15 prospects in the division.

2:04Currently, right now rated ahead of Owen Casey, who you really had to think about. Should we trade him 15 prospects in our division? He's 77, they had him at 77, I believe. You 77, you better win now. You better win now. Mo ballers are highest guy at 51. We have nobody in the top 50. That's the thing. I'm not saying that means everything because I will remind you that today is the day 44 years ago that the Cubs traded for Ryan Sandberg can all turn out your way. Things can happen. You can get a Michael Bush in a trade. You can get a Ryan Sandberg in a trade. You can get a Jake Arietta in a trade, but the way to build your franchise eventually is great drafting. And right now, sure looks like the brewers keep doing that. And I know a couple of those guys are from the Peralta trade, but their prospects are coming. Yeah, they had Jeff Williams, where they have jet, they had jet Williams at 32.

3:04And then Sprout was at 73. Yeah, look, I mean, like, this isn't a negative comment. It's just it's just real talk like the Cubs are a little stuck. And where they are stuck is that they have a veteran laden team that won 92 games and won a playoff round last year. They have graduated at some key positions. Mind you, center field, starting pitcher. Hopefully, you know, we'll see maybe, maybe DH, maybe at a utility role. They've graduated some players that have added a little more youth into this team. Michael Bush was a great trade. I still consider him a young player. But when you look at their prospect system and you look at that and how many veterans are in walk years this year, the time is now for the Chicago Cubs. They're not getting out of this unless they're spending money, right? The prospect system right now is not as healthy as the other divisions. It's just the fact of it. And to your point, some of these, some of these little cousins in our division,

4:08like the Pittsburgh pirates, maybe just maybe might be able to make some noise in the next couple of years and also judging by that list, it doesn't look like the Milwaukee Brewers are going anywhere anytime soon. The Cardinals are punting on the season. They're going to probably going to be easy to beat around for at least the next couple of years, but they're going to try and replenish too as well. The time is now for the Chicago Cubs to be all in. So I'm sorry. Yes, I still wants that gallon on this team, right? Like we've been saying it all winter. Like this is the moment that you can really capitalize from a Cubs perspective in the next two years or maybe even three and really go for this thing. And if you got a world series title or even if you go to a world series and win a pennant, damn it, it's worth it.