Thanksgiving Special: Welcome Phil Maton, Shota Stays & 9 Things To Be Thankful For

A 90-win team is good. A 94-win team that breathes in October is built. That’s where we take the Cubs: away from splash-chasing and toward a durable run-prevention machine that travels, plays in the wind, and punishes mistakes. We start with the hard truths about the Ricketts family’s spending posture, the real payroll buffer under the tax, and how that shapes every move this winter without handcuffing the deadline.

Shota Imanaga accepting the qualifying offer is the hinge that swings the plan open. One year at a higher AAV gives Jed maximum flexibility and gives Shota a sharpened incentive to dominate. We break down why that alignment matters if labor clouds linger and why a focused, chip-on-shoulder Imanaga can anchor a rotation built on health management and targeted whiff. Then we scout Phil Maton’s fit: vertical curve, sneaky cutter, hidden arm action, and the hilarious side effect of making big leaguers bark at their bats. At Wrigley, that shape plays even better. Add one more strikeout starter, two trustworthy relievers, and the bullpen stops being a nightly coin flip.

We also map the cleanest offensive tweak—first base platoon help versus lefties—without stealing runway from Matt Shaw, Owen Caissie, and the young core. Defense remains a weapon. Counsell’s rest patterns will save bullets for September. And yes, leadership matters: Dansby’s detail and tone pull the dugout forward when games get heavy. Stack these edges and the Central looks winnable while the Dodgers become beatable in a short series.

If you care about how the Cubs actually win more games—in this park, with this manager, under this budget—this breakdown gives you the blueprint and the why behind it. Subscribe, share with a fellow Cubs fan, and leave a quick review on Apple or Spotify to help the show grow. What’s the one move you’d make first?

Thanks for tuning in!

- Carl & Mahoney

Chapters

• 0:00 Thanksgiving Special And Solo Setup
• 2:55 Ricketts Family And Payroll Reality
• 7:10 Setting The 2026 Win Bar And Division Goal
• 12:15 Sponsor Break And Tone Shift
• 16:00 Roster Confidence And Where To Improve
• 18:15 Shota Imanaga Accepts The QO
• 24:40 Lockout Clouds, TV Money, And Contract Strategy
• 29:30 Rotation Outlook And Managing Arms
• 36:00 Phil Maton Scouting Report And Fit
• 44:20 Budget Math And Bullpen Priorities
• 50:40 Beating The Dodgers With Run Prevention
• 55:30 Bats vs Arms And Everyday Core
• 1:00:40 The Thankful Batting Order: 1–9
• 1:06:30 Dansby’s Leadership And Culture

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:06

Good morning, good afternoon, and evening, Chicago Cubs fans. Welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs show. Today is Monday, November 24th. It is Carl. This is a solo show. Happy Thanksgiving. Off the top, this is your Thanksgiving Day special episode. But I gotta say happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for you guys. We have a whole segment about I guess what here's what I'm thankful for, but in a batting order, one through nine. We're gonna close the show with that. I'm gonna be catching my breath quite a bit today. Still re- I said a lot during the playoffs that I had COVID. I don't know what it is now. It's respiratory something. If you're an expert, if you're a doctor only, MDs and DOs only, um for the life of me, just cannot catch my breath. Now maybe it's excitement from Phil Maton. Maybe I'm so jacked up, Shodi Shodi Imanaga accepted his qualifying offer. What a disastrous turn of events that became for Jed Hoyer. Or was it? We're gonna talk about that. Some reports early. The Cubs shocked Shodi Imanaga accepted 22 and a half. Shocked he took the$22.5 million payday. Good gracious. We have stuff to talk about, guys. This is gonna be a good Monday morning cub show. Some themes we've built off from before we've talked about the Tom Rickett's cash situation. In in maybe it's not as bad relative to the rest of the league as I'm leading people to believe. And I guess this is a perfect starting point, then. If you guys want to do a favor for me, whatever you're doing, driving, cutting the grass, listening to this while your old lady is nagging you, giving you a tough time. Did you fold the socks? Don't worry about the socks. All right, we gotta get something figured out right now, and that is Tom Ricketts, in our opinion of him, he is better than just about, just about a wide majority of major league owners. Like I'm I'm he's clearly in the top ten, and the guy's gonna spend 200 something million dollars plus, and you can count on him to do that. There's things about Tom Ricketts that there's plenty of other fan bases would quite literally murder a stranger. Not to trigger the algorithm, but I'm not encouraging people to do that. Don't do that. I'm using that as a euphemism. There's people listening to this uh who are quite lucky, there's people who are not listening to this, there's people who are fans of other Major League Baseball teams that would do bad things to have the luxuries afforded to us by the Ricketts family. And that's another distinction. I need people holding me accountable, I'll hold you accountable. We're no longer calling it Tom Ricketts, it's Ricketts family. When we, at the end of the day, if you want to bitch and say not spend enough money, it's Ricketts family. It's not Tom Ricketts anymore. I've been doing my research. I promised you guys a show digging into Tom Ricketts, finances, interest rates, JP Morgan loans, baby. Same fucking shit you got on that mortgage. You know what I'm saying? Like your buddy works at JP Morgan, Tommy Ricketts is doing business with him. And see, I just did it again. It's Ricketts family. I need you guys holding me accountable. I'm gonna be holding you guys accountable. The distinction, okay, again, what we're trying to say is when we're mad at Tom Ricketts, are we mad because it's not Mark Walter of Guggenheim Partners from the Dodgers back-to-back World Series championships, first time 25 years? Major League Baseball. Are we mad it's not, you know, Steve Cohn,$350 billion payroll, poaching the best baseball guy from the Brewers, David Stearns? Do people believe that? I don't know. That was his thought. He gave him a butt buttload of money. Much like Tom Ricketts did with Theo Epstein, you know, November of 2011, going into that 2012 season, what'd we lose? 101 games, I believe. That's a long time ago. But Steve Cohen, Steve Cohen's breaking ground on an$8 billion casino in that parking lot with, I think, the Seminole tribe. I should, I should get sharp on that for no other reason than it would just be amusing. I just knew all the ins and outs of the the the name the tribe the what tribe games were. Apparently the Seminoles are the ones maybe I could have that wrong. Which, to be honest with you, this time of year I probably should get that right. Out of respect. But Steve Steve Cohen spending a ton of money breaking ground, eight billion dollar property here. Now that's the high end of Major League Baseball ownership. If you want to include rest in peace, the Seedler estate now, I suppose, with the Padres. Who's the guy with the Phillies? I love this guy. Who's the Phillies owner? The tobacco. Middleton. I don't know the full story. Just quickly, I believe, I believe there's a rumor or an allegation. Did he buy out his brother and sister and then sell the company? Did he buy family? Something about something with the family business, but the family business, then whatever it is, tobacco, backwoods. Gas station tobacco is a good way to put it. You know, and not that, not the big brand stuff you know about, Marlboro. Still can't say that word. 38 years old, cannot say that word, Marlboro. Um, no, this is backwood stuff, and I'm getting in the tooth here, which is what I like to do. This is a solo show. I'll get in the tooth. It's a Thanksgiving Day stuff special. We got stuff to talk about. Right now I'm talking about John S. Middleton. Steven. What's his name? What's the mid what's the S stand for? Salisbury. That's regal. This motherfucker gets his money, 7 billion, 6 billion. He spends a lot of cash on the Phillies. All that stuff's coming out of his pocket. He has the cash. So just a theme we're building off of with the Tom Ricketts, etc., over the last number of episodes this offseason has just kind of been like a framing point of a don't be surprised because we don't have the cash flow that allows him to just comfortably blow through luxury tax and say, fuck you. He's not that type. And we're not that type of ownership group. Ricketts family. Ricketts family is not the type of ownership that's just going to blow through luxury taxes. They don't like losing the money on this stuff. It's its own entity and business that owns real estate. And it's just way more complicated than just a good old-fashioned owner with a big bag of money who just loves spending fucking checks. And that's been a huge theme that we've built upon throughout the Monday morning cub show offseason. And so there's just a couple things. Now we get to apply this in real time. And we're talking about payroll this episode, 190. Are we going to get to 240? What are we going to do so we have an allowance for the trade deadline so we don't go over the luxury tax? I think it's pretty clear the Cubs don't go over the luxury tax. We're going to talk about Phil Mayton, Show to Imanaga, obviously accepting the qualifying offer. I do have a fun little game I'm going to play here at the end. I think it's fun. It'll amuse me, you know. And I guess in this universe of doing solo podcasts right now, I that's the litmus test. Will this amuse me? You know? And there's there's going to be tangents. I'm going to go down tangents. We're going to start off with one. Thank you, Thirsty Vaquero, for sponsoring this episode. Thirsty Vaquero. You hit fast forward here, you're going to get bad luck for the next seven years. That's a fact. That's a fact. You hit fast forward here, Jed Hoyer is closing the checkbook. Don't be the guy who ruins the Cubs offseason. Hear what I have to say. Thirsty Vaquero is a Mexican-style soda with a signature spicy finish that has been described by many who enjoy it as I'll bite, no rattle. It's a non-alcoholic. I'm not reading copy here. I'm speaking from the heart. This shit hits. Available on Amazon, three bolt flavors. Are you a mango muerte guy? Do you like the watermelon jalapeno? A lot of people love the jalapeno. And you could be in an argument with your girlfriend right now, reach in the fridge, break the ice, just say, hey, I know this sounds crazy. I know you're mad at me. I know I fucked up. I would like you to try this watermelon jalapeno drink. Recommended to me by a guy who talks about the Cubs, into the void, and I listen to him on Mondays. It's called the Monday morning podcast, but that's because he records it in the morning. Mahoney wasn't there this time, but he got into it. And honestly, I think the watermelon jalapeno would suit your palate, honey. Please forgive me. Try this. Throw that baby on ice. Watch her forgive you immediately. Also, that time of the year, holiday season, cooler, unique, depth and flavor, balance, signature spicy finish. You may think that's not for you till you have it and you realize it's for everybody. Go get some on Amazon. I'll link in when I send the podcast out. On Twitter, on Amazon. On Amazon, you're going to find this. Thirsty Vicaro spells exactly how it's sound, my friends. V-A-Q-U-E-R-O. And I do, I actually spelled that. I typically have a hard time repeating things, saying things, listening to numbers. That's not what you guys are here for. Want to thank you guys for tuning in. That's a big theme. Very grateful this Thanksgiving season. I think we're going to have a good 2026. Well, I see a lot of complaining. Kyle Tucker was butt cheeks in the second half. Little weird too. Didn't really not a guy, not a real locker room gentleman, to be honest with you. Now, does that matter when you have a 157 weighted run created plus in the first three months of the season? I don't give a shit what type of locker room guy you are. But if you're going to be average, buddy, you better bring something to the table. And no. Did not get that. Now he will get$500 million from somebody. Good luck to him. I'm at the point. Hope it's not us. I hope it's not us. Are we being serious? I hope it's not us. What are we doing? What are we doing? He's great. Hey, he's better than Mo Baller. He's better than Owen Casey. Can I find can I find out how good Mo Baller is, though? I think he's gonna be pretty damn good. This isn't even on the agenda, folks. This is just a general theme. I feel like we're gonna be okay, if not better. Now, a good baseline for this, 92 wins. That's what we had this year. Now, a better baseline, in my opinion. I said good baseline, 92 wins. A better one, let's improve the baseline. Division championship. Can we do that? Brewers have a great core. Probably gonna trade Freddie Peralta. Mizerowski will be much better next year. Is Woodruff healthy? I don't know. What's what's wait? Yes. He's healthy. He's a problem. He accepted a qualifying offer. He's a Milwaukee Brewer. Why am I talking about Brandon Woodruff? Who gives a shit? Point is, Milwaukee Brewers are gonna be better next year. Even if they get rid of Freddie Peralta, they're gonna figure something out. They always do. Let's assume they're just as good. We gotta be better. Let's assume they're a little worse. They did have the best record in the history of baseball second half. That's not true. Not in the history. They were hot. One of the hotter teams we've seen in a long time. Moneyball hot. What chapter was that? Chapter 13. 23 game win streak. They weren't that good. They were pretty fucking good in the second half. Can we be division champs? Does this make sense? Does this make sense to you guys? Can we be division champs? That's kind of the thought process. We're setting a theme here. This is an offseason show. I'm not necessarily inclined to just sit here and bitch about Tom Ricketts. The financial episode, I'm preparing that. That will be ready in early 2026. We gotta, I'm at least taking a deep breath here and just saying I'm gonna give Tommy gets the benefit of the doubt. One more. I'm not here to raise hell and get people mad at Tom Ricketts. Again, we're gonna be over$200 something million dollars in payroll. All right? We're gonna be there. That's just an absolute fact. The core of the team that you love, Michael Bush, Nico Horner, Dansby Swanson, Mad Shaw, Ian Hap, Pete Crow Armstrong, we're gonna have Saya Suzuki. Imanaga's back. We'll get into the details of that. Carson Kelly's back, Miguel Amaya's back, Daniel Plency is back. This Phil Maiton guy, one of the better relievers in baseball. Certainly the top two doesn't. I will make an argument for a top 15. I do have a problem with him, though, that does keep him squarely on the spot 15. Why do I do that to myself? I like him. There's something I hate about Phil Maiton. Has nothing to do with this fastball velocity. Generally feel pretty thankful we have a good baseball team. We have a good baseball team that could be much better, and hopefully by the end of this offseason, is much better. And as it plays out next year, let's hope it is better. Couple areas to improve. First base, I'd like to see a better platoon situation if Michael Bush isn't going to hit lefties. Which I'm fine. I don't give a fuck. Guy's almost 30 years old. Whoever he is, he is. So be it. Righty with pop. Somebody plays first base with pop. Is it Jonathan Long? Who is it? That guy in AAA. Everybody likes 360, a little bit of a slow bat, probably can't hit big league breaking stuff. Probably not that good the big league level, or else we'd be seeing him. Maybe. It's not Justin Turner. I'm saying Thunderous or line drive or somebody who just is, you know, are you a problem for left-handed pitching? Because we just that was tough. And then I like Bush coming off the bench. That guy's ready to play every day. You know, later in a game, if he doesn't start, put him in the sixth inning. There will be a chance for Michael Bush to impact every single game. He does he have to be a start. That's just a question. Some people are mad at me for even going down this tangent. Stay with me, fellas. It's a Thanksgiving episode. And as we're just talking through the offseason, my point in this is we really don't have that big of a problem. You don't like Ian App, fine. Four glow gloves in a row doesn't matter to you, fine. You know, I told you guys he'd be electric in August and September down the stretch, he was better than that. He was probably our best player or second best player. Because then the next argument I'm going to bring you back into the infield, and that's Matt Shaw. If Matt Shaw's pretty good next year with his glove, he's four and a half, five win player. The fact he's even in the consideration for a gold glove at third base in his first season, never having ever played it, you know all that guy's doing is just preparing his first step. Right now, as I record this, Matt Shaw is somewhere, probably in Maryland. Probably in a close setting to his parents, if not at his parents' house. Could be staying there. Holiday season's here. Right? He and his wife are probably thinking about buying a condo in Chicago. He's not sure. He thinks. Buy the fucking condo, Shaw. You're a third baseman. Jamity Christmas. Which is coming around the corner. And my point with Matt Shaw is just a complete player, and I do think the perfect player for Wrigley Field because he's a line drive gap-to-gap guy who does have the power but doesn't rely on it. Meaning there's times you show up in Wrigley Field and the wind's blowing in your face and it's 53 degrees and it sucks. And you have to be the type of guy that can hit a line drive the other way. Okay. Who is that? Matt Shaw. Alright, now the wind's blowing out to left field 12 miles an hour. Breezy evening, 63. You brought an ex-girlfriend. You're a moron. You should have brought your friend Kevin. You brought an ex-girlfriend. So I thought these games are faster. Shut up, honey. Mat Shaw's up. Okay, I'm just describing a scenario. It's not that unrealistic here. Because Matt Shaw's about to pop one into left center bleachers. Big fly. All right. He's the type of player, my point, with or without your ex-girlfriend in this equation, he's the type of player can take advantage of wind blowing out or wind blowing in. He has multifaceted offensive game. And I think it will show itself completely next season. Some people think I'm crazy. Some people think he's a fluke. Some people think he sucks. I'll tell you this: I think he's my favorite young Cubs player since Anthony Rizzo. And with an opportunity to like blow the doors off of that over a 10-year career, if he can win multiple championships. Rizzo's got a high fucking bar. All right. But I'm at least willing to say what I've seen from Matt Shaw through one year, and this is just for purposes of saying, do we have problems? Do we not have problems? I open up with saying I'd like to see a little what's the biggest problem I start with. I'd like to see a ready platoon guy who could play first base and hit left-handed pitching. Oh. I mean, the easiest. Like, I'd like to find a number three slot receiver. They're everywhere. They're everywhere. They are literally everywhere. How hard could it possibly be? Now we did just sit through an entire season at Justin Turner. Who was better against lefties and glue in a clubhouse? I suppose. You know, I'd like to see a little bit of that. That could just come from Craig Council. We could just have it come from the manager. We don't need to have it come from a sacrificial lamb pinch hitter, but you want to talk about a tangent, folks. I promised I delivered. All right, show to Imanaga. Let's get here. Accepted his qualifying offer. What are we 20 minutes into the show burying the lead? Now, the big question that I had and have and will continue to pose is is Jed Hoyer happy about this? Now he turned down the three-year$57 million. Jed did had an option on him, three year$57 million, which is$19 million a year for those of you with or without the TI 83s. I already got it in hand, folks. Don't do the math. I'll tell you. 57 divided by three is 19. Showday said, fuck you guys. He was mad. I suppose. Because then he turned down his two-year$30 million option. He said, I'm worth more than$15 million a year. The Cubs then had the Cubs they could have non-tendered this. They did they did not have to offer him a contract. And this is the point in the story I have your attention on now. We've talked about this for a couple weeks, but it just it happened. Shoda made his decision. Now you'd say, why would the if the Cubs didn't want him to offer? If the Cubs didn't want him, why offer? Because if he turns down the qualifying offer, which is one year and$22.5 million. Same qualifying offer they gave the Kyle. Any major league, you got it. That's your qualifying offer.$22.5 million. Shoda said yes. People said some reports the Cubs were shocked. I don't believe that. What I want to focus on is Jed was Jed surprised. Shota turned down two years$30 million. So he's like, I can do better than$30 million over two years. The lockout is looming. Everyone says this. The lockout. Will there be a strike? Will we miss baseball? I don't know. There's big issues with salary caps and salary floors. There's big issues with player health. That's a tangent we're not going down. There could be a lockout. There is an issue with giving out long-term contracts because, particularly if you're a cash tight team like the Cubs, you have you have some questions about whether or not baseball will be canceled in 2027. Some encouragement, just how much TV news came in, and it's going to be on NBC, Sunday Night Baseball's on NBC, which Boog will be calling. You know, great news, Sunday Night Baseball NBC, bad news, Boog's behind the mic on it. But ESPN's taking over MLB network. So there's some big heavy-hitting TV news that then people are extrapolating towards and saying maybe there won't be a lockout because ESPN's aren't going to throw their fucking dick into something. Is that too rough? I'm sorry if you're listening to this with a child in the car. ESPN's not going to throw their weight around, you know, unless they have assurances, right? I can't believe I can't believe ESPN and NBC would get involved in Major League Baseball on the eve of a strike. Or maybe they do. I don't know. I'm just telling you what I've heard. What I've heard. In the old days, you used to say what I've read. I didn't read that. I heard that. Sitting around a bonfire. You know, where did I hear that? Alright. These are just general considerations. As we're talking about the offseason, long-term contracts, stuff that surprises us. And Shodi Imanaga. Should I Imanaga? Is part of the reason that the Cubs didn't give him three years,$57 million off the top of this? Because that's$19 million a year.$19 million a year is three and a half million dollars less than the$22.5 we're going to be paying him. The Cubs said no. How much of that's a lockout? Or how much is that? Is this guy's going to be washed in three years? Or how much of that is this guy's washed right now? So why did why did we give him the qualifying? If we think he's what did we think he's washed over three years? We think he's washed now. We give him the qualifying offer because if he turns down the qualifying offer, the Cubs can get like the 65th pick in the draft, which is worth a lot to the Cubs. So there's a little gamble. Is it worth three and a half million dollars? Maybe. It's over slot, dude. Dude. I know. For the nerds out there, we're talking about how much you're allowed to pay the 67th overall draft pick. It would be something like that. The seven 70th overall pick. If Shoda said no, I'm gonna go to free agency. Whole thing's a mess, in my opinion. Whole thing's a mess, unless Shoda comes back, pitches his dick off. If he's healthy, if the four seam rises. I don't know if he has a chip on his shoulder. It'll be interesting to see if he still all smiles. This is an ugly, in my opinion. An ugly enough. If I was Shoda, I'd be pissed off. If you were Shoda, would you be pissed off? No, dude, I'm getting paid 22 and a half million. I get that. Alright. Let's just assume you're Shoda and you've been getting paid a buttload of money for a long time. Alright? You're not in customer service. You know, neither am I. I'm just saying, if you're Shoda, are you mad about the situation? Why wouldn't you just pick up the option 357? My kids like it here. I'm 32 years old. Who wants to go look for a job? Shoda? Come on. Who wants to? Shoda? Come on. That's the stuff that'd be going through my head if I'm Shoda. So now you have the one year, 22.5 million. Is there a chip on your shoulder? Do you have something to prove? You know? That's a huge question I have about Shoda. Or is he happy? Go lucky. You know. I think he's got something to prove. And I think this is ultimately the sick reason why Jed Hoyer's very happy about this whole thing. Because A, he doesn't want contracts on the book for longer than a year. If it were up to him, one year, perfect. B, I think he's pissed off Shoda. And I think Shoda now has the entire year to prove that he's worth a lot of money. And I don't think the Cubs are going to end up giving it to him. I think they're going to say that. I think you if basically locked in, you're going to get an above-average great year from Shoda Imanaga. I think he's going to come and pitch his butt off. I think Shoda's going to be awesome in 2026. A lot of that has to do with where Shoda is right. Rehab, prep, physical prep. And the other thing, I think the Cubs are going to add depth to starting rotation to the extent that you could see a six-man. Like they're going to baby Kate Horton again a little bit. It's not going to be to the extent it was this year, but they're just going to continue to take him slow. Justin Steele's going to not, he's going to be on the IL to start the season. But when he comes back, and he will, and he'll be very good, but you're going to have to take him slow and steady. Javier Sad's an arbitration right now. He should be getting some starts or some appearances, some piggybacking with a Justin Steele. That's how we should be at the start of the season. That's what I would like to see. Colin Ray obviously want to get him some action. We didn't use him at all at the beginning of the season. He turned out to be very valuable to the team. He wasn't enough at all in the playoffs. But God bless the guy for going out and doing his job. But as I'm just checking through stuff on the on the big board of the Cubs rotation, we're not done yet. I'm glad Shoda Emanuga is back. I don't$22.5 million. You know, shock, surprise. I wish the Cubs were financially a team that said, here's the 357, let's just keep it rolling, baby. But then does Shoda have the chip on his shoulder he has now? And I would argue absolutely not. Absolutely not. And what's more valuable? Probably haven't shown it with the chip on his shoulder. But we don't have to go throw him 200 innings. Because lurking, obviously, the other lefty we're not talking about, Matt Boyd. And I think players want to come and play for the Chicago Cubs. I think there's an opening roster spot there. We're going to get to Phil Mayton. But there's one more spot I'd like to see for a guy at the top of the rotation. If it's Michael King, great. If he's healthy enough. You can overpay, too. I think we're in a spot we can overpay for a starter. If we trade, I'll Contera. If we trade, it's Owen Casey and then say a Suzuki throws this back out playing right field. I will, I'll be mad. I'll be mad. I'll say a bunch of mean things. We are not talking about the trademark right now exactly who what players go. Preferably, I'd like to see a starting pitcher added in free agency. That's where I'm at with the Shota stuff. If we're so surprised or we don't trust Shoda, I think, I think it's all hub. I think we do trust Shoda. I think we do think Shota's gonna come back great. And I didn't even say Jameis and Teon, who when it mattered most, balled the fuck out last year. You know, it'd be great if we could just get a full season of that 2.8 ERH. He has it in him. I just I don't like him on the road. He's too all shocked gee whiz on the road. I don't know. That's a specific thing. Maybe I'll do the Jamison Tian episode solo. I just sit here and complain about what bothers me about him on the road. He had too much skyline chili last night. You know, he was at the medieval torture museum in Cincinnati for too long. What was he doing? I don't know. Whatever he's a he's like a high school, he's like a teenage boy. His interests are all over the place. He's just so excited, you know. You were that age, you went to PNC Park one time, just couldn't get over it. I still think I think he has a little bit of that in him. I'd like to see him. How do we get him a little meaner? I like my starting starting pitchers mean. Justin Steele's a nice guy when you're not competing against him. That's a mean guy. And I mean that respectfully. Kate Orton is a mean, mean man. Is Matt Boyd mean? He's from the Pacific Northwest. That's kind of like a gene blocker situation. They don't get mean. You know, I get Sunburn. Who d like, you know what I'm saying? They have the gene blocker world. If you're from the Pacific Northwest, you're not, you can't get mean. Or really too happy either. You're just a pretty chill guy. Is Matt Boyd pretty chill? So these are the questions I think about. I gotta get I don't have a press pass. Maybe one of you guys do. Ask that question. I am so we these are the tangents you pay for, folks. Speaking of which, Thirsty Vacero, I'll bite, no rattle. This segment, this next segment's presented by Thirsty Vacero, which you can get on Amazon. Get it for the holidays. I'm telling you, settle that beef with your old lady. Phil Mayton, I'm surprised the Cubs gave him multiple years in a deal. Not because he's anything other than a relief pitcher and the Cubs rarely give multiple years to somebody. Now, what's works in favor of us is he's from Springfield, Illinois, or at least Chatham went to Chatham Glenwood, I believe. Their colors are red and white. That's a true story. And who do they compete against most? Sacred Heart Griffin, the Catholic school in Springfield. Both of those just great baseball programs. Why do I know this stuff? Because at one point it mattered a lot to me to know this stuff. Now it's just in my head. Who went who else went to Chatham Glenwood? Jason Wirth, who for close to 23 or 4 years until Tim Howard went from Mount Carmel, was the was the only high school or the last high school position player drafted from an Illinois high school. Last position player. There have been first rounders out of that are pitchers. But position player, 96 Jason Wirth, Chatham Glenwood. Look that up. Maybe 97. Then I believe Tim Howard, who still lurks somewhere in the Chicago Cubs minor league system. He's somewhere, South Bend somewhere taking grounders. Malcolm kid. Now that's a hell of a tangent because we're talking about Phil Mayton, who is just an average size. His name's Phil. I mean, you can't just can't be more average than a guy named Phil. 6'2, 200, you know. Just not really anything. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just saying realistically, he's been around the block, folks. Almost 500 games pitched. Now, the unique thing about Phil Maton is he doesn't throw hard at all. I love this guy, though. Big strikeout rate because he's got a filthy, filthy curveball, filthy cutter. And the unique thing about that isn't necessarily great. We have this big swing and miss stuff. It's just so different. All right. And like that's part of the reason why some of this stuff can be very successful at the major league level. It's not just that it's good. It's not, it's not just that it's a great breaking ball, or that the breaking ball in and of itself is unique. It's got unique shape to it. It's got unique break, so it breaks way more vertical than your traditional, and it does not move nearly as much vertic or horizontally. So it's more of like a 12-6 Tommy Gordon, or it's got more of a fall off the table action to it. And the reason that's unique is a lot of guys are pulling breaking balls to the glove side and adding more of obviously the sweeper or sweeping action or more concentrated on expanding the zone that way. And so, I mean, before we even talk about Mayton's velocity, the what's unique about the pitch itself is just the fall off the table action with it. And he pairs it with a cut fastball. I mean, there's almost no forcing fastball that he throws. But now let's take it a step further. Here's some more unique stuff about Phil Mayton. The arm action's very quick and hidden. So just relative from big league reliever stuff, quick fast arms that stay hidden are usually starting pitcher stuff. You know, in a bullpen hiding a fastball or hiding your action, um, you know, I'm not gonna say it's like unheard of, but it's definitely more typical to see hidden action or hidden arm arm action, deceptive arm action like that. A lot of that stuff's coming when you say, like, I'm not getting a good look at it, like that you're typically talking about a starting pitcher. Uh reliever's more stuff heavy, relievers more spin rate, trying to fuck trying to embarrass it, and that I'm not saying every single one of them, but just a general trend in Major League Baseball, and you say we're going to the bullpen, you know, we are really down a path of fastball slider, you know, power stuff. And so now we're gonna say, okay, well, Mayton's completely different than that. He's a, you know, he's a guy who's got kind of below like way different looking stuff, you know. So uh you can go weeks in Major League Baseball and see guys out of a bullpen and see not one guy under 95 miles an hour, right or lefty. And then you're gonna see Phil Maiton throwing 88 million mile-an hour cutters with 72 mile an hour curveballs that just look so tantalizing, which brings me to this. If you Google 2024 Phil Maiton highlights, just such a rich, rich collection of major league hitters yelling the word fuck. I'm not joking either. It's just like Phil Mayton striking out guys with stuff that looks so good until the very last second, and it's just guys screaming fuck at the top of their looks, fuck! Damn it! Yeah. Guys yelling at their bat. It's really funny. The 2024, maybe I'll tweet that out. Maybe who cares? I just encouraging you, don't stop the podcast for this, or do. It's worth it. I mean, the first couple minutes, it's hilarious. It's seven minutes to fill Maiton striking dudes out with just honestly what looks like high school stuff, college stuff. The breaking ball is very good. Now, the only problem I have is he has walk a lot of guys. And when I say walk a lot of guys, you know, I don't like a walk rate over three for a reliever. And in and he really, he's three, three and a half, three, four, four, six, three, four, three, four, three, three. And that's walk rate per nine, which means like he's gonna put guys on. You know, is it the leadoff guy? I gotta dig more into like where these walks are coming from. Is he walking guys with two outs and nobody on? I don't have a problem with that. Is he walking lead-off guys? You know, you can look at the ERA, don't really think that really matters when we're talking about this stuff, but I mean, who gives a shit? It's low, you know, it's low enough, two, seven, nine over the season last year, three, six, six year before, three before that. Who, you know, maybe it's not that low. And part of that's gonna be you can't give up, you know, in this case, you can't walk 25 guys in 66 innings. You can't walk 24 guys in 63 innings. I hate that stuff. And that would be the one thing when I say Phil Maton. I love the fact, and I should have introduced the contract terms. It's a two-year deal. We don't know how much yet. People said on the low end,$12 million. On the high end, I've seen 18. And quite frankly, I don't give a fuck. This guy can pitch basically fill a Brad Keller role of a late inning, gonna get a lot of swing and miss. I think a 32% strikeout rate, I've tell you people swing and miss it is stuff like crazy. You just don't see the type of stuff he throws, and he's very repeatable. The curveball, it's just a pitch guys cannot lay off of. You know, he's gonna have success at the back of the bullpen. And he's in that right age group, 32, turning 33 next season. I don't think he's a big injury risk because of the velocity or wear and tear. You know, if you just go back 65 games, 67 games, 68, 71, 63, he's a guy who makes a lot of appearances, but I don't think there's a ton of wear and tear. Furthermore, I think the Cubs are very good at managing wear and tear. You know, I don't think Craig Counsel's out there running guys out of the ground. I think he's pretty mindful about giving guys rest, much to the detriment of us complaining, you know, in June, pussy. Throw our fucking guys. But I do think if we can't get to a spot with Brad Keller, he's gonna go pretend to be a starting pitcher or at least have that conversation with teams in free agency. If we have to, uh Mayton's a guy who just immediately slides into like an eighth inning high leverage with a ton of confidence, especially on nights when the wind's blowing out at Wrigley Field. And I'm gonna, you're gonna hear me more in the offseason, kind of bring myself back to like there's situations where we're at a huge disadvantage. You know, could be tie game, could be pitching the 10th inning with that bullshit runner on second base, excuse my language. You know, could be one of those super winning nights, and that's actually great because his breaking ball is gonna be much better if he's throwing into the wind. I'm being dead serious here, guys. Wind's holling out the left field, Maton's stuff sharper, he's throwing it into the wind. It's gonna fall off that table just a little bit more. I think the shape really plays for those windy nights at Wrigley Field. If you think I'm joking, just stop the show now. I'm talking insight, folks, and little advantages and the stuff that gives us a little advantage here and there. And like, I do actually like the fact that his stuff plays well into wind, which I don't think it does it. What are you gonna get a night? Okay, the guy throws 98. Great. Everybody hits that these days. That's where I'm at on Phil Maton. Go listen to the highlights, go listen to the guys get mad, just furious at themselves. He's a real bat breaker. He's somebody he really frustrates other teams. So all right, payroll about 190-ish. If Maton say the deal's worth eight million a year, you know, I think it's probably gonna be closer to seven. And then we have a club option on the guy, which I love, which is probably for eight. So I wouldn't be surprised if it was like a three-year, you know, could be up to$24 million deal. I do think he's pumped that his like parents or his buddies get to come watch him. If he truly is a Chatham Glenwood kid, you know, and he went to college at Louisiana Tech, so he hasn't been around for a minute. I'm being dead serious. He's probably pumped. He probably loved it when he played for St. Louis a little bit last year, when he pit he played really well, pitched really well for St. Louis last year. 2.35 ERA, 40 appearances, 38 innings, 48 strikeouts, pitch well. I'll guarantee some of that has to do if he truly is a Central Illinois kid, and I mean it, you know, born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky, if he is actually a kid from Springfield, there ain't nothing that dude loves to do more than hang out with the boys. And if he's in a situation where they can be hanging around and wiggly expect big things from this guy, that's another piece of insight I stand behind. I'm not saying it just to say it. I'm not saying it for giggles. I'm saying it when Phil Mayton has a 170 RA at the All-Star break next year, and we're all sitting around pissing our pants because he didn't get named to the All-Star team. Thankfully. Because we don't need that wear and tear. We need it back in fucking Springfield, hanging out with the boys, watching the home run derby on Netflix. You think Netflix picks up the home run derby without the lockout? I don't think so, folks. My point is payroll's about 190-ish. Now, Phil Mayton, this deal can take it up to about, I think max would be 198-ish. And if we say the luxury tax 240, we know the Rickets are gonna leave themselves a cushion, call it 3, 5%. I'm gonna say it's gonna be 7 million cushion to go over the luxury tax if there's some big starter we can trade for. I think Jed, I think Jed's just leaving that there because he knows that it's the Ricketts family's number one thing to say no is luxury tax. And I don't think we ever want to be a position at the trade deadline where we're gonna go out and acquire a big expiring contract that then that it somehow, some way is so bit puts us over the luxury tax. So let's just say he's gonna leave a six, seven million dollar buffer. We'll call it seven. We'll say the luxury tax 244, we're going to 237 now in our heads. This now say Maton takes us to 198. What's that leave us?$39 million, right? Just conversationally here, it leaves us$39 million. Now, where's that$39 million going? I'd like to see more in the bullpen. I'd like to see at least two more guys in the bullpen. And if we're gonna give Maton two years, then like, does that mean we can give Fairbanks two years? I would. And I don't want to get too specific about this. You know, is it Kemley J? I don't know. There's names out there in the bullpen that are worth eight, nine million. And if we want to pick two of them, go ahead and pick two of them. I like that. I like having a deep bullpen. You know, I thought I I thoroughly enjoyed our bullpen last year. The just the big surprise errors, you know, then familiarity with the names in the fellas, you know, just not necessarily there. But I'd like to continue to build out a bullpen that essentially puts Ben Brown in last place. You know, like I don't want him, I don't want to go into spring training and people are like, did you hear Ben Brown might be a late inning? Sure, if he wants to be, but like we're not doing that. We need to have him firmly entrenched, firmly entrenched deep on the on the depth. You know, so in the way we do that, just give me a couple more 33-year-olds with good stuff that we can count on. You know, if we're gonna turn down what was that, Kittrich, 8 million, if we're if we're not, if we're gonna say no to him, then like all right, spend it on somebody better then. Like keep adding that. I I think where we're really separating ourselves is ultimately in the run prevention side, which is the combination of the starting pitching, the bullpen, and the defense. And the defense is just so solid, and it's gonna be consistent, if not better, than it was this year. You know, we may take a hit right field. I don't know what was going on with Kyle Tucker, but like is Owen Casey a good right fielder? Let's find out. Was he better than Kyle Tucker? Probably not. You know, Matt Shaw will be better. Nansmi Swanson had a step down defensively. Still fine ball player. Don't make me go through the whole lineup, you know, because you know I'll fucking do it, folks. My point is that the defense side from run prevention, elite. Alright? Even I know Reese McGuire got non-tender to contract. You know, is Miguel Miguel Myatt not necessarily as good as a catch and throw guy, but you know, we'll have that argument a different day. I think the starting pitching is gonna improve. I think we gotta watch Matt Boyd's innings. I think Cade Horton out of the gate is obviously gonna pick up where he left off. We're gonna get that Justin Steele infusion. Show the Imanaga has a chip on his shoulder. James Entayan looked great down the stretch, you know. And I think there's an opportunity, sure, if it's Michael King, who's a big strikeout guy, who had a little bit of a health issue this year at the Padres, otherwise, big big trade piece when Ju Soto went from New York or went from San Diego to New York, you know, people are projecting three in the 75. And if the Cubs did 260, you know, is that okay? Probably not. Probably won't have the cash for that. If we can get two relievers in Michael King through free agency, you know, or is it the trade route? I don't know. Here's what I would do. In free agency, I'd add Michael King. In a trade, I don't know. I would not add Zach Gallon. I would add somebody who we know has swing and miss right now. Not a kitchen sink. I think the swing and miss would be nice. And I think if there was a way we could shift pitchers around, we could give guys multiple times off, let somebody pitch three innings out of the bullpen. I'd really like to see the Cubs take a step forward on managing the arms. So that come October, I do think we're good enough to beat the Dodgers. Should have said that off the topic. Fucking Blue Jays took him to seven games. With who? With who? Flag Rare Jr. George Springer, Bo Bachet. Um I mean, most of the Toronto Blue Jays lineup, most of it. Fine, solid. Solid. It's a good team. We played them. We played them hard in August. Took the Blue Jays probably Blue Jays took it took the Dodgers two seven games. And almost obviously win in many ways. Game seven, that was tragic. Um my point is that I do think the Cubs can beat the Dodgers. I do think the way this struck the way the core is built. I don't know if the answer, it's like, will we sign Kyle Schwarber and it's a 6-250? Now he's the DH. Now we go trade Moe Baller for a starting pitcher. Now we're kind of really leveraged on the next like two, three year window with this lockout looming. You know, do I love that? You know, I know a lot of you guys do. I wish I did. I wish I did. Would Kyle Schwarber come back here? I'd be surprised if he did. You know, we'd all go nuts. Does he want to play the many as many day games? I don't know. I just don't know. You know, if I was trying to win over like a five, seven year window, I would definitely improve the starting pitching staff and continue to add depth so that Cade Horton can continue to thrive so that he's ready to be the annual like Cy Young contender that I think he will be when he's in that 28, 29 year window, when I think he's gonna be the best pitcher in baseball. And I think you kind of sharply continue to build around the fact that like you know locked-in run prevention, which is worth about 45% of the success of a major league team. Um you know, I would say I would I would say that's a lock, and we stay in that and we stay in that mindset. Because what's already there, it's the good stuff. Build it up and make it a little bit better. You know, in the meantime, our our offense, I believe, is was the fifth best in baseball last year. Fifth, second best defense, fifth best, you know, offense. So what where could we use some help? I'd like to see some swing and miss stuff in the starting pitching staff. I think Michael King brings it, or in a trade, you know, I don't want to see Edward Cabrera, you know, in a trade for somebody with swing and miss stuff in the starting rotation that kind of just makes it easier for everybody, you know. And here's here's another thing. If we let Michael Bush hit left-handed pitching, then keep a roster keep the roster spot um you know, in the on the pitching side, then keep one less guy on the bench. I don't give a shit. I want arms healthy in October and September down the stretch, and I want to win the division, and I want to win series consistently, and I want to can and I want to continue to dominate people uh with the defense, which I think will happen. So it's just long-winded thoughts here. But my head is not on bats. I'm sorry, guys. I want to see Moe Baller and I want to see Owen Casey, and I think everybody's kind of locked in through this season. Like Nico Horner's gonna get 600 plate appearances, I think Matt Shaw should get 600 plate appearances. Ian Happ's gonna get 600. I think all those guys, I think Pete Crow Armstrong shouldn't get, you know, like you should be in a position to have a utility guy to give guys days off. But like we have every day, we have the everyday rate, we have it rank and file. Where where can we get better? I already said platoon at first base. I don't think it's gonna be at third base, it's certainly in a shortstop, not having that argument. We have uh two great catchers, you know, little bit of questions going on at right field, which we've talked about the Monday morning cub show. It's the Thanksgiving special here, guys. I want to thank you guys for tuning in. I put together here's just a batting order of my life of things I'm thankful for as it pertains to the Monday morning cub show. All right. So, like, just here it is. Leading off is Wrigley Field. Uh, I'm hitting Wrigley Field. It's like the way the Dodgers use show Hey Ottawa's Leoffitter. I'm leading with the first thing. The cathedral, the literally the best place in the world to watch a sporting event. And I was in London, I went to Stanford Bridge, that's where Chelsea play. It was a wonderful experience. I think a unique uh comparison there is like the Cubs have, I think, 2.2 million followers on Instagram. Chelsea has like 46 million. Global. It's a cathedral people love, it's a thing going to Chelsea, right? It's a big deal. I got tickets. Nice, paid up, paid a lot of money for the tickets. It's a wonderful experience. Ridley Field blows the shit out of the fucking water. I'm sorry. All right. I went to International Grounds, I saw the stuff, I understand it. Champions League, congratulations. Frank Lampart got a picture next to the statue, blah, blah, blah. Had a good time, butchering the hook, sang the songs, wore the scarf. Congratulations. It was awesome. All right. Lambeau, been there. Uh, you know, what's another big the college baseball, Mississippi State for Old Miss. That's a great venue. That left field lounge, that'll that'll put some hair on your chest. No, I've been around. Not saying I've been around, but I've been to stuff. I've been to cool stuff. I've been to venues. And Wrigley Field's the best. You hear it in leadoff. I'm thankful for Wrigley Field 2. Okay, Monday morning maniacs. You're hitting second in the lineup of things I'm thankful for. And that's just mostly because the show really came together last year in the second half from trade deadline on. The first half, we were like, should I be doing this? What the fuck? And not really sure. Just not really sure. Okay. And typically, a man, uh, I like to be sure of things or at least be moving with some sort of certainty or with some sort of vague idea of certainty, and did not have that at all in the least bit. All right. Second half rolls around, trade deadline, and momentum. All right. Now we pick it up. Now we're at a point, it's fantastic. Title sponsor. We're back in business, folks. All right. Took a while. The show is rolling, though. And I want to thank the Monday morning maniacs for a submitting the reviews, five stars on the Spotify and the Apple. The things are going up. Can't thank you guys enough. It helps us get sponsors, it helps us get traction and draw a differentiator in the market. We're the only show I believe we're the, I shouldn't even say this stuff because people fuck with it. But I believe we're like, I can't find another show that's five stars. We're five stars in everything. You just pick the platform. I'm beyond grateful for that. And not grateful, but thankful because it's that time of the year. I'm thankful for you guys. And I'm thankful for the support. And I'm thankful for you guys helping me turn this into a real show because I do have ambition. It's gonna grow in 26. I'm not committed, it's gonna grow. When I say grow, like it'll be more frequent, it will be more structured. I'm still in between doing interviews. I don't know if that's um if I think it's something where you guys are gonna learn and benefit from it. You know? Like, I don't need a story or a soundbite or a clip. I think I put out my first clip ever the other week, and that was just because I was wearing a scaly cap from England and I thought it looked funny. We don't do the clips. We're not here for the buzz, other than it make it more understanding when you're watching the game and when you're following the offseason news. These guys talked about this. They talked about Cade Horton's cutter, they talked about these guys, they talked about Mo Baller being a good player. I'm trying to, um, that's it, that's ultimately the thing that I'm passionate about. Okay. If you're interested, maybe there's interviews. I could if it's insightful. How many times have you heard the Ryan Dempster? I'm just kidding. I love Dempster. All right, third thing I'm thankful for, Jed Hoyer. I mean, Jed Hoyer, your three hitters gotta have the approach. And of all the things I'm thankful for, I think I love Jed Hoyer's approach the most. I don't love Tom Ricketts' family. Hold me accountable. I don't love the way the Ricketts family has just put this guy in a corner. We're the Cubs, we should have a payroll in the$280 million range. We should use the fact that our operating revenues are like$550 billion to offset some of this, but our owners have a bad financing agreement that allows them to sting a lot of their cash flow into the cost that it's it takes to service the debt, which is a big mouthful to say we aren't we don't have the cash. Jed Hoyer is so creative and has been just a wonderful leader for the Chicago Cubs, and I think has put us in a position where we're gonna be competitive for a long time. I don't see it, I do not see a situation where I'm sitting down in front of this microphone doing a Monday morning cub show with a chip on my shoulder, sincerely, about being a below 500 team. Like I don't think we're even close to that for a very long time. Like, I think as long as we're in this Craig Council window, he's the manager, you know. I I guess you could say Swanson at shortstop. He's really the only guy on long-term payroll where you're going at least 90 wins. So I'm thankful for that. I think Jed Hoyer's put me in a position where I can like peacefully accept, or I mean, I should say expect 90 wins. Four, I'm thankful for the Chicago Cubs core in the identity in the way we play the game. I love that we have the best middle in field in baseball. I love that we got guys that don't strike out. I love that we have the most electric defender in center field. I love that we have the saltiest fucking best defender in left field. I love the fact that we have a God-fearing, uh, absolute psychopath who eats baseballs for breakfast playing third base for us, who will never be satisfied with himself, which is just how your third baseman should be. You should be a self-loathing, can't prove it, can't hack it. So you're just gonna keep playing harder, aren't you? Good. I love the identity this team has. I wish Craig Council was a little bit more personable, but we're not talking about that. I'm just saying what I love, what I'm thankful for. And I'm thankful for our core identity and the way that we play the game. We take the extra base. All right. We are a go get them team. We are a weird team you do not make mistakes to, or else you're gonna lose. That is basically what the Chicago Cubs have become. In my opinion, you have to play good baseball to beat this team. And that's ultimately the sign of a great baseball team. And I love the Chicago Cubs for it, and I'm very thankful for it. Fifth, right, you gotta have your five-hitter's gotta have some pop. Your five-hitter has to be able to drive the ball, your five-hitter's got to make you get out of your seat. You know, at the same time, your five hitter is gonna break your heart. Your five-hitter is the type of hitter you're going, you motherfuck, how many times I've got to tell you, how many times I gotta tell you, how many times I gotta tell you. Well, this time, my folks, I'm telling you, what I'm thankful for is a five-hitter out of the park, and more than that, the Chicago Bears are eight and three. That's my five hitters of things I'm thankful for. I mean, how many times Chicago Bears have been three and eight this time of year? You're still hitting five, baby. Still thankful for you. But in this case, I mean, are we a good football team? We're a team. We are a team. We are good. We are in first place. We're the fucking we're the Chicago Bears. You're hitting fifth in my lineup of things I'm thankful for. Six, I got a great partner in Mrs. Carl. Now, this does pertain to the Monday morning cub show. Because she's been very encouraging. This goes back to you guys hitting two. Hitting six is my old lady. You know, when she's a switch hitter, I mean gap to gap. I mean gap to gap, you weirdos, you know. But uh, you know, just lucky for a great partner. Now, not everybody's that lucky, and I've been in situations for a long time in my life when we weren't partners, and those were that that comparatively not necessarily as good. I hate to say that. If you're going through something, you know, just do some self-examination. Is it you, you know, or is it the market? I used to think, you know, let's just say this like it it goes a long way to have some self-reflection and say, how can I be a better partner in order for you to find the right partner? Some self-examination, which is which took place. Uh what's that a nice way of saying? You know, why don't you be a better boyfriend? That's a good idea. That's what I'm talking about, is what the conversation I had with myself. No, we have a great relationship, and I'm very lucky for that. I'm very and I understand that I'm lucky for that. I don't take that for granted. And we've done a lot of cool shit together, we've gone to a lot of cool places together, we've been friends for a very long time. I'm just very lucky and I'm very thankful uh for the relationship that I have. Now, here's the thing though, is like it's not that important to the Monday morning cup show when you guys are necessarily, right? That's why it's hitting six. To me, it matters more than I could possibly explain. This is like my Dansby Swanson move here. You know, number one in my heart, not even close. You guys are like, all right, keep it moving, dude. Nobody gives a shit. Um, by the way, Sturk Family Farms, we're 20% off. Promo code MMCS, the whole store, 20% off. Promo code MMCS. Keep your eyes peeled for a Black Friday, knock your tits off your chest. When you see the product, engage with it. It's a hand cream for the ages. I didn't put her six to do a dad read. The show's almost over, guys. I want to thank you for tuning in. Seven, I'm thankful for our great young players, specifically Cade Horton, Matt Shaw, and Mo Baller. Now there's other players. I know Pete Crow Armstrong's a young player. Put him on a different list. I'm talking about the next wave of the identity, right? Pete's too big for this. I'm talking about the rank and files. And we got the rank and files. Cade Horton is Cade Horton will cut your throat, drink your blood, and then go throw seven scoreless. Why is he cutting your throat? I don't know. Maybe would it? Maybe he'd save you from having your throat cut. But in the world where throats get cut, he's not shying away, is my point. He's not backing down. Love Cade Horton. Two on the list, Matt Shaw. I do just think I can't wait to like replay these tapes to my grandkids. It'd be like, this your grandfather sitting around telling before anybody believed in him that he's gonna be one of the greatest cubs of his all of his time. Not all time. There's a long way to go for that conversation. You'll have to excuse me, I'm gonna have a sip of a great cup of coffee that I've largely neglected throughout this conversation. And it just fucking hit perfectly. So and then Moballer. Bat control, big chain, lot of swag. Haven't had that swag in the clubhouse for a long time. Cubs are weary about that swag. Why are they weary about I don't think Javi Bay has had I don't think they left on good terms. I think they were ready to get rid of the swaggy. I don't think the Ricketts family loves it. I don't think Crane Kenny likes it. I don't think Jed gives a shit. I think I think Mo Baller is gonna be the guy who gets back into the big league lineup and gets a lot of people to shut their mouths around that organization. He could be a little more respectful. Yeah? He's also gonna turn around 99 miles an hour that just left over the middle of the plate. That guy's sick. I'm thankful for him. And I'm thankful for the fact that we've got great young dynamic players to watch. Eight, I'm thankful for the 2016 World Series. Like you guys didn't see that one coming, but just generally speaking, thankful for it because I it's one of those things, it's still there. It's old now at this point. It's older. It's still in the lineup. You're having a bad day. Put the documentary on. Or like pick up a book on it. Go look through the box scores. Like it's just unbelievable that we did that. That we broke the curse. It's unbelievable that you know we were good enough to win a World Series. That we came back from being down 3-1. That like despite Joe Madden using Erollis Chapman for 75 innings. No, like when Rajah Davis hit that home run, I thought I was gonna die. And so I'm thankful, obviously, that I'm not dead. Um one, two, th just thankful in general that we have that, like we all have that. Like if you're a mania, you have a we have a World Series championship as Cubs fans. Now, like what world am I living in? You know? And and I think that really kind of gets lost on us. Now I'm not sitting here going, leave Tom Ricketts alone, leave the Ricketts family alone, hold me accountable for not just calling on the Ricketts family. I'm not saying that they get a free pass. What I'm saying is that it's crazy to me. You know, we live in a world where the Chicago Cubs won a World Series championship. So just take a moment to just be thankful for that. It's hitting eighth in the lineup. All right. I didn't lead off with that. I'm not still hanging on, right? I didn't wear I didn't wear the Letterman jacket this weekend. Uh and then number nine, Dansby Swanson's leadership. I'm thankful for that guy. As it pertains to the Monday morning cup show. Because I do think it's the most underreported thing on in Major League Baseball. Is how much does it matter having Danzby Swanson in your dugout every day? You guys hate his guts all you want. All you want. Runners in scoring position, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He's just the I think he's just the most wonderful teammate and like is quite literally the perfect representation of how you want to play the game every day. Because he doesn't have everything. He obviously is weaker than most short steps. He's slower than most short steps. He's got a weaker arm than most short steps. He he has everything about him is like not that impressive at all. What's impressive is that he is so utterly perfect when it comes to the fundamentals of the game, that he has the quickest release, he has the best first step, he's the most knowledgeable person on the field about the other team and every single thing that they've done against the Cubs and what their tendencies are, and then how does he apply that to Wrigley Field, which is a very difficult place to play? I think he's the best person when the bullpen door opens up and they're coming out to the field and he's standing on the mile and being like, let's go. I think he's just the best person to take a throw from the second baseman that's a little bit offline. I love that guy more than I could possibly explain for a baseball player to be on my team. Now, list, these guys got holes in his game. He's in the big leagues because of all the stuff he does well, and the stuff he does well, he does better than anybody else does it. He's a phenomenal base runner. How often do you get mad at Danzby Swanson for making a stupid out on the bases? Almost never happens. I don't know if it ever has.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:39

Now, as I say that, someone's gonna be like, Don't you fucking remember May against the Diamondbicks?

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:45

No, I don't remember that right now. I'm glazing the sky. Give me some give me some respect here. My last thing I'm thankful for in this segment is Dansby Swanson is a leader, the leader of the team that we watch 162 times a day. I mean, do you do you remember I sure Starling Castro is a great memory? We had a lot of fun winning 66 games when he played Shore Stop every day for us. And she might have been the only spark of hope for that team. And I get all that stuff, like just the difference. Like the diff remember him getting called out in the media for like eating seed, he had his back turned to the play before. I mean, just stuff makes your skin crawl as baseball guy, thinking yourself, how in the name of I'm not I'm watching myself here, guys. I already have too many explicits next to these episodes. So this is a long episode. This is a Thanksgiving Day special. You'd be remiss. I don't care about runners in scoring position. I don't care how much you hate Danceby Swanson. I'm here to talk about the stuff that doesn't get talked about to highlight the things that I think are more important and deserve more credit from everyone involved. And in this case, specifically, I'm talking about Dansby Swanson as a leader in the clubhouse every day after tough losses, after long wins, after blowouts, both on either side of them, big road trips, being an influence, keeping guys together. So, you know, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe I maybe I put way too much credit into that, you know. Let me worry about that. For right now, I want to say thank you guys for tuning in the Monday morning Cub Show. If you get a chance, share it with somebody. You're gonna be around the holidays, Thanksgiving. You can spark an argument with your friends and family members around any of the shit that I'm talking about. And I would love to arm you with information to destroy these morons when it comes to the Chicago Cubs, particularly when it comes to Ricketts being a bad owner and not having enough money. I you guys better be talking about his cash flow issues. You better be talking about Tommy Ricketts cash flow issues. And you know, if they ask you, they say, how do you know so much about this? You say Monday morning Cubs show. I got a guy, his name's Carl. He talks into the void about the Chicago Cubs, but I listen because we're on to something here, folks. Now you can go ahead and leave five stars. You don't have to. I would appreciate it. Spotify or Apple, this is an audio only podcast. And we will be back the Monday after Thanksgiving. Okay, with some insights, some more insights, maybe some QA. I don't think we're gonna have any action on free agency until then, but we we are getting into the winter meetings. So start getting your mind right on this. What are those trades? Maybe that's a good place to spend some time. What are those trades? If you have trade proposals, you can find me on Twitter at Carlsbeef. Send me your trade proposals, and maybe next week we kick the bucket on some trade kick the bucket. Doesn't that mean die? Kick it around, kick the can, kick it. Just have an old time, can an old good old fashioned time talking about trade proposals. Uh until then, I'll talk to you guys soon. I love you and Go Cubs.