Monday Morning Cubs Show
A show every Monday morning about the Chicago Cubs from Carl and Mahoney.
Monday Morning Cubs Show
Preparing For Winter Meetings: Transmission Trouble + Marquee Network Cuts
A cold Chicago morning has a way of stripping things down to what matters, and that’s exactly how we tackle the Cubs. We open with the realities shaping the offseason: Wrigley’s wind, a pitching staff that leans contact, and a front office balancing ambition with budget. From there, we connect the dots between Marquee Network’s cost-cutting and the baseball moves fans actually care about, making a clear case for investing in swing-and-miss arms over splashy names that drain resources without moving the win column.
We dig into targets and timelines, explaining why Michael King’s profile fits the Cubs’ needs and how a creative approach—six-man rotation or multi-inning roles—could protect workloads for Cade Horton, Justin Steele, and the rest of the staff. The goal is simple: add a pitcher who forces hitters on their heels, not another arm that invites aggression. On the position side, we argue for value over vanity: keeping Matt Shaw’s upside and cost control beats chasing an expensive third baseman for a marginal upgrade. That surplus value can fund a deeper bullpen and the kind of frontline pitching that swings a series.
Along the way, we talk about the business backdrop the team can’t ignore. Marquee was supposed to be a revenue edge; instead, underperforming subscriptions and off-season content are forcing hard choices. That doesn’t mean waving the white flag; it means choosing the moves that yield the most wins per dollar. We even vent about the Hall of Fame’s selective morality—Jeff Kent in, Bonds and Clemens out—and how that shapes fan sentiment around “big names” versus actual on-field impact.
If you’re ready for a grounded plan to get back atop the NL Central—more strikeouts, smarter usage, and value that compounds—this one’s for you. Subscribe, drop a 5-star review, and tell us: would you trade for an ace or spend in free agency?
Thanks for tuning in!
- Carl & Mahoney
And we're clear. Good morning, good afternoon, and evening, Chicago Cubs fans. Welcome back to the Monday morning Cubs Show. Today is Monday, December 8th. I am your host. It is very early Monday morning, and I am joined by the one and only my close personal friend, Tim Mahoney. Mahoney, it's good to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER_03:Carl Ditto, love having the steam coming off the coffee cup from the garage this morning. Slight chill in the air, but not bad where I sit. Um, you know, by this Monday, the snow has been removed. You know, but we're in the thick of the winter, and I'm just glad to be back with you and the maniacs on this Monday morning, sir.
SPEAKER_02:This is like space heaters out. So if you watch us on YouTube, it doesn't exist on YouTube, it's audio only, but you'll know I record from the three seasons room with the space heater that runs probably 10, 12 hours a day, electric bills through the roof. It's that time of the year, though, where like, yes, it is cold. It's not nearly as cold as it's gonna be, pal. We got days coming, it's gonna be minus 10. You're gonna have those. There's there's another 30, 35, 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We're gonna shave. Uh, that said, you still got to take advantage of those days. You get the three seasons room, you can get in the garage, you can have that piping hot cup of coffee with the steam coming up. It's not too cold yet, I guess is what I'm trying to say. It's not too cold. I don't want to hear people bitching, it's so fucking cold. It ain't that cold yet, ladies.
SPEAKER_03:Like Carl, I I did I had the steam, or excuse me, I had the space heater going this morning, but I do turn it off for the sake of recording because it will trip the power every so often. So I feel fine. It is the farmer, dude. The farmer's almanac nailed this snow. I think they have a lot of different AI components going on. It's not just kind of throwing shit at the wall, but the farmer's almanac, they predicted it's gonna be a long and arduous winter for us, folks.
SPEAKER_02:So, you know, how many years in a row is it now for you uh in the arm uh farmer's almanac? Like I know that's a big thing in your family. You guys sit around around this time each year and you guys go through it.
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, and Carl, I really started taking it much more serious. You know, I was a commodities broker back in the day, before our time. And, you know, my guys, they had to hedge their birth bets. I was dealing with farmers, so I had to know what I was talking about. I had to talk about tones and and different weight proportions of a contract, mini corn were trading. But so I've been really into it for about 15 years. Yeah, as far as just weather is concerned and just kind of knowing and digging in, it has gotten so much more scary accurate within the past three.
SPEAKER_02:I don't need to do this, but I'm gonna do it anyways. Like weather control, do you bite on that one? That's a conspiracy that like government controls weather, chemtrails. They've tried.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, just say they've tried, and I I can't talk about that any further, Carl.
SPEAKER_02:The one thing, because we're gonna talk a lot about the Cubs, but I'm just thinking commodities broker, the amount of money that's in like a wheat future or like a uh soybean something, you know, buying these contracts, you gotta think that there's somebody upstairs controlling, like doing the best that they can when there's a big drought, you know, or like when there's surplus or when, you know, again, we're talking futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Mercantile Exchanges. Just this is what we do here, guys.
SPEAKER_03:The guys that are really making the money are somewhere tuckered in a mountain and no one knows who they are with a little computer, trading everything electronically and staying in front of the game. But yeah, you got to know the weather patterns if you're gonna be hedging.
SPEAKER_02:Speaking of weather patterns, I've done a lot of research on Wrigley Field this offseason, and it the way the weather impacts Wrigley and more of just the schizophrenic tendencies of Wrigley weather has me thinking differently about how Jed Hoyer is gonna build the ball club. We're gonna talk about that a little bit later today. We got some pipe stuff. I talked to you guys last week. Pipes broke, pipes are getting fixed today. There's a transmission thing we're gonna get to. Transmission. That's right. Carl, and that's not a transition, that is a transmission. There's a couple things I want to talk about with Zach Galen. I think I threw you a Jeff Kent bone last night. Um, otherwise, though, I should just say off the top, it's good to see a Mahoney just setting themes appropriately. I'd prefer to do a two-man show. I'm comfortable doing them one man. So, like if you've been listening to me do one man for you know the last couple months, just scheduling purposes, but I think it's way better when Mahoney's here, and I think most people agree with me.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, and I agree with you. I want to be here. I this is one of my favorite things to do during the week. So, and let's get into it. And one quick aside happy birthday, Mr. Deeds. 444. Good to be back, Carl. Good to be back, baby.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and again, I I'll do a solo show. I'll fucking sit here and talk into the void if I have to move the ball forward. But if I have a choice, if maniacs have a choice, if anybody anywhere has a choice, it's Mahoney. Mahoney, Mahoney, Mahoney. So glad to have you back, buddy. I know you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a loaded show. I'm gonna let you drive the bus. Tell me where you want to start.
SPEAKER_03:Off the top, Carl, I mean, I know we're kind of dealing with during the winter, things come up and we have some issues, you know, internally as we go, as an club and organization, such as the Cubs do as well. Off the top, we're gonna do the transition to the transmission. One of the worst things you can that can happen is not only having a transmission go out in your vehicle, which didn't mine in the van, but telling someone that I almost feel worse breaking the news that I needed new transmission because I instantly see people break inside for me. You know, it's like you're telling somebody really bad news and then they break, and it's just that's so crushing news, let alone it's you know$6,500 out my ass. But just having to tell people about a transmission is one of the worst things that can happen to a human being.
SPEAKER_02:Well, are you talking about your old lady? You're talking about potatoes talking to your wife. Like, did you get the news first and then you gotta relay it back to her, and then it's Carl, thanks, thanks for cutting it up a bit.
SPEAKER_03:You're absolutely right. So here's what happened The van's not working, it's not going in reverse. Picture this everything else seems fine. Every parking lot that I enter, I have to look for a spot that's on a a two or three degree incline so that when I'm in reverse it rolls back, and hopefully I have enough juice just to get out of the spot, or I have to look for a spot where I can pull into and be able to just throw it right and drive and exit. That is challenged, that is a big challenge, right? But I do all this research, chat GPT, I'm throwing in the diagnostics, and you know, it's telling me it might just be a solid patch or something transmission mumbo jumbo. So I'm talking, you know, potatoes a bit down. This isn't that big of a deal. Car's driving fine, just not going in reverse right now.
SPEAKER_02:Fine, it would be an issue, and you know, it might be an issue, like not being able to reverse could potentially be an issue. We're gonna keep our eyes peeled for it right now, though. It's fine, it's fine.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. I take it into two places, and if you take it into an auto mechanic and they're like not gonna touch the thing, it's probably a bigger problem than you realize. And they said the transmission fluid was black, just dark and gooey, which means that it's there's a grinding issue of some kind, and then I take it into an actual transmission place and they break the news. And first things first, I'm like, yeah, no, we're not gonna replace this. Uh, I'm just gonna get a new car. Looking at the loans, it's just it doesn't really work out right now at this point in our life. So I had to pull the trigger, so I'm gonna get a new transmission, but breaking the news to Patates um was heart-wrenching.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think about seven grand is the most I'm I would be willing to spend, I think, on a car repair before you get a new car. Or I don't even know how that works. Now that I'm thinking about it, you know, I haven't made a car payment in years. I drive a 2015 sedan, and I'm just thinking, what's the the number for me to just get rid of that thing's probably closer to two? You know, you have kids, you know, and as we talk about, listen, guys, this is kind of where the cubs are at in a situation. We need a new fucking van. Like, we need a van, we need oh, we need a Land Rover, we need a sports car, we need a whole bunch of shit in the fleet, right? And I do feel to a certain extent, like it's Tommy Ricketts every offseason now just coming back and going, we're just gonna replace a transmission.
SPEAKER_03:That's right. Like, are we getting a new car or are we extending the life of this bad boy? And it's a tough decision, but it there are the parallels are real, Carl. And yeah, you want the shiny new object, but you're gonna look at the structure of the loan that you're already paying, and it might not make sense to go out and get that Land Rover. You just you might have to patch up that dodge.
SPEAKER_02:You know, Shoda had to go get Shoda had to go test the market before he took his qualifying offer after that. Absolutely insane debacle. You know, I guess the biggest takeaway for the transmission thing, got maybe we got maniacs in the audience that know a lot about transmissions. This is clear blind spot uh for me, obviously for yourself. Yeah, so if you're somebody lizard king, you know, we have a couple heavy hitters out there, people that are just dialed into the process. If you know a thing or two about transmissions, I'm not asking you to come out to Arlington Heights and fix my ownies, but if you could just guide them through it a little bit better than ChatGPT, I don't trust these people at all behind that that algorithm. No, no, I'd rather talk to a person.
SPEAKER_03:I'm I'm basically done with that, especially when it comes to service and any manual labor task, you have to talk to a person that's actually doing the job and doing the work. And one thing I do regret is not pointing it out to the maniacs a little bit earlier on because I think I could have gotten front of this thing maybe a month ago.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, in again, just from an insight standpoint, like we're not trying to get somebody to have you come over and throw it on their fucking card. Information gathering, right? Like, because this if we are going to do a call to action, I think now's a perfect time. Guys, burying a fucking lead here. This show's brought to you by Mexican style soda with a signature spicy finish. That is all bite, no rattle, thirsty vaquero, three bold flavors, get it on Amazon. You know, as far as call to actions are concerned, we could have spent the first 10 minutes, Mahoney, asking, let me get a crack. Let me get a crack. Out of boy. Uh, we could have spent, you know, asking for help with the transmission. I got a piping thing we're gonna get to here. Uh towards the end of the show. You know, we could be doing call to actions. I'm saving it just for the thirsty bit Carol. I would like you guys to fill your coolers, to fill your fridges. It's this time of the year, you're gonna have people over at the house. You're gonna be going over to people's houses. It's just gonna be one of those situations where you got to show up with something, an appetizer tray, a fucking cookie platter, you got to show up with stuff. I'm begging you guys to just give yourself give yourself a chance to try a thirsty backer out because the flavor profile is so rich, so delicious, so wonderful, and it's so spicy, it keeps the Monday morning cub show going in the offseason, Mahoney.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. And if you want to be the talk of the party and the person that shows up with this brand new shiny can, have somebody have a Lamon Lerone. And I swear to God, that's gonna tickle their dirt, it's gonna tickle their taste buds right down to the throat. It's gonna warm them up during these winter months, and people are gonna be asking, where did you get this? What is it? It's thirsty vacaro, and you're gonna tell them it's all right. I'll bite, no rattle, baby.
SPEAKER_02:And you can get it now because your girlfriend has a couple of those Christmas parties coming up, and they she schedules them way too late with her friends, December 18th, 19th, 20th. You know, like you're just getting lumped into this shit. You don't want to fucking go to make a statement when you walk in that front door, be armed with thirsty vacaro. People, who's this guy? That's that. Did you do you hear that? Ashley's new boyfriend. Oh my god, is that real agave? What I can't even remember his name's Agave.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Real fruit juices, Thirsty Vaccarol. Like I said, guys, we didn't do call to action on transmission. We save it for the Thirsty Vaccarol. So obviously, go get yourself some. Mahoney, give me a Cubs talking point. What else do we have on the list?
SPEAKER_03:Well, uh, so one thing that hit the news wire last week is there is some cost-cutting measures that's hitting the Marquee Sports Network, Carl. And thinking about that, how does that raise questions about how the actual team will perform and what they're going to put in, you know, regarding spending? Because if they're going to be cost cutting on the digital side of things, what is that going to look like on the actual brick and mortar player folks? So um I'm I'm just comparing digital brick and mortar are the players and the people and the product, but the digital is obviously the marquee aspect of things with the app, the channel, etc. Some silver lining with touch of gray, right? At least I did hear that Cole Wright re-upped his contract. So that broke earlier last week, and that really warms my heart. Probably one of my favorite anchors out there that I'm so lucky that he got and fell into where he did with the Cubs in the organization, just so that I selfishly can watch him break it down, you know, game in and game out. So good news, bad news, cost cutting at marquee. Good news, Cole Wright did get a contract extension.
SPEAKER_02:So bad news, Boog still on contract for another season. He should be done after 26. I believe this is his last year. Right. It's been a catastrophic failure. Go back to Cole Wright here. Cole Wright or Taylor McGregor, who, if you had to pick one, because look to me, it's like 1A, 1B. They're clearly the best talent on Marquee Network. Taylor McGregor, outstanding. I'm not just saying that because she's attractive and she's fun and flirty. And like, who doesn't love when they cut the Taylor McGregor? I mean, just the biggest fucking smile on her face. Uh, and knowing her personally, I can attest to not to say we're fucking best buddies, but just knowing her personally, she's an extremely fun, um, you know, like outgoing, charismatic person. What you kind of see on Marquee Network is what you get. In the same respect, comparing her and Cole Wright, if you had to pick one or the other, I suppose this is a terrible segment. Pick one or the other. I know what you mean. Both critical. Like there's they're light years ahead of the next people we oh, I do like Lance Brod, uh, I can't say his name, the Polish kid, Brodzowski. The best follow on Twitter, Lance Bradski. That guy knows so much. So I'd put those three in similar buckets, although Lance's workloads way less. Cole after a tough loss is awesome because it kills him. Like I love texting with Cole or talking to him after games or when Bullpen blows it or something. He wears it on his sleeve. He that's like the gold standard for what I want from Mark's talent. But I do love Taylor McGregor. So between the two, it's like the in-game reporting from Taylor McGregor, I think, is about as good as it possibly can get. I don't, I think Boog can be a little weird with her. Um, but it is nice to see of all the news that came out from Marquee Network, Cole got a contract extension where it sounds like everybody else's contract is up at the end of next year. And then we say goodbye to Tony Andraki. He was an online content creator for Marquee Network. It's a tough gig, dude. I I think they thought they would do much better digital sales, that they'd have much more online subscriptions. There are a lot of people who only pay for Marquee Network six months a year and they have no problem fucking canceling it the day the season's over.
SPEAKER_03:I and I hand up, I saw the charge come through for this month, and I thought I had paused that thing. Either way.
SPEAKER_02:I think most people listening to this cancel like it's$20 what dollars a month. What am I getting from it? The Fergie Jenkins documentary, the fucking Ryan Sandberg quit hit, you know, hit quick hit piece.
SPEAKER_03:No, I I we talk. I mean, the programming and the talent that we do have, the Coles, the Taylors. I think it's it's a great product that we've been watching on Marquee when it comes to the Cubs for sure. In the offseason, if you look at the production value of any of the cubs stuff versus anything else, they try to do some bears. It Carl, it'll be me and you. They just throw you in the garage, you're in your own house, you're in your garage. It's a completely different uh experience.
SPEAKER_02:Now that you're bringing up, I mean, I God bless him, Ian Hap in Dakota Meeks. Yeah, God bless him. I mean, you know, you get caught watching their podcast a little bit on Marketing Network, and God bless you're podcasting while playing left field for the Chicago Cubs. So I've got nothing but respect because I can't turn around when I'm done podcasting for the Cubs. You know, yeah, I can't go play left field the way Ian Hap can, you know, like he can podcast, etc. Yeah, they get no help.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know producing that. That's what I'm saying. Throw these guys a bone, get them a new microphone. There's wiring issues at times. I I hats off to them, but yeah, they could use some assistance, and this is a professional baseball player we're talking about on your network.
SPEAKER_02:This guy plays for your team. Like just have the guy who throws BP come out and check the fucking headphones.
SPEAKER_03:There's got to be a bullpen catcher that has some saviness, somebody some you know, audio uh adjusting and what have you.
SPEAKER_02:There's a beer vendor named Jonah. He's you can find him on Instagram, Jewish Jonah, and I like this kid a lot. I've liked him for a day, he's an Illinois guy. I think he interviewed me for a school paper in 2018 or something, 2017, you know, like old, old, whatever, doesn't matter, old connection here from the University of Illinois. He's a beer vendor at Wrigley, but he he's building a social media file. He's got like 50,000 followers on Instagram, and he just makes content from being around the ballpark. And I'm my point is this you got a guy in the 300-400 level slinging fucking dogs 81 games a year, and you can't get some help on the marquee network Ian Hap compound podcast. We got a guy out here slinging, no joke, thousand Vienna beef, all beef hot dogs all day with a fully adept AV background that could support the content, and it's not there now. Again, some people think we're might be going long in the tooth about the marquee network stuff, and there were some recent cuts. Here's why it's really important, okay? Right. So when we talk about like having cash on hand, you know, the Cubs organization, ipso facto, the Ricketts family, had put a ton of cash into the marquee network from the ri standpoint of A, you got to build a studio, hire talent, hire people, manage all this bullshit the first place. Then you got to hire a sales staff to try and go out and sell ads for the stuff and get people subscribed and the infrastructure and the back end, dude. Where they thought that they would be killing it. They thought that they would just absolutely fucking murder it with their own app. And they are getting absolutely slaughtered. I don't think they're turning a profit on Marquee Network. I thought they thought this was something that each year is gonna add a little juice into the fucking, you know, into the bank account, where at the end of the day, it's turned out to be a colossal disaster for the Chicago Cubs. And when you compare it to what the Angels have, I think they've got like a fucking billion dollar TV deal. I mean, and I should say the Dodgers. When you compare what the Dodgers have. You know, that's a mo they get so much money from the TV deal that they don't own their own network. So the Cubs had this choice: like, hey, you can double down on NBC. You want to partner with NBC Chicago sports. The infrastructure is in place. And the Ricketts family is like, you know what? We're going to do this ourselves. We're going to do the marquee network. We don't want WGN. We don't want NBC Sports Chicago. We don't want Comcast. We don't want ABC games. We want it, we want to own it ourselves. And this is here we are, years later, sitting around talking about, well, we have Cole Wright and we've got Taylor McGregor, and we can't get the fucking right camera on Ian Happen, the post-game podcast. Like, what an absolute disaster. This thing that was supposed to be in a unique advantage for us has turned out to just be fucking compl just complete bullshit.
SPEAKER_03:Carl, the last thing that I have on this is looking back, and I thought it was an automatic the Cubs, their own network, that thing is going to print money. Oh, you can only watch it on marquee at the time, so everyone's going to subscribe to this thing. International, okay, unbelievable. But starting a sports network is probably a little more difficult than I think the front office thought it may be. And I'm not saying that these guys are dumb by any stretch of the imagination. Wouldn't you trust the NBCs, the Comcast C I mean Comcast, NBC, I think they're the same thing, but you know what I'm saying? Yeah, you would trust the networks that have been doing this consistently. The WGNs, do the automatic guarantee and not trying to juggle around like an entirely separate entity that you've created.
SPEAKER_02:Last take I have on the marquee network situation. This is the polarizing. I don't care. A lot of people want maybe he's not your cup of coffee. I love him. I think if you got a Chicago sports program or you got a Chicago sports station, you're telling me I can't get 30 minutes a week of David Kaplan on the marquee network. Like you're telling me I gotta get Bruce Levine for 10 hours a week. 10 hours a week. The fact that Cap doesn't even have like a cap, a cameo, or just some type of dropping in, recap, low esteem. Like if there's no cap, there's no Chicago sports media coverage, as far as I'm concerned. And take that. A couple other things on the list here, guys. I want to talk about just some just some stuff that's heating up Zach Gallen to the Chicago Cubs. That was reported, then it was linked, then it was rumored, then it was dispelled. And I don't want him. So I think that's the easiest way to put it out there for maniacs. You're gonna see this like conversation around Zach Gallen a little bit too much of a project, and he's lost some bite and he's lost some stuff over the years, and he's just throwing a ton of bullets. You know, he's just thrown a whole lot of bullets and he's starting to wear down. And this is just a terrible time if you're telling me that we have to improve the the pitching staff first, or that the best path forward is to improve the pitching staff. Then I'm saying, like, Zach Gallen is more of a flyer, more in my third tier ads. Like if everything else goes to shit and we show up to spring training and someone says, Well, not we have we've got Zach Gallon, uh, that would hopefully mean that we missed or something poorly went down with a number of other options I'd rather have than Zach Gallon. That's my take on Zach Gallen, playing for the Cubs. If it was five years ago, I would love it. Right now, where we're at with Zach Gallon, it's the same spot with the Sandy Elkin Terror guy. I'm just not comfortable with reclamation projects when we've got Cade Horton rolling, Justin Steele coming back from injury, and a lot of reasons to feel good about the depth of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff. If we do add one more guy, like like I'd like to see, it has to be a guy who's about to peak or peaking or climbing the peaking mountain and not someone who's on the second half of the line. Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Totally fair. Yeah, and that makes perfect sense to me. Um, we aren't looking for like uh another Matthew Boyd this offseason with what we have in you know our rotation. So yeah, if Zach Gallon's a third or fourth fit and then the money's right, yeah, okay, great, but that's not somebody that should be on the target list. And in two days, Carl, the winner meetings are going to be commencing. And ball or strike. Do the Cubs make any move? Cubs, oh my god, I just did it. I asked a question during ball or strike. It's been a while. Ball or strike, Carl. The Cubs make a move over the course of the winter meeting starting December 10th.
SPEAKER_02:It's probably a ball. You know, I think winter meetings and where the Cubs are at, they're just more strategic and they just have to spend more time kicking the tires on all these different deals. And so the fact that I think their biggest move is gonna come from a trade, you know, I could obviously be surprised from this, but like I still think there's probably three weeks. I think you go to the winter meetings, and I think Jed's kicking the tires, and I think similar to the Kyle Tucker trade last year, you're gonna see it like before Christmas time, but not during the winter meetings. Because I think yeah, I think he's I think that I think we'll have a better idea, but this is a good opportunity to just say ball or strike, Cubs' biggest move this offseason will be a trade and not free agency ball or strike. Strike. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I think, yeah, strike given the fact that everything that we've talked about with how they're gonna operate with this free agent market as well as the impending lockout, which I don't want to talk about really anymore because we've talked about it quite a bit, and we'll get back into that sure in a few more weeks. Strike, Carl. It's gonna be through a trade.
SPEAKER_02:And like I wonder at this point, now this I'm just gonna be vulnerable with maniacs. Like, do you guys want us to complain? Because I could just come in, we could easily, I could do this, I could hour a day, every day, daily show. I could just come in here and bitch. I can't believe we're not spending more in free agency. I can't believe we're not. I've tried to do the best I can over the last couple weeks of setting these realistic expectations that, like, a franchise values have nothing to do with the cash on hand. B, the cash on hand for the Ricketts family is significantly weaker than we anticipated. C, the debt structure got absolutely destroyed during COVID. It's taken much longer than I anticipated to recoup losses, primarily from the$845 million loan that they couldn't pay back in 2020. I don't know what type of escalating clauses they have in that to make the interest go higher, but they obviously got thawked. They obviously got thawked. So my question is do you people do people want just come in here? I'll just come in here and complain. It'll be the same, it'll literally be the exact right.
SPEAKER_03:No, I don't think people are gonna want that, Carl. I know I don't want that. I I am it is nice though to know that because it I never would think about things about you know, I would never think about debt restructuring or something when it comes to MLB free agency, and I never thought that way. And it's something that I had learned with talking to you, and I'm sure you know some of the maniacs as well. But no, I mean if we're gonna be talking about finances over and over again and just beating the same drum, it would probably a bit of a stale product. And yeah, there's plenty to bitch about. We were talking about cost cutting hitting the marquee network, but we kind of spun it a little bit positive because we want to be positive, it's the holiday season.
SPEAKER_02:It is the holiday season, and and Merry Christmas to my friend, you know, and just thinking about you know, some of the stuff I have on the wish list as I, you know, I'm putting together my list for Santa Claus for Tom Ricketts for just please for the love of God. And I talked a little bit last week. I was encouraged to see that they gave a two-year deal to reliever just because they have been out. It's like an old Theo philosophy to never give two years to a reliever. They gave two years to Brandon Morrow, they gave two years to somebody else. I can't remember. It has never gone well. The Cubs come back this year, and they give two years to like a proven guy without injury risk or injury issues. So, you know, like that's encouraging because it could be, as I said last week, a huge step, a huge departure, a huge move for the Cubs uh strategically. Something that again, I know this sounds small to people, but forever they've been in free agency and said we're never gonna give a free agent pitcher, uh relief pitcher more than one year. And so the first move they did is give a relief pitcher more than one year this year. So like things could be a little bit different. We could see we could see you, we could see a unique move. I would say, just going back though, you know, like free agency. I expect activity with the bullpen, but I do think there's a big trade coming for a starting pitcher if we don't get Michael King. So they just there's the the right-handed pitcher from San Diego with the nasty stuff that sinks, slides, cuts, dips, kind of looks like an unrefined Jake Arrietta type with how much movement he has. Like, I think if the Cubs are gonna go out and bring in a starting pitcher in free agency, it's gonna be Michael King. Otherwise, I think it's gonna be a big trade. And I got to get these takes out there. I gotta make sure people know this. It's either gonna be Michael King in free agency, swing and miss stuff, or it's gonna be a big trade, also swing and miss stuff. But they we have way too many guys that can command, you know, an attack and induce aggressive behavior from an opposing lineup. Show them makes you be more aggressive than you are, Matt Boyd makes you be more aggressive than you are, Justin Steele makes you be more aggressive than you are. So, what we need are a couple other guys that filter in. Jamison Tan's another guy that makes you be more aggressive. Javier Arsad makes you be more aggressive. So who are the guys that kind of put you back on your heels? You're like, fuck, this guy's got some shit. And that would be Cade Horton one and Cade Horton one. So we need a little bit more of a guy who we just need if we're gonna, it's free agency, it's Michael King, or if it's a trade, you know, it's gonna be a Joe Ryan, or hopefully not fucking Sandy Elkantra, or you know, Pablo Lopez, 44 million over two years. Hopefully, Joe Ryan would cost the most. But this is just me being long-winded about like where the needs are starting pitching wise. We have we already have plenty of guys that induce hitters to act more aggressive, where you're like, Oh, I'm gonna fucking drill this thing 93 over the plate. So, what I would like to see is a little bit more that we do need some nasty, we need some guy. Oh, fuck, what was that? What was that?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and with that, with free agents, how much would a pitcher of that makeup want to come here given the defense that would be behind them? Like, what's that gonna do for your career? It it's not gonna hurt it, right? So if you're getting yeah, an aggressive at bats and people are hitting crowders up the middle, that's what you're gonna want with you know a goal glove defense, right?
SPEAKER_02:And Wrigley's, you know, like uh his over at least the last two years, two, three years profile there's a pitchers park. You know, we have got such success with the pitch lab.
SPEAKER_03:The problem I would have do you know what I mean when I say that though, like a pitcher would want to, not just because you want to play for the Cubs, you want to play because of what is at what is actually here and what can make you the most money for your next payday.
SPEAKER_02:I think there's a really small number of professional baseball players that are like, gee, whiz, I'd really like to go play for the I think it's like Danzby Swan. Like, most of these guys are assholes, most of these guys don't give a fuck. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:Which is another reason why last year it's like this. The story came out. I think he likes Wrigley, and I'm like, guys, he does not care.
SPEAKER_02:Does not care at all. Like, there are people Alex Bregman might care, he's salty as fuck. That's why one of the reasons why I like Danzby Swanson so much. Every day he gets up, he's so excited. He's he I know people hate he hits 247 and 190 with runners in scoring position, but the thing that like what he does better than anybody else, he actually gives up.
SPEAKER_03:He takes the deep breath, he takes the deep breath in through the nose, out through the mouth as soon as he graces like his toes hit the grass. Looks up at the sunshine.
SPEAKER_02:I think for free agency purposes, and I'm honing in on Michael King, who's a right-handed pitcher from San Diego, who's got big-time swing and missed up. You know, I don't know what the pitch lab is like in San Diego. I know a lot of guys go to San Diego and get worse. I just, and I know a lot of guys go to Chicago and get better. So if we're just talking about, I thought he was okay in San Diego, I think it's an opportunity to go to him to Chicago. You're much better. We're 32 minutes into the show, and I'm so delayed on the fact that I wanted to say I would like to see the Cubs move to a six-man rotation in 2026. Because if we're only gonna have our starting pitchers face a lineup two times, like they they're we're not asking our pitchers to go six innings, right? So we need as many guys as possible that can start and go four or five innings. I I just like really would think.
SPEAKER_03:And look at the way that you know Shota faltered injury over, you know, the the latter part of the season. Matthew Boyd had record, you know, numbers of pitches thrown in his career. I think it was like, or innings, I should say, and it was like almost it was absurdly higher than what it had been. So yeah, I don't see why that philosophy wouldn't be in play with the type of arms that they have in the defense that they have. So yeah, that's a great way to look at it, and I think that could help with the longevity, you know, when it counts.
SPEAKER_02:Especially Cade Horton's still gonna be on a little bit of a pitch count next year. Justin Steele's not gonna be back until late April, early May. You know, Javier Asad was banged up all last year. Doesn't mean I still want to see these guys pitch and compete. Jamison Tayan deserves an opportunity, so it's just like I don't know if it's a six-man rotation or if it's being creative with the bullpen and creating new roles for guys where, like, hey, you're expected to pitch two, three innings every third game or something. But like, I just think there's way more opportunities for the Cubs to be creative on the pitching side because we've been through this lineup a thousand times. Left field is the inhabit next year. PCA is gonna be in center, Dan's B's gonna play short. You have two catchers, we've got Nico Horner, Michael Bush. Question whether or not he platoons against you know, whether he hits lefties or not, you know, that's a problem to solve. People are talking about whether or not we trade Matt Shaw so we could sign Alex Bregman. Yeah, obviously, I hate your fucking guts. If you feel if you're walking around being like, we need to sign Alex Bregman, who just opted out of a three-year contract. So, like, you're gonna we're gonna just gonna have another problem in a year or two with Alex Bregman, anyways, if we get him, so that we could pay him approximately 57 times what we would be paying Matt Shaw, where Matt Shaw was a more valuable player per wins above replacement per plate appearance in 2025 than Alex Bregman, and that includes Matt Shaw getting fucking sent down in spring. Yeah, that's that's wild.
SPEAKER_03:That's wild. And and when you put it that way, there really is no reason. The data's there, the numbers are there, you'd spend an exorbitant amount of money without you know moving with moving Matt Shaw. So that's it, it is kind of a ridiculous pie in the sky thing just to have a name when we have the production already with Shaw, who might be a superstar in two years.
SPEAKER_02:We could get five more good relief pitchers for the cost of Alex Bregman to maybe outplay Matt Shaw. Maybe. Where like the fact I'm even saying I think Matt Shaw and Alex Bregman put up equivalent seasons in 2026.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I don't like those odds. Like, I just don't like those odds.
SPEAKER_02:That sounds insane, but this is what being a Cubs fan has done to us is where it's beaten people up and put it messed with us mentally, where we're like, we need right-handed power because we lost to the Brewers again. We lost to the Brewers because we didn't have pitching. We got fucking smoke. If you're the games we lost were over before they started, right? We didn't fucking lose because we didn't have one right-handed bat in the lineup. Shut the fuck up. And I'm sorry, I'm trying to watch the F-words, but like I and I know this is pushing certain maniacs away and saying these guys are crazy, these guys are cheap, you know. Sign Alex Bregman. Alex Bregman's way better than Matt Shaw. Listen, if I gunned in my head for one season, yeah, I'm probably would rather have Alex Bregman. Matt Shaw's gonna cost$750,000. He's gonna give you a gold glove finalist defense, he's gonna steadily improve throughout the course of the season. Like, just get the fucking name Alex Bregman out of your mouth. Just get it out of your mouth. It doesn't make any sense to me. If we're being serious about what's the difference between us beating the Milwaukee Brewers and us losing to them again in the division, again losing to the Brewers. And it certainly is not 114 games of Alex Bregman for 42 million fucking dollars.
SPEAKER_03:That's fucking right, Carl.
SPEAKER_02:Signed one of Alex Bregman's biggest fans of all time. Go back and click the tweets. I've been sucking that guy's dick online since fucking June of 2013. So was he 18? I hope he was old enough by then. 14, whatever, dude. You get what I'm pointing. You know what I mean. I like him. He's a good ball player. Uh okay, what else you got on the list, Molly?
SPEAKER_03:Let's take a look here, Carl. We had there was some you were texting me back and forth last night, a little salty. We see that Jeff Kent is going to the Hall of Fame. I mean, most home runs that is a second baseman in history, you don't like it.
SPEAKER_00:I hate it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. And I hate it, I hate it.
SPEAKER_03:A teammate of his is still not in the hall of fame.
SPEAKER_00:What a joke. Hoover's a joke.
SPEAKER_03:You look at Jeff Kent and who he played with, and that he's getting in, that's really the only thing that comes to mind for me is like Bonds is still not in it. And it's it's flabbergasting that Jeff Kent gets in before a Barry Bonds or a Roger Clemens.
SPEAKER_02:It almost makes me not want to be a fan of baseball. Or like do you know that Ty Cobb went into these stands and he within inches of his life, a mentally handicapped person?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Unbelievable. Famer. Did you know? Did you know that Camp Anton, who's in the Hall of Fame, I mean, he's like the founding member of the Chicago Cubs 1876, and then was like the player manager, would not take the field professionally if there was anyone other but a white person on the other team. So like notorious racist. I mean, just as big the biggest fucking racist you've you could possibly imagine.
SPEAKER_03:Wouldn't walk on the field.
SPEAKER_02:Is the face of the Chicago Cubs from 1876 to about 1900? The reason we're called the Cubs is because when Cap Anton retired or when he was stepping down or he's stuck, he's getting out, then they had all these new young players coming up, and it was like the cut the young cub or something. Um that's in our history. Like literally the biggest piece of shit in the in the history of major league baseball is a shaker cup. He's a fucking hall of fame, buddy. Hall of fame. Now, Ty Cobb, there's a bunch of arguments for him, whatever. I'm just sticking to the fact that that Ty Cobb went into the stands and beat the fucking shit out of a mental ch a challenge. Uh I don't know the right words. I mean differently enabled clearly. Uh just the amount of bad actors and bad people that this game. Has lifted up and celebrated. And not, I mean, like, like, not even mention the fact. If you go back to the early 40s, Bob Feller, who's arguably one of the greatest fucking, you know, red-headed pitchers of all time, also the first guy to enlist in World War II. Shout out Bob Feller, first professional at like December fucking 8th, went in and signed up. Wow. Uh, 1941, obviously. So Bob Feller in his prime is playing with Sanchel Page, who's like 40 fucking eight years old. And Satchel Page, who'd spent his entire life in the Negro Leagues, he'd outperformed Bob Feller in like slop up work. Throw five innings today. We need you to pitch one inning tomorrow. We need you to start the second end of a doubleheader. Now you're gonna sit for two weeks. Now you're gonna pitch this game. They fucked with Sancho Page. Bob Feller at his peak. Sanchel Page basically, you could make the argument for the time that he crossed over with Bob Feller, 15 fucking years older than Bob Feller, was going pitch for fucking pitch with Bobby Feller. And Satchel Page was not even allowed anywhere near a major league baseball field until Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier. Yeah. And I can just keep going on and on and on about all the shitty fucking things that are a part of Major League Baseball's history, not to mention the methamphetamine use in the world.
SPEAKER_03:You don't need to look hard either. It's not like these are like you have to do real digging to uncover these, you know, kind of shitty people or very shitty people.
SPEAKER_02:Everywhere, right? Everywhere in this game.
SPEAKER_03:I mean for some reason the voters are upset that people took things that no one was testing or cared about, and every single person was doing, and are still holding some type of grudge.
SPEAKER_02:People are people are mad that Roger Clemens was a dick. People are mad that Barry Bonds is a dick. You know, Jeff Kent won the 2000 MVP award. That's crazy. Jeff Kent played five seasons with Barry Bonds. Between those five seasons, I believe he accumulated 30 wins above replacement, which of his 55 wins above replacement uh amounts to about 58%. But let's just roll up for purposes of saying 60% of the value that fucking Jeff Kent put together in his career comes from less than a third of the games played. And that is because he hit either in front of or directly behind Barry Bonds at the absolute height of Barry Bond's career. Barry Bonds is so fucking good at baseball that Jeff Kent is in the Hall of Fame.
SPEAKER_03:He tacks war Barry Bonds, if you're even close to him in a lineup, just adds war to your career.
SPEAKER_02:You're gonna score runs, you're gonna get on base, you're gonna get meatballs down the middle of the plate. So when I texted you and I saw Jeff Kent get, it's not that like I dislike Jeff Kent, you know, and there's really no second baseman in the Hall of Fame. There's not really great second baseman historically. Like Joe Morgan comes to mind, Lou Boudreau, Rogers Hornsby, Sandberg. There's obviously, yeah, I mean, Sam, obviously Sandberg. Thank you for sneaking that one in there. Um, but like there aren't it's by far the least represented, maybe catcher. Second base or catcher is by far the least represented position in the Hall of Fame. You know, so as I just say this stuff, I just see Jeff Kent gets elected, and it's like Roger Clemens. Roger Clemens, when he played in Toronto, used to on his off days run to and from the field, and the field was like nine miles from his house. Yeah, that's wild. We're talking about one of the most like prepared and serious baseball players of all time. Jeff Kenton the Hall of Fame, though, not Roger Clemens, not Barry Bonds, and just the amount of people that did steroids, like I have it on good authority that most of the Atlanta Braves pitching staff was doing steroids through the 90s. So without naming names, if you were on the Atlanta Braves pitching staff in the late 90s, early 2000s, you're a big you probably can think of some of these names. I have it on authority from competition at that time that all those guys enjoyed the benefits of performance-enhancing drugs for recovery purposes so that they could pitch every fifth day.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. I've been told you can count on maybe one hand guys that weren't messing with something or the other, and that's not saying just steroids, just you know, so Frank Thomas maybe.
SPEAKER_02:Frank Thomas maybe, but then if we're gonna get into amphetamines and Adderall, dude, fucking that entire league is that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03:It was it's everything. There's no one that wasn't doing something or the other for an equipment.
SPEAKER_02:Right now, those guys are cracked out, and I don't mean like cracked out, cracked out, but like you, you know, when you're saying cracked out with reference to maintenance, you know, like ADHD medicine, like the amount of waivers that are in major league clubhouses for these guys to take these drugs, and that's just no, and this is this is not to say it's a you have a waiver, it's a good drug if you need it, and it's a maintenance drug or whatever. I'm not fucking shitting on guys, I'm just saying guys take stuff to get a fucking edge. Guys take stuff now, have always taken stuff to get an edge. And in the realm of bad behavior in baseball, taking something to get an edge is as fundamental to the game as like anything. You're any the whole point of baseball is trying to get a fucking edge here, you know. Like where I draw the line is bad behavior. Pete Rose bad on baseball. Absolutely, that's so good. Fuck you. I cobb went in the stands and beat the shit. I care about if people are bad if they're pieces of shit or not. That's really what I care about. Ozuna is like fucking Ozuna's the biggest piece of shit. Ozuna, like, you know, the guys that are driving 120 miles an hour or whatever, like you know, or roll this chapman's discharging a firearm and speed the shit out of the old lady allegedly here and there. Here's an extension, two years, 13 million, one of the greatest closers ever. Jeff Kent's in the Hall of Fame. All this brings me back to Jeff Kent is in the Hall of Fame. So did I explain why I'm mad about Jeff Kent?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's the purple numbers makes so much sense. It really does.
SPEAKER_02:The last number thing on Barry Bonds. Again, I just have to say this. About 60% of Jeff Kent's wins above replacement in his career come from the five fucking years he played in front of and behind Barry Bonds. The years before that, he wasn't worth his shit. The years after that, he wasn't worth his shit. That's a journey man outfielder who went and played with the Giants, probably did steroids with Barry Bonds. The only difference is he answered the fucking questions from the media. I mean, too many F-words this episode.
SPEAKER_03:So well, Carl, I mean, you got it's a big day. I know you alluded to it last week. There was a pipe issue, so there's a lot of you know things going on over at the farm, and um you're getting the refit done here in short order.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I mean, actually, as you bring this up, I said last episode we have a full pipe, full pipe burst, galvanized pipes from the early 20th century. So K well drilling just showed up. Uh, they're parked somewhere in the front lawn now. I see. We're waiting for a boring tool to come in here, and we're gonna lay new pipe from the well into the house, new pipe intake system. Uh, the system that we have right now is 99 years old and apparently very unhealthy. And so you two you we started this talking about a transmission. I mean, I like who wakes up in the morning, they're like, oh, new pipes. I got 10 grand for that.
SPEAKER_03:It took almost me a lot to like wrap my head around last night when you were texting me and you kept saying full replacement, and then it just dawned on me it's your like actual like system running to your your home.
SPEAKER_02:We haven't had running water for a week.
SPEAKER_03:Oh man. In in this weather.
SPEAKER_02:So, what we've had to do is we use we got these Hinckley and Schmidt jugs, you know, they're five-gallon or whatever, two gallon. Love those things. So showering at the gym, you know, going up to any time or planet fitness or whatever, getting a shower in there, get the shower caddy. So, you know, I brag a lot about being a well septic off the grid guy. You know, I like shopping at farms, I like being one in touch with nature. This is one of those situations, you know, like how many times I too, just kill me, just take me up there and shoot me. Like, I don't it's not to say, whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Money's money. How much is this? 10 grand? We got the money. I I'm not worried about it's it's it's I didn't think I'd have to cut the check. I feel like Tom Ricketts.
SPEAKER_03:Right. When it actually comes time to pay the Pied Piper, it stings.
SPEAKER_02:It's like maybe we don't, maybe I don't need maybe like if it if I've ever related to Tom Ricketts, it's right now because it's like, yeah, I was hoping we'd get that little used convertible for the springtime and have some fun with it. Like we don't know, Aurora Country Club, and you know, gonna go make some new friends this springtime.
SPEAKER_01:Those are gone. All gone, dude. The whatever little play take, oh no, yeah, we've got the little kid.
SPEAKER_03:Not going to Disney World this year, kids. I'll tell you that much with the transmission gone.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I just buddy just got back from London, galvantine around. I told you, if I knew this thing was coming, there ain't no fucking way I'm flying first class to London.
SPEAKER_03:From galvantine to galvanized. This is what I'm saying for breaking down what galvanized was last night. That was a good session for me.
SPEAKER_02:Dangerous, dude. When people come out, they look the well guys like these are galvanized, you guys are still living in this. I was like, oh god. But you know what? You could scare me in any. I don't know at all.
SPEAKER_03:That's how I am. It's probably like this guy's one of the guys told me comes out, tells me termites are almost at my house. I was like, Yeah, sure, but I'll get the hell out of my yard. You got termites? No, he was a salesperson, tell like found some old wood in the backyard. He's like, Hey man, you know what tells me is that they're close.
SPEAKER_02:That's it. Now, see, now I got a termite problem. Now I'm in my head. I'm thinking No, you're fine. You're fine. It's sold. So the well guys are showing up. I gotta, I gotta put on a face, I gotta go talk. Now I'm look- I'm honestly I'm looking out the window right now. There's four guys. These guys are grown fucking men, car hearts, big gloves. You know, this is like for me, this I'm not saying a weakness because I can hold my own. I can talk to these guys, but I think everybody, you know what I mean when it's just a little I know, I know what I know. These are real fucking men. These are real.
SPEAKER_03:I can only pretend so much, but you know, if you put a hammer in my hand, I I'm I'm made.
SPEAKER_02:So this is the Monday morning cub show. We'd appreciate five stars. I mean, we're climbing, we're at 202 on Spotify. Can't thank enough people if you've been listening to the show and you get a chance, you throw the five star. It helps with sponsors and helps with Thirsty Vacero. Apple could use some little steam too there, Mahoney, if you want to do a call to action.
SPEAKER_03:Call to action on the Apple Podcast app. Five stars, please. If you could write a sentence on the review too, I think that helps bump us up a little bit more. Quick shout out to my son Didi. Happy birthday. It's his birthday today. He's three. Should have led with that.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Little Chuck E. Cheese action later today. You're gonna get sick. I get I've been so sick, Carl, this whole winter. Nothing compared to last winter. I think I built some immunities up, but we were just at a pool, you know, with the cousins the week before that. I took them to some playroom cafe where there's nothing but little kids climbing up and down, sneezing on each other. I'm always sick right now. I'll I'll be I'll start feeling better around March. Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02:So a lot of maniacs baseball season gets going. So obviously, thanks to everybody who's tuned in, subscribed. Just want to close with that theme of like, we're not trying to be negative, we want to be realistic. I'm not sitting here bitching about Tom Ricketts out of a hobby or sport. It's just like these are the financial realities that we're kind of in right now. So as we're monitoring the team and we're hoping for improvements and roster improvements so that we can go back and win a division championship. I think it's just a little bit more creative and financially restricted than we would A like and B expect. Like, obviously, I'd like all this shit, but like from an expectation standpoint, it really is unfortunate where we're at, but I'm just trying to be realistic, Mahoney.
SPEAKER_03:Well, being realistic and setting the expectations for myself and for the maniacs is really all that we can ask for here, Carl. And we appreciate you with the guidance, and I appreciate the maniacs all for listening. You guys are the best, man.
SPEAKER_02:Until next time, we love you guys. Go Cubs, you can do it.