00:00You know, we've heard so much and obviously we've watched some of the struggles and the
00:06return to baseball for the post-All-Star game.
00:12Did that poor homestand, did that set the course for the trade deadline?
00:17Did you already know what the course was or have things changed because of the last two
00:22series?
00:24Yeah, I mean, I think it would be short-sighted to think that, you know, one or two games
00:28or four games are going to necessarily set the course for the season.
00:34But I do think that each game gives us a little bit more information about, you know, just
00:37the value of wins now versus the value of wins in the future.
00:41And certainly, I think, you know, as Council has talked about and as Jed has talked about,
00:45you know, we put ourselves in a tougher position and not winning games doesn't necessarily
00:49help that.
00:51So Carter, when you look ahead, then, Jed said everything that you do before the trade
00:56deadline, at the trade deadline will be with 2025 in mind.
01:01If in fact the thought process is all about next season, how likely or how realistic is
01:07it to expect maybe one of the top prospects to come up for the final 55 games or so to
01:12get a good extended look, Canario, Matt Shaw, Owen Casey, somebody like that to see how
01:20they fare against Major League Pitching and begin the developmental process now?
01:24I think that's always a possibility and certainly something that we're always considering.
01:29There's a lot of variables that are super fun to talk about as it relates to that, but
01:34with roster status and things of that nature that come into play and, you know, obviously
01:38who's on our roster here come, you know, come August and September, but definitely not something
01:43that we're ruling out and 100%, you know, those guys, you know, have started to get
01:49themselves in the conversation.
01:50Obviously, Canario already has been up here and there are absolutely things we'll consider
01:55regardless of just where we are here come the next two months.
02:00How flummoxed are you or your group by the offensive woes, by the failure to kind of
02:12the struggle, let's say, to score runs?
02:16How does that impact you guys?
02:18Yeah, I wouldn't use the word flummoxed by any means.
02:22I would say, you know, certainly frustrated like everybody is that's certainly the guys
02:26on the field and, you know, the people in the stands that, you know, hey, we know we
02:30have that talent that we can certainly score more runs than we are.
02:34And it's frustrating that we haven't up to this point, feel like we can continue to try
02:38to work to get there.
02:40But it's baseball, you know, there's ups and downs and there's noise and there's hot streaks
02:45and there's cold streaks and we've had a longer cold streak and yeah, that's certainly
02:49been frustrating.
02:50Carter, there are credible reports that say that Jameson Tyone is the object of the desire
02:57of maybe the Red Sox, the Yankees, other teams.
03:00Can you help us understand the pros and cons of trading Tyone or even having those conversations?
03:07Because again, if everything is about next year, he gives you predictable solid starter
03:12at the top of your rotation.
03:14So I wonder about the wisdom of trading him at the same time, I suppose you always have
03:18to listen.
03:19Pros and cons for Jameson Tyone.
03:21Yeah, and I'm not sure how you how you define credible reports this time of year.
03:26There's a lot of really credible reports that are great or credible reports that aren't
03:30and it's always fascinating seeing what comes across the ticker and knowing what's absolutely
03:36fantasy and what's not.
03:38But yeah, I mean, this is a time of year that the transactions happen and anytime that transactions
03:44are happening, you should try to figure out how you can increase your side of the ledger.
03:48And that means you have to be open to all possibilities on both sides.
03:52And that's 100 percent something we're going to do.
03:55I think to dismiss any concept out of hand would be short sighted.
03:58If you think you're good at transactions, you should make transactions.
04:00If you think you're bad, you should do nothing.
04:02And we're certainly not thinking that we're bad here.
04:05So we're certainly not going to do nothing in terms of listening to all opportunities.
04:09When we spoke earlier, we talked about this idea of protecting some of the assets that
04:15you have.
04:16And we know that you guys are loaded in the minor league system.
04:19You got eight of the top 100 from from MLB Pipeline.
04:24I haven't looked at Baseball America, but the point is simply that you have a lot of
04:30really talented young players that that are on the way.
04:35And I this is a foolish question.
04:38But can you have too many?
04:40In other words, if you keep it, keep acquiring more and more, are you at some point getting
04:47to a point where you've got like sort of repeat blocked guys?
04:51I know this sounds insane, but at some point you have to start trading some of those guys.
04:57You know what I mean?
04:58Like I just being honest about.
04:59Yeah, I mean, so to to be a jerk, we would love to have more good players and less good
05:06players to not be a jerk.
05:09I would say, yeah, like up to this point, you know, we have not traded our or utilized
05:15our young prospects in either deals for other major leaguers or by other than Pete bringing
05:23them up to the major leagues to start, you know, basically utilizing their value.
05:26And as these guys are starting to get closer to, you know, double A, triple A, big leagues.
05:31And as we're getting into our window here, I think that's that's something that we have
05:35to start considering a little bit more.
05:37And, you know, we did not do that the last three off seasons by any means, but I think
05:41we're certainly getting closer to that.
05:43And yeah, definitely is, you know, we're trying to start really putting more value on the
05:48field here at Wrigley.
05:49And that's something we'll be considering.
05:50Joined by Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins, who is here for pause Chicago, whose mission
05:55is to build no kill communities to end overpopulation of homeless animals and to transform animal
06:01welfare.
06:02So Carter Hector Neris is somebody else that a lot of teams might be interested in talking
06:07to you about because of his experience and because of where you are in the standings.
06:12Just wonder.
06:13He also has a clause, as you well know, that if he has so many appearances, it triggers
06:17an option.
06:18He has 21 left, I think, before he hits that trigger.
06:21Does any of that come up or how much does that come up or is considered when considering
06:26whether or not to deal him, whether or not to pitch him?
06:30How does that factor in now for a season that seems lost?
06:33Yeah, I mean, I certainly wouldn't wouldn't agree with the last thing that you had there.
06:38But in terms of decisions that that we're making, you know, that's that's not a conversation
06:43that counts.
06:44And I or counts and jet are having around contract status as we're considering our lineups
06:48and our bullpen usage on a day to day basis.
06:52I think anybody with this acquired any players thinking about their contract status and what
06:56the effect of that is on their teams both now and in the future.
06:59And Hector's no different than any other pitcher that way.
07:02So, yeah, I mean, it's it's a part of Hector.
07:06It's a part of every pitcher.
07:07And I think that's just a general conversation that you have.
07:10I'm curious, how do you determine that you're entering your window?
07:13Is it the amount of of good young pitchers you have coming up?
07:16What what is the determining factor when you say that as you enter your window?
07:21Yeah, I mean, I think if you look at the marginal value of a win, right, not to get too technical,
07:27but if you're if you're a 72 win team and you're trying to add three wins, I'm not sure
07:32that's going to necessarily add much to the real reality of you making the playoffs or
07:37one in the World Series.
07:38But you get closer to those those playoff type teams is in terms of just what your true
07:43talent is, what your projected levels are, those wins start to really matter.
07:47And I think we're getting into that place.
07:48And that's exciting.
07:50It's certainly frustrating this year that up to this point, we have not played to our
07:53projections.
07:54But we feel like we should have good playoff caliber teams here for the next several years.
07:59And that means that the present becomes even more valuable.
08:02Were you more amused or annoyed at the suggestion of Justin Steele getting traded or being part
08:10of trade conversation?
08:11He was asked about it.
08:12It has been out there.
08:13But as you said, not all the reports are credible.
08:16Just wonder what your reaction was to that suggestion.
08:18Yeah, neither, I think it's the same thing that we're talking about, which is transactions
08:24are happening.
08:25Any opportunity you have to increase your side of the ledger, you should at least listen
08:29to and you know, that could be any player on your 26 man or 40 man or 180 man minor
08:34league roster.
08:35And so that's just the time of year.
08:37I mean, I would be surprised if not every single player that's providing any sort of
08:42major league value is asked about is not asked about over the course of the next week.
08:47It's just the nature of it.
08:48Some of those given the media, some of those don't, but it just it just happens.
08:53If we give you a list of like, let's say 10 transactions proposed, could you tell us
08:58which ones are credible?
09:02I'll tell you that probably nine of them are not.
09:05I can guarantee you that.
09:07You're looking ahead, Carter.
09:08We just talked about what's going on in the in the business of baseball and how the Athletic
09:13has a report this morning about MLB and the Players Association agreeing to alter the
09:18CBA so that the league can use a portion of its competitive balance tax proceeds to
09:23give teams that are losing money up to $15 million each because of all of the ways that
09:29RSNs and the decline of that has changed the financial structure for a lot of teams.
09:35How significant is that?
09:37And how will it affect potentially free agency in your eyes?
09:40Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit out of my purview and a little hard to say just exactly
09:46how significant, you know, those dollars are, what those dollars are and who they're
09:51going to.
09:52You know, I think any time money is coming into the system, it affects the economics
09:55of the system.
09:56But there's money in a lot of different places that are coming in that affect the supply
10:00and demand of free agency and all those other things.
10:03So yeah, I think it'll have an effect to what extent it does and how that compares to other
10:07effects that will be happening this offseason, I couldn't say.
10:11It's difficult to talk about a lot of the positives, but you've had a couple of really
10:18good positives.
10:19You know, Michael Bush is not only doing a really solid job with the bat, but he's improving
10:25defensively.
10:26Obviously, Shoda has exceeded any expectations that people may have had, maybe not you, but
10:33certainly most people when he was signed.
10:36There are some real bright spots here that we don't spend much time on.
10:41Yeah, I mean, we had, you know, basically two new additions to this team from last year's
10:49team that, you know, there's obviously Amante who got hurt, but, you know, and Nearest,
10:55but Bush and Imanaga are the two big ones that we came to and weren't on the team last
10:59year and they performed really, really well and helped us win more baseball games.
11:02So certainly excited about that, but figuring out how to put the whole picture together
11:07and win more games we have is the key and that's something that we're obviously thinking
11:11about every day and we've got to figure out how to get the guys that we have here already
11:15playing really well for next year and figure out what additions we can make to get it even
11:19better.
11:20I won't call it a lost season again, but if you are looking ahead to 2025, I'm just curious
11:25for the remainder of this season, what is Kyle Hendrick's role and if he is unlikely
11:32to be a part of the future, perhaps, does that affect the way that he is used?
11:37Yeah, and I would take one step back on, you know, some of Jeff's comments last week.
11:42You know, I think what he was saying was we're not going to do anything that only helps 24.
11:49So you know, it's not just looking towards 25, it's just trying to figure out how do
11:53we do things that don't only help 24 just with the position that we're in.
11:58With regards to Kyle, I mean, Kyle obviously is an absolute stalwart of the rotation of
12:02this club and represents so many unbelievable things about the Cubs and I think we're always
12:08going to have the opportunity for starting pitcher innings, I think any club does and
12:12we're ecstatic that he has been able to throw the ball the way that he has the last few
12:16weeks and it's just been an unbelievable thing to watch him, you know, fight through some
12:21adversity here over the course of the year at this point in his career and do it the
12:25way that he did it and it's, you know, I'll stop short of saying it's inspiring but it's
12:30pretty cool to see and, you know, he'll be a big part of the next couple months for sure.
12:35Is there anything that you look at this team and say we've got to get done, that we have
12:40to do this or that in order to make this season more successful?
12:44Yeah, we got to get better, we got to get better, we got to figure out how to score
12:49more runs, we got to figure out how to prevent more runs and, you know, there's a lot of
12:53ways to do that and, you know, that'll be our focus. It's not going to be a particular
12:57trade or particular type of run created or type of run saved, it's all over and trying
13:02to figure out that and if we do that we're going to be in a pretty good place.
13:06Carter, thanks a ton, it's great catching up with you, we appreciate it.
13:09Thanks Carter.
13:11Always, thanks fellas.
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