Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And now it's time to meet the all-star team. Batting sixth and playing third base, Alex Bregman.
This is a player that I've coveted for a long time, that our department has coveted for a long time. And I think the baseball reasons for that are pretty clear. Two on, two out.
Tenth inning.
That's in the air to left.
Here comes Fisher. Throw by Ethier. Astros win it in ten.
the 23 year old alex bregman and now his base hit off kenley jansen just won game five i think all teams learned outside of houston that if you want to have someone that's going to lead a championship army there's no better no better general than The Brigadier.
Nine and a half years of great production. Elite strikes on control. He's got elite swing decisions. He pulls the ball in the air for power. He plays great defense. Bouncing ball against the shift. Bregman stabs with a dive! No, there's no shot he should have made that play.
He plays hard every day. I think that part is really clear. I'm a winning baseball player and focused on winning.
You're talking to one of the few regular everyday players that has eight consecutive postseason appearances. So... In October, it's Alex in Wonderland.
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Chapter 2: What does Alex Bregman believe it takes to win a championship?
100%. And for me, one of the things that you need first and foremost is the people. And from the Cubs front office to the coaching staff to the guys in that clubhouse, they're winners. And I'm looking forward to taking the field with them.
Everything that I have heard or read about you talks about how you're wired. And it's the dedication to craft. It's the hard work in the cage. It's all of these things. Where did that come from? How did you get to be that type of player?
Well, I think at an early age, I fell in love with the game of baseball. And my parents always told me that if I wanted to be good at something I needed to be obsessed with it so I love baseball and I wanted to dedicate my life to it and do everything I possibly could to be the best baseball player I can be and now after this will be year two
year 10, I still wake up every single morning wanting to win a championship and wanting to improve at the game of baseball. And I think just the constant chase of improvement is something that I love about this game.
Is it hard when you're that dedicated to make sure that you're using all of that other time for the other stuff that is important to you? But obviously, this is the gig. This is what you've always wanted to be. How do you handle trying to be a great husband, great father, all of that stuff along with being a great ball player?
No, 100%. My wife and my kids are the most important thing to me in the world. And try and just be present wherever I am. Be where my feet are. When I'm at home, I'm there with them and present with them. And when I'm at the ballpark, I'm... trying to win baseball games and get better at the game of baseball.
And I feel like in this in this game, you've got to be pretty good at compartmentalizing, whether it's between home life and the field life or whether it's between hitting and playing defense. So just trying to do that, be present where my feet are and attack each day.
Alex Bregman is here with us on Spiegel and Ohms on the score. I went to your press conference yesterday, and on the right side, Lawrence, you've been at these things. The right side is like all the beat writers and everybody like that. On the left side, it's sort of some media people, but it's also where friends and family are going to sit.
I didn't realize they ended up right behind your wife and your kids, right? And so when Jed announced you, you immediately looked at your wife and had this beautiful smile, this great moment. I felt like I was interloping, like I shouldn't be seeing this. I'm a little too close.
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Chapter 3: Why did Alex Bregman choose to sign with the Chicago Cubs?
So it was foretold at six years old. And we know Albuquerque. Also, Brian Urlacher. You watched Brian Urlacher in college. Is that right?
I think the whole state of New Mexico is Bears fans because of Brian Urlacher. So we all grew up watching the Bears. Obviously, he went to New Mexico and was a great Lobo there. So we've been watching the Bears for a while. You going Sunday? Yeah, we're going to go. We're going to go. I mean, at this point, we've got to go to all of them. Yeah, right? Blackhawks, Bulls, we're staying.
We're going to the Bears game.
You've been knocking them all down for sure. One of the things that Craig Council has talked to us about and the Cubs as an organization have been about is run prevention. When I look around you guys' infield now with you on it, that becomes a big deal. How big of a deal is that for you as a player to know that you've got some guys on that infield that can go get it?
No, it's super important. I feel like, uh, winning teams in the last decade, if you look around, like for last year, for example, the blue Jays, um, we're right up there with the, I think it was blue Jays and Cubs one, two and defense and both teams made a deep run into the playoffs. And, um, It's super important controlling 90 feet.
I think run prevention is probably just as important as scoring them. So I think, obviously, you try and get swing and miss stuff on the mound and play really good defense behind them when they don't strike out.
I heard Tommy Hottavy on our station this morning, and he said the Cubs threw the most strikes of any pitching staff in baseball. It takes confidence to throw strikes. You've got to know the defense is going to do its job, right?
Darn right. Darn right.
All right, so last thing I've got to ask, or else I'll be texted by too many people if I don't. Have you found a synagogue yet? Are you synagogue shopping? Is that recruitment going to be as big as the ball clubs doing the recruiting?
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Chapter 4: How does Bregman's past experience influence his expectations with the Cubs?
Craig Council. The great part about signing up as a baseball fan and the great part about baseball seasons are it's a ride and it's a roller coaster. And it means you're built to withstand the ups and the downs.
MLB veteran for 16 seasons. Swing and a bouncer. Shortstop.
Chapter 5: What are the Cubs' expectations after signing Bregman?
Council throws. Got him. Council picked it up clean and threw a strike to first.
manager for your Chicago Cubs. Is right field Suzuki's again? Isn't Craig doing a press conference or something? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'll see you guys tomorrow. How's that? Craig Council with Spiegel and Holmes on 670 The Score.
And just like that, we go from talking with one of our weekly guests, Nico Horner, to talking to the other one of our weekly guests, Craig Council, the manager of the Cubs, joins us here on the Spiegel and Holmes show. Hey, Craig, how are you?
You got the second best guest. You just had the best guest. I'm a little lower on the list.
No, I mean, it was just a timing thing. That's all it was. Yeah, well, you know, we had Bregman, too. I mean, he was pretty good. You got Bregman to do a weekly show with you? No, no, no.
We had him this afternoon. I was like, we don't move that fast. Man, you guys are good.
I mean, we are going to the new signal. We just talked to Bregman earlier. Bregman's an FM guy, you know? He is. Very much so. So would you have to green light a weekly Bregman? Does that get to your desk?
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Chapter 6: How does Bregman view the Cubs' organizational structure?
No. Among the things that get there?
Absolutely not. No?
No, absolutely not. All right, cool. But he's a good talker, man. He's like a thoughtful dude, isn't he?
Oh, yeah. I mean, you get him talking baseball, it ain't going to stop. He can talk some baseball.
Yeah, I was talking to his agent. I believe it's Scott Boris. Is that the way you pronounce that? Yeah, I've heard that guy's name before. But he said him and J.D. Martinez. Those are the two guys he's had in terms of being a savant. His word, being a savant and helping out players. Does that track with what you've heard?
Yeah, absolutely. I think he sees the game at a very deep level for sure. And doing it as a player, right, and still playing and being successful playing, that's the hard part about it, and that's what's really incredible about it. And it's from, like, he genuinely just loves the game and experiences the game and wants to have conversations about the game.
And that part's very real, and it's very authentic.
How much does stuff like that matter, like the soft scouting stuff of having someone in your clubhouse that has seen a lot, been through a lot, and what can they add in that way into your club?
It matters when you impact the other players in a good way, right? And I think there's always talk of that, but I think, Alex, it's been ā He's done it. I think you just have a lot of examples of it, then you have a lot of testimonials from it happening, right? And that's what's different.
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Chapter 7: What role does run prevention play in the Cubs' strategy?
I prefer Matt Records Spiegel. Is that nickname taken by any DJ, past or present? Nope.
We're okay on that.
I don't think I've ever heard of that. All due respect to John Landecker, and that's actually got AM history. But man, that FM news is some exciting stuff. Do you know how good... The parody songs are going to sound... Lawrence, do you have any idea? It's not going to help him. Alex, how dare you?
I can't wait to hear Spiegel's Feelings Corner. Yeah, yeah.
Oh my God, Spiegel's Feelings Corner is going to be unbelievable. How good Tanny's production is going to sound. Seriously, like 15 times of the audio information that you get in an AM signal is what you get in an FM signal. That means the highs and the lows and the rich...
and the bass yeah the rich mids and the high mid the whole the whole schmear is what you're gonna get and the stuff's gonna sound great can't wait you are still gonna be able to hear us on 6 70 a.m oh yeah but but for all of my peeps who work downtown for example and are driving around downtown they'll now have an opportunity to hear us we're gonna reach a whole new audience and it's uh
It's very exciting. It's a lot of fun. So, Speegs, you've been busy. You got top-button swag going on. That means you went someplace fancy or you were on TV. What happened? I went up to Wrigley to hang out, press the flesh, and be there for the Alex Bregman press conference, which is also Jed Hoyer and Scott Boris, their partner.
Scott Boris, Jed talking about the agent like the Boris Corps as an active partner during the year was interesting. But, you know, obviously Tom Ricketts, everybody with the vibes really good. But you know what I was thinking about? And we'll get to a Bears angle that goes along with this before we get off and running on a lot of Bears and Rams today.
But I was thinking about all the people they didn't give a big money extension to. Chris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo the second time around and Javi Baez and Kyle Tucker. And they tried with Bregman last year, but all the people they chose not to invest in, this is the guy that they were able to convince Tom Ricketts to invest in.
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