Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, Danny, how are you?
I'm great. How are you guys doing?
We are good. I think you're on the same vibe we are. I saw your tweet about Pete Crow Armstrong.
Chapter 2: What are the details of Pete Crow-Armstrong's contract extension?
What do you think about the extension?
Oh, I mean, universal approval, right? Well-deserved. You know, you get him through, you know, up to he's a free agent before his age, what, 31 season? You know, so getting a couple of free agent years is a good deal for the Cubs. I think that, you know, Pete is one of the most exciting players in baseball. And if he can... do consistently what he did for about 100 games last year.
You know, he's one of the best players in baseball, but he also has an incredibly high floor and he is an incredibly likable guy who sells tickets, sells jerseys, gets kids excited. I can speak to, you know, personal experience with working with him on some philanthropic stuff. He's a good guy who gets it. So, you know, you feel comfortable making that type of investment in him.
So it's, you know, it's... it's an absolute home run for the Cubs. And for Pete, it takes some of the pressure off of slumps and RBers and negotiations and all of that. And he gets to make a commitment to being here.
So while I would say maybe a slightly bigger win for the Cubs than Pete, just because it's multiple free agent years, like if you had to deem a winner of the deal, it's clearly a win for everybody involved.
Yeah, I agree with you, Danny, especially because going into this season where the expectations are as raised as they have been in this post-World Series era, he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. It's not even a thought now because he's locked up. He's good. He's loaded. I'm curious because you talked about his floor.
What do you feel like the floor is for this Cubs team this season, given all the moves that they've made and the willingness they have? shown to be able to go out and spend some money and make some deals and improve a team that did come up short of winning the division, but did ultimately get to the playoffs last year.
Listen, anything short of winning the division for this Cubs team is a disaster. Right? Like, they... They can't not win the division this year. There's 10 wins better on paper than the next best team in the division. They spend more money than everybody. The Brewers have been remarkable. The Brewers have been a thorn in their side. They're an incredibly well-run organization.
You know, listen, if you made the playoffs as a wildcard team and then you won the pennant or won the World Series, we wouldn't care about a division title. But anything short of that outcome, I feel like the absolute floor for this season is winning the NL Central.
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Chapter 3: What is Jed Hoyer's vision for the Cubs in 2026?
He's awesome. obviously a gold glove, second baseman, but he's also a plus defensive shortstop. And so he's like a, a Dansby backstop for injury, you know, hits, you know, puts the ball in play, a good athlete, serious, all of the things that you would want to build around. But, you know, you mentioned like they got the Pete extension done early, like Nico, uh,
I have no insight into this whatsoever, and I know he likes being a cub, but when you get close to free agency, you tend to want to explore free agency. Because when you can have 30 teams bid on your services, that's where you can get the most money.
And it would not surprise me, again, not speaking for him in any way, but it would not surprise me if that is something that he ultimately wanted to do because that's the guy that the Cubs should want to build around. That's the guy that 20 teams would probably want to throw a bunch of money at and build around. So I hope so, but...
I think he's a little trickier because I think he could probably see the light at the end of the tunnel. Talking to Danny Parkins here on Rahimi Harrison Grota. You can check out Danny on the newly expanded First Things First OT. That's from 4 to 5 p.m. on FS1. Talking a little baseball because that's coming up. I don't know if you know, basketball season's still going on, Danny.
Chapter 4: What are the expectations for the Cubs this season?
And I know you've been just hanging on the edge of your seat watching the Bulls play each and every night. Oh, love it. Can't get enough. Do you think Billy Donovan should be out of here after this year? Well, are you asking that question, like, fire Billy Donovan or Billy Donovan walk away? Billy Donovan leaving on his own, just saying, I'm good with this. I want to do something different.
So, listen, I read the Cowley report. I know people are tying him to the North Carolina job, and people think North Carolina wants Billy Donovan, and I get why North Carolina would want Billy Donovan. But two years ago, the Kentucky job was open. And Billy Donovan has direct ties to Kentucky. And he took his name out of the running basically instantly.
Now, I know you could say that that's two more years of losing and two more years of dysfunction with the Bulls. But I don't... North Carolina is a good job, obviously. But so is Texas Tech now. Like... Providence was able to hire the coach that Syracuse wanted, and so Syracuse had to fall back into Jerry McNamara. Whoever spends the most on NIL is the best job in college basketball.
And North Carolina spends a ton on NIL. But my point is that the idea of a traditional blue blood means less than it ever has. Agreed. And so college jobs suck. Because you are recruiting 17-year-olds, and then you're recruiting 18-year-olds to stay, and 19-year-olds to stay, and 20-year-olds to stay. Jay Wright left on the peak of his powers to go do TV.
So if Billy Donovan didn't want to coach Kentucky, I don't know why he would want to coach North Carolina. Okay, but the question, I understand why you tied in the North Carolina. I was just saying walk away from this abject disaster because, as you've noted, it's been two more years since then, and nothing has gotten ā literally nothing except for his paycheck has gotten better.
And I am not ā I'm not accusing Billy Donovan of working for a paycheck, but I am accusing 99.999% of the workforce for working for a paycheck. Like ā The paycheck is sick. He gets to live in the greatest city in the world, and there's not really any expectation or pressure to win, and he's already in the Hall of Fame, and he's won two national championships. Like...
I don't think the North Carolina job is a better job than the Bulls job. Better chance of winning. And if that's what you're motivated by, obviously I'm super competitive. I like new challenges. My actions have shown that. But he's in his 60s. It's not a bad gig to be the head coach of the Bulls. In fact, it's a great gig. And so I just... I'm not convinced that he leaves on his own accord.
As long as they're willing to pay him high seven figures for a job with relatively few expectations attached to it, I'll believe it when I see it when he walks away voluntarily.
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Chapter 5: How do the Cubs plan to build a competitive team moving forward?
you know, make you better. So, I mean, I think, you know, it's always difficult to give up young talent. It's always difficult to find free agents. I mean, ultimately, in order to acquire really good players, you know, Yeah, you have to draft well, but you also have to be willing to give up money in free agency or talent in trade.
And certainly a guy like Edward Cabrera, I think there's a real upside there. And he's really talented. And there was three years of control. So that was really the reason that we went forward with that deal.
Talking with Jed Hoyer here on Mullinghaw on the score. Jed, when you look at Cade Horton, last year, I think the limits and restrictions maybe on his pitch count and innings usage contributed to his efficiency, perhaps. And you can make that argument, I believe. This year, what are the restrictions if there are any?
What's the approach with a young pitcher who you want to stay healthy, you want him to go to the mound every fifth day, and yet... you just want to be careful with somebody who is that valuable to this pitching staff.
Yeah. I mean, there's no clear restrictions, but I would say that we're going to constantly monitor his strength and his fatigue. And if we get to a place where we feel like he's wearing down or needs a break, we can find a way to do that. And really, with all of our guys, you want to be able to give them extra days when you can. You want to make sure that they stay fresh. Last year,
you know, we were worn down in the rotation. There was no question. You know, by the last series against the Brewers, you know, even both teams really were kind of out of starting pitching for the most part. And it was bullpen days. And that was a real challenge. And I think it would have been a real challenge for us had we moved forward.
Honestly, once you got to the seven-game series, you can't do that as much. And so... That was something we talked about a lot this winter. You want to make sure that you keep those guys fresh and keep those guys healthy. My hope is certainly that the guys like Colin Ray and Ben Brown and getting Jordan Wicks healthy and Javier Assad and potentially Jackson Wiggins at some point.
All these guys are going to play a role in doing that. It's not a five-man rotation. It's really 10, and I think we have to think that way.
I'm curious, Chad, what went into the decision to bring back Shota Imanaga?
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Chapter 6: How does Billy Donovan's future impact the Bulls?
Okay, so that's good. We just read your rankings. Mark just said he's still pretty happy being in the top ten.
Yeah.
So I think that begs the question, what did you like? You mentioned Devin Bush. You mentioned Kobe Bryant. Why did you like those moves for the Bears?
Yeah. No, I mean, obviously filling, you know, need spots there and, and, you know, Kobe coming off a championship and Devin Bush kind of reinventing his career, not reinventing, but, you know, reviving his career a little bit. The one move I didn't love is Garrett Bradbury. And I understand that the center market was, was tricky this year.
There were, you know, there was Tyler Linder bombs resetting the market in a way that we haven't seen at a position in a while of 27 million per year compared to I don't know, 13 or 14 for the next highest-paid center. So that obviously probably, once they found that price out, I think they realized, all right, we've got to lower our sights a little bit here.
But to me, giving up a pick for Bradbury, who I thought was pretty ā he had some holes in his game. How much of that was because of the fact that he was starting with two rookies to his left? I don't know. How much of that was the scheme? I don't know, you know, but again, I just sort of felt like that may have been my least favorite move. Kalief Raymond was, was a good pickup as well.
And Jared Wills too, I think is good insurance. The, the position of left tackle, um, which obviously was a little bit of a roundabout last year. So, um, you know, again, overall, I think it's, it's, there's,
there's a a case to be made that they've they've done some some decent things this offseason but again it's just sort of about resetting the deck and and the the bills are going to be higher than they were at the end of last year the Ravens are higher there are other teams that I felt like had so many players on IR where it kind of pushes the Bears down a little bit but
They're in a good position. They're in a really tough division, obviously, but the Bears can go through their draft and have a successful weekend and come out in good shape, I think. I want to follow up with you on Garrett Bradbury, if I can here, Eric.
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