What Does Alex Bregman’s 5-Year Deal Means For The Chicago Cubs In 2026? | CHGO Cubs Podcast

We call it victory Monday after that weekend and week. Luke Stuckmar, Joy Cristopoulos and Justin

Roman in for you today to celebrate the Alex Breggman signing and more Chicago cups. What a weekend

fellas. What a weekend. First of all, the emergency podcast I had to do while the bears come back was

going on because the Breggman news comes out. Justin's textiness, Joey's texting, everybody's

felt I'm thinking, but this game's getting closer guys. What are we going to do here? What are we

going to do here? But it happened. And it was a great moment in Chicago's ports history. And I

should point out we don't want to take credit. And I never would. But I should point out that Joey

came in and found a rally cake from Portillo's in the refrigerator coincidence. I don't think so.

I think not. So we've done it again with our rally cakes. The bears guys have caught on that it

takes a little chocolate cake to push the team over the finish line. What an amazing weekend. I

mean, honestly, guys, like I think we all felt the same way watching that bears game, you know,

going into the house just did not feel good about things. I'm on my phone kind of down to the

dumps and I get a buddy text me. All he says is Breggman. I'm like, no way. I go on Twitter, good

old Jeff passing man. First one, I'm like, oh, I mean, just my whole night changed in one tweet. I

couldn't believe it. I go upstairs in my house. I changed from my bear stuff to a cup stuff,

I do a video. I'm texting you guys like crazy. And then I mean, listen, I don't know if we get

credit for the rally cake, but like, do the Cubs get credit for the bears turn around because

they were down in the dumps until the the Breggman signing happened. And then all of a sudden,

this, this, this Caleb coming through bears win. It's all because the Cubs sign Alex

Breggman to a five year deal. Amazing. 2026 is off to a real nice start loop. I'm just gonna,

I'm just gonna put it. I'm just gonna put it pretty plainly like it all sort of reminds me of

what's that movie? Oh, yeah, that's right. Feel the dreams where they're sitting towards the

very end. And he looks out and he just turns to Kevin Koster and he goes, is this heaven?

And Kevin Koster turns to him. And am I right? He goes, no, is Chicago, baby? That's what it is.

That's what it's all about right now. Sarah on the ones and twos. What's up, Sarah? Go Cubs.

Go bears. Go bears. And I said to our Brendan Miller the other day, I said, you know what?

This is the first step in exercising the state of Wisconsin. First, it was the great comeback

and the comeback and the handshake at the end where he blows them off. Then he goes into the,

you know, Johnson goes into the locker room and he's f-bomb in the packers and everybody's

eating that up. And I thought to myself, yes. And then the Braggman signing is what carries it over

to finally kick the brewers to the curb this season. We've said, listen, you shouldn't be playing

second fiddle to the brewers in your own division. I thought last year was gonna be the year,

but they needed to do something this off season that said to Cubs fans, we're not satisfied with 92 wins.

We are gonna spend the money. We are gonna go for it and we think we can be better than we were

last year. It started with the Cabrera trade, but this is really the one because the one thing

that fans have always questioned is whether the Cubs would spend the cash. Now, is it a $200 million

player yet? No, but it's the second one around 175 million. And it's a similar type profile for

the player in that they love all of the stuff off the field, on the field, you name it. And Braggman

signals to me that Jed got it done. I said on this podcast that when we did our New Year's resolutions,

I said, if Jed can somehow, this was just a week ago, before the trade, I said, if somehow,

Jed can pull off getting a starting pitcher and a legit position player bat that I will not question

him ever again in 2026, 2026 is his year. And lo and behold, it took him less than a week. He

must have been listening to the podcast. And he was like, oh my goodness, stuck. He laid it down

on the line. He drew a line in the stand. And I have to meet that before Cubs convention. Jed,

congratulations. I will not question you the rest of 2026. I love it. I love it. And honestly,

I feel like a lot of people, oh, Jed, and honestly, Rick gets an apology here. Like it wasn't about

them doing something on December 1st. It wasn't about them doing something about December 20th.

It was about them doing something before opening day. And I said that before a lot of these

podcasts, it's like, there's no deadline here besides opening day. And like you said, look,

in one week, a big time starter and a big time back, you know? And I mean, like, but they,

it was it's all negotiation. It's all back and forth. You know, when you're trading, it's a

negotiation for it. Everything's a negotiation. Nobody just like, I want to break me in. Here's

my first offer. And it's a done deal. It doesn't happen that way. It's it's baseball, but it's also

a business, you know? So I really do hope that, you know, listen, you could you could you could

think of what you want about Rick. It's you could think what you want about Jed. But in this

offseason and in these moments, I think they've nailed it. And I give them both credit. And again,

maybe, you know, Twitter versus isn't there. They're not GM's in presidents for a reason, right? Let's

let the let the big dogs do what they do. And I could not be happier with the way this offseason

has gone so far. Let's get an early Toyota super chat in here from Shane Newbanks who says Jed

did not want any of the stucky smoke. I'm on board with that one. And also speaking of the chat,

yeah, Godfather, C H show, you're going to you're the true test today. You're the true test.

Yes. I knew if I kept the heat on Rick, it's he eventually would crack. I will for a while,

but I will be watching. Wow. Wow. Wow. Because I was going to say, if you're still cynical,

or even a slightly a little bit cynical, Godfather, I was starting to worry. It was a bit. But

no, no, you were a measured cups fan who just was frustrated. And here's what I will say is that

the things that were pissing me off about this off season was simply that when we talk about

the Chicago Cubs and we talk about them being interested in checking in on engaged in talks with

all I asked for on this show. And I was with you when I did this show was all I wanted the Chicago

Cubs to show was conviction, right? What's the plan? Go out there and execute it because you are

the Chicago Cubs. Clearly, Edward Cabrera and Alex Breggman have been on the radar for quite

some time. And the quest is over, Jed, you've nailed both of them to off seasons or if Edward Cabrera,

I guess, is a season, a regular season and an off season. They almost got them in a trade via,

or at least they tried to via trade last year. The two guys that they have gone out and identified

as guys that can help them when baseball games, they went out and got them. I'm not going to sit

here and say, like, let's do some real talk, right? I still think Kyle Tucker is a better hitter

than Alex Breggman. Just real talk. I'm going to say that right now. But maybe Alex Breggman is a

better player than Kyle Tucker is a hitter. And that's something that the Chicago Cubs value.

The other part about it that I was bemoaning all off season that I just didn't understand why

the Cubs were just going to sit on their hands in the fourth year of this cycle. And I've been saying

since 2022, Jed began from Danzby Swanson on to put together a team that was going to be competitive.

I believe Jed thinks about these things in three to four year cycles. This was the fourth year

in a cycle when they just won 92 games and won a division round game. So I was getting frustrated

that I was saying, you can't be telling me that they're not going to do anything when they've

built it up to this particular place, right? So that has come to fruition, right? The Chicago Cubs,

I'm not going to say are super serious, but they're serious enough that's got me really,

really, really excited. And now with Breggman in the fold, you can start opening up the possibility

of not just because next year a lot of money coming off the books could be a transition here.

They're at least opening up the possibility to extend that cycle into an act two with a young

core players with a player like Breggman. I applaud Jed, the deferrals Tom. Congratulations, man.

I'm so happy as a Cubs fan and look like we're critical, right? We want stuff. We get worried.

We get frustrated. We know we want them to attack the offseason. Well, well, how it is,

and Justin, to your point, right? They patiently got the deal done for the players that they

wanted, Luke. And that's what I can live with. If they have a plan and go out to get the guys that

they want, I can live with that. They're not just dealing with whatever's left over in the fridge.

You know what I'm saying? And I applaud Jed and Tom for doing that. And maybe he's not,

it maybe Breggman's not a better player than Kyle Tucker. But let's acknowledge that he might

be a better fit than Kyle Tucker. And that can be something that's actually true in baseball,

right? Like that, that can actually happen. And this is a player who really wanted to be a cub.

There was no hesitation. He wanted to be a cub a year ago and they didn't meet the price.

And I, I saw it was Patrick Mooney in the athletic. My old teammate, he brought up the point

that in April last year, there was a Cubs player that came off the field after Big Cubs

win who went and said to a reporter, unprovoked. Imagine how good we'd be with Breggman right now.

This is a message to the team. This is the type of message that they needed to see. Had the Cubs just

done nothing this offseason and said the kids can play and we're going to go with a lot of questions

in the rotation. That would have been the wrong message to a 92 win team, okay? Instead the Cubs have

gone out and said we've solidified the rotation. We've gone and spent the money to give you what we

think is the right veteran player for this team. We've given you depth. We've given you hope. And

we've given you the tools to go do this with our manager. This was the message that Cubs needed to

send. And we all hoped for it. And Justin, I give you credit. You didn't sour on it. The offseason

is fast as some of the rest of us did. But there was a little hesitation because I remember

last week you did say now if they don't get it done, then I will start to. And that's fair

because we all got to the point where it was like, New Year's is gone. And if they don't get

something done here before Cubs convention, how are they going to approach the fan base and say we're

still waiting to make a move. And there are six of the top nine free agents out there. But we don't

are going to spend. And we could win with the kids. Instead, they got them both done before Cubs

convention. And now optimism is just as high for the bears as it is the Cubs. And it's like a one,

two punch back and forth. I'm more excited about the bears. No, I'm more excited about the Cubs.

No, I'm more excited about the bears. No, I'm more excited about the Cubs. That's what the city

deserves. Yes. That's what we it's what sports fans in Chicago deserve. Not wait till next year.

Not wait for five more years on a rebuild. Not wait for the next guy. We deserve to be talking

playoffs and exciting teams that have chances to win championships. We got it. And Luke, I thank

you for saying that. I have remained optimistic. Optimistic is entire off season. I thought all

long that we're going to make a big trade and a big signing. And I just didn't know which one.

Was it going to be a trade for a pitcher or a trade for a bad. I didn't know, but a big trade

and a big signing. And honestly, Jed kind of spelled it out for us. Like I don't have any insight

scoop to Jet Hoier or I don't have Tom Ricketts phone number, but he kind of spelled it out to

you. He said that the trade deadline last year, the pitching market wasn't what he thought it was

going to be kind of messed that up. So I knew they're going to go out and get an arm, you know? And then

also Tom Ricketts and Jet Hoier they saw playoff baseball for five games at Ridley Field. Okay.

There was no way. There was no way I thought they saw that and we're going to take a step backwards.

They want that. Okay. No matter what you think of Ricketts as an owner, he wants the Cubs to win

and go deep into playoffs and get that money from playoff baseball, all that kind of stuff.

They want the Cubs to do well as well as we do. So I just I thought from a common sense standpoint,

they're going to make move. They don't want to get worse. They want to get better. And you know,

I think you hit it on the head when it comes to like Joey, you had said that Tucker might be a

better here than Alex Breggman. But Vince in the chat, I think he nails it. I think that Breggman

has the possibility of being a better leader for this team. I think we all saw

Kyle Tucker didn't really mess with with he was quiet. He didn't really mess with the fans. He

I don't know. Whatever was going on with Tucker, it wasn't a great fit. But from all things that

I've read, Alex Breggman is a great clubhouse guy and a great leader. So not only is Breggman

hopefully a better fit from a player standpoint, Joey, but also from a leadership standpoint.

And now you're talking because that thought that's intangibles that you can't put a price tag on.

So yeah, I'm thrilled. I knew we get here. I didn't know when or what the rot was going to be.

But I'm very, very glad that that jet and Tom definitely got it done.

Listen, we got a lot to talk about on today's show. So do not go anywhere. Okay, we're going to

dive into the Breggman numbers. We'll talk about the leadership role. We're going to talk a little

Nico Horn or we might talk a little match. We're going to talk a whole lot this week. It is Monday

on CHGO Cubs. You're not going to want to miss one episode this week. But for the for the meantime,

get the like button, get your comments in right now. We're going to hear from some of our wonderful

partners here on the CHGO Cubs podcast presented by Toyota. And we will be right back in two minutes.

Hey, Cubs fans, whatever the moment, never ordinary at bet 365. Did you know that new customers

right now get $200 and bonus bets when you bet $5 when or lose? Also, they had this little

thing called the early football payout offer. And there's this little team in town that is still

in the playoffs. It's the Chicago Bears. And whether it is the Chicago Bears or any playoff team,

if you place a bet on a team to go up by 17 points, you are a winner. If they go up by that 17 point

margin, it's an instant payout and straight bets and parlay selections that are marked as winners.

So download the app and use code CHGO 365 when you sign up for that offer. You can also double your

winnings on parlay as a bet 365 100% parlay boost only when you use code CHGO 365. So remember,

deposit $10. Place a bet for five. You can get up to $200 and bonus bets if that bet wins or loses

on spreads, totals, player props, futures and more, whatever the moment, never ordinary at bet 365.

Must be 21 plus or older. If you or someone you know as a gambling problem, crisis counseling

and referral services can be accessed by calling one 800 gambler in app only.

What if you could have reliable intelligent Wi-Fi and what if you could keep that Wi-Fi at the same price

for five years? Good news. That's the Xfinity. Five-year price guarantee. Imagine Wi-Fi that makes

everything in your home work together that finds and fixes problems before you even know that they're

there or notice them like super intelligent Wi-Fi with a sixth sense. And then it lets you

stream the game even if the whole family is online doing other stuff. All your devices working

in perfect harmony for five whole years. And here's the best part. No annual contracts,

no hidden fees and Xfinity's best equipment included. Take it from me. A lot can change in

five years. Championships are one. Records are broken. Dreams grow bigger, but your Wi-Fi

should be reliable and the price should stay put. Lock in your price. Unlock the possibilities

with Xfinity. Learn more at xfinity.com. Xfinity. Imagine that. Select plans only. Restrictions apply.

Welcome back to the CHOCOPs podcast presented by Toyota. Let's go. Places,

Joker, Stopolis, Justin Roman. Luke Stuckmeyer, perhaps making his triumphant return to the studio

tomorrow. And Sarah, on the ones in twos talking all things,

pregnant here on the Cubs. Luke, I promise we're going to get into the player.

But I want to ask you a question that I don't think you got an opportunity to

have a take on our perspective on when you did the emergency pod because it just happened in

the moment. But put our conversation before the break. What I love about this is that the Chicago

Cubs, not only whatever, signed a great player, did all this stuff, is that they were in a bidding

war with the Boston Red Sox. People are asking the question, why did it happen during the

Bears game? How can you do this to us Cubs? I think it's the Boston Red Sox, man. I think the Boston

Red Sox were trying to get a deal. They had a deal on the table. Like they went back and they

said, if you're going to top it, you better top it right now. Or Breggman's probably going to

resound at the Boston Red Sox. And the Chicago Cubs pushed the envelope, got out of their comfort zone

maybe to get the deal done. And how do they get it done for five years, $175 million, Luke,

with what we're learning is deferrals. Perhaps up to $70 million in deferrals for Alex Breggman,

which makes this more of like a five for 105 or maybe a five for 110, whatever when the ink

dries on all the contract paper. So I just want to get your take on not only them

winning the bidding, like not just doing piece over $200. We're out of it. Whoops. Oh,

onto the next guy. But also something that they've said that they'd never be interested in doing

deferrals to players. I just want to get your perspective on that. Because again, that is a new

form of contract, machination, and majorly baseball. There's a couple things I love about

this signing. The first is that I know it's a great signing. Even if it doesn't work out, I know

it's a great signing because I saw AJ Persinski of all people say the Cubs are now the favorites

in the division and then quote, and that's hard for me to say. So when AJ is saying something

positive about the Cubs, the next level is if we had Ozzy on here and he was like, what I move,

get Breggman, like that's it. You know, it's a good deal. But the fact that the Cubs went out of

their comfort level in more than one way here. They went out with the multiple years beyond having

this clean slate in 2027. They went out of their comfort zone in the deferrals. They went out of

their comfort zone and hitting over or at 175. They went out of their comfort zone in replacing a

not not full time, but definitely at third base for a while replacing a player who is under control

for six more years at zero money and it replacing him technically with a guy who's going to make

175 million. They're out of their comfort zone. And if you want my conspiracy theory on how

this went down, Joey, you ready for this? Joey and Justin. Now remember a couple years ago,

you guys might not have been paying attention, but I said that the Cubs would bring back Cody

Belinger on the 24th hour of the 24th day because he wears number 24. And I was looked at as if I was

crazy and I said, no, no, no, no, no. If you know you're bringing somebody back and you can do it,

somebody's agent says, yeah, you know what? It'd be kind of cool to do it on the 24th. What do you

think? And he said, throw it in on the 24th hour. That's the kind of ridiculous stuff that happens

behind the scenes. What if this was so close to the finish line that the Cubs were sitting there

in the first half of that bears game? And they said, we got a chance to steal the spotlight. We

got a chance to take winter into spring and get everybody fired up. They'll feel so down about

this bears game at 21 to three that we announced this bad boy right now. We lock it up. Get it

announced in the second half and everybody will forget that bears game and they'll look at us as

the heroes from the North side. It didn't quite fly out. We're just as happy. Wasn't it a 12 point

deficit at the time? Wasn't it 21 to nine when it happened? That's when they announced it, but I'm

saying like, what if the deal wasn't even done until they start doing the game? And then they're like,

we got to close this sucker. It's 21 to three. Who's the, what's the one thing in common between

Cody Belinger and Alex Bregman, Scott Boris? Yeah. And the whole thing, the narrative and the newsly

guy that long to play those type of games. He was probably like, you should do this now. The bears

are down 21 to three, steal the spotlight. Well, I think we can all agree that the Cubs saved the

bear season and so did Alex Bregman. So I'm very happy about that. But also I want to say too that,

you know, with the Bregman thing, like the podcast we were on, we're talking about, like,

New Year's resolutions and everything that you referred to earlier. Look, is that we talked about,

I talked about how I hated the opt-outs. I hated the, I want to fall in love with the player.

Well, look what happened here. Like literally, and actually I used Bregman as an example. I hated

the fact that we had this whole thing song and dance about Bregman last year. And then we hit

inside. He said to four year deal of Boston. Oh, boy, just kidding. There's an opt-out. Well,

look what happened this time around. There are no opt-outs. And then Bregman himself wanted

a no trade clause. He wanted to be here. It's like everything that I wanted in one off season

and in one deal. It's like, we got, we get to fall in love with the player. We get to, I'm going

to buy his jersey because like, he's going to be here for five years. I was going to ask that

question. He answered it for me. Absolutely. So like, that's what I'm talking about. Like, it's like,

he wanted to be here. He committed to us. We're committing to him. That's what I love most about

this entire deal. And again, my hat's off to Jed to Tom. And I just feel like, wouldn't it be

like just unbelievable if the Bears could win the Super Bowl and then the Cubs win the World

Series in the same calendar year? And it's because of this signing that the trajectory of both teams

went like this. I'm amazed. Joey, if I, if I was there, I'd have the reality, the CHGO

reality spray. And I'd be shooting at Justin right now. Two championships in one year. Let's

not get out of hand. Hey, you know what we should do? We should make this our taking the temp

segment. You trusted local experts for seasons, heating air conditioning, plumbing and electric

visit for seasons, heating cooling dot com for all their special offers and money saving coupons

that's four seasons, heating cooling dot com. So now that, that's just crazy hot talking right

there. If you take the tip, double championships is a little wild. I do love what you're saying,

Justin, about the fact that the player wanted to be here. Another thing that I love that gets me

warm and fuzzy is that it's different. It's different going in. Don't get me wrong. Like

there was a love affair with Kyle Tucker when the season started. All the sign M extend him,

all of it. He was playing great. The way this feels different going in is that this player

asked for it. When you sign a guy, he's asking for it. Now, even if some stuff is close and he's

been saying for a year, I want to be a cub. Tucker was never put in that position. He was traded

to the other team. He never asked to play in cold weather at Wrigley Field. He didn't say anything

bad about it, right? There was nothing. You talk about how something just seemed to be missing,

especially when it started to go as cute. I don't know. It might have been the injuries. It might

have been the struggles. It might have been just that he's quiet like Kyle Hendrix. This feels

different because the player has actively gone out and said, I want to be a cub in more ways

than one. That means something to me. I think it means something in the clubhouse. When you

talked about intangibles, that's another thing. They like all the things that he does as a leader.

It doesn't mean I'm saying Tucker didn't do it, but they like the Danes B. Swanson's. They like

the Nico owners. They like the Ian Habs. They like all of those types of players on their franchise.

It does seem like a smart thing to do. Look, the two parts that I think are a little bit different

on it. The leadership thing, I just want to pump the brakes just a little bit on that. I've

seen some comments about people inferring that there isn't a lot of leadership on the cubs.

I pushed back on that because you just mentioned Danes B, Nico, Ian Habs, PCA is going to be taken

over a lot of that leadership pie in the next couple of years, Justin Steele. I don't think that

was ever an issue with the Chicago Cubs. I'm not refuting that Alex Breggman is an a leader.

I think he's going to be a great addition to the clubhouse, but Luke, like you know,

like anything else, when you walk into a new situation, I don't think Alex Breggman's going to

come in here and go, I make $30 million. Now, I'm the leader of the team, right? You have to,

you have to ease your way into it, assimilate, and then through example, you then become a leader

on the team. That's going to be a little bit of a work in progress. The other part that I just

think is really different about this whole deal, this whole, what we're seeing this off season,

right? The bullpen stuff seems to be a little bit more of a trade, a craft, if you will, for

Jedhoyer every off season. I get in the get in there and I fix it all up. I turn it over and let's

see what we got the next season. The thing that is different about this year is that I get it,

the Chicago Cubs, it's $175 million. It isn't necessarily playing at the deep end of the pool

with the 200, 300, 400 type numbers, which is fine. But what the Cubs are doing is they are

building a baseball team equipped to handle a 162 game season and hopefully a couple extras,

maybe a dozen or so in October. The depth that we've highlighted with Edward Cabrera,

with the pitching staff, the options that they've created in the bullpen. And then offensively,

yes, matcha, Moises by Astero's, a lot to get excited about. But at this moment in this time,

they're saying, no, we're going to add a little bit more, we're going to add some professionalism

to it. We're going to add a four win, a four-war player. A guy who's had at least 3.5 war

in seven seasons, a guy who's been a silver slugger, a guy who's been a three-time all-star,

two-time world series champion, has won a gold glove in his career, okay? The resume speaks for

itself. To your point in the first segment, Luke, I'm going to echo that. They could have easily

said youth movement. Let's just give these guys some a bees and let's keep rolling on. But no,

they have a veteran core in place right now that can win right now. They just added to that.

And maybe they didn't add superstar talent. But I do believe Alex Bergman is star talent.

And right now, this could perhaps be one of the deeper Cubs teams of at least my recent memory.

I struggled to think, you know, in 16, they had a lot of starting pitching. They had a lot of

options. But man, look, they had to rely on a role of this Chapman a lot in that postseason.

I just think they've got a lot of options, a lot of toys for Craig Council to play with.

And I think that's different about the Cubs two that has me excited.

Well, Bergman is the perfect fit when you think about it because not just, you know, you highlighted

it as well. His resume is very impressive, but he's a gold glove winner, right? So you have Bergman,

Swanson, Horner. I think we all agree that Michael Bush could be one day of gold glove winner.

And then you, I mean, PCA, Ian Hatt, I mean, this team is built on defense and

Alex Bergman fits that mold. He's obviously more of an offensive player, but he's a very good defender

as well. And then you have your right now, super utility guy, Matt Shaw, also a very good defender

whenever he fills in. And we'll talk about that in a little bit. I'm sure, but like, whether it's

third base, whether it's second base, whatever it is, like this is still a very, very, very good

defensive team, but their offense got that much better. And more baller, I think it's a wild card

because if that dude hits like we kind of think he could hit, I mean, the sky is a limit for this

team. It really is. Yeah, more to come here on the C H show comes podcast, presented by Toyota.

Let's take a quick break to hear from some of our wonderful partners. Jump in the chat. I saw a

really good one from Craig Brindle saying Alex Bergman's always played with the number two.

Nico Horner is currently number two. Do they give it up? Is there a swap? What does that look like?

Also, let's adjust the Twitter elephant in the room over the weekend. Now the Alex Bergman is in.

Does that mean that the Cubs might think about shipping Nico Horner out? I promise you we have

thoughts, but first a word from our wonderful partners. Hey Cubs fans, here's C H show Cubs.

We got a lot of emergency pods. We're on the go. What better than my chocolate peanut butter flavored

fuel drink on the go? That's right. It is a meal in a bottle. It's got a high protein starter kit.

And they all said the Black Edition RTD and Black Edition powder right now. And here's the

bottom line. We all want to strengthen and have some goals in 2026. I'm here to get into some

shape and you can get protein into your diet, but sometimes it's the wrong kind of protein.

Enter Hule right here because gym days, busy days, the days that you crush it, the days that you

don't. Hule is there for you all throughout the day. You ever finish a workout and realize, oh man,

I haven't eaten a thing and you got that weird feeling in your stomach. Hule up right away.

On the drive home so you can get that back into your body so you can start making some gains

in 2026. Look, there's other days I wake up and sometimes I only have carbs. Protein is actually

a secret that you have to get done. So limited time off for right now. Hules full high protein

starter kit today. You can exclusive 20% off with the code scubs 20 C U B S 20 at Hule.com slash

Cubs 20 for new customers only. Honestly, it just makes hitting your protein goals a lot less

stressful. They're ringing in the new year at Ray Chevrolet and Fox Lake with hot deals all

month long during their Ray resolution sales event. Stop in today drive home with 0% financing

for 72 months plus no payments until spring on all new Chevrolet models or check out their

selection of over 125 vehicles priced under 20 grand and with one of the areas largest Chevy

inventories, they're going to find the perfect vehicle for you and they also have raised price

promise which lets you shop confidently because the price you see is the price you pay. Go see for

yourself our partner at their convenient location right on Route 12 in Fox Lake and don't miss out on

their Ray resolution salesman going on all month 0% financing for 72 months and zero payments

until spring on all new Chevy models shop Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake or Ray Chevrolet.com serving

the community since 1963 I like to say together let's drive. There's 175 million dollars as we like

to say on this podcast and at CHTO it's Cubs over everything baby but we do acknowledge

that we are of the bear family and we are baby bears and it's also bears over everything play

off baby we got a die hard deal going right now still going because they're still in the playoffs

36 bucks to be a die hard for a whole year for an introductory offer right now that's three bucks

a month it's nothing and you get the free shirt and you know what we've got all kinds of new

merch out there sick drip all over the place the iceman shirt it's always great the FGB and the

great one and it's got there is Caleb grinding away on that cheese in the post game show so nice

but there's so many shirts to choose from you get a free one when you sign up to be a die hard you

get the exclusive die hard card I like the iceman one that looks like little freezes you got a

couple CHTO football ones you get the iceman out there listen the new merch is sick and we've got

another tailgate we didn't know it we got another tailgate coming up Joey Joey how many people

were at the tailgate for the Packer game so I think our season high about a month ago when we played

the Packers the first time we were over 250 people for this one that we just started because we didn't

know when and how and what it was going to be in only a week's worth of time I think we flew over

250 for this last tailgate wow and damn it we're doing it again Sarah I was going to say that's

just for our tailgate I mean we're in a giant big lot filled with other tailgates too I mean there's

just thousands of people but don't don't let that scare you because there is still all you can eat

all you can drink so please enjoy yeah we're prepared for the most amount of people yeah it was great

Danny Parkinson's was in the house just people were just so happy and excited we've done this for

two years with the tailgates when you're stuck in a losing streak and just the cynicism is raining

down on your head and when I check people in and honestly like every tailgate is different with

kind of the vibe and both like all the bears fans everyone was just like happy yeah which is like

usually there's like a lot of different emotions but everyone was like cool and I gotta and I got

to be honest Luke like just in the last four or five days with the cubs making these kinds of

moves I can't help but feel like what the first one 20 club is going to feel like what opening day

is going to feel like I it's just the the passion the excitement for the cubs I mean we're always

supporting this team we're always filling up the ballpark we're always buying the merch we're

hanging out around Gallagher way but I just can't help but feel as I day dream now hopefully whether

it's spring training or opening day I think cubs fans there's going to be a little extra in this

one a little extra excitement and passion and I can't wait for it yeah you were talking about you

taking taking a dive into you know in the land of 200 million and what this means five years

175 million is not diving in from the platform dive at the Olympics the big platform right that's

not what it is but five from 175 for this franchise and the way we're operating is absolutely a head

first dive into the deep water it's this is the cubs diving head first insane we are all in now

would we love them to do it from the platform dive every year yes but this is what we asked for

this season get to the big big bouncy platform springboard and dive in head first into the deep

water show us you're ready to play with some of the big boys that doesn't mean it had to be a

200 million dollar player but you went and got a starter you gave up your number one prospect and

then you went out and signed a guy like I said you could have left it right there and just

held a player that was under control for six more years and instead you went five for 175 with a

veteran player and Justin you were talking about the defense I feel like they already had the

defense part of it you know like shot it's shot showed me one thing that I believe in last season

it's his defense he could play third base I also believe he could play short in second which leads

us to the next thing like now where does the team go moving forward right we have Nico on the

final year of a deal and I would suggest to you that if there is a player on the team that the

cubs want to say this is what we want in a player that Nico is that guy he is the example of this

is the type of player we want he is our homegrown guy he is a hard worker he does everything

that we ask him to do well because we don't ask him to hit home runs we ask him to be this player

on this team and as for Dan's B Swanson when we're talking about Hayden there's maybe a crowded

infield for me this is where and we talked about this off arrow but this is where Dan's B

is supposed to be for all the people that make Dan's B a polarizing player on the cubs because

of the contract and the money and they all wanted him to be the star player Dan's B is not the star

player he is a great defensive player who looks pretty good if you put him at the bottom of the line

up on a team that has some other big hitters it's why at times last year in the first half of the

season you were like oh I don't mind Dan's B down at the bottom of that order that's better than

most teams are putting down there and so he can go up back to a more comfortable position in the

lineup because there's not this big gaping hole left by Kyle Tucker anymore you now have

Breggman's back to move in and you have some other ways to move this around and I think it means

that Saya is your right fielder but the team has as Joey said incredible flexibility

but I think better than they've had in so many years and that includes flexibility to see what

happens this season so I know we're going to talk about Nico and Shaw but I want you to think

about another guy too in flexibility Al Contra is the outfielder they didn't give up so if you

pencil him in as your fourth outfielder right now and say he's on this team he's going to be our

fourth outfielder he's better defensively than say it is and so he can fill in any of those

positions he can play the outfield spots or we could move guys over if he turns into a legit

bat Al Contra it allows you all this flexibility with the DH in the outfield and all these different

things you could talk about Mo baller you could talk about Breggman is you could have a different

DH every day you could have Breggman as a DH you could have Saya as a DH you could have

anybody else you want it Mo baller could be your DH this you know who would love managing this team

Joe Madden I think how it's going to really enjoy it as well because it allows him flexibility

but Madden who love just like throwing the crazy things that none of it would be crazy

because this team has so much flexibility I think you you you're right about Al Contra I think

he's your fourth outfielder because he's your really your only backup center fielder as well so I

think that he's the guy that kept and he's still obviously top prospect of ours so I think he

does you know he fits in this team perfectly I I don't know if y'all agree or disagree I am

totally fine with Saya Suzuki being my right fielder he showed me enough down the stretch last year

when Tucker was hurt he showed me enough during the playoffs he didn't I mean he made every play he

was supposed to and you know I know he's had his ups and downs defensively here in Chicago but like

coming over from Japan they said he was a good defender so I am totally fine with Saya Suzuki being

our right fielder I think the bad is elite I really believe in his bad when he's healthy and I

think again he showed down the stretch and in the playoffs that he could be at least at least an

average defender in right field because I do want Mo baller at that DH spot as it is right now now

last minute trade last minute signing whatever as it is right now I love Mo baller as DH because I

think the kid can hit and I think more offense the better but Saya Suzuki as a right fielder does not

scare me whatsoever but yeah I'm excited a lot of flexibility a lot of flexibility before I

be going to Niko and Shaw do you have any thoughts about El Contro and Saya and some of that yeah I

mean El Contro can back up in center field which is nice I think it's time to give some of these

guys a little bit of run a little bit of opportunity I saw in the chat which I like the whole

lot that Mike talkman's always out there too as well so if you needed a little floor certainty you

can always bring him to camp and see what happens if you wanted to do that I love having this

conversation because we've got to the point where the Cubs defense where it's like if the dude

hasn't won a gold glove before right it's like it's like oh my god this great gaping hole that we

have I get it say it isn't great and he bothers me two hands right just two hands two hands two hands

but at the same time I think we can live with it a little bit I will also say this too as well when

it comes to a guy like Max Shaw I wouldn't put it past the Chicago Cubs maybe throwing him out in

the outfield and spring training just to see what they can do they talked about that with Nico

several years ago that he's athletic enough to be able to play the outfield you know match

Shaw there's no reason why he can possibly do that too as well I'm not saying is a regular thing

but just a fill in as a spell when you talk about that DH though Luke I could not agree with you more

now let's be very fair and transparent about this Alex Breggman has won a gold glove at third

base before last year he was not a gold glove third baseman it just is what it is minus one

defensive run saved I'm not saying he was bad he was averaged to slightly above average right

to hit injuries right and injuries to and obviously the load over yeah look he's 32 years old and look

here's the fun part about is about 10 years ago I started writing for this company called rotawire.com

and they stuck me on the NL West so I started covering the NL West a whole lot which was really

fun because I saw Kyle Tucker come up and Alex Breggman come up and I wrote about him I had this

article that I think Breggman's the next big thing he was a triple he was a double triple demon

when he first came up with Houston he had speed to him right and the lower half injuries have kind of

sapped that a little bit over the last couple of years he is an incredibly professional hitter

but again to your point Justin missed two months with the quad injury last year

I want to keep Max Shaw in the fold a third base because he's a gold glove finalist right I think

you can easily get Breggman off of his feet and get him out there at DH for a couple of days I think

you could slide say a Suzuki into the DH and maybe you're fitting Shaw or El Contra or somebody

else out there every once in a while there's so many different ways to do this to try and keep

people fresh again I'll say it on the show I love the dance we want to play 162

is it in dance these best interests to play 162 Nico can slide over there to short

Max Shaw can play a little second to your point that's such a great one Joe Madden I think

would love this offensive roster right now and maybe Mo baller behind the plate there's so

many different ways and we're hopefully we'll have a stat halfway through the year of the Cubs

have deployed all these different kinds of lineup position player wise because I think that's what's

going to get it done at the end of the day so I I want to keep this going to the Nico Horner thing

I want to keep Nico Horner right like I think that should be a mandate to keep him live with the

embarrassment of riches just for one season Cubs fans and Cubs organization and see what you got

after that assess value from there you will have financial flexibility the next year to extend

Nico Horner if you want to or move on from him or whatever it is but I hope that they keep

Nico Horner to pick you back on that my thoughts on that are this I love Nico Horner I sound like

a broken record is my favorite player I think he just does everything the right way he's the perfect

ball player he's not a superstar but he's a star I've said it a million times I still firmly

believe that where I'm at on Nico Horner is though is that I think you got to do the extension with

before this season just because otherwise this is going to be an ongoing thing with match

all Nico Horner and honestly do any of us not want an extension and then lose Nico for nothing right

so again I think if he's your guy extension and I'm all for an extension and then maybe talk about

trading match all or making him and I'll feel there whatever it is but if you're not going to

extend Nico Horner I think you do got to at least feel the phone calls about when Nico Horner is

worth because you do have match all that can slide into his natural position of second base in case

you do trade him for the right hall that's my opinion about it. Yeah but Luke just really really

quick Luke on that though like they're under the luxury tax right now that's music to Tom's ears

if they want to extend him right now they will fly over the luxury tax they have to have some

sort of version of communication with Nico right now saying hey man look we're we only have

sixty seventy million dollars committed to players next year we want to keep this conversation

going I I understand what you're saying is just like but it's the tax at that point at that point

then they'd fly over the tax they'd be paying money on top of the Nico deal I would just hope that

they could just hang tight and if he I get it it's a walk here it doesn't feel great as the player

but I think the Cubs could have a good faith conversation with Nico that they could discuss it at

the end of next year. Yeah Nico may look at it too even himself and say listen if I can market

myself as a shortstop in a year which I should be able to do I could be looking at serious money

whether I want to stay in Chicago but I also could play the money card if I want and I can market

myself as a shortstop and I would be worth a lot of money I I don't think they need to extend him

I wouldn't hate it if they did I would rather see the money go towards the bullpen and different

things there this deal you could you could put so many one word labels on what this Braggman deal

means moving forward for the Cubs number one I could think of serious it means the Cubs are serious

right all of those things but if there's two words that that cross my mind one is the flexibility

right and depth flexibility slash depth whatever you want to say imagine what happened last

year if Shaw was your starting third baseman and you got first half Shaw when the season starts

or playoff Shaw or injured Shaw what is your backup plan at third base you have that answer now

one way or another if Braggman is older and he's 32 and he gets injured you've got an answer

at third base you got a backup plan at third base you got a backup plan at short you got a backup

plan at second you got a backup plan in the outfield they have backup plans but the one thing that

really comes to mind is the word certainty and people wanted to say that you know when you talk

about depth certainty is the real answer to what they've gotten we have a lot of places on this team

where things could end up just like last year exceeding projections and the Cubs could come out

looking like roses smelling like roses right well there's also some things where you look at it and

say there's injury history here he's pitched more than he has before here this guy what if he doesn't

play like that what if he plays like second half PCA not first half PCA what if what if this

happens it catcher and we don't get Kelly that we had last year what happens you can say it all

over the team there's uncertainty Alex Braggman gives you great certainty at third base it gives you

a leader it doesn't mean he's going to be the guy because the backup plan is also good that's why

you don't trade Niko now because right now you have great depth you have great certainty in some

key spots and you have great flexibility not to mention great talent you don't go out and make

assigning like Alex Braggman just to go trade the most valuable player as you see the perfect

player on your team he doesn't hit the home runs but you've said that's the ball player but like

you don't go trade that guy because he's in the last year of your deal just for saving a few bucks

it's the wrong move it it is it's the wrong move and right now trading Shaw is the wrong move

because his stock can keep going so far up that if you traded him in a year and decided to keep Niko

you get 10 times what you get for Shaw right now and that's the thing Luke is that I get all this

like the trade and the Yankees are calling and all this stuff is like what do you trade in Niko

for that's what I'm not also really hearing that's even making me scratch my head and go hold on

a second should we really think this through like what exactly would the return be other than

the obvious of well the playing time or the money um the money is my problem into this point

they are under the luxury tax so good on jed for doing that they can literally keep both players

on the team right now and in terms of performance right now I would bang the table that I think that

you can get 400 plus at bats from match Shaw and still get a guy like Niko Horner who is almost

one of only six hitters that hit 300 last year that has a very very unique skill and is never over

matching at bat and Sarah here we go I'm gonna do it can I get a one shot Sarah I get a one shot

I got to talk to the crowd it's really really quickly here the siege show cubs chat give me off

the screen just Joey no no no no this is the first this is the first of many peace first of many

PSAs that we're starting it's campaign day one of i Chicago cubs hi jed congratulations you've done a

wonderful job do not trade Niko Horner if you're watching this right now in the chat or you're

watching this on youtube go to csl underscore cubs and send us your video simply saying do not

trade Niko Horner if it's gonna take cubs fans in mass of us all getting together and saying do not

trade Niko Horner this is what it's going to take we will play it on the show and we will run it

on socials so join the campaign it is day one we will say it every single day until we get the

spring training and he stays on the team because Luke you are one thousand percent right you have

just put yourself in this position where you have all this backup all this depth now let's see

it play out do not extract from it in this very moment right now you're already there let's see

how it rolls and do it with one of the heart and soul players on this team Jake Flanagan do not

trade Niko Horner do not trade Niko Horner we'll go back to the wide shot now but day one of my

campaign I approve of this message do not trade Niko Horner sees show underscore underscore cubs if

you agree with me just aren't it what we love what you love in this city we love movies that are

shot in Chicago right blues brothers I think of Ferris Bueller's now this this shirt wouldn't last

long enough for CHGO to probably make this shirt so I'm gonna give this one to our guy Joe Johnson

over at obvious shirts yes what is it safe Niko safe that a safe Ferris the safe Niko

sure I love it yeah and it comes convention we could sell those babies it comes convention this

weekend they would go out of style the same Niko T shirt uh you know we're talking about match

off finding it best Joey I think you're right match shock and still get about 400 at bats you

don't forget our our as of right now our dh you know mobile or is a lefty right so anytime

a lefty's on the mound you slide pregnant over to dh you got match shot third base you lose

nothing you know I'm saying so there there are ways to do it for sure I'm just saying like why not

you know you we have a young core I mean we're you know PCA Kate Horton I still consider Niko young

where I I really would love to have a Niko Horner extension and then all this talk goes away

period you know so I get what you guys are saying I just feel like man Niko's their guy why not

give them that extension and then now you can really maybe match shot becomes an outfielder because

now you have these guys and and ultimate flexibility but I'm just I'm I love Niko Horner I'm just saying

if the phone rings I am picking it up because he is a free agent at the next year and I want what's

best for the Cubs not the name on the back that's what I'm saying oh I pick up but I go I

I've been about 10 years right now I think it's a quarter an action I think it's back

an action real quick Alex Breggman versus lefties last year hit 314 career 291 versus left handed

pitching so yeah get used to it Breggman maybe in the dh you can easily play match shot third base

he can take advantage of those lefty matchups too as well yeah I didn't see who it was I'll be

honest with you I've been looking through a lot of tweets and you know all the New York people

are sure it's gonna happen we've seen the biggest names of the biggest names now saying what we're

saying there's a surplus of infielders on the Cubs but not one that they can't use and I've seen

the great John Marosi front of the show Jeff pass and they've all said hey just heads up the Cubs

and we know that the Yankees are calling okay but then I saw somebody that I didn't recognize

the name I don't know if it was a Yankees reporter or just a Yankees fan and they were like

and within one week Niko Horner will be traded to New York Yankees market and my response to that

is great Aaron Judges gonna look good in a Cubs uniform no I don't I don't know what the trade

would have to be like I don't know how you would justify that trade at least at this moment because

you can let the season it would have to be you'd have to be blown away I agree you listen

because Niko's not an untradable right but it would have to be such a package that you just

be like why are the Yankees doing this right now why would they do this for Niko Horner right it's

different you're saying I would do this to get one soda or I would do it for Niko has tremendous

value still to the Cubs so who are they really gonna give back and if you got to the trade deadline

and Matt Shaw has got 25 home runs and a show you can be Niko Horner at second base

okay then I feel a little bit different about trying to restock it and sometimes desperate for Niko

but why wouldn't you play out at least to the trade deadline before you decide what to do good

problems to have yeah that's what I want as a Cubs fan and I'm sorry yeah like Jason Dominguez all

of a sudden we're gonna play that corner outfield spot over the next two three years and see if he's

a guy I I get it the Yankees have done a lot Yankees fans have done a lot of talk this off season and

their organization has done nothing we were almost in that boat we are currently not we are not

because they went out with conviction and got a starting pitcher that they like they got the

Bregrin guy that they want yeah and now all of a sudden now it's the Yankees you know spitball in

here well maybe if we can bring in this guy and you know what I mean so I don't forget the Cubs

also redid their bullpen I mean like you know before we got Cabrera before we got uh Bregrin they

revamped their entire bullpen too it's been a great offseason now now Luke McCoy out a little bit here

because I got Steve over there says guys just be patient Jed does things one by one he will get

the right move just wait and see and to your point earlier because your resolution that's right

and Jed we trust what I see that's where I'm at they have a whole plan yeah they have a whole plan

that we didn't really know about we kind of guessed it but they have a plan I am giving the

faith to Jed Hoyer to execute his plan and I'm on board so listen if Nico Horner is my starting

second baseman not just this year but for years to come I'm thrilled if there's some crazy trade

involving match saw or Nico Horner and it makes us that much better I'm gonna trust Jed so but but

Steve's right it is one by one let's trust Jed and see what happens the only thing about this with

the trusting Jed thing is that we've been talking about these two moves for about a year and a half

now and it's like the movie Maverick is this movie ever gonna come out and the movie finally did

come out that's the only difference like we've known about these two moves for a while but just

just getting there right and what do we always say on this show Luke about Tom Petty do a waiting

stop I thought I was a musician on this team I guess not you don't know

we're the problems ahead we're the jump jokers over here when I used to cover Greg pop

bitch I always admired that when he would stand for the national anthem as a former military guy

he stood with his feet now you know when you see somebody in military the feeder next to each

other there's no curve in the back he stood there and he stared at the flag right that's how I

will approach Jed on Friday at Cubs Convention I will stand there at attention not doubting him for

now hello leader hello sir attention sir the whole year you said the whole year the trade deadline

might be difficult it might just give him one year give him one year because he's this off season

I will not I will not doubt him in 2026 yeah this off season he's over not it that he knows what's

going on and Rick gets has shown that he will spend this off season so both those guys by me they

get an eight plus man we're good yes yes even the chat is support yeah the godfather is even on board

that's so that was the thing really quick as I was like is godfather going to keep doing the bit

and the bit that he always does or is he going to come correct and at least admit today he did

that they that they did a couple of things here that that fly in the face of that cynicism and

godfather today pulled that cynicism out of the freezer and put it in the sun for a little bit right

melted yeah credit to them yeah right it to them it's good to be a cubs fan isn't it I mean like

today this weekend like we're in a good spot right now boys like enjoy this because we all know

way too well even recent bias that is not always this good of a feeling so this is a really good

weekend and a really good start to our um you know spring training and we got about a minute

to go Luke but Pat Jumer in the in the chat saying very something very very honest uh

Toyota super chat why I know love for Carter Hawkins will will Luke he did just get a

player for the 2032 cubs because isn't that line up with black man on the contract I don't think

so 31 cubs that'd be 31 oh for one year short Carter he's disappointed with the man getting

the way of a good story Justin sorry sorry sorry my man you're right 32 cubs we're good

pregnant that's it tomorrow Joey we you know we got to do we didn't get to want everybody to think

about it in the chat this offseason who's the good who's the better who's the best and what's

the never let it rest of what the cubs have done this offseason yeah and I got a ton I got a ton of

nerd stuff nerd stats on Breggman for tomorrow ton of nerd stuff on Edward Cabrera like who is

like tomorrow I know we're excited about emotionally with Alex Breggman let's get into like

who is Alex Breggman as a player what is he bringing to the cubs uh where is he maybe going to

hit in the lineup we could play that out for a segment where do you see him fitting in so a lot

of that stuff we can start diving into starting tomorrow but uh today was just a day of excitement

bewilderment and uh dude let's go man cubs over everything dude take take us home Joey take us

home for this all right here we go thanks so much for tuning in the chd cubs podcast presented by

Toyota let's go places shout out to Sarah always on the ones and twos shout out to my man Justin

Roman who's coming back tomorrow we're getting a double dip let's play two with Justin Roman and

maybe the triumphant return of one Luke stuck Meyer do not trade Nico Horner thank you so much

for tuning in and as Luke always says especially today fly the w see you tomorrow