Chicago Cubs still in the mix for Jack Flaherty

We continue to talk about important Cubs news next. You are locked on Cubs. Your daily Chicago Cubs podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. You are locked on Cubs. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Alongside Sam Olber. I'm Matt Kozy. Sam and I are lifelong fans taking our passion into discussion with you on all things Cubs. Thank you for being part of the show and making us your first listen today. The best way you can help us grow the show is to listen every day, like the video, and comment anything below. Today's episode is presented by our great partner at Fanduel. From big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with Fanduel. New customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Win or lose? Wow. Visit Fanduel.com to get started. Well, we're going to start another week here on the show with a couple free agent targets for the Cubs, and then have some fun with sound later in the show. Sam, what are your thoughts right now about the pace of the offseason, especially as we get closer to spring training report day? We're only about five, six weeks away. Well, first of all, I just want to wish everybody a good week this week. This is a tough week, the first week after the new year, getting back into it, especially for the teachers out there. Even in my job, it's two, three weeks of relaxation a little bit. Now it's back, and it's two full months of full grind until we get baseball and thoughts of spring and stuff. It's our responsibility to put in a good program today, and we're going to do that. As far as the offseason, yeah, I'm getting a little bit fatigued. I told you that I would like something to be done before the convention, so we still have two weeks to get that done. We're going to talk about some stuff that's been rumored, but yeah, it's really slowed. Charlie Morton signed this week. That's not going to cause any live programs. Not going to move any meters, no. Yeah, needles, meters, whatever it is. I would expect something to get done pretty soon here with our club, and if not, I'm going to start to get quite concerned. Well, next Friday, not this Friday, but next is our convention meetup. I did want to promote that here at the top, 4 to 530 at the bar there in the Sheridan Grand, Chicago, and catch us all weekend long, Friday and Saturday at the Cubs convention. We're very excited about that. It's already next Friday, the 17th of January. Should be a great time. The last episode, we went over an exhaustive list of remaining free agent targets. Of course, the trade market is still an option, but in terms of free agency, okay, who hasn't signed with a new team yet? One of those guys is a starting pitcher that would immediately slot in between Steele and Imanaga and Jack Flaherty. On Friday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported that there are five teams still in the mix on Flaherty, Cubs, Blue Jays, Giants, Orioles, and Tigers, and excluding Roki Zizaki, Sam, Flaherty is the best available starting pitcher on the market. The right-hander posted a 3-1-7 ERA for the Tigers and Dodgers last year, striking out 194 and walking only 38 in 162 innings. There is some things on his resume to keep an eye on, though, because before this past year, Flaherty had a mix of inconsistency and injury in between this past year and then his really solid 2019 campaign. I Is ERA getting all the way up to 4.99? Could the back injury be too risky of a proposition for the Cubs who really aren't built to take on that type of risk like the Phillies are? They won the bidding for Lizardo a couple weeks ago, and I'm not sure the dollars and cents match up here either, but the Cubs being in on the mix with Flaherty, Sam, it's not a surprise, but it's hard to see them getting to the finish line on this type of player right now. Yeah, I think the Cubs have the responsibility to check in and be in the mix with every competent starter that's available right now, whether that's free agency or trade, because we know that that's something. When they almost came close to trading for Lizardo, that was Jed telling you they want another arm. That was the giveaway. Now they're going to explore every other option to get that other arm. Where I find the concern here is that Walker Buehler got one year at $21 million. The going price right now for free agents, pitchers, is as high as it's ever been, and with Flaherty's injury history and the Cubs' propensity to try and save money this offseason, what do you think the type of contract Flaherty's looking for? I would at least think he's looking for what Mania and Evaldi got at $3.75 million. Good starting point. Yeah, and I don't think the Cubs are going to be willing to do that. Maybe the Cubs sneak in. Again, I hate to sound like a broken record like the Bregman deal, but if things don't go well for Flaherty and say, hey, we'll give you a large contract for year one, let's do a player option type of deal. As far as the fit goes, I guess you could start saying this about every pitcher, but I do think that there are certain pitchers that pose more risk. If he's healthy, I think he'll probably throw well. I do think the Cubs have enough depth with their starters where they could afford a risk, but they've already taken that with Boyd. I'm not over the moon with this one. If it happens, great. I would be really curious to see the terms, but you wouldn't be surprised if they get outbid. I still think the number one path, the most likely path for the Cubs is a trade and Pablo Lopez, which talks have been quiet, but that just could be because these front office guys might have taken the holidays off. Absolutely, yeah. I think they've exchanged names. They'll just say, hey, let's get back to next week, try to get something done. Just like the Cubs and Astros had talks for what ended up being about a month total. Yeah, these things could take time. I'm trying to think of the phrase, but in the mix as a phrasing, I am getting a little bit insulted by that. Oh, insulted, really? Oh, the Cubs are one of five teams still in the mix. Well, that's great, but five teams is a lot. Yeah, it's a 20% chance. That'd be interesting. It's a 20% chance. Right. There's a lot of teams that are firmly in the pitching market right now, and that's only the ones we know of. The Cubs are definitely one, the Giants, the Mets. Has anyone taken a look at their rotation? Boy, Blue Jays and maybe the Orioles are still firmly in it. The Orioles have had a tough offseason. Yeah. I'm not sure the Cubs would do a fourth year on Flaherty, so I think the three for 75 is a good measuring stick. MLB trade rumors projected a five-year deal for Flaherty at 115 M's. I feel like it's like when I'm at Wrigley and I do the 50-50 raffle. I mean, I'm in the mix. Right. You're in the mix. Hey, I'm in the mix for 38 grand, but so is about 15,000 other people. We still got to get a... Somehow, we have to get... Maybe we can talk to some of our sources, our great listeners of ours that... A couple of them work at Wrigley during the summertime, Sam. Yeah. We got to get the prices of the stuff at Wrigley and do a price is right thing. Oh, 100%. Before the season really kicks in. If we didn't end up getting Tucker, it would be a real fun bit if we just did like, hey, 2024 Cubs offseason, we're in the mix. Right. There's an AAU basketball team growing up that my friends played for, I didn't play for, called In The Mix. Not a great name. Well, Fangraft is doing this funny thing this offseason called the We Tried Tracker. All reports of the teams that tried on players. Any names here, Flaherty, Scherzer, Turnbull, Gibson, Lynn, Quintana, Heaney, or Verlander, Sam, do you think is worthy of dedicating a full segment to at some point this week? I think Scherzer and Verlander, maybe. Yeah, probably those two together. Okay. As a pair. Yeah, just maybe reading up and seeing what the interest level is and whatnot. Yeah. And I think in terms of next best after Sasaki and Flaherty, it really is Scherzer, both not only what he's done, but also his projection for 25. But again, he's going to get a lot for one year. It's just probably going to be a one-year deal. But is it more of like a really, really solid contender that would swoop him up? That would be my guess. Yeah. I got to do my Verlander, Scherzer homework and see where I land. Well, Verlander's almost 50. No. Let's see where I land on those guys. Coming up next, another free agent target that might be switching sides of town. Yohan Mankata, stay tuned. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets. Guaranteed, that's $200 in bonus bets, win or lose. The FanDuel app gives you everything you need for live bets, same game parlays, and so much more. And it'll be another year where us Chicago Bears fans and team are sitting at home watching the postseason. They did get a win against the Green Bay Packers backups on Sunday afternoon. But Matt, if I speak for myself, it was almost more salt in the wound to how disappointing. I believe you called it the most disappointing season in Bears history. And I don't think you're far off. Just visit FanDuel.com to join today and get started with $200 in bonus bets. That's FanDuel.com. Make this playoff season unforgettable with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. I still like a few months in, back in 2022, someone commented on YouTube, Locked on Cubs, my favorite Bears podcast. That was one of the best comments. Yeah, I'm going to miss those FanDuel Bears shot reads that I've done. You know, but we could do some coaching stuff. We could do some FanDuel next coach odds. Yeah, do they have those? They'll be out tomorrow, for sure. Okay, good. So we could do that. Good, well, we'll see about that. On Sunday, reporter, is it Francis? Frankie? Oh, the one that I sent you? Yeah, Francis Romero said the Cubs, Blue Jays, and Mariners have interest in Yohan Mankata, who could play third and second for the Cubs, whether that is off the bench or as a starter or both. As we've talked about before here on the program, Matt Shaw is going to be given an opportunity to start at third, but he's not going to be given the job. Meanwhile, Shaw might start the season at second. Anyways, if Nico Horner isn't ready after having forearm surgery in October, we might find out about Horner's health at the Cubs convention next week, but we'll for sure find out when Spring Camp opens at Sloan Park in AZ next month. Sam, Mankata hit better than I realized the last three years, despite missing a lot of time, and quite frankly, this trio of internal options right now from the Northsiders, Workman, Brujan, and Mastro, I still think they need to get someone external, I do. The Mankata thing's complicated because he really struggled with the white socks and hat, and injuries and effort were things that were really questioned with him. I don't think it's a stretch to say, and if it is, I apologize, I think his baseball career might be on the line this year if he doesn't perform and you'll be asking him to do something that he's overqualified to do, and so because of that, I actually, and I think I mentioned this maybe about a month ago, I am slightly intrigued by that option because to me it's the definition of a low-risk, high-reward acquisition. If it doesn't work out, what is he going to cost? It couldn't be more than $3-4 million? Yes, I spot-track Mankata's market value at a one-year deal for $1.5 million. So if it's that little, and you're asking him to start maybe once or twice a week to help out until Horner comes back, or to spell Shaw a little bit, he's a switch hitter that's much better as a left-handed hitter, and if it goes poorly, it doesn't really matter because you're not really investing in it, but this is a player that has shown he could be really, really good when he's focused and locked in, and so I don't think it's necessarily a bad risk, and I know my White Sox friends, because I've been very critical of Mankata to my White Sox friends, are probably watching this going, are you kidding me? Well, that's different. When he's expected to be a number two, three, four hitter on a team and play every day, I don't think he's cut out for that, but to ask him to be a utility infielder, he's a much better third baseman than he is second baseman, which I think will help the Cubs, and to ask him to come in here and say, hey man, we need you to play a couple times a week, be a good teammate, play good defense and hit righties every now and then, can you hit 260 with an OPS in the mid to high sevens? I think that the Cubs could actually get about a good bang for their buck with that, I guess is what I'm saying. I don't hate it, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, and I think I'm surprising myself too by starting to think, hey, the Cubs should go for it, especially if they even double that price. If they go one year for three, right, based on the market value of one for one and a half, I think they should do it, and part of me is like, wow, I can't believe I'm saying that. It's true. It's because of the need, right? It's not as much about the player. They don't need Yohan Mankata to be the Yohan Mankata he was supposed to be on the south side. They need a guy that could provide value on the margins and insurance just in case Matt Shaw doesn't play well at third, or something happens with Nico Horner. You're basically asking him to be a better version of Nick Madrigal, which I think he has more than enough talent to be, and I know that there's a large possibility it doesn't work out, but if it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter. It's not like you gave up a lot. It's not like you have a lot invested. As bad as he was last year, to your point, well, he only played 12 games last year, but he had a really bad year in 22, and then since then, he's been 260, 275. He had one really good year in 2019. Not terrible. Yeah, in 2019, he was a five-war guy. In 2021, he was a four-war guy. Since then, it's been rough, but maybe just taking a seat, having the pressure off of him, he could help the Cubs. I'm not saying, oh my gosh, it's the absolute right move, but I think the move will be met with a lot of criticism if it were to happen, and I don't think that's the right way to go about it. If there is a teammate concern or a makeup concern, I have no doubt the Cubs are doing their homework on that, and they're not going to force this. If there's a makeup concern, guess what? They're not going to sign him. They're going to sign Paul DeYoung or whoever. Or if there's a makeup concern in the clubhouse, what happens is you just release him. In baseball terms, it's not a large investment. Yeah, and I can see one of Workman, Brujan, and Mastro making the opening day roster, but for two of those three to make it, I think would be a mistake. And that's what this type of signing does. I think it's an interesting thing to consider, and I would not be disappointed if it happened. I would be disappointed if it didn't happen, but he's a better player than Vidal Brujan. He is. No, he is. And I think it's more so of Brujan or Workman getting the 26th spot, as opposed to two of those guys making it. I do want to show again who are the left-handed options at third. Tawanko, Mankata, Frazier, Toro, and actually, I got to edit that, because Kevin Biggio signed a minor league deal. Minor league deal, not even a major league deal. With the Royals. Yeah, so it's not a... Robust. Not a robust market. Not a robust market, no. Again, here are the first base names, all still available. That's a better... Toro, Pano, Jost, Lotto, Drury, Davis, and France. That's a better market. Yeah. All right, coming up next, the winter classic was played at Wrigley Field, and just to have a couple bits of audio, we want to play. Stay tuned. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Whether it's a Cubs game, comedy show, or a concert, I love going to live events. 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All right, so third segment, Sam, between now and really when camp opens, which I'm hearing is going to be Super Bowl Sunday for pitchers and catchers. Position players will be that following Thursday and Friday, and they play the first game that following Thursday, the 20th of February, as we're going to be freezing with snow. They're going to be playing baseball. Is it supposed to snow Sunday night into Monday tonight? Is that what I heard, too? I haven't heard that yet. OK. Usually, I keep really good tabs on the weather. So hopefully, Marquis does all those games, Sam, on spring training. Yeah. And I don't know if it's going to be from the studio. A lot of snow this week. Are you serious? Yeah, a lot of precipitation in the air. Wow. What's the day with the most threat? Well, am I going to get a weatherman contract? No, I'm just doing the lazy, like it just has the snowflakes next to Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday next week. So I don't know how much it actually means. So Sam, I know that you really got a kick out of PCA Michael Bush being at the Winter Classic on Tuesday. What? I know that was something that you really enjoy when Cubs players go to other events, other games. You really get a kick out of that. People are not going to sense that sarcasm. And I just wanted to play just a mini clip of PCA and Bush. They were mic'd up there on the sidelines for this game. Just a very short clip. I just want to just hear from these guys. These are fine? Yeah, they're fine. Hey, down four. A lot can happen in 40 minutes. Let's go, man! I'd love to start kicking it with some of the Blackhawks players. It's crazy. Like you grow up playing on the pond or like on a rink. High school, college, professionals, obviously, you never play. And then all of a sudden you get to play in an outdoor game. It's got to be sweet. Can I talk? Yeah. Matt. So that's PCA and Bush at the hockey game on Tuesday. Matt, stop, please. We had a nice... What would you call it? Like a like a like a linner yesterday? A little lunch dinner? Oh, no, it wasn't dinner. We're not 97. We met up at 330. I eat early now. Oh, okay. Well, we had a nice dinner. Talked a lot. Life. Friendship shows. Please don't do another segment like that. I don't want to hear about these guys at the hockey game. I saw something about on MLB. Let me pull it up. I have it right in front of me. Michael Bush was rated only like the 18th best rookie last year. That's a bad ranking. Here, hold on. I'll pull it up. I have sources. No, that's bad. I have sources here. I just got to find it. MLB Network right now is putting out a lot of lists. They do this every January. Yeah, I'll find it. They're saying he was the 18th best rookie. I'm sorry. That's just it's garbage. Yeah, I thought that was a little bit irresponsible. Here it is. Top 25 rookies. Oh, it wasn't MLB Network. It was just the MLB Twitter handle. Top 25 rookies of 2024. Michael Bush was 17th. I'll scope out these lists and these could be good third segments. Do you want to know what Imanaga was? Fifth? Fourth. Only behind Luis Gil of the Yankees. Heel. Heel, sorry. And Jackson Merrill. And of course, everybody, let's do it together. Paul Skeen. Yeah. We're going to face Paul Skeens 19 times this year. I only played the Pirates 16. And we only played. No, we think we play him like 13 times only. Oh, right. It did go down to 13. And we're going to somehow face Skeens 19 times. Yeah, I think it's 12 or 13. They're going to make sure that they have Skeens throw every series plus some relief versus the Cubs. All right, so I guess you don't need to hear this report from NHL Network about Steve Bartman. Wait, what? Yeah, they brought up Steve Bartman during the winter classic. Are you serious? Here's that clip. Catherine Tappan finds herself in an historic site within this place. Check it out. I'm here in section three, row 12, seat number one, renovations at Wrigley Field. This is actually the closest seat possible to the one that was occupied by Cubs fan Steve Bartman when he made that controversial interference play that cost the Cubs the NLCS in 2003. It's just one of the many historic traits here inside Wrigley Field. And Wrigley Field actually becomes one of only two venues to host the NHL Winter Classic twice. But it is the first time that we are seeing a rematch between these two teams. The Hawks and the Blues played at Busch Stadium back in 2017. You know, enough already. Leave this guy alone. It's enough. It's lazy. It's horrible. Talk about what did the Blackhawks lose that game? Nine to one. Right, they got smoked. Stop talking about him, all right? He did something that everybody else would have done. And we won a World Series since then. Leave him alone. Plus, Wrigley's beautiful and historic. That's what you picked to discuss? Yeah, I mean, look, I'd be lying to everybody, which I'll never do on this show, if I told you I watched one second of that broadcast. So maybe they did some other things. But it shouldn't even be in the top five. Why don't you talk about where Montero's ball landed when he hit that grand slam off Joe Bland? Why don't you do that? Why don't you talk about the steps that Chapman took on his way to two-and-two-thirds scoreless in Game 5 of the World Series to send that back to Cleveland? Why don't you talk about Hendricks' gem in Game 6? We don't need to hear. Why don't you talk about Sosa hitting a ball into the camera well that's still rising as we speak? In the Marlins in Game 2, there isn't. Someone should clip this. Stop talking about Bartman. As a Cub fan, that's my biggest regret, is what we did to that guy. Yeah, wow. Well, it's really well said there by Sam. And hockey. Keep talking about the hockey broadcast. The Blackhawks aren't good. What have the Bulls done this year? I haven't watched the Bulls game since 1998. So I'm just trying to entertain because I know people, this is a tough Monday. And you can talk to Sam next Friday at the Cubs convention. And you as well. 4 to 5.30. We're going to be there with Kyle from the Setup Man. And catch us all weekend long there at the Sheridan Grand. If you really want to have a conversation with me, a longer one, throw out a compliment when you see me in person. Because I've been getting insulted a lot lately. You know, hey, Sam. Sam, you've got pretty clear skin. Skin looks good. No acne. You know? Hey, Sam, you're tall. You know, like your dad always says when he sees me. Sam, you're a lot taller in person. It's a good one. Yeah. Something would be nice. Thank you so much for checking out this edition of Locked On Cubs. You give us 20 to 30 minutes. We'll give you all things Cubs with a laugh or two along the way. Be sure to hit subscribe on YouTube. Smash the like button for the algorithm. And leave a five-star review on Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcast. We'll be back tomorrow with another brand new show. He's Sam Olber. I'm Matt Cozy. This is Locked On Cubs. It's just one of the many historic traits here inside Wrigley Field. It's a bad take.