Caleb Williams Responds to Troy Aikman Criticism + Jed Hoyer's payroll guarantee

Summary

Dan Bernstein Unfiltered – October 16, 2025

Episode: Caleb Williams Responds to Troy Aikman Criticism + Jed Hoyer's Payroll Guarantee
Hosts: Dan Bernstein & Matt Abbatacola (Matt Abb)
Podcast: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered, 312 Sports

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Overview: Main Themes and Purpose

This episode delivers a classic, no-bull Chicago sports analysis on two intertwining but distinct narratives:

• The Chicago Bears’ ongoing public relations scuffle involving rookie QB Caleb Williams and commentary from Troy Aikman, with a broader reflection on athlete-media dynamics in the NFL landscape.
• Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer’s end-of-season remarks, with particular attention on his awkward budget comments, Cubs payroll realities, and impending roster challenges in free agency. The episode is rounded out by trademark Bernstein tangents—most notably, skepticism about recent South Park episodes and the latest in the bizarre “radioactive shrimp” news saga.

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Segment Breakdown & Key Insights

[00:49-13:17] Bears Drama: Caleb Williams vs. Troy Aikman

• Situation Recap:
  The Bears have found themselves in a media whirlpool after Troy Aikman criticized rookie QB Caleb Williams on a national broadcast, prompting Williams to respond online—fueling gossip, memes, and fan outrage.

• Hosts’ Take on Media Cycles:
  Dan and Matt lampoon the micro-drama:

  "It has nothing to do with what actually happens on the field... Now it's rising to a level that is, it is absolutely silly and I hope it's over." — Dan Bernstein [00:55]

  They urge players—especially rookies like Williams—to disengage from manufactured controversy, highlighting the unique pressures social media brings.

  "You don't need this right now. You don't need to be posting things... When you're Caleb Williams, every little thing you do is gonna be picked apart." — Dan Bernstein [04:36]

• PR Handling Advice:
  Bernstein proposes a boilerplate, kill-them-with-kindness response for Williams:

  “Troy Aikman is a Hall of Fame, Super Bowl-winning quarterback... Anything I can do to play like Troy Aikman would be really helpful. And I'll take any feedback or criticism...” [06:46]

• Analysis of Williams’ Actual Response
  Play-by-play analysis of Williams’ media statements:

  • Williams says he attempted to meet with Aikman, didn’t connect due to conflicting schedules. [08:31–09:03]
  • The hosts call out the passive avoidance and missed opportunity for simple, positive relationship building.

• Core Takeaway:
  Focus on performance—not media slights, not social media, not narrative “respect”.

  "Just listen to your coach. You want respect in this league, you gotta go earn it." — Matt Abb [10:58] “If it really does matter to you, then take the time to meet with him.” — Dan Bernstein [11:42]

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[18:24–32:40] Cubs Payroll, Jed Hoyer’s “Enough Money” Guarantee & Front Office Dynamics

• Jed Hoyer’s Budget Comments: The hosts replay Hoyer’s quote about postseason revenue and its possible effect on budget:

  “I’m confident that we’re going to have enough, enough money to field a good team.” — Jed Hoyer [18:39 and 24:01, 24:24]

  • Dan and Matt dissect—almost roast—the hesitancy and subtext of Hoyer’s answer:

  “He heard himself talk. Yeah, and he stopped. Something flashed a warning sign in there.” — Matt Abb [19:18] “On its face, it's lunacy that he has to say that there's some question as to whether... the Chicago Cubs... have enough money to field a good team.” — Matt Abb [25:40]

• Cubs’ True Revenue Context:
  Analysis goes deep into the numbers, including what “baseball revenue” really means and how ancillary Cubs income (Gallagher Way, rooftops, restaurants, hotel, Marquee network, etc.) goes unaccounted for in payroll percentage charts.

  • Bernstein notes, “584 million generated in revenue [at Wrigley]... payroll gets them to… 36.4%.” [28:05–28:24]

• Ownership vs. Front Office Tension: The hosts reveal the limitations on Hoyer's power ("Jed went to Tom [Ricketts] ... ownership said we're not spending that kind of money. Just not going to happen." — Dan Bernstein [25:01])

• Notable Quote:

  "Of course they have enough money to field a good team. They have enough money to field three good teams." — Matt Abb [24:29]

  • They repeatedly mimic Hoyer’s pause (“enough… enough money to field a good team”) for comic and critical effect.

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[32:41–37:11] Cubs’ Pitching Modernization & Defensive Emphasis

• Pitching Trends Discussion: The conversation shifts to pitching, especially the need for velocity and “stuff” in modern bullpens.

  “Find guys that throw a hundred, that helps... Don’t try to play baseball in 2005, you’re playing baseball right now.” — Matt Abb [34:29]

  • “Stuff, velocity and guys who can hit stuff and velocity.” — Matt Abb [36:03]

• Defensive Backbone—But With Limits:
  The Cubs’ elite defense is lauded, but Matt cautions:

  “You can't make plays on home runs. A home run is not a ball in play.” [37:23]

  • Reliance solely on defense can be quickly negated by power hitting, especially in playoffs.

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[39:09–45:48] On Losing/Keeping Key Players: Kyle Tucker & Roster Construction

• Kyle Tucker Free Agency: Multiple Hoyer clips reveal a deathly diplomatic tone about Tucker’s future, consistently dodging any hints of commitment:

  “If you don't retain a player of his caliber, then you have to replace those wins... in some other ways...” — Jed Hoyer [41:20] “Sounds like he's gone. It sounds like they know he's gone. Unless something weird happens when the market sets.” — Matt Abb [41:20]

• “Valuation” Philosophy: Hoyer’s businesslike approach to free agency:

  “It’s not just Kyle; it’s any player. Like, what's the valuation we put on this player? How much is he worth to this organization right now?” — Jed Hoyer [44:52]

  Matt and Dan note: correct evaluations are fine, but “if your evaluations are correct”—if not, the system fails. [45:48–46:18]

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[47:00–51:36] Offensive Production at Wrigley: Park Factors and Player Choice

• Wrigley as Pitcher’s Park? Hoyer is direct:

  “It was one of the best hitting ballparks in baseball. The last two years, it happens to have blown in. I think we're dealing with random number one.” — Jed Hoyer [47:06]

  • The hosts (and Hoyer) agree: Build for flexibility and overall talent rather than chasing wind patterns or park quirks. "Just get better players." [49:50]

• Split Statistics:
  Quick data on Cubs home/road OPS and HRs—concluding these are likely statistical noise, not planning signal. [50:59–51:36]

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[56:06–62:46] Trade Deadline Second-Guessing & Building a Roster for Variance

• On the 2025 Trade Deadline: Hoyer addresses the limited pitching market, eschewing any big regrets:

  “I know to acquire players I thought could impact a pennant race, it would have cost us players that impacted our second half…” — Jed Hoyer [56:15]

  • Matt and Dan give cautious approval to the overall approach, preferring flexibility and not overpaying for relievers. [57:41–58:05]

• Randomness, Variance, and Combatting Luck:

  “All this talk about randomness and variance… You know how you gird yourself, how you protect…against randomness? Better players, better players.” — Matt Abb [59:48]

  • “Good players cost money. But have more good players.” [60:24]

• Veteran “Glue Guys” vs. Pure Talent Debate: Dan prefers every roster spot go to actual contributors, not just “mentors”:

  “I'd rather have a guy that is going to be more productive given the limited opportunities than a guy like Justin Turner, who's a great guy.” [61:44]

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[63:45–71:42] Tangents: Radioactive Shrimp & South Park Critique

• Shrimp Crisis Update: Continuing a running in-joke and real public health saga, Dan details FDA findings of radioactive cesium-137 in shrimp shipments from Indonesia. [63:45]

  • “I'm really surprised that RFK isn't recommending more of this shrimp... The detected level was below the intervention threshold, but… longer term repeated low dose exposure is an elevated risk of cancer…” [64:18]

• South Park Season Critique: Matt expresses disappointment in current South Park episodes, feeling a promising satirical edge has dulled.

  "They've fumbled this whole thing with the whole Trump Satan plot...They got a chance to get it back and sharpen up a little bit. I would appreciate it so they can get back out and stunt on these hoes." — Matt Abb [71:29]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Handling Criticism:

  “If you're just… Don't whine about what is said on a national broadcast. If it's just an opinion, if it's just somebody who is paid to have a thought. That's his job.” — Matt Abb [11:53]

• On Cubs Spending:

  "Of course they have enough money to field a good team. They have enough money to field three good teams." — Matt Abb [24:29]

• On Cubs’ Real Revenue:

  “They're a massive real estate and entertainment revenue generator with baseball being a subset of that.” — Matt Abb [29:11]

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Episode Structure (With Timestamps)

• 00:49–13:17: Bears, Caleb Williams, and responding to criticism (media swirl breakdown and PR strategy).
• 18:24–32:40: Cubs payroll—the “enough money” debate, reading between the lines with Jed Hoyer.
• 32:41–39:09: Pitching staff philosophy, defense limitations, and modern MLB trends.
• 39:09–45:48: Kyle Tucker’s likely exit and player valuation logic.
• 47:00–51:36: Hitting at Wrigley, randomness vs. roster building.
• 56:06–62:46: Front office second-guessing, roster-building for variance, and the impact of veteran presence.
• 63:45–71:42: Radioactive shrimp health scare ramble, critique of latest South Park narrative trends.

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Takeaways for Chicago Sports Fans

• The Bears' PR “mini-crisis” is worth ignoring—fans and players alike should tune out the noise and focus on results.
• Caleb Williams is learning (sometimes clumsily) the real-world NFL spotlight under the social media microscope.
• The Cubs have more than enough financial might—but ownership sets budget limits, not Jed Hoyer.
• Free agency and roster construction remain exercises in valuation, but better players always lessen luck and randomness, a lesson long known and often repeated in this episode.
• Side stories—like the “radioactive shrimp” and pop culture rants—bring humor and signature personality to the show.

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Summary Tone:
Candid, skeptical, sometimes exasperated, and genuinely funny, with a blend of deep baseball wonkism and sports radio flair. Perfect for dedicated Chicago fans and any listener interested in the unvarnished (but analytically sharp) local sports conversation.

Transcript

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[Dan Bernstein]

Dan Bernstein unfiltered unfiltered on 312 sports.

[Matt Abb]

Dan Bernstein, unfiltered as always, presented in partnership with my bookie, I'm Dan Bernstein, that is Matt Abb. And today we have to talk about the Bears response to the ongoing silliness that continues to occur based on something somebody said on television. I just want to be sure it has nothing to do with what actually happens on the field. It was just something that somebody said into a microphone on television that is now rising to a level that is, it is absolutely silly and I hope it's over. I hope that's it and we're done with it and we can move along from whatever this was, whatever this is. So we'll talk about that. Jed Hoyer had his annual end of season post mortem where he takes every question and tries to answer and or parry away some of the inquisition that he receives from the assembled media. And I have some questions and I have been turning over in my head one particular response from Jed Hoyer that I'm not sure what the angle exactly is. I'm not sure what the motivation is or what the level of self awareness is in the response. And I just, I want to talk it through is what I want to do because I just, I was a little concerned about what I heard, if that makes any sense. Maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I'm reading too much into it because I have been fairly accused of that before and maybe this is one of these cases. But let's please, please, please let yesterday's comments by Caleb Williams be the end of this very, very silly and stupid chapter in this Chicago Bears season. Also, near the end of the show, we have a radioactive shrimp update for you because we've been following the story very, very closely. The Dan Bernstein Unfilter to get the latest on what's happening with the worldwide Radioactive shrimp crisis. We have tracked down the baseball team that is changing its name to the Radioactive Shrimp. We are making sure that you are safe and protected from cesium poisoning. It's been a mission of this show. And really, I've just said that's something very important to me is to keep people protected from environmental exposure to cesium.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I mean, we've. There's been several iterations of what we've covered with this story. We are the home for all radioactive shrimp news.

[Matt Abb]

Yes. But I think everybody knows that.

[Dan Bernstein]

At first it was like, does one guy take it? Do we all take it? Do we want to be all shrimp people? Do we want one superpowered shrimp human being?

[Matt Abb]

Shrimp people.

[Dan Bernstein]

So there's a lot people.

[Matt Abb]

There's a lot to take, like shrimp talk like people. So there. We're on top of it. Just don't worry. We're here for you. Also, I've got a. Be honest about what's going on with South Park. We talked about some of the previous episodes that were really epic, brilliant, important, and I don't know what they're doing now. Some of this is just. Well, less than that. And it's a major fumble.

[Dan Bernstein]

If you keep talking about it, you're going to make me watch South Park.

[Matt Abb]

Well, I can't. Spoiler alert. I can't really recommend it at the moment. Okay. It's not good right now. All right, all right. Okay, here's Blanco. Somebody I think should pull Caleb Williams aside and say, hey, hey, man, you don't. You don't need this right now. You don't need to be posting things. You don't need to be playing the meme game right now. There may be a time and a place to do it. There may be a point in your career to do it. Go ahead, be yourself and do what you do. But you don't want to have to answer for anything at a press conference to walk stuff back. As somebody who has had to figure out the relationship with social media, I'm telling you honestly here about how easy it can be to think that just because you are sitting in your pajamas on your phone and everything's everywhere. When you're Caleb Williams, every little thing you do is gonna be picked apart and read into in ways that are unintended. And the last thing you wanna do at your time that now is limited. It used to be people could get after you every day and in the locker room and you were just there and you're just a normal person. But now football people aren't normal people. And they have to be protected from everyone, despite having access to everyone all the time in one of the great ironies of what's happened in overall NFL public relations. But I think a little bit of public relations here could have gone a real long way in somebody preparing him for, hey, somebody's going to ask you, Caleb, about what you. Was it Instagram? Where.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, wherever he posts Instagram or on X on Twitter, whatever it might have been.

[Matt Abb]

Yeah. And somebody is going to say, hey, why did you respond in that particular way? Why did you say what you said when you're saying you're having a little bit of fun? When he posted, it was lucky. Ta okay. Troy Aikman did the touchdown. Lucky in the whole thing. But don't engage.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

And don't, don't engage in that. Nothing's going to help. Engaging is not going to help you in any way. It might stir up the fanboys a little bit, but you don't, you don't need those people. You don't need to play that game. Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. I think it would have been helpful if someone just sat him down and said, hey, when they ask you about, about the Aikman stuff, here's, here's how you reply.

[Matt Abb]

I like your plan on this. I think that your PR mind on this is well tuned.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Here's what you say. Troy Aikman is a Hall of Fame super bowl winning quarterback. He's won three times. And if I can get my career to be anywhere near what Troy Aikman accomplished on the football field, I would be very, very happy and pleased with my football career. And anything I can do to play like Troy Aikman on the field, I think that would be really helpful. And I'll take any feedback or criticism that I can hear from a guy like Troy Aikman to make my career better for the Chicago Bears and for the Chicago Bears fans. And you end it right there and you stop it.

[Matt Abb]

I think Ben Johnson handled it well, actually. I think to set the tone, when the coach sets the tone by saying, listen, you want respect in this league, you got to go earn it. That's where we're at right now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Matt Abb]

Period.

[Announcer]

Full stop.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's it.

[Matt Abb]

Full stop. If you really are getting annoyed by what is said about you during the game, you won the game, man.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. And you can't say that you could care less when you mean you couldn't care less.

[Matt Abb]

That's a pet peeve.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's a pet peeve mine. But you can say that you couldn't care less about what's being said and then go and respond and talk about it and post. Right then you really do care. And it does bother you whether you think it's under the umbrella of I'm just having fun and playing around you.

[Matt Abb]

You pick your spot. Pick your spot. Of course, of course it proves that you do. You took the time to evince that level of caring. And here is what Caleb Williams did say to the assembled media yesterday when I asked about it.

[Jed Hoyer]

Did you meet with Troy last week leading up to the game?

[Caleb Williams]

I did not. I did not. I didn't get to meet with him. Tried to meet with him and then, you know, you know, reached out and tried to meet and you know, that didn't, that didn't, that didn't happen. And so, you know, moved on from it. Went, played the game and came out.

[Matt Abb]

Three and two here. Okay, what's with the passive voice?

[Dan Bernstein]

But I'm really.

[Matt Abb]

If you want to meet with him, meet with him. He said he was lifting, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

No, here, hang on a second. I'm really glad that there was a follow up to that because the question was, did you meet with him? No, I didn't meet with him.

[Matt Abb]

Why did you not meet with him?

[Caleb Williams]

I was here late and times didn't meet up, lifting or whatever the case may have been and then tried to call him after the game and, or not after the game. After, after the day, that day that, you know, I was supposed to meet with him and it didn't, didn't, didn't get through.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, so you had a scheduled time in a day to meet with him. And there was other things that preoccupied your day getting ready for this football.

[Matt Abb]

Game, they were more important to you.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then you couldn't meet with him and so you never got to meet with him. Now if Troy Aikman takes that to the booth, that's on Troy Aikman and his prerogative because he gets the opportunity to say whatever he wants to say.

[Matt Abb]

And if you, if you lost an opportunity, if you decided to not avail yourself of an opportunity to play the political game, small P. That some people care about that more than others but don't care about it after the fact.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Matt Abb]

If it wasn't important enough to you before the fact, say, hey, Troy, how's it going? You won three Super Bowls. Not only that, you also rebounded from being a really bad quarterback when you started. Any advice?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I mean, if it, if it went, if it went, if it meant that much to you to do that. And to have that, like you said that, that political advantage there, an opportunity, then you would have taken that opportunity. Now, other things got in that way and you chose to do those things.

[Matt Abb]

Great, cool. But that's.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's the relationship for this week with the broadcaster that you establish and set up. If he wants to be kind of immature and hold that against you and bring that to the booth, then great. If. If he was going to be that way, even if he had met with you, it doesn't matter.

[Matt Abb]

And none of it matters.

[Dan Bernstein]

But more importantly, though, as a, As a fan, As a fan, it doesn't matter. Like, he can go and talk shit about Caleb WILLIAMS the entire 60 minutes of actual playing time, and Caleb can still go out and have a fantastic game and win that football game, which your team did. So just. Why is it impacting you so much as a fan?

[Matt Abb]

Just listen to your coach. Listen to your coach. He's being very, very clear about this. I mean, he can respect in this league, you got to go earn it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Troy can say whatever he wants. Just because he says something doesn't speak it into existence on the football field. But hopefully it's all. It's all said and done and, you know, there's nothing more left to it.

[Matt Abb]

And we can look back at the. Whether at the end of the season or at some point years down the road, next year, the year after, when the Bears are having a parade and say, remember when they used to care about what Troy Aikman thought?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

When this team and this championship team, this. This perennial contender used to care about what Troy Aikman thought about a given performance.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. And again, if it really does matter to you, then take the time to meet with him.

[Matt Abb]

Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Take the time. If there's a scheduled time and you couldn't do it, then it's not that important. Then don't sweat it.

[Matt Abb]

Which is all a way of saying, let's put a bow on this. Let's put this. May we never have to deal with this kind of thing again. And if you're just. Don't whine about what is said on a national broadcast. If it's just an opinion, if it's just somebody who is paid to have a thought. That's his job. His job isn't to like your team. His job isn't to promote the players that you like. His job isn't to root for players and not necessarily root for players equally.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Correct. He doesn't have to. That's not in a job requirement.

[Matt Abb]

No, they're Also, if. It may not be how everybody does it, but if somebody wants to play favorites, if somebody has a. If somebody's a fan of somebody, as long as they're honest about it and say, I like this guy better, I like watching this guy better, I like watching this guy, or I feel more strongly about this guy's future than this guy's future. Okay, so what? So it doesn't line up with what you think. Okay, that's okay. He just happens to have a job that allows him to say that to a lot of people. So what? So let this be over, at least for now, and let's concentrate on the winning of football games. And again, go back to what the coach said. Listen, you want respect in this league, you've got to go earn it. That's where we're at right now. And then he added, good, better, best, Never let it rest.

[Dan Bernstein]

Something about your chest.

[Matt Abb]

Your good gets better and your better gets best. Good, better, best. Never let it rest till your good gets better and your better gets best.

[Dan Bernstein]

There you go. Maybe they can sing that song.

[Matt Abb]

I've been doing it in my head, I can tell. But there's all sorts of. There's ways that. There's all kinds of different ways you could do it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

Somebody should do a whole album of different tunes to which good, better, best, never let.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, I like. I mean, I can tell that you've been. It's been in your brain because you stole my. Be my guest song. As I was inviting you to the Best podcast.

[Matt Abb]

Better, best till your good gets better best. Something in the thing. Yeah, I can. I can't stop.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know.

[Matt Abb]

I'm sorry.

[Dan Bernstein]

I can tell. No, it's fine.

[Matt Abb]

It happens to me.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know. I get it.

[Matt Abb]

You get it on a loop and then I understand because, you know, you get these worms in your brain like RFK Jr and they move around and then they come out places and that sort of thing.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stay away from the Tylenol.

[Matt Abb]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abb]

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[Dan Bernstein]

Well, there's also a third option. So here's the cut. He was asked about the increased revenue generated from the five home playoff games, if that would have an impact on baseball operations. And here's the answer he gave.

[Jed Hoyer]

I mean, certainly, yeah, the crowds and the energy was amazing. And I think that it was really nice to be able to play five home playoff games. Wish we could have played a lot more, but it was nice to play five home playoff games for these fans. I feel like they deserve it always, but even more this year. I just think the way they responded to this team was great. As far as the budget stuff, I haven't had those conversations yet. I think we'll sit down over the next two or three weeks and go through that. But yeah, I'm confident that we're going to have enough, enough money to field a good team. I think that that's, that's the simplest thing I'll say. But as far as details, I don't know yet.

[Matt Abb]

I'm confident we're going to have enough money. He heard himself, he heard himself talk. Yeah, and he stopped something. Something flashed a warning sign in there. He's smart enough that the little back of his head in there was like, jed, careful, careful. He was. He heard the words, I'm confident that we're going to have enough money to field a good team. You are the Cubs. You have, and this is the truth again, every MLB team has enough money to field whatever team they want. That's the Royals and the Pirates and the Marlins and the Reds and the Rockies. Every single team has enough money to field a team and can go put together and compete at whatever level they want. The key word is want. Now, I'm aware that he's not in charge of allocating the money.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Matt Abb]

He's the president of baseball operations. But he is handed a number and there's some negotiation. He talks. And it's not Rick. It's giving him a secret envelope with a little piece of paper like a fortune cookie in it. They talk about it, but the truths are. What is the physics of this are. Ricketts doesn't want to spend more than he has to to be good enough. Jed would like a lot more money than anybody in his position. Give me all the money. Give me unlimited. Let me go spend whatever I want. Let me go be the Dodgers and spend everything. But he can't. And he likes his job. He's got a really good job with good bosses and a lot of resources. And I would think unbalance. Pretty. Pretty good. Pretty supportive ownership. There are worse places to work. But if he's so already sort of pre capitulated to. Or he is. That's probably the wrong word. That he's comfortable with his professional position knowing that he's not gonna have an unlimited budget. Many of his peers don't. When he sort of wonders if the grass is greener elsewhere, he knows he's got it pretty good. He's in a big city. He's got a nice budget. They're usually right around the middle of payroll or near the top third in payroll. And they've got money to go sign prospects and they've got nice facilities everywhere. So it's pretty good. But truth be told, if you pulled them aside, got a couple of beers in them and say, hey, would you like to be the Dodgers? Hell yeah. That's the. Be the toy box. You could have the kid with every toy you want. Pressure's higher. But that's. He's a competitor, wants to win the World Series every year. So I wonder. I want to play just if we can isolate. Just when he. He heard himself say it and does he know? Does he know. It's kind of funny. Does he know that? That is maddening to hear that. I'm confident we'll have. We'll have. We.

[Dan Bernstein]

We.

[Matt Abb]

The baseball operation will have be allotted by ownership that's making money hand over fist and spending a very small percentage of baseball revenue on payroll. Just baseball revenue. We mentioned it the other day. We can go back to some of those numbers There was a chart that came out about percentage of baseball revenue.

[Dan Bernstein]

Spent on payroll, and it was under 30%. I mean, he was. I think they were right with the Pirates as far as the percentage of revenue generated into payroll output.

[Matt Abb]

I want to just hear it again. Hear him. He does catch himself in the middle of this so he can make sure he's getting the words in the proper order with the proper tone.

[Dan Bernstein]

Let's see if it's right here. Hang on.

[Jed Hoyer]

I give our. Our pro acquisitions group a lot of credit or give our coaches a lot of credit for. We had a good bullpen all year with, you know.

[Dan Bernstein]

Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.

[Matt Abb]

Okay, well, yeah, they did cobble together.

[Dan Bernstein]

I switched over to something else.

[Matt Abb]

All right, well, okay. I'm. I'm waiting with bated breath.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, you should be.

[Matt Abb]

Hold it, hold it. A, T, E, D. Let's see. Hang on. When I fish.

[Jed Hoyer]

As far as the budget stuff, you know, I haven't had those conversations yet. I think we'll. We'll sit down over the next two or three weeks and go through that. But, yeah, I'm confident that we're going to have enough. Enough money to fill the good team.

[Matt Abb]

He hesitates at enough. I'm confident we're gonna have enough. Enough money to field a good team. It's amazing.

[Jed Hoyer]

I'm confident that we're gonna have enough. Enough money to. To feel the good team.

[Matt Abb]

When you read that quote, it's different than hearing it. Yeah, of course they have enough money to field a good team. They have enough money to field three good teams.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, we know before this season the Cubs could have signed Alex Bregman. Alex Bregman wanted to come to the Cubs and Jed went to Tom, and Tom wasn't going to support the contract length and terms that the Bregman camp wanted, that Jed wanted to sign him for. So. They didn't.

[Matt Abb]

They could have.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, they could have. Jed wanted to. Alex wanted to come here. It just. It didn't work out because ownership said we're not spending that kind of money. Just not going to happen. Now I hear that. I'm confident that we're going to have enough money to field a good team. To me, I just take that as a guy who has zero control over what he gets to spend. Just not sending a message, but just saying, yeah, yeah. Cause it sounds stupid to hear him say it. I'm confident that we're gonna have enough money to field a good team. It sounds stupid saying it because he knows it's stupid saying It. But the whole fact is it's out of his control completely.

[Matt Abb]

That's why I wondered about the self awareness in there. It is on its face. It's lunacy that he has to say that there's some question as to whether or not the president of baseball operations of the Chicago Cubs is going to have enough money to field a good team. He has to. That's why it's sort of prima facie it's on its face. Those words put together in that moment are hilarious. Something in the back of his head knew that when it was coming out of his mouth.

[Jed Hoyer]

Yeah, I'm confident that we're going to have enough. Enough money to fill the good team.

[Matt Abb]

Great. Awesome. Cool. Cool that the Chicago Cubs coming off a 92 win season are going to have enough money to field a good team. Not even not a champion. I'm confident that we are going to increase our payroll enough to. To. To ensure that we're competitive for a championship. I am going to go to Tom Riggins or I'm going to. If I don't. If I don't have enough money to work with, I'm not going to do this job. I'm confident that we're going to have enough money to field a good team, darn it. And watch us get out there and scrap and claw our way from the bottom and we're going to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in the old American dream, by gum. Come on, man. Come on. And that is when you have. What did you say? 30% of revenue is spent on payroll.

[Dan Bernstein]

So it was just under 30.

[Matt Abb]

And if we had Crane Kenny here, he'd say, okay, that's not profit, that's gross revenue. And then, well, we gotta pay people and we've got building upkeep and we got everything else. All right, great. But that's just baseball revenue. Understand the context of this. When you see charts like that, baseball revenue means in the walls of the park, there's revenue sharing. When you make money, you've got to give some of that to some of the lesser teams. That's just what's in the walls of venerable Wrigley Field.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. 584 million generated in revenue which would have been like four fifth or fourth or fifth in all of Major League Baseball because that's not in order here. Then the 213 in payroll gets them to. I'm sorry, it was just under 40.

[Matt Abb]

36.4%.

[Dan Bernstein]

36.4%. Where Cleveland, let's say, spent 39.4% of their 336 million they generated, the Cubs generated 584. Pirates generated 326 million, spent 112, which is 34.5%.

[Matt Abb]

And the Cubs will say, yeah, we're in this old ballpark and it takes a lot to keep it up. And we're in the middle of a city and these other places aren't. And we've got big city labor costs and we got union contracts, whatever it may be. But what about Hickory Street Partners? What about Tom Ricketts's major money making business? That is everything Cubs related outside of the ballpark. That's not even talking about all the rooftops, all the bars, all the restaurants, hotel, Zachary marquee network like that. That number that you're quoting is just, just this tiny little cut of baseball revenue. And then compare it to everything, the entire real estate entertainment footprint. They're a massive real estate and entertainment revenue generator with baseball being a subset of that.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then that Gallagher Parkway, that air little area.

[Matt Abb]

Way.

[Dan Bernstein]

Gallagher Way. Like you can go there without a ticket and sit in the Astroturf, throw a ball and have catch with your dad. And you can buy a beer and a hot dog.

[Matt Abb]

And a T shirt.

[Dan Bernstein]

And a T shirt because all right there without having a ticket.

[Matt Abb]

Mm.

[Dan Bernstein]

So that's money that's not considered within the walls of Wrigley Field, is it?

[Matt Abb]

Correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that. That's always packed.

[Matt Abb]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

You don't need a ticket to go. You can hang out there all you want.

[Matt Abb]

What about the rooftops?

[Dan Bernstein]

You can get the $12 hot dog and eat as many of those as you want.

[Matt Abb]

And they don't have to share that revenue. They. They want you to spend it there. Yeah, they would much prefer.

[Dan Bernstein]

Which is why they have bands there. They would much.

[Matt Abb]

It's why it's open early and late. They want you in the park for the game, out of the park immediately after the game so you can spend. They get to keep much more of your individual dollar.

[Dan Bernstein]

Listen, if you don't have a ticket for this game, still, come on by, hang out. You can have a hot dog, you can get a beer, buy a soda for your kid. You can stand right next to Wrigley and play catch with your kid.

[Matt Abb]

And truth is, it's great.

[Dan Bernstein]

It is great. No, it's fantastic.

[Matt Abb]

It's great. And they present. They make it very attractive to do that. It is. It's awesome. Around the field.

[Dan Bernstein]

We're have live music here.

[Matt Abb]

I'm not debating. Hang on, I'm not saying it's bad.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

I just think we need to tell the truth about. That's where they want you after they want you to buy your ticket. They would love for you to drink all your beer before the game outside and drink all your beer and eat your stuff after the game outside because they keep all that money. They don't have to share any of it and they don't track any of it. There's no MLB data on all that stuff. That's all theirs. I'm confident we'll have enough money yeah.

[Jed Hoyer]

I'm confident that we're gonna have enough money to feel the good team.

[Matt Abb]

Well, that's a relief. Oh, that is. That's. I was worried. Boy, will they have enough money. Oh, thank God. That's the only answer I wanted. Will the Cubs. Oh, I know it was touch and go there for a while. I know how it's just by the skin of their damn teeth that after this year, after, after the 92 win season where they end up having some home playoff games. Oh, oh, thank God. Thank the baseball gods the Cubs will have enough money to try to field a competitive good team. All right. Well, boy, I'm sure, I hope with a little, a little bit of gumption and stick to it of this they'll be able to scrap and claw their way to a nice competitive year and keep everybody happy, that they'll be right in it.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right, let's move on with more from Jed. He was asked, I'm going to play a couple cuts here for you.

[Matt Abb]

Somebody make Bernstein stop.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, no, you're good. It's a fair thing to ask and to look into. But he asked about modernizing their pitching staff with velocity. So there's two cuts here. We're going to talk about, about adding.

[Matt Abb]

More velocity, modernizing with velocity. This is our favorite kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Batts. Right. We need to hire Mrs. Batts and the teaching assistant, Ms. Batts.

[Dan Bernstein]

So asked about adding velocity to the pitching staff and specifically the rotation. So two cuts here. They are both.

[Jed Hoyer]

Those bullpens are. Those are two of the best bullpens in baseball for sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

Padres and Brewers.

[Jed Hoyer]

Yeah, it was intimidating watching Mason Miller warm up at times in the postseason.

[Matt Abb]

Because he throws 106.

[Jed Hoyer]

Our bullpen was really good. I thought I give our, our pro acquisitions group a lot of credit or give our coaches a lot of credit for. We had a good bullpen all year with, you know, Brad Keller was a minor league free agent and you know, the other guys, you know, Drew Pomeranz was acquired on an Assignment clause. And those guys did an. An amazing job. You know, certainly that's something that you take notice of, no question. And something like I said before, like, you know, defining pitching, developing pitching is something that it never stops. And we have to continue to. To look at because, yeah, there's no question that those bullpens are really good, but I would also add that our bullpen was really good as well. And that's something we just have to continue to. To. To focus on. And bullpens are volatile. There's no guarantee year to year what you know, exactly how they're going to perform. But you just have to continue to be vigilant. You have to continue to, you know, find guys in every single area. And, you know, I think that. I think I'm confident that our pitching group will get the most out of guys.

[Matt Abb]

I am, too. But still, find guys that throw a hundred, that helps. He's right on all of that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, he is.

[Matt Abb]

And he did a great job this year. They found Drew Palme on the scrap heap. I think that he really did. But the point is, you don't have to. You don't have to live around the margins. Draft guys that throw 100, I don't care if you got to give them all Tommy John. You waited. You wait a year and a half till they come back from Tommy John again, do it again, just swap out another ucl. But that's the game right now. Don't fight against it. Don't try to play baseball in 2005. You're playing baseball right now. Get guys that throw 100 and get guys with crazy stuff, crazy breaking stuff. Holy shit. Stuff where the hitter goes, I have no chance at this. That's what these bullpens are, right? And, well, if they're well constructed, every next guy coming in is sticking it up your ass. And the Cubs don't have the Cubs little trick guys. They have one guy ground here. Maybe it grounds it over here. The Cubs just. This is how you look at it. When you saw Palencia warming up in the playoffs, that was your must, okay? I got to use Palencia now. You need five Palencias. The good teams have five Palencias. The good teams don't have one. Ooh, let's use our special guy. No, everybody's that guy. Everybody you bring in is that guy. You're not spinning breaking balls up there, trying to get him to ground a Nico. And yeah, you got a great defense. But in the playoffs, you make one mistake and the ball goes over the fence, you Lose.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep.

[Matt Abb]

There's two outs. You get too much of the plate and you, you, you have this tiny margin for error and a guy hits it out, you lose because they're bringing in guys who are pumping it past your hitters. It's really simple. So stuff, velocity and guys who can hit stuff and velocity and continuing on.

[Dan Bernstein]

That as about getting more strikeouts in the rotation.

[Jed Hoyer]

Yeah, there's no question. I think we talked at the beginning about like what I'll think back on 2025. I think like one of the main things I will think back on is our, our defense. I do think it's sort of the backbone of, of what we do and you know, sometimes it doesn't get enough attention. You know, we focus on the pitching or focus on, on hitting and it's like, you know, we have exceptional fielders and a lot of different places and that certainly helps. But all that said, when the ball's not in play, it's better than when it's in play by definition. So yeah, I think you're always looking for stuff and strikeouts. We'll continue to push that. But I also will say it's nice to know that we can, I think the combination of our pitching infrastructure and the combination of our defense, I think we can get the most out of a lot of pitchers because I do feel like we, we make plays and I think that that shows up almost every night.

[Matt Abb]

You can't make plays on home runs. A home run is not a ball in play. You can. He said generally you'd rather have a ball not in play. Yeah, except when it's a home run because that's, that's not a ball in play either. That skips the whole defense thing.

[Jed Hoyer]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

So having a great defense is awesome, but a great defense is mitigated, is counterbalanced by hitting it to a place where they can't defend it. And that's in the seats like when.

[Dan Bernstein]

They lost 3 to 1 in Game 5 in Milwaukee.

[Matt Abb]

And I'm not even talking.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. I know.

[Matt Abb]

And why, why could you not start your number two starter in the playoffs? Why did you have your, this veteran left handed starter who's been brilliant for you, who almost always has given you a quality start and you, and you can't pitch him. Why? Because he's giving up too many home runs.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. And it was a trend that really increased as the season went on. Going to the playoffs, that was a concern and a fear. And the whole point was, well, he, it's okay because he's only giving up solo Home runs. Well, if you give up a couple sold home runs in a playoff game, that makes a huge difference. Huge difference.

[Matt Abb]

And if look showed him and now I is good. But he's a 4 or a 5 on a really good team.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. If, if Shota is, is your two next year, that's an issue.

[Matt Abb]

You couldn't start him in a playoff game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's a, it's a great pitcher. I love, love to have him on the team. He's apparently a great teammate. He's great in the clubhouse. He can throw outs. Good. Great. But he can't be throw outs.

[Matt Abb]

Good.

[Dan Bernstein]

He can't be your two. No. He can't be.

[Matt Abb]

No. And I know you lost Steel.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

But even, even Steel is not throwing a hundred.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, he's not. All right, four cuts. I'm going to put them all together about Kyle because he was asked about Kyle Tucker a number of times. So just get all the Kyle Tucker stuff out there for you.

[Jed Hoyer]

When we were at our best, Kyle was at his best and vice versa. You know, there's no question he had a huge impact on this team. Obviously, you know, he had dealt with some injuries and struggled a bit in the second half. But I think when you, again, we take the totality of the season, he had a huge impact, as we hoped he would. You know, obviously now we're, we're sort of into free agency and you know, we'll be, you know, we'll be talking to Casey and we'll be having those conversations. And so I mean, like I said a bunch of times during the season, like everyone can use a guy like Kyle Tucker. Everyone gets better by having a player like that. And we'll certainly be having those conversations. Yeah, I think Kyle, like, you know, I think he's, he had a good experience here for sure. I think that they was certainly, I think, enjoyed playing in Chicago and I think that our, certainly Wrigley and our fans made a huge impact. But ultimately this, you know, I think Kyle has a big decision. I think that he's, he's earned the right to, to not only be a free agent, but to be a coveted free agent. And so, you know, I would expect that, that they'll play their cards kind of close to the vest. But I, like I said, I know he had a good experience. And like I said, I know that when we were sort of at our best, he, he played exceptionally well. Yeah, I think Kyle, like, you know, I think he, Kyle had a huge impact on our, on our offense this year. And so if he's not here, then that's a void and we have to figure out how to replace that. But there's a lot of different ways to do that. And so I think that'll be the focus. But yes, I think that there's no question that if you don't retain a player of his caliber, then you have to replace those wins and that war in some other ways. And I think that's something we'll be really focused on. But I don't think how you do that I think can take many different shapes and forms.

[Matt Abb]

All right, sounds like he's gone. It sounds like they know he's gone. Unless something weird happens when the market sets. And sometimes market dynamics are unpredictable. And obviously Kyle Tucker himself having two consecutive seasons now with some injury issues and some odd injury issues where there were some uncertainties about what was wrong and why it was wrong and what the diagnosis was. He's a year older, but somebody. All it takes is one to set that market. I don't think the Cubs are going to play that game. I think they'll give it a chance and then they'll. They'll do what a lot of teams do. Either say we tried or they'll put some incentive laden offer together and say, well, we. He had a potential to make this much money with us. It's all bullshit. They don't want to spend upfront guaranteed money to retain him. But he answered his own question. When it comes to replacing that kind of war, you can do that on the pitching side. Also, it's run prevention and it's run production. So that's what the balance is. They've invested a lot in their defense. They got all of these Gold Glove nominees and that's great, but you got to, you need to miss bats, you need to hit more homers and that's where it's got to come from. We know what aspects of WAR win games and it's great that Nico Horner has a high WAR number as a second baseman. And it's. You can accrue high positional WAR at second base because of the defensive positional adjustment. It doesn't slump. But they're not, not all war is created equal in that respect. And I think trying to continue to tighten up the defense is great. But unless you got a guy who's 17ft tall who can run around pulling home runs out of the air, I don't know how much ultimately that's going to help you. I think you get to a point of diminishing returns that I Love to have a great defense, but there are. There's an aspect in baseball, in football, you can't. There's always a defense out there. In basketball, there's always a defense. Baseball is the only sport where you can do something to score that is literally indefensible.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Matt Abb]

You can't do that in another sport.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Matt Abb]

Except maybe a free throw in basketball.

[Dan Bernstein]

There's only, there's only one. One way that I see Kyle Tucker returning. That is his people know for sure there will be no baseball. And he takes some kind of smaller term contract to have a contract going into baseball. Not happening. That's. That's the only, the only route that I see it.

[Matt Abb]

I.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that's very, very small. Very, very small chance. I just, I do not see any scenario where, where Kyle Tucker will be in a Cubs uniform for 20, 26.

[Matt Abb]

And his home road splits.

[Dan Bernstein]

He was much better on the road than he was at home.

[Matt Abb]

Right. So.

[Dan Bernstein]

But overall pitching was much better at Wrigley this year than offense.

[Matt Abb]

Right. So why does an offensive player want to play in a pitcher's park?

[Dan Bernstein]

But you can also look though too.

[Matt Abb]

Especially if they're incentives in a contract.

[Dan Bernstein]

That Michael Bush, pca, also lefties had much better years at Wrigley than on the road. Kyle Tucker was just the reverse of that. And that's one of the odd anomalies of baseball. And it's randomness that you just can't control. Right.

[Matt Abb]

But it might be random. Or he might prefer hitting elsewhere and would like to play more games elsewhere.

[Dan Bernstein]

It could be, yes, very possible. And one more cut here on Kyle.

[Jed Hoyer]

Not connected to Tyler. Kyle, I think in general, I think that, you know, you have to evaluate, you have to start the whole. Everything that we do with evaluation of the player and like, focus on that valuation. And then what's that, what's that worth to the organization? I think that's the backbone. I think that in my career, I think when you make decisions that are based on your valuation and how you value the player, then it sort of takes some of that. The other stuff out of it and you make better decisions. I think if you're reacting to how things are going around you, I think that that's when you can make real mistakes. So to me, it's just. That's gonna be. Our focus is, you know, how do we value. It's not just Kyle, it's any player. Like, what's the valuation we put on this player? How much is he worth to this organization right now? And I think that if you do that consistently, I think you end up, like I said, making more and more good decisions. And the more good decisions we make, the more it's added.

[Matt Abb]

If your valuation's correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Matt Abb]

All of that makes perfect sense. If you've evaluated somebody correctly. And that's never 100%. Would you have let Kyle Schwaber go for nothing if you knew what he was gonna be like? Come on, man. Not everybody gets everything right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Matt Abb]

What you're saying makes perfect sense. We make good decisions based on our evaluations.

[Dan Bernstein]

And if your evaluations are correct, then great, then you're gonna make really good decisions.

[Matt Abb]

But there's some that are gonna be wrong.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Matt Abb]

And that means even a decision based on your evaluation, it's consistent, but it's not necessarily correct. All right, now, all this. All this said, I think Jed Hoyer's pretty good at his job.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, I agree.

[Matt Abb]

I think he's a good guy. I think he's good at his job. And I do think that it's unfortunate that all of these decisions have to be made around the margins economically, when it would be easier if they simply just. If Tom Ricketts wanted to spend more money and have some redundant pieces and just make it. Not have to do small market stuff when you're not a small market. All right.

[Dan Bernstein]

He talked about playing offense and the offensive ability at Wrigley Field this year.

[Jed Hoyer]

The ballpark thing, to me, it's. I don't really understand that. The focus on the ballpark. I think it's. I've been here for 14 years. It's been a mix of. Of. Of seasons, honestly, 20, 23, it was one of the best hitting part, hitting ballparks in baseball. The last two years, it happens to have blown in. I don't think anything has changed dramatically that would have. That will lead us now to having this happen over and over. So I think we're dealing with random number one. Number two is a lot of players put up great numbers. You know, Michael Bush had 38 homers, if you include the postseason. And Pete went 30, 30. And say I went 30 and 100. And I just think there's. You can put up really good numbers here. The idea that somehow Wrigley Field is a hitter's nightmare, I just find that to be. Yeah, for two years in a row, the wind blew in a little bit. But the idea that free agents aren't going to play here or hitters aren't going to come here is I can't imagine a better place to play. So that's something I just kind of reject outright. And I think that it's like I said, I think there's some randomness we're. We're dealing with here. That said, and I've always said this, like, I think the fact that Wrigley can play so differently, it just means you have to have really good players. There's not a type of player that you can build. Like, you know, you don't want to go out and get a bunch of fly ball hitters because you have a year where the wind blows out. You don't want to go out and overemphasize. You know, guys hit the ball on the ground and, you know, don't have any power because it blows in. I just think we need, you know, we have to be a little bit of a Swiss army knife of. Of an offense because we don't know what our environment is night to night. And that's every year. I mean, like, there'll be years where it blows in more and years where it blows out more. But the, the fact of the matter is we don't know day to day what it's going to be like. So I think we have to embrace it. We have to have players that can beat you in a lot of different ways, and I think we have that right now.

[Matt Abb]

He beat me to it.

[Jed Hoyer]

Yeah.

[Matt Abb]

I was about to say yes, I agree with you on randomness. Baseball has a lot of randomness and a lot of luck. You know, how you consistently overcome that with really good players and not trying to find or make really good players all the time, that's a huge part of it. But you can backstop all of this. If this doesn't work, then what? We're hopeful this works, but if it doesn't, then what? So he answered his own question. I agree with him on the randomness. Some years it's a Players park, some years not. I think given enough meteorological sample, we might look at larger atmospheric trends about what the winds and temperatures are doing to Wrigley Field, but we're not there yet. We don't have enough. Just get better players.

[Jed Hoyer]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And I think, you know what?

[Matt Abb]

Better players are expensive.

[Dan Bernstein]

You just have to keep in mind what. What he's asked about and what he's answering is the fact that, all right, Wrigley. Wrigley Field was more of a pitcher's ballpark the last couple years. Does that make you react differently in who you sign and who you go after and how you evaluate players? And he answered it correctly. He's like, you can't, you can't do that.

[Matt Abb]

You can't go chasing the latest like 2023.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was a great hitters ballpark. Now it was more of a pitcher's park. I can't change that. And he continues on and talks more about left handed batters at Wrigley Field.

[Jed Hoyer]

Michael Bush is a left hand hitter and he hit a ton of homers. You know this year Pete had a lot of homers at home. I don't think that, you know, there are definitely players in the individual year that that can happen. I think Cody had great numbers at Wrigley in 2023 and he struggled in 2024. So the fact that a left handed hitter struggled in a given year here isn't indicative that left handed hitters can't perform here. Because I think we watched Michael Bush perform exceptionally well here and Pete perform well. And I just think sometimes it's kind of random. I think sometimes home roads, they're not always environmental. They think something. Is this something that happened?

[Matt Abb]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Listen real quick here on some splits for the Cubs. Their OPS 761 away.740 home. Okay, home, home, home away splits. 120 home runs away. 103 home runs at home. Their total OPS plus 98 at home, 103 away.

[Matt Abb]

That's probably noise.

[Dan Bernstein]

I just, I mean but overall that was the general trend at Wrigley this year. Pitching was a little better than hitting at Wrigley Field. But just because it was like that in 2025 doesn't mean he needs to influence the way he looks at 2026. He just can't do it.

[Matt Abb]

I laughed this morning I happened to see a TV commercial for a coffee place and it said now I saw it too now with protein. It said if you want to add protein we can do that for you. And I laughed because I said oh, I know a place that already has the protein for you and it's even in their name and it's called Protein bar and kitchen. And the cool thing about it is whether it is breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, a pre workout load up or a post workout protein reuptake, that's their whole thing. And everything tastes fantastic and it also can be a fantastic deal for you. So it's everything right now. Protein bar and kitchen. And this is at all of their Chicagoland locations right now. And most of them are in 15 locations. Majority around Chicagoland area. Northbrook, Oakbrook, many places around here in the city, there's one right by us that because you're listening to Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. When you download the PBK app, you're gonna get 50% off your next visit. Up to 25 bucks. The order's up to 25 bucks. DBU50. DBU5O is the code. And you just open the app, you hit more, you enter the promo code, and then you're enjoying all the stuff. The fall menu, because they change all the time. And what's great is they're super flexible. And I know this because my daughter has some shake that she makes that she likes a certain. With this kind of milk and more of this and less of this, and they can do that all for you. But what they've got is the miso salmon bowl right now, super popular. A shake called the Smashing Pumpkin, their Boo Berry Halloween shake, and then all the stuff that everybody already loves. The Mexicali bowl, their vegan salad, the bacon, egg, and cheese scramble. I always say that I am a purist when it comes to my lunches. Their Caesar salad with the grilled chicken in it. Perfect.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's one of my favorites. And I actually, this morning, I deviated from my regular blended protein shake, and I got the Smashing Pumpkin.

[Matt Abb]

Did you?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Matt Abb]

How was it?

[Dan Bernstein]

It's so good. It's so good. So it's pumpkin, apple, maple syrup, almonds, vanilla whey protein, cinnamon, and oat milk. And it was so delicious. So, I mean, I wanted to get my PB and J, but I'm like, I've been wanting to try this. I got to do it.

[Jed Hoyer]

I got to do it, got to do. I just.

[Dan Bernstein]

I can't pull away from my regular. So I did this magic muffin. It was great. I think. I don't know if I'll do it for lunch or just do it tomorrow morning. I'm gonna try the booberry.

[Matt Abb]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Halloween shake. So it's. That's blueberry, BlackBerry, banana, organic agave, Greek yogurt, vanilla whey protein, and almond milk. Sounds fantastic. The Smashing Pumpkin, though, it was so good.

[Matt Abb]

You know what I love about the salad, too? Because I love Caesar salad, but usually when I order it during the middle of the day, when I don't do carbs, I'll say no croutons.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, you gotta get the.

[Matt Abb]

Yeah. People are like, well, croutons. That's the essence of a Caesar salad. But I don't like carbs during the day. Already on theirs, they do the Parmesan instead of just, like, grated Parmesan. They give you Parmesan crisps that function as the croutons.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's good.

[Matt Abb]

So instead of Parmesan and croutons, the Parmesan crisps are the texture. They are the croutons. So it's just an ideal salad for me.

[Dan Bernstein]

Like, the first time we went, I thought you were copying me when I ordered the Chicken Caesar.

[Matt Abb]

Like, copying you.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Well, you're getting the same thing. I didn't know that that was your. Your go to.

[Matt Abb]

I got.

[Dan Bernstein]

Go to selection.

[Matt Abb]

I got what I wanted.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I love it. It's so good there.

[Matt Abb]

And I think Teddy actually said that that was that. He eats that like three or four days a week.

[Dan Bernstein]

He eats it every day, three times a day.

[Matt Abb]

Well, it's got. It's got. It's romaine and a little bit of kale in there. So you get a little. It's a. The texture is just great. It's awesome. So Protein Bar and kitchen. The code DBU50. Download the app and you will find that there's all. There's free.

[Dan Bernstein]

There's always rewards.

[Matt Abb]

Yeah, they send you stuff.

[Dan Bernstein]

Hey, buddy, buy stuff, you get stuff.

[Matt Abb]

Yeah, you got this, you got this, you got this, you got this. When you make a habit of it today, $5.

[Dan Bernstein]

Thursday, Thursday for blended.

[Matt Abb]

Blended drinks, $5 for the thing.

[Dan Bernstein]

You gotta have the app.

[Matt Abb]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Get the app.

[Matt Abb]

Well, there you go. Our friends at Protein bar and Kitchen all over the Chicagoland area. Dbu.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right, wait. A couple more things before you go. I just. Because there's things I want you to hear real quick. I'm not sure if you heard everything, but he was asked about second guessing himself with the trade deadline.

[Jed Hoyer]

I think you always. I mean, I think if you do this job and do it well, I think you're constantly thinking about what else you could do or. And that's natural. But I do feel like when I think back on the most obvious thing that people talk about when we were starting pitching at the. At the trade deadline. And honestly, like, I haven't really thought about that much since early August because I know what the market was, how tight the starting pitching market was. I know to acquire players I thought could impact a pennant race, it would have cost us players that impacted our second half in a big way on the team. And so certainly there's moves going back years that you think about in terms of how you can continue to get better. And I think that, you know, my job is to just keep getting better at this job every single year. So of course I think about that. But when it comes to the trade deadline, I don't, just because I know that what the market was and I know what the prices were and I also know that other teams weren't able to acquire that kind of pitching talent either.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. He went on to talk more about the trade deadline moves and building a winning team in Major League Baseball today. What it looks like, and you're not going to see as many significant trade deadline moves as the playoffs expand even further. You're going to see that less and less. It's about building through the draft, about smart free agency and getting the right players with proper player evaluations.

[Matt Abb]

I still think there's going to be bullpen arms that drop out. You're still going to be able to.

[Dan Bernstein]

Find significant names though.

[Matt Abb]

I don't think, and I don't necessarily mind it because I don't, I don't like multi year commitments to bullpen arms generally if they're not homegrown. I don't, I don't mind rentals of guys like Kittredge where you have somebody for your circle of trust, trades like that. Yeah, that doesn't bug me.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now, there was one, one last one I want you to hear. He's asked about the offense during the season and then the postseason, how the offense changed a little bit.

[Jed Hoyer]

So I think the totality of what our offense did, I think was exceptional. We were fifth in baseball and run scoring in a difficult home offensive environment. So I think our offense overall was terrific. I don't know if we have any control over the shape of how that happens, to be honest with you. Last year we sat here and we had a great second half offensively. You know, I just, I think some of that stuff is random when guys are hot and when they're not. And I think that, you know, if you look at, you know, the totality, we had a really excellent offensive team. Now we did have some struggles in the second half and those struggles were just, you know, simply the, you know, we had a collection of players in the first half at the same time that were, that were playing exceptionally well and then some of those same players were struggling in the second half. I think in the postseason, you know, I think we're like fourth or fifth in OPS and offensive production for the postseason, for the teams around the postseason. And you know, we did struggle with runner scoring position. I don't think that's indicative of anything, if I'm being honest. I think that's a. It's eight, it's eight baseball games and I think it's against, you know, two of the Best pitching staffs in baseball. You're not getting the matchups you're going to normally get during the season. And, you know, because of the nature of the postseason. So I think drawing big conclusions based on eight games against really good teams, I think is probably not the best conclusion to draw. I think for the totality of our season, we had a really good offense, and that's where I'll focus on.

[Matt Abb]

I really like the fact that Jed Hoyer is talking about randomness because I'm the guy that invoked captain Variance, and that is. It's one of the frustrating things about baseball. I applauded Craig Council for saying we have luck in our game. You do get a lot of luck. But you know what he's got. I want all of this stuff and all this talk about randomness and variance. When he does have that, sit down with Tom Ricketts. Tell him. Tell him. Because you know how you gird yourself, how you protect, how you ensure against the vagaries and vicissitudes of randomness. Better players, better players.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's really. It's really not hard.

[Matt Abb]

Yeah. And good players cost money. But have more good players. Your backups shouldn't be question marks. The back end of your bullpen. They don't need to be question marks. Injuries are random. There's a lot of luck. There's a lot of. But the way you insure against it costs money, you know, And I don't.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't like the idea of using a roster spot for a guy to come in to be a veteran player, to show the young guys how to do it. I'd like that last guy on a roster spot to be a really good guy, good player that's a good player that can come in with limited opportunities and still be productive and play well. And I thought it was funny there.

[Matt Abb]

What do you think of Justin Turner? I. You know, it's seems like a great guy.

[Dan Bernstein]

I hated him as a Dodger. I like him here as a Cub. It's, you know, it's fine. But again, that, like, unless he truly makes young players play better and he see it on the field, which I don't know how that translates to it. It just doesn't. I'd rather.

[Matt Abb]

Supposedly he was Matt Shaw's whisperer. Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then Matt Shaw had a pretty shitty year when it came down to it offensively at the end when. When they needed him. Now, I know he walked, he got on base, but you're not gonna. You're not going to go back to 20, 25. And think, God, remember that Matt Shaw year in 2025 at the bat? Oh, that was impressive because he had Justin Turner.

[Matt Abb]

Believe me, we'll remember Matt Shaw stuff from this year.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, but.

[Matt Abb]

But not. Has nothing to do with what he did on the field.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'd rather have a guy that is going to be more productive given the limited opportunities than a guy like Justin Turner, who's a great guy. And there's a club option, I think, for $10 million for, for Justin Turner. Do you want to keep him? And I also thought it was, it was interesting there what he said, that yeah, we struggled a little bit offensively, runs, the scoring position. But it's only eight games. You can't look at that. It's just, it's eight games. You can't draw any, any big conclusions. But yet we were also four or five and OPS in those same eight games. So look how good we were. But yeah, well, you know, the bad stuff.

[Matt Abb]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's not enough games that, you know.

[Matt Abb]

Like judge something that's random. It's random. But we're good at this, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

That's not random, right? We're good at this. We weren't good at this, but it's all random. So here's the whole idea. Get the best manager you can and what's going to happen in baseball, you get the best players you can get based on the money that your ownership is going to let you spend. That's really that simple. And all the rest of it is pretty random and luck. But if you get better players, you're going to minimize the randomness and the luck that you need.

[Matt Abb]

And better players cost money. Yeah, that's it.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's not hard.

[Matt Abb]

That's a simple baseball lesson for today.

[Dan Bernstein]

A couple of things. I'm not going to play more cuts, but just wanted to show you before you wrap up. He talked about that trip to Tokyo. He mentioned it like, like Matthew Boyd did. But what was so special about this team. And he highlighted that trip to week alone with just your family, nobody else around. And that how it helped, you know, solidify what this team was, their character, their. Their identity. Asked about any off season surgeries, he said he was meeting with the medical team later that afternoon, later yesterday to see if there's anything now like, like Swanson and Nico had stuff last year. Those were highlighted players he was aware of. He wasn't aware of anything happening in the off season right now. Craig's entire staff has been invited to.

[Matt Abb]

Come back, but somebody could get.

[Dan Bernstein]

But somebody. Which case they'll figure that everyone is welcome back. We don't know if they're all going to stay, but everyone's welcome back. And then, yeah, I think that pretty much covers everything that we talked about.

[Matt Abb]

If you're waiting for Sunday to start betting, you're missing half the fun and half the money because college football's cooking upsets, blowouts, wild covers. My bookie lets you hit everything right now with game lines, player props, more everything you need before the pros even kick off. So then when Sunday's here, you're already up. So make sure you're listening to DBU picks Mondays and Fridays. We've been rolling there, so you can, you can roll with us. You can find your own stuff. My bookie has everything you need, whatever you like to bet, all under one roof. They have an NFL super contest. They have survivor pools. If you're new to my bookie, what are you waiting for? Use the promo code that we're going to give you right now, DBU. And then any bet you choose up to $500 is fully covered. So you make your play and then if it doesn't hit, you get it back. You just opt in using the bet back bonus token. The code Dan Bernstein unfiltered the first letters of those words, D. That's the code. Dbu. My bookie. Where betters win together because bragging's good, but cashing in is better. Here is the latest on our radioactive shrimp crisis in the world. Now, a lot of our shrimp comes from Indonesia. If you go, you buy stuff in the store. You always look in the fine print when you see that tag in there and the, in the ice in the case, sometimes it says product of Indonesia because it's a good place to farm shrimp. Well, a large industrial zone on the outskirts, outskirts of Jakarta is grappling with radioactive contamination. So this is what we're learning right now. This is from the Guardian. A government task force found traces of the hazardous isotope cesium137 at 22 production facilities at the site, which includes businesses that export frozen seafood. The discovery has prompted emergency decontamination and relocation of residents follows a contamination scare in the US that has now been traced back to the Jakarta facilities. Multinational retailer Walmart is among the businesses that have recalled products. Indonesian authorities launched an investigation after the US FDA, at least a remaining functioning aspect of US government detected cesium 137, a radioactive isotope, at a shipment of frozen breaded shrimp exported by Indonesian company PT Bahari Makmur, Sajati the FDA issued an advisory telling distributors and retailers to dispose of the product and not sell it. I'm really surprised that RFK isn't recommending more of this shrimp like this. It's a small victory, like, we've moved the bar, we've moved the goalpost, whatever it is. But I would think immediately that RFK would just stand there with his giant pink face and his brain worms and say, eat more radioactive shrimp. The detected level was below the intervention threshold, but they have said the primary health effect of concern following longer term repeated low dose exposure is an elevated risk of cancer resulting from damage to DNA. Radiation scans revealed at least 22 plants were contaminated. The task force did not name the 21 other facilities said they would immediately undergo decontamination procedures. I don't know if I'm buying this. Health authorities conducted checks on workers and residents. They found nine people testing positive for Cesium 137 who were referred to a hospital. You know, I want to go to the hospital, okay. The contaminated sites will undergo these procedures, but they have designated the site of a scrap metal factory as an isolation facility for the contaminated goods. Indonesia has no nuclear power plants, no weapons program, so they believe the cesium 137 may have entered the country from overseas. They believe scrap metal imports were likely the source of contamination. They would immediately. They're going to impose restrictions on scrap metal imports. Vehicles are being inspected as they move through the area. Cesium 137 usually enters the environment as a result of nuclear accidents such as Fukushima or, or Chernobyl. So this is the bad stuff. The recalled shrimp sold at Walmart stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia. So that is your latest update on radioactive shrimp. One more thing. I have been lavishing south park in this season with high praise for some of the fearless work that they've done in the face of an ever oppressive comedy and satire environment. They're fumbling right now. They're dropping the ball. There were a couple of tremendous episodes and. And I think they've made a miscalculation from my perspective. This is just my opinion as a longtime fan of south park who has gone back and ever since my kid really got into it and gone back and reappreciated some of the older episodes. This storyline where they've resurrected the whole Saddam Hussein and Satan relationship from bigger, longer and uncut. But they've put Donald Trump in the role of Saddam Hussein with the same voice. And there's also like a Fantasy island thing going on where they've got JD v Herve Vilaches playing tattoo. It's not working. It's not working. I thought it was a cute idea, but they're continuing to carry it and carry it and carry it. And in this episode there's a callback to something that happened to a minor character a while ago. If you're still watching and still caring about what's going on, I don't want to spoil it for you. I like the subplot that's going on with Power Christian principle Now that is directly at odds with Jesus because Jesus himself is now the counselor and Jesus is the school counselor. But Power Christian principal is completely at odds with Jesus. Jesus is getting fed up with the perversion of his teachings and no one's really listening to Jesus when he's saying, hey, I'm not about this. This isn't what I stand for. You're doing things in my name that have nothing to do with me, and no one's listening to him. I get it, I get it. I get it. I get all the that they're making and everything that they tried to do with Israel. But I just think that they fumbled this whole thing with the whole Trump Satan plot that they're trying to bring back. So I hope it gets a little more focused, maybe gets back on track and gets the edge back a little bit. I thought that the episode they did with Cartman as Charlie Kirk, which they since pulled, was tremendous. It helped me understand who Charlie Kirk was because I didn't know that was largely instructive to me. And sometimes I need my satire to be instructive because I didn't really know who he was until that episode and he since was newsworthy afterward, obviously. But they can, whatever chance they've got to pull this thing back on the tracks. I hope they do. Here endeth my thoughts on South Park. But look, I've complimented them when they're good, and I'm going to tell you when I think they've. They've. They've lost the plot a little bit. Literally, figuratively, they've lost the plot. They got a chance to get it back and sharpen up a little bit. I would appreciate it so they can get back out and stunt on these hoes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, boy. All right. And that is the conclusion of Dan Bernstein unfiltered for today.

[Matt Abb]

We got a big forward progress coming up. You're a Bears fan.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep.

[Matt Abb]

Talk more Bears. Oh, my God, are we going to talk Bears? We've got a ton of stuff. I got to figure something out. And you know that I love information. Little teaser forward progress if you want to just, you know, get right to it. There's something I. I'm telling you, I try to understand stuff. I don't understand something regarding an assessment of Caleb Williams, and it's not Troy Aikman's opinion. This is not an opinion, and I don't know why it is concluded. What it's concluded. So we'll get to that. But this has been Dan Bernstein unfiltered, presented by my bookie.

[Dan Bernstein]

Dan Bernstein, unfiltered.

[Matt Abb]

Unfiltered.

[Dan Bernstein]

On three. One, two, sports.