← Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Off The Ivy: A Chicago Cubs Podcast: Cubs lose on Opening Day to Nationals BUT extend Nico Hoerner after the game!
00:36:10
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- [00:01]
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- [00:34]
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- [01:06]
Cody Delmendo
Off the Ivy a Chicago Cubs podcast with Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticola and Cody Delmendo on 312Sports.
- [01:17]
Dan Bernstein
Well, you got two of the three for the very first post game episode of off the ivy here on 312 or OTI as we call it internally. And Dan Burstein, Cody Delmendo, that, that, that ain't it. 10 to 4. And everything started out looking pretty crisp and Boyd looked terrific and he was getting plenty of swing and miss. And then all hell kind of broke loose out there on what turned into a really nasty afternoon at Wrigley Field. The wind shifted out of the north and we're going to end up with like a 30 degree temperature drop that sort of symbolized the the hearts of excited Cubs fans today.
- [02:02]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, when I left the Cubby Bear, I walked out and was it was cold and when I arrived it was beautiful. I felt like it was a good idea to be wearing shorts today and man did I left. I hurried and got home. I. I got home.
- [02:20]
Dan Bernstein
At least you're not going to the game.
- [02:22]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, yeah.
- [02:23]
Dan Bernstein
But you were there dealing with all of your adoring fans. My goodness. You said you see the love out there for this guy. Really awesome. We were. And thanks if you did come by to Cubby Bear today. It was really the fun vibe there with 97.1 FM the drive and 312 sports all set up. We were giving away some 312 sports T shirts and dealing with, with the Cubs people that come out on opening day. It is. It's always a fascinating people watching experience, but, boy, they love this dude. Hey, this is great. You suck. But Cody's awesome. So that was pretty much the sentiment I think that I was receiving today. But thanks for coming. Thanks for saying hello. It was great being out there. It was a great day for 312 sports. Not so good for the Cubs.
- [03:09]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, this game, I don't remember opening day that had such a letdown from like the high of opening day. You know what I mean by that, right? Like, baseball is back the first game of the year. It's all like, everyone says this day should be a holiday for whatever team you like. It doesn't matter. It just baseball's back. And the high of that fell off after the third inning. I mean, it was a fun game for three innings, I guess, because it was close. But yeah, Matthew Boyd didn't have it. Just didn't have it. Well, he had it for three innings. And yeah.
- [03:46]
Dan Bernstein
So my mind goes to two things when I see that from a pitcher. One, and this is what most people are going to say is somebody got his pitches, that somebody had something he was doing. And because some of this, you can tell by some of the swings where guys just cannot wait to get the bat off their shoulder and get that thing at a load position and fire. And it was. It wasn't just one pitch that they were hitting, but short of that. And that that's sort of a lazy way of thinking about it. But the more complicated and more likely answer is some combination of second time through the order penalty. Because we know for a fact that the wob, the weighted runs created plus, or you're weighted on base average, any of the linear plus stats. Yeah, Always rise second time through the order and then we talk about the third time through the order penalty, and people can debate as to why. You know, is it just getting that second look? Is it getting comfortable? Is it just the fact that it's hard for a pitcher now and harder than ever for a pitcher to sustain the kind of stuff that he's going to need to face major league hitters that many times, or they're sharing sequencing notes, they're getting back there and they're getting stuff from the quant guys who are telling him, look, if he starts you with this, he's likely coming here, here's how this looks. They discuss pitching shapes and say players will talk. What is, what does the sweeper look like? Look for it here. It's going to come across here. Be ready if, if he, if, if it starts out here, there. And it may not be pitch tipping. It may just be that they had a good read on him second time through the order. It happens. But that was ugly.
- [05:39]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, it was. The floodgates open and he couldn't even get out of the inning. Ben Brown came in and then he gave up a homer.
- [05:47]
Dan Bernstein
Was that the four seam fastball, by the way? I did not see what pitch that was.
- [05:52]
Cody Delmendo
I didn't either off the top of my head. I don't remember.
- [05:54]
Dan Bernstein
That looked like old Ben Brown to me. That, that looked like, you know, here it is. Try to hit it. And the opposing hitter goes. Okay.
- [06:00]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I think he settled down a little bit afterwards. He did allow another run because of a wild pitch. So combination of him and Carson Kelly. But yeah, I, him allowing the homer kind of felt like the game was over. Then I think after the inning, it was 7 to 2 and what the Cubs led 2 to 1 entering the inning. And so anytime that happens with your starting pitcher, it's, it's a. No matter what team you play, it's a tough hill to climb. And this can kind of go into the fact that the Nationals actually tried to let the Cubs back into this game.
- [06:36]
Dan Bernstein
Because they're bad.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, well, yeah, the Cubs couldn't get the big hit with, with any runners on base at all and that they.
- [06:47]
Dan Bernstein
There were a couple of big hits. Like the one Ian Hap hit was an absolute monster home run. On any other day, that was one
- [06:56]
Cody Delmendo
in the ninth inning.
- [06:57]
Dan Bernstein
That was a bomb. Yeah, and there were, there were a couple of those both ways. But I, I did a couple of notes that I had here and, and you know, we'll each go through our little notebooks here, but. Yeah. I don't know what was running through Bregman's mind making the third out at third base in an inning like that. You. Absolutely, if you're going to be the smart guy and you're here with all of your veteran savvy, that's. It's a bad look on opening day to get caught that badly with your indecision. Just not having you take the hard enough turn because he would have if he had just gone. He had a decent shot. I don't know if it's a bad read. It's not his first time playing at Wrigley Field. I don't have its first time playing at Wrigley Field with the winds doing what it's doing. But we'll get to that on another observation for the moment. But, I mean, Bregman obviously knows that That's. That's just not okay.
- [07:47]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, he for sure knows that. And also the Cubs, the reason they were one of the better teams in the National League last year is they were great on the bases. They did not get thrown out on the bases very often. At the same time, they were still a very aggressive team on the bases, you know, among the league leaders, and stolen bases and stuff. But, you know, this wasn't a stolen base attempt. This was just, you know, during a play. And, yeah, I. It felt like the momentum was kind of taken away there after Pete got that big hit and kind of went into that next inning. So, yeah, that's. That's. That's something that stuck out to me as well. I would say. Again, they had two hits with runners in scoring position, but they had like 15. It was like 2 for 2 for 13, 2 for 14. I'll bring it up real quick just to confirm, but, like, you just. How do I say it without, you know, just being so obvious? But it's the Nationals. It's opening day. You're. You have these high expectations, and it's not like the Nationals were throwing guys out there that are elite arms like you. You gotta cash in. And one of the problems the Cubs had in the playoffs last year is they. That they struggled with runners and score.
- [09:07]
Dan Bernstein
Okay.
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Cody Delmendo
I know. It's okay. It's one game. It's one game. I know, but it just. It just. It bothers me that there were instances where, you know, use the first inning, for instance, Dan Michael Bush gets on base with a weak hit, right? He hit it like 70 miles per hour is on second base, and the Cubs can't get him in. Like we were talking about a guy in scoring position immediately, and the Cubs can't get him in. And again, I know it's one game, but those are little things that bother me when you're supposed to be one of the better teams in baseball.
- [09:43]
Dan Bernstein
They will be. They are.
- [09:45]
Cody Delmendo
I. I know. I know they will.
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Dan Bernstein
But if I win between. I. I will tell you right now, they're going to win between 90 and 95 games. Everything. Everything feels magnified.
- [09:58]
Cody Delmendo
I know.
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Dan Bernstein
As it does on opening day.
- [10:00]
Cody Delmendo
I know. And I'm not trying to be. I'm not trying to overreact to it, but I feel like even coming off last year, when when this team didn't win, it was because they would. They would do what they did a lot in this game. And I get it if you're playing a good team, but they played a bad team today. So if they would have lost today and it would have been, oh, because of Boyd's bad start and, you know, maybe the Nationals just destroyed the Cubs bullpen or something, I wouldn't be so hard like I am right now on the offense. I feel like the bullpen came in. Outside of Brown giving up the homer, they were fine. They kind of held them to allow the Cubs to potentially come back, and they just didn't take advantage of all of the Nationals mistakes. So maybe I should just be mad about not taking advantage of mistakes instead of, you know, coming through with the big hit with runners in scoring position or whatever. I. It just felt like the Nationals were trying to give them the game and they didn't want to take it. So.
- [10:58]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, or. Or, you know, you can be happy that they were able to. To, you know, their. Their starter craps the bed. They don't have to go to their high leverage bullpen. I always say knowing how to lose a game is a. Is a managerial skill. It's a managerial skill. And you're down seven two. Everybody wants to go home anyway. It's cold. It's awful out. You gave yourself a chance. You never got the big hit, so you didn't have to burn any of your. Of your high leverage arms. And you. You probably losing the game like this. Rather than losing 10 to 8 on a wild wind blowing out day or 15 to 14 on a wild wind blowing out day, you at least save your bullpen for the remainder of the series. So that's.
- [11:41]
Cody Delmendo
That's fair. They have an off day tomorrow, but
- [11:43]
Dan Bernstein
yeah, yeah, but yeah, it's fine. You cut your losses anyway. That's true. They have. They have the rain out just in case. Dave. That's in there. Did Carson Kelly change that? His hands. I hadn't seen that before. The low hands with the movement? Or does. Is he doing like a. A trigger device, A reminder to. For his hands to be outside his body?
- [12:07]
Cody Delmendo
I'm. I. I would need to go look at a highlight from last season, but I, I think it looks the same.
- [12:13]
Dan Bernstein
Okay. All right. It looked to me like he's doing more of a. More of an exaggerated away from the body movement so as not to tie himself up and not to jam himself to.
- [12:26]
Cody Delmendo
To.
- [12:27]
Dan Bernstein
It might just allow a little bit more of the. Of the barrel through the hitting Zone.
- [12:31]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, maybe I. To go with that. I did think Matt Shaw's stance looked a lot different from last season. I didn't show him much today going over three, but he was a guy who last year, throughout the year, it felt like he was changing his stance all the time. So I think this is something to follow all season, or at least the first couple months of the year to see how his stance is just because again, last season he changed it a lot. And whether he should have or shouldn't have, he was going through a lot of adjustments. And so now he's one full year in. How is he going to. What's he going to take from last year, what he learned from it, and how's he going to be this year? This his offense, his offensive production is incredibly important.
- [13:17]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, I'm not gonna. I don't want to talk about his because I don't know what he's trying to accomplish with some of these changes. You know, to me it's, you know, the missing piece is. Is why someone is doing something. You used to get a lot of people who would tinker just to tinker, and that's. That's not a Joe Tinker Cubs reference. I'm just saying that there are some guys who just are never satisfied or they're. There's always some sort of stance anxiety and that you just know about somebody. But. But otherwise, you're working with your hitting infrastructure and you're either trying to get to a ball you weren't getting to before or you're trying to close a perceived hole in a swing so that, let's put that down as something to watch. Also, defensively, when I was seeing if Shaw could play right field, I'm not going to count this one. I think I'm going to give him because of the wind today. And he made a couple of plays. Yeah, that were. But they were Moises Alou type plays. There were a couple plays where he got terrible jumps and had had a bad first couple of steps and then was able athletically to run down his own mistake. So I never want to give too much credit for somebody to be like, oh, my first couple steps were bad. It's awful route efficiency. But I made it back to where I was rather than. I'd rather see a routine catch because you opened your hips quickly because you anticipated where the ball was going to land. The way the wind was today, I'm going to. I'm going to give him a mulligan on, on the defensive day despite at least, you know, I know he. He looked really excited when he ran one down and he was talking himself up and screaming at somebody.
- [14:55]
Cody Delmendo
But.
- [14:57]
Dan Bernstein
But it's his days out there will probably not be as difficult with. With the wind and the cold in the first game and everything involved.
- [15:07]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I would. I would say that the first catch he made early in the game, whether personally, I don't know if. If he didn't anticipate it correctly or whatever, but watching felt like he's trying to get a feel for, like, knowing where the wall is. And. And I think this is just going to take experience. I mean, he did right field in the spring at Sloan park in Arizona, not at Wrigley Field with a brick wall. You know, the Ivy's not even there yet, so I think sometime Ivy doesn't
- [15:42]
Dan Bernstein
do anything even when it is there. Right, right. That's. That's. People say, oh, yeah, they. There's no cushion whatsoever. If you've ever been out there and you stood there and like, I've done that before. Like, I have. I actually tried to see, all right, what is the. You run into it and you're like, okay, yeah, this is not good. It's a brick wall. Ivy covered or not.
- [16:01]
Cody Delmendo
Right? Yeah. Cubs fans remember what happened to Cody Bellinger a few years ago when he collided with the wall, too, and he had to miss. I think it was like a month. So, yeah, I. I think that Shaw, overall, I mean, I agree with you that there we really shouldn't judge anything off this game just because of how the conditions were. I did think some of his catches were impressive, and even if his, you know, even if he did take a bad route or whatever here, he still was able to recover a little bit because he's an athlete. And I think that his versatility defensively is going to be so important for this team because Wednesday Suzuki comes back. Craig Counsel still has to find a way to get him in the lineup, and that's something that I'll be very curious to see how they do. But he's going to earn more opportunities if he hits over three today, whatever. But that it is. Is something that I think while SEI is out seeing how they. How they do on this home stand. This is one of six games on this home stand, I believe how he, you know, looks in right field, and it's. It's going to take more than those six games, but it is something that I think fans should pay attention to.
- [17:09]
Dan Bernstein
I wonder if he has had a conversation with Ben Zobrist because, oh, I'm sure he has. I would hope so. I hope everybody realizes how difficult it is to concentrate on everything. And there's a reason why pitchers can't hit, there's a reason why catchers can't hit. It's because so much of their time is taken up doing other things. And even MLB players, and maybe especially because of how difficult it is to hit, the bandwidth that you need to be in, have to be in the right headspace is. We shouldn't presume that everybody has that. It takes a pretty special mentality to not know what position you're gonna play in a given series, in a given game, and especially when we haven't even started in with injuries yet, about where you're gonna be needed maybe for an extended period of time. So. And to then say, all right, I got that taken care of. I know which glove I'm bringing out to the field with me. You look in your bag and you got six different gloves. And then where you're going to warm up, where you're going to play. And if, then if you're, if there's going to be defensive replacement action later on, if you. They're going to use him in the infield as a defensive replacement, that's possible too. But it's not easy to also then say, all right, what pitcher am I facing? What does this pitcher have? Go down into the cage and be able to plug any number of pitchers into the, into your machine down there. To know that, to be ready for any of them, while also figuring out it's a lot. And it may take Shaw time to, to figure everything out.
- [18:47]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I agree. And it's definitely been something that I, that is a concern because I just don't think he's going to be great at this whole utility player slash, you know, while trying to, you know, prove that he can hit at the major league level on a consistent basis. Like, it's, there's so much there that the Cubs are asking him to do and, and, and it could be added pressure on him knowing that he has this opportunity while, say, Suzuki is out. But it's the big leagues, man, and you just, you gotta perform. And it's not like this guy's a rookie, is his second year, and this is his chance to prove that he belongs. And yeah, again, I'm just going to be really interested to see how that goes.
- [19:26]
Dan Bernstein
But how many people have tried to do this at this age? It's usually something you, you settle into mid career to late career, how many, how many players on a good team are find themselves forced into this situation where look, you're, you know, we think you're a big leaguer. You're here, we're going to find uses for you. But at, at a very, very young and untested age, I wonder how many people have said, yeah, I'm, I'm already mature enough to be a super sub type of defender. I think it's asking an awful lot.
- [20:03]
Cody Delmendo
It is, it really is. And again it will, it will be very telling how his value is looked at before the trade deadline and if, if they do end up keeping him, what that says about Nico Horner's future. But we got a long way to go for that.
- [20:29]
Dan Bernstein
Let's go back to Boyd for a second because Boyd is now 35 and he wore down last year and we knew it when we saw it. He just didn't. His pitches didn't look the same. The, the, the breaking stuff didn't snap. The. We. And I would have to go back actually. But there was plenty of compiled velocity and spin rate data to show that at some point the human body just gets tired and he, he threw a lot of pitches. So I loved his stuff. The first time through the order just, just looking at the stuff, the numbers of the swing and miss, the number of whiffs he was getting was unlike him because at those lower velocities you were. We. There were a lot of put away situations where you're getting a lot of foul balls and you weren't seeing a lot of chase and because they weren't they, they were picking it up better from his hand. The we have to look in is there data today that's going to say this is what was different second time through when he absolutely just hit a wall. I don't know. But you know, I'm pleased with the way his pitches were jumping out of his hand in the first couple of innings. That was good stuff.
- [21:46]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, yeah. That's why it's really confusing on what happened after and second time through the order.
- [21:52]
Dan Bernstein
Sure.
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Cody Delmendo
But I'm, I do have concerns about him in terms of regression compared to last year because last year he pitched 180 innings. It was the most innings he had pitched since 2019. This guy when the Cubs signed him. My big, my concern in the moment when they signed him was will this guy be healthy all year then? And then he was. And he was good.
- [22:20]
Dan Bernstein
Right.
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Cody Delmendo
For the most part.
- [22:22]
Dan Bernstein
Right.
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Cody Delmendo
So now you come into this year. I think it's, it's, it would be dumb to not expect some regression. But how Much regression is coming. Six runs and three and two thirds innings. I hope that's not something that we're going to get used to seeing from him.
- [22:37]
Dan Bernstein
Well, I mean the answer to that, especially because of the difference between the age 34 and age 35 season. Last year he was a 3.4 win pitcher. He had a terrific year last year.
- [22:49]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah.
- [22:49]
Dan Bernstein
And you know, I don't need to, to, to give you F award and tell you that. However, the projection metrics this year all bake in regression. Every single one of them. The, the consensus looking at whether it is fan graphs and zips that Dan Zimborski puts together, steamer the bat. All of these have him varying between a, a mid two and a, you know, two and a half wins all the way down to two wins. So yeah, I think every metric across the board predicts he will not be as good as he was last year. So I think we, you know, I'm comfortable looking at their pitching depth and comfortable understanding that looking and you know, having Justin Steel come back, having Cabrera here, they feel that maybe they've figured something out about Shota and his angle and velocity. So yeah, I would just say it's reasonable. Don't expect a three and a half win year from him.
- [23:57]
Cody Delmendo
We got breaking news, Dan from Michael Cerami from Bleacher Nation. The Cubs have extended Nico Horner.
- [24:07]
Dan Bernstein
Hey, wow. How about it now, now trade Matt Shaw's dumb fascist ass. Get him up out of here. That's great. Why all days to announce. Hey, hey. It's, it's like that time I was at the gym when they traded for Nomar Garcia para that, that, that. This, this douche bro is walking around to the gym after the Cubs lost a game. They make the Nomar deal goes well. We lost, but we won. We lost, but we won. He's slamming the dumbbells down and that's, that's. But I, I'm with you, man. I'm, I'm. I'm with you.
- [24:41]
Cody Delmendo
Douche.
- [24:42]
Dan Bernstein
Jim, bro. They lost, but they won. So what's, what are they any, anything on that deal that's any.
- [24:48]
Cody Delmendo
Not yet. He literally just tweeted it. He just tweeted it. Yeah.
- [24:52]
Dan Bernstein
Good catch.
- [24:53]
Cody Delmendo
I have his notifications turned on because he's so good and he's, he's normal. I don't think he's ever been like, wrong. He hasn't been.
- [25:02]
Dan Bernstein
Okay.
- [25:03]
Cody Delmendo
So I, I trust him and, and I don't just say that because I consider him a, a decent friend in the space. So. Yeah, we'll. I'll follow this as we continue to talk here. But yeah. Nico Horner getting extended. We were just talking about Shaw. If they, Them extending Nico Horner does say a lot about.
- [25:20]
Dan Bernstein
Yes.
- [25:20]
Cody Delmendo
What Shaw's future could be with the Cubs. And.
- [25:23]
Dan Bernstein
Yes.
- [25:26]
Cody Delmendo
We're gonna see, man. We're gonna see. That's all I can say. But this, in terms of Nico Horner, this was like a must thing for them to do, in my opinion, because this guy has become a leader in this, in this clubhouse the last few years. And I know you're. I'm not big on batting average, Dan. You're not big on batting average, but there are few players in baseball I think we're batting average is worth looking at. And he is one of them because he doesn't walk a ton, but he doesn't strike out a ton either. And he puts the ball in play.
- [26:00]
Dan Bernstein
He makes his outs differently. I just, I, I need more power.
- [26:04]
Cody Delmendo
I, I agree.
- [26:05]
Dan Bernstein
I, I really do. He's. He's too big and strong. Have you ever stood next to him like, he looks strong? He really does. This is not a little slap hitting wisp of a man.
- [26:17]
Cody Delmendo
I agree. I agree. I've always thought he could be a, you know, a 15 to 20 homer guy. Just, we've gotten years now where it just hasn't been the case. I do think Wrigley plays a part in that. I think if he played in like Houston with the Crawford boxes, he would, he would be a 15 to 20 homer guy. But the. I didn't even mention his defense. I mean, this is the best defensive second baseman in baseball outside of Bryce Turing, probably. This is a guy that should and deserves to be here for a long time. And no matter what the numbers coming out, I don't think that this is going to be some huge, massive deal. I. Over the off season, I predicted he could get somewhere between five years, 90 million, something like that, maybe five years, 100.
- [27:06]
Dan Bernstein
That's.
- [27:06]
Cody Delmendo
That's what I thought. That's what I believe.
- [27:08]
Dan Bernstein
And I do agree with you that he, he does kind of change the way we look at some of those, those older numbers. But the fact is a lot of, A lot of the newfangled numbers are very kind to him too. And I hate even using that word because I feel like I'm ceding territory to stupid people and, and I'm kind of violating my own rule of not making you dumber because there's. But there are, there are a lot of ways of measuring things that are very favorable to Nico Horner. Having said that, I, I will admit that he is. Horner is a guy who probably has, has immeasurable value as well as measurable value, because I know what his teammates say about him and how that a lot of what he does is the way he prepares, the example that he sets his, his, his winning mentality. And I know I'm in areas where I'm not comfortable. I'm not, I'm not good with the soft stuff. And it does take an understanding of the soft stuff to, to appreciate him.
- [28:18]
Cody Delmendo
They.
- [28:19]
Dan Bernstein
Jed is big on makeup and who you are as a person and what he feels that Tom Ricketts can invest his money in. He wouldn't go to bat for a guy like this. He would not tell Tom Ricketts, pay this money to this guy if he thought that the guy in any way would make him look bad. And I think that, that Hoyer trusts that, that Horner will do absolutely everything in his power to maximize every last bit of ability he has to play this game.
- [28:48]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I think he'll. He'll also age well, if you know what I mean by that, because he's had some injury issues in the past, but I just think the way he plays the game and, and how he takes care of his body, I think he's gonna age well. And I, I want to look at like, Javier Baez. I didn't think he was going to age well back when his free agent year came around or his walk year came around. And Nico is a guy that I, I think that he will age well and through most of this contract extension, will be a very productive player.
- [29:28]
Dan Bernstein
So I agree with you on a certain level. The only thing that would tell me maybe a question is because we've seen him play short and he can, in a pinch, he can get you through a game. He can get you through a little bit of time at short. He really is only a second baseman at this point. And, and it's not like he's a slugger where you say, we got to get that bat in there somewhere when he can't play second base anymore. It's, it's, it's probably it. He's not going to move down the defensive ladder. Where you look, you know, look at Mike Trout. Mike Trout cannot play center field anymore, but he's going to be, at some point, he's going to move to a corner outfield spot, or you're able to say, you know, the bat's the bat. The only, the limiting factor to him aging well is going to be where he can remain a plus defender. And I don't, I don't see him doing a Robin Yount and, and he was a guy who played a long time ago. I'm going to do this a lot, so get used to that. But I, I don't, I don't see him like having a late career resurgence as an outfielder because his arm is never going to be better than it is now.
- [30:45]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I would agree with that. I don't think I'll push back a little and say that I think he could play shortstop tomorrow if the Cubs needed him to and he could probably do it for another two or three years if they absolutely need to. But you have one of the best defensive shortstops on your team already. So that to me that's why he's been at second base.
- [31:03]
Dan Bernstein
Right.
- [31:04]
Cody Delmendo
He played second base regularly in 2022 before they signed Swanson. So.
- [31:09]
Dan Bernstein
Shortstop, you mean?
- [31:11]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, for shortstop. Yeah. So. But the point is, is that you got two of the best defensive up the middle infielders in the league on your team now for the foreseeable future. And I, I'm, I'm excited about this and I think that his, I think it's hard to say his best years are ahead of him because the season he's coming off of was so good. And I never expected to think that Nico Horner would be a 6B war player, but he was. So I, I, they're going to have him through his prime years and you're going to get prime defense. You're going to get a guy who puts the ball in play and has historically came through in big spots situationally. If you don't want to talk about clutch, we can talk about situational hitting. I think he, he is able to put the ball in play when you, you absolutely need someone to. And again, I think that leadership factor and clubhouse presence act. It means so much. So yeah. That those are my key things about him and, and why I like him being here for the foreseeable future. How he ages. I agree with you on the fact that yeah. After if, if it, when we get to the day where he can't play second base anymore, he's done.
- [32:28]
Dan Bernstein
Because are you, do you trust Michael Cerami on this?
- [32:32]
Cody Delmendo
I do. Yes. I do trust Michael.
- [32:34]
Dan Bernstein
Ceramics. Okay. I'm going to defer to you because as of right now, he remains the only source of this and he, he has posted his piece at Bleacher Nation.
- [32:47]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah.
- [32:47]
Dan Bernstein
He says it's not all bad news today. My friends According to sources familiar with the situation, second baseman and would be free agent to be. Nico Horner has signed an extension with the Chicago Cubs. He writes, I have confirmed with multiple sources that this is a done deal.
- [33:04]
Cody Delmendo
Wow.
- [33:05]
Dan Bernstein
I do. Unfortunately, I don't have details on the terms of the extension just yet. We did know this was a distinct possibility as Nico Horner had otherwise just begun his final season with the Cubs on the last extension he signed back in 2023. Okay, so he's. Is. Yeah, is. Is. But so far, again, usually when something like this comes out immediately, the Passins and the Rosenthals and the Nightingales etc are there to confirm where there's still a little bit of lag time here.
- [33:39]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah.
- [33:40]
Dan Bernstein
And. But as if you trust it. I'm. I'm good.
- [33:45]
Cody Delmendo
I, I am going to, to stick my hand out for my friend Michael Cerami. Here he is. He's broken some stories before and they're not just small ones. He's broken some big ones. So I'll trust him on this one. And I don't think we're going to get the numbers before we end the show, but I guess that'll be something we can discuss tomorrow morning.
- [34:04]
Dan Bernstein
Indeed it will. So let's do that then. That'll be our plan. So, interesting stuff today. And you got a little breaking news. Don't forget where you heard it first. And that was. Well, it's now that this is a podcast. See, I got to get used to these things because it's a pod. So somebody heard it elsewhere and then it's coming here to find out what we think of it. There, I got it.
- [34:25]
Cody Delmendo
Yes.
- [34:25]
Dan Bernstein
There. There we go.
- [34:27]
Cody Delmendo
Yes. Before we end, do you have any more thoughts? Oh, by the way, Jesse Rogers just confirmed.
- [34:35]
Dan Bernstein
There it is.
- [34:36]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah. Breaking. The Cubs are in agreement with Nico Horner on a six year deal pending a physical.
- [34:43]
Dan Bernstein
Six year deal? Six year deal pending a physical. Do you have to do a physical on your own player? I guess I've never heard that before.
- [34:53]
Cody Delmendo
I mean, I think that's why PCA's extension numbers didn't come out until after.
- [34:59]
Dan Bernstein
Or it took a while to do physical when you made a trade and got somebody from another organization.
- [35:04]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, I mean the guy just played nine innings for you. He's okay ending a physical.
- [35:10]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, that's the first time I've ever seen that. But okay. A six year deal. And obviously what matters are the opt outs, the money, the opt outs, whether or not they gave him a no trade. But Nico is what, 28?
- [35:25]
Cody Delmendo
Yes, I believe he's 27 or 28.
- [35:27]
Dan Bernstein
That's it. Then that, that's, that's. You're talking Cub for life.
- [35:31]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah.
- [35:31]
Dan Bernstein
If you're talking about the, the years that matter.
- [35:33]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah. And he's, I haven't touched on this but to me he's one of the bigger fan favorites. I think Petco Armstrong is the most popular player on the team right now. But can saying popular and beloved I don't think is necessarily the same in many ways because Nico Horner's been here through some tough times. He came up in 2019, he was here for the sell off of the, the 2016 core, all these things. He's been here a lot longer. So I think he fans are, I will expect to be very excited about this and already listed all the reasons from a baseball perspective why it's a good thing that they're doing this from a, from a fan standpoint. For me, like that's, that's why I'm also excited about it. It's just, he's just been here for a long time and he's represented the organization well and I think he's, he's a guy that you want on your team. I think he's one of the most underrated players in all of baseball. I, it is to me it is a shame he has not been an all star yet and maybe that's this year. We'll see.
- [36:39]
Dan Bernstein
That's the big story of the day. Nico Horner agreeing to a six year contract extension. We will have all the details for you when we do this again tomorrow. We are your home for daily Cubs conversation. We are Dan Bernstein and Cody Delmendo. This is off the the Ivy, a 312 sports podcast.
- [37:04]
Cody Delmendo
Off the Ivy, a Chicago Cubs podcast with Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticoa and Cody Delmendo on 312 Sports.