Spiegel and Holmes, afternoons on the score. Hey, everybody, welcome to a very special edition of the Cubs Weekly Podcast. We're joined by someone that if you're a baseball fan, you have to recognize. Otherwise, I don't know what you're doing with your life. It's Jeff Passon. Kyle Tucker. Do you think they're the favorite right now, the Chicago Cubs? I've said yes in the past, and I will still say yes now, but I think the Cubs are going

to have a limit that they're not going to want to go past.

And the reason I have pause on saying unequivocally, yes, they are the favorite, is because

I've seen this time and again.

We saw it with Alex Bregman.

If they do lose Kyle Tucker, that's going to be the reason because they were steadfast

in their position and refused to move off of it despite market forces doing what they

do.

We're back live from Sluggers in Wrigleyville with more of the Spiegel and Home Show with your

host Gabe Ramirez and Jutson Richards on Chicago's Sports Radio 670 the score. Yeah, we're just a hop step and a jump from Wrigley Field, live from Sluggers in Wrigleyville. It's going to be an interesting offseason for the Cubs and Kyle Tucker, although we still have September and then October to get to. We'll discuss that. Just a reminder tonight, the Cubs take on the Rockies in Denver. Pre-game coverage begins at 705, first pitch at 740 on the score and the Southwest Airlines Cubs Radio Network. He is Gabe Ramirez. I'm Johnson Richards. He is Lance Brozdowski, a voice you just heard, along with Jeff Passens.

Lance, thanks for joining us right here, right here at Sluggers in person.

This is a short little walkover. Thanks for having me. Not too bad. Yeah, so let's begin there. Let's, you know, because I've been thinking a lot about these Kyle Tucker numbers. I was looking at, you know, Shohei Otani in the year that he had. I know the absurdity of the contract that he got, but even Juan Soto.

And so kind of that big time money.

And then Kyle Tucker had 18. year that he had. I know the absurdity of the contract that he got, but even Juan Soto.

And so kind of that big time money. And then Kyle Tucker had 18 home runs going into that Angels series, but he hit three. So 21. It's like, all right, he may get to 30 home runs by

year's end. How is the season that he's having potentially going to affect the amount of money

he's going to get this offseason? That was one of the primary questions I wanted to ask Jeff. Jeff Passen when I talked to him was do you think this hand thing and the subsequent poor performance would have any influence on his offseason contract? Because I wasn't entirely sure. I feel like it's not a soft tissue thing. You know, it's one of those kind of more accidental things that you could maybe

rationalize as an organization.

You know, this maybe won't happen in subsequent years. It's kind of a blip accident, et cetera. He played through it. We generally see that with guys in contract years. They tend to steal more bases and play through small injuries. So even though the data showed his Batsby was down, which is a pretty good way to ID, this guy's hurt. In reality, yeah, it impacted his performance pretty heavily to the point now where he's not going to have the season that I imagine heading into the year. He would love to have put together to seek $500 million. Passon said that he thought it would have some influence, but I do think the key thing is how he plays in September and how he plays in October. We've seen guys in the past go into October have incredible stretches and get a ton of money. I think like Jordan Montgomery, maybe not as high caliber of a player as Kyle Tucker. But you can do really, really strong in a short period of time and convince everybody going into the offseason that you're healthy and deserving of 450 plus. As to whether he ends up, passing thought the number right now is right around $400 million, which I was a bit surprised because I see it more up in like the $475 area. That's a big gap, right? I think that if he goes to maybe a shorter A.A.V or excuse me, shorter year, higher AAV and is willing to take like $5 for $250, you start to get a lot more guys, a lot more team, excuse me, in the picture. That could be difficult for the Cubs who maybe have a little bit of leverage and saying, you know, we have good outfielders. We don't necessarily need Kyle Tucker, but I would argue they need Kyle Tucker. I'm sure you saw this. After that home run against the Angels, where he was able to kind of breathe a sigh of relief. The comments made by Pete Kroh Armstrong after the game about him just sticking with it,

even when the wind is blowing in your face at Wrigley Field.

To watch him go to an A.L. West ballpark where he's very comfortable as a Houston Astro.

We're all more comfortable perhaps in Southern California on a warm night.

...