Pointless Exercise - A Desipio Podcast

Oleg and Praz join the podcast to discuss the arrivals of Cade Horton and Moises Ballesteros on the Cubs roster and discuss other great 22s and 25s in Cubs history. They talk about Cade's impressive debut against the Mets and try to figure out how to keep Moises on the roster long-term--before he even gets his first big league hit. I mean, how hard could it be for Michael Busch to relearn third ba...

It's time again to talk baseball with David Brown, and in this scintillating episode we discuss how the D'bags won the Paul Goldschmidt seven years after the fact! (Kind of.) Why math and common sense tells you that if the Cubs don't call Cade Horton up to make some Shōta replacement starts right now they might miss their window for the whole season. Is the Javier Baez rejuvenation a real thing? H...

An intrepid reader searched for Neifi Perez the other day and was horrified and amused at what they found. They shared the results with Andy and in this podcast you'll get a dramatic retelling of the events surrounding Neifi and the rosin bag. Plus, Dansby's fixed! Well, at least his offense. A prospect pervert has the completely wrong take on Alex Cohen's "talents," we look...

Craig Counsell clearly read the newsletter and listened to the podcast and came to the conclusion that dropping Dansby Swanson in the order was a good idea. Oleg, Praz and Andy discuss reordering things, Shōta dodging a major injury (though with the Cubs you never know), how this hot start is different than last year's hot start and more fun with Petecrow Armstrong. Praz talks about the Cubs t...

With the NFL Draft going on, Andy and Dave look back at when the Kansas City Royals just kept drafting Hall of Fame football players. Plus, fun with official scoring, when is a save a win, what happens when you try to send your Rule V "star" to the minors, why was it legal for a double-A player to hit the ball twice with one swing, gender reveals do not belong in the batter's box, wh...

The Cubs are trying to bolster their bullpen with Drew Pomeranz? Hey, nobody's gotten a hit off of him in four years! Bruce Levine says that Jed's out looking for a starter and a "lock down" reliever and that would be great if this was November of last year when he should have been trying to the same damned thing. We look back at the crazy Friday win over the D'bags and two e...

Matt Shaw is taking his leg kick on the road to Iowa, the great Vidal Brujan has returned, the Cubs are going to have to find a way without Justin Steele for a while and half the lineup is struggling. And yet, the Cubs are in first place. Oleg and Praz are on hand to talk about all of it. What's the future hold for Tater Workman, is it in Chicago or Detroit or Erie, Pennslvania and do we have...

You get teased with a big celebrity guest, but it falls through, so instead you'll have to settle for Andy talking about upcoming books on the 2003 and 2016 Cubs, a pathetic plea for more paid newsletter subscribers and then actual sports talk about Justin Steele's elbow, Kyle Tucker cooling off and only leading the NL in six statistical categories, Petecrow being productive without really...

David Brown joins the pod to talk about a really weird early season baseball stat, jump to conclusions based on small sample sizes and run differentials, Vlad Guerrero Jr's big new deal, the Cubs chances of keeping Kyle Tucker, why torpedo bats aren't for everyone and the Pirates stepping in a big pile of iced tea and vodka. All that, and more.

As the Cubs prepare for opening day 3.0 let's take a look at how things are going through the season's first nine games. The bullpen stinks, Big Jimmy Taillon's no great shakes, but most everything else is pretty good. Kyle Tucker's awesome, the catchers are playing out of their minds, Dansby and Petecrow are catching everything in sight and Shōta's still great. Seiya had to wa...

Carson Kelly has joined an elite group of Cubs hitters...OK, well, he's certainly joined a group of Cubs hitters...who have hit for a cycle. Oleg and Praz are here to talk about every Cubs cycle in history, why the bullpen still blows, how the Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ suck this time, why Kikè Hernandez is apparently more popular than every Cubs player and how MLB can fix their TV problem...

It's opening day 2.0 and the Cubs still aren't playing when the sun's out. Oh well, everything can't be perfect. Let's take a look at some big keys to the season like Matt Shaw being good, Petecrow taking the next step and Michael Busch hopefully proving he's more than just a guy. Let's discuss what Jed said to our good friend Jon Greenberg about his future and Kyle Tuc...

Opening Day part deux is on the way and David Brown is on hand to discuss all of the important things you need to hear before the season restarts anew. Did the Cubs feel any shame losing two games in Tokyo to a third of the Dodgers' best players? Why did the Dodgers make Mookie Betts fly halfway around the world twice when things were spewing out of him at both ends? Did anybody have to try to...

Worlds collide as both Pointless Exercise baseball podcasts join forces to preview the 2025 season. David Brown, Oleg, Praz and Andy sit around and yak about who's going to the playoffs, who's going to be MVP, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Manager of the Year. No tangent is too wild to stray off on and somehow amidst all the serious baseball talk they discuss choosing one award by firing the le...

Sure, the Dodgers might have the best player of his generation and two other Japanese fireballers, but there's no dispute that the Cubs' Japanese players returning home to play in next week's games are more fun. Seiya's hitting baseballs with a samurai sword, Shōta's making fun of his manager's batting stance. That has to be worth something, right? Tom Loxas is on hand to d...

Baseball's hat designers learned the hard way that there are many, many words for breasts all over the world. David Brown is on hand to talk about that, about his upcoming train ride to spring training, the Cubs departure for Japan, dumb things said on sports radio, Mo Vaughn's interesting PED routine, where Yadi lives now, is Dave Roberts really a good manager, injured pitchers and much, much mor...

The Remember This Crap tour around the diamond remembering the greatest (and other) Cubs players at each position has reached the hot corner. Andy and Huey are on hand to tell you more than you'd ever like to know about every regular third baseman (and some irregular ones) from the Hall of Famer who first played the position in 1876 all the way to the current day including a theory as to why Matt...

Oleg is back from a whirlwind trip to Cubs spring training, Innings Festival and his first look at Toilet Flapper Field and he has stories to tell. Praz tries to guess who Gary Clark Jr's favorite Cub is, and Andy is relieved that Petecrow's leg is in one piece and that Matt Shaw's batting stance seems to be in working order. They discuss Cole Wright's play by play efforts, a juicy...

Spring Training is in full swing and enough of it has passed that Sammy Sosa showed up, so Tom Loxas is here to talk about it. Sammy's there passing along his wisdom to the young players ("Don't take $80,000 to a hotel lobby in a towel") and a guy only slightly younger than him is taking grounders at third base. But Matt Shaw is nearing his return while Nico Hoerner has already b...

Thankfully ABS stands for Automated Balls and Strikes and not what Andy thought it did. David Brown joins the podcast to talk about the early days of testing the system and if there's a chance it could come to a big league ballpark near you this year. They also discuss bearded Yankees, the passing of Andy's pretend grandfather, how Justin Ishbia bailing on the Twins to buy more Sox shares...

The Cubs are banking on some marked improvements from some of their young players (and Michael Busch) but how realistic is that? Justin Turner's contract terms show the Cubs will spare no length to save a buck. A deep dive into the psychology that makes the Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ the way that they are--the kids at least. Is the local blog media finally catching on to the fact that...

The Cubs have a new right handed hitter and the guys try to not confuse Justin Turner with NFL massage enthusiast Justin Tucker, and they remember the time Justin Turner tried to kill everybody during the Dodgers 2020 World Series celebration. Oleg, Praz and Andy discuss whether Jed was being passive aggressive in thanking Tom and the rest of The Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ for giving him a...

The longest running half-assed historical podcast on the Cubs (probably) is back, and this time Andy and Huey are taking a look at the long, distinguished history of Cubs' right fielders. And we don't just mean Nate Schierholtz. Who were the best ever? Who were the worst? The Cubs have a storied history at the position dating back to a Hall of Famer who played in the '80s. The 1880s. C...

Alex Bregman took the higher offer and picked the Red Sox over the Cubs. Tom Loxas is on hand to discuss whether that's a blessing in disguise for the Cubs, and the guys try to figure out why Jed was thanking the Omaha Hillbillies for letting him make an offer but also seemingly decrying the fact he couldn't go even higher. They discuss if the Cubs have another move in them, especially for...

Is Alex Bregman worth signing even in the short term? Would it even make sense if the Cubs signed him and traded Nico Hoerner to save a few bucks? Who was a bigger prick, Jim Edmonds, Curt Schilling or Troy Glaus? The answer of course is Trevor Bauer. Does Shohei count as a pitcher on the Dodgers' roster? Why would anybody trade for Nolan Arenado and not have him play third? Does Justin Turner...