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Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are

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Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. Cubs

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Speaker 1: first homestand is in the books and their first I

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Speaker 1: guess injury of the regular season, you know, has popped up.

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Speaker 1: Dustin Steele heads to the injured list with left elbow tendonitis.

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Speaker 1: It's a same similar injury that he had at the

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Speaker 1: end of last season. And you know, if you want

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Speaker 1: to be optimistic about it, that one was the season

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Speaker 1: was lost at that point, right They're pretty much out

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Speaker 1: of playoff contention, and he came back in seventeen days. Remember,

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Speaker 1: fans were up in arms. How can you do this?

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Speaker 1: It was the point of having Justin's pitch, right. Uh.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if they had a point now that

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Speaker 1: he's hurt again, But I don't think it's all connected.

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Speaker 1: It's it's just, uh, you know, the early word is

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Speaker 1: super precautionary, all that stuff, all the positive stuff you

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Speaker 1: want to hear after an injury. I do feel that

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Speaker 1: Craig Council is pretty blunt about these things. If he's concerned.

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Speaker 1: You will let you know he's concerned. But MRI Thursday.

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Speaker 1: That's we're recording on a Thursday. The MRI is happening

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Speaker 1: at some point today. That I think is the big step.

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Speaker 1: Getting news on that will will make things a little

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Speaker 1: easier to swallow if it is legitimately just tendonitis all

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Speaker 1: and and nothing to be overly concerned about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I have a couple different thoughts. I mean, you were

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Speaker 3: there at really Field, so you can speak.

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Speaker 4: You already did begin to speak to sort of the

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Speaker 4: atmospherics of how this was announced. I think Cubs fans

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Speaker 4: know that there's almost always the downplaying of the injury,

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Speaker 4: like it's almost always precautionary.

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Speaker 3: Still, over the last couple.

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Speaker 4: Of years has had these sort of relatively smaller issues

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Speaker 4: that he's been able to deal with and come back

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Speaker 4: relatively quickly. But it is just sort of frustrating because

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Speaker 4: this is a guy who you said his goal is

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Speaker 4: making thirty plus starts, and if you want to be

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Speaker 4: that true top of the rotation pitcher, I guess is

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Speaker 4: a kind of an ACES project type thing.

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Speaker 3: You have to be out there for those thirty plus.

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Speaker 4: So, as a seasoned observers, as you were kind of

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Speaker 4: processing this information and reading everyone's sort of body language

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Speaker 4: and tone and the history.

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Speaker 3: You know, what should the panic level be for Cubs fans?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to any Any major judgment I have

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Speaker 1: is I want to see what this MRI says.

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Speaker 2: If that comes back clean.

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Speaker 1: There's like right now, I reading everything, body language, the

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Speaker 1: way people were talking.

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Speaker 2: If anything.

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Speaker 1: Justin Steele seemed annoyed that he had to go on

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Speaker 1: the IKA. You know, that's that's the way I I.

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Speaker 1: We could have been misinterpreting him, but he didn't seem

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Speaker 1: thrilled to be going on the IL. He came in,

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Speaker 1: So this happened on a Wednesday. The announcement happened on

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Speaker 1: a Wednesday. He came in on Tuesday. After a brilliant

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Speaker 1: start on Monday, seven innings, not probably definitely his best

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Speaker 1: start of the season. Looked like Justin Steele, the Justin

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Speaker 1: Steele with grown accustomed to over the over the last

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Speaker 1: few years, and he came in on Tuesday wanting treatment, saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, he didn't it felt you know, going back

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Speaker 1: like listening to the sound, it kind of he kind

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Speaker 1: of made it seem like it was normal. In between

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Speaker 1: start aches and pains, but he did specify some pain

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Speaker 1: and that's why they said, Okay, no we're not we're

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Speaker 1: not doing this treatment and you go in five days. Again,

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Speaker 1: let's let's be extra cautious. He kept saying they decided

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Speaker 1: to put me on the I L. He said that twice.

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Speaker 1: I believe so it was. It wasn't something where I

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Speaker 1: don't know. It didn't sound like he had like any

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Speaker 1: contentious argument about it. But I don't think he was

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Speaker 1: thrilled about it. You know, these guys want to play,

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Speaker 1: they don't want to go on the I l IF.

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Speaker 1: They like to be known as guys that pushed through

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Speaker 1: these things. I think it seemed to me that counsel

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Speaker 1: was just like, we're not messing with this. We're going

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Speaker 1: to get him feeling good and out there again. Here's

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Speaker 1: where I would pause on optimism. We have heard this before, right,

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Speaker 1: We've heard this with so many guys. Last year, we

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Speaker 1: heard like, we're hoping for a minimum stint and then

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Speaker 1: the pain's not going away. Whether it was Ben Brown,

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Speaker 1: whether it was yet the Almonte, there's at least one

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Speaker 1: or two others. Granted he's had this before and it's

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Speaker 1: been minimum stays right the yeah forearm in twenty three,

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Speaker 1: I want to say, an elbow last year. These you know,

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Speaker 1: you could say those are red flags, or you could say, hey,

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Speaker 1: these are the bumps and bruises that happened during the

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Speaker 1: course of a season, and he'll be fine. So it

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Speaker 1: depends on how you like to react to these things.

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Speaker 2: Right, Well, I.

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Speaker 5: Guess if this news had popped maybe in the second

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Speaker 5: inning of his start in Sacramento, you know, after a

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Speaker 5: couple not very good starts, and you know, the athletics

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Speaker 5: seem to be on him, and then to his credit,

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Speaker 5: he right of the ship and like you said, just

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Speaker 5: had an awesome start his last time out.

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Speaker 4: I think that timing was surprising. But otherwise, what are

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Speaker 4: the Cubs do for now? Is there a next man up?

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Speaker 4: Do they kind of just manage the rotation to where

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Speaker 4: they skip his turn?

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Speaker 2: What do you hear? Patrick?

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Speaker 1: You know how for forthcoming the council is about his

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Speaker 1: plans for the future. He loves tolge every scenario that

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Speaker 1: they're considering exactly. Someone asked a question about tentative plans.

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Speaker 1: He's like, yes, we have tentative plans, and guy left.

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Speaker 1: So I followed up with that, but do like when

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Speaker 1: you look at tentative plans, like, so they have four

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Speaker 1: off days over the next two weeks.

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Speaker 2: I believe, I believe that's correct.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot of off days to have, so they

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Speaker 1: they have some wiggle room here. And and my question

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Speaker 1: was essentially like, when you look at those tentative plans,

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Speaker 1: is it you are you if it's a minimum stay, are.

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Speaker 2: You just covering one start?

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Speaker 1: And he basically said, like, tentatively yes, So that's like

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Speaker 1: Sunday or Monday ish, depending on how they want to

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Speaker 1: do things. How the bullpen goes Uh. He was not

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Speaker 1: giving any hints. The initial move is Ethan Roberts for

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Speaker 1: Justin Steele. Obviously Ethan Roberts is a reliever. I think

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Speaker 1: maybe you'll you'll hear more information over the weekend. Let's

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Speaker 1: see how first two games go. Uh, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think that will tell us a lot. I think it's

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Speaker 1: seems like to me, Colin Ray makes sense. But if

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Speaker 1: the bullpen gets just completely you know, overused on Friday

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Speaker 1: and Saturday, do you have to call up Jordan Wicks,

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Speaker 1: right and so say that happens. I don't think that's

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Speaker 1: like an awful thing to happen either, Right, But Jordan

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Speaker 1: Wicks I believe, is scheduled to start tonight Thursday night

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Speaker 1: with Iowa.

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Speaker 2: So who knows who?

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Speaker 1: Well, I guess we'll see that tonight today will tell

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Speaker 1: us a lot about their tentative plans. Right, if Jordan

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Speaker 1: Wicks starts tonight, then I don't know who you could

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Speaker 1: even call up. I don't think you're not making a

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Speaker 1: forty man move for this unless this is unless they

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Speaker 1: get bad news on steel, right, So I think that

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Speaker 1: that that tells us that that should tell us a

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Speaker 1: lot what what happens tonight with Wicks and what happens

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Speaker 1: with the MRI will probably give us, you know, a

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Speaker 1: decent amount of information on how they want to handle everything.

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: Before we talk more about this and get to other things,

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if the cold impacted justin Steel. He

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Speaker 1: wondered if that impacted him. He was apparently he was

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Speaker 1: like kind of talking about it during the game on Monday.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's just the cold, Like what's going on.

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Speaker 1: My velocity's down. But but he said he was fine

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Speaker 1: and pushed through it and delivered his best start of

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Speaker 1: the season. I think that's like, if we if we

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Speaker 1: ignore the injury for right now and just talk about

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Speaker 1: that how good he looked like. That was a nice

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Speaker 1: little you know, that was nice to see in the

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Speaker 1: sense that I think we saw this last year. I

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Speaker 1: think people people were acting like he'd never had like

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Speaker 1: this home run blip and I and I felt like

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Speaker 1: I was like, I feel like there was this home

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Speaker 1: run blip exactly last year. And yes, it happened right

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Speaker 1: when he came back from the hamstring injury. He had

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Speaker 1: like these three starts where he gave up more home

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Speaker 1: runs than he ever does, and then he became justin steel.

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Speaker 1: So that was a good side obviously, the elbows the

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Speaker 1: bad outcome, and well as as far as filling these starts,

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Speaker 1: we touched on that. I also think it's huge how

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Speaker 1: everyone else looks right. Yeah, if like showdow Managa had

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Speaker 1: a bad start on Wednesday, and we can talk about

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Speaker 1: this the week that was, but you know, the week

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Speaker 1: that was, there was a lot of good starting pitching.

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Speaker 1: Showdo Minaga is still a top ten pitcher by Baseball

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Speaker 1: Reference war in the NL, Matthew Boyd is a top

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Speaker 1: five pitcher by war according to Baseball Reference. Jamison Tyne

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Speaker 1: had an awful first start against the Diamondbacks and since

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Speaker 1: then has been as looks like what you'd love to

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Speaker 1: see a third starter on a playoff team look like.

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Speaker 1: Frankly like, he's better at missing bats now, he feels

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Speaker 1: good on the mound. I talked to him about his

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Speaker 1: delivery and everything. He feels like the best he's felt

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Speaker 1: since he's been in the Cubs uniform. So if you

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Speaker 1: want to take some positives away, you know that they

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Speaker 1: can weather this storm. If it's not months long absence, right,

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Speaker 1: you want just to steel back. I want to make

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Speaker 1: that clear. I'm not saying like, oh, it's fine, No,

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Speaker 1: you want as many good starting pitchers as possible. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but they can possibly weather the storm. I think the

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Speaker 1: bigger question is like the talent they're facing right, Like there,

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Speaker 1: it's not if you're going to have an injury, you

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Speaker 1: almost would have liked it to happen in May when

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Speaker 1: the competition is weaker.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think this offense gonna is going

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Speaker 4: to have to keep putting tons of runs on the board.

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Speaker 4: Because we're just talking off air. The starting pitching the

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Speaker 4: Cubs will be facing coming up, was it Yamamoto Rokie

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Speaker 4: Glass Now cease.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I believe, that's what it is to

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Speaker 1: start the road trip.

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Speaker 4: And as we know, I mean, Dodger Stadium is just

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Speaker 4: a tough place to play. It's got this crazy energy,

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Speaker 4: not just you know, this fantastic collection of talent that

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Speaker 4: they have, but just.

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Speaker 3: The way they kind.

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Speaker 4: Of set the tone there and can kind of dictate

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Speaker 4: the terms. Is just a really difficult place to play.

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Speaker 4: It feels like we were just there. I mean I

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Speaker 4: was there in September with the Cubs and that was

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Speaker 4: a I think it was a Tommy Edmond show.

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Speaker 3: It was show.

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Speaker 4: Hey, it was say, getting thrown out at third base

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Speaker 4: part of a road trip that then went to Course Field,

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Speaker 4: which was kind of another nail.

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Speaker 3: In the season.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, I think Matthew Boyd that has looked awesome.

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Speaker 4: Obviously he won't have like a zero ear a the

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Speaker 4: whole season. I'm more concerned, Like he hasn't pitched a

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Speaker 4: full season though since twenty nineteen, right, so how was

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Speaker 4: he going to whether it?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. Ben Brown hasn't looked great. Maybe he will.

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Speaker 4: I mean everyone gets you know, kind of a grace

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Speaker 4: period and some and some runway.

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Speaker 3: I think every one time a SHOWDA and.

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Speaker 4: Tie on, and so yeah, this will be a time

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Speaker 4: to see how their pitching depth shows up, because you

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Speaker 4: know there's gonna be there's gonna be some games on

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Speaker 4: this road trip that get out of hand or where

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Speaker 4: you know, the starters talked out early.

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Speaker 3: The bullpen's going to have to do a lot.

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Speaker 4: And so to me, I was, I was, I know,

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Speaker 4: you've always been really optimistic about this offense. I was

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Speaker 4: probably a little more skeptical. I was very impressed, Like

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Speaker 4: this was like miserable hitting conditions. I believe John stein Miller,

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Speaker 4: the cups pr director, he had it in the notes.

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Speaker 3: He mentioned it to us of how it.

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Speaker 4: Was actually colder at first pitch at Wrigley than it

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Speaker 4: was for the puck drop at the Winter Classic on New.

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Speaker 3: Year's Eve, which gives you a sense of what it

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Speaker 3: was like.

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Speaker 4: It's just like we're we're up in the press box

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Speaker 4: and you know, the windows are closed and depending on

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Speaker 4: where you're sitting in there, like it's not that comfortable,

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Speaker 4: just like sitting in an enclosed case up there, playing

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Speaker 4: outside in the elements. And this offense I think has

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Speaker 4: really covered for uh, you know, some bullpen blips, some

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Speaker 4: shaky starting pitching outings, and we all know like offense

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Speaker 4: comes and goes. But I saw a lot there that

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Speaker 4: Like I was like, oh, this.

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Speaker 3: Is what's the hot if talking about? Like there are

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Speaker 3: a lot of more elements than just Kyle Tucker to

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Speaker 3: this group.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I I like this offense. I've stated that

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Speaker 1: for a while now. I think it's pretty good. I

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Speaker 1: think it's pretty deep. I will say that like days

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Speaker 1: like Wednesday happened. That's that's baseball. It's not it's not

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Speaker 1: that the world. I feel like Tyler. They've hit Tyler

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Speaker 1: Maylee before, but Tyler Maylee like once every three starts

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Speaker 1: against the Cubs like looks like an ace for some reason.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, Like it's just when you have it's

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Speaker 1: it's part of being a familiar pitcher, right, Like there

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Speaker 1: are these guys that pitch in the NL Central and

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Speaker 1: every single time we see them so much, it's like,

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Speaker 1: what this guy doesn't have any doesn't do anything that

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Speaker 1: like blows you away. I'm pretty sure he may have

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Speaker 1: made his big league debut against the Cubs or one

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Speaker 1: of his first starts was against the Cubs. I remember

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Speaker 1: being like, who is this guy? The first time that

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Speaker 1: you pitch against them, he's carving them up and it

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem to have anything special, but hey, that's that's

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Speaker 1: sometimes just pitching.

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Speaker 2: That's just how it works. Uh uh.

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Speaker 1: One one one quick note I wanted to make about

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Speaker 1: the pitching. The starting pitching council was clear he doesn't

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Speaker 1: want to push guys, so like, don't look for like

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Speaker 1: he likes extra day's rests. I I think I did

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Speaker 1: the math and of the eleven games, if again, if

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Speaker 1: it's a minimum stint of the eleven games, it would

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Speaker 1: be four would be on four days rest, which is

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Speaker 1: normal rest. But again, council likes to keep these things

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Speaker 1: like he likes to if he can get it five

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Speaker 1: days rest, so only four of them would be on

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Speaker 1: four days rest.

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Speaker 2: So maybe he's fine with that.

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Speaker 1: And he did seem to indicate, like I said, like

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Speaker 1: when I asked only one if you can keep it

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Speaker 1: to a minimum, it's one start that you have to cover,

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Speaker 1: seemed to acknowledge that that was the case. So you know,

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Speaker 1: we'll see where he goes with that. But yes, the

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Speaker 1: offense I think looks great. Let's talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about that. One more quick break right here, Patrick Kratz.

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Speaker 1: Patrick, the offense looks great. I'm trying to quickly look

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Speaker 1: up like just how they're they're.

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Speaker 2: Doing and.

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Speaker 1: Like by war and we know Kyle Tucker's a stud

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Speaker 1: this season. He's he's one of the leaders in all

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Speaker 1: of baseball. It's basically him and Corbyn Carroll. It looks like,

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Speaker 1: like says, Suzuki has shaken off a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a slow start pretty quickly, and he he is, he

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Speaker 1: looks like it's he looks like the player that they

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Speaker 1: kind of wanted him to become, right, Like Counsel has

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Speaker 1: talked about this. What kind of player can say is

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Speaker 1: Azuki be yes, he's been very good, but they haven't

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Speaker 1: been shy about saying like we almost expect a little

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Speaker 1: bit more right, like a little bit more consistency.

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Speaker 2: And it looks like he's getting there.

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Speaker 1: It looks like this is obviously it's not even a

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Speaker 1: month into the season, but you know we've seen stretches

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Speaker 1: like this. Of course, can he keep this up for

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Speaker 1: a whole season?

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Speaker 2: Him?

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Speaker 1: And if he does, him and Kyle Tucker are one

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Speaker 1: of the better one two punches in baseball right, and

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Speaker 1: it just kind.

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Speaker 2: Of makes everything.

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Speaker 1: I was actually texting earlier with the a scout for

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Speaker 1: another team, and he's just like, it's just so interesting

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Speaker 1: to watch.

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Speaker 2: He's like, it's not a one man.

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Speaker 1: Sport, but when you have a superstar in the lineup,

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Speaker 1: it sure does make things look a lot better.

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Speaker 2: It just it's just different. And they have they have

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Speaker 2: that guy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt.

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Speaker 4: I mean when I wrote that the other day was

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Speaker 4: not to downplay Kyle Tucker, because obviously we've written a

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Speaker 4: lot and will continue to write a lot about how

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Speaker 4: awesome he is at baseball, and I thought part of

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Speaker 4: that quote was interesting just because he does not carry

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Speaker 4: himself like a superstar in the sense of like it's

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Speaker 4: not all about him, like he does not.

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Speaker 3: He's polite, he.

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Speaker 4: Is professional and is dealing with the media, but there's

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Speaker 4: not a whole lot of like love of attention. It

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Speaker 4: does not seem like he very much enjoys it. He's

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Speaker 4: not just good at baseball either, like he seems to

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Speaker 4: enjoy the process and likes talking about it with his teammates.

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Speaker 4: Just that he's fit in, but there is a lot

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Speaker 4: of other stuff going on there too. I mean, this

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Speaker 4: is already had already happened, but Ian hap as leadoff hitter.

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Speaker 4: That's something that for years we had written about, right

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Speaker 4: of like who's it going to be? What are they

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Speaker 4: going to do? You see that interplay between Sayah and Tucker,

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Speaker 4: and you know, Counsel is not one to sort of

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Speaker 4: like just give in to any sort of narrative, and

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Speaker 4: he seems kind of skeptical about a lot of these

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Speaker 4: types of ideas, but he full on said he'll Saya

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Speaker 4: is learning from Tucker. Like that seems kind of like

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Speaker 4: an easy sort of media narrative that Counsel would like

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Speaker 4: shake his head at and be like, you know, there's

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Speaker 4: only one player in the box at the time or

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Speaker 4: something like that. But he's like, no, they're they're kind

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Speaker 4: of feeding off each other, and I think, you know,

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Speaker 4: this bench is better. Like if you look back at

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Speaker 4: some of the guys that they've brought in or they've

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Speaker 4: carried over the last couple of seasons as guys who

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Speaker 4: either did not have enough major league experience and did

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Speaker 4: not have the foundation to be like a great role player,

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Speaker 4: or there are guys who maybe had had big success

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Speaker 4: in the past but looked kind of cooked by the

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Speaker 4: time they got to Chicago and that you see, you know,

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Speaker 4: John Birdie's influence.

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Speaker 3: Carson Kelly isn't really a true bench.

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Speaker 4: Player, but him and Maya are exactly what you had

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Speaker 4: written about last year in terms of like what they needed.

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Speaker 4: And I mean this kind of goes into what you

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Speaker 4: wrote about Sahadev, just the idea of you know, Matt

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Speaker 4: Shaw kind of settling in and that you know, as

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Speaker 4: Shaw and Pete Kurr Armstrong sort of adjust and continue learning.

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Speaker 4: Here they have some pretty good coverage. Like even as

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Speaker 4: as they are figuring things out, the Cubs can put seven, eight,

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Speaker 4: ten runs on the board, whereas last year those growing

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Speaker 4: pains were just so obvious and the lineup was really

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Speaker 4: easy for the other team to sort of go through.

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Speaker 4: That's not really really the case right now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, those right, they were so pronounced right the third

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Speaker 1: base catcher, center field issues offensively were just like they were,

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Speaker 1: you know, at times pretty unacceptable.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: You can't like they just couldn't overcome that stuff. It

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Speaker 1: feels like, sorry, my Alexa just randomly went off. So

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Speaker 1: I'm very confused.

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Speaker 2: I was like, someone's in my house, someone's talking a big.

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Speaker 3: Fan Alexa big fan of the Shout Territory Network.

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Speaker 1: So you know, and Peaker Armstrong isn't even hitting all

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Speaker 1: that well, but he's doing it. He's doing a couple

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Speaker 1: of things I think that allow him to impact even

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Speaker 1: on offense. He's he's he's taking some walks, so he's

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Speaker 1: getting on base on occasion. Uh and and that instantly

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Speaker 1: when he's on base, he's he's incredibly valuable. So it's

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Speaker 1: almost like you're not noticing that he's actually not hitting

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Speaker 1: that much. And he and he's just not striking out

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Speaker 1: a ton, which gives which if you're someone that watches

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Speaker 1: that stuff, he if he's just putting the ball.

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Speaker 2: In play, he'll he'll do a lot.

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Speaker 1: He can help the team eventually, right, you trust that

437
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 1: good things will happen with him.

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Speaker 2: It's not he's not chasing, he's not. It's not a big.

439
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:41,159
Speaker 1: Mess out there for him with with the Maya and Kelly,

440
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,719
Speaker 1: just completely different mix there, just completely different results than

441
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: it was last year.

442
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 2: Uh and and.

443
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: Shaw I think it like he's not crushing the ball,

444
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: but he has been a lot better since Japan. Yeah, yeah,

445
00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,439
Speaker 1: the the bats are more competitive, they're more interesting there. Uh,

446
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: there's more there. He seems more confident and comfortable. I

447
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 1: don't know if he's gonna rake this year, right, but

448
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,400
Speaker 1: but he has time to kind of settle in and

449
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 1: figure things out. Like like we've been talking about, this

450
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 1: offense looks so different, uh, and so so much more

451
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: consistent that that there's no pressure for him to just

452
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 1: like he doesn't need to be the man and he's

453
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,720
Speaker 1: now that he's batting eighth. Uh, there's just not much

454
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 1: to worry about. I I did hear some things about

455
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: his stance early on, and and like, how is this

456
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: guy gonna hit?

457
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,679
Speaker 2: I was, I was kind of curious about it.

458
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 1: I wanted to hear how he how he got there

459
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,760
Speaker 1: and why he does that, because it's it is a

460
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: unique stance, and unique stances are fun, right, Like, Uh,

461
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,439
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like he's been doing this forever, and

462
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 1: he's not even he's not even great about explaining like

463
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 1: how he got there. He just he doesn't really, He's

464
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,480
Speaker 1: just like it was kind of evolved and like making adjustments.

465
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 1: I think the most unique thing is is like that

466
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 1: how closed off, Like how he's kind of like really

467
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,160
Speaker 1: compact and standing back in the box and his his

468
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: front toe kind of points at the catcher.

469
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:17,919
Speaker 3: Uh.

470
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,959
Speaker 1: He says that keeps everything connected. Uh, and it's and

471
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: he it also like reduces the load mechanism for him,

472
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:27,560
Speaker 1: he just can kind of go.

473
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 2: It made me think, like.

474
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,640
Speaker 1: If you watch a Kyle Tucker's swing, it's it's unconventional.

475
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,000
Speaker 2: He drops the bat.

476
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,439
Speaker 1: A little bit like yeah, and and that's not you

477
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,719
Speaker 1: wouldn't teach anyone that, but it it works for Kyle Tucker. Obviously,

478
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,680
Speaker 1: we'll see if this works for Matchrow at the highest level.

479
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 1: Right now, it is, he says that, like the leg

480
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 1: kick is something that's supernatural for him. He's always kind

481
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 1: of had that, I think for a long time. He says,

482
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: he doesn't even realize how big it is sometimes, but

483
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,639
Speaker 1: it hasn't hurt him. It's a purely timing mechanism.

484
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 2: And it's just.

485
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 1: It's just something that you know, he's he uses and

486
00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 1: helps generate power a lot of it. A lot of

487
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: these unconventional things, he says, kind of make him feel

488
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,880
Speaker 1: connected and close together, and it allows him to get

489
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: off his best swing. I have heard from scouts that

490
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 1: wonder if it'll it could cost him in the big leagues.

491
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,919
Speaker 1: I haven't seen him be like exceptionally late or off time.

492
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,920
Speaker 1: It's like he's actually had a little bit of bad luck.

493
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,639
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, he's hitting the ball, like

494
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: what does Matt Shaw do? Like Matt Shaw is in

495
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 1: the major leagues because he hits the ball hard, and

496
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: he hits it in the air. He has a just

497
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: I'm looking up, he has a two twelve babbit and

498
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: he's you know, he hits the ball hard and in

499
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 1: the air. He should things should be okay for him

500
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,240
Speaker 1: in the long run. I think as long as he

501
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,200
Speaker 1: doesn't panic and try and you know, and overthink things.

502
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,640
Speaker 4: Yeah, as long as annoying reporter so I'm constantly asked

503
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 4: him about mechanics in his swing.

504
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 3: But no, I mean, look, we I feel like the

505
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 3: kind of two.

506
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,159
Speaker 4: Big ideas at the beginning of most seasons are like

507
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 4: are you healthy? And it did you avoid a bad start?

508
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,840
Speaker 4: And you know, the Cups have been largely healthy. I

509
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,479
Speaker 4: still think kind of coming in and out of Japan

510
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,159
Speaker 4: the way this season started to if steel is a

511
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,919
Speaker 4: minimum stint, you probably feel pretty good about that. And

512
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 4: then to be nine and six is good in any

513
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 4: context starting a season, but against the toughest schedule in baseball,

514
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 4: I think it, you know, to be scoring a ton

515
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 4: of runs in just brutal hitting conditions to kind of

516
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 4: begin to form an identity, whether it's the base running

517
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 4: you had wrote about basically the second season of the series.

518
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 4: It was apparent by then to avoid like total bullpen meltdowns.

519
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 4: Obviously it's been uncomfortable, and there are certainly some missed

520
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 4: opportunities thinking back to that, you know, eight run eighth

521
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 4: inning against the Diamondbacks, but otherwise like pretty orderly, pretty organized,

522
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 4: and you know, a one in five road trip to

523
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 4: California would certainly change the perception, but that wouldn't be

524
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 4: you know, season ending by any means. So we'll have

525
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 4: a lot more information off These two series against you know,

526
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 4: big time mental contenders should be fun to watch.

527
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I was about to say, you just don't

528
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: want the disaster West Coast road trip, right like O

529
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,400
Speaker 1: to six, one and five avoid that. I think you'd

530
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 1: even take two and four to be honest, like these

531
00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 1: are two two the best teams in baseball that they're

532
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: going to be facing if they if they split or

533
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: win this road trip, go above five hundred on this

534
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 1: road trip, that's huge Like that that I think it'll

535
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 1: for me. I'll start you know, it's the type of

536
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,840
Speaker 1: thing that happens. If that happens, you start to say, like, huh,

537
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: how good is this team? How good can they be?

538
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 1: Like how resilient are they? They just get bad news

539
00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: about justin Steel and they go out and do that. Right,

540
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 1: Let's see, it hasn't happened yet there. So it's gonna

541
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 1: be a really tough road trip. I just like, I

542
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 1: think people need to keep that in perspective. It is

543
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: not like the pitching that they're facing, the offenses that

544
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 1: they're facing, nothing about this road trip is going to

545
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: be easy.

546
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 2: Just going to the West coast is hard in general.

547
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 1: Like we said, like this, even if they were facing Colorado,

548
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 1: it's just weird things happen out there. La and San

549
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 1: diego to the best teams in baseball. So we'll see

550
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: how they how they go. It's going what was it Yamamoto,

551
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:03,080
Speaker 1: Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glass now and then Dylan sees

552
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,160
Speaker 1: in the opener gets Padre. So all if that stays

553
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 1: how it is, it's yeah, it's gonna be daunting task.

554
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 2: We'll see how they handle it.

555
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, We'll be back with one final episode

556
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: this week and then back next week. In the middle

557
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 1: of that road trip, you'll be out there covering things

558
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 1: for The Athletic. Thanks everyone for listening. This is Northside Territory.

559
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast.

560
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 1: Please subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic,

561
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.

562
00:31:32,680 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening everyone. Take anything by mid