Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moudie. We are your
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The Cubs
Speaker 1: have not lost a game since the trade deadline. That's
Speaker 1: five in a row and we are recording Saturday morning
Speaker 1: Friday night. Kevin Gossman was everything they need him to be.
Speaker 1: It definitely looked a little shaky to start. Walked the
Speaker 1: first guy that he faced, didn't walk another batter after that,
Speaker 1: I think it went walk two outs, then a hard
Speaker 1: single that kind of ricocheted off his leg, and you're like,
Speaker 1: uh oh, is this a Michael Siroca situation where he
Speaker 1: gets in a game and immediately leaves with an injury.
Speaker 1: He shook that off, gave up an RBI double and
Speaker 1: retired nineteen to the next twenty one. Just utterly dominant
Speaker 1: and looks like you'll fit right into a rotation that's
Speaker 1: just been cruising along for a little while now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just curious, what have been your observations
Speaker 2: of like these first couple of days after the deadline,
Speaker 2: bringing in some not just good players, but guys who
Speaker 2: have very good reputations and have a little bit of
Speaker 2: presence about them. I know they try to treat every
Speaker 2: single day the same. But observationally, have you noticed anything
Speaker 2: different here since the deadline?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, honestly, what I've noticed the most is
Speaker 1: like these pitchers immediately bring up the defense. It's like
Speaker 1: that's the first thing they talk about. And Gossman, it's
Speaker 1: not like he came from someplace where they can't play defense.
Speaker 1: Like I'm pretty sure Toronto was arguably the best defense
Speaker 1: last year by some metrics. You know, I think Cubs
Speaker 1: people would say they were still the best last year,
Speaker 1: but this year it's not close. The Cubs are lapping
Speaker 1: the field and Toronto's still good defense. I think even
Speaker 1: in that one game series, one game that wrapped up
Speaker 1: that three game series from whatever June, we saw how
Speaker 1: good Toronto's defense is. But there's another level here. Gossman
Speaker 1: brought it up again last night. Clay Holmes has brought
Speaker 1: it up. But Clay Holmes it was going to be
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure one of the early questions. We
Speaker 1: didn't get to ask Clay Holmes about it because he
Speaker 1: said it before anybody could ask him about it. He
Speaker 1: just talked about how obviously this defense is going to
Speaker 1: be great for him, and we've seen what they've done
Speaker 1: for David Peterson for whatever two months now or a
Speaker 1: month and a half or whatever it's been. So there's
Speaker 1: there's another there that's that's what's really been talked about,
Speaker 1: I feel like by these pitchers. But yes, there there
Speaker 1: there's an excitement and there's a belief that special things
Speaker 1: can happen. I think with you when you have this
Speaker 1: much depth with your pitching, when you have this much talent,
Speaker 1: when you're getting guys that have experienced winning in Gossman
Speaker 1: and Clay Holmes, a guy that was pitching in the
Speaker 1: World Series last year, and Gossman, I think there's a
Speaker 1: certain level of excitement that you know, these are veterans.
Speaker 1: These aren't guys that haven't been there. So most of
Speaker 1: them aren't like over the moon about it in the
Speaker 1: sense that they know there's a lot of baseball to
Speaker 1: play and they can't make any assumptions, but there's certainly
Speaker 1: an energy around the group, and I think you're seeing
Speaker 1: it in their play. They've been playing well in general.
Speaker 1: It's not like they were lackadaisical before the deadline, but
Speaker 1: they're playing really well and it just feels like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this team's got something right now.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure loves to make revealing his game one
Speaker 2: playoff starter, who is closer is going to be for
Speaker 2: you know, the second and third playoff rounds. How has
Speaker 2: Craig's demeanor changed with all of these a bunch of
Speaker 2: more out getting toys for him to play with their.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it hasn't changed at all. He's not telling us anything.
Speaker 1: He is the same guy. Yeah, you know, we We've
Speaker 1: talked to him and Tommy how to be the pitching coach,
Speaker 1: and I feel like they're cautiously optimistic, you know, about
Speaker 1: the potential of what could be coming. You know. He
Speaker 1: Counsel's very adamant about like certain guys are going, Like
Speaker 1: he knows Daniel Plancias will be pitching for this team soon.
Speaker 1: Ben Brown will pitch for this team again. Not soon,
Speaker 1: but you know again, this team is going like going
Speaker 1: to have Ben Brown this year. Things like that, Hobie
Speaker 1: Milner is coming back soon ish. Edward Cabrera has one
Speaker 1: more rehab start before they activate him. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of pitching on the way and they just added
Speaker 1: for arms. Yeah, four arms, because now Braxton Garrett is
Speaker 1: on this roster as well. I think we'll see what
Speaker 1: Braxton Garrett. I don't think Garrett's around for the long haul.
Speaker 1: I think this is they're in the middle. They're ending
Speaker 1: seventeen straight as we record this. They got two more
Speaker 1: for seventeen in seventeen days, and they need to just
Speaker 1: get through. My guess is Clay Holmes is going tonight.
Speaker 1: Not my guess is Clay Holmes is going tonight. Clay
Speaker 1: Holmes is going tonight. He's probably not going to be
Speaker 1: super stretched out. I think he did throw now blanking
Speaker 1: on the number of pitches he threw in his last
Speaker 1: reh rehab start. But they still need to be smart
Speaker 1: about it. So Garrett's there in the bullpen, Assad and
Speaker 1: Ray are still I think I have that right. And
Speaker 1: Sodd and Ray are still in the bullpen. Sod hasn't
Speaker 1: gotten sent down, right, No, No, he's still there. Assad's
Speaker 1: still there, raised there, so they have a length behind Homes.
Speaker 1: Counsel kind of said, like we got to change up,
Speaker 1: like how abused at the back of the bullpen right now,
Speaker 1: He's like, basically I think His point was there could
Speaker 1: have been two interpretations of that. We can try and
Speaker 1: get clarity in pregame today, but he's he's using Jacob
Speaker 1: web a ton and he needs to just like leave
Speaker 1: him be for a little bit. And Caleb theelbar. The
Speaker 1: strikeouts are still really high, and that's important. The walks
Speaker 1: aren't out of control, but the hard contact has just
Speaker 1: gotten to a point where it's like, is he like,
Speaker 1: can you trust him still in high leverage moments? Which
Speaker 1: may which says to me, like, Okay, Hoby Milner's coming
Speaker 1: back soon. He may be the number one lefty or
Speaker 1: number number two lefty after Allison. Does that happen? And
Speaker 1: Council was more leaning towards Milner more, But I do wonder, like,
Speaker 1: does Garrett get a shot at some point to show
Speaker 1: what he can do as a reliever Maybe that maybe
Speaker 1: it's too late in the season to start like thinking
Speaker 1: about that, right, Like he hasn't done anything in the
Speaker 1: big leagues really this year, so why give him this
Speaker 1: huge role? But he's got two months to maybe make
Speaker 1: a name for himself. But my guess is Hobe Milner
Speaker 1: has the I mean, not my guests. Like Council was
Speaker 1: pretty clear that Milner has the lead in that, but
Speaker 1: but Fielbar maybe seeing a different role going forward. It
Speaker 1: has like I love the strikeouts, but he can't give
Speaker 1: up as much hard contact as he's giving up right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do these, you know, roster projections in spring
Speaker 2: training and or during the offseason, like as moves are happening,
Speaker 2: and I think this particular moment in time, it is
Speaker 2: pretty impressive. I know there's kind of asterisks around a
Speaker 2: lot of these guys you wrote about Sadev who are
Speaker 2: coming off the injured list on in the near term,
Speaker 2: but this looks like, you know, a playoff caliber pool
Speaker 2: of pitch. There are going to be tough decisions. There
Speaker 2: is going to be competition down the stretch. There will
Speaker 2: be guys kind of rising and falling based on what
Speaker 2: the manager and coaches are seeing.
Speaker 1: And I think.
Speaker 2: Not guaranteeing the Cubs overtake the Brewers, but if you
Speaker 2: had any shot at overtaking the Brewers and advancing deep
Speaker 2: into October, you needed what happened at the trade deadline
Speaker 2: of getting that swing and miss reliever getting two legit starters.
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting. Ken Rosenthal's one of his
Speaker 2: recent recent columns saying the Brewers identified like two guys
Speaker 2: on the market who they thought could start a playoff game,
Speaker 2: and they got one of them in May, and.
Speaker 1: The other was Kevin Gosman.
Speaker 2: Like there's a legit get frontline starter, you know, who
Speaker 2: pitched in last year's World Series. And so you take
Speaker 2: all this together, I guess we can go over some
Speaker 2: of the names. It seemed like a maybe Tommy was
Speaker 2: just in a good mood because they got all these
Speaker 2: new pitchers and like they can see kind of the
Speaker 2: finish line here. But I mean, Ben Brown will pitch.
Speaker 2: You know, even Justin Steele is actually doing stuff and
Speaker 2: making progress. Cabrera is kind of an intriguing one too.
Speaker 2: I think you really got to like the idea of
Speaker 2: him maybe being this two inning wild card out of
Speaker 2: the bullpen, rather than you know, pinning your hopes on
Speaker 2: him being a game one playoff starter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Cabrera was dominant in his most recent his most
Speaker 1: recent rehab outing. You know that that's great, obviously, can't
Speaker 1: you know project that into you know, the big leagues.
Speaker 1: That's a triple A. But eight strikeouts, no walks in
Speaker 1: four innings, I want to say one more start coming,
Speaker 1: they're obviously stretching him out. They're planning on putting him
Speaker 1: in the rotation. But what does that mean in October?
Speaker 1: You know, like you said, Gosman's a playoff starter. You
Speaker 1: have Matthew Boyd, you have showed him Managa, you have
Speaker 1: play homes. You know, I'm missing someone that that is important.
Speaker 1: I'm sure as I list off all those starters. So
Speaker 1: they have guys that they trust can go deep into
Speaker 1: games or give them innings, or maybe they just start
Speaker 1: doing like they can do two times through the order
Speaker 1: for a certain starter and then bring Edward Cabrera in
Speaker 1: for three innings. He why not let him just like
Speaker 1: kind of let loose for two or three innings in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, anything kind of goes. You could say that
Speaker 1: for almost anyone, I think, especially a guy with the
Speaker 1: type of stuff as Cabrera. That's why I kind of
Speaker 1: wondered about Garrett, and I have talked to some people
Speaker 1: that are like, yeah, well, you know it could take
Speaker 1: up so why you know, you can't really rule it
Speaker 1: out with you know, Polentia will be back. We'll see there.
Speaker 1: They're gonna ease him back into a role because Council
Speaker 1: keeps mentioning how few innings he's pitched. The latest with
Speaker 1: Brown is I think he threw I'm gonna I want
Speaker 1: to make sure I'm right on this. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: he threw a bullpen Friday, and it was like a
Speaker 1: like I shouldn't say a bullpen. It was like a
Speaker 1: touch and feel I should say that it was either
Speaker 1: Friday or it's happening this weekend where it was just like,
Speaker 1: you know, very much like he's feeling abound. He's getting
Speaker 1: that you know, idea of what, uh, what it feels
Speaker 1: like again, and they're just like they're progressing. Where before
Speaker 1: it was like he'd take us, try and take a step,
Speaker 1: and in the next day it'd be like, ah, that
Speaker 1: doesn't feel great or I'm feeling something there. Now it's
Speaker 1: not that's not happening anymore. It's like they're going they're
Speaker 1: not rushing through this. He's not you know, full force.
Speaker 1: When I talked to Ben, he seems pretty optimistic and
Speaker 1: he was saying the below's there, but you know, he
Speaker 1: needs to start throwing spin. He needs to you know,
Speaker 1: go full force in a bullpen and start facing batters.
Speaker 1: But totally realistic that he's gonna you know, get up
Speaker 1: to one or two inning verse and we know how
Speaker 1: good he can be. With Steele. Depending on who you
Speaker 1: talk to, you get different things. Could he like I
Speaker 1: think ultimately what it is is they really want to
Speaker 1: get him on a mound, whether it's you know, facing
Speaker 1: batters in game situations now. And I'm not saying the
Speaker 1: big leagues. I'm just saying they need to get that
Speaker 1: done a couple outings this season. Can he help this
Speaker 1: team at the big league level as a reliever. I
Speaker 1: don't think that's something that they're just like that they're
Speaker 1: gonna say, yes, absolutely, that is happening. They're not going
Speaker 1: to be as forcefble as like Ben Brown or Daniel
Speaker 1: Palencia or Cabrera or any of these guys. Ben Brown obviously,
Speaker 1: let's let's just compare him to Ben Brown. Ben Brown,
Speaker 1: they're very adamant, like he's pitching for this big league
Speaker 1: club this year. You're not getting the same emphatic response
Speaker 1: on Justin Steele. It's important for them for him to
Speaker 1: get on the mound and face the live bat like
Speaker 1: face batters and then get in game action that they
Speaker 1: really want that to happen. But I think with him,
Speaker 1: it was this most recent bullpen, which could have been
Speaker 1: over the last couple of days, was like another twenty
Speaker 1: five ish bullpen session, and then like the hope was
Speaker 1: a more intense forty ish bullpen session. And then after
Speaker 1: that it's like do you do an updown bullpen session?
Speaker 1: Do you do live BP? That's the next step one
Speaker 1: of those two, like either an updown or live BP updown.
Speaker 1: So we'll see where that goes how quickly they move him.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I think they could use a lefty
Speaker 1: out of the bullpen one more. To feel really good
Speaker 1: about things, and this is like these are like being nitpicky,
Speaker 1: I think to a certain extent, But when you're this
Speaker 1: good and when when you are trying to win a championship,
Speaker 1: it's exactly what you should be doing. Nitpicking the roster.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the Tyrone Taylor addition. It's like,
Speaker 1: let's be let's be you know, like, what is What's
Speaker 1: something that we could use over the final two months.
Speaker 1: So I'm not as bullish on Justin Steele as I
Speaker 1: would be Ben Brown, but you can't rule it out
Speaker 1: that he comes back as a bullpen arm. It's just
Speaker 1: it's like maybe he gets a couple of innings in
Speaker 1: the big leagues. But does he get to a point
Speaker 1: where you're like, put him on the playoff roster he's
Speaker 1: ready to get out in the seventh inning against the
Speaker 1: Brewers or whatever. You know, it's just hard to to
Speaker 1: get to that point so quickly. You answered.
Speaker 2: The other piece of kind of roster fallout, is Ian
Speaker 2: Happs sort of in like a light platoon now not
Speaker 2: automatic every day or are they just kind of easing
Speaker 2: it towards that where he's not going to be just
Speaker 2: posting up in left field every day?
Speaker 1: Yeah, more the ladder, you know. I like, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's like a full on platoon just yet, but
Speaker 1: we're getting to that point. Patrick, I can't. I was
Speaker 1: just trying to look, but at my box score isn't updating.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think he went over four with
Speaker 1: four strikeouts yesterday, Yes, and it was like looking swinging,
Speaker 1: looking swinging. From what I remember, it was two of
Speaker 1: each that bats just don't and this was from the
Speaker 1: left side. Like the whole point is like Tyrone Taylor,
Speaker 1: let him get some days off against stuff lefties, he'll
Speaker 1: be in there. Case against the left e's, I think
Speaker 1: he was on, so like he sat Monday and Tuesday
Speaker 1: and then played Wednesday against the lefty. I'm going off
Speaker 1: pure memory here. He just doesn't he doesn't look right
Speaker 1: at the plate. Now. I want to say this because
Speaker 1: we've watched a decade of E and half play, last
Speaker 1: five years, him playing pretty much every day. This happens.
Speaker 1: He looks awful for a period of time, uh, and
Speaker 1: then just gets red hot and is almost carrying an offense.
Speaker 1: He can do that. He doesn't have a hit in August.
Speaker 1: It's only August eighth, but the bats don't look great.
Speaker 1: I think Tyrone Taylor is just should eat up his
Speaker 1: at bats against the lefties. I think you should. You
Speaker 1: need to be more aggressive about that. This kind of
Speaker 1: feels like that Kevin al contrast start on whatever day
Speaker 1: that that was much day. I believe that Kevin el
Speaker 1: contrast start to me felt like Joe Madden pulling Jason
Speaker 1: Hamill against the Giants in twenty fifteen. Is my memory, right,
Speaker 1: That's what that felt like to me. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: it's go time. You got plenty of time to try
Speaker 1: and figure it out. It's time, Like, okay, lefties, you're
Speaker 1: not getting as many play appearances. Does he sit overall
Speaker 1: is the next question. I don't think that's going to
Speaker 1: happen just yet because of what I said, Like you
Speaker 1: and I have seen this a thousand times. Council has
Speaker 1: already seen it in his time. He can look awful. Shoot,
Speaker 1: we saw it earlier this year with hap end with
Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson where it looks like these guys can aren't
Speaker 1: playable to like these guys are you know, red hot
Speaker 1: and huge parts of the offense. These things change in
Speaker 1: the council even said it a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: I can't remember who he was talking about. It's like
Speaker 1: you can't really predict when it happens. It just kind
Speaker 1: of happens, like you know, you just all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: It's like all the work that they're putting in the
Speaker 1: work and then that work finally pays off. But it's
Speaker 1: like when does it happen? Because it's not like they
Speaker 1: just decided to be like okay, now all work and
Speaker 1: put in the work and try and get right. But
Speaker 1: we know he inhaps working. It's like when will it click? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think didn't he say something like anyone who tells
Speaker 2: you that they're lying if they think they know when
Speaker 2: it's going to happen or as it's happening. I guess
Speaker 2: Matt Shaw is still just kind of out there but
Speaker 2: not making a ton of progress. So it's not like
Speaker 2: I mean, he's sort of running out of time to
Speaker 2: get like locked back in and trusted and sort of
Speaker 2: forcing that issue to where he could be part of
Speaker 2: that outfield Max. Maybe I'm exaggerating that a bit, but
Speaker 2: there's not a ton of time, right, I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, yeah, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but
Speaker 1: I'm not getting anything any sense that he's very close. Yeah, yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: so we're at a point. I think what we were
Speaker 1: told most recently was we're at a point where he's
Speaker 1: still not swinging all out MVP. He's not swinging one
Speaker 1: hundred percent, and we're at a point that when it
Speaker 1: gets to that and when he's ready to go out
Speaker 1: on a rehab assignment, it's going to be a longer
Speaker 1: rehab assignment. Like my guess is like this isn't in
Speaker 1: three games, Like it's a week, ten days of rehab
Speaker 1: assignment to get like your bearings and then you're back.
Speaker 1: So like I think we're looking at September as a
Speaker 1: point of when maybe he can be back helping this team,
Speaker 1: and then you're talking about like what's his role and
Speaker 1: how much can he help? Like Peedro Ramirez is awesome
Speaker 1: right now, Tyrone Taylor is having a great season, so
Speaker 1: you have a really nice bench. Michael Conforto's probably behind
Speaker 1: Pedro Ramirez on the back. I mean he is, because
Speaker 1: Peter Ramirez is getting pretty regular starts. Uh So it's it.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't rule him out as helping this
Speaker 1: team this season. But you're you're not off base by
Speaker 1: saying like we're running out of time here if he's
Speaker 1: not swinging a bat one hundred percent, like he's got
Speaker 1: to go out and like he's got to go swing
Speaker 1: the bat. You know, like, well, it's it's a little odd,
Speaker 1: like how long this is lasting because there's no structural damage.
Speaker 1: It sounds like, but you know, rists are weird and
Speaker 1: and I think it can I mean, isn't that what
Speaker 1: Roman Anthony's had like all season long? A wrist? Like yeah,
Speaker 1: and like these things and it is like there's probably
Speaker 1: there's there was someone else that I was reading about
Speaker 1: recently that's had a risk issue that it's fully healed.
Speaker 1: There's no problems, it's just lingering. The pain is there.
Speaker 1: There's so many bones in there, there's so many little
Speaker 1: things that go wrong. And I don't think this is
Speaker 1: like a huge concern long term, but it does sound
Speaker 1: like this season has kind of been a hiccup for him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Matt Shaw, maybe maybe we That's why Tyrone
Speaker 1: Taylor's here. So it's not like this huge concern as
Speaker 1: far as the construction of the team.
Speaker 2: I think final thing put you on the spot. Does
Speaker 2: Pete crow Armstrong have your MVP vote?
Speaker 1: You know, like if the season ended today. So yes,
Speaker 1: you would be my pick if the season ended today.
Speaker 1: I was flabbergasted by the reaction after so Wednesday, both
Speaker 1: of them put on a show him and show Hey.
Speaker 1: Show Hey homered in like a ten pitch at bat
Speaker 1: to lead off the game. Pete so the first pitch
Speaker 1: Pete saw, next half inning sent it into the seats.
Speaker 1: Pete would double and homer again. Show Hey would single
Speaker 1: and homer to bring them like it was a seven
Speaker 1: to one Cubs lead, and show Hayes hit a homer
Speaker 1: to make it I think cut it to seven to six.
Speaker 1: It got a little tense there great game for both guys,
Speaker 1: really exciting, just a fun battle between two superstars. There
Speaker 1: is a lot of pushback among national media saying like,
Speaker 1: show hasn't pitched in like a month and a half.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm exaggerating on how long it's been. Every single
Speaker 1: time they talk about, oh, he's gonna throw a bullpen,
Speaker 1: they push it back, who knows when this guy's going
Speaker 1: to get in a game. But they're saying, well, he's
Speaker 1: been a dominant you know, you could just say, like
Speaker 1: what he has already is a dominant relievers performance. Okay,
Speaker 1: Peak Armstrong doesn't pitch, Shoeyotani doesn't play defense. Shoey Atani
Speaker 1: is not as good of a base runner as is
Speaker 1: pek K Armstrong. There are all parts of a game.
Speaker 1: If Pek Armstrong puts up a ten more season and
Speaker 1: choey Otani gives you ten more innings or fifteen more
Speaker 1: innings this year, look if he gives if he starts
Speaker 1: all of September and gives them a ton of innings
Speaker 1: and is dominant, it may swing my boat and continues
Speaker 1: to hit like how he's hitting, but right now by
Speaker 1: way to runs great A plus, Peak Armstrong is better
Speaker 1: by war peak or Armstrong's better peak. Armstrong's arguably having
Speaker 1: one of the best defensive seasons ever. Like we're we're
Speaker 1: talking about like Willie May's Andrew Jones type center field defense,
Speaker 1: and he's just like he's the best player on a
Speaker 1: really good team. I guess you could say that about show. Hey,
Speaker 1: he's the best player on the best team in baseball,
Speaker 1: but it's I don't and I don't really subscribe to
Speaker 1: that stuff like it does like he could be on
Speaker 1: a bad team and if he's MVP, I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: he's MVP. But I just think like the like for
Speaker 1: some reason, there's his pushback on like there shouldn't be
Speaker 1: a debate like he does one guy does both and
Speaker 1: one guy is just a regular position player. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't get that argument, especially when we have of
Speaker 1: like ways to value these things, and you can say,
Speaker 1: maybe centerfield defense is overrated. I've seen that where they
Speaker 1: they're putting too much value on the centerfield defense. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I watched this guy every day and it's
Speaker 1: a different It's there's something different about the way he
Speaker 1: plays center field. I know people like get sick of
Speaker 1: the highlights and like, oh, this wasn't a big deal.
Speaker 1: It's because he gets these insane jumps and makes everything
Speaker 1: look normal. We've watched enough baseball and we watch it live,
Speaker 1: and seeing him live every day, there's something about it.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's running away with it, or this
Speaker 1: isn't a debate, or we shouldn't have the discussion or why.
Speaker 1: I just was so surprised by the extreme pushback of
Speaker 1: like you have to pick show hey, he's pitching, show
Speaker 1: Hey pitched one hundred and sixty innings of like Cy
Speaker 1: Young caliber ball, and like what was that twenty two
Speaker 1: and lost because Aaron Judge had sixty two home runs
Speaker 1: and put up a ten more season, So it's possible
Speaker 1: to beat just put up a ten more season, which Pete,
Speaker 1: I think is at eight WAR right now. So I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a ridiculous season, one of the greatest club seasons ever,
Speaker 1: and I think right now, you know, if if he
Speaker 1: continues to play at this level for the next two months,
Speaker 1: he's gonna put up like ten or eleven War. So
Speaker 1: it feels like to me, like you've got to give
Speaker 1: it to him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, people say pitching and defense, like it's not two
Speaker 2: distinct concepts here, and I do think Pete is going
Speaker 2: to make it hard on voters. I think all these metrics,
Speaker 2: Pete's gonna, you know, if not come out ahead, He's
Speaker 2: going to make it a very, very very close call.
Speaker 2: And I do think you kind of have to allow
Speaker 2: for these exceptional you know, once in a lifetime seasons
Speaker 2: that I get that show Hey is the incumbent. But
Speaker 2: you know, I don't see why the Dodgers would force
Speaker 2: him or ride him that hard on the mound, given
Speaker 2: the amount of pitchers they and how long they expect
Speaker 2: to be playing. And I think we're all in agreement
Speaker 2: here that what Pete is doing offensively is a lot
Speaker 2: more sustainable. And you know, if the Cubs kind of
Speaker 2: run through the finish line, if they catch the Brewers,
Speaker 2: if Pete does have like that ten war season, I mean,
Speaker 2: listen to the players, right, This is kind of how
Speaker 2: we started this episode of you know, the Kevin Gosman's
Speaker 2: and Clay Holmes being like this, you know, this defense
Speaker 2: is awesome. Can't wait to have these guys, you know,
Speaker 2: playing behind me. And Pete is certainly you know, a
Speaker 2: lynch pin there. It's not all him, But what he
Speaker 2: is doing. I think that's kind of what the MVP
Speaker 2: is about, Like you can't just give to the same
Speaker 2: guy every single year. And I mean, given show Hay
Speaker 2: his track record, I'm sure he's going to try and
Speaker 2: force his way back onto the mound and he'll probably
Speaker 2: have like a crazy September and maybe he does ultimately
Speaker 2: win it. But Peter already made this a difficult conversation
Speaker 2: like weeks or even yeah, months ago, and he hasn't
Speaker 2: enough yet. And you're right, like those like ten war
Speaker 2: seasons are gonna capture people's attention for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And to be clear there, I will not succumb
Speaker 1: to show Hey fatigue. If he's the if I feel
Speaker 1: like he deserves it, he's going to get my boat.
Speaker 1: But right now as it stands, I would lean Pete.
Speaker 1: But we'll see how much he pitches down the stretch
Speaker 1: if he can go get it. You know, I think
Speaker 1: he says he doesn't care. Show Hey says he doesn't care,
Speaker 1: but my guess is he does. He's like he can. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: these guys, all these guys all have egos, right, And
Speaker 1: I'm sure and Pete even said, like, you know, I'd
Speaker 1: be lying if I said like I don't think about
Speaker 1: it or don't want MVP like he wants it. So like,
Speaker 1: I hope it's a fun battle, and I hope they
Speaker 1: entertained that a lot of everyone, because that's that's what
Speaker 1: ultimately this is all about. All right, that's it from us,
Speaker 1: So we will be back next week with more episodes
Speaker 1: of Northside Territory. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
Speaker 2: This is.
Speaker 1: I can't remember what I was gonna say. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for listening everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things cubs.
Speaker 1: Thanks for watching and listening. Take care everyone,