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Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Sad Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your

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

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Speaker 1: three out in Miami. We will get to the rough

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Speaker 1: loss on Monday. Cubs fans, Uh, you know, I think

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Speaker 1: most of them understand these things happen, but we we'll

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Speaker 1: talk about it and and get to some bullpen issues

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Speaker 1: that that popped up. First of all, let's get to

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Speaker 1: Matt Shaw returning Matt Shaw. We we we had, we

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Speaker 1: knew this was coming at some point. This this this

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Speaker 1: road trip felt like the right time. As he got hot. Uh,

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Speaker 1: we talked to people over the weekend and kind of

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Speaker 1: got an indication that, okay, this was They were kind

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Speaker 1: of waiting for something to happen here with with him, get.

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Speaker 2: His mechanics a little ironed out, yes.

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Speaker 1: Getting his confidence back, feeling good at the plate, swinging

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Speaker 1: at the right pitches, hitting the ball hard. They wanted

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Speaker 1: to see all that. But he's done that at tripa A.

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Speaker 1: But it's so so Merely seeing that wasn't enough for them.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to see some changes. They saw those changes

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Speaker 1: and here he is. He's back in the big leagues.

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Speaker 1: Nice next night too, two for four. I thought that

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Speaker 1: double especially was you know, that's kind of what we

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Speaker 1: were sold on Matt Shaw being. And I thought it

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Speaker 1: was a you know, it's a good sign. It's a

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Speaker 1: good sign for how deep this lineup can be.

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Speaker 3: It's also a good time to rejoin this lineup. I mean,

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Speaker 3: facing the Marlins, I mean, people love hitting in Cincinnati,

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Speaker 3: the next stop on this road trip. I think the

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Speaker 3: degree of difficulty was something that you know, we knew

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Speaker 3: going into the season it would be there for him.

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Speaker 3: But you know, Dodgers padres, you know, top relievers, you know,

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Speaker 3: top of the rotation starters like that, things sped up

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Speaker 3: on Matt Shaw. And I'm curious to how toy of, like,

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Speaker 3: in the course of your reporting, what was kind of

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Speaker 3: the I don't know, power struggle or the dynamics here

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Speaker 3: of Like, Matt Shaw's a self made player. He progressed

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Speaker 3: very quickly. He's an intelligent player, you know. I know

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Speaker 3: at Maryland they had a pretty progressive hitting system where

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Speaker 3: he was talking all about, for lack of a better term,

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Speaker 3: like the biomechanics of his swing, like just like a

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Speaker 3: real kind of like Jim Rat and then it got

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Speaker 3: up here and you asked him, like, what happened to

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Speaker 3: your swing? And he was like, I don't really know

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Speaker 3: just how pronounced it was, and it sounded like the

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Speaker 3: Cubs sort of were like like, you know, sure you

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Speaker 3: need a breather, but you need to do X, Y

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Speaker 3: and Z.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, people when when players succeed, when players

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Speaker 1: have consistent success, it's kind of hard to get them

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Speaker 1: to change. And and you know, in general, the philosophies

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Speaker 1: of most organizations and the Cubs at least as far

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Speaker 1: as the people I've talked to in player development is

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Speaker 1: you know, they're not going to force change when someone

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Speaker 1: is succeeding if it's unconventional way to success, which Mattshaw swing,

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Speaker 1: We've all seen it is a little unconventional.

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Speaker 2: You know a lot of parts of it.

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Speaker 1: The leg kick is the one that people really notice,

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Speaker 1: right The setup is a little odd that the closed

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Speaker 1: off and like the turn to front foot, and it's

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Speaker 1: it's an interesting setup.

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Speaker 2: But the leg kick is the one that.

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Speaker 1: Even before I asked them about it at Cubs convention,

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Speaker 1: because I had some scouts asking me about it, and

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Speaker 1: and some people questioning, like, is this going to be

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Speaker 1: an issue? Is this going to like it's a pretty

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Speaker 1: pronounced leg kick. You can get away with it. It

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Speaker 1: can work. There are players that succeed and thrive. But

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of moving parts and sometimes you

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Speaker 1: have to get to the highest level before those holes,

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Speaker 1: I guess, are exposed. And the Cubs felt that, look,

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Speaker 1: to get back up here, you need to show us

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Speaker 1: you could make this change. You know, I feel like

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Speaker 1: I feel like Shaw probably felt like, hey, I've succeeded

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Speaker 1: with this. I even't talked to Matt Shaw about this directly,

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Speaker 1: so I don't want to put words in his mouth.

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Speaker 2: My understanding was he, you know, it was a process.

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Speaker 2: He needed to.

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Speaker 1: Feel comfortable with this new leg kick. And it's I mean,

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Speaker 1: the video shows it. It's not an elimination of the

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Speaker 1: leg kick. But he was bending his knee and getting

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Speaker 1: it almost into his stomach and now it's just a

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Speaker 1: leg lift. Let's call it. You know, the knee doesn't

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Speaker 1: bend as much, it's not as dramatic. And it was

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Speaker 1: less about results and more about seeing this change because,

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Speaker 1: like I said, they knew he'd get results at Triple

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Speaker 1: A They were not worried about Matt Shaw suddenly not

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Speaker 1: being able to hit in the miners. That was not

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Speaker 1: a concern for them. They didn't think suddenly he was lost. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: confidence and all those things are important. I don't think

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Speaker 1: it was some dramatic loss of confidence here for the kid.

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Speaker 1: But the timing was not right. But hitting is all

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Speaker 1: about timing. We can talk about all these different things.

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Speaker 1: Everyone has different mechanics, everyone has different ways to find

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Speaker 1: that to get to their best self. But if your

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Speaker 1: timing is off, and if you're late on pitches, which

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Speaker 1: he was a lot of times, you're going to drive

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Speaker 1: the ball into the ground. And he just wasn't hitting

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Speaker 1: the ball as hard as he used to. He wasn't

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Speaker 1: driving the ball like he used to in the miners.

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Speaker 1: And you know, one game doesn't tell us everything, but

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Speaker 1: it looks different and certainly the mechanics are different.

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Speaker 2: So he's bought in.

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Speaker 1: The Cubs kind of sold it as, Hey, this is

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Speaker 1: how you get back up to the major show us.

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Speaker 1: You can make this change, bring it into games, and

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Speaker 1: this is how you get back up. And you know,

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Speaker 1: they kept their word as he made the changes they

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Speaker 1: needed to see.

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Speaker 3: We are recording on May twentieth. I think that gives

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Speaker 3: him about two months before the trade deadline stuff will

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Speaker 3: really start to heat up. Obviously there's still time after that,

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Speaker 3: but I think you'd, I guess you have to be

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Speaker 3: looking at this window of just pile up at bats

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Speaker 3: for Matt Shaw, see how he feels, gets comfortable at

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Speaker 3: this level, gets some confidence against you know, some lesser

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Speaker 3: competition than the Dodgers and padres A relievers. This is

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Speaker 3: the outcome they wanted all along to have him as

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Speaker 3: the everyday third baseman. I think he was hitting ninth

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Speaker 3: and in Japan, was he hitting like fifth on opening Day? Yeah,

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Speaker 3: very much of a lowered expectations here of okay, go

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Speaker 3: go hit against the Marlins as our nine hitter versus

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Speaker 3: being middle of the order guy against the defending World

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Speaker 3: Series champs at the Tokyo Dome. But you know, we

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Speaker 3: wrote about this a couple of weeks ago. There aren't

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Speaker 3: many good third basement out there, so even if you're

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Speaker 3: hell bent on adding a third baseman, it's gonna be

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Speaker 3: hard to pull off. And we saw it Monday night

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Speaker 3: in Miami. Like there are some several pitching staff issues

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Speaker 3: looming that may have gone to the top of that

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Speaker 3: priority list, even over third base. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, You've said it multiple times now, but I think

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Speaker 1: it's worth emphasizing and also not making excuse of, but

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Speaker 1: pointing out that he started his career against the best

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Speaker 1: of the best. The NL is stacked the NL, go

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Speaker 1: look at the standings. They are the best teams in baseball.

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Speaker 1: The talent is this, this is cyclical, but all the

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Speaker 1: talent has I shouldn't say all, but a lot of

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Speaker 1: the tal especially since Aaron Judge is in the American League,

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Speaker 1: but the best teams, A lot of the best talent

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Speaker 1: is in the NL right now, and the Cubs faced

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Speaker 1: almost all of that to begin their season. Now, Matt

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Speaker 1: Shaw to succeed in the majors to be a very good, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, an All Star caliber player, which is kind

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Speaker 1: of the you know, the hope for him to become,

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Speaker 1: he's gonna have to succeed. He's gonna have to have

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Speaker 1: moments where he you know, you don't always succeed against

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Speaker 1: those guys, but you have to be able to hold

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Speaker 1: your own and and and perform against the best, especially

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Speaker 1: come October. But to start your career off that way

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Speaker 1: can be hard. That's I mean, that's a daunting task.

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Speaker 1: It took a little out of him. He's made the changes.

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Speaker 1: Now he gets his softer landing, build that, build that

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Speaker 1: MLB confidence up, and then go, let's see how he

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Speaker 1: does his second round against you know, the better teams

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Speaker 1: in the big leagues. I'm curious to see kind of

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Speaker 1: the development of Shaw that because we're going to see.

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Speaker 1: You know, does it tell us a ton what he

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Speaker 1: does against the weaker teams. I think it tells us

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Speaker 1: that he can handle the major leagues at least to

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Speaker 1: a certain degree. But you know, you want to be challenged,

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Speaker 1: you want to face the best, and eventually I think

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Speaker 1: he'll he'll get there. He is a good hitter. And

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Speaker 1: if they truly believe that this timing mechanism was was

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Speaker 1: the main culprit, and if that's all it is, I

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Speaker 1: think I'm curious to see how he does. I think

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Speaker 1: he can. I think he can be, if not an

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Speaker 1: above average offensive third baseman, just average. One of the

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Speaker 1: numbers I looked up, they were twenty ninth since he

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Speaker 1: since he left. It was just like the catching and

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Speaker 1: center field before Pete gar Armstrong. They were twenty ninth

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Speaker 1: after he left. I didn't even bother looking overall for

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Speaker 1: the season, I was just curious it was bad. It

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Speaker 1: was he had a sick I want to say, way

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Speaker 1: to runs, greade A plus something like that for the team.

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Speaker 1: This was after Vidal Brujan's like two for three night

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Speaker 1: or whatever it was the other day. It was like

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Speaker 1: thirty five way to runs great A plus with bad defense,

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Speaker 1: just not just not a good not a good performance

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Speaker 1: from third basement.

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Speaker 2: You touched on it.

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Speaker 1: Their Patrick, some some bullpen questions, some pitching questions that

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Speaker 1: the Cubs are going to be facing are facing. Let's

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Speaker 1: let's take a break and get to get to some

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Speaker 1: of this news that we have ft fam.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, bullpen issues will always get the hand

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Speaker 1: ringing from fans. Understandable. You know, that was a tough

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Speaker 1: loss on Monday. That's you know, and the Cubs haven't

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Speaker 1: had many of those that they open the season with

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Speaker 1: a few. That one in that Sunday in Arizona stands

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Speaker 1: out as arguably the worst loss of the season. I

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Speaker 1: can't think of a worse one off the top of

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Speaker 1: my head. This one was pretty bad. They came back,

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Speaker 1: the offense looked, you know, really resilient. Miguel Amaya with

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Speaker 1: a great night. You got to give him a ton

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Speaker 1: of props. It seems like he's coming up with a

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Speaker 1: big hit every time he's in the lineup. And then I.

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Speaker 2: Thought the bullpen usage was interesting.

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Speaker 1: Immediately I saw Presley come out in a one run game,

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Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, he's going to Presley in a

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Speaker 1: one run game. He trusts him enough to do that,

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Speaker 1: and Presley delivered. Presley looks a lot better. He's getting

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Speaker 1: more strikeouts. He's not done, he's not where they need

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Speaker 1: him to be. But I thought it was a good

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Speaker 1: step forward. Pomme Erance, what a revelation. Just a great,

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Speaker 1: great story. Just looks great, consistently getting out limiting damage.

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Speaker 1: Just looks really good. They have two trustworthy lefties. Theelbar

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Speaker 1: came in as well. Brent Brown, what a weird start,

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Speaker 1: by the way, I don't want to derail this, but

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Speaker 1: immediately gives up two home runs, then retires like what

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Speaker 1: was it like nine to twelve in a row, and

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Speaker 1: then and then has another blow up inning.

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Speaker 2: Just such a weird start.

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Speaker 1: No walks, a ton of strikeouts, and just a ton

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Speaker 1: of hard contact when he did when they did make contact,

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Speaker 1: very odd outing. But you know, we can talk about

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Speaker 1: that another day. But that's just so close to being

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Speaker 1: just a great outing, and then it all falls apart,

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Speaker 1: and you know, if maybe one one inning or a

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Speaker 1: few more outs for him, and we're talking about a

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Speaker 1: different game, I mean we probably are. Ultimately, what happens

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Speaker 1: is Polentcia comes in for the safe.

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Speaker 3: I was.

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Speaker 1: I was curious about it immediately. You know, fans were

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Speaker 1: on for my read on social media. Where is Porter Hodge? Well,

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Speaker 1: Palency blows it. It looked like how close was that

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Speaker 1: to a dominant one.

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Speaker 2: Two three inning? Too very close?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Okay, he blows it, hangs a slider,

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Speaker 1: walks the next guy RBI. I believe it was rule

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Speaker 1: to double or was it rule to triple? Either way,

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Speaker 1: game winning hit to end the game there and Plenty

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Speaker 1: blows it. We learned Hodges to the aisle with an oblique,

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Speaker 1: So that's a little worrisome. I'm not super concerned about Palencia.

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Speaker 1: I don't think he's the closer for sure going forward,

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Speaker 1: And maybe it's closer by committee, maybe someone else. But

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Speaker 1: but you know, there's a lot going on here and

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Speaker 1: and one of your arguably one of your best relievers

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Speaker 1: hadn't been performing his best and maybe this had something

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Speaker 1: to do with it, Porter hodgere go into the aisle.

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Speaker 2: That's a blow to this team.

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Speaker 3: Might be time for an updated version of your bullpen

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Speaker 3: power rankings here, because Juw Palmer has like we're definitely

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Speaker 3: going to get into it this season of just kind

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Speaker 3: of his journey. It's kind of crazy, you know, how

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Speaker 3: far off the grid he had been and then to

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Speaker 3: come in and you know, pitch multiple innings, be a

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Speaker 3: super reliable bullpen arm and sort of like turn back

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Speaker 3: the clock. So when he was this really interesting pitcher,

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Speaker 3: whether it was you know, a first rounder, a guy

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Speaker 3: who Craig Council deployed very effectively in Milwaukee, or guy

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Speaker 3: who got a really big contract kind of before some

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Speaker 3: of those. I feel like that was one of the

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Speaker 3: first like reliever contracts that like really kind of went

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Speaker 3: big and like went multi year, pretty far into the future.

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Speaker 3: That's how talented he is. But it's kind of like

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Speaker 3: whack them all with this bullpen. You kind of think,

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Speaker 3: you know, one thing is resolved, and something else pops up.

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Speaker 3: I know, I was just looking at Porter Hodge's you know,

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Speaker 3: Baseball reference page, and he actually has like a negative

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Speaker 3: war and a five RA But that's basically off of

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Speaker 3: two innings that I think he's like no earned in

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Speaker 3: like seventeen of twenty one appearances. I think of the

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Speaker 3: eleven or twelve runs he gave up, like nine were

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Speaker 3: in two separate outings combined just going off field. I

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Speaker 3: don't know, I'm about you, but whenever he comes in

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Speaker 3: the game, I don't really think, like, oh man, I'm

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Speaker 3: gonna have to scramble and rewrite everything the way it

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Speaker 3: kind of got there with Presley for a while. And

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Speaker 3: I don't know, I wouldn't write off Presley because the

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Speaker 3: Cubs can't afford to like he's you know, going to

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Speaker 3: keep getting opportunities as he should. Because I don't really

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Speaker 3: know who else they turned to. I'm assuming Gavin Howell

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Speaker 3: would be the guy coming up, just because he's been

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Speaker 3: so good, but I don't I don't don't have any

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Speaker 3: inside information. Yeah, but I mean Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz,

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Speaker 3: Gavin Howell, like not three names we were talking about

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Speaker 3: in Mesa as like you know, circle of trust. But

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Speaker 3: we'll see where this goes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't even want to assume that

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Speaker 1: it's Hollowell because Brazier may be ready.

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Speaker 2: I just don't know where he That's a good point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I don't want to and and by the

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Speaker 1: time people are listening to this that we may have

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Speaker 1: the answer to that. So I'm not one hundred percent

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Speaker 1: sure what direction they will go, but I think colliwell.

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Speaker 2: Was my initial feel, and then I remembered Brazier. Look.

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Speaker 1: I really like the way Craig Council uses brad Keller.

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Speaker 1: I think he's kind of do it all reliever, and

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Speaker 1: those are really important to have. I think he needs

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Speaker 1: to be the closer until Porter Hodge is back or

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Speaker 1: or Ryan Presley. Looks like unless you're super confident in

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Speaker 1: until unless you're super confident in Presley, brad Keller has

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Speaker 1: the best stuff. He does not get barreled up. He

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Speaker 1: does not walk guys. I like Daniel Plenty a lot,

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Speaker 1: and I think he deserves a lot of credit for

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Speaker 1: the work he put in in the off season, both

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Speaker 1: physically and mentally.

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Speaker 2: He's talked about it. He got to a better place mentally.

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Speaker 1: I really liked I watched, you know, our colleagues talk

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Speaker 1: to him after the game last night. I like the

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Speaker 1: way he responded. He was not all beating himself up.

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Speaker 1: That's important he was saying, this is baseball. I think

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Speaker 1: this is I know some fans may want to see more.

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Speaker 1: I hope fans understand why a reliever has to treat

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Speaker 1: it like that. I hope they understand that because you cannot,

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Speaker 1: you cannot beat yourself up. Baseball does that to you enough,

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Speaker 1: and then you need to go out there, especially as

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Speaker 1: a reliever.

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Speaker 2: Forget it. Just go out there.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know if that walk, if that hanging

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Speaker 1: slider to the double led to the walk, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't like he was all over the place. He

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Speaker 1: was just missing with some pitches, So I don't know

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Speaker 1: if that was, you know, one thing happening and it

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Speaker 1: led to another, but you really, you know, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know if Kyle Tucker could have caught

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Speaker 2: that ball. I saw some people talking about that.

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Speaker 1: I had a feeling when watching it live, like, oh,

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Speaker 1: could he have caught that?

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if he could have it, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we can't. It's hard to know these things for sure.

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Speaker 1: It's these things happen.

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Speaker 2: Though.

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Speaker 1: The Cubs have stolen some games from other teams, good

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Speaker 1: teams Arizona, La Good teams lose to bad teams. I

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Speaker 1: think I believe the Dodgers just got swept by the Angels.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I mean how many balls did the White Sox

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Speaker 3: mess up over the week. It was just like every

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Speaker 3: time he looked up, the White Sox are messing something up. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: like you kinda give and take here.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The Cubs didn't blow that game as much as it

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Speaker 1: was just you know they You know, these things happen

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Speaker 1: in baseball. What you don't want is like it to

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Speaker 1: be the start of something. What you don't want is

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Speaker 1: for these injuries to just derail things. Losing Porter Hodge

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Speaker 1: is a blow. I say that again. I don't have

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Speaker 1: details on how bad this oblique is. You hope with

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Speaker 1: pitching it's I think a little different than hitting, but

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Speaker 1: you hope it's like Ian Happs obliquehere. It's just like

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Speaker 1: you know what go on the ie L. We're not

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Speaker 1: gonna mess with this. You're feeling something, you're on the

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Speaker 1: eye L. It also is it's risky. Yeah, we saw,

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Speaker 1: we saw Javi Asad, we saw you know, these things

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Speaker 1: don't always work out that way. But but you have

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Speaker 1: to hope that it's it's it's the shortest possible oblique

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Speaker 1: stint you could get because you just don't want to

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Speaker 1: lose guys like Porter Hodge and and this is why

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Speaker 1: you keeped up. This is why when people were saying,

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Speaker 1: just get rid of Ryan Presley.

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Speaker 2: You don't.

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Speaker 1: This is why you know, when when Tyson Miller was

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Speaker 1: struggling in in in camp and people were like, you

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Speaker 1: have to get rid of him, and you can't. You

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Speaker 1: can't keep him around, Like we don't know Tyson Miller

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Speaker 1: had a set back, he's not ready to come back.

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Speaker 2: I'm just saying, like, you just need all the depth

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Speaker 2: you can get. You just need it.

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Speaker 1: And this is why counsel loves options. This is why

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Speaker 1: a council loves to keep depth. They don't like to

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Speaker 1: mess around with that stuff. You don't know who's gonna

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Speaker 1: get hurt, who's gonna be ineffective. You said that at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of this segment, like Brad Keller, Cavin halliwell,

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Speaker 1: who's the other name, Drew Pomerantz, Like we didn't what

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Speaker 1: this is gonna be, like a trustworthy group of relievers.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, Like you don't know what to expect

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Speaker 1: with Bullpens And I just think I say it all

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Speaker 1: the time, it just gets proven over and over again.

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying I can predict it, but the point

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Speaker 1: is nobody can, so don't we just shouldn't make assumptions.

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Speaker 3: No doubt. I think we'll kind of get to this

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Speaker 3: in our next segment, but just this idea of like

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Speaker 3: things are starting to add up here. So if you're

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Speaker 3: watching this as a fan and trying to contextualize this season,

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Speaker 3: like this is where things can go a little sideways.

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Speaker 3: Has gone sideways in recent seasons, doesn't mean it will.

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Speaker 3: This is an improved group. There are some different you know,

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Speaker 3: characters here, but like you can absorb, you know, an

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Speaker 3: injury here or there. But this is kind of coming

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Speaker 3: to a point where, you know, I think we will

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Speaker 3: see what the Cubs are made of.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Patrick, let's take a break and get to that.

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Speaker 4: I just want to say, before Arena Club, if you

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Speaker 4: were trying to very actively buy sell trade, it was

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Speaker 4: very complicated and used a lot of mail that was unnecessary.

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Speaker 1: I don't know I even know how to do it,

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Speaker 1: But I'm glad we have Arena Club now because it's

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Speaker 1: a one stop shop for everything card related.

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Speaker 4: It is and right now you can get twenty percent

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Speaker 4: off your first slab pack or your first card purchase

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Speaker 4: by going to Arena club dot com slash foul use

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Speaker 4: code fo u L. If you're a collector, you've got

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Speaker 4: to check out Arena Club. Go get after it.

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Speaker 2: All, right, Patrick, you said the injuries are piling up.

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Speaker 1: They are in half on the al showed him and

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Speaker 1: now on the ile Justin Steele lost for the season,

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Speaker 1: Porter Hodge on the il, those are all key key players.

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Speaker 1: Only one is lost for the season. We should we

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Speaker 1: should make that clear. This isn't utter disaster. There are

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Speaker 1: teams going through this. This is part of UH. You

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Speaker 1: need to be a resilient group to get through a season.

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Speaker 1: Very few good teams, you know, just have zero injuries.

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Speaker 1: That's that's a that's called luck is what that is.

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Speaker 1: If you have that, it's not a repeatable skill. So

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Speaker 1: it's not something when when teams notice that we were

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Speaker 1: very lucky with injuries one year, that's probably not going

433
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,520
Speaker 1: to happen this year. The teams are aware of these things. Ah,

434
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: it sounds like Ian Happ is coming back. Maybe by

435
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:45,640
Speaker 1: the time people are listening to this, Ian Happ will

436
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: have been activated. I think that's huge for this team.

437
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 1: I wrote about how he's underrated. I think he's incredibly

438
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 1: valuable to this lineup if he just continues to be

439
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 1: who he is. He doesn't need to do much more

440
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,800
Speaker 1: than what he was doing. Just get on base for

441
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,920
Speaker 1: all these guys and take the pressure off everyone else.

442
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: I think Pek Armstrong has been amazing at the top,

443
00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: but Pek Armstrong has been amazing full stop. Yeah, so

444
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 1: I think Ian Happ kind of fits that role as

445
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,400
Speaker 1: leadoff guy. I know people want to keep keep PCA

446
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: up there. I think I think it makes sense to

447
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,680
Speaker 1: let him. Maybe maybe the lineup looks different in general,

448
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 1: but I think Hap makes a lot of sense at

449
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 1: the top.

450
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,200
Speaker 3: I think what people really want is for the Cubs

451
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 3: to clone Pekk Armstrong so there's just be nine of

452
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 3: them in the lineup and playing every single position. Or

453
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 3: maybe I don't know, can he can he close like

454
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 3: you know, hit him on that track. He's got a

455
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,880
Speaker 3: pretty good arm, but yeah, just that effect of yeah,

456
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 3: he's awesome in the leadoff spot, but you know, Sayah

457
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,000
Speaker 3: is no longer your DH, and there's kind of some

458
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 3: some trade off there. I mean, I'm interested to see

459
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 3: kind of what happens with this pitching staff. I believe

460
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,679
Speaker 3: Counsel told reporters in Miami that they're looking at quote

461
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 3: well into June for showda in Monaga's potential return. This

462
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 3: is something you know, he doesn't have a whole lot

463
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 3: of experience with. We know the Cubs are very cautious

464
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 3: in these matters, and I think, yeah, when you have

465
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:33,479
Speaker 3: Shoda and Justin Steele down, it's just gets thin. And

466
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 3: you know, Ben Brown has great talent and has shown flashes.

467
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 3: But I mean, if the Cubs were anywhere close to

468
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,239
Speaker 3: full strength, I think we'd probably be asking, like is

469
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 3: his spot in the rotation in Jeopardy? Has he already

470
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 3: lost his job? Could he be a really interesting reliever?

471
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 3: Like could he do what Drew Pomerance did or what

472
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 3: Brad Keller does? Like, I don't know, that would probably

473
00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 3: be interesting. I don't really think that can be on

474
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 3: the at all, Like you need him stretched out and

475
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 3: then you know, Hodge, you know, it's crazy how this

476
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:14,639
Speaker 3: guy in spring training the year prior, no one was

477
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 3: talking about at all, he pops and becomes this really

478
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,919
Speaker 3: nice piece of your team, and then you know, this

479
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 3: year it's kind of talked about it's like, oh, it's

480
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 3: a given. Porter Hodge is just a lockdown reliever and

481
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 3: he does not have a long track record, and if

482
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 3: he's not healthy, now that's that's a huge loss for

483
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 3: you know, a manager and a coaching staff that is

484
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 3: pretty good at game planning and navigating the opposing lineup,

485
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,680
Speaker 3: but you still need those pieces that can go out

486
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 3: and get you the outs.

487
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, when it comes to show to so I just

488
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: quickly looked at it. So he's been out for three weeks,

489
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 1: but what we're generally told is that I shouldn't say

490
00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 1: he's been out for three weeks.

491
00:26:58,119 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 2: Sorry.

492
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,800
Speaker 1: What I meant to say is they expect him to

493
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,440
Speaker 1: start throwing off a mound at the end of this week,

494
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,920
Speaker 1: So that would be about three weeks after he went

495
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:12,919
Speaker 1: on the il. That what we're generally told is the

496
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: amount of time between like you're out and mound time

497
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,199
Speaker 1: and then getting ramp back up. It's like, that's the

498
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,439
Speaker 1: that's the time it takes to get ramp back up.

499
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 1: So it'll be about three weeks, three ish weeks. And

500
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: if they're being assuming no setbacks, assuming no setbacks, and

501
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 1: if they're being cautious, let's say three and a half

502
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 1: so that if everything goes right, I'm guessing the earliest.

503
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 1: When he says well into June, I think he's he

504
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: basically means not the first week in June.

505
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:42,960
Speaker 2: That's all like, you know.

506
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 1: He's being nebulous for a reason. He's giving himself time

507
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: and he's saying it could be the middle of June,

508
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,679
Speaker 1: it could be late June, and that's that's the you

509
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 1: know what we're what we're hoping for as far as

510
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: the Cubs are concerned. So I would guess the earliest

511
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:03,639
Speaker 1: is like June thirteenth, that's about three weeks from this Friday.

512
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,520
Speaker 1: And that's my guess as the earliest. That's everything goes

513
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:11,159
Speaker 1: right and they and they feel like we're not pushing anything,

514
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,400
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think it'll be later than that,

515
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's okay. You don't want to

516
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: go crazy with this. We just talked about it, Patrick,

517
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,199
Speaker 1: But they're in the midst of a weaker schedule. You

518
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 1: have to try and get healthy. Here use this time

519
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 1: stat if you look. Fans are gonna be upset that

520
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 1: if they don't win every single one of these games,

521
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 1: and that I get it.

522
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 2: You want to beat up on this team.

523
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: These teams get twenty thirty games over five hundred and

524
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:39,720
Speaker 1: run away with the division.

525
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 2: Yes, that would be.

526
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 1: Ideal, but but what you need in the year little

527
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 1: banged up, get through this, go fourteen and seven. Like

528
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: you said, of those twenty one games, you do that,

529
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 1: I think you're okay. I think you're fine. You want better,

530
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 1: you want to run away, you want to be a

531
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 1: great team. They are banged up at the moment, not

532
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: not decimated, but banged up. Get through it, get healthy.

533
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 1: All these guys hope they come back and they're performing

534
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: at their best. But this is a kind of a

535
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 1: grind it out point of the season, and they're lucky

536
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 1: that it's a weak point as far as the schedule goes.

537
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes we look at this like,

538
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 3: you know, it should be like a nineteen fifties high

539
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 3: school football coach and like, you know, maximum effort, all out,

540
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 3: every single you know pitch, and it's like, obviously they're

541
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 3: trying their best their professionals, but there are certain points

542
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 3: of the season where you, like you say, you have

543
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 3: to grind it out, you have to ride it out,

544
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 3: you have to kind of let things happen. You have

545
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 3: to give certain guys rest, You have to let certain

546
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,680
Speaker 3: guys develop and figure it out, such as Matt Shaw.

547
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 3: Sometimes the payoff is Pete Crow Armstrong And you know,

548
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 3: I think at this point we touched the on it earlier.

549
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:04,040
Speaker 3: There is a lot of information for the trade deadline,

550
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 3: like they need arms big time, and maybe maybe match

551
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,880
Speaker 3: off flops and a deal for a third baseman sort

552
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,000
Speaker 3: of falls into their laps. I kind of doubt shall

553
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 3: will be as bad as he was at the start

554
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 3: of the season, And like we've written about, there aren't

555
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 3: that many great options out there, So you hope Shoda

556
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 3: can be you know, your game one starter. I mean,

557
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 3: fingers crossed that Matthew Boyd stays healthy. You know, he

558
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 3: obviously had a shortened season last year coming off with

559
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 3: Tommy John the year prior. He says he feels great.

560
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 3: He says, when the ball's in my hand, like I'm

561
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 3: in control, like I know what to do. Feel great.

562
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 3: Hopefully that continues. It's hard to see like them being

563
00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 3: able to absorb another like established starter going down. That's

564
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 3: where things could get really sort of dicey. But you know,

565
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 3: that's the job. That's what Craig Council is good at

566
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,920
Speaker 3: That's what this organization has built up over the years,

567
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 3: this infrastructure, the depth, figure it out.

568
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, trade deadline, We're we're gonna be focused on that

569
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: trade deadline.

570
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 2: I think that's that's right now.

571
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: Gonna it's going to start to It's not gonna start

572
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 1: to heat up, but the talk amongst media and fans

573
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: is going to like when these when these injuries happen,

574
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: it's like who are the targets? And because of the

575
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 1: wild cards expanded wild cards just not as many sellers.

576
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:45,040
Speaker 1: But but you know, there are bad teams out there.

577
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:47,160
Speaker 1: Obviously they're playing one right now.

578
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 2: Colorado. We'll see what Washington does. We'll see who I

579
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 2: was just looking.

580
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 1: Colorado has a decent reliever who's striking out like thirty

581
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: percent of the guys that he faces. Walk some guys,

582
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 1: but you know who I don't know. We'll see who

583
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 1: these guys are, who these relievers that they target are.

584
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: My guess is they get multiple relievers. Yeah, and they

585
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 1: try for one starter.

586
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 3: Uh.

587
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 2: You know, I just don't think.

588
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 1: You you you use those assets for position players right now.

589
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 2: But we'll see what what it looks like.

590
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 1: In what we're near the end of May, so let's

591
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 1: say a month and a half is when things will

592
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,959
Speaker 1: really get going. Remember the draft screws things up as

593
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: well as far as talks, and that's around the All

594
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 1: Star break.

595
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 2: I believe this year.

596
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we'll be back with two more episodes

597
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,479
Speaker 1: later this week. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.

598
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:44,239
Speaker 1: This is north Shore, north Shore, north Side Territory. Make

599
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,

600
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: and subscribe to the Athletic for Patrick and I are

601
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 1: on top of all things, cubs. Thanks so much for

602
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:52,760
Speaker 1: listening to everyone.

603
00:32:52,840 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 2: Take the word anything

604
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:18,720
Speaker 1: I will medd