1
00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,000
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm

2
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,639
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your

3
00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,680
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, we talked

4
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,439
Speaker 1: about it for a lot of February and March and

5
00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,200
Speaker 1: as it was going on. But the Cubs had a

6
00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:27,760
Speaker 1: really tough opening stretch to start the season.

7
00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,560
Speaker 2: I think you and I both felt that.

8
00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,080
Speaker 1: They came out even like a little bit below five hundred,

9
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: it would be fine.

10
00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 2: And they are seventeen and twelve.

11
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,760
Speaker 1: You can complain about a series loss to end it

12
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,680
Speaker 1: to the Phillies at home. It wasn't the prettiest weekend.

13
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:47,960
Speaker 1: This team is not perfect. This team has flaws, but

14
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,880
Speaker 1: they played some the best teams in the NL pretty much.

15
00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,120
Speaker 1: They played best team now and it came out of

16
00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,200
Speaker 1: its seventeen and twelve. I feel like this is a huge,

17
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,759
Speaker 1: huge win, early season win for them. Doesn't mean their

18
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,040
Speaker 1: work is done. It's April, but they've done. They've shown

19
00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,400
Speaker 1: us something and given fans something to be excited about

20
00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:13,680
Speaker 1: and optimistic about.

21
00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, I had the North Side Territories.

22
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:25,559
Speaker 4: R and D Analytics department look up to see when

23
00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,360
Speaker 4: was the last time the Cubs went off to such

24
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:33,000
Speaker 4: a good start, and it was last season, So seven

25
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,280
Speaker 4: seventeen and twelve, they were seventeen and eleven after appearing

26
00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,840
Speaker 4: on Sunday Night Baseball last year, that weekend, as you

27
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:45,000
Speaker 4: remember Sahadev Fnway Park, was kind of your demarcation line

28
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,600
Speaker 4: of when the offense just disappeared for months. By the

29
00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,440
Speaker 4: just before the fourth of July, they were nine games

30
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,600
Speaker 4: under five hundred, and you know they needed a furious

31
00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,240
Speaker 4: rally just to match the David Ross eighty three and

32
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 4: seventy nine record from the year prior.

33
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:09,040
Speaker 3: So I think that's very much at the front of

34
00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:09,920
Speaker 3: their minds right now.

35
00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,919
Speaker 4: I mean, Jed Hoyer went there h the other day

36
00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:14,280
Speaker 4: when I asked him about it, and it was a

37
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,440
Speaker 4: pretty open ended question, and he said, the idea that

38
00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,480
Speaker 4: we can exhale is wrong. You could hear the urgency

39
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,280
Speaker 4: in Craig Counsel's voice when he was asked to assess

40
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,360
Speaker 4: Ben Brown's body of work thus far, and he said,

41
00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:34,720
Speaker 4: we need better, frankly, and jameson Tyne said it after

42
00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,720
Speaker 4: Sunny Baseball as well, of that we can't take our

43
00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,680
Speaker 4: foot off the gas and you know, we've talked about

44
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,600
Speaker 4: this before. You've seen how this front office is operating

45
00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,959
Speaker 4: with a sense of urgency. The patience is dwindling for

46
00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:55,000
Speaker 4: certain players, and so I think this messaging is healthy, right,

47
00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,240
Speaker 4: Like you don't like no one is like you know,

48
00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,040
Speaker 4: posting run differential banners field right now.

49
00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 5: But like.

50
00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,240
Speaker 4: Going through it last night, of just the starting pictures

51
00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:12,359
Speaker 4: they faced, is it might be better than what you'd

52
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,240
Speaker 4: face in the playoffs because by October a lot of

53
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,959
Speaker 4: these pictures you know, are kind of fried or you know,

54
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 4: they're done for the year. It was an impressive group

55
00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,000
Speaker 4: of starters. They ran through some of the best bullpens

56
00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:30,640
Speaker 4: in the game, and to really create more hope, to

57
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:35,200
Speaker 4: build some momentum is huge.

58
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:36,280
Speaker 5: Yeah.

59
00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,960
Speaker 1: And it's not like it just like now it's now

60
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,440
Speaker 1: it's a cake walk, right Like as I think council

61
00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,760
Speaker 1: talked about this earlier in the week, but it's like

62
00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,640
Speaker 1: we could be facing Paul Skins, you know.

63
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:49,640
Speaker 2: And they will be this week.

64
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:54,400
Speaker 1: They'll they'll face Paul Skins, and then they face the

65
00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,400
Speaker 1: Giants who are nineteen and ten, and then they face

66
00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,720
Speaker 1: the Mets, who look like arguably the best team in

67
00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:05,000
Speaker 1: base It just doesn't stop really that they face before

68
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,360
Speaker 1: that they face Milwaukee's always I mean, Milwaukee's not having

69
00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,200
Speaker 1: a great start, but there's still pesky there. There's still

70
00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:13,680
Speaker 1: going to be a team that's you know that they're

71
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,600
Speaker 1: not going to be easy to beat, so there's no

72
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,719
Speaker 1: let up, and they can't assume that, you know, October

73
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,920
Speaker 1: baseball is in their future. Like it's like we need

74
00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: to keep emphasizing that it's April twenty eight. The games matter,

75
00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,160
Speaker 1: like it doesn't mean you dismiss them, but it is

76
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,520
Speaker 1: so early to start deciding what this team is. But

77
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,200
Speaker 1: I do think, you know, we can there are things

78
00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:39,479
Speaker 1: that we can look at that we've seen that that

79
00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:45,280
Speaker 1: we feel either have questions about or feel good about. Right,

80
00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:48,760
Speaker 1: Like we talked about the offense, We've talked about it

81
00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,560
Speaker 1: a lot, We've had a whole episode about it. This

82
00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,760
Speaker 1: is it feels like it's real. It feels like it's

83
00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,120
Speaker 1: not going to go in a two month swoon.

84
00:04:58,560 --> 00:04:58,840
Speaker 2: For me.

85
00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,520
Speaker 1: I think when I look at the lineup, the thing

86
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,440
Speaker 1: that I don't want to immediately go to negative town.

87
00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,719
Speaker 1: But it's like Dansby Swanson needs to get hot, right,

88
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,479
Speaker 1: Like he at some point he needs to turn a

89
00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:16,479
Speaker 1: corner here, and I don't. I'm not the type that's

90
00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,880
Speaker 1: gonna like say like he you know, his season is written,

91
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,560
Speaker 1: this is who he is for this season. But it's

92
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:24,680
Speaker 1: clear that he's in one of those funks that we've

93
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,039
Speaker 1: seen him be in and at some point he needs

94
00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,000
Speaker 1: to get right. I don't know the best way for

95
00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,440
Speaker 1: him to get out of it. I think when I

96
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,720
Speaker 1: see people say like he needs to take a you know,

97
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,520
Speaker 1: they need to sit him or whatever, like that's insane

98
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,440
Speaker 1: when he's one of the best defensive shortstops in the

99
00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,400
Speaker 1: game and your team is kind of built on up

100
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,920
Speaker 1: the middle defense. Maybe a day off, but an extended

101
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,760
Speaker 1: sitting just doesn't make sense when he's that good of

102
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,440
Speaker 1: a shortstop. If he was just an average or slightly

103
00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,120
Speaker 1: above average shortstop, I could listen to the suggestions of

104
00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,479
Speaker 1: maybe sitting him for an extended period, but at most

105
00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,320
Speaker 1: a day off, and other than that, it's like, do

106
00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:08,840
Speaker 1: you talk about moving him in the lineup? And Council

107
00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,359
Speaker 1: isn't the type that overthinks those things. He's not like

108
00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,919
Speaker 1: big on lineup, like he's just play you know player

109
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,440
Speaker 1: best players and put him out there and make sure

110
00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,000
Speaker 1: you know your best guys in You're the top, and

111
00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 1: that's his general takeaway.

112
00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:25,120
Speaker 3: You are the mayor of negative town.

113
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,320
Speaker 4: He comes out of this great start, and you're picking on,

114
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,880
Speaker 4: you know, the gold gloves shortstop. I will say, you're

115
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,560
Speaker 4: not wrong, but two names just jump out to me

116
00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,760
Speaker 4: when I think of the offense. Obviously, Kyle Tucker. I

117
00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:44,000
Speaker 4: know we all had questions, legitimate questions about you know,

118
00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,560
Speaker 4: the April weather at Wrigley, the pressure in a contract year,

119
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,039
Speaker 4: not being surrounded by you know, the same awesome hitters

120
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,960
Speaker 4: he had in Houston, And boy was I wrong on

121
00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,360
Speaker 4: that one. I think we're seeing just what could be

122
00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:03,040
Speaker 4: like one of the all time salary drives in free

123
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 4: agent history. And the other guy Pekrow Armstrong and we

124
00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,240
Speaker 4: had always wondered like when it would click, if it

125
00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,840
Speaker 4: could click, And I think the Cubs are sort of

126
00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,880
Speaker 4: downplaying this in the sense of like, look, he had

127
00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,320
Speaker 4: like two really bad weeks, then he had two great weeks.

128
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,480
Speaker 4: But what he did within those two weeks, like guys

129
00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 4: go entire major league careers without kind of impacting the

130
00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,920
Speaker 4: game in that many ways. And we talked about it

131
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:36,200
Speaker 4: with our colleague Ken Rosenthal from Foul territory and the

132
00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,360
Speaker 4: athletic just he's working on a Peak Armstrong piece.

133
00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,080
Speaker 3: I had just written a PCA piece. You were all over.

134
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,600
Speaker 4: His you know, the first seeds planted of his potential

135
00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,440
Speaker 4: contract extension backets from training. Our group consensus, you cannot

136
00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:59,040
Speaker 4: overwrite pie Crow Armstrong like he is just too electric.

137
00:07:58,720 --> 00:07:59,520
Speaker 3: On the field.

138
00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:08,400
Speaker 4: He's such a great talker, so introspective, really just thoughtful

139
00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,720
Speaker 4: with all of his answers and so like if the

140
00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,320
Speaker 4: comes going on deep run, he is the breakout star

141
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:16,600
Speaker 4: this year.

142
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:19,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to touch on that.

143
00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:21,080
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break, but I want to touch

144
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:22,600
Speaker 1: on pc A a little bit more.

145
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,280
Speaker 6: If you want a razor that looks good, makes you

146
00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,640
Speaker 6: look good, gets the shave done and doesn't cost much.

147
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:33,000
Speaker 2: Uh oh oh it is it nice? That's Harry John

148
00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,280
Speaker 2: and you can smell it too. Smell it. Oh wow,

149
00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:37,640
Speaker 2: that's Harry's.

150
00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:38,560
Speaker 5: That's the shavejel.

151
00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:40,640
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, I mean.

152
00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:42,360
Speaker 5: You look.

153
00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:48,000
Speaker 2: Scary. Man shut fresh, come and come and come and get.

154
00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:48,960
Speaker 2: I don't want to.

155
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:54,880
Speaker 6: Touch looks like German engineered blades made in their own

156
00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,319
Speaker 6: factory that stays sharp longer.

157
00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:00,760
Speaker 5: I'm using the razor and it does not you can

158
00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:02,880
Speaker 5: start to feel when it gets dull.

159
00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:04,240
Speaker 2: I mean, you guys only do.

160
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:06,559
Speaker 5: Like here and like up here.

161
00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:07,920
Speaker 2: True, I'm doing.

162
00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,880
Speaker 5: Acreag get the edge on your shave with Harry's. Normally

163
00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,160
Speaker 5: their trial set is ten dollars, but right now you

164
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,679
Speaker 5: can get it for just six dollars at harrys dot

165
00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:19,520
Speaker 5: com slash foul. That's our exclusive link Harrys dot com

166
00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:24,839
Speaker 5: slash foul for a six dollars trial set.

167
00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:26,040
Speaker 2: Uh.

168
00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,760
Speaker 1: When it comes to Peter Armstrong Patrick, like that two

169
00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,120
Speaker 1: week slump or whatever it was like, and I saw

170
00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,640
Speaker 1: it yesterday too, like he hit the ball that barely

171
00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:40,960
Speaker 1: misses being a home run and then he rips another

172
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,679
Speaker 1: one one hundred and seven miles per hour that you know,

173
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,640
Speaker 1: like isn't out. He was doing that when he was

174
00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 1: slumping like this guy, like his slump was not some mess.

175
00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,640
Speaker 1: He wasn't like this disaster at the plate where we're like, ugh, geez,

176
00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,120
Speaker 1: look at all these strikeouts. How is he gonna hit

177
00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:01,360
Speaker 1: major league pitching at I don't know, Like I it's

178
00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,240
Speaker 1: it's a month into the season. I don't want to

179
00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,000
Speaker 1: declare that this is the real PCA, but the way

180
00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,440
Speaker 1: he's looked the entire month, even with poor results for

181
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: two weeks, I feel really good about his production and

182
00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,440
Speaker 1: what he is as a player. He's going to slump again,

183
00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:23,439
Speaker 1: it's just what baseball is. You cannot produce for six

184
00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:28,840
Speaker 1: months straight at the highest level. But if he he

185
00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,520
Speaker 1: talks about it too, he has a really good head

186
00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,200
Speaker 1: on his shoulders as far as the way he looks

187
00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,880
Speaker 1: at things. He wants to minimize those those down moments, right,

188
00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,480
Speaker 1: He wants to try and be steady. Now, of course

189
00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,440
Speaker 1: you want highs, high highs, but just minimize those down

190
00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:49,520
Speaker 1: moments there they're gonna come. U don't let it overwhelm you,

191
00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:52,600
Speaker 1: don't overthink them. He seems to be doing a good

192
00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:56,520
Speaker 1: job of that, and I just I really am enjoying

193
00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,400
Speaker 1: watching his at bats and seeing like, like I said,

194
00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:05,360
Speaker 1: just that out yesterday encourages me. Okay, he's making out

195
00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,640
Speaker 1: and they are rockets like that. You know, a guy

196
00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:11,800
Speaker 1: has to make a solid play on that's that's a

197
00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,640
Speaker 1: great sign for Pete crow Armstrong when it comes to

198
00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:21,560
Speaker 1: you know, the pitching staff, I mean Justin Steele. Losing

199
00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:25,680
Speaker 1: Justin Steele, I don't think you can like underplay that, right,

200
00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 1: like he you know.

201
00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,319
Speaker 2: It's a it's a huge it's a huge loss.

202
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,760
Speaker 1: I don't think we have really yet to see the

203
00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,520
Speaker 1: impact of it, right because they're playing so well and

204
00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:41,440
Speaker 1: starting pitching is yet to be like this absolute glaring hole.

205
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,920
Speaker 1: Colin Ray has been great. I probably haven't talked enough

206
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:51,480
Speaker 1: about him. Really, he's he's been awesome, like just frankly like,

207
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,000
Speaker 1: he's been a really good like he's got like a

208
00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:57,240
Speaker 1: sub one e r I think, am I like, and

209
00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:59,840
Speaker 1: we're not. We're barely talking about him. He's not flashy,

210
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,160
Speaker 1: he's not a great quote, he's not he's not gonna

211
00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:09,000
Speaker 1: fist pump out there and do anything wild on the

212
00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:13,200
Speaker 1: on the mound, and his stuff isn't like, uh, you know,

213
00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:21,040
Speaker 1: getting pitch Ninja or anything like that. So so Darling,

214
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,160
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, but he's just getting the job done, right.

215
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,440
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, that's the one one end

216
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,520
Speaker 1: of things. And then like Ben Brown is this up

217
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:31,920
Speaker 1: and down act right now? And that's not and I'm

218
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,600
Speaker 1: not This isn't a criticism of him as much as like,

219
00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,199
Speaker 1: this is the reality of young starting pitchers. Justin Steele

220
00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,120
Speaker 1: went through this, uh two three years ago, whatever it

221
00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:47,559
Speaker 1: was three years ago. I guess and and Ben Brown

222
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,040
Speaker 1: is trying to figure out how to like that start

223
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:56,200
Speaker 1: to the Phillies game the Friday right no Saturday, I

224
00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,400
Speaker 1: thought he was on his way to a great outing.

225
00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,199
Speaker 1: Those first three innings, he was really good. And then

226
00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,640
Speaker 1: he got ahead of those first two hitters in the

227
00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:09,840
Speaker 1: fourth inning, and that's I think the young, young guy,

228
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,600
Speaker 1: young pitcher, the veteran picture minimizes that damage and keeps

229
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:18,000
Speaker 1: it to two or three runs. He let it get

230
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,480
Speaker 1: out of hand and it became a sixth run inning

231
00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,680
Speaker 1: right that fourth inning, and it just changed the entire

232
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:27,880
Speaker 1: feeling of the game. I'm not saying like Ben Brown

233
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,760
Speaker 1: needs to be removed from the rotation, but but Creig

234
00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,360
Speaker 1: Counsel was pretty critical. I appreciate listening to Craig Counsel

235
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,000
Speaker 1: because there's no pulling punches, there's no like he's he's

236
00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:41,480
Speaker 1: super honest with us, and I think he's super honest

237
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:43,240
Speaker 1: with those guys. But he also the next day when

238
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,120
Speaker 1: I asked him if he was like, because it was

239
00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:48,800
Speaker 1: so it was such a strong statement, I was like,

240
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,000
Speaker 1: is what's happening here? Is he considering pulling him from

241
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,560
Speaker 1: the rotation that he's like, he's making his next start,

242
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,560
Speaker 1: like there was no hesitation, but he did make the

243
00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,920
Speaker 1: point like he needs to learn how to navid those situations.

244
00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,360
Speaker 2: He needs to be better in those moments and this.

245
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:05,640
Speaker 1: Is but he also pointed out he's like a couple

246
00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:07,880
Speaker 1: starts ago, he went six shoutout against the Dodgers, and

247
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,680
Speaker 1: we can't forget that, right, Like, there's there's this, he

248
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:12,640
Speaker 1: has this immense potential.

249
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,040
Speaker 2: How patient can they be?

250
00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:17,600
Speaker 1: How long can they wait for him to be this

251
00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,880
Speaker 1: consistent pitcher? I guess that depends on who the other

252
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,040
Speaker 1: options are really And it's not like you can just

253
00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:29,240
Speaker 1: like it's not like they have some depth. I wouldn't

254
00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,480
Speaker 1: call it like the best pitchers in baseball depth until

255
00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:33,560
Speaker 1: Kate Horton's ready.

256
00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,320
Speaker 4: I do want to get to Horton in a second,

257
00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,640
Speaker 4: But I think an April specific thing that council mentioned

258
00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,120
Speaker 4: was because had a lot of off days this month

259
00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,400
Speaker 4: dueing part to the Church of Japan, and so that

260
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:52,960
Speaker 4: has helped them navigate some of Ben Brown's issues. Now,

261
00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,160
Speaker 4: in the normal part of the season, you can't have

262
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,920
Speaker 4: starters regularly going three and two thirds four in a.

263
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,840
Speaker 3: I mean, council that was off the top of his head.

264
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,240
Speaker 4: Just like kind of rattling off Brown's outings, and no

265
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,360
Speaker 4: doubt there are times where he looked like he could,

266
00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:13,760
Speaker 4: you know, take on anyone in the baseball world, and

267
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:18,040
Speaker 4: then there are these, you know, frustration, frustrating, sort of

268
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,360
Speaker 4: non competitive outings. You know that was prior to that

269
00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:25,000
Speaker 4: great Dodger Ctitium outing against the San Diego Padres, like

270
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:26,040
Speaker 4: that was a game.

271
00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,840
Speaker 3: The Cups felt like they probably should have won. And

272
00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:33,280
Speaker 3: so now.

273
00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,640
Speaker 4: I don't know if Brown would have made their opening

274
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:42,680
Speaker 4: day rotation if Javier Asad was healthy. I know they

275
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:46,000
Speaker 4: wanted upside and Brown was there, but I still think

276
00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,320
Speaker 4: Asad's overall body of work and consistency probably would have

277
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:56,000
Speaker 4: nudged him ahead. Then obviously would have had Brown coming

278
00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,960
Speaker 4: up with Justin Steele's injury. But the name I think

279
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,520
Speaker 4: everyone's curious about is Kate Horton. What do you got

280
00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:03,440
Speaker 4: on him in Iowa?

281
00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,440
Speaker 1: I mean, he's legit right now, right, I mean, the

282
00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:12,920
Speaker 1: results are there. It's very clear that he's a different

283
00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:14,479
Speaker 1: pitcher than he was at the start.

284
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:15,440
Speaker 2: Of last season.

285
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,160
Speaker 1: And and obviously the injury occurred, but even before that,

286
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:24,760
Speaker 1: he didn't look like that top pitching prospect he's that

287
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,200
Speaker 1: they they talked to him about how to be his

288
00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,160
Speaker 1: best self. We wrote a little bit about it in

289
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,600
Speaker 1: in the Spring, just be more athletic. It sounds like

290
00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,640
Speaker 1: it was a little bit more specific, right, it always is, right,

291
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,480
Speaker 1: Like there were some mechanical tweaks they wanted to make

292
00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,240
Speaker 1: to get him back to who he was. The velocities back,

293
00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,000
Speaker 1: some of the pitch shape is like the fastball shape

294
00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:50,760
Speaker 1: is is better than it was.

295
00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:52,840
Speaker 2: Uh, it's get it.

296
00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,680
Speaker 1: It has some you know characteristics that you know, these

297
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,760
Speaker 1: guys are always looking for. It's it's got a little

298
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,120
Speaker 1: bit of that cut ride act that the Cubs seem

299
00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:01,560
Speaker 1: to love.

300
00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:02,760
Speaker 2: Uh.

301
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,280
Speaker 1: And and he's got two plus breaking balls and he's

302
00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,760
Speaker 1: right now. It's just I think the debate in the

303
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:15,080
Speaker 1: front office and and with Craig Counsel is, you know, like,

304
00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,040
Speaker 1: is there a point in like, Okay, this guy is

305
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,200
Speaker 1: is elite and and he can he's at his best

306
00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:26,720
Speaker 1: right now. We don't waste these uh, don't waste these pitches. Right,

307
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,040
Speaker 1: Let's let's bring him up to the big leagues.

308
00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:29,280
Speaker 2: Right.

309
00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,560
Speaker 1: That's one school of thought. The other is like, he's

310
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,159
Speaker 1: not fully there yet. And I think council kind of

311
00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:37,560
Speaker 1: made that point because I straight up asked him. I

312
00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,119
Speaker 1: was brought that point of view to him, and I

313
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,080
Speaker 1: asked him, like, you know, let's not dance around this.

314
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,320
Speaker 1: I'm talking about Kad Horton and and like, what what

315
00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,680
Speaker 1: do you think when when you hear this point of view?

316
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,199
Speaker 1: And he's like, it's a valid point of view. But

317
00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,159
Speaker 1: I think in Caid's instance, he needs we need to

318
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,560
Speaker 1: get him right. We like, I want to see him

319
00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,600
Speaker 1: go out there and do it more often. He needs

320
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,320
Speaker 1: to like make sure that he's healthy, feeling good, that

321
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,760
Speaker 1: he's at his best, that he's not walking guys, that

322
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,919
Speaker 1: you know, all these things. He's like, because there's a

323
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,640
Speaker 1: level and this is the level MLB that where it's

324
00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:14,800
Speaker 1: just going to be that much harder. So you have

325
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:19,399
Speaker 1: to dominate your current level and then then it'll happen

326
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,959
Speaker 1: and and that you know. Another reporter quickly followed up

327
00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:26,679
Speaker 1: and said, like, you expect him to be here this

328
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,879
Speaker 1: year essentially, And he didn't deny that, like he thinks,

329
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,080
Speaker 1: you know, like he's going to be up here at

330
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,480
Speaker 1: some point this season, assuming health, assuming continued success. Right now,

331
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,359
Speaker 1: he looks like like back to that twenty twenty three version,

332
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:40,520
Speaker 1: that version.

333
00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:45,320
Speaker 2: That had him, you know, among in the.

334
00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,919
Speaker 1: Debate for best pitching prospect in baseball, right he was,

335
00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:51,359
Speaker 1: he was in that debate. He looks like that guy again.

336
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,880
Speaker 1: They're excited for him. You know, I don't know how.

337
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,720
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be that long, like

338
00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,679
Speaker 1: you know, you know, a month, two months. It's not

339
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:04,640
Speaker 1: going to be a September call up. I don't think

340
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,600
Speaker 1: unless something goes wrong, or unless these starters are just

341
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,800
Speaker 1: so good, you know, unless Ben Brown develops some consistency

342
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,040
Speaker 1: and Colin Ray just can do this for one hundred

343
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,800
Speaker 1: and fifty innings, I'd be surprised if that's the case.

344
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: And I think just in general, Craig Council likes to

345
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,320
Speaker 1: have a lot of starters and he doesn't like like it.

346
00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,840
Speaker 1: You know, Colin raised the type like ride this hot streak.

347
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,680
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure if you want to put more

348
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,040
Speaker 1: than one hundred and twenty innings on him, so like,

349
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:32,760
Speaker 1: there are things like that that you have to consider.

350
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,440
Speaker 1: And one other thing, we talk about innings so much,

351
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:38,600
Speaker 1: they don't measure it that way anymore. And I think

352
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 1: we can go back and look at this has nothing

353
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:43,639
Speaker 1: to do with the Cubs. But look at Garrett Crochet

354
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,600
Speaker 1: last year. He wasn't limited by innings. It's because we

355
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:48,720
Speaker 1: have different ways of measuring these things. Now you have

356
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,040
Speaker 1: all this data and information on the body what like,

357
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:57,000
Speaker 1: they are measuring everything right Like. It's it's a little

358
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,800
Speaker 1: annoying at times because it's just too much information to

359
00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:04,280
Speaker 1: do and you're like, it can be overwhelming, But I

360
00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: think it's really useful for them. They know how to

361
00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,080
Speaker 1: use it, they understand it better. In general, they're treating

362
00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,720
Speaker 1: their pitchers differently in the minors. I'll write about this

363
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,920
Speaker 1: at some point, but go look at guys like Jackson

364
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,960
Speaker 1: Wiggins and Nazia Mulay, Like these are young starters with

365
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,080
Speaker 1: a ton of stuff and who are exciting, who have

366
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,879
Speaker 1: never really pitched like more than like four innings, and

367
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 1: they're pushing them. They're they're they're consistently they're consistently upping

368
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,320
Speaker 1: their pitch count and pushing them in innings. So they're

369
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,080
Speaker 1: they're pushing these guys this year early it's April and

370
00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:38,440
Speaker 1: they're already pushing them and saying, go out there, pitch

371
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,760
Speaker 1: five innings, get to seventy eighty whatever pitches, which is

372
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,000
Speaker 1: not normal which is not something we've seen with the

373
00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 1: Cubs in the past. I think it's a change in philosophy,

374
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:49,880
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's a good direction to go

375
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,920
Speaker 1: because you need to push these guys a little bit

376
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:53,960
Speaker 1: and see what they can do. And then we'll see

377
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,400
Speaker 1: how aggressive they are with call ups too, like promotions,

378
00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,440
Speaker 1: and that includes Horton and these younger guys. Let's see

379
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 1: what level they get to and if that philosophy is

380
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,080
Speaker 1: adjusting as well, which I think would be exciting for

381
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:07,320
Speaker 1: fans because they want to see someone Like we've talked

382
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,159
Speaker 1: so much, I think fans get a little sick of like, well,

383
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 1: the pitching development's better, Okay, where are all these pitchers?

384
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,320
Speaker 1: And then they've started to show up, like Porter Hodge

385
00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:17,560
Speaker 1: is there, Adustin Steel counts and you know there are

386
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 1: guys hobby or asad.

387
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:19,280
Speaker 2: Uh.

388
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 1: They've come up obviously, but I think they want more

389
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,360
Speaker 1: and more that they It needs to be a pipeline, right,

390
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 1: that's what That's what people expect. So if you're going

391
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,080
Speaker 1: to get love for your pitching development, you have to

392
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:30,159
Speaker 1: continue to produce pitching.

393
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:37,000
Speaker 4: We got three months until the trade deadline. Uh, I

394
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 4: think we can already see what the needs are going

395
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 4: to be. Now, stuff always pops up. You know, something

396
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,680
Speaker 4: that's will be obvious on May first, may resolve itself.

397
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 4: Something we think is a sure thing a Memorial Day

398
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,399
Speaker 4: changes by the fourth of July. Like that's just the

399
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,200
Speaker 4: nature of a baseball season. But we know Jed Hoyer's

400
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 4: history always looking for at the deadline. I think you

401
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,959
Speaker 4: can make the case for at least one circle of

402
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:11,359
Speaker 4: trust late inning reliever. They always seem to be looking

403
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 4: for more starters because at your point, is well taken

404
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,120
Speaker 4: that it's not just the number of innings that they

405
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 4: look at. But I think it comes to sort of

406
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,400
Speaker 4: acknowledge that with certain players, like a Colin Ray, there's

407
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:31,879
Speaker 4: diminishing returns after a certain innings threshold. So yeah, you're

408
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 4: gonna be looking at the Marlins, you know, to kind

409
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:39,200
Speaker 4: of see what they're willing to do. You're gonna look

410
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 4: at you see which teams fall out of contention over

411
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,560
Speaker 4: the next couple months, and then we're going to get

412
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 4: into this later this week. But you know, third base

413
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:55,080
Speaker 4: is not a very There won't be many appealing external

414
00:22:55,119 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 4: options or like reasonable or attainable players, at least at

415
00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:05,960
Speaker 4: this moment. So their best solution is probably internally with

416
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,359
Speaker 4: Matt Shaw, who you made you know, got the seat

417
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,720
Speaker 4: on the flight to Japan, debuted in the Tokyo Series

418
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 4: and was given a very quick hook, and so he

419
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 4: gets to reset in Iowa work on some mechanical adjustments.

420
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 4: Still think we're going to see him back here relatively

421
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,960
Speaker 4: quickly and is probably gonna have to go through the

422
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,400
Speaker 4: stuff that we just talked about with pie Crow Armstrong.

423
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, right, that's the reality of young players and.

424
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,199
Speaker 1: What do you like, Like you said, there's just not

425
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,280
Speaker 1: that many options, Like I don't know how you can't

426
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 1: like create a third basement and nothing to trade for,

427
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 1: like they they tried to answer, uh, you know, fill

428
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,679
Speaker 1: the hole in in the spring, the Alex Bregman stuff

429
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: just did not happen for them, and so.

430
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 2: Now like, you know, who are you trading for?

431
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 1: They're like third there's just not that many good third

432
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:07,160
Speaker 1: basemen in the league, right the ones, the good ones

433
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: are on good teams that aren't available. Uh, And the

434
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,280
Speaker 1: only one that you could talk about is Nolan Aernado.

435
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,639
Speaker 1: And that's just like it's I mean, you'd put that

436
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,119
Speaker 1: at like less than one percent chance that Saint Louis

437
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 1: is willing to move him to the Cubs and and

438
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: if they are, like what's the price? Like that's the

439
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: type of stuff that Jed and Carter hate doing, right,

440
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,959
Speaker 1: Like they didn't love what they had to give up

441
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,280
Speaker 1: for Kyle Tucker, but they did it because they know

442
00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,400
Speaker 1: who he is and the impact he could he could give.

443
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: Like you, you don't want to give up that for

444
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 1: a guy that's not at Kyle Tucker's level, Like Nolan

445
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: Aronado was a superstar. He's a really good player. Now

446
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 1: I wouldn't put him at the same level he was at.

447
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 1: And it's just not you know, it's hard to trade

448
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 1: with the Saint Louis Cardinals, have they Like I don't

449
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: even I can't think of a trade between the Cups

450
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: and the Cardinals.

451
00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:59,960
Speaker 2: Uh so I don't. I don't even know if it's happen,

452
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 2: and I couldn't tell you. Oh wait, we're talking about one.

453
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 1: There's a lot of time ago it was yeah, yeah, okay,

454
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:12,360
Speaker 1: so I can think of one.

455
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 2: And I'm sure there are others on the list.

456
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 1: I can't think of one that isn't you know, on

457
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,399
Speaker 1: the on everyone's list is the most lopsided trade mister.

458
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, so.

459
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,800
Speaker 1: That like you're talking about minimal upgrades. Outside of that,

460
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 1: if they're even upgrades, you're talking about adding players like

461
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: John Birdie, who is a perfectly good bench player and

462
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:37,960
Speaker 1: he's filling in admirably.

463
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,120
Speaker 2: I don't. I think like they're not denying that he's

464
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 2: the answer, right, Like when.

465
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 1: When he brought up the council, when brought up the lawyer,

466
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 1: they keep saying, they keep coming back to Matt Shaw,

467
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:55,160
Speaker 1: like that's the answer to this question. He finally looks

468
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 1: like he's he's finding his rhythm a triple A again.

469
00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 1: I was keeping my eye on the box scores. Had

470
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,640
Speaker 1: A had two really well struck balls yesterday, I think

471
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,920
Speaker 1: double in a home run, hitting the ball hard again,

472
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:08,199
Speaker 1: And I.

473
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 2: Think that's what you want to see. You can't you're

474
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 2: not going to talk about one game. My assumption is

475
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:12,439
Speaker 2: they want to see it for.

476
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: Like a couple of weeks and then But this isn't

477
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: that they don't want it to be a short I

478
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,400
Speaker 1: mean a long stint at triple A, right. They want

479
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: to see progress whatever those exact things that they want

480
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 1: done with him. He's going to work on and then

481
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: and then my assumption is he's back in the not

482
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: too distant future. I guess we'll see how long those

483
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 1: those struggles at the major league level occur, right, because

484
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 1: you don't, I mean, I guess you'd take it. Right

485
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 1: Like I was, I was looking at where they rank

486
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,199
Speaker 1: in third base, and they're not awful. They're I mean,

487
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 1: they're not good, but they ranked they ranked twentieth. There

488
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,119
Speaker 1: are ten teams below them. I was surprised to see that.

489
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,959
Speaker 1: And the whole thing is like, it's it's what kind

490
00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 1: of nil said about catcher and center field last year.

491
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 1: You just don't want to be thirtieth, twenty ninth, twenty

492
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: eighth for extended periods of time. If he can be

493
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: just slightly below average, Matt Shaw, I think you'll take

494
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 1: that as long as he's playing competent defense and like

495
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,879
Speaker 1: you know, batam eighth or whatever, and and just like

496
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: hope that others are carrying the load. And then if

497
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 1: he gets hot in August and September, great, if he

498
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,440
Speaker 1: figures it out like PCA did and the middle of July,

499
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 1: then that's that's huge, right, and and you need others

500
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:39,200
Speaker 1: to carry the weight, and uh, hopefully he figures things

501
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 1: out of triple A.

502
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,040
Speaker 2: That's what they're that's what they're hoping hoping for.

503
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,880
Speaker 1: H All right, Patrick, we'll be back with with two

504
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 1: more episodes this week, including hopefully a guest to talk

505
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 1: a little Cubs with us and and uh yeah, I

506
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,920
Speaker 1: carry this thing throughout three. Three in Pittsburgh with Paul

507
00:27:57,960 --> 00:27:59,400
Speaker 1: Schemes on the mound for one of them.

508
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 2: So won't be easy in Pittsburgh, but it is a

509
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,359
Speaker 2: little bit of a letup from this early schedule.

510
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,360
Speaker 1: We'll see how they handle everything. And then three in Milwaukee.

511
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 1: I'll be out there for the Milwaukee series. This is

512
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to

513
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,960
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel. Subscribe to The Athletic where

514
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,600
Speaker 1: Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.

515
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. We appreciate it.

516
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:22,439
Speaker 2: Take care,