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

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

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

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Speaker 1: season full swing. Uh, spring training is in where we're

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Speaker 1: in the grind of spring training. Let's let's say that

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a what I don't even know what

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Speaker 1: The date is, March tenth ish, So we still got

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Speaker 1: two weeks before the season opens a little more than

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Speaker 1: two weeks before the season opens. Uh. You know, these

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Speaker 1: these results don't matter that much, I don't think, but

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Speaker 1: I do think, like, I think it's worth talking about

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Speaker 1: them in one sense. And we talked about that with

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Speaker 1: Craig Counsel this morning at Cubs camp. And and the

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Speaker 1: guy that I think it makes the most sense to

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Speaker 1: talk about with is is Day Swanson, who is having

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Speaker 1: a great spring training, really looks good out there. Obviously

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Speaker 1: we know what he's going to do defensively, but he's

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Speaker 1: hitting the ball and hitting it hard and getting results.

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Speaker 1: Does that matter? Do the results matter? No? Right?

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Speaker 2: Like, I don't think.

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Speaker 1: I don't think either one of us are gonna say

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Speaker 1: like this is hugely important. But this is why, this

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Speaker 1: is why I think it matters. And I asked Greg

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Speaker 1: counsel this and he he said, he gave a good answer.

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Speaker 1: And look, Dansby Swanson worked on things this this spring.

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Speaker 1: This is a veteran. This is a guy that doesn't

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Speaker 1: do things very differently in the offseason because he knows

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Speaker 1: what works. And you know that that's what veterans do.

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Speaker 1: They figure out what works and they stick with it.

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Speaker 1: Maybe make tweaks here and there, try and get better

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Speaker 1: here and there, but you don't change like the routine

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Speaker 1: a lot. He changed his workout routine. He said, it's

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Speaker 1: slightly changed some mechanics with his swing, and why does

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Speaker 1: that matter to have good results? Not the results so

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Speaker 1: much as Okay, he's going to stick with it. Him

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Speaker 1: seeing the good results is good for him and it

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Speaker 1: gives him conviction that what I'm doing is working and

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Speaker 1: now I'm going to continue to go that route. And

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Speaker 1: he doesn't give up on it, and he doesn't start

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Speaker 1: questioning himself and he doesn't have an zero four on

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Speaker 1: opening day or you know, a couple of games into

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Speaker 1: the season he's struggling. Well, he saw it work now

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Speaker 1: so he can stick with it for a little bit longer.

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Speaker 1: He's not going to give up on it right away.

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Speaker 2: I think that.

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Speaker 1: I think that's where it matters.

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Speaker 2: It's funny how these narratives sort of play out, Like

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Speaker 2: when you first got down to spring training, you had

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Speaker 2: a good story about Dansby Swanson changing things up. And

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Speaker 2: then my last day in Mesa before I came home,

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Speaker 2: Council was talking about how Dansby was, you know, he

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Speaker 2: was explaining how Dan just trying to get this more

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Speaker 2: athletic feel back to his swing, that he felt like

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Speaker 2: he sort of got bogged down in like drill work

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Speaker 2: and being very mechanical. Uh. And then the other night,

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Speaker 2: just a friend of mine, you know, bumped into him

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Speaker 2: and casually caught up. He's like, hey, what's up with

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Speaker 2: dance Bey? Like is this is this real? Like what? What? Like?

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Speaker 2: Can we trust this? And then it comes up in

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Speaker 2: Mesa on Tuesday morning. My conversation was on a Monday night,

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Speaker 2: and so this is, you know, a thing. Now you'll

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Speaker 2: have at least a note on the rising soon at

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Speaker 2: the Athletic And I do think it's interesting in talking

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Speaker 2: to Dansby just how really open and introspective he can

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Speaker 2: be like I was. I talked to him before I

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Speaker 2: left and he was like, sorry, what was your question again?

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Speaker 2: I just went off the rails and he's like no, no.

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Speaker 2: I was like, no, no, no, You're good, like you know,

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Speaker 2: you just sometimes he almost asks for it, just because

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Speaker 2: he is so good, and you could just throw open

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Speaker 2: ended concepts out there and he kind of hits, you know,

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Speaker 2: goes from point A to z uh and in a

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Speaker 2: very logical manner, he does go off the rails. But

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Speaker 2: you can totally see how he could go into an

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Speaker 2: off season and talk to the front office and the

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Speaker 2: coaching staff and I'm assuming there's a guy he works

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Speaker 2: with in the off season and that you know, he's

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Speaker 2: processing all this. And you know, even for even a

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Speaker 2: guy who's you know, been a number one overall pick

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Speaker 2: and in a World Series champion and has the huge

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Speaker 2: long term contract, like it's it's just fascinating how these

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Speaker 2: even those guys still have to constantly like tinker and

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Speaker 2: find out if there is another edge or another level

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Speaker 2: or something they could get back to from earlier in

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Speaker 2: their career.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but I feel like I've written a lot about

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Speaker 1: that on the pitching side as well, about just like

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Speaker 1: you constantly, like these veterans Jameson Tyo and Colin Ray,

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Speaker 1: like it's a constant battle against age. Right, and in

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Speaker 1: the league, I think we usually find it with pitchers

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Speaker 1: and and the technological advances kind of favor the pitchers.

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Speaker 1: In this area, player development is completely changed. It's not

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Speaker 1: a minor league thing anymore. Just a minor league thing anymore.

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Speaker 1: And it's hugely important. Uh, you have to you know,

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Speaker 1: you have to be on top of these things. You

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Speaker 1: can't fall behind.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: You hear it from the smart veterans. I'd be foolish

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Speaker 1: not to try and learn. I'd be foolish to not

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Speaker 1: to listen to what they have to offer me or

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Speaker 1: try and stay ahead of things, whether it's you know,

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Speaker 1: a mechanical tweak, adding a new pitch, a new workout regimen.

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Speaker 1: They're they're looking for every edge. And you've got to

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Speaker 1: respect Dansby before you know, I think we have to

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Speaker 1: remember that he came last offseason. Two off seasons ago

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Speaker 1: was not a healthy one for him. He was coming

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Speaker 1: off that Corps surgery. He didn't get to attack the

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Speaker 1: off season like he probably wanted to. Now he's done it,

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Speaker 1: and he wasn't happy with this season under like he

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Speaker 1: could have looked at it and said, look, there are

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Speaker 1: underlying stats that said I had a like, my offensive

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Speaker 1: season was actually similar, if not better, to what I've

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Speaker 1: done a lot of times there were like you go

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Speaker 1: look at the exit velocities and expected numbers. They were

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Speaker 1: better than what he put up. But he wasn't happy

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Speaker 1: with that. He wanted to figure out what can I

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Speaker 1: do to like kind of avoid those things. And I

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Speaker 1: think there was some swing and myss that he wasn't

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Speaker 1: happy with. And look, you just have to you can't.

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Speaker 1: You can't settle here, I thought. Kate Horton brought up

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Speaker 1: Kate Horton's obsessed with the process right now and not results,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's that's a big thing that these

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Speaker 1: guys cling to as well. You know, you didn't get

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Speaker 1: the results, but okay, what what along the process did

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Speaker 1: I not like that? I can adjust that I can

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Speaker 1: fix to get the results that I want. So you

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Speaker 1: don't obsess over the results. You obsess over the process

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Speaker 1: and make sure that that is what you want and

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Speaker 1: if you want to adjust it, if you want to

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Speaker 1: change it, which it sounds like dance beat Swanson did, Okay,

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Speaker 1: let's see if that gets you the results that you want.

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Speaker 1: So it's a it's a different way of looking at it,

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Speaker 1: you know. I think it's nothing new as far as

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Speaker 1: focusing on process over results. It's it's just, you know,

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Speaker 1: they have to. It's a mental game they play with

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Speaker 1: themselves to make sure that they don't overwhelm themselves with

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Speaker 1: failure and and find a way to get you know,

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Speaker 1: if it's a little bit more success here and there,

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Speaker 1: they'll they'll take it. It seems the early results you

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Speaker 1: got to be happy with. We still don't know. You know,

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Speaker 1: I said it when we first talked about Dancey making changes.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to bet on anything until I see it.

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Speaker 1: You have to see it during the regular season. But

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Speaker 1: I think dance Piece it's a good I thought Craig

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Speaker 1: Council's point of like, this is something, now, we'll stick

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Speaker 1: with it. The last thing you want is for something

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Speaker 1: to be working. But just because you aren't getting early results,

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Speaker 1: you abandon it and you don't realize, like you just

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Speaker 1: got to be a little bit more comfortable with it

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Speaker 1: or give it more time, But you abandoned it before

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Speaker 1: you gave it a shot and that happens. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: we don't know because we never know if it actually

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Speaker 1: would have worked, but I'm sure that's happened plenty of times,

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Speaker 1: and it's a confidence game.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we're not going to become a podcast

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Speaker 2: about spring training stats, but this does sort of echo

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Speaker 2: what we've both written about with Shoda Minaga of Okay,

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Speaker 2: Like you had an off season plan. You see a

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Speaker 2: velocity boost. What does that mean? You know, not nothing,

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Speaker 2: but not everything. It's just kind of another thing to track.

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Speaker 2: And you're right about Dansby. I mean, yea had a

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Speaker 2: strong season. I mean Baseball Reference of four point five

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Speaker 2: war season, I mean twenty four homers. But also we

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Speaker 2: all saw him drop. He also played one hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty nine games. He might have been like a kind

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Speaker 2: of an unpee of that Padres playoff series. You saw

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Speaker 2: what he brings to the table. It's really heightened in

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Speaker 2: the playoffs. But you know, when the manager drops one

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Speaker 2: hundred and seventy seven million dollars shortstop towards the bottom

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Speaker 2: of the lineup, like it's it's noticeable, and he clearly

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Speaker 2: has been searching for a while. I think he's known

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Speaker 2: as sort of a streaky hitter. I know all hitters

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Speaker 2: go through these things, but he's a little more than most.

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Speaker 2: I think is kind of the reputation there. And he's

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Speaker 2: also someone who's been a defense first player and like

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Speaker 2: things really clicked at like the perfect time for him,

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Speaker 2: like heading into free agency when he found that power.

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Speaker 2: I don't think we're gonna notice a huge difference in

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Speaker 2: him at the plate. I think it'll just be all about,

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Speaker 2: you know, the numbers he puts up. I think sometimes

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Speaker 2: we squint too hard to try and find these the

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Speaker 2: side by sides on social media. I think it's more

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Speaker 2: like you said, in this process. And you know, I'm

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Speaker 2: curious what the Bregman factor is gonna be. That's what

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Speaker 2: I had asked Counsel before I laughed of you know,

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Speaker 2: he has this reputation for being his hitting whisper. Can

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Speaker 2: he help even a guy like Dansby who's a veteran

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Speaker 2: not just the like you know, babysitting Pete Crow Armstrong

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Speaker 2: or trying to be his like big brother, Like, can

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Speaker 2: a guy who's extremely accomplished an experienced in this game

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Speaker 2: benefit from Bregman? And you know how Counsel is, he's

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Speaker 2: sort of hemmed and hawed, But he said what Bregman

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Speaker 2: is really good at is kind of saying the same

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Speaker 2: thing a different way that you know, I don't think

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Speaker 2: there any like, uh, you know, revolutionary hitting ideas being

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Speaker 2: bounced around when Bregman walks into the room. It's more

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Speaker 2: of just the way he says it, you know, when

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Speaker 2: he says it, and kind of the credibility that he

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Speaker 2: brings into those, you know, meetings or even just the

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Speaker 2: casual conversations in the around the batting cage.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's take a quick break. We're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about not exactly bregnant, but he's at the WBC.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk a little WBC and what's what's happening with

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Speaker 1: some cubs there? All right, everyone, I know, if you're

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Speaker 1: like me, you're ready to get out of the house

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Speaker 1: as these summer months arrive. I am so excited to

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Speaker 1: see John Mullaney at Wrigley Field. I'm looking forward to

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Speaker 1: taking my kids to a game at Wrigley and hopefully

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Speaker 1: knock off another ballpark off our list. We try and

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Speaker 1: hit one every summer, which is why I want to

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Speaker 1: Let's talk a little WBC here, Patrick. All of our

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Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic coverage is brought to you by our

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Speaker 1: Fox favorites together in one place, including all WBC games

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Speaker 1: over the next few weeks, and after that, the best

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Speaker 1: MLB action all season long, from WBC through the World

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Speaker 1: Series to the World Cup, to NASCAR and IndyCar With

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Speaker 1: foxwe today and stream World Baseball Classic live now through

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Speaker 1: March seventeenth. Go to foxwon dot com for complete terms

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Speaker 1: and conditions. Fox one streaming now. Make sure to check

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Speaker 1: out Dominican Republic versus Venezuela that is on Wednesday, March eleventh.

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Speaker 1: There is a postgame show on Foul Territory that you

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Speaker 1: all should definitely check out.

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: As far as the WBC goes, Tmusa has been incredibly

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Speaker 1: fun to watch. In my opinion, they're playing Italy right

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Speaker 1: now as we record this podcast. I believe they're down Earth,

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Speaker 1: but that team Italy is is kind of frisky and fun.

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Speaker 1: But what a game on Monday Night. Aaron Judge with

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Speaker 1: the home run, a great defensive play. I feel like

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Speaker 1: Cubs fans got to watch Bobby Witt junior. The defense

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Speaker 1: that Bobby Wit Junior played with is something that Cubs

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Speaker 1: fans are familiar with with their infield, but this was insane.

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Speaker 1: Like some great plays, some really special plays from Bobby

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Speaker 1: Wit and then obviously the Cubs connection is Matthew Boyd.

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Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd did not best game. Gave up two home runs,

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Speaker 1: I believe to Jaron Duran, gave up three runs, the

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Speaker 1: only three runs Team USA allowed. But talking to Craig

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Speaker 1: Council this morning, it was very much we're not going

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Speaker 1: to freak out about what Matthew Boyd did on the

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Speaker 1: mound as much as he got his work in. He did.

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Speaker 1: He got sixty ish pitches out there, and then after that, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, he came out of it feeling good and

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Speaker 1: he got his work in. That's that's the bottom line.

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Speaker 1: That's how I think Greig Council and the Cubs are

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Speaker 1: looking at this.

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Speaker 2: Anyone who works for the Cubs is watching this sort

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Speaker 2: of suspiciously or like fearing the worst, hoping for the best. Uh,

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Speaker 2: you know. With with Boyd, obviously he's kind of in

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Speaker 2: the background compared to some of these other starting pitchers

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Speaker 2: for Team USA who have just like seemingly dominated the

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Speaker 2: daily storylines and schemes and scoobleh. But you know, I

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Speaker 2: think Boyd, you have to give him credit for how

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Speaker 2: he performed last October at Wrigley Field. And you know,

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Speaker 2: I'll be curious to see you know, if he gets

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Speaker 2: another chance or kind of what the extent of that

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Speaker 2: next opportunity, uh would look like. I mean, the Cubs

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Speaker 2: kind of have a lot riding on this World Baseball Classic,

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Speaker 2: just specifically with their rotation. When you look at Jameson

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Speaker 2: Tyon as well. I know he wrote this week, is

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Speaker 2: it time to stop freaking out about Jamison Tyan? I

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Speaker 2: know we were just joking about making too much out

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Speaker 2: of spring training stats. What do you got on Team

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Speaker 2: Canada WBC results?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like all that freaking out about Jameson

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Speaker 1: Tyne and spring training and he goes out there and

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Speaker 1: gives you three and two.

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Speaker 2: Thirds one run.

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Speaker 1: The one run that he allowed came after he got

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Speaker 1: two outs in an inning and then exited with a

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Speaker 1: runner on after a single. He I think he started

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Speaker 1: the game with like a very like uncharacteristic two walks

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Speaker 1: in like a week single if I remember correctly, and

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Speaker 1: it just like he got out of that without any

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Speaker 1: runs and then kind of looked like normal Jameson Tyone

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Speaker 1: pitching in the WBC, pitching in a more high leverage,

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Speaker 1: high intensity situation, and he was himself, And I think

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Speaker 1: that matters. I think I think that is the type

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Speaker 1: of sign that Cubs fans want to see, right Like that,

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Speaker 1: I think that helps you understand like, okay, there's there's

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Speaker 1: something to like getting your work in building up. Yeah. Look,

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Speaker 1: everybody would prefer good results to bad results. That's just

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Speaker 1: that mentally. I think they all want that. But they

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Speaker 1: also aren't going to freak out like Greig Councils set up.

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Speaker 1: He's not going to it's it's a start in March. Second,

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Speaker 1: So it is he pitching well? Was he pitching well? No?

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Speaker 1: Now it seems like maybe he's back on track, and

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Speaker 1: that's what you wanted, like, get get the work out

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Speaker 1: all the Kingston spring training, give up the home runs

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Speaker 1: then and then get back to Wrigley. You're not in

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Speaker 1: the Arizona heat or you know, the desert and giving

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Speaker 1: up fly balls that just carry out. He is a

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Speaker 1: flyball pitcher, so he is going to give up some

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Speaker 1: home runs. But I think you know, you don't worry

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Speaker 1: about it as much anymore.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think back to even kind of when there

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Speaker 2: are times when Kyle Hendricks would struggle and obviously it

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Speaker 2: wasn't great at the end, but you know, life's too

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Speaker 2: short to worry about some of these players, like Jameson

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Speaker 2: Town's probably going to be what he's been for most

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Speaker 2: of his career as long as he's healthy, and that's

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Speaker 2: a solid, reliable mid rotation starter who like Boyd, showed

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Speaker 2: us a lot last October in the playoffs. And as

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Speaker 2: long as these guys make it through healthy, I think

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Speaker 2: it's a huge win for the Cubs. You see what's

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Speaker 2: happened to the Braves rotation. The Reds just had a

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Speaker 2: huge pitching injury. I believe Hunter Green not good for

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Speaker 2: one of the Cub's division rivals. So as long as

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Speaker 2: you can keep sort of moving forward, I think the

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Speaker 2: Cubs will take it and then kind of see where

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Speaker 2: they end up once everyone regathers in Mesa, reassembles in Mesa.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a, you know, an

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Speaker 1: important stretch. I think this is an important event for

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. Like I think it's become really important,

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Speaker 1: and I think, like I said before, I appreciate that

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Speaker 1: players are taking it more seriously and making it something fun.

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Speaker 1: We'll see if they come back all that's all. I

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Speaker 1: think that's ultimately what you want, like them to learn

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Speaker 1: some things, play well, come back healthy as simple as that. Patrick,

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Speaker 1: you have some names to watch for us on the

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Speaker 1: when we're getting some I guess when the Japan Japan

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Speaker 1: played today? This is we're on Tuesday, Japan played. But

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Speaker 1: you know we're probably gonna see more of Japan. They're

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Speaker 1: gonna of noise. Who's your guys to watch because we

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Speaker 1: know the Cubs are active in the Japanese market, so

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Speaker 1: it's always worth keeping an eye.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean these names, I'm probably gonna mispronounce them,

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Speaker 2: so I will give myself a little time to warm up,

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Speaker 2: just for a little context of like what showed him

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Speaker 2: Monaga did in the championship game of the last WBC,

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Speaker 2: and it's certainly opened some eyes. And we know that

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Speaker 2: the Cubs have made, you know, Asia a priority, and

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Speaker 2: they've established themselves as one of the teams in Japan

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Speaker 2: that Chicago's a destination for elite Japanese talent. So you know,

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Speaker 2: we are always going to assume that the Cubs are

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Speaker 2: tracking almost every viable potential major league player coming out

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Speaker 2: of NPB. And just two we've kind of heard, you know,

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Speaker 2: not even specific to the WBC, but just like you know, guys,

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Speaker 2: on the way, we're focused on pitching got heiro Ya Miyagi.

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Speaker 2: I probably did a terrible job pronouncing that. And then

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Speaker 2: you know, the next big name coming uh is he

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Speaker 2: WROTEO Takahashi. And with both of these guys, you know,

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Speaker 2: or all of these players, there's kind of a an

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Speaker 2: element of uncertainty of like exactly when they'll come out.

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Speaker 2: They obviously have to stay healthy, they're going to want

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Speaker 2: to have a good platform year. But you know, we

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Speaker 2: weren't talking a lot about Showda Monaga in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 2: and then he goes into that championship game and makes

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Speaker 2: an impression against that Team USA lineup, and I think

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Speaker 2: it'll be kind of fun to watch, like you know

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Speaker 2: who who pops in the later rounds here, Like who

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Speaker 2: has their moment that becomes sort of the hook when

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Speaker 2: we're writing our next batch of like free agent stories.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, just looking quickly at some scouting reports here, Takahashi

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Speaker 1: seems to be the harder thrower. Miyagi is a lefty,

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Speaker 1: but Takahashi is a righty that you know, sits in

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Speaker 1: the mid nineties and is up to gets up to

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Speaker 1: the upper nineties, and he's got a nice splitter, so

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Speaker 1: you know, sounds like we've heard that profile before. High velocity, fastball, good,

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Speaker 1: good splitter. It sounds like he has a curveball as well.

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Speaker 1: So interesting names. Keep on the radar way too early,

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Speaker 1: but you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens and

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Speaker 1: where the Cubs can go and continue to build on

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Speaker 1: that pipeline in Japan and see if they can add

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Speaker 1: some more big names if they have any. You know,

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Speaker 1: we'll see. With free agency looming for sayad show to

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Speaker 1: who knows who? Who's on this team?

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Speaker 2: But whenever baseball returns after the lockout, yeah, I.

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Speaker 1: Mean they this wouldn't be the first time they sign

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Speaker 1: a big name out of Japan after a lockout. Yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 1: So we got to keep our eyes and ears open

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Speaker 1: for that one. All right. Uh, that'll do it for

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Speaker 1: this episode. Thanks for listening to everyone. We appreciate your

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Speaker 1: uh you were listening, and make sure to rate, review, subscribe,

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Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic

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Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening everyone. Take care,