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Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's 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. Big news

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Speaker 1: last night the Cubs win against Miami and then after

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Speaker 1: the game we learn that Moys's Biasteros is getting the call.

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Speaker 1: He is getting called up to the big leagues. Uh, cap,

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Speaker 1: left handed hitter, he's going to d h most of

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Speaker 1: the time. You know, we've known he's not you know,

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Speaker 1: a stud behind the plate just yet. He can he

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Speaker 1: can handle it, but it doesn't sound like that's that's

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Speaker 1: going to be what he's going to be doing while.

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Speaker 2: With the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: We don't really know how long he's going to be up,

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Speaker 1: but this is exciting news. He's hitting the cover off

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Speaker 1: the ball and it's it's fun for fans to get

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Speaker 1: a cookie.

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Speaker 2: As THEO would say, I mean, this is a guy

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Speaker 2: you you know this.

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Speaker 3: We've heard the Cubs talk about this guy as someone

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Speaker 3: who's close to a no doubt hitter, right like, you know,

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Speaker 3: there's gonna be a learning curve. We're not gonna say

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Speaker 3: he's gonna you know, hit three home runs in his

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Speaker 3: debut and never go back to Iowa. But you look

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Speaker 3: at his age, how young he is, how well he's

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Speaker 3: performed consistently at every level against you know, older, more

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Speaker 3: experienced competition. Like it's pretty rarefied air where he's kind

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Speaker 3: of gone thus far, and you know there, I don't

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Speaker 3: think we'll see him much at catcher, if at all,

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Speaker 3: during this stint. I think there are real questions about

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Speaker 3: whether or not he'd stay behind the plate. But as

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Speaker 3: Council basically alluded to in spring training, like if he

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Speaker 3: was a no doubt catcher, he'd be like the number

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Speaker 3: one prospect in the entire game. Yeah, those guys are

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Speaker 3: so hard to find. My stairs is not that defensively,

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Speaker 3: but you know we saw in twenty sixteen when a

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Speaker 3: third catcher in Wilson Contrere's comes up and can move

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Speaker 3: around a bit, can provide some thump in the lineup

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Speaker 3: and some energy, and it'll be it'll be a fun

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Speaker 3: atmosphere at Wriggly to get him. You know, he'll have

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Speaker 3: a nice soft landing spot against the Marlins. He'll get

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Speaker 3: to see a Cubs Socks Crosstown weekend series at Wrigley Field,

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Speaker 3: it'll definitely be fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously Ian happ going to the IL is an ideal.

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Speaker 1: It's an oblique injury that he suffered. I believe he

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Speaker 1: felt it on a swing in New York on Friday,

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Speaker 1: and now he's missed three games straight. He was supposed

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Speaker 1: to work do some work on Monday. I this is

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Speaker 1: I think we'll learn more today when we get to

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Speaker 1: the ballpark how severe this is. I had heard that

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Speaker 1: the work the workout went well, but you know, we

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Speaker 1: never know. You never know how things, how things really go,

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Speaker 1: And like what what that actually means?

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Speaker 2: Obleaques are fickle.

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Speaker 1: You don't want to if if it is a best

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Speaker 1: case scenario as far as an i Elston goes, then

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Speaker 1: then what you just want to be cautious. I think

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Speaker 1: it makes sense if he was feeling anything, if it

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Speaker 1: was even like no, it's not completely gone, then why

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Speaker 1: why risk it. This guy's moistes by his tirs. He's

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Speaker 1: ready to hit in the big leagues. There's not much

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Speaker 1: of a challenge left for him at Triple A. Offensively,

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Speaker 1: he's slashing three sixty eight four two. He strikes out

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Speaker 1: ten seven percent of the time. Like, what's the what's

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Speaker 1: he doing in triple A that you know what? Offensively

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Speaker 1: that really he needs to figure out. There's not much

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Speaker 1: that he needs to prove against triple A pitching, So

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Speaker 1: all the more reason to call him up. If you

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Speaker 1: you have this opportunity, see what he can do, See

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Speaker 1: what type of impact he can make. If it's a

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Speaker 1: short stint, if he's not staying up here permanently, I

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Speaker 1: think that's okay. It's not the end of the world.

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Speaker 1: Fans will probably want him to stay up permanently, that's it.

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Speaker 1: But if he if he rakes, maybe you just maybe

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Speaker 1: you keep this third catcher type situation and you rotate

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Speaker 1: d H. You rotate him in as catcher every once

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Speaker 1: in a while. I think it could be it could

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Speaker 1: be really interesting because they could certainly use you can

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Speaker 1: always use more depth offensively. I guess we don't know

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Speaker 1: what the corresponding move is. There's going to have to

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Speaker 1: be a forty man move. We'll see what that is.

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Speaker 1: But I will say this, Patrick, I like how they're

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Speaker 1: doing this in the sense that you could have called

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Speaker 1: up Kevin Alcantra, you could have called up Owen Casey.

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Speaker 1: Neither of them are doing that great I think Casey

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Speaker 1: Casey is hitting for a ton of power. But if

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Speaker 1: i'm if I remember last time I saw, he's striking

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Speaker 1: out at an unreasonable rate right now thirty five point

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Speaker 1: seven percent. That's not going to work right now. He

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Speaker 1: needs to continue to work on that. Al Contra is

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Speaker 1: struggling with breaking balls. From what I've heard, you could

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Speaker 1: have just called one of them up, though, if you

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Speaker 1: just you know, forty man, don't want to.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to make a move.

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Speaker 1: This is a This is a move that a team

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Speaker 1: that's winning, that's trying to continue to win, that's looking

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Speaker 1: for the most impactful addition for this eyel stint, they're

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Speaker 1: making that move.

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Speaker 2: I like that.

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Speaker 1: It's they're not overthinking things and saying, well, let's just

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Speaker 1: go with the guy that's on the forty man.

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Speaker 3: Biostereos certainly earned this opportunity. This is also a reflection

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Speaker 3: of how much Justin Turner has struggled in this part

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Speaker 3: time role. I think he doesn't have an extra base

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Speaker 3: hit yet in seventy plate appearances, which is hard to

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Speaker 3: believe for a guy who's as accomplished as he is.

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Speaker 3: I think we do take Ian Happ for granted, to

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Speaker 3: an extent. I mean, this is a guy who just

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Speaker 3: posts day after day after day and winds up with

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Speaker 3: like the same numbers, uh, virtually every year. It's interesting

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Speaker 3: to see peekro Armstrong at the top of the lineup.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that's like a permanent thing.

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Speaker 3: Uh. You know, Ian Hap whenever he cut returns seems

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Speaker 3: to be counsels, uh, leadoff guy. But there are a

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Speaker 3: lot of kind of forces at work here when you

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Speaker 3: see this pipeline the Cubs have developed in Latin Latin

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Speaker 3: America kind of has had some slower, slower moments in

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Speaker 3: terms of that pipeline, how how it's been moving. But

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Speaker 3: now you have you know, Miguel Amaya as a really

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Speaker 3: solid two way catcher who's getting big hits and you know,

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Speaker 3: really continuing to maintain the trust of the entire pitching

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Speaker 3: staff and coaching staff. Carson Kelly has been on this

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Speaker 3: you know, amazing run which you had detailed in the Athletic,

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Speaker 3: all these different changes and experiences over the years, uh

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Speaker 3: coming together and you know it's it seems like only

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Speaker 3: a couple of days ago, so hot. I we were

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Speaker 3: talking about another big major league debut, and here comes

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Speaker 3: another one this time at the friendly confience.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's uh, let's touch on Kate Horton in a bit. Uh.

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Speaker 1: I was gonna throw us to a break, but I'm

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Speaker 1: going to have to wait because the.

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Speaker 2: The commercials I've uploaded are processing.

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Speaker 1: Uh, but I want to I just wanted to quickly

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Speaker 1: give give love you. You talked about the catchers I

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Speaker 1: want to quickly give love to them because uh Amaya

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Speaker 1: had three hits last night, which was Monday night.

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Speaker 2: He's them.

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Speaker 1: It's just a shocking turnaround almost how impressive catching has

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Speaker 1: been for this team. You know, Carson Kelly's been a

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Speaker 1: revelation obviously, but Miguel Amaya is going overlook Ian happ

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Speaker 1: gets overlooked. Miguel Amaya does too, because Carson Kelly has

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Speaker 1: been so awesome. But Miguel Amaya has been really steady

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Speaker 1: behind the plate. I think he deserves a lot of credit.

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Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and then we'll get to

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Speaker 1: the Caate Horton debut over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick kid Horton made his debut in New

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Speaker 1: York against a really good Mets team.

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Speaker 2: He did.

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Speaker 1: He had Brad Keller as the opener, so he didn't

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Speaker 1: technically start the game, but through four innings, gave up

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Speaker 1: three runs on a homer to Brett Baty, but otherwise,

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Speaker 1: I mean, he really nice fastball. The sweeper hung a few,

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Speaker 1: but it was you know, you can see the talent.

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Speaker 1: You could see the potential for a ton of swing

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Speaker 1: and miss uh.

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Speaker 2: I think it.

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Speaker 1: From watching the interviews, it seems like everyone is talking

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Speaker 1: about how he's got this bulldog mentality, how tough he

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Speaker 1: is on the mound. We heard that they really I

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Speaker 1: think the pitchers really respected him the way he goes

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Speaker 1: about business in spring training, and guys were excited that

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Speaker 1: he was coming up and making his debut.

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Speaker 2: I think it is exciting. I think it's a.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if I if I'm right on this,

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Speaker 1: I'm but it feels like the biggest, the most the

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Speaker 1: most hyped prospect the Cup pitching prospect the Cubs have

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Speaker 1: had since Mark Pryor, not Mark Pryor level. Mark Pryor

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Speaker 1: was the biggest pitching prospect in the game at the time,

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Speaker 1: and and this is this is not to that level,

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Speaker 1: but it is certainly an impactful one as far as

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Speaker 1: the Cubs go.

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Speaker 3: You're right, Prior was sort of a ready made prospect.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it was just under a year from his

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Speaker 3: draft day to his major league debut. Horton took a

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Speaker 3: little longer. We wrote about this in The Athletic. That

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Speaker 3: was really interesting how the Cubs, through the course of

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Speaker 3: your reporting revealed like some of the the brain trust

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Speaker 3: they had on this of just why did his velocity

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Speaker 3: dip last year? Where's his arm angle at? How do

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Speaker 3: they keep this guy healthy? How do you kind of

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Speaker 3: monitor his workload? It won't be a hard cap on

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Speaker 3: the innings. I'd also recommend our team at The Athletic.

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Speaker 3: Tyler Kepner wrote a fantastic, you know, live game story

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Speaker 3: off Horton's debut in New York. As you pointed out,

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Speaker 3: there was a good Turk Wendel reference thrown in there

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Speaker 3: of hot being over the line, a guy who had

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Speaker 3: pitched for the Cubs and the Mets, and you know,

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Speaker 3: Justin Steele has been a homegrown All Star pitcher. Jeffsonmargo

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Speaker 3: was a homegrown All Star pitcher who had a lot

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Speaker 3: of hype, but it wasn't so much as he was

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Speaker 3: like a pitch He was just kind of fast tracked

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Speaker 3: to the big leagues and had to figure it out eventually,

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Speaker 3: and certainly made the right decision and turning down the

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Speaker 3: NFL out of Notre Dame. But yeah, it's been a

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Speaker 3: long time since the Cubs have had pitching talent like this,

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Speaker 3: and we'll see how Biastero's does. But it feels like

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Speaker 3: when we talked in the offseason, when we talked to

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Speaker 3: people in Arizona during spring training, like the best version

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Speaker 3: of this Cubs team, or really like any playoff contending

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Speaker 3: team is one that gets surprises, that gets young players

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Speaker 3: who come up and contribute, and I think that that is.

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Speaker 3: You know, we're only in the middle of May. Now,

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Speaker 3: there's still a long way to go, but already you're

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Speaker 3: seeing these guys come up, being put into big situations

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Speaker 3: and even rolling with what has not been you know,

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Speaker 3: an absolute best case starts so far. I mean, just

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Speaker 3: look at Matchawe being back in Iowa. But it gives

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Speaker 3: a lot of I think a lot of confidence for

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Speaker 3: this team to have staying power. And it's also two degree,

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Speaker 3: some validation of the big picture view that they've taken,

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Speaker 3: going back, you know, years ago to when the last

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Speaker 3: championship corps was disassembled.

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Speaker 1: Injuries aren't good, Patrick, I'm not going to suggest that that.

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Speaker 2: You want anyone to get injured.

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Speaker 1: It's not like ianhaps important showed him and Aga is

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Speaker 1: incredibly important.

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Speaker 2: Just losing Justine Steel for the season stings.

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Speaker 1: But I think it's I think it's important to get

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Speaker 1: guys like Kate Horton and Moises by a Stereos up

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Speaker 1: in May rather than September or August. Maybe it wouldn't matter.

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Speaker 1: Maybe maybe they'd be able to impact guys. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: could make the argument that the league wouldn't have time

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Speaker 1: to adjust to them. Maybe that's an argument that I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm overlooking here. I think I think there's value in

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Speaker 1: having them up now, getting this experience, Now see what

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Speaker 1: you have, Now understand what you may need to go

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Speaker 1: aggressively add at at the at the deadline. What what

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Speaker 1: type of role could Kate Horton hold on this team?

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Speaker 1: What kind of role could Moises by a Staios hold

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Speaker 1: on this team? Are they October participants for this team?

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Speaker 1: If they if they continue to play like they are

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Speaker 1: and make the playoffs, it's you know, it gives it

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Speaker 1: secures Ben The injuries unfortunately secure Ben Brown's spot in

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Speaker 1: the rotation. Right, we don't even need to talk about that.

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Speaker 1: I shouldn't s unfortunately secures it. Unfortunately the injuries happened,

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Speaker 1: they secure that that spot in the rotation, uh for

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Speaker 1: Ben Brown, and he has to show what he can

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Speaker 1: do and and and be consistent and and he's kind

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Speaker 1: of forced.

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Speaker 2: To to do this.

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Speaker 1: There's no there's no debating does Ben Brown belong? They

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Speaker 1: don't have a choice. He has to pitch and he's

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Speaker 1: done well. I'll give him credit. He's I feel like counsel.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it was a call out as

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Speaker 1: much as you know, he just stated it flatly. We

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Speaker 1: need better. And he's been better since then. And and

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Speaker 1: you got to give him credit. He's he's pitched well

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Speaker 1: and kept his team in games and and uh allowed

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Speaker 1: them to get some wins. So uh, you got to

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Speaker 1: give Ben Brown some love for that. I think he

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Speaker 1: deserves it, uh, especially because those were that was there

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Speaker 1: were some rough starts in there that could ding the confidence. Uh.

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Speaker 2: And and maybe he's figuring some things out. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You certainly want to see take steps forward. I think

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Speaker 1: these young guys development. You need young guys to win

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Speaker 1: to you need surprises to win that. That's kind of

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Speaker 1: how big seasons happen. It's not always. It's not yes,

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Speaker 1: you need Kyle Tucker, but you need Carson Kelly, and

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Speaker 1: you need and you need you know, PCA emerging things

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Speaker 1: like that. You can't just be the superstars that you

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Speaker 1: already knew about.

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Speaker 3: And I wouldn't. I don't know if there's a scenario

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Speaker 3: in which Jed Hoyer would have traded Biosteros or Horton

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Speaker 3: this summer sounds kind of unrealistic to me. But if

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Speaker 3: these guys are on your major league roster, that very

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Speaker 3: sim possibility drops close to zero. Like if Caid Horton

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Speaker 3: is pitching every five or six days, if Moist is

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Speaker 3: by Asteros is an everyday designated hater or sort of

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Speaker 3: a part of this evolving catching situation, They're not getting traded.

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Speaker 3: They're going to be playing, performing at Wrigley Field. And

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Speaker 3: you know, I think you're right also in terms of

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Speaker 3: accelerating some of this learning curve, because for as polished

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Speaker 3: as Pete Crow Armstrong was in terms of his pedigree,

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Speaker 3: he looked overmatched and overwhelmed when he was a September

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Speaker 3: call up in twenty twenty three. Now he may have

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Speaker 3: been put in an unfair situation. He's certainly not the

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Speaker 3: first player to experience that, but it did not look

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Speaker 3: great at a time when the Cubs, you know, were

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Speaker 3: free falling. And if these guys can kind of establish

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Speaker 3: themselves and just kind of get used to playing at

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Speaker 3: this level and letting just their natural talents play, that

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Speaker 3: could be a really big deal down the line.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, one thing you said there, Patrick about guys being

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Speaker 1: up in the big leagues likely not being traded. I

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Speaker 1: maybe philosophies have changed across the game. I don't have

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Speaker 1: data on this. I remember back in the THEO years,

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Speaker 1: the years they were winning, talking to guys in that

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Speaker 1: front office and like going over trade rumor stuff and

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Speaker 1: how you attack the deadline. There was just a philosophy

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Speaker 1: of I think there was some rumor going around whenever

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Speaker 1: I was talking to someone and possibly trading someone on

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Speaker 1: that major league roster to upgrade another spot. And the

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Speaker 1: point was we're playing well, we're winning games.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a.

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Speaker 1: Weakness, but you cannot take away from a group that's

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Speaker 1: playing well. It's really hard when you're a winning team,

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Speaker 1: it's really hard to take away from the major league roster. Now,

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Speaker 1: I mean, Theo's done. One of the most famous major

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Speaker 1: league roster shakeups. But that was a team that was

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Speaker 1: slumping and that needed a change. Trading No more Garcia

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Speaker 1: power when you're playing. Well, we'll see, we'll see how

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Speaker 1: things go, where what direction this goes. But those that's

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Speaker 1: rare that you trade from your major league roster, unless

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Speaker 1: you have this crazy surplus, or unless you need to

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Speaker 1: shake things up because you're in a month long slump

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Speaker 1: or something.

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Speaker 2: And thinks, so you.

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Speaker 1: See this huge weakness like THEO did in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and four. On the defense that it's just rare, it's

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Speaker 1: a good point that you're making there. I think let's

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Speaker 1: take a quick break and then and then get back

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Speaker 1: to some other under the radar players this season.

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: I mentioned it before, it's impossible to have a good

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Speaker 1: season without some surprises on the roster. This one has

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Speaker 1: has guys that were we barely talk about. Ian Happ

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Speaker 1: was one we mentioned him. He's kind of a key

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Speaker 1: to I feel like, hey, he sets things off at

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Speaker 1: the top. I was shocked to see how low a

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Speaker 1: strikeout rate is. It's below twenty percent. When you're below

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Speaker 1: twenty percent and you're walking at the rate that he does,

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Speaker 1: he's not hitting for power it's not because he's not.

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Speaker 2: Hitting the ball hard.

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Speaker 1: I think there's a little bit of bad luck in there.

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Speaker 1: We'll see how he is when he comes back from

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Speaker 1: the IL. I think you wrote about another guy.

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Speaker 2: I wrote about him.

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Speaker 1: Great again last night, Colin Ray. He's He's a shocker

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Speaker 1: for me. I did not expect him to be this good.

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Speaker 1: I liked the signing in the sense that you always

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Speaker 1: need depth, you need veterans, you need a guy like

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Speaker 1: Colin Ray to kind of step up in random moments.

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Speaker 2: This good.

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Speaker 1: I did not see it coming. I did not expect

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Speaker 1: to do something er Ray. Whatever he is in six

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Speaker 1: starts in, it's been impressive. And it's not like it's

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Speaker 1: smoking mirrors. It doesn't feel like that he's limiting walks,

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Speaker 1: he's missing barrels, and he's striking guys out too. It's

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Speaker 1: not like it's just you know, a bunch of weak

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Speaker 1: balls in play or a lot of babbit luck.

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Speaker 2: Here.

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Speaker 3: We can get into the backstory in a minute, but

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Speaker 3: you know, can you explain to our listeners a couple

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Speaker 3: of the like subtle tweaks that have happened going back

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Speaker 3: to say, last summer that begin to explain why this

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Speaker 3: is happening and with Ray and why maybe it's sustainable

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Speaker 3: and not just a total fluke.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was interesting.

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Speaker 1: He's a he's a very soft spoken guy, uh but

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Speaker 1: but friendly and and and loves to get into the details.

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Speaker 1: Colin said that last year Wade Miley, he Colin was

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Speaker 1: with the Brewers obviously last year, so was Wade Miley,

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Speaker 1: former cub one of those guys. He was with the

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Speaker 1: Cubs first season. He was hurt pretty much that entire season, right,

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Speaker 1: or or a lot of it.

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Speaker 3: He has, He's had a lot of time on his hands.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, is like, you know, beloved as like a

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Speaker 3: clubhouse guy, always doing the like, you know, kind of

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Speaker 3: the John Lester style of you know, whether it's bottles

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Speaker 3: of champagne or sort of like marking milestones in players careers,

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Speaker 3: sharing advice to younger guys and being really like locked

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Speaker 3: in in the dugout watching every single pitch.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he was.

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Speaker 1: He was actually in Arizona, Okay, when they played the

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Speaker 1: Diamondbacks and he came to the game it was and

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Speaker 1: he was up in the press box at one point

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Speaker 1: saying all of us, yeah, yeah, yeah, just wild, really

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Speaker 1: nice guy and funny and obviously he gave.

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Speaker 2: So he gave Colin Ray some advice.

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Speaker 1: He said, you know, maybe try being on the first

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Speaker 1: base side of the rubber. Colin didn't do it in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the season. He was having a good

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Speaker 1: season for most of twenty twenty four. Awful September. It

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Speaker 1: was just like everything was good up until September for him.

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Speaker 1: Prompted him over the winter to try and move over

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Speaker 1: to the first base side of the rubber. What it

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Speaker 1: did for him, in his opinion, he wasn't trying as hard.

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Speaker 1: He was staying closed, to sayctally with his friend's shoulder.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't trying to get to the inside to lefties

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Speaker 1: or anything glove side. He didn't feel like he had

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Speaker 1: to open up and that in his opinion, so he

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Speaker 1: told me it gave his fastball more life. So there's

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Speaker 1: a difference between life and ride. Ride is something we

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Speaker 1: can measure now. It's it's it has to do with

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Speaker 1: spin and vertical approach, angle, different things like that can

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Speaker 1: give your pitches that allows them to stay up in

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Speaker 1: the zone and it almost looks like they're rising.

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Speaker 2: It's not.

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Speaker 1: It's just the illusion of that they're not. It's not

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Speaker 1: dropping as much as you'd expect. This is more about deception.

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Speaker 1: He's staying closed. The ball comes up on the ball,

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Speaker 1: I mean the ball comes up on the hitter a

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00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: little quicker, seems to right. They can't pick it up

435
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,480
Speaker 1: as early. It's a split second thing, but it matters.

436
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:51,719
Speaker 1: That's what hitting and pitching. It's all about timing right,

437
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 1: and you're slightly throwing off their timing. And and his

438
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: forcing fastball is incredibly valuable. It was he had a

439
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 1: rough out rough we gave up like three or four runs.

440
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,160
Speaker 1: Was it against the Giants? It was against the Giants

441
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 1: They hit the forcing fastball. So it's not as it

442
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: was like a top five forcing fastball in baseball, one

443
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 1: of the best four seamers. Now it's like top twenty.

444
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 1: But he's never he's using it over fifty percent of

445
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 1: the time, when he'd never used it over thirty percent

446
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 1: of the time. It's always been a good pitch for him.

447
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: Now it's even better, and he's using it a lot more,

448
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: and it's not losing value, it's gaining value. The pitching

449
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: coaches have encouraged him to do this. He's bought in

450
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: and now he's seeing the results. So he's confident. It's

451
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 1: turned into a pretty big situation for him in the

452
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 1: sense that he's using this pitch that he never really

453
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 1: leaned on, and it's by far his most valuable and

454
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: successful pitch.

455
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:04,280
Speaker 3: It's fun to how Craig Counsel reaches out to Colin

456
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,679
Speaker 3: Ray before he signs to essentially preview the worst case

457
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,639
Speaker 3: scenario for Ray in Chicago. Now, they did catch up

458
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,679
Speaker 3: a little bit on family. They know each other, you know,

459
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 3: from their time together in Milwaukee, and Council did also stress,

460
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 3: like the atmosphere in Wrigleyville, how it's electric every night

461
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:28,400
Speaker 3: without feeling overwhelming.

462
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 2: You know.

463
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 3: Ray had grown up in Iowa and come to Wrigley

464
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 3: Field as a kid, and he had pitched briefly here

465
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 3: during the twenty twenty pandemic season when there was no

466
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 3: fans in the stand. So it wasn't all just doom

467
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 3: and gloom from mister Council. But I thought it was

468
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:52,480
Speaker 3: pretty revealing of just how Council operates, how pitchers sort

469
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,239
Speaker 3: of trust him, and it came from this place of

470
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 3: look like, there's a likelihood you're starting this season in

471
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 3: the bullpen, but you're probably going to make a lot

472
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 3: of starts for us, and you know, we think you

473
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,560
Speaker 3: can be a really big part of this team. And

474
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 3: now that's just kind of counsel style in general. Anyone

475
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,159
Speaker 3: who watches him on TV during those press conferences or

476
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:24,360
Speaker 3: knows that. But Ray appreciates that blunt honesty. He had

477
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,480
Speaker 3: said to him in spring training one year with the Brewers, like,

478
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 3: just shoot me straight. You know, I understand that you

479
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 3: have to make moves. It's not always going to be fair,

480
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 3: but just don't tell me what I want to hear.

481
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 3: You know, we're all grown men.

482
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 2: Here was the quote from Ray.

483
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 3: And so that establishes a baseline so that when the

484
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,639
Speaker 3: Cubs pick Ben Brown to be in their season oping rotation,

485
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:54,399
Speaker 3: Ray's not a disgruntled player. And when Justin Steele goes down,

486
00:27:55,119 --> 00:28:00,440
Speaker 3: Ray's walking through the clubhouse. Here's his name called you,

487
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 3: pokes his head into Counsel's office and he's like, you're

488
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 3: going Sunday, you know, against the Dodgers on Sunday night

489
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 3: baseball at Dodger Stadium. And he pitched fantastically during that game.

490
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:19,400
Speaker 3: So I think it Ray is an example of kind

491
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,360
Speaker 3: of the type of player they brought in. And there's

492
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 3: been different ways to build out this roster. But you know,

493
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 3: it's a hot I've been talking to these guys. There's

494
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,159
Speaker 3: a lot of guys who've been around, been in other places.

495
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:35,399
Speaker 3: They understand the business, They understand kind of what it

496
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 3: takes to be successful over the course of a long season.

497
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 3: And I think you were the one who told me, like, look,

498
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 3: Ray's a good talker once you get him going, and

499
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 3: he was. I'm sure if you watch some of the

500
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 3: post game start press conferences, he's a little more reserved.

501
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,239
Speaker 3: It was just very a very thoughtful guy who has

502
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,040
Speaker 3: great perspective after bouncing around for a while, pitching in Japan,

503
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 3: pitching on some really good teams in Milwaukee. And I

504
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 3: do think that has been a part, as you wrote,

505
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 3: to this really strong start to the season. It is

506
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 3: the experience, it is the buy in. It is just

507
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 3: kind of the organization of how this thing is being

508
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 3: put together.

509
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 1: Real quickly before we go just one under the radar names,

510
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: I think I can look at the bullpen and name

511
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 1: a few. Drew Pomerantz almost striking out thirty percent of

512
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: the batters he's faced so far, under eight percent, walk grate,

513
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: just not giving up any runs. He's been huge. I've

514
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 1: said it on the podcast. I am really surprised at

515
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 1: how good he looks. I did not expect it. Caleb

516
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: thielbar has been so key. He looked awful the first

517
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,720
Speaker 1: two weeks and he has been great rate since. Uh.

518
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia just I mean finally figuring it out. This

519
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: is why you don't give up with guys with stuff.

520
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: But the biggest name to me, I dug in on

521
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 1: his numbers, I and I and I came away thinking,

522
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: is Brad Keller the.

523
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 2: Best pitcher on this team?

524
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: He has he has the highest ground ball rate, he

525
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 1: has the highest UH strikeout rate is a top bottom

526
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: five and walk rate. Missus Barrels does not give up

527
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 1: hard hits.

528
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 2: Uh.

529
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 1: You want to you want an opener, you want to

530
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 1: set up man, you want two innings, you want a

531
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,840
Speaker 1: dirty inning. Uh.

532
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,040
Speaker 2: He is doing.

533
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,960
Speaker 1: Everything for this team. He had one bad outing and

534
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 1: it was spurred by some balls that found a hole

535
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 1: when under a glove.

536
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 3: Uh.

537
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:56,120
Speaker 1: He is incredibly impressive and and the type of reliever

538
00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 1: that my guess is Council just loves to have because

539
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: he'll just go out there and do whatever. I didn't

540
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 1: even mention he's throwing ninety nine one hundred. Now this

541
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: is I mean, I I thought it looked good in

542
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: the spring. You never know, things can look good in

543
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: the spring and completely fall apart in that first bit

544
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 1: real outing. He has been better than one could imagine

545
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 1: one could have hoped. That's a hell of a signing.

546
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: That's a hell of a fine And I think he's

547
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,760
Speaker 1: like the key to that bullpen's success if the bullpen

548
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: is going to really stabilize. I think I think Porter

549
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 1: Hodge is a big piece right now where you want

550
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: him to get back to, like, you know, just kind

551
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 1: of settle back in. I'm curious to see when his

552
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: next outing is. But other than that, I really like

553
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: a lot of these pictures. All of a sudden, all

554
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: of a sudden, I'm just saying, like I like this guy.

555
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 2: I don't. I mean, we'll see.

556
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 1: You have to be consistent, you have to avoid walks.

557
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,360
Speaker 1: But Keller's the name that for me, that just stands

558
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 1: out what he's been a stud.

559
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 3: Without a doubt, and this is the time to sort

560
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 3: of get right in the bullpen, widening the circle of trust.

561
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 3: Also maybe not have to you know, lean as hard

562
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 3: on certain pitchers. Monday Night began a stretch of twenty

563
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 3: one consecutive games against teams that currently have a losing record,

564
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 3: and we're talking about, you know, some historically bad teams

565
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 3: potentially in you know, the White Sox coming off you know,

566
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 3: worst season ever, the Rockies, who I think are on

567
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 3: pace to be even worse than last year's White Act,

568
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 3: which is just hard to believe. Two series against the

569
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:54,240
Speaker 3: Marlins who have no hopes of contending, and interesting matchups

570
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 3: against the Reds, and you know, I think everyone's kind

571
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 3: of intrigued by what the Nationals are building in DC,

572
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 3: but they're not quite there yet, so comes of weathered

573
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff there. We're talking a lot about

574
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,960
Speaker 3: the Colin Rays and the brad Kellers, which you know

575
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 3: bodes well, and yeah, it's kind of time to see

576
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 3: see what they got, you know, from Biasteros to Horton

577
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 3: to some of these newer guys that are getting to

578
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 3: learn about.

579
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, this is an important stretch. Weathering the tough

580
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 1: stretch was obviously important and impressed it. Frankly, Now it's

581
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,920
Speaker 1: you know, you can't just be okay, you have to

582
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 1: stand out. This is where you know, you clean clean up.

583
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 1: It doesn't it may not tell us what type of

584
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,080
Speaker 1: team they are in the sense like, oh, they can

585
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,000
Speaker 1: win in October. But this is how you say, Okay,

586
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 1: they're they're for real, They're they're doing Yeah, this is

587
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: how you get to October. That what they did in

588
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 1: the first month at plus was like, oh, yeah, hey,

589
00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 1: they can compete with anybody. Now it's now it's beat

590
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 1: the crap out of these teams. You know, win win

591
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: two thirds of these games. Uh, maybe more and and

592
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 1: just and and start running away with the division or

593
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 1: making it clear that hey we're aggressive buyers and we're

594
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 1: going to the postseason. Uh, that's that's the type of

595
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 1: run you want to see. Uh. You hope they stay

596
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 1: relatively healthy because the injuries are are starting to pile

597
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: up in a sense, not not devastating, but it's it's

598
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 1: you don't want to see much more happen, so you

599
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 1: want to avoid that.

600
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 2: Let's see what these kids are doing.

601
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 1: Kate Horton Moys's by asteris looking forward to that debut

602
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 1: White Sox or Marlins and then White Sox h the

603
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: rest of this week. It should it should be a

604
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,720
Speaker 1: week where the Cubs stack up some victories.

605
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 2: We'll see how they do. Patrick, thanks so much for

606
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:48,000
Speaker 2: listening everyone.

607
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.

608
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 2: Make sure to rate, review and subscribe. Subscribe to our

609
00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:57,360
Speaker 2: YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic or Patrick and

610
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,320
Speaker 2: I are on top of all things cubs. Thanks every everyone.

611
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: Take care the name

612
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:20,160
Speaker 4: Name will you