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

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Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with me as always as my co host

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Speaker 1: Patrick Mooney. We are your Cubs beat writers over at

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Speaker 1: the Athletic Patrick. Before we get started on some Cubs talk,

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Speaker 1: I want to just direct some people to the north

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Speaker 1: Side Territory Shop Northside Territory Shop dot com. You can

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Speaker 1: get all sorts of gear there they I believe there

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Speaker 1: are now women's TX available. So did I say TX

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Speaker 1: V nexx?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah? Did I say t X. I don't

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Speaker 1: know what A team something we can invent. Uh, Woodside

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Speaker 1: Sikos can get out there represent We need more promotion.

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Speaker 1: We didn't win the best Non Bears podcast. According to

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Speaker 1: our buddy John Greenberg's media survey. We came in second

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Speaker 1: place to a Rite wright in show, a wright in

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Speaker 1: winner show unacceptable. We need you north Side Sikos out

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Speaker 1: there promoting us, fighting for our names. Uh. I will

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Speaker 1: take my crown as as best local writer. I think

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Speaker 1: probably because I was near the top voting list or

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Speaker 1: something I didn't. I don't know what.

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Speaker 2: That was.

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Speaker 3: Smooth way of dropping that in there. That on John

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Speaker 3: Greenberg's survey and the Athletic that you were voted favorite.

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Speaker 1: Sports writer, and you are.

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Speaker 3: You are my favorite sports writer because you're covering on

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Speaker 3: Saturday at Wrigley.

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Speaker 1: You know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: I get I'll take Saturday off.

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Speaker 1: And I get to go to fish on Sunday. So

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Speaker 1: you were you work Sunday. So so we each we

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Speaker 1: each get a win here. Uh all right, Patrick, let's

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Speaker 1: talk some second half storylines here Cubs come into Uh,

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Speaker 1: I guess the break is nearly over here. A really

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Speaker 1: fun All Star game. By the way, I don't know

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Speaker 1: if you stayed up for that, but that that home

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Speaker 1: run off was was fun. It was It was It's

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Speaker 1: how the alcar game should be. They shouldn't be fighting

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Speaker 1: for home field advantage of the World Series. They need

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Speaker 1: to make you more fun and like an entertainment a

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Speaker 1: pure entertainment factor. And Kyle Schwarber with three home runs

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Speaker 1: and three swings, that was cool. That was fun. Times

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Speaker 1: stayed up with my son to watch that and it

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Speaker 1: was pretty cool. So bravo to baseball for nailing something

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Speaker 1: right there as far as entertainment value goes. We got

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Speaker 1: to pause on that one.

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Speaker 3: That was a classic Cubby occurrence there, like they're eighteen

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Speaker 3: over at the break. They're one of the most exciting

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Speaker 3: young players in sports out in center field, you know,

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Speaker 3: the number one free agent on the board next year,

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Speaker 3: who was so far enjoyed his time in Chicago. You know,

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Speaker 3: got a front office is going to go big. At

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Speaker 3: the trade deadline, people are talking about how the Cubs

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Speaker 3: non tendered Kyle Schwarber.

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Speaker 1: A classic and what.

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Speaker 3: They couldn't find eight million dollars to see like the

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Speaker 3: COVID nineteen budget cuts after twenty twenty, you know, still

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Speaker 3: being resurfaced because Kyle Schwarber is such an awesome hitter

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Speaker 3: and also just such an all around great dude, beloved

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Speaker 3: by teammates and someone who just loves the moment.

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Speaker 1: It was.

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Speaker 3: I found that to be to be funny. We were

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Speaker 3: texting about it with our our coworkers, you.

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Speaker 1: Know what I mean, Yeah, yeah, it was fun and

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Speaker 1: Schwarber's yeah, it's so classic. He You know, you can

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Speaker 1: on one hand say like, hey, they nailed that evaluation.

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Speaker 1: The guy you know was turns into this leader that's

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Speaker 1: that steps up in the biggest moments. It never happened

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Speaker 1: with the Cubs fully, but I like it was.

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Speaker 3: Pretty good in the twenty sixteen World Series.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, absolutely definitely. In the big moments in the postseason,

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Speaker 1: the guy was always there. Yeah, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: always loved covering him like it was it felt obvious

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Speaker 1: that if this clicks, this guy is a leader, like

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Speaker 1: this guy is going to dominate the clubhouts because he's

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Speaker 1: just he's got that confidence, he's got that swagger, and

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Speaker 1: he knows how to talk to people. Fun guy. We'll

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Speaker 1: see what happens in free agency. That would be awesome

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Speaker 1: if they could bring him back, just I mean purely

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Speaker 1: for us, but also I think the fans would love

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Speaker 1: it too. But obviously Kyle Tucker is a priority. Before

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk a little Kyle Tucker and Pete

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Speaker 1: rah Armstrong, But the trade deadline is before. Like we

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Speaker 1: talked about the second half, you can't even really talk

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Speaker 1: about the second half in the Cubs without talking about

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Speaker 1: the trade deadline. I don't know what this team will

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Speaker 1: look like in August. First, I expect it to look

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Speaker 1: better and different. I think what we're going to try

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Speaker 1: and figure out. What we're going to find out is

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Speaker 1: how much better, how much impact are they going to add?

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Speaker 1: And how much do they spread it around, Like, are

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Speaker 1: they just they just going to upgrade pitching. I don't

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Speaker 1: think so. I think they're going all over here, and

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of areas where they can upgrade. And

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Speaker 1: you know that's not to obviously, they're a really good team.

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Speaker 1: They come into the second half, but they come into

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Speaker 1: the second half with the second third best record in Baseball,

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Speaker 1: second best record in the National League and not far

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Speaker 1: behind the Dodgers and Tigers. They're a really good team.

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Speaker 1: But they're looking to patch up any holes here so

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Speaker 1: they can make a legitimate October run.

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Speaker 3: I mean, there's no scenario in which the Cubs do nothing.

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Speaker 3: I feel like, what every once in a while, I'll

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Speaker 3: see that out there on social media, Like everything in

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Speaker 3: this front office's track record tells you they do stuff

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Speaker 3: at the trade deadline one way or the other. And

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Speaker 3: they certainly recognize the effort and focus and productivity that

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Speaker 3: this team has exhibited for a substantial amount of time.

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Speaker 3: Being pushed by the Brewers might not be the worst

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Speaker 3: thing here. I think that will force them to really

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Speaker 3: try to maximize this window here. And yeah, I think

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Speaker 3: they look at it like there are several different paths

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Speaker 3: that they can and then go down. Like we talked about,

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Speaker 3: I mean Jed said it on this show here that

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Speaker 3: how these teams perform coming out of the All Star

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Speaker 3: Break matters in terms of what will be presented and

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Speaker 3: how teams will sort of have to pick a lane

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Speaker 3: here pretty soon. But like what we're talking about is

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Speaker 3: like that's their job, Like this is what they have

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Speaker 3: to do. I don't really think it's even that complicated

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Speaker 3: when you have a team that has really hit close

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Speaker 3: to a kind of a best case scenario in the

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Speaker 3: first half, when the team has this team has been

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Speaker 3: built over several years to get to this point, and

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Speaker 3: like we said, a lot of heavy lifting has been done.

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Speaker 3: I mean showed up in Minaga and Matthew Boyd, are

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Speaker 3: you all star or our star caliber pitcher you can

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Speaker 3: trust to start playoff? Gain Pca is one of the

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Speaker 3: best players in the game. Kyle Tucker is that star

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Speaker 3: who's made a lot of other players better. Like, now,

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Speaker 3: just figure out whatever those pieces are and what is

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Speaker 3: available to you.

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Speaker 1: This is just a quick aside, but I really liked

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Speaker 1: to show to him Minaga's last start of the first

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Speaker 1: half that that was a good to see a nice,

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Speaker 1: nice series win after losing that first one to the Yankees,

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Speaker 1: and good to see him missing bats again. I think

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Speaker 1: that is important for the second half for him. He

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Speaker 1: needs to kind of find some of that that bat

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Speaker 1: missing and ability again. But yeah, it's it can't be

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Speaker 1: the the Matthew Boyd and and showed him Managa show

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Speaker 1: only going forward. I strongly feel like you have to

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Speaker 1: find another starter who you trust can make a playoff

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Speaker 1: start it. I mean that's i I we know that

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Speaker 1: that's their goal. We know that they're out there looking

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Speaker 1: for that starter. There. We've we've we've found some names

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Speaker 1: that they're pursuing. But really, you know, it's it could

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Speaker 1: be like they're they're looking at everyone, anyone and everyone.

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Speaker 1: They're they're trying to be creative. Jet you know that's

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Speaker 1: something that maybe we we haven't spent enough time on.

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Speaker 1: Is Jetam built on our show? Uh in uh when

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Speaker 1: when we talked to him in the you know, the

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Speaker 1: the group sessions, Uh, he's mentioned how there's a need

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Speaker 1: to be creative, that they may have to be creative

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Speaker 1: with how they get this done. H. So there, you know,

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Speaker 1: what does that mean is that three way trades? Is

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Speaker 1: that you know, I don't. I don't even know, Like,

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Speaker 1: is that just like maybe going to a team that

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Speaker 1: may you may not expect to be selling or or

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Speaker 1: something like that, or may not a player that you

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Speaker 1: just may have no clue is on the market even

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Speaker 1: that we haven't even identified. So when when he says

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Speaker 1: that so openly, I do wonder what what that could

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Speaker 1: lead to and what we may see over the next

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Speaker 1: few weeks. I also think you have to We'll talk

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Speaker 1: about Craig Council in another segment, but he's he's making

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Speaker 1: it clear that he's he's starting to go into that

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Speaker 1: mode of like, let's be a little bit more aggressive

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Speaker 1: with the lineup decisions. Shaw sat Matt Shaw sat all

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Speaker 1: weekend and you have to wonder who's who's going to

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Speaker 1: be playing third base on August first, or what does

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Speaker 1: the bench look like on August first? What what what

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Speaker 1: sort of moves are they going to make h to

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Speaker 1: upgrade that area. I think that's that like has gone

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Speaker 1: up slowly over the past few weeks. I feel like

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Speaker 1: you went from Okay, maybe they just like looked upgrade

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Speaker 1: the bench or they'll be opportunistic to like, okay, third

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Speaker 1: base is a spot that they may be aggressive and

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Speaker 1: and you know, also a month ago we were probably

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Speaker 1: like who's going to be available? Well the dime back

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Speaker 1: to one of those teams you're talking about that like

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Speaker 1: you know, we're are on the fence and this next

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Speaker 1: week ish ten days are going to be really critical

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Speaker 1: for them. Uh And au heney O Suarez is a

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Speaker 1: fit the Twins another team that on the fence. I

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Speaker 1: think Jed Jedt has been clear that the al is

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Speaker 1: kind of bunched up, and I think he thinks these

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Speaker 1: teams may stick around in the race longer. And I

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Speaker 1: think the Twins front office is kind of there. They

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Speaker 1: need to win otherwise they may be gone. Uh So,

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Speaker 1: so I think that that may be harder. But I

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Speaker 1: do like Willie Castro. But au Heno Suarez, we've mentioned it.

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Speaker 1: You add that guy you're talking about, I mean just

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Speaker 1: completely the lineup is so good and now you're talking

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Speaker 1: about the middle of the order bat at your one

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Speaker 1: week spot that can crush lefties, your what your other

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Speaker 1: like your real Achilles the only like team wide Achilles

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Speaker 1: heel if you want to point to one like this

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Speaker 1: is just like he would be a game changer, Like

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Speaker 1: that's the type of thing where you take a strength

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Speaker 1: and make it like how does an opposing picture like

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Speaker 1: navigate that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's I think that's kind of a

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Speaker 3: no brainer that they're going to at a third basement

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Speaker 3: or someone who can play third base, and with sore

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Speaker 3: as his name at the top of that list your council.

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Speaker 3: It was always interesting to kind of hear how he

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Speaker 3: approaches questions, and I believe it's in Minnesota. He was

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Speaker 3: asked about do you think maybe some of this could

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Speaker 3: be getting in Matchhaw's head, this idea of that the

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Speaker 3: Cubs are out there looking for upgrades, and Counsel was

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Speaker 3: not having that. He essentially said, well, look at this

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Speaker 3: opportunity he's had, and he sort of for counsel raised

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Speaker 3: his voice and sort of like was really pointed in

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Speaker 3: that observation of like, look, we've given this guy a

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Speaker 3: lot of running. What an opportunity Matt Shaw has had

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Speaker 3: in the big leagues, And so yes, I think you've

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Speaker 3: seen some of the lineup decisions he's made. We'll see

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Speaker 3: how it goes coming out of the break. But I

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Speaker 3: would be like stunned if they did not add someone

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Speaker 3: who could play third base and Suarez, Like that helps

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Speaker 3: your pitching staff, right, Like if he is you a

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Speaker 3: three run homer, like maybe you don't need like a

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Speaker 3: Cy Young Award winner like pitching that day. Like that's

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Speaker 3: just kind of how this team has worked thus far

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Speaker 3: in a very complimentary fashion.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it also like he gets traded to the Brewers instead, jeez,

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Speaker 1: Like the Cups don't want it, Like, first of all,

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Speaker 1: like he just helps that team so much. Second of all,

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Speaker 1: the Cups don't want to face him anymore. He's just

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Speaker 1: he's a He's always a thorn in their side. It's

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Speaker 1: like anytime I feel like I look these members up

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Speaker 1: in Arizona early in the season, but I'm pretty sure

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Speaker 1: the numbers are insane against the Cubs. He's definitely one

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Speaker 1: of those like top five of this century Cubs killers

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Speaker 1: just destroys them. Patrick, I want to talk about some superstars.

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Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and we'll talk about the

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Speaker 1: co Slash Audio Patrick, Pek Armstrong and Kyle Tucker. They're superstars.

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Speaker 1: We knew Kyle Tucker was a star. We knew this

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Speaker 1: when they acquired him. There's a reason they gave up

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Speaker 1: so much to get him. I think we both felt, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, Peka Armstrong can be a really good player,

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Speaker 1: you know, and flash stardom. I don't think we saw

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Speaker 1: this coming this quickly, but he has emerged as a superstar.

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Speaker 1: Now you have two in the lineup, two guys, game

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Speaker 1: changing talents. We've talked so much about them, and we

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Speaker 1: know how how important they are. They have to stay

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Speaker 1: healthy and productive. Those are the I mean, that's just

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Speaker 1: kind of the bottom line. You don't need to get

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Speaker 1: too complicated with it other than that, Like you, if

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Speaker 1: you lose one of those guys for a month plus

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Speaker 1: or they go into an extended slump for some reason,

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Speaker 1: that's going to hurt the team in a big way.

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Speaker 1: And that's what keeps you from you know, feeling like

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Speaker 1: ninety wins is a slam dunk to like, uh oh,

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Speaker 1: like what happens here with this with the overall record

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Speaker 1: and how this team looks going forward because those I mean,

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Speaker 1: we've seen I think we've seen the difference that a

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Speaker 1: superstar makes. That's what we've seen this year after years

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Speaker 1: of that being missing post twenty twenty one selloff.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Tucker to me seems sort of slump

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Speaker 3: proof in that he does enough things well and is

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Speaker 3: so discipline and in his approach that he just minimizes

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Speaker 3: or shrinks those down periods to.

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Speaker 1: Kind of amazing extent.

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Speaker 3: Even councils said it the other day, just kind of

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Speaker 3: off the cuff, like, you know, even if it feels

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Speaker 3: like Tucker's having like a quiet game, you look up

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Speaker 3: and he's like one for three with a walk or

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Speaker 3: something like that. You know, like he's hasn't been hitting

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Speaker 3: bombs the way that you know Pete has or Sea has,

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Speaker 3: but still just an absurdly productive guy. And I thought,

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Speaker 3: you know, another one of counsels sort of you know,

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Speaker 3: a twists on a question. It was like presented, you know, okay,

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Speaker 3: you know injuries to Shoda justin Steele, like you know,

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Speaker 3: how well has this group kind of handled you know,

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Speaker 3: the adversity, and you know, he acknowledged they they did,

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Speaker 3: but he also said this group has been remarkably healthy,

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Speaker 3: like it's just been the same it's just been injury

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Speaker 3: to the same part of the team. But otherwise you

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Speaker 3: look at it. I mean, the Cubs have played believe,

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Speaker 3: ninety six games, and they have seven position players who've

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Speaker 3: played between eighty six and ninety five games. And that's

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Speaker 3: Pete Dansby, Swanson, Kyle Tucker all playing ninety five games.

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Speaker 3: And you know, Nico Horner and Saya Suzuki, you know,

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Speaker 3: players who've you dealt with injuries here and there over

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Speaker 3: the years. I mean, I think Nico has sort of

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Speaker 3: established himself in the last couple of years in that

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Speaker 3: regard of being able to be productive and durable. But

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Speaker 3: you know, Saya hasn't had one of those oblique issues.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think hat might be the only player

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Speaker 3: in that group who went on the injured list, and

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Speaker 3: that was a very you know, minimal stint. And obviously

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Speaker 3: Michael Bush has solidified himself to the point where you know,

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Speaker 3: he is getting more matchups hitting higher in the order.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, this is why the front office

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Speaker 3: has to like think beyond August first or even you

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Speaker 3: know what, what might we need the third week of October,

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Speaker 3: because like, this group has been just super healthy and

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Speaker 3: productive and that doesn't really mean it's going to continue

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Speaker 3: in the second half.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's they had this run of luck in

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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen with help, you know, it's they had the

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Speaker 1: they had the Kyle Schwarber injury, and then everybody stayed

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Speaker 1: healthy the entire season with no real issues. And you

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Speaker 1: could probably point to a couple bad luck things over

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Speaker 1: the next couple of seasons that led to them never

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Speaker 1: really being that powerhouse again. There was you know, Bryant

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Speaker 1: to dealing with things every other season. It's felt like

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Speaker 1: after twenty seventeen. Do you remember when the thumb wa

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Speaker 1: for Hobby was that September of nineteen or eighteen. I

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Speaker 1: believe that would have been.

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Speaker 3: That was like Nico coming off his parents'.

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Speaker 1: Couch, right, So that was nineteen nineteen, and that.

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Speaker 3: Team, I want to say, was still in first place

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Speaker 3: when that happened, or in a playoff position then obviously, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: they just really tailed off in a bad way. But

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Speaker 3: you're right, I mean, things just happen all the time

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Speaker 3: and you have to be.

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Speaker 1: Able to respond. Yeah, there was the there was There's

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Speaker 1: all sorts of things. There's the Rizzo ankle. I remember

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Speaker 1: one year that he didn't miss time, but he was

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Speaker 1: clearly compromised and he just wasn't himself. And then so

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Speaker 1: many like bullpen injuries over the years, key bullpen injuries,

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Speaker 1: Patrofstrope running to running to first? Is that twenty eighteen? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. That was jeez, that was I think Washington

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Speaker 1: and X for game in Wash just insane, Just so

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Speaker 1: many insane things. These things happen and you have to

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Speaker 1: prepare for them. You just it was I bring this

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Speaker 1: up all the time, and it's just because talking to

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Speaker 1: the THEO, you could feel it. He was obsessed with this.

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Speaker 1: He was obsessed with the idea of you don't want

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Speaker 1: to worry about what can go wrong, but you have

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Speaker 1: to prepare for it. Right, don't say like, oh no,

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Speaker 1: what could happen? What could happen? Oh no, and like

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Speaker 1: live in fear, But it's more like prepare for the worst,

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Speaker 1: be ready for it. You don't want to get to

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Speaker 1: that moment and say, oh no, what do I what

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Speaker 1: do I do? What have we done? Oh no, we

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Speaker 1: didn't prepare for this. You want to be prepared for

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Speaker 1: these difficult scenarios and feel like, Okay, that sucks, we

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Speaker 1: can handle it. We're prepared. Look at what we did

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Speaker 1: on July, you know, thirty first, to make sure that

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Speaker 1: we're ready for this moment. And I think that's that's

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Speaker 1: part of what this deadline is. Just there's there's a

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Speaker 1: lot that's going to happen that we just cannot predict,

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Speaker 1: that we cannot that we don't know is going to happen.

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Speaker 1: Like you don't want it to be Pete or Kyle Tucker.

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Speaker 1: I think that's that's the big thing. You just don't

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Speaker 1: It's going to be really tough to feel like this team.

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Speaker 1: This team feels like entering the season, I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if we felt this way Patrick a few months in.

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Speaker 1: Now we feel like this team can win a World Series. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you make a couple moves and you're gonna feel really

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Speaker 1: good about their chances. You lose a player like Kyle Tucker,

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Speaker 1: Pete korm Strong, you're suddenly feeling very differently. And and

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Speaker 1: that's that's a good thing in the sense that they

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Speaker 1: have those types of players now, But it's you just

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Speaker 1: have to prepare for it, and and it is it

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Speaker 1: just feels like such an obvious but such a big

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Speaker 1: part of the second half. We those guys have to produce,

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Speaker 1: and they have to be on the field, and they

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Speaker 1: have to be healthy. It was fun to it was

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Speaker 1: fun to see the met All Star Game. It's fun

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Speaker 1: to see get this national love, like continue to get

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Speaker 1: the national love, but rarely see it on the stage

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Speaker 1: like that. So you know, I just think it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be a constant topic and something we'll keep watching and

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Speaker 1: you know, we'll talk about the next segment. But I'm

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Speaker 1: curious to see how Council handles rest for these guys,

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Speaker 1: if he feels like it's necessary or is this break

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Speaker 1: just enough And it's like, okay, they're baseball players, Go play,

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Speaker 1: go play all the time, you know, limited rest, especially

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Speaker 1: for Pete. But maybe maybe that's why what you're talking about,

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Speaker 1: what we've been talking about the past week of you

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Speaker 1: do need another center fielder there. They're just to feel

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Speaker 1: like competent, like not even for injury, but just for

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Speaker 1: ret to avoid injury. It helps avoid the injury.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's already been sort of explained to us,

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Speaker 3: like there could be a move or two that does

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Speaker 3: not immediately make sense on paper. That's where's you gonna play?

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Speaker 3: How's this gonna fit? How's this gonna work and it's like, well,

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Speaker 3: stuff is going to happen and they want to be

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Speaker 3: protected for it. I would also, you know, add Saya

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Speaker 3: towards the end of that group too, of just like

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Speaker 3: you get a guy like Suarez, then you have more

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Speaker 3: coverage at DH, just because I think, like Carson Kelly

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Speaker 3: has been awesome. I know he had some time at DH,

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Speaker 3: and Miguel Amaya should be back at some point towards

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Speaker 3: the end of the month early August. I think it

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Speaker 3: was like, you know, starting to play in rehab games

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Speaker 3: after the All Star break, but like, I don't know

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Speaker 3: if you really want to be leaning on your other

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Speaker 3: catcher as a d H. And I think if you

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Speaker 3: have someone who can still, you know, deliver that thump

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Speaker 3: in case say it does have one of those oblique things,

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Speaker 3: or if he has to play the outfield, or if

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Speaker 3: he plays the outfield, then something happens there. I just

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Speaker 3: think all of these pieces fit together really nicely. Now

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Speaker 3: you just got to add kind of more to that

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Speaker 3: group because you know, the bench. I know I wrote

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Speaker 3: at the beginning of the season, the bench to me

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Speaker 3: looked a lot better and they got it like they

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Speaker 3: got some nice contributions early. I think this bench also

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Speaker 3: looked better because they didn't have to use them that much. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: like this position player group is just like you said,

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Speaker 3: just they just run them out there over and over

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Speaker 3: and over again. And I think you're probably gonna want

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Speaker 3: to find some spots to give them some breaks in

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Speaker 3: the second half.

433
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 1: Yeah. I want to talk about Council when we get

434
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: back and just you know what type of impact he

435
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 1: may have. I have some questions for you since we

436
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 1: were not I wasn't on the road and you were

437
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 1: out there. Let's take a quick break.

438
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 2: We almost forgot what it feels like to play, just

439
00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 2: because but even summer eats back up, a little partner

440
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 2: in the good kind of chaos. Someone to bring the

441
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 2: Kung Fu kicks. Yeah, to train some dragons, fly, young

442
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 2: dragon writer fly. The kind of fun that keeps the

443
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,960
Speaker 2: days going, that turns living rooms into playgrounds and reminds

444
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,119
Speaker 2: us what our bodies and our hearts were made for.

445
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 1: Play that moves you, Patrick Craig. Council is one of

446
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: the best second half managers in baseball in recent years.

447
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: Basically since I think what I looked up was twenty

448
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 1: eighteen on Don't Count twenty twenty because there's no second half,

449
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 1: but he's averaged twelve and a half or so, twelve

450
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:50,639
Speaker 1: ish wins above five hundred in that span. I have

451
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,400
Speaker 1: it written down here. Twenty eighteen, it was seventeen games over, nineteen,

452
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 1: it was thirteen twenty one, it was fourteen, twenty two, three,

453
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,640
Speaker 1: just three games over, and then twenty twenty three, fifteen,

454
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 1: and then written I have a written in this story.

455
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 1: I believe he was eight games over five hundred with

456
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 1: the Cubs last year in the second half, so post

457
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 1: All Star break he manages to do some of his

458
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 1: best work. He also has the easiest schedule according to

459
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,880
Speaker 1: strength of schedule in the second half in all of baseball.

460
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,919
Speaker 1: Add those two and as we've talked about for almost

461
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 1: thirty minutes now, an incredibly talented team. So you add

462
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 1: all those things up. Things all looking good for this team.

463
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: But can he keep that up? Can he be? Can

464
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 1: he continue to be like work his magic, push all

465
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,560
Speaker 1: the right buttons with the bullpen, like we said, stay healthy?

466
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: And then I'm curious, like what your read was this

467
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: past week on the road. He was pretty aggressive. I

468
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: don't want to say it was Joe Madden pulling Jason

469
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,919
Speaker 1: Hammill in that Giant Series. I don't think it was

470
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 1: quite that level of like, you know, let's get to

471
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: business here, but it it did feel pretty aggressive. He's

472
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 1: making a lot of changes to the lineup. Shaw sits,

473
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 1: Dansby moves down hap out of the leadoff spot. That's

474
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff happening, a lot of stuff happening

475
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: at once. Yeah.

476
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:27,639
Speaker 3: I think Craig is a very patient manager until he's not.

477
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 3: And I think you saw some of those things come together.

478
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 3: Like I alluded to earlier, he sounded you know, optimistic

479
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 3: about Matt Shaw in general for the long term. I

480
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 3: did not really hear like a, you know, pounding the

481
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 3: table he's going to be our third baseman the rest

482
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 3: of the year, because that would just be that would

483
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,119
Speaker 3: be dishonest. I mean, that's just not really how they're

484
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:58,640
Speaker 3: operating right now. I think the the way he has

485
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,959
Speaker 3: handled this pitching staff, along with a group of pitching

486
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:06,920
Speaker 3: coaches and whatever analysts and front office types, has been

487
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 3: pretty remarkable. When you just Dansby said it the other day,

488
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 3: he started rattling off all these and he was using

489
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 3: like the hockey type nicknames, you know, like Ciray and

490
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 3: Palm and flex, and I was, what are we going here?

491
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,119
Speaker 3: But it's like all these sort of sort of like

492
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 3: not no name guys, but like guys who were sort

493
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 3: of discarded or overlooked or undervalued, and they've been crushing it.

494
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 3: And you know, I was looking it up, like the

495
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 3: Cubs have not yet had a four game losing streak,

496
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 3: which means like Bear's rookies will report to training camp

497
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 3: and I think NBA Summer League will be over before

498
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 3: they ever have a four game losing streak. And I

499
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,200
Speaker 3: think you can see it too of how he manages

500
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 3: certain series and how you know, I mean, that was

501
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 3: an awful loss at Yankee Stadium. Cody Bellinger going off

502
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 3: would have had four home runs if Kyle Tucker hadn't

503
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 3: made that leaping catch. And but once you kind of

504
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 3: flush that one, it's like, all right, well they have

505
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd and showed it in Monaga lined up for

506
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 3: the last two games before the All Star break, and

507
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,920
Speaker 3: you know, they took care of care business won a series.

508
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 3: I think they've they've won series at Dodger Stadium and

509
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 3: at Yankee Stadium. They spent more than one hundred days

510
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 3: in first place. They have winning records against thus far

511
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 3: against every other team in their division. Like, he clearly

512
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 3: knows what he's doing. He's a good manager because he

513
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 3: has good players. But I think just the overall sort

514
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 3: of atmosphere around this team is just very counsel ish

515
00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 3: of just how this group is focused. They're prepared, they're

516
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 3: kind of nerdy about baseball, and you see all of

517
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 3: those things playing out with kind of the you know,

518
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 3: Craig Council era Cubs, like this is what they expected

519
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 3: when they hired him away from Milwaukee.

520
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:19,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they're you're you're right, they're very buttoned up

521
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 1: with the way they do things. I think we're seeing

522
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: like the like you want to win on the margins, right,

523
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 1: you want to do the little things right. We're seeing

524
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 1: that a lot this year. Obviously they played great defense.

525
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: Uh they're base running. Look, it's an imperfect science with

526
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 1: some of this stuff, and you're going to make mistakes.

527
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 1: Quinnin Barry is going to make mistakes. But that run

528
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 1: that was scored by Saya Suzuki was that on Sunday.

529
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: I think it was Sunday, you know, great slide fun Like,

530
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 1: all of it was just like this is good baseball,

531
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: Like you're you're getting a run that maybe you shouldn't

532
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 1: have gotten. Uh, Dance Swanson got to second. I believe

533
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,240
Speaker 1: to extend an inning. I don't think they score that inning.

534
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: But it's just like they've been doing this since Game one.

535
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 1: They've been doing the at least the first series in

536
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 1: the US against Arizona, they've been doing it since then.

537
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 1: It's paid off, probably more than they expected to already

538
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,880
Speaker 1: halfway through the season. These are the things that he

539
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 1: wanted to instill, Like he saw some areas that can

540
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 1: be tightened up, and he got them tightened up pretty quickly.

541
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 1: And he has the talent to do it. You can't

542
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: take it away from the players, but he's they're they're

543
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: winning on the margins as well. They have a ton

544
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 1: of talent. They were really good team. And then you

545
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 1: do the little things right too. You play good defense,

546
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: you base run. Uh, that's that's how you go far.

547
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: That's how you win a lot of games. It was

548
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: it was the storyline after the World Series, Why did

549
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: the Dodgers beat up on the Yankees because they can't

550
00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: do these things. They can't do these little things that

551
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,000
Speaker 1: that's coaching and that's talent. You have to have the

552
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:07,160
Speaker 1: right personnel. I was looking at some because I was

553
00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: writing this section about Council, I was just kind of

554
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: looking at his managerial page on Baseball Reference. There they

555
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: are just an insanely aggressive team when it comes to

556
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 1: the bases, just relative to league average. They're stolen based attempts,

557
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 1: they're stolen base success rate, all of this stuff near

558
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 1: the top of the league, if not the best, like

559
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 1: well above average. Just a great team in those areas. That's,

560
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: you know, that should give you optimism going forward about

561
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:37,480
Speaker 1: what this team can do because they're not one dimensional.

562
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 1: And we've talked about it a lot, like there's different ways,

563
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,400
Speaker 1: and I think it's something that Council has preached. We yeah,

564
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 1: Wrigley feels sucked last year, it's not going to be

565
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: an excuse this year. We're not. We're not worrying about that.

566
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:51,880
Speaker 1: We're going to find different ways to win. Yeah.

567
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 3: I do think that's one of Counsel's strengths. Like, look

568
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 3: like he he has better players than that last year.

569
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 3: That's why he's a better manager. But I do think

570
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 3: one of his strength is not letting things become excuses

571
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 3: or not letting things sort of linger. You know, I

572
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 3: think justin steele injury is a good example the sort

573
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 3: of like problem solving after these other injuries that popped up,

574
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 3: the willingness to, as Jed said, like throw at ideas

575
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,239
Speaker 3: be involved in the player acquisition and development space, and

576
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 3: then to trust the process that you're a part of.

577
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 3: I mean, I think Drew Pomerantz, what the first two

578
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 3: hitters he faced, I think was it Bryce Harper and

579
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 3: Kyle Schwarber, Like that was like kind of throwing him

580
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 3: into the fire there. Yeah, like Okay, like this is

581
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:49,719
Speaker 3: why we got the guy, this is the situation, so

582
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 3: I am going to use him, and he's he's shown

583
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 3: the patience with Pete crow Armstrong. I think in talking

584
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 3: to Pete and people around him of just like why

585
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 3: he's felt so comfortable and why there's a good connection.

586
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 3: Like a lot of people go into that, but I

587
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,800
Speaker 3: do think there's a level of trust between.

588
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:14,840
Speaker 1: Those two there.

589
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,880
Speaker 3: And you know, looking ahead, I think it'll be fun

590
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 3: to see just how we knew how good those Brewers

591
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,400
Speaker 3: teams were when they chased down the Cubs, but we

592
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,799
Speaker 3: weren't there every day. It'll be kind of funny to

593
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 3: see counsel, who himself is pretty funny. It's like impossible

594
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,600
Speaker 3: to describe over a podcast or an article, but you

595
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,719
Speaker 3: see these just little moments that you've been trying to

596
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,759
Speaker 3: catalog here to just kind of explain to our listeners,

597
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 3: like what it is about counsel but just has this

598
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 3: like sneaky sense of humor and just a real easy

599
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,080
Speaker 3: way around players because you just spent you know, so

600
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 3: many years in a clubhouse and he, you know, grew

601
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 3: up in the game as a son of a Brewer employee.

602
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:06,399
Speaker 3: Just great feel and not strictly a numbers nerd guy.

603
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,400
Speaker 1: And did I see that his son got drafted by

604
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks. I believe Brady got drafted. That's good. Congrats

605
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,439
Speaker 1: to Congrats to him, Congrats to the family there. That's

606
00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,799
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool. Uh yeah, you're you're right. There's this

607
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 1: weird look. It's hard to describe the sense of humor.

608
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 1: It's almost like he likes to needle the media a

609
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: little bit and and and give it back to us,

610
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 1: but in this weird way that you're like, is was

611
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 1: that a joke? Oh yeah, that was a joke. Okay,

612
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 1: that's pretty funny, all right, Patrick we'll wrap it up

613
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,840
Speaker 1: there with the Cubs have three this weekend against the

614
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:45,560
Speaker 1: Boston Red Sox, and we'll have a couple episodes before that.

615
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 1: But that's that's gonna be a fun series. I feel

616
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,399
Speaker 1: like that they're pretty they're playing pretty well right now,

617
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 1: and and you know, Red Sox Cubs is always a

618
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:54,960
Speaker 1: fun matchup. We'll we'll talk a little bit about that

619
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 1: in the coming episodes and and maybe have a mail

620
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 1: bag episode in there. Thanks so much for listening, every one.

621
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:03,440
Speaker 1: We appreciate, appreciate all of you. This is north Side Territory.

622
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,840
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,

623
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,279
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are

624
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:11,759
Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks everyone, take it