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Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are

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Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick,

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Speaker 1: once again we have switch spots. You are back in

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Speaker 1: the Midwest in Chicago. I am back in Arizona. I'm

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Speaker 1: not complaining happy to be here.

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Speaker 2: Because man, it's the weather nice.

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Speaker 1: I think while you were here kind of wrapping things

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Speaker 1: up on your end, I don't know if you'd call

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Speaker 1: it news what you want to call it, but you know,

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Speaker 1: Justin Steele posted some a video of himself and then

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Speaker 1: what was the wording he used?

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Speaker 2: He said he was a full go or got the

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Speaker 2: all all clear?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, fully cleared, all go, no restrictions. I think there

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Speaker 3: were two separate videos. There may be others out there,

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Speaker 3: but it definitely caused a stir.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely got some reaction.

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Speaker 1: I think while you were out here you got some

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Speaker 1: clarity because you know, look, we've been covering players for

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Speaker 1: a long time. You can't always just take a quote

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Speaker 1: from what they say, especially if it's posted on social

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Speaker 1: media without any context. I think it's important to know,

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Speaker 1: like what's really going on here? We know Justin Steel

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Speaker 1: isn't going to be ready for opening day. I think

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Speaker 1: the questions are when, what's the timeline? Is it changing now?

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Speaker 1: And what about the sixty day injured list? Is that

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Speaker 1: something that is still a possibility. I think these are

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Speaker 1: things that I think you've you dug into a little bit.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I understand where Justin's coming from that

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Speaker 3: he is obviously super excited to keep making progress and

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Speaker 3: this is a devastating injury that he experienced last April,

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Speaker 3: and there's a lot of uncertainty coming back from these

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Speaker 3: elbow surgeries. Even though you know you get the best

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Speaker 3: doctors in the world and you know they do this

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Speaker 3: stuff all the time, it's still your career and pitching

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Speaker 3: is such like a fragile endeavor that you know he

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Speaker 3: wanted to celebrate and so essentially doctor Keith Meister, who

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Speaker 3: has his own orthopedic practice in Texas, he's a ranger's

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Speaker 3: head physician. You know, there's a handful of you know,

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Speaker 3: noted surgeons who do these over and over, and he

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Speaker 3: was in Arizona checking in on a bunch of his patients,

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Speaker 3: and for Steel, he got this all clear which effectively

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Speaker 3: means that one he no longer has these regularly scheduled

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Speaker 3: appointments with Meister, and two he can start throwing his

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Speaker 3: curve again, because otherwise, I mean, you were down there

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Speaker 3: earlier when spring training was starting. You know, Steele included

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Speaker 3: his videos like he was in throwing thirty forty pitch

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Speaker 3: bullpens already, So this was, you know, not like a breakthrough.

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Speaker 3: This was kind of on the calendar already, but you know,

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Speaker 3: a nice a nice milestone for him. When you're going

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Speaker 3: through it, it's kind of it can be a lonely experience.

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Speaker 3: It's very isolating. You're sort of part of the team,

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Speaker 3: but not really.

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Speaker 2: And so.

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Speaker 3: At this point though the timeline didn't change, I think

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Speaker 3: that's why the videos it was like, oh and you know,

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Speaker 3: people started picking it up. He's still targeting May slash

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Speaker 3: June ish. The Cubs have not made a decision yet

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Speaker 3: on the sixty day IL because they don't have to.

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Speaker 3: I think they're going to have roughly three weeks, which

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Speaker 3: will give them a lot more information. They'll get some

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Speaker 3: clarity on other airs with the roster, like do they

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Speaker 3: need that roster spot, but like without any setbacks he's

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Speaker 3: probably right around that borderline of sixty days anyways. And

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Speaker 3: I think it's important to remember that, like Steal Creik

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Speaker 3: Council said, it like things are going really well, like

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Speaker 3: they're very encouraged, that does not mean things are going

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Speaker 3: to go at that same pace or velocity for the

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Speaker 3: entire length of this rehab process. And so it would

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Speaker 3: be normal if at some point not saying this is happening.

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Speaker 3: But maybe he you know, doesn't bounce back quite as quickly,

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Speaker 3: and maybe he does need to like take a couple

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Speaker 3: extra days here here or there, whatever the case, mean.

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Speaker 2: You know, something bad happened.

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Speaker 3: It's just these things are not always as linear as

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Speaker 3: you want them to. But the last thing I would

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Speaker 3: say is just that they're thinking about October. With all

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Speaker 3: of this that, you know, Steal, there's always that sort

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Speaker 3: of tension between the player and the team of the

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Speaker 3: player always wants to get back, you know, as quick

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Speaker 3: as possible, and the team, you know, it has to

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Speaker 3: be the one to be a little more deliberate or

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Speaker 3: patient at least in a lot of cases. But this one,

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Speaker 3: they're talking points are pretty similar in terms of, you know,

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Speaker 3: Steele wants to be at his best and the most

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Speaker 3: important moments, and the Cubs will sort of have to

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Speaker 3: manage backwards from that in a sense.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean having Justin Steel as kind of this

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Speaker 1: this guy that can join your rotation, you know, May

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Speaker 1: or June, whatever it may be. I think it kind

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Speaker 1: of is ideal being able to slow play this. And

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Speaker 1: you wrote about it how they were short. This front

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Speaker 1: office felt they were short with Justin Steele and Kate

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Speaker 1: Horton hurt in the postseason. They felt like they were

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Speaker 1: exposed in that way. Edward Cabrera is here to kind

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Speaker 1: of be more. I don't want to call him a

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Speaker 1: stable arm since he's not someone that has a Christine

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Speaker 1: history of help, but another weapon in that rotation that

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Speaker 1: has a chance to be a front front line starter.

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Speaker 1: Like I don't want to. I think it's important to

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Speaker 1: remember how good Justin Steele can be when he's right.

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Speaker 1: He's you know, he seemed like he was kind of

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Speaker 1: coming into his own and becoming this incredibly consistent pitcher

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Speaker 1: his first four starts before the injury. It weren't great

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Speaker 1: last year. They but you know, I haven't asked him

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Speaker 1: about this, and maybe I should. Maybe he wasn't fully

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Speaker 1: right all season long and never could really find himself.

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Speaker 1: It could also have just been like it's four starts

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Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter, and it was just like trying

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Speaker 1: to find his rhythm.

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Speaker 2: And then the injury popped up.

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Speaker 3: And he pitched in Japan, right, so he would have

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Speaker 3: started whatever that you were there mid mid March and

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Speaker 3: then coming down to.

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Speaker 2: Arizona and then right in the rear season.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so, and I think he was giving up

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Speaker 1: home runs. There were a lot of things that people

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Speaker 1: were like, this doesn't seem like Justin Steele. I just

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Speaker 1: think that the reality of like the potential, I should say,

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Speaker 1: of a of a Justin Steele, like a twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: four version of Justin Steele that's really twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 1: I guess, was a breakout season that's very enticing like that,

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Speaker 1: like seeing imagining him kind of rounding into form in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the summer has to be incredibly exciting

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Speaker 1: for the Cubs front office, for the coaching staff. But

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Speaker 1: also they know that don't rush it because you want

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Speaker 1: to have him ready for October and and really you know,

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Speaker 1: humming uh in theory that could that could look really good, uh,

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Speaker 1: And they could have you know a lot to choose from,

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Speaker 1: and and Craig Council will have some tough choices, which

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Speaker 1: I think they they love to have those.

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Speaker 2: It is March. It is like you you can slow

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Speaker 2: play it.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: He's not in games yet, He's not he's not performing. Uh.

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Speaker 1: One thing we can we can talk about guys that

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Speaker 1: are in in there in the uh, you know, getting

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Speaker 1: after it on the mound.

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Speaker 2: It's spring training. Not all of it is perfect. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Jameson Ties had three starts and and they have not

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Speaker 1: been good. Before we get it too, jameson time just

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Speaker 1: left for Team Canada. World Baseball Classic. All of our coverage,

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Speaker 1: all of our Baseball Classic coverage is brought to you

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Speaker 1: by our friends at Fox one, which is live stream

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

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

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Speaker 1: the best MLB action all season long. You can start

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Speaker 1: your seven day free trial at foxwe dot com. World

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Speaker 1: Baseball Classic Live March fourth to seventeenth.

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: We asked Greg Goeusel about this, just because one start

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Speaker 1: you don't care, like even two starts, it just doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: He's been giving up a lot of home runs. And

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Speaker 1: he had a stretch of games where he gave up

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Speaker 1: home runs last season. I think if you look at

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Speaker 1: his body of work last season, it was a really

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Speaker 1: strong season, and he was their best starter in the post.

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Speaker 2: He's the most consistent starting on the postseason.

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Speaker 1: Really seemed to find something down the stretch even with

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Speaker 1: the injury. Uh, he came back and he just looked

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Speaker 1: he looked good. But I think it's a fair question

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Speaker 1: when when it's this bad and you're just kind of wondering, like,

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Speaker 1: at what point do you care? I think that's it's

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Speaker 1: as simple as that. When when does it matter? And

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Speaker 1: and counsel said, look, look he's not he's not pitching

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Speaker 1: well like it's not like he's like he's working on stuff. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he didn't dismiss it and say like this is pointless

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Speaker 1: to talk about. But he also wasn't like I'm in

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Speaker 1: freak out mode because there's nothing to be concerned.

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Speaker 2: About just yet.

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Speaker 1: It's is he healthy, Yes, Okay, he's got to work

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Speaker 1: on stuff and get better and figure things out. Now

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Speaker 1: he needs to be further along because he's got to

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Speaker 1: go play in the WB Uh. But I don't think

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Speaker 1: when when he's out there on March second and pitching poorly.

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Speaker 1: That's not something that you need to be over concerned with.

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Speaker 1: It's something you keep your eye on, see how it progresses. Uh,

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Speaker 1: we just talked about the potential of depth here. We'll

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Speaker 1: see what more happens with this team. But it's not June,

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Speaker 1: it's not September. It is March second, or we're recording

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Speaker 1: on March thirty. Pitched on March second. It's a thing

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Speaker 1: to watch, it's not a thing to worry about because

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Speaker 1: he can work through these things. Like if there's one

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Speaker 1: thing we know that Jamison Town will do, he's he'll

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Speaker 1: identify what's wrong, he'll work with his pitching coaches.

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Speaker 2: He'll he'll work on it and get it right.

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Speaker 1: Like whether it you know, whether it's fixed in time

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Speaker 1: for the season, we'll see, but we know he'll put

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Speaker 1: the work in.

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Speaker 3: The season is too long to be doing this the

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Speaker 3: first week of March, Like, I just can't, Like there's

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Speaker 3: not you know, showed him in Naga, another pitcher we're

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Speaker 3: mentioning in this WBC segment because I asked him the

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Speaker 3: other day through his interpreter. Early now that the WBC

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Speaker 3: is creeping forward and you know, the team Japan has assembled,

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Speaker 3: this part of you maybe missing it a little more,

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Speaker 3: And he said, well, it wasn't entirely my decision. And

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Speaker 3: you know, I think he he gets a lot of

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Speaker 3: counsel from, you know, different people, and I'm sure his

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Speaker 3: I'm guessing his employer and his agency were probably on

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Speaker 3: the same page with this one. And you know, it

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Speaker 3: just makes the most sense for him, you know, when

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Speaker 3: he's on a one year qualifying offer to you know,

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Speaker 3: be with his team, when he's had this you know,

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Speaker 3: you know, sweeping off season program to try to get

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Speaker 3: back to where he was, you know.

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Speaker 2: Get it.

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Speaker 3: But like, yeah, his velocity was up good one outing,

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Speaker 3: gave a bunch of home runs. The next like show

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Speaker 3: to him and Aga is going to give up home runs.

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Speaker 2: And so.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the discourse kind of surprised me, Like if if

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Speaker 3: they were pitching awesome, would we be mentioning it, Like,

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Speaker 3: I don't know, it just seems it seems kind of

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Speaker 3: early for me, Like I don't know if they could

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Speaker 3: have three bats starts at the beginning of the season,

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Speaker 3: Like obviously we'd mentioned that, but like, you know, it's

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Speaker 3: hard to get fired up over the Cactus League. I

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Speaker 3: think Jed Hoyer says it every year pretty much every like,

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Speaker 3: you know, season opening media session, that was spring training

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Speaker 3: in September are the two worst times to evaluate players.

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Speaker 3: And that you know, did Kyle Tucker get one hit

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Speaker 3: in spring training last year?

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Speaker 2: Was something like he had a.

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Speaker 3: Real long time. Then he was awesome, uh, you know

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Speaker 3: in the first half, and then was great in the

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Speaker 3: second half. And so like, I I get it, like

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Speaker 3: this is you know, there's only so much we have

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Speaker 3: to go on here, but you're right, Like, I mean,

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Speaker 3: Tyne was awesome in the playoffs last year. I think

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Speaker 3: he showed a lot because he's always been this sort

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Speaker 3: of like solid mid to a pitcher, and I think

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Speaker 3: for him to pitch the way he did in October

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Speaker 3: was very impressive. And yeah, like you know, showda Counsel

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Speaker 3: made the point like even in Shoda's All Star season,

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Speaker 3: he gave up a lot of homers, Like you know,

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Speaker 3: y aren't perfect pitchers out there. That's kind of his

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Speaker 3: you know, his weakness even when he's rolling.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just not you know, showed him Minaga giving

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Speaker 1: up home runs and they were all solo home runs,

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Speaker 1: so you know, good for him, Like I'm not like

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Speaker 1: he's going to give up home runs, he probably is

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Speaker 1: going to be, you know, among like, if he's healthy

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Speaker 1: and pitches a ton of innings, he's going to be

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Speaker 1: among the top of the league when it comes home runs.

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Speaker 2: Would be my guy.

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Speaker 1: He may also be one of the best pitchers in

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Speaker 1: the game that even despite doing that, because he doesn't

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Speaker 1: walk a lot of guys. And as long as that's

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Speaker 1: all he's doing, giving up the occasional solo home run,

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Speaker 1: you'll you can handle it. Like you know, they always

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Speaker 1: say solo home runs won't kill you. That's that's how

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Speaker 1: how these guys look at it. They're not gonna dwell

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Speaker 1: on it. They'll move on quickly. You don't want to

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Speaker 1: you don't want to overreact to the negative stuff, but

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Speaker 1: buy in, all in on anything good. Saya Azuki hit

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Speaker 1: a second deck home run in a WBC warm up game,

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Speaker 1: so that means he's he's ready.

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Speaker 2: Uh, you know, he's ready to go.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure he's gonna have a thirty home run season

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Speaker 1: based solely on that one guy that I don't you know,

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Speaker 1: like he's he's someone that I think gets a lot

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Speaker 1: of you know, a lot of people talk about Saya

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Speaker 1: Azuki's kind of breakout.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what.

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Speaker 1: It was a step up in power and he's he's

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Speaker 1: been pretty good all three However many seasons he's been

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Speaker 1: with the Cubs is a four?

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Speaker 2: Uh, this is year five?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 2: It was a five year deal, yeah, because it is

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Speaker 2: right after the the new CBA was ratified.

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Speaker 3: So five year deal for that five year deal for.

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Speaker 1: Saya, expectations are high for him. I feel like someone

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Speaker 1: that barely gets coverage.

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Speaker 2: And I do this too.

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Speaker 1: I sometimes forget when listing off the impact players on

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Speaker 1: this offense. Michael Bush is just, you know, going about business.

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Speaker 1: He's going You wrote about how he's going to be

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Speaker 1: playing every day now. He he just doesn't get talked enough.

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Speaker 1: It talked about enough. He's someone that you know, there

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Speaker 1: was a little online discourse about it. Is he a

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Speaker 1: top ten first baseman in the league? Look way to

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Speaker 1: runs great at plus? Is the stat I like he

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Speaker 1: was second best among first basement last year. You want

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Speaker 1: to Dingham for not playing against lefties.

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Speaker 2: I get it.

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Speaker 1: He's he's got to overcome that challenge, the challenge before

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Speaker 1: that he's placed. He's faced plenty of challenges over his

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Speaker 1: short Cubs career. It's a can he play first base?

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Speaker 1: I think quickly answered whether he could do that. Athletic

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Speaker 1: looks really good at the position. First year, struggled a

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Speaker 1: little bit at Wrigley Field, a lot of lefties do.

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Speaker 1: Last year, he crushed it at wrigley Field. He was

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Speaker 1: he had the best, really among the regulars. He had

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Speaker 1: the best numbers among like lefties. Alrighty's great season at

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Speaker 1: wrigley Field. Great season overall. Faced performed in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: first time in the postseason. Delivered four home runs, eleven

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Speaker 1: to twenty eight ops in eight games. Just dominated. And

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Speaker 1: now this is the next challenge that he faces, you know,

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Speaker 1: playing it got to overcome facing lefties, starting against lefties.

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Speaker 2: I don't I don't think he's going to be overwhelmed

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Speaker 2: by this moment.

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Speaker 1: He's not this boisterous personality we've seen it first base before.

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Speaker 1: He's got an imposing figure like we've seen it first

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Speaker 1: base before. Derek Lee, Anthony Rizzo, Mark Race, some big names,

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Speaker 1: much loved Cubs as far as the fan base is concerned.

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Speaker 2: He may not be like the quote of the year.

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Speaker 2: He may not be this hulking figure in the box.

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Speaker 1: He's been really good and one of the best for

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Speaker 1: his basemen as far as the numbers go the past

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Speaker 1: couple of years. And I get the need that he

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Speaker 1: needs to prove it one more thing. I wouldn't I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't doubt that he can.

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Speaker 2: No.

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Speaker 3: And Craig Counsel when I ask him about Bush the

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Speaker 3: other day, and Council will just pull out good quick

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Speaker 3: anecdotes here and there. Sometimes you don't even expect it.

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Speaker 3: And Bush was batting at Sloan Park and he was

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Speaker 3: standing next to Alex Bregman, and so Bush's numbers are

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Speaker 3: up on the board last year and it's like thirty

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Speaker 3: four homers, a sixty six ops, and Bregman sort of

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Speaker 3: gave Counsel a look like, wow, you know, pretty good.

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Speaker 3: And that did not include he had four home runs

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Speaker 3: in the playoffs, and it did not have the context

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Speaker 3: of how, you know, he had to sit against certain

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Speaker 3: left handed pitchers, and you know, I think he was

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Speaker 3: maybe I think he accumulated the seventh most played appearances

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Speaker 3: on the team something like that, So like it was

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Speaker 3: a healthy role, but not you know, full or the

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Speaker 3: full role that obviously Bush would prefer. And you know,

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Speaker 3: this is his chance. He's still got to go earn it.

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Speaker 3: You know. I think I wrote he's a good hitter

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Speaker 3: and a bad self promoter, and I will I will

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Speaker 3: give MLB.

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Speaker 2: I think it's LB network.

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Speaker 3: Do they do all those like top ten positions, like yeah,

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Speaker 3: at each position, like they are genius for like dropping

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Speaker 3: those because inevitably pissed someone off. He's like such a

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Speaker 3: silly exer size. But it's like great content because inevitably,

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Speaker 3: you know, fans get.

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Speaker 2: Get riled up and annoyed.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I don't know if there's ten first

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Speaker 3: base and better, but I think clearly he cleared that

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Speaker 3: bar of like everyday player for a first division team.

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Speaker 3: I think that's kind of what you look for, right of,

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Speaker 3: like can can you trust this guy? You know with

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Speaker 3: six hundred played appearances Canny, I don't know what that was.

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Speaker 3: I think that's a I should have unplugged the alexa

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Speaker 3: or whatever that is there it maybe, but you know

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Speaker 3: where I'm going with it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think you look at what Michael

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Speaker 1: Bush did in the postseason. He has emerged as one

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Speaker 1: of the guys that you'd say is has the potential

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Speaker 1: to carry this offense, and not only that, like he

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Speaker 1: is remarkably consistent. I don't I don't recall many down

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Speaker 1: moments last year. Like when I say down moments, I

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Speaker 1: mean like two three, one month long stretches of poor

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Speaker 1: performance that's normal for majority of players, Like only the

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Speaker 1: elite of the elite don't have like a two week,

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Speaker 1: one month downstretch where it's like this guy's struggling, you know.

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Speaker 2: They every player goes through that for the most.

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Speaker 1: Part, pretty much like it's like Aaron Judge, Shoheo Tani

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Speaker 1: and a couple others where you're not talking about those moments.

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Speaker 2: I'm not putting Michael Bush at that level. I'm not, but.

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Speaker 1: He was impressively consistent, and you know, he had a

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Speaker 1: couple down moments maybe as a Cubs but not a

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Speaker 1: Ton But this is a guy that I'm pretty impressed with.

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Speaker 2: And I feel like it's kind of the beginning and

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Speaker 2: there's more there.

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Speaker 1: Maybe not more as far as like the numbers he

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Speaker 1: put up were really impressive. Like I said, it's just

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Speaker 1: like one final like you know, the topping to his

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Speaker 1: h to his season, to his career, I guess, and

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Speaker 1: and just like he feels like someone that's gonna you know,

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Speaker 1: establish himself as a long time productive first basement.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.

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Speaker 3: I think, you know, what a great trade with the Dodgers.

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Speaker 3: I think he better established himself.

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Speaker 2: You know, if some of these Dodgers prospects outfield.

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Speaker 3: Are supposedly pretty good, I don't know how much play

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Speaker 3: for the Dodgers, but yeah, a really shrewd trade by

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Speaker 3: Jed Hoyer's front office there. And just really you're right,

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Speaker 3: he's not physically imposing, but like that, he is that

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Speaker 3: exact like college hitter that the Cubs loved drafting.

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Speaker 2: Of.

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Speaker 3: Just like the size, like a nice compact left handed swing,

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Speaker 3: athletic enough to be a real nice first baseman defensively

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Speaker 3: and just to really guy's kind of hit everywhere he's been.

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Speaker 3: And so you know, this is a real, real nice

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Speaker 3: piece to have for several years. And you know, it's

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Speaker 3: it's been a while. It took a while to sort of,

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Speaker 3: you know, replace Anthony Rizzo. He is not Anthony Rizzo,

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Speaker 3: but like we just said, a really startedly above average

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Speaker 3: two way player on a playoff team like period. And

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Speaker 3: that's a good you know, top ten or not. That's

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Speaker 3: pretty good.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's wrap this up. This is Northside Territory.

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Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,

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Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and are on

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Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening everyone,

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Speaker 1: Take care.

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Speaker 3: Re don't.

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Speaker 2: Agree an reve do they move