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

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Speaker 1: Sadave Scharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your

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Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, we are

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Speaker 1: going to talk about three WBC members on the Cubs

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Speaker 1: on Team USA. This is we were talking about it

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Speaker 1: before we recorded. Considered some are talking about this team

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Speaker 1: is like one of the best collection of talents USA

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Speaker 1: talents we've seen on a baseball field. Obviously an impressive group.

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Speaker 1: Two of the Cubs are stars already. One is a

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Speaker 1: little quieter but still earned his spot on the roster

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Speaker 1: in Matthew Boyd. But PCA and Alex Bregman obviously big names.

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Speaker 1: Bregman the big signing of the off season. Before we

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Speaker 1: get to this, I want to talk out Fox one.

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Speaker 1: All of our World Baseball Classic coverage is brought to

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Speaker 1: you by our friends at Fox one. Sorry about that.

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Speaker 1: All of our coverage is brought to you by our

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Speaker 1: friends at Fox one, which is live stream all your

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: With Fox One, you get it all live. Start with

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Speaker 1: your seven day free top trial Today offers our subject

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Speaker 1: to change. Download Fox one today and stream the World

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Speaker 1: Baseball Classic live March six to fourteenth. Go to foxone

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Speaker 1: dot com for complete terms and conditions. Foxwe Streaming Now.

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Speaker 1: You can go watch the Team USA starting this Friday

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Speaker 1: on Fox One. They play Brazil game against Great on Saturday,

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Speaker 1: and then Monday and Tuesday, Team Mexico and Italy. I

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Speaker 1: saw Team Italy today take on the Cubs. It was

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Speaker 1: a solid group of talent. I gotta say, like, that's

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Speaker 1: not like the like a weak group of talent. Like

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of talent on Team Italy. I think

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Speaker 1: their only weakness is probably their pitching. You could probably

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Speaker 1: say that about a lot of the WBC teams. Uh,

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Speaker 1: but I like, we talked to Vinnie Pascatino and and

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Speaker 1: he was talking about all the young players there. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of young players. Jack kaglianone the White Sox prospects,

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Speaker 1: Sam Antanacchi, I'll learn his name when he Kyle Teal

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Speaker 1: on that team. Kyle Teal to another White Sox player. Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's a few guys old buddy Miles, Master Bony was there,

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Speaker 1: John Birdie, but like some legit talent, some talent and

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Speaker 1: and good defense like I was. I was surprised at

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Speaker 1: how how talented that team looks. But back to the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Alex Bregman left for He didn't leave the you know,

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Speaker 1: Arizona just yet. He was out at Scottsdale playing San Francisco.

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Speaker 1: I think today our buddy Jesse Rodgers was out there.

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Speaker 1: But he will leave for Houston, I believe soon. I

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Speaker 1: can't keep track of where they go like they go,

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Speaker 1: but like various places, I think they're leaving for Houston soon.

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Speaker 1: And he is, you know, one of the faces of

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Speaker 1: team USA. He homered again today. I think he homered

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Speaker 1: in his final Cubs spring training game and then homered

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Speaker 1: in one of these warm up games against San Francisco.

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Speaker 1: Just a huge addition to the Cubs and just feels

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Speaker 1: like I know we said this, and being around camp,

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Speaker 1: I think you've you got feeling. I get the feeling

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Speaker 1: like there's a different feeling right now. There's a different vibe.

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Speaker 1: They were hopeful last year, but there was a nervous

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Speaker 1: energy I think because of the fact that if they

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Speaker 1: didn't win, it felt like if they didn't make the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: it felt like they were going to be consequences. This year,

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Speaker 1: there's a a more relaxed nature and I'd say a

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Speaker 1: very confident group of players that believe, you know, they

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Speaker 1: can do something special. And I think a huge piece

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Speaker 1: of that is Alex Bregman.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a sign of where the Cubs are.

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Speaker 2: I mean, going back to twenty twenty three, I don't

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Speaker 2: think they had anyone on Team USA and this is

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Speaker 2: like probably a better version. And Bregman is one of

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Speaker 2: the leaders of that team, and he spoke the other

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Speaker 2: day in Mesa, and I believe he's been on TSA

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Speaker 2: like five times before, and I think they've won gold

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Speaker 2: every time except for I think he's on a collegiate

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Speaker 2: national team with Danzby Swanson, and that was more like

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Speaker 2: playing exhibitions and not quite the same level of international competition.

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Speaker 2: He described those as friendlies in any event, You're exactly

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Speaker 2: right of just he loomed over that camp last year.

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Speaker 2: I think you rolled in right after he signed with

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Speaker 2: the Red Sox. But I had the like ten ten

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Speaker 2: days of Bregmann watch, It's felt like it might have

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Speaker 2: been a little more, a little less, but they wanted

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Speaker 2: him bad, and they means people in uniform, people in

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Speaker 2: khakis and polos, like this was the guy. He was

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Speaker 2: the finishing piece, and when they didn't land him, it's stung.

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Speaker 2: And it did create this vibe at the beginning of camp.

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Speaker 2: Obviously they overcame it, and preparing for Japan was a

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Speaker 2: totally different thing as well.

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Speaker 1: But now.

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Speaker 2: Going back to Mesa, you know, this is one of

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Speaker 2: my big takeaways is kind of the the story I

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Speaker 2: filed on the plane flying from Phoenix to ohare of

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Speaker 2: just like, you know what a difference a year makes,

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Speaker 2: you know, it was Jed Hoyer in his front office

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Speaker 2: on the hot seat. It was there was a lot

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Speaker 2: of skepticism, or a fair amount of skepticism, I think,

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Speaker 2: you know from fans and you know media types of

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Speaker 2: where's the Craig Council magic, what's the difference?

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Speaker 1: You know, and.

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Speaker 2: Certainly didn't the Brewers have not slowed down since he left.

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Speaker 2: But you saw his imprint on the team last year,

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Speaker 2: and I think it's just like this group showed it's

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Speaker 2: good enough and that was We'll get into Peko Armstrong

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Speaker 2: and kind of the next segment. But the development that

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Speaker 2: you need to see it happened, and thoughts it didn't

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Speaker 2: happen all at once, but the body of work was

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Speaker 2: very solid to the point where Bregman wanted to come here.

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Speaker 2: And I think you see how his personality really matches

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Speaker 2: up with this group. He's focused, he's serious, he's driven,

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Speaker 2: he loves just talking ball, and that's kind of what

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Speaker 2: this group is about. I think the transition has been

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Speaker 2: pretty seamless in that regard, Like he lives pretty close

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Speaker 2: to the Cups complex there in Mesa. You see with

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Speaker 2: Team USA, like it's a very small world for these

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Speaker 2: elite American born baseball players. They see each other over

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Speaker 2: and over again, whether it's Dansby playing with Bregman. I

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Speaker 2: believe Michael Conforto was part of that group at one

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Speaker 2: point two. It just kind of you can see like

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Speaker 2: the chemistry of this team and like how it's going

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Speaker 2: to work. And I think we can say that now

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Speaker 2: because they won ninety plus games last year. You know,

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Speaker 2: like if they had one seventy eight and we're saying, oh,

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Speaker 2: the vibes are great, you know, people be rolling their eyes,

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Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like, you know, this is

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Speaker 2: not he's not here to be John Lester and kind

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Speaker 2: of like you know, pick up a last place team

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Speaker 2: by the collar and like drag him towards the playoffs

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Speaker 2: like it was, you know, this group of position players

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Speaker 2: needed that one piece. They're one elite position player away.

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Speaker 2: As you know, one Cubs person told me the other day,

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Speaker 2: like this is this has always been the guy and

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Speaker 2: to have him here, everything just looks a lot more complete.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I'm sure you've had this experiences. Part

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Speaker 2: of our job in spring training is just walking the

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Speaker 2: grounds back and forth from one field to the other

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Speaker 2: and seeing who you bump into and or in the clubhouse.

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Speaker 2: And players have more time than you know, kind of

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Speaker 2: when the recorders are off, you can sort of, you know,

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Speaker 2: pick their brains a little bit. And I think with

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Speaker 2: Bregman there, you just get the sense of you know,

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Speaker 2: whether it's kind of like, look, our team's pretty good,

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Speaker 2: or like you know, they think they think they can

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Speaker 2: compete with the Dodgers. I think they're gonna be they

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Speaker 2: they expect to be. I mean, we talked about justin

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Speaker 2: steel last episode, him talking about games in October November,

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Speaker 2: Like there's just a lot more credibility there when when

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Speaker 2: they talk like that and sort of think through how

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Speaker 2: this season might unfold.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know the I think some fans struggle with that.

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Speaker 1: There are some fans that don't don't see it. I

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Speaker 1: guess don't don't see like, how is this team better?

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Speaker 2: Uh?

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Speaker 1: They lost Tucker and and brought in a player that's,

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Speaker 1: you know, offensively, maybe not as impactful. I think the

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Speaker 1: full package, he could be a little bit more impactful,

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Speaker 1: and then you improved in other areas. It's just young.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of youth on this team, and I

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Speaker 1: think they're going to take a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: step forward and compete and compete against the best of

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Speaker 1: the best. And right now that's very clearly the Dodgers.

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Speaker 1: We'll see, we'll see how far that goes. That's there's

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Speaker 1: a long way to go before we really get to

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Speaker 1: that point. But you're right that this group believes in themselves.

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Speaker 1: Bregman is a big reason why. Him arriving. I think

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Speaker 1: Pete Kor Armstrong is another huge reason why. And you

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Speaker 1: talk about you know, being on team USA forever. I

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Speaker 1: think it was USA Baseball. I'm not sure who put

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Speaker 1: out the picture like from age twelve up, like it's

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Speaker 1: Pete korarm Strong pictures of Pete in Team USA gear.

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Speaker 1: I gotta say that age twelve photo cracked me up.

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Speaker 1: But you know, any twelve year old kid like him,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna look a little goofy. I guess don't need

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Speaker 1: to look at old pictures of myself, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: But it's kind of remarkable. Someone once told me they're like, hey,

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Speaker 1: like the Cups need to calm down about acquiring Pecrow Armstrong.

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Speaker 1: This is not some like revelation. They didn't unearth some

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Speaker 1: some prospect. This guy's been on everybody's radar since he

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Speaker 1: was a preteen. Uh, Like this guy was getting like

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Speaker 1: he was annoyed by the hype. Likeay, they pulled some

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Speaker 1: like rabbit out of a hat by trading how your bias?

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Speaker 1: It's like, no, that was a mistake by the Mets, Like,

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Speaker 1: don't give up this this future star. Uh So he's

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Speaker 1: always been on the radar, He's always been a big name,

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Speaker 1: and uh, obviously we want to see what what this

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Speaker 1: season holds. Consistency is probably the biggest thing for him.

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Speaker 1: How he attains that, We'll see if he can get

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Speaker 1: get it there. There are a lot of little things

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Speaker 1: he can improve upon and some big things of course

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Speaker 1: too offensively, but just a like if if he is,

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Speaker 1: if he is good to great, you feel really good

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Speaker 1: about where the Cubs are at because there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of players that you kind of know what you're going

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Speaker 1: to get or feel like you know what you're going

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Speaker 1: to get with him. It's like first half, second half,

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Speaker 1: which player is he? And then what player can he be?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I talked to Pete the other day the athletic

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Speaker 2: we're kind of working on a story talking a bunch

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Speaker 2: of different team you say players. I'm not sure where

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Speaker 2: we're actually add on that, but part of it was

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Speaker 2: this idea of how players are texting each other after

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Speaker 2: watching the men's gold medal ice hot game victory, and

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Speaker 2: just how this feeling of like we're next, let's go

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Speaker 2: get it, And you know, Pete felt like those communications

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Speaker 2: sort of help build bonds and you know, maybe you know,

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Speaker 2: fast forward a little bit because it's such a heightened,

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Speaker 2: accelerated environment, and he just rattled off like five or

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Speaker 2: six players who either like played with before on Team

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Speaker 2: USA or like Gunnar Henderson, I think Bobby with.

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Speaker 1: But I was gonna say I bet Bobby with.

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Speaker 2: And just how you know, he met Logan Webb at

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Speaker 2: some sort of gold Glove event, and he's met Roman

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Speaker 2: Anthony and talked with him, and you know, he said,

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Speaker 2: that's been one of the best parts of being a

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Speaker 2: part of USA Baseball for this long that he's made

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Speaker 2: lots of meaningful connections and relationships and you know, fascinating

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Speaker 2: to see, like, you know, how much he plays, how

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Speaker 2: well he plays. I think we all remember what ave

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Speaker 2: Baiaz did in the twenty seventeen WBC. Was coming off

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Speaker 2: just that unbelievable performance in the World Series, and it

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Speaker 2: felt like just a continuation of that of you know,

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Speaker 2: the tag plays, the slides, the Hovy being hobby stuff

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Speaker 2: was going viral again. And you know, I think, if

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Speaker 2: if you're the Cubs, you probably hate having your pitchers

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Speaker 2: in it, but I think you want Pete in something

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Speaker 2: like this. And again, what a difference, you know, from

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Speaker 2: the last time this event was staged until now, if

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Speaker 2: you you know, we'll see if Pete is the primary

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Speaker 2: center fielder. I think Brian, I think Buxton is the

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Speaker 2: other one, and I believe Corbyn Carroll is injured or

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Speaker 2: not available. But like, look, if you have, if your

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Speaker 2: team has you know, the starting third, basement and main

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Speaker 2: center fielder for maybe the best team USA ever assembled

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Speaker 2: in baseball competition, Like, you're in pretty good shape. And

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Speaker 2: you know, it was noticeable when the Cubs were sort

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Speaker 2: of not even really in those conversations much less placing

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Speaker 2: you know, core players onto the field.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it does feel like it's a big deal.

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Speaker 1: It feels like it matters. I you know, as someone

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Speaker 1: with a team like travel baseball and all that stuff

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Speaker 1: can be a little overwhelming and a little nutty, and

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Speaker 1: we know all the negatives about AAU and travel and

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. But I will say some of this

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Speaker 1: stuff is kind of cool that like Pete has known

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Speaker 1: some of these guys forever because you know, they're on

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Speaker 1: the elite travel circuits and things like that, and they

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Speaker 1: just know each other and they grow up and compete

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Speaker 1: against each other, and now they're at the highest level

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Speaker 1: they get to play at this at this event together

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Speaker 1: and then compete in the big leagues against each other.

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Speaker 1: It's it's it feels kind of cool and like hearing

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Speaker 1: their stories and hearing the background of it all certainly

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Speaker 1: fun moments. I don't I don't think a year ago

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Speaker 1: at this time many of us would have predicted Matthew

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Speaker 1: Boyd being there. Like Pete is a pretty quick rise,

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Speaker 1: He's this is an impressive rise for him. But Matthew Boyd,

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Speaker 1: I think is probably one of the bigger surprises as

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Speaker 1: far as a guy that you know. I think the

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Speaker 1: Cubs were criticized for going cheap to sign a guy

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Speaker 1: and betting on upside, and and look, I think that

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Speaker 1: criticism probably came from both you and me, and like

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Speaker 1: it was probably it was fair in context, but also

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Speaker 1: they kind of hit home run. You need guys like this.

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Speaker 1: You need to find guys that you feel are undervalued,

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Speaker 1: bring them in and and maximize the talent or hope

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Speaker 1: their best years are ahead of them. I will never

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Speaker 1: forget talking to Matthew Boyd last spring and how confident

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Speaker 1: he was that he was on the verge of a

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Speaker 1: special season. You know, it was if not probably for

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Speaker 1: the end of that season. You know, there were some

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Speaker 1: hiccups at the end, but it was like he did

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Speaker 1: not have very very many down moments outside of you know,

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Speaker 1: starting on short rest and a rough outing against the Brewers.

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Speaker 1: I think it was a you know, a highlight reel

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Speaker 1: type season for Matthew Boyd and now it's paid off,

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Speaker 1: and you know, like Paul Skins and Trek scuobl or

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Speaker 1: the headliners. But but Matthew Boyd is you know, he's

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Speaker 1: no slouch.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I got to look up the exact dates, but

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Speaker 2: you know he was. I may have been ranked like

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Speaker 2: number two in the RA at some point in August,

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Speaker 2: like he was a Legit Sign Award contender. I think

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Speaker 2: everyone was kind of waiting for the other shoe to

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Speaker 2: drop a little bit, so the probably wasn't as much hype,

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Speaker 2: and I'm sure it was a little annoying to Matt

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Speaker 2: after a while to keep getting the questions of like

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Speaker 2: are you hitting a wall? And I think it's more

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Speaker 2: just mentally, I think he felt it of kind of

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Speaker 2: someone who really carried the team into his credit, really

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Speaker 2: got a stuff together for the postseasons. I mean, just

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Speaker 2: kind of set aside that one outing Milwaukee when you know,

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Speaker 2: the defense that propped him up all year had a

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Speaker 2: bad inning and pitching on short rests. But otherwise, really,

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Speaker 2: you know, delivered in the playoffs and you know, we'll

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Speaker 2: see I don't have a hard time thinking everything goes

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Speaker 2: as smoothly as it did last year.

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Speaker 1: But I think the Cubs are way better.

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Speaker 2: Equipped to.

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Speaker 1: Manage.

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Speaker 2: Some of that goes back to what we've talked about

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Speaker 2: earlier on this show of you can kind of go

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Speaker 2: up and down the rotation and kind of circle question

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Speaker 2: marks that are you know, fairly obvious.

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Speaker 1: But you know, Boyd.

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Speaker 2: Just kind of right pitcher right time of just who

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Speaker 2: really thoughtful player, just like absurdly nice. I think we

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Speaker 2: everyone who comes in contact with him, but also a

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Speaker 2: great competitor who wants the ball, wants to win. And

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Speaker 2: I think you know, you mentioned some of those you

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Speaker 2: know aces who are in the tournament but sort of

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Speaker 2: on restrictions or kind of you know, tapping in and

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Speaker 2: out fairly quickly. You know, when I ask Boyd like

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Speaker 2: if if this guy gets one start, you know, if

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Speaker 2: this guy gets two, where does that leave you? And

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Speaker 2: it sounded like you know they're in communication, you know

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Speaker 2: Andy Pettitt marked de Rose on Team USA and Creig

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Speaker 2: counsel and tell me how to be on the other

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Speaker 2: side of Like I think he made it sound like

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Speaker 2: he's just gonna keep stretching out and building up for

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Speaker 2: Opening Day with Team USA and like see how far

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Speaker 2: that goes. And I'm sure Cubs officials will be holding

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Speaker 2: their breath every time he throws a pitch in the WBC.

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Speaker 1: Yeah you said it before, but like you, you know,

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Speaker 1: you're you're, you don't worry as much with the position players.

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Speaker 1: They need their playing time. If they're they're ready to

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Speaker 1: play nine innings, go play nine innings. Uh, but you

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Speaker 1: do hold your breath. You do get a little stressed

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Speaker 1: by by the pitchers. I you know, they got to pitch,

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Speaker 1: they gotta get built up, they got to go out there.

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Speaker 1: I think the one thing you can say is like, well,

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Speaker 1: he's not going max effort. If it's a spring training

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Speaker 1: game and he's going to be the competitive juices are

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Speaker 1: going to be flowing. So I understand any concerns. These

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Speaker 1: guys like to compete. These guys like like these things,

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Speaker 1: they like representing their country. Uh, it means a lot

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Speaker 1: to them, So I understand it. I totally get the concerns.

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Speaker 1: I'm in general, this Cubs pitching staff with Matthew Boyd,

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Speaker 1: I think you look at it and you're like, man,

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Speaker 1: if this goes, if these guys have good seasons. There's

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Speaker 1: some guys like we know what their best is now,

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Speaker 1: all of them, every single one that's a really strong

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Speaker 1: not one through five, but one through six, and then

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Speaker 1: you start wondering about others and you hope that there's

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Speaker 1: more beyond that. You know, it's a deep group, a

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Speaker 1: talented group, and it's a ton of potential. Boyd is

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Speaker 1: you know right there, if not at the front near

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Speaker 1: it potential. You know, we were talking about this in

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Speaker 1: the press box. I don't know if he's an opening

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Speaker 1: day starter. Creig Council is not going to tell us

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Speaker 1: just yet. He likes to hold his cards close to

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Speaker 1: the vest on that one. But I think he's in

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Speaker 1: the discussion for it, so you know, it great honor

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Speaker 1: for him. I'm happy that he gets to go out

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Speaker 1: there and pitch for his country. And we'll see, we'll

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Speaker 1: see what type of season he has. You hope it

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Speaker 1: has no negative impact. And really we won't know if

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Speaker 1: he does have a poor season, if it had anything

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Speaker 1: to do with it, But just saying, you know, let's

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Speaker 1: hope it's a building block to a strong season rather

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Speaker 1: than anything else. All Right, That's it for Northside Territory tonight.

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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 I are

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Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. We'll be back edit

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Speaker 1: next week with more from Cubs camp and more on

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Speaker 1: the Cubs and more WBC talk. Hopefully we will talk

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Speaker 1: to you all soon. Thanks for listening. Everyone, take care

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Speaker 1: that I do my lad

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Speaker 2: They live