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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 my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your

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Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic.

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Speaker 2: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: It was a good holiday weekend for the Cubs, nearly

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Speaker 1: great if not for.

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Speaker 2: A rare poor outing from Brad Keller.

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Speaker 1: Just a couple couple of balls fell and then a

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Speaker 1: big hit from from their backup catcher Pozo, and you

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Speaker 1: know he definitely enjoyed that three run homer. The Cubs

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Speaker 1: scored twenty eight runs over the weekend, took two of three,

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Speaker 1: dominated and those two wins even you know, eleven to three,

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Speaker 1: what was it, eight home runs on July fourth, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: just just a ridiculous display of power, and that the

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Speaker 1: offense just kept rolling. Only one home round on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: a solo shot from Saye Suzuki, and they still put

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Speaker 1: up eleven runs, continuing to show that they can score

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Speaker 1: in different ways. I think if you are a pitcher

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Speaker 1: that struggles to miss bats like Miles Michaelis, like Eric Vetti,

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Speaker 1: you are in for a long day at the ballpark

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Speaker 1: against this Cub's offense. You better be able to strike

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Speaker 1: guys out, otherwise you're just you're not going to have

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Speaker 1: a good day.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the fourth of July was one of those Craig

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Speaker 3: Council you know, you come to the park, you never

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Speaker 3: know what you might see that day type of events.

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Speaker 3: And no doubt I was talking with someone at Wrigley

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Speaker 3: over the weekend about this, of like, Cubs can beat

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Speaker 3: you in different ways, and I think that makes this

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Speaker 3: team pretty dangerous, and you know, as we start to

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Speaker 3: look ahead deeper into the second half, you know, potential

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Speaker 3: postseason possibility, Like they can put balls in the seats

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Speaker 3: and they can really put a ton of pressure on

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Speaker 3: the opposing team with their ability to run.

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Speaker 4: And when you have.

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Speaker 3: A lineup stacked with stars in the middle of the

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Speaker 3: order and then you get some nice contributions from from

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Speaker 3: the lower half, Like that is a really reliable formula.

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Speaker 3: And I'm sure Cubs fans enjoyed seeing the Cardinals sort

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Speaker 3: of teeter this weekend.

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Speaker 4: I think this is the type of weekend.

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Speaker 3: That would probably factor into their trade deadline calculus right

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Speaker 3: of Like, if this continues, they're gonna have a real

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Speaker 3: hard time justifying buying. Not that they had big plans

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Speaker 3: to anyways in this weird sort of gap year. But

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Speaker 3: this certainly created some more distance between them and the Cars.

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Speaker 3: And I do think it's a nice sort of you know,

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Speaker 3: segue or leading into the All Star break. Here in

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Speaker 3: an All Star game that's going to have a heavy

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Speaker 3: Chicago flavor.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we don't need to dive too deep

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Speaker 1: into the Cardinals situation. I like some of their players,

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Speaker 1: especially some of their position players. I don't I think

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Speaker 1: they I was telling someone in the press box yesterday

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Speaker 1: Sunday that it's almost like their offense is like last

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Speaker 1: year's Cubs team in the sense that there's no star there,

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Speaker 1: but it's very it's talented, there's there's plenty of talent.

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Speaker 2: It's just there's no star and there's.

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Speaker 1: Not going to be consistency, and you kind of worry

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Speaker 1: about that if they can add a star. I like

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Speaker 1: that offense a lot. It's the pitching with that team,

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Speaker 1: and I don't know how you can justify buying when

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Speaker 1: you look at your pitching. It's almost like they need

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Speaker 1: to start calling up young guys and give them an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to see what they do. If that leads to

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Speaker 1: more wins, Hey good, you know good job by them.

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Speaker 1: They're developing their youth. But this that's a team in

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Speaker 1: my eyes. You look at you know, at least two

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Speaker 1: fifts of your rotation is not going to get the

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Speaker 1: job done pretty regularly in my opinion, Like those guys

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Speaker 1: are struggling. Fetti and michaelis just you face a good offense,

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Speaker 1: You're not going to have a good day. Yeah, as

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Speaker 1: far as the cups go, I don't know what else

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Speaker 1: to say other than look, Saturday again was one of

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Speaker 1: those days that you could have hung your head. There

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Speaker 1: was not even you know, we talked to Brad Keller

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Speaker 1: after the game on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: It's not like he was devastated by it.

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Speaker 1: He said, how like, you know, the bullpen group is

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Speaker 1: quick to rally around each other. If someone has that

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Speaker 1: rare bad outing, they're quick to say, hey, shake it off.

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Speaker 1: It's it's you know, that's not going to happen very

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Speaker 1: often with this group. Keller had given up one earned

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Speaker 1: run before that outing. Since April twenty second, he's just

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Speaker 1: been remarkably consistent. You know, he gave up two home runs.

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Speaker 1: They hit two pitches that he missed location on. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't a good day for I mean, it's just like

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Speaker 1: you don't want to make too many excuses for the guy,

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Speaker 1: but those outings happen. Relievers are going to have bad outings,

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Speaker 1: and this team quickly like just understands like one loss

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Speaker 1: isn't a big deal and they just are so good

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Speaker 1: to like their ability to flush bad losses or the

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Speaker 1: types of things that used to derail even you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not like they were bad clubhouses in years past.

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Speaker 1: It's just like the team wasn't good enough to overcome

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Speaker 1: a bad a short bad stretch of play. It would

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Speaker 1: turn into a longer bad stretch of play. That's not

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Speaker 1: happening this year. And they're coming out emphatically responding. You know,

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Speaker 1: in games like Friday are just fun for everyone. I

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Speaker 1: don't know how you can watch that and not, you know,

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Speaker 1: as a Cubs fan not be entertained and just kind

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Speaker 1: of fall in love with certain players or this group.

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Speaker 1: It's it's feeling like the more they do stuff like that,

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Speaker 1: the more you watch Pete grow Armstrong play, Kyle Tucker

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Speaker 1: quietly go about business, Michael Bush quietly go about business,

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Speaker 1: Dooky just hit rockets all over the park, the more

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Speaker 1: it feels like, Okay, this team has a chance to

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Speaker 1: do something pretty great this year. You know, you get you,

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Speaker 1: you add the right pieces at the deadline, this team

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Speaker 1: can can make a significant amount of noise in the postseason.

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Speaker 3: When you mentioned the Cubs teams from like the last

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Speaker 3: to previous two years, I think of the Jed Hoyer

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Speaker 3: kind of truism of good teams blow teams out, and

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Speaker 3: that there were just too many games, too many like

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Speaker 3: coin flip fifty to fifty type games that the Cubs

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Speaker 3: uh played the past two years, and like, you know,

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Speaker 3: sometimes it breaks your way and sometimes it doesn't. And

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Speaker 3: by doing that, you know you're you're taxing your bullpen.

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Speaker 3: You're kind of like, uh, just wearing your team out.

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Speaker 3: And like for for John Birdie to come in and

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Speaker 3: pitch the ninth inning while the Cubs were up, I

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Speaker 3: think it was eleven nothing at that point whatever, it

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Speaker 3: was an.

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Speaker 4: Absurd absurdly large lead.

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Speaker 3: That stuff kind of compounds over time of just you're

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Speaker 3: able to organize your bullpen, you're able to rest guys,

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Speaker 3: you can build confidence, and also when when guys are struggling,

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Speaker 3: they don't feel like the entire season like is riding

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Speaker 3: on there. Individual at bats and clearly. You know, Pete

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Speaker 3: has benefited from this, I think. I mean, Michael Bush

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Speaker 3: seems pretty unaffected about everything, but you know he's he's

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Speaker 3: been able to just very quietly become one of the

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Speaker 3: best all around first basement in the game. And I mean,

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Speaker 3: just what a ridiculous, like monster first half that say

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Speaker 3: a Suzuki has put up thus far.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you talk about you know, getting an inning from Berdie.

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Speaker 1: They got multiple innings from Jordan Wicks on Sunday. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they had to use Poalencia because he hadn't he hadn't

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Speaker 1: pitched in so many days and they have an off

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Speaker 1: day on Monday, so they they had to use him

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Speaker 1: on Sunday. And and this is after a bullpen game

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Speaker 1: on Saturday. And your bullpen's still in pretty good shape.

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Speaker 1: They they've have ended up not like burning through too

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Speaker 1: many guys or over using guys or tiring arms. The

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Speaker 1: bullpen looks like it's you know, it's still pretty deep.

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Speaker 1: Porter Hodge looked great in his hitting of work, and

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Speaker 1: it makes you think like, oh, is he rounding into

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Speaker 1: four and finding his best self?

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Speaker 2: And what does that mean for the group?

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Speaker 1: And can that give guys rests that you may get

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Speaker 1: tired or exposed or whatever it may be. That's just,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's a really good sign right now things

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Speaker 1: are there's a lot of positives going on with the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Obviously that bullpend game, there's a reason for that. Let's

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Speaker 1: come back after this quick break and talk about the

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Speaker 1: Jamison ti Own injury crats.

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Speaker 1: Patrick Jameson Tyn goes on the il with a strained calf.

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Speaker 2: I believe it's his right calf and.

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Speaker 1: This this happened while he was doing drills, just running drills.

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Speaker 1: He's you know, they expect him to miss at least

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Speaker 1: a month. Sounds like it's not a great injury for

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Speaker 1: him from what I heard. I was talking to him,

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Speaker 1: and then I talked to some pitching coaches. Everyone agree

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Speaker 1: he just had like a great bullpen session. They were

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Speaker 1: really excited about the things he did.

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Speaker 2: You know, I don't know what.

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Speaker 1: That means, but still like, yeah, I thought he pitched

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Speaker 1: well in Houston. I think that's the most important thing

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Speaker 1: he got. He got beat up by some esoch paratus

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Speaker 1: long at bats and that kept him from going deep

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Speaker 1: into the game. But I thought it was a good

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Speaker 1: sign that, Okay, he put those two really bad starts

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Speaker 1: behind him and he's getting back to the super consistent.

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Speaker 2: Guy that the Cubs need.

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Speaker 1: In their rotation and then this freak injury kind of happens,

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Speaker 1: and you know he does have like a right ankle injury.

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Speaker 1: I believe in his past. I think it was an ankle.

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Speaker 1: So you just don't you don't want anything to linger there.

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Speaker 1: You need to get him healthy. And you know the

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Speaker 1: I guess this happens at a decent ish time in

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Speaker 1: the sense that there's a couple of reasons, and it's

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Speaker 1: right before the all start break, so you can lean

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Speaker 1: on your bullpen a little bit more and then get

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Speaker 1: that huge break kind of council loves to be creative

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Speaker 1: with this pitching staff. Anyways, this gives him an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to do that. He's he's really good with this stuff.

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Speaker 1: And the second thing is, and this is the most

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Speaker 1: important part of it, they were going to add pitching anyways.

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Speaker 1: Now it just it's before the trade deadline. If they were,

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Speaker 1: if you knew they were going to add one, this

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Speaker 1: maybe maybe this tells us a second pitcher as well,

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Speaker 1: a second starter as well, and you just continue to

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Speaker 1: add the bullpen depth to reinforce that area.

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Speaker 2: We'll see how they address that. How big of a

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Speaker 2: move it is.

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Speaker 1: But I just think it puts a you know, an

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Speaker 1: emphasis on what we already knew they were doing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you had already heard this at of

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Speaker 3: of like they're going to inquire about basically every pitcher

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Speaker 3: who might get traded this month anyways, and that was

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Speaker 3: before the tie on injury.

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Speaker 4: You know, I think Counsel said more than a month.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I feel like the first reaction is

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Speaker 3: always okay, it's not like an arm injury with a picture,

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Speaker 3: and then you sort of take a sigh of relief.

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Speaker 3: And then it's also you think about, you know, how

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Speaker 3: much power you know is generated from his right right leg,

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Speaker 3: and how reliable he had been up until those last

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Speaker 3: couple starts. I mean, really a guy who carried the

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Speaker 3: Cubs along with all star Matthew Boyd and kept things

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Speaker 3: going in the right direction while Showdo was injured and

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Speaker 3: after Justin Steele's surgery, and so now they gotta piece

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Speaker 3: it together. I guess Jordan Wicks looked good last night,

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Speaker 3: and he certainly had a lot of margin for error

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Speaker 3: there with a huge lead. But I don't know, I

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Speaker 3: was curious your take of Ben Brown just sort of

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Speaker 3: passed up on the depth chart. They just want him

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Speaker 3: to work on stuff in Iowa.

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Speaker 4: What are you hearing?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he didn't start until Sunday, and and

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Speaker 1: he he pitched four innings. I believe it doesn't sound

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Speaker 1: like they're you know, I think they want to give

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Speaker 1: him some both a mental reset and and just like

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Speaker 1: I should check the numbers because I'm curious how many

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Speaker 1: times he threw that change up on Sunday.

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Speaker 2: But it's not like he went super deep. He didn't.

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Speaker 1: He didn't strike anyone out. So I'm not sure what

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Speaker 1: he's working on there. But you know, he's he's been

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Speaker 1: He's incredibly talented.

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Speaker 2: We know that.

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Speaker 1: I just I don't think he's he's on the verge

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Speaker 1: of coming up anytime soon. They're they're like Wicks can

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Speaker 1: handle both roles. I think he'd been pitching well in

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Speaker 1: the minors. They I think they just want to give

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Speaker 1: Ben Brown some time. That's my understanding of it. They

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Speaker 1: weren't in a rush to bring him back, even with

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Speaker 1: an injury. They could have brought him back at any point.

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Speaker 1: Once you have the injury. Uh, I don't know if

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Speaker 1: you'd say he's been passed up as much as he

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Speaker 1: has things that they want him in the minors right now,

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Speaker 1: and you know they didn't know. Also, I don't think

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Speaker 1: they want to worry about not having him stretched out.

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Speaker 1: I think that's another aspect, you know, just as simple

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Speaker 1: as that as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I do wonder too if like you kind of

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Speaker 3: keep him down there and he gets gets right, starts pitching,

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Speaker 3: Well maybe he's a name that's bandied about in trade

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Speaker 3: talks as well. I mean, in the meantime, you got

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Speaker 3: what Chris Flexen can be stretched out, you know, Monday's

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Speaker 3: off day. Only six more games until the All Star break.

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Speaker 3: You know, as long as Shoda and Matthew Boyd can continue.

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Speaker 4: To do their thing, I mean, the Cubs should be

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Speaker 4: in decent shape.

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Speaker 3: I got to give the pitching infrastructure some credit here

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Speaker 3: because he was some of these injured. You want to,

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Speaker 3: you know, sound the alarms, but oh, they've reconfigured the

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Speaker 3: bullpen into one of the best groups in baseball. And

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Speaker 3: it's a group that is a lot of sort of afterthoughts, uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, as deemed by the baseball industry at large.

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Speaker 3: They survived seals injury thus far with Shoda, they did not.

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Speaker 4: Lose ground.

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Speaker 3: I mean they've even gained I forget exactly what it was.

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Speaker 3: But they've they've been a consistent first place team, and

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Speaker 3: a lot of it is because of this resourcefulness both

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Speaker 3: in you know, player acquisition, player development, and then just

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Speaker 3: kind of counseling his coaches, sort of putting him in

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Speaker 3: the right places and pushing the right buttons.

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Speaker 1: They So they were three up after they lost to

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee the day that showed a pitched Okay, got hurt,

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Speaker 1: and they're four up now, so they've gained a game.

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Speaker 2: You know, it seemed like there was panic right when.

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Speaker 1: When when this lead was had had fallen to two

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Speaker 1: games or game and a half whatever it was. Uh

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Speaker 1: And like I said before, they quickly responded, we'll see

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Speaker 1: how they handle this injury.

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Speaker 2: I do think it's a you know, to.

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Speaker 1: Get to have the Steel injury, to weather that, to

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Speaker 1: have the Imanaga injury, to whether that eventually this stuff

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Speaker 1: catches up to you. Yeah, like I said, I do

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Speaker 1: think it. It It happened at a time where they

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Speaker 1: can kind of weather the storm. But you know, you

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Speaker 1: get through this week, you get through the draft on

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Speaker 1: Sunday and Monday, correct, Yes, I mean would any like

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Speaker 1: this is when the stuff starts ramping up. So maybe

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Speaker 1: there's a move to come in the next two weeks

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Speaker 1: that that eases this. I don't have the schedule in

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Speaker 1: front of me as far as what comes up after

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Speaker 1: the break, and how many you know, they have five

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Speaker 1: straight after the after the break, six straight after the

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Speaker 1: break with the day off, so you know, it's not

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Speaker 1: like they have a ton straight right after the break.

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Speaker 1: There's ways that you know, they can kind of push

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Speaker 1: this and and if there's a move to be had

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Speaker 1: sooner rather than later, that's probably what they want to

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Speaker 1: do rather than keep going Jordan Wicks or or bullpen games.

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Speaker 1: But you're right, like they've they they've done a great

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Speaker 1: job so far weathering these injuries and and they've and

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Speaker 1: they've been they've been really resilient.

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Speaker 2: Ah, it's just too many.

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Speaker 1: You can't keep losing starters and expect to gain on

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Speaker 1: the competition every single time. So so a move is

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Speaker 1: going to be made. I think there are Uh, here's

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Speaker 1: something else. I was talking to someone, and here's the

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Speaker 1: r argument for making a move sooner rather than later.

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Speaker 1: They they are looking at pictures that may not be

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Speaker 1: dominant right now that they believe there are I don't

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Speaker 1: want to say like overhauls because they're not because you

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Speaker 1: don't want to do that in the middle. You certainly

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Speaker 1: wouldn't acquire someone and say we're overhauling this guy, you know,

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Speaker 1: like Nate Pearson last year, who they thought the short

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Speaker 1: term and a long.

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Speaker 2: Term plan with him.

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Speaker 1: That's not the type of acquisition you want to see

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Speaker 1: them make. Not I mean, it's fine if they do,

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Speaker 1: but not someone that's going to impact. That's not someone

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Speaker 1: you expect to impact the playoff run. But if there's

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Speaker 1: someone that's like a grip change or a slight change,

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Speaker 1: or you know, standing where you stand on the mound,

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Speaker 1: or maybe if it's an arm path thing that can

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Speaker 1: take a little while, like how long does that take?

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Speaker 1: How willing is the guy to listen? So there are

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Speaker 1: people in the organization that are saying, we need to

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Speaker 1: get this done now as soon as possible. The sooner

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Speaker 1: we have it, the quicker we can make these adjustments

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Speaker 1: with the player. And those are some of the cases

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Speaker 1: that you know, we're digging in on names and we'll

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Speaker 1: be sure to find some information soon enough. But those

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Speaker 1: are the more I guess extreme cases or cases of

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Speaker 1: guys that may have like a four and a half era.

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Speaker 1: It's like, we see how we can make this guy

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Speaker 1: a three era or three and a half era, whatever

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Speaker 1: it may be. The Cubs are good at that, and

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Speaker 1: I think they're getting better at that. So how quickly

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Speaker 1: you can do that matters right now at the trade

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Speaker 1: deadline and how how long you have to work with

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Speaker 1: the guy. An extra week to work with someone could

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Speaker 1: be the difference between a couple wins.

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Speaker 4: That's a great point.

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Speaker 3: I hadn't really thought of it in those terms, but

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Speaker 3: they definitely have credibility in that space, and I think

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Speaker 3: there is something to the change of scenery idea. You'd

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Speaker 3: also have, you know, amazing defenders all around you.

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Speaker 4: That helps as.

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Speaker 3: Well a really good catcher setup, even with Miguel Amaya

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Speaker 3: still sideline, Like, there is a lot of kind of

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Speaker 3: things you can point to, and it seems like the

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Speaker 3: way they're thinking about this as well is like what's

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Speaker 3: the best possible thirteen man staff? And this is the

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Speaker 3: council out getter philosophy of like, Okay, maybe maybe there

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Speaker 3: isn't that like obvious game one player playoff starter out there,

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Speaker 3: like you're not trading for like Randy Johnson or whatever.

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Speaker 3: Think of like the biggest kind of deadline trains ever.

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Speaker 3: But what if you get a guy who can give

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Speaker 3: you five innings or maybe there's like a multi multi

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Speaker 3: inning swingman that helps in a lot of different ways.

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Speaker 3: I think they're thinking about it in different terms and

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Speaker 3: maybe not just sort of the traditional way we've thought

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Speaker 3: about the trade deadline.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and just I think that's console in general.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, buddy, our buddy Paul Sullivan asked like, are you

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Speaker 1: considering Chris Flexon as a starter? He asked a couple

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Speaker 1: questions about starter, and he's like, and Council's like, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to lecture you.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to go on a whole diet dry.

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Speaker 1: But he's like, I'd rarely caution you about using the

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Speaker 1: word starter. I don't think of it that way. And

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Speaker 1: I think Council's point was essentially like, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: back to the outgetter mode. That's how he thinks, that's

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Speaker 1: how he's looking at it. They'll piece it together however

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Speaker 1: they feel his best. However, they can find ways to

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Speaker 1: get wins. Maybe it's different in October. I think it

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Speaker 1: is different in October because you can actually be more

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Speaker 1: aggressive with how you when you pull guys, and it's

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Speaker 1: it's like, you know, the six seven inning starters even

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's valuable if you can get that, but

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Speaker 1: it's not as common anymore.

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Speaker 2: It's just they treat October differently.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about it, all Star, Matthew Boyd when we

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Speaker 1: slash Audio Patrick Matthew Boyd is the cub's third All

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Speaker 1: Star no other All Stars. Slight surprise, but you know, like,

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Speaker 1: I just don't think it's worth going crazy over it

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00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 1: because a like, every team needs a rep. The I

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Speaker 1: don't think there was anyone that was just like, that's

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Speaker 1: that's awful. You can't put that guy in the All

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Speaker 1: Star game. Fans vote every Like I said, every team

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Speaker 1: needs a rep.

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Speaker 2: It's fine. It's not the end of the world.

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Speaker 1: I think Michael Bush, with his fifth best way to

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Speaker 1: runs graded plus in all of baseball, fifth best in

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Speaker 1: all of baseball, deserves to be there. He's quietly been

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Speaker 1: a monster on offense and just continues to get better

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Speaker 1: at first base. He's a really good ballplayer. You know,

437
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 1: who knows what Zaire Hope is gonna be fans, But

438
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:03,119
Speaker 1: Michael Busch is a great player right now helping this

439
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,679
Speaker 1: team win a lot of a lot of games. Carson

440
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:13,280
Speaker 1: Kelly probably deserves to be there. Nico Horners made a

441
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,159
Speaker 1: good case for himself lately, just a great defender, and

442
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 1: say Suzuki obviously leads the league in RBI, just has

443
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 1: turned into an elite power hitter.

444
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:23,680
Speaker 2: I think you could.

445
00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: Even make an argument if you wanted to for Daniel Palencia.

446
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 1: But I think there's you know, it's I think they

447
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 1: made a great selection with Matthew Boyd. It's a great story.

448
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: He just I mean, I think we both talked to

449
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,119
Speaker 1: him in spring training. Easy guy to talk to, but

450
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,719
Speaker 1: also he's very He's both humble and confident in this

451
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: way that that's easy to like, because you know, you

452
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 1: don't always want the like.

453
00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,200
Speaker 2: You like. Athletes have to be confident.

454
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: You to hear that they believe in themselves, but you

455
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 1: don't want it to be off putting. He's certainly not

456
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,399
Speaker 1: off putting, but he also believes in himself. And he

457
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 1: said this in spring. He really felt like his best

458
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: was ahead of him. And it can sound ridiculous when

459
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: this is a thirty four year old who's said just

460
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:22,439
Speaker 1: like injury after injury for years now. But for some

461
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: reason I kind of believed him. I was like, I

462
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,239
Speaker 1: can see what he's talking about. I did not see this.

463
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 1: I did not see him being this good. I thought

464
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 1: he'd just be like a really good three for them.

465
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: He's been an ace, and he goes out there after

466
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: tough losses oftentimes and shuts down the opposition.

467
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:43,960
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of foul balls.

468
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 1: Yesterday, couldn't like at times, was couldn't end the bats quickly.

469
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,719
Speaker 1: Still ends up with nine strikeouts, just one walk, three hits,

470
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:58,120
Speaker 1: dominates the Cardinals for five innings. It seems like every

471
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:02,160
Speaker 1: time out there he's putting I think every start but one,

472
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 1: he's gone at least five innings. Really only one stinker,

473
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: and that was a rough one in Cincinnati where things

474
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: kind of fell apart in the first inning, and he

475
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: still battled through and gave them a decent four innings.

476
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 2: It's just just a really great first half of the season.

477
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,640
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I think you can basically say,

478
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 1: like we just talked about their rotation, he's he's been

479
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,360
Speaker 1: the's a key reason why that's not only stayed afloat,

480
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 1: but drived.

481
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 3: Gratitude is the word that he uses over and over again,

482
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 3: and I think you can see that in the way

483
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:40,959
Speaker 3: he competes, the way he interacts with the media, his teammates,

484
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,719
Speaker 3: the way he carries himself in the clubhouse and just

485
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:51,160
Speaker 3: conducts his business in general. Just a really classy individual

486
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 3: who looked really good with Cleveland last year of like

487
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,360
Speaker 3: the second half of last year. A guy who they

488
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 3: trusted to take the ball in October. That's a big

489
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 3: deal to me. The question mark was really just sort

490
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 3: of like availability, and he has absolutely posted for this team.

491
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 3: And as you say, like the just the innings, the volume,

492
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:22,160
Speaker 3: the workload that he has carried is really impressive. And

493
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Kyle Tucker has been a big

494
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:26,160
Speaker 3: part of like.

495
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 4: The confidence of this team day to day.

496
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:31,400
Speaker 3: But I do think, you know, Matthew Boyd even though

497
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 3: Ryan Presley, Carson Kelly, like the guys that they brought

498
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 3: in are grown ups really, I mean just and they

499
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,480
Speaker 3: they're accomplished, they're experienced, and I think part of the

500
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 3: reason why we haven't seen those extended down periods. You know,

501
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd is a huge reason because of that. You know,

502
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 3: so whether it's a stopper or you know, a guy

503
00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 3: that can match up against really any lineup in baseball,

504
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,239
Speaker 3: and if you're the Cubs, you feel like you have

505
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 3: a decent chance of winning.

506
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: You know, we talk about how the Cubs offense can

507
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: win in a lot of different ways. I kind of

508
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,959
Speaker 1: feel like when I watch Matthew Boyd, I don't know

509
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: which version I'm getting in a sense, like how's he

510
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: going to win today? Sometimes he will rack up the

511
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: strikeouts he has. It's like he has these outings where

512
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: the where the strikeouts are just there's a ton of them,

513
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,920
Speaker 1: and he looks like a strikeout pitcher. But then you

514
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: look at the overall numbers and they're not there because

515
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: he as far as strikeouts. He has these huge strikeout games,

516
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: but then they then then he'll just get weak contact

517
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 1: or limit damage or or just you know, work deeper

518
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: into a game because he's not striking guys out and

519
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 1: just getting early outs with contact. It seems like he

520
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 1: can win in a lot of different ways. He can

521
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 1: attack the opposition a lot of different ways. This this

522
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 1: is one of the those uh.

523
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,959
Speaker 2: Trust us wins in the free agent market.

524
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: I think I think it's one of those things that

525
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 1: you look at it side, I like, what, this is

526
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 1: their big pitching move, this is how they're they're going

527
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,600
Speaker 1: to try and win the division.

528
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:19,720
Speaker 2: And then this happens and.

529
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, maybe we need to start giving them

530
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 1: a little bit more leeway. They're they're getting some wins here,

531
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 1: They're they're getting some free agent victories. What what are

532
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,880
Speaker 1: they What do they have behind the scenes that's working,

533
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 1: Whether it's uh, the acquisition team, whether it's the pitching infrastructure,

534
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: whatever part of the front office. It's multiple parts of

535
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 1: the front office, but whatever part you want to give

536
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 1: credit to. It's one of those situations where we're starting

537
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 1: to see little things add up and and the Cubs

538
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: are getting some wins there. Uh, for all the criticism

539
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,840
Speaker 1: we'ved oled out over the years, you know, I think, uh,

540
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 1: they're they're starting to get wins.

541
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 2: It's all, you know.

542
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,479
Speaker 1: I think For me, it was always like, hey, I

543
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: think things are on the rise. Until I see results,

544
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 1: it's going to be really hard to feel confident about

545
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 1: that and forcefully say that this is one of those

546
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 1: situations where.

547
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 2: Okay, we're seeing results. Now.

548
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 1: I think there are other ways that you can look

549
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: at where they're seeing results. I don't think we really

550
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: talked about this, but we I don't want to derail

551
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: the Matthew Boyd conversation, but we talked about We talked

552
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: to Dan Canterwitz on Sunday and there was something brought

553
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 1: up about how in that Houston series it was Cam Smith,

554
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 1: Cad Horton, and Matt Shall playing. That's their last three

555
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 1: first round picks all playing in the game. That says

556
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: something about this organization, Like how many teams can say

557
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: that their last three first round picks. I think it's

558
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 1: one other organization that can say that their last three

559
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: first round picks were already in the big leagues and

560
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: playing decently. Matt Shaw was struggling on offense, but once

561
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: again he made some really great plays defensively this weekend.

562
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 1: Kate Horton's been a huge part of this rotation, and

563
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 1: you don't have Kyle Tucker without Cam Smith.

564
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 2: And Cam Smith looks good. I think he's going to

565
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:10,840
Speaker 2: be a really good player.

566
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: They got one of the best players in Baseball because

567
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: of him, they're not able to make that trade without

568
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:15,959
Speaker 1: Cam Smith.

569
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 2: It's huge. It's huge.

570
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 1: There's multiple ways that a drafting players can help you.

571
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 1: Your minor league system helps you, and you're seeing it

572
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: pay off in various ways. The organization's gotten better. I

573
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 1: think we're seeing signs of it. And you know, Matthew

574
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 1: Boyd is a huge sign of things. Identifying talent getting

575
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: it before, like acquiring that talent before. Remember the Brandon

576
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 1: Morrow signing that was after he broke out. Matthew Boyd

577
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 1: wasn't cheap, but he also like it was a good

578
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:48,720
Speaker 1: risk to take. It was about it's a type of

579
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 1: risk you want to see smart organization's take. I you know,

580
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:55,920
Speaker 1: I'll always argue that they need to add more and

581
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 1: spend more, not going to get off that hill.

582
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 2: But it doesn't mean this wasn't a huge win for

583
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 2: the organization.

584
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you still have to kind of believe in people,

585
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 3: and I think Matthew Boyd is an example. Bob Knightingale

586
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 3: wrote about this the other day, kind of something we

587
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 3: had been planning on writing to be honest, but just

588
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 3: how he's one of the nicest guys in the game

589
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 3: and that he's a person of faith who's shown a

590
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 3: lot of resiliency in coming back from all these injuries,

591
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 3: very generous with teammates, someone who is like naturally talented

592
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 3: and physically he's a big dude, but also just like

593
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:47,400
Speaker 3: loves the game, loves his craft, loves competing. This is

594
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 3: certainly not someone who was like kind of like sort

595
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,840
Speaker 3: of hurt, sort of into it, just trying to get

596
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 3: paid one more contract. Like no, like like you said,

597
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 3: sot if he thinks his baseball is in front of him.

598
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 3: And certainly this first half has been about as good

599
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:08,760
Speaker 3: as it gets from Matthew Boyd.

600
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, really easy guy to root for.

601
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: You hope he continues to stay healthy and help his

602
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: team out. Just just a huge piece of the puzzle

603
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 1: this season for what's turning out to be what feels

604
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,520
Speaker 1: kind of like one of those special fun seasons. We'll

605
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,479
Speaker 1: see what it brings in the second half, what more

606
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: is coming for this team, But so far it's been

607
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 1: really exciting to cover. Matthew Boyd's a huge reason why.

608
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. We'll have a few more

609
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:39,480
Speaker 1: episodes this week. Appreciate everyone listening. This is Northside Territory.

610
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 1: Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to subscribe, rate

611
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,880
Speaker 1: and review, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to

612
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 1: The Athletic where Patrick and Ira on top of all

613
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone, take.

614
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:10,839
Speaker 2: Anything, do anything about the red.

615
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:16,800
Speaker 1: Dot. They any the

616
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 3: Re