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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. Patrick Moody is enjoying a well desertification. So

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Speaker 1: it is a solo show. I'm going to do a

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Speaker 1: mail bag, read some of your questions and answer them

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Speaker 1: before we start. Since this first question that I'm going

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Speaker 1: to get to is about the WBC. All of our

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Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic 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. Let's get to this first,

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Speaker 1: and that first question is from Tyler Dershel, regular to

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Speaker 1: emailer to the show railer listener. Always appreciate the questions Tyler.

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Speaker 1: With the WBC starting, how is this team planning to

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Speaker 1: adjust playing time leading up into the season. Who can

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Speaker 1: take advantage of this opportunity? I mean, it really is

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Speaker 1: as simple as who's gone and who gets to step

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Speaker 1: in with a little I think there's two layers here.

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Speaker 1: It's like Moys's Biasteros gets more catching time with Miguel

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Speaker 1: Amaya gone, with Team Panama. I think that's one. As

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Speaker 1: far as someone that's going to be on the roster.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it would be big in terms of

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Speaker 1: someone like Ben Brown, who will talk about more later

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Speaker 1: on in the episode, or any starters like that, because yes,

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Speaker 1: Jameson Tyne and Matthew Boyd are gone. I think Ben

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Speaker 1: Brown would still be getting plenty of innings. So it's

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Speaker 1: something random, like I'm recording on Saturday, Josiah Hardshorn, who

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Speaker 1: was a high schooler drafted in the middle rounds last summer.

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Speaker 1: Someone like him got the start today. I would not

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Speaker 1: have expected that had had they had their full roster available.

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Speaker 1: Some playing time, sure, but a start and playing all.

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Speaker 1: I believe he played all nine innings. It looked good

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Speaker 1: up there too. That's someone who I would say is

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Speaker 1: getting a little bit of a benefit here, and I

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Speaker 1: think he has impressed some people. Not sure about the

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Speaker 1: major league staff yet, but certainly in player development people

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Speaker 1: are talking about him. They believe they've got a kind

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Speaker 1: of a steal of the draft. We'll see if they're

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Speaker 1: right on that. He hasn't played it pro game yet,

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Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly, I don't think he played last year.

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Speaker 1: Either way, he's someone that needs a lot of runway.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't expect him to show shoot up just yet,

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Speaker 1: but as far as the rankings shoot up, the rankings

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Speaker 1: just yet. But he's certainly someone that they're excited about.

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Speaker 1: Other than that, I just you know, like there's it's

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Speaker 1: the prospects, and it's guys maybe getting a little bit

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Speaker 1: more playing time that they do have a good chunk

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Speaker 1: of players out there, so you know, it's I think

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Speaker 1: it's mostly the position players because the pitchers you just

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Speaker 1: find time for them, and and there's so many innings

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Speaker 1: that are eaten by guys that are just not going

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Speaker 1: to impact a major league roster in all likelihood, you're

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Speaker 1: trying to get through the nine innings a lot of times.

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Speaker 1: Usually it's not like you're pushing for extra work for

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Speaker 1: someone unless something weird happened in the game, especially at

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Speaker 1: this point in spring training, pitching wise, you're just trying

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Speaker 1: to You're using the bangser guys that you know likely

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Speaker 1: or minor league fodder or you know, sometimes there's guys

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Speaker 1: that surprise, but for the most part, they're not guys

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Speaker 1: that are going to impact the major league king this season,

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Speaker 1: perhaps even in the long run. So it's Pedro Ramirez

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Speaker 1: Moys's Biaceros getting more time behind the plate so you

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Speaker 1: don't have to worry about taking time away from Carson

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Speaker 1: Kelly and and Miguel Amaya. But even that, you find

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Speaker 1: innings for these guys because you do have a ton

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Speaker 1: of catchers in camp right now, so you're kind of

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Speaker 1: building up usage for them. I do think it's a

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Speaker 1: good I think specifically for this camp, and with Moyses's

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Speaker 1: Biasterais being delayed, I think that's nice that he's getting

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Speaker 1: more time, you know, just time to catch these guys,

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Speaker 1: time to show what he can do. I don't think

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Speaker 1: he's some huge development there as far as what he

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Speaker 1: can do behind the plate, but I do think it's

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Speaker 1: worth monitoring how he's doing and whether he can kind

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Speaker 1: of end up as a part time catcher down the line.

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Speaker 1: It's something that I still, well, I feel a little

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Speaker 1: hesitant about going all in on. I think there are

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Speaker 1: some people with the Cubs that believe he has a

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Speaker 1: chance to be a part time catcher. I'd feel more

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Speaker 1: comfortable talking to some people outside the Org seeing what

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Speaker 1: they see development wise with him and whether he can

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Speaker 1: really take a leap, but there is some there's a

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Speaker 1: little bit more optimism there from the lizard King in

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Speaker 1: the bullpen. Which of the additions in the bullpen do

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Speaker 1: you see as the number one brad Keller candidate as

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Speaker 1: far as success goes. First of all, I think it's

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Speaker 1: important that I say there's not going to be another

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Speaker 1: brad Keller. Brad Keller in the sense that brad Keller

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Speaker 1: was like a top twenty reliever in the game. It

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Speaker 1: felt like maybe I'm being out there because I watched

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Speaker 1: him all season long, but he was a really good

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Speaker 1: reliever who was an and he turned into their second most,

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Speaker 1: if not their most important reliever over the course of

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Speaker 1: the season. Just did everything well. It kind of came

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Speaker 1: out of nowhere in the sense that I don't think

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Speaker 1: people realized he had ninety seven to ninety eight in

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Speaker 1: the tank. I don't think people were anticipating just how

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Speaker 1: crisp the secondaries would be. He was a huge part

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Speaker 1: of the bullpen, so it's going to be really hard

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Speaker 1: to hit a home run like that. What do you

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Speaker 1: hope for a couple doubles. First guy that I think

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Speaker 1: has a good shot to make the team out of

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Speaker 1: camp is Colin Snyder back up to sitting in ninety

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Speaker 1: four ninety five, that is huge for him. He was

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Speaker 1: down a couple of ticks, I think his I think

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Speaker 1: the injuries led to some mechanics being off, and he

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Speaker 1: was never rarely himself last year, but the mechanics have

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Speaker 1: corrected that. He's working on some things. We'll see if

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Speaker 1: those pitches that he's working on are impactful. But I

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Speaker 1: think just getting him back to the twenty twenty four

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Speaker 1: version of himself, which was really good for a good

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Speaker 1: chunk of the season for Seattle, I think that would

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Speaker 1: be big. Beyond that, I liking what I'm seeing from

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Speaker 1: Ryan Rollinson. He had a bad outing. Whenever this goes up,

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Speaker 1: I think it would have been his last outing with

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Speaker 1: the team. It was rough. I could be wrong. He

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Speaker 1: maybe he came back out again. It's hard to keep

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Speaker 1: track of every reliever's appearances, but he he's his velo

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Speaker 1: has jumped. His performance looks, you know, just beyond the results,

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Speaker 1: I feel like he's just been really impressive. He's working

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Speaker 1: on a sweeper that from my understanding, they're really excited about,

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Speaker 1: and he kind of Tommy Hotteby was telling us the

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Speaker 1: other day he kind of threw it. They showed him

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Speaker 1: the grip, he threw it, and he kind of looked

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Speaker 1: back and was like, was that any good? And they

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Speaker 1: were like looking at the metrics and it was like whatever,

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Speaker 1: sixteen seventeen horizontal, whatever it was. They're like, yeah, that's nasty.

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Speaker 1: And he's kind of stuck with that. I think from

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Speaker 1: my understanding that bad outing that he had, like that

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Speaker 1: was off a little bit, and he was and he

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Speaker 1: was doing some things mechanically that he didn't like with

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Speaker 1: his fastball and they were just all over it. But

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Speaker 1: I think for the most part he's he's been really

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Speaker 1: good and they're pretty happy with what he's done. I'm

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Speaker 1: just looking at his game logs. He did get another

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Speaker 1: outing after that terrible outing, and he bounced back nicely,

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Speaker 1: two strikeouts, a walk in one inning of where no hits,

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Speaker 1: no runs. Again. I'm not going to freak out about stuff.

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Speaker 1: Looks really good and you have to be impressed. You

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Speaker 1: have to. You have to like that. Beyond that, I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to think if they're anyway Corbyn Martin feels like

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Speaker 1: he's still building up. Uh, you know, Hunter Harvey's not

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't consider him in the same in the same

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Speaker 1: group as the brad Keller's but this is the lizard

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Speaker 1: Kig did say even someone that you know is on

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Speaker 1: the forty man. Uh, that's not in the question on

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Speaker 1: the screen, but he did say that in his original question.

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Speaker 1: And I just think Hunter Harvey, it's as simple as

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Speaker 1: are you healthy, then you're going to be nasty and

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Speaker 1: a huge part of this bullpen. I think that's how

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Speaker 1: the Cubs look at it. And I don't disagree because

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Speaker 1: that's kind of how is how he's been for his career. Uh,

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Speaker 1: he's just got to stay healthy and that's not easy.

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Speaker 1: Uh And and it's uh, you know, it obviously has

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Speaker 1: been something that he's struggled with in his career, so

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Speaker 1: we can't assume it. Feel like they can get him

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Speaker 1: to a place where he feels good about his stuff

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Speaker 1: and his and his body and and it won't be

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Speaker 1: h an issue for him going forward. I think he's

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Speaker 1: he's an easy pick to be to be a good

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Speaker 1: to be a really solid contributor to the Cubs this year.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to see, let me just look at the

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Speaker 1: NRI list to be sure that I didn't miss anyone.

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Speaker 1: Trent Thornton could be helpful down the line. He's not

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Speaker 1: going to be ready to start the season. I just

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Speaker 1: got an update from him the other day. He's he's

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Speaker 1: excited because I think he's close to getting a bullpen

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Speaker 1: on the books. He told me he was throwing aside

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Speaker 1: and like he could get in a live I think

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Speaker 1: it was a live VP, is what he said. He's

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Speaker 1: excited because you know, he could get a live VP

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Speaker 1: in the book soon. So I'll keep an eye out

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Speaker 1: for that. But he's not going to be ready until

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Speaker 1: later on in the summer. Like my guess is they're

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Speaker 1: going to slow play him. Maybe we'll see him in

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Speaker 1: minor league games in April or May if things go well,

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Speaker 1: But just keep an eye on him down the line.

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Speaker 1: Like I think he's good depth beyond that, I'm not

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Speaker 1: seeing anyone on the on the NRIs that has jumped

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Speaker 1: out to me or that I've heard a lot about.

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Speaker 1: And just looking at the other names, yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: I think we got them all right there, and that's

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Speaker 1: a good list. Something someone else told me was they

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Speaker 1: feel like it's more than just bodies right now in camp.

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Speaker 1: They feel like they have a lot of depth, a

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Speaker 1: lot of talent with these bullpen arms, both the non

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Speaker 1: roster invites and even forty man guys that are there

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Speaker 1: that may not make the team, but hopefully a large

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Speaker 1: chunk of them. I mean, the guy like Rolison has

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Speaker 1: an option, so he's here, he's almost certainly not making

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Speaker 1: the team because if you know Greg counsel By now,

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Speaker 1: he wants to keep that depth. He wants guys like

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Speaker 1: Colin Snyder still in the organization. So if they like him,

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Speaker 1: they're not. I mean, if these guys just look rough

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Speaker 1: and look like they can't get out, obviously you say, okay,

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Speaker 1: we got to move on. But if if they're like, hey,

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Speaker 1: this guy's intriguing. Yeah, the guy with the option may

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Speaker 1: be just purely better, but this guy could get out too,

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Speaker 1: and we don't wanna. We don't want to lose our depth.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna need more than the eight arms in the

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Speaker 1: bullpen that you start with. And I think we all

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Speaker 1: know that next question, who worries you the most in

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Speaker 1: the NL central between the Reds and the pirate pirates?

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Speaker 1: That is from Sayezuzuki, goat this questions really hard. I'll

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Speaker 1: be honest, I don't know if I have, like I've

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Speaker 1: been thinking about it, and I go back and forth.

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Speaker 1: I really like both teams pitching. I think if you

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Speaker 1: look at what I think if I had to man

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Speaker 1: because of Hunter Green's injury, I wonder how bad it'll

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Speaker 1: be with him? Is he going to miss a chunk

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Speaker 1: of time? But then they're just gonna ansert like Chase

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Speaker 1: Burns into the rotation and it's so bad. Like they

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Speaker 1: have a lot of pitching depth too, I don't wanna.

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Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna go Reds, even though, look, the

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Speaker 1: Pirates have really great pitching with the best pitcher arguably

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Speaker 1: the best pitcher in baseball probably like definitely the best

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Speaker 1: pitcher in the NL right and Paul's skeins. Does Connor

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Speaker 1: Griffin like start the season with him? And even if

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Speaker 1: he doesn't, is he the type of prospect that just

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Speaker 1: comes up right away and impacts the club in a

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Speaker 1: huge way? Is this theer O'Neil Cruz figures it out?

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Speaker 1: Things like that? You know, Marcelo Zuna has been productive

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Speaker 1: in the very recent past. Is he going to change

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Speaker 1: things for them offensively? I think for both these teams

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Speaker 1: it's all about the offense. With the Reds, they have

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Speaker 1: the managerial factor with Terry Francona, Ellie d la Cruz

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Speaker 1: has upside on offense. There's a lot of guys in

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Speaker 1: that group that have like upside on offense, Matt McClain

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Speaker 1: in Carnassio Strand there's just a bunch of them. You

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Speaker 1: have to they have to hope that a handful of

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Speaker 1: them pop and become really consistent. And then the pitching

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Speaker 1: top of my head who's in that bullpen outside of

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Speaker 1: Pegan as the closer. You have to hope that it's

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Speaker 1: solid because you have the You obviously have the manager

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Speaker 1: that can get these get the most out of this group.

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Speaker 1: We'll see if their offense is enough. I think, if

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Speaker 1: I had to pick one, I'm going Reds and I

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Speaker 1: And I think I've said this on the podcast before,

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Speaker 1: but I think what's going to end. I think the

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Speaker 1: Cubs are going to win the division. I've said made

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Speaker 1: that prediction on a couple of other podcasts, and if

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Speaker 1: I haven't said it here, you know that's that's where

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Speaker 1: I land. I think they're going to win the division.

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Speaker 1: I think the Brewers are still going to be good,

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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't rule them out. I just talked to

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Speaker 1: a scout today who has them, and he was telling

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Speaker 1: and me he believes they're still going to be They're

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Speaker 1: just really good at what they do at finding players

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Speaker 1: that fit their mold. They have a lot of depth,

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Speaker 1: a lot of talent. They're they're a good team. So

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't I wouldn't rule them out just yet. So

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Speaker 1: I think that's the division. Really could come down to

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Speaker 1: the Cubs and Brewers again. But yeah, the Threads are

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Speaker 1: threads and Pirates are certainly interesting. A lot of young

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Speaker 1: talent on those rosters. We'll see if one of them pop.

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Speaker 1: Next question, Okay, this is a long one for Mark Nettleton.

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Speaker 1: If the logic is that Nico can handle shortstop defensively,

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Speaker 1: is there really any chance he signs an extension with

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Speaker 1: the Cubs. Wouldn't he be much better paid as a

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Speaker 1: shortstop in free agency? Wouldn't the Cubs factor that in

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Speaker 1: and him accordingly? Okay, last last part of that question. First,

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Speaker 1: So the Cubs can't pay him like a shortstop because

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Speaker 1: he's not their everyday shortstop and he's not going to be,

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Speaker 1: so it's not a value to them directly. It's valuable

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Speaker 1: to them as he's in the sense that he is

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Speaker 1: a backup shortstop for them, and if say Dansby Swanson

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Speaker 1: gets hurt, you just shift Nico Horner to shortstop and

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Speaker 1: put Matt Shaw at second easy fixed there, right, and

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Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about that. I don't think

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Speaker 1: you pay him because he is has a chance to

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Speaker 1: be a good shortstop the Cubs. I mean, why would

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Speaker 1: he sign an extension, because like in theory, you're not

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Speaker 1: getting open market value when you sign an extension, and

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Speaker 1: you know that. So yeah, he knows if he goes

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Speaker 1: on the open market, maybe he can his asient can

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Speaker 1: find teams that understand that he can play shortstop, and

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Speaker 1: he can market himself in that fashion, and that leads

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Speaker 1: to him getting a much better deal than what the

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Speaker 1: Cubs could give him. But like, I don't care if

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Speaker 1: he isn't marketing himself as a shortstop, he's supposed to

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Speaker 1: get a better deal on the open market. Like that's

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Speaker 1: just how it works. So if he's going to sign

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Speaker 1: an extension, I think it's like you have to meet

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Speaker 1: in the middle. The Cubs aren't going to get some

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Speaker 1: huge discount and Nico Horner has to accept that he's

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Speaker 1: taking a little bit of a of a hit as

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Speaker 1: compared to what he would get on the open market.

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Speaker 1: Because he loves Chicago, he wants to keep winning here whatever,

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Speaker 1: you know, all those reasons and more. But they have to.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna have to pay up. Like they're not getting

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Speaker 1: a huge discount. They already got a bit of a discount,

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Speaker 1: and and they're gonna have to. They're just gonna have

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Speaker 1: to pay. I don't think it'll be open market value

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Speaker 1: if it's extension. If it's an extension. Now, if he

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Speaker 1: hits the open market and the Cubs are bidding on him,

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Speaker 1: I think that's when okay to some team to value

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Speaker 1: him so much more because he's a shortstop, because they're

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Speaker 1: going to see him as a shortstop, that's when it

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Speaker 1: gets really interesting. So we'll cross that bridge when we

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Speaker 1: get there, because I don't know who's gonna that team

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Speaker 1: is going to be, and we don't have that just yet.

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Speaker 1: We don't we don't have this open market. Who's going

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Speaker 1: after him so complicated next offseason as well, so we

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Speaker 1: don't know what the situation will be. Maybe he doesn't

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Speaker 1: want to deal with the headache of the CBA as well,

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Speaker 1: and the uncertainty that that's going to bring, and just

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Speaker 1: that's maybe that works in the cubs favor. I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I haven't heard him say that. These guys know that

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Speaker 1: their value in the open market is going to be.

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Speaker 1: Like the benefit for him is if he gets hurt

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Speaker 1: and then now you add in the CBA, like, he

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Speaker 1: gets some certainty, right, he gets some certainty. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: have to worry about those things. You can sign something

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Speaker 1: right now. Obviously, the benefit for the Cubs is they

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Speaker 1: lock in their second basement for X number of years

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Speaker 1: not searching for that. That's one thing down And in

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Speaker 1: theory they get a little bit of a discout as

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Speaker 1: far as what they pay for him compared to what

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Speaker 1: they pay for him in the open market. All right,

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Speaker 1: one more question here. Is there any indication of a

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Speaker 1: long term plan regarding Ben Brown still hoping to develop

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Speaker 1: a starter's mix or is he a bullpen piece swingman

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Speaker 1: going forward? Yeah, there's this is from Cubs juice. Yes,

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Speaker 1: there there is a plan. They there is a So Tommy,

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Speaker 1: how to you talked about this recently. They're gonna stretch

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Speaker 1: all guys like this out like him, Colin Ray. Javier

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Speaker 1: Rosada obviously is starting for Team Mexico and had a

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Speaker 1: really good start the other night. They they will treat

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Speaker 1: them as starters in spring training, and then they're not

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Speaker 1: too concerned about the fact that if if I mean

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Speaker 1: Colin Ray, will be in the bullpen, assuming health for

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Speaker 1: their rotation to start the season. They're not concerned about

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Speaker 1: getting him stretched out. They can use him in a

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Speaker 1: variety of ways, whether it's going one time through a lineup,

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Speaker 1: whether it's just an an inning plus an inning or

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Speaker 1: two just an inning. They're not that worried about it

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Speaker 1: that they will handle They will handle it as best

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Speaker 1: as they can. As far as keeping these guys stretched out,

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Speaker 1: I would say that with Ben Brown, Tommy Howdeby said,

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Speaker 1: they're not going to be afraid to start him in

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Speaker 1: the bullpen if that's their best bullpen makes look, I

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Speaker 1: think that's I understand that. I go back to what

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Speaker 1: I said earlier about not wanting to lose depth. So

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Speaker 1: I think they're going to add an NRI to that

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Speaker 1: final spot in the bullpen. We're assuming health now too,

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Speaker 1: that all these guys are healthy to start the season.

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Speaker 1: We still got another what do we got another three

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Speaker 1: weeks before the season starts a little less than three weeks,

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Speaker 1: so I wouldn't assume any of that just yet. But

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Speaker 1: if assuming hell, we're going to for this exercise, I

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Speaker 1: think Ben Brown still goes down to the miners. But

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Speaker 1: Tommy how Deby did make a point of saying he's

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Speaker 1: not going to rule that out, and they're not concerned

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Speaker 1: about that. They know how to either keep guys stretched

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Speaker 1: out or they feel confident with enough depth that if

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Speaker 1: a guy isn't stretch out, they can get a spot

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Speaker 1: start in, or they'll build a guy back up. There's

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Speaker 1: ways that they can do this where they're not going

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Speaker 1: to worry about, hey, we have to keep this guy

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Speaker 1: stretched out. They kind of had to do that last

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Speaker 1: year just because of a lack of depth in the

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Speaker 1: starting with the starting rotation, and Ben Brown was sent

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Speaker 1: down and it was like you can't use him in

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Speaker 1: the bullpen because right now there's no starting depth. I

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Speaker 1: think they we know the regulars. It's a sad ray,

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Speaker 1: Ben Brown, Jackson Wiggins probably by mid season, maybe later

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Speaker 1: if things go well, Uh, Jordan Wicks uh, and then

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Speaker 1: h one name that you know is building up still

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Speaker 1: is Kyle Wright. Vincent Velasquez. Uh. So these are guys

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Speaker 1: that are all different varying types of depth starting depth

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Speaker 1: for them. So uh, they'll continue to develop Ben Brown

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Speaker 1: as a starter. Don't like lose sight of him. It

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Speaker 1: was a rough outing Thursday Friday night, uh in Peoria

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Speaker 1: for him. Lost his command a little bit. I think

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Speaker 1: there was a couple, uh couple lack of execution here

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Speaker 1: and there. It wasn't a disaster. We'll see how how

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Speaker 1: he wraps up. I still think like if if he

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Speaker 1: can get that third and fourth pitch, that third pitch

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Speaker 1: to be average and like a fourth pitch that's usable,

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Speaker 1: that kind of changes the discord on him. But if not,

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Speaker 1: I think he still can be a really good reliever.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see. I don't think they have to force

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Speaker 1: a decision on that because obviously we know there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of free agents coming up after this season in

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Speaker 1: their rotation. Is Ben Brown part of the future for

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Speaker 1: the rotation? This is probably a good year to figure

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Speaker 1: that out in some fashion, see what he can do. Otherwise,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think he does have a future somehow

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Speaker 1: with this team. We'll see exactly what it is, all right,

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. Everyone. That's a mailbag episode

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Speaker 1: of Northside Territory. We'll give Patrick the day off and

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Speaker 1: hopefully he's enjoying himself and he'll be back out here.

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Speaker 1: I got another week out here, so he'll be back

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Speaker 1: with me on the show next week. We're back to

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Speaker 1: three episodes a week, so keep listening. Appreciate you doing that.

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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 on

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Speaker 1: top of all things cubs. Thanks so much for listening. Everyone,

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Speaker 1: Take care,