Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Filed Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. It is
Speaker 1: trade deadline time. It is going quickly. Things are happening.
Speaker 1: Trek Scuble was traded to the Dodgers. The Cubs did
Speaker 1: not get Schooble, but they get a big name. Maybe
Speaker 1: he's not at his peak anymore, but Kevin gossman veteran,
Speaker 1: obviously has a higher era this season. I think it's
Speaker 1: like four to three. I've written it so many times
Speaker 1: over the past few days, but he had a start
Speaker 1: in between, so now I can't remember the exact number.
Speaker 1: It's it's higher than you want to see. But like
Speaker 1: everything underneath, the hood looks good. This is a proven
Speaker 1: veteran who's performed in the postseason. A lot of things
Speaker 1: the Cubs like about him. He's a rental, don't give
Speaker 1: up a ton, likely gonna make playoffs, start assuming help,
Speaker 1: and that he looks right on the field. That's the
Speaker 1: type of talent he is. Uh, you know, not school
Speaker 1: but in the rich get richer with school. Go in
Speaker 1: la but this is this is a nice, nice addition
Speaker 1: for the Cubs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the.
Speaker 3: Reason is to be genuinely excited. And we've discussed this
Speaker 3: name for a bit now. I think the Cole Hamil's
Speaker 3: comp is definitely relevant and interesting. You know what we hear? Uh,
Speaker 3: it's just what a great dude Gosman is? That are
Speaker 3: really plus presence in the clubhouse a guy, a guy
Speaker 3: who posts to use kind of a clubhouse term. And look,
Speaker 3: I mean to put up two quality starts against the
Speaker 3: Dodgers in the World Series, Ah, I think tells you
Speaker 3: everything you need to know. I'm not gonna spend a
Speaker 3: lot of time worrying about who they gave up, but
Speaker 3: not like, uh didn't seem like a whole lot. I'm
Speaker 3: just looking at the Athletic now the headline for Trade
Speaker 3: Grade series. Is this really all the Blue Jays could
Speaker 3: get for Kevin Gosman. It's by Annie McCullough and Steven Nesbitt.
Speaker 3: It's like, you know, the Cubs have the surplus of
Speaker 3: you know, kind of young position players who probably don't
Speaker 3: have a spot to play, and if they wind up
Speaker 3: being really good and I think to get that win now,
Speaker 3: piece to help you. I think Cups fans should be
Speaker 3: excited about this edition.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't think these are like bad prospects by any means,
Speaker 1: but they're the type that they say, like a realistic
Speaker 1: good outcome for these guys are like really good bench
Speaker 1: player and you know, fill in if needed for a
Speaker 1: couple of months. You don't like, these aren't the types
Speaker 1: of prospects that you say, that's a starter on a
Speaker 1: playoff team, that's what you want to have in your
Speaker 1: system to trade if if that's what you're training to
Speaker 1: get a quality piece, I think like that's that's the
Speaker 1: sign of something healthy in the organization at least because remember,
Speaker 1: like we talk about this a lot, like they weren't
Speaker 1: able to swing like even deals like this when their
Speaker 1: system was struggling post like twenty seventeen ish, they started
Speaker 1: to struggle with the system and even get like swinging
Speaker 1: the smaller moves turned out to be pretty hard. Something
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about Gosman on this show, Patrick,
Speaker 1: and I've explained reasons why I like him. The strikeout
Speaker 1: rates the same similar to the past couple of years,
Speaker 1: not when he was at the top of his game.
Speaker 1: The walk rates similar contact, all that stuff. The quality
Speaker 1: of his pitches and the type of pitches that he's
Speaker 1: throwing all very similar to recent seasons when he had
Speaker 1: a better era, going in front of a better defense.
Speaker 1: You touched on it, but like he is a work course.
Speaker 1: He is from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: is lowest inning total was one seventy four two thirds.
Speaker 1: I know this isn't the like if you grew up
Speaker 1: in the eighties or nineties that that doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: a ton, but like he's it's like one one ninety
Speaker 1: three last year. Those are really good. That's in today's game.
Speaker 1: That's eating a lot of innings. That helps the team
Speaker 1: in different ways. And you just hope the era is
Speaker 1: a little bit lower. You get you get to a
Speaker 1: point where it's a little bit lower, which I expect
Speaker 1: it will be. The quality of contact stands out to
Speaker 1: me is like not being that different from years past.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Blue Jays have a terrible defense.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not going to look it up right now,
Speaker 1: but we know that the Cubs are elite. There's like
Speaker 1: very few teams that you can compare with the Cubs,
Speaker 1: uh defensively, and I just expect his ra to to
Speaker 1: go down and be better as long as he's healthy
Speaker 1: and the stuff's there. This is a guy that I
Speaker 1: feel like upgrades the rotation immediately. We'll see whose spot
Speaker 1: he takes. I assume it's one of ray Or Asad.
Speaker 1: Cubs are getting Edward Cabrera back, and you know, like
Speaker 1: we'll see if this is I don't think we'll get
Speaker 1: into that, but this that that won't be the only move,
Speaker 1: So this rotation could suddenly feel a lot better. Also,
Speaker 1: I didn't realize how good they've been of late. I
Speaker 1: was looking up since like June first, their fifth in rotation.
Speaker 1: Light like that kind of threw me off. I don't
Speaker 1: think I realized that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it comes.
Speaker 3: I do rightly spend a lot of time, you know,
Speaker 3: pointing out how much more pitching they want to get.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think this whole thing has felt
Speaker 3: kind of unstable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the whole season.
Speaker 3: And you know, I just like looking at Osmin's Baseball
Speaker 3: reference page, just a number, a number four overall pick
Speaker 3: out of LSU. You know he has the pedigree, Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, someone who you know, worked through some struggles
Speaker 3: in Baltimore and bounced around a couple of years before
Speaker 3: kind of finding himself in San Francisco and then really
Speaker 3: delivering as a big time free agent in Toronto, and
Speaker 3: you know, going through I mean the whole Blue Jays
Speaker 3: nucleus there, went through a lot, and to finally break
Speaker 3: through and win a pennant and be that close to
Speaker 3: win a world series.
Speaker 2: I think when you combine that.
Speaker 3: With kind of the pitch mix pitch profile that you're
Speaker 3: talking about, Sahata, I think this guy like instant, no
Speaker 3: doubt upgrade over what you have.
Speaker 2: And I think the sense over there is that they're
Speaker 2: not done yet either.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's take a quick break and then we
Speaker 1: can discuss that.
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Speaker 1: Patrick Gay, I don't think we've said this on the podcast.
Speaker 1: We've had so many texts and different threads that I
Speaker 1: can't remember what's been said out loud. But I believe
Speaker 1: I'm seeing again that Kevin Gosman's on, you know, rotation
Speaker 1: to start Thursday, which would be against the Blue Jays.
Speaker 1: We'll see if that's if the Cubs stick with that,
Speaker 1: that's uh that'd be interesting. Uh. I believe who's on
Speaker 1: schedule for the Cubs is David Peterson. Also a trade
Speaker 1: acquisition that has worked really well. I want to what
Speaker 1: is it, five of six starts, six of seven starts.
Speaker 1: He's been great. He's been a great addition. Uh. When
Speaker 1: the Cubs were in like desperation mode to fill their rotation.
Speaker 1: They're not in desperation mode anymore. But I think what
Speaker 1: we've been talking about for the past few weeks, the
Speaker 1: indications we've been getting, the way they've played, the way
Speaker 1: Jet has talked, he's kind of It's not that he
Speaker 1: doesn't have this all in mentality. He doesn't like that phrase. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the you know, if not now when THEO line
Speaker 1: maybe doesn't apply here. But we've heard nothing, but you know,
Speaker 1: signs have gotten nothing but signs that they want to
Speaker 1: be aggressive and continue to add. And that's that hasn't
Speaker 1: changed with adding Gousman like bullpen and rotation still Like
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's gonna be two more bullpen,
Speaker 1: one more rotation, one bullpen, get that under control guy
Speaker 1: that they kind of dream for. But I don't think
Speaker 1: they're gonna stop. We like, as we record there's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do the math, but like twenty two
Speaker 1: hours or something like that. Less than that twenty hours,
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be something else maybe by the time
Speaker 1: you listen to this. But this this front office seems
Speaker 1: pretty laser focused on upgrading pitching.
Speaker 3: Yeah, as well they should be. I mean, this is
Speaker 3: the team they've built. You know, this is not a
Speaker 3: Washington National situation where you kind of have a new
Speaker 3: regime inheriting a lot of players and making a lot
Speaker 3: of structural or stemach changes. Like this group has been
Speaker 3: at it for a while. They've had a lot of
Speaker 3: time to build a playoff team they did last year.
Speaker 3: This one is on track as well. And I think
Speaker 3: when you in talking to players, you know, in the clubhouse,
Speaker 3: on the field, they think they're really, really good, and
Speaker 3: not just in a way that all teams in spring
Speaker 3: training think they have a chance. Like you can sort
Speaker 3: of tell their tone their messaging. Obviously, the results on
Speaker 3: the field you speak for itself. But they they think
Speaker 3: they can do it. They think they can beat the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: That may be crazy. They you know, they may never
Speaker 3: get the chance. Uh you know, they you know, if
Speaker 3: they're stuck in the wildcard round and then have to
Speaker 3: play a tough team the next round, and you're facing
Speaker 3: the Dodgers in the NLCS.
Speaker 2: We saw what happened to the Brewers last year. I mean,
Speaker 2: they got swept out of it. They had no chance.
Speaker 3: So I think that's why you gotta load load up
Speaker 3: the pitching staff here. I think getting Gosmand first freeze
Speaker 3: you up a little bit. You know, if you do
Speaker 3: get two really good relievers, you're already looking at a
Speaker 3: scenario where in the postseason you're probably pushing you know,
Speaker 3: your your Colin Ray's or David Peterson's to the bullpen
Speaker 3: anyways to get out you know, certain pockets, as as
Speaker 3: the manager, uh would say. And you know, schoobl obviously
Speaker 3: was a big late Saturday night news break. Our colleague
Speaker 3: John Greenberg asked counsel for his, you know, unfiltered reaction.
Speaker 3: I think he said something like, I was half asleep
Speaker 3: and then five minutes later, I was I fell asleep,
Speaker 3: And so, you know, I think people just kind of
Speaker 3: assume it's gonna be the Dodgers. But you know, they
Speaker 3: they have their their framework, and they when they're looking
Speaker 3: at it rationally, they're like, we still need more like
Speaker 3: there's not kind of oh, we got this, Like no,
Speaker 3: you got to keep pushing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you said we saw this in the first half.
Speaker 1: They kind of saw the first half and that spurred this.
Speaker 1: And even what spurred this is what they saw in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Remember all those conversations, Yeah, we've had, we
Speaker 1: had during and then after how they felt they were
Speaker 1: short on pitching. Uh. And then they tried to address
Speaker 1: it in the offseason and they that first half you know,
Speaker 1: really kicked them in the butt as far as the
Speaker 1: injuries went. And and they're addressing it again.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be fat. We'll see. We don't
Speaker 1: look at this. We can save this for the next podcast,
Speaker 1: I think, because if they add, especially if they add
Speaker 1: to the bullpen and end another rotation member like they
Speaker 1: could be looking, it's gonna be interesting. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: one of those fun, tough decisions come September. If enough
Speaker 1: guys get healthy. I don't know, like we can't make
Speaker 1: any assumptions with health just from what we've seen. I
Speaker 1: think we've all learned that, but it could be very
Speaker 1: interesting in a good way for Craig Council. And it's
Speaker 1: in the front office, like trying to decide, like how
Speaker 1: do we work this. Uh if guys are healthy, Uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's a discussion for another day. And we still
Speaker 1: haven't seen enough moves. The moves aren't done yet. But
Speaker 1: that's that's the I think that's what they want. They
Speaker 1: want like these really difficult decisions of like competitions. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: constant competition doesn't matter if spring training was six months
Speaker 1: ago or whatever. It's it's not like still you still
Speaker 1: got to prove yourself. That's in you know, if it's
Speaker 1: good enough, that's that's a nice situation to be in.
Speaker 2: I think this would.
Speaker 3: Fall under one of Jed Hoyer's like signs of a
Speaker 3: healthy organization.
Speaker 2: It's being able to be in the deal flow.
Speaker 3: Obviously, the Dodgers are at a whole another level to
Speaker 3: where we're talking about this in the Wrigley Clubhouse of
Speaker 3: like they make that trade and yes, they gave up
Speaker 3: a lot, but it didn't really hurt. And you know,
Speaker 3: the Cubs are not at that point or the circumstances
Speaker 3: of this season didn't really motivate them the same way.
Speaker 3: But they have a lot of young position players, probably
Speaker 3: not enough room for them and then they're hoping for
Speaker 3: what you're describing of. You know, if Gosman can maybe
Speaker 3: bump Boid into a number two starter, number three starter
Speaker 3: in a flatff rotation, then you have showed up. Maybe
Speaker 3: Cabrera is not only healthy but shows us something that
Speaker 3: he hasn't really shown us consistently yet. And then just
Speaker 3: this wave of relievers coming in over the top. You know,
Speaker 3: Council talks about Polentcia as he is a healthy pitcher.
Speaker 2: It's just adding.
Speaker 3: Volume, getting back into a rhythm. Compars in that same boat.
Speaker 3: I think Hobie Milner should be up pretty soon.
Speaker 2: And if you you know, I spoke with Ben Brown.
Speaker 2: He feels good.
Speaker 3: He's working on a lot of stuff like he's in
Speaker 3: a pretty good place. We don't know where that where
Speaker 3: he'll wind up, but it's encouraging. Justin Steele back around
Speaker 3: the team this weekend. Again, you don't count on him,
Speaker 3: but they they could have some some really interesting conversations
Speaker 3: off only we could you know, he could actually hear
Speaker 3: what they really really think. But you know they'll they'll
Speaker 3: show us. And you know the idea here too, that
Speaker 3: Council really stresses you don't have that August waivers period anymore.
Speaker 3: So like in the next whatever, the countdown was twenty
Speaker 3: hours or so, like they have to add because you
Speaker 3: can't really go outside.
Speaker 2: There are a couple of waiver.
Speaker 3: There are some scenarios in which players become available, but
Speaker 3: it's not the same trading period that we sort of
Speaker 3: had grown up on when you just kind of trade.
Speaker 3: I believe that's how Verlander went.
Speaker 2: From Detroit to used to Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 3: You still guys become available, but just not in the
Speaker 3: same way anymore.
Speaker 2: So you got to do you got to do your
Speaker 2: work now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so just to before we wrap up and
Speaker 1: you know, get ready for more trades. Let's let's kind
Speaker 1: of go over who they are looking at right that
Speaker 1: we have at least have a decent idea that they're
Speaker 1: they're casting a wide net. There are probably names that
Speaker 1: we are unaware of, uh, but the controllable guys are
Speaker 1: the ones that I think is are is the dream
Speaker 1: what they really want to shoot for? And I think
Speaker 1: it they you know, they talk about the future a lot.
Speaker 1: This is a way to focus on both Redepmers and
Speaker 1: Jose Soreano from the Angels, and then you know, Seattle
Speaker 1: sounds like they're willing to move one more guy, whether
Speaker 1: that's George Kirby or Emerson Hancock. I haven't heard that
Speaker 1: the Cubs are like in love with Emerson Hancock. I
Speaker 1: think George Kirby is having like a kind of down season.
Speaker 1: But I've never like, people love George Kirby around the game,
Speaker 1: and the Cubs would love to get their hands on
Speaker 1: George Kirby. He's under control for a couple of years. Uh,
Speaker 1: those are the controllable guys. I wouldn't be shocked if
Speaker 1: they'd still go after another rental depending on price. But
Speaker 1: my guess is someone else is gonna pay a little
Speaker 1: bit more for the rentals now than what the that's
Speaker 1: I'm kind of going off history of what I've seen
Speaker 1: in the past, Like you pay like what's the price
Speaker 1: for Clay Holmes. Eventually the rental prices kind of go up,
Speaker 1: as like as we get closer to the deadline. When
Speaker 1: I say up, it's like someone gets a little bit
Speaker 1: more desperate because it's like, oh no, all these rentals
Speaker 1: are gone, Like whoa who are gonna get It's the
Speaker 1: Cubs do believe they have what it takes to get
Speaker 1: one of those controllable guys. They believe they have a
Speaker 1: good enough system. We saw what they like. The bats,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be bat heavy. If someone wants desperately needs
Speaker 1: like a no doubt pitcher, I don't think they're going
Speaker 1: to be able to swing it. And then the relievers.
Speaker 1: We've gone over a bunch of these guys, but it's
Speaker 1: it's there's a couple of big names, and I think
Speaker 1: some I'm not sure if they'll get the big names
Speaker 1: to be to be honest, I think we may see
Speaker 1: like an Andrew Kittridge type move, which if that works,
Speaker 1: it works.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I liked your idea of you kind of take maybe
Speaker 3: two or three shots on relievers and hope, you know,
Speaker 3: one's good one month, one goods the other, and someone's
Speaker 3: clicks for the playoffs. Like it. Really, this year has
Speaker 3: really shown us that Jen and those guys were right
Speaker 3: about the bullpen stuff. They you know, they don't always
Speaker 3: look great, proving some of those concepts in terms of,
Speaker 3: you know, players they thought they were counting on and
Speaker 3: have worked out. And then the under the radar guys
Speaker 3: who really popped up. But yeah, I'm with you, I
Speaker 3: think you get a couple more and you just have
Speaker 3: to counsel and as coaches have done a good job
Speaker 3: with this stuff of reframing expectations, staying on task, being creative,
Speaker 3: being open minded, getting buy in. So just give them,
Speaker 3: give them some more material to work with and see
Speaker 3: what happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a team worth investing in. They've they've
Speaker 1: shown it with one with this one move here, we'll see,
Speaker 1: we expect more that there will probably be more, hopefully
Speaker 1: none before this is posted. I'll try and get this
Speaker 1: up to you guys as early on Monday as possible. Uh,
Speaker 1: but we will be talking about all this soon after
Speaker 1: the deadline. We'll we'll we'll have another podcast for you guys.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make
Speaker 1: sure rate Review, subscribe Vibe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
Speaker 1: on top of all things cubs. Thanks everyone, Take care,