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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 and Patrick, it

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Speaker 1: is our favorite time of the week. It is mail

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Speaker 1: bag time. Not as angsty as last week. They're not

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Speaker 1: coming off as sweep of the Giants or sweep being

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Speaker 1: swept by the Giants, so not as angry, not as frustrated.

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Speaker 1: But there are plenty of questions. Let's kick it off

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Speaker 1: with our with our guy, Tyler Dershel, is the plan

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Speaker 1: for Kate Horton to have more runway come playoff time,

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Speaker 1: to pitch deeper into games, especially with some of the

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Speaker 1: bullpen struggles of late. You know, you know what I

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Speaker 1: want to touch on the bullpen struggles. First, bullpen struggles

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Speaker 1: happen like this. I think they have a pretty solid bullpen.

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Speaker 1: This is on the offense. In my opinion, this happened

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Speaker 1: in two twenty three. Your offense isn't playing enough games

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Speaker 1: where they're where they're allowing rest for Keller and Palencia

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Speaker 1: and and kid Ridge and Pomerantz and theal bar you

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Speaker 1: got you got to rest those guys can't pitch them

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Speaker 1: as much as they've been pitched over the past. You know,

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Speaker 1: two weeks is sure. However long it's been that that

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Speaker 1: they've played these close games, you almost prefer that they

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Speaker 1: get blown out. Even the game that where they were

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Speaker 1: blowing out was it Colorado or was it the Angels

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Speaker 1: One of those games there was they were kicking some

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Speaker 1: butt and then they gave up a bunch of runs

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Speaker 1: and that that.

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Speaker 2: Kind of Yeah. Yeah, I think the first game in

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Speaker 2: Colorado is like, they have a big lead, give us

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Speaker 2: them back, and then all of a sudden, you're using

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Speaker 2: your A relievers. Yes, in a game where you thought

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Speaker 2: maybe you could use some of your uh, you know,

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Speaker 2: lower leverage guys and get to twenty seven outs and

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Speaker 2: that did not happen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, But with regards to Kate Horton, I think that's

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Speaker 1: the whole plan. I think that's I mean, at minimum,

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Speaker 1: the plan is make sure he's available for October, fully

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Speaker 1: unleash him. I guess we'll see. I haven't heard that directly.

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Speaker 1: Have you heard that directly? Patrick? That it could be

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Speaker 1: like no holds barred, like no restrictions.

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Speaker 2: I think I like where Tyler's head is that as

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Speaker 2: always I think it's if I'm looking at the exact

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Speaker 2: phrasing here, I don't know if it's to have more runway,

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Speaker 2: it is to have runway come playoff time, meaning they

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Speaker 2: want him available, they want him to be a difference maker.

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Speaker 2: But I just don't know how many pitchers out there

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Speaker 2: in modern baseball in October are gonna get, say, three

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Speaker 2: times through a lineup or pitch into the eighth inning.

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Speaker 2: In speaking with council last weekend in Colorado, it was

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Speaker 2: a good refresher of we're assuming the Cubs are going

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Speaker 2: to be in a three game playoff series and the

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Speaker 2: result of Game one totally dictates who pitches Game two,

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Speaker 2: and it'll be all hands on deck, best pitchers available,

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Speaker 2: and with these off days in the playoff schedule, it

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Speaker 2: gives you a little more flexibility. We'll get into some

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Speaker 2: other pitchers towards the end of this mailbag, but just

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Speaker 2: for example, like Jamison Tywn, like, maybe he's not starting

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Speaker 2: a playoff game in round one, assuming he's healthy, but

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Speaker 2: maybe he gives you a couple innings or you find

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Speaker 2: the pockets, as managers like to say, in the opposing lineup,

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Speaker 2: Like I think it's yes, you want Kate Horton healthy

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Speaker 2: and dealing and starting a playoff game in October, but

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Speaker 2: a good playoffs start in October. Honestly, it could be

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Speaker 2: like four and one third inning, one run given up,

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Speaker 2: and you hand it over to the rest of your

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Speaker 2: pitching plan. And that's I'm not being sarcastically that like,

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Speaker 2: that's kind of how these games work if you watch

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Speaker 2: them on TV in October.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we're approaching. He's almost one hundred innings over last season. Again,

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Speaker 1: we've said this over and over in the podcast. It's

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Speaker 1: not just innings that they're looking at, but that's the

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Speaker 1: quick and easy way for us to kind of look

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Speaker 1: at this. He's at one hundred and three and two

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Speaker 1: thirds for his big league season and then at in

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Speaker 1: twenty nine in Triple A. But these numbers are insane.

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Speaker 1: Two seventy eight ERA for this guy at one hundred

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Speaker 1: and three and two thirds innings really impressive, And there's

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Speaker 1: no doubt you want him fresh and ready to go

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Speaker 1: in the postseason because he's going to be just a

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Speaker 1: huge part of this team. I don't think any of

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Speaker 1: us deny that. We talked about it a lot in

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Speaker 1: the last episode. But he's he's re really important to

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Speaker 1: this team right now, and I think we're all a

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Speaker 1: little surprised at how important he's become. Maybe maybe we

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Speaker 1: came into this season thinking like, oh, potential X factor,

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Speaker 1: or maybe he'll help them as a reliever or something

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Speaker 1: like that. No, he's one of their best starters and

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Speaker 1: really important to this success. All right, here's a question

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Speaker 1: on Ian Half. Is a time the Cubs move half

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Speaker 1: back into the everyday leadoff spot given recent performance, to

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Speaker 1: help solidify a lineup heading into a potential playoff push.

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Speaker 1: That's from the Lizard King Patrick. My quick answer about

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Speaker 1: moving half right now, it's like he's playing well, he's

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Speaker 1: getting results. I don't know if you want to keep

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Speaker 1: shifting the lineup around, Like I'm not sure if I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to go look up the leadoff stats, and

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Speaker 1: my guess is they're not great. I know Michael Bush

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Speaker 1: hasn't been great in the leadoff spot. I think Nico's

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Speaker 1: been okay. But the bottom line is, like Kyle Tucker,

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Speaker 1: PCA need to hit. That's the problem with the lineup.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's really the leadoff spot. You get

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Speaker 1: those guys going, you feel better about everything, And I

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Speaker 1: mean Kyle Tucker is going he's injured. That's that's the question,

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Speaker 1: is whether he's healthy or not. Now he got hot,

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Speaker 1: things started to look a little bit better. You get

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Speaker 1: PCA hot as well. I'm not worried about leadoff spot.

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Speaker 1: Just just do get your Star Wars playing well. I

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Speaker 1: get I get the question. I'm not sure if you

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Speaker 1: want to keep moving things around like he's moved it

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Speaker 1: around so much. Maybe maybe that's fine. I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if you want to just keep switching lead off. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Ian Haaps back there. I don't think it's the worst idea.

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Speaker 1: I also just don't know if that solves much.

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Speaker 2: I think it's more of Ian Happs sort of answering

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Speaker 2: back after the why won't they play Owen Casey debate

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Speaker 2: and looking at certain spots of if you need a

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Speaker 2: spark change things up, and Hap is sort of once

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Speaker 2: again doing half things of getting on a hot streak

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Speaker 2: boosting his overall numbers. We can get into this soon,

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Speaker 2: but he's a big expected numbers guy and underlying data guy.

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Speaker 2: I know that doesn't always play well with the fans,

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Speaker 2: but if you look at the track record, he winds

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Speaker 2: up being a sovely above average major league hitter almost

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Speaker 2: every year.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's get into our DraftKings player spotlight and

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Speaker 1: talk about Ian Happy. All right, Patrick, our player spotlight

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Speaker 1: for DraftKings is Ian Happy. He's been really good for

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Speaker 1: a while now. I was looking at the numbers. It's

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Speaker 1: actually like almost two months since, like just before the

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Speaker 1: All Star break. He has a one forty one way

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Speaker 1: to runs creative plus. But if you want to do

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Speaker 1: a little shorter, like since since August seventeenth, it's a

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Speaker 1: one ninety two way to run screatd plus. He's like,

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Speaker 1: the results are finally coming. I joked, you can talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit more about this because I wasn't on

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Speaker 1: the road. I think I saw the clip, but he

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Speaker 1: was talking about things weren't fun. He's been hitting the

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Speaker 1: ball hard. Look, I saw I noticed that too. He's

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Speaker 1: having a really good season with his expected sets. But

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Speaker 1: I want to say Monday and then yesterday he started

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Speaker 1: getting some blue pits. Unfortunately I didn't see him in

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Speaker 1: the clubhouse yesterday, but I was going to go up

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Speaker 1: to him and I was going to say that that's

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Speaker 1: those are going to hurt your expected stats man. Those

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Speaker 1: blue pits but finally a little luck going his way.

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Speaker 1: But he's also hitting the ball hard. He's he's Ian

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Speaker 1: happ in the sense that he's going to get killed

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Speaker 1: by a fan via a fan base that just like

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Speaker 1: seems to I don't want to throw. I hate doing

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Speaker 1: that all of the fans. But there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of there. There's a lot of angst about being half

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Speaker 1: often over the course of a season because he is streaky.

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Speaker 1: He's a streak keep player. But and then he'll talk

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Speaker 1: about expected stats, but he's he's about to get he's

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Speaker 1: this hot streak is getting close to his overall numbers

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Speaker 1: that he puts up every year. Now he's turned it.

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Speaker 1: We've we've talked about this for years now, but really

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Speaker 1: impressive what he's done with his career. He's turned himself

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Speaker 1: into this what are you going to get from him

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Speaker 1: year in and year out to like, Okay, here are

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Speaker 1: the stats he's going to put up year in and

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Speaker 1: year out, Like now, this is going to be like

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Speaker 1: a fourth year in a row where it's kind of

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Speaker 1: like Ian Halp stats, like this is what he does.

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Speaker 1: He's at one twelve way to run scrade a plus,

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Speaker 1: which is a little low, but starting in twenty two,

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Speaker 1: it's one twenty two, one nineteen, one, twenty one. Right

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Speaker 1: now it's one twelve. If the hot streak continues, that's

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Speaker 1: great lowest strikeout rate of his career. A lot of

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Speaker 1: things going well for him. What was he talking about

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Speaker 1: in the on the road there, Patrick.

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Speaker 2: Well, first, I talked to him the first day in

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Speaker 2: San Francisco about how you're the only guy around since

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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. From twenty eighteen, so you saw how the

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Speaker 2: Brewers caught you guys, and that it is possible, and

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Speaker 2: you say, oh, of course, you play for a division

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Speaker 2: until you can't anymore. And then he wound up getting

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Speaker 2: swept in three games, so he was sort of jokingly,

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Speaker 2: you know, it's like, get out of here with that

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Speaker 2: line of questioning that somehow I brought in bad mojo

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Speaker 2: into the clubhouse, and then you know, he was I

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Speaker 2: asked him at the end of the road trip. We're

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Speaker 2: in corps Field there, and you know, he is always

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Speaker 2: so self contained when he gives these answers. He can

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Speaker 2: sound very detached, but you shouldn't confuse that for a

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Speaker 2: lack of care. And I just kind of asked him

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Speaker 2: about that of you know, this process that he always

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Speaker 2: talks about. He acknowledged that it's really easy when you

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Speaker 2: look at the actual numbers to get frustrated and try

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Speaker 2: to change things. And he said, quote, throughout my career,

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Speaker 2: I've learned the only thing that you can trust every

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Speaker 2: day is the process. That's all you got. All you

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Speaker 2: have is today and the ability to go do your

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Speaker 2: routine and kind of live at one pitch at a time.

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Speaker 2: Many explained how if you look at that underlying data

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Speaker 2: and you can be good with the fact that you're

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Speaker 2: not striking out as much or still walking, you're hitting

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Speaker 2: the ball hard and hitting it in the air. Those

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Speaker 2: are things you can control and quote and if I

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Speaker 2: can be okay with that, it should show up over

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Speaker 2: the course of six hundred seven hundred bats. That's the

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Speaker 2: only way you can make it through this game without

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Speaker 2: driving yourself completely mad. And I love that end quote

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Speaker 2: because it it's a good lesson. It sums up you

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Speaker 2: know what he's thinking. I think there's a strong dynamic

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Speaker 2: of that within the team. I don't think you can

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Speaker 2: have twenty six een apps on your team like that

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Speaker 2: would not know, just would not work in terms of

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Speaker 2: kind of the thought process and the day to day mentality.

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Speaker 2: I think that's why when Justin Steele, maybe it was

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Speaker 2: last year, kind of yelling in the dugout like you know,

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Speaker 2: wake up or whatever it was, and there was a

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Speaker 2: an F bomb thrown in there, like that's why that resonated.

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Speaker 2: Because this team is sort of detached, process oriented, professional,

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Speaker 2: calm composed. Those are all great things, but when things

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Speaker 2: are not going well, there are times where you feel

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Speaker 2: that sort of fan angst. And Ian is not the

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Speaker 2: guy who's going to light everyone up and rip everyone

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Speaker 2: and give huge speeches. But he is someone who appreciates

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Speaker 2: being a cup. He showed that by contract extension he signed.

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Speaker 2: He's developed a lot of local, genuine connections here. I

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Speaker 2: think if you, as you have said of if you've

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Speaker 2: talked to him, he really he really gets the big

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Speaker 2: picture in terms of playing in Chicago and Wrigley Field

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Speaker 2: and enjoying the you know, the bleacher creatures out there,

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Speaker 2: so you know it, it takes all different types, I

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Speaker 2: think is kind of my point, and that he has been,

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Speaker 2: you know, a good player for for several years now.

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Speaker 2: It's just that he's been stuck in this in between

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Speaker 2: phase with the Cubs that they haven't been going to

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Speaker 2: the playoffs every year, and so he's the one who's

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Speaker 2: kind of been around for several years now of either

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Speaker 2: underperformance or kind of waiting for the next thing. And

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Speaker 2: that's why when if they clinch, I think he can

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Speaker 2: have one of those guys you just want to see

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Speaker 2: the reaction and the release after kind of building towards

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Speaker 2: this next phase of the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I always wonder when guys have like these good

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Speaker 1: expected stats, like what direction is it going to go

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Speaker 1: with you? And it's like, okay, you can kind of

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Speaker 1: trust like he's not he can fall back on those numbers.

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Speaker 1: He those numbers almost comfort him, while others may have

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Speaker 1: no clue that they exist or not, or like start

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Speaker 1: to tinker or overthink things. He'll just be like, it's

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Speaker 1: going to come. I'm doing the right things. I respect that.

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Speaker 1: I think that's that's important to have on your team

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Speaker 1: and to have like this kind of steady presence. All right, now,

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Speaker 1: let's turn it over to Alana Rizzo for our North

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Speaker 1: Side territory pick.

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Speaker 3: Hey Sahadevan Patrick. Our north side territory lock is the NLCS.

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Speaker 3: We are taking the nl Central at plus two ten.

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Speaker 3: The Central has better odds in the East and the

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Speaker 3: Cubs of a FI seventy one winning percentage, which is

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Speaker 3: higher than the Padres or the Dodgers. Currently, let's lock

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Speaker 3: this in and get that win.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we have a circle of trust question

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Speaker 1: with the bullpen from Jim Sellinger which bullpen arms are

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Speaker 1: in Craig's circle of trust, Bill bar Kittridge, Palencia and

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Speaker 1: who Assad Maybe well Sod is gonna be starting for

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Speaker 1: a little bit. I think here, I don't think they're

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Speaker 1: gonna you know, we'll see what happens when Tyne comes back.

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Speaker 1: Who gets moved out of the rotation? I think, Look,

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Speaker 1: I think you named four of them. I think Pomerance

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Speaker 1: is there. Pamarance had a little hiccup, he had a

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Speaker 1: I know, he gave up the home run on Wednesday night. Look,

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Speaker 1: he was put into a pretty tough situation too, like

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Speaker 1: Ben Brown, who will get to in a little bit.

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Speaker 1: I needed to do a better job and he didn't.

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Speaker 1: And and then Tomorance made a bad pitch. He made

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Speaker 1: a bad pitch Ha Sung Kim and and and he

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Speaker 1: punished the pitch. But he's been he's been really good

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Speaker 1: over like the he had that hiccup, I think in

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Speaker 1: at some point in July and and basically in August.

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Speaker 1: Uh and since he's barely given up anything. And I

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Speaker 1: think it's velocity. I was concerned about that because it

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Speaker 1: dipped in July. It seems like it's back. I think

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Speaker 1: you have like when you have to really two lefties

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Speaker 1: like that in thel Bar when you have Keller and

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Speaker 1: Kittridge and then you have Polentia. Plenty is looking shaky.

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Speaker 1: I like that he bounces back. I like that when

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Speaker 1: you know, when it gets tough, he seems so like

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Speaker 1: pushed through, he's going to give up runs he couldn't.

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Speaker 1: It was, you know, it was almost like an insane

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Speaker 1: run there For a little bit, I think that's okay,

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Speaker 1: And then and then there are like I don't want

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Speaker 1: to like talk about all of these guys just yet,

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Speaker 1: but you know, like let's let's talk about Ben Brown

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Speaker 1: in a moment. And then I think there's another guy

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Speaker 1: that we want to talk about. But I want to

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Speaker 1: talk about this Patrick real quickly, because you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: a Brad Keller guy. He had that hiccup. He looked

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Speaker 1: bad before the All Star break, remember that, not looking

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Speaker 1: so hot, looking like, uh oh, this is ending. Since then,

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Speaker 1: since the All Star break, he went and I talked

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Speaker 1: to him after the break. He went to uh I

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Speaker 1: can't remember the name of the place that he goes to,

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Speaker 1: but he goes to a place I believe in Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: you know, like the is it tread no no no, No,

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Speaker 1: he is a different one. He hasn't given up a

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Speaker 1: run nineteen and a third innings, zero runs allowed, three

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Speaker 1: hits allowed, three hits since he since the All Star break.

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Speaker 1: He's he's striking out guys at a thirty three point

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Speaker 1: eight percent rate. He had a couple walks last last

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Speaker 1: time out that they kind of bumped it up a

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Speaker 1: little bit, but it's a respectable eight point eight percent

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Speaker 1: walk grate. Like he is a stud on the season,

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Speaker 1: It's like the numbers are insane, Like you got to

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Speaker 1: give him a ton of credit. And I think on

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Speaker 1: the road council had some pretty big praise for him, right, Oh.

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Speaker 2: Yes, the Unsung Hero Award or something like that. I

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Speaker 2: think that was what Craig went to. Uh yeah, I

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Speaker 2: mean no doubt Keller's been awesome, very under the radar

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Speaker 2: minor league signing that probably got the appropriate amount of

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Speaker 2: attention at the time because they just throw a lot

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Speaker 2: of stuff against the wall and see what sticks. But

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Speaker 2: I think certainly he's in that circle of try. I mean,

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Speaker 2: Thelbar another kind of like out of nowhere guy. To

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Speaker 2: be honest, Polentcy, it's been a kind of a slow

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Speaker 2: build here with the Cubs. I think to Jim's question,

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Speaker 2: I need to re kind of calibrate how I'm thinking

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Speaker 2: about this as well, because the last sort of extended

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Speaker 2: playoff run that I really remember covering was twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 2: when it was sort of like that season was starting

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Speaker 2: Pitcher goes seven, maybe Strope and then Rondon or Chapman,

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Speaker 2: and then obviously in the playoffs it was very much

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Speaker 2: just they got great starting was it, you know, Kyle

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Speaker 2: Hendricks going seven to two thirds or whatever, and you

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Speaker 2: had cham Chapman in the World Series just throwing a

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Speaker 2: ridiculous amount of pitches. I think what you're gonna see

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Speaker 2: is this is why Craig Council became the highest paid

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Speaker 2: manager in baseball, is why he talks about out getters

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Speaker 2: and innings puzzles. It's okay, who's available today, how can

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Speaker 2: we match up our strengths against their weaknesses? And so

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Speaker 2: I don't know if it'll be as clearly defined between

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Speaker 2: bullpen and reliever arms, meaning maybe Asad gives them another

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Speaker 2: look out of the bullponp pen, maybe Jamison Tyn does.

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Speaker 2: At certain points, you I think the depth of the

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Speaker 2: bullpen I don't. I don't think they have the like

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Speaker 2: with the Padres loaded up on relievers in the past

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Speaker 2: couple of deadlines, like they had some pretty wow there's

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Speaker 2: that wow factor out of their bullpen. I don't think

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Speaker 2: the Cubs really have that. But I think if you

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Speaker 2: look at a playoff pitching staff one through thirteen, it

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Speaker 2: should be pretty solid and then it's up to them

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Speaker 2: to match him up and for those players to go

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Speaker 2: out and perform.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, here's the next question. Why is belt Ben Brown

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Speaker 1: still on the roster from no fly zone. He's not.

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Speaker 1: He's not being very nice and mincing words there. That's fine,

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Speaker 1: I get it, especially after I wouldn't looked he hasn't

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Speaker 1: had like a a good outing, like a like a

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Speaker 1: clean outing in a really long time. Granted he was

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Speaker 1: starting there and he pitches multiple innings every single time out,

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Speaker 1: but I mean even as a reliever, like it's it's

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Speaker 1: been a while since he's a clean outing, and these

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Speaker 1: last two outings I think have really frustrated the fan base.

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Speaker 1: He's on the roster because you know, they need they

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Speaker 1: need arms, they need you know, you're trying to max

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Speaker 1: this guy has amazing stuff. This guy, you know, the

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Speaker 1: potential is really high with Ben Brown. I thought he

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Speaker 1: could play up in the bullpen. I thought maybe just

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Speaker 1: these short bursts would allow him to not overthink the

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Speaker 1: starts in the outings, and he could just go out

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Speaker 1: there and just like the nasty curveball, high nineties fastball.

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Speaker 1: It would it would lead to great success. It's not

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Speaker 1: working out right now, and he's putting them in bad situations.

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Speaker 1: I believe it was him in Colorado that that gave

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Speaker 1: up some runs, had made that blowout too close for comfort,

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Speaker 1: or helped make it too close for comfort. It was him.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's a one to zero game on Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: that's frankly yes, if Wednesday's game is on the offense.

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Speaker 1: But he put Drew Palmerance in a difficult situation, and

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Speaker 1: you know he couldn't get I don't think he had

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Speaker 1: a clean inning, even his first inning. A lot of

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Speaker 1: three ball counts. He doesn't look as chrisp but there

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Speaker 1: are times when he comes out there and it's just like, WHOA,

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Speaker 1: this guy's nasty. I haven't seen that a little bit.

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Speaker 1: I think that's the quick answer. I will say that

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Speaker 1: there are gonna be moves coming. James de Tiwan will

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Speaker 1: be back soon, and then Michael Soroka I think is

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Speaker 1: going to be pretty big for this team down the stretch.

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Speaker 1: I know fans just haven't seen him, so they don't

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Speaker 1: know how good he can be. I think he could

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Speaker 1: be a really important piece for this team over the

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Speaker 1: final few weeks and we'll see what more.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, circling back to the previous question, I think it's

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Speaker 2: Soroka could be a guy you could use to try

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Speaker 2: and go. Maybe not in a playoff game, but in

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Speaker 2: September go one time through a lineup. I forgot to

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Speaker 2: add Colin Ray to that Oh yeah, out get her

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Speaker 2: innings puzzle and the line that's sort of blurred between

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Speaker 2: the rotation and the bullpen in the playoffs. Now, the

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Speaker 2: Brewers did not include Ray on their playoff roster last year.

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Speaker 2: We'll see if he can sustain this all the way

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Speaker 2: through September in October. And I feel like sort of

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Speaker 2: unfairly with Ray, like every time he has a bad outing,

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Speaker 2: it's like, oh, like is this it? Like, you know,

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Speaker 2: is he kind of you know, reached his limits. And

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Speaker 2: he's been a really nice part of this team. And

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Speaker 2: I think day to day too, just his his demeanor,

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Speaker 2: his professionalism. I think that matters. And with Brown, I

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Speaker 2: think it's just the the expectations at the beginning of

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Speaker 2: this year, we're just so high. Maybe they were out

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Speaker 2: of proportion. Maybe they were also reasonable because we've seen

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Speaker 2: these flashes of him just being awesome. And I think

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Speaker 2: with Ben Brown, it's probably more of an offseason question

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Speaker 2: of like how does he reset. They probably don't trade

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Speaker 2: him because his value is low, but he was someone

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Speaker 2: who not that long ago would have been a super

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Speaker 2: interesting change of scenery guy. And we'll see kind of

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Speaker 2: where the Cubs go with that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and quickly on Siroka, he had a thirty nine

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Speaker 1: percent strikeout rate as a reliever last year in thirty

429
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 1: six innings to seventy five bra You know, he talked Wednesday,

430
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 1: maybe in pregame Tuesday. I don't know the days all

431
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: blend together, but he the velocities back to what it was.

432
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,120
Speaker 1: They I've talked to some people about it. They they

433
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 1: focused in on some very specific things, and they've been

434
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,640
Speaker 1: talking to him before he even got hurt, and now

435
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 1: that he once he got hurt, they they really had

436
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 1: time to hone in on some of these mechanical things

437
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,200
Speaker 1: and they feel like they've found some things with him

438
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: and maybe they have a I think you know, chicken

439
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,159
Speaker 1: or the egg. What was was he hurting and it

440
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 1: caused the mechanics to change or did they just naturally

441
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: change over time because that happens a lot, and and

442
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,159
Speaker 1: nobody addressed it and it led to the injury. Who

443
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,920
Speaker 1: knows either way, he's he's feeling good when he comes back.

444
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 1: I would keep an eye on him, just I would

445
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: not dis miss that return. I think he's going to

446
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 1: especially if that velocity's mid nineties. I think he can

447
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,680
Speaker 1: be a really important piece. At him and Aaron Sabali.

448
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: Savali look good as one one outing. I'm not going

449
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,159
Speaker 1: to take too much away from it yet, but he

450
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: looked good. You'll take you need stuff like that. That's

451
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: why when we get back to the original question, why

452
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,159
Speaker 1: is Ben Brown still on the roster. You're trying to

453
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,159
Speaker 1: piece together twenty seven outs. You are trying to not

454
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,120
Speaker 1: run Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar and Andrew Kittridge into

455
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 1: the ground. So you've got to try and use these

456
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,400
Speaker 1: other guys, and you know, just hasn't had the impact

457
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,880
Speaker 1: that we thought he would. But I think there are

458
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: other guys and Soroka is a name that I would watch.

459
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,880
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and come back

460
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:11,640
Speaker 1: with the final question.

461
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 5: Were throwing a curveball at you? This week for our

462
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:17,400
Speaker 5: Arena Club segment, as AJ has opened up a Pokemon

463
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 5: slap pack.

464
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 1: Did you say it?

465
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 5: Pokemon?

466
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 1: Flatman?

467
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 5: Pokemon? Don't ask me to say what that card is,

468
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:24,680
Speaker 5: but we're doing with that card.

469
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,959
Speaker 1: I already sold it, baby, I bought it, and then

470
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 1: I got more money than I paid for the pack,

471
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: so I sold us straight back.

472
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 5: You bought it for, you sold it for, and you

473
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 5: can go get yourself something that you maybe know how

474
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 5: to pronounce.

475
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: Yes, what it is? I did it because I saw

476
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 1: certain people open in Pokemon and they're making money, and

477
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,120
Speaker 1: guess what I got. Lucky made money off of it too, exactly.

478
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,719
Speaker 5: But of course, if you're into sports cards, that is

479
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 5: something that you can find a ton of on the

480
00:27:55,680 --> 00:28:00,400
Speaker 5: Arena club marketplace. By sell slab pack, trade eight percent

481
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,199
Speaker 5: off your first slap pack or card purchase can be

482
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 5: had at Arena club dot com. Slash foul and use

483
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,919
Speaker 5: the code foul. That's arenaclub dot com. Slash foul and

484
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,439
Speaker 5: use code foul.

485
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,399
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick our buddy, Blue Line theology is back,

486
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 1: and he you know why I included this of yes, yes,

487
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: he says, fine, it was correct about App for now.

488
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,840
Speaker 1: First of all, for now is all that matters, because

489
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,640
Speaker 1: I'm not saying AP's going to be good forever. All

490
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 1: I'm saying is that App was doing well and you

491
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: can't take him out of the lineup if he starts struggling. Hey,

492
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: you know, I understand you try something different, But thank

493
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 1: you for acknowledging may being right Blue Life theology. But

494
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: here's this question. What did the twenty twenty five Cubs

495
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: get out of the Bellinger trade? Was that money ever

496
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: going to be spent in twenty five? Oh, we're going

497
00:28:56,120 --> 00:29:00,479
Speaker 1: back to the Bellinger trade. Look, that money should have

498
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: been spent. And I think at the time you and

499
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: I Patrick, we both thought it was going to be

500
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: spent and then and we said, if it's not, we're

501
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 1: gonna have some thoughts on that, and I think we did.

502
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: I think we were pretty critical of them, and I

503
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: will continue to be critical of them because they don't

504
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: act like a big market team. They don't use their

505
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: financial might as a cudgel against the rest of the league,

506
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: and they absolutely should or do they spend more to

507
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: than El Central? Yes, do they spend what you think

508
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: the Chicago Cubs should spend? Should they be a top

509
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: five ish, top seven ish maybe payroll? Yeah, I think

510
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,920
Speaker 1: they should be, and they're not. So that money wasn't spent.

511
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 1: It was nearly spent on Alex Bregman, but ultimately it

512
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 1: wasn't and they didn't spend that money. And yeah, Blue

513
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 1: Anthology had some names that he wanted here where that

514
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: money could have been spent. Look, it could have been

515
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: spent in a lot of different ways and could have

516
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 1: helped this team. It wasn't. Uh, And that's where they

517
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 1: are right now. And that's just kind of the philosophy

518
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: of of this ownership group right now. They're not going

519
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: to spend at it's not even Mets and Dodgers level.

520
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: You know, Phillies, Padres, who else spent more? Diamondbacks, right,

521
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: Diamondbacks spent more.

522
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 2: They're kind of around the same.

523
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so I mean they're they're like in the

524
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 1: teens or in the tens like they're they're not. They're

525
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 1: not even top ten in payroll. And that's something that

526
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 1: I think we all can you know, point to and

527
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 1: say like that. You know they're winning, maybe that's all

528
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 1: that matters, but you know you have holes on the

529
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 1: roster that could have been filled.

530
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is clearly a salary dump. Like at the

531
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 2: time it was, you know, kind of making room for

532
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 2: for Tucker and you know, Bellinger and have a place

533
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,800
Speaker 2: to play. Blah blah blah. I don't know if Bellinger

534
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,239
Speaker 2: would have had this season at Wrigley Field, given how

535
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 2: it's played for tended hitters and how well his game

536
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 2: fits Yankee Stadium. But look a four point three war player,

537
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 2: twenty seven homers, eighty six rbi is one hundred and

538
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 2: twenty nine oh ps plus and ability to play multiple positions.

539
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 2: You know, the Cubs would say, well, look that contract

540
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 2: was underwater, that's why he didn't opt out. I don't know.

541
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 2: I just think it's hard to find legit every day

542
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,880
Speaker 2: major league players, and so when you have won under contract,

543
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 2: you shouldn't just be giving them away for nothing. And

544
00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 2: that's basically what happened. You know, the pitcher they got,

545
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 2: did he even appear in a game for the Cubs,

546
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 2: I can't remember.

547
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 1: I think he was daid. I think he was defaid beforehand.

548
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 1: I don't think he ever played a.

549
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 2: Total A total, a total non factor. Like I think

550
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: if you were a different organization, you'd hold on to Bellinger,

551
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 2: you'd kind of try to make it work. You trade

552
00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 2: them somewhere for something else. I don't know, but clearly

553
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 2: the Cubs can say whatever they want. In the off season.

554
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 2: There's always sort of the you know what's next. You know,

555
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 2: it was the well, you know, you're looking at the

556
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 2: payroll on opening Day, but you know, look at our

557
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 2: overall spend on baseball operations. And then it's you know,

558
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 2: the trade deadline will give us some some flexibility, and

559
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 2: we all know how that worked out. The trade deadline.

560
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,200
Speaker 2: The Cubs blew us all away at the trade deadline

561
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 2: with what they did, this idea of oh, maybe maybe

562
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 2: you're not trading high level prospects because you're taking on

563
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 2: more money and contracts, or maybe there's a great player

564
00:32:53,520 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 2: who's attached to player with an underwater contract, whatever, whatever

565
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 2: the rhetoric was. I'm glad this question came up because

566
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 2: it kind of puts a bow on it like it

567
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 2: was a salary dump trade, the same way the U

568
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 2: Darvis trade was a salary dump trade. Now own casey

569
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 2: might wind up being a very good player over the

570
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 2: next several years. But his nothing It's not his fault,

571
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 2: but he was super young and he's the only guy

572
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 2: from that Darvis trade who has emerged. But that was

573
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 2: a salary dump trade and maybe the Cubs salvage it

574
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 2: by getting a lot out of own case, which is possible.

575
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 2: I mean, he's been awesome in the minors, has a

576
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 2: lot of things going for him once he gets an

577
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 2: extended opportunity to the majors. Yeah, maybe he is the right

578
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 2: fielder of the future. But Bellinger darvish for a huge

579
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 2: major market franchise to have two just glaring salary dumps

580
00:33:55,760 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 2: like that and a relatively short period of franchise histe Uh,

581
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 2: it is a bad look for a team that, you know,

582
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:09,160
Speaker 2: kind of brags about having the biggest season ticket holder

583
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:12,399
Speaker 2: base in baseball. I think that's what our buddy John

584
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,239
Speaker 2: Greenberg had in the athletic and just we see the

585
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:18,880
Speaker 2: crowds at Wrigley Field every night. You know, it doesn't

586
00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,840
Speaker 2: really matter who they're playing. Uh. It helps when the

587
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,839
Speaker 2: Cubs are really good, no doubt, But I mean they

588
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 2: just fill that place up night after night because of

589
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,880
Speaker 2: the passion of Cubs fans, and it just doesn't feel

590
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 2: like it's reciprocated all the time.

591
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the both darbish and then the DFA

592
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:43,080
Speaker 1: or the non tendering of of it'll go down in

593
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:45,760
Speaker 1: the history is like one of the worst off seasons.

594
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,319
Speaker 1: And that's you know that Jed Hoyer has to take

595
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,640
Speaker 1: the criticism for it, but it's all it's it's on

596
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,040
Speaker 1: like he was his hand was forced. He was forced

597
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,439
Speaker 1: to find ways to like cut salary. You wait, even

598
00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,959
Speaker 1: if you need to dump that salary, you you wait

599
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 1: six months and wait till July and trade both those guys,

600
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,960
Speaker 1: and you're you're talking about turning the team around a

601
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,720
Speaker 1: lot quicker in all likelihood. I don't know what you get.

602
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it turns out that Casey would have been

603
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 1: the best player they could have. They end up could have,

604
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,480
Speaker 1: You know that they end up getting, you know what

605
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,319
Speaker 1: I mean, Like maybe they trade for better prospects in

606
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 1: July for darbish, but they don't pan out. But my

607
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:25,760
Speaker 1: point is like the value was going to be better

608
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,239
Speaker 1: in July because it's more than a market of one.

609
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: Because that's what it was. The Padres were taking advantage

610
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 1: of teams at that point. They did it with the

611
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 1: Rays to get Blake Snell, and they did it to

612
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:38,279
Speaker 1: the Cubs because they knew nobody else was willing to

613
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:41,320
Speaker 1: spend at that point. It was just bad luck, bad

614
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:45,600
Speaker 1: bed timing. Everything was about that was just not not good.

615
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 1: But yes, good question. Blue line theology that that money

616
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 1: wasn't spent. I don't know, Like I said, it could

617
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: have been spent. Bregman would have been the one way,

618
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,279
Speaker 1: but that was like it was like a special exemption, right,

619
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 1: So so like it wasn't even like we're going to

620
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: spend this money. It's like, here are a couple exemptions

621
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 1: that you could make, Alex Bregman is one of them,

622
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,800
Speaker 1: and then you have permission to spend that money. So yeah,

623
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,160
Speaker 1: I get the question, I get the frustration. All right,

624
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 1: my dog is barking, so that means it's time to

625
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,880
Speaker 1: wrap this up. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.

626
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,

627
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic

628
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,840
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.

629
00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everyone,