Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs mailbag: Bullpen panic level, trade deadline thoughts and more
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
- 0:10Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moody. We are your
- 0:13Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick get his
- 0:16Speaker 1: time for another mail bag episode. So let's not delay
- 0:21Speaker 1: and let's just get right to the questions. Back to
- 0:26Speaker 1: back seasons, the Cubs have lost their ace to season
- 0:29Speaker 1: ending armage issues. Both Steele and Horton came up with
- 0:32Speaker 1: the Cubs organization bad luck or is it something that
- 0:36Speaker 1: could be going on organizationally with pitching. That's from Justin
- 0:41Speaker 1: de Vorak. I think it's a fair question, but it
- 0:46Speaker 1: too it's too hard to really know the answer to
- 0:49Speaker 1: that one hundred percent. I would say it. I would
- 0:53Speaker 1: lean bad luck because pitching is inherently an injury, like
- 0:59Speaker 1: a risky proposition that you're going to have injuries with
- 1:02Speaker 1: your pitching. There's a reason the Cubs came into the
- 1:06Speaker 1: season talking about their depth, and the reason like they well,
- 1:10Speaker 1: the reason they went into their off season talking about
- 1:13Speaker 1: building up their depth. This is this is that big
- 1:16Speaker 1: reason that they were trying to prepare for this. Justin
- 1:20Speaker 1: Steele's first, like Justin Steel and Kate Horton have elbow
- 1:26Speaker 1: surgeries in their past before these surgeries, and Horton's was
- 1:32Speaker 1: in college. Steele's was almost immediately upon being drafted under
- 1:37Speaker 1: a completely different, uh, you know, player development plan. So
- 1:43Speaker 1: it'd be hard to link this to the organization, especially
- 1:47Speaker 1: when you see like maybe if we see like a
- 1:51Speaker 1: run of it. And and also I think it's important
- 1:55Speaker 1: to mention that when you do train for velocity, which
- 1:58Speaker 1: is what they did under Breslo and what they're doing
- 2:00Speaker 1: under Zambro, now, you will see a spike in injuries.
- 2:04Speaker 1: I don't think that's what happened to Kate Horton and
- 2:06Speaker 1: Justin Steel just because they're not in player development, like
- 2:11Speaker 1: you know, they're not training for velocity per se. I
- 2:14Speaker 1: don't think they change their training habits. But it'd be
- 2:19Speaker 1: hard to connect that right now. Look at the team
- 2:21Speaker 1: like the Dodgers that you see a lot of injuries
- 2:24Speaker 1: there and people wonder what's going on with their player development.
- 2:28Speaker 1: They're still winning World Series after World Series.
- 2:32Speaker 2: Yeah, I love Justin's question has been in the back
- 2:34Speaker 2: of my mind something you know, it's worth asking around about.
- 2:39Speaker 2: I don't know if there is that answer. I don't
- 2:43Speaker 2: know if it's bad luck as almost to be expected,
- 2:46Speaker 2: like you said, so, yeah, when basically Steele got Tommy
- 2:50Speaker 2: John surgery, you know, shortly after entering the Cubs organization,
- 2:56Speaker 2: Kate Horton already had a Tommy John surgery in his
- 2:59Speaker 2: file when when he came on board. But there is
- 3:03Speaker 2: something going on organizationally with pitching. I know'st have you
- 3:05Speaker 2: been kind of working on this, letting things play out
- 3:08Speaker 2: a bit before you kind of write any sort of
- 3:11Speaker 2: definitive story. But yeah, Tyler Zambro is taking on a
- 3:15Speaker 2: bigger role here. I think Craig Breslo did a lot
- 3:18Speaker 2: of good things with the Cubs or things he could
- 3:22Speaker 2: point to, but that took a lot of trial and error.
- 3:25Speaker 2: I mean there were years there where we were hearing
- 3:29Speaker 2: several complaints about like what is going on here, that
- 3:32Speaker 2: some of this max effort training, that there was a
- 3:37Speaker 2: cost to that.
- 3:37Speaker 3: And now, you know, I.
- 3:39Speaker 2: Think with Steel, the Cups probably get more credit for
- 3:44Speaker 2: kind of the patience to let him develop into that
- 3:48Speaker 2: all star pitcher. And the Horton plan looked pretty good
- 3:53Speaker 2: last year all the way up until late September when
- 3:56Speaker 2: he got sidelined with that fractured rib. So I guess
- 4:03Speaker 2: no way to know, but we're going to keep asking
- 4:06Speaker 2: like that is kind of I think a top of
- 4:08Speaker 2: mind thing that that's when something like this happens. You
- 4:11Speaker 2: can't just sort of dismiss and say, well it just
- 4:14Speaker 2: like you throw up your arms. As all pictures get injured,
- 4:17Speaker 2: like when it's those two pictures and back to back years,
- 4:21Speaker 2: it's worth examining, you know, if there's anything they could
- 4:25Speaker 2: do differently.
- 4:26Speaker 1: Yeah, And I've specifically had people tell me, look, injuries
- 4:29Speaker 1: will spike, like that's going to happen. I do not
- 4:32Speaker 1: think that's correlating to what happened with Steel and Horton,
- 4:36Speaker 1: but I think you're going to see more injuries in
- 4:38Speaker 1: the minor league system. I think you saw it under
- 4:40Speaker 1: Breslo and you will see it under Zambro. It's what
- 4:44Speaker 1: happens when you train for velocity, which is what they're
- 4:47Speaker 1: being aggressive with it again, and and you need that
- 4:49Speaker 1: the best, the best farm systems just do like that's
- 4:52Speaker 1: that's how you how you develop pitching. Nowadays you try
- 4:57Speaker 1: and limit it and then I think they're trying to
- 4:59Speaker 1: be better about it, learn from it.
- 5:00Speaker 3: And Zambro is.
- 5:02Speaker 1: Very much the type who does focus more on injuries.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Then I'd say, like when drive Line first popped, it
- 5:14Speaker 1: was almost like injuries were just like like a shrug
- 5:16Speaker 1: of shoulders. This is what happens. I think zombre is.
- 5:20Speaker 1: If you watch his videos or pay attention to what
- 5:22Speaker 1: goes on at Dread, he talks a lot about that
- 5:24Speaker 1: and how you can limit injuries or reduce injury risk.
- 5:30Speaker 1: It's not a perfect science. I said this on the
- 5:33Speaker 1: last episode that comes. We're kind of blindsided by this
- 5:36Speaker 1: because they you know, I don't think I fully went
- 5:40Speaker 1: into what Carter Hawkins was talking about, but it's like
- 5:43Speaker 1: do you look back?
- 5:44Speaker 3: We asked him, do you look back on this? Like
- 5:46Speaker 3: what went wrong? What can you do?
- 5:48Speaker 1: And he's like, sure, we have to. But it's almost
- 5:53Speaker 1: like do we get an answer, like we'll look through it,
- 5:56Speaker 1: and it's like if we would have. You know, they
- 5:59Speaker 1: monitor everything. It's like, do you look at everything, go
- 6:02Speaker 1: over everything again and say do we miss something? But
- 6:05Speaker 1: you likely would have caught it at the time. That's
- 6:08Speaker 1: kind of like how these things work. But maybe there's
- 6:12Speaker 1: something they can learn from this and say, hey, this,
- 6:15Speaker 1: you know, when we see things like this or trends
- 6:17Speaker 1: like this, we need to be more careful. I'd be
- 6:19Speaker 1: surprised if there's something specific with Horton here, but in general,
- 6:23Speaker 1: there's there's It's a very imperfect science, and they're constantly
- 6:27Speaker 1: working to to to get better at it. Who knows
- 6:30Speaker 1: if they'll ever really figure it out? Uh oh, we
- 6:34Speaker 1: like I think this is an inevitable.
- 6:37Speaker 2: Evergreen question from Zach.
- 6:39Speaker 1: Zach is is the Bullpender concern or is it too
- 6:42Speaker 1: early to freak out? Look, I'm gonna say right away,
- 6:45Speaker 1: it's too early to freak out. Film Aton is a
- 6:47Speaker 1: mess right now. Talked to him for a while yesterday,
- 6:50Speaker 1: that would be Wednesday. He's he's fighting it mechanically. I
- 6:59Speaker 1: tried to make I wrote about Phil Maton this morning,
- 7:02Speaker 1: and here's my point. I think people are going to
- 7:06Speaker 1: go Hector and Aris Ryan Presley. Those guys were trending
- 7:10Speaker 1: down coming off bad seasons, and kind of like the
- 7:13Speaker 1: Cubs desperately need a veteran and we'll just take someone
- 7:17Speaker 1: and hope that they have like a last gasp season.
- 7:21Speaker 1: Phil Mayton was coming off an awesome season. His velocity
- 7:25Speaker 1: ticked up last year. According to Mayton, in that you
- 7:30Speaker 1: know constant search to always get better. He tried some
- 7:35Speaker 1: things this offseason and into the spring. He's realizing now
- 7:41Speaker 1: those things didn't work for him. He shouldn't have done
- 7:43Speaker 1: those things, and he's trying to get back to what
- 7:45Speaker 1: works for him mechanically and everything like that. He's very confident.
- 7:51Speaker 1: It is not like an impossible fix. It's a simple fix.
- 7:56Speaker 1: But those things still can take time to click. It
- 8:00Speaker 1: could take an outing or two, maybe longer. And I'll
- 8:04Speaker 1: point out, like I really struggle when people like just
- 8:09Speaker 1: assume these guys are done or like this is a
- 8:11Speaker 1: terrible signing, because it's like we just can we not
- 8:14Speaker 1: learn from history, Like how often do we see this?
- 8:17Speaker 1: Like literally, Phil Mayton had a twelve ERA eight outings
- 8:21Speaker 1: into twenty twenty four and then had a sub three
- 8:24Speaker 1: r in his next sixty three outings that that season.
- 8:27Speaker 1: We saw Caleb thielbar stink at the beginning of last year,
- 8:31Speaker 1: and by the end of the year you look at
- 8:33Speaker 1: his numbers and it's like that is one of the
- 8:35Speaker 1: most dominant lefties in the game.
- 8:37Speaker 3: We see it year after year.
- 8:40Speaker 1: If now, if he was coming off a terrible year,
- 8:43Speaker 1: if we've seen like, you know, a ton of data
- 8:47Speaker 1: to say like, this guy is on a clear downswing.
- 8:51Speaker 3: It's going to take a miracle to get better. Yeah.
- 8:55Speaker 1: Then then I'd say like, Okay, this is looking ugly.
- 8:59Speaker 1: Like Ryan Press, I was like, let's be patient, but
- 9:02Speaker 1: this doesn't look great. Mayton is clearly a mechanical thing.
- 9:06Speaker 1: It's not like we're searching for something here. We don't
- 9:09Speaker 1: know what to do. I think I'm confident Mayton will
- 9:13Speaker 1: be better, and once he kind of locks in, then
- 9:16Speaker 1: I don't think you worry too much because then you
- 9:18Speaker 1: have Palencia Hunter, Harvey's been fine. I'm not that worried
- 9:24Speaker 1: about the bullpen. I think it's going to be hard
- 9:26Speaker 1: to recreate how good it was at times last year.
- 9:30Speaker 1: I think that that's the thing that is going to
- 9:33Speaker 1: be a great unit. I'm not sure beyond Mayton, Harvey, Palencia,
- 9:40Speaker 1: Ben Brown is solid. But then there are moments where
- 9:43Speaker 1: it's just like, what's going on? Man? I didn't think
- 9:46Speaker 1: I think some people thought yesterday's outing was bad. He
- 9:49Speaker 1: got five quick outs and then like a he gave
- 9:52Speaker 1: up a couple hits that led to a one run.
- 9:56Speaker 3: Not ideal.
- 9:57Speaker 1: You'd like to see him just shut it down and
- 9:58Speaker 1: then get two plus ny of work beyond that, you know,
- 10:03Speaker 1: I get the complaints. Jacob Webb has looked if he
- 10:07Speaker 1: I'm probably missing. The lefties have looked fine, right Milner
- 10:11Speaker 1: and theol bar is great. Milner's actually looked good after
- 10:15Speaker 1: I think a rough first outing. I think the main
- 10:17Speaker 1: concern is beaton and I think he'll get right.
- 10:21Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's too early to freak out, but
- 10:23Speaker 2: I think the bullpen is always a concern. I think
- 10:25Speaker 2: Zach's on the right track of Like, you know, while
- 10:29Speaker 2: Mayton was a big signing for the Cubs, it was
- 10:33Speaker 2: not been a big signing for like any of these
- 10:35Speaker 2: other National League contenders that loaded up on bullpen arms.
- 10:40Speaker 2: And I think we believe in Daniel Palencia, but he's
- 10:45Speaker 2: still young. I think by the trade deadline, the Cubs
- 10:47Speaker 2: are gonna want another high leverage guy to throw back there.
- 10:53Speaker 2: And you know, I think Hunter Harvey has a lot
- 10:57Speaker 2: going for him. But like you're managing a guy on
- 11:00Speaker 2: a one year deal, a reliever on a one year deal,
- 11:03Speaker 2: Like hopefully that means you as once you get into
- 11:08Speaker 2: the kind of heat of a Pennant race, that he
- 11:10Speaker 2: is kind of locked in, healthy, ready to roll.
- 11:13Speaker 3: But I don't know.
- 11:15Speaker 2: The way they've managed him, I think makes you wonder.
- 11:20Speaker 2: I was certainly his his his injury history is out
- 11:24Speaker 2: there as well. I mean, Caleb Thielwer is thirty nine
- 11:27Speaker 2: years old Brown and obviously Ray is not really in
- 11:31Speaker 2: the bullpen anymore. I think you felt better about the bullpen,
- 11:33Speaker 2: like when all of Ben Brown's kind of potential was
- 11:38Speaker 2: just back there and Colin Ray as like a swingman,
- 11:41Speaker 2: and now he's in the rotation. We know that this
- 11:46Speaker 2: organization isn't really great at pumping out those hard throwing relievers.
- 11:50Speaker 2: Kind of going back to the previous question, and so yeah, no,
- 11:57Speaker 2: don't freak out, but definitely something to keep an eye on,
- 12:01Speaker 2: especially when they have a pretty steady group of position players.
- 12:05Speaker 2: The rotation depth has already been tested, but I think
- 12:08Speaker 2: we agree it's still there at the moment. So like
- 12:10Speaker 2: the bullpen, is the just an easy area to fixate on.
- 12:14Speaker 1: Yeah, they have some depth to don't don't forget about
- 12:17Speaker 1: con Snyder triple A. I think as e ras bloated,
- 12:20Speaker 1: but the peripherals are good and I think and I
- 12:22Speaker 1: think they like what he's capable of doing. Corbyn Martin
- 12:28Speaker 1: has only pitched one inning at Triple A. I should
- 12:32Speaker 1: probably find out what's going on there. If anything, those
- 12:37Speaker 1: are two depth pieces outside of that, Ryan Rollinson's lefty
- 12:42Speaker 1: that they like, I don't know exactly what he's doing
- 12:45Speaker 1: in Triple A right now. It's something they're going to
- 12:48Speaker 1: add to. They're absolutely going to add to. We said
- 12:50Speaker 1: that whether it was a dominant force or not, they
- 12:55Speaker 1: are going to add at the deadline.
- 12:58Speaker 3: So you can freak out if you want.
- 13:00Speaker 1: I guess I'm not going to tell you not to
- 13:02Speaker 1: in that sense because I don't like to.
- 13:04Speaker 3: Tell fans how to fan. Uh but uh, I you have,
- 13:09Speaker 3: like I.
- 13:09Speaker 1: Think it's really important to remember how like it's not
- 13:14Speaker 1: like injuries have stacked up and it's not like day
- 13:17Speaker 1: after day everyone is just terrible. Like like like I said,
- 13:21Speaker 1: film Aton is the one I would focus on if
- 13:24Speaker 1: he locks in, I feel like a lot of things
- 13:26Speaker 1: fall into place. But yes, I think everything you said,
- 13:29Speaker 1: especially Hunter Harvey injury history, like it's fair like we
- 13:35Speaker 1: have to wonder, like what you're handling them with kid
- 13:38Speaker 1: gloves already, that's I get why they're doing that. But
- 13:40Speaker 1: also it's like, okay, you know, just a little bit
- 13:45Speaker 1: of a red flag there that we have to monitor
- 13:47Speaker 1: and keep an eye on.
- 13:49Speaker 3: Uh says our Charles asks.
- 13:52Speaker 1: I know it's early, but do you think the Cubs move,
- 13:54Speaker 1: say at the deadline. I think the Cubs really like
- 13:57Speaker 1: Sean Moballer and I want to see both in the
- 13:59Speaker 1: line up. I get this. I think the Cubs like
- 14:03Speaker 1: them both too. I think the Cubs think they're both
- 14:06Speaker 1: part of their future.
- 14:07Speaker 3: I think.
- 14:09Speaker 1: I think Saya in this lineup kind of changes things
- 14:12Speaker 1: and brings them up a level. I really like what
- 14:16Speaker 1: Matt Shaw has done at the plate early on. He
- 14:19Speaker 1: looks comfortable. It looks like he can kind of drive
- 14:23Speaker 1: the ball to all fields. I think Craig Council is
- 14:28Speaker 1: a type of manager that'll find him playing time. I
- 14:31Speaker 1: think he'll find Moys's biasteris playing time. Here's unless they're
- 14:38Speaker 1: unless they're sellers at the deadline. You don't trade Sea
- 14:42Speaker 1: unless you are Milwaukee, Tampa, Bay, Cleveland.
- 14:47Speaker 3: If you're winning, you.
- 14:48Speaker 1: Do not sell players that are helping you win right now.
- 14:53Speaker 1: Not a team like the Cups.
- 14:54Speaker 3: You don't do that.
- 14:55Speaker 1: Those teams that I mentioned, Yeah, it's happened, didn't it wasn't.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Milwaukee kind of in it when they when they traded
- 15:01Speaker 1: away Josh Hader and then Tampa does this all the time.
- 15:06Speaker 1: They do the half in, half out thing. Cleveland does
- 15:11Speaker 1: it pretty regularly.
- 15:12Speaker 3: Cleveland. I've talked to people in that front.
- 15:14Speaker 1: Office that basically say, we have to listen on anyone,
- 15:16Speaker 1: especially pictures, because they believe they can develop pictures really well.
- 15:20Speaker 3: It doesn't matter what's going on. If you blow them
- 15:23Speaker 3: away for someone, they will trade them. They will move them,
- 15:25Speaker 3: especially relievers.
- 15:27Speaker 1: So no, I don't I think it is like, is
- 15:32Speaker 1: it too early to talk about that. I don't think
- 15:35Speaker 1: the Cubs are going to trade, say a Suzuki at
- 15:37Speaker 1: the deadline unless they are out of it, unless something,
- 15:41Speaker 1: you know, injuries continue to mount and they and there
- 15:44Speaker 1: are a lot of struggles. Say is a huge piece
- 15:46Speaker 1: of this offense. And I think he's coming back. That's
- 15:49Speaker 1: a bit of news. You should make sure like everyone
- 15:51Speaker 1: knows he is coming back. Friday, he will be activated,
- 15:54Speaker 1: he's flying to Chicago. I think right now he will
- 15:57Speaker 1: be ready to go on Friday. And in the lineup,
- 16:00Speaker 1: how does corek council handle the lineup? How does he
- 16:03Speaker 1: fit in? Matt Shaw His answer was simply like, that's
- 16:06Speaker 1: a good problem to have he's already figured thinking through
- 16:10Speaker 1: lineups for the next week plus and how he'll get
- 16:13Speaker 1: guys in, but guys will get playing time. And hey,
- 16:17Speaker 1: how many times have we gotten questions complaining about the bench?
- 16:20Speaker 1: Now you have a better bench and Michael Confordo looks
- 16:23Speaker 1: really good after making some adjustments at the play too,
- 16:26Speaker 1: So the bench is looking much better.
- 16:29Speaker 2: Say it also has a full no trade close right,
- 16:31Speaker 2: So yeah, great point a lot of time on that one.
- 16:35Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what do we got, Blake Dowson, Is it
- 16:41Speaker 1: more realistic that Kyle Wright or Lucas g Alito pitches
- 16:45Speaker 1: for the Cubs this season? I'm gonna say Kyle Wright
- 16:50Speaker 1: just because he's already in the org, you know, well.
- 16:54Speaker 3: I will say that I got some I don't.
- 16:57Speaker 1: Know how to phrase this, encouraging information on him in
- 17:02Speaker 1: spring training. They were just like, it's going to be
- 17:05Speaker 1: a process. Don't expect it like early on in the season,
- 17:09Speaker 1: but they thought they could get him to a good place.
- 17:11Speaker 1: And this is a guy I think he's had some
- 17:14Speaker 1: really good seasons in the past. Obviously a long injury history,
- 17:19Speaker 1: but when he was with Atlanta some you know, there was.
- 17:26Speaker 3: It wasn't that long ago.
- 17:27Speaker 1: Thirty starts in twenty twenty two, one hundred and eighty innings,
- 17:30Speaker 1: three point one nine ERA, So it was one really
- 17:33Speaker 1: good season, a ton of injuries. I'd say, Kyle Wright,
- 17:37Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if they end up with Giolito.
- 17:41Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess non zero chance on either one of them, right,
- 17:48Speaker 2: slightly more realistic, like you say, because he's already in
- 17:52Speaker 2: the organization. I think if you're a Cubs fan, you're
- 17:55Speaker 2: probably hoping neither one of them pitches for the Cubs
- 17:59Speaker 2: this season against either guy. But in terms of where
- 18:02Speaker 2: they are on the depth chart at this point, you're
- 18:08Speaker 2: getting into that sort of eight number, eight, nine, yeah,
- 18:14Speaker 2: ten starter. But like, I don't know, also a non
- 18:20Speaker 2: zero chance that they both pitch for them this season, right,
- 18:23Speaker 2: Like I'm not, I'm not really, I'm you know, it's
- 18:25Speaker 2: so early. I wouldn't rule anything out at this point.
- 18:30Speaker 1: Yeah, unless Kyle Wright is like lighting up Triple A
- 18:33Speaker 1: when he comes back, and you're like, man, he he
- 18:36Speaker 1: deserves a starter. He could actually like impact this team,
- 18:39Speaker 1: which is just like a kind of out there scenario.
- 18:43Speaker 1: He was described to me as a wild card, So
- 18:46Speaker 1: you know, we'll see, we'll see what happens with him,
- 18:48Speaker 1: but I wouldn't hold my breath on either of them.
- 18:54Speaker 1: Ed Ghana asks, do you think the Cubs would move
- 18:57Speaker 1: shaff as starting pitching. I think this is an interesting question.
- 19:00Speaker 3: Yeah, good question. Yeah, what do you think Patrick?
- 19:05Speaker 2: I think you know, at this time last year or
- 19:09Speaker 2: I say around last year's trade Dellen, it was like
- 19:11Speaker 2: a definite no, right. I mean that was just like
- 19:14Speaker 2: their models love what Shaw can do into the future,
- 19:18Speaker 2: that's also projecting him at that time as a third baseman.
- 19:22Speaker 2: I think it's still sort of unlikely they would just
- 19:25Speaker 2: like give up on Shaw, but I think it's at
- 19:29Speaker 2: least a little more plausible now that they've signed Alex
- 19:34Speaker 2: Bregman as a free agent, they've extended Nico Horner, and
- 19:39Speaker 2: their depth is already it's not totally depleted yet, but
- 19:43Speaker 2: it's certainly compromised at this point. And it's like, you know,
- 19:48Speaker 2: he wouldn't be their first choice to move, but I
- 19:52Speaker 2: don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. Again, this
- 19:55Speaker 2: is not the Cubs are shopping Matt Shaw, but I
- 19:57Speaker 2: mean they were engaged in these sort of scenarios, or
- 20:02Speaker 2: they were at least in listening mode all the way
- 20:05Speaker 2: up to like the start of spring training, and I
- 20:08Speaker 2: haven't seen anything that would make me think like, oh,
- 20:11Speaker 2: they're gonna totally shut that down, and that's not really
- 20:15Speaker 2: how they operate anyways.
- 20:16Speaker 3: Yeah, i'd have to agree with you.
- 20:19Speaker 1: I don't see it as like definitely happening or that
- 20:22Speaker 1: they're going to be aggressive in moving him. But their
- 20:26Speaker 1: infield is set, and where's Mattshaw's value. It's in the infield.
- 20:32Speaker 1: That's where his value is. Yes, it's nice that he's versatile.
- 20:37Speaker 1: It's nice that he's picking up the outfield corner outfield
- 20:39Speaker 1: spots and helping the team out and starting to look
- 20:43Speaker 1: decent there, you know, like after since he's left Wrigley,
- 20:47Speaker 1: he hasn't had any moments where it's like what is
- 20:50Speaker 1: he doing out there? So I think you just can't
- 20:55Speaker 1: rule it out for that reason, he may be so
- 20:59Speaker 1: valuable to another team, especially if he keeps hitting. Then
- 21:02Speaker 1: you have a real decision on your hands. Uh, is
- 21:05Speaker 1: someone going to offer you, like it a controllable pitcher,
- 21:09Speaker 1: like to get Matt Shaw? Like can you can you
- 21:11Speaker 1: get like a guy with multiple years left on their deal?
- 21:15Speaker 1: And that's impactful? I think it's a it's something they
- 21:19Speaker 1: have to they may have to consider, assuming their position
- 21:23Speaker 1: player group is healthy, especially now when this is further
- 21:29Speaker 1: down the line. But like someone like Pedro Ramirez, Jefferson Rojas,
- 21:33Speaker 1: like these are quality infielders that are developing and having
- 21:36Speaker 1: good starts to the season. I'm not saying that they're
- 21:40Speaker 1: slammed dunks, just saying that they're they're highly thought of
- 21:43Speaker 1: within the organization and they've started the season. Well, okay,
- 21:47Speaker 1: you have you have some minor league in field depth.
- 21:52Speaker 1: I don't know if that if it leads to anything,
- 21:54Speaker 1: but I think it's a fair question, and I think
- 21:56Speaker 1: it's something that you know, will we'll we'll have to.
- 22:00Speaker 3: Pay attention on the radar.
- 22:02Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, Thank you so much for all
- 22:05Speaker 1: the questions we asked. We asked pretty late on those
- 22:11Speaker 1: that you guys delivered, which I really appreciate.
- 22:14Speaker 3: You guys are awesome about.
- 22:15Speaker 1: I mean, obviously guys, you guys you know I want
- 22:18Speaker 1: to know what's going on with the Cubs, and we
- 22:20Speaker 1: appreciate you reaching out and giving us content for our show.
- 22:25Speaker 1: Make sure to rate review, subscribe to Northside Territory. Make
- 22:28Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to the Athletic where Patrick and I
- 22:31Speaker 1: are on top of all things Cubs. This team is
- 22:35Speaker 1: back to five hundred, headed back to Wrigley for three
- 22:38Speaker 1: against the Pirates before they head out on another quick
- 22:41Speaker 1: road trip for three in Philly. Kind Of a weird,
- 22:47Speaker 1: weird schedule there, but they have a chance to get
- 22:51Speaker 1: get out a roll here.
- 22:51Speaker 3: The offense finally looking good.
- 22:53Speaker 1: So when we come back next week, maybe we'll be
- 22:56Speaker 1: talking about an offense that's rolling, or we'll see. We'll
- 22:59Speaker 1: see what's going on with this team, but at least
- 23:01Speaker 1: a little bit better taste in everyone's mouth after after
- 23:04Speaker 1: the final two in Tampa. Thanks for your questions everyone,
- 23:07Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next week.
- 23:08Speaker 3: Take care,