Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Trade deadline plans, All-Star picks and more takeaways from Wrigley Field

Transcript

Trade deadline plans, All-Star picks and more takeaways from Wrigley Field · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:13
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic.
0:16
Speaker 2: Patrick.
0:17
Speaker 1: It was a good holiday weekend for the Cubs, nearly
0:20
Speaker 1: great if not for.
0:23
Speaker 2: A rare poor outing from Brad Keller.
0:26
Speaker 1: Just a couple couple of balls fell and then a
0:30
Speaker 1: big hit from from their backup catcher Pozo, and you
0:36
Speaker 1: know he definitely enjoyed that three run homer. The Cubs
0:41
Speaker 1: scored twenty eight runs over the weekend, took two of three,
0:45
Speaker 1: dominated and those two wins even you know, eleven to three,
0:51
Speaker 1: what was it, eight home runs on July fourth, Yeah,
0:56
Speaker 1: just just a ridiculous display of power, and that the
1:00
Speaker 1: offense just kept rolling. Only one home round on Sunday,
1:05
Speaker 1: a solo shot from Saye Suzuki, and they still put
1:07
Speaker 1: up eleven runs, continuing to show that they can score
1:11
Speaker 1: in different ways. I think if you are a pitcher
1:15
Speaker 1: that struggles to miss bats like Miles Michaelis, like Eric Vetti,
1:20
Speaker 1: you are in for a long day at the ballpark
1:23
Speaker 1: against this Cub's offense. You better be able to strike
1:25
Speaker 1: guys out, otherwise you're just you're not going to have
1:28
Speaker 1: a good day.
1:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, the fourth of July was one of those Craig
1:32
Speaker 3: Council you know, you come to the park, you never
1:35
Speaker 3: know what you might see that day type of events.
1:40
Speaker 3: And no doubt I was talking with someone at Wrigley
1:43
Speaker 3: over the weekend about this, of like, Cubs can beat
1:46
Speaker 3: you in different ways, and I think that makes this
1:50
Speaker 3: team pretty dangerous, and you know, as we start to
1:54
Speaker 3: look ahead deeper into the second half, you know, potential
1:58
Speaker 3: postseason possibility, Like they can put balls in the seats
2:03
Speaker 3: and they can really put a ton of pressure on
2:05
Speaker 3: the opposing team with their ability to run.
2:08
Speaker 4: And when you have.
2:11
Speaker 3: A lineup stacked with stars in the middle of the
2:14
Speaker 3: order and then you get some nice contributions from from
2:18
Speaker 3: the lower half, Like that is a really reliable formula.
2:24
Speaker 3: And I'm sure Cubs fans enjoyed seeing the Cardinals sort
2:29
Speaker 3: of teeter this weekend.
2:31
Speaker 4: I think this is the type of weekend.
2:34
Speaker 3: That would probably factor into their trade deadline calculus right
2:40
Speaker 3: of Like, if this continues, they're gonna have a real
2:45
Speaker 3: hard time justifying buying. Not that they had big plans
2:50
Speaker 3: to anyways in this weird sort of gap year. But
2:55
Speaker 3: this certainly created some more distance between them and the Cars.
3:01
Speaker 3: And I do think it's a nice sort of you know,
3:06
Speaker 3: segue or leading into the All Star break. Here in
3:10
Speaker 3: an All Star game that's going to have a heavy
3:12
Speaker 3: Chicago flavor.
3:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we don't need to dive too deep
3:17
Speaker 1: into the Cardinals situation. I like some of their players,
3:21
Speaker 1: especially some of their position players. I don't I think
3:23
Speaker 1: they I was telling someone in the press box yesterday
3:28
Speaker 1: Sunday that it's almost like their offense is like last
3:33
Speaker 1: year's Cubs team in the sense that there's no star there,
3:36
Speaker 1: but it's very it's talented, there's there's plenty of talent.
3:40
Speaker 2: It's just there's no star and there's.
3:42
Speaker 1: Not going to be consistency, and you kind of worry
3:45
Speaker 1: about that if they can add a star. I like
3:47
Speaker 1: that offense a lot. It's the pitching with that team,
3:50
Speaker 1: and I don't know how you can justify buying when
3:53
Speaker 1: you look at your pitching. It's almost like they need
3:55
Speaker 1: to start calling up young guys and give them an
3:57
Speaker 1: opportunity to see what they do. If that leads to
3:59
Speaker 1: more wins, Hey good, you know good job by them.
4:02
Speaker 1: They're developing their youth. But this that's a team in
4:06
Speaker 1: my eyes. You look at you know, at least two
4:09
Speaker 1: fifts of your rotation is not going to get the
4:13
Speaker 1: job done pretty regularly in my opinion, Like those guys
4:16
Speaker 1: are struggling. Fetti and michaelis just you face a good offense,
4:21
Speaker 1: You're not going to have a good day. Yeah, as
4:25
Speaker 1: far as the cups go, I don't know what else
4:28
Speaker 1: to say other than look, Saturday again was one of
4:32
Speaker 1: those days that you could have hung your head. There
4:35
Speaker 1: was not even you know, we talked to Brad Keller
4:37
Speaker 1: after the game on Saturday.
4:40
Speaker 2: It's not like he was devastated by it.
4:42
Speaker 1: He said, how like, you know, the bullpen group is
4:45
Speaker 1: quick to rally around each other. If someone has that
4:48
Speaker 1: rare bad outing, they're quick to say, hey, shake it off.
4:50
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, that's not going to happen very
4:53
Speaker 1: often with this group. Keller had given up one earned
4:57
Speaker 1: run before that outing. Since April twenty second, he's just
5:03
Speaker 1: been remarkably consistent. You know, he gave up two home runs.
5:09
Speaker 1: They hit two pitches that he missed location on. It
5:13
Speaker 1: wasn't a good day for I mean, it's just like
5:14
Speaker 1: you don't want to make too many excuses for the guy,
5:17
Speaker 1: but those outings happen. Relievers are going to have bad outings,
5:22
Speaker 1: and this team quickly like just understands like one loss
5:25
Speaker 1: isn't a big deal and they just are so good
5:28
Speaker 1: to like their ability to flush bad losses or the
5:32
Speaker 1: types of things that used to derail even you know,
5:36
Speaker 1: it's not like they were bad clubhouses in years past.
5:39
Speaker 1: It's just like the team wasn't good enough to overcome
5:44
Speaker 1: a bad a short bad stretch of play. It would
5:46
Speaker 1: turn into a longer bad stretch of play. That's not
5:49
Speaker 1: happening this year. And they're coming out emphatically responding. You know,
5:55
Speaker 1: in games like Friday are just fun for everyone. I
5:59
Speaker 1: don't know how you can watch that and not, you know,
6:02
Speaker 1: as a Cubs fan not be entertained and just kind
6:05
Speaker 1: of fall in love with certain players or this group.
6:08
Speaker 1: It's it's feeling like the more they do stuff like that,
6:12
Speaker 1: the more you watch Pete grow Armstrong play, Kyle Tucker
6:16
Speaker 1: quietly go about business, Michael Bush quietly go about business,
6:22
Speaker 1: Dooky just hit rockets all over the park, the more
6:26
Speaker 1: it feels like, Okay, this team has a chance to
6:29
Speaker 1: do something pretty great this year. You know, you get you,
6:32
Speaker 1: you add the right pieces at the deadline, this team
6:35
Speaker 1: can can make a significant amount of noise in the postseason.
6:41
Speaker 3: When you mentioned the Cubs teams from like the last
6:43
Speaker 3: to previous two years, I think of the Jed Hoyer
6:48
Speaker 3: kind of truism of good teams blow teams out, and
6:52
Speaker 3: that there were just too many games, too many like
6:55
Speaker 3: coin flip fifty to fifty type games that the Cubs
7:00
Speaker 3: uh played the past two years, and like, you know,
7:04
Speaker 3: sometimes it breaks your way and sometimes it doesn't. And
7:09
Speaker 3: by doing that, you know you're you're taxing your bullpen.
7:12
Speaker 3: You're kind of like, uh, just wearing your team out.
7:17
Speaker 3: And like for for John Birdie to come in and
7:21
Speaker 3: pitch the ninth inning while the Cubs were up, I
7:23
Speaker 3: think it was eleven nothing at that point whatever, it
7:25
Speaker 3: was an.
7:25
Speaker 4: Absurd absurdly large lead.
7:30
Speaker 3: That stuff kind of compounds over time of just you're
7:35
Speaker 3: able to organize your bullpen, you're able to rest guys,
7:40
Speaker 3: you can build confidence, and also when when guys are struggling,
7:44
Speaker 3: they don't feel like the entire season like is riding
7:48
Speaker 3: on there. Individual at bats and clearly. You know, Pete
7:55
Speaker 3: has benefited from this, I think. I mean, Michael Bush
8:00
Speaker 3: seems pretty unaffected about everything, but you know he's he's
8:03
Speaker 3: been able to just very quietly become one of the
8:07
Speaker 3: best all around first basement in the game. And I mean,
8:11
Speaker 3: just what a ridiculous, like monster first half that say
8:15
Speaker 3: a Suzuki has put up thus far.
8:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, you talk about you know, getting an inning from Berdie.
8:24
Speaker 1: They got multiple innings from Jordan Wicks on Sunday. Yeah,
8:30
Speaker 1: they had to use Poalencia because he hadn't he hadn't
8:32
Speaker 1: pitched in so many days and they have an off
8:35
Speaker 1: day on Monday, so they they had to use him
8:39
Speaker 1: on Sunday. And and this is after a bullpen game
8:42
Speaker 1: on Saturday. And your bullpen's still in pretty good shape.
8:47
Speaker 1: They they've have ended up not like burning through too
8:50
Speaker 1: many guys or over using guys or tiring arms. The
8:55
Speaker 1: bullpen looks like it's you know, it's still pretty deep.
8:59
Speaker 1: Porter Hodge looked great in his hitting of work, and
9:03
Speaker 1: it makes you think like, oh, is he rounding into
9:06
Speaker 1: four and finding his best self?
9:07
Speaker 2: And what does that mean for the group?
9:09
Speaker 1: And can that give guys rests that you may get
9:12
Speaker 1: tired or exposed or whatever it may be. That's just,
9:17
Speaker 1: you know, it's a really good sign right now things
9:21
Speaker 1: are there's a lot of positives going on with the Cubs.
9:25
Speaker 1: Obviously that bullpend game, there's a reason for that. Let's
9:29
Speaker 1: come back after this quick break and talk about the
9:32
Speaker 1: Jamison ti Own injury crats.
9:34
Speaker 5: We talk about Hello Fresh a lot, but in the
9:36
Speaker 5: same fam is another option for you. If you're looking
9:39
Speaker 5: to go on your little wellness journey, or you're very
9:41
Speaker 5: picky in terms of what you're looking for ingredients wise,
9:44
Speaker 5: you can go Green Chef this summer and.
9:47
Speaker 6: I can heat and eat. Because this summer I've got
9:49
Speaker 6: like three days where I'm not doing anything. I'm sure
9:52
Speaker 6: those are going to get scheduled with something. Let's give
9:55
Speaker 6: me something super quick that I can heat up. The
9:58
Speaker 6: whole family's eating healthy and.
10:00
Speaker 5: Therefore menus change weekly eighty plus Dietitian improved weekly meal options.
10:05
Speaker 5: Green Chef makes it easy to find those meals to
10:08
Speaker 5: fit your lifestyle, so go check it out ft fam.
10:11
Speaker 5: There is an exclusive offer make this summer your healthiest
10:14
Speaker 5: yet with Green Chef. Head to green chef dot com.
10:17
Speaker 5: Slash fifty Territory and use code five zero territory to
10:21
Speaker 5: get fifty percent off your first month and twenty percent
10:24
Speaker 5: off for two months with free shipping. That's code fifty
10:27
Speaker 5: territory at greenshep dot com Slash five zero territory.
10:34
Speaker 1: Patrick Jameson Tyn goes on the il with a strained calf.
10:40
Speaker 2: I believe it's his right calf and.
10:45
Speaker 1: This this happened while he was doing drills, just running drills.
10:49
Speaker 1: He's you know, they expect him to miss at least
10:51
Speaker 1: a month. Sounds like it's not a great injury for
10:54
Speaker 1: him from what I heard. I was talking to him,
10:58
Speaker 1: and then I talked to some pitching coaches. Everyone agree
11:00
Speaker 1: he just had like a great bullpen session. They were
11:03
Speaker 1: really excited about the things he did.
11:04
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know what.
11:05
Speaker 1: That means, but still like, yeah, I thought he pitched
11:08
Speaker 1: well in Houston. I think that's the most important thing
11:10
Speaker 1: he got. He got beat up by some esoch paratus
11:14
Speaker 1: long at bats and that kept him from going deep
11:16
Speaker 1: into the game. But I thought it was a good
11:19
Speaker 1: sign that, Okay, he put those two really bad starts
11:22
Speaker 1: behind him and he's getting back to the super consistent.
11:26
Speaker 2: Guy that the Cubs need.
11:28
Speaker 1: In their rotation and then this freak injury kind of happens,
11:33
Speaker 1: and you know he does have like a right ankle injury.
11:40
Speaker 1: I believe in his past. I think it was an ankle.
11:43
Speaker 1: So you just don't you don't want anything to linger there.
11:48
Speaker 1: You need to get him healthy. And you know the
11:54
Speaker 1: I guess this happens at a decent ish time in
11:57
Speaker 1: the sense that there's a couple of reasons, and it's
12:00
Speaker 1: right before the all start break, so you can lean
12:04
Speaker 1: on your bullpen a little bit more and then get
12:06
Speaker 1: that huge break kind of council loves to be creative
12:10
Speaker 1: with this pitching staff. Anyways, this gives him an opportunity
12:13
Speaker 1: to do that. He's he's really good with this stuff.
12:16
Speaker 1: And the second thing is, and this is the most
12:18
Speaker 1: important part of it, they were going to add pitching anyways.
12:22
Speaker 1: Now it just it's before the trade deadline. If they were,
12:26
Speaker 1: if you knew they were going to add one, this
12:29
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this tells us a second pitcher as well,
12:32
Speaker 1: a second starter as well, and you just continue to
12:37
Speaker 1: add the bullpen depth to reinforce that area.
12:40
Speaker 2: We'll see how they address that. How big of a
12:42
Speaker 2: move it is.
12:42
Speaker 1: But I just think it puts a you know, an
12:45
Speaker 1: emphasis on what we already knew they were doing.
12:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you had already heard this at of
12:51
Speaker 3: of like they're going to inquire about basically every pitcher
12:54
Speaker 3: who might get traded this month anyways, and that was
12:57
Speaker 3: before the tie on injury.
13:01
Speaker 4: You know, I think Counsel said more than a month.
13:05
Speaker 3: And you know, I feel like the first reaction is
13:08
Speaker 3: always okay, it's not like an arm injury with a picture,
13:10
Speaker 3: and then you sort of take a sigh of relief.
13:12
Speaker 3: And then it's also you think about, you know, how
13:14
Speaker 3: much power you know is generated from his right right leg,
13:19
Speaker 3: and how reliable he had been up until those last
13:22
Speaker 3: couple starts. I mean, really a guy who carried the
13:25
Speaker 3: Cubs along with all star Matthew Boyd and kept things
13:30
Speaker 3: going in the right direction while Showdo was injured and
13:33
Speaker 3: after Justin Steele's surgery, and so now they gotta piece
13:39
Speaker 3: it together. I guess Jordan Wicks looked good last night,
13:43
Speaker 3: and he certainly had a lot of margin for error
13:48
Speaker 3: there with a huge lead. But I don't know, I
13:51
Speaker 3: was curious your take of Ben Brown just sort of
13:56
Speaker 3: passed up on the depth chart. They just want him
13:58
Speaker 3: to work on stuff in Iowa.
14:00
Speaker 4: What are you hearing?
14:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he didn't start until Sunday, and and
14:07
Speaker 1: he he pitched four innings. I believe it doesn't sound
14:12
Speaker 1: like they're you know, I think they want to give
14:14
Speaker 1: him some both a mental reset and and just like
14:18
Speaker 1: I should check the numbers because I'm curious how many
14:21
Speaker 1: times he threw that change up on Sunday.
14:25
Speaker 2: But it's not like he went super deep. He didn't.
14:28
Speaker 1: He didn't strike anyone out. So I'm not sure what
14:30
Speaker 1: he's working on there. But you know, he's he's been
14:33
Speaker 1: He's incredibly talented.
14:35
Speaker 2: We know that.
14:37
Speaker 1: I just I don't think he's he's on the verge
14:40
Speaker 1: of coming up anytime soon. They're they're like Wicks can
14:45
Speaker 1: handle both roles. I think he'd been pitching well in
14:49
Speaker 1: the minors. They I think they just want to give
14:52
Speaker 1: Ben Brown some time. That's my understanding of it. They
14:55
Speaker 1: weren't in a rush to bring him back, even with
14:57
Speaker 1: an injury. They could have brought him back at any point.
14:59
Speaker 1: Once you have the injury. Uh, I don't know if
15:02
Speaker 1: you'd say he's been passed up as much as he
15:06
Speaker 1: has things that they want him in the minors right now,
15:08
Speaker 1: and you know they didn't know. Also, I don't think
15:12
Speaker 1: they want to worry about not having him stretched out.
15:16
Speaker 1: I think that's another aspect, you know, just as simple
15:19
Speaker 1: as that as well.
15:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do wonder too if like you kind of
15:24
Speaker 3: keep him down there and he gets gets right, starts pitching,
15:27
Speaker 3: Well maybe he's a name that's bandied about in trade
15:30
Speaker 3: talks as well. I mean, in the meantime, you got
15:34
Speaker 3: what Chris Flexen can be stretched out, you know, Monday's
15:38
Speaker 3: off day. Only six more games until the All Star break.
15:44
Speaker 3: You know, as long as Shoda and Matthew Boyd can continue.
15:48
Speaker 4: To do their thing, I mean, the Cubs should be
15:51
Speaker 4: in decent shape.
15:52
Speaker 3: I got to give the pitching infrastructure some credit here
15:58
Speaker 3: because he was some of these injured. You want to,
16:01
Speaker 3: you know, sound the alarms, but oh, they've reconfigured the
16:06
Speaker 3: bullpen into one of the best groups in baseball. And
16:10
Speaker 3: it's a group that is a lot of sort of afterthoughts, uh,
16:14
Speaker 3: you know, as deemed by the baseball industry at large.
16:18
Speaker 3: They survived seals injury thus far with Shoda, they did not.
16:26
Speaker 4: Lose ground.
16:26
Speaker 3: I mean they've even gained I forget exactly what it was.
16:29
Speaker 3: But they've they've been a consistent first place team, and
16:32
Speaker 3: a lot of it is because of this resourcefulness both
16:35
Speaker 3: in you know, player acquisition, player development, and then just
16:40
Speaker 3: kind of counseling his coaches, sort of putting him in
16:43
Speaker 3: the right places and pushing the right buttons.
16:47
Speaker 1: They So they were three up after they lost to
16:50
Speaker 1: Milwaukee the day that showed a pitched Okay, got hurt,
16:55
Speaker 1: and they're four up now, so they've gained a game.
16:59
Speaker 2: You know, it seemed like there was panic right when.
17:05
Speaker 1: When when this lead was had had fallen to two
17:09
Speaker 1: games or game and a half whatever it was. Uh
17:12
Speaker 1: And like I said before, they quickly responded, we'll see
17:17
Speaker 1: how they handle this injury.
17:18
Speaker 2: I do think it's a you know, to.
17:21
Speaker 1: Get to have the Steel injury, to weather that, to
17:26
Speaker 1: have the Imanaga injury, to whether that eventually this stuff
17:30
Speaker 1: catches up to you. Yeah, like I said, I do
17:34
Speaker 1: think it. It It happened at a time where they
17:37
Speaker 1: can kind of weather the storm. But you know, you
17:42
Speaker 1: get through this week, you get through the draft on
17:46
Speaker 1: Sunday and Monday, correct, Yes, I mean would any like
17:50
Speaker 1: this is when the stuff starts ramping up. So maybe
17:54
Speaker 1: there's a move to come in the next two weeks
17:58
Speaker 1: that that eases this. I don't have the schedule in
18:04
Speaker 1: front of me as far as what comes up after
18:08
Speaker 1: the break, and how many you know, they have five
18:11
Speaker 1: straight after the after the break, six straight after the
18:14
Speaker 1: break with the day off, so you know, it's not
18:16
Speaker 1: like they have a ton straight right after the break.
18:19
Speaker 1: There's ways that you know, they can kind of push
18:21
Speaker 1: this and and if there's a move to be had
18:24
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later, that's probably what they want to
18:26
Speaker 1: do rather than keep going Jordan Wicks or or bullpen games.
18:32
Speaker 1: But you're right, like they've they they've done a great
18:34
Speaker 1: job so far weathering these injuries and and they've and
18:37
Speaker 1: they've been they've been really resilient.
18:40
Speaker 2: Ah, it's just too many.
18:44
Speaker 1: You can't keep losing starters and expect to gain on
18:48
Speaker 1: the competition every single time. So so a move is
18:51
Speaker 1: going to be made. I think there are Uh, here's
18:56
Speaker 1: something else. I was talking to someone, and here's the
18:59
Speaker 1: r argument for making a move sooner rather than later.
19:03
Speaker 1: They they are looking at pictures that may not be
19:08
Speaker 1: dominant right now that they believe there are I don't
19:13
Speaker 1: want to say like overhauls because they're not because you
19:16
Speaker 1: don't want to do that in the middle. You certainly
19:18
Speaker 1: wouldn't acquire someone and say we're overhauling this guy, you know,
19:21
Speaker 1: like Nate Pearson last year, who they thought the short
19:25
Speaker 1: term and a long.
19:26
Speaker 2: Term plan with him.
19:27
Speaker 1: That's not the type of acquisition you want to see
19:31
Speaker 1: them make. Not I mean, it's fine if they do,
19:33
Speaker 1: but not someone that's going to impact. That's not someone
19:35
Speaker 1: you expect to impact the playoff run. But if there's
19:38
Speaker 1: someone that's like a grip change or a slight change,
19:43
Speaker 1: or you know, standing where you stand on the mound,
19:46
Speaker 1: or maybe if it's an arm path thing that can
19:49
Speaker 1: take a little while, like how long does that take?
19:51
Speaker 1: How willing is the guy to listen? So there are
19:55
Speaker 1: people in the organization that are saying, we need to
19:57
Speaker 1: get this done now as soon as possible. The sooner
20:00
Speaker 1: we have it, the quicker we can make these adjustments
20:03
Speaker 1: with the player. And those are some of the cases
20:07
Speaker 1: that you know, we're digging in on names and we'll
20:10
Speaker 1: be sure to find some information soon enough. But those
20:14
Speaker 1: are the more I guess extreme cases or cases of
20:18
Speaker 1: guys that may have like a four and a half era.
20:21
Speaker 1: It's like, we see how we can make this guy
20:24
Speaker 1: a three era or three and a half era, whatever
20:27
Speaker 1: it may be. The Cubs are good at that, and
20:31
Speaker 1: I think they're getting better at that. So how quickly
20:36
Speaker 1: you can do that matters right now at the trade
20:39
Speaker 1: deadline and how how long you have to work with
20:42
Speaker 1: the guy. An extra week to work with someone could
20:45
Speaker 1: be the difference between a couple wins.
20:49
Speaker 4: That's a great point.
20:50
Speaker 3: I hadn't really thought of it in those terms, but
20:53
Speaker 3: they definitely have credibility in that space, and I think
20:57
Speaker 3: there is something to the change of scenery idea. You'd
21:01
Speaker 3: also have, you know, amazing defenders all around you.
21:07
Speaker 4: That helps as.
21:08
Speaker 3: Well a really good catcher setup, even with Miguel Amaya
21:13
Speaker 3: still sideline, Like, there is a lot of kind of
21:17
Speaker 3: things you can point to, and it seems like the
21:20
Speaker 3: way they're thinking about this as well is like what's
21:24
Speaker 3: the best possible thirteen man staff? And this is the
21:28
Speaker 3: council out getter philosophy of like, Okay, maybe maybe there
21:34
Speaker 3: isn't that like obvious game one player playoff starter out there,
21:40
Speaker 3: like you're not trading for like Randy Johnson or whatever.
21:43
Speaker 3: Think of like the biggest kind of deadline trains ever.
21:45
Speaker 3: But what if you get a guy who can give
21:49
Speaker 3: you five innings or maybe there's like a multi multi
21:51
Speaker 3: inning swingman that helps in a lot of different ways.
21:55
Speaker 3: I think they're thinking about it in different terms and
21:59
Speaker 3: maybe not just sort of the traditional way we've thought
22:02
Speaker 3: about the trade deadline.
22:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just I think that's console in general.
22:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, buddy, our buddy Paul Sullivan asked like, are you
22:12
Speaker 1: considering Chris Flexon as a starter? He asked a couple
22:14
Speaker 1: questions about starter, and he's like, and Council's like, I
22:17
Speaker 1: don't want to lecture you.
22:18
Speaker 2: I don't want to go on a whole diet dry.
22:19
Speaker 1: But he's like, I'd rarely caution you about using the
22:22
Speaker 1: word starter. I don't think of it that way. And
22:27
Speaker 1: I think Council's point was essentially like, you know, it's
22:30
Speaker 1: back to the outgetter mode. That's how he thinks, that's
22:33
Speaker 1: how he's looking at it. They'll piece it together however
22:35
Speaker 1: they feel his best. However, they can find ways to
22:38
Speaker 1: get wins. Maybe it's different in October. I think it
22:41
Speaker 1: is different in October because you can actually be more
22:44
Speaker 1: aggressive with how you when you pull guys, and it's
22:48
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, the six seven inning starters even
22:51
Speaker 1: I mean, it's valuable if you can get that, but
22:53
Speaker 1: it's not as common anymore.
22:56
Speaker 2: It's just they treat October differently.
22:58
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it, all Star, Matthew Boyd when we
23:02
Speaker 1: come back, Patrick, Nothing says summer like long days, clutch
23:06
Speaker 1: plays and firing off a few bets on the game,
23:07
Speaker 1: all with DraftKings Sportsbook.
23:09
Speaker 2: Never bet on baseball before. It's easy, pick a guy
23:11
Speaker 2: to go yard.
23:12
Speaker 1: Hammer some live odds mid game, or just ride your
23:14
Speaker 1: squad and hope for the best. No spreadsheets, just vibes
23:17
Speaker 1: and dingers. Here's something special for first timers. New Draftking
23:20
Speaker 1: customers get bet five dollars and get one hundred and
23:23
Speaker 1: fifty dollars in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings sports
23:26
Speaker 1: Book app and use code foul. That's code file for
23:28
Speaker 1: new customers to get one hundred and fifty dollars in
23:29
Speaker 1: bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks only
23:32
Speaker 1: on DraftKings.
23:33
Speaker 2: The crown is yours.
23:34
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
23:37
Speaker 1: call eight seven seven eight hope and why or text
23:40
Speaker 1: hope and why four six seven, three six nine. In Connecticut.
23:43
Speaker 1: Help is available for problem gambling call eight eight eight
23:46
Speaker 1: seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
23:49
Speaker 1: dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino
23:52
Speaker 1: and Resort, Kansas twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies
23:55
Speaker 1: by jurisdiction. Boyd and Ontario New customers only. Bonus bets
23:58
Speaker 1: expire one hundred and six eight hours after issuance. For
24:01
Speaker 1: additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkang dot co
24:05
Speaker 1: slash Audio Patrick Matthew Boyd is the cub's third All
24:11
Speaker 1: Star no other All Stars. Slight surprise, but you know, like,
24:15
Speaker 1: I just don't think it's worth going crazy over it
24:19
Speaker 1: because a like, every team needs a rep. The I
24:23
Speaker 1: don't think there was anyone that was just like, that's
24:26
Speaker 1: that's awful. You can't put that guy in the All
24:29
Speaker 1: Star game. Fans vote every Like I said, every team
24:33
Speaker 1: needs a rep.
24:34
Speaker 2: It's fine. It's not the end of the world.
24:36
Speaker 1: I think Michael Bush, with his fifth best way to
24:39
Speaker 1: runs graded plus in all of baseball, fifth best in
24:42
Speaker 1: all of baseball, deserves to be there. He's quietly been
24:48
Speaker 1: a monster on offense and just continues to get better
24:51
Speaker 1: at first base. He's a really good ballplayer. You know,
24:55
Speaker 1: who knows what Zaire Hope is gonna be fans, But
24:58
Speaker 1: Michael Busch is a great player right now helping this
25:03
Speaker 1: team win a lot of a lot of games. Carson
25:07
Speaker 1: Kelly probably deserves to be there. Nico Horners made a
25:13
Speaker 1: good case for himself lately, just a great defender, and
25:16
Speaker 1: say Suzuki obviously leads the league in RBI, just has
25:20
Speaker 1: turned into an elite power hitter.
25:22
Speaker 2: I think you could.
25:23
Speaker 1: Even make an argument if you wanted to for Daniel Palencia.
25:28
Speaker 1: But I think there's you know, it's I think they
25:31
Speaker 1: made a great selection with Matthew Boyd. It's a great story.
25:35
Speaker 1: He just I mean, I think we both talked to
25:39
Speaker 1: him in spring training. Easy guy to talk to, but
25:43
Speaker 1: also he's very He's both humble and confident in this
25:47
Speaker 1: way that that's easy to like, because you know, you
25:53
Speaker 1: don't always want the like.
25:56
Speaker 2: You like. Athletes have to be confident.
25:59
Speaker 1: You to hear that they believe in themselves, but you
26:03
Speaker 1: don't want it to be off putting. He's certainly not
26:06
Speaker 1: off putting, but he also believes in himself. And he
26:09
Speaker 1: said this in spring. He really felt like his best
26:12
Speaker 1: was ahead of him. And it can sound ridiculous when
26:15
Speaker 1: this is a thirty four year old who's said just
26:17
Speaker 1: like injury after injury for years now. But for some
26:22
Speaker 1: reason I kind of believed him. I was like, I
26:25
Speaker 1: can see what he's talking about. I did not see this.
26:28
Speaker 1: I did not see him being this good. I thought
26:30
Speaker 1: he'd just be like a really good three for them.
26:32
Speaker 1: He's been an ace, and he goes out there after
26:37
Speaker 1: tough losses oftentimes and shuts down the opposition.
26:42
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of foul balls.
26:44
Speaker 1: Yesterday, couldn't like at times, was couldn't end the bats quickly.
26:50
Speaker 1: Still ends up with nine strikeouts, just one walk, three hits,
26:53
Speaker 1: dominates the Cardinals for five innings. It seems like every
26:58
Speaker 1: time out there he's putting I think every start but one,
27:03
Speaker 1: he's gone at least five innings. Really only one stinker,
27:07
Speaker 1: and that was a rough one in Cincinnati where things
27:09
Speaker 1: kind of fell apart in the first inning, and he
27:11
Speaker 1: still battled through and gave them a decent four innings.
27:14
Speaker 2: It's just just a really great first half of the season.
27:17
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I think you can basically say,
27:20
Speaker 1: like we just talked about their rotation, he's he's been
27:23
Speaker 1: the's a key reason why that's not only stayed afloat,
27:27
Speaker 1: but drived.
27:29
Speaker 3: Gratitude is the word that he uses over and over again,
27:33
Speaker 3: and I think you can see that in the way
27:35
Speaker 3: he competes, the way he interacts with the media, his teammates,
27:41
Speaker 3: the way he carries himself in the clubhouse and just
27:44
Speaker 3: conducts his business in general. Just a really classy individual
27:52
Speaker 3: who looked really good with Cleveland last year of like
27:56
Speaker 3: the second half of last year. A guy who they
28:00
Speaker 3: trusted to take the ball in October. That's a big
28:04
Speaker 3: deal to me. The question mark was really just sort
28:07
Speaker 3: of like availability, and he has absolutely posted for this team.
28:13
Speaker 3: And as you say, like the just the innings, the volume,
28:17
Speaker 3: the workload that he has carried is really impressive. And
28:22
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Kyle Tucker has been a big
28:25
Speaker 3: part of like.
28:26
Speaker 4: The confidence of this team day to day.
28:28
Speaker 3: But I do think, you know, Matthew Boyd even though
28:31
Speaker 3: Ryan Presley, Carson Kelly, like the guys that they brought
28:35
Speaker 3: in are grown ups really, I mean just and they
28:41
Speaker 3: they're accomplished, they're experienced, and I think part of the
28:46
Speaker 3: reason why we haven't seen those extended down periods. You know,
28:50
Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd is a huge reason because of that. You know,
28:54
Speaker 3: so whether it's a stopper or you know, a guy
28:57
Speaker 3: that can match up against really any lineup in baseball,
29:02
Speaker 3: and if you're the Cubs, you feel like you have
29:04
Speaker 3: a decent chance of winning.
29:07
Speaker 1: You know, we talk about how the Cubs offense can
29:11
Speaker 1: win in a lot of different ways. I kind of
29:14
Speaker 1: feel like when I watch Matthew Boyd, I don't know
29:17
Speaker 1: which version I'm getting in a sense, like how's he
29:19
Speaker 1: going to win today? Sometimes he will rack up the
29:22
Speaker 1: strikeouts he has. It's like he has these outings where
29:26
Speaker 1: the where the strikeouts are just there's a ton of them,
29:28
Speaker 1: and he looks like a strikeout pitcher. But then you
29:31
Speaker 1: look at the overall numbers and they're not there because
29:34
Speaker 1: he as far as strikeouts. He has these huge strikeout games,
29:38
Speaker 1: but then they then then he'll just get weak contact
29:41
Speaker 1: or limit damage or or just you know, work deeper
29:45
Speaker 1: into a game because he's not striking guys out and
29:47
Speaker 1: just getting early outs with contact. It seems like he
29:52
Speaker 1: can win in a lot of different ways. He can
29:54
Speaker 1: attack the opposition a lot of different ways. This this
29:59
Speaker 1: is one of the those uh.
30:02
Speaker 2: Trust us wins in the free agent market.
30:06
Speaker 1: I think I think it's one of those things that
30:09
Speaker 1: you look at it side, I like, what, this is
30:11
Speaker 1: their big pitching move, this is how they're they're going
30:15
Speaker 1: to try and win the division.
30:18
Speaker 2: And then this happens and.
30:19
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, maybe we need to start giving them
30:22
Speaker 1: a little bit more leeway. They're they're getting some wins here,
30:25
Speaker 1: They're they're getting some free agent victories. What what are
30:29
Speaker 1: they What do they have behind the scenes that's working,
30:31
Speaker 1: Whether it's uh, the acquisition team, whether it's the pitching infrastructure,
30:36
Speaker 1: whatever part of the front office. It's multiple parts of
30:40
Speaker 1: the front office, but whatever part you want to give
30:42
Speaker 1: credit to. It's one of those situations where we're starting
30:47
Speaker 1: to see little things add up and and the Cubs
30:49
Speaker 1: are getting some wins there. Uh, for all the criticism
30:53
Speaker 1: we'ved oled out over the years, you know, I think, uh,
30:57
Speaker 1: they're they're starting to get wins.
31:00
Speaker 2: It's all, you know.
31:01
Speaker 1: I think For me, it was always like, hey, I
31:04
Speaker 1: think things are on the rise. Until I see results,
31:07
Speaker 1: it's going to be really hard to feel confident about
31:10
Speaker 1: that and forcefully say that this is one of those
31:13
Speaker 1: situations where.
31:14
Speaker 2: Okay, we're seeing results. Now.
31:17
Speaker 1: I think there are other ways that you can look
31:19
Speaker 1: at where they're seeing results. I don't think we really
31:24
Speaker 1: talked about this, but we I don't want to derail
31:26
Speaker 1: the Matthew Boyd conversation, but we talked about We talked
31:29
Speaker 1: to Dan Canterwitz on Sunday and there was something brought
31:33
Speaker 1: up about how in that Houston series it was Cam Smith,
31:37
Speaker 1: Cad Horton, and Matt Shall playing. That's their last three
31:40
Speaker 1: first round picks all playing in the game. That says
31:45
Speaker 1: something about this organization, Like how many teams can say
31:49
Speaker 1: that their last three first round picks. I think it's
31:52
Speaker 1: one other organization that can say that their last three
31:54
Speaker 1: first round picks were already in the big leagues and
31:56
Speaker 1: playing decently. Matt Shaw was struggling on offense, but once
32:00
Speaker 1: again he made some really great plays defensively this weekend.
32:04
Speaker 1: Kate Horton's been a huge part of this rotation, and
32:06
Speaker 1: you don't have Kyle Tucker without Cam Smith.
32:08
Speaker 2: And Cam Smith looks good. I think he's going to
32:09
Speaker 2: be a really good player.
32:11
Speaker 1: They got one of the best players in Baseball because
32:13
Speaker 1: of him, they're not able to make that trade without
32:15
Speaker 1: Cam Smith.
32:16
Speaker 2: It's huge. It's huge.
32:17
Speaker 1: There's multiple ways that a drafting players can help you.
32:21
Speaker 1: Your minor league system helps you, and you're seeing it
32:24
Speaker 1: pay off in various ways. The organization's gotten better. I
32:27
Speaker 1: think we're seeing signs of it. And you know, Matthew
32:31
Speaker 1: Boyd is a huge sign of things. Identifying talent getting
32:35
Speaker 1: it before, like acquiring that talent before. Remember the Brandon
32:39
Speaker 1: Morrow signing that was after he broke out. Matthew Boyd
32:43
Speaker 1: wasn't cheap, but he also like it was a good
32:46
Speaker 1: risk to take. It was about it's a type of
32:48
Speaker 1: risk you want to see smart organization's take. I you know,
32:53
Speaker 1: I'll always argue that they need to add more and
32:55
Speaker 1: spend more, not going to get off that hill.
32:59
Speaker 2: But it doesn't mean this wasn't a huge win for
33:03
Speaker 2: the organization.
33:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you still have to kind of believe in people,
33:09
Speaker 3: and I think Matthew Boyd is an example. Bob Knightingale
33:12
Speaker 3: wrote about this the other day, kind of something we
33:14
Speaker 3: had been planning on writing to be honest, but just
33:18
Speaker 3: how he's one of the nicest guys in the game
33:21
Speaker 3: and that he's a person of faith who's shown a
33:26
Speaker 3: lot of resiliency in coming back from all these injuries,
33:31
Speaker 3: very generous with teammates, someone who is like naturally talented
33:38
Speaker 3: and physically he's a big dude, but also just like
33:41
Speaker 3: loves the game, loves his craft, loves competing. This is
33:47
Speaker 3: certainly not someone who was like kind of like sort
33:51
Speaker 3: of hurt, sort of into it, just trying to get
33:54
Speaker 3: paid one more contract. Like no, like like you said,
33:59
Speaker 3: sot if he thinks his baseball is in front of him.
34:03
Speaker 3: And certainly this first half has been about as good
34:07
Speaker 3: as it gets from Matthew Boyd.
34:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, really easy guy to root for.
34:12
Speaker 1: You hope he continues to stay healthy and help his
34:14
Speaker 1: team out. Just just a huge piece of the puzzle
34:17
Speaker 1: this season for what's turning out to be what feels
34:21
Speaker 1: kind of like one of those special fun seasons. We'll
34:23
Speaker 1: see what it brings in the second half, what more
34:27
Speaker 1: is coming for this team, But so far it's been
34:29
Speaker 1: really exciting to cover. Matthew Boyd's a huge reason why.
34:32
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. We'll have a few more
34:34
Speaker 1: episodes this week. Appreciate everyone listening. This is Northside Territory.
34:39
Speaker 1: Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to subscribe, rate
34:43
Speaker 1: and review, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to
34:46
Speaker 1: The Athletic where Patrick and Ira on top of all
34:49
Speaker 1: things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone, take.
35:01
Speaker 2: Anything, do anything about the red.
35:15
Speaker 1: Dot. They any the
35:20
Speaker 3: Re