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News and notes before the next Opening Day · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Tokyo series over. The Cubs are back from Japan. I
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: am back from Japan. They are an h to baseball team. Currently,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: there's panic in the streets of Wrigley Bill.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Those are just people running wild watching marsh madness post
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Saint Patrick's dead.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: You know, there could be lots of reasons for that.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's I mean, I'm not gonna take
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: too much away from two games. You know, Matt Shaw
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: looked bad defensively one game and then great defensively the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: next game. What does it tell us? I don't know,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Like he he struck the ball well a couple of times,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: had some really bad at bats, say Suzuki had those
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: weird swings that he has had, like when he's in
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a slump. And then you know, Kyle Tucker got to
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: double up the wall. I don't I what does it
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: tell me? What does any of this tell me? Is
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Justice Steel bad now? Because he had a bad game
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: against the Dodgers, like, it's two games, they didn't play great,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: there wasn't much positive to take away from it. If
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: you want to panic, you're you're more than free to
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: do that. I just I just struggled to take two games.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Take much away from two games in the middle of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: March against the best team in baseball that was down
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: to two of the better players. But still it's just,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll see what the Cubs are. But I
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: get people that aren't like inspired by that, or or
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that we're already ready to be negative. You know, they're
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: going to lean into that, so uh, you know, go
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: for it. I guess.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I think some of the perspective is a little harder too,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: when this is a team that a couple of years
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: ago missed the playoffs by one game, and that even
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: two years later, the kind of payroll structure and roster.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Building philosophy has not evolved that much. Right.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: It's not like, you know, they just missed the playoffs.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: And they fire their manager.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Oh wait, they did and brought in counsel, but didn't
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: really surround him with a totally new and improved cast.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: So I kind of get that part of it. You know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: it's crazy. I think the Dodgers could just you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: basically sit to future Hall of famers and not a beat.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: But I think that's most teams, uh displayed of most
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: teams right now, it's kind of the Dodgers league. And yeah,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: I'm curious, like how do you feel? You know, I'm
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: trying to you know, reading something of the comments out
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: of Arizona and trying to picture what you know, athletes
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: are feeling, like how how do you feel after making
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: that long trip, not on a charter flight and not
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: having yeah, same accommodations.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well my my travel, like we don't we don't
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: need to spend too much time on it. But it
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: was insane. I went to Osaka, tried to check my
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: bags back in in Osaka and I was told, oh, no,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: you're at a different airport for your flight to LA.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I didn't really realize that when I was booking it.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: So I had to take a bus, like an hour
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: long bus trip to another to another airport in Osaka.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Glue to LA had a five hour layover there. It
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: was a five hour layover in Osaka, so I had
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: plenty of time to get to that other airport. And
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: you know, it was it was about twenty six hours
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: of travel with layovers. Surprisingly, I feel okay. I got
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: home late enough and that I just kind of crashed
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: hard and probably slept the best I slept in a while.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: So so so it worked out in the end. We'll
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: see where I am by, you know, like the rest
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of this day. I was able to stay up last
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: night and watch Illinois basketball, so that that put me
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: in a good mood. So we'll see if I'm able
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to push through and watch the more march madness. But yeah,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: back to Arizona soon enough. And I do like it's weird.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: It's supposed to be tougher on the way back. I
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: talked to some people that said, like, it's always harder
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: on the way back, But then some one person was like,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I've had some random trips where I'm okay on the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: way back, so it's so it's kind of random. I think,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: you know, it depends on when you land, how much
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you sleep on the flight, things like that, but right
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: now I'm okay. So who knows how those players are feeling.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I bet it's hitting everyone differently, you know, like like
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: that's my guess. Like what I was told was and
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I think this is what happened. I didn't pay super
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: close attention, but like, don't expect anything on Friday. As
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: far as regulars playing, I don't think. I think a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: couple of people that traveled played, but not like you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Dasy Swanson wasn't out there, Kyle Tucker wasn't out there,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and that was kind of the plan. Most of the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: pitchers didn't pitch. For my understanding, I think maybe Brad
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Keller was only one on the travel roster that pitched.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but he didn't. He didn't pitch much.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: You know, he pitched in the exhibition games and he's
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: not on the roster yet, so it makes sense that
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: he's just getting some time in there. I'm sure they
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: needed today or two. I think they may be back
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: at it. I wonder what the lineup looks like on
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: today's Saturday when we're recording. I wonder what the lineup
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: looks like.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, they never post the lineup like in
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: the clubhouse, but.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Our guy Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune had a
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: couple news and notes crediting him a special guest on
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: North Side Territory previously as well, but that Nico Horner
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: felt well, he was a regular who played, and that
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: seems to be on track for that domestic domestic opening
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: day in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. We also had a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: couple of unsurprising roster moves coming out of Japan in
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: that Eli Morgan and Jordan Wicks were both option to
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: triple A Iowa. I think we've kind of always viewed
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Wix as just a depth starter, that he's at Wrigley
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: when guys get hurt, and I think Eli Morgan is
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: interesting in that the option really works.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Against him in this case.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I don't think I don't think they think that we
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: were kind of tipped off to this, you know, in
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: the middle of March of like, look, they're going to
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: make a lot.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: Of decisions just based on that.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: So Eli Morgan is the prime example of a guy
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: who gets option to Iowa, but you don't know if
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: he'll even make it to Iowa, right, Like someone could
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: get injured in the intervening days to where they need him,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: but they expect him to spend a lot of time
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: in Chicago, just not maybe not from the start.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was actually told when he was acquired, like
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: he has an option, like you know, in an ideal world.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: You never use that because he's so good. But there
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: were a lot of moves made after that that made
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: that now make it make more sense to option him there.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: We've talked about this all spring. Really, they're not a
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: super optionable bullpen. There's a ton of guys that don't
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: have options. Craig Council, Jed Hoyer. They love death. They're
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: not going to start dfaing guys. I know there's good
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I saw it comments on my piece. I know people
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: want h oh jeez, why am I blanking on his
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: first name? Miller's cheez oh, Tyson Miller, Tyson. I wanted
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to call him Trevor Miller, Tyson Miller, dfaid or or
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: whoever they're They're ready to DFA guys that had poor
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: springs and listen, Tyson Miller may have a bad April
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: and uh and like may struggle and and then he
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: has earned his DFA. They need this type of depth.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: They need bullpen depth. They need to see who is
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: good and who is not. There are moments when you
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: think this guy's terrible, he's no good, he can't pitch,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and then and then they go on huge runs because
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: that's what relievers do. I mean literally, Tyson Miller was
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: DFA last year and then had a great run with
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the Cubs and and really stabilize their bullpen. So I
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: get it. Eli Moore can look good in one game.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: He very well can be and and needs to be
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: an important part of the bullpen. But when you have
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: an option, it's going to be used. Guys are gonna
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: come up and down and that's just part of baseball.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I was also like, it's also important to remember that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: these moves are for Jameson Tyne and Matthew Boyd. They
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: don't tell us anything. There more moves are gonna need
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: to be made. There needs to be a forty man
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: move made for Brad Keller, and there needs to be
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and also a roster move made for Nico Horner. So
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: someone's going like there's like someone's gonna be dfaide off
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the forty man and then two twenty six man roster
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: moves will need to be made. It could possibly be
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the same one for the DFA and the twenty six man.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: We'll see, but those guys are unless again, unless there's injuries,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: those guys are are going to be on the domestic
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: opening day roster. So and and like you said, Nico,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: that they reported from out of Arizona, Sully and whoever
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: else was out there. Nico's back and he was in
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: a major league spring training game. He'd been playing in
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: minor league games. He looks good, he looks fine, he
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: looks ready to go right like all that matters his
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: health and playing and getting those innings in. I think
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: that you know, I'm sure he's bumped of misterr Pan,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: but obviously it's the right move to get them, get
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: them some time out there, Patrick, Before we do anything else,
• 10:07
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• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, seriously, I've not seen that one before, so it
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: threw me. Sorry. So one of the things. Uh again,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna take anything too much away from those games,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: but when when you see the team struggle with runners
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: in scoring position, it's an instant like that is an
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: instant trigger for fans. It's just like if a bullpen
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: blows a lead. These are the types of things that
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: trigger fans, I believe, going off memory, the number was
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: two for fourteen with runners in scoring position. They they
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: had a game plan going into Game two against Roki
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Sasaki and nailed it like they were going to take pitches,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: they were going to force him to Like this guy
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: is making his debut major league debut in Japan, in
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: his home country for the Dodgers. Like, that's a huge
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: moment for the kid. They were hoping he'd be a
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: little rattled, and I don't know if it was just
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: nerves or you know, like kid has a little trouble
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: finding the zone in general. Who knows. We'll see what
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: he's like as the season goes on. They drew a
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: ton of walks, They had a great approach, they couldn't
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: get the big hit right. And that's that's when stuff
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: like that happens. It frustrates fans and you're trying to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: extrapolate it and say this is what it's going to be.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: I have no clue if that's what it's gonna be, right,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I believe if they can get men on base and
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: that they they'll eventually start driving them in. My point
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: is they face two talented pitchers in a good bullpen.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: That's not going to change. They faced Zach Gallon and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: then in all I don't know if it's official, but
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Gallon has Opening Day we know that, and likely followed
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: by Corbyn Burns. I assume is Corbyn Burns. It's a good,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: good pitching staff Mayl Kelly, I'm sure I'm missing. Uh.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: They have young talent that I really liked on that
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: pitching staff. Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, So I mean they
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: have a ton they have they have veterans, they have
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: good young pitching. It's a tough it's a tough team.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Playing the Diamondbacks for four in Arizona is not going
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: to be an easy set of games. It gets no easier.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: They're face tough pitching. They're going to continue to face
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: tough pitching. The NL is stacked right now, so so
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: get ready for and and their April their March April
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: schedule is stacked, so get get ready to get likely
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: be frustrated. Cubs fans like they they may win some
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: of these games. They like they they're gonna have to
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: outpitch them. Though the offense may not get off to
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: a roaring start. Well see, maybe they do because it's Arizona,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and maybe they're just you know, Kyle Tucker elevates the group.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Say Suzuki gets hot, whatever, who knows what happens, But
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like Yamamoto looked great, Sasaki was fine,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and you know, got through the big moments, was able
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: to keep the traffic limit the damage, but it's not
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: getting easier.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you we heard this throughout the off season
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: as a group of us were reporting on Sasaki at
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: different points, Like it was emphasized, he is not a
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: finished product yet.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: He is not quite Yamamoto.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: He's certainly not when Darvish came out, not as experienced
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: as Sega, like no doubt one of the most gifted,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: talented pitchers on the planet, but not as refined or
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: as polished.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: So the Cubs probably caught him at a good.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Time, like if you'd want him, probably in his debut
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: in his own country, dealing with nerves after his first
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: major league spring training or not even a full spring training.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean that could be sort of missed opportunity.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: And you're right, I mean you've hammered the schedule before,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: and I think we're going to have to continue doing it.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: When you're looking at, Okay, playing in Sacramento in a
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: minor league ballpark after facing a really good Diamondbacks team,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: you know, getting the Padres and the Rangers for your
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: first home stand, then going back out west to Dodger
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Stadium to San Diego, then come home you get the
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Diamondbacks and the Dodgers and the Phillies as a home stand,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: and then at the end of April you go to Pittsburgh.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: So like and I mean a good pitching staff at Pittsburgh,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: I mean you may yeah, yeah, guys like that.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: Exactly, like it's it's not.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: But this is the second half of that road trip
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: is at Milwaukee, so you know, we'll see, like we
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: have to do this exercise in the athletic of making
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: preseason predictions, and like when picking a World Series winner,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: like I probably would have picked six or seven National
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: League teams before one American League team, Like I really
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: sort of struggled to envision, Okay, who's gonna win the
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Pennant in the American League, Like who do I think
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: has a really just like stacked loaded team that can
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: keep winning And you can kind of to me cross
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: out the Central.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: The West has some interesting team, you know, the East.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I don't think any team in the East is really
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and the American League East is you know, fully what
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: we think of as the American League East as just
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: like you know, kind of that monster team where kind
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: of everything is kind of going in the same direction,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: and that that's what the Cubs are doing with This
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: is why Jed Hoyard said, your wins are.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: Gonna be at a premium in the National League.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: That's why they wanted, you know, more resources, why they
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: you know, went in for Kyle Tucker and things like that.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be it's gonna be a hard, hard place
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: to earn a playoff spot.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and and uh, I think it was Ken Rosenthal
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: those saying on on on one of the foul territory shows,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: uh that you know, these things are cyclical. It's not
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: gonna be like the NL dominates forever, but right now,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the n L is a very difficult place, uh to play.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be hard to Like the division may not
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: be hard, but the NL is stacked. There's just a
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: lot of talent around. And uh, you know, you have
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the big money teams. You have a team like Atlanta
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: that probably are we overlooking them because they just weren't
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: as dominant last year and they had a lot of
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: injuries and they still they still make the playoffs, but
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: they didn't make a lot of noise. So yeah, like
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: it's I am curious to see how they settle in,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: right Like I kind of I kind of want. I
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: don't want to completely throw out the Japan Games, but
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I kind of but like there's like part of me
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: that's like that just tells me nothing. It was just
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: such a weird set of circumstances. So I'm eager to
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: see how they look and how they It's going to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: be a challenge this first month, like May. And one
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of the things I saw, I saw this strength of
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: schedule chart someone tweeted out and it showed it by month,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and they have the hardest month if you look at
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: March and April, the hardest month obviously strength of schedule
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: based off last year's record. Right, hardest month of any
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: team is March April Cubs. Easiest month of any team
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: is May Cubs. So you'd you'd like to I think
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the scenario that the Cubs realistic scenario, right, dream scenarios
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you you just dominate in the first month because here
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you turn out to be one of the best teams, right,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: But realistic scenarios you I'm through that first month, stay
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: healthy and you're around five hundred, and then you clean
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: up and may build your confidence and get and like
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of things. Something that I
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: don't think fans fully understand, Like they'll start breaking the
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: season down into segments and be like, well, they're five
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: hundred from this point, they may be ten fifteen games
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: over five hundred. But baseball is majority of the time,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: it's not like the twenty sixteen season where you like
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: pretty much every month you're awesome. You have one great
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: stretch and that catapults you into the postseason. That happens
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: a lot where you just have this stretch where you're
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: fifteen games over five hundred, and then the rest of
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the season you're like four games over five hundred or
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: two games under or something like that, you get into
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. That's just kind of how it works a
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: lot of times at baseball. Like that's not you want
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to be the dominant team. You want to like constantly
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: be super consistent, but you need one great month sometimes
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and like it can may be that month. You just
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: don't want that to be counter bounced by a terrible month.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: So that's that's kind of how you have to hope
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: it works out. I don't know. I don't know how
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: this April, this March in April is gonna go. If
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I if I did, you know, I'd be making a
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: lot of money, not betting on baseball.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: No, definitely not betting. I think the Cups did crush
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: it for.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Most of last April, too, right, I mean, I think
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: they started seventeen and nine or seventeen and eight something
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: like that, and everything was kind of they were kind
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: of rolling, and I think that series at Fenway Park
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: became you know, your default of like office stats and
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: then then yeah, yeah, falling off.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Right right when, right when Dansby said, like, we asked him, like,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: are you just a good team? And he said, I reckon.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Ever since then, they just they went in the tank
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: right after that. I was like, Ah, you can't say
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: you're a good date. I mean just kidding. Obviously you
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: believe you're a good team, you say it, but no,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I just I.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Think that's a good way to kind of wrap this
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: up here, because a huge part of the logic of
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: the season was bringing in two guys from the Houston
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Astros and Ryan Presley and Kyle Tucker to just shrink
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: those terrible stretches that every team goes through inevitable slumps.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: But the Cubs have had a recent history of letting
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: that just snowball into like six seven weeks of bad baseball,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: and we'll see what Ryan Presley can do out of
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: the bullpen. If he can, you shut the door with
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: some of those close games. But Kyle Tucker is obviously
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: supposed to be that elevating presence. And I'm sure you
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: saw a channel the Rome Rome story in the Athletic
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Our Colleague at the Athletic and also on the Foul
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Territory Network. Just a great story on Cam Smith and
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: how he has just blown everyone away.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, Patrick, I We've talked about this right, like
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you have to give up talent to get talent. I
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: think Kyle Tucker is one of the top five offensive
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: talents in the game, maybe all round talents in the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: game really because he can, he can run, he can
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: he can play defense. I I've liked Cam Smith since
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: they drafted him. I've heard nothing but good things. This
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: is not like, this is not that surprising. Am I
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: surprised that he's in the conversation to make the team. Yes,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: that's a little aggressive to me and surprising. I am
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: not surprised that he's shooting up prospect rankings. I've been
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: saying it since he drafted, Since he was drafted, they
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: were like this is the guy. This is people think,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: like we're gonna look back at that draft and say,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: why wasn't he the number three pick? Why was he
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: available when the Cubs selected him? That's that's what I've
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: been told, not by one person. By Look, I got
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: so many texts when he was drafted that like from
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: people outside the org. Great pick. The Cubs nailed this.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: They didn't overthink this. They got the right guy. You
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: watch watch this guy turn it, like turn it on
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: all season long. He hit the crap out of the
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: ball from the moment he got in pro ball. Look,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: he could he could flounder when he gets to the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: big leagues. This could all be smoking mirrors. I don't know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: but like, this is not something this didn't It's not
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: like the Cubs didn't know what they had. It's not
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: like the cut like they they had to they felt
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: they needed to be aggressive, they needed to win now,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: and they had to add a difference making bat. We've
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: been how much have we said that, Patrick, Like how
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: much have we talking for.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: You as the same same thing. Yeah, we've talked about
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: this with Jed.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: This is not something they like sneak off and do
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: a podcast on like Jets were very open about this.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so they did what they had to do.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Like I do wonder, like what it's gonna look like
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: in five years. Uh they if they don't, if they
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: aren't unable to bring Tucker back, and Cam Smith is,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: you know, leading another like bounce back, Astros run whatever
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: it is. I don't know. I don't love the way
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that organization is run as far as the depth that
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: has right now behind all these older veterans. But Cam
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Smith is their best prospect and and he could be
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: one of the better players in the game in a
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: few years. We'll see. Like that's how I mean that.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: That's how effusive the praise was in the piece. And honestly,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: it's not much different like it was it was. The
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: piece was a lot like there was a lot of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: good stuff in there, and the players and teammates clearly
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: love him, and there were people that think very highly
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: of them. I don't know if I like I I
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: told Chandler when when he first when he first told
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: me about the potential of this trade, I'm like, the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Cubs aren't trading camp smith man. They love him, But
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: they did so, you know, they they they loved him
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: they still love him. He's a he's a highly he
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: thought of prospect, and he's mashing and getting insane praise,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: you know, good for him. It's going to drive I
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: think it's just going to drive Cups fans nuts. Like
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I think that's hard to hard to deny.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, the praise was over the top, sixty Homer sixty,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the next sixty Homer guy, that he's built like a transformer.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, all this stuff that could prove to be true. Ish.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: I just think if as long as the Cubs make
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: the playoffs and you know, Matt Shaw has a long
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: productive career at Wrigley Field, I don't think there should
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: be that much.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: Looking back.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: I think clearly the constraints Jed Hoyer's front office was
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: working within is also a factor too.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: You can't just like ignore that.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: Like these are types of trades that the Cubs sometimes
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: have to make, you know, if they're not just gonna not.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Even compete for you know, wants to.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Or you know, top of the rotation pitch if you
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: want to get better in different areas to cover up
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: for maybe some offensive deficiencies.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean definitely one of those like Gift.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: That keeps on giving for us would be something to
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: talk about. And you know, I think we've had very
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: limited interactions with Cam. I feel like it was a
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: zoom and then he was at Wrigley Field towards the
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: end of the year. But definitely very like polished, kind
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: of personable guy who you know, is confident, confident and
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: isn't a place, like you said, where they're not afraid
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: to rush guys to the majors. And also, you know,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Dana Brown is part of a you know, the Astra
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: GM is part of a interesting front office dynamic where
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: the owner has a lot of say like it's they're
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: kind of non traditional or a little unconventional. But his
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: background was in scouting, like that guy knows talent and
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: I'd imagine that he had Cam Smith's name, you know,
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: circles on a board somewhere like this is a guy
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: that we need.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, Well, like you know, I can't wait to
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: see how he performs, how how good he is. And
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the meltdown coms fans if they don't make the playoffs
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: is you know, I'm not sure if I can, we'll
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: be justifiable. Yeah, it'll be. Yes, they need to make
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. That Cam Smith. That has nothing to do
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: with that, right, Yeah, exactly, Cam Smith. If he's good
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: or not, it doesn't matter as far as the Cubs
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: need to make the playoffs this year. That's the bottom line.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's wrap this one up. We'll be
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: back next week, inching closer to domestic opening day, I'll
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: be back in Arizona. Uh and then eventually we'll be
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: back home. Right, We're about two weeks away from Brigley
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: opening day. Less than that, it's all creeping up on us.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: All right. Thanks for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subs ribe to The
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Athletic where Patrick and I are on top of all
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening to everyone. Take
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: it