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Trade deadline preview: The Cubs will be ultra-aggressive · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. It is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: July July fourth. Actually we will be talking about this
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: for the next three plus weeks. This is going to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: be the focus of baseball and the Cubs, especially once
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the draft hits and teams can really focus in on this.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: But the trade deadline is It's always been one of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: my most the most fun I've had as a fan.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: When I was before I was in business, it's the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: most fun I would have. I just loved following along,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and now it's it's really fun as a reporter to
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: dig in and try and get the information and find
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: out what's happening. And when the team you cover or
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the people listening to this, the team you root for,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: are in it, in our buyers, it's all the more fun.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: And it's very obvious where the Cubs stand this season.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: They see the past couple of years we've been talking
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: about the are they in it? Are they out with?
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: You know? The I don't think we'll ever forget covering
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: that twenty twenty three deadline where it was back and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: forth trying to figure out that. You know, they were seller, seller, sellers,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: then suddenly they became buyers. Last year they shocked us
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: with some moves, very surprised with some of their buying,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: buying slash selling, and this year, you know, I don't
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: think we're going to be surprised by the decisions they make,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: but they could pull some rabbits out of a hat.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I think Jed Hoyer was talking about the need to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: be creative, but they're getting a starting pitcher. I think
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: that's the focus. I think that's what we've been talking about.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I think they've already started discussions and how they do this.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I think what they're talking about is how big do
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: we go, who's available, how do you get creative to
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: make something happen. Jedjuyer specifically brought up that concept of
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: maybe we need to do something unique to make to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: get what we need. So this is going to be
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: an interesting next few weeks and the Cubs are going
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to be in the think of it. There are people
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: predicting that the Cubs will be the most active team
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: or the most aggressive team and maybe making some of
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the most fun moves of this month.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really curious how these next few weeks unfold
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: more externally. Like to your point, we all know what
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the Cubs want, what they need. It's not hard to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: look at their pharmacist them and sort of pick out, yeah,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: like that would make sense. Those guys that would probably hurt.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's anyone untouchable. So you kind of
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: look around baseball and it's like, are the Diamondbacks They're
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: basically a five hundred team now are what are they
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: going to do at the deadline? And as you mentioned earlier,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: so they've like they're going to wait till the last minute.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: They do not want to sell at all.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Are the Knnessey Royals are not really trending in the
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: right direction? They have a couple of nice pictures. What
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: did Zach Efflin get healthy? Should the Orioles sell? Obviously
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the Marlins have been circled since last offseason with the
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Lizardo deal that fell apart.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: They obviously have a couple.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Nice pictures, and also curious to see, like who else
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: in the NL Central kind of puts their foot on
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: the accelerator here and who sort of drifts back this
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: fourth of July weekend series against the Cardinals. I think
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: will be interesting to that end, like can the Cardinals
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: keep doing this.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Or are they gonna.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Kind of fade and then get through the All Star
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: break and they just kind of don't really have it.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: They have no incentive to sort of add looks like
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: the Brewers are not going away. But like all of
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: this stuff here of you know, part of the conversation.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: You know, for Jets front offices, you know there's playoff
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: probabilities and there's a World Series odds, and like, are
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: the Cubs going to like go all out to maximize
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the World Series chances for this year? I sort of
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: doubt that that's not really how they operate. But having
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: said that, you're going to see, you know, multiple trades.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I think you got to go get a pitcher who
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: you trust to start a playoff aim. I think we'll
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: get into this later. A lockdown reliever that to me
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: is just kind of a a no brainer, and then
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: we'll get this this at the end as well of
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: just you know, do you strength and a strength They
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: have a nice offense, heavy players go just kind of
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: get more and so we'll see who becomes available in
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: this extra wildcard make things a lot more kind of muddled,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: particularly at this point. But yeah, Cups fans are kind
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: of get to the score board watching on a multiple
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: levels now, like, all right, who's who's going to be
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: selling in the next couple of weeks.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the the Royals have fallen back they had, They
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: had a really tough June. They're seven games under five hundred.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Cleveland's reeling right now. I'm not sure if there's a
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: starter that you that you target there, but but I
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: like set logo with the Royals, the Twins, if they
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: fall out of it, you never know who they uh
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: make available. The Athletics have Louis Severino. I don't know
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: if the Cubs want that contract. I think the Diamondbacks
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: of the team to watch for for Cubs fans. Uh,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: if Merrill Kelly becomes available. They have some relievers they
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: obviously will talk about right handed hitters and and Suarez.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: It would be a huge, huge addition to this offense. Uh.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: The Miami Marlins, it just I mean we've been talking
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: about them since since the offseason, and and they have
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: a couple arms that that you'd want to watch. Al Contra,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera, I think Edward Cabrera is going to cost
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a lot, and he's the type of arm that you
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: talk about having a good pitcher. He's a good pitcher.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I think the Cubs with the their their pitching infrastructure
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and the things they can do, could maybe get him
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: to another level. And that's he's a very interesting arm
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: that I don't know how much. It'll cost a lot
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: of years of control and not expensive. So that's the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: type of guy that you pay a hefty price for.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: You talked about it that they're their farm system. They're
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: kind of set up to kind of you know, do
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: they have a super deep, overflowing farm system. No, not anymore.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: A lot some of these guys have graduated, but they
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: have a few bats at Triple A that are going
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to be sought after. I think Kevin al Contra, Owen Casey, Moyses,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: by Asteros, even Christian Franklin's having a good season. All
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Contra's kind of gotten hot like he always does June
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and July or or when he kinds of turned kind
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of turns it on perfect timing for the for the
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: trade deadline. Uh and uh, I you know, Jordan Wicks
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: is healthy and pitching better that do the Cubs want
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to dangle him. These are all players that are going
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: to be attractive for other teams because they're ready for
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the big leagues. They don't really all have spots perfect
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: perfect spots for the Cubs. Jordan Wicks is good depth
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: now that he's healthy. It's good to have him depth wise,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: But these are the types of names you have to
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: look at and say, are the Cubs. They're likely willing
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: to part with these players for the right player, and
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: they're in win now modes, So go get some guys,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Go get go get a couple starting pitchers, frankly, but
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: why stop it at one if you can get a second.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Doesn't need to be a stud the second one. But
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: depth is so important, and I think the Cubs have
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: what it takes to go make some moves. It could
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: it staying in the future, sure, but this is you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I kind of liked Jen was talking about the idea
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of increasing World Series odds. He was addressing their oldest
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Chapman deal, and I think that's that's kind of of
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe I don't think we're quite there because they have
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: they're not quite running away with the division, but the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Brewers are still two and a half three games out
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: as we record, so it's not like they've just like
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: run away with things. So we can't quite talk about
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: just purely increasing World Series odds, but that's kind of
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: what you know, maybe some of these secondary moves will
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: help them do.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: No, no, I mean, this is.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: A great opportunity for this front office to really make
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: a mark here, and Jed says they can take on
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: money in the future, so part of this can also
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: be the twenty twenty six team making avoiding that cliff
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: that leads into the twenty twenty seven season, given all
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: of the players who are on kind of more of
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: a short term horizon here. But yeah, I think this
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: month will have Cubs fans just constantly refreshing their phone.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: I think you can see it at Wrigley Field. Just
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: the energy around this team and the moment sort of
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: demands a major reinvestment from ownership, from the business side,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: from baseball operations, to really go all in and not
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: really worry what you know, some minor league player might
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: do five years from now. This is the time to
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: go for it.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Patrick, Let's take a quick break and then come back
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and talk about the bullpen.
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• 11:43
  Speaker 1: The bullpen is always the need for every contending team.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I like this bullpen a lot. I think there's some
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: really good talent. There's the delivery that pitched really well.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's much of a debate anymore, or
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: it's I think it's just the volatility of it all
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: that you have to be aware of that. You know,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: there's second in hitting bullpen the ra for the season
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: in baseball. I didn't. I didn't realize that. I just
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: wanted to go check. So they have a good bullpen.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: But three months ago Porter Hodge was the best reliever
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: in this bullpen. Now he's you know, relegated to like
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: kind of building back up and showing what he can do.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Can he be a dominant reliever still? Uh? Drew Pomerantz
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: three months ago was in the minors and not not
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: expected to be a part of anybody's bullpen contemp Like
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: a year ago he was contemplating retirement. Uh, you know,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: these things can change quickly. Chris Flexen was not anybody
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: anyone expected to be a big part of a bullpen
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: He's doing a really great job of eating innings in
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: games that maybe are getting out of hand or where
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: they just have they're down a few runs and you
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: want to try and stay in it type thing that
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: saves bullpens. Daniel Plancia was a mess a year ago,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: and now he's a different pitcher. So you don't know,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you don't know what's going to happen next week, and
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: they don't have August in September to add a bunch
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: of pieces. I do think they have some decent depth
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: in the minor leagues. I do not think that's an
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: excuse to say, don't go and get someone there's you want.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, Ryan Presley is good, he's been good, He's
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: had some really rough moments. There's probably a few other
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: names I'm just completely blanking on in this group. You know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Brad Keller, of course, Caleb Thielbar all of these guys.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I just don't know where they'll be in a month
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: or two. They've been really, really good this season, so
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: but you just want to continue to re enforce it.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I think listening to Jed Hoyer, there's they're they're going
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to add a bullpen piece. I do wonder if they
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: add a stud, Like, are they are they looking for
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: a stud to add to this bullpen because October is
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: just completely different than you know, April through September.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, to paraphrase Jed, like they wouldn't be doing
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: their jobs if they weren't actively looking for that that
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: dude at the end of the game. And you know,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: like you said, the playoff format and schedule really accentuates
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the value of a shutdown reliever. And you have a
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: manager who developed a reputation for being very good at
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: deploying those types of pitchers, and it's kind of like
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: what Kyle Tucker did for the offense. There's this kind
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: of cascading effect when you have that guy who can,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you know, put everyone else like a little lower on
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: the pegging order, they don't have to shoulder quite as much.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: And then maybe that guy you're using in the eighth inning,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you're using in the seventh inning.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: It just kind of shortens things, it organizes things, and
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: you know, that just seems like you have another no brainer,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Like who that guy is, We'll have to kind of see,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: but like the concept is sound like I don't think
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: there's any doubt that comes want to go out, uh
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: and do that, because you know we're talking about what
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: like five pm Chicago time, July thirty. First they have
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: to think about or hope they're planning for like three
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: more months. And to your point, things change so fast
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: in the bullpen. It's changed within this season multiple times,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: and so you have to plan accordingly.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they I mean, I need to give a lot
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: of credit to the pitching infrastructure for putting these guys
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: in the right place to succeed and getting the most
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: out of them. But it's it's never it's never enough.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I don't think you can ever feel comfortable with a bullpen.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I don't think you can ever feel like the work
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: is done there. Uh Jen Jen doesn't hide that from us.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: He says, He straight up says that you can't. It's
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: it's a very uneasy feeling with the bullpen because you
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: never know when things turn U. I let's let's get
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to our DraftKings spot like Patrick, because there's there's a
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: player that I think is worth really digging into and
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: giving a ton of credit to, all Right, Patrick or
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: DraftKings player spotlight. It's it's Daniel Palencia and he I
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: really got to give him so much love for the
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: season that he's having. Last seas, he would come out,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: have an okay outing, you know, be touching triple digits,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: and then he'd be asked to come out for a
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: back to back outing and he'd be down to ninety seven.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: He'd be in his head, he'd walk guys, he'd have
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a give up hard contact. He just didn't look look
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: like a reliable reliever. Completely different player, came into spring
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: training with a different body and a different mentality. Uh,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and he's become this dominant reliever who has a one
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: seventy four ERA. He's striking out nearly, He's striking out
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: twenty eight point seven batter twenty eight point seven percent
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: of batters. He's got a sub one whip just you know,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: he's got ten saves. So it's not a ton of saves,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: but just I mean, just go back to that first save.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I believe it was his first save opportunity of the season.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: You know, Hodge was not available. We were eyes that
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Hodge wasn't the one getting the save opportunity, and that
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: was right before Hodge went on the il and plenty.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: It blew the same, he didn't it wasn't It wasn't
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a great outing. He got two quick outs and then
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: and then it all kind of fell apart and you're like, oh,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: can he not handle this? And he's been nailed since.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, some of these saves are just some of
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: the you know, best best types of saves, high leverage,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: really big moments, tight games, high energy, high pressure. The
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: one in Saint Louis to earn the split, I think
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: was just that was remarkable in the way that he
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: it things. He didn't allow things to fall apart like
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: he did in that first attempt where a double hit
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: by pitch, Wilson's barking at him. Very easy to get
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: in your head and say, this guy's yelling at me,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: overthink that situation. Focus on Wilson at first, just went
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: out there, attacked the next three guys, just dominant. It's
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: it's been fun to watch this development.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Great counsel allude to this the other day of just
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: how he got this sense from Polencia. Really from the
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: first time they talked in spring training this year that
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Poalencia was able to explain what happened last year and
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: assess his performance and talk through the adjustments that he
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: was planning to make and I think it's just kind
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: of maturity and confidence have really compounded here over the
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: last several weeks. I mean, it's been a couple of
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: months now of him being a trusted high leverage reliever.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: And you know, when you kind of zoom out, it's
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: like throwing one hundred miles an hour isn't like that
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: unique anymore. Like you still have to kind of go
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: out and do it. This is not you know when
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: a role as Chapman was doing it, you know, roughly
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: ten years ago, it was this anomaly like and now
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: guys just see that type of velocity a lot more.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: So you have to have conviction. You still have to
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: keep them off balance. You have to execute in the moment.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: He's done that. And also I think this is something
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that Jed has talked about over the years of young
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: leaders have to learn how to prepare and how to
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: have a routine and how to be able to handle
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: like those back to backs, not just the ninth innings,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: but just like how we've seen this before of guys, Okay,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: you can have great stuff and have one great.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Outing, but can you come.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Back the next day and prepare again and be ready
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: when the phone rings in whatever inning it is, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Polentci has earned, you know, more and more opportunities. I mean,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: he was a guy who you didn't make the opening
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: day roster, right, I mean he was part of that
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of shake up when in April when
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: the Cubs were playing relatively well, and I didn't think
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: he would be closing games for a first place team,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: you know, heading into fourth of July weekend. But you know,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: as we've seen, things can happen fast for guys who
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: have real talent, and that's now seems to be applied
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: with a very nice approach to the game.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Mentally, Yes, and I think it is important. It is
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: an important lesson for the Cubs, and I think now
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: they have a lot of things in place to get
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: these things right. Maybe they didn't always have that, but
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: don't don't give up on stuff. You know, you may
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: not things may not be clicking. The guy may you know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: may not have, may not be doing exactly what you
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: want them to do on and off the field, executing
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the game plan, whatever it is, stick with it, try
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: and get through to them. They've they've given up on
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: some guys. Manny Rodriguez, Jeremiah Strada. There's probably a name
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: or two that I'm not thinking of, but these are
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: really good relievers now in the big league's quality relievers,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: and and they didn't give up. It would have been
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: easy to just like throw Daniel Palancia into a trade
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: and include him and say, here's a here's a reliever
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: with stuff, go go get him, go go figure it
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: out with another organization. We're not going to spend any
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: more time. They didn't. Uh, he's figured it out and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and he's a huge part of this Cubs team and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and really made sure just solidify the back end of
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: that bullpen. All right, now, let's turn it over to
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: producer Jeremy Meyer for our North Side Territory producer pick.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Thanks Tohtive for my north Side Territory producer pick. I'm
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: gonna stay in the division and pick the Milwaukee Brewers
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: to lose two of three to the Miami Marlins this weekend.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: Miami is suddenly playing great baseball, and we'll throw both
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: Sandy Alcontra and Edward Cabrera in this series to pitchers
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: possibly auditioning for new clubs over the next few weeks.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: Brandon Woodruff makes his Brewers return Sunday, but we don't
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: know what we'll get from Big WU. So I'm betting
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: one hundred dollars on the Marlins to win the series
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: against the Brewers. I got it at plus one ten,
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: So hot. Evan Patrick back to you.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use code foul. That's
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: code foul for new customers to get one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty dollars in bonus bets instantly when you bet just
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• 24:13
  Speaker 3: Patrick.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: The Cubs have the second most runs in baseball by
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: way to run screated. Plus they're third by war They
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: are the best offense in baseball according to Fangrass. This
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: isn't a weakness of the team. They're not. This isn't
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: an area that you look at on the surface and say, oh,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: they're struggling desperately need help. Over the last month and
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a half or so, they haven't been hitting lefties as well.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: You can point to the great lefties that they've faced,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and I'm not ignoring that Tarik Skooble, Mackenzie Gore, Jesus Losarto.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I'm probably missing multiple awesome lefties that they've faced in
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: like Cy Young quality types face to the A couple
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: lefties from the Reds and Rabbit Nicolodolo look really good,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: really good lefties, Guys having great seasons or guys that
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: have you know that we know are great pictures. I
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: still think that they need a righty bat. I don't
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: it doesn't you know you Hennio Suarez would be Oku.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: It would be you could. It would not be moving
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: matt Shaw for the future. Matt Shaw would still be
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the third basement of the future. It would be Suarez
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: would be just like this Masher in the middle of
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the lineup. That's all an already terrifying lineup, and he
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have to be he'd be like the fourth or
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: fifth best guy, kind of like say it has been
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: like you know you have these. It would just be
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: one of the scariest lineups in baseball. It already is,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and now you just solidify it. I think that would
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: be the dream edition. I also just think like, if
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: you find a righty specialist, a guy that just hits lefties,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: that's also good. We're justin Turner. It's like, I don't
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: want to completely give up on him. Yeah, but you
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: have some I do think you could. You could upgrade
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: it and find a pure lefty mash or someone that
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: just mashes lefties and and you can play regularly against them,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: pinch hit, whatever it be. They have some and the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: bench isn't as strong as it looked early on in
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the season. The doll Bruhan is kind of just there
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: for his versatility and the occasional pinch running situation is
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: at bats just don't give you like they leave a
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: lot to you know, leave a lot to be desired.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd add.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: Fran Berveldez to that list of lefties that they they face.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: That was a recent one.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: I think, Council you even said after Kate Horn's out
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: of like, you know this is gonna be good for
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: you to playoff is we're going to type of lambs
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: you're going to see.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: And I think it's the same way.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: You can look at it offensively, of like what can
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: you put together one through nine to go up against
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: some of the best pitchers in the game, whether it's
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: starters or those bullpens, like we talked about in the
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: previous segment, when managers are really going to be antsy
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: of putting their best pitchers in the highest leverage situations
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: over and over again. And so I think if you're
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: trying to build the best lineup one through nine, the
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: best active roster one through twenty six, the deepest possible
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: forty man roster, I think you make those additions and
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: sort of, you know, at least one hitter and figure
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: out the rest later.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: I just think the injury risks.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Again, a manager who's really good at pushing those buttons,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: you know who did it with the Brewers for a
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: long time of mixing and matching, I think that's an
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: easy ad. Obviously, Suarez would be kind of the home
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: run addition. But I don't think it would cost that
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: much to add a you know, a competent professional hitter.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: And and I'm with you, I think you can keep
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Justin Turner around. I think he means that much in
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse, and he is. His track record has been
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: so long. His playoff experience is just almost unmatched when
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: you look at just the amount of the bats he's had,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: just the series he's been through, his influence on Picrow Armstrong.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's in either or with him.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: But again, there's a lot of time to where what
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: we think is not a need today that could drastically.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Change by tomorrow. That's just kind of the nature of
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: the game.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are players available that could just crush lefties.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: And and like you said, I think you wrote in
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: your piece talking about adding a bat, you mentioned JD. Martinez,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly, I don't like even at the time,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the cost wasn't looked at. It's like this high cost.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: You can get an impactful bat on a rental and
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: it just doesn't cost as much as pitching. There's just
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: so much more competition for relievers and starters yes, that
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: these these rental bats don't cost an arm and a leg.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: You add in if we're going to talk about Suarez,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: they have pitching there too. If you can somehow, I mean,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: they have enough talent in their system to go get
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a starter and a bat from Arizona. I mean one
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: stop shopping. You know, you get Merrill Kelly and au
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: henne O Suarez in one deal. You're feeling really good
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: about things. It's a you know that. I don't know
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: if they can pull that off. Like we've said, with Arizona,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: they are going to wait till the last minute. They
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: do not want to sell. They believe that things can
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: turn for them. This with a third wild card, makes
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: it there's incentive for teams to stay in and not sell.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you kind of adjust that and
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: make the trade deadline a little bit more interesting. That's
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: that's a topic for another day. But there's there's got
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: to be ways to adjust it. But I just that
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: if I would keep an eye on Arizona because I
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: think they're so important, and I also think that the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: type of organization we're selling or moving impending free agents
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: is really important to their success. They don't want to
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: give up on seasons, but they also understand that, hey,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: restocking our farm system can make us really good next year.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: You know, a player like Kevin o' contra or Owen
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Casey or whatever they're exactly in need of. Jordan Wicks
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: could be really valuable to them. Ben Brown, they're willing
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to move and Ben Brown. These are the types of
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: players that teams that are out like that believe that
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: they can win next year. Especially, they are very enticing
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: to these teams, so I would keep.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: An eye on them.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: I do think that's the home run team. But you know,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: there's plenty we talked about it in this episode already,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: there's plenty of teams that you can look at and
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the direction these teams go outside of you know, a
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: select few that seem like obvious sellers already, but there
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: are going to be teams that want to stay in it.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: I assume like Arizona, Kansas City, Minnesota. These are teams
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: that want to stay in it, so that we're going
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to have to monitor them and not just assume what
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: they're doing.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it almost feels like every trade
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: down like well, don't get your hopes up, like you know,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: there's not many seller, you know, and all of a sudden,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: like stuff happened, like comes trained for parade as was
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: not something that was on on our radar.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: Like things happen.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: They come out of the All Star break, they take
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: their sort of you know, mini vacations or just kind
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: of get away from a little bit, and then everyone's
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: on the phones constantly.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: And you never know.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: What could happen, Like I wouldn't rule anything out at
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: this point.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, it's going to be an insane month.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I'm sure for Cubs fans. There's gonna be a lot
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of rumors. We'll work our best to track them all
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: down and figure out what's real and what's not. Thanks
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: so much for listening to the North Side Territory. Make
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs.
• 32:36
  Speaker 8: Thanks so much for listening to everyone just
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: The day at