Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / So far, the Cubs’ big offseason moves are backfiring

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So far, the Cubs’ big offseason moves are backfiring · 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
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The cub
0:17
Speaker 1: salvage one out in Colorado, but it is still not
0:23
Speaker 1: going great for this team. Losing the first two in
0:28
Speaker 1: Colorado to you know, barely being able to score runs
0:34
Speaker 1: off bad pitchers or you know, pitchers that have struggled
0:38
Speaker 1: all season long. Colorado was not the you know, you
0:44
Speaker 1: think you can get your offense going, build some confidence
0:47
Speaker 1: those first two games. That certainly wasn't the case. It
0:51
Speaker 1: felt like that grand slam from Saya Suzuki on Thursday,
0:58
Speaker 1: the game that they won, was just like this huge
1:01
Speaker 1: sigh of relief for the group because it almost felt
1:03
Speaker 1: like the way it was going, you know, a pop
1:06
Speaker 1: up and a strikeout would not have surprised anyone in
1:09
Speaker 1: that situation, you know, getting one or nothing out of
1:14
Speaker 1: that inning. It has kind of been the way things
1:19
Speaker 1: have gone for this team for over a month now,
1:22
Speaker 1: to the point where I think it's hard to just say, like, oh,
1:28
Speaker 1: this is a rout that like you have to start
1:30
Speaker 1: questioning is this what this team is and a big
1:34
Speaker 1: reason for their struggles, their failures, whatever you want to
1:39
Speaker 1: call it. Two months into the season, the a path
1:45
Speaker 1: off season has not paid off. It hasn't been a
1:49
Speaker 1: home run off season, you know. And this isn't you
1:52
Speaker 1: know it's at it falls at the feet of the
1:55
Speaker 1: front office. They're the ones that put it together. But
1:57
Speaker 1: it's not like we were like what is this offseason?
2:00
Speaker 1: They think this is a good plan, Like it looked
2:02
Speaker 1: like a really good off season on paper. It has
2:05
Speaker 1: not paid off. Edward Cabrera pitched well yesterday Thursday, it
2:12
Speaker 1: wasn't He's still not looking dominant. You know. It's a
2:17
Speaker 1: it's a weak Colorado team. But the stuff is back.
2:23
Speaker 1: I think that's that's step one. Get like, you know,
2:27
Speaker 1: start throwing ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine again, get
2:31
Speaker 1: some more break and movement on those breaking balls and
2:34
Speaker 1: change up looking nasty. Like those things are starting to
2:37
Speaker 1: at least come into place for him.
2:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, you said it well, like everyone.
2:45
Speaker 3: Understood what the Cubs were trying to do this past offseason.
2:49
Speaker 3: And that's kind of how this front office operates. Like
2:52
Speaker 3: they're very logical.
2:55
Speaker 2: They don't really open themselves up to.
2:59
Speaker 3: Their appetit for risk is such that rarely do you
3:02
Speaker 3: walk away like what are they thinking? And you know,
3:06
Speaker 3: the part of this is, you know, their budget is
3:09
Speaker 3: set in a certain range where they spend more than
3:11
Speaker 3: everyone else in the division, but they don't spend close
3:14
Speaker 3: to the teams at the top of the National League
3:16
Speaker 3: on the spending charts, and so they're trying to find
3:20
Speaker 3: that sort of middle ground. And this time, though, I
3:29
Speaker 3: think enough money was spent that it's hard to like
3:31
Speaker 3: just blame it on budget, Like these were guys they
3:35
Speaker 3: really really wanted, and Cabrera was when they wanted for
3:39
Speaker 3: a really long time that we'd heard his name through
3:42
Speaker 3: multiple transaction cycles and he's been a disappointment that this
3:49
Speaker 3: stuff just hasn't been as crisp as you would have hoped.
3:54
Speaker 3: And I enjoyed reading your piece in the Athletic. I'm
3:57
Speaker 3: just like what they were kind of working on and
4:01
Speaker 3: how that I don't know, spin Zone, the you know,
4:06
Speaker 3: blister on his right middle finger might have opened up
4:08
Speaker 3: an opportunity to kind of reset things for him, Like
4:12
Speaker 3: what were they trying to accomplish during that downtime?
4:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so if you you know, watch the
4:18
Speaker 1: broadcast or or you know, there were talk there was
4:22
Speaker 1: talk about it online. I saw like his arm slot
4:25
Speaker 1: was down. The Cubs noticed that, and a lot of
4:28
Speaker 1: times that that's a little scary because you're like, is
4:30
Speaker 1: this guy covering for an injury? You can't get into
4:34
Speaker 1: the position that you normally want to, is is the concern?
4:38
Speaker 1: And you're compensating that the Like, multiple people that I
4:44
Speaker 1: talked to were adamant, that's not the case. Uh, there's
4:47
Speaker 1: no injury like what it can like sometimes you're like,
4:50
Speaker 1: you can't get your arm up to a certain spot
4:53
Speaker 1: because it hurts your shoulder. That's not what was going
4:56
Speaker 1: on with Cabrera. It's not compensating for or an injury,
5:00
Speaker 1: not as far as what I've been told. They he
5:05
Speaker 1: basically is so strong in his upper half that sometimes
5:11
Speaker 1: he doesn't need to use his lower half as efficiently
5:15
Speaker 1: as he should, and that and that can lead to
5:18
Speaker 1: some of these things that we're seeing. So it's never
5:21
Speaker 1: like just raise your arm back up. That's never how
5:24
Speaker 1: you know, mechanics and deliveries, it's never that simple. It's
5:28
Speaker 1: not like, well I'm seeing this. It usually starts from
5:31
Speaker 1: somewhere else the bottom up is how Tommy Hotteby often says.
5:34
Speaker 1: It's like go to the bottom, see what's going on,
5:37
Speaker 1: and like kind of move your way up the body.
5:40
Speaker 1: He wasn't getting into his back leg. This is not
5:44
Speaker 1: something like they they realize this, and once he went
5:48
Speaker 1: on the il, they were like, Okay, now we can
5:50
Speaker 1: really spend time on this instead of instead of you know,
5:55
Speaker 1: trying to get through it quickly in between starts, because
5:57
Speaker 1: it's hard start to do that. It's almost like you
6:00
Speaker 1: make that start every five days and it kind of
6:03
Speaker 1: resets everything you're doing that you've been working on. So
6:07
Speaker 1: they worked on a bunch of different things, medball drills,
6:10
Speaker 1: long toss, the core, velocity belt. These are all different
6:14
Speaker 1: things that they used and just kind of hammered home
6:18
Speaker 1: some you know, muscle memory stuff to try and get
6:23
Speaker 1: him to use his lower half better. He's one of
6:26
Speaker 1: the things I've found interesting that Tommy told me is
6:29
Speaker 1: like when he does long toss, sometimes he needs to
6:33
Speaker 1: do it with intent, right, you're supposed to, Like that's
6:34
Speaker 1: something people talk about. Practice with intent, have a goal
6:38
Speaker 1: in mind. Don't just go out there and like mess
6:40
Speaker 1: around like there's a goal in mind. With everything that
6:43
Speaker 1: you do. He's so strong with his hands and his
6:46
Speaker 1: upper body and his arms are so strong that he
6:48
Speaker 1: can just like flick a ball two hundred and fifty
6:51
Speaker 1: feet and like, so he's barely using his lower half
6:56
Speaker 1: in long toss. And they kind of realize that this
7:00
Speaker 1: was something else that I heard even before they started
7:02
Speaker 1: talking about this stuff. Is they're still learning him. They're
7:05
Speaker 1: learning that they have to learn what he likes to do,
7:08
Speaker 1: how he prepares. And they saw him doing long toss
7:12
Speaker 1: and realize, is he doing that as efficiently as he can't? Like, Okay,
7:16
Speaker 1: you liked a long toss, but how about we have
7:18
Speaker 1: intent with it and make sure you're using your lower body. Yes,
7:22
Speaker 1: you can throw it that far just by whipping your
7:25
Speaker 1: hand and flicking it across the field. But that's that actually,
7:29
Speaker 1: you know, makes it like to create some bad habits
7:35
Speaker 1: where you're not using your lower body. So let's lose
7:37
Speaker 1: your lower body more efficiently. And and I think we've
7:42
Speaker 1: seen the results in the sense that he's throwing ninety
7:45
Speaker 1: seven ninety nine the results, it's I think people need
7:51
Speaker 1: to watch Edward Cabrera need to know, like his fastballs
7:54
Speaker 1: aren't his best pitches. If you watched the like obviously
7:59
Speaker 1: the game that he got lit up, things where like
8:02
Speaker 1: his command was off. But there are moments even in
8:05
Speaker 1: Colorado where that where that fastball was getting hit hard.
8:08
Speaker 1: Both those fastballs a sinker and the four seamer get
8:10
Speaker 1: hit hard. Some of them, you know, uh did damage
8:14
Speaker 1: some of them. You rely on that awesome defense that
8:17
Speaker 1: you have behind you.
8:19
Speaker 4: Uh.
8:19
Speaker 1: But the breaking balls in the change up have to
8:22
Speaker 1: be crisper, and they were. So that's that's what he
8:25
Speaker 1: lives off of. You want to see him level up.
8:28
Speaker 1: That's kind of why they got him right, That's what
8:30
Speaker 1: we were told. Haven't fully seen that, but I guess
8:35
Speaker 1: you could say Thursday was a step in the right direction.
8:39
Speaker 2: I mean, it has to be the other, you know.
8:43
Speaker 3: Another piece of pitching news that came out of Colorado
8:45
Speaker 3: was Craig Counsel telling reporters that Matthew Boyd had a
8:50
Speaker 3: setback and has ruled out for this weekend series against
8:54
Speaker 3: the Giants, delaying his activation off the list. This was
9:03
Speaker 3: sort of viewed as a foregone conclusion last weekend as
9:07
Speaker 3: the Cubs were about to wrap up a series at
9:09
Speaker 3: Wrigley against the Giants. If I have this right, now
9:15
Speaker 3: if you're scoring at home Boyd's had left biceps surgery
9:23
Speaker 3: on his left knee and al soreness in his left shoulder.
9:27
Speaker 3: You know, pitcher in his mid thirties, who has a
9:30
Speaker 3: rather extensive injury history. Very troubling to say the least,
9:37
Speaker 3: considering how good he was last year. I mean, at
9:40
Speaker 3: this time last year he was, you know, earning.
9:44
Speaker 2: An All Star selection.
9:46
Speaker 3: I mean it was like a sy young level performer
9:49
Speaker 3: for a lot of last season. I mean in the
9:51
Speaker 3: e ra A race, you know, well into the second half,
9:56
Speaker 3: and you know, we'll see you know, kind of when
10:01
Speaker 3: he eventually does return. But I think like banking on
10:05
Speaker 3: him to be that opening day starter level status again
10:12
Speaker 3: would probably be a mistake, and maybe he surprises us.
10:15
Speaker 3: He's great work, ethic, great reputation in the clubhouse, But
10:21
Speaker 3: clearly the story of the season on the pitching side
10:23
Speaker 3: is like other guys have to step up, and like
10:25
Speaker 3: this is why they acquired Cabrera thinking he could be,
10:29
Speaker 3: you know, a game one starter in a playoff series,
10:32
Speaker 3: like he's that good in theory, but as we've seen,
10:37
Speaker 3: the games aren't played on paper, you know, whatever their
10:40
Speaker 3: models say, like it's not being played by robots on
10:44
Speaker 3: their computer screen like it's actual human beings. And I
10:47
Speaker 3: think you're right, Like there has been this sort of
10:50
Speaker 3: feeling out period with Cabrera of like what's sort of
10:53
Speaker 3: the best way to put him in a good position
10:55
Speaker 3: to succeed.
10:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, obviously Cabrera needs to bring like they
11:02
Speaker 1: what was this rotation lacking? Probably stuff velocity and swing
11:06
Speaker 1: and miss. He really I mean, the velocity is there,
11:10
Speaker 1: The swing and miss hasn't been you know, it's been pedestrian.
11:14
Speaker 1: I'd say it has not been there to the level
11:17
Speaker 1: that the Cubs really need it. Again, they have this
11:20
Speaker 1: elite defense you can you can rely on it, but
11:24
Speaker 1: even that, like he needs to be better. I think
11:26
Speaker 1: I think he knows that. I think the Cubs know that. Also,
11:30
Speaker 1: jameson Tyn out till after the All Star break, I
11:34
Speaker 1: think was update. That was the other update given in Colorado.
11:38
Speaker 1: So obviously set back to Boyd is huge. Well, you know,
11:42
Speaker 1: Javier Asad filled in really well when Tyne got hurt initially.
11:46
Speaker 1: But the Cubs need a lot of things to go
11:49
Speaker 1: right right now, and the biggest thing probably is like
11:53
Speaker 1: the stars, the guys that they paid the guys that
11:56
Speaker 1: they brought in. They need to step up. Let's take
11:59
Speaker 1: a quick break and talk about someone else that we
12:01
Speaker 1: all know needs to step up in Alex Bragman.
12:06
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12:23
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12:26
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13:04
Speaker 1: Thank you, see Keek Patrick. I don't know what more
13:10
Speaker 1: to say about Alex Bregman. He obviously had a you know,
13:17
Speaker 1: a very candid moment with the media the other day.
13:23
Speaker 1: He has not been good enough, and he knows that
13:26
Speaker 1: everyone knows that finally had a big home run in Colorado.
13:33
Speaker 1: Is that a turning point? I don't know, but he
13:36
Speaker 1: his power numbers have been like it's not Nick Madrigal bad,
13:43
Speaker 1: but you know, bottom bottom, you know, ten fifteen in
13:48
Speaker 1: baseball as far as ISO, which is like a quick
13:52
Speaker 1: way of defining someone's power, you know, extra base acumen,
13:57
Speaker 1: and he just doesn't have it right now. And the
14:00
Speaker 1: amount of times we've seen him come up and like
14:03
Speaker 1: pop out with the bases loaded or men in scoring position. Uh,
14:07
Speaker 1: it just like and it's not like he's missing or
14:12
Speaker 1: it's not like he's not getting pitches to hit, he's
14:14
Speaker 1: just missing them. He's missing pitches that he should be
14:17
Speaker 1: pummeling at times. You know what would he's thirty two
14:24
Speaker 1: like it entering you know, his mid thirties. You have
14:30
Speaker 1: to wonder, is like, what what is happening here? Is
14:33
Speaker 1: this the typical cold start and he's turning a corn
14:37
Speaker 1: and he's about to turn a corner? Or is this
14:40
Speaker 1: a guy that you know may not be as good
14:42
Speaker 1: as he once was and the power may not be
14:45
Speaker 1: there consistently.
14:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, this one made me think of reading your story.
14:51
Speaker 3: In the Athletic of we described their off season lives
14:55
Speaker 3: like the plan a off season like under the circumstances
14:59
Speaker 3: give what they had to work with market forces, it
15:02
Speaker 3: was pretty close to how they envisioned it going or
15:08
Speaker 3: hoped it would go. And at this point, these major
15:13
Speaker 3: offseason editions, you essentially give them.
15:16
Speaker 2: A grade F. I mean there's kind of no other way.
15:19
Speaker 3: Like that doesn't mean it'll be that way for the
15:21
Speaker 3: whole time, but just in this sample thus far. And
15:27
Speaker 3: I think part of the frustration is we don't know
15:32
Speaker 3: when Bregman will decline. I actually don't think it's going
15:35
Speaker 3: to be like this summer is the drop off I
15:37
Speaker 3: think he has. I think part of the reason they
15:40
Speaker 3: signed him was they felt his floor would be pretty
15:42
Speaker 3: high and his track record was so long, and that
15:46
Speaker 3: he would be obsessed with figuring out ways to maintain
15:51
Speaker 3: that and get better. And that was part of the
15:53
Speaker 3: logic too of like, all right, what was he doing
15:56
Speaker 3: during those MVP level years with the Astros and how
15:59
Speaker 3: do you get back to that? And they obviously haven't
16:02
Speaker 3: found that yet. Which the longer this goes, the more
16:06
Speaker 3: it makes you wonder has that declined phase started. Edward
16:11
Speaker 3: Cabrera has a very long injury history, and he's stayed
16:16
Speaker 3: relatively healthy outside of that blister, and still has not
16:20
Speaker 3: performed anywhere close to expectations. What happens when his like
16:25
Speaker 3: elbow or shoulder starts barking, Like we'll get into more
16:29
Speaker 3: of some of the other pitching decisions, but like show
16:31
Speaker 3: him and Ia is only here on a one year deal.
16:34
Speaker 3: You know, philm Aiton is proving why they never like
16:38
Speaker 3: giving out multi year deals to relievers. And you add
16:42
Speaker 3: in all the other players you could become free agency
16:44
Speaker 3: after this year, and like, just the the window to
16:50
Speaker 3: win is right now, and when like, you only have
16:55
Speaker 3: so many moves you can make to supplement a team
16:58
Speaker 3: that want a playoff round and last year and they've gone,
17:03
Speaker 3: I don't know if you'd say I can't say, oh
17:06
Speaker 3: for the off season, because you're you know, Ryan Robson's
17:12
Speaker 3: been been good, showed has been actually, like I think,
17:15
Speaker 3: pretty good overall. Like I think he's he's like he's
17:19
Speaker 3: he delivered some impact on the front end, and I
17:23
Speaker 3: think he'll be pretty good over the rest of the stretch.
17:29
Speaker 3: But yeah, this is not gone according to plan like
17:33
Speaker 3: at all. And I think this offense is never about
17:37
Speaker 3: one guy, but Bregman just symbolizes so much of like
17:40
Speaker 3: what they wanted and there after this guy for so
17:43
Speaker 3: long and frankly, like he was hyped up as this
17:47
Speaker 3: leadership guy. We wrote that because that's what you know,
17:50
Speaker 3: his reputation is. That is why they signed him. That
17:53
Speaker 3: is what people were saying throughout And you know, I
17:59
Speaker 3: don't doubt his work ethic or how much he cares
18:03
Speaker 3: for his investment in his teammates, but that hasn't stopped
18:08
Speaker 3: this from spiral spiraling way beyond anything you would have
18:11
Speaker 3: expected when they were putting up those ten game winning streaks.
18:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, if you want to the optimistic spin
18:21
Speaker 1: I think on Bregman is he started terribly in twenty
18:26
Speaker 1: twenty four that looked very much like this guy is
18:31
Speaker 1: past his prime, his career, you know, his best years
18:36
Speaker 1: are behind him. Two and a half months into the season,
18:41
Speaker 1: he went on a tear and really didn't let up.
18:45
Speaker 1: So that's that's what Cubs fans have to have hope
18:47
Speaker 1: for that he just takes a little while to get
18:52
Speaker 1: locked in. And this is the start of it. Whether
18:55
Speaker 1: it was last night, whether it's next week, whatever, that
18:59
Speaker 1: it that it is coming and he's about to get
19:02
Speaker 1: locked in, and he will go on a tear and
19:04
Speaker 1: if not carry the team be a big reason why
19:07
Speaker 1: the offense turns a corner. That has to be the
19:11
Speaker 1: if you're if you want to cling to hope that
19:13
Speaker 1: that's that's the way you have to look at Alex Bragman. I,
19:17
Speaker 1: you know, I I tend to lean to the side
19:21
Speaker 1: of like this will get better for the team. It
19:25
Speaker 1: has gone so long that that I don't feel the
19:29
Speaker 1: confidence that I did ten days ago, that that this
19:33
Speaker 1: team will turn the corner, that this team will get hot,
19:35
Speaker 1: that this team will be fine, that this team will
19:39
Speaker 1: that the that my main concern was only the pitching,
19:41
Speaker 1: and and I just don't know what to expect from
19:44
Speaker 1: this team right now. Uh And and it has gone
19:47
Speaker 1: on long enough that I'm starting to wonder was the
19:53
Speaker 1: was the start, was the hot stretch, the you know,
19:56
Speaker 1: the smoke and mirrors? Was that not real? Was that
19:59
Speaker 1: just like the ball going bouncing their way and them
20:02
Speaker 1: getting some breaks. Sure, twenty and three you need to
20:05
Speaker 1: get some breaks in general, but just being that good
20:09
Speaker 1: in general, maybe this is just a slightly above five
20:12
Speaker 1: hundred team. Certainly didn't seem that way coming into the season.
20:19
Speaker 1: Obviously there were high expectations. Bregman was a big reason
20:22
Speaker 1: for that. This offense really does need like a lynch
20:26
Speaker 1: pin to kind of keep things going. When Tucker and
20:31
Speaker 1: Pca were red hot last year, they were the guys.
20:34
Speaker 1: They were carrying this offense. Other guys were performing at
20:37
Speaker 1: different points, but those are the guys that really made
20:41
Speaker 1: it go. They'd get the big hits. They put games
20:44
Speaker 1: out of reach at times. They've not had that not
20:49
Speaker 1: often enough. Like a game like Thursdays, you need more
20:52
Speaker 1: of those. You need blowouts. It saves your bullpen. You
20:54
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about using the biggest arms. Games
21:01
Speaker 1: like like Wednesday. Let's take a quick break and like
21:05
Speaker 1: touch on that because there's some guys in that you
21:08
Speaker 1: know that performed in that game that I wanted to
21:11
Speaker 1: touch on.
21:12
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22:13
Speaker 1: Patrick you touched on it say or Showday. Minaga has
22:19
Speaker 1: been you know, he's he had a great start to
22:22
Speaker 1: the season and and he pitched really well on Wednesday.
22:26
Speaker 1: It was at four three or four outing stretch where
22:31
Speaker 1: he just gave up a boatload of home runs. He uh,
22:36
Speaker 1: his ERA balloon from like two something to upper fours.
22:41
Speaker 1: It was the I believe I wrote it was the
22:43
Speaker 1: sixth or fifth worst ERA in baseball for eligible starters.
22:49
Speaker 1: It just like all fell apart very quickly for more
22:54
Speaker 1: than you know what, Like if it was one or
22:56
Speaker 1: two starts, it's like, okay, you can look past it.
22:58
Speaker 2: It was.
22:58
Speaker 1: It was concerning, But I do agree with your overall
23:03
Speaker 1: point that you were making that you're not as concerned
23:07
Speaker 1: with him, And I think the reason, like I I
23:12
Speaker 1: included him in my piece about this offseason because he
23:15
Speaker 1: basically they went into the off season thinking two starters,
23:19
Speaker 1: two starting pitchers, a bat and rebuild a bullpen. Right
23:27
Speaker 1: once Shoda accepted the QO, it went down to one
23:30
Speaker 1: starting pitcher. That's how they had that's how they looked
23:33
Speaker 1: at one no doubt starting pitcher, I should say no
23:35
Speaker 1: doubt rotation piece. So Shoda in a way counts in
23:40
Speaker 1: that math. You know, what they were planning to do
23:44
Speaker 1: for the off season. I think a big reason why
23:48
Speaker 1: I feel like I feel confident that he can stabilize
23:51
Speaker 1: here is the stuff is more twenty twenty four than
23:55
Speaker 1: it is twenty twenty five post injury. Like he's not
23:59
Speaker 1: sitting eighty eight to ninety he's still ninety one to
24:03
Speaker 1: ninety three. That is huge for him and that allows
24:07
Speaker 1: at least me to think, like, Okay, whatever, these are
24:10
Speaker 1: the types of things, whatever is going on, he can
24:13
Speaker 1: work on in between starts and get right and fix
24:16
Speaker 1: to have that type of start in Colorado that has
24:21
Speaker 1: to feel good. Like he was missing dats he was,
24:23
Speaker 1: you know, he looked much more like the earlier, the
24:28
Speaker 1: early season version of Shoda.
24:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just looking up.
24:34
Speaker 3: I forgot to include kind of in terms of the
24:39
Speaker 3: scope of the off season that Jacob b.
24:42
Speaker 2: Webb has been good, Michael Conford's be good, He's not
24:45
Speaker 2: been the big bets, and.
24:48
Speaker 3: Shoda is kind of included in that one of just like,
24:52
Speaker 3: you know, it.
24:53
Speaker 2: Wasn't like a headline off season move.
24:55
Speaker 3: It was just a lot of show to headlines at
24:58
Speaker 3: the start, and then after that it was just kind
25:01
Speaker 3: of seeing what you would get. It's just been a
25:07
Speaker 3: weird how this season has come together. I think we're
25:11
Speaker 3: going to be talking about it a while. They're gonna
25:14
Speaker 3: be digging out from this for a while, and it's
25:19
Speaker 3: going to have to start with Shoda, Like they need
25:21
Speaker 3: Shoda to be that cy Young Award contender or maybe
25:26
Speaker 3: just an a notch below that. And that's what we
25:27
Speaker 3: were talking about. I feel like Greig Council was getting
25:30
Speaker 3: those sorts of questions in April and may of like
25:34
Speaker 3: did you see this coming? You know, how is this
25:38
Speaker 3: better than twenty twenty four? And those are legit observations.
25:45
Speaker 3: And if he can stay healthy and sort of in
25:50
Speaker 3: that zone consistently, I think you'd feel a lot better
25:54
Speaker 3: about this team's chances moving forward.
26:00
Speaker 1: He's a huge piece in his success is pretty much essential.
26:06
Speaker 1: It's almost as important as Bregmant. I feel like when
26:09
Speaker 1: you consider all the injuries to the rotation, they really
26:12
Speaker 1: need a good version of Shoda and and Carbrera. Like
26:15
Speaker 1: we mentioned Jacob Webb, you said he got to give
26:20
Speaker 1: him props for that signing. Great, that's that's a great addition.
26:24
Speaker 1: Mayton is on the other end, and I something I
26:27
Speaker 1: mentioned in my piece and maybe we're seeing it I
26:31
Speaker 1: don't want to, but I basically said, like I, you
26:35
Speaker 1: just never know with relievers. There's a reason why they avoided,
26:39
Speaker 1: why they've avoided for years, giving like these multi year deals.
26:42
Speaker 1: And there's also you know, these guys can turn it
26:45
Speaker 1: around mid season and be great or fall apart. You
26:49
Speaker 1: just never know what you're getting from a reliever. Maybe
26:52
Speaker 1: we're seeing him him start to figure it out. He's
26:55
Speaker 1: been much better of late. The era is starting to
26:57
Speaker 1: go down, the walk rates starting to go down, the
26:58
Speaker 1: strike out rate is starting to go up. We'll see
27:01
Speaker 1: if that, if that's real, I don't wanna. I don't
27:03
Speaker 1: want to assume anything with relievers, So I don't know
27:06
Speaker 1: if that but right so far it's been one of
27:09
Speaker 1: those like Jesus, this guy, this guy just you know,
27:12
Speaker 1: can't get out and is in his own head type thing.
27:17
Speaker 1: But you know, relievers are so volatile. You never know
27:20
Speaker 1: what type of uh, you know, final four months he's
27:24
Speaker 1: gonna have. Uh All right, Uh, let's uh, let's wrap
27:28
Speaker 1: this up. We'll be back next week with more on
27:31
Speaker 1: uh Northside territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe
27:35
Speaker 1: to The Athletic where Patrick and Iron top of all
27:37
Speaker 1: things cub Subscribe to the YouTube channel for Northside Territory
27:41
Speaker 1: where you can watch us in our beautiful faces. Thanks
27:45
Speaker 1: so much for listening and watching. Everyone take care
28:12
Speaker 3: The