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Previewing another Opening Day · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:13
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The Japan
0:17
Speaker 1: trip is over, Spring training is over, Domestic opening day
0:23
Speaker 1: is here. It's right around the corner, about twenty four
0:26
Speaker 1: a little over twenty four hours away from when we're recording.
0:29
Speaker 1: I'm back in Arizona. It has been a weird month
0:33
Speaker 1: of travel. I think my body clock is back to normal,
0:37
Speaker 1: although I'm sleeping much later than I normally do, so
0:40
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what's going on. We
0:43
Speaker 1: can talk about like that. For how that has impacted players.
0:47
Speaker 1: I did briefly talk to a couple guys, you know,
0:50
Speaker 1: just to kind of get their feelings of how the
0:55
Speaker 1: trip treated them and how they're feeling before the season started.
0:58
Speaker 1: Mostly relievers. I think that's who going to impact the most,
1:01
Speaker 1: the pitchers. And then and we had, you know, our
1:04
Speaker 1: final sit down before the season starts with Craig Counsel
1:07
Speaker 1: and got some news from him. I think the biggest
1:10
Speaker 1: piece is Ben Brown is going to open the season
1:15
Speaker 1: in the rotation.
1:15
Speaker 2: He is the team's fifth starter.
1:18
Speaker 1: You know, we kind of prepared fans for maybe Colin
1:22
Speaker 1: Ray being in that role. I think some injuries kind
1:25
Speaker 1: of opened up a spot in the bullpen. We can
1:28
Speaker 1: go through why it makes sense to have Colin Rain
1:30
Speaker 1: and the bullpen at the start, But I think Ben
1:32
Speaker 1: Brown is a fascinating addition to the rotation and has
1:36
Speaker 1: the highest upside of any pitcher this team has outside
1:40
Speaker 1: of Kate Horton probably, but like the really really interesting
1:44
Speaker 1: and intriguing arm who could be kind of if it
1:47
Speaker 1: all clicks. He's the kind of arm that they're missing
1:49
Speaker 1: in this rotation.
1:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:51
Speaker 3: I mean you wrote about this in The Athletic, a
1:54
Speaker 3: good recap of kind of why they did this, what
1:57
Speaker 3: was sort of Brown's action, because I think, you know,
2:01
Speaker 3: everyone who's encountered him has been impressed with his sort
2:04
Speaker 3: of disposition and his analytical approach to things. I'm sure
2:11
Speaker 3: he took the news in stride.
2:13
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:14
Speaker 1: In fact, it doesn't sound like he was straight up
2:17
Speaker 1: told that he'd be the fifth starter, at least the
2:21
Speaker 1: way he described it. I asked him, like, how how
2:25
Speaker 1: did you get the news? And like how did you
2:27
Speaker 1: take it? He's like, I just kind of did the
2:28
Speaker 1: math and like counted up my dates and it's like, well,
2:31
Speaker 1: I guess I'm going on this day.
2:33
Speaker 2: And and like and and then someone followed up.
2:36
Speaker 1: He's like, so did count so did what was the
2:38
Speaker 1: conversation like like kind of clarify, trying to clarify. He's like, no,
2:41
Speaker 1: I just counted out the dates and that and I knew,
2:44
Speaker 1: like this is when I'm going. So so it wasn't
2:48
Speaker 1: like an and he wasn't when I said when I
2:52
Speaker 1: told him, like Council said you were the fifth starter
2:54
Speaker 1: to us, he was like, well that that He's like
2:57
Speaker 1: it certainly is nice to hear that.
2:59
Speaker 2: I guess. So, I don't know. I don't know.
3:02
Speaker 1: It's a little unclear there. I was like, did Council
3:04
Speaker 1: not straight up tell him? I guess he knew he
3:07
Speaker 1: was on the team right once Tyson Miller goes on
3:09
Speaker 1: the I l.
3:11
Speaker 2: But yeah, no, he's not. He.
3:14
Speaker 1: I think he's taking it very like you said, he's
3:17
Speaker 1: taking it in stride. He's excited for the opportunity. I
3:20
Speaker 1: think he knows what he can bring, Like he's not
3:25
Speaker 1: like if you like I've asked him like in different
3:28
Speaker 1: ways over the past month, and a half. How do
3:30
Speaker 1: you look at yourself as far as you know, being
3:33
Speaker 1: that difference, that different type of arm in the rotation.
3:37
Speaker 2: And he's well aware that of that.
3:39
Speaker 1: You know, he's not going to like defer and say like, no,
3:42
Speaker 1: there are veterans that can do all sorts of different things.
3:44
Speaker 1: You know, maybe maybe this guy ups his strike out, right,
3:48
Speaker 1: He's not like trying to pretend like they like they
3:50
Speaker 1: don't need this type of arm. But he also knows
3:52
Speaker 1: he has areas to grow. I thought that was Council's
3:55
Speaker 1: best point or most interesting point. It's like, yeah, that's
3:58
Speaker 1: what he falls back on. That what he needs to
4:00
Speaker 1: fall back on when he gets in trouble right now,
4:02
Speaker 1: But he needs to grow in other areas. He basically said,
4:05
Speaker 1: like it's all the other stuff, Like all the other
4:07
Speaker 1: stuff is where he needs to get better. And he's right,
4:09
Speaker 1: like he's not a finished product. Like this year is
4:13
Speaker 1: this year about as far as the team goes, isn't
4:16
Speaker 1: about development. But there's development that needs to be had
4:19
Speaker 1: for Ben Brown over the course of the season.
4:22
Speaker 3: I think he's a good example of what this team needs,
4:26
Speaker 3: not just stuff wise, but also I mean Jed Hoyer
4:30
Speaker 3: alluded to it in his Q and A with John
4:32
Speaker 3: Greenberg or the first of a two part Q and
4:36
Speaker 3: A in the Athletic of any guys to outperform expectations
4:41
Speaker 3: are their projections or really frankly their track records, and
4:46
Speaker 3: he is probably has a better chance than most to
4:51
Speaker 3: do that again if he stays healthy, right like, and
4:55
Speaker 3: going into this training, to me, it felt like Javier
5:01
Speaker 3: Assade had shown enough to where he deserved a spot
5:04
Speaker 3: in the rotation, and then he gets hurt I think
5:08
Speaker 3: technically before the actual report date, so that kind of
5:13
Speaker 3: creates an opening. And then I was still very much
5:16
Speaker 3: wait and see. With Ben Brown's health. I mean, you
5:19
Speaker 3: got him to actually say what happened last year. I
5:22
Speaker 3: mean it was this mysterious neck injury that kind of
5:26
Speaker 3: cleared up almost as mysteriously I'm oversimplifying here, but that
5:32
Speaker 3: came and went, and then it's like, Okay, if he's healthy,
5:36
Speaker 3: that's super interesting. And I do think too, they're trying
5:42
Speaker 3: to take the best twenty six and I think taking
5:48
Speaker 3: him and both taking both him and Matt Shaw, rather
5:53
Speaker 3: than kind of deferring to like forty man roster maneuvering
5:58
Speaker 3: in the future, not defaulting to okay, if you have
6:01
Speaker 3: an option, you're out. Like they're putting a lot on
6:06
Speaker 3: both of those guys. But Brown, when he's out there
6:10
Speaker 3: and healthy, has shown he can do it. It's just
6:13
Speaker 3: a matter of we haven't seen it yet for a
6:16
Speaker 3: six month season.
6:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
6:19
Speaker 1: No, I it was like I think it's fifty five
6:21
Speaker 1: and the third innings last year in the big leagues,
6:24
Speaker 1: and that was he didn't pitch in the minors last
6:27
Speaker 1: year because of Justin Steele's injury to start the season.
6:30
Speaker 1: He was called up almost immediately, right, So, Like I
6:34
Speaker 1: think that's where when you talk about like needing to
6:38
Speaker 1: stay healthy.
6:39
Speaker 2: If he does stay healthy, like how much can he
6:41
Speaker 2: give you?
6:42
Speaker 3: Right?
6:42
Speaker 2: I don't know.
6:43
Speaker 1: Like they do things differently than when you and I
6:46
Speaker 1: were growing up watching the game or even starting our careers.
6:49
Speaker 1: Like the way they monitor workloads is much more scientific
6:53
Speaker 1: than he pitched X number of innings last year, that
6:56
Speaker 1: means he can only pitch this many innings this year.
6:58
Speaker 2: They don't do it like that.
6:59
Speaker 1: There's there's ways that they monitor things and they can
7:01
Speaker 1: see like oh he's like whether it's how he's working
7:05
Speaker 1: out or whatever. The way they they have so many
7:07
Speaker 1: different things that they track and like so many different wearables, right,
7:11
Speaker 1: like tech wearables that they have that monitor their body
7:15
Speaker 1: that they know, like this guy's getting tired. A look
7:17
Speaker 1: at his armslot it's dropping, his velocity is dropping. This
7:21
Speaker 1: breaking ball isn't moving like it should. Whatever it is,
7:23
Speaker 1: they notice these things and those are signs for them,
7:26
Speaker 1: indicators that this guy needs We need to pull back
7:31
Speaker 1: on this guy, right, But that I think that's something
7:34
Speaker 1: that we need to keep an eye on, which is
7:35
Speaker 1: also part of the reason why I thought maybe he
7:37
Speaker 1: doesn't start the season in the rotation, or you know,
7:41
Speaker 1: they slowly stretch him out in the miners to start
7:46
Speaker 1: the season.
7:46
Speaker 2: Whatever.
7:47
Speaker 1: Clearly that the combo of Tyson Miller's injury, and I
7:51
Speaker 1: think there's a little sense of urgency in the sense
7:53
Speaker 1: that this this is their toughest month and you may
7:56
Speaker 1: as well put out like, let's see what this guy
7:59
Speaker 1: can do.
7:59
Speaker 2: Can he be a huge part of the team.
8:02
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not crazy to suggest he's gonna end
8:05
Speaker 1: up being one of their best.
8:06
Speaker 2: He could. He has the potential to.
8:08
Speaker 1: Be one of their best pitchers, right he certain he
8:11
Speaker 1: has that potential. I don't know if he if he'll
8:14
Speaker 1: reach that certainly not this season. I don't know, but
8:18
Speaker 1: you can't rule it out. Like you said, like you
8:22
Speaker 1: need guys to overperform or outperform projections, and frankly like
8:27
Speaker 1: good teams have young players step up every year.
8:30
Speaker 2: Every year.
8:30
Speaker 1: Good if you're a good team, you have young players
8:32
Speaker 1: step up. Patrick, Let's let's quickly take a break before
8:35
Speaker 1: we touch on some other roster moves that were made
8:38
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9:43
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, one other move, Well, yeah, you know,
9:47
Speaker 1: we knew it was coming, but Brad Keller made the team.
9:52
Speaker 1: It's one of those things where you come into camp
9:56
Speaker 1: you see this guy doing well, or you hear rumors
9:59
Speaker 1: about this guy having good side sessions. I always try
10:02
Speaker 1: and take that stuff with a grain of salt, right,
10:04
Speaker 1: but I had like there were It was interesting enough
10:08
Speaker 1: that when you see a guy throwing ninety seven ninety
10:10
Speaker 1: eight in his first relief appearance, you're like, huh, that's interesting.
10:14
Speaker 2: What can he be?
10:15
Speaker 1: And then immediately the manager says, no, it's it's worth
10:18
Speaker 1: asking that question. So you know it kind of it
10:23
Speaker 1: kind of alerts you do like, okay, this is they're
10:25
Speaker 1: they're taking this seriously. This isn't a and and Council
10:28
Speaker 1: is good about that, right, He'll he'll be very grudging.
10:30
Speaker 3: Very grudgingly acknowledge that that's a good question.
10:33
Speaker 2: Is how.
10:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean he he'll tell you straight up
10:41
Speaker 1: and like you're off base, Like, well, you're not too far.
10:44
Speaker 1: I wouldn't read too much into that, right, He's good
10:47
Speaker 1: about that. And he didn't pou poo it with Brad Keller.
10:50
Speaker 1: Sure enough, here he is on the roster. You know,
10:55
Speaker 1: he's not Ben Brown X factor. But in a bullpen
10:59
Speaker 1: where we just don't you know, I like the depth.
11:01
Speaker 1: I liked that they bad and a lot of guys
11:03
Speaker 1: you're always a little worried about a bullpen. And as
11:07
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned, I'm always like a who's gonna
11:10
Speaker 1: who's gonna take a step back this year?
11:12
Speaker 2: Who's gonna show their age? Whatever it may be.
11:15
Speaker 1: Uh, it's just hard to know when it comes to
11:18
Speaker 1: a bullpen. And uh that Brad Keller could like as
11:23
Speaker 1: weird as it sounds, he could be that guy that
11:25
Speaker 1: kind of be the one that he's the one that
11:27
Speaker 1: steps up and and and kind of carries the load
11:30
Speaker 1: at a certain point, that's how interesting he is.
11:33
Speaker 3: And he might have to be that guy, right, I mean,
11:36
Speaker 3: just knowing how volatile bullpens are in general. And I think,
11:41
Speaker 3: you know, we've written this and it's true, like the
11:45
Speaker 3: group is deeper than it's been in years past. It's
11:48
Speaker 3: more established, but still like let's see them with with
11:53
Speaker 3: a lead, right, and let's see how like you know,
11:57
Speaker 3: it looks after the first week, after the first home stand,
12:01
Speaker 3: after like the toughest month in baseball, you know, according
12:05
Speaker 3: to you know, uh, you know whatever win percentage from
12:10
Speaker 3: last year. Uh. I like having Ryan Presley back there.
12:15
Speaker 3: I mean, I think he's probably gonna I have some struggles, right,
12:20
Speaker 3: Like he's gotten older, Like he's not quite you know
12:26
Speaker 3: what a role of this Chapman was or what wayde
12:28
Speaker 3: Davis was when they had that run there of you know,
12:32
Speaker 3: kind of great established closers. But I think he brings
12:35
Speaker 3: just an organizing force that they did not have the
12:38
Speaker 3: last couple aprils. And you know, we'll see what Porter
12:43
Speaker 3: Hodge can do after a very good rookie season. Uh.
12:47
Speaker 3: Julian Meriweather, if healthy, can be dominant. And then I
12:52
Speaker 3: mean this comes on comes back to uh Craig council, right,
12:57
Speaker 3: like he's got to push the right but here and
13:00
Speaker 3: I know it's always a group, you know, collaborative decision.
13:04
Speaker 3: But he was hired because the Cubs are just constantly
13:08
Speaker 3: frustrated by what the Brewers would do. And part of
13:10
Speaker 3: it was, yes, he did have Devin Williams and Josh Hater,
13:14
Speaker 3: but also like they constantly found guys that we had
13:18
Speaker 3: never heard of or guys that had discarded elsewhere, and
13:20
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, they're pitching in big moments. And
13:24
Speaker 3: so I think that'll be, you know, a fascinating thing
13:27
Speaker 3: to watch on fold. I mean, there's gonna be blow ups,
13:30
Speaker 3: there's gonna be blown saves, there's gonna be overreactions, but
13:34
Speaker 3: like how how they piece this together is gonna be
13:39
Speaker 3: huge because I mean, this is a team with a
13:42
Speaker 3: lot of margin Freyr. I mean Jed Hoyer told that
13:44
Speaker 3: to John Greenberg. They're explicitly saying, we don't have a
13:47
Speaker 3: lot of margin, Frerer, So get the bullpen ride.
13:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, they have to. They have to hope that
13:51
Speaker 1: this is right. And listen, I know fans are.
13:55
Speaker 2: I shouldn't. I shouldn't say all of them.
13:57
Speaker 1: Uh, there are some people that I see getting worried
14:00
Speaker 1: on Twitter about spring training performances. My default is I
14:05
Speaker 1: don't care about spring training performances. I just I don't
14:09
Speaker 1: like not the results. If someone's down four miles per hour,
14:13
Speaker 1: two miles per hour and it's two days to opening day, yeah,
14:17
Speaker 1: that's gonna I'm gonna be like, huh, what's going on?
14:19
Speaker 2: Is that a second you know, a third deck thing?
14:21
Speaker 1: You need another deck there to get amped up, especially relievers.
14:27
Speaker 1: You run on adrenaline. You need a closing situation. This
14:31
Speaker 1: year though, it's especially interesting, you know, like this is
14:36
Speaker 1: not a normal circumstance that the Cubs are heading into
14:39
Speaker 1: or just experience. You know, like Japan was a nine
14:44
Speaker 1: day trip. Pictures like two weeks before the season starts,
14:50
Speaker 1: the you know, the main part of the season. You
14:53
Speaker 1: have two regular games, two exhibition games, so essentially two
14:56
Speaker 1: games for relievers to.
14:58
Speaker 2: Get in, right, they're not.
15:01
Speaker 1: They've that's two games in nine days when at a
15:05
Speaker 1: point when you're trying to ramp them up to start
15:07
Speaker 1: doing back to backs, they've not had back to backs.
15:10
Speaker 1: They just had a pitch off pitch Saturday and Monday.
15:16
Speaker 1: If I'm remembering correctly, right, I talked to some of
15:20
Speaker 1: these pitchers, ask them how they're doing. They were they
15:24
Speaker 1: were pretty blunt. My body feels like crap. But and
15:30
Speaker 1: they're like, but we just got to push through. Like
15:32
Speaker 1: this isn't unprecedented. It's just like our body's gone through
15:36
Speaker 1: a lot.
15:37
Speaker 2: It's not. It's an untraditional.
15:39
Speaker 1: Way to build up for spring for the season, but
15:42
Speaker 1: you just have to push through it. Talking to Tommy Hottevey,
15:45
Speaker 1: they they've prepped for this. They knew it was going
15:47
Speaker 1: to be kind of like Japan would be a d
15:50
Speaker 1: load for them and not ideal. It's not how you
15:52
Speaker 1: build up for the season with that travel and the
15:55
Speaker 1: lack of throwing. Partially why Colin Ray stayed back and
15:59
Speaker 1: through five innings on a backfield and they're going to like,
16:04
Speaker 1: Council was very open, he needs to lean on Colin
16:08
Speaker 1: Ray in this first seven to ten games, right he
16:12
Speaker 1: What's happening is so you have bullpen arms that aren't
16:16
Speaker 1: where they normally would be, right, but you have seven
16:18
Speaker 1: games straight to start the domestic part of the season,
16:22
Speaker 1: no off day because they start in a dome. You
16:25
Speaker 1: have pitchers that would normally be built up to ninety
16:28
Speaker 1: ninety five pitches that are at eighty eighty five pitches
16:30
Speaker 1: as far as the starters go. And now now you
16:33
Speaker 1: have to piece it together over seven games. How do
16:35
Speaker 1: you fill those innings right? It's all about how do
16:38
Speaker 1: you how do you get those innings taken care of?
16:41
Speaker 2: Right?
16:43
Speaker 1: So Colin Ray is going to be a big part
16:46
Speaker 1: of that. There's going to be a game where he
16:48
Speaker 1: has to pitch like three innings, you know, and then
16:50
Speaker 1: three days later or four days later, he's going to
16:52
Speaker 1: have to do it again. I'm guessing Keller is one
16:56
Speaker 1: of those guys that he's going to be a multi
16:58
Speaker 1: inning guy. He's going to have to eat innings. It's
17:01
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to start the season, and I
17:03
Speaker 1: think there may be some panic among fans that see
17:06
Speaker 1: the way some guys pitch, Like listen, it's go time
17:11
Speaker 1: and they have to perform. You can't, like they can't
17:14
Speaker 1: just be like excuse after excuse. But I think it
17:19
Speaker 1: will be important to keep things in perspective as far
17:21
Speaker 1: as like when I say that, like, listen, they need
17:24
Speaker 1: to win games. They can't fall in a huge hole.
17:26
Speaker 1: They can't be eight games under five hundred after April,
17:29
Speaker 1: you Like, these are things that you just you just
17:31
Speaker 1: don't want to repeatedly have to like dig yourself out
17:34
Speaker 1: of a hole. But when I say like it, take
17:37
Speaker 1: it with a grain of salt. I mean, I mean,
17:40
Speaker 1: if if reliever X is struggling, DFA isn't the immediate answer, Like,
17:46
Speaker 1: there are certain things you need to look at and
17:48
Speaker 1: and understand. It's like maybe in certain cases you have
17:51
Speaker 1: to be aggressive, but in others you need to kind
17:53
Speaker 1: of take it all in perspective and be like, this
17:56
Speaker 1: guy did not get a normal ramp up, and these
17:59
Speaker 1: are creatures of habit and their routine has been severely
18:02
Speaker 1: thrown off. I wanted to look back, and I didn't
18:05
Speaker 1: get a chance. I asked councils straight up, like, did
18:08
Speaker 1: you look back at the Dodgers and Padres see if
18:11
Speaker 1: how they were their pictures kind of handled things that
18:14
Speaker 1: first two weeks or first month. And I don't remember. Look,
18:17
Speaker 1: I feel like the Padres did get off to a
18:18
Speaker 1: bad start or not a great start. I cannot remember
18:21
Speaker 1: if the Dodgers did or not. The Dodgers had a
18:24
Speaker 1: ton of injuries early on, though I remember that, So it's.
18:28
Speaker 2: Just something to keep in mind.
18:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think in terms of overreacting. I want to know, like,
18:36
Speaker 3: what's up with the lineup?
18:37
Speaker 2: Is this council going.
18:39
Speaker 3: To be changing things around? And you had a couple
18:42
Speaker 3: of exchanges on that topic this week in Mesa.
18:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so I noticed the lineup was different on
18:52
Speaker 1: Jeez Tuesday, and that was that's basically what the I
18:55
Speaker 1: think the lineup is going to be. Shaw was bad.
18:59
Speaker 1: I should have the lineup right here. Shaw was batting eighth, correct, Yeah,
19:05
Speaker 1: Shaw was batting eighth. Horner was up to six with
19:08
Speaker 1: Swanson fifth, So that's different than what he had in
19:13
Speaker 1: Japan with Shaw fifth, Swanson sixth, the PCA.
19:18
Speaker 2: And Maya Birdie. I think he went for whatever it was.
19:21
Speaker 1: So Nico's back is the big factor there and he's
19:26
Speaker 1: shifting the way he's he's constructing the lineup.
19:31
Speaker 2: He was asked.
19:32
Speaker 1: I was told by our buddy Jordan Bastian that Jordan
19:36
Speaker 1: asked him. Look, first of all, council hates line up questions.
19:39
Speaker 1: He just doesn't like talking about the lineup. It's just like,
19:42
Speaker 1: you know, it's a pet peeve of his. It's very
19:44
Speaker 1: clear like he just thinks. I think the reason is
19:48
Speaker 1: he thinks too much is made of it, which is
19:51
Speaker 1: not something we're unfamiliar with, Like we've been dealing with
19:53
Speaker 1: that since Joe Madden, right, like Joe Madden thought it
19:57
Speaker 1: was there was too much made of it. And he
20:03
Speaker 1: he was asked straight up, just like, does Nico's return
20:07
Speaker 1: change the way you think about the lineup?
20:08
Speaker 2: And it was a straightforward yes, And that was Scoutzil's answer.
20:12
Speaker 1: And I think we saw the definitive answer on Tuesday,
20:16
Speaker 1: and we'll probably see it again on Thursday. I had
20:18
Speaker 1: just not really that hadn't. Maybe it was jet lag brain.
20:22
Speaker 1: I don't know, it had not. I had not fully
20:24
Speaker 1: processed that, like I had not thought about, Oh, Nico's
20:27
Speaker 1: back that changes the calculus of how you think about
20:30
Speaker 1: the lineup. It was, you know, I thought it was
20:33
Speaker 1: aggressive to have shot five. I also don't, like I
20:40
Speaker 1: just struggle to like want to like make a big
20:43
Speaker 1: deal out of that for two games and even if
20:45
Speaker 1: he stuck with it for a week or two or
20:48
Speaker 1: like whatever, even if that was his decision for the season.
20:51
Speaker 1: Because for me, in a lineup, when you talk about
20:55
Speaker 1: having your best players at the top, it's like if
20:58
Speaker 1: you're saying, like I have my best players in the
21:01
Speaker 1: top six and like, well, do you have your is
21:05
Speaker 1: like the fifth best hitter hitting six and the sixth
21:08
Speaker 1: best hitter hitting fifth.
21:09
Speaker 2: That's not the end of the world.
21:11
Speaker 1: If you have your best hitter hitting seventh and your
21:14
Speaker 1: seventh best hitter hitting second. Now I'm now I have
21:18
Speaker 1: some issues, right, Like you can't have like these subpar
21:20
Speaker 1: hitters in the top three and then like have really
21:23
Speaker 1: good hitters in the bottom three. Like that's when the
21:26
Speaker 1: like the numbers people would freak out if you're like
21:29
Speaker 1: even I think David Ross would would do some things
21:32
Speaker 1: that the numbers people didn't agree with exactly right, but
21:36
Speaker 1: there when I talk to them, they would like they're like,
21:38
Speaker 1: it's one spot difference, It's not like that's not the
21:41
Speaker 1: end of the world. Over the course of a season,
21:43
Speaker 1: that doesn't change anything in theory. You can take the
21:48
Speaker 1: anecdotal evidence in game by game evidence and run with it.
21:51
Speaker 1: And I understand that's it's normal to do. It's just
21:54
Speaker 1: not how how these guys think as far as lineup
21:57
Speaker 1: construction and the big picture.
21:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think ultimately Matt Shup better hit like a
22:03
Speaker 3: number five or six or more than an eight or nan.
22:06
Speaker 2: That's why he's there. Yeah, just like better hit.
22:10
Speaker 3: There are a lot of reasons you know, why he's here,
22:13
Speaker 3: but the primary one is that he's hit everywhere he's
22:16
Speaker 3: been right, So like if he's learning on the job defensively,
22:21
Speaker 3: he's gotten the backs of the table offensively. So yeah,
22:26
Speaker 3: we'll see, We'll see how he responds and how he
22:30
Speaker 3: enjoys the lineup banter.
22:32
Speaker 2: Let's get off to a slow start. I'm gonna have
22:36
Speaker 2: to ask a lineup question.
22:38
Speaker 3: You got it, you got it, just just to keep
22:41
Speaker 3: him on guard, just so we have it for posterity,
22:45
Speaker 3: so we know.
22:45
Speaker 1: We haven't even bugged him about he in half leading off.
22:48
Speaker 1: Its just not not even one question. It's uh, he's
22:51
Speaker 1: getting off Scott free here, all right, Patrick opening domestic
22:56
Speaker 1: opening day twenty four hours away.
22:58
Speaker 2: Fans will be excited for that.
23:00
Speaker 1: We'll see if they can get back on track here,
23:02
Speaker 1: win some games, Like like I said in our last episode,
23:05
Speaker 1: getting to five hundred after Arizona, that'll be a difficult feat.
23:10
Speaker 1: You got to win three or four just to get
23:11
Speaker 1: to five hundred. This is not an easy month. This
23:14
Speaker 1: is not easy first week. Nothing about this is gonna
23:17
Speaker 1: be easy. I think I think this is gonna be
23:18
Speaker 1: one of those summers where there's a lot of stress
23:21
Speaker 1: in that Cubs at Wrigley Field and with those hopefully
23:25
Speaker 1: not with the players, but certainly like the front office
23:28
Speaker 1: is going to be feeling it because they know, they
23:30
Speaker 1: know how important winning is. For twenty twenty five, there's
23:34
Speaker 1: a reason Kyle Tucker's on this team and Cam Smith isn't.
23:39
Speaker 1: So all right, We'll be back with another episode very shortly.
23:44
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
23:47
Speaker 2: Make sure to.
23:48
Speaker 1: Rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel, Subscribe to
23:51
Speaker 1: The Athletic where Patrick and I are on top of
23:53
Speaker 1: all things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening everyone. Take
23:57
Speaker 1: care the.
24:05
Speaker 7: Names and then do anything I read. Do they the