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Cubs All-Quarter Century Team · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick over
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: at the Athletic. Jason Stark, who knows the history of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the game about as well as anyone we've been around
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in this business, obviously loves baseball and and and you know,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: loves to dive into these things. He he started the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: All quarter Century team for MLB. You know, I thought
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that it was a fun, fun project to read about,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and and we decided to do a Cubs All quarter
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Century team. I don't think any Cubs made that All
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: quarter century the MLB team, and are you know doing
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: this list? Something that stood out to me in the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: process was this has been arguably the best quarter century
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of Coast baseball. You know, ever, maybe the first quarter
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: century of the nineteen hundreds.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: What's up there?
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm trying to think of like the equivalent of
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: a podcast, you know, in nineteen oh eight, you know,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: what people were arguing about in the in the their
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: local taverns and whatnot.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: The seventy five to two thousand would have been a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: slog to do that. It would have been you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: like four or five players that it's like, yeah, these
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: guys are great, and then the rest is like this
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: is really rough to go through. Fifty to seventy five
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: would have been very top heavy with a bunch of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Hall of famers. There are no obvious at least nothing
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: obvious on the list I created. There's no Hall of famers.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You know, we debate whether you want to change the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: way you look at starting pitchers. That's a conversation for
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: another time. But what's kind of great about this list
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: is there's a ton of playoff teams in of course
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen team.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I gave the twenty sixteen team some.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Edge if I was if there was ever a toss
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: up or if I wanted to squeeze a player in,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I would do that. I thought it was important to
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: for this exercise that they get an edge. They did
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: what once seemed to possible one overall series. It was
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: it was fun to do. You know, It's not like
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: it was an impossible task. It felt kind of easy
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: at times, to be honest.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: The first base I thought was easy.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Look, Dirk Lee gets a ton of love that two
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: thousand and five season. That was awesome. He was a stud.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Anthony Rizzo's the pick. I'm not going to overthink it.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you have wanted debate that, but yeah,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I mean I.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Think I once described as mister cub two point zero,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: So I'm not going you know, you can't as much
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: like Derek Lee, total class act, a great player, well deserved.
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: Was it Cubs Hall of Fame now?
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: But you know, to your point, when you're bracketing out
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: these quarter centuries on baseball references, you know they're all
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: time twenty four players, a lot of black and white
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: photos in these head shots, very few players that we've
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: ever covered as players, and Anthony Rizzo sneaks.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: In there at the end.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: I'd imagine that might have been the easiest pick on
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: this whole exercise. Kind of a no, no doubt one.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah for riz Yeah no, He's obviously a huge, you know,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: emotional piece of the puzzle. Fans love him. You know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: there's there's some fun moments with him. I still think
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: my the most fun moment I remember was first full
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: It wasn't a great season. Twenty twenty one turned out
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: to be the dismantling of this twenty sixteen roster. But
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: that that full that first full capacity game where he
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: hit that home run to go ahead of the Cardinals,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: that was that was fun.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: That was fun.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: It was like life came back to Wrigley finally. That
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: was really fun. Second base, this was probably the hardest one. Yeah, me,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: But I managed to get the guys I picked. You know,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I didn't choose onto this list, but Nico Horner is
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: my pick. And just looking at the list, I start
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I've started to wonder if I if I don't appreciate
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the guy enough. He's an elite defender, and I was
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: thinking about while writing this. It's like almost once, if
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: not once a series, it's once a week that we're
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: seeing him save his pitcher with a great play that
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: saves and pitches, saves him, runs, saves a game. Whatever
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: it is. His glove is arguably underrated. We've seen We've
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: seen some really good defenders sound to great defenders at
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: second base over the past you know, decade and a half.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I'd say, whether it's Darwin, Barney, Javi or Bias ben
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: z OBErs, they're all very good second basement to great.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Nico may be the best one. Defensively, he's he makes
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: these plays that I just didn't you know, I think
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: watching him every day and just kind of understanding, like
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: how good he's gotten.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: He's not flashy like Hobby, but he makes so many plays.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: He's so good defense, and it's just.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: You know, he's not going to hit for power, so
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: he's not going to get a load of a lot
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of love on offense.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: But he's consistent.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: He puts the ball in play, doesn't strikeout. You know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: he does hit the ball hard, he just doesn't drive
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: it a ton. He's an average, slightly above average offensive player,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: really good, really good ballplayer.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: I would have gone with Ben Zobers on this one
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: just World Series MVP.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: I realized his defense, and yeah, by the time he
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: got to the Cubs, he wasn't quite you know, Nico's
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: level of defense. But I think what we're seeing with Nico,
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: I think he will be fully appreciated as this season
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: plays out. Like I would be kind of thinking of
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: him more towards Maybe he won't last another you know
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: how many more years into the next quarter century. But
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: to me, Nico is that perfect, complimentary player on a
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: great team. Maybe it's happening now I still would have
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: found Zoe. I would have put Zoe there to put
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: other players on, but we'll get to that later because
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: you have a utility spot as well.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so short stop, I went, that was Hobby.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I didn't think about this much.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: It just, you know, like you said about Nico, maybe
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson, if we're doing this exercise twenty five years
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: from now, makes a list. Dansby Swanson is an elite defender.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Hobby was an elite defender too, and Hobby is starting
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to look like Hobby again, Detroit.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: The highs with Hobby were so fun.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I think we just passed up that anniversary of the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: crazy play in Pittsburgh.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: That's that's remarkable.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: There was a there was a point in time in
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: like eighteen, I want to say it was kind of
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: like how PCA is now, where it's like you can
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: never write too much about Hobby. Just just keep writing
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the Hobby stories because that's what the fans want to read.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: And it was kind of almost hard to describe, like
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: even as slides were were.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Fun to write about and describe that it was.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: It was a fun era and it was exciting to
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: watch Hobby do his thing Elmago. You know that basically
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: sixteen to nineteen era of Hobby was about as as
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: fun as it gets. And he answered a lot of
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: questions because I think there were people that thought he
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: was too up and down to handle shortstop, he was
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: going to make too many errors.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: But wood an arm what a what you know.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Just really really plus defender and just to you know,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: when he was locked in on offense. Not many, not
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: many players had that type of power.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's crazy you could have put him at
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: second base. He was a very good third baseman as well.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Obviously that falls under the utility umbrella. Just this idea
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: of kind of than twenty fifteen when they caught fire
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: of well, let's just play hobby wherever we think the
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: ball is going to be hit the most. It's cool
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: to see him rejuvenated in Detroit. The Cubs will be
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: going there soon. Just one of those players, not a
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: Hall of Famer, but just definitely one of the most unique,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: dynamic players will ever cover and certainly is going to
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: be on these type of lists for a long time.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's take a quick break and then
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: get to the rest of this list.
• 9:42
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• 9:45
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• 9:49
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• 9:51
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• 9:56
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• 10:00
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• 10:03
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• 10:05
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• 10:08
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• 10:10
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• 10:12
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• 10:19
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• 10:21
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• 10:23
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• 10:26
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• 10:28
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• 10:28
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• 10:29
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• 10:33
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• 10:40
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• 10:45
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, another easy one for me.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: They're base.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year MVP World Series winner Chris Bryant
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I wrote about how look, this guy Brian didn't isn't
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: having the career we expected, but his peak was as impressive.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: He lived up to the hype almost immediately. We haven't
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: seen peaks like that very often.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Like that.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: It was like this, four or five years of just
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: great performance. Injuries and consistency, whatever, it was kind of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: caught up to him and he fell off there, but
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: it was it was fun the fifteen sixteen seventeen especially
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: he edges out Aramis, who deserves a lot of love.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Aramis Ramirez of one of the more underrated players.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: That we covered.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: You know, we covered I think the end of his
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: cub's career and he was definitely definitely took probably too
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: much heat when he was a cub, but he was,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: you know, he was a really good ballplayer and had
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: a knack for he didn't it was something I didn't
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I don't think I realized.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Was he barely struck out.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: The guy just put the ball in play, hit three hundred,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: got on bas hit for power, really good ballplayer, but
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Kb's the pick.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: I would have gone with Aramis in that because of
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: that utility spot. How I would have done it as
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: I would have put Zobrist at second and just made
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: KB the utility guy, just because it seemed like that
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: was kind of his best or most valuable position when
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Joe Madden could just move him around everywhere. I also
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: just kind of felt like, if d lee is left off,
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: I think you got to put a spot for a Ramis,
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: just because if you.
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: Look at the.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Entire scope of this quarter century, like two thousand and three,
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: the expectations, the drama. If for Ramas doesn't come here,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I don't know if it happens the same way, and
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: that raises all these expectations and Wrigley kind of finds
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: obviously there's another person on this team who really made
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: wrigly the main, main attraction here. But like seven eight,
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: when Wriglelyville was just absolutely rocking, it was bonkers. I think,
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: you know, Ramis played a huge.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: Role in that, and I you know he did take heat.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: You know, his his body language, you know, he wasn't
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: the most demonstrative player.
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: He was quiet.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: Uh, he's intelligent, He sort of knew what he needed
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: to do. Like I personally kind of learned a lot
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: from that just by you know, interacting with him over
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: the years kind of observing what he did. Was like
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: everyone on a at the time, it was a twenty
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: five man roster, everyone can't be the same like everyone.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: You know, you know, you can't go one hundred percent
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: effort on every single play during a one hundred and
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: sixty two game season, and production is what matter. And
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: I think his production, he's you know, right there. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: even even seeing how Kb's falling off a cliff and
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: in Colorado kind of makes me, you know, rethink, Okay,
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: how like how did Ramas do this for so long?
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: And but yeah, I mean, I mean Chris Bryant, the
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: MVP of the Chicago Cubs team, he was the you know,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: prime Bary third basement.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Obviously, I get it, I know, but I respect the
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Ramas love. He deserves that love. Catcher, this one was
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: was easy for me. I know, Wilson took a lot
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: of heat as he left town for his ability to catch,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and and we're seeing he's not a catcher anymore. Look,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: he wasn't a great framer, he wasn't a perfect game caller.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Uh, he could hit the crap out of the ball.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: He still can.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Uh. He's he was on another level offensively. At times
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: he'd go on these heater that would just carry the team.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: And I give him credit for the twenty sixteen season,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: coming in in the middle of a season where all
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: this pressure is on and you have to catch these
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: veteran pitchers and learn how to do it, and you know,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: he got through it. Yes, he took heat again for
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that over the long haul during his time at the Cups,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: but that twenty sixteen season was impressive. He came up there,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: handled the pressure, delivered in big moments with his offense,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and handled a pitching staff that you know, had a
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: lot of pressure on it to win every game. Pretty much,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I felt like he's the pick over Soto, over Michael Barrett.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Those guys aren't. I didn't consider them, but I did
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: mention them because Soto was really good defensively and I'd
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: almost forgotten about it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: And Michael Barrett.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: I looked at his offensive numbers, I was like, Man,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: we hated on this guy a lot back.
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: In the day.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: I think that's just because I was a kid in
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: my twenties and I just wanted to complain that this
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: guy wasn't hit every day, but he was a good
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: offensive catcher. You know, I don't know how good he.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't analyze defense back then as much.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I didn't know much about it back then, so I
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: don't know if he was very good defensively.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And he's a part of it.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: One of the best Cubs like, yeah, that any of
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: us have seed.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, he lives on as long as the
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Cubs play the White Sox, like he will live on
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: in that sense.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so too great start.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: He put together a solid overall career obviously, just didn't
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: match those expectations. And final note on Wilson Contraz, I
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: believe he spent like of this quarter century. He spent
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: maybe fourteen years in the Cubs organization when you're including
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: his time minors. Just kind of an amazing story, even
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: if the ending was a little bit messy. I mean,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: this is a guy whenever he shows up to Wrigley
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: feel for the rest of his life will be shower
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: or with cheers for his contributions to to ending the drought.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: I had a utility spot, and I that's where I
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: put Soberest. Uh you know, biggest hit in Cubs history.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Great guy, great leader in that clubhouse. Quiet but but
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: you know when he spoke, it was it was a
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: big deal. Uh And and for our purposes, I really
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: enjoyed talking to him.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: He yes, he taught me a lot about hitting, uh
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: and and just just the art of it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: And and one other point I made when mentioning Zobrist
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: was his absence was kind of the downfall of that
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: offensive corps because the league was changing. They high fastballs
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and breaking balls away were the kryptonite of a lot
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: of that core is that they didn't they couldn't replace Sobrist.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: They never replaced Obrist. If they had some diversity in
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: that lineup, who knows if things ended better, But it
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: was a big issue with that, with that offense, and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Zobrast that was never an issue for him, and it
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: kind of taught I think it taught me and probably
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: plenty of others breaking down that, like what is wrong
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: with this team? Oh, they're they're missing this type of player,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: this Ben Zobras type of player.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Uh And we see more of those now. Nico Horner's
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: kind of.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: That type, not maybe not as good of a hitter
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: as Zobras was certainly doesn't have the power that he
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: had at his peak, but you know, just that type
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: of coverage of the zone and the game's kind of
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: shifted back in that direction where not always the launch
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: angle is the focus. And ben Zobers types to have
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: value again, not that they lost value, but but they
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: have more of a space here and you're looking for
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: that that type of player.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Good good call untying Nico and Zobrist together because I
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: think two of the best people we've encountered in terms
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: of just explaining the game, of recognizing the importance of feel,
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: of understanding all the data that goes into the entire
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: strategy to put the bigger picture of an organization and
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: the city in perspective. Like those two guys, it's hard
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: to find just better explainers. It's hard to find two
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: more thoughtful players, just like you know, an all all
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: century interview team in our book.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: This one may be recency bias for me hundred plus
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: field lt Field. I went with the unhaf his consistency
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: over the past whatever it's been since twenty one twenty two,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: him turning himself into a good defender.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: I value on bas a ton.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: That's probably my bias there, that both the recency and
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: my value, like me valuing on bass. Uh Soriano. It
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: was close. I almost picked Soriano. He his power was
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, his speed was sapped with that with that
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: hamstring injury that he suffered or was it a quad
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: quad injury? I think it was almost immediately upon signing
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: with the team.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Uh that that hurt him.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I think the contract hurt the perception of Alfonso Soriano.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: He had to be this perfect player instead of this
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: really good player that he was. I I don't want
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to take anything away from Soriano. I he was really
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: enjoyable to cover. I thought he when he finally got coaching. Defensively,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: he got better, really strong arm, fun guy, like fun
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: guy to talk to, one of the first guys that
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I learned to like, Oh you can have fun with
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: these guys.
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: And of course Poppy.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah he was. He was a good, good good guy.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I mean he is a good guy.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: And uh probably I probably uh, now that I'm starting
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: to talk about it, I probably made a you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: a recency biased choice.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: But it was close.
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: Would have gone story overhap just because I feel Soriano
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: again with a ramis that like sort of encapsulates, you know,
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: an era or bridges different periods of the franchise. It's
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: like win one for Tribune Tower, big contract. You know,
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: lots of kind of rumors about how did it, you know,
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: kind of come together at the end, and where were.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: The final offers, and.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: You know, business and baseball all kind of you know,
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: getting their hands in on this deal. You know, just
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: a big part of those seven eight teams, getting the team.
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: Towards the THEO era.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: I think the takeaway I think, and it's not really
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: unique anyone who encountered Soriano, just like the joy he
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: had at the field every day, his energy, just like
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: you know, legendary character too. In the Clubhouse of you know,
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: I think the story was a Cubs reliever asked for
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: change because they were tipping the clubhouse guys at the
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: end of the series, and can you can you break
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: a hundred for me?
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: And he looks at him as like, hundreds are change, babe.
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: Like I think.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: That's you know, kind of print the legend, But I
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: think that's largely a true story. I think I got
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: that confirmed that at some point.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: Whereas like the Happ certainly like kind of the modern player.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: Just if you're looking at the War, I mean Soriano,
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: I think some like eight war over seven seasons, but
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: he had an eight hundred ops and hit you know,
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: one hundred almost close to two hundred homers for the Cubs.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: That's probably inflated. What was it here, one hundred and
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: eighty one homers? Oh wow, eight hundred twelve ops over
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: seven you know, not quite seven full years because he
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: got traded obviously, but that was only.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: Eight point two War. I don't know, it just seems
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: like to your point with coaching, if.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: He got a little more of that earlier, if you know,
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: his legs stayed a little bit more healthy.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: I think there's ways to juice the War too.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: But to me, Happ is another one of those guys
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: sort of bridging towards the next era, like his best
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: years were when the Cubs were kind of down or
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: yaddlaying where sorry. I just think had a little more impact.
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: But again at the end of this year, you know,
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: Ian had could have a monster second half, big postseason,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: and all of a sudden, I said, someone who really
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: enjoys talking to you and have I think his consistency.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: I don't get why people, you know, he seems to
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: get a lot of heat in our comments section or
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: on social media. A really solid, well rounded player who
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: like fits perfectly on the twenty twenty five team and
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: also really like values to Wrigley experience, the history, the city,
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: all that stuff. Like I get, I get why you
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: picked him.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: All right, this is this is crazy. I know it's crazy.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I don't care. I think it's the right call. I
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: think it's the right call. I put Pca in center field,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and I want you to this is this what I'm
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: about to tell you is crazy. He's fourth and sent
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: for center fielders in war according to fangrafs from two
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: thousand to twenty twenty five. I wrote a piece at
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: some point, I don't know when. It was about how
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: remember how there was this talk about the Cubs don't
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: have a third basement. The Cubs don't have a third
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: basement before Aramas showed up. Yeah, it's been since Ron Santo.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: That conversation should have shifted to the Cubs don't have
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a center fielder. The Cubs don't have a center fielder.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: They have not had a center fielder since in a
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: really long time, and that I mean that's shown by
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: this this war that I'm looking at where he's fourth,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: it's five point six from two thousand Dexter fowlers at
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: seven point two. Would anybody be surprised if PCA's number
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: one on that list by the end of the season.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would be that surprised if he's
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: number one. The way he's performing right now, he's gonna
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: blow by Dexter Fowler.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: I understand. It's ridiculous. I understand it.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I'm supposed to stick to two thousand and twenty twenty five,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: I get it.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: It just feels like it's the right call.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: It just I just kind of went with, you know,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: my gut here and like a little bit of uh
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: maybe I don't know if it's.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Fan service, I don't know what it is, but I
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: had to. I had to go with PCA. I just
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: all I mean.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Dexter deserves a tonne of of a great moment, as
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: far as multiple great moments, the return in spring training,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the surprise return in spring training, and the leadoff homer
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: in Game seven. Uh and and he's Hugo we Go.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: He deserves credit. Corey Patterson was a great defender, if
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: not a if not a stud offensively to to you know,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: kind of live up to his prospect type. Cody Bellinger
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: was really good for his couple of seasons here. Dexter
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: was the one that I picked him over, and maybe
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I screwed Dexter over here, but pca' is a stud
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: man and I just had to go with the hot hand.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: Was this the all most all all late April, most
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: of May team may have been.
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: I said that someone.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: As as the staff, we're just like, all right, we
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: have to write pca pretty much every day like he's
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: on hobby, you know, Hovey alert, where you know, you
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: never know what he's gonna do, like you have to
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: be ready to you know, turn around a headline real fast.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: I would have gone Dexter for what you describe. I
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: mean Game seven, his return, We just you know, mentioned it.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: I think the other day, just kind of talking to
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: Jed of like it's an all time like, how do
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: they sneak that one through?
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: Did not leak at all?
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: Dexter showing up in Mesa a genuine surprise. Also, I
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: think just in covering the twenty fifteen season and hearing
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: people fans talk about in retrospect, it was just such
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: a fun, out of nowhere season and as the ugo
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: we go guy, Dexter was right in the middle of that.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: So just because twenty fifteen was like so unexpected, and
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: I think it's like kind of one a next to
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: twenty sixteen in terms of like just the entertainment factor
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: and the kind of you know, what was the use
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: some sort of meta metaphor of like you know, you know,
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: you know, a band before they hit it big, of
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: just like kind of a time of you know, air
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: quotes here, innocence, you know, in twenty fifteen, before the
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: expectations just and the weight of nineteen to eight hit them,
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: it was just this like every day a different player,
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: And you know, that's that's why I leaned Dexter. But like,
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: you know, I understand your your PCA choice, since we're
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: always looking for PCA headlines, like maybe that'll be the
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: graphic for this comes off quarter century team just p
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Crow Armstrong with like three months yeah.
• 28:41
  Speaker 8: Yeah, right.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Well, as ridiculous as that pick may have been, I
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: think this one was easy unless you're gonna, you know,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: quibble with steroids or whatever. Right field Sammy Sosa the
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: numbers speak for themselves. I believe you said, what one
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: hundred and eighty one career homers for Soriano. I think
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: that's around Sammy Sosa's lead as far as right fielders,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: and he, you know, he didn't play that much in
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: this century, and that's how how much he dominated, with
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: his power and just his general value.
• 29:16
  Speaker 8: It.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: You know, it's him easily over sayah, you know, we'll see,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: is Kyle Tucker the pick in twenty fifty, We'll see
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: can they can they bring Kyle Ducker back.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: I did like the twenty fifty reference there.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: I was curious too of you know, this borderline here
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: of obviously we all know Sammy in ninety eight and
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: then it's like, okay, and then it did not end
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: well with the Cubs at all, and I was just
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: kind of curious.
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: And you know, even in.
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: Oh four he played in one hundred and twenty six games,
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: I had thirty five homers eighty RBIs and then just
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: I mean just absurd in two thousand, fifty homers one
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: hundred and thirty eight RBIs, which is a downgrade from
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: the year prior sixty four homers one hundred and sixty
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: RBIs I mean forty and one hundred, forty plus one
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: hundred plus you know, two forty and one hundred three,
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: two thousand and three just some absurd numbers. And also
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: I think he deserves a spot on the team just
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: for the like endless questions at Cub's convention to the
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: Ricketts family of whether or not he would come back.
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: That was just such a his cold war.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: I think was a part of, you know, telling the
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: story of this past quarter century of baseball.
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: Really, so that actually might that is.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: Probably even easier than the first base one. And that
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: was pretty easy in picking Riso over.
• 30:42
  Speaker 8: D Lee.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: The rotation, So there there there were some easy ones here.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Jake Arietta, John Lester, Kyle Hendricks are easy peaks. Jake
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Arietta some of the one of the greatest stretches arguably
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: in MLB pitching starting pitching history. That was one just
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: an amazing stretch. We talk about PCA and content with that,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: like the amount we could write about with Jake Arietta
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: doing that stretch. John John Lester changed the culture. Desperately
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: needed a starting pitcher, you know, a big free agent,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: just an easy pick. Kyle Hendricks one of the more
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: underrated guys. I've covered one of the nicer, greater guys
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I've covered, and that there's some numbers I throw in there,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: but his stretch from like fourteen to twenty, he was
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: he had the seventh lowest era during that span for
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: pictures with at least like eight hundred ish innings.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: He had well over a thousand. And the people better
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: than him are like.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Zach Grinky, Chris Saale, Corey Klueber.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the best of the best during that era.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: And then is Kyle Hendrick sneaks in there. He was
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: just super under the radar, really good. And then I
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: went with I went with Carlos Sombrono. He's the innings
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: leader over this time, war leader over this time.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Uh, top five.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Ish, I want to say in E R A during
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: this time, Uh, I think like Wilson Contreras, like Sammy,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: like some of these other guys, that things didn't always
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: go well.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Uh, especially like as far as with.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: The media or or uh management, Yeah, with management, it's
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: you know, yeah, yeah, he was he was a material
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: guy and uh and certainly it didn't always look good. Uh,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: but you know, he was a great he was a
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: great pitcher, and then I went I went Prior over
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Wood and Dempster. That's probably controversial, and it's probably is
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: uh a part of my bias. I I lived in
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the city and and was a was a fan going
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: to games back in like O two to like five.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I went to a ton of games and he was
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: just really his Peak in three was just really fun,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: three oh four was really fun to watch. I went
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: with Peak over Dempster and Wood, who obviously really great
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: cubs and deserve to mention. I just went with Prior
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: because he was elite for a couple of years there,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: and you know, this was a fifth spot that I.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: Felt like I could take some liberties with.
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, big Z to me is like as
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: automatic as those three pitchers from the twenty sixteen rotation.
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: Just because the numbers are staggering, his talent was just phenomenal.
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: The entertainment factor off the charts, you know, sometimes misunderstood,
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: but I think it has to be made clear that.
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: He was a really he.
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: Was a really is a really intelligent guy. Like he
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: just lost his temper in the moments, but a terrific
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: sense of human her I mean you could see his
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: relationship with our buddy Paul Sullivan at the Tribune over
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: the years, like super could be just super engaging, just
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: physically just I mean just a beast like yeah, you like,
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: you know, looked like he could play in the NBA
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: or NFL just like a giant, an amazing hitter too.
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: You wouldn't get that h and yeah, that lived fifth
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: Bot kind of question mark. I think with Wooden Dempster
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: obviously great contributions throughout this time, I probably would have
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: like done a Craig Council default. Well, I need out getters,
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: and you could probably fold your water Dempster into the bullpen.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: I guess they both technically, you know, they closed and
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: put up some nice out of the pen too.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I went a bullpen closer. I went Carlos Marmel.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: What a wild career. He had also a kind of
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: a crazy ending as well. He For me, what I
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: remember is I was really getting into numbers and strikeout
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: rate and like how important that was. And we were
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: entering an era where pitchers were hitting, like hitting thirty percent.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Strike out rate was almost unheard of. There were very
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: few guys that were capable of doing that and Marmel
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: was elite at doing that, and then he got to
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: forty percent and that that was pretty cool for me
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: to like someone that was really getting into numbers and
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: thought that was cool. He was He's like any other reliever,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: really up and down and put that peak was really fun.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: He had a ton of staying. I think he's a
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Saves leader. During this time, the Cubs haven't had a
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: lot of great closers, to be like, completely honest, they
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: just haven't nobody that's stuck around for a long time.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: So I went with him, and I had to include
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: a setup guy because I feel like having this list
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: and not having paid Rostrope on it is ridiculous because
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: great call, grey call so hard to find consistency with relievers,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: and I think it's just I mean, he was so consistent.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: He showed up year after year, a.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Guy that I believe when they acquired him seven is
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: era just looked like a mess.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: What a trade.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Part of the greatest trade, arguably the greatest trade the
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Cubs have pulled off. I believe it was Steve Clevenger
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: and Scott Feldman for Paid Rostrope and Jake Arieta, Like
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: I had to include him and I one mention that
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: I made with Shawn Marshall, I just wanted to mention
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: him because it's so hard to develop lefties. The Cubs
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: finally have a couple lefties in their bullpen right now,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: but it's been so hard to find lefties.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: They developed one and he was really good. He was
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: really good.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: It traded for a key, a fun piece of the
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: World Series team. Travis Wood was the return was part
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: of the return for him. But I always liked Sean Mark.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: It covered the end of his time with the Cubs
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: and just really good lefty, A good quality reliever, probably
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: a little underrated.
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I love the the calls on Marshall, on Strobe
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: and Sean Marshall is a true gentleman. Also kind of
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: a calm voice of reason when all this crazy stuff
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: was happening around the Cups during that time.
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: He just was very mellow.
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: Vibes, Pedro Strope, all energy, team, just great demeanor. Really
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: all all players throughout the clubhouse. It wasn't just like
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: the Latin guys. It wasn't just the bullpen guys like
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: you know, hitters, pictures, you know, guys from the country.
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: Everyone just loved pedro Strope. I just really you know,
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: posted year after year. Marvel's peak was amazing. I just
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: couldn't couldn't go there because he ruined too many like stories.
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: I just felt like he was the class.
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: He was always and those day games at Wrigally you
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: need like an early notebook.
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: It's like, oh, Carlos Marmo was a name.
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: He's there, he's pitching well, and then it just seems
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: like inevitably you get to the ninth inning and that
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: story you wrote, it's like, oh, man, I have to
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: rewrite everything. I don't think there was like an obvious.
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: Answer the way there was a certain other positions.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's just kind of weird. They cycled
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: through like I don't know, like Wade Davis might have
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: had the best pure closing season. Yeah yeah, but it
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: wasn't you know, that was only you know, one of
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: you know, twenty five in a quarter century.
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: Brandon Morril was awesome. He was the opposite of marm Like.
• 38:42
  Speaker 5: He did it. He was lights out. It just obviously
• 38:44
  Speaker 5: didn't last.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: It was a hell of a half season.
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean he got injured, like putting his
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: pants on right, that was a bubby occurrence. I don't know,
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: does Mike Montgomery getting that one out?
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah? Put him as the closer?
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: Obviously a roll this chatman, you know, helped drag them
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: to that game seven, But it was such a short
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: kind of span. And then yeah, like Dempster and Wood
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: had had nice moments out of been too. I mean,
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: you know, uh, you're not gonna put Craig Kimberl on there.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: Do you want to put Daniel Polentci on there? He
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: he had a good series against the Rockies. Your recency bias.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: We'll see the next list. Maybe maybe Polentcia gets up there.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I think this just goes to show how tough it
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: is with relievers. Yes, and it just really shows the
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: value of Strope. He was so good and I like
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: he you know, the consistency was amazing.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Uh Patrick, This list was fun, you know.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: And and talking through it, like I feel like, should
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: I have put sore on around there? And uh and
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: and I appreciate your your perspective on third base. It's
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: it's good to like talk this through.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: So I now.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Prepared for the comments that are gonna come, because people
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: are gonna be mad and and and yell at me
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: for the terrible decisions I made. Uh uh, but you
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: know we'll we'll let them sound off on the YouTube
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: comments here as well, and yell at us there.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the Athletic for Patrick and I are on
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. We will be back next
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: week with three more episodes.
• 40:31
  Speaker 8: Uh.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: They start a road trip. It is Washington. Then then
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: it gets tough again Detroit, uh, and then Philly. Right,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Detroit and Philly so too. It's gonna get tough again
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: and we'll see. We'll see where this team is and
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: and and how they how they handle that? All right,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening to everyone.
• 40:49
  Speaker 8: Take care my bed and then among the leader