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The Cubs have landed in Japan! · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. I
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: am in Tokyo. The Cubs are in Tokyo. I don't
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: know how they're doing. I'm surviving. I'll say that it
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: is ten thirty am Tokyo time right now, and somehow
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I slept normally. I think I was up for twenty
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: seven hours with maybe me an hour of spotty sleep.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I am not a good airplane sleeper. I just is
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: not great for what we do for a living. But
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: like I I, yeah, it didn't. It didn't work out
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: in my favor. Before we get into my.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: You sound pretty chipper man.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I'm feeling I'm feeling okay. I think
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the night's sleep like I went out with not really
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: went out, went to the hotel bar with our friend
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Megan Montemorrow and our other friend Evan Dreuch and just
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: kind of like we forced ourselves to stay awake. I
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: think Megan may have gone out for another drink and
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I was like, it's past ten pm. I've made my goal.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I am going to bed. I've been up for twenty
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: somethings hours straight.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: This is insane.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: But yeah, how was What did you see in your
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: final moments there in Arizona. I think you're back home now,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: but what did you observe?
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: The kind of the vibe from the team I saw.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: I saw them all. They were all like, kind of
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: dressed the same.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: It was it almost felt like a Joe Madden moment
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: but obviously very different. But they were all like in
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: their Tokyo gear, Tokyo series gear.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: It looked it looked fun, and there were a lot
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: of videos coming out.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, the Cubs lead the league,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: you know, in sweatsuits and T shirts and team trips
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: and things like that, and it was kind of odd, like,
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: you know, we've been doing this so long and it's
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: such a regimented thing. Not that it's boring, it's just
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: that it's you have your body clock, your schedule is
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: kind of used to and you know, that last day
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: of Phase one spring training in Mesa, just seeing all
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: these equipment bags everywhere, suitcases, backpacks, and it's like spring
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: training is not quite over, like the season is about
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: to start, but not really like it was just kind
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: of in this limbo zone you had. All these suitcases
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: were lined up later outside the performance center there, you know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: a bunch of moving trucks and buses, and you know,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: it was this kind of odd thing of every day
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: asking counsel about the roster. We don't have to make
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: a decision yet, you know, telling Kevin Alcintara and Matt
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Shaw packed for Tokyo and then pretty sure they got
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: a heads up of where things were leaning towards, but
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: no official announcement till Tuesday morning.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: For those guys.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: So you know, I think we said this earlier on
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: previous shows, but I think they're genuinely excited, Like there
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: was not a lot of and I read this too.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: I think it was maybe in Bob Nightingale's story from
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers side of like how and well, we had
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: a trip to Australia several years ago and lots of
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: players were kind of complaining about it in the travel
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: and the schedule.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I did not get any sort of inkling on that.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: And you know, I'm sure you know how how much
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: they respect showed in Managa and Sae Suzuki. I'm sure
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: as a part of it, but also just like what
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Council said, this is an awesome experience for players, staff, executives,
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: and the media traveling abroad as well.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've tried to I've tried to look at it
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: in that way too, that this is this is a
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: moment for for all of us, you know, like to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: kind of soak it in. It's kind of like I'm
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: stealing this from Nico, but I've just thought of it too,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: like you have to, Like I when they made the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: World Series, I was like, Okay, I want like I
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: need to focus and I need to get my work done,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: but also like appreciate these moments like soak it in.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Like who knows if you'll ever get this opportunity to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: cover World Series again? So you know, like I don't
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: know when I'm going to get back to Japan. I'm
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: certainly like it's very unlikely I'm going to cover the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Cubs in Japan in the near future again. Right, Uh,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: you know we're we don't cover the Dodgers. Fabi and
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: ar daya our Dodgers beat writer, apparently gets a gets.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: A trip every year to some foreign country.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Korea last year, Japan this year, who knows where he'll
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: go next year. Uh so it is you know, it
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: does feel like it's going to be a moment.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: The travel is long, it is exhausting. It is kind
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: of discombobulating, I'd say, because I woke up at four
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: am on Tuesday in Chicago and by the time I,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: you know, now it's ten something on Thursday, and I
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: feel like I barely I just got here, right, But
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I've lost two days over two days, it feels like,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: just because.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: Of the time change and the travel.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: So that's that's a little discombobulating, losing those days and
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: then like communicating with people back home, like I'm texting
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: with my kids and things like that, and you're just like,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: it's weird, right, I know, I understand it. It's not
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: like I'm breaking news here that it's a different time
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: in Japan.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I get these are simple concepts, but it's still it's
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: still like throws you off, and experiencing it is very odd.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I haven't had a chance yet to like really go
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: out and explore, so I'm looking forward to doing that
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and kind of getting around it and kind of.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: Like seeing things.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I think I think the the exhibition games are gonna
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: be fun.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Like I'm really curious to.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: How and and we'll talk about this when we experience
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: when I experience it, But like the crowds, what are
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the vibes? Like, Like how different is it compared to
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: American crowd just you know, the food at the ballpark,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: how different is that? And you know, we'll talk plenty
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: about baseball, but I just think, like I think this
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: stuff is is something that you know, these players seem
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I get what you're saying, Like, I like, I like
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that nobody was complaining, Like I think that's you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: they I don't know who put it in perspective for
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: them or if they all have good perspective, but my
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: assumption is there there must have been something said or
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: understood among the group, like, yeah, is this going to
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: be a strain on us? Will this be a little difficult, Yes,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: but we're up for this challenge. And also like this
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: is an experience. Someone must have made that clear to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: them that this this is important and this is going
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: to be a bonding experience.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: We are going to be a better team because of this.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that messaging has been from the top down.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: As you know, this group is pretty thoughtful and mature,
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: and this have two terrific Japanese players.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I think it might have.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Been Seyah who had joked at the startup spring training
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: like I'm not going to give them any recommendations or advice.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: I want them to know how I feel when I
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: travel around me. But you know, even Jamison Taiwan was saying,
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: like my goal was to just pitch somewhere in Japan,
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: that he felt the Tokyo Dome was one of the
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: greatest baseball venues in the world. He wanted to experience
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: that and that even facing one of the MPB teams
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: would be a phenomenal memory for him, And I think
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: that's what a lot of players had said. I think
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: it was Justin Steel and Pico Armstrong when I'd asked them,
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: both referenced like and Tilan as well, like I've seen
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: these videos of what the crowds are like, and that
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: you know, with social media now with YouTube and how
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: connected our world is like, they have a sense of
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: what's coming and they saw that WBC a couple of
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: years ago was just I think the more and more
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: we're removed from it was an enormous landmark event. So
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: that while it is a foreign place. I think the
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: baseball is going to be very familiar and energizing for them.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: How you said that someone was talking about how they
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: complained about one of the series.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Was it Australia that you said? And how long ago
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: was that?
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: I believe it might have been ten.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: It's like ten fifteen years ago, right, yeah, it was so,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I mean the game is completely changed, right, Like we
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: have this influx of Japanese talent. I think the world
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: has kind of changed where what you said, like they
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: see videos, they see these things, and I think they
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: see the talent and they understand like this is like
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: this is different.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: This is maybe Australia is just different than Japan.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Japan loves baseball, but they understand that they have two
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: like you said, they have two great players. They pursue.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: They regularly pursue players from Japan. You Darvish loved his
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: time in Chicago and he's probably behind each of row.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: He's probably the most famous player that played in the MLB,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Japanese player that played in the MLB. You know, I
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: think this is you know, it's going to be an
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: event for everyone and an experience for everyone. But I think,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: like what I'm curious about is like for me, like
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I traveled overseas as a kid all the time.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: I'd go to India every three years with my parents.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Right, So like as annoying an knowing quotes as the
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: long flight is, I've done it before, and I know
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: it's just like you just kind of grind through in
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a sense. I like I saw some of the videos
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and like Peker Armstrong seemed legitimately a little stressed about
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: it all, like he's like I'm.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Gonna be on a plate for how long? Like kind
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: of like what is this?
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Like how am I going to do this? I'm curious
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: how many of them, like and Pete's probably like traveled,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I would guess, like knowing his family and all that stuff.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe I'm making.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: An assumption that I shouldn't, but like, like how many
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: of these guys They've all traveled country obviously, but I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: wonder how many of them have actually traveled overseas, Like
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: how many of them want to like we know like
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: some of them do that over the summer.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: I don't know how many of them actually do it.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: So this is had gone to Japan?
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: I think maybe honest honeymoon or something like that, and
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: I know he had visited Sea during that time, but.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Oh nice, Okay, that was I said over the summer,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and I didn't mean baseball during the summer.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, they traveled to London, and you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: I think we've mentioned this before too, but in twenty
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: twenty three they felt like they were really rolling. I
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: think they won four in a row, and then they
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: go to London and I think Stroman get hurt. They
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: lost at least one, maybe two games. They come back
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: to the smoky Wrigley Field of the Canadian wildfire was weird,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: like it was their season hit.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: A wall there.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: And I think in general, the Cubs are more concerned
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: about the back half of this trip, like when they
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: get back to Arizona, the jet lag, the like ramping
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: up for the Tokyo Series, ramping down sort of when
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: you get home, having to play more exhibition games and
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: then having to face the Arizona Diamondbacks and you know,
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: the next one hundred sixty games of the season.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: So I think that's that's probably what you know.
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: When you get back to Arizona, that'll probably be a
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: story of like, Okay, how do they recover from this
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: or you know, build off of this depending on how
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: things go in Japan.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's certainly gonna be interesting how that
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: all happens, right, Like the ramping down process is gonna
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: be weird.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: I would think, like how do you handle that? How?
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Like what exactly are they? Like?
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: It's just a different It's just a weird experience. You
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: talk about like they have the there's the All Star break,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: but that's after three plus months of playing baseball, you know,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: like going at it. You almost need that break kind
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: for your body to like recover. This is just a
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: very different experience, and they're also gearing up for what's
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: going to be a really daunting first month plus. I mean, like,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: let's not like, I know, everybody looks at the Athletics
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and thinks they stink.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: They don't. They're gonna be I think they're gonna be
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: pretty good.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: And then so you open up with the Dodgers obviously,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: and then Diamondbacks and Athletics, then Padres, then Rangers and
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Dodgers and Padres and Diamondbacks.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: The Dodgers and Phillies. Are you kidding me?
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Like that's how they start the season, Like the easiest
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: stretch right there? Is the Padres, I mean the Rangers.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Like that's and the Rangers could be good this year
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: were there are a year removed from winning the real Series.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know how good they'll be this year. That's
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: not like that's a really hard first month, and we'll
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: talk about that a lot more as they get into it.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: But I think, like, I think that is interesting. I
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: think that's an interesting idea that they have to like
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: they kind of have like this exhilarating experience. So not
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: only do you get like like mentally pumped up, but
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: like physically you're ramped up, and then you have to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: come back and then you have how many exhibition games?
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Five?
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Five more, and then and then you have to play
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: reil baseball again.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: It's just kind of weird.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Like you know, I'm not saying it's like we just
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: said how awesome this experience is, and like I'm happy
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: that everyone gets to go through it, but it is,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: like baseball wise, it's going to be interesting to see
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: how how they handle it.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: Look, and they they survived phase one of spring training,
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: particularly when you look at just all the headlines coming
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: out of Yankees camp.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: They avoided avoided that.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Enormous disappointment over how the Alex Regman saga unfolded. You
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: were there for Sammy Sosa's return. Those are the two
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: kind of like bigger i'd say, national storylines. But otherwise,
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: they kind of checked a lot of boxes. They knew
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: they had their schedule, they knew when they were leaving,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: they knew the checkpoints they wanted to hit with their pitchers.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: They large we did.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: I think the pitching depth you've mentioned this, players have
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: mentioned this like it's pretty exceptional, especially compared to some
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: other Cubs teams we've seen, even great Cubs teams we've
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: seen before, I don't think had this sort of like
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: pitching depth layered kind of up and down the forty
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: man roster. And then you know, look guys like Matt Shaw,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: guys like pre Crow Armstrong. I'd be fascinating to see
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: how they respond to this environment and the challenge ahead,
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: because there are times when I look at this roster
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: and it's like, man, they got they're pretty thin on
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: the bench, they got a lot of young, unproven question
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: marks at lots of key positions. Then other times you like,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: what if Matt Shaw is his rookie the year? What
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: if pie Crow Armstrong is a star, Like what if
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: Michael it just gets a little bit better and Dansby
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: and Nico are healthy, Like so many ways this could go.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: And that was kind of my feeling as I was
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: leaving Mesa and you know, heading to the airport and
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: out of spring training, of like, we really don't know
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: what's going to happen, but I think they have this
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: kind of solid foundation and then it's up to them
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: to like just go out and do what they've been
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: talking about for a while.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Now, all right, Patrick, I want to take a real
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: quick break and then I have a question for you
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: about about the pitching that we should expect in Tokyo
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• 17:40
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we know Showta Managa Game one versus I'mamoto.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure when how recently this was announced, but
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Roki Sasaki is officially starting Game two against Justin Steele.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: That'll be really fun. What is the plan the rest
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: of the plan for the pitching, like, what else? As
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you said, Tyne likely going in the second exhibition game.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Yes, well, obviously they're going without getters. That's their plan
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: is to get out. But beyond that, Craig Council said,
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: bullpen game for the first MPB Exhibition Tyne starting the
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: second exhibition.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: As of Tuesday morning, they were holding off.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: On a Matt Boyd decision whether or not he'd be
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: available out of the pen against.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: The Dodgers or whether they wanted to.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Have him absorb some of those innings in the exhibition games.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: My guess would probably be that they'd use him in
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: the exhibition games. But like it's been a weird process
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: and they don't know, you know, they could show up
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: at the Tokyo Dome for a workout, or you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: something could happen in one of those MPV exhibitions that
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: makes them change their plans. Otherwise, you hope Showda and
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: Steal can throw what like seventy seventy five pitches something
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: like that to kind of see how it goes.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: The plan would you know, be to have.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: Probably eleven relievers available out of the pen for the
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: real games, but very much kind of read and react,
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: and they've thought of all the kind of worst case.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Scenarios.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: But like they kind of there's no no room for
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: changes anymore. Like those are the guys they got, the
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: seventeen pitchers they brought, and then they'll whittle down to
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: thirteen for the real games. Tyne would be one of
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: the three inactives. Nico Horner back in Arizona would be
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: one of the inactives.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: And then.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: Vertically, I'm not sure where they left it. Brat Keller
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: they could just bring there, not add him to the
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: forty man yet, but that is their plan at some
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: point in March. Like there's a lot there.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Is a little bit of wiggle room with some of
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: this stuff.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: And that another thing just in noticing people on social
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: media or the comment section the Athletic, like the roster's
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: going to change again for domestic opening day, that the
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: decisions they make now some of it is just not
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: wanting to make a decision right like they did they
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: did on Keegan Thompson. That their pitching depth is a
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: point where they have seventeen guys they think are better
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: that they're willing to, you know, probably let him go
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: at some point here in March. But for that Diamondback series,
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: you see how everyone comes out of the how they
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: do the rest of the Cactus League schedule, and then
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: I still think they're probably just going to defer to
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: the guys who are out of options and things like that,
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: like contract situations like that gets priority but we alluded
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: to it earlier, like they have more options than they
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: had in the past. They do have some urgency. Maybe
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: they're not quite as patient. And also we'll see again
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: who's healthy and who's not, you know, during this window.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: But like Ben Brown is still like a really super
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: interesting guy of like what where does he fit? He
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: made the travel roster, and if you're a starter like that,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: you're gonna be pitching a lot. Maybe it's in some
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: of those exhibitions and just sort of doing it that way.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: But.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: He's someone who has been he's certainly one of their
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: thirteen most interesting and intriguing pictures. And then it's ultimately
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: you know, they're just going to keep stretching him out
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: until they can't anymore, or you know, the decision is forced.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: But he's probably the other name. I'd be kind of
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: curious to see if, like, all right, what are they
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: doing here with him?
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Or you know, how does he line up for April.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd likely inactive or active.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: It was to be determined right before they left Mesa
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: that he could. I would guess he's probably piggybacking in
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: Tyne's outing. But even Tyne had said like look, I'm
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: supposed to start this exhibition game, but they've been told
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: we don't know exactly what's going to happen, Like you
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: have to be sort of prepared for a couple of
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: different things. And that's why Showed and Steal kind of
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: work backwards from I think it's March eighteenth and nineteenth,
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: But Boyd and Tye on were also kind of around
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: that target date to where they could pitch, they could
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: be available, and Showed is going to have a pretty
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: long layoff too in between his outings. I think he
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: was going to do two I think high intensity bullpen
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: sessions or something like that. Like it's it's gonna be
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: it's gonna be a lot for them to absorb.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Over there, right.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Right, right right, and and you know the Dodgers have
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to go through this as well, and you know they'll
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: be creative as well, So it's not like it's some
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: disadvantage for the Cubs. All right, Patrick, I'm I'm really
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: curious to see how it all goes down. We'll have
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: one more, one more episode this week. I believe I'm
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: losing it. Like I said, I have no clue what
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: date is or time of day or where I am
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: but we'll have one more episode this week and then
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: it is opening day next week, so we it's right
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: around the corner. It's creeping up on us. I will
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: be sure to report from Tokyo. I guess that's why
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I'm out here.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: And go somewhere other than just the hotel bar.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going to seven eleven. Come on,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: there's the seven elevens are actually supposed to be amazing,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: so I'm gonna check it out.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: That's what the Japanese comedian said.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm definitely like all the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: all the We were talking about this in front of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: some Japanese writers and they were like, oh.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: No, it's not a joke. It's like yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: all right, okay.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I will I'll report back from seven to eleven and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the Tokyo Dome later on. Thanks so much for listening.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review and subscribe.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: I are on top of all things cubs. Thanks so
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: much for listening to everyone. Take care