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It’s early, but issues around the Cubs are mounting | North Side Territory · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moodey. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick another
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: blow to the Cubs rotation. Matthew Boyd is out. It
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: sounds like a minimum stint. Both he and counsel like
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this was not like grasping for Straw's optimism. This was
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: very clear immediately they're being proactive. It's biceps. Biceps strain,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I believe, is what the exact diagnosis is. It sounds
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: like during recovery during his starts, like as your body recovers,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you know, everything recovers. And this was the one thing
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: that was lingering. Boyd through a side session on or
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: On felt fine. He said he was in no pain
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: when talking to us on Monday. He's going to continue throwing.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: The expectation is two weeks on the shelf back against
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the Mets in that home series, I believe at Wrigley
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Field around like, I believe that's like the sixteen, seventeenth,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: eighteen somewhere around there. Look, it's right now, that's what
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: that is. That's what they're saying when both the player
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and the manager are this adamant about minimum stay, I
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: do tend to lean towards Okay, this sounds like they're
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: being very proactive, But at end, Kate Horton, we're still
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: waiting exact results on that two huge arms out of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: their rotation. We don't know how long Kate Horton is.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I think optimistically you're looking at a couple months there right,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Like that's a good probably. I don't like, we're certainly
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: not looking at a minimum stay for Kate Orton. You're
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: already testing your depth here. Javier Asad starts today, that's Tuesday,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: will likely get either Colin Ray start or culinary bulk
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: innings on Wednesday. And you're eating up two depth starters
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: already this early in the season. It's it's a blow.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: It's a blow to the season. It's a blow to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the Cubs. I think you you cling to the fact
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that Matthew Boyd is not seriously injured and go from there.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: But it's hard to for Cubs fans. I'm sure to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: kind of like accept what's happening right now with all
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the injuries piling up.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I mean ten games into the season. You got for
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: your opening day rotation on the injured list.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: And I think.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: As we were listening two Cubs officials and players talk
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: about the depth of this team in spring training, you're
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: thinking like, oh, okay, once it gets into June, or
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: if guy needs you know, a guy needs a breather
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: here or there, which is sounds like what Boyd is
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: getting just like very early in the season.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: But you don't think you're going, you know, this quickly
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: or this.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Hard into those reserves, like that reserve fun is there
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: for a reason, for this exact reason. You don't think
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: you're gonna have to start, you know, cashing it in
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: so soon. And yeah, we'll see what that depth is
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: truly made of here. I mean, obviously we talked about
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Horton last week. There is no replacing that sort of upside.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: You're talking about one of uh small handful of pitchers
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: in the game who represent that sort of you did
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the Aces project, you know what I'm talking about, Like
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the type of guy who could contend for a cy Young.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, boy just kind of the guy they they
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: leaned on. He was a cy Young contender for most
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: of last season. And you know, once you get into
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: this I thought you did a good job laying it
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: out in the story. It seems kind of early in
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: the season to be doing this, But like, where's Jordan
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Wicks at? You know what about Kyle Wright, Like, you know,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: we as people coming to him. He spent a lot
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: of time talking about Ben Brown, like is he going
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: to step up now and you know, get some sort
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: of opportunity Like what I'm kind of rambling here. What
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: was it like in the clubhouse. Has they been kind
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: of processing this news and absorbing that.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I would say nobody is is like devastated.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Nobody seems like it's so early in the season, you're
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: not seeing that. We got this news afterwards stepped out
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: of the clubhouse. So by the time when we get
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: back into the clubhouse in Poe game, we're dealing with
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: a loss and just and you know, trying to wrap
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that up. Boyd seemed very you know, he seemed fine.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: He did not seem like he was like in a
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: really bad mood or really upset about this. He I
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: think he wants to pitch, but he also understands like, look,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: this is we're playing the long game, and they're they're
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: they kind of sat him down and said, look, let's
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: get this out of your system type of thing, like
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: sit down for two weeks. You just play catch and
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: you don't have to do the you know, eighty five
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: ninety pitch outing where it's aggravating that that issue whatever's
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: going on there, and this two weeks will allow you
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to like, Okay, now it's gone pretty much and you
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it and you don't lead
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: to something worse. You're not compensating all those things. Who knows,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: you know. I assume that they have all these they
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: with everything that they measure. Now maybe they notice like, look,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: you're this is happening, you know, X, Y and Z
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: is happening when you're during this pitching session or during
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: this work. We're noticing this is happening, So that's an
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: indication that something could happen. I'm guessing on that, you know,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: but I'm just saying, they have so many ways to
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: measure this, it's like it's best if we let this rest.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: It really doesn't sound like it's a it's a major issue.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: It also doesn't seem like this team is in any
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: sort of like we're super worried mode. I think the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: bigger blow is Kate Horton. You know, if he's gone
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: for months or the season, you can't You said it,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: you cannot replace that. There is no replacing that. I
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: wonder at what point do you send Ben Brown down
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and get him extended again, Like get him stretched down,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: because I think Ben Brown has a lot of potential
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and it is clearly and I think everyone would agree
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: with it. It's just tantalizing and it hasn't really come
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to fruition yet. He has outings like he did whatever
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: that was was that that that was earlier, that was
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: last week sometime he had like a multi inning outing
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: and looked really good, and then Sunday, game two of
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the doubleheader, he doesn't look very good, and it's just like,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: what who is this guy? What is he? Is it
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: gonna click? Maybe getting extended in triple A is something
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: that needs to happen. I think that less about his
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: development and more about, like, you can't like Edward Cabrera
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: has a long injury history, you know, like we don't
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: know when the next issue is going to pop up?
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Or is he just the best option if you can
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: kind of get him to click? Is he the best
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: option to fill one of these spots in the rotation.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: A lot to process right now. I mean, Vincent Velaskiez
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: is a name that you have to start monitoring in
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the minors. They like, that's just the reality of the situation.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: When you have two injuries to the rotation ten games
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: into the season, it's every name that's a possible starter.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: And I know, I think I should mention him because
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: fans are gonna ask after what Kate Horton did last season,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Jackson Wiggins isn't as developed as Kate Horton. Like Jackson
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Wiggins has walk problems. He's never had a walk rate
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: below ten percent. He's never thrown more than seventy innings
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: in a professional season. He doesn't go deep into games yet,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: He's got developmental hurdles to cross. Does that mean no
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: chance for Jackson Wiggins this season? No, that just means
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: April or may. I really think that's pushing it unless
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: something happens with his development where they're like, oh, yeah, okay,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: he got he figured something out, and those things can
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: happen quickly. I don't want to just dismiss it because
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the way player development works and the way you like
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: teams act with young players. Yes, but he's not ready
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: right now and he needs he needs more work. He
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: needs to prove that he's not going to walk the
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: ballpark and then and then you go from there, but
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: that's down the road. And then of course Justin Steele,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: that's the other guy not eligible till I wrote this
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: May twenty fourth, I want to say, and who knows
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: if that's actually when he'll be ready, So you can't
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: even talk about it until the end of the May.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think the trade deadline is also three
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: plus months away, but I think you can already start
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: to assume that they'll be in the market for starting pitchers.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: I don't know exactly who will.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Be available, but it will be worth monitoring, all right,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: which teams are falling out of a quick which are
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: going to be the likely sellers, Which names do we
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: anticipate being available? And I mean literally, at this time
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: last week, you would have not circled another starting pitcher
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: as like the primary need. Like obviously you have to
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: let things play out and certain needs do become a parent,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: but yeah, a starter and or maybe some high octane
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: stuff out of the bullpen. I think you can already
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: see like pitching as they predicted is going.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: To be a constant area of focus.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, always is. Why don't we take a break and
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: we can talk a little bit about this disjointed start
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and and and what you just touched on the bullpen there.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: See see that we can decipher from the first ten
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: games of the season.
• 11:06
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• 12:07
  Speaker 6: Patrick.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: One thing I wanted to wrap up last segment, just
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: remind fans look, Justin Steele went down early last year.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Showed him Anaga went down for two months. Matthew Boyd
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: should not be out that long. Guys can step up.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera was brought in for a reason and it's
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: because of his upside. The Cubs, I think what you
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: were alluding to about the trade deadline. They need to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: stay afloat, They need to stay close, They need to compete.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Their offense needs to step up and kind of carry
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the team for a little bit, and that's how you
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs again, that's how you contend again. Yes,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: if Kate Horton is out for an extended period of time,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: especially if he's out for the season, it lowers it
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: feels like it lowers the ceiling, but we'll see where
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: it goes. Do not panic as far as no reason
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: to watch this team or this team is done. I
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: don't think so obviously concerned, Like I'm not trying to
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: say like, don't worry about it, it's it's concern. But
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the things that they built this depth and they acquired
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: these players for a reason. It was to guard against
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: situations like this, and it's not ideal that it's happened
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: this early. Look. Also not ideal is the start that
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: this bullpen is having. I'm going to write about this,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: and I think bullpens are incredibly fickle and they are
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: very it's terrible to analyze these things on April seventh,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: but here we are.
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: But here we are.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: But I think it's still important to just talk about
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: these things for sure, for sure. So I'm going to
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: go through some things that like as far as I understand,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: so so Hunter Harvey, he is going to be handled
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: with kid gloves in April. He just is They handled
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: him with kid gloves in the spring. I don't think
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: he threw it back to back all spring. Is that
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: because they're worried about him? Or is that because it's
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: because he has a long history of injuries. That's I'll
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: put it just simply, he has a long history of
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: injuries and they are thinking. You have to as much
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: as people, I shouldn't look at Twitter to generalize what
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: fans are feeling. If there are fans out there that
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: are like, what is Craig Council doing with this bullpen?
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: He is trying to play one hundred and sixty two
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: games and the playoffs. That is what he's trying to do.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: You have to be very diligent, diligent about sitting guys.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: When you say someone's sitting, you can't say, you know what,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I need him. Actually it's a one run game. I'm
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: gonna have to go to Hunter Harvey. Hunter Harvey was
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: down on Sunday. He was down, he was he He
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: threw a lot of pitches in a span of like
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: three days, like two games in three days. They decided
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Saturday and Sunday. He was down, so he was not
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: available on Sunday. So when you go to Jacob Webb,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: who doesn't look great right now, who's not getting results
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: right now, what you're trying to do is get Jacob
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: web through through an inning and then Phil Mayton for
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: the ninth. That was the plan on Sunday. They never
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: even got to Mayton. Phil Maton struggles on Monday. What's
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: going on with Phil Mayton? The last time he pitched
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: was Tuesday? Like, these guys sometimes they need to pitch more.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: And I asked counsel after the game, you know, basically
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: what's going on with Mayton? And I was like, is
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: this a situation where a guy needs to get out
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: there more like get fined his rhythm? He's like it,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: basically said exactly, like that's what it is, Like he
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: needs to get out there, figure it out. He's fighting
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: his fastball. I would not This is my reminder to fans.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Caleb Thielbar looked terrible ten days in two last season,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: really bad. He looked like a wasted signing. And now
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think anyone would doubt Caleb Theobar's effectiveness. I
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: would be very hesitant to judge these guys on the
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: first ten days, especially Mayton. Mayton is incredibly consistent. It's
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: very clear something is off mechanically or he's fighting something
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: not help just like he can't get something down and
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: he's not commanding his pitches like he wants to. I
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: would not like he's the one of all these guys
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: that I would not be concerned about just trust that,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: get him some time, give him some outings, he's gonna
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: lock it in. I feel pretty good about that, assuming
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: that it's not just like Fallen. I don't see like
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the stuff degraded anything like that. I just see he's
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: a little off and you can see he's like frustrated,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: like he's not finishing his pitches. He's not like something
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: is off and he's just like I need to get locked.
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah. It is just kind of funny how the Cubs
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: actually did.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: Put money into their bullpen.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, were more flexible and open minded about how to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: put that bullpen together, thinking you'd get a little more certainty.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Out of it.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: And that's not always how baseball works. I think you can.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I think Cubs have shown over a rather significant period
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: of time that they're usually pretty good at figuring these
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: things out. But there is that feeling out process at
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: the beginning of every year. That's a great point of
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: just getting into the rhythm of the season two, whether
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: it's you know, a high leverage reliever or even some
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: of these every day guys. I remember Nico Warner, that
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: was one of the things he had said. I think
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: at Cubs convention when someone asked him like, you know, hey,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: isn't it great that you know you have Matt Shaw
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: could give you a day off or two. And he
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: was just like, no, I think I'm a good player
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: because I know how to play every day and I
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: get into the rhythm of that, and was in a
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: very neac o way sort of miffed at the question,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: or at least that's the way it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Sort of came across.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: And yeah, just overall, like they haven't played, you know,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: particularly well.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: They're not clicking in all phases of the game.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: The Brewers got off to, once again a pretty good start,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: and this division looks like it might be a little
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: peskier than you know, we thought, or at least you
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: would think when you look at the payroll disparities.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Within the Central.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm curious to kind of read your coverage
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: out out of Tampa to see like how they respond
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: and how they are. You know, I thought Counsel did
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: a good job of or I like the way he
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: phrased it, or how honest he was, like with the
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Kate Horton thing of just like, yeah, it's concerning when
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: a pitcher goes out and gets imaging, and it's like,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: you know, ten games is not that much, but it's
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: still still a real part of the season, right, And
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: when your team is not playing well and two of
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: your best pitchers are on the injured list, like, it's
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: not it's not good.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: It's okay to acknowledge that it's fair.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Look, a four and six start is not
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: disastrous losing I'd be much more concerned as a fan
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: with losing players to injury, Like that's just the reality
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: of it. You're gonna the Cubs were inevitably going to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: go through a four and six stretch this season. They were,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: and the Brewers are probably going to go through whatever
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: they are, an eight and two stretch. Like the Brewers
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: are playing annoyingly good baseball yet again, And which is
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: why I said I'm not counting them out because I
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: refuse to do that ever again, because that is just
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: an insanely well run organization. You see, They're not going
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to play eight hundred baseball all season, but they're really
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: well run organization in a well oiled machine. Cubs offense
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: needs to turn it around, too, Like it's like Ian
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Hap Nico Horner Maya when he's in there and nobody
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: else Matt Shaw's starting to turn it around, Alex Bregman, Like,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: there are so many things you'd like about what he's doing,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: and the results aren't there. Michael Bush doesn't really look
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: like himself. I haven't dove into the numbers, but a
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: lot I'm seeing a lot of pop ups, Like I'm
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: not sure exactly what that indicates there. Nobody's like carrying
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: the team offensively. I think Nico's playing well and that's
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: that's about it, you know, Like I said, Miguel Amaya
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: when he's in the lineup, it did like and I
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: think you can look at Ian happ as like a
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: really good indication of how baseball is. Like that. He
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: looked lost in Cleveland, and then that second game on
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Sunday he hits it like I think he hit a homer,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: had had an RBI single that got them within one run.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: These things change quickly. And then he looked really good
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: on Monday in Tampa, had a deep flyout that you know,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: probably an extra base hit stolen from him, another double,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: He looked good. It can change that quickly, So Filmmaton,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Alex Bregman, all these guys, Michael Bush, ten days from now,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: they could all be locked in and doing great. I
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: think it's important to remember those things, the things you
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: cannot control, or the injuries, and and just say, like
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: you cannot dismiss those four and six. You want to
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: get off to a better start they need they can't.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: That's the other thing. They like, you're four and six.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: You can dismiss that in a sense like it happens. Okay,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: don't don't dig up further. It's time you gotta start.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Like at some point you gotta it's got to click right.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying they have to get red hot.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: They don't have to catch the Brewers by the end
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of April. You just want to stay afloat, get through here.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: And I guess at the end of the day, it's
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: like get to where Justin Steele is ready, you know,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: like be still in it when Justin Steele is back.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Things like that, Like those are the ways you don't
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: it feels kind of defeat us to be talking like
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: this already. Yeah, but that kind of is like how
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: it feels. Stay afloat, don't fall too far behind. And
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: just you know, another thing I keep saying is like,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: don't read body language, don't read that stuff. This is
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: not an emotive team outside of peak r arm song.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I didn't even mention him. He's got to get going obviously,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: like he's and a reminder again, you were out in
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: LA last year, right, that's when like it all turned
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: around two weeks into the season or whatever it was
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: for him. So he looked just like this, and first
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: few games of the WBC he looked just like this
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: and then got hot. These things clicked quickly. So, uh,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: we'll see when that day comes. But a lot of
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: guys need to get locked in here.
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: And Saya is expected back this weekend at Wrigley Field.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, they're they're giving him two more days at
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Triple A. So that would be today or not Triple A.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Uh wherever he is Knotsville. Uh so Tuesday and Wednesday
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and then uh and then he will be ready. Uh
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: it sounds like for the weekend. That yes, good, good
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: call right there. Another didn't even mention that say is missing.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: They're arguably one of their best power hitters last year
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and that and and you know power is kind of
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: lacking right now in this lineup. It feels like at
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: least consistent power threat. Uh. Add him to the lineup.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Get a little different feel for everything, and you hope
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: that they take off. That's I mean, you gotta right
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: now with maybe like offense starts clicking, Edward Caburra, care
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: is the rotation things like that, That's what you got
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: to look at. Like jameson tie Own stabilizes things and
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: it's like a consistent guy. Those are the types of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: things I think you need to focus on. If your
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Cubs fan searching for optimism.
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: It is you're right. April seventh is pretty early to
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: be putting zone.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: But I think I think it shows the season is
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: going to be more interesting than maybe we thought that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: It's it's not a pushbut in operation, you can't just
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: roll the balls out and the rest of the Nationalague
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Central isn't just gonna, you know, kind of fold here.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: That even for a team with a lot of continuity,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: is going to have to figure it out like it
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: truly is a new season and the stuff that worked
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: last year may not work this year. That it's a
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: game of constant adjustments and they've just seemed a little
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: either slow on that or out of sync or maybe
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: there are you know, some very valid reasons that we've
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: just outlined here but they have to have to put
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: it together. Just because your projection system says one thing
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean that's what actually is going to happen.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's I mean like I have to remind
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: myself one like some of these numbers that I look at,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: it's like, oh if that looks ugly, like one good
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: week and suddenly this stuff doesn't matter, like these early
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: season numbers and the way things look. A five game
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: winning streak probably quiets a lot of these things. They
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: haven't won back to back games, I don't think, like,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: come on, like, but that's why it's it doesn't like,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: how are you supposed to build optimism on the group,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: But if you can't win back to back games? So
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: you know, these things, we'll see where they are in uh,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: not even a week. I mean like months from now
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: is really when we need to start looking at things.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: But I get like it's the doldrums of the early season,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: where like the I think the weather is still crappy
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: out in Chicago, right, it's rainy here in Tampa. Yeah. Yeah,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: So so people are just like it's hard to how
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: do we spin this positively? Uh? This is how everyone's feeling,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: all right, Well, well maybe maybe when when we return
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: UH for the next few episodes of this week, that
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the Cubs will be back on a winning track and
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: there will be some positivity. We will probably have some
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Kate Horton news by then, so we'll talk to you
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: about that. UH. But yeah, that's I think that's it
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: from here from UH from UH, I keep saying, Tampa,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Saint Petersburg uh and and we'll you know, not not
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: an ideal start to the season, injury wise, record wise,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: all that stuff, but but things can turn quickly, so
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: we'll try and cling to some optimism. Thanks so much
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: for listen to everyone. This is Northside Territory and make
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and Iron top
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of all things Cubs. Thanks for listen everyone, Take care.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: The name.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Any anything I
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: Do day Leader