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Reactions to Opening Day 2.0 · 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
0:12
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The
0:16
Speaker 1: Cubs have won a game. They are on the board
0:20
Speaker 1: with the wh we can we can settle down. No
0:24
Speaker 1: need panic about Well, you'll be a disasterous start, I'm not.
0:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's for the next first pitches in a couple hours,
0:33
Speaker 2: right yeah.
0:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeh, so so let let the fanic be delayed
0:37
Speaker 1: at least a few, you know, twenty four hours. Uh.
0:41
Speaker 1: It was a really well played game for the most
0:43
Speaker 1: part by the Cubs. A lot of especially offensively and defensively.
0:50
Speaker 1: I think what stood out the number one thing for me, uh,
0:55
Speaker 1: one of the biggest talking points after the game, even
0:57
Speaker 1: during the game. Someone a di'mond back to reporter commented
1:01
Speaker 1: on it. It was the base running by the Cubs. This
1:04
Speaker 1: team has a lot more speed, but just in general
1:07
Speaker 1: they seemed to be It's it's been an emphasis. It's
1:11
Speaker 1: something that this team worked on in the in spring
1:16
Speaker 1: and and focus on with their coaching staff. Like if
1:19
Speaker 1: you remember, I mean we you and I wrote about
1:22
Speaker 1: this when once there were openings and we kind of
1:26
Speaker 1: dug into the coaching staff, what are they looking for, Well,
1:29
Speaker 1: they're looking for a base running expert, and they got
1:32
Speaker 1: two of them in in their third base coach Quentin
1:36
Speaker 1: Berry and first base coach. Oh my god, Jose Javier,
1:40
Speaker 1: Jose Javier. I just wanted to be I was like,
1:45
Speaker 1: oh jeez, I wanted to call him Javier. And I'm like,
1:48
Speaker 1: that's all right. Uh, both both who got shout outs
1:54
Speaker 1: in post game for the work that they're doing. And
1:57
Speaker 1: and it was like there were little things. I mean,
2:00
Speaker 1: we know PCAs fast, right, but he beat out this
2:05
Speaker 1: grounder in the fifth inning. I have this, I have
2:08
Speaker 1: my boss scored just in case in the fifth inning,
2:12
Speaker 1: sixth inning. I'm looking at the Diamondbacks fifth inning and
2:17
Speaker 1: with two outs he beat out a. He beat out
2:20
Speaker 1: a groundball to set like he was on first base,
2:23
Speaker 1: and he got to second in time beat it out.
2:26
Speaker 1: He was fired up. Miguelmaya comes up to out basis
2:30
Speaker 1: clearing double. In the ninth inning, I believe Nico Horner
2:35
Speaker 1: beat out a grounder as well. That led to two
2:39
Speaker 1: more runs, scoring just insurance for the team that put
2:42
Speaker 1: him from eight to five to ten to five. This
2:44
Speaker 1: is these are little things that could make a huge difference.
2:49
Speaker 1: I mean that that essentially led to five runs. You're
2:52
Speaker 1: keeping innings going, you're changing, you're putting pressure on the defense.
2:58
Speaker 1: Like my my thought process is you set this as
3:02
Speaker 1: an example. Now you're gonna start rushing defenses like infielders
3:06
Speaker 1: are gonna know, we gotta move. We like these guys
3:09
Speaker 1: are aggressive, they get big secondary leads, they hustle, they're
3:13
Speaker 1: never taking a playoff, and they have speed. I mean
3:16
Speaker 1: there's three guys that have plus plus you know, arguably
3:19
Speaker 1: plus plus speed in PCA Shaw Nico and then Kyle
3:23
Speaker 1: Tutter is an elite base runner. Like you have these
3:25
Speaker 1: guys that know how to run the bases. They're a
3:27
Speaker 1: smart base running team. They went from pretty bad base
3:30
Speaker 1: running team. And I know it's one game that we
3:32
Speaker 1: saw it, but like this looks like something that I mean,
3:34
Speaker 1: council said it and the players all said it. They
3:36
Speaker 1: wanted to be their identity.
3:39
Speaker 2: Well yeah, I mean our buddy John Greenberg was there
3:41
Speaker 2: with you, and I think he'd called it not quite
3:44
Speaker 2: a must win game, but if there is a must
3:46
Speaker 2: win game, and in the third game of this season
3:50
Speaker 2: it is this and so I looked pretty good on TV.
3:54
Speaker 1: I mean, a huge, huge crowd there.
3:56
Speaker 2: The Divondbacks are a terrific team and been a nemesis
3:59
Speaker 2: for the Cubs over the last couple of years. As
4:03
Speaker 2: I was tuning into the game, tuning in and out
4:07
Speaker 2: of March madness, I thought of you, Sahadev, of looking
4:10
Speaker 2: at that bottom half or bottom third of the lineup
4:13
Speaker 2: coming through the little things that you mentioned. What does
4:20
Speaker 2: Jed Hoyer always say good teams blow other teams out
4:24
Speaker 2: and getting those tack on runs and giving the bullpen
4:28
Speaker 2: a little bit of breathing room there in the later innings.
4:30
Speaker 2: I was curious, like, I don't know, walking out of
4:36
Speaker 2: the dugout after pregame, kind of walking out of the
4:38
Speaker 2: clubhouse after postgame give us, you know, a good vibes
4:42
Speaker 2: check for the people in Chicago who may not have
4:44
Speaker 2: stayed up late watching every every single pitch.
4:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I appreciated how after Japan Dansby Swanson
4:57
Speaker 1: kind of said, like, you know, we're going to use
4:59
Speaker 1: this to kind of clean things up, which I mean,
5:02
Speaker 1: you know, it's two games, Like what do you clean like?
5:06
Speaker 1: I guess, like you don't want to overreact to two games,
5:09
Speaker 1: but clearly they said that. They were like, well, we're not, like,
5:12
Speaker 1: there are some things we can do better, and we
5:14
Speaker 1: will focus on them. What those things are. They didn't
5:18
Speaker 1: get into specifics, but they look like a better team
5:20
Speaker 1: for one game. Nobody was panicking, nobody was freaking out.
5:24
Speaker 1: I think a week and like Jed kind of said it,
5:27
Speaker 1: Jed's like, yeah, people were kind of ticked off. It
5:30
Speaker 1: wasn't a happy trip home. Yeah, He's like, I think
5:34
Speaker 1: the biggest issue was there was a week between games,
5:36
Speaker 1: and I think that's absolutely true. You're not used to
5:38
Speaker 1: that outside of the All Star break. That doesn't happen
5:41
Speaker 1: in baseball. So when that happens, I think it's very
5:46
Speaker 1: easy for people to stew over a couple of bad games.
5:50
Speaker 1: When it's in reality, you know, you got to take
5:52
Speaker 1: it all seriously. It's one hundred and sixty two games,
5:55
Speaker 1: and March games matter as much as August games. But uh,
6:01
Speaker 1: you you know, you don't want to overreact to two games.
6:04
Speaker 1: But they I think they were eager to get back
6:07
Speaker 1: on the field and show that that isn't who they are.
6:10
Speaker 1: I mean, they're playing too really they're starting the season off.
6:12
Speaker 1: We've talked about this, We're going to continue to talk
6:14
Speaker 1: about it because it's a really tough schedule, but they're
6:17
Speaker 1: playing two really difficult teams to start the season. Arizona's
6:20
Speaker 1: not easy. I know, the Dodgers get all the attention,
6:23
Speaker 1: but then el is stacked and Arizona is a really
6:25
Speaker 1: good team. And they may not have they may not
6:30
Speaker 1: have the obvious superstar that we all talk about, but
6:34
Speaker 1: they have imposing offensive talents, especially right at the top
6:39
Speaker 1: with kateel Marte and and Corbyn Carroll, Like, this is
6:43
Speaker 1: an obnoxious offense to face. Obnoxious, no doubt.
6:49
Speaker 2: Looking looking at the lineups, you know, just kind of
6:53
Speaker 2: the marquee graphics before you know, in the first inning, uh,
6:58
Speaker 2: you know, if the cups don't reach some of those
7:00
Speaker 2: best case scenarios, there is just kind of that drop off.
7:04
Speaker 2: But yeah, there are reasons to be optimistic, and I
7:08
Speaker 2: don't know, and watching it, it's kind of like, I
7:09
Speaker 2: get why we had to frame this start of the season,
7:13
Speaker 2: the challenges, the difficulties, but at the same time, it's like,
7:18
Speaker 2: I don't know, if you want to make the playoffs,
7:20
Speaker 2: you just have to go out and beat people, and yeah,
7:23
Speaker 2: lineup is filled with first round picks. They have all
7:27
Speaker 2: stars at the top of their rotation. They feel very
7:31
Speaker 2: confident in their bullpen and some of those little things
7:36
Speaker 2: you alluded to. So it feels like, I don't know,
7:39
Speaker 2: at least getting one on the board changes the subject
7:43
Speaker 2: because you're right like that that was like a an
7:47
Speaker 2: NFL sized break in between games where you like, you're
7:50
Speaker 2: kind of overanalyzing what was a very you know, short
7:54
Speaker 2: window into what the season will become.
7:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, like you talk about blowing teams out,
8:01
Speaker 1: You're you're gonna be able to do that. If if
8:05
Speaker 1: if you have someone like Miguel Amaya hitting right, like
8:08
Speaker 1: Miguel Amayah currently is their nine hitter and he has
8:12
Speaker 1: I believe three extra brace hits and every single one
8:15
Speaker 1: of them has driven in runs. Uh he looks. It's
8:21
Speaker 1: three games. I don't wanna. I don't want to get
8:23
Speaker 1: too positive or too negative, So I don't know, but
8:27
Speaker 1: he if he can carry over his second half, that
8:31
Speaker 1: really changes that dynamic of things, Right Like if PCA
8:36
Speaker 1: is getting on base regularly, if if if Matt Shaw
8:39
Speaker 1: is now now I mean, I think, do we talk
8:43
Speaker 1: about this last episode or one of the previous episodes.
8:46
Speaker 1: He's not batting fifth right, and the council kind of admitted,
8:49
Speaker 1: you know, that was aggressive, that he.
8:52
Speaker 2: Panicked and overreacted because Jesse Rodgers was not he he
8:58
Speaker 2: did he did admit he's like, you know, I kind.
9:00
Speaker 1: Of looked at it, and he's like, I like him.
9:03
Speaker 1: I think he can. I think he can eventually hit
9:05
Speaker 1: higher in the lineup, But why press it? Like, why
9:08
Speaker 1: put that on him? And he doesn't have to know
9:10
Speaker 1: that Nico Horner's back. I'm curious what the lineup looks
9:14
Speaker 1: like against lefties if he shifts things at all, But
9:18
Speaker 1: he probably does, right, Justin Turner probably hits against lefties
9:21
Speaker 1: a little bit more than so we'll see how that looks.
9:25
Speaker 1: But I you know, it's it's three games. But if
9:29
Speaker 1: Migalamaya is hitting like this, we're talking about a very
9:32
Speaker 1: good offense. Right, Like ten runs. They made Zach Gallon
9:36
Speaker 1: look very pedestrian. He struggled to find the zone. They
9:41
Speaker 1: were patient against him. They couldn't come up with a
9:43
Speaker 1: big hit against Rokie, right, But now that's there's two
9:47
Speaker 1: games where they were patient against the starter and and
9:49
Speaker 1: force them out early. Right, so let's see what they
9:52
Speaker 1: can do. If they can make that a calling card,
9:55
Speaker 1: if they can make the base running a calling card,
9:57
Speaker 1: if Migualamaya's Like those are the positives, there are negatives, like,
10:03
Speaker 1: you know, like, I think it's fair to wonder what's
10:07
Speaker 1: going on with Justin Steele. I think if if you
10:12
Speaker 1: you know, sorry, go ahead, And that.
10:14
Speaker 2: Was literally my next question. I mean, you've seen both
10:17
Speaker 2: of his two starts there in person. What jumps out
10:20
Speaker 2: to you? And what is Steele saying at his locker
10:24
Speaker 2: post game?
10:25
Speaker 1: So I think the first game, like you need to
10:30
Speaker 1: you look at that. That's not a good start, right
10:32
Speaker 1: like Tommy Edmond crushes from the right side apparently now
10:36
Speaker 1: like like he's and he is he the new like
10:39
Speaker 1: Cubs killer too. I don't remember him being this good
10:41
Speaker 1: against the Cubs when he was with the Cardinals, but
10:43
Speaker 1: ever since he joined the Dodgers, he's killed the Cubs.
10:47
Speaker 1: And I believe he Homer yesterday as well. He's just
10:50
Speaker 1: he looks like he's a really quality hitter from the
10:54
Speaker 1: right side, and you know he he left too many
10:58
Speaker 1: over the plate against the Dodgers. I want like a
11:03
Speaker 1: I can't remember if I said this to you, just
11:06
Speaker 1: to you before we were recording, or if I've said
11:08
Speaker 1: this already on the podcast, But the face two of
11:11
Speaker 1: the best offenses in baseball. I know it's I know
11:13
Speaker 1: it's a new year, it's a new season. We don't
11:15
Speaker 1: know who the best offenses are going to be. But
11:17
Speaker 1: but the Diamondbacks are a really good offense. They don't
11:20
Speaker 1: strike out much, they're hard to put away, and and
11:24
Speaker 1: they scored nearly nine hundred runs last year. They led
11:27
Speaker 1: baseball with runs scored. So so they're good offense. Uh
11:33
Speaker 1: that that's not an excuse. Justin Steele is supposed to
11:36
Speaker 1: be one of the better pitchers in the game. He
11:38
Speaker 1: needs to step up right. I think early in the
11:42
Speaker 1: game he was trying to use his change up. It
11:44
Speaker 1: got hammered twice. I think he left one up against Marte.
11:47
Speaker 1: Marte hit it hard. I believe that what may that
11:51
Speaker 1: may have been the double that Marte got in in
11:56
Speaker 1: the first inning, or at least that's what Steele was suggesting.
12:00
Speaker 1: And then the home run that he allowed to Suarez
12:06
Speaker 1: that that was also on a change up and that
12:08
Speaker 1: was hammered. Like that was just not it was not
12:11
Speaker 1: a good pitch. It was left right over the plate,
12:13
Speaker 1: and he said he he dumped the change up after
12:17
Speaker 1: that and and things got better. Well, see, like I
12:21
Speaker 1: think he left some fastballs over the plate against the Dodgers.
12:25
Speaker 1: Home runs when he's not doing well, I feel like
12:28
Speaker 1: home runs are what bite him right like that. It's
12:31
Speaker 1: not like he's not going to rack up a ton
12:33
Speaker 1: of walks. He doesn't like you know, he's also not
12:37
Speaker 1: a big strikeout guy. But he's good enough. He gets enough.
12:42
Speaker 1: It's not like he's under twenty percent or something. He's
12:44
Speaker 1: he pushes. I think he's at twenty five ish percent.
12:47
Speaker 1: Uh so, yeah, I wouldn't. I'm not at like it's
12:51
Speaker 1: it is two starts. I thought like that he identified
12:55
Speaker 1: something that wasn't working. He probably Miguel Amaya identified something
12:59
Speaker 1: that wasn't working, and they addressed it and they and
13:03
Speaker 1: they dumped that pitch for the rest of that start,
13:05
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I think he pitched decently well
13:11
Speaker 1: the rest of the way. Like he pitched five innings,
13:14
Speaker 1: gave up three runs. Again, difficult lineup, and he navigated
13:21
Speaker 1: it well after dumping that that change up. But I
13:25
Speaker 1: think it's worth monitoring, and I think it's worth the
13:27
Speaker 1: you know, like you, I've said it multiple times leading
13:32
Speaker 1: into the season, this is the rotation being I don't
13:36
Speaker 1: think it'll be terrible, but not being stand out. Last
13:40
Speaker 1: year was pretty stand out, right, it was a better
13:42
Speaker 1: It seemed like one of the better rotations in baseball
13:45
Speaker 1: for much of the year. I don't know. I don't
13:48
Speaker 1: know if it will be that this year. I'm not
13:52
Speaker 1: saying it'll be bad. I just don't like it's just
13:54
Speaker 1: something that is I'm slightly like if if they're going
13:57
Speaker 1: to hit a bump in the road, I wonder if
13:59
Speaker 1: that'll and and maybe the bullpen too, I don't know,
14:03
Speaker 1: but bullpens are so volatile. I don't even like predicting
14:05
Speaker 1: what happens with the bullpen.
14:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially when we're not are we even in April yet,
14:10
Speaker 2: I mean.
14:13
Speaker 1: We as we all know. I mean, pitcher wins.
14:15
Speaker 2: Are obviously the most important stat going in baseball, and
14:19
Speaker 2: I do think there's some level of like, I don't know,
14:22
Speaker 2: I think Steel was due a couple of those. I mean,
14:24
Speaker 2: he went five and five with a three point oh
14:26
Speaker 2: seven ERA in twenty four starts last year.
14:29
Speaker 1: He did seem like the tough luck guy.
14:31
Speaker 2: Over and over less Oh yeah, splitting his two starts
14:35
Speaker 2: with an eight e R thus far, I don't know.
14:40
Speaker 2: I'm going to give him the benefit doubt as a
14:41
Speaker 2: guy who does seem to kind of lock in and
14:45
Speaker 2: maybe a philosophy's up gets into the rhythm of the
14:48
Speaker 2: season a little more.
14:51
Speaker 1: I guess we went with the opening day two point
14:55
Speaker 1: zero starter.
14:56
Speaker 2: Let's go to the closer, Ryan Presley, who made just
15:00
Speaker 2: the hazard of the job, the hazards of the job,
15:04
Speaker 2: but going to be second guests, going to draw a
15:08
Speaker 2: lot of heats, a lot of scrutiny. What are you
15:12
Speaker 2: seeing from Ryan Presley who got the safe but in
15:17
Speaker 2: two appearances hasn't looked totally locked in yet.
15:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm trying to I'm trying to see, like how
15:27
Speaker 1: the velocity I'm checking right now, how his velocity was.
15:30
Speaker 1: I don't think it was great, and I think that's
15:32
Speaker 1: worth monitoring. His His command just doesn't seem like it's
15:37
Speaker 1: it's fully there. It's you know, like again, do we
15:42
Speaker 1: want to panic? Sure, we can, we can do that.
15:45
Speaker 1: He didn't look perfect in the spring. The velocity is
15:50
Speaker 1: down again. It looks like it's he averaged seven last year.
16:00
Speaker 1: It's only down a tick. It was only down a
16:02
Speaker 1: tick his last like barely half a tick less than
16:04
Speaker 1: that ninety two to three yesterday with the four seed,
16:07
Speaker 1: ninety two seven with the with the sinker so and
16:09
Speaker 1: he only threw four of them. He's he's he's a
16:12
Speaker 1: slider guy, right. Mostly it's gonna be slider and curveball.
16:15
Speaker 1: I think that's their plan. Kind of lean on the
16:17
Speaker 1: breaking balls. That's what he's best at throwing, uh, you know,
16:21
Speaker 1: spinning the ball. He's got a he can't walk guys
16:25
Speaker 1: like he did against the Dodgers, right. He that was
16:27
Speaker 1: a little bit lucky against the Dodgers. He loaded the
16:31
Speaker 1: bases against them and then got that double play ground
16:35
Speaker 1: ball got out of a jam. I I don't think
16:40
Speaker 1: I am a little concerned about Presley Elsa, you know, like,
16:44
Speaker 1: but I don't, you know, I don't want to take
16:48
Speaker 1: too much away because these sometimes these veterans just lock
16:50
Speaker 1: it in and and they figure things out, or they
16:54
Speaker 1: especially relievers, like have a few bad outings to start
16:57
Speaker 1: the season and then get like get going and just
17:01
Speaker 1: like they're like, oh wow, this guy's dominant. Right, So
17:05
Speaker 1: it's not a it's not a panic time to DFA
17:10
Speaker 1: anything like that even if there's four more of these
17:13
Speaker 1: and and he's and he's so so like that's why, hey,
17:17
Speaker 1: like you said, it's good to blow teams out. Why
17:20
Speaker 1: was he in in a ten to five game? Because
17:22
Speaker 1: it was eight to five and he's warming up and
17:25
Speaker 1: and he was he was hot, Right, you don't you
17:28
Speaker 1: don't not pitch the guy unless you want, Like, if
17:31
Speaker 1: you don't pitch him, you just you just burnt him, right,
17:33
Speaker 1: Like that's essentially like pitching him when you warm him up.
17:36
Speaker 1: So that's why he was in. Someone asked me that,
17:38
Speaker 1: and I was like, he was, he was hot, Like,
17:40
Speaker 1: you got to pitch him at that point. And he
17:42
Speaker 1: didn't look great. So that's two outings. He doesn't look
17:46
Speaker 1: great against two of the best offenses in the game. Uh. Still,
17:51
Speaker 1: he's got to get it done. Porter Hodge was a
17:55
Speaker 1: little off yesterday, especially against markte Hey, I believe it was.
18:02
Speaker 1: I think it was a four pitch walk against Marte
18:07
Speaker 1: or am I looking at it wasn't Marte? Who was
18:10
Speaker 1: it against? Whoever it was? He he was a little
18:15
Speaker 1: off with his fastball. Uh. And and then he locked
18:18
Speaker 1: it in and and and seemed to uh uh seemed
18:22
Speaker 1: to have it figured out. I think it was moreno
18:24
Speaker 1: who who he was facing and and his fastball just
18:28
Speaker 1: wasn't there. And you know, like, I don't know what
18:33
Speaker 1: we're gonna get from Porter Hodge this year because it's
18:36
Speaker 1: hard to know what, uh what a young reliever will do.
18:40
Speaker 1: You know, he had a great season last year, will
18:43
Speaker 1: he will he do that again? I'll tell you this. Uh,
18:47
Speaker 1: when he didn't have his fastball yesterday early in that outing,
18:50
Speaker 1: he just started going to his slider and it was nasty.
18:53
Speaker 1: Like he like, it's still that's still just a nasty pitch.
18:57
Speaker 1: So you know, is he does he end up the
19:00
Speaker 1: closer in a month or two? Maybe? Uh? You know,
19:05
Speaker 1: I I don't know what's gonna happen, but I do
19:07
Speaker 1: know that that Porter Hodge looks pretty nasty with the slider.
19:11
Speaker 1: I didn't love how the fastball was looking yesterday, But
19:14
Speaker 1: these things come and go. I would I like with Steel,
19:20
Speaker 1: like if you were talking about a panic meter, like
19:22
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty low. Right with Presley, it's it's like, uh,
19:26
Speaker 1: you know, halfway there. When for for someone that doesn't panic,
19:31
Speaker 1: uh or or overreact to things, it's you know, it's
19:34
Speaker 1: been on my radar. It's been like I'd say, it's
19:36
Speaker 1: on everyone's radar since they added him, right, because he's
19:41
Speaker 1: getting older, his velocity is dropping. He he had a
19:47
Speaker 1: he had a down year as far as results last
19:49
Speaker 1: year is this is he uh you know. And then
19:54
Speaker 1: and then you add in like people like for fans
19:57
Speaker 1: who are just like after last season with Hector Nears,
20:01
Speaker 1: there's a there there automatically, they're radars up. Do we
20:05
Speaker 1: get another Ross. I don't think it's that. I don't
20:07
Speaker 1: think it's that. I really don't Hector Narris had another
20:11
Speaker 1: rough outing yesterday. Who's he with? I can't even remember
20:14
Speaker 1: at Atlanta? Yeah, uh so yeah that I I don't
20:19
Speaker 1: think it's that extreme. It is. It is interesting that
20:24
Speaker 1: the fastball is down again and and that's that's not
20:28
Speaker 1: his pitch. So you have to hope that that that
20:33
Speaker 1: he can get by on the breaking balls and kind
20:35
Speaker 1: of focus on that and and like you'll kind of
20:38
Speaker 1: lock in as the season goes along. That was my bed.
20:42
Speaker 1: He did not get the save last night. He got
20:44
Speaker 1: the last three outs.
20:45
Speaker 2: But right right right if situation Uh still, I'm glad
20:50
Speaker 2: you brought up Nerris because I I have a hard
20:52
Speaker 2: time seeing Presley being like a non usable, a sailable picture,
20:58
Speaker 2: you know, a couple of months into the season. But look,
21:03
Speaker 2: he'll get first crack at this job and then you know,
21:06
Speaker 2: great council will kind of.
21:08
Speaker 1: Read and react. Add one more pitching related question.
21:11
Speaker 2: The Cubs slipped in this roster transaction as part of
21:16
Speaker 2: their unveiling for opening day two point zero Cody potit DFA.
21:21
Speaker 1: Why does that name ring a bell? That is the
21:25
Speaker 1: return for Cody Bellinger, which now officially looks like you know,
21:30
Speaker 1: if the if their overall budget didn't look like didn't
21:34
Speaker 1: make it look like a salary dump, this officially makes
21:37
Speaker 1: the Cody Bellinger trade look like a salary dump. Right
21:40
Speaker 1: This team had what a two hundred and forty million
21:43
Speaker 1: payroll last year or pushing that and now it's around
21:48
Speaker 1: ten two fifteen. That tells you that they needed to
21:52
Speaker 1: get rid of Cody Bellinger for more reasons than just then.
21:56
Speaker 1: We need to realcate those funds. We need to realocate
21:59
Speaker 1: those funds because our budget is so low, you know, yeah,
22:06
Speaker 1: compared to most big market teams. It's not a good look,
22:12
Speaker 1: right like that, I think that's the that's the very
22:16
Speaker 1: obvious answer. You don't want to trade Cody Bellinger and
22:19
Speaker 1: get a player that you end up dfaing three months later,
22:23
Speaker 1: less than three months later before the season even really
22:26
Speaker 1: starts two games into the season. I guess yeah. He
22:31
Speaker 1: Like the bottom line is he was their fortieth man
22:35
Speaker 1: on a forty man roster, right, Like you can point
22:38
Speaker 1: to some other names. I think there's always a reason
22:42
Speaker 1: why they keep certain guys around. You can, like, I
22:46
Speaker 1: think sometimes fans are like this, this relieve is no good,
22:49
Speaker 1: Why get rid of him? They obviously see something. Whoever
22:53
Speaker 1: that picture is that you're pointing to. They see something.
22:56
Speaker 1: They want to develop them. They want to maximize the
22:59
Speaker 1: outline pitch or out lie or angle that they come
23:02
Speaker 1: at or weird deceptive delivery, whatever it is. There's always something,
23:08
Speaker 1: And I would also caught it against Like listen, I
23:11
Speaker 1: don't know, like there are so many relievers that just
23:14
Speaker 1: like come out of nowhere. I'm blanking on his name.
23:19
Speaker 1: But they had a guy, There were multiple guys that
23:21
Speaker 1: they've had in the minors and then in the big
23:24
Speaker 1: leagues last year, someone that they defaid last year got
23:27
Speaker 1: picked up by the Marlins, and then like was dominant
23:30
Speaker 1: last year with the Marlins, and I'm blanking on who
23:33
Speaker 1: it is because they just they cycled through so many relievers.
23:36
Speaker 1: But these relievers just like they come out of nowhere
23:40
Speaker 1: and they're awesome. And this happens at least it happens
23:45
Speaker 1: multiple times a year, So I wouldn't rule out that,
23:49
Speaker 1: like Gavin Hollowell comes up and it's like what Gavin
23:52
Speaker 1: Hollwell as a one five era for you know, twenty outings.
23:57
Speaker 1: You know, weird stuff happens with these labors. That's why
24:01
Speaker 1: you know, that's they clearly feel that they can get
24:05
Speaker 1: something out of some of these guys that they still have.
24:08
Speaker 1: Cody was just the guy at the bottom of the
24:10
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the roster. Ultimately, like that decision
24:17
Speaker 1: is less is less, uh like is less glaring in
24:21
Speaker 1: my opinion than just the actual trade, right and the
24:24
Speaker 1: and the financial implications of that, and and that you
24:27
Speaker 1: have to make a move like that to clear up space.
24:30
Speaker 1: It's one thing because like if you're clearing up roster
24:33
Speaker 1: space and you don't really have a place to play
24:35
Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger right like, there's too much like what are
24:38
Speaker 1: you gonna do with Cody Bellinger when you have like
24:41
Speaker 1: right now the starters that they have in the outfield,
24:43
Speaker 1: in a DH, in at first base, you want them
24:45
Speaker 1: to be playing every day as much as possible, right.
24:48
Speaker 1: I think that's the simple answer of why Cody Bellinger
24:51
Speaker 1: is traded, reason number one. But then when you look
24:54
Speaker 1: at the money and that they didn't spend it, that's
24:58
Speaker 1: where it becomes like, this is this is a bad look.
25:01
Speaker 1: You can't do that. You can't They're twenty five million
25:06
Speaker 1: below what they spent last year. Not a good look
25:10
Speaker 1: when you dfa the guy you traded who had the
25:13
Speaker 1: big salary. Yeah, I mean if you wind up moving him.
25:16
Speaker 2: And then obviously they made a strong bid for Tanner Scott,
25:20
Speaker 2: they tried for Alex Bregman all those other things, but
25:24
Speaker 2: they just did not kind of backfill the way you
25:30
Speaker 2: would have hoped. And they just have to at this
25:32
Speaker 2: point cross their fingers that they don't get hit by
25:35
Speaker 2: a big time injuries. A guy who can be in
25:40
Speaker 2: everyday DH, can play first, can play all three outfield positions,
25:44
Speaker 2: left handed hitter, well rounded player, good bass runner, all
25:49
Speaker 2: those things. I have feeling he's probably gonna have a
25:51
Speaker 2: pretty big big year at Yankee Stadium. That's not really
25:53
Speaker 2: going out on a limb. So yeah, once again, this
25:57
Speaker 2: is just have to make it work. If they win,
26:01
Speaker 2: no one cares what Cam Smith does, No one cares
26:03
Speaker 2: what Cody Bellinger does. But if they win eighty three
26:07
Speaker 2: games again and missed the playoffs by you know, one
26:10
Speaker 2: or two games, it's that's the type of stuff that
26:12
Speaker 2: people are going to rightly point to.
26:14
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, and you know you got a long way
26:18
Speaker 1: to go to get there. Yeah yeah, but it's yeah,
26:21
Speaker 1: it's easy to point to those things and and and
26:24
Speaker 1: complain about them. Like frankly, like like I said, like,
26:27
Speaker 1: it's it's the it's it's what you're spending overall is
26:31
Speaker 1: the biggest issue. Like if you don't, you don't reallocate
26:35
Speaker 1: those funds. They did reallocate those funds, but it was
26:39
Speaker 1: it was because they had to move it just just
26:42
Speaker 1: so they could make any moves, not like fully, uh
26:45
Speaker 1: not to spend what they were spending last year. It's
26:48
Speaker 1: it's mind boggling. But that's that's where they are. Yeah,
26:52
Speaker 1: well we'll get into that later. Yeah, yeah, all right, Patrick, Uh,
26:56
Speaker 1: that's it for this week. Comes up three more against
26:59
Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks. By the time we talk to you again.
27:00
Speaker 1: Those games will have been played. We'll have a you know,
27:03
Speaker 1: a little more information about how the Cubs are doing
27:06
Speaker 1: early on in this season. Thanks so much for listening
27:09
Speaker 1: to everyone. This is north Side Territory. Make sure to rate,
27:11
Speaker 1: review and subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe
27:15
Speaker 1: to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on top
27:17
Speaker 1: of all things Cubs. Thanks everyone, take it