Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs mailbag: Lineup questions, offseason choices, pitching development concerns

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Cubs mailbag: Lineup questions, offseason choices, pitching development concerns · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory fil Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm Sad,
0:10
Speaker 1: I'm Sharma. With my partner Patrick Mooney, we are your
0:13
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, it
0:17
Speaker 1: is time for a mail bag episode. We ask for
0:21
Speaker 1: questions and the fans deliver as always, Thanks so much
0:26
Speaker 1: you north Side Sickos, and of course Tyler Dershel number
0:30
Speaker 1: one north Side Sicko, always in there with a question.
0:34
Speaker 1: We missed this question last time because you know, we're
0:38
Speaker 1: doing quick turnarounds here with the mail bag episodes, but
0:42
Speaker 1: his question did get answered still because he asked a
0:44
Speaker 1: question similar to someone else last time. So even though
0:48
Speaker 1: you don't get in the episode, Tyler, you still get
0:50
Speaker 1: your question answered. Tyler's asking Nico has taken off since
0:55
Speaker 1: moving into the leadoff spot. What went into the decision
0:58
Speaker 1: to make this change after so much years of batting
1:01
Speaker 1: towards the end of the lineup. I think the first
1:03
Speaker 1: thing is like last year, Ian Happ was supposed to
1:07
Speaker 1: be the leadoff hitter. He struggled and in searching for answers,
1:13
Speaker 1: Craig Council went with a platoon. Why is Nico leading
1:17
Speaker 1: off now? And that was a platoon between Nico and Bush,
1:21
Speaker 1: and I think Council wanted to continue that this year.
1:24
Speaker 1: But Bush is slumping, so give the red hot guy
1:29
Speaker 1: more at bats, and that's what they're doing, and he's
1:32
Speaker 1: leading off against everyone now and it's working out great
1:35
Speaker 1: because Nico Horner seems to be whether this is the
1:39
Speaker 1: new Nico Horner or whether he's just red hot right now,
1:42
Speaker 1: whatever it is, and I shouldn't say new Nico Horner.
1:45
Speaker 1: He's always been consistent. It's about the power that I
1:48
Speaker 1: think is we're seeing more of in some walks. But
1:52
Speaker 1: it's working out great, and I think that's that's the
1:55
Speaker 1: main thing that happened last year that pushed him up
1:58
Speaker 1: to the top of the lineup. I think Patrick's getting
2:08
Speaker 1: having some trouble here with his connection. All right, we
2:18
Speaker 1: fixed that little hiccup. Patrick, your thoughts on Nico Horner
2:22
Speaker 1: leading off? Now, what's changed.
2:25
Speaker 2: I've always wanted to do this of just sort of be,
2:28
Speaker 2: you know, channel my inner Craig Council and just dismiss
2:32
Speaker 2: a lineup question, since I we often get that coming
2:36
Speaker 2: in our direction, I think, and I wasn't there the
2:39
Speaker 2: other day at Wrigley I only watched it on videos.
2:42
Speaker 2: I'd like you to fill me in. But what do
2:45
Speaker 2: you say, something like, oh, what went into it? He's
2:48
Speaker 2: over thirty, Michael Bush is over thirty. That was the
2:50
Speaker 2: timing of the decision.
2:52
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, yes, that that was That was his answer.
2:59
Speaker 1: It was a It was a very straightforward He did
3:02
Speaker 1: not mince words when asked, why is Michael Bush sitting?
3:08
Speaker 1: So I think that's you know, why is Nico Horner
3:13
Speaker 1: leading off? Because he's red hot and you know, one
3:18
Speaker 1: of the better hitters on the team. I think one
3:20
Speaker 1: other thing that you can point out, and you know,
3:25
Speaker 1: I think when you watch Nico Horner every day, it's
3:28
Speaker 1: a little different than when you see him from the
3:30
Speaker 1: opposing dugout for eighteen times or whatever. The Cubs who
3:35
Speaker 1: play the Brewers a year, you see something a little different.
3:40
Speaker 1: And I do think that has changed over the years
3:44
Speaker 1: Craig Council's perception or understanding of what Nico Horner is
3:49
Speaker 1: and can do. So I think that's for anyone who
3:53
Speaker 1: watches him every day, you kind of understand it. I
3:56
Speaker 1: think that you know, whatever you want to look at now,
3:59
Speaker 1: all the numbers up and sometimes you can see that
4:01
Speaker 1: war number and say, like, is that inflated for some reason?
4:04
Speaker 1: And I think you watch him every day and you
4:06
Speaker 1: understand it like this is this is a special, rare
4:09
Speaker 1: type of player with rare skills. The way he gets
4:13
Speaker 1: to those numbers not always traditional, at least in today's game,
4:18
Speaker 1: and we're seeing that value. And I think he you know,
4:21
Speaker 1: I never really thought he was a perfect leadoff hitter
4:25
Speaker 1: against Righty's. He's proven me wrong early on this season.
4:28
Speaker 1: He can hit anyone, and he can get on base
4:30
Speaker 1: against anyone, and he's he's he looks like a little
4:33
Speaker 1: different player than he was last season. So I say
4:36
Speaker 1: let it ride, And I think Craig Counseil is thinking
4:39
Speaker 1: the same thing, especially with Bush struggling. Thank you as always, Tyler,
4:45
Speaker 1: Another Tyler, Tyler Madson. This time, this I think is
4:49
Speaker 1: a quick answer. You mentioned on a recent episode that
4:51
Speaker 1: Kate's rehab will be an issue with the impending lockout.
4:54
Speaker 1: Can you walk through what a lockout does in regards
4:57
Speaker 1: to contracts offseason activities, So like the com tracks won't
5:00
Speaker 1: be paid if the seasons start, if the season were
5:04
Speaker 1: to start, and right, is that how that works? Patrick?
5:07
Speaker 1: You maybe you remember better I thought.
5:08
Speaker 3: I believe they.
5:09
Speaker 2: Get paid during the season, right, so they wouldn't start
5:14
Speaker 2: losing money theoretically until games are games are canceled or whatever.
5:21
Speaker 2: Missing that first paycheck. Yeah, I think the other part
5:26
Speaker 2: would just be the communication ceases during the offseason. So
5:32
Speaker 2: four guys on the forty man roster, so there are
5:34
Speaker 2: probably some there are some sort of maybe bubble players
5:38
Speaker 2: that it might actually help to not be on the
5:40
Speaker 2: forty man roster during the lockout, which is counterintuitive because
5:43
Speaker 2: you always want to be on the forty man but
5:45
Speaker 2: it would be ye know, whether it's a coach talking
5:49
Speaker 2: to a hitter about an off season plan, a pitcher's
5:52
Speaker 2: normal ramp up, you know, no more watching video, and
5:57
Speaker 2: in Caid's case, I I don't know if there's any
6:01
Speaker 2: sort of like medical exceptions. I tend to doubt it,
6:08
Speaker 2: but in general, for all these players, whatever that moment is,
6:14
Speaker 2: is it like midnight December first.
6:16
Speaker 3: Whenever it is?
6:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd like that's when everything goes dark. So you
6:24
Speaker 2: would have to have everything lined up before that moment.
6:31
Speaker 2: And if you go back to Saya Suzuki's representatives when
6:35
Speaker 2: he was being posted, they knew he wouldn't sign before
6:39
Speaker 2: the lockouts. So I think Jed's kind of parting shot
6:43
Speaker 2: to his representatives were like, we'll see you on the
6:46
Speaker 2: other side, and that is kind of our understanding of
6:50
Speaker 2: what it would be like for Kid.
6:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Tommy Hoddeby could not talk to we won't
6:55
Speaker 1: be able to talk to Kate Horton once it hits
6:57
Speaker 1: midnight on December first. They can't, like you said, they
7:00
Speaker 1: can't send videos, they can't have any communication. Nobody on
7:03
Speaker 1: that's employed by the Cubs can talk to anyone on
7:07
Speaker 1: the forty man roster. It is like they can't talk
7:10
Speaker 1: about them publicly. They can't talk to Like if we
7:13
Speaker 1: wanted to write a story about Cad Horton's rehab during
7:17
Speaker 1: the lockout, we could. We could talk to Kate if
7:21
Speaker 1: we can get hold of him, but we can't talk
7:24
Speaker 1: to Tommy Hobby about it. He's not allowed to talk
7:27
Speaker 1: about him. It's it's a it's going to be interesting.
7:31
Speaker 1: My guess is they're going to have a very detailed
7:35
Speaker 1: plan and and hope that Kid sticks to it, which
7:40
Speaker 1: I trust Kate would, and then have there's probably like
7:44
Speaker 1: an outside company that they say like hey, go to
7:49
Speaker 1: here or something like that. I don't know. I'm kind
7:51
Speaker 1: of guessing grasping its straws here, but he's going to
7:54
Speaker 1: want to go somewhere and work with someone, So I
7:58
Speaker 1: don't know how that works and what like how they're
8:01
Speaker 1: gonna make it work. Maybe that's a story come October.
8:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good question. We probably need to do
8:07
Speaker 2: a little more, Homer. But those are the broad strokes
8:09
Speaker 2: of walking you through it, Tyler.
8:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's take a quick break and then get to
8:15
Speaker 1: the rest of our questions here.
8:20
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9:23
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the next question. It is
9:28
Speaker 1: from Hambone. The Cubs had a good off season, but
9:33
Speaker 1: hindsight is twenty twenty. Which of these would help the
9:37
Speaker 1: Cubs most this year? A thirty five plus homer slugger
9:40
Speaker 1: like Schwarber or Pilonzo and ace starting pitcher Dylan Cease
9:45
Speaker 1: or a lockdown closer like Devin Williams. What do you think, Patrick,
9:49
Speaker 1: Where would you go on that one?
9:52
Speaker 2: If we have hindsight in the scenario, I think probably
9:57
Speaker 2: the best scenario would have been just increasing the budget
10:03
Speaker 2: and having.
10:04
Speaker 3: It closer towards say the Phillies.
10:08
Speaker 2: And you sign a free agent pitcher rather than trading
10:16
Speaker 2: for Cabrera. Nothing against Cabrera, but just like it's only money,
10:20
Speaker 2: versus if you think own case, he's going to be
10:22
Speaker 2: a thirty five homer slugger at some point. I think
10:27
Speaker 2: walking through each one of these, like the Cubs did
10:30
Speaker 2: not seriously engage on Schwarber, I think everyone expected him
10:33
Speaker 2: to go back to the Phillies. They met with Pete Alonso,
10:38
Speaker 2: he would prefer to play first base rather than be
10:42
Speaker 2: a DH they would have Michael Bush. That was more
10:45
Speaker 2: of a if he's lingering out there again as spring
10:49
Speaker 2: training approaches, that's they did not really prioritize him to
10:53
Speaker 2: that extent. Look, we know about Cease that went to
10:56
Speaker 2: a place that the Cubs were not willing to go.
11:01
Speaker 2: I think I deally they would have signed a pitcher
11:05
Speaker 2: for say John Lester type contract right like six one
11:09
Speaker 2: point fifty.
11:10
Speaker 3: I think that was kind of what they were comfortable with.
11:15
Speaker 2: I think they're going to go out and get maybe
11:18
Speaker 2: not a lockdown closer, but a lockdown reliever. So I
11:22
Speaker 2: think clearly they would want to put more resources into
11:27
Speaker 2: the pitching staff. That's even before this rash of injuries
11:31
Speaker 2: that have just happened to this club. And I think
11:37
Speaker 2: for me to be disingenued after writing so much about
11:39
Speaker 2: Alex Bregman and hearing why they were so obsessed with him.
11:44
Speaker 3: I think he was the right position player fit period.
11:47
Speaker 3: I think after.
11:48
Speaker 2: Writing about it so much, to all this saying oh,
11:50
Speaker 2: they should have gotten done this, like you know, would
11:53
Speaker 2: have loved to see schre back here, I just don't.
11:57
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how like realistic schwarberslash Alonzo or Cease was.
12:04
Speaker 2: Maybe Williams, but they.
12:07
Speaker 3: Just they weren't close to them.
12:08
Speaker 2: That's offer for years, but they weren't weren't there yet.
12:12
Speaker 1: What do you think I mean if we're just talking
12:15
Speaker 1: about dropping one of these players into this current team.
12:20
Speaker 1: The offseason took place as it did, but now you're
12:23
Speaker 1: adding one of those players along with the off season
12:27
Speaker 1: that happened. And know what has happened in these first
12:31
Speaker 1: three weeks, Uh, I think I go cease and what
12:35
Speaker 1: you said about like I quickly thought about Devin Williams,
12:39
Speaker 1: but I think it's it's what you said about. I'm
12:42
Speaker 1: confident they will go out and get a stud reliever,
12:44
Speaker 1: whether that's a closer or an elite setup. Man. I
12:48
Speaker 1: think they're going to get one. Uh. And and I
12:51
Speaker 1: think their system has enough in it to go get one.
12:54
Speaker 1: Uh Dylan cease now, like the loss of Kate Horton
13:00
Speaker 1: just doesn't hurt as much. I mean, it obviously would
13:02
Speaker 1: sting because you'd be talking about like this insane rotation
13:06
Speaker 1: and now you lose a key piece. But having Dylan
13:10
Speaker 1: cees right now just eases so much concern about this rotation. Uh.
13:17
Speaker 1: And and I think the rotation is solid. I thought
13:20
Speaker 1: it had a chance to be one of the best
13:22
Speaker 1: in baseball with the way Showtas looked and and and
13:26
Speaker 1: Kate Horton kind of turning into this ace that we
13:30
Speaker 1: all saw potentially becoming. And obviously that that you know,
13:35
Speaker 1: injuries had had other plans for the Cubs, so it
13:40
Speaker 1: just didn't work out that way. But I think I
13:41
Speaker 1: think he's the one that, you know, kind of changes
13:44
Speaker 1: the outlook of this current roster. And and and you
13:49
Speaker 1: cannot go get at the deadline. It's really hard to
13:53
Speaker 1: go get a starting pitcher at the deadline. You're you're
13:56
Speaker 1: gonna pay crazy prices for and two and a half
14:02
Speaker 1: months of a starter. That's just how it works. You
14:04
Speaker 1: don't get cost controlled long term starters of the deadline,
14:08
Speaker 1: you pay even more than you normally would. Maybe the
14:11
Speaker 1: Cups kind of have to look at that too, because
14:15
Speaker 1: of all the free agents they have and the fact
14:17
Speaker 1: that they know they're going to start next season without
14:19
Speaker 1: Kaid Who knows.
14:21
Speaker 3: I don't know.
14:21
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's way too early to be speculating
14:25
Speaker 1: about that. I'm just saying, who knows what's available and
14:28
Speaker 1: what they have to do. But yeah, I think getting
14:31
Speaker 1: Dylan Cees changes a lot of things about this team
14:34
Speaker 1: right now. Council has been utilizing the whole bench so
14:39
Speaker 1: far this season by using pinch hitters against specific bullpen pitchers.
14:44
Speaker 1: Was this his plan the whole time? This is from
14:46
Speaker 1: Suraj Batiya. Was it his plan the whole time? I
14:52
Speaker 1: think Council likes to use his bench. I think Council
14:55
Speaker 1: wants to play the matchups. And I think a guy
14:59
Speaker 1: like Moys's by Asteros, who is young and they like
15:04
Speaker 1: him against righties. When they put a lefty in, Council
15:08
Speaker 1: wants to be aggressive. This is a DH this is
15:10
Speaker 1: a guy. You're not losing defensive value if you take
15:14
Speaker 1: him out of the game. The same with matt Shaw
15:15
Speaker 1: if he's in right field, you're not losing defensive value
15:19
Speaker 1: because Matt Shaw right now has improven himself as a
15:22
Speaker 1: very good defender in right field. You have a solid
15:27
Speaker 1: you have a guy in Michael Confordo that's proven that
15:32
Speaker 1: he's going to give you a good at bat. And
15:34
Speaker 1: then you have one of your catchers, backup catchers that
15:38
Speaker 1: they really they like both of them. So you have
15:41
Speaker 1: a lefty in Confordo and a righty in one of
15:44
Speaker 1: the backup catchers, and sometimes you have Shaw on the bench.
15:49
Speaker 1: Am I missing a key piece in the bench? I
15:52
Speaker 1: mean Kingri is the other bench piece? And then is
15:55
Speaker 1: there someone else I'm missing in that group? I don't
15:58
Speaker 1: think so. So so you have you have a much
16:03
Speaker 1: more productive bench, and I think I think we would
16:08
Speaker 1: have seen this in previous seasons if the bench was
16:11
Speaker 1: more was producing more. Council likes to be aggressive like this.
16:16
Speaker 1: He wants to play the matchups. He wants to tack
16:18
Speaker 1: on runs. He wants his offense to be hard to
16:21
Speaker 1: game plan against and hard to pitch against. And you
16:25
Speaker 1: make a move. Okay, I'm gonna make a move, and
16:27
Speaker 1: it's going to be now you have a choice. Now
16:31
Speaker 1: opposing managers are gonna have to think twice. Okay, I
16:34
Speaker 1: bring in a lefty for Moyses by a Steros, they're
16:37
Speaker 1: going to bring in Miguel Amaya, or they're going to
16:40
Speaker 1: bring in Matt Shaw. I just lost my advantage and
16:43
Speaker 1: now this reliever has to be in there for three batters.
16:47
Speaker 1: So now you're thinking, like do I want to do
16:50
Speaker 1: that or do I just want to face Moyses' by
16:52
Speaker 1: a Sterios. That's that's the benefit of having a good bench.
16:55
Speaker 1: He just hasn't had one that's produced. Sometimes there's a
16:57
Speaker 1: little bit of luck in that. You know, like a
17:00
Speaker 1: week in everyone was saying the bench stunk. That's not
17:03
Speaker 1: the case. Right now, you know, like a Michael Conforto's
17:07
Speaker 1: figured some things out and looked so much better.
17:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:11
Speaker 2: I think part of his plan too, was expecting bad
17:16
Speaker 2: luck and more injuries than what they've experienced, certainly last year.
17:22
Speaker 2: Off the top of my head, I can't it might
17:23
Speaker 2: have been like seven position players who played at least
17:26
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty games. It was something in that
17:29
Speaker 2: ballpark of just a run of remarkable health that they
17:35
Speaker 2: did not expect to continue. And it was also why
17:40
Speaker 2: they wanted Bregman, because they felt like he was a
17:45
Speaker 2: piece and just by adding him there it would give
17:49
Speaker 2: just sort of different dimensions to the roster. And you know,
17:54
Speaker 2: I think we thought the Cubs would look more Milwaukee
17:57
Speaker 2: Ish with some of those matchup or platoons or just
18:01
Speaker 2: those random guys the brewersers seem to find and you
18:05
Speaker 2: put them in the lineup and all of a sudden,
18:07
Speaker 2: you know, they're playing like out of their minds. Who's
18:12
Speaker 2: the guy from the White Sox they picked up last
18:13
Speaker 2: year and just like like where was sort of that
18:19
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe that's kind of unfair expectations, but
18:22
Speaker 2: I do think it's either his desire to use players
18:26
Speaker 2: more or like circumstances can also force it to that.
18:29
Speaker 2: I think Benjaminost has to be better than what it's
18:33
Speaker 2: been previous years.
18:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the other thing, Like you need
18:37
Speaker 1: some randomness to this and some good luck to come
18:40
Speaker 1: your way. I like to get Willie Castro, who was
18:44
Speaker 1: having a really good season and then he just is
18:48
Speaker 1: just disappears for the Cubs. I mean that's you know,
18:52
Speaker 1: some of that is how baseball works. It's kind of
18:54
Speaker 1: like when this is I don't want to go I'm
18:56
Speaker 1: not going to go too far off into a tangent,
18:58
Speaker 1: but it's kind of like picking up a u henni
19:01
Speaker 1: O Suarez that last year's deadline, did he just have
19:04
Speaker 1: his four best months and now he's going to have
19:06
Speaker 1: two average to below average months, which is kind of
19:09
Speaker 1: what happened. If I don't want to, I'm not going
19:11
Speaker 1: to go look this up. But I think he wasn't
19:13
Speaker 1: close to what he was in those first four months.
19:16
Speaker 1: That's the randomness and and uh, you know that that
19:21
Speaker 1: can happen, especially at the deadline. You don't know what
19:23
Speaker 1: two months you're getting of a player. So and that
19:27
Speaker 1: I think with the bench it's especially true because sometimes
19:30
Speaker 1: you just don't like there's just not going to be
19:32
Speaker 1: a huge sample. Uh can this guy handle that role?
19:36
Speaker 1: Like that's the question? Could really WILLI Castro went from
19:39
Speaker 1: playing regularly to like this once every couple of days
19:43
Speaker 1: role like that, that's hard. So uh and Confordo is
19:48
Speaker 1: seems to be doing okay with it. Uh. So you
19:51
Speaker 1: know he's getting some starts sprinkled in there and some
19:54
Speaker 1: and and like you said, like like it's been pointed out, Uh,
19:58
Speaker 1: Council is being aggress with the pinch hitting. So I
20:01
Speaker 1: think that that helps as well, get some like one
20:03
Speaker 1: or two at bats almost every game. It feels like
20:06
Speaker 1: because they're playing matchups and they do have some pretty
20:08
Speaker 1: big platoon guys. I mean by Sarah struggles against lefties
20:12
Speaker 1: very early in his career. Who knows if that'll be
20:14
Speaker 1: a permanent thing. Pete struggles against lefties. But you can't
20:16
Speaker 1: pinch hit for Pete, so it's a difficult different situation there.
20:20
Speaker 1: But Michael Bush, you can pinch hit for him sometimes.
20:24
Speaker 1: Things like that. All right, let's get to the last
20:28
Speaker 1: question from Richard, and this is I think something we're
20:32
Speaker 1: going to have to be talking about and digging into,
20:35
Speaker 1: and there's no easy answer. What is the level of
20:38
Speaker 1: concern plan moving forward regarding the pitching infrastructure after seeing
20:41
Speaker 1: so many arm injuries this early in the season. How
20:44
Speaker 1: much impact has Zambro actually had on either that's Tyler Zambro,
20:48
Speaker 1: who is VP of pitching elevated to that in the offseason.
20:53
Speaker 1: Tyler Zambro has a lot of say in how the
20:58
Speaker 1: pitching infrastructure kind of goes, Like, is he the final
21:01
Speaker 1: say with major league staff? I don't you know. I
21:06
Speaker 1: think he has input. Tommy Hottevey has a lot of
21:09
Speaker 1: input there. Zambra is more about pitching development and pitching
21:16
Speaker 1: acquisition and a little input in the draft as well
21:20
Speaker 1: starting this year, Like a lot of that started this
21:23
Speaker 1: offseason this year, Like he was still kind of feeling
21:26
Speaker 1: out his role a lot of major league acquisition last year.
21:32
Speaker 1: And yeah, like I don't I think it'd be unfair
21:35
Speaker 1: to put the blame on him. But also like we
21:38
Speaker 1: just don't know, Like I don't know how much of
21:41
Speaker 1: their training changed, especially like Kate Horton, Like, I don't
21:46
Speaker 1: think his training changed this offseason, you know, I you know,
21:51
Speaker 1: I don't think that was like a plan put in
21:53
Speaker 1: place by Tyler Zambro or Tommy Hotteby that's like we're
21:57
Speaker 1: going to change the way you do things. I think
22:00
Speaker 1: he kept, like, you know, he didn't throw during his
22:03
Speaker 1: injury as much and then started throwing and had a
22:06
Speaker 1: regular offseason. I think it was a very regular, healthy,
22:10
Speaker 1: positive off season for Caid. The rest of these guys,
22:16
Speaker 1: It's like Mayton has a knee injury, Hunter Harvey has
22:19
Speaker 1: a long history of injuries. Jackson Wiggins is a guy
22:25
Speaker 1: that had shoulder issues last year and then was drafted
22:28
Speaker 1: as a Tommy John guy. So like, I don't know,
22:32
Speaker 1: if you want to point to a specific person, I
22:35
Speaker 1: don't think that's fair. I will say this, Tyler Zamber
22:39
Speaker 1: is aggressive about velocity training. That is something that you
22:44
Speaker 1: are going to see injuries in the minor league system.
22:48
Speaker 1: You saw it under Brezlo, Like injuries did ramp up
22:51
Speaker 1: a little bit initially and then they kind of plateau.
22:55
Speaker 1: And that's just how like, that's just how baseball is now,
22:57
Speaker 1: player development, pitching development, it just is that way you
23:00
Speaker 1: want to train for velocity, You're gonna have some injuries.
23:02
Speaker 1: It's a byproduct of it. I think they've accepted that
23:05
Speaker 1: what's happening right now is something that I think you
23:10
Speaker 1: have to look into. You have to go through your
23:12
Speaker 1: process and see what's going on. I'm not like on
23:17
Speaker 1: the face of it, I think I struggled to see
23:19
Speaker 1: like a connection with it all. But I also I
23:23
Speaker 1: also won't deny it. And I think it's a really
23:26
Speaker 1: fair and good question, and you have to keep digging
23:29
Speaker 1: into it to try and understand it. There's just too
23:32
Speaker 1: many things happening right now to say like, oh, it's nothing.
23:34
Speaker 1: I mean, like Ethan Roberts got hurt. You can't put
23:38
Speaker 1: that on anyone, like event fell on his finger, Like yeah, yeah,
23:43
Speaker 1: So I mean Some of this stuff is just like
23:45
Speaker 1: long injury history. Some of it's just like randomness. But like,
23:52
Speaker 1: I think it'd be silly to just dismiss it all
23:54
Speaker 1: and say, obviously, outside of Ethan Roberts, you dis missed
23:57
Speaker 1: that one. But like you just you have to evaluate
24:03
Speaker 1: everything that you're doing. It's just like it's an absolute must.
24:09
Speaker 3: Sometimes you pay for what you get.
24:12
Speaker 2: I'm thinking back to the earlier question, you know, referring
24:15
Speaker 2: to Dylan Ce says an Ace, and I can't remember
24:18
Speaker 2: off the top of my head where he fell in
24:20
Speaker 2: your Ace's project, but he got paid like an Ace
24:26
Speaker 2: because of durability and swinging his stuff. The models love
24:31
Speaker 2: all that stuff, but like, yeah, if you bring in
24:35
Speaker 2: pitchers who already have you know, you draft Kate Horton
24:40
Speaker 2: when he's coming off Tommy John surgery, you bring in
24:44
Speaker 2: Hunter Harvey. You know, some of this is just the
24:49
Speaker 2: nature of pitching in twenty twenty six. I think there
24:53
Speaker 2: is a, you know, level of concern, but ultimately I
24:57
Speaker 2: think they have to be judged on what happens at the.
25:02
Speaker 3: Major league level.
25:03
Speaker 2: Like if they find dudes who we've never heard of
25:06
Speaker 2: before and they start taking care of like the seventh
25:09
Speaker 2: and eighth innings at Wrigley Field. Then you know, all
25:12
Speaker 2: the kudos to them if they go out and get
25:17
Speaker 2: a frontline starter and a high leverage reliever at.
25:20
Speaker 3: The deadline, that will cover up a lot of this.
25:23
Speaker 2: If Justin Steele comes back healthy, that you know, lessens
25:29
Speaker 2: the blow of Kate Horton being done for the rest
25:34
Speaker 2: of the year. Like, I'm with you, you can't blame
25:38
Speaker 2: any of this on one person. I think one person
25:43
Speaker 2: should not get all the credit either. I know when
25:46
Speaker 2: Craig Breslo came in, there was a lot of focus
25:48
Speaker 2: on that because it was such a priority for the organization.
25:53
Speaker 2: But this is like, and I think Jed sort of
25:56
Speaker 2: alluded to this during the off season of like pitching,
26:01
Speaker 2: you know, this is it a multi billion dollar franchise, Like,
26:07
Speaker 2: there's so many factors that go into this. You know,
26:09
Speaker 2: It's like it's it's scouting, it's R and D, it's
26:15
Speaker 2: player development, it's Major League instruction. It's obviously the individual
26:20
Speaker 2: pitchers and how they adhere to their programs. Like so
26:24
Speaker 2: because of that, you're constantly evaluating the processes that you
26:29
Speaker 2: have and I'd imagine that right now there's probably you know,
26:34
Speaker 2: going to be some some self reflection and some some
26:39
Speaker 2: interesting conversations, but also you know, problem solving, which the
26:45
Speaker 2: Cubs have been pretty good at in season in terms of,
26:50
Speaker 2: you know, finding some diamonds in the rough, coaching up
26:53
Speaker 2: some guys. We've talked about how great show does looked
26:58
Speaker 2: like this is all all within the pitching department.
27:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you take the good with the bad,
27:05
Speaker 1: I guess, and right now the injuries are piling up.
27:08
Speaker 1: I feel like the past year, I guess we've covered
27:13
Speaker 1: more pitching injuries than we had in the previous like
27:16
Speaker 1: four years. It felt like they just weren't that as
27:19
Speaker 1: many injuries. I felt like I remember even thinking at
27:23
Speaker 1: one point the Cups haven't had like a guy missed,
27:27
Speaker 1: a pitcher missed like a full season in a while.
27:30
Speaker 1: And then you see what and then Justin Steele, uh
27:35
Speaker 1: happened and it's and now we've had a couple of
27:37
Speaker 1: those and and extended periods as well with other guys.
27:41
Speaker 2: So sometimes Matthew Void, Matthew Boy, Yeah, you know se
27:46
Speaker 2: in his life like it's you know, yeah, it's always
27:49
Speaker 2: kind of mixed.
27:49
Speaker 1: Bag, right, and you know, like Brad Keller came out
27:53
Speaker 1: about nowhere. You know, nobody expected that, and you like
27:59
Speaker 1: Hunter Harvey was a risk. This is not something that's
28:02
Speaker 1: coming out of the blue. They they are well aware that.
28:05
Speaker 1: They their hope was how can we keep them healthy?
28:09
Speaker 1: And they try and stick to a plan, try and
28:12
Speaker 1: be very careful with them. The slightest hint of something,
28:15
Speaker 1: let's be extra careful with it. Maybe that's what they're
28:18
Speaker 1: doing with Jackson Wiggins. Maybe we're gonna get bad news
28:21
Speaker 1: on Jackson Wiggins in two weeks. I don't know, Like
28:24
Speaker 1: it's really hard to know, especially with minor leaguers, because
28:27
Speaker 1: they keep that so close to the vest. They do,
28:29
Speaker 1: like they finally the only reason they told us what's
28:33
Speaker 1: going on that it's an elbow injury or like I
28:37
Speaker 1: don't even know how Craig Council phrased it the other day,
28:41
Speaker 1: is because he got put on the IL. And once
28:43
Speaker 1: that gets once that happen, because so many times they'll
28:46
Speaker 1: just they they don't have to tell you what's going
28:49
Speaker 1: on with minor leaguers. They so it's a it can
28:52
Speaker 1: be hard to diagnose or maybe not diagnosed, hard for us.
28:57
Speaker 3: To go to manage.
28:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, they'll they'll they'll tell you that a lot. So, uh,
29:05
Speaker 1: we'll see what direction this health goes. And and like
29:08
Speaker 1: you know, if if Matthew Boyd comes back, if Phil
29:12
Speaker 1: Maton comes back, and Hunter Harvey U turns out to
29:16
Speaker 1: not be a significant injury, then it's it's one guy
29:20
Speaker 1: really in Kate Horton. And Jackson Wiggins has a long
29:24
Speaker 1: history of injury, so I don't want to lump him
29:26
Speaker 1: in there just yet. It's it's one guy in Kate
29:28
Speaker 1: Horton who they were blindsided by. And they said immediately,
29:33
Speaker 1: like we need to We're going to go through everything,
29:35
Speaker 1: but we don't you know, you may not get an answer.
29:39
Speaker 1: That's I think that's probably the most frustrating thing about
29:41
Speaker 1: all of this is you can have all these things happen,
29:44
Speaker 1: and then you can go reevaluate everything and say, like,
29:48
Speaker 1: here are some things that we can look at. What
29:51
Speaker 1: if you're completely wrong? You don't even know? Like what
29:54
Speaker 1: if the things that you think you want to correct
29:57
Speaker 1: you're actually doing well, You're you're doing great, and you
30:00
Speaker 1: tweak something and then take a wrong turn. So it's
30:03
Speaker 1: a very imperfect science. They know more than they did
30:06
Speaker 1: ten years ago. That doesn't mean they have it locked down.
30:11
Speaker 1: So that's probably the most frustrating thing about all of this.
30:14
Speaker 1: And pitching is just and pitching and pitching injuries will
30:17
Speaker 1: forever be like that, It seems like, maybe not forever.
30:19
Speaker 1: Maybe someday we'll have more answers, but right now we
30:22
Speaker 1: don't have a ton more answers. It's better, It's not perfect.
30:26
Speaker 1: I guess that's just the way it is. All right,
30:30
Speaker 1: that's it. We appreciate your questions. As always, you guys
30:33
Speaker 1: always deliver and make sure we have plenty to talk
30:36
Speaker 1: about here on North Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
30:40
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30:43
Speaker 1: Athletic where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs.
30:46
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening everyone, Take care
31:04
Speaker 4: That everything I know, I know, dad le