Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The Cubs’ playoff chances are going, going, almost gone

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The Cubs’ playoff chances are going, going, almost gone · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: I think it'd be embarrassing if the Cubs did it.
0:02
Speaker 1: I think it'd be a joke. Like you, they cannot
0:05
Speaker 1: behave in this manner. Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory
0:14
Speaker 1: Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney,
0:18
Speaker 1: where your Cubs beat writers at the Athletic. Patrick, you're
0:23
Speaker 1: back from your trip in Cleveland. It was a bad
0:26
Speaker 1: one for the Cubs, swept by the best team in
0:30
Speaker 1: baseball record wise. You know, any other time in the season,
0:35
Speaker 1: you know, if it was it was two months ago,
0:39
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it'd be less of a less
0:42
Speaker 1: of this, like oh no, what just happened. It would
0:44
Speaker 1: just be like, yeah, that that's a really good Cleveland team.
0:47
Speaker 1: The Cubs competed with them for two games at a
0:49
Speaker 1: at a stinker, two tough, one run losses. At this
0:54
Speaker 1: point in the season, it's it hurts significantly. You needed
0:58
Speaker 1: to come away from that series with one to feel like, Okay,
1:02
Speaker 1: things aren't falling apart.
1:04
Speaker 2: They're still in this. They can do this.
1:06
Speaker 1: I still think with the schedule the way it is,
1:09
Speaker 1: they they're allowed to have their optimism, they're allowed to
1:11
Speaker 1: hold on to that. Just as they explained last episode,
1:14
Speaker 1: I felt, I just feel like the teams directly out
1:17
Speaker 1: of them aren't that much better, if at all better
1:20
Speaker 1: than the Cubs. Bottom line is wins and losses. They
1:23
Speaker 1: didn't get any of those in Cleveland, So it's a
1:26
Speaker 1: it's a bad start to the week. And and if
1:29
Speaker 1: they're they're going to turn it around, it's going to
1:32
Speaker 1: require a really big hot stretch here, not just like
1:36
Speaker 1: you can't you can't keep winning two three, it's like
1:38
Speaker 1: time to start sweeping multiple series.
1:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they're just gonna have to win at
1:43
Speaker 3: a clip that they have not demonstrated they're capable of yet.
1:47
Speaker 3: And I was, you know, you covered for us last
1:50
Speaker 3: week when I was on vacation, I sort of joke
1:52
Speaker 3: to someone like, oh, yeah, I watch them like get
1:54
Speaker 3: swept now in Cleveland. Not because it's about me, It's
1:57
Speaker 3: just that I don't really trust this team, Like as
2:00
Speaker 3: soon as they get on a little mini roll, they
2:04
Speaker 3: run into just a better team or everything doesn't line up.
2:09
Speaker 3: And I don't know, walking into the clubhouse after each game,
2:13
Speaker 3: I did not get the sense of like, you know,
2:16
Speaker 3: doom and gloom and you know, Craig Counsel sets a
2:20
Speaker 3: daily tone. As you know, it's a pretty professional driven group,
2:26
Speaker 3: but it just hasn't worked. And I think, like you
2:30
Speaker 3: can't like you know, laugh in their face when they
2:34
Speaker 3: say there's still time left. But like, we also don't
2:37
Speaker 3: have to, right like, oh, Cubs making a playoff push,
2:39
Speaker 3: like this has been the greatest National League season ever,
2:44
Speaker 3: But the Diamondbacks of Padres like had a lot of
2:48
Speaker 3: talent going to the season. They've advanced far into the
2:51
Speaker 3: playoffs more recently than the Cubs, and they added at
2:55
Speaker 3: the deadline and they're now you know, matching records sixty
2:58
Speaker 3: nine and fifty three. And I think, you know, you
3:02
Speaker 3: kind of have to take it from the team a
3:03
Speaker 3: team like the Braves, right, Like, I know they're injured,
3:05
Speaker 3: they have been playing as well, but the really sustained
3:09
Speaker 3: run of excellence here that I think them just like
3:11
Speaker 3: falling on their faces is probably not realistic either, And
3:15
Speaker 3: so yeah, it'll be it'll be interesting to see what
3:19
Speaker 3: happens this weekend at regular like do they have another
3:21
Speaker 3: kind of run in them? And if they don't, uh,
3:27
Speaker 3: it's gonna be a long September. And I don't think
3:30
Speaker 3: councils anywhere close to being like, yeah, I want to
3:32
Speaker 3: see the kids from Iowa. I think he's still going
3:35
Speaker 3: to you know, play to the final whistle or whatever
3:38
Speaker 3: metaphor you want to use. But uh, just once again,
3:44
Speaker 3: you know, the Cubs didn't look overmatched or out class
3:47
Speaker 3: against a very good Guardians team, but they still you know,
3:50
Speaker 3: got swept out of Cleveland. Yeah, and.
3:55
Speaker 1: I think the real killer here is that Atlanta swept
3:58
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Yeah, in an oddly similar series where one
4:03
Speaker 1: run loss, one run loss, get your butts kicked.
4:06
Speaker 2: In in the finale.
4:08
Speaker 1: That's in San Francisco needed to win one of those
4:12
Speaker 1: or the Cubs needed to win one of their games,
4:14
Speaker 1: preferably both, right, losing three games to start the week
4:20
Speaker 1: in that in the wild card chase, that's the killer
4:23
Speaker 1: more than getting swept. It's it's where you are in
4:26
Speaker 1: the race. Uh, Saint Louis is in a free fall.
4:29
Speaker 1: The Pirates are out of.
4:31
Speaker 2: It now, you know.
4:33
Speaker 1: San Francisco is up and down, like the Cubs and
4:36
Speaker 1: San Francisco in the Cubs are just so remarkably similar
4:39
Speaker 1: and how they're how things are going. And I'm sure
4:42
Speaker 1: the frustrations of the fan base are similar as well.
4:46
Speaker 1: Far Hunt can hang hang his head on on that
4:48
Speaker 1: whatever it was one hundred and seven.
4:50
Speaker 2: Season that he had, I guess.
4:52
Speaker 1: But but other than that, it's, uh, it's it's it's
4:56
Speaker 1: rough with the Giants that they haven't they tried at
4:59
Speaker 1: least they try to get a star.
5:01
Speaker 2: The Cubs haven't really tried to get a star. So so yeah,
5:04
Speaker 2: I guess they're over.
5:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, they've left on stars even more than the Cubs.
5:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the Cubs. Actually, I go.
5:09
Speaker 3: I don't know if the Giants have the same appeal
5:11
Speaker 3: at this moment.
5:12
Speaker 1: Right right exactly, It's yeah, that's I look at these standings,
5:17
Speaker 1: I look at these teams that I'm like, yeah, the
5:18
Speaker 1: Cubs can compete with these teams.
5:20
Speaker 2: But it's it's August. What is it.
5:22
Speaker 1: It's August fifteenth. We're halfway through the second to last
5:25
Speaker 1: month of the season. It's really hard to say the
5:29
Speaker 1: Cubs can compete when they're six games out in a
5:32
Speaker 1: mediocre wild card chase. I think there's reason to be
5:37
Speaker 1: optimistic down the line. I think that there's no reason
5:41
Speaker 1: to write off twenty twenty five or act like this
5:43
Speaker 1: team is light years away. I just and I also
5:47
Speaker 1: don't think they're a terrible team. For twenty twenty four.
5:50
Speaker 1: It wasn't going right for various reasons over the start
5:54
Speaker 1: of the season, and they just haven't had that run
5:57
Speaker 1: and they haven't clicked down of late, especially as far
6:01
Speaker 1: as like getting really hot and sustaining that, Like you
6:04
Speaker 1: cannot have these hiccups when you're when in Council. I
6:09
Speaker 1: I appreciate the way he reacts. I don't fully understand
6:12
Speaker 1: why fans get so upset about like his postgame pressers
6:16
Speaker 1: act like he's like I get I guess they just
6:20
Speaker 1: want screaming and yelling or like someone to be pissed.
6:22
Speaker 3: Off, someone to break something. Yeah, I mean it's the town,
6:25
Speaker 3: you know, Mike Ditka, and you know, yeah, I understand
6:29
Speaker 3: to an extent, But I get where Council's coming from, too.
6:32
Speaker 1: Right, He's kind of got to keep it even keeled otherwise,
6:35
Speaker 1: like then then the team's like, oh, this guy's panicking.
6:38
Speaker 2: I guess, uh, I guess we're lost now.
6:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, it would totally come across as as phony. And
6:43
Speaker 3: that's what I asked him this week, like Monday night,
6:45
Speaker 3: walking in to the manager's office there in the visiting clubhouse,
6:50
Speaker 3: like some that were like leading questions, you know, like
6:54
Speaker 3: at least you made them work. You know, they had
6:56
Speaker 3: to use class A, you know, setting up the rest
7:00
Speaker 3: of the series. But it's just like this is crunch time,
7:04
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like you can't like be
7:06
Speaker 3: pulling at those positives or taking that too seriously. Like
7:10
Speaker 3: if you're a diehard fan and a true believer, like
7:13
Speaker 3: go for it. We're not going to tell you like
7:15
Speaker 3: how to how to fan or new counsel job is
7:18
Speaker 3: to set a steady tone. He would come across as
7:20
Speaker 3: totally phony if he just started like blowing people up
7:24
Speaker 3: left and right. And you know, the players like this
7:26
Speaker 3: is their job. They have to manage the roller coaster,
7:32
Speaker 3: as Council called it, in their own way. And I think,
7:36
Speaker 3: you know, Nico said, this is not like an energy issue.
7:39
Speaker 3: Ty Owne said, it's not an urgency issue. I think
7:42
Speaker 3: it's just more simply like the roster isn't quite good
7:47
Speaker 3: enough that they kind of ran back an eighty three
7:50
Speaker 3: win team and made some some adjustments and they've gotten
7:55
Speaker 3: some surprises, but just has not been that huge organizational
7:59
Speaker 3: push to where they can really enter the middle of
8:05
Speaker 3: the wild card race, and I mean just mentally, you
8:07
Speaker 3: can add another game back on the standings as they
8:10
Speaker 3: lose so many head to head tiebreakers, Like it's not
8:12
Speaker 3: like if we were here saying here's how the Cubs
8:15
Speaker 3: make the playoffs, like we would just be totally disingenuous.
8:19
Speaker 1: Right right, right right, It's a yeah, you can't talk
8:24
Speaker 1: about it. I mean, they have to be in a
8:26
Speaker 1: different position for us to talk about it. And I
8:28
Speaker 1: wouldn't be shocked if they were in a different position
8:31
Speaker 1: a week from now, just because of their schedule and
8:34
Speaker 1: how things line up. But they're not, Like until I
8:36
Speaker 1: see it, it's it's really hard to go there. Like
8:38
Speaker 1: it felt different on Monday three days later, and it
8:42
Speaker 1: feels very different. And that's just how this season has been,
8:45
Speaker 1: and that's how baseball can sometimes be. You you looked
8:49
Speaker 1: up Councils, Brewers teams a little different when chasing down
8:54
Speaker 1: I don't think they were in like third or fourth
8:56
Speaker 1: place in the division when they chase down the Cubs
8:58
Speaker 1: those years and eighteen and nineteen, Am I wrong on that?
9:02
Speaker 3: I think at least one year they were Oh okay,
9:06
Speaker 3: I was. I was kind of like, you know, kind
9:11
Speaker 3: of giving counsel a chance to explain, like like is
9:16
Speaker 3: it as easy as he makes it look, or like
9:18
Speaker 3: once we leave the room and the doors are closed
9:20
Speaker 3: to see like I think I used the phrase stewing
9:23
Speaker 3: and he sort of chuckled to himself at that one.
9:26
Speaker 3: And you know, after he gave an answer, I said, well,
9:27
Speaker 3: you know, in twenty eighteen, and he was like, you
9:31
Speaker 3: know that, I think for us covering game one sixty
9:34
Speaker 3: three really stands out in our head and he's like, yeah,
9:37
Speaker 3: maybe nineteen too, And you know, I to me, it
9:42
Speaker 3: sounded like a little bit of a flex he you know,
9:44
Speaker 3: it's hard to tell sometimes that I didn't want to
9:46
Speaker 3: like follow up, you know, but it did seem like
9:48
Speaker 3: a little bit of a dig at the Cubs, at
9:50
Speaker 3: least that's how I interpreted it. But twenty nineteen, I
9:54
Speaker 3: think for both of us felt more like the cub
9:56
Speaker 3: just imploding not to take anything away from the Brewers,
9:59
Speaker 3: like they still did, like so the Brewers get credit
10:02
Speaker 3: for earning the spot. The Cubs felt like they just
10:06
Speaker 3: self sabotaged and got asked, whereas twenty eighteen they actually
10:11
Speaker 3: played pretty well that September. I want to say there
10:13
Speaker 3: maybe like fourteen and ten that month, like it was
10:15
Speaker 3: a respectable clip they were winning at It was just
10:19
Speaker 3: like the Brewers would not lose. And you know, it's
10:24
Speaker 3: hard to compare different teams from different years, but like
10:29
Speaker 3: there are those crazy years.
10:30
Speaker 1: That happened, right, Yes, No, I remember that vividly, that eighteen,
10:34
Speaker 1: like them being chased down. It's like that was also
10:37
Speaker 1: the year where they had like forty something games in
10:40
Speaker 1: forty something like that crazy stretch because of all the
10:42
Speaker 1: rain and the weird travel like the Cubs had played.
10:47
Speaker 3: It wasn't like flying like DC in the middle of
10:49
Speaker 3: a hurricane. Was that that year?
10:51
Speaker 2: Yeah? It was insane.
10:52
Speaker 1: It was just insane, and like they had legitimate excuses
10:56
Speaker 1: and nobody wanted to hear them at the time, but
10:58
Speaker 1: there were legit excuses and they still played relatively well.
11:03
Speaker 1: I just I you're absolutely right, Like I don't remember
11:06
Speaker 1: the record of the Brewers that month, but it was
11:08
Speaker 1: they chased them down. They didn't mess around. It wasn't
11:12
Speaker 1: like the Cubs collapsed. Eighteen wasn't a collapse. Nineteen was
11:15
Speaker 1: a collapse. Again, Bruis did what they need to do,
11:18
Speaker 1: but Cubs collapsed. We'll never forget the poom poom.
11:22
Speaker 2: Uh. Craig Kimber against the Cardinals.
11:25
Speaker 1: That whole series was just like Cubs fans getting punched
11:29
Speaker 1: in the gut, like day after day that that Cardinals series.
11:33
Speaker 1: And I believe it was kind of still mid early September.
11:37
Speaker 3: Uh, but they had late because Nico had come up.
11:40
Speaker 3: I think you were in San Diego when they were,
11:42
Speaker 3: you know, yes, that September were you know, more than
11:46
Speaker 3: solvent and relevant. And then it just the boom boom
11:50
Speaker 3: game that our buddy Paul Sullivan loves referencing and we
11:53
Speaker 3: do about like such a vivid image. And then I
11:57
Speaker 3: think that might also been in the series where like
12:00
Speaker 3: you Darvish like broke something. You know, I was there
12:03
Speaker 3: for that center fields And so that's the thing, like
12:08
Speaker 3: we haven't really seen that yet or heard about that yet.
12:12
Speaker 3: We're not deep enough into the season and honest founding,
12:15
Speaker 3: you know outside of that's right? That was yes, right,
12:20
Speaker 3: I think you threw a live VP or a bullpen
12:22
Speaker 3: session yesterday. Yeah, I saw of your currents resurfaces. But
12:28
Speaker 3: uh yeah, it's like the stakes aren't that anymore? You know,
12:34
Speaker 3: like you can't like you know, lose your mind when
12:37
Speaker 3: you haven't been above five hundred since the end.
12:39
Speaker 1: Of May, right right, uh, Patrick, there was there was
12:43
Speaker 1: a little bit of news that our colleague Ken Rosenthal
12:47
Speaker 1: had Elias Diaz is on waivers. Is put on waivers
12:53
Speaker 1: by the Rockies. And the way that works is like
12:56
Speaker 1: any team can pick them up right and and and
12:59
Speaker 1: take absorb or his salary, which would be like I
13:02
Speaker 1: can't remember what it said in the article million million
13:04
Speaker 1: and a half.
13:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, So.
13:10
Speaker 1: My my takeaway from that is like, Okay, when I
13:15
Speaker 1: did digging on the lies das in like May, I
13:18
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of like response like the Cubs
13:21
Speaker 1: are like infatuated this with this guy, or the Cubs
13:24
Speaker 1: see him as like a very obvious upgrade. He his
13:29
Speaker 1: his numbers to me, looked a little like, uh, you know,
13:32
Speaker 1: like a hot stretch, like a little bit of a.
13:34
Speaker 2: Lucky hot stretch.
13:35
Speaker 1: His his offensive numbers, in particular, it's not a great
13:38
Speaker 1: framer cannon for an arm. Pete Kormstrong can tell you that, uh,
13:43
Speaker 1: he he's a he's got like he can control the
13:46
Speaker 1: running game. Sounds a lot to me like Christian Bethancourt,
13:50
Speaker 1: you know, the controls the running game doesn't do a
13:52
Speaker 1: ton more behind the plate, can get on a little
13:54
Speaker 1: bit of a hot streak, but the offense isn't isn't
13:57
Speaker 1: really that great since May eleventh, which I believe includes
14:01
Speaker 1: an injury, and I elst and he's got a fifty
14:04
Speaker 1: five way to run screat.
14:05
Speaker 2: A plus he's at eighty on the season.
14:07
Speaker 1: Like there was a time when this guy was like Raking,
14:09
Speaker 1: So he's not like he's he wouldn't even be an
14:12
Speaker 1: upgrade for a million and a half bucks. I mean,
14:15
Speaker 1: like he I just don't see it, and like I don't.
14:18
Speaker 1: I don't think it makes sense for the Cubs. We
14:20
Speaker 1: just spent the first ten minutes talking about, Oh, they're
14:23
Speaker 1: not in the race anymore. Even if they were, I
14:26
Speaker 1: don't think that he makes sense the way he's playing. Like,
14:30
Speaker 1: what's more confusing to me is what the Rockies do
14:33
Speaker 1: this every year? Like the Rockies are the most confusing organization. Yeah,
14:36
Speaker 1: Like the White Sox are thrilled the Rockies exist, so
14:39
Speaker 1: they're not the worst organization in baseball.
14:45
Speaker 3: Oh man, the White Sox casting strays, I would say, yeah,
14:49
Speaker 3: I'm with you. The what we had kind of heard
14:52
Speaker 3: was doubtful. Maybe if this was a couple months ago
14:57
Speaker 3: when he was raking and there was more time in
14:58
Speaker 3: the season, in the playoff odds looked differently in the
15:01
Speaker 3: cups had not made these changes and Amaya had not
15:04
Speaker 3: started playing better. But interesting name not sure if he's
15:09
Speaker 3: really an upgrade though, and when your playoff odds are
15:13
Speaker 3: like three percent, Amaya needs to play, Like I think,
15:18
Speaker 3: you know, you got that great article about the capting
15:21
Speaker 3: situation moving forward, Like ideally he's probably a pretty good backup,
15:25
Speaker 3: but they just want to see more. And Christian has
15:29
Speaker 3: done a good job as as the Postnedo placeholder, So
15:36
Speaker 3: I guess things could change, but I wouldn't really be
15:39
Speaker 3: expecting that. I think this does bring up something we've
15:43
Speaker 3: kind of discussed off the air of like what if
15:48
Speaker 3: they don't take care of business against these bad teams,
15:52
Speaker 3: and like what if all of a sudden, they're like
15:55
Speaker 3: ten games out or like you know, eight under, would
16:01
Speaker 3: they do an Angel style waiver dump just to save money?
16:09
Speaker 1: So it would have to happen over the next week
16:11
Speaker 1: to ten days essentially, right, because teams want to pick
16:14
Speaker 1: those players up. I mean, I guess some players some
16:16
Speaker 1: teams would want to pick like would do it just
16:18
Speaker 1: for September, right, but most of these teams would want
16:21
Speaker 1: them for the playoffs, which means they need to be
16:23
Speaker 1: on the.
16:24
Speaker 2: Roster by I think midnight August thirty first ends.
16:30
Speaker 1: So that's one thing, and I'm not ruling that out.
16:34
Speaker 2: You know, it very easily could just fall apart right here.
16:38
Speaker 2: I just don't like.
16:40
Speaker 1: First of all, what the Angels did last year was
16:42
Speaker 1: a bad look. Right, it's a really bad look.
16:46
Speaker 2: You're doing it.
16:47
Speaker 1: They got thirty thousand, I believe under the threshold. Just
16:51
Speaker 1: an amazing job, and some of that was Max Stassy
16:55
Speaker 1: staying home and not being paid because.
16:58
Speaker 2: He had his child was born prematurely and so he
17:03
Speaker 2: stayed home with the child.
17:05
Speaker 1: H So, just like thirty thousand dollars and they stay
17:08
Speaker 1: under the threshold.
17:10
Speaker 2: At the time, I remember, was there concern that this
17:12
Speaker 2: is going to happen, like this is going to become
17:14
Speaker 2: a trend. I wasn't that.
17:15
Speaker 1: Concerned about it. I didn't think it'd be a trend.
17:18
Speaker 1: I think it'd be embarrassing if the Cups did it.
17:21
Speaker 1: I think it'd be a joke, like they cannot behave
17:24
Speaker 1: in this manner if you're giving away players just to
17:28
Speaker 1: get under the tax, then you you ran things poorly
17:34
Speaker 1: at the deadline, like you That's what it tells me
17:37
Speaker 1: that the Rockies should have traded Diaz for something if
17:41
Speaker 1: they were willing to give them up for nothing. Like
17:45
Speaker 1: it doesn't like the who they doing this to would
17:49
Speaker 1: be like nearest Smiley. You do that to those types
17:55
Speaker 1: of players too, unless they want to go to a
17:57
Speaker 1: playoff team.
17:58
Speaker 2: It's really disrespect.
18:00
Speaker 1: It's it's like it doesn't play well in clubhouses. I
18:04
Speaker 1: just think it's like, I don't think that's a good move.
18:08
Speaker 1: I don't expect them to do it. I don't think
18:11
Speaker 1: it's something that Jed and Carter would would do.
18:15
Speaker 2: If they did.
18:16
Speaker 1: I think it just it's a it's a I mean,
18:19
Speaker 1: the Angels and the Rockies are not organizations that are
18:22
Speaker 1: thought highly of, you know, They're just not organizations that
18:25
Speaker 1: players are like, I want to go play for those teams.
18:29
Speaker 1: If the Cubs start behaving in this manner, that's that's
18:33
Speaker 1: really that be really unfortunate. And I think it would
18:37
Speaker 1: be eye opening, and I think the league would be
18:39
Speaker 1: like would have to start thinking about how things are
18:42
Speaker 1: being run in general, and and like.
18:45
Speaker 2: Closing some of these loopholes.
18:46
Speaker 1: Or something like that, because I don't I wouldn't like
18:49
Speaker 1: the direction of that for baseball in general, and and
18:53
Speaker 1: it's I think it'd be unacceptable for the Cups.
18:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it would be a joke, but I'm
18:58
Speaker 3: not gonna rule it out at this point. And I
19:01
Speaker 3: talked to Matt Moore, the Angels lefty, when he was
19:05
Speaker 3: at Wrigley earlier this summer, and he was like, yeah,
19:09
Speaker 3: I was kind of surprised there wasn't more blowback, Like
19:12
Speaker 3: He's like, it just seems like there's kind of less
19:15
Speaker 3: shame with stuff like that. I mean, he and he
19:17
Speaker 3: decided to come back to the Angels, like so clearly
19:20
Speaker 3: it's not like he was wounded to that degree. But yeah,
19:27
Speaker 3: I just feel like it's such a copycat business owners
19:30
Speaker 3: love saving money, Like, yeah, the Rockies are weird, but
19:36
Speaker 3: let's take another week off the calendar see where things
19:40
Speaker 3: are at. Like, no, I'm not expecting that to happen immediately,
19:45
Speaker 3: but I think we definitely have to keep it on
19:48
Speaker 3: on our radar because I do think that would be
19:53
Speaker 3: extremely telling and very short sighted. But I don't know
19:59
Speaker 3: if you can get under or you can save some money,
20:02
Speaker 3: like that's just how these brutally efficient front offices work.
20:06
Speaker 1: I'll say this, if they are over, if they're you know,
20:11
Speaker 1: five hundred thousand, whatever it is that we all know
20:14
Speaker 1: the public numbers are a.
20:15
Speaker 2: Little off, so they could be a little bit over.
20:19
Speaker 1: You don't want to be over in a lost season,
20:23
Speaker 1: certainly not five hundred one million, two million over. It'd
20:28
Speaker 1: be a bad look if they were over, barely over,
20:32
Speaker 1: So I can see that, I think so either way,
20:37
Speaker 1: it would be a bad look. Right if they're over
20:39
Speaker 1: and they end the season over attack and they miss
20:41
Speaker 1: miss out of the playoffs six seven, eight games, that's
20:44
Speaker 1: a really bad look that that looks. That's stupid, that's
20:46
Speaker 1: money mismanagement. But then but then there's also the argument that, okay,
20:53
Speaker 1: you you had offers, right, there were there were talks
20:57
Speaker 1: about maybe maybe when when Jed was talking talking about this,
21:00
Speaker 1: he was talking about someone that would be available beyond
21:03
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, right, so we don't know the names.
21:06
Speaker 1: He could have been talking about Janis and Tywn and
21:09
Speaker 1: he was only getting you know, low a offers for him.
21:12
Speaker 1: But perhaps they were talented guys, but he wasn't getting
21:15
Speaker 1: what he wanted. If he had offers for Drew Smiley
21:18
Speaker 1: and Hector Neris and now he's he's he's willing to
21:21
Speaker 1: do this again. This is we're talking speculation right now,
21:23
Speaker 1: and I'm not I'm not talking about things that I
21:25
Speaker 1: know are happening, just saying if he had offers for
21:29
Speaker 1: them any and now he and now he's giving them
21:31
Speaker 1: away for free, that's.
21:32
Speaker 2: A bad look.
21:33
Speaker 1: I don't we can debate about what's worse, being barely
21:36
Speaker 1: over the tacks or giving players away when you're the
21:38
Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs. I agree with you, it is a copycat league.
21:41
Speaker 1: I agree, we can't rule it out. I just think
21:43
Speaker 1: it's a bad look. I just think it's it's again,
21:47
Speaker 1: it's it's a type of thing that makes me think,
21:50
Speaker 1: like what were you guys doing in July then, Like
21:52
Speaker 1: what was going on? Like what and how like were
21:55
Speaker 1: you prepared for this this? You know, like and were
22:00
Speaker 1: you willing for the blowback? And when you talk about
22:03
Speaker 1: how Matt Moore says that, like that's I think you're right,
22:05
Speaker 1: Like I guess ultimately maybe there just wasn't enough blowback,
22:09
Speaker 1: you know, like there's there's some public frustration with it,
22:13
Speaker 1: and ultimately like systemic right, right, right, So maybe so,
22:18
Speaker 1: Like I think I think if teams like the Cubs
22:21
Speaker 1: start doing it, though, then that's when it should open eyes.
22:24
Speaker 1: That's when it should raise some redfords and and and
22:27
Speaker 1: then we need to start like, as media, we need
22:29
Speaker 1: to push on it too and start asking Manford, like
22:32
Speaker 1: what big market teams are doing this nonsense like this
22:35
Speaker 1: is it seems just like ridiculous, like we're like gaming
22:39
Speaker 1: the system and giving players away. It also like it
22:43
Speaker 1: didn't end up impacting the the like that. I think
22:48
Speaker 1: that was the big thing. People were like, you're giving
22:49
Speaker 1: players away for free and impacting races. It didn't end
22:53
Speaker 1: up doing that as expected because Cleveland picked like everyone up.
22:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, they grabbed a bunch and more wound up with
23:00
Speaker 3: the Marlins, and he was like it was cool. He
23:03
Speaker 3: think it was cool to be part of the you know,
23:07
Speaker 3: champagne celebration. But he's like, I knew I couldn't play
23:10
Speaker 3: in the playoffs. And I don't know how much he
23:13
Speaker 3: was joking or not, but he felt like they needed
23:15
Speaker 3: the seat on the plane and he just didn't want
23:17
Speaker 3: to be in the way. So he just kind of
23:19
Speaker 3: went home after the end of the season. And so
23:25
Speaker 3: I'm not going to get too worked up about it
23:27
Speaker 3: until something actually happens. But I think it's good to
23:31
Speaker 3: talk it through and think about it, because you're right,
23:35
Speaker 3: like the Angels and Rockies just do weird stuff. The
23:39
Speaker 3: White Sox are the White Sox. But if you know
23:43
Speaker 3: the Cubs do it, or if the Cubs noticed a
23:45
Speaker 3: couple other more reputable teams do it, then that would
23:51
Speaker 3: be something to write about for sure.
23:53
Speaker 1: Right, And if it's one player that you're not using
23:57
Speaker 1: as much, but.
23:59
Speaker 3: They'll say we need a forty man spot, we're creating
24:01
Speaker 3: an opportunity.
24:02
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah like.
24:04
Speaker 3: That, maybe that would could be truthful.
24:07
Speaker 2: Yeah right right.
24:08
Speaker 1: I mean the kneely kid is going to need to
24:10
Speaker 1: come up eventually and needs a forty man spot.
24:13
Speaker 2: So I get like it. There could be one player
24:16
Speaker 2: that it makes sense for.
24:17
Speaker 1: I just think it like you're you're if you're doing
24:19
Speaker 1: it with a bunch of players near the Chicago Cubs,
24:22
Speaker 1: it's just a it's kind of lame, and I like,
24:24
Speaker 1: I just don't think, uh, it should be done, but
24:28
Speaker 1: A like I, you know, whatever whatever you can do
24:31
Speaker 1: to save money. I guess that's that's the thought process,
24:34
Speaker 1: and maybe it happens uh, ultimately, like the Cubs are
24:38
Speaker 1: in this spot where we have to even discuss this.
24:40
Speaker 1: It's a shame, right like they like, it's ridiculous that
24:43
Speaker 1: it's gotten here. A good weekend and maybe we shift tone,
24:48
Speaker 1: you know, good like a fortuitous weekend, Like.
24:51
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens this weekend.
24:52
Speaker 1: They need to get hot. They need to play well.
24:55
Speaker 1: I thought they played well for about one and a
24:57
Speaker 1: half ish games to ish game in Cleveland. I didn't
25:02
Speaker 1: think they played well against the White Sox and they won.
25:04
Speaker 2: So Toronto's not a good team.
25:07
Speaker 1: They have a superstar and not much else beyond that
25:12
Speaker 1: playing well right now, but Vlad Junior is going to
25:15
Speaker 1: be tough to get out.
25:16
Speaker 2: We'll see how Wrigley's playing this weekend.
25:18
Speaker 1: They got their two best starters going Saturday and Sunday,
25:21
Speaker 1: Kyle Hendricks going Friday. They have a chance. They have
25:24
Speaker 1: a chance to get hot again. They're playing a bunch
25:26
Speaker 1: of bad teams. We'll see where they are on Monday.
25:28
Speaker 1: We'll be back at it. Make sure to subscribe, rate
25:31
Speaker 1: and review to Northside Territory. Subscribe on YouTube. Please and
25:36
Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic. We will be covering this up
25:40
Speaker 1: and down season. The rest of the way, make sure
25:42
Speaker 1: to read Patrick and I work there. We appreciate all
25:45
Speaker 1: our listeners. Thanks everyone for listening.
25:46
Speaker 2: Take care,