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Midseason grades for the Cubs during this up-and-down year · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Saha Dave Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
0:11
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick is
0:16
Speaker 1: not quite the middle of the season, but we are
0:20
Speaker 1: going to hand out some grades for this team as
0:25
Speaker 1: they continue to muddle through. I guess how many games
0:31
Speaker 1: are we in it? Do I have the record rate? Forty?
0:35
Speaker 1: Is it forty? No? Wait, like I'm off on my
0:39
Speaker 1: it is it's forty and thirty seven, So we're seventy
0:41
Speaker 1: seven games in, so we're close. We're close to that midpoint.
0:46
Speaker 1: I think everyone can agree that after the way the
0:49
Speaker 1: season started, three games over five hundred is not not
0:54
Speaker 1: where people were hoping for at this point. It's interesting
1:00
Speaker 1: reading fans reactions right now. They're acting like this team
1:05
Speaker 1: is ten fifteen games under five hundred. But I get it.
1:10
Speaker 1: When you struggle like they have the past month plus,
1:13
Speaker 1: it's hard to feel positive. But it just I think
1:18
Speaker 1: we have to look at this season as a whole
1:20
Speaker 1: so far, which is, you know, we're middle nearing the
1:25
Speaker 1: end of June and they're in a playoff spot, which
1:28
Speaker 1: is really weird to say because the vibes around it
1:31
Speaker 1: does not did not feel that way. But let's start
1:34
Speaker 1: with I guess we could do this first segment, the
1:38
Speaker 1: coaching staff and the front office. I think it's hard
1:42
Speaker 1: for me to, like, I think council, I mean, think
1:46
Speaker 1: about it, if we would have done this at the
1:48
Speaker 1: end of you know, at the end of April, at
1:51
Speaker 1: the beginning of May, it's an A plus, right, like
1:53
Speaker 1: what a great job great council has done. I don't
1:59
Speaker 1: think he's done anything like super wrong since then this,
2:03
Speaker 1: But but it's hard to give him like an A
2:06
Speaker 1: when when the season is just kind of average. So
2:09
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's it's just average. It's it's
2:12
Speaker 1: a C for me, for him and the coaching staff.
2:15
Speaker 1: I I again, I just don't think, like nothing stands outwards,
2:19
Speaker 1: like why is he doing this? Why is he calling
2:21
Speaker 1: upon this guy in the bullpen, Like when you have
2:23
Speaker 1: this many injuries, when you have this many guys being ineffective,
2:27
Speaker 1: Like there's a certain way you have to like you're
2:31
Speaker 1: going to be wrong. Sometimes I just don't, like nothing
2:35
Speaker 1: is glaring to me. But I think fans will disagree
2:37
Speaker 1: with that that they'll they'll Nippick on something, but I
2:41
Speaker 1: think it's just been an average season for this coaching staff.
2:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to tie him together the sort of
2:48
Speaker 2: like Craig Council's group in Jed Hoyer's group, just because
2:51
Speaker 2: there is a lot of collaboration there and that, you know,
2:55
Speaker 2: whether it's Tommy hot Devey sort of being an extent
2:59
Speaker 2: of the office or Craig Council.
3:02
Speaker 3: Getting involved in R and D in the off season.
3:05
Speaker 2: You know, Tyler Zombro in this role where he's in
3:09
Speaker 2: uniform and out of uniform, uh, you know during the
3:13
Speaker 2: off season meetings. Yeah, I'm with you, Like, certainly not
3:17
Speaker 2: an A, definitely not an F. You know, if you
3:21
Speaker 2: want to go B minus, C plus like I could
3:25
Speaker 2: C minus, like you can probably talk me into it.
3:28
Speaker 3: Just like that's been kind of the work product thus far.
3:33
Speaker 2: And maybe once they get past the halfway point in
3:38
Speaker 2: leaving New York, you maybe they have a nice we're
3:41
Speaker 2: recording before Tuesday's game after two consecutive rainouts. That also
3:46
Speaker 2: colors this a bit as well. There has been a
3:49
Speaker 2: new result to move onto. But the Cubs their next
3:55
Speaker 2: stop will be Milwaukee, and I think Milwaukee makes all
3:57
Speaker 2: of this look worse, you know what I mean, Like
4:00
Speaker 2: the we are grading on a curve here when you
4:04
Speaker 2: look at the state of the National League, like there's
4:08
Speaker 2: a lot of really average teams, and there's so much
4:12
Speaker 2: parody that I think we both expect them to be
4:17
Speaker 2: in the race until mid to late September, and then
4:20
Speaker 2: it's just kind of like, can they come through in
4:23
Speaker 2: the you know that last week or so, can they
4:25
Speaker 2: avoid the collapse we saw in twenty twenty three, Well,
4:28
Speaker 2: they have a nice finishing kick after the trade headline.
4:32
Speaker 2: We have no idea and yeah, maybe this is incomplete
4:36
Speaker 2: for the front office in that sense, like they still
4:38
Speaker 2: have a lot of work to do. I think overall,
4:42
Speaker 2: the you know, the coaching stat and council get credit
4:45
Speaker 2: for Peka Armstrong's development, for how the pitching, they've weathered
4:51
Speaker 2: it fairly well considering the sheer vib of injuries. But
4:55
Speaker 2: then again, like we'll never know this, but could they
4:58
Speaker 2: have done more on the front end to prevent this
5:00
Speaker 2: some of it, you know, the personnel they acquired, Like
5:05
Speaker 2: you should maybe expect injuries with some of these guys.
5:08
Speaker 2: But I think as we talk through some of these
5:13
Speaker 2: additions in the upcoming segments here. I think back to
5:16
Speaker 2: the story you wrote somewhat recently of just like this
5:20
Speaker 2: was a ninety two win team, pretty methodically built, pretty
5:27
Speaker 2: fairly well rounded roster. You're trading swapping out Kyle Tucker
5:34
Speaker 2: for Alex Bragman, and like all of these moves were reasonable.
5:42
Speaker 2: There was not a whole lot of like what are
5:44
Speaker 2: they thinking here? And so that I think that compounds
5:49
Speaker 2: it too of just like you see how well the
5:52
Speaker 2: Brewers are doing, that doesn't make the Cubs look great
5:56
Speaker 2: and also just kind of confusing. I think that's why
5:58
Speaker 2: it's hard for me to just you know, put a
6:01
Speaker 2: big red F on it, because right we understood where
6:04
Speaker 2: they're coming from with a lot of stuff, and as
6:06
Speaker 2: we deal with Craig Councilor's coaches, like they're like reasonable people,
6:11
Speaker 2: that they're good communicators.
6:13
Speaker 3: You know, we can kind of see where they're coming.
6:14
Speaker 2: From on a lot of this, and they will point to, look,
6:17
Speaker 2: everything's incomplete because we still have a half season to go.
6:20
Speaker 1: Yes, if I'm grading them just on these first two
6:24
Speaker 1: and a half three months then to the front office
6:29
Speaker 1: that is, then I think I would not give them
6:32
Speaker 1: a past. I would not give them a c like
6:34
Speaker 1: I'd have to give them below and like, look, that's
6:39
Speaker 1: totally second guessing because I think we were on board
6:42
Speaker 1: with this offseason. We thought it was a smart offseason.
6:45
Speaker 1: I thought they did a lot of good h Nothing's
6:48
Speaker 1: really worked out as hoped so far. Alex Bregman is
6:52
Speaker 1: not performing up to expectations. Edward Cabrera is not a
6:56
Speaker 1: standout starter for this team. Phil Mayton has really struggled.
7:01
Speaker 1: Hunter Harvey has barely pitched. Jacob Webb has been good
7:07
Speaker 1: but has struggled of late. And the bullpen is a
7:10
Speaker 1: concern for me. The rotation is a concern. The moves
7:15
Speaker 1: just haven't really worked out the bullpen, Like this is
7:19
Speaker 1: just how bullpens are. And I know, I'm like, I'm
7:22
Speaker 1: probably gonna answer some questions via mail bag and people
7:27
Speaker 1: are like, how could they have built this type of bullpen?
7:29
Speaker 1: And I mean it said they needed to bring like
7:33
Speaker 1: they need to bring in some certainty. Yeah, Okay. They
7:35
Speaker 1: should have signed Edwin Diaz, who has pitched four innings
7:39
Speaker 1: and had like a ten ERA. Maybe they should have
7:41
Speaker 1: signed Devin Williams who has an ERA pushing five. Maybe
7:43
Speaker 1: they should have signed Pete Fairbanks, who has an era
7:46
Speaker 1: pushing like ten Re signed Brad Keller, who's Era's double
7:50
Speaker 1: last season, Like, I don't know, there's no such thing
7:55
Speaker 1: as certainty in the bullpen. I know fans get so
7:58
Speaker 1: annoyed by hearing that, and like they think it's an excuse,
8:01
Speaker 1: But it is so hard to build a bullpen year
8:04
Speaker 1: after year. You need guys to step up that you
8:07
Speaker 1: didn't like. Nobody has stepped up that they that they
8:10
Speaker 1: kind of needed to, like Colin Snyder, Corbyn Martin Riley
8:16
Speaker 1: Martin got hurt. So it's you know, this is excuse making,
8:20
Speaker 1: I guess you could say, but it's also the reality
8:22
Speaker 1: of building a bullpen. You just don't know what you're
8:23
Speaker 1: going to get. You could feel so confident about what
8:27
Speaker 1: you've put together and it can just turn out to
8:29
Speaker 1: be a mess, or you can have like kind of
8:31
Speaker 1: be like, I don't know it's going to look and
8:32
Speaker 1: then it dominates. Last year was really good. I thought
8:35
Speaker 1: last year was a good bullpen. They have figured it
8:37
Speaker 1: out on the fly, so I would not be surprised
8:40
Speaker 1: if the bullpen does get figured out. They've they're really
8:44
Speaker 1: throwing things against the wall with this bullpen right now
8:47
Speaker 1: that we've talked about it a couple episodes ago. I
8:49
Speaker 1: believe like they're just cycling through forty man roster spots,
8:53
Speaker 1: so that I think is something that can be fixed
8:58
Speaker 1: over the course of a season. See it all the
9:00
Speaker 1: time with different teams. Go back to that World Series
9:04
Speaker 1: run that the Diamondbacks went on. I believe what was that,
9:08
Speaker 1: twenty three, twenty four, Yeah, twenty three, and they had
9:12
Speaker 1: a rough bullpen the first few months. They made a
9:16
Speaker 1: couple of trades, picked up some guys that had struggled
9:19
Speaker 1: in the first half and were nails for them in
9:22
Speaker 1: the second half. And that's that's kind of how it is.
9:24
Speaker 1: It can be the most random thing in sports. So
9:28
Speaker 1: sometimes there's just no rhyme or reason to it all.
9:31
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break then and break down some
9:36
Speaker 1: position players and give them grades.
9:41
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10:42
Speaker 1: All right, So I think if we were grading the
10:46
Speaker 1: offense again six weeks ago, we'd be talking about like
10:50
Speaker 1: a plus, you.
10:52
Speaker 3: Know, best offense. Ever.
10:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously six weeks has changed the Uh. This
11:02
Speaker 1: is one of the more confusing.
11:05
Speaker 2: Uh.
11:06
Speaker 1: It's just I don't know. Again, It's like the volatility
11:10
Speaker 1: of bullpens, the randomness of hitting with runners in scoring
11:15
Speaker 1: position is like these got these have to be the
11:17
Speaker 1: two most frustrating things to watch when things aren't going
11:22
Speaker 1: right and and kind of accept that, man, baseball can
11:27
Speaker 1: be a random sport sometimes, and yes it is this
11:32
Speaker 1: like the hitting with runners in scoring position, Like you
11:34
Speaker 1: look at the Cubs numbers when like overall versus that,
11:38
Speaker 1: and it's and it's really weird, and it's a stark
11:41
Speaker 1: difference and it makes you question of like, what what
11:44
Speaker 1: are they doing wrong? When I think a lot of
11:47
Speaker 1: baseball people feel like, no, this stuff will even out again.
11:53
Speaker 1: This is one of those things that fans don't want
11:55
Speaker 1: to hear. So I get the frustration, and I think
11:58
Speaker 1: it is important to analyze it, be on that and
12:01
Speaker 1: wonder what else is going on. But I just don't
12:06
Speaker 1: think there's a simple answer to that. But that's probably
12:09
Speaker 1: the biggest issue with this team. If they had, you know,
12:14
Speaker 1: ten more hits with runners in scoring position, that's probably
12:18
Speaker 1: like five more wits. That's really like what a big
12:22
Speaker 1: swing it would be. Because I was just looking this
12:25
Speaker 1: up after they have the most played appearances with runners
12:27
Speaker 1: in scoring position and they have I believe the twenty
12:32
Speaker 1: eighth in batting average. And again, like I think people
12:37
Speaker 1: who know me know that I don't think batting average
12:39
Speaker 1: is the most important step, but it's important with runners
12:41
Speaker 1: in scoring position, you want to get base hits because
12:44
Speaker 1: sometimes a walk with a man on second and one
12:46
Speaker 1: out just doesn't do the job. But you know, a groundball,
12:52
Speaker 1: seeing eye, single change, it can change a game. So that, right,
12:57
Speaker 1: there is one reason why you.
13:00
Speaker 2: Know you're losing your mind you're talking of batting average here,
13:03
Speaker 2: like this is what comes I'm done to your brain. Yes, yes,
13:06
Speaker 2: this is your brain on Cubs baseball.
13:08
Speaker 1: Right, And so overall it's the offense gets another you know,
13:14
Speaker 1: mediocre see here for me. But I think I still
13:19
Speaker 1: feel that by the end of the season we'll be
13:21
Speaker 1: looking back and saying that's a B season, maybe an
13:23
Speaker 1: A season for the offense.
13:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just like disappointing that this group
13:29
Speaker 2: as a whole hasn't stepped forward, and like how quickly
13:36
Speaker 2: it went from like, you know, World Series contender to
13:40
Speaker 2: like are these guys too uptight? Do they have the
13:43
Speaker 2: wrong mix of personalities in the room, And like is there,
13:50
Speaker 2: you know, is there something wrong with like kind of
13:53
Speaker 2: this hitting group as a whole because this is what
13:58
Speaker 2: you know, Jed Hoyer's front off that says, really stake
14:02
Speaker 2: this team on. This is what they've built around. You know,
14:06
Speaker 2: they have been proven right.
14:08
Speaker 3: You know, bullpens are volatile.
14:11
Speaker 2: Uh, you don't want to put good money, big money
14:16
Speaker 2: behind those players. We'll just fine. You just have to
14:18
Speaker 2: be right in the other areas. And the Cubs historically
14:22
Speaker 2: don't pay for number one starters. They have in the past,
14:28
Speaker 2: I should say, I mean you Darvish John Lester, but
14:32
Speaker 2: like recently, you know, they they saw where the Dylan
14:35
Speaker 2: c s market was going and they were informed and
14:37
Speaker 2: we're like, all.
14:37
Speaker 3: Right, good luck with that.
14:38
Speaker 2: And you know, he got paid in Toronto and so
14:41
Speaker 2: sort of getting these getting a lot of sort of
14:44
Speaker 2: you know, number three type starters on on good days
14:47
Speaker 2: or you know, and also not developing pitching from within
14:53
Speaker 2: that much means your your hitters, your everyday guys have
14:58
Speaker 2: to carry you, and you know, kind of looking at
15:01
Speaker 2: you know, the Baseball reference sheet.
15:04
Speaker 3: Right now, I think I mean Peter Armstrong, I think
15:08
Speaker 3: he gets an A.
15:08
Speaker 2: I think he doesn't get an A plus just because
15:11
Speaker 2: of what happened on the South Side and some of
15:13
Speaker 2: his glaring defensive mistakes. I know he's still an awesome defender,
15:19
Speaker 2: has put up some amazing offensive numbers recently, so I
15:25
Speaker 2: think that's a solid A not quite an A plus.
15:29
Speaker 3: I think Ian.
15:30
Speaker 2: Hap, as frustrating as he can be for fans, is
15:34
Speaker 2: putting together an All Star caliber first half. We'll see
15:40
Speaker 2: if he actually gets in the game. And you know
15:43
Speaker 2: he's streaky as well, so we don't know where he'll
15:47
Speaker 2: wind up between now and the All Star break, but
15:51
Speaker 2: at the end of the year, you know you're gonna
15:52
Speaker 2: have a pretty solid season out of him. So I
15:54
Speaker 2: put him in that kind of a minus B plus range,
15:58
Speaker 2: And then say, is one a name I sort of
16:01
Speaker 2: circled of, Like his numbers are good, he's a much
16:06
Speaker 2: better defender, but just when the Cubs go through these tailspins,
16:12
Speaker 2: like Saya usually seems to be kind of at the
16:15
Speaker 2: forefront of that, and just you would like to see
16:17
Speaker 2: a little more consistency or quicker ability to kind of
16:22
Speaker 2: pull the team out of the nosedive. And that's one
16:27
Speaker 2: of those just because we hear how players talk about him,
16:30
Speaker 2: we know how talented he is, we know how hard
16:35
Speaker 2: he works, how much he cares, and like that's just
16:40
Speaker 2: kind of been who he is during his time in Chicago,
16:43
Speaker 2: and now that that may change. He might have been
16:45
Speaker 2: their most dangerous hitter during last year's playoffs, and like
16:48
Speaker 2: I certainly wouldn't.
16:49
Speaker 3: Rule that out.
16:50
Speaker 2: Like a monster stretch in the second half, you know
16:53
Speaker 2: that sort of carries the team. But he has been
16:56
Speaker 2: kind of that guy like when everything's clicking, you know
17:00
Speaker 2: around him, say is clicking. There's been fewer times where
17:06
Speaker 2: you know, you look to him to sort of like
17:08
Speaker 2: have that huge hit that changes everything.
17:11
Speaker 3: You just would like a little more there.
17:14
Speaker 2: And that's why I put him in that similar sort
17:16
Speaker 2: of like B plus range.
17:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you look at the middle infield and
17:23
Speaker 1: obviously third base Bregman, Swanson, Nico. I mean Nico was
17:30
Speaker 1: a plus you know at then a couple of weeks. Yeah,
17:35
Speaker 1: I mean we thought he was a different player. So
17:40
Speaker 1: you know, he goes through these stretches. Though I think
17:42
Speaker 1: sometimes people when they're in it, when he's in it,
17:46
Speaker 1: they're like, what's wrong with Nico's He relies on the
17:50
Speaker 1: ball finding holes. Sometimes he's not hitting the ball as hard.
17:55
Speaker 1: I think that he I'd say the bad luck has
17:58
Speaker 1: mostly been like the last week ish, He's looked a
18:01
Speaker 1: little bit better in the plate and he can't like
18:02
Speaker 1: he can't buy a hit now. So it went from
18:05
Speaker 1: there were a few weeks there where I was like,
18:07
Speaker 1: this is soft contact on the ground and that's why,
18:11
Speaker 1: like you need a ton of luck for that. But
18:14
Speaker 1: now he's starting to hit more line drives, and I
18:17
Speaker 1: feel like that last home stand, there were a lot
18:19
Speaker 1: of balls that he hit well that were just like
18:22
Speaker 1: good defensive plays or right ed guys, and that's the
18:25
Speaker 1: type of stuff that you hope Nico's pretty good about
18:30
Speaker 1: compartmentalizing and understanding, like that's how you know he relies
18:35
Speaker 1: on the ball in play finding grass. Even Bregman looks
18:39
Speaker 1: a little bit better, and I feel like the luck
18:41
Speaker 1: hasn't swung his way fully yet, but he needs to
18:45
Speaker 1: put the ball out of the park. He needs to
18:46
Speaker 1: hit the ball out of the park. And Dansby has
18:48
Speaker 1: been a mess, and I do feel like there have
18:51
Speaker 1: been glimpses, but it's such a short window. It's like
18:55
Speaker 1: three games now that we've seen some hard hit balls.
18:59
Speaker 1: You need a much longer stretch to feel like he's
19:01
Speaker 1: coming out of it. Because this has been I know
19:04
Speaker 1: he and Craig Council talks about this. He goes through
19:08
Speaker 1: these big swings where it's where it's like, oh, he
19:13
Speaker 1: looks lost. Is he on the downswing of his career?
19:15
Speaker 1: And then he gets on this huge stretch. But he was,
19:18
Speaker 1: you know, five days ago or whatever, he was hitting
19:21
Speaker 1: one seventy five. He was tied for the lowest batting
19:23
Speaker 1: average in baseball. Patrick, you know who he was tied with.
19:28
Speaker 1: He was tied with Manny Machado. Yeah, Manny Machado is
19:32
Speaker 1: having a really weird season where he's hitting for a
19:36
Speaker 1: really low average, but I think he leads the Padres
19:38
Speaker 1: and home runs very odd. I don't want to get
19:41
Speaker 1: into Padre's discussion, but yeah, so Dansby needs to get
19:49
Speaker 1: on a hot streak, like all these guys need to.
19:51
Speaker 1: I think when you look at how well Pete's doing,
19:57
Speaker 1: you just want a couple more guys to get hot. Like,
20:00
Speaker 1: if you have Pete swinging like he's swinging, if you
20:03
Speaker 1: have two other guys, especially if they're kind of bunched
20:06
Speaker 1: together in the lineup, that just makes all the you know,
20:10
Speaker 1: like that just makes all the hitting, with the scoring position,
20:13
Speaker 1: all those things feel a little bit less worrisome. You
20:17
Speaker 1: just have a few guys clicking get to the five
20:21
Speaker 1: six run mark, and they did that for the last
20:23
Speaker 1: three games, but the bullpen blew one of those games
20:26
Speaker 1: for them. But just the slightest bit of hope I
20:30
Speaker 1: see from this offense right now, it was three games.
20:34
Speaker 1: Need to do much better, need to put together, you know,
20:36
Speaker 1: stack some series here. But I'm seeing a little glimmer
20:41
Speaker 1: of hope from the offense I am. I just don't like,
20:44
Speaker 1: I know, I think when it lasts this long, the struggles,
20:49
Speaker 1: you need to it needs to be stacked before you
20:53
Speaker 1: buy back in. And that's how I'm feeling that I've
20:56
Speaker 1: trusted this offense. I believe that this offense is good.
21:00
Speaker 1: Now I need like I get it, like it. You know,
21:03
Speaker 1: when you have these slumps, it really makes you question
21:06
Speaker 1: everything about a group.
21:08
Speaker 2: When a corner Baseball reference, Nico is a one more
21:11
Speaker 2: player dansby one point five, Bregman had two. Uh So, clearly,
21:17
Speaker 2: like these guys haven't totally cratered. Like that's why the
21:22
Speaker 2: Cubs invested in them, because they have a pretty high
21:25
Speaker 2: floor and they're sort of I think scraping it now.
21:28
Speaker 2: I think, you know, all these guys, you know, get
21:35
Speaker 2: marked down just because of how much the Cups you
21:38
Speaker 2: have believed in them and bet on them, and how
21:40
Speaker 2: much we've heard about their leadership abilities. When you see
21:43
Speaker 2: the Cubs in a skid that goes on like to
21:47
Speaker 2: this extent, you sort of questioned some of that. I think,
21:50
Speaker 2: I mean, Bregman, you'll flat out said I've.
21:53
Speaker 3: Been terrible or whatever the quote was.
21:56
Speaker 2: He's been basically like league average as a hitter. I
21:59
Speaker 2: think you're you're right to out some of these other
22:01
Speaker 2: like star third basemen. You know how a lot of
22:04
Speaker 2: guys have struggled to get it going, but like this
22:07
Speaker 2: is why the Cubs signed him as this finishing piece.
22:12
Speaker 2: It's weird because like Bregman doesn't seem totally lost up there,
22:17
Speaker 2: like he is getting on bas like he's taking walks,
22:20
Speaker 2: he's getting singles, but obviously the big hits, the slug
22:24
Speaker 2: just haven't been there. Dansby weirdly started off with that
22:29
Speaker 2: power search that made you think, oh, maybe something's clicked
22:32
Speaker 2: and oh this is kind of Eco's game. Like you're saying, like,
22:35
Speaker 2: I'm not like super concerned, but it's also this is
22:39
Speaker 2: what the Cubs have said looking back on prior seasons,
22:41
Speaker 2: like do you get that like six win season from
22:45
Speaker 2: Nico or do you get like a three win season
22:49
Speaker 2: from Nico? And Dansby's kind of in that too, of
22:51
Speaker 2: like Dansby can be a six four player, but it's
22:54
Speaker 2: gonna be like a three based almost allly solely on defense.
23:01
Speaker 3: That all group, I don't know, C plus to D plus.
23:05
Speaker 3: I don't know.
23:05
Speaker 2: However, you know, if they have a good game tonight,
23:08
Speaker 2: maybe it's a C plus. It's like just certainly not
23:11
Speaker 2: havevid D plus seems a little a little harsh, yeah,
23:15
Speaker 2: given that they're not like negative contributors, but just the
23:19
Speaker 2: whole group is just like wanting more other than the
23:22
Speaker 2: infield we haven't talked about. And this is probably the
23:24
Speaker 2: way Michael Bush likes it. Slow start but very solid year.
23:29
Speaker 2: He's not getting paid like those others guys. Guys are either,
23:33
Speaker 2: so like just tremendous value, you know, probably a B
23:38
Speaker 2: plus and quietly becoming, you know, one of the best
23:41
Speaker 2: first baseman's in the majors.
23:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, right, And it gets back to what
23:47
Speaker 1: I was saying before about runners in scoring position. But
23:49
Speaker 1: I think a lot of those guys we've talked about
23:51
Speaker 1: are just having weird seasons and Eco, who people think
23:54
Speaker 1: of as like this clutch guy, no really rough season
23:58
Speaker 1: with runners in scoring positions, say is having a rough one.
24:00
Speaker 1: Bregman I think is a big Like Hap is struggling,
24:03
Speaker 1: I think in those situations, but Bregman's the big one
24:05
Speaker 1: because I feel like it's all like that's one of
24:08
Speaker 1: those ones where it's like just like find a hole once,
24:12
Speaker 1: Like he has not come through in those situations much
24:16
Speaker 1: at all, and it feels like they're a lot like
24:18
Speaker 1: they're stacking up as far as played appearances or runners
24:21
Speaker 1: that have been stranded, both him and Half. You want
24:25
Speaker 1: to see them come through and just just get a
24:27
Speaker 1: couple hits in those moments, in those moments, because the
24:30
Speaker 1: Cubs do, you provide a lot of those moments. So
24:34
Speaker 1: just a few more big hits, and it's the type
24:36
Speaker 1: of thing that can help swing swing a game and
24:39
Speaker 1: swing a season. Really, let's take a break and talk
24:42
Speaker 1: about the pitching when we come back.
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25:46
Speaker 1: So with the pitching, Patrick, I don't know how I
25:49
Speaker 1: can give this group a passing grade. They've given up
25:53
Speaker 1: the most home runs in baseball if you want to
25:56
Speaker 1: give them a pass in the sense that the injuries
26:01
Speaker 1: have have are the reason that it's as bad as
26:05
Speaker 1: bad as it is. I understand that, but they like
26:10
Speaker 1: they they have been waylaid by injuries, and to suggest
26:13
Speaker 1: that they didn't prepare for it, I think would be
26:15
Speaker 1: unfair because they had a lot of depth entering the
26:19
Speaker 1: season and they have and it has hit them hard
26:23
Speaker 1: the number of injuries to both the rotation and the bullpen.
26:30
Speaker 1: But that's that's part of the game, and other teams
26:34
Speaker 1: suffer a lot of injuries too. Everyone reacts differently. Right now,
26:40
Speaker 1: I guess I would say the Cubs haven't like you
26:43
Speaker 1: could almost I think you said this in the first segment.
26:46
Speaker 1: You could almost make the argument that they they should
26:49
Speaker 1: be worse because of all the injuries, Like it's a
26:51
Speaker 1: little bit of a surprise that they that they have
26:55
Speaker 1: they're doing as well as they are, that they haven't
26:57
Speaker 1: completely sunk, like kind of like the Mets. But still
27:04
Speaker 1: I can't say, like, oh, give them a pass on
27:07
Speaker 1: this because they're just not doing well enough. And I
27:10
Speaker 1: think the bullpen in particular is where, you know, going
27:14
Speaker 1: against what I said, It's going to go all over
27:16
Speaker 1: the place, but it is what it is. The results
27:18
Speaker 1: are how I'm going to grade it on, and it
27:20
Speaker 1: hasn't been good enough. Well, I say the bullpen in particular,
27:24
Speaker 1: I think that's what I'm concerned about right now. But
27:26
Speaker 1: the numbers say the rotation is significantly worse. Rotation ERA
27:30
Speaker 1: is bottom five in Baseball home runs allowed, or largely
27:33
Speaker 1: like I think that it's the rotation that's given up
27:36
Speaker 1: the most. Bullpen is starting to add to that total.
27:39
Speaker 2: Though.
27:39
Speaker 1: There have been some really big home runs lately from
27:42
Speaker 1: the bullpen, both in terms of costing them a game
27:45
Speaker 1: on Saturday, and then there was one recently where they
27:50
Speaker 1: shouldn't have had to go to their high leverage guys
27:53
Speaker 1: and guys couldn't get the job done middle eting guys
27:57
Speaker 1: and it made it too close, and they had suddenly
27:59
Speaker 1: a game on their hands and they had to bring
28:01
Speaker 1: in guys that they probably that council probably wanted to avoid. Uh.
28:05
Speaker 1: And that that adds up that that that that's a
28:08
Speaker 1: problem when you have guys that can't you know, that
28:10
Speaker 1: are walking guys or giving up long balls in the
28:12
Speaker 1: blowout game, and suddenly now you have to use your
28:15
Speaker 1: high leverage guys and those guys are becoming limited. Valencia
28:18
Speaker 1: is on the I L. Hunter. Harvey's barely pitched. You know,
28:22
Speaker 1: we've named all the names. There's there's a lot of
28:24
Speaker 1: guys that just aren't effective or or are on the
28:28
Speaker 1: shelf on both sides, both bullpen and rotation. It's a
28:33
Speaker 1: it's a tough group right now. Uh some quick updates.
28:38
Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd will be pitching with the team, the big
28:42
Speaker 1: League club. His next start, Edward Cabrera starts tonight. This
28:47
Speaker 1: is we're recording on what days today, Tuesday, And then
28:53
Speaker 1: jameson Tywne, I guess council said maybe before they're like
28:59
Speaker 1: maybe BEFO for the All Star break. This was just
29:01
Speaker 1: like he just kind of threw that in there yesterday
29:04
Speaker 1: when we talked to him before the game got called.
29:06
Speaker 1: Uh so that that's like the op I guess that
29:10
Speaker 1: would be the optimistic hope with Tyn that why does
29:16
Speaker 1: all that stuff matter? Like if you're not in love
29:18
Speaker 1: with the season jameson Tyne's having, which I understand he's
29:21
Speaker 1: given up way too many home runs, all that stuff,
29:23
Speaker 1: like it'll it'll beef up the bullpen at minimum, Like
29:26
Speaker 1: that's like you need some depth in the bullpen, you
29:28
Speaker 1: need innings like right now that you need to make
29:31
Speaker 1: sure you get through the season because eventually we'll start
29:33
Speaker 1: talking about trade deadline and stuff like that and coming
29:37
Speaker 1: upcoming episodes. But that's where that's where this focus is
29:40
Speaker 1: going to be over the next what do we got
29:42
Speaker 1: six weeks before the deadline. That's where the focus is. Pitching, pitching, pitching.
29:46
Speaker 1: I understand fans are frustrated and don't think this team
29:48
Speaker 1: is good enough. They're in the playoffs right now. You
29:52
Speaker 1: have to add, and you never know when you get hot.
29:56
Speaker 1: So if this offense turns around, you can you can
29:59
Speaker 1: build its wronger bullpen and suddenly you feel really good
30:02
Speaker 1: about the way things look in the second half.
30:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, just to underline, you know how impossible
30:10
Speaker 2: this situation has felt at times like you're probably given,
30:15
Speaker 2: you know, incomplete grades to Matthew Boyd. He's thrown twenty
30:20
Speaker 2: four innings this year, Kate Horton's thrown seven and the
30:25
Speaker 2: third innings this year justin seal zero innings thus far.
30:31
Speaker 2: Daniel Palencia three save opportunities, amazing, just kind of unbelievable.
30:37
Speaker 2: You had mentioned Hunter Harvey. Four appearances like these are
30:42
Speaker 2: you know, kind of bets the Cubs made, you know
30:48
Speaker 2: how this team was going to flourish this year, and
30:51
Speaker 2: there's just been way too many incomplete Edward Cabrera, you know,
30:58
Speaker 2: a negative war contributor thus far. I mean, just a
31:02
Speaker 2: really big disappointment. I know some of this is out
31:05
Speaker 2: of his control. He's had you know, some minor injuries
31:09
Speaker 2: here and there, but just and we've seen flashes of
31:11
Speaker 2: the stuff, but has not.
31:12
Speaker 3: Put it together the way the Cubs hoped for. I
31:18
Speaker 3: would say you got to give.
31:20
Speaker 2: An a probably to Ben Brown, although that his emergence
31:24
Speaker 2: has you know, weakened the bullpen. All this stuff we're
31:26
Speaker 2: talking about here is interconnected, like why is the bullpen bad?
31:29
Speaker 2: It's like, well, a bunch of relievers had to go
31:32
Speaker 2: into the rotation. Ryan Robson would be an exception to
31:37
Speaker 2: kind of the bullpen thing we were talking about at.
31:41
Speaker 3: The top of the show there about just how the
31:43
Speaker 3: bullpen's kind of mess. He's been a very pleasant surprise.
31:49
Speaker 2: And you know, I think SHOWEDA and Colin Ray have
31:54
Speaker 2: been in that like B B minus range. I know,
31:59
Speaker 2: like raised numbers, don't know, aren't always like outstanding, but
32:02
Speaker 2: he's always put in a difficult spot and he just
32:05
Speaker 2: bounces back and does his job quietly, without complaint, without
32:09
Speaker 2: any sort of fanfare.
32:10
Speaker 3: I think you like have not that on your team
32:12
Speaker 3: and you know, showed it.
32:13
Speaker 2: We've seen some stretches where he looks like an ace,
32:19
Speaker 2: but you know, he's He's had some really ugly outings.
32:22
Speaker 2: I think that's just kind of the show to experience,
32:25
Speaker 2: and I'm probably more optimistic than most, but I think
32:28
Speaker 2: over his next fifteen starts, I think you're going to
32:32
Speaker 2: see some some quality. And to be honest, it's not
32:37
Speaker 2: like the Cubs have many other options, and I think
32:41
Speaker 2: that's you know, kind of tying it back to how
32:44
Speaker 2: this episode started. Like just the lack of kind of
32:48
Speaker 2: homegrown pitching and just kind of young pitching to be able.
32:52
Speaker 3: To plug in as needed just hasn't quite been there.
32:58
Speaker 2: Again, they don't throw parades for you know, Baseball America
33:03
Speaker 2: rankings or anything like that, but you see when the
33:06
Speaker 2: team is stretched to this extent and the amount of
33:09
Speaker 2: just sort of like DFA churning, you know, random casts off,
33:15
Speaker 2: they're you know putting in like don't look at Triple
33:18
Speaker 2: A Iowa's kind of pitching logs. At least that's what
33:21
Speaker 2: we were told not that long ago. Like all that
33:25
Speaker 2: stuff adds up, but they still have another another half
33:29
Speaker 2: of the year to you know, prove us wrong, and
33:32
Speaker 2: you know, and they still I think this is something
33:36
Speaker 2: too too. You mentioned this before we started recording. Avoiding
33:41
Speaker 2: a Mets like scenario at the beginning of the year
33:43
Speaker 2: is very valuable to just kind of weather the storm,
33:49
Speaker 2: to just kind of keep pushing forward. There's a lot
33:53
Speaker 2: of value in that, and maybe the Cubs will will
33:56
Speaker 2: kind of capture that over the coming months.
33:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm very curious to see what they do with
34:01
Speaker 1: the rotation when Boyd comes back in and for nothing
34:05
Speaker 1: else other than who do they think is the right
34:07
Speaker 1: Like I think one of those guys between Ray and
34:09
Speaker 1: Assad needs to go to the bullpen not be sent down,
34:12
Speaker 1: because the bullpen needs someone that can like do multiple innings.
34:16
Speaker 1: And Ray's what a weird season. I just looked at
34:19
Speaker 1: his numbers. I saw something that said he was like
34:21
Speaker 1: bottom five in ERA for eligible pictures and I was like,
34:25
Speaker 1: what I thought, He's been okay, but he's had enough
34:28
Speaker 1: blow up outings and really like there's this stretch before
34:32
Speaker 1: the Dodger or the Blue Jays game, basically starting with
34:36
Speaker 1: a Dodgers start, so a while ago, where's ERA was
34:40
Speaker 1: above six, Like he has just been bad to to
34:44
Speaker 1: like okay for the past couple of months. I did not.
34:47
Speaker 1: It didn't feel like that, And I think because they
34:48
Speaker 1: were so desperate for just like competent three run, five
34:54
Speaker 1: inning outings that it felt like that's a huge win
34:57
Speaker 1: when it's actually not that good of an era. But
34:59
Speaker 1: like it was like there have been some blow ups, absolutely,
35:03
Speaker 1: but I think you know you're gonna get that with
35:05
Speaker 1: Colin Ray. It happened last year where it's a certain
35:07
Speaker 1: point people were like they have to get him out
35:09
Speaker 1: of the rotation. Then he went on a run where
35:11
Speaker 1: he gave you like five six innings every start and
35:13
Speaker 1: get like no more than two three runs. And I
35:15
Speaker 1: think that's what you can kind of expect from him.
35:18
Speaker 1: It's not going to be perfect. He's a depth starter,
35:21
Speaker 1: and give expecting twenty five plus brilliant starts from him
35:25
Speaker 1: is just unfair. Curious to see how they how they
35:30
Speaker 1: fill out the bullpen. Two quick notes on bullpen arms.
35:35
Speaker 1: They've they've added a ton of guys. I've been asking around,
35:39
Speaker 1: anyone look good, anyone look interesting? And two guys are
35:45
Speaker 1: in I think they're both in Arizona. Bummer has ticked
35:48
Speaker 1: up at least one mile per hour, maybe two. I
35:51
Speaker 1: need to check my text to double check that, and
35:53
Speaker 1: then uh, Eduard Nielle Nunez who was in the CUB
35:59
Speaker 1: system years ago and made it to the majors with Pitts,
36:05
Speaker 1: I'd have to look that up. He's been with a
36:07
Speaker 1: couple of different oors. Yeah, he's been with a couple
36:10
Speaker 1: of different orgs since he's he was at like ninety
36:15
Speaker 1: six early in the season, so down for him when
36:17
Speaker 1: he's at his best. He's back up to ninety nine.
36:20
Speaker 1: Whatever was going on, they've they've helped him get back
36:22
Speaker 1: to there. I'm not saying like, hey, look for these
36:25
Speaker 1: guys to help the bullpen immediately and be really good.
36:29
Speaker 1: I just think like you need to start looking at
36:31
Speaker 1: arms that are like they they've cycled through so many guys,
36:37
Speaker 1: not at the big league level, but like in the minors,
36:39
Speaker 1: like adding guys to the forty man cycling through. Someone
36:42
Speaker 1: needs to pop. They need someone to pop. Maybe it's
36:45
Speaker 1: one of those guys, veteran Lanke Bummer. We'll see if
36:49
Speaker 1: someone can help. Because you're not going to make it
36:52
Speaker 1: through the season with is these guys. You know that,
36:54
Speaker 1: Like council tells us that every spring training, right, it's
36:57
Speaker 1: not going to be this group of eight then higher season.
37:01
Speaker 1: If it is like that, that's kind of weird, like
37:04
Speaker 1: it evolves, so you hope it evolves in a good
37:07
Speaker 1: way for the Cubs. That's like that they find someone
37:11
Speaker 1: and some of them are going to be surprises. Everyone's
37:13
Speaker 1: going to say, well, no, we want the obvious superstar.
37:17
Speaker 1: It doesn't work that way with the Bullpens. So well,
37:19
Speaker 1: we'll see if anyone steps up, if there's a maybe
37:22
Speaker 1: not quite a Brad Keller, but some better, better times
37:26
Speaker 1: ahead and some surprises that can kind of turn things
37:28
Speaker 1: for this group. All right, that's it from us, Thanks
37:31
Speaker 1: so much for listening. Make sure to rate review, subscribe
37:34
Speaker 1: to Northside Territory, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe
37:38
Speaker 1: to The Athletic or Patrick and I are on top
37:40
Speaker 1: of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone. Take care.
38:01
Speaker 2: I read it.
38:07
Speaker 1: They