Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / How can the Cubs fix their closer situation?

Transcript

How can the Cubs fix their closer situation? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Cubs lose two to three to the Giants. You know,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: not a lot of that series. They played good baseball.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: They you know, the offense didn't show up for one game,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: which you know, these are the types of things that
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: happen over the course of the season. We'll see if
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that's a trend, but right now, it's nothing, nothing that
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: anybody should be concerned about, right so we just kind
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of look at these games individually. Is outside of one inning,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I have to say that the Cubs played really well.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I think they pitched well, mostly hit and that eleventh
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: inning on Tuesday is what people are going to focus
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: on from this series, from this uh, you know, from
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: this week and it and it is it is a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: big topic, and it's what's wrong with Brian Presley. This
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: doesn't come out of the blue. We we understood that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: he was not perfect when he came when the season started,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: he was it was not very good. He was getting
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: through outings, but he looked off. I felt like something
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: was clicking there. Then the knee popped up, and he's
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: been fine getting through stuff, but hasn't pitched a ton.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: And then Tuesday was that that was historically bad. You
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: you were, you were there to watch it all unfold
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: it Wrigally. I mean it was I was. I'd gotten
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: home by that point, and it was it was one
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of those things where you're watching and you're like, I
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: don't know how he gets anyone out, and that's kind
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of what that's happened.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, rewind back to that tenth then,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I mean the Cubs were in position, Pete Carl Armstrong
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: at the plate, Dansby Swanson hit a rocket, you know,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: right at Matt Chapman at third base. If it's not
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Matt Chapman, or maybe if it's you know, hit one
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: way or the other just slightly, Cubs win that game.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Ryan Presley doesn't come out, and maybe, yeah, I guess
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: maybe the meltdown happens Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley, But you're right,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: like it wasn't just that one outing. It was this
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: sort of mystery surrounding Presley, who you know, had his
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: knee drained. Like you mentioned has just not pitched a lot.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Part of that was game situations. It felt like he
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: had turned a corner kind of that West Coast trip.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: He had looked pretty good against the Dodgers and the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Padres out west, and you know, to his credit, Presley
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: showed up at his locker so that I didn't do
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: my job. Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottevey said, you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Presley was at the park at like eight am on Wednesday, saying,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: you know, I couldn't sleep anyways, might as well get
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: back to work. It's just one of those things where
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: if you're a Cubs fan, you felt like you've kind
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: of seen this before, right of like getting a guy
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: who has a track record but is aging and had
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: been with the Houston Astros. And I still think there's
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: a way for him to be an effective part of
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: this bullpen. I just don't know when we're going to
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: see Presley in like a high leverage situation again or
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: closing out a game.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: I know they say they won't.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Avoid that, but I think at this point, you know
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: you're going to see him when the Cubs are down
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: or if they have a huge lead, and I think
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: that's what they have to do.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: He just needs work.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I agree with that, he needs he needs work.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I think, uh, they're not going to come out and say,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: like Counsel doesn't seem to be the type that says
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: I'm removing him as closer. It's a you know, councol
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: is very straightforward with us and honest with us. But
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: things like that where like I am moving Dansby Swanson
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: down to the eight hole. You know, like he doesn't
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: say it, he just does these things and then afterwards
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: you can ask him about it right after it's done.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: The you know, when when Ryan Presley isn't used in
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: three straight moments that made sense for him to be used,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: then then Craig Counsel will answer the question about it.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: But right now he's not going to say Ryan Presley
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: is not closing. Tommy Hodeby said they're not avoiding him
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: in those situations. I want to give them, give him
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt and the Cubs the benefit
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of the doubt. I I do think and what you
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: said is is completely accurate. Cubs fans are going to
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: feel burned here and not and a lot of them
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: are not going to want to give any leeway here
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: understandable after what happened last year with Hector neris but
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: not every picture that or every player that looks cooked
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: is cooked, right. And I'm not saying he isn't. I
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: don't know. But the explanation Tommy how to Be gave
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: was he's lacking deception, right, and that's causing the issue
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: with swing and miss. You said the West Coast trip,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: he looked good. I'm just quickly looking here. So it
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: was tech like he stopped walking guys around the early April.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: He stopped walking guys at this insane clip and it
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: was Texas. Then at LA at San Diego, three outings
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: and he he was missing bats. He was getting solid
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: swing and miss or at least some swing and miss.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: He struck out a batter one of the three batters
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: he faced. I believe in LA and San Diego got
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: good swing and miss. Didn't strike anyone out against Texas,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: but got good swing and miss, like the highest swinging
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: strike rate of an outing of this season. Like those
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: those are the issues that he has. It's swinging strikes
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and just strikeouts. He's not getting them, like at a
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: really bad rate. I want to say one eligible reliever,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I wrote this yesterday, one eligible reliever had worse strikeout rate,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: and only two eligible relievers have a worse swinging strike rate.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: So swinging strike rate, if you don't know, it's just
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the swing and miss. It's just how often they swing
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: at the pitch, swing and miss at the pitch. He
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and then the knee injury kind of started bugging him,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: and then the swing and miss goes away. So it
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: was kind of lying up with what they're saying, Okay,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: he developed some bad habits that now they're seeing the
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: ball better, and now his knees bothering him. They can't
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: work on getting these things right. Uh, And and now
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: they have to work on it, and he needs to
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: go out there and get that right. So maybe it's real.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's the issue. And he goes out there and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and he and he looks a lot better and he
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: starts getting swing and miss in two weeks. Right that
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: that's that's very possible. Uh. I. I just I can't
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: fault Cubs fans for saying I don't want to be
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: patient for this. And and you know what, Uh, they
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: don't really have to. Uh yeah, we why don't we
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: take a quick break, Patrick, and then we can discuss
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the bullpens actually in decent shape here. If you don't
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: focus on Ryan Presley.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: FT fan by now you know, if you're buying, selling, trading,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: collecting cards, Arena Club is the spot. We've been talking
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: about them all season long. But I do want to
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: focus on the slab pack experience, Crats. Since you've been
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: ripping some slab packs digitally and what happens.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, as a kid, you wanted to rip open
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: the packs. How can they do this digitally?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Baby, this is exciting.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: How the graphics come out and everything, and oh yeah,
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: the card that you pull you can actually get that
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: John physically, so it's perfect. It's all in one place
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: and it's a super exciting experience.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they send that to you from the vault if
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: you want it. But if you look at it and
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: you're like, it's not the card for me, I want
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: to sell back, go for it. You can do any
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: of that on Arena Club and you can acquire the
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: best value for your money with those slab packs, transparent checklists,
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: and Arena Club's Slab Safe program. Right now, you can
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: get twenty percent off your first slab pack or card
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: purchase by going to Arena club dot Com slash foul
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: and use code foul. Arenaclub dot Com slash foul, use
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: code foul.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Patrick, I want fans to ignore ras for a moment,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: right this, you know.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: So we can put some picture wins, right.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean relief pictures and their eras, especially
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: what is it May. We're recording this on May eighth.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Their eras can be super distorted. So let me just
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: look here. What is Porter Hodge is at four point five?
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Are you worried about Porter Hodge right now out of
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: the bullpen? I don't really think he's a major concern.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: He I'd like him to stop walking guys as much
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: as he has been. But other than that, uh, you know,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: he gets strikeouts, he's he limits damage, He's not going
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: to get hit hard. For the most part, I think
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Porter Hodge is the guy that you go to if
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: if you're removing Ryan Presley from the closers role. And
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: it's not just Porter Hodge. Daniel Palencia looks so much
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: better than he did last year. Brad Keller great, great reliever.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: He gets ground balls, he misses bats, he doesn't walk
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: too many guys, he does not get barreled up Craig
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Council seems to just want to use him in any
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: situation like up down, Men on you know, whatever it
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: may be, seventh thinning, eighth inning, sixth th ininning. He's
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: using him wherever. He seems to really trust him and
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: really like him. Cale thielbar after looking awful, I thought
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: they were going to have to get rid of him
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: and go find other lefties, and they've certainly cycled through lefties.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: But he looks good. He looks so much better. He's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: really figured things out. Drew Pomerantz. He's throwing the same
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: velocity that he was when he was at his best.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I don't really know how that's possible that he looks
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: this good, But right now he looks good. Who knows
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: how long that lasts. Julian Merriweather needs to strict more
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: guys out, but he's outside of He had a really
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: bad outing when Shoda got hurt. That's a really tough
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: situation to come into men On Base. You're you don't
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: really know that what's going You know, you suddenly have
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to get hot, like Shoda was cruising at that point.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: You're not thinking you're coming in. So mentally he's not
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: fully prepared to go in there and then he has
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: to quickly get hot. So you know, I like, I
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: like what he's doing. I want him to strict more
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: guys out, but there's a lot of options here. I'm
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: probably missing someone that's doing pretty well. Gavin Hollowell has
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: looked good. I'm not saying Gavin Hollowell is locked in
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and and a part of this high leverage group, but
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you know, he's looked good so far.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: The Cubs have a pretty good track record with this,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: and part of it is they have to kind of
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: cover for some of their mistakes coming into the season.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: That's looking at it historically. I think if you believe
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: that relievers can sort of come from anywhere, I think
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: you have to give Presley some credit here of like
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: he has done it for so long and that there
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: are these reasons why. I mean, going back to that
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: West Coast trip of Tommy hotteby explaining that Presley had
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: made some kind of adjustments coming off a sort of
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: down season with the Astros, but a lot of that
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: was like flat ground stuff, and so it takes a
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: while to like go off the mound at game speed,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: with game pressure.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I think you give Craig Counsel this huge contract because
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: he has a good track record with managing the bullpen.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: So maybe it's not Porter Hodge automatically in the ninth,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: but it's making sure Porter Hodge is in the most
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: high leverage situation against the other team's best hitters over
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: and over again. Or to your point on Brad Keller,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is a really nice weapon the Cubs
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: found on a minor league deal. You know, guy who
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: had bounced around but is like clicking at this moment,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: in part because he struggled with the White Sox, in
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: part because he got picked up by the Red Sox
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: and learned something in Boston, you know, from their pitching group.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: And so I think you're always going to feel uneasy
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: about it because it is just so volatile.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: And you know, even that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Presley game, I mean, the Cubs bullpen, by and large
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: pitched really well over an extended period of time, and
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: then it just blows up with Presley or even in
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: some of these outings. Counsels made this point where when
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: you're a reliever, when you're the closer, these outings hinge
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: on like one or two pitches, and so it's really
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: hard to look at like five games and you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: kind of draw too many grand conclusions off of maybe
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: four pitches total. Now, we'll see how they kind of
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: survive what's going to become a tougher schedule in terms
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: of lack of off days, how they manage that as
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: they get into the season, sort of like the wear
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: and tear. I am curious, like who is gonna pop up?
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Like there are guys who kind of entered the season
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: circle of trust and then just sort of disappear. And
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: then we still have the Tyson Miller's and Ryan Braziers
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: at Iowa. We'll see kind of when they come up
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: if they can contribute. And then, Yeah, the sustainability of
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Drew Pomerans would be like a great story.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: I think we just want to see it a little more.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Right, Sure, what you want is for him to stay
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: healthy and and do it for what it's been two weeks,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: So I'm not taking anything too far there. I just
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I've been impressed that he's purely What I'm impressed by
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: is the stop. I agree, I agree, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I'm just surprised. I'm surprised. This stuff is so Chris.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: But you know that he's getting out and all that great,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: but I was looking I was like, what is velocity
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: is the same? That doesn't make sense to me, okay,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and he he was, you know, guys say a lot
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: of things, and you never really know when when you're
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: kind of just like listening to them, talk to the media,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: talk to us. He said he felt great. He feels
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: physically the best he's felt in the while. So you know,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: maybe he's right, maybe maybe that's an accurate description. And
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and he's he's always wearing like these heating pads and
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: these things, but.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: He's like Arth Vader like arm mans and yeah.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: So he's constantly taking care of his body. But like
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that's also I think that's just the reality of a picture.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's anything too dramatic. But it's just
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: funny to see constantly like his arm is in these
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: like high tech I don't know exactly what they are,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: but I you know, they he's always wearing them. I
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: was talking to him the other days, like, let me
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: just put my put my equipment on and you can
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: just keep asking questions, and he's like putting all that
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: stuff all over his arm and shoulder.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: I don't I.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: When when I look at Bullpens, I generally it takes me.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I'm never going to judge them on the first couple
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: of weeks, but I will. I will say this year,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I was concerned in that in those first couple of
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: weeks they've won me over. This group has largely won
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: me over. Like I mentioned with deal bar Keller's kind
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: of piqued my interest. Porter Hodge, I trust him even
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: like I said, the walks, I don't like those, But
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: then guys like Palancia just hammering the strike zone looks
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: like a different picture. You mentioned the schedule, Patrick, it
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: does ease up, right, it does ease up in terms
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: of competition. The off days are going to make things
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a little complicated. We kind of wrap up this. We
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: said it wrapped up earlier, but really they had a
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: few more tough series, right. It was Milwaukee and then
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: San Francisco, and now they go to New York City.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: And I don't know as PCA mania died down in
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the last couple of days, I don't think, so no
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: chance to know. Like he was as exciting at a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: player as I can recall covering when when he was
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: doing what he was doing against the Brewers. You know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: he's still hitting the ball hard. That bad at bat
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I think is going to linger in some people's head
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday. That's a really tough lefty that he's facing
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: with nasty stuff. He is an aggressive swinger. He is
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: going to learn a lot this year and going forward.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: He's twenty three.
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: I believe.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: This kid isn't done learning, he isn't done getting better.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's more in there to kind of
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: refine his game. But he goes back to New York.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of excited to see how this plays out Patrick,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: because if he's nothing if not a showman, right, and
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: when we're gathering stuff about about him and talking to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: his teammates, that's a lot of what I hear. He
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: handles the big moments really well. Again, Tuesday was a
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: bad big moment. We'll see what this is the next
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: big moment. Let's see what he does in New York.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be it's going to be
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a media frenzy for him, right the team that traded
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: him to the Cubs, New York media in general is
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: it's a packed clubhouse whenever we go there. And now
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you're talking about one of the most exciting players in
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: baseball kind of taking center straight stage against a really
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: good Mets team.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel you can almost just bank on it
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: that PCA is going to have some huge homer or
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: some wild celebration or some sort of like base running
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: trick that he pulls out or you know, some leaping catch,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: you know in front of where they still have that
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: apple that comes out of the hat, you know, like
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: kind of right, but that I think that's in center field.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: But yeah, there's always a big crowd when the Cubs
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: go to New York in terms of reporters in the
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: clubhouse and the dugout talk to the manager. You know,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: PCA is going to be a story there. A Fox
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: game on Saturday night, Cubs and Mats to good historic rivals.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: You know, it's not the same anymore because they see
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: each other a lot less frequently, but like really good
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: history there. And you know, I've just been impressed by, like,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm curious to kind of read what PCA
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: says because he's always just been so insightful this year, accessible, humble,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: self deprecating, self aware, like you know that ultimately that stuff,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know how much it matters, but
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: it can be revealing, I think. I mean, that's why
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: we do this to kind of get a sense of
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: where a players head is at. And I think you
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: see why teammates like Pete you can see him becoming
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: more comfortable and letting his personality show a little more.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: This hasn't gone to his head, and I think all
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: of those are just kind of you know, I can't
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: really measure that stuff, but I think they're all like
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: really good signs for his like long term growth and
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: development as one of these like marquee stars in the game.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Like you.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: There is really no ceiling on him at this point,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: which is crazy to think when the Cubs traded for him,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: when they send hot ve Baias to the Mets and
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: PCA was recovering from you know, season ending shoulder surgery
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: down in Port Saint Lucy, Florida.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean to think about it, he wouldn't have
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: He probably wouldn't have been available if he if he had. Yeah, right, Yeah,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: for sure, I can't imagine that. You know, the Mets
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: see him play and are willing to willing to move him,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: especially his ability to just do everything he does instead
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: of field one small thing. I know. This isn't you
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: know what he's known for, I guess, or what's going
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to get him headlines? Council was asked about it, and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I noticed it too in Milwaukee, and then it happened.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Was it Tuesday night? Maybe he cuts off these balls
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: that are base hits that are headed for the gap
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: or should be going to the wall, or should you
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: should be getting them deeper in the field something. He
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: does this so regularly, and I think teams are now
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: well aware not only that he has that speed to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: get there, but that his arm is so strong that
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: you don't try to extend that stretch that single into
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: a double. He threw another runner out that was yesterday,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: that was Wednesday. At the plate, he's I mean, and
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: sometimes I wonder is he better than even I realize
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: when when I see stuff like that, And I was like,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: because I will see the ball going into the gap
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and I think that's a double. I believe there was
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: one that was Jackson Curio. Uh, there was definitely there
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: was Lee Jung Hu Lee. There these are guys with
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: speed and they're stopping at first and they're not even
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: really thinking about going to second. They're not gonna push it,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: he's cutting it off. He's saving bases. That's saving runs
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: that you don't even realize. That's that's something that I wonder.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I don't even know if the advanced metrics really can
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: can measure that right that that's not something I'm aware of.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I could be wrong. I really don't know exactly the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: details on how that's measured. But something small like that
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: feels so monumental in the grand scheme of things. Keeping
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: guys at first uh takes pressure off the pitcher and
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: it likely limits runs. He's just so valuable in ways
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: that you know, you may not even notice until you
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: watch him all the time. You know, Wow, that's saving bases,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: that's doing little things. Then you know you add in
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the arm strength, just the general defense, and you made
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: a spectacular play Tuesday night, So you know, you got
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the jaw dropping plays along with just the smaller stuff.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: And he's just this special talent that does so many
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: different things on the field.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you make a great point there, because when we're
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: at Wrigley Field, I have in the press box, we
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: have a great view of center field and you can
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: kind of see that burst and the angles he takes
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: in a way that's harder to do on TV or
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: maybe in other parts of the ballpark. And I think
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: that's a really kind of rarefied air when you're that
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: player who gets in the other team's head, and you're
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: going to see it in some of the cautious base
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: running decisions that teams are going to have to make
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: because of his speed and his arm, like you say,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: and you also see it in defenders who are sort
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: of rushed, like their internal clock is off because they
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: know he's on the bases. And like we've covered a
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: lot of great players, I don't know how many players
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: can do that in so many different ways. And of
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: course the first player you think of who did that
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: is Hobby Bias.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: It's kind of it's weird. It's it's weird, it's a
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know, serendipitous in some way that that this
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: is how it's turning out. Uh, he's becoming. Hobby was
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: every kid's favorite player, remember that, And now I think
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: p c A has become every kid's favorite player. Every
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: every kid wants to emulate pc A. Sorry, kids, here,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: you're that's gonna be really hard. You're just not that fast.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: Good luck with that though, you can die your you
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: can dye your hair blue if.
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: You want, go for that.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: I'm sure your moms will. Moms and dads they were
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: out the country. We encourage your children to die their
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: air blue. All right, Patrick, The Cubs have three against
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the Mets this weekend. It's going to be a fascinating weekend.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: PCA obviously is a main story. We'll see if any
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: other if the other main story of if Kate Horton
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: is pitching this weekend, we'll see. We'll talk about that
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: perhaps in our next episode, if we get a better
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: idea of what's going on. Thanks so much for listening everyone.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast. Make
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: sure to rate, review and subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to the Athletic for Patrick and I are
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks so much for
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: listening to everyone.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: Taken anything? Do they I will wave? Do they