Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / For this Cubs team, it’s the same loss over and over

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For this Cubs team, it’s the same loss over and over · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: When you don't have a guy that makes it fun
0:01
Speaker 1: to watch on offense, then it becomes a slog to cover,
0:05
Speaker 1: and I'm sure it's just unbearable for fans. Welcome into
0:13
Speaker 1: North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadev
0:18
Speaker 1: Sharma with my co host Patrick Mooney. We cover the
0:21
Speaker 1: Cubs for you over at the Athletic. We're here for
0:24
Speaker 1: your Cubs therapy. This is another loss emblematic of everything
0:29
Speaker 1: that's gone wrong this season. I could tell you, you know,
0:33
Speaker 1: forget about the Cubs NBA Draft tomorrow. I don't think
0:37
Speaker 1: any Bulls fan is gonna find fine comfort in the
0:41
Speaker 1: NBA draft. I don't know when the NHL Draft is,
0:44
Speaker 1: but I'm sure that's soon. Maybe maybe you guys can
0:47
Speaker 1: go enjoy the Blackhawks. At least they seem like they're
0:50
Speaker 1: they're on the rise and they have their superstar to
0:53
Speaker 1: build her out, because the Cubs certainly don't have that
0:55
Speaker 1: superstar bat. They don't have that superstar closer, and those
0:59
Speaker 1: two issues seemed to kind of be you know, it's
1:03
Speaker 1: what we've talked about, and it happened.
1:05
Speaker 2: Again on Monday. Patrick.
1:07
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times you and I have
1:09
Speaker 1: had these gut punch losses that we've covered that made us,
1:14
Speaker 1: you know, zag with what we were about to write
1:17
Speaker 1: for that evening. But I was I was watching from home.
1:21
Speaker 1: You were out in San Francisco, and that as I watched,
1:24
Speaker 1: as I watched, you know, innings three, four, five, six,
1:28
Speaker 1: I was like, you can't, you can't do this. You
1:30
Speaker 1: can't leave this many men on base. It was nice
1:33
Speaker 1: that they got a few hits. I think it was
1:35
Speaker 1: ended up four for fifteen with runners in scoring position,
1:38
Speaker 1: but just not enough that PCA triple to lead off
1:41
Speaker 1: an inning. I think there was a basis loaded no out.
1:47
Speaker 1: I can't remember how many runs were scored in that
1:50
Speaker 1: first one, if it was none but or just one.
1:53
Speaker 2: But you can't do this. You have to.
1:57
Speaker 1: You have to cash in those opportunities. Otherwise you're putting
2:00
Speaker 1: pressure on a bullpen that's just not built to hold
2:03
Speaker 1: close leads. It's not built like that anymore. There too
2:05
Speaker 1: many injuries, too much, you know, too many mid relievers,
2:10
Speaker 1: essentially middle of the game relievers rather than high leverage relievers.
2:15
Speaker 2: And we didn't even see Hector Nairis.
2:17
Speaker 1: You can't even put it on Hector NRIs who was
2:19
Speaker 1: available and wasn't out there.
2:22
Speaker 2: In a save situation, and the Cubs still lose.
2:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it was only a week ago we
2:28
Speaker 3: were talking about the worst loss of the season so far,
2:34
Speaker 3: also against the Giants. You go back a few days
2:38
Speaker 3: before that, you were in Tampa for a three to
2:42
Speaker 3: two loss, and it is just feels like you're watching
2:46
Speaker 3: the same game over and over again. And I think
2:49
Speaker 3: the feeling that you got at home, fans on their
2:52
Speaker 3: couch probably felt.
2:54
Speaker 4: I noticed it in the press box.
2:56
Speaker 3: You just get this feeling of like, Okay, a couple
3:00
Speaker 3: of runs, but they didn't get the big inning, and
3:03
Speaker 3: Justin Steele is pitching great, but he's not throwing a
3:07
Speaker 3: no hitter, and just it keeps kind of creeping closer
3:11
Speaker 3: to all right, who's council gonna go with here? And
3:16
Speaker 3: you know that's what I'd ask them postgame, you know,
3:19
Speaker 3: I mean, no one's really asking these questions if you
3:23
Speaker 3: put up that biginning and create some separation and maybe
3:27
Speaker 3: the Giants aren't chasing that win so hard at the
3:30
Speaker 3: beginning of a four game.
3:33
Speaker 4: Series here in the Bay Area.
3:36
Speaker 3: And it we don't need to like linger too long
3:39
Speaker 3: on one game, but it's worth talking about because it
3:44
Speaker 3: just opens up all these issues that we've been talking
3:46
Speaker 3: about for for years of you know, as great as
3:50
Speaker 3: Steel and Shoda have been, Like, is there gonna be
3:56
Speaker 3: a like Garrett cole Cy Young Awards season gonna come
3:59
Speaker 3: out of it saying they've had like good chunks of that,
4:03
Speaker 3: But you know, where is that just you know, eight innings,
4:08
Speaker 3: nine innings just kind of shut out game that kind
4:11
Speaker 3: of gets the team back on track. And otherwise it's
4:15
Speaker 3: an offense that puts some traffic on the bases but
4:19
Speaker 3: doesn't get the three run homer or doesn't sustain the
4:24
Speaker 3: pressure that just puts a team away.
4:26
Speaker 4: And when you're putting the.
4:29
Speaker 3: Game in the hands of relievers who are not natural closers,
4:34
Speaker 3: who don't have the stuff or the track record for that,
4:40
Speaker 3: you're going to keep having these losses.
4:42
Speaker 4: And you know, a lot in the.
4:45
Speaker 3: Visiting clubhouse at Oracle Park, it was just almost completely silent,
4:51
Speaker 3: just a lot of players kind of slumped in their chairs.
4:55
Speaker 3: Pete crow Armstrong just staring straight ahead at his locker.
5:00
Speaker 3: Certainly not to put it on him, but you know,
5:03
Speaker 3: when you try and make a diving catch and a
5:06
Speaker 3: few center fielders probably could come close to that, but
5:08
Speaker 3: that leads to the hustle double for Matt Chapman setting
5:11
Speaker 3: up the ninth inning. It's just like all these little things.
5:15
Speaker 3: I mean, Saya s Zooki kind of jumping up for
5:18
Speaker 3: a fly ball in right field.
5:20
Speaker 4: That he misses and rings in Tyson Miller.
5:23
Speaker 3: And now I'm just rambling, but there were a lot
5:27
Speaker 3: of nice defensive plays last night, but it still wasn't
5:29
Speaker 3: enough because you have to just kind of keep on it,
5:32
Speaker 3: and the Cubs just have been unable to play like
5:35
Speaker 3: a crisp first pitch to last pitch game in all
5:40
Speaker 3: phases of the game.
5:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I was going to bring up to say
5:44
Speaker 1: a play he's I mean, there's there's a reason Bellinger
5:48
Speaker 1: has been in right more often lately.
5:51
Speaker 2: Like Saya is not a good defender.
5:54
Speaker 1: I mean, I hate to stated so plainly and bluntly,
5:58
Speaker 1: but he's just not misses too many plays and like
6:03
Speaker 1: it happens far too often. I'm looking at and then
6:07
Speaker 1: as far as the ninth and he goes. Colton Brewer
6:10
Speaker 1: didn't have some disastrous outing there, but when you're a
6:15
Speaker 1: late inning reliever, you need to miss bats and the
6:18
Speaker 1: cub's best relievers who miss bats. Porter Hodge walks too
6:21
Speaker 1: many guys, just inexperience. Maybe he has something in the future.
6:25
Speaker 1: Kegan Thompson, you know, unavailable for two or three days
6:29
Speaker 1: after he's used once. That's your next highest strikeout rate.
6:33
Speaker 1: Mark Lighter Junior on the shelf, Ben Brown on the shelf,
6:36
Speaker 1: yen Cy Almonte on the shelf, Julian Merriwether on the shelf.
6:40
Speaker 1: Those are all the guys. Those the only guys they
6:42
Speaker 1: have with a twenty eight percent strike out rad or
6:44
Speaker 1: higher in the bullpen. And I believe there was a
6:47
Speaker 1: setback right for yen c Almonte in the sense that
6:50
Speaker 1: he's just not recovering.
6:51
Speaker 2: Well. I don't know. I don't know what that means
6:55
Speaker 2: for him.
6:56
Speaker 1: If a sixty day ill if moving him to the
7:00
Speaker 1: sixty and adding someone to the forty makes sense, But
7:02
Speaker 1: I you know this is I think it's time to
7:05
Speaker 1: make a little shake up in the bullpen.
7:07
Speaker 2: Patrick.
7:08
Speaker 1: I think Ethan Roberts could make sense. I think Hunter
7:12
Speaker 1: Biggie could make sense. This is a guy that throws
7:14
Speaker 1: in the upper nineties and missus bats. You got to
7:17
Speaker 1: do something I don't know, like because they're not going
7:19
Speaker 1: to make a trade right now, right and like unless
7:22
Speaker 1: something weird happens and Jed finds that team that's willing
7:26
Speaker 1: to to to sell it at his price, which just
7:30
Speaker 1: isn't happening. What is it, June twenty fifth, it's that's
7:33
Speaker 1: not happening. I think it's time to be a little
7:37
Speaker 1: aggressive with the bullpen arms because that's that's the one
7:40
Speaker 1: area where they do have guys with stuff and they
7:44
Speaker 1: need to just start figuring out ways to get them
7:48
Speaker 1: up here. Ethan Robertson and Hunter Biggie both have stuff.
7:52
Speaker 1: Roberts has a nasty slider, like I said, Biggie good
7:56
Speaker 1: breaking balls and a great fastball. So I I don't
8:00
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they fix everything. There's much bigger issues
8:04
Speaker 1: than a couple guys in the bullpen. I'm just saying
8:07
Speaker 1: maybe something needs to be shaken up there and you
8:10
Speaker 1: have some some arms that could help. Mostly just searching
8:15
Speaker 1: is searching right now for something to work because nothing,
8:19
Speaker 1: nothing's working. I also think, like I don't know how.
8:24
Speaker 2: You do it.
8:24
Speaker 1: And we've been saying this for years and especially lately,
8:28
Speaker 1: but they just don't have that guy in the lineup.
8:31
Speaker 2: That strikes any fear.
8:34
Speaker 1: Say Suzuki has hot stretches where he looks like he
8:37
Speaker 1: can be that guy, and then nights like last night
8:41
Speaker 1: where he looks at too many pitches in the zone.
8:44
Speaker 1: That's that's something else that I've been seeing like for
8:47
Speaker 1: the past for weeks now. It's not just looking at it.
8:50
Speaker 1: They look at pitches in the zone sometimes, but they
8:52
Speaker 1: also when they get that pitch and they swing at it,
8:55
Speaker 1: they miss it so often like it's fouled back. I
8:59
Speaker 1: mean so many time I see, like Christopher Morrell like
9:02
Speaker 1: just line one straight back, like all of them, they
9:05
Speaker 1: just line the ball straight back, and it's like that
9:08
Speaker 1: that was your pitch. And and and this happens to teams, uh,
9:13
Speaker 1: I remember, Like I've talked to so many hitting coaches
9:15
Speaker 1: and just you know, managers about this. Like you can
9:18
Speaker 1: tell when when a team is in a little bit
9:21
Speaker 1: of a funk, they missed their pitch and it's not
9:23
Speaker 1: like they don't know what what to swing at.
9:26
Speaker 2: They just missed it. And that that happens in baseball.
9:28
Speaker 1: But when everybody does it for a stretch, it just
9:32
Speaker 1: makes it unbearable to watch. And right now, this team
9:35
Speaker 1: is really hard to watch when you don't have offense,
9:37
Speaker 1: when you're when you're not producing, when you don't have
9:40
Speaker 1: a guy that makes it fun to watch on offense,
9:42
Speaker 1: then it just it becomes a slog to cover and
9:47
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's just unbearable for fans.
9:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're at the hunter, Biggie or can someone from
9:55
Speaker 3: Iowa fix the bullpen stage of the season. And with
9:59
Speaker 3: those in hand with that is the does this team
10:04
Speaker 3: lack fire? Does this team lack edge? And I'm sure
10:09
Speaker 3: a lot of you saw Cliff Floyd, a longtime major
10:12
Speaker 3: league player, widely respected, very thoughtful and insightful, was on
10:21
Speaker 3: the Marquee postgame show I believe it was after the
10:24
Speaker 3: Sandberg Statue game, saying, you know, a team gets down
10:28
Speaker 3: early and they just look sort of flat on national
10:32
Speaker 3: TV on a night when the organization was honoring, you know,
10:36
Speaker 3: a Hall of famer who's going through a really difficult
10:40
Speaker 3: medical situation and kind of wondering like where's the fire?
10:46
Speaker 3: And I think it's a great point. I think it's
10:51
Speaker 3: an interesting topic. I don't know if I can go
10:55
Speaker 3: all the way there yet. I mean that basically most
10:59
Speaker 3: of the National League right now hasn't shown a whole
11:02
Speaker 3: lot of fire. And you and I went through this
11:05
Speaker 3: covering the end of the post twenty sixteen era, the
11:10
Speaker 3: end of the theo Madden era of you know, talking
11:15
Speaker 3: about edge and the details and stuff like that, kind
11:22
Speaker 3: of pointing the finger at clubhouse chemistry more than roster construction.
11:26
Speaker 3: And I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to go
11:29
Speaker 3: there yet. Like I said, but what like, what are
11:32
Speaker 3: you seeing, SOD when you see this mixture of personalities
11:36
Speaker 3: and skill sets not meshing when we're almost halfway through
11:39
Speaker 3: the season.
11:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not I would not point the finger
11:44
Speaker 1: at or I would not dismiss roster construction as an issue.
11:48
Speaker 1: I don't want to absolve Jed Hoyer blame here, but
11:53
Speaker 1: there is something to it as far as having that
11:56
Speaker 1: guy with edge. You you were there when theo Epstein
12:00
Speaker 1: when they signed John Lackey, and that was one of
12:02
Speaker 1: the main things that that theo Epstein brought up. This
12:05
Speaker 1: team could use some edge, you know, and I think
12:09
Speaker 1: it did help. Like Lackeye is a crazy dude, but
12:14
Speaker 1: that that helps in clubhouses. Baseball players love guys like that.
12:18
Speaker 1: Nick Cassianos had a little bit of edge to him,
12:20
Speaker 1: you know. The twenty nineteen team failed down the stretch.
12:25
Speaker 1: It was not because of the offense. The offense was
12:27
Speaker 1: red hot for the final two months of the season,
12:30
Speaker 1: primarily because of Casianos and Kyle Schwarber.
12:33
Speaker 2: Kyle Schwarber is a.
12:34
Speaker 1: Guy that surprisingly has a little bit of an edge.
12:37
Speaker 1: It doesn't come across I don't think in interviews as
12:40
Speaker 1: much on the record, but when you talk to that
12:43
Speaker 1: guy just having a conversation, talk to his teammates, read
12:47
Speaker 1: some of the work that Matt Gelb's written about recently
12:51
Speaker 1: and over the years, he's he there's something about him
12:56
Speaker 1: that inspires players, that that makes players gravitate towards him.
13:03
Speaker 2: You can put that.
13:04
Speaker 1: If you want to blame something on Jed Hoyer, it's maybe,
13:07
Speaker 1: you know, not appreciating his value when he was with
13:11
Speaker 1: this team. I don't know, Like I the intangible things
13:16
Speaker 1: are so hard to measure. We've written so much about
13:19
Speaker 1: it that two thousand was it, that twenty nineteen season. Yeah,
13:23
Speaker 1: when we wrote that piece about the changes that they
13:26
Speaker 1: were all intangible things, right, they were not things that
13:28
Speaker 1: you could measure on the field, So it was impossible
13:31
Speaker 1: to really know what was how much of an impact
13:35
Speaker 1: it really has I think it matters quite a bit.
13:40
Speaker 2: You know.
13:40
Speaker 1: You could argue that PCA is a guy like that,
13:43
Speaker 1: but it's really hard for a rookie be someone who's
13:48
Speaker 1: learning and trying to find his own way because he's
13:51
Speaker 1: struggling at the plate. But when he gets on base,
13:54
Speaker 1: when he does things like that, like you can see
13:56
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of fire there. You can see
13:59
Speaker 1: that things are he gets on first base, now he's
14:02
Speaker 1: a menace. Rights he hits that triple like that should
14:06
Speaker 1: fire the team up, that they don't score there. I
14:08
Speaker 1: don't I don't even know what what that is, you know,
14:10
Speaker 1: like I don't know what to say about that outside
14:13
Speaker 1: of like you gotta you gotta help this guy out,
14:16
Speaker 1: you know, like he it's a leadoff triple that things
14:20
Speaker 1: need to happen. I I do think there's something to it,
14:26
Speaker 1: and I've tried to avoid it over you know, because
14:31
Speaker 1: I think we've had these discussions in the in the
14:33
Speaker 1: press box, like it's a good group of guys. Hard
14:37
Speaker 1: there's there's no it's not a lack of caring or trying,
14:44
Speaker 1: none of that stuff. You know, Like I'm not going
14:47
Speaker 1: to read their body language and say they don't care
14:50
Speaker 1: about this or they're not, uh, whatever that is. But
14:53
Speaker 1: there is something to that edge and that and that
14:56
Speaker 1: having that guy in the clubhouse that brings a little
14:58
Speaker 1: bit of that to it. And I'm not saying he
15:00
Speaker 1: needs to throw things around or call people out or
15:03
Speaker 1: get in a fight with his own teammates, but you know,
15:07
Speaker 1: there are ways that you can motivate a team, and
15:11
Speaker 1: sometimes it has to come from a teammate. I'm not
15:13
Speaker 1: saying this isn't on Craig Counsel either. It certainly isn't
15:16
Speaker 1: on Craig Counsel. So I don't know how you do
15:20
Speaker 1: that in the middle of a season. I don't know
15:22
Speaker 1: if that guy can be brought in, But I do
15:26
Speaker 1: believe there is something missing there that that's hard to
15:32
Speaker 1: fully put your finger on. As far as how you
15:35
Speaker 1: switch it up.
15:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean at a certain point, I think you know,
15:39
Speaker 3: Gen and THEO would acknowledge this, Like those guys are unicorns,
15:45
Speaker 3: like the Max Sures are not just for his Hall
15:49
Speaker 3: of Fame career and like unbelievable longevity, but like a
15:53
Speaker 3: starting pitcher who can command the clubhouse and hold everyday
15:58
Speaker 3: player is accountable. Those guys are You know, there's no
16:03
Speaker 3: like store to go acquire those guys. There's not a
16:05
Speaker 3: whole lot of individuals with that type of stature and
16:12
Speaker 3: halft an intensity on a day to day basis. And
16:17
Speaker 3: you know, I think you can make the argument as
16:20
Speaker 3: well that this is Craig Counsel's style and it served
16:25
Speaker 3: him very well across the entire length of his career,
16:29
Speaker 3: both as a player on World Series winning teams and
16:34
Speaker 3: you know, arguably the best manager in the game with
16:37
Speaker 3: the Brewers. You look at someone like Ian hat who
16:41
Speaker 3: is very diligent and you know, a little more introverted,
16:47
Speaker 3: very analytical. I mean he's on pace for like a
16:51
Speaker 3: three war season with about like nineteen homers eighty somethingter
16:56
Speaker 3: RBIs like that has served him well as well across
17:03
Speaker 3: this is I mean, Dansby Swanson last night was getting
17:06
Speaker 3: these sorts of questions about how hard it is to
17:09
Speaker 3: like turn the page and like kind of trust in
17:11
Speaker 3: this process, and he was smiling, talking in full paragraphs,
17:19
Speaker 3: making consistent eye contact and like that. Dude's won everywhere
17:25
Speaker 3: he's gone. So and I think you and I both
17:29
Speaker 3: have you experiences and talk about this like it is
17:33
Speaker 3: a very professional group. There's a lot of baseball rats.
17:40
Speaker 3: I think there has been more intentionality in terms of
17:45
Speaker 3: putting this group together. Hector Naris was a prime example
17:50
Speaker 3: of that. If someone said the example in the bullpen.
17:53
Speaker 3: And so that's why I think it's so interesting, like
17:56
Speaker 3: because this is going to be a thing if they
17:58
Speaker 3: don't turn it around soon, and like how much of
18:04
Speaker 3: it is some sort of like air quotes character flora
18:08
Speaker 3: and how much of it is just like get a
18:11
Speaker 3: guy who hits forty bombs and someone you trust in
18:14
Speaker 3: the ninth inning, and all of a sudden, the Cubs
18:16
Speaker 3: might be five games over five hundred instead of five
18:20
Speaker 3: games under.
18:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean we shouldn't even talk about buying
18:26
Speaker 1: much right now, right at the trade deadline. But like
18:30
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of lining up where the right team
18:33
Speaker 1: is losing a lot in the Toronto Blue Jays, and
18:35
Speaker 1: they have plenty of what could help the Cubs if
18:39
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer chose to be aggressive, Like that team is
18:41
Speaker 1: getting to a point where they kind of have to sell.
18:44
Speaker 1: I think they've lost seven in a row. They're in,
18:47
Speaker 1: you know, a stacked division in the AL. They're they're
18:52
Speaker 1: falling out of contention fast, and you have to you
18:56
Speaker 1: have to take advantage of things like that. I just
18:59
Speaker 1: don't know if we should even bother talking about being
19:03
Speaker 1: aggressive buyers. I do think, like, you know, you can
19:06
Speaker 1: hang around in this crappy n l uh and and
19:09
Speaker 1: then and then you make a move, and then you
19:11
Speaker 1: have a hot a great second half and turn yourself
19:14
Speaker 1: into a really good team.
19:15
Speaker 2: You know.
19:16
Speaker 1: But it's and and Jed is probably under pressure to
19:20
Speaker 1: make moves. Uh, He's under pressure to have a good season.
19:24
Speaker 2: Uh.
19:25
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of reasons why just being
19:27
Speaker 1: an aggressive buyer. If you're they need to hang around, right,
19:31
Speaker 1: they can't go on like a seven game losing streak
19:33
Speaker 1: like the Blue Jays are on, and and Jed needs
19:37
Speaker 1: to feel a little bit of that pressure. I just
19:39
Speaker 1: think it's time to to stop thinking about like these
19:43
Speaker 1: smart moves and these uh not saying he needs to
19:47
Speaker 1: act like yeah, No, I'm just saying like it doesn't
19:52
Speaker 1: always have to It's it's Andrew Friedman quote.
19:55
Speaker 2: Right, if you're always if you're whatever it is, if you're.
19:59
Speaker 3: Always about every free agent, you'll finish third every time.
20:04
Speaker 4: Something.
20:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, something like that. And you can say that about
20:06
Speaker 1: trades too, right. It's sometimes you just have to be
20:10
Speaker 1: a little irrational, not insane, not destroy the future of
20:13
Speaker 1: your franchise, not saying you know, you do something completely irrational,
20:18
Speaker 1: but a little irrationality can can it can.
20:22
Speaker 2: Be the right move in baseball.
20:24
Speaker 1: It may feel like it's irrational, and it's like, well,
20:26
Speaker 1: we gave up the right players in this situation. Three
20:29
Speaker 1: years from now you look at it and it's like, oh, okay,
20:32
Speaker 1: yeah that felt a little over aggressive, but it's it
20:36
Speaker 1: helped spark the team, or we got the right guy
20:39
Speaker 1: in return that turned around whatever it is.
20:42
Speaker 2: Right, So I'd like to see that happen.
20:46
Speaker 1: I think they just I think the reality is that
20:50
Speaker 1: comes need to focus on what they have right now
20:52
Speaker 1: and figure out how to win some games.
20:55
Speaker 2: I don't.
20:56
Speaker 1: I think we're quickly learning some things about this team that, uh,
21:01
Speaker 1: you know. I think they can put together seasons where
21:05
Speaker 1: they're a good offense. I think it's something that we
21:08
Speaker 1: have to acknowledge is just because you had a good
21:11
Speaker 1: season last year you bring back the same team, that
21:13
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's a good offense, not when you don't
21:16
Speaker 1: have these consistent superstars. Cody Bounder was once that guy.
21:21
Speaker 1: He is not that guy anymore. He's a very good player.
21:24
Speaker 1: He's not an elite talent anymore. He's not an elite player.
21:27
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say not an elite talent. He's not an
21:29
Speaker 1: elite producer. They don't have that right now on offense,
21:32
Speaker 1: and nobody's producing an elite level.
21:36
Speaker 2: And it's just it's killing them. It's it's that there's every.
21:41
Speaker 1: Sign that you see, every little like glimpse of hope
21:44
Speaker 1: is quickly extinguished and and it's a it's a little
21:49
Speaker 1: frustrating to watch at times because you see a game
21:52
Speaker 1: like Saturday and think like, Okay, maybe maybe they can
21:56
Speaker 1: put a run together, and then they put games like
21:58
Speaker 1: Sunday and Monday together where it's like this offense just
22:02
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't have it have what it have what you
22:06
Speaker 1: need to see. And you know what, we were saying
22:09
Speaker 1: this in July early July last year, too, right, it
22:14
Speaker 1: took forever for them to get hot. I like, even
22:18
Speaker 1: if they do, even if they turn it around, the
22:20
Speaker 1: reality is like you cannot do this over and over
22:24
Speaker 1: and over again.
22:24
Speaker 2: You can't wait till the last minute. You can't.
22:27
Speaker 1: You're putting too much pressure in different places. There's like
22:30
Speaker 1: mark lighters on the IL to avoid what happened last year, right, Yes,
22:34
Speaker 1: Like that's that's why he's on the IL. Like he's
22:37
Speaker 1: already being overused. And it's not like that's not on Counsole.
22:41
Speaker 1: It's just like situationally Counsole. Council has tried to avoid
22:45
Speaker 1: him at times, he's had him down at times. Uh,
22:48
Speaker 1: It's just like it's just hard to constantly have to
22:52
Speaker 1: rely on your on your high leverage relievers because the
22:57
Speaker 1: offense just has no ability to put a game away.
23:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think if you're looking for that hot streak,
23:05
Speaker 3: it starts with the rotation, which has been excellent even
23:10
Speaker 3: amid multiple injuries, a downturn from Kyle Hendrix showed it
23:17
Speaker 3: in Minaga's adjustment period to the majors, justin Steel being
23:23
Speaker 3: a very prominent injury right on opening day. And still
23:29
Speaker 3: the rotation has been among the best in the game.
23:32
Speaker 3: And you know, it's hard to say the Cubs are
23:36
Speaker 3: like flat or it's a matter of effort when I
23:39
Speaker 3: think roughly like forty percent of their games are one
23:42
Speaker 3: run games.
23:43
Speaker 4: They keep they are in them.
23:46
Speaker 3: Danzy Swanson said last night, like, hopefully the law of
23:49
Speaker 3: averages is just gonna kick in here. Pretty soon and
23:54
Speaker 3: the bounces start to go the Cubs way.
23:57
Speaker 4: But yeah, at a certain.
24:02
Speaker 3: Point, you are what you are, right, you are what
24:04
Speaker 3: your record says you are. And the Cubs being five
24:07
Speaker 3: game five games under, going to cross the halfway point
24:11
Speaker 3: of the season this week in San Francisco.
24:16
Speaker 4: I believe you wrote it like.
24:19
Speaker 3: This hot streak that everyone's like waiting for, like it's
24:22
Speaker 3: just getting harder and harder to like actually believe it's
24:25
Speaker 3: going to happen.
24:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean this is a good Like I
24:31
Speaker 1: know it's hard to go out West, but this is
24:33
Speaker 1: a good team to do it against. The Giants, like
24:36
Speaker 1: are constructed in a way, not like I think the
24:38
Speaker 1: Cubs offenses has more talent, but like there's nobody in
24:42
Speaker 1: that lineup where you go like, oh, man, like how
24:45
Speaker 1: do you get through this guy? There's men on base
24:47
Speaker 1: can't put any can't put him on that they don't
24:50
Speaker 1: have that guy. It's it's it feels like they're very
24:55
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say easy to pitch to, but you know
24:57
Speaker 1: it's not hard to get through that lie up and
25:00
Speaker 1: you don't see anyone where you're like you look at
25:02
Speaker 1: his numbers or you look at the name and you
25:04
Speaker 1: say like, oh, this is going to be a problem.
25:09
Speaker 1: So but he kind of you can kind of say
25:13
Speaker 1: that about like the Cubs bullbed right where yeah, like
25:17
Speaker 1: they're not bringing anyone out there where you're like, oh, okay,
25:20
Speaker 1: well this this game's over. And I kind of felt
25:25
Speaker 1: like that in the ninth inning, where it was like, well,
25:27
Speaker 1: they should be able to like these these are okay, okay,
25:30
Speaker 1: they have met on base all right, Yeah, but they
25:32
Speaker 1: can get this guy.
25:32
Speaker 2: They can get this guy.
25:33
Speaker 1: And then you know, it's just it's the immovable force
25:37
Speaker 1: and the what is it and the whatever it is? Yeah,
25:43
Speaker 1: whatever these two teams are, but it's a it is
25:46
Speaker 1: like these two fan bases are probably in very similar
25:49
Speaker 1: situations wondering like what these are supposed to be great
25:52
Speaker 1: franchises that can spend a ton of money and and
25:55
Speaker 1: they have very intelligent leaders atop the front off this
26:00
Speaker 1: and and they're just not getting it done. They're trying
26:03
Speaker 1: to do it in ways that Tampa Bay and Minnesota
26:05
Speaker 1: and and uh in Cleveland do it and and not
26:08
Speaker 1: the way that the Dodgers and the Yankees do it.
26:11
Speaker 1: And that has to be maddening for these teams, uh,
26:14
Speaker 1: for these fan bases to watch. Yeah, I don't know
26:19
Speaker 1: about you, Patrick, but I'm getting sick of talking about
26:21
Speaker 1: the same crap over and over again. Like I could
26:24
Speaker 1: use a trade, a tirade, a hot streak, anything to
26:31
Speaker 1: switch this up, because this is this is boring. Uh,
26:35
Speaker 1: this is this is maddening. And I'm not even a
26:39
Speaker 1: fan of the team, so like, I just feel like
26:42
Speaker 1: I feel for the fans when they're in my mentions.
26:45
Speaker 1: I don't even like say, like, hey, chill out anymore,
26:47
Speaker 1: because it's like you have every reason to be be
26:51
Speaker 1: losing your minds and get frustrated.
26:55
Speaker 4: We'll have.
26:58
Speaker 3: I think our plan is this week kind of a
27:00
Speaker 3: Cubs at the midway point overview, and also we'll be
27:05
Speaker 3: sending out the mailbag signal to try and get some
27:10
Speaker 3: some feedback from you the listeners. That always helps us
27:14
Speaker 3: in terms of kind of framing stories or generating ideas
27:18
Speaker 3: to then go ask questions to people in the game.
27:23
Speaker 3: So well, we'll try not to keep repeating ourselves. But
27:30
Speaker 3: the Cubs, like I wrote, they keep finding different ways
27:34
Speaker 3: to lose, so we will find different ways to talk
27:36
Speaker 3: about them losing.
27:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, looking forward to chatting some more on this and
27:43
Speaker 1: getting some thoughts from fans. I know you guys, you
27:46
Speaker 1: know we'll give your outlet to event. I'm sure you
27:49
Speaker 1: have plenty to rant about. We'll we'll get right back
27:54
Speaker 1: at it soon enough. I'm Sahadef Sharma. That's Patrick Mooney.
27:58
Speaker 1: Make sure you read our word at the Athletic. This
28:01
Speaker 1: is North Side Territory on Fouled Territories Network. Hey, big
28:06
Speaker 1: news in foul Territory where there shows being broadcast on
28:12
Speaker 1: ballet sports networks. That's that's really good for everyone here where.
28:16
Speaker 1: We're excited for the group. Keep listening to our podcast,
28:20
Speaker 1: keep downloading, rate review all that good stuff. Read our
28:22
Speaker 1: work at the Athletic. We'll be covering this mess of
28:25
Speaker 1: a Cubs team until they turn it around or until they.
28:29
Speaker 2: Don't, so we'll be there. Thanks for listening. Everyone, Take care,