Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Why this great start for the Cubs is sustainable
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory fil Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
- 0:09Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
- 0:12Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick. The
- 0:16Speaker 1: Cubs have after losing three in a row that followed
- 0:19Speaker 1: a ten game winning streak, they have won five in
- 0:21Speaker 1: a row. I believe it's now eleven straight. And Wrigley Field.
- 0:27Speaker 1: They they are taking advantage of the elements of Wrigley Field,
- 0:30Speaker 1: whether it's blowing in, blowing out, it doesn't matter. The
- 0:33Speaker 1: wind seems to always be in their favor and they
- 0:35Speaker 1: seem to be taking advantage of it. After Sunday's win,
- 0:41Speaker 1: I believe it was we were talking to Carson Kelly
- 0:45Speaker 1: and this stood out to me because sometimes I'm just
- 0:48Speaker 1: sitting there, like, I like, what is what's fun about
- 0:51Speaker 1: this team outside of winning? Look, winning is fun. I
- 0:55Speaker 1: understand that they're a good team, but I'm trying to
- 0:58Speaker 1: like it is outside like moys Is Biasteros is like
- 1:01Speaker 1: having a really great start to the season, But what's
- 1:04Speaker 1: the dominant storyline, what's the Who's just like this flashy
- 1:08Speaker 1: player like there Pete's kind of struggling like there's like
- 1:12Speaker 1: Nico Horner, we we've written about him a lot, like
- 1:15Speaker 1: what's what's this like great hook for this team and
- 1:20Speaker 1: Carson Kelly's talking about how exciting they are, and I
- 1:23Speaker 1: was like, are you guys really that exciting? And that's
- 1:26Speaker 1: not this is not a knock Like I like, like
- 1:29Speaker 1: I said, winning is great, like that's all you want,
- 1:32Speaker 1: like get these wins. But I'm struggling to like be like, well,
- 1:37Speaker 1: this guy's just having a dominant start to the season,
- 1:39Speaker 1: Like this guy's a storyline. We got to write about
- 1:42Speaker 1: him every day, uh, or look at this dominant force
- 1:45Speaker 1: on the mound showed him. Naga has been great. But
- 1:48Speaker 1: also it's like, uh, for some reason, nothing feels like
- 1:53Speaker 1: it just feels like ho hum victories, which I think
- 1:56Speaker 1: is a really good thing because I also think there's more,
- 2:00Speaker 1: like to get here, there's more to come.
- 2:04Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta ask Craig Counsel about this.
- 2:07Speaker 3: I would just love to hear his reaction of excited enough,
- 2:12Speaker 3: just the just the melort face he would give you
- 2:16Speaker 3: off of something like that would be hilarious, like are
- 2:21Speaker 3: you not entertained?
- 2:22Speaker 2: But I get what you're saying.
- 2:23Speaker 3: I think I would probably agree more with you than
- 2:30Speaker 3: Carson Kelly.
- 2:31Speaker 2: And I'm not trying to be a hater here. I
- 2:34Speaker 2: just think.
- 2:36Speaker 3: Like they're a very competent team in all phases of
- 2:40Speaker 3: the game. And you know, Pete's breakout was a thing
- 2:44Speaker 3: last year, Showeda's arrival from Japan was interesting and different,
- 2:49Speaker 3: and now it's more.
- 2:49Speaker 2: Just he's kind of back to what he was.
- 2:55Speaker 3: It just felt like we've written a lot about injuries,
- 2:58Speaker 3: right that has kind of taken up a lot of
- 3:01Speaker 3: the oxygen or the kind of bandwidth that we have.
- 3:08Speaker 3: But they have been winning in different ways. I think
- 3:10Speaker 3: I referenced this the other day Jamison Tyne feeling like,
- 3:16Speaker 3: you know, there were years where the Cubs would hit
- 3:19Speaker 3: and they wouldn't pitch, or they'd pitch and they wouldn't hit.
- 3:21Speaker 3: Like they They've just had a lot of answers, and
- 3:26Speaker 3: you know, it is still early. You know, I think
- 3:30Speaker 3: obviously amazing crowds at Wrigley Field and certainly good energy,
- 3:36Speaker 3: but like, this is what the Cubs are supposed to be,
- 3:40Speaker 3: right Like, if you've been following them for any amount
- 3:43Speaker 3: of time, this is how the team was built. Like defense,
- 3:47Speaker 3: pitching depth, you know, a quality lineup one through nine
- 3:53Speaker 3: that didn't have necessarily a Wan Soto but just had
- 3:57Speaker 3: lots of good hitters in a row. And some of
- 4:01Speaker 3: the stuff too, like pinch hitting, like is not you know,
- 4:05Speaker 3: the sexiest topic unless you're you know, trying to annoy
- 4:09Speaker 3: counsel by asking why why spy Steros isn't playing every day?
- 4:13Speaker 3: And and yeah, the bullpen will get into the bullpen later.
- 4:16Speaker 3: But you know, Palencia was kind of this you know,
- 4:20Speaker 3: closing character that was emerging, and he hasn't He's back
- 4:23Speaker 3: active now, but he hasn't uh pitched a lot. So
- 4:26Speaker 3: like all these things I think boded very well for
- 4:30Speaker 3: the Cubs, and you know they've they've done it against
- 4:33Speaker 3: some really good teams. Obviously going uh to the West
- 4:37Speaker 3: Coast is one thing, but also sweeping a Diamondbacks team
- 4:40Speaker 3: that I think is is pretty solid.
- 4:42Speaker 2: I think they get the benefit of the doubt over
- 4:44Speaker 2: the years.
- 4:45Speaker 1: There's there's just a lot of things that they do
- 4:49Speaker 1: that lead to winning that just aren't the most Like
- 4:53Speaker 1: don't grab all the headlines that they haven't been hitting
- 4:56Speaker 1: for a ton of power. They've been hitting for a
- 4:58Speaker 1: decent amount of power. It's the I want to say
- 5:00Speaker 1: They're probably top ten in isolated power. They're a very
- 5:04Speaker 1: good offense, very good offense all around, but some of
- 5:08Speaker 1: the things that they do in some of the players
- 5:10Speaker 1: that they have. On Friday, I believe it was Friday
- 5:14Speaker 1: I wrote about just like there were a bunch of storylines.
- 5:17Speaker 1: It was a nice win.
- 5:18Speaker 2: I believe that.
- 5:19Speaker 1: I think I'm remembering dates right, And that was the
- 5:21Speaker 1: two nothing win against Arizona, and it was you know,
- 5:26Speaker 1: just Shoda was great.
- 5:29Speaker 2: Saturday? Was it Saturday?
- 5:30Speaker 1: Sorry? Okay, Shoda was great? Ben Brown was great. Ian
- 5:39Speaker 1: Happ was the only offense on the night. And I
- 5:43Speaker 1: chose what I wanted to write, like all those things
- 5:45Speaker 1: were good storylines, and they were all like really important,
- 5:49Speaker 1: but I also felt like it's just the defense, like
- 5:53Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson like makes all these plays like it saved
- 5:56Speaker 1: showeda how many pitches it saved Ben Brown? How many pitches?
- 6:02Speaker 1: And two of them were spectacular. Everything else was pretty routine.
- 6:06Speaker 1: But when so many balls come your way and you
- 6:09Speaker 1: make the spectacular and the routine, that that matters, and
- 6:14Speaker 1: it is like the heart of this team. It is
- 6:17Speaker 1: why this team is going to be incredibly consistent and
- 6:20Speaker 1: sometimes a little boring with the way they win. Nico
- 6:24Speaker 1: Horner made a spectacular play on Sunday. You know he's
- 6:29Speaker 1: he's running to second to cover the bag because Corbyn
- 6:33Speaker 1: Carroll was trying to steal guy hits a pop up.
- 6:37Speaker 1: Wind kind of takes it in a weird direction. But
- 6:40Speaker 1: Nico Horner instead of like the Diamondbacks who aren't used
- 6:42Speaker 1: to this crazy wind, but Nico Horner has been playing
- 6:45Speaker 1: in it for seven years or whatever, understands like, okay,
- 6:49Speaker 1: better run and circle like I kind of know where
- 6:51Speaker 1: this may end up, and catches it, spins, gets Corbyn
- 6:55Speaker 1: Carroll doubles him off first, Like those are the types
- 6:58Speaker 1: of things like these these that's how they're gonna win games.
- 7:02Speaker 1: Steal an extra out here and there, make sure and
- 7:05Speaker 1: I think it makes everyone better. It makes everyone around
- 7:08Speaker 1: the team better. Defense may like outside of Pete's crazy plays,
- 7:14Speaker 1: every once in a while, Nico does make crazy plays,
- 7:16Speaker 1: they all make crazy plays, But I just think this
- 7:19Speaker 1: fundamentally soundness of their defense kind of stands out to me.
- 7:24Speaker 1: And it's how this team was built. It's the backbone
- 7:27Speaker 1: of the team. Dansby Swanson was signed because Jed envisioned
- 7:33Speaker 1: a future where it's like, if we're gonna win World
- 7:35Speaker 1: Series again, it's gonna be because of defense. And I
- 7:40Speaker 1: really think like that's the It's not going to be
- 7:43Speaker 1: the most exciting part of this team for some but
- 7:47Speaker 1: it is the backbone of this team. And maybe that's
- 7:49Speaker 1: why I kind of feel like it's not always the
- 7:52Speaker 1: most exciting stuff. But they just keep winning. They just
- 7:55Speaker 1: keep going out there. And it's like, if you're gonna
- 7:58Speaker 1: save ten pitches in an inning because you got that
- 8:01Speaker 1: out that may not have been most other shortstops wouldn't
- 8:04Speaker 1: have gotten or second baseman wouldn't have gotten, then that
- 8:09Speaker 1: that really changes a lot of things. It changes how
- 8:12Speaker 1: your manager uses a bullpen, it changes what they do
- 8:15Speaker 1: today and tomorrow. Like there's so many there's this domino
- 8:18Speaker 1: effect of getting these extra outs it and it's like
- 8:23Speaker 1: that's that's like nerdy baseball analysis, but it's not like,
- 8:27Speaker 1: oh my god, did you see that highlight or whatever.
- 8:29Speaker 1: It's just it's just what it is.
- 8:32Speaker 2: You gotta you really got to bring this.
- 8:35Speaker 1: It's definitely never bringing it.
- 8:39Speaker 3: In San Diego the other day, I believe he was
- 8:43Speaker 3: asked about Pete Crow Armstrong and or we were talking
- 8:49Speaker 3: a lot about Pete swing, which always is a topic
- 8:52Speaker 3: that Craig enjoys talking about, and some of them came up,
- 8:56Speaker 3: like his defense, and he said something along lines of like, oh, is.
- 9:01Speaker 2: Does greatness bore you?
- 9:03Speaker 3: Like, is He's greatness boring you that you know you
- 9:06Speaker 3: sort of.
- 9:06Speaker 2: Take it for granted.
- 9:08Speaker 3: And also just the way he moves out there, you
- 9:13Speaker 3: just sort of like, was that.
- 9:15Speaker 2: A tough play or not?
- 9:17Speaker 3: Like he had right, and it looks different too, like
- 9:20Speaker 3: at Dodger Stadium watching him run out there is different
- 9:23Speaker 3: than watching him at Wrigley, just with the dimensions.
- 9:27Speaker 2: But I do think that was a good point and
- 9:32Speaker 2: probably worth writing at some point. Just what Pete's doing
- 9:35Speaker 2: on defense is.
- 9:37Speaker 3: Absurd, but we sort of expect it and he is just.
- 9:44Speaker 2: I don't know if I want to say casual, but
- 9:48Speaker 2: he just sort.
- 9:49Speaker 3: Of glides out there, and that there is something just
- 9:52Speaker 3: a different stet, right, I mean, he just has he
- 9:54Speaker 3: just has another gear that I don't know how many
- 9:58Speaker 3: other players in the game have.
- 10:00Speaker 1: It almost I don't know how to phrase this exactly right,
- 10:03Speaker 1: but it almost hurts the perception of his defense. Now,
- 10:07Speaker 1: like anyone that actually understands the game appreciates that the
- 10:11Speaker 1: advanced stats, like there is something to them, and and
- 10:14Speaker 1: actually watches him, especially live, if you can see him
- 10:18Speaker 1: without like it's it's different in person than on TV
- 10:22Speaker 1: because you can see everything. And there are times you
- 10:25Speaker 1: and I, like people, we've watched so much baseball, I know,
- 10:29Speaker 1: like when there's a ball hit, it's like that's, oh,
- 10:32Speaker 1: that's gonna be tough to catch, or that's it, that's
- 10:34Speaker 1: in the gap. But now I've learned it's like it's
- 10:38Speaker 1: going to catch that, I think, and it's not normal,
- 10:41Speaker 1: and he's just already there and he's like he's getting
- 10:44Speaker 1: under it, and it's like, no, no, that should have been
- 10:46Speaker 1: at best a diving catch, if not like past that guy.
- 10:50Speaker 3: Uh.
- 10:51Speaker 1: And he just does it so often it makes it
- 10:52Speaker 1: look so easy that that we that people I think
- 10:56Speaker 1: think like say like that wasn't that great of a catch,
- 10:59Speaker 1: and it was. It's a and it and also you
- 11:02Speaker 1: you touched on it. He can't fully display how great
- 11:06Speaker 1: he is at Wrigly doesn't allow him. It's it's a
- 11:10Speaker 1: smaller center field. Uh. And obviously the brick wall uh.
- 11:15Speaker 1: And he can't really steal homers and things like that.
- 11:17Speaker 1: So it's a little different at Wrigly. But it's he's
- 11:21Speaker 1: he's on another level out there, and I think you're
- 11:23Speaker 1: right that that goes to it. It is almost like casual.
- 11:27Speaker 1: He's he's not a cat like, he's not. Of all
- 11:29Speaker 1: the players on this team, I would not describe him
- 11:31Speaker 1: as boring or or ho hum, And I don't want
- 11:35Speaker 1: that to come across as an insult. It's just like
- 11:38Speaker 1: the like, make the routine routine, and if you can
- 11:41Speaker 1: make the spectacular play great. But like some of these guys,
- 11:44Speaker 1: they're not the flashiest group. But go look at the
- 11:48Speaker 1: standings and and if that doesn't put a smile on
- 11:50Speaker 1: your face as a fan, then I don't know what will.
- 11:52Speaker 1: So you don't need to be flashy if you're winning.
- 11:56Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and talk about the bullpen
- 11:58Speaker 1: and one guy in particular that's really making it all
- 12:02Speaker 1: come together.
- 12:04Speaker 4: You know, we don't always have to do things because
- 12:06Speaker 4: that's how it's always been.
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- 12:10Speaker 5: but then we had the pitch clock and the abs
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- 12:15Speaker 5: had for a long time in baseball. And you know what,
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- 13:06Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, this bullpen has been absolutely waylaid with injuries.
- 13:12Speaker 1: They got Daniel Palencia back on Sunday. He didn't he
- 13:16Speaker 1: wasn't needed because they had an a two lead that
- 13:19Speaker 1: you know, they ended up winning eight four. Never needed
- 13:21Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia there. There's been obviously plenty of other injuries.
- 13:27Speaker 1: Phil Maton seems to be kind of getting it together
- 13:30Speaker 1: finally after being on the sholf and then Hunter Harvey's
- 13:34Speaker 1: still on the shovel. See when he comes back. Caleb
- 13:36Speaker 1: Theobar's on the mend on his way back. We'll see
- 13:39Speaker 1: when that is. But I don't know where this bullpen
- 13:43Speaker 1: would be without Ben Brown. And it's not like it's
- 13:48Speaker 1: a shock that he's good. It was. It just was
- 13:51Speaker 1: a huge question mark. This is a guy that we've
- 13:54Speaker 1: known since the moment, pretty much since they traded for him.
- 13:59Speaker 1: I believe it was that David Robertson trade with the Phillies.
- 14:04Speaker 1: He's a ton of talent. Obviously there's there's something there.
- 14:10Speaker 1: We knew it from the beginning. What is his role
- 14:13Speaker 1: and can he get it together? Once you saw him
- 14:15Speaker 1: in the big leagues, it's like, okay, there's something here.
- 14:18Speaker 1: Can he get it together? This isn't that rare in baseball.
- 14:21Speaker 1: We see it, we don't always see it come together.
- 14:27Speaker 1: It seems like it has where may whatever third whenever
- 14:31Speaker 1: we're recording this May fourth. So I don't want to
- 14:35Speaker 1: assume that he's that it's going to be six months
- 14:38Speaker 1: of Ben Brown dominance. But can you can have the debate.
- 14:44Speaker 1: What came first, was it the extra pitches that he has.
- 14:47Speaker 1: He throws his sinker a ton a lot, and then
- 14:51Speaker 1: as well as a change up. And then the confidence
- 14:54Speaker 1: came where he crossed a mental hurdle and was able
- 14:57Speaker 1: to use his full arsenal. And now he's having six
- 15:00Speaker 1: I don't know. He says it's some mental stuff, whatever
- 15:03Speaker 1: it is. He's this incredibly important cog in the bullpen
- 15:07Speaker 1: that Craig Council has really deployed masterfully. I feel like
- 15:11Speaker 1: getting I think every outing is over three outs, it's
- 15:16Speaker 1: it's four plus outsh in every outing. Uh, incredibly important,
- 15:21Speaker 1: And I thought he was really important on Saturday as well.
- 15:24Speaker 1: Just get those two innings. Don't use anybody else in
- 15:27Speaker 1: the bullpen because I don't I don't know how trustworthy
- 15:30Speaker 1: the bullpen is as far as you know beyond Ben
- 15:33Speaker 1: Brown right now.
- 15:36Speaker 3: A council over the weekend talked about how you know,
- 15:40Speaker 3: failure is what drives athletes like that is where the
- 15:46Speaker 3: growing happens, That's where the learning happens. And I think
- 15:51Speaker 3: it's a credit to Counsel and his coaches that they didn't.
- 15:54Speaker 2: Totally right off Ben Brown.
- 15:57Speaker 3: And I think Ben Brown took own and accountability for
- 16:03Speaker 3: his struggles over the last several years. But this guy's
- 16:06Speaker 3: been hyped up. You know, could he be this top
- 16:09Speaker 3: of the rotation starter he had? You know, he flirted
- 16:12Speaker 3: with that no hitter in Milwaukee a while ago, like
- 16:15Speaker 3: you've seen these flashes, but going back to that trade,
- 16:20Speaker 3: there was also a feeling of like his stuff would
- 16:22Speaker 3: work in high leverage moments, shorter bursts out of the bullpen.
- 16:27Speaker 3: And this is it is not a clear compromise, but
- 16:32Speaker 3: I mean putting him in that game in San Diego
- 16:34Speaker 3: bases loaded, no outs, go get Tatisa Machado being used
- 16:39Speaker 3: as what was a town enclosure the other day, I
- 16:42Speaker 3: mean just really valuable role. You know, jameson ty Owns
- 16:48Speaker 3: talked about that of in New York being with Michael
- 16:51Speaker 3: King or how kind of what Andrew Miller did.
- 16:56Speaker 2: In New York, you know, prior to that, and.
- 17:03Speaker 3: I don't really know how they've done it with this bullpend,
- 17:06Speaker 3: to be honest.
- 17:07Speaker 2: I mean, the amount.
- 17:08Speaker 3: Of high leverage relievers they were counting on who went
- 17:12Speaker 3: down early is kind of staggering, and I think that is.
- 17:18Speaker 2: Why the start is should be sustainable.
- 17:22Speaker 3: I mean, we talked about it earlier, like defense wins
- 17:25Speaker 3: championships like that should not go into slumps. They appear
- 17:29Speaker 3: to be getting healthier, Like we'll see when we go
- 17:34Speaker 3: to Wrigley on Monday night or Monday afternoon, like what
- 17:38Speaker 3: the latest updates are. But guys have grown out of
- 17:46Speaker 3: these unforeseen opportunities, and I think Ben Brown is he
- 17:51Speaker 3: would have gotten a pretty good shot, I think, no
- 17:54Speaker 3: matter what. But he's obviously capitalized and is firmly in
- 17:58Speaker 3: that circle of trust.
- 18:00Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's always been someone like it's hard
- 18:04Speaker 1: not to notice Ben Brown. He's obviously like built, like
- 18:08Speaker 1: you know, he's got the starter package as far as
- 18:11Speaker 1: like the way he looks like he's a big dude.
- 18:14Speaker 1: He throws hard. It's always been a question of like
- 18:17Speaker 1: what are the secondaries? Can he throw something more than
- 18:20Speaker 1: his heater and the breaking ball? The sinker has kind
- 18:24Speaker 1: of been a game changer. Like he's getting a ton
- 18:26Speaker 1: of ground balls too this year. And it's not just
- 18:30Speaker 1: like he doesn't walk a ton of guys. He strikes
- 18:32Speaker 1: guys out. Like there's just a lot to like right
- 18:34Speaker 1: now about him. Yeah, the I mean, I don't know
- 18:38Speaker 1: what else you look at in that bulpit and say,
- 18:40Speaker 1: I trust this guy to go. I guess Hoby Milner
- 18:43Speaker 1: has been really good. I shouldn't, I shouldn't poo poo
- 18:46Speaker 1: Hobbie Millner. He's a veteran. But guys just aren't healthy
- 18:50Speaker 1: enough right now. I mean, Palenci needs to get out there.
- 18:53Speaker 1: He's got five innings on the season, so you want
- 18:55Speaker 1: to see him rack up more innings, more save opportunities.
- 19:01Speaker 1: There's I mean, we're I think we're going to see
- 19:04Speaker 1: constant maneuvering of the waiver wire. And are there guys
- 19:10Speaker 1: that you know have Pomerance?
- 19:12Speaker 2: Last year he.
- 19:13Speaker 1: Had the what's the clause called the upboard upboard mobility clause?
- 19:19Speaker 1: Thank you? He had the upward mobility clause that kind
- 19:22Speaker 1: of forced the Mariners to make a move. There are
- 19:26Speaker 1: there players like that available? The Cubs are checking on everything.
- 19:29Speaker 1: So this bullpen isn't uh solidified right now? Uh it
- 19:34Speaker 1: is getting healthier. Well, like you said, I'm sure we'll
- 19:37Speaker 1: get updates on Kobe Thelbar Hunter Harvey today and I
- 19:41Speaker 1: don't think anything. I'm not sure how close like when
- 19:44Speaker 1: field Bar is even eligible, but sounded like he was
- 19:48Speaker 1: further along than Hunter Harvey last Council was asked about it.
- 19:52Speaker 1: So it's a group that you know, I think has
- 19:55Speaker 1: been good enough. Sometimes I wonder, like you look at
- 19:58Speaker 1: the actual number of like e R versus like what
- 20:02Speaker 1: I'm seeing on the field, I'm not sure it lines
- 20:04Speaker 1: up right now. You know, there's been no Brad Keller
- 20:09Speaker 1: shocking surprise. Corbyn. Martin has struggled. In my opinion, even
- 20:16Speaker 1: I think the era is okay, but maybe not after
- 20:19Speaker 1: yesterday's to run Homer, Like the surprise is now a
- 20:24Speaker 1: guy that got hurt in Riley Martin, and it's you know,
- 20:28Speaker 1: it's a that's unfortunate in the sense like there were
- 20:32Speaker 1: a lot of little things there. I almost forgot that
- 20:35Speaker 1: he came in after an injury. He came in after
- 20:37Speaker 1: the field bar injury, and I wonder, like does that
- 20:41Speaker 1: like does he did he have enough time to warm up?
- 20:45Speaker 1: Was that was that in any way? It's it's impossible
- 20:49Speaker 1: to know, but not ideal situation. So a lot of
- 20:51Speaker 1: like things that aren't ideal. But here's the thing. This
- 20:54Speaker 1: bullpen is going to continue to evolve. This bullpen is
- 20:58Speaker 1: going to have different names in it, whether it's two
- 21:01Speaker 1: weeks from now or two to three months from now.
- 21:05Speaker 1: We tried to get Jed to answer whether the he
- 21:07Speaker 1: agrees with Dave Dombrawski that the that the trade that
- 21:11Speaker 1: there's more trade chat right now. According to Jed, don't
- 21:14Speaker 1: expect anything big right now. There's not gonna be some
- 21:17Speaker 1: significant move to help this bullpen, but it feels inevitable
- 21:21Speaker 1: that they're going to be making moves, smaller ones over
- 21:26Speaker 1: the next month or two and then bigger ones come
- 21:29Speaker 1: June July. But Ben Brown's just been really huge. Like
- 21:35Speaker 1: when you can eat multiple innings every two three days.
- 21:38Speaker 1: I think that just like kind of changes the way
- 21:40Speaker 1: Craig Council thinks about things. And I really think he's
- 21:43Speaker 1: been very deliberate, but very deliberate about how he wants
- 21:47Speaker 1: to deploy him. And the fact that like that Brown
- 21:52Speaker 1: has succeeded just a lot, Like it's it's just it's
- 21:56Speaker 1: like an exhale, I think for the manager, like you
- 21:59Speaker 1: have this idea of what you want your book guys
- 22:01Speaker 1: to do, and you know, but they have to execute,
- 22:04Speaker 1: and Brown's executed, Like his development is really important when
- 22:07Speaker 1: you consider everything else that's gone on with the Bullpen.
- 22:11Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's fair to say Ben Brown was
- 22:14Speaker 3: someone who would overthink things. Yeah, he is very studious,
- 22:21Speaker 3: he's very analytical, he cares about his craft. He's extremely articulate.
- 22:28Speaker 3: But sometimes you just want a guy who just will
- 22:31Speaker 3: grip it and rip it. And the way Council explained it,
- 22:36Speaker 3: I thought was enlightening of just where maybe I guess
- 22:43Speaker 3: this isn't just specific to Ben Brown, but Okay, something
- 22:46Speaker 3: bad happens, Like how long does it take for you
- 22:49Speaker 3: to forget about it?
- 22:50Speaker 2: Is it five pitches? Like are you still kind of
- 22:53Speaker 2: like that bad at bat, that bad matchup?
- 22:55Speaker 3: Are you still kind of clinging onto it three four
- 22:59Speaker 3: pitches later and all of a sudd and like the
- 23:00Speaker 3: game gets away from you? Or are you able to
- 23:04Speaker 3: reset every single pitch that was obviously you know a
- 23:07Speaker 3: strength of Kyle Hendricks, you know, just kind of like
- 23:12Speaker 3: just one pitch at a time. And you know, Ben Brown,
- 23:16Speaker 3: I think has made a lot of progress in that
- 23:19Speaker 3: area in some huge moments. When you look at this record,
- 23:24Speaker 3: like how often does kind of that hybrid sort of
- 23:27Speaker 3: pitcher like have moments this early.
- 23:30Speaker 2: In the season that that stand out and he's already
- 23:33Speaker 2: had a couple.
- 23:34Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I'm curious to see how it develops like
- 23:37Speaker 1: both for this season and beyond, because I don't know
- 23:39Speaker 1: if this is his permanent role. We'll see what they
- 23:42Speaker 1: what they envision for him. But right now he's thriving
- 23:45Speaker 1: as is.
- 23:46Speaker 2: All right.
- 23:47Speaker 1: We'll be back with more this week. See if the
- 23:49Speaker 1: Cubs can continue to roll huge series, obviously against the
- 23:53Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds, who are playing really well right now. So
- 23:57Speaker 1: four against the Reds this week, we'll obviously be talking
- 24:01Speaker 1: about them, and if the Cubs can stay hot against
- 24:05Speaker 1: aid Division rival. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
- 24:07Speaker 1: This is north Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
- 24:10Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
- 24:13Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs. Thanks everyone,
- 24:16Speaker 1: Take care