Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Pete Crow-Armstrong makes his MVP case as Cubs work around late-season issues

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Pete Crow-Armstrong makes his MVP case as Cubs work around late-season issues · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:13
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick. It was
0:19
Speaker 1: what two weeks ago that Peter Armstrong had an MVP
0:25
Speaker 1: moment during his sweep of the Dodgers. Two homer game.
0:30
Speaker 1: Just a great game with the Shoho Tani also matching
0:34
Speaker 1: him that night. Last night, Monday night opener of Cubs
0:39
Speaker 1: White Sox. Great atmosphere, great game. Pete Homer's on the
0:45
Speaker 1: first pitch of the bottom of the first inning and
0:50
Speaker 1: two runs shot to end the game. In the bottom
0:54
Speaker 1: of the tenth inning, he mixed in I believe a
0:57
Speaker 1: double and a single and a in there and just
1:03
Speaker 1: I mean an electric atmosphere, an electric game performance by
1:08
Speaker 1: Pete that goes down for the ages. It feels like
1:11
Speaker 1: that was that was a special special night at Wrigley.
1:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, it feels like that's going to be part of
1:19
Speaker 2: the highlight reel for Cross Towns for ever.
1:24
Speaker 3: I like the rest of time.
1:26
Speaker 2: As long as we have baseball on TV and the
1:28
Speaker 2: Cubs and Socks play each other, we love kind.
1:30
Speaker 3: Of rewinding the big moments, and that was certainly one
1:36
Speaker 3: of them.
1:37
Speaker 2: I think did Craig Council called Pete's best game, best
1:42
Speaker 2: all around game.
1:43
Speaker 1: As a problem, Yeah, something like that, It was. I mean,
1:48
Speaker 1: I think this might be a game in the big
1:50
Speaker 1: leagues right here. Yeah.
1:53
Speaker 3: Wow.
1:53
Speaker 2: I mean that's saying something because you really can put
1:58
Speaker 2: all of these into one and you know, super long
2:02
Speaker 2: highlight reel, and I think it really just hits you
2:04
Speaker 2: of like how he has just elevated everything around him.
2:09
Speaker 2: He's elevated the crowds, the energies, the energy at Wrigley
2:13
Speaker 2: Pictures performed better when Pete's running around center field making
2:18
Speaker 2: difficult catches look routine. Obviously, the lineup, the entire complexion
2:24
Speaker 2: of it changed when he went to the leadoff spot
2:26
Speaker 2: and he made all these improvements that you know, we've
2:28
Speaker 2: written about, we've discussed on here. And as that game
2:35
Speaker 2: kind of slowly built towards the end, it just felt
2:38
Speaker 2: like Pete was going to be involved there, like you
2:42
Speaker 2: just he just.
2:43
Speaker 3: Has his knack for the moment.
2:46
Speaker 2: And I think you're right about the playoff atmosphere, like
2:51
Speaker 2: Sunday was a blowout loss, you know, kind of after
2:54
Speaker 2: something stretched, things sort of cleared out. So you know
2:58
Speaker 2: at Carson Kelly ninth inning, lots of empty green seats,
3:02
Speaker 2: and last night go in the tenth inning. You know,
3:06
Speaker 2: not every single seat was filled, but it definitely looked
3:09
Speaker 2: like nine capacity, you know, on a on a Monday
3:14
Speaker 2: night in the quote unquote Dog Days of August.
3:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, there were a couple of empty seats because some
3:21
Speaker 1: people got kicked out after getting in fights.
3:23
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's that's right.
3:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't want to out by the Yeah, police department. Yeah,
3:31
Speaker 1: that was that was a bessy incident. And it was
3:34
Speaker 1: clearly visible to us in the press box to the
3:36
Speaker 1: point where I saw I could see it through my binoculars.
3:39
Speaker 1: And I'm sure many of you have seen it online
3:42
Speaker 1: already that that wasn't fun to watch. It got it
3:46
Speaker 1: got pretty bad, and usually that that but that's not unusual.
3:49
Speaker 1: There's usually fights during Cubs White Sox. This is an
3:54
Speaker 1: unfortunate byproduct. I do appreciate the passion in general, though,
3:58
Speaker 1: and there were a lot of chance, a lot of
4:01
Speaker 1: go whites like White Sox. Chance, a lot of Cubs
4:06
Speaker 1: booing to kind of drown out those White Sox fans.
4:09
Speaker 1: But this is like Pete is an insanely polarizing player,
4:15
Speaker 1: so posing fans are just gonna dislike him, like right
4:18
Speaker 1: off the bat. Obviously there was an incident at the
4:22
Speaker 1: Cell earlier this year with Pete and a fan, and
4:27
Speaker 1: then he puts on that type of performance. Both teams
4:30
Speaker 1: are doing really well. Just just a fun, fun night.
4:36
Speaker 1: We don't always get those types of nights, but it
4:41
Speaker 1: was nice to experience that, And honestly, it was one
4:44
Speaker 1: of those things where like, as it was happening, I
4:49
Speaker 1: don't think I fully appreciated how fun that evening was
4:54
Speaker 1: until that final pitch and I was like, it was
4:57
Speaker 1: a really fun back and forth, great moments the White Sox.
5:01
Speaker 1: I think I had like four or five hits all night,
5:04
Speaker 1: but two of them were just like the crushing blow variety,
5:08
Speaker 1: And obviously the Cubs ended up getting the biggest hit
5:11
Speaker 1: of the night, but some great performances at Pete is
5:15
Speaker 1: right up there at the very top. It's a it's
5:19
Speaker 1: we're we're witnessing a special season and we don't get
5:22
Speaker 1: this very often. And I think now we're starting to
5:26
Speaker 1: see the tide turn nationally where people are like, maybe
5:29
Speaker 1: Pete is the most Valuable Player.
5:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he was in the clubhouse there after
5:36
Speaker 2: he wrapped up his media obligations, and it's like he's
5:40
Speaker 2: on Sports Center or whatever, and like he just keeps
5:43
Speaker 2: having these moments that add up and kind of steep
5:48
Speaker 2: into your consciousness. And we're going to get into this later,
5:54
Speaker 2: Like the Cubs have needed an MVP type performance because
5:57
Speaker 2: they have kind of a lot of issues going on
6:00
Speaker 2: and they're still somehow twenty games over five hundred. But
6:04
Speaker 2: you know, you heard it, you know, when Jacob Webb
6:08
Speaker 2: had that awesome performance in the tenth, top of the tenth,
6:11
Speaker 2: you could hear like, you know, the the PCA chance
6:14
Speaker 2: started like immediately, and I think, you know, people kind
6:17
Speaker 2: of sense this moment from Pete, they sort of expect it.
6:23
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting how he was kind of
6:26
Speaker 2: chapped at his performance against the Cardinals over the weekend
6:29
Speaker 2: that you know, Craig Council alluded to it that it was,
6:32
Speaker 2: you know, kind of quiet by my Pete's standards and
6:37
Speaker 2: what accounts is say, like you can tell when Pete's
6:39
Speaker 2: not happy, like he's done a better job of containing
6:42
Speaker 2: his emotions, but you can you can kind of tell
6:44
Speaker 2: his moods fairly.
6:48
Speaker 3: Easily. He's kind of easy to read in that regard, and.
6:56
Speaker 2: No doubt, I mean he he's delivered. It's kind of
7:00
Speaker 2: mind boggling. I think you and I talk about we
7:03
Speaker 2: always have coverage plans and kind of like you know,
7:05
Speaker 2: thinking thinking ahead for the playoffs and stuff like that.
7:09
Speaker 3: Like this guy is kind of one in one a
7:12
Speaker 3: with show hey right now.
7:13
Speaker 2: And I don't think anyone, even the most optimistic like
7:18
Speaker 2: believers in Pete, I don't think they would have seen
7:21
Speaker 2: this coming this fast. But his credit, he keeps working
7:25
Speaker 2: at it, and you can tell how much he cares
7:28
Speaker 2: like he is not satisfied at all. You know, it's
7:31
Speaker 2: a random weekend in August, and he's pissed when he
7:34
Speaker 2: doesn't come through.
7:37
Speaker 1: So starting from that second game of the of the
7:42
Speaker 1: road trip Kansas City and DC, he had four total
7:47
Speaker 1: hits through the Cardinals series. Two of them were home runs,
7:53
Speaker 1: you know. One I believe was like this rocket home
7:56
Speaker 1: run in Washington if I'm remembering correctly, But it just
7:59
Speaker 1: was it seemed like he wasn't at his best. Uh
8:02
Speaker 1: and and it was like, hmm, is this the beginning
8:06
Speaker 1: of a second half? You know, like like last season. Uh.
8:11
Speaker 1: I think he quickly put that to rest last night.
8:16
Speaker 1: We like I said, we're watching something pretty special here
8:20
Speaker 1: right now. Council, I think is trying to remind us
8:23
Speaker 1: of that whenever we ask questions about it, because he
8:26
Speaker 1: doesn't like just like have this flowery praise for everyone
8:32
Speaker 1: and anyone after a good game. He's I think everyone
8:36
Speaker 1: is kind of taken aback at how special this performance
8:39
Speaker 1: has has been thus far in the season.
8:43
Speaker 2: Uh.
8:43
Speaker 1: And and it's I mean, he's it's not like this
8:48
Speaker 1: team is lacking in talent or he's the only player,
8:52
Speaker 1: but he's he's the spark. He's I think the phrase
8:56
Speaker 1: you like to use is he's the straw that stirs
9:00
Speaker 1: the drink, the old Reggie Jackson I think phrase, he's
9:05
Speaker 1: definitely that for this team. Let's take a quick break
9:09
Speaker 1: and come back and talk about some things that aren't
9:13
Speaker 1: so great for this team that's actually playing pretty well.
9:16
Speaker 1: In twenty games over five hundred.
9:19
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9:49
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9:56
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10:20
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we got the news. I believe it
10:23
Speaker 1: was Sunday that Dansby Swanson took one swing kind of
10:27
Speaker 1: immediately kind of threw his helmet down and walk towards
10:30
Speaker 1: the dugout. That was a left oblique strain. It turns
10:35
Speaker 1: out not it's not the best news possible, it's not
10:38
Speaker 1: the worst news possible. It's a I think Craig Council
10:43
Speaker 1: said our best guess. I think he is what he
10:45
Speaker 1: said or estimate, like he used the word guess and
10:49
Speaker 1: he said four weeks. If they don't always give a
10:52
Speaker 1: specific timeline, but they did for this four weeks. Four
10:57
Speaker 1: weeks would put him in the middle of September. That is,
11:03
Speaker 1: you know, I would say, like the season ends, I
11:05
Speaker 1: believe September twenty eight. So let's say it gives him
11:07
Speaker 1: like ten days if he comes back to play right
11:10
Speaker 1: away at that point. Look, Dansby Swanson is not like
11:15
Speaker 1: he's not Peek grow Armstrong in the lineup, but he's
11:19
Speaker 1: a league average bat. We all know where Dansby Swanson
11:22
Speaker 1: brings his value. It's with his glove. He's the backbone
11:26
Speaker 1: of this defense. He's the shortstop, most important position on
11:31
Speaker 1: the field for what some people are arguing is the
11:36
Speaker 1: best defense we've seen. So it is a blow. I
11:41
Speaker 1: don't think that, you know, I don't think we should
11:44
Speaker 1: gloss over that and what this loss is. And it
11:47
Speaker 1: needs to be four weeks because you want you want
11:49
Speaker 1: him to get some runway before the playoffs, and you
11:52
Speaker 1: need him out there. I don't think it's impossible for
11:55
Speaker 1: them to do well without him. I just don't. I
11:58
Speaker 1: don't think you want to roll on others and really
12:02
Speaker 1: test your depth. You just want to be one hundred
12:05
Speaker 1: percent healthy going into the playoffs.
12:09
Speaker 3: No mean Mike.
12:10
Speaker 2: Schield, the Padres manager at the time, said it like,
12:12
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's an MVP for this round
12:14
Speaker 2: of the playoffs, but if there was, it would be Dansby,
12:17
Speaker 2: And like, the defense is that important. And I think
12:20
Speaker 2: everyone saw Dansby's skills really play up in those low
12:26
Speaker 2: scoring environments, and I agree, I don't think they'll be
12:30
Speaker 2: like a huge drop off. But those double plays that
12:35
Speaker 2: him and Nico make just left and right all the time,
12:41
Speaker 2: they prevent so many beginnings that they help preserve pitchers.
12:47
Speaker 3: And I think.
12:49
Speaker 2: If not all of those plays are made with the
12:51
Speaker 2: same consistency, I think there will be, you know, a
12:55
Speaker 2: slight drop off at least. And so, yeah, they seem
13:00
Speaker 2: to avoid the worst case scenario, and go bleaks are
13:03
Speaker 2: tricky just from as reporters trying to cover it. That's
13:09
Speaker 2: kind of what we've been told over the years, and
13:14
Speaker 2: if he can get back within that month time frame,
13:17
Speaker 2: I think they'll be.
13:20
Speaker 3: Okay. I think you see why they didn't trade Pedro Amirez.
13:24
Speaker 1: Why.
13:25
Speaker 2: You know, it's a good thing that Matt Shaw is
13:28
Speaker 2: still around. Alex Bregman's quietly been an excellent defender at
13:34
Speaker 2: third base. I feel like we focus so much on
13:36
Speaker 2: his hitting that sort of gets overlooked. But no doubt,
13:39
Speaker 2: Dansby is just one of those players. The more you
13:41
Speaker 2: watch him, the more you appreciate him. And I think
13:45
Speaker 2: cub Sans will probably appreciate him a little more when
13:48
Speaker 2: he's not out there.
13:50
Speaker 1: As good as this defense has been, you know, it's
13:54
Speaker 1: hard to say that they can stay at the same
13:57
Speaker 1: level without Dansby Swanson, but probably. I mean, I can't
14:01
Speaker 1: imagine there's many teams that are better suited to handle
14:05
Speaker 1: a loss like this. You move Nico Horner to shortstop.
14:09
Speaker 1: It's been a while since he played there, but when
14:11
Speaker 1: he did, he was, by some metrics, a top two,
14:15
Speaker 1: three five shortstop defensively in the game. Then you insert
14:21
Speaker 1: Piro Ramirez, who won a Minor league goal Glove at
14:24
Speaker 1: third base last year. He plays second. Those are his
14:27
Speaker 1: primary positions second and third, great defender, really smart ballplayer.
14:32
Speaker 1: And then you're you're entering a point where Matt Shaw
14:37
Speaker 1: should be going out on a rehab assignment on Wednesday.
14:41
Speaker 1: I think we'll find that out officially if it's definitely
14:44
Speaker 1: happening today at the ballpark, because.
14:47
Speaker 2: He played Monday night. Monday night, it looked like he
14:50
Speaker 2: was packing up.
14:52
Speaker 1: Was he okay? So that I think that was.
14:54
Speaker 2: Kind of my he was planning. Yeah, it were safe
14:58
Speaker 2: to say. I think he's going to be on rehabit
15:00
Speaker 2: simon this week. I mean, yes, exact day you'll be playing.
15:03
Speaker 2: But he's he's on the roadback.
15:06
Speaker 1: So I mean, I don't I don't want to put
15:09
Speaker 1: a timeline on how many games he needs. We'll see
15:11
Speaker 1: how many games he needs, how that goes, Assuming that
15:15
Speaker 1: goes smoothly, maybe he's back in ten days or so.
15:19
Speaker 1: You have you have a guy that has a was
15:24
Speaker 1: a Gold Glove finalist at third base last year, had
15:27
Speaker 1: never played the position for an extended period of time
15:30
Speaker 1: until then, and and quickly took to the position. Uh
15:35
Speaker 1: never really played the outfield much quickly took to right
15:38
Speaker 1: field this year. I've been impressed with his ability to
15:43
Speaker 1: adapt to any position. He was drafted as a shortstop.
15:46
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people thought his best position
15:48
Speaker 1: would be second base and that he could be Gold
15:50
Speaker 1: Glove caliber there. He's going to get playing time too
15:55
Speaker 1: when he comes back, assuming everything goes smoothly with his rehab.
16:01
Speaker 1: This is a team that, like you, you have to
16:03
Speaker 1: commend them for the depth and and like you said,
16:06
Speaker 1: they didn't they didn't part with Pedro Ramirez. They weren't
16:10
Speaker 1: willing to give them up for certainly not for a rental.
16:14
Speaker 1: I'm sure that there were deals that could have that
16:18
Speaker 1: could have made sense. They didn't at the time, Like
16:21
Speaker 1: it was always too much being asked. It was like
16:23
Speaker 1: Pedro Romeiras and like and more. Uh and and they
16:26
Speaker 1: weren't willing to do that. So so it's working out
16:31
Speaker 1: for them in the sense that we've talked about this
16:33
Speaker 1: for over a year now, kind of Patrick, they've been
16:36
Speaker 1: very lucky with the with the position player help. Uh.
16:40
Speaker 1: This is probably one of their longer injuries to a
16:45
Speaker 1: to a starting position player that they've had in a while,
16:48
Speaker 1: so uh uh. That sucks for them. But also I
16:52
Speaker 1: just cannot reinforce any harder that this is They're they're
16:57
Speaker 1: really well set up for this. It's it's they've done
16:59
Speaker 1: a good job building this team, and you've got to
17:02
Speaker 1: commend them for the depth that they have. And it
17:04
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like you're in panic mode when your you know,
17:09
Speaker 1: your calling card is your defense and you lose your
17:12
Speaker 1: stud defensive shortstop.
17:15
Speaker 3: I was just going to make that point. We as.
17:21
Speaker 2: You know, brutal as the pitching injuries have been, on
17:25
Speaker 2: the position player side, they've been remarkably healthy. I didn't
17:27
Speaker 2: Counsel even mentioned that going all the way back to
17:29
Speaker 2: like last year's winter meetings, like we don't we can't
17:32
Speaker 2: really count on that again. I want to say it
17:35
Speaker 2: was like six or seven guys last year played like
17:38
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty plus games something something like that.
17:41
Speaker 2: Just like really very stable every day lineup and you
17:47
Speaker 2: pull out a huge piece, but you have some really
17:49
Speaker 2: nice players.
17:50
Speaker 3: You still have flexibility. You saw it Monday night.
17:53
Speaker 2: I mean they were I don't know if every single
17:56
Speaker 2: position player was used, but it's not like they were
17:59
Speaker 2: running out of answers. It always helps to have Pete
18:03
Speaker 2: at the top of the lineup, but they still have
18:05
Speaker 2: the depth and flexibility, the versatility.
18:10
Speaker 3: That should keep them in good shape. I mean catching
18:14
Speaker 3: the Brewers.
18:15
Speaker 2: Even if they had Dansby at one hundred percent for
18:17
Speaker 2: every inning the rest of the season, I don't know
18:19
Speaker 2: if they'd be able to catch him. It's probably the
18:21
Speaker 2: degree of difficulty probably increases a little bit.
18:26
Speaker 3: But we'll see.
18:27
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and talk about
18:31
Speaker 1: a pitcher that's not working out as planned.
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19:36
Speaker 1: Patrick. On Sunday, along with that Dansby injury, there was
19:42
Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera on the mound for the first time. I
19:45
Speaker 1: can't remember how long it's been, but it was a
19:48
Speaker 1: hampstring injury.
19:50
Speaker 3: That's sorry.
19:50
Speaker 1: Two months yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He'd looked great in
19:56
Speaker 1: the minors, like the numbers were amazing, the stuff was there,
20:02
Speaker 1: looked absolutely ready to come in and be the picture
20:06
Speaker 1: that the Cubs thought they were acquiring over the winter,
20:10
Speaker 1: a guy that they've targeted for a very long time.
20:13
Speaker 1: They've had their sights set on him. This pitching infrastructure,
20:18
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, has had a lot
20:19
Speaker 1: of success stories, so they've earned the trust of Hey,
20:24
Speaker 1: we've identified this guy, we want him. We think not
20:27
Speaker 1: only I think Craig Council said when they acquired him,
20:31
Speaker 1: whenever that was when we talked to him maybe Cubs convention,
20:35
Speaker 1: he said, we believe we're getting someone who's about to
20:38
Speaker 1: take off. I think were his words, it is not
20:43
Speaker 1: worked out. He had a terrible outing on Sunday. It
20:47
Speaker 1: looked bad to me from the get go. There are
20:51
Speaker 1: a lot of I don't want to go as far
20:54
Speaker 1: as Tyler Chatwood because the walk rate isn't that high,
20:58
Speaker 1: but it reminds me of the Darwag first half before
21:01
Speaker 1: the elbow issues sunk, where it's just like everything is
21:05
Speaker 1: at three to two counts. He's just not finishing guys
21:10
Speaker 1: off long at bats. Just very frustrating to watch, and
21:15
Speaker 1: you know the talent is there. And then he exits
21:19
Speaker 1: I think three and two thirds. Just not a great game,
21:24
Speaker 1: per performance, and then after the game says he had
21:26
Speaker 1: a blister, which Council never mentioned in his postgame presser
21:32
Speaker 1: until pregame yesterday. On Monday, he talked a little bit
21:36
Speaker 1: about it. But now he's on the IL. Javier Asat's
21:39
Speaker 1: back back on the IL. Doesn't sound like he's going
21:43
Speaker 1: to be starting again this season. Just kind of a
21:49
Speaker 1: mess of a year, a lost year for Edward Cabrera.
21:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the whole idea was, you know, he come
21:59
Speaker 2: with three years of club control and that would give
22:03
Speaker 2: you a buffer in case a lockout goes very long
22:07
Speaker 2: or if he has a serious arm injury injury. And
22:11
Speaker 2: this year they've they've kind of burned one of those
22:13
Speaker 2: years without that, you know, elbow or shoulder flaring up.
22:22
Speaker 2: The year started off fairly well. You know, he had
22:25
Speaker 2: a couple I want to say, I think he has
22:28
Speaker 2: four quality starts as a Cub, and the last one
22:31
Speaker 2: was like May fourth, something like that, and so like, uh,
22:36
Speaker 2: it's confusing, to be honest, I think you know, Cabert
22:42
Speaker 2: came in with a nice reputation.
22:47
Speaker 3: He clearly has talent.
22:49
Speaker 2: Uh, He's had had some really nice stretches with the Marlins.
22:53
Speaker 2: And you know, that was kind of my point to Craig,
22:56
Speaker 2: who I appreciated his honesty as a go in your clubhouse,
23:00
Speaker 2: ask you know, pretty much any picture, and they rave
23:04
Speaker 2: about the defense, the communication with the coaches, just the
23:07
Speaker 2: overall working environment. He's a yeah, it hasn't clicked. He's
23:10
Speaker 2: a guy wish I could tell you every story of
23:12
Speaker 2: a success story. This one isn't a paraphrasing Craig there.
23:16
Speaker 2: And you know, strangely enough, Agett, the Cubs have worked
23:20
Speaker 2: around this, but just the way Sunday came together.
23:24
Speaker 3: It was just odd.
23:27
Speaker 2: You know, someone asked Craig about Carera coming off the
23:32
Speaker 2: injured list and sort of like getting his footing. He's like,
23:37
Speaker 2: he's a healthy player, that's why he's activated, and he
23:41
Speaker 2: said it's go time.
23:42
Speaker 3: And I think Edward understands that, and the Cardinals are.
23:46
Speaker 2: Just on him from the start. You know, maybe there's
23:52
Speaker 2: a couple plays, difficult plays the Cubs could have made,
23:55
Speaker 2: and maybe it didn't look quite as bad, but they
23:56
Speaker 2: I mean, they just they hit the ball hard. He
24:00
Speaker 2: has not been getting results for a long time. Craig
24:06
Speaker 2: was not asked directly about a blister but after that game,
24:09
Speaker 2: but you know, he was a healthy pitcher coming in,
24:14
Speaker 2: and then you know Cabrera, it was sort of it
24:18
Speaker 2: was hard to pin down exactly like when the blister developed.
24:22
Speaker 2: But you know, you have Craig saying, well, we'll talk
24:25
Speaker 2: about this. You know, he wouldn't commit to another start
24:29
Speaker 2: for Cabrera, and then you know Cabrera saying, you know,
24:32
Speaker 2: I'm one hundred percent expect to stay in the rotation
24:36
Speaker 2: and really downplaying the blister issue, being sort of like
24:40
Speaker 2: put off that you know that it's even a question,
24:44
Speaker 2: but yeah, the same thing happened last time of oh yeah, blister,
24:47
Speaker 2: I'll be fine. I've had this my career, and you know,
24:49
Speaker 2: they put him on the injured list, and just that
24:54
Speaker 2: you know that start in New York, I mean, you
24:56
Speaker 2: were in New York. It felt like there may have
24:58
Speaker 2: been some optimism or momentum of like, hey, maybe we
25:02
Speaker 2: figured out a couple of things. Maybe this downtime has
25:04
Speaker 2: been able to work on things. And now it's just
25:08
Speaker 2: not realistic to think that he's going to start another
25:12
Speaker 2: game for this team this year, and even the bullpen
25:15
Speaker 2: stuff like yeah, I mean, but in terms of confidence
25:22
Speaker 2: and timing and trust and conviction, I just don't see.
25:26
Speaker 2: I mean, part of the logic forgot to mention is
25:29
Speaker 2: just that Council says it starts to flare up the
25:32
Speaker 2: longer it goes, so that maybe in shorter bursts it's
25:35
Speaker 2: a nail slash finger slash blister thing. We'll see just
25:42
Speaker 2: too many moving parts for you know, late August or
25:46
Speaker 2: a guy who might not be active till September. I
25:50
Speaker 2: think it's kind of like see you on the other
25:53
Speaker 2: side of the lockout.
25:55
Speaker 1: His strikeout rate is the lowest of his career at
25:58
Speaker 1: twenty point four percent. He was brought into miss bats.
26:01
Speaker 1: They brought him in because they don't have enough guys
26:04
Speaker 1: that miss bats. He's not like a ground ball artist.
26:06
Speaker 1: He's giving up a ton of hard contact. He's giving
26:10
Speaker 1: up more hits than he usually does. His batting average
26:13
Speaker 1: against is a career high. It's been a bad season
26:16
Speaker 1: for him. I don't think there's any you need to
26:19
Speaker 1: beat around the bush here like he it's like giving
26:22
Speaker 1: up a lot of hits and not striking guys out.
26:24
Speaker 1: That's not him at his best. It is. He has
26:27
Speaker 1: regressed this season and he was put in back in
26:32
Speaker 1: the rotation over David Peterson, who's you know, kind of
26:37
Speaker 1: resurrected his career with the Cubs since he's come back,
26:42
Speaker 1: or since he's been traded here from the Mets. Javier
26:45
Speaker 1: assad got sent down. Who is just the type of
26:49
Speaker 1: guy that just goes out there and does nothing but
26:52
Speaker 1: what he's asked to do, uh and and does it
26:56
Speaker 1: almost always does it well, and with zero fanfare. Like
27:00
Speaker 1: you know, he's not he's not gonna be in Cy
27:03
Speaker 1: Young conversations. He's not going to be talked about as
27:05
Speaker 1: unless your Mark Lighter Junior is one of the best
27:07
Speaker 1: pitchers in the game, but you know, he's he seems
27:13
Speaker 1: to just always get the job done. So like I
27:18
Speaker 1: like Edward Carberra had, like I absolutely get where the
27:21
Speaker 1: council was saying it's go time because you have competition
27:24
Speaker 1: right now. They have they actually have quality starting depth.
27:29
Speaker 1: One bad start means you're you should like, we need
27:33
Speaker 1: to question. That's where we're at now. You know, for
27:36
Speaker 1: certain guys, I think, like you know, like I'm not
27:39
Speaker 1: saying Matthew Boyd's rotation spot is up in the air.
27:45
Speaker 1: He's he had like six great ones in a row
27:47
Speaker 1: and then a stinker on Saturday. But yes, there there's
27:52
Speaker 1: competition right now. There are guys that have performed really well.
27:56
Speaker 1: Edic Carberra is not on that list. And I agree
27:59
Speaker 1: with you the bullpen stuff. Look, if that's the best
28:01
Speaker 1: path forward the rest of the season, you gotta at
28:04
Speaker 1: least try it. Can he earn the trust of the group,
28:08
Speaker 1: Can he get healthy? Then can he go out there,
28:11
Speaker 1: earn the trust of the staff that, yeah, this guy
28:14
Speaker 1: can go out there and get outs, get three outs
28:16
Speaker 1: in an inning and look nasty, And how does he
28:19
Speaker 1: bounce back after those outings? You can't have a guy
28:22
Speaker 1: out there that can go one or two innings and
28:24
Speaker 1: then needs three days rest in between an outing. You
28:28
Speaker 1: can't have too many of those guys. You can have
28:30
Speaker 1: one guy. But like their bullpen, it's look that there's
28:35
Speaker 1: some talent in this bullpen. There's there's there's definitely options
28:40
Speaker 1: right now, especially these guys get healthier. But you need
28:44
Speaker 1: guys that can go back to back days. You need
28:46
Speaker 1: guys that you can rely on. So we'll see where
28:52
Speaker 1: what the rest of the season holds for him. But
28:54
Speaker 1: I don't think you need you should, you know, lock
28:57
Speaker 1: him in to their plans for the rest of the year.
29:00
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like, let's see what happens, Let's
29:03
Speaker 1: see how he this blister, Like council kept it repeating,
29:06
Speaker 1: like we need to come up with a better solution
29:08
Speaker 1: for this blister as well. It keeps coming back. It's
29:11
Speaker 1: like a nail blister thing. It sounds like it's clearly
29:16
Speaker 1: a problem. This season is not beyond the injury. Has
29:21
Speaker 1: not been good enough when he's been healthy and on
29:23
Speaker 1: the mound. So he's got a lot of work to
29:26
Speaker 1: do to get I think the confidence of the staff back,
29:29
Speaker 1: Like where it's like, yeah, we can put him out
29:31
Speaker 1: there and know that he's going to get the job done,
29:33
Speaker 1: because we just haven't seen enough of it. It's hard
29:37
Speaker 1: to it's hard to say that, yeah, I believe in
29:39
Speaker 1: this guy when it seems like he's taking a step
29:42
Speaker 1: back this year. And I don't want to put that all.
29:43
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, like the staff, sure they get some
29:46
Speaker 1: of the blame for that, but they have so many
29:48
Speaker 1: success stories that it's like, I don't you don't rip
29:52
Speaker 1: the staff for it, but right now this is not
29:54
Speaker 1: a success story.
29:57
Speaker 2: I think Cabrera has made one hundred and four or
30:00
Speaker 2: major league appearances, and one hundred two of those were starts,
30:05
Speaker 2: and even those two relief appearances were sort of we're
30:09
Speaker 2: multi inning look to be, you know, somewhat scheduled. So yeah,
30:15
Speaker 2: I don't like talk about a totally different routine mindset.
30:23
Speaker 2: And like you said, the competition is fierce right now.
30:28
Speaker 2: They have a lot of options from the back end
30:31
Speaker 2: to the front of the rotation. I mean, this looks
30:34
Speaker 2: like a guy that if he was on any other
30:36
Speaker 2: team right now, that comes with probably trying to like,
30:38
Speaker 2: you know, acquire him in a by low type of trade.
30:41
Speaker 2: So I'm not writing him off, you know. I think
30:46
Speaker 2: both sides will probably come away from this with a
30:49
Speaker 2: lot more information and a better understanding on how to
30:52
Speaker 2: get things back on track or how to be more
30:56
Speaker 2: preventative in terms of the blister stuff. But just a weird,
31:03
Speaker 2: weird situation all around, and again, kind of impressive to
31:09
Speaker 2: see where the Cubs are at given that he was
31:12
Speaker 2: the guy they wanted for their rotation this past offseason.
31:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, think about that. No, Kate Horton, he made two starts,
31:22
Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd missed a ton of starts. Justin Steele isn't
31:25
Speaker 1: really a factor this year, hasn't pitched at all, and
31:30
Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera has not been good. And they're playing as
31:33
Speaker 1: well as they're playing that it's pretty it's pretty impressive.
31:36
Speaker 1: They've done a good job. One one quick thing before
31:40
Speaker 1: we wrap it up, Patrick, I just wanted to mention
31:42
Speaker 1: that I want to make sure people know that Daniel
31:45
Speaker 1: Pelentci was put on the sixty day and that was
31:47
Speaker 1: a procedural thing. I don't think there was a setback
31:50
Speaker 1: or anything like. It was justwork yeah check, yeah, yeah, yeah,
31:55
Speaker 1: he's fine. So we'll see when when they're ready to
31:58
Speaker 1: bring him back, but there's I'm very curious to see
32:01
Speaker 1: how they put this bullpend together because I don't think
32:04
Speaker 1: Zephyr John's a mess. I just think some pitches have
32:07
Speaker 1: been hit and and like he's had like he's been
32:09
Speaker 1: hit hard, and that's what Cubs fans have seen. But
32:12
Speaker 1: how are they going to put the back of this
32:13
Speaker 1: bullpend together? They can't rely on Jacob Webb every single night,
32:17
Speaker 1: so need Poalencia back. But where does everybody fit? I
32:20
Speaker 1: don't know. It's an expiration for another episode, but we'll
32:24
Speaker 1: be back with more. I'm curious to see that. That's
32:26
Speaker 1: something that's kind of been in my head, like how
32:28
Speaker 1: does it How do they work all this out? There's
32:30
Speaker 1: not a lot of optionable arms in there. But but
32:34
Speaker 1: they'll these are good problems, as they like to say, Uh,
32:39
Speaker 1: we'll see how it how it all works out in
32:41
Speaker 1: the end. But there's there's a lot of names to
32:43
Speaker 1: kind of filter through in that bullpen right now. All right,
32:46
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
32:48
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
32:52
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
32:54
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32:57
Speaker 1: Everyone take care