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Justin Steele joins North Side Territory · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And you just saw some reactions where it was like
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: they had no idea what was coming right there, and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: that just completely puts the swing to odds in your
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: favor as far as in the bat goes.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Welcome into North Side Territory, Foul Territory Networks, Cubs Podcast.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Pet, I'm sty my co host Patrick Moody.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: I'm a little uh nervous.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Big guests today, apparently ign't We got just Steal.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Nice to meet you, guys.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Of course, thanks for joining us. Steely. We were like
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: we were just talking.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: We're a bit jealous of that son in the background,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: but you know we'll survive. Uh, We're we're gonna we're
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: gonna get to baseball talk. Okay, but we know we
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: know you, we know you love football. So I have
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: two questions to start.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: You're you're safe, right, Yeahhart Dalhart Saints fan. I got
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: a few teams that I'm rooting for in the in
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the playoffs right now, I'm rooting for the Commanders. I
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: had some uh, I had Jaden Daniels and Terry McLaurin
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and all my fantasy leagues. I was high on them
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: going into the year. I had some future bets with
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: him as well. So I'm I'm I'm holding on to it.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I'm commanders right now.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Who do you? Who do you want to be the
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: head coach of the Saints?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Who do I That's a really good question, you know.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: You know who's been really entertaining to watch lately is
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: John Gruden with all the new stuff he's doing with
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: barstool and like, oh yeah, the videos and the clips
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: he's been posting, they're hilarious. It's just like, I can't
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: stop listening to the guy talk about football, and I
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: feel like everyone feels the same way about it. So
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I've been hearing he's been getting some interest in coaching.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, Ben Johnson is the the guy that
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: everybody wants. I know, I've been seeing his name attached
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to the Bears a lot. I'm trying to get some
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: other names that are going to be, you know, vacant
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: for head coaching jobs. I'll tell you what would be
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: really cool, which I think he has another year of
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: college football, Arch Manning. If arch Manning ended up going
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: to the Saints, like, oh, that would be really cool.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I think that's it. I like that idea. They got
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: a tank. I mean.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: A lot of there's a lot of other things that
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: need to happen for the Saints to be a good
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: football team, But that would be really cool if that
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: did happen.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: That'd be an awesome story.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't even think about that, and now now I
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: kind of like that they should. They should just make
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that happen and you know, whatever they can do.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: It reminds me justin we talked about this during the year,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: about like how we both enjoy those shows like Hard
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Knocks and stuff like that behind the scenes. I was curious,
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: you know, as someone who's not in the room with
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: Jen Carter, what are your thoughts on on the offseason
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: thus far for your cubbies.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean I always think about it in the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: sense of, like it's definitely something that I would I
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: would have a lot of pressure and anxiety doing the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: thing like that kind of that kind of work, those
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: kind of jobs and making those kind of decisions and stuff.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: But I mean, anytime you had a bat like Kyle
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Tucker to the team in the lineup, you know, even
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the way he plays defense is incredible. Like I played
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: a ton against him in Hya when he was I
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: forget what city they were in I was in Myrtle Beach.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I can't remember the city that the Astros were playing
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: in at the time, but I remember watching him play
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: there and like I knew then.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: Like the guy was gonna be a stud.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I believe he's a little younger than me, so he
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: was a little obviously a little younger than me at
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the time as well, and I just remember thinking, like,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: this guy's gonna be a stud. He's still young, great
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: left handed swing, plays defense really hard.
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: And then he gets to the big leagues.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I think he ends up getting caught up like two
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: years later from that point, and I mean just the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: immediate impact he was making to the big league team,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: and he's only gotten better and better every single year.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: You know, he's fun to watch, fun player to watch
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: much and I'm excited to, you know, get around him.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: What. Yeah, you're you've been in Arizona. What have you like?
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: What has been your focus this offseason? And and beyond
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you Look, what have you seen out there? Who's impressed you?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: As far as the people that are out there, because
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I know it gets kind of crowded at times, especially
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: like right around now, I feel.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah, there's some people slowly starting to get in
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the guys. Just some guys that have been out here
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: for most of the off season. Jamo has been out
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: here a good bit. Ben Brown's been out here pretty
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: much the entire time. You know, stuff of his neck.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: I would say, he's completely alleviated. He's throwing, he's throwing
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: feeling good.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: You know, the dude's a horse.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: He's the way he works out in the weight room,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and just the intensity of like his catch play and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: his bullpen work. It's it's impressive. PCA has been out here.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: It's fun watching him work out and how athletic he is.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: Just Porter Hodge.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Porter Hodge is another name that's out here. And I mean,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I'm like the tiniest guy by a but besides Pca.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: But like it's just like you see Porter Hodge, you
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: see Ben Brown, you see Jamo, and they're just like
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: lifting the entire weight room. Just like It's makes me
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: feel really small. Like when I'm when I go home
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: to Mississippi, I always feel like I'm decently sized, I'm
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a little bigger than most, and then I come out
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: here to spring training, I'm around the guys, It's like
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I'm tiny.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: I'm believe well, I.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Mean not that's still a side of his question, but
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: I think he had heard that like Ben Brown and
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: Porter Hodge had kind of stood out in mesa. Can
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: you explain what you're seeing, you know, beyond just physically
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: with those guys, like you feel like they're on a
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: good sort of trajectory here as you guys build this.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the thing was with Ben last year
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: was the throwing and he just kept feeling the I
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: forget exactly what it was in his neck, but the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: fact that he's not feeling that anymore, and you know,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: he's moving around freely, he's in the weight room doing
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the stuff that he would normally do in the training room,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and just honestly, like you know, having the conversation with
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: him and stuff like when all that stuff was going
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: on with his neck, Like, when something like that's going
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: on and the player doesn't really know exactly what it is, like,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: it can affect you, you know, mentally, it makes you
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: like not want to do stuff because you don't want
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to make it worse. So just to seem you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: being that like spring chicken that he is, and like
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: doing the lifts, throwing with full effort and all that stuff,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: you know, having that personality that he always had. You know,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: it's it's just fun being around him and you just
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: watching him throw his bullpens, got through his work. You know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the guy's gonna be a study if he gets a
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: full season under his belt.
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: And same thing with Porter Hodge.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was so good last year and for
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: him to come right into Arizona and get right to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: work immediately and.
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: He's working his tail off every single day. So it's
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: it's been really cool.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I kind of it's fun to like watch, you know,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: everybody come in slowly and like start getting their stuff.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And I've been doing it for I've been an easy
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: for two or three years now. But it's just kind
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: of cool to watch everyone's progression.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: As you talked a little bit about Kyle Tucker and
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: what you saw of him when when you were in
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: the minors and all that, but as a pitcher and
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: a team has a player like that, this this kind
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: of game changing bat in the lineup. You have really
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: good offensive players, but I think Kyle Tucker is just
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: like the superstar level. How does it change the way
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: you approach a game? How does it change the way
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: you have to game plan for that team when just
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: there's that one guy that kind of elevates the rest
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: of the team.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean it's hard to say that we wouldn't
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: be scoring more runs with him in the lineup. So
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: if I would say, like if we're you know, in
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the beginning stages of a baseball game one through the
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: first three innings and say we already have one to
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: five runs on the board, just as a pitcher, like
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you just can go out there and just throw strikes
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and if things start to get hairy, yeah, you start
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: to you know, bite the bullet a little bit, you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: make some pitches. But like when you're when you're pitching
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: when of the lead, it is a completely like you're
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: pitching a completely different game.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Than what you would if it was zero zero.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: You're trying to you know, maintain the lead and everything,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: so keep it tight or whatever the case may be.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: So just being able to pitch with a lead, that's
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: my initial thought is like that's very comforting. And then
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: you look at how good he plays defense. You hear
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: about like how good of a teammate he is from
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: other guys. Just camaraderie it's going to bring to the clubhouse.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: It's uh, I'm really excited about it.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing this right. I looked
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: it up on Baseball Reference. I got Kyle Tucker at
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: boo EA's Creek. Yeah, that's okay, that was your snapshot
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: of him.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: So they were they were playing they I think they
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: were in the process of building a stadium.
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: For their high A team.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: I don't know if it's in Booi's Creek anymore.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: They were playing at Campbell College as their like main field,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and they were the fighting Camels, which I thought was hilarious, Like,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: like we we would.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: Go there, like the locker rooms were pretty small.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I mean it was the like smaller college locker room
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: and stuff a wayside every time we went. The locker
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: rooms were small, but it was always interesting because we
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: were playing like on a turf college field and they
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: were just like fighting camels everywhere.
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: So it was really cool.
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: Figuring out dinner every night with variety is not easy
• 9:14
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• 9:17
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• 10:11
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• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Justin you you got your deal done before having to
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: you know, go through the whole whatever that process is like. Uh,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker's obviously hasn't agreed yet. Can you kind of
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: explain what that process is like? And you know how
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: if it's been stressful in the past or or however
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: you know you kind of handle and yeah.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: So I can't speak for every organization, but I know
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the Cubs. So the deadline was this past Thursday. I
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: believe Wednesday was when they made their first call or
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: conversation in regards to it. So to me, that's a
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: little stressful, Like I like, like I'm waiting for this,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Like you have this date. It's like, is there gonna
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: be any talks lead up to it? Like d It's like, no,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: we're gonna do it. The night before, we'll give you
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: a call to kind of give you where our head's at.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: And then the next day it picks up quite a bit.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You know, my agent, Sam Samarga, he's on the phone
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: with him a good bit.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: He's calling me. He's like they're going back and forth.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: The call is kind of stayed between them, and then
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Sam will come to me. I's like the number moves
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: or vice versa. So it was it's a good process.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: You know, it hasn't been too strenuous for me or anything.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: I would say.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: The only bad thing is just like the time leading
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: up to that date, like you're thinking, it's hard not
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: to think about it. So it's uh, and then literally
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: the night before is when things finally start picking up.
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: But yeah, it was. It was a good process for
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: me the past two years. Up found it for.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Anyone who's not watching or just listening. When you said
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: it was stressful, justin you had a big smile on
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: your face. I was curious, you know, did this process
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: give you a better sense of whether or not a
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: long term agreement makes sense for both sides or was
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: that sort of maybe table till later where did What
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: was your takeaway from this arbitration?
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there wasn't any type of discussions or conversations like that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Like I didn't even speak to Jed or Carter. It
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: was mostly the I would say, the Cubs negotiation team.
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: I want to say, the guy's name is Gary. I
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: don't know him.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I've never if I saw him, I might would recognize him,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: But that was who my agent was referring to as Gary.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: So so it seems like they have like a negotiation
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: team they have for arbitration that they use and go
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: that route.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: But yeah, ever.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Since the we agreed on the arbitration number, there hasn't
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: been any further conversations. I mean, I imagine if that
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: conversation is going to be had it'll be during spring
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: training once they're around and stuff.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, uh, you're represented by the same group that's representing
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Roki Sasaki obviously is a big name out there.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've been hanging out a lot. Actually we went
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and had a nobu the other day.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: I'm just kidding.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: You would have broken the internet if you.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: I'm more curious about like that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: Obviously we had a translator.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Showed to assimilated so well to the team, like it was.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: It was pretty amazing how quickly that happened. What can
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: you kind of say about what you've heard about Sazaki's
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: talent and then also like what the Cubs do to
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: kind of make a player coming from a you know,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: completely different culture and country feel so at ease, Like
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: showed ad so something.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: It seems like players that are newly coming over have
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: a ton of respect for players that have previously came over.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: So someone's name I keep seeing as you Darvish, and
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: he's like a lot of the guys that are coming
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: over have a ton of respect and like I like
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: to listen to what he says, and he always, you know,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: always just see clips of like him mentioning or you know,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: quotes that he's mentioning how great Chicago is, you know,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: how good they are, and just you know, different things
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: that he says, and it kind of relates to the
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Japanese players that are coming over or so, like you know,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: guys like Saye Showda. It kind of makes affilities whether
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: they're going into the meeting with the Cubs coming to
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Chicago to visit. But I mean it's kind of hard
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: not to argue with what you saw from Shoda this
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: past year.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: Like you can't really say he was uncomfortable out there.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I mean I would say he's the most comfortable pitcher
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: you know in the MLB. Out there, he's you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: being himself, his personalities, you know, shining and it's it's
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: fun to watch. It was really like watching show To
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: this past season was really special and you know, you
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: know that there's more in there. I mean, he pretty
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: much did it with only two pitches. I would say,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: like he threw diamondly two pitches and he has the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: whole arsenal.
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: So I'm just really excited to get back and watch Shoda.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: But we're talking about Sasaki here, but I've watched you
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: know him pitch on TV on YouTube and he's obviously
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: very young, but what he's doing at the age is
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: that he is. It's it's really impressive and you can
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: only see it getting much better from where he is.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: So it's obviously exciting and whoever gets seems going to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: be very pleased with it.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: So you were like curious enough to like look him
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: up and on YouTube or whatever just as it really Okay,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: that's interesting.
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: I remember watching him pitch.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: It was a World Baseball Classic, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: I remember watching him pitch there.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: I remember watching Show to Pitch there as well.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I remember looking watching Show to Pitch like on YouTube
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: or something else. It might have been Twitter or something
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: like someone posted a video of him pitch. I remember
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: watching pitch again, like on my phone. I was like, dude,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: this guy's legit and then we.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: Got it nice. Uh he showed it had that out
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: and against Team USA. I believe Chris.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you said, like he you know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: he's young, he's there's more developing that's gonna happen with
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: with with whatever team he goes to.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Can you kind of talk about your.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Experience with the pitching infrastructure, like it's it's still evolving.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I feel like that that is not sure if you've
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: worked with Tyler Zambro yet. Uh, that the that, like
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Casey Jacobson was in the minors and now his assistant
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: pitching coach. Maybe go through your experience, what like, what's
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: what stood out to you as you were being developed,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: and what like what's going on now that that stands
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: out to you.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: So Casey Jacobson, he's Uh. I've worked with him quite
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: a bit. He's an Arizona right now. He's with us
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: with our bullpen doing our bullpen work or catch play,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: so he's here every single day. He's awesome. I've known
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: him for quite a few years now. He's been amazing
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: every step.
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: Of the way.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I believe last year when I was rehabbing my hamstring,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: he was down here as well, so I was working
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: with him. So everybody, I'm pretty sure everyone that's been
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: around the Cubs is familiar with him. So that'll be
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: an easy installation. I haven't worked with the was it
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Tyler tyler' Zumbro? Yes, I believe I've read or heard
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: that he's from the drive line or he's from some
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: different type.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's it.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: So we've exchanged numbers, exchanged text messages, and stuff. But
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited to work with him, just kind of
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the stuff that you know, that stratosphere like tread, you know,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: all that's.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: All the guys that come from there.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: They have a really different like avenue of thinking when
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it comes to pitching. So it will be interesting to
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: my bullpens and you know, kind of pick his brain
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: and him pick mine and kind of just figure each
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: other out, see how each other work, what makes each
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: other click.
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: It's always fun. I'm really excited about.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: It, justin You've been on this steady assent for a
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: long time now.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: I think you.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: Answered a lot of questions last year by you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: repeating your performance and continuing to form at a high level.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: What are your goals for twenty twenty five when you look.
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: Forward, first goal is to remain healthy the entire season.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Get you know, get the allot at thirty to thirty
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: two starts in one hundred and eighty innings. That's how,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: you know, been my goal past three seasons. I would
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: say I feel really good about where my change up
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: is right now. I really want to implement that more
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: to the right handed hitters, get that going. I felt
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: really good with my sinker last year with the to
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the lefties, so I want to continue that trend.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: Just I felt really good with like when I face lefties.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: You know, I would say the year before, I didn't
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: throw the scene or two seem as much to the lefties,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: so they were able to lean over the plate, the
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: fours going to the other side, of the sliders going
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: on the other side. Even if I throw a curve ball,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: it's still breaking the other side of the place, so
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: they're able to lean over the plate. Kind of take
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: away that inner part and me, you know, implementing that
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: sinker to the lefties more this past season. I mean,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: you just could see some at bats where they just
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: did not know, like they thought it was a fastball still,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but it ended up coming the other way, and you
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: just saw some reactions where it's like they.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: Had no idea what was coming right there.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And that just completely puts the swings odds in your
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: favor as far as in the bat goes. So that
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: was a big big jump for me, and I just
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: kind of want to for the same thing for the righties,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: just implement the change.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: Up and get that working towards the righties.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Justin you were pretty young when Sammy Sosa and Mark
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: McGuire were doing the home run chase back in ninety eight.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: What do you remember about him or what do you
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: know about him? And kind of what are you expecting
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: at Cubs convention. We kind of touched on this before
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: we came on the EDIR, But it's gonna.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Be kind of wild.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: What I see is if they call him out on
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the stage, he has to do the Sammy hop.
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: I don't know who is.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I don't know who is, like.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: You know, publicity team is, but that needs to get
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: in his ear.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: Crowd would love it.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Crowd would love that. It's gonna be exciting. We were
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: talking before the show. It's kind of hard not to
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: imagine the buzz around Chicago with Sammy finally coming back
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: to a Cubs con. And you made the comparison to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen after they won the World Series. So I imagine,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I imagine this will be the biggest turnout they have
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: since then.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: Probably it's crazy.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny. Because we were looking it up.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: I think, like you you might have turned three during
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: that summer.
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, so I was. I was probably three.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: My dad was probably losing his mind, was watching wrestling
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: and like he was watching like WWE.
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: W W used to be the thing when I was
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: a kid.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he was watching WWE. Michael Jordan and Sammy
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Sosa and Mart.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: McGuire, Chase O one record, no doubt. What a great
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: time for sports that was.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Chicago was peaking right around then.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: It's just crazy, Like, I mean, you've been in the
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: organization since twenty fourteen, we both covered the team for
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: longer than that, and he just forever reason hasn't been
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: around like it. You've obviously never met him before, right,
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: what'll you like to interact with him kind of finally
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: or just to see the reactions that maybe you've seen
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: on YouTube from a long time ago.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: So I don't know if you know this. My favorite
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: number in my family number is like twenty one. So
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: high school I was number twenty one, My brother was
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: twenty one. He played college baseball. My dad played football
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: at Alabama, he was twenty one. My grandfather played basketball,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: so the miss he was twenty one. And then my
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: great grandfather who served in the Korean War. He was
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: a left handed pitcher and played professional baseball Incory, and
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: he was number twenty one.
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: So like twenty one is a huge number in my family.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: And when I got to Chicago and got caught up,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: they were like, what number you one?
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: I was like, does anybody have twenty one?
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: They were like, no, nobody has twenty one, but like
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: no one also like people kind of stay away from it.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I sat there for a second. I was like, oh, like,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: kind of it probably should be retired play for me
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, I'll stay away from that number.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: I was like, give me thirty five thirty five worth
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: of thirty five?
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it looks good on you all right.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Justin this at the end of the season, there was
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: a lot of talk. Council said it. I think Tye
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: on it maybe you even talked about it a little bit.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: But this team has to set a higher standard as
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: far as win totals, right, you want to be in
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the playoffs. I remember you saying that in that twenty
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: three I was kind of annoying to watch the playoffs
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: and not.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: Be in it.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Do you think this team has is inching closer to
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: that goal? Is it improved enough to kind of say
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: we can win ninety plus games? And kind of what
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: what what do you expect for the rest of the
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: off season? What more do you want to see?
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, I absolutely think the I mean, you make
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: an addition like Kyle Tucker, you add to the rotation,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: you make some you know, more smaller additions you can't.
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: Help but make the team better. And I think that's
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: what they're doing. Yeah, you make a.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Big splash, big addition like Kyle Tucker, Like I mean,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: did that just boosts the lineup so tremendously, like right
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: off the bat, like it's hard to imagine. It's like
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: exactly like the War, how much it increases the win
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: total by adding one player. I really don't know how
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: all that works.
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: It really does make a.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: But just in my mind, you add someone like Kyle
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Tucker to the middle of the lineup with everything else
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: that we already have, it's it's hard to imagine that
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: when that we're not scoring more runs and where the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: rotation was last year, we were in a great spot,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: top of the league most of the year. I'm going
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: to remain healthy. Jamo's gonna keep doing what he's doing.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: The guys that we have showed is gonna have another
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: great year. It's hard to imagine that we're not gonna,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: you know, be able to you know, compete.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: For the playoffs.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Like it's just it's really hard for me to imagine
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: this team not going there.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Hey, well, justin, thank you for your time. Look forward
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: to seeing you this weekend. Pack warmly and uh yeah,
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: I like the idea of the Sammy hop.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: I think we'll try and pass.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: Trying to get it to it. People want to see it.
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: I'll work on it.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us, Justin. Well, we'll see
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: you this weekend. Take it easy everyone, Thanks for listening.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: This is north Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: subscribe to the YouTube channel, subscribe to The Athletic, where
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Patrick and I are on top of all things.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Cups truly appreciate all of you listening.