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Before it’s too late, which prospects might help the Chicago Cubs this year? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But the reality is it's like you said, there's just
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: not this guy that they're like.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's going to impact our club this year. In
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: the lineup.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast, I'm
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my co host Patrick Mooney, where your
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers for the Athletic, where we cover the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: free falling Cubs.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Just, I mean, I don't know what to say about
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: this offense.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Wind blowing out ninety degree Father's Day Day game and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: they score one run. I'm not sure if they hit
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a ball like that you thought was even going out,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: maybe Michael Bush had won. It was just that loss,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: that series loss. This stretch of games against teams that
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: are hovering around and below five hundred has just been just,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: you know, not the worst case scenario because they're occasionally
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: winning games, but pretty bad situation where we're just where
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: it's gone from when is this going to turn around
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to is this a bad team? And is this offense
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: just a below average group this season?
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up. One thing that's been
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: kind of bothering me. Was just all to talk about
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: like bad luck or like Wisdom's you know ball that
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: he hit on Friday afternoon, and like how many other
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: ballparks that would have been a home run?
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: And that's such one of.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: The dumbest things I see in like the baseball discourse,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Like when a Bears kicker double doinks it no one's like, oh,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: that would have been a make in a dome stadium,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: where that would have been like a single doink at
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: lambeau Field.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: It's like it's professional sports. These are maker miss leagues.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: And like Wisdom, you know, hit another ball yesterday sort
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: of the gap. I think it was the last out
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: of the game. It was it was well struck.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: That bushball was I feel like kind of a catch
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: at the warning track and the momentum carried him into
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: the wall.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: But it wasn't like that was particularly considering.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: The conditions, Like anyone who was outside yesterday at you know,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: literal league games or Father's Day barbecues or you know,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: one of the thirty nine thousand out at Wrigley on Sunday,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: I mean it was hot, it was like perfect conditions
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: to hit, and Jameson Tywne gives up a two run
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: homer to the Cardinals Number nine hitter in the sixth
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: inning and it's game over. I mean, this is we're
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: like a week out from the halfway point of the season.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Like that's it's not luck, it's kind of you know
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: what this team is at this point.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, at a certain point, we got to stop talking
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: about luck. And I get where you're coming from. I
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: do think there's value in like, oh, if someone's consistently
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: striking the ball well and not getting good luck, it's like,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I think they'll turn it around.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But what happened.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: I'll give you more. I'll give you, but I get
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: the morel stuff.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: And I'd even say this with MOREL.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I think what's happening now is now he's hit a
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: real slump, like a real he's at a point where
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: he struggled. So it makes the fact that he didn't
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: get any good luck before look even worse. So now
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it's like you need the good luck at some point
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: to help even out the real slumps. And now it's
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: just like it's just a bad situation and nothing's going right.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: And you know that's that's a different discussion.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: But like this, oh, one hundred and eleven mile per hour, Yeah, yeah,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: he hit it into the wind. At the wrong spot
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: of the ballpark, like that's the wrong spot to do it,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and hit it in the right spot to do it
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in this ballpark like it's it. Yeah, baseball is a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: lot of luck. I mean, it took a little luck
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to win the World Series. Nobody's pointing out all those
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: things that went the Cubs way and saying, well, actually
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: they don't get that real series because this thing went
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: their way and this thing went their way.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: No, it's just like you need luck.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: You need luck to go your way sometimes, and when
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: it's happening this this long for an extended period of time,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: we need to stop talking about luck and you need
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: to make things happen. You need to somehow get runs in,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: you know, like there are little situations that they're not
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: coming through. If you can't grind through one run just
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to tie that game up, you're not doing things things right. Yeah,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, like if we're just
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: repeating ourselves here.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: But that's why I liked your story on Sunday. It
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: was a good change of pace. Obviously.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: The story that I really want to see from you
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: is like the changing wind patterns at Ridley Field and
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: the Macro analysis of global warming and why do the
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Cubs need a dome or something like that. But failing
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: that larger enterprise story, I enjoyed your six names to
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: watch in the Cubs minor league system who could help
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: this year?
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: Like I said, it was a good change of pace.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: I thought it was appropriately balanced because there was no
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: saviors and there are some interesting pitching names.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: But I want to start.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: With the offense, because that is what's struggling, and that
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: is what in the last Cubs window they were very
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: good at bringing in all of a sudden, you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: a chore ber, a hat. Obviously Chris Bryant after working
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: on his defense in Iowa.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: There's probably one or two others that.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: I'm forgetting, but they had this kind of assembly line rolling.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: And you know Ian Happ, you know, as a rookie
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: hitting twenty four home runs.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Or whatever it was.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: I don't I didn't read your piece and think, oh, yeah,
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: like he's the guy. But I also didn't get the
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: sense that they're ruling out any of those possibilities.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Yet, right, No, No, I mean well, like some people
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: asked why I know Alexander Canario, the reason is is
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I put a little I didn't include him, and I
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: put a little caveat on there the guys that we
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: haven't seen in the this season. Uh so that that
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: allowed me to sneak in Ethan Roberts and keep that scenario.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah, And frankly like Canario, I get it, like
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: people people like him and he gets on tears. But
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: he's very similar to Nelson Velasquez, who I guess you know,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: he's a who's a below average hitter with a ton
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: of power.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Those those guys, you know, can help when they're hot.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: But the Cubs need more than just like a hot
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: bat to help them right now. Uh, they need someone
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: they can insert into the lineup or like this very
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: specific matchup bass that will play semi regularly. I think
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: one guy that you could look at in that situation
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: is Owen Casey. And my my concern coming into the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: season with Owen Casey was the swing and miss and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: and just like the fact that Okay, if he's gonna
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: swing and miss, like we need to see the in
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: game power, like it has to be there much more
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: consistently than it's been. And like we the the swing
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and thisss is there, It's not going away.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: It's who he is. That's that's fine.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: There's a you know, this isn't like a forty percent
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: strikeout rate. It's actually, you know, it's like it's high.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: It's like in the twenty upper twenties. But he's he's
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: starting to hit for power, and the power is coming.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: It's not it's not this crazy power for the overall season.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: But if you look at this month, he's slugging. He's
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: really crushing the ball, and he's always had these crazy
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: exit velocities. I think the concern there for the Cubs
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: is player development. They like what they're not going to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: just stick them in the lineup. I know fans, I know,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I get it. I get fans just to like, just
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: put him in the lineup every day, Just let him play.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: He can play over whoever is struggling Ian half, you know,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you know, sit just sit him at DH, put him
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: at DH, and let him hit every day. I don't
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: think that would be their exact plan. I think that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: he'd be like a lefty slugger off the bench matchup base,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: which is a lot of matchups that he'd get to
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: play in. But still, like I think they believe that
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: would stunt his development. They also believe that he has
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: like real talent to play the outfield, like they they
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: think it's a little underrated there. Uh, and they don't
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: want to rush him there because they think just playing
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: time is what gets him to another level. Defensively, I
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: think he's just like slightly below average now, which is
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: better than he was. He was like the assumption was
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: this guy's going to play first base DH and like
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: he said it, and he's a very confident guy. I'm
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: not sure how much you talked to him in spring training,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: but little bit. Yeah, Yeah, he's very confident. He said
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: some things to me that I was like, Oh, you're
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: gonna be fun.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Isn't he the one at Cubs convention maybe the prior
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: year that said they're doing like their whole prospect panel.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: I said, He's like, well, you know, we all expect
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: to make to the Hall of Fame. It was something
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure that.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Afternoon panel or something like that, and it was like,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: you know, a question, but it was it was good.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: It was you know, I did not use it, and
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: I hope I remember correctly but certainly portrayed.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: I remember something like that now that I think about it.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, the other guy is Matt Shaw, right, And
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and what I find about Matt Shaw after talking to
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: some people both within and outside the organization, is people
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: are starting to like the development at third base. The
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the swing is finally getting kind of picked apart. And
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know, like it's not like this dramatic like
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: we have like the Cubs have to completely change his swing.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: But he does have an unorthodox swing. Uh and and
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: there's been a lot that that was something that when
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: he was drafted was like, you know, it works, so
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: don't overthink it. I think there's a little bit more
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: swing and missed there lately. But I I mean, if
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I go look at the numbers, my guess is that
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: it's not like eye popping in the least bit, not
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: like not even close to even like Casey levels. It's
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: just okay, so it's just twenty percent. Here's here's the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: positive development, and that's he's more than doubled. It's three
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: times actually now that I look at three times his
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: walk ring from from last season. It just completely changed
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: what he's swinging at that is going to lead to
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: better things that there's like the ultimately when you have
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: these contact oriented bats, guys get concerned that as they
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: move up the wrung, they they know they can hit
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: any like.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Make contact with any pitch.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: It's kind of like the Alfa del Morro, Yeah, eko,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: but like bigger like to what like caused him to
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: like kind of not establish himself as an everyday player.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Was el Mora never like he couldn't not swing at
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: those pitches, and it led to low walk rates and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: weak contact usually on the ground. You worry about that
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: with any type of player that's coming up through the miners.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: He's he's made that adjustment and it's pretty impressive. Uh,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: they're still a little bit of like they want to
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: see they want to kind of tweak this wing, is
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: my understanding, not dramatically, but just find ways to make
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: sure he's making more contact. I mean, now that I
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: start talking about it, I do want to reach out
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: to a couple other people and get their thoughts on it.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: But but in general, it sounds like, uh, they're they're
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: really excited about the upside.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: They believe more is there.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And after that, the consensus that I got is like
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: they couldn't believe this guy's a year out from a
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: year ago. This guy was in college. Uh, they're really
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: impressed with the development. Outside shot of getting up here
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: by the end of the year. Still some work they
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: want to do.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Uh. Those are the two bats that.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: That I was kind of the that were brought up
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: to me as as could come up. But the reality is,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: it's like you said, there's just not this guy that
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, he's gonna impact our club this year.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: In the lineup there's no position player. I mean, I
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: didn't ask about him because the development is so critical
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: and I'd be very surprised if they rush him up
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: this year. But Moys's Biasteris just got moved up to
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Triple A. He's twenty years old. He, like fans are
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: gonna look at like ops or batting average in the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Southern League Double A. Matt Shaw's numbers don't look great.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: He's well above average in that league. That league is
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: a mess offensively. Moys's Biastais is having an insane year
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: as a twenty year old double A catcher.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Just absolutely why is that league?
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: I feel like you've heard that before.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: It like, no, no, there isn't.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: I asked around.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I asked some scouts, like is there something they're trying
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: that's leading to this, And they just said that they
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: don't have a reason.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: It's just down like it may just be like that.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: There's nothing that at least unless I'm missed, unless I'm
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: misremembering my conversations, there's no specific reason. There's no TACKI
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: ball this year. It's none of that stuff. So I'm
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: not sure exactly what's going on. But the Southern league's
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: a mess. As far as offense, it's really down. Uh,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: maybe it's just more baseball stuff, like because there's all this,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: all these rumors about the baseball right now. Right offense
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: in the big leagues is down too. I just don't
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: want I want to mention by Stairs because he was
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: promoted to Triple A. But I don't think like I
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: think the catcher development there is a major kurdle to
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: try and rush him. He's not close to ready there.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: He has a lot of work to do, whether he
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: can stick there or not. I don't know if the
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if they suddenly changed their minds on
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: how they want to h proceed with him. But he's
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: twenty years old and a Triple A now, like I
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: think we you know, we we'll have to dig in
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: more on him, because he's obviously a very intriguing prospect.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Outside of that, man offense isn't coming. It's the guys.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: It's the guys that they have, right, we keep talking
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: about it. I'm intrigued by these relievers, though, I don't
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: know if they're going to change that. I thought you
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: were there Sunday yesterday. I thought council talking about like
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: seeing it essentially said something about a light at the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: end of the tunnel for the bullpen.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: I thought that was interesting.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Ethan Roberts could be part of that
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: bucket as well.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: You have Yency Almonte.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Going out on a minor league rehab signment this week,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: or at least he is scheduled to around the All
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Star break. The Cubs expect to activate Julian Merriweather.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: Ebert Alzalai is still more uncertain.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be like, you know, putting his name on
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: any sort of depth chart at the moment, but they signed.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Drawing a blank here. Horey Lobez yes from the Mets,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: so like he was going to go. He was schedules
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: to go to Arizona first.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: He's had some very good stretches as a major league
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: believer and was pitching well with the Mets. He just,
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: you know, kind of had a melt down there and
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: lost his job. But Ethan Roberts being added to the
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: forty man, I think our expectation would be probably be
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: up to Wrigley Field sooner rather than later. And I
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: think when you take all those things together, I think
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: you could see what Council's saying.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: I think he also said in the same breath, like
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: we've had.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: A lot of injuries and so that like, I'm sure
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: he would have liked to have had Ben Brown somewhere
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: in this mix, or like to be able to just
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: pencil in Jordan Wick's every fifth day. That is not
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: happening anytime soon. So it's never going to be totally.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Look totally clean.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: But I think Counsel I'll say, is say that this
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: bullpen was not a strength of the team heading into
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: the year, and it has lost a lot of talent,
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: and the more they can get back Tyson Miller has
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: been a very pleasant surprise. I asked, you know, whether
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: consider Miller at closer and I got kind of a
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: convoluted answer, or we both we weren't we kind of
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: got our wires crossed. But I think the translation I
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: got was, well, then who's going to pitch in the
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: seventh or eighth inning? I think that is his concern. Yeah,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: we need out getters, We need to get twenty seven outs,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: So what does it matter if he gets the twenty
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: first or twenty second or twenty third out or twenty
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: fourth out.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: Whatever it was.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: So that to me sound like, Okay, probably not going
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: to just make him your closer, but certainly they trust
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: him in really high leverage situations. I also think too,
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: like they may need him for multiple innings at certain points.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: You know, this is a puzzle saha council.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: He tells us it's solving for wins and solving puzzles
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: and things like that. So, yeah, rambling about a bullpen
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: that just basically has no margin for ericaus the offense can.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean there's there are some Yeah, I
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: can kind of see just looking at the bullpen, just
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: looking at the names.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: What what council is talking about? You have Tyson Miller.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: I get it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Hector Norris is a roller coaster, but he's a veteran
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: who's trusted to get out of.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Those situations, even if he puts himself in them.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Uh, you will have to watch him constantly right the
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: rest of the way, see see which direction he's headed.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: But but I think, like, how about Drew Smiley.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Quietly lowering his e R becoming a really key part
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: of keeping them in games lately? Uh? We could we
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: could be talking about a bunch of blowouts if it
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: weren't for him of late. I think I think there
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: are things when when you talk about getting back on
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Monte and Julian Merriweather, that's going to change things. That's
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: that's going to make you feel a little bit better
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: about the bullpen. Yes, I know they have to score runs.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I know that none of this all. We can talk
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: about everything else all we want. Unless they're hitting home runs,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: hitting it into the gaps and scoring a ton of runs,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: it becomes moot. But but I think fixing the bullpen
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: isn't as it's not as much of a disaster as
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: it originally felt. I also feel like someone like Drew
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Smiley is it's important to notice him and point it
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: out and remind everyone like, yeah, I get it. People,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: these veterans struggle, you know, they like or pictures relievers
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: in general struggle that they have moments where they look
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: really rough, where it looks like, is this guy gonna
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: help this team at all? And I'm pretty sure Drew
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Smiley had a few of those moments early on this
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: season where we're like, is this just done for him?
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Like is this is it over? And he can't help
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: this team? Well, he got healthy and he's helping the team.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: He's he's a valuable bullpen piece right now, and that's
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: all you can kind of ask for in the role
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: that he's been given.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I don't like Ethan Roberts. I don't want fans like.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: He's an incredibly nice guy, very good with the media
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: and fans.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: He's well known among the fan base because of that,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: and he's got a nasty sweeper. I would I would
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: just caution that this guy's like some cure all for
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the bullpen in any way. I think he's going to
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: be at the end of the bullpen with Colton Brewer.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: He's gonna fill a role like Porter Hodge did and
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: and if he can and if he can get some
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: outs like Porter dot Hodge did initially, uh, then he can.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: He'll continue to be used. Right like that's all, Like,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Council told. What council said is true. We need out getters.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: So if he's getting out, hey, maybe maybe he opens
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: some eyes and he gets some gets some chances. But
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I worry about the walks. He's not in the zone
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: very often.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: It's a low nineties fastball that plays up because of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: like like a funky arm action. But it's a sweeper
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and he's gonna have to face mostly righties, like if
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: he faces lefties. I don't think he really has a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: pitch that he can he feels comfortable, uh, getting getting
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: them out with.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: This isn't Tyson.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Miller, who's a former starter and the Cubs kind of
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: tweaked his like, you know, told him to use different pitches,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and now he's effective against both guys. Right, He's he
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: was looked at when they acquired him. It was like,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: this guy's just a righty out getter. He's impressed and
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: he's and he's done much better than expected, especially the
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: way he was acquired.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, I just said it. Issue is walks.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Right, three more names, Zachly Hunter, Biggie, Michael Arias you
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: go look at their numbers. The issues are walks These
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: guys all have stuff. These guys all impressed in different ways.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Zachle doesn't have like huge stuff, but he like gets
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: good gets good extension, so his fastball plays up a
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: bit and and it's also a little bit of a cutter.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: He's a solid. He's a guy that I was told
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: to watch years ago. And he's quickly like a sixteenth
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: rounder I want to say, yeah, sixteenth rounder in the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one draft, biggie injuries, Like I want to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: say he was drafted by the previous regime, like when
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: McLoud and Dorry were running drafts and he kept getting hurt.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: But big spike and stuff and just nasty like nasty stuff. Again,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: if you can be around the zone more, this is
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: this is the type of guy that has the arsenal
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: to be a really good reliever, but he just has
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to stay healthy, has to not walk guys.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: I mean great reliever name, I mean yeah, yeah, like
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: go from there.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: I did think there are two names use We've talked
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: a lot about kind of prospects and trade deadline and
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: kind of the larger picture here. I thought it was
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: interesting that the corresponding roster moved to Ethan Roberts was
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: dfang Jose Quass, who was kind of the primary bullpen
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: ad at last year's trade deadline clearly did not work
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: out as well as the Cups had hoped. He had
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: his moments. I know he was had kind of a
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: rubber arm.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: A dude available, accountable, but just didn't quite have it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Now, having said that, Nelson Velaskaz has not performed that
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: great for the Royals, I mean he's got I think
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: he's like a negative war player at this moment. I
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: think both guys were probably what each organization thought, you know,
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: like maybe you catch lightning in a bottle.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Like that's all part of it.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: Another name that I saw my timeline was DJ Hurs,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: left handed pitcher who raided in the Jamer Candeleio deal.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Now you have to make these trades, you have to
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: like move your inventory.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Like it's not like DJ Hurs would be like starting
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: ahead of Shoda in Monaga, but it I just thought
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: it was interesting that some of these names pop right
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: as like we're ramping up again for the trade deadline,
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: and now DJ Hurs. It was one start against the
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: bad Marlins team, but six shutout innings thir team strikeouts,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: no walks. Now, I don't think he's going to, you know,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: go the rest of.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: His career without issuing a walk. Kind of that was
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: an issue.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: But you know, an athletic lefty who kind of throws
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: from a funky angle, who could have played football at UNC, Like,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: there's lots like there, and like we're not saying this
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: like tiss the Cubs or like second guess.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: It, like this is is what he's supposed to do.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: When you're a big market team and playoff spies within sight,
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: like the issues, you always have to keep regenerating that
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: supply of prospects. But it will be interesting to see
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: how some of these guys panned out. And you know
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: how aggressive Jed is willing to be at this year's
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: trade deadline. I think we're going to get into it
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: later this week of do you use this trade deadline
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: to plan ahead and get some of the star power
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: that is clearly here. But that is a whole other episode,
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: a very long discussion. But again, sind Of, I really
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: enjoyed your piece as a kind of as a refresher
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: of like, Okay, there still is a lot of time
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: left in this season.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: They comes do have some buttons left to press here.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: Let's see if they get him right.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, I've seen a lot of talk
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: about the coast straight lately too, and like it's it's
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a wash there. Yeah, you know, costs great, dude didn't
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: turn into what they thought he may. Like, you know,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he has a chance of coming
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: back clearing waivers and coming back and and and being
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: just off the forty man and hopefully fixing whatever is
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: going on with him. But yeah, they tried to trade
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: for a reliever that they thought could get guys out
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and it didn't work out. Nelson Vilaskis is just not
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: that good of a player this year, Like I know,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: fans think, like I'm not sure what fans are are
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: looking at, but he's like well below average offensively, has
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: one extra base hit this month, and can't play defense.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: He's a negative war player.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: So he went off in that forty game stretch.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, last great, great stretch last year.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was on a heater and he can crush
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the ball and when he's locked in, it's kind of
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: like Canario. You can ride the heater, try and ride it,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: but it's hard. It's hard sometimes. I mean Kansas City
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: was a losing team last year and couldn't and just
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: let him play, right, They just let him play And
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: then I think they tried that to start the year
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: and he was in a cold stretch, like he didn't
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: hit enough, and like once he hit the cold stretch
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: and they're playing well, they're they're a competing team. They
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: can't they can't give him that long leash. So it's
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a it's a tough player too. You have to have
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: a ton of playing time to let him work and
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: see like can he rarely get locked in and make
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: those ups and downs not so extreme?
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah? So I mean these things are gonna.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: Have It's interesting.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: That's the challenge of what the Cubs are going to
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: be going through now, Like yeah, okay, do you want
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: to give Owen Casey six hundred bats in the majors?
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: And figured out like does that mean you have to
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: dump a corner Ralphil? Or like does that mean Morel's
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: not your DH or like where Like it's like, this
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: is I think part of what the stuck feeling around
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: the Cubs or some of the frustration internally externally it's like, yeah,
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: you got some nice players, but like, how are you
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: gonna figure out what you have and here you're gonna
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: have to displace to do that. And it's not like
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: this nucleus has blown you away to.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: Where like, oh, we have to keep going. It's it's
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: gonna be fascinating to.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Watch and and I mean, I'm not sure if we've
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: said this on the podcast, but you know, like you
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you do ride through some of the growing pains, right
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: and it pays off in the end. And Council said
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: it Friday. I believe he said the Cardinals did it
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: last year with Mason Wynn and it's paying off. The
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Brewers did it last year with Bryce rang and it's
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: paying off. The Cubs are doing it right now kind
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of with Pete grow Armstrong. M We'll see if that
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: pays off. Because I had a young reporter come and
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: ask me what I thought about him, and I said, yeah,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I like Pete grow arms Strong offensively. I think there's
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: major issues right now, but I you know, I don't.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't assume this is who he is going forward.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: He has some things he needs to figure out. I'd
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: like to see him walk more because he's such a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: threat on the basis I mean, yeah, he almost he
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: almost tied that game up yesterday just by being a
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: pinch runner.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Was that yesterday? Whatever day that was when when he.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's all kind of blending together. But I know
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: what you're talking about. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: So anyways, like he needs to he needs to tweak
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: some things and learn and and go through these growing
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: paints because triple A is kind of pointless for him
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: at the moment, but like it, there's value in going
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: through the growing pains, even if it may mean that
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: the Cubs are losing games because they don't have an
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: offensive producer there, But like they have to figure some
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of these things out, like these get this is part
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: of player development. I think Cubs fans sometimes think it's
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: all very simple and quick and Chris Bryant comes up
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and wins Rookie of the Year and looks like a superstar,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and that's how it goes for the really talented rookies
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: or prospects. It's not always how it goes. So you
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: have to kind of suck it up sometimes and say,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: like this is you have to be patient.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: This is what it's going to be.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Right now, it's a mess because of everything else that's
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: going on, Like I remember wasn't it last year or
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: in the off season where Jed basically said, yeah, we'd
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: love it. Like in the ideal situation is everyone's performing
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: and there's no pressure on Pete grow arms Strong.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: He's our eighth hitter.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and just like you know, he can hit whatever
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: he's hitting, but the rest of the group is performing.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's just they're just kind of letting him
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: be that eighth hitner and hit whatever he's hitting. And
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: also no one's performing, so well, you have a little
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: bit more of a microscope out and struggles.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: Progress is not linears just right now.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: I definitely did not sear you say.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: You say that a million times the last decade plus.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean if Cubs fans can cling to that,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: because if progress isn't linear, you have to hope that
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: this extreme nearly two month downswing of performance is just
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: part of a great year as they swing back up
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: and and.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: And and make a run for it. You can look
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: at the Mets as something positive.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: The Mets were a week ago and and now they're
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: on a five game winning streak. I mean the Cubs
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: have to face them in in three days, so maybe
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: that's not a positive what I'm just saying, like the
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: most dead teams can can come alive.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: You just don't want to keep falling further and further back.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I think like every single time we talked to fans,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: now it's like another game under five hundred. I think
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: it was three before and now it's four. You know,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: it just slowly is like this low march. It happened
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: much quicker, I believe last year where it went from
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: like hey they're offering around five hundred. Oh they're ten
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: games under.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: How did that happen?
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: This is like slow but like painful and just my god,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: how did it? How did it get here? And we
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: will dig into that more, I think. I think hopefully
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: we'll we'll have Jed Hoyer to talk to at at
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Wrigley in the coming days, get some more of his
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: thoughts on you know, it seems like we get a week,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: you know, every two weeks we're getting updates from him,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: like what's wrong here? So at least he's there to
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: answer the questions. I'm not sure if he has actual
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: answers as to what's wrong, but uh, you know, not
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem like anyone does at the moment. But Patrick
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: will will have. We'll have at least one guest this week.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: We have some fun stuff to talk about. Like you said,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: trade deadline talk, how do they improve? Uh, someone that
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: you know knows great council, maybe some Ryan Samdberg talk.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll see where we go this week.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: But it is, you know, three against San Francisco, three
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: against the Mets, like I said, I think that's then,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: and then four at San Francisco. Yes, so we got
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: ten more games in this stretch of twenty five. I'm
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: not gonna go do the math right now, but they're
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: like three games under I want to say in the
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: first fifteen like something like that that I said, like
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: a stretch of twenty five games where this is where
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: you make your hay.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: So basically you want them to go ten and oh
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: for the next ten to feel good about this stretch. Oh,
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: they get some damage.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's happening, but the turnaround can happen
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: at any point or it could just not happen. So
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: we'll leave you.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: With that positivity there.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: This is North Side Territory or Cubs Podcast on the
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: File Territory Network. We're said of Charman and Patrick Mooney,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Cubs Beat writers for The Athletic. Make sure to read
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: our work over there at the Athletic. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: do all that good stuff you do with podcasts. I
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: think we're on YouTube too, not visually, but you can
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: hear us on YouTube if that's how you listen to
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: your podcasts, so make sure to do that.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Subscribe on there. We appreciate you all of you for listening.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we have some better come stuff to talk about
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: in the near future, but.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: For now, it's just this. This is what you're stuck with.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I apologize, thanks for listening. I'll take care