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What Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s deal means for Kyle Tucker · 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: Sahada Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, we have
0:16
Speaker 1: an entertaining Cubs first Cubs weekend at Wrigley Field to
0:21
Speaker 1: talk about lot lot in that weekend that to discuss
0:26
Speaker 1: good and bad in my opinion, And we could kick
0:30
Speaker 1: it off with something not directly Cubs related, but probably
0:35
Speaker 1: the biggest baseball news of the weekend that broke late
0:38
Speaker 1: Sunday night. Vlad Junior is staying in Toronto fourteen years,
0:44
Speaker 1: five hundred million dollars. A massive deal, no deferrals, no
0:51
Speaker 1: opt outs, the you know, the son of an exposed
0:55
Speaker 1: superstar stays in Canada. It's a big deal for the
0:58
Speaker 1: Blue Jays, it's big deal for baseball. We touched on
1:02
Speaker 1: it last maybe not last episode, but last week at
1:06
Speaker 1: some point. The idea of Blad Junior, how that may
1:10
Speaker 1: impact Kyle Tucker. What what's your initial reaction to this
1:15
Speaker 1: and the Cubs connection.
1:18
Speaker 2: Well, first, wow, right, I mean for a guy who
1:23
Speaker 2: I don't know, we'll see, We'll get to see Kyle
1:26
Speaker 2: Tucker for a full season, right, so maybe well we
1:29
Speaker 2: can kind of, you know, appreciate his talents more and
1:32
Speaker 2: put it in a different sort of context. But at
1:34
Speaker 2: first glance, like who would you rather have on your team,
1:39
Speaker 2: Vlad Junior or Kyle Tucker. Now I'm not trying to
1:42
Speaker 2: bash flat Junior, like fantastic talent, son of a Hall
1:47
Speaker 2: of Famer, I mean born in Canada, and for a
1:50
Speaker 2: team that had constantly finished second or third in all
1:53
Speaker 2: of these free agent sweepstakes, like had to land the player.
1:56
Speaker 3: So makes sense from that side.
1:58
Speaker 4: But like.
2:00
Speaker 2: We heard this at the Winter meetings right as those
2:02
Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker rumblings were starting of like, you know, if
2:06
Speaker 2: Juan Soto gets fifteen years and more than seven hundred million,
2:11
Speaker 2: what could Kyle Tucker get? Again, not that he's on
2:15
Speaker 2: Juan Soto's Hall of Fame trajectory yet he's older than
2:18
Speaker 2: Juan Soto, but what he brings to the table on
2:21
Speaker 2: a daily basis in terms of speed, defense, left handed power, athleticism,
2:29
Speaker 2: It's it's not like he's a you know, a slight
2:32
Speaker 2: fraction of either player. And so I think, after everything
2:36
Speaker 2: we've written about payroll, for all the questions people have
2:39
Speaker 2: had about the Cubs, you know, revenue, payroll disparities, to
2:43
Speaker 2: have you know, a Ken Rosenthal bombshell report drop late
2:48
Speaker 2: Sunday night. Is fascinating because this is going to be
2:53
Speaker 2: like the story around the Cubs. It's do they make
2:56
Speaker 2: the playoffs or not? And do they sign Kyle Tucker
2:59
Speaker 2: long term or not?
3:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I've been thinking about this obviously pretty much
3:05
Speaker 1: since they've traded him. I think one thing, the first
3:08
Speaker 1: thing for me that's important, this is how I look
3:10
Speaker 1: at it. I think it's how baseball people, When I
3:13
Speaker 1: say baseball people, front office execs look at it is
3:19
Speaker 1: the trade is separate from the potential extension or resigning.
3:23
Speaker 1: Like you have to look at the trade. It is
3:26
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five. You are getting Kyle Tucker for
3:29
Speaker 1: one year. Value wise, it is a win for the
3:33
Speaker 1: Astros right value wise. As far as how you know,
3:38
Speaker 1: whatever war and wore out all that nonsense for twenty
3:42
Speaker 1: twenty five you want, I think the Cubs are That's
3:45
Speaker 1: what their focus was in that deal. They were trying
3:48
Speaker 1: to get to a level that made them playoff contenders,
3:52
Speaker 1: or gave them a little bit more margin for error
3:53
Speaker 1: to be playoff contenders. They accomplished that by acquiring Kyle Tucker.
3:59
Speaker 1: Separate over that, like, I don't think we need to
4:01
Speaker 1: discuss cam Smith, Hayden, Weisenski, and es aparatus when discussing
4:05
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker in a potential re signing of Kyle Tucker.
4:11
Speaker 1: What this comes down to is is what we wrote
4:13
Speaker 1: about last week or yeah, last week, and what where
4:18
Speaker 1: their budget is. And I know there are people that
4:21
Speaker 1: are going to say, so this is thirty five about
4:25
Speaker 1: per year for flat junior. In reality, my guess is
4:32
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker gets a higher AV and fewer years. How
4:36
Speaker 1: much higher and how many fewer years we can you know,
4:40
Speaker 1: we'll find out. Let's say, let's just go with forty million. Okay,
4:44
Speaker 1: I'm looking I'm looking at the Blue Jays roster resource
4:48
Speaker 1: there and looking at their luxury tax payroll for twenty
4:51
Speaker 1: twenty six. Right, they haven't added anybody for twenty twenty six.
4:55
Speaker 1: As far as that that that season hasn't happened, right,
4:58
Speaker 1: it hasn't begun. That all season hasn't happened. They're at
5:02
Speaker 1: two hundred million already, Okay, and they have one massive
5:06
Speaker 1: deal and then a bunch of really good like like
5:09
Speaker 1: a fifteen million and eighteen million or twenty three million
5:11
Speaker 1: and twenty four So what you're talking about here is
5:15
Speaker 1: if the Cubs are going to be a two hundred
5:17
Speaker 1: and ten million dollar team with maybe an exception here
5:20
Speaker 1: and there to get to two thirty. You're talking about Dansby, Swanson,
5:25
Speaker 1: Ian Hap, Kyle Tucker, h Jameson, Tye Own, Matthew Boyd
5:31
Speaker 1: and then what what else can you do? What else
5:33
Speaker 1: can you do as far as adding players?
5:36
Speaker 4: Right?
5:36
Speaker 1: You have you have good players and show to you
5:38
Speaker 1: have young players, but you can't how are you going
5:40
Speaker 1: to go out and supplement the team in free agency?
5:43
Speaker 1: So like you're going to be at that two ten
5:47
Speaker 1: mark very quickly. I think Ben's think of it as like, well,
5:49
Speaker 1: it's this percentage of the you you have to nail
5:52
Speaker 1: every signing.
5:53
Speaker 4: Then you can't have a bad contract. And if Kyle.
5:56
Speaker 1: Tucker gets hurt, now you're cooked. Now you're done. Like
6:01
Speaker 1: it is a major risk. You can't do that unless
6:04
Speaker 1: you're going to spend two hundred and sixty plus million
6:07
Speaker 1: a year, Like I mean, you can, but you're really
6:11
Speaker 1: restricted and you have to and you can't. Like it
6:13
Speaker 1: really reduces your ability to make a mistake or like
6:17
Speaker 1: take a risk. That deal in itself is a risk,
6:20
Speaker 1: right if if that's what you're like, it's and I
6:24
Speaker 1: know that people are gonna like come back and say,
6:26
Speaker 1: like it's worth the risk whatever, maybe it is, like
6:29
Speaker 1: I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying, this is
6:32
Speaker 1: the calculus they're considering, Right, how do they how do
6:36
Speaker 1: they fit that contract in if their budget is two
6:40
Speaker 1: hundred and ten ish million every year with the rare exception,
6:44
Speaker 1: Oh maybe if yeah, we can give Alex Bregman this
6:49
Speaker 1: half assed offer, you know, like every once in a while.
6:53
Speaker 1: But other than that, like they're they're just doesn't seem
6:57
Speaker 1: to me like they can hand out a deal like
7:00
Speaker 1: that and be the type of front office that they
7:03
Speaker 1: that they believe they are right like that, it would
7:06
Speaker 1: it would be almost irresponsible because in when when analyzing
7:12
Speaker 1: a deal like that, it's the back end that's not
7:14
Speaker 1: as valuable, right, so you almost look at it as
7:17
Speaker 1: a sunk us in the back end of the deal
7:20
Speaker 1: because you're supposed to win a ton on the front end.
7:24
Speaker 4: But if Tom Bricketts's demand.
7:26
Speaker 1: Is no more down swings, right, how do you hand
7:30
Speaker 1: out that deal? And not expect to downswing it after
7:33
Speaker 1: it after in the second half.
7:34
Speaker 2: Of it, Well, you're kind of getting to the heart
7:38
Speaker 2: of the Sahadev of like who's going to be making
7:42
Speaker 2: that decision? Like if right, they make the playoffs, one
7:47
Speaker 2: would think that Jeed Hoyer would would stay on, considering
7:50
Speaker 2: he is pretty aligned with the entire organization and that
7:56
Speaker 2: making the playoffs would be the natural next step.
7:58
Speaker 3: Here we have, you know.
8:01
Speaker 2: An almost certain work stoppage after twenty twenty six, and
8:05
Speaker 2: we haven't We don't quite know exactly what the rules
8:10
Speaker 2: will be as Kyle Tucker will be getting into that
8:14
Speaker 2: mega deal, and the Cubs do not strike us as
8:18
Speaker 2: a team that's going to go kind of color outside
8:22
Speaker 2: the lines or be totally unconventional in a.
8:26
Speaker 3: Scenario like that.
8:28
Speaker 2: I mean, look, the odds are your team won't sign
8:32
Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker, right, like, only one team gets the player.
8:39
Speaker 3: I guess to bring it back towards.
8:43
Speaker 2: Maybe the Cubs is you have to look at some
8:44
Speaker 2: of these pressure points, right, Like, it doesn't always work
8:47
Speaker 2: out the way free agents think it will, and the
8:52
Speaker 2: Blue Jays were under enormous pressure to retain this homegrown
8:55
Speaker 2: star after whiffing in so many other pursuits. I mean,
9:00
Speaker 2: Steve Cohen drove that Juan Soto negotiations to place that
9:07
Speaker 2: you know, I don't even think.
9:10
Speaker 4: I don't know.
9:10
Speaker 3: Maybe Scott Boris had I know he had that number
9:12
Speaker 3: in mind.
9:13
Speaker 2: Our buddy Will Salmon wrote that that he wrote wrote
9:15
Speaker 2: down a number and put it.
9:16
Speaker 3: Away in a drawer.
9:18
Speaker 2: This was pretty astronomical. But without Steve Cohen, where do
9:25
Speaker 2: where do the Yankees bid?
9:26
Speaker 4: Like?
9:26
Speaker 3: Where do the Reds?
9:28
Speaker 2: You have some teams that have you know, Rickets is
9:32
Speaker 2: right when he says like every dollar you spend now
9:34
Speaker 2: is a dollar you can't spend later, Like there have
9:37
Speaker 2: teams that have made some huge investments, and you wonder, like,
9:42
Speaker 2: you know, the Mets probably aren't going to put Kyle
9:44
Speaker 2: Tucker on on it they right, Like I guess you
9:47
Speaker 2: could never say never with the Dodgers, but not the
9:52
Speaker 2: most obvious hole that they would have if they have
9:55
Speaker 2: any like glaring weaknesses so like and how many play
10:00
Speaker 2: this does Kyle Tucker want to play? If he has
10:02
Speaker 2: a great year here? Like the cops are going to
10:04
Speaker 2: be in this conversation, right, yeah, we'll just see where
10:08
Speaker 2: where it goes, Like they cannot rule that idea out.
10:12
Speaker 2: They obviously love the player, that's what they traded for him.
10:15
Speaker 2: He seems very low maintenance, right and very uh you know,
10:21
Speaker 2: well regarded, well liked teammate who clearly hasn't let any
10:26
Speaker 2: of this bother him.
10:28
Speaker 4: Yeah.
10:28
Speaker 1: Absolutely, let's let's talk about his impact on the team
10:32
Speaker 1: and how they're looking at right after this.
10:34
Speaker 5: Break aj, it is time for people to get some
10:37
Speaker 5: new clubs, and to do that they need to go
10:39
Speaker 5: to their local PXG for a fitting, right.
10:41
Speaker 6: No doubt. I was there today, I've been there before.
10:44
Speaker 6: Last time I was there, they gave me this killer gap.
10:46
Speaker 6: I look at that sweet spot, Scott, it is worn out.
10:48
Speaker 6: That is right in the sweet spot right there. So
10:50
Speaker 6: I went and got new clubs today, new irons. But
10:53
Speaker 6: more importantly, I got this bad boy. I got me
10:55
Speaker 6: a new putter. This is my old putter.
10:56
Speaker 3: It's on order.
10:57
Speaker 6: Yes, that's my putter cover PXG Mustang putter. Now going
11:00
Speaker 6: to the Alan putter. They talked me into it because
11:02
Speaker 6: I was draining some putts today. Bob the guy who
11:05
Speaker 6: helped me out, he helped me with my irons. He
11:07
Speaker 6: got him teed up perfectly. But then we went to
11:09
Speaker 6: the putt and green. I was draining them putts because
11:11
Speaker 6: that's the most important part of golf.
11:12
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11:16
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11:18
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11:27
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11:36
Speaker 1: All right, I don't want to get Cubs fans in
11:39
Speaker 1: a bad mood. Bullpen does a good enough job of that.
11:43
Speaker 1: They want Kyle Tucker re signed, and I think that's it.
11:47
Speaker 1: It's obvious. Why just we've watched him for what is it,
11:51
Speaker 1: twelve games now, whatever it is.
11:54
Speaker 4: He's awesome.
11:55
Speaker 1: He's he's as advertised, incredibly impactful, comes up with big
12:00
Speaker 1: hits regularly, just just great at bats. Currently, I believe
12:07
Speaker 1: he's walking more than he strikes out. I doubt that last,
12:11
Speaker 1: but still, he's not going to strike out a ton
12:12
Speaker 1: He walks it, tony.
12:13
Speaker 4: It's for power. He's ideal.
12:15
Speaker 1: He's ideal, all around offensive player, just player in general.
12:21
Speaker 1: The way the offense looks right now is incredibly impressive.
12:27
Speaker 1: They they've had a really tough schedule. They don't chase much,
12:34
Speaker 1: if at all. They and I was looking at this
12:38
Speaker 1: before Sunday's game. They don't chase. But it's not like
12:43
Speaker 1: sometimes there are teams that don't chase, but they just
12:45
Speaker 1: don't swing much. They attack in the zone. They're about
12:48
Speaker 1: a little above league average when it comes to swinging
12:52
Speaker 1: and end zone pitches, and they are near the bottom
12:55
Speaker 1: five when it comes to swinging. When I say bottom five,
12:58
Speaker 1: so top five's they don't swing, they don't chase currently.
13:02
Speaker 1: These numbers can fluctuate, but they do stabilize pretty quickly.
13:05
Speaker 1: These are the types of numbers that do stabilize quicker
13:08
Speaker 1: than you know, maybe strikeout, raid or power output, whatever
13:12
Speaker 1: it may be. Like that takes a you know, a
13:15
Speaker 1: month or two more before we have a better idea,
13:17
Speaker 1: But these are the types of numbers that stabilize quickly.
13:20
Speaker 4: Right now, they look like a.
13:21
Speaker 1: Team that doesn't chase much, and it's going to be
13:25
Speaker 1: a pain in the ass for opposing pitchers. I right
13:30
Speaker 1: now like the way this offense looks. You keep it healthy,
13:34
Speaker 1: it is going to be pesky, there's enough power that
13:39
Speaker 1: those walks become really valuable. They were, they're probably still
13:45
Speaker 1: leading the league and walk right maybe maybe see I
13:49
Speaker 1: think they're jockeying for first with Seattle, but really impressive
13:54
Speaker 1: offensive team currently.
13:57
Speaker 3: Base running as well. Just the idea of yeah, pressure
14:00
Speaker 3: on the other team.
14:01
Speaker 2: I thought of your great catcher pursuit of last season
14:06
Speaker 2: this off season, that when you were tracking down at
14:08
Speaker 2: the GM meetings trying to track down every single possible
14:12
Speaker 2: catcher permutation, and that Carson Kelly looks pretty good. Like
14:16
Speaker 2: you probably won't have like a thousand ops or whatever
14:19
Speaker 2: for the whole season or whatever it is now, but
14:22
Speaker 2: like that ideal sort of complementary catcher who can run
14:27
Speaker 2: into some home runs just adds a real nice dimension
14:33
Speaker 2: to the lineup when that bottom half or bottom third
14:36
Speaker 2: is a lot harder to navigate, and you know, having
14:41
Speaker 2: bench options.
14:43
Speaker 3: You know, justin Turner the other.
14:44
Speaker 2: Day coming in coming in for a big moment that
14:48
Speaker 2: Craig Council said, this is a guy who's built for
14:52
Speaker 2: those situations. So just having some more options, and that's
14:58
Speaker 2: why I think comes to we're kind of left wanting
15:01
Speaker 2: more this weekend when you see and Brown non competitive start,
15:06
Speaker 2: but the offense to come back, you know, they got
15:09
Speaker 2: to leave the league in what like Bach induced Maybe
15:14
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's a stat for that.
15:15
Speaker 4: But what a first inning, huh exactly to.
15:19
Speaker 3: Have, you know, to kind of be in that position
15:24
Speaker 3: to grab that sweep.
15:25
Speaker 2: I think that was, you know, really kind of the
15:27
Speaker 2: only down note from a pretty entertaining, energetic weekend at
15:33
Speaker 2: Wrigley Field with no range layers either.
15:36
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's get to the ugly right. Caleb Thielbar
15:40
Speaker 1: cannot walk elizas Ds. Ryan Presley cannot walk elizas Ds
15:46
Speaker 1: like he he had too many walks, a guy that
15:49
Speaker 1: had a six percent walk rate or something like that
15:52
Speaker 1: last year. You cannot continually walk him. I'm gonna give
15:56
Speaker 1: Porter Hodge a pass for allowing a run finally, you
15:59
Speaker 1: know he was a eventually going to allow a run.
16:01
Speaker 1: Brad Keller, Uh, welcome to the circle of trust. Like
16:05
Speaker 1: he is he is, he is legit. It looks like
16:09
Speaker 1: and I think you're going to see him in more
16:11
Speaker 1: high leverage moments. Julian Merriweather healthy and looks like the
16:15
Speaker 1: version that we saw in twenty twenty three. Uh, you
16:19
Speaker 1: have three relievers that I think Tubbs fans feel good about.
16:23
Speaker 1: Like I said, Felbar that like he gets two quick
16:26
Speaker 1: quick outs and those were non competitive like plate appearances,
16:29
Speaker 1: those walks like two walks in a row. Not there
16:33
Speaker 1: like were any of those like close calls, any of
16:36
Speaker 1: those balls like just that, Like that's the type of thing.
16:39
Speaker 4: That's like unacceptable.
16:40
Speaker 1: He can't he cannot do that, right, Ryan Presley, that
16:44
Speaker 1: wasn't his worst outing, but he can't walk the lead,
16:47
Speaker 1: the number nine hitter. There's too many walks from Ryan Presley. Uh, listen,
16:51
Speaker 1: Justin Turner is a good defensive first basement Hubs fans
16:55
Speaker 1: are going to jump on this and say, why wasn't
16:57
Speaker 1: Michael Bush in their pinchhip for him? You know why
16:58
Speaker 1: Michael Busch wasn't in there because it was a one
17:00
Speaker 1: run game and he can't pull Justin Turner. He pinch
17:04
Speaker 1: it Michael Bush lower in the order, right, He pinched
17:07
Speaker 1: him for Michael Shaw or Michael Shaw, Matt Shaw, and
17:11
Speaker 1: he needed to get gauge workmen in there. You still
17:12
Speaker 1: have to have solid defense. You can't move Turner to
17:15
Speaker 1: third base at that point with a one run lead.
17:17
Speaker 1: That's that's really risky. So Turner's are good for his basement.
17:21
Speaker 1: He made a mistake. You needed him to bat in
17:23
Speaker 1: that in the ninth inning, So I don't think that's
17:26
Speaker 1: that for me, is not the issue. The issue is
17:28
Speaker 1: the bullpen. The issue are the walks, which right now,
17:31
Speaker 1: the bullpen is walking thirteen point eight percent of batters,
17:35
Speaker 1: second highest in baseball, and they're striking out seventeen point three,
17:40
Speaker 1: which is awful. That's like bottom the third worst in baseball.
17:45
Speaker 1: So you're not so you're walking guys and you're not
17:47
Speaker 1: missing any bats. It's just a completely unacceptable recipe and
17:51
Speaker 1: it's going like it. It's led to two awful Sundays
17:54
Speaker 1: for Cubs fans, and it's going to happen more often
17:57
Speaker 1: if it doesn't get rectified quickly.
18:00
Speaker 2: If you think about how the Cups construct their bullpend,
18:03
Speaker 2: I mean, the overriding philosophy would be throwing strikes right now,
18:08
Speaker 2: that's sort of obvious, but they do. They're willing to
18:11
Speaker 2: sacrifice velocity for getting pitch one, getting that first strike,
18:18
Speaker 2: and like, this team is built on some great defenders
18:23
Speaker 2: all over the field, so like, and their game planning
18:27
Speaker 2: system historically has shown that it is pretty good at
18:30
Speaker 2: getting those double play balls, and that.
18:32
Speaker 3: Is what happened.
18:34
Speaker 2: And like you didn't have to be like, you know,
18:37
Speaker 2: Keith Hernandez to make that play at first, Like Justin Turner,
18:41
Speaker 2: he said, no excuses, He just missed it, like he
18:45
Speaker 2: thought he kind of got caught in between. Wasn't sure
18:49
Speaker 2: I who was gonna bounce or not. It did not,
18:51
Speaker 2: and he just missed it. That happens. But yeah, presially,
18:56
Speaker 2: just you know, that first walk to lead off the
18:59
Speaker 2: ninth like just kind of felt like here.
19:01
Speaker 3: We go again.
19:02
Speaker 2: And then you allow, you know, a really good offense
19:05
Speaker 2: to put the ball in play and you know, to
19:08
Speaker 2: put pressure on your defense and normally you know the
19:12
Speaker 2: Cubs are are out of that inning, but you know,
19:17
Speaker 2: either they're gonna have to start throwing strikes or find
19:21
Speaker 2: some just some more more stuff and vlo to just
19:24
Speaker 2: kind of overwhelm hitters and not.
19:25
Speaker 3: Leave it to where they're just giving away free passes.
19:28
Speaker 1: Right, I don't know if look, I think the obvious
19:32
Speaker 1: quick answer, and I don't know how soon this happens. Right,
19:35
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make assumptions on how a council
19:38
Speaker 1: wants to handle this just yet. But we named it
19:41
Speaker 1: like I named the three guys that I trust right now,
19:43
Speaker 1: it's Merriweather, Hodge and Keller. Right, maybe someone else emerges, Maybe.
19:48
Speaker 4: I'm missing someone.
19:50
Speaker 1: You know, Eli Morgan had that awful outing, but he
19:54
Speaker 1: looked all right outside of that.
19:56
Speaker 4: Well, we'll see.
19:57
Speaker 1: You know, if you have three core guys that that's
19:59
Speaker 1: really it is good. It's not like there's no answers here, right.
20:03
Speaker 1: You need Presley to settle down. This is really odd
20:06
Speaker 1: that the walks are happening. He has the same stuff
20:08
Speaker 1: as last year. I was looking at numbers. Everything looks
20:11
Speaker 1: the same as last year. He wasn't walking guys. Was
20:14
Speaker 1: he as good as his peak years last year? No?
20:17
Speaker 4: But he should be usable, and he should be usable
20:20
Speaker 4: in some high leverage spots. That doesn't mean he has
20:23
Speaker 4: to be the closer. And eventually I think we'll see
20:26
Speaker 4: a shift there. But right now the walks are just
20:30
Speaker 4: making it unacceptable and making it really hard for him
20:33
Speaker 4: to get through innings.
20:36
Speaker 1: But I think there are some answers there. I think
20:38
Speaker 1: you could see something settling down. But you know, I mean,
20:44
Speaker 1: is the answer? Is Ben Brown a reliever? I don't
20:47
Speaker 1: want to give up on Ben Brown as a starter
20:50
Speaker 1: because the upside is so huge, and like if you
20:53
Speaker 1: give up on someone after two three starts, Justin Steele
20:57
Speaker 1: wouldn't be in the rotation right now because if you
21:01
Speaker 1: remember twenty twenty one, was it I think it was
21:05
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one when they.
21:06
Speaker 2: After the sell off, maybe he kind of got that runway.
21:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it could have been twenty one or twenty two,
21:13
Speaker 1: one of those years it was to begin the season.
21:16
Speaker 4: Maybe it was twenty twenty two. Then was it twenty
21:18
Speaker 4: twenty two to begin the season.
21:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, it must have been twenty twenty two to begin
21:21
Speaker 1: the season, yes, because twenty he debuted in twenty.
21:24
Speaker 2: One, and then after the selloff they gave.
21:27
Speaker 3: Him the rung way and then to year twenty twenty two.
21:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he was bad.
21:31
Speaker 1: He was bad to start the season, and I remember
21:33
Speaker 1: there were calls for him to be taken out of
21:35
Speaker 1: the rotation and that would have been the wrong choice.
21:39
Speaker 1: He got he figured it out and he was great
21:40
Speaker 1: the rest of twenty two and you know the rest.
21:43
Speaker 4: We know the story. So so I.
21:44
Speaker 1: Don't I don't want to say like it's it's about
21:47
Speaker 1: like you have to balance team need as well as
21:49
Speaker 1: like ben if they truly believe Ben Brown, like this
21:53
Speaker 1: was just like a one off awful outing.
21:55
Speaker 4: It was.
21:56
Speaker 1: It was a really bad outing. That first inning was
21:58
Speaker 1: just like a mess. I thought he it looked like
22:00
Speaker 1: he was about to settle in and then you know,
22:02
Speaker 1: the Padres are a good team. Jackson Merrill's an MVP
22:04
Speaker 1: candidate last year, really impressive player. So you know that
22:08
Speaker 1: got bit by the long ball and that that was
22:10
Speaker 1: a critical home run. A lot of things just like
22:14
Speaker 1: a just not enough done. You know, you could argue, hey,
22:17
Speaker 1: why didn't the offense tack on more after whatever? The
22:21
Speaker 1: last run is scored in the second They scored seven
22:23
Speaker 1: in the first two innings. They still scored seven in runs, Right,
22:26
Speaker 1: it should be enough. You would hope that the Padres
22:29
Speaker 1: had two thirds of an inning from their starter and
22:31
Speaker 1: we're able to keep the Cubs from scoring after the
22:36
Speaker 1: second inning, right, Like, that's maybe that's a big Like
22:38
Speaker 1: the Padres are good too, Let's let's give them some credit.
22:43
Speaker 1: Outside of that, Patrick, it was a great weekend for
22:46
Speaker 1: the Cubs. Matthew Boyd looks awesome. Matthew Boyd looks very impactful.
22:51
Speaker 1: Show to him, Managa is trying to repeat a season
22:55
Speaker 1: that even his own manager said, it's going to be
22:57
Speaker 1: really hard for him to repeat that season. They have
23:01
Speaker 1: two legit starters. We talked about it briefly. I think
23:06
Speaker 1: we talked about it briefly, But James and Tyn looked
23:09
Speaker 1: awesome his last start. I talked to him the other
23:12
Speaker 1: day and I'll write something about it. But he believes,
23:15
Speaker 1: like he that's the best he's felt in a Cubs uniform.
23:18
Speaker 4: He said, like he had last year.
23:20
Speaker 1: He had really really good results, but he remembers coming
23:23
Speaker 1: off the field and being like, it doesn't feel right
23:26
Speaker 1: coming out of my hand.
23:27
Speaker 4: Something's not clicking. Something clicked for him.
23:30
Speaker 1: He felt delivery wise, and and and everything, And like
23:34
Speaker 1: if that's the case, you'd like, let's see him carry
23:37
Speaker 1: it out. Like he's got another start Tuesday or Wednesday,
23:39
Speaker 1: Let's see him carry it on.
23:41
Speaker 4: But like, yeah, like that's this is looking good.
23:44
Speaker 1: Like there's a lot of positives here, the offense looks great,
23:47
Speaker 1: that you have some starters that look really impressive.
23:51
Speaker 4: Suddenly, I would not allow.
23:53
Speaker 1: I would hope Cubs fans can see, like you know,
23:57
Speaker 1: the forest through the trees and understand that, yes, there
24:00
Speaker 1: there are issues with the bullpen. It's fair to be concerned,
24:03
Speaker 1: but don't let Sunday's bad outing color the entire weekend
24:07
Speaker 1: because it was a good weekend and there's a lot
24:09
Speaker 1: of positives here. And I think the point of your
24:13
Speaker 1: your story, like I like I understood it to be
24:17
Speaker 1: like this is gonna be a fun year. I really
24:19
Speaker 1: this looks like there's a chance to be entertainment and
24:22
Speaker 1: a quality product out there.
24:24
Speaker 2: Yeah that's not like you know, uh, like we're starting
24:31
Speaker 2: to book like hotels for playoff possibilities and planning for
24:35
Speaker 2: that coverage. But I do think like the team is
24:39
Speaker 2: like good enough to be in the race all.
24:41
Speaker 3: The way until the end. And I think when you
24:45
Speaker 3: have some of the behind the scenes intrigue going.
24:49
Speaker 2: On at wrigley Field, kind of the business baseball tension.
24:53
Speaker 2: You've got Kyle Tucker, you know, having the beginning of
24:57
Speaker 2: what could be a monster season. You have, you know,
25:00
Speaker 2: a fan base that has been kind of waiting for this.
25:04
Speaker 2: Wrigley Field is still the ultimate star. I thought it
25:10
Speaker 2: was cool to have the kind of weekend, you know,
25:14
Speaker 2: three one twenty games starting up the home schedule there
25:20
Speaker 2: and that you know, they've also sort of proven that
25:27
Speaker 2: they have that staying power and that you know, that's
25:31
Speaker 2: kind of you're there. When we were talking to Council
25:33
Speaker 2: and I was like, I know you're going to say,
25:35
Speaker 2: we're just trying to win a game today, but.
25:36
Speaker 3: Don't you sort of look at the season.
25:38
Speaker 2: Do you look at the season in segments, and that
25:42
Speaker 2: so far we're you know, there may be not quite
25:46
Speaker 2: halfway through, but there's this first month, but it's like
25:49
Speaker 2: the toughest month in baseball for any team, right And
25:54
Speaker 2: to be in first place, to be to avoid what
25:58
Speaker 2: happened to the Braves, and also that weird like ramp up,
26:02
Speaker 2: ramp down, ramp up again, and to not have any
26:04
Speaker 2: devastating injuries is big. And Council would acknowledge that that
26:09
Speaker 2: he feels like they put together a stable foundation for
26:14
Speaker 2: through these first ten days, that pitchers have been used appropriately,
26:18
Speaker 2: that they've prepared accordingly.
26:21
Speaker 3: But as he said, they're not out of the woods.
26:23
Speaker 1: Yet, right seven yeah, seven and five through twelve games.
26:28
Speaker 1: I believe I'm counting quickly here, seventeen more games left
26:31
Speaker 1: in this daunting start, if that's what you want to
26:34
Speaker 1: call it, before they face the Pirates.
26:38
Speaker 4: To kind of wrap up April.
26:42
Speaker 1: You can go seven and ten in those seventeen and
26:45
Speaker 1: feel good about April. Right, Obviously fans are going to
26:49
Speaker 1: want more after the start to the season, but it's
26:52
Speaker 1: a tough stretch here, and they look like they can
26:57
Speaker 1: handle it, right that they're competitive at these teams, So
27:02
Speaker 1: you know, obviously you want better than seven and ten.
27:05
Speaker 1: I think they're capable of better than seven and ten,
27:07
Speaker 1: But let's see, let's see what they do, and then
27:11
Speaker 1: if they can survive this April, you know, then you
27:14
Speaker 1: feel really good about the rest of the season as
27:17
Speaker 1: long as they're healthy, figure some things out in the bullpen.
27:20
Speaker 1: Bullpens can stabilize. I know it looks uckly now, but
27:22
Speaker 1: they can that they can stabilize.
27:24
Speaker 4: We've seen it in years past.
27:26
Speaker 1: You just don't want it to be a month or
27:29
Speaker 1: two month process where you fit where it takes too
27:32
Speaker 1: long to figure it out.
27:33
Speaker 4: If we're talking about.
27:34
Speaker 1: This in the middle or late May and it's cost
27:36
Speaker 1: them a half dozen games, yes, and it's like, why
27:40
Speaker 1: is this not getting figured out?
27:41
Speaker 4: Right?
27:42
Speaker 1: But we'll see, We'll see if there's moves made, if
27:46
Speaker 1: there's adjustments made with the players, if the players frankly
27:50
Speaker 1: just stabilized, because we've seen that as well.
27:52
Speaker 4: Bad pictures.
27:53
Speaker 1: Bad relievers suddenly become good relievers because something clicks and
27:57
Speaker 1: or someone like you adjust something and it works out.
28:00
Speaker 1: So I don't wanna suggest that this is gonna last forever,
28:03
Speaker 1: but obviously can't continue the way it's it's been going
28:07
Speaker 1: for certain guys. All right, Patrick, we'll we'll be back
28:11
Speaker 1: with They start three with the Rangers tonight Monday night.
28:16
Speaker 1: H That that isn't a you know, it's a solid
28:19
Speaker 1: Rangers team, not a terrific not a not a you know, imposing,
28:23
Speaker 1: not a terrifying team. So we'll see how they do. Uh,
28:27
Speaker 1: who's it tonight? Who it's showda No Shoda goes tomorrow.
28:31
Speaker 1: Steal yeah, steal yeah, steals back. Then all right, okay,
28:36
Speaker 1: we got three against the Rangers and then and then
28:38
Speaker 1: another West Coast trip. We'll see how the Cubs do
28:40
Speaker 1: with all this stuff. Thanks so much for listening everyone,
28:43
Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure you rate, review, subscribe,
28:47
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Subscribe to The Athletic where
28:49
Speaker 1: Patrick and I are on top of all things.
28:51
Speaker 4: Cubs, take care everyone. Thanks the name.
29:02
Speaker 7: Anyone name Baddy, the
29:22
Speaker 2: Ord