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Cubs mailbag: Why are they talking about 2032? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs b writers over at the Athletic Patrick, it is
0:16
Speaker 1: time for a mailbag episode. The Cubs are struggling, the
0:23
Speaker 1: offense is in a bit of a rut, and as
0:26
Speaker 1: want to know what can be done? Why, yeah, yeah, yeah,
0:34
Speaker 1: They're going to be up in arms. It's expected and
0:37
Speaker 1: you have every right to be a little frustrated. And
0:40
Speaker 1: we're going to start with a comment that was made
0:44
Speaker 1: that has led to some frustration by fans, and I
0:46
Speaker 1: think it's fair. Can you guys try to explain what
0:49
Speaker 1: Carter meant by the twenty thirty two competing comment feels
0:53
Speaker 1: like a frustrating explanation for Cubs fans at this current moment.
0:57
Speaker 1: This is from a see Rogers piece our buddy at ESPN, I, Patrick,
1:06
Speaker 1: why don't you, Why don't you give your thoughts? I'm
1:09
Speaker 1: going to find the exact quote unless you have it,
1:11
Speaker 1: just so we can give it to We're being fair
1:14
Speaker 1: to Carter here.
1:16
Speaker 2: No, that's what I was just pulling up right now
1:20
Speaker 2: as part of a longer quote, but I think what
1:23
Speaker 2: Tyler is referring to here, I know it was frigerators.
1:26
Speaker 2: We have a responsibility to the twenty twenty five Cubs,
1:29
Speaker 2: but also the twenty thirty two Cubs. That's not always
1:33
Speaker 2: popular in the moment, but it's decisions we have to make,
1:37
Speaker 2: and that what he was talking about was just kind
1:40
Speaker 2: of the discipline they showed at the trade deadline. I
1:44
Speaker 2: think it was a great gap by Jesse and also
1:51
Speaker 2: like props to Carter for just being honest and explaining
1:56
Speaker 2: what the front office is thinking, like I don't want to,
1:59
Speaker 2: you know, even if you don't disagree, even if you
2:02
Speaker 2: don't agree with the entire sentiment, his candor is appreciated,
2:08
Speaker 2: his willingness to explain their point of view. I think
2:13
Speaker 2: there is something to that. I think twenty thirty two
2:18
Speaker 2: was just so far out in the future, and also
2:21
Speaker 2: like you don't really know how the team's going to perform,
2:26
Speaker 2: like right after, you know, you explain something at a
2:29
Speaker 2: time when the Cubs were kind of in that mix
2:31
Speaker 2: for first place. I think it's just Carter was hired
2:40
Speaker 2: from Cleveland in part because the Guardians are so disciplined
2:46
Speaker 2: and transactional and value obsessed, and so Jed hired him
2:55
Speaker 2: for those reasons, for his background, for his experience, for
2:59
Speaker 2: his point of view. So Carter is being genuine when
3:03
Speaker 2: he is saying that he is very organized, very kind
3:12
Speaker 2: of in tune with their modeling system. And you may
3:16
Speaker 2: not agree with that entire baseball worldview, but that was
3:20
Speaker 2: the job he was hired to do. And I also
3:23
Speaker 2: think Jen and Carter, while they have way more money
3:28
Speaker 2: to spend than Cleveland, they don't have nearly as much
3:30
Speaker 2: money as the Mets or Dodgers or Phillies, are kind
3:37
Speaker 2: of gifted each year to go out and try to
3:40
Speaker 2: win the World Series. And I think their mission from
3:44
Speaker 2: ownership is to be competitive virtually every season, and now
3:50
Speaker 2: that means more like being in the mix for a
3:53
Speaker 2: Wild Carter Division title every year and eliminating these kind
3:58
Speaker 2: of big dips. And you spy that they want a
4:01
Speaker 2: consistently competitive team. Sustainability is what ownership wants. And I
4:07
Speaker 2: also this is kind of how this front office looks
4:10
Speaker 2: at the game. I'm a j preller in San Diego
4:13
Speaker 2: has been obsessed with trying to win a World Series
4:16
Speaker 2: for that city. In twenty sixteen, the Cubs had to
4:19
Speaker 2: end that century and counting championship drought. That is not
4:24
Speaker 2: really the state of play. It's not defending it, not
4:27
Speaker 2: saying that's right or wrong. And that's just kind of
4:30
Speaker 2: the place that Carter is coming from. That's kind of
4:34
Speaker 2: the job that they've been hired to do. What do
4:36
Speaker 2: you think so a good question?
4:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I like this question. I think if he
4:43
Speaker 1: had said something like we have to always keep you know,
4:48
Speaker 1: we can't sacrifice our future for the present, it would
4:56
Speaker 1: have been people would have been annoyed by it and
4:58
Speaker 1: moved on. If he would have said, look, we're you know,
5:03
Speaker 1: we're not trading Kate Horton and Matt Shaw in a
5:06
Speaker 1: deal for a picture right now, people who had been
5:10
Speaker 1: like I understand that this is this is kind of
5:14
Speaker 1: like the Jerry Depoto. Our goal is to win whatever
5:18
Speaker 1: it was like eighty game yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
5:23
Speaker 1: fifty four percent. Like it's one of those comments where,
5:28
Speaker 1: especially like you said, he didn't know that the team
5:31
Speaker 1: was going to go in rut and it's so easy
5:34
Speaker 1: to grab a hold of this quote. I don't think
5:38
Speaker 1: like this is not me defending the quote. I don't
5:41
Speaker 1: think you should have said it like this, but I
5:44
Speaker 1: understand what he's saying. It's just a it's just a
5:47
Speaker 1: very specific way of saying we can't. We can't give
5:51
Speaker 1: up the farm for one player that helps us right
5:53
Speaker 1: now and is going to really sting us in the future.
5:58
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't don't know what Mackenzie Gore has
6:01
Speaker 1: done in his latest start, but what he did right
6:04
Speaker 1: after the break, fans would have lost their minds if
6:06
Speaker 1: they traded like any anything of value for him. You
6:12
Speaker 1: know that Kate Horton was off the table. That's a
6:14
Speaker 1: crazy ask. They weren't going to get him. But I'm
6:16
Speaker 1: just saying like it was going to cost a lot
6:18
Speaker 1: to get someone like Mackenzie Gore, to get someone like
6:20
Speaker 1: Joe Ryan, even Edward Cabrera. That's not to say that
6:24
Speaker 1: they shouldn't have been more aggressive or that something couldn't
6:26
Speaker 1: have been done. I don't know, like these prices seemed
6:30
Speaker 1: a little insane. I think it's less about the lack
6:32
Speaker 1: of action and more about how you say these things.
6:36
Speaker 1: Carter is very by the book when it comes to
6:39
Speaker 1: value and and and not sacrificing the future and and
6:43
Speaker 1: sticking to what the model says. You occasionally go outside
6:47
Speaker 1: the lines you occasionally be aggressive. I think if if
6:53
Speaker 1: you were going by what the model says, they wouldn't
6:55
Speaker 1: have Kyle Tucker right now, like the value bait now
7:00
Speaker 1: things like that, So so they can go like outside
7:05
Speaker 1: of it. But it's you know, I I think he's
7:08
Speaker 1: that voice that that kind of is there to remind
7:12
Speaker 1: everyone like, well, this is this is how you should
7:14
Speaker 1: look at it, Like value based analysis says this, Uh,
7:18
Speaker 1: we shouldn't. We shouldn't be too aggressive on that side
7:22
Speaker 1: of things that I I get, Like, I'm not going
7:26
Speaker 1: to say fans shouldn't be frustrated by that. That's a
7:28
Speaker 1: comment that fans and anyone that that that's watching this
7:32
Speaker 1: team right now is every right to be frustrated by.
7:36
Speaker 1: But you know, like I get where Carter is coming from,
7:39
Speaker 1: and I just don't think he's going to change the
7:41
Speaker 1: way he like this is this is a lot of
7:43
Speaker 1: the way he thinks and the way he talks, and
7:46
Speaker 1: and that's fine that like a lot of teams win
7:48
Speaker 1: this way. We're gonna have a Brewer's question lately later.
7:51
Speaker 1: Like one percent, they think very similarly in a lot
7:55
Speaker 1: of these things, they just are executing at a much
7:58
Speaker 1: higher level. Right now than almost anyone. Let's go to
8:03
Speaker 1: another question. I'd really like to see Nico hit one
8:06
Speaker 1: or two every game. He's one of the only guys
8:08
Speaker 1: hitting I know. Council stays status quo for the most part.
8:11
Speaker 1: Why is that? Why does he not change things up?
8:13
Speaker 1: I just want to say I disagree with that ending.
8:16
Speaker 1: He's changed the lineup a ton like he like Nico
8:20
Speaker 1: has hit hit lead off and and uh and not
8:25
Speaker 1: every game obviously, and and Michael Busch wasn't hitting leadoff
8:28
Speaker 1: all season. He's he's changed a ton like he's he's
8:30
Speaker 1: moved be in half out of the lineup. He's moved
8:33
Speaker 1: or out of down in the lineup. He's moved Danisy sponsor,
8:36
Speaker 1: Dance b. Swanson down in the lineup. Uh He's, he's
8:40
Speaker 1: share he's shaking things up a ton with the lineup.
8:43
Speaker 1: There's this isn't a great like he's And now that
8:45
Speaker 1: he has good bench player, a good bench playing Willie Castro,
8:49
Speaker 1: he's playing him. Uh more. We'll see what he does
8:52
Speaker 1: now that Miguel Amaya is back, how much time Miguel
8:54
Speaker 1: Amaya gets, If that changes anything up? Uh, I don't.
8:58
Speaker 1: I just don't think that's fair to say. But let's
9:02
Speaker 1: let's talk about about what's his name? Do you go, yeah, yeah, yeah,
9:10
Speaker 1: let's take it, talk about Nico Horner and let's do uh,
9:13
Speaker 1: let's do that as our draft ging spotlight player. All right,
9:22
Speaker 1: Nico Horner Patrick. I don't think there's any question that
9:26
Speaker 1: Nico Horner is an incredibly important part of this team,
9:31
Speaker 1: and you know, really valuable part of this team. I
9:35
Speaker 1: just want to give you quick, quick numbers, Okay, Like
9:38
Speaker 1: I know not everybody loves numbers, and what have you
9:41
Speaker 1: done for me lately? Matters a lot too, But it's
9:44
Speaker 1: a one forty three way to runs great, A plus
9:46
Speaker 1: against lefties ninety verse rightys three sixty eight. On base
9:50
Speaker 1: percentage versus lefties three twenty seven versus rightis two things
9:54
Speaker 1: here modern day baseball. You want on base percentage. You
9:58
Speaker 1: want someone that can get on at the top. You
10:01
Speaker 1: want one of your best hitters and all round hitters
10:06
Speaker 1: at the number two hole. Niko Horner has even like
10:10
Speaker 1: he slugs pretty well against against lefties, not a ton
10:15
Speaker 1: of power one fifty nine. I so no power against righty's.
10:19
Speaker 1: I don't think you can put him in the two hole.
10:21
Speaker 1: That's just like he's not a too, He's a two
10:24
Speaker 1: hole hitter. In the eighties, they don't play that anymore,
10:27
Speaker 1: like this isn't there's no there's no manager that does that,
10:30
Speaker 1: that says move the ball, move the runner over, because
10:33
Speaker 1: my fastest guy is in the leadoff spot and I
10:37
Speaker 1: want him on third base as quickly as possible, and
10:40
Speaker 1: then we're going to hit a fly ball and score
10:42
Speaker 1: one run. It's not how baseball is played anymore. I
10:46
Speaker 1: understand there's going to be some people that disagree with
10:49
Speaker 1: that and say why why not. It's because the probabilities say,
10:53
Speaker 1: you have a much better chance of scoring a lot
10:55
Speaker 1: more runs if you don't play like that, and if
10:56
Speaker 1: you have your best all round hitters at the highest
11:00
Speaker 1: part of the lineup. Nico's a good hitter. He's a
11:03
Speaker 1: contact guy, but he's not going to hit for power.
11:05
Speaker 1: He just doesn't.
11:07
Speaker 2: That's a good call. I hadn't thought of it until
11:10
Speaker 2: you just mentioned it. But Nico would be the perfect
11:13
Speaker 2: nineteen eighties playing on astro turf in like a powder
11:17
Speaker 2: blue uniform type of player. And I think we I
11:22
Speaker 2: don't know if we take Nico for granted as much
11:26
Speaker 2: as just it. Sometimes he gets a little bit overlooked,
11:32
Speaker 2: but I was just kind of blown away looking up
11:34
Speaker 2: on Baseball Reference from his first round in twenty eighteen.
11:40
Speaker 2: He is number one player by War by far, almost
11:45
Speaker 2: doubling the number two guy, Logan Gilbert, who's at ten
11:49
Speaker 2: point nine Nico at nineteen point eight. WAR Just amazing
11:54
Speaker 2: value for a guy picked number twenty four overall. And
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Speaker 2: I think in terms of kind of taking Nico for granted,
12:04
Speaker 2: I think it's important to remember, like this is a
12:07
Speaker 2: guy who kind of came off the couch in twenty nineteen,
12:12
Speaker 2: was a part of, you know, kind of an almost
12:16
Speaker 2: an end of an era there of like the Joe
12:17
Speaker 2: Madden Cubs and Hobby and Chris Bryan and Anthony Rizzo.
12:22
Speaker 2: And like he did not he did not take that
12:25
Speaker 2: for granted. Like he did not think, oh Wow, I've arrived.
12:30
Speaker 2: He's overcome some of those injury prone concerns to become
12:36
Speaker 2: an extremely durable, valuable player, has continued to work on
12:43
Speaker 2: his game to you know, become not only a quality
12:49
Speaker 2: major league caliber shortstop, but a Gold Glove second baseman
12:54
Speaker 2: and just someone who I think I remember when the
12:57
Speaker 2: Cubs drafted Nico, it was this idea of you know,
12:59
Speaker 2: we didn't want to fall in love with the whole
13:01
Speaker 2: Stanford idea. You know that he had this great i Q,
13:04
Speaker 2: but like you saw it on that that play against
13:08
Speaker 2: the White Sox, the infield fly rule, just someone the
13:13
Speaker 2: Cubs were absolutely right to build around, and that wasn't
13:17
Speaker 2: always clear earlier in his career. But he has become
13:19
Speaker 2: an absolute, you know, foundational piece for this team.
13:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's anything I say is not a criticism. This
13:29
Speaker 1: is not a criticism of Nico. Like he's it's perfectly
13:33
Speaker 1: fine at the leadoff spot against lefties. I just like,
13:37
Speaker 1: I think there's a level of frustration creeping in where
13:41
Speaker 1: people just want to make change, Like he's, yes, he's
13:44
Speaker 1: he's hitting, he's hitting decently well right now, but you
13:48
Speaker 1: still like you just can't put him up there against
13:50
Speaker 1: righty's every single time. I don't think that's the best move.
13:56
Speaker 1: But you know, when when the teams struggling, your your
13:59
Speaker 1: search for answers and get I get the idea of
14:03
Speaker 1: like let's try this, maybe that'll work. Work all right,
14:07
Speaker 1: Let's uh, let's turn it over to producer Jeremy Meyer
14:11
Speaker 1: for our North Side Territory producer pick.
14:14
Speaker 3: Thanks Sahadev. The Phillies took care of business last week's
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Speaker 3: Let's make this a winning streak for the North Side
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15:18
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's get back to the mailbag. With
15:21
Speaker 1: offense struggling, is there any chance the Cubs call up
15:23
Speaker 1: Owen Casey or moyses by Seros to try and light
15:27
Speaker 1: a fire. I'm not going to rule it out, and
15:30
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a terrible idea. I will say this,
15:35
Speaker 1: Look at Peek Armstrong's first month, two months in baseball
15:40
Speaker 1: in the big leagues. Look at Matt Shaw's first month
15:42
Speaker 1: in the big leagues. This isn't an automatic. This isn't
15:48
Speaker 1: going to work automatically. Owen Casey's destroying the baseball at
15:52
Speaker 1: Triple A biasteras has been doing that for a while now.
15:57
Speaker 1: We saw Via Stairs' first call up at a bunch
16:00
Speaker 1: of ground balls. You know, he got a huge hit
16:03
Speaker 1: in his one game. Call his second game or second
16:06
Speaker 1: call up for one game. I just don't think it's
16:11
Speaker 1: an automatic like this this works. But along the lines
16:17
Speaker 1: of the Nico question, like you know, you're at a
16:20
Speaker 1: point where you just want to try something. I guess
16:24
Speaker 1: we'll see it, will see how long they go with
16:27
Speaker 1: three catchers. I think that's something I'd like to see.
16:29
Speaker 1: How long are they doing this? And then and then
16:32
Speaker 1: if they change that, maybe the decision is Casey or
16:35
Speaker 1: by a Seros, and maybe maybe they wait till September.
16:38
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I do I do agree that, Hey,
16:42
Speaker 1: maybe maybe you do something. I don't think it it
16:45
Speaker 1: would be a disaster.
16:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, council acknowledge there was an internal debate
16:53
Speaker 2: when they brought up by Asteros to Milwaukee, like should
16:57
Speaker 2: it be Casey instead? So I'd imagine that debate hasn't
17:03
Speaker 2: totally ended yet. You're right, like September there's an extra
17:06
Speaker 2: position player no matter what. So that is would be
17:11
Speaker 2: one way to incorporate one of those guys. I'd say, like,
17:16
Speaker 2: there's definitely a chance, right. I feel like you can't
17:19
Speaker 2: rule out that idea, But you also have to have
17:22
Speaker 2: realistic expectations. And what you mentioned seht Of is exactly
17:26
Speaker 2: what your council has stressed in general. He had that
17:31
Speaker 2: great quote. I feel like last year, I think it
17:34
Speaker 2: was something like the answers are rarely in triple a
17:38
Speaker 2: that if you're kind of hoping for that, the player
17:42
Speaker 2: would have already been here by now. But yeah, I mean,
17:47
Speaker 2: if it keeps rolling this way, a player gets injured
17:50
Speaker 2: or players banged up, and all of a sudden it
17:53
Speaker 2: makes sense, like why not for certain situational matchups. I
17:58
Speaker 2: think they're pretty close to that point.
18:02
Speaker 1: All right, here's a question. This is from Tyler again,
18:04
Speaker 1: Tyler Dershall, with ghosts of offensive struggles passed wearing their
18:08
Speaker 1: ugly head again, where does the blame lie the players
18:10
Speaker 1: the team is built around, or the front office's idea
18:12
Speaker 1: of how they want to build a team. I mean,
18:16
Speaker 1: I think you could make that excuse. It could blame
18:19
Speaker 1: the front office last year. I don't know, Like strictly
18:26
Speaker 1: speaking on the offense, I just don't think you can
18:28
Speaker 1: blame the front office right now. They they got the players.
18:32
Speaker 1: These players are good. There's we've seen them do really well.
18:38
Speaker 1: I don't I don't really know what the answer is.
18:41
Speaker 1: Should the front office have picked Isaac Collins over Pete Armstrong?
18:47
Speaker 1: Should they have traded Michael Bush and picked up Andrew Vaughn?
18:51
Speaker 1: Like these are not things that any rational person would
18:54
Speaker 1: suggest before seeing what those players have done, So I
18:57
Speaker 1: don't like, I just don't know what the is and how. Yes,
19:02
Speaker 1: I'm picking on the Brewers because the Brewers are the
19:04
Speaker 1: the team that's lighting the league on fire, But like,
19:09
Speaker 1: who do you want other than the players that they've picked?
19:13
Speaker 1: What should they have done differently? I guess if there's
19:17
Speaker 1: one area that you really want to pick on, it's
19:19
Speaker 1: it's It could be they shouldn't have signed Dansby Swanson.
19:23
Speaker 1: That's just one player like that. This is a full
19:26
Speaker 1: team and suddenly everyone's not hitting outside of like two guys.
19:32
Speaker 1: So I don't think this is on the front office.
19:35
Speaker 1: I think and I majority of the time I'm going
19:38
Speaker 1: to default to it's on the players. The players need
19:40
Speaker 1: to produce. Yes, the front office pick those players, but
19:45
Speaker 1: these are good players. We've seen them, We've seen them
19:48
Speaker 1: play at a high level. I don't have a good
19:51
Speaker 1: answer of why they're all struggling right now, but I
19:55
Speaker 1: just think it goes on them. They need to get
19:58
Speaker 1: they need to get going.
20:01
Speaker 2: One hundred percent agree with you, this is all on
20:03
Speaker 2: the players. Like there are certain times the front office
20:06
Speaker 2: is not blameless. I don't think we're like celebrating what
20:09
Speaker 2: the front office did at the trade deadline, for example,
20:12
Speaker 2: but like Matt Shaw for most of the season, was
20:16
Speaker 2: that sort of weaker link, and it was at a
20:18
Speaker 2: spot third base where Cubs have had trouble filling the
20:22
Speaker 2: position recently, and he was there. You kind of homegrown
20:28
Speaker 2: first round pick that they believed in and that is
20:31
Speaker 2: now looking pretty good that they've been validated by Matt
20:36
Speaker 2: Shaw's performance. So then you look out at the rest
20:39
Speaker 2: of this lineup, like, yeah, it's on the players. Like
20:42
Speaker 2: if Kyle Tucker is going to be the number one
20:44
Speaker 2: free agent this winter, like he has to perform if
20:48
Speaker 2: you have a rental player for like six months, six
20:51
Speaker 2: seven months, like he has to deliver the most important
20:55
Speaker 2: time of the year. You know, Dansby Swanson is not
21:02
Speaker 2: he runs hot and cold. I still think when you
21:06
Speaker 2: look back at that shortstop class, he probably made the
21:09
Speaker 2: most sense for this team, and his defense has been
21:13
Speaker 2: awesome and he'll probably stay at short stop to longus.
21:15
Speaker 2: I know, he just had a bad defensive game, but
21:18
Speaker 2: over the long haul makes sense. I mean, you know,
21:25
Speaker 2: Ian Happ and Nico Horner were two extensions that they
21:27
Speaker 2: sort of did at this time where they were kind
21:29
Speaker 2: of in between and they just wanted, like some players
21:33
Speaker 2: to build around some you know, competence, some stability, and
21:39
Speaker 2: they've largely delivered. I mean, Hap needs to kind of
21:43
Speaker 2: He's been kind of the one guy where you're like,
21:46
Speaker 2: he winds up with the same numbers like every single year,
21:49
Speaker 2: Like he's gonna have to have a strong finish and
21:51
Speaker 2: then like you know, say, I was like, oh he
21:55
Speaker 2: was an All Star snub, and you know he's kind
21:59
Speaker 2: of been been pretty quiet since then. So to me,
22:02
Speaker 2: this is definitely like it's the guys with the bats
22:06
Speaker 2: in their hands.
22:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's take a quick break and we'll
22:10
Speaker 1: wrap this up with a couple more questions.
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23:14
Speaker 1: All right, here's a question from MJ mcley and I
23:18
Speaker 1: hadn't thought of this, and I think I kind of
23:21
Speaker 1: like it. Shouldn't Tucker be batting leadoff for now? He's
23:23
Speaker 1: walking twenty percent of the time after the All Star break,
23:26
Speaker 1: so he has a three eighty plus OBP. But his
23:28
Speaker 1: slugging seems to have abandoned him. Yeah, he's not slugging,
23:32
Speaker 1: he's se So is it Should it be a permanent
23:36
Speaker 1: move if he starts to hit homers again? No, but
23:40
Speaker 1: I kind of love this idea. He's walking a ton
23:43
Speaker 1: just continue to be like, don't don't overthink it. It
23:46
Speaker 1: doesn't put as much pressure on him, Like it changes
23:48
Speaker 1: the dynamic of the lineup in it and it makes him,
23:51
Speaker 1: you know, come up less often in all likelihood with
23:54
Speaker 1: men on base. But I don't hate the idea. He's
23:58
Speaker 1: really struggling to hit for power right now, as long
24:03
Speaker 1: as it doesn't change his mentality, I mean, his his
24:05
Speaker 1: approach seems to be pretty sound. He's not chasing or
24:08
Speaker 1: doing anything awful up there, He's just not hitting his pitch.
24:13
Speaker 1: I kind of love this idea. I think I think
24:15
Speaker 1: it's a good idea.
24:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, MJ could be like a special assistant or something.
24:21
Speaker 2: When you know the computers tell them where to hit,
24:23
Speaker 2: you know, MJ could give a good suggestion there. Yeah.
24:26
Speaker 2: Plus Tucker's a really nice base runner as well. Like
24:30
Speaker 2: I think it, you know, as a way to just
24:33
Speaker 2: start something, try something different, like why not. I certainly
24:39
Speaker 2: don't like the idea of dropping Tucker in the lineup.
24:41
Speaker 2: I still think his track record is such that you
24:43
Speaker 2: want to get him as many at bats as possible,
24:45
Speaker 2: And if this is a different way to approach it,
24:48
Speaker 2: just temporarily, I don't really see the harm in it.
24:53
Speaker 1: Yep, I like the idea. I'm curious, like, I don't
24:58
Speaker 1: know if Counsel will do this, but I think it'd
25:01
Speaker 1: be kind of I think it'd be kind of interesting.
25:03
Speaker 1: I don't think it would be a bad idea. All right,
25:06
Speaker 1: here's a question from Haley. I've been hearing during this
25:08
Speaker 1: diretch that the Brewers are an excellently run organization and
25:12
Speaker 1: the proof is obvious. But do they do but what
25:15
Speaker 1: do they do differently that makes them so exceptional? Yeah,
25:22
Speaker 1: that's that's hard to nail down as far as exactly
25:28
Speaker 1: what they do. I think it is across the organization.
25:34
Speaker 1: It's not they just do this really well. Something that
25:40
Speaker 1: they preach is they know the type of player that
25:43
Speaker 1: they like, They know who fits into what they do,
25:46
Speaker 1: and they only bring in those types of players. I
25:49
Speaker 1: don't really know exactly what's that, what that means, but
25:52
Speaker 1: maybe it's just like, you know, you gotta you gotta
25:54
Speaker 1: do all the little things, you gotta stick with how
25:57
Speaker 1: we go about business, all that stuff, and then you
25:59
Speaker 1: got to fit into our culture in our clubhouse. That's
26:03
Speaker 1: kind of a nebulous concept though, Like what what are
26:05
Speaker 1: they great at there? They identify, undervalue talent really well.
26:13
Speaker 1: They they They're willing to make unpopular decisions. Trading Devin Williams,
26:20
Speaker 1: trading Josh Hater, Uh trading Corbyn Burns, not resigning fan
26:28
Speaker 1: favorites like Willia Damas. Uh. The team's gonna look different,
26:32
Speaker 1: pretty different every year, and somehow they're able to continue
26:36
Speaker 1: to have success. So that's that that goes to you know,
26:41
Speaker 1: they're they they know they they're just the latest small
26:46
Speaker 1: market team that's nailing every decision. I don't know, like
26:50
Speaker 1: we were celebrating Tampa a few years ago for the
26:53
Speaker 1: same thing Cleveland as well. I don't know if this
26:56
Speaker 1: goes in cycles. I don't know if Milwaukee has figured
27:00
Speaker 1: something out and they have the secret sauce. Remember we
27:02
Speaker 1: talked about the secret sauce when when Jed hired Carter.
27:08
Speaker 1: I mean maybe he should have hired Matt Arnold. I
27:10
Speaker 1: don't know. Uh, Like, clearly they're they're really well run. Clearly,
27:19
Speaker 1: there's they do things. I think I think it's R
27:22
Speaker 1: and D pro scouting, UH, player development, you know, Uh,
27:28
Speaker 1: their training, their their managers, their coaches there, you know,
27:33
Speaker 1: all of it is really sound and and and they
27:37
Speaker 1: they bring in the right people in every facet of
27:41
Speaker 1: the organization. And and they clearly I think this took
27:44
Speaker 1: a little while to build and they have it running
27:46
Speaker 1: like a well oiled machine. Like how how long ago
27:48
Speaker 1: was David Sterns hired, Like twelve years ago, fourteen years ago,
27:54
Speaker 1: So it takes a little while to implement these systems
27:58
Speaker 1: in place. But about nine years ago it started to
28:05
Speaker 1: really click and it's only gotten better since. And I
28:08
Speaker 1: think it's it's like running really well right now. And
28:12
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of what you're seeing, like they
28:15
Speaker 1: built something and it's now in its final form.
28:20
Speaker 2: I think you can even go back to like Doug Melvin,
28:23
Speaker 2: you know, and him training for CC Sabathia and kind
28:25
Speaker 2: of what he had built there, And I think it
28:29
Speaker 2: just speaks to a larger like I don't even know
28:31
Speaker 2: if it's a succession plan in certain cases or as
28:37
Speaker 2: much as just like really just building and grooming good
28:40
Speaker 2: people so that when David Serns leave, when Craig Council leaves,
28:44
Speaker 2: that there's someone else to step in. I'm sure the
28:48
Speaker 2: Cubs would point to it helps to have extra draft picks, yeah,
28:56
Speaker 2: not just the extra picks, but the extra money. But
28:58
Speaker 2: certainly the Brewers have done like a good enough job
29:01
Speaker 2: and identifying some position players at the top of the draft.
29:07
Speaker 2: They have those kind of anchor players in Yelich and
29:12
Speaker 2: contrarists that were acquired via trades that were not like
29:17
Speaker 2: super obvious trades. You know at the time that you think, oh,
29:21
Speaker 2: these guys are going to be like franchise pillars. Certainly
29:25
Speaker 2: a willingness to make those difficult decisions. And I also
29:31
Speaker 2: this is more of a vibes thing that it's hard
29:34
Speaker 2: to quantify, but it seems like players like playing in Milwaukee.
29:40
Speaker 2: I think it's kind of a relaxed environment, but also
29:43
Speaker 2: a competitive environment. I think at the ownership level, they
29:47
Speaker 2: did not say like it's okay to tank for like
29:50
Speaker 2: ten years, like they try every year, even though their
29:55
Speaker 2: moves don't always reflect that. There just has not been
29:58
Speaker 2: this like we're just going to like disappear for eight
30:02
Speaker 2: years and but we're gonna be really good in twenty
30:06
Speaker 2: thirty two, just to throw a random year out there,
30:09
Speaker 2: like and even like smaller things like you see players
30:14
Speaker 2: go back to work there. I think of Carlosville and Vianueva,
30:19
Speaker 2: a guy that we covered in Chicago who could do
30:22
Speaker 2: a lot of different things in this game, went back
30:24
Speaker 2: to Milwaukee. You look at kind of their their coaching staff,
30:27
Speaker 2: guys they've brought back, even they had like an alumni
30:31
Speaker 2: just seeing it on social media, like an alumni home
30:34
Speaker 2: run derby that all these guys came back to, like
30:39
Speaker 2: you know, Miller Park American Family Field, Like with the
30:42
Speaker 2: roof their facilities, it's like a pretty it seems like
30:46
Speaker 2: a comfortable place to play, like an easy place to play.
30:48
Speaker 2: I'm just talking about not just pressure, but just like
30:51
Speaker 2: the way it's set up. And then even like the
30:56
Speaker 2: coaching churn. I mean, Derek Johnson was a well regarding
30:59
Speaker 2: pitch coach for the Brewers and like he left and
31:02
Speaker 2: goes to Cincinnati. He's done a nice job there, but
31:05
Speaker 2: like the Brewers have just that next man up mentality,
31:09
Speaker 2: whether it's the front office, the dugout, the coaching staff.
31:14
Speaker 2: I think the Cubs just have to assume the Brewers
31:16
Speaker 2: are going to win ninety games every single year for
31:19
Speaker 2: the foreseeable future. Like you just can't can't take it,
31:23
Speaker 2: take it for granted. I think it's you would think
31:27
Speaker 2: that would push the Cubs a little more, Like that's
31:28
Speaker 2: what that was kind of my conventional wisdom at the
31:31
Speaker 2: trade and like, oh, well, the Brewers are good, so
31:33
Speaker 2: the Cubs might like push in a little more and
31:35
Speaker 2: they didn't. And honestly, like part of the reason the Brewers,
31:39
Speaker 2: very small reason is that the Cubs have not been
31:43
Speaker 2: like exceptionally run every single year you during this time.
31:48
Speaker 2: I think that's just like they've taken advantage of times
31:51
Speaker 2: when the Cubs have sort of receded.
31:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, that that and and you mentioned the draft picks
31:58
Speaker 1: that that's supposed to be their advantage. The Cubs don't
32:00
Speaker 1: have that advantage, so you can't run them like like
32:04
Speaker 1: the Brewers or Cleveland or Tampa Bay. Uh, you need
32:08
Speaker 1: to fully lean into your financial advantage. And they while
32:12
Speaker 1: they while they use it to a degree, they don't
32:14
Speaker 1: fully lean into it. And we've talked about this plenty
32:17
Speaker 1: one other thing I do wonder about this, do you,
32:22
Speaker 1: like Jesse Rogers brought this up just in passing talking
32:25
Speaker 1: about how maybe there's a is there a mental letdown
32:29
Speaker 1: after the deadline for the Cubs and and that was
32:34
Speaker 1: and he's like, there isn't one for the Brewers because
32:36
Speaker 1: they don't have those high expectations to do anything. And
32:39
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, is that just the case like have
32:42
Speaker 1: when you come to that organization, do you kind of
32:44
Speaker 1: know like we're not going to spend big. If we
32:47
Speaker 1: have a bad offseason, that's fine. We know what to do.
32:50
Speaker 1: It's a you know, we're going to find ways to win.
32:53
Speaker 1: We will find will mine the you know, non roster
32:57
Speaker 1: invites for for optional talent. We'll get Isaac Collins out
33:02
Speaker 1: of the Rule five triple A draft. Things like that.
33:04
Speaker 1: I don't know. Is there a mental aspect to being
33:07
Speaker 1: a Brewer that kind of allows it allows you to
33:10
Speaker 1: not be disappointed, and by not being disappointed, you're playing free.
33:15
Speaker 1: That's impossible to measure. I don't know if that's real,
33:18
Speaker 1: but I just thought when when Jesse said that, I
33:20
Speaker 1: was like, do you think so? And now that the
33:23
Speaker 1: way the teams have played, you know, I'm totally going
33:26
Speaker 1: off recency bias here and what's happened in the past
33:30
Speaker 1: ten days. But it does seem it does seem like
33:33
Speaker 1: it was just an interesting thought that that I wanted
33:37
Speaker 1: to pass along. I don't know, like they they're they're
33:41
Speaker 1: clearly a well run organization. They're clearly doing something exceptional,
33:46
Speaker 1: and they deserve a ton of credit for it. I
33:49
Speaker 1: don't care about the lucky bounces that they've gotten. You
33:52
Speaker 1: don't win eight plus games in a row. Three times
33:56
Speaker 1: in a season by luck. You need some luck to
33:59
Speaker 1: be good in baseball. That's baseball. Baseball has a lot
34:02
Speaker 1: of luck involved in it. You know, like a ball
34:05
Speaker 1: hit a few feet to the left or right can
34:08
Speaker 1: go from out to a double. That's just the way
34:11
Speaker 1: baseball is. So like to say, you know, that's fine
34:15
Speaker 1: that you need luck to win, and they're getting it.
34:17
Speaker 1: But they're also creating their luck and they're really good,
34:20
Speaker 1: So kudos to them. Cubs fans don't want to hear that.
34:24
Speaker 1: They don't want to give them kudos, so I'll stop
34:27
Speaker 1: praising the Brewers. The Cubs need to get back on track,
34:30
Speaker 1: that's obvious. They need to get hot. They need to
34:33
Speaker 1: make sure they lock in and really locked down that
34:38
Speaker 1: wild card spot. So we're not having September conversations about
34:43
Speaker 1: a different type of collapse because the division is looking
34:46
Speaker 1: rough right now. We'll see where they are well this
34:50
Speaker 1: week by week. This is how I think you got
34:52
Speaker 1: to take a game by They say game by game,
34:54
Speaker 1: you know, I want to see where they are like
34:57
Speaker 1: a week from now, because they really need I want
35:00
Speaker 1: to see some signs of life, and I think everyone
35:03
Speaker 1: would start to feel better about things all right, Thanks
35:06
Speaker 1: so much for listening everyone. Thanks for sending you your questions.
35:09
Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. You really make the show go.
35:11
Speaker 1: You guys have been listening like crazy and we truly
35:14
Speaker 1: appreciate every listener. All the help behind the scenes too.
35:18
Speaker 1: Thanks to everyone putting in work for us. Thanks for listening.
35:21
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35:24
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35:29
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