Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The Cubs are back, Dansby Swanson is on a roll, and what’s up with Alex Bregman’s thumbs down?

Transcript

The Cubs are back, Dansby Swanson is on a roll, and what’s up with Alex Bregman’s thumbs down? · 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 beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Cubs are back right, never a doubt, never a doubt,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: nine in one in their last ten. Just an insane
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: offensive explosion on Wednesday, just in general against the Padres.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: They've been slugging three games, sweep twenty three to three
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: on Wednesday afternoon. It is hot out there, as everyone
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: in the Chicagoland area knows, and it is you know,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: we'll get to the individual performances, but I just quickly
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: want to talk about Wrigley and how weird it is.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: We know how weird that places early in the season,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: knocking down balls and crushing the confidence of offensive players,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and then games like yesterday and rarely Tuesday. I guess
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: all week it's ninety five plus blowing out and you
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: just put the ball in the air and you have
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: a good chance of getting one out of the park.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: The Cubs did that eight times on Wednesday, five times
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, and and great Council touched on it. You know,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: he's like this place. There's there's no place like it.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: There's no place that plays like this when the wind
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: is blowing out. He didn't say it, but like it's
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the same. There's no place that plays like it when
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the wind's blowing in, like there's it's it's three ballparks
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: in one because wind blowing in, wind blowing out, and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: no end normal ballpark is. It's just very odd and
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: very difficult to know what type of season it's going
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to be because of Wrigley. But we got the crazy
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Wrigley offensive rigularly the past few days, and big name
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: right now maybe representative of this season the way he's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: been so up and down is Dansby Swanson. We were
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: talking about whether he needed to be benched two weeks ago, Patrick,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: and now, like the numbers are insane. He has five
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: home runs in his last two games, his last dozen
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: or so or just like completely turned his season around.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, those are fair questions too, of like should he
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: be benched indefinitely? Has he entered the decline phase.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Of his career?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: You know, we weren't necessarily advocating for that, but you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: like if we're talking about it, I'm sure internally they
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: have those sorts of thoughts, and they've consistently backed Dansby
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: with good reason. And I think part of this shows
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I think just Dansby's.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Kind of personality.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: You know him well, Sahadev, and he is a very
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: just consistent, steady person. I know that doesn't do a
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: whole lot for fans, you know, watching a number nine hitter,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: you know, working on one hundred and seventy seven million
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: dollar contract, But this streakiness is part of his game
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: and once you once he catches one of those waves, he's,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: you know, one of the most valuable players in baseball
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: because of his goal glove defense. And obviously those oppositive
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: stretches aren't long enough to be like an MVP candidate,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: but you all of a sudden, you look up and it's.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Close to another all Star.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Caliber season, even if it didn't feel like that watching
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: it every single day.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, these numbers are very weird, very insane. Like. So,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: in his first seventy games, he had seven homers and
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: twenty I believe it was twenty eight RBI. In his
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: last thirty it's nine homers and twenty nine RBI. He
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: was hitting one seventy five at thirteen games ago. Uh,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and that was tied for worst in baseball with Manny Machado.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: He's now hitting to ten. Not great, but that's jumping
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: thirty five points, right, that's thirty Yeah, that's thirty five
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: points in two weeks at this late in the season
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: is un it's unheard of in baseball, Like you don't
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: do that very often. I think he had like a
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: sixty eight weighted runs great a plus and now he's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I believe one oh two. Uh, just yeah, one o two.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: That's going from thirty two percent below league average to
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: two percent above. This is basically like one o two
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: is right around where he normally is at the end
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of a season. So like he's just made it all
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: up in two weeks. And this was like, did I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: think he could get back to being like slight below
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: average or slightly above average? Yeah, I thought it was possible.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Did not think two weeks was possible?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: No?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: And I mean it started with that pop up homer
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: that was wind aided against Colorado and ever since it's
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: just like hard hit line drives. These aren't like cheap pies,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: just a really impressive turn. I think he credited a
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: lot of this to John Maylee or you know, it
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: gave some props to John Maylee. I appreciate that a veteran,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: like a ten year veteran like that, is still still
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: going to his hitting coaches and having them push him
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and try and get him out of his comfort zone.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: I think that's that's impressive that he's still willing to
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: do things. It's not like he made some dramatic changes.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: But I think some things in the in the cage,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: like some some things he was doing helped him find
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: his best self.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we hear this over the years of so
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: and so just a natural hitter, he could fall out
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: of bed and start hitting. And that's just not Some
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: hitters are not players are.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Not like that.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: You know, Dansby is certainly gifted defensively, his his instincts,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: his how fluid he is out there, his internal clock
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: is amazing. It doesn't it doesn't really work like that
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: for him on the offensive side, meaning he has to
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: work at it.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: And you know, I was kind of blown away.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Someone pointed this out to me of it was a
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: graphic on a Marquee broadcast the other night. Like most
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: career home runs as a shortstop in and out history,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Dansby is fifth. You know, Ernie Banks, Jimmy Rolins, Barry Larkin,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Troy Tulowitzki and then Dansby Swanson, which obviously says a
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: lot about the position, but also about Dansby's.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Longevity and and you know, his value as.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Someone who is a number one overall pick you a
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: short stop on a World Series winning club, one hundred
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: and seventy seven million dollar free agent like he.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: He is supposed to produce.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And it is just wild of going back over our
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: notes and the stories we've written over the last couple
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: of months of like, you know, Dansby feeling good in
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: spring training, but everyone says that.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: And then has that great April.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And you know, the Cubs fall into that ten game
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: losing streak abyss and no one can hit, and then
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: it's like, do you bench Dansby?
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: He is he cooked? And now just seeing these names.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: That are surrounding him in terms of his offensive production,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: it's just mind boggling.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's interesting how quickly narratives can change in baseball.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: People are calling for you know, Jed Hoyer's head, Craig Council,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: it's overrated, you know, just a couple of weeks ago,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson needs to be benched, and you know what,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: like in the heat of the moment, I get, I
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: honestly get all of those I may disagree with most
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: of the ideas there, but I get why fans get
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: all up in arms in the moment but right now,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and I don't want to get caught up in the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: moment myself, but it's hard to deny that like Jed
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Horror was right in that shortstop free agent class, Like
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: you know, Carlos Korea gets hurt a lot, and he
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: just hasn't produced at a high level. Xander Bogart's isn't,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: you know, a standout shortstop and it isn't the offensive
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: producer that he once was. Trey Turner is a blow
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: average defensive shortstop. He I don't think he's having the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: offensive season that you'd expect from him normally, and maybe
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: he's maybe he's starting to decline. Tansby Swanson like just
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: by pure value, even without this two week burst, like
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: he's far and away the best value in that shortstop class.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: You got to give Jed Hoyer props there for you know,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: he knew what he wanted the defensive stalwart at shortstop
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and got him and now he's, you know, producing at
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: a great level at least right now offensively. We'll see
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: how long that lasts. Another big free agent addition not
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: performing well. Let's talk about Alex Bregman after this break.
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• 10:33
  Speaker 1: So Patrick. We've talked a lot about Alex Spragman. He's
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: not performing up to his expectations, the fans expectations, the teams,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: nobody's expectations. Not offensively. I don't think his work ethic
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: is ever in doubt, but the last few days have
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: been a little odd. He had his hustle questioned fair.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I think you know when it looks bad in that moment,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: when when you aren't running as hard as you can
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: out of the box in I believe it was a
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: one nothing game at the time, they were down one
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: zero to you know, the team they're chasing and the
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: shortstop bobbles. It probably would have beat it out if
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: he was running one hundred percent. Bregman admits that yes,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: he should have ran, also caveats it with I've had
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of soft tissue injuries. I think I think
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: that like that's absolutely a real thing, and veteran older players,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: especially anyone posts thirty you gotta you gotta take care
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of your body, context of the situation, context of his season,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: context of of of his contract. Everything, I think puts
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a spotlight on that. He hits a home run on
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Tuesday and we see a thumbs down jure to the bench,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and then he hits home there's a camera angle that
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: kind of catches him doing the thumbs down again. Who
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: he's doing it to unclear right, It could be people
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: behind the plate, could be whatever, you know, It's hard
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to know because he's not telling us. And then yesterday
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: in pregame, we talked to Bregman about it a lot
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: about his struggles and if he's feeling better at the plate.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: The home run is that? Did anything click? But the
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: thumbs down jester? What was that was that? Was there
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: any meaning behind that? No, he says a message to
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: anybody nothing, No, no, no message to anybody, no meaning
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: behind it. We got to take these guys at their word.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: But he also posted on Instagram an image of him,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: you know, admiring the home run as it leaves the
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: yard and the thumbs down emoji once again. So I
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: don't I don't love speculating what it could mean he
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: says it's nothing. It's just it's become an odd situation there,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: and ultimately, for me, like it all doesn't matter if
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: he hits, if he starts crushing, if he has a
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Dansby turn and gets hot, none of We're just wasting
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: our breath. And it's just like whatever, whatever you need
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to do to get you right. If it's use criticism
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to motivate you, fine, go for it. But like it
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: right now, it feels a little odd to me.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no one cares if you jog, if you put
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: the ball in the seats.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: And I think that's been his issue in Chicago. You know,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: he has been his own worst critic.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, he fled out said I've been terrible during
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: one of those posts game sessions at Wrigley, and that
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: he went went in harder on himself than I would
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: say most of most everyone else who covers the team
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: or analyzes the team. And I get that there's a
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: given take there. I think a lot of that happens,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: like it's just you know, unrealistic in a one hundred
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: and sixty two game season, if you're getting six hundred
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: plus played appearances.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: And playing you know, goal glove, calber.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Defense every day out there, like you have to make
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: certain choices. It's it's what Craig Council does with the bullpen.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: It's what players do in terms of their pregame routine,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: you know, if they're not taking batting practice, whatever it is.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: It's just like giving maximum effort for a season that
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: begins around Super Bowl Sunday and like could go into November.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: It's just not realistic. But it's a bad look, you know,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: like you're and you know, Jim Deshayes is such a thoughtful, deliberate,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: fair analyst. I know he works for a team on station,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: but he's just you know, I think he's terrific at
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: his job and just a you know, wonderful person behind
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: the scenes. And he did not like rip rip rip Redman,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: but he you know, and think he said, like, you
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: don't have to run, you know, you don't have to
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: try and win an Olympic medal every time, but you
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: got to go harder than that.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: And he was right.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And you know, Bregman's sort of issued a Maya copa
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: and he gave us a whole another storyline, uh with
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: that thumbs down gesture, which I felt crossing home plate.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: He looked more towards the seats behind him plate because
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I was waiting for that one. But that probably would
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: have been a bridge too far to like look all
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: the way up in the press box and gave the
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: thumbs up. But again, I Bregman's not a defensive person. Like, yeah,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: all these these questions were asked directly to him. He
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: was sort of laughing about it. When I was like,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: kind of what are you working on? He's like, uh,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: what's your guess?
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Was like, he's getting the baseball as a guess within
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: the realm of hitting, you know, your obsession.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: And so I and he's always you know, he's very available.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: He's you know, uh pretty steady, like he's been through
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: so much in his career. Like I really don't think, uh,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: it's that big a deal, but it is. It is
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: super interesting. I mean it's impossible to ignore.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you touched on it.
• 16:38
  Speaker 6: He's not defensive, which which makes it which is why
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: I called it odd. Like I just like I just
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: didn't understand, like he does not seem like the type
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: of guy like like you said, like he's been his
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: own biggest critic like he said, like this is like
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: he's not happy with it. I stink like whatever he said,
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: like I stink right now or whatever it was, and
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: like he's been very critical of his offensive performance.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: He's not happy with it, and he's been more than
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: comfortable and more like very open and willing to talk
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: about the issues, Like you want to talk to him
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: one on one, he'll break it down. It's it just
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: all seemed very out of the blue to me. Did
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: not seem like something that I did not expect this
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: from him, like any sort of like pushback on this,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: like this and maybe it's nothing, and like I said,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: maybe it quickly goes away. You know, he he felt
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: something clicked on I'm trying to get days right. Monday,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the first pitch he swung at was a one oh
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: count Griffin Canning and he hit a rocket single. It
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: was like one oh two plus exit velocity. Then he
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: hit the home run. It was well struck as well.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: On Tuesday. Wednesday went zero five with the walk. I'd
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: say the walk is obviously a good played appearance. I
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: remember one other where that was like a rocket line
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: drive that was in out a couple pop ups in there.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: He's not fully back, but I think I can see
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: what he's talking about where he's saying he's feeling better
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: because we weren't even seeing those rocket line drives for
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a little while. If he can string some of those
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: together a few more games, we're not gonna be talking
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: about this. This team is red hot right now. The
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: offense is good, Like we can go look at the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: overall numbers, but I was looking at them not like yes,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: last night, and they're They're second in pretty much everything
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: behind the Dodgers offensively, and even their power numbers have
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: now shot up because of this home run surge, which
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: was probably their only like negative coming. And when I
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: say negative, it wasn't like they weren't like top five.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: But now they're top five in ISO, top three in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: home runs. I think like they're way up there, top
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: four maybe whatever. They're top five in a lot of
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: offensive categories now, and they are an incredibly patient team.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: He's part of that. So I think we quickly move
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: past this if they keep winning and he starts to hit,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and I do expect that. I know people, and I'm like,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: this is part of like a theme that I'm gonna say,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: like when they're doing well and when they're doing poorly.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: But like we have to like fans are going to
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: react however they want to, and I'm gonna like I
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: think that's important to allow them to. But also I
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: think it's important for us to keep in mind, like
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: look at what Dansby did. Look at how quickly these
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: things change. These veterans often like, yeah, sometimes it goes.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Sometimes he's thirty two or whatever, it maybe it's going.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I don't feel that way. I think it could turn.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I expect it to turn. I still do. And like
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: these things happen quickly. Sometimes you don't see it coming.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I certainly didn't with Dansby. I think I'm starting to
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: see it with Bregman. But these weird little incidents, I
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: don't know. Like there a council was asked about like
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: what people use for motivation, and he gave a good answer.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Everyone uses different things, and sometimes you use the love
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and the positivity, sometimes you use the negativity. Sometimes you
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: use the criticism. Fine, if that's what you need. I don't.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with that.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah I don't. I don't think he's cooked.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's toast. I also my expectations have
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: been sort of lowered because when he signed, he was
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: thinking like getting back to that MVP level that he
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: had performed at in you know, early to mid part
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: of his career, and that by his own standards, by
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: his own admission, you know, he had dropped from that
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: place and you know, had like some good but not
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: great seasons. I think, you know, he's certainly you know,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: he's on pace for almost like a four war season.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: Like he he is not a negative.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: It's not a loss cause by any means, but just
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: like the impact that you thought you were getting on
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: the front end of the steal just hasn't been there yet.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I remember talking with the Cubs person not that long
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: ago who had said, like I, you know, not in
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: a literal, literal sense, but in a you know, metaphorical sense,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: like I bet the over on Bregman, meaning that like,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: you know, a big, a big run is coming from him.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: We'll see, you know, we're in July, and I think
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: at a certain point it's gonna be the the narrative
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: will shift again towards the at this point of the season,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: you throw the individual numbers out the window. Uh, you know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: just just got to compete in that at bad and
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: you know, he's been a big time performing the playoffs,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: which is all all true, And I guess I'd wrap
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: it up on saying like for us, I think he's
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: just a fascinating character, Like I got a text from
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: someone yesterday, like, you know, Bregman seems like an interesting.
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: Guy to cover, and no doubt, like I.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Think he's just a he's just been a big figure
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: in this era of baseball, and he had been pursued
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: as a free agent for so long and kind of
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: hovered on the team over the team for a while.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And just the way teammates talk about him as this
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: you know, obsessive baseball gym rat, it definitely adds to
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: the discourse.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, let's uh, let's take a quick break and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: talk about someone that, uh, there's no doubt he's hot
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: and it sounds looks like he's clearly superstar the Cubs
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: have been searching for.
• 22:52
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• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Patrick, I don't know when when Peter Armstrong's gonna slow
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: down right now. This we've seen this before. This is
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: not something.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: We've seen him just go on a crazy streak. We
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: haven't seen a month like June in a very long
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: time that he just put together. He slashed three eighty one,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: four sixty eight seven eighty one that's a two thirty
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: six eight runs great a plus the walk rate was
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: thirteen point seven percent. I believe it was was it
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: ten home runs or eleven home runs? It is eleven
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: home runs. Just an incredible month, like a historic month.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: You don't see these types of months very often. You know.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: It reminds me of Sammy in June of ninety eight.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: That was twenty home runs. I believe wasn't it twenty
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: home runs like something insane? But he also didn't I
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: don't think he hit like for a high average like this.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: He wasn't doing the same stuff, Like it wasn't as
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: well rounded, and he wasn't playing like elite defense. I
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: saw something that he had three point one war in June.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: I mean that is like you multiply that by six.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Obviously he's not gonna do that, but I mean, that's
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the greatest season ever. But so it's one of the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: one of the great months we've ever seen. Like there's
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: so much that I'm impressed by and like I'm going
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: to write about this. The walks, I know they're not sexy,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: but that to me tells me like something has clicked
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: with his ability, like his swing decisions and that is
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: so important, and it's so it's I need like it's
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: hard to research this, but you know, we've been following
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: baseball for a while, like and I've been digging into
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: numbers for twenty years. I feel like now I don't
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: see walk rates jump like that, like a guy that
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: didn't walk and now is taking double digit walk rate.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: It's it's just really rare. It's not something you see
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: very often. And I'll admit I did not like to
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: talk about it in spring training. I don't like it
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: when I hear players talk about like, you know, I'm
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: gonna try like basically, like he didn't flat out say
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna walk more, but he wanted to walk more.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I don't like that. It concerns me like that, Okay,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: it's a taking away from what makes you great. It hasn't.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: It's made him better. He's a better player, and he's
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: you know, like if Shoeo Tani didn't exist, he'd be
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the clear MVP favorite. He's gonna get like, if this continues,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: he's gonna get votes. I don't think you can beat
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Shoeo Tani right now, but that's you know, he's a
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: special player in his own right.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that talk in spring training, I'm with you.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: It sounded like a classic case of tinkering or you know,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: but yeah, this, I mean a historic month for franchise,
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: celebrating its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and once again
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: it's it's Pete sort.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: Of like.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Bailing out the entire organization of just like him sort
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: of dragging them through, you know, a tough stretch and
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: coming out the other side in a really strong position.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Not an ideal position, but you know, Pete sort of
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: salvaged the twenty one trade deadline.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: He's you know, brought some.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Hope, energy and excitement to like a very competent, professional,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: low key group which helps the entire business side of
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: the operation and all the other satellite businesses that are
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: organ orbiting Wrigley Field. His defense, helping out pitchers just
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: left and right all the time. And you know what
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: we've seen offensive like it, just going back to Spring training.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: It would have sounded like you're getting greedy if you're thinking,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: like you know, all of a sudden, you know, we've.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Seen we've seen this a lot over the years.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Organizations try to like you know, turn everyone into a
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Greek out of walks and like, you know, hitting it
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: so hard, talking about split second decisions.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Over and over again, and you don't want to.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Take away you know, anyone's natural aggressiveness or talents. And Pete,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: to his credit, has figured some things out.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: I think that's what.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: This I think is at least an example something you
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: can actually point to to, like you know, fans who
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: call him overrated, or people who see some of the
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: clips and just roll their eyes at Pete like he
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: it comes in a different package. But he is a
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: very like serious student of the game who happens to
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: be you know, extremely emotional and kind of hyperkinetic out there.
• 29:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: No, he's certainly a polarizing guy. I get why fans
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: of opposing teams want to should like highlight the low
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: lights on on social media, like and there are there
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: some weird plays that happened. Weird stuff happens on defense.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: It happened again yesterday where a ball got by him.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: And I think it happens because he's sometimes he's just
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: like so fast out there, like a ball like he's
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: a ball that he shouldn't be that close to gets
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: by him, and now it looks ridiculous. There's some other
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: things going on there. I'm sure, but it's very easy
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: to criticize Pete. You watch him every day. He's an
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: elite defender, he's a great base runner, he's a special
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: performer now on offense, and when he gets hot, he
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: can carry a team. I think overall with this team,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the way they're playing right now is really representative of
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: of Like what when this offense is at its best,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of guys are hitting it. We didn't even
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: mention Saya, who's gotten hot. It got one hundred home
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: runs in his career. Now he looks great at the plate,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: And I almost feel like I haven't looked this up,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: but I feel like whenever Saya's hot, the whole team
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: is hot. Like that, Like it's like he's like a
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: good like bell Weather for this offense, Like it is
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Saya hot. Okay, I bet the offense is doing well.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: I could be completely wrong on that. Maybe maybe I'm
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: just like, maybe this is something that's just in my
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: head in in his off base I don't have the data.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: And I mean, he's done it against the miz Mason
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Miller right last year, last year's playoffs, Like he can
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: perform at that highest level against elite competition.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: That's a great point like that that he's hitting, he
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: hits good good pitching, Damn good pitching. Remember when that
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: was a question, can can this guy hit velocity when
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: he came when he came Stateside? Yeah, So it's nice
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: to see this offense kind of get going again because
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: of all the things that happened over this season so far.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: That's the thing that was the most confounding when like
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: I get a two week offensive stretch, but it was
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: it was like four or five was it six weeks?
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: It maybe be six weeks of of like poor offensive performance.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: That makes you wonder, like what is what is wrong?
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: What is going on? Obviously they're out of it and
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: it and overall the offense is just one of the
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: best in baseball, and if they're going to go far
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: this season, that will be the primary reason. I think.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: I was walking out of the park or walking walking
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: down to the clubhouse and just kind of said to someone,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: I was like, look, I get it. There was that
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: huge slump, but this is what we expected, right, Like
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: this is like I always said, there was a reason.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I said, like if I'm very confident that when we
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: look back at this season and doesn't go. If it
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: doesn't go as we expected, we won't be blaming the offense.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: That's not what the criticism will be. When all is
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: said and done of this team, if they don't get
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: to where they want to be, we won't say, well,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: if they would have just hit I don't think that'll
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: be the case, right all right, Patrick will be back
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: next week. That's all for right now. Thanks so much
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to the Athletic
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and watching. Everyone take care. I will
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: lived