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The Cubs are in trouble if they can’t fix this bullpen · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into north side territory foul territory networks cubs podcast
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: i'm sahadev sharma with my partner patrick mooney we are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your cubs beat writers over at the athletic and patrick
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: we officially have uh a bullpen concern bullpen issues uh
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: crisis yeah bullpen crisis um We Jed Hoyer was asked
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: about it before the game and said, you know, we
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be talking about this. If, if he had sat
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: down in front of us a week, 10 days ago, look,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: it's been since that road trip, since the Seattle series,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: it has been consistently poor and the Cubs. I don't
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: know the Cubs exact record in that time, but five
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: of those losses, four of those losses, you can, put
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: squarely on the bullpen. It's costing them games. They are
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: now not leading the wildcard race, I believe, right? Phillies
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: won last night. Last I saw, they were up big.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Assume they won as we record here on.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Tuesday morning. Is it Tuesday morning? Wednesday morning. They won.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, they won seven to one. Uh, so they're, they're
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: ahead of the Cubs in the wildcard race. The Cubs
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: no longer lead that. And, and you can put it
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: on their bullpen right now. No, nobody really looks good. Webb, Webb,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's panic time for Webb, but officially
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: concerned about where Palencia is. He has a month to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: get right. Uh, Zephyr John needs to be better. Uh,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Caleb Thielbar needs to lock in because right now they
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: don't have a, like Ryan Rollison is inexperienced and just,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Looks like he's kind of running out of gas. You
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: don't have a trusted lefty if you don't get Thielbar right.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: These guys need to step up. It's a problem right now.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Craig Council acknowledged as much after Tuesday night's game of, quote,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: we need to pitch better. And I thought Council made
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: a couple of interesting points there. It was a brief
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: post-game session, but it was very, to the point in
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: terms of look as counsel would say the the defense
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: has to be great not good and like yeah he's
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: kind of referencing the plays actually what he told peter
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: armstrong of like the next step for you is those
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: you know fly balls those plays where you get your
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: glove on it you have to complete the play and
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: that was his point he also feels like you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: how hot it was at.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Wrigley.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: The offensive environment is just sort of different right now
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: at Wrigley. It is very much a hitter's paradise at
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: the moment. I think he used the word iffy on
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: one of those home runs, like would it have gone
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: out in almost any other stadium, but you, well, you
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: got to play where the games are scheduled. And right now,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: this bullpen is kind of a nightly concern. Like I don't,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: I sort of, I still trust Palencia in the sense
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: that like, I think he showed everyone a ton last year,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: the way he came back, the way he performed in
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, the way he closed out the WBC for
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: team Venezuela.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: You can see like, okay, he says he feels fine.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's what you asked Sahariv and you know,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: if his VLO is good and his mindset is right, like,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's shown tremendous growth over the years that
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: I still sort of like, you believe he can do it.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I think Zephyr John has a lot to prove. I don't,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: you know, you, you know, pitching in games out in
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: sleepy Anaheim for a non contender is just different than this.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: And we're already talking about, relievers who are just sort
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: of volatile and unpredictable. And I think you're right about
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Rolison and Webb of just like you, you've rung so
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: much out of these guys that you did not expect
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: to be huge contributors. And it's just like, this is
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: for them to sustain that for two more months, including
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: the playoffs is sort of unrealistic or just very sort
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: of hopeful. And so that's why, you know, These guys
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: need to step up. And you've made this point clear
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: in your writings, and counsel said it well, just kind
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: of like, these are the guys. We'll get into some
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: of the rehab Iowa guys later, but that's very much
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: a later conversation. They are not part of the right
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: now mix, and there's not another trade deadline out there.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: We're into September.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: It's just like they have to get these guys right.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, I do think Zephyr John looks a little
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: bit better than he did. Like the slider, the sweeper
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: looks like he's throwing that a ton for strikes lately.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: And then it's the other stuff that's getting hit. I
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: don't know if it's, you know, sequencing with him, if
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: there's still some little things that need to be tweaked
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: pitch usage wise. But yeah, that like he's got to,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: you know, he's gotta be they gotta be missing more
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: bats too look say i should have caught that ball
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: in right field he has enough experience now that he
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: should be used to the weird corner there uh that
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that you know the foul territory the wall and foul
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: territory comes on you quickly but he's he's been doing
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: this for this is year five right uh so like
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: he needs to catch that ball He needs to get
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to the wall, find the wall, and then catch it.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: He knows that. But Palencia needs to be missing bats, too.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Where are the strikeouts? Where is the bat missing from
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: this group? It's not happening enough. They've got to stop.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that was Council's point. Their defense
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: needs to be great. Is he saying we also need
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: relievers to miss bats? He's not saying that directly. The
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: defense isn't always going to be great. Um, yeah, it
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: needs to be, if you have guys that are constantly
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: putting the ball in play, but you have like relief pitchers,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: especially need to be missing bats. I mean, there's a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: reason why Hobie Milner was DFA and, and Caleb the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: old bar was kept one misses bats. The other doesn't, uh,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: like at a certain point you need bat missers, especially
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: late in games. Um, they're not missing enough bats. They're not,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: they're not getting the job done. You'll just take outs
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: in any form. Um, it's, it was, it's too bad.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Cause Matthew Boyd had, you know, hadn't been great, uh,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: starting to look a little bit better and had a
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: solid start and two ground balls. I think he, I
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: think he exited after two ground balls that like one
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: didn't leave the infield. Another one was kicked away off
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Matt Shaw's glove, uh, turned into a double. Like that's,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: that's not a double. That's just like a softly hit
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: ground ball that he hit in the right spot. Uh, it, Yeah, like,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the bullpen is just, and this is, like, one of
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the things that sometimes happens, always happens, like, we are
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: so easily captured by what's happening right now. Like, there's
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: talent here. It's not like these guys all stink. They're
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: not all, like, it's not like, oh, no, what.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Do they do? What they do is get these guys right.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: That's, like, it isn't like we, these guys don't have talent,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: or it's like, I don't know how you're going to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: survive with this bullpen. It's like, the question is like,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: what can they get these guys?
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: It's not what, who do they turn to? Because it's,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: we see like, we've seen these guys deliver even Zephyr John.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I get it. He's not, he hasn't been here and
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: he hasn't pitched in big games. He's got talent.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah, get them a couple, get them a couple
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: good outings. And that, you know, that bumps up the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: confidence in, in guys crew. Sometimes you just, you just
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: need a couple in a row, get your confidence, right.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Get your stuff rolling and you're fine. Um, but right
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: now it's not, it's, it's just kind of like one
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: of those, like it is kind of a mess right now.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, you got like, you know, over the
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: last 10 days, two weeks, you probably could have written a,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: you know, bullpen and trouble piece like seven to nine times.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: I think we've only done it about four or five
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: and that was probably appropriate, but you could have, I mean,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: you could just hammer this issue and, over and over
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: again because even on nights when the Cubs have gotten
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: outstanding starting pitching performances, there's still been issues on the
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: other side of that. It'll be interesting to see how,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: assuming they make the playoffs, that is sort of a
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: different game. So you're going to need more from your bullpen,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: but you can also sort of tailor it in different
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: ways with the way that the format is set up.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: And so, yeah, I mean, we said this last week
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: or whatever, like this is what this entire month is about.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: They have a very steady kind of overflowing group of
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: good position players. The rotation is fairly solid, but this
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: bullpen is kind of a mess right now. And Javier
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: is can't come up until his full 15 day, uh,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: minor league stay is up. The option isn't voided just
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: because rosters expand. So that's kind of, you know, another
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: thing you're thinking about of like, you know, is can
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: you get show.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: To him and Naga, right.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: So that Assad can maybe be deploy do you shorten
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: up some of these uh long long relievers i'd like
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: i don't know if that's a great idea but like
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: colin ray pitched in the playoffs last year and did
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: a pretty good job where in certain spots like i
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: don't know well these are sort of like these are
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: not plan a type of ideas.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Right exactly All right.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and just talk a little
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: bit about this Cubs Brewers series and what we're seeing.
• 10:52
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• 10:55
  Speaker 4: out and it was literally sold out and you couldn't
• 10:57
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• 10:58
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• 11:01
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• 11:04
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• 11:06
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• 11:10
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• 11:13
  Speaker 4: the stretch, a team that you're following that's going to
• 11:16
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• 11:19
  Speaker 4: You want to see a particular pitcher. Eventually, playoff tickets,
• 11:22
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• 11:26
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• 11:27
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• 11:29
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• 11:32
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• 11:34
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• 11:36
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• 11:40
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• 11:45
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• 11:46
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• 11:50
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• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Patrick, obviously started off the series great.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Great start from, uh, Clay Holmes, uh, offense just went
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: off and then the position player pitches for two innings, uh,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: which saves the Brewers bullpen and also allows the Cubs
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: to really go off offensively. Uh, and then, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Tuesday night happens. Obviously I don't think we need to, we,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: we said it before the series and after last night's loss,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: like they needed to sweep for us to even start
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: talking about the division again.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: Um, Milwaukee just looks like the better... I mean, they're the.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Best team in the NL. They're the best team in baseball, record-wise.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I still have questions about what they can do in
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, but that doesn't matter until we get there.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Right now, they're the class of baseball, and you can't make...
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: It's kind of why counsel said, you know, we have
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: to be great on defense against a team like Milwaukee.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Like Milwaukee was a little shaky and the Cubs took
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: advantage early and then, and then the Cubs didn't play
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: perfect defense and Milwaukee more than capitalized.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd summed it up. Just the Brewers play really
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: solid fundamental baseball in all phases of the game. They
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: control the running game. They, take extra bases. They throw strikes.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: They understand the strike zone from a hitter's perspective. It's
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: amazing how they keep doing it, but at this point,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: we can't really be surprised. This series, three more in
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee last week, it was going to take a sweep
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: or a three out of four. And then the three,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: like just the math does not work for a team
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: against the team that just doesn't really have those, you know,
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: really bad tailspins.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: They just always.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: Seem to redirect. And I mean, you saw it from,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, they have a football score loss
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: one night and then they come back the next night and, uh,
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: take care of business.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Let's, uh, Let's make this our Fox 1 On Deck segment.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: On Deck is presented by the Fox 1 app. Patrick,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the Cubs play on Fox against the Brewers on Thursday.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Thursday it is Logan Henderson against Kevin Gossman. And I
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: kind of want to talk about Kevin Gossman here because
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I think my point at the start of this segment
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: was Clay Holmes dominated.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I think we are seeing who our game.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: One starter is for the Cubs when, if they're playing
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: in Philly, if they're playing at Wrigley, whatever it is,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Clay Holmes seems to have figured that out.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I it's funny.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I think, uh, when we were last, our last episode
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: was Monday. So it was before his start. Uh, I said,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: you know, the one thing he hasn't done is strike
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: guys out. And then he goes and strikes out eight guys, uh,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: on Monday against a team that doesn't strike out much. Uh,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: just a great, another great start. He puts the ball
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: on the, anytime he was in kind of a shaky situation,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: he got that double play, uh, He's so good. He
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: looks so great right now with the Cubs. Huge bright
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: spot for them. Gossman has been okay. Great twice, not
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: so great twice, and so-so once. Five starts and it's
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: all over the place.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: But I also feel like I feel like I.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Trust that he's going to be a big part of
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: this and be a huge contributor not only down the stretch,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: but If I was picking between him and Boyd, and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I guess you can throw David Peterson in there to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: make the second start, I'd go Gossman. I think Gossman,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I trust him a lot to deliver in the biggest moments.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: No doubt.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's really a slight against Matthew Boyd,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: and I still think there's time for him to sort
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: of maybe change that. I guess we'll see about matchups
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: and how hard the Cubs have to play down the stretch, too.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: It seems like it's going to be sort of four
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: teams for three spots for the next couple weeks. But yeah,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: you feel really good about Kevin Gossman as your Game
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: 2 playoff starter. Curious to see how he responds against
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: this Brewers lineup. whether or not he can get in
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: a groove down the stretch, but this guy had two
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: quality starts against the Dodgers in last year's world series.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: I know that doesn't guarantee anything moving forward, but he
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: just seems to have a really solid floor and a
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: pretty nice ceiling. Like if everything clicks again, he doesn't
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: have like a huge margin for error here. Like he
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: kind of, he has a very distinctive style. Those two pitches,
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: he kind of has to be, on with it, but
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: when it is on, it's pretty spectacular. Yeah.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Uh, he's going up against, uh, Logan Henderson, who has
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: just been great for the Brewers. Brewers have like a
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: never ending reserve of pitching. Um, I think he's one
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of the guys that they probably didn't want to give
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: up to get Scooble because the Tigers wanted major league
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: ready pitching. And, uh, I think he was, uh, like
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: probably a sticking point and like, Maybe they made the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: right decision there because this guy's got a 240 ADRA.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: They're throwing four really good pitchers up against the Cubs.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Gasser has been OK, but I mean, he's got he's
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: got great stuff. The Cubs probably should have done a
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: better job against him in those conditions.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: They didn't. It's fine.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you like this Brewers team is
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: a hard matchup pitching wise, I think would the way
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to beat them is you have to outscore them in
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: some way. Like, I mean, you have to just like
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: have the better offense. I think the Cubs can say
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: that they do, especially power wise, but you know, like they're,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: they're going to have to like have great starting pitching.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: So the offense can kind of shine in a way,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I guess is, is how I'd look at it because
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I do think they can hit these guys, but like
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you got Mizorowski tonight and then, you know, what was
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: game one game one, they actually hit Harrison and he
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: claimed they were tipping him. But, uh, uh, you know,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: that's also something that the Cubs do well, apparently. So
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I, I think this, this Brewers team is, is, uh,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: pesky and frustrating.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Um, but the Cubs do have, like, I'm, I'm curious
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: to see, I, I, I actually really want.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: To see them match up in the playoffs again, because
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I do want to see how, how that goes this year. But, um,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: you know, this Thursday, this week's matchup and Thursday's matchup
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: is important in the sense that Gossman has to continue
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to show what he can do and kind of, I
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: agree with you, it may just be a two-pitch mix,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: but he's really good with it. And we've seen plenty
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: of Cubs do that, Justin Steele among them. Before we
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: take a break, I just wanted to say MLB on
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Fox is streaming on Fox One. uh hold on one
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: second sorry sometimes when i'm reading and producing it can
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: be hard mlb on fox is streaming on fox one
• 19:56
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• 20:25
  Speaker 1: at foxone.com. All right, Patrick, that's... what I was about
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: to start talking about there is, uh, Justin Steele is
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: another one of those two pitch mix guys.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: And, and he is someone.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: That, uh, I believe he is rehabbing at Iowa today. Uh,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: today we're recording on Wednesday. Um, look, I think the
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Cubs need to get their bullpen guys, right? That needs
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: to be the focus for September, but there are names
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: that we are going to be talking about, um, for
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the next couple of days and weeks, maybe they can help.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Justin Steele is one of them. I think he's got
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a longer path back than some of these other guys still. Uh,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: but he's pitching in a game and that's huge. I
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: don't think the Cubs can, can count on him. I
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: don't think they should be like penciling him into the bullpen,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: but they can use a lefty out of the bullpen. Uh,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: We'll see how many rehab outings he needs. We'll see
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: how he looks. If he's sharp and feels strong and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: feels good, maybe he can be a factor. You know,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of the guys that we're going to talk about, he's
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: probably near the bottom as far as, like, confidence level
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: that he can help the team, like, this year. But also, like,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: this guy's, you know, a hard-nosed competitor, and he's going
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to do whatever he.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Can to get out there. So don't put it past him.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I certainly think crossing the better than threshold is
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: a little easier now than it felt like, I don't know,
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: a week to 10 days ago. He's still not there yet.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: Obvious questions about his resiliency, how quickly he can bounce
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: back and whether or not he can handle a workload
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: of a major league reliever. But I feel like you know,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: these guys at the major league level, the Cubs have
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: to get right. It probably, someone will probably get right.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Like they're not going to go four for four or whatever.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Maybe they get one or two where they want them
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: by October. And then we have this sort of like
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: grab bag at Iowa of another four pitchers or Iowa adjacent,
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: I guess you could say in terms of, you know,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: like Ben Brown is still gathering information. You know, the
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: Cubs have indicated, you know, by the end of this week,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: they should have a better understanding and maybe they're surprised
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: with some good news.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: We just don't know.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: And this has already been a sort of puzzling situation
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: for a while now. Edward Cabrera at Iowa. Who knows?
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's got he certainly has. stuff uh he
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: has not done it before as a major league reliever
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: and even when he was healthy this year he was
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: not locked in but maybe that's a surprise and then
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: the name that you know we're still kind of curious
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: is about is shelby miller what.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Do you got on him yeah i think he pitched
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: yesterday 20 something pitches he's supposed to so we'll I
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: heard it was supposed to be a back-to-back over the weekend.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: That didn't happen. I heard it's supposed to happen this week.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: So does that mean that today we'll find out? But
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: they're kind of looking at him as someone that can
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: help the Major League team. The stuff looks good. The
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: results haven't always been perfect. I don't think they're as
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: concerned with the results at AAA right now as they
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: are like, what does this stuff look like? How is
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: he responding to these outings? They got to get him
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: a back-to-back. I think that's kind of like the big
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: hurdle that they want to see.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: How does he respond? How's he feeling today?
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: And then if he goes tonight, how's he feeling tomorrow
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: and the next day? And like, how's he responding? Because
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: they want him to be a viable part of the bullpen.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I don't think it'll be like an immediate call-up after that,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: but I think that's a big hurdle that they're kind
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: of looking at and hoping that he can cross.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that'd be super interesting. That'd be a
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: cool comeback story if he was able to. Obviously, Steel
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: would be another one. These are kind of long shots.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: I think ideally you would just have them in the background. Like, oh,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: that would be interesting if they sort of forced us
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: to talk about them rather than having it feel like, oh,
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: maybe this is like the next great hope For this bullpen,
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: I think both Council and Hoyer are pretty realistic about
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: this stuff. They've been doing it a long time and
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: are not at all counting on those guys. There's still
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: a month to go in this season. We were talking
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: about this at Wrigley the other day. So much has
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: happened and there's still such a long way to go
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: before we get kind of some clarity with like whether
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: or not this season is a success or a failure.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to say, I was just looking this
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: up to, to see where it's at. Edward Cabrera, he
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: gave up that home run and then struck two guys out.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: He was up like almost two ticks in the bullpen.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Like his, his fastball was averaging 97, nine. Obviously his fat,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: like we know that like the fastball is, is kind
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: of like his problem pitch in the sense like that's,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: what's going to get hit. Uh, but you know, having
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: that type of velocity and then the change up, uh,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: behind it, it, it's interesting. Let's see how, what they
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: can do with him and, and get him. Uh, they
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: just like, I, I think, right. It's like with everything,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: it's steel Cabrera, all these guys, like I was kind
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of like outside of Ben Brown before he got, had
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the setback.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: I was like, I don't know.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Like, I'm not, I'm not, I don't think the Cubs
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: should be relying on these guys and they shouldn't, they
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: need to get these guys right that they have, but
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: it is becoming more intriguing because the guys that they
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: have are struggling so much right now. So it's like,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: I don't love the idea of like having a savior
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: at triple a, like you can't have these guys saving
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the bullpen. You have to get your guys right, but
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: it is becoming more intriguing as more time passes by
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: because the bullpen is just, in.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Such a rut right now. Yeah, no doubt. All right.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: That's it for Northside territory. That's it for this episode.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: We'll be back later this week. Thanks so much for
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: listening and watching everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to the athletic
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and watching everyone.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Take care.