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Will more Cubs join Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker at the All-Star Game? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File 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 Patrick, the Cubs
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have taken the first two against the Cleveland Guardians there.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: They played pretty well in this series so far, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: they may maybe they've caught a little break here as well.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: As Cleveland's starter for Thursday night has been scratched. He
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: is taking a leave of absence and under investigation. We
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: don't really have at the moment where when we're recording,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: we don't have any details right now. It's a little
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: mysterious as to what's going on. We won't bother to speculate,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: but I'm sure my assumption is something will come out,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: as it usually does. Doesn't seem like Cleveland is going
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to say anything about those details.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: But this is so far, so good. It's a start
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: of a you know, i'd say, an important homestand in
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the sense that the Cubs have just kind of been.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Playing fine baseball, nothing terrible, nothing great of late, and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: you want to see them get on a little bit
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of run maybe here before the All Star break and
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: last night was a nice game in the sense that
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: showed him Anaga. May not have been at his best,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: but he did enough. He kept his team in I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: thought Counsel made a good point in that, you know,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: he struggled with the fastball early and made an adjustment
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: mid game and shut down Cleveland the rest of the
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: way and set it up for the bullpen and the offense,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and that offense showed up yet again. Like I said,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: make a run before the All Star Game. The Cubs
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: have two starters in that All Star Game, one of
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: whom is Pete Crow Armstrong.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: We talk about showed him Anaga.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: He was the star that emerged last season pca Very,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: you know, one of the biggest stars in the game.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I think maybe people around Chicago had hopes that it
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: could happen. I don't know if any of us really
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: expected it to happen this quickly, and some of the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: stuff that we've seen over the past couple of years
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: from him just kind of coalesced this quickly. It's just
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: been a remarkable rise for a kid that you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: so I mean, Counsel said it. He's really humble, but
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: it's just listening to him talk sometimes I'm just like,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: this guy wants to credit everyone in the world and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: has so many people that he wants to thank that
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: he's gotten to this point.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do you think there are a lot of
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: people who had a hand in this, And obviously the
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: credit always goes to the player first. And it's not
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: like Pekrow Armstrong was some out of nowhere underrated player.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: I mean he was on Team USA is under twelve
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: national team, a first round pick out of high school,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: after a senior season that was cut short due to
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: COVID right at the onset of that. In twenty twenty,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: undergo shoulder surgery while in New York Mets prospect and
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: that leaves him a little bit out of sight, out
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: of mind to where the Cubs can trade for him.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: And I think we've heard along the way that it's
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: pretty genuine when Pete credits some of these people, though, Like,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: even though he had all the talent in the world,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: you know, he was open to instruction and changes. I
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: think there was some natural maturity that happens between the
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: ages of whatever, you know, from being a high school
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: senior to now being twenty three years old, Like that
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: certainly happened and I think it's also just the adjustments
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: he's made at the major league level. I mean, this
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: is some of the Cubs talked about kind of as
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Joe Madden left and they cycled through David Ross and
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Craig Council coming from Milwaukee. Player development never stops, like
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: it has to keep happening in the major leagues, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: I mean you've seen it here. I mean, I guess
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: everyone's always working on stuff, but with Pete, it's like
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: this light bulb went off in April out on the
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: West Coast, and you know, I think we'll see I
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: don't think he's going to wind up like with a
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: forty forty season, Like there's going to be some like
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: peaks and valleys here, but like kind of everything you
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: want in a franchise type player. Yeah.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I mean he.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Said it last night when we were talking to him.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: He kind of he feeds off the energy he you know,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: he I.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Believe what he said was he he appreciates how people
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: kind of embrace how he plays.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: And and Council was the one who said he kind of.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: He played with like desplayer and he kind of needs
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: it to succeed. While Tucker is, you know, the opposite
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: in the sense that Tucker is just like a metronome.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: He's going out very day to day workmanlike, and it
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: is it's this it's like there's a gravity about it,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: right there's people are drawn to the way he plays.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: It's so easy to enjoy it.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Him running around the bases yesterday for that triple and
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: over running third. You know, it was I was watching
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: him take that wide turn and I was like, what
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: what is he doing exactly? But I think sometimes he's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: just like it can be. It's not I don't want
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: to call it out of control because he's he's for
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: his talent and what he can do, he's pretty in control.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: But they are these sometimes these wild swings. Are these
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: just like going one hundred miles per hour, and ninety
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: nine percent of the time it leads to something brilliant.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: We've seen some of these home runs come on balls
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: at his eyes or balls at his ankles. So he's
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: he's this remarkable talent that does things that others you
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: would tell not to do, and and he just he's
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: able to remember when he hit those home runs, those
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: two home runs, it was before he got hot, or
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the All Star break last year, excuse me in Saint Louis. Yeah,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and counsel kind of said, well, those are you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: like he's those aren't pitches that we want him to
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: swing at, really, but he's kind of made a habit
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of that.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: He's doing something you don't.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: You don't want people swinging at some of these pitches
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: that he swings at, and it can lead to it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Like you said, you know, he's gonna have down moments
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and that probably leads to some.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Slumps because that's the type of play areas. But I
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: don't think.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: It's I think what we're seeing is he's got this
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: ability to kind of avoid the extended slump, and he
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: also has this ability to not dwell on it while
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: in the moment.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: It looks like he takes it really hard.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: He's someone that I wonder how many helmets he's broken
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: this season. I think that's kind of the you know,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: say what you will about how he reacts. I think
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: it's kind of the perfect way in the sense that
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: in baseball, if you're going to be upset about what happens,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: just let it be that moment, don't dwell on it.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't seem like he dwells on it, it's
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: over once he slams that helmet, or slams the bad
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: or says whatever he needs to say.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: It seems like he turns the page pretty quickly.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can definitely see those moments of frustration. But
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: I think really what he's done is kind of it
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: kind of breathes new life into the Chicago Cubs. I mean,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: maybe that's overstating it a bit, but like when you
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: look at this sort of moment here, of the circumstances
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: in which he was traded here, you know, as part
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: of this post twenty sixteen rebuild that we won't call
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: a rebuild, joining a team that was kind of on
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: the fringes on the wild card bubble, but just like
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: couldn't quite get over the hump. And obviously we'll talk
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: about Kyle tech Tucker the next segment, and he's been
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: a huge elevating force for this group as well.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: But just like.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: Even when the clubs were sort of rolling in twenty
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: three and twenty four, like when they had those good stretches,
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: like there wasn't a ton of like excitement or personality
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: or like the highlight reel clips. And again I'm overly
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: over generalizing here, but like he brings something different, like
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: a national spotlight, just a flair that brings young kids in.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Just an great spokesman for being so young. He talks
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: as if he's been in the big leagues for ten years.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: And I don't mean that in a way in which
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: he's like condescending or entitled. It's just that he has
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: really good for as you know, immature. He could look
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: at the moment while slamming his helmet. He comes across
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: as extremely mature anytime you ask him a question. And
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: so I just think all of those him having an
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: MVP type year in a year when Kyle Tucker is
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: so close free agency, the whole front office is on
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: the hot seat. Ownership and business side is like, where's
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: kind of the draw to this team besides just Wrigley Field, Like,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: what's that catalyst? It's been pie Crow Armstrong.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they to have seasons like this. You need surprises.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: We've talked about that a lot, like to get superstar.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Surprise is how you have.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: A great season, and it seems like the Cubs, at
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: least in the first half of are embarking on a
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: pretty great season.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: This is I think better.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Than even someone like me who's optimistic but did not
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: expect this type of season as far as feeling this
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: strong and being among the best in baseball.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: This is you.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Needed something like this to get there, and of course
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: you needed Kyle Tucker, and we'll talk about him. Let's
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: let's take a quick break.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: We're gonna take you through the latest card that I
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: pulled in my Arena club slab pack aj And here
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: it is.
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: I pulled a Jared Jones card.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: So Jared Jones is going to be out for a minute,
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: but I'm gonna hold onto this one for the long term.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: He was nasty in his rookie season, a.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Great This is a great card to pull.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: It's gonna go up in value once he comes back
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: because this guy dealt in his rookie season gets punch out,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: so the innings once he's back.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Scott, you're in it for the long term.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Don't give up on Jared Jones or this card you
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: got from Arina Club.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: Yep, there it is. That's how you pull a slab
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: pack card. It's very cool. It's all fancy and digital.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: You can get it sent to you physically, and if
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: you want to sell it right back to Arena Club,
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: you can do that with their buyback option right away,
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: or you can hold it right now. You can get
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Just go to Arena club dot com slash foul, use
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: code foul. We've been talking about Arena Club all season
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: long because they dominate the hobby.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: If you buy, sell, trade, collect, go for it.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Patrick, Kyle Tucker is an All Star. I don't think
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: any of us are surprised by it. He is in
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the midst of arguably his best season ever. Really nice
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: time to have that season, platform season. Yeah, he's he's
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in a bigger market. You know, no offense to the Astro.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: It was obviously a great team, a great organization that's
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: won a couple of World Series in the recent past,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and and UH seems to consistently make the playoffs year
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: after year.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: But you know, Chicago, La New.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: York are just bigger places you become, you have a
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: better chance to kind of become a national star. And
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: if you had, if Kyle Tucker had gone unnoticed, that's
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: not happening anymore. He's he's starting alongside the PA and
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Ronald Lacuna Junior. If if PA's the flair and the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: flash of this team. Like I said before, like Kyle
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Tucker's just the metronome. He's just there day after day
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: making plays, making this team better, and he has elevated
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the group.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: There.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: There are so many players that feel like that can
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: just go about doing their business and not having to
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: be the start, not have the pressure on them, because
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker h seems to be able to just handle
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: all that pressure without even you know, barely aware that
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: it's happening. I don't know if he like he's so calm.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it seems like he's there's there's not much emotion there.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I think his teammates see it more than we do.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: But uh, it's it's impressive to to watch him go
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: about business and and he just like it's it's.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Kind of that.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Whatever happens happens, and he's just gonna go out there
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and do his thing and and it works every single day.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Counsel explain this very well on Wednesday at Wrigley of
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: just how with Pete and Kyle it's kind of this
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: like I don't know, fire and ice yin and Yang
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: type thing where they feed off of each other. And uh, Counsel,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: who is not just a manager, has a background in
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: the front office, and it's kind of has a broad
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: kind of base level understanding of scouting and player development
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: just from his experiences being in the game so long.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Called Kyle Tucker, he's someone who has like the perfect
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: ideal makeup for a major league hitter. And I don't
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: think that's hyperbole. That's not really how council communicates. And
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: obviously Tucker's track record is such that it's hard to
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: argue with, but it's just this idea of being able
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: to separate every single pitch as a distinct event and
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: just moving on from the pitch the at bat. I
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: mean sometimes, I mean it looks like Kyle Tucker just
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: kind of like rolled out of bed and walked to
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: the batter's box, you know what I mean. Like there's
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: not a whole lot of you know, gyrations or worry
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: on his face or sort of reaction. It's just kind
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: of all right, move on to the next one. And
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: I think teammates subtly pick up on that. I think
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: there's kind of a calming effect, not just because of
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: how he handles it back, but also because he does
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: damage and that makes things easier just for everyone, I mean,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Council alluded to. This is a contract here. You know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: sometimes that can go in different directions, and you know
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: clearly this guy's gonna gonna get paid and it will
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: be well earned because I think he's shown kind of
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: another level. I mean you were saying the other day, right,
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: this could be his best season, but also doing it
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: under these circumstances, I think, without the same supporting cast
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: he had had during some of those you know, deep
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: October runs with the Astros. I think all of it
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: just kind of enhances his value as a free agent.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Just according to Fangrafts, his career war was twenty twenty
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: one at five. He is at four already twenty twenty one.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: He played in one hundred and forty games. So far,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: He's played in eighty five games. Yeah, assuming he stays healthy,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: this is he's you know, on pace for his best
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: season war wise.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: At least you talk, you touched on it.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: There. There's a contract here, coming to a huge market,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: a bigger market, the spotlight, more more scrutiny. He goes
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: from you know, a team for much of the time
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: that he was there, there was Alex Bragman Jordan Alvarez,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: you know, George Springer was there at one point. You know,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: all those guys, jose L Tuve just to star after star,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: All Stars, MVP candidates, and he's, you know, he's kind
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: of he doesn't have to carry the load. He doesn't
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: have to be the guy. How would he handle that?
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: He handle it with the plumb Apparently he doesn't have
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: any issues, stays the same, exactly what Council said. All
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: these changes, being uprooted, traded from the only organization he's
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: known in professional baseball, none of it seemed to rattle him.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: You know, he he enters When did Vlad sign that
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: contract some early on in the season, the season had
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: already started, I believe maybe so he's you know, all
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: this pressure, there's so many different pressure points, and none
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: of it seems to impact him. He just goes out
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: there and continues to play at this elite level.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: That that type of stuff. I feel like we can
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: gloss over it because it's hard. We just don't know
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: the impact, we don't know how to.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Measure it, and and it's so easy to just dismiss,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: but it's I think it says a lot about him,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and it's you know, it's all the more reason why
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: he's going to get paid.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: He's going to get a ton of money because.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, this guy isn't a distraction in any way.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: He doesn't get distracted. He's a good presence in the clubhouse.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: He elevates everyone around him. There's just so many positives.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: You know, I guess I'm making the case for the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Cubs to spend what it takes to keep him. But
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you know, that's like we discussed ear what was that
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: last week, earlier this week. I don't know if that's
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: going to happen, and it'll continue to be a talking
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: point until he signs wherever he signs. But it's just
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: so clear what he has done to this team. And
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: we talk about we talked about last year the extended
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: slumps of the offense in May and June that led
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: to essentially the downfall of the team and the team
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: not making the playoffs. Had similar slumps in twenty twenty three.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Those were both good teams, they just weren't great. And
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: while you need Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz and Chris
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Flexen and then you need Pca to come out and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: be a good player, to go to and go to great.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: You also just need the guy that was already a superstar,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and they went out and got him, and now they
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: they've become this team that looks looks completely different than
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: what we expected. And and a down month is five hundred,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: that's June. You know how many fans were you know,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: at different points. I'm sure there were fans and media
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: members that after a bad loss, here comes, here comes
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the slide, and they bounced back immediately. They never they
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: never had that huge slide. I think Saint Louis was
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: a perfect example of that. They've done a really good
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: job of avoiding that. That's not all on Tucker, but
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: he's kind of that that piece that kind of changed
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: everything and then locked everything into place. Patrick, let's take
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: a one more quick break and then come back and
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: talk about some other one of those guys that he's
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: helped elevate, I believe, and then a couple other players
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: who may have a shot at making the all start team.
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• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: One name that feels like he's an All Star leads
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the league in RBIs just hits the crap out of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the ball. Saya Suzuki. It seems like every single time
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: he's up, he's coming through. Lately, he's coming up with
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: big hits. He's driving the ball in the gap, he's
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: hitting it over the fence. I believe he has twenty
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: three home runs, which is too over his career high.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: He's already, yeah, twenty three home runs.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: He is.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: One below his his MLB career high. For RBI, he's
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: matched last year's total. Just, I mean, some of this
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: stuff that's kind of ridiculous. He's he's just been. He
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: had a great night. I don't know what date it is,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: he had a great night Wednesday. He's just been, you know,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: incredibly good. I don't know if he will get there. Uh,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: some of this stuff can be weird with the All
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Star game, but I assume with injuries and things like that,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: he's he's in. I just I can't imagine that say
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Suzuki isn't an All Star.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Certainly all star worthy performance of first half that you
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: know he deserves to be in it. But yeah, between
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: the injuries and every team has to get a representative
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: and you know, guys begging out or like, I don't know,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: I don't spend a whole lot of like brain power
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: of like trying to figure out the last couple spots.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: I think it's more just the eye test. You look
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: at his stats, you watch him, and I think that
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: was kind of this nagging feeling around, sayah, the last
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: couple of years of like he's I mean just unbelievably jacked,
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: like physically is just a force. And then you look
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: at if you're into the data, like he lights that
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: up swing decisions like all of these things. But it
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, Jed Hoyer said it like we would talk about, like, man,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: he really should be putting more balls in the seats
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: and he hadn't, and you know, for him to have
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: this year, I think this is the hitter they envisioned.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: And it's kind of interesting when you look at these
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: three players we've been talking about of like Okay, you're
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: not gonna call it a rebuild, but you have to
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: hit on certain things. And you know, the trade deadline
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: of twenty one as unpopular and as uncomfortable as that
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: could have been, and they at least nailed one trade
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: to get a franchise level player in PCA coming out
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: of the lockout.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Intelligence spending right the next great Cubs team, you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: a deal where they felt they could find a competitive
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: and advantage in Japan with kind of the investments they
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: had made there, and this was a hitter. They hoped
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Sea would become like this is what and then when
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: you have some pieces, you kind of need that finishing
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: move for an established star and it was Kyle Tucker
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: and I think all three of these players, you know,
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: have kind of fed off each other. I mean if
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: you kind of watch every night, like Cubs had that
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: great hot start offensively where everyone was crushing the ball,
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: and you know there are certain players, you know, like
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Carson Kelly who had kind of unbelievable stretches and it
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: felt like it was going like I think it's kind
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: of cool down a bit to where it's like, yeah,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: they have those. I would say Michael Bush has had
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: a nice, you know, first half as well, but like
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: those three guys are are driving it in a lot
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: of ways and kind of feeding off each other in
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: terms of you know, there are guys on base. That's
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: why I say it has you know, so many RBIs right,
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: like he's he's they're setting the table for him. I
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: think Say has learned from Tucker's patients and discipline what
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: we were talking about in the prior segment. And then yeah,
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: you have Pete and Say with their like weird relationship
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: and kind of celebrations and kind of just the the goofiness,
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: uh you know that happened. That's way more endearing on
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: winning teams. And that just looks kind of like amateur
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Hour of the team's bad. Like they have those little
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: inside jokes and those kind of the you know, celebrations
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: and the taps and things like that. And so you
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: have a lot of things coming together at once here,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: and certainly Say has performed at a level to which
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: he would certainly make sense to be in the All
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: Star team picture.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: So you talked about you know, you can look at
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the data stuff like that. There's just some stuff that
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: just pops out at you. I think this one is
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: really simple. Ground ball rate in twenty twenty three, so
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: two seasons ago, was forty three point one percent. It
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: sounded twenty eight point five percent this season just completely
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: reversing that number. He's gone from a ground ball hitter,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: like ground ball dominant. He's was hitting the ball hard,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: but it was just on the ground too much. It was,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: you know, simple change, launch angle change. As far as
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: barrel percentage, twenty twenty three, ten point five percent, now
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: it's eighteen point four percent.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: That's a huge jump. He's gone.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: He's he's one of the best at barreling the ball
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: up now. He just consistently puts the It's he always
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: hit the ball hard. There was that was never a problem.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: It was just I guess you could call it contact point,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: would you know, I'd be curious to hear him talk
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: about it. It's sometimes with the interpreter, it's hard to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: get into these you know, the nitty gritty with these players.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: But you know something has changed there. He's it's a
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's beyond him being aggress more aggressive. There's
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: something that he's changed to get that contact point and
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: launch the ball a little bit more consistently.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Council did say, you know.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: It's it is different the way he hits it. You know,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: it's not these long, majestic home runs. It's these hard
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: liners and sometimes they just like scrape the top of
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the wall, but they're hit one hundred and fifteen miles
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: per hour and it just, you know, just flies out
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: of the park so quickly. But it isn't, you know,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the Glen Allen Hill type home run.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: It's it's you know, it's.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: A different type of home run, but he's putting it
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: in the seats so much more, so much more often. Patrick,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know how they're going to if they're going
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: to give others spots, but I think there's a couple
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: other players that deserve mentioned. One is Michael Bush. Michael
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Bush is having just a ridiculously good season. It's so
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: quietly going about it. I mean, I'm not sure if
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: there's many first basemen that are having a better season,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: you know, purely offensively. Maybe Pete Alonso. I think Pete
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Alonso is probably the only guy. He's having a better
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: season offensively or equal season offensively to Freddie Freeman. You know,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: it's similar values by war according to Fangrafs, better offensively
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: according to Fangrafs, way to runs created plush. He I
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: think he's deserving. I just don't know if there's enough spots.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: And then pitching wise, we talked about Matthew Boyd last episode.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: I think he's an All Star. I keep looking at
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: those numbers. You know.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: The keys for me is like you're starting pitcher and
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: you're among the leaders in innings pitched, and then your
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: e er is super low. It seems like a simple,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: simple way to get in there, and the bullpen's been great.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I just don't know if they have a guy that
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you focus in on. Maybe Daniel Palencia. We'll talk more
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: about him next episode, But I don't know, if you know,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: these secondary guys don't get in. That's not how the
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: All Star game works. But you know, Drew pomeranz as
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: a zero e er, Brad Keller just seems to go
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: out there and get the job done every single time
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: he's called upon. They're not getting it on the All
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Star team. I'm not sure if, but but you know,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: maybe with the saves and the one hundred and two
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: mile pour fastball, Daniel Palencia can sneak in. Not sure
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: if there's anyone else I would I would point to,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: but those, I mean, that's it's so much more than
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: what we expected coming into the season. I think it
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: was like Kyle Tupper and can anyone else get in there,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: showda if he's you know, obviously Shoda was hurt Justin Steele.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Like these guys, it's a different group than what you
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: came into the season thinking about.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: No doubt. I mean, I think part of it too
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: is like some sometimes of the All Star stuff, it's
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: like it almost takes a year for things to sink in.
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: And I think this Cups team has surprised people and
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: that there are guys with you know, lower name recognition,
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: like the entire bullpen. I don't know if Polenci has
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: had the like runway as a closer to where he's
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: kind of top of mind here, but certainly he's performing
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: at that level. I don't know if council can create
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: like an outgetter position on an All Star roster, but
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: certainly like Brad Keller's done everything they've asked and more.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I'm with you with Matthew Boyd. Like when
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: you're the best pitcher on a on a first place
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: team and you're putting up innings, your traditional numbers look good,
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: you've made every start, it would just be a nice
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: honor given the journey, the injuries he's gone through to
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: get to that point. I think it's nice to reward
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: guys you know who are kind of you know later
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: in their career you've really had to work for it,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: that it's not just the same guys over and over,
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: like a really nice human interest story if it does
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: eventually happen.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and completely spaced. Of course, Carson Kelly deserves a bench. Yeah,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: he was a finalist, slumped for a little bit. I
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: think he looks good again. I think that's you know,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure he's not. He's he's not going to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: match what he did that that run he was on,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: however long it was three weeks a month, that's that's
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: very unlikely. But doing what he's doing now, that's really important.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Just get a couple doubles, get base hits, take some walks.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: So incredibly important for this team to have just consistent
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: production beyond the stars. I don't know, you know, Will
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Smith has had a hell of a season, and I
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: don't know the rest of it.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: I'm not. I'm like you, I'm not. I just don't.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to do a deep dive on this stuff.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: The All Star Game, maybe the All Star Game has
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: lost its luster.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: It's a great honor for these guys, I guess the
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: All Star Game isn't what it was when we were
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: growing up.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: I think we can debate the value of releasing all
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: these numbers as far as votes and everything.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: I think it takes a little way from the surprise it.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: Uh, but that's like phase two and then like all
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: these different layers. I still think it's a great event,
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: like I get which is more of just the process
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: and how Yeah, it's just like okay, like just let
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: us know who's an altar.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Not yeah, we can write the story.
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, the whole like finalist stuff. I was just
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: like this finalist. I didn't even realize it until like
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: they're announcing, like they're like, oh, it's between Will Smith
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: and Carson Count, Like, wait, they have finalists, why would
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: they announce the final two.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like taking away from it.
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: It's overly complicated.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not my favorite thing, but I do like
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the the festivities are still really fun.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: The All Star Game is still.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: An event and and a fun event, and and it's
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: just a great like talking to people about it. When
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: you talk to them and they've made it, especially the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: first timers, it's a big deal.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Uh. It matters a lot. Say I did say, uh,
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: and I think we can leave it on this.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: They said, you know, he you know, he makes it great,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: but he's focused on getting to the postseason. That's much
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: more important. I think that's that's what this team should
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: be focused on. And I think they're they're setting a
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: nice stage here for possibly a really fun uh end
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: of the summer and into October.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Uh. We'll see what what the rest of the week holds.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: We'll we'll, we'll we'll.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Get to that later this week and then and then
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: next week a fun weekend in Saint or against St.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Louis at Wrigley. We'll talk about that soon. All right, Patrick,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: let's wrap this one up. It's Northside territory. Make sure
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: top of all things comes. Thanks so much for listening
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: to everyone
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Take strip today, Mo