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Cubs mailbag: Trade deadline, Jed Hoyer’s future, pitching outlook and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. We have
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a mailbag episode today. Before we get to that, I
• 0:20
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  Speaker 1: is July twentieth at eleven to fifty nine p m Eastern. Again,
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• 1:29
  Speaker 1: let's get to some questions. Mail bag. As always, you
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: guys are great, you guys send it in. A ton
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: of questions. The Cubs are playing good baseball. You know
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: we're about to start the second half. A lot of questions,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of people are interested in what's going on.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Let's start with you know, we're gonna start with trade
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: trade talk right away. Patrick, If the Cubs wanted to
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: so this is a Diamondbacks question, that's meyro. If the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Cubs wanted to acquire Merrill, Kelly and au Au henny
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: O Suarez, wouldn't it be more likely or a jump
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: to the front of the line if they took back
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Jordan Montgomery. Jordan Montgomery out for the season with Tommy
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: John there is you know, there are people in the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Cubs organization that like Jordan Montgomery. He is you know what,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: his deal was only two years forty seven.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: He's done after this year.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So he is done after this year. When I originally
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: read this, I thought, you know, I don't know. I
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: think there's a talk to be had about there's a
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: discussion to be had Patrick about how willing are the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Cubs to take big money after twenty six The books
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: are clear, So that's one reason why it could be okay.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: But we've also talked a lot about do they the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: CBA is expiring, they don't know what the money situation
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: will be. As far as are they going to get
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a cap? I don't know. You know, these are discussions
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: that we're going to have over the next year plus.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that's going to happen. But how
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: money is and what restrictions are placed on spending, salary cap,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: salary floor, whatever, it may be, more penalties if you
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: go over a soft cap, whatever they may do. Uh
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: that that could change the way teams want to spend.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So what do they want to put big money on
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the books, especially if it's for someone that isn't playing.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Jordan Montgomery free agent at the end of the year.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I don't. I think it's actually like it is interesting,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: but it I just, you know, I don't I don't
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: know if the Cubs that would be So that's about
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: twenty something twenty three point seventy five divided by you know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: six times two whatever that is the math math about
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: a million.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: I think I think Greg is asking the right question
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: about the wrong player, if that makes sense, that you know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: not not taking on a guy who's about to become
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a free agent and uh, you know, is seriously hurt.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: But when the Cubs we were kind of working on
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: that payroll story vis a vis their big market revenues
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: heading into this season, that was kind of one organizational
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: talking point of, Hey, you never know what's going to
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: happen at the trade deadline, Like there could be you know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: stuff happening. Then teams may want to, you know, unload
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: a bad contract if we want to get a good player.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: And so I don't know how all that's gonna shake out.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I think it's a really fine line between what we
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: had talked about earlier of trying to do some of
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: your free agent shopping now versus blowing your budget for
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: next year this summer. So I do think, like, you know,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: bad contracts, taking on money to reduce the prospect costs,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: I think all of those are in play. I just
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: don't really think Jordan Montgomery is like the example to
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: use here. But certainly Kelly and Suarez are like the
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: players that I think if you were like circling a
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: team a deal two biggest needs, I think those two
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: names make a ton of sense.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know what the value, Like you could
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: just you could just take it, you know, like give
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks eight million dollars, you know, if that were
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the thing. I'm not sure moving Montgomery makes much sense there.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's some reason that it could make sense, but
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not. I think you could just give
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: money if that's the if that's the issue, because he's
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: not playing. He even if even if he were beyond
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: this season, it would make more sense as far as
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: giving a bad contract. But that's why that that may
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: be difficult. But those are the right players like those
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: are two players I think the Cubs have circled. Uh
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: if they can do one stop shopping and get a starter,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: starting pitching, starting pitcher in the third basement, they would
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: love that. And Suarez is a difference maker right now.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: The way he's playing, he change the dynamic of this team.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: It would be amazing to see him in this lineup.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I think such a deep lineup, such a talented lineup,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and then you add that to maybe the one week spot. Yeah,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: it would be game changing that that would be a huge,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: huge addition. Injury question, Patrick, what is Javier Asad's injury status?
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: If fully healthy, he would be a nice second half
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: addition to the pitching staff. I believe you have you
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: heard some stuff while on the road last week.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Great, Yeah, good question, John. Our understanding is that he's
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: still looking at an August return. I believe throwing live
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: batting practice was the last step that he had done.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Obviously see All Star breaks, so we're not getting injury
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: updates all the time. But the idea heading into the
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: break was that he's probably a little bit ahead of
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Jamison tye own, but that both pitchers would be expected
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: to be available at some point in August. I think
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: it's also important to remember with a SAD you'd want
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: to build him up as a starter. You would not
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: want to short change that possibility. He's obviously been an
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: effective swingman throughout his career, so I think the comes
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: haven't gone too far down this road because he still has,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: you know, a couple more steps to go, and this
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: has been an injury that what traces back to maybe
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: like the day before pitchers and catchers report a spring
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: training like a really long time here, so everything is
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: written very much in pencil. But he does have you know,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: a minor league option available this year, so you could
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: theoretically to just kind of build him up up and
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: stash him at Iowa and keep him on a normal
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: schedule and make sure his pitch count and inning innings
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: workloads are where you want it to be. I also
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: think some of this is dependent or actually I know
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: this will be dependent on what they do at the
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: trade deadline. So yes, we think they're going to look
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: for a legit starter, maybe a depth starter swingman, and
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: a late inning reliever on top of getting you know,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: a third base and bench hop. Like, there's a lot
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: of moving pieces here, and so I think on August
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: first they can look up and see where a side
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: is at, see where tiwn is at, and see where
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: it makes the most sense to deploy a SOD for
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: the for the stretchron.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Jet's been pretty clear about this. You know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: once August first hits, there's just not many moves to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: be made, like there are those you know, teams may
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: release guys or something like that. And there's those way
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: deals don't happen. Those were big back back in you
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: know when what was that was that pre uh pre
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: COVID or even before that. However long it's been gone,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: it's been gone long enough that uh, it's it's not
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: a thing. It doesn't it. They used to add depth
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: all the time. In August, it was a We've talked
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: about this a lot. They love depth there. It's a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: it's a way to reinforce a team, make sure that
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: you're not you know, if an injury strikes, you're you're
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: safe at least for a little while. Uh. They they
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: don't have that, So that means they're going to add
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that now over the next couple of weeks. Adding back
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: ASAD and tie on just just creates more depth. It
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: creates a little more of a safety net. Whoever gets
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: moved into what spot. Asad does have options remaining. He's
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: got to two options remaining, so you know, this year
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: and next if they want to option them, they can.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: So that's that's it. I think that matters, and what
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you're talking about. They want to keep him stretched out,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: so if they need to option him, if he doesn't
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: have a spot right away. That's okay. They can option
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: him and he's there, and that's important. You need more guys,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: especially if if someone is used as trade bait like
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Jordan Wicks. What if Jordan Wicks has moved, then you're
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: losing depth in a sense right likely you're getting a
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: starter if you're moving Jordan Wicks. But I'm just saying
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: you're you know, there's depth being moved out of the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: out as well, so we'll see what happens. But I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: do think he's an interesting don't forget about hobbyer asade
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I get. I guess is what I would say there. Patrick.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and then we'll get back
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to more questions from the fans. Hey, have you heard
• 10:47
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• 11:49
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, the Cubs are well above five hundred.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: What's their record right now? It is fifty seven and
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: thirty nine. Okay, this question, I think directly to their record.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: This is their record is going to determine the answer
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to this question. Has Jed done enough this year to
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: warrant an extension assuming the second half goes well. If
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: we're assuming the second half goes well, that's an easy answer.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Is this something that would only take place in the offseason.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: This is from the Lizard King. I don't think that's
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: actually Jim Morrison.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Big Cups fan Jimson.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: So I think that it's an easy answer. I think,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: you know, the last time we addressed this, they were
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: in the midst of that very tiny skid, and it
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: was like, Okay, are they going to go into like
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: a big hole here? Are they about to hit the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: skids and suddenly be only five games above five hundred
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: or something like that, And then you're asking questions, Yeah,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I almost feel like, Okay, the draft is done, we're
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: approaching the deadline. I think it. I wouldn't be shocked
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: if it happens before the season. If we hear something,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: or something does get done before the season, we don't
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: hear about it until, uh maybe after they're they're eliminated,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: or the season ends, whatever whenever that may be.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: I just I just feel like the answer is easy.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: We came into this season saying his job is on
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the line. Playoffs are bust. They look like they're headed
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: for the playoffs. Yes, if the second and assuming the
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: question says, assuming the second half goes well, I think
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: it's a layup. I don't. I don't even know how
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: what the discussion is unless and this is not something
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: we've ever heard. He has kids, he has family, is
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: he has roots here now, like unless Jed doesn't want
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to be here, which is we've gotten zero indication that
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: that's the case. Uh, he's he's put together a lot
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: of this front office. He's built this team. Uh, this
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: is his organization, baseball operations. Uh, you know, set up
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: and this is his team right now. So you hired
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the manager. He put all these players on the team
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: with the one player from I mean there's a few
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: players I guess from THEO era, but still he was
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: part of all of this. This is his this is
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: his fingerprints are all over this organization. I just don't
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: see how unless there's something that we don't know that
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: we're missing here that we haven't heard. I expected him
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to be back next year.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: The only thing I would caution is like making the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: playoffs matters, like if the Cubs win one more game
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: against the Diamondbacks or Marlins in twenty three to make
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: the playoffs, Like does David Ross get yeah fired? I
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: We'll never know. The Cubs never really had to answer
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: that question or really think about it in those terms,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: but that certainly matters Otherwise, I think all the indicators
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: are pointing towards Jed Hoyer doing what the Ricketts family wants,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: and that is building a pipeline of young talent, being
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: nimble in the marketplace, using all these different ways to
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: acquire players, not spending at the absolute top of the
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: free agent market. What I'm talking about is, you know,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: first round picks who become major league currency in one
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: form or another, being more transactional, not just kind of
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: like buying or selling it the deadline, but making some
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: of these big off season deals for a guy like
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker. You have the pitching infrastructure that you know,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: we'll see how it holds up in the second half.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: But I think ownership has been largely pleased by that
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: ability to sort of like you know, rebuild the bullpens
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: on the fly, make smart investments in free agent starters,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: build that presence up in Japan, which is something that
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Jed asked ownership for kind of the resources to do.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: And I think the historical reference to what the Lizard
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Kig is talking about is theo Epstein's five year contract
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: extension was announced September twenty eighth, twenty sixteen, and that
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: was framed as, look, we don't want this to be
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: in a distraction. THEO has done a great job. We
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: want to keep his team in place, so like, I
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be shocked if something like that happens barring that
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: sort of collapse.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think I think that summed up well.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I think that's a good point of reference that THEO extension.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: I didn't even realize that was during the twenty sixteenth season.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I think I'd forgotten that.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I think we were in we were in Pittsburgh. Maybe
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember, but it was one of those
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: sort of like oh, hey, like this has happened, And
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: not that anyone thought THEO was about to leave, but
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: it was we sort of knew we had this ten
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: year shelf life and that would have been a question
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: as they advanced through each postseason round and so just
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: to get ahead of it, and yeah, I'm with you too,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Like I've never gotten any sense from Jed that he's
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: getting antsy or feels underappreciated and wants to move elsewhere,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: that he is so rooted in Chicago. I think another
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: five year deal would be you know, very welcome on
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: his part.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: All right, we got a kid Horton question next, how
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: do you think Cad Horton will be managed in the
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: second half? With Tyone out and Horton perhaps needing to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: be monitored, will that make a second starter in necessity
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: at the deadline? Kind of two questions? So I yes,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I think we've kind of talked about two starters as
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: kind of you know, the ideal situation for them to add.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: You know, we talked about a sad possibly coming back,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: but that's you know, with Tyne and waiting for Tyne
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: waiting for a sad. Yeah, they're aiming for two starters
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: to be added. In general, how will he be managing
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: this second half? So I just looked this up. It's
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: eighty eight and the third is his career high Pro high.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Sorry I should say in that over a full season
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: including the miners this year, he's at eighty five and
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: two thirds, so he's approaching what he already you know,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: his previous career mark and pro ball. But they're not
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: just looking at innings. They They've told us this over
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: and over again, they will not just be monitoring things
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: based on innings. So that's a very rudimentary way. That's
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: really my only way of like looking at things, because
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I don't have the data that they're using, but they
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: all have these wearables that we see it when we
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: go to the park. There's even more stuff that they're mounting,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: and that's how they work out their bullpen sessions. How
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: like all the data, all the stuff that we've talked
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: about over the years when they're on the mound and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: in the bullpen, as far as how their pitches are moving,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: where their arms slaw is, how their bodies moving velocity,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: how they're rebounding from a start and bullpen start, all
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: that stuff like stuff that we probably don't even know about,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: stuff that's happening in the gym that we don't really
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: fully know about. There are all these things that are
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: being monitored and that's telling that's giving them, that's helping
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: them make their decisions. And even with all that, it's
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: a really imperfect science and they really don't have one
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: hundred percent certainty. I don't even know where that level
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: of certainty is. They don't feel great about they don't know.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: It's probably better than it was ten years ago, but
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: it's nowhere close to what they want to be you
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: know that there are certain aspects of baseball where they
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: feel they've made so much progress, they feel really good
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: about how things, how they can see things. This is
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: not one of those things where they feel like they've
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: made that they've gotten to a point it's like, oh,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: we almost have this figured out. They're constantly it's constant
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: trying to trial and error from what we understand.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just pulling up here a quote that Craig
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Counsel gave when I asked about kind of Matthew Boyd's
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: workload and how you know he can kind of hold
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: up in the second half. And to quote Counsel, we
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: don't know what causes pictures to get injured, otherwise we'd
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: be better as an industry. And so I think that's
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: really pertinent here too, of like they're all just guessing, yeah,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: and like there are probably things that intuitively make more
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: sense than others, and there are ways to maybe open
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: yourself up to more second guessing or not. But ultimately,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: I think kat Horton will be managed. How he will
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: be managed we dictated by how he pitches. And I
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: feel like he's had a nice first half. I think
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: he's been He's been impressive in a lot of ways.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's been like super domint. You know,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: it's not like, you know, the miz arriving in Milwaukee,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: And maybe that's an unfair comparison. He's sort of an outlier.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: But you've seen in this division a lot of really
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: interesting young pitchers, and like I think Kate Horton is competitive,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: he's professional, he's athletic, adaptable, like a lot of good
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: things going for him. I don't know if we've seen
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: like a number one ace who's just going to sort
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: of blow you away every five or six days, but
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: certainly a nice piece for a team. And like you know,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: if he he keeps getting out, counsel will keep giving
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: him the ball. I think when we get into these
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: last two months side have you talked about this last episode.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: You wrote it in your second half storylines preview, he's
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: a little less patient and a little more aggressive now,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Like he has that feel for the rhythms of the season,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: and like, given his track record as a second half manager,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: he you kind of give them the benefit of the
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: doubt of which buttons to push, and Kate Horton is
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: certainly a part of that conversation.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know you can be you can be aggressive,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: you can be creative, especially if they make trades, if
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: they add multiple starters Javier Asad and time get healthy.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Now you suddenly have all these choices and it's like, okay,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: we can be we can we can rest Kate Horton.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: We can we can send him down. Can you can
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: option him and and let and like just monitor his innings,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: have him throw a few innings here and there, and
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: then build him back up essentially, and then and then
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: he's back in a month or two weeks, whatever you
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: want to do. However you want to handle it so
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: you don't need to overthink it. If you add pitching,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: like you have to add the pitching, which is we've
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: been assuming for months now that they're doing that. Uh
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: So I do like I do like what Kate Horton
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: has done. Is he is he blowing people away like MISRASKI?
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: No?
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Is he Paul Skiings? Does he does he have this
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: stuff of like does he have triple digious stuff like
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Chase Burns, Like those guys in the division, they're they're impressive.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: There's some really like blow you away. Make Sports Center
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: highlights you know, Get Get Gift and pitching Ninja and
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. I'm not sure if Kate Horton's there fully.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: There are some pitches that I'm seeing that I'm like, wow, okay,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: and I do think he could be really good. I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: don't know if he's like starting the All Star Game good,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: but you know, I do think there's more in the tank,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: and we're seeing flashes of like, Okay, it's I mean
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of like those intangible qualities. You hear his teammates,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: his manager talk about the pitching coach talks about it.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: He's he's a competitor, he's super focused, he's able to
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: wipe away bad moments really quickly. I think all that
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: stuff matters, and it's important and it'll help. He has
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the talent as well, and I think it's going to
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: help him get to a better level that he than
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: he's at. Even right now, he's solid, right, but I
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: think he can get to another level. I think he's
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: scratching that at times. You see it. I'm not sure
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: if we'll fully see it this year. Maybe we'll, but yeah,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: I do think there's another level there, and I'm curious
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: to see how and when he reaches it all right,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Let's take another break and then wrap up with a
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: couple more questions.
• 24:18
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• 24:27
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• 25:20
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, this is actually the last question of
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the episode. There were a couple other questions. I think
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: we'll touch on some like one of the other questions
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: kind of in our next episode. So if you didn't
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: get your question answered, there's more more stuff coming. Considering
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the lack of hitting off the bench with the Cubs,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: consider rostering three catchers once Miguel Ami comes back. I mean,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Reese MacGuire has has played well. I'm not sure what
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: his offensive numbers are, but I'm going to guess off
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the top of my head that they're pretty damn good.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: They're not great, They're not like a leap, but he's
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: been league average essentially overall. But I feel like he's
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: come he's come through and some big moments and hit
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: some big home runs. You've gotten some big hits here
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and there, so you can't be disappointed with what Reese
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: maguire has done. But I think it's a valid question
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: because the numbers for Vidal Bruhan, for John Birdie, they're
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: just like, offensively, they're certainly not good enough. John Birdie
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: is about fifty two percent below league average. If you're
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: looking at a way to runs great at plus Vidal Breuhan,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I believe is worse than that. I'm not even gonna
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: bother looking it up because I know he just doesn't
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: have that many big hits. It's in general, So what
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: have you heard there? Patrick?
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: First, I'm curious, like Minneapolis Polar Bear Club, is Dan
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Hayes a member of that? Like our buddy over at
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: the Athletic, I think they would consider this. I think
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: that's sort of like been a back burner idea. We
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: know how obsessed they are with depth and how preoccupied
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: they are with like what could go wrong? In recent
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: wire has been a nice fit. I think you see
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: two like Carson Kelly's been great, but he did have
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: that sort of like a lull there, you know, between
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: whatever his Barry Bonds period, and then just before the
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: All Star break he was like really really good, and
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, offensively, it kind of came and
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: went a little bit. I mean, Miguel Amaya had a
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: really nice reputation as an offensive prospect coming up through
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: the miners. It seemed like he had made a significant
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: made significant adjustments last year and you know, real nice
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: strides to be coming an everyday type catcher. So I
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: definitely would think this is under consideration. It's a very
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: good question. We'll have to see.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: It.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Sounded like a Maya was probably going to need sometime
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: in the miners. I guess a series now are almost
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: like a full week in the minors. So like saying
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: a series is you know, it's not just like three games.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: He would need more than three. Knowing how the Cubs operate,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: they probably would ease him in a bit. You know,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: It's not like he would just play like six games
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: in a row, particularly as a catcher. So again, this
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: is one of those things where you kind of see
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: how Maya does, see how Kellen maguire presents coming out
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: of the All Star break, what they do at the deadline,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: and also like you know, we can't assume all these
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: position players are just going to stay healthy between now
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: and the deadline. I think that'll be interesting on Friday
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: we get to Wrigley to see, you know, if there
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: are any moves or if there's any Oh we didn't
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: mention this, but you know, in Minneapolis or New York,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: this sort of happened on that last road trip there.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: You just sort of never know.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, no, that's a good point, and I Yeah,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: they're absolutely adding depth there. They're going to be moves made.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: We don't know what this team will look like in
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: two weeks. It's going to look a little different, you know,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: likely decently improved, is the hope that for Cubs fans.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I assume and that that's what they're gonna try and
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: pull off over these next couple of weeks. All right, Patrick,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: we'll be back with another episode, previewing some of talking
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: about what happened with Kyle Tucker and then some other
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: stuff going on, and then previewing this weekend against Boston.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Let's wrap this one up. Thanks so much for listening
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: to everyone. This is Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate and review, subscribe to the
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I are on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: listening everyone, Take care the band