Latest / Monday Morning Cubs Show / Another Melancholy Monday For The Cubs

Transcript

Another Melancholy Monday For The Cubs · Monday Morning Cubs Show

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we're clear.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning, good afternoon, and evening, Chicago Cubs fans, and welcome back to the Monday morning Cubs Show.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Today is Monday, June 8th.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is your host, Carl, here hanging out by a thread, and joined by his close panels.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Good to see you, my friend Mahoney.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Good to see you, Mahoney.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: Carl, I think I'm gonna make it.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh good to see you as well on this Monday morning and all the maniacs out there.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get a good week started.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we should set the tone right now and say we don't want to be the guys that just come in and whine and bitch.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's gonna be a show.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: We just whine and bitch.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: We did go two and four last week, and we did last Monday set the tone 22 games, all teams under 500 at the time of recording.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so to lose back-to-back series at home, like that really blows, and all I want to do is get mad.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: But then you and I are talking green screen, we're talking throughout the games and stuff, and I just don't want to sit here and MF a bunch of people.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we have topics, we've got questions, we have mailbags.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we are in the middle of a season right now, and I'm not giving it up.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, and you know what?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: I got other shit to do too, man.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: So if I'm gonna get myself all in a rut right away on Monday, that's not gonna happen.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna let anyone or team or an organization do that to me, you know.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: And Carl, I will just say it is it's more of a melancholy Monday than like a mad Monday, right?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: Bears sound like they're moving to Indiana.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Stacey King passed away, absolutely, God rest his soul.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: That hit really hard.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, and the Cubs aren't performing at all at the moment.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where things stand.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: But hey, it's better not to get angry, it's better to appreciate the finer things in life, and we just gotta move forward and move on to Colorado.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: We almost just pivot this into an entire Chicago sports podcast with what you just said there, because I have the same sentiment.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like Sydney, uh Stacy King, obviously, um was is he the greatest color guy in Chicago?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is he the greatest color guy in Chicago?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like sports commentary, is he the best play?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Is he the best fucking wingman in the history of talking sports in Chicago?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Who ever brought it like Stacy King?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I mean, honest to God, that's 1000% strike.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: Stacey King was the epitome of Chicago Bulls basketball when the team even sucked.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: It was still much watched TV.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then when Derek Rose and the the lift from that, he made it just joyful to watch any basketball game that he was calling.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: His presence around, if you've ever seen him on the sidelines or close or you know, dear court, what have you, taking every picture, signing every autograph has been there for any fan, and it's just uh it's an amazing loss, and too soon.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I I we'd be remiss not to mention that, you know, uh on on this uh Monday morning.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'd rather pay tribute to Stacey King than sit here and talk about a team that can't score in the eighth inning, can't score in the ninth running, and he can't score in the tenth inning.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just a gutless, lifeless team that has no problem scoring one run.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Stacey King deserves way much more time and attention, you know.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: If if we were a full Chicago sports podcast, I am salty that the Bulls were so bad down the stretch for him.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I think our last taste of upbeat positive Stacey King is gonna be in like December of 2021.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's like years removed from them being an exciting team, and so just like now as I'm sitting here thinking about the fact that no matter what the Bulls turn into without Stacey King on the call, good luck to whoever the next guy is that takes that chair.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Those are some of the biggest shoes anybody's gonna have to fill of the 21st century in sports media and any local market, period.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that absolutely, dude.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's he was must-watch television, a must-watch listen, listen, and it's they're gonna be struggling with ratings based off of you know the way that that organization sits, but that's neither here nor there.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just unbelievable loss.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And and out of this, out of Stacey King's tragic passing, you know, a lot of people are treating the the Bears news like it's some tragedy or whatever.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I could spend hours on this topic.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't care to, and I don't give a fuck where they play these games, Mahoney.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Arlington Heights, Vancouver, they play them in Soldier Field, knock your socks off.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you want to play them in Hammond, Indiana?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: That that's where they're playing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's where they're fucking playing.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you right now, I'm watching them.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm watching them.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't give a fuck.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm watching them, and I'm so disgusted with the amount of discourse around like I can't believe this and the fucking believe it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Shut up.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody that's complaining about this, uh, like I guarantee you have bigger stuff on your plate than where the Bears post up for their fucking home games on Sunday.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's that's also 1000% correct.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: I hate to just continue to agree, but with the Bears thing, I think historically it's going to be viewed as an absolute travesty, you know, from a 10,000-foot view.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: But I have the same thing, I just don't care anymore.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: At all, like I really don't.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm probably not going to the games anyway, you know, at this point in my life, and maybe one or two.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't care where it's built.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Hammond's not that far.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm 39 years old.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm too old to care about this.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: If I was living in South Loop still, I'd be bummed out.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you were in the mix, you're in that you're in a season ticket holder group and you have, you know, 20 years worth of experience under your belt, and you've got the routines and the rhythms.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm sure the PSL holders, there's some that are pissed off.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I bet the guys in Arlington Heights are salty, northwest suburbs are salty, it's gonna make their life a whole lot harder.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: My general eat like take on this, though, is just shut the fuck up, just stop complaining.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Just everybody, just shut up.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're coming off a season where we literally just beat the Packers in the playoffs.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Ben Johnson has momentum, Caleb Williams in the fourth quarter looks like somebody we've never seen before in this city.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And now what we're gonna do is rally in the offseason around Northwest Indiana, which is filled with nothing but great people, which will do nothing but accommodate whatever requests the Chicago Bears need.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, I have some inside information that I can't leak.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's seven people on the board that voted.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I have information that two two of two of seven votes came down to a$175 million cash difference every single year, whether it was in Cook County or if it was in Northwest Indiana.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: And those two votes were like, there's just no way, as business that just there's just absolutely no way.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can't in my right mind suggest that we do this plan, whatever it may be.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're telling if it's almost two billion, and then over two years or over 10 years, they can invest that.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about billionaires in the extremely smart business people that are like, uh, we'll take the cash, we'll invest the cash, then we'll reinvest more of the cash into the team.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we would rather have that cash and and build off of it, uh, than like just give it to the state of Illinois.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's gonna come down to it, you're not gonna convince us to do business in the state of Illinois if we're talking about billions of dollars in net present value.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my take on the situation.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, of course, if they go six and eleven next year, I'll be bitching up a storm about the fact that we had such a distraction with the Northwest Indiana stadium debate.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: That it that's the biggest thing for me is the fact that it isn't distracting at all to the team.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think it is, I think Ben Brown just has that ship going with none of the executives on board.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I love that you called him Ben Brown when his name's Ben Johnson.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's perfect.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's perfect.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because so people don't know it's it's not a bit when you don't know somebody's name.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like you literally just say a name.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: I just said who I was thinking about, and I'm assuming you all know who it is when I'm talking.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: Give it context.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Eight minutes in, and I want to give us credit because what I've done is distract us from a two-in-four week from us taking a Monday off, dropping three in a row, or dropping three, uh, two or three to the athletics, dropping two or three to the Giants, looking like a completely in-et baseball team yet again.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: RIP Stacey King.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Fucking love that guy.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you want to talk about a little thirsty vaquero?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: I do, Carl.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: And why wouldn't we at this point?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: Because really, what I need right now in my life, and to enjoy something, if you're not enjoying this current cub stretch, I know you're gonna enjoy a thirsty vaquero.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: An all-bite, no rattle, Mexican-style soda with a signature spicy finish.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's the signature spicy finish that's gonna make you come back more and more.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: The flavor profile is everywhere, front of your mouth, back of your mouth.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be hosting, you're gonna be going to events, you're gonna be in situations where people are mixing cocktails, maybe you don't want a cocktail.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the versatility of thirsty vaquero, the the overall versatility of where this thing plays.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: From the second you get up in the morning, a mango muerte compare with breakfast.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not joking.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you need a late nightcap, a little, a little fucking mezcale and watermelon, like that's there.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you just want a little refresher before you go to bed, put it in a bourbon glass, feel good while you sit on the couch without any of the damage.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and if you're talking versatility and you're looking for versatility, you better go out and just get a vigilante pack right off the bat.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Go to Amazon, order yourself a vigilante pack.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's the most ruthless band of thirst vigilantes that this world has ever known.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: So you can experience all three wild flavors in a variety.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm talking Sandia Salvahe.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm talking mango muerte.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: You can have it for breakfast, Carl mentioned Lamon the drone.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: You can mix it, you can have it on its own.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: They're all just phenomenal beverages, real agave.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you to Thirsty Vacaro, and thanks to all the maniacs out there that's buying it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And we're not just asking you to purchase stuff just to purchase it.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: It is a great product and tastes great, and it's perfect time of the year to do so as summer's now fully underway.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: If we were in the business of cramming product down people's throats, this show would be brought to you by some fucking market.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: It would be brought to you by some prediction basis, some some some opportunity for maniacs to waste and lose money.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it would be brought to you by.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a hundred percent real fruit juice, a hundred percent organic agave, thirsty by caro.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Check them out on Amazon.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: We we only partner with the good stuff.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so for the show, we're gonna talk a little bit.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we're 10 minutes into it, and try just off the top.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if we were if this was a Friday solo show, Mahoney, I would probably be a little bit more bummed out and just sit here and motherfucking guys.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's the fact that we have a chance to go 500 on the week to kind of redeem ourselves in the eighth inning, in the ninth inning, in the tenth inning, and we just continuously shoot ourselves in the foot.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's Alex Bregman having 143 runners left on base.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Unbelievable.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: The Cubs collective approach here, and so I'm just gonna start here with you like baller strike.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: We have no starting pitching staff.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a strike, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: There's people that start games, but Javier Assad, one of them, he had to come out in emergency relief because Jameson Tayan's down now with the hammy.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, no, sir, we do not have starting pitching that's a strike, and that stinks for a number of reasons.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, probably the worst part is when you look at the guys who are hurt, the guys that are hurt.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is like one of the best starting pitching steps in the national league between Kate Horton and Justin Steele and Matthew Boyd.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like Jackson Wiggins is supposed to be a top right-handed pitching prospect in the world, and we can't see him because he's hurt.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm like, you know, and obviously Eddie Cabrera looks like shit.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Shuty Managa can't, you know, we give up so many home runs right now.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's it's almost unfathomable.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: But like you and I both agree when we look at this team right now and say we don't have a start, we don't have any starter.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: We have no so we have I don't have a starter.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have Ben Brown.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I have is Ben Brown.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: We have yes, we have Ben Brown who did not start the year as a starter, part of the starting staff, and then Javier Sad luckily coming in and shoving with six and a half scoreless yesterday.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, he could fill more.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: I know Boyd is coming in as we had mentioned, I think a couple weeks ago.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have much faith on how long that's gonna last.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, but no, at this time, no starters, and but that's really not why we're even losing these games lately.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's more even on like the execution side of things.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned Lance Bregman, at least he was accountable in the post-game, you know, he's getting paid for it, but they're awful swings.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Shitty enough, I was watching the 3D view in my mlb.tv app last night because I had to put my daughter down, and that was just for the extra innings.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I I I had clicked the 3D, it's like kind of a bad video game, and you just see Braggman right away.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's like just the thing goes straight in the air.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like unbelievable.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was just yeah, I I'm not I don't want to go down this path too much, but it's just it we're not executing in winnable situations, regardless of getting smoked, you know, 18 to 2 or coming back.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the comeback wins are are great, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: But it's almost like there's this like torture chamber I'm in, and it's just a brief reprieve of somebody ripping off my toenails.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: That's as negative as I'm gonna be, though, for the rest of the show.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it stinks we don't come in and right off the top talk about PCA.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it it like really stinks that the PCA game doesn't get nearly enough shine the Saturday, just an unbelievable display from PCA, and that's buried.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Javier Assad stepping up for Teon is buried because Tayon's our sixth injury to the rotation.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: And Javier Assad, we've we've optioned, he's down, he's back, he's up.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we like bury the positive news that like, man, Assad looks like what we need him to be.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the process, is Alex Bregman horrendous.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Dansby Swanson, horrendous.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, guys that like get paid so much money and have so much experience to put this tape out.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're in the second week of June now, is disgusting to me.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: And the worst part all of it is you've seen the potential of two 10-game winning streaks.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we've seen what this team can be like when they have an ounce of urgency.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you see what it looks like when these guys, you know, these they they don't they and it's hard to judge.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Is it urgency?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is it technical stuff?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the mechanics?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the mental preparation?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll just say it's everything, like it's the whole stew.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: The whole stew is just shit.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's just not clicking right now.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's the way you could just leave it at that.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: The nothing's clicking at all.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: So two and four this week.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go back to last Monday.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: We said 22 games in a row against teams below five, and we still have that.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like we said, we have nine more games in a row against bad baseball.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: We have three in Colorado, three in San Francisco, and then we're back in Wrigley with three against the Rockies.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: So the next nine games are gets up.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like objectively bad baseball teams.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, here we are again.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Let's throw the expectations out.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, ball or strike.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I expect us to go at least six and three in the next nine.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Why do I expect that?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: But we should, we need it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'm gonna say it's a ball for me because my expectations are just a bit low, but I could just I'm gonna shift it.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: They need to, the team needs to.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: The Cubs need to be six and one this week, or six and or five and one, whatever how many games they're actually playing.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that's how I feel about the overall picture heading into Colorado tonight.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I felt last like yesterday's series was and not over the course of the whole season, but it was a must-win for me.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like last night's game, that was a must-win for me, damn it.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it just didn't happen.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it that's what it is, you know, what really let me down on kind of a shitty news weekend.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we have this series in Colorado, just to point out quickly, I want to go back to Sunday baseball, but this series coming up this week, we have Imanaga and Eddie Cabrera taking taking them out in Colorado, where like both guys are averaging like at least two homers given up per start.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Good luck.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So when we say, like, yeah, I'd like I expect to go five and one.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: The path forward is with the bats, the path out of this is with the bats, and it sucks that I'm not sitting here celebrating how good PCA looks.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: So let's take a second, be positive because PCA is leading the National League and wins above replacement, has got has caught fire.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, real honestly, since he got fired by MLB and he told that girl from Bridgeport to suck his dick.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude, it was like almost a reverse jinx in a way, and then that kid buffing the ball, you know, after the overrated home run, he's exploded since then.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he's standing a little taller, he's getting that front foot down earlier.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's catching those inside pitches out in front, driving it.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: You're seeing that hard hit contact, barrel rate.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it's barrel rate is the term, but you guys know what I'm talking about.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, that PCA is the leadoff for me moving forward, baller strike.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a strike.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking right now.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: The season he is hot right now, so the numbers are gonna be a little bit like this.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's been playing really well the last couple weeks.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, but the OBP is over 340.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the question is like, if the OBP is over 330, then I'm fine with seeing him in the when I don't want to see him lead off, is where he's struggling so bad, it's in that 300 range.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like 340 is great.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: The slug at 440 is gonna continue to climb.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: You talk about the slug a lot on the Friday show.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Overall, just quick glance at the PCA slash line.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have no reason to say should not be the leadoff hitter, and I also think it should be part of the organizational philosophy.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, we're seven and a half behind Milwaukee.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: We look like absolute shit.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Danzi Swanson for$27 million is a terrible leader, and Alex Bregman for$35 million so far has been so unbelievably underwhelming.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're gonna do anything to just spark the team, just say fuck it, pull Pete aside and go, you're gonna lead off every game the rest of the season.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Don't care lefty, righty, because this is the path forward with the organization.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: The path forward is not you hitting eight and us getting our foot down and the timing, like you're just a lead-off hitter, be the lead-off hitter, then build a team around him because at least he gives a fuck.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we know that that's a fact, Jack, and that's a fair ball, Carl.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, PCA is the one that's showing any kinds of life out there, and you know, Ian Hap a bit too.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he had the one extra base hit, I think, for our squad uh yesterday or the game before.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: But either way, um, PCA is it, and I think that if we need an engine, he's gonna be the engine that we're gonna have to attach this locomotive to because I don't see it right now from the guys that we thought were gonna be the actual leaders on the field in the clubhouse, which is the downside right now, and we've said on this show before, we like using the phrase right now, like right now, Alex Bregman's trash.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, Alex Bregman's having by far the worst first 12 weeks of the season, you know, 11 weeks of a season he's ever endured.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: And this is by far the worst I've ever seen Dansby Swanson ever, you know.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, right now though, so like who's to say Alex Bregman can't have a good June?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Who's to say Dansby Swanson can't get hot for two weeks?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Who's to say this stuff isn't going to happen?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then like there's a lot of people listening, they're like, Me, I'm watching it, I watch them every day.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: They look like fucking shit right now.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: What would put me in a position to have the expectation to say, now I feel like Alex Bregman's ready to go?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: What is it?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, Mahoney.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Carl, it's funny.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why this kind of just like sparked something in my brain, but I was thinking yesterday with some of the the bad leadership or you know, guys just not coming up clutch, Bregman runners in scoring position, all that stuff.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: I was starting to get worried about how it's going to affect PCA's growth.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Is he gonna then try to is he gonna go back to pressing because of now it's on his shoulders?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I know this is the hypothetical theorizing that you get stuck in your head as a baseball fan, and it's a whole lot of nothing, but I just don't I need those guys to step up for PCA now to to keep this rolling, but and that's that's kind of the sentiment I'm getting at.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be interesting to see something that I think is unique to Bregman and Swanson, not necessarily maybe Horner and Hatt, but like there's a lot of pressure on Swanson and Bregman.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is probably the most pressure that's been put on Bregman in his career because forever when he played in Houston, he's sitting behind or next to or adjacent to whether it's George Springer or Jordan Alvarez or Kyle Tucker.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: The lineups that that guy was in in Houston were just, you know, like he's hitting behind Michael Brantley, who's carrying a 320 batting average.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is the first time where I think Alex Bregman's kind of been isolated.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, you are the best player on this team.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Not a fan favorite player on this team, not a good player on a great team.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to be the best player.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it'll be interesting to see how he responds from the negative performance underneath the magnifying glass in his first trier.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you could point back and maybe say with the Red Sox last year, and he was okay, he was pretty good.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: I would take that version over what we have now, normally played 115 games.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just interested to see where he goes from the criticism, has been overwhelming.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: The performance has been absolutely trash, and I don't know if that's a bridge he's crossed before in his career.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: I would like to be corrected if he has.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it is.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: No, I don't think so.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: And with the Boston example, I never thought that he thought he'd be there long term, but this is a different situation, you know, with the five year locked in, while all that.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll we'll see how he bounces back from it because I think it is a unique moment in his career if you look back at where he's been, you know, leading up to.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't seem like he's gonna be devoid.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Of any future opportunity.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're going to hit him three or four, this is what's going to happen.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to be up in the eighth.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to be up in the tenth.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to be up there in the night.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to be the guy with two outs.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's where that position you know falls into line when you're a team that's scoring less than four runs.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can kind of in these situations where it's two-one, it's three-two, it's two-two.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Your three or four hitter is going to be the fucking guy at the end of the game with the bat in his hands.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, right now it's like we're not even flinching from moving Alex Bregman down in the lineup.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like you are the three or four.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just personally very interested in where that storyline goes.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say it is not finite or it's not finished, or it's not even close to being finished.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So people are walking around going, This guy sucks, he's a bust, etc.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's still you know almost four months of base regular season baseball left.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's just right now, as we talk about it, Bregman leads the National League and runners left on base.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: It is crazy.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And now looking it back from a macro level, moving on.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: I just have a quick ball or strike from you.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Is ball or strike, clutch hitting is a bigger problem than our overall offense.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: Is that and I and that's an I'm I'm really asking the question because I I want to know.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're talking, you're talking about you know how to how our collective approach, and then you apply that approach to runners in scoring position, there's a disconnect.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so which one's more important?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is this like overall collective approach of working counts and getting into positive positions, you know, and taking borderline pitches and not not having an attitude to barrel up a pitch if it's not right down the middle?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I do like the philosophy of like you working counts collectively as an organization.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna work counts, we're gonna work starting pitchers, we're we're not gonna give you guys freebies, but there is a line you have to draw, and you say, All right, well, what point do you take the bat off your shoulder with two strikes and be more aggressive around the strike zone?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, at what point do you expect the umpire?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you do you bake it into your like you could get fucked on a bad call?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's two strikes.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: We've heard that at every level of baseball.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, don't let the umpire call you out on a bad one, etc.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I know the challenge systems in place, but we're talking about a fundamental approach in the banner's box for this entire organization where guys are willing to take strikes that are over the plate, they don't necessarily guess early in the count.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: You don't see guys try and unload early in the count that often.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: See, a lot of guys work counts, and so what that means is in the end of the game, when you get into these clutch situations with runners in scoring position, it's like, hey, we need someone to hit a fly ball, right?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like Michael Bush, we need you to hit a fly ball.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that that's that skill or that trait of like we just need you to do this, uh, is severely eradicated when your entire offensive approach is predicated on seeing pitches, seeing pitches, make the pitcher work.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, would you rather in last night's game, Michael Bush up, run around third one out?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Would you rather have Michael Bush up there or Mark fucking Grace?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not even a question.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Mark Grace because he'll you can bounce it everywhere.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it doesn't even make a difference.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Just the idea of like wherever at all costs, yes, and that comes back to like a feel thing.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: So if you do have that approach early on and you're just asking somebody to change it at the end of the game, the ball players are, I mean, they have it's a feel, like they have to know like what they can do in a batter's box, but if it you know veers away from that approach and they're doing what they're asked to do as well, like you can't just ask somebody to switch anything like late in the in an actual game, you know, less than an hour later.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say there's definitely a connection between their offensive approach and the struggles with runners and scoring position.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's definitely there's definitely a connection there between the way that each individual is approaching their bat um and then their capacity to execute with runners, not base, because they see more breaking balls than any other team in the national league.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: So like take for that what you will.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: The fact that they and Simmons is that a be is that an accident?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is that a that is not a coincidence at all?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're they're seeing breaking balls because if you're throwing a breaking ball early in the count or behind in the count, I'll guarantee you that I can't.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's a five percent chance a Cubs player is gonna swing.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's just no even the most mistake lollipop get me over slider on one-o that looks like an absolute treat.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Cubs players have it in their head.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: We're not don't don't get don't even think on one-o that he may lay something over the plate soft to get even in the account.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And if he does, just take that fucking pitch.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's part of where you start to see guys who slug 360, 370, 350, 360, 370.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're not getting into the batteries rocks with some sort of emphasis or authority to like punish the baseball.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, I got I'm gonna work my accounts, I'm gonna see my pitches, I'm gonna get the pitch that I want.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you're not gonna get you're not, you're just we're just not that good.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: We're just not right now.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's the thing, man.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, I it's they're all it's all really, really good points, and clutch hitting.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think I know the term clutch is like kind of frowned upon, but we're not gonna be able to be clutch when guys are are asked to change their approach consistently, if that's in fact the truth.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know if it's it's a it's a being asked to change your approach.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just a situation of runner on first base or run around third base, one out, first base is open.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: What makes you think you're gonna get a pitch to drive?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what in your head says you're gonna get something like you better be getting in the box under the impression of like I need to shorten up a little bit, he's probably gonna pitch me down away.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a good segue into like I enjoyed Anthony Rizzo last night on the Sunday night broadcast quite a bit.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: I I look forward to more commentary from Rizzo.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: His cat and mouse on what he thinks the pitcher is about to do next, what the pitcher should do next, is as good as any I've ever heard.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Is and it's like the it's like his third first full broadcast.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: They just got him sitting in a dugout well, and they're like, Riz, what would you do here?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: And his accuracy and his capacity to tell you here's the spots you don't want to go after Devers, here's the spot, this and that.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: We should just right now hire him and put him in the fucking dugout and start telling the hitters that if that's how accurate he is, because we look fundamentally clueless compared to the shit Rizzo was talking about last night, and that was just something that came up.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: I thought Rizzo deserves his roses.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought he was outstanding on the broadcast for what they're asking him to do.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's not sitting in the booth bullshitting with the guys, he's kind of like down on the field.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Riz, you got to look at this.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what I think about the situation.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's just dead on balls accurate.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so just like shout out.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Who gives a fuck though, right?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean two and four last week.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do I really want to sit here and congratulate Anthony Rizzo on being a decent broadcaster?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tough one, my honey.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's nice to see Anthony up there nice and polished and professional.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: He also made, you know, a nice little cameo in one of those commercials.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure it was for some prediction market or something.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: But he was, you know, very well done.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I like his show and everything now more than I think I did in the beginning.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a nice listen.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: So congrats to Anthony for his new career in baseball media.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have any other baller strikes?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: I have a couple here.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: So baller strike, one more bad week changes the trade deadline conversation.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, Mahoney, that's a really good baller strike.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say ball just because there's still time in June.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's not one bad week.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is something that came up in the mailbag, but we are trending that way, if that makes it.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're definitely trending that way.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, like ball right now, but we're trending, and I'm looking at say that could be if that could be like right down the middle in two weeks.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I had that one written down.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: I saw it in the mailbag later, but so I had to get that ball or strike out, and we'll also address the mailbag question as well for any finer details in life.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I do I think that baller strike, I have Kevin Alcantara's trade values basically close to zero right now.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: These running snap, these snafuos on the paths is absurd at this level of play.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I know the answer to this one.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a strike.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is not to be mean at all, all right, because he's he's he's a great athlete, you know, and like in plenty of places, he's he's a fine ball player, in plenty of places a great ball player, but one of those places where he's not as major league baseball, and he's not a major league baseball player, all right.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, like just one look at him on the bases in the outfield in the batter's box, you not a major league baseball player, and I don't see it coming together at any point in a cub's uniform.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm talking about listen, we go play triple A, he'd be a great triple A player.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to play triple A, it's fucking harder than double A, and double A's harder than single A.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and he's fine at those levels.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that gap from there to this is so high that, like, now do you see how obvious it is?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: When you talk about the base run issues, you go, this guy's this guy's out to lunch.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: People go, Yeah, sure, okay.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, watch him run the bases, and the fact that like council has been bitching about him on the bases for as long as he's been in a fucking dugout for the Cubs, like as long as long as whether it's spring training, oh yeah, he was yelling at him in March.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: He was like fit like verbally assaulting him because of base running skills.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: But he's on the roster.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: I know he's on the roster right now and he's a pinch runner.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's professionally negligent, not just from Craig, the whole organization, to even look at that guy and consider his value on a 26-man roster.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: And well, we could use him to pinch run late.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: Are you out of your gourd?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Of all people, the worst base runner in the organization because he's a step faster than a competent MLB base runner.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, perfect.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I mean, like the risk of this guy running into an out, skipping a bag, falling down, all that shit is high enough to justify the fact he should never pinch run.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: He shouldn't be on a major league roster.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: She he should not be on a major league roster.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Fact.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a little disappointed.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted him to work out and and you know, show me something, but that's clearly I don't think gonna be the case, Carl.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: That was my last baller strike.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: We actually had we covered a lot of the other stuff, you know, with the RISP conversation and PCA.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I'm all clear on my baller strikes today, Carl.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't look, I don't like being I'm not trying to be mean about Kevin Al Kantara, and I don't want to inhale like uh encourage the spirit of like you don't belong, you suck, you're not good enough.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's fundamentally just like you should you should be on this team.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how can you tell me Alex Bregman is our third baseman at 35 million a year and Danzby Swanson's a shortstop at 27 million, and Nico Horner's our second baseman at 23 million?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: How how how can you have the the capacity to put that into the roster while also simultaneously being like, Oh, good pinch runner for this weekend will be Kevin El Cantara.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh fuck, like I it doesn't make it, it literally just doesn't make sense.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like running the ball on third and fucking seven with two minutes left in this in the second quarter.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're just sitting there being like, Whoa, what would compel you to do that?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: And the only answer the Cubs are going to be able to offer is some deep philosophical thing about like, well, it's a long season, you know, you don't really know what you have till the end of the year.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking for guys to overperform.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Kevin's somebody we've been interested in for a long time.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, fucking blow me.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, and like that was my physic fill uh filling filler to the that was my pitch.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that was the idea behind my pitch, is maybe he was gonna have some value.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: Now he has none, doesn't look like he fits within this organization, so that's kind of where you know my mind was on that baller strike.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a good time to do some mailbag.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a good opportunity here to make sure we stay positive for the rest of the show because we're off today.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: We got three games in Colorado.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: We could sweep Colorado, we could easily be getting up on Friday morning feeling good about winning three in a row.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: The Brewers could have a bad week.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're starting to get into that part of year where you're really paying attention to everything else in the division.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just do this mailbag, though.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'll start, I'll pick one, you pick one.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: We'll just go.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if some of these are repetitive, we'll do our best to read every single one of them, guys, even if it's already been answered.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: Just because I appreciate the people who've replied on Twitter to give us good stuff to talk about.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna start with Pat Healy at Blunt at Bloodhound Healy.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Carl, Pat here.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: At what point does T Mac straight up leave Marquis in the Cubs because of this atrocious display of baseball?
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: The few cuts to her on my screen have been the only positive watching this ball club.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'll say this the Cubs Alpha Chat and the Cubs guest occur.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we love Taylor, and I couldn't agree with the statement anymore.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: That that, like, one of the few positives we've had as Cubs fans is tuning into T Mac.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I would bet she's on she has to be on a bigger, better things than Marquee Network, right?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: She's electric.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, she's doing stuff for like SEC on ESPN, she's a sideline reporter, she does a lot of other work outside of Marquee.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, Pat, you got I gotta say, you're not the only one that's been thinking about this, pal.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, that little yellow number she had the other day.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it looked looks amazing and it does an amazing, amazing job.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: If this organization goes in the tank, you have to worry about her contract long term.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: And not to be we're I'm too old to be like like the any amount of creepiness here.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Where it's like I'm coming from this from like a bona fide adult male, respectful position of saying she's glamorous, she's prepared, she's entertaining, she's got a sense of humor.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like the story she prepares on her own usually fucking hit.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: She's got great, like, she's a great part of the broadcast.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what you're saying when you go, oh, and that yellow number, you got to agree too, and that's more of a respect thing.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Where you're just saying, like, give all all credit to T Mac because she's been on TV for a she's she's been on TV for a minute here, and like every like every time you cut to T Mac, she's ready to go.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: Smile on her face, makeup's done, like she's just ready to go.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if she's had a bad day working for the cup, she probably has, who hasn't had a bad day, yeah.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: But we wouldn't know it.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: You would never that's how good she is at her job.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: And no, you're right, Carl.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: She's not unattractive.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: And also, I mean, just one quick T Mac note, you know, her father, who I think did pass away uh at an earlier age, he was the guy that was in charge of getting the Colorado Rockies with the whole Rocktober aspect.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: So she's a baseball mind.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: There's a reason why she's sharp and knows her stuff too, gang.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: Look into that a little bit further, but I know her dad was like beloved in Colorado, and you know, it makes sense when we're going out there that I bring that up.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll just tell a quick Taylor McGregor story.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think I've told you this one before, but I went to the waste management open a couple years ago with some of my buddies on the Royals, and we end up in some box.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody's agent had something, and uh, she was in the adjacent, so the skybox is like one big tent, and then they have like individual boxes roped off within this huge tent that overlooks the 18th green.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like it technically is skybox, it's just they're just faulting chairs roped off with a fucking all-you-can-drink bar.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it's still, it's still super, it was super nice.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was grateful.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Nice food, stellar to 16 guys in a box.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the only one who didn't play major league baseball or have any professional athlete experience.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: Just a great day.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: She was in the box like one or two over.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we ended up spending like you know, hanging out together and having cocktails for like a very good portion of that that day on 18 and just like meeting friends and her friends and come meet some of my friends.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Don't have I can I honestly can't say enough nice things about Taylor McGregor from the standpoint of like if you're a Cubs fan, you're watching Marquee Network, they cut to it 100% one of uh one of my favorite people, one of my absolute favorite people in Chicago sports.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Period.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: End of story.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: So all right, Carl, and out that was from Pat Healy.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was from Pat Healy.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: I hate doing the personal name drop stories, but what I'm trying to do is save it for the end to just say, and I know from personal experience that she happens to be just a wonderful lady, and that's how you stay positive when you go two and four against the fucking athletics and the Giants buddy.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: You open up with a Taylor McGregor mailbox strike.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: What do you got?
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: This one's gonna be uh from Marcus Worth.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: I at I Marcus Worth.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: We have how much is Craig Counsel to blame for this losing stretch?
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: Is this a good team and he's got them playing too tight, or are they just not a good baseball team?
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: Tough question, Marcus.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: I just think you can blame a lot of different things, and Craig's absolutely one of them, but you know, it's a good team with good players that aren't executing at all.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I I that could be a Craig thing, but that's something I wish I fucking knew.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think they're I think they're hard players to manage.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think Danzig Swanson's difficult to manage when he's hitting 180.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's easy to manage when he's hitting 250 and he's giving you gold glove defense.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: But now you're starting to see, like, all right, well, you're not playing well.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Are you easy to manage?
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Are you easy to be around?
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: Are you easy for this team to you know to function?
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the stuff I obviously.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not in the clubhouse.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to know that.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know how much of it is Craig's fault that Alex Bregman just is not performing right now, like those two things are completely separate because all he's done is give Alex Bregman the opportunity.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: He hasn't moved him down, isn't he?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like when he gets a day off, he dh's and he takes the bat out of somebody else's hand.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, how much is this?
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's as much as you want to make it Craig's fault at this point in the season, is I think the fair answer to Maniacs.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's as if you want to sit here and be an anti-craig guy, I won't stop you.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it is more, I think it's he's certainly part of the pie in the stew.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's on the ingredient list for sure.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: How high is he on the ingredient list?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's in the middle tier of the ingredients.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: Craig Council is now.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: If they fired him, they won't.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if they did, I don't think anybody, I don't think anybody would care.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: I honestly don't think there'd be a shred of outrage.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think people would be surprised.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: Can you believe this?
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: A big story.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta go find another manager.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as people being like, how could you do that?
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: No way.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Am I wrong?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, not at all.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's I mean, that's exactly how I would feel if that was on the front page.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just I I wish they I wish they like played harder, you know.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: I just wish they played harder.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: I can't explain it concisely, but you know it when you see it.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I you point at Craig, you go, why aren't we playing, why aren't we playing with more of a fire under our ass?
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: So uh here's a good one for you, Mahoney.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is from Jacob Wishmeyer at WishJ.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: Would you have, you Mahoney, would you have a better quality of life if you just switched to being a Brewers fan?
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, sorry, can't.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: I was out at Wrigley Field with Carl a couple weeks ago.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing I would ever change in my life, is especially I like going to Milwaukee a couple times a year for you know, goose show.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: Other than that, uh no, I'm sorry.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: The answer to the question is a staunch no.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Nett the day at Wrigley was great, and that's like one of those things that's on the on the scales of justice of like how much does this suck right now to be a Cubs fan?
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like the fact that on one side of that equation you can always put in like a great Friday day game at Wrigley Field that you have that experience available to you as a Cubs fan.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: It it does make it easier to sit through this faceless, nameless bullpen, even though they've been performing well.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: I should have I should have said that off the top, but but I'm just I'm I'm with you 100%.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no, I'm not gonna be a brute, I'm not fucking yeah, I can't don't even do that.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's a clown question, bro.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: But we appreciate it very much.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for submitting.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Here's another one from Coach Dick Joyce at Coach Dick Joyce.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think we will see significantly less?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's the key words here, significantly less of Dan'sby Swanson in the lineup moving forward.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Significantly less?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: Repeat the question again.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think we'll see significantly less Danzby Swanson in the lineup moving forward?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I do, unless something changes.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_02: However, I I don't think it's gonna be as significant as that verbiage sounds.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: I this I don't think we'll see significantly less, but I do think you'll see days off where you would have never seen days off before because that hates taking days off.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's my it was my thing.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's my thing because like I he he didn't you know play the past two days, right?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: Except pin look late game situation.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that was surprising to me that he's already not seeing time.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's how that's how bad it's gotten for him, though, in the batter's box, where it is you're you're like if you're credit counsel, you're really like hurting the team at the point of letting him hit.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like he's saving, like, he's a good shortstop, he's very good shortstop.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's not Andrelton Simmons, where he's saving you like one game per 15 games played defensively, like like Andrealton Simmons could you could point out like every 15 games a guy's play, you're like, Oh, that guy won you a fucking baseball game with those double plays or that play up the middle.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: He he's like the the only shortstop, maybe in since like Honus Wagner, you could even point to would be Mark Belanger from the Orioles in the 70s, where you have such a high impact defensively.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: Dansby doesn't have that, like he's a great defender, he's gold glove caliber, he's Not world-changing shortstop defensively.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd say you will continue to see less of him.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then the function of that is when Matt Shaw comes back and he's healthy, if he plays well, or if Pedro Ramirez catches on, then you can start to say we're gonna see less and less of Dansby unless Craig likes what he sees.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: But the fact that Dansby's two off days in a week as a healthy scratch, unthinkable when Dansby signed his contract originally with the Cubs.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: Unthinkable that he would play his way into that situation for me.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, good question.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: All right, Carl, I got one for you.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_02: Travis 13644445.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's June 8th.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: Is it finally time to admit the Cardinals are legit?
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: And T, yeah, they're just as legit as we are right now, as far as I'm concerned.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I don't know about legit, like legit's a word, like they're not threatening, I don't think, like in the long term, like over the course of the whole season.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, they're just as legit as the Cubs, if that was the question.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I don't why not?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Are are we trying to say that like the Cubs are better?
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: The Cubs aren't better than anybody in the National League right now that isn't even in the basement.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we just saw a team of the basement come into Wrigley Field and beat us when we needed it really bad, and they beat us 18 to 3 game one, and then they were able to shut us down in the 8th, 9th, and 10th when we needed it bad on Sunday to get out of there with the series win.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, like when you just think about it like that, there's no way I'm gonna say the Cubs are this and that better.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you're gonna tell me that the Cardinals, absolutely, absolutely the Cubs right now, again, phrase right now, right now, they make me sick to my stomach.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: So on June 8th, yeah, I'll absolutely admit the Cardinals are legit if we're gonna say that's particularly in context of the Cubs.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're asking me, are the Cardinals good enough to win a World Series or anything like buddy?
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Just go sit in the back for a second.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're not having that conversation.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: But are you telling me they're better than the Cubs?
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, I'll sure why not.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're two and four last week at home against teams we should handle easily.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: I can't say it again.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Tony Vitello is a cracker jackbox managing the San Francisco Giants, and they they beat us so they beat us so bad this weekend.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, hey, here's one for you, Mahoney.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um what is worse in the standings?
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is it worse that the Brewers, Reds, Pirates, or Cardinals are ahead of the Cubs in the standings?
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: Between those four, which one kind of gets you the most right now?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: Right now it's the it's the Brewers just because that's what I'm always looking up at late as of late within the past couple years.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: Tough question, dude.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: Brewers right now, overall, always the Cardinals.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: It like boils my blood, but go ahead, Carl.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: No, I was just gonna say I'll take the pirates just because um you know the the pirates say they've they spend no money, they have no we're an international sports brand.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like the pir the pirates.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, the pirates are owned by like a newspaper man from West Virginia, you know, like it's so cute, and there's they're they're not they spend like 30 cents on the dollar that the Cubs spend.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of gets to me a little bit.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, listen, they've drafted at the top of the draft, they've done well.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: But if I do have to pick between all those, like at least the Reds, I can say like that's a Tito Francona team, uh, you know, with some really elite level talent and some really, really, really good-looking ball players.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the Brewers have eaten our lunch for years in a row right now, and like I'm conditioned through a lifetime of losing to the Cardinals, save for a small window in the Theo Epstein era.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: That, like, of course, the Cardinals are ahead of us in the standings.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: The pirates.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Here's one from MG Mr.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: Kulati.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: Carl, I wish I could call in and leave you a Frank the Tank rant with how embarrassing this team has been.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: This team is a badge of honor for all of us who try to work hard and raise a family.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to walk into that clubhouse after a game, flip over that catering spread.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's from MG Mahoney.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: You got the family, you take that one for a test drive.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I wish you could too.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I could too, MG.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I could too.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um anything that you know you could feel free to vent.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad, glad for the question.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, anytime that you feel like you need to go on like a Frank the Tank style rant in any capacity as a hardworking American with a family, um, you deserve to do that, and you don't deserve to be watching the product that you that you are.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: What is what is the point of me trying to set up a voicemail line if this team's gonna be 500?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I have no personal incentive to like go figure out how to take phone calls.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's not it wouldn't even be that difficult, but now is not the time to launch a voicemail line.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's only when the goal the going's real good, you know, because who's gonna we don't want to sit back and have to vet through you know somehow, you know.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: We would open it, we welcome it with open arms.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_02: However, I just wouldn't want to do it maybe at this juncture in the season.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if I if I introduced one, it would just be troll calls, it'd just be White Sox fans that are like, fuck you, you suck.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I got one for I got one for you, Carl, and I think it's a at Kyle Ralph.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: Kyle, he just he put it much better than I did earlier, so I have to read this at least.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: But has the Cubs' apparent emphasis on selectiveness and taking how volume of walks hurt their ability to do the situational hitting and leverage at bats?
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're seeing that walks can only get you so far.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: Kyle, we addressed that earlier in the show, spot on.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: Great question, Carl.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you wanted to add any more to that.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think it was a great question.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a great point about the emphasis on selectiveness.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want my pitch, I want my pitch, I want my pitch, you know.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: I need my I need to be selective.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and then getting your walks through that.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you're a guy who's like, I want my pitch to hit, like, are you a guy who can hit a lot of pitches?
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're not.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: You're just a complete, you know, I shouldn't say like that.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a it's a good offensive approach, assuming that you still have the capacity to like step outside of that approach.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: But if if if if having the approach of selectiveness comes at the expense of not being able to hit with two strikes and not be not being able to put the ball in play with a runner on third base in less than two outs, then you start to ask questions and say, How effective is this philosophy?
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because it doesn't seem very, very fluid.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: So here's one from Gerald R for you, Mahoney.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: Last night, Bob Casas brought up Mark Grace and his success at first at first.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: Rizzo commented that he wanted to appeal to elderly ladies in Chicago, like Grace did in the 90s.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think Rizzo stands a chance against Prime Grace, but who do you think was Cub's stud first baseman between the two?
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: Keep in mind career OPS numbers, Rizzo 828, Mark Grace 825.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Career OPS numbers and their wins above replacement are around the same.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: Rizzo missed time due to injury that Mark Grace did not miss.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: If Rizzo had played just as many games, so we're talking about extremely similar guys, both looking for attention from elderly ladies, you know, both not afraid to get after it.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: Rizzo obviously, or I mean Grace obviously liked them a little bit bigger than Rizzo, but between those two, who do you think more of a stud, more of a guy you want to go out with, pick up a couple girls, talk to a couple of girls, have a good night out, Mahoney?
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_02: To have a real good wildcard not out, I think it's gonna be with Mark Grace.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, to be straightforward.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think Rizzo plays it up more to like yuck it up to the golden girls aspect, you know, he's like the Labrador retriever, but you know, Mark Grace is like a more aggressive dog, if you will, yeah, in those situations.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_02: But great, great question.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that uh Bob Costas had addressed those numbers and everything last night.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: It was a great, really good broadcast last night.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: Which one would you put on this team if you could put between Mark Grace and Rizzo?
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: Who would you put on this team?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe Mark Grace, just because the he would drive that ball out of the gap any which way he needed to, and there wasn't any of that situational approach that maybe Rizzo might have adapted to, you know, in this closer to this era than Grace did at the time, if that makes sense.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it is a little bit too personal, though, question.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think maybe the easier way to think about it is like, would you rather add a great situational contact average first hitter or a guy who could slug 540?
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like do which one would benefit this lineup more as a guy who could really drive the ball or a guy who's just a great hitter, great situate.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_01: Just a if you put Mark Race in this lineup, he'd hit three, no doubt about it.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you put Rizzo in the lineup, he's hitting four.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_01: So would you rather have that cleanup or that or that great barrel?
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: I would take either because of how bad this fucking lineup is.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just more interested in what the maniacs have to say.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you could add Rizzo or Grace, who would you rather add to this team?
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take either.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I take either, I guess.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, but right now, just based off of you know his recency bias, I'd have Grace.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: Here's one from a buddy of mine from back home, Dylan Lloyd, who's a just a tremendous piano player and a remarkable musician and a diehard Cubs man.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: When I say remarkable musician, virtuoso gifted piano player.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he's got some song that's he's got like a theme song for it for a television show.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think you get songwriting credits for that runs around the fucking.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's like the fucking piano player for like Love Island or something.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: Great guy, uh unbelievable.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like awesome aside, Darren.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm dead serious, Carl.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: You he does not give musical you know shout-outs all that often.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_02: So, Dylan, you must be doing something right now.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm looking forward to listening to those intros.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think this is from Dylan?
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think our future as a team, if this year's team doesn't pan out, is in trouble?
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you think the future, and this is where we get into that sell conversation or Ricketts spending money in the winter, do you think that future, if this team is if this team goes to 81 and 81, do you think that starts to unravel?
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and be the way I love the way that the question is phrased because if it doesn't pan out this year, I believe it would be because of folks like a Bregman and a Dansby, who are futures built around, you know, on the left side of the infield.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: We have Nico Horn in the middle of the info with Dansby and all that.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I I would be very concerned moving forward.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_02: Say if Bregman, you know, does fall off, then yeah, I I think that there would be a bit of a trouble, um, if you will, Dylan.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, this this is where Tom Ricketts is looking for an excuse to put a little, you know, Crane Kenny's looking for a reason to say we shouldn't spend this money.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, those guys love a reason not to spend money, and so if they miss the playoffs this year, that yeah, that's another thing I was thinking about with Bregman and like you know, any the type of value to he got Ricketts to open his checkbook up, but it's now he might close that fucking thing forever, you know.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm never doing this again.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we didn't cut any checks last year, we won a playoff series with no pitching.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: So then you went out and we spent 35 million on a guy to replace Matt Shaw, who was making$750,000 a year, finishing top three in gold glove with a 522 slug, which is fucking 18 points below Anthony Rizzo, the year the Cubs won the World Series, just for context.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's he's three percent less power in the second half than Rizzo had in that 2016.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then so you have 35 million to go spend, then you bring in Alex Bregman.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now he leads the league in all these negative fucking statistics.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's a tough that's a tough one for Tom to come back to and be like, what do we need more money for?
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because Jed, you don't know how to spend it.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Car, that's the threat we have that goes towards that front office.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I don't will then Tom keep the front office around and just like because he likes those guys.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, dude.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really the path they're on leads to just a remarkably interesting offseason if we don't turn it around and at least play some 500 baseball for the next three weeks.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, you ain't kidding.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I got time for one more, Mahoney what you what do you say to that?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's shoot.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is from two Ts at serial 44, two T's at serial 44.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: What are some good options for Cubs fans to do instead of watching this train wreck?
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yard work is a is a big option for someone like myself right now.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_02: If you really need to get distracted, um, you know, the Stanley Cup was absolutely phenomenal.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_02: I happen to turn into tune into that game that Carolina came back, but outside of sports, listen to some music, get outside, throw, go disc golf in, go to the driving range.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot, there's a lot of other options, and you can't let a bad baseball team, you know, dictate your life like we all we all do too much.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just a friendly reminder that I have to tell myself almost every day.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_02: And when the Cubs are great, just keep it rolling, baby.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_02: But when it's bad, yeah, you gotta use your use some hobbies that you like to read a book, you know, look into look into you know, volunteering, that would be nice.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: Get back.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_01: Here's one of my problems hobbies as you get older become very difficult.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm like, find a hobby at 39.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody are like photography, okay.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, music, right?
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: Always like yard work off the top is the first thing I could do for what I have to fill my time with.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's like your hobbies are your hobbies at this point.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I like if you have if you're not a golfer, like getting a fucking picking up some sticks and going to the range, well, actually it's actually gonna be a worse experience than watching the cups.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be frustrating, you'll hate yourself, especially if you already don't like yourself, don't play golf with the humidity kicking in.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe fishing, but like I think fishing is a personality thing where like you want to sit there, so like you know, I'm not a there's no way I can go fishing.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's no way I'm gonna go sit on a dock.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: I can't I can't sit still for five seconds.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, I get seasick if I even if it was off dock, and I don't really like finangling with any of the worms or leeches either.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_01: Not to mention what the hobby I have is watching the Cubs, like that that that's but the baseball that's been my hobby my whole life is following baseball, loving baseball.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was trying to be like answer it positively, but yeah, that is a that is a part of an issue with being a baseball fan, is there's the 162 games that you have to dedicate your life through.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_02: It can be torturous and arduous process, and and that's why it makes you know the good times roll and the and the bad times I think feel a little bit worse.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: But either way, God speed to you.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it's just baseball, it's just a game, and this is a good closing point for the show.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like it matters to me because I care a lot and we do these shows, and I want to have that community.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want this to matter to people, and I get pissed off because the way they're losing these baseball games right now is so tragically inept for all of the resources, all of the experience, everything that goes into the fucking recipe.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_01: And these guys are like taking it out of the oven, and it's just like a steaming hot pile of shit right now.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it is extremely frustrating, but it's impossible for me not to end the show like this.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_01: We have 90-something games left in the season, we have a remarkable group of veterans that have played thousands of games and seen tens of thousands of played appearances in major league baseball.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_01: We have a group of guys that can police themselves, can coach themselves.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_01: We know these what these guys are capable of too because we've seen them go on two different 10-game win streaks while we're in the midst of talking about are we gonna be sellers this year?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and it's the second week of June.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: So there's like enough here for me to say, I'm not calling, I'm not ringing the bell on anything on this team.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: If anything, it's the fifth or sixth round of the fight, the fourth round of the fight, and like we just had our doors blown off.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: So now we gotta huddle up in the corner and we gotta we gotta get our fucking strategy figured out, you know.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever our prize fighter is, you know, it's like Rocky Ford.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like he just took a beating from Drago a little bit, but like I have faith.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have faith, I have faith, I have faith, and that's what's gonna get me to tune in tomorrow night.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_01: Great off day today, as necessary as an off day as ever been, as far as doing the Monday morning cub show.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_01: But like, I promise you, come tomorrow, 7:40 in Colorado.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be ready to go watching that game with the expectation that we take that serious from Colorado and that we play good baseball.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I want maniacs with me on this one.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want us throwing in the tell just yet.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want us to complain, be mad, but don't you dare start coming at me and saying season's over, we suck, fire.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we still gotta ride this fucking thing out.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to ride it, boys.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_02: And Carl, I'm gonna be watching that game at 740 as well.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're gonna be watching the game, and that's that's what I love about this community as well so much is that I know there's gonna be thousands and thousands of maniacs out there watching that game dialed in with us too.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you all to the maniacs.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: We are all in this together.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just get back rolling and weather the storm.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great week.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: Couldn't say it better myself.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great outro, Mahoney, as we've been working on our outros.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_01: And just last thing, obviously, like somberly, like I do have to do this.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I love you, Stacy King.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you will be you'll be greatly missed.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_01: It will be just great.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: There will, there's I don't know when there's gonna be moments, right?
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: Where you're like watching the some you're watching the polls, there's gonna be a big dunk, and you're gonna be like, where the he just there's a huge void in Chicago sports without Stacey King.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we can sit here and bitch, sure, they went two and four last week.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much more important stuff in life.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much more important stuff in life than this fucking baseball team, and it just sucks.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_01: It sucks.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the people out there, the maniacs that are die rider die 82 game bowls fans, you know.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um that that fucking blows.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_01: That fucking blows, much less Stacey King's family and everything else.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't want to ramble on the outro, I just wanted to be the last thing that we talked about in the show is like closing the book on like or I I didn't want to end the show without at least revisiting how much I love Stacey King and how sorely he will be missed in the Chicago sports scene.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_02: Drive home safely,