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Are the Cubs really this bad? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:10
Speaker 1: Saada Charma with my partner Patrick Moodey. We are your
0:13
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, the
0:17
Speaker 1: streak has reached nine games. This team can't hit right now.
0:26
Speaker 1: This team is st like, it's not just runners in
0:29
Speaker 1: scoring position. We can stop the the like. They can't
0:32
Speaker 1: hit in the clutch, they can't hit. They they're like
0:35
Speaker 1: overall the offense during this Oh geez, Now I'm losing
0:40
Speaker 1: track of a two and thirteen stretch? Is it nine
0:43
Speaker 1: game losing streak? Two and thirteen? I believe, And and
0:49
Speaker 1: they're just not they're not hitting. It's not about like
0:52
Speaker 1: they're not even putting up, but they're not even getting
0:55
Speaker 1: the opportunities. Council's old point was just keep getting the opportunities.
0:59
Speaker 1: He'll And they've come out to Pittsburgh and lost game
1:06
Speaker 1: one of a four game set, and honestly, I was
1:09
Speaker 1: looking at the pitching matchups. Game one looked like the
1:12
Speaker 1: most winnable one. It was a quiet clubhouse after that game.
1:20
Speaker 1: It wasn't these guys. These aren't the type of guys
1:23
Speaker 1: that at least they haven't gotten to this point where
1:28
Speaker 1: I'm walking into that postgame clubhouse and struggling to like,
1:32
Speaker 1: who do I approach? These guys are going to be testy.
1:35
Speaker 1: It's not there yet, but it was quiet and and
1:42
Speaker 1: Craig Council's searching for answers. I'm not sure what more
1:47
Speaker 1: he can do right now, but he's certainly trying to
1:52
Speaker 1: figure out what's there left for him for me to
1:56
Speaker 1: do to get these guys back on track.
2:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's only so many cards you have to play.
2:04
Speaker 2: And the rearranging the lineup, giving some mental breaks to
2:12
Speaker 2: multiple players over several days, the calling up a couple prospects.
2:18
Speaker 2: We'll get into that in the next segment. The sort
2:23
Speaker 2: of things are gonna turn. We're gonna be better for
2:26
Speaker 2: this in the long run, Like you know, you say
2:29
Speaker 2: those things, then you hope, you know the next day
2:31
Speaker 2: it changes.
2:32
Speaker 3: And that did happen earlier in the year when they
2:34
Speaker 3: went off.
2:38
Speaker 2: And got hot in April, when they had that sort
2:40
Speaker 2: of clunky start to the season. And Yeah, I'm really
2:45
Speaker 2: curious to see during this road trip Pittsburgh and Saint Louis,
2:49
Speaker 2: Like when does someone snap? Like when is someone just
2:54
Speaker 2: starts to air the frustrations or you see it in
2:58
Speaker 2: the dugout. I mean generally speaking, you know, Peko Armstrong
3:03
Speaker 2: is usually that guy, but he's actually playing pretty well.
3:05
Speaker 2: Like obviously he had a really rough week last week,
3:08
Speaker 2: but you know, he's had pretty good at bats in
3:11
Speaker 2: the leadoff spot. And it's really just it's staggering for
3:16
Speaker 2: them to win go fifteen to Oho at home in
3:18
Speaker 2: a stretch between April and May, and like you know,
3:21
Speaker 2: we're there kind of on deadline writing and reacting and thinking,
3:25
Speaker 2: like you they're gonna win this game, aren't they, right
3:30
Speaker 2: of just like all those walk offs in a row,
3:31
Speaker 2: and you're kind of training to it. And then this
3:33
Speaker 2: past weekend in Wrigley Field, it's like they get down early.
3:36
Speaker 2: It's like, oh yeah, they're done, Like just just write
3:38
Speaker 2: your story, like you have no threat. Amazing that they
3:44
Speaker 2: only had a lead after that fifteen to oh stretch,
3:47
Speaker 2: only having a lead in game six of a six
3:50
Speaker 2: game homestand and that might have been like the second
3:52
Speaker 2: and third inning something like that, not a very it
3:55
Speaker 2: was very short lived. And you know, a third of
4:01
Speaker 2: the way into the season or past Memorial Day, I'm
4:06
Speaker 2: still not really sure we know what the Cubs have,
4:09
Speaker 2: Like I think, I still think they're going to be
4:12
Speaker 2: in the playoff hunt until the end of September. But
4:17
Speaker 2: I don't have a ton of confidence that this is
4:20
Speaker 2: a team that's going to you know, win the division
4:23
Speaker 2: and be a factor in October. And obviously you can
4:25
Speaker 2: go back and read our stories from a couple weeks ago,
4:29
Speaker 2: you know, hopefully you listen to our show, you know,
4:33
Speaker 2: throughout the season, and the tone was totally different. But
4:35
Speaker 2: it's totally justified now, Like this is, you know, approaching
4:42
Speaker 2: Panic City.
4:43
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, it's like the baseball gods were okay with
4:48
Speaker 1: one ten game losing streak, but two ten game losing
4:51
Speaker 1: streaks before June. No, sorry, you can't do that. So
4:55
Speaker 1: the baseball God has bestowed this this whatever, this losing
5:00
Speaker 1: streak will be to even things out, to kind of
5:05
Speaker 1: check expectations in a way, because yeah, I think after
5:09
Speaker 1: a twenty and three stretch, we were like, wait a second,
5:13
Speaker 1: how good is this team? And I think it is important,
5:17
Speaker 1: and I know it's not easy to have the perspective
5:21
Speaker 1: in these moments, but and like I'm not telling fans
5:26
Speaker 1: to think this way, I get it. Sometimes you just
5:28
Speaker 1: have to like be frustrated and vent and ride the
5:33
Speaker 1: roller coaster. I think fans sometimes need that, that's part
5:36
Speaker 1: of their fan experience. But it's never as good as
5:41
Speaker 1: that twenty and three stretch. I don't think they're as
5:44
Speaker 1: bad as this nine game losing streak. I don't, but
5:49
Speaker 1: like it is a reality check as far as just
5:53
Speaker 1: a reminder of that twenty and three stretch was like
5:56
Speaker 1: things were going their way there, they were getting all
5:59
Speaker 1: the breaks, everything was going right. Right now, it's like
6:04
Speaker 1: you're you're not playing well and you're not getting any bricks.
6:07
Speaker 1: Like like there the opposition is crushing the mistake and
6:12
Speaker 1: you're missing the mistake. It's all those things. If there's
6:15
Speaker 1: going to be an error by the other team, you
6:17
Speaker 1: are not capitalizing you make a mistake. They will capitalize
6:21
Speaker 1: all those things, all the baseball things that happen, And
6:24
Speaker 1: this sport is it is cruel in that way in
6:28
Speaker 1: a sense at times or sometimes that's what makes it fun.
6:32
Speaker 1: But I did ask Greig Counsel after the game, you
6:38
Speaker 1: know you've you know it's on the players, but you've
6:41
Speaker 1: done a lot of different things here. You've changed the lineup,
6:44
Speaker 1: you've you've you've tried different players. You're you're do you
6:49
Speaker 1: know you've called up the prospects, you've benched veterans, Like what,
6:52
Speaker 1: what is is there anything? Is there another button you
6:55
Speaker 1: guys can push and that like that's the kind of
6:58
Speaker 1: the clip that went viral of viral, I don't know, viral, Cubs, Twitter,
7:03
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say. Where it's just like, look,
7:05
Speaker 1: we we have to play better. We have to play
7:08
Speaker 1: better baseball and and uh kind of put it on himself,
7:12
Speaker 1: the players, coaches, everyone, it's like everyone, we need to
7:16
Speaker 1: we need to do better as coaches. They need to
7:17
Speaker 1: do better as players. We need to pitch better, we
7:19
Speaker 1: need to hit better, all of it, which they do.
7:21
Speaker 1: Like I I don't know what the answer is. I
7:24
Speaker 1: don't like they have to this is their team is
7:28
Speaker 1: like you can't like there's not much more to do
7:32
Speaker 1: other than say like put out Like yes, he's switching
7:37
Speaker 1: up the lineup, he's switching up the like the order
7:39
Speaker 1: and the players. I just don't know what what more
7:42
Speaker 1: he can do? Uh, there's I don't think this is
7:45
Speaker 1: on Craig council. It's time for the players to perform. Uh.
7:50
Speaker 1: There's quite a few of them that aren't and it's
7:53
Speaker 1: not like and I understand, uh, the the idea that
7:58
Speaker 1: when when guys are growing bad, every the focus is
8:00
Speaker 1: on how bad they are and thinking they can never
8:03
Speaker 1: get out of it. But these are these are good players.
8:06
Speaker 1: These aren't They're not superstars. I get that, but these
8:09
Speaker 1: are above average players that should perform at a at
8:12
Speaker 1: a higher level than what we've seen over the last
8:14
Speaker 1: two weeks. So it's kind of that it that it's
8:17
Speaker 1: this many guys struggling for this long does get a
8:22
Speaker 1: little mind boggling in that look. I don't think maybe
8:27
Speaker 1: if we covered all the other teams would be more
8:29
Speaker 1: aware of how often this happens with the other teams.
8:33
Speaker 1: But it feels like once a season we're doing this
8:38
Speaker 1: where we're bringing this up. Maybe it didn't happen like
8:40
Speaker 1: last year it happened, but it wasn't everybody twenty twenty four,
8:44
Speaker 1: it did feel like there was a stretch where everybody
8:46
Speaker 1: just all of a sudden went in the tank.
8:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll get into the pitching later. I think this
8:51
Speaker 3: is Obviously Ben Brown pitched really well on a Royal day.
8:54
Speaker 2: So like, but have the comes don't have that like
9:00
Speaker 2: true ace and you know they no one offensively has
9:08
Speaker 2: been that superstar. I realized there's only a few of
9:11
Speaker 2: those guys out there, and even some of those guys
9:12
Speaker 2: who have that track Gregord, aren't performing at that level
9:15
Speaker 2: right now. But I think that kind of compounds the
9:22
Speaker 2: frustration and fans. Fans pay attention, like when they see
9:26
Speaker 2: guys getting benched prospectly, like they know what's going on,
9:29
Speaker 2: Like the Cubs, like most teams, downplay injuries and they
9:32
Speaker 2: downplay slumps, right and so, but they tell you with
9:36
Speaker 2: their actions like this is not normal. And I think
9:42
Speaker 2: some of this baked in frustration is like Counsel, this
9:47
Speaker 2: is his third season here. Like we've said before, his
9:54
Speaker 2: style isn't for everyone. So the sense of calm that
9:57
Speaker 2: players appreciate a noise fans, the Brewers have not slowed
10:03
Speaker 2: down at all since he has left. And you know
10:08
Speaker 2: Jed Hoyer's baseball operations department, like these are their hand
10:12
Speaker 2: picked players. Obviously Jed's been here since what fall of
10:18
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, but like these are players he's signed off
10:22
Speaker 2: on the draft picks, he's extended them, he's picked them
10:25
Speaker 2: as free agents. He's by process of elimination wound up
10:29
Speaker 2: with them because of his philosophy and free agency or
10:33
Speaker 2: on the trademarket whatever, So it's like this is their
10:37
Speaker 2: group and to see it like this at this point
10:43
Speaker 2: is just bewildering after that earlier stretch and you know,
10:47
Speaker 2: you can really it's hot.
10:50
Speaker 3: We'll get into the next time.
10:51
Speaker 2: I'm glad you focused on Ian Hat because it's like
10:54
Speaker 2: you could literally pick any player right.
10:57
Speaker 3: Now and just write an article ripping them.
11:00
Speaker 2: Of just like, Okay, Alex Bregman, where's this Like say, ah,
11:03
Speaker 2: you know.
11:05
Speaker 3: Where's the impact?
11:07
Speaker 2: Obviously Pete kind of wore it all last week and
11:11
Speaker 2: helped deflect some of the blame on all these other players,
11:14
Speaker 2: But it's really just like up.
11:16
Speaker 3: And down the lineup of just like no one really.
11:19
Speaker 2: Producing outside of it. I guess Michael Bush has had
11:22
Speaker 2: a good stretch. Michael Coinfordo is sort of cooling off
11:25
Speaker 2: after you cutting into other players signed, but just really
11:28
Speaker 2: up and down, like you're the core guys just have
11:31
Speaker 2: not delivered.
11:32
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12:39
Speaker 1: So well played the open again there all good so
12:49
Speaker 1: over the weekend Peter Ramirez was called up, Kevin Olcontra
12:54
Speaker 1: was called up. Different players have been benched. Ian half
12:59
Speaker 1: set two games. Dansby Swanson has gotten a game, Nico
13:03
Speaker 1: Horner has gotten a game, Saya Suzuki has gotten a game.
13:06
Speaker 1: Off Have I missed anyone? That's I mean, those are
13:11
Speaker 1: three four regulars for cons on this team that are
13:17
Speaker 1: supposed to be a big part of this offense. There's
13:22
Speaker 1: he's doing what he can to. Craig Council is doing
13:25
Speaker 1: what he can to try and put something different out there.
13:30
Speaker 1: Ian happen in particular, this is this looks like you know,
13:35
Speaker 1: two thousand and seventeen in a half, twenty eighteen, nineteen,
13:39
Speaker 1: like those years that he struggled when he got sent down,
13:43
Speaker 1: he put in a lot of work. Like I know,
13:46
Speaker 1: he's one of the more porpolarizing players on this team,
13:50
Speaker 1: but he is a different He was a different player
13:54
Speaker 1: for the previous four seasons. Right now, it feels like
13:58
Speaker 1: those ups and downs are back. Like he's hitting for
14:02
Speaker 1: power when he does hit, but he's striking out a ton.
14:06
Speaker 1: He's swinging and missing at the fastball up. It's a
14:10
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that he used to do that he'd
14:13
Speaker 1: gotten better at that seems to be biting him right now.
14:17
Speaker 1: He's just one of many guys like he but it's
14:21
Speaker 1: you know, I think he also takes a lot of
14:23
Speaker 1: heat in general. Whether it's deserved or not, that's a
14:27
Speaker 1: separate debate, but right now it feels like it's deserved.
14:33
Speaker 3: Yeah.
14:33
Speaker 2: I Haaps sort of carry the offense earlier in the year.
14:40
Speaker 2: I mean, he was their best hitter for a stretch,
14:43
Speaker 2: and to see him revert to that old form is
14:48
Speaker 2: just kind of kind of wild. And I think he
14:52
Speaker 2: is one of those guys that maybe we look at
14:55
Speaker 2: at the end of the year and he has the
14:56
Speaker 2: exact same Ian Hap season of like, you know, one
14:58
Speaker 2: hundred and nineteen ops plus like one hundred and fifty
15:01
Speaker 2: seven games played, whatever, maybe has a couple more home runs,
15:06
Speaker 2: but you know, there's a trade off somewhere else on
15:09
Speaker 2: on his stat sheet. But the decisions to call up
15:16
Speaker 2: two of the organization's best prospects from Triple A Iowa
15:22
Speaker 2: to me, signals that changes could be coming.
15:24
Speaker 1: Now.
15:25
Speaker 3: I don't think it happens overnight.
15:28
Speaker 2: I don't think that's like, uh, that's not a guarantee,
15:34
Speaker 2: but like, this is where it starts of let's let's
15:37
Speaker 2: give him two days, or let's let's see Ramirez played second,
15:42
Speaker 2: and we have Nico at short and you know, maybe
15:46
Speaker 2: Confordo cooling off, maybe he's out of the picture a
15:50
Speaker 2: little bit. But Council has options. And the longer this goes,
15:56
Speaker 2: the worse it gets. I think you have to be
15:59
Speaker 2: more open mind to some of these says. I mean,
16:02
Speaker 2: Matt Matt Shaw, you know, will get healthy at some point,
16:07
Speaker 2: and you have all these like mix and match pieces
16:10
Speaker 2: like Craig Council had a pretty stable lineup for most
16:13
Speaker 2: of his time in Chicago, and by signing Bregman pushing
16:18
Speaker 2: Shaw into that super utility role, you have a lot
16:21
Speaker 2: of versatile defenders. You have just a better bench in general,
16:28
Speaker 2: and you have some young players who have another year
16:33
Speaker 2: under their belts at Triple A or Double A in
16:37
Speaker 2: terms of Ramiers and al Contra. Like, the manager has options,
16:43
Speaker 2: and you know, I think this is where it starts
16:48
Speaker 2: of where maybe Ian Hab isn't locked in that way.
16:53
Speaker 2: Maybe Dansby Swanson, you know, has this iron man reputation,
16:56
Speaker 2: maybe he sits occasionally, or maybe move some guys around
17:04
Speaker 2: in ways that we haven't seen in a while. I mean,
17:08
Speaker 2: the Cubs are built around these position players. It's a
17:10
Speaker 2: pretty stable, solid group. They stayed remarkably healthy last year
17:14
Speaker 2: and maybe injuries make some of the decisions for them.
17:16
Speaker 2: But it'll be fascinating to watch because basically, Ramirez shows
17:21
Speaker 2: up like he's woken up Thursday from a call from
17:26
Speaker 2: Marty pv the Triple Iowa manager, shows up Friday, and
17:30
Speaker 2: you know you were there. Craig's pretty point blank saying
17:33
Speaker 2: he's not going to play a lot, and if he's
17:36
Speaker 2: not playing a lot, this will be a short stint,
17:38
Speaker 2: and then he's starting Sunday at second base and playing again.
17:43
Speaker 3: A Memorial Day.
17:45
Speaker 2: So I think I think they want to see what
17:46
Speaker 2: they have and they don't really know where this is
17:48
Speaker 2: going to go.
17:49
Speaker 1: Well it not only did he play again Monday, but
17:52
Speaker 1: he moved him up to six in the lineup. Now
17:55
Speaker 1: does he I'm curious to see if he starts again Tuesday.
18:00
Speaker 1: We're recording Tuesday morning, so we'll maybe that'll be known
18:03
Speaker 1: by the time this podcast is up. But if he is,
18:07
Speaker 1: you know, is it is it for Dansby Swanson again?
18:10
Speaker 1: Is Nico a short? Dansby's really struggling, like he's like,
18:18
Speaker 1: this is he's he's in a rough spot. He's it's
18:22
Speaker 1: just like you know how to get him to once
18:25
Speaker 1: you get him to two strikes, it's either like fastball up,
18:28
Speaker 1: breaking ball away, and you're sitting him down. I think
18:33
Speaker 1: he like, it's not and I'm not seeing like Moises Biosterus,
18:38
Speaker 1: it felt like, okay, he was. He was in a
18:40
Speaker 1: really bad rut. And then it's like, okay, I'm seeing
18:43
Speaker 1: some well struck balls. Whereas the end of this slump.
18:46
Speaker 1: And then yesterday Monday, he got a couple of singles,
18:49
Speaker 1: got a walk, looked a lot better. Ramirez is hitting
18:54
Speaker 1: the ball hard even when he makes out. I mean
18:57
Speaker 1: that it was a brutal double play on Sunday. Yeah,
19:02
Speaker 1: but it was like a ninety five plus line drive
19:07
Speaker 1: up the middle, like that's what you teach baseball players
19:09
Speaker 1: to do. He's he looks good. He looked good yesterday.
19:15
Speaker 1: I think he had an air but it was it
19:18
Speaker 1: was like a rocket off the bat of O'Neill Cruz
19:21
Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly, I I think I think you
19:26
Speaker 1: kind of need to keep him out there, just see
19:28
Speaker 1: what you have. And I know you can just tell
19:30
Speaker 1: by the way Craig Council talks about him, the fact
19:33
Speaker 1: that he put him at sixth like he likes he
19:35
Speaker 1: thinks this guy has something. Is he an impact player?
19:39
Speaker 1: I don't know about that. But can he can he
19:42
Speaker 1: help the team win? Maybe? And when Dansby Swanson is
19:46
Speaker 1: in these funks, you don't know when it's gonna when
19:48
Speaker 1: he's gonna get out of it, but that like he
19:52
Speaker 1: can get hot. We know that we've seen this. A
19:54
Speaker 1: council knows that. He says it. He talks about how
19:58
Speaker 1: this is Daiby Swanson. You ride the high and the lows.
20:02
Speaker 1: You're in a spot right now where everyone's struggling. I'm
20:04
Speaker 1: not sure if you can ride the low. Does that
20:07
Speaker 1: mean he gets Is he the one that kind of
20:09
Speaker 1: suffers here? To me, it feels like he is the one.
20:12
Speaker 1: But also it's like, what are you gonna do with
20:15
Speaker 1: this guy? Like he's it's not like he's going anywhere.
20:17
Speaker 1: He's not an impending free agent or anything. So there's
20:21
Speaker 1: a balance they have to strike here because you do
20:23
Speaker 1: need to get him right, because he's he's a long
20:26
Speaker 1: term piece in theory that can change if he just
20:29
Speaker 1: doesn't hit and he can't perform. I know he's a
20:31
Speaker 1: great defender, still it's tough. I just also wanted to
20:36
Speaker 1: mention this is kind of a departure, but you talked
20:40
Speaker 1: about Pete and like nobody's really going off. Pete hit
20:44
Speaker 1: into three line drive outs all one hundred plus mile
20:48
Speaker 1: per hour. Like two of them were line drives that
20:50
Speaker 1: were caught. One was one hopper all to the first baseman.
20:54
Speaker 1: That's the closest upsettem to throwing a helmet and doing
20:58
Speaker 1: everything this season like he's avoided. And I almost felt like,
21:02
Speaker 1: just do it, man, this is time, like.
21:04
Speaker 2: You've earned, You've heard it.
21:06
Speaker 1: Like there's like you're you're you're one of the few
21:09
Speaker 1: guys hitting the ball hard right now, and maybe the
21:11
Speaker 1: team could get like you're allowed to show some emotion.
21:15
Speaker 1: I just don't do it every single out. Uh, but
21:18
Speaker 1: it's like it maybe that was the time to just
21:21
Speaker 1: get all the energy out and just say like, man,
21:25
Speaker 1: f this right now, because they got to be losing
21:28
Speaker 1: their minds. The emotion part, it doesn't really fire guys
21:33
Speaker 1: up in my opinion, but it can just be a
21:36
Speaker 1: release of tension for an individual. But yeah, this team, Yeah,
21:44
Speaker 1: I don't know what button you can push or what
21:46
Speaker 1: player is going to help turn the tide here right now?
21:51
Speaker 2: I keep thinking, what's that going in the back of
21:53
Speaker 2: my head? Is Jed Hoyer saying this is a young
21:56
Speaker 2: man's game, and he says it often I can't remember,
22:01
Speaker 2: like end of season pressers, GM meetings, winter meetings.
22:06
Speaker 3: It just pops up.
22:07
Speaker 2: That is like one of his fundamental beliefs, particularly as
22:10
Speaker 2: the game has evolved during his time as a baseball executive.
22:14
Speaker 2: And when you have over thirty players Carson, Kelly, Dansby, Swanson,
22:19
Speaker 2: Alex Bregman, Ian Happ, Seya Suzuki, and you have this
22:24
Speaker 2: wave of Matt Shaw when he gets healthy, Moyses Biasteros,
22:29
Speaker 2: Pedro Ramirez, Kevin Alcntra. I don't really know who swaps
22:34
Speaker 2: in who swaps out, like which are the right buttons
22:37
Speaker 2: to press there? But that I think is part of
22:40
Speaker 2: the dynamic here. Michael Confordo another over thirty guy, like
22:43
Speaker 2: who where do you make those trade offs? And some
22:47
Speaker 2: of it's offense for defense, Like I don't want to
22:50
Speaker 2: bury Dansby at this point because he is so good
22:53
Speaker 2: on defense.
22:54
Speaker 3: That's how this team is built. And he can get hot.
22:57
Speaker 3: He does have power.
23:00
Speaker 2: But like Pete is sort of I think, and maybe
23:06
Speaker 2: Nico like sort of the only guys I guess Bregman's contract.
23:10
Speaker 2: We're getting into here how they sort of are. But
23:13
Speaker 2: there are like several pieces there that can be rearranged
23:16
Speaker 2: on a daily basis and we'll see where that goes.
23:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's take a quick break and talk
23:26
Speaker 1: about some of the pitching issues.
23:28
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24:31
Speaker 1: Okay, So Edward Cabrera hits the IL with his blister issue.
24:38
Speaker 1: You avoided a worst case there, but still going on
24:41
Speaker 1: the il's who knows how much that lingers. Jordan Wicks
24:47
Speaker 1: is tasked with ending this nine game losing streak. Tuesday night,
24:53
Speaker 1: Showa Imanaga has two is back to back disaster starts.
24:58
Speaker 1: Am I am I right on that to be yet
25:00
Speaker 1: act to back pretty poor starts for showed after being
25:04
Speaker 1: the guy that you kind of look to as like, Okay,
25:07
Speaker 1: he's currently the ace of this rotation. Jameson Tyne is
25:11
Speaker 1: still struggling with home run issues. There's a lot like
25:16
Speaker 1: the offense right now is the culprit. I mean, Ben
25:19
Speaker 1: Brown was brilliant at bright spot for the team right now,
25:25
Speaker 1: the offense is the issue at the moment. I think
25:28
Speaker 1: long term for the rest of this season, or at
25:30
Speaker 1: least until if and when they get healthier. This is
25:39
Speaker 1: a concern like the pitching. I said it. I'm not sure,
25:43
Speaker 1: maybe I think I said it, but even when they
25:46
Speaker 1: were going well, it was like, eventually these injuries are
25:50
Speaker 1: going to catch up to them, and the Cubs have
25:52
Speaker 1: to hope. What they have to hope is that the
25:54
Speaker 1: offense carries the team during that time. That has not
25:57
Speaker 1: happened obviously, and it feels like the issues are catching
26:01
Speaker 1: up to them.
26:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm still more concerned about the pitching for the
26:06
Speaker 2: rest of this season. I just think the like Alex
26:11
Speaker 2: Bregman's track record versus the sort of like grab bag
26:16
Speaker 2: of relievers and the you know, constant stream of injuries
26:21
Speaker 2: to the rotation. Like, I think Bregman's probably gonna be
26:24
Speaker 2: a pretty good player over the course of this year.
26:27
Speaker 2: Not as optimistic about the Cups keeping their pitchers healthy.
26:32
Speaker 2: And you know, Cabrera was supposed to be the biggest
26:38
Speaker 2: like health question mark this year and blister was not
26:42
Speaker 2: kind of the biggest concern in that sense, but that's happened,
26:49
Speaker 2: and he hasn't been great this year either. You know,
26:52
Speaker 2: your signature offseason move to the rotation. It's just hard
26:56
Speaker 2: to see them. Maybe they'll snap the losing streak whatever tonight, tomorrow,
27:01
Speaker 2: the next day. But in terms of getting back on
27:03
Speaker 2: an extended role, it's just hard to see it happening
27:06
Speaker 2: when you've got like two relievers from your opening day
27:12
Speaker 2: bullpen in your rotation. Wicks up from Iowa, and maybe
27:20
Speaker 2: maybe he's turned around. He looked really good when he
27:22
Speaker 2: made his major league debut. He was kind of lumped
27:24
Speaker 2: in there with Ben Brown at one point in his career.
27:29
Speaker 2: Has not established himself. Maybe he becomes one of those
27:32
Speaker 2: pleasant surprises that all good teams need. But in general,
27:38
Speaker 2: the momentum that always starts with your rotation, not really
27:43
Speaker 2: seeing it now. I think Shodo will probably bounce back
27:47
Speaker 2: tie On on balance will probably be a pretty good
27:50
Speaker 2: pitcher this year. But they're they're going through it right now.
27:55
Speaker 2: And I was curious, like in Pittsburgh, what is it,
28:00
Speaker 2: Matthew Boyd a live BP coming up and then maybe
28:05
Speaker 2: working in some of those agility drills to see if
28:08
Speaker 2: you can sort of man his position. Was there anything
28:13
Speaker 2: else coming out of Memorial Day in Pittsburgh in terms
28:16
Speaker 2: of teaching out look.
28:18
Speaker 1: I think the live BP is today's Tuesday. Could be
28:23
Speaker 1: wrong on that, but that's that's obviously a big step,
28:27
Speaker 1: and it's possible that then he goes out for rehab
28:32
Speaker 1: outings after that. They're kind of like that, they're not
28:36
Speaker 1: they're not letting us know like next steps until they
28:39
Speaker 1: pass you know, a checkpoint. It's like, Okay, he got
28:42
Speaker 1: the live VP in, he feels good the next day. Okay, now,
28:46
Speaker 1: but I think the plan would be if everything goes well,
28:49
Speaker 1: it's a it's a rehab outing. Yeah, Like I think
28:53
Speaker 1: this is turning out, you know, kind of a best
28:55
Speaker 1: case scenario for Matthew Boyd. I was told that, you know,
29:00
Speaker 1: he's he's attacking this rehab process with a certain ferocity
29:06
Speaker 1: that the people were impressed by, so that you know,
29:09
Speaker 1: these are the little things that you want to see guys,
29:12
Speaker 1: you know, really get after these things and treat this seriously.
29:19
Speaker 1: And and you know, I don't think anyone doubted that
29:21
Speaker 1: Matthew boy would be like that. But yeah, I quickly
29:24
Speaker 1: chatted with Matthew Boyd. He said he was feeling great,
29:26
Speaker 1: he was feeling very optimistic about things. So that that's
29:31
Speaker 1: a great sign. How quickly he gets back, I mean
29:34
Speaker 1: he needs to be built back up with Jordan Wakes,
29:38
Speaker 1: you know, like those his initial outings in the minors
29:43
Speaker 1: were really ugly. Something I didn't consider that that he
29:47
Speaker 1: brought up that I think is fair and I just
29:50
Speaker 1: think is worth mentioning. That was basically a spring training.
29:54
Speaker 1: He was working the kings out, he was getting out there.
29:57
Speaker 1: He was just trying to get work in and get
29:59
Speaker 1: his arm going. That's fair, Like I didn't give him
30:03
Speaker 1: that benefit of the DOABTA. I just saw those numbers
30:05
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is ugly. But he was
30:08
Speaker 1: basically treating real minor league games as spring training and
30:13
Speaker 1: it didn't go well for him, but he was just
30:16
Speaker 1: trying to get out there. I think that's fair. I think, yeah,
30:20
Speaker 1: if like the last few outings were much better, let's see,
30:24
Speaker 1: let's see what tonight is. I believe he made his
30:27
Speaker 1: major league debut in Pittsburgh. It was a lead off
30:32
Speaker 1: home run, I believe to Brian Hayes, and then I
30:38
Speaker 1: want to say, a load of the bases with no outs,
30:40
Speaker 1: and then got out of it somehow and then retired
30:45
Speaker 1: like fifteen straight badders And it was like a really
30:49
Speaker 1: solid start if you remember, if I'm remembering right, he
30:54
Speaker 1: had a solid debut, like the rookie stretch there is
31:00
Speaker 1: his He looked like a promising piece of the rotation.
31:03
Speaker 1: Obviously it has not gone right for him since. But
31:07
Speaker 1: let's see if he can if he can be the
31:09
Speaker 1: guy because they need someone, They need someone to step up,
31:14
Speaker 1: probably more importantly on offense.
31:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, they need to find solutions.
31:21
Speaker 2: I think if you're if you want to be an optimist,
31:25
Speaker 2: that maybe Cabrera, Boyd and Justin Steele are pretty fresh
31:31
Speaker 2: for August, September, October. You still have to like get
31:38
Speaker 2: there though. We're months away from any sort of real
31:41
Speaker 2: action on the trade deadline. I mean maybe maybe two
31:47
Speaker 2: months away from like a deal, and even that would
31:50
Speaker 2: be about a week in front of the deadline. I
31:55
Speaker 2: think this has gone from can you get a game
32:00
Speaker 2: one started for the World Series?
32:01
Speaker 3: To like, how many holes are they going to have
32:03
Speaker 3: to patch on the pitching side? Probably multiple?
32:11
Speaker 2: And yeah, I think you gotta you see what you
32:14
Speaker 2: got in Jordan Wicks. Mean, he was a first round pick.
32:19
Speaker 2: Really that was his debut. I want to say his
32:21
Speaker 2: cut was kind of the end of the we didn't
32:24
Speaker 2: know at the time, but the end of the David
32:25
Speaker 2: Ross era, and you know he was talking Wick's up
32:28
Speaker 2: of just someone good competitor, good head on his shoulders,
32:32
Speaker 2: and it's it just has not clicked since then.
32:36
Speaker 3: So he gets his We'll see, right, like, I mean,
32:42
Speaker 3: he'll get his his turn here see if he can
32:45
Speaker 3: run with it.
32:46
Speaker 2: But I mean, the Cubs do not have a whole
32:48
Speaker 2: lot of other options. And we were saying this like
32:52
Speaker 2: over a month ago. I guess the other piece to
32:54
Speaker 2: this is later this week, Justin Steele's supposed to visit
32:58
Speaker 2: with doctor Keith my Stir, who had handled his surgery
33:03
Speaker 2: last year and diagnosed that flexer strain in late April.
33:08
Speaker 2: Steel has not been throwing during this time at all.
33:11
Speaker 2: The Cubs said, said, ah, maybe he'd be able to
33:15
Speaker 2: keep his arm loose a little bit during this shutdown.
33:18
Speaker 2: That has not been the case. I think that's also
33:23
Speaker 2: probably what you would have expected anyways. But maybe there's
33:27
Speaker 2: a piece of good news that comes out of that
33:30
Speaker 2: visit that the Cubs can kind of cling to and
33:33
Speaker 2: get a little more information for planning purposes. But yeah,
33:40
Speaker 2: it hits some three run homers and kind of get
33:44
Speaker 2: get just a quality start like all as you know,
33:46
Speaker 2: side of all this like adds up. You know when
33:50
Speaker 2: you're like your relievers are stressed. Your pitchers have no
33:55
Speaker 2: margin for error. You don't get length one day. You know,
34:00
Speaker 2: that's something that council really stresses of how everything is
34:03
Speaker 2: interconnected and right now nothing is really working.
34:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, three run homers would help. It feels like it's
34:10
Speaker 1: been a little while since they've gotten to clutch one
34:12
Speaker 1: of those. So get some of those. Maybe get a
34:16
Speaker 1: blowout victory. It's gonna be hard. Pirates have good pitching, Ashcraft,
34:20
Speaker 1: Chandler Schemes, so the next three all talented. Chandler has
34:23
Speaker 1: an elevated era, but they're all very talented pitchers. Obviously,
34:28
Speaker 1: Schemes is a stud so you want to get a
34:31
Speaker 1: win before Thursday. We'll see if they can pull that off.
34:35
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks so much for listening everyone, This is
34:36
Speaker 1: Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to
34:40
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick
34:43
Speaker 1: and Iron top of all things Cubs. We'll be back
34:46
Speaker 1: with more episodes this week. Thanks so much everyone, Take care.
35:05
Speaker 3: Everything.
35:06
Speaker 1: I get a wild.
35:13
Speaker 3: Dad.
35:14
Speaker 1: I'm going to lead