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A low point for Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney.
0:11
Speaker 2: We are your.
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, it has
0:17
Speaker 1: arrived inevitable down spell for the Cubs. We knew they
0:23
Speaker 1: couldn't play at such a high level. It would seem
0:26
Speaker 1: some like some little issues popping up here and there.
0:29
Speaker 1: But this team has been remarkably good at bouncing back
0:33
Speaker 1: answering any losses with whether it's limiting losing streaks or
0:40
Speaker 1: just making sure that a bad moment doesn't turn into
0:45
Speaker 1: a bad week or month. They've done a good job
0:48
Speaker 1: of that so far. But it should have been the
0:49
Speaker 1: downfall in twenty three and twenty four, just these really
0:53
Speaker 1: long spells of poor play. Right now, the Cubs are
0:58
Speaker 1: in their worst stretch. They've lost five of six. It's
1:02
Speaker 1: four games against the Cardinals, big series, first time they're
1:05
Speaker 1: playing Saint Louis. You could kind of if they swept
1:10
Speaker 1: this series, If they were capable of sweeping the series,
1:13
Speaker 1: that would be a big statement and something maybe perhaps
1:16
Speaker 1: ending things for the Cardinals as they try and decide
1:20
Speaker 1: are they buyers are they sellers.
1:21
Speaker 2: Are they just straddling the line? Instead?
1:23
Speaker 1: They lose to and and on Tuesday that that was
1:27
Speaker 1: a gut punch loss, the type of game that, okay,
1:32
Speaker 1: you think you think early on the Cubs have answered
1:35
Speaker 1: after falling behind early, have a five run inning, and
1:40
Speaker 1: then things just kind of fell apart. Jameson tywn is
1:43
Speaker 1: giving up way too much hard contact, and and like
1:46
Speaker 1: you know, Dansby Swanson isn't coming up in the clutch.
1:49
Speaker 1: These are topics we will touch on. But the story
1:52
Speaker 1: last night, unfortunately, is Pek Armstrong. I think it's important
1:56
Speaker 1: that we say up front Peak Armstrong is an MVP candidate.
1:59
Speaker 1: They would not be here without PCA, this season would
2:02
Speaker 1: not be going as well. He deserves all the accolades.
2:05
Speaker 1: He had a terrible night on Tuesday. The he essentially
2:09
Speaker 1: what happened was flyball one out. He camps under it
2:15
Speaker 1: in center field, right at the fence man on second.
2:18
Speaker 1: He thinks there's two outs, kind of just like turns
2:23
Speaker 1: his back to the field, doesn't think much about it,
2:25
Speaker 1: and and Mason wins course from second base. That's the
2:29
Speaker 1: eighth run, that's the deciding run. I think the more
2:31
Speaker 1: mind boggling thing to me, like, that's that's just you know,
2:34
Speaker 1: like I don't know where your heads. That sucks it happened.
2:38
Speaker 1: I don't understand that punt in the seventh inning, Patrick,
2:41
Speaker 1: I don't know what, like why he needs to do that.
2:44
Speaker 1: I know there's a lefty on the mound, but you're
2:45
Speaker 1: the cleanup hitter. You're an MVP candidate, swing away buddy.
2:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean a lot of unpacked there. I think
2:53
Speaker 3: they there's a lot of nuanced to baseball, a lot
2:57
Speaker 3: of complexities, but then sometimes something is just so easily
3:02
Speaker 3: and readily apparent of just forgetting the number of outs,
3:05
Speaker 3: just obviously an embarrassing moment for you know, just a
3:10
Speaker 3: spectacular player who's really carried the Cubs in a lot
3:14
Speaker 3: of ways. And I think to have it happen against
3:18
Speaker 3: the Cardinals, a team that you know, has a certain
3:21
Speaker 3: reputation for doing things a certain way in what wound
3:26
Speaker 3: up being a one run loss. Uh, this is part
3:30
Speaker 3: of being a star, right Like when you when you
3:33
Speaker 3: mess up like that, the reporters are going to be
3:35
Speaker 3: at the locker and and according to your story, I
3:37
Speaker 3: mean Pete was waiting there right like he knew this
3:40
Speaker 3: was coming and then the bun I don't get this
3:45
Speaker 3: is not a manager who likes to bunt. You know,
3:49
Speaker 3: the hitting group has really supported Pete and said, this
3:53
Speaker 3: guy is not a bunter, he's not a speed guy.
3:57
Speaker 3: He's a power hitter who has some some speed. And
3:59
Speaker 3: so sid of do you kind of paint the picture
4:03
Speaker 3: for us of like what it was like walking you know,
4:05
Speaker 3: downstairs to the service level bush stadium and I guess
4:09
Speaker 3: kind of sort of Council's bearing and then also Pete
4:12
Speaker 3: at his locker, how did how did the group respond?
4:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like everyone knew what the story was.
4:18
Speaker 2: It's it was Pete.
4:20
Speaker 1: It didn't matter that there were other people making mistakes,
4:24
Speaker 1: like that was the story of the night. Unfortunately for
4:27
Speaker 1: Pete or Armstrong, Council handled it like Council handles everything
4:32
Speaker 1: really really well in my opinion, Like there was no
4:34
Speaker 1: he wasn't going to throw Pete under the bush. You know,
4:38
Speaker 1: I don't know if there were a lot of people
4:40
Speaker 1: calling for Pete kre Armstrong to be benched or something
4:43
Speaker 1: like that, but no, that was just not a bench
4:45
Speaker 1: worthy moment. It was a brain fart that that shouldn't happen.
4:49
Speaker 1: And if it you know, if it becomes a pattern,
4:51
Speaker 1: then then we can start talking about these things. But
4:53
Speaker 1: this he's a hard worker who always hustles, and that's
4:58
Speaker 1: just it's just a bad moment. Uh. And that's basically
5:01
Speaker 1: how how counsel, uh you know played it. That's a
5:05
Speaker 1: mistake with the bunt. Council said that was on him.
5:09
Speaker 1: You know, that was his choice. He's not good against lefties.
5:12
Speaker 1: The overall numbers aren't great. It's a it's not terrible.
5:15
Speaker 1: Like his batting average is bad, but he hits for
5:18
Speaker 1: power against it and he he strikes out more. So
5:24
Speaker 1: you know this is is this just a young guy
5:28
Speaker 1: trying to do something in a moment where it's like
5:31
Speaker 1: contact is what I need. I don't need to hit
5:33
Speaker 1: the home run right here. Let's tie this game up,
5:36
Speaker 1: get some momentum and and and win this game type thing.
5:40
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's the wrong, wrong decision. In
5:44
Speaker 1: that moment, Pete. Pete explained it.
5:48
Speaker 2: He was he was there.
5:48
Speaker 1: He was not a happy person in that moment, but
5:52
Speaker 1: he was there waiting for us. You could see it
5:53
Speaker 1: on his face, you could hear it in his answers.
5:55
Speaker 1: He was not happy with anything. Uh like all, he
6:00
Speaker 1: made it clear like he was you know, I'm going
6:03
Speaker 1: to assume that he was just not happy with himself
6:06
Speaker 1: and the bunt he explained is he was trying to
6:09
Speaker 1: drag it down the first base line.
6:11
Speaker 2: You know, use his speed score run. He's not good
6:16
Speaker 2: against lefties.
6:16
Speaker 1: It's a thirty one percent strikeout rape, it's twenty one
6:20
Speaker 1: percent versus righties. I just, in my opinion, it's going
6:25
Speaker 1: to be hard to ground into a double play there
6:27
Speaker 1: with your speed. A fly ball scores the run. There
6:31
Speaker 1: are just there are only a few things that don't
6:34
Speaker 1: get the run in and a bunt just and there's
6:37
Speaker 1: a few things that also get two maybe three runs
6:41
Speaker 1: in because of how big you are.
6:43
Speaker 2: This wasn't.
6:45
Speaker 1: To be honest. I haven't looked up Jojo Romero's full numbers.
6:49
Speaker 1: I think he's been fine this season. But this isn't
6:51
Speaker 1: some dominant lefty that you have to overthink the situation.
6:56
Speaker 2: I just think it was. I think I do think
6:58
Speaker 2: he overthought it. It's as simple as that, in my opinion.
7:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, And this is what I think the Cubs have
7:05
Speaker 3: to sort of guard against here, Like, is Pete gonna
7:08
Speaker 3: hit a wall for lack of a better term. I
7:11
Speaker 3: mean it's roughly the midway point of the season was
7:17
Speaker 3: like one hundred degrees on the field in Saint Louis.
7:21
Speaker 3: He's had what maybe one day off I think In Philly,
7:24
Speaker 3: I mean they've been he plays hard. I mean, what
7:30
Speaker 3: was that Ben Brown quote? Like, however, it sometimes seems
7:33
Speaker 3: like Pete plays two games out there just because of
7:36
Speaker 3: hard he goes on defense and the base running and
7:40
Speaker 3: his offensive production taken together, it's been a lot. I mean,
7:45
Speaker 3: this has been a life changing a couple of months
7:49
Speaker 3: for pekro Armstrong. And I don't think it's not making excuses.
7:53
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean like he's about to wilt or anything
7:56
Speaker 3: like that. I'm sure this is a great learning experience
7:59
Speaker 3: for him. It's just that the sort of construct of
8:02
Speaker 3: this Cub's team has been him being a star. Like
8:06
Speaker 3: that's kind of taken them to this different sort of level,
8:10
Speaker 3: like the top end of their projections needed someone to,
8:15
Speaker 3: as Jed Horr would say, like consolidate all that war
8:18
Speaker 3: to have that seven eight, nine win season, and Pete
8:21
Speaker 3: has delivered, and he was sort of the like that
8:26
Speaker 3: was the moment, you know from from the game that
8:30
Speaker 3: would maybe the moment from the series and maybe a
8:33
Speaker 3: moment we refer back to if the team collapses, or
8:38
Speaker 3: maybe it's you know, a great moment where Pete learned
8:43
Speaker 3: something and you know we're talking about it, you know,
8:45
Speaker 3: when he's starting, you know, Game one of the World Series,
8:49
Speaker 3: or he's you know, finishing top three in the MVP.
8:52
Speaker 2: Whatever it is like that.
8:53
Speaker 3: Every the rest of the season is still unwritten, but
8:56
Speaker 3: it definitely and you captured it well in the athletic
8:59
Speaker 3: of one of those moments that symbolizes you know, a
9:03
Speaker 3: lot of different ideas. And I think we'll get into
9:06
Speaker 3: this more in the next couple of segments, like you
9:09
Speaker 3: can't blame Pete and there's a lot more going on
9:11
Speaker 3: with this team than just Pete making a couple of
9:14
Speaker 3: mistakes out there.
9:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly, there's I mean, Pete played what has
9:21
Speaker 1: actually played well in outside of these two moments in
9:24
Speaker 1: this series. He's got a few hits, made some good
9:28
Speaker 1: defensive plays. I'm not going to tear Pete arms during apart.
9:34
Speaker 1: I don't see him as any of the reason that
9:39
Speaker 1: any of the main reason why things aren't going well
9:41
Speaker 1: right right now. It was a bad night on Tuesday.
9:45
Speaker 1: I think there are bigger issues to talk about, and
9:47
Speaker 1: let's take a break and talk about some of them.
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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick Jameson Tyne has been really good for
10:57
Speaker 1: this team this season, the last season it's been, you know,
11:01
Speaker 1: basically two years now, since that start in New York
11:04
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three.
11:06
Speaker 2: These last two starts have been rough. Rough is putting
11:10
Speaker 2: it lightly.
11:11
Speaker 1: Eight combined innings in two starts, thirteen earned runs, five
11:17
Speaker 1: home runs, sixteen hits allowed. That the home runs are
11:22
Speaker 1: an issue, twenty one home runs on the season, I believe,
11:25
Speaker 1: I wrote that was his total from last season. He's
11:28
Speaker 1: second in all of baseball and home runs allowed. This
11:33
Speaker 1: this is a rough patch, you know, is a kind
11:36
Speaker 1: way of saying it what these last two starts are
11:39
Speaker 1: for him. But previously that ten of fourteen starts, quality starts,
11:44
Speaker 1: just a rock in the rotation, leader in the clubhouse.
11:46
Speaker 1: He's doing a lot of things right. He's hit a
11:49
Speaker 1: rough patch. He said the right things after the game.
11:51
Speaker 1: For six weeks it felt like the game was easy.
11:54
Speaker 1: Now I got to punch back and figure out what's
11:56
Speaker 1: going on and get right. He will seen and him
12:00
Speaker 1: have bad moments and bounce back, So I would not
12:02
Speaker 1: write him off. I would not assume this is what
12:07
Speaker 1: we're going to see the rest of the way, but
12:10
Speaker 1: it is. It is concerning in the sense that this
12:13
Speaker 1: team needs starting pitching. They've held up for a while.
12:17
Speaker 1: Now it seems like they've kind of hit a wall here.
12:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we're recording on Wednesday morning, so you
12:27
Speaker 3: have Matthew Boyd and showed it in Monaga lined up
12:30
Speaker 3: for the last two games of the series. Could have
12:33
Speaker 3: a much different tone when I'm assuming we record again,
12:37
Speaker 3: say Friday morning, whatever. Tywne did carry this team for
12:43
Speaker 3: a long time. But I just think now you're sort
12:47
Speaker 3: of seeing just the kind of cumulative effect of not
12:52
Speaker 3: having Justin Steele, not having showed it Inmanaga in there.
12:55
Speaker 3: It just seems like we all knew this was the concern.
12:59
Speaker 3: This is the area that had has to be reinforced
13:02
Speaker 3: at the trade deadline. And you know when ty one
13:06
Speaker 3: has a couple couple of clunkers and Colin Ray comes
13:09
Speaker 3: back to earth a little bit. I mean Ben Brown
13:14
Speaker 3: sort of like finally demoted. I mean he had been
13:17
Speaker 3: given a long enough runway there, like just time time
13:22
Speaker 3: for a change. When you put all those things together
13:25
Speaker 3: kind of late June, you know, it's not quite full
13:31
Speaker 3: on trading season yet. Like this is where like good
13:34
Speaker 3: teams have to figure out some solutions and we'll see
13:39
Speaker 3: how they respond, you know, these next two games in
13:42
Speaker 3: Saint Louis, and also it's gonna be a difficult series
13:45
Speaker 3: in Houston and a difficult homestand when they get back
13:49
Speaker 3: like that they had that that may breather for a
13:52
Speaker 3: while there, But this is this is going to be
13:54
Speaker 3: a struggle.
13:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
13:56
Speaker 1: I mean, that's why it's so important that they did
13:59
Speaker 1: so well in that In that may breather, people are
14:04
Speaker 1: going to say that's a sign that they're not a
14:05
Speaker 1: good team or whatever. I just don't agree with that.
14:11
Speaker 1: Beat up on the bad teams good that's what good
14:13
Speaker 1: teams do. When the Cubs went to Philadelphia, they had
14:18
Speaker 1: lost nine of ten. That team is red hot now
14:21
Speaker 1: and in first place. The Mets have lost ten of eleven.
14:25
Speaker 1: The Yankees, I believe, lost seventh straight, and their offense
14:29
Speaker 1: I believe during that seven straight losses scored seven runs.
14:35
Speaker 1: Every team is going to go through this. The twenty
14:39
Speaker 1: sixteen Cubs went through a five and fifteen stretch before
14:42
Speaker 1: the All Star break. I don't know what's going to
14:46
Speaker 1: happen in this season. But here's what the focus needs
14:51
Speaker 1: to be. Jamison Tyne is struggling right now. Ben Brown
14:55
Speaker 1: got demoted because he was struggling. How many home runs
14:58
Speaker 1: have the Cubs given up in the past. It's it's
15:00
Speaker 1: around twenty. Uh, it's it's it's not good. The starting
15:06
Speaker 1: pitching has not been good enough lately. They held up
15:09
Speaker 1: for as long as they could. We have been saying
15:11
Speaker 1: this for months. There's a clear focus, uh, for what
15:16
Speaker 1: they need. They need to upgrade the roster. We know
15:19
Speaker 1: that they will. The reality is that the prices right
15:23
Speaker 1: now are going to be sky high. I would not
15:26
Speaker 1: I would not expect, you know, based on our reporting,
15:30
Speaker 1: I would not expect something in the next you know,
15:33
Speaker 1: by the end of this week. Nothing, nothing is happening.
15:37
Speaker 1: The Cubs just started making calls again. They just started
15:40
Speaker 1: reaching out. They are active. I've gotten messages from people
15:43
Speaker 1: around baseball when when I ask that, they're like, you
15:48
Speaker 1: know this already, but the Cubs want starting pitching. You know,
15:51
Speaker 1: it's very like it's it's it's not something that I'm
15:55
Speaker 1: not breaking news here, and the Cubs are going to
15:59
Speaker 1: ask about everyone. They are searching for starting pitching. I
16:03
Speaker 1: think the question is going to be how many and
16:06
Speaker 1: how good? Those are the only questions. Yeah, how much
16:12
Speaker 1: do they pay? So you know, it's just like this
16:19
Speaker 1: is this is a clear need. The team has a weakness.
16:23
Speaker 1: They have to upgrade. I agree with you, they have
16:28
Speaker 1: two very good pitchers going. Matthew Boyd has been a
16:30
Speaker 1: revelation this season.
16:32
Speaker 2: He is.
16:34
Speaker 1: As far as who's been healthy and out there. He's
16:36
Speaker 1: their best pitcher. He's their best pitcher. And then you
16:40
Speaker 1: have and then you have showed to returning. These are
16:43
Speaker 1: two huge starts in the sense like maybe not for
16:46
Speaker 1: the team in general, Like I think the team wants
16:48
Speaker 1: to win every game.
16:49
Speaker 2: That the ahead of them.
16:50
Speaker 1: If they if they get swept, they're not gonna be
16:53
Speaker 1: like all you know, this season is over. It's probably
16:56
Speaker 1: most important for the morale of the fan base. That's
17:01
Speaker 1: what it's most important for. But they do you don't
17:04
Speaker 1: want to get swept. You don't want to.
17:06
Speaker 2: Give this Cardinals team reason to go out and buy uh,
17:10
Speaker 2: you know, you just don't.
17:13
Speaker 1: You want to try and limit the damage here and
17:15
Speaker 1: come away from Saint Louis saying, hey, if you salvage
17:18
Speaker 1: a split, you're gonna be feeling really good about yourself
17:21
Speaker 1: heading to Houston.
17:22
Speaker 2: That's that's for sure.
17:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the Cardinals. I really enjoyed listening to
17:28
Speaker 3: Katie Wu the other day on our crossover episode with
17:33
Speaker 3: Cardinal Territory. You know, the Cubs, haven't I think you
17:38
Speaker 3: put it put it well in the story. You know,
17:41
Speaker 3: Brewers and Cardinals are breathing down their necks. But like,
17:46
Speaker 3: it's not as if the Cubs have like squandered an opportunity.
17:50
Speaker 3: It's not like you think, like, oh, they sort of
17:52
Speaker 3: took this for granted or rolled into a false sense
17:55
Speaker 3: of security like they had their chance. Like, no, they
17:58
Speaker 3: they played at a really high level for very long,
18:00
Speaker 3: long chunk of the season, but so did most of
18:05
Speaker 3: the rest of the division. Or they've at least, you know,
18:08
Speaker 3: tread water for long enough to where they can kind
18:12
Speaker 3: of jump out and make a nice little run here.
18:15
Speaker 3: And so yeah, maybe I guess maybe if the Cubs,
18:18
Speaker 3: you know it, swept a four game series at Bush
18:20
Speaker 3: Stadium and all of a sudden, like it becomes a
18:22
Speaker 3: little more daunting or harder for the Cardinals to justify adding.
18:29
Speaker 3: But it also seems like in listening to Katie's explanation,
18:32
Speaker 3: Like the dynamics there are so like unique and complicated
18:37
Speaker 3: that it's hard to get a read on that. And
18:39
Speaker 3: you know, the Brewers, as we've said before, you just
18:42
Speaker 3: kind of can't count them out. Like they have their formula,
18:47
Speaker 3: they have a lot of determination and sort of like
18:51
Speaker 3: organizational resolve, and then the Reds have nice pieces. So
18:56
Speaker 3: like maybe in a weird way, this is a good
18:59
Speaker 3: thing to where you know, ownership, business operations, the front
19:04
Speaker 3: office all understand that Cubs have a really special group,
19:09
Speaker 3: but they also need a lot more. You can't just
19:13
Speaker 3: think like we'll just show up for the second half
19:16
Speaker 3: of the season and we'll get the hats and T
19:18
Speaker 3: shirts for division champs. So it's like, no, they're being
19:21
Speaker 3: pushed in a real way by multiple teams, and it's
19:24
Speaker 3: hard to see maybe all four of these central teams
19:27
Speaker 3: like clicking the rest of the way, but like all
19:30
Speaker 3: four of them aren't gonna fade. So they're gonna they're
19:33
Speaker 3: gonna be pushed, They're gonna be tested over and over again.
19:36
Speaker 3: And that's why our colleague, you know here at fel
19:39
Speaker 3: Territory on the Athletic Ken Rosenthal wrote, like there is
19:43
Speaker 3: this urgency with this group of like they have to
19:47
Speaker 3: maximize Kyle Tucker's walkier, they have to maximize this group
19:52
Speaker 3: that was brought in to be part of the quote
19:54
Speaker 3: unquote next great Cubs team, and then a lot of
19:56
Speaker 3: players under club control through twenty twenty six, and then
20:01
Speaker 3: you have a CBA expiring, and then you have we
20:05
Speaker 3: don't know if there's kind of a cliff out there
20:07
Speaker 3: at their waiting, Like they have to maximize this moment.
20:10
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
20:11
Speaker 1: They had a six and a half game lead a
20:14
Speaker 1: week ago after they beat Milwaukee last Tuesday is two
20:19
Speaker 1: and a half games to both Milwaukee and the Cardinals.
20:22
Speaker 1: Now four and a half games for the Reds. But
20:26
Speaker 1: also a week ago we were talking about Cardinals fans
20:29
Speaker 1: for like they've collapsed and now they're back in it.
20:33
Speaker 1: Like these things just changed so quickly. It's really like
20:36
Speaker 1: it's important to remember it's one hundred and sixty two
20:38
Speaker 1: game seasons, Like I don't know where they'll be next week.
20:44
Speaker 1: They could be out of first place. I'm not saying
20:46
Speaker 1: like this isn't a like they're not in the middle
20:49
Speaker 1: of something bad. It's just things can shift quickly in baseball.
20:53
Speaker 1: So we'll see where it ends up. Let's take another
20:57
Speaker 1: break and talk about Dansby Swanson's issues at the plate.
21:02
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21:17
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21:29
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21:35
Speaker 2: Slash foul use code foul.
21:38
Speaker 1: Patrick Danesby Swanson came up to bat after the bunt
21:44
Speaker 1: attempt by Pete k Armstrong and he popped out. He
21:49
Speaker 1: followed out really nice play by Alec Burlson, who I
21:54
Speaker 1: don't believe is a great defender, but he made two
21:58
Speaker 1: plays yesterday or last night that that ended up kind
22:02
Speaker 1: of really changed the tenor of the game. The Cardinals
22:06
Speaker 1: in general made some nice defensive plays. Uh. Nolan Aernado
22:10
Speaker 1: did as well to end the game. Dansby Swanson two
22:13
Speaker 1: runners on can't come through groundball to you know, high
22:18
Speaker 1: hopper to h to Aernado ends the game twice. He
22:23
Speaker 1: comes up in big situations failed. It's not just a
22:27
Speaker 1: Tuesday night thing with a men in scoring position. He's
22:30
Speaker 1: slashing one one, two, two, two eighteen.
22:35
Speaker 3: Uh.
22:36
Speaker 1: That's for your advanced numbers people like me. That's a
22:40
Speaker 1: thirteen way to runs great A plus thirty percent strike out. Right,
22:45
Speaker 1: he's a high strikeout guy in general, but like it's
22:47
Speaker 1: the highest when runners in scoring position. With that, with
22:51
Speaker 1: the bases empty, he's slashing two seventy nine, three seventeen
22:54
Speaker 1: fiveh eight one thirty way to runs great A plus.
22:58
Speaker 2: I believe I wrote this yesterday, twelve.
23:02
Speaker 1: Of his fifteen home runs or with the bases empty,
23:05
Speaker 1: double checking that, yes twelve of his fifteen. He's not
23:10
Speaker 1: coming through in those big moments. He's batting fifth in
23:14
Speaker 1: a lineup where a ton of guys are getting on base.
23:18
Speaker 1: He's in those situations a lot. Right now, I think
23:22
Speaker 1: it's fair to wonder is it time to send him
23:24
Speaker 1: back down? Put him back down, and like he should
23:27
Speaker 1: not be sitting. He's a great defender. His team doesn't
23:31
Speaker 1: slump defensively because of guys like him and Niko Horner
23:35
Speaker 1: and Pete ge Armstrong. But I'm not I think it's
23:40
Speaker 1: like there are people calling for it. I don't think
23:43
Speaker 1: they're they're being irrational asking for like why Dansby Swanson
23:48
Speaker 1: batting fifth?
23:49
Speaker 3: No, I mean Jed Hoyer and counsel to an extent
23:52
Speaker 3: over the years of soils. Don't overthink the lineup stuff.
23:57
Speaker 3: Just put your best hitters towards the top. And it's
24:01
Speaker 3: hard to see, like why you'd keep running Dansby out
24:08
Speaker 3: there as essentially what like your number five hitter, Like
24:11
Speaker 3: seems like it wouldn't lose much but by dropping him.
24:15
Speaker 3: And at the same time, it's crazy, like Danzy Swanson
24:18
Speaker 3: this half season, if you you double it, it's basically
24:21
Speaker 3: a four and a half war season. You know, roughly
24:24
Speaker 3: twenty eight homers eighty RBIs from a gold gloff shortstop.
24:29
Speaker 3: So like he's doing his job to a large extent.
24:33
Speaker 3: It just you know, he's he's kind of been the
24:36
Speaker 3: one that's been that's been wearing it recently, of like
24:39
Speaker 3: as this offense has cooled off, or when they've needed
24:43
Speaker 3: like great offensive games not just pretty good offensive games
24:47
Speaker 3: because of the state of their pitching staff, like he
24:49
Speaker 3: has not delivered. I think you also see two of
24:54
Speaker 3: just like the lineup that was seemed like so long,
24:58
Speaker 3: so deep at a certain point earlier in the season,
25:02
Speaker 3: it's getting it easier to sort of pitch around right now,
25:06
Speaker 3: Like obviously the top he's doing a lot of damage,
25:09
Speaker 3: like those are the names you circle, but after that,
25:14
Speaker 3: at a certain point, it definitely drops off. Like you know,
25:18
Speaker 3: Carson Kelly isn't quite Barry Bonds right now. No one
25:20
Speaker 3: expected that to begin with or to continue, you know,
25:27
Speaker 3: Matt Shaw, you know, great defender has surpassed our expectations,
25:33
Speaker 3: but not not really crushing the ball right now. And
25:38
Speaker 3: so when Dansby, you're one hundred and seventy one hundred
25:41
Speaker 3: and seventy seven million dollars shortstop isn't getting done in
25:44
Speaker 3: those clutch situations, like, yeah, he's gonna have to be
25:46
Speaker 3: at his locker answering those questions too.
25:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, And to be fair to him, he owned it.
25:54
Speaker 1: He's he's well aware that he's not. He's well aware
25:58
Speaker 1: that it wasn't a Tuesday night he you know, he
26:02
Speaker 1: immediately said, it's been all season long. I haven't been
26:05
Speaker 1: coming through, and that's in those situations and I'm not
26:07
Speaker 1: holding my end of the bargain up. He knows he
26:10
Speaker 1: needs to get better. He needs to He knows he
26:12
Speaker 1: needs to figure that out. He needs to come up
26:14
Speaker 1: in those big situations, come through in those big situations. Uh,
26:18
Speaker 1: the lineup is, you know, I I don't know what
26:21
Speaker 1: the answer is. Is it putting Nico there? You don't
26:24
Speaker 1: want to have a string of lefties. It makes it
26:28
Speaker 1: easier to pitch to Pete Koor Armstrong if you have
26:30
Speaker 1: a lefty behind him and Michael Bush.
26:34
Speaker 2: Like it is it Matt Is?
26:37
Speaker 1: Can Matt Shaw step up? He's not hitting well right now.
26:40
Speaker 1: His his at bats look pretty rough. He's got I
26:43
Speaker 1: don't you can't move him up in the lineup. I
26:46
Speaker 1: will see Carson Kelly's looked a little bit better lately,
26:48
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure if you want him batting fifth again.
26:51
Speaker 1: Like that was a nice run for him, It was,
26:53
Speaker 1: it was. It really helped this team win some games.
26:55
Speaker 1: But I think the only choice you have is is
26:59
Speaker 1: Niko Horner. Uh. And then and then you have to
27:02
Speaker 1: start thinking about how you do things going forward if
27:05
Speaker 1: that if that's not working. And maybe this is something
27:09
Speaker 1: we talk about down the line. But you know, is
27:13
Speaker 1: finding a right handed bat something they need to do.
27:18
Speaker 1: I don't think it's you know, you just have to
27:21
Speaker 1: see where I don't think that's the pressing thing. I
27:23
Speaker 1: think you kind of have to see the next couple
27:25
Speaker 1: of weeks and and see who falls out of it
27:27
Speaker 1: as well, who becomes available, and then and then you
27:32
Speaker 1: can start talking about it. Okay, let's let's go get
27:34
Speaker 1: this guy. He's got, you know, two months left on
27:37
Speaker 1: his contract. It's not going to cost an arm and
27:39
Speaker 1: a leg, and he can help us win some games,
27:42
Speaker 1: whatever that may be. But I just don't I don't
27:45
Speaker 1: think right now you can keep doing this with Dancy
27:47
Speaker 1: songs and he gets red hot, and I I am
27:51
Speaker 1: a hunt as long as he's healthy. I'm one hundred
27:53
Speaker 1: percent sure there's going to be a stretch where Dansby
27:57
Speaker 1: Swanson is just hitting the crap out of the ball. Yeah,
28:00
Speaker 1: that's not happening, and it hasn't happened with men on
28:02
Speaker 1: base so that it really stands out because those are
28:06
Speaker 1: those are the biggest moments, and those whether I don't
28:10
Speaker 1: for me, I don't believe that he can't handle those moments.
28:13
Speaker 1: It's just he's not coming through right now in those
28:16
Speaker 1: moments and that you know, those are critical times.
28:20
Speaker 2: All right, Patrick, let's let's wrap it up.
28:23
Speaker 1: When we come back and talk to everyone, these four
28:26
Speaker 1: games will be done. We'll see where the Cubs are.
28:29
Speaker 1: I think I don't want to put too much weight
28:31
Speaker 1: on these two. Like I said, I don't think the
28:33
Speaker 1: Cubs are going to overthink it.
28:34
Speaker 3: Biggest game of the year today, as Craig Counsels would say.
28:38
Speaker 1: Right today, today is the biggest game of the year.
28:42
Speaker 1: So whenever you're listening to it, that's the biggest game
28:45
Speaker 1: of the year. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
28:49
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28:58
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29:00
Speaker 6: I don't at my bed on the le