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Cubs mailbag: Dealing with the Marlins plus more on roster additions and lineup questions · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Cubs lost two of three to the Phillies, two of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: three to the Tigers, went four and five on a
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: you know, a pretty hard road trip. That's you know,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: that's not fans aren't going to be celebrating, but I
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: think the realists out there understand that, you know, sometimes
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: things sometimes things get tough and you got to just
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: grind through it. Four and five, You'll take that. You
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: don't want the disastrous two and seven or one in
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: eight road trip. They they got through it. And there
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: are certainly things that you can point to and question
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: about this team right now, and we'll get to some
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of those because we got a mailbag episode right now.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: But you know, I think you take four and five
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and you and you hope that they the offense gets
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: going again and that maybe facing you know, maybe it's
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Paul Skans on Friday, but not not the Paul Skins
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: every day or that level, because it's been a lot
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of that lately, a lot of really good pitching lately.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and as we're recording, the Cubs still have a
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: five game lead in the division. The Cardinals, you know,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: we're nevillbly going to cool off, and their four game
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: losing streak was timed fortuitously for the Cubs while they
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: were on a very difficult road trip. So yeah, I
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: think it'll be an interesting home stand. You know, Skeens
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: is always kind of an event, be a chance for
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: the Cubs to sort of get back on track here.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: And I think some of these answers to the questions
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: our listeners have will start to reveal themselves.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's get right to it. This one
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: is from BHO fourteen. It's been reported that the Cubs
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: and Marlins had previously agreed on a deal for the
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Lozardo his Who's Lozardo? Who pitched Wednesday for the Phillies
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and shut down the Cubs. I think that was the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: second time he shut down the Cubs this year. Players
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: in December have different values than now. But do we
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: know which players were likely in the deal? Yes, it
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: was Ken that reported that had that final report. Right,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: We've we've kind of been working on that for months
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: as far as hearing bits and pieces of it, but
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: it was Penn that or Ken that kind of nailed
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: it down finally maybe a month or so ago. Patrick,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's names that we've heard bandied about. Is
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: there anything you could share there that you you know,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure how one hundred percent we are on
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: this stuff.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I haven't.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: We haven't nailed this down, but I think there were
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: indications that Owen Casey was heavily discussed. That's also sort
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: of intuitive, right of the Marlins would want, you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: some close.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: To major league ready talent on the position playing side.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: And I think this question came from the idea of Okay, well,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: what does this mean for Sandy Alcantara. I mean, he
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: has to go out and pitch well and prove it.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: But clearly there.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Is a baseline here between the Cubs and Marlins.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: They talked a lot. You know.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Obviously Lizardo did not get across the finish line do
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: in large part to medical concerns and kind of matching
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: up the value of what the Cubs would be willing
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: to give up after that medical review. You had the
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Matt Murvis Fidal Bruhan trade as well, where there's kind
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: of talking. And I think on the staffing side as well,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: the Cubs and Marlins had some exchanges. So I think
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Peter Bendix, the head of Baseball Operations, was at Wrigley.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: When the Marlins were in town.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: I believe it was him and Jed were sort of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: talking on the field and some fan. I don't know
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: what he was doing and in there because before kind
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: of before the gates were totally open, and he kind
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: of screamed like, Jad, we need some pitching asap, got
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: some bullpen up.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: It was something along those lines. I wrote it down
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: at the time.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I don't have my notes in front of me, but uh,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the bullpen was kind of scuffling at that moment.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: But I do think.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: We've I think, kind of teasing a future episode at
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: this point of our buddy Jeff Ponce from Baseball America.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: We talked a lot about prospects, what they have to
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: bring to the table here, Owen Casey and as well
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: as Mois's ballasteros. We don't know exactly how that's going
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: to play out, but those would be the names that
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I think the Marlins would.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Probably Marlins and most teams.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Would be sort of looking at of like who can
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: help us, you know, pretty close to now.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would guess like people would be interested
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: in all contra to contra just because I mean he
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: can play the like good defense in center field and
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and the offense just comes and goes. But when he
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: gets on a tear, he gets on a tear and
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: it's it's legit, it's impressive. Uh. And and you alluded
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to it, but Jeff, Jeff talked a little bit about
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Casey and and there was you know, you can you
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: can suggest that the strikeouts are concerned, but they've always
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: been there. It's not unknown, it's not a it's not
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: something that's brand new. Uh. He's he's making the same
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: type of contact and doing the same you know, impacting
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the ball similarly when he does make contact. So uh,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I think Owen Casey makes a lot of sense as
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: someone to build a trade around, whether it's at with
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the Marlins or whatever it may be, whichever team it
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: may be. But al Contra, I believe I I just
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: wrote this. Six innings in each of his last two
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: starts combined, twelve strikeouts, two walks, and two two runs
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: allowed combined. That's a step forward. One of those starts
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: was against the Rockies. I don't think I don't think
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: you want to overthink it as far as competition. You
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: want to just see him improve and and that's that's happening. Uh,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: It's it's going to be hard to pull that off now.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: So you have more more there's going to be more
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: data to take in, more outings for Sandy el Contra
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: to to go out there make starts and to impress
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: potential trade partners. But yeah, I think he's near the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: top of the list as far as who you should
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: be watching when it comes to uh pictures at the Cubs.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: The Cubs are going to need to they have to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: acquire a starting pitcher. We're going to talk more about
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: just kind of what's going on with the with the
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: rotation and who who gets called up or who gets
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: moved around. Let's let's get to the next question. What
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: prospects could be brought up to help if the team
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: is unable to swing a trade for a bench bet
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: or a leaver JD O four or two to one. Yeah, look,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Bias Srus is a guy that that you could call up.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: But I we'll get to their issues a potential issue.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: I guess it's more against the left handed pitching, and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I you know, we'll talk about that, but I don't
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: think it's a major concern, especially when you talk about
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: who the lefties that they're faced of late. But yeah,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: it's absolutely there's there's potential help I think of the minors,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: but Bias Sirius would be one guy that we know
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: can come up and do something. Kevin Olcontra has been
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: up before, but he's not hitting own. Casey's a lefty.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: So you've got two lefties and Biasteros and Casey that
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: are at triple A, and then Kevin Alcontra. I don't
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: know if you'd call him up and say, like, this
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: is our bench bat, but maybe that happens at some point.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I also think we named three guys that could be
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: used in trades, so you know, you just don't I
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: don't want to make assumptions about who's coming up. Relievers.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Gavin Hollowell's been up and I wouldn't be shocked to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: see him again at some point soon. Riley Martin is
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: probably going to get a look at some point this season.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: He's figured some things out with relievers, with pitchers and
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: with relievers especially. It's kind of like strike when the
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: iron's hot, is this guy locked in? Yes, okay, we
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: got to call him up soon. There's also the like
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: forty man maneuvering, So maybe that doesn't happen right away,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: but you never know when the command goes and suddenly
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: he's walking, you know, ten guys over three outings or
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: something like that, which was a major concern for Martin.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good name. I mean, that's the name
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: that we've heard kind of here and there. I think
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: the help is far more likely to come out of
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: the Iowa bullpen than.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: As an offensive force.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: I mean we saw it in kind of twenty fifteen,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen of the Cubs had this sort
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: of assembly line of guys coming up and helping immediately
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: by Saros feels a little too one dimensional at this moment.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: You know, if he was.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: A right handed or if he can bring something on defense,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: just not really, not really, I have a harder time
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: envisioning that. I guess the other name too, not a
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: prospect anymore, but he once was a big time prospect.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I mean Nate Pearson, like if he I think is
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: someone who could help. But I think we have a
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: question coming up on this, like the Cubs are sort
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: of facing a little bit of a roster crunch. Once
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: they get guys healthy, there's only so many spots, and
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: obviously other stuff will happen. But I think right now
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: it's kind of the group they have and being in
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: what was it information gathering mode?
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Was that Jet's.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: TERMINI yeah, let's get to that question in a moment.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break first, hold on the need
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to do that.
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• 11:07
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, So this this question is kind of
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: hard to answer. My opinion, it's not. It's not easy. Uh,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: with Shoda and Hodge coming back soon, who gets shipped out?
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Barring and I Eliston? Only Ben Brown? Uh, Whoch, Daniel Palancia,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: I have options, none of whom seem triple oh, Kate Horton,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: none of whom seem triple a worthy other than to
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: limit innings? Does someone get deafade? So when we talked
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: about this, Patrick, my initial thought is, Showta comes back,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: maybe Ben Brown goes down and you keep him stretched out,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: And I'm starting to wonder, is Colin Ray the first
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: person out of the rotation and into the bullpen? But
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: someone still needs to go down. There's just no obvious answer.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: If you're talking about uh, I think I think sending
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Ben Brown down, get his get things right figured out.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know what there is to work on other
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: than like you got to avoid certain big innings. You
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: gotta like, you know, it seems like the big inning
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: bites him, the first inning bites him. I'm not sure
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: what going to Triple A will really help outside of
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: you have to keep them stretched out. As far as DFA,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I think the only person you can talk about dfaing
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: right now is Cabrera Genesis. Cabrera may like when you
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: start talking about other guys like Ryan Brazier, who's been fine,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't think he's had a DFA worthy performance.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: You start talking about like hitting depth there, hurting depth,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and that's just something the Cubs don't like to do
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: and Craig Council doesn't like to do. So it is.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: It's it's a very I think it's a good question
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: because I don't think there's anything obvious. You got about
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: two weeks before you have to decide on SHOWDA about
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: maybe a week to ten days. With Hodge, he's probably
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: about ten days. I think they want to get multiple
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: outings at Triple a which is next? He just he
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: just threw a bullpen recently. I'm losing track of days.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I want to say, Tuesday through a bullpen and then
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: and then he'll go out. He's gonna make a it's
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: gonna start making rehab appearances for Iowa. So it could
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: be it could be a week. It probably not much
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: longer than a week. It's gonna be soon because he's
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: gonna make multiple appearances. They didn't, he said. Council said
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: they didn't have to get back to backs, but they
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: also weren't in a rush. It's one of those things
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: where I think they also realized, like there's no obvious
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: answer here, why rush it. The bullpen's doing well, obviously,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Hodge if he's locked in like trying like really makes
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the bullpen look good. So, but it's just you don't
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: want a DFA guys right now because you need depth.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: It's like who they add at the trade deadline, probably
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: like a Ryan Brazier type, So why would you know?
• 14:04
  Speaker 7: So it's you can't you can't be dfing guys or
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: it's certainly not in their track record or their like
• 14:13
  Speaker 7: philosophical viewpoint to just burn through guys like that.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Knowing they'll need it more.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I mean a week to ten days, two weeks, it's
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: a long time in baseball.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: Something else is going to happen.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Uh, someone will get into They do like slow playing
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: these rehabs too. But to me, I think Ben Brown
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: is it's becoming one of it's becoming a thing, you know,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: like of it's a really good team. Things are largely
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: rolling in his spot at the moment.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Sort of sticks out. His talent is also obvious.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: You know that that you know, there's certainly a lot
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: of reasons why the Cubs are giving him this runway,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: and you see these flashes that are just amazing. And
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: I was thinking it's good point too, of limiting Kate
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Horton's innings. I know there's not a hard cap. They're not.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I don't think they want to get too cute or
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: they don't want to sort of presume that they have
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: to slow him down. But like you know, there's not
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: a ton of a workload in his history, so these.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Things have a way of working themselves out.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the lack of flexibility, the lack of options is
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: it's certainly not what It's not something they like. They
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: don't know they don't like having that, and there's I'm
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: looking at these names and there's just no one that
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: you want, like outside of Cabrera, Like who would you
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: really like feel comfortable moving on from, And even Cabrera
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: is like a usable lefty. It's just it's not you know,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you want to be healthy, you want to have the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: best players out there, but you want depth too, So
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: it's an interest. It's a word while question that I think,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I have an obvious answer to,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: especially making two moves. I think I go back and
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: forth on Ben Brown just because Colin Ray struggled too,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and Ben Brown it gave you six innings. It wasn't
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: good enough. It was, but at least he saved the bullpen.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: But that was kind of like, well Colin Ray just
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: went four and a third, so you have to save
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the bull bred, like you have to go out there
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: for six innings. It's one of those things where it's
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: like the bullpen is short. So yeah, these are these
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: are the types of decisions that I think that I
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: think you're like, I think for an office is like
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: I hope this doesn't burn us in two months and
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: we're saying, wish we had player Rex still on our roster,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: and you never know who clears either sometimes. I mean
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: seems like the Cubs are constantly searching for guys that
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: can grab off waiver so that you know there are
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the Clubs aren't the only team that does that, So
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see how how they are able
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: to pull that off and what they're able to do.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I don't think I don't think there is an obvious choice, Patrick,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I want to take one more quick break and then
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: we'll we have a it's two questions, but but it's
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: kind of it's kind of one and we'll get to
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that next.
• 17:25
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• 17:54
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• 17:56
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, I'm going to start with this one
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: because I have the numbers up. Sahadev and Patrick have
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the Cubs regressed against left handed starting pitching, wondering what
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: their record is. Look, Jim, I don't have their exact record,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: but I'll tell you this. In through April one forty
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: six way to run scratid plus against lefties, barely striking
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: out walking a ton. That slash line is two eighty
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: one three sixty eight five oh four, just destroying left
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: handed pitching like it wasn't like it was unfair what
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: they were doing to left handed pitching. That's number one
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: in baseball since then, since May first, it's I mean,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: they're fifteenth in baseball. So it's not disastrous. The walks
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: have plummeted. It's basically in half uh two thirty one,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: two eighty six, three eighty three. That's ninety way to
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: rounds creative plus. That's that's, like I said, fifteenth in baseball.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: It's not it's not awful. There's a guys like Lozardo
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Mackenzie Gore, was there a schooble uh in though those
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: are really good lefties, and I know people are going
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: to point to Lozardo struggling in his previous two starts.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: He like he was tipping pitches. He was when runners
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: were on second base. I believe Matt Gelvin I were
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: talking about this. I believe hitters were nine for ten
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: with runners on second base. He like he made a
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: ton of changes. He knew what was going They figured
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: out what was going on, and he made all the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: necessary changes. And he looks like the guy that was
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: on a you know, borderline Cy Young he was, you know,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: in the Scion conversation, and he looked like that guy
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: against the Cubs. So they faced some tough pitching. Look,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: you're going to face tough pitching in the playoffs. I
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: asked Jed about this is you know, what what do
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you what do you want to see against it. You're
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: very rarely going to score six runs whatever it is
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: against the school and Zach Wheeler Paul Skins on Friday.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: But what you want is essentially the good process. Are
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: you working counts, swinging at the right pitches. I think
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I think Council was really happy with their process against Google.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: They didn't win that game. There were some mistakes on
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the basis it wasn't a it ends up being a loss.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: But he really liked they didn't swing against the wrong pitches,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: they didn't chase, they didn't look bad against them. They weren't.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: They didn't look completely lost to the plate. I think
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that's that's the key, that that's really important.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think it's interesting too.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Of Jed sort of didn't rule out the idea of
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: adding another complimentary piece, but he also.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Didn't make it sound like a priority.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Right Is that the best way to sort of sum
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: up people if they haven't read your story yet.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I would, Yeah, that's exactly what i'd say.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: It was just he kind of just said like it
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: was in It was the way he even said it
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: was just like look, you know he was making he
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: was telling us the obvious thing. Yeah, he's telling us
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the obvious thing. If if there's you know it, pitching
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: is the number one priority, probably the number two priority
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and the number three priority. But like adding some depth
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and uh, they're not going to stop looking to improve
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the team. And if and if depth be whether it's
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: a complimentary piece or a bench piece, that they they'll
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: look they'll look at that as well, but it's not
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the priority. And I think that. I think we all
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: understand that and know that one Let's let's get to
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: this next question, because it ties in, uh, Cubs have
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a problem with the right handed batter between PC and Bush.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Hot streaks by Kelly and Swanson early temporarily solved that
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: with regression by those two. Do the Cubs need another
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: right handed bat? You blender. He also talked about Matt
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Shaw's on underlying numbers. I don't know where where this
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: is coming from. If you want to overanalyze his underlying numbers,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: that's fine. You can also just simply look at his
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: expected numbers, which are all better than his actual production.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: So the underlying numbers the you know, the analysis of
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the underlying numbers suggests that he should be getting better results.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I am not concerned about Matt Shaw. I think he's
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: going to continue to improve that. I understand you can
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: kind of drive yourself crazy if you want to look
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: at specific numbers and break them down and say this
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: number is ooh, this means this and that and the other. Like,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: just look at the expected stats. We don't need to play,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you know, we don't need if that's what you're interested in.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: We don't need to break down all those little things
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and then you can try and understand why those expected
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: stats are the way they are. But his expected stats
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: are fine, Like they they're better than what his actual
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: numbers are. He's fine. I would not worry about Matt Shaw.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: We'll see where he goes. I think I said in
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: our last episode, I'd like to see him pull the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: ball with authority more. I think we'll start to see that.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not too concerned about it. Regret Like
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: hot streaks by Kelly, Like that's what Kelly and Swanson,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: that's what they are. They're hot streaks. They're they're guys
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that go on hot streaks. Kelly had a good game
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Swanson's gonna get hot again. He will. And
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I think this kind of answers why the left the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: left handed pitching stuff, Like that's what it is, Like
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Swanson hasn't been hot right now, He's gonna get hot again.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Just there were questions ten days ago about like what's
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: wrong with Ian half Ian Hal's a mess after coming
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: back from the IL, and then Ian Happ was their
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: best player on the road trip, one of their best
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: players on the road trip. So you just can't like
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: this is Baseball is insanely finicky. Uh and if you
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: want to analyze it week by week, you're you're you
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: will drive yourself crazy. But I'm not worried about those
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: guys like Kelly. I don't know. I don't know what
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Kelly's gonna do. I feel like he made real changes.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: He looked good yesterday. But you know who knows Swanson this.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: We know who he is. He has a long track record.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: He will get on a hot streak again as long
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: as he's healthy. And one one other guy, Justin Turner,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: just slightly below average against against lefties right now on
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the season. My guess is those numbers are better over
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the last you know, since like May first ish, he's
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: probably fine. I think he takes a lot of heat
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: because he's not crushing the ball, and the overall numbers
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: are bad, and he probably there was a stretch there
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: where he's getting too many at bats because guys who
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: are injured. But you know, I think he's fine as
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: far as that. Maybe let's continue to watch that as
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I guess is what I would say. But I don't
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: think he's having terrible at bats against lefties.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I feel like you asked counsel this during a recent
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: homestand and then kind of I don't know if he
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: said it again in Philadelphia, but this idea of you've
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: presented him of like is this sustainable?
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: Like when the Cubs were rolling.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I think the point that he often makes is that
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: council feels good about the kind of length and depth
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: of the lineup to which it can withstand these hot
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: and cold streaks and still be consistent, and that he
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: ultimately thinks it is sustainable for that reason. Is that
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: sort of your interpretation of councils council isms?
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, No, I think that's that's exactly right. It's
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: he's he's not well, he's very aware of who they've
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: faced lately. That's one thing that he's very well aware of.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: He's giving a little I guess you could say, giving
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: a little grace to the offense and not overreacting to
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: these stretches. This is also how baseball works. They couldn't
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: average over six runs a game all the time. And
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: then and yes, he really likes the fact that on
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Tuesday they won that game because he and Half hit
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: two home runs. On Monday, they were in that game
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: because he and Half hit home run and five days
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: before that, Ian half was ice cold. So there are
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: different guys that are capable of stepping up each night.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: You know, I think we'll get a lot more. Let's
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: see how they do Thursday night against Andrew Heeney. Perfectly fine,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: but you know, probably average ish slightly above average lefty.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: You want to see them start hitting guys. You know,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: they don't need to score eight runs, but if they
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: can get them out after five innings and score a
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: few runs, you'd be happy with that, right, Just just
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: pitch well and score some runs. Put pressure on the
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: guy and you start to feel better about things I
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: would not like guys like Swanson or first left handed pitchers.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: It is. You want to watch it, you want to
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: keep keep an eye on trends, but you also have
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: to remember who's on the mound and how they do
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: against all lineups.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know Dancy Swanson does against left
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: handed pitchers.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: He plays great defense. There's a reason why he's in
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: there every day, you know.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: I think David Ross has kind of made the point
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: like that's why those every day players get paid a
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: lot of money, because they're really hard to find, and
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: you sort of live with some of that other stuff
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: if you get great defense, great intangibles, good base running.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: And you know, we've seen Dansby is a little bit
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: more of a complimentary player, even though he got this
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: huge contract. Like he's at his best when he's kind
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: of surrounded by great offensive talent. And you know, you're
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: seeing it now, that Kyle Tucker effect when say is
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: hitting like this, PCA just bursts onto the scene as
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: a star level player. Like that's you know, we're listening
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: a lot of names before you get to Dansby Swanson
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: in terms of like overall offensive importance.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and and I mean one other thing to keep
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: in mind when when a lefties on the mound, Michael
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Bush may not be in the lineup, Pete Armstrong is
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: struggling against lefties what's his name, Ian Hap is better
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: as a left e. So so there's there's just multiple
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: players that a lefties on the mound is gonna It
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: makes your lineup weaker because you're losing the you know,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: the better version of being happ And then Michael Bush
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: and Pete Armstrong either aren't in the lineup or aren't
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: playing as well. Uh, those are three of your better bats.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: And even Kyle Tucker uh kaw Tucker pretty much as
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: even splits. I believe. I don't think he really struggles
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: against lefties, but but still it impacts him in a
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: certain way. So you're you're kind of losing some of
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: your best, you know, best offense when when a lefty's
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: on the mount. Again, I'm not too concerned about it,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: but it's certainly it's something I would continue to watch
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: and and we have a good, uh good opportunity coming
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: up against the guys.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: Is a good question?
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, no, I think it's. It's it's interesting to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: uh too, it's an interesting trend and and it's and
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: it's hard to break down because of those names that
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: we talked about. So let's see, let's Ander Heeney, and
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: then there's going to be some other random lefty that
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: comes up. If they continue to struggle against lefties, then
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: we have to talk about it. Then it's something that
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you have to break down. It's it's and it's and
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: it's worth mentioning now because yeah, that the offense hasn't
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: been rolling like we've gotten accustomed to, so it's perfectly fit.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Is this just like, yeah, that's baseball or is this
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: something a trend that needs to be addressed, which is
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: something we'll figure out over the coming weeks, and certainly
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer in his front office will be keeping an
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: eye on it and seeing if they need to address something.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: All right, Thanks so much for the questions. I always
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: love the mail bag episodes. Thank you for reaching out
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: to us and sending us your thoughts. Thanks so much
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening everyone. Take care, old