Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs mailbag: Will this be the most aggressive team at the trade deadline?

Transcript

Cubs mailbag: Will this be the most aggressive team at the trade deadline? · 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: Sahada Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs be writers over at the Athletic Patrick, it is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: another mailbag episode. We I love these episodes because we
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: always get a ton of interaction from the fans and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: they always hit on the biggest topics of the you know,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of the week, of the month, of the time. Let's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: let's get right into it. Of course, the very deadline
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: is still two months away, a little less than two
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: months away, but it's gonna be the topic. This team
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: is competing. This team is good. He has done really
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: well against these weaker teams, and we're gonna get plenty
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of questions. How do they improve? Who is the most
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: likely to be created for front end starting pitching or
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: back end bullpen arm or are both almost a lock
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: this point? At this point, which prospects go in the trades?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: As far as prospects that go in the trades, I mean,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: we have talked about this. I struggled to name names
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: just because you just don't know. Like I'll say this,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: there's no untouchable prospect. If you're on the major league roster.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: They're likely not going to move you unless it's like
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: some insane deal that became it's around right now. But
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: so I'd say there's no untouchable prospect, is how I'd
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: do that. I've stated plainly that I think starting pitching,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I think they should go for an ace, whoever that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: may be, Sandiel Contra, whoever may become available. There was
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: a question about Zach Gallon if he becomes available, Yeah,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: go get the best available starting pitching and be as
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: aggressive as possible. That that's what I think. Figure out
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: bullpen if you want to. That's a secondary move in
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: my mind.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: I think Matt summed up what all Cubs fans are
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: locked in on at this point, and even you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: within the clubhouse, within the front office. This is the
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: stuff that they're going to be talking about constantly. To me,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I think the starting pitching is a is a greater need.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: It's harder to solve internally on that. I mean, we've
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: seen the bullpen churn and guys get hot, and you
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: can kind of ring some value out of the guys
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: off the scrap heap if you put them in the
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: right situations. I just think covering bulk innings is just
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: going to be harder, particularly if the Cubs experience another
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: injury in the rotation, which is very reasonable to expect.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, Jed Hoyer essentially said that that we expect
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: these injuries are going to continue, so we have to
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: plan accordingly. I still think they make moves to fortify
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: both to get, you know, whatever, the strongest version of
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: a thirteen man staff is.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: That's what you have to aim for. But I think you.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Put your resources towards the front of the rotation and
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: which prospects go. I mean, it's almost to me like
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: who cares at this point? Like you have belt Stucker
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: for one year, you have, if not the best team
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: in the National League, one of the best. You know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: I think everyone you gotta respect the Dodgers, you know,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: the Phillies and Mets are really good teams. Other teams
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: are gonna step forward that maybe we're not even thinking
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: of at this moment, But these opportunities are rare. You
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: have a front office in a lame duck situation and like,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know, it's not like becomes twenty fourteen Chris
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Bryant waiting in their farm system. Like, I think there
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: are lots of nice players, there's depth, there's pieces. There
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: could be some everyday guys there. I don't know how
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: many of those guys you are gonna knock out, you know,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: the the group that you currently have playing at Wrigley Field,
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: and the pitching prospects, they're gonna get injured. If I
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: was the Cubs, I would just cash those in and
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: get help right now and worry about the rest later.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean remember when we talked about this. We
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: talked about this in the dugout the other day, Patrick,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: but like Ian Half was supposed to be traded every.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Every like that's why they drafted him.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we Yeah, he's going to be traded. He's
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: he's he's a quick mover. He'll be traded. And now
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: he's like the longest tenured tub on the team. Uh,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: he's you know, a clubhouse, main state. So so for
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: us to try and predict who's going to be traded,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I think is foolish. You you touched on basically this
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: next question. Do you think any other team will be
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: more aggressive than the Cubs that this year's trade deadline?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: That's from Aaron Schmidt Schmidel Koper. Look, Aaron had more
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: to this, and he hit on what you were saying.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker is on a one year deal. Jed Hoyer,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I don't think Jed, you know, I think Jed may
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: have saved his job or whatever with this. With these
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: first few months of the season, the team is playing
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: so well, the plan seems to be working really well. Uh,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: there's more than just Kyle Tucker to this team, but
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: still he needs to finish the job of twenty twenty five.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: So he has incentive both in the sense that he
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: wants to make the playoffs and he's got to capitalize
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: on this one year of Kyle Tucker. We don't know.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying Kyle Tucker will only be here for
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: one year. I'm saying we don't know if Kyle Tucker
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: will be here beyond one year. And you have to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: capitalize on a player of that magnitude a season that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Pete er Armstrong's having, Saye Suzuki is having a breakout,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: like after really good seasons, and I've been a backer
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of Saya Suzuki. This is a next level that Craig
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Council had been talking about. And there's multiple reasons we
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: could talk about why that's happening. Michael Bush is having
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: a great season, all these things, all these reasons, and
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: you have this weakness, which is pitching, and focus on
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the starting pitching. You have to be aggressive. It's not
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: like there are eight needs. There's one huge, very obvious
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: need that that becomes a little less scary if Shoda
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: comes back healthy and effective, but it's still we still
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: have to fortify that area. And I think even if
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Justin Steele were healthy in on this team, I think
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: would still be saying co get starting pitching. I still
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: think that. So it's just a it's a very obvious need,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and like you said it, I agree with it. We've
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: been saying it for months. Every team goes and gets
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: bullpen pitching. I'm not sure if the Cubs will go
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: get the top reliever on the market, but I wouldn't
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: be surprised if they're aggressive, the most aggressive team to
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: go get the best starting pitcher on the market. Whether
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: they can pull that off is a different that's different.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Someone may come with a better offer, just may have
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: better players to offer. The Comes have a really good system, though,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: and it's deep enough that they can, especially at the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: triple A level teams. This was maybe two thousand and
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: thirteen or fourteen. THEO it said something that just sticks
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: in my head. There are two huge currencies in baseball.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Obviously finances financial flexibility. The second is near major league
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: ready talent at the highest you know, top tier prospects
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: that are on the precipice of the big leagues. The
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Cubs actually have quite a few of those players. So
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: use that, like, use that leverage, and you have all
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: these reasons to be aggressive. I see no reason why
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't be the most aggressive team.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if they're not number one most aggressive, I think
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: they'd be number one. A like to your points, how
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: if the Cubs don't have if they stay continue to
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: stay relatively healthy, they won't have a ton of holes,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: so they don't really have to go in volume the
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: way that maybe a team that's clinging to a wild
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: card spot may have to, Like they're gonna have the
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: luxury of you know, having a strong stable roster, maybe
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: having a nice lead in the division. Is the most
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: aggressive team the team that gets the best player traded
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: at that time. You know, that could be one way
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: to look at it. And you know, maybe there's a
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: position player who moves that just doesn't really fit for
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: the Cubs, but that team makes, you know, arguably a
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: bigger splash. But like, yeah, they have to be in
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: that conversation of like most aggressive, and I think they will.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Jet Hoyer as you know, deliberate and cautious, as he
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: has been as a lead executive. You know, he's very
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: analytically driven and very much focused on long term sustainability.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: He still is aggressive, like he worked for THEO for
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: so long, like he was there for the Red Sox
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: and O four the Cubs in twenty sixteen, Like he
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: is not afraid to make huge moves. We saw it
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: with Kyle Tucker. I think you know, even he would
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: say when they acquired Jamr Candelario, arguably the best hitter
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: moved at that deadline, and the Cubs only a couple
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: of days earlier were being viewed as likely sellers and
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: they just got hot. And not only did he hold
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: on to Bellinger, Cody Bellinger, he traded for Jamers. So
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: when you have a team in this situation, a big
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: market team that does not have to think like the
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Rays or the Brewers, a guy who badly wants to
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: keep this job and maximize Kyle Tucker's walkier. It is
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: absolutely go for it mode.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think if you look back at twenty twenty
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: one when he said there's no reason, was it no
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: reason to go halfway? Yes, but yeah you can use
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: that in the reverse here. Yeah, you know, there's no
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: reason to go He's already gone and gotten Kyle Tucker.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: They have the team, They have a team that can win.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: There's no reason to go halfway. It makes all the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: sense in the world to be aggressive. All right, let's
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: take a quick break and then get back to more questions.
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: FT fan by. Now you know, if you're buying, selling,
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: trading collecting cards, Arena Club is the spot. We've been
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: talking about them all season long. But I do want
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: to focus on the slab pack experience Scrats, since you've
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: been ripping some slab packs digitally and what happens.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, as a kid, you wanted to rip open
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: the packs.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: How can they do this digitally? Oh? Baby, this is exciting.
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: How effics come out and everything and oh yeah, the
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: card that you pull you can actually get that John physically,
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: so it's perfect. It's all in one place and it's
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: a super exciting experience.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they send that to you from the vault if
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: you want it. But if you look at it and
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: you're like, it's not the card for me, I want
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: to sell back, go for it. You can do any
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: of that on Arena Club and you can acquire the
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: best value for your money with those slab packs, transparent checklists,
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: and Arena Club's slab Safe program. Right now, you can
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: get twenty percent off your first slab pack or card
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: purchase by going to arenaclub dot com slash foul and
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: use code foul arenaclub dot com slash foul, use code foul.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Patrick. Let's say that that first segment was the trade
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: deadline segment of our of our show. The rest of
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: this is kind of, you know, questions about the current team,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the players that are on on the team currently. This
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: one that I joked, is it the burner of our
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: buddy Jesse, Jesse Rogers. Is there any concern for PCA's
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: lack of plate discipline and it's on base numbers? That's
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: fm W Collins. I joke because Jesse asked Craig Counsel
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: about his walks, and I don't think Jesse's concerned about PCA.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here here, Patrick, I think there's.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: An awareness of it.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, the other day this wasn't you know to
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Jesse's question, but counsel is being asked essentially like, you know,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: if Pete can go high or go low, is it
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: impossible to pitch to this guy? And the council was
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: just like, all right, let's slow down here, Like the
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: league will adjust. Pete is going to have to adjust
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: in kind. You know, hot offense comes, comes and goes,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: and so I think, you know, I would say, not
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: not a concern. I think it actually is encouraging that
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Pete is like aware of this stuff and that you know,
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: he taught at times like a hitting coach of like
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: I have to be a good self evaluator and like
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: just using all of that jargon. He's someone who has
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: made adjustments. Jared Banner talked about that on our show
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: from really before he had ever played a game, a
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: minor league game.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: For the for the Cubs. I think this is going
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: to be fun to watch.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: It could be frustrating for Cubs fans at times, but
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Pete has shown he's someone who can figure things out
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: and you know, look like you have to take the
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: totality of a player. Obviously with Pete that comes speed, defense, power,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: but also like there is no like perfect hitter. We've
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: seen this with Saya Suzuki, Like, yeah, he was very
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: disciplined at the plate, but there were times that could
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: be excruciating to watch, even for Cubs personnel of like,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: you have to be more aggressive, you have to be
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: more decisive. So it's always trying to find that balance.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: The good thing with Pete that is that, as Jed
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: would say, he can do so many things to impact
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: a game.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so there's a there's a couple of comps. Well,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: one that came to mind, and that's Adam Jones. Adam
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Jones had a really good career. He didn't walk a ton.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Pete's a better defender, uh, Pete. Probably Pete's faster. I
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: don't want to speak to if he's a better base
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: runner per se. I don't remember how good Adam Jones
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was a bet but power speed center fielder. Similar didn't
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: you know, didn't walk a ton, had a solid, strong,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: all star level career. I think he got some mentions
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: occasionally gold gloves. Okay, so I mean you know, great player,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: great player. Yeah, when I say Pete's a better defender.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: What I mean is like I think Pete maybe one
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: of the best defenders I've seen it center.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: What I mean, Pete might be a unanimous first ball
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: at All of Famer.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean Adam Jones is one of those guys.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: He probably fell off the ballot the first time, right
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: like my guests would be. Or maybe he got a
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: couple of boats that he hang around there.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I'm pulling it up right now.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: He Yeah, So I mean I would find it, Yeah, yeah,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: no worries. I would. You know, like if Peter Armstrong
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: has that career, you're gonna take it like that's a
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: great career. Whatever. Whatever Adam Jones ended up doing. You
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: can't you can't assume Hall of Fame.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Breaking news, not assuming Hall of Fame booking cooper'stown houses
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: for like, you know, twenty five years from now, whatever
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: it is, twenty years from now.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I think I just think, like where we start to
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: when someone is playing so well, you start to search
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: for reasons why it could fall apart until you're certain
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that it lasts and that's fine, that it's perfectly fine
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: to do that. I understand that thought process because it isn't.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: He hasn't done it for a year after year. Yet
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: he is not Aaron Judge. He's not there. He's not
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: this consistent performer. And Pete maybe and some scouts saw
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: this as as he could put together, you know, borderline
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: MVP seasons and then be like borderline All Star the
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: next year. He could be that type of player. He
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: may not be insanely consistent in the sense that he
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: may not put up borderline MVP numbers every year. I
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: don't think that's that's crazy. That's normal. It's pretty normal
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: for a really good player. So there are flaws to
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: his game. I would I think saying is there can
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: or if am I concerned about it? I'm not. I
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: would What I would say is I think there are
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: going to be slumps, like any player, and because he
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: doesn't walk, those slumps may make him a little will
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: make him less valuable purely offensively. Why he's still so
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: valuable is because if he does find a way to
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: get on base and just purely on defense, that there's
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: value there. There's so much value defensively, and there's so
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: much value of if he you know, even the if
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: he's getting on base, say he's really struggling, and he's
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: only getting on base for two weeks at a twenty
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: percent rate. Like that twenty percent, he's he's causing havoc
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: on the bass pass and then it adds a little
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: bit more value. We saw it on Tuesday. I mean
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: that play was like it was just such a simple thing,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and it's just such a it's again another hobby like
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: comparison where you see him get in the head of
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: a player and they do something stupid, you know. Council
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: said after that game, I was watching the postgame presser
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: on a marquee at any and he said, like that
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: was He's like, he was like, that's also the wrong play.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he said it was a bad
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: play set that's a mistake. Yeah, he said, that's a
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: mistake by the defender. Pete causes that. Pete just just
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: get on base occasionally, and you'll do that. You want
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: to hit like you've been hitting great, You're you're a superstar.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: But if he goes through a slump, it's gonna happen.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: You just don't want it to be months long. And
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: and I think that's that's why when when we talk
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: about like ian HAPs value, Ian half slumps at times
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: he gets he takes enough walks that it kind of
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: counteracts the extreme slumps. It's not you don't want him
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to slump. It's not good, it's not great production. But
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: he takes walks, and he's a lead off hitter. He's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: a really productive lead off hitter in that way. So
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: everyone brings value in different ways. Pete doesn't seem like
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: he's going to be a big walker. I don't think
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: this is suddenly going to change. I think this is
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: just part of his game. He made it. He seeing
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: like a jump and walks lately. Okay, great, but we
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: also seen to jump in strikeouts lately too. So you know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: you take the good with the bad, and as long
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: as the good outweighs that you move on and you survive.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Before we get to the next question, let's take another break.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: Patrick, Hey, if you want to keep the conversation going
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: after a show that you're listening to on the FT Network,
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: then head to chat bcc ajs on there.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: I'm on there right now, typing away. I'll be there.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: We'll be there all the time talking about what topics
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: people want to discuss, what we want, what everyone wants
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to hear us talk about on foul Territory.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if you have a question, we can answer it
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: on FT or on an FT team show on the network.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: So if you want to come crash our group chat,
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: it's as easy as sending a text head to foul
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: Territory dot chat to start chatting with FT hosts and
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: the FT fam.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, one more question about a current player.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I think it ties into a trade deadline question that
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I asked counsel about. We can get to that, but
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: let's it's about Michael Bush. Could you' all dive into
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: some of Michael Bush's numbers against lefties? Do you expect
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the platoons situation at first base to continue all season?
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Michael Bush is bad against lefties. It's not this. There's
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: a reason Craig Council is doing what he's doing. People
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: want him to play against lefties. That's fine, I understand it.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: When he's in there against righty's he's crushing the ball
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: two ninety seven, three ninety five seventy slash line against
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: righty's one eight to eighty one, one eighty five slash line.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: That's a one eighty five slug against against uh lefties.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: So he's I mean, it's it's thirty two played appearances.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: He's not. But you know, I think for his career
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: it's it's rough too. For his career it is against
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: lefties is a is A two twenty nine, three ZHO
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: six three twenty eight. He's just you know, it's a
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: huge difference. It's just a huge split. He's really struggling.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: He's not giving him as to play him against lefties.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: It's some of the numbers are he's just not hitting fastballs.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: It's not like he's chasing more. He's he's swinging and
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: missing more at breaking balls against lefties. But he's not
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: hitting the fastball against lefties. They're challenging him and he's missing.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: He's not. I don't know if he's missing his pitch,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: if he's not seeing the ball as well, that's something
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: we'd have to talk to Michael Bush about. But he's
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: not getting the job done against lefties. I don't I
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: know people are to complain about this. I don't know
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: if Counsell's going to do it all season. I don't
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: know if Counsel is going to see something and say,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: hey let him hit against lefties. He lets he lets
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Peeker Armstrong hit against lefties because of what we talked
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: about in that previous segment of his value defensively. Now,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying Michael Bush is a bad defender, but
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: there's a difference between a great center fielder defensively and
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a great first basement. Uh, Defensively, you're looking for offense,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: you need the better bat there. So I think it
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: makes sense to have someone that can hit lefties in
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the line up there.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I was curious if you could explain to
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: our listeners, like you asked counsel about this in relation
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: to the trade deadline, maybe the runway that Justin Turner
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: will get. Do you think this is kind of on
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: the list of priorities for the trade deadline.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, if Justin Turner continues to struggle, I think
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you have to wonder what's going to happen he's I
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: think we've seen some better signs, maybe some harder hit falls.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: We saw that home run a couple of weeks whatever,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: that was two weeks ago. It's not like he looks
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: lost and just not seeing a ton of hard contact.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: And eventually, this game, you know, it's about results. Anyone
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: will tell you that. I asked about the pitching. And
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: what I asked was, does Matt Shaw's emergence and kind
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of solidify and like focus your need at the deadline.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: The Council wouldn't go there. He wouldn't say no, our
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: focus isn't only pitch it. He didn't. He wouldn't agree
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: with the premise that the focus is only pitching. It's
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: just improve any way you can. That's what And you
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: know this is council. I want out getters, just get better.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Whatever the value is or whether it's defense, you know, prevent runs,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: score runs, whatever it is. You know, a run is
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: a run. That's how council thinks. I get it. It's
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the right way to think. I believe he But for me,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: when I heard that, I said, Okay, they're looking for
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: any way to improve. Maybe this is an area that
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: we could look at and say a month from now,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: month and a half from now, Justin Turner still hasn't
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: found this group. Now you if I'm the Cubs, I
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: give Justin Turner, you know, plenty of leash here because
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: he has shown that he can turn it around. He
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: has a knack for hitting. He's a great value in
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse. But at a certain point, you need production,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Like I said, so, so I think it's not you know,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: this isn't gonna cost an arm and a leg. This
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: is a pure platoon guy. This is a guy that
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: just hits lefties, a guy that can handle first base
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: on occasion, just goes out there and it plays solely
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: when there's a lefty. It pinches lates in late in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the game, whatever it is, and that's that's their pure
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: bench bat, which justin Turner is at the moment. There's
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a few guys like that out there. I think we
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: saw one in Washington. I don't know if i'd consider
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I'm at Rassario like a first baseman per se, but
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: he crushes lefties. So you're looking for something like that,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: someone that may be available that crushes lefties. I don't
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: know if they're going to go out and get this person.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying, hey, maybe other than maybe that's a
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: second tertiary need and it's not something that will empty
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the farm system.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just looking up. I went back on Baseball
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Reference and I'm thinking of the Red Sox adding Steve Pearce,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: who wound up being the twenty eighteen World Series MVP.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: That was a okay, a June twenty eighth trade to
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: get a right handed bat. You know, Steve PIERCEO has
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: had a nice career, great moment, but probably not a
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: guy that would have you know, had you like dropping
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: your phone and shock if your team got that guy.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: But like when a team is performing the.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Way the Cubs are and you're not just you know,
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: you're not kind of like putting out fires everywhere, you
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: can really take a step back and think like, okay,
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: what do we need in October? What does this opponent present?
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: Where where can we get better? And certainly counsel is
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: someone who is always questioning, asking those questions, who's presenting
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: different points of view, who does not really ascribe to
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: like one sort of specific philosophy. He's very adaptable. If
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: you look at those Brewers teams over the years.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: How they evolved, and.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: Brews always seemed to like just plug in guys who
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: would all of a sudden like have really nice years
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: and then they'd kind of like move on and then
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: someone else would step in and do that. So I
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: think you're gonna have to keep monitoring that because that's
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: it's not gonna cost a lot, and that's something you
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: could do, you know, late July and probably be fine.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'll say again, I just wouldn't be surprised
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: if Justin Turner turns it on in thest few weeks.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: He hasn't looked like I'm not I don't think he
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: looks as he looked pretty rough early on. He looked
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: like it there's nothing hard being in here. Some more
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: hard hit balls at least, And you know, I think
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not saying it will happen.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I don't feel that confident about it just yet. But
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: I also, I mean, guys like him, they just he
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: has an act for hitting. So I'm not ready to
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: say that you know he can't hit or he's done
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: just yet very well, maybe he's a forty year old it.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: It has to end it sometimes, all right. Another mail
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: bag episode. We appreciate all the participation from the listeners.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: It really helps us. It helps us think of ideas
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: as well, so we know what you guys are thinking
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: about and what you guys want to hear about. Thanks
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: so much for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make sure
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel and
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the athletic where Patrick and I are on
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks so much for listening
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to everyone on my God
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: Don't pay an on the le