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Cubs’ second-half guide: Trade deadline, stars to watch and more · 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 me as always as my co host
0:12
Speaker 1: Patrick Mooney. We are your Cubs beat writers over at
0:15
Speaker 1: the Athletic Patrick. Before we get started on some Cubs talk,
0:19
Speaker 1: I want to just direct some people to the north
0:22
Speaker 1: Side Territory Shop Northside Territory Shop dot com. You can
0:26
Speaker 1: get all sorts of gear there they I believe there
0:29
Speaker 1: are now women's TX available. So did I say TX
0:35
Speaker 1: V nexx?
0:36
Speaker 2: Yeah?
0:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah? Did I say t X. I don't
0:39
Speaker 1: know what A team something we can invent. Uh, Woodside
0:43
Speaker 1: Sikos can get out there represent We need more promotion.
0:47
Speaker 1: We didn't win the best Non Bears podcast. According to
0:53
Speaker 1: our buddy John Greenberg's media survey. We came in second
0:58
Speaker 1: place to a Rite wright in show, a wright in
1:02
Speaker 1: winner show unacceptable. We need you north Side Sikos out
1:06
Speaker 1: there promoting us, fighting for our names. Uh. I will
1:10
Speaker 1: take my crown as as best local writer. I think
1:15
Speaker 1: probably because I was near the top voting list or
1:18
Speaker 1: something I didn't. I don't know what.
1:21
Speaker 2: That was.
1:23
Speaker 3: Smooth way of dropping that in there. That on John
1:25
Speaker 3: Greenberg's survey and the Athletic that you were voted favorite.
1:28
Speaker 1: Sports writer, and you are.
1:30
Speaker 3: You are my favorite sports writer because you're covering on
1:32
Speaker 3: Saturday at Wrigley.
1:33
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
1:35
Speaker 3: I get I'll take Saturday off.
1:38
Speaker 1: And I get to go to fish on Sunday. So
1:40
Speaker 1: you were you work Sunday. So so we each we
1:43
Speaker 1: each get a win here. Uh all right, Patrick, let's
1:48
Speaker 1: talk some second half storylines here Cubs come into Uh,
1:54
Speaker 1: I guess the break is nearly over here. A really
1:57
Speaker 1: fun All Star game. By the way, I don't know
1:59
Speaker 1: if you stayed up for that, but that that home
2:01
Speaker 1: run off was was fun. It was It was It's
2:03
Speaker 1: how the alcar game should be. They shouldn't be fighting
2:06
Speaker 1: for home field advantage of the World Series. They need
2:08
Speaker 1: to make you more fun and like an entertainment a
2:11
Speaker 1: pure entertainment factor. And Kyle Schwarber with three home runs
2:15
Speaker 1: and three swings, that was cool. That was fun. Times
2:18
Speaker 1: stayed up with my son to watch that and it
2:20
Speaker 1: was pretty cool. So bravo to baseball for nailing something
2:25
Speaker 1: right there as far as entertainment value goes. We got
2:29
Speaker 1: to pause on that one.
2:29
Speaker 3: That was a classic Cubby occurrence there, like they're eighteen
2:33
Speaker 3: over at the break. They're one of the most exciting
2:36
Speaker 3: young players in sports out in center field, you know,
2:41
Speaker 3: the number one free agent on the board next year,
2:43
Speaker 3: who was so far enjoyed his time in Chicago. You know,
2:46
Speaker 3: got a front office is going to go big. At
2:48
Speaker 3: the trade deadline, people are talking about how the Cubs
2:51
Speaker 3: non tendered Kyle Schwarber.
2:54
Speaker 1: A classic and what.
2:56
Speaker 3: They couldn't find eight million dollars to see like the
3:00
Speaker 3: COVID nineteen budget cuts after twenty twenty, you know, still
3:05
Speaker 3: being resurfaced because Kyle Schwarber is such an awesome hitter
3:10
Speaker 3: and also just such an all around great dude, beloved
3:13
Speaker 3: by teammates and someone who just loves the moment.
3:16
Speaker 1: It was.
3:18
Speaker 3: I found that to be to be funny. We were
3:20
Speaker 3: texting about it with our our coworkers, you.
3:22
Speaker 1: Know what I mean, Yeah, yeah, it was fun and
3:24
Speaker 1: Schwarber's yeah, it's so classic. He You know, you can
3:29
Speaker 1: on one hand say like, hey, they nailed that evaluation.
3:32
Speaker 1: The guy you know was turns into this leader that's
3:36
Speaker 1: that steps up in the biggest moments. It never happened
3:39
Speaker 1: with the Cubs fully, but I like it was.
3:42
Speaker 3: Pretty good in the twenty sixteen World Series.
3:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, absolutely definitely. In the big moments in the postseason,
3:49
Speaker 1: the guy was always there. Yeah, and you know, I
3:52
Speaker 1: always loved covering him like it was it felt obvious
3:55
Speaker 1: that if this clicks, this guy is a leader, like
3:58
Speaker 1: this guy is going to dominate the clubhouts because he's
4:01
Speaker 1: just he's got that confidence, he's got that swagger, and
4:04
Speaker 1: he knows how to talk to people. Fun guy. We'll
4:08
Speaker 1: see what happens in free agency. That would be awesome
4:11
Speaker 1: if they could bring him back, just I mean purely
4:13
Speaker 1: for us, but also I think the fans would love
4:16
Speaker 1: it too. But obviously Kyle Tucker is a priority. Before
4:19
Speaker 1: we're going to talk a little Kyle Tucker and Pete
4:21
Speaker 1: rah Armstrong, But the trade deadline is before. Like we
4:25
Speaker 1: talked about the second half, you can't even really talk
4:27
Speaker 1: about the second half in the Cubs without talking about
4:30
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. I don't know what this team will
4:32
Speaker 1: look like in August. First, I expect it to look
4:36
Speaker 1: better and different. I think what we're going to try
4:42
Speaker 1: and figure out. What we're going to find out is
4:44
Speaker 1: how much better, how much impact are they going to add?
4:48
Speaker 1: And how much do they spread it around, Like, are
4:51
Speaker 1: they just they just going to upgrade pitching. I don't
4:55
Speaker 1: think so. I think they're going all over here, and
4:57
Speaker 1: there's a lot of areas where they can upgrade. And
5:01
Speaker 1: you know that's not to obviously, they're a really good team.
5:03
Speaker 1: They come into the second half, but they come into
5:05
Speaker 1: the second half with the second third best record in Baseball,
5:07
Speaker 1: second best record in the National League and not far
5:10
Speaker 1: behind the Dodgers and Tigers. They're a really good team.
5:13
Speaker 1: But they're looking to patch up any holes here so
5:16
Speaker 1: they can make a legitimate October run.
5:19
Speaker 3: I mean, there's no scenario in which the Cubs do nothing.
5:24
Speaker 3: I feel like, what every once in a while, I'll
5:25
Speaker 3: see that out there on social media, Like everything in
5:29
Speaker 3: this front office's track record tells you they do stuff
5:33
Speaker 3: at the trade deadline one way or the other. And
5:35
Speaker 3: they certainly recognize the effort and focus and productivity that
5:40
Speaker 3: this team has exhibited for a substantial amount of time.
5:47
Speaker 3: Being pushed by the Brewers might not be the worst
5:50
Speaker 3: thing here. I think that will force them to really
5:55
Speaker 3: try to maximize this window here. And yeah, I think
5:59
Speaker 3: they look at it like there are several different paths
6:02
Speaker 3: that they can and then go down. Like we talked about,
6:06
Speaker 3: I mean Jed said it on this show here that
6:08
Speaker 3: how these teams perform coming out of the All Star
6:11
Speaker 3: Break matters in terms of what will be presented and
6:17
Speaker 3: how teams will sort of have to pick a lane
6:19
Speaker 3: here pretty soon. But like what we're talking about is
6:26
Speaker 3: like that's their job, Like this is what they have
6:29
Speaker 3: to do. I don't really think it's even that complicated
6:34
Speaker 3: when you have a team that has really hit close
6:37
Speaker 3: to a kind of a best case scenario in the
6:40
Speaker 3: first half, when the team has this team has been
6:44
Speaker 3: built over several years to get to this point, and
6:49
Speaker 3: like we said, a lot of heavy lifting has been done.
6:53
Speaker 3: I mean showed up in Minaga and Matthew Boyd, are
6:56
Speaker 3: you all star or our star caliber pitcher you can
7:01
Speaker 3: trust to start playoff? Gain Pca is one of the
7:03
Speaker 3: best players in the game. Kyle Tucker is that star
7:06
Speaker 3: who's made a lot of other players better. Like, now,
7:08
Speaker 3: just figure out whatever those pieces are and what is
7:11
Speaker 3: available to you.
7:14
Speaker 1: This is just a quick aside, but I really liked
7:16
Speaker 1: to show to him Minaga's last start of the first
7:20
Speaker 1: half that that was a good to see a nice,
7:23
Speaker 1: nice series win after losing that first one to the Yankees,
7:27
Speaker 1: and good to see him missing bats again. I think
7:30
Speaker 1: that is important for the second half for him. He
7:33
Speaker 1: needs to kind of find some of that that bat
7:36
Speaker 1: missing and ability again. But yeah, it's it can't be
7:42
Speaker 1: the the Matthew Boyd and and showed him Managa show
7:46
Speaker 1: only going forward. I strongly feel like you have to
7:51
Speaker 1: find another starter who you trust can make a playoff
7:57
Speaker 1: start it. I mean that's i I we know that
8:01
Speaker 1: that's their goal. We know that they're out there looking
8:04
Speaker 1: for that starter. There. We've we've we've found some names
8:08
Speaker 1: that they're pursuing. But really, you know, it's it could
8:12
Speaker 1: be like they're they're looking at everyone, anyone and everyone.
8:15
Speaker 1: They're they're trying to be creative. Jet you know that's
8:18
Speaker 1: something that maybe we we haven't spent enough time on.
8:21
Speaker 1: Is Jetam built on our show? Uh in uh when
8:27
Speaker 1: when we talked to him in the you know, the
8:29
Speaker 1: the group sessions, Uh, he's mentioned how there's a need
8:33
Speaker 1: to be creative, that they may have to be creative
8:36
Speaker 1: with how they get this done. H. So there, you know,
8:39
Speaker 1: what does that mean is that three way trades? Is
8:42
Speaker 1: that you know, I don't. I don't even know, Like,
8:44
Speaker 1: is that just like maybe going to a team that
8:47
Speaker 1: may you may not expect to be selling or or
8:50
Speaker 1: something like that, or may not a player that you
8:53
Speaker 1: just may have no clue is on the market even
8:56
Speaker 1: that we haven't even identified. So when when he says
9:01
Speaker 1: that so openly, I do wonder what what that could
9:04
Speaker 1: lead to and what we may see over the next
9:07
Speaker 1: few weeks. I also think you have to We'll talk
9:11
Speaker 1: about Craig Council in another segment, but he's he's making
9:14
Speaker 1: it clear that he's he's starting to go into that
9:17
Speaker 1: mode of like, let's be a little bit more aggressive
9:19
Speaker 1: with the lineup decisions. Shaw sat Matt Shaw sat all
9:23
Speaker 1: weekend and you have to wonder who's who's going to
9:26
Speaker 1: be playing third base on August first, or what does
9:30
Speaker 1: the bench look like on August first? What what what
9:33
Speaker 1: sort of moves are they going to make h to
9:35
Speaker 1: upgrade that area. I think that's that like has gone
9:40
Speaker 1: up slowly over the past few weeks. I feel like
9:43
Speaker 1: you went from Okay, maybe they just like looked upgrade
9:47
Speaker 1: the bench or they'll be opportunistic to like, okay, third
9:51
Speaker 1: base is a spot that they may be aggressive and
9:53
Speaker 1: and you know, also a month ago we were probably
9:56
Speaker 1: like who's going to be available? Well the dime back
10:00
Speaker 1: to one of those teams you're talking about that like
10:02
Speaker 1: you know, we're are on the fence and this next
10:04
Speaker 1: week ish ten days are going to be really critical
10:08
Speaker 1: for them. Uh And au heney O Suarez is a
10:11
Speaker 1: fit the Twins another team that on the fence. I
10:16
Speaker 1: think Jed Jedt has been clear that the al is
10:18
Speaker 1: kind of bunched up, and I think he thinks these
10:20
Speaker 1: teams may stick around in the race longer. And I
10:23
Speaker 1: think the Twins front office is kind of there. They
10:27
Speaker 1: need to win otherwise they may be gone. Uh So,
10:31
Speaker 1: so I think that that may be harder. But I
10:33
Speaker 1: do like Willie Castro. But au Heno Suarez, we've mentioned it.
10:38
Speaker 1: You add that guy you're talking about, I mean just
10:42
Speaker 1: completely the lineup is so good and now you're talking
10:45
Speaker 1: about the middle of the order bat at your one
10:48
Speaker 1: week spot that can crush lefties, your what your other
10:52
Speaker 1: like your real Achilles the only like team wide Achilles
10:55
Speaker 1: heel if you want to point to one like this
10:58
Speaker 1: is just like he would be a game changer, Like
11:01
Speaker 1: that's the type of thing where you take a strength
11:03
Speaker 1: and make it like how does an opposing picture like
11:06
Speaker 1: navigate that.
11:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's I think that's kind of a
11:12
Speaker 3: no brainer that they're going to at a third basement
11:16
Speaker 3: or someone who can play third base, and with sore
11:20
Speaker 3: as his name at the top of that list your council.
11:26
Speaker 3: It was always interesting to kind of hear how he
11:30
Speaker 3: approaches questions, and I believe it's in Minnesota. He was
11:35
Speaker 3: asked about do you think maybe some of this could
11:38
Speaker 3: be getting in Matchhaw's head, this idea of that the
11:41
Speaker 3: Cubs are out there looking for upgrades, and Counsel was
11:45
Speaker 3: not having that. He essentially said, well, look at this
11:51
Speaker 3: opportunity he's had, and he sort of for counsel raised
11:55
Speaker 3: his voice and sort of like was really pointed in
11:58
Speaker 3: that observation of like, look, we've given this guy a
12:02
Speaker 3: lot of running. What an opportunity Matt Shaw has had
12:05
Speaker 3: in the big leagues, And so yes, I think you've
12:11
Speaker 3: seen some of the lineup decisions he's made. We'll see
12:15
Speaker 3: how it goes coming out of the break. But I
12:18
Speaker 3: would be like stunned if they did not add someone
12:22
Speaker 3: who could play third base and Suarez, Like that helps
12:25
Speaker 3: your pitching staff, right, Like if he is you a
12:27
Speaker 3: three run homer, like maybe you don't need like a
12:31
Speaker 3: Cy Young Award winner like pitching that day. Like that's
12:34
Speaker 3: just kind of how this team has worked thus far
12:36
Speaker 3: in a very complimentary fashion.
12:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it also like he gets traded to the Brewers instead, jeez,
12:46
Speaker 1: Like the Cups don't want it, Like, first of all,
12:47
Speaker 1: like he just helps that team so much. Second of all,
12:50
Speaker 1: the Cups don't want to face him anymore. He's just
12:53
Speaker 1: he's a He's always a thorn in their side. It's
12:56
Speaker 1: like anytime I feel like I look these members up
13:00
Speaker 1: in Arizona early in the season, but I'm pretty sure
13:03
Speaker 1: the numbers are insane against the Cubs. He's definitely one
13:07
Speaker 1: of those like top five of this century Cubs killers
13:12
Speaker 1: just destroys them. Patrick, I want to talk about some superstars.
13:16
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14:22
Speaker 1: co Slash Audio Patrick, Pek Armstrong and Kyle Tucker. They're superstars.
14:31
Speaker 1: We knew Kyle Tucker was a star. We knew this
14:33
Speaker 1: when they acquired him. There's a reason they gave up
14:35
Speaker 1: so much to get him. I think we both felt, like,
14:40
Speaker 1: you know, Peka Armstrong can be a really good player,
14:43
Speaker 1: you know, and flash stardom. I don't think we saw
14:48
Speaker 1: this coming this quickly, but he has emerged as a superstar.
14:52
Speaker 1: Now you have two in the lineup, two guys, game
14:55
Speaker 1: changing talents. We've talked so much about them, and we
14:59
Speaker 1: know how how important they are. They have to stay
15:03
Speaker 1: healthy and productive. Those are the I mean, that's just
15:07
Speaker 1: kind of the bottom line. You don't need to get
15:10
Speaker 1: too complicated with it other than that, Like you, if
15:13
Speaker 1: you lose one of those guys for a month plus
15:17
Speaker 1: or they go into an extended slump for some reason,
15:20
Speaker 1: that's going to hurt the team in a big way.
15:23
Speaker 1: And that's what keeps you from you know, feeling like
15:27
Speaker 1: ninety wins is a slam dunk to like, uh oh,
15:30
Speaker 1: like what happens here with this with the overall record
15:35
Speaker 1: and how this team looks going forward because those I mean,
15:39
Speaker 1: we've seen I think we've seen the difference that a
15:42
Speaker 1: superstar makes. That's what we've seen this year after years
15:45
Speaker 1: of that being missing post twenty twenty one selloff.
15:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Tucker to me seems sort of slump
15:53
Speaker 3: proof in that he does enough things well and is
15:58
Speaker 3: so discipline and in his approach that he just minimizes
16:03
Speaker 3: or shrinks those down periods to.
16:07
Speaker 1: Kind of amazing extent.
16:08
Speaker 3: Even councils said it the other day, just kind of
16:11
Speaker 3: off the cuff, like, you know, even if it feels
16:13
Speaker 3: like Tucker's having like a quiet game, you look up
16:16
Speaker 3: and he's like one for three with a walk or
16:19
Speaker 3: something like that. You know, like he's hasn't been hitting
16:22
Speaker 3: bombs the way that you know Pete has or Sea has,
16:25
Speaker 3: but still just an absurdly productive guy. And I thought,
16:31
Speaker 3: you know, another one of counsels sort of you know,
16:34
Speaker 3: a twists on a question. It was like presented, you know, okay,
16:43
Speaker 3: you know injuries to Shoda justin Steele, like you know,
16:46
Speaker 3: how well has this group kind of handled you know,
16:49
Speaker 3: the adversity, and you know, he acknowledged they they did,
16:53
Speaker 3: but he also said this group has been remarkably healthy,
16:58
Speaker 3: like it's just been the same it's just been injury
17:01
Speaker 3: to the same part of the team. But otherwise you
17:05
Speaker 3: look at it. I mean, the Cubs have played believe,
17:07
Speaker 3: ninety six games, and they have seven position players who've
17:11
Speaker 3: played between eighty six and ninety five games. And that's
17:16
Speaker 3: Pete Dansby, Swanson, Kyle Tucker all playing ninety five games.
17:21
Speaker 3: And you know, Nico Horner and Saya Suzuki, you know,
17:24
Speaker 3: players who've you dealt with injuries here and there over
17:28
Speaker 3: the years. I mean, I think Nico has sort of
17:30
Speaker 3: established himself in the last couple of years in that
17:34
Speaker 3: regard of being able to be productive and durable. But
17:37
Speaker 3: you know, Saya hasn't had one of those oblique issues.
17:42
Speaker 3: You know, I think hat might be the only player
17:44
Speaker 3: in that group who went on the injured list, and
17:46
Speaker 3: that was a very you know, minimal stint. And obviously
17:49
Speaker 3: Michael Bush has solidified himself to the point where you know,
17:55
Speaker 3: he is getting more matchups hitting higher in the order.
17:59
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, this is why the front office
18:03
Speaker 3: has to like think beyond August first or even you
18:07
Speaker 3: know what, what might we need the third week of October,
18:11
Speaker 3: because like, this group has been just super healthy and
18:17
Speaker 3: productive and that doesn't really mean it's going to continue
18:20
Speaker 3: in the second half.
18:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's they had this run of luck in
18:28
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen with help, you know, it's they had the
18:32
Speaker 1: they had the Kyle Schwarber injury, and then everybody stayed
18:35
Speaker 1: healthy the entire season with no real issues. And you
18:41
Speaker 1: could probably point to a couple bad luck things over
18:44
Speaker 1: the next couple of seasons that led to them never
18:47
Speaker 1: really being that powerhouse again. There was you know, Bryant
18:52
Speaker 1: to dealing with things every other season. It's felt like
18:55
Speaker 1: after twenty seventeen. Do you remember when the thumb wa
19:00
Speaker 1: for Hobby was that September of nineteen or eighteen. I
19:04
Speaker 1: believe that would have been.
19:06
Speaker 3: That was like Nico coming off his parents'.
19:08
Speaker 1: Couch, right, So that was nineteen nineteen, and that.
19:12
Speaker 3: Team, I want to say, was still in first place
19:16
Speaker 3: when that happened, or in a playoff position then obviously, Yeah,
19:19
Speaker 3: they just really tailed off in a bad way. But
19:24
Speaker 3: you're right, I mean, things just happen all the time
19:28
Speaker 3: and you have to be.
19:29
Speaker 1: Able to respond. Yeah, there was the there was There's
19:34
Speaker 1: all sorts of things. There's the Rizzo ankle. I remember
19:37
Speaker 1: one year that he didn't miss time, but he was
19:40
Speaker 1: clearly compromised and he just wasn't himself. And then so
19:43
Speaker 1: many like bullpen injuries over the years, key bullpen injuries,
19:47
Speaker 1: Patrofstrope running to running to first? Is that twenty eighteen? Yeah,
19:54
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. That was jeez, that was I think Washington
19:59
Speaker 1: and X for game in Wash just insane, Just so
20:02
Speaker 1: many insane things. These things happen and you have to
20:06
Speaker 1: prepare for them. You just it was I bring this
20:09
Speaker 1: up all the time, and it's just because talking to
20:12
Speaker 1: the THEO, you could feel it. He was obsessed with this.
20:15
Speaker 1: He was obsessed with the idea of you don't want
20:19
Speaker 1: to worry about what can go wrong, but you have
20:22
Speaker 1: to prepare for it. Right, don't say like, oh no,
20:25
Speaker 1: what could happen? What could happen? Oh no, and like
20:27
Speaker 1: live in fear, But it's more like prepare for the worst,
20:31
Speaker 1: be ready for it. You don't want to get to
20:34
Speaker 1: that moment and say, oh no, what do I what
20:37
Speaker 1: do I do? What have we done? Oh no, we
20:38
Speaker 1: didn't prepare for this. You want to be prepared for
20:41
Speaker 1: these difficult scenarios and feel like, Okay, that sucks, we
20:45
Speaker 1: can handle it. We're prepared. Look at what we did
20:47
Speaker 1: on July, you know, thirty first, to make sure that
20:51
Speaker 1: we're ready for this moment. And I think that's that's
20:56
Speaker 1: part of what this deadline is. Just there's there's a
21:00
Speaker 1: lot that's going to happen that we just cannot predict,
21:03
Speaker 1: that we cannot that we don't know is going to happen.
21:07
Speaker 1: Like you don't want it to be Pete or Kyle Tucker.
21:10
Speaker 1: I think that's that's the big thing. You just don't
21:13
Speaker 1: It's going to be really tough to feel like this team.
21:16
Speaker 1: This team feels like entering the season, I'm not sure
21:20
Speaker 1: if we felt this way Patrick a few months in.
21:23
Speaker 1: Now we feel like this team can win a World Series. Uh,
21:28
Speaker 1: you make a couple moves and you're gonna feel really
21:30
Speaker 1: good about their chances. You lose a player like Kyle Tucker,
21:34
Speaker 1: Pete korm Strong, you're suddenly feeling very differently. And and
21:38
Speaker 1: that's that's a good thing in the sense that they
21:40
Speaker 1: have those types of players now, But it's you just
21:44
Speaker 1: have to prepare for it, and and it is it
21:46
Speaker 1: just feels like such an obvious but such a big
21:48
Speaker 1: part of the second half. We those guys have to produce,
21:53
Speaker 1: and they have to be on the field, and they
21:55
Speaker 1: have to be healthy. It was fun to it was
21:57
Speaker 1: fun to see the met All Star Game. It's fun
21:59
Speaker 1: to see get this national love, like continue to get
22:02
Speaker 1: the national love, but rarely see it on the stage
22:04
Speaker 1: like that. So you know, I just think it's gonna
22:07
Speaker 1: be a constant topic and something we'll keep watching and
22:10
Speaker 1: you know, we'll talk about the next segment. But I'm
22:13
Speaker 1: curious to see how Council handles rest for these guys,
22:18
Speaker 1: if he feels like it's necessary or is this break
22:21
Speaker 1: just enough And it's like, okay, they're baseball players, Go play,
22:24
Speaker 1: go play all the time, you know, limited rest, especially
22:27
Speaker 1: for Pete. But maybe maybe that's why what you're talking about,
22:30
Speaker 1: what we've been talking about the past week of you
22:33
Speaker 1: do need another center fielder there. They're just to feel
22:35
Speaker 1: like competent, like not even for injury, but just for
22:38
Speaker 1: ret to avoid injury. It helps avoid the injury.
22:42
Speaker 3: I mean, it's already been sort of explained to us,
22:45
Speaker 3: like there could be a move or two that does
22:50
Speaker 3: not immediately make sense on paper. That's where's you gonna play?
22:55
Speaker 3: How's this gonna fit? How's this gonna work and it's like, well,
22:58
Speaker 3: stuff is going to happen and they want to be
23:01
Speaker 3: protected for it. I would also, you know, add Saya
23:07
Speaker 3: towards the end of that group too, of just like
23:10
Speaker 3: you get a guy like Suarez, then you have more
23:13
Speaker 3: coverage at DH, just because I think, like Carson Kelly
23:18
Speaker 3: has been awesome. I know he had some time at DH,
23:21
Speaker 3: and Miguel Amaya should be back at some point towards
23:25
Speaker 3: the end of the month early August. I think it
23:27
Speaker 3: was like, you know, starting to play in rehab games
23:34
Speaker 3: after the All Star break, but like, I don't know
23:37
Speaker 3: if you really want to be leaning on your other
23:39
Speaker 3: catcher as a d H. And I think if you
23:44
Speaker 3: have someone who can still, you know, deliver that thump
23:49
Speaker 3: in case say it does have one of those oblique things,
23:54
Speaker 3: or if he has to play the outfield, or if
23:57
Speaker 3: he plays the outfield, then something happens there. I just
24:00
Speaker 3: think all of these pieces fit together really nicely. Now
24:04
Speaker 3: you just got to add kind of more to that
24:07
Speaker 3: group because you know, the bench. I know I wrote
24:11
Speaker 3: at the beginning of the season, the bench to me
24:13
Speaker 3: looked a lot better and they got it like they
24:15
Speaker 3: got some nice contributions early. I think this bench also
24:21
Speaker 3: looked better because they didn't have to use them that much. Yeah,
24:24
Speaker 3: like this position player group is just like you said,
24:26
Speaker 3: just they just run them out there over and over
24:29
Speaker 3: and over again. And I think you're probably gonna want
24:34
Speaker 3: to find some spots to give them some breaks in
24:37
Speaker 3: the second half.
24:40
Speaker 1: Yeah. I want to talk about Council when we get
24:43
Speaker 1: back and just you know what type of impact he
24:46
Speaker 1: may have. I have some questions for you since we
24:48
Speaker 1: were not I wasn't on the road and you were
24:50
Speaker 1: out there. Let's take a quick break.
24:53
Speaker 2: We almost forgot what it feels like to play, just
24:57
Speaker 2: because but even summer eats back up, a little partner
25:01
Speaker 2: in the good kind of chaos. Someone to bring the
25:04
Speaker 2: Kung Fu kicks. Yeah, to train some dragons, fly, young
25:08
Speaker 2: dragon writer fly. The kind of fun that keeps the
25:11
Speaker 2: days going, that turns living rooms into playgrounds and reminds
25:15
Speaker 2: us what our bodies and our hearts were made for.
25:18
Speaker 1: Play that moves you, Patrick Craig. Council is one of
25:25
Speaker 1: the best second half managers in baseball in recent years.
25:30
Speaker 1: Basically since I think what I looked up was twenty
25:34
Speaker 1: eighteen on Don't Count twenty twenty because there's no second half,
25:40
Speaker 1: but he's averaged twelve and a half or so, twelve
25:45
Speaker 1: ish wins above five hundred in that span. I have
25:50
Speaker 1: it written down here. Twenty eighteen, it was seventeen games over, nineteen,
25:54
Speaker 1: it was thirteen twenty one, it was fourteen, twenty two, three,
25:59
Speaker 1: just three games over, and then twenty twenty three, fifteen,
26:04
Speaker 1: and then written I have a written in this story.
26:07
Speaker 1: I believe he was eight games over five hundred with
26:11
Speaker 1: the Cubs last year in the second half, so post
26:14
Speaker 1: All Star break he manages to do some of his
26:18
Speaker 1: best work. He also has the easiest schedule according to
26:23
Speaker 1: strength of schedule in the second half in all of baseball.
26:26
Speaker 1: Add those two and as we've talked about for almost
26:29
Speaker 1: thirty minutes now, an incredibly talented team. So you add
26:34
Speaker 1: all those things up. Things all looking good for this team.
26:37
Speaker 1: But can he keep that up? Can he be? Can
26:40
Speaker 1: he continue to be like work his magic, push all
26:43
Speaker 1: the right buttons with the bullpen, like we said, stay healthy?
26:47
Speaker 1: And then I'm curious, like what your read was this
26:52
Speaker 1: past week on the road. He was pretty aggressive. I
26:56
Speaker 1: don't want to say it was Joe Madden pulling Jason
27:00
Speaker 1: Hammill in that Giant Series. I don't think it was
27:04
Speaker 1: quite that level of like, you know, let's get to
27:07
Speaker 1: business here, but it it did feel pretty aggressive. He's
27:12
Speaker 1: making a lot of changes to the lineup. Shaw sits,
27:15
Speaker 1: Dansby moves down hap out of the leadoff spot. That's
27:18
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff happening, a lot of stuff happening
27:21
Speaker 1: at once. Yeah.
27:23
Speaker 3: I think Craig is a very patient manager until he's not.
27:28
Speaker 3: And I think you saw some of those things come together.
27:33
Speaker 3: Like I alluded to earlier, he sounded you know, optimistic
27:37
Speaker 3: about Matt Shaw in general for the long term. I
27:40
Speaker 3: did not really hear like a, you know, pounding the
27:44
Speaker 3: table he's going to be our third baseman the rest
27:47
Speaker 3: of the year, because that would just be that would
27:49
Speaker 3: be dishonest. I mean, that's just not really how they're
27:52
Speaker 3: operating right now. I think the the way he has
27:58
Speaker 3: handled this pitching staff, along with a group of pitching
28:02
Speaker 3: coaches and whatever analysts and front office types, has been
28:06
Speaker 3: pretty remarkable. When you just Dansby said it the other day,
28:11
Speaker 3: he started rattling off all these and he was using
28:14
Speaker 3: like the hockey type nicknames, you know, like Ciray and
28:17
Speaker 3: Palm and flex, and I was, what are we going here?
28:21
Speaker 3: But it's like all these sort of sort of like
28:25
Speaker 3: not no name guys, but like guys who were sort
28:30
Speaker 3: of discarded or overlooked or undervalued, and they've been crushing it.
28:37
Speaker 3: And you know, I was looking it up, like the
28:40
Speaker 3: Cubs have not yet had a four game losing streak,
28:45
Speaker 3: which means like Bear's rookies will report to training camp
28:48
Speaker 3: and I think NBA Summer League will be over before
28:51
Speaker 3: they ever have a four game losing streak. And I
28:54
Speaker 3: think you can see it too of how he manages
28:59
Speaker 3: certain series and how you know, I mean, that was
29:03
Speaker 3: an awful loss at Yankee Stadium. Cody Bellinger going off
29:09
Speaker 3: would have had four home runs if Kyle Tucker hadn't
29:11
Speaker 3: made that leaping catch. And but once you kind of
29:14
Speaker 3: flush that one, it's like, all right, well they have
29:18
Speaker 3: Matthew Boyd and showed it in Monaga lined up for
29:20
Speaker 3: the last two games before the All Star break, and
29:24
Speaker 3: you know, they took care of care business won a series.
29:28
Speaker 3: I think they've they've won series at Dodger Stadium and
29:32
Speaker 3: at Yankee Stadium. They spent more than one hundred days
29:35
Speaker 3: in first place. They have winning records against thus far
29:39
Speaker 3: against every other team in their division. Like, he clearly
29:44
Speaker 3: knows what he's doing. He's a good manager because he
29:48
Speaker 3: has good players. But I think just the overall sort
29:50
Speaker 3: of atmosphere around this team is just very counsel ish
29:56
Speaker 3: of just how this group is focused. They're prepared, they're
30:03
Speaker 3: kind of nerdy about baseball, and you see all of
30:08
Speaker 3: those things playing out with kind of the you know,
30:11
Speaker 3: Craig Council era Cubs, like this is what they expected
30:14
Speaker 3: when they hired him away from Milwaukee.
30:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they're you're you're right, they're very buttoned up
30:20
Speaker 1: with the way they do things. I think we're seeing
30:23
Speaker 1: like the like you want to win on the margins, right,
30:26
Speaker 1: you want to do the little things right. We're seeing
30:28
Speaker 1: that a lot this year. Obviously they played great defense.
30:31
Speaker 1: Uh they're base running. Look, it's an imperfect science with
30:36
Speaker 1: some of this stuff, and you're going to make mistakes.
30:38
Speaker 1: Quinnin Barry is going to make mistakes. But that run
30:42
Speaker 1: that was scored by Saya Suzuki was that on Sunday.
30:47
Speaker 1: I think it was Sunday, you know, great slide fun Like,
30:51
Speaker 1: all of it was just like this is good baseball,
30:55
Speaker 1: Like you're you're getting a run that maybe you shouldn't
30:58
Speaker 1: have gotten. Uh, Dance Swanson got to second. I believe
31:02
Speaker 1: to extend an inning. I don't think they score that inning.
31:05
Speaker 1: But it's just like they've been doing this since Game one.
31:08
Speaker 1: They've been doing the at least the first series in
31:11
Speaker 1: the US against Arizona, they've been doing it since then.
31:15
Speaker 1: It's paid off, probably more than they expected to already
31:18
Speaker 1: halfway through the season. These are the things that he
31:21
Speaker 1: wanted to instill, Like he saw some areas that can
31:25
Speaker 1: be tightened up, and he got them tightened up pretty quickly.
31:29
Speaker 1: And he has the talent to do it. You can't
31:31
Speaker 1: take it away from the players, but he's they're they're
31:34
Speaker 1: winning on the margins as well. They have a ton
31:36
Speaker 1: of talent. They were really good team. And then you
31:39
Speaker 1: do the little things right too. You play good defense,
31:42
Speaker 1: you base run. Uh, that's that's how you go far.
31:45
Speaker 1: That's how you win a lot of games. It was
31:48
Speaker 1: it was the storyline after the World Series, Why did
31:51
Speaker 1: the Dodgers beat up on the Yankees because they can't
31:55
Speaker 1: do these things. They can't do these little things that
32:00
Speaker 1: that's coaching and that's talent. You have to have the
32:03
Speaker 1: right personnel. I was looking at some because I was
32:07
Speaker 1: writing this section about Council, I was just kind of
32:09
Speaker 1: looking at his managerial page on Baseball Reference. There they
32:13
Speaker 1: are just an insanely aggressive team when it comes to
32:17
Speaker 1: the bases, just relative to league average. They're stolen based attempts,
32:22
Speaker 1: they're stolen base success rate, all of this stuff near
32:25
Speaker 1: the top of the league, if not the best, like
32:27
Speaker 1: well above average. Just a great team in those areas. That's,
32:31
Speaker 1: you know, that should give you optimism going forward about
32:34
Speaker 1: what this team can do because they're not one dimensional.
32:37
Speaker 1: And we've talked about it a lot, like there's different ways,
32:40
Speaker 1: and I think it's something that Council has preached. We yeah,
32:43
Speaker 1: Wrigley feels sucked last year, it's not going to be
32:45
Speaker 1: an excuse this year. We're not. We're not worrying about that.
32:49
Speaker 1: We're going to find different ways to win. Yeah.
32:51
Speaker 3: I do think that's one of Counsel's strengths. Like, look
32:54
Speaker 3: like he he has better players than that last year.
32:56
Speaker 3: That's why he's a better manager. But I do think
32:59
Speaker 3: one of his strength is not letting things become excuses
33:05
Speaker 3: or not letting things sort of linger. You know, I
33:09
Speaker 3: think justin steele injury is a good example the sort
33:13
Speaker 3: of like problem solving after these other injuries that popped up,
33:21
Speaker 3: the willingness to, as Jed said, like throw at ideas
33:26
Speaker 3: be involved in the player acquisition and development space, and
33:30
Speaker 3: then to trust the process that you're a part of.
33:33
Speaker 3: I mean, I think Drew Pomerantz, what the first two
33:37
Speaker 3: hitters he faced, I think was it Bryce Harper and
33:40
Speaker 3: Kyle Schwarber, Like that was like kind of throwing him
33:44
Speaker 3: into the fire there. Yeah, like Okay, like this is
33:47
Speaker 3: why we got the guy, this is the situation, so
33:49
Speaker 3: I am going to use him, and he's he's shown
33:54
Speaker 3: the patience with Pete crow Armstrong. I think in talking
33:58
Speaker 3: to Pete and people around him of just like why
34:02
Speaker 3: he's felt so comfortable and why there's a good connection.
34:06
Speaker 3: Like a lot of people go into that, but I
34:09
Speaker 3: do think there's a level of trust between.
34:13
Speaker 1: Those two there.
34:15
Speaker 3: And you know, looking ahead, I think it'll be fun
34:19
Speaker 3: to see just how we knew how good those Brewers
34:23
Speaker 3: teams were when they chased down the Cubs, but we
34:26
Speaker 3: weren't there every day. It'll be kind of funny to
34:29
Speaker 3: see counsel, who himself is pretty funny. It's like impossible
34:35
Speaker 3: to describe over a podcast or an article, but you
34:38
Speaker 3: see these just little moments that you've been trying to
34:42
Speaker 3: catalog here to just kind of explain to our listeners,
34:46
Speaker 3: like what it is about counsel but just has this
34:49
Speaker 3: like sneaky sense of humor and just a real easy
34:52
Speaker 3: way around players because you just spent you know, so
34:55
Speaker 3: many years in a clubhouse and he, you know, grew
34:58
Speaker 3: up in the game as a son of a Brewer employee.
35:00
Speaker 3: Just great feel and not strictly a numbers nerd guy.
35:07
Speaker 1: And did I see that his son got drafted by
35:10
Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks. I believe Brady got drafted. That's good. Congrats
35:13
Speaker 1: to Congrats to him, Congrats to the family there. That's
35:16
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool. Uh yeah, you're you're right. There's this
35:20
Speaker 1: weird look. It's hard to describe the sense of humor.
35:24
Speaker 1: It's almost like he likes to needle the media a
35:27
Speaker 1: little bit and and and give it back to us,
35:30
Speaker 1: but in this weird way that you're like, is was
35:33
Speaker 1: that a joke? Oh yeah, that was a joke. Okay,
35:35
Speaker 1: that's pretty funny, all right, Patrick we'll wrap it up
35:39
Speaker 1: there with the Cubs have three this weekend against the
35:42
Speaker 1: Boston Red Sox, and we'll have a couple episodes before that.
35:45
Speaker 1: But that's that's gonna be a fun series. I feel
35:47
Speaker 1: like that they're pretty they're playing pretty well right now,
35:50
Speaker 1: and and you know, Red Sox Cubs is always a
35:53
Speaker 1: fun matchup. We'll we'll talk a little bit about that
35:55
Speaker 1: in the coming episodes and and maybe have a mail
35:57
Speaker 1: bag episode in there. Thanks so much for listening, every one.
36:00
Speaker 1: We appreciate, appreciate all of you. This is north Side Territory.
36:03
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
36:06
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are
36:09
Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks everyone, take it