Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The Cubs mailbag is back with more of your questions

Transcript

The Cubs mailbag is back with more of your questions · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, it
0:15
Speaker 1: is our favorite time of the week. It is mail
0:18
Speaker 1: bag time. Not as angsty as last week. They're not
0:22
Speaker 1: coming off as sweep of the Giants or sweep being
0:25
Speaker 1: swept by the Giants, so not as angry, not as frustrated.
0:31
Speaker 1: But there are plenty of questions. Let's kick it off
0:35
Speaker 1: with our with our guy, Tyler Dershel, is the plan
0:39
Speaker 1: for Kate Horton to have more runway come playoff time,
0:41
Speaker 1: to pitch deeper into games, especially with some of the
0:44
Speaker 1: bullpen struggles of late. You know, you know what I
0:49
Speaker 1: want to touch on the bullpen struggles. First, bullpen struggles
0:53
Speaker 1: happen like this. I think they have a pretty solid bullpen.
0:57
Speaker 1: This is on the offense. In my opinion, this happened
0:59
Speaker 1: in two twenty three. Your offense isn't playing enough games
1:02
Speaker 1: where they're where they're allowing rest for Keller and Palencia
1:06
Speaker 1: and and kid Ridge and Pomerantz and theal bar you
1:09
Speaker 1: got you got to rest those guys can't pitch them
1:11
Speaker 1: as much as they've been pitched over the past. You know,
1:14
Speaker 1: two weeks is sure. However long it's been that that
1:17
Speaker 1: they've played these close games, you almost prefer that they
1:20
Speaker 1: get blown out. Even the game that where they were
1:22
Speaker 1: blowing out was it Colorado or was it the Angels
1:27
Speaker 1: One of those games there was they were kicking some
1:30
Speaker 1: butt and then they gave up a bunch of runs
1:33
Speaker 1: and that that.
1:34
Speaker 2: Kind of Yeah. Yeah, I think the first game in
1:37
Speaker 2: Colorado is like, they have a big lead, give us
1:39
Speaker 2: them back, and then all of a sudden, you're using
1:40
Speaker 2: your A relievers. Yes, in a game where you thought
1:44
Speaker 2: maybe you could use some of your uh, you know,
1:47
Speaker 2: lower leverage guys and get to twenty seven outs and
1:51
Speaker 2: that did not happen.
1:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, But with regards to Kate Horton, I think that's
1:58
Speaker 1: the whole plan. I think that's I mean, at minimum,
2:02
Speaker 1: the plan is make sure he's available for October, fully
2:08
Speaker 1: unleash him. I guess we'll see. I haven't heard that directly.
2:13
Speaker 1: Have you heard that directly? Patrick? That it could be
2:16
Speaker 1: like no holds barred, like no restrictions.
2:20
Speaker 2: I think I like where Tyler's head is that as
2:24
Speaker 2: always I think it's if I'm looking at the exact
2:28
Speaker 2: phrasing here, I don't know if it's to have more runway,
2:31
Speaker 2: it is to have runway come playoff time, meaning they
2:36
Speaker 2: want him available, they want him to be a difference maker.
2:42
Speaker 2: But I just don't know how many pitchers out there
2:47
Speaker 2: in modern baseball in October are gonna get, say, three
2:53
Speaker 2: times through a lineup or pitch into the eighth inning.
2:56
Speaker 2: In speaking with council last weekend in Colorado, it was
3:01
Speaker 2: a good refresher of we're assuming the Cubs are going
3:05
Speaker 2: to be in a three game playoff series and the
3:09
Speaker 2: result of Game one totally dictates who pitches Game two,
3:13
Speaker 2: and it'll be all hands on deck, best pitchers available,
3:17
Speaker 2: and with these off days in the playoff schedule, it
3:21
Speaker 2: gives you a little more flexibility. We'll get into some
3:25
Speaker 2: other pitchers towards the end of this mailbag, but just
3:30
Speaker 2: for example, like Jamison Tywn, like, maybe he's not starting
3:34
Speaker 2: a playoff game in round one, assuming he's healthy, but
3:39
Speaker 2: maybe he gives you a couple innings or you find
3:42
Speaker 2: the pockets, as managers like to say, in the opposing lineup,
3:47
Speaker 2: Like I think it's yes, you want Kate Horton healthy
3:51
Speaker 2: and dealing and starting a playoff game in October, but
3:57
Speaker 2: a good playoffs start in October. Honestly, it could be
4:01
Speaker 2: like four and one third inning, one run given up,
4:06
Speaker 2: and you hand it over to the rest of your
4:08
Speaker 2: pitching plan. And that's I'm not being sarcastically that like,
4:12
Speaker 2: that's kind of how these games work if you watch
4:15
Speaker 2: them on TV in October.
4:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're approaching. He's almost one hundred innings over last season. Again,
4:24
Speaker 1: we've said this over and over in the podcast. It's
4:26
Speaker 1: not just innings that they're looking at, but that's the
4:30
Speaker 1: quick and easy way for us to kind of look
4:32
Speaker 1: at this. He's at one hundred and three and two
4:34
Speaker 1: thirds for his big league season and then at in
4:37
Speaker 1: twenty nine in Triple A. But these numbers are insane.
4:41
Speaker 1: Two seventy eight ERA for this guy at one hundred
4:43
Speaker 1: and three and two thirds innings really impressive, And there's
4:46
Speaker 1: no doubt you want him fresh and ready to go
4:50
Speaker 1: in the postseason because he's going to be just a
4:52
Speaker 1: huge part of this team. I don't think any of
4:54
Speaker 1: us deny that. We talked about it a lot in
4:57
Speaker 1: the last episode. But he's he's re really important to
5:00
Speaker 1: this team right now, and I think we're all a
5:03
Speaker 1: little surprised at how important he's become. Maybe maybe we
5:06
Speaker 1: came into this season thinking like, oh, potential X factor,
5:09
Speaker 1: or maybe he'll help them as a reliever or something
5:12
Speaker 1: like that. No, he's one of their best starters and
5:14
Speaker 1: really important to this success. All right, here's a question
5:19
Speaker 1: on Ian Half. Is a time the Cubs move half
5:21
Speaker 1: back into the everyday leadoff spot given recent performance, to
5:24
Speaker 1: help solidify a lineup heading into a potential playoff push.
5:29
Speaker 1: That's from the Lizard King Patrick. My quick answer about
5:32
Speaker 1: moving half right now, it's like he's playing well, he's
5:35
Speaker 1: getting results. I don't know if you want to keep
5:38
Speaker 1: shifting the lineup around, Like I'm not sure if I'm
5:43
Speaker 1: not going to go look up the leadoff stats, and
5:45
Speaker 1: my guess is they're not great. I know Michael Bush
5:47
Speaker 1: hasn't been great in the leadoff spot. I think Nico's
5:49
Speaker 1: been okay. But the bottom line is, like Kyle Tucker,
5:55
Speaker 1: PCA need to hit. That's the problem with the lineup.
5:58
Speaker 1: I don't think it's really the leadoff spot. You get
6:01
Speaker 1: those guys going, you feel better about everything, And I
6:04
Speaker 1: mean Kyle Tucker is going he's injured. That's that's the question,
6:07
Speaker 1: is whether he's healthy or not. Now he got hot,
6:11
Speaker 1: things started to look a little bit better. You get
6:13
Speaker 1: PCA hot as well. I'm not worried about leadoff spot.
6:17
Speaker 1: Just just do get your Star Wars playing well. I
6:20
Speaker 1: get I get the question. I'm not sure if you
6:22
Speaker 1: want to keep moving things around like he's moved it
6:25
Speaker 1: around so much. Maybe maybe that's fine. I'm not sure
6:30
Speaker 1: if you want to just keep switching lead off. Okay,
6:33
Speaker 1: Ian Haaps back there. I don't think it's the worst idea.
6:36
Speaker 1: I also just don't know if that solves much.
6:40
Speaker 2: I think it's more of Ian Happs sort of answering
6:43
Speaker 2: back after the why won't they play Owen Casey debate
6:50
Speaker 2: and looking at certain spots of if you need a
6:53
Speaker 2: spark change things up, and Hap is sort of once
6:58
Speaker 2: again doing half things of getting on a hot streak
7:03
Speaker 2: boosting his overall numbers. We can get into this soon,
7:07
Speaker 2: but he's a big expected numbers guy and underlying data guy.
7:12
Speaker 2: I know that doesn't always play well with the fans,
7:15
Speaker 2: but if you look at the track record, he winds
7:18
Speaker 2: up being a sovely above average major league hitter almost
7:22
Speaker 2: every year.
7:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's get into our DraftKings player spotlight and
7:27
Speaker 1: talk about Ian Happy. All right, Patrick, our player spotlight
7:36
Speaker 1: for DraftKings is Ian Happy. He's been really good for
7:41
Speaker 1: a while now. I was looking at the numbers. It's
7:44
Speaker 1: actually like almost two months since, like just before the
7:47
Speaker 1: All Star break. He has a one forty one way
7:49
Speaker 1: to runs creative plus. But if you want to do
7:51
Speaker 1: a little shorter, like since since August seventeenth, it's a
7:57
Speaker 1: one ninety two way to run screatd plus. He's like,
8:01
Speaker 1: the results are finally coming. I joked, you can talk
8:05
Speaker 1: a little bit more about this because I wasn't on
8:07
Speaker 1: the road. I think I saw the clip, but he
8:09
Speaker 1: was talking about things weren't fun. He's been hitting the
8:12
Speaker 1: ball hard. Look, I saw I noticed that too. He's
8:15
Speaker 1: having a really good season with his expected sets. But
8:18
Speaker 1: I want to say Monday and then yesterday he started
8:21
Speaker 1: getting some blue pits. Unfortunately I didn't see him in
8:25
Speaker 1: the clubhouse yesterday, but I was going to go up
8:27
Speaker 1: to him and I was going to say that that's
8:28
Speaker 1: those are going to hurt your expected stats man. Those
8:31
Speaker 1: blue pits but finally a little luck going his way.
8:36
Speaker 1: But he's also hitting the ball hard. He's he's Ian
8:40
Speaker 1: happ in the sense that he's going to get killed
8:44
Speaker 1: by a fan via a fan base that just like
8:47
Speaker 1: seems to I don't want to throw. I hate doing
8:50
Speaker 1: that all of the fans. But there are a lot
8:53
Speaker 1: of there. There's a lot of angst about being half
8:56
Speaker 1: often over the course of a season because he is streaky.
8:59
Speaker 1: He's a streak keep player. But and then he'll talk
9:03
Speaker 1: about expected stats, but he's he's about to get he's
9:06
Speaker 1: this hot streak is getting close to his overall numbers
9:10
Speaker 1: that he puts up every year. Now he's turned it.
9:13
Speaker 1: We've we've talked about this for years now, but really
9:17
Speaker 1: impressive what he's done with his career. He's turned himself
9:20
Speaker 1: into this what are you going to get from him
9:24
Speaker 1: year in and year out to like, Okay, here are
9:26
Speaker 1: the stats he's going to put up year in and
9:29
Speaker 1: year out, Like now, this is going to be like
9:31
Speaker 1: a fourth year in a row where it's kind of
9:33
Speaker 1: like Ian Halp stats, like this is what he does.
9:37
Speaker 1: He's at one twelve way to run scrade a plus,
9:40
Speaker 1: which is a little low, but starting in twenty two,
9:43
Speaker 1: it's one twenty two, one nineteen, one, twenty one. Right
9:46
Speaker 1: now it's one twelve. If the hot streak continues, that's
9:49
Speaker 1: great lowest strikeout rate of his career. A lot of
9:52
Speaker 1: things going well for him. What was he talking about
9:55
Speaker 1: in the on the road there, Patrick.
9:58
Speaker 2: Well, first, I talked to him the first day in
10:01
Speaker 2: San Francisco about how you're the only guy around since
10:03
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. From twenty eighteen, so you saw how the
10:07
Speaker 2: Brewers caught you guys, and that it is possible, and
10:12
Speaker 2: you say, oh, of course, you play for a division
10:15
Speaker 2: until you can't anymore. And then he wound up getting
10:18
Speaker 2: swept in three games, so he was sort of jokingly,
10:21
Speaker 2: you know, it's like, get out of here with that
10:26
Speaker 2: line of questioning that somehow I brought in bad mojo
10:31
Speaker 2: into the clubhouse, and then you know, he was I
10:36
Speaker 2: asked him at the end of the road trip. We're
10:39
Speaker 2: in corps Field there, and you know, he is always
10:43
Speaker 2: so self contained when he gives these answers. He can
10:47
Speaker 2: sound very detached, but you shouldn't confuse that for a
10:54
Speaker 2: lack of care. And I just kind of asked him
10:58
Speaker 2: about that of you know, this process that he always
11:03
Speaker 2: talks about. He acknowledged that it's really easy when you
11:06
Speaker 2: look at the actual numbers to get frustrated and try
11:08
Speaker 2: to change things. And he said, quote, throughout my career,
11:12
Speaker 2: I've learned the only thing that you can trust every
11:14
Speaker 2: day is the process. That's all you got. All you
11:17
Speaker 2: have is today and the ability to go do your
11:19
Speaker 2: routine and kind of live at one pitch at a time.
11:23
Speaker 2: Many explained how if you look at that underlying data
11:28
Speaker 2: and you can be good with the fact that you're
11:30
Speaker 2: not striking out as much or still walking, you're hitting
11:32
Speaker 2: the ball hard and hitting it in the air. Those
11:35
Speaker 2: are things you can control and quote and if I
11:39
Speaker 2: can be okay with that, it should show up over
11:41
Speaker 2: the course of six hundred seven hundred bats. That's the
11:44
Speaker 2: only way you can make it through this game without
11:46
Speaker 2: driving yourself completely mad. And I love that end quote
11:53
Speaker 2: because it it's a good lesson. It sums up you
11:57
Speaker 2: know what he's thinking. I think there's a strong dynamic
12:01
Speaker 2: of that within the team. I don't think you can
12:03
Speaker 2: have twenty six een apps on your team like that
12:05
Speaker 2: would not know, just would not work in terms of
12:09
Speaker 2: kind of the thought process and the day to day mentality.
12:14
Speaker 2: I think that's why when Justin Steele, maybe it was
12:19
Speaker 2: last year, kind of yelling in the dugout like you know,
12:24
Speaker 2: wake up or whatever it was, and there was a
12:27
Speaker 2: an F bomb thrown in there, like that's why that resonated.
12:30
Speaker 2: Because this team is sort of detached, process oriented, professional,
12:35
Speaker 2: calm composed. Those are all great things, but when things
12:41
Speaker 2: are not going well, there are times where you feel
12:43
Speaker 2: that sort of fan angst. And Ian is not the
12:46
Speaker 2: guy who's going to light everyone up and rip everyone
12:51
Speaker 2: and give huge speeches. But he is someone who appreciates
12:57
Speaker 2: being a cup. He showed that by contract extension he signed.
13:01
Speaker 2: He's developed a lot of local, genuine connections here. I
13:08
Speaker 2: think if you, as you have said of if you've
13:12
Speaker 2: talked to him, he really he really gets the big
13:14
Speaker 2: picture in terms of playing in Chicago and Wrigley Field
13:18
Speaker 2: and enjoying the you know, the bleacher creatures out there,
13:23
Speaker 2: so you know it, it takes all different types, I
13:29
Speaker 2: think is kind of my point, and that he has been,
13:32
Speaker 2: you know, a good player for for several years now.
13:35
Speaker 2: It's just that he's been stuck in this in between
13:40
Speaker 2: phase with the Cubs that they haven't been going to
13:43
Speaker 2: the playoffs every year, and so he's the one who's
13:45
Speaker 2: kind of been around for several years now of either
13:49
Speaker 2: underperformance or kind of waiting for the next thing. And
13:55
Speaker 2: that's why when if they clinch, I think he can
13:59
Speaker 2: have one of those guys you just want to see
14:02
Speaker 2: the reaction and the release after kind of building towards
14:08
Speaker 2: this next phase of the Cubs.
14:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. I always wonder when guys have like these good
14:14
Speaker 1: expected stats, like what direction is it going to go
14:17
Speaker 1: with you? And it's like, okay, you can kind of
14:19
Speaker 1: trust like he's not he can fall back on those numbers.
14:22
Speaker 1: He those numbers almost comfort him, while others may have
14:27
Speaker 1: no clue that they exist or not, or like start
14:29
Speaker 1: to tinker or overthink things. He'll just be like, it's
14:33
Speaker 1: going to come. I'm doing the right things. I respect that.
14:36
Speaker 1: I think that's that's important to have on your team
14:41
Speaker 1: and to have like this kind of steady presence. All right, now,
14:45
Speaker 1: let's turn it over to Alana Rizzo for our North
14:47
Speaker 1: Side territory pick.
14:49
Speaker 3: Hey Sahadevan Patrick. Our north side territory lock is the NLCS.
14:54
Speaker 3: We are taking the nl Central at plus two ten.
14:57
Speaker 3: The Central has better odds in the East and the
14:59
Speaker 3: Cubs of a FI seventy one winning percentage, which is
15:02
Speaker 3: higher than the Padres or the Dodgers. Currently, let's lock
15:05
Speaker 3: this in and get that win.
15:07
Speaker 1: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code foul. That's
15:10
Speaker 1: code foul to unlocked Ghost Leg, the promotion that makes
15:13
Speaker 1: one bad leg disappear and pays you out in railcash.
15:17
Speaker 1: Ghost your losses, get your payout in partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook.
15:21
Speaker 1: The Crown is.
15:22
Speaker 4: Your gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler In New
15:25
Speaker 4: York call eight seven seven eight hope and wire text
15:27
Speaker 4: hope and y in four six seven, three six nine
15:29
Speaker 4: In Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling called eight
15:32
Speaker 4: eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or
15:34
Speaker 4: visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of
15:37
Speaker 4: Boothill Casino when resorting Kansas twenty one on over agent
15:40
Speaker 4: Eligibility varies by jurisdiction, Voyden, Ontario. Bonus Bets expires seven
15:44
Speaker 4: days after issue. In four additional terms and responsible gaming
15:47
Speaker 4: resources see DKNG dot co slash audio.
15:50
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we have a circle of trust question
15:54
Speaker 1: with the bullpen from Jim Sellinger which bullpen arms are
15:57
Speaker 1: in Craig's circle of trust, Bill bar Kittridge, Palencia and
16:01
Speaker 1: who Assad Maybe well Sod is gonna be starting for
16:05
Speaker 1: a little bit. I think here, I don't think they're
16:07
Speaker 1: gonna you know, we'll see what happens when Tyne comes back.
16:10
Speaker 1: Who gets moved out of the rotation? I think, Look,
16:16
Speaker 1: I think you named four of them. I think Pomerance
16:20
Speaker 1: is there. Pamarance had a little hiccup, he had a
16:23
Speaker 1: I know, he gave up the home run on Wednesday night. Look,
16:27
Speaker 1: he was put into a pretty tough situation too, like
16:30
Speaker 1: Ben Brown, who will get to in a little bit.
16:32
Speaker 1: I needed to do a better job and he didn't.
16:34
Speaker 1: And and then Tomorance made a bad pitch. He made
16:37
Speaker 1: a bad pitch Ha Sung Kim and and and he
16:40
Speaker 1: punished the pitch. But he's been he's been really good
16:43
Speaker 1: over like the he had that hiccup, I think in
16:46
Speaker 1: at some point in July and and basically in August.
16:50
Speaker 1: Uh and since he's barely given up anything. And I
16:53
Speaker 1: think it's velocity. I was concerned about that because it
16:56
Speaker 1: dipped in July. It seems like it's back. I think
16:59
Speaker 1: you have like when you have to really two lefties
17:01
Speaker 1: like that in thel Bar when you have Keller and
17:03
Speaker 1: Kittridge and then you have Polentia. Plenty is looking shaky.
17:08
Speaker 1: I like that he bounces back. I like that when
17:10
Speaker 1: you know, when it gets tough, he seems so like
17:12
Speaker 1: pushed through, he's going to give up runs he couldn't.
17:16
Speaker 1: It was, you know, it was almost like an insane
17:18
Speaker 1: run there For a little bit, I think that's okay,
17:22
Speaker 1: And then and then there are like I don't want
17:26
Speaker 1: to like talk about all of these guys just yet,
17:29
Speaker 1: but you know, like let's let's talk about Ben Brown
17:33
Speaker 1: in a moment. And then I think there's another guy
17:35
Speaker 1: that we want to talk about. But I want to
17:37
Speaker 1: talk about this Patrick real quickly, because you know, I'm
17:41
Speaker 1: a Brad Keller guy. He had that hiccup. He looked
17:45
Speaker 1: bad before the All Star break, remember that, not looking
17:49
Speaker 1: so hot, looking like, uh oh, this is ending. Since then,
17:53
Speaker 1: since the All Star break, he went and I talked
17:55
Speaker 1: to him after the break. He went to uh I
17:58
Speaker 1: can't remember the name of the place that he goes to,
18:00
Speaker 1: but he goes to a place I believe in Atlanta,
18:03
Speaker 1: you know, like the is it tread no no no, No,
18:07
Speaker 1: he is a different one. He hasn't given up a
18:12
Speaker 1: run nineteen and a third innings, zero runs allowed, three
18:17
Speaker 1: hits allowed, three hits since he since the All Star break.
18:22
Speaker 1: He's he's striking out guys at a thirty three point
18:25
Speaker 1: eight percent rate. He had a couple walks last last
18:29
Speaker 1: time out that they kind of bumped it up a
18:31
Speaker 1: little bit, but it's a respectable eight point eight percent
18:34
Speaker 1: walk grate. Like he is a stud on the season,
18:37
Speaker 1: It's like the numbers are insane, Like you got to
18:40
Speaker 1: give him a ton of credit. And I think on
18:42
Speaker 1: the road council had some pretty big praise for him, right, Oh.
18:48
Speaker 2: Yes, the Unsung Hero Award or something like that. I
18:52
Speaker 2: think that was what Craig went to. Uh yeah, I
18:55
Speaker 2: mean no doubt Keller's been awesome, very under the radar
19:01
Speaker 2: minor league signing that probably got the appropriate amount of
19:07
Speaker 2: attention at the time because they just throw a lot
19:10
Speaker 2: of stuff against the wall and see what sticks. But
19:13
Speaker 2: I think certainly he's in that circle of try. I mean,
19:16
Speaker 2: Thelbar another kind of like out of nowhere guy. To
19:21
Speaker 2: be honest, Polentcy, it's been a kind of a slow
19:24
Speaker 2: build here with the Cubs. I think to Jim's question,
19:28
Speaker 2: I need to re kind of calibrate how I'm thinking
19:32
Speaker 2: about this as well, because the last sort of extended
19:36
Speaker 2: playoff run that I really remember covering was twenty sixteen,
19:41
Speaker 2: when it was sort of like that season was starting
19:45
Speaker 2: Pitcher goes seven, maybe Strope and then Rondon or Chapman,
19:51
Speaker 2: and then obviously in the playoffs it was very much
19:53
Speaker 2: just they got great starting was it, you know, Kyle
19:58
Speaker 2: Hendricks going seven to two thirds or whatever, and you
20:01
Speaker 2: had cham Chapman in the World Series just throwing a
20:05
Speaker 2: ridiculous amount of pitches. I think what you're gonna see
20:11
Speaker 2: is this is why Craig Council became the highest paid
20:16
Speaker 2: manager in baseball, is why he talks about out getters
20:19
Speaker 2: and innings puzzles. It's okay, who's available today, how can
20:23
Speaker 2: we match up our strengths against their weaknesses? And so
20:30
Speaker 2: I don't know if it'll be as clearly defined between
20:33
Speaker 2: bullpen and reliever arms, meaning maybe Asad gives them another
20:39
Speaker 2: look out of the bullponp pen, maybe Jamison Tyn does.
20:44
Speaker 2: At certain points, you I think the depth of the
20:49
Speaker 2: bullpen I don't. I don't think they have the like
20:52
Speaker 2: with the Padres loaded up on relievers in the past
20:54
Speaker 2: couple of deadlines, like they had some pretty wow there's
20:57
Speaker 2: that wow factor out of their bullpen. I don't think
20:59
Speaker 2: the Cubs really have that. But I think if you
21:02
Speaker 2: look at a playoff pitching staff one through thirteen, it
21:07
Speaker 2: should be pretty solid and then it's up to them
21:09
Speaker 2: to match him up and for those players to go
21:12
Speaker 2: out and perform.
21:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, here's the next question. Why is belt Ben Brown
21:17
Speaker 1: still on the roster from no fly zone. He's not.
21:20
Speaker 1: He's not being very nice and mincing words there. That's fine,
21:24
Speaker 1: I get it, especially after I wouldn't looked he hasn't
21:29
Speaker 1: had like a a good outing, like a like a
21:33
Speaker 1: clean outing in a really long time. Granted he was
21:37
Speaker 1: starting there and he pitches multiple innings every single time out,
21:41
Speaker 1: but I mean even as a reliever, like it's it's
21:46
Speaker 1: been a while since he's a clean outing, and these
21:50
Speaker 1: last two outings I think have really frustrated the fan base.
21:54
Speaker 1: He's on the roster because you know, they need they
21:58
Speaker 1: need arms, they need you know, you're trying to max
22:02
Speaker 1: this guy has amazing stuff. This guy, you know, the
22:06
Speaker 1: potential is really high with Ben Brown. I thought he
22:11
Speaker 1: could play up in the bullpen. I thought maybe just
22:14
Speaker 1: these short bursts would allow him to not overthink the
22:17
Speaker 1: starts in the outings, and he could just go out
22:19
Speaker 1: there and just like the nasty curveball, high nineties fastball.
22:26
Speaker 1: It would it would lead to great success. It's not
22:28
Speaker 1: working out right now, and he's putting them in bad situations.
22:31
Speaker 1: I believe it was him in Colorado that that gave
22:36
Speaker 1: up some runs, had made that blowout too close for comfort,
22:40
Speaker 1: or helped make it too close for comfort. It was him.
22:44
Speaker 1: You know, it's a one to zero game on Wednesday,
22:46
Speaker 1: that's frankly yes, if Wednesday's game is on the offense.
22:50
Speaker 1: But he put Drew Palmerance in a difficult situation, and
22:55
Speaker 1: you know he couldn't get I don't think he had
22:57
Speaker 1: a clean inning, even his first inning. A lot of
23:00
Speaker 1: three ball counts. He doesn't look as chrisp but there
23:04
Speaker 1: are times when he comes out there and it's just like, WHOA,
23:07
Speaker 1: this guy's nasty. I haven't seen that a little bit.
23:12
Speaker 1: I think that's the quick answer. I will say that
23:16
Speaker 1: there are gonna be moves coming. James de Tiwan will
23:19
Speaker 1: be back soon, and then Michael Soroka I think is
23:23
Speaker 1: going to be pretty big for this team down the stretch.
23:26
Speaker 1: I know fans just haven't seen him, so they don't
23:29
Speaker 1: know how good he can be. I think he could
23:32
Speaker 1: be a really important piece for this team over the
23:36
Speaker 1: final few weeks and we'll see what more.
23:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, circling back to the previous question, I think it's
23:45
Speaker 2: Soroka could be a guy you could use to try
23:48
Speaker 2: and go. Maybe not in a playoff game, but in
23:51
Speaker 2: September go one time through a lineup. I forgot to
23:56
Speaker 2: add Colin Ray to that Oh yeah, out get her
24:02
Speaker 2: innings puzzle and the line that's sort of blurred between
24:05
Speaker 2: the rotation and the bullpen in the playoffs. Now, the
24:08
Speaker 2: Brewers did not include Ray on their playoff roster last year.
24:14
Speaker 2: We'll see if he can sustain this all the way
24:18
Speaker 2: through September in October. And I feel like sort of
24:21
Speaker 2: unfairly with Ray, like every time he has a bad outing,
24:25
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, like is this it? Like, you know,
24:27
Speaker 2: is he kind of you know, reached his limits. And
24:31
Speaker 2: he's been a really nice part of this team. And
24:38
Speaker 2: I think day to day too, just his his demeanor,
24:42
Speaker 2: his professionalism. I think that matters. And with Brown, I
24:47
Speaker 2: think it's just the the expectations at the beginning of
24:50
Speaker 2: this year, we're just so high. Maybe they were out
24:53
Speaker 2: of proportion. Maybe they were also reasonable because we've seen
24:57
Speaker 2: these flashes of him just being awesome. And I think
25:02
Speaker 2: with Ben Brown, it's probably more of an offseason question
25:06
Speaker 2: of like how does he reset. They probably don't trade
25:11
Speaker 2: him because his value is low, but he was someone
25:15
Speaker 2: who not that long ago would have been a super
25:17
Speaker 2: interesting change of scenery guy. And we'll see kind of
25:21
Speaker 2: where the Cubs go with that.
25:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, and quickly on Siroka, he had a thirty nine
25:26
Speaker 1: percent strikeout rate as a reliever last year in thirty
25:30
Speaker 1: six innings to seventy five bra You know, he talked Wednesday,
25:37
Speaker 1: maybe in pregame Tuesday. I don't know the days all
25:40
Speaker 1: blend together, but he the velocities back to what it was.
25:47
Speaker 1: They I've talked to some people about it. They they
25:49
Speaker 1: focused in on some very specific things, and they've been
25:52
Speaker 1: talking to him before he even got hurt, and now
25:55
Speaker 1: that he once he got hurt, they they really had
25:59
Speaker 1: time to hone in on some of these mechanical things
26:01
Speaker 1: and they feel like they've found some things with him
26:04
Speaker 1: and maybe they have a I think you know, chicken
26:07
Speaker 1: or the egg. What was was he hurting and it
26:09
Speaker 1: caused the mechanics to change or did they just naturally
26:12
Speaker 1: change over time because that happens a lot, and and
26:15
Speaker 1: nobody addressed it and it led to the injury. Who
26:19
Speaker 1: knows either way, he's he's feeling good when he comes back.
26:23
Speaker 1: I would keep an eye on him, just I would
26:24
Speaker 1: not dis miss that return. I think he's going to
26:28
Speaker 1: especially if that velocity's mid nineties. I think he can
26:32
Speaker 1: be a really important piece. At him and Aaron Sabali.
26:34
Speaker 1: Savali look good as one one outing. I'm not going
26:37
Speaker 1: to take too much away from it yet, but he
26:39
Speaker 1: looked good. You'll take you need stuff like that. That's
26:42
Speaker 1: why when we get back to the original question, why
26:44
Speaker 1: is Ben Brown still on the roster. You're trying to
26:47
Speaker 1: piece together twenty seven outs. You are trying to not
26:50
Speaker 1: run Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar and Andrew Kittridge into
26:54
Speaker 1: the ground. So you've got to try and use these
26:57
Speaker 1: other guys, and you know, just hasn't had the impact
27:02
Speaker 1: that we thought he would. But I think there are
27:05
Speaker 1: other guys and Soroka is a name that I would watch.
27:08
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and come back
27:10
Speaker 1: with the final question.
27:11
Speaker 5: Were throwing a curveball at you? This week for our
27:13
Speaker 5: Arena Club segment, as AJ has opened up a Pokemon
27:17
Speaker 5: slap pack.
27:18
Speaker 1: Did you say it?
27:19
Speaker 5: Pokemon?
27:19
Speaker 1: Flatman?
27:20
Speaker 5: Pokemon? Don't ask me to say what that card is,
27:23
Speaker 5: but we're doing with that card.
27:24
Speaker 1: I already sold it, baby, I bought it, and then
27:28
Speaker 1: I got more money than I paid for the pack,
27:29
Speaker 1: so I sold us straight back.
27:31
Speaker 5: You bought it for, you sold it for, and you
27:37
Speaker 5: can go get yourself something that you maybe know how
27:39
Speaker 5: to pronounce.
27:40
Speaker 1: Yes, what it is? I did it because I saw
27:43
Speaker 1: certain people open in Pokemon and they're making money, and
27:46
Speaker 1: guess what I got. Lucky made money off of it too, exactly.
27:50
Speaker 5: But of course, if you're into sports cards, that is
27:52
Speaker 5: something that you can find a ton of on the
27:55
Speaker 5: Arena club marketplace. By sell slab pack, trade eight percent
28:00
Speaker 5: off your first slap pack or card purchase can be
28:03
Speaker 5: had at Arena club dot com. Slash foul and use
28:06
Speaker 5: the code foul. That's arenaclub dot com. Slash foul and
28:10
Speaker 5: use code foul.
28:13
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick our buddy, Blue Line theology is back,
28:18
Speaker 1: and he you know why I included this of yes, yes,
28:23
Speaker 1: he says, fine, it was correct about App for now.
28:27
Speaker 1: First of all, for now is all that matters, because
28:29
Speaker 1: I'm not saying AP's going to be good forever. All
28:32
Speaker 1: I'm saying is that App was doing well and you
28:34
Speaker 1: can't take him out of the lineup if he starts struggling. Hey,
28:38
Speaker 1: you know, I understand you try something different, But thank
28:42
Speaker 1: you for acknowledging may being right Blue Life theology. But
28:47
Speaker 1: here's this question. What did the twenty twenty five Cubs
28:50
Speaker 1: get out of the Bellinger trade? Was that money ever
28:52
Speaker 1: going to be spent in twenty five? Oh, we're going
28:56
Speaker 1: back to the Bellinger trade. Look, that money should have
29:00
Speaker 1: been spent. And I think at the time you and
29:03
Speaker 1: I Patrick, we both thought it was going to be
29:05
Speaker 1: spent and then and we said, if it's not, we're
29:10
Speaker 1: gonna have some thoughts on that, and I think we did.
29:12
Speaker 1: I think we were pretty critical of them, and I
29:15
Speaker 1: will continue to be critical of them because they don't
29:17
Speaker 1: act like a big market team. They don't use their
29:23
Speaker 1: financial might as a cudgel against the rest of the league,
29:27
Speaker 1: and they absolutely should or do they spend more to
29:29
Speaker 1: than El Central? Yes, do they spend what you think
29:33
Speaker 1: the Chicago Cubs should spend? Should they be a top
29:36
Speaker 1: five ish, top seven ish maybe payroll? Yeah, I think
29:39
Speaker 1: they should be, and they're not. So that money wasn't spent.
29:43
Speaker 1: It was nearly spent on Alex Bregman, but ultimately it
29:46
Speaker 1: wasn't and they didn't spend that money. And yeah, Blue
29:50
Speaker 1: Anthology had some names that he wanted here where that
29:54
Speaker 1: money could have been spent. Look, it could have been
29:56
Speaker 1: spent in a lot of different ways and could have
29:59
Speaker 1: helped this team. It wasn't. Uh, And that's where they
30:02
Speaker 1: are right now. And that's just kind of the philosophy
30:06
Speaker 1: of of this ownership group right now. They're not going
30:10
Speaker 1: to spend at it's not even Mets and Dodgers level.
30:14
Speaker 1: You know, Phillies, Padres, who else spent more? Diamondbacks, right,
30:18
Speaker 1: Diamondbacks spent more.
30:19
Speaker 2: They're kind of around the same.
30:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so I mean they're they're like in the
30:24
Speaker 1: teens or in the tens like they're they're not. They're
30:28
Speaker 1: not even top ten in payroll. And that's something that
30:31
Speaker 1: I think we all can you know, point to and
30:33
Speaker 1: say like that. You know they're winning, maybe that's all
30:37
Speaker 1: that matters, but you know you have holes on the
30:40
Speaker 1: roster that could have been filled.
30:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is clearly a salary dump. Like at the
30:46
Speaker 2: time it was, you know, kind of making room for
30:49
Speaker 2: for Tucker and you know, Bellinger and have a place
30:52
Speaker 2: to play. Blah blah blah. I don't know if Bellinger
30:56
Speaker 2: would have had this season at Wrigley Field, given how
30:59
Speaker 2: it's played for tended hitters and how well his game
31:02
Speaker 2: fits Yankee Stadium. But look a four point three war player,
31:07
Speaker 2: twenty seven homers, eighty six rbi is one hundred and
31:12
Speaker 2: twenty nine oh ps plus and ability to play multiple positions.
31:20
Speaker 2: You know, the Cubs would say, well, look that contract
31:22
Speaker 2: was underwater, that's why he didn't opt out. I don't know.
31:27
Speaker 2: I just think it's hard to find legit every day
31:32
Speaker 2: major league players, and so when you have won under contract,
31:36
Speaker 2: you shouldn't just be giving them away for nothing. And
31:40
Speaker 2: that's basically what happened. You know, the pitcher they got,
31:44
Speaker 2: did he even appear in a game for the Cubs,
31:46
Speaker 2: I can't remember.
31:47
Speaker 1: I think he was daid. I think he was defaid beforehand.
31:51
Speaker 1: I don't think he ever played a.
31:53
Speaker 2: Total A total, a total non factor. Like I think
31:57
Speaker 2: if you were a different organization, you'd hold on to Bellinger,
32:03
Speaker 2: you'd kind of try to make it work. You trade
32:07
Speaker 2: them somewhere for something else. I don't know, but clearly
32:13
Speaker 2: the Cubs can say whatever they want. In the off season.
32:16
Speaker 2: There's always sort of the you know what's next. You know,
32:21
Speaker 2: it was the well, you know, you're looking at the
32:25
Speaker 2: payroll on opening Day, but you know, look at our
32:27
Speaker 2: overall spend on baseball operations. And then it's you know,
32:32
Speaker 2: the trade deadline will give us some some flexibility, and
32:35
Speaker 2: we all know how that worked out. The trade deadline.
32:37
Speaker 2: The Cubs blew us all away at the trade deadline
32:40
Speaker 2: with what they did, this idea of oh, maybe maybe
32:44
Speaker 2: you're not trading high level prospects because you're taking on
32:50
Speaker 2: more money and contracts, or maybe there's a great player
32:53
Speaker 2: who's attached to player with an underwater contract, whatever, whatever
33:00
Speaker 2: the rhetoric was. I'm glad this question came up because
33:05
Speaker 2: it kind of puts a bow on it like it
33:07
Speaker 2: was a salary dump trade, the same way the U
33:10
Speaker 2: Darvis trade was a salary dump trade. Now own casey
33:14
Speaker 2: might wind up being a very good player over the
33:17
Speaker 2: next several years. But his nothing It's not his fault,
33:22
Speaker 2: but he was super young and he's the only guy
33:25
Speaker 2: from that Darvis trade who has emerged. But that was
33:27
Speaker 2: a salary dump trade and maybe the Cubs salvage it
33:31
Speaker 2: by getting a lot out of own case, which is possible.
33:34
Speaker 2: I mean, he's been awesome in the minors, has a
33:37
Speaker 2: lot of things going for him once he gets an
33:39
Speaker 2: extended opportunity to the majors. Yeah, maybe he is the right
33:42
Speaker 2: fielder of the future. But Bellinger darvish for a huge
33:51
Speaker 2: major market franchise to have two just glaring salary dumps
33:55
Speaker 2: like that and a relatively short period of franchise histe Uh,
34:01
Speaker 2: it is a bad look for a team that, you know,
34:05
Speaker 2: kind of brags about having the biggest season ticket holder
34:09
Speaker 2: base in baseball. I think that's what our buddy John
34:12
Speaker 2: Greenberg had in the athletic and just we see the
34:16
Speaker 2: crowds at Wrigley Field every night. You know, it doesn't
34:18
Speaker 2: really matter who they're playing. Uh. It helps when the
34:21
Speaker 2: Cubs are really good, no doubt, But I mean they
34:24
Speaker 2: just fill that place up night after night because of
34:28
Speaker 2: the passion of Cubs fans, and it just doesn't feel
34:31
Speaker 2: like it's reciprocated all the time.
34:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the both darbish and then the DFA
34:38
Speaker 1: or the non tendering of of it'll go down in
34:43
Speaker 1: the history is like one of the worst off seasons.
34:45
Speaker 1: And that's you know that Jed Hoyer has to take
34:48
Speaker 1: the criticism for it, but it's all it's it's on
34:50
Speaker 1: like he was his hand was forced. He was forced
34:53
Speaker 1: to find ways to like cut salary. You wait, even
34:56
Speaker 1: if you need to dump that salary, you you wait
34:59
Speaker 1: six months and wait till July and trade both those guys,
35:03
Speaker 1: and you're you're talking about turning the team around a
35:06
Speaker 1: lot quicker in all likelihood. I don't know what you get.
35:09
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it turns out that Casey would have been
35:11
Speaker 1: the best player they could have. They end up could have,
35:14
Speaker 1: You know that they end up getting, you know what
35:16
Speaker 1: I mean, Like maybe they trade for better prospects in
35:19
Speaker 1: July for darbish, but they don't pan out. But my
35:23
Speaker 1: point is like the value was going to be better
35:25
Speaker 1: in July because it's more than a market of one.
35:28
Speaker 1: Because that's what it was. The Padres were taking advantage
35:31
Speaker 1: of teams at that point. They did it with the
35:33
Speaker 1: Rays to get Blake Snell, and they did it to
35:35
Speaker 1: the Cubs because they knew nobody else was willing to
35:38
Speaker 1: spend at that point. It was just bad luck, bad
35:41
Speaker 1: bed timing. Everything was about that was just not not good.
35:46
Speaker 1: But yes, good question. Blue line theology that that money
35:49
Speaker 1: wasn't spent. I don't know, Like I said, it could
35:52
Speaker 1: have been spent. Bregman would have been the one way,
35:54
Speaker 1: but that was like it was like a special exemption, right,
35:58
Speaker 1: So so like it wasn't even like we're going to
36:02
Speaker 1: spend this money. It's like, here are a couple exemptions
36:05
Speaker 1: that you could make, Alex Bregman is one of them,
36:07
Speaker 1: and then you have permission to spend that money. So yeah,
36:10
Speaker 1: I get the question, I get the frustration. All right,
36:13
Speaker 1: my dog is barking, so that means it's time to
36:15
Speaker 1: wrap this up. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
36:17
Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
36:20
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
36:24
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
36:27
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everyone,