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At halfway point, this Cubs season has to be considered a failure · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Guys will get hot, Guys will get injured. You know,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: guys will fall in and out of favor, in and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: out of the.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Circle of trust. Like that's just what bullpens are.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: your host, Sahadev Sharma with you with my co host
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Patrick Mooney, we're your Cubs beat writers at the Athletic,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: covering all things Cubs for you on this podcast and
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: over at the Athletic. And there's not much positive going
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: on with the Cubs right now. They have some good
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: starting pitchers. I mean, listen, we didn't even talk about
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: this before we started recording, Patrick, but Kyle Hendricks is
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: a great story right now.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: If if the Cubs could win some games, we'd be.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Talking much more about this bounce back, and it'd be
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: a really nice fun story because it's just another reminder
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: of how baseball is so hard to predict. I think
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: you and I were patient as as patient as could
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: be with Hendrix, and and even both of us were like, Okay,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: I think it's time like this. He's just not he
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: doesn't have it anymore. He's he's figured some things out
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: using the curveball more. It's it's been really nice to
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: watch that in fun to watch a bounce back.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: You didn't.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: You never want a guy like him to be going
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: out in some ugly fashion, so it's good that he's
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: still showing that he's got something left. The rest of
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: it is just it's hard to watch. Beyond the starting pitching.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: We keep saying it. You're out there in San Francisco.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Patrick, another loss, this one two to one for most
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: of the game. Bullpen comes in, gives up three runs,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Colton Brewer and and it becomes you know, non competitive
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: very late. But it was it was typical stuff. It
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: looked like it was lining up to be a one run,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: brutal loss. It just ended up a five to one loss.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: But yet again, same story, not even any You can't
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: even complain about runners in coring position. They barely had anything.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: What was your view from the press box and then
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Monday night was such a gut punch
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: loss that.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Kind of overanalyze another what was lining.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Up as another one run loss until a bullpen blow up.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Just seemed unnecessary.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there's another game Wednesday night, and
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: if this pattern follows, it'll be another one, one run loss, right.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's like kind of over analysis some of
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: this stuff. I do think your take on the current
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: events is accurate. I think Kyle Hendricks is a nice
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: comeback story.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Today Wednesday, he reaches ten years of major league service time,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: which is just a huge milestone, particularly amongst players, of
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: just recognizing, you know, how hard it is to keep
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: your spot for that long. It's kind of astounding.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: And we've both covered the entirety of Kyle Hendrick's career.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: The person you see on the mound on the camera
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: is the exact same person he is away from the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: camera when the microphones are off. It's just very genuine, consistent,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: stable personality.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: But yeah, the team he is currently on is just
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: not performing. And Wednesday night in San Francisco is Game
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: one eighty one. Is Game eighty one.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: The halfway point of the season, So I think Sahadev
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: will take that as a jumping off point an assessment
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: of where the Cubs are at. I think we could
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: start with the offense, and you were kind of bullish
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: on the offense, and yeah, I think no one saw
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: like a worst in baseball offense for such a long
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: stretcher period.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: What how do you grade this group? What are you seeing?
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean I think.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: I guess i'd have to be if I'm being generous,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: then i'd probably go a D. Right Like, I don't
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: like I feel like I'm being generous by not saying
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: F like. I just don't know how how you can
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: look at what it like. Jed Hoyer sits in front
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: of us and tells us over and over again. Six
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: in runs scored last year.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's not.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Like I, I like, have been contradicting him and saying, no,
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: he's wrong, you're right. I was bullish on this offense
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Game one in Texas. I was telling other writers, like,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: I really like this lineup one through nine. I think
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: they're pretty deep. They have a lot of talent. There's
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: no like obvious weak spot. I did not think Yeah
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Games would drop off as much as he did. Obviously
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Young Games is no longer here. I did not think
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Miguel Amaya would struggle as much. They're not the main problems.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: You know, they're that's an issue. They're not the main problems.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Nico Horner struggled everybody. I don't even need to go
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: through it. Sorry, Like you know, everybody has struggled at
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: some point. Some guys are doing okay. Now nobody's coming
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: up with a big hit on a regular basis. It's
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: been very up and down. Nobody has carried the offense.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: That's that's the big thing. Like even guys that they've
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: done fine. I mean overall, I believe they have a
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: ninety five way to runs great at plus, like twenty
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: eighth in baseball. They're at eighty seven since April twenty seventh.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I like, that's that's bad. That's I mean, that's abysmal.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: They they don't they had that hot stretch up until
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: April twenty sixth, and that was you know, they were
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: one ten way to runs great A plus up to
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: that point. Uh, that's that's good. It was sixth in
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: baseball up to that point. Uh, it's not like red hot.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: They kind of overperformed with runners in scoring position up
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: to that point. They've been dreadful, like even worse. I
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: don't even need to look it up, but it's it's
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: it's it's really bad.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: I just don't know.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: I think, like what this season is like every season
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I try and learn something. I try and reassess how
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: I analyze the game. I just think you can have
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: a good season offensive season without a superstar. It makes
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: it a lot easier to avoid those slumps. It makes
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: it a lot easier to feel like, hey, we can
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: we can repeat last year's success. We have this rock
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: in our lineup, and we've said it. I'm not saying
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: anything new. I just think I feel more convinced. It's
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: not like I never wrote that they needed to superstar.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: I thought maybe say I could be that superstar. It'd've
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: We've talked about this, right, Patrick, this is something you
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: and I have written and hammered for years.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: That guy didn't emerge and they never added him, and
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: now it's it's just sticks out like a sore thumb.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, Sayah clearly has been a disappointment. He hasn't
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: been like bad, but look it's it's the year three
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: of his contract. He clearly has talent, but it's not
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: it's not the difference maker that the Cubs thought he
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: would be. I mean, a fine, fine player, but looks
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: like someone who should probably.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Be a d h Right.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then come to have a third baseman who
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: maybe should be a dhlough Morel made a couple of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: nice plays here in San Francisco and is weirdly on
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: pace for thirty homers and like ninety RBIs, but hasn't
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: been that dynamic offensive presence. And he's another guy, right,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, year three in the majors. You know, these
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: guys who you think would be kind of reaching their
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: prime just aren't at this current moment. And you know,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger, I know that we wouldn't go up and down,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: but like, these are the guys that are supposed.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: To be kind of anchoring the middle of this lineup.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And once again, Bellinger solidly above average player, a really
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: nice fit in terms of being able to.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Move them around between center fields and first base, but
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: hasn't gone on one of those pairs yet. And he
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: was a he hasn't dragged into spring training, but he's
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: a signature off season target and acquisition and hasn't delivered
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: that bumb that they just desperately need. And so.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Just this feeling that the Cubs are sort of stuck
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: with this group, which I think adds to the frustration.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: And I asked Craig Council off to the side, yester about.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: This idea of being flat, and you know, he just
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: kind of shrugged it off and said that is like
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: a timeless element of baseball.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: When you don't score runs, you look flat. But he
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: would absolutely agree that the Cubs have not scored enough runs.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: That is true that a lot of these things fall
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: back on the offense.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a way to segue into the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: bullpen of like, yeah, if the bullpen has had held
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a couple leads.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: You know, one lead a month, you take away one
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: blown save a month, it looks a little a little different.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: The Cubs don't look at at the this is like
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: kind of the failure that it's been. But you know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: at the same time, the offense could have broken a
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: lot of games open and given this bullpen some breathing room.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And honestly, if.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Everyone had stayed healthy since opening day, like the bullpen
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: still wouldn't have been viewed as.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Like the strength of the team, right.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, that still was an area where they sort of,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of crossed their fingers and cut corners.
• 10:27
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• 11:28
  Speaker 3: I am not the type that says you have to
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: go out and sign a closer, you have to go
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: out and sign this big name reliever. I don't think
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: that solves a lot of problems. I'm not going to
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: go back and look at all the free agents. But
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: my guess is there would have been a lot of
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: mistakes made if you have big in free agency on relievers.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: This team needs to develop pitching and they also, I
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: mean develop relief pitching. They've done a really good job
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: of developing starting pitching and we'll get to that, but
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the relief pictures haven't stayed healthy. I think it would
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: be a I don't think we would be talking as
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: much about the bullpen if if they'd stayed healthy, just
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: because I think Craig Counsel would have more pictures to
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: go to and and it would just you'd start to
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: see how, oh, okay, I get why Craig Council is
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: so valuable. He understands how to rest guys, how to
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: maneuver guys, how to kind of find ways to like, okay,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: not over use them. And one thing I heard about
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: when he was in Milwaukee was sometimes there be there'd
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: be moments where you'd think the move was obvious, the
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: bullpen move was obvious, and he'd go to someone and
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: it would work. Someone else and it would work because
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: he he just understands his bullpen's really well, his pictures
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: really well. I don't like it he just doesn't have
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: the horses right now. Like I think Colton Brewer has
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: come up and and been forced into a situation.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: It's just not his role. Uh.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: And he's he's been fine, and but he's also been
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: used in situations he probably shouldn't be used in. Uh
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: if you had a healthy bullpen and and he's been exposed.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: There's there's just not enough depth here.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: There wasn't that. There's some.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: Developmental hiccups. I guess, you know, Daniel Palencia didn't turn
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: into a guy. Porter Hodge is still a little too young.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: He's probably you know, you hope that he can learn
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: from this year. Hayden Wisnsky is a guy that just
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: hasn't performed consistently enough. Like he shows these flashes of like, ah,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: there it is, that's a dominant reliever, and then it
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: just it goes away and he either walks guys or
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: gives up the long ball. Luke Little can't lock it
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: in and have consistent command. H you know, we can
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: just go up and down. Jose quass I mean, that's
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: that's a really bad miss right there, right Like you
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: can't nobody's lamenting the Nelson Velasquez but just the reality
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: of Jose quass is not impact is gone. He's on
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: the Toronto Blue Jays and he didn't impact this team
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: in a positive way. And then there's the injuries, right,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: I mean now nears of course the big free agency signing.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: I get all the intangibles. I agree with all the intangibles.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I do believe he has an impact that we can't
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: measure on this group. It just it's not enough when
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: he's struggling and you don't have the talent in the
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: group to overcome it. I do think there's ways that
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: this turns around, but they need to get healthy there,
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: and they need some young guys. I said it in
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: the last podcast. I'd like to see some guys called up.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I guess it's a bullpen day Wednesday evening.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: We'll see how that goes. I just I'd like to
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: see a little bit of some changes with regards to
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: the bullpen, because it is the area where I think
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: it can be most most acted by random relievers getting
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: hot and random young guys. I don't believe that's as
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: true with an offense unless it's an impact like you
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: call it. Kyle Schwarber in the middle of the season.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: A guy that can just thump forty home runs with
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: his eyes closed. That's different than you know, the guys
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: that they'd be calling up right now as far as
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: bats go.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't really know what it is
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: or when it's happening, but you gotta think there's gotta
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: be some sort of like shake up moves coming here
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: pretty soon when you're at the halfway point, when the
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: team is underperforming to this degree. I asked Counsel yesterday
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: just about kind of ninth inning and how he views it,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and it is pretty much a read and react type situation.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: At this point.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: He'd like to get to a place where it is
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: just one guy that you're leaning on in the ninth inning.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I do think Norris will get some of those opportunities
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: here and there, but for now, and it doesn't help
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: having a bullpen game.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Thrown it in the middle of that.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: But certainly, yeah, you look at the game score, the
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: game situation, you know, the lineup, whatever pocket I'm using
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the air quotes there too, matchup relievers to put him
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: in a position to be successful. So you know, Mark
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: later Junior believes it'll be a minimum stint on the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: IL Cubs are press pause with Yancy Almontes rehab Julian Merriwether.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: I believe through either a bullpen or what he is,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: he is progressing, you know.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: And then that kind of around the All Star break
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: sounds like, you know, a realistic target it.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: But I mean it's not like we're talking.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: About you know, uh, you know, Mariano Rivera getting healthy
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: here right. I mean these are like, you know, like
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: you know, guys will you guys will, Guys will get hot,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: guys will get injured, you know, guys will fall in
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: and out of favor, in and out of the circle
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: of trust.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Like that's just what bullpens are. And then I think we.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Can transition into what has been, uh what should be
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: an enormous bright spot, the rotation, but it has just
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: been absolutely you know, squandered here.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: This this great run by the rotation.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: I mean it's remarkable how good the rotation has been,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: especially when you consider what happened on opening day with
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Justin Steele. That was a moment where you thought, uh,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: oh this is going to do rail things like they
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: have a good offense. They have you know, Craig Council
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: knows how to manage a bullpen. Just give him enough
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: arms and now your ace from last year, your cy
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: young contender who looked great for however, it was almost
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: five innings if I'm remember incorrectly, is out for an
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: extended period of time. How do they survive this? And
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: it's been really impressive. Everyone has pretty much stepped up.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Kyle Hendricks, who we've talked about already struggled and has
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: bounced back. I mean everyone at some point has impressed,
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: and jameson Taian huge bounce back season. It's really I
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: think it's really important to have a veteran like that
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: in your rotation that kind of stabilizes things. He's been
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: that when Kyle Hendricks hasn't showed him anaga. We've talked
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: so much about him, I don't know what else to
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: say other than a brilliant start to his career. They're
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: giving him this six days rest. This is because of
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: this bullpen game.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: We'll see. I'm very curure.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: I think Thursday is is worth kind of circling and
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: watching and paying attention to. I've seen some people talk
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: about you know, you just hope that they didn't. You
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: just said it, but you hope they didn't. Squander it
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: in the sense that is the starting pitching going to regress? Yes, yeah,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: you know, like that's a I think we all kind
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: of feel like it probably will, right, It's hard to
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: it's hard to be this all of those guys be
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: that good. We didn't even mention Ben Brown as far
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: as the bullpen because he has been starting and when
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: he returns, whatever happens with him, I think will be
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: really interesting to watch because he can impact either area.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: And I think that if you want to talk about
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: like kind of like a big developmental win a young
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: player that you're like, Okay, yep, this guy has an
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: impactful role. Whatever it's going to be, right, he's going
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: to be impactful and in a positive manner. You know,
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: you want to talk about closer of the future, I
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: think that's a guy you can kind of be like,
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: hmm maybe or is he just too good at starting?
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Did you just say, like, yeah, I.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Think he's too good to like it's maybe because of
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the inning's limits and circumstances in the second half that
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: you know, Assumi's neck.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Condition doesn't worsen and he can manage that. I mean, yeah, but.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the pitching development there have been a lot of
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Javier Asade you, Oh yeah, I't talked about him.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: But has been outstanding. And I think that's an area where.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: You know, the front office council staff can kind of
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: hang her hat on as not we evaluate things, but
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: as ownership looks at where this is going. And I
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: think that's kind of another kind of concluding section here
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: that we can kind of look at of like if
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: you're owning this team, like how do you evaluate.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: The front office?
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: The manager higher that you just signed off on, the
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: highest paid manager in the game, you know, front office
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: that underwent a very extensive, multi year rebuild. I think
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: it's hard to look at this first half as anything
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: other than the failure.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: Say we were too positive or or there was I
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: was probably too positive with what I came out. As
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: far as projections for this team, I thought they could
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: win ninety plus games because mainly because I thought they'd
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: be in it at the deadline and they'd go hard
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: to add some impactful players to kind of push them
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: to that ninety ninety two range for wins. But as
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: far as regular projections go, what they were like an
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: eighty three eighty four win team maybe like probably little
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: less than that. A lot of projections. My guess is
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: their internal projections weren't too far off that just they
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: had different things going well, right, They probably had the
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: start of pitching lower, bullpen maybe slightly better, and offense
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: significantly better, and that's how they got to eighty three wins.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: They're below that projection right now, obviously, right six games
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: under five hundred, so they're like like halfway through. Like
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: I think Tom Rikints has to be from just from
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: watching last year. I think he knows he has to
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: assess this over the course of one hundred and sixty two, right,
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: So if they end the season eighty two wins and
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: and the offense kind of turns it around, I'm not
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: sure if he's like jumping, like ready to fire Jed Hoyer,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: because my guess is they kind of knew what they
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: had in a sense. They were hoping to get a
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: few more wins out of things and push a little further,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: maybe add at the deadline, things like that, get a
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: couple more wins then the projections suggested. But I don't
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: think they're that far away from what they kind of expected.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: It just hasn't gone right offensively, So I'm not I
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: know We've talked a lot about like to change, Like
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of talk about Jed horror being on
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: the hot seat. I think it begins in the winter, right,
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: like he has to nail this winter. I just I
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: don't know if he's moving on from him at the
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: end of this year. That's just my general guess. We
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: haven't had a chance to really dig into this and
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: see what's going on. I do get questions from people
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: around the game, like, Hey, do you think Jed's on
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: the hot seat? I don't see that, just because I
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: think they kind of unfortunately.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: I do think like maybe this was you.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Know, they're trying to take incremental steps instead of huge
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: steps forward. So if they kind of even if it's static,
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: if they end up at like eighty three wins, now,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: if they end up at seventy two wins, I mean,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: then does conversation change.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I think the conversation is always changing or maybe evolving,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: and that it's really hard to withstand a year like
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: this or just kind of gloss over it. I still
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: think I largely agree with what you're saying in that
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: whatever move that moves the Cubs have made, it has
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: not jeopardized their medium to long term future. Their books
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: are relatively clean, They have a lot of flexibility, even
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: though I think the prospects are largely overrated in the
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Cup system and the industry as a whole, the Cubs
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: have a group that's pretty well regarded or at least
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: there's you know, depth and balance and different areas that
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: you can point to. I think the pitching development is
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: is big. Is something that you know, pitchers always get injured,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: but you look at this group and.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: How they've kind of managed it and structured it. I
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: think that's working.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: And I think that's something that is much different than
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: their previous window that you can point to as Okay,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: this system here is up and running. Craig Council, I
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: believe in the long run will prove to be a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: pretty good hire, someone who can really be an impactful
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: presence in the organization. But I mean, if this is
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: a last place team when we're doing like our end
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: of season podcasts, I mean that's going to be a
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: massive failure. And part of this like you know, losing
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: one run games or being kind of right there giving
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: ourselves a chance, like where are the difference makers?
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: And we know that the Udarvis trade was made under.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Financial conditions imposed upon baseball operations. But you know, own case,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: he isn't here yet, and whenever he does arrive, it's
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: going to take a while for him to figure out
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: how to hit in the majors. I think that twenty
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: twenty one trade deadline was They're just it has not
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: come to fruition yet in terms of, like the impact
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: at the major league level.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Pca is a nice player.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I think he will be a long term solution in center,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: just because he is so good on defense, and that
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Jed and Counsel both really seem to be high on him,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Like doesn't really matter what you or I think right
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: or like what scouts are or like what the offensive
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: numbers look like right now. Like that is a guy
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: that both of the primary decision makers really seem to
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: believe in.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: So he's going to get a super long runway.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: But otherwise, you know, trading Craig Kimberrel, I mean a
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: all star level closer, you know, the guy that every
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: contending team wants for October, has not.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Given the Cubs much if anything.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: You know, obviously, Chris Bryant, Anthony Rizon, hobby Bias are
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: at very down moments, if not the.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Tail ends of their careers.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Like was the right move to not invest big money
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in those guys, but you still have to like.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Replace those guys.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: And Mike Michael Bush looks like a good option at
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: first base, Morell's kind of a question mark at third.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: I think I think Dansby, on balance, you know, was
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: a good signing. I get why they did that. I mean,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: he's been a Gold Glove defender and but he, like
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: most of the other all the other guys on the officer,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: needs more complimentary pieces. You know, this is a guy
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: who is more of like a you know, ideally would
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: be that seven hitter in a really good lineup, not
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: like the eighth hitter in a bad lineup, right like
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: thins have been. So when you like put all this together,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be awkward.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: You know. I was talking to someone and here in.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: San Francisco who was kind of observing the dugout, and
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: that individual just sensed it was Hence and like that's
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: a difference than flat. I think, you know, we're not
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: going to do the whole clubhouse chemistry stuff, but you know,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: I don't totally believe it when they say, like you
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: know this will make us better.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: In the end, or like you know, we're we're gonna
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: grow from this, Like you know, a lot of bad
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: teams just don't grow from it. You know, there seasons.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: In September, everyone scatters, they go golfing, hunting, fishing, and
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: like big changes happen. And this was not how I
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: thought the halfway point of the season would feel like
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: us kind of on alert for like what are they
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: going to do to shake things up? But it's it's
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: hard to like take too many options off the table at.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: This point, right, And I just think there's a lot
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: of there's some pieces that just aren't fitting the way
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: you'd want them to, especially in terms of defense, which
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: we didn't really break down but has been disappointing. Third
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: base and right field in particular, Like you said, they
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: both kind of seemed like dhs at the moment, and
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: you want to give them some credit, especially Morale, who
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: needs to who has made strides there.
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: But yeah, but.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: It it's just like, is this team like put together
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: properly when you look at like the deals given to
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: happen Suzuki and where Morel is playing, like you're you're
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: not getting plus plus defense at those spots. I think
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: halp is obviously you know, he's won two goal gloves.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: I just don't see him as like this elite defender
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: out there on a regular basis.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: So it's yeah, they're they're you have to question the
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: way it's put together at times too, and the evaluation
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: of it all.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: And I do think something needs to change. I don't
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: know how you make it happen. I don't know how
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: it changes, but something needs to change.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: There needs to be some sort of adjustment made here.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: Uh And when I say that, I mean in terms
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: of personnel. I don't know what exactly that move is.
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: But that's up to Jed and Carter and and and
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: the rest of the front office to kind of figure
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: that out.
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: Uh yeah, sorry.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: No, something no I was gonna say about.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: You know, just bottom line, are heading into Game eighty one,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Cubs are thirty seven and forty three in last place
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: in the National League Central and only four games out
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: of a wild card spot. It's bizarre, it is uninspiring,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: just kind of the state of the National League. But yeah,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: the Cubs are wrapping up what was supposed to be
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: this soft spot in their schedule. Here in San Francisco.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: It's gonna get harder over the next couple of weeks.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: I think the stretch before the All Star break it
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: could be defining here what they still have left in
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: them And yeah, I mean hopefully they give us something
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: new or different to talk about.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: Soon, right, Yeah, And I mean in that stretch, there's
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: a couple of bad teams, but Milwaukee, Phillip Elfie and Baltimore,
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: you know, three of the best teams in baseball and
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: some of the teams that you kind of look to
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: and say, like, yeah, that that's what you want to be, right,
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: It's just like how they're built, how everything's going. Like yeah,
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: it's easy to say that when you look at their records,
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: but just the way those teams have been built, each
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: a little differently, and you can say like, Okay, there's
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: something you can take away and learn from that, like
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: what what are the Cubs missing?
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: You know, we'll our next show.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: We will take comments from you guys, comments and questions
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: from the fans. Will make sure to send out tweets
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: to to get your reactions and get your thoughts and
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: we can address them. It may not be too dissimilar
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: from what we've been talking about. Hey, if it's what
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: you guys want to talk about, we'll talk about it.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: We'll try and go through this together and be your therapy,
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: because this this team requires everyone who covers and is
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: a fan of it and probably is a part of
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: it to go to go through a little bit of
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: therapy and and figure these things out. Thanks so much
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: for listening everyone, This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: all those good things you do with podcasts, Read Patrick
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: and my work over at the Athletic. We'll be coming
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: at you daily. Patrick's out in San Francisco. I'll be
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: out there in Milwaukee for the first two and Patrick
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: will wrap up that series and then it comes you're
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: back home for some tough games.
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: We'll talk to you soon. Take care everyone. Thanks man,