Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Justin Turner finally has his big moment as a Cub

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Justin Turner finally has his big moment as a Cub · 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 my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The Cubs
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: take two of three from the Marlins. If you know,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: if I'm just if this is the start of the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: season or something, if they're fully healthy, if everyone's there,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I probably say, hmm. They you know, they barely get
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: those two of three. You know, nothing special there. They're
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: They're grinding through it right now. I don't think they're
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: playing their best baseball. They're banged up. They've lost their
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: two best starters, their leadoff hitters on the shelf temporarily.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: They they need to just take series wins. I don't
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: care how bad or good the teams are right now.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You take the series win and enjoy it. They have
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: that series win because they took the first two games
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and that second game looked like it was going to
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: be loss and like not a fun one. I think
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Cubs fans would have been pretty upset after this series
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: if you lose it. But Justin Turner finally has his
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: big Cubs moment, right when Moises bias Terrace is called
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: up and the DFA calls are coming for Justin Turner.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: He delivers his big hit. It was it was you know,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: it felt like it was. It was a long time coming.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: It's only middle of May, but he got it.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: No doubt.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: And the side of I want you to give our
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: listeners sort of like the story behind the story, because
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: we're always whether it's slack text messages, sidebars that we're
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: always talking about story ideas and how to execute them.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: And you know, what are people talking about? What are
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: people gonna want to read about? And Justin Turner was
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: that nay internet name of like will they or won't they?
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: DFAM?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: We did not get that sense. But I mean you
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: went straight up to him during Tuesday's pregame media availability
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse, go to his locker. What what sort
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of the vibes he was projecting? You know, we read
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: the story after you know, the you know, walk off
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: hero moment, but how is he sort of processing this
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: slow start and trying to get out of it.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So, I mean, you know what it's like being
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: in a clubhouse, being around slumping guys. It can be
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: hit or missed depending on how much they want to talk,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: whether they want to talk, whether they avoid you.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Justin Turner, well, we've known him since February, right, we
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: just haven't spent a lot of time with him. But
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: he's never come across as someone that's difficult to approach.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: So I went right up to him, no hesitation from him.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I let him know right away, this is what I
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: want to talk about. And you know you're struggling, and
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you're not used to this and happy about it,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: but just want to go through your process, uh, and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: how how it's working, how you're trying to get to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: your best self.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You know, he's doing all the things that you'd expect
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: to hear, working in the cages, that breaking down mechanics,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's surely something that is impossible for us
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to fully uh to see at least, it's mostly a
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: timing thing. And he said exactly what counsel told us
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a few days before, which was he's he's missing the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: pitches he should be moving forward. They all every pretty
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: much every position player you talk to is going to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: say this. If you foul off that pitch center center,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: you are not going to see another good pitch that
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: at bat you have to do damage on those mistake
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: pitches quote unquote right. So I think that's how you.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: I think that's how hitters look at it. I think that's, uh,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: that's how Justin Turner was looking at it. I also
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: pointed out that, hey, Justin, I see you around this clubhouse.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: You know, we've watched players struggle. We've seen them mope,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: We've seen them not interact with their teammates. That isn't
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: what Justin Turner is doing, especially someone with his success,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: especially with someone with his you know, career earnings and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: all those things. He is not taking this as I
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: am having a terrible stretch. I'm keeping to myself and
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: you know, sitting staring at my phone or not talking
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to the media whatever it is, or not interacting with
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: my teammates. He's searching for ways to help this team,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: whether it's on the field or off. I appreciate that,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and I also just appreciate that he's got a big
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: smile on his face.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Some people may read that the other way.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I guess, so I assume there are fans that don't
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: like that. If someone is struggling, they should be MOPI
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I think it's so important, especially in baseball. You have
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: to carry yourself in this way, and it's a great
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: learning tool for the younger players. You know, Ben Brown
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: had that awful outing four starts a go. Now he
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: needs people around him who who pick him up and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: show him this is how you behave when you struggle,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: you don't bring the group down. Ben Brown's had three
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: great outings. We're barely talking about Ben Brown, but he's
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: he's been he's been great since that. We're pretty bad outing. Yeah,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: so we're council called him out. Justin Turner needed this moment.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Justin Turner needed a little bit of relief from the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: fan base. I think, uh, Bias Sterios is gonna get
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: plenty of starts. He's a right hand, he's a lefty.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: The righty's are coming. He didn't start Wednesday, and that's
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: because there was a lefty on the mound. Bias Teris
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Is is a is very interesting player. But Justin Turner's
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: are better and they need him to turn around.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I think one thing that I.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Noticed his May was awful last year. Seven way to
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: runs great at plus seven. Remember the average is one hundred,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: so ninety three percent below league average.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: He's better than that.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: He's better than that this year, and he has fewer
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: played appearances this entire season than he had all of
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: May last year.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: So he's just not getting.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Regular playing time. First extra base hit, that walk off double.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's going to be this huge player.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he can get there. We may
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: be talking about him being released in two months. That
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: may happen.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It just may.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: He may not find his rhythm. I think he's he
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: bats beyed all that stuff, forget about it. He had
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: bad batsbyed last year and the year before. He's just
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: a pure hitter if he's if he's healthy, if he
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: can find his timing. I think you have patience for
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: this type of bench bat, veteran bench bat.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: It makes sense.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I don't think he's cooked, as you know, as someone suggests, no,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: not toast.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: But.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: It is a disappointment that, like you, he was pitched
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: on or sold as being the guy who would step
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: in when there's an injury, and that's half goes down.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Say it goes from DHD the outfield plug in Justin
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Turner and kind of let him go and find that rhythm.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: He has not earned that.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Thus, far, but it's just like unrealistic to think that,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: like the Cubs organization is just like overflowing with guys
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: who can come off the bench and face like the
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: padres closer with the runner on third and one out
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: in the ninth inning, or whatever high leverage moment you
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: want to think of. It also doesn't make a lot
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: of sense to watch Craig Council from AFAR and see
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: him plug and play and mix and match with all
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: of these sort of mismatched pieces in Milwaukee and then
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: just not give him a guy such as Turner who
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: has done it at such a high level for such
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: a long time and very recently. You have to kind
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: of let this play out. And I do think that
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: his numbers at the end of the year may look terrible,
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: he may not get another contract, but you my gut
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: feeling is that he's going to have several of these
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: moments where you sort of look back at the end
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: of the year and you don't remember the numbers, but
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: you remember a walk off against the Marlins, like maybe
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: there's a big hit coming against the Cardinals. You know,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: the players such as Ben Brown or even some of
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: the more older experienced players who are sort of maybe
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: not in awe of Turner, but are just you know,
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: blown away by what he's accomplished in this game, Like
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: those are things that they can carry forward in their
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: own career. You know, Guys like Nico Horner and Ian
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Hap like love the details of the game, They love
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: learning and talking ball, and Turner seems to be just
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: one of those really enormous clubhouse presences that are really
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: hard to find. And I think you want to keep
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: that around for as long as possible.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I think that bids you time at minimum, That's what
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: does it buys you time. He eventually has to produce
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: semi regularly, maybe not have this superstar output, but just
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: just get some hits like that, get some big produce
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and some big moments.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: And I agree with you. I think I think more
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: of those are coming.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he's going to suddenly find his
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: slug again and become this rejuvenated Justin Turner, but I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: think he can.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: He can be a valuable bench piece for this team
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: situation only, Patrick, let's talk about another current bench piece
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: or DH for the Cubs in a sec Let's take
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: a quick break and talk about Moys's biasteris in his debut.
• 10:11
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• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Patrick, I shouldn't say Moyses's Biasterairis is a bench piece.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: He's a depth piece. He's called up to, you know,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: due to the Ian half injury. You touched on it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: In an ideal world, it would have been Justin Turner
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: just sliding right in. Maybe they call someone else up
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and don't make a forty man move. But Moyses's Biasteris
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: was raking at Triple A. He's a left handed pure
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: hitter and he probably deserved and earned that call up.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: He's he can hit. He has more development to go
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: as far as catching, but offensively, you know, let's see
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: what he can do. I think is the way the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Cubs are looking at this, and everyone is probably feeling about.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: What he did on Tuesday. Wasn't his best game.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I My favorite thing about Craig Counsel is he won't
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: sugarcoat things.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Really he he will. There's certain things he won't directly
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: tell us.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: If he's moving someone down in the lineup, if he's
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: if he's removing someone from a role from the rotation,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: or from the from the closer's role, or something like that,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: he won't tell us that he's doing that directly, He'll
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: just do it there.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: But it asked how what did you think of boys
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Bellian Stairs's debut? He said, it wasn't very good? Was it?
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Four ground balls? And I appreciate that honesty.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's the expectation going forward from Moyes's biastaries.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I don't I expect him to have some hard hit
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: line drives going forward.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was not the sort of like storybook ending,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: you know, as you know, we had our laptops out
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: and we're kind of writing the scene from this debut.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Who was rather forgettable. But it is always fun to
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: just kind of see these debuts and to see what
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: happened and see how people react and see how the
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: player handles it. I counted seven cameras, including the Cubs
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: productions team, shooting his pregame media session, which he answered
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: questions in Spanish and English, which I thought was interesting
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: and impressive that, you know, he has made a point
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: to communicate with American teammates on and off the field,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: knowing that's going to be a big part of his
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: development as a catcher. We'll see if he catches a
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: single pitch during this you know audition, it sounds like
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: it's only.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Going to be a week, although.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: In general the Cubs are usually more optimistic about these timelines,
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: you know, Ian Happ saying, you know, minimal time, counsel
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: saying minimal time. On the al, it usually drags out
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: a little longer with oblique injuries. But yeah, I mean,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: this is what the Cubs did in twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: twenty seventeen, just being able to roll out a top
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: one hundred prospect, give the team a little bit of
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: a jolt.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: See what you got.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I'm not taking this as a showcase for the trade deadline,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: but I guess you'd never know. Certainly four ground balls
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: are not gonna do it. But this is what we
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: talked about last show, of just accelerating that learning curve
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: of Okay, like, how do you calm those nerves, how
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: do you handle that anxiety? And like a weekend series
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: against the White Sox is probably going to be pretty
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: he amped up at Wrigley Field, But it's better to
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: get this out of the way now than in September
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: or maybe even October.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: He did admit he nervous. Yeah, you don't hear that
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: all the time. But I do appreciate that. I'm glad
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: he was honest with us and said he was pretty
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: nervous out there and that probably got the better of him.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: He rolled over probably a few pitches that he, you know,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: either would have.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I think a few of those were off the plate
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: away and that's not that's not to say he shouldn't
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: have swung at those, but he he knows what to
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: do with those, like he can poke those as the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: line drives, or not even poke them.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: He can hit them hard the other way. He knows
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: how to drive the ball.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: He knows how to you know, if there's any criticism
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: about him, it's probably that he doesn't offensively. I mean,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: it's probably that he doesn't pull the ball in the
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: air often enough. But I think some scouts have pointed
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: that out to me. But he's he has that ability.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: He has tremendous hitting ability. You're right, it really is
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: is a is A is a place right now with
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of energy. Again, it happened on a Tuesday night.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: This was the second insane Tuesday night where they're you know,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand this past Tuesday where it just felt
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: like it was a playoff atmosphere. It's supposed to be
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: a beautiful weekend this weekend in Chicago.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: This may be like the start of summer.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I don't think school has ended for anyone, any of
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the kids yet, so we're not quite there yet, but
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: it is. It is a weekend. It's the White Sox.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: I know the White Sox stink, but it's still a rivalry.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: I think the White Sox fans will show up if
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: they even win one. They're going to be talking smack
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and enjoy it, have fun with it. But it's going
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to be another moment for by Stairs where he has
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to kind of process it and make sure he can
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: handle those emotions. And he needs to He needs to
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: produce because he kind of has to understand that this
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: is you know, I stick around right now. He has
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: to produce whenever Ian happ comes back.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, just think where this guy was on Monday.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: He's playing MLB, the show his parents had just derived
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: from Venezuela, thinking they're going to see him play in
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Des Moines all week and Marty pv, the longtime IOWA manager,
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: informs him that he's going to the actual show, and
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: you know, all of a sudden, he's a designated hitter
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: at Wrigley Field, and you know, part of this learning process,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: I think what probably you're getting outside of and I'm
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: assuming some of these guys are saying, just as you
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: can go out and make contact with almost every pitch
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean you should, and that you know, tapping into
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: some of that power, really using your understanding of the
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: strike zone, and you know, maybe absorbing some of the
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: stuff from these veteran hitters who have created a pretty
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: good collective approach overall. I know it looks a little
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: different without Hap and Wednesday night was kind of a
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: you know, a throwaway game. But you know, not only
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: is he going to be shadowing the catchers and sitting
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: in on the you know, starting pitchers pregame meeting, he'll
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: have a chance to see how these you know, how
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: a Kyle Tucker goes about it, what a dan Zby
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Swanson does. Obviously, we just talked about Justin Turner's you know,
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: gravitas as a you know, someone who got into launch
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: angle before everyone was talking about.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: It and reinvented himself.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: It's the stuff that Dustin Kelly talked about on our
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: show whatever it was. Recently, a couple of weeks ago
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: about you know, this kind of group effort that they've
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: been putting in to try and wear down other teams
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: and you know, have situational approaches, play small ball when
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: necessary at Wrigley Field. I mean, it's gonna it's probably
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: gonna be a short amount of time. But there's a
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: lot he can pack into this experience.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he like, I agree. I think the the
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: learning aspect is huge. You said it.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: He'll be sitting in on the pitchers meetings, uh Friday,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: He'll be sitting in with Kate Horton, who finally gets
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: his first big league start against the White Sox at
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Wrigley It's we just talked about the atmosphere.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: That's gonna be fun for him.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: This is something I'm excited for just because seeing what
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: he did in New York was was impressive. He faced
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: a stacked lineup, pretty stacked line up in my opinion,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and and did well. Made a couple of mistakes and
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: they got hit. But other than that, he was he
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: was really impressive. This is a softer landing. I think
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: he was at the council. Was asked the other day,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: was that yesterday pregame Wednesday? You know, are you going
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: opener or or is Kate Horton starting? He didn't give
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: us the answer, but what was the thought process in
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: doing that? Well, Lindor Soto and Pete Alonzo, that was
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the thought process in doing that in the first place.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: It's a different lineup, a different lineup against the white Sox,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: So uh, don't don't wanna not ripping anyone as much
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: as saying that's another.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Level the white socks are struggling.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: This this has a chance to be one of those
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: pretty fun outings if if he can, you know, calm
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the nerves and and and go out there and and
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: kind of execute his pitches.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: We get to get into that now to have one
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: more ad I can't remember.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Oh you're you're right, thank you for it. Yeah, perfect,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Let's get to that ad and then we'll go forbid.
• 21:09
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• 21:11
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• 22:11
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, go ahead, give you give your Kate Thornton,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Kate Norton, Kate Horton thoughts.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, I love we.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: I was at dinner with our buddy Jesse Rodgers v
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: Span the other night and we were, uh, you know,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: right around Wrigley and just seeing the people coming in
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: and we're sort of talking about the team and like,
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: if you wrote it a couple of weeks ago of
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: like Wrigleyfield is rocking again. We had a show about that,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: and that energy is still there, you know what I mean.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: It's just one of those like it's gonna be one
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: of those seasons, like it's it's early, but it's not
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: too soon to say that. And Horton being introduced as
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: kind of a new character is gonna be.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Fun to watch, which you know, we've got, you.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Know, two teams trying to claim the Pope as their own.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: You're right about the White Sox fans coming out and
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: sort of circling this series and bringing a great energy
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: for that. Got some nice crossover you know between you know,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Will Venable, Jed Hoyer, Chris gets. But yeah, I mean
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Kate Horton, you know, let's see what you got. I mean,
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: he acquitted himself very well in New York. I want
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: to see it at Wrigley Field. Want to see it
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: without a council opener kind of getting in the way
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: of our stories. And like the thing with Horton right
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: has been He's got great stuff. He's got great athleticism.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: It's about kind of just going out out there and
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: doing it repeatedly. And I'm just kind of curious how
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: this past week has gone for him to kind of
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: become part of, you know, kind of the team's culture,
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: the game planning system, and like, yeah, the White Sox
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: aren't very good, so like go out there and kind
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: of shove.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at the weather right now, really hot tomorrow
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: in Chicago, really hot, mid eighties supposed to hit the
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: mid eighties, cools down to the sixties Saturday and Sunday.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: But I don't know what the wind's going to be doing.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: When I see eighties, I assume blowing out. It's also
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: been weird in recent years, so I don't know what
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: it'll be doing. It was blowing in again yesterday.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I left before the game started to go watch my son,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: so I didn't see that, but I believe it was
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: blowing in at least according to the box score. That's
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: three again, three in a row. Blowing this is it's
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: getting a little crazy how much it blows in. Maybe
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: that's what Kate Horton needs, maybe or maybe he just
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: maybe he doesn't care. Maybe he's just a batmansser and
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: we're going to see something special. Uh So I enjoy
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: this the way I think strikeouts by pictures are fun.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: The Cubs haven't had a lot of those guys in
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: recent years. Ben Brown is starting to look like one
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: of those guys. And if Kate Horton is as well.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I think we just talked about making decisions with moists
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: by a sterios. You want Kate Horton to force his
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: way into this rotation and say I'm here to stay.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: You Hope showed him and now it comes back as
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: soon as possible, and that Kate Horton is not going anywhere.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: That's what you want, that's what Cubs fans want, That's
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: what the Cubs want.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll see how this goes. I'm not predicting that.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know how stable it'll be for him. But
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: he's got he's got a stretch here of teams that
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: he should be able to handle. That he should be
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: you know, if he is ready for the big leagues,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: he should be able to at least give them quality
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: innings against these teams coming up.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: And in an interesting way, the White Sox offered kind
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: of this ray of hope with how they handled Garrett
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Crochet last year. There was weird stuff between the trade
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: deadline and contract extensions and you know, the worst season ever.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: But as you pointed out, and we wrote in the
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: Athletic and has we've talked about here, Garrett Crochet essentially
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: had a wire to wire start like he was around
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: whatever thirty starts. It probably gave him some pauses or
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: some rests or whatever the case was. But you go
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: to the Baseball reference page, it is a robust season
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: and he had an enormous innings jump. But that's, like
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: we say, is not how the Cubs measure it strictly.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: So if Horton can kind of establish himself, get on
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: a little bit of a role, fills some of the
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: void when you know, to top of the rotation starters
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: are down, I mean, it would be just a huge
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: organizational win and something that we'll give this team staying power.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, Ian hap said it Wednesday of this is
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: what Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins have built and every
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: team needs those impact guys to come up from the
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: miners and produce at the major league level. And we'll
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: see if Horton can force the issue. It seems like
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: the Cubs are probably gonna be a little more open
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: minded about that rather than by a steros just because
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: I think they want him playing every day. They're not
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: going to give up on catching the idea of him
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: catching just yet. So once again, everything is sort of
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: in front of Kate Horton.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and if if innings is in the slightest bit
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: of a concern, Creig Council is really good at managing that. Yeah,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: he's great at that. I mean, most most teams are
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: capable of doing this. They can draw plans, they can
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: find ways to get guys extra days, use the All
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Star break as a way to push things out, spread
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: things out, you know, and just whether it's five ten
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: innings to reduce over the course of a.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Season, maybe that's valuable and maybe that's easy to do.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: You look for you know, you're up eight to one,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: just pull them after five, you have a healthy Chris
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Flexen and a fresh Chris Flexen in there. Just throw
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: them out there for three or four innings if possible. Right,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: You look for these situations and try and make it work,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: all right, Patrick, three against the White Sox becomes you know,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I know fans want to sweep, and I am sure
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: that's what the ultimate goal is. You take series wins.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Right now, try and get through keep winning series, especially
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: in this week stretch. Hope you sneak in some sweeps
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: and keep going from there and once it gets tough again,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: then you have this big enough lead or you feel
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: comfortable enough that you just battle through the tough moments.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: We'll see how they do against the White Sox. It
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: should be a fun weekend and at Wrigley. Hope to
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: see some fans. Hope to see some of you fans
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: out there. Thanks so much for listening. This is Northside
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to rate,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: review and subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on top
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening everyone, Take care.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Dave saying Lord,