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Cubs news and notes: Kyle Tucker, Shota Imanaga and more from Wrigley Field · 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: Sahadik 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 or three from the Pirates, set up four against.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: The three or four, three or four.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, take three or four. They're setting up three against
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the Brewers here and and then the Mariners to wrap
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: up a longer home stand. I mean, the reality is
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: they're not playing their best baseball right now. The HAF
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: doesn't look great, but they're doing enough. They've they've grown
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: their lead over the past two weeks, two and a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: half weeks in the division, their first place team that
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: has a bigger division lead than they did a few
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: weeks ago. And you know, baseball is a long season.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: It is you're not going We've said it when they
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: when the offense was clicking, they weren't going to score
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: six and a half runs a game. What you didn't
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: want was a collapse of the offense. And if it
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: did collapse, you want to find ways to grind out wins.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: It seems like they're doing that right now.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not a ton of style points. And I
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: don't know if winning ugly is too harsh because the
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: pitching has been good. They have an excellent defense, and
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: they've executed enough in the right moments against a run
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: of really good starting pitchers, I mean types of guys
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: who are gonna get cy Young votes this year, who
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: you would trust starting playoff games. And yeah, I mean,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: going back to the end of that really soft stretch
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: of the schedule when the worst ever Rockies left starting
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: kind of at the tail end of May, there it comes.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: We had a three game division lead, and now it's
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: up to five and a half games without really like
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: blowing teams away with their offense the way they did
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: earlier this year. And I think it speaks to the
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: adaptability of this offense, the points of emphasis they've made
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: on finding different ways to win at Wrigley Field. And
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: then of course, yeah, I mean pitching and defense has
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: been very good here, all right.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: So some quick numbers, Patrick, they have the lowest so
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: since May twenty six, so that's the start of that
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Colorado series at home, right, So this is about six
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: ten games at home, nine games on the road, so
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: a decent mix. Lowest batting average in baseball during Matt Stretch.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: As far as way to Runs Great plus, third lowest
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I head of Pittsburgh and Colorado runs scored that is
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: third lowest, ahead of Cleveland and Kansas City sixty four
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: runs scored two twenty five batting average eighty four way
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to Runs Great A plus. They also sorry, not two
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: twenty what did I say? Two twenty five batting average.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: They also have the lowest babbite to sixty three. They're
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: not striking out a ton. It's not like they're putting
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the ball in play. They're striking out, you know, below
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: league average rate. They're from just not finding any holes
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: right now. This is this was kind of inevitable. You
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: didn't expect it to be this low. But you know, again,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: they're winning games. I think the offense will turn. We
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: talked about Dansby Swanson recently. He was really struggling. Now
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: he comes up with some big hits. Ian haf struggles
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: comes up with big hits. It's you know, we'll get
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit into Kyle Tucker soon. But he's not
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: really hitting much. He's not doing a lot of damage.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: PCA was He's bound to cool down. He can't constantly
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: play like the way he was. He's still hitting, but
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: he's not he's not at the pace that he was before,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: which was an insane pace. Uh, just just in general,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, the offense is not doing a lot. You
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: know all those numbers with the bullpen, Patrick, and it's like,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: from this point they're this good. They have the fourth
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: best era in baseball just overall. It doesn't mean don't
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: don't don't exclude any of the stinky times, any of
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the bad times. Fourth best bullpen her in baseball. They
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: are a really good bullpen that along with some solid,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: strong starting pitching. The bullpen has just kicks a bot lately,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and and they're the reason they're winning a lot of
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: games right now. They're they're able to extend this lead
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: because they have a great bullpen right now. I don't
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: know how long that will last. And hopefully this all
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: times up properly for the Cubs. The Cubs hope that
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: when the bullpen eventually hits a rocky point, the offense
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: gets going again and you win some eight to five
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: games or something like that. That's, you know, that's how
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: really good seasons happen, because it's I think I think
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: sometimes with Cubs fans, at least of recent vintage twenty
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: sixteen gets stuck in their head as that's the only
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: way to win, that's the only way to have a
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: good season, because that that year, I mean, we've brought
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: this up before, the five and fifteen stretch was the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: only blemish. They were awesome throughout the season, and then
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: they hit a little rocky patch in against Cleveland and
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: still came back and won the real periods. But that
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: that's it. That that team was so dominant from start
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: to finish that I think having a good season and
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: having the normal ups and downs of a season sometimes
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: fans don't don't fully appreciate that that's that's just normal.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: You're you. You can still win ninety two games or whatever,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: and and have these moments where not everything is perfect,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: especially the pitching they're growing up against.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just sort of avoiding those huge crashes.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: It's just a big part of being a successful organization.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And we've seen it the last two years where stretches
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: have sort of sunk the Cubs, And you know, I
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: think it's important to not get swept in Detroit, to
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: not get swept in Philadelphia, to win that four game series,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: against a bad Pirates team. I mean all four games
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: were sort of coin flips, right, I mean all one run,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: one run games. One goes into extras, like you know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: the good teams find ways to kind of uh, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: press those small advantages. Yes, PCA was going to cool down.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Maybe he's not, you know, I think whatever it is
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: right now, he still has that game changing ability every
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: time he steps to the like and you saw that
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: against what was it Heeny the other night? You have
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: they have trades that should not go into slumps, meaning
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: their defense and pa just making plays that probably aren't.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: They probably look easier than they are on TV. It's
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: just that he gets such great jumps and is so
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: fast and so instinctual that he makes the play without diving,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: and he has time to sort of settle underneath it.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Like those are plays that for you quote unquote normal
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: center fielders might look far more challenging, but he just
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: sort of does it with ease. It's kind of amazing
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: to watch, particularly from our vantage point up in the
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: press box. Yeah, Nico said that game as well, with
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: his defensive play saving a run that was in the
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: tenth right, that was in the tenth inning, keeping keeping
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh off the board there and making and you know,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: setting up being halfer his game.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Any hit. Defensive, yeah, you're right, it shouldn't slump. It
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: doesn't really swamp, and this team has it, you know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: pretty much across the board. Everyone is really strong defensively.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: So you have these these aspects. I think sometimes you
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: focus on one area. The offense was so good that
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it's easy to say, like they're not playing well. I
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: don't want to dwell on it, but Wriggly sucks right
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: now for offense still. It's just it's amazing how bad
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: it's been all season long. You know. I think we
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: may get some shift here this week because the rain's
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: gonna come in and it's gonna get really hot, so
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: that may Typically it does lead to the wind blowing out.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: But I don't want to predict anything but that weird
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Brigley has been But it's been rough, and I don't
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: think that's the only reason the Cups. I mean, there's
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: been a little bit bad luck, just not getting the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: job done, and then Wrigley factors. So those are all
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the things. It's it's not just one little thing, but
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: they're they're not they're not doing enough as far as
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to justify saying like, oh, it's a fine offense, but
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: they're doing enough as far as winning games, and I
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: think that's that's all that matters.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Really.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Yet you would you have would you have loved to
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: constans have loved to have seen them kind of extend
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: this to like an eight game lead in the division. Sure,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: but when you go through these down moments, you just don't.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: You didn't want it to become a two game lead.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: You didn't want it to be uh, you know, like
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: a disas like the road trip, to go like two
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and seven on the road trip. Things like that. You
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: don't want those types of things to happen, and and
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: they didn't. They they've avoided disaster thus far. Let's take
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a quick break and talk about some of the injuries
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: or or you know, situations with big injuries going up.
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• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Patrick, it was a little odd to see uh Kyle
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Tucker not in the lineup Sunday. He's been dhing a lot.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Sunday was odd because Mitch Kellard's on the mound. He's
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: a really good pitcher, he's pitching really well right now,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and lefties hit him you're your best player, your best
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: offensive player is not the lineup who's a lefty. It's
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: just an odd situation. Uh, what was the explanation you
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: were you were there on Father's Day? What what what
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: was the explanation council gave?
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Uh, it's still there. We're talking about his sprain right
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: ring finger that I believe it was June first, right
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: before the start of that three city road trip, And
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: the way council explain was it's not bad, but the
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: idea was hopefully to get two days with Monday's off
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: day factored in without him essentially swinging a bat. And
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: so Tucker came up, was in the on deck circle
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: in the ninth. The Cubs did not use him as
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: a pinch hitter in that moment because first base was open.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Use him in the tenth. First base is open. He
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: gets intentionally walked, as expected. So I think this is
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: kind of a consideration here, just something to monitor. Not saying,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: you know, not to be alarmist. I think it's just
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: being pragmatic. Like when you're talking about a baseball player,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: the hands are really important. Like we're not playing soccer here,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: so like what is required on a daily basis is
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: gonna test him here and so, and I think it's
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: probably hard to just, you know, totally shut him down
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: and get him rest to where it probably does feel
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: one hundred percent. Like I don't think they're quite there.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's noticeable how a gold glove defender has
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: been dhing more. You know, he needed on the front
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: end of that road trip, needed some extra time to
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: let the swelling go down and let it heal. So like,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I don't think this means Kyle Tucker is a totally
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: diminished player, but it is something that's certainly on their radar.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: And kind of see how he presents Tuesday, and you know,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: this is a stretch where they have the off day Monday,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: but it's it's been a lot of games stacked stacked
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: here in a row. It will continue to be that
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: way sort of through the end of the month. And
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: so you can't obviously replace a Kyle Tucker, but this
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: is something that it seems like they're going to have
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: to manage.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just looking at his numbers since the finger which
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: happened against Cincinnati at home, I believe he was he
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: was starting to really hit. It seemed like he was
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: about to like get on a little bit of a
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker role, and he's not. He hasn't been bad,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: he just hasn't been great. He's been above average offensively,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: which for him is not you know nothing, that's just normal.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: It's just normal for him to be slightly above average.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Four extra base hits, only one home run, striking out
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: a little bit more than he normally does, a lot
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: more than he normally does, twenty seven point seven percent.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: That is like forty seven played appearances. It's not a ton,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you know. I think councils being smart here trying to
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: find ways to get him breaks. It definitely does stand
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: out when he's not in the lineup on Sunday. But
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: you know, I guess you just got to do to
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: do what you can to get this guy as healthy
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: as possible. But you know, it's what baseball players say.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Once the season starts, you're never one hundred percent again
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: till the offseason. So I guess you figure it out,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: you try and get through it. I don't it doesn't
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: sound like alarm bells just yet, but it's their best
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: offensive player. You've got to keep an eye on it.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: You got to see how he's doing the strikeouts. Looking
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: at that strikeout rate is a little surprising to me.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: You know, that's something that you know, I'll keep an
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: eye on now that I've noticed that, and and just
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the general lack of consistent power. If he can get
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: healthy and get through it, you're fine. It's like everything
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: else that we've been talking about here, just try and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: find ways. You want to get as healthy as possible,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: but you don't want this to linger too bad. You
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: don't want it to linger to the point where it's
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: impacting his offense consistently. If he can play through it
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: and still kind of get healthier, then I guess it's fine.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: You'll you'll make it work.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I mean what we talked about in the first segment,
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, Kyle Tucker at less than one hundred percent
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: is certainly a factor here. And you know, even when
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: he is not maybe at full strength, just his name
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: in that lineup is something that the opposing team has
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to think about, like he is the guy that you're
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: game planning for. He is the presence that helps the
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: other guys in the lineup perform and produce. And as
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: we've seen, he's a really well rounded player. I mean,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the cubs best defensive alignment has him in right field.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And he is.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Very alert, heads up base runner just and even when
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: he's like struggling, it's not like he's a non factor.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: You know, he's working those walks like you know, he
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: he is that presence in the box, like he sets
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: the example. And you know, so just with all of
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: those things taken together, I think, you know, you can
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: kind of take a deep breath when you've looked at
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: this stretch of like what's going on with the offense.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: It's like, once the kind of cycle out of this moment,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I think it'll go back to being, you know, a
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: pretty high performing unit.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at at his numbers overall, like since
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: so I had that pulled up from May twenty six,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: when when the offense seemed to like kind of go blow,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: you know, get going this little funk. He's their second
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: best offensive player, way a round spread of plus. Michael
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Bush is their best He's he's crushing the ball. He's
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: been crushing the ball. He's been doing really well, hitting
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the ball hard, sending it over the fence. He's been
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: their best player over the last I guess three ish
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: weeks or so, and a big reason why why they
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: haven't fallen apart offensively completely. Ian has had some really
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: good games too. It So you know, these things, these
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: small samples. I don't want to read too much into
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: it anyways, but you know, I think that's what council
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: has been talking about, and that's what we talk about
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: a lot. With this offense. You just you're just gonna
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: need different guys to step up. Right now, it's Michael
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: busch uh and and eventually it'll be someone else out.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we'll get healthy and he'll carry the team for
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: probably a very long period of time. Patrick, Let's let's
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: take another quick break and get back and maybe do
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• 19:13
  Speaker 1: So Shoda through again over the weekend in Arizona another
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: you know, this time it was four innings, I believe
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: four innings for strikeouts. You know, he's coming out of
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: these healthy. I think that's all that matters. You want
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: him to look good obviously, and he has. But help
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: is the main thing here. What's what's next for Shoda?
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: And and kind of not just next immediately, but what
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: does it look like? What's the potential return here to
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the big leagues.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: So the plan is for Shoda to throw another bullpen
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: this week in Arizona before heading out for a Friday
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: start with Triple A Iowa. The hope would be stretching
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: him out to seventy seventy five pitches, and at that
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: point he'd be kind of right on the verge of
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: returning to the major league rotation. The Cubs, as of
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: pregame Sunday, had not yet made a decision on whether
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: or not he'd need an additional start with Iowa. I
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: think they're kind of kind of let things play out,
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: see how he feels, see how he responds. You know,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: they haven't ruled anything, hadn't ruled anything in or out
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: at that point, but you know, you could see him
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: returning there in late June for that Cardinal series at
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Bush Stadium, if not shortly after that. So positive updates
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: thus far, like to our knowledge, no setbacks. It helps
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: that it wasn't an arm injury, you know, it's dealing
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: with a hamstring issue is a little different. But still,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: you know the Cubs, you know how counsel talks about
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: these things. You know how the pitching group thinks like
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: they're still you know, a fairly conservative group that you
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: know thinks more long term and certainly is not going
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: to push him. And I think you know a big
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: part of this too is just how how Showa feels.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's not you know, he was, you know,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: amazing and healthy last season. He said he had never
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: really had kind of lower body issues in Japan. So
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: we'll see how he comes out of Fridays start with Iowa.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, assuming that all goes well and he has good
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: chance to start in Saint Louis. The next question is
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: who's who's out of the rotation? Right? And I think, uh,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: you know, Colin Ray looked good. He got the job
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: done on Sunday. It's it's not a good Pirates offense.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I understand that, but he got the job done. Ben
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Brown is just not looks good enough. He's really inconsistent.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: He has these blow up outings. And you know, I
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: was a little hesitant in the last in our last
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: episode kind of discussing who who should be taken out
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of the rotation? I think it really is it kind
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: of maybe just like a start to start thing. I
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: don't I think it's Ben Brown. I think that's the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: right answer. I think you were leaning heavily Ben Brown
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: is the guy out of the rotation. I think I'm
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: leaning that way. I just I think the talent and
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: the upside is so high that that I want to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: see him more. I also don't know, like maybe maybe
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: it's just a mental thing and he can work on
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: that and get five dominant starts in triple A and
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that's all he needs to like get get him clicked
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and going, and and they can bring him back up.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I just don't you know, it'll be interesting to see
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: how they maneuver that, because they do believe he's a
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: long term starter. So do you do. It's a packed
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: bullpen that we talked about. That's pitching really well. You
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: need pitch. You always need starting pitching death, so you know,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: not keeping them stretched out is a risk. Uh, it's
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: it's it'll be interesting. I'm very curious to see how
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: they make this work.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Then we'll we'll get into trade deadline time soon enough.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I know. I know there was a wild one yesterday
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Sunday trade yesterday. I don't think that's kicking off trade
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: season early. That was a weird situation. Uh, it was
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: a shocking thing to see on my phonetrated for the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: San Francisco Giants. But that I don't think that means
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Jed can now pick up the phone and get a
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: starting pitcher.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: But it will be interesting over the next what it
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: would have got five ish six is six yus six
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: ish weeks before the deadline, and and they're going to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: add a starting pitcher. Uh, how they all, how it
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: all fits together and how it all looks will be Uh,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: it will be interesting, no doubt.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: And I think you know we've we've seen players go
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: to Iowa me Matt Shaw's the latest example of going
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: down the work on stuff kind of reset, And I
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: just personally think that could benefit Ben Brown. I think
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: you're right in that you don't want to foreclose the
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: possibility of him being a starter again this season. So
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: even if his stuff may play up in the bullpen,
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, taking him from that routine would
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: not make a ton of sense. And I just think
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: you get him to a place where you know you're
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: probably gonna need him in August or September whenever, and
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: you want him right for that moment, and you know
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: at a certain point you we're talking about late June
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: for Shoda's return. I mean, Ben Brown has had the
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: opportunity and it has like shown everyone why the Cubs
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: are optimistic and you know why they've believed in him
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: and why they traded for him, like no doubt. But
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: this is a first place team that's built on pitching
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: and defense. And I still just say, well, well, I mean
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Colin Ray has has the contract, you know what I mean,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: like he has kind of the the status there. He's pitched,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: you know, really well as a whole. He's also very
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: much on you know, council's wavelength. They have that history
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: in Milwaukee. You know, he knows kind of what the
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: manager wants. Uh, he's willing to do different things. And
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: so yeah, I mean ideally showeda comes back and not
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: long after that the front office goes out and gets
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: another starting pitcher. But to your point, the whole only
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: in Boston endeavor situation seems like such an outlier that
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's gonna be like a rush on
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: uh other uh, you know, superstar level players. I know
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: that was the name you had heard a long time ago,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: right Like if if the Red Sox hadn't done that
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: mega extension, you know, who knows maybe.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah in Chicago, now yeah, I mean, who knows what
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: we're jed spending would have been like. But that was
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: certainly someone that they had their eye on. Uh. And
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: and would have liked to insert inserted into their lineup.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Obviously it would look very different right now. Who knows
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: where this scheme would be if that had happened. Uh,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know if it's worth even bringing up.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring it up, but I don't. I don't
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: think Kate Horton is an option to go down. Craig
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Council loves him. No, Craig Council loves him. I understand
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: there's some thoughts out there that he like, what do
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: you do about his innings? I don't think they're overthinking
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that stuff. He seems good, he seems healthy, he seems
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: like really like close to like taking it to another
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: level like his I just I wouldn't overthink that, you know,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: don't don't overthink the innings stuff there and just listen
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: to what Council has to say about him. He very
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: clearly thinks this guy has the mental capacity and the
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: physical capacity to be a great picture in this league.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: He he he talks about his ability to like go
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: out there and compete, the way he talks.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: About him and the way he talks about his ability
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: to pitch. You know, Council doesn't get all flowery with praise.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: But if you listen to him, you can tell when
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: he's like he likes someone or he thinks highly of him,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and and Horton's in that category, Like there's no he's
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't overthink things there. If you're wondering if that's possibility,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I just don't think it is not right now. If
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: innings or or you know, worrying about him, you know,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: being overused or getting hired that don't monitor that. They
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: have ways of checking on that, and and then they'll
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: they'll keep tabs on it and do whatever they need
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to do. But I don't think that's coming anytime soon.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: They don't seem concerned about it at the moment. He's
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: pitching too well, he's too important for this team right now.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I think you just keep writing.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: That, Uh agree, one hundred percent. I would also point out,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: as we always say, like more stuff is going to happen.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: So as as close as SHOWDA appears to be now,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: there's still a lot of days that have to go
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: off the calendar. The Cubs are going to have to
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: cover a lot of innings between now and then, and
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: we just don't know who else is going to show
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: up at Wrigley, you know, this week or road and
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: you know something's barking or something isn't feeling well, Like
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: that's just kind of the nature of the game, and
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe these decisions kind of sort themselves out,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: and you know, Ben Brown will have, you know, some
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: opportunities here to keep to change their minds or to
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: kind of cement his status and show what the Cubs
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: have seen. And honestly, like we've seen it. It's been
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: on Sunday night baseball at Dodger Stadium. I mean it
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: was against the Brewers last year. With that, you're kind
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: of flirting with a no hitter. I mean there's you know,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: significant stretches, like big moments where you're like, oh, I
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: get it, wow, And there just hasn't been enough of those.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: And this is not a team as we all know,
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: that's in like development mode. Like the runway just isn't
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: won't be there for that much longer and the Cubs
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: are just going to have to make decisions.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Yep, No, I completely agree on that. All right, Thanks
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: how much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: channel and subscribe to The Athletic or Patrick and I
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: are on top of all things Cubs. We'll be back
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: with a couple more episodes this week. Three against the Brewers,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: three against the Mariners, and then a road trip that
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: starts in Saint Louis. Four in Saint Louis. That's the Yeah,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the first time they're playing Saint Louis. They're not playing
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: as well as they were, you know, a week ago.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: But we'll see where they are a week from now,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: because that's always fun. All right, We'll be back at
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: it soon enough. Take care everyone, Thanks d