Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Javier Báez returns and Héctor Neris leaves as the Cubs go in a different direction

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Javier Báez returns and Héctor Neris leaves as the Cubs go in a different direction · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We may never see something like that ever again, or
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: maybe like a twenty years.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: It's just still rare to find.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Welcome into North Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: I'm Sahad Sharma with my co host Patrick Mooney. We
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: are your Cubs beat writers at the Athletic Patrick. Last
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: night we saw the return of hobbyer Bias to the
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Chicago or to Wrigley Field, i should say, And it
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: was not the Hobby we have grown accustomed to. I mean,
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: we all know that we've all seen Hobby Baya's play recently,
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: seen the highlights at minimum on Twitter low lights if
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: you want to call them that. First of all, I
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: just want to start with what Hobby meant to the
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Cubs before we get to how he.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Looked on the on Tuesday's night.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Hobby was a joy to watch, one of those players
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: that makes the kid come out and you and kind
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: of just giggle with joy, right because the things he
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: pulled off on the field were amazing. Even was it
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty or twenty twenty one the Pirates play. I
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: know we weren't on the road for that, but what
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: whenever it was, whether it's twenty or twenty one. It
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: was one of those seasons where we weren't traveling as
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: much and he just pulled off that insane play where
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: I believe Wilson Contreras scored from third and he it
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: was a ground ball to like first base. He should
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: have been out easily, and he just because he's Hovey Bayas,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: he he made that That player I believe it was
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Will Craig is his brain kind of falter, uh, and
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: he it was one you're right, yeah, and that that
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: poor guy Will Craig, who will forever be known for
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: that play. Uh, just to a just you know, the
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: type of play, like what is happening? How well I
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: would a player do that? It's because Hovey Baias makes
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: your brain short circuit. Uh. And you know the home
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: run against San Francisco, just his entire playoff run. I
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: always envisioned him like catching his gum in mid air
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: in the dugout and then's pointing to the camera. And
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I believe that was sixteen, the sixteen play. That sixteen
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: playoff run was just like this guy's a showman. This
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: guy steps up in the biggest moments, like this is
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: cool to watch and that's how you know, we can
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: touch on what happened Tuesday night, but that's how I
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: choose to remember happy Bias.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was one of those weird things
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: where you and I chatted before the game, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: doing our kind of coverage plan and.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Hobbes old news.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I feel like we had written so much on the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Elmago phenomenon that probably Cody in Detroit has written a
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: lot about his decline in Detroit, and that it had
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: been you know, three years since he got traded. That
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: it was just kind of like what are we doing here?
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: But I also felt like we had to address it
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: somewhere right like it had like his return. Just had
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to write in our place at the athletic Our bosses
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: are really good at not doing stuff out of like
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: obligation or eyewash. But it was just this weird kind
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: of you know, the Tigers are not good, Hobby is
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: not playing well, the Cubs are not exactly killing it.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Dansby has been an adequate replacement, but not like the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: guy or the man this year. I mean, Hobby would
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: probably be like a third string shortstop.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: On the Cubs right now, behind Nico.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I'd imagine yeah, you know, it's just seeing his numbers
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: is it's disoriented. Just think of a guy who, look,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: we all know he had gone through these extremes, these
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: highs and lows, but you would think that his natural athleticism,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: his instincts would give him a little more leeway here
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and that he could age maybe a little more gracefully.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, you think about the guys he's compared to
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: over time, like Roberto Alomar, you know, Gary Sheffield, Many Ramirez,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: that there would just be more there to work with.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: And you know, it was classic Bobby in the sense
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: of he was supposed to meet with the media right
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: when the clubhouse opened and then it was kind of
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: pushed back to BP. But he did sit for I
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: think it was about fifteen to twenty minutes and answered
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: a bunch of questions. And no, he's not someone who
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: has any regrets. I mean, he's got one hundred and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: forty million dollar reasons to be pretty happy.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: With his decision.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Got to give him credit, I would say, for not
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: being bitter about how his contract extension talks were derailed
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: by the pandemic.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I think there was very much momentum on both sides
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: there to get something done.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: It was right in that kind of deal zone in
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: spring training there of you know, early March, and you
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: could figure there could probably be a couple more back
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and forth to get something wrapped up before opening.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Day twenty twenty.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Obviously, the world changed, baseball economics shifted, and you know,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the Cubs kind of played it out. And I thought
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer said it well, of you know, there are
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: guys who were in the Hall of Fame who have
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: statues outside Wrigley Field, but taken together that group meaning Hobby,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Anthony Rizzo, Chris Bryant, I have every bit the same impact,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: if not more, on the city of Chicago and the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Cub's you know, greatest moment in franchise history.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: So he went over four with four strikeouts yesterday, right,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: and that's that's not good.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Obviously.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I'm just I just happened to look at these numbers
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: this morning. I don't want to bury the dude. But
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: he swung at zero pitches in the zone zero. He
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: swung nine times, swung and missed eight times, swung it
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: eight sweepers, swung and missed seven times at those followed
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: the ball off once. That's his only that's the only
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: time he made contact. It like he didn't see a
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: pitch in the zone like he or he didn't swing
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: at a pitch in the zone.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: It just he's not Wow, It's.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Just it was one of those things where like I
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: looked at the reporter next to me at one of
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: the swings and I just was like we just kind
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: of like looked at each other and shook our.
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: Heads like what what has happened?
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: And it uh, Yeah, it wasn't fun to watch him,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: you know, uh swing like that and look like that.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: It was one of those returns where it was nice
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: that he got his he got the standing ovations, like
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: I'm glad he had all those moments, but watching him
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: play was rough. I will say the defense is still there, right,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: like there was or at least the arm he there
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: was a play where it was a simple play, right,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: but like it looked like Bellinger was gonna beat out
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: an infield hit uh and and Hobby's arm just made
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: sure like it yeah, easy out. You know, he like
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: fired it like I saw him feel it, and I
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: was like, is Belenger gonna beat this out? And he
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: just fired it to first because his arms still a cannon,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: so there's that, but yeah, it was. It was tough
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: to watch him him play just because of who he was,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: uh in this city. Uh, but that's the reality of baseball,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: I guess. And he was someone that scouts would say
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: this like it could go quickly with him. He never
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: he never developed that like patience at the plate or
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: like a really great pitch recognition.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: It's kind of just a you know, concentrated you know,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: four or five years of special play and it disappeared
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: and it looks like it's gone now. But yeah, I
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: don't want to dwell on ripping him, Like it doesn't
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: feel like it's a worthwhile endeavor or fair to focus
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: on on all the negative Poppy baias.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: They didn't take you back right, Like watching that tribute video.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: The Cubs are excellent at those thank you videos because
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: they have great material to work with. And I think
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: just mentally kind of going running through the catalog of like, oh, yeah,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: we were there for that or I remember that one.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Maybe they should the only part of it I mean,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: but I mean that basket home run in Game one
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: of the twenty sixteen playoffs like totally set the course
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: for that playoff run and his emergence as not just
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: like a baseball star, but just a player who who
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, you saw it.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I mean just.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: How the way kids gravitated towards him, and the way
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: like the bias jerseys popped up everywhere, and how like
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: be like Hobby became a thing like.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's something we may never see something
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: like that ever again, or maybe like in twenty years.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: It's just so rare to find a player who transcends
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: things like that. I mean, we're growing up like Bo Jackson,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: but doing it in two different sports. But there aren't
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: many baseball players who bring that level of style and
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: entertainment to the ballpark every day, that feeling of like
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: what's Hobby gonna do next? And just the way even
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: major league players would kind of look at him like dude,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know how he does it or where he
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: comes up with this stuff. Just to keep to have
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: like you know, millionaire ballplayers and awe of you and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: like to have no clue like like where you're going
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: to be here, what you're going to do, or to
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: like the way him and Rizzo would just mess.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: With each other on like pop ups, playoffs.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: And how they would you know, Jed sort of alluded
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: to it last night of how there would be times
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: in those big games or he would just be so
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: casual making a play and it would just be like
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you know, sweating up in the box and hobby it
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: would just kind of do one of his kind of
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: you know, flick the ball or just kind of casually
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: catch it and make the play. And just what was
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: an unbelievable talent that is clearly it's clearly faded.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: And I think the next time.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: We'll probably write about him will be whenever the Tigers
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: release him.
• 10:45
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• 10:49
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• 11:25
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• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Right right, Yeah, And it's probably a good thing that,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: you know, Cubs fans didn't have to watch this version
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: of him, you know daily. They get those good memories
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: and they get to appreciate who he was at his best.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: And I think that's you know, that's a good thing.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: It's good to have those baseball memories. And and you know,
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: it was a pleasure to cover someone like that, because
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: you're right, it was like, what there were so many
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: times when I had a plan and then he'd he
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: would just do something. It would just be and I
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: was like, well, I got to write about that, you know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: And and it's like, yeah, I know, I've written about Hobby,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: you know, a dozen times already this season, but got
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: to write about that one. Like that's that's what the
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: fans are going to want to read about, and he'd
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: he'd change your plans because and it would just be
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: like something like seemingly simple, but it would it would
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: just it would be the esthetically like just watching it
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: happen was like, Wow, that was that was beautiful to
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: watch and I cannot believe he pulled it off. Uh,
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: And and you'd have to you'd have to ask people
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: about it and write about it and somehow explain something
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: that just you had to see to really witness to
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: really appreciate, right, I.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Mean that Pirates Play was a good example, and there
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: were just so many of those to your points, a
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: hot of of like you've got your plan and then
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: something like oh wait, well was that slide?
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Or they would immediately go viral, you know.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Between instant replay and social media. He was the perfect
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: guy for that window. But even in the biggest games
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: of his life, it got to that point in twenty
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: sixteen where you almost had to like expect a hobby
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: headline almost every game, like he was going to do
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: something that had to be written about.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Right, And yeah, absolutely So the Cubs did win last
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: night three to one. They did what they need to do.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: They need to continue to win before we get back
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: into talk. They are a second place team, Patrick, second place, Steve,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: But there's a lot more work before we start talking about,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: you know anything regarding the playoffs. They their bullpen again
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: was dominant. It's been pretty damn good since June one.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: This comes on the heels of them releasing Hector Nis.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: It was kind of a surprise that this happened at
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: this point. They called up Jack Neely, who is not
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: related to Cam Neely, A big man.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: I didn't I didn't ask him.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: But he's a big dude with a great mustache.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, confirm that, Yes, that is true. We'll see how
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: how he performs. I don't know, Patrick, this came. I
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: wasn't you know, I'm not surprised this happened at some
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: point in this final stretch. I was a little surprised
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: it came right now, But you know, Neares had been
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: I know fans are gonna remember all the stress.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: He provided, right like. It was never easy with him.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: The overall numbers since about like the middle of whatever
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: that was June or I can't remember the exact date.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: It was after the Tampa Bay series. The they were good,
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: they were pretty solid. If those were his season numbers,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: there would be no chance that you do make a
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: move like this. Those weren't his season numbers. And even
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: during that time, he was getting hit hard and and
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: he just he's a tight rope act every single time
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: he's out there. And the reality was I didn't realize this. Look, look,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: there's more to this than just the performance on the field. Right.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: I'll touch on that in a second, But but he
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: was like even during this hottest stretch, like from June
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: first on, like when the bullpen's been dominant, current guys
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: in the bullpen, I'm talking about guys that are still there,
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: that are in this bullpen. He was like seventh in
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: e R. That's how good this bullpen has been. It's
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: a deep group. I don't think anyone ever felt truly
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: comfortable with Hector Naris out there. And yes, was was
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Craig Counsel putting him out there. In big moments. Absolutely,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: I would go look at the players, especially lately, he
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: was faced. He was not facing the heart of the order.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Even against Toronto, did he ever face lad Junior. No,
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: that was usually Porter Hodge in big moments. I think
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: sometimes people focus on the ninth inning he was facing.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: He wasn't always facing the heart of the order. He
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: was facing the bottom of the order oftentimes when he
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: came into the ninth inning council was trying to get
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: his best relievers against the best players some but he's
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: still had ners in big situations because I mean he
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: can handle that moment, you know, in a sense.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: But this wasn't working. Obviously.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: There's more to this with his option and them getting
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: out from under that he it won't vest or would
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: it become. It would have become a player option if
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: he got to sixty appearances fourteen appearances short, would have
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: been pretty tough to get there, but it was like right,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: like if they had continued to use him like they had,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: it would have been like fifty nine, you know.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And there's also, right the game's finished component and finishing
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the season healthy, which he's been.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: Always throughout his career.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: So yeah, no, I mean.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: It looks shady, like it's not something that I think
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: you can be like, oh, give the Cubs a ton
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: of credit on this one of Like it's it's a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: little ichy, just you know, for a guy that you
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: targeted for his leadership ability as a guy who's kind
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: of revered by some of those young players in the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: clubhouse guy who's accomplished a lot in this game. It's
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: something that I think the MLBPA would certainly review. I
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: don't know how much is how much there is there though,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: when you look at any of the kind of under
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the hood numbers here, like and also just kind of
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: that eye test or you know, gut feel you talking
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: about there of like they didn't feel comfortable when he
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: was on the mound, and like there would be almost
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: any other reliever on the current roster. They felt better
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: than in almost any situation. And so I think we'd
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: expect him to latch on to a contending team.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Everyone always needs both end help. You kind of get
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: him in your organization for basically nothing.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: He has pitched in the biggest games. He's got a
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: World Series ring. You know he's going to be a
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: good dude when he walks in. And maybe it's just
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: as symbol as that of just find finding him a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: good landing spot and moving on and kind of forgetting
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: about it. But it will be interesting to see like
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: how much or how little they continue to either shed
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: veteran players or just look harder or try harder to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: create opportunities for for young guys in the last month
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: plus of the season.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that that certainly will be something we need to watch.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: It doesn't seem like it's something they definitely want to
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: do right now, but we'll see if they If they
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: don't take care of business over the next two weeks,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: it could make sense. I don't know, you know, I
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: think it would be more on the position player side,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: right than I guess, you know, like there's there is
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Jordan Wicks is gonna come back soon ish, maybe in
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: a ten days ish or be ready to come back, right,
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: We'll see how they maneuver that. That may not be
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: too complicated a thing to accomplish, So we'll see on that.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: But there are players obviously that could get some burn
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: this season. I think the two most obvious are Kevin
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Alcantra and Owen Casey. Didn't want playing time for these guys,
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: right o Contra is already on the forty man Casey
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: needs to be after the season, right, So those too
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: are obvious. We'll see on Like Biasteros, we'll see what happens.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you could go either way.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: You could say, like it makes more sense to bring
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: up Bia Stairs if they're contending right as a lefty
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: bat that they want and to force him onto the
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: forty man. So so I could see the argument either way.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: It's like, oh no, they're out of it, call them
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: up and get get them as much playing time. Well,
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: we'll see how that plays out. I think it's interesting
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: just how good this bullpen looks. And I think now
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: looking at it, like I really took a look at it. Yes,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: I know there's been individual performances. Porter Hodge has been great,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: Jorge Lopez hit like I'm just like watching him pitch
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: and then seeing this stuff sometimes I'm just.
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: Like, wait, this guy was released.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: I understand there's that was a complicated situation with the Mets,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: but wow, what like this guy isn't just like a
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: situational reliever for this team, Like he's throwing ninety seven
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: with good breaking stuff and and pitching the eighth or
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: ninth inning and he'll face it like he'll come in
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: against their best. Like two of their key relievers were
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: picked up off the scrap heep and Lopez and Tyson Miller,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: and Miller's like they're firemen. Essentially, you get a runner
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: on or a runner or two on and there's a
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: riety coming up called Tyson Miller. In this this bullpen
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: looks really good. And I know people are going to
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: look at the save stats, the blown save SATs and
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: say it's an issue.
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: Listen, it was.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: It was an issue for April and May, and there
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: were moments even in June and July where it was
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: it was like, oh, Wolf, you know, should cause problems.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: But that happens in general. There will be moments. It's
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: hard for a bullpen to be perfect, but I think
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: it it. You know, it's a strength of this team suddenly,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: and with with Hodge, I think Tyson Miller is under
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: contract for next year, right like almost certainly Jorge Lopez
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: for a while, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then Hoory Lopez isn't.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: But I think he's done enough for them to at
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: least be intrigued. He's very comfortable with this game. He
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: has a history with a lot of people in the org.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: I'm curious if they try and bring him back. I'm
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: missing other guys that have been really good. Drew Smiley's
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: been great. I know he's a free agent, unlikely he
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: comes back, but you know, this this bullpen is kind
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: of set up to to be. You know, they can
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: they can make some moves, add some veterans if they
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: want to in the offseason. But there's some young guys
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: suddenly with Hodge. I'm really curious to see what Neely does.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: He's got this what they call a splider because it's
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: a slider that sometimes has that that sometimes has armside action.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: That's what his bullpen coach in Iowa or bullpen catcher
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: in Iowa decided to call it, because it's a slider
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: that moves like a splitter at times. Neely said that,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: you know, it sometimes moves like a traditional slider. Sometimes
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: it suddenly has arm action. That's his that's his go
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: to pitch. And I think the dude at a fifty
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: two strikeout rate at Triple A with the Cubs, you know,
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: six and two thirds innings, but still.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Know where it's gone.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was working, That's all I know.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: And he throws in the mid to upper nineties with
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: a fastball.
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: Uh, he's a reliever. So we'll see where these young arms.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: They finally have some some stuff too, you know what
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, they have stuff in the bullpen. They have
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: guys that can pitch. Well, we'll see what it leads to.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: But I think that's an interesting part of the team.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: You have to be careful with this. You have to
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: be careful with bullpens. We've seen guys come up perform
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: for three months and then the next year they're nothing
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: like that, or they get hurt or whatever it is.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: But with those guys and then Mary, yeah, I know
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: he hasn't been perfect, but he's just kind of ramping
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: back up right now. There's a lot of guys in
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: this bullpen that you're like, Okay, you can keep them
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: for next year, and suddenly you don't have to spend
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: fifteen million to get like the top of the market reliever,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: not that they'd ever do that.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: You're reading my mind, sigh, But I was just about
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: to jump in there and be like, what does Jed
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: always say the worst time to evaluate players is spring
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: training in September? And I feel like there's very much
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a risk for the Cups talking themselves into like, hey,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: we figured out the bullpen, and my offense might clean
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: up against some really bad pitching staffs in September, and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: oh hey, Jordan Wicks came back and made two starts,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Like maybe I don't know, I have a feeling that
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Craig Counsel's not going to let a lot of that stand.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: That he will be very much.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: Reasonable and patient and willing to listen.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: But I think there's a huge danger in that this
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: like false sense of security that it sometimes feels like
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: feels like the Cubs create of you know, well, our infrastructure. Oh,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I mean we got sweepers and spiders and splinker whatever,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: you know, but you know, the the old the Cubs
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: always throw no hitters in the pitch lab and you
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: got to figure out how to you know, you know,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: make I think our buddy Jesse Rodgers mentioned this on
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Twitter of like, yeah, the overall numbers are pretty good,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: but like, look at it in high legge have they
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: made the pitches when they had to, And like when
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: you look at the amount of one run game save loss,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: when you look at a sub five hundred record, it's
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: like no doubt they are good at that kind of
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: process of piecing things together and on the fly. I'm
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: not saying it's nothing like obviously that's good, but like
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: there's a difference between like being competent and better than
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: teams like you know, the White Sox and the Rockies
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and then there's also that doesn't make you a playoff contender,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and that to me is gonna be the interesting part
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: of like when are they going to let the kids play?
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Let the kids play now that there's that many spots.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: But you know, Naris wasn't perfect, But if the Cubs
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: were winning and he was a little better, that's not
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: a guy that you just get rid of, right, I
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: mean they like that's kind of the nature of relievers,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and I get that, but uh, I think there would
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: have been a they would have exercised a little more
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: caution of right of like what if basically what happened
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: last year? What if all of our what if all
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: of their best relievers like go down at once? You'd
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: probably want hector Naris around or you would be be
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: a little more concerned about how is this going to
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: play in the clubhouse? And like if Neely was so good,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: wouldn't he be like pitching at Yankee Stadium right now?
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I don't know, It's I do think we are going
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to learn a lot over these last you know, month month,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: this last month or so, Like I think just by
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the by their actions, how people per form, how they
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: kind of process this, we'll be interesting.
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: Yes, and I agree with you.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: I think there's this isn't like full on waving the
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: white flag.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: But it it's a precursor if this next.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: It is kind of taking it out of the drawer
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: and just kind of leaving the white.
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, in case you want to rease.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like okay, because it I mean, I do
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: understand like you, everything you said is right about like
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: why you wouldn't release nears right in if they were
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: fully contending. But I also think like there's plenty of
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: reasons why you would in this kind of like borderline situation,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: you know, like it because it's this borderline situation. Then
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: you add in the financial component, which they'll never say
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: is is a factor, which absolutely is a factor. It
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: makes sense. Like I think it's like, like we said before,
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: I don't I don't like it. I don't like that
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: that teams do this stuff, but it's the reality of it.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: They they're they guaranteed, they just freed up nine million
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: for next season, so that makes sense for them.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I wish we could.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Show readers Jed's face when you asked, Hey, how did
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Nerris's potential vesting player option for next season factor into it?
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: It was this quick, quick head nod, headshake, sort of
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: a cringe kind of his lips curled up and then
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: just looked away for the next question.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: I think you've got one no.
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: The record file away just in case immediately.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a it was a quick no with
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: the headshake. Jesse Rogers does a good impersonation of it, so.
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: Uh, yeah, it will you know that.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: That's It's just how baseball is nowadays. It's not rare
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: to see stuff like that. It doesn't feel good, but
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: it is.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: I think these next next six weeks or whatever we're
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: at now, how they handle this, what they do, It's
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: got a lot is gonna be about how they perform, right,
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Like I was talking to to someone about this and
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: I was like, well, you know, if you lose you know,
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: seven of eight here when you should be winning, uh,
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: that kind of changes you're thinking And they were like absolutely.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: I was like, how much like you guys pay attention
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: to these playoff odds so much? But like what happens
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: if you win eight in a row, and it was
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: pointing out, well, your playoff odds go to thirty percent probably,
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: so you know, the thinking changes absolutely, so so yeah,
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: this next week. These next two weeks Tigers, Marlin's, Pirates, Nationals, right,
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: and then Pirates again. That's that's the season that that
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: tells us how how they perform on the field will
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: tell us a lot, and then their actions as these
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: things unfold the front office will tell us a lot, right,
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: and what direction they're going, what they're trying to figure
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: out for twenty twenty five. This was a move with
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: I think they justify it. They justify it to us
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: as like I thought one of player's quotes that you know,
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: it kind of got overlooked, and I get why it was.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: This is a lot like this move is like how
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: they handle the deadline. Yeah, could it helped for twenty
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: twenty four, sure, probably maybe, but it's also like, this
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: is a move for twenty twenty five and beyond, and
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: councils said as much at one point, nearly could be
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: better than Hector Nairis this season, right, he could be,
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: but mainly mainly this is to see if he can
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: help the team in twenty twenty five and beyond.
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: And that's what.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: That's what most of these moves were. They just weren't
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: going to make moves with twenty twenty four solely in mind.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: But we'll see if they can be better for twenty
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: twenty four. They don't instill a lot of confidence just
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: because they can't, you know, rattle off eight wins in
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: a row. They haven't done it. So I'm hesitant to
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: be like, hey, look at this. You know, the reality
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: is they're playing such poor teams, and you watch these
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: teams and you're like, yeah, okay, they can win eight
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: in a row, but they still haven't. They still lose
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: one nothing to the Toronto Blue Jays.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a crusher.
• 32:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: The player player of the week though in the a
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: l uh that was Bowden Bowden Francis. However his name is?
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: I was, I kept googling that guy, what's his name? Like,
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: is he you know?
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Is is he a name that prospects nerds are all
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: over that I should be aware of?
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: And then I looked at his reference page.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: I was like, he's kind of been ave, been an
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: up and down guy for a while and just absolutely
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: dominating the Cups.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: At Wrigley Field. So yeah, I mean.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Outside of the Yankees coming Wrigley Field and then the
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Cups doone out to Dodger Stadium, those six games, those
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: might be the only games that really uh have kind
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: of like playoff race integrity at stake. I know they
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: go to Philadelphia towards the end of the year, but
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: maybe things will.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Wrapped up by them.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, who knows in terms of what the Phillies
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: would still have to play for. But that I think
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: would be part of it too, of just you know,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: letting seeing what you have and making some decisions and counsel.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: You know, We'll say has been pretty consistent going back,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: you know, weeks several weeks probably before the trade deadline,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: of saying just because you trade away a veteran player
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and bring up a young player does not mean you
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: are incorporating a lesser player. That was part of his
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: whole gray area thing that, you know, kind of a
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: theme that emerged gradually over the summer of how he
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: feels like it's a lot more nuanced than just buyer
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: seller and it's not just veteran and unknown that you know,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: he is very much willing to work with unproven young talent,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: and he very much has the future in mind as well.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: And so how that plays out we don't know exactly.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: I think we will find out shortly after the season.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: You know, and as we get into the off season
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: of like what council really wants and what he really
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: thinks of this organization. But for now, we're seeing these
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: kind of smaller moves that taken together, whether it's the
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: greatest trade, the lighter trade than nearest goodbye.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: It has shown us a lot about what the Cubs
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: and what they're thinking.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm almost more interested in that council stuff.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: He was just talking about how what kind of sort
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: of things he's going to adjust come whatever it is
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: October or later. That's going to be fascinating and I'm
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: looking forward to breaking all that stuff down.
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: So the Cubs have two more against Detroit. We will
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: be back for or an episode for Friday, I believe, right. Yeah, yeah, Well,
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: we'll get some of your questions subs, fans airing of grievances.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: We'll see if it's an airing of grievances or how
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: how fans are feeling. Maybe maybe the Cubs will finally
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: swept the Tigers. I'm not I'm not gonna pull my breath,
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: but we'll see where they're at and how fans are reacting.
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: Well, we'll take the.
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: Pulse of the fan base. Thanks for listening everyone, This
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: is Northside Territory. Make sure to subscribe, rate reviews. Subscribe
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: to the YouTube clip page.
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: That would be great.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: Subscribe to The Athletic where you can read Patrick and
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: I work on the cubs. We'll be back at this shortly.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. Take care,