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Chicago Cubs second-half preview: Good luck trying to figure out this team · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Do you want to trade Christopher Morrell? Uh No, because
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I believe there's more there. The results will cup, but
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that's how I look at those.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I have to think.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome into the north Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahade Sharma with Patrick Mooney, your Cubs beat writers
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: at the Athletic. We're going to preview the second half
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of the Cubs. Maybe give some predictions here, Patrick, I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: have one that I'm I'm I'm ready to unleash that
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: is not surprising that I will get yelled at by
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: both you and our friend Jesse Roger. But I'm I'm
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: going with Christopher Morrell having a big second half. Those
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: those expected stats are he is going to live up
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to those expected stats. I'm I'm saying it. And here's
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: here's why I'm like, like, this is why I want.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: To do this.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I stuck with Kyle schwar over and over and over again,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and then I jumped off the boat at the wrong time.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Made the mistake of not just sticking with my gut
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and and sometimes it doesn't work right. My gut said,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you know, say, Suzuki was going to have an MVP
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: get some MVP votes this year. That doesn't look very likely.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So you know, I'm I'm sticking with him Kyle Schwarber.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: If expected stats were a thing when Kyle Schwarber was around,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I think he would have been like a king of
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: them back in you know, like I'm pretty sure like
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that first half in twenty nineteen was like one of
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: those things where if I would have been paying attention
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: to expected stats, I would have been like, oh, yeah,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I can see this second half coming. And then and
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: then he was a monster for two and a half months, right,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the final two and a half months of two thousand nineteen,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and then twenty twenty happened and we know the story
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: from there. But yeah, that's why I'm sticking with Christopher
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Morrell because I stuck with Kyle Schwarber and jumped off
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: too quickly or not too quickly, but right at the
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: wrong time.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: And uh so I'm going with that as.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: As a key reason why I think they're going to
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: stick around. I don't I'm not going to predict that
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: they make the playoffs. I don't trust that, but I
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: think they're going to stick around, and the offense is
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: going to be a little bit more consistent. I'm not
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: ready to go full bore on the offense again.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: But I did score the sixth most runs in baseball.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Heard, Oh is that true? Okay, that's interesting interesting. Uh yeah, no,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: so that's a I'm jumping right off the bat with
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: a Christopher Morrell.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it's also been the All Star breaks has
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: cleansed me of the of the of watching him and
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: being like, I don't know if this guy, this is
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: frustrating groundball double play with the bases loaded, kidding me
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: with this guy? Uh so maybe maybe I've just like
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: refreshed myself. Uh and and my Maybe maybe he has
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: as well. And he'll take that Sunday to Homer game
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and and and uh and the motivation from Jim Edmonds
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: and and no and go with.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was classic because I feel like pretty much
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: every team has some sort of dumb elaborate home run
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: celebration team wide. Now, you know, I feel like that's
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: pretty commonplace now, Like I don't think Morrell has ever
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: done anything out.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: Of the ordinary.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: And he's like the friendliest guy ever, Like right go
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: around the Cubs.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: Uh, I would see how he's always like shaking.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: Hands with the umpires and going out of his way
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: to like, you know, point at the opposing dugout and
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: wave before his first st at bats. So, no, Christopher
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Morel is an absolute gentleman. He's a pleasure to be around,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: super positive, and like I'm with you, like I if
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: you look back at what I wrote throughout the offseason,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: like you know, players like this don't just like fall
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: out of trees, right, Like he's.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Got a lot going for him.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: My point was, and I think you started this way
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: just to troll me and Jesse, is that no one
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: cares about the expected stats at this point. I don't
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: care how many, like if that would have been a
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: home run in twenty seven other stadiums, Like, it is
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: all about results at this point. And I'm glad you
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: mentioned say it, because how many home runs has he.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: Hit as a Cub?
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I would be guessing.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I would say, what's three seasons sixty so he's hit
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: forty seven as a Cub?
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: Okay, how many home runs did Kyle Schwarber hit last season?
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Forty something? Right?
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: Forty seven?
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay.
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: I just.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Becomes one of those things where like this is a sprint.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: They have to win, and no one.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Really cares like how well thought out any of those
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: moves were, you know what I mean, Like it made
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: set like counsel kind of looked around, like who else
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: is going to play third base? Like sure there was
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: some belief in curiosity about morel but it's also like
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: they didn't have a ton of options, and like, say,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: as a fine player, but like he needs to come
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: up big here. I mean, we need Cody Bellinger to
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: get healthy and be that slugging presence in the mind
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: of the lineup that he really just hasn't been thus far.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: And Mike Talkman, as we've discussed, had been sort of
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: similar and that's not really how this roster was imagined.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: So I think my prediction will be the Cubs will
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: finish with eighty three wins again, they won't sell, and
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: they'll just miss the playoffs. That to me is how
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: this is lining up. Just a total repeat of last
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: year and then a kind of out of some sort
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: of rackoning.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: We'll see.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Here's something funny.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Mike Talkman has a one fifteen way to runs great
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: a plus one twenty three ISO, right, So that's about power.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: ISO is about power.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger is a one to eight way to runs
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: great a plus and a one forty one ISO, so
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: slightly more slug yeah.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: But not a ton more. And like they they're kind
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: of similar players this year.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: It's very odd, uh, you know, And I guess that's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: not like we shouldn't be shocked. Like Bellinger last year,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: there were all the bat at ball numbers, we had
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: all the data, we talked about it. You know, it
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: was analyzed to death, so you know, and then you
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: look at the years before that, and you kind of like,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: this is this shouldn't be a shock to us. There's
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: a reason the Cubs and you know, twenty nine other
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: teams were hesitant to give him the type of deal
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: that a superstar would would deserve. So so I guess
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I guess we shouldn't be shocked, but I'm a little
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: surprised at how similar those two players have been this year.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: We can we could debate, certainly could debate about you
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: know who, speaking of expected stats, who we would expect
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: to have a better second half, or like who has
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: a higher ceiling. Sure I get all that, but I'm
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: just like, when I look at Mike Talkman stats, I'm
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a little like, why does this guy you know why
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: isn't this guy appreciated more sometimes? But he's I don't
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: know if this was clear because I wrote he's he'll
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: be back after the break. I'm pretty sure we were
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: told he'll be back on Friday. I should check my
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: tape to be one hundred percent certain, Like I'm ninety
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: nine point nine percent sure that's what we were told
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: us he's back Friday. Not that there's not like a
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: speculator like, oh maybe this maybe that it sounded pretty certain,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: so that, yeah, I think that that is going. I'm
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: very curious to see how that plays out. We've touched
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: on that already. Uh, Christopher Morrell has to play. They
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: need power like, there's no reason to think about changing
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: what they do there. I'm I think for me, when
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I look at the second half, and yes, the offense
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: is is a is a big question mark?
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Right? Can they be consistent?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Can can guys like Morel and Dansby Swanson and the
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: catcher position, whatever, all the.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Things we've talked about.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Can they step up what what we saw for ninety
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: plus games out of the pitching staff, the starting pitching staff,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: that was a surprise to me that completely I thought
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: they could be average ish maybe a little bit above
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: with I expected Tyan to bounce back. I wasn't sure
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: how good Steel would be. I wasn't sure. I thought
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: showed I had a high ceiling. I wasn't sure about it.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Steel has solidified himself. For me, Jameson Tayan had a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: brilliant first half. We'll see if he can keep it up.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I think he's you know, I think he's not the
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: guy was last first half.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: He's not. He's probably not this good. Maybe he is.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe some things have been figured out for him and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: he's he's just a steady presence there. I think for me, though,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: showed his second half is what I'm most curious about.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: It's good.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: We got a we we had some hot days, we
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: had some humid days, right like he there were ups
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: and downs at point.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Obviously you look at the overall numbers and they're impressive.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: So we've we've.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Both talked to plenty of people behind this scenes, both
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: with the Cubs and all around baseball who were scouting
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: this guy. I think there are still some questions as
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: to how he's going to handle lineups and uh, if
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the if the fastball isn't as effective.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: If it's not moving like he needs it to.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: How does he get through lineups without a lot of damage.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Nobody that I.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Talked to was like, the wheels are going to completely
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: fall off, right, nobody, you know. I guess that's always
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: on the table, but I don't. I didn't get anybody
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: like like people seem to think like this guy can pitch, okay,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: like he can pick. I'm not sure if he's sucked
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: three er the rest of the way, but but he
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: may run into some speed bumps, which he already has, right.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: I like that he's bounced back, but.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I think that's who I'll be watching as far as Okay, Like, yeah,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: you proved a lot to me, It proved a lot
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: to everyone, right. Council kind of said, like he's got
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: nothing left to prove, right to him, Right, he trusts him.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: But I I still want to see these final two
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: and a half months how good he can be.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: He's thrown ninety seven innings thus far.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: And if you go back to the prior trip to
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: Saint Louis, which I believe was mol Marle Day weekend
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: and there was a rainout and they just pushed showed
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: it back several days. So he essentially got a week off,
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: and at that point, Council said, you know, he's trending
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: towards one hundred and seventy ish innings, which would not
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: be like out of the norm from what he had
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: thrown in Japan, but obviously, like there's different stresses and
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: pressure points here, and it's been amazing to watch. I
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: think it was cool to see him in the All
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Star Game. I think he's on the cover of you know,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: Chicago magazine, their their Best of issue.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Just has been really refreshing to see him perform and
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: just his attitude and his curiosity all that stuff.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: But Cubs are still four games under hitting with hitting
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: on best case snaries. With him and Michael Bush, they
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: are two primary guys that they brought in. And you know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: as I was thinking about this episode, man, I was like, like,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: what has to happen for the Cubs to make the playoffs?
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: And I'm like, all of it has to happen, you.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Know what I mean.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: It's just like it's not like you can isolate one
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: or two things, because the Cubs have had stretches of
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: just like greatness throughout this first half. And I was
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: kind of laughing when I saw the graphic during the
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: All Star Game.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: I think Fox said this is like the first time.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: Twelve teams are within three and a half games of
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: a playoff spot at the All Star break, and it's like,
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: guess where the Cubs are number twelve?
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: Like they got a ton of.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Work to do, and it's like, is this gonna be
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: one of those second halfs where like, all right, the
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: offense picks up, it's a nice time to hit at Wrigley,
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: but then like the bullpen blows it late, or is
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: there gonna be you know, when we go back to
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Wrigley Field this weekend, they're gonna be some of those updates.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: Oh you know, we didn't mention this before the break,
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: but you know, players X, Y, and Z are dealing
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: with the following issues, you know what I mean, just
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: like as it stacks up, and I do think they
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: have the depth to a stand some of this stuff,
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: and talking to players.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: I think there's a feeling like this is a.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Better roster than last year, but they're just not playing
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: any better. And that is really like the root of
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: the frustration. I think that gives you, you know, some
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: optimism if your Cups fan, but it's also just like
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: it's almost one hundred games in here, and they have
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: a losing record, and a lot of the stuff that
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: has popped up as issues were not exactly surprises going
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: into the season, right, Yeah.
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: I mean.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, nobody should be shocked that the bullpen is rocky, right,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: nobody should be very surprised that Christopher Morell's defense hasn't solidified,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and you know, he's not like a plus defender a third.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I think I think they're like catcherably solid, Like we
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: shouldn't we shouldn't be surprised by that that was a
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: thirty six, thirty seven year old Yon Gomes and.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: We're kind of lulled into a false sense of security
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: with that, right, Okay, this is post Wilson, but yeah,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: it's been among the worst in baseball.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Right, I'm not going to I'm not going to get
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: carried away with whatever eight at bats.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: For Miguelmaya or whatever it was.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: But you know, I think fans, I'm not saying, I'm
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: just saying, I think the optimist fan can can look
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: at that and hope that that was something that they
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: figured out, Right, it was post whatever they worked on.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: You'd like to think that that that's real I don't know.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I like, it's eight at bats.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get I'm not doing any analysis on
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: that right now. I need to see a lot more.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: But that's a major I think that is Like, I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: think there's two things. There's one thing that we've been
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: talking about for years, and that's finding a superstar, right Like,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I think the next thing maybe on our list is
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: find a catcher, find an everyday catcher.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it's Miguel Amaya.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: But you cannot assume that. You cannot assume that, no,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: unless he has two and a half brilliant months and
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: you're and you're sure, like, Okay, he just took that step.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: He needed the work and he got it, and he
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and he needed a half season to adjust to what
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: it's like to be an everyday catcher. But unless he
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: does that in the final two and a half months,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you go into twenty twenty five
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: like he's our starting catcher, you chance, right?
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah? You just like that's that'd be really tough to swallow.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I think it.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: The other aspect that I'm really fascinated to watch is
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the bullpen with regards to youth and the trade deadline
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and I know we've touched on this, but I think,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: like you look at the numbers since June first, it's
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: a better unit, like results wise, right, it's a better unit.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: And this is not like I can't express this enough.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: This is not unusual. It's how bullpens work. Bullpens are volatile.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: They change on the fly, especially if you're adding younger players,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: especially if guys are getting healthy. I don't like I
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: should go look at the numbers, but I don't think
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Arizona's bullpen was very good in the first like four
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: months of the season. They called up a bunch of guys.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: At the end, they got Ryan Tom's and I believe
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: who was a DFA maybe a small trade with last year,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: like sorry, yeah, yeah, And there was there was Sal
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Frank who came up.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: There was another guy, Grink, not Ginkle, Grink Zach Green Yeah.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Uh Ginkle was the other dude. Uh and and.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: He like you know these guys that know, nobody knows
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: random relievers that are called up right, nobody, nobody, nobody
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: outside of hardcore prospect nerds and like uh us media
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: people know who Hunter Biggie is, right or like that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: That's just the reality.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Of the situation, but he could impact this team in
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: the final two months, So like how they reshape it
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and and I don't think it's going to be like
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: dramatic unless they go on a little winning streak, maybe
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: they get a bigger arm, but I think like they
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: can there's a way to make it, maybe not a rngth,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: but maybe not an obvious weakness, just by getting healthy
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: and having a little bit of a youth movement there.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm curiously we were talking about this off air,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: like how does the schedule look to you? So how
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: obviously there's a they gotta have a good homestand Diamondbacks
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Brewers going to KC.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: You'll be there, that's a wild card hopeful, and.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: Then basically one game in Cincinnati before the deadline.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: Deadline is the thirtieth.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: But that's a seven to ten first pitch in Cincinnati,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: so that would be beyond the deadline.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Like what.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Where does the rest of the way it look like?
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Like what is kind of that path of getting to October?
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I mean they have the according to Tankathon by like
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you know, winning percentage of their opponents, it's the twentieth
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: easiest or you know, twentieth hardest schedule so what what
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: is that eleventh easiest? And it's but they're tied with
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: like the Mets and Yankees, not far behind teams like Detroit,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Baltimore and Atlanta. So like teams that they're chasing also
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: have easier schedules. Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco, they're all
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: ahead of them in the in the in the wildcard standings,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: right the Mets are ahead of them. It looks I mean,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: it's certainly doable. Like you look at the tough teams.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: It's like three against the Phillies, three against the Yankees,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: three against the Dodgers. So nothing like seven or six
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: games against these guys. They only have three left with
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the Brewers. It's really weird to think about that. You know,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: they have the Marlins, they have the White Sox, they
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: have the A's, they have the Rockies. I mean, you
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: have those four teams on your schedule, Socks, Marlins, Rockies, A's,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: host trade deadline. That's that's big, right, Like that's the
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: type of thing where you can rattle off a bunch
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: of easy wins and hopefully save your bullpen and things
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: like that. Those are the types of things help you
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: help you, like get gain ground easily. I will say this.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at this. It shows like toughest opponents, easiest opponents.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: The Cubs show up.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: In a lot of other team's easiest opponents.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: So and I wrote this.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I wrote this at the beginning of June when they
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: had that stretch, like either they become the team, like
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: either they clean up against these teams, or they become
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the team other teams want to face. Right, I don't
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: think they're they They were there for a brief moment, right,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: they were the team other team wanted to face when
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: when they were just couldn't buy a win. After this week,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: they're probably feeling themselves and feeling good. Like like, I
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: know we talked about this briefly, like is this does
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: this hurt momentum or whatever? Quote unquote, or you know,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the break. I think it's good for everyone. Like these
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: these guys play. These guys play and grind. Guys like
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson and Ian happ get very little time off,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: you know, Nico Horner, like most of these guys just
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: are playing every day. Like I think Morell had a
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: day off for the like he's had two days off
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: in the first half. Granted, granted, he's a DH for
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the most part. Like a lot of that is DH,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: but still like that's you know, these guys don't take
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: and like and and Council is one of the better
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: ones about this, right, He's really good with that. And
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I think we're going to see some of this, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I think we didn't really talk about this. Saturday's game
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is the loss. Saturday's loss, the tough loss, not the
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: blowout loss to the Cardinals is a good example of
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: him showing how he's going to He may be willing
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: to lose a game quote unquote. Again, I'm not saying
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: he wanted to lose that game, but he's willing to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: take a loss if it means saving a guy for
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: August and September.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I think Mark.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Leider threw like thirteen pitches in that Tyson Miller had
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: like ten.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: He could have gone.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: He could have had pushed both of them or one
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of them, right, instead of having pushing Port Hodge. Well,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Porter Hodge hasn't pitched as much. He's not worried about
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: writing him right now. He needs to be careful with
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Tyson Miller. He's used him a lot. He needs to
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: be careful with Mark Lighter we saw what happened, what's
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: happened already this season, a Mark letter, and what happened
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: last season. He understands those things, and he's willing to say, like, well,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I've got to push Porter Hodge today. That's what i
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: gotta do because in August and September I need to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: make sure Mark Lighter's arm is embarking again.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: This is you.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: You can complain about that loss and how he used
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: his guys if you want to, but this is how
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: you keep a bullpen healthy.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: This is how you keep guys ready for later in
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: the season.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: And Pittrick appreciate that of like, instead if your win
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: probability is say, like whatever, eighteen percent or lower, of
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: just like chasing that you know, improbable win versus trying
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: to set things up for the rest of the series,
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: the next homestand the rest of the month, the entire.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Second half, Like that is supposed to be the council difference.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: And you know, I think we both appreciate interacting with counsel.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: I think he's a really like interesting guy that does
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: that does not really come across during those taped TV
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: Marquee shows.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: That the briefings have become but like.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: You know, he has this air of authority.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: I think you've gotten a good observation from Nico of
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: like he just has this like focused consistency.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Like day to day that like he is all about
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: that game.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: Like yeah, he used to wear khakis and work in
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: the front office, but he is very much like in
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: the moment, hyper focused on like what's right in front
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: of him. And it's really interesting to hear just how
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: direct and simple he communicates. But like, I don't know,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: we all thought the Cubs would be better in one
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: run games than fourteen and twenty, right, And you know
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: you mentioned our buddy Jesse Rodgers, And this is one
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: of the quotes that we've referenced that you know, Jed
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: said upon hiring counsel when we were all at the
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: GM meetings last November, And this is quote from hoere
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: My thought on Craig, as I've always watched him against us,
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: was the bum Phillips quote about there Brian where he
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: says he'd take his and beat yours, and take yours
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: and beat his. That's kind of how it felt sometimes
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: Washington watching him. He was just getting the most out
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: of his teams over and over and over that's completely true.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: I mean we saw that in Milwaukee. I mean it
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: frustrated Jed's no end. I don't think anyone watching this
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: team is like, wow, man, the Cubs are just like,
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: you know, so fundamentally sound and like, oh man, the Cubs.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: They always seemed to like, you know, push the right
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: matchup and then oh man, look at them like escaping
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: with yet another win. It's been kind of the opposite
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: of that. Yeah, Like, I don't think that's all on counsel.
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: I think council the consensus opinion. Great hire like a
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: guy most teams, if you were starting like a franchise tomorrow,
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: like he'd be on that short list of managers of
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: like home run dream hires. There are things far beyond
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: his control. There are issues that have been like years
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: in the making. But this is what you sign up
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: for when you come to manage the Chicago Cubs, leave
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: your hometown team, get the biggest contract for a manager ever.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, and your old team is lapping the division again.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: So like I'm really curious to see, like how how
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: he kind of goes about this, like it's always up
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: to the players, And he would say that as well,
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: like he's not a to his credit, he's not like.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: A me me me guy.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: You know, he's not like, oh I think this, Like
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: he's very much about the players. He played a really
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: long time and that goes a long way in the clubhouse.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: But like kind of you are what your record says.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: You are, right, Yeah, you can't run from that, you can't.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: You know it, just like last year and I believe
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: in all those things. I believed last year that they
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: were a better team than their record was at this
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: point in the season, right, like because the metrics said that.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: It just but it doesn't matter. It's just like what
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you were talking about the expected stats, Like, yes, I
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: believe Christopher Morrell is doing things well process wise.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Ultimately all that matter are the results. Like we have
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: to accept that.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Like you can say, like there's when you analyze this stuff,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: when you look at it, it's like what are you
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: trying to break down? When you talk about that stuff,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, do you want to trade Christopher Morrell? No,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: because I leave there's more there. The results will come that.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: That's that's why I look at those types of That's
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: how I look at those types of things. The advanced
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: stats don't say this is a better team than there
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: they are maybe a win winn or two maybe like
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: maybe maybe they should be like five hundred or something
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: like that. But I I agree, like, is it is
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: it on Craig Council?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I don't think so.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Has Craig Counsel been a difference maker yet, like it
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: would be grade this in a plus season for him?
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Not yet? No.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: And this is not saying like he's a problem or
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: he's holding them back in any way. It's just there
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: were things that people look at that they thought a
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: manager had made a big difference in. I'm not sure
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: that they're there yet, and that that could be it
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: takes a little while for him to implement the things
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: he wants to. Maybe he doesn't have the type of
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: players that he fully wants all across the board. There
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: there are things I'm sure that he's going to adjust.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, this off and well, we're not going to
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: talk about this now, but I'm sure there are things
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: that we can we'll dive into as far as weeks
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: at least we can call them tweaks, maybe bigger changes.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know, there are things he's going to want
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: to do. Right, He's had a year or he will
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: have had a year to really see how this organization
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: is run. And it's not like he's short on opinions
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: or thoughts.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: He's not afraid to share his point of view. He's
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: also not afraid to hear opposing point of opposing points
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: of view. I've talked to plenty of people in the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: front office here, like when he'll come at you, he'll
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: he'll he'll come at you and your observation.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: And he's done this with me.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Like he'll sometimes say like, well, that's obvious, and I'm like, yes,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: but and I'll and I'll and I'll explain like why,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: like it's a little more than obvious.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: It's not just obvious.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, that observation is obvious, but X y Z, and
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: I'll explain the thinking. He's like, okay, that's an interest.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Like he's what he's doing is he's pushing you. He's
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: like he's trying to get more out of you. He's like,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: don't just give me the surface level, tell me what's
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: going on. If you have a point, you know, if
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: you have a point, let's get to it. And he's
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: very he's very good about that. He'll challenge you and
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: he expects more out of the people around him. I
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: think that's going to make the team. I think that's
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: going to make the organization better in the long run.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: We haven't seen the full results yet, so yeah, it's
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: impossible to say like he's been this difference making impact
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: higher just yet, but I do believe there's more there
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: to come. That's I think you've nailed another big observation
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: for the second half. The impact great Council has on
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: this team. It'll be hard to measure, and maybe, like
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: maybe it's something that we'll understand more in the off
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: season a year from now, whatever it is, things will
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: come out right and we'll understand things better. But that's
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I think that's a maybe one of the bigger, uh,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: you know, storylines going forward.
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: Wrote in the Athletic of like, you know, this is
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: about the hand picked players that the front office chose
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: and assembled for this year.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: I'm not.
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: You know, a lot of the answers wells come from within,
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: And I don't mean bringing up some guy from Triple
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: A or like, you know, anointing Hunter Biggie.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: As a closer.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: But I do think it'd be interesting to see, like,
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: like who steps up here, right, Like this is really
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: a time where like organizations are put to the test,
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: and like you kind of can't.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: Talk around it anymore.
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: As the the runway for the season just gets shorter
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: and shorter and shorter.
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: It's like either your winning or you're not.
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: Like your young talent is either kind of rising to
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: the top or it's sort of getting exposed. And like
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: these players too, are like at a point I'm talking
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: about like the nucleus of core players are in which
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: should be like prime age seasons, right, I mean, these
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: guys have had a lot of experience. Uh you know,
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: no one's like thirty seven years old. Like they're in
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: that sort of sweet spots of their career and it
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: will be kind of fascinating to see how they performed,
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: particularly after last September.
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: You know, like I don't know how much that matters,
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: but like.
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: That team was very good on defense up until the
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: like most important part of the season, you know what
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, Like they were and I'm not just talking
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: about to say a fly ball, like that's just a
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: thing now, but like even Dan's by it was.
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: Just like, yeah, the team just plays for crisp.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: Those last three weeks of September, and so like, you know,
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, the Cups can come out here
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: if you win two series against the Diamondbacks and Brewers,
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: particularly after a very good road trip through Baltimore and
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: Saint Louis, Like there it is, like there's your momentum.
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: I think you can feel pretty good about letting this
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: team sort of run its course. But man, if they
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: get like swept by the Diamondbacks, you know, all of
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: a sudden things look totally different, and you know, I
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: don't think this is going to happen, but I mentioned
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: the possibility too, Like if they sweep the Brewers. The
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: Brewers have not looked that good recently. I mean they
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: always look good against the Cubs, it seems like, but
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: like they got off to such a hot start. They've
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: kind of come back a little bit here, so like
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: they don't quite control their destiny. But they have a
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: great opportunity here to make it a meaningful second half,
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: or they could waste it away. I don't really have
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: a great feel about this team. Almost one hundred games
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: in and we watched.
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: It all the time. Our job as a thing met
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: all the time.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: Don't have a super great gut feeld either way, either
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: you sound like a hater or you sound like this
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: blind optimist thinking like oh yes, And I think internally
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: that's kind of the way they look at it too,
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: And they're pretty dispassionate.
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: They're there every day, Like I think they're just kind
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: of waiting to see how this goes.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: Right, and they've been waiting for things to turn for
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: a while.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it didn't, and then it finally did the
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: last week before the break.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: So I completely agree with that sentiment.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Like, I don't know, I like I usually sometimes I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: have like gut feels or feel strongly about something I
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: don't I like, the two months of this lost offense.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: It was over two months of just no offense, and just.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: You know, when the offense did show up, the bullpen
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: was terrible, Like just all that stuff happening, suspect defense
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: at times, all that stuff happening really made me question
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: what I was watching and how good the team was.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I you know, I do.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Believe that, Like I kind of agree with your eighty
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: three wins and just short of the playoffs.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: But yeah, but I don't. I also don't think.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Like I'm not ruling out a playoff run in a
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: really good second half or a complete collapse and just
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: like they get disinterested in September and things fall apart.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Who knows, who knows what happens. It's so hard to
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: read this team.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: It's it's been a very odd three and a half
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: months to cover, but we will continue doing that. I'm
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: very I don't know what the pitching lineup is for Arizona.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: They who they have.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming they're having Gallon come out, but maybe maybe
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: they don't. It's not on the probables on MLB dot
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: com yet, but that just means it's not official. So
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: someone like someone like Steve Gilbert or Nick Pacorr may
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: have tweeted it out and we just missed it. But
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: I expect that's going to be, you know, like the Cubs, Oh,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Arizona some revenge, right like they they they're the ones
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: that essentially knocked them out of the playoffs last year.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: I think, what was it five and one in September
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Arizona went six and one. Okay, there was a four
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: game setting there, so yeah, so they own. We'll see
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: if they can exact revenge and kind of get the
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: second half started right for them.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Again, no feel for it, but.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: We'll be here, We'll be back. I'm going to be
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: out of town. I'm not sure when I'll be back.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Patrick and I will figure that out on our own,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: but Patrick.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Will be back next week. Thanks so much for listening.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe to North Side Territory
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: on your podcast medium of choice. Make sure to subscribe
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: to The Athletic and read our work. We will be
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: on top of the Cubs. I will be. You'll hear
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: from me again when when the Cubs head to Kansas City.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to that.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: It's been it's been a while since I've been Kansas City,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: so looking forward to that.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: And yeah, thanks for listening to everyone. Packard Scott he covered.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: For the next week on this big home stamp to
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: open up the second half.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. Take care,