Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / How the Cubs are positioned at the start of September

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How the Cubs are positioned at the start of September · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Adam Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick just got
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: back from a long West coast trip. It was a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: okay trip. I mean, you take a winning trip no
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: matter what, especially out West. It just felt a little no,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: it didn't feel great. It was a meh trip, I
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: guess I'd say, but you know, I feel like we're
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: all waiting for the Cubs to kind of wake up
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and get going again and kind of find a hot stretch.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know if Monday's comeback victory, which was a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: very nice comeback victory, I believe you. You and I
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: are on a text thread with some other writers and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: at one point they were down three nothing and I
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: was like, it'd be nice if it didn't feel like
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: three nothing was an insurmountable lead for this you know,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: once amazing offense, and they shut me up with with
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: one of their you know, similar like in early season,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: like comeback is how I describe it. But the topic
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: for me in pregame, I didn't write about this for Monday,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: but I'll write about it.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna write.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: About this uh tonight, which is Tuesday. PCA is struggling. Obviously,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: he's just not getting the results that he was. I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: thought Jed put it well. Jed spoke yesterday and he
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: said he had two weeks where he struggled and then
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: he didn't struggle for like two and a half months,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: three months, and now we're seeing this drug. August was
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a was a big rough patch for him. Can he
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: get hot again? Can he find it? I don't know,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: but they called up Kevin ALCNTRA with PCA in mind,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: and that's he's gonna get rest against lefties.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: There's a lefty on the mound tonight. I think we're
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: gonna to.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: See a little You want to get him going, you
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: need to get him going. But he's gonna get some
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: days off here when they're se lefty on the mound.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Maybe he's pinch hit four in big situations. I don't
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: know about that one. We haven't seen it yet, but
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you know, there may be a different approach with PCA coming.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the beginning of that very long road trip in Anaheim,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: you know, Pete had that it was a game winning
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: homer and it was somewhat overshadowed by Kyle Tucker's re emergence.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: But that night in Anaheim, Craig Counsel was joking about,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: you know, assistant hitting coach John Malee, you know, praying
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: on the bench for Pete in the ninth inning. And
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: you know, Malee has worked closely with Pete for a
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: long time, including in the minors at Triple A Iowa,
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: and really helped him get major league ready and become
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: a productive Major leaguer. And you know, hit this All
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Star ceiling faster than I think anyone anticipated. And you know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Pete's numbers were so great for months that it kind
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: of gave him a nice cushion that no matter what
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: when you looked on the board, it was gonna look good.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: And of course this season has gone beyond what anyone could.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Have hoped for.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: There's still a month to go, and he doesn't look
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: like someone who's finishing strong. You see his emotions on
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: the field when he makes out. I realize that is
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: a difficult balance to strike at times for any player,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: but you just wonder physically. Counsel says, everything's fine with Pete.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: They're checking on that regularly.
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: He's young.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: He's got a ton of energy, but I don't know
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: if he's hit a wall or something, or the league
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: has figured him out a bit. But bringing up a
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: top prospect type who's been waiting for this opportunity, who
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: can play center field, who has a really high ceiling
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: if everything clicks is interesting. It's crazy to think that
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: an MVP type candidate for months could become not a
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: platoon part time player. But they're gonna be looking for
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: times to sit him, right. What was your understanding h
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: leaving Wrigley yesterday?
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there's a couple of things. I think it's
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: important to note that they're called so the way they
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: look at Owen Casey versus Kevin o'contra, and like they
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: fans are going to be upset that Owen Casey didn't
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: play much. Look, Ian Happ got hot, Kyle Tucker got hot.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: They need, say, is Suzuki to get hot? He's been
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: looking a little bit better. Not the power isn't there yet,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: But I think it makes sense to play all those guys,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and I think you're seeing results, especially with the guys
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: that they want bench like Tucker sat Ian Happ is good,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: like he's playing really well, so it oh, in case
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: he got sent on because he wasn't playing much, and
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and there's a there's a I thought it was interesting,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and I guess I hadn't thought about it that much.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: But he plays every day and then he gets called
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: up and he's not playing every day, and it's intermittent
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: playing time. At a certain point, when you get intermittent
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: playing time as a kid, as a prospect, essentially, uh,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you're gonna get out of your rhythm. It's not something
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you're used to. You're not a veteran. You're we'll talk
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: more about the veteran moves that they made, but I
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: understand why they they're sending him down. It makes sense
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: that Okay, he's he needs to be playing every day
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and get back in a rhythm. A contra has been
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: playing every day. He call him up. He can be
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: in a rhythm and he'll handle the sporadic playing time
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: for a little bit and then they're probably gonna switch
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: them out in two weeks kind of what it sounds like,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: or ten days. However, I think it's different for position
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: players or two weeks, no, whatever whatever it is, they'll
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: they'll send them. They're gonna uh change things up. But
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Pete was a topic when they discussed calling up a Contra.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I can't remember if it was Jed or Counsel that
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: said that when I asked, But yes, but I think
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: both kind of a great. Yeah, like Pete was a topic,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: it was. It was something that they were talking about
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: when they were discussing Elcontra, whether to bring.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Him up or not.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: And I don't think, yeah, you're right, it's not like
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a straight platoon. Maybe he'll play against lefties, but I
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: don't think, you know, I don't know how many lefties
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: they're going to be facing, but starting tonight, I would
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: be surprised if we see Pete Roarmstrong's name in the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: lineup tonight, because Joey Wentz is a lefty and Franklin
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that's an easy like I shouldn't say easy, a softer
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: landing spot for Kevin al Contra, not some stud lefty.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: It's not Chris Sale, it's Joey Wentz.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't I don't think we're going to
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: see a dramatic drop in playing time. I don't think
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: we're going to see a break here. That's I didn't
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: get that sense. But there he's searching for something. He's
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: putting in a ton of work. Both Jed and Council
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: mentioned how they're seeing him work a lot, and even
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Council said sometimes the work feels like, oh, there's something here,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: and he's like sometimes he's just like, Nope, that's not working.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: I'm not it's not feeling right, And so they're they're trying.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: He's searching for something. He's trying to find something. One
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: thing I looked up just to check if he's chasing yet.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: I wrote back in like mid August, maybe his struggles
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: which were only like ten days at that point, uh
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: and and he wasn't chasing. In fact, his chase was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: like an all time low. It's ticked back up a little,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: but it's still below league average. It's not like it's
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: not egregious, it's not bad. So I he even yesterday
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Monday night, he missed this.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: I want to say.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: It was a two to zero count and he popped
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: this pitch up that was right down the middle that
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: he'd been hammering before. And it's kind of been a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: month of that, just missing his pitch. He's not he
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: doesn't go up there and just look like completely lost.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: He's just missing pitches and that's that can maybe lead
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: to more frustration, I think, because you know, they talk
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: about it all the time, and this is just a
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: regular quote we get when you talk to hitting coaches
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: or even counsel or any manager. It's like, you get
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: like one good pitch and at bat maybe a game,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and if you miss it, that that can be frustrating
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: as a as a position player. You know, up to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: bat there you need to put that in play. You
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: need to do damage on that one good pitch. You
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: may see.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we I'm curious to see how this unfolds
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: of we went from Peter Armstrong being one of the
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: most dangerous hitters in baseball, one of the most dynamic
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: players in baseball, it's now someone who would he get
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: pinch hit for late in games, in key situations if
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: you are confident enough in Kevin's defense. I still don't
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: want to get too carried away with this because you know,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: mid season the Cubs did not think Alcantara could like
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: come up and play center field every day if Pete
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: got injured. I think that was part of the thinking
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: behind acquiring Willie Castro, not that he can play at
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: a PCA level. Defensively. You saw what Pete did that
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: amazing catch on Labor Day, Like, there's still a ton
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: of value there. I don't think he's getting phased out
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: or even really reduced that much. But just the fact
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: that this is a topic of conversation shows how deep
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: we are in the year and how eventually the focus is.
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: Going to get extremely narrow.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: In terms of lineup decisions, in game decisions, and it'll
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: be fascinating to see how Pete responds. I don't think
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: anyone'd be surprised if at some point in September he
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: goes off or everything resets in October, and the way
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: that Javey Bayas rose to the occasion in twenty sixteen,
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: like that wouldn't be shocking. But right now, as the
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Cubs are brainstorming, like PCA is a name they had
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: to circle of, like how can we improve this area?
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was gonna make the same point you just
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: made about the defense. He still brings value. His bunt
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: on Monday was a terrible baseball decision. It's two count,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: but it worked, and it's kind of like one of
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: those moments it's a six to one game and it
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: sparked something I don't know if if that was what
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: sparked anything. It's easy to point to it now after
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the fact, but you know, the benz Over's bunt in
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the NLCS against the Dodgers sparked something. I don't know
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: if this sparks anything, but it was it was a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: nice little uh it worked out for him. It was
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: it was pretty like it's just not the right baseball
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: thing to do, you know, but whatever, it worked and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: you'll take it.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: And sometimes baseball's.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Weird like that. I do want to touch on Willie
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Castro and some of the like why you know the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Cubs are just searching on the bench. Let's let's talk
• 11:21
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• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Patrick, I think some people were confused by some of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: these moves that were made. Like we just explained the
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Contra move all Contra for Casey I think it makes
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a ton of sense. They're searching for something on the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: bench right now. The Savali move. We can talk about that,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: but I think you know he's already paid dividends. It's
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: it's like that was like prototypical Chris Flexen early year.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I think he's better than Chris Flexen, but Carlos Santana
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: on the bench, great veteran guy, thirty nine having a
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: below average offensive season. You wonder, Okay, he's a switch hitter,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: but he's first base only DH essentially, right, those are
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the two places you're gonna put him. How does this
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: work with Justin Turner who right now, I was looking
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: at these numbers. Man, when I say they're searching on
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the bench, They're like, nothing is working. Justin Turner is
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: is fine against lefties and he's not playable if a
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Arighty is on the mound. It's like I use way
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: to runs graded plus as everyone knows, and it's like
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: seventeen something like that, fifteen, just like abysmal Willie Pastro.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I had to like triple check this, and now I'm
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: gonna chick triple like quadruple check it. I think I
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: wrote that he's a seven weighted runs graded plus with
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the Cubs, like just overall, yeah, seven weight.
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: And one hundred would be average.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred is average.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So it just like once you get like, you know,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: below eighty, you're hurting your team. And I mean, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: we can even remember like a big hit from him
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and that like basically that's been it.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: It's like that and probably like three other singles he just.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Throw from reel to yeah, one day, one day, two games, right,
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: it was both in the doubleheader right moment.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, But I mean he's the reason why al Contra
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: has to be called up to his struggles, is why
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Contra has to be called up, because you can't put
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: him in center field regularly because he's not hitting. And
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: now it's such a drop off. But the Carlos Santana,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: where's Justin Turner? That that move that's interesting. I don't
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: know if it'll work, but they're searching for something. They're
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: desperate to get a viable bench here. And and you know,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I think Jed Jed would say this, You just don't
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: know what a guy's gonna do in four weeks, three weeks,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and maybe it's worth betting on a veteran.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean This all goes back to Alex Bregman. Right,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: you sign Alex Bregman, this would look a lot different.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: You would not have signed Justin Turner. I think there
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: are reasons to go to him as a fallback, and
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: you know, his value behind the scenes in the dugout,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse, on the team plane at Team Dinners
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: is such that they're keeping him around.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: I I guess I wasn't.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Surprised because of his resume and how his intangibles fit here.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: But this is not an organization that's big on intangibles
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: right now, like it is all about the value you bring,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: and as counsel says, crossing that bar of like okay,
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: one case, he has not yet to be an everyday player.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: I don't really see where Turner is doing that on
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: the field. But I don't know if is he that
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: valuable to Pikrow Armstrong.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: He might be.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: I'm not being sarcastic, like for him to sort of
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: not not babysit mentor or be a sounding board for Pete,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: or to bring different energy into the clubhouse every day
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: the way you David Ross did as a player in Chicago.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: Though his on field contributions were pretty obvious at that
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: stage of his career. Like, this is where they're at,
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: and I like how you went from you know, searching
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: to nothing is working off the bench, and the Cubs
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: are bringing a guy who's almost as old as Justin
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Turner to do what they thought Justin Turner was going
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: to do when he signed him in spring training.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so okay, there's an extra roster spot. We
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: should mention that. Yeah, people don't know. So it's not
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: as bad as it would be carrying Santana and Turner
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: pre September. That's so you know, you can get away
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: with this because of that. You would not be able
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to do this in August. It just wouldn't work. You
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: can't do that. You can't have two first base dh
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: only guys that are struggling to like aren't even producing yet.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: I think what it allows you to do. So look,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: here's what I want to touch on this. It's what
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: I talked about early on with Owen Casey, Like, these
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: guys are everyday players. You can't not and not at
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: this stage in their career. Can you trust them to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: be the pinchhait guy. It's just really hard for them.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I thought Jed made a really good point, and now
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I'm blending it together. So someone made a good point.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: It was either Jed or Council. That look Santana and
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Turner haven't been bench guys, you know, their everyday players
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: as well. This is Turner's first time, this is Santana
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: and now he's been used to playing every day for
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: much of his career. I think the way they look
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: at it is, these are veterans. Okay, they know the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: opposition well, they have. They been asked to pinch hit
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: a ton in the past in previous seasons to know.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: But they know how to prepare their bodies, they know
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: how to get their mind right. They know, okay this
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: is They're more willing to accept a role like this
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: at this point their career. Carlos Santana just wants a ring.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: The Cubs took his ring away from him. He had
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a chance and the Cubs got it instead in twenty sixteen.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He wants a ring. He hopes he can get one here.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Turner wants another one. You know, like these guys will
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: do whatever it is they're asked to do so, whether
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: it is like putting an arm around Pca or Matt
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Shaw or pinch hit.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Here's the other thing. Here's the other thing.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I think that it gives flexibility in a little more
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: time and allows you to really leverage what Turner can
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: do well. All he can do right now is hit lefties.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: That's all he can do. He's not crushing them, but
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: he's better than what they have. They struggle against lefties
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and it worked out exactly. The results didn't work out,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: but it happened exactly like how I think they need
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: to do it going forward. Yes, on Monday, they pinch
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: it for Bush against the lefty late in the game.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Turner didn't come through, but that's that's what he's there
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to do. He played first base for an inning or two.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: They brought in variety. Eventually the second Turner's lineup spot
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: in the lineup came up. Carlos Santana hit for him.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: You can't have him facing righty's. Those numbers are abysmal.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: He's just not producing. He's at that point in his career.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: So whether he goes off against lefties in September, I
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: don't know whether Carlos Santana is any good in September.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not going I would not bet on these things
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: happening I also just won't say, like not the type
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to say like it can't happen, because this game makes
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: no sense sometimes and like things happen and you're just like, oh,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: this guy is great for three weeks. Yeah whatever that
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: that you know, I can I don't don't know how
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: that happened, but it did. You never know when someone's
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: gonna get hot. And these guys are veteran hitters. They
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: and they're like I think we touched on it. They're
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: facing weaker competition right now, so maybe this is a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: perfect time to have these veteran guys that just know,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: like I know how to hit this guy, and then
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: they go up there and they perform. But I think
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: it gets back to my original point. They're just searching.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: They're they're trying to make bets here, and they're trying
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: to find the right mix. Uh, they just want a
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: little more depth here and production from the bench. I
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: don't think it's like season shifting in any way, like
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: having a good bench or bad bench. Clearly they've had
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: a solid season up to this point without much production
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: from the bench. But you know, you don't like having
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: such little production from the bench. It's kind of remarkable
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: how everywhere they've turned it's just been like Nope, not working.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it makes sense to keep throwing stuff against the
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: wall to see what sticks. And I guess ultimately, if
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Santana delivers in one big at bat in the wild.
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: Card round and they advance and it's worth it, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: if they get swept in two games in the wild
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: card round, like no one's going to really be up
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: in arms about the bench because it will have meant
• 21:31
  Speaker 7: that their best players did not deliver.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: And so we will have a whole month to kind
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: of get into all of those scenarios and maybe we'll
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: even start the next segment here.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, let's get into some of these ideas about
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: October right after this.
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• 22:50
  Speaker 1: So, Patrick, you got Craig Council to engage on something.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I was surprised. I think everyone was surprised he engaged
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: on And that's the idea of an October rotation. This
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: is a guy that's very much day to day and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: let's talk about what's right in front of us. But
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: you know, obviously he's he does have to think about
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the future, and it kind of explain how that worked
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: out and what Craig Council's thoughts were there.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: So Friday Night and Denver, a couple of our colleagues
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: and good friends were just having a post game drink
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: at the lobby bar there, and we're just going around
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: kind of giving our thoughts on how you could line
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: up playoff rotation. So our good buddy Jesse Rodgers was
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: there and we were kind of reminiscing how with Joe
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Madden would love that stuff, like, hey, you know, we're
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: talking about this at the hotel bar the other night
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: as a way to kind of ease in the conversation.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: So I, you know, kind of did that with Craig,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: and he kind of gave me one of his sort
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: of counsel looks and sort of paused, but then actually
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: didn't shut it down. He said, to my job is
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: to look ahead, so of course you're going to look ahead.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: And it wasn't just that, it was also how they
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: explained the Justin ty One.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: Sorry, the Jamison ty.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Il decision, Tyne saying the way it was presented to
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: me was you'd be a bad teammate if you'd tried
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: to push through this. We're thinking about October. Tyon sort
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: of reluctantly agreeing and saying I want to be a
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: big part of this and pitching deep into October so
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: you have that tie on move and then counsel's reaction
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: to what was, you know, a legitimate line of questioning.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: But when I wasn't sure he would engage on, he
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: could have just said we're trying to win today's game
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: in Denver, yeah, and then just let the awkward silence
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: play out, and he did not. I took a couple
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: different questions from us. We're kind of throwing some things
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: out there, and I thought it was interesting that he acknowledged,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: like maybe in two weeks you would start to lock
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: that in. That they're making pitching plans a month in advance,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: you're guaranteed to look silly like stuff is going to happen,
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: but like they're not totally oblivious to when the wildcard
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: round would be. And I think you could start charting
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: certain pictures days out, you know, every sixth.
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: Day or whatever, what that would look like.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: We'll see how Matthew Boyd finishes. We're just assuming showed
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: in Monaga will be healthy and maybe a little fresher
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: after missing some time with a lower body injury. Kate
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: Horton's innings have been managed since before or the start
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: of spring training, or at least his workload has been
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: a really important topic within the organization. And then from
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: there it was kind of like council saying, if you
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: want to think about this, remember that everything is predicated
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: upon the result of game one. So like you can
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: have your game three starter lined up, but if you
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: lose game one, everyone is available game two.
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: That the best.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Pitchers pitch in game two, which, like, none of this
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: is groundbreaking, but I thought it was revealing in terms
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: of the team's state of mind right now that they
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: don't have a playoff spot clinched, but things are trending
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: in a direction where they can engage on some of
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: this stuff.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, entering play on Tuesday, they have a nine game
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: lead on the Reds, who are four games back in
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the Mets.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: For the final wildcard spot.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: So I mean they're they're sitting in a really good
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: position as far as the playoffs go. Uh, it's it's
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: hard to it would be it would this would be
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: a historical collapse.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, this would be just yeah. Yeah. So
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: I don't want to put that jinx on them.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna guarantee anything, but uh, you know, the
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: playoffs are something we should be thinking about and talking
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: about Uh yeah, I do think what you said at
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: the end there was really interesting to me. I guess
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I just hadn't really thought much about, Oh, if you
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: lose Game one, it's all hands on deck in the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: wild Card. It's been it's been so while since we've
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: talked about playoffs for the Cubs and actually thought about
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: this stuff. Uh so they just haven't been on my
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: mind in this new Wildcard round, and now it's looking
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: like that'll happen.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: I think it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: You know, the pitching, I think Kate Hohrton went from
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: like interesting arm interesting young pitcher too, Is this guy
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: like your best starter? And and and is he going
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: is he like this huge X factor or just this
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: not even X factor because he, like I said, he
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: may be their best pitcher, Like he's so good right now,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and he's so effective and consistent that his workload and
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: and like really being on top of that managing that
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I think is you know, I don't wanna because it's
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: so hard to fully understand and know where it will go.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: It's it's hard to like monitor it, I guess on
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: our end and like make it a storyline outside of
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: like we just have to see where this goes right,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: it matters, but I don't know what, like what is
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the wall? What is the limit? Because we're not seeing
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: any us like any any wear and tear there, right,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: we're not seeing him break down. It looks like he's
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: getting better. But they're being incredibly good about I will
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: say that, unless I'm misremembering, I don't think it's cost
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: them yet the like pulling him. I maybe I'm probably
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: miss missing something, but they've been They've been aggressive with
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: how they've pulled him and when they kind of cut
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: him off, and so far, so good, Like it looks
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: like it's working in a sense. I have no idea
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: if that's why, or maybe he could just go seven
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: innings and and keep doing that.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: The rest of the season. But you got to be
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: proactive here.
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: I think, yeah, it'd be hard to.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Improve some of his numbers since the All Star break,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: but certainly that volume you're talking about and maybe pushing it,
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: like we don't. I think that's the exciting part about
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Kate Horton, Like we just don't know. They don't know
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: like where this could go, And to be honest, I
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: could go in two different directions. Right, this is a
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: guy who had very limited professional experience going into this year.
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: He did not.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Put up a lot of innings at Oklahoma, but the
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Sooners made it to the College World Series largely on
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: the strength of his like rapid in season development. And
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: I think everyone who has come in contact with Cade,
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: whether it's teammates observing his mound presence or reporters kind
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: of tracking how he's doing and handling different situations, the
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: decision makers who love his competitiveness. I mean, Counsel has
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: said it numerous times at this point of how he's
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: a whatever, clearheaded competitor, clear eyed competitor, whatever the phrasing is,
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: you know what when you see it, and that has
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: been Cad Horton thus.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Far beyond the pitching. We can We'll get into this
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: over the course of the month. I just wanted to
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: touch on real quickly, just because I don't know if
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Monday is a turning point. It felt similar to what
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: we've seen in the past, where when I say seen
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: in the past, sorry, what we saw earlier this season,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: it just felt like that offense in the sense that
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: they were down, they had a reliever come in that
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: ate a bunch of innings and kept them close, and
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: they chipped away and ended up winning the game. They
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: got the big hits when needed. That has not happened
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: at all, and it didn't happen in the first like
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: four innings of that game. They kept getting opportunities and
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: not delivering. They couldn't get a big hit with men
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: on base, and then they started getting them, and then
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: and it was enough and they won the game. I
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: want to see that type of pressure where they're they
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: don't always have to get the big hit, but continue
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: putting pressure. I thought they did that over the weekend
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: in some sense. They couldn't get the big hit on Sunday.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Not enough of them they got, but they did get
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: a big hit for me in half. Ian happ is
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: someone I'm watching. Can he stay this hot like he's
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: It looks like he's going on one of his patented
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: hot streaks. Tucker at a bad game on on Friday
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: on Monday, but what a great road trip for him,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: you know, just watching the stars, seeing if they can
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: turn it around, seeing if this offense can find that rhythm.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Can they?
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I don't you don't need like April and May, I
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: don't think that's you know, you can expect that. I
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: should say but can they just be much better than
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: what they were in August and part of July there
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: that they need to be a top five offense. And
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: then you're talking about this team in a different light again,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: and talking about them is like I was discussing this
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: with my son, just who has a chance to win
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the World Series, And we went through like every playoff
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: team and it's like, I, is there a favorite? I
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: don't think so, So the Cubs have a chance. It's
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: just who's getting hot at the right time. It's it's
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: purely one of those It really feels like one of
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: those seasons where I have no clue who the favorite is,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: so why can't the Cubs do it? But I'll be
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: watching these offense, this offense and these these bigger names
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: to see how they're doing and where their confidence level is,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: the health, all that stuff going into October. But that's
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: as much as the pitching matters, as important as that is.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I really feel like, get this offense close to what
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: it was and they can do some damage and they
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: can make some noise, especially in the power department.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: It's a good power hitting team when they're right, no doubt.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: I think Carson Kelly had an extremely quiet August, like
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: you see it, and it's it's all about hitting home runs.
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: Wrigley Field.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: I believe it is the third worst hitters park over
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: the last three years. So we'll see how that plays
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: if they get a home series in the wild card round,
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: and then you know, Carson Kelly's contributions are nice. I
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: still think this comes down to getting Kyle Tucker right
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: or keeping him in the zone, Saya Suzuki getting his
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: kind of powerstroke back, and how they handle this PCA situation.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's been great this year. Teammates, you know,
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: really appreciate his energy. We see a lot of the maturity,
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: but this is still kind of uncharted territory for him.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: I think of just like super meaningful games in September. Obviously,
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: he hasn't played in the playoffs yet. Like, even if
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: we're kind of assuming the Brewers are going to win
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: the Division, that the Cubs will make the wild card round,
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of kind of loose storylines here that
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: will be really fun to watch to see how they're
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: tied up.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, We'll be hitting all of those over
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: this month.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be a fun month. And as counsels said,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: hopefully too.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe we'll have plenty to talk about in
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: October with this team. We'll see, all right, Thanks so
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: much for listening to everyone. We'll have more episodes this week.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things cubs.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, take