Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs news and notes: Pete Crow-Armstrong heating up, the latest on Justin Steele and more

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Cubs news and notes: Pete Crow-Armstrong heating up, the latest on Justin Steele and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadi Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. It was
0:17
Speaker 1: a three and three West Coast trip, which when the
0:22
Speaker 1: episode before this trip started, I said, you know, I
0:25
Speaker 1: know the Cubs are red hot, but getting three and
0:28
Speaker 1: three against the Dodgers and Padres would be a win
0:32
Speaker 1: in my book. I think it was a perfectly acceptable
0:35
Speaker 1: road trip when you play that caliber of team on
0:37
Speaker 1: the road. Didn't play terribly, didn't play brilliantly at all times,
0:41
Speaker 1: but it was a good trip considering how tough it was.
0:47
Speaker 1: One thing we want to start this this episode off
0:50
Speaker 1: with good sign from Pete Kor Armstrong. We we've talked
0:54
Speaker 1: about it last time he went out to La Is
0:57
Speaker 1: when you know things turned and he turned into the
1:00
Speaker 1: MVP candidate. He didn't quite have that, but those final
1:04
Speaker 1: two games in San Diego, the huge home run to
1:08
Speaker 1: kind of get it to I believe it extended the
1:10
Speaker 1: lead from two runs to five runs, and then there
1:14
Speaker 1: was another big home run in the final game. He's
1:18
Speaker 1: see like he's doing more. He's doing it differently this
1:21
Speaker 1: year so far, Like he's taking some walks. I haven't
1:24
Speaker 1: seen him do that. I didn't really expect that, even
1:27
Speaker 1: with all the talk of that, I wasn't expecting it.
1:29
Speaker 1: And now the power is starting to come. This could
1:31
Speaker 1: be the start of peak Armstrong red hot, white hot streak.
1:37
Speaker 1: I think you talked to him. What is he what
1:40
Speaker 1: is he saying about this upcoming stretch?
1:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's funny. He was such a focus at
1:48
Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium, and you know, we go into San Diego
1:52
Speaker 2: and you know, I wrote in the Athletic the headline
1:55
Speaker 2: was like, is you peakro Armstrong heating up? Question mark?
1:59
Speaker 2: And I got some people say, we'll look at his
2:00
Speaker 2: numbers over the last whatever fifteen games, and I get it.
2:03
Speaker 2: He has been drawing walks. He has found other ways
2:06
Speaker 2: to contribute. But like his job offensively is to put
2:10
Speaker 2: balls in the seats. Like that's direct Greig Council observation,
2:15
Speaker 2: Like that is what they want from him. They don't
2:18
Speaker 2: want him like bunting all the time. They're not trying
2:21
Speaker 2: to turn him into like Kevin Eucliz, Like he's not,
2:24
Speaker 2: you know, the Greek god of walks, like they want power.
2:27
Speaker 2: We've seen it and we've been waiting for it, and
2:32
Speaker 2: it was a classic kind of PCA stretch there of Tuesday,
2:37
Speaker 2: during batting practice, you sort of hear this scream as
2:45
Speaker 2: Pete's walking down the tunnel towards the visiting club house
2:51
Speaker 2: at Petco Park. As you know, it's a hot of
2:52
Speaker 2: it's a really kind of it's a nice layout, it's
2:55
Speaker 2: pretty tight, the dugout short walk back into the clubhouse,
3:01
Speaker 2: and so Pete's going through BP, which he normally doesn't
3:05
Speaker 2: do the regular batting practice. He likes the early sessions
3:09
Speaker 2: and kind of working more in the cage. But you know,
3:13
Speaker 2: Pete is always good about, you know, young kids who
3:18
Speaker 2: are on the field pre game and signing autographs, taking selfies,
3:22
Speaker 2: things like that. But just at one point, you know,
3:24
Speaker 2: a couple of us look over and one of Pete's
3:28
Speaker 2: batting gloves is just laying next to a trash can.
3:31
Speaker 2: The assumption being he sort of like tossed one towards it.
3:36
Speaker 2: We don't know where the other batting glove is. We
3:38
Speaker 2: think it may have been given to a fan. The
3:42
Speaker 2: point being that, uh, Pete's screaming and frustration walking off
3:47
Speaker 2: the field, for batting during batting practices, and so then
3:53
Speaker 2: you know, he subsequently said, you know, I just had
3:57
Speaker 2: to kind of get that out of my system. He
4:00
Speaker 2: hits the home run on Tuesday night Wednesday afternoon, it's
4:08
Speaker 2: a monster, I think, to run homer, and then on
4:12
Speaker 2: a contact play against a tough lefty, you know, hits
4:18
Speaker 2: the ground ball that scores another run. And so just
4:21
Speaker 2: a really nice kind of back to back days for
4:25
Speaker 2: him and our colleague Jordan Bastion, you know. And I
4:32
Speaker 2: walked over to Pete's locker after Wednesday's game in the
4:36
Speaker 2: clubhouse said pretty much clearing out out. At that point,
4:38
Speaker 2: there were no cameras and you could tell Pete was
4:41
Speaker 2: just relaxed, and it was just funny talking to him.
4:47
Speaker 2: He was kind of running through the game and he
4:49
Speaker 2: referred to Michael Conforto as old man four to and
4:53
Speaker 2: I just like lost it. I just was not expecting that,
4:57
Speaker 2: and it was like I was just got like, I
4:59
Speaker 2: don't know where. You know, It's kind of like when
5:01
Speaker 2: you're in your church in church and not supposed to
5:02
Speaker 2: be laughing, it just kind of like becomes contagious. And
5:06
Speaker 2: you know, I asked Pete about that kind of batting
5:09
Speaker 2: practice display and he just gave a great description. There
5:14
Speaker 2: were multiple curse words thrown in there. Yeah, one of
5:18
Speaker 2: the hitting hitting coaches was just grooving the ball right
5:22
Speaker 2: right down the f and middle and Pete just kept
5:25
Speaker 2: like popping them up, hitting the cage, and you know,
5:29
Speaker 2: he just said his BP was crap. I used a
5:32
Speaker 2: different word for that, and he was frustrating. He's he's
5:36
Speaker 2: a little he's searching. He's, you know, trying to recreate
5:39
Speaker 2: or find these different feels. And he's like, look, I'm
5:43
Speaker 2: not No one is sitting here saying all right now,
5:47
Speaker 2: I'm starting to get hot. But he feels good, like
5:51
Speaker 2: seeing all those left handed hitters. He thinks has sort
5:53
Speaker 2: of sorry left handed pitchers, has sharpened his own hitting approach.
5:58
Speaker 2: Hitting with men on base helps, he said. Nigo Horner
6:03
Speaker 2: gave him a little pep talk. He appreciates how council
6:08
Speaker 2: keeps running him out there. He's really tight with a
6:12
Speaker 2: lot of these hitting coaches who work with him frequently.
6:16
Speaker 2: And so I think you add all this stuff together,
6:19
Speaker 2: We've seen what he can do. He's still a magnificent
6:24
Speaker 2: defensive center fielder. And that was kind of my takeaway.
6:27
Speaker 2: Leaving San Diego of like, Okay, maybe maybe Pete has
6:33
Speaker 2: turned the corner here. Maybe he's not a first half MVP,
6:37
Speaker 2: but you know, you just saw these signs of life
6:41
Speaker 2: that you know, people have been waiting for.
6:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of you can tell
6:47
Speaker 1: when he's relaxed. I feel like when it's a smaller group,
6:50
Speaker 1: and when he starts like swearing where he's not like pissed,
6:53
Speaker 1: he's not like furious, but he's just like super adjectives,
6:57
Speaker 1: the exclamation points, right yeah, and the curses start flying.
7:04
Speaker 1: That's when he's like comfortable and just kind of like
7:07
Speaker 1: really breaking down what's going on. I you know, I
7:11
Speaker 1: don't expect him to be a walk machine. I do
7:14
Speaker 1: think it's really interesting that he's facing these lefties and
7:16
Speaker 1: not completely cratering. He's laying off pitches that he was chasing.
7:20
Speaker 1: He's still chasing. His chase numbers are high, but it
7:24
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like it's destroying his ability to produce. You know.
7:30
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal had an interesting article this morning about the
7:34
Speaker 1: Cubs like tendency to not swing. That's a big Alex
7:38
Speaker 1: Bregman thing. That's a you know, it's some of the
7:42
Speaker 1: best hitters in the game, Like this is there the
7:44
Speaker 1: way they go about business, Like if you talk to
7:46
Speaker 1: want Soto about hitting, it's like, don't swing is like
7:49
Speaker 1: the thought process. You're not like the less you you
7:52
Speaker 1: have to be super judicious about what you swing at.
7:56
Speaker 1: And I think that's the Bragmann mentality. You don't really
7:59
Speaker 1: want everyone to play like that. And I think Ken
8:02
Speaker 1: got some of those quotes like it has you know story.
8:07
Speaker 1: I thought it was good to like balance that out
8:09
Speaker 1: because it I do think there's a balance. They're different
8:11
Speaker 1: players need to do different things to find success. That
8:14
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that Pete uh can't improve. And it looks
8:19
Speaker 1: like he's making some adjustments. What you said about the
8:22
Speaker 1: left handed pictures is really like just he just doesn't
8:25
Speaker 1: look as uncomfortable. And I think maybe like he also
8:28
Speaker 1: understands that it's not his best Uh like it is
8:31
Speaker 1: he's at a disadvantage there, but he seems to have
8:35
Speaker 1: figured something out. Maybe he's just seeing more and more
8:38
Speaker 1: and and I do wonder like at what point, like
8:42
Speaker 1: does it does he not become this huge splits guy?
8:46
Speaker 1: Can he get to that point? But you're right, like
8:49
Speaker 1: the walks, the bunts, the whatever it is moving runners over.
8:54
Speaker 1: That's nice, that's good, Like you do that when you can. Yeah,
8:57
Speaker 1: but it's it's the power that makes him special. Like
8:59
Speaker 1: he he is a thirty home run guy. That's what
9:02
Speaker 1: he established himself as last year. He's still been incredibly valuable.
9:07
Speaker 1: Even though his numbers aren't great this year, they're starting
9:09
Speaker 1: to trend up. Obviously, that's what happens when you get hot.
9:12
Speaker 1: But if he can, if he can get you know,
9:16
Speaker 1: scorching hot, that changes a lot of things. This offense
9:19
Speaker 1: has been awesome, like not just good. It has been
9:23
Speaker 1: one of the best offenses in baseball. And you know,
9:27
Speaker 1: I feel like it. They're not even like clicking on
9:30
Speaker 1: all cylinders at times, and maybe they're starting to, but
9:35
Speaker 1: Pete's a big part of that. And I feel like it.
9:38
Speaker 1: You know, it felt like it was I did not
9:41
Speaker 1: love the idea that, Okay, Pete's gonna go with this
9:44
Speaker 1: is where he got hot last time, so he'll get
9:47
Speaker 1: hot again. It does like work out it. This is
9:50
Speaker 1: about the point in the season where it is and
9:53
Speaker 1: like he's going out west again and it just so
9:55
Speaker 1: happens that maybe maybe it did happen again. Maybe we'll
9:58
Speaker 1: see We'll see what what comes in the next few
10:02
Speaker 1: days and if you can kind of get in a
10:03
Speaker 1: rhythm here, there's weather here in Chicago. May may have
10:07
Speaker 1: something to say about that. I don't know if it's
10:09
Speaker 1: going to be beautiful all weekend or all homestand so
10:13
Speaker 1: we'll see what that kind of leads to. But it
10:17
Speaker 1: was a nice, nice moment and like the everything that
10:20
Speaker 1: you like, the picture you painted there was I enjoyed
10:23
Speaker 1: the piece because it was like I can see all
10:25
Speaker 1: this stuff like this is typical Pete, but also you
10:28
Speaker 1: did a good job of explaining, you know, what was
10:30
Speaker 1: going on there.
10:32
Speaker 2: He was also sitting next to Nicki Lopez, who I
10:37
Speaker 2: gotta say is just hilarious. And I know sometimes these
10:41
Speaker 2: bench players who come in and if they're like a
10:43
Speaker 2: little too loud and you're kind of looking like what's
10:45
Speaker 2: going on or like some people, I think they're funny
10:49
Speaker 2: when they're really just loud, Like I mean, Nicky Lopez
10:51
Speaker 2: is hilarious, and you know, he's the type of guy
10:55
Speaker 2: who's like, you know, saying like this. I forget which
10:58
Speaker 2: day this was, but it was like, you know, Pete,
11:00
Speaker 2: Pete need a translator and just kind of lots of
11:04
Speaker 2: Like his locker was right in that row there, I
11:09
Speaker 2: believe it was next to Pete, and then there was
11:11
Speaker 2: Shaw and Nico. Like he's kind of right in the
11:13
Speaker 2: middle of that row. And I think, you know, Nikki
11:17
Speaker 2: Lopez is not the reason that Pete Crow Armstrong. You know,
11:21
Speaker 2: h might be getting hot. But I think the clubhouse
11:24
Speaker 2: environment overall, whether you have someone like the Bregmant effect.
11:29
Speaker 2: You know, maybe it's not on every single swing decision,
11:31
Speaker 2: but I think in terms of a mentality that Pete
11:34
Speaker 2: is trying to get to and a focus on process,
11:36
Speaker 2: I think that helps. Obviously Ian happ Nico Horner, Dansby Swanson,
11:41
Speaker 2: guys like that certainly helping that regard. And like, I
11:48
Speaker 2: don't think Pete's going to be an eight or nine
11:49
Speaker 2: hitter like the entire season, but you know, the Cups
11:55
Speaker 2: have done a good job of treading water here, I
11:57
Speaker 2: mean better than that. But like stuff's gonna happen. They're
12:01
Speaker 2: gonna need guys to step forward, and you know, I
12:03
Speaker 2: think we'll we'll see. I mean, Pete is always just
12:07
Speaker 2: going to be a big character in the story of
12:10
Speaker 2: the season, and that's kind of where he's at right now, all.
12:13
Speaker 1: Right, Patrick, let's take a quick break and come back
12:16
Speaker 1: and talk about some not so great news going on
12:19
Speaker 1: with the Cubs. Okay, is the weather turns and it
12:26
Speaker 1: starts to get sunny out in Chicago, you know you
12:29
Speaker 1: got to get out of the house. I'm looking forward
12:31
Speaker 1: to seeing John Mulaney this summer. Make sure to take
12:33
Speaker 1: the kids to Wrigley Field. Maybe knock another ballpark off
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Speaker 1: see geek. Okay, Patrick, that's so good news here coming
13:49
Speaker 1: from I think you were in LA at the time.
13:53
Speaker 1: Maybe not, I can't remember where you were, but still sorry.
13:58
Speaker 2: It was last year was Stadium where we kind of
14:01
Speaker 2: got the diagnosis. Yeah, and this was San Diego when
14:06
Speaker 2: there was a revised timeline that was obviously frustrating to
14:11
Speaker 2: Adjustine Steel' let you take it from there.
14:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, So setback for Justin Steele. It sounds like he's
14:17
Speaker 1: shut down for a month and then they'll reevaluate. I
14:22
Speaker 1: think Craig Council gave you guys an optimistic time. Well
14:26
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say optimistic timeline. The current timeline now is
14:30
Speaker 1: sometime after the All Star break. Who knows what that means.
14:34
Speaker 1: I mean I think for me that right now, that's
14:38
Speaker 1: optimistic because we haven't gotten that month. We haven't knocked
14:42
Speaker 1: off this month of being shut down and reevaluated. Like
14:45
Speaker 1: am I saying that right? Is it a full month
14:47
Speaker 1: of him being shut down.
14:50
Speaker 2: Ish to clarify that, council said there's still a possibility
14:55
Speaker 2: he could throw within that month, that he'd be reevaluate
15:00
Speaker 2: waited in a month, not necessarily prohibited from throwing during
15:05
Speaker 2: that entire time. I would imagine that's still a possibility though,
15:11
Speaker 2: like if things don't improve, but obviously pausing the schedule.
15:17
Speaker 2: I think it he had been kind of feeling this
15:22
Speaker 2: and I think over the weekend he came, he just
15:26
Speaker 2: did not respond well after a bullpen session and again
15:32
Speaker 2: I'm not sure on the exact timing, but like Steel
15:36
Speaker 2: was sort of due for another check in with meister anyways,
15:40
Speaker 2: and that this one sort of took on more urgency
15:45
Speaker 2: because of how he was feeling. So, you know, in
15:51
Speaker 2: I'm sure counsel said the same thing while you were
15:53
Speaker 2: in spring training, but he stressed like whenever we'd asked
15:56
Speaker 2: timeline sixty day DL, you know, it was a slate
16:00
Speaker 2: May early June, in part because you know, pictures coming
16:04
Speaker 2: back from this can just develop soreness or may you know,
16:09
Speaker 2: reach a stage where they like need a couple extra days,
16:12
Speaker 2: and so like in his mind, that's not a setback
16:16
Speaker 2: if there's sort of like a natural fatigue sets in
16:19
Speaker 2: in the middle, like towards the end of a long
16:21
Speaker 2: rehab process. This though, was clearly labeled setback, like this
16:26
Speaker 2: is injury. This is not sort of giving him a break,
16:32
Speaker 2: like this was him being close to getting back into
16:38
Speaker 2: competition and then you know, being told you're shut down.
16:44
Speaker 2: So Council also stress that like he does not view
16:48
Speaker 2: this as a season ending injury. Uh Steel had said
16:52
Speaker 2: in spring training, we're keeping the biggest games of the
16:56
Speaker 2: year in mind that they saw what happened last October.
17:00
Speaker 2: That is still viable, I guess theoretically, But again we're
17:05
Speaker 2: assuming no setbacks and that in a month he gets
17:11
Speaker 2: you know, a good progress report and they can sort
17:14
Speaker 2: of ramp back up again. Like I don't know exactly
17:18
Speaker 2: what that would look like. I don't know if that
17:20
Speaker 2: means like a whole another spring training, Like I'm just
17:25
Speaker 2: guessing here, but like clearly we're a ways off here.
17:29
Speaker 2: When you know, the thought initially was you know, sort
17:35
Speaker 2: of well before the All Star break or a nice
17:38
Speaker 2: period before the All Star break, and now it's definitely
17:41
Speaker 2: after the All Star break, and no idea when exactly
17:44
Speaker 2: that would be.
17:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always you know, you want to be or
17:49
Speaker 1: I should say I I like, I prefer optimism. I
17:51
Speaker 1: prefer to you know, prepare for the worst, hope for
17:55
Speaker 1: the best, to kind of like look at it as
17:57
Speaker 1: like the things will workout and good things will happen,
18:01
Speaker 1: but also when stuff like this happens, you know, I
18:05
Speaker 1: think the way the Cubs have to look at it
18:08
Speaker 1: as they go through the season, approach the trade deadline
18:10
Speaker 1: and it's still months away, but they have to treat
18:14
Speaker 1: it like he's not coming back, in my opinion, like
18:16
Speaker 1: you can't you can't rely and even if they're ninety
18:20
Speaker 1: nine point nine percent sure he's going to be pitching,
18:23
Speaker 1: you don't know what type of pitcher he's going to
18:25
Speaker 1: be for these final few months of the season. You
18:27
Speaker 1: just don't, like, there's no way to know that. Even
18:30
Speaker 1: before this setback, you didn't really you know, you wanted
18:33
Speaker 1: to feel good about it, but there was no certainty
18:36
Speaker 1: that Justin Steel was going to be among the best
18:37
Speaker 1: pitchers in the game and just step right into being,
18:40
Speaker 1: you know, front of the rotation arm. Now it like
18:45
Speaker 1: this is this is not the only issue the Cubs
18:48
Speaker 1: are facing right now that you would have liked to
18:50
Speaker 1: have had justin steel back, especially with Cad Horton out,
18:54
Speaker 1: Starting pitching becomes a slight concern, like does it become
18:58
Speaker 1: a need. It's really hard to address front of the
19:01
Speaker 1: rotation needs. At the deadline, We'll see what sort of
19:05
Speaker 1: things pop up, but it is not easy to do that.
19:10
Speaker 1: The bullpen is a mess, Like, I don't know how
19:14
Speaker 1: else to describe it. I was very surprised that they
19:18
Speaker 1: were able to pull off Wednesday's game. I think Ben
19:23
Speaker 1: Brown looks looks like he's found, you know whatever, Maybe
19:28
Speaker 1: he's turned that corner, that mental corner that we've been
19:30
Speaker 1: talking about for a while now. But philm Aton did
19:35
Speaker 1: not look good and his brief outing Corbyn Martin set
19:41
Speaker 1: Ben Brown up to look good to like save the game,
19:43
Speaker 1: but that that's an unacceptable performance. That's the type of stuff.
19:46
Speaker 1: It's like one walk here or there, you know, like
19:50
Speaker 1: if you have a bad outing, but three walks in
19:52
Speaker 1: a two run game, like that's all you do. It's
19:56
Speaker 1: really tough, Like I don't know how you build confidence
19:59
Speaker 1: from the man manager and doing that, Like it's a
20:02
Speaker 1: big question mark there, like it, I think we're getting
20:06
Speaker 1: closer to seeing the Cubs bullpen a little healthier, but man,
20:11
Speaker 1: like these these constant blows to the to the team,
20:17
Speaker 1: these constant injuries updates. It brings about questions that I
20:21
Speaker 1: don't think there's any concrete answers to, like why is
20:24
Speaker 1: this happening? And it could the answer could just be,
20:29
Speaker 1: you know, pitching is like this and sometimes the bad
20:33
Speaker 1: things happen in bunches, because I would say there there
20:36
Speaker 1: was a stretch there where the Cubs weren't dealing with
20:38
Speaker 1: any major injuries for a while. I remember, I think
20:40
Speaker 1: I even said to you maybe like two years ago,
20:43
Speaker 1: like Patrick, do you remember the last time we like
20:46
Speaker 1: had someone talked about someone getting Tommy John with the Cubs?
20:50
Speaker 1: And I think it like soon after that, like or
20:52
Speaker 1: it was right around when al Saalai got it. I
20:55
Speaker 1: was like this, I feel like we haven't covered a
20:57
Speaker 1: major Tommy John in a while, like someone that is,
21:00
Speaker 1: you know, like it really important to the team. And
21:04
Speaker 1: now it's just like it constant injuries, not always Tommy John,
21:09
Speaker 1: but like it seems like the injuries are piling up.
21:11
Speaker 1: I don't like, obviously the Cubs are going to look
21:13
Speaker 1: into this, but I don't. I don't want to automatically
21:16
Speaker 1: say it's because of this or the Cubs have a problem.
21:19
Speaker 1: The Cub's problem is that there are a lot of injuries,
21:22
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to cross baseball problem. I
21:24
Speaker 1: don't know if it's a specific Cubs problem yet that's
21:28
Speaker 1: their job to figure out and if they need to
21:30
Speaker 1: address it, they they will, I'm sure. But wow, like
21:34
Speaker 1: I like some of this stuff, like it was abound
21:36
Speaker 1: to catch up to them, and it kind of did
21:38
Speaker 1: over the weekend, and it points in San Diego. But
21:43
Speaker 1: this is a lot of stuff going on for them.
21:45
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like, I don't know how they like
21:49
Speaker 1: put it all together, but they're going to be moves made.
21:51
Speaker 1: They're getting slightly healthier, Like where are they with with
21:56
Speaker 1: the bullpen when you left San Diego? As far as
21:59
Speaker 1: health updates, I mean, they.
22:01
Speaker 2: Were considering activating Daniel Plancia as soon as Friday, and
22:08
Speaker 2: obviously that would help. I think we'll we're kind of
22:14
Speaker 2: in wait and see mode with alive. I think Ethan
22:17
Speaker 2: Roberts getting closer. Last we asked, there was not a
22:25
Speaker 2: clear sense on field bar, but I mean, ultimately you
22:31
Speaker 2: look at this team, the kind of like best case
22:35
Speaker 2: version of it would have had Kate Horton and Justin
22:41
Speaker 2: Steele maybe starting games one and two, or maybe you
22:45
Speaker 2: acquire someone even better than that, or maybe Edward Cabrera
22:49
Speaker 2: and showed a I mean, Matthew Boyd like tion's look good.
22:54
Speaker 2: Like maybe someone else pushed them out of it. But
22:56
Speaker 2: like you thought you'd have those two guys at your
22:59
Speaker 2: dispa after not having either one of them last October
23:06
Speaker 2: and seeing how much they were missed and how Counsel
23:13
Speaker 2: even acknowledged if they had beaten the Brewers, he just
23:17
Speaker 2: didn't really see a path forward to win eight more games,
23:22
Speaker 2: you know, including four against the Dodgers, and then you know,
23:25
Speaker 2: a World Series that goes into I don't know, did
23:27
Speaker 2: last year's World Series going to November? Like just an
23:29
Speaker 2: absurdly long season to not have those guys pitching for you,
23:39
Speaker 2: super disappointing. But to their credit, they've figured it out,
23:44
Speaker 2: they pieced it together. We'll see how long they can
23:47
Speaker 2: do that. But I do think there's a just a
23:50
Speaker 2: tone of professionalism in the clubhouse and that they do
23:56
Speaker 2: just kind of keep going.
24:00
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, Let's take a quick break and come
24:02
Speaker 1: back and talk about a former cub finding getting back
24:06
Speaker 1: in the business.
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25:09
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick Kyle Hendricks is back, not with the Cubs,
25:13
Speaker 1: though he's back in baseball. He's joined the Detroit Tigers
25:19
Speaker 1: front office as a special assistant. I'm I think it's
25:25
Speaker 1: a surprise that he's not with the Cubs a little bit.
25:28
Speaker 1: That's a little bit of a surprise, and then that
25:31
Speaker 1: he's even back in the game so quickly. I think
25:35
Speaker 1: those are the two things that are a little jarring here.
25:39
Speaker 1: Obviously plenty of connections though, from his time in Chicago
25:44
Speaker 1: now with the Tigers.
25:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, our colleague Cody steven Hagen had a nice news
25:51
Speaker 2: break up on the Athletic He's also part of the
25:54
Speaker 2: Foul Territory Network and I think we'll dig more into
26:00
Speaker 2: this later, but that was my first reaction too. I
26:04
Speaker 2: was more surprised just that he was jumping back in
26:06
Speaker 2: so quickly, because the indications we had gotten that he
26:09
Speaker 2: wanted to spend some time away from the game and
26:14
Speaker 2: be with family. And I'm sure he'll still have that.
26:17
Speaker 2: It's not like he's signing up to be like the
26:19
Speaker 2: major league pitching coach or something like that. But I
26:23
Speaker 2: do think the Tigers make sense in this regards that
26:29
Speaker 2: we reported in the off season. Alex Smith, a Cubs
26:32
Speaker 2: coach who was very well regarded a long time behind
26:36
Speaker 2: the scenes staffer, was in uniform. A lot left for
26:42
Speaker 2: a spot in that Detroit front office, which includes Scott Harris,
26:47
Speaker 2: Jeff Greenberg, former Cubs executives, a bunch of guys who
26:50
Speaker 2: kind of kind of came up together learning under theo
26:54
Speaker 2: Epstein and Jed Hoyer.
26:58
Speaker 1: Shane Ferrell's there now too.
27:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, another guy. I believe, you know, Kyle's extension with
27:06
Speaker 2: the Cubs. I believe Scott Harris took the lead role
27:09
Speaker 2: on negotiating that one, and that that was obviously Scott
27:14
Speaker 2: Harris did lots of stuff for the Cubs, but the
27:17
Speaker 2: way it was explained to me was that, you know,
27:20
Speaker 2: it was one of his kind of first like major
27:23
Speaker 2: I mean, it was one of the only extensions the
27:25
Speaker 2: Cubs did during that time. So you know, we'll ask around,
27:31
Speaker 2: we'll see why not the Cubs. But I think the
27:36
Speaker 2: bigger thing is just kind of surprised that he is
27:40
Speaker 2: jumping back in. But you know what, Kyle's always been
27:44
Speaker 2: his own guy. I wouldn't go back to you know,
27:46
Speaker 2: he decided to go to Dartmouth because you know, he
27:50
Speaker 2: could pitch like day one starter in the Ivy League
27:57
Speaker 2: and giving himself a lot of opportunity, like he was
28:01
Speaker 2: very strategic in that one. I think his other option
28:03
Speaker 2: was University of San Diego and he may have overlapped
28:07
Speaker 2: with Chris Bryan if he had done that. All this
28:10
Speaker 2: is kind of blending together, but just that we know,
28:13
Speaker 2: we know Kyle Hendrix. He is extremely observant and uh,
28:21
Speaker 2: kind of does his own thing. I think he's so
28:22
Speaker 2: polite and respectful that you know that other side of
28:29
Speaker 2: him doesn't always come out that he's he does things
28:33
Speaker 2: his way. You know, he has a very like he
28:35
Speaker 2: sets his mind on something and he does it. And uh,
28:38
Speaker 2: clearly the Tigers are an attractive opportunity in his mind.
28:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm definitely curious to know more about this and
28:47
Speaker 1: and what he is looking to do, like what there's
28:51
Speaker 1: like He's smart enough and talented enough to I'm sure
28:54
Speaker 1: go in different directions. And when you add someone like that,
28:56
Speaker 1: a lot of times like these first this first year
28:59
Speaker 1: that you're with the front office, like they kind of
29:01
Speaker 1: have you do a bunch of different things and then
29:04
Speaker 1: you either figure out what you're what you like the most,
29:07
Speaker 1: or what your strongest at and then dive into that.
29:09
Speaker 1: Like that's very normal how these things work out. Sometimes
29:12
Speaker 1: it ends up being like a guy like Will Venable.
29:15
Speaker 1: Where you coach, where you end up coaching. Sometimes it's
29:19
Speaker 1: like Craig Breslo, Uh for an office type and uh,
29:24
Speaker 1: you know you just find your you find your role
29:26
Speaker 1: and figure it out. Uh yeah, very like obviously wishing
29:30
Speaker 1: him good luck and you know, excited for him, hope
29:34
Speaker 1: it's a fun experience for him and that he thrives
29:37
Speaker 1: in the role. All right, let's wrap this baby up
29:40
Speaker 1: and we'll be back with another episode. Thanks so much
29:42
Speaker 1: for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
29:45
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
29:48
Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs. Thanks
29:50
Speaker 1: for listen, everyone, take care.
30:00
Speaker 2: Then the
30:11
Speaker 1: Lady among the Leader