Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs keep sliding, PCA's FIRE, Giants series preview w/FP Santangelo

Transcript

Cubs keep sliding, PCA's FIRE, Giants series preview w/FP Santangelo · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: All right, it's another crossover show. Splash It Territory joins
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: North Side Territory the Cubs podcast and nice enough to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: join us see covers the Cubs for the Athletic Patrick Moody. Patrick,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: thanks for coming on, Man, pleasure to have you on.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: We'll talk some Cubs giants, get ready for the big series.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: How you doing, man, Thank you very much.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Of course, I'm good.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: I'm a little disappointed I'm not making the trip out
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: to San Francisco.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: That ballpark is my favorite, personal favorite.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Just didn't work out this time, but it should be
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: a good one.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Well, we just went to my personal favorite, and that's
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: really good field. And I'm still recovering from the North
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Side of Chicago and having fun with my friends.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Came up this go.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: We went to Gibson's a few nights in a row
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and got these martinis that are bowls of martini and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: got some good steaks and had a great time in
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: your city. Wrigley feels my absolutely number one. So I'm
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: glad that you like Oracle Park. Sorry that you're not
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: making the trip. But let's talk about the Cubs a
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: little bit. They're thirty four and thirty four five hundred.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: They've dropped three in a row. Not to make excuses,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: but the Giants felt that Sunday night game coming back
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to the to the West Coast, I think they got in.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: We got in at three forty, the Wheels down in
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Bed at five am. Cubs did have an off day
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the next day in Denver. But they're scuffling a little
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: bit right now. I'm sure Cups fans are not real
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: happy with the way the team is playing. Bregman's been struggling.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: They get walked off yesterday in Colorado. They lost the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: first two games against the Rockies. The Giants lost the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: first two games against the Rockies in Denver, and all
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the Giants fans lost their mind, like, how can you
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: lose to the Rockies. So tell me about the state
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: of the Cubs right now and what's going on there.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: We just saw them for three games.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Actually, I want to get your impressions because you better
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: able to speak to kind of the psychology of a
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: lineup and how it can be contagious, because we saw
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: it last weekend against the Giants. But it's been essentially
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: ten series. Now the Cubs are nine and one, and
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: it just feels like these hitters are pressing, Like, what
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: did you see up in the booth watching these guys
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: kind of scuffle.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I saw one guy that I circled
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: not to beat the Giants, and that's Pca, and they
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: they did let.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Him beat them. So like he's the one guy.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: He had the hitting streak and you know, the home
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: runs and he's locked in. But once you get past him,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of fear in my mind from
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: any of them that were coming up, even though you
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: know there's some good hitters in Bregman and Bush and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: you know, go on down the line, Suzuki. But I
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: think as a team, and just based on experience, when
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: one guy struggles, you start to press and you're like,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be the guy.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: And I saw it with the Giants.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Of the month of April and early Hey, where you
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: you had nine hitters doing nine different things with nine
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: different game plans. Now they're starting to come together and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: play more of a team offense. But when you're struggling
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Patrick as a hitter, you start to worry about yourself
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and what do I need to do to get out
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of my funk, and then your focus is on getting
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: yourself right, which is how you got to the big leagues.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: But if you have that attitude, sometimes the team thing
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: starts to become secondary and down the list of priorities,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: where when you're going good, you pass the baton, I
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: take my walks. The guy behind me is going to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: get the job done. But if the guy behind me struggling,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: now I'm going to be the hero.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: I'm going to win the game.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: And I saw that a lot with Bregman in that
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: three game series.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: And I you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Know, Cubs fans, to me are some of the best
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: fans in baseball. And I'm a closet Cubs fan. I'm
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: friends with Craig the manager. One of my coaches from
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: junior college, Jerry Weinstein or works for the Cubs, so
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: we're always talking Cubbies, and so I root for the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Cubs unless they're playing the Giants. And I never want
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to see him struggle because, like I said, Wrigley Field, Chicago,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: my favorite city, my favorite ballpark. So yeah, I just
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: see a bunch of guys maybe trying too hard right now,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: not letting the game come to them.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: I don't know, what do you use see you cover
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: him on a daily basis.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Bregman is the interesting one because the
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Cubs were fixated on him as a free agent, and
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: you know, they were outbid by the Red Sox and
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: that was internally a major disappointment that they weren't able
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: to kind of go further with their offer, and they
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: felt like he was this perfect finishing piece for their
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: lineup at that point. You know, you would have been
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: trying to maximize Kyle Tucker's only year on the North Side.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: And you know, he really does kind of fit a
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: lot of the players they've targeted, like well rounded, two
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: wig guy, gold glove defense, baseball.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Jim Ratt. And I think when you hear.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: The booze, it's because he had been built up as
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: like the man and like this amazing clubhouse influence. And
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: I know that he works NonStop, like he is obsessed
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: with the game. But I think the hope was that
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: he would I don't know, one guy, I guess can't prevent,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: you know, an entire slide like this, But I think
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: his demeanor was supposed to be like and the skill
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: set like perfectly lined up for this group. And you
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: know he's been going through an adjustment period. He is
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: a slow starter throughout most of his career. But you know,
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: it was late, late Sunday night. Personally, not a fan
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: of the woe that it was like a seven thirty
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: first pitch on a Sunday night, but he was.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, he was waiting.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: At his locker there he was in his like cub
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: sweatsuit for the flight to Denver, and he was just
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: sitting in his chair and you know, a bunch of
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: us walked over. He merely stood up and just said,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: you know, I've been terrible. I need to be better. Uh,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: it's been awful offensively, and like he totally understands the booze.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: I still I still think he's gonna wind up in
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: a pretty good place offensively. Like, you know, I was
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: surprised that the Cubs went back and really extended themselves
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: when when he's a year older, because there's such a
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: model heavy organization. But you know, it's kind of at
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: this point where realistically the Cubs kind of have to
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: lower their sights of you know, maybe the Brewers go
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: through their own sort of collapse, but they're they're definitely
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: in survival mode now. Whereas if we had done this
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: podcast a month ago, it would be like can they
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: trade for Logan Web? And now it's like, are they
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: going to trade some of their impending free agents? It's
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: it's crazy how how quick it's it's turned here.
• 6:53
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• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Do you think I mean, obviously the NL Central is
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the toughest division. Are they're eight games out at thirty
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: four to thirty four? I think they're one out of
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the wild card. Do you think they would think about
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: being sellers just one game out of the wild card?
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: No?
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: I still I don't think it'll get to that point,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: But like, I can't rule that out. Whereas maybe we
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: kind of got a little ahead of ourselves when we
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: went through all these pitching injuries and they're putting up
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: ten game winning streaks. You're like, you know, Robbie Ray,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Logan Webb Freddie Peralta, what are the Tigers going to
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: do with their ace? And then all of a sudden,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: now you know, I think they're just going to be
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: It's going to be a grind to make the playoffs.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I guess it always is.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: But you know, they felt like they couldn't believe how
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: they went through all these injuries and they were still
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: running off these you know, crazy winning streaks.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, really, all these walk offs left and right.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, fifteen in a row at home, Yeah, all the
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: walk off wins.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I think you guys are leading Major League Baseball with
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: eight walk off wins. Yeah, it's been a head scratcher
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: for me watching them from afar, But they come into town.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: The Giants are off today. I think the Cubs are
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: in Denver one more game and then they come to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: San Francisco. So we're excited. Cubs fans travel. Should be
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: big crowds Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the ballpark where
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: you know, and it's gonna be a fun weekend in
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the city. Too bad you're not here. But the Giants
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: yesterday with an epic comeback down nine to one and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: then down nine to one in the eighth inning. And
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I was at the ballpark for the first couple of innings.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I didn't have any job to do yesterday, so I
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: came home, had to get a workout in. So I'm
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: at the gym, not thinking about watching this game anymore.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: They're fourteen games under five hundred. They're getting boat raced yesterday.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: So I'm on the treadmill and I said, well, screw it,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna put the MLB app on and watch the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Giants game.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: What else am I going to watch? You know?
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I'm addicted to baseball and the Giants, and all of
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a sudden, a couple of home runs by Chapman, Dever's homer,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the homer of the eighth Elvis is nine to five,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and then they give up a run on the top
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: of the ninth and they're back to a four run deficit,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and they score one. Then they load the bases and
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: here comes our guy, Bryce Elder's twenty one year old kid.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: That's just you know, I said, I do a postgame
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: show the other night. I said, we can stop saying
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: twenty one year.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: Old Bryce Eldrick, just Bryce Eldrick.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I take the twenty one year old out of it.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: It has been mature beyond his ears. And I was
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: around Soto and Harper and DC and they got called
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: up at age nineteen, and I couldn't believe the maturity
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: level for those guys. But to see this kid at
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: twenty one command the strike zone go up there, know
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: that if he hits a Grand Slam, it's a walk off.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Set After the game that he he was doing the
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: math in the dugout about if they came back, he
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: would come up in a situation where he could win
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the game, and he was envisioning it in his head,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and then he walked up there in a big league
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: game against the team he grew up rooting for. He's
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: a DC kid, and everybody at home in the DMV
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: is watching this guy. And then he hits a walk
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: off Grand Slam, and I was off the treadmill walking
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: back to my play, and I'm in the streets of
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: San Francisco going I got my partner one hand everybody.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of normal in this is people
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: talk to themselves all the time while they're walking down
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the street. But I was going nuts, man, So I
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: don't know if if they clicked yesterday. It's been a
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: scuffle for this team, and a lot like the Cubs.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: You're you're the ball club you cover.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: They're grinding, man, and it's been it's been some some
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: rough baseball to watch for Giants fans.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: They're very frustrated.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: There's been some decisions that everybody's questioning, whether it's lineup
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: or roster or approach. But but he just it was
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: nice to see those guys celebrate from one day and
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: maybe they take that momentum into the series against the Cubs.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: With Patrick.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: We have bullpen issues big time here in San Francisco
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and we have we don't have a set closer, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the back end of the rotation has been rough.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: I'm I'm weird.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I've seen stranger things happen in baseball ball. I still
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: think with like less than a hundred games left, there's
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: so much baseball left that if if they just lock
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: in man and they make a few tweaks to the bullpen,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: maybe go out and get a guy, they have a
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: chance to turn this around. I mean, you guys are
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: doom and gloom at thirty four and thirty four. Giants
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: fans would love to be thirty four and thirty four
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: right now and have that be a platform to start
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: getting one, two, three, six games over five hundred and
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: ten games over five hundred. So if the Cups can
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: figure it out, and Craig, I think is one of
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the better managers in baseball, I don't know. I think
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: they're going to be in the mix.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: I do, yeah, I think it kind of A scout
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: had told me a long time ago of like, you know,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: if you're covering a team or if you work for
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: a team, you see just the same group over and
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: over again. So like their flaws are so magnified, and
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: you say, take their strengths for granted. So when I
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: see the Giants roll into Wrigley and put up eighteen runs,
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: and you know, I I from Afar sort of admire
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: what the Giants are trying to do. Like so many
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: front offices areous or they'll just say we're just going
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: to kind of like punt on like four to five
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: years and check in later. Like I actually like how
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: they've kind of gone for it. It hasn't quite worked out yet,
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: and maybe some of those deals won't look great or
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: the long term, but I think kind of zigging while
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: everyone else is zagging is is like interesting, And you know,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: you're right. I think the Cubs just have to kind
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: of somehow step out of this and if they could,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: you know, win a game in Colorado.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Just start winning series.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: And you know, you mentioned your relationship with Craig, like
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: I covering him every day, I think I appreciate him
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: more because he does have a great sense of humor.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: It's just like impossible to like write about because it's
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: either off the record or it's so like just him
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: reacting to something or like an eye roll. I was
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: curious how you would describe his personality because I ask
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: people this all the time, like, give me a good
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: example of Craig's sense of humor. And it's like really
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: hard to explain, but just I get a huge sense
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: that like, like players really like playing for him, they
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: like how he gives them space. How like every day
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: is supposed to be the same, And I think over
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: the long run that could work. It just when the
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: team's not going well, they look flatt and fans get
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: angry because they want to see him like throwing stuff
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and lighting guys up in the dugout or in the
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: interview room.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Well, I think when times are tough, you look to
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: your manager, and all players do, and they see how
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: he's reacting, and then it influences how you react. So
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: if you have a manager that's the same every day,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and you hear this all the time with players, he's
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the same guy every day, He's the same guy every day.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: And why do you guys say that? Because it's such
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: a commodity. There's some guys that you have to walk
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: on eggshells around them when the team is struggling or
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: when they're struggling as a player. There's some managers that
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: freak out there's some managers that don't react well to adversity,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and I always just say, you know, the true tests
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: of a man's character in the clubhouse is how they
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: deal with adversity. Is he the same guy every day?
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: So that's a value in today's game. Is talked about
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: a lot amongst the players. And we have a rookie
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: manager that coached in college last year and this is
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: also new for him, Like every twist and turn, little
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: things that you don't think about, like the charters and
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: where you sit and how you act on the plane.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Do you interact with your players? Do you sit in
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: your seat? The best managers I ever had, Dusty Baker was.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: One of them.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: He would use the plane as his office and not
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: necessarily talk shop with you, but stick his head in
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: a poker game, go back and have beers with the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: pr staff, you know, just.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Work the plane.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And I think there's things that Tony's learning right now
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: on the fly. He never lost this much at Tennessee.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: You know, he never talked to the media twice a day.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, baseball is the only sport where the head
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: coach talks to the media twice every single day. And
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: so it's a grind and I think think it's all
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: just been really overwhelming for him. The losses are piling up,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the fan base is super cranky, as they should be,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: and I think, you know, criticism is justified right now
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: because Giants fans expect excellence a lot like Cubs fans,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and you want your fans to be passionate, and you
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: want your fans to be pissed off because they care.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Like the worst thing in the world is I can't
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: speak for Rockies fans, but they still come to the ballpark.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: It's thirty thousand, they were averaging twenty nine thousand. They've
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: lost one hundred games three years in a row.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and they're.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Still coming out. And I don't know if that's a
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: they have the best owner in baseball or the worst
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: owner in baseball, because why would you go out and
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: spend money if you're filling up the ballpark every day
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: because they just want to come out and have fun.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: So like, to me, it would be worse if Giants
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: fans and Cubs fans are just like, oh well whatever,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: We're still going to Wrigley. It's a great place. We're
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: still going to Oracle. It's a great place. But I
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: like my fan based cranky. The one thing that Kevin
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Franzen and I talked about and Franny's from this area,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: played for the Giants, and maybe it's just a reflection
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: of our society today, is like like fans are mean now,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: like the keyboard courage mean, not if they come up
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to you in the street or whatever, but the keyboard
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: courage thing. And there was an article on the Chronicle
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: by Susan Sluster, who's usually on the show with me.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Susan's in London right now, so we're taking a little break.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: We're letting her have a vacation and she deserves that.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: She works hard.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: But she did an article on Matt Chapman about like
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: death threats and his DM to his family, and it's
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: something that we didn't have to go through his players
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: back in the day. You know, every once in a
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: while there was a jerk reporter not like you, that
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: would like rip you in the paper, and that's all
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: we had to deal with. But these guys go right
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: to their locker, they open up their phones, they start
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: scrolling on Instagram, they check their dms and and they
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: get crushed if they're not playing well, and that's a
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: whole other level. But maybe I don't know, Patrick, maybe
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: it's just a microcosm of our society where people have
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the avenue in the venue to be to be cruel
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to to players.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, Peko Armstrong said, you know, he had an
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: incident on the South side of Chicago recently. It's kind
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: of around the beginning of this slide actually where he
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: you know, snapped out a female fan and said something
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: inexcusable but was not really representative of like who he is,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: sort of like around young fans, around you know, people
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: who work for the club behind the scenes.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: His dealings with reporters are not really like that.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: But you know, he made it sound like this had
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: been building, that he had just been hearing stuff over
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: and over again, and that just like came out and
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: he got fined by Major League Baseball, and so like,
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: I don't think any of that, you know, helps, you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: I think the you know, some people are on the
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Cubs have just kind of like you know, detox with
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: social media, and they've it's made their their laves a
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: lot more productive and fulfilling. But I do think there
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: are certain places to your point where people care and
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: just like the highs and lows are so much more
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: exaggerated like Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, and the Bay
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Area to extent as well, like maybe kind of in
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: that order where like you can if your team gets
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: off to a good start, sometimes you can just like
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: ride it a lot farther. It has worked with my theory,
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: has a work played out for the Cubs, but but
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: you can see it now of like when things go bad,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: like we talk about talking to the manager before and
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: after every game, Like Craig Counsel is very patient, and
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: I think he understands kind of what you're saying of
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: the people who are around every day, Like he kind
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: of gives them more latitude of just like he understands
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: like if you're there, you're doing your Like he can
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: kind of see that if you just kind of rip
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: them and show up once a month, he's probably not
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: gonna be as engaging. And like I was remember walking down,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: you know, from the press box to get down to
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: the clubhouse. As you know, when forty thousand people are
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: letting out, it can.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Get jammed up.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: You know, if they win, usually have a little more
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: time because people are in their seats singing go Cubs Go.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: But when they lose like that, it starts. And I
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: remember this was like a couple of weeks ago, Like
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: they can I'm just gonna ask Craig, like what else
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: can you say? And that was like two weeks ago,
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So it's just like the player.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: The players just have to play better. That's kind of
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: where I'm at right now. Like the blame game. You know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: sometimes shifts, but like these are well paid, accomplished players
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: who just just have to figure their way out of it.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: They do, and I think they will.
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: Crouch.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: You know why.
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: I travel all the time and I'm always looking for
• 20:56
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• 20:59
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• 21:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm not traveling so pretty much. I'm looking for
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: the games all in my area. I'm gonna look for
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: an Orioles game. I'm gonna look for the Phillies game,
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: the Mets game, the Yankees game. But you know what
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: else is coming up? The All Star Game? Sea Gek's
• 21:15
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• 21:16
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• 21:18
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• 21:21
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• 21:49
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• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Seatkeek.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Just for the record, not condoning at all what PCA
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: did or said. But I love the fire he plays
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: with man, I love the passion. I know he's hard
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: on himself at times. I've heard stories behind the scenes
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: where they've had to like say, like, don't be so
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: hard on yourself, but yeah, as a player, once you
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: lose that edge, like he filed before he hit a
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: file home run, and then he filed the pit straight
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: back and inner mics. He dropped a humongous f bomb
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and I loved every bit of that. And then he
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: hit a fair home run after that, and then he
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: was firing. The team was out of the dugout, Like
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: every team needs a guy with that kind of passion,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: even though sometimes it's directed the wrong way toward himself
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: or maybe a fan. But I love the way that
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: guy plays with his hare. He's one of my favorite
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: players of the big leagues, not just because of his talent,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: but more because of his approach on a daily basis.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: And I've talked to some beat writers.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I've talked to some people that cover the team, and
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: They're just like, he's just a lot, and I'm like,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I don't care, like I want, I want. I wish
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: the Giants had somebody that played that passionately. They all
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: have their own passion and it's not as outward as
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Pete Crow Armstrong, but like guys that have fire, like
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: it fires you up as a teammate, Like if he's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: playing like that, I got to play like that, especially
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: when it's your leadoff hitter. And ever since they moved
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: him in the leadoff spot, he's been hitting way better
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: because he feels like he's more a part of it.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I love the way this guy approaches the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: game and I look forward to seeing him this weekend,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: like he's he's.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: The one Cub.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Like I said that, I'm nervous when he comes up.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: If you pitch around him, he can steal a base
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and be on third and two pitches. But I just
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: like the way he goes about it every single day,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the way he plays center field, his hair on fire,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the way he's got an edge to his game.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Like, I think it's good for baseball when guys.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Fans love to see guys that care like that outwardly, right,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Giants fans get mad at Willia Damas because he has
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: fun playing baseball. But Willy's one of the biggest competitors
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I've ever been around. Where's it in the clubhouse? Sits
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: in his locker for thirty minutes in his uniform after
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: a tough loss. But like, there's this misconception because he's
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: having fun playing baseball and talking to everybody and laughing.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: And smiling that he doesn't care.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Pete is easily the most like, important, valuable,
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: interesting person in the entire Cubs franchise when you look
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: at like he salvaged that trade deadline when they got
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: rid of the twenty sixteen cores back in twenty one
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: and he was an a ball prospect recovering from I
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: think shoulder surgery. Anyway, he was, you know, all kind
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: of off the grid. His personality, his engagement is exactly
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: what you need if you're a multi billion dollar enterprise
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: trying to you know, keep the Wrigly machine going with
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: your TV network, all your satellite businesses around the park.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: And you know, I think that distinction you noticed is
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: is spot on. I think it was maybe Sunday nights
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: ninth inning. He grounded out and as he crossed first base,
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: he like grabbed his helmet sort of like went like
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: this and then just sort of like dropped it gently
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: and like you see him going through it like you're right.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Internally they've said, like, you know, some version of calm
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: it down, knock it off, like that's counterproductive. Not trying
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: to take away his emotion, but just like like you said, give.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Yourself some some grace.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: I don't know if he's always successful with that, but
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: you can tell he's he's trying. And at the same time,
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: those moments don't really reflect how like hard he works.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: You know, he's someone he's very coachable, he loves being
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse, around the cage and he had sort
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: of developed this routine.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Last year was prominent.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: I forget the exact moment it started, but last year
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: it was all about, like he liked him and a
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: few other hitters, like get into the park early, taking
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: early BP, you know, several hours before first pitch, like
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: in the quiet, you know, working you know, off machine,
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: and then BP just to kind of like see it,
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: feel it and kind of let it sync in without
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: you know, a big crowd around. And I think like
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: those quiet moments that you know most people don't get
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: to see are also illustrative of like who he is,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: and you know why, you know he's gonna be a
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: good player for a long time. Like that was the
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: whole thing before he signed his long term deal. Like
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: the worst case scenario for him is like he's a
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: ten year major league player just because if he's so
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: good on defense, and you know clearly he's gone beyond
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: that worst case. But you kind of think about the
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: ceiling here and it says one of the most like
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: interesting people in baseball for the next decade.
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah he is.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: And I would tell him to Patrick, like I was
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: a guy that played like that, and I was a
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: snapper and throw my helmets and break stuff in the tunnel,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: and and after every app bat and once I lost
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: that because somebody told me along the way, like tone.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: It down, I lost my edge.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I felt like I was giving in
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and feeling sorry for myself when I didn't go down
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: and beat up a trash can after a strikeout with
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: a runner on third less than two outs, and I
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: became a worst player. So I would tell him like,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: that's screw it, and screw what everybody says. Keep playing
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: with that edge, because once you lose that that snappy
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and that carrying, you lose your edge. So yeah, that's
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: probably it's probably why I like him so much.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: That's great, that's a great point.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: I think it's a we saw that kind of push
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: and pull with like Kave Bias, and Joe Mann was
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: really good at kind of letting him play free without
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: that fear of making mistakes.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: Craig has quietly made a really good impression on Pete
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: and they have a really good working relationship. And you know,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: the way Craig has thought of it is like he
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: has sons who are around the same age as Pete.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: We always think of Craig as you know, played in
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: the majors forever, and you know, he walked into this
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: job as a former player, not far removed from you know,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: being on the field in the lineup. But you know,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: it's such a small world that one of like Craig's
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: sons playing at Northwestern, one of his teammates was Pete's
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: like high school teammate. Of just like, that's how kind
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: of you know, how young Pete is that That is
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: kind of Craig's point of just like sometimes you forget
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: because he's been in the public eye for so long,
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: but like he is still very much learning on the
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: job every day.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: All right, well, we'll let you go. I appreciate you
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: coming on. You can catch Patrick on North Side Territory.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: You can catch us on Splash Hit Territory, part of
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territory network. I appreciate you coming on today.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I would have had to do this by myself. You're awesome, now.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Great talking to you. I appreciate appreciate you having me on.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: All right, man, take care and sad We're not going
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to see you this weekend, but I'll catch you at
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Wrigley Field next year. Sounds good man, all right, that's
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: another episode in the books. Thanks for watching, like and
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: subscribe all the stuff you're supposed to do to catch
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: this amazing podcast wherever you get your podcasts. So, like
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: I say on the way out, every single time, swing
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: heart in case you hit it on splash Hit Territory.