Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs news and notes: Pete Crow-Armstrong blows up, Ben Brown goes down and the bullpen looks shaky

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Cubs news and notes: Pete Crow-Armstrong blows up, Ben Brown goes down and the bullpen looks shaky · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside territory, foul territory networks, Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner, Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the athletic Patrick. That was
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: not a good trip out West for the Cubs. Uh, we,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: we talked about that, that Mariners series, uh, and, and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: they seem to be bouncing back really nicely with the,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: for like the final game of the Mariners series and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the first game of that diamondback series. But, uh, We
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: had three walk-off losses for the Cubs, just a shutout
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to end the road trip where Peker Armstrong kind of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: lost his mind, and maybe rightfully so. It was a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: bad call that kind of swung the momentum of the game.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You just don't know. If you don't know what I'm
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: talking about, there was a balk that was missed with
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Pete on third. The umpires got together to kind of
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: talk about it, said there was no balk. Nobody saw
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: it at least. It was clearly a balk. It was
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a missed call. Pete kind of lost his mind. Council
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: wasn't happy. Quinn Berry, nobody was happy about it. It
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: cost the Cubs a run and Diamondbacks immediately score. Cubs
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: end up losing a series where their starting pitching was amazing.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Arguably the best it's been all season, really, for a
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: full series. And, you know, a lot of different things
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: happened this weekend. I think that like a lot of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: different storylines impact the short term and long, you know,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: playoff implications as well.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Looking back on a two and four trip, it's weird
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: in that it felt like for most of that stretch,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: they were either in control or in a commanding position
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: or kind of right there. And obviously the, The walk-off losses,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: the shutout loss, really makes you think like, I don't
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: know if they had a great opportunity to win the division,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: but whatever thin hopes had remained, they're clearly diminished now.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: We'll get into the Ben Brown setback in the next segment.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: But I think you saw Pete alluded to it and
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Diamondbacks manager, Tori Lovello did as well, uh, during the whole, uh,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: sign stealing gate. Like these are kind of the dog days,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: you know, teams are on edge fighting for playoff positions.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And I think you saw that, you know, Pete's frustrations
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: spilling out, uh, in Phoenix, uh, the screaming matches between, uh,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Cubs and Diamondbacks, uh, coaches, um, You know, I think
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: it is just crazy like to get, you know, Gosman, Holmes,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Boyd giving up one run over 20 innings and you
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: lose the series and you don't feel great about this
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: road trip is just kind of mind boggling. I guess
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: that's just baseball. But, you know, I think the schedule
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: does either ease up or present clear opportunities, you know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: in terms of those seven games remaining against the Brewers.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: But this is kind of what happens when you, when
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: you head out West, like you hope to kind of
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: break even. And the Cubs were actually very close to
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: coming out ahead, but they just look like a team
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: that could really use Thursday's off day in Chicago.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're, they're really close to a five in
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: one trip. And even you could argue a, like an
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: undefeated trip, like incredibly close.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: They did not get like outclassed all week.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: This isn't like, this wasn't a, a road trip where
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: you're like, this team has major issues and I don't
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: see a path forward for them. I do think they're like, we'll,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: we'll talk more about this, but there's the bullpen is,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I've been a little concerned about it. I think I've
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: been talking about it on here. Uh, I know, uh,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: like I'm like, we, we need to write, like I
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: was thinking, I'm like, I need to write about the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: bullpen because like they need things to go right, right now.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Like nothing like they're, they're leaning on Jacob Webb a lot. There's, uh,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: obviously we'll, we'll talk about the Ben Brown news. Um,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia is back. He's a little rusty. Uh, I
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: don't know where they go with that aspect. It's not,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: it's not like they have no way to solve this.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: It's just that they're, they're in a moment where I
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: think you're right. Like Thursday's off day will be big
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: for that, but also there's just, uh, they need to
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: figure some things out there to kind of smooth things
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: out there, um, and try and get that back on
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: track because, uh, yeah, Jacob Webb, uh, had that long
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: stretch looking so good and then gives up two walk-off.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Homers on the trip.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Um, just not a, not a great trip in general
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: and the type that, uh, could bring some doubts. And
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, like we, we said this two
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: months ago or a month and a half ago, like
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: probably don't think about the division that much.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: They made a run, they got close.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: We're probably back to that that spot where it's like,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: probably don't need to think about the division too much.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: You know, Milwaukee, Milwaukee just doesn't have long losing streaks
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and the Cubs didn't fully capitalize, uh, when they did
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: hit a rut.
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: And you know, not, uh, not pretending to be an
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: alarmist or like trolling people, but you know, you lose
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: some of those games, like your margin for error decreases.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: And like, I still think the Cubs will make the playoffs.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: The probabilities are overwhelming, but, but this isn't wrapped up yet. And,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: you know, I think the rotation does look very solid
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: right now. The lineup, you know, offense comes and goes,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: but like realistically, I don't know how much better it
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: could get or like what alternative solutions are out there.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: I'm with you on the bullpen.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I think that's, gonna be kind of my off day
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: story here of um and we'll get into it more
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: later in the show but that is the area of
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: like okay you have this final segment of the season
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: left like we know reliever performances are volatile and unpredictable
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: like try and get you know as many guys as
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: possible kind.
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: Of right before the playoff start i think that's kind
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: of the.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: If you could isolate sort of one area of the team,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: and I know council hates that idea, but.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: That is it. That is the X factor.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: That aside, I do want to highlight one positive, and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: we touched on it, and you said it, but Gossman, Holmes, Boyd.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: That's a nice one, two, three for a playoff series
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: right now. It was good to see Boyd have a
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: bounce back after some rough outings. Gossman and Holmes. Holmes
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: really looks like he had that bad first outing, and
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: now he's at home with the Cubs. This works well.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: This is a good marriage. We'll see if he can
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: continue to ride this heater that he's on. It's really
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: been all season when he's been healthy. But let's take
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a quick break and talk about some news that someone
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: that we thought was going to help the bullpen and
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: maybe be a huge impact in the postseason may not be.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: It's time to remind everyone why baseball is glorious, especially
• 8:06
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• 8:08
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• 8:10
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• 8:14
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• 8:20
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• 8:24
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• 8:26
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• 8:29
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• 8:32
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• 8:34
  Speaker 6: at the standings right now. Both of you teams are
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: right back in this wildcard race.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Rangers fans, we can go on and on. Mariners fans,
• 8:42
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• 8:43
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• 8:46
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• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Patrick, we got the news that Ben Brown, who seemed
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: on the verge of heading out to an affiliate to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: continue his rehab, had a setback, felt the pain in
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: his neck. Sounds like it was happening towards the end
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of his outing and then got worse after the outing.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: Tell us what you heard from counsel.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: And just how bad this may seem for his return
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: this season.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: To start it, it's worth noting, and you heard this
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: as well, Saad, of how confident the Cubs were that, quote,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Ben Brown is going to pitch for us this year.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: That was the messaging. That was Ben's belief. Obviously, we
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: went through this with Justin Steele. The players' optimism is
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: not always the same as the club's procedural outlook. But
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: as recently as, I want to say, Tuesday's pregame session,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: it was, yeah, the plan is for Ben to travel
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: back to Chicago with the Major League team, which would
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: put him in a position to go out on a
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: minor league rehab assignment. On Tuesday at Sloan Park and Mesa,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: the Cubs facility in Arizona, you had Craig Council and
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Tommy Hadovie among the Cubs officials watching not just Ben,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: but the Cubs had obviously a lot of injured pitchers
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: trying to work their way back.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: So they were on hand to.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: Evaluate those players. And I believe Council said it was
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: He called it like, you know, maybe the greatest bridge
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: game ever in terms of talent on hand. He said
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Corbin Burns and Zach Allen were there as well. And so,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: you know, Ben did feel something, you know, kind of
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: towards the end of it or maybe right at the end.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: And as the hours went on, it worsened. And he,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: you know, kind of relayed that when he was at
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Chase Field on Tuesday and Um, and then before Wednesday's game,
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: you know, we were asking council about it, kind of
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: getting the updates. And this was clearly a setback. You know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I don't want to jump to too many conclusions. You know,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Ben will be consulting, uh, with doctors for presumably ones
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: he's worked with before in the past. Um, but this
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: was already kind of an, a narrow window for him
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: to get into, uh, this playoff mix here. Obviously, I
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: think there are longer range concerns here about his future,
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: the potential for his career. I never quite got a
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: straight answer in terms of Ben initially thought that maybe
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: he'd have to change something in his mechanics to reduce
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: the probability of that. And then when I circled back
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: with him, uh, later in the summer, he had sort
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: of said that maybe that interpretation was a little bit off.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: I'm not meaning to be circumspect here, but this whole
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: situation has been confusing. If you go all the way
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: back to him being misdiagnosed back in 2024 with this
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: kind of, um, you know, Matt, you were actually the
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: one who.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: Got that, uh, like the following, they.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Think, but, and then he was told, you know, this
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: year that that was off.
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: And so, um, you know, council said, this is.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Only, only slows it down. Like, you know, we don't
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: know exactly what this means yet. They're going to find
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: out more, but clearly this is not a positive development.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: You know, um, Council said Brown was feeling really good
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: throughout this whole process, that it was full speed ahead.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: The Cubs are usually, and Council in particular, are usually
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: more cautious in their public messaging about players coming back.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: And he was really encouraged by what was going on.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: But this latest piece of news was kind of the
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: first piece of bad news during this.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: Segment of his rehab.
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I think that's the thing that stood out to me
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: as well. Normally you and I are both cautious as
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: well with these injuries. And a lot of times it's
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: because what we're hearing and what we were hearing with
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: this is very positive and, and counsel, you're right. Like
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: it was, he wasn't hiding it. This wasn't like off
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the record or anything like that. He was, he was
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: telling everyone that Ben Brown is expected to return this season.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So this was, this was definitely a surprise in that sense. I,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you know, You didn't want to pencil him in as
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: this dominant force fully, but as long as he didn't
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: have any of these setbacks, I was feeling confident that
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: this is a guy that's going to be a difference
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: maker for the team in the playoffs. You looked at
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: it as you put him in this bullpen or whatever role.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: It wasn't going to be this clear role. He had
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: this role. He had a potential role. to have this
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: role where like council could use them as like this,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: maybe Daniel Palencia, like, like it was last year. But
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: maybe even more impactful than that. Like Ben Brown was
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: so good this year.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: And, and you're right.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Like I started, I wondered the same thing and we'll
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: have to, you know, I don't want to make assumptions,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: but what does this mean going forward?
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: If this is like, how do they, make.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: This heel uh because they thought it was uh so
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: it's there are questions about this season and beyond i'm
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: curious like we we need more information we'll get more
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: information on friday when we get to the park um
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: i think that we'll see what they have to say
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: uh i guess you're there is a small chance that
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: he can he can help the team this year but
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: obviously it went from like near certainty to huge question mark.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: And that, that changes how you feel about, uh, the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: bullpen and, and just like what this, uh, how creative
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: council can get in the post season with using, deploying
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: his pitchers.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: And, and to be clear, like we're not suggesting that
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: council was being misleading. Like he is, you know, like
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: that is the information that was the sort of state
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: of play, uh, as they were going, uh, And, you know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: I think we know counsel well enough at this point
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: to sort of read the signs from him. And so
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: that when, you know, he is not careless with how
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: he presents this information or how he frames things. So
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: like clearly things for Ben were going in a very
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: positive direction and things were, you know, accelerating here until now.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: They weren't.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: And, you know, there's always a possibility that, you know,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: there is good news or there is a solution or
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: that maybe it was just, uh, a blip, but that's not, uh,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: something you can kind of count on when you're trying
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: to put together, uh, a pitching staff of, you know,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: in late August, September to try and get ready for October.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Let's, uh, take a quick break and talk more about, uh,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: The bullpen and how they kind of, if they can
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: right the ship over the next month and a half.
• 17:08
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• 18:07
  Speaker 4: Patrick, I said a month, a month and a half.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: It's, it's like a month to the end of the season, uh,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: end of the regular season. Um, the Cubs have, uh,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: questions in the bullpen right now. Uh, they've, uh, Jacob
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Webb has been awesome. I am not concerned that he
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: can't get back on track. Uh, I guess the concern
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: would be if the Cubs need to kind of back
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: off him, who's going to step up and close games
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and get high leverage innings. They had to bring him
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: in the walk-off loss on Tuesday in the eighth inning
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: because Daniel Palencia is just not where he needs to
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: be right now. And I think it's very much this
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: looks like Daniel Palencia is before he really like got
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: locked in in 2025, that was last season. Right. Um,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: when he really locked things in and looked like a
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: pitcher that had figured things out and like was living
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: up to his potential, uh, right now it's like, okay,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: things are a little off.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: He's got the stuff. Um, he's not always commanding it.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: And, and, uh, you just hope that he can get
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: things locked in, uh, Ben Brown, not being an option
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: or potentially not being an option really changes things. And, and,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: ryan zephyr john just hasn't looked great in a cubs
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: uniform uh he's you know he's walking guys or he's
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: giving up hard contact pretty regularly and that's that's a
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: major issue those are the three guys you'd point to
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: as like these are your high leverage righties that can
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: dominate And, and you need them, you need all, you
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: need web to get rested and right. And you need
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Valencia and Zephyr John to lock it in. And then
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: you need some wild cards guys to get healthy or,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: or show up and, and write the ship here.
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: I'm with you on web. Just the, you know, getting like,
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: ask him to get four out, save. Obviously he can,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: do it he's had an amazing season but I also
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: think like he's outperformed like every expectation for this season
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: and that maybe not riding him so hard down the
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: stretch might be a good idea but to your point
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: though then someone has to pitch those innings right and
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I'm not as worried about Palencia I thought he looked
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: really good against the Mariners in.
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: Seattle and even that inning.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: He's basically one strike away from.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: Getting out of it.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: And then Moreno had that weird, like, check swing, double
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: down the line, like just a really fluky sort of play.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: I think.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Because Palencia's done it before in the playoffs, in the
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: World Baseball Classic, I think that gives him a lot
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: of credibility. And even Council was saying, Council's like, I
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: don't think he deserved to have three runs put against him,
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: but that's baseball. So, like, the manager with those two
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: guys does not seem, like, alarmed. And we all know Council's.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: Philosophy with pitchers.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: He values rest and recovery and kind of the long haul.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: So I would sort of guess that Webb, you know,
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: may get a little bit of a refresh. But Zeverjohn
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: is the one that, like....
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: We hear cops officials talk about how volatile.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: Relievers are and we get it and they don't like
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: putting their resources in the bullpen. And so I was
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: just really surprised by, you know, the costs to get
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: a reliever from the angels and given up, you know,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: Mason McGuire, you know, pitching prospect and obviously your opening
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: day designated hitter Moises by a staros. And he just
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: feel like he, came out of the gates pretty strong
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: against the Dodgers at Wrigley. And then since then, yeah,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: it just hasn't clicked. And it does seem like they're
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: de-emphasizing him a bit and trying to put him in
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: softer spots to try and get back into that circle
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: of trust. But, you know, from there, you're right, again,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: some guys are going to have to step up, get hot,
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: get right. And that's what these, this final month will
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: be about.
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: You don't want to put pressure on, on other guys
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: to like, that aren't even on the roster. But suddenly
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: like with Ben Brown setback, it's like, okay, what about
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Shelby Miller is, can he be a factor? And like,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: this is a guy that's, you know, what, like a year,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a little over a year.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: And, it'd be unfair to put that much pressure on
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: him to just show up and be dominant. He's looked
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: good stuff-wise at AAA. I think he's been pitching a
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: little bit more frequently. My assumption is they want to
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: see a back-to-back. I'm not sure when we'll get to
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: see that, but how does he recover after outings? That's
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: going to be the biggest thing. I don't think they're
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: concerned about the stuff This is a guy that has
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: experience in big moments, has been a high leverage reliever
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: for winning teams. I think he can handle the moment,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. He'd be a big addition. It's just
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: about is he ready to pitch on like a major
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: league schedule, a major league reliever schedule, which is being
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: ready a lot. That's the question I have with him. Uh,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: but I think like he could be an X factor,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: not quite like Ben Brown because Ben Brown was like
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: multi-inning who knows what he can do, uh.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: Type situation.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: But Shelby Miller is someone that could be a factor
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: here and help at some point, probably at some point
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: in September, if he's, if they decide he's ready to help.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: And one name to like scratch off the list.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Cause I see it sometimes on social media, like Jackson
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Wiggins is not like on the radar here. Um, Long-term, sure.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: A nice pitching prospect. Has some size, some pedigree, a
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: lot of stuff. But thinking that he's going to suddenly
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: be in the late-game mix for a World Series contender
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: is just not realistic. I'm curious to see how David
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Peterson gets worked in. We saw Council in Seattle be
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: aggressive with his long relievers getting length. That way, we'll
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: see how... Obviously, it's a different game in the playoffs,
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: and I do think their depth will play well in
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: that regard. But the short bursts from your high-leverage relievers,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: it's just not clicking well.
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: At this point.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: There's obviously a lot of time to turn it around,
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: but that seems to be the project for me, especially
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: if Boyd is back, if Gaussman and Holmes are the
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: guys that you think they should be when you acquire
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: them at the trade deadline. They're giving Shota an extra
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: day this weekend. He's pushed back to Sunday. We'll see
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: how he bounces back. I think I'm not at a
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: panic level with Shota at this point, but this has
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: been a challenge for this coaching staff the entire year.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: I think you had heard Tommy Hadovie, the pitching coach,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: call it like a puzzle. It's kind of fun to
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: put together to a certain extent. It's a lot easier
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: when you have that lockdown closer from the ninth inning.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Jacob Webb has been that for long stretches this year.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: I think he's still very much uh, trusted and, you know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: should be expected to, to be effective, but, um, they,
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: they've asked a lot from him. And, uh, at a
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: certain point there's a diminishing returns.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Uh, before we wrap it up one name, I just,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you got an update while you
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: were on the road. Uh, and I don't like, it
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: just don't know what to expect from him. Even if
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: he is coming back to help the bullpen would be
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera. Like what's, was there anything on him? And,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I just don't know what to expect
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: from him. It's been a rough season.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was scheduled to throw a bullpen in Mesa.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Like that was part of the, I think it may
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: have been Tuesday that there was a, it was a quote,
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: you know, big day at the complex, you know, Chase Field,
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: the Cubs hotel, you know, where they stayed. in the
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Phoenix area and the Mace facility, all very close together.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Also not, not a lot of traffic in, uh, the
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Phoenix area in late August when it's, you know, a
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: hundred plus degrees. So they were there, there were Cubs officials,
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: you know, really kind of curious, uh, to see what
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: they had, uh, going on there. And so, you know,
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: was planning, uh, to ask about Cabrera, but the Ben
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: Brown news kind of, uh, push that one to the side.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: And also, honestly, I'm with you. Like, I don't have
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: huge expectations for that one. Uh, but it'll certainly be
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: worth following up on this weekend at Wrigley.
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of North side, North, North
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: side territory. Thanks for listening to everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and watching, everyone.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: Take care.