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How the Cubs are built for October after the trade deadline · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:10
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Moudie. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The Cubs
0:18
Speaker 1: have not lost a game since the trade deadline. That's
0:21
Speaker 1: five in a row and we are recording Saturday morning
0:25
Speaker 1: Friday night. Kevin Gossman was everything they need him to be.
0:32
Speaker 1: It definitely looked a little shaky to start. Walked the
0:36
Speaker 1: first guy that he faced, didn't walk another batter after that,
0:41
Speaker 1: I think it went walk two outs, then a hard
0:44
Speaker 1: single that kind of ricocheted off his leg, and you're like,
0:47
Speaker 1: uh oh, is this a Michael Siroca situation where he
0:52
Speaker 1: gets in a game and immediately leaves with an injury.
0:55
Speaker 1: He shook that off, gave up an RBI double and
0:58
Speaker 1: retired nineteen to the next twenty one. Just utterly dominant
1:01
Speaker 1: and looks like you'll fit right into a rotation that's
1:05
Speaker 1: just been cruising along for a little while now.
1:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just curious, what have been your observations
1:13
Speaker 2: of like these first couple of days after the deadline,
1:16
Speaker 2: bringing in some not just good players, but guys who
1:19
Speaker 2: have very good reputations and have a little bit of
1:21
Speaker 2: presence about them. I know they try to treat every
1:24
Speaker 2: single day the same. But observationally, have you noticed anything
1:29
Speaker 2: different here since the deadline?
1:31
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, honestly, what I've noticed the most is
1:34
Speaker 1: like these pitchers immediately bring up the defense. It's like
1:37
Speaker 1: that's the first thing they talk about. And Gossman, it's
1:40
Speaker 1: not like he came from someplace where they can't play defense.
1:44
Speaker 1: Like I'm pretty sure Toronto was arguably the best defense
1:49
Speaker 1: last year by some metrics. You know, I think Cubs
1:51
Speaker 1: people would say they were still the best last year,
1:53
Speaker 1: but this year it's not close. The Cubs are lapping
1:57
Speaker 1: the field and Toronto's still good defense. I think even
2:01
Speaker 1: in that one game series, one game that wrapped up
2:04
Speaker 1: that three game series from whatever June, we saw how
2:09
Speaker 1: good Toronto's defense is. But there's another level here. Gossman
2:15
Speaker 1: brought it up again last night. Clay Holmes has brought
2:19
Speaker 1: it up. But Clay Holmes it was going to be
2:21
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure one of the early questions. We
2:24
Speaker 1: didn't get to ask Clay Holmes about it because he
2:26
Speaker 1: said it before anybody could ask him about it. He
2:28
Speaker 1: just talked about how obviously this defense is going to
2:32
Speaker 1: be great for him, and we've seen what they've done
2:35
Speaker 1: for David Peterson for whatever two months now or a
2:38
Speaker 1: month and a half or whatever it's been. So there's
2:41
Speaker 1: there's another there that's that's what's really been talked about,
2:46
Speaker 1: I feel like by these pitchers. But yes, there there
2:49
Speaker 1: there's an excitement and there's a belief that special things
2:53
Speaker 1: can happen. I think with you when you have this
2:55
Speaker 1: much depth with your pitching, when you have this much talent,
2:58
Speaker 1: when you're getting guys that have experienced winning in Gossman
3:02
Speaker 1: and Clay Holmes, a guy that was pitching in the
3:04
Speaker 1: World Series last year, and Gossman, I think there's a
3:08
Speaker 1: certain level of excitement that you know, these are veterans.
3:13
Speaker 1: These aren't guys that haven't been there. So most of
3:15
Speaker 1: them aren't like over the moon about it in the
3:19
Speaker 1: sense that they know there's a lot of baseball to
3:21
Speaker 1: play and they can't make any assumptions, but there's certainly
3:24
Speaker 1: an energy around the group, and I think you're seeing
3:28
Speaker 1: it in their play. They've been playing well in general.
3:30
Speaker 1: It's not like they were lackadaisical before the deadline, but
3:34
Speaker 1: they're playing really well and it just feels like, Yeah,
3:38
Speaker 1: this team's got something right now.
3:42
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure loves to make revealing his game one
3:47
Speaker 2: playoff starter, who is closer is going to be for
3:52
Speaker 2: you know, the second and third playoff rounds. How has
3:56
Speaker 2: Craig's demeanor changed with all of these a bunch of
4:00
Speaker 2: more out getting toys for him to play with their.
4:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it hasn't changed at all. He's not telling us anything.
4:09
Speaker 1: He is the same guy. Yeah, you know, we We've
4:14
Speaker 1: talked to him and Tommy how to be the pitching coach,
4:16
Speaker 1: and I feel like they're cautiously optimistic, you know, about
4:23
Speaker 1: the potential of what could be coming. You know. He
4:27
Speaker 1: Counsel's very adamant about like certain guys are going, Like
4:31
Speaker 1: he knows Daniel Plancias will be pitching for this team soon.
4:36
Speaker 1: Ben Brown will pitch for this team again. Not soon,
4:40
Speaker 1: but you know again, this team is going like going
4:43
Speaker 1: to have Ben Brown this year. Things like that, Hobie
4:46
Speaker 1: Milner is coming back soon ish. Edward Cabrera has one
4:50
Speaker 1: more rehab start before they activate him. So there's a
4:56
Speaker 1: lot of pitching on the way and they just added
4:59
Speaker 1: for arms. Yeah, four arms, because now Braxton Garrett is
5:06
Speaker 1: on this roster as well. I think we'll see what
5:11
Speaker 1: Braxton Garrett. I don't think Garrett's around for the long haul.
5:15
Speaker 1: I think this is they're in the middle. They're ending
5:17
Speaker 1: seventeen straight as we record this. They got two more
5:21
Speaker 1: for seventeen in seventeen days, and they need to just
5:26
Speaker 1: get through. My guess is Clay Holmes is going tonight.
5:30
Speaker 1: Not my guess is Clay Holmes is going tonight. Clay
5:32
Speaker 1: Holmes is going tonight. He's probably not going to be
5:35
Speaker 1: super stretched out. I think he did throw now blanking
5:39
Speaker 1: on the number of pitches he threw in his last
5:41
Speaker 1: reh rehab start. But they still need to be smart
5:44
Speaker 1: about it. So Garrett's there in the bullpen, Assad and
5:47
Speaker 1: Ray are still I think I have that right. And
5:50
Speaker 1: Sodd and Ray are still in the bullpen. Sod hasn't
5:53
Speaker 1: gotten sent down, right, No, No, he's still there. Assad's
5:56
Speaker 1: still there, raised there, so they have a length behind Homes.
6:00
Speaker 1: Counsel kind of said, like we got to change up,
6:03
Speaker 1: like how abused at the back of the bullpen right now,
6:05
Speaker 1: He's like, basically I think His point was there could
6:08
Speaker 1: have been two interpretations of that. We can try and
6:11
Speaker 1: get clarity in pregame today, but he's he's using Jacob
6:15
Speaker 1: web a ton and he needs to just like leave
6:18
Speaker 1: him be for a little bit. And Caleb theelbar. The
6:23
Speaker 1: strikeouts are still really high, and that's important. The walks
6:26
Speaker 1: aren't out of control, but the hard contact has just
6:30
Speaker 1: gotten to a point where it's like, is he like,
6:34
Speaker 1: can you trust him still in high leverage moments? Which
6:39
Speaker 1: may which says to me, like, Okay, Hoby Milner's coming
6:42
Speaker 1: back soon. He may be the number one lefty or
6:45
Speaker 1: number number two lefty after Allison. Does that happen? And
6:49
Speaker 1: Council was more leaning towards Milner more, But I do wonder, like,
6:53
Speaker 1: does Garrett get a shot at some point to show
6:56
Speaker 1: what he can do as a reliever Maybe that maybe
6:58
Speaker 1: it's too late in the season to start like thinking
7:01
Speaker 1: about that, right, Like he hasn't done anything in the
7:04
Speaker 1: big leagues really this year, so why give him this
7:07
Speaker 1: huge role? But he's got two months to maybe make
7:10
Speaker 1: a name for himself. But my guess is Hobe Milner
7:13
Speaker 1: has the I mean, not my guests. Like Council was
7:15
Speaker 1: pretty clear that Milner has the lead in that, but
7:19
Speaker 1: but Fielbar maybe seeing a different role going forward. It
7:23
Speaker 1: has like I love the strikeouts, but he can't give
7:26
Speaker 1: up as much hard contact as he's giving up right now.
7:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do these, you know, roster projections in spring
7:34
Speaker 2: training and or during the offseason, like as moves are happening,
7:39
Speaker 2: and I think this particular moment in time, it is
7:43
Speaker 2: pretty impressive. I know there's kind of asterisks around a
7:45
Speaker 2: lot of these guys you wrote about Sadev who are
7:48
Speaker 2: coming off the injured list on in the near term,
7:53
Speaker 2: but this looks like, you know, a playoff caliber pool
7:59
Speaker 2: of pitch. There are going to be tough decisions. There
8:02
Speaker 2: is going to be competition down the stretch. There will
8:05
Speaker 2: be guys kind of rising and falling based on what
8:09
Speaker 2: the manager and coaches are seeing.
8:12
Speaker 1: And I think.
8:15
Speaker 2: Not guaranteeing the Cubs overtake the Brewers, but if you
8:17
Speaker 2: had any shot at overtaking the Brewers and advancing deep
8:23
Speaker 2: into October, you needed what happened at the trade deadline
8:28
Speaker 2: of getting that swing and miss reliever getting two legit starters.
8:33
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting. Ken Rosenthal's one of his
8:37
Speaker 2: recent recent columns saying the Brewers identified like two guys
8:42
Speaker 2: on the market who they thought could start a playoff game,
8:45
Speaker 2: and they got one of them in May, and.
8:46
Speaker 1: The other was Kevin Gosman.
8:48
Speaker 2: Like there's a legit get frontline starter, you know, who
8:53
Speaker 2: pitched in last year's World Series. And so you take
8:56
Speaker 2: all this together, I guess we can go over some
8:59
Speaker 2: of the names. It seemed like a maybe Tommy was
9:02
Speaker 2: just in a good mood because they got all these
9:03
Speaker 2: new pitchers and like they can see kind of the
9:06
Speaker 2: finish line here. But I mean, Ben Brown will pitch.
9:11
Speaker 2: You know, even Justin Steele is actually doing stuff and
9:15
Speaker 2: making progress. Cabrera is kind of an intriguing one too.
9:22
Speaker 2: I think you really got to like the idea of
9:25
Speaker 2: him maybe being this two inning wild card out of
9:28
Speaker 2: the bullpen, rather than you know, pinning your hopes on
9:30
Speaker 2: him being a game one playoff starter.
9:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, Cabrera was dominant in his most recent his most
9:37
Speaker 1: recent rehab outing. You know that that's great, obviously, can't
9:42
Speaker 1: you know project that into you know, the big leagues.
9:45
Speaker 1: That's a triple A. But eight strikeouts, no walks in
9:49
Speaker 1: four innings, I want to say one more start coming,
9:52
Speaker 1: they're obviously stretching him out. They're planning on putting him
9:55
Speaker 1: in the rotation. But what does that mean in October?
10:01
Speaker 1: You know, like you said, Gosman's a playoff starter. You
10:04
Speaker 1: have Matthew Boyd, you have showed him Managa, you have
10:06
Speaker 1: play homes. You know, I'm missing someone that that is important.
10:12
Speaker 1: I'm sure as I list off all those starters. So
10:16
Speaker 1: they have guys that they trust can go deep into
10:19
Speaker 1: games or give them innings, or maybe they just start
10:23
Speaker 1: doing like they can do two times through the order
10:26
Speaker 1: for a certain starter and then bring Edward Cabrera in
10:29
Speaker 1: for three innings. He why not let him just like
10:34
Speaker 1: kind of let loose for two or three innings in
10:37
Speaker 1: the playoffs, anything kind of goes. You could say that
10:40
Speaker 1: for almost anyone, I think, especially a guy with the
10:43
Speaker 1: type of stuff as Cabrera. That's why I kind of
10:48
Speaker 1: wondered about Garrett, and I have talked to some people
10:51
Speaker 1: that are like, yeah, well, you know it could take
10:53
Speaker 1: up so why you know, you can't really rule it
10:56
Speaker 1: out with you know, Polentia will be back. We'll see there.
11:01
Speaker 1: They're gonna ease him back into a role because Council
11:04
Speaker 1: keeps mentioning how few innings he's pitched. The latest with
11:08
Speaker 1: Brown is I think he threw I'm gonna I want
11:14
Speaker 1: to make sure I'm right on this. I'm pretty sure
11:16
Speaker 1: he threw a bullpen Friday, and it was like a
11:20
Speaker 1: like I shouldn't say a bullpen. It was like a
11:22
Speaker 1: touch and feel I should say that it was either
11:25
Speaker 1: Friday or it's happening this weekend where it was just like,
11:28
Speaker 1: you know, very much like he's feeling abound. He's getting
11:32
Speaker 1: that you know, idea of what, uh, what it feels
11:36
Speaker 1: like again, and they're just like they're progressing. Where before
11:40
Speaker 1: it was like he'd take us, try and take a step,
11:43
Speaker 1: and in the next day it'd be like, ah, that
11:45
Speaker 1: doesn't feel great or I'm feeling something there. Now it's
11:48
Speaker 1: not that's not happening anymore. It's like they're going they're
11:51
Speaker 1: not rushing through this. He's not you know, full force.
11:54
Speaker 1: When I talked to Ben, he seems pretty optimistic and
11:57
Speaker 1: he was saying the below's there, but you know, he
12:01
Speaker 1: needs to start throwing spin. He needs to you know,
12:04
Speaker 1: go full force in a bullpen and start facing batters.
12:07
Speaker 1: But totally realistic that he's gonna you know, get up
12:10
Speaker 1: to one or two inning verse and we know how
12:14
Speaker 1: good he can be. With Steele. Depending on who you
12:17
Speaker 1: talk to, you get different things. Could he like I
12:22
Speaker 1: think ultimately what it is is they really want to
12:24
Speaker 1: get him on a mound, whether it's you know, facing
12:28
Speaker 1: batters in game situations now. And I'm not saying the
12:31
Speaker 1: big leagues. I'm just saying they need to get that
12:33
Speaker 1: done a couple outings this season. Can he help this
12:37
Speaker 1: team at the big league level as a reliever. I
12:43
Speaker 1: don't think that's something that they're just like that they're
12:47
Speaker 1: gonna say, yes, absolutely, that is happening. They're not going
12:50
Speaker 1: to be as forcefble as like Ben Brown or Daniel
12:52
Speaker 1: Palencia or Cabrera or any of these guys. Ben Brown obviously,
12:57
Speaker 1: let's let's just compare him to Ben Brown. Ben Brown,
12:59
Speaker 1: they're very adamant, like he's pitching for this big league
13:01
Speaker 1: club this year. You're not getting the same emphatic response
13:05
Speaker 1: on Justin Steele. It's important for them for him to
13:08
Speaker 1: get on the mound and face the live bat like
13:11
Speaker 1: face batters and then get in game action that they
13:14
Speaker 1: really want that to happen. But I think with him,
13:18
Speaker 1: it was this most recent bullpen, which could have been
13:23
Speaker 1: over the last couple of days, was like another twenty
13:25
Speaker 1: five ish bullpen session, and then like the hope was
13:30
Speaker 1: a more intense forty ish bullpen session. And then after
13:36
Speaker 1: that it's like do you do an updown bullpen session?
13:39
Speaker 1: Do you do live BP? That's the next step one
13:43
Speaker 1: of those two, like either an updown or live BP updown.
13:48
Speaker 1: So we'll see where that goes how quickly they move him.
13:52
Speaker 1: Like I said, I think they could use a lefty
13:55
Speaker 1: out of the bullpen one more. To feel really good
13:58
Speaker 1: about things, and this is like these are like being nitpicky,
14:02
Speaker 1: I think to a certain extent, But when you're this
14:04
Speaker 1: good and when when you are trying to win a championship,
14:06
Speaker 1: it's exactly what you should be doing. Nitpicking the roster.
14:09
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the Tyrone Taylor addition. It's like,
14:12
Speaker 1: let's be let's be you know, like, what is What's
14:16
Speaker 1: something that we could use over the final two months.
14:19
Speaker 1: So I'm not as bullish on Justin Steele as I
14:24
Speaker 1: would be Ben Brown, but you can't rule it out
14:29
Speaker 1: that he comes back as a bullpen arm. It's just
14:31
Speaker 1: it's like maybe he gets a couple of innings in
14:34
Speaker 1: the big leagues. But does he get to a point
14:36
Speaker 1: where you're like, put him on the playoff roster he's
14:39
Speaker 1: ready to get out in the seventh inning against the
14:43
Speaker 1: Brewers or whatever. You know, it's just hard to to
14:49
Speaker 1: get to that point so quickly. You answered.
14:53
Speaker 2: The other piece of kind of roster fallout, is Ian
14:58
Speaker 2: Happs sort of in like a light platoon now not
15:02
Speaker 2: automatic every day or are they just kind of easing
15:05
Speaker 2: it towards that where he's not going to be just
15:09
Speaker 2: posting up in left field every day?
15:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, more the ladder, you know. I like, I don't
15:18
Speaker 1: think it's like a full on platoon just yet, but
15:23
Speaker 1: we're getting to that point. Patrick, I can't. I was
15:28
Speaker 1: just trying to look, but at my box score isn't updating.
15:32
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think he went over four with
15:35
Speaker 1: four strikeouts yesterday, Yes, and it was like looking swinging,
15:43
Speaker 1: looking swinging. From what I remember, it was two of
15:47
Speaker 1: each that bats just don't and this was from the
15:50
Speaker 1: left side. Like the whole point is like Tyrone Taylor,
15:54
Speaker 1: let him get some days off against stuff lefties, he'll
15:59
Speaker 1: be in there. Case against the left e's, I think
16:01
Speaker 1: he was on, so like he sat Monday and Tuesday
16:06
Speaker 1: and then played Wednesday against the lefty. I'm going off
16:09
Speaker 1: pure memory here. He just doesn't he doesn't look right
16:15
Speaker 1: at the plate. Now. I want to say this because
16:18
Speaker 1: we've watched a decade of E and half play, last
16:23
Speaker 1: five years, him playing pretty much every day. This happens.
16:28
Speaker 1: He looks awful for a period of time, uh, and
16:32
Speaker 1: then just gets red hot and is almost carrying an offense.
16:36
Speaker 1: He can do that. He doesn't have a hit in August.
16:41
Speaker 1: It's only August eighth, but the bats don't look great.
16:46
Speaker 1: I think Tyrone Taylor is just should eat up his
16:50
Speaker 1: at bats against the lefties. I think you should. You
16:53
Speaker 1: need to be more aggressive about that. This kind of
16:56
Speaker 1: feels like that Kevin al contrast start on whatever day
16:59
Speaker 1: that that was much day. I believe that Kevin el
17:01
Speaker 1: contrast start to me felt like Joe Madden pulling Jason
17:08
Speaker 1: Hamill against the Giants in twenty fifteen. Is my memory, right,
17:14
Speaker 1: That's what that felt like to me. It's like, okay,
17:17
Speaker 1: it's go time. You got plenty of time to try
17:21
Speaker 1: and figure it out. It's time, Like, okay, lefties, you're
17:25
Speaker 1: not getting as many play appearances. Does he sit overall
17:31
Speaker 1: is the next question. I don't think that's going to
17:33
Speaker 1: happen just yet because of what I said, Like you
17:36
Speaker 1: and I have seen this a thousand times. Council has
17:38
Speaker 1: already seen it in his time. He can look awful. Shoot,
17:41
Speaker 1: we saw it earlier this year with hap end with
17:45
Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson where it looks like these guys can aren't
17:49
Speaker 1: playable to like these guys are you know, red hot
17:53
Speaker 1: and huge parts of the offense. These things change in
17:59
Speaker 1: the council even said it a couple of days ago.
18:01
Speaker 1: I can't remember who he was talking about. It's like
18:03
Speaker 1: you can't really predict when it happens. It just kind
18:06
Speaker 1: of happens, like you know, you just all of a sudden,
18:08
Speaker 1: It's like all the work that they're putting in the
18:10
Speaker 1: work and then that work finally pays off. But it's
18:13
Speaker 1: like when does it happen? Because it's not like they
18:16
Speaker 1: just decided to be like okay, now all work and
18:19
Speaker 1: put in the work and try and get right. But
18:21
Speaker 1: we know he inhaps working. It's like when will it click? Yeah?
18:26
Speaker 2: I think didn't he say something like anyone who tells
18:28
Speaker 2: you that they're lying if they think they know when
18:30
Speaker 2: it's going to happen or as it's happening. I guess
18:34
Speaker 2: Matt Shaw is still just kind of out there but
18:36
Speaker 2: not making a ton of progress. So it's not like
18:39
Speaker 2: I mean, he's sort of running out of time to
18:41
Speaker 2: get like locked back in and trusted and sort of
18:45
Speaker 2: forcing that issue to where he could be part of
18:48
Speaker 2: that outfield Max. Maybe I'm exaggerating that a bit, but
18:53
Speaker 2: there's not a ton of time, right, I mean.
18:55
Speaker 1: I mean, like, yeah, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but
18:59
Speaker 1: I'm not getting anything any sense that he's very close. Yeah, yeah, Like,
19:05
Speaker 1: so we're at a point. I think what we were
19:07
Speaker 1: told most recently was we're at a point where he's
19:11
Speaker 1: still not swinging all out MVP. He's not swinging one
19:15
Speaker 1: hundred percent, and we're at a point that when it
19:18
Speaker 1: gets to that and when he's ready to go out
19:20
Speaker 1: on a rehab assignment, it's going to be a longer
19:23
Speaker 1: rehab assignment. Like my guess is like this isn't in
19:26
Speaker 1: three games, Like it's a week, ten days of rehab
19:30
Speaker 1: assignment to get like your bearings and then you're back.
19:34
Speaker 1: So like I think we're looking at September as a
19:38
Speaker 1: point of when maybe he can be back helping this team,
19:43
Speaker 1: and then you're talking about like what's his role and
19:45
Speaker 1: how much can he help? Like Peedro Ramirez is awesome
19:47
Speaker 1: right now, Tyrone Taylor is having a great season, so
19:51
Speaker 1: you have a really nice bench. Michael Conforto's probably behind
19:55
Speaker 1: Pedro Ramirez on the back. I mean he is, because
19:57
Speaker 1: Peter Ramirez is getting pretty regular starts. Uh So it's it.
20:03
Speaker 1: I don't I don't rule him out as helping this
20:06
Speaker 1: team this season. But you're you're not off base by
20:09
Speaker 1: saying like we're running out of time here if he's
20:12
Speaker 1: not swinging a bat one hundred percent, like he's got
20:15
Speaker 1: to go out and like he's got to go swing
20:17
Speaker 1: the bat. You know, like, well, it's it's a little odd,
20:21
Speaker 1: like how long this is lasting because there's no structural damage.
20:25
Speaker 1: It sounds like, but you know, rists are weird and
20:28
Speaker 1: and I think it can I mean, isn't that what
20:32
Speaker 1: Roman Anthony's had like all season long? A wrist? Like yeah,
20:36
Speaker 1: and like these things and it is like there's probably
20:38
Speaker 1: there's there was someone else that I was reading about
20:41
Speaker 1: recently that's had a risk issue that it's fully healed.
20:44
Speaker 1: There's no problems, it's just lingering. The pain is there.
20:47
Speaker 1: There's so many bones in there, there's so many little
20:49
Speaker 1: things that go wrong. And I don't think this is
20:52
Speaker 1: like a huge concern long term, but it does sound
20:55
Speaker 1: like this season has kind of been a hiccup for him.
20:59
Speaker 1: But yeah, Matt Shaw, maybe maybe we That's why Tyrone
21:04
Speaker 1: Taylor's here. So it's not like this huge concern as
21:07
Speaker 1: far as the construction of the team.
21:11
Speaker 2: I think final thing put you on the spot. Does
21:14
Speaker 2: Pete crow Armstrong have your MVP vote?
21:19
Speaker 1: You know, like if the season ended today. So yes,
21:24
Speaker 1: you would be my pick if the season ended today.
21:27
Speaker 1: I was flabbergasted by the reaction after so Wednesday, both
21:34
Speaker 1: of them put on a show him and show Hey.
21:37
Speaker 1: Show Hey homered in like a ten pitch at bat
21:39
Speaker 1: to lead off the game. Pete so the first pitch
21:43
Speaker 1: Pete saw, next half inning sent it into the seats.
21:47
Speaker 1: Pete would double and homer again. Show Hey would single
21:50
Speaker 1: and homer to bring them like it was a seven
21:53
Speaker 1: to one Cubs lead, and show Hayes hit a homer
21:55
Speaker 1: to make it I think cut it to seven to six.
21:57
Speaker 1: It got a little tense there great game for both guys,
22:00
Speaker 1: really exciting, just a fun battle between two superstars. There
22:06
Speaker 1: is a lot of pushback among national media saying like,
22:12
Speaker 1: show hasn't pitched in like a month and a half.
22:14
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm exaggerating on how long it's been. Every single
22:17
Speaker 1: time they talk about, oh, he's gonna throw a bullpen,
22:19
Speaker 1: they push it back, who knows when this guy's going
22:21
Speaker 1: to get in a game. But they're saying, well, he's
22:23
Speaker 1: been a dominant you know, you could just say, like
22:26
Speaker 1: what he has already is a dominant relievers performance. Okay,
22:32
Speaker 1: Peak Armstrong doesn't pitch, Shoeyotani doesn't play defense. Shoey Atani
22:37
Speaker 1: is not as good of a base runner as is
22:39
Speaker 1: pek K Armstrong. There are all parts of a game.
22:43
Speaker 1: If Pek Armstrong puts up a ten more season and
22:46
Speaker 1: choey Otani gives you ten more innings or fifteen more
22:50
Speaker 1: innings this year, look if he gives if he starts
22:54
Speaker 1: all of September and gives them a ton of innings
22:58
Speaker 1: and is dominant, it may swing my boat and continues
23:03
Speaker 1: to hit like how he's hitting, but right now by
23:05
Speaker 1: way to runs great A plus, Peak Armstrong is better
23:09
Speaker 1: by war peak or Armstrong's better peak. Armstrong's arguably having
23:12
Speaker 1: one of the best defensive seasons ever. Like we're we're
23:16
Speaker 1: talking about like Willie May's Andrew Jones type center field defense,
23:23
Speaker 1: and he's just like he's the best player on a
23:27
Speaker 1: really good team. I guess you could say that about show. Hey,
23:29
Speaker 1: he's the best player on the best team in baseball,
23:31
Speaker 1: but it's I don't and I don't really subscribe to
23:37
Speaker 1: that stuff like it does like he could be on
23:39
Speaker 1: a bad team and if he's MVP, I'm gonna say
23:42
Speaker 1: he's MVP. But I just think like the like for
23:47
Speaker 1: some reason, there's his pushback on like there shouldn't be
23:49
Speaker 1: a debate like he does one guy does both and
23:53
Speaker 1: one guy is just a regular position player. I don't.
23:57
Speaker 1: I don't get that argument, especially when we have of
24:00
Speaker 1: like ways to value these things, and you can say,
24:02
Speaker 1: maybe centerfield defense is overrated. I've seen that where they
24:06
Speaker 1: they're putting too much value on the centerfield defense. I
24:09
Speaker 1: don't know. I watched this guy every day and it's
24:11
Speaker 1: a different It's there's something different about the way he
24:14
Speaker 1: plays center field. I know people like get sick of
24:17
Speaker 1: the highlights and like, oh, this wasn't a big deal.
24:21
Speaker 1: It's because he gets these insane jumps and makes everything
24:23
Speaker 1: look normal. We've watched enough baseball and we watch it live,
24:28
Speaker 1: and seeing him live every day, there's something about it.
24:32
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's running away with it, or this
24:35
Speaker 1: isn't a debate, or we shouldn't have the discussion or why.
24:38
Speaker 1: I just was so surprised by the extreme pushback of
24:42
Speaker 1: like you have to pick show hey, he's pitching, show
24:46
Speaker 1: Hey pitched one hundred and sixty innings of like Cy
24:49
Speaker 1: Young caliber ball, and like what was that twenty two
24:51
Speaker 1: and lost because Aaron Judge had sixty two home runs
24:54
Speaker 1: and put up a ten more season, So it's possible
24:58
Speaker 1: to beat just put up a ten more season, which Pete,
25:03
Speaker 1: I think is at eight WAR right now. So I mean,
25:05
Speaker 1: it's a ridiculous season, one of the greatest club seasons ever,
25:10
Speaker 1: and I think right now, you know, if if he
25:13
Speaker 1: continues to play at this level for the next two months,
25:15
Speaker 1: he's gonna put up like ten or eleven War. So
25:17
Speaker 1: it feels like to me, like you've got to give
25:19
Speaker 1: it to him.
25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, people say pitching and defense, like it's not two
25:25
Speaker 2: distinct concepts here, and I do think Pete is going
25:31
Speaker 2: to make it hard on voters. I think all these metrics,
25:38
Speaker 2: Pete's gonna, you know, if not come out ahead, He's
25:42
Speaker 2: going to make it a very, very very close call.
25:45
Speaker 2: And I do think you kind of have to allow
25:49
Speaker 2: for these exceptional you know, once in a lifetime seasons
25:54
Speaker 2: that I get that show Hey is the incumbent. But
26:00
Speaker 2: you know, I don't see why the Dodgers would force
26:03
Speaker 2: him or ride him that hard on the mound, given
26:07
Speaker 2: the amount of pitchers they and how long they expect
26:10
Speaker 2: to be playing. And I think we're all in agreement
26:14
Speaker 2: here that what Pete is doing offensively is a lot
26:16
Speaker 2: more sustainable. And you know, if the Cubs kind of
26:21
Speaker 2: run through the finish line, if they catch the Brewers,
26:25
Speaker 2: if Pete does have like that ten war season, I mean,
26:29
Speaker 2: listen to the players, right, This is kind of how
26:31
Speaker 2: we started this episode of you know, the Kevin Gosman's
26:34
Speaker 2: and Clay Holmes being like this, you know, this defense
26:37
Speaker 2: is awesome. Can't wait to have these guys, you know,
26:39
Speaker 2: playing behind me. And Pete is certainly you know, a
26:44
Speaker 2: lynch pin there. It's not all him, But what he
26:48
Speaker 2: is doing. I think that's kind of what the MVP
26:52
Speaker 2: is about, Like you can't just give to the same
26:54
Speaker 2: guy every single year. And I mean, given show Hay
26:59
Speaker 2: his track record, I'm sure he's going to try and
27:01
Speaker 2: force his way back onto the mound and he'll probably
27:04
Speaker 2: have like a crazy September and maybe he does ultimately
27:07
Speaker 2: win it. But Peter already made this a difficult conversation
27:11
Speaker 2: like weeks or even yeah, months ago, and he hasn't
27:15
Speaker 2: enough yet. And you're right, like those like ten war
27:20
Speaker 2: seasons are gonna capture people's attention for sure.
27:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, And to be clear there, I will not succumb
27:26
Speaker 1: to show Hey fatigue. If he's the if I feel
27:29
Speaker 1: like he deserves it, he's going to get my boat.
27:32
Speaker 1: But right now as it stands, I would lean Pete.
27:37
Speaker 1: But we'll see how much he pitches down the stretch
27:40
Speaker 1: if he can go get it. You know, I think
27:43
Speaker 1: he says he doesn't care. Show Hey says he doesn't care,
27:47
Speaker 1: but my guess is he does. He's like he can. Yeah, yeah,
27:52
Speaker 1: these guys, all these guys all have egos, right, And
27:54
Speaker 1: I'm sure and Pete even said, like, you know, I'd
27:57
Speaker 1: be lying if I said like I don't think about
27:59
Speaker 1: it or don't want MVP like he wants it. So like,
28:03
Speaker 1: I hope it's a fun battle, and I hope they
28:05
Speaker 1: entertained that a lot of everyone, because that's that's what
28:08
Speaker 1: ultimately this is all about. All right, that's it from us,
28:12
Speaker 1: So we will be back next week with more episodes
28:16
Speaker 1: of Northside Territory. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
28:19
Speaker 2: This is.
28:21
Speaker 1: I can't remember what I was gonna say. Thanks so
28:23
Speaker 1: much for listening everyone. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
28:25
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
28:28
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things cubs.
28:31
Speaker 1: Thanks for watching and listening. Take care everyone,