Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / How are the Cubs going to handle the Dansby Swanson situation?

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How are the Cubs going to handle the Dansby Swanson situation? · 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: Sahade Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, there
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: have been some whispers, maybe loud, calls for dance By
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Swanson to be to be benched.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: He was. He sat for two games.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I believe it's been like that's almost two weeks ago now,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and and that was not that that reset or whatever
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: you want.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: To call it. Uh, it did not.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Get the job done as far as resetting Dansby and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: getting him to look good offensively at least. And Dansby
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: hit a two run homer Wednesday night, you know, he
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: it was perfectly fine. It was a ball that was
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: blown by the wind into the shallowest part of Wrigley Field,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: but it counts. Nonetheless, nobody would be pointing out those
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: caveats if he was red hot, So it's kind of
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: unfair to like take it away from him. So maybe
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: those those comments get quieted for a brief moment, But
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I feel like unless he's in the bottom you know
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: ten in baseball at batting average, way runs graded plus
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: one of the worst offensive everyday player is going right now.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: But there's a reason he's out there, right He's gottenn
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: eleak glove in elite at one of the most important positions.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, this direct question has come up this
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: week at Wrigley Field, and by all indications, at least
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: for now, the Cubs are not planning on Benjing Swanson
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: for any extended period. I mean, I do wonder if,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: like if Nico Horner was hitting, would this ever, would
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: that be different? But probably not. I mean that's just
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: the message we've received is the best version of this
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: team in their mind is with Danzy Swanson playing gold
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: glove defense at shortstop, and they are willing or they
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: may not have much choice to let him, uh keep
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: running out there, and they're clearly enormously invested in him financially.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Uh And you know, his his defense is that good.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, let's let's be honest here, Like he is
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: an exceptional defender, but he's also just been an a
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: awful hitter recently. And you know, I think this is
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: kind of a tension point that you know, we didn't
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: necessarily foresee when the Cubs were ripping off ten game
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: winning streaks and Dansby did have a nice power surge
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: at the beginning of the year too. That made you
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: wonder if some of these adjustments would stick, or if
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: something had clicked for him. But you know, when the
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: offense as a whole is just underperforming to this extent,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: it gets a lot harder to hide him as like
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: a number nine hitter in your lineup.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, last year, when he was struggling, the rest of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the offense was clicking. That was when Pete and Tucker
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: were red hot and the offense was among the best
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: in baseball. You could kind of hide him at the
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: bottom of the lineup and not have to worry about
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: him coming through. Nobody was complaining as much because they
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: were winning a ton of games and the offense was
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: not an issue. When those guys went cold, Dansby actually
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: was playing better. I would say that it seems like,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: you know, the smart bet would be on on Dan'sby,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: you know, on water finding its level type situation. But
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: there's always moments where this is the you know, this
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: is the start of something for a guy in his thirties,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the start of a downfall.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: He was he was feeling good.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: After the game on Wednesday, we talked to him and
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: and he basically said, you know, he's been putting in
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of work, and I like, I've been talking
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to him. We've all been talking to him about the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: work he's been putting in for weeks. This is not
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: anything new, but he felt like good work was being
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: done and results were inevitable. We'll see if Wednesday was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the start of something. I you know, I understand the
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: thought process of what Craig Counsel is talking about. When Council,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: when I asked about, you know, how much when do
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: you have to start weighing, like when does the offensive
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: struggles outweigh what he brings on defense, he basically, you know,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: he didn't give a direct answer outside of the best
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: version of this team is with danceby Swanson playing better.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: So his point was we need to get him out
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: there to get him back in a rhythm, and then
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: that is our best chance of winning baseball games with
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the better Dance By Swanson. I understand that argument. I
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: think it makes sense. I think the counter to that is,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: how much of a down grade is it if you
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: play some of these kids at second base with Nico
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: at short and have a better offense I'm not sure
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: it's this huge down grade. Council was, you know, straightforward
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: with his answer that it's a worse defensive team. He's
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: probably right. I didn't really how how much the metrics
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: actually love Dansby Swanson. Since he's been with the Cubs.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: He's the second or first best shortstop defensively by the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: advanced metrics.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: They all love him.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: They and and when we watch him, I don't think
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: there's any doubt in our minds how good he is is.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: There's no reason to doubt the metrics because he looks
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: great out there and makes every play and more. Uh
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: So there's clear value to to him being out there. Patrick,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Let's let's take a quick break and then uh and
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: then talk about you know, uh, I guess some of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the options that could be there beyond uh, beyond Dansby Swanson.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: All Right, it is the summertime, and if you were
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: like me, you're gonna want to get out of the
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: house and get to the ballpark. I'm sure you can
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: go find tickets to the Blue Jays series this weekend.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Maybe head up to Amfam next weekend and watch the
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Cubs and see if they can claw back in this division.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Race against the Brewers, which is why I want to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: give the sponsor of today's video, seak Geek, a huge
• 7:15
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• 7:16
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• 7:17
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• 7:20
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• 7:30
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• 7:35
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• 7:41
  Speaker 1: got the NFL schedule out, so go get your NFL tickets.
• 7:45
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• 8:03
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  Speaker 1: your account. Thank you, see Geek. Okay, Patrick, it doesn't
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: sound like Matt Shaw is going to be playing any
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: second base, moving Nico Horner to short. But Matt Shaw
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: is getting more playing time. That much is clear. And
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: he's been back for a little over a week now
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: after being on the il with a back injury. With
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: some back tightness. Saya Suzuki tweaked his knee. That means
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: he's dhing. Craig Council said, that's happening through the weekend
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: and we won't see Saye back out in right field
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to at least the Mets series in New York. Shaw's
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: getting some time in right field. He's going to play
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: against lefties, we know that, but it sounds like he
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: may get a little bit more run in general. We'll
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: see how how much, if he's like out there every
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: day this weekend or what. But that's that's part of
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: what people want to see. They kind of want to
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: see some of these young guys out there. Bat Shaw
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: so far has has delivered.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Council acknowledged as much. That he described flying back to
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Chicago from San Francisco at the end of last weekend
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: and thinking like, we need to get Matt Shaw more involved.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: And like you said, at this point, it doesn't sound
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: like reps at second base or even much time at
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: third base. But when Alex Bregman struggles like this, when they.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Have the this clear value to to him being out there, Patrick,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: let's take a quick break and then talk about you know,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I guess some of the options that could be there,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: beyond beyond Dansby Swanson. Alright, it is the summertime, and
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: if you were like me, you're gonna want to get
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: out of.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: The house and get to the ballpark.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you can go find tickets to the Blue
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Jays series this weekend. Maybe head up to AMFAM next
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: weekend and watch the Cubs and see if they can
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: claw back in this division race against the Brewers. Which
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: is why I want to give the sponsor of today's video,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: seek Geek a huge shout out. With over thirty five
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: million downloads, sea geek is the number one rated ticketing app.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: There are more than seventy thousand events listed on sea Geek,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: including concerts, sports, festivals, and more. MLB is in full swing.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: The NBA and NHL playoffs are done. Sorry this reading
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: something that's done right. LB is in full swing. You
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: got the NFL schedule out to go get your NFL tickets.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: World Cup starts soon and with MLB being mL with
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Sea Geek being MLB's official ticket marketplace, your tickets are
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: fully guaranteed and instantly fulfilled in your account after purchase.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: And of course I have a code for you guys.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: You can use code territory ten for ten percent off
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: your next set of MLB tickets at Sea Geek. That's
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: ten percent off any MLB tickets with promo code Territory ten.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Make sure you click the link in the description to
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: download the app and have the code automatically added to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: your account. Thank you, See Geek. Okay, Patrick, it doesn't
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: sound like Matt Shaw is gonna be playing any second base,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: moving Nico Horner to short, but Matt Shaw's getting more
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: playing time, that much is clear. And he's been back
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: for a little over a week now after being on
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: the I L with with a back injury. With some
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: back tightness, Saya Suzuki tweaked his knee. That means he's dhing.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Craig Council said, that's happening through the weekend. Uh and
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and we won't see Saya back out in right field
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: till at least the Mets series in New York. Shaw's
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: getting some time in right field. He's gonna play against lefties,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: we know that, but it sounds like he may get
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit more run in general. We'll see how
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: how much if he's like out there every day this
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: weekend or what.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: But that's that's part of what people want to see.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: They kind of want to see some of these young
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: guys out there. Matt Shaw so far has has delivered.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Counsel acknowledged as much that he described flying back to
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Chicago from San Francisco at the end of last weekend
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: and thinking like, we need to get Matt Shaw more involved.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: And like you said, at this point, it doesn't sound
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: like reps at second base or even much time at
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: third base. But when Alex Bregman struggles like this, when
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: the ofvinse as a whole is underperforming, I think you
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: have an opening to at least get him more time
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: in right field and just to get him in a
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: rhythm like in case an injury does happen, or just
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: to provide some sort of spark. I mean, this is
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: what we've talked about for a long time, and I
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: asked Jed this of like, you know, it's a young
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: man's game. As Jed likes to say, and the baseball
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: industry keeps telling us that players in their thirties and declared,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: and at what point does that cross over to where
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: the Cubs need to lean on that young talent some
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: more and see what they have. And they're not quite
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: there yet. There's not going to be a full youth movement,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: but making Matt Shaw a viable part of this team
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: is on the agenda. And you know, we we're so
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: focused on Alex Bregman because the Cubs were so focused
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: on Alex Bregman and that he felt he was dismissing piece.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: And you know, going back to the trade deadline last year,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of talk, you know, with the Cubs
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: get a third baseman a Hano Suarez. Sean had a
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: really good second half last year. He wasn't a huge
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: factor in the playoffs, but he's a rookie who wound
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: up being a Gold Glove finalist at a position he
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: was learning on the fly, who was a first round
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: pick by an organization that's pretty good at developing, identifying
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: and developing that top of the draft hitting talent, particularly
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: out of college. So I think, you know you're going
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: to see more of him just trying to find any
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: sort of way to ignite this offense again. And he's
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: come through in a couple of moments already this homestand.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he broke the seal yesterday with that
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: two run triple. I think that's his second triple since
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: coming off the IL. He always has had some opposite
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: field power and gap to gap power. It's showing up
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: right now. He started off hot, got real cold, and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: then hit the IL. Looks like he's coming off the
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: IL hot. Yeah, this team needs something to kind of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: get the offense kick started. They have a pretty set group,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: but it's clear that Moys's Biasteros may not be getting
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: as much time. I would not be surprised if, you know,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: if I get to the ballpark tomorrow and and hear
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: that Moyses Biasteros has been sent to the miners, because
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: if if Saya Suzuki's d hing every day at least
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: for the through the weekend, you want to get that
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: guy some every day at bats and find him. I
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: do think he's going to be important. He's part of
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: this youth movement that we talk about, like he's going
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: to be important again this season, But right now he's not.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: He's he's in a funk, and getting him some everyday
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: at bats makes a lot of sense. Ah, but Matt
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Shaw's the one that's producing right now.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Play him.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: It was just like Confordo. When Confordo was hot, it
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: made sense to get him more at bats. He's he's
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: cooled off. Okay, who's hot. You gotta gotta find a
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: way to get these guys going. But other you know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: they're they're There aren't that many levers to pull when
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: you have such a such a set lineup.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, in talking to Hoyer the
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: other day, he had this sort of aside, like, you know,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of surprised there have been this many questions
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: about the offense given how battered the pitching staff is
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: right now. And you know, he feels like, and I
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: think correctly, there are a few more levers to pull
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: on the position player side that they do have more
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: options and better depth, and you know, a higher likelihood
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: of some good surprises on that end, whether it's water
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: finding its level or you know, Mattshaw taking a step forward,
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: Pedro Ramirez coming through in as a role player in
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: certain situations. But it's like watching the game every night.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: You just see what a struggle it is with this offense.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: And I think there is a psychological component of just
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: how many times the Cubs are up there and kind
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: of the anxiety rises and the Cubs not coming through.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: And so the the way it was explained to me
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: is like, yeah, these young players give you probably a
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: they can have those sort of out of nowhere seasons,
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: but you could also you might watch them every day
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: and get sick of sitting them play. At the same
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: time that, you know, the way baseball works, you know,
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: sometimes you have to bet on the floor, so to speak,
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: and just kind of let your guys play and see
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: what happens. That's not really a satisfying sound bite, but
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: that's just what the Cubs are going to do.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that you're all right, there's there's more options to
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: to go to on the offense. There's there's a lot
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: more depth. Might I guess what I was saying is
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: is it's going to take a lot for them to
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: really give off on these on these guys that they've
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: invested in.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Uh, but there is a young guy that is once
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: again red hot.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Let's let's take a quick break and kind of talk
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: about how this ceiling like we're seeing a guy who
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: you know. This is what happens when you let a
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: kid play and the ceiling is being touched.
• 19:33
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• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Well, Patrick, like we said, you give young players a chance,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: maybe something will happen, maybe you'll see something special. Peek
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Armstrong was always going to get a chance. He had
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the job at centerfield starting, you know, last year, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: he's taken it and run with it. Obviously, last year
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: there was the slow start, and he got red hot.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: This year, that slow start lasted.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: A little bit longer.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: It was came in a different form, just looked different,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and you thought something maybe happening, but the results weren't coming.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: And they're here. They're here now there. The tools are loud,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the performance is loud.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Uh there.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: This is obviously a special talent. Uh, one of the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: best players in baseball. Defense, speed, power, he's he's got
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: everything right now and it's kind of all clicking at once.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: You'd like to see a couple other guys step up,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: so it's not just him and this offense can get
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: red hot. But he certainly single handedly helped them win
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: a couple of games as they kind of slog through
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: at the moment.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to do something. Crowd can point to
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Pete being in the leadoff spot. He's responded really well
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: to that. I mean, although even he would say, like
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: I should have the same level of focus and attention
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: to detail no matter what what the game situation is.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: But I think the encouraging part, you know, from Council's perspective,
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: is that he Pete does seem to be a little
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: bit more controlled offensively. I mean, having said that, Pete's
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: gone through some extreme moments already this season, I think
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: there's you know, if you're kind of just a maybe
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: a broader baseball fan or a casual fan, like you
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: see these moments with Pete of like, how could a
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: guy give up to little league home runs and be
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: like the best defender in baseball. But that's what the
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: numbers show, even with those gaffes in center field. And yeah,
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: he was not a great offensive performer for a large
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: stretch of this season, but he's absolutely turned it on.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: And it is just so so pca to have the
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: to hit for the cycle and then get picked off
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: first base immediately. It's just like, of course, just because
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: he is, you know, he's just just so compelling pretty
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: much every moment out there, you just never know what's
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: going to happen next, and that certainly illustrates it. But
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: what Counsel was getting at was, you know, Pete stayed
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: in the game mentally, he did not let that effect
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: his next at bat and he came through with a
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: sacrifice fly that you put the Cubs in a position
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: to come back and win that I believe it was
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: in the ninth there was another walk off win there,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: and so you do see that growth, and that's something
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Pete has explicitly said that like, I'm better because of
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: these down periods and as well as these ups that
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: he is constantly learning, and you know, some of those
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: learning moments can be tough to watch. Clearly he was
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: affected by that interaction on the South Side with a
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: female fan like that that bothered him. That distracted him,
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: but you hope that he's better for it.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Right. He had three home runs in this series, two
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: leading off in the first two games and then the third.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: It was interesting that third home run that he hit.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I think he thought it was foul. Quickly watching the replay,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: we all thought it was foul, and as it kind
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: of lingered, I was like, wait, are they unsure if
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: it kind of scraped the pole? And they just can't
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: be one hundred percent certain and they're not gonna be
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: able to overturn this. And that's essentially what happened. They
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: just couldn't be certain that it didn't graze the foul pole.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And I guess there was an angle that it kind
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: of looked like its direction did get altered, so maybe
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: it did. Whatever it counts, it's a home run, and
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: that's you know, he's he's on this. It's not like
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: we haven't seen this before. We saw this last year
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: where he just got white hot and just the power
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: surge just comes.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: It does seem like a better version.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: He took a walk yesterday and I liked seeing that
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: because my concern, and this isn't a major concern, but
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I was wondering. I was like, huh, I wonder if
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: now that he's hitting the walks will just disappear completely. No,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: he's he's a little bit more patient and a little
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: bit more discerning with I. He hits lefties a little
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: bit better, a lot better. This is a more complete
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: version of Pete or Armstrong. And that's scary. We'll see
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: on the consistency. We'll see on can you shrink the
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: bad moments? That's I think going to be the key.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: How long does this last? And then when the inevitable
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: bump in the road comes up, is it two weeks
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: or two months? What like?
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: How does that look?
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: And ultimately, you know, we'll talk more about this in
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: future episodes. It's not Pete isn't a problem with this team.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: We don't need to be concerned about Pete. I think
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: we know he can produce. We'll others step up. And
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you touched on it. Jed was kind of like, I'm
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: surprised to be getting so many questions about the offense.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what he meant exactly by that, as like,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I'm surprised that if you would have told me two
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: months ago what questions I would be getting, I would
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: have thought it would be about the pitching. Or was
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: he just saying like, I'm surprised you guys are asking
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: about this when there's this big red flashing light going
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: on with our pitching. And it's not just the depth,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: it's the Bullpen's a mess. The bullpen, Like I like
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: some of these guys in the bullpen, but they almost
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: blew that eight to one lead that they had, or
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: however big that lead was seven to nothing and then
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: eight to one they don't have enough pitching in the bullpen.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: They don't have enough pitching in general. I don't know how,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Like there's you're gonna have to find a way to
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: like fight through until you get to the trade deadline
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and then fortify this various areas. But it's I don't
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: know how they're gonna do it. They've they've weakend their
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: bullpen by both injuries end by injuries to the starting rotation,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: moving guys into the rotation. So it's it's a it's
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: a complicated situation that I don't think has an easy
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: answer rather than go get more talent.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think his I think it was all the above,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: and it was really just sort of an a side,
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: but it was telling that, you know, Plentcia had just
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: gone on the injured list, Cabrera had not yet exited
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: his start with a cramp. But it was the you know,
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Matt Boyd trying to get back out to another minor league.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: We have assignment Justin Steele back in the room as
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: he attempts his comeback again. All these injuries sort of
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: blurring together to the point where, like I think Lawyer's
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: not dismissing the fact that Bragman's underperformed or that Dansby
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: is one of the worst offensive performers in the game
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: at this moment. But like and he realizes that that
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: ten game losing streak and why they're kind of this
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: bubble playoff contender now it is because of that offensive
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: stretch that really sunk them in that moment. But what
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: keeps them up at night when they're more concerned about
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: is like, how are they going to cover the next
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: you know, hundreds and hundreds of innings with like viable
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: capable pictures.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Right, all right, well we'll talk more about that.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: That's gonna be a topic of discussion, I think for
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: a while now, So let's wrap this one up. Thanks
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: so much for listening. This is Northside Territory. Make sure
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and are on top
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: of all things cubs. Thanks for listening and watching everyone,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Thanks.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Take care,