Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Alex Bregman’s “terrible” first impression is sinking the Cubs

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Alex Bregman’s “terrible” first impression is sinking the Cubs · 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 and Patrick, the
0:17
Speaker 1: Cubs continue to lose. Uh, they are not playing good baseball.
0:21
Speaker 1: They're actually getting some pretty solid pitching.
0:25
Speaker 2: Uh.
0:26
Speaker 1: Props to Javier Asad stepping in there and then pitching
0:28
Speaker 1: brilliantly on Sunday night. Uh. They they got good enough
0:33
Speaker 1: pitching these first two series of this stretch that we've
0:37
Speaker 1: talked about to win probably four of those games. Five
0:42
Speaker 1: of those games. Obviously one was an embarrassment to complete blowout,
0:47
Speaker 1: but other than that, like they they've pitched well enough
0:51
Speaker 1: to win more games than they have this uh, this
0:54
Speaker 1: homestand and and they end up going two and four
0:58
Speaker 1: and Sunday night was I mean, it was just a
1:02
Speaker 1: culmination of a lot of things, it felt like, and
1:05
Speaker 1: you were there, Alex Bregman kind of took it on.
1:08
Speaker 1: I think it's important to mention it's not just one player.
1:12
Speaker 1: I think the play that stood out to me was
1:13
Speaker 1: Kevin al Contra running from third on contact on line
1:17
Speaker 1: drive that he got doubled off third with no outs.
1:21
Speaker 1: It just just like a really really bad base running
1:25
Speaker 1: play that like immediately when that happened, it was one
1:29
Speaker 1: of those things where I'm like that that can't happen,
1:31
Speaker 1: and my mind went back to I think it was
1:35
Speaker 1: at spring training, Craig Council not being thrilled with Kevin
1:39
Speaker 1: al Contra's base running during a drill. That's not what
1:43
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about, though, because Alex Bregman took
1:46
Speaker 1: it all on himself. Alex bregman start to the season
1:48
Speaker 1: has not been good enough.
1:49
Speaker 3: He knows that.
1:50
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about him, how he's going to
1:53
Speaker 1: fix it, what he's working to fix on working to
1:56
Speaker 1: get right. But last night after the game, I think
1:59
Speaker 1: he had multiple chain is to kind of get the
2:01
Speaker 1: big hit in that game, and he didn't come through.
2:05
Speaker 1: I don't think he's only one, but he's the big
2:07
Speaker 1: free agent signing. He's the you know, we we pumped
2:11
Speaker 1: him up as a huge piece of this group and
2:13
Speaker 1: the leader, potential leader and X factor in that sense
2:17
Speaker 1: in the clubhouse difference maker.
2:19
Speaker 3: He's not been that.
2:20
Speaker 1: He's not been good enough, and he took it out
2:22
Speaker 1: himself last night. Tell us what happened at his locker there?
2:26
Speaker 3: What would he have to say?
2:28
Speaker 2: And he was sitting there waiting as the media kind
2:31
Speaker 2: of made the rounds in the in the postgame clubhouse,
2:34
Speaker 2: and he stood up and shouldered all of the blame.
2:39
Speaker 2: You know, he's a quote I've been terrible and said
2:43
Speaker 2: various versions of I need to play better.
2:46
Speaker 3: I'm not getting the job done. Obviously, there won't be any.
2:49
Speaker 2: Arguments from Cubs fans, and I think even you know,
2:55
Speaker 2: his coworkers, I mean, Alex Bagman has been in this
2:58
Speaker 2: business a long time. He knows he has to produce
3:02
Speaker 2: way more than he has. It's kind of staggering, you know,
3:07
Speaker 2: how his his power, his his slugging has just almost
3:12
Speaker 2: completely disappeared. And clearly you can see the frustration building. Uh,
3:20
Speaker 2: he understands the booze. I mean, he made the last
3:22
Speaker 2: out the tenth inning Sunday night and there were scattered
3:28
Speaker 2: boos again. And as it's not even really like as
3:32
Speaker 2: noteworthy anymore, because it just keeps happening during these these
3:37
Speaker 2: home games here, like it's becoming kind of a regular feature.
3:42
Speaker 2: And so I think people appreciate that sort of candor. Uh,
3:48
Speaker 2: but also I think everyone sort of talked out at
3:53
Speaker 2: this point the need to see results. Bregman said, you know,
3:57
Speaker 2: his pregame work was the best it's been all year,
4:00
Speaker 2: you know, something to that effect, But he said in
4:04
Speaker 2: the same breath, none of that matters.
4:06
Speaker 3: You know, the only thing that.
4:06
Speaker 2: Matters is what happens in the game, and he's just
4:09
Speaker 2: not getting the job done at all, and that just
4:13
Speaker 2: really dials up the pressure on everyone. He was supposed
4:18
Speaker 2: to be that you know, big presence the top middle
4:22
Speaker 2: of the lineup, and obviously this front office really vouched
4:26
Speaker 2: for Bregman. They went kind of above and beyond what
4:29
Speaker 2: we thought they would even a year after you know,
4:36
Speaker 2: whiffing on him. And you know, he had a good
4:39
Speaker 2: season in Boston, no doubt, but he was also injured
4:43
Speaker 2: and he's kind of creeping into that early to mid
4:47
Speaker 2: thirties where you know, this stuff stands out more. I
4:52
Speaker 2: don't know if I don't think this is like the
4:57
Speaker 2: end of Alex Bragman, but he is. Really This is
5:00
Speaker 2: a really rough, rough moment for him and the team
5:02
Speaker 2: as a whole.
5:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's gone through worse stretches recently and
5:08
Speaker 1: bounced back. Here's where I sit on this, I'm pretty
5:15
Speaker 1: sure that we're going to see a turn for him,
5:19
Speaker 1: We're going to see a turn for the offense, and ultimately,
5:23
Speaker 1: I think the way we're going to look back at
5:26
Speaker 1: this season is say saying, man, that six week stretch
5:31
Speaker 1: where the offense disappeared that sunk them. If they had
5:34
Speaker 1: just been an average offense during that time, did they'd
5:39
Speaker 1: have been competing for the division, they would have been
5:41
Speaker 1: a much better team. Maybe they still make the playoffs.
5:43
Speaker 1: Because this is the way baseball is now. I know
5:45
Speaker 1: everyone thinks they stink. Now fans wise are they're hanging
5:49
Speaker 1: their heads and they think the team stinks and won't
5:51
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. There's a lot of season left, and
5:54
Speaker 1: this is with the wild card situation the way it is,
5:56
Speaker 1: there's a chance, a good chance that they make the playoff.
6:00
Speaker 1: But we're gonna look back on this stretch and this
6:04
Speaker 1: is what sunk them. It'll be the offense that sunk them,
6:06
Speaker 1: even if the offense is the strongest unit by the
6:08
Speaker 1: end of the season, because it's been an unacceptable stretch. Again,
6:12
Speaker 1: we just keep talking about it this like every year
6:16
Speaker 1: there seems to be this stretch from the offense that
6:19
Speaker 1: crushes them and just keeps them from you know, leveling
6:24
Speaker 1: up essentially, and Bregman is a huge part of that.
6:29
Speaker 1: I mean he said something about like if he just
6:33
Speaker 1: come through a couple times, you know, that have Like
6:36
Speaker 1: they lost all the losses except for I mean, all
6:40
Speaker 1: the games except for the Friday blowout were one run
6:43
Speaker 1: games on this home stand one run games, and they
6:45
Speaker 1: went two and three in them.
6:46
Speaker 3: A couple hits here.
6:47
Speaker 1: And there, you could just I mean, I don't want
6:50
Speaker 1: to give them too much credit though, because the wins
6:52
Speaker 1: were just like it was, you know, I got lucky, Yeah,
6:56
Speaker 1: like a Sunday's game. I was thinking the whole time,
6:59
Speaker 1: I'm like, even if they win this, they're not playing well.
7:02
Speaker 1: They're just not. There's no line drives to the gap,
7:05
Speaker 1: there's not. They're like they had three seeing ice singles
7:08
Speaker 1: to get there. Those those count, that's part. You make contact,
7:12
Speaker 1: good things can happen. But they're not hitting the ball well,
7:16
Speaker 1: they're not. They're not driving the ball like they were
7:18
Speaker 1: in that first month. This does not look like a
7:22
Speaker 1: very good team at the moment. I'm not saying they're
7:25
Speaker 1: a bad team forever, but the way they're playing the
7:29
Speaker 1: way the way the offense looks again like there's and
7:35
Speaker 1: it's like some uncharacteristic bad at bats, Like when did
7:38
Speaker 1: Carson Kelly start chasing so much? All of a sudden
7:41
Speaker 1: he comes up with men on bases twice men on
7:44
Speaker 1: bass and chased swung at bad pitches, just not how
7:48
Speaker 1: he looks so like there's different guys. It just feels
7:52
Speaker 1: like a lot of pressing, a lot of poor at bats.
7:57
Speaker 1: We contact Bregman's contact, it was weak big situations. Yeah,
8:03
Speaker 1: it's it's been like it's one of those stretches that
8:06
Speaker 1: you look back on and like, yep, this was it.
8:08
Speaker 1: This was glaring and obvious. I don't think anybody's gonna
8:11
Speaker 1: be like searching for the answer of what went wrong
8:14
Speaker 1: when this season comes to an end and they're not
8:17
Speaker 1: good enough, you know that they're gonna point to this
8:21
Speaker 1: unless there's a hot streak coming, unless guys turn it
8:24
Speaker 1: around a bunch of them, and we'll talk about someone
8:27
Speaker 1: soon who obviously has Pete's on fire, like Pete can do,
8:32
Speaker 1: but like it's not it can't just be one guys,
8:35
Speaker 1: like you need a lot more help right now on
8:37
Speaker 1: this team, and it's it's getting it's the same thing
8:42
Speaker 1: over and over again.
8:43
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, but we haven't got into you know,
8:47
Speaker 2: the Cubs benching their one hundred and seventy seven million
8:50
Speaker 2: dollar shortstop for Retela Dansby. Swansen is a spectacular defender.
8:58
Speaker 2: He's streaky kind of even in the best of times overall,
9:04
Speaker 2: but you know, sitting him a bregman, uh just sort
9:10
Speaker 2: of you could really.
9:14
Speaker 3: Losing touches.
9:15
Speaker 2: What's made him such a good player, whether it's mechanics, confidence,
9:22
Speaker 2: all of.
9:22
Speaker 3: The above, Like he's he's going through it.
9:29
Speaker 2: Really the kind of young hitters you hope would maybe
9:32
Speaker 2: take a step forward hasn't happened a lot of cases,
9:36
Speaker 2: except for I mean Petere Armstrong and basically Pete sort
9:39
Speaker 2: of like saved that homestand from being like, uh, you
9:44
Speaker 2: know potential, you know, ohero to six disaster.
9:48
Speaker 3: I think they would have left them with at.
9:50
Speaker 2: A right f five hundred rather than two above if
9:53
Speaker 2: I'm remembering correctly. But yeah, it's still just walking out
9:59
Speaker 2: of really field. I guess it was technically Monday morning
10:01
Speaker 2: by the time I left. Like, it's just hard to
10:04
Speaker 2: fathom how the Cubs were once fifteen to zero in
10:08
Speaker 2: that building in April and May and it was the
10:10
Speaker 2: Wrigley Magic and it felt like they couldn't lose. And
10:14
Speaker 2: now it's just even the winds are really hard to
10:19
Speaker 2: come by, Like even when they escape with the victory,
10:21
Speaker 2: you don't get that feeling you're talking about side of.
10:23
Speaker 3: Like okay, like they're back on track.
10:27
Speaker 2: This is what you want to see, Like just the
10:29
Speaker 2: eye tests, it doesn't they're not passing that either.
10:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, let's let's take a break and come back
10:38
Speaker 1: and talk about that one one good side we're seeing
10:41
Speaker 1: right now with Pete grow Armstrong. My dog Bella would
10:48
Speaker 1: do anything for a treat, and I want to give
10:50
Speaker 1: her a treat and that will take care of her
10:52
Speaker 1: long term.
10:53
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11:45
Speaker 1: Okay, Patrick, Peter Armstrong is doing what he does when
11:51
Speaker 1: he gets red hot. I mean, this is this is
11:54
Speaker 1: special stuff when he is on fire, when he looks
11:59
Speaker 1: like this, you know, kind of freak that can carry
12:03
Speaker 1: a team with the power, with the speed, with everything.
12:07
Speaker 1: He he's been looking really good and and you know
12:10
Speaker 1: before before we get to it, let's make this our
12:14
Speaker 1: fan duel Daily Dingers segment. We're going to focus on
12:19
Speaker 1: Peter Armstrong.
12:20
Speaker 3: Here.
12:27
Speaker 1: Patrick, two walkoffs for the Cubs this homestand and Pete
12:33
Speaker 1: was in the middle of both of them. The there
12:35
Speaker 1: was the embarrassing game on potentially embarrassing game was that
12:40
Speaker 1: Thursday Thursday that Pete ends up making up for what
12:45
Speaker 1: could have been a really ugly scene there that that
12:48
Speaker 1: was probably like when when that was happening, that's like,
12:51
Speaker 1: this is the low point. It doesn't get much worse
12:53
Speaker 1: than this, and Pete comes through. He homered soon after.
12:58
Speaker 1: If you don't know what I'm talking about, if you
12:59
Speaker 1: miss this, somehow pop fly that he lost in the
13:03
Speaker 1: that he lost in the lights there and the dusk
13:07
Speaker 1: was it's sometimes hard to pick up the ball. Just
13:10
Speaker 1: an embarrassing moment it falls behind him inside the park.
13:13
Speaker 1: Home run for two run Homer for Shaye Langlars. It
13:17
Speaker 1: was seven to three. I believe it just looked like
13:20
Speaker 1: the game was out of hand and over Pete Homer's
13:26
Speaker 1: solo shot. It's just like a minor thing. I don't
13:29
Speaker 1: think that was the score when he homered. I'm just
13:31
Speaker 1: saying that it might.
13:32
Speaker 2: Have been four nothing after the little leaguem run and
13:36
Speaker 2: then maybe four to one after he got one back
13:39
Speaker 2: there right away. Yeah, when Craig Council basically told him, hey,
13:46
Speaker 2: go have a grete at bat. Yeah, forget about what happened,
13:49
Speaker 2: to focus on what's next.
13:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then he walks it off in whatever that
13:53
Speaker 1: that was the ninth, four or five run ninth, and
13:58
Speaker 1: then and then he has two solo homers on Saturday
14:02
Speaker 1: in what ends up being a three to two victory
14:05
Speaker 1: when one of those solo homers ties it up in
14:09
Speaker 1: the ninth at I mean, it's hard to kind of
14:14
Speaker 1: gush over him when the team is struggling as much
14:17
Speaker 1: as they are, but Pete, Pete deserves a little bit
14:22
Speaker 1: of love here, like he It's taken a little while,
14:26
Speaker 1: but I think this is what Pete is. He is
14:30
Speaker 1: not like at least he's still figuring out. He's improving.
14:33
Speaker 1: He's he's slowly you know, understanding himself and his strength.
14:40
Speaker 1: He was it took a little while to really lock in,
14:43
Speaker 1: but this is this is the type of player that
14:45
Speaker 1: he can be. And right now he's, you know, by
14:48
Speaker 1: war he's the best player in the NL. So I
14:52
Speaker 1: don't know what more you want.
14:56
Speaker 5: He he had an interesting I guess not quite an anecdote,
15:02
Speaker 5: but he mentioned at his locker Saturday how he was
15:05
Speaker 5: recently just chatting with Craig Counsel, who said, you know,
15:11
Speaker 5: as a team, this message was specific to Pete, but
15:13
Speaker 5: it was just like, you know, everyone's talking about like
15:16
Speaker 5: we have to get the job done.
15:18
Speaker 2: We have to do this, and you know, Counsel's point was,
15:22
Speaker 2: you know we get to do this that you know,
15:25
Speaker 2: this pressure, this platform is a privilege. And again this
15:31
Speaker 2: wasn't you know, Craig in response to one thing that
15:35
Speaker 2: happened on the field with Pete or you know, he
15:38
Speaker 2: wasn't talking about Pete when he was talking with Pete.
15:41
Speaker 2: But I think you Pete is the does counteract some
15:49
Speaker 2: of what's going on here. Like without him, we would
15:54
Speaker 2: be about this season really kind of slipping away because
15:58
Speaker 2: he has been that good and that valuable in so
16:01
Speaker 2: many different ways. And you know, you can tell he
16:06
Speaker 2: seems physically, you know a little bigger, just kind of
16:09
Speaker 2: growing into his strength. You know, he's chasing less, seeing
16:14
Speaker 2: the ball harder, and you know, his foundational talents are
16:19
Speaker 2: extraordinary to begin with.
16:23
Speaker 3: And so.
16:25
Speaker 2: It was the other night, I think this was Sunday,
16:27
Speaker 2: like you know, he came up in that big spot.
16:30
Speaker 2: I think it might have been the bottom of the
16:31
Speaker 2: ninth again, and you know, he grounded out and he
16:35
Speaker 2: ran through first base and grabbed his helmet and just
16:38
Speaker 2: you could like wanted to slim it and then just
16:40
Speaker 2: kind of gave up so you he's just fascinating. You
16:44
Speaker 2: see him trying to process all of this in real time,
16:49
Speaker 2: and he does not really hide his emotions, whether it's
16:52
Speaker 2: on the field or when he's kind of standing there
16:55
Speaker 2: going through another group interview, or you know, it's just
17:01
Speaker 2: he is still the most important person in the organization.
17:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's a reason they get handed him
17:09
Speaker 1: that that big contract extension. He's one of the few
17:14
Speaker 1: that's being paid well, that's delivering right now. It's a
17:18
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's interesting to have, like, it's important
17:22
Speaker 1: to have a player like that. You need a player
17:25
Speaker 1: that can carry you. I think what's most frustrating to
17:29
Speaker 1: watch is he's playing so well and and nobody else
17:34
Speaker 1: has really stepped up. I should give ian Hab some
17:37
Speaker 1: lovey and HAPs been good. It's almost like they're they're
17:40
Speaker 1: not there's no moments where they're clicking together either in
17:44
Speaker 1: the same game or or they're not like close enough
17:48
Speaker 1: in the lineup where it matters that they're both that
17:51
Speaker 1: they're the only ones producing right now, but everyone else
17:55
Speaker 1: is is in a funk and it and it is
17:58
Speaker 1: almost like casting up all over what Pete's doing, because
18:03
Speaker 1: it feels like why Are we talking about something positive
18:06
Speaker 1: right now? This team is in a frustrating free fall.
18:11
Speaker 1: I keep looking at their schedule Patrick and saying, like,
18:14
Speaker 1: we got to stop talking about their schedule. They just
18:16
Speaker 1: need to win. Like I don't care that it's easy,
18:20
Speaker 1: But Pete gets to go to Colorado and like the
18:25
Speaker 1: combo of what he can do offensively and like having
18:28
Speaker 1: that big outfield and in San Francisco. This could be
18:31
Speaker 1: a fun week as far as watching Pete defensively and
18:36
Speaker 1: see what he does offensively. It's gonna be hard to
18:38
Speaker 1: hit in San Francisco for a lefty, but Colorado those
18:42
Speaker 1: three games and just running around those are big outfields
18:45
Speaker 1: for him to really show off his skill set. So
18:48
Speaker 1: chance to like have some fun watching Pete this week,
18:53
Speaker 1: but ultimately they need to get right, Patrick. This Northside
18:59
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20:01
Speaker 1: Okay, Patrick, We keep talking about this team and their struggles.
20:10
Speaker 1: More injuries piling up. Jameson Tyne leaves in the after
20:16
Speaker 1: one batter facing one batter. I think he walked him.
20:20
Speaker 3: Matt Chapman, Ye.
20:22
Speaker 1: Walks Matt Chapman. In comes Javier Asad. All the props
20:26
Speaker 1: in the world to Javier Asade. This guy, I don't
20:30
Speaker 1: know like he he's a confusing pitcher at times because
20:34
Speaker 1: you watch some games and it's like this guy doesn't
20:36
Speaker 1: miss bats. This guy, you know, gives us some hard contact.
20:40
Speaker 1: I don't know how he's gonna, you know, survive out there.
20:43
Speaker 1: And he had a great whatever it was six and
20:46
Speaker 1: a third that he comes in and fills in for
20:48
Speaker 1: just a great job by him for allowing the Cubs
20:51
Speaker 1: to stay in that game. But another injury left hamstring
20:56
Speaker 1: for Tyne. What do you what do you got As
20:58
Speaker 1: far as what was the reaction post game.
21:02
Speaker 2: Well, Monday, he's scheduled to undergo an MRI that will
21:06
Speaker 2: help determine the extent of this injury as well as
21:11
Speaker 2: an estimated recovery period.
21:15
Speaker 3: Tayan said, this came on suddenly.
21:18
Speaker 2: It was during that at bat against Chapman, maybe to
21:22
Speaker 2: two pitch something like that. We were kind of in
21:27
Speaker 2: the press box curious because council had alluded earlier in
21:32
Speaker 2: the week to Assad's one inning stint at Iowa. It
21:35
Speaker 2: was sort of a just in case, and the manager
21:40
Speaker 2: said that was not related.
21:43
Speaker 3: You know, he didn't get.
21:44
Speaker 2: Into it further. He was not in a particularly chatty mood.
21:49
Speaker 2: But look, I mean this is I know Tyne hasn't
21:54
Speaker 2: been great this season. He acknowledged that, but he's an
21:59
Speaker 2: established major League starting pitcher who was you know, a
22:06
Speaker 2: really good starter in last year's playoffs, two different playoff rounds.
22:10
Speaker 2: You know, he really came through and over the course
22:15
Speaker 2: of his time in Chicago has been pretty good, and
22:19
Speaker 2: you know, we keep wondering, like how many injuries can
22:23
Speaker 2: they withstand? You know, I think maybe in September, I'll
22:28
Speaker 2: still be saying this, and I'll still be wrong, But
22:30
Speaker 2: I still think the offense will like get back towards respectable.
22:35
Speaker 2: Like I'm still more concerned about the pitching we'll see.
22:40
Speaker 2: I mean, Matthew Boyd is expected to be activated during
22:43
Speaker 2: this upcoming trip i'd imagine in San Francisco. But figuring
22:50
Speaker 2: out how to get more out of Edward Cabrera. Obviously
22:55
Speaker 2: this started with Kate Horton's injury in April.
22:59
Speaker 3: We don't have any sort of timeline on Justin Steele
23:03
Speaker 3: at this point.
23:04
Speaker 2: And you know, outside, like Colin Ray has been pretty
23:08
Speaker 2: good under the circumstances. SHOWEDO was very good early in
23:11
Speaker 2: the year, and he's seems to be spiraling now, you know,
23:17
Speaker 2: so they they just have a ton of work to
23:20
Speaker 2: do on the pitching side, and when you just you know,
23:24
Speaker 2: I think we probably.
23:25
Speaker 3: Just give up the idea that you know, this pitching
23:27
Speaker 3: staff will.
23:28
Speaker 2: Be healthy, like maybe it'll be still be effective by
23:31
Speaker 2: the end, but they have like everything coming together.
23:34
Speaker 3: That's just not really how major league seasons work.
23:37
Speaker 1: I was too young to fully remember or remember this
23:41
Speaker 1: at all, I believe. So they made the playoffs in
23:44
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four. In nineteen eighty five, something similar happened
23:48
Speaker 1: with their rotation. I think. I don't like, I've just
23:51
Speaker 1: heard stories about this. I was four years old. I
23:54
Speaker 1: don't remember anything about this. But my understanding is like
23:59
Speaker 1: all five of the starters had suffered injuries. Maybe maybe
24:03
Speaker 1: it was four, but like, uh, this it's a similar story.
24:07
Speaker 1: It feels like a big season, the coming off the playoffs,
24:10
Speaker 1: expectations are high, and you're just sunk by these pitcher injuries. Again,
24:14
Speaker 1: I agree, like what I said at the start, like
24:18
Speaker 1: we're gonna look back and say the season was sunk
24:20
Speaker 1: by U by this you know, offensive collapse and what
24:24
Speaker 1: may be like a brief offensive collapse in the grand
24:27
Speaker 1: scheme of a full season, but that's that's what cost him.
24:31
Speaker 1: There's been too many games where the pitching has been
24:33
Speaker 1: good and and where you where you lose the game,
24:37
Speaker 1: and and my feeling of that is every single time
24:41
Speaker 1: I see that, I'm like, you don't know how many
24:42
Speaker 1: of these good starts you're gonna get, Like it's just
24:44
Speaker 1: been they've been hard to come by and you just
24:47
Speaker 1: don't know, and you're blowing them because I do. There's
24:51
Speaker 1: major concerns there these injuries, just and I understand fans
24:54
Speaker 1: are probably not happy with Jamison Tywn. You said it perfectly,
24:58
Speaker 1: like he's a veteran, like there was a good chance
25:01
Speaker 1: if he stays, if he stays healthy, that he's going
25:04
Speaker 1: to have a good stretch where he's giving you six
25:06
Speaker 1: seven innings and two three runs allowed. Like he does that.
25:11
Speaker 1: That's what he does. He has these blow ups, these drows.
25:15
Speaker 1: Obviously the home runs are way too high.
25:18
Speaker 3: Way too.
25:18
Speaker 1: I think he's at twenty, but that's too many at
25:22
Speaker 1: this point in the season. He said that he knows that,
25:26
Speaker 1: h so you know they I think it was going
25:30
Speaker 1: to even out for him. He was going to have
25:32
Speaker 1: a nice stretch. Who knows how long he's out now
25:35
Speaker 1: and what happens. But it's really hard to overcome all
25:39
Speaker 1: these injuries. You're so thin right now that another like
25:43
Speaker 1: you know, anything happening with Cabrera or Boyd or any
25:46
Speaker 1: of these guys right now is going to It's going
25:49
Speaker 1: to put you in a really difficult spot. I'm not
25:53
Speaker 1: sure what the rest of the season holds, but it's
25:56
Speaker 1: this past month and a half. It feels like has
25:59
Speaker 1: it been a month and a half? I guess it's
26:00
Speaker 1: just been a month, But there's just been a lot
26:03
Speaker 1: of negativity piling up lately. And at first it felt like, Okay,
26:07
Speaker 1: they're hey, they're they're holding steady, they're doing well without
26:11
Speaker 1: Cad Horton. They've taken this blow and done really well.
26:14
Speaker 1: The first Matthew Boyd injury, they they were pushing through.
26:18
Speaker 1: Nothing's working right now, and it coincides with the offense
26:21
Speaker 1: collapsing showed us struggling deeply and and just more injuries
26:27
Speaker 1: NonStop at some point too. The bullpen's going to be terrible,
26:33
Speaker 1: right Like the bullpen has been too good. I guess
26:38
Speaker 1: you could say the A's game where thel Bar gave
26:41
Speaker 1: up two runs late, that was the bullpen falling apart.
26:48
Speaker 1: But for the most part, like the bullpen's been good,
26:52
Speaker 1: I just don't know if the bullpen's good enough to
26:54
Speaker 1: keep this up. It's it's been a it's been a
26:57
Speaker 1: season's worth of storylines and two months Patrick.
27:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think you look at that bullpen and
27:05
Speaker 2: you know, start drawing comparisons to like what the Padres
27:07
Speaker 2: put together for last year's playoffs.
27:11
Speaker 3: We saw with Cabrera.
27:13
Speaker 2: That you can't just assume a guy coming off the
27:15
Speaker 2: injured list is going to be good.
27:17
Speaker 3: So I won't make that mistake with Boyd.
27:21
Speaker 2: And look like Ben Brown's been awesome, awesome, And Council
27:28
Speaker 2: was talking Sunday about how, you know, he was asked
27:33
Speaker 2: again about taking Brown out.
27:38
Speaker 3: Five and a third score lists.
27:40
Speaker 2: Theobarr comes in gives up a home run like basically immediately,
27:44
Speaker 2: and he's like, you know, we can't only think about
27:49
Speaker 2: the next fifteen pitches. We had to think about the
27:51
Speaker 2: next twenty starts. That like, okay, fine, we give it.
27:54
Speaker 2: Maybe it works for fifty more pitches. We're thinking over
27:59
Speaker 2: the course of the next twenty starts. And so Brown
28:04
Speaker 2: is very talented. He's been awesome after being thrust into
28:07
Speaker 2: this role, but he hasn't pitched a full season in
28:11
Speaker 2: the majors. He started the year in the bullpen. You
28:13
Speaker 2: know what the Cubs are doing with him is not unprecedented,
28:18
Speaker 2: but it's a tough spot to be in when like,
28:23
Speaker 2: he is your best pitcher at this moment, and that's
28:25
Speaker 2: the guy.
28:25
Speaker 3: You're you're counting on, you know, the one.
28:27
Speaker 2: Who's kind of building back up and is kind of
28:30
Speaker 2: an uncharted territory to an extent for himself.
28:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's been a great story. I guess that's the
28:37
Speaker 1: other bright spot with PCA getting hot. It's it's Ben Brown.
28:41
Speaker 1: Not enough of those. They're gonna need more to turn
28:43
Speaker 1: this around. They're gonna need a good road trip. They
28:45
Speaker 1: need to turn it around fast, otherwise people are gonna
28:47
Speaker 1: lose interest and and and start writing this team off.
28:51
Speaker 1: I think some people already have the plays out inspiring,
28:55
Speaker 1: so I get why why you would. But we'll be
28:59
Speaker 1: back with more. We're not We're not cashing it in
29:02
Speaker 1: just yet. We'll be back with more episodes this week.
29:06
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
29:09
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
29:11
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
29:14
Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for watching and
29:17
Speaker 1: listening everyone.
29:17
Speaker 3: Take care