Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs roster outlook: Cade Horton’s next level, bullpen questions and more

Transcript

Cubs roster outlook: Cade Horton’s next level, bullpen questions and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sada Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick. We are
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: two weeks to opening day. Less than that. When people
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: are listening to this, I feel like we don't have
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: like this. We came into this camp kind of knowing
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: twenty four of the twenty six spots on the roster.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: There was a little shake up obviously with Tyler Austin
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: getting hurt, but I think we kind of feel like
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Michael Confordo just kind of slots into that bench spot,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: veteran guy that they signed. Let's not write him in
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: with ink just yet, but close. But there's a bullpen
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: spot and then a fight for that final outfielder and
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it's kind of heating up. I guess, you know, I
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: think these final two weeks will matter. But there are
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: three names too well, I guess one of them just
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: got sent down. Ryan Ralis, Yeah, that's I'm curious.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: What do you like? What do you have on the
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: pitching side. You usually have a good feel.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: For kind of that group, and there are a couple
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: of names that we had kind of the latest in MESA.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Ryan Rolinson had a great spring, and I think
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Craig Council, I know Craig Counsel has nothing but good
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: things to say about that. They put a lot on
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: his plate. Uh, he's learning two new pitches. I think
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: they look really good on the side it's been hit
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: or miss when he comes into a game. I think
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of that is just like he knows what's wrong.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: It's like I'm feeling a little off here. He's going
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to continue to work on that. The benefit of the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: benefit for the team, the drawback for the player of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: having an option is they can send him down. They
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: like him. I think he's going to be a part
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: of this team at some point this season, assuming he
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: stays healthy and continues on the trajectory that he is.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: But he was sent down today, that's Thursday, along with
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a few other players. But you know, I think he
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: was the name that i'd say, like among that group,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that's a guy that I would keep an eye on,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: see how they're doing in the minors, been the Cubs
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and someone I wouldn't be shocked if he's one of
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the lefties first called upon. Beyond that, I think it's
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: like there's one spot in the bullpen. I think it's
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: between Colin Snyder, who had an amazing twenty twenty four
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: with the Seattle Mariners, really rough twenty twenty five injuries
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and just poor performance. It's between him and Corbyn Martin,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: who is a former starter with the Astros No wait, yeah,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Astros and then Baltimore and really talented. A ton of
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: upside here. I think coming into this spring, there were
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of people I wouldn't say with the cubs
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: around like fans us like we saw what Brad Keller
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: did last year, It's like, who's the next Brad Keller?
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: And I think if but we're going to bet on someone,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: They would have said Corbyn Martin kind of has that stuff,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: former starter, it's going to play up, you know, all
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the ingredients there. I would say that early on in
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: camp it was fine, but not Brad Keller's out there
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: pumping ninety seven and blowing guys away in spring and
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: scouts are like, are they going to keep this guy?
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Because if they're not, we want him. It's not quite
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: that with Corbyn Martin, but then he went out. He's
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: been sitting mostly ninety five. He had a rough outing. Again,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Like I want to preface all this like it's spring training.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Can't take too much away from results, but there are
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: times when you do, in the sense that there are
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: position battles, you kind of have to judge it on
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: something With Corbyn Martin, you're like, you wanted to see
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the stuff take up. It hadn't at first. Then we're
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: recording on a Thursday. He just went out on a Thursday,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: struck three guys out. It was three up, three down.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: He was touching ninety seven pretty regularly, sitting ninety six.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: So he's already ticking up. And that's what you want
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to see. That's what you want, That's what they were
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: hoping for. That probably puts something in their minds. Certainly
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Craig Council, other people, the decision makers. They see that
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: that's that's a you know, positive for him. Colin Sider's
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: been really good back to ninety five. I think they
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: found a simple fix mechanically. I think it's between him
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: and Martin for that spot. Here's something that I learned.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Patrick Martin has an opt out right at the end
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: of spring. I don't think Snyder does until later into
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the season. That another thing we talked about options. That
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: matters because Craig Council loves depth. He wants as much depth,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: he wants to keep it around. It can sometimes work
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: against guys. It can sometimes if Martin continues, you're gonna
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: pick the guy that's you know, like, if Martin's just
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: not good enough, I think you'd let him opt out.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: That performance I saw today, I think has to stick
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: with some of these guys. If he can continue to
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: build off that, these next two weeks are going to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: be interesting in it, and we have a real battle
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: on our hands here.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Martin does have a bit of pedigree.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: You know, he has a second round pick in the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: twenty seventeen draft. He was traded by the Astros to
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: the Diamondbacks and the Zach Grankie deal, which was kind
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of one of those major, like deadline deals that kind
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: of shook baseball. So there's certainly something to work with,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: especially when you are hoping it translated into those shorter
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: bursts out of the bullpen.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I've been.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Listening to a lot of Craig Council sessions from when
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: my stay in Mesa, just to kind of catch up
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: work ahead and preserving depth was just this consistent theme
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: of like, when you're thinking about all of these things,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: he wants to load as much talent and experience onto
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: the forty man roster as possible. In that contract stuff matters,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: opt outs matter. As he likes to say, you're setting
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: the roster for one day. The roster always is changing.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: It is a fluid situation on every team in every season,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: and so.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Hearing stuff like that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: And just knowing how they operate and looking at some
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: of these guys with minor league options, I think it's
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: gonna be really hard unless you know the other part
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: of he always stresses too, is that injuries happen.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Stuff happens. You never know when you show up to
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: the park you know what you're gonna see or end.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: But as it stands, knock On Woods has been a
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: pretty smooth, healthy camp And if that continues, I don't know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: you're closer to it right now. It seems like those
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: guys that the options are just going up. Yeah, I mean,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: you know, you find one spot for the guy you
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: like that to keep and then you kind of play
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: it straight.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: That would be my Yeah.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I think they're really happy with what Ben Brown's done.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: He's added it like they're happy with this sinker. He's
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: got a usable change up now. I think they're really
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: happy about that and excited about his future. He's got
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: an option. That's like, you know, Javier Asad, we know
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: what he can do. He can handle pretty much any
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: role that they throw at him. He's got an option
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: like that. That's the way I look at it. I
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: think that's the way they look at it. You know,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: these guys really forced the issue. I guess you could
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: make the argument, but that's that's where it is right now.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: That's the way I see it. The outfield battle between
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Carlson and Chas McCormick, I think that's an interesting one.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: They both have auto outs. From my understanding, at the
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: end of spring, it's like Dylan car Like, if you
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: want to just look at the numbers, Dylan Carlson's obviously
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: having a better spring offensively. Chas McCormick's hit a home
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: run today on Thursday, but he's been striking out a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: little bit much in the spring. Dylan Carlson's just hitting.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: He's hitting well. I get different reports on their defensive value.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I get guys that say they like Carlson better in
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: center McCormick. They both don't have great advanced metrics, but
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: McCormick has as like better, Some advanced metrics like him
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. So, you know, if you're going
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: pure defense, that's that's the guy that maybe he has
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: an edge. McCormick does, But right now, you know, Dylan
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Carlson's hitting it. We'll see how the next two weeks ago.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe maybe there's something that they're looking at that is
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: beyond the pure results here, which I'm sure there are
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: there are other things that matter, But right now, if
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: you're looking at the results, Dylan Carlson seems to have
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: an edge.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that seems to be another sort of like chalk pick.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: That would be my sort of expectation.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: But again, this is one of those where like we
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: talked about this stuff because it's that time.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Of year and decisions have to be made.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: But like if you're the Cubs, you know you don't
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: you're helping Pete starts like one hundred and fifty eight
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: games in.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Center and comes off the bench. Maybe the other.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Obviously, Kevin Alcantara, I don't know if you're hearing anything
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: about him, but the way that Craig was talking about
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: when I was there, was just like it was in
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: the sense of the Cubs expect him to be a
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: big part of this team when needed, and I think
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: that would be really interesting too. Of like if he
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: got that sort of runway. I think the Cubs wouldn't
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: be like totally disappointed if that happened at some point
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: this year, just to you know, give him some nice runway,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: because he's sort of if he hasn't earned it, they're
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: gonna have to make a much larger decision, you know,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: pretty soon here over the next couple of years.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: This could be his like chance.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Right, because he's his option is done after this year.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: He's got no more options, I believe. I'm corrected, I believe. So,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: you know, that makes things a lot harder if he
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: hasn't had any significant MLB playing time, Suddenly you're like
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: really challegent player and he has no option, but we like,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: we're just going to stick him out there and play
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: him every day in twenty twenty seven without any runway.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: When you're like in the midst of this window, you've
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: signed Alex Bragman, traded for Edward Cabrera, You've got you've
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: got a lot of talent on this team, it would
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: be an interesting decision. They like him, They obviously like
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: this is a guy with upside and you want to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: see what he can do on an everyday basis, But
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: right now there's not a spot for him obviously, And
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, I don't think they tell the
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: player this that you're going to be starting the season
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: in the miners and getting every day playing time. But
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I think that's what it gets back to what we're saying,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: like options given times, and he's got that option, so
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you know, he he's to keep at it and maybe
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: force the issue like a lot of these guys. But
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: he's someone that I wouldn't you know, I wouldn't overlook,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: and again, someone you keep an eye on in the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: miners when if and when he's sent there. Beyond that,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: it like I think it's fun to talk about this,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: like fans like really pay attention to the results. Here's
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: here's someone that I think it could matter with And
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: I did ask Greg Counsel about this. We talked about
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: this earlier. Patrick Dansby Swanson, a veteran, worked on some things.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: He changed his workout habits. He didn't want to get
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: into mechanical stuff, But there are some mechanical things that
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: he's adjusted. I think ultimately what he wants is to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: be more athletic in the box. He's an athletic person.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Lean into that in the box. He didn't feel like
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: he was doing that. Changed his workouts, hopes to lean
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: into that offensively, made some adjustments. Is he he is
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: seeing success in spring training something that makes him stick
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: with that. I think that's that's the benefit of having
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: success in spring training. It's not that, Oh, look, Dansby,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Swanson's back to being you know this, you know, plus
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: offensive player when he's just been average for the most
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: part during his cub's tenure. Look, you make changes. The
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: last thing you want to see is failure. Failure, failure,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: had success in the past. What you're going to do
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: is go back and say, like, this isn't working. I
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: need to get back to it, Like I don't want
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: my career to end suddenly where I'm you know, where
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I can't play, where I stink, and like you have
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: to make you need to stick to what you the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: changes you made for longer than spring training seeing some success. Look,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I talked to Dansby about this. Craig council agreed, like yeah,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: for him, it makes sense, like this is where it's valuable,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: gives you a little confidence and belief in what you
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: worked on. Okay, maybe this is where it's sticking with Dansby.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Seemed like he was bought in already, but he didn't
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: deny it. He's like, yeah, it helps. It's nice to
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: see and I feel good and it's like, okay, all
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: that work is paying off. Uh, he didn't. He wasn't
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: suggesting that I'd probably have abandoned it. He seemed like, no,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I really bought into what I did. I need needed
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to make these changes. So you know, that's that's just
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: one avenue where you can say, like, here's here's where
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: spring results can mean something. And it's not that like
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: staring at the numbers and saying, hey, look at that
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: two thousand ops or whatever it is.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: I can't wait till he like strikes out in the
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: third inning on opening day. I'll just turn out you
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: had press box And where are these changes? What's going on?
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I think every spring there's it seems like there's one
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: or two hitters that kind of like get that focus,
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: you know, of whether it's best shape of their life
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: or you know, contract year or some of the changes,
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: and you know, it is interesting to see what Dansby
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: is trying to accomplish here. Council made it clear like
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: swing and miss is just going to be part of
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: his game. I don't think that's ever going to be eliminated.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: It's always been a part of it. And I think
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: what Council says got a little bit high and which
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: for counsel to say that means it was very much
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: on their radar, and you know, seeing him the bottom
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: of the lineup, it's kind of odd, but it's also
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: a sign of like this is like that's what legit
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: teams have, right, I mean, you want to make the
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: opposing staff defense O they're dugout all the coaches and
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: analysts over there, make them really work every single inning.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And like if Dansby's hitting eight or ninth.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: And hitting like twenty five homers while playing gold glove defense,
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: like that's a that's a great player on a great team.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm I'm anxious to see what he does because
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm always interested when guys make changes, like
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: how much do these work? And Council did did kind
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: of say what you said there about you know that
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: first for four in the regular season, and you're like,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: none of this worked, Like you know, that's that's what
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the reaction is going to be. Yeah, So so we
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: can't we can't jump to conclusions. Look, here's here's something else.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Dansby Swanson stunk his first spring spring training and then
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: went I think started seven for eight that season. Uh,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker stunked and then had an MVP first half.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: So none of it, Like, I don't want to like,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: there are guys that have had great springs. I want
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to say Milton Bradley. I know, I'm going back in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the way back machine here. I think he had an
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: awesome spring and then we all know how that kind
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: of unraveled here in Chicago. So uh, it's just like,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: you don't, you don't. I don't want to take too
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: much away from it, but there's sometimes there's something of
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: value in these moments and during this time. And I
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: think confidence is one thing, Pitcher stuff is another thing.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: They're always working on things, they're always trying to get
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: through the day for you know, the results aren't always
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the most important thing. So I again not going to
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: take much from it, but it's worth, it's worth kind
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: of touching on and seeing where they go with it.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: I was curious too, I know you mentioned these are
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: kind of tying together the previous two segments when we
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: talk about a guy who goes to Iowa and is
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: kind of stored away for depth and then all of
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: a sudden you have to like break the glass in
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: case of emergency. And also this idea of do results matter?
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: And so long wind up for Kate Horton as someone
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: who it's unbelievable how we had these training wheels on
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: last spring training and it's coming off an injury plague season,
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: had a lot of questions about his durability and viability
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: as a major league pitcher and now he's in spring
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: training on him in terms of, you know, earning a
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: spot and the rotation got roughed up the other day,
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: but had some very like insightful quotes talking to you
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: guys afterwards.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: What do you got on Kate Horton.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's very much about the process now. He doesn't
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: like his results matter in the sense like there maybe
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: you can take away something, maybe there's something to learn
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: about it. Oh, is my process right here? Do I
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: need to adjust the process? But he was not in
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the least bit frustrated. He admitted, like a year ago,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: he would have been freaking out about like results like that,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: even in spring. You would have overthought it. It would
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: have been hard on himself. But he's learning from it.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: He's trying to take lessons from it. What was his
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: goal in that in that outing? He wanted to land
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: his breaking ball and be able to command his breaking balls.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: He's got a slider in a curveball. Why did the
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: first like the three run homer that he allowed, bloop,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: single bloop, single three run shot to a good player happens,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: you know, Like he's not going to say, like, that's
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: a solo home run. If you know the bloops go
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: his way sometimes they don't, he's gonna understand, like, that's
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: that's bad luck, that's baseball. My process was right. I
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: did the right things. Outside of the home run that
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: he gave up. He gave up another home run, fell
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: behind three to one because he couldn't land the breaking ball.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: So what is the opponent doing when it's a full count?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: He's like, I'm sitting fastball, and he did and he
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: hit a home run. So these are like little lessons
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: for KD Horton, it's like he knows these things. But
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, that's why I gotta land the curveball.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: That's why I have That's what he was working and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: like he's gonna hammer that home to himself. It's like okay,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: and the he started to land it, and later at bats,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I think he got the guy, the guy that hit
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the home run. I can't remember even who hit these
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: home runs, but you know the guy that hit the
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: home run the first time around. He got him on
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: a curve ball because he set him up with the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: curveball before he landed it. And you know, these these
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: little things, it's how you learn, it's how you get better.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Kate Horton, I think I've really been hammering this home.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Greig Council's been very clear like he don't expect to
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: step forward from Kate Horton just yet, because you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: like what he did last year was at fifty innings
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: to that that's a cy young season. But I do
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: think I've been really high on his The way he
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: carries himself. I think we all see that like he
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: carries himself in this manner that I like, it seems
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: like a veteran. It's impressive, and I think like little
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: things like that when he talks about the game in
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: that man, it's like you're not a rookie. He's not
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a rookie anymore. But it doesn't, you know, like it
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: just doesn't. The way he talks about the game, it's
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: like this guy seems like he's really figured some things
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: out mentally, and that's you know, if not, if not
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: more than half the battle, you know, it's a it's
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: a big part of this game.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, one of the best parts
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: of our job is like being able to read in
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: between the lines and whether it's talking about Kevin Aquatara,
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: like the way it comes people talk about him like
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: they seem like curious and optimistic and intrigued. And with
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Kate Horton, you can just listen to him talk and
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: you can you get a feel for how he processes
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: the game. And then there are other pictures who kind
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: of stand in front of their locker and they either
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: kind of ramble or this we're talking about the course
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: of our career. We're not talking about any one particular
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: current pitcher, but you can sometimes see the wheels like
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: you're going to a little too fast, or they're not accountable,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: or they're you know, blaming you know this and that,
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: and you can kind of or subtly sort of like
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: pointing the finger in different directions, and you know, it's
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: not that hard to make the leap, being like, well,
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: is this guy gonna be able to figure it out?
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: Or can he like post up every fifth or sixth
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: day and handle that responsibility? And you know, clearly Kate
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Horton has I still think it's going to be you know,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: issuing to see how they manage his workload, Like can
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: he bounce back and put together like a bigger season.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: I get what Craig's saying.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: I think it would be ridiculous to yeah, expect him to
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: be saying, but can he throw fifty more innings? Like
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I think that's what was Craig's kind of like, can
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: you do that in like a three five year whatever?
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: You you know, yeah, you know, thirteen wins or whatever.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I know wins are on sid but just like, can
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: you just do do more, do a little bit more
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: kind of a reasonable clip, just more, uh, you know,
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: bulk bulk.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: It's not results, They're gonna be hard to top. Yeah,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Otherwise exactly, but like add some you know, maybe up
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the strikeout rate a little bit. How often can you
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: go ninety pitches? You know, like he wasn't doing that?
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: How does he handle that?
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Like these types of things deeper into games, more innings
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: on the season, like these are these are the things
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: that you have to watch and like we're going like
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: he's not going to be throwing ninety pitches, probably in April.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know when he will, but there's gonna be
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: some point in this upcoming season where he's going to
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: be throwing ninety pitches and expected to do it, maybe
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: multiple games in a row. How does he handle that?
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: How does he bounce back after a start like that?
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: We'll see, We'll see. These are the questions he has
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to answer. I think he's past the first test with
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: flying colors as far as you know, a young pitcher goes,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: and now he's got more to handle. Obviously, that's just
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: how it is. You know what's next. It's always a
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: question for these guys. So we'll see. That's it for
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: the Rord Side territory. We will be back next week.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Patrick and I are switching spots again. You're going to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: be out here in Arizona, Patrick enjoying the one hundred
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: plus degree heat while I suffered through a snowstorm in
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the Midwest. Thanks yeah, thanks so much for listening to everyone.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic or Patrick and Iron top
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: of all things cups. Thanks everyone, take care and I'm d