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First impressions of Cubs camp · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. Alex Bregman
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: has signed and now the Cubs have a rookie perhaps
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: with the inside track to third base, Matt Is you know,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: their top prospect and looks like he has the best
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: shot to get that job.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. I mean it's come really fast for him.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: This guy was drafted in twenty twenty three, has really
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: checked a lot of boxes for the organization. But someone who,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: as Craig Counsel acknowledged, doesn't have a ton of experience
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: at third base, Like as much as they like his makeup,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: as much as he should be a good hitter in
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the majors, as high as he is on the prospect list,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: this is a guy who does not have a ton
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: of experience. And this council said, that's not like a
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: knock on the guy. It's really a credit to him
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: for how quickly he's developed and put himself on the
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: map to where he is competing for a major league job.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: But like we've talked about before there was no plan
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: b uh in terms of like another Bregman. And so
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: at this point it's Shaw and then a group of
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: kind of role players, so you know, the John Birdies
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and Nicky Lopez is Katy I'm gonna misprounds his name
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Bruhan depth. So like, you know, clearly the Cubs would
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: like Shaw to win this job. I don't. I just
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: don't know how realistic is I thing Like, Okay, he
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: goes to Japan opening day, third basement and then he
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: just gets like six hundred played appearances, Like is he
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: gonna be that good? Maybe? But I mean I think
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: history shows most guys have to go back to Triple
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: A or there's you know, very deep struggles within that
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: rookie year. So you know, he's been here this whole
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: week probably before. I'm just saying since and since I've
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: been down in Arizona, and a lot of these position
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: players have politely avoided the media because technically they don't
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: have to be there yet, so they've said, oh, we'll
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: get you tomorrow, I'll get you, get you later in
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the week. So we have not really heard much from
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Mattshaw yet. I expect we will soon and we'll be
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: impressed by someone who, by all accounts is very mature,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: kind of that baseball Jim Ratt, but still totally unproven
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: for a team with a lot of pressure to make
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: the playoffs this year.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Part of teams that do well, right, teams that do well,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: they get production from young players. But the Cubs are
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: relying on quite a few young players at the moment.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: You know, they have one behind the plate, they have
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: one in center field, first base, and now it looks
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: like third base.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: That's a lot. That is a lot.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not down on most of those guys.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I think Michael Bush could have a really strong season.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: I think I really liked what I saw from Pete
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Caro Armstrong at the end of last season. You know,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: if he's if he's close to that, that's you know,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: star level production with his defense and base running. I
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: like Matt Shaw a lot. I think he's going to
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: be a really good player. When you when you have
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: this many young players and you're relying on them, I
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: think it is it does, you know, kind of mess
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: with your floor, so to say, because what like his
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: upside is high, right, Like he could be an impactful
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: borderline all star caliber player, and that's it's hard to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: do that your rookie season. You're you know, you're first
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: right when you come up, but it's not out of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the realm of possibility.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: But his floor is he struggles mightily and isn't ready
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: for the big leagues and has to be sent down.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: And now John Birdie is.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Your start starting third baseman or Nicky Lopez is your
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: starting third basement And that suddenly changes the dynamic of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the team.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You know, it's make or break with Matt Shaw, right,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Like his performance doesn't make or break this team.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: It just changes things a little bit.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: When when you had your sites set on Alex Bregman
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and this is where it kind of ends up.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: It's all right, it's not the end of the world.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: It's just the reality that they face and they're going
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: to need young players to step up. That's the bottom line.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Young players are going to have to step up. Let's
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: see if they do.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean two things off that. I think One
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: is like, what's what's Matt Shaw's calling card? Like when
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Pete crow Armstrong came up, came back up last year,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: was like just go get play great defense pete and
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: don't worry anything else. And that's something you could do,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: be like, hey, Matt Shaw, go learn a new position
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: and figure out how to hit major league pitching, all
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: the off the field stuff as a rookie who was
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: playing in the Big Ten not that long ago. And
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: the other point, I just thought of that while you
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: were kind of going around the diamond there, of all
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the young minimum salary players that they have in very
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: prominent roles, you would think, hey, that's the time to
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: really pack the roster with as much talent as possible
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: and kind of go all out in free agency. And
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: that clearly did not happen. You know, the cups of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: a lot of guys who were you know, paid very
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: well on those medium term deals, but not the star
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: level types. And you would just think that if you're
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: you know, at catcher, first base, center field, and third base,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: essentially going with like rookies or second and or second
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: year players, you'd think like, oh wow, that would open
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: up all this other stuff. And it did to a degree.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, they traded for Tucker, and you know, they
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: made that big offer to Tanner Scott that he turned down,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and you know they have a well compensated starting staff,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: but like clearly you would think this is the moment
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: where you'd go get an Alex Bradman, the.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Not to be, no, not to be, not to be.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: All Right, Matt Shaw is going to be playing third
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: base because Nico Horner is their starting second baseman. You know,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: off season surgery opening day was kind of like seemed
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: like a huge long shot if not all but ruled
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: out a couple months ago. Where are we at now?
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: It sounds like all the updates are optimistic. Yeah.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: I mean Craig Counsel, who as you know, is not
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: the most effervescent guy, was saying everything is encouraging. A
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: lot of positives have come back. I thought it was
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: an interesting Council said, this is an arm throwing thing,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: not like a hitting concern. And so right now Nico's
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: on this progression building up his arm strength. He hasn't
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: you know, really cut it loose. Yeah. Then in terms
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: of hitting, they're trying to limit the number of swings
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: he takes. You know, I don't think he's going all
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: out even during those swings yet. But like in camp,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: looking good on a path to where he should be
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: able to be a made jor League shortstop again. Now,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: obviously the Cups hope that does not happen, but he's
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: a great insurance policy in case something does happen to
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Dansby Swanson. You know, Horner's arm strength just wasn't there
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: last year, and you know, that discomfort he felt in
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: his right forearm prevented him from playing a shortstop at
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: a high level on a consistent basis. You know, I
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: think they could have plugged him in there for a
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: game or two if needed last year. But Counsel said
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: it was a really smart decision by Nico to get
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the surgery. Counsel said, you know I would have done
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: the same thing. It's a really smart long term investment
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: in his career. And you know, Cups signed Danger that
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: big deal and he came in as mister you know
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: one sixty two kind of the Braves way, and you
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: know he's had he's had some injuries. He's coming off
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: his own surgery as well to fix the sports hernia
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and so so. But you can see if Dansby does
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: go down like where you're gonna go, Cubs have a
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: great option there in house.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's the update is great, right.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: It sounds like he's he could be ready very soon,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: and and you know, Japan may be a long shot,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: but if he's there in Arizona to start the US
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: portion of the season, I think that's that's a huge
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: win for them. I also think it's it's easy to
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: kind of overlook how valuable Nico Horner is. Something something
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: that I remember when you know, we were seeing like
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Hobby at second base and Ben Zober's at second base,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: and then Daniel Murphy played second base and no, you know,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I don't want to rip the guy, but he wasn't
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a good defensive second baseman. And it became like so
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: glaringly obvious how nice it was to watch like average
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to well above average defense at second base. And then
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you see Daniel Murphy and you're like, wow, that is
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: not a capable.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Second basement compared to what we've been watching.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: And with Nico, I think.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: We kind of get in that, like we almost take
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: him for advantage, take advantage to watch it. Yeah, take it,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: take it, take it for granted how impactful he is defensively.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: And this was lost to the world in our in
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: our deleted podcast that never got aired, But you know,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: this is a guy that last three years right to
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two by fangrafts four point three War, twenty
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: twenty three, four point six War in twenty twenty four
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to three point nine War in a down year where
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: his his defense wasn't rated as well, and you know,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: he was playing through an injury and his offense didn't
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: come on really until late in the season. I mean,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: hugely valuable player. I think we we overlook him sometimes.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: He's not a power hitter. That's that's a big thing
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: that you know, it's.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Easy to overlook his value.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so we so it's easy for us to say,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: like maybe he maybe it makes sense to trade Nico
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Horner and get more power, get Shaw in.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: At second it was, you know, and and those thoughts crossed.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: My mind at different points during the offseason. Two and
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the more I like kind of look at it and realize, like,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: first of all, this the way this pitching staff is built.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: You want the lead defense, you want really good defense
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: up the middle, and he he just provides that. He's
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: so steady, and I know he's not gonna wow you
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: on offense, but he's a productive offensive player, like an
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: average to slightly above average offensive player that plays elite
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: defense and in his rock solid in the clubhouse, uh well,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: liked sets an example with work ethic, the way he
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: goes about business. I just think he's a really valuable
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: player to have, and you know, who knows what his
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: future holds beyond the next couple of seasons. But I
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: just like I I think I sometimes forget how valuable
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: he is and what he can do. So I just
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I'm saying all this to kind of remind myself and
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: others like this is this is not someone we should
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: overlook and take for granted, like really productive player that
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: you know, is he the best player on a World
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Series winning team? No, that's not how it works. But
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: is he can he can he be a key cog
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: in a World Series team? Absolutely, like he can be
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: an important piece of a winning team.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I winning player was a phrase I use. I
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: realize there hasn't been a ton of winning during his
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: time here, as he obviously showed up kind of the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: end of the Joe Madden era, and you know has
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: grinded through these eighty three win seasons. But no doubt
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: one of the best dudes in the clubhouse. Just an
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: excellent all around player and also someone who I think
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: just gets it. That's probably the easiest way to explain
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: it of just the his responsibilities playing at really field,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: playing in Chicago, and also someone who you know, was
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: ascribed to us the other day as like someone who's
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: really good at just like talking the game, like in
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: the dugout. I know there are certain organizations or certain players.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: You see you guys huddled over an iPad in the dugout,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: and it probably drafts certain people crazy have a certain generation.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: But like Nico watches the game, he processes the game.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: He can explain the game, he can lead teammates, he
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: can push teammates. Just all of those things make it
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: hard to like envision this Cubs team without him. And
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: so we'll see he probably can't experience like a setback,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: right like if he wants to, you know, be close
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: to opening Day or that first you know, the second
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: and third legs of that road trip or wherever we're
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: describing that post Japan window. Like, you know, if if
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: something does happen, you know that that could change things.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: But at this point, the Craig council stacking good days ideas.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: So far come to fruition, all right, Patrick, there's also
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: plenty of pitching updates.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Right we we we You get to camp day later,
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: there's already an injury. Right.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: This is why you get depth. This is why you
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: sign Matthew Boyd and Colin Ray. They're not sexy additions,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: but they are. I mean, Matthew Boyd's part of the
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: rotation and Colin Ray is. It seems all the more
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: important right now after you know what day two how
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: or a sod oblique train correct oblique issue whatever. Yeah,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: however it was described, but it doesn't sound that initial
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: reports are.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: It's not severe, it's not the worst case scenarios.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Hey, this is good news.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, guy gets.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Injured, you know, the week before spring training starts and
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: on the second day goes out for an MRI. No.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: I guess the thinking is that he'd be shut down
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: and that maybe within a couple of days he'd be
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: able to resume a throwing program. Obviously, Asad is a
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: valuable underrated picture. Sometimes not sure how he does it,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: but he's done it at a pretty high level for
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: a decent chunk of time now, so certainly, and he
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: is obviously they're projecting him in the rotation, but he
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: has been a good swingman, has bounced back and forth,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: a good out getter, as mister Counsel would say. So,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: so I guess not surprising that the injuries have already started.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: But it's not all bad news. I'm looking at Ben
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Brown's name here, and Counsel had a good quote calling
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: him quote fully operational. Ben Brown is full go, no restrictions,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: you know, getting after it the way any normal healthy
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: picture would. So they're gonna stretch him out. Uh see
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: what happens. And you know, just in Steel, I think
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: was on our podcast so about how nasty he looked
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: during their off season programming. Brown seems to be in
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: a good place over that mysterious nick injury. And as
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: you know, sid of if he's right, he's got great stuff,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: like an interesting frame, a lot of projectability if you
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: could just stay healthy and stay on.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: The field right right fully operational. Uh, that's the death
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: star with the pitcher with the death ball.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Correct, there you go.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: So so we like and the death ball, for those
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: that don't know, is the new term for this the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: nasty gyro slider. Uh, you know, the sweeper was all
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the rage, but the gyro slider is a more traditional slider.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: It breaks, you know, vertically, it breaks, you know, north south,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: straight down.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Nasty pitch. Ben Brown has.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: A really good one, and some people in the organization
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: believe it's it's arguably the best death ball in baseball.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: Uh. He's a two pitch guy.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Right, I mean, and I think he kind of learned
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: to embrace that last year. Last two offseasons ago, it
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: kind of was overthinking trying to add more pitches, and
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: it got in his head and he didn't feel like himself.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: And and he's he seems very confident with that.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Right when he's healthy, he seems very confident with his
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: ability to get out.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: We talked about last podcast, how you know.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Dylan Cees, who likely isn't going to be moved by
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the padres as the type of nasty, upper nineties swing
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and miss guy that this rotation lacks. I don't know
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: if Ben Brown is that guy, right, But the flashes
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: he showed last year were pretty impressive. I did not
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: he he kind of won me over in a way
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: when he was out there and healthy. I kind of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: liked the way he pitched. I liked it he went
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: after guys. He was pretty nasty, has a lot of
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: ability to miss bats. I want to say, strikeout rate,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: pushing thirty percent.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: That'll do it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: You strike out, you get close to thirty percent, You've
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: opened my eyes. I'm impressed and I want to see more.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: He looked really good as a starter, very little workload. Right,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Let's see when he gets to sixty seventy innings as
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a starter, then pushes one hundred innings as a starter.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: It's a different.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Ballgame, right, And obviously you want to nowadays. You know,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: back when we were growing up, it was well past
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: two hundred. Now, you know, you get to one sixty
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: and I think everyone's happy. We'll see if he can
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: be that type of starter. I have no idea if
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that's the workload he'll get. My guess is no, My
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: guess is My guess is we taught.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: We love to say this.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: We already said it a couple of times in this podcast,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna say it on a hundred times over
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the course of the season. Out getters, he will Craig
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Council will figure out how to put together and get
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: twenty seven outs? So will will Colin Ray be the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: fifth starter to start the season. Well, if jabber Asad
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: isn't ready as a Colin Ray. Maybe maybe he wants
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to get you know, a certain number of innings out
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: of Colin Ray, and he starts the season as the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: fifth starter. Colin Ray is not going to be your
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: fifth starter all season long. You know, Javier Asad probably
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: won't be your fifth starter. Also, nobody's gonna that's not
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: how baseball works anymore. Yeah, baseball works where there are
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: eight guys, you know, maybe probably more if you're the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: way it works in all reality that eat up starters innings, right,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Ben Brown, whether he starts to the season in the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: rotation or not, my as long as he's healthy, I
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: guarantee you he's getting a bunch of starts this season.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: This guy's going to pitch. They like him.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Unless there's some massive trade that we're not seeing, this
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: guy's a part of this team in some fashion at
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: some point in the season. Fans are gonna be pissed
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: if he's not the guy to start the season as
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: a fifth starter.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: And that's fine. I get it.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: He's the most enticing name of the bunch. But he's
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: going to get a ton of starts in a ton
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: of innings this year. He's going to be a key
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: part of this team because he's that good, He's talented,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and they like him a lot. So whether it happens
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: in April or it happens in June, July, and August,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: we're gonna be seeing plenty of Ben Brown. And I
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: think if this team succeeds, he'll be a big part
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: of it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you need surprises, you need guys who
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: perform expectations, You need young players to take big steps forward.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: He would certainly be ad or near the top of
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: that list of guys who could do that in a
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: really like impactful, interesting way. Nate Pearson, guy who had
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: a really nice pedigree among these pitchers we're talking about here.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I think he may pitch multiple innings in spring training,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: get stretched out to that extent, but they're not looking
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: at him as a starter per se, even though he
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: had that background at one point in his career when
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: he was one of the best prospects in the game.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I think realistically he's gotten pretty good at this bullpen
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: roll the Cubs have carved out for him. I think
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: they want to stick with that focus on that get
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: him to the point where he is not just showing flashes,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: but his reliable contributor out of the bullpen. And then
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: just kind of wrapping up the Japan point you mentioned,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: like cups are probably to use multiple starting pitchers during
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: those games. Obviously only one one guy can start. Counsel
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: joke that I think it's mandated that he has to start.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Showda in one of those games showed a will pitch
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: in Japan. Council at this point will not confirm whether
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: it's game one or a game two, but I would
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: imagine it would be game one. If you look at
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: back at the box scores from the Dodgers and Padres
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: last year when they were abroad, it's probably a good guide.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Council said of like they they'll have their kind of
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: travel party. They have some exhibitions out there. I think
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: you probably see a couple starting pitchers being used during
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: those games in Tokyo.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I got a text earlier today about some of the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: pictures and one guy that was named I don't know,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of throwing this.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Out at you.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: We didn't discuss this, so I don't know if they've
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: talked about him, but Kate Horton is healthy and apparently
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: looks good. I got a text saying like he's looking
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: like himself, which he never really was last year.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: I don't know if there's an he buzz about him.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: I got a text of.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: All people about Brad Keller looking like what this guy's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: throwing like this on February whatever tenth or whatever it
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: was when I got that text. So, I think this
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: is the type of this is the time of year
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: where we hear these things and half the guys we
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: talk about end up doing nothing during the season, right, Like, so,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I don't want to hype up Brad Keller.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: I'll give you, I'll give you. I'll give you two
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: points of view. One is I thought Temmy Hottvey had
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: a good answer when asked about Horton, like Kenny help
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: this year, and he's like, look, we just want Kaid
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: to have a good year, like he needs to stack
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: up some innings and get those reps. But if Kate
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Horton is healthy and doing that, he's probably pitching at
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: Wrigley Field, right. And then the issue was early last season,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I think everyone kind of got ahead of themselves and
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: he got I think they had seen something mechanically, maybe
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: even before that, and then the injuries happened and didn't
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: have time to ramp up again. So like Kate Horton,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: a good name to bring up everything else. I always think,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: if I believe it might have been Trevor Williams. One time,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: comes pitcher had one of my favorite lines of all time.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: It was something like, yeah, I have a lifetime no
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: hitter in.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: The pitch lab, Like, yeah, all these guys.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Are supposed to look good.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: They don't.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: They don't face don't face any hitters they had all
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: off season. Everything's relaxed.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah good now, yeah, yeah, lots of Look
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the pitching looks great, and yeah, all these guys that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: do they how do they how do they fit.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Them all on the staff exactly exactly? We'll see, We'll
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: see who actually contributes.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: There's gonna be some random arm that you and I
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: aren't even talking about, radar that impacts this team.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: There always is.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: That's how baseball works, bullpens especially, There's gonna be twenty
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: names over.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: Like that, you know, all across baseball that we're like, what,
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: this guy's a stud?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: YEP, that's how that's what happens, especially with relievers. All right,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: let's wrap this one up. Thanks everyone for listening. This
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: is North Side territory. Make sure to rate, review, and
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, and
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are on
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: top of all things cubs. Thanks so much for listening everyone.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: We'll be back with another episode multiple episodes next week.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Thanks. Take care,