Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs mailbag: Trade deadline, Wrigley Field vibes and more

Transcript

Cubs mailbag: Trade deadline, Wrigley Field vibes and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahad Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, we have
0:16
Speaker 1: a mail bag episode. As always, the fans came out
0:20
Speaker 1: in full force. This was a you know, it's approaching
0:24
Speaker 1: the trade deadline, a lot of trade questions. Fans are
0:28
Speaker 1: desperate for a move. Obviously, the Cubs need pitching. We
0:32
Speaker 1: spent all of last episode talking about various pitchers. Let's
0:37
Speaker 1: let's let's kick this off from a question from the
0:40
Speaker 1: Lizard King, who has been asking a lot of questions lately. Yeah,
0:44
Speaker 1: or our buddy, the Lizard King. He wants to know,
0:48
Speaker 1: does this year truly feel different? Do you feel a
0:51
Speaker 1: certain buzz around Wrigley, Craig, the fans, the players, et cetera.
0:55
Speaker 1: What are both of your highlights of the season thus far. Yeah,
1:01
Speaker 1: I mean it feels different absolutely to me. I think
1:05
Speaker 1: when you win the way they've been winning, when.
1:09
Speaker 2: The offense performs.
1:11
Speaker 1: I think we've talked about this on previous episodes, like
1:15
Speaker 1: there are feelings of that, there are ways to be
1:19
Speaker 1: a good team, and then there are ways to be
1:21
Speaker 1: an exciting good team. And when you're like a powerhouse offense,
1:26
Speaker 1: when you're scoring a lot of runs and when you're
1:28
Speaker 1: hitting home runs, when you have a superstar like PCA,
1:32
Speaker 1: when you have like this, you know, very a dynamic
1:38
Speaker 1: star like PCA and this like this other star in
1:41
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, it just makes it very fun. It makes
1:43
Speaker 1: it fun to cover, and it brings these vibes to
1:46
Speaker 1: Wrigley that really, I feel like we've had in fleeting
1:50
Speaker 1: moments over the past half decade, but really hasn't been
1:53
Speaker 1: there probably since sixteen seventeen, maybe at parts of eighteen
1:57
Speaker 1: before the end of that season. This there is an
2:02
Speaker 1: absolutely different feel. My highlight, I think it would be
2:08
Speaker 1: the game against the Diamondbacks where they came back early
2:13
Speaker 1: in the season at home.
2:15
Speaker 3: Oh, that was a crazy one. That was like a Friday.
2:17
Speaker 1: Afternoon, yeah, where they kind of blew it. They had
2:22
Speaker 1: a lead and they blew it late in the game
2:25
Speaker 1: and they were down by like four or five runs,
2:27
Speaker 1: and then they just hit a bunch of home runs
2:29
Speaker 1: and scored a ton of runs and it ended up winning.
2:32
Speaker 1: Like a twelve eleven game, thirteen twelve. I don't remember
2:35
Speaker 1: the exact score. That type of stuff is just like
2:38
Speaker 1: the energy in the building is just like it's the
2:43
Speaker 1: type of stuff like you go home and you're like, okay,
2:46
Speaker 1: I can't I can't go straight, Like I think that
2:48
Speaker 1: was a day game, so I wasn't going to bed anyways,
2:50
Speaker 1: But like you just you feel it, like you know,
2:53
Speaker 1: we're not fans, but we still like there's an energy
2:55
Speaker 1: that you feel from covering something like that. That one
2:58
Speaker 1: stands out to me. I'm probably missing something that was
3:01
Speaker 1: either fun or funny or exciting that I'm sure other
3:07
Speaker 1: fans would would point out.
3:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think from a media perspective, it is different
3:12
Speaker 4: just having Peeko Armstrong as this huge, evolving national story
3:20
Speaker 4: and trying to kind of introduce or reintroduce him to
3:24
Speaker 4: a wider audience. Kyle Tucker a far different personality, but
3:28
Speaker 4: has that same has a similar weight of just you
3:32
Speaker 4: put Kyle Tucker's name and.
3:33
Speaker 3: A headline on our website, like people are.
3:37
Speaker 4: Interested in him, and I think the buzz you notice
3:42
Speaker 4: it in even just subtle ways.
3:47
Speaker 3: Some of it is obvious.
3:49
Speaker 4: I mean the other day, it was a Wednesday afternoon,
3:52
Speaker 4: it was ninety two degrees at first bitch. It was
3:54
Speaker 4: not a comfortable place to be in place, just absolutely packed,
3:58
Speaker 4: just like shoulder to show their elbow to elbow, like
4:01
Speaker 4: making your way through the crowd. And then there are
4:06
Speaker 4: things like I saw it in twenty three and it
4:09
Speaker 4: was very fleeting. But in the second half there where
4:12
Speaker 4: like you see sometimes like the traffic patterns or finding
4:16
Speaker 4: parking spaces or the foot traffic or even when when
4:19
Speaker 4: we're leaving Wrigley sometimes you can see like, oh, you know,
4:25
Speaker 4: is this are the bars still pretty crowded, like kind
4:29
Speaker 4: of the more low key ones, you know, Waveland and
4:33
Speaker 4: Clark there, and all of that is certainly noticeable. And yeah,
4:40
Speaker 4: I think it'd be really interesting to see in terms
4:43
Speaker 4: of like highlights. I think that is very much still
4:45
Speaker 4: to come, very interested to see like what they do
4:49
Speaker 4: with the deadline, how September is. And yeah, I mean
4:54
Speaker 4: we both we covered the last playoff game at Wrigley Field,
4:56
Speaker 4: and let's say, pretty dystopian, miserable experience of you know,
5:02
Speaker 4: the Marlins and the Cubs with small group of friends
5:07
Speaker 4: family like Wrigley workers, Cubs employees, and then to do
5:13
Speaker 4: zooms for this group that was going to be like
5:16
Speaker 4: broken apart like, I think seeing that.
5:22
Speaker 3: In October would be.
5:23
Speaker 4: Interesting to again now that we're fans, now that we
5:27
Speaker 4: care what happens one way or the other. But I
5:31
Speaker 4: think a lot of the season is still unwritten.
5:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're the packed ballpark is something that I feel
5:41
Speaker 1: like it. There were brief moments of it. There were
5:44
Speaker 1: that they'd be like, oh, it's a big series. Oh
5:47
Speaker 1: the Yankees are in town and the ballpark's packed. Yeah,
5:51
Speaker 1: to get that, you know, like there were there were
5:54
Speaker 1: April games where the ballpark was packed. There there's like
5:58
Speaker 1: you said, it was Wednesday against Kansas City like that.
6:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess.
6:03
Speaker 1: It's a you know, it's an AL team and maybe
6:06
Speaker 1: case fans showed up because they don't get the opportunity to.
6:10
Speaker 2: Come to Wrigley as much.
6:12
Speaker 1: Still like the forty thousand plus, Like it's it's been
6:15
Speaker 1: a little while since we've seen regular forty thousand plus
6:20
Speaker 1: at Wrigley, So these vibes are absolutely different. The buzz
6:26
Speaker 1: around the ballpark just talking about the team, covering the team.
6:30
Speaker 1: There's a different feel and it's nice to to experience
6:35
Speaker 1: that because you know, it can get a little mundane
6:39
Speaker 1: for us as well. I mean frustrating for the fans,
6:41
Speaker 1: but mundane for us to have to you know, either
6:46
Speaker 1: they've been scrambling to try and get back in the
6:48
Speaker 1: race the past couple of years, or it's like, Okay,
6:52
Speaker 1: I guess we're writing about the big picture.
6:54
Speaker 2: It's May fifteenth. You know. That's that's just not as fun.
6:58
Speaker 4: And then we've intentionally tried to reshape our coverage a
7:03
Speaker 4: little bit of focusing on personalities and moments and not
7:07
Speaker 4: as much on process because there are players here who
7:11
Speaker 4: are going to be around for a long time or
7:14
Speaker 4: are super interesting and newsworthy. I do think Craig Counsel.
7:20
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna say he's different. I think it's just
7:24
Speaker 4: knowing him for a second season. I think there's a
7:27
Speaker 4: little bit of a different give and take. Not that
7:29
Speaker 4: he's changed or anything like that, but I think you've
7:32
Speaker 4: seen his influence on the team a little more this year.
7:37
Speaker 4: And you know, the players, We've talked about this for
7:41
Speaker 4: a while, like it was a good group of guys
7:43
Speaker 4: for years, they just didn't have like that difference maker,
7:48
Speaker 4: and they also didn't really have as much credibility frankly,
7:53
Speaker 4: you know, and to have guys who've won World series
7:57
Speaker 4: elsewhere to where it's not just Dansby Swanson kind of
8:01
Speaker 4: like carrying the mantle for that. I mean, players feel
8:06
Speaker 4: that difference. I mean that was one of the first
8:08
Speaker 4: first things Nigo Horner said to me in April when
8:12
Speaker 4: I just kind of approached him in San Diego on
8:16
Speaker 4: one of those early West Coast trips, and he mentioned
8:21
Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker just like this kind of loose energy he brings,
8:24
Speaker 4: and you know, you can there are those scenes in
8:26
Speaker 4: the clubhouse that you can see again, winning is always
8:31
Speaker 4: the biggest part. The individual talent is the biggest part.
8:34
Speaker 4: But you know, thus far it's been a pretty good
8:39
Speaker 4: vibe and I think that's reflected in how there hasn't
8:41
Speaker 4: been that long extended skid that ruined previous years.
8:46
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.
8:48
Speaker 1: Here's a question from al Culter, what's the status of
8:52
Speaker 1: Jamison Towne and Javier Asad A Sad pitched Thursday in Arizona.
8:57
Speaker 2: Pitched really well.
8:58
Speaker 1: It was three innings, correct Patrick, three innings, three scoreless,
9:03
Speaker 1: six strikeouts. I believe, no walks. That's a good sign.
9:07
Speaker 1: He's he's gonna head out to an affiliate. That's what
9:10
Speaker 1: we were told, I believe. On Tuesday, after the start
9:15
Speaker 1: in Arizona. Next stop is it started an affiliate. Tyne
9:19
Speaker 1: is throwing today Today's Friday. When we record this Friday,
9:24
Speaker 1: there was a chance he may throw at Wrigley before
9:27
Speaker 1: the team goes to uh the south Side, and then
9:32
Speaker 1: he will throw again. This is a live VP if
9:35
Speaker 1: I didn't specify that live VP again in Milwaukee next week,
9:39
Speaker 1: and then he'll go out on assignment. I assume we
9:44
Speaker 1: we don't have a number of starts for either of them.
9:46
Speaker 2: I don't.
9:47
Speaker 1: I think THEASD probably is ready before Tyne, but it's
9:50
Speaker 1: probably fewer out like rehab starting starts for tyone, so
9:56
Speaker 1: maybe it's close to around the same time. But I
9:58
Speaker 1: think they're being in potentially methodical with Tyn. This is
10:03
Speaker 1: a guy that has had some lower muscle injuries in
10:07
Speaker 1: the in his time at the Cubs, had that ankle
10:11
Speaker 1: injury and you never know, like a major ankle injury
10:14
Speaker 1: years ago that was with the Yankees, I believe, or
10:18
Speaker 1: I believe it was earlier in his career, and you
10:22
Speaker 1: never know how that impacts your lower half going forward
10:25
Speaker 1: for the rest of your career. So so they're being
10:27
Speaker 1: methodical about it, and uh, you know, that's that's that's
10:31
Speaker 1: their prerogative.
10:32
Speaker 2: That's that's how these things sometimes work.
10:35
Speaker 1: Uh. Patrick, it is now time for our Draft Kings
10:40
Speaker 1: Player spotlight. If I can play, find the right thing
10:43
Speaker 1: to play Draft Gings Player Spotlight. All right, Patrick, today
10:52
Speaker 1: we are spotlighting showda in Monaga in Monaga. Came back
10:57
Speaker 1: from injury on June twenty sixth, Patrick, and he has
11:02
Speaker 1: a one seventy eight ERA in five starts. He pitches
11:07
Speaker 1: tonight Friday Night against the White Sox. I mean, he's
11:12
Speaker 1: he's taken it to another level in the last two starts,
11:15
Speaker 1: seven innings each. Uh. Just you know, one earned run
11:18
Speaker 1: combined against the Yankees and the Red Sox both teams.
11:21
Speaker 1: Are you know that that's a good Yankees team, a
11:25
Speaker 1: good offense in the Yankees, and a Red Sox team
11:28
Speaker 1: that's been that had been red hot. Uh and he
11:31
Speaker 1: cooled him down, I mean showed as we talked about
11:36
Speaker 1: Asad and time coming back from injury. Just what a
11:39
Speaker 1: what a God send this guy's been coming back from
11:42
Speaker 1: injury for a team that we're gonna talk about it
11:44
Speaker 1: more needs pitching, needs pitching, needs pitching. Imagine if they
11:48
Speaker 1: didn't have him, Imagine if like Matthew Boyd's a great story,
11:51
Speaker 1: but I mean showeda geez what this guy just continues
11:55
Speaker 1: to blow me away.
11:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, the way you frame that made me think of
12:00
Speaker 4: kind of the last rebuilt here of how you kind
12:04
Speaker 4: of need players to pop surprises to happen in like,
12:08
Speaker 4: you know, major developments, and you know, Kyle Hendrix was
12:12
Speaker 4: not on a lot of people's radars.
12:14
Speaker 3: Jake Arieto was kind.
12:15
Speaker 4: Of a borderline triple A major league pitcher, and like
12:20
Speaker 4: Shoda has been almost every bit of that. He still
12:24
Speaker 4: has to prove it in the postseason. It's still only
12:28
Speaker 4: his second season. But I was thinking about this the
12:31
Speaker 4: other day, like I haven't written a lot about show,
12:33
Speaker 4: just the way it has fallen, his starts and stuff
12:36
Speaker 4: like that. And obviously he was injured, but like what
12:41
Speaker 4: an unbelievably consistent guy, Like I mean, he's his His
12:47
Speaker 4: shortest start of the year was four innings and that
12:50
Speaker 4: was four scoreless in Japan.
12:52
Speaker 3: On opening day against the defending World Series Chaps.
12:56
Speaker 4: Just every time out, uh, keeps this team in the game,
13:01
Speaker 4: even when you know, I'm thinking I was at a
13:07
Speaker 4: start in Minnesota and he kind of got in a
13:09
Speaker 4: little trouble early and you're wondering, oh, is he's still
13:11
Speaker 4: kind of working off the rust or maybe it's not
13:15
Speaker 4: as night and he's still still just battles and he
13:18
Speaker 4: he makes adjustments really fast on his own. Still just
13:24
Speaker 4: a great personality. Uh, in the clubhouse, in the interview room.
13:32
Speaker 4: It really I think if the Cubs get really good here,
13:35
Speaker 4: I think we're going to look back on that decision
13:38
Speaker 4: that we wrote about for Opening Day feature, uh, to
13:42
Speaker 4: really invest in Japan. Showed a sort of fell into
13:46
Speaker 4: their laps a little bit, since he was just hanging
13:50
Speaker 4: out like by the open O'Hair airport or wherever it
13:53
Speaker 4: was he was working out and he had his I
13:56
Speaker 4: don't know if Schomberg I have written down somewhere, but
14:00
Speaker 4: finally they were able to draw the Cubs out there
14:05
Speaker 4: and make what has been just an unbelievable deal that
14:09
Speaker 4: if I remember correctly, there's gonna be some decisions to
14:12
Speaker 4: be made after this season in terms of kind of
14:16
Speaker 4: picking up I believe an extra year on his deal
14:19
Speaker 4: to kind of max that out, because this is not
14:22
Speaker 4: a guy you can let just walk as a free
14:24
Speaker 4: agent after this year.
14:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, at thirty two ten, the Cubs are when he
14:29
Speaker 1: starts just insane and he does feel like he's trending
14:34
Speaker 1: in the right direction.
14:35
Speaker 2: Council said this straight.
14:37
Speaker 1: Up, and it was something that I think we talked about.
14:41
Speaker 2: Was it last year?
14:42
Speaker 1: Last year with Justin Steele? You miss this time? It's
14:46
Speaker 1: not an arm injury? Is this a blessing in disguise?
14:49
Speaker 1: You don't want to lose a guy, You don't. But
14:52
Speaker 1: they didn't collapse during that time, and now you have
14:55
Speaker 1: perhaps a really fresh arm that's about to hit their
14:58
Speaker 1: stride at the most critic point of the season. Maybe
15:02
Speaker 1: they're at their peak come October instead of gas in October.
15:07
Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to say the injury was.
15:09
Speaker 2: A good thing. It wasn't.
15:11
Speaker 1: But that's in the past now and going forward this
15:15
Speaker 1: you could have a really nice scenario for SHOWDOA in Monaga.
15:19
Speaker 1: All right, now, let's turn it over to a lot
15:21
Speaker 1: of rizzo alta rizzo for our North Side Territory draft
15:24
Speaker 1: Kings pick.
15:24
Speaker 5: All right, guys, I swung and missed last week, Thanks
15:27
Speaker 5: very much, Colorado Rockies. Time to take another crack. I'm
15:30
Speaker 5: putting together another two leg parlay. I like Freddy Peralta
15:33
Speaker 5: and the Brewers to beat the Marlins at home. It's
15:36
Speaker 5: at minus two twenty seven. So let's add the Dbacks
15:39
Speaker 5: money line over the Pirates. Easy enough, correct, I think,
15:43
Speaker 5: so putting them together gets me to plus one fifty three.
15:46
Speaker 5: I'm putting one hundred down on Draft Kings Sportsbook to
15:49
Speaker 5: win two fifty three. Sahadev and Patrick back to you.
15:54
Speaker 1: Download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app and use Cowde code foul.
15:59
Speaker 2: That's code foul.
16:00
Speaker 1: For new customers to get one hundred and fifty dollars
16:02
Speaker 1: in bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks
16:05
Speaker 1: only on DraftKings.
16:06
Speaker 2: The Crown is yours.
16:08
Speaker 6: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
16:11
Speaker 6: call eight seven seven eight hope and wire text hope
16:13
Speaker 6: and wy in four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut,
16:16
Speaker 6: help is available for a problem gambling called eight eight
16:18
Speaker 6: eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit
16:20
Speaker 6: CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill
16:24
Speaker 6: Casino when resorting Kansas twenty one on over agent. Eligibility
16:27
Speaker 6: varies by jurisdiction Voyden, Ontario. Bonus bets expires seven days
16:30
Speaker 6: after issue ins four additional terms and responsible gaming resources
16:33
Speaker 6: see DKNG dot co slash audio.
16:37
Speaker 1: Patrick, let's get back to the mail bag some more
16:40
Speaker 1: Tione Asad related questions. With Tyon and Assad coming back
16:44
Speaker 1: and presumably a trade for his starting pitcher. What happens
16:48
Speaker 1: with Horton? Isn't this close to the most innings pitched
16:51
Speaker 1: he has pitched? Patrick, what are your thoughts on that.
16:58
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go full Craig count here and say, you know,
17:01
Speaker 4: they're worried about the game tonight. They got to fill
17:03
Speaker 4: a spot this weekend with the openers. I'm very curious
17:06
Speaker 4: as we all are to see what they do at
17:09
Speaker 4: the deadline. I think that can answer some of this.
17:13
Speaker 4: I think we've also learned that setbacks happen with injuries,
17:19
Speaker 4: that even though they both seem to be on track
17:23
Speaker 4: like that doesn't mean there's still a lot of time
17:26
Speaker 4: for things to go wrong. I would guess that Colin
17:33
Speaker 4: Ray would be an easier move into a swingman role,
17:37
Speaker 4: just given his experience in that and how long he's
17:40
Speaker 4: been in the big leagues versus Horton as a rookie,
17:46
Speaker 4: who has you know, frankly, some you know, major injury
17:51
Speaker 4: questions in his file. But I don't know when they
17:57
Speaker 4: called up Horton, they were pretty clear with us, right
18:00
Speaker 4: in terms of like there are no limits here.
18:02
Speaker 3: They're just going to keep reading and reacting.
18:04
Speaker 2: Right.
18:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, So his prior to this season eighty eight in
18:09
Speaker 1: the third innings or most in his professional career combined
18:13
Speaker 1: through multiple levels. This year combined, if I'm doing my
18:16
Speaker 1: math right, it's ninety one and a third with Triple
18:20
Speaker 1: A and the big leagues. So it is he's already
18:22
Speaker 1: passed his career high.
18:25
Speaker 2: There's no math to this.
18:26
Speaker 1: There's no like sound math where they say that, you know,
18:29
Speaker 1: the Tom Verducci rule.
18:31
Speaker 2: That's you know it.
18:33
Speaker 1: It was an interesting thing back in the day. It's
18:36
Speaker 1: just not it's not hard science. Frankly, none of this
18:40
Speaker 1: is anymore Like they have a lot more things that
18:42
Speaker 1: they study. They have a lot more things that they
18:44
Speaker 1: look at. It's still it's not. Yes, it's a little
18:48
Speaker 1: bit better than it probably was, but they don't know
18:51
Speaker 1: exactly what they're doing. They don't have it like they
18:54
Speaker 1: don't know how the body will react. You have to
18:56
Speaker 1: individualize these things too, So they're trying to just take
18:59
Speaker 1: information from the individual seeing how their body is reacting
19:03
Speaker 1: on a day to day basis, whether it's whether it's
19:06
Speaker 1: looking at their bullpens or their starts, how's the stuff,
19:10
Speaker 1: how's their armslot, how's their body reacting to workouts? Every
19:15
Speaker 1: day is they're taking in information and they're using all
19:18
Speaker 1: of that. So they're not looking at just the innings.
19:21
Speaker 1: That's frankly the way they talk about it now, just
19:25
Speaker 1: looking at innings is rudimentary for them. Maybe that's wrong.
19:29
Speaker 1: Maybe in a few years we'll find out that actually
19:31
Speaker 1: it's exactly that's all you should look at. You know,
19:33
Speaker 1: who knows. But they are trying to understand these things better,
19:38
Speaker 1: and it's a constant process that's evolving all the time.
19:43
Speaker 2: So yeah, I.
19:45
Speaker 1: Don't think that they may get creative and skip a
19:49
Speaker 1: start here. You know, I agree with you Colin Ray's
19:53
Speaker 1: most likely to be in like a swing man role
19:55
Speaker 1: if they acquire enough guys and everybody gets healthy. Asad
19:59
Speaker 1: has swing role capabilities, he has options to He can
20:03
Speaker 1: just be depth until he's needed. You know, I think
20:08
Speaker 1: he's an important piece. He can be a really helpful
20:10
Speaker 1: piece down the stretch. I just don't I wouldn't assume
20:12
Speaker 1: that he has to be on the roster and he
20:15
Speaker 1: has to pitch. They're going to have their best pitchers
20:18
Speaker 1: on the roster, especially in August in September, so.
20:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, they won't.
20:24
Speaker 1: Just it's no innings limit, so just you know, they're
20:28
Speaker 1: gonna see how the body reacts, see how Horton's doing.
20:31
Speaker 1: I feel like Horton is about to hit his stride.
20:34
Speaker 1: I know his last outing against Boston was he's not
20:38
Speaker 1: getting deep into games and he has kind of a
20:41
Speaker 1: quicker hook, I think, and that's perfectly fine. But I
20:44
Speaker 1: think he's pitching really well. He was out there matching
20:47
Speaker 1: Crochet for a while. He just didn't go deep into
20:49
Speaker 1: the game. We'll see how he does this weekend against A.
20:53
Speaker 1: Is he pitching this weekend?
20:54
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, because he pitched Sunday, so he'll pitch
20:56
Speaker 2: tomorrow or I don't. I can't remember that.
20:59
Speaker 1: They have a lot of TBAs in there, so uh again.
21:04
Speaker 4: Kind of look t b A is definitely looking good.
21:07
Speaker 4: H for this weekend.
21:09
Speaker 2: Yeah.
21:10
Speaker 1: I think t BA is Sunday and and Horton is
21:15
Speaker 1: is uh Saturday, and just uh, just a random thought.
21:20
Speaker 1: The council did emphasize that just because there was a
21:24
Speaker 1: day off, don't Matthew Boyd isn't isn't pitching on Sunday
21:28
Speaker 1: just because it.
21:29
Speaker 2: Would be a normal rest. They're they're not.
21:32
Speaker 1: They did prefer normal rest nowadays is five days. They
21:35
Speaker 1: prefer giving guys a full like five days. That's just
21:38
Speaker 1: how a lot of teams are like that, So I
21:40
Speaker 1: know we're we're used to four days rest. I think
21:42
Speaker 1: they prefer five days, especially for a guy like boyd uh.
21:46
Speaker 2: The Cub's prospect capital.
21:47
Speaker 1: Gets talked about a lot in terms of trades, but
21:49
Speaker 1: what's the chance that had shots everyone in trades? From
21:52
Speaker 1: the MLB roster? He did say he might have to
21:54
Speaker 1: get creative. That's from Jamie Wise. I straight up asked
21:57
Speaker 1: him this question, uh and and and he said and
22:01
Speaker 1: then he said, this is not an answer to your questions,
22:03
Speaker 1: so don't connect the two, which is kind of odd
22:08
Speaker 1: to say. Then he immediately went into the they have
22:12
Speaker 1: to be creative and creativities.
22:14
Speaker 4: He's been thinking about this idea a lot, though, you
22:16
Speaker 4: know you can He was like, well, this is kind
22:18
Speaker 4: of the debate we're having.
22:19
Speaker 1: But don't you know, yeah, yeah, look, who who would
22:24
Speaker 1: be the options currently on the MLB roster?
22:27
Speaker 2: I think.
22:29
Speaker 1: Outside of a bench guy, like if someone wants Vidal Bruhan. Yeah,
22:34
Speaker 1: they'd listen on him. I think you could. You could
22:39
Speaker 1: see Ben Brown in the right type of deal, and
22:41
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about that. There's a question about Ben
22:43
Speaker 1: Brown next, and you look Matt Shaw. There was a
22:48
Speaker 1: question that I didn't include, but I'll answer it here.
22:51
Speaker 1: If if they acquire a u henny O Suarez, Matt
22:55
Speaker 1: Shaw doesn't suddenly become available because Matt Shaw's the long
22:58
Speaker 1: term answer at third base, au Heneo Suarez would be
23:02
Speaker 1: a temporary upgrade for two months that the Shaw is
23:06
Speaker 1: not expendable, just if they get the temporary filling guy
23:09
Speaker 1: or a bench guy or something like that. I think
23:14
Speaker 1: it would have to be like bowled over type thing
23:17
Speaker 1: to consider Shaw, and I like, you cannot. You can't
23:21
Speaker 1: create holes for the long term, like big gaping holes
23:26
Speaker 1: that like, unless you're getting someone long term.
23:29
Speaker 2: You just can't do that.
23:31
Speaker 1: All right, after poor performances from Brown and Wicks, what
23:36
Speaker 1: is the future for them with the Cubs? Hard to
23:38
Speaker 1: trade them when the value is low, but you don't
23:40
Speaker 1: want to get nothing out of them. Using Caleb Killian
23:43
Speaker 1: as an example, that's justin.
23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a fair, fair way of putting it.
23:49
Speaker 1: Their value isn't at its highest, but you risk these
23:53
Speaker 1: aren't prospects who are like You could make the argument
23:58
Speaker 1: that they traded like Zire Hope too early, that they
24:02
Speaker 1: traded Alphonsine Rosario too early, they didn't maximize those values.
24:08
Speaker 1: I don't like Basire Hope. You got a stud, so
24:11
Speaker 1: don't overthink it with Alfon Sine Rosario. Hey, this guy's
24:14
Speaker 1: having a decent season in the minors. Could you have
24:16
Speaker 1: gotten a little bit more for him than Eli Morgan now,
24:19
Speaker 1: you know, or a next offseason whatever. I get the
24:22
Speaker 1: premise of this question. I think it's different once you
24:25
Speaker 1: hit the big leagues and you have to think about
24:27
Speaker 1: the Caleb Killian situation, where it's like, look this Ben
24:31
Speaker 1: Brown is still going to be valuable. He's under control,
24:33
Speaker 1: he's got nasty stuff. Someone may really value value him
24:37
Speaker 1: as a reliever. Maybe now, a team like the Diamondbacks
24:41
Speaker 1: could use Wicks or Brown because they're probably gonna trade
24:44
Speaker 1: both two starters and they're just gonna be like, hey, Wicks,
24:47
Speaker 1: you get unlimited leash. Just go out there, make every start,
24:51
Speaker 1: don't Someone like Brown could really use that mental relief
24:55
Speaker 1: where he's not thinking about every pitch, every mistake I'm
25:00
Speaker 1: make means I'm being sent to the miners or out
25:02
Speaker 1: of the rotation. So I think, yes, their value isn't
25:07
Speaker 1: at the peak that it was maybe a year ago
25:10
Speaker 1: for some of these guys, or two years ago for Wicks,
25:12
Speaker 1: a year ago for Brown. I also think, like, you
25:15
Speaker 1: can't you can't assume that their value will improve.
25:22
Speaker 2: And I don't think it's nothing.
25:24
Speaker 1: I don't think those values are so bad, so so
25:28
Speaker 1: impacted right now. They're probably not the primary piece if
25:31
Speaker 1: you're getting a stud in return, if you're getting like
25:34
Speaker 1: Joe Ryan, they're not the primary piece, but that they're like,
25:38
Speaker 1: especially Brown, is a good second piece. If Brown's your
25:41
Speaker 1: second piece, I think teams would be attracted to that.
25:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, I kind of feel like, let's say Brown Wicks
25:49
Speaker 4: go elsewhere and.
25:52
Speaker 3: They have nice seasons.
25:55
Speaker 4: There's no guarantee that would have happened in Chicago in
25:59
Speaker 4: this scenari. We've seen it too often, just how much
26:02
Speaker 4: the change of scenery helps.
26:04
Speaker 3: I mentioned Jake Arietta earlier in the show, like.
26:07
Speaker 4: Not saying those guys are going to go in cy
26:09
Speaker 4: Young Awards, but like there's just there's something to it.
26:13
Speaker 4: And you know, also holding onto them means that they
26:17
Speaker 4: could get injured too. And like, no one's asking for
26:21
Speaker 4: my opinion, but I feel like these pitching prospects Cubs
26:24
Speaker 4: have like I would be moving them left and right,
26:27
Speaker 4: like you can always find more guys who throw hard.
26:31
Speaker 4: They have a lot of confidence in their infrastructure, and
26:36
Speaker 4: I think it the churn on the pitching side is a.
26:40
Speaker 3: Really good thing.
26:41
Speaker 4: I mean, our colleague Ken Rosenthal had a good column
26:44
Speaker 4: on AJ Preller in San Diego that published, I believe Friday,
26:48
Speaker 4: and just how they kind of cycle guys in and
26:51
Speaker 4: out like they've they've found something that that's part of
26:53
Speaker 4: like the kind of the sleight of hand that they
26:56
Speaker 4: do in San Diego. I think that's a good example.
26:58
Speaker 4: We've talked before about Cleveland, Tampa Bay, what they do
27:02
Speaker 4: place like that could help a picture like those guys,
27:08
Speaker 4: but otherwise I'm not I don't know.
27:11
Speaker 3: They signed Matthew Boyd and showed him NAGA when.
27:14
Speaker 4: No one was really like clamoring for those guys, and
27:17
Speaker 4: they've both been All stars in Chicago, Like I think
27:20
Speaker 4: they can get creative and figure something out there.
27:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Patrick, Let's take a quick break and then
27:27
Speaker 1: come back and wrap it up with a few more questions.
27:29
Speaker 7: Time for a quickie break. Todd Father and I are
27:32
Speaker 7: going to tell you about Huel, but it's mostly gonna
27:34
Speaker 7: be Todd Father because I'm gonna take a sip.
27:35
Speaker 8: Well, we're talking about HUEL, twenty seven vitamins and minerals.
27:39
Speaker 8: It's a complete meal. Let's listen. We all have busy
27:41
Speaker 8: schedules of Scott's snipping it down. It looks delicious, it
27:44
Speaker 8: tastes delicious. When we're on the run, we need something
27:47
Speaker 8: to eat quick. And guess what Huwele is There all
27:49
Speaker 8: different flavors. Scotty loves them. I love them, and I
27:53
Speaker 8: love how variety packed it is. And we can eat
27:55
Speaker 8: them anytime of the day.
27:56
Speaker 2: That's right.
27:57
Speaker 7: Yeah, check out the website. There's bars. There are so
27:59
Speaker 7: many different flavors. I love the Black Edition, chocolate, thirty
28:04
Speaker 7: five grams of protein, strawberry shortcake, coffee, caramel, cookies and cream.
28:08
Speaker 7: I can go on and on, and you get yourself
28:10
Speaker 7: fifteen percent off. If you're a new customer using the
28:12
Speaker 7: code foul at huel dot com slash foul, please see
28:17
Speaker 7: our description for the terms and conditions. Skip the stress
28:20
Speaker 7: not the nutrition. Try Huel today for complete nutrition with
28:23
Speaker 7: the code fo u l at huel dot com slash foul.
28:30
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we got a question from Billy Rockett.
28:33
Speaker 1: Why do we why do you have to wait till
28:35
Speaker 1: the deadline to do anything? Look, I think counsel said this.
28:40
Speaker 1: It is a Jed favorite line, But deadline spur action.
28:44
Speaker 1: That's that's the reality of it. Something like Jed loves
28:49
Speaker 1: to be aggressive and make moves like he wishes there
28:51
Speaker 1: were deadlines for like the fruit for free agency, remember
28:56
Speaker 1: the flurry before the lockout hit. These deadlines force people
29:02
Speaker 1: to make moves. It forces decision making. The sellers especially
29:09
Speaker 1: don't want to feel like they couldn't ring every value
29:13
Speaker 1: out of whoever's maybe getting desperate more teams may Suddenly
29:19
Speaker 1: you get closer to the deadline, they feel like teams
29:21
Speaker 1: start getting more desperate. Who knows. Maybe that's how the
29:24
Speaker 1: Cubs acquired PCA. Like that was a big back and forth.
29:27
Speaker 1: We've heard so many stories about that front office in
29:30
Speaker 1: New York that there were people that were like, no way,
29:32
Speaker 1: don't trade them, and there was debate back and forth,
29:35
Speaker 1: and then they were like we're doing this type thing. Yeah,
29:38
Speaker 1: it's like there's also like teams like Jed will always
29:42
Speaker 1: tell you like the prices are insane early before the deadline,
29:46
Speaker 1: well before the deadline, so prices go down as you
29:51
Speaker 1: get closer. But also I think it's probably like like
29:53
Speaker 1: some sort of graph where it's like they're they're like
29:56
Speaker 1: way up here, and then it goes down and then
29:59
Speaker 1: like spikes little bit right before the deadline, right like
30:02
Speaker 1: like the hours before. And I think I think that's
30:06
Speaker 1: why it just it takes a little time. Like teams
30:09
Speaker 1: are everyone's they're pitting other teams against each other.
30:12
Speaker 2: There's a lot going up.
30:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, Billy, this is a really good question because I
30:15
Speaker 4: feel like it comes up often and there's sometimes as
30:18
Speaker 4: reporters we just assume stuff as sort of like common knowledge,
30:24
Speaker 4: but like we just hear it from certain people every year.
30:30
Speaker 4: But it's a dynamic that uh doesn't really change. Maybe
30:35
Speaker 4: the nailor trade does spur something, you know, now that
30:41
Speaker 4: the Diamondbacks are are open for business. There are sometimes
30:45
Speaker 4: considerations too, of like a starting pitcher, if he has
30:47
Speaker 4: a start looming, sometimes you want to get that done
30:50
Speaker 4: beforehand so he doesn't get injured, or the acquiring team
30:53
Speaker 4: wants him for that extra start or two. I think
31:00
Speaker 4: I think, you know, Jed when he was breaking up
31:04
Speaker 4: the team in twenty one, I think really wanted to
31:07
Speaker 4: kind of spread things out and focus on one deal
31:10
Speaker 4: at a time, and of course it all kind of
31:13
Speaker 4: came together within the last twenty four hours or so.
31:19
Speaker 3: But I think we'll.
31:21
Speaker 4: Start to see some movement here, you know, as I
31:23
Speaker 4: certainly hope, so it'd be nice to have something more
31:26
Speaker 4: concrete to write about.
31:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, Josh Naylor obviously got traded. The Diamondbacks. It look
31:33
Speaker 2: like they're.
31:34
Speaker 1: Ready to make moves or have started making moves and
31:37
Speaker 1: ready to move the rest of their impending free agents.
31:43
Speaker 2: We'll see if they move all of them or what.
31:45
Speaker 1: But that makes a lot of sense for them to
31:46
Speaker 1: start start the process, and I'm sure other teams are
31:50
Speaker 1: making those decisions right now. I wouldn't be surprised if
31:52
Speaker 1: things get a little bit more active over the weekend
31:55
Speaker 1: and then we have you know, I'm not sure big
31:57
Speaker 1: names get moved or what, but there will be activity
32:01
Speaker 1: over the next few days. Final question, why are fans
32:05
Speaker 1: so obsessed with not trading Owen Casey.
32:08
Speaker 2: That's for Bob Stewart. I don't know. I'm not seeing
32:13
Speaker 2: all of this.
32:15
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing the hand ringing as far as don't
32:17
Speaker 1: trade Casey, don't trade Casey, but I'm.
32:21
Speaker 2: Sure it's out there.
32:22
Speaker 1: Look, there's an argument that can be made that Kyle
32:25
Speaker 1: Tucker is a free agent at the end of the year.
32:28
Speaker 1: You don't want to move Casey because he's the logical replacement.
32:32
Speaker 1: I also think I think for me, you don't move
32:36
Speaker 1: Casey for rental. Like I don't think the clubs would
32:39
Speaker 1: even consider that. Think about this, that he was likely
32:45
Speaker 1: the main piece of the Lozardo trade that was for
32:48
Speaker 1: two years of a picture. He's probably more valuable now.
32:53
Speaker 1: You're not going to give him up for two months
32:55
Speaker 1: of a pitcher. So I think that's the that be
33:00
Speaker 1: my focus. You don't give him up for a rental.
33:03
Speaker 1: I don't think you can prospect cling right now. And
33:05
Speaker 1: I don't also think you can assume that he just
33:08
Speaker 1: slips right in and fills in for for Kyle Tucker
33:13
Speaker 1: next year.
33:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm with you. I'm not sure.
33:16
Speaker 4: I kind of see conflicting signals there of you know,
33:21
Speaker 4: I guess social media is not a good gauge in general,
33:23
Speaker 4: but I think there's a thought of comes half to
33:26
Speaker 4: go all in, and then there is this you know,
33:30
Speaker 4: counterbalance of people love their prospects. That's just kind of
33:34
Speaker 4: how the game works these days. I would just say that,
33:40
Speaker 4: you know, Casey would does feel a little bit like
33:44
Speaker 4: flavor of the month right now, just in terms of
33:46
Speaker 4: like he's on a insane hot street. I remember, wasn't
33:54
Speaker 4: it just this year moys Is Biasteros that was like
33:57
Speaker 4: a big thing, and he came up and you know,
34:00
Speaker 4: he looked like someone who probably needed a little more
34:03
Speaker 4: time in the minors. Understandably, he's very young. I haven't
34:08
Speaker 4: heard a lot of clamoring for him to come back
34:11
Speaker 4: since then. I think he's still a very nice prospect.
34:16
Speaker 4: You know, I think certain names our buddy Jesse Rodgers
34:21
Speaker 4: calls you, we call the Internet names of just that
34:24
Speaker 4: they just kind of, you know, like.
34:26
Speaker 3: Matt Murviys a couple of years ago, was just this
34:28
Speaker 3: like drum beat.
34:30
Speaker 4: And then you know, oftentimes with prospects, they come up
34:33
Speaker 4: and it's like okay, you know, like you just got
34:38
Speaker 4: like like either they come out the gate really hot
34:41
Speaker 4: and then the league adjusts, or it takes him a
34:43
Speaker 4: really long time.
34:44
Speaker 3: We're seeing it.
34:44
Speaker 4: With Matt Shaw, right yeah, yeah, like has a couple
34:48
Speaker 4: of nice games out of the All Star Break, and
34:50
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, I don't even need as like
34:52
Speaker 4: I met Shaw, you know, and whereas it wasn't that
34:56
Speaker 4: long ago, whereas like.
34:59
Speaker 3: This, this is the week spot team.
35:00
Speaker 4: This cannot a serious World Series team cannot have him
35:04
Speaker 4: as a third basement. So I'm with you. I I'm
35:08
Speaker 4: very skeptical of the idea of the Cubs giving up
35:10
Speaker 4: Owen Casey for any rental player, you know, pitcher or hitter.
35:15
Speaker 4: But after that, I would be very open minded just
35:21
Speaker 4: because maybe maybe this is the moment to strike, you know,
35:24
Speaker 4: talked about like zy your hope earlier of maybe they
35:27
Speaker 4: traded him a little too early theoretically because obviously Michael
35:32
Speaker 4: Bush has been really good. But like, I don't know,
35:35
Speaker 4: we're talking about the Ben Brown Jordan Wick's trade value,
35:38
Speaker 4: right yeah, yeah, maybe this is Owen Casey's like Zenith
35:41
Speaker 4: as a as a trade ship.
35:43
Speaker 3: I don't know.
35:43
Speaker 4: I mean, he people think, you know, for years now,
35:46
Speaker 4: people have said he can legit flat out hit even
35:49
Speaker 4: people outside the organization. You know, we've heard that of like, no,
35:53
Speaker 4: he's so I'm not not doubting his talent. It's more
35:56
Speaker 4: of just kind of how the business works.
35:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, you never know prospects. We talk about this all
36:02
Speaker 2: the time.
36:02
Speaker 1: If I were to bet on what he'd be, I'd
36:05
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, solid major leaguer, But like, you give
36:08
Speaker 1: that up to try and win a World Series for
36:10
Speaker 1: a guy that's controllable beyond this year especially, Prospects aren't
36:14
Speaker 1: about like what they're going to be. It's about their
36:16
Speaker 1: current value right now. That's how you have to look
36:19
Speaker 1: at it. You can't say like, I'm convinced that he will.
36:22
Speaker 2: Be a bust.
36:23
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you're convinced that he will be
36:25
Speaker 1: a bust. What's his value right now? He has a
36:27
Speaker 1: ton of value on the market, So don't give him
36:29
Speaker 1: up for two months of someone. But also don't you know,
36:32
Speaker 1: don't cling because this is part of this is part
36:36
Speaker 1: of being in a front office is being able to
36:39
Speaker 1: evaluate the talent that you have.
36:40
Speaker 2: It's really important that you're that you're able to do that.
36:44
Speaker 1: We can debate whether they've nailed it in previous trades
36:47
Speaker 1: or not, or however you want to look at, whether
36:50
Speaker 1: it's Cam Smith, z II er or Hope, any of
36:53
Speaker 1: those guys. I think they kind of knew sometimes what
36:55
Speaker 1: they had. Maybe they just felt like these these were
36:58
Speaker 1: the moves they had to make at those at those moments.
37:01
Speaker 1: I feel like trading Owen Casey right now is really
37:04
Speaker 1: maximizing his value. He's like, he's doing what you want
37:07
Speaker 1: a prospect to do right before the trade deadline. You'd
37:11
Speaker 1: love it if all the others were doing that. Frankly,
37:13
Speaker 1: you'd love it if al Contra was on a red
37:16
Speaker 1: hot tear as well, and Bias Teraros and Jackson Wiggins
37:21
Speaker 1: and Jefferson Rojas, all of them just tear it apart
37:24
Speaker 1: and then see who has the best value, and then
37:26
Speaker 1: who you want to keep and who you want to move.
37:28
Speaker 1: Right now, it's Casey tearing it up, and I think
37:30
Speaker 1: that works in the cubs favor.
37:31
Speaker 2: So we'll see what they do.
37:33
Speaker 1: They are going to probably by the time we record
37:36
Speaker 1: another episode, we're going to hear more. Maybe we'll have
37:39
Speaker 1: a move to talk about. We'll see what the weekend holds.
37:43
Speaker 1: It's three against the White Sox. The White Socks have
37:45
Speaker 1: been playing much better. They're they're they're playing well right now.
37:49
Speaker 1: I don't know how the Cubs are going to do
37:51
Speaker 1: this weekend. Frankly, like that that was we Like I said,
37:53
Speaker 1: against Kansas City, I thought that was one of their
37:55
Speaker 1: tougher series as far as the way they performed. But
37:59
Speaker 1: you know, this team has been resilient and bounced back
38:02
Speaker 1: quickly and impressed almost immediately after bad moments. So we'll
38:06
Speaker 1: see how the weekend goes. Thanks so much for listening
38:08
Speaker 1: to everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
38:11
Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
38:14
Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things cups.
38:16
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone, Take care,