Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Amid boos and a brutal slump, Cubs star Kyle Tucker gets a reset

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Amid boos and a brutal slump, Cubs star Kyle Tucker gets a reset · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into north Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahada Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, before
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: we talk about a very newsy and you know, busy
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: start to the week for Cubs. Yes, I just want
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to send fans to Northside Territory shop dot com. Uh,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you can get all your pullovers, your north Side Territory gear,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: our north Side Territory sickos can check out whatever they want. Coffee, mugs, notebooks, bags,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff. So you know, we would love
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: for you to check out the side, get get some
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: north Side Territory gear. Rep it at Wrigley, at the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: bars around Wrigleyville or wherever you live. We would appreciate that.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: But Patrick, you know, a lot of news this week,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and it started off with a really rough Monday in
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the sense that Kyle Tucker did not you know, just
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: has looked like the Kyle Tucker that we've seen for
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the past month. But it did I like, it did
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: not look right, it did not feel right. And and finally,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: after what was it three groundouts and a pop up
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: on Monday, Craig Council decided to give Kyle Tucker some
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: time off and and he missed Tuesday's games, sat and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: watched and we'll see how long this lasts. But I
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: feel like, you know, it's one of those things you
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: have to weigh.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: You need this guy desperately to succeed.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: You know, he's gonna have to beat Kyle Tucker to
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: succeed in October. But when do you kind of say, like, Okay,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: it's time to pull back. And they decided that time
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: is now.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, this is something that was would have
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: been unthinkable and began to feel inevitable, and just the
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: it just really has snowballs here of the like the
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: booze at Wrigley Field, just Tucker not really running to
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: first base.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: At all on some of these groundouts.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Granted they were kind of right up the line like
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: automatic outs, but still throwing bats and helmets, which is
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: normal for most major league players but very out of
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: character for him. And just the numbers and also how
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: he was getting to those numbers. Just you know, a
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: ground ball rate approaching fifty percent in the second half
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: for a guy who was once compared to like Ted
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Williams in terms of his swing.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Just kind of.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: An unbelievable stretch here for him.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: To just be benched for, you know, a huge series
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: against the division rival that had started running away in
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: the Nation League Central.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I actually felt like he looked pretty good for a
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: couple of games in Saint Louis. There were some line
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: drives that he hit that I was like, Okay, maybe
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: he's getting back to who he was, and then it cratered.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Like there was.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: It was one of those things where it's like, oh,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you have a couple of good games.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: It's like, oh he's turning the corner. Nope, not even close.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Like it. It looked bad.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: The past week Toronto was I think we saw him
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: hitting out on the field for the first time. Yeah,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: like for what news. He's not a guy that he's
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a He's a cage guy. I think even like it
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: was something that we kind of talked about in the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: spring training. It's like, you don't see Kyle Tucker out
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: on the field. He gets his work done in the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: cage and that's what he does, That's how he does it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I think he's just looking to switch things up, try
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: anything new to kind of get out of this rut
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: it I you know, I ultimately think you have to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: get him right. I don't think anybody would disagree with this.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: You have to get him right if the Cubs are
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: going to even look close to the team that they
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: were and compete for, you know, a deep playoff run.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I think this team has looked better in the past
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: five games. Not dominant by any means, but winning the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: game is the point of it, right, scoring out scoring
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the opponent as a point, and have done that more
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: often than not the past few games. But to really
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: be the powerhouse that they seemed like they were, they
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: need maybe not maybe not that top tier elite Kyle Tucker,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: but they need it pretty close to great Kyle Tucker.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously you want. The whole point of acquiring.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Him was this is a superstar that makes stabilizes the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: offense and leads to a little bit more consistency with everything.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: And and that that the same slump has happened is
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: what was so perplexing for everyone and so frustrating. I
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: think to watch, Uh, this was not supposed to happen,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and why it's happened, whether it's the finger, whether it's
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: the finger leading to mechanical changes, whether it's just a
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: mental thing, whatever it is, it's it's gotten to a
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: point where I think, great, council. I think we could
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: debate the timing of it, and I and I understand
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: fans want sometimes want things a little bit sooner. But
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I think for me, my whole thing was like you
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you It's what I'm just saying, like, you need him
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: so you have to you have to try and get
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: him right. And I and I understand the desire to
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: do things quicker, but you just never know when things
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: are going to turn. Like I said, he looked like
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: he was about to turn in Saint Louis and it
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: didn't happen, and they gave it another week. And it
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: sounds like you were there, Patrick. I had left by
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: this point, but I think council said that this was
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: something they talked about over the weekend with Tucker.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a council said he spoke with Tucker on Sunday
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: night and they quote, you know, put a lot on
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: the table, and you know, I thought Jed Hoyer made.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: A good point. I guess it was Monday.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like, if you're dealing with major league
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: players like you can't just like panic like they see
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: through that if you're kind of like reacting to every
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: at bat or every game or even every series like
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: that just seeps into the clubhouse. And I think particularly
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: with a player like Kyle Tucker, who obviously they need
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: and also who just like logically is their best hitter
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and should be getting out of this at some point, right, this, yeah,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: can't go on forever. I mean, maybe it will.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: Until we reach I don't know, but.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: I think this idea of sort of like anyone else
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: works or that you know, there aren't potential consequences to
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: you know, either embarrassing Tucker or kind of pushing that
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: button too soon. It's just been really puzzling because Tucker's
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: whole thing was one how confident and calm he's been.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, this guy who's always just kind of not fostered.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Also, he.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Has been a guy because of his all around skills
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: who could just like even on a quiet night, it
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: would you know, maybe draws a walk and you know,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: lines of single into right field and you know, maybe
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: steals a base, makes a nice plan and all of
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: a sudden, it's like, oh, wow, like he did a
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: lot today, even if he didn't hit a home run,
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: and like everything had just sort of started to erode
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: and his offense was carrying over into other parts of
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: his game. You know, there's he says he's fine, counsel
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: says he's healthy and available. Jed Hoyer, you'll kind of
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: dismiss the idea of like, you know, stashing him on
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: the ale or something like that. And then you have
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Brewers manager Pat Murphy on Since or the cub flagship
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: radio station, is asked kind of a general state of
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: the Cubs question about their.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: You know, recent slump and offensive slide. I believe it
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: was on the Mully and Haws show.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: And recause I think Tucker's hurt and what he was
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I think he was also trying to say was, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: this kid's a class act. You know, he doesn't want
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: to complain. He feels a responsibility, but he thinks something
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: wrong physically with him. And obviously him and Counsel their
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: relationship there's a certain distance now even though they were.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Co workers and Murphy coached Counsel at Notre Dame.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: But the reason I put it in my story was
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: like what Murphy said is like a perception that's out
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: there of you know. I spoke to someone from another
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: team was just like he just doesn't look comfortable in
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: the box and that he can be pitched to differently
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: now and like no one really knows why.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think you like what you said
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: there at the end, especially is is what's most obvious
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: for everyone.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he's heard.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: There's been so many denials about it that I have
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to just that we have to assume that he's not hurt,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: because I like, if you know, if he is, I
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: think it's been a huge mistake. This is something you
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: needed to address after, you know, like earlier, maybe a
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: week or two ago at least, Like if you want to, like,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: he did so well in June, I get like, okay,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: it's a it's an annoyance, but he can play through
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: it and players do this all the time. But then
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: after July you kind of have to say, like, Okay,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: maybe we take a step back, especially when things are
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: starting to get out of hand with the division. It's like,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: let's make sure that he's healthy and ready to help
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: us win the wild card. I have to assume he's
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: okay as far as health goes. And if that's the case,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: If that's the case, the Cubs have had some recent
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: success with giving guys two, three, four games off and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: then then coming back and things clicking. I don't know
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: if that's gonna happen with Kyle Tucker. It feels kind
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: of random. It happened with say Suzuki, and he went
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: on one of the best like it basically turned his fella,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Like had turned his career around, because since then he's
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: been a pretty consistent power, you know, I mean, offensive player.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: They did it with Miguel, That was with Ross I
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: believe it.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Then a twenty two maybe it was twenty three, and
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: then I think it was twenty two.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: And then and then Amaya and council.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Had that he set counsel or he said a Maaya
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: for three or four games and that turned him around.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Matt Shaw sat for three games, I think he played
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: one of them, came in as a dependive place three
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: games before the break, had the mental reset of the break,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and now look at Matt Shaw. So I don't know.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: We'll see if it works, We'll see if it clicks.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: This is a veteran, like you said, steady guy. I
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: don't know if this is what he needs or what's
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: going on. Like I felt not that long ago, very
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: confident that he was just gonna be fine, it would.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: All work out.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I just don't know, Like I don't want to make
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: any guarantees because this game's so weird and we'll see.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: But all right, Patrick, let's take a quick break.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: In the and I want to talk about the guy
• 12:02
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• 12:05
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• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Patrick Owen Casey. The fans were calling for him, Uh
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: wanted him to play.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Fans right, yeah, yeah, they definitely do.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: He He looked really good in Game one, had that
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: blue pit in Game two, drove in multiple runs, a
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: home run. I think the first hit that he had
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: in in game one of the double header on Tuesday
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: was the big one.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: That's a two out basis loaded. These are the.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Opportunities that Cubs have been squandering for weeks now. Uh,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: they were getting every big hit for the first couple
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: of months of the season. They haven't gotten any in
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the last past month and a half two months. You
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: know that's hyperbole. They've gotten some, but not enough, and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: they finally got a few. Owen case he came through. Uh,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't think there's any doubt that for
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: two games there he's impacted this team seat you know,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: in a significant way and given them kind of what
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: they need.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: No doubt.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think, uh, the timing is just sort
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: of hilarious, just how this unfolded, because there was this
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: clamoring for for Owen Casey and you saw it against them.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Some good pictures, some big moments, different hitting the different
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: parts of the field, Like you see why you even
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I think people we've talked to who are not always
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: high on Cups prospects, who were not in the organization
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: can just say, like that dude can flat out hit.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Maybe defensive like defensively he made some nice plays. He's
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: still kind of a work in progress there and there's
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: going to be you know, dips and valleys, but uh,
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: he certainly came through. I think, circling back to what
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: we were talking about earlier, I think with Tucker. There
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: is an unknown of like what makes this guy tick,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Like he has really good relationships in the clubhouse, teammates
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: like love being around him, but there isn't a whole
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: lot of history there. I think kind of getting out
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: of this, you know, could be difficult, like to your
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: point earlier, and so to have a guy who was
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: a top whatever, fifty seventy five prospect, a guy who
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: got a lot of time at Triple A Iowa to
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: kind of work through things, it just feels like.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: He had checked.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: All the boxes to come up.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: He was not rushed.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: I think there's been the appropriate amount of hype on
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: him until recently. Like this was not he was not
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: the number two overall pick, he was not. The trade
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: he came over in was you know, less than enthusiastically received.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: And so I don't know, what have you heard about
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: sort of like Casey the hitter, Casey the student of
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: the game, and how he got to this point.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think everyone knew his flaws right
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: his his he I mean tremendous power. He needed to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: tap into it a little bit more, and they were
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: always confident he would. That probably started around midway last
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: year and I think at the beginning of this season,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: they just really wanted him to work on the end
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: zone swing and miss. He wasn't crazy with chasing, although
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: he could. The chase would happen every once in a while.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: But I think the biggest the biggest issue they saw
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: was this guy needs to make more contact in the zone.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: That's too often he's swinging through pitches.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: He should be.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Driving very subtly changes I think with like hand placement
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: and things like that. But but they rarely honed in
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: on that. And that was something like kind of like
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a player development directive.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Uh. He took to it.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: The coaches took to it, like, you know, the hitting
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: coaches at Triple A, Steve Polakoff, Rachel Folden, the hitting coordinators,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: our guy Andy Haynes has been at Wrigley this week.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: He helped with this. You know.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: It's it's a kind of like a whole staff type
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: situation where I think people knew, like, this is a
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: really important player for the organization. He has this flaw
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: that will be exposed in the big league unless we
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: work on it. And and he got to work and
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: it seems like he's really done. I mean, the the
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: zone miss, the end zone miss has dropped every month,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: and you look at that with that, the strike out
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: rate has dropped every month. I think he's still going
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to strike out a lot in the big leagues. I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: think that's inevitable. It's going to be really hard to
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: completely fix that issue against the highest level of pitching.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: It's just a different we hear. We've been talking.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: We've probably said this on this show a lot, but
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I heard it again this week. The jump from Triple
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: A to the majors is bigger than it's ever been.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: It's just a there's a huge gap, the lack of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the losing of the minor league systems of you know,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the lower lower levels. It's just a bigger The talent
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: is a little diluted in the sense that I guess
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: people that shouldn't be moving up are moving up. Quicker,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: promotions are more aggressive, not as much and not as
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: many levels to kind of work on your craft. So
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the jump from Triple A to majors, that's that's just
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: one of the reasons. There's so many reasons. But the
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: breaking balls, the fastballs, everything's better in the big leagues,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and ow in case he's going to be challenged. But
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: look for two games. Two games that these past two games,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: and just like in general, while he's played, I don't
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: think there's any denial of what he's provided.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I'll say this, I understand where.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Crek Council was coming from when he wasn't playing him.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I think he probably should have gotten a start against
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: the Pirates. It's a those are like three pitchers. I
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: think they were all Righty's not the toughest staff. When
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Paul Skeens isn't out there, I think it would have
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: been nice to give him a start.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I understand.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Look there's when I people were like texting me fans
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: that I know, friends that I have, why is anty starting?
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Why is any starting?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And I kind of played Devil's advocate and explained, and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I said, first of all, we don't know how he's
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: gonna look.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Like Matt Shaw, Pete ro Armstrong.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: All these kids struggled big time when they first came up,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: So who knows how good he is out there? A
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: lot of people wanted Ian Hap to sit. Ian Happ
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: has been crushing righties since all start break. Like I
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: understand he's he's gonna be a pariah among the fan base.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: I get it.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Like the fans love to hate Onny and half that's fine.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: He's he's been really good against right handed pitching since
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Alister Break. You can't sit him when your offense is
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: struggling that much against righty's. I think the only answer
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: really was are you sitting Saya again or are you
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: sitting Kyle Tucker?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: I get, I get.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: My thing was like, if you're gonna do it, you
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: gotta sit Kyle Tucker for multiple games and get the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: reset in. And they're finally doing that, and that's what happened.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: But I also understood, like we got to get this
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: guy going, like we said in the previous segment as
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: far as Kyle Tucker goes.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: So it was a tough decision.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I think that I think I don't know if this
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: would have happened if like I wonder what would have
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: happened if miguel A Maya didn't get hurt, Like would
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: be like where would be what we would be talking
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: about right now as far as Kyle Tucker sitting.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: But I do think it kind.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Of was like the perfect setup where it's like, Okay,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: we have this roster spot and we have this potential
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: looming like issue with Kyle Tucker. Let's give him a
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: little bit more time, and if it doesn't work, here's
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: the guy, and we'll play him and we'll see what.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: He can do.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know if that was the
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: exact plan, but it's kind of played out that way,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: and I think it's they were as patient as you
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: could be with Kyle Tucker and now they have the.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Spark and he's provided it. He's an exciting kid.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Got to give credit to Willie Castro for yesterday's performance
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: as well. I think those are the two stars of Tuesday.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Castro's homer, Castros throw home game one, homer game two,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: throw home. Those were huge swings in the game. But
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: those two guys you got to give give a ton
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: of credit. And it comes at one, four or five now,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: and that's you know, it didn't feel like they were
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: about to do that. When I left the ballpark on Monday,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I said, it has been a while since it's felt
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: like that.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Maybe the weather contributed to the doom and gloom of
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it all, but it did not feel good at Wrigley
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: on Monday. Just it was And I guess it goes
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to show like things can shift quickly in this game.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: One last quick note on Casey.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: I know we're talking about a small sample here and
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna talk about an even briefer snapshot, but just
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: the handful of times we've talked to him, I feel
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: like there's been that natural maturation process has occurred.
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: I'm thinking of a couple of years ago, he's playing
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: for Team.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Canada and the WBC and when not that you judge
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: everything off of how someone talks to the media, but
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: you could tell how young he was, what a raw
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: kind of prospect he was. I mean, someone who's turned
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: twenty three, who has several years under his belt, you know,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: multiple seasons, the high levels of the miners, who's produced
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: bost who's played in WBC. I think he's been a
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: futures game guy. Just all that you can tell that
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: he is just a little more prepared for this moment.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Not that any he was supposed to be prepared for
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: it two years ago, but that you can see when
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: you hear about the stuff he's done behind the scenes,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: the kind of caliber of people he's working with, the
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: numbers he's put up, just you know, a guy who
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: kind of looks like he belongs and I think I
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: think that matters in kind of smaller subtle ways.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I totally agree with that.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Haven't had a ton of time to talk with him
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: since his call up, but but there has been a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: maturation here and you know you always want to see
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: that with young players. All right, Well we'll come back
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: after this break and touch on maybe the unheralded part
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: of this team that's led to some wins.
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: FT fans, do you want to have confidence when you
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: go out in public.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 24:08
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• 24:25
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• 24:29
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• 24:34
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• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Patrick on June twenty fourth, I want to say, June
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: twenty fourth, Jameson Tyn had a really bad start against
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals. Since then, the Cubs rotation has a three
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: to h three earned run average that's best in baseball
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: during that span. So June twenty fifth on, it's nearly
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: two months now of the starting rotation being ridiculously good.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Ridiculously you know, just the leaders of the team, and
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: it's gone overlooked because the offense has struggled and they
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: haven't won enough games. The Brewers got white hot took
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: over the division. So we just haven't given enough credit
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: to this starting rotation. Jameson Tyn returned yesterday, pitched really
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: well after what look like he was about to have
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: an awful night. You know, got to give props to them.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I have no clue how long this will last, just
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: like I have no clue how long Kyle Tucker's struggles
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: will last. I don't They're probably playing a little bit
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: above their heads, and that's fine.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Who cares.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Get the results and try and they've kind of stabilized
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: and saved this team from probably a potential tailspin. But
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: obviously a concerning part of it all is what happened
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: with Kate Horton on Monday. This isn't an elbow or
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: a shoulder, This isn't something like that, but a blister.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: You know, these are the types of things that ken Linger,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: he has dealt with it in the past. It sounds
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: like it is an occurrence, yearly occurrence according to him.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: But you know, maybe it's nothing. It sounds like he's
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: down playing it. They're going to play it day to day.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: He was, he's been a stud. He's been you know,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: for a little while now. He has been one of
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: the best rookies in baseball. You know, we've talked a
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: lot about him. But you don't want this to be
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: something that lingers, because right now the Cubs finally, after
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: those awful vibes on Monday, it feels like you sweep
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the doubleheader, you've won four or five. Just keep it going,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: keep it rolling, especially now the pitching, like this is
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: a tough stretch. They're in the middle of it get
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: through this stretch play well and then have that whenever
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: that day off comes, you can take a breather, but
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: you need Kate Horton.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think there is a feeling in the organization.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: You know, we've talked about this before, Sahata of like
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: there the offense is going to come back around, like
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: that's just hitting comes and goes. I think the bigger
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: concern is, like what if three, four or five pitchers
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: get injured and or hit a wall and because they've
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: had the staff has overachieved, you know, I think it
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: just kind of hits you when counsel and an athletic
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: trainer walks out to the mound.
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: You don't know what's going on.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Obviously, a blister is not a major injury, but it
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: could be a big time annoyance. But so that's why
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: seeing Ty one got back out there is big. Shota
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: should be a little fresher for the stretch run because
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: he was sidelined earlier. And you know, Matthew Boyd's been great,
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: but he has, you know, a track record of injuries,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: did not throw a ton of innings last year. I
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: think a lot of these guys in the bullpen, you know,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: there's been some surprises that you just don't know. Like
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: I guess even the best bullpens are always kind of volatile,
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: What I mean.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: So you're just like looking at all this together. Tyn's
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: return it was important.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know they've they've optioned a sad.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: He'll be back. I think council said that straight up. Actually,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: like he's.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Going to be back. They have to leverage like this
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: is what is his fifteen games in fourteen days? Is that?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: What the math is?
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Uh, it's a lot. It's a lot of baseball in
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: like a two week span. H And you know they
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: need to somehow find a way to get through it
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: with a pitching But yeah, I think, you know, I
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: don't know if this will last. I don't think it will.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: They think they're not. I think the pitching is is
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: if you look at it, you know, with the advanced
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: numbers or the underlying metrics that they don't strike enough
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: guys out. But this is this is a pitching staff
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: that has pitched over its head in general, over the
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: pat like what over its head in the sense that
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the numbers would suggest the strikeout numbers would suggest that
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: they shouldn't be pitching this well. I think it goes
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to show like how good the defense is, how good
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: the game planning is. That they have a they do
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: a pretty good job of that. I think showeda is
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: huge down the stretch here. He seems like his best
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: version of himself, and I think his his performance.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: I think you got to give some love to Colin Ray.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: I know I was.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Calling for him at a certain point like, Okay, maybe
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: this is run its course. Really like you got to
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: give him some love of what I mean. He could
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: go out there and have a stinker today, and on
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: occasion he does, but he gives them innings. He's really
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: helped them, you know, survive in a in a tough
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: in a tough stretch here, and I mean throughout the season.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: He's been there, you know, since for a while now,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: and and he's you got to give him credit.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens with.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Kate Horton, but I think he's huge and changes a
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: lot of what this team could do, whether he's out
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: there or not.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think to wrap up, you're right to point
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: out like there was sort of a subtle vibe shift,
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: or at least it felt really bad on Monday, and
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: then Tuesday Wrigley had some good energy. You had lots
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: of different players contributing and also some unexpected guys or
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: you know, not just kind of the marquee names coming through.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: And Council.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: Very forcefully made that point, at least for him, his
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: voice kind of went up a notch and he was
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: a little more animated by his standards of Like he
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: insists that nothing terrible has happened to this team that
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: has been one team in the division on a historic,
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: unbelievable run, while the Cubs have sort of, you know,
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: I guess not been absolutely atrocious in every aspect of that. Like,
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: this is a long season, this is the most challenging
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: season in sports, and that the Cubs have earned the
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: position that they're in and that position should very likely
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: put them in the playoffs. But they're gonna have to
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: go out and earn it.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they have a Currently on Wednesday morning, they have
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: a two game lead on the Padres, a four and
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: a half game lead on the Mets, and a five
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and a half game lead on the Reds. They they're
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: they're leading the wild card. They're one of the best
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: teams in baseball. I do think that matters. I think
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: you like you can have two separate conversations. The offense
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: has been awful and needs to turn it around, and
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: they're not in some dire straits as a team.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: You just don't want it to go. You don't want
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: to ignore the problem and say all as well.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: And say like they can continue to play like this,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: They couldn't continue to play like this. These last few
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: games have really helped shift things in the mindset, and
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: now you can breathe a little and say, like, okay,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: what more can they do? You know, get on a
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: hot stretch, show everyone how good you can be again.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: And I think it's I think they're capable of that.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: We've seen it.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: So let's see what type of run they can get on.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: What happens in these next two games against Milwaukee, and.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Of course a big road trip in the West Coast.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: And the next time we talk to you, guys, Patrick
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: will be out there and we'll be getting ridy, like
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: wrapping up the Brewers and talking about what on paper
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: looks like some easy games, but you know, it's a
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: long West coast trip.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: We'll see how they do. All right, Thanks for listening everyone.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: This is north Side Territory, Foul Territory Networks, Cubs podcast.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: To anything about a wing