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Cubs news and notes from Wrigley Field · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into North Side Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Cubs take two or three from the Atlanta Braves. Perfectly
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: fine series. Nothing, you know as far as their performance
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: was that great. That made me super confident about how
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: they're going to perform the rest of the way. But
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: obviously a very newsy series. First thing that happened was
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: was that Tuesday. Now I'm losing track of my days. Yeah,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: it was Tuesday. Kyle Tucker hits an opposite field home run,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: adds a single. I noticed he got thrown out at second.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: It was a fielder's choice. I thought the slide was
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a little awkward, and then he comes out of the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: game a little later. Had nothing to do with the slide.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: He had a tight, tight calf, been feeling it that day.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: He said he'd been feeling it for a couple of
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: days and it progressively got worse during the game and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: he didn't want to push it. This is you know,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: We still don't We're recording on Thursday morning. We still
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: don't know. What the status is. You know, but two
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: days or I guess two days off and Wednesday and
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Thursday for him half of Tuesday off. This is not
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: ideal considering he was on another he was finally, you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: looking like Kyle Tucker. That was his first opposite field
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: home run by the way of the season, and it
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: was he looked like he was back. This is at
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: minimum it's concerning in that like does this linger does
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: this throw off his rhythm? Like what what are the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: what happens now? Like what what's next for Kyle Tucker?
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: It sounds like check back Friday and maybe there will
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: be an answer. I mean, isn't that like what was
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Council's I guess non update? Is that how you would
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: describe it from yeah, Wednesday's pregame?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I think he said I have no update.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think he'd spoken to Tucker, or
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: at least he the the way he talked to us,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: it didn't seem like he'd he'd talk to Tucker about
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: how he how he was at that point in the day. Uh,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: you know, obviously there's a good chance he he chatted
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: with him or or or the training staff at some
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: point on on Wednesday, but there was no update. Uh,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: it was after the game. He's getting Wednesday off, will
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: reevaluate on Friday. Tucker kind of was like, we'll see
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: how it is when I come in. But I think,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: you know, he was kind of suggesting he was playing
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: it both ways. Maybe I can He didn't directly say
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: maybe I can play Wednesday, but he said we can
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: see how it is. But he also was like, you know,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: we we have the off day, we can we can
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: play with this and see where it goes. Nobody I
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: will say this. Neither Counsel nor Tucker were like it's fine.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, he didn't say it's fine. I feel fine.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Tucker said that, but he didn't say I'm playing Friday.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I'll be good to go. Nothing like that was said.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: There was no even even I think our buddy Jesse
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Rogers asked like, what's your level of concern to counsel,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: like where you how are you feeling about this? That
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: was post game on Tuesday, and he kind of said, like,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: you know, he did the little council like, uh, you know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and then finally said, you know, hamstrings, calves, anything like that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: There's a level of concern, like you just don't know
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: with these mule like muscle injuries, and maybe it's just
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: time to be cautious. Maybe it's that time of year
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to be cautious. I know fans seem to believe there.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I saw a lot of like this is a must
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: win game on Wednesday. I don't know. Maybe that's fringy
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Twitter that I need to stay away from. Uh probably,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: but yeah, but that's not the case. They have a
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: huge lead there. They you know, they're pretty safely in
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: a playoff spot. The rest of the NL is just
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: like kind of a mess right now. Uh, Like, do
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: you really want to push the key to your offense?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Do you want to push him? If he's fine, he's fine,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: if he's healthy, he's healthy. But if there's something there,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: maybe it's just time to be cautious.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it'd be fascinating to hear what these conversations are
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: actually like behind the scenes. When we saw what happened
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: with the finger slash and injury earlier in the year,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Knowing what's at stake for Kyle Tucker as a free
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: agent very soon here, you have a lot of different dynamics,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, team dynamics of I'm sure you'd love to
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: be able to just kind of play Kyle Tucker. Maybe
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: not six days a week, but certainly if he's in
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: that zone again and has rediscovered his rhythm. I don't
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: think you want to just ice him for ten days.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, do you really want to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: compound something or let it linger?
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of gray areas with this medical stuff.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: We saw it with the hand injury. Like the technology
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: is so good, players are so driven. Tucker is such
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: an elite talent that there's going to inevitably a drop
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: be a drop off from him to the next man up.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: And so.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fascinating. Man like this Kyle Tucker just cruised
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: along for months and it's just like, yeah, he's awesome,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: he's an All star. Cubs probably won't sign him, but
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: there is this clamoring for him to, you know, get
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: an extension from the Cubs. And now it's it's very
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: much in this you know, will they or won't they?
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Uh stage, Yeah, the more I talk about this, as
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: we talk this through, it's ten day ill stints right
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: for position players, Yeah, it changes so like so like
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: by Friday, that's a week essentially because you can backdate it.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, he'd be back by next week. But in
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: a week like there's just no It almost seems like,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: what what are we talking about here? If I again,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: if he comes in and there's nothing and he's just like, okay,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: it was mainly it seemed like it was probably like
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: a cramp or it just felt a little weird and
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: now it's perfectly fine. Sure let him play. That's a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: different story. If he says, you know, oh, even if
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: there's a slight pause in how he feels, I think
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: you just I l him. I think it's just like
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: there's no reason to push these things right now. That's
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: that's kind of how I feel like it's so important. Yeah,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: yeah again, I mean always different pitching versus hitting. You
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: can compensate in different ways for pitching that can really
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: injure you. I just I'm not sure what you have
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Owen Casey who could play every day. You have Kevin
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Alcantra who could play every day if that's the route
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: they want to go. Fans aren't going to want to hear,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: but Willie Castro can play regularly if needed, so you
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: know there's there are options there that if he has
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to go on the I l you have people that
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: can play for a week and maybe you just do it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: You know, fans would probably be happiest with like a
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I'll contract Casey back and forth depending on who's starting.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know if they'll get that, but that would
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: probably be what would appease the fans the most. Frankly,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I want to say, if if you call a bow Casey,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I'd like to see him play every day. You know,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: if Kyle Tucker's hurt that that just makes sense to me.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: But you know, I'm not making these decisions, and uh,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: you know I'm often wrong, So uh, I think you know,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker is the most important piece for this offense.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I think next on that list is Pete row Armstrong
• 8:44
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• 9:53
  Speaker 1: So when Jed Hoyer and Craig Council talked on Monday.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: They made it pretty clear that Kevin all Conunter was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: called up to give Pek Armstrong a little rest, especially
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: when a lefty was on the mound. So I think
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: everyone kind of knew that PCA had a day coming up.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Because there was a lefty on the mound Tuesday night,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: everyone knew PCA was gonna sit. He He didn't get
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: in a bat that night. He came in as a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: defensive replacement in the ninth, but other than that, it
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: was a full day rest. Apparently he didn't take any
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: batting practice in the cages or out on the field nothing,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: so day off for him. Not seeing him on the
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: line in the lineup on Wednesday was a little bit
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: more of a surprise, and it's like, ah, we're doing
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the Kyle Tucker reset here. I said it before when
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: when there were questions about this. I don't know if
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: this works every single time. I don't know if you
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: can keep going to this. Well. I do think it
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: was about time that where it's like you got to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: try something with with PCA. He'd been in a pretty
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: rough patch and this is a guy that wears his
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: emotions on his sleeve. I'm not saying he was taking
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: it harder or anything like that than other players, but
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: you just see the frustration with him, so it gets
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: kind of obvious. And he wasn't thrilled with his results.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: He was going out there and helping his team win
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: because he plays some of the best defense in baseball,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: but the offense just was in a play. They need him,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: they need him back to being at least close to
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: what he was. He can't be what he has been,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: so I we'll see what this is. I do think
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: there is something real to just like taking a step back.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: It worked so well with Kyle Tucker. We saw it
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: work with Wou'd say a Suzuki a few years ago.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Miguel Amaya was working on real things, real mechanical things
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: when he took that break. Whatever was that last year.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: That was last year. So I mean, these things can work.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: It's just so hard to know. I would not be
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: surprised if PCA has a great weekend. I also wouldn't
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: be surprised if if it takes him a little while
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: to get going again. So you know the bottom line
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: is he's got he's got this break and we have
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: another Kyle Tucker type reset.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: The Tucker reset reminds me of the old kind of
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: baseball cliche of you know, only call a team meeting
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: right before your best pitcher is scheduled to start, because,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: like they waited so long with Tucker, the law of
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: averages told us that it was going to swing the
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: other direction. And I think when you look at Tucker's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: struggles slash most recent injury issue, as well as Pete's struggles,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I think it's part of this sense of like the
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Cubs just still haven't found that next gear yet. I mean, obviously,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I think they're twenty games over five hundred at this point.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I think they might have a better record than the Dodgers.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Like all this stuff, you know, you would have taken
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: in spring training, I'm sure. But it's also like when
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: you saw the way they started this season and how
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: the offense was clicking, and how certain players were performing
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: at a level, that teased you of like they could
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: be huge different difference makers in a playoff series. And
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: now it feels like the Cubs are sort of kind
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: of professionally competently winning series kind of with their pitching.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: You know, a couple clutch hits here or there, I
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: mean some great starting pitching at times, like not to
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: take any of that for granted, but this is something
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: like for September they have to like figure out and
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: is it you know, giving Tucker some time on the IL,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: is it you know, running Pete back out there like
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: every single at bat until something clicks, Like I think
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: there's probably something to that too, especially if in reading
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: your coverage the hot Ve like you've pointed out his
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: pitch recognition. His swing selection has been pretty good, uh,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: particularly considering where he was earlier in his career. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: for Kevin, I can tarr to like figure everything out
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in a couple of weeks is not realistic. And look,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: the defense is is game changing. I like that stat
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: you had in your most recent story of like what
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: was it the five star catches?
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, he has zero yeah, zero to twenty five
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: catch probability. Great catch let's just call them like elite
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: level catches.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but he has like what fifteen and no one
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: else has more than eight?
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, wild, it's a it's an insane He makes catches
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: that no one else can make. Yes, there are catches
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: that he comes close to making. That stat cast will
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: rate as zero percent probability, you know, like it's it's
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: remarkable how good he is. He is so impactful defensively,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: which is why we came into this season saying if
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: he has like a league average or slight, if he's
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: slightly above league average offensively, he's a really good player.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: He's a really impactful player. And if he's like twenty
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: percent above league average offensively, he's a superstar or he's
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a star. And if he's what he was the final
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: two months of last year, he's a superstar. And that's
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: what he's been. And now he's swumping. He's not playing
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: as well, he's not hitting as well. You're right, what
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I keep checking those stats to see like is he
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: getting out of his you know, is he making bad
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: decisions with his swings? Like is he starting to chase?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Is he looking bad? It's just not happening. Uh, you know,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: maybe what's like I should probably check double check, like
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: what the pitch types that he's seeing If there's maybe
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: it's a specific location. But I'll tell you this, he's
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: missing his pitch absolutely. He is missing pitches in the
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: heart of the zone far too often. There are pitches
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: that he should be hammering that. He's just he's popping
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: up or he's grounding out or I mean there's been
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: like very little hard contact or bad luck here. This
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: is not a situation like you know, i'd say, like
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Sey Suzuki over the past week, I feel like he's
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: hit some balls really hard and can't get good luck.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: He hasn't gotten enough good luck lately. That was happening
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to you and app a lot. I'm not seeing that
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: with Pete. It's just not happening. Yeah, And I think
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: you know, this is when when the process is right,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: you feel a little bit better. Though he's not chasing,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: he's not His strikeout rate isn't thirty five percent, it
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: is like slightly above league average. That's not that bad.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: That's not bad. It's pretty normal. You'll take that for
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: an entire season. Frankly, Uh, from a guy like Pete.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: He doesn't walk, which just makes him so he has
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: to hit. He has to hit otherwise it's not there.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: That the offensive value is not there, and and that's
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: that's kind of uh. And then that's you know, you
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: don't want him changing who he is. You can't suddenly say,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: like start taking walks. Pete no, that's not who he is.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: So you know, you can't change the player completely. It's
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: really hard to become that type of player. But you know,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I I do think like these these days off can
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: be valuable. Just get away from the game. I'll say this.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: And we know Pizza like a good guy, like you know,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: he loves the game, and he he goes. I noticed
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: this the other day in the clubhouse. He's sitting there.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I cannot remember if it's pregame or post game, but
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: he's just sitting there listening to Carlos Santana talk, just
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: him and Carlos Santana and he's just sitting there, glued
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to his side, listening to him, nodding, taking in whatever.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe he's just talking about like a good meal he had.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe it had nothing to do with like some great
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: insightful stuff on baseball and how to get through a slump.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: But that's Pete. I really appreciate that about him. He'll
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: he'll say that to us how much he respects the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: veterans around him. But then you actually see it. You
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: see him he attaches himself to these veterans. He feels
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: like he has something to learn from them. There's something
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that he can take from that man. He's always said, like,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I'll take a bunch of different things, try them. Sometimes
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: it doesn't work, sometimes it's not for me, But I'm
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: willing to try what the guys around me have to say,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: like that they they've had a lot of success. What
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: can I learn from them? I appreciate that part of
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Pete PCA.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: I'd imagine that's part of the reason why Justin Turner
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: is still around, right, and that has to be a factor.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: It has to be a non zero factor because of
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Pete's willingness to engage and listen and absorb those lessons,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: and as well as Turner's stature and kind of wide
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: range of experiences and an ability to communicate that in
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: a simple, digestible way that resonates with a player who,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I mean literally sort of watched Justin Turner at Dodger
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Stadium when he was a kid. Like I think he's
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: kind of given Turner some grief about that. I think
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: most people in the clubhouse do with Turner given his
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: advanced age. But yeah, it's been an amazing growth year
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: for Pete. It's kind of wild to look at his
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: numbers and feel like there's still more there or to
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: feel like this second half has been sort of a
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: disappointment after just this unbelievable first half. But if you
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: kind of want to be the man like that, this
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: just comes with it.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Yep. Yeah, he has to learn how to handle these moments.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: I think he handles them pretty well. Fans may disagree
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: or people observing his frustrations. You can visibly see how
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: he reacts in a bad moment, and maybe some people
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: think that's an overreaction. It's just who he is. I
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: don't take too much from that. I get the optics
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: aren't great, but it doesn't bother me personally. But I
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: understand why some would want him to pull back on that,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and I think he has. He's improved. I see him start, Yeah,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I see him start to like want to destroy his health. Yeah. Hey,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: well you gotta start somewhere, all right, Patrick. Let's uh,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: let's let's take a quick break and wrap it up
• 21:18
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• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Patrick Kate Horton is a stud. He's arguably, you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the best pitcher on this staff. You know, that's probably
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: going too far with the way Boyden has pitched, and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: nam Naga has a little more of a track record,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: but I'm I'm just so impressed with every outing and
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: then he goes out there five innings, no hit ball,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: just one walk, six strikeouts against Atlanta, just pounds the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: zone seventy five pitches. I believe he knows he's on
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a pitch count. He knows he's not getting that ball
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: for the sixth inning when he's at seventy five pitches,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: he knows that, and he just goes out there and
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: mows guys down. It's really impressive, but we also have,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: you know, the pitch count talk is I think interesting.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: It's interesting how a like none of us are like,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: what is Craig Council doing. Nobody's saying that. Nobody is
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: talking about that, and neither is like Horton. Neither is
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: no teammates, no nobody. I didn't not even fans am
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I seeing getting up in arms about how can you
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: pull Kate Horton? There maybe a limited but people seem
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to get what's going on here and that there's something
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: bigger in mind.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I think the Cubs have done a good job of
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: explaining they're thinking clearly when the player buys in, that
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: goes a long way. Maybe someone doesn't like the Kate
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Horton plan, but it also speaks to just how almost
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: blank his professional resume was, and how thin his workload
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: was at Oklahoma. Now there are great moments in there,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: of course, going to the College World Series, and he
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: certainly showed flashes in the Cub system, but it was
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: really kind of a blank canvas here that the Cubs
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: had to go about it and set kind of a
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: new foundation. And I think they've they've done that, and
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: there's still no guarantees with that. We'll just kind of
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: have to see how things present from one start to
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: the next and how they map this out for October.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: But he has certainly exceeded everyone's expectations, including internally.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I you know, when pitching prospects are so
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: hard to figure out. You never know if injuries are
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: gonna linger or really waylay a career. I mean, go
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: look at i'd say, every every top one hundred prospect list,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: and then look at the top five pitchers go year
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: by year. Four out of five of the top pitching
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: prospects you probably haven't heard of, or their career was
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: sidelined by injury or ineffectiveness. It's just and ended. When
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: last year happened, it was one of those like, uh, oh,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: is this happening this This guy came into the season
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: as a top you know, arguably the best pitching prospect
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: in baseball. Injuries really impacted the season, It ended his
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: season last year, came in and he's he's back to
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: being that guy. The stuff's there. Actually, even when he
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: came up, I was like, is he not going to
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: get the type of strikeouts because sometimes he's fastballs that
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: work in Triple A don't work in the majors because
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: they don't have like these exact characteristics. But he knows
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: how to pitch, he knows how to use all his pitches.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: His strikeout rate is going up, it's not going down
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: as he gets used to the league, as he learns
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: how to pitch, I want to say, it's pushing like
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: thirty percent in like his last six starts. He's missing
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of bats. Now he knows what to do,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: he knows how to sequence, he trusts his other pitches.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: He's it's it's really impressive, and I think this year
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: he's going to be hugely impactful. You have to You're right,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: they've done a great job of kind of with the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: messaging of this that they must have. This must have
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: been like cad. They must have hammered this home with
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Kate early on because this kid's competitive, but he has
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: no there's not even the slightest hint in postgame when
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: we talked to him like there was you know, like,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, I jokingly asked Council to go back out.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: He's like, I knew it wasn't happening, And it wasn't
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: like I'm pissed off. It was just like, this is
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the reality. There's something bigger at hand here. We're trying
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: to do something bigger than win just a couple of
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: games in the regular season, and I think he knows
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and this team knows he could be huge for them
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: in the postseason and beyond that. I think we're like
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: seeing as help is so important, like I said, but
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I think we're seeing the start of something like one
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: of like a really good picture, someone that could be
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: one of the best pictures in the game. That's the
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: type of talent we're seeing because he has all the ingredients.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: If it was just stuff, I wouldn't be saying that
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: did There are pictures that have stuff that we that
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: we watch all the time. There's something about him and
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the way he handles the moment. That's really impressive to
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: see and with you and I have seen it. Enough
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: of these guys compete, but he's got that competitive nature
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that's just like, Okay, he gets it and he has
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: the stuff and you know, he's got it all and
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: I think there's a level here that he still hasn't
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: even fully reached. He's going to get better and like
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: future seasons we're gonna be talking about this guy is like, oh,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: here's all star Kate Horton. It all comes down to
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: help and things can change quickly. But that's just what
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing right now. It has you know, oh wow,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: the ceiling here is high.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: No doubt he has the it factor, whatever you want
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: to call it. It's not an accident. The way Council
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: talks about Horton, the way teammates have talked about his
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: mound presence, there's kind of an old saying, you can't
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: fool players, and they're around this guy all the time.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Some of them have seen his the arc of his
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: very young career and have been impressed by how he's responded.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: And Council made this point earlier this year. He thinks
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: it's great that Horton has already faced a lot of adversity,
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: like it has forced him to grow up and mature
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: in different ways, and that may not have happened if
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: things were totally smooth. If things were totally smooth, like,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: who knows where Horton would be right now, Like would
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: he being available for the Cubs in that draft? Would
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: he have This is someone who could have played football
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: at Oklahoma. He could have been a position player baseball
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: wise in Oklahoma. Like speaks to the athleticism and all
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: the different ways this could have gone. And I'm with you.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: I think the ceiling is extremely high, but you kind
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: of have to capitalize on these moments that Justin Steele
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: had a cy Young caliber season and the Cubs missed
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: the playoffs by one game. I don't think Horton will
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: win the Cy Young this year. He's certainly a Rookie
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: of the Year. I don't know, favorite, a leading contender,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it. I haven't looked at
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: the entire cy Young field. Maybe he gets a vote,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know how, depending on how he finishes. The
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: volume probably won't be there. But when you have a
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: guy in the zone like that, you gotta make the
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: most of it because who knows if he'll be healthy
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: opening day next year, the year after, Like, we just
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: don't know. The Cubs don't know, And that's why I
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: think it's it makes a ton of sense to try
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: and build everything for October and then just unleash him
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: as a game one playoff starter game two. We don't
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: know yet. But he's put himself in that mix, which
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: is kind of crazy to think of where he started
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, No, he's he's a huge part of this team's
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: success and he will he will if they're going to
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: go far in the playoffs. Obviously, we've talked a lot
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: about the offense. I think that's the key to this
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: team going deep in the playoffs. But I think if
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: we're talking about a deep playoff run, we're going to
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: be talking about, how about that Cad Horton, you know,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Game X start, How impressive was that? He's the reason
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: they're going to the NLCS or whatever, you know, whatever
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: it is, We're going to be talking about Kate Horton
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: if this team has success in October. He's he's very
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: important to this team right now, especially a starting staff
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that you know, just doesn't that is very good, but
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: doesn't have a ton of swing, and Miss doesn't have
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: a ton of stuff, pure stuff, pure velocity, things like that.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: He's got all those characteristics. All right, Patrick, that's it
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: for this episode. Thanks so much for listening everyone. This
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic where
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Patrick and I are on top of all things cubs.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening everyone,