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Do the Cubs have the best offense in baseball? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: The Cubs offense is rolling.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It is as exciting and as potent as any in baseball.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And I don't think there's just one reason why, like
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this is, let's let's get right to it, because I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I think there's a it's it's not really like I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: think they're pretty good. Like they you know, like the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: stats are there, they're all there to tell us six
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: point two seven runs per game.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: That's that's over.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: That's zero point six more than the second team the Yankees.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Like that's insane.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Right now.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: They they're doing everything well. I remember in one episode
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I talked about swinging like not chasing and and attacking
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: in the zone. Those numbers are getting better, Like they're
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: they're swinging more in the zone now than they were
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: when when I first brought it up whatever two weeks ago.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: It's like they're they're awesome at that. They take walk,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: they hit for power, Uh, they they hit for average,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: they leave baseball in batting average and it's not like
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: a crazy Babbitt. You know, it's a it's a it's
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: above it's above three hundred, but it's it's not insane.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: It's like there's there's just so many things as a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: team that you look at and you're like, Okay, uh,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: that's that's aggressive. Not everything is sustainable. Not everything is
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: going to be the best in baseball. They're not going
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to average nearly six point three runs a game this season. Uh,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I think that would probably be a record. But it
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: looks like a pretty damn good offense, and there are
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of reasons to believe that it can continue
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: to be a really good.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: It is just staggering watching some of these games, just
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: going back to last September, how the season ended, this
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: idea of like Wrigley sort of playing like Seattle's ballpark,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: how tough it was on left handed hitters, particularly Cody Bellinger.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Going back to.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: That series, the Yankees came to town and Juan Soto
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: and gen Carlos Stanton hit some just like rockets that
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: just sort of like died in the outfield. You anticipate
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: what the weather will be like in April in Chicago.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: That's been pretty nice recently, but the prior homestand just brutal.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Cubs still putting up huge numbers. You look at the schedule,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: some of the best pitchers pitching staffs in baseball doing
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: against doing it against that level of competition. It's it's
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: kind of mind boggling. And you were always kind of
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: the optimist on this offense. It's exceeded everyone's expectations. You
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: wrote a great piece on this for the Athletic What
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: are your kind of two or three bullet points right now?
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: What is happening?
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the obvious one, and I don't think
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: you should like gloss over it or bury the lead.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: It's Kyle Tucker, right, I mean, we knew he was
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: going to be impactful. We knew this, Like, this was
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: not a surprise to us the second they added him.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: This was a monumental addition. The rumors when they came
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and were like, if this happens, this changes a lot, right,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: it changes everything toward the team. It is not he's listen,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Cody Bellinger is a really good ballplayer. This is not comparable.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: This is Cody Bellinger when he was at his best.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Is what this player is. And Tucker is a game
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: changing force. You know, you can debate how much he
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: impacts the entire lineup. I think you know that there
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: are I think he clearly helps guys like say Azuki.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I think he clearly helps the people like right around him.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: But and he himself is just this this truly impactful player.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: He had the game winning homer on Friday, right, that
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: was the go ahead homer on Friday, and then he
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: had a huge homer on Tuesday.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: But the two comebacks, he was a key part.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Of it, right, you Like, it's just I don't know
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: what else to say other than he is a superstar.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: He's playing like a superstar, and when you add one
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: of those to your lineup, there's just something that happens
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that makes it all that. I think there are a
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: lot of good players in this lineup. I think without
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, this would be a slightly above average offense.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker takes it to another level. And I think
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: that's we just cannot gloss over that. And I think
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: it's foolish to try and dig much deeper than that
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: when when talking about this like that is the first
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: thing you have to mention.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker is a superstar. The Cubs added a superstar
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: end of sentence, no doubt.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: And that is why I think our buddy John Greenberg,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: you know, said this, like, thank you Jed Hoyer for
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: giving us an ongoing story all season.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: You know, will they that?
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Won't they? You know, what's the offer going to be?
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Like where's this going to go?
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, Kyle Tucker putting enormous pressure on the Cubs,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: making himself a lot of money for the for the
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: future just by being the man I mean, being the
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: type of player that the Cubs have not had for
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: a long time, the missing piece that we had all
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: talked about for years of what's going to take this
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: to the next level. It is Kyle Tucker period. And
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: at the same time, though you know he he's only
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: one guy in the lineup, and right you're seeing this
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: bottom of the order come together and you've written about
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: this even kind of working ahead on this as well.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: Just the catching situation.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: What are what are we seeing there? And is that
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: I least part of that sustainable?
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, like I I this was the one that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel super confident in entering the season. It
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: was kind of like that wild card of like, well
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: it can't be as bad as the last year, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I think that's what you have to avoid. I think
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: my thought process was, well, they're not going to be awesome,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: but if they're not twenty ninth or thirtieth, that's how
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you avoid, you know, these huge lulls, like just be
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: middle of the pack. I think this is an area
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: that we may see some drop off, but not I don't.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: I think there's some Like I think there's reasons for
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: legit optimism. Miguel Amaya looks like he's he's taken some
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: real strides. Like what happened at the end of last year,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: what was it, the final three ish months, two and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a half is ish months. He made a change with
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: his stride, right, you have to wait and see that's
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: that's one of those things that I, you know, I
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: need to see it before I believe it. It's it's great,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: make the changes, good, put in the work, especially in
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the middle of the season. If you're able to pull
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: that off, I'm impressed, But uh, do it again, right,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: It's really hard to do it again. He looks like
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: a really good ballplayer right now all around, gets a
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: lot of compliments from the pitching staff and and you
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: saw what happened on Tuesday. He had the big home run.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: He's It's nice to see him, you know, continue to
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: develop and look like similar to that player that we
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: saw at the end of last season. He's a he's
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: a quality offensive talent. Carson Kelly. Look, he's not going
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: to hit like Barry Bonds. You and I both know that.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I think fans understand that for the most part. I
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: do think it's interesting that this is a former top
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: one hundred prospect that was highly thought of. His issue
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: has never been like this guy is a mess at
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the plate. He chases and he makes terrible swing decisions.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: That has never been the problem. Go back and look
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: at his numbers. He's had some really big walk years.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: He's patient, he doesn't he doesn't swing and miss too much.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: He's actually improved in that area as his career has
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: gone on. I think what's happened over the past two
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: years is he slowly made more changes with his swing.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: He was not happy with how he was impacting the ball.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I think he's had it. I talked to him about this.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: He had some wrist issues, hand issues. I think maybe
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: multiple times he's had that happen and that's kind of
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: screwed things up about two years ago. Now he gets
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a year and a half now, he decided to make
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: some pretty major mechanical changes. The goal was to get
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the ball in the air more often. His swing was
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: not how he wanted it to be. He was not
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: in the zone with his bat. You know, you want
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: to be long in the zone, quick through the zone,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: is what I think they say. And he was just
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: not long in the zone. His bat path was a mess,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and it was really he was like way too much
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: on the ground.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Made some tweaks.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I likely write about this soon to get the details,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: but made some tweaks, and he's elevating the ball more
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: and impacting the ball more so. He I think the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: reason I think there's reason for optimism. Again, he's not
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: going to whatever it is, Like this insane number that
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: he's putting up, this fifteen hundred ops or whatever it is,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: that's not going to happen, right. I don't think it's
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: even going to be like close to one thousand or
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: nine hundred. But if it's like seven point fifty, you
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: will take that best, right. Yeah, it's a really good player,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and I think there's reason to believe that it can
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: kind of like he can be that type of player
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: because the swing decisions are there if you make the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: mechanical changes and you stay healthy and you buy into
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: them and you trust them.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: That's another thing he said. He's like it can be hard, right,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: He's like, I just had.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: To find something that I was convicted in, Like this
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: is what I believe this. He continued to fine tune
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: things this offseason and he feels even better about it.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: You know, I think when you're confident in where your
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: swing is, if you're in a good place mentally, you're
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: in a good place physically, and you have the mechanics
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: down you made the right changes, good things can happen. Right.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I think that's that's a big deal. The catcher was
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: catcher position was a black hole last year, John Gomes.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: You know, you catch it happens with catchers. They turn,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: they get into their thirties, deeper into their thirties, things
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: just fall apart quickly offensively.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: It's it's hard. It's a hard position, and it's a
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: it's an unforgiving position.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: And and and Miguel Amayah was learning on the fly,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: so I it's you know, they they didn't they didn't
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: address it probably how they should have, but now they have. Right,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: it was a priority. We talked to so many people
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: in the front office. It's like, we don't come away
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: from this offseason with someone to help Miguel Amaya carry
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: that load. That's the other thing I think we should
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: give Craig Counsel credit for just like he's not like
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: someone was as and and I think our buddy Jesse
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Rogers asked him, you know, like not that he needs
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to play more, not that you know, you want to
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: expose him, but do you need to find ways to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: play Carson Kelly more?
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: And and you.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Know, I appreciate the question that Jesse wasn't like trying
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to say like you have to play him all the time.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: He was just saying, like, is this when someone does this,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: do you need to look at ways like maybe get
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: him at first base or or DH a little bit
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: more or something like that. And and Council's like, yeah,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: it opens your eyes. But also like and Jesse, Jesse's
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: point was like, part of why he's probably succeeding is
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the way you're playing him, right, And I think that's true.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I think the way you're playing Carson Kelly the way
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you're playing Miguel Amaya, and that's what they wanted. They
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: didn't want to expose these guys, and like catching is,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: unless you have like the cal rally, you just don't
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: want a guy out there too much.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Like it can really drain them.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: It can and buy August all this offense that we're
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: talking about is gone. So if this is a good
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: fifty to fifty mix, whor these guys are both in
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the seven hundred to eight hundred ops range, I think
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: that's a huge win. And I think that's a that's
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: a way that keeps this offense sustainable.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Maaya's adjustments and emergence are important because it ties into
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: p Crow Armstrong and it shows you just the benefit
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: of time. As Counsel said, this is the best pitching
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: in the world. There's nothing else like it anywhere else.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: You have to go through a season, and you have
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: to have good coaches to help.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: You get through there.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: And I think the Cubs hitting group, which has often
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: been maligned and at times scapegoaded over the years, they
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: found a way to help Miguelamaya get better in real time.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: In the second half of last year. They also did
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: it with pe Crow Armstrong.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: Now they're different, maybe ideas or messages or tech techniques,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: but you know, overall they needed to see growth from
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: certain young players. And pie Crow Armstrong right now is
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: just looking like a star. Like if he can hit
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: just a little bit, he becomes that much more valuable.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: If he hits a decent amount out, you know, he's
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: a star. And if what we've seen recently, if there
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: are more and more flashes like that you're talking about
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: like an annual Envy Peak contender, Now that's we're a
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: long way away from. Yeah, yeah, but but you've seen
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: the flash of like, wow, like this guy is different.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: The way he runs the bases, the way he makes
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: difficult plays in centerfield look easy, and then just the
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: power from really like a small dude who looked overmatched
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: when he first came to the big leagues. It's kind
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: of astonishing. And I think you've seen, and we're going
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: to be writing about this on the Athletic of this
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: group of veteran players. Peek Armstrong really trusts them. I
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: think they've there's been a lot of encouragement from the
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: coaching staff as well as his peers. You have a
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: manager and counsel who you know, had told him just
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: focus on defense and stealing bases when he got up here.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: But it's also like challenged him, you know, like if
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: you put your glove on the ball, catch it, and
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: you know, like and to not sort of resign yourself
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: to be, you know, a one or two dimensional player.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: It's to you know, have your talents come out in
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: full force. And I think we're already seeing that, like
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: the national attention on Pete crow Armstrong, like if the
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: Cubs make a run this year, he is kind of
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: the cub most likely to become a star. Like you
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: can already see it, like people gravitate towards him. Fans
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: like watching him. I think fans also, like I'm sure
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Dodger fans will like booing him like he's just like
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: you know, he he's in interacting with the fans in
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: the really bleachers, making highlight reels like this is you know,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: it happened super quick, right, I mean in middle of April,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: this guy was struggling and then all all of a
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: sudden it clicked, and you know there's going to be
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: more ups and downs. But I think you're seeing a
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: guy who's very young, but when you talk to him
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: and as you talk to him regularly, he's very mature,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: very insightful, very self aware in ways that may not
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: be obvious if you're just watching you know, three or
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: four second highlight clips.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he is currently third in war in baseball,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Aaron Judge has a big lead Corbyn Carrol's at one.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: This is according to Fangres. Corbyn Carroll's at one point eight.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Peaker Armstrongs, I mean, Corbyn Carroll's at one point nine,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Peaker Armstrongs at one point eight. You know, if you
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: would have told me, he's right there with Corbyn Carroll, Like,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I did not expect that, you know, I thought flashes
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: like if this lasts, I mean, yes, superstar, MVP candidate,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: one of the best players in the game.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Just an electric talent.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The offense is obvious, like when you watch it like that,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the impact that he's having right now when when he
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: hit that three run shot into the basket, I kind
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: of just like looked at the reporters next to me
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: and I was like, really, this kid's doing it again tonight.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Like he's just he's so good right now, and he's
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: locked in, he's confident, and I agree with you on
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: how he was. The numbers weren't there in April, right
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: in the middle of April, just whatever, ten days ago.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: They weren't there.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: And I appreciate that he has that support system and
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: that he didn't allow himself to get in a negative
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: space because I never thought that the process wasn't wrong.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I wasn't seeing him chase like we did a year ago.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I wasn't seeing him look like a mess at the plate.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: So it's nice that he's stuck with it and just
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you know, as frustrating as this game gets, stick with
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: that process, you're doing the right things. He has a
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: hitting coach that will make sure that. We'll tell him that.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: He has veterans that will make that I'll tell him that,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: like you hit the crap out of that ball man,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: they will start to fall or they will start to
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: go over the fence, and they have I think that's
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: important to hear that message. Listen, Look, I know we're
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: talking about offense right now, Patrick, but his defense, I
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: have not seen that. I've not watched the center fielder
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: like that. I just haven't, like, not on a daily basis.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure there are many like that. First of all,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but like the Cubs haven't had one, that's for sure,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: probably since Kenny Lofton as far as just like being
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: able to do this, but he's faster, right, Like, this
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: is just like the plays he makes every single time
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I look up and I'm like, he's there, or you
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: watch him from the start crack of the bat. He's
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: moving and he's covering so much ground and he makes
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: these plays look easy. And I swear, if you're watching
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: on TV, you're not fully appreciating how difficult these plays are.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: There are plays where they should be multiple more runs
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: on the board, but he is making it look easy.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: And he is saving this team and saving the pitchers
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: so many pitches, so many runs, and it's just like
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: it is really impressive. He makes it look easy. I hope,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Like my assumption is because of advanced metrics now and
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: everything like, it won't go overlooked. It's not possible to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: go overlook That's part of the reason why that war
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: number I.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: I shared it is so high.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: He's he's an all around force and he stole two
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: bases on Wednesday, like, and he's gonna continue to do
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: that and you're and you're right, like he is obnoxious
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to opposing fans and probably the opposition.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Dave Roberts. I think they have a long history.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Dave Roberts was joking about how like he owes me
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: some golf balls and a bottle of wine or something
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: like that. He's he's kicking my butt all this season
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: like it, you know, Uh, he's a It's really fun
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: to see this happen. Like I think we're watching we're
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: potentially why I don't want to get ahead of myself
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: because there's a long season and then and he will
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: hit a slump at some point. But is like we
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: potentially are watching the emergence of a superstar. Because if
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: it's close to this, like you're right, national attention. He's
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: got the personalities, he's gonna make headlines on the field,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: off the field, all of it. He's got it all,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and it's really fun to watch him when he's at
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: his best.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: One more thing, kind of taking the long view here.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Of obviously, we reported on.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: The contract extension talks that both sides tabled that Pete
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: said he wants to focus on baseball.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: There's no like rush here.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: But I think the way to think about it is
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: all those things you just mentioned side of give him
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: a very high floor, like his worst case scenario. If
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: he stays healthy, it's like being a ten year big leaguer.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: And if.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: He taps into that offensive potential, like he doesn't have
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: to show it like every year through twenty thirty. It's
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: like if he just has a couple of those, the
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: payoff would be enormous. Like, you know, this free agency,
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: a lot of it is about kind of timing, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: in that regard, timing is absolutely on his side that
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: you know, you.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: Put a good numbers here.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: I mean, look at how the Cups signed, you know,
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Dansby Swanson or Jason Hayward. It's like you put together
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: that one year where it all comes together and it's
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: just and it pays enormous dividends. And I think this
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: is happening faster than probably everyone expected to, where he
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: is looking like a guy who might be able to
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: carry an offense even though he doesn't have to on
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: this particular team.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's the thing, right, Like it's you look
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: up and down the lineup and it's just so deep.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: They didn't have, say as Azuki, who's dealing with a
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: little risk thing day to day.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: They didn't. He was scratched.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: On on Wednesday, and they still go out there and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: score seven runs. Like Pete's emerging into his star. One
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: guy we haven't mentioned is Michael Bush, and I think
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: he's you know, like you're talking about a middle of
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the order now of Kyle Tucker sayas Azuki Michael Bush.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: You know, I really felt like he had a chance
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: to step forward and become a little bit more impactful.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: He had a great rookie season. But this is what
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: you want to see, right, Like Council says it all
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the time, like you learn from the league and then
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: you make, you know, tiny little steps forward. He right now,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: he's great, right, He's truly, like, very impactful. I don't
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: you know, We'll see where he is at the end
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of the year. But I had he was one of
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: those guys like I had no clue what catcher was
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: going to do. I did not did not feel strongly
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: about that. I, like Pete Kromstrong, thought he was going
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: to have a good season. He is exceeding expectations. Michael
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Bush was my guy in spring training. He was my
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: pick to break out. I said, I think this guy's
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: going to have a really good season. So far, Like
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that's that's looking accurate. Well, you know, like I said,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: long season, but you know, I thought Wrigley kind of
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: held him back last year. He's playing much more normal
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: this year, you know, not always blowing out, not always
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: blowing in.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: It's normal Wrigley. So far. We'll see, we'll see how
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: he keeps it up.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: But that's really scary two three, four, as long as say,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: as long as his wrist doesn't linger, if he can
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: get fully healthy, even if he like, if he can
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: just play through it, I guess, and not, it doesn't
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: keep him from impacting the baseball.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: It should be fine, right, he hit a.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: I think he's he's he's done well for the most
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: part since then at least he's impacted the baseball pretty well.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Uh So, I mean, just like there's up and down
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the lineup, there are success stories right now and we
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and I think and Council made this point, and I
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: think it's important to make Dansby Swanson needs to get going.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: He needs to start hitting. He needs to look like himself.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: But this is like, this is why you have like
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: this is how good teams do it. And it made
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: me think of the Brewers last year go look at
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the numbers for the Brewers last year. They're all okay,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Like the offense is all okay numbers, but they were
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: like month long stretches. It's like, is William Contreras an MVP?
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Is Christian Yelich an MVP? Is Jackson Curio an MVP?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Because they all like had took their turns and the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: other like Christian Yelich got hurt.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, Jackson Curio is turning into a superstar.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Like you have these moments right where where guys step
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: up and become these types of players where it looks
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: like they're superstars. So month long, two month long, whatever
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: it is, you hope it's six months. And that's probably
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: what Kyle Tucker does. Right, He's probably gonna be pretty
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: steady and have a full season of it. But guys
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: are going to step up, guys are going to take
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a step back, and you just need others, just you
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: need Dancy eventually to be the guy that you know
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: he can be and carry the load for you know
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, three weeks, a month, whatever, and the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: hope he kind of gets to his career numbers.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, no doubt, he's a streaky hitter.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Justin Turner maybe showing his age a little bit, you say,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: his wrist or some of the nagging injuries.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: I think that's something definitely to monitor. Third base is
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: I think what did Jed call it, like a bit
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: of a revolving door. I think that was probably a
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: kind way to put it.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: So, you know, it's not perfect, but I think you
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: you would certainly take it. You know, if you're rewinding
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: back to Mesa, I mean, you still have some top
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: one hundred prospects in the upper levels of your farm system,
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: Like that's kind of a card. Those are cards you
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: can play in different ways throughout the summer. But yeah,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: all in all, just kind of a unbelievable start to
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: the season for this offense.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: YEP three against the Phillies another solid offense. I'm not
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: sure how the Phillies are playing offensively, to be honest,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I think that's actually where where some struggles have hit
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: for them. They're the middle of the pack overall as
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: far as offense goes, probably not good enough for what
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: their fans expect. Still some scary bats in that lineup,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and you never know when a team like that with
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: that type of talent goes off. Kyle Schwarber is a
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: stud right now. I think Cassianos is actually having a
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: pretty good season start to the season. So we'll see
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: some former fan favorites. They're still fan favorites, you know. Hopefully,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: hopefully you and I get a chance to chat with
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: chat with some of those guys because they always have
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: fun things to say. All right, Patrick, we'll be back
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: next week. We'll see what the Cubs do with the Phillies.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be another fun weekend at Wrigley. Thanks so
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: much for listening everyone. This is Northside Territory Foul Territory
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Networks Cubs podcast.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Make sure to rate, review and subscribe.
• 27:14
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• 27:17
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• 27:20
  Speaker 2: See our beautiful faces.
• 27:22
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• 27:25
  Speaker 1: or hanging out with your family. Just put us on
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: in the background. We'll keep you company. And make sure
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: to subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
• 27:33
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• 27:34
  Speaker 1: listening everyone. Take care.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: They do love.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: They relished