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Three X-factors for the Cubs after the All-Star break · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, we are
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: going to talk about three names that need to step
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: up post All Star breaker. I mean, some of them
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: have already started to perform really well. We've seen flashes
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of what they can be and how important they are
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to this team. But the first name we're going to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: get to. We've talked a lot about pitching in recent episodes.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: We know how important it is to get any sort
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of even average performance right now out of a reliever
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: or starter. They just need decent innings to get through
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: games because you know, outside of you know, facing Hunter
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Green when he's locked in. This offense has looked pretty
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: strong of late. We know what they're capable of, and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: that's a strength of the team. And we saw Matthew
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Boyd look like his best self in his last start.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: The Cubs need that so much more often. They need
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to see that, Like essentially, what they need in this
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: second half is what he was in the first half
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: last year, or I should say more than the first half.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: It was much of the season. Uh, but it seemed
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: like we saw it. He was he felt, looked like himself,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: looked like the best version of Matthew Boyd. And just
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: you know, getting six plus innings right now feels like
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: such a big deal for a starter. And he did
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: that and racked up some quality strikeouts, limited the walks.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Just looked like a really good Matthew Boyd. Yeah it was.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: He gets the weather permitting. We'll see how we're recording
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: on Saturday. I'm in Cincinnati. But he schedules to get
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: that last start before the All Star break, and after
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: his last outing in Baltimore, he you know, tried to
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: find the you know, silver lining in this of you know,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: maybe maybe he saved some some bullets for for later.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: You know that his arms should be relatively fresh down
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the stretch here, we'll see. I mean, Craig Council, you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: rarely likes putting it on one player. He always talks
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: about the group. He doesn't like separating out. Oh do
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: you need like the bullpen to be better or the
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: rotation to be better, or is the offensive concerned. It's like,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: you know, one of the other won't be good enough.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: But He's Boyd is one of those sort of exceptions
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: where it's like, yeah, he's supposed to be a huge
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: stabilizing force for this group. We saw it at at
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Camden Yards of just having all this pitch is working,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: having great you know, touch and feel.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: With all of his offerings.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You know, his point was, you know, you when you're healthy,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: you have to sorry if you're healthy. That's one thing,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: but it's also getting reacclimated at game speed and having
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: you know, all of that at your disposal, and that
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: was a big step in the right direction for him.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: And it's it's crazy. I mean, this is a guy
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: who started their first playoff game last year, he started
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Opening Day, went to the All Star Game, selected for
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Team USA and the WBC like, this is a major
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: talent when when things are right, and he just hasn't
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: given them a whole lot this year, and you know
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: it's clearly due uh, you know to injuries and that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: you know, if he's able in the second or after
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the All Star break too, be that guy. You know,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: that really kind of changes the calculus. It doesn't mean
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: they Cubs just sit out the trade deadline, but if
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: you have a guy that you feel comfortable starting a
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: playoff game.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: That's huge.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm looking at his game log here, and it's
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: been a lot of start and stop for him. Obviously
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: this year. It was a really good start his second start.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: The first start, the peripherals were good. He gave up
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: far too many runs, six innings in three and two thirds,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: and then he went out and struck out ten in
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: five and two thirds. And that's when I believe what
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: was a tricep for him? Bicep There spent so many injuries,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: spent so many injuries, I can't keep track of them all.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: And basically they just they were being extra cautious right
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: and shut him down for a little bit. He came
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: back in three weeks and then that freak injury happened.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: He's outside of that second start. He just hasn't had
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: a start where you're like, yep, that looked really good
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: until the Baltimore start, and it kind of went just
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: as you know, I think you were asking or the
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: group was asking counsel about him, and and council said
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: what he needed or what what what he was hoping
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: would happen, I think is how he was putting it
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: out there and it went and happened. Uh, it was
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: kind of like that progression that you just said it was.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: It was. It did look great in those first two
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: starts after the knee injury. He was fine. They needed innings. Obviously.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: The state of this team is they'll take any type
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: of you know, qut decent pitching right now. And that's
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: what it was, and now it looks a lot better
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and build off that, do that that that's what the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Cubs need, uh, Sunday, and then for the following two months,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: two plus months, two and a half months after that,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and in October, they need him to be you know,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five version of Matthew Boyd. We we
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: know he wants that. We know he kind of he's
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: a he's a really out talked about this. He's extremely friendly,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: kind person, seems like a really good guy. But when
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: he's on the mound and like even in post game,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: like when you ask him, like, he has high expectations
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: for himself and he also and he's never surprised when
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: he's great, Yeah, because that is what he believes he
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: is supposed to do. So he he puts the he
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: has the same expectations that we're putting out there right now.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: So now he's got to go out there and deliver.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break, come back and talk about
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: a bat I think everyone knows, but we're going to
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: talk more about this bat that has to step up
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: in the second half cap.
• 6:45
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• 7:01
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• 7:01
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• 7:44
  Speaker 1: We have been waiting three months now for Alex Brigman
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: to get hot. There was a stretch there very recently
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: where he was looking really good. I think the first
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: game in bult More, Uh kind of capped off a
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: nice stretch and and he he talked a little bit
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: about that and and how the breaks, the break's not
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: coming in an ideal time. He's the last whatever three games.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: We're like you said, we're recording on a on a
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: on Saturday before Saturday's game. Uh. He is in a
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: three game hitless stretch. Uh. And and it didn't look
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: great against Hunter Green. Nobody looked great against Hunter Green.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Uh last night, Uh, Friday night. But what what was
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Where's where's Bregman's head at? What? What was he talking about?
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: And how does he kind of view his second half?
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Bely as Tuesday night in Baltimore, and he had a
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: nice game and you know, there are a bunch of questions.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: And you know sometimes.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Bregmans, you know, a good talker and he sees the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: whole game, so you can ask him about all sorts
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: of different things. But I, you know, it's the time
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: of the year where it's like, what about your performance?
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: You know, and I just said, is it you know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: it seems like you're kind of picking it up, getting
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: a little bit of rhythm. You know, it's All Star
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: break coming. Had a bad time here and he sort
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: of laughed and said he, you know, spoke with Pete
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Alonzo at first base and the way Bregman recalled it
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: was Alonzo says something.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Like you're feeling better. He's like yeah, and.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: So goes and you get the All Star break in
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: five days and was like, oh perfect.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: And so on.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: You can look at these things a lot of different ways.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: If you're kind of grinding through it, does it make
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: sense to take a break and step back for four days?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Or if you're going off feel if you feel like
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: you're making progress, do you not want to interrupt that for.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: An All Star break?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: And so CUB sitting coach Dustin Kelly said, basically they
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: had looked at these last two weeks before the All
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Star breaks, so leaving Milwaukee, have a home stand at Wrigley,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: and you know, this trip to Baltimore and Cincinnati and
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: really kind of viewing that as hoping that's a building
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: block of really kind of honing in on a couple
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: of things. And you know, to be honest, like Bregman
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: is so obsessed with this that it's hard to kind
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: of like like if this guy's constantly sending you know,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: coaches videos anyway, and you know if every swing he
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: ever takes is recorded in the in the cage, out
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: on the field and VP. Obviously during games there's all
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: this tracking technology as well, like well, what's the.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: You know, like now it's really the focus, but just
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: it just you know, this is such a.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: You know, weird sport to try and figure out and
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: that you know, he did have his thumbs down home
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: run during that homestand he's been getting on base, collecting
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: hits during this stretch. His game Wednesday in Baltimore, i mean,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: first at bat, you know, the left fielder makes this
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: crash crashing catch at the wall. His last at bat,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: it's just a bullet right at the third baseman. You know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: had a deep fly ball that scored a run and
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: advanced to other runners. There are signs he hasn't been
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: in that zero because he gets on base, because he
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: uh he plays gold Glove caliber defense. But like he
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: knows it, like he has not performed up to expectations,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Like he wants more. You know, he knows he has
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: to deliver more. He knows, you know, why he was
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: signed here, and just the home run power has not come. Uh,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't really know if it will or not,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: but he's certainly from the moment he signed, we knew
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: he was gonna be kind of the main characters in
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: the story of the season. And you know, he's still
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: got some more time to rewrite that.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mentioned that it was you know, hitless in
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the in the last three games, and you actually look
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: at two of those games and the quality of contact
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: was was really nice. It was really the Hunter Green game.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Like I said that, everybody struggled against him. There are signs,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: and if you want to believe, you absolutely should. I
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: always I always feel like guys like Bregman, guys who
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: have proven it, Guys who you know, when they start
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: showing signs, it's like, Okay, this is going to work
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: at some point. It may not be perfect. You know,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he ends with the numbers that
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: you want him to have. It's it's kind of like
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: what you were saying a few episodes ago. It's like,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: just just get you know, be great for whatever is left.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: And if the if the numbers aren't the numbers that
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: you wanted at the beginning of the season, who cares?
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Is a team where it needs to be? Are you
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: impacting the team down the stretch?
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: That may be what the Cubs. That's really all the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Cubs care about. Now what he's done doesn't really matter anymore.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Just go out there and perform. I think the biggest
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: concern whatever three weeks ago, when when this was really reaching,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: it's the dear Hopefully it's in the deer for the Cubs,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and the Cubs certainly hope is has time caught up
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: with them. You know. Is the bat just not as
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: good as it once was? I don't think that's the case.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I mean it we can talk about any so many players,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: but we just saw this with Dan sby Swanson and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: and like these things turn quickly, this has not been
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: This has been a little bit more of a slow burn,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and and it seems like it's turning, So it'd be
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: huge if it is. Because last episode we just talked
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: about Pete or Armstrong. We know how good this offense
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: can be. Saya Suzuki's really in a good spot second half.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: It's like Bregman and and if Bush gets a power
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: surge and starts hitting for the power we know he
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: can hit for uh, this offense could could level up
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: even more. It's it's a really good offense, but you
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: need you need different guys to step up at different
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: moments because other people are gonna slump Pete. Pete isn't
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: going to be this hot for the rest of the season.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Maybe he will be. Maybe he's just that type of
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: guy now, I don't know, but you have to kind
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: of assume like he he at least slows slightly h
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: But I think there's just no doubt that he's the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: most important of the bats in the second half, as
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: far as guys that we haven't really seen perform at
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the highest level. If he can perform at a high level,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: it alters just how good this team can be. We
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: know how good their offense is, but if they can
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: be even better. Especially with all the injuries on the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: pitching side, it becomes really important. Let's take a break
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and talk about one more pitcher that is healthy right now,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: has been healthy for most of the year, and is
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: incredibly important.
• 15:33
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• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Patrick shouldau Minaga had a pretty rough stretch, and if
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: you talk to Craig Counsel, he'll say it's only two
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: games because that at the third game that Athletics start,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: just all of a sudden at the very end, he
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: gave up some home runs and otherwise he had been
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: looking really good. I can't remember exactly what that day
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: was like, if it was a windblown home run night
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: or not, but either way, I remember, like Craig Council
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: is pretty adamant that it's only two bad starts, not three.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I know the box score looks different. He was really
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: impressed with Shoda that night, and he's been since that
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Athletics start. It is six starts with a two eighty
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: one era. He looks like a great pitcher. I think
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I think we could go different directions with this third person.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: We could focus on the bullpen, but we talked about
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: this before, and I think the reason we decided not to,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: and it's a good reason, is because it's not about
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: one pitcher in the bullpen. It's going to be a
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: group effort and it's going to be name that we
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: probably don't know that it impacts this team, so we
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: can't say, like Daniel Palencia, Yeah, he's going to be important,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: but it if he stayed, like if he never gets
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: back to his best self, Like, there's going to be
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: moves made. There's going to be trades that like the
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: bullpen is just like this moving you know, ever changing
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: unit right now with the way it's it's set up
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: due to injuries and ineffectiveness. Showed him Anaga just like
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd. We know what their ceilings are, we know
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: how good they can be. Showed is important for this group.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Like he's he's been pretty damn good alls he's in
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: long The overall numbers don't really indicate that because the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the the bad outings were so bad. Uh, there's an
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: eight run game, there's a seven run game, there's a
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: five run game, there's a six run game. It's that
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: that really skews the numbers. He's been really good and
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: he needs to continue it in the second half.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: A council said, Friday ends and snay like before and
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: after that stretch, however you want to frame it. He's
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: been really good and he thinks he's in a good spot.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: I mean to show to credit he leads the team
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: in starts, end innings pitched, and no one's really close
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: in either category, and you need look, yeah, it would
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: be great if you know tomorrow the Cubs acquired no
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: doubt number one starter.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: But you know, you do the Asist project.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: There are very few of those guys available, and you
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: need pitchers who can help get you to October. And
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Shoda has been you know, if you look at those
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: other segments of the seasons, he's been excellent.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: He's been not far off from his twenty twenty four version,
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: which was.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: An All Star and you know, a cy Young Award
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: caliber performance.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I think Showda's bad moments are you know, he just
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: gives up so many home runs that some of the
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: online discourse I don't quite understand. It's just like, oh,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: he's not he's not usable, he's unplayable. And I don't know,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: if you watch the totality of his work with the Cubs,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: it's been it's been very good. Now, obviously he's sort
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: of spoiled everyone by how excellent it was as a rookie,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: and you know, you just hope they can make some
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: faster adjustments in August and September.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: If he does go through another rough patch and.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: You know, the way last season ended and all of
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: the contract back and forth, you know, it wasn't a great.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Look.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: You know, it wasn't kind of the smoothest transition there,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: but showeda went right to work last off season. You know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: he doesn't really like reflecting on that or saying like, oh,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm back, or that he's you know, proved people wrong.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: But you know he does take a lot of pride
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: in what he's done. And you know, again, like is
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: he a guy you could trust to go through a
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: lineup twice in a playoff game?
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: You know, maybe maybe not.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Your first choice, but not unrealistic to think that he
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: can help get you to the playoffs and then be
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: a factor in the postseason.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. The home runs, Look, there's a there's a four
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: game stretcher where he gave up twelve home runs. He's
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: given up twenty two home runs on the season, and like,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: twelve of them, over half of them came in a
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: four game stretch. He was not you know, he wasn't
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: as effective as he needed to be during that stretch.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I remember talking to Tommy Howneby during that stretch, what's
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: going on? Like, what are you working on? And he's like,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the problem is is that it's not the same thing,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Like different things were happening. So it's a when it's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: not something where they were overly concerned, and it's also
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: not something like where they were like, just do this.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: This is the correction. There were some different things going
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: on over those starts, and they seem to largely have
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: been corrected over the last six I believe it's five
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: home runs and three of them coming in one game
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: against the Mets, So he's going to have those moments.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I know it's annoying for fans to hear this, but
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: if he limits them to solo shots, even if it's
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: three of them, the Cubs should be able to win
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: those games because their offense is good enough. It's not
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: gonna work every single time. He's gonna have a bad
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: outing here or there. I think the hope going forward
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: is they're two things. The hope going forward is those
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: games don't comment in the playoffs the really bad ones.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: And then I think the reason for optimism is and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: why you don't really look at it like last season
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: is because the stuff's completely different than last season. It's
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: back to the twenty twenty five or twenty twenty four
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: version stuff wise, the results aren't exactly like twenty twenty four.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: The home run is biting him a little bit, it
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: more often, and it's sometimes in the tougher situations. But
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: it absolutely that Velo being back to where it was
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: completely changes where I view him. I like it. Just
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: he was not the same picture in this once after
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that hamsterring injury last year. Uh and and he's you know,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: like you said, he's he doesn't love to get into
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: depth about it, but he put in the work to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: get back to where he was. He's healthy now, he
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: feels right. And how do he said it? In spring training?
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I think Schoda may have said it to He just
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: there were things he couldn't do with his body. He
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: wanted his body to move a certain way and it
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: wasn't moving that way. And when you're hurt, when or
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: you're not fully recovered or whatever's going on, like you
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: can't do those things and you're just not going to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: be as effective. This. He's a different picture right now
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and and incredibly important and it comes don't have an
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: ace when you know there there are there are not
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: that many ones in the game. I wouldn't lock either
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Boyd or showed it into two. But they can pitch
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: like twos. They for long stretches of time. You know, obviously,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: you'd love to have Ben Brown back, You'd love to
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: have Kate Horton healthy. Like these guys all look like
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: ones when they're when when they're at their best. But
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: that's not the reality the Cubs are living in right now.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: So Showda and Boyd, these guys have to kind of
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: carry the the unit going forward. Who knows what the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: trade line brings, because it's going to be hard. It's
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: going to be really hard to get that impact. Guy
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: can't rule it out. We'll see what rumors pop up
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: over the coming weeks. But that's that's kind of what
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: we're looking at, these two guys being the guys that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: you want to carry the bulk of the innings. A
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: healthy Jameson Tywn isn't like the same impact as far
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: as strikeouts and and and and things like that, and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: like run suppression in general, Like he's going to give
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: up his fair share of runs, but he does eat innings,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: so he's important too. But these are the two guys that, yeah,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: I would focus on for the second half, and.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Tyne before we exit, is scheduled to be slided back
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: into the rotation after the All Star break, assuming everything
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: goes well in his second rehab start this weekend. Like
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: you said, another guy just professional a stabilizer.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Can help cover some.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Of these innings because it I do think this is
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: going to get harder, like stretching out some of these
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: bullpen performances, covering for shorter starts, like it's just not
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: as sustainable, and as Counsel said in Cincinnati, like it's
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: not like they're going to come back from the All
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Star break and the injuries are all resolved, like they're
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: gonna be waiting on a lot of stuff.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Other problems will pop up.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: So you need those guys who you get paid to
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: cover those innings.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, there's I mean that that Thursday game in Baltimore,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: it's a perfect example of like you just don't have enough.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: You can't keep rolling out the same guys, and solid
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: arms aren't going to always solid but unspectacular relief arms
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: like Tyler Ferguson, He's not gonna be perfect. He's going
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to have these games where like he hits you guys
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: or whatever happened that that night, and uh it was.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: It wasn't ideal, but like they needed. They need more
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: arms in the bullpen and they need guys to go
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: deeper in games. That's that's absolutely true, all right, Thanks
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: so much for listening everyone, This is north Side Territory.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening and watching. Everyone.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Take care.
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: That you don't know Ilve
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Bad won lived