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White Sox preview with James Fegan: Will a new manager make things tougher for the Cubs this weekend? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: It's just a question of are you going to habitually
0:02
Speaker 1: run into these stretches where he like goes down for
0:04
Speaker 1: six weeks and then he comes back and he's searching
0:06
Speaker 1: for it.
0:12
Speaker 2: Welcome into north Side Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
0:16
Speaker 2: I'm Sahadev Sharma, your Cubs beat writer. Over at the Athletic.
0:20
Speaker 2: Patrick Mooney is on vacation on the Jersey Shore. Jim
0:24
Speaker 2: tann laundry all week long. For Patrick. I don't know
0:28
Speaker 2: if anybody gets that reference. It's like fifteen years.
0:31
Speaker 3: Old, right, It sounds like a hell for Patrick.
0:36
Speaker 2: That is the voice of James Vegan. He covers the
0:39
Speaker 2: White Sox for Socks Machine. One of the best writers
0:43
Speaker 2: out there, not just for the socks but beat writers, writers,
0:47
Speaker 2: sports writers.
0:48
Speaker 4: You name it.
0:49
Speaker 2: James is at or near the top of the list
0:52
Speaker 2: in my opinion. Also a good friend. Really happy to
0:56
Speaker 2: see him succeed in the ways he has. He just
0:59
Speaker 2: knows how to talk to people and write about baseball
1:02
Speaker 2: in ways that that's it's it's rare and and I
1:05
Speaker 2: love watching him do his do his thing. And he
1:08
Speaker 2: is uh busy right now, he is, you know, thankfully
1:13
Speaker 2: James is able to join us, but Peter Griffold just
1:16
Speaker 2: got fired by the White Sox.
1:17
Speaker 4: We're recording on a Thursday.
1:19
Speaker 2: Uh, so this is this is the breaking news, James.
1:23
Speaker 2: This isn't a surprise. Everyone kind of knew this was coming. Uh,
1:26
Speaker 2: but you know, I think it's right now. This is
1:29
Speaker 2: pre Chris gets talking to you guys, uh, kind of
1:34
Speaker 2: what what's the state of things right now? What what's
1:37
Speaker 2: what are your expectations for these next two months? And
1:40
Speaker 2: and what do you think this team will be looking for?
1:44
Speaker 2: Skip Shoemaker?
1:45
Speaker 1: Maybe I would like, obviously, they're like one of the
1:50
Speaker 1: worst teams in Major League history, in cluely the worst
1:53
Speaker 1: team in baseball right now. I would say, like, and
1:57
Speaker 1: this isn't like profound analysis for a team that has
2:00
Speaker 1: twenty two of twenty three, but like their play like
2:04
Speaker 1: noticeably fell off another cliff, like during the Pirates series
2:09
Speaker 1: right before the All Star break and then continued, They've
2:11
Speaker 1: had stretches, Like their starting pitching has been you know,
2:14
Speaker 1: finish most turns most of the way through the rotation. Certainly,
2:19
Speaker 1: like I don't know, Andrew Ben and Tenney's like randomly
2:22
Speaker 1: been decent.
2:22
Speaker 3: Uh, you know since the break.
2:25
Speaker 1: Uh, there's there's a way I could see them playing
2:28
Speaker 1: at a level where they don't set the all time
2:30
Speaker 1: record for losses, because like the last four weeks have
2:33
Speaker 1: been like a noticeable step down in some way. And
2:38
Speaker 1: I'm not in certainly Cubs fans who are enjoying the
2:42
Speaker 1: investment in credit Council right now. I'm not a big
2:45
Speaker 1: like managers or Saviors believer, but this was something that
2:50
Speaker 1: was kind of lingering over like everyone, all the players
2:53
Speaker 1: certainly knew that Pedro was up to be fired since
2:56
Speaker 1: three and twenty two start to the season. So to
2:59
Speaker 1: see some sort of lift or breaking the clouds or
3:02
Speaker 1: just kind of clarity, you know, now that they're through
3:05
Speaker 1: the trade deadline and now they're through the coaching change
3:08
Speaker 1: that has felt inevitable for three four months, I could
3:12
Speaker 1: see them improving their play or being a bit sharper
3:14
Speaker 1: over down the stretch. I certain they don't think, like
3:17
Speaker 1: Lewis Robert to be this bad for two more months
3:21
Speaker 1: would be surprising. And you know, with Miguel Vargas, with
3:25
Speaker 1: Brooks Baldwin, they have a number of guys who at
3:28
Speaker 1: least this year.
3:29
Speaker 3: Of like torch triple A or Torch double.
3:31
Speaker 1: A who are going to get more acclimated and you know,
3:34
Speaker 1: presumably play better down the stretch in a way where
3:37
Speaker 1: you know, maybe they don't lose one hundred and twenty
3:39
Speaker 1: five games. So I guess that would be my expectation
3:43
Speaker 1: is I don't I don't think this is gonna be
3:45
Speaker 1: quite like Joejiurrity to round Topson level of transition. But
3:48
Speaker 1: I think we've seen some historical examples in the last
3:53
Speaker 1: couple of years of a team getting released from a
3:56
Speaker 1: manager who, depending on your you know, persuasion, is either
4:01
Speaker 1: pretty bad or a pretty bad fit, or some combination
4:05
Speaker 1: of both, and doing a little bit better when they
4:07
Speaker 1: and they finally cut the court.
4:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, so there's some value in that.
4:11
Speaker 2: Obviously, some would say, like, what's the point in firing Griffold.
4:15
Speaker 2: The season's lost. It's not like they're making the playoffs.
4:17
Speaker 2: Like you said, this isn't going Yeah. So I think
4:21
Speaker 2: avoiding history like that type of history is is significant
4:25
Speaker 2: matters right, Like it matters to the players like it
4:28
Speaker 2: has to I would think, have you is it something
4:33
Speaker 2: that you've discussed with them at all, with the players
4:35
Speaker 2: like that, like kind of staring down history, whether it's
4:39
Speaker 2: the losing streak or the or the lost total in general.
4:42
Speaker 3: It's not their favorite topic.
4:44
Speaker 1: But yeah, they're aware of it, and yeah they don't
4:46
Speaker 1: want any part of it, and you know, it can't
4:49
Speaker 1: be like their day to day rallying cry like let's
4:51
Speaker 1: not be the worst team ever. But it's something that
4:54
Speaker 1: they're they're cognitive and they've all been asked about a
4:58
Speaker 1: different intervals of the season. So yeah, I think it,
5:04
Speaker 1: and it's something that Pedro Gafall, you know, admitted that
5:07
Speaker 1: he kind of said at the All Star break, he
5:09
Speaker 1: addressed the team and said that they wouldn't want to
5:12
Speaker 1: set the worst record of all time. They responded by
5:15
Speaker 1: losing their first seventeen games after the All Star break,
5:18
Speaker 1: so great meeting. There's a little bit of dispute about
5:23
Speaker 1: how much he put it like we need to do this,
5:26
Speaker 1: and how much he put it as you guys need
5:29
Speaker 1: to do this and you know, maybe he'll respond to
5:34
Speaker 1: a text or call for me and set the record straight.
5:36
Speaker 1: He denied, you know, the way that he put it
5:38
Speaker 1: on the players at the time, but yeah, like they
5:42
Speaker 1: just didn't respond to this guy. Like it's almost like clarifying,
5:46
Speaker 1: like you know, a lot of you know, firing David
5:49
Speaker 1: Ross last season, is was he really to blame?
5:52
Speaker 3: Was it? Is someone really going to do better? Does
5:55
Speaker 3: takes really work out?
5:56
Speaker 1: There's no other ambiguity here, Like clearly this wasn't working
6:00
Speaker 1: like the things you preached when he came on. They're
6:04
Speaker 1: awful at like they're the worst defense in the league.
6:07
Speaker 1: Maybe they're twenty ninth.
6:08
Speaker 3: By some metrics. He's a former hitting coach.
6:12
Speaker 1: He talked a lot about like we're going to talk
6:14
Speaker 1: about how they need to prepare for the vertical movement
6:16
Speaker 1: on this fastball and use a lot of like analytic
6:18
Speaker 1: language to prepare them and make good swing decisions. They
6:21
Speaker 1: make terrible swing decisions. They're the worst offense in forty years.
6:25
Speaker 1: They're probably only like twenty eighth or twenty ninth and
6:28
Speaker 1: walk great, but like miserable, like just not a coherent
6:31
Speaker 1: team played approach.
6:31
Speaker 3: Like it's almost.
6:34
Speaker 1: Refreshing after like all the politics of Tony Russa or
6:37
Speaker 1: Rick Reneria getting pushed aside that it's just like, well,
6:40
Speaker 1: he was clearly the worst manager of the worst team
6:43
Speaker 1: in baseball. They needed to make a change, they should
6:46
Speaker 1: have done it sooner, and we're not searching for the
6:48
Speaker 1: reason present here.
6:51
Speaker 2: I think when there's going to be some Cubs fans
6:54
Speaker 2: that hear the answer to your first question. To the
6:57
Speaker 2: first question I asked because you talked about how you
7:00
Speaker 2: know that they're probably yeah, I assume they're better than
7:03
Speaker 2: the twenty one losing, twenty one game losing streak they
7:05
Speaker 2: went through and that was a step down, and maybe
7:09
Speaker 2: maybe there's a little bounce here. Cubs fans are terrified
7:12
Speaker 2: that's coming this weekend. I'm curious Crochet is going on Friday.
7:18
Speaker 2: I am not clear on how they're using him. How
7:21
Speaker 2: long of a leash he has is there, like even
7:24
Speaker 2: like is five innings out of the question for him?
7:27
Speaker 2: How are they using him? What should Cubs fans expect
7:30
Speaker 2: for Crochet, because that's going to be the big hurdle
7:32
Speaker 2: in my opinion, once they get to the bullpen, the
7:34
Speaker 2: Cubs will probably have a good chance. But although the
7:36
Speaker 2: Cubs have handled solid pitching lately decently, this offense is
7:40
Speaker 2: it's been ten days ish, maybe less of decent offense,
7:44
Speaker 2: but still I think Garret Crochet is obviously one of
7:48
Speaker 2: the better pitchers in the game. How much should the
7:52
Speaker 2: Cubs expect to see him how long.
7:53
Speaker 1: I guess now the person who's gone on record about
7:56
Speaker 1: the plan for him most recently doesn't work for the
7:58
Speaker 1: organization anymore. With the grain of salt, but he hasn't
8:03
Speaker 1: gone beyond like the seventy five pitch range recently, and
8:06
Speaker 1: that's usually limited him to like around four innings. If
8:09
Speaker 1: he's like, if he's going through guys at like ten
8:12
Speaker 1: pitches in INNY, he could get the five I see
8:14
Speaker 1: that easily. He hasn't been particularly sharp since the All
8:17
Speaker 1: Star break. I you know, it's not like a pacific
8:20
Speaker 1: like velocity decline.
8:23
Speaker 3: Or anything like that, but he's starting to look.
8:25
Speaker 1: Like a guy who's maybe you know, has blew away
8:29
Speaker 1: his career high in innings, you know, a couple of
8:31
Speaker 1: months ago, and it is maybe you know, hitting a
8:34
Speaker 1: little bit of a wall. I'm sure you could shut
8:36
Speaker 1: me up and correct that, but you know, it's four
8:40
Speaker 1: walks to two strikeouts his last outing. He's been ambushing
8:43
Speaker 1: the first inning a couple outings since the break. I
8:48
Speaker 1: don't know if I would quite view him as the
8:50
Speaker 1: boogeyman for the Cubs in the way, and you know,
8:54
Speaker 1: you're probably going to get multiple innings from kind of
8:57
Speaker 1: a right handed long relief guy, whether Chad Cool or
9:02
Speaker 1: you know, they just used Tooky Dessant and leverage the
9:05
Speaker 1: other day, so maybe him. But you're you're gonna get
9:10
Speaker 1: like there's gonna be a soft underbelly to a Crochet
9:12
Speaker 1: start just because of how they have to fill out
9:14
Speaker 1: the innings, on top of the fact that this is
9:16
Speaker 1: like the leakiest like bullpen ever in terms of like
9:22
Speaker 1: which I you know, everyone should be well aware with of,
9:25
Speaker 1: you know, since what they saw at Wrigley Field, and
9:27
Speaker 1: you know, the guys are gone even so, I mean
9:30
Speaker 1: they closed out their one win since the since the
9:35
Speaker 1: All Star break with dominic Leone and his first appearance
9:39
Speaker 1: like after missing two and a half months with elbow soreness.
9:44
Speaker 3: I can't even remember the middle guy.
9:45
Speaker 1: And like John Brebbia, who you know has had stretches
9:49
Speaker 1: of being really good this year and but also has
9:54
Speaker 1: a six R like that, Like, I don't think like
9:58
Speaker 1: Crochet is going.
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Speaker 3: We don't kind of have a cha ants should be
10:01
Speaker 3: the mindset.
10:02
Speaker 1: Of of of Cubs fans that there'll there'll be, you know,
10:06
Speaker 1: a moment to strike at some point.
10:09
Speaker 2: So my understanding is that the Cubs will like a
10:13
Speaker 2: Cubs white sox trate just isn't a realistic thing to happen,
10:17
Speaker 2: but uh, you know not at least going forward. There's
10:22
Speaker 2: going to be a tax if that happens. My like
10:26
Speaker 2: Jed Jed hoyerd isn't interested in paying that tax. But
10:30
Speaker 2: I know that there was They checked in on both
10:34
Speaker 2: on Crochet at least uh on Robert. I think Robert
10:39
Speaker 2: would be an interesting acquisition for the Cubs. They need
10:42
Speaker 2: a superstar bat. I know he's not performing like a
10:46
Speaker 2: superstar bat right now, but it's kind of the It's
10:50
Speaker 2: the type of risk you you make if you're if
10:53
Speaker 2: you're searching for that superstar and you're not willing to
10:55
Speaker 2: give Juan Soto five hundred million dollars and if lag
11:00
Speaker 2: Jor isn't available.
11:01
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's a fit. I like Pca.
11:04
Speaker 2: I think he's becoming he's turning a corner offensively.
11:08
Speaker 4: So is Robert a fit? That outfield is already crowded?
11:12
Speaker 2: So many things we could discuss there, But do you
11:14
Speaker 2: think Robert still has that in him? Is he is
11:16
Speaker 2: he capable of being that star that he was? What
11:19
Speaker 2: it was as recent as last year, he was he
11:21
Speaker 2: looked like a star. Mike right on that maybe it
11:23
Speaker 2: was two years ago, but.
11:24
Speaker 1: He's last year as long as he felt that it
11:27
Speaker 1: was actually last year.
11:28
Speaker 2: Does he does he have that in him? Or is
11:30
Speaker 2: this is this a guy like what what's happening this year?
11:33
Speaker 2: And and do you think he has that level still
11:37
Speaker 2: in him?
11:37
Speaker 3: I think so.
11:38
Speaker 1: He's had stretches of being really good this year a
11:42
Speaker 1: little bit after he came out of off of injury
11:45
Speaker 1: as much as like his strikeouts have absolutely exploded and
11:48
Speaker 1: he's swinging through fastballs and it's really weird. I think
11:51
Speaker 1: his general chase stats are all pretty much down, which
11:55
Speaker 1: is kind of encouraging progress. It's kind of like the
11:57
Speaker 1: main question in his profile. Uh so, it's weird that
12:00
Speaker 1: hasn't clicked. I think the concern is like the consistency
12:04
Speaker 1: you're gonna get it with, like, especially if he's now
12:06
Speaker 1: had those hip flexor injury twice. It's probably the big
12:10
Speaker 1: You're probably I think we'll see stretches of Robert looking
12:15
Speaker 1: like Robert and you know, maybe another like you know,
12:17
Speaker 1: five wins season uh here and there, maybe multiple. I
12:21
Speaker 1: wouldn't question him. I think he's still like a you
12:23
Speaker 1: know prodigious raw talent. It's just a question of are
12:26
Speaker 1: you gonna habitually run into these stretches where he like
12:29
Speaker 1: goes down for six weeks and then he comes back
12:31
Speaker 1: and he's searching for it. Like he's just looked extremely
12:34
Speaker 1: like out of sync since the All Star break in
12:38
Speaker 1: a way where he just, you know, it was really
12:40
Speaker 1: putting together bad at bats yesterday too, where he's like
12:43
Speaker 1: staring at fastballs and then he gets in swing mode.
12:45
Speaker 3: He's swinging at.
12:46
Speaker 1: Sweepers two feet off the plate and it's you know,
12:49
Speaker 1: he's making contact because he has a lot of bats
12:51
Speaker 1: feed and like, uh, you know, some some skill for
12:55
Speaker 1: for bats of ball despite you know, the huge strikeout
12:57
Speaker 1: rates and the huge whiff rates just from all the chasing.
12:59
Speaker 1: It's just like how consistent they're going to be if
13:01
Speaker 1: he's going to have interruptions, And I think that would
13:03
Speaker 1: be like the scary thing. And certainly I think there's
13:07
Speaker 1: plenty of Cups fans who would probably think PCA is
13:09
Speaker 1: gonna one day be better than them anyway. But if
13:12
Speaker 1: you if you come out and you're having him play
13:15
Speaker 1: and like hold April Weather off the lake and he's
13:18
Speaker 1: stinking and he gets hurt, and I think it's there's
13:21
Speaker 1: a there's an easy way for it to look like
13:23
Speaker 1: a disaster right off the bat if you train from
13:25
Speaker 1: the off season. And I also think like a big
13:27
Speaker 1: component is that, like the White Sox one didn't do
13:31
Speaker 1: very well with this deadline, and to know that Robert
13:36
Speaker 1: is mercurial but also like the highest ceiling player and
13:38
Speaker 1: like in their organization, uh to to a degree, so
13:44
Speaker 1: they want to sell him at a high point and
13:48
Speaker 1: that's going to one up the premium of the costs,
13:50
Speaker 1: but also it's going to make it maybe not like
13:52
Speaker 1: the easiest thing to pry away during the offseason if
13:55
Speaker 1: he kind of still has kind of this mess season
13:57
Speaker 1: like they I think they would still view him getting hot.
14:01
Speaker 1: And you're selling two and a half years of control
14:03
Speaker 1: next dead line as like a better window than like
14:06
Speaker 1: would you like to buy a damage Luise Robert at
14:09
Speaker 1: full price during the off season.
14:12
Speaker 2: So that I was going to ask that it's not
14:15
Speaker 2: a guarantee that he's traded this offseason, And the same
14:18
Speaker 2: question with Crochet, do you do you expect Crochet traded
14:21
Speaker 2: this offseason.
14:23
Speaker 1: That I would be less surprised by one they've been
14:26
Speaker 1: like just talking so openly about trading him, uh for
14:31
Speaker 1: a while now. I certainly don't think like the relationship
14:36
Speaker 1: is you know, they both insisted that they're good after
14:39
Speaker 1: like kind of the fallout, but for him to forget
14:41
Speaker 1: to kind of publicly basically take issue with CIA with
14:46
Speaker 1: the fact that, like, you know, the kind of word
14:49
Speaker 1: is that, like they're not really looking for an extension.
14:51
Speaker 1: I don't think, like, you know, his representation fairly thinks
14:53
Speaker 1: like he's probably well, he's not going to get it
14:55
Speaker 1: rewarded in arb the way he should because of that,
14:58
Speaker 1: no team is really going to structure like buying out
15:00
Speaker 1: his arbitration years at the price point they would want
15:02
Speaker 1: is like a number one starter. So beyond like the
15:06
Speaker 1: White Sox revenue situation being kind of a mess and
15:08
Speaker 1: me not thinking they're going to pony up for a
15:10
Speaker 1: big starting picture. No real history of you know, extending
15:15
Speaker 1: a picture like a high cost It's not usually like
15:17
Speaker 1: Yarry's bag, like they extended Crossale and cris Close at Cantana,
15:20
Speaker 1: but those are really low risk moves at the price
15:23
Speaker 1: point they got and they kind of wanted. Lucas Giolio
15:26
Speaker 1: at the Aaron Nola costs the first Aaron Nola extension
15:30
Speaker 1: and when he balked at that like that, those talks
15:32
Speaker 1: didn't move any further. So they've never really like locked
15:35
Speaker 1: up an elite picture at anything other than like hometown
15:38
Speaker 1: discount costs. So it'd be surprising, especially at this juncture,
15:41
Speaker 1: if they're able to do that for a crochet. And
15:45
Speaker 1: just like with Cease, I think it's by the off
15:47
Speaker 1: season there won't be like the workload concerns of like
15:50
Speaker 1: is he going to be able to pitch on the
15:51
Speaker 1: stretch and you're not going to inherit the risk of
15:54
Speaker 1: taking a starting picture into the season and hoping he
15:57
Speaker 1: doesn't get hurt and the coping he performs at.
15:58
Speaker 3: The top level.
15:59
Speaker 1: So I could see that happening a lot more easily
16:02
Speaker 1: the Robert when they have an extra year of control
16:04
Speaker 1: and maybe a bit more reason to think like he'll
16:07
Speaker 1: mash if he's healthy and comes and has a normal offseason.
16:10
Speaker 2: Last one, James and and I look, I'm I'm curious
16:15
Speaker 2: what you think here because I I don't think it's
16:17
Speaker 2: a debate, But there are people I've heard talk about
16:20
Speaker 2: what which season is tougher for fans? The what the
16:24
Speaker 2: white Sox are going through when you expect them to
16:26
Speaker 2: be bad. Not only are they bad, they're historically bad,
16:30
Speaker 2: arguably the worst team ever.
16:32
Speaker 4: Or a team like the Cubs.
16:34
Speaker 2: A lot of fans expected them to be good in
16:36
Speaker 2: the playoff hunt and the disappointed I think I think
16:40
Speaker 2: it's easy for me to say it's the White Sox
16:42
Speaker 2: and their fans, but maybe expectations really way heavily here
16:47
Speaker 2: and and when when you're you're able to check out
16:50
Speaker 2: as a fan. But it's got to be painful to
16:53
Speaker 2: have to be a fan of a team that could
16:56
Speaker 2: be known as the worst team ever and and is
16:58
Speaker 2: being talked about that way and is generally not given
17:02
Speaker 2: a lot of national relevance, and now that they are,
17:05
Speaker 2: it's for really bad things like That's I can't imagine
17:09
Speaker 2: that's easy for a fan base. Maybe fans don't care
17:12
Speaker 2: about that last part, about the national relevance part, and
17:15
Speaker 2: and they just want their team to be good.
17:17
Speaker 4: How what? How have White Sox fans handled this?
17:21
Speaker 3: How?
17:22
Speaker 4: Not well of course?
17:23
Speaker 2: But do you think it's like from your observations here,
17:27
Speaker 2: you're online like I am, you see how fans react.
17:31
Speaker 2: Do you think Cubs fans have a tougher season this year,
17:34
Speaker 2: or is it White Sox fans.
17:36
Speaker 1: I would like to think there's a sect of like
17:39
Speaker 1: normy White Sox fans who just want like their team
17:42
Speaker 1: to win and do well and not be a disgrace,
17:44
Speaker 1: like I think my mom wants them to like not
17:48
Speaker 1: like thinks this miserable season, uh is worse than a
17:53
Speaker 1: team where that's you know, at least interesting and competitive
17:56
Speaker 1: on a basis, or provides you like entertainment value pretty
17:59
Speaker 1: regularly over the course of the season. I think it's
18:03
Speaker 1: more of like the long term plan type fan who's like,
18:06
Speaker 1: we were trying to contend and we didn't, so thus
18:08
Speaker 1: we didn't capitalize on our window correctly, or you know,
18:11
Speaker 1: we're not in our window, so the games are meaningless.
18:14
Speaker 1: I think that's more of an online version of the fan.
18:18
Speaker 1: I would say that those people of the White Sox
18:21
Speaker 1: fan base, they're like through the looking glass, they're like
18:23
Speaker 1: near I want this organization to be embarrassed at the
18:27
Speaker 1: highest level. I want like Jerry Reinstorf to be getting
18:30
Speaker 1: scorched to national media. I want this to reflect this
18:33
Speaker 1: poorly and all these people I've grown to resent as possible,
18:37
Speaker 1: so some of them are actively rooting for them to
18:40
Speaker 1: set a record. I don't think that's maybe as much
18:46
Speaker 1: as like the silent majority is like a Richard Nixon concept.
18:49
Speaker 3: I think there's a I.
18:52
Speaker 1: Think like the more casual fan who tunes in wants,
18:55
Speaker 1: like you know, the television program that they watch so
18:58
Speaker 1: often during the summer, to be better and thus like
19:01
Speaker 1: not lose setting a record, not being like disgraceful, feeling
19:05
Speaker 1: a bit more pride to like where their you know
19:08
Speaker 1: team their favorite teams hat and not feeling embarrassed even
19:13
Speaker 1: just like playing well in this crosstown series are kind
19:16
Speaker 1: of simple joys that they wish were short up than this.
19:20
Speaker 1: So yeah, I would I would say.
19:21
Speaker 3: Being at the point where you're just like so negative
19:24
Speaker 3: about the team in.
19:25
Speaker 1: Every aspect is worse than you know, being middle of
19:28
Speaker 1: the road and kind of frustrated about it. Like, you know,
19:30
Speaker 1: the Cubs have played some fun games, just even this
19:34
Speaker 1: past week, like he seeing that that rally against whoever
19:38
Speaker 1: it was, where Danzy Swanson had that like game tying
19:40
Speaker 1: like double.
19:41
Speaker 4: Or yeah, Cardinals something.
19:43
Speaker 3: I don't know if the White Sox have had a
19:44
Speaker 3: moment like that this season.
19:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a good point like there there
19:50
Speaker 2: have been there's been. There was two and a half
19:53
Speaker 2: months of really bad, frustrating baseball, I would say for
19:57
Speaker 2: the fans for the Cubs, and this has been four
20:00
Speaker 2: full months of terrible baseball for White Sox fans. They
20:03
Speaker 2: had what like a seven and seven stretch that they
20:05
Speaker 2: can hang their head on.
20:06
Speaker 4: That's like my watermark.
20:08
Speaker 2: Oh, eleven and seven, okay, so they eleven and seven
20:12
Speaker 2: is like their high water mark. I think this weekend
20:15
Speaker 2: is as like Patrick and I have been pretty adamant,
20:19
Speaker 2: like we're not going to write about the games for
20:21
Speaker 2: a little while. Like once they once, like the post
20:24
Speaker 2: All Star break, they did not do well out of
20:26
Speaker 2: the gate, and it's like, Okay, they teased us before
20:29
Speaker 2: the All Star break, we're taking a break from writing
20:31
Speaker 2: about games until they show us that they can get
20:34
Speaker 2: back in it. This weekend could be that point where
20:37
Speaker 2: they kind of get If they win both games, they're
20:40
Speaker 2: one game under five hundred. If they win on Friday,
20:42
Speaker 2: they're two games under, and that gets them. That's the
20:45
Speaker 2: first time since I want to say, like late May
20:48
Speaker 2: that they're that they're two games under. That's that'll be
20:51
Speaker 2: the closest because the closest they got was the Friday
20:53
Speaker 2: before the All Star break when they got to three
20:56
Speaker 2: games under.
20:57
Speaker 4: So they're three games under again.
20:59
Speaker 2: Uh.
21:00
Speaker 4: I don't know. I think the Cubs.
21:02
Speaker 2: I think this is a big weekend for the Cubs,
21:04
Speaker 2: and it's going to be a big weekend. I think
21:07
Speaker 2: for White Sox fans, right just like to have some pride,
21:10
Speaker 2: something to enjoy.
21:13
Speaker 4: For this season.
21:13
Speaker 2: If they can kind of say like, hey, we ended
21:15
Speaker 2: your season two Cubs fans, I think that would be
21:19
Speaker 2: nice for White Sox fans. Cubs fans really need this
21:22
Speaker 2: weekend to go well so they can try and enjoy
21:25
Speaker 2: the ones that are still paying attention to say like, hey,
21:29
Speaker 2: maybe there's a chance they get back in this race.
21:31
Speaker 2: As weird as this deadline was, as weird as this
21:34
Speaker 2: season has been for the Cubs, the reality is they
21:36
Speaker 2: didn't sell off and they're arguably a better team than
21:39
Speaker 2: they were before the deadline. By adding periitis and kind
21:43
Speaker 2: of shifting things in the bullpen's. They didn't sell enough
21:47
Speaker 2: to get really bad, so they're going to be in it,
21:50
Speaker 2: in it, quote unquote for these final two months. It's
21:53
Speaker 2: just how close they get. I think it's interesting that
21:57
Speaker 2: this weekend has become so relevant for the Cubs. It'll
22:01
Speaker 2: be fun in that regard.
22:03
Speaker 1: I think Socks fans would be a little bit caught
22:07
Speaker 1: off guard by feeling feelings of any kind kind of
22:12
Speaker 1: to have nerve endings work again would be alarming for them.
22:17
Speaker 1: And so yeah, maybe being the Cubs would be a thrill.
22:20
Speaker 1: And they they'd rally around like spighting the Cubs to
22:24
Speaker 1: some degree, but they're also they're a broken, disparaged people,
22:28
Speaker 1: like they're I don't know if even like rally you know,
22:31
Speaker 1: like avoiding the all time record is even something that
22:34
Speaker 1: would rally behind half the people who a lot of
22:39
Speaker 1: responses when I you know, they announced it, just like
22:41
Speaker 1: get rid of gets too. The guy who's like it's
22:43
Speaker 1: his first year, like and on the one hand, like
22:49
Speaker 1: I get it, Like he's the architect of possibly the
22:51
Speaker 1: worst team of all time. He there's plenty of things
22:54
Speaker 1: he did this year that like clearly didn't work at all,
22:57
Speaker 1: Like he signed Martine Maldonado, he signed Mike Leer, he
23:01
Speaker 1: signed who was a six y r Like like, while
23:06
Speaker 1: that's like simultaneous, like he clearly hasn't at any time
23:09
Speaker 1: install a plan or you know, even higher a manager.
23:12
Speaker 1: Yet like the level of like discussed with everything about
23:16
Speaker 1: this team is such that like I don't I don't
23:18
Speaker 1: know if like you know, I know what the one
23:20
Speaker 1: change that needs to happen for Sox fans to actually
23:24
Speaker 1: rally behind this group or feel good about what's going forward.
23:27
Speaker 1: And it's the one change that can happen until you know,
23:30
Speaker 1: some larger force. So it's it's a change in ownership.
23:33
Speaker 1: So that's not gonna happen via you know, mid season
23:38
Speaker 1: press release or you know, winning a series against the Cubs.
23:43
Speaker 3: So true happiness is elusive.
23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you can say that about everything, James,
23:49
Speaker 2: everyone in all walks of life, not just white Sox fans.
23:53
Speaker 4: Thanks so much, James. I'll see you this weekend.
23:55
Speaker 2: Looking forward to to chatting and catching up on the
23:58
Speaker 2: South Side. We'll see if Cubs fans can get back
24:01
Speaker 2: into things or if white Sox fans feel feelings again
24:07
Speaker 2: this is Northside territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe
24:10
Speaker 2: on all your fun podcast platforms. Make sure to subscribe
24:13
Speaker 2: to The Athletic and make sure to read James's work
24:16
Speaker 2: and subscribe to Socks Machine Great stuff there. They have
24:21
Speaker 2: a podcast as well. If you're interested in white sox,
24:24
Speaker 2: please do read James's work.
24:27
Speaker 4: Read Sox Machine. They do great stuff. James, thanks so
24:30
Speaker 4: much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Fans, thanks
24:32
Speaker 4: for listening to every and take care.