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Shota Imanaga is the lone Cubs All-Star in disappointing season · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: It's a it's a ridiculous situation that we have to
0:02
Speaker 1: even talk about a team this far under five hundred
0:04
Speaker 1: is still in it. But that's that's kind of what
0:07
Speaker 1: the wild card does. Welcome into Northside Territory five Territory
0:16
Speaker 1: Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadev Sharma with Patrick Mooney, where
0:21
Speaker 1: your Cubs beat writers at the Athletic Patrick, the Cubs
0:25
Speaker 1: have an All Star, maybe the loan, maybe the lone
0:29
Speaker 1: bright spot of this season, one of the few bright spots.
0:31
Speaker 1: I'm sure if we really dug deep, we could we
0:33
Speaker 1: could point some other positives out, but Showta in Monaga
0:37
Speaker 1: is an All Star, very deserving just I mean, obviously
0:42
Speaker 1: a brilliant start to the season and and he kind
0:45
Speaker 1: of continued it on deeper than I think I expected.
0:49
Speaker 2: A couple of blow up outings, but.
0:50
Speaker 1: The fact that each time he is bounced back with
0:53
Speaker 1: solid performances after those blow up outings, I think kind
0:57
Speaker 1: of tells us that you know, this guy is here
1:00
Speaker 1: to stay in a sense. Uh and he and he's
1:02
Speaker 1: an All Star. That's a huge accomplishment. There was some
1:06
Speaker 1: debate as to whether he's the first Clubs pitcher Rookie podcast.
1:12
Speaker 1: But I'm not interested in the the minutiae. Yeah yeah,
1:16
Speaker 1: let's uh. You were there Sunday to talk to Showda.
1:22
Speaker 1: I don't think this was a surprise, whether it was
1:26
Speaker 1: the fact that he's the lone All Star or that
1:28
Speaker 1: he's the All Star at all. This is this was
1:31
Speaker 1: kind of expected by all of us and and well
1:34
Speaker 1: deserved honor for for showdow Managa.
1:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good way to put it, Saday. This
1:39
Speaker 3: was not some sort of participation trophy or you know
1:43
Speaker 3: in every team gets an All Star designation, like this
1:48
Speaker 3: guy went out and absolutely earned it. Craig Council announced
1:54
Speaker 3: it before Sunday's game in a meeting in the Wrigley Clubhouse,
1:59
Speaker 3: and you know what it's like in there, like these
2:01
Speaker 3: guys genuinely like Shoda, and they've been just kind of
2:07
Speaker 3: blown away really since that press conference at the Loews
2:12
Speaker 3: Hotel leading into Cups convention when he did the you know, hey, Chicago,
2:17
Speaker 3: what do you say in English? And that was something
2:19
Speaker 3: that he practiced in the hotel and that and then
2:23
Speaker 3: his camp had kind of brainstormed and gone over even
2:27
Speaker 3: the was a Chelsea dagger at the Blackhawks goal song
2:32
Speaker 3: that's his walkout music. Like there's been all these like
2:34
Speaker 3: little things that he's done. Our friend Jordan Bastionion eventwi
2:38
Speaker 3: dot Com mentioned how all those relievers were throwing footballs
2:45
Speaker 3: in spring training and so Shoda like went out to
2:48
Speaker 3: target and bought one so he could kind of like
2:51
Speaker 3: join it. Just stuff like that really resonates, Like when
2:56
Speaker 3: you're kind of in this bunker for one hundred and
2:59
Speaker 3: sixty two game season and then you're traveling with everyone,
3:01
Speaker 3: You're around each other on whites, bus rides, meals, brain delays,
3:08
Speaker 3: like all that stuff. It's a staggering amount of time.
3:12
Speaker 3: And I think that was probably what resonated for me
3:17
Speaker 3: of just like how much his teammates were happy for him,
3:24
Speaker 3: and also just asking, you know, Craig Counsel about some
3:29
Speaker 3: of the intentionality in which showed to went about this,
3:34
Speaker 3: and Council said something like, well, he's had all these
3:40
Speaker 3: little things. He kind of started to snicker or like chuckle,
3:43
Speaker 3: and then he wouldn't say what he was thinking of
3:46
Speaker 3: when he's like, oh, it's not a good story for this,
3:48
Speaker 3: you know, forum just little things. But from there he said,
3:53
Speaker 3: which I thought was well put of this guy. Just
3:56
Speaker 3: a joy to watch. That council feels like, you know,
4:01
Speaker 3: this game is hard, it's intense, and that you kind
4:05
Speaker 3: of feel like you have to have this game face
4:07
Speaker 3: on all the time. And that council said he was
4:10
Speaker 3: a little bit jealous watching how showed is able to
4:13
Speaker 3: just enjoy the moment and express his emotions and you know,
4:18
Speaker 3: just be that same guy every day.
4:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just kind of looking at his game log
4:24
Speaker 1: here and yeah, they're they're what like two outings that
4:27
Speaker 1: you'd say, like, yeah, that's that's not very good. But
4:30
Speaker 1: outside of that, like he's just i mean, he racks
4:34
Speaker 1: up the strikeouts, he doesn't walk guys. Those you know,
4:38
Speaker 1: for me, those are two of the most important things
4:40
Speaker 1: you can do. But I think it is beyond the performance,
4:45
Speaker 1: like him him embracing the city showing I mean, we'll
4:49
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about fire and passion in a
4:53
Speaker 1: moment kind of channeled in the wrong ways, but but
4:58
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's one of those guys that gets
5:00
Speaker 1: pumped up on the field and that's easy to love,
5:03
Speaker 1: right There's a reason those guys in the bleachers are
5:06
Speaker 1: painting their chest, which showeda like when a guy like
5:10
Speaker 1: there's a really like people love Justin Steele because he
5:13
Speaker 1: gets fired up in big moments too, like that these guys,
5:16
Speaker 1: these type of types of competitors are easy for fans
5:20
Speaker 1: to embrace, and then you go out there and perform
5:23
Speaker 1: and back it up and it's like, yeah, this is
5:26
Speaker 1: this is a guy we rally around and you know,
5:30
Speaker 1: we'll see where the rest of the season takes him.
5:33
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really interested to watch how he does against Baltimore.
5:36
Speaker 1: That's a stacked lineup. It's a really difficult lineup. He
5:39
Speaker 1: did well against the Phillies. No Bryce Harper, no Kyle Schwarber,
5:43
Speaker 1: no JK. Real Muto. So you know, I'm not I mean,
5:46
Speaker 1: he's done it. He's done it against great lineups already.
5:49
Speaker 1: He's faced very good lineups and performed well. So I'm
5:52
Speaker 1: not taking anything away from him. I'm just saying, like
5:56
Speaker 1: we're getting to kind of like a point in the
5:59
Speaker 1: season where where it's like, what is this.
6:02
Speaker 2: You know, what direction is it going?
6:03
Speaker 1: I think we kind of know, but like we're we've
6:06
Speaker 1: entered this week where it's like, Okay, how good or
6:10
Speaker 1: how bad does it get? Or can they make it
6:12
Speaker 1: a little more interesting for jed before the All Star
6:16
Speaker 1: break and showed us. I don't think they announced the
6:20
Speaker 1: starters yet for Baltimore, but he's going to be one
6:22
Speaker 1: of those first few games, right.
6:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were still working it through. I think, you know,
6:29
Speaker 3: he could start in theory Tuesday in Baltimore and then
6:33
Speaker 3: try to bring him back Sunday in Saint Louis. However,
6:37
Speaker 3: that would kind of they haven't really pushed him right
6:40
Speaker 3: in that way. I mean, obviously, I mean, he's carried
6:43
Speaker 3: a huge workload by today's standards and has answered the bell,
6:48
Speaker 3: but they've really tried to conserve his energy and keep
6:54
Speaker 3: the long run in mind. So like it would be
6:58
Speaker 3: I think hard to break from that when you can
7:01
Speaker 3: see a real nice long All Star break coming after that. Obviously,
7:06
Speaker 3: if he pitches in Saint Louis and he's not gonna
7:08
Speaker 3: pitch in the All Star Game. But I mean it's
7:12
Speaker 3: gonna be a difficult stretch, Like you said, an awesome
7:14
Speaker 3: Orioles team at Camden Yards and then that four games
7:19
Speaker 3: in three days at Bush Stadium, including a Saturday double header,
7:23
Speaker 3: Like it's gonna be kind of all hands on deck.
7:28
Speaker 2: Right, and they're short pitching.
7:30
Speaker 1: I mean Kyle Hendricks left with an injury on Saturday.
7:34
Speaker 2: He sounded like he was gonna pitch this week. We'll see,
7:38
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens.
7:40
Speaker 1: The players are always more optimistic than than reality dictates.
7:45
Speaker 1: But we'll see what that is. I mean, I don't know,
7:50
Speaker 1: Like they can make it interesting with how they play
7:53
Speaker 1: in Saint Louis. I think that's that's the most important thing.
7:55
Speaker 1: If they can be decent against Baltimore, they can make
7:58
Speaker 1: things interesting before the break if they if they make some.
8:01
Speaker 2: Noise in Saint Louis.
8:02
Speaker 1: Otherwise, you know, you split that series where we're in
8:05
Speaker 1: the same place. We're not talking much about this and
8:07
Speaker 1: we're just, you know, continue to discuss who they sell
8:10
Speaker 1: and how they sell.
8:12
Speaker 2: Uh.
8:13
Speaker 1: Saturday though, was an interesting one. Patrick Hendrix didn't really
8:17
Speaker 1: have it. His back was locked up, and Colton Brewer
8:20
Speaker 1: came in in the third. It was a close game
8:23
Speaker 1: at that point. I want to say it was too
8:24
Speaker 1: nothing at that point. Obviously the Cobs offense did nothing
8:28
Speaker 1: that on Saturday, but who knows what happens if it's
8:31
Speaker 1: a close game. Coltin Brewer made sure it wasn't. He
8:35
Speaker 1: threw away a double playball only got two outs in
8:39
Speaker 1: that third inning before exiting. I think it was three
8:42
Speaker 1: runs allowed in that in that inning, h only one earned,
8:46
Speaker 1: but that that that that error was costly. He comes
8:50
Speaker 1: in to the dugout, punches the wall smartly with his
8:54
Speaker 1: left hand. He's not you know, if you want to
8:58
Speaker 1: give him break for something, he didn't punch it with
9:00
Speaker 1: his pitching hand.
9:02
Speaker 2: And it turns out he broke his hand. The Cubs
9:05
Speaker 2: call up Hunter.
9:06
Speaker 1: Biggie because of this, and he's he's he's a name
9:10
Speaker 1: that I know. The prospect towns are are very excited
9:14
Speaker 1: to see. And I talked to some people that have
9:18
Speaker 1: been with the ORG that were a part of drafting him,
9:20
Speaker 1: and and they were they were excited to see that
9:24
Speaker 1: he's getting his chance because he was. He's a nice
9:27
Speaker 1: he's a nice draft in development story for them. But
9:30
Speaker 1: I think the story was Colton Brewer breaking his hand
9:34
Speaker 1: punching the wall. Fans want to see passion. They want
9:38
Speaker 1: to see guys upset about losing. I don't think that's
9:40
Speaker 1: the way they want to see it happen.
9:44
Speaker 3: Yes, a wise man told me that the Wall always wins.
9:49
Speaker 3: You know, the Wall is undefeated in these temper tantrums,
9:54
Speaker 3: and you know, you had kind of gotten a tip
9:58
Speaker 3: earlier that this. You know, I think when people saw
10:02
Speaker 3: Biggie coming up, you think, oh, like, is Kyle Hendricks
10:05
Speaker 3: going on the al That's not what it was. And
10:08
Speaker 3: I do give Brewer credit, Like when the clubhouse opened
10:12
Speaker 3: to the media right around ten am Sunday morning. I mean,
10:16
Speaker 3: Brewer was right at his locker. He knew what was coming.
10:22
Speaker 3: He had a very calm, quiet voice, and he was remorseful,
10:28
Speaker 3: and you know, I think it was a little bit
10:32
Speaker 3: of a not a struggle. But as I was writing it,
10:35
Speaker 3: I was kind of going back and forth of like,
10:38
Speaker 3: you know, I obviously alluded to a cubby occurrence like that,
10:42
Speaker 3: like weird stuff happens around this team, particularly these frustrating seasons,
10:47
Speaker 3: But I don't know, you also kind of no field
10:50
Speaker 3: for a guy who's thirty one years old and has
10:54
Speaker 3: been just grinding for a really long time. And the
11:00
Speaker 3: opportunity cost of being put on the sixty day I
11:04
Speaker 3: l not eligible to come off until early September, and
11:08
Speaker 3: at that point, who knows, I mean, there'll be more
11:11
Speaker 3: injuries and who knows where the Cubs will be. But
11:13
Speaker 3: it's just you know, a really unfortunate thing that dugout
11:20
Speaker 3: wall there. It looks sort of like it's padded, it's
11:24
Speaker 3: got like that green kind of like shine to it.
11:28
Speaker 3: Most definitely is not. And you know, counsel was used
11:36
Speaker 3: the word, you know, empathetic or to have empathy for
11:40
Speaker 3: player in that position, Like I think the he's kind
11:44
Speaker 3: of already been punished enough, right like or can you
11:48
Speaker 3: say like in the manager's office, it's like you're shut
11:54
Speaker 3: down for two months at least, you know, you're he
11:58
Speaker 3: was wearing a big kind of cast or brace type thing.
12:03
Speaker 3: He's seeing a hand specialist on Tuesday, gonna do some
12:07
Speaker 3: more imaging, get a I think he said it was
12:11
Speaker 3: sort of like a clean break and he's hoping they
12:14
Speaker 3: could just kind of, you know, reset it in place.
12:17
Speaker 3: But you know, who knows, and to kind of have
12:20
Speaker 3: to where that to be to be that national headline
12:26
Speaker 3: and to just you know, not that he was pitching great,
12:30
Speaker 3: but this was a year for a lot of guys,
12:32
Speaker 3: whether it's Hunter Biggie or Porter Hodge. Like there's opportunities here,
12:37
Speaker 3: you know, I mean Tyson Miller. That's wrong with that opportunity.
12:40
Speaker 3: Pitchers like Mark Later Junior have kind of revived or
12:45
Speaker 3: you know, rebuilt their careers here and to have to
12:50
Speaker 3: kind of face the music and let your team down
12:53
Speaker 3: and kind of be be that headline for a day. Uh,
12:59
Speaker 3: it's pretty rough.
13:01
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, absolutely feel for the guy.
13:04
Speaker 1: Not a bad guy made, you know, a dumb decision
13:07
Speaker 1: that I think he agrees that it was stupid.
13:10
Speaker 2: Uh.
13:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, sometimes you do stupid things when in
13:15
Speaker 1: you know, in the moment, when when things.
13:18
Speaker 2: Are getting hectic and you feel like you let your.
13:21
Speaker 1: Team down and and and you overreact, and you know,
13:25
Speaker 1: I don't think, I don't think we need to bury
13:28
Speaker 1: the guy you're I think, yeah, I think you nailed
13:33
Speaker 1: it with what you said there.
13:34
Speaker 2: Like he's thirty.
13:35
Speaker 1: One, he's been grinding, he hasn't really like taken advantage
13:39
Speaker 1: of an opportunity. And and there's always that chance that
13:44
Speaker 1: a reliever something clicks, doesn't matter what your age is. Like,
13:48
Speaker 1: I know, people people listening that just have seen his
13:51
Speaker 1: performances are like, what are they talking about? Think about
13:54
Speaker 1: all the guys that you've watched over the years with
13:57
Speaker 1: the Cubs or in baseball in general, especially relievers that
14:01
Speaker 1: click all of a sudden and have one great year.
14:04
Speaker 1: All you need is just one great year. Maybe you'll
14:06
Speaker 1: get paid or maybe that's all you need to just
14:08
Speaker 1: feel satisfied and like you accomplish something right, like you
14:11
Speaker 1: had that one great year as a reliever. You know,
14:13
Speaker 1: there were so many fans ready like that wanted McGill,
14:16
Speaker 1: Trevor McGill out of the out of town right, and
14:18
Speaker 1: and they got their wish. And now he's he's a
14:20
Speaker 1: very good closer for the for the Brewers. So like
14:23
Speaker 1: relievers are weird. You never know when a guy's gonna
14:26
Speaker 1: break out. Lighter is a perfect example of that. Random
14:30
Speaker 1: things happen. It's not like he didn't have stuff, It
14:32
Speaker 1: just he wasn't executing as well.
14:35
Speaker 2: Uh.
14:35
Speaker 1: I feel bad for the dude, But it's also like
14:38
Speaker 1: what you just said there is absolutely right, Like he
14:41
Speaker 1: unfortunately he ended up like this this headline and like
14:44
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of an embarrassing situation. It kind of
14:49
Speaker 1: sums up like the situation that Cubs are in, uh
14:52
Speaker 1: this year. They I think that game, I think that
14:58
Speaker 1: Saturday game is a good example of what's going on
15:02
Speaker 1: with the Cubs. You know that they're not the offense
15:05
Speaker 1: is just m I a far too often, the defensive
15:11
Speaker 1: miscues happening far too often, and and just like unexplainable
15:17
Speaker 1: losses to bad teams are happening far too often.
15:20
Speaker 2: And you know you wanted to get back in this race.
15:22
Speaker 2: You had to sweep the angels.
15:25
Speaker 1: You have to feel good about going into a very
15:27
Speaker 1: tough stretch here and now now, I mean, we just
15:30
Speaker 1: brought it up the seven games in six days, is
15:34
Speaker 1: that right? Starting Tuesday? I don't know what. I don't
15:40
Speaker 1: know how this is going to go. I don't like,
15:42
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone feels well, yeah, I don't think
15:46
Speaker 1: anybody feels positive out the situation.
15:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, two or three games? Yeah? One? Yeah,
15:52
Speaker 2: I don't know if I mean, what do they need
15:54
Speaker 2: to win?
15:55
Speaker 1: They need to win five right for you to feel like, okay,
15:58
Speaker 1: they're they're not selling or sorry, not that we can
16:02
Speaker 1: push the talk off for a little bit.
16:04
Speaker 3: Against you to forty seven and fifty one? I think
16:07
Speaker 3: is that what you said?
16:09
Speaker 2: Yeah? And with the way the wildcard is, I mean,
16:11
Speaker 2: that's that's in it.
16:13
Speaker 3: Like, you know, I could get you within maybe three
16:18
Speaker 3: of a wildcard spot and then you're start three hundred
16:22
Speaker 3: now and three and a half out right it's a
16:25
Speaker 3: it's a ridiculous situation that we have to even talk
16:28
Speaker 3: about a team this far under five hundred still in it.
16:31
Speaker 2: But that's that's kind of what the wildcard.
16:33
Speaker 1: Does, and and that you know, I was I was
16:37
Speaker 1: having this discussion with another reporter of like, I think
16:41
Speaker 1: that third wildcard spot kind of skews like we haven't
16:46
Speaker 1: fully accounted for it when we look at playoff odds,
16:49
Speaker 1: like I'm assuming the Cubs around like five to seven
16:52
Speaker 1: percent right now, and and I think that third wildcard
16:57
Speaker 1: spot when you consider how like how mediocre those teams
17:02
Speaker 1: are at that third spot, like, I think it's a
17:05
Speaker 1: little higher. It just my like it says six point
17:09
Speaker 1: six percent according to Fangrabs, I would say it's a
17:12
Speaker 1: little higher than that. I don't know what I'm not
17:15
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not saying significantly higher. I'm just saying
17:18
Speaker 1: because it's so mediocre at the bottom of that wildcard race,
17:21
Speaker 1: you have to just say, like, Okay, there's still a
17:24
Speaker 1: chance here ultimately that they need to play better. And
17:29
Speaker 1: this is not they they put themselves in this hole.
17:31
Speaker 1: They've put themselves they they won two out of three
17:35
Speaker 1: and it doesn't even feel like.
17:36
Speaker 2: That that positive of a step.
17:38
Speaker 1: You know, they finally win a series, what is it
17:40
Speaker 1: their third series win in the past two months.
17:43
Speaker 2: Something like that. It's in that yeah, I mean it's.
17:48
Speaker 3: You know, they avoid the sweep on the fourth of
17:52
Speaker 3: July and then Justin steels awesome throws the first complete
17:57
Speaker 3: game of his career. But it's one of those is
18:02
Speaker 3: like at that point there were like seven eight under
18:04
Speaker 3: like it's just like hard to generate any sort of
18:08
Speaker 3: like realistic sensive like, hey, maybe this could be it
18:11
Speaker 3: when there's been so much evidence on the other side
18:15
Speaker 3: of this, And to me, yeah, Saturday's game was the
18:18
Speaker 3: one you got to win to be like, okay, you
18:22
Speaker 3: have a chance to sweep, you get like winning. A
18:26
Speaker 3: counsel says that we have to win series, winning two
18:28
Speaker 3: out of three, and yeah, that can get them to
18:30
Speaker 3: a good place. But like in this condensed time here, uh,
18:36
Speaker 3: do you just feel Bertill against you know, a bad team,
18:40
Speaker 3: a team that you know is sort of looking for
18:45
Speaker 3: the exits?
18:46
Speaker 2: Right?
18:46
Speaker 3: I mean this is not exactly playing like you know,
18:49
Speaker 3: a locked in hyper focused World Series contender, and so
18:55
Speaker 3: you know, to win two out of three, I don't
18:57
Speaker 3: think it does that much for you. I don't know,
19:00
Speaker 3: if you have a good week coming up here, maybe
19:07
Speaker 3: that helps. I think ultimately, it's more just kind of
19:10
Speaker 3: the gravity of their roster that's gonna keep it mostly intact.
19:13
Speaker 3: Like this is a whole other episode that I'm sure
19:15
Speaker 3: will get into later. I'm just not sure like how
19:19
Speaker 3: many pieces can be moved, and even if you do
19:21
Speaker 3: move them, like how much are you gonna miss them?
19:25
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Like stuff like that, you
19:28
Speaker 3: can kind of like see a path to where the
19:31
Speaker 3: Cubs are playing like meaningful games in September, But it's
19:34
Speaker 3: not a particularly like rosy outlook when you say that,
19:39
Speaker 3: and you know, Hayen Wizneski said, you know, I think
19:41
Speaker 3: we're gonna go on around here. And it's credible when
19:44
Speaker 3: you get great starting pitching, which the Cubs have gotten
19:47
Speaker 3: for the most part, and the rest of the National
19:50
Speaker 3: League is just so watered down. But I mean that's
19:53
Speaker 3: not really affirming the Cubs as much as, like, you know,
19:58
Speaker 3: they've hung around this long. Maybe they can stick around
20:02
Speaker 3: for a couple more months.
20:03
Speaker 1: I don't know, Yeah, I think that's honestly, I was
20:08
Speaker 1: thinking the same thing of like we're gonna be talking
20:11
Speaker 1: about the trade deadline and how they handle that. Right,
20:14
Speaker 1: this is going to be what we talk about for
20:16
Speaker 1: the next three weeks or so, Right, It's just that
20:19
Speaker 1: is the topic. I don't I don't think they're going
20:22
Speaker 1: to do anything that makes me say, well that now
20:26
Speaker 1: they have no chance right now that now this is
20:30
Speaker 1: like completely gutted.
20:33
Speaker 2: They're not going to do that. They don't like. I
20:36
Speaker 2: just like, that's just there's not that move there.
20:39
Speaker 1: I mean, we can talk about we've talked about some
20:41
Speaker 1: out of the box ideas. I don't know if that's
20:44
Speaker 1: going to happen unless they're kind of bowled over. Uh So,
20:48
Speaker 1: so when you start talking about like what the team
20:50
Speaker 1: is going to look like, they can still it's gonna
20:53
Speaker 1: be a similar team. Maybe it's better because you're you're
20:57
Speaker 1: pushing some younger guys and they give you some sort
21:00
Speaker 1: of positive performance and positive momentum. But I like, I
21:08
Speaker 1: don't like. I'm looking at the post All Star break
21:11
Speaker 1: schedule just to see like it doesn't get any easier.
21:13
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean they have a chance to make
21:17
Speaker 1: some moves, I guess, and pass some teams up. That
21:20
Speaker 1: that's it's the same thing as Saint Louis like teams
21:23
Speaker 1: that are ahead of them, like Arizona and Cincinnati and
21:26
Speaker 1: Saint Louis again like to start August. But Kansas City's
21:30
Speaker 1: a solid team. Milwaukee just gives this team fits. I
21:35
Speaker 1: don't Yeah, I don't really see a path because they
21:38
Speaker 1: missed their path right like they missed it. They screwed
21:41
Speaker 1: it up in June, and and the path is you
21:44
Speaker 1: better get really hot, and I like my like my positivity.
21:52
Speaker 1: I struggle to find positivity there because yeah, games like
21:56
Speaker 1: Saturday just reinforce the idea like Nope, they're not gonna
22:00
Speaker 1: do it. They just don't have that second gear right now.
22:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess the one kind of theoretical thing I
22:08
Speaker 3: would say is like, I don't know if you think
22:12
Speaker 3: says Porter Hodge like a dude, and is he like
22:15
Speaker 3: an upgrade over Mark Lighter in the seventh or eighth inning,
22:20
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know. I do think they'll
22:25
Speaker 3: get Lighter back this week. Javier Asad is another name
22:31
Speaker 3: that is in play to be activated this week, so
22:35
Speaker 3: you get just a little bit of a refresh with
22:39
Speaker 3: the pitching staff. And then there is this cluster of
22:43
Speaker 3: pitchers who are all supposed to be activated kind of
22:47
Speaker 3: between the end of the All Star break and the
22:52
Speaker 3: trade deadline. And so I'm probably gonna forget a couple guys,
22:58
Speaker 3: but correct me if I'm wrong. We've got like Julian Merriweather, Yes,
23:03
Speaker 3: Jordan Wicks, Ben Brown later in July, but still July,
23:13
Speaker 3: Caleb Caleb Killian, like if he's all of a sudden
23:17
Speaker 3: throwing like a hundred, Now, I I wouldn't like print
23:21
Speaker 3: playoff tickets off of that, but like they have some
23:28
Speaker 3: pitching pieces to kind of try, and and I do
23:35
Speaker 3: go back to something like Counsel has emphasized over the
23:37
Speaker 3: course of his time here of like just because someone
23:41
Speaker 3: is a quote unquote veteran player doesn't mean he is
23:44
Speaker 3: better than a younger or an experienced player. And so
23:47
Speaker 3: that is putting a lot of faith the player development
23:49
Speaker 3: system and a scouting infrastructure that has been okay but
23:56
Speaker 3: not good enough. I mean, obviously Michael Bush looks like
23:59
Speaker 3: a keeper showed it monagas an All Star. The farm
24:03
Speaker 3: system is vastly improved, but like, I don't know if
24:08
Speaker 3: there's some sort of like star there, right, And I
24:14
Speaker 3: don't know, maybe it's just kind of rearranging the deck
24:16
Speaker 3: chairs or whatever the phrase is. But like, I don't
24:20
Speaker 3: see like that bottom falling out the way it did
24:25
Speaker 3: in twenty one when they traded all those guys and
24:27
Speaker 3: then I think they had like a twelve game losing streak.
24:31
Speaker 3: We may look back on this as like, yeah, the
24:34
Speaker 3: bottom fell out, you know, in June, and that's when
24:37
Speaker 3: their season was over. But I think with the way
24:41
Speaker 3: this front office is set up in terms of the
24:45
Speaker 3: pressure points on them, I think what Council's philosophy is
24:49
Speaker 3: and what he's like good at day to day, I
24:52
Speaker 3: think all those things meshed to like, I don't know,
24:57
Speaker 3: it still sounds absurd though, right because it's like maybe
24:59
Speaker 3: the only like four games under five hundred on Labor
25:02
Speaker 3: Day and like only games out of a playoffs. I
25:04
Speaker 3: mean it's like this, this is silly, but it's kind
25:08
Speaker 3: of the reality of a team where you know, guys
25:11
Speaker 3: are punching the walls and breaking their hand.
25:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's I look at these standings and
25:17
Speaker 1: I'm just like perplexed, Like there's no there's nothing here
25:21
Speaker 1: that stands out and a run from the Cubs just
25:25
Speaker 1: can't be ruled out, And like I just said I
25:28
Speaker 1: my Ultimately, I I'm going off what I'm watching on
25:31
Speaker 1: the field, and they have not shown me enough for
25:33
Speaker 1: me to feel positive out a run coming. I will
25:36
Speaker 1: say this, if they get if they find a way
25:41
Speaker 1: to add something, they're not going to add a rental there,
25:45
Speaker 1: you know, unless they win, you know, the next ten games,
25:48
Speaker 1: they're not adding a rental. If they if they find
25:53
Speaker 1: a move to add an offensive piece that's available beyond
25:57
Speaker 1: this season, I will be more interested in the second
26:01
Speaker 1: half of the season because what you've done is you
26:05
Speaker 1: laid out all the all the stuff how they can
26:07
Speaker 1: reinforce that bullpen, right, Porter, Hodge, Hunter, Biggie are the
26:11
Speaker 1: what if they're dudes? What if they're really good relievers
26:14
Speaker 1: and whatever else? You have all these reinforcements coming. Maybe
26:18
Speaker 1: some of them get traded, some of them are kept,
26:20
Speaker 1: but you have enough depth now where you suddenly feel like, Okay,
26:22
Speaker 1: we have starters and relievers. Is there a way to
26:26
Speaker 1: get a bat beyond twenty twenty four. I don't really
26:30
Speaker 1: see that happening, don't. I don't believe it will happen.
26:33
Speaker 1: But if they somehow find that opportunity, then suddenly you're
26:37
Speaker 1: interested because you've given like the whole thing. The reason
26:40
Speaker 1: you feel like they have no shot is because it's
26:44
Speaker 1: it's until July thirtieth, right, Like, they don't have until
26:48
Speaker 1: September thirtieth.
26:49
Speaker 2: They have until July thirtieth.
26:51
Speaker 1: But if they don't dismantle this team or don't take
26:54
Speaker 1: away really key pieces and somehow they add something, then
26:58
Speaker 1: you're like, ah, okay, okay, there's a way to stay
27:01
Speaker 1: in this race. And again it's because everyone else is
27:04
Speaker 1: so bad. Like I none of these teams are intimidating,
27:07
Speaker 1: even the Cardinals, who are now five fish games over
27:11
Speaker 1: five hundred. They're in the second wildcard spot, but they're
27:15
Speaker 1: minus thirty nine run differential. They're doing it with smoke,
27:18
Speaker 1: smoking mirrors like they're they're going to I mean, maybe
27:21
Speaker 1: maybe they're about to get red hot and really like
27:24
Speaker 1: start beating the opposition. I haven't paid attention to their
27:27
Speaker 1: schedule enough, but I know they're not.
27:29
Speaker 2: They're not.
27:29
Speaker 1: They don't have the toughest schedule upcoming. But I mean
27:34
Speaker 1: there's just that's not that's not an intimidating group, certainly
27:38
Speaker 1: not on the pitching side. Those things can change at
27:41
Speaker 1: the deadline as well.
27:42
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28:44
Speaker 1: This is just my that's I think that's the way
28:47
Speaker 1: to be optimistic about things if they find that otherwise
28:51
Speaker 1: it's going to be a similar team, right, Like, they're
28:54
Speaker 1: not going to dismantle the team. They're not going to
28:56
Speaker 1: go crazy at the deadline either way. That there are
28:59
Speaker 1: ways to reshape the team. I think most of that
29:03
Speaker 1: happens in the offseason. But I'm I'm not going to
29:09
Speaker 1: assume that they just kind of stand still here at
29:12
Speaker 1: the deadline, just because I think they do feel the
29:15
Speaker 1: pressure and they understand that twenty five is very important
29:19
Speaker 1: for like everyone, it's it's essential that they take a
29:24
Speaker 1: step forward in twenty five. So maybe they start looking
29:27
Speaker 1: for that, looking for ways to do that in the
29:31
Speaker 1: next three weeks.
29:33
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:33
Speaker 3: I mean, it's never a good sign for your team
29:35
Speaker 3: when the discussion is like about twenty twenty five in
29:40
Speaker 3: July twenty twenty four. But I have been toying with
29:43
Speaker 3: the idea of a story like kind of concept or headline.
29:46
Speaker 3: I don't know if they still make these books, but
29:48
Speaker 3: like the Idiot's Guide to like the Cubs Playoff Chances,
29:52
Speaker 3: or you know, watching twenty twenty four Cubs Baseball for
29:57
Speaker 3: Dummies or something like that, of like conjuring these scenarios
30:01
Speaker 3: of maybe it's not quite that bad or maybe like
30:06
Speaker 3: a couple of things happened to where they're within striking
30:10
Speaker 3: distance of five hundred. Again, it's pretty weak considering this
30:17
Speaker 3: is a multi billion dollar, big market franchise in which
30:22
Speaker 3: the players all expected to make the playoffs, Considering this
30:27
Speaker 3: team fell one win short of making the playoffs last year,
30:31
Speaker 3: Considering the manager as the highest paid manager in the game,
30:35
Speaker 3: and the front office is in what year four of
30:40
Speaker 3: an overhaul that really began more like in twenty nineteen
30:45
Speaker 3: in terms of the stuff they had done and player development, scouting,
30:50
Speaker 3: sports sciences, technology, R and D, all that stuff. So yeah,
30:56
Speaker 3: I don't know, man, I should probably wrap it up.
30:57
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm talking in circles a little bit,
31:01
Speaker 3: like where all of a sudden, we're gonna like start,
31:03
Speaker 3: you know, booking potential Marriott's like in Philadelphia, like for
31:08
Speaker 3: the while.
31:08
Speaker 2: Just in case, you know, you never know, you know.
31:11
Speaker 3: So I'm not gonna be booking you know, potential hotels
31:17
Speaker 3: in October. But I'm also not going to write off
31:20
Speaker 3: the season before I fly to Baltimore this week.
31:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you'll be in Baltimore. Were cover We're still
31:26
Speaker 2: covering this team.
31:27
Speaker 1: We we have an abandoned chip uh, But I I
31:31
Speaker 1: will say it does feel forced to try and find
31:33
Speaker 1: the that that scenario of of them making that playoff
31:38
Speaker 1: push it just I'm not enthusiastic when I make these arguments.
31:42
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to.
31:43
Speaker 1: I'm I'm keeping an open mind because I've washed enough
31:46
Speaker 1: baseball that weird things happen. I will say this one
31:49
Speaker 1: positive thing, like if you're if you're the type of
31:51
Speaker 1: person that's looking at this and saying this is a
31:54
Speaker 1: disaster and and that that they're not close, I disagree
31:58
Speaker 1: with that. I do believe there are ways to quickly
32:02
Speaker 1: make this a contender for twenty twenty five. That's on
32:05
Speaker 1: Jed Carter and the rest of the front office to
32:08
Speaker 1: get to make the right moves right And Jed says
32:10
Speaker 1: it all the time.
32:11
Speaker 2: You just have to be right.
32:12
Speaker 1: He's got to be right like otherwise it's it's likely
32:14
Speaker 1: going to meet his job if twenty twenty five is
32:16
Speaker 1: anywhere similar to this, because I can't imagine, uh, he
32:20
Speaker 1: gets that long of a leash to keep going. But
32:24
Speaker 1: that's that's a discussion for another time. I'm very curious
32:27
Speaker 1: to see how these next three weeks unfold, particularly at
32:30
Speaker 1: the Trade deadline. I think that's going to be really
32:33
Speaker 1: telling in a lot of different ways. But you know,
32:37
Speaker 1: we'll we'll, we'll have to see how how things go.
32:39
Speaker 2: It's a it's.
32:40
Speaker 1: A big week before the All Star Break. We'll be
32:44
Speaker 1: covering it. You'll be in Baltimore, I'll be in Saint Louis.
32:47
Speaker 1: We'll be doing podcasts throughout the week and and continue
32:52
Speaker 1: on through the All Star Break. Thank you so much
32:54
Speaker 1: for listening. This is north Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review,
32:58
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast and all the different platforms. Please
33:03
Speaker 1: read our work and subscribe to The Athletic. We're covering
33:05
Speaker 1: the cubs for you. Go finding storylines to write about
33:09
Speaker 1: and hopefully no more broken hands or punched walls. You know,
33:14
Speaker 1: we'll we'll continue to cover everything cubs for you. Thanks
33:18
Speaker 1: so much for listening. Thanks to all the people that
33:21
Speaker 1: put in all the work to put this podcast together
33:23
Speaker 1: behind the scenes.
33:23
Speaker 2: We appreciate it. Thanks everyone, Thanks for listening. Take care,