CHGO Cubs Related: Pete Crow-Armstrong Hits Milestone Homer, Cubs Split Two with Brewers

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The Chicago Cubs couldn’t quite complete a comeback vs the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, falling in the finale. Pete Crow-Armstrong continued his MVP bid in the loss, swatting his 20th home run of the season. He becomes the youngest Cub ever to have 20 Home Runs and 20 Stolen Bases. Corey and Brendan are back in today’s episode to look at some changes that Matt Shaw has made since his demotion earlier in the season. Are brighter days ahead for the rookie third baseman? Join Corey Freedman and Brendan Miller on the CHGO Cubs Related Podcast!

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on tonight’s episode of the CHGO Cubs related podcast the Cubs split two games at Wrigleyfield with the Milwaukee Brewers pete Crow Armstrong hits a milestone homer and we’ll get you ready for the series over the weekend with the Mariners on this episode of the CHGO Cubs related podcast [Music] [Applause] [Music] heat heat [Music] this is the CHGO Cubs related podcast my name is Corey i am joined as always by Brendan we are coming to you on Thursday it is June 19th and Brendan the Cubs split two with the Milwaukee Brewers the game on Wednesday postponed due to rain double header coming in August uh so the Cubs a 5-3 winner on Tuesday and a 7-8 loser on Thursday a split how are you feeling about the first place Chicago Cubs Brandon
first place Chicago Cubs first place by a lot too Corey the 2020 PCA led Chicago Cubs so I’m feeling pretty good yeah so the Brewers uh obviously Brewers and Cubs neutral these last few days uh it looks like the Cardinals are going to split a double header with the White Socks today so it’s going to be two teams that are five and a half games behind you but all things considered here in midish June uh a five and a halfame lead sounds mighty nice to me Brendan uh so we will you know of course we are here on Thursday technically postgame for the eight to seven or seven to eight loss uh but we’ll talk about the two games with the Brewers we’re going to talk about the series over the weekend with the Pirates and we’ll look ahead to the Mariners series plenty to talk about here Brendan uh but I think the place to start uh is you know you had mentioned when we were kind of talking about how we wanted to go through things kind of like setting setting the table uh of of where we are and and where guys are as far as individual topics later in the show we are going to get into the 2020 man Mr pete Crow Armstrong uh we are going to talk about Matt Shaw some of the adjustments he’s made his overall performance take a look at the catching position obviously it’s been a tough sledding for Carson Kelly we’ll talk about bullpen and then I think in particular not necessarily looking ahead to the deadline but a couple of key movement dates that the Cubs are going to have the deadline is one of them and then uh soon you’re probably going to get Porter Hodgej back you’re probably going to get Shiaga back and there will be subsequent moves kind of talking about what we expect there but just generally Brendan uh kind of again setting the table 45 and 29 first in the National League Central one of the best records in all of baseball uh 5 and a halfame lead on both the Brewers and the Cardinals and just running it like I’m going to run through the lineup today batting average and on OPS just to like center our conversation
before you do that how good does it feel to say that record in mid June 4 in 29 exceeding our expectations the numbers you’re about to read half the team is overproducing their projections this is really frankly a 90th percentile outcome in mid June we’re living one of the most in my fandom’s lives one of the more surprising seasons they were projected as an 84 win team by more than one system other than Pakakota it’s remarkable we’re talking about this team like this absolutely and before I go any further I I you know sometimes as a host I mess things up i do need to mention that this podcast is driven by Toyota let’s go places and bet 365 whatever the moment it is never ordinary use code cho365 at sign up little inside baseball production slip for you but there you go i’m I’m good on my word um it it feels great Brendan and you know being at the game I was at the game this afternoon in beautiful historic Wrigley Field first of all what an environment right like we talk about it you know you you I try to avoid the like Cubs fans are the best we’re special but like even down 8 to three that entire ballpark feels like they were going to come back and is every two strike count every full count up like let’s go we’re getting up again it’s it’s a really awesome environment well you can sense it too from the broadcast it just seems so noticeably different the crowd reaction on instances where you know Wrigley’s always in tune but you can tell this year the the stakes are a little bit higher milwaukeee’s in town you can tell you can feel it
i I really thought they were going to win the game after that guy climbed the net i don’t know how much they showed in that on the marquee broadcast but the crowd was going nuts for that guy climbing the net to get the bat
no they showed it they shot
and then when they tried to kick him out and I mean when he came back there was a standing ovation good vibes it was it was a really fun environment but yeah it’s it’s uh it’s been a very special start to the year and I know you know a game like today is frustrating they fall short in the comeback you really wanted it they had their chances uh but all in all this team has played really good baseball and they find themselves in a really good spot uh as far as the division and just their playoff chances and things like that and you and I have talked about it before but like year to year those things are all kind of random variables like if you were an NLS team right now you wouldn’t feel as comfortable uh you know but right now like the division they’re in the way they’ve played they find themselves in a relatively comfortable not safe but you know okay spot for right now so let’s go through the lineup and then we’re going to talk about PCA but sometimes just a good like check-in with this stuff let’s just uh check in on how they’re doing and it sort of centers conversation so your leadoff man Ian Hap 246730 Kyle Tucker 279898 so almost 900 for your man Kyle Tucker sea Suzuki 256 839 Pete Crow Armstrong 270867 Danby Swanson 244729 729 OPS Brennan which is crazy because I’ve been told by a lot of people that he cannot hit um so
you were 2.0
yeah um another homer on Thursday afternoon michael Bush 262 852 OPS uh Carson Kelly 252 wow
yeah carson Kelly 23805 on OPS nico her 288688 OPS and Matt Shaw 225624 you’re a guy
so just some you know numbers keep in mind as we get into the weeds of this conversation and it’s always nice just to have a little context on what these guys have done on the whole but let’s start with Peter Pete Crow Armstrong our our menace our our 23-year-old son in the outfield just just creating chaos for the game of baseball uh on Thursday hits his 20th home run Brendan and I have a few thoughts i’m going to start with the milestones of it all so he becomes the fastest and youngest player in Chicago Cubs history to reach the 2020 mark uh fastest he beats Sammy Sosa uh and you know youngest 23 years old uh Sammy Sosa was was the the person he passed uh and in baseball it is the fourth fastest 2020 season ever like ever
eric Davis 46 games José Ko 68 games Fernando Tatis Jr 71 games tied for fourth now Pete Crow Armstrong and Ken Williams 73 games that’s Ken Williams uh from 1922 not the former president of the Chicago White Sox okay um in case you were wondering
I was really wondering that Cory so first of all anytime you’re in the conversation you’re passing Sammy Sosa for any record in Chicago Cubs history that is a significant milestone and you’re now up there in major league history as far as the type of stuff that you’re doing and and look man like anytime you’re on a list with Eric Davis Jose Cano Fernando Tacitis Jr now you don’t want to be on certain lists with Jose Cano and Fernando Tatis Jr But you throw Eric Davis in
well listen it’s it’s modern day you know if it happens it happens cody probably is like “Yeah give PCA all the steroids in the world.” But sometimes you don’t want to be on a list with those guys this is a great list to be on Major League History that Pete Crow is you know out there doing i I shout out to my brother my brother for whatever reason calls him only Pete Crow that’s it so sometimes that’s in my head i you know
Pete Crow
pete Crow
i like it i’m like and continue uh but separately from the milestone of it all right the fastest youngest Cub ever to have a 2020 season like if you had told me earlier in the year that Pico Armstrong was going to hit 20 homers all that you figured he was going to do on defense and base running I would have been like “Wow no way.” Like that’s amazing Brendan it’s June
no it’s not
it’s It’s not even July if you look at his Pakota projections going into the year this is what they projected they projected 33 stolen bases he’s almost there they projected 15 home runs well he’s already done that they projected 2.4 war he’s nearly doubled the war it is not even the end of June as you said it’s mid June what we’re seeing is beyond insane whatever you say whatever I say is not going to contextualize what we’re seeing we had this conversation off air what is the most like comparison that fits his start and I can’t find one like maybe the most exciting player since Sammy Sosa i mean not Jav was exciting kb’s 2016 was an MVP caliber year but the the the age the fashion in which he’s doing this yeah the projections the hype the status that goes with it this is the most exciting start for a Cubs hitter i can remember since like Sammy Sosa and is not crazy to even say that
yeah so one more uh from the great Christopher Kama who does great stat work uh he is also the first Cub in history to reach this 2020 mark before the All-Star break i mean really just astounding stuff i mean we’re talking like franchise MLB records that this guy is smashing
franchise alter he’s on pace for nine wins above replacement dude like an alltime great season
and you know it’s it’s it’s one of those things too this was uh a nice sort of contrast to Tuesday night like not contrast but just sort of putting it all together like Tuesday night he takes over the game basically in what ultimately was a fiveminute span making a you know potentially game-saving catch that had a 5% catch probability and then ripping a 450 foot homer off of Jacksonio’s name on the scoreboard it was like five minutes of of real time
you even saying that’s just absurd
what an absurd statement
but then today you know it it doesn’t end up being the the you know they end up losing the game so it sort of gets lost in the shuffle a little bit outside of of course you know the milestones but that put the Cubs up you know in that game and it was off a guy that this team doesn’t this team and the league doesn’t hit
yeah so for him to go up there and early in this one give them the lead and hit a homer off of Peralta who I think came into the game with like a two and a half erra the Cubs have had a load of trouble with him over the years like I don’t know what you say i I don’t know what else you can say about the guy the other night hits a homer that’s off a lefty today it’s off one of the better pitchers in baseball like I’m like speechless i really am sort of speechless it’s June Brendan
it’s June he’s doubling his projections it’s exceeding every single person’s expectations twofold it’s insane to think and the one standout trait from PCA if I’m watching these games the marquee broadcast is all over them all the attention the fans the fans in the bleachers you know the shots you don’t see the broadcast but the shots to the kids when TCA is up this is cementing fandom nobody
this is like we had R sammy Sosa we had R Dererick Le right you know the last generation had Jav Bayz and KB and that World Series core this is literally ushering in a new fan culture and he’s leading it and he’s one of the most exciting players not just in you know Cubs history literally recent history but just in all of the league dude it’s unbelievable that the Cubs are fortunate to have someone like this in their system well and you said you know I I don’t I don’t see it on the broadcast but you do sense this in real life and I I think if you know shout out to everybody in our YouTube chat here we’re happy to have you here on a Thursday night um see some of our regulars evoax always good to see you um you see it when you go to the ballpark like these last several years and we talked about it when they needed the star and we’re going to hit our first ad break in 20 seconds here but like there were so many years where like obviously for a while it was the core you saw those jerseys but then the core was gone and you still only kind of saw those jerseys and you were kind of missing that like who’s the face of this team who is the person that everybody gravitates to almost every game now there’s a group of kids or a family or something sitting in front of me and they are dialed in
how can you not
where is Pete when does Pete b again you can sense it even just sitting in the crowd it’s it’s really amazing and it’s something that this team was really missing uh and for a guy to be doing this at 23 years old and kind of captivating the city and and hopefully the league uh it’s it’s what it’s what we’ve been missing on this team and what we’ve needed so uh we could talk about Pete the whole episode but we we’ll come back probably talk about something else but maybe we’ll just keep gushing on Pete uh but we’re going to hit our first ad break here and then we’ll be back to talk more about your first place Chicago Cubs okay the Sunnyside Cannabis Dispensaries your home for judgment-free cannabis shopping a place where all kinds of visitors are welcome to explore discover and purchase a wide array of highquality products it’s your one-stop shop for all your cannabis needs sunnyside has an expertly curated menu with over 100 strains to choose from plus easy online ordering and into storere pickup it’s Illinois’s favorite dispensary with locations in the city from Wrigleyville to River North to the suburbs in Champagne South Bloid and more and if you’re just starting out now Sunnyside has expert guidance and brands we know you’ll love like Good News and Mindy’s and we’ll know you love Cresco and Florel’s incredible quality and consistent products visit sunnyside.sh shop for Bright Buys every day including 50% off your first three online purchases enter promo code HIGGO at checkout to qualify exclusions do apply sunnyside Canada dispensary brite buys every day only for 21 and over medical card holders and for existing users use promo code CHGO for 50% off one Cresco Labs brand item that’s CHGO 50 for one Cresco Labs brand item ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake is kicking off summer with big savings all month long come in today to shop the summer sales event and drive home with $10,000 off MSRP on new Chevy models check out their selection of over 125 vehicles priced under $20,000 with one of Chicago Land’s largest Chevy inventories you’re sure to find the perfect vehicle for you plus raise price promise lets you shop confidently because the price you see is the price you pay go see for yourself visit our partners at their convenient location right now on Route 12 in Fox Lake and don’t miss out on their summer sales event going on all month long for $10,000 off MSRP on new Chevy models shop Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake or at rayvrolet.com they’ve been serving the community since 1963 together let’s drive all right Brendan back with you um do we have more on Pete
i don’t know
i don’t know
i don’t mean what can we say i’m a little distracted by my incredible performance over there but you know what it’s okay we’ll keep going yeah i I I I I mentioned it the other night when I was in studio with Cody and Patrick and we’ve talked about this before but it’s it’s such a I mean it’s a it’s a franchise changing performance that you’re seeing from Pete and even coming into the year you know we asked these questions like well what if Matt Shaw breaks out and takes over third base what if Michael Bush continues what he’s doing all these questions and one of them was like what if Pete continues what he was doing in the second half last year and just sort of evolves into this super form of the prospect that we all dreamed on you’re watching it
like the what if is happening and it the way it transforms the franchise i said this the other night like how they act about it is something that I can’t answer right now i don’t know if Tom is going to say “Well hey we have a young star we don’t need to pay for an older one we’re making them ourselves.” Or if he says “Hey we have a pre-arb superstar that means we can give the money to someone like Kyle Tucker and build this sick core because we’re developing some of it ourselves.” How they act I don’t know but that question you’re not able to ask if you don’t have the young superstar doing something like this and it should make them more willing to build the team around Pete because he is a pre-arb guy like it it’s just an astounding thing for this franchise and how it changes their their outlook as a as a whole for the next several years
it changes their outlook maybe for the trade deadline too we’ll get into it but when you have someone consolidating potentially eight wins in one position and then maybe six wins in right field Kyle Tucker and boosting value at first base with Michael Bush with Dansby and Nico it allows you maybe to be a little bit more patient with your third base prospect it allows you maybe to be a little bit more patient with Ben Brown or some of the backend guys in the bullpen and it allows you maybe to instead of devoting money to shoring up positional depth well most of that money if not all the money can go to the starting pitching staff can go to the bullpen and more than likely it will be spread out but just the value in the immediate future as soon as the next few weeks in this trade deadline to have Pete’s projection take that next step is astounding as you said and it does open up a lot of flexible options for Jet Hor in the front office to uh consider yeah uh all right let’s talk about somebody other than uh Pete even though no not really but
okay
it is a lot of fun let’s talk about some of the other guys on the offense i want to talk about some of the roster moves coming but while we’re talking about the offense we might as well just sort of uh you know finish up here on some of the thoughts on the offense uh and I do want to talk about Matt Shaw uh and you know we can uh we might as well make that our taking the temp segment of the week uh and that of course is presented by your tr trusted local experts at Four Seasons Heating Airond Conditioning Plumbing and Electric visit four seasons heatingcooling.com for all their special offers and money-saving coupons that is four seasons heatingcooling.com and we are going to take the temp on one Matt Shaw so Matt Shaw Brendan I think represents a really interesting uh conundrum for the Cubs if you want to call it that and the conundrum is as we’ve talked about with some of these other guys you are weighing development and growth and patience with this team is in first place this team is trying to stave off the Cardinals the Brewers both at five and a half back i think the Reds are six and a half back so really trying to save off everybody but the Pirates um and it it’s it becomes somewhat of a difficult balance so the the the thing for Matchaw is overall numbers on the season this includes both stints at the MLB levels 225 average 299 on base 624 OPS uh but when you look in some of the smaller samples last 15 games a 185 batting average with a 214 on base and a 296 slug last seven games which of course is only 24 at bats but just you know looking at some of the smaller samples uh 083 batting average 154 on base 125 slug and just from you know the eye test anecdotally from watching all of these games had a nice opposite field uh you know drive earlier this week you know that looked good more of what we saw when he’s been at his most successful but an awful lot of weak contact yeah Brendan and the conundrum here I I think it’s it’s two separate conversations right
maybe
the belief in him as a prospect long-term and what the 2025 team needs now and I agree with our friend Evil Wax like I think long term he’ll be fine his defense has been great you and I have talked about that i think we talked about that last week um but it’s been tough sledding at at the plate and when the catching position has come back to earth uh it’s do you need more offense at third base or are you continuing to be patient with Matt Shaw here is is my question for you just to preface I see a lot of outs above average references to Matt Shaw because right now it’s in the negatives and it’s in the 30th percentile of overall value i will point out that stat while informative takes a long time to really even out dansby Swanson two weeks ago his outs above average was in the 35th percentile today it’s in the 80th so it can change in a matter of just two weeks so I wouldn’t put so much emphasis on that in the short term unless you see extreme changes i’m talking first percentile or 100th percentile when you’re in between the 20th and 70th is like you know flip a coin at that point the eye test for Mashaw’s defense is spectacular i clipped literally 30 plays i kid you not exactly 30 plays of his best defensive uh outs it’s exceeding everyone’s expectations now
agree now the offense it is going to be interesting how they weigh this because right now the offense is below league average and that’s also passing the eye test he does not look good at the plate the Cubs have 25 million underneath that first tier of the luxury tax now we believe they’re going to go over the tax as any World Series contender should go over the tax but it does set the the baseline of what they could be dealing with in the next 3 to four weeks do they want to spend money on shoring up third base or do they want to go out and get not just one starting pitcher but two starting pitchers and multiple leaders we we don’t know so 30 seconds i want to show a graph here for for Matt Shaw the there’s good and there’s bad okay so over the last few weeks there’s been two adjustments that have caught my eye number one you see it in the batting stance he’s more upright he looks more relaxed more comfortable that some people have been describing him but you’re also seeing that reflected in the data so his swing angle is more conducive to fly balls lately he’s swinging at a steeper angle this is a new metric from Baseball Savant it’s actually very informative actually shows why PCA is so good because his swing angle is so steep for someone his size so posttion in green versus blue you see Shaw he’s swinging steeper okay that kind of matches the mechanical adjustment he’s also swinging faster okay it also matches some of the eye test he seems more comfortable more convicted but despite those two traits where he’s swinging at a steeper angle and swinging faster the exit VO as an average it’s the same now there’s a little bit more you know blips where he’s going the opposite field slightly more showing slightly more pop but overall you’re not seeing the bulk changes translate yet so the question that the front office is weighing and what you’re bringing up Corey is how long do you want to wait for Shaw to get to that point and also do you want to risk that it may not happen this year or in a timeline that makes you comfortable as a World Series contender now for me it’s a wait andsee game this is one of those instances where two weeks from now it’s a different conversation because you are seeing some of the underlying data show that he has made changes it just now has is not translated to success yet and it’s unclear if it will but it’s one of those situations Cory where I don’t think we have the answer yet nor does the front office but if it does continue at this pace it does open the question of how much money you want to spread out to the entire roster versus shoring it up in the pitch yeah and I think like part of the reason I even bring this up again like longterm I’m I’m I’m a buyer on Matt Shaw and you know I agree with some of the sentiments in the chat that like you know these things take time plenty of Cubs prospects we’ve gone through this pca is one of them like Jav Bayz was one of them like it doesn’t happen right away for all of these guys like not everybody is Chris Bryant that they just show up and they’re winning rookie of the year and MVP and kind of rolling through that uh as everybody sort of predicted um but like part of the reason I bring that up is if this team was looking toward the deadline like and you’re asking the question like do they need another bat there’s only so many places to put said bat right like Danby’s is your shortstop Nico’s your second baseman Michael Bush is your first baseman maybe you find another platoon man and I have a comment on that as well but like those four other spots belong to Ian Hap Pico Armstrong Kyle Tucker and say a Suzuki so there’s only so many places where if you wanted another bat that it would even fit and like third base is one of them that they looked at in the off season and maybe it would be a position that they decide to even just inject someone to mix and match with Matt Shaw again separate discussion from where I believe Matt Shaw will be long term the second thought on that is it’s a real bummer the way that the Justin Turner thing has played out because by all accounts he is an extreme clubhouse guy and it has been I I don’t want to say a key to PCA success but they’ve written there’s been a lot written about how he’s really a resource uh for these young guys and someone like PCA especially kind of break down pitchers break down his you know routine and you know his stance and all these other things which is great and you want that type of stuff in the clubhouse but they really needed that right-handed hitter that could hit lefties and potentially that like five spot in the order and they just don’t have it uh and like it doesn’t look like it’s necessarily like turning a corner anytime soon for Justin Turner happened he had a good second half last year like got hot but how long the Cubs are going to hold out on that it’s it’s a little difficult to see so that’s primarily one of the issues uh that they’re going to face here and it does square with Matt Shaw so we can continue this conversation when we get back from our second ad break but want to hop to our second ad break here and then we’ll keep talking Matt Shaw do they need another bat etc and I want to look at the the catching situation as well okay just like your home you just like your favorite team needs a home field advantage your home needs a home floor advantage and Empire Today can help you get it empire Today has flooring experts dedicated flooring professionals who focus on flooring every single day we’ve all been to those big box stores you wander endless aisles and somehow you’re hauling all these materials home looking for an installer and coordinating everything just by yourself these big box stores might have a flooring department but the person helping you with flooring may have been doing sinks yesterday or could be stocking shelves the other day empire Today lives and breathes only flooring and they will be with you every step of the way it is a whole different ballgame get precise measurements taken and have all your questions answered so there’s no surprise to schedule a free inhome estimate today because some things are just better at home chgo listeners can get can get a $350 discount when using promo code CHGO yes you heard that right a $350 discount with code chgo restrictions do apply visit empiretoday.com/chgo for full details cub fans if you’re thinking about upgrading your drive this season Toyota’s 2025 lineup is definitely worth a look there’s the RAV 4 it’s versatile reliable and always ready for a little adventure there’s the Grand Higher plenty of room super comfortable great for families or long road trips and if you’re looking for efficiency the Corrill’s got you covered smart stylish easy on gas if you need something tougher the Tacoma brings serious durability and finally the Camry sleek and packed with performance so visit your local dealer and find yours today you can check out the full lineup at toyota.com or stop by your local Chicagoland Toyota dealership toyota let’s go places and become a CHDO die and upgrader fandom today get access to our exclusive written content a free t-shirt plenty of discounts of future merch and events go to allcio.com for the latest info we cannot wait to connect with you on an ever greater level all right looks like it’s just me corey’s connection he’s back folks
i can hear you can you hear me
i can hear you now
i just lose your audio sometimes it’s
Well you sound fine
all right sorry about that everybody
i mean you missed my spectacular two-minut uh advertisement
you’re you’re a pro i already knew that
um
all right so continuing on the Matt Shaw situation um well not situation that makes it sound much more dire
but yeah just getting back to my my last thought like the Turner thing is a real bummer it’s just a role that they really need um and look like you want Michael Bush PCA to continue developing against left-handed pitching and they’re both different in that regard uh but they brought uh they they brought Turner in specifically like for that role to spell Michael Bush and give them a solid like 110 W wrc plus kind of thing uh against lefties in particular and they’re just not getting that and so again like what they decide to do I’m not really sure uh but I feel like with the way the lineup takes a step back against lefties and the catching position without Amaya really coming back down to earth and I want to transition to that as well like I I feel like they’re going to need another bat somewhere at least even if it’s just someone who platoon or you know gets in there to spell something when do you want to make the decision now because like we’ve been having this conversation for weeks it’s June 19th
so we’re still
Are you talking about Turner in particular or just
Yeah i mean cuz cuz I don’t like have to me I feel like I’m different than other Cub fans right now it’s still too early for me to be discussing these conversations of like all right do you go do you go and make a you know a trade now do you DFA Turner now
yeah so I don’t like in a way what we’re talking about is almost potentially moot in three weeks it relies specifically in how Matt Shaw looks in three weeks it relies on whether or not Justin Turner is going to out of this yeah
yeah but the but the question I want to pose is well are you willing to wait even now three weeks do you want Jed to go out now and address that now in a
in so much as that’s possible
in if it’s even possible
well I think you know look I agree with you it’s you know it it definitely all takes time um and you know you can feel very differently about a player um you know if Justin Turner had a solid week where he was really driving the ball and like looking like somewhat of the version that we saw even just last year you know you you’d be a little more comfortable in that and like maybe you’re like “Oh okay.” Like he just needed to like get it under him right like
I’m not sure but I I think the reason it’s it’s not so much that it’s like a pressing issue right now but it’s just uh kind of looking ahead to what the conversations are going to be or things to kind of keep an eye on it’s definitely too early for those conversations but as we kind of take stock of yep they’re in first place yep they’re great like there’s only certain areas that’s kind of why I say like you know certain guys like they’re going to play there’s only certain things to discuss right like Yeah kyle Tucker Kyle Tucker’s great like what you know PCA is a superstar there’s only so much to say on that some
weeks we can have a conversation about Dan and Ian Hapsucking you know so I’ll give it two more weeks and we can circle back to that
yeah well you know anyway it’s just something to keep an eye on uh I do want to talk about the catching situation and again like you know this is one where hopefully Miguela comes back i saw him posting stories looks like he’s working out at some of the Cubs facilities i think it was Mesa um but you know good to see him kind of trying to work his way back um it’s it’s it’s an interesting thing Brendan as Carson Kelly has basically been as bad for the last like month plus as he was good
the first month plus it’s like sort of astounding the way that he has gone to like the absolute peak had like a 2,000 ops for a month and now he got a hit on Thursday uh but really can’t buy a hit and you look at some of these numbers like last 30 games for him it’s 105 at bats a 181 average with uh a 252 on base and a 267 slug you take that down to his last 15 games which is 50 at bats 140 batting average 189 on base and a 220 slugging percentage uh so just getting you know north of 400 there uh and even worse in his last seven games 24 at bats just three hits a 125 average 192 on base and a 167 slug yikes uh like I you know talk about like the regression monster coming for him uh it came for him and it ate him alive uh but you know to be expected right he was never going to stay at those numbers just hoping he can find some middle ground in that and just be somewhere nicely between these two absolute extremes uh and certainly like it’s valuable that they got that play from him for the time that they did for as bad as it’s been recently you got Barry Bonds level production even if it was only for a month that matters like we’re talking about you know everybody’s yelling at Dansby hitting in the five hole like that wasn’t as much of a problem when Carson Kelly was doing this because you were getting this insane production so that really matters was very important to them in the beginning of the year when they were beating all those good teams the Dodgers the Padres’s like all those games carson Kelly was a huge reason they were performing that well on offense for that stretch so like you’ll take that and if it’s a struggle like from here on okay but I think it all pairs like all of a sudden at the beginning of the year Brendan the seven eight nine spots the Cubs led baseball in runs driven in from the bottom third of their order there
sure yeah but now as things have reshuffled like Matt Shaw is a rookie who’s developing and you want to be patient with Carson Kelly Reese Maguire are you know have kind of turned into a more like defense first catching tandem uh and you know it’s just when we look at ways to optimize or change this offense it’s only so many places to do it uh but I did just at least want to acknowledge I don’t have an even a big takeaway on on Kelly you need Miguela back i always thought even in the beginning of the year that Miguela’s development was the bigger story there it was obvious Carson Kelly wasn’t going to keep that up as fun as that was but Miguela Maya looking really good on offense in a more realistic output sense that was the bigger story and it’s very unfortunate that he got hurt i just wanted to acknowledge that it has been really bad from Carson Kelly
yeah and you have to update the whole storyline i mean Evil Wax brought up a good point
he is playing more he’s being exposed to pitching matchups he otherwise would not have been exposed to also he was ill for a week you know we saw him with some nagging injuries getting hit with foul balls you never know in a small sample like this of four or five weeks things can just percolate up to the surface and affects your performance who knows maybe in three four weeks that does return but in like the whole gradient of improving possibilities the catching position is not going to be addressed like this is her catching trio it’s Ru Maguire Miguel Maya and Carson Kelly
yeah so it’s okay uh you know again like this is just I I do find myself feeling like and again like you said a lot can change maybe they call guys up and give them some opportunities etc uh but I I do find myself thinking like I think they’re going to need if if Turner doesn’t show you anything you’re going to need another bat it doesn’t have to be someone you’re slotting into the middle of the order it doesn’t have to be this like massive thing they go out and do at the deadline but you got to have you know Birdie and Bruhan they are who they are they’re here to provide certain skills
and they likely one of them will likely be gone in three months if they’re somewhat redundant yeah but it’s nice to have the speed and like you know birdie you know he gets a start like once a month at this point like good luck to him i mean I saw him in the lineup the other day and you know people were frustrated at the you know I think he went 0 for four or whatever it was and it’s like dude good luck to him like he barely plays they throw him in there like good luck dude um
but you know he’s played solid enough defense him and Bruhan both have the speed if they want to use it you saw both of them come in as pinch runners in the game on Thursday and that’s this you know those are skills that you need uh but between the three of them somebody has to be able to hit like Craig Council needs to be able to shuffle in another hitter where whether that’s at DH or first base or spelling somebody at third base and the lack of any offense from those guys just isn’t going to work like he needs another hitter probably somebody to hit lefties because your lineup is slightly neutralized against left-handed pitching
we’ll see what happens in the next three to four weeks right the the two possibilities where we can solve that is Matt Shaw and Justin Turner can they emerge and solve that we’ll we’ll see but regardless having 25 million underneath that first tier of the tax assuming they’re even going to go over they have so much financial flexibility they have the prospect capital to pay for that and they have the flexibility with all these guys outperforming their projections where you have five six seven more spread out across literally three to four positions the possibilities are endless so for me when I take a step back I don’t do the calculus of like who fits i see in the chat AU Suarez Ryan McMahon right i can hear Pat Hughes in my in my ear right now a neo in its uniform yeah that’s fine all makes sense honestly it really does i don’t know how the Diamondbacks will be looking like in three weeks they’re at 500 now but
well we’ll see you just you just don’t know
i I don’t know and that’s also one of those things don’t we know the obvious outcome here the Cubs would trade for Suarez who would look like he he’d never hit in Wrigleyfield in his life that’s just the obvious the idea that he a cub killer would come over right and and be able to do that i just don’t believe it no um Yeah
no no thanks
but there’s so there’s so many milestones to hit time milestones to hit for the entire league there’s so many teams on their friendship competitiveness that they need to iron out i mean look where the Cubs were two years ago had Tman not made that diving catch well you know John Mandelario may have been traded elsewhere so a lot of decisions have to be made within two weeks of the deadline not six weeks of the deadline so I’m going to sit here i’m going to dial in on what Matt Shaw’s doing look at those adjustments i’m going to enjoy PCA’s superstardom i’m going to revel in having Kyle Tucker in right field and watching Danby and Nico continue to turn double plays and have this just work its way out the natural conclusion is going to happen that is 100% convincing for me
i Yeah and and look I I my to be clear right like my overall stance on this team is thrilled it’s it’s a joyous time going to Wrigleyfield they’re in first place they’ve been one of the best
is that too optimistic you think that’s too much of an optimistic look they they’ve been doing a lot right look all all good teams have their problems the Cubs are not unique in that they have any flaw they’re not unique that they lose series or slump i saw the Yankees scored seven runs in seven games but if you went on Cubs Twitter only the Cubs are a good team that doesn’t score runs for periods at a time which actually means they’re not good right to some of these people they they’ve been a very good team they have some flaws they have some things that you’d like to optimize better and we’ll see where they are when the time comes to try to do those things but that’s that’s going to be the nature of most seasons like most seasons most teams so uh we’re going to hit our
final ad break here uh and before we do that though I do want to mention that this is CHO spirit week we’ve teamed up with Big Brothers Big Sisters uh and according to our wonderful producer Stephen here we did hit our goal to raise $10,000 between the All City Network uh for lifechanging mentorships if you’d like to continue and donate you can visit bbbs.org/allcity uh and that is again for our fundraiser with Big Brothers Big Sisters uh it’s a wonderful partnership and a wonderful organization uh so if you are so inclined to donate you can do so there uh and with that we will hit our third and final ad break here and when we come back we will talk about pitching and some roster moves that are looming overpaying for property taxes is something far too many Cook County residents are doing and you don’t have to be one of them in Cook County appeal windows vary by township close up rapidly and are very difficult to win letwell’s experts ensure you’re prepared for when it counts sign up in under three minutes and their team of local experts and cuttingedge technology can save can start you save money with no upfront cost if I own property in Cook County I’d be overwhelmed those tax bills can hit $12,000 a year and appealing is a mess if I had not appealed before I might have lost thousands of dollars but hypothetically if I used well could have signed up in minutes gotten savings estimate and let them handle it all less stress fair taxes maybe even money left to splurge on a kitchen upgrade in Cook County own has a 25% contingent fee meaning you only pay if your property taxes are reduced save money on your Cook County property taxes with own sign up in less than 3 minutes and start your appeals today at ownwwell.com that’s owl.com a non-negotiable before a first date say first interview deodorant especially with summer right around the corner one thing that boosts confidence fast is Mando whole body deodorant it’s safe to use anywhere yes anywhere hits cracks thighs belly buttons you name it you can use it they have bourbon leather which is a favorite scent of many i love the scent it’s clean subtle it’s fresh mando stands out because it was created by a doctor who knew body odor was being misdiagnosed and it works it’s clinically proven to control odor better than soap alone you can get Mando starter pack which is perfect for new customers it comes with a solid stick deodorant cream tube deodorant two free products of your choice and free shipping as a special offer new customers get $5 off the starter pack with our exclusive code cho use code cho.com sop-do.com and please support our show and tell them we send you smell fresher stage and boost your confidence from head to toe with Mando he’s a pro folks uh and as I was mentioning our fundraiser with Big Brothers Big Sisters do want to shout out our guy Patrick Norton uh made a nice $50 donation we appreciate you Patrick uh it was fun being in studio with Patrick uh the other night it’s my first time in the studio in a while normally I’m here normally I’m here doing the
Is that Is that why they’re winning you know because you just been out
uh no i don’t
you back in
i don’t Well they won when I was there the other night they didn’t win when I’m here talking to you today so
don’t scream at me it’s not my
watch it
um all right so I want to talk pitching and I think you know sometimes we dive deep on these guys i think for these last couple starts I don’t know that I have like a ton to really deep dive on uh I will say like you know Jameson Tyion had been on a really nice run um you know of his last like eight starts or so i think he had an RA that was somewhere around two uh tons of quality starts didn’t have it today was uh a little bit like batting practice for the Brewers there and frustrating because you know the Cubs had a really nice effort against Peralta they got him out of there in five innings closer game maybe they push him to the six but they had him up in the 80s 90s pitches uh by the fifth inning there so it was really nice work three runs five innings like that was a a nice effort uh but the pitching really put them in a hole between Tyion and then Henness Cabrera who like sort of should have been out of it if PCA and Tucker had figured out how to catch that ball but that’s a tough one you know kind of placed perfectly right between them is what it is uh Tyion’s been really good for this team recently and I think as we discussed last week like doing really well in the role that you need him to be in uh but some stuff is looming uh and that is Shoto Nanaga has a rehab start on Friday i would imagine if that goes well we are not long from getting uh the Cubs ace at this point back into their rotation
correct he also said two starts two starts in Iowa
okay all right well sure uh Jordan in the chat says “Love the show guys.” Thank you thank you Jordan very nice of you to say um yeah so we’ll see when they actually pull the trigger on SHA but it’s soon it’s it’s weeks you know if not days uh rather than anything longer than that porter Hodgej looking good as well in his rehab stint uh so those are the two imminent ones and you’re going to have to make some moves i think you know you watch the outing today certainly feels like Hennessera like even I I don’t think he’s been awful um you know in a couple of these outings kind of bad luck or bad defense whatever but you know look if you got to make tough decisions like the guy giving up three-run homers is probably going to be where you’re going to look
um and then you know go from there i I’ve seen a lot of chatter for like Ryan Braier as well velocity not where it’s been where he’s had his most success and I think you look at some of those peripherals they’re not particularly exciting even if he has I think an erra in the twos the K rate the walk rate and the VO you know maybe something that they decide uh is not you know at its most optimal level when they make these moves but some other chatter as we’ve certainly seen and you and I have talked about this like what do they do with Ben Brown who is the person that Shoda is replacing in this rotation uh when he comes back so there’s a lot of moving pieces those two are definitely coming back and they’re going to get big roles right porter Hajj was you know probably your best reliever coming into the season and Sha Ianaga you tell me if Justin Steel is your number one or Shota is your number one up to you dealer’s choice uh but those are the imminent moves and a lot of implications here brennan yeah I I think the bullpen as a bull has been one of the best in the league they have the best year race since early May there’s from top to bottom their entire cast has an ear rate under 3.5 even you know as you mentioned Brazier before yesterday Anes Cabrera had a 3.2 RA uh uh Presley had a 3.5 RA so they’ve been getting outs but at the same time those guys at the lower end of the bullpen they don’t get whiffs so we’re talking about Presley we’re talking about Brazier Flexen even uh late inning guy Brad Keller a lot of these guys don’t get whips so the question I’m always fascinated by is well how do you ensure that by August you have a cast together that is capable of getting more whips do you want to spread out your gambles now in June in hopes that by August that you have one of the guys who can get whiffs or do you value outs now and hope that that light contact persist into August and reassess at the trade deadline for a whiff guy that’s why when I was thinking about this you know we have Ryan Braier we have or uh we have Ryan Presley we have Cabrera all those guys are DFA candidates at the same time Ben Brown’s been been bad he’s been volatile at times in unpredictable ways and he has an option so you could easily see okay well let’s kind of just change it up on Ben Brown quite significantly and send him to Iowa for 10 days you know let’s look at uh Cabrera for 10 more days let’s see how Brazier’s VO comes back when he’s a little bit more healthier in a consistent routine what does Presley stuff really look like and then 10 days becomes maybe 20 days maybe an injury pops up right maybe Drew Pomez’s back tightens up you know Drew go to the IIL for 10 days okay well all of a sudden we have not DFAD one person and it’s July 20th and now we can make an informed decision and by then maybe it is more obvious where it’s like all right well you know what Cabrera you’re a DFA or maybe Presley implodes it’s like oh I knew it those walking striker numbers were bad you’re gone it’s easy I think to really navigate through this and it’s a good situation quite frankly to be in yeah I I I think I ultimately that’s what I think they’re going to try to do right like they’re going to try to maximize the runway with some of these guys that don’t have options or things like that as much as they can um
I mean would you have thought that Bruhan and Birdie would be on the same team in June i thought Bruhan’s going to get DFA in in March yeah
i’m shocked they even made it this far
yeah like sometimes the as you say these things do just work themselves out i I’m intrigued with what they decide to do um I you know have liked and especially the lead that they have in the division sort of affords them some comfort with a lot of this stuff because it’s you you don’t take any day for granted but when you’re you know when a team is not breathing down your neck by a game or you’re not second place or anything like that you do have a minute to say like let us let us see what we have here let us let us take stock here and like really see um I I like that they’ve given Ben Brown this run um and I like the sort of future implication of trying to continue developing a starter a young starter someone that could be in your rotation for years to come you know etc uh I am curious if they decide to let him continue working um you know in that change up or whatever they want him to work on at AAA when Shota comes back um and there there’s a lot of ways to look at this uh
I’m not even sure if it’s a matter of working it out like I of course you want to weigh development for these guys but he’s just not producing so when you have Sha come back or Haj comes back like there’s an argument to be made that Brown is the least productive pitcher on the staff at the current moment regardless of development it’s it yeah I look and it it just sort of depends on how they’re weighing a lot of these things uh so just for what it’s worth uh against Seattle coming up here on Friday through Sunday it’s going to be Matthew Boyd then Kade Horton and then Colin Ray uh and yeah look like when Sha comes back SHA’s going to pitch every fifth day jameson Tyion’s going to pitch every fifth day kate Horton is going to continue to pitch every fifth day and Matthew Boyd is going to pitch every fifth day maybe at certain points they spread stuff out to keep some guys fresh we’ve talked about this these are things that are going to have to confront but they may also just be seeing like press forward and if Kate Horton’s showing fatigue we’ll deal with it then but like he’s never done this before maybe he’s just going to ride through it um so it it really only leaves Ben Brown and Colin Ray and you’re kind of deciding between which of those guys and I can see them in the short term like deferring to Colin Ray and just letting him continue to ride this they’re probably going to make a deadline acquisition for a higherend starter
and you you let Ben Brown continue to develop without the pressure and you know look like at some point right you just need more consistency out of these guys uh and that’s where B Brown has struggled which as we talked about last week like that’s all right he’s 25 he’s getting this opportunity like truly every fifth day you’re in this rotation this is your role for the first time in his big league career like there’s going to be adjustments and things like that but it’s similar to the other conversations we have like at some point you have to weigh like development winning now and what just sort of is the optimal way for this team to press forward trying to maintain their lead in this division and that’s
Do you have a preference oh man I don’t know
i mean mine I I think I think just a change in environment would be good for Brown i do think you send them down 10 days at at minimum 10 days see if that changes the thinking process the routine and then re-evaluate i do think that’s the best path forward right now
perhaps yeah and we’ll see if that’s ultimately the way that they decide and then as far as you know the moves yeah I I think your your candidates are pretty clear i think to me the top two right now are going to be Hennessera and Braier uh I know you’re dead set on Ryan Presley uh but dead set on
I know i I know i know i understand and I agree with you about the peripherals but they’re not they’re not going to move on from a guy that hasn’t given up a run in a month and a half like that’s that’s just not going to happen especially a veteran they traded for who they like in the clubhouse etc but that’s either way the one thing that you know aside from the moves that come with this the real important thing is you’re getting your best pitcher back and you’re getting a guy who was coming into the season to be your best reliever obviously it was it was up and down for Porter to start this year but like now with the success you’ve seen from Brad Keller the success you’ve seen from Daniel Palencia the elite duo of Chris Flexon and Drew Pomearans now you throw Porter Haj in there just more potential high leverage options for Craig kind of play around with this stuff and that can be huge for this team and with Porter Haj who last point the dual injury he had the hip impingement and the oblique Porter Hajj is one of the most important relievers on this team those two injuries though are unpredictable there may be some growing pains there may be some mechanical things that are not uh uh capable of being ironed up due to the injury it may work itself out he may need to spend more time in Iowa too so I do believe these will be naturally worked out in one way or another there’s not going to be these rashid DFAS that leaves them hanging out for more pictures
yeah all right i think that’s all we have for you guys this week we’re going to get out of here as always we appreciate your support uh we’ll keep an eye on Shota’s start on Friday uh I will be in studio again on Sunday with our guy Cody Delo to recap the Mariners series and then Brendan and I will be back with you next Thursday we appreciate your support and as always go Cubs [Music] [Applause] [Music]