Will struggling Cubs offense by Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel rebound? | CHGO Cubs POSTGAME

Will struggling Cubs offense by Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel rebound? | CHGO Cubs POSTGAME

[Music] this is the chgo Cubs podcast my name is Corey I am joined as always by Brendan we are coming to you on Sunday June 16th Brendan the Cubs lose two Series this week and I I got to be honest let’s let’s jump right into it there’s plenty to talk about but a lot of it we focused on we’ll talk about you know Jameson tyion has been pretty good Michael Bush looking pretty good we’ll talk about all that Brendan this offense is Dreadful this offense is Dreadful and the way that all of these games are some variation of the same theme this is excruciating baseball that we are watching from this team over the last month dating back to May 16th exactly one month the Cubs have the lowest batting average of Major League Baseball at 212 the lowest slugging percentage in the National League at 331 the lowest weighted on base average in National League at 279 we thought okay going into the year there’s a range of possibilities this is on the the extreme end I I am surprised even though I may have been a little uh uh pessimistic going into the year that it’s even been this bad it’s unacceptable I’m the front office looking at this roster as it is right now I’m on edge I’m on ner I’m I’m very nervous because this is inspiring some potential changes if it continues so the Cubs lose two out of three in Tampa they lose two out of three to start this niname home stand against the Cardinals and as our friend in the YouTube chat Gary pointed out the Cardinals scored six runs in this series Brendan and that is enough for them to take a series in your ballpark it’s it’s a situation where a lot of the guys that are playing every day are going to continue to play every day they need to be better but the brand of baseball that this team has been playing is just just it truly Dreadful to watch they can’t score more than a few runs when they do it’s either not enough right and then you have games like today where they didn’t end up scoring or they didn’t end up uh they only ended up scoring the one but they get the tying run or the winning run to the plate or on base in the ninth they do that all the time we love a good fake Rally or they’re up two to nothing the whole game and then you’re just waiting for the bullpen to blow it like we talked about on when I was in studio with Luke and Cody and Ryan during the Tampa series they needed that belly Homer that won them that game occasionally you need to get bailed out by somebody that just hits a three-run home run and salvages the game but you look at the way that they even won this week Brendan it was the same thing a bunch of Runners left on base one two three Innings Etc and then in the only one you won against St Louis ha bailed you out and hit the the Homer that put you up by four everybody in this YouTube chat or listening to our podcast later first of all welcome thank you for spending your Sunday and yelling with us Brendan none of you could look me in the eye before the hap Homer and tell me you didn’t think that they were going to blow that game on Saturday for sha imanaga cuz they were going to but they got enough of a cushion from the Hat ball that got out that even that Bullpen wasn’t going to blow it but it was the same game shoda is unbelievable he’s giving you everything he has but the margin for for these starting pitches is microscopic Brendan so so microscopic you could you couldn’t even see it in one of your Laboratories that you’re in and and it’s it’s every day it’s just and I I don’t think it would be more enjoyable if they were like in slugfests that they were losing seven to six but watching them get three hits four hits and score one or two runs every day is it’s excruciating baseball that we are watching it’s the most excruciating stretch of baseball I can remember maybe since the tail end of 2018 during that offensive Funk and even then this seems more severe in the duration of the stretch I’m trying to find some reason for optimism I can’t do it Corey I I can’t the main reason is when I look at the rest of the season projections right now they’re projected to be a couple games below 5 00 in part with weighted on base average projections of seya above 350 average run production from Morell and Dansby and the rest of the crew and even above average offense from Bellinger that is still producing an expected record below 500 yeah I don’t know how I feel about this I don’t know you can easily start spiraling but I don’t know how the front office can proceed with this current group as constructed at the same time I’m not sure it can be changed which is the darkest of darkest thoughts if this is one roster that you’re just going to have to eat and hope and pray things turn around I’m in a dark spot man I feel bad for all of us I really do I’d like to thank the chat for tuning in though we do appreciate you being here and you know we’re going to we’re going to commiserate we will get into some of the player specifics I want to talk about some of the starting pitchers and some of the performances that we’re seeing I don’t want to just yell for an hour but this was one of those episodes where I I I needed to come on hot cuz I I’m just I’m tired of this dude it it’s you’re not even coming on hot you can come deserve I mean honestly it should be hotter yeah you’re right it really should be but uh a couple things I want to to focus on um and and I I saw a comment earlier uh from Tyler in the YouTube chat uh and he said kudos to the pitching staff for holding it down and not cracking under the pressure of having to be perfect absolutely I mean credit to this starting staff and and really largely the bullpen I know people get frustrated when they blow games and occasionally the bullpen does need to do their job you can’t just excuse them every time it’s a close game because the offense doesn’t score enough the number one issue with this team is absolutely the offense it puts everybody at a disadvantage it’s definitely the number one issue occasionally though you do need your Bullpen to lock down a one-run game they can’t just that can’t always be the excuse but largely like this pitching staff has done really good work under the that exact premise that they have to be perfect you look at the games this week you got six Innings three hits no runs from Justin steel then you go to the next game in Tampa you got uh excuse me that is the raay box score uh Javier Assad four and two3 All the Same by the way you could be saying a box score from three weeks ago theidea it’s a short outing from Assad but that’s kind of what he’s been giving you and he still only gives up two runs then you go to the uh excuse me finale in Tampa or maybe I have the order wrong don’t don’t sue me six Innings four hits no runs one walk 5Ks from tyone a very similar line to Justin steel with the one walk and 5Ks and the six Innings uh then to start the Cardinal series Jordan Wicks gets hurt which is a bummer and we’ll talk about that later in the show but he goes one and 2/3 two hits no runs Kyle Hendricks comes out of the bullpen Kyle Hendricks in 2024 comes out of the bullpen and gives you four and a third two hits no runs and that is not good enough to win the game because your offense scores zero runs yesterday sha magnificent as usual as always seven Innings one run four hits they do end up winning that game but he’s leaving the game in a situation where it’s two to one like or you know they have a a razor thin lead in that game and you felt like they were on on path to blow it one to nothing whatever it was they all blend together then in the finale today Jameson tyion for the second time this week really good six Innings seven hits two earn two walks three KS you know his FIP is not probably where you wanted to be gave up a you know cheapy kind of home run there but that is enough for the Cardinals to win this game a homer off of the bat of a guy hitting with a 500 Ops is enough for them to Sol idly shut down this Cub’s offense I I I don’t know what more this starting staff and really the pitching staff in general is supposed to do in in these games the pitching staff has been doing everything they can and they are getting absolutely nothing from this offense I want to read something that was on the uh Marquee broadcast and this is where you talk about Hope and believing and all this other stuff and you can still believe you can be chasing a wild card spot the division whatever as right now no fan how you want to Fan I’m going to say I’m not going to tell you what to feel people want to give up on them now fine if you want to be a a a Believer fine I’m not going to tell you what to do but since April 27th Brendan we are recording this podcast on June 16th for context there and also just as a reminder there are 30 teams in Major League Baseball let me read some ranks to you of where this Chicago Cubs TEAM stands win percentage 28th out of 30 runs a game three and a half 29th out of 30 batting average 214 dead last 30th out of 30 slugging percentage 341 dead last 30th out of 30 average with runners in scoring position 170 30th dead last in baseball we have come on here and said certain guys have to be better if they play to their career norms and you do have a handful of them that are not playing to that level Danby hap Cody Bellinger even if you’re just doing it relative to his sort of resurgence last year they have to perform that way but Brendan we are going on almost two months of this team just kind of inarguably being bad I don’t know if the the thought I’m wrestling with is I don’t know if there’s room for optimism in a rebound with this group it’s possible but it requires some such a change from what you’ve read in the past six weeks how do you get this team from top to bottom to produce at not just League average but well above League average to get you beyond some of these win projection numbers at some point there’s a lot of ey towards Danby Swanson’s output a lot of ir towards Nico Horner’s output there’s frustration with how C Suzuki takes his at bats at times there’s frustration with Cody Bellinger not not matching his second half performance from last season there’s a ton of frustration at the catching core with Miguel Amaya and Jan Gomes being two of the worst offensive and defensive catchers in the league right now they’re still even ey at Ian half not showing for some reason maybe better than real expectations production on a consistent basis there’s so many room for improvement across this roster it seems just unlikely to happen then the question is can this happen or can signs of improvement happen before the trade deadline if the Cubs are four games under 500 does it make sense to go over the luxury tax start that cycle if you’re not seeing Dan B Swanson Elevate the ball more or if you’re not seeing Cody Bellinger and say Suzuki show the same type of offensive production from the second half is seems like that timeline is going to be here before you blink your eyes it’s almost 3 four weeks away in difficult decisions will have to be made that’s where I can’t grow my optimism and I can’t lie if I’m going to talk about this team to a fan who’s not covering this team then my one sentence explanation would be Doom and Gloom they are performing well below expectations unfortunately that is probably going to result in people getting fired unless something extreme changes and that’s always a possibility but it is Extreme by Nature yeah and you know you look at this week too and you know some of it is small samples guys are sometimes you know in relief spots then their spot starting Etc but I know for a fact at least this week the Rays started two guys against you that had an erra over five coming into the game molos had an RA sitting around 4 and a half half coming into the game you’re just not doing good enough work against pitchers that are not that good and that other teams are finding ways to score a serviceable amount of runs off of I mean at this point we’re not even asking for an offensive Onslaught just score five runs a few times but you know what like you know what the the the worst part about do Indie shows is I feel like about the Cubs well that first off of of course but it’s when we come on here we talk like we’ve been talking about the same thing for the past six weeks and it seems so like generalized at this point oh they need to score runs off these types of pitches mikas is this poor number you know Kyle Gibson sucked last year it’s like like dah like of course like I rather talk about who’s performing well that can get this group to the next tier and we don’t have those talking points anymore that’s the most discouraging part about this of course the unit needs to form but we’re not even seeing signs from anyone that can get this team to that point it’s almost like this almost feels like dead weight conversation I know it’s not good audio to have but that’s really what I feel like right now it’s a sucky place to be it’s it’s absolutely just it’s it’s what you know this team is kind of demanding at the moment so I mean even you go back and look kind of from their schedule uh so you go back to let’s say that middle of May series again against the Pirates you lost three of four in Pittsburgh so that was kind of one of the starts of this you lost two of three to the Braves you lost two of two to the Cardinals you lost three of four in Milwaukee then you had the series at home against the Reds you lost two of three there you beat the Chicago White Socks so congratulations to everybody you managed to beat the worst team in baseball by a single run every night so great then you lost another three of four to the Reds two of three to the Rays two of three to the Cardinals so as we’ve been updating that is a lot of series losses that’s a ton of just lost series uh outside of that White Sox two game set then you look at it again and when you look at the standings right now they are two games out of the final wild card spot yeah with seven teams above them sure I’m I’m getting to that by all intents and purposes they’re in that race there’s no question about it if you’re within two games you’re in a race now the caveat though and why I read off all those series results you look at the teams that are ahead of you even just right now in that race you’re behind the Reds you’re behind the Cardinals of course you’re behind the Brewers in the division and you are tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates that’s all you’re doing brother if you wanted to just jump those teams in the race not necessarily be above 500 or solidly holding on to a playoff spot but just be ahead of all three of those teams winning those series man and all you you have done against your own competition in your Division and teams immediately with you in this wild card base is lose lose two out of three lose three out of four you are not even taking care of your own business so when you look at those standings sure they’re still in it but the reason they’re not even in a better position amongst those seven eight teams in the NL Wild Card race is because they can’t beat them they’re not taking care of business beating those teams in that race do you think it’s r do you think it’s something that you would expect going forward this type of poor offense what does your gut tell you do you think it eventually turns around fast enough honestly and it’s sad you have to think about it like that I really don’t know because I I do think you know look you look at some of these numbers I mean haps Ops even with the Homer now sitting in the 600s Dansby in the 630s Cody’s in you know the mid 700s or wherever his is is they can be better than that they have numerous years of experience in this league being better than that but then you have to ask the question and I think it was good that we talked about the starting pitching how long can you ask them to do that how long can you and and so if the offense does come around isn’t it fair that the pitching staff would see the starting staff at least would see a little bit of aggression Javier Assad even though he’s not going deep into games has been great for you shoda has been one of the best pitchers in baseball Justin steel after those first three starts where he was working back from a hamstring injury has looked like vintage Dustin steel he’s been great jamus and tyone even though his fit there’s some discrepancies there he’s got like a a 35 ER and is like a really significant portion of starts like going back to like last August he’s been pretty good for you certainly worthy of being what a four five in this rotation sure Jordan Wick’s getting hurt it’s a bummer Ben Brown it’s a bummer but those guys have given you good starts too how long can you ask these guys to all go out there and give quality starts every time you have to expect a little bit of regression from some of those guys so even if the offense comes around I don’t know to me again what I remain most frustrated about is that it wasn’t just you and me it wasn’t just Luke Cody and Ryan and Jared and the rest of our team almost everybody I think that covers and talks about this team expressed concern that they didn’t do enough for this offense in the offseason the counter to that is is going to be well you’re just a fan you you don’t know everything you’re not in the front office and I know what your counter to that even your counter is let hear it I’m allowed to be wrong I don’t get paid millions of dollars to make these decisions I’m not the one that put together a 200 what5 million mid baseball team that’d be Jed Hoyer no man it doesn’t matter if I’m wrong and at the moment Brendon you and I are not wrong we spend all offseason saying this offense wasn’t going to be good enough they were going to be inconsistent and they did not move the needle enough to be sure that they could avoid exactly stretches like this I think there’s a group of fans who I talk with that give more credit to for an offices in in general than in reality the point I just said to you what do you know you’re in the front office what we do know for a fact is that the projections you and I talk about are marginally worse than the internal projections that is an absolute fact I have Absolut evidence of that then how the front office interprets that information and that degree of error in their decisions is what separates the front offices each front office from a win projection standpoint has basically the same type of system the same type of projection my frustration is that the way the front office proceeded with this group of players is understanding that being a mid 80s win team is likely going to come with a potential outcome of what we’re seeing now now this outcome is worse than what you would expect but the likely outcome was at 500 to slightly below 500 and the Cubs proceeded spending money just before the luxury tax to meet that type of expectation they’ll be judged on that how they develop their players the decisions they make to get to that point they will be judged on that of course I don’t know the intricacies of front offices and Player Development and player decisions but generally speaking we have the same access to about what the error in projections are it’s entirely entirely fair to judge and question the front office and I don’t want to sugarcoat that whatsoever that’s why in one sense I do get a little frustrated at that sect of fans who give more credit to the front office this is not rocket science Corey this is baseball this is baseball with a huge degree of error in and uncertainty and what the front office decided to do was enter the season as an 84 win team not touch that first tier of the luxury tax to account for the worst case outcome that way they don’t start that cycle and that worst case outcome is kind of what we’re seeing now there’s a real possibility that they’re going to go into July if this continues and not make trades even if they’re four games back of the Wild Card whatever it is two to four games back that’s a very real possibility and that’s going to piss off a lot of fans understandably so and then there’s another side of it if they end up going over that tier that first tier of the tax then you can criticize why didn’t you do that in the off season if you were always intent to go over the first tier of the tax of the deadline even as a below 500 team then why didn’t you do that in the off season to prevent a situation like this from happening we’ll see we are jumping ahead from from the trade deadline talk now but it seems like we’re entering that discussion and at this point if I’m going to bet money on what the likely outcome is given what we’re seeing I would probably say this front office is running out of time and it’s unfortunate uh you know we got to hit our first ad break here and then we’ll come back and talk some more but I I know I’ve seen it a lot from friend of the podcast clap on Twitter at the blog finds on Twitter uh he should start paying me for shouting him out no um love Matt but he said it a lot like we’re going to learn a lot about Tom Ricketts there’s a lot of narratives about Tom Ricketts that have been out there uh but if this continues we are going to learn a lot about him because there is that sort of pervasive narrative that they content listen all weekend I was there I I walked straight home to do this show from beautiful historic Wrigley Field beautiful day 8 in Chicago unfortunately the team on the field not befitting of the beautiful environment that that we have uh at the friendly confines but 40,000 people there today I was there on Saturday as well 40,000 people it’s full standing room only you walking people standing against the railing standing room only crowds Brendon there’s the narrative that that’s fine by him the team is two games out of the Wild Card doesn’t matter how many games under 500 they are doesn’t matter if they’re in a race with eight different teams in the rers are running away with the division again in in a division you know and you haven’t won a playoff game in six years six years seven years seven years they made the playoffs in 2018 you got to count on your fingers you know that’s what happens yeah so there’s that narrative that that’s fine by him as long as they’re Loosely competitive and 40,000 people show up to watch the Cubs and Cardinals who cares we’re going to find out if that’s true if this continues cuz right now if I was an owner even if we and I have argued plenty that I wish they went over the luxury tax every year I wish they spent $400 million and always made sure they were a World Series favorite and settled for nothing less but right now if I’m Tom rickets I’m looking at this as we’ve said and saying this is an expensive mid team and I shouldn’t be paying that much to be four or five games under 500 I’m looking around the league and there’s plenty of teams that can sit five games under 500 and their payroll is not $220 million that’s if I was Tom rickets and I would say even even get thinking that he’s as cheap as possible and he doesn’t actually care about being a juggernaut and winning the World Series just thinking on those lines I would say man I could be I could be this midling for a lot less yeah right so we will see if that is true if he continues along this path and we get same stuff at the trade deadline or at the end of the season if this continues the same way oh well you know we’re always committed to winning but it’s a process and we’re growing our farm system we continue to hear that then your there’s your answers on how this organization operates and is going to operate but this feels like a real inflection point for a lot of those kind of thoughts and narratives like let’s see Tom is this acceptable because we’re in year what three and a half of the retool whatever you want to call this we were promised it would be f we focused on the the pipeline and getting more top prospects and you’re you’re you’re not seeing those results at the MLB level so how many years is that acceptable three four five what are we talking so we’re going to learn how this organization really thinks and feels if this type of play continues for much longer let’s do the ad break we’ll come back around maybe talk about some more you know player specifics screw screw this team Cory this team is pissing me off right now I I love talking about this okay ladies and gentlemen it’s my pleasure to announce that smooth sack summer is officially upon us thanks to our friends at manscape you can make this season your smoothest yet the the performance package 5.0 Ultra is the ultimate bundle to keep your boys downstairs cool while looking hot join the 10 million men worldwide who just dress manscaped with our exclusive offer get 20% off plus free shipping when you go to manscaped.com and use code chg summertime and 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Bloon beer.com chgo to see your delivery options that’s get. Bloon beer.com chgo Blue Moon made brighter celebrate respond responsibly Blue Moon Brewing Company Golden Colorado all right Brendan uh before we continue uh and I have a I think I’ve shown it on the show before but I I just to talk about this something other than this team but uh first I do want to say uh Happy Father’s Day to everybody out there you’re sing uh with your father if your father’s no longer with us you have a strange relationship whatever it is there’s all sorts of things so happy Father’s Day to those celebrating hope you’re enjoying your day if you’re not celebrating uh whatever you’re doing today I hope you’re having a wonderful day appreciate you all joining us on this Sunday I am going to ask for one favor from the chat uh got you know a little over a 100 people in here hit that like button for us it’s 80 degrees in Chicago I could be at the lake and I have to talk about this Cub’s offense oh poor you poor Corey has to talk to me on his Sunday and Father’s Day no it’s not that I’m talking to you it’s that I have to talk about this mid offense and how bad they are with Runners and scoring positions so I’m going to see if the camera can pick this up but it’s it’s in this box and I think I’ve shown this before but this guy look at that look at that we got Mark Prior in the middle right there I can see the Cavs got moisa saloo on the bottom left who’s on the bottom right top right Sammy bottom right is that Mark ronic it is I can’t really see yeah Mar cranic look at that that kind of looks like uh Ramone Martinez brother is it Ramone Martinez that’s who looks like yeah kind of hard to tell Al ambros Sosa wood prior Ken here’s an optimistic statements sure the 2003 CBS were hovering around 500 around July is you know they ended up almost making the World Series this possible Corey right that’s what my optimistic side of my brain would say my pessimistic side I’m not going to say what I’m going to say but if there’s room for optimism There He Go 2003 and 2006 you think this so that team wins 88 games if I’m not mistaken you think this team can get there are you kidding me right now absolutely not if I have five more blue moons maybe but right now absolutely not yeah oh my God yeah so I don’t know man I it’s it’s just exceedingly frustrating I have one I have one thought though I keep seeing it in the chat I see it a lot and I I I I do want to talk about it cuz I was thinking about it uh today well we can talk about CH talking about that I do kind of want to ask you about that but go ahead but there’s a sentiment of frustration with the big signings I get it Dan B Swanson Ian ha they get a lot of the the anger from fans in addition with SE Suzuki I think those contracts are high contracts Dansby around 177 seya at 85 E and half at 60 all of them making a minimum of $20 million annual average value I think in a vacuum those deals make sense those are deals likely to match your value but this team’s not a vacuum there’s a hidden cost to Distributing 20 million dollar contracts across the entire roster yeah the cost is you inch towards that luxury test and if your roster doesn’t take the next step some of those contracts you give out take the next step then you’re paying for an average team because you’re paying those guys to be average players the average dollar per war if you believe in all that whatever that’s your philosophy but it’s about $10 million per one win an average baseball player makes you know from free agency is given around $820 million per year for an average free agent that’s what the CBS are paying these guys to be of of course you want to be above League average when Jed Hoyer signed Bellinger seya Ian haap extended Nico all these guys it was under the assumption that two things would happen the first is seya would exceed his $85 million contract has not happened yet the second option was pre-arbitration players come up and provide significant value that has not happened yet we can talk about morel’s expected stats but at the end of the day currently he he’s been replacement level with 0.1 War so the bet that Jed made is not paying off currently it can pay off but currently it’s not paying off and the vacuums the deals make sense but in reality you know there’s an intended an intention to pay those guys with a better than expected projection and it hasn’t happened and Jet even said that going into the year these guys will have to outperform their projections to make the playoffs ultimately that may decide their fate all this is to say I understand the a at Dansby at Ian at seya because quite frankly those contracts do stop decisions from being made Canario getting playing time maybe as one example other outfielders own Casey and Tria it does have a hidden cost when you distribute those contracts across the roster I agree and I think though again I think those contracts make sense in a vacuum but it’s how you build the team around it if you’re not going to build the St s and your prospects don’t immediately and quickly develop into those Stars it’s exactly as we’ve said it’s an expensive bloated middling roster with no stars and no you know true Superstars you know that really deserve those bigger contracts some of these guys are great role players you swap them into other Cubs rosters in past years they are perfect guys to hit in certain spots of the order to add diversity to that lineup to play better defense than some guys but as it stands right now you just have a bunch of like slightly above average at the moment performing at slightly below average rates but like at best you have some slightly above average players but there’s no stars it’s what we’ve it’s what we’ve talked about so much in addition to that you have a lot of money tied up in guys to be good not great players if they’re playing at their best and then as you railed on them for all of last year and coming into this year you have a lot of money tied up in dead weight you’re still paying guys like Trey manini and Tucker Barnhart you’re paying Kyle Hendricks an awful lot of money uh you’re paying Drew Smiley an awful lot of money he’s been pretty good as a multi- ining relief guy um he got out there this weekend like sure it’s it’s fine but million you’re paying him a lot for that privilege like that’s the problem so you you you’re paying a bunch of guys that are not Stars you’re wasting in money you’ve been bad on a lot of those marginal signings not all of them right you know you look at some of those things not a marginal signing but you look to have hit the jackpot on shoda versus spending exponentially more on yoshinobu Yamamoto who hasn’t been as good as shoda and now is dealing with a triceps injury so we’ll see how that goes so that looks like a great decision seya has been inconsistent but looks like good value for what you signed for etc etc yeah but yeah like and I mean that’s a good point from Chicago dude uh quadruple 8 there in the YouTube chat $72 million I don’t know the exact contracts of Judge and stto but 94 million for Dansby Cody seya and hap like it’s pretty telling it it there’s choices of how to spend your money and again we can get into the the rickets thing and all of that but it Jed has a lot of money to work with he took over a great situation in 2021 I think that fair to start with there was a lot of decisions to be made it was also a bloated expensive roster with guys you had to make decisions on and as we’ve discussed he looks to be correct in moving on from all of those people from the core except for Wilson conteras is the only guy who was performing really well after being traded or Let Go by the Cubs Kyle you know shorbs is his own thing I don’t feel like getting into that argument we can if you want but the point remains it’s a it so but you look at it now he’s be he’s got a lot of money to work with and this is another season where we’re in June they’re under 500 we’re talking about them underperforming and waiting for a run or a streak or something to lift them out of this and save this portion of the season it’s that’s a tricky thing to count on it would be nice to watch just a good baseball team Brendan a well- constructed good baseball team and I ask again what is the threshold that it’s acceptable for this ownership group when is that going to happen maybe this team turns it around maybe they sneak into a wild card spot the offense starts to perform better Cody Bellinger gets hot performs like last year Dansby gets his Ops up into the you know mid or upper 700s Nico who we didn’t even talk about that but he’s obviously hurt and they are playing him through it and he’s lifting the ball a lot which is really frustrating it’s just not a few of those swings today just not his swing but I’m assuming he’s playing through an injury because the Cubs love doing that it’s just something that they are are dead set on doing playing a man down and having guys play through stuff maybe that all happened Brendan but how how how long until we get a season where we’re not waiting for that they’re just good they’re just a well constructed good baseball team that plays well on a daily basis because it’s been years since we’ve seen that the discourage trend is that requires pre-arbitration valuable guys and our three top pitching prospects are all injured right now that would take those roles Ben Brown Jordan Wicks Kate Horton you may not even see that this year now how does that influence decision- making next year because you will have to account for not having those Innings fulfilled regardless of injury or not because you are not now unable to have the same level of anticipated confidence for 2025 as a result of not giving those guys Innings that’s the risk with all of this and then we start looking at the contracts you mentioned with the 94 million with Dansby with uh seya and with uh uh Bellinger those guys are front-loaded value type guys what I mean by that is the overall annual average values are around 25 to 30 m million but the anticipated outcome is as you get towards the back end of their contracts they’re not going to be as valuable as they were up front so you kind of you you pay a little bit more Upfront for better than three War even though the average expected War per year is three years uh three War per year so the the problem now is by not going full throttle and thinking there’s room to fill these roles with pre-arb guys if that doesn’t happen now you have aging contracts 33 34 years old that you’re paying for those roster spots you can’t just like cut cut bait with them now at the same time you’re also not able to fill those roles with those prear guys with a high degree of confidence so so then what that is the point at which front offices get fired where you don’t have the immediate group to fill those value holes and at the same time you have dead we contracts who are Prov providing more harm than value in the form of eating salary that’s how owners move on when when they see that will Tom make that decision in the off season well I still think it’s too early to say right now as as Doom and Gloom as that sounds is still technically still early to make that call it just appears as if we’re on that trajectory unless we have another extreme turnaround as we even had last season we’re at the the same point last season but if there’s any history to suggest that it will be different this trade deadline there there is none we didn’t go past the trade deadline in the in the luxury tax last year what makes the front office and the ownership group believe that this team is the one to do it on when it’s the same exact projection and essentially the same exact roster one year older with guys who are now injured not being able to fulfill those pitching prear roles it’s the same picture Cory so another fun stat uh from our guy at chdo Jake Flanigan he dropped in our chdo Cubs uh chat May 5th can you guess what that was the last time the Cubs did something Brendan what do you think happened on May 5th and that was the last time we’ve seen them do it uh hit three home runs in one game uh no it is the last time that the Chicago Cubs won consecutive games against a team that is not named the Chicago White sock well there you go who’ they beat do we even know don’t worry about it I don’t even care anymore I have the calendar up okay uh it was the Brewers actually Brewers look at that look at that yeah all downhill since then it’s it’s one of those things where again you know it does feel like simply getting slightly better offensive production it doesn’t seem like it’s asking a lot cuz at this point it’s nothing that you’re getting from this offense could turn you’re playing so many one-run games the margins are so so thin a little bit from the offense could turn some of these games into wins and you start to like have at least a better stretch of baseball but as we’ve talked about we read those numbers since the end of April you look at their series record you know since the beginning of May it is very difficult to like disguise the fact that they’re not just kind of Bad Brendan their starting staff has been really good and some of the guys in the bullpen have been good as well but you look at how they’ve performed relative to the rest of Major League Baseball how they’ve performed against competition in their own Division and this is not just two weeks this is getting close to two months of Performing like this just because it could get better and it’s not crazy to ask Dansby Swanson to up his Ops by like 100 points or Ian half because they’ve done it before just because it’s not crazy doesn’t mean that it’s it it it’s still difficult to kind ofg when it’s difficult to sugarcoat any other conclusion if you said it before if you were trying to explain this this team to someone who didn’t really follow team and didn’t really know baseball that well or stats or anything if you gave them kind of those little outlooks and he said anything other than well this has kind of been one of the worst teams in the league for the last couple month they’ think you were lying to them how could you sugarcoat that any other well they’re not because they just lose by one a lot and their can turn it around like great the results are the results man you’re at the bottom of the Barrel in a lot of these categories and Christopher morel’s expected W was actually 100 points higher so bear with me we’re going to get back to this winning games don’t worry about the defense it’s okay it was a good decision all along right like that that’s that’s the frustrating uh reality call Spade sometimes man you got to see the results on the field and this team has been especially you know on the offensive side one of the worst in the league that’s what it is my favorite part about Craig Council so far is I can use his phrases to justify my frustration on this Pro podcast the key phrase that you and I said all year frankly we just need results we’ve heard Council say this time and time again we’ve heard him say it even about World Series champion Kyle Hendricks frankly we need results I use that phrase now and I’m not feeling you know meali to say it frankly we need results I don’t care about expected numbers Corey I see that maybe as a numbers guy I don’t care I don’t want to leave anything up for chance I don’t want to have an argument say oh well it’s expected numers so we’re going to be okay no I want to build a roster where your expected numbers don’t have that much of an effect in a negative way I want to make up for any nonsense any BS everything possible going into the year as an 84 win team accepts that nonsense and at the end of the day that is what I will always go into talking about this team with my frustration 84 wins I can be delusional I can be optimistic that they’ll going to they’re going to exceed that 84 win projection I’m a fan I’m allowed to do that but the reality is baseball is so stupid that as a front office executive you should never leave your job up to that chance that’s a bad decision that’s bad process and for the fourth year we’re seeing them play on these margins dude and maybe I sound like uh like I’m on repeat and I feel as if to some degree I am but I feel like I’m taking crazy pills sometimes when I hear different pressers and press conferences and the words from jet and all this because it’s like dude you know everyone has the same type of projection and expectation and front offices operate differently Browski in Philadelphia same capacity to make decisions on these types of margins his his strategy pay up front Dre Turner Kyle schwarber Bryce Harper Etc let me do the ad brick here because I we’re going off the rails I just want to add one one point here before we do this La uh second ad break all off season I said I don’t necessarily care who they sign I don’t care what moves they make I had one ask if you listen to our shows I repeated it a lot the one thing I asked for after years of this not a rebuild quick retool very quick quickest retool I’ve ever seen only takes three four years right all I asked for was to build a roster that was the prohibitive favorite in the NL Central a division that at the time and I think coming into the year didn’t have a team projected over what 85 wins something like that 86 wins yeah not only did they not do that they were not the prohibited favorite in their own division they weren’t the favorite in their own division they were not a prohibited favorite to make the playoffs Brendan they landed at exactly the win projection that got the last team into the playoffs last year they were not even solidly no questions asked a roster that had to make the playoffs you go back and look at like 2017 or some of those years where the Cubs come out the gate they kind of struggle a little bit they’re around 5 500 they’re kind of all over the place that was 2017 right not 2018 who knows they all blend together they all BL 2017 you guys know what I’m talking about it took them a while to like get going and get over 500 etc etc that team just won the World Series that that people and you could look at that team and realistically say this is going to get better they have stars in this lineup they’re they’re slow out the gate but this is going to get better yeah this team is not coming off winning the world series and you’re not able to look at this lineup and surely say no no no they’ll be better hold on like you you just have to wait they’re just struggling it happens in baseball it’s just a bad stretch they’ll get better and they did they were you can’t do that with this team and so it’s just so frustrating this was always the concern and we’re just living in it day by day watching this awful branded baseball and the one thing we didn’t talk about I saw somebody I think you are the Creator said it in the YouTube chat they you go back to this week I don’t have the total in front of me I think it was four or five of the runs they scored this week were on bunts or swinging buns that didn’t get that barely got past the pitcher Mount that’s how they’re scoring their runs crazy I it’s it’s it’s pathetic Cory hold on good teams blow teams out just be patient we’ll eventually blow those teams good teams bunt and hit the ball barely pass the pitch team mercifully score two runs a game all right let me do this adad break here we’re going off the rails but okay game time is an authorized ticket Marketplace of majorly baseball which makes getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time game time app actually go down the closer it gets the first pitch take the guest workor out of buying tickets even for the NBA Finals Gore you want to go to that last game of the finals perhaps well game time is your uh Avenue to get those tickets download the game time map create an account use chgo for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply again create an account 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Silverado or lease the new 2024 Chevy tracks for only1 179 a month for 24 months or cruise into June your own way and Shop over 125 of their vehicle is priced under $220,000 and if you’re if you’ve ever heard of Ray Chevrolet then you’ve also heard of Ray Price promise their guarantee to make your next vehicle more affordable than ever with no price changing no add-ons and no hidden fees ever that means the incredible prices we’re talking about now you can expect to see the very same when you shop Ray Chevy in store or online shop the summer Sales Event all month long by visiting Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake or Ray chevrolet.com they’ve been serving the community since 1963 together let’s drive all right Brendan I know man I know I don’t know I mean we there’s one if there’s one optimistic thing maybe Justin steel he looks great you know throwing different pitch types more change UPS more sinkers he looks good yeah tell me a little bit uh about you and Ryan Herrera did a great article over at allo.com Justin steel kind of tweaking his repertoire a little bit we’ll we’ll we’ll talk a little a couple positives and then we’ll end with a sort of thought-provoking question of the week if you will that’s not specifically positive okay let’s do I’m going to show a graph here because we got people I try to give one graph a week right now I’ll be I’ll be frank it’s hard to make graphs when the team sucks this much like I’m not motivated to make graphs that’s that’s when you know I’m I’m depressed about this team but we did a story Ryan Herrera and I did a story we talked with uh Justin steel himself and Tommy Hy and the question was why are you throwing more change ups and stiners Justin steel over the past year and a half threw over 95% of his total pitches as four seams and slids he started to throw more sinkers and change UPS why is he doing this Tommy hoty said starting around 2023 last year they were changing his grip on his change up and over Bullpen sessions in between starts he’s grown comfortable with the pitch and now he’s throwing change ups and sinkers in just 10% of his pitches but he’s getting swings and misses on two strike counts and Tommy hoty said to paraphrase he believes Steel’s change up will be a real we weapon that’s a huge vote of confidence so why is he throwing change UPS more and why is he getting better results he threw change UPS sers 2021 did not get good results the reason is because they changed the grip and the way the ball and the seams move and steel has a natural cut fast ball right the problem with that is you don’t want your stiner to cut you want your Sinker and change up to tail so they changed their grip and they’re making his natural mechanics with a grip change a little bit like a hack and he’s able to generate more seam shifted wake and have the pitch fade a little bit more so now what you’re seeing here on the graph anything to the lower right means the change up is dropping and fading away to right-handed batters so if you look at this heat map imagine that you’re in the right-hander Batters box so when you see anything more to the bottom right that means the pitch is moving down and away from you in 2021 you can see that there’s like a bullseye right there that represents not enough fade not enough drop 2022 same deal 2023 you started to notice steel was using more drop on his change up but he barely threw the pitch and now you look at 2024 you’re seeing more drop and actually more shift towards the right-handed side and you’re you’re seeing more fade now if you look at what that uh looks like if you’re in the right-hander Batters box here’s what it is black pitch is just change up in 2021 2022 red is just change up this season obviously the red looks like it’s fading a little bit more and these pitches end up in the exact same like location so this is showing that Steel’s able to actually have more fade and drop on his pitches which is which is what you want so this continues he has another pitch type the for seems still playing up L are still P playing up and now he can use a sinker a change up sparingly maybe if he goes more comfortable with it uh he can increase your frequency but you want someone with Steel’s repertoire to continue to da because over age span rarely do you see two pitch guys survive the reason you’ve seen Verlander survive sherzer survived even Kershaw survive is because they’ve developed new pitch types Kershaw developed a cutter over the past five years and steel likewise may need to develop a third type of pitch and we’re seeing that and it’s very encouraging so there is room for optimism despite all this nonsense going on yeah Steel’s been great uh I know I saw Tyler in the YouTube chat saying you know I don’t know if Tyler was talking about the playoffs but if you could sneak into the playoffs sha one Steel Two whichever order you want to go it’s a tough all right now now we’re getting crazy over here now we’re getting crazy well hey you know trying to highlight positives I think Michael Bush another positive um 125 WRC plus looks good K rate pretty high 33 and a half so you’re going to want that to come down at some point uh but for a guy getting extended run you know really for the first time in in his career beyond what he got in experience with Dodgers looks like a pretty solid trade at the moment again you know he’s fitting into that mold other guys are not playing to this level of like good but not great uh at the moment but hey you know if you can make a trade for a costc controlled uh guy that’s able to come over and have success here as an offensive contributor that’s it’s a solid start you know for someone who obviously was a big question mark coming into the year yeah bush has been great I think once we get more understanding of how he goes about his uh play approach and his bad ball profile I think will start to make sense I keep mentioning this but his he reminds me not Apples to Apples but he reminds me of Chris Bryant in the fact that they both had unorthodox swing ples and what I mean by that is with bush he has like slow bat speed for a long swing and it doesn’t make sense to me because he’s having success Bryant had the same thing and that was one reason why the Giants did not extend him they didn’t like his swing profile and the Giants were I guess right but with bush you saw today blue pit knocked another run you see blue pit all across the diamond and then there’s times where he just hits moonshot home runs right so that that’s the interesting part about Bush defensively I still need room for improvement uh we’re seeing Bellinger play first space more which which is fine and I think uh justifiable with PCA back up but like Morel he needs a defensive home and like Morell they need to perform really highly offensively to justify that D Spot or those Growing Pains um at at the defensive level so bush has been great don’t get me wrong but like it’s hard to be super optimistic when the entire team just needs someone to go Way Beyond even that which is what bush is producing right now yeah all right so let’s let’s wrap with a a thought-provoking question five minutes five and you can answer it how you’d like but I’ve seen the chat discussing it and there’s not going to be a real answer to this but when you look at this team there was a lot of discussion made uh of course when the Cubs made the decision to let David Ross go to pay a lot of money to make Craig councel the highest paid manager in the league when you look at this how do you balance they made a big change in manager but the result looking very similar in some ways better some ways worse however you want to look at all that are you putting most of your ire if you will on the players themselves is it Craig Council and you know were we too hard on David Ross and it’s all the players is it Jed for putting the managers in this position before I throw it to you I will start with at least my caveat Craig counil is a better manager than David Ross David Ross made a lot of stupid decisions Craig needs to get some of this cleaned up like we talked about the defense base running stuff like that like he’s bu with him and he can’t go out and hit for these guys neither can David Ross so the comparison of the two you can argue how much they get paid etc etc but council’s better than Ross in my opinion I thought Ross made a lot of stupid decisions that I don’t think Craig makes but when you look at this like are you do you put most of it on Jed does that let the players off the hook for not performing does council need to do something to get a spark how do how do you kind of square all of this does it not matter the Sun is going to engulf the Earth at some point and none of this matters what do you think about that because the chat is is a little divided there’s some folks that are you know very squarely in the camp of like Council wasn’t worth it or we were too hard on Ross or it’s all on the players the players aren’t performing Craig can’t hit for them talk to you know talk to them what do you think uh you want Council to be a miracle worker I just read to start this podcast they’re last in batting average last in slugging percentage and last in waiting on based average over the past thousand plate appearances we need a a miracle worker as manager to make that work here’s where I am with with the manager decision ultimately they get paid their expected value Okay Ross was going to pay $2 million yes council is the highest paid manager but it’s $8 million okay if it’s a marginal upgrade even a marginal upgrade it’s an extra $6 million relatively speaking for these baseball operations that’s pennies so if there’s even a marginal Improvement it makes sense am I happy with council’s job I mean I would like to see the team hit for more base hits I’m not going to say oh council’s doing a great job but at the same time I can’t even tell because you’re last in every offensive category over we were past thousand player appearances I like what council says to the media at times but I don’t know if that’s reflective of its process I like what the coaches say they work with Council in improving their decision making I like all of that but it’s still too early to tell but Where I Come Away with I don’t think the managers matter that much I think they have an effect don’t get me wrong but they get paid what they think they are worth from the front office point of view and a $6 million difference between the two is pennies dude absolute pennies we’re talking about Drew Smiley gets paid $10 million okay Council gets paid 8 million versus $2 million it’s whatever at the end of the day the front office needs to make better decisions as what Jed says stacking good decisions upon good decisions they stacked a lot of good decisions that have been fallen over by bad decisions it hasn’t been good enough from a baseball organizational point of view yeah council is part of that but it’s hard to tell what he’s doing right and what he’s doing wrong when a team out large is this bad yeah I mean look for me we it it would be a longer conversation if you were deep diving into the managers and stuff like that like I said just my opinion but I think Council manages laps around David Ross disagree agree all you want that’s just my opinion what I would say is my ey at the moment is on Jed for building an offense that wasn’t good enough and then slightly below that it’s on the players man like some of the these guys are not performing well enough ha Dansby and even we’ve talked about Dansby not being a a guy you’re relying on for offense he’s below that half is below where he needs to be Cody Bellinger performed you know did the short-term deal again he’s not performing to that same level that’s that’s where my ey is it’s also on Jed Hoyer for this mess of a catching tandem you and I were texting I think it really sums things up a little bit we were debating when they should have pinch hit for Miguel Amaya because he came up twice with you know key situations late in the game on Sunday should you have done it the first time but then Gomes would have had to come in and then you can’t Pitch hit for Gom funny retrospect right it’s a mess that the fact that we’re having that conversation is an utter mess like which which spot is the most consequential to pinch hit your Dreadful hitting catcher for the other Dreadful hitting catcher to come in and then not be able to be replaced I it’s it’s just a mess so to me it’s on jet like that’s where the the primary frustration comes in as you’ve said a bunch this roster had certain outcomes that they accepted and they accepted the risk and the high probability of that risk at the end of the day that’s what they’ll be judged on that’s that’s it but I I do expect like these conversations are going to heat up like I said we’re going to learn more about how Tom rickets views this timeline how he views what is acceptable from this organization what isn’t acceptable we’re going to hear more about is jet on the hot seat what do people think about that and you are going to hear more if if they whether it’s right or wrong the conversation is absolutely going to turn and continue to be you paid $8 million to steal the Brewer’s manager and they’re running another lap around you whether it’s right wrong that will be part of the conversation and we’re going to have to deal with it and I it is you know so it’s this team is just so frustrating frustrating it’s it’s frustrating because they’re I’ll end it here but it’s it’s frustrating because decisions get made with I think the front office having a better H with the front office thinking they understand the margin of error that’s where I get frustrated on because I don’t feel as if their decisions reflect a real margin of error I I really don’t believe that because if they did then I believe more aggression upfront in 2022 2023 and 2024 would have been had not middling around dispersing 18 to $25 million contracts hoping that one or two exceed their value and then you can supplement those guys with pre cost control able guys and the developmental system is not bearing fruits yet either there’s potential for it don’t get me wrong I see the top 100 prospects but you’re not seeing those fruits Beed yet we still need to see PCA provide value even though we’re optimistic Owen Casey Uh Kevin alant been struggling organizational wide I don’t know if this is necessarily reflective of their process but organizational wide from double A down even from Triple A down they have the worst walk rate in organized baseball oh good or that’s crazy double aay down they have the 23rd best strikeout rate listen I’m not uh uh a big understander of baseball front offices but I think you should strike a lot of guys out if we’re going to walk that many guys right and so maybe there’s refinement there to be had as well even though we like the pitching infrastructure but it reminds me when I have these conversations with those who work in in baseball it reminds me of where we were in 2018 when I was being told hey man people look at the C and they laugh I’m like shut up this is Theo Epstein like that’s not true they’re not falling behind and it ended up them falling behind so I’m I’m a little worri that this may happen again you’re seeing heavy sweepers being used now and hitters adjusting you seeing the the the Splitters come back you’re seeing teams start to make these unexpected changes yet again and so of course the really negative thinking I have is oh my God the Cubs are falling behind again and Jed once again is one of the main reasons for falling behind I don’t want this to happen that’s why I would be inclined to move on from the front office at the end of this year if this continues without even thinking yeah Snap My Fingers goodbye Let’s get someone else in yeah and just to finish up you know I see it in the in our YouTube chat here again thank you guys for being here on a Sunday live in the YouTube chat if you’re listening on your podcast later we appreciate you too uh thank you for tuning in um it’s a tough spot you know we look at like uh you know I think Alexander Canario ended up leaving the game with maybe a minor injury yesterday that was the last report I read I apologize for that’s outdated but he had been on a a terror there’s other guys that are doing well ow and Casey you know but where are you playing them and and it’s one of those situations where I understand that people are going to say well this guy’s got a 630 Ops just do that listen guys Dan B Swanson’s gonna play hopefully he gets healthy niiko Horner’s gonna play Ian Hap’s going to play Mike talkman leads your team in certain offensive categories he’s going to get get his playing time if PCA is up they made the decision to bring him back up he’s going to play you’re going to have to deal with a rookie struggling adust adjusting he’s young it’s going to happen seya Suzuki is g to play Cody Bellinger is GNA play they traded for Michael Bush he’s got a 125 WRC plus he’s GNA play unless Owen Casey is going to strap on that mask and start calling pitches behind the plate where are you putting him we can see if you can do it you know can’t be that worth and again I’m not necessarily arguing that that is the right course of action but you’re paying these other guys this is who you’ve built this team around if you’re Jed Hoyer you’re not just going to bench some of these guys it’s just not going to happen whether I want it to or you guys want it to there’s not a lot of spots the guys that are on this roster are going to be the guys that have to get it done yeah you may need to make some trade you may need to move stuff around but they’re paying these guys they they they built the team around some of these guys they’re going to play yeah that’s how they’re going to do it whether we all like it or not last comments All then you can sign off CU I you know I do have stuff to do but T Tyler said it uh change we need but it doesn’t mean we’re going to get that right either the grass is not always greener I that’s my fear because basball things can get worse it can get worse and baseball has grown so much where you have all these different departments and jobs and if you get rid of a front office to replace every one of those positions it’s a big ask and so maybe it’s not always greener and that’s one reason why you keep J and I to some degree would understand that even though I still would probably move on but it can get worse believe me it can get very worse and and we don’t have other than rickets capitalizing a Theo being available at a very unique time we don’t have much proof that rickets and the ownership group can identify someone that isn’t a generational Hall of Fame executive the UFC at the time so yeah that’s what I have well and one last thought on what what I said twig Woodman saying in the chat we shouldn’t be tied to talkman because everyone else stinks if he has the best on base percentage on the team when the offense stinks I I hear you what I’m saying is for them to bench talkman and bring up Casey or one of these guys I I I don’t see them doing that that that’s all I’m saying I don’t see them saying you know what this is the guy who’s Expendable even though he’s been one of the best hitters in this Dreadful lineup like I just don’t see them doing that that’s all I’m saying y here’s where we’re going to end you got six games left on this home standand I said at the beginning of this home standand I thought we might learn a lot about this team in that last game against the Rays and this niname home stand what we’ve learned so far is that what we’ve seen for the last month and a half might be who they are unfortunately you have six games left on this home stand three against the Giants Monday through Wednesday off day Thursday three against the Mets culminating in unfortunately for you and I Brendon Sunday Night Baseball next week I don’t know if you knew that yet but I I hate to break that news to you on air these are teams that are right there in that wild card race for a little bit we were all looking at like oh wow look how bad the Mets are they’re right there with the Cubs I think they’re a half game behind the Cubs Giants right there I think one of the teams that you’re chasing so we talked about you’re not taking care of business against the teams in the NL Central other teams that you play a lot that are in that wild card race well here are two more that are right there in the thick of that 18 third place Wild Card race with you the Giants and Mets six games at home if you’re going to turn it around you have got to start doing it it has got to start now you need to score runs please I’m begging you score runs on a consistent basis pay off this great work that you’re starting pitching is doing on a daily B big week ahead I never like to throw on must wins things like that CU you know here we are they’re two games out like I don’t know what the timing is for any of these decisions and anything but if you can’t take care of business on a nine game home stand stand at home which you’ve already started in a bad way against teams you’re fighting for the playoffs and even though it’s only June I don’t know when you’re going to turn it around man cuz the schedule is only going to get harder the road road trips only grow and you get more tired and more into the dog days of summer and stuff like that you got to take care of business at some point got to start to hit we got to see it so that I think is where we’re going to leave you again we appreciate you guys tuning in uh it’s a frustrating team but as I always say we’re all Cubs fans we might agree or disagree on a lot of this stuff but at the end of the day we love this team we just want to see this team succeed and I enjoy talking baseball with you guys and we are happy to have you guys here in the chat so so go enjoy the rest of your Sunday if you’re listening to this on Monday hope you have a good day enjoy your day at work wherever the day might take you we appreciate you guys tuning in Brendan and I will talk to you next Sunday don’t forget to tune in to the boys throughout the week Luke Cody and Ryan appreciate it talk to you soon and as always go [Music] [Applause] C like the May

Corey and Brendan discuss whether we can expect the Cubs offense to rebound based on their current roster and under-the-hood numbers. Is Dansby Swanson, Christopher Morel, Seiya Suzuki, and the rest of the lineup enough to turn the season around?

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FRIDAY 1:20 CLUB: https://events.humanitix.com/chgo-friday-1-20-club-pregame-at-murphy-s-bleachers-and-after-party-at-almost-home

WATCH YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS: https://www.fubotv.com/chgo

Sunyside Cannabis Dispensary: Head to https://sunnyside.shop and use code ‘HICHGO’ at checkout for 35% off favorite brands like Cresco, Good News, & more to elevate your first purchase! Sunnyside* Cannabis Dispensary -Bright buys, every day. Only for 21+ or IL medical card holders

Head to https://salernospizza.com or call 312-666-3444 for more information – Mention CHGO and get half off your pizza!

Let’s level up your nicotine routine with Lucy. Go to https://Lucy.co/CHGOCubs and use promo code (CHGOCubs) to get 20% off your first order. Lucy offers FREE SHIPPING and has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind. That’s LUCY.CO and use code (CHGOCubs) to get 20% off and always FREE shipping. And here comes the fine print: Lucy products are ONLY for adults of legal age, and every order is age-verified. WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Penrose is available at your local beverage retailer or visit Penrose’s taproom in Geneva. For more information go to https://PenroseBrewing.com or follow them on social media, @PenroseBrewing!

Use code chgocubs50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at https://FACTORMEALS.com/chgocubs50

Get Blue Moon delivered and see delivery options by visiting http://get.bluemoonbeer.com/CHGO ! Celebrate Responsibly. Blue Moon Brewing Co. Golden, CO

Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CHGO for $20 off your first purchase.

Check out FOCO for merch and collectibles here https://foco.vegb.net/CHGO and use promo code “CHGO10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items.

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