Episode #100 - WE ARE ROLLING

Thanks for tuning in! 

- Carl & Mahoney

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

And we're rolling. Good morning and afternoon and evening, Chicago Cubs fans. Welcome back to the Monday morning Cubs Show episode number 100. It is today, April. Did I get this right? Is it April 20th? Is it 420, Mahoney, for number one episode for number 100 episode?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Carl, that's a fact, Jack. I actually took advantage of some local deals myself at the old pharmacy. So it is 420, tall you maniacs. The Cubs are on the street. We're rolling, as I had said off the top. And yeah, here we are for the 100th episode. Carl, it is indeed 420.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

We are rolling. We got a couple secret surprises for you guys. Maybe I took an edible before the show. Maybe we'll be in a very good, calm mood as we win five in a row. Most important, off the top, guys, we are welcoming as a guest to the show who's been on the show now. It's our second recurring guest. The most formidable baseball mind in my own personal experience. I talk about the clubs all the time. People always go, I can't believe you know this. Or man, you're deep. You're insightful. Well, guys, I'd like to re-welcome and reintroduce our close personal friend Jake, who not taught me everything I need to know, but you're just about the most influential baseball guy in my life, Jake. Welcome back to the show. Thank you very much for having me back, boys. This is uh it's quite an honor to be asked to be on the 100 episode. I uh I was a little nervous actually. No, but uh I know that you guys are gonna make this easy and we're just gonna have a fun time today, eh?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, it's a strike. That's a strike.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yeah, baller strike. When's the last time Jake too? When's the last time Jake got nervous about something?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

That's a question, Carl. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

It's not a ball or strike, it's just that that doesn't have to do with the health and safety of your kids. Like, when's the last time you were personally nervous? Wait, a sales meeting? I don't know. You get on the first T somewhere and I'm nervous. Yeah, that's where I was gonna take it. I was gonna say, anytime I play golf with someone for the first time, it I don't competitive match. Anytime I gotta somebody see me swing golf club for the first time, nerves just fly out of the fingertips.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

That never goes away. Anytime I'm playing too, especially with buddies' buddies, and it's like they don't know me that well, you're up there, you know, you hear a little bit of chatter, they're being respectful. You really want to just swing easy and put a charge into one.

Thirsty Vacero And The Vibe

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yeah, so the answer is for is this weekend. Okay, you had a big match? No, I but I did play with a buddy who a buddy of my brother's who had not met before, so of course, you know, and he's a good goal, he's a stick. So you're playing with a good golfer, a little bit more pressure. The three of us, I will say we play a lot of golf together, and the three of us a lot of golf together. The best golf I like to play is is with the three of us, uh but I don't know if we have a fourth to our golf. Who would you say is our fourth? Is it is it baby bro Kev? Could be Kev, could be one of your recent guests, CB. Ooh, CB's a good guy. Could be a couple guys from the uh no, there's there's plenty of guys out there, and we got to make it happen more with a couple, maybe, maybe test out a couple fourths. Maybe we should get it going this year, guys. This is the 100th episode of the Monday Morning Cub show. We have a lot to talk about. It's gonna be mostly ball or strike, which is what we like to do in these guest segments to kind of round table touch on everything. Now, before we get going down the path of the show, there is a little bit of sentimental thing for me, Carl, here, honestly with you guys, and being more authentic is something I'm trying to do with you guys and just peel back the curtain a little bit. But I wanted to do the Monday morning cub show for a very long time, and you can trace it back to when I was doing starting nine with Jake. And there's something, you know, and I love Jake, and I the redline radio is a great experience. The thing that was ultimately missing was just the fact that, like, I don't I want my boys plugged in and have a great time. And when the original conversations about a Monday morning cub show popped up, it was with the two guys we're doing the show with today. Obviously, everybody knows Mahoney. We want to welcome Jack Jake back here as much as possible. Uh, so there is a sentimental piece of this this hundred episode. Thank you guys very much. Subscribe if you get a chance, leave five stars. Um, but this one means a lot to me if you're listening. Lizard King, I know you're listening. It means a lot. Sean, I know you're listening. This one means a lot. We're gonna put on a good show for you guys. And before we do any of it, I have to be very clear that there is no Monday morning cubs or lineup preview without an all-bite, no rattle, Mexican style soda with the signature spicy finish that's available and three bold flavors on Amazon. I know Jake's sitting with one in hand right now. What flavor we got? Yeah, mango mango muerte, which is my favorite. You want to do a little taste set taste test for us? Sure. Let's do this. You hear that? Here you go. Yeah, crispy, crisp.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

It fizzle. Doesn't fizzle in your mouth.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

It's just so nice to understated. It gets that you got that little kick that you can feel once it goes down. And you can add some tequila to it. You cannot add tequila to it. I put it over ice. There's a lot of things that you can do with this beverage, particularly the mango muerte, which happens to be my favorite. Baller strike. I just got a bottle of mezcale and I've been sipping on mezcale watermelons all day. Baller strike.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

I'm gonna say that's a strike Carl down the middle. Yeah, brought it up. It's almost too easy.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

A little smokiness to this, too. It'd go great with some mezcal. Hey, the mango muerte plays real nice before noon. You know, if you're having like an early lunch or a late breakfast, breakfast sandwich in a mango muerte is oh, dude, a mango muerte on the T-box.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

How long until a vendor at Wrigley slinging Lamon the drone out 120, 96 degrees outside? Probably already had nine or ten bud lights. Do you guys mind I mixing a non-alcoholic? Yes, sir. I'll say this caro on the video board who says no. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah, I mean, I don't see why not. It seems to be floating around Wrigley quite a bit. If you've paid attention to the socials, I've seen more maniacs tweeting with their thirsty vaqueros in hand. And the more I see that, the more the cubs have winning. So it doesn't only support the show, guys, it's supporting the ball club.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

And people are probably, you know, get to the cubs, get to the cubs, guys. We're five in a row. We're rolling. Yeah, some of the Matt. We're looking at the hardest week of the season. We're losing series to the nationals, we're losing series to the fucking pirates at home. 120s, like, give us a second here. We are rolling, we are feeling very good, and we do just want to say thank you to Thursday Bacarrow for sponsoring the show, sponsoring lineup previews. And if you want to support the show, you want more money, more and cut, you want more good Cubs analysis, just go on Amazon, throw a case in the fridge. I'll guarantee you, whoever that significant other is gonna like it, even if it's not for yourself. Your wife is gonna be like, Oh my god, Jeffrey, and you're Jeffrey with a G with a G, soft G. So he's gonna say, Jeffrey with your soft G. I can't believe you put Lamon in the fridge for me. Thank you. I'll let you touch my clit now.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Shootsy scores, and ice to follow up, getting hot in here. Yeah, dude, I don't I don't want to rattle, but I want a bite. I want an all-bite, no rattle every time.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Hey, one of these days we're gonna come in here and do a Monday morning top show. I swear to god, we're just gonna talk about Thirsty McCarroll for 45.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah, for sure.

Have The Cubs Overachieved?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Just tell a fucking story. So, all right, so what we did, we prepared the show today, and again, just for credibility purposes, because there's people that have come and go, and and like I'm not sucking the show's dick or anything, but it does keep growing every week. There's new people listening to it, and there's people that have listened before they're coming back into the fold. So, like, we're watching the numbers, so we'll just do a little credibility round table here. You know me, you know I'll sit here and do a solo show for an hour, 30 minutes to get shit off my chest. You know, Mahoney, piping hot comedic relief, knows the ins and outs of hanging about Wrigleyville, and then Jake is actually just an extremely accomplished pitcher and knows as much about baseball as I do, as much about the Chicago Cubs as I do, as much as anybody that I do. So I know he doesn't play for the Cubs. We talked to a couple players to try and get him on for the 100th episode. Sorry, Jake, we settled for you. Um, you know, again, I said I'm honored to be here, and you don't you don't have to you don't have to butter me up or or put me down. I'm I'm thrilled to be here talking to you guys about the Cubs and where we're at today. Can I lead us off with a baller strike? Yeah, I was gonna say baller strike, we're rolling. Strike. So if you last time I was on, we talked about how difficult this first month was gonna be, right? And I think this question, this baller strike's gonna be it could have a different answer next week. Given the injuries and the weather and the scheduling and all this, this team is actually overachieved today, baller strike.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

I I'm gonna say, main ball slightly outside, only because of the the downtrodden bats early on in the season. I think we have seen more of their identity now, and I want to say strike so bad, I hate to say ball, but I don't know. I have to say ball. I don't think that they're quite overachieving at this point. I I want to see them win another five more, and I'll be like, all right, yeah, with the injuries, we're we're rolling hard now.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Mahoney's Mahoney's saying ball for me, and I appreciate what Mahoney just said. I want to, I wanna I want to take a little bit of what Mahoney said, but I I almost have to say strike because you said the injuries. Now, if you said, hey, if we overachieved, are we where we need to be? Ball. Yeah, but if you're telling me Boyd's out, obviously Steele's been out, you know, Kate Orton cooked, um, Michael Bush over 30 at one point. I mean, you start digging it. Pete Carl Armstrong, not a good player offensively right now. Just it's just not, and that's okay because we've seen him get hot, but you really dig into it. Have they over they're 12 and 9, 12 and 9's on pace to win 90-91 games with some clunkers in there, too. Yeah, hey, Tui, this is a good one. I I'm gonna say strike ABS challenge, though. I think it's maybe like borderline ABS challenge. I I agree with Mahoney. It is a ball, it is a strike. What do you think it is? I like what Mahoney said, but I I actually think it's is a strike, okay? Um, right now, go up and down the stats on this team. Michael Bush, OBP 275, Batten 175, Dan 200, 341, excellent OBP for that batting average. Alex Bregman 229, 301, half 222, 333. I mean, like nobody has really performed thus far. Uh I mean, besides Moises Balesteros, amazing. Uh, and Nico Horner. But you're calling out something that's important here, which is you know, Nico Horner is a prime candidate of it, lower batting average, but a great spread OBP to BA. Like, he's got a 325 butt batting average, 400 OBP right now. So, and Swanson has another one, lower BA, but like that gap, when you see a gap, I think for me the gap is 70 points, where I'm like, all right, that's solid. If you're if you hit 250 and get on at 320, makes sense. If you hit 380, get on at 350, 280, 350. Like 70 is kind of to me is average. When you start to see guys over 80, 90, when you see a hundred-point clip difference between batting average and OP, OBP is when you really start to lock in at guys that have good approaches. But it's got to make you feel pretty good that they're like they're not really hitting that well, but they're getting on base, they've gotten some timely hits, they're making do with what they've got right now with the the rotation and the bullpen. And it's been a relatively tough slate so far. But you got what do we have coming up here? We have four Hallmigan for four, yeah, Dodgers for three, Padres for three to end the month. Tough, dude. Brutal stretch to revisit this next week. I mean, you go, I think I said when I was on last time, if they are above 500 at the end of April, we're in good shape. Because that's I would that's a tough first month. I would have pushed back there too. Because it was easy, dude. The first half of the month was so easy. They set it up so that the Cubs could be, you know, what it'll be 12 and I think they set it up so we could be 15 and six. So, and I know it's only three games, guys. It's not a big deal. 162. I think great against the you know, some of those weaker teams, then you go five and five and six or five and one versus the Phillies and Mets. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

I thought the Mets were gonna be a hell of a lot better than they are so far, but you would think, and yeah, with the payroll that they have, but I was almost worried that they're gonna have to snap this streak this weekend just based on the fact that they have professional baseball players. So I'm just I'm grateful that we did finish and complete the sweep today with that comeback win, just based off the Mets because they are a quality ball club, but they're they're in it right now, they're in it, they're in it.

Why The Mets Sweep Matters

SPEAKER_01 13:04

I think they've scored 15 runs over their last 11 games, and I think they've surrendered close to 60. You know, I mean they're really bad right now. But then if I asked you guys, do you want Francisco Lindor, Danzu Swanson? I want Francisco Lindor. Do you want Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman? I want Bo Bichette, North End against Alex. I mean, like over the next five years, like, yeah, I want Bo fucking Bichette. You know, they have great players on that team. And to beat Freddie Peralta. Now, it's not like we stuck it to him, but I I think my favorite game of the weekend is ball or strike is it's the Saturday, the 4-2 game, where you have to kind of like that's major league baseball to me. You know, beating the shit out of people is not major league baseball. 10-7 ain't major league baseball, four to two is major league baseball. Ball or strike, Freddie Peralta is not as scary wearing a Mets uniform.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Strike, I felt the same exact thing, just in and not in a brewers uniform. There was a different aura up there.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

And Carl to just sort of he lost the chip on his shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

It was he did look different, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:06

It did, it had and it felt different. And then for us winning that game, you know, a tough ball game, four to two. The way that we won that game, and to show you how we're also going to beat you, I think was nice coming back from scoring, you know, the 12, you know, 11 or whichever in the couple dug double-digit games that we had. So it was nice to see that this team can, you know, adapt and win those types of kind of grindy games as well, you know, with the big knock.

Bullpen Injuries And Oblique Panic

SPEAKER_01 14:32

I'm rant Ron Santo Bobblehead. Yeah. If you have around Santo Bobblehead from that game, I will buy it off you. So just reach out to me. Um, okay, here I have a quick baller strike for you guys. Like, I wasn't that nervous about the bullpen because like injuries have in the bullpen come and go, I'd rather have it get out of the way before. Blah blah blah blah blah. Daniel Palencia to the aisle with oblique. I mean, this is like triple whammy. Lose another guy in the bullpen, happens to be the closer, and it's a fucking oblique again. We talk about it all the time on that show. The stupid oblique. What is up with the obliques? It's nonsense. Everybody has an oblique. Did a little research. Here we go. You got 18 guys in the last year have gone on the DL for extended periods of time with oblique injuries. No, a lot. No, you said 18 in the in the in the MLB. Oh, I thought you were saying just within the orange. How about this? How about this? I thought it would be higher. I thought it was Cubs. I thought it was gonna be way higher. I actually did think it was the Cubs. Doesn't it seem like it is, though?

unknown 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

I mean, I can name seven of them or other Chicago Cubs. Between Say Suzuki, uh Miguel Amaya, Danzby Swanson's got a shitty fucking. Say it wasn't even on my list. Jesus. It's probably more, it's way more.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

I think Porter Hodges oblique fell off last season. Oh, Porter Hodge. Oh, he's gone.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, I bet it has been 18 cups. I bet. That's so ball or strike. Are we like actually nervous about this bullpen? Or are we willing to kind of like it's the shit in the bedroom you just sweep under the bed when your mom's saying, she make your bed? You clean your bed? Like, eh. It's under the ball. I I I say right now it's a ball.

unknown 16:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Rephrase that. Am I ball? You're worried. Right now, that's a strike. Long term, ball. Jed's been unbelievable at piecing together bullpen pieces and making things work. They have a lot of depth that are not like your classic bullpen guys. I mean trying to think you're gonna have to cut this. I may not. I and to be fair, that's just because that's just a more authentic experience for the maniacs because we are working through this together. It's here's an example. Yeah, here's an example. Colin Ray. Love it. Like that's not a classic bullpen. I mean, that's a starting pitcher until he came to the Cubs and now he's a swing man. And they can seemingly kind of plug him in wherever. Guys, you they get their role. They're changing, like a lot of these times, the roles are changing for these guys that are coming in, they're embracing it. And they're always getting put in positions where they have to pitch in these high-leverage situations. Not all the time, but it seems like almost everybody's is gonna have some experience pitching in high-leverage situations as the year goes on, which means you can typically count on you can find the guys that you can count on, have four or five guys, which is what we saw last year, versus the Brewers when we're hoping to get 12 outs from our starting pitchers. So I think Jed does a really nice job of finding those pieces and then figuring out who are the ones that kind of rise to the top. So I think long term it's not going to be an issue, but Daniel Clintoncy going out with fucking obligation. I mean, that's brutal frustrating. It's brutal because I don't even know who can fill in, right? I mean, like the guys that we signed to bring in are gone, like Hunter Harvey's on the aisle, and Phil Maton's on the aisle. Not to say Phil Mayton's a closer, but like Steelbars is our closer now. Is he? It looks that way. Hey, is this an opportunity to accelerate Jackson Wiggins? Probably. I believe hasn't he have some sort of arm soreness? See, everybody fucking does in this organization as long as he doesn't have an oblique, but at least there was and I don't like to complain. I'm gonna make this clear to maniacs. I think it's such a waste of time to just sit around and bitch about your baseball team. I mean, I'm much we much more interested in trying to figure it out and find the answers or what's the next step forward and all this shit. And when you lose a guy like Palencia, I'm kind of I'm strapped. I don't want to complain. I don't want to complain he's out with his open leagues. I don't want to complain that Jackson Wiggins arms fucked or that Hunter Harvey's a guy we signed, he's out. Phil Maton, a guy we we were signing guys who are just out. I mean, do your fucking due diligence. I don't want to complain because we're trying to uncover what it what's the next step with close. If it is Caleb Tilbar, I have to remind people he was out of baseball five years ago, coaching at Augustana College, working fucking doing we're gonna have a jiffy loop changing oil. Like we're like this, ain't it? This is that we're the Chicago Cubs. If we're gonna be eighth in payroll, we're gonna spend 175 million dollars on Alex Bregman. We gotta have a little bit of something in the bullpen. Now that said, I do like the fact that it's probably gonna be pretty good in August and September. But this it's just weird. I don't want to go down this 10-game stretch with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and the dot and the Padres and not have anybody I trust at the back end. Yeah, that's the thing, is you can't you can't lose too many games because of the late inning bullpen blow ups early in the season.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

No, and I was gonna say ball because am I worried about the bullpen situation? I was gonna say ball, but bringing me back to Daniel Palencia going down, getting that notification in the morning the other day, that was a kick to the Nards. And that said, like that's a much, much bigger problem because I'm just riding this five-game win streak right now. I'm just loving life, a sweep at Wrigley, first sweep of the season against the Mets. Love beating the Mets. It just hits home a little bit harder for me for whatever reason. And uh it yeah, it is a problem. We don't know, we have no idea who our closer is or what what they'll look like, and or the severity of his oblique.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

The Mets are my third favorite team to beat in Major League Baseball. So I'll just say is this baller strike. Am I wrong? I like to beat the Cardinals first, the brewer's second, the Mets third. Policy strike same strike, right? Right. That's just one, two. I love beating the Mets. I always look around for 69. My mom diehard hates it, my grandmother, rest in peace, hates him. And he you just bring up the Mets. I interviewed uh freaking Jenkins one time with asking about 69. He almost got up and left the fucking room. He was just disgusted. I believe Sano hated him. Oh, wouldn't even go to New York to call the games. Love that about him. Yeah, love that. And I have personal experience with Mets fans from working at Barcelona, and there's a couple guys I like a lot. Clummer's a really good Mets fan, but you know, for the most part, those guys are all just just like the fucking worst of the worst. I mean, like, there ain't I like Frank. I we I actually had a good interview with Frank, but like KFC's a good example. Like, holy fuck, like as a Mets fan, just I I just the there's not enough pain somebody like that can like, and that's when I think of Mets, and I just think of these fucking guys that are like I can't believe we suck. And I mean, they're just the worst that the city of New York has to offer. So I like beating up, but then we also have the personal history of you know, losing in 69, losing in 15. I'm sure there's a bunch of other shit sprinkled in there, but at the same time, though, you got good Mets fans or great fans, so maybe it's kind of like the White Sox a little bit, like the bad is really bad. Good is fucking awesome though. So not to shit on the Mets too much. And it's not an un indirect shot of caves. Like I give a fuck one way or the other. Like I like, I like I like everybody. You know what I mean? I'm just saying from a baseball fan standpoint, we're gonna sit here, we're gonna talk the fucking game, we're gonna chew the tobacco, play the just just play the gambling games, have a good time. Fuck them. Fuck Mets fans.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

I got a quick baller strike just to kind of recap, you know, at the end of the series there. I don't know if you boys saw it, but baller strike, PCAT bagging, that Mets fan at the end of the game after he scored his home run was was too much. Careful. Ball. Not enough. Not enough. Love it. Yeah, I tried to set you guys up for that. Given what we just talked about, I throw, I throw way, I throw him down the middle too often. So I'm trying to mix it up this year, especially for episode 100. But yeah, no, PCA got jacked up. That guy must have been mouthing throughout the game. And you know, doing that Wrigley leap where the fans are going nuts and he just sees the one dude, gets his last piece in, Cubs win, sweep the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

I should, I gotta take a step back. I have to call it I love Rico Bosco, and I know that in me shitting on Mets fans that that could get back. And like I have a good I love Rico, I love his dad, I love his fucking uncle shit knuckles. I love being involved in like I I reached out, I said, Hey, rest in peace when Tom Seaver died. I sent him a message and he goes, Fuck Tom Seaver. I guess Tom Seaver was like mean his dad and his uncle one time. He's not a rider. No, it's like Seaver. He's like, hey dude, I'm because he and I are you know, it's like close enough. I was like when Sandberg passed, we talked when I'm like, hey man, I'm really sorry about Siever. I gotta tell you, man, fuck Tom Seaver. So I'm not I'm not being mean, I'm just calling out Mets fans in general. I do love Rico quite a bit, obviously. You had nice things to say about Clemmer and Frank, but they just it's nice to sweep them because they're a good team, they'll play better baseball. I like getting them when they suck, and I like stepping on their fucking throats. And I hope some momentum can carry over because we haven't been able to capture it until very recently and winning the last two in Philadelphia, coming home with an off day, momentum over these next three. So it'll be interesting to see the team that shows up tomorrow night and plays the Phillies.

Is Shota The Ace Right Now?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

It will, and I think we have Colin Ray actually getting the ball, so it might be a little bit of a bullpen game going. But the fact that we're staying home, I love it. We have a seven-game stretch, so loaded week of baseball while we're rolling. I want to keep playing, I don't want any off days, so that's gonna be a thing of beauty. Um, but yeah, man, and like I'm moving on from the Mets though. I do want to kind of talk real quick about the just the staff as a whole and not recapping the whole week, but I want to say ball or strike, show to Minaga is our ace at the point.

The Aircraft Carrier Pitcher Idea

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah, I think some people might say Eddie Cabrera because he's got better stuff, but I'm going Show to Tui, do you think different? I I'm gonna say Cabrera. I mean, I really I think he could be the guy. Um, I think I said it in our group chat. Like when he misses the zone, it frustrates me a little bit because it I'm like, if my ball moved that much and I threw it that hard, you could just pepper the middle of the plate and it fades or cuts to the corner every single time. He misses the zone by a little too much, but his stuff is filthy. Showed a I love. I I it sucks that he had that kind of downturn at the end of the year, bad downturn at the end of the year. And people lost a lot of uh a lot of confidence in him. But he's been excellent. I mean, these these two guys are kind of carrying us right now. I mean, we need it, so it's it's it's great that we have two guys that I think we can go out there and feel pretty good about. And Jameson Tyon, too. I mean, he's he's been he's been pretty solid, he's the guy that you expect to be, which is exactly what we need right now. But uh, I mean, give me one game to win, I I think I gotta say Edward Cabrera. Now, what do you think makes Shoda effective right now versus when he's not effective? He's so deceptive. I mean, like it's a lot of Japanese guys are like that, but you can't track the ball out of his hand that well. He pitches with balls, he hits his own. Um, but I mean anything funky like that, and he can he can change up his speed of his delivery, and he's got a bunch of different pitches, so as long as he's not just leaving balls over the plate and hanging stuff, I mean he's been great the whole time he's been in Chicago. I think it's unique because I don't know if a guy with his stuff could develop in the United States. So he only throws 91-92, and he pitches so aggressively, like at the top of the zone, he pounds in on righties and stuff. And it's just like if this guy was like being developed by an SEC pitching coach, they would be like, you know, throw a bigger curve and you need to work on your change more and all stuff. And so, what's really unique to me about Showday is how much he pitches off of the fastball, even though fastball's 92. But what lets him do that is exactly what you said. He's so deceptive, it's hard to pick it up. It's the 92 may look like 97. And again, my point is uh he can develop like that in Japan. I'm not saying he could in the United States, it would just be harder. He'd have to be like a JUCO or he'd have to be trained by his dad. I just don't even see it. I don't even know if there are American pitchers that pitch like him. I think you're right. I think I mean you think about like this, and this is not like a one-to-one comparison, but like when it comes to deception from a pitcher, like think about when like Kyle Farnsworth threw 100 miles an hour, right? Kyle Farnsworth wound up like he was gonna throw 100 miles an hour. Yeah, he he fooled nobody with his 100 mile an hour fastball. Mark Pryor threw like 98 and looked like he was playing catch with his like 12-year-old cousin. Yeah, and it just popped out of his hand. So it wasn't and I had that I had that kind of thing too. Like I get real like turn and really grind up and look like I was gonna throw the ball really hard and comes out at 91. It's not that deceptive, yeah. Like 92 from this little guy from the left side that's like popping it in and out it in up on the righty's hands. There's a lot of deception in just what he looks like and how he delivers the baseball and where it comes out. And I think a lot of guys come back to the dugout after facing Shoda, and then someone says, What'd you see? What was it? What was it like? And I think he's one of the hardest guys to have that conversation after. We were like, uh, it's like up, it's like over. Like, if you see uh it's like you just don't know, it's like when you would come back in the dugout after facing Zach Grinky, and someone would say, What'd you see? And the guy's like, It's fucking Zach Grinky. I saw nothing, I saw it. It looked like a ping pong ball. I don't think it's like that with Showday necessarily. So I can see it, but it's like, how can you explain it to another hitter until you're in the box and you see it? And I think as long as he's crisp and he's healthy, we can expect that. But then ultimately, let's just drill up a little bit higher. Like when Justin Steele comes back, ball or strike, Justin Steele is gonna get the ball before Shoda. I think that would be a strike. That's right. I mean strike. It's absolutely a strike. I mean, that's a guy that you want with the ball in game one. I mean, assuming he comes back healthy and he's and he's like he was when he when he got hurt. I mean, that's your guy. That's your opening day starter. That's your game one starter. You think he's game one? Oh yeah, oh yeah. I think wants the ball game one, too.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

And that's why I would want him to have the ball too. Just everything about him is the is an ace in the like ace in the cage.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

He's your he's like our modern day John Lester.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

He's an ace in the cage right now, right? To just claws way out come June. But one last thing I noticed about him in Aga when I was actually drubbing up this baller strike is he the ace? That was a real, real original one, Mahoney. Happy 100. But I looked, I did look into his running K to walk ratio, and right now it's flirting with like eight to one. Oh, he's not putting guys on pace. It is it's elite as far as I know. And I'd imagine that that had to be somewhere along the lines when we were really seeing how good he was when he first came to town. Um, I think that that's back. So I think that that could be something to keep an eye on. But right now it's top tier, top of the rotation stuff.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Hey, can I tell you guys a statistic I found I think is interesting? And I can't remember if it's a Warren Spawn or if it's Johnny Spain, but they were they were uh Johnny Sane, they were playing for the Boston Braves back in the late 40s, they just right after World War II. And one of them had led, I thought it was Spawn, it could have been same, had led Major League Baseball in walk to strikeout ratio, and it was like because you just brought up it was eight to one, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Yeah, around flirting around there.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

So every eight strikeouts is one walk, and for every one walk, there's eight strikeouts, right? That's insane. Like, just imagine a stat line where it's like he struck out eight, he walked one, that's insane. It's like nine, I gotta look the stat up, it's like 1948-49. The league leading walk to strikeout ratio was like 1.9, 1.7, 1.6. Meaning, no one walked or struck out back then.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

They were just teeing the ball up, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Three pitches or less, four pitches or less, or something. So when you talk about walk strikeout ratio in the modern game, I think the closer thing you're looking for, like realistically, is three to one, four to one's elite, four to one's all-star stuff. You know, you see three to one, it's like you're pretty good. Two to one is major league, it's like modern major league average. You know what I mean can go down this rabbit hole forever. Let me ask you this, Jake. We brought up Colin Rain. We're just gonna stay on the pitching for a second. I'll transition the office with the ball on strike. But I have this terminology. I think you and I had the same pitching coach in college, and so he used to say these things about players. I bring it up every now and then. I never taught, I've never talked about them or like told long stories about them because it's you know, I'd have to do it with you and it would have to take a long time. But he used to have this saying where he'd be like, I don't give a fuck if you're pitching against the 1927 Yankees or the 1927 Champagne Centennial varsity baseball team. I don't give a fuck if it's raining outside, if it's the nicest weather, if you had a great breakfast, bad breakfast, couldn't get a parking spot. In fact, I wouldn't, and this is where it goes, I wouldn't give a fuck if you were pitching in the parking lot of a McDonald's or if I had to ship your ass out to an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The only fucking thing I want to see from you is to compete your balls off. So I don't give a fuck where compete. He'd say I don't give a shit where, when, whatever. He would go through these ridiculous analogies. Third seven two Alana basketball team. Know what they did? Fucking compete. They fucking compete playing baseball at Illinois after D Brown and Darren Williams almost went on defeated. It was an insufferable experience because the coaches would be like, they almost won national championship. You guys can't beat Purdue. No. Now, in reality, though, I say all of this because it's an inside joke for me. And I know guys that know me in the baseball world know I say this shit. But when I look at Colin Ray, I say that's an aircraft carrier pitcher. That's a McDonald's parking lot guy. And I don't give that testament, like show does not. Jamison Day on Jameson Dan's a complete opposite of an aircraft carrier guy. Colin Ray will fucking pitch. He'll come over to your basement right now and throw fucking seven strong to your kids. Like he's just love that guy. He's a guy who you know when a guy gets injured and it's like, all right, we have a big injury. We got to get a pitcher hot. He gets as much time as he wants. He has to warm up on the fucking mound in front of 40,000 people, go through his whole process. Colin Ray is the guy you want doing that because he doesn't blink. He doesn't blink, dude. It's like, oh find your breaking ball, go find your curveball in front of 40,000 people, right? You're not in the bullpen. We're not sure if we're bringing it. It's like, no, you have to bitch right now. He just blew his fucking shoulder out. Like, you better find that major league curveball. You were told, like, maybe we need you to go like from the if things don't go great, you go the fifth, sixth, and seventh. We might need a little bridge. Nah, he didn't give a shit, dude. Bright lights, get out there, get loose. And he's like, when they renegotiate his contract, they were like, Hey, what about this? He was like, Cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah, that's what I say. It just seems like a guy that's just fine. That's on himself constantly.

Ben Brown Debate Gets Heated

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Love him. Mahoney, you got another ball or strike for us.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

I got a couple cooked up here, but I got I got one that is should be interesting. I don't want to spend too much time. Ben Brown's outing or outings this week were more concerning than encouraging.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Because numbers may say one thing, but to me, body language says a whole other ball or strike.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

I'll be quick with this because Tui's mulling it over. I can see it on his face. I know we're gonna get some positive spam about Brown. So I'll just say it. Fuck him. Hate seeing him pitch. I mean, he could be our best pitcher, and I'd hate his guy. Trade him as soon as but the last thing I ever want to see, and you know what? I'll say it. I'm not even trying to joke. When the light hits his mustache correctly, that's a Hitler stash.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

It it does the light when it hits, yeah. I could see that at like a 230.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

No bad guy, Hitler. That's his stash.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

And the one thing about that stash, too, that kind of when it's reflecting, um, it's his just he'll he won't execute on a pitch. You could tell it's a a bad pitch, it'll be way out of the zone. But like just but you didn't the banner didn't swing. He's still up there. You don't need to react that way. You're in the big leagues, you don't no one needs even needs to know that you missed a pitch, but you you he you still see it on his face all the time. All right.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

When we were talking about Colin Ray, the first person I thought of with that was not him, it was not John Jane, it was not Jamison Town, it was Ben Brown.

unknown 36:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

I keep the eternal optimist in me keeps waiting for like the light switch to go on with this guy. Because I don't want to see him go to the fucking Cardinals and turn it into like a Cy Young kind of candidate. So I don't know what you gotta do to get through to him, but I think the talent's there. I just want to see it come out, and I think he's gonna get put in enough scenarios in the next couple months where we're gonna find out if he's got it or if he doesn't. Baller strike. Do I have scenarios where Ben Brown can succeed in my head? Do you guys think a baller strike? Baller strike sounds like ball. I strike. Thank you, Mahoney. Strike is I have a world where Ben Brown thrives. The problem is it comes a tremendous personal tragedy. And I mean, like his yeah, like his dad has to die of terminal illness. No, no, I'm not saying this to be fun here. I'm just kidding. Like I watch, I am a sick fuck. Here's what would happen. Ben Brown. I mean, like, uh, who's the golf? Jake Knapp's girlfriend, he's a golfer. Shoot passed away tragically. Um, I don't know how he's handling it. I don't I I followed him very closely over the last couple of years. You he needs to lose something close to him and he needs to change his perspective on the world. He's two off shucks, G Wiz. Love to be here. Do we think do he's such a pussy? He needs to he need to be a good thing. Do we think I mean like armor? Here's the thing. He I if we want to make this like less personal tragedy, tragedy. Okay, doesn't that we could record if they were like if he was just like not if he wasn't meeting the potential that he has over the next three to four weeks, if they just send him down and they're like, you need to get tougher, or you're fucking done. Maybe that does it. He's too good for those levels because he's just gonna throw his shit down on a little plate, no one's gonna hit it. Then he's gonna come to the big leagues, he's gonna do it, he's gonna get shit on. The problem is it's it's not a stuff, it's a sequencing. Yeah, but I feel like getting taken away from him could be personally devastating enough. Because Mahoney man, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't say no to you because I do I have such respect for your opinions. How about this? You can't walk anybody while you're down there, like for weeks. Hey, remember they told Tanner Rourke, who's a good friend of ours, who won the semifinal game against Japan in 2014, the World Baseball Classic, finished top 10 in Cy Young voting, I believe, that season or the following season. Close personal friend from Illinois baseball. They told him in AAA, they go, You fucking give up another run, and you will be cutting grass in Wilmington, Illinois in the next month. There ain't no fucking way we're dealing with your bullshit. And then he rattled off like 31 scoreless. Now put Ben Brown and Tan Rourke in the same room. Tanner Rourke eat that guy's fucking lunch. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's the toughest. He's the toughest guy I know. He's he's the toughest baseball player I know by far. And Ben Brown is like out here playing tiddly winks and fucking tummy sticks in nervous. The problem with him going out of Myerly Ball is that it's just he would just dominate, he'd get back up here. That's why you can't walk anybody. Can't walk anybody. Okay, no three ball counts. Mahoney made the best point about Ben Brown is that you know when it's not competitive, and then he performs. He goes through his whole thing. Oh, I can't believe it wasn't a strike. I got him pout. He's a pussy. You know what he needs? He needs to get his ass kicked. Someone needs to get a stranger, somebody on Clark Street, or just a random guy just needs to go up and just fucking sock him in the jaw or something. Am I being too mean on Ben Brown? Do I dislike him too much? I'm cheering. I'm not cheering for personal tragedy. I'm saying if personal tragedy did befall him, we'd get a better pitcher on him. I just really, I just really would love him to turn into like a dominant, dominant pitcher. Baller strike, it's pathetic that the injuries have forced us into such an extended Ben Brown conversation. I mean, I think maybe that thing is that that might be the best thing. Like this is like shit to get off the bottom for him. Baller strike. I think that's a I think that's a strike. Mahoney?

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Yeah, I I think it's a strike because we have to see what we have in him, and then then that's probably the last straw.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

To date, it's been like Ben Brown gets in there when you're in a game where you're losing by four, you need to eat three innings or whatever. It's just like he doesn't have to compete, doesn't have to put his balls on the line and go go perform. And now he has to. Yeah. And I think he needs to get more confidence in that role, and maybe he thrives in it.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Yeah, I hope so too. I really do hope so, too. And I don't want to continue to shit on him because he wasn't horrible this week. It was just the the expressions and all that shit. Like, I don't know. It's just one of those things. He could probably be good, and it'll take me a long time to get back on the way.

Lineup Strength And Plate Approach

Nico Horner MVP Case

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Do you think Theo would get up his ass about that? I think Theo would have shipped his ass to Detroit fucking six months ago. There ain't no there, ain't no way Ben Brown plays on a Theo Epstein team. Jed Hoyer will put up with it because he traded David Robertson. There's some personal capital attached to it where it's like, well, we'll see what this guy goes. And Ben Brown will get picked up immediately in a rule five and a fucking if he got DF8. Whatever someone would grab him immediately and make him a starter. And a lot of people close to the ball club stay, even including Eddie Cabrera, that Ben Brown has by far the best stuff on the team. By far the best, but the sharpest, whatever. You want to measure spin rate, best spin rate. You want to measure the curveball like that, but all that stuff grades out at like Jacob deGrom level spin. He's just the ball is so hard to hit. The press, and maybe I'm wrong, but I lived through it as a pussy on the mountain. Then I then I got out of it. Then I was like, fuck there. I can't be a pussy out here, and then I'm playing a ton. So I like I and I'm not applying my shit, is way different pitching in the Big Ten. But you can't deny the fact I went through a phase where like I'm a pussy, I'm a bitch, I'm nervous, I'm looking for this, I don't want that. I'm afraid of this hitter. I hope the coach thinks this about me. I had all this shit in my fucking head. I lived with it, and then there was one day I went out there and I was like, you know what? If I keep doing this, I'm literally just gonna end up fucking killing myself. You know, fine. If Nick Stockwell hits a home run today, Nick Stockwell hits a home run today. I'll guarantee you this, he's getting a fucking strike from me and he's getting it over the inner half. Well, you know, no offense to Nick Stockwell, it's a longer swing, so that's a growl ball third base. That's a joke, stock. I love you. He's an orthopedic surgeon. But my point is that every pitcher goes through their own cursed little thing of like, I am being a bitch, and I do need to be tougher. Or if it's not that you know what it's a confidence thing for sure. But if you want to feel okay, if you look at his stats right now, when were the last times you look at him? He's got a 2 7, 16.2 innings pitched, 12 hits, 15 K's. We should we would like that number to be higher. Nine walks, six walks. Okay, how many hit by batteries? Zero HPP, four wild pitches, highest on the team. And on pace trajectory. Yeah. The on pace to shatter a major league record. The modern major league record for wild pitches in a season is 26, and Ben Brown is on pace for 68. 136 ERA plus right now. That's good. So we're on him. All right. We're dude. This is the Ben Brown episode. But here's the thing: the injuries have forced the Ben Brown episode. I mean, what do you mean? Sit here and talk about we did show to, you know, we know what we like about Jamison Taon at home. I don't know what's going on with Matt Boyd will report on that way or you know, Kate Horton. We can talk about him next year, which obviously fucking blows. It really is the more you dig into it. Palencia's out, Mayton's out. The more we dig into it, it's like shit, Ben Brown has a huge role on this team. It's not even late April. It is late April. Ben Brown has a huge all right now. Baller strike. It's messed up that our pitching staff is this banged up because every time I look at the lineup card, I love the line. Like our one through nine, I love. I'm every time I'm doing these lineup reviews, I'm like, shit, this is my only complaint. I'd like to see Boys' uh Biasteros hit too. But uh overall at the lineup, I know some guys have slumped, but we've talked a lot about the pitching so far. Let's transition to lineup, like ball or strike, the lineup's solid. The lineup is I mean, absolutely, strike the lineup is solid, and they haven't they haven't really done much yet. At all. No slug. No slug, and they're dominating right now. Slug. I mean, you know, Michael Bush is gonna is gonna be better than he is, you know Bregman's gonna be better than he is, haps probably around where he is right now, but there it's tough one through nine. That is a tough lineup to get through. You there's not an easy out in that lineup, and that is tough for a pitcher going through that lineup three times, probably only twice, but I mean that's those are a lot of you're grinding through a lot of bats as a pitcher versus everybody in this lineup because they see pitches. It actually frustrates me so much when they some of these guys don't challenge a ball call because their eyes are so good, but it's a really, really difficult lineup and they haven't done much so far. So I feel pretty good about where we are going forward, just because they get guys on base, they have tough at bats one through nine, and you know, somebody's gonna get a hit eventually. I just like the approach one through nine, too. I don't think you have I don't think you have anybody in there who's like figuring it out or like at the beginning of how good they I think everybody in the lineup is like at how good they are, how good they can be. I don't I I don't know that's making sense, but there's times before you watch a team, you're like, like when we call up Addison Russell, it's like, well, he's got to go through it, he's gotta learn, he's gotta figure it out. Like P. Carl Armstrong last year early, it's like he's gotta go through Matt Shaw early last year. He's gotta go through, he's got to figure it out. Yeah, you look at this team, it's like fucking Ian Happy's good for a 120 OPS plus period. End of story. Say Suzuki's a great right-handed hitter, Michael Blutch can be fine. Nico Horner, you know. So that was gonna be my first baller strike. We're so we're 45 minutes on the show. Baller strike, Nico Horner's a legit MVP candidate. I don't give a fuck about Shohei Otan. He's a legit MVP candidate.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

That's strike playing some of the best baseball, absolutely in the OPS plus right now, 170.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Can you think of a position player that has played this good for the Cubs? Like, is it Chris Bryant 2016? When when when Derek Lee and O sit lee, he's on that category of just like you're out of your mind.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Good right now. I mean, those would be the two, yeah, and the flashiest plays, too. He's not, I mean, he's sucking it up in at second, making some serious gems. So it's just not just the bat that's just finding the baseball regularly, he's putting together some highlight reel, like regularly putting together highlight reel plays at second. Um, he's the most important hitter right now on the team, and I think that that's going to continue on. I think Suzuki might have to assume that role of just with a little bit more slug and stuff. But no, Nico, I mean, oh my god, he didn't get paid too much. This is great.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

Mouni, do you think Nico's better than Danzby Swanson? Right now, yeah, he is, and he moved off position. Like he was the shorts, he is a shortstop. Like Nico by trade, a lot of teams would, if they had Nico, would play him at short. We play him at second because we went and we got Dan's V. Swanson in 23. And he's perfectly at second base. He perfect. No, he's per he's perfect. USA wins the world baseball classic if they had Nico Horner in that. I like Bryce, and and I know we like to. I actually I don't like to shit on the brewers that much. I actually like him. The fans are okay, whatever. I'm not a big Packer fan guy, and it's an easy drive. But I like Pat Murphy, and Pat Murphy's friends with a lot of our friends, and is is been nothing but good dark. My close inner circle, I have nothing but good things to say about Pat Murphy, and I like the way that they're constantly bringing in new guys and giving them opportunities. Because, like, as a baseball player myself, MLB, like fuck. I would want to be drafted by the Brewers because you can get in there and be a guy. Like, it's not this hierarchy shit. I remember when Rizzo got traded to the Yankees. We were out, he was selling, he was moving out of his condo. We went out, we were out in old town or something. It was me, him, his wife, my wife, a couple other people. Here we go here. I go name dropping bullshit. But he had gotten done playing for the Yankees, and I was like fascinated because it's like you're the dog in the Cubs Clubhouse, and you have to go to the Yankees clubhouse. So, like, how would what was that like when you go from being a fucking big guy in this clubhouse and then you're going over to the Yankees or whatever? And he's like, You'd be surprised because the big dog in the clubhouse at the Yankees is actually Derek Jeter, and he fucking retired like seven years ago. There is no, you know, there is no big dog in it. I don't even know how I got on that story, but I was just thinking about Rizzo, and I'm thinking about just the general culture of you know what makes the Cubs unique. I mean, I guess there's other teams that are just completely fucking, you know, it's up for fucking grabs. How Mahoney, can you help me land the plane? How did I get there?

SPEAKER_00 50:21

You know, I think we were talking through the roster construction. We had hit on Nico Horner a bit and his flexibility going to second base, and then from there has a player done so really when can we remember since I think 2016 Bryant? And then that's when you started, you know, clipping through Pat Murphy, Brewers, and so on.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

So I think oh, it's cheering against the Brewers. It's really it's it's the how much do I hate the I think I said something about he's the US wins the world based. Bryce Terrang, and I don't like and I don't like cheering against. I mean, like I'll cheer against the Cardinals and all that stuff. Bryce Terrang's a good player, Brewers are good players. Back to Nico Horner. I mean, are there it's early in the season, but he's I have it guys on base two outs. Nico Horner's not striking out. He's hitting a fucking C line drive to right field or a hard ground ball to the right side. That's a guy that you can rely on in situations like that every single time. And that's one of the things that I love about him most. Is this your favorite infield the Cubs have ever put together? Ooh. I mean, the 16 infield was yeah, but there was something weird there with like is Zobris the second baseman or is Javi the second baseman? The starting lineup for the 16 World Series was yeah, it's tough to beat that. But Nico Horner is the is the opposite of Javi Baez. Yeah, you know, which I'm fine. I mean, either one are remarkable second baseman. But I think I I think as a now as a sports fan, if I just said, hey, I'm a sports fan, I want the excitement, the electricity, the entertainment, I'm gonna lean towards Javi. As a 162 guy that is a psychopath about fundamentals, yeah, dude. Nico is maybe the best fundamental player. If Swanson hit a little bit better, I'd say him too. The the fact that that's our shortstop second base combination, yeah, very much feels like as strong up the middle as you can be. Like playoff baseballs are that's playoff baseball shit. Dancy Swanson, like baller strike, his defense won that series against the podcast, San Diego. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 52:40

So baller strike, real quick, unless just while we're on the lineup, it's developing mode.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

Now, is it Carson Kelly? How about baller strike? It's Carson Kelly's team over a Maya, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:56

Yeah, right now for sure. And I love Amaya, I love it when he's in there. But Carson Kelly, right now, he's fitting the bill, he's doing it again in April. You know, you do it once, it's kind of maybe a fluke. Oh, Carson Kelly, he's gonna have to settle down. And he did last year, but I mean, when it rains, it pours with Carson Kelly in April, man. April showers bring big flowers, keep it going, Carson. I just want to see him on the all-star team because now he's done it two years in a row, and I mean, he might cool off a little bit, and I don't know if he's at the clip he was quite last year, but just seeing him come through in that big moment again this week, and I don't know. Right now, he's playing really well too. I think that we would have to bring him up in the mix.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

And thanks for doing that because I've made a big deal in lineup previews about Carson Kelly versus Miguel Amaya, and I've deferred been like I would like to see more a Maya, but look, this is the exact situation where you can't because Carson Kelly's outplaying him, and ultimately the guy that's outplaying the others should get the playing time more often than not. But then let me ask you this guys am I overreacting to like, shouldn't Amaya catch Cabrera so they could communicate in Spanish? And shouldn't Tan work with Carson Kelly because or am I underselling that importance?

SPEAKER_00 54:09

I would think so, like just based off of you know communication back and forth. Yeah, I mean, I know obvious answer there, but I wouldn't want to have to talk, you know, get a translator out there from visiting the mount or something, or always relying on the you know, pitch com system.

Clubhouse Culture And Lester Stories

SPEAKER_01 54:29

I mean, I ultimately I think I think that goes down that comes back to like you know, why did why did John Lester have David Ross catching him? I mean, it's more important that your catcher can handle the quality of pitches than communicate. Yeah. I mean you get pitches called from you're getting pitches called in your ear anyway. Was is Lester a little weak mentally? Did you listen to the Lovable Reunion? I did listen to it. He's kind of a prima donna, huh? I don't know if I would call him that at all. Um the the strangest thing about John Lester was that he couldn't throw the ball at first base because everything about him screams the most mentally strong person and did all that stuff like behind the scenes for guys that you never heard of. Like you knew he did some some cool stuff for you know when the fan bought the fans, the Miller Lights, like he was a great teammate. You could tell. I mean, you could tell he was kind of a prick, but like the story about going to Pebble Beach or letting use the use the pro uh use the private jet for like something that he just needed to get home from, and he had a certain allotment of private jet flights. Seemed like a guy who did more behind the scenes that never got any publicity or wanted it, surprise it is is still shocks me that he could not throw fucking baseball at first base. Yeah. I'm not gonna fucking beat you guys up with personal experiences. He was always nice to me. There was one time I introduced to my wife who could not have been any fucking nicer than Nicole. But the I did hear a rumor that he was always really cool under the pretense of the leader of the clubhouse. However, I heard a rumor. Clip this, it's not on video. I don't give a fuck, but share it if you want. Um that he wasn't like his he like started toning down how cool he was towards Jake Arrietta once Jake went on that run 15. And they remember when Jake's telling me the story, the Pirates, yes, right, like one game elimination. Who gets that ball? Well, here's three fucking regular Joe Cubs ins right now. I mean, gone to my head. I don't think any of us would, in good faith, make an argument for Lester to take that ballman situation. Oh, that's Jake's game inside and out, right? Oh no, people were baiting me. The most dominant pitcher on the planet, bar none at that time. Ever over any 20-game stretch, ever. What did he give up? Like six runs during that 20-game stretch? He scored more runs than he allowed.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

Every single time more home runs than he surrendered. Every time he got the ball, it was like we might see a no-hitter tonight. He's the only person to homer off of Madison Baumgartner in 88 postseason innings. Now, what happened was after they like he emerged the second half, he gets a ball in the second he gets his second. I heard a rumor, Jen Lester didn't was it. Got a little icy in there, got a little cold, got a little. I thought I was a guy, got a little come on, the yo got a little mad, not mad at anyone in particular, but he signed on to be the guy, to be the guy. And in his first year being the guy, he was quickly supplanted as not being the guy. And I was hoping that would come out in that Rizzo podcast with Ross, and it didn't at all. Instead, though, they did tell a bunch of stories of John Lester being an irrecovable or irrevocable huge dick. But I like, I mean, dude, you're 6'6, you win championships everywhere you go, you have fucking cancer, or you know, you make 250 million dollars in the big leagues, you'd be whoever you want to be. Yeah, but I always thought it's interesting. I I think it's interesting when guys take the I'm a good clubhouse guy, provided that I'm the number one guy in the great clubhouse guy, aren't you? In the right situation, so I'm pumped to see how that Jake interview turns out on the Loveable Reunion. Should be awesome. He's got great stories. He's got great stories. I'll tell a quick one right now. When he came back in 2021, right? I think it was 21. There was something with the rotation. Someone got hurt, they were on the road, they're playing Torrey Pines, they're playing San Diego, or they could have been playing Shore Acres, but they were playing the Padres. I gotta look this game up. It was towards the end of his time with the Cubs, he was like I don't know, August or something, and he was supposed to pitch Saturday, so it's Friday. It's Friday, it's like 9 a.m. They're either at Shore Acres or somewhere, and he's fucking loaded, right? He's like 60 kilos deep, and that's just but that's the culture, it's not him, that's starting pitcher culture, like period. And it's I don't know. We're not making he's one of uh tens of thousands of guys like this. He's out, he's playing shore acres, he's playing fucking wherever he's playing. He's playing Philly Cricket, he's out having a good time, he's playing Tory Pines. And David Ross calls him on the turn, and he's like, Hey, what do you do? I'm are you're out golfing, right? He's like, Yeah, and he's like, You don't fucking believe it. Someone stubbed their toe, or we got some issues, so we were just can we flip-flop the starting? You know, because they had off days and shit. They're like, Can we just go you? Can we just throw you tonight? And then because it helps us, but you're also we gotta call somebody up from triple A, we gotta make a roster move, guys gotta go down, blah blah blah. Jake was like, Are you fucking serious? He's like, just so you know, I'm out on the course having some pops, and they're like, Yeah, go right ahead. He didn't make it out of the first inning, second inning. You go, there's a box score in like August of 2021. He gives up 10 hits. I asked him about it, he's like, Oh, it's a funny story about that, but he was teammates with David Ross. So he it's not like it's not like Ross is teeth all friend calling it 20 years or senior who's like a lot more honest with somebody over the phone. I mean, Ross was part of it, but a few years earlier. How bad do you need me to pitch? Like, bad. He's like, How bad do we not want to call 60 kilos 60 kilos bad? And he's like, just so you know, I'm still going. Like, I'm playing. You're gonna get what you this way you asked for, you're gonna get what you get. That's that's fun shit. Start now, but do we have that in the current clubs, clubhouse? Start baller strike, and we'll wind the show down, but baller strike, like anything like that. No, well, can be I think if you had it, you would you've got like those kind of relationships in like on the field. You got like Bush, Horner, Swanson, Bregman, Hap. Yeah, like those those guys on an off day, I'm sure they enjoy a nice, yeah, you know, a nice round of golf. They're low-key. The pitchers, who who would it be? Maybe Boyd, Horton. No, no. All those guys keep them, all our starting pitchers keep to themselves. Yeah. Tennessee's a really nice guy, and he's a good teammate. He's friends with he's friends with the fucking hot dog vendors. Like he's he's the nicest guy in major league baseball. Yeah, you don't have that kind of synergy with the the rotation and the uh the position players, dude. They showed the picture of Pebble Beach. I'm gonna go through it as quick as well. Hinsky, Lackey, Arrietta, Lester, KB, Rizzo, Dex, who am I missing? Right. David Ross. Are you are you kidding? Is that the eight coolest guys you could ever put together? And then what was it? Lester had to like pitch the they bumped him up in the rotation pitch on like the next day. And I think Oakland like wasn't shitty at the time. Oakland's winning 90 games a year that year. They had like Matt Olson and Chris Davis, they had some good pitching. So all right, let's just spend like five-10 minutes just looking ahead of the rest of the week. We'll close things down. It's the hundredth episode. I've thoroughly enjoyed doing this. It's awesome. It's such a much different tone because like we win five in a row, we're excited, and there's this element of like, okay, if we split a series against the Phillies, that's fine. I'm not gonna burn it down. You know, I'll get mad if we lose a series to the pirates because you should have beat them. So it's cool to do a show where they're five and one over their last six. We have momentum. Phillies are down right now, too. Yeah, we are rolling right. And I honestly what would our pitching coach Ken Westray say when you could have a team that's down coming in to your ballpark for four days, Michael? My college pitcher coach would say, I'll keep it easy. I mean, you better step out in these motherfuckers' throats. I want CNN's bullshit over the two nights of fucking day. Step on their fucking two nights a fucking day. Two nights a fucking day for this bullshit. That's what he used to say. If you were pitching bad, he would make a mound visit, he would come out, he'd be dead sound, he'd look around, he'd look in the fucking crowd. Is that your dad sitting in the third row? Yeah, he drove down today, yeah. He drove three hours to come down here and watch you make a fucking mess of eastern Illinois, Jesus Christ. I mean, you'd be like, he wanted to, you know. 65 degrees outside. Will you please fucking act like it? What's the meanest thing he ever said to you on a mountain visit, Jake? Probably nothing. You were a best pitcher. Yeah, maybe you were a best pitcher. I never got taken on the game. We either lost or we won when I was in. Hey, I got a great one for you. I give up a grand slam in practice to a guy named Aaron Ift, who I think is a dentist. Nice guy, but like he wasn't, it wasn't like a scholarship, he wasn't even a starter, nothing. But I give up a fucking new grand slam to him. And the pitch I threw, why did I do this? I have no idea. The first and only time I ever tried to throw a knuckle curve. I'm on the mound. I got bases juice, two outs. We're gonna scrimmage. You know, it's one of those things where, like, you know, losing team has to run extra. Yeah, so I got two strikes on if the 02. I'm like, I'm gonna bury a knuckle curve. Always wanted to throw a knuckle curve. Here's the best time. Leave it right over the plate. He hits it off the fucking scoreboard for a grand slam. Might have been the only time that guy hit a home run over a fence since high school. And it obviously embarrassing. After practice, I go up to Coach Westray, our head coach. We should interview him sometime. We should. He developed so people listen. He developed Cole Hammels. He's like the guy when the Phillies drafted Cole Hammels, or like you work with this guy for like two years. He taught Cole Hammels his change up. This is cool. Told you about it four times a week. Yeah, he's guys a psychopath. Anyways, practice is over. I go up to him. I go, Hey man, I can't believe I gave up that grand slam nifty. And he's like, Well, you'd be surprised that's what happens when you throw it down the middle of the plate. And I said, Correct. However, I have been struggling with my curveball lately, and I went through a different grip today, and it's just something that's been on my mind for the last couple weeks. You had 10 minutes, we just go through some different grips, and I can get one of the guys to do short round. He looks me dead in the eyes and he goes, I got bad news for you, buddy. You don't have a fucking curveball.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

What should I do? You're like just trying to have a conversation about hey man, how should I work this?

Can The Cubs Beat The Dodgers?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

So is that a no? What that's just I just stood there like this. You guys are looking at me right now. I just looked at him. I'm like, I mean, I do. He's like, no, you know, you don't like that thing you threw today was just shit. It's like, yeah, you fucking asshole. So I left. I just was like, all right, well, I'll go work on it home. Last quick one, he goes, Senior, there were a lot of scouts. They were out to see somebody. I think Zach Putnam from Michigan. I'm like, man, look at all those scouts. It's a lot of fucking scouts to see Zach Putnam. He's like, Yeah. And they all know who he is. And funny enough, they all know you too. I'm like, yeah, right. He goes, I'll guarantee you, every scout in that stands knows you are. In fact, they have a nickname for you. You didn't know that. I'm like, all these guys are here to see Zach Putnam, coach. He's gonna go in the first round. He's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they know you. They've been they but they every they've been watching you pitch for fucking years down here. Every time you come in here, you've never heard them. They call you smoke break. Every time you come in here, they go out credit and fucking cigarette. My favorite. I gotta tell the one where we were driving to Bradenton and driving to Bradington, homeless guy sitting on the side of the road, and he was close. See that boys? Left-handed pitcher, couldn't control the running game. Then we get to the field and it's raining, and we're sitting in this van he's driving because we didn't have a fucking bus like yell, like Dartmouth has a bus. You know, we're in fucking minivans, but we're sitting in this van, and our shortstop, who ended up getting drafted in the third round, almost made it to the big lakes. Dude, it's an hour before game time. We're we're in this van. Info we flew down to Florida to play this game. We're sitting in this van, it's ravens. We're waiting for the rain to be out, and radios playing all stuff. Our shortstop sitting in the back. He says to the guy in the front, see whoever it could have been, Giller. He's like, Hey Giller, do you know who we're playing today? And our pitching coach is sitting in the we're it's an hour before the game. I thought our pitching coach is gonna murder everybody in our hand. He goes, We came down to Florida. I drove here, we're sitting in the middle of the rain, we're about to take the field. You don't know who's on the other side of the field. You don't know it. What if I told you we were playing Caltech? Would you believe it? We said Oregon, we're playing Oregon. Are you just asked who we're fucking playing? And the freshman's like, I don't, I just uh he's like, We're playing Jacksonville State, buddy. The kid goes, never heard of him. So it's a great game. I mean, if those are the moments you remember, you know, I remember a little bit about the Jacksonville State game. I remember a lot before, and you remember those moments and those camaraderie and those teammates. So just let's just circle it back to the 2026 Cubs as we close it down. Like that, I guess, would be the only weakness that I really see on the team. I mean, the injuries are one thing, but like I don't know if they have that that love, that camaraderie, that you know how Dexter Fowler puts it over the top and Rezzo puts it over the top, and Ross puts it over the top. And I don't know how much that matters. I mean, it did matter when they were down 3-1. Better fucking believe that. That mattered when they were down 3-1, better mattered when they had that fucking rain delay, mattered game seven. But is this team good enough where like that stuff doesn't have to matter? And I don't think they are so ball or strike. Can this team beat the Dodgers in a playoff series?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:34

Ball. It is the current the current state of things. That's a ball. There would have to be some additional improvements elsewhere.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:45

You give me one more starting pitcher plus Justin Steele at the top of his game, they can beat the Dodgers in a playoff game or in a playoff series. I think so. But that means a major move at the deadline for not just a couple relievers that will step in and play a nice role. You're talking about somebody that can go out and and win a 1-0 game against the Dodgers. And then that just comes down to like, I really hope that some of the guys we got in the 2025 draft erupt. Like, I need a fifth rounder from the 2024 draft to just be a monster this year. Like Zaire Hope's a good example because Zaire Hope and Jackson Ferris were the two guys that led the Michael Bush trade, and they may have great careers. But Zaire Hope was like a later round pick because he had some signability issues, and Jackson Ferris had some arm injury issues, so that they ended up paying him more money, whatever it is. Just like but those weren't our first rounders, those weren't our second round. Those weren't, I mean, Ferris is our those weren't the guys we were building around. So we just need some guys to emerge and hopefully we can get there. So I'm confident. I still I think right now at the five in a row, I this is the most excited been going in the week going into a week this early in the season, and probably five or six years.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:05

I couldn't be happier to be able to do the show too tonight with you two dudes with a five in a with a five in a row clip coming at you. Can you hear me?

Community Thanks And Subscribe Ask

SPEAKER_01 1:11:17

Is it it's perfect? All right, sounds course some sound issues here at 112. Two he's touched his his headphones. It could be time to go. It might hold on a second. Okay, look, a little technical difficulty.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:34

I don't it wouldn't be the Monday morning cub show without maybe an audio snafu at minute 112.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:40

Apologize, Fells. And as we go, I oh I always got nervous because when we were doing shows at Barcelona, you always wanted to keep it under an hour, like at like 55 minutes is a sweet spot because you don't want to intimidate people, and if they miss a show, then it's harder to do the shows, and then the longer a show goes, if you miss a couple, it's just kind of like hard to so we would always be like, let's try and keep it a little bit tired. I think they still do that with the stretch show where it's like around 45-50 minutes or whatever. So I've inherently had that in my head as we've done this show, and one thing that I've learned is as we've built this community is that like people don't give a fuck if they like it, they like it. Like they don't 45 minutes, hour, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever. It's like obviously you're gonna sit here two and a half hours talking about nothing, but when it's going and we feel good, that's one thing I've learned about this show, and doing it with you know, doing it with you, Mahoney, and just kind of breaking out on my own is like just fucking if you like it, just keep going. And and I've really thoroughly enjoyed the fact and the support you get from the audience where it's like, I liked it, do more, you know, have more to say. This is a good this is helping me enjoy the Cubs, or this is helping me watch the games, or whatever. So I guess there's something that we do have to fight Mahoney every time we do a show, or I'm like, gotta keep it under how many times do I say that's insane. Every time I say I want to keep it under an hour, just keep it tight. And I think that's just the conditioning of having to have done the show under these like sponsor guidelines, or whatever. It's our show. I don't give a fuck how long we go. That said, I do think it's been a nice show, and I think it this is about a good time to start, you know, start winding things down.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:14

I do, you know, Carl Jake. I appreciate you coming on and to the Maniacs for 100 episodes in. Um, thank you for sticking with us and for sticking around for an hour and a half, a 15-minute, a Carl Friday show. We got some of the best Cubs fans out there in the community that we have built over the course of you know these first 100 episodes. You know, it's not like we went we're going into syndication or anything, but we appreciate you all listening so much. It's the reason why we have Thirsty Vacero jumping on board, it's the reason why we love doing this, showing up on Monday morning for you all. We got a loaded week coming here with the Phillies and then the Dodgers. And you know what? We're rolling right now, so let's just keep this thing moving downhill.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:56

We are rolling. Jake, I know people are gonna want to have more of you on here. Hear more from you. Well, I'm happy to come on anytime. I'm thrilled to be part of the community. I'm a fan, I'm honored truly to get the call, even if I was like fourth in line, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh in line. I'll be honest. I literally I just had to ask Justin Steele yesterday. I was like, they were doing our hundredth, and like he and I've talked about coming. I was like, I thought it'd be funny. I know you're probably traveling, you got shit Sunday night. You know, he was like, Sunday doesn't work for me. So he's like, all right. So no offense, the guy we all categorically name to be our number one pitcher in a playoff series was the only guy that I considered before you. I appreciate that, but I I I I loved being on last time, had a great time with you guys this time. Truly honored to be asked for the 100th episode. Let's keep it going, boys. Love the show. I think I love this team, and I'm excited to see where we go. I think I love this scene too. I think that's I think we're starting to get to that. We got through some of that early season funk, and I think we're gonna settle into like big week for us. Huge week. We might love this team after this week. Oh huge level set here. Hey, how about this? If they have a great week, which I would define as if they win all the series, and one of them's a four game, so that's three out of one. But if they win all their series this week, you got to come back and do the next show. Deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:14

All right, guys, this deal is not available.

Why Partner With Non-Alcoholic Sponsor

Final Words And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 1:15:17

It's provided a PT. You might we're doing our first four man in history, guys. It's the Monday Morning Cup show. If you get a chance, please. I I hate asking, but if you get a chance, it means a lot to leave a five-star review. It's only published on two places Apple and Spotify. It also means a lot if you guys can encourage, or if you guys I would like to encourage you guys to support Thursday Vacero, which is a non-alcoholic beverage, right? Like what we could do, trust me, it would take almost zero effort to get a prediction market to sponsor this show, and I would absolutely run this fucking thing into the ground. Okay, it would be not hard for me to go to a number of alcohol companies that I know to get money to help us do this show. I am intentionally partnering with a non-alcoholic Mexican style soda with a signature spicy finish for a number of reasons, and I'd ask you guys to trust me because the future of this show is rooted in the fact that we want to do it, that it's fun to do, that it is a great community to be a part of. It has nothing to do with income, it has nothing to do with this is my career. I can't, I went down that path. I can tell you categorically right now, this is a significantly more fun way to go about it. And I think the community that we've built is a solid reflection of that. So that's my sign-off for the hundredth episode. Not only do I thank maniacs that have shown up to this, I want you to know that when we meet in person, I would quite literally take a fucking bullet for you because you guys have been here for me at a time when I'm like, I just don't even think people understand just how fucked up some of this shit is that's going on behind the scenes. And I've kept my fucking mouth shut, I've been nothing but fucking patient, and all I've wanted to do is put together a good, insightful Cub show for people that enhances their experiences when it comes to watching the Cubs. That's my mission, and I'm fucking sticking to it. And I will say this the people that want to deviate me off that path, you will fucking get yours. All right now, though. It's the hundredth episode, baby, and we are fucking rolling. That being said, please subscribe to the show, share the show, follow Mahoney, and be nice to Jake because we want to have him on again. He's a great baseball man.

unknown 1:17:29

Love you.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:29

Till next time, gang. Go Cubs.