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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And the pitch on the way. Swing and a fly ball to right. Thomas is there, makes the catch. And the ball game is over. And the Athletics have won two in a row here at Wrigley Field. The final tonight in ten innings. 5-4 Athletics.
That is Pat Hughes, Ron Coomer on the call on the Northwestern Medicine Cubs radio network. And after seeing what they've done and now they've lost eight in a row at home, the 210 game win streaks feel like a very long time ago. Cubs are now 32 and 30, only two games above 500. And we asked the question, are the Cubs underachieving or are they overrated?
I thought about it because of Jed Hoyer always talking about overperforming or outperforming expectations, and that is not what's happened. So to what extent? Craig Council chimed in because he discussed the team playing right now after yet another loss.
I mean, we're not winning a lot of baseball games right now. I mean, that's so ā I don't know what the numbers are. You know, and we're not playing well enough to win a lot of baseball games. You know, you have to earn it, and we're not earning it. I mean, I don't, you know, it's not some string of massive bad luck. We're not earning wins flat out.
So winning series, just putting good baseball together, we've got to do it. You know, months, you know, the trajectory of the season is, you know, it's already been an odd season in terms of the streaks. We know that. But we're just not playing good enough baseball to win games.
So we want you to chime in too if you'd like. 312-644-6767 is our number here on Rahimi Harris and Grody. I hear a manager who wants his team to perform better, but I see a manager who does things like moving Dansby Swanson up in the lineup when he isn't hitting well. You know, you look at Dansby's numbers, for example. He batted 151 the month of May.
And it hasn't gotten much better so far for him. He only has one hit to his name in this month. I know it's the 4th of June. But still, the average right now is looking like it is a 167. And so... That's what makes this hard when you consider what he's gone through and what the numbers look like overall. Total, it's a 183. That's not good either.
I don't know that I'd have him moving up in my lineup when you consider how this team is hitting and how they can't bring runners home in scoring position.
You wonder if late in games, it's not the right move to have someone pinch hit for him. Especially because, you know, you have the position...
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Chapter 2: Are the Cubs underachieving or overrated?
Versatility with Nico Horner able to play shortstop. And offense has got to trump everything right now, in my opinion. Because I know this team was built on having a strong defense up the middle specifically, but they're a really good defensive team. That's the one thing that has not changed about this team, whether they're winning or they're losing.
But if they're not hitting, they're not going to win ballgames. And I think Craig Council summed it up well when he talks about how you have to earn wins. It's not good enough to just show up and be quote-unquote better than the other team. You have to play like it. You have to be better on any given night. And in back-to-back games, they were not better. than the A's.
They just weren't. And in back-to-back games, too, I'm thinking about Craig saying that they're not playing good enough baseball to win right now. But in back-to-back games, there's been bad pick-offs for the Cubs. On Tuesday, Kevin Alcantara caught in a bad run-down in the second, absolutely killed the scoring opportunity.
Chapter 3: What insights does Craig Council provide on the team's performance?
Alex Bregman last night in the third inning gets picked up, albeit by the lefty Jeffrey Springs. But it's just not sound baseball that's happening for the Cubs right now. It's not just the runners in scoring position, the bullpen breaking down. Colin Ray gets a pass. He was good last night and he told the media last night that he was good to come out when he did.
But yeah, it's just not good baseball right now.
Well, and this is a team that spent $488 million in the offseason. And I do look at the big money guys when I consider where a lot of the production is supposed to be because that's how they were paid. Dansby Swanson, I thought offensively was going to contribute more than what he's done, especially these last couple seasons.
Last year was a real realization and understanding that he had to move down in the lineup. Do we accept that now? Alex Bregman, do we need more slug out of him? We've talked about that. That's part of why they signed him to the contract they did.
And I know there were a lot of people worried about the numbers he had last year in Boston in the second half, thinking that that was going to be the case. But I don't know how you don't look at this as a whole and say this team is underperforming. So let's go to the calls. We have Monica in Western Springs. Monica, you're on Rahimi Harrison-Grody.
Hi, guys. I love your show. And I think the answer to the question is it's a both and. I think they are underperforming and I think they are overrated. And then let me put this out there. Do you think the same can be said for Craig Council? It's one thing to hear that he's an even keeled guy, but it's another thing when I listen to him. He just doesn't sound very inspirational.
Now, I don't know what goes on behind the scenes when he talks to his guys, but is he the right fit temperamentally?
Yeah, I think that's a fair question because people have asked, like, well, are you taking on the attitude of your manager in a way? How much does that trickle from top down? And I know, Mark, you and I examined it a bit last week because there were varying degrees of whether or not Craig Council sounded upset, like weird Ben Johnson upset yesterday at Hallis Hall.
You don't have to act the same way, but I don't know that Craig Council is the light of fire under people's butts guy, at least in public.
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Chapter 4: How is Dansby Swanson's batting affecting the Cubs' success?
100%. I don't necessarily... I would think some of that falls on the manager to hold some accountability.
Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Hey, and the people said, Craig is one of the highest paid managers in the league. If we're going to sit here and go after the highest paid players on the Cubs and say, you've got to produce, the manager is wide open. If you want to just narrow it down to how much money he makes... Absolutely. Have at Craig.
I don't know that I would do that in terms of the money thing. That was a choice. That was an organizational choice. He didn't pay himself. But I will say this. Wait a minute.
You don't think that for those who are paid more, more is expected, whether you're an athlete, a manager, or whatever the case is?
I think sometimes organizations make bad decisions in terms of how much money they pay people to do things.
different task and and here's here's what i'll say i think it is more overrated than it is anything else and here's why i think craig council did is a good manager we we know that he does more with less we've seen that whether it's here or whether it's in milwaukee and i think the the real issue here is this roster is not good enough not dynamic enough and when they were winning earlier in the season when they jumped out to first place in the central it's because craig council was literally pushing all the right buttons he was
And you go back to last year, too, and talk about the bullpen usage and the way they kind of darted around that, not having guys. They just find guys to do stuff. But right now you're seeing a roster that's not good enough to compete with the best team in the division, clearly the Milwaukee Brewers, a team they were up three and a half games on, and now they're down six and a half.
That's a 10-game swing in what, the course of a month?
It doesn't mean he's above reproach. It means that he's getting the same sort of criticism that his team is getting. All of it is up for examination. And because he commanded this salary, the Cubs paid him based on the idea that he was going to be a game changer in this.
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