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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody.
AJ, how are you?
Good. I can't believe how fancy y'all are now. I mean, it used to just be a radio call-in show. Now I got to put clothes on to do this thing. I can't peak too early.
I got to kind of try to control my peaking. So, you know, it's a little early to already put a shirt and a hat on. Middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score. Strike three, Carl. The ball game is over. The Reds are going to challenge. The Reds are going to challenge that last call. Let's see if it was a strike or not. We're watching the video right now, and it was a strike. And the Cubs sweep the series.
It's all over. Cubs win the ball game by a score of 8-3.
Ah, that's good stuff. Drip in your pillow down. Sure. This is Rahimi Harrison-Groney on 104.3 The Score. The Cubs have won 15 games in a row at home. Cue up the Metallica or whatever you need to get going in the morning today. That is courtesy of the Northwestern Medicine Cubs Radio Network. And in the meantime... I don't know why last year wasn't it for me when it came to this idea.
And I'm not real sure. I feel like I might be giving Craig a lot of leash here. But why do I feel like this year is the first year where I feel like I'm getting the full Craig Council nuance managerial experience?
Well, I totally understand why you would figure that.
The use of the bench and the bullpen and the tinkering and the lineup.
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Chapter 2: How is Craig Counsell's managerial style impacting the Cubs?
Because Edward Cabrera is holding this thing together in a way now that we know three out of the top four starters are down.
They've needed every single bit of what they've gotten out of every single pitcher this year, whether it's Colin Ray or Cabrera or Tyone. And we'll see what they get out of Ben Brown tonight. Showdown!
I think it's such a great topic, Layla, because when Craig Council was first hired, the thing was, it was like Jed Hoyer just drooling over Craig Council saying, you know, we've never had a manager like this. Like he's indicating, and he may even have said it, that this is a manager that is going to have more input than the average manager.
Like they didn't seem to allow David Ross to have that much say. I'm sure he had some. It's silly to think that he wouldn't have had any.
I mean, you knew he did with his lineups for sure.
Absolutely. Same thing with Joe Maddon. I mean, part of the Joe Maddon frustration on his way out is the control that the front office had. And of course Joe had autonomy. We know some of the moves that Joe Maddon made, but in terms of signing players and having that input, it would appear that Craig Council is as close to management as any of the recent Cubs managers. So we can look at a guy...
you know, like Conforto, as you were saying, and say, okay, yeah, yeah, Craig Council may have had his fingerprints on that because he's able to finally identify the guys that he needs, that he wants, or the types of players that he wants, and then Jed Hoyer and his staff and Carter Hawkins, they go out and get these guys.
So it's really just nice to see the orchestra working as much as we wanted it right away, and there's been plenty of criticism of Craig Council throughout all this. He's finally got it humming over the last two years.
Well, also, I think it just I think there are times where his managerial experience and his his performance in that way in Milwaukee, when we would watch him, we'd say the nuance, we'd fill it in with Craig Council. When there was a variance, whether yesterday's game is a good example. You see it and Nico goes one for four. Moises Ballesteros doesn't get a hit. Alex Bregman doesn't get a hit.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Craig Counsell face in previous seasons?
Like really, really agonizing, painful part of yesterday's Cubs game from a Cubs perspective.
When the bases were loaded and Daniel Palencia had to come in.
Oh, Gavin Hollowell, come on. And maybe that is me being overly greedy because they just brought him up, just put him in. And Craig even said, look, it's not ideal to have to put these guys in in these scenarios. But you had a big lead. He walked four over an inning and two thirds. And I'm like, finish this game.
I was frustrated, too, because one of the things that Craig Council said in the prior game postgame press conference was like Palencia in one of these games had to throw. They didn't use him, but he threw in the bullpen a couple of times. So I was. Yeah. And I was. Well, because they thought they may need him and then they didn't end up needing him.
And I was hoping we didn't need to see Palencia do anything in that game. So I was also frustrated. Right, right. It was just painful, like extending the game for, I mean, I knew they were going to win the game still, but I'm like, this is just, this is taxing to watch and then Palencia having to come in.
Well, and that's part of it too, is all these pitches add up for players. All these pitches add up for your bullpen. And you want to give Daniel Palencia as much rest as possible. And that's what happened. Yeah, I felt the same way when I was watching the game. I'm like, Mesa's loaded. This is a means to an end right now. Let's go.
Right. They were a grand slam from it being like a one-run game.
Well, and that's part of the job as a manager, too, is this is your game to put away, Gavin Halliwell. How will you do it?
It took a Tommy Haddavy visit and then Craig Council to come out. He just couldn't get himself together.
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Chapter 4: How has the Cubs' roster changed under Craig Counsell?
Listen to how Craig Council talked about the importance of winning right now and what that does for a team come, I don't know, Craig-tober, Craig-tember.
For a group that obviously is already confident and very talented, what does a stretch like this do for them?
Yeah, look, our job is to just stack up wins. They count the same now as they do, you know, at later in the season. And so you just stack up wins. And that's our job. We've got to just keep doing that. Confidence is not going to be an issue, but you've got to stack up wins because you do run into headwinds during a long season. So you stack them up while things are going well.
I think that's important to know. I just keep thinking about the 2023 season, Mark, where they had the easiest part of their schedule. You know, two series against the Rockies.
Chapter 5: What role does effective scouting play in team success?
Chris Bryant finds his home run swing again. They can't win those series. You put yourself in a really bad position. The Pirates weren't as competitive then. And they couldn't make the playoffs when they were so close. Began that month with a more than 90% chance of winning or getting into the playoffs, rather. They had just beaten the Giants and Logan Webb at the time.
and then we see what happens next. You don't make the playoffs. You have a new manager, and then that's where we are right now.
I do think it's funny, too, that all the people who always push back on us, and me in particular, because I always say I don't care how early it is in the season. You can fan how you want to fan. We're going to talk about these games how we want to talk about these games, no matter how early it is. Too early, too early, too early.
I don't hear many people talking about how early it is now that the Cubs have won nine straight games. We're living in the moment, and that's all I could ask for with any of these Cubs games, winning or losing, taking it serious or however you want to take it. And yeah, banking wins, man. It's like I was saying pre-show. It's like your savings account.
You don't need it now, but eventually you're going to need it to bail Tyler Buterbaugh out of jail. You never know what is going to happen to one of our producers.
If there's one person on our staff who's the least likely, it's Tyler Buterbaugh. Tyler Buterbaugh was off yesterday and yet somehow created that savage open featuring LMFAO.
So what you're saying is that Ray is... Why are you picking on Ray? You think Ray is more likely to get thrown in jail and we gotta bail him out? What's up with that?
You know, I'm proud of you because you win.
When you put us both together.
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