← Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
OFF THE IVY: Shota Imanaga dominates helping Chicago Cubs SWEEP the Reds to win 9th straight game
00:40:03
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- [00:01]
Matt Abaticoa
You're listening to this podcast, so I
- [00:03]
Dan Bernstein
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Matt Abaticoa
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Dan Bernstein
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Matt Abaticoa
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Dan Bernstein
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Matt Abaticoa
Science says that stimulating the brain increases alertness.
- [00:51]
Dan Bernstein
So here's a pop quiz. How many months have 28 days?
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Matt Abaticoa
What gets wetter as it dries?
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Dan Bernstein
What has keys but can't open? Locks? If you don't want to hear the answers, turn off this Liberty Mutual AD. Now. 12 months. A towel, piano. Enjoy being fully alert. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Everybody talked about it since I first moved to Oregon. The big one. The earthquake that trashed the whole West Coast. Total destruction.
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Matt Abaticoa
Officially calling it the largest natural disaster in American history. I just didn't know what would help me next.
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Dan Bernstein
So I took it all. Even the gun. It was time.
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Matt Abaticoa
Cello American Afterlife presented by Pair of Thieves. The number one fiction and drama podcast in America. Listen wherever you get your favorite podcasts available now.
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Cody Delmendo
Off the Ivy, a Chicago Cubs podcast with Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticoa and Cody
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Dan Bernstein
Delmendo on 312 sports. Foreign
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Matt Abaticoa
312 sports. And you know, it's brought to you by Chicago Window Guys, Russ armstrong. Call them 847-302-9171 and check out the five star reviews at ChicagoNow guys.com that's 15 in a row at home. And when all of a sudden you look and it's eight nothing and they have just nickel and dime them with bouncers up the Middle east and the catcher not knowing that he had to tag a sliding Ian Hap and things are going your way. I think you made the point before, after the three walk offs that maybe the Reds wanted to stop playing baseball.
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Cody Delmendo
Well, they did.
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Matt Abaticoa
They apparently did. They showed up. They just stopped playing baseball.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, it certainly was a game that I loved. The fact that it was 8 to 1. Unfortunately, as we talked through this whole game on today's off the Ivy League. Unfortunately, Daniel Plenty had to come in for a seven pitch save in what was an ended up being an 8 to 3 victory for the Cubs. It was their ninth in a row too, by the way, fellas, which means one more game. We have our second 10 game winning streak of the season which would put the Cubs in very, very rare MLB error. Looking through the hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of games that have been played in this sport. So really exciting time to be a Cubs fan. And I'm just going to say this, you know, Dan and I started a podcast about the Bears and look what happened. We got a podcast now here going with Cody. We've added more reinforcement with Cody and look what's happening with the Cubs right now. Cody, how good are you feeling? How good are things right now at the fic?
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Dan Bernstein
Never been better. In my, like in my five or five and a half, six years of doing podcasting, I've never felt this good. And there was a time when I was podcasting talking about all the teams and you know, yeah, this is, this as a, as a Cubs fan, this is the best for sure. I feel like I, I sat through the 2022 Cubs so I could, you know, thrive with this team. So this team, yeah, they got, they had some, some bouncers up the middle that helped yesterday, but you showed him. Imanaga was great again. And I'm at a point right now where even like I know the ninth inning, I'm more mad about them having to put Palencia in there.
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Cody Delmendo
Sure. But I wasn't even. Irritating. Yeah, it's irritating. Yeah.
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Dan Bernstein
But I also just wasn't even nervous about it for some weird. I don't. Maybe, maybe it's not weird because when you win, you at that point before the game's over, it's eight in a row overall, 14 at home. Like we're leading those central. We've just been winning in all different ways. I just did not see them like blowing that game with that kind of a lead. And it's, it's been a long time where I could just feel that confident, no matter what the score is, that the Cubs are going to win. And that's what, for me, at least that's what makes this entire run so far so fun. And there was a time, even despite this, there was a time where I was annoyed because that 7 and 9 start wasn't fun, at least for me. And they've figured it, they've figured out some things I think say Suzuki being inserted back into the lineup really helped the offense get going. And despite all the injuries, pitching staff has just found a way. It's truly remarkable, man.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, seven and nine start, as you mentioned there, and they're now 26 and 12, so 14 games over. Three and a half games up on St. Louis, five on Pittsburgh, five and a half on Milwaukee, and now a six game lead on the Reds, who were, as you mentioned yesterday, in first place in the NL Central on May 1. You did mention Shota, who went six innings, gave a one earned run, three walks, 10 Ks on 99 pitches. He has an ERA of 2.28, which is 11th in major league Baseball. A couple other numbers here, real quick, just to throw out some era numbers. Shohei with 6 games started, 6 quality starts in the era of 0.97. I didn't know he was under 1, which is disgusting. Davis Martin on the south side of town. Seven game started, five quality starts, has a 164 ERA, which is third in baseball. And Chris Sale still getting it done for the Braves with seven games started, six quality starts and a 2.14 ERA. But Shota at 228, 11th in major league Baseball. I know that. What is he, seven, six, seven starts in. He said one bad start. Yeah, this is not what I expected. Yeah, this is not what I expected. And you know, and Dan and I talked about it on DBU at some length about the, the, you know, the 2026 season and what was happening with Shota that the Cubs actually declined and then brought him back on a one year deal. And we were like, man, it's a lot of money for this guy who's going to be at the bottom of your rotation. And here he's out being not only a great pitcher for the Cubs, but one of the best pitchers in baseball right now. It's just unbelievable what he's doing. The velocity was down a little bit yesterday, but he was still getting 10 strikeouts. And Dan, as you mentioned, getting a lot of swings and misses, especially with the splitter.
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Matt Abaticoa
And even though I'm not worried about velocity, if there are, if you're still able to f hitters at that rate. So whatever they found with pitch mix sequencing, arm slot, the fact that you mentioned a guy that they didn't want here, not only they're like, well, he's back, let's make the best of him. And it's yet another victory on that side of the ledger for the Cubs. The Cubs pitching side, the pitching infrastructure, whatever you want to call that aspect of the organization. And I just think it's another way of looking at the juxtaposition of this streak with every day they come in, just almost as a joke, remove another pitcher.
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Cody Delmendo
Now imagine it's incredible that these, that
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Matt Abaticoa
these, the, the upstream swimming. However, whatever metaphor you want to use for the improbability of this run occurring contemporaneously with a comedic amount of pitching injuries is, is amazing.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah. And imagine the outrage of Cub fans who would have been the biggest show to fans had he gone somewhere else. It was doing this for another team
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Matt Abaticoa
and he wouldn't be that, that, that's what I'm saying. It's possible that he just wouldn't be because they know more about him and they said, well, if we're going to have him, we're going to maximize it.
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Cody Delmendo
And so how much does his success so far here early on counterbalance any of the injuries? Can we like, is there. I mean, we talk about baseball gods and, you know, the luck and the, and the bad luck that teams have. How much are we balancing out his success with the injuries we've had?
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Dan Bernstein
I mean, he's definitely made the loss of Kate Horton not feel as bad. Right. Like, I would say, he's your number one. He's been, he's performed number one starter in the rotation. And like you said, Matt, going into the year, we, we all thought, you know, he's probably your fifth best start. I think there are people who thought Tyone was better than him just based off the postseason performance that he gave you last year. Right. So, yeah, I showed a. For me, I do think the fastball velocity matters because it was down last year. He was ranging anywhere from 90 to 91. It is up to 92, like average wise. And I, I didn't notice that the velocity was down yesterday. So I guess that's something to watch moving forward. But that, I do think that that matters and I think health is a big part of that. He had that hamstring injury last year, came back and that's when things kind of fell apart for him. He had some good starts in there and, and was able to keep some runners off base. But as we saw in September and in October, it just, he couldn't keep runners off base. And then he just. The fly balls, because he's a fly ball pitcher. He's, he's, he was, he's able to give up home runs and you know, he gave up a homer again yesterday. I don't know the total he has on the year so far. But he's. To me, he's been generating insane amount of chase getting whiffs like you guys are saying 22 whiffs yesterday as well and limiting base runners. So when he does give up the homer, they're solo shots. So he's just. He has been one of the biggest surprises to me because the. I'll say that he's one of the biggest surprises is you guys talking about the contract and stuff. If you remember, his contract was one of. Was really weird where the Cubs had to opt in or opt out and, and Showeda had to decide to opt in or opt out or something like that. And then it led to the qualifying offer. So in many ways I can make an argument, man, the Cubs should have picked up that option. I think they'd be paying him less money this year and they'd have. But they'd have him for like three more years, including this year. So because he was originally signed on a five year deal, it was just a really weird setup. You'd have to. I don't have the contract set up, but if you're listening, you would. You remember, you probably remember that the contract for him was really. It didn't make sense. It was hard for me to explain. So I, I can make that argument. But I don't blame the Cubs for I guess in a way opting out. I was really surprised when they offered in the qualifying offer based off how things had played out to that point. And yeah, yeah, I was curious to,
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Cody Delmendo
I was curious, Cody, to know like what, what they learned in that process as they went through that process to get to that point where they were like, yeah, we're not going to do this, but oh yeah, we're willing to do this. He's given up four home runs on the year so far, which puts him on pace for around 16, you know, somewhere around 20 for the season, which is certainly lower than what, 31 last year, 27 the year before that. From the bullpen you get the big dreidel who gets his second appearance in back to back days. Craig Counsel spun the wheel of pitchers. The door opened and out walked Gavin Holloway. Now we know Gavin, but it was his first outing for the Cubs this year. And then, yeah, Daniel Palencia comes in and gets a seven pitch save in what ended up being an 8 to 3 victory for the Cubs.
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Matt Abaticoa
My favorite part of that too is Daniel Palencia not realizing they were challenging the final pitch.
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Dan Bernstein
Yes.
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Matt Abaticoa
As he's turning toward the center field camera and thanking his various forces and powers that be and I'm like, hey, hey. Nope, turn around there. It's.
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Cody Delmendo
Give.
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Matt Abaticoa
Give it a second. Not. Not quite done yet. They tapped his head. So this is. It's definitely changing the way games can end.
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Dan Bernstein
I'll say. To give a little grace to Hollowell. I mean, he. He went out there and ate. What, an inning. Two and a third. Yeah. Inning in two thirds. He threw 49 pitches. Yeah. I. Craig just didn't want to use any high leverage guys the most like the. At the very least that he could. And unfortunately, hall was just out there for way too long. He would have never pitched that much if that game was any closer.
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Matt Abaticoa
But.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah. No, it's fine. It's fine. And nothing. Yeah, nothing. This isn't a shot at Holloway. I know. Yeah. It's just, you know, we have another day and another new name comes through. Even though he's not new, but a new name for this season. Just wondering when it's all said and done where the Cubs are going to compare at the end of the season to what the Dodgers did last year. And you look at the number of pitchers that they used on their season, and we haven't even talked about the key player in yesterday's game. We've buried the lead this far in. Where are we at? We're unbelievable. Almost 12 minutes in, we have not mentioned Babe Conforto, who got the start for Seisuki. You thought, all right, he's gonna get out right field. What the reasoning behind that was. I don't know if there's little lingering effects of backing and falling into the wall and that catch that, say, I made. Who knows, maybe just a day off. And Babe comes in and says, don't worry, Skip. I got you. Gets on base four times, goes three for three with a home run, two RBIs and a walk. He's now. His slash line is 361. 467, 667. For Babe Conforto.
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Matt Abaticoa
His WRC plus is 211.
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Cody Delmendo
Well, if he stays there, it'll be pretty remarkable. Yeah.
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Matt Abaticoa
Let the record show if you're buying Conforto stock, I'm. I'm still selling. I am.
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Cody Delmendo
Hey, from. Dude, from where it started at the beginning of the season, the way we talked about Conforto. Why is he here? And like. Well, he's the former Dodger reject that gets to come in and be part of the clubhouse.
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Matt Abaticoa
I think. I think I called him the corpse of Michael Conforto.
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Cody Delmendo
You actually did.
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Dan Bernstein
Yes.
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Cody Delmendo
And that. That's. And at that time, you weren't very far off, but whatever's happened has happened. And Craig said, hey, be a part of this team, I'm going to use you in limited opportunities and see what you can make of it. And the guy is been unbelievable offensively for this team the last couple of weeks.
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Matt Abaticoa
You know what his batting average of balls in play is? Anybody want to guess?
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Cody Delmendo
Over 400, I don't know. 513, 458.
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Dan Bernstein
Nicely done.
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Matt Abaticoa
He hits the. Any contact with the baseball in play has a one in two chance, a coin flip chance of being a safe hit.
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Cody Delmendo
I mean you talk about a utility veteran player that has really come through this. I mean it's just been unbelievable what he's done so far.
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Dan Bernstein
Yeah, he's a guy that. I think what's really brought him success is he's only facing right handed pitching too. You know, we talked about by Steros and Shaw as guys who have only faced left. Well, by Steros, righties, Shaw, lefties, and we've seen a lot of success with them. I think Conforto is just first off accepting the role. You know a lot of veterans like that can't accept that. But coming off the year he had last year, he was forced to use a minor league signing, but only seeing right handed pitching and just adjusting to the role too because I feel like it took forever for Justin Turner to adjust to that role last year. Justin Turner ended up with like a.780 OPS last year mostly against lefties or righties, I mean, or no.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, lefties, Lefties, yep.
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Dan Bernstein
But I don't know about you guys. For me I. He was a great clubhouse presence. He got some big hits, he had some moments. He has a great personality. But I just feel like he wasn't worth the 6 million they signed him for. For in terms of production on field, even in a bench roll. And Conforto has already been way more than anyone could have ever hoped or asked for. I agree, Dan. I don't think the, the slash line of 361, 467, 667 is going to stick around but you know, it's already a win.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah, it's already a win.
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Matt Abaticoa
Yes.
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Dan Bernstein
Yeah, that win. And I, I think there is some form of sustainability in terms of just being a reliable bench bat to come up in, in a spot where you need him to get a hit. There's been clutch spots. He's come up late in games and, and helped them win there.
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Cody Delmendo
He had a game winner, he had a game winning home run.
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Dan Bernstein
Yeah, the walk off just the other day he had a game where. He had a game where he hit a lead off double, I believe and he came around to score on, on a hit.
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Cody Delmendo
Absolutely.
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Dan Bernstein
And to me that, that's those, those things, they're not. You can't like measure it or whatever. But like I think that him coming through in some of those big spots is a. Not only a confidence builder for him but also a sign of like yeah, some of this can be sustainable. I think. I, I just don't. Obviously the 458BAB says that these numbers are gonna.
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Cody Delmendo
That's probably not going to be the one. Yeah. A couple questions for a mailbag. I want, I want to put a bow on this red series as the Cubs again have won nine in a row. They took the four game series from Cincinnati and now the six game lead on the Reds who are last in the NL Central. In the broadcast yesterday, I don't know if you guys heard this. They said that the reds have had 14 bases loaded walks this year. Did I hear that?
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Matt Abaticoa
No, no, no, no. That can't be right.
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Cody Delmendo
Okay.
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Matt Abaticoa
There's no way.
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Cody Delmendo
Then I misheard. Okay, good. Because I looked and they are second in Major League Baseball with 184 walks allowed.
- [18:02]
Matt Abaticoa
Wow.
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Cody Delmendo
Which is, which is second. Which you think? Wow. Well, yeah. Houston has 201 walks allowed on the season. Okay, so then I misheard that in the broadcast.
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Matt Abaticoa
I'm not saying definitely, but there's. Somebody would have been fired.
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Cody Delmendo
Okay. I just want, I wanted to make sure because I was like, I wonder how many walks they do have their second. I'm like 184. That's awfully high. Maybe it's possible. And there's no way as I did a quick search through Google and it wasn't racist Google. I couldn't find any stat that you know, categorized team walks with bases loaded. So I want to throw it at you guys. Obviously you guys didn't hear it, so maybe I just misheard it as I was doing other things throughout the the the game yesterday. So the Cubs do get the victory eight to three over the Reds. It is 15 in a row as you mentioned, Dan, at Wrigley, nine in a row. They are a game off of getting their second 10 game win streak. And I know, Cody, we have a couple. Before we look at tonight's game against the Rangers, a couple questions from our mailbag that we'd love to, to get into with our, our community here off the ivy.
- [18:58]
Matt Abaticoa
And before we launch into the mailbag, let me just mention that Russ Armstrong is available right now for your phone call to get you on the schedule to get you your new windows. I know you have been considering this. I know that as you've been opening and closing windows, as the weather's been changing and like, you know what, These windows are crap. We got to get new ones. And there's a seal blown over here and this one doesn't work and these look bad.
- [19:24]
Cody Delmendo
We're going to.
- [19:24]
Matt Abaticoa
Well, just call Russ. Stop waiting because you don't have to worry with every time you hear another one of these crazy ads that's promising you all this stuff of buy one, get one free, etc. Make it easier. Call Chicago window guys. Call Russ. Then you don't have to deal with any of those gimmicks and he can explain everything. Call 847-302-9171. Check out his 5 star reviews. Chicagowindow guys.com Russ is going to match any price, and that way you don't have to be concerned. Am I getting the lowest price if I, if I talk to enough people? You can talk to whoever you want, but Russ is going to be the person you go with. Because when you're getting quotes, you can ask those other places who's installing your windows. They're not going to know. They won't be able to answer that. They'll be, I don't know, whatever crew we pick up that day. And then you've got randos in your house and you don't want that. You want Russ's people because he uses the same crew. And those are the people that installed my windows twice. And it's why I recommend Russ and his crew to everybody.
- [20:25]
Cody Delmendo
Well, then two, two times. Not twice. You haven't had the windows replaced. Right? You've had, you've had two separate occasions where Russ and his crew have come in windows for you.
- [20:35]
Matt Abaticoa
Yes. He hasn't. He has never had to replace his own windows. It's just we had to replace. We had a lot of windows and we needed two different tranches of windows from the original builder stuff.
- [20:46]
Cody Delmendo
That was. Yeah. The last one you just did was the murder cave.
- [20:49]
Matt Abaticoa
Oh, yeah, man. Well, we, that's now, that's now the, the, the heated rivalry cave. Okay, so it's murder and gay hockey sex. So you get, you get all of it together. And I recommend Russ to neighbors, to friends, to co workers because he's awesome. And you'll, you'll know more about windows and Russ will explain why all of his competitors have to tease you into These bad deals. He doesn't do that. He's just, he's going to match. He's going to explain everything and he keeps it simple and clean and easy and he's always in touch with you to make sure everything is going okay. His factories right here in Chicago. He makes all the windows. He, it's, it's the whole thing from soup to nuts. 847-302-9171 chicagowindow guys.com Cody Mailbag all right,
- [21:39]
Dan Bernstein
this first question I already looked it up to answer but I feel like it'd be a good conversation. But this guy go he goes by Silver right. On Twitter. He asks what's the Cubs team record for most pitchers used in a season. That's a two parter. He asked for Cubs team record for most pitchers used in a season. And what's the MLB record for most pitchers used by one team in a season. And you don't even have to go that far back. The record for The Cubs is 42 different pitchers in the 2022 season. Yeah. Which I was surprised I didn't have
- [22:21]
Matt Abaticoa
to go all the way back.
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Dan Bernstein
But maybe with the era of baseball that we are currently in with all the injuries, the pitchers year in and year out that's why that in that team they didn't have depth and they were rebuilding and all that. So it doesn't necessarily surprise me but 42 is a, is a lot.
- [22:40]
Matt Abaticoa
Well especially now that there's a minimum of three batters like I would think that it would be. It's you. You can if you're doing the Loogies and the Rugies it's now it's going to be harder to, to approach that number perhaps.
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Cody Delmendo
So I thought if I remember correctly and I could be way off on this that the Dodgers Last year used 38.
- [23:02]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
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Cody Delmendo
Go back and double check the record
- [23:05]
Dan Bernstein
for, for in like all of baseball is actually by the Mets last year who used 46 different pitchers. Geez.
- [23:14]
Matt Abaticoa
Yeah.
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Cody Delmendo
That was to not get in the wild card too.
- [23:16]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah.
- [23:17]
Dan Bernstein
And the, the job they broke the previous record that was from the year before which was the Marlins who had 45 in 2024.
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Matt Abaticoa
Well and it also every year.
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Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
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Matt Abaticoa
Yeah. I think it answers the question too that we sometimes wonder when we look at, I don't know with Indianapolis is is playing some other triple A team. You're like wow, that guy's still around. That guy's still hanging on. And the answer is it could really be worth your while as a veteran pitcher instead of going to Korea or instead of going to Mexico, you know, stick around and ply your trade at Round Rock and wait for that phone call. Because you never know. Now, if you are in that next group, just off the roster, it is really likely that you're going to get called up and get a chance to stick.
- [24:10]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, that's a great point. And has the influx of pitchers returning from the Japanese League to Major League Baseball, has that increased?
- [24:19]
Matt Abaticoa
I don't know.
- [24:19]
Cody Delmendo
Something to keep an eye on. Because where. I think. I think if you left Major League Baseball and went to Japan, that's where you ended your career. And I think you're going to start seeing that flight pattern circle back through. Maybe if guys are having success there, that GMs might be calling guys up and say, hey, you want to come back to the show?
- [24:36]
Matt Abaticoa
Eric Fetty with the White was an example like that.
- [24:39]
Dan Bernstein
I was going to mention him. I think we've seen a. I don't want to say it's like a huge number, but in recent years there's been some guys. There was a guy this offseason that signed with the Blue Jays that was in Korea or.
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Cody Delmendo
Yeah. Last year.
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Dan Bernstein
He unfortunately got hurt like the first, like two weeks of the year and is out for a while. But he, he had a great run overseas. And I remember I listened to a podcast that he was on because his story was so interesting. It's unfortunate that he's, he's hurt with the Blue Jays now because he was. They signed him like three years, 30 million, something like, oh, wow. It wasn't, it wasn't just a small deal either, like that they, they really believed in him. And I believe that's what it was at least. So, yeah, it's been increasing, but I wouldn't say it's like a huge thing. Yeah.
- [25:27]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah. I just wonder if that pattern will. Will start to shift and see guys coming back through. And before we get to the next question, too, let's mention the injuries. You know, you talk about an injury. Matthew Boyd had a cleanup of his menisca meniscus and got that taken care of. So not, not. Not super significant. But of course it's going to keep him out anywhere from like four to eight weeks. So we'll see how that does play out for, for the Cubs rotation and then we'll get into the guy who's taking his spot tonight in the rotation before we close up in what Dan predicted. And all hail Dan calling Ben Brown getting the. The start. So no, no, Dan, I'm. I tease. I pick on you. But we'll, we'll talk about that in a second, too. But it was just what Jed Hoyer said that internally we're going to figure out these solutions to answer these pitching questions before we start looking outside into the market.
- [26:14]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah. Carter Hawkins also mentioned on the broadcast today that Jackson Wiggins is taking or he's throwing live BP this weekend.
- [26:22]
Cody Delmendo
Oh, yeah.
- [26:22]
Matt Abaticoa
Yeah.
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Dan Bernstein
Which is, I mean, we had they said originally they put him on the minor league injured list with like what they called a sore arm and they thought it was like a strategic, you know, we'll move them back a starter, too. Like that's how they kind of played it off to people. And then we just didn't hear anything for a month. And it's nice to get some form of an update on him now. But what for me with that particular player, it gives me some hope that he will make an impact with this team at some point and I would guess more so as a reliever than as a starter, at least this year. But I'm just happy.
- [26:59]
Cody Delmendo
Oh, man, you never know.
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Matt Abaticoa
Yeah.
- [27:01]
Dan Bernstein
I'm just happy to hear that he's not going to miss the rest of the year. So if you didn't hear that, that's some news as well. So the next ones from this guy, Corey Seacrest, I think that's how you say his last name. Given the current play of some of the in some of the pending free agents, unrestricted free agents, who do you think earned their way to who do you think has earned their way to an extension the Most? It is May 8, but I think the easy answer here is Ian Half.
- [27:35]
Cody Delmendo
If you're forced to give an answer today. Yes. As you mentioned May 8th. Yeah. It's got to be Ian Happ with the numbers that he's projecting out for the season.
- [27:43]
Matt Abaticoa
Yeah.
- [27:44]
Cody Delmendo
I mean, you're looking at career highs in a couple different offensive categories.
- [27:47]
Matt Abaticoa
I'm also wondering where Ian Hap fits as far as a free agent profile where we know what he is. And I, and I think that baseball knows what he is and clearly we can discuss whether or not he's trying to launch more and if that is just improving that WAR number because when he does make contact, it is it's more effective and powerful, but it's he's still a left fielder. And I just wonder on the open market, do other teams that aren't necessarily a defensively constructed team, you got to be a pretty specific fit. And it may just be that the Cubs end up being his best fit. He may Be more valuable as a Cub than he is to team X.
- [28:39]
Cody Delmendo
You may not be wrong about that. But if, how old is he in hep again?
- [28:44]
Matt Abaticoa
30.
- [28:44]
Cody Delmendo
30. Okay. So it's not like he's, you know, he still has years ahead of him to play and if his production is going up and if they're looking at these, these numbers this year, a team could look at him and say yeah, we'll take a couple year or three year run at him. And, and on top of it, he's a Gold Glove left fielder. Great right.
- [29:02]
Matt Abaticoa
It's a, it's a sweetener. But it's not a reason you boy, we gotta tighten up that left field defense.
- [29:06]
Cody Delmendo
No, it's his offensive numbers that you, you sign up for for sure. And then on top of it you get a Gold Glover.
- [29:11]
Dan Bernstein
Great.
- [29:11]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, we'll do that.
- [29:12]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, he's actually 31. He'll be 31.
- [29:15]
Matt Abaticoa
Okay.
- [29:16]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, he'll be 32 on August 12th.
- [29:18]
Matt Abaticoa
Oh wow. Oh yeah.
- [29:22]
Dan Bernstein
Like his age 33 season next year though.
- [29:24]
Matt Abaticoa
That's not when you pay people.
- [29:26]
Cody Delmendo
No, it's not. But a, a couple year deal maybe a team. Yeah, maybe the Mets are.
- [29:33]
Dan Bernstein
He's so he's making $20 million a year on the last extension that he got. He's in the last year of it. He's making $20 million a year. So I, I don't know how much is over the course of time like what he's going to be looking for. So to go with Dan's question of like is he more valuable as a Cub or like will he, is he just as valuable as this with the Cubs? You know, I think if, if he can find a way to be that professional hitter he was for a handful of years and now kind of revert to this slugger and still and be even more productive. I'm just curious on what kind of hitter he, he's going to be moving forward because again he's on pace for 30 homers and he's never done that before. He's slugging well over 800. He's his WRC plus career high. All these things. Career high. I'm just, I am curious how the Cubs view his profile moving forward and I think if, if, if it's not him as the easiest I, I, I think Shodi Managa at this point has also earned some, some conversation about it at least. I think you need to see more. I think the, the one thing you can say about Shodi Menaga in terms of an extension is it's not he doesn't throw 100 miles per hour. So the, the injury factor, I think you know, arm wise he's been healthy. You know last year's injury was a hamstring. So he's been durable and outside of two and a half months from 2025 he's been really good. He also will be I think 33 next year.
- [31:14]
Cody Delmendo
So yeah, but also let's, let's not shortchange babe conforto two for possible questions and you said slugging 800, slugging 500 and you meant Ops is well over 800. He's at 870.
- [31:24]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
- [31:25]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, yeah he's slugging. 800. If you sign him now,
- [31:31]
Matt Abaticoa
do you have another one Cody or can we take a look at a couple other things before we wrap?
- [31:36]
Dan Bernstein
I would say we can go ahead and move forward. A lot of these questions have are asking about trade deadline and stuff. And so I will tell related to pitching. So I would tell people to go check out the end of yesterday's podcast where you know I listed some guys that I think the Cubs could be interested in and you can also listen to Dan Call that Ben Brown is going to start.
- [31:59]
Matt Abaticoa
Let me just give a couple notes here. Then I saw this number that I've been keeping an eye on and that is that Pete Crowe Armstrong currently sits at a WRC plus of 99 and it's been a long road to even money on that 100. Of course with WRC plus it is the single best measure of offensive production. 100 is league average. In that season's run environment. Every point over is a percentage higher, every point under is a percentage lower. It's the great thing about some of these plus stats. But Pete Crow Armstrong, you will see if he just can hover right around 110 115. That war number is going to skyrocket because of his defense and his base running. He's already at 1.5 even though he hasn't gotten to 100 WRC plus. So keep an eye on that. The other fan graphs Note if you are a Cubs fan you do not want to miss the video scouting work done by Ben Clemens in his five Things I Liked or didn't like for the week of May 8th. And all it is really is a deep dive into Nico Horner awesomeness. He said he says the column should be called five Nico Horner throws from shallow right field. I've liked plus assorted veteran Cubs defenders he said does plays a single second baseman has made in one area of the field in one month of play sound like too narrow a topic, but five vignettes? It sure does until you watch Horner play, he said. When I voted for him in the Fielding Bible Awards last year, I wrote I actually spent a while reviewing his defense on video. It wasn't because I seriously considered anyone else for the top spot. It's just that satisfying to watch him play. As you watch these videos, try not to spit out your drink. That is this is a love letter to the defense of Nico Horner and if you're a Cub fan, you don't want to miss it.
- [34:10]
Cody Delmendo
A couple of transactions too. I want to want to highlight Corbin Martin sent down. This is with the addition of Gavin Holloway to the roster, the Cubs also did trade for Tyler Ferguson from the Athletics for cash considerations. He's a three year guy. He's a relief pitcher, veteran relief pitcher, right hander. So they trade for Tyler Ferguson from the A's for cash consideration. So who knows how much they're considering to send but they have a added relief pitcher from the Athletics.
- [34:40]
Dan Bernstein
The I like the move in the basis of just Tyler Zombro saw something and he told Jed that's all I can. That's, that's my analysis for you.
- [34:50]
Cody Delmendo
There's a guy that's available here and he's a right handed arm, so let's see if we can bring him through.
- [34:53]
Dan Bernstein
He might, he might work with like Tread Athletics, which is what where Tyler's Ambro comes from. And you know, a lot of those guys they bring in, they've worked with Tread Athletics. So I, I don't know enough about Tyler Ferguson to say that's true. But it's always interesting when the Cubs do this with relievers. They did this with Drew Pomerantz last year who you know, an aging veteran who ended up being a massive piece to their bullpen as the season went along. We'll see if Tyler Ferguson's that guy.
- [35:22]
Cody Delmendo
Yeah, he had 49 games two years ago, 56 games last year. So he's got a lot of experience in these last couple seasons of baseball. Tonight, as the Cubs open their series against Texas, Ben Brown gets the start in place of Matthew Boyd, something that Dan mentioned yesterday as we talked about possibilities for the rotation. And you know, Jed Hoyer told us this a week or so week and a half ago that they're going to look for internal solutions and we talked about the idea of Ben Brown or Javier Assad. Ben Brown gets the nod tonight against the Rangers. Kumar Rocker for Texas goes he is six games started so far this year, one and three with a 471 ERA. His last outing he won two innings, gave up seven hits and five during runs in a loss to Detroit. Lots of blue on his baseball savant.
- [36:08]
Matt Abaticoa
Yeah, fastball velocity way down, way down.
- [36:11]
Cody Delmendo
But you know what's up though is his ground ball rate is way up right now too and he's doing a lot of sinker, a lot of slider.
- [36:18]
Matt Abaticoa
That would explain it if you're making that trade off because he has been a 96 mile an hour average fastball and now he's below 95. And if that is a conscious exchange, if he's swapping out a slightly slower fastball with a little more movement to get those ground balls, that's understandable.
- [36:37]
Cody Delmendo
He's been hit hard quite a bit too. Yeah, go ahead Cody.
- [36:40]
Dan Bernstein
I was just gonna say the you know average exit velocity against him is at 90 and a half but if everyone's pounding the ball into the ground I guess it's, it's, it's, it's not so bad. I mean his numbers, he's got a 4.71. This guy was a highly regarded prospect coming out of. I think he went to Vandy Duke.
- [36:59]
Matt Abaticoa
I think.
- [37:00]
Dan Bernstein
Was it Duke? Okay, but I could be going.
- [37:03]
Matt Abaticoa
No, I think you're right, I think you're right. I think it was Vandy.
- [37:06]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, I could, I don't know college baseball as much as I do college basketball when it comes to athletes coming out of college but yeah, Vanderbilt. Okay, well so he was originally drafted by the Mets a few whenever that year was. I want to say like 2021 or 2022 but they didn't sign him. So I think he went and played independent ball for a year re entered the draft and then the Rangers took him like top 10. I think they, they took him and Jack Leiter third.
- [37:35]
Matt Abaticoa
He rocker was third overall and that because remember they had taken Jack Leiter who was with him at Vanderbilt. But you're right Cody, the Kumar Rocker signed with the Tri City Valley Cats of the Frontier League.
- [37:49]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, yeah. So his story is interesting but he was a highly regarded you know, college prospect not too long ago and obviously you know he's been in the league now two years plus this year so going on three years I must. He hasn't pitched over 100 innings yet. I think it's taken some time. He's had some injury problems like a lot of pitchers do but yeah, maybe, maybe he's not living up to what I thought he was going to Be. But yeah, I, I think the, the one thing I was, I was looking up who I was gonna bet on today, I was doing this at like one in the morning because I couldn't sleep last night and I learned that the ballpark, the Rangers plan, ballpark factor wise in terms of offense, it's the like the worst park to score runs in this year. Like they rank, they rank in the very bottom for left handed and right handed batters. And so that's interesting to me. I don't understand why and admittedly I haven't watched any Rangers baseball to under to know with my eyes, so I guess it's something to pay attention to. But yeah, I, I'm interested to see how they do against a guy who objectively he's not doing great but generating a lot of ground balls. So maybe he's going to turn the corner soon. But that fastball velocity being down is interesting. So. And his expected ERA is still 4.85, so he hasn't, it hasn't been good enough to what the Rangers are probably hoping for. So.
- [39:30]
Matt Abaticoa
So there you have it. That is the Cubs weekend heading to Texas. We'll see if they can continue to just keep putting enough runners on base that a lot of them keep crossing the plate and it's adding up to a lot of runs and a lot of wins. That has been one more thing. Yes.
- [39:48]
Dan Bernstein
One more thing.
- [39:49]
Matt Abaticoa
Yes.
- [39:50]
Dan Bernstein
They've won nine games in a row. What are the odds that we come back here on Monday and it's at 12?
- [39:57]
Matt Abaticoa
Probably not great.
- [39:59]
Dan Bernstein
Probably not.
- [40:00]
Matt Abaticoa
Honestly, the odds are you'd probably get a lot of money. Betting that that would happen would be my guess. I mean I'd say direct answer to direct question. I would say the, the odds, if we're multiplying the likelihoods of winning each of these three, probably not great.
- [40:16]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah.
- [40:16]
Cody Delmendo
That would be the third, third sweep in a row. Correct. Yeah.
- [40:20]
Dan Bernstein
Just insane. Ridiculously insane to think, but just curious.
- [40:26]
Cody Delmendo
I'll give you some encouragement, Cody, and say it's going to happen. Despite Dan's negativity, I'll say the Cubs will.
- [40:32]
Dan Bernstein
I just want to manifest another sweep. That's what I'm trying to do here.
- [40:36]
Cody Delmendo
Okay, I know, I know what you're trying to do.
- [40:38]
Matt Abaticoa
You know what, I would just say this. When it comes to the fic, stay frosty, boys. I want you guys on your game. I don't, I don't want the FIC slip in here because I get images of all of the staff in there who have been highly trained excruciatingly trained to do their jobs well.
- [40:57]
Dan Bernstein
That.
- [40:57]
Matt Abaticoa
That everybody there in the full irrational command is wearing, like, Hawaiian shirts that are unbuttoned. You got your feet up on the desks, all the controls. You got a Mai Tai that's sitting there that could spill on the controls. We. We can't have that. So I just make sure everything's tight.
- [41:12]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, we'll keep it clean.
- [41:15]
Matt Abaticoa
Good, good, good. We need you guys to stay. Stay twitchy there for us. And that is off the IV here on 312Sports. That has been brought to you by Chicago Window Guys, 847-3-02-9171 and ChicagoWindowGuys.com off
- [41:33]
Cody Delmendo
the Ivy, a Chicago Cubs podcast with
- [41:36]
Dan Bernstein
Dan Bernstein, Mattabadicoa and Cody Delmendo on 312 Sports.