Pete Crow-Armstrong is ELECTRIC for the Chicago Cubs

it's time to talk about PCA he has had a Resurgence for the Cubs let's go you are locked on Cubs your daily Chicago Cubs podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you are locked on Cubs part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day alongside samber I'm Matt cozy Sam and I are lifelong fans taking our passion into discussion with you on all things Cubs thank you for being part of the show and making lockdown Cubs your first listen today and the best way you can help us grow the show is to listen every day like the video and comment anything below today's episode is presented by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com locked up to get started before we talk about the Freshman baseball game that we'll cover at PNC park tonight we are going to zoom in on Pete Crow Armstrong with a little Dash again of Miguel Amaya as PCA is turning into one of if not the best story of the 2024 season for the Cubs after a slow start following what was actually a second promotion of the year in late may his third promotion overall since last September PCA has had an impressive Surge and with his speed I would say he even has been electric at times Sam since July 27th so the last 27 ball games PCA is hitting this is includes tonight 303 with four homers 15 runs batted in and eight stolen bases while holding it down in center field what he's doing and and Amaya as well are really big love what you said about best story of the year because I think it's number one on the list uh for a while I think it was a combination of Michael Bush and sha imaga I got a lot of heat on Twitter tonight for the first time publicly I question the ceiling of Michael Bush I've been saying it to you privately for a while right uh but we could talk about that on a different show uh uh I think PCA is the number one story of the year and I think Miguel Amaya's Resurgence is not far behind and here's here's the the main reason why you know this and we're going to talk about this game later I don't really get a whole lot out of hits and RBI and home runs that don't matter so when you go from 14 to six to 17 to six I'm I'm not watching at that point I'm just tracking because I got a show to do and so normally when a player like this after the season by all accounts is Out Of Reach I think Jed Hoyer putting Drew smiley on waiver signaled that today um and we're gonna I'd like to talk about that another time too because yeah you know even though it's still a five five and a half whatever it is to save a$1 million do obviously this franchise has some serious Financial constraints we'll have to get into in the off season um if but that's that's a tease we'll talk about it's been a long day we'll talk about that in the fall time um so you know my my normal response would be hey Matt you know it's great but you know it's not important baseball but that's not true because for these two guys it is because Miguel Amaya is fighting for his job his career he needed to turn things around every bat matters for him so that's been really really important in PCA he's a young man in the big leagues he's not taking it bats for granted these are still important you see what I'm trying to say it's different than a than a veteran getting hot after The Season's kind of done and you roll your eyes with PCA you know with a team that has such a limited ceiling right you just you don't feel like there's anybody on this roster that ever has a chance to being a superstar he's the one guy that has proven this season that his ceiling right now might be Limitless because you know I loved him when they traded for him I had questions about his Bat like everyone else did I always felt like he would turn it around but not this fast this is really big progression this stuff takes years you know you have a bad first year then you have a good one then you got to adjust readjust and I'm not saying he's not going to have to do that but this has been such a jump for him uh you know remember the whole story when Lindsey Crosby came out he can't hit the fast ball up he's pounding the fast ball now wow um he looks comfortable now he's starting to mix in a few Bas on balls as well uh and and and of course the speeds there I don't know why you're laughing I enjoy I enjoy you talking about the Cubs but he is he is really been you know an exciting guy and what Amaya's done another four hit day for pudge PUD Amaya know Mike pza Amaya you know Johnny Johnny benaya right Yogi Amaya um it's a bad thing but um yeah listen that that's also a really big story we talked about it he might do enough to where Jed just says hey let's go get a veteran insurance policy we don't have to spend real assets on him those two guys have been fun to watch and really if you're for really being honest you know Hap's gone up and down Suzuki's gone up and down the quote turnaround end quote of this offense is because of those two guys massive turnaround because of those two those are the eight and nine spots in the lineup yes but these are two of the three most important positions on the field as well center field and catcher Amaya 100% playing for his job I called him a backup two three weeks ago and after this game tonight since July the 7th when he made that that adjustment at the plate he's hitting 352 Wild that's Elite it's elite no no 352 is beyond a lead 352 is you know uh let's let's go for an MVP situation I do want to give some credit to Craig Council Sam you're dismay no don't do that I get enough Heat think telling those guys not giving him credit don't tell me my dismay I like Craig counil it's don't think it's been a great year I think that them showing up it was just before the All-Star break and Council saying hey you guys are the everyday starters you know aside from a game or two there for for Beth and Court obviously behind the dish I think it's proven to matter to them and with 30 games left I I'm just genuinely excited to see these guys come to the plate I'm excited to see the strides they continue to make defensively I think PCA has been steady in Center yeah but there's some some some check boxes that are left unchecked on Amaya's card right now at catcher but I think these last 30 games he has an opportunity to to make some inroads there as well and I want to talk about the lineup now or or later but this is becoming a really big story and the reason why I think it's appropriate to have now like we have been thoughtfully now really two straight episodes or three straight if you include Thursday for Friday last week is because this is not like a two- week stretch yeah it's over 2530 games so it's just really nice can I add one thing on PCA yeah and this this will have all the analytic people rolling their eyes and I don't care because this is who I am and I like winning and I know what a winning player looks like it could have really stopped his momentum when he made that mistake against the Cardinals with that pop fly and I thought he really handled it like a pro after the game uh I remember I said it that night you know that Sunday night I really appreciated the way he handled it and it did not stop his momentum one iota and for somebody 21 22 years old that may not sound like a lot but I think it just says a lot about his character U because that was a big play and it was an unfortunate thing and he said hey it doesn't matter what it was on me it's done and he and he's answered the bell and continued his momentum you know I I always I'm a big I'm a big adversity guy and I thought the way he handled that um just said a lot about his character uh um and same with Amaya in a different way I mean when you struggle for that long it could get really tough um it could get really really tough and so really cool to see those guys do that and like you said you know really climbing up the top of the of the story lines for for this season I'm gonna ask this question like this what are the reasons not to move PCA up the order the last 30 games yeah it's a great question um probably I'm going to scroll my proposed lineup at the bottom yeah so half PCA Suzuki Bellinger petus Bush swansson horn or Amaya yeah I probably would if I if I were to move him up I'd probably hit him lead off because I don't want him hitting behind hap because that's just gonna encourage tons of lefties out of the pen um to see him okay um so maybe I would do something more like like you know maybe hap would drop maybe like seya behind him because then they won't want to face have PCA with a lefty um I I'm on board with that but just to play The Devil's Advocate and answer your question I think council's just a really big process guy and he likes what he's seeing and he doesn't want to mess with anything so he's just going to leave him there um to me in if you're really trying to win baseball games moving like Bush down to fifth um you know and then maybe sliding go going like PCA Saia um I don't know I don't want to get into it half Belling or whatever would be would be something that I'd be really interested in for sure uh but I don't think it's going to happen for that reason but you know who knows who knows it'd be something fun to toy with in September when it really becomes kind of you know not really that important I guess though if you're gonna put if you're going to put your best left-hander out on re on waivers you might as well you could flip the order too yeah I think so and let's get to that in the second segment as well as the full game recap is the Cubs do defeat the Pirates 18 to8 on Monday stay tuned this episode is brought to you by fan duel you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book well we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV based plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment you can cancel any time the Bears over under wind total is eight and a half with a lot of juice there's a lot of action on that over and I'm surprised that it hasn't been bumped up to nine yet but but but I guess I guess I get it I think this Bears team's going 10 and seven that's my prediction week one of the NFL season the Bears are actually the third biggest favorite right now in fan to a four and a half over Tennessee I expect that line to finish at five uh by Sunday and the Bears should win that game if they don't you know I might you might have to find a new host join FanDuel visit fanduel.com lockon to download America's number one sports book the Cubs play the Pirates at 5:40 PM Central Tuesday and you can hear every pitch of the Cubs Hometown broadcast on SiriusXM by searching Cubs on the sxm app Cubs defeat the Pirates 18 to8 on Monday get back to 500 at 66 and 66 shout out to Star Wars and are 27 and 17 since July 4th the Cubs scored 18 runs on 21 hits and Dansby Swanson's Grand Slam highlighted an eight run six the lot of cubs of the multi-hit variety PCA hap suuki Bellinger Peres horer and Amaya all posted multi-hit games and Amaya and Suzuki posted four hit games and again Amaya is hitting 352 since July sth Jameson tyion went six and two3 Ethan Roberts Tyson Miller and Jack Neely we're out of the pen and Miller a little bit inex inexplicably I would say uh had to appear in the box score in this game Sam this was a uh a bad baseball game reminded me of my freshman coaching days and uh you know 26 runs on about 47 hits and many steals I don't know I just it was bad baseball it didn't it didn't feel right it's bad baseball uh was Rody tles hit like four guys in the ninth yeah and the CB should have got out of the way at that point they you know they they didn't even make an effort to get out of the way he throwing 40 miles an hour um should you swing there like you're acting walks against tles no everything after 122 I deleted from my mind um I said I said before the game Mitch Keller's a coin flip he might go seven shut out he might be absolutely terrible he had nothing tonight he had nothing 97 pitches through four Cubs actually let him off the hook I believe he only gave up three ear correct um and then germon came out and he didn't have much the steel stuff the stolen base stuff was was absurd and credit JD he was all over it early and he was like Hey guys are like 18 of 19 on Keller and and grandal doesn't throw anybody because Joey Bart who's much better got placed on the iil today so they had to go with grandal I mean and it was just a merrygoround I mean it was it was bad I didn't think tyone was particularly good tonight um gave up a lot of hard contact and um you know early in the game the Cubs wasted some chances and then they exploded good job by Dansby to break the game open huge days of course for the guys we just profiled Amaya and PCA another big game for Suzuki um you know did the Cubs did did the Cubs hit any homers tonight yes uh oh per homered right right yeah he he he had a rough first four five ATS maybe they'll get him going I think he got hits in his last two well he's had a rough uh four or five weeks so no it's been yeah more than that more than that so but uh yeah good win um Justin steel against TBD but an expectation is that it's gonna be Jared Jones and Justin steel had two I think he set up four bad starts all year two of them came consecutively against the Pirates I believe five and six earn so a little uh a little rede Redemption um story for him uh to see to see if he can get those guys out and and be sharp because this is a game um that I thought tonight's game would be a coin flip I I I like the Cubs in a pitching match up and then obviously they have the work cut out for him Wednesday against ski there was some Cubs news Monday night according to the USA today's Bob Nightingale and uh reported here first by lock on Cubs Matt cozy Drew Smiley was placed on waivers and is available to any team that wants to put a claim in now the claiming team would owe Smiley about four M's he's owed 1.5 the rest of the year and then a 2.5 buyout for his Mutual option for 2025 oh I didn't I didn't know that second part yeah did some homework so oh so that makes it a little more unlikely he gets claimed it's unlikely that he gets claimed but folks the Cubs put them on waivers I in my estimation to try to get under the luxury tax 100% it's not an estimation and so it's uh you know that that conversation continues just to be thorough here I highly doubt that if Smiley passes through waivers they would designate him for assignment right because there's no there's no cost savings when you do that right so like David bod we actually didn't talk about this Sam David bod was DF on Friday don't save money nobody picked him up yeah right so he got outrighted B right I think they'll keep Smiley but you know it's just more indication that you know I mean I could go get the date that Jed waved the white flag on his own team yeah because this isn't it but right you know they're trying to save 1.5 M they just are actually four four M and explain that explain that to the people and that's and that's allowed they could do that because he's on the last year of his deal with an option right because you know people are say well why can't they do that with Ty well because No One's Gonna Do you don't do that with a guy that's got two years left exactly you put a player on waivers you don't get any value in return the other team picks them up and takes on all the cash so yeah usually do that on players that aren't owed that much or rentals or something like that um I would not be surprised if talkman and wisdom are placed on waivers on Thursday because then there's the 48 hour window I've had a team could slide them sneak them in right before the September call-ups yeah it really wouldn't disrupt their roster and then you open up the September call guys and let me tell you this if there's any GM watching this show if you can get Mike talkman for the stretch run Yankees or whatever you do it he'll help you WI stop looking at the metrics and watch the baseball game right so um so that's the financial report here on lockdown Cubs coming up next we have some Cubs Pirates trivia today's episode's brought to you by supply house supply house is the reliable weight to order Plumbing HVAC and electrical products online they're easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right shop a complete inventory of over 200 thousand parts from over 400 top brands to get your order delivered right to your door with fast shipping from coast to coast need help with an order get expert support and industry-leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every single time pros and the skilled trades can get a Competitive Edge by joining supply houses free tradem program every tradem gets access to a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order join the thousands of trade Pros are any benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com and Order Plum and HVAC and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks of a button that's Supply housee over at supplyhouse.com little trivia Tuesday here on the show as we close out another show thank you so much for tuning in whenever and wherever you may be listening and for making us the number one destination at talk Cubs which Cubs pitcher has the most wins at PNC Park is it uh don't do that I don't want multiple choice because then it just it just becomes a guessing game because I don't know the answer at all but I'm gonna I'm gonna think and I'm gonna do my best um all right now PNC was open when 01 you don't have to tell me that that's part of the answer I think it's I think it's early 2000 that's correct 2001 you were right on the button so I I immediately you said cub yo Cubs pitcher yeah Cubs player yeah so I immediately jump to a Zambrano a de a dster um I don't think it's Hendrick he hasn't had a whole lot of success there um I'm trying to think 01 I'm thinking Cubs it's not wood PRI I'm thinking it's got to be somebody when they used to beat up on him in the' 07 I'm I'm thinking I I'm I'm I'm going Zano or Dempster am I am I close yeah okay I'm gonna one of those two I'm gonna go with big Z Carlos zamb brano in 16 games at PNC Park Carlos Zambrano went eight And1 with a 3.94 ra logging the most wins to date for a Cubs pitcher at PNC park and he probably hit a ball farther than Peres too you know and I uh um yeah uh look fun win uh Tuesday night will be an interesting game I'd like to see steel bounce back unfortunately the Braves lead 9-1 in a rain delay if it was the old rules that game would be post poate started over wow but they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna continue that and um you know I just the only reason I'm not beaming with positivity tonight Matthew is I could just see Jed right now in early October doing his post game or his postseason brief going yeah well you know the last two months we averaged about you know 5.3 runs a game that's what we thought we were getting so you know this and that but it's a great win I I'm excited to watch PCA and Amaya hit on Tuesday night and by the way when Amaya's sat down Christian Beth Court's done a heck of a job as a backup too give him a shout out absolutely well maybe PCA and Amaya could hit one too tomorrow thank you so much for checking out this edition of locked on Cubs you give us 20 to 30 minutes we'll give you all things Cubs with a laugh or two along the way be sure to hit subscribe on YouTube smash the like button for the algorithm and leave a festar review on Apple Spotify and everywhere you get your podcast the Cubs could wrap up a series win Justin Steel on the mound on Tuesday we'll be back right after the final out of that one he's Sam olber I'm Matt cozy this is lock on Cubs Go Cubs