Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Andy McCullough shares where Cubs' starters land in The Athletic's rankings (Hour 4)

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

In the final hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Andy McCullough of The Athletic to discuss his outlet’s rankings of the best aces in MLB. After that, Rahimi and Grote wondered if the Bears could’ve gotten more in return for receiver DJ Moore if they’d traded him to the Broncos instead of the Bills.

In my delivery, sometimes I can get too fast or I can get too slow, um, robotical. And so it's just about finding that, that happy medium, um, of being athletic, but not rushing down the mound. And I, I felt really good today, um, with that. It felt like my fastball was, had some life to it. Um, and I felt like I was getting my foot down on my off speed. That was Kate Horton. He is part of the Cubs starting rotation. And this is Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 1043 to score.

The reason we want to talk about pitching is because of our next guest. He is Andy McCullough at Buy McCullough on X, senior writer for the athletic covering Major League Baseball, and a story about pitching tiers. It is called the 2026 Aces Project. Major League Insiders rank starting pitchers, who's just a guy, and who's number one? He also joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score Chicago. So thanks for coming on, Andy. We appreciate it.

Yeah, no problem. How are you guys doing? We are good. It's funny because we just had Mike Sando on earlier today, and he does the quarterback tiered story. So we're sticking with the theme in doing pitching tiers. What has it inspired you to put this together? Yeah, that's funny.

I've been doing this. I think this is year seven that we've been doing this project. And initially I thought Sando ripped me off, but it turned out I ripped him off many years ago. Oh, okay. way. I was like, that guy, Sando, he just took our idea. It's like, no, no, this is, he's been doing it for much longer and he's very, very good at his job. So, yeah, so at the athletic, we've kind of gone through various incarnations of doing it, but like, basically the way it works is we, you know, get a panel of 20, you know, executives, scouts, analysts, we send them a list of like 90 pitchers. That's how many it was this year. And we asked them to rate everyone on a scouting scale of a number one starter through a number five starter. And it's, it's a, always just trying to figure out like, okay, who are like the unanimous number ones? Who are the guys that everyone agrees are the best in baseball?

There were two unanimous number ones this year, probably not a shock to anyone, but Terek Skubel and Paul Skeens. And then we had three other guys who sort of met our criteria as number ones, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Garrett, Crochet, and Christopher Sanchez. And so it's just like a fun exercise, you know, to kind of bring in a lot of different diverse opinions and just figure out, like, okay, like, what is it that all these different people in baseball can agree on. I think it's a good concept, and yeah, it's no shock that scoble and skeins are in the top.

But the way you guys stratify this is also different from the norm. Like, for example, as I go through the list, it is an extensive story here. But tier one is the unanimous. Then you've got the aces. That's the guys who were graded in the 99 and a half to 90 range. Doorstep knockers, pitchers who might one day call themselves ace. is are 89 and a half to 80, 79 and a half to 60, number two's and number three, lower ceilings, but still elevated floors, and those guys are awesome at baseball, and then everybody else is

59 and a half and below. Are there anybody who you think could move up a tier, maybe not to the unanimous number ones, because I feel like that is still elite company, but from the doorstep knockers to that next tier just underneath. Yeah, I think like Hunter Brown with the Houston Astros is someone to watch over the next year. So he put up a really, really strong season in 2025, kind of really put everything together. So I suspect if he repeats that, you know, he might vault in to the number one tier. I think, you know, there's a lot of like younger guys who have a really high ceiling, but their floor is kind of uncertain. Like Jacob Mizorowski with the Brewers, like, yeah, that guy could be a number one or he could be like a seventh inning guy. You know, it's kind of unclear

where he ends up, you know, Nolan McLean maybe has a higher sort of floor, you know, Nolan McLean with the Mets. And so, yeah, it's interesting. It's like, it's hard sometimes to, you know, rate out those guys who have the really high ceiling with guys who've just been doing it really well for a long time at, you know, as like just a straight number three starter, like a Luis Castillo, you know, or like a Kevin Gosman is like a number two, number three. But yeah, we just try and, you know, send out all the surveys and just kind of report what

the data says back based on like the system we have. Yeah. Do you think the Cubs, Kate Horton is one of those guys like the young guy that you're not really sure, like you just mentioned about Jacob Miserowsk, we know Kate Horton's going to be a starter. But right now in the tiers, he's in everybody else. He is below 60 right now.

How do you see that because people around here are going to see Kate Horton be like, oh, Kate Horton's great. Look at the year he had last year. Why isn't he higher on the list? Yeah. And like, again, if he is healthy, this, so like the 60 would grade out to, you're a unanimous number three starter. Okay.

Because that would mean you got 20, because it's worth three points, right? So that would, don't say 20 guys said you're a number three starter. He was below that. Some people think he's, you know, maybe a number four. Some people think he could be, you know, he's a number two. So I think that if he puts together like a full season with the sort of results that he had this past year, he'll probably vault up closer into that, like, number two, number three type range, you know, rated somewhere, certainly above 60, you know, if he continues to put together.

It's hard, I think, for our great, you know, our panelists to immediately vault a guy, you know, and say like, oh, this guy's a number two starter. Right. You know, I'm not whatever Horton has had last year. You know, it wasn't a full season. I don't know who's banged up near the end. But, yeah, it's like, it's hard because we're asking people to grade a guy with a very small sample. You know, we had Tray I Savage on there. He got great scores, and he's, like, already out with a shoulder impingement, which is just, like, kind of one of the,

the challenges of trying to, you know, to rank pitchers as they get hurt all the time. And that's, you know, another thing that gets baked into the equation, I guess, is just how healthy they are. We are talking to Andy McCullough of The Athletic about his ACEs project story, which is tiering notable pitchers in Major League Baseball. Another one to ask Andy is about Matthew Boyd, who previously was not ranked, and he is in that group that is in the 50s. So according to this, that means Tier 5, everybody else, the player's talented enough, to reach and stick in the major leagues.

And part of the reason is some of the quotes that you had from your panelists. Like, for example, notable, it was his first healthy year since 2020. We know that he was an all-star. He gets the nod for opening day starter here. What do you make of Boyd breaking into this? And then also that quote is pretty notable from your panel. Yeah, I mean, it just kind of is what it is. I mean, he's a player who's come back from a ton of injuries, you know,

and his career he's had like, you know, three or four different sort of, you know, lives as a big leaguer and it's a real credit to him to have gotten to where he is now, you know, to be the opening day guy, all-star member of Team USA, all that sort of stuff. And I think, again, it's like if you can do it for another year for a full season, the people that we are talking to, the scouts and execs and analysts will, you know, be less skeptical about it. I think that, you know, one of the hard things about trying to grade pitching is just how ephemeral it is, you know, like especially for guys who have a relatively significant

injury history. But I think just the fact that he cracked this list after, you know, kind of being in the wilderness for so long as a real credit to him. Also on your list right next to him. So this is at number 48 is Edward Cabrera. Cabrera rating is 53.527. And it said here, the Cubs placed a large wager on Cabrera's upside when they dealt prize outfield prospect Owen Casey to require him, agreed. Cabrera leveled up in 2025. He's cut his walk rate in half since 23. And you say that one of your evaluators here said can't trust the strikes. Now, I know Sahad of Sharma, the noted Cubs writer for the Athletic, helped write this piece. But what is your take on Cabrera?

Maybe not even relative to the rest of the league or the rest of the people on your story. But just how the Cubs did bet on him and what they feel like the upside is. Yeah, I mean, I think you can tell how much the Cubs valued him and what they were willing to give up, right? Like they think he's a real, legit, top of the rotation type of arm. I think there are other people in the game who, you know, are less sold on that. And that's probably why he doesn't play on those teams. But, you know, if you look at that, you know, there's the injury history. There is the sort of walk rate that had been a problem up until this past season.

And I think if the Cubs, you know, they generally have a pretty good pitching program, they tend to, you know, make guys better. You know, the Marlins also, you know, are getting a lot better in that regard. But either way, like, I think that there's a chance he could be a real top. of the rotation guy, the talent is there. But if you talk to people around the game, there are concerns just about the ability to stay healthy. There's concerns about just like what's it going to look like playing in a really competitive environment in meaningful games in August and September compared to the environment of what Miami had been like. And then just also, you know, can he continue to throw strikes at a high rate in the way he did last year?

Again, looking at your going back, you mentioned the Aces, Christopher Sanchez of the Phillies, Yoshi Yamamoto of the Dodgers, and then a name around here that is familiar to White Sox fans, you know, in their rebuild, doing what they had to do and trading Garrett Crochet, who was one of those three playing for the Boston Red Sox. And I don't think anybody's shocked that he is doing what he's doing

considering what we saw here. But your thoughts and the panel's thoughts on Garrett Crochet, and how close any of these guys, and I touched on a little bit, could be moving up eventually the next crop to move into that very, very tiny inner circle of guys with skeins and scoble. Yeah, I was a little surprised that crochet was not unanimous. I think we found three cranks who rated him as a number two, and so that kept him out of the unanimous rankings, because I think it's pretty clear what he's done, you know,

starting when 2024 and then the way he put it all together in Boston last year, you know, he's probably pretty clearly the third best pitcher in the sport. So, yeah, I mean, I thought going into this that we would have three unanimous number ones, but that's why we kind of do the reporting and that's why we, you know, sort of reach out to all these different people. But in terms of like what he can do better, I think just do it again. Yeah. You know, like he's really, really good.

Well, I think also when you look at the relative list and, how this plays out, you would know better than me. But when I see like a guy like Carlos Rodon, who hasn't always been consistent, has been amazing when he's healthy, has had trouble when he hasn't been, there really was a grade here that just came to pure stuff. I feel like there was a pure stuff seemed to weight this algorithm a little bit more than say, even consistency, for example. Like it's mentioned in some areas, as we've talked about with Boyd's health, but when it came down to actual stuff like devastating individual pitch like rodon slider as the example here you know that seemed

to also grade into this and then how many of those do you have yeah and i think and that's part of when scouts and you know executives kind of try and put a like a rating on a guy like the difference between a number one starter and a number three starter um some of it is just like simply results um but a lot of is just the the stuff like how explosive is your fastball do you have multiple plus off-speed pitches, you know, can you control the running game? Like, there's actual technical aspects of it. And that's why some of the younger guys who are less experienced, I think, tend to grade out maybe a little bit higher than, like, I mean, not that anyone cares what my opinion is,

but then I would have them. And it's something that we're, like, trying to sort out of how to do this accurately as we keep moving forward of, like, how to make it so that, like, we had Cam Schlitter. He ended up finishing ahead of Carlos Rodan this past. year and that just like doesn't feel right to me. And like Roton is an established big leaguer who had like a three ERA the past couple years and Schlitter had like 20 good starts for the Yankees. And so we're still like trying to work out just basically like how to properly do the math on all this so that we get an accurate depiction.

But I do think that you will see a lot of younger players, you know, get some like love from our panelists just because they have an elite fastball. elite weapons in a way that like some of the older pitchers, the more established pitchers, the more reliable pitchers, frankly, don't. Well, and I mean, it's, it would make sense if you conduct a survey or you, you have statistical understanding that your sample, which is a good thing, seems to have a lot of scout opinion. And that's the kind of stuff they look at. You know, that's something like a lot of scouts would say, this pitch individually has this

much effect. So I feel like having that diversity is a good thing to just have, I think scouts opinions are, you know, becoming fewer and far between, unfortunately. So I like that you guys still have that understanding as part of this. Yeah, I mean, and I think, and we try and really mix it up as much as we can, as we talk to a bunch of scouts. We talk to a bunch of, you know, GM, AGM types, like people who are making decisions on players. And we try and talk to, you know, the people with glasses, you know, the nerds, the analysts, you know, who are coming from a more model-based perspective because we're trying to just get, you know, as diverse an array of opinion,

as we can in also a way that is like manageable for the readers and manageable for us to put together, I guess. Awesome. Talk to me. I love that you did the honorable mention guys and Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. And as you wrote, still raging against the dying of the light, still offering glimpses of the ability that will deliver them to Cooperstown in five years after they decide to hang up their spikes. But both are below 50. Explain what went into to that thinking. having those two guys on the list as well.

Well, we just, you know, it's like at this point, we just like including them because they're still doing this. They're, you know, the two, now that Clayton Kershaw is retired. Yeah. They're the two slam dunk Hall of Famers left from, you know, that generation, the 2010 sort of era of baseball. And, you know, I was honestly, like, pretty surprised at how high our panelists were on Verlander. Because, like, in my mind's eye, like, he had a really rough season last year. And then I went and, like, looked at it. I was like, oh, no, he's actually, I mean, lost a bunch.

but like the numbers under the hood were actually somewhat encouraging. So like, yeah, maybe he should pitch until he's like 49. I don't know that it's going to happen that way. I think the ligaments might get a little loose. Who knows? Who can say? I don't know. He's made it this far.

That is absolutely true. Yeah, it's a, I did laugh when I saw like the picture of Justin Verlater post game and somebody said he looked like a GM who didn't get the right guy at the trade deadline or something. That was amusing. But he's gotten to that age, like GM age. Yeah. I mean, like, he's like 10 years older than the Nats GM at this point.

Like, Paul Timoini's like 33 years old or something like that, you know? I can't bend time and space like that. And I know we mentioned a couple of individuals that you thought might have the chance to jump up. Is there anybody else that you think you're going to pay a particular watch to or like somebody we should watch? Just based on the research you did out of this list? Yeah, I mean, I think the young crop, it's really interesting. You know, Nolan McLean, Jacob Mizorowski, Yuri Perez. I think those are definitely once to watch because one of the things we've noticed in doing this over the past couple years is a lot of the guys who've sort of, you know, really rocketed high up on the list have gotten hurt fairly quickly.

You know, like Spencer Strider comes to mind. Like he was like number three on this list like a couple of years ago and then obviously had Tommy John surgery and has kind of been, you know, working his way back for a long time. And, you know, I think there's like the guys, the younger pitchers with the Mariners, like Logan Gilbert, and George Kirby had injuries last year that kind of dented them. And so I am just kind of interested to see, like, who among this group is going to vault up maybe into the consideration with, like, skeins and scoble and crochet, you know, whether someone like McLean can put it together for a full season, whether Hunter Brown can put it together, you know, again, and really get back up there.

Whether, you know, there's another gear for someone like Logan Webb, who has been awesome, you know, over the past, you know, however many seasons. But his ERA is, like, slightly less impressive than some of those guys. So I'm just interested to see, like, who is going to be able to, you know, kind of grab the brass ring and move up into that tier. And the way that Crochet did, you know, over the past couple seasons. Well, Andy, it's a great read. And, yeah, I was thinking of Nolan McLean when you mentioned him because he has a pretty robust entry in this. So we are looking forward to reading more.

The 2026 AIS Project, Major League Baseball Insiders ranked starting pitchers, who's just a guy and who's number one. Andy, this was great to go over with. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for having me. That is Andy McCullough, the senior writer for the athletic covering Major League Baseball. He is on X at At By McCullough in case you want to see you more. Next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Mark had a similar reaction to, I think, what we all kind of saw regarding a major trade that happened in the NFL this week

and then a major trade that happened with the Bears the week before. So let's examine next. Rahimi Harris and Grody. I'm not a fan of any team. I'm just a fan of being right. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. Bill's Mafia. It's DJ Moore here.

I'm checking them. It's lovely. Let's go. Oh, are you trying to say that DJ Moore is going to break him off in Buffalo? Is that what you're trying to say here, Tyler Buehterbaugh? Why have a feeling that could happen? It might. DJ Moore might go out for a lot of yards

with Josh Allen up in Buffalo. This is Rahimi Aris and Grotie on 104-3, the score. DJ Moore traded. He, along with a fifth round pick, as we know, sent in exchange for a second round pick that came back from the Buffalo Bills, and they get their wide receiver won. In the meantime, moments later,

really was a few days later, not like SpongeBob moments later. We see the Denver Broncos, trade for Jalen Waddle. Miami Dolphins receiver goes to another AFC opponent. Here's what the return was, though. The Broncos sent a first, third, and fourth round pick in the swap for Waddle, and a Miami Dolphins' fourth round pick in this year's draft. So there's a pick swap, and then there were two other picks. The first rounder

will likely be the 25th or 26th selection overall. and Mark, you had the same reaction a lot of us did. Similar salary structure, although the hits against the cap are different. I want to point that out. But similar structure, similar production, similar upsides. What did you see when you observe that trade? First thing I thought was, wait a minute, should the bears have? Could the bears have?

did the Bears try to do business with the Denver Broncos? Because when you look at that, I was like, off the top of my head, I thought, okay, J.Land Waddle, yeah, he's really good and maybe he's better than DJ Moore. And then I started exploring and comparing and contrasting everything, starting with age. Jalen Waddle 27, DJ Moore, 28. You do go to the statistics. Jalen Waddle has been in the league five years. he is three of those five years have been for a thousand plus yards.

DJ Moore been in the league a little bit longer. Eight years, four of his years have been for 1,000 or more yards. Even look at like the size of these guys. Like they're both not huge dudes. Jalen Waddle 510, what 85? DJ Moore's actually bigger listed at 6 feet to 13. And so I was like, wait a minute, mind blown over what they were able to get. that they got a first rounder for Jalen Waddle,

plus all this year, a first rounder, a third rounder, and a fourth rounder. Now, I'm on record as saying, I was very happy with what the Bears got for DJ Moore. A second rounder, I was like, okay, I could deal with that. It sucks that DJ's gone for lots of reasons. But a second rounder, that's pretty good this year, to add to the Bears draft picks, which means they have two second rounders this year.

But it made me want more when I saw the Jalen Waddle deal and could the Bears have gotten more from other teams? But then again, Denver's one of those teams that is in position to win with their young quarterback in Bow Nix. They were more willing to give up. And we know that Miami is trying to rebuild. It's one of those, for those two teams, like just getting outside of it a little bit, it seems to work for both, like I think, like for my, obviously from Miami and Jail

and Waddle will be a nice addition to Denver and Bo Nix, a team that feels like, again, that it might be on the doorstep, like the bears. Well, and I feel like when we look at this, that was kind of the idea was when you start to read the stats, you're like, wait a second. And then you understand the contract extensions for both. Wait a second. And then guess what else happened? Subsequent contract restructure. You know, and long-term investments.

There's a lot of Spider-Man meme going on here, Mark. Yeah, there is. Spider-Man v. Spider-Man. Mm-hmm. And when it comes to, I think a lot of people think the upside, the upside's higher with Waddle because of what he was dealing with. in Miami and maybe that's what netted it. But I think you're right. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that,

oh, these two teams are also in competition with each other in the Bills and the Broncos. And they're very much expecting, I'm sure, to see each other somehow in the playoffs or understanding that that is absolutely a foe that they're going to have to face down the line. And I do wonder if DJ Moore going to New England, or to Buffalo rather, set the price differently

for then, and I see New England knowing they could have used DJ Moore services too. But I think I wonder if that did set the price differently for Denver because the market became more scarce and they had to do something different. Yeah, that could be. Yeah, the Bears were the first team to the table. But it would be interesting.

It'll be fun to track those two wide receivers. Obviously, we're going to be very anxious to see what DJ Moore does in Buffalo and the Bears do play Buffalo this year. But those are two wide receivers. to circle this year. Do you think, here's a question that came up on, speaking of wide receivers, they came up on TD, take the north. Do you think that the bears have right now enough depth at wide receiver

or enough playmakers at the position as it stands right now when you consider that they obviously have Roma Dunseh, you have Luther Burden, add Khalif Raymond to the room, I guess, Jade Walker, to the room. Seems light to me. And I know people love Shadei Walker, and he did make some big catches. It obviously, down the stretch of the season,

but he was a practice squad guy. I'm not ready to just anoint him and say that he is ready to go full blast. The Bears, and Khalif Raymond's a nice addition, but he's going to give you 200 or 300 yards. That's what he does. You just go track the career, and maybe there's a bounce being back with Ben Johnson. but it does feel light right now in the wide receiver room.

Well, I think it feels light because we know what DJ meant to this team. I think that they're betting a lot on themselves and their choices as a team. The Bears are when it comes to betting that the improvement of Caleb Williams is going to outpace the roster replacements that we've seen so far. I think they're betting that the improvement of Luther Bird and Colston Loveland may help swallow some of the yard. that DJ Moore had. I'm assuming they think that Bromadunze is going to catch more than 50%

of his targets next year. Be healthy. And I say that understanding that is very much I feel like a two-person stat. You know, Caleb Williams' completion percentage is a two-person stat. It's just not on him.

It's also on those who's throwing the ball to and how good the ball was. Like, we look at it as individual plays. It adds up to these totals. So I think they're betting on the idea that all of that improvement and some of the water finding its level to use the baseball term we like with guys in batting average and hits to them being able to withstand some of that lack of the DJ more in the receiver room. Yeah, it's so smart that you brought up Caleb Williams because that's what all of this keeps coming back to. And we talked about it earlier, how players are starting to mention. wanting to go to the Bears in conjunction with Caleb Williams.

And then there's the part two where if you have one of those quarterbacks, they can make anybody look good. They can make anybody look a little bit better than they are to the point where you're like, is this guy really a great receiver, John Taylor? Is it because Joe Montana is throwing to you? You know, and I hope, and I want to like go full hyperbole here, I hope we get to that point where Caleb can be,

And because of Caleb, a guy could just walk in and get five to 600 yards, as elite quarterbacks will do, that anybody could just walk in and have nice numbers because you have that quarterback. Also, I do think that Jada Walker being a massive part of the Texas A&M offense in the SEC, as we know, a coaching change kind of showed you a better version of the Texas A&M team the next season. I feel like he could be a contributor to the Bears in a more successful role player position next year. I don't think he's replacing DJ Moore.

That's not what I'm saying here. But if everybody moves up a step, that leaves an opening for Walker here. I'm not ruling out the possibility, but I don't want to depend on him to be that. I don't want to just look at it, say, oh, well, since Joddy Walker came up off the bench and he made some plays and he looked decent, that, okay, he's good to go.

And look, he barely made the practice squad. He barely made the roster. Like he was a last day decision. And it was great. And for whatever it's worth, Joddy Walker, very close with Caleb Williams. Their lockers are right next to each other, right near each other. Joddy very popular in the locker room in general. So he's a good locker room guy, and he's going to be a guy who might get the benefit of the doubt because of Caleb Williams.

But, yeah, I can't rule out the possibility. I just don't want, as it stands right now, they're just like, I think I could depend on Luther Burden to keep up what he did last year. Yeah, easily. I think we can depend on Rome to be better than he was last year. I think. I'm certainly depending on him to be that. I think we're in a pretty safe place. We haven't mentioned Colson Loveland because he's a tight end, but I'm pretty sure he's,

he's on the upswing. The rest of it, I'm just, I can't slam dunk Jaday Walker. I can't do it for Khalif Raymond. So it'll just be interesting to see what they continue to add, what they, do they draft somebody. I don't know if they would do that, but it'll be interesting to see. Well, and the hard part now is, as I mentioned, you can have a plan where you want to draft somebody who will start, but the expectations the last time that was a plan were much lower. So I don't necessarily know how feasible it is to bring somebody in and expect them to get up to the Ben Johnson level immediately. Or is it the opposite?

Is it higher expectations? They've all gone up. They have gone up. That's the other thing, too, that you get a little nervous about, just being nervous for the sake of being nervous. Like, we're all, we have a note, we kind of, it sort of happened in the city. Luther Burden has been anointed.

Everybody loves Luther Burden. And there is an assumption. I would say three out of four people, Luther Burden's going to be the leading wide receiver. And he might be. He might be. I get where people are coming from.

But it's a lot to plant on a second year wide receiver who's coming off a 600-yard something season, right? I think it has more to do with the feeling you had when he caught the ball. Number one, he caught the ball. Ferocity. Number two, he's. did something with it once he caught it. That is a modern NFL receiver.

Jack and Rack, DJ Moore, of course, known for that as well. But the Luther Burton catches of consequence, as you mentioned. Also is a big deal in that. Who are you going to where you know you can get some yards, where you know you can extend a play? Hey, if that's what he is, like if he's like your diamond third down guy and he says another 600 yard year, that'd be good. Textor suggests Walker replaces Alamede's Achaeus.

I thought that would be the Caliph Raymond move. Yeah. Yeah. Probably that does seem a little bit more befitting. But I do think of Walker as the more traditional wide receiver. But Khalif has got the experience, obviously, at the age of 31 and was in Ben Johnson's offense for three years, four years. But I don't think that's a bad concept.

I would feel like that would also make sense. To have Raymond in there or Walker? Walker. Yeah. Like I don't, I think that that edition by the Textors has a good point. That's what training camps for. Yeah. Yeah, this is, this is the crux of what you guys cover in training camp.

When you're out there, you're trying to figure out that very thing. Yeah, he'll be a big deal. So another texter says Walker is a sleeper. Maybe. Maybe Austin Booker is a sleeper. You know, there's these guys. Well, well, so you don't think that he can get to double-digit set? You think, wait a man, hold on.

So you think Austin Booker is what he is? Because I've been forever asking. I don't think he's a sleeper either because we all know he's improved. I think a sleeper is like somebody who you saw like maybe a flash. Okay. And then they burst onto the scene. I see what you're saying. But I mean, I think he would be a sleeper.

Like if Austin Booker has 15 sacks next year, I think people are like, where did this guy come from? Mark, he was also third on the bears and sacks. Oh my goodness. So when you think of him, was Montes-Swed? That is not improvement, Jerry. Montes-Swed. Dexter and then Austin Booker. So is that a sleeper?

I guess relative to the bears, he's not, but the guy who's never had, what, do you have seven sacks? The six, seven sacks this year? No, Jervon had six. No, no, I'm talking about Booker. You're right, Booker had four and a half. Four and a half. Okay.

For the regular season. I think if he gets 10 sacks, he will have qualified to be a sleeper. If he got 10 sacks, that would be incredible. Well, that's why I've been forever asking the question, just sort of jokingly and winkingly. Is Austin Booker good or not? Is this like the counting crows? Is it the same?

Kind of. Yeah, I bring it up a lot on Take the North, and now I'm doing it here. I think it's the... Different audiences. I'm influenced by Lawrence Holmes because he famously did the show. Was it, is Mitch good or was it as Justin good? No, it was Mitch Chibisky. I thought you met Rosen and was very confused.

Yeah, it's kind of stealing from Lawrence's thing, but I'm doing with Austin Booker. Is Austin Booker good? It's all a riff on Are the Bears good? Ooh. The bears are good. Yeah, we've established that. Yeah, for one year. They are good.

Man, there's been way too many years where they've been good and then not good the next year. Don't stop it. Stop. We have to ride this wave as long as we can. Pause. In the meantime, you know who else is riding himself a bit of a wave? Phil Martelli Jr. The VCU head coach.

We got some sound bites out of some dudes yesterday, didn't we? Some college hedge coaches were on one and I appreciate it. So Phil Martelli also, junior, not senior, senior coach at St. Joe's, had something to say. So we'll do that next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. We are the best show in this town to have the coach and or quarterback sit right here. Because we're here for a good time. We are here for a good time.

We're fun. We're funny. We're serious sometimes. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we laugh. Like, this is perfect. If you wanted a high chance of a drink spilled all over the student, We are definitely repeated.

Middays 10 to 2. Maybe we're the show for you. On 104 3, the score. 3.7 seconds remaining. Stevenson baseball pass into the front court. Fassar catch, turn, fire, off the heel, no. BCU. From back from the dead, down 19 points in the second half.

And the Rams keep running into the round of 32 in Greenville. 82 78 the final. How about that havoc? That is courtesy of CBS Sports. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. That was Westwood won on our call. And also North Carolina losing 82 to 78, the first round of the NCAA tournament. The havoc is back, baby.

The havoc is back. Not the madness, the havoc. Well, that was the shock of smart BCU defense. Havoc. There you go. Also, I hate picked VCU to beat North Carolina and feel pretty good about it. I didn't know you hated North Carolina. A lot of people do.

I don't hate North Carolina. I just thought it was stupid that they got in the tournament last year. So I decided to emotionally pick VCU this year and got lucky. Like I slamming the basketball off the backboard, missing the rim. Quite an end. That was, by the way, North Carolina just basically sabotaged themselves at the end of that game. They could have should have won the game, but they didn't. Do you say that to Phil Martelli, Jr.

Oh, Phil. The head coach for Virginia Commonwealth, because he was in a post-game press conference, and he had granted one more question from a student reporter, and here's what happened. Last question right here. Ben Rikash, WVCW Sports. Coach, walk us through the last...

Hold on. I am going to shout you guys out. Watch. I know there's a lot of professional media here. Our student media, the best in the country. They are unreal. Unreal, unreal. three of these guys drove in a snowstorm. I'm not sure why they did it, but to Davidson,

to cover Davidson, they came out to St. Louis. They've been everywhere along the way. They did miss a game for, two of them missed the game for Valentine's Day, but we won't talk about that. I understand young love is young love. But this crew right here, I told them in Pittsburgh and I tell them again,

cannot thank you guys enough. You are what this is about right there. And watch. I said it in Pittsburgh. The rest of these are getting paid. Not enough. They don't get paid enough, but they are getting paid to be here. They're not paid to be here, and they show up every single day, every single game,

and I can't thank you guys. Sorry, go ahead. No, I appreciate that. Those words truly mean a lot. And they did mean a lot, and he's right. Student journalism matters, whether it's sports or news or something else. As long as they don't try to control them. And we've seen that happen before.

Was it Syracuse or Indiana, maybe with Bobby Knight that was like slamming their own student journalists because they were like telling the story correctly and they were doing the whole we thing. But that's nice to hear. You got to like the Martellys. It seems like a good, solid, bald family, doesn't it? Amen. The Hawk will never die.

That's St. Joe's reference. No doubt about it. You will be able to, by the way, Layla, if I may. Here at Cubs baseball this weekend on the score. Can you do this in Pat Hughes voice? Tomorrow, Zach Zadman and Ron Coomer. Pat Hughes told us recently, you and I got to see Pat Hughes recently. And when he arrived at this get-together we were at, he was listening to Zach Zabman and Ron

Coomer do the game. And he said, he goes, you know what? It's really nice to hear other people working. It was wonderful to see Pat. I can't wait for next week. He did the thing. Were you in the room when he did the thing? He did the, when did you get in for us?

When did you get in? He did the thing for us live. You're alarmed, the thing that keeps you focused on a, you know, a. A long day? Yes, he did it. He did it live because I asked them to. Excuse me. Wonderful.

You'll be able to hear Cubs baseball this weekend on the score. Tomorrow, Zach Zayman and Ron Coomer have the call of Cubs versus Mariners starting at 8 p.m. Then Cubs versus Brewers on Sunday starting at 155. Boo, boo them. All of it can be heard in crystal clear FM quality on 1043, the score. I'm getting loud. Cub Spring Training coverage on the score is sponsored by Sloan, the leader in smart water and commercial restroom, restroom solutions.

It was nice to see Pat, and it's always great to hear Pat and Ron, and Zach Zadman and Ron as well. And that leads us up to another Zach Zadman function. Next Thursday, join the score in Circus Sports, Illinois at Sluggers in Wrigleyville for our ultimate home opener broadcast. It's become a tradition here at the score. We see a lot of friendly faces and get everybody ready for a great day on the north side. Our show will be broadcast live from 10 to 1245 before the home opener.

Then Zach Zadman will have the pregame show up until first pitch. So join us at Sluggers on Thursday, starting at 10 a.m. It is all brought to you by Circus Sports, Illinois, sports betting the way it should be. Have we, have we isn't a forecast for that day? Because usually like bad things happen in the opening day. is not always correct, but sometimes is. Because tomorrow, per my meteorologist Laila Rahimi, tomorrow apparently is going to be 70?

Oh, my goodness. According to my weather app, the high is 69. Make all the jokes. Nice. I don't care because it's warm. Nice. Okay, so Thursday, according to this, cloudy in 61. Okay.

I got to tell you, things change. That's a lot of time in between then and now. So you might want to double check it. Hey, if there's a variance, of either, I'll take 50. I mean, man, there's been so many nasty opening days in Chicago that, like, 50 to and up, I'll take it. Oh, I know.

There was one time where I had the day off and I was going to go to the Cubs home opener as a fan. Yeah. A little old fan. Guess what happened? They bang that game? No. Did they bang it?

I don't remember. No, they just moved it to the next day because people, they build in that day, you know, the cushion. That's why I was asking. I was wondering. But then I had to work the next day and I couldn't go to the game. When to get in? I would always get in.

My bosses would get so annoyed with me because I'd be like, hey, no, I work in baseball. But can I take this day off to watch baseball? And they were like, no, because you work in baseball. And I was like, but I just want to do the same thing. That's so funny. When I started working full time in this business, I worked for Jeff Joniak down the hallway. And I was very young. And like on my days off, I had during the week.

And he'd be like, hey, what did you do on your day? I said, I went to a Cubs game. I went to a say, he's like, why would you go to sports games on your days off? Yeah, because I still like sports. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I do it somewhat tongue and chi because it's a bit of a joke. Yeah.

I like working home openers and all of that. But I also like going as a fan. The pomp and circumstance is great. I've done both too. Been to them as a fan and worked those opening days too. Absolutely. Coming up next, it's time for two men who also enjoy baseball, or so I'm told. Big if true. Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel. Next.