Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Best of the Cubs: Top storylines to follow in 2026 season

Episode Date: February 21, 2026

In the Best of the Cubs this week, Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey shared the top storylines to watch for the club in the 2026 season; Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes discussed what Cubs utilityman Matt Shaw's role will be and how much playing time he'll get; and Spiegel and Holmes detailed the changes that shortstop Dansby Swanson plans on making to his swing.

Rahimi Harrison Grody. Could you imagine Lovie Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys, good better best. Never let it rest. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score.

The 2-2. Check swing, strike three call. What a job by Horton striking out the numbers three and four hitters, Reynolds and Cruz. You know the voice. Get familiar if you forgot. That's Pat Hughes, right here on 104-3 The Score. And this is Rahimi Harrison Grotie.

Russell Dorsey and alongside Marshall Harris here on this president's day, getting you through the next four hours. And Kate Horton's strikeouts, I remember that from the regular season, postseason, not so much. And Russell Dorsey has been so kind to lend us his baseball expertise. He, the Yahoo National Enstores. Insider, talking all things MLB. And Russ came to me and said, hey, I got something I want to talk about. And he didn't bring his chef's hat with him because if he had it, I'd say, put the chef's hat on.

It's time for him to cook. I am simply the sous chef. Russ is going to run the joint for the next two segments because he has the storylines that are cooking for the Cubs and the White Sox. This segment, we will talk Cubs. Russ, you think there's three big things that we should all be paying attention to down in Mesa? Yeah. So we get in this time. a year. We talk about this a little bit in transition. You get past Valentine's Day, oh, man, it's about that time. It's warming up here in the city. And you're just getting that itch for some, for some baseball. That's where, that's where I'm at. And so when I'm thinking about the Cubs and the White Sox, and right now we're going to start with the Cubs. Number one storyline

going into 2026 for me. Which version of Pete Crowe Armstrong will we see? We saw the all-star MVP caliber first half from Pete Crow Armstrong. First half had an 847 OPS, 25 homers. You saw a guy Marshall Harris that was taking baseball by storm. He was cool, started the season with the blue hair, making plays all around the yard at Wrigley Field. Top two defensive centerfielder in the game of baseball. Him and Sadan, Raphaela, in Boston are both amazing.

won a gold glove last year, deservedly so. And you saw a guy where you're like, man, this is the type of dude you build around. And then the second half got there. And you did not see the same Pete Crow Armstrong. OPS 634 with six homers. And a very young player still. Overall, a very solid season. Over 90 runs scored, over 90 RBIs, had over 30 home runs.

the amazing defense in center field. That's a very, very high quality season from Pete Carr Armstrong, even though where the Cubs were, the second half wasn't great, that carried over into the postseason for Pete as well. My eye is on which version of Pete do you get in 26? Because if you can get, we'll call it 65%, even 70% of the first half, Pete Carr Armstrong, offensively with that same high-quality

defense that we saw from him since he's gotten to the big leagues, to be honest. Then you still have a high-quality player. So you want, let's say, a two-thirds version of the first half of PCA for the entirety of the season. I think that's fair. The consistency level. So if I'm doing the math correctly, at that rate, he would be a guy who hits, let's say 30 home runs.

And he would be a guy who steals, let's say 40 bags. And maybe the peripherals are higher. Maybe an on-base percentage over 300? Because his on-base was below 300. Yes. And we talked about it a lot last year. And the slug was 481. So maybe this is what we're thinking.

A guy who hits 30 home runs, steals 40 bases, a batting average above 250. an on base above 300, a slug of, I'm going to say 475, and an OPS above 800. Is that a formula that works for you? I think that's fair. What I have written down is, because I think swinging misses is going to be part of his game,

and I know that's an area that he's working hard to improve. What I have written down is 250 to 270 batting average. 315 to 330 on base. That might be a little high, but keep going. And I'm just saying that's your target. That's what you would hope for. And then 425 to 475 slug. Because I think a lot of, it's really hard to hit for big time power as a left-handed hitter at Wrigley Field.

And the fact that he had 31 homers as a left-handed hitter, that's big time. That means that's in there. and because of the division the Cubs plan, he's going to have opportunities to hit homers as a left-handed hitter. I don't think you have, for the Cubs to be the team they want to be, he doesn't have to hit 40 homers. Oh, no, no, that's not even in my... And I think I'm trying to be fair and be realistic with Pete and say,

hey, if he hits 25 and still does all the other things, you still have a really good player. 40 doubles, that should be a benchmark for him. Because I think that's something that he can, with his sense, speed and you got in some of those balls that don't leave the yard but hit off the wall they're going to turn the doubles some of those are going to turn into triples and those things are still very important and then stealing between 30 and 40 backs let me tell you something if peter armstrong hits 40 home runs and has an on-base percentage above 300 that that means that the cubs are

having an exceptional seat i don't even like saying 40 home runs because i i want people to know how hard. There's only been one player in the history of the Chicago Cubs as a left-hand hitter to hit 40 homers. Billy Williams. It's really hard to do. No, I think that's fair. Okay, so we're keeping our eye on Pete Armstrong. What is storyline

number two? Storyline number two is what I believe is the strength of the Chicago Cubs, and I think that's their starting pitching. Because I think what they've been able to do is build depth. And that was the thing that they didn't really have in 2025.

And when I look at the Cubs and how they're going to have success in their starting rotation, I think they're going to borrow from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, the Dodgers have a little bit more high caliber talent, but the process is the same. The Dodgers have all those guys, Shohei, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell, et cetera. And you look at their roster and it's like, man, they have like eight, nine starting pitch. who are you going to give the ball to? And there's this idea of like, everybody doesn't have to make 30 starts.

So my mindset, when I'm looking at the Cubs roster, it's like, okay, the guy, there's different tier. So the 20 to, let's call it 30 start tier, to me, James and Tyone, Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Cade Horton, Shota Jimanaga, those are your guys that are going to have between 20 and 30 starts in 2026, right? So if, let's say all five of those guys got 20, 25 starts, you say, okay, we're cooking here.

And that leaves you a little bit margin for error. If a guy goes on the IEL, we know it's a grind to get through 162. Then the next tier is that 10 to 15 start range, where you have a guy like Justin Steele coming back off of elbow surgery. You're not going to rush him back, but that gives him some time to really build things up going into second half, Colin Ray, you're a guy who's always known to make some spot starts here and there. Then Ben Brown, Javier Assad. Then the five to 10 start range, guy like a Jordan Wicks, maybe Jackson Wiggins comes up, gives you a couple starts, somebody goes down. And that's how you get yourself through 162.

But that leaves you room for error. That leaves you room for if a guy goes down. It's really hard to get through a year and a guy doesn't go down with injury. elbows, shoulders, etc. And so I think with what they've been able to do, they've put themselves in a really solid position to have some overlap. Marshall Harris and Russell Dorsey talking you through the three biggest storylines for the Cubs.

Number one, what version of PCA will get in 2026? We'll be closer to the first half. We'll be closer to the second half. And number two, the starting rotation should be a strength of this team. If people can stay healthy, of course, if you had gotten Zach Gallagher. it really, really, really would be a strength of this team, but Zach Gallen opting to stay with the Arizona Diamondback signing a one-year deal and the Cubs unable to get him in the fold.

Now, on a number three, and this one was intriguing to me. Yeah, I was just looking for like a different fun one, maybe someone people aren't necessarily thinking about. Going back to Say a Suzuki full-time in right field, I'm very interested. Because last year, you could make the case the Cubs had the best defensive outfield in the big league. with Ian Hap, Peker Armstrong, Kyle Tucker.

You remove Kyle Tucker from that equation. You re-insert Sayas Suzuki. There's still a very good outfield with PCA and Ian Hap. And their infield is going to be great defensively with Alex Bregman, Danzy Swanson, Nico Horner, and Michael Bush. But we've seen some things from Sayas Suzuki in the past in the outfield where you're like, man, this is probably a designated hitter.

But you brought to my attention some of those numbers and they are the stark contrast you want to give them to the people There's a real reason why the idea of Sayas Suzuki playing right field

versus just deaching is beneficial to himself and by virtue of that the Cubs here are the numbers when Sayas Suzuki dached in 102 games last year and had 444 plate appearances

he had a 232 batting average a 322 on base and a 423 slug. Now that batting average is a little low. He hit 16 home runs in those 444 at bats, and the OPS was 745, which isn't terrible, but it's certainly not what you were paying for when you signed Sayas Suzuki to his five-year contract.

Now, as a right fielder in 32 games, you mentioned Cal Tucker being out, so he was back out in right field. 13 home runs in 32 games. 34 runs driven in in 32 games. 22 runs scored in 32 games. And the splits are crazy. A 304 batting average, a 360 on base, and a 664 slug.

That's an OPS over 1,000. Say Suzuki, since he's gotten to the Chicago Cups, he is that type of player where it's big time impact when he gets on a run. Like they've had stretches over the last couple of years where, and I know last year he had some struggles and had to turn it on later in the season after the hot first half, he has some times where he'll go for a three-week stretch where it's like an 1,100 OPS and he'll carry the lineup.

And so if Sayas Suzuki can have an 875 OPS season with Alex Bregman in that lineup, and like I know that's, I don't think that's a big ask when you look at what he's been able to do. Like, that's a guy that should hit, That's one I'm confident to say that should be 25 and 30 homers. 875 OPS would be a career high. The highest he's ever done was two years ago in 2024,

when he had 848 OPS, 842 the year before that. So consistent before he fell off when he was deaching this past season. So maybe he comes up with something. Remember, he's entering his age 31 season last year of his deal. I'll be interested to see what he does in a contract year and whether he's trying to play more to go get big money here or maybe go back to Japan because that's something that guys do sometimes. So it's going to be interesting to follow all three of those storylines,

recapping with Russell Dorsey who has his chef's hat on. Number one, we're looking at PCA, number two, the starting depth of the Chicago Cubs, and number three, Sayas Suzuki, back in right field. We're going to do the same thing, but with the team on the south side, top three storylines for the White Sox with Russell Dorsey. I'm Marshall Harris. This is Rahimi, Harris, and Grotie on 104-3 The Score. Scott is in Wisconsin, and now Scott is on Speedgoing Home.

Hey, Scott. Hey, how are you guys doing? Great show. Hey, you're right. I got a couple questions. Great show. You're right. You've covered some of it.

Afternoons on the score. Hey, Cubs fans, it's Dan through Swampster. You know, when you doubt your hitting coach, sometimes it can feel like you ain't got no one you can depend on. what you did there. And I hope that's not true for Dansby Swanson who has he has scuffled offensively

in big stretches of his time here. Cubspring training coverage on the score is sponsored by Sloan the leader in Smart Water and commercial restroom solutions. Remember last year when I saw Justin Turner like teaching Dansby Swanson

some stuff at on the field at Sloan Park? I don't know if I want to call it teaching. I would I'd say comparing notes. Well, no, but you're veteran guys comparing notes on how to do things. It's short. It looked like a hitting coach session.

That's what it looked like. And I started getting excited about what Dansby could do because people have been on Dansby to do some stuff for a while now. Yeah. It's part of, as someone who is stubborn, I can relate to Dansby, but he has been stubborn his whole damn career. like Ron Washington, not to mention him again,

but Ron Washington talked about like, yeah, we were doing these defensive drills down in Atlanta and Dansby didn't want to come and do him. And then he saw what we were doing and how Freddie got better. And he's like, oh, we should, I should probably, hey, you want to help me out with some of my, and he's one of the best defensive short stops in the game because of his own talent and hard work, but also because Ron Washington is an incredible infield teacher. Dansby doesn't like to listen to people. And that's why when you brought up the Justin Turner thing,

I was like, oh, that's great. Because he'll listen to a vet. It's a guy who's won a ring. It's a guy that had great success as a hitter. One of the most respected hitters out there. And now he's got Bregman. But this isn't really about Bregman. It's just about Dengen.

It might just be about Dantzby. It might just be about Dantzby. Let's hear this. Tanny heard this. We hadn't heard it. This is interesting. Dansby Swanson on finally realizing by himself, perhaps, that he needed to do something different? Was it the season as a whole or was there something happening out there that made you think, like, oh, I would want him to do this in the off season? I mean, I feel like I just was kind of like getting nudged, like internally. I could just, like, feel like, hey, I need to kind of do something different. and that can be hard to kind of find what that is or who those people are or what that looks like and, you know, was able to make some necessary adjustments, you know, and thought processes and all that kind of stuff.

So it was a fun one. Mechanical changes? No. Process? Yeah. Yeah. Trying to get mechanics out of my vocabulary. Mechanics out of the vocabulary.

Well, that's interesting. Danesby's OVP has dropped every year over the last four years. Started at 329, and last season it ended up at 300. Brutal. He said before that in the scrum, he's talked about how, quote, I feel like

I haven't been what I've wanted to be over the last few years. Best thing I could do was intentionally change things, whether that was how I was training or some of the things in the cage, pushing myself to get better. And then you just heard the follow-up where it sounds

good, but I worry when he says he wants to get mechanical out of his vocabulary. Yeah. You know what it reminds me of? Who does it remind me of? Gordon Beckham. All those painful conversations that me and Dan McNeil had with Gordon Beckham, and he would say, I'm just trying to get back to being myself, and I don't want to think about, you know, some of those stuff.

Like, it's just hard. It gets to be too much. And I just want to get back to be in myself. I wonder if there's a possibility to change. At this point, how is Dansby now? 30. Got it. I'm afraid that he's a guy who doesn't like to think about it in terms of mechanics and small adjustments

and just tries to feel his way there. Yeah, and it's worked for him, but I would be okay. This is just me. This is not, I am not representing the Chicago Cup. I'd be okay if Dansby wants to go chase some slug. Because I'm not sure that, and he's never really been an, base guy, but he has been a guy that's been able to give you 450 slug, and I'm all right with him chasing that.

I am not. I am deeply not okay with him chasing that. He's not okay. Because that man can hit it with authority to the opposite field, and that needs to be his approach every time, and then he will luck into power. He will luck into some power. He will be ahead and get some power. He will get some power the other way.

He will feel it on a certain moment and guess the right pitch and be able to chase Slug every once in a while. But I want that guy thinking opposite field every single time because then you won't get as many roll over ground balls to the left side. Which he does over and over and over again. I want Dan's Bue to hit 30 home rounds. I totally disagree. I think you look around at the way the game is going and how everybody is trying to follow the Toronto Blue Jays to contact land with occasional slug.

Let Dansby be a guy that regresses in the slug a little bit and gives me more contact and contact the opposite way and keeps the train rolling. Let me revise my statement. Would you care to revise your BS statement, sir? I think that Dansby is more capable of chasing slug than OBP. Well, that is something I think he probably agrees with. But man, I have watched that man take BP enough times

with learned hitting people who say, God, why doesn't he just try to go the other way? Just try to go the other way. Yeah. Yeah. But he doesn't. And he won't. And that's, I get it.

Like, he's stubborn. He's been a great player in this league. And he's still giving you really quality defense. It's shortstop, the hardest position. to play. All that stuff matters. He plays all the time, which is another thing. Yeah, it's a tough game. That people have been trying to tell him not to do. It's a really tough sport. But he won't do it. It's a really tough sport. How about a guy like Pete Crow Armstrong, who it's 25 home runs in the first half last year and ends up with 30

homers, 30 steals, and 30 doubles? No Cub has ever done that. But his second half plummet so badly that he ends up with an on-base percentage of 287. 287 is not good. And you said it in the show thread, and you're right. I think everybody wrote a PCA piece, either yesterday or the day before. I get it. Like, he was available. You end up writing the piece about him, but he's such an important thing.

Like, this team needs him to be great. And figuring out what the balance is between the risk that he will take. at the plate to be great. Another guy where you're having the conversation of, do you chase slug or do you chase on base? I think that I won't totally flip, but him being on base is also an extra base. Oh, that's the thing.

You'd much rather have him on base in my experience. You know, you'd much rather have him on base than not on base. But he loves the slug. I mean, people basically said it during the second half last year, that that dude was chasing 30 homers. He was. He was spending a lot of time chasing 30 homers. And he was right. Him and Seya were on the doorstep at the halfway point of 30, and then they took them a long time to get there.

Did you see, among all qualified hitters, he had the highest swing rate of anybody? Nobody swung the bat more than Pete Crowe Armstrong at almost 60%. He was third and outside the zone swings. Yep. But he also hits bad balls. Yes, he does. Yes, he really does. This is from Jordan Bastion, who does great work on MLB.com about that stuff.

He's a great photographer. Jordan Bastion? Mm-hmm. Is he? Yeah. He does incredible, like, photography stuff while he's down there, too. Takes great pictures. I didn't know that.

Yeah, he keeps it kind of low-key. I'm sorry, I blew up the spot, but... That's cool. Yeah, he's... I've seen some of the stuff that he... I'm like, wow. kid knows a camera I like Jordan a lot

he was on hit and run a few years ago and I hadn't realized he grew up a Cubs fan You know It was a moment Bounced around covering a couple of teams Was in Cleveland for a long time And so he has the opportunity to now To like cover the team that he used to be a fan of

It's crazy And it was the same day I think or the same month That I had James Fegan on Who grew up a White Sox fan And then obviously now covers the White Sox I mean that's really cool When those kind of things happen

You know Yeah Big, big year for PCA. The way that council talked about PCA was cool. He said, it's just improve. It's not one thing. It's just keep improving. It can be a little in that area of swing decisions.

It can be a little better swing path. Listen to this. It can be a little better pitch-to-pitch emotional regulation. Well, that's a thing. You brought that up last year. Sure did. All of those things. Just keep all of those things improved.

That's a wise comm manager saying, hey man, he got a lot of stuff to work on. Because you never know which one of those he might be able to take a leap on. Maybe he's ready for the emotional regulation. Maybe he's ready for the swing path. Maybe he's ready for the swing decisions. But it's hard not to swing it junk. I love this texer's 309 texter says Aaron Judge High Level Swing.

Great book. As his swing, have you seen some of the video of the work that Aaron Judge does in the cage? It's fascinating. Like the drills that he does in the cage. you're like, oh, it actually, you can see it translate to what he's doing inside of the game. And I forget what it's called, but there's a, there's a whole, like, army of players that are starting to train this way, where you're seeing them kind of be off balance a little bit, and they're, they're bringing the barrel down and bringing it through. And there, is it the wall, I want to say it's the wall drill, where they're,

making sure that the swing plane of the bat is going through and watch it. I'll find a video for it because I'm not doing a great job describing it. All I know is I sat there watching it and I was like, wow. And then you go back and you look at Aaron Judge actually at the plate and go, oh, like, it's working for him. That's really cool. Yeah, the same texture said, Swing Kings is the book that gives you insight into Justin Turner and Aaron Judge. in that same book. Yeah, I didn't read Swing Kings.

Who wrote Swing Kings? Cherry Poppin Daddies? No, that's a good guess. Was it? Stray cat? Squirrel Nut Zippers? Um, uh, no. Swing Kings, baseball.

Tiger Woods? No, because it was, hmm. It was a guy. A guy. Taddy, you like this? This is your favorite part? It really is.

And what I love most is, I'm not going to help you. because I don't even know what you're talking about. Jared Diamond is the author of Swing King. Jared Diamond covers baseball for the Wall Street Journal, or at least used to. I remembered that. It's back when I was on social media, back when I was on Twitter. And here I am, I'm thinking about you're talking about a song or something, and you're looking for a Swing King song.

I was like, no, no. I heard you reference to the book, but I'm like, oh. It's one of the two. You know me. It's one of the two. It's either those two or a Chinese food dish. You know, it's one of those three things. By the way, me and Rubin perfected

shrimp fried rice at home. We made it at home. Yeah, congratulations. Thank you very much, Bill Thickner. Thank you very much. I thought of him earlier when we were talking about contact. Ruben? Bill Finner.

Oh. Yeah. And Ruben. I mean, I think of him a lot. It's my son and everything. It's important. Yeah. Think of that kid.

We're all over the place. It happens. You put this in the thread, but we're going to come back in here. The guy just crashing out. sitting there at the coaches table in the post game podium. Yeah. He's overwhelmed. We'll share it with you next.

Oh. On the score. We are Chicago's number one and most listen to Sports Station. We're live from Chicago. Talking Chicago Sports. Listen on your radio. Your laptop. Mobile device through the Odyssey app. A-U-D-ACY. Or tell your smart speaker to play 104-3 to score.

We're live and we're local. 104-3, the score. Hey, score listeners. For all station contest rules, go to the score Chicago.com slash rules. And good luck. Chicago in Odyssey Sports Station. Spiegel and Holmes, afternoons on the score.

Well, obviously we want to win the division. We should win the division. You know, it's just a matter of executing and staying healthy, and I think we should be right there. You know, you want to win the division for a lot of reasons, not just because it's aggravating not to, but you want to put yourself in the best position for the playoffs as well. And so hopefully that will execute against that plan

And either the end of the season That's Tom Ricketts talking about what he wants From this preseason Say what he wants Yeah Of the Cubs Oh by the way We're going to talk a lot of baseball inside these next 40 minutes

But we're also going to give away a pair of tickets When Alex told me that this was The lineup I was like I want those tickets Yeah you did Um, Santana and the Doobie Brothers, Oneness 2026 tour Saturday, June 13th at Credit Union One amphitheater in Tinley Park. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 20th at 10 a.m. and are available at live nation.com. Be caller 6 to 312540-0 670 when you hear a Santana song.

I believe that Michael McDonald is in this iteration of the Doobie Brothers. Oh yeah, that's right, because people kind of jump in and jump out. Yeah, yeah, but I believe Michael's there. And, I mean, fresh off the Super Bowl, that's awesome. Good for him, man. It's amazing. And to go see Carlos Santana play guitar, hell yes. So when you hear a song get played, then you call in and you win that thing.

Look, Matt Shaw is going to be a super utility player, and Nico Horner is your everyday second baseman, and Alex Bregman is your everyday third baseman. and I love that the bottom of the Cubs roster will include a guy like Shaw who can play all over the place, including the outfield, as he talked about today. Can I ask you a question about Matt Shaw

because I was thinking about this today? Sure, because we're going to hear from Shaw and from Nico Horner in a little bit. How much does it matter? His development. Like, what are, how much... Offensively? Yeah.

Like, defensively, too, because he's going to be, be playing positions that he doesn't ordinarily play. But I guess I'm trying to get to, it's a big deal if he were your starting third basement like last year. Like you're watching his development day in, day out, because he's such an important part to what you wanted to do, ended up being defensively, but offensively in spots too. We were worried about, and we still are worried about the way that he loads, where his head

is when he swings. He talked about that today, too. I know. But if you're the Cubs, do you have time to develop him this season? Well, he's a guy who seemingly has to do some of that development on his own and did a lot of it in the off season, he says, in terms of the hitting. But defensively, like, this is a really important camp for Matt Shaw to get going in the outfield. Do you remember a couple years ago in April, the Cubs did not have an answer in right field while Sea, Suzuki. he was recovering from his

oblique injury. Yeah, and he's going to, he is right now, this team's right fielder. Right. Matt Shaw is going to play out there sometimes, and is it possible that Matt Shaw develops in a guy who you let be your defensive finisher in right field? I think that it's possible. That takes a while,

especially at that position. But either way, either way, like his innings out there are going to matter. A couple years ago when Sayo was hurt, I remember they had Tray Mancini out there. Yeah, we got that interview coming up at some point. He embarrassed himself out there and cost them a game. It was bad.

They had Miles Mastrobone out there. And he embarrassed himself and cost them a game. They lost two games. No, no, no. They lost four. Maybe more. He's a four? Because SEA lost them two games.

Yeah, yeah. But I'm talking about one of those years when SEA wasn't even there, and they didn't have a back, they didn't have a fourth outfielder. They were like, ah, Mancini'll do it. Ah, Mastrimonial do it. And they got screwed. Matt Shaw is going to be their fourth outfielder. maybe their super utility of the fifth if Kevin Alcantra breaks camp.

So it's going to matter to this year. Okay. I just want because I've been trying to figure out how I should judge him, like, as a player. And yet it's a young player, right? By height. I would judge him by height. Well, then great.

And he and I are about the same. But I keep thinking about is there going to be a point where if things don't happen quickly. And we saw some stuff last year. And I think that we saw the Cubs be pretty frustrated with him and be like, hey man, you still have worked, he used to go down to the minors. And then we heard the stories of

well, he's kind of still doing it his way. He made the changes they requested in batting practice, but did not do so in a game until 24 hours before the deadline to possibly call him back up. So do you

have time if he you're the Cubs for this season, do you have time to worry about his development as much as maybe someone else on the team? Or is there a moment where Craig is like, A, find me a veteran who I know I can put out, and I know exactly what he is instead of waiting on what the top levels of what Matt Shaw might be. The good news to your answer

is how he approaches. it. And the way that he's approaching it is awesome. Yeah. So listen to Matt. Listen to Matt Shaw from today about his role and we'll also hear from Nico about the way that Matt Shaw is approaching it, to your point.

I mean, I played a tonne like just growing up. I had two older brothers, so I played out for them all the time. Played outfield, summer ball, my freshman year, and then, you know, I've played here and there in college a little bit too. We were talking to Breggman. He mentioned that you guys hit together his facility,

before even camp arrived, spent time having conversations, which has been like getting to know him before camp and then also here? Yeah, no, we got the hit together. He gave me some good advice, some good pointers. Stuff I've already used, like just kind of like hip level, shoulders level, something that we talked about a little bit while I was hit with him. So, you know, I think we're already starting to build a relationship, and he's been super helpful for me.

Being a sure-handed infieler, how has that been translatable to office? Have you seen any crossover there? I mean, not really. I think like it feels just so unique. It's really different. It's really, I think it's really hard to go outfield to infield. But infield to outfield, you know, I think you're just going back to kind of, it feels like I'm kind of a kid again, run around, catching balls, like run,

diving and stuff. So it's a lot of fun. So do you think it will help that you have Ian Hap, who was kind of in your position early in his career where he was in field? He moved in the center, moved out, found a home. He kind of went through his son. but he kind of went through a similar transition early in his career. Can you guys use him as a resource and kind of things he experienced and went through? Oh, yeah, I'm sure he is going to be a great resource.

I'm sure he'll be super helpful. You know, he already has been. He told me, I asked him about, like, a certain glove length that I should get in the outfield. I said, like, 14 and a half or something, and he informed me that there's no such thing as a 14.5 size glove. So that was helpful. But, yeah, so, you know, there's already been the whole thing. bits and pieces that they're giving me. Hitting wise, have you made some tweaks to your swing?

It's looking like early that you've changed some things. What have you done? Yeah, I mean, I talked about like what Bragman kind of gave me getting my hips and shoulders in line, kind of helped me to turn behind the baseball better, trying to move less. Like, there were some clear things that I knew I needed to do last year, but, you know, when you're in the midst of the season, it's really hard to make those adjustments. You know, I tried my best, but it was still hard. So having some time off to, like, really dive in on what those adjustments meant for me, how to, you know, the cues that went along with it was really helpful.

What Brangman said, having a great hitting coach at home as well with Matt Swope, and the guys here have been super helpful. So I feel like I'm in a really good play. For me, there were certain things that were really clear. Like, you know, I was moving too far forward. I was kind of diving, things like that. I think, you know, everyone was kind of saying a similar thing. The hard part is just like finding the cues and kind of the mental feels to go out there

and actually accomplish that, you know, knowing what's going wrong and then actually fixing it. and that's where I think I just needed some time. But everyone's been super helpful. I think everyone's been on the same page, what's going to be good for me. So, yeah, that part has been actually pretty smooth. I like that last part. That made sense to me that he actually needed the space and time of the offseason

to kind of figure out what are the mental cues that can help him fix what everybody was saying needed to be fixed. Yeah, but that's part of my concern is the stress of a season with expectations where how much time are you going to be getting like this is an experiment and it's I know that we're making it sound easy it's not it's really difficult what he's being asked to do this is our concern dude exactly he might not be in the lineup

you know five out of six days out of the week like there there's going to be and the stress of playing a different position to make sure that you get an opportunity to hit how many times have we seen guys that have taken their fears of being in the field and brought them with them to the plate. And this is still a guy that's trying to figure out the hit tool and has had some issues with that. I could see that.

I could see him regressing at the plate because he's concerned about things in the field. We see it all the time. Or because... This is why you're the mayor of Worrytown. I'm going to have to elect you again. I'm going to have to vote for you again. Or because you're still trying to make... make the adjustments that have been asked of you.

And maybe it's not going well initially. Yeah, that part of it will be fascinating in and of itself. And then you add that to, oh, yeah, I'm also learning a couple other positions. And it's not the same. Like, it's infield to outfield. I used to hate playing outfield. Oh, but don't you identify with the part that he says there. Actually, I don't know if you do or not.

I do. But the part where he says, I had older brothers, and they used to send me to the outfield. Yes. I mean, my brothers used to play a game called tennie ball with a tennis ball in our driveway, and they had like a round kitchen table that they would repurpose as the backstop and lean it against the garage. And they'd play with a tennis ball, and all the neighborhood kids would come over and play. and I was in the outfield across the street. Like that's what I had to do.

I wanted to play. I was the little brother and they're like, yeah, you can play. You're in the outfield. And I didn't become a major league outfielder. You might have noticed. But like that, so I enjoyed hearing him talk about that. I do, but the stakes are. I know they are high.

Listen to Nico, who knows Matt Shaw pretty well, talk about how Matt Shaw is taking to the role that we're discussing here. We used to show that Shaw improved throughout the season defensively. He's going to do a different role kind of, what role do you, Ian Bregman, kind of play and making sure he gets the most of that role

and realizes it can be a very important piece to your roster puzzle? Yeah, I mean, I think just his own response tells you a lot. It's just that he's, you know, today is day one. You know, it's like, and he's already been running around and working in different spots doing the outfield work and he's not someone that you need to worry about being, you know,

professional or motivated or driven or working on his game. Like he's a very driven young player. And I mean, look at how many great players at some point earlier in their career were bouncing around between positions. And, you know, it's just the reality of being a part of a really strong roster. You know, I think this time of year we always trying to project the perfect rotation and lineup and things like that. but we all know that's not the reality of

162 and he's going to be a very valuable part of our team this year. So dude, that allays a lot of the fears for me that you're talking about. I don't know if it does for you or not. It does not. It does not just because it has to happen. No, no, no, no. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about Matt

Shaw as a person because he watches him as a teammate when he says, you see his response. The ending part was about what the team needs. But the whole first 40 seconds is him saying he's not someone you need to worry about in terms of the motivation and he's telling you, that's Nico Horner telling you that he sees it already and what he's bringing to and remember, Nico will be on his ass if he needs to. Bregman will be on his ass if he

needs to. Ian Hap will be on his ass if he needs to. But my point is that if it gets to the point where Ian Hap or Alex Bregman or Nico Horner have to be on his ass, he's not going to be in the lineup. Well, he might not be in the lineup anyway. I'm not questioning Matt Shaw and his want to. it's hard. That's all I'm saying is that what he's being asked to do is hard,

and does his development in this role supersede the team trying to win games? Well, hopefully his offense will supersede any defensive discomfort, which is a decision. There's still questions there, is my point. I hear you. That there's a lot of this that needs to go on. And I expect any teammate, especially a teammate as great as Nico, to have the guys back. It goes back to the money ball line.

It's incredibly difficult. I get it. It's incredibly hard. Absolutely. When I say that they're going to be on his ass, they might have to be on his ass to get him to relax. You know, that's how baseball works, right? They might be on him to like, hey, stop freaking out, man.

It's okay. You know? And that's the teammates' job. And if it doesn't work, then is there a chance? They're out there looking for something? Sure. Is there a chance that Matt Shaw gets dealt in a kind of thread the needle style play? He was already discussed.

He was already discussed by the Red Sox. I reported that one a couple weeks ago that they called about Nico Horner and then we're talked to about Matt Shaw. So there's a chance? So look, is there a chance that it doesn't go well? Of course. I think that the kid will try hard. And I think there's a really, really good clubhouse of veterans around it. I don't think that the effort is my issue, speaks.

Like, I think he'll try. I think he's already tried hard. But I also think that there's evidence of him trying hard and then being like, you know what, I'm going to go back to what's comfortable to me and then struggle and then be like, well, hold on. Like, I thought we talked about this. I thought we figured out that your head needs to be in a different place and that your leg kick needs to be different and all this other stuff. Let me ask you this. How was the defense last year?

Pretty good. Okay. So if he ends up being a super. super utility who you don't really trust too much with the bat, that's okay too. That's more of the bottom of the roster piece we're talking about traditionally as a super utility who's not among your top nine that you're going to put out there. I'm not worried about him on the dirt at all. Okay. Well, then wherever he might have to fill in on the dirt, I got no problem because I think that seeing him excel at third base gives you, like there should be no issue there. Then the good news

for you is that he's not starting most of the time. We're talking what? If we got a fully healthy team, two, three starts a week? Right? Yes. Maybe. But then there's the issue of your right fielder. Also not great defensively.

Well, that's why that matters the most right now is his development in right field and left field. So to answer your initial question, and this is a great conversation, I think this is very useful and I appreciate what you're making me think about here very much, is that, yes, it's worth your development because you need him to be defensively sufficient. You need to be defensively sufficient all those places. And you hope the offense comes along, but right now he doesn't deserve a full spot, which was my point about him all offseason anyway, said he doesn't deserve 500 at bats handed

to him. So this is the part where his makeup and the things that we are hearing Nico talk about hopefully matter is that he's able to live in a space where he's not starting every day. And that is an adjustment that players have to make too. We know that it messes with people when they don't play the field and they have to hit. And then, hey, not only you're bringing a bag of gloves with you every day. And Craig's really good about saying, hey, you're going to be doing this tomorrow and you'll be able to get yourself mentally prepared for some of that stuff.

It's just that there's a lot that's being asked of him at a very young age or very, very inexperienced level of play. I love Nico's point about how many great players ended up playing in the outfield when they started as infielders. And I thought of a guy, just because, I mean, there's a million of them, right? But for some reason I thought of him, I think maybe because Shaw was comped to him a little bit. Shaw was comped early on. I had heard it.

Paul Molitor. You remember hearing that comp? And so I just went to Paul Molitor's defensive stats, just for fun. And he was a second baseman and a shortstop and a third baseman all between the years of age 21 to 23. And in 24, he started playing the outfield. and he only played for a little while, but he played 46 games in the outfield in 81, and then ended up playing a lot more outfield at age 29, and obviously a lot of DH in first base as he rounded out his career.

But he needs to look at it as this is just a phase of my career. This is just a moment in time as I try to have a team that's winning. And it sounds like for the moment he's got his brain wrapped around that. I would agree with you that hearing him talk about it, he sounds really confident. The game has a way of humbling us all. And he sounded really confident when he came back up last year too. And then things happened. And he wasn't as consistent as you would like.

I hope that it works out. It would be great to have that and not need to go find it. It'd be great for it to just be sitting on your bench. Yeah, because they went and found it last year in Willie Castro, didn't they? But that's what they did. But the role he's being asked to play is different than what he did last year. And how are you going to adjust to that? As long as the glove works out, all of those places,

and I suspect it will because of, like you said, what he did at third base, then I think you'll probably be okay. Textor makes an interesting point. He's going to be put in more favorable hitting matchups than he was last year. In terms of starts, he'll get starts against lefties. Yeah, but I guess. sure we can play the match but there are going to be times when

he's just out there he's playing because a guy needs a couple days off or a guy is on IL and the matchups are going to be the matchups but if he's good enough on D and you're getting stuff from Bregman then you and you're getting better pitching then you know the defense matters quite a bit

but that's good conversation and I appreciate the opportunity my God I like baseball good thing I'm going to Mesa Wednesday night, and we'll be broadcasting live from Cubs camp as part of Spiegel and Holmes on Thursday. Yeah, your Thursday show. Dude, our Thursday show. Yeah, but I mean, I'm not out there with you on Thursday.

Friday, I'm out there with you. And that's easy. Thursday, I think I'm going to be set up in the bleachers at Cubs camp next to one of the training fields. That's wild. When they were talking about when the bosses were like, yeah, the Cubs are working on some. And I'm like, what are they working on? Put us in the press box and then like, oh, oh. Well, you and I will be in the press box on Friday.

And I'm saying like, how different. I was like, they're going to put Spee's in the office, are they? Like, that wouldn't. I thought that they were going to suggest, which I was, which would still be better because it's close to the clubhouse and people could come by. But there's nothing about it. Like, this is like you're actually broadcasting from the field. I'll be in the bleachers behind the plate, I believe, of one of the practice fields.

with an opportunity just to flag people down as they walk by. Maybe Rick Sutcliffe will walk by with his good friend Charles Barkley again. That would be kind of dope. Probably not. But, you know. Oh, there's one more thing here. We didn't get to it. Can we roll it into the next segment or do you want me to do it now?

All right. There's one more baseball thing that we forgot to talk. There's one more guy that we forgot to talk about. It's like, wait, where have we heard this story before? Your whole career. We'll do that next along with talking about PCA here on the school. Hey Bulls fans, this Chuck Swirsky. And Bill Winnington here, letting you know that now you'll be able to listen to all the high-flying action every Bulls game and crystal clear FM quality on 104-3, The Score.

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