Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bruce Levine sets the scene for Cubs-White Sox opener in spring training

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote listened were joined by Score baseball insider Bruce Levine to preview the Cubs and White Sox meeting in their Cactus League opener Friday afternoon.

Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi, Harris, and Grody on 1043, The Score. Everybody. Can we sing? Hard for Bruce. Thank you. Can we sing to Bruce? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Bruce. Happy birthday. That's right. It's Bruce Levine's birthday. I want to know if Bruce knows who this is. That's what I want to know. This hour is sponsored by Riverfront Chrysler Jeep, Dodge Ram. This is 104-3 The Score, and that is how we bring in our baseball reporter here for the Cubs and White Sox on 104-3 The Score, the co-host of Inside the Clubhouse, Saturday mornings from 9 to 11. The birthday boy himself, Bruce Levine.

Hey, Bruce. Marshall, it's a cool in the game, right? Close enough. Close enough, Bruce. That's what I thought. Look, before we start talking baseball, doesn't it, does it annoy you when people wish you happy birthday that just find out from other people five minutes before and they're not really on your list of A friends? Wow. No, Bruce.

You resent some of the people. that were singing happy birthday to you? Is that what you're saying, Bruce? I asked you a question, Mark. Oh, okay. So, no. My answer is no, because I don't tell people my birthday unless they ask, and if people find out, that's fine.

And I'm just like, you know what? It is to be celebrated. You are to be celebrated, Bruce. You shouldn't be upset about that. You should be like me and just take the birthday wishes when they come, but not be upset when people don't remember. Did not say I was. Oh, okay.

But it's always interesting. And these birthday things, as I'm aging, They keep happening like once a year. It's amazing how that works. Yeah, the older you get. You're right. I am running into the same thing now. You know, they're happening every year.

They feel quicker, but for some reason, they're at the same time, and I don't get it. Bruce, this is when I grew up. Now for the reason you really got me on to talk about the first game of the Chicago Cubs in White Sox, where do you want to begin? Well, wait a second. Who got you the card? Was it great counsel? Like, who did the presentation? No, is Mark Gonzalez.

Gonzo's out there? A friend on the A list. Oh, man, tell Gonzo we all said hello. He's the best. Former Cubs writer for the Tribune. We miss Mark. Former Sox writer for the Tribune as well. He'll be filling in on the Suntimes beat on the weekends for both the Cubs and White Sox.

So good man. Very good man. That's fantastic. Yeah, we do want to know about that spring trading game that we are excited to hear in just a few minutes here on the score. Bruce, the first thing, that we noticed was the announcement that Will Vennable made before today talking about Muna Taka

Murakami would be in the lineup. We find out his batting cleanup. This seems like a real sign that they want to develop him and get him used to majorly pitching as soon as possible. You know, Layla, that's a part of it, but he's leaving next week. So that's a major reason while you'll see Suzuki

for the Cubs in center and Murakami at first base is they want to get their eyes on him before they take off for Japan. You know, the 23rd the Japanese players take off and you're not going to see him again maybe until the second week of March. Because Japan, I don't know if you guys know this,

but they're really good in baseball. And they're expecting to be right there at the end with the United States for the World Baseball Classic. So, yeah, they need to see him. And, you know, I think the curiosity for White Sacks fans off the chart is to how often there's a home run, how often there's a strikeout, can he play for space, all these things that we've been watching here in spring training.

Do you feel like this puts the White Sox at somewhat of a deficit, not seeing him firsthand, even though they will get to see him participate in the World Baseball Classic, where he was phenomenal, if I remember correctly, the last time he was in the World Baseball Classic? Yeah, I think it does, Marshall. And on top of that, I think it's, you know, There's that great unknown of him getting to know his teammates, them getting to know him, just getting used to being in the United States. There's that disruption.

You don't want to take it away, you know, the joy of playing for your country and being an important player. But at the same time, you know, the WBC, if you ask a top executive or a manager, they'll say it's a pain in the butt. Brewster, we were talking, going through the Cubs lineup and positions. a little bit earlier, and did we see Sayas Suzuki hitting third? That sounds good. He's also playing center field.

There anything to read into with him playing center field? No, absolutely not. No. Would only happen during the season if a couple of guys collide and they're out for a while. It's just not going to happen. I mean, you've seen him play. Will you be happy if you're an observer of the Cubs and a, and a fan that he plays a decent right field for you all year long.

I'd be happy with that. Decent is the word. Yes, passable, decent, acceptable. All of those things would be fine by me. Yeah, yeah. We're not making them into a center fielder, although he's playing out there. Someone asked him that today in the media scrum.

And, you know, his eyes were rolling in his head, but he gave a, you know, a fair answer, you know, saying, You know, we want them to get some time out there, and we want him to get some at bats. And, you know, there's just no chance he's going to be the Cubs center field. Bruce, the way you're describing say, I'll say it like this, straight up. I want to see him as an offensive lineman on a good football team. If we don't talk about his fielding, I feel like it's been a good season, right? Yeah, but there is that element of he's going to have to play a lot of games out there.

So, you know, because of the fact that Biosteros is coming along and steaming along as far as the expectations of him slugging as the left-handed DH, he doesn't have another position. You know, he's not playing shortstop anytime soon. He's not, they're hoping he can be a formidable or decent catcher at some point. He's not quite there yet. So he is a guy that has. one position for the Cubs right now, and that's D.H. Left-handed against a lot of right-handed hitters, or pitchers, rather. So with that in mind, does it get 500 of bats as the left-handed D.H?

And if so, you know, that Suzuki's going to be out in right field an awful lot. Yeah, I think that's the hard part, Bruce, is just balancing, trying to figure out who's best where, given the skill sets. You know, it reminds me of kind of the jigsaw puzzle that Craig Counsel had to figure out with pitching during the playoff series, both the wildcard and the DS. How do you liken it when you consider just what everybody's skill sets are, maybe what their weaknesses are as well, in trying to balance all of this?

He was trying to inform me today that the classic old bench guys and pinch hitters coming off the bench just don't really exist anymore in the game because the DH has taken over in the National League as well. So there's really no room for pinch hitters. anymore. What they did with Justin Turner last year, a lot of people didn't like it. I mean, you know, we know that Turner

was an important guy in the clubhouse, but he wasn't all that important guy swinging the bat. Nothing like they thought he would be. And they didn't want to play him at third or first. He had some important pinch hits. But, you know, I think the point that Craig

took and well taken is that basically pinch hitters have become passe. You have to be able to perform and do multi different things as far as play positions, BA, a formidable DH, all those things to be on a big league roster right now. So the Cubs are running into this. Other teams as well, but, you know, the game has changed when you look at the makeup of the bench.

Bruce, every year, and I guess I'll talk specifically about the Cubs right now, but if you want to throw White Sox name in, too, that would be great. There's always somebody that unexpectedly stands out. Gage Workman was that guy last year. That was Marshall's guy. Did not work out. Did not work out at all. I mean, it worked out for a minute or two.

Yeah, it was a nice story. It was a nice Rule 5 story. We all learned it. I played for both teams, right? He did. Yeah, we got lucky with that one. But I mean, you see guys like Jonathan Long in the lineup today, Dylan Carlson. I see a McCormick in the lineup.

I see a Murray in the lineup. I see a Kingery in the lineup. Like, what, are there any guys? that we should be watching for realistically, which gets tougher when the team is as good as it is right now. I just think that the White Sox catching situation is interesting because Corey Lee is such a good catcher, and it's been lost in the translation because of the fact that you have Carol, you have teal. These are the two guys that could be around for a long time being the catchers, but he's out of options. So, you know, what do you do with, with

Corey Lee, are you showcasing him or, you know, somehow, some way, unfortunate, can you carry three catchers going into the beginning of the year? Because, you know, someone always gets hurt. You hope it's not a catcher, but all of a sudden you have this wealth of catching, and it ends up that you don't have enough if you have to lose him because he's out of options. So they'll be talking about trading Cori Lee to someone else and maybe getting another catcher that they can put at AAA. That is basically what we're looking at with the White Sox. You know, with the White Sox, there'll be some surprises along the way.

I don't think there's any question. We're not quite what that looks like right now. We don't know how well Ocuna is going to be playing center field. And if he's not playing center field, Could he bump my... How badly do they want Ocuna in the lineup with all the speed that he has and versatility, and now that we know he's working on being a switch hitter.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Hey. I see what you did there, Bruce. We're talking with Bruce about baseball because baseball coming up at the top of the hour here. Cubs versus White Sox right here on 104-3, the score. This is Rahimi Harris.

and Grody and Bruce, you got me all excited. Does that Gallant talk, the idea of a six-man rotation? Is the six-man rotation thing? Is that dead before the season even starts? Or do you still see that being a possibility? Marshall answered by saying,

do you think modern managers can get by with only seven bullpen guys? No. So that would automatically eliminate a bullpen guy. And if that happens, how do you negotiate that if you're going all year long with one bullpen guy missing? I don't think at different parts of the year, I think the answer is yes, because if they don't have injuries, they have all these extra pitchers, all these starters that can get the job done

for you. So with that in mind, it's going to be fun to watch it. I don't remember the last time the Cubs had this type of pitching depth. Hoyer certainly has worked extraordinarily hard to get that. But again, we're only starting spring training games. How many guys are going to make it through spring training without getting injured? That's the game that they play here is, can we get out of spring training without having any injuries

that are going to sidetrack us, in particular, with the pitching staff starting pitching in bullpen. And Bruce, it's nice. I assume it's also because of the World Baseball Classic that we get to see Alex Bregman here on day one, batting second at third base for the Cubs. You know, what can you expect to see out of Bregman? Is there anything you're watching for in particular

ahead of that World Baseball Classic? He's also playing in. Yeah, I'm just hoping he stays healthy. You know, he missed 50 games last year. So there's no question when Alex Bregman is healthy, he's going to be, you know, a vital part of the Cubs offense. He's going to be hitting up near the top of the order, and he is going to be an impact player one way or another. I just, you just have to make sure somehow that you can get him out there for 145 games.

That's the key. And as a guy has an injury year before, and he's 32 years old, you know, you start worrying a little bit about the viability of him continuing to be at the top of his game. So we're going to be watching to see if it's still Alex Bregman out there every day. If he's healthy, I don't see any reason. Why not? We appreciate it, Bruce, live from Arizona and Sloan Park as we get ready for some Cubs baseball here on the score. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Bruce. All right, have a great day.

Happy birthday. Hey, Bruce. Yeah, see you. Oh, no, not from. the periphery people. Are we peripheral people, by the way? I hope you enjoy some cool of the gang, Bruce. No, no, no, definitely

two out of the three of you are not two. Wow. He's singling me out, guys. It's not you. It's not you, it's me. This is the relationship, Bruce and I have, and I love it. I cherish it, Bruce. I really do. Uh-huh.

Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye. The pause. Hang up on him. So good. Can we say goodbye, please?