Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — February 16, 2026

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey discussed the top Cubs and White Sox storylines to watch for the 2026 season.

The score. This hour is brought to you by Vasectomy Clinics of Chicago. The views and opinions of Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies, literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi Harrison Grody may change it anytime. It's just sports.

Gay thanks. Bye. Bye. What? Say what? Say what now? How do you feel about that Marshall Harris? Carlos Santos. What?

It's all a problem. The who hired John Fox? Your team, the Buffalo Bills. Have you heard of the bills? This is real news now. You got me going on Twitter. It's the real Adam Schaefter, yeah. Who is it, Michael?

No, no, no, no. No. Oh, yeah. Senior assistant coach. That's a title title. Like, that pays you some money in the league, doesn't it? Yeah. Didn't John Fox prove that he was past, like, it's over for him?

I thought he proved he didn't even care anymore. Like, that's what I'm saying. Like, you don't care anymore. Isn't it over for you? No, no, you guys know how this goes. When you don't care, that's what everybody wants to pay you. It's just like office space. What would you say you do here?

Well, look, I already told you. I have people skills. I am good at dealing with people. Can you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people? Did they force that on jump already? Like, did they tell me had to get a guy like that? It's like, we need you to get someone to,

Does Bill Belichick not available? Did they Bill Polly in this? We're like Bill Polly in this. Telling people, you got to get so many experiencing here. I don't like this, guys. No, I don't like that. No, don't like that.

I'm dying, laughing at all these texts on the text line. Maybe John Fox can hire Matt Abramusus as the junior assistant head coach. That's good. The 2010's called they want their coach back. This is the equivalent of the White Sox bringing Tony Larusa. It's okay to look in the rearview mirror,

but not very long. because you better stay staring out the windshield. And that's me right now. I'm looking forward. Marshall Harris. Mark Grody. Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3. The score.

Ah, yes. It's a good morning because, well, we're here. And you probably have the day off because it's President's Day. Happy President's Day to all who celebrated is Rahimi Harris and Grotie alongside Russell Dorsey. National Insider. in Major League Baseball for Yahoo Sports. I am Marshall Harris, and we're here to get you through the holiday, four hours of good times, lots of baseball talk.

But we're going to start in the NFL because Bradley Chubb is now an option for all the teams out there who might need a little help with their pass rush, with affecting the opposing team's quarterback. And I think the Bears fall under that purview. Would you not agree, Russell Dorsey? That's a real dude. Hello, everybody out there on your day off. I hope you enjoyed.

It's supposed to be really nice. So get outside and get some air. Or you can listen on the Odyssey app too to me and Marshall Harris. But no, that's a real dude, Bradley Chubb, that is now going to be a free agent. And you start to think about the Chicago Bears. We're getting to that time of year. You get to March right before the draft and free agency opens up. And we're talking about the Bears who probably have more holes on the defense than the offense right now.

after what we saw in 2025 from them. And I think we can clearly say the pass rush is an area where they have to improve in 20206. I think it's their second biggest area to address right behind left tackle because you need a quality starting left tackle, which if you've watched the last two Super Bowls, you've learned that lesson the hard way.

Shout out to the Philadelphia Eagles defense in 2024 and of course the Seattle Seahawks defense in 2025. Here's the deal. This was not an unexecutive. move per se because they had restructured his contract last year, Bradley Chubb, the two-time pro-bowler and pass rusher. That resulted in a $31.2 million cap hit for 20206. NFL Network insider Tom Pelliserro reporting this today. So that's a big name that's leaving Miami. Chubb leading the team in sacks during each of his last two healthy seasons.

He had 11 sacks in 2023 to go along with a league leader. six force fumbles. And then he had his torn ACL, which cost him the entirety of 2024. And last season, he had eight and a half sacks to pace the Miami Dolphins. And they always say that first year back from the ACL isn't them back at their peak. It's usually the second year coming off an injury such as that when you see the best of the player. Now, he's young. He's only 29. He's heading into his age 30 season. He's been a Bronco. He's been a dolphin. He's got 48 career sacks. This seems like a guy, if you are in the market for a pass wretcher, which a lot of people believe the bears are, he seems like a guy that might jump ahead into your top three,

top two, maybe even your number one target now to the likes of Trey Hendrickson. Of course, we know about Max Crosby, who would cost you some other stuff. Miles Garrett would cost you more than your arm and your leg. It costs you all four of your body limbs at this point because he's the best defensive player in all of football. Right. So if you're the bears, how much are you leaning into this? And obviously you've got to kick the tires and see if this fits for you, have a conversation with Dennis Allen. What do you think you can do this?

If this is a priority over other guys. But are you interested? And if so, what is your interest level, Russ? Yeah, definitely interested. Like, this is a guy who is still in the prime of his career, 29, going to this age 30 season. Also, Montes-Wet, 29, going to his age 30 season. And so you'd have two bookends to your defensive line that are the same age, still young, can still get after the quarterback. I think when you think about what Montes Sweat has been and was supposed to be for the Chicago Bears,

now he had the best year of his career as a bear, 10 sacks, three-force fumbles. But I do think there were moments where he's just like, man, like this part of the game where you need your big time pass rusher to come through, he wasn't always able to show up. I think part of that sometimes is there is nobody else really getting after the quarterback. And the one guy that has that ability, if you're getting double teamed or you're getting chipped, that you're not going to have that guy there. I think adding a guy like a Bradley Chubb, a Trey Hendrickson, a Max Crosby, Miles Garrett, of course, would help tremendously to Montes sweat as a pass rusher himself.

But yeah, I would say if from scale 1 to 10, my interest in Bradley Chubb, it's probably an 8. because I think when you just talk about it's the the fact that you don't have to give up draft compensation as much as I love Max Crosby as much as I love Miles Garrett you're going to have to have serious conversations you're still a team that has holes right you can't necessarily afford to lose some of that draft capital that you have in 2026 doesn't say I wouldn't do it

but like you have to have more serious conversations about it that is the voice of Russell Dorsey he is the Yahoo! National Insider for Yahoo and from Major League Baseball. I got to say, Russ, when you look at this team and understand where all the money is on the defensive side of the ball and how much has already been invested, you talked about Montez-Swett. We kind of leave out Dio O'Dingbo because he was out for the season, and we don't know if he'll be ready for the start of next season, but there's a lot of money there as well. Yeah.

and you start looking around Grady Jarrett at guys that they have already gone and paid in the free agent market. I wonder if they have the ability to go and get a Chubb. Again, it's not like the bears are operating in a vacuum here. Lots of teams need an established young, not quite over the hill, pass rusher. And Chubb certainly fits the bill. And they have some salary cab gymnastics that they're going to have to do, and you can do that in the NFL where you can create, you know,

roster cap space uh, giving guys bonuses things like that restructurings. But yeah, you're going to have some things that you're going to have to do. You're going to have some cap casualties, guys that you're going to have to cut,

um, to make sure you have enough space to improve your roster. That's going to have to happen. I know guy like Tremaine Edmonds is a guy that people talk about potentially being that guy. You have guys that are free agents that you're going to want to bring back, right? Kevin Byart at an all pro season.

this past year is one of the leaders of your defense. That's going to be a priority for them. What do you do at running back? Do you bring back DeAndre Swift after the best season of his career? So you have other things that you have to figure out this off season going into free agency, going into the draft prior to you saying, okay, let's go after pass rusher X, Y, or Z. So it'll be interesting to see what they ultimately decide on. But I agree with you fully that an elite pass rusher is much.

need it. Call us, text us, 312, 64-6-4-6-7. Let us know what you think about this Bradley Chubb news that he is going to be available as the dolphins are preparing to cut him. One comment on the text line, 773. Dolphins didn't trade Chub, but now they're cutting him to get stuck with dead cap. So strange. Another comment, 708, bears should target Hendrickson so they can save their draft picks,

Dodger Boy. Now, that's the thing. Trey Hendrickson a little bit older, but also he's had better seasons than Chubb. I would think that if you're ranking who you'd rather have on the Bears, Hendrickson still above Chubb. I just think Chub is probably above Crosby and the aforementioned Miles Garrett because he doesn't cost you anything. And the Bears are in a position right now where they need to get better through the draft.

They did that last year to a degree. Shamar Turner, not available at the end of the season, but you're hoping he's a Frazier. Some of these other guys can contribute on the defensive side of the ball. because let's be honest, they didn't get anything on defense through the draft. I hear what you're saying. But I'm going to say if you have a legitimate shot to acquire Max Crosby or Miles Garrett, you have to do that. Because it's one thing to get a quality pass rusher via trade where you give up draft capital. It's another thing when you're getting one of the two best pass rushers in the NFL,

two Hall of Fame caliber pass rushers. You have a path to Miles Garrett? Like what does that package look like? I think even giving up something for Max Crosby is going to bankrupt your next two first round picks at the minimum. So for Garrett, it's got to be two first rounders and then what? Because here's my thing. If it's two first rounders, you have to ask yourself the question of, is it worth it

to give up a guy who would potentially be a starter and likely a defensive player that you draft in the first round or the best pass rush for in the NFL? It's always better to get the best pass rusher in the NFL. I'm not arguing that point as we discuss. Like one of the guys we just talked about just broke the sack record. Yes, Miles Garrett. He did that. He also tackled Caleb Williams behind the line of scrimmage for a sacks on the way to do it.

That's a guaranteed. Let's call it on the low end. 15 sacks a season. 15 sacks a season. Why would Cleveland give him up then? I don't know. See that it takes two to the time. I don't think they do it all the time.

The Cleveland Browns, you talk about roster holes, they have a lot more than the Chicago Bears, and they could use the draft capital. You have a new head coach. I will say, as good as the Bears were on offense through the draft from their crop of rookies, that's how good that Cleveland was on their side, on the defensive side of the ball, when you look at Swiginger and some of the other moves that they were able to make in the draft and get their defense a little bit stronger.

That is true. I just don't think there's a path to Miles Garrett based on what it would cost to get him. I'm freestyling here if Max Crosby cost you a first and a third. Well, yeah, but they're going to need more than a first and a third for Max Crosby. Another team is willing to give up more than a first and a third for Max Crosby. Again, I think a lot of times, I think you're doing it right now. Bears fans look at the NFL in this way that it's a vacuum. Like it's fantasy football.

And if I could just make this one offer against these other 10 teams that might want this hot player. There's 32 teams in the NFL. No, I'm not doing that because, you know, I don't care one way or another from like a bias aspect. I just know sometimes what it ends up costing to acquire said player isn't as much as you think it is. Yes. Okay. Okay. Because it's like if I have to pay the cap hit that it's going to take to bring player X in, I'm not going to have to just pay that.

And then also give you every first round pick I have for the next three years. 630 is with you, Russ. I'm with Russ. No more half measures. Go get a dude. Yes, a real dude. The Dio O'Dangbo, let's get a guy with traits. But you already paid Dio Dengbo.

And he's only in the second year of his deal. And he's coming off an injury. Sunk cost. Because you're talking about coming off an injury. You're not even going to see what you think is the real Dio O Dengbo until the following season. You're probably right about that. You know what I mean?

You're probably right about that. We're talking about Bradley Chub becoming available as the dolphins are going to cut him and his team leading eight and a half sacks from a year ago before he tore his ACL and missed all of 2024. He had an 11.5 sacks and six force fumbles. So he's certainly doing big things

and now he's going to get big money as a free agent. The dolphins let him go. The bears could scoop him up, but Russ is out here saying, if it ain't Max Crosby, if it ain't Miles Garrett, that's my starting point. But you would take Bradley Chubb.

Yes, but I'm saying my... priority, if I had to rank them, Garrett Crosby, Hendrickson, Chubb. So Hendrickson's still above Chubb. I agree with you there. But Chubb, having been not an option, now being an option, certainly looks good for a Bears team

that is probably still looking to see what they can do up front. If I had to rank them by what's realistic, I would also say, let's do that. I would also say I would take Garrett off the board because he's probably the hardest to a choir of those four, and then I would still go Crosby, Hendrickson, Chub. Okay. See, now we're getting somewhere. We're getting somewhere. And that's a great place

to leave that because we do have to talk some baseball. It's Rahimi Harris and Grotie. Happy President's Day to all of you who are off. And for all of you are working, we feel you. We know the struggle. It's Russ Dorsey Inn alongside myself, Marshall Harris. Reminder, you can call in Texas 312, 644, 677, and then we are broadcasting live from the Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai Dills. Behind the glass. Tyler Bueberball, you heard the open. That man does serious surgery

when it comes to taking what we did in our last show or what's coming up and adding a little wrinkle to it, a little humor, if you will. Ray Diaz, our executive producer. Also, if you're watching on Twitch, I'd like to thank our guys, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, Max Curtis, for getting us up and visual for you

on this present state. When we come back, two hot segments, with Russell Dorsey talking baseball. Top three storylines for the Cubs. That's up next. And then following that, we'll do the top three storylines for the White Sox. That's all here on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104-3, the score.

Heemey Harrison Grody. Can you imagine Lovey Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys, good better best. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Day's 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 Harris and 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 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 of year,

and 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 baseball. 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 Crowe 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 Coromstrong 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,

of 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 3.30 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 playing, 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 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 to triples.

And those things are still very important. Gordon, and then stealing between 30 and 40 backs. Let me tell you something. If Pete Carr Armstrong hits 40 home runs and has an on-base percentage above 300, that means that the Cubs are having an exceptional season. I don't even like saying 40 home runs because I want people to know how hard it. 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 tax. 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 pitches. 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, Kate Horton, Shodya, Managa.

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, you would. 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 the second half.

Colin Ray, your guy who's always known to make some spot starts here and there. Then Ben Brown, Javier Sop. 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. You know, it's really hard to get through a year and a guy doesn't go down with injury, elbows, shoulders, et cetera. 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 we 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 Gallen, 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 to 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 leagues with Ian Hap, Peker Armstrong, Kyle Tucker.

You remove Kyle Tucker from that equation, you re-insert Sea Suzuki, they're still a very good outfield with PCA and Ian Hap. And their infield is going to be great defensively with Alex Bregman, Danzy Swanson, Nika 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, there's a stark contrast. 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 played 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 4. 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 Kyle Tucker being out, so he was back out in right field, 13 home runs in 32 games, 34 runs driven in 32 games, 22 runs scored in 32 games, and the splits are crazy. A 304 batting average, a 3-0-4 batting average, a 3-7. 60 on base and a 664 slug.

That's an OPS over a thousand. Say Suzuki, since he's gotten to the Chicago Cubs, 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's had 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 Breggman 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 20. 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 1043, the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's Tyndal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104-3 the score. How many home runs do you think he can hit in the major leagues?

55. 55. Serious? CHSN's Chuck Garfine asking Shingo Takatsu. Chuck saying you see it. He's like 55. Seems like a lot. It's a big number.

It's a big number. It's a big number. home runs for the newest White Sox from overseas. And Shinko Takatsu, not only a former White Sox reliever, but also the manager of the guy that's apparently going to hit 55 home runs is we welcome me back to Rahimi Harris and Grotie. It's Marshall Harris. It's Russell Dorsey.

Hello. And we're talking about really the most popular play. I don't know if he's the most popular player. Certainly the biggest, the biggest splash that was made on the side. Southside. You see his scrum? His first scrum with the assembled media. Munitakamurakami. There's a lot of people out there. The Japanese media are out in force because it's spring training and they rotate. They'll go wherever there's a Japanese start talking. Listen, so I hear when during his introductory press conference, I had some friends

who are out in L.A., Japanese, who are Japanese media who cover Shohe Yotani and Yoshinobu Yamod out there. They were in Chicago. And I'm like, hey, man, how are y'all going to split this up now? You got a lot of people that you got to cover. And he said, man, we're going to be spread out. So you have people here in Chicago, and then they're going to be flying in L.A. And you still have Kodi-Sengai in New York. So, like, man, yeah, but that's great. Like, you have a lot of great players to cover around the baseball from Japan.

So I want to know, just give me a preview. Is Muna Kama, is he on your list of the three biggest storyline for the White Sox? He is. He is. He is the number one storyline for me for the Chicago White Sox. this season. They were fortunate, had the market come back to them and were able to land one of the bigger free agents on this year's free agent market and Munitaka Murakami.

I'm very fascinated because I think he was maybe the most polarizing of free agents this offseason, this past winter, because of the big time power that he has that you saw. he have 56 home runs as a 23-year-old in Japan that also comes with a lot of swing and miss, right? The bat to ball isn't necessarily there where that was a part of his game in Japan. And it's not necessarily going to get easier once you get to the States

when you're talking about the best starting pitching, the best relief pitching in the world, seeing triple digits coming out of the bullpen every night, breaking stuff that some of these do to have, sweepers and sliders. and splinters and et cetera. So I'm very curious to see how Munitaka Murakami adjusts to Major League starting pitching.

I'm not going to put some big time number. I think 55 homers is pretty excessive. What about 40? I think 40 is a big ass. It's a big ass, but I think it's doable because... It would be the most homers, a Japanese player has ever hit in their first season in the big league. What about 200 strikeouts?

Is that a bit ass? Because I think if he plays 150 games, if he has 600 plate appearances, he's going to strike out. I think that's more realistic than the 40 homers, to be honest with you. Okay. I think he's going to run into a few. So that's why I'm saying I don't think 30 is unrealistic. Coulsome Montgomery vibes. Remember that stretch?

I don't think 30 is unrealistic from the standpoint of he's a player that is a slugger. In that ballpark, that is built for sluggers, he's going to run into some. He's going to mishit some homers. I love that. You know what I mean? There's a guy that can do that to the opposite field. And when it gets warm here, everybody listening knows ball flies at Reitfield in the summertime.

So if he ends up between 25 and 30 homers, that wouldn't surprise me at all. He's going to have five multi-home run games. You can write that down. Five multi-home run games. Okay, so that's number one on Russ Dorsey's list of top three storylines for the White Sox. What's number two? The slow build. The White Sox, and I keep saying this, had to me the best offseason of any non-contender in Major League Baseball.

They addressed needs. They brought in relief pitching. They brought in power. They brought in outfield help. Bringing Austin Hayes in. I think that's an under-radar move for them. Bring in a professional outfielder, somebody who's been an all-star before, who's been on winning teams before. And that's going to help them greatly.

You make a trade to bring in Luis Anhella. Lacuna, who said to the media out there in Arizona that, hey, I know I've been an infielder by trade, but like I'm most comfortable in center field. I think that's, I think Chris Gets and company, we're very happy to hear that because you know what they're in need of over there? Well, Luis Roberts left, so I think they need a center fielder. You do need a center fieler. So that's where Luis on Hill Ocunia could be playing the majority of his time.

Could be. Could be. And, you know, you have year two of Colson Montgomery and Kyle. Teal and Edgar Carrow and Chase Midroth together as a core. That's what I'm excited about. Those young guys, Colson Montgomery and the lot and how well they play in year two. Because a lot of them, the league adjusted to them, and then they bounced back and finished pretty well in their rookie season. So I love that.

Okay, storyline number three with Russell Dorsey of Yahoo Sports right here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, go. More youth. It's almost like a 2A. But you're going to be able to, you're expecting this year, guy like Noel Schultz, former first round pick, guy like Hagen Smith, former first round pick. And even, depending on the season he has, could you possibly see Braden Montgomery in the big leagues at some point this season? Maybe that's your center fielder in September. Because I think for me, if you're the Chicago White Sox, your goal in 2026 is to be,

the 2025 Miami Marlins, where the Marlins were, they won 79 games. A lot of people don't realize that. But they were playing competitive baseball in September. They were actually playing spoiler. They were the team that knocked the New York Mets out of postseason contention that last weekend of the season. You remember the photo after they eliminated them? Yes. I love that.

See, that's what I'm here for. Baseball needs more of that. Games that Matt, where they're like, oh, we can play spoiler and win the most games we want in a minute. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to do that. And so I think, you know, year two with Will Venable, that should be the White Sox goal. Because you've already built the cultural foundation where there were a lot of positives that the White Sox could have taken from last year, despite, yes, they lost 102 games. Nobody wants to do that.

But coming off of losing the most games in Major League history, there's a big improvement what they did in 2025. You're looking for another big improvement in 2026. And let's be honest. If you look on paper right now, the AL Central looks like the worst division in baseball. Is that a fair statement to make? Because that's the way I'm seeing it. The AL Central is the worst division in baseball.

Yeah, like the Cleveland Guardians did not do much. You know, the- They made sure they locked up their future Hall of Famer, Jose Ramirez. Who's been doing it for a long time? He's going to do it regardless, right? But the Kansas City Royals didn't do a ton. Yeah, I was a little surprised that they weren't more active the year before.

They did move the fences in at Coffman Stadium. So they're trying to get some more power from Jack Caglione, their former first round pick and other guys. Bobby Wood Jr., hell of a player, though. So he's always able to have one of those 40-40 type of seasons. He's a problem. Bobby Whit Jr. is a problem. Top five players in baseball.

Their catchers are a problem. There's certain things that you depend on when you talk about that. My thing with the world is like, how long can Sal Perez keep doing it? And then every year you see him come to this city and do what? Whatever he wants. Doing it. And then the Detroit Tigers are the leader of the pack. I was, you know, until they went out and got Farmer Valdez, I'm like, man, what are the

Tigers doing? Like, you're possibly in the last year having Terrick Scoobo on your roster and you just you got to go for it. You go roll the ball out again. And they made a legitimate move. So I see the Tigers as a team that says, all right, what we have, what we're able to do, you bring Kenley Jansen in your bullpen, you keep Glaber tour. is there to play second base.

You got more out of Spencer Torkelson in 25 than you had any other year. And then you bring in Framber Valdez to be the number two to Terrick Scoopoul's number one. That's a solid one-two punch. And then you have that ace going forward after you lose Terrick Scoobo to free agency. But more importantly, if you're up against it

and you look around the division and see no one's going to challenge you, just get to the dance and see what happens because anything can happen once you get to the postseason in any sport, but especially Major League Baseball the way it's designed. If it goes differently for them, against the Seattle Mariners. Maybe they're the team that's facing the Toronto Blue Jays and the ALCS.

Certainly. That's the way to look at it. So those are your three storylines where you did the Cubs. We did the White Sox. We have addressed baseball. We will return to baseball at 1125. Megan Montemurro from the Chicago Tribune joins us with the latest on the Cubs from spring training. But we got to talk about the basketball.

And I know last week, last weekend, the first weekend without NFL, post Super Bowl is a window for the NBA to do something. Do something, NBA. They did something, but they probably didn't do enough. But before you put all your hate that you've been lodging against the NBA and their All-Star weekend, let me tell you something. The problem isn't All-Star Weekend in the way you think it is. The problem is us as the consumer.

And the NBA is being asked to do something that I think in 2026, is impossible. We're explained with Russell Dorsey. I'm Marshall Harris. This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 104-3 the score. This hour is brought to you by Joel Osco. Barnes will have the rebound with five seconds left. And Barnes will provide the exclamation point on a dominant effort from the USA Stars team.

They will win the 75th NBA All-Star Game and Anthony Edwards leading the way for the young guns from the Americans. Call courtesy of Noah Eagle and NBC, the All-Star game looking a little different as that was Team Stars over Team Stripes, an all-American affair, if you will, in the championship 12-minute quarter of the tournament. A 37 to 21 win over Team Stripes in that championship game. And you know what? I felt like I was back in high school driving my 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme called her the great ghost

she was gray in case you were wondering because when I was watching the championship game live I didn't get to watch the other games live I got to watch that Stars versus Stripe championship game and they were showing highlights of what Kauai did to get there and I was like okay okay the youth versus the old heads. I like this. And then you remember why youth is young.

Yeah. And when I used to drive that car, there were many times where my little needle on the gas tank was below the E, but I was still riding. And then you tempt fate one too many times, and I'm in the end up on the side of the road in need of gas. And I walked to the gas station, filled up my little canister of gas and embarrassingly walked back to my car and put the the gas in the car. Look, the old heads ran out of gas in a very, very ugly way. And the championship game for a lot of people who look at that final score, people will say, see, this is why All-Star Weekend stinks. They don't try hard. They're not trying hard. But let me tell you, the three games leading up to that with Team World versus Team Stripes and Team Stars versus Team World,

they were won possession games down to the final seconds. And as we talk about All-Star Weekend here, it made me understand with clarity that All-Star Weekend isn't as big a problem from an intensity standpoint as we've been led to believe by our own memories and what we remember watching growing up. Russell Dorsey is here from Yahoo Sports. I am Marshall Harris. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 104-3 The Score.

And Russell, I don't know how much of All-Star Weekend as a total you took in, but I watched Friday night, The Rising Stars Challenge, modest Boozella, shout out to him, getting on a championship team. I watched All-Star Saturday, albeit on tape delay, but it allowed me to fast forward through some of the things and to re-watch something. Yeah. And then I watched, like I said, live and then re-watch some of the stuff from earlier from Sunday. And I was like, yeah, this is about what All-Star Weekend is.

What were your impressions of All-Star Weekend? Okay, so All-Star weekend as a whole Friday is Friday. Saturday fell flat. And I think part of it falling flat was not just the fact that the dunk contest has turned into the laughing stock of all the All-Star weekend week sports in all the four major sports. But it was the fact that it started so early. whereby 6 p.m. central time, everything was over. Like, I'm on my phone, like, wait, Dame already won the three-point contest, and wait, who won the dunk contest? Who, and, like, yeah, it was,

I was bewildered. Marshall. You were bewildered. Bewildered by the whole Saturday. But Sunday, I will say, I enjoyed the actual All-Star game. Also, finished early, but I like the fact that there was actually competition in the games. I know the last game, the old heads ran out of gas.

But I could see the younger guys saying, yeah, I'm not just going to let Wimby punk me out here. And Anthony Edwards, one of the young superstars in the game, said, all right, I got y'all. I'll do it. And he, I thought I loved the one-on-one between him and Kevin Durant, right? Where he's like, yeah, this is my, what was my favorite player growing up, and I'm going to take him to the cup. And even after he finished and won the All-Star Game MVP, he thanked Victor Wimbi Yama for saying, hey, Wimbi came out here and wanted to be competitive.

Let's listen to what Anthony Edwards had to say after taking home All-Star Game MVP honors. You all go to overtime in the first game, and you wanted the ball, that first possession. All right, what did you see? I mean, you know, I ain't gonna lie. Wimba set the tone. So it's hard not to match that. So, that's what happened. And what do you-

Sorry for my language, that's what happened. You keep going to the jump ball. You're confident, but what's the heck is the ball? Yeah, I'm trying to beat him in the jump ball. Yeah, I'm trying to beat him. Yeah. But I ain't a lie, the ref. The ref, kind of like putting the ball all the way towards him.

He already eight feet tall. He got to put it on my side and throw it towards me, so I got an advantage. You make an advantage? No, I'm just saying. I need a little advantage versus him, you know what I'm saying? He's eight feet. I'm six feet. I'm six feet. He eight feet.

Talk that talk. All right. Lot to play. You win, you stay on. Yeah, let's do it. Six foot, seven foot, eight foot. Yeah, that's what he was sounding like, courtesy of NBC that post-game interview with Anthony Edwards. Oh, shout out to my girl, Zora Stevenson. Yeah, she was doing sidelines. Her along with Ashley Shammati, right? Yeah, Ashley Shamedy.

Yeah. Good people, both of them. So NBC is out here. And let's address, first of all, the fact that you were looking for All-Star Saturday, and it was All-Star Saturday afternoon. Hey, man. NBC a while ago flipped it where they're like, we're going to do the Olympics, so let's get all this stuff together this year because they've moved some things around.

And they were like, we want to have everything in one year. The Olympics and the Super Bowl. That's how that happened. And of course, then they got the rights to the NBA for this season. And baseball coming. Look, Sunday nights on NBC are going to be a thing, no matter what the season. Because they've got the baseball, the football, and the basketball. basketball.

Correct. And so that's why, because of primetime Olympic programming, which you could argue, it's on tape delay, so does it need to be that time? But also, it kind of shows the effects of where All-Star Weekend is as far as a primetime draw. The Olympics are drawing more people than NBA All-Star Weekend. But let me offer you this as we talk about NBA All-Star Weekend. The problem is not the weekend itself in terms of the intensity. and here's what I'm saying.

I think because we were once kids who used to look forward to All-Star Weekend with such excitement because it was the one time of year where you actually saw the NBA stars come together. And we had kind of a modicum of this when the dream team formed. So you got to see it for like a chunk of time.

But it was the one time a season where your stars, whether you were Magic, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, obviously, Ray Allen. You can name the stars. There's so many stars. But you didn't see them all. You might see them in one-offs, in a game,

or in a playoff series, once the playoffs come, but that's not guaranteed. But All-Star Weekend, Alan Iverson's going to be there. And players are going to interact in a way you don't see. And I think part of the thing is that doesn't matter anymore. That exclusive nostalgic feel doesn't matter anymore. Because guess what?

I can open up my phone right now and see all these guys interacting thanks to social media. So I think part of the downfall of what made NBA All-Star Weekend so special is the interaction between current players, stars, legends, it is a celebration of basketball. And I'm telling you what you think you remember about players playing hard didn't happen the way you remember it. Yes, players did tend to play hardder once the fourth quarter started because guess what? There's an All-Star game MVP up for grabs.

and I'm going to get mine. That's not the sense I got watching these games yesterday. The sense was, we got 12 minutes to survive in advance. And they played defense from rip. And that's something that I can't say I've ever seen in an NBA All-Star game until recently, until this trash talk, until talk about the Europeans not playing hard. And if you don't believe me, because you're like,

Marshall, you're crazy. You just like the NBA. Why don't you listen to someone who professes to be? a real NBA head because he's a future Hall of Famer and also he's a bit of a historian. Listen to what Kevin Durant has to say. Last couple of weeks, no live watched party the intro in at least the first quarter at every All-Star game from like the 70s up until like late 90s. And I wanted to see what what the big deal was and if it was really that much intensity like

game seven like y'all said it was back then and it wasn't. And you know what I'm saying? So like, you know, but that's usually what I tend to watch the 60s, 70s. That stuff, you know, now they got it all on YouTube, you know, so I can go back and take a peek at the historians of the game and the people that laid the foundation down for us. But I've been watching All-Star games and the intensity of the older generation I've been talking about.

I don't know if I've seen it. Kevin Durant talking about the All-Star history. and he said he went back to the 60s, Russ. He went back to the 60s. And here's the point. Back when I was growing up, if you didn't have a VCR, you couldn't re-watch anything.

That stuff's on YouTube now. Anybody can watch anything now. And so the exclusivity of it, the special of that moment, and don't get me wrong, sports are still the only thing you can watch live and there's a camaraderie that,

hey, I don't want to miss sports live. That still exists. That's why sports rights are facing a potential bubble here in the coming years. But to hear Kevin Durant describe it, I think that was so accurate. Like he's saying, hey, I wouldn't check the receipts.

The receipts don't show the purchases. Y'all said you're made. Yeah, I appreciate, because I think there's one thing, I know people feel different ways about Kevin Durant, him on social, etc. The one thing I'll never argue is that he does love the game of basketball, like in its purest form and fashion.

than a brush. So I believe him 100% where he said, you know what? I went back and watched something. I believe he did that. And I imagine that he probably saw things where he's like, man, they wasn't playing. Like, they were just here. And I think because his generation of players has gotten the most blowback on the intensity, competitiveness, et cetera.

Also thanks to social media, by the way. I think he feels responsible for coming back. and say, hey man, this is not our fault. Yeah, I think that's the bigger point. And I think we're asking the NBA to make something happen that probably can't happen. I want to remind people the four major pro sports leagues of North America,

the NBA, the NFL, MLB, and the NHL. They all have an all-star experience. And every single one of those leagues all-star experience since the turn of the century has been reimagined. re-invented, gone back and forth. Baseball is a perfect example.

NHL, we've seen USA versus the world. We're just trying to figure out how to get things going. Oh, why don't we draft teams and make it more of a sandlot type experience? Meanwhile, the NFL doesn't even have a Pro Bowl anymore. It doesn't even exist. And they should probably just stop completely. So I am appreciative that what we got yesterday was an NBA All-Star experience. You can argue it wasn't as good as this year or that year or you want to see a different format.

All that is fair and well. You are entitled to your opinion. But to say that they didn't try yesterday, I think that is just a lie. I think what you saw yesterday was a better, pure version of the All-Star game than we had seen in a couple of years, for sure, since maybe the Elam ending year. I like the Elam ending personally because I thought that, okay, if you have a target, that is going to make people play differently. Also, I think the collapsed 12 minutes,

that also makes people play differently. You don't have time to, oh, we'll just play. Yeah, relax, because you're down 10 points. You ain't making up 10 points. And so I think that's a good point that you made, Russell. And look at the text line 630. The NBA is being run by an awful commissioner, just like the NHL.

Oh, don't you worry. At 125, we will address some of Adam Silver's thoughts and ideas. including why the game is where it is right now. And listen, I think the NBA is doing a decent job with what it can. I mean, hey, you know the phone number. You could call us. You could text us. 312, 644-67.

Let us know what should the NBA do to make it better. What should any of these pro sports leagues do to make it better? I will say I enjoy the major league baseball game, but I think one of the reasons the major league baseball game is still doing well is because it still does have that feel of this is the one time where all these stars get together and because it's such a regional sport baseball is. If you're a Cubs fan, you're following maybe the Central and the top teams because you're worried about your team versus the top teams in the league.

You don't know about maybe an All-Star who's on, I don't say the Guardians because that's still in the Central, A.L. Central, not El Central. Corbin Carroll. Corby Carroll out west. Or maybe the big dumper. That was the first introduction to him, Cal Raleigh, out on the West Coast. Whereas in basketball, I'm sorry. If you are a sports fan, you know who KD is, you know who Anthony Edwards is.

It's a star-driven league. It's a star-driven league. It's a very different proposition when you're talking about basketball versus baseball. And so I think that's one of the reasons why those two experiences differ. And you don't get the whole real, the male version, I guess, of real Housewives of fill in the blank. in MLB the way you do in the NBA. Yeah, the reality show aspect of the sport isn't necessarily a thing in baseball where the sport still has to be the thing that carries you as opposed to the extracurriculars

outside of the product itself. One of the reasons, as we talk about the NBA All-Star game and NBA All-Star weekend on Rahimi Harrison Grotie with Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey, one of the reasons why baseball is where it is and the way it's looked at versus the NBA is, don't forget, when social media became a thing, NBA was like, highlights, have rights to all our highlights. We're not going to crack down. MLB, especially when social media first started with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, you put up some MLB highlights.

We're pulling it down immediately, which I think was a bad strategy by Major League Baseball. But in this one respect, it's brought them out ahead. because people don't know as much about MLB as they do the NBA. There is not this overabundance of Major League Baseball content as there is NBA content. NBA content is just out here for anybody to have, for anybody to thread up, respond to, quote, tweet, whatever. Yeah. And I'm with you. I think overall, if I had to give the All-Star Weekend agreed.

We're doing that in five on it. Don't do that yet. Oh, my bet. I swapped them. See, we were flowing so well. I'm not, that's a tease, folks. That is definitely a tease. That's in five on it at the top of the hour.

But look, but look, but look, Russ, Russ, if you could fix one thing about All-Star weekend, I'll give you mine first. Actually, you know, you're the guest in the house. Go ahead. If I were to fix one thing, see, I got them flip-flout. I knew it was something along those lines. If I were to fix one thing in the All-Star game,

I would do my best to get superstar power back in the dunk contest and you have to put a financial incentive on it because money talks and if you said hey winner gets a million dollars whatever i think and you get a you already got a sponsor attached tell the sponsor hey man put some money up we'll put the other half up and you'll get you'll probably get stars to do it again but i think having no disrespect to Mack McClung because that dude is to me one of the best dunkers in the history of basketball. He had been doing it since he was 14 years old. He put out his own video with four dunks that were better than any of the dunks to saw in the

dunk contest. Just dunks that you've just never, like so I appreciate Mack McClunk for three years saying, I got you all. But the fact that you just, there's just lost interest, I think that is a misstep on the NBA's part. So you got to try to figure that out. I don't know how you do it. Because I would rather you say, hey, million dollars for the winner as opposed to saying we're going to get rid of it completely.

Now, if you don't get any success with the million dollars or whatever financial incentive that you have, maybe you do say it's gone forever. Just to let you know how much money is made in the dunk contest, specifically $105,000 to the winner, $55,000 to the second place, and then $20,000 to each of the other two participants. Yeah, that's not going to get it done. It's not. It's really not. Not to these millionaires. There's something about a million that perks your ear up of like, hmm. I understand you being a millionaire at all. No, no, no, no, no. From your lips to God's ears.

Anybody out there, I'm five, eight and a half. I can't dunk, but if somebody said, hey, million dollars for you to try, my job for the next how many every month would be trying to dunk. Here's my, here's my suggestion to the NBA. We need a one-on-one tournament. but it can't be too regular. We have a dunk contest that is too regular. Put it on an Olympic-style rotation

where every other year you have the one-on-one tournament and you rotate that with a slam dunk contest. And I'm tempted to say this out loud and I'll go ahead and say it. Invite the professional dunkers. Just invite the professional dunkers.

Let the NBA can be in it but also the professional dunkers can do it. See, I feel that's why some players wouldn't do it because it's like, oh, if we let, and no disrespect for them. In their minds, average Joe's do it and we get beat. People are going to look at us differently. Well, that's why the stars won't do it.

LeBron famously said next year I'm doing the dunk contest. We're still waiting, LeBron, for you to do the dunk contest. Notorious. I'm guessing it's not happening in its 40s. Tellers of mistruths. But yeah, bring a one-on-one tournament. Unrival had a beautiful one-on-one tournament last weekend. Like, that's what you need.

And them girls are out here hoping. Also, gambling. That helps things, too. people were gambling on that one-on-one contest. Not me, not me, but other people were. No gamble of what we got coming up next. It is a sure thing. Megan Montemir from the Chicago Tribute

joins us to talk Cubs from Mesa. That's coming up next. Russell Dorsey, Marshall Harris. It is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Rahimi Harris and Grotie. Midday's 10-2 on 104-3, the score. I think he'd be the first to tell you that he's been very fortunate to be on a lot of good teams, right?

The teams that he was on in Houston were really good. Last year in Boston, they obviously got some things figured out and were able to make the playoffs as well. But he is also a winner. He's won everywhere he's been, whether it was college, or in pro ball, the whole thing. Just his personality and his ability to get a lot out of other people definitely leads to those kinds of results.

And he's proven that year and a year out. And we're glad that we have somebody like him on our roster. One highly paid free agent signing talking about another guy who signed a pretty big contract, Dansby Swanson, talking about Alex Bregman here on Rahimi Harris and Grody, Russell Dorsey, in on this President's Day. You know, two of us not enough to talk about baseball. Why don't we bring in a third person? Let's go out to the Circa Sports Illinois hotline.

Download the Circa Sports app today. That is where Megan Montemurro chimes in. She's on the phone, the Cubs beat writer at the Chicago. Tribune. Megan, good morning. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you guys? You know what? We're making it. It's a holiday. The streets are empty behind us, but we're making it out here. I know things have been busy. They have been popping. They're in Mesa. Tell me what's going on. What's the biggest storyline you've seen through a couple of days? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing when you, you know, talk to guys in the clubhouse is just the vibe is a little difference this camp. You know, last year, you know, they're coming in looking at getting back to the

playoff, that that was the hope. It obviously had been quite a few years since that had happened. And it's a very focused group coming in this spring, you know, that most of the group returns from the postseason, you know, they got a collective taste of that experience. And now it's, okay, you know, not only are we getting back to October baseball, but we're making a deeper run this year. So, you know, the vibe is, it's a focus group. There's a clear mission here, and it'll be interesting to see how these next few weeks transpire before the regular season starts. Megan, earlier in the show, I told Marshall that Pete Crowe Armstrong was one of my big storylines for the Cubs going into 2026. I know you guys got a chance to talk to Pete a couple of

days ago. What was the conversation that you guys had with him in terms of, you know, we saw how good the first half was last year and then the drop off in the second half into the postseason. And what stood out to you from that conversation? Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest things is he's clearly not satisfied with his offensive performance last year. And, I mean, he did say that, you know, Nico Horner kind of helped him put that season in perspective a little bit and kind of pointed out, you know, if the numbers you put up in the first half, you had put up in the second half and, you know, those those halves were

were flipped, you know, you'd probably be looking at your season offensively a little bit differently. And so for him, you know, he's trying to pull on the good things that he did last year. I mean, he obviously showed he is capable of great plate coverage. He can hit balls up and down the zone. And so now for him is, you know, how does he find more consistency, you know, where you're putting up those numbers over a full season or better, but you're not having a two-month stretch like he did to end the year. And so for him, I mean, he talked about how, you know, he really delved into, you know, looking at what could be behind some of that, you know, once you're removed from the competition aspect of it all. And, you know, working with assistant hindi coach John

Maley, you know, one thing that they saw was that he just wasn't setting up consistently in the batters box when he was in those periods of struggle. And so he really focused in this offseason of finding a comfortable setup, maintaining that every time he gets into the box. And for him, he's really hopeful that that consistency, you know, before the at-bat, before every pitch is going to lead to more consistent results. And ultimately, he said, too, you know, like my number one job is I'm playing elite defense in center field. Like, he's saying I expect to play gold glove defense there every year, and he knows that's why he brings the most value to the lineup.

So it'll be interesting. I mean, I think, you know, kind of the ceiling for this team, I think, in a large part is, you know, what version of Pete Carr Armstrong did they get? Megan, tell me if I'm overstating things here, but it feels like you talked about a different vibe this year compared to last year. They had another player with a lot of success that was added to that roster in Kyle Tucker, but this, to me, feels different. I don't know if it's because it's a one-year deal for Kyle Tucker versus a free agent signing for multiple years for Alex Bregman. but it just feels like Alex Bregman is already a better fit for the Cubs. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little hard to compare kind of like what you pointed out. Like, you know, Alex Bragman has made a five-year commitment to this organization.

So it makes sense that, you know, he's really trying to learn the ins and outs and the language, you know, the player development staff uses with minor league players and, you know, wanting to make sure he's on the same page with all that. It's a little bit of a different thing if you're a guy like Kyle Tucker coming in on an expiring contract and, you know, probably being able to read the Teele's a little bit of like, you know, you're not going to be back here next season. So I do think personality-wise, obviously there's a little bit of a difference. And, you know, when you hear guys talk about Alex Bregman and kind of their initial impression

is, you know, he brings an intensity, he brings an edge, he brings a very focused level of what do I need to do to help the team win today. And so I think there are some differences. I don't think we should diminish how important Kyle Tucker was to that offense. I mean, you look what they did in the first couple of months when he was healthy and clicking. I mean, they're the best offense in baseball. And so, but I do think, you know, having Bregman here under contract for multiple years, you still have D.N's be under contract for a couple years.

I think having those kind of guys here is really important when you do look around and see, you know, Nica Horner's entering the last year of his extension, same with Ian Hap, Say Suzuki is set to be a free agent after the season. So in a lot of ways, this group is kind of viewing this as a potential last hurrah with the core that they've had the last few years because there's so many unknowns of what this roster could look like after the season. Megan, we saw the additions that the Cubs made this off season. We saw the rest of the NL Central not really make additions. And for the Milwaukee Brewers, actually made some subtractions.

But you've been a ball writer for a long time as a fellow ball rider. You know we're very realistic about things. and we know baseball has really long seasons. If you had to look at this Cubs roster and say where are the question marks, what are the remaining question marks that the Cubs have in your mind going into 26? I think the biggest one, which is hard to predict, is health. I mean, they were incredibly healthy on the position player side last year outside of not having Kyle Tucker those couple weeks and Miguel Amaya. I mean, they really were able to, you know, post up with their stars on a daily basis.

And so I think that's a big question of, you know, they're anticipating some potential regression in that area because they were so healthy. And so in that case, you know, I'm curious how much they're going to be relying more on the bench. You know, they obviously made an investment there with Tyler Austin. You have Matt Shaw who's going to be in the super utility role. You still have kind of like the catching tandem between Carson Kelly and McGilley. Elamaya, but still, like, you don't know where that potential drop-off could come. And so I think, you know, one question is how much have they raised the floor of the group, especially on the position player side, since they really didn't need to rely on that much last year.

And then I think the other question, I think for every team that they face is, you know, will the starting pitching in particular hold up? You know, they really tried to address the depth of that. You know, Justin Steele's expected back somewhat early this season, maybe potentially mid-May. and so it's a really intriguing group. There's a lot of potential upside within that. You get a full season of Kate Horton. But, yeah, I think the health component is obviously a big question mark

and the ripple effect that that could have. Megan Matamuro of the Chicago Tribune, she covers the Cubs. She is in Arizona, and she joins us via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Megan, I know Moises Bayosteros at last check was not in camp yet. It seemed like he was having some visa issues. How concerning is that for the Cubs? Because I know Moises Bios Stairs expected to have a pretty sizable role in this offense. Yeah, both him and Christian Bethincourt are still not here yet due to visa issues.

Correct counsel was telling us yesterday that his kind of expectation at the moment is maybe they're here by the weekend at the earliest, but that there just really is not a lot of clarity at the moment in terms of when they'll be. able to arrive. And yeah, it's really tough for Ballaseros, who is very much in the mix to get regular at bats as their designated hitter. And, you know, part of that, too, is, you know, they still want him developing as a catcher. And so for him, I mean, he's already, this is day six since pitchers and catchers first reported last week. And so that's a lot of hands-on experience and guidance that, you know, he really needs to continue his catching development. I think there's definitely a little bit of concern, you know,

within the organization that both these guys aren't here yet and that there's not exactly known clarity of when that will happen, but the hope is potentially by this weekend. And we listen to you talk about Matt Shaw, who's going to have this kind of super utility role. What do you think that ideally looks like if you're the Cubs organization in terms of how many played appearances he's getting, how many games he's getting out in the field?

and is he a candidate to get a lot of a bat to DH? Yeah, I mean, I think it's really a situation where you can, if they feel like he can handle, you know, the corner outfield spots, you can put them out there and you can give, say, a day at DH. You can give Ian a day at DH. You can really try and protect against infield injuries and wear and tear by moving him around second, third, even short if needed. And, yeah, and obviously you could factor him into the DH role, too.

So, I mean, I think there's definitely a pathway to, you know, 400 late appearances, if not more. I mean, again, I think it's going to come down to player health. And, you know, I think that made it appealing to keep him and Nico because you just don't know what's going to happen over the course of the season. And, you know, for them, they just need him to continue to develop offensively. I mean, he shows some promising signs in the last, you know, two months of the season and in the playoffs. You know, he certainly got some exposure to top pitching. So for them, I think it's just going to be a rotation where you can give guys a day off their feet and obviously mix them in at D.H. is needed.

All right. Thank you so much, Megan. One more question before we let you go. Weather report? What's the weather looking like there? You know, it almost got to 60 degrees here in Chicago yesterday? I mean, it might have been a little bit warm. almost yesterday in Chicago than here.

Right now it's about 65 and partly cloudy. So it's a little brisk for Arizona. Yeah, man. Listen, that's a veteran baseball writer right there because they'll always tell you you got to pack warmer than you think you need. Wow. Yeah, the 65 hits different when you're thinking that it's going to be more like 80. I'll tell you what, we would all take a brisk, quote-unquote,

65 here in Chicago. out there. Hey, I'm not saying I'm cold. I'm just giving, you know, an objective weather report. We appreciate your objectivity as always. Megan Montemarrow, the Cubs Beat Rider for the Chicago Tribune. Thanks so much for stopping by, Megan. Thanks for having me. All right, so that was Megan Montemarro. Up next, we've got halftime. And let me tell you something. Barack Obama was making a lot of waves over the weekend at All-Star weekend. And then also he was on a podcast. He was. And on this podcast, he was sharing.

He's out here revealing state secrets about extraterrestrial life. Is that... Question mark? Is that what's going on? Maybe not. Maybe yes. We'll find out on the other side. That's when Rahimi Harris and Grotie returns Russell Dorsey in, along with me, Marshall

Harris. What time is? It's halftime. Ah, it is halftime here on this President's Day. Russell Dorsey, Marshall Harris, in with you on Rahimi Harris and Grohams. Brody. Well, we started this show talking about Bradley Chubb as the Dolphins going to get rid of him. And also, Tyreek Hill. I saw that.

Being waived. That was not as surprising. Yeah, that's not as surprising at all. Gworn out his welcome, I would say, in Miami. And also, he probably wants a quarterback who can get him the ball consistently. What does Tyreek Hill still bring you now after the torn ACL and dislocations that he had? He's got to get his speed back. I mean, the man's nickname is.

Cheetah, right? Still? I don't know. Can it be cheetah after what we saw? Like, that was a gruesome injury. It was not good. It was not good. You know what is good?

The storylines provided to us by one Russell Dorsey. Oh, my man. Three storylines for the Cups. Three storylines for the White Sox. Then we talked to NBA All-Star Weekend. And the problem, I think, is us, not the actual All-Star Weekend. If you got suggestions, feel free, Texas. How to make it better.

I mean, from what I can see, all people want is just a king. cancel it. I was like, that's not really an option. That's not how that works. And then Megan Montemarro joined us, the Cubs' beat writer for the Tribune to talk about baseball and those Chicago Cubs. But let's talk about, you know, the next thing. It's laptop. And the next thing is Barack Obama, the president, Barack Obama, the former president on Brian Tyler Cohen's YouTube page because he had a conversation with Brian Tyler Cohen, the podcaster. And in that

conversation, there was a lightning round. And in that lightning round, Obama was presented a question that I argue shouldn't have even been in the lightning round. It should have been in the first question asked. Are aliens real? They're real, but I haven't seen them, and they're not being

kept in, what is it? Area 51. There's no underground facility, unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hit it from the president of the United States what was the first question you wanted answered when you became president

where are the aliens so that's Barack Obama have you ever seen that one movie I was about to say there's a whole movie about a conspiracy where they hit aliens from the president it's called Independence Day with Will Smith and in that movie

also poor job by Big Dog doing the interview because Because when you have a former president tell you whether it was in jest, you think it was in jest or not, you don't follow up with a question completely unreleased. Now it was lightning round. So it makes me think that he had his questions pre. But I'm with you. That's why I said it shouldn't have been a part of the lightning round.

It should have been, we need to talk about aliens. What do you know? My mayor said. What are you allowed to tell? What I wanted to find out when I became president was aware of the aliens. And so this, of course, went viral because it's a former president talking about aliens. And this is what Obama said as he posted that clip that we just played you on his Instagram page. The caption goes like this.

I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it's gotten attention, let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good. There's life out there. but the distance between solar systems are so great. The chances we've been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really?

And I said, really? Like that because it had an exclamation point at the end. You're buying what Obama's selling you. Worthy. I figure that he would say, ah, it was in jest. But, man. I'm not rolling

I'm not rolling that he it was just all a joke Russ Dorsey hiding in plain type do you believe aliens I believe that there are things that we don't have

in our on the earth that are in outer space sure organic life forms have you know how big the the galaxy is the universe

spacious massive we're just one galaxy Speck. There are other galaxies. Yes. So I don't know what's out there. You saw men in black. I get it.

I mean, I just, I've watched enough Neil deGrasse Tyson to know how big the universe is. Okay. And how we're just one of many galaxies. So who knows what's out there? Tyler, Ray, do you believe in aliens? I'm open-minded. Yes. I'm open-minded that there are extraterrestrial beings out there.

And I'm very, you know, interested. in this whole idea that like Obama now had to come out and clarify the statement like, hey, guys, come. I was trying to just have fun. I'm wondering, like, did he, did you say too much, Mr. President? Did you believe his stance on Area 51? I thought it was real quick how he went to, hey, they're not down there. That's a little too quick.

Also, I'm just, we're just not a country where I'm just going to believe 100%. of the things people tell that too. Yeah. That's where I'm that. You know, we're not shooting 100% on the truth here

in the good you are this. Tyler, what are your thoughts? No, I'm in the same boat as you guys. There's no way there's not extra life

outside of us, humans out there in this whole galaxy. Do you think there's aliens on this planet right now? Oh. We can get in a real

rabbit hole here. I think our concept of alien is probably warped by movies. Like, sometimes I don't always think alien is what we have in our mind.

But also, like Ray, I'm open-minded to many things. But I just don't, I'm not just thinking to some green man with. Like the lizard people? Like arms. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, that goes into the Aaron Rogers. I'm also reading a book about this very thing called Project Hail Mary.

They're actually making a movie with Ryan Gosling. That's kind of similar. I didn't know that was based on a book. Yeah. I'm chapter 10. It's really. compelling so far. I'll probably go see it. It's out March 20th, I believe. Yeah. I'm going to try to finish the book before the movie comes out. How many, how many pages is it? Do you know?

I know it's 30 chapters and I'm 10 in. Okay. Look at you. Yeah, man. Trying to be better in 26. 847. We don't have enough, excuse me, we don't have high enough security clearance for him to tell us that. And he's probably signed some kind of confidentiality agreement, L.O. 7.73. If you don't believe in aliens, explain the platypus to me. Also, there's, have you seen some of the stuff that's in the ocean? 414, to your point, we still don't know what's all in the ocean and the Amazon, let alone the universe. I saw a video on Instagram where I forget the dude's name, but he has like 10 million followers on there,

and he's an explorer of the Amazon. He says there's still parts of the Amazon that people have never explored, and he says, half of the, over half of the life in the Amazon lived in the canopy, that's up in the trees. He also said the Amazon is bigger

than the lower 48 states, which is insanity. That sounds about right, actually. That's crazy. If you've ever seen a map. See, I don't like the globe because the globe kind of distorts the size of us.

The lower 48 is smaller than the Amazon rainforests, crazy. And that's another distortion because you would think looking at a globe that the lower 48s as big as a lot of South America or bigger in fact. But that's just the rainforest. That's done from a very specific angle lens. Yeah. I would say. So yeah, there's so much stuff in the water that we don't even seen. Like it's a very small percentage of things we actually know. So yeah, because of that, I think there are a lot of things that we have not discovered. I think people who say there's no way that there are aliens.

that exist are just, that tells me a lot about your intellect. There are sea creatures that glow. You know what I mean? We have not finished exploring the ocean. No. We haven't scratched the surface, to be honest. It's a lot of depth there. A lot of, yeah.

Yeah. So, yes, I can't wait for you to tell me about Project Hail Mary. Yeah, it's a good book so far. Okay, because now I'm into that. Get it on wherever you buy books. Borders. Is that still a thing? No.

Well, to the question of are there aliens on this earth right now, extraterrestrial beings on this earth right now, a former president of the United States definitively said yes, and I'm taking that at face value, even with the retraction or the clarification that he put out on Instagram that you read, Marshall, I'm 100% believing yes. They're there, in Area 51.

I don't want to meet them. Is that okay? I'm also very, I'm with you. Like, I'm cool never. meeting an alien. I don't have to... If there are aliens that are intelligent enough

to cross what I would assume would be a galaxy to get to us and they find us, they're probably going to destroy us or colonize us or however, it's not going to be good for us. It's not going to go well.

And all this time we've never heard any, any... They have not given us any information about, you know, even if they're, let's take those initial comments from Obama that we heard. at face value if they're at area 51

there are some extraterrestrial beings there area 51 how come we have never gotten an ET report you think they're going to tell us right I mean something I would like some information any of the information there's a lot of stuff out here they ain't been trying to tell us

well that's for that's for sure it's going to be heavily redacted here's the truth guys 630 stating facts There was an alien playing in the NBA All-Star game, bro. They're real. Hello, Victor Wiminyama.

Did you see him sign the jersey of Higalaiyokic? Did a perfect alien, too. Perfect alien. I was like, how long is he been doing the alien? That's pretty cool. If people are going to call you that, you should know how to draw the alien. He did a good job with that. So good news there.

Aliens exist. If you don't think they exist, go read some more books. Listen to Russ's guy, Neil. Yeah, yo, shout out to Neil DeGrasse Tyson. That man's very smart. He's like the coolest smart. person that's ever lived. I'm more of a Bill Nye guy, but hey,

I like simple things. Bill Nye, the science guy. You already know what it is. Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill. Hey, can we pull up real quick before we go to break? The Bill Nile of Science. I don't think we have time. We got to get to break.

Ray said it's time to go to break. At some point before the show ends. We can't take away from five on it, because that's next on Rahimi Harris and Grotie with Russell Dorsey on 1043, the score. Victor one bigniola. eating some rim here in Chicago. The score!

This hour is brought to you by Minards. Save big money at Menards. I got five. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. Number one.

It's a special edition of Five on it on 104-3, the score with Marshall Harris, and also in the house, friend of the show, Russell Dorsey, National MLB Insider, Yahoo Sports, Insider and Analyst at MLB network and Friday night baseball on Apple TV. Plus, we love you, Russ.

Thanks for hanging out today, man. Of course. Here's question number one. What letter grade would you give the NBA's All-Star Weekend? What letter grade? So backstage I had a grade in mind, but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going to give it a flat C, average. Flat C, because even though the game itself,

was good All-Star Saturday was not as good and though that average is out to be a C. And you know, honestly Friday was, you know what? C-plus.

C-plus for the NBA for All-Star weekend. What gave it the plus for you? The plus is the fact that there were three days of action. Only one was below average. And by the way, Damian Lillard?

How is that man-winning three-point content? Like, you still need to use your legs and he's not 100% healed. It's standing still. But, like, as, but high-level athlete. He is a high-level athlete. And he's probably progressed in his recovery enough where he would be doing all these things anyway. I guess so.

You're not running up and down the floor and cutting and all that. Did you hear who's going to be in the three-point shooting contest next year? Yeah, I heard Big Wardell. Got his name called. Steph Curry back in action next year. And he was doing an interview with some of the guys on the broadcast. And they're like, oh, can you? make it from here where they were stationed.

He missed the first three and then he hit the fourth. And it was like, yeah. And it was close to the first three. Yeah. So C plus because I did enjoy yesterday and that is the main attraction. Saturday is the drag. And I think they can figure out what to do with Saturdays in the dunk contest, specifically Wimby ruined the skills competition last season.

So they got some things that they can tweak and make it better, but C plus feels right to me. I was teetering between D plus and C minus because Saturday night was a real bummer. Like it really dragged the weekend down, empty seats, people weren't enthusiastic. And that's from people who I talked to who were in the arena. But the game Sunday saved it because you saw competitiveness, you saw good product,

you saw people trying, and the players themselves looked like they were enjoying the experience on Sunday. And that wasn't something you were hearing about prior to. I'm going to say C minus. I'll give it a C minus because I think the game on Saturday was a winner. They found something in that. So if they can do that again, do you feel like this will be trending back up?

But the game itself, I'm saying. Well, see, the game being as good as it was, in my opinion last night, it was still a C minus. Like, you still have improvements to you've got to do. But I think you have bought yourself time if you can continue on that trajectory with World v. Timia. Would you change anything about Sunday, though, specifically? I know Saturday's got revisions coming, but yeah. And I think this is a product of the Olympics, but yeah, the time is bad. Yeah, the Olympics. If you had put that in prime time, I think you would have been very surprised with the viewership. But I don't know that the All-Star game itself was ever a nighttime thing. It was just more of a

late evening. It's like an early evening thing. It can be 7 o'clock, Central, 8 o'clock Eastern is probably the time it should always be. That's too late. That's too late. I have a quick follow-up question for you guys because Kauai Leonard said prior to the game

yesterday. It may have been actually Saturday, but he said that he didn't understand the format and he wants it just to go back to East versus West. Do you guys agree with Kauai or how did you feel? I heard that because As LeBron voiced the same opinion

of it should go back to East versus West and I heard that from a couple of guys. The problem with that is, the West is so stacked right now, it would be uncompetitive and you'd have the same problems. I don't agree with that statement necessarily. I

understand why you're saying that right in this moment, but like it used to be with when the East was loaded. But right now you have Yokic, you have Wembe, you have Luca, you have LeBron, you have Dames back over there. You have SGA. You know what I mean? Well, Dame ain't playing in the next year's

All-Star game. I'm just saying of like stars who are. I got you. And then Steph still on the out west. So, Devin Booker, we're on the East. It's, what do you mean? The East has got Josh Giddy. What are we talking about here? No, that's not the time of that. But like, even outside like Janus,

Joel Embed, all right, Maxie, cool. There's the, but the big superstars are on the West right now. I think you got had a far more oh edwards is in the west you have a far more competitive game with what they did last night so i think that has to be the goal is east versus west better than them picking teams so that's the option if you if you feel like the west is too stacked i like the picking of teams i think the picking of teams i don't want a player picking teams you want to coach picking teams I don't want players doing it.

Okay. Well, they had broadcasters doing it, aka former players. I like last night's version better than the recent. The problem is those old heads, they can't get their bodies back up that quick after sitting. They're going to be out of the league in two, three years anyway. Kauai is going to be out of the league in two or three years. I was thinking LeBron, Steph. That's two guys.

Those are the major ones. I guarantee you Kevin Durrett will still be playing basketball in three years. I guarantee you that, and he's old. But guess what? He has an elite skill. So we'll see. Number two. What's more likely the Cubs winning more than 95 games

or the White Sox losing less than 95 games? So do the Cubs win 95 plus games or do the White Sox lose 95 or fewer games? Less than 94 or fewer? 94 or fewer? The Cubs won 92 games last year, right? They added Bregman, they added pitching. I will say the Cubs because of their...

Now because I'm thinking about the rest of the National League and the rest of the National League is still pretty... I'm going to say the White Sox lose fewer than 95 games. Okay. It's more likely because I think the Dodgers is still the Dodgers, the Padre is still pretty good. The Phillies are good.

The Mets are going to be good. All these teams, if they're healthy, going to be better. I just want to point out, all the teams you just named. I also think the- None of them play in the Central. I think the Pirates are going to be a better team. I think the Brewers are going to do what they do and just find a way to win 85 games.

The Reds are still talented. Yeah. I think the National League is going to beat up on each other. Because the National League is that superior to the American League. I think the National League is just that. good right now. To your point, I don't think the White Sox are losing 95 games because I think the rest of the AL Central

is questionable and they just are going to have an easier schedule. And the Cubs are going to have a real I mean, they can get to 95 games, but that's the mean they're a really good team. I don't believe in what the Cubs. I thought the Cubs had a really solid off season and I think the Cubs are a good team. I think the Cubs are one of the best five teams

in the National League. I just think it says more about the growth that I thought the White Sox made from the end last season the beginning of this year and the fact that their division is also not great beyond the Tigers. They're going to play spoiler come September. Mark it down. He says they are the 2026 version of the 2025 Miami Marlins. Seventy-9 wins. We will see if that comes in. Well, if they went 79 games, they're losing a whole lot less than 95. I'm just saying that should be their target, which would put us at less than 95. Okay. Number three. It's five on it on 104.

3 the score with Marshall Harris and Russell Dorsey. Here is question number three. Hey, the South Side added a slugger, which leads us to this question. What's more likely? A Cubs player leading the city in home runs or a White Sox player leading the city in home runs. Ooh, I love this question. I like this one a lot. And so you start looking at the names, right?

And you start thinking about it and you're like, okay, Moone? I mean, I think he's going to hit 40 home runs. but is 40 even enough? That's crazy. And so I started thinking about Colson Montgomery and what he did in limited time. Now obviously. Because like here's the thing with the Cubs.

Like they have really good hitters. They don't have a guy that hit for like huge power. But I could see Michael Bush being that guy. He did hit for it. He hit and he was platooning basically. Yeah. And so. If he gets some more A-Bs against left-handed pitching.

I guarantee you it's going to be a left-handed bat that finishes with the most home runs on either team. It is definitely between Michael Bush and Colson Montgomery probably. So those are our two options. I'm going to say I'm going to say it's a first time Japanese player.

Oh my gosh, you're putting so much pressure on my man. Wait, am I putting pressure on him? Yeah. 40 homer. It would be the most homers by a player in his first year coming from Japan. That would be more than Shohei, who's the best.

best player maybe we've ever seen. How do you hit his first year? It was like 27. I like Munatak, Murakami to hit the most. And it might not even be 40, but like you said, there's not a whole bunch of guys who can hit 40 home runs on this, either of these two teams.

So, I say, my dark horse, it's either, one way or another, it's going to be a Japanese player. It's either going to be Murakami. He hit 22 homers his first year. He didn't hit over 30 until 20, 21, when he hit 46.

How old is he? When he hit the 46? He was... What age year was that for him? 26. 26. You know what? All right.

You've convinced me. It's not Marikami. It's Sizuki. Interesting. So I thought about Seya because I was talking about, we were talking about it earlier. Like, he goes on those stretches.

And as a right-handed hitter, a lot easier to hit the ball out of the yard at a Wrigley. You know, you play a lot of games in, Milwaukee. If he plays in right field every day. So it was either for me, it's going to be Michael Bush, Sayah, or Colson Montgomery.

I think all of them hit more than 30. I think the winner is ultimately Michael Bush. I think Michael Bush hits 35 home runs this year. Okay. I think more than one player in this city will hit 35 home runs this year. But do you like that list of like Colson, Bush, and Sayah all hitting over 30? I do.

I don't like your disrespect to Merkami, but hey. I'm trying to, I've watched, I've covered baseball for a long time and watched it. It's really hard to hit 30 homers in the big leagues, especially in your first season when you've never seen big leagues starting pitching. You're right. You're absolutely right. And when your hole is bat to ball skills. Hey man, that bidet going to have everything flowing.

All right. All right. Number four. Michael Jordan's racing team won the Daytona 500 when Tyler Reddick took the chance. checkered flag Sunday. I can't even believe it. Yeah, I mean, it was so gratifying. I mean, we had four guys that were really fighting, that was helping each other out.

I mean, you never know how these races is going to end, right? It's like you just try to survive. And, you know, I thought Riley did an unbelievable job by pushing at the end. You know, that shows you what teamwork can really, really do. I mean, he doesn't get enough credit. He won't get enough credit, but we feel the love. We understand exactly what he did. And, I mean, we just hung in there all day.

I mean, we're a great strategy by the team, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end. And look, I'm ecstatic. I mean, I don't even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won't even know. It's the goat himself Michael Jordan on Fox Sports. What did you make of MJ's insights to championships? You know what was crazy about this? I was reading about it, and I was like, oh, let me Google Daytona 500.

The fact that a two-time Expended Series champion, Tyler Reddick, who was actually behind the will, had to take a backseat to Michael Jordan, who's just the team owner, is crazy work. The Daytona 500, for those of you who are not in the know, who are not, maybe Gearyheads who maybe weren't raised within a couple of hours drive of Talladega, like Iowa. was the Daytona 500 is the Super Bowl of racing. I know it's funny, but racing starts with their biggest race first in the season. That's how they kick things off. And Michael Jordan won this as an owner, not as a driver, but who do you want to hear from first? You want to hear from MJ. And congratulations to Tyler Reddick, by the way. But Michael Jordan let you know, I wear a size 13 ring and I know my ring size because I got plenty. I got plenty of rings.

I just think it's almost a moment in time and that Michael Jordan's so excited as owner of a racing team in a way he never could be from the basketball team, the Charlotte Hornets, Bobcats, whatever you want to call them, that he used to own and it went opposite of the NBA All-Star game. So, listen, his name is Michael Jordan. He is who he is, so he's going to always get attention,

especially when his team ended up winning. But I don't think this is necessarily the first time an owner of a racing team has gotten attention. In this way, either. Hall of Fame, head coach Joe Gibbs, Super Bowl champion, and the legendary owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. Like, it's, it was all. There was a point where kids were born who only knew Joe Gibbs. From the NASCAR side, not the football side.

That could never happen to Michael Jordan, by the way. No, but I'm just saying, like, Joe Gibbs is in the Football Hall of Fame and then had his career as a legendary owner in NASCAR. So, like, we've seen it before. I get your point about, like, the dude that drove didn't even get the same publicity. But, like, hey, man, is what it is. Those are the brakes. No pun intended.

Number five. So 104-3 of the score. Last question. here on five and how much attention are you paying to the winter Olympics do i have to be honest about this oh honesty please yes i'll let russell go first um so here's the thing in my youth i was big on the olympics both summer and winter this year i haven't been as locked in i will say i have i've always enjoyed speed skating i think that's one of the coolest of the winter sports curling also pretty sick which we have on here in the studio um

Um, not a ton outside of those. The only thing I know about what's happening in the Winter Olympics are things that I have read. And I saw the highlight of Lindsey Vaughn. I unfortunately saw that. The low light. Or the low light, yeah. Tough way to end to an Olympic run. No, no.

I will start now paying attention to more Olympic stuff, I think. Like the ice hockey finals for both the men and women. I'll be into that. anytime an American's getting a lot of pub on social media, I'll try to tune in and see what's going on. I just, it's just the way it works out right now, it's not a part of my day to day.

Got to get ready for this radio show. I'm out here calling games. I'm over at the 7. It's just not a part of my. So like I want to pay more attention to it. I just haven't been enthralled with it like I have been in Olympics fast. Okay. That's all.

Yeah, I mean, we are in like, Like just Super Bowl hangover period right now still. So it's, it's not on my radar either, honestly. And I do like curling. Curling's the one for me. So I got to get on it. That's the one that's been on my TV the most is curling.

Usually it's just become background on my TV at this point. And there was drama in curling, right? People were saying that people were lying about cheating or something like that. I don't know the details because, again, I haven't been paying as much attention. Oh, was it like, I forgot which country it was. but like, yeah, like what? They kind of had their finger touching the stone is what they call it. Yes.

And what it was like, was the part of the cheating is because like he used a little oomph to push it a little extra? Is that what they're calling it for? Yeah, so it's the Canada men's curling team. They got hit with a second cheating accusation. Sweden was on them. They were watching. They were like, I got footage of you. No, I got footage of you.

It's one of those crazy situations. But yeah, look, shout out to the Winter Olympics. And shout out to all the people who are world class. at their sport and get to that final stage where even if you don't win, right, you finish 20th. In the world? In the world? For the career? Same vibes.

In the career? Same vibes. Like, congratulations to all the Olympics, in the Olympians, excuse me, all of their support staff, because people don't get rich becoming Olympians. They just survive and get to race another day, as they say. So that's it. Okay, coming up next, let's shift gears. Let's go to the Bulls and basketball in general.

But really the Bulls, because I think I have a friend, an ally, if you will, in my take on the Chicago Bulls. Elias Schuster, publisher for Bulls on SI, joins us next. It's Russell Dorsey. I'm Marshall Harris. And this is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. Midday's tidal two on Chicago. Listen, it's an unprecedented situation.

It's not going to be smooth sailing. I mean, true to his word, it has not been smooth sailing for Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls entering the All-Star break. Losers of six in a row, they are now down to 11th place in the Eastern Conference. And I say that like they're out of the play-in because they are technically, but they're only a game and a half out of the play-in. and if, I don't know, Billy Donovan gets guys like Jalen Smith, Josh Giddy, Trey Jones, and, oh, Isaac or Coral also missed the last game back, they may very well be back in the playing, unless decisions are made from an organizational standpoint

to talk about those decisions and more. We welcome in from Bulls on SI, a publisher for the site, Elias Schuster. You can follow him on the artist formerly known as Twitter at Schuster underscore Elias. He is on Zoom and he joins us on the Circa Resort and Casino hotline, Circa, Las Vegas.com. Elias, how are you enjoying this All-Star break?

First off, thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here. Believe it or not, always ready to talk Bulls. And, you know, the All-Star break, I'm enjoying it. How could I not be? I think we all needed a break after what was a chaotic trade deadline and what has been another underwhelming season in a lot of ways.

So I welcomed this All-Star break with open arms. But I also love basketball. We need some more stuff to talk about. So I'm ready for the games to start up again. Okay, so you're ready for the games to start. Do you expect the Bulls to play their players? And when I say their players, those four guys I just mentioned,

are they going to play or are they going to truly go for the tank? Yeah, I think it's, Well, what's interesting, right, is that the NBA just decided to throw out that $500,000 warning to the Utah Jazz about how to handle things moving forward here. So I think that there's, you know, and I think the Bulls themselves, right, they've shown over these past few years, even though this trade deadline may suggest they're willing to take a big step back. This doesn't necessarily seem like the organization that will go as aggressively in the

taking direction as a organization like Utah. So do I expect guys, you know, like a Josh Giddy, you know, even. And, you know, Trey Jones, Jalen Smith, do I expect these guys to play? I do. And I think there's some importance there as well because Josh Giddy especially, that's someone that you want to have on the floor next to some of these new pieces that you have welcomed in, especially Jade and Ivy, Rob Dillingham, guys that more so seem like they could be a part of what you're building, what they're building, we still don't know.

But if they want to evaluate these young guys, they have to see how they fit with some of these other pieces that could be around. I mean, Jalen Smith's under contract next year, so seeing how he might fit with some of these guys is important. So I expect him to be on the floor. Does that mean I expect him to win many games? That's a different question. Elizma, I look at this tanking situation in the NBA right now,

and I say the system is designed for teams to do this, right? Like, if I'm one of these 10 worst teams in the NBA and the Bulls are the 10th worst team in the NBA for everybody out there at this point, it's probably worth it for me even with the fines to say you know if i have a chance at the big three we'll call them knowing college basketball that could be available in the draft it's probably worth it even if i get fined let's call it a million dollars between now in the draft yeah i i definitely understand that point i think especially in this draft right like you want to be up there a lot of people have kind of already made the comment.

If you were going to decide to go this tanking route, you know, which is a phrase they'll never throw out there, but go this rebuilding route. Like, this should have been done before. That's the biggest problem is, is once again, whether it be waiting too long to trade players, they've just waited too long to maybe start this new era. So that's going to be something to watch moving forward is whether or not, I think where they go from here and what direction they set is going to be important for, for this off season because even going into next year, the draft's not as good.

But can they at least set a standard like we're going to be pushing for that high draft pick or not? I mean, they still have a lot of explaining to do with what this process is going to be. But in terms of the approach that they should take, I think going for that high traffic this year is important. I still don't see them necessarily sitting these players, let's say. But they might just lose the amount of games anyway. We've already seen these last handful of games haven't gone well when you welcome this

many new players into the picture. It can be really hard to pull off wins, especially in the fourth quarter where they've crumbled, you know, four of the last five games. Yeah, because they didn't have Josh Giddy or Trey Jones or Isaac Acorro or Jalen Smith. This is Elias Schuster joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, the publisher for Bulls on S-I. Here's the problem, Elias. They're not catching the Hornets. The Hornets are a team that is taking big steps this season, but I could easily, easily see them passing the Atlanta Hawks who were a game and a half above them. The Hawks, by the way, have lost three in a row. They've got Jalen Johnson, but not a lot of star power beyond that. And there's going to be games where if the Bulls get those guys back,

I'm sorry, Billy Donovan doesn't coach to tank. If they don't sit them down, can you not see a situation where they fail at this stated goal of getting out of the middle this season? Oh, no, I can 100% see that situation. I think that's what's also scary about the way that they handled this deadline where you bring back someone like Anthony Simons. you bring back, you know, somebody like Colin Sexton. Like those are guys that a lot of people thought when those trades happened might be flipped at least one of them or maybe, you know, there's conversations. Not to say there's conversations with the team, but just among fans among those online. Like, hey, is someone going to buy out?

Are they going to buy out one of these guys? Like these are guys that are not only can help them win over these next handful of weeks, but are also going to steal potentially developmental minutes from a guy like Jane and Ivy or from Rob Dillingham who you need to evaluate. So can they fall flat on their face with this situation? Absolutely. I still think they could end up in that play and mix. Now, the only thing that's working in their favor, you know, we can talk about getting a boost with Josh Giddy coming back and Trey Jones, but they're still going to be playing with a very different group of players. And it's very hard. We saw this when they first traded for Nicole Abusevich, even, and they were pushing for the play in that year or whatever it was in 2021, where they go get a guy like boot. they still weren't able to make the playoffs. It's just like when you add in these new pieces, it's really hard to get on a winning track,

especially when other teams are vying for seating in a way. So is it possible? They went to many games. Absolutely, it's the Bulls. Dule Dodovan, you said it exactly right. He does not, he's not going to coach with just development in mind. He's going to coach with winning in mind. But whether or not they could pull it off,

I definitely have questions about that with this group. Elias, I'm sitting here. I'm not right. I'm listening to you. I'm thinking through all of these things. I'm looking at the Bulls roster right now. And I just keep coming back to, what is the point of all of this?

Because you're saying that the Bulls might win enough games to make the play-in after Arturis Carnet show says the playing isn't the goal, but it's clearly been for them. And then you keep guys like Colin Sexton and Afrinet Simons who, look,

when Anfrey Simons got traded to the Bulls, I'm like, this is like a bucket. Like, this is a guy that go get you 25 on a night. Like, why is he here? Well, I can see the Simons thing even Elias, but the Sexton thing makes no sense. From a timetable standpoint, and he could be helping someone, I don't know,

that's trying to make the playoffs. Right. I think it was this, if you want to keep adding on to, Gershont Yabuselli, going to get him from the Knicks was a confusing move. Nick Richards, you flip up, you know, Usmani Jane,

who's now had multiple really strong games for the box. he's a 22-year-old forward that would make a ton of sense for this philosophy they've had of adding these former lottery picks who haven't had a chance. They flip him for Nick Richards because they needed, I mean, they needed center depth, I guess, but also why do you need the center depth if, you know, if your plan here is to go for draft picks, is to go for just development and rebuilding. So it's when, you know, the question is, that's why I kind of brought it up earlier, right? There still needs to be a lot set in stone this offseason of like, what is the plan?

here because did they change up the whole roster? Yes. Did they take a big step? Like, did they take a step backward? I still think, yes, they took a step backward and they added some second round picks, which I know a lot of people joke about, but I do think in today's league, like, we see them packaged in all these deals and stuff. So you can make something of second round picks. So in a way, like they did take this small step back, but wasn't a big enough step back. Like, we're going to find that out over the next handful of games. And we're also going to find that out in the offseason when, hey, are they just going to start sending a message like, well, actually next season, though, we want to get back. We want to compete again. And, you know, we're going to go and sign all these veterans

with all this money that we have this off season. Or we'll continue to be this message of like development trading for more draft picks, all this stuff. Like that's why this felt like the beginning, or maybe the beginning of something, but it's a long process. Like they need to, they have not earned the benefit of the doubt, right, with fans and people in the city about what the plan is for this team. There could be shades of a plan here, but there's so much more work that would need to be done. Shades of a plan. You're cooking right now.

We're listening to Elias Schuster Bulls on SI here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. This is Russ Dorsey. Elias, all right, let's do this. I'm going to put you in Arturis Karas Chavez's a seat. Because you and Marshall mentioned something about Billy Donovan is not going to coach to tank. I get all that and I respect Billy Donovan Donovan for that. But your Arturis Khan Shovas

At what point do you take it out of Billy's hands? At what point do you say, Billy, we love and respect you. We're going to pull a plug on this thing and we're going to try to get Camboozer. And Rob Dillingham is going to play 48 minutes a night. Which, yeah, I think if you're asking me

like not Arturist, I think that that should be happening, right? Yeah. So, and if I am in our tourist's shoes, that should be happening right now. I think just seeing, when I saw Jade and Ivy taken out of that starting lineup in the game before the All-Star break here, I was scratching my head because I think, you know, maybe, yeah, they just want to see how he looks like with or looks with Dillingham in that second unit or see the two of those guys play together. But then why not do that in the starting lineup? And they did at least end up with more minutes than the Sexton Simon's duo in that game, which ease some concerns. But the question is, you know, is that going to continue to happen? Is that just the first sign of, you know, Billy Donovan leaning on these veterans that they just acquired who will be free agents in a couple of months anyway?

So if I'm in his shoes, like, that's already the messaging for me. That should already be the messaging. Like, you know, I know we talk about the, you know, the fines and the apparent tanking, but there's also a difference between what the Utah Jazz are doing and what a team that's just looking to develop young guys is doing, right? And so if you are the Bulls, you can still not worry about what it looks like in the league eye and all this stuff. And I know you were saying, Russ, like, oh, just take the, you can still take the fine. Sure, even do that. But they don't even have to worry about the fines, in my opinion, if they wanted to just lean on these young guys. Because they have enough of them.

And that's still an okay process. You're not saying like, oh, we're playing to lose. We're just playing Rob Dillingham a bunch because we need to see what we have in him and he can grow more. And so, you know, I think it's, if I'm in the shoes that's already the messaging. And I don't know if that, you know, maybe over the next few weeks, we see a little bit more of that. But we do know that that front office and Billy communicate a lot. They're very close. So, you know, they also obviously have a lot of trust in Billy Donovan that kept them around this long.

He's what, the third longest tenured head coach in the league. And so if he's pushing back on that, I don't know how if they push back again. It's hard to say. Elias Schuster joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Well, last one for you, Elias, if you're the Bulls and seeing where they're probably going to be landing in this hopefully lottery, who should they be targeting? What should they be going after? What do you see as a realistic target if they're not picking, let's say, in the top four? Yeah, I mean, I think that's like obviously the goal is to be picking in that top four. But I think something they've benefited from in recent years has been, you know, the guys falling. you know, kind of into their lap. That happened with Modis Gruselis.

He was somebody who was expected, I mean, for a lot, a lot of times was talked about as a potential number one overall pick. He stumbles a little bit because his three-point shooting in G-Leod Ignite ends up at 12 spot. You know, Noah Senge, like, he was somebody that was a little bit all over the board, and I know people, you know, have been frustrated this year by him not playing. But there's a case you can make that he was still available there when some people didn't expect him to be. And so I think this year, like you're hoping for that situation to potentially play out again if you're around that 10 spot.

I know one guy that was obviously used to be seen very highly who's slipped a little is like made a met from from Tennessee. You know, he's somebody that that is this talented shooter, potential talented score, big wing. They've targeted those players in the past. So I'm looking at like those guys that we see as the draft board forms in this March Madness time that there's some guys that are going to slip that were previously viewed very highly.

And I think the Bulls could be in a good position to grab one of them. And speaking to the, you know, We always get the debate every year of, okay, well, should we, do you draft for need? All this. That's not going to matter for the Bulls, right? You just want talent. So I don't care if they have, you know, both Asengue and Bruegelis on the wing, both have this kind of scoring upside. If there's another player that you believe has extreme potential in that, in that area of the floor, like you still have to take that chance.

You're not in a position to draft for need. You're in a position that you need as much star level potential talent as possible. And that's, I think that I do expect them to probably take that mindset. going into this draft with how, how, you know, not set in stone this roster is moving forward. But yeah, we're the run-up, who will know? I think it's, you brought it up. It's going to be hard for them to move their lottery odds much higher here. So they're going to need some lottery luck. All right, Elias Schuster joining us, the publisher for Bulls on S.I. You can follow him over on the artist formerly known as Twitter, Schuster underscore Elias. Thanks for joining us today on Rahimi

Harrison Grotie, Elias. Thank you guys so much. And, you, you know, let's see what happens over these next couple. I mean, that said with such little confidence. You didn't even believe in lies. And I get it. I get it. Understand this. The Bulls are 11th in the East.

If they somehow pass the Atlanta Hawks, it will be such an atrocity because the Hawks don't even own their own pick. That means they're trying no matter what. So if you pass a team that's trying and you're a game and a half behind them with less than 30 games of play, that means you did it wrong if you're the Bulls. If your stated goals true. I don't think it's going to happen, but I will just say at the end of day,

at least there's going to be a lot to talk about. Always a lot to talk about with these bulls. Thanks so much, Elias. Coming up next, players that might surprise you, Russell Dorothy has a pick or two of White Sox Cubs players who he thinks can have a surprise,

2026. I don't know if it's in a good way or bad baby, but we'll find out on the other side. It's Rahimi, Harris, and Grotie on 104, Three, the score. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi, Harris, and Grody on 1043, the score. The 2-1 swinging a high fly ball, deep right field, going back free leg at the wall. That part is gone.

Michael Bush has led off the series with a home run to right center. Cubs lead one to nothing and listen to the Cub fans in attendance. Michael Bush doing damage. Pat, he was on the call, the Hall of Famer. And I think it's safe to say Michael Bush had a bit of a sneaky 2025, a surprise, if you will, because you probably didn't picture him hitting 34 bombs and being a cog, a key cog, with a 4.6 war in that Cubs lineup. Welcome back to Rahimi Harris and Grotie Russell Dorsey in.

Alongside, I'm Marshall Harris. and we wanted to take this time because Russ is the baseball guy, the National MLB Insider for Yahoo Sports. That's what they say. To let him step up and let us in on what he feels are a couple of candidates for surprise 2026s, much in the way that Michael Bush burst onto the scene in his big 2025 year. Yeah, so surprise star. So this could be not necessarily, like,

Alex Breggman can't be your surprise star, right? But other guys are eligible for this. So I'm going to start the White Sox first, though. Okay. My surprise star for the White Sox in 2026 is going to be catcher Kyle Teal. I saw Kyle Teal get to the big league last year and showed an ability to have bat-to-ball skills. There was some power in there and an ability to get on base. I see Kyle Teal as the type of guy that could hit.

hit 275, 280 for the White Sox, 20 doubles, 15 to 20 homers, and be a really productive player in that catcher slash DH spot splitting time with Edgar Carroll. Like, I really like Kyle Seale as a player, and I'm interested to see how he's able to produce as a guy who probably won't be a full-time catcher because they have the, they'll have to split that time with him and Carol. and that might help him offensively because of that. Not getting as worn down as if he had to catch 120, 130 games a season. Is it bad that I don't think that's that big of a surprise considering not only that he had the second highest war on the team besides Colson Montgomery, obviously,

but he kind of was that guy last year, although he only played 78 games, but he hit eight home runs. He went 273, 375, 411. So maybe you're just expecting that slug to take a jump? Yeah, I expect there to be more power in there. Okay. But I also think someone would say, oh, who's the breakout person? Many would say, oh, Colson Montgomery, obviously.

But I think Kyle Teal, as a guy who's going to hit towards the top of that lineup, get on base at a really high clip. Like, you're going to see a lot out of him. So that's why he's my surprise. and those were me explaining the surprises I expect to see. I got you. So the White Sox looking good. If Cal Till is a surprise and does better things than he did in his rookie season,

that's going to be a big plus for the White Sox lineup. Again, I love that young group. Meanwhile, for the Cubs, who's now? I'm really intrigued on this because it's hard for me to even imagine. And I think here's the difference with the Cubs. You have more known commodities on the Cubs. So anybody I say is like, oh, I know who that guy is. Yes, but like to the point.

that I'm going to say. I think the surprise star on this Cubs team. Star or starter? Star, S-T-A-R. Okay. Is going to be Nico Horner. I think, listen to me, I think Nico Horner is going to be a first-time All-Star in 2026.

I think I'm not a bold prediction guy. Here's my bold prediction for Nico Horner. First-time All-Star in 2026. leads the National League in batting average and hits. Nico Horner. I think Nico Horner is building into a crescendo of having his best season ever in 2026. And I think last year you got to see a lot of the confidence. You know defensively, he's, I'd make the case he's the best defensive second baseman in Major League Baseball.

What him and Dan's B. do on a nightly basis is amazing. But you're starting to see a build in confidence. offensively from Nico, where it doesn't always appear sexy because he doesn't have power like other guys, right? It's going to be between five and ten homers a season. But if you go look at this baseball reference page, it's consistently 160, 165, 170 hits, had a career high last year, hit 297 second in the National League behind Trey Turner's 304. I think we could see a guy.

And it's something, it's in the similar vein with PCA of because the defense is so elite, it doesn't take much to turn what Nico already does into an all-star caliber player. Right. Like maybe there's a tick up in power, right? Where if he hits 12 to 15 homers, now you're looking at it differently. But if Nico finished 2026 and hit 300, 305 with 195 to 200 hits, which is possible with what he's able to do. and in this offense, right? Yeah, like, I think it's possible. Like, he had 176 hits last season?

178. 178? So that's not that far away from 190. You keep him in the leadoff spot? No, I'm not. Hap? I like Michael Bush up there. I'm not going to lie.

Okay, you like the high-on-base percentage. Yeah. And it'll be interesting to see whether or not his batting order position changes if there's a left or righty on the mound. I like the Michael Bush against right-handers, Nico against left-handers. Okay, that's what I was asking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm cool with that.

Okay, so that is... Because he was highly successful. He's one of those guys that swings it really well against left-handed pitching. So, yeah, I think if it works, man, and it worked a lot last year. If it ain't broke. If it ain't broke. Don't fix it. And then leave Ian Hap in that 3, 4, 5.

spot driving runs. I'm cool with that. Okay. Gregman hitting in the two hole regardless. So there you have it. Russell Dorsey telling you surprised players to watch for the White Sox. He gives you Kyle Till, the catcher, the young catcher, and then a little bit older player in Nico Horner, but still just heading into his age 29 season. Old prediction. Got to add that in there. First time all-star, Nico Horner.

First-time All-Star Nico Horner, who was in the discussion this past season, by the way, and he led the Cubs in war with 6.2. So those are things to keep an eye on. Coming up next, Nick Baumgartner, the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for the athletic. I know you want to know what should the Bears be doing with the number 25 pick and beyond. We will have that discussion and more

with more Rahimi Harris and Grody on 1043 The Score. The score. I don't think the process changes. You're going to identify the guys that fit what we want. in our football team, which coach hit, and you just keep trying to acquire those players. We know what they look like. We know how they act. They know how to talk. And we'll continue to do that. I think that's part of the thing is, one, can you self-evaluate and be critical of yourself and your team to make sure that you know what you have in the building? And then can you just keep pounded away

and stick into your process? You make tweaks, of course, but stick to the process of bringing in the right types of people. you tell him, Mr. Poles, let him know what a good draft class looks like, because you can finally do that. It took a little while. But we got there. It's a ramp up. It's a ramp up. You need some experience.

That is Ryan Poles talking about the draft process and building a team and what it takes and going out and getting the guys he likes. For more on that, we welcome in Nick Baumgardner. He's the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for the athletes. Athletic. He joins us on the Circa Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circa Sports app today. Nick, joining us on Rahimi Harris and Grody, Russell Dorsey Inn alongside Marshall Harris. And Nick, it's about that time, I guess, right? What number of mock draft are you on right now? Two or three? Two or three. I did the first three rounders, so we're into the third round area. So we're that deep into it now. What's so great about this is that, you know,

you're saying two or three, and I'm still thinking about one because the bears were actually in the playoffs, and that extended our discussion of the actual football season. I know. Back in the day, you guys have been looking at this stuff in like November, right? Like, after Thanksgiving, it'd have been like, okay, what's draft looking like, right? But it's, like, I'm in Detroit, so I know that feeling where it's like it's a lot better to have something else to think about maybe in January than what your team's going to draft. But, hey, look, it's draft season for everybody now. So that's good, good for us.

Yeah, you're thinking about depth. and stuff like that now as opposed to. All right, where far my start is going to come from? So here's my thing, Nick. As you're going through and you're going through your draft prospects and trying to grade guys and see where different fits are, for people who are now switching their brain over to, okay, combine's coming, draft is coming.

What's a theme that is big in this year's draft compared to, let's say, last year's draft? Yeah, I think this year's draft is really unique in that the linebacker class is like for the first time in a while, it feels like there's more teams in the NFL that are more willing to lean into these hybrids and these special unique athletes. And there's a lot of them this year. This is like this feels like the deepest linebacker group we've seen in quite some time. The two guys at the top, Arvel Reese and Sonny Stiles, both from Ohio State, both 64, 240, and both kind of similar, you know, guys. They can get all over the place. They can run.

They can wear different hats up front. They can rush off the edge. The best case there might be like a Micah Persons, right? And there's a lot of guys in this class like that as you go down the list. So you can go all the way down into like Pittsburgh as a kid, Kyle Lewis. Kyle Louis. Lewis, I can never remember him to say his name. He's like six foot, 225, right?

But he was one of the fastest players at the Senior Bowl. Runs like a safety. But he's like 225, 230, kind of like what we see with Nicky Menwari there in Seattle, right? obviously he's a special case with this explosive and as fast as he is. But this class has a lot of guys who can kind of do different things, wear different hats, and maybe make defenses more explosive at a couple different levels. And we're looking at this, and you mentioned linebacker. Big discussion going on right now in Chicago, as I'm sure you know,

is whether or not the bears should move on from Tremaine Edmonds and relieve themselves of some cap pressure right now. Yeah. Is this linebacker class deep enough that they could get a question? quality guy to replace him in the second or third round? Yeah, I think it is. You know, a guy like Jacob Rodriguez, the kid from Texas Tech, who was all over the place in the playoffs and all season for Texas Tech,

is outstanding. And I don't think he's going to make it into the first round conversation. Same conversation for Jake Golda, the kid from Cincinnati, who didn't play in this triangle. I think he was getting over a small injury here or there. But like those two guys right there in other years, Anthony Hill from Texas is another one. And other years might be like first round guys,

but in this year they're going to be bumped down. So it reminds me a little bit of like a couple years ago, or maybe it was last year, the running back class was so deep that it was like, just wait, take your time, see what happens. I think it was last year because the bears ended up doing it. They waited in the Kalmanungi. Yeah. So this is a lot like that.

Yes, right. This is a lot like that. Maybe not as deep in some cases in terms of the explosion that you can get at the bottom of the draft. But, you know, into the fourth and fifth, I think you can still get really good linebackers. I'm always so interested, Nick, in seeing what teams try to trade up and get a quarterback if they're in need of one. And by all accounts, this is not necessarily the quarterback draft outside of Fernando Mendoza at the top.

So here's my question for you. Let's say I'm a team and I need a quarterback and I want to get one in the draft. But those big-time prospects that are usually in the top ten are not there. what do I do? Yeah, I mean, like this is, and I got to say also for folks, this is about to be the norm, I got to think, right? Like these guys, a lot of these guys are staying in college. They're getting paid.

Trinidad Chamblech, the kid from Ole Miss is still trying to sue his way back. I think he's going to get back and he's going to make more money in college than he would have as a second round pick this year. So a lot of that has changed sort of what has happened in terms of, oh, can we wait until next year? Can you keep doing this? because I think a lot of these classes are going to be similar to this. Some years might be different.

But in this case, this year, you've got a guy at the top, like you said, like Mendoza is a legitimate top 10 quarterback, you know, top 10 pick, you know, a guy that you can take up there and feel safe. And kind of like Cam Ward last year, you can take him. He can be on a bad team. He's not going to be ruined by it, all that stuff. After that, it gets dicey, though. Like, Ty Simpson is the hardest one really to slot because he has first round talent.

Absolutely. But he's only started one year and only about three quarters of it was good. The last quarter of it was pretty bad. So when we look at him, it's like, you know, where do you want to gamble on him? Do you want to wait and see if you get, like the Jackson Dart thing? Do you want to wait and see if you can sneak one in in the 20s or, you know, and kind of play chicken with people? Or do you get nervous and jump up and overdraft him?

And then, you know, and in that case, it might be a while until we see the next quarterback come off the board. Those are the two at the top of this draft that probably will be in the first round. Everybody after that, I think, is probably further down. We are talking NFL draft with Nick Baumgardner. He is the senior writer at NFL draft analyst for The Athletic here on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104-3, the score. Nick, I'm looking at this spot the Bears are in right now. They're at 25.

They don't know what's going on at left tackle necessarily after Ozzie Tripillo goes down. And then they also need edge help. They need somebody who can affect the quarterback. And so if you've got the 25th pick in the draft, is it more likely? likely that you're going to get a stud at offensive tackle or a stud at edge. Because I understand this is a deeper edge class, although Caden Proctor sounds like a guy who could be there at 25. Yeah, like that's what I'm like, it's really tough because I do feel like you could get

still maybe a good tackle there or an interesting prospect. Like Caden Proctor has got a lot of work to do. He's kind of a boomer bus guy at times. You see that size and that athleticism, all the uniqueness of how big he is and, you know, how he moves. But he's also very inconsistent. like his pressure numbers were really bad at times very streaky he was bad to playoffs so it's very up and down would take a good offensive line coach and all that stuff like which you know teams can do that and it can end up not being that big of a deal monroe freeling would be another one the kid from georgia if he lasts down there another really good athlete but i would probably say edge i would probably say i would probably say i think you could probably get the better value because there's more of them um you know i guess it depends on what you want to do though too because like do you want to wait and say on that one too because i think you could get more inside the into the second or the second or or third round if you wanted to do that earlier.

So a guy like a key messador maybe to me in the 25 range would be one that I think would fill a couple different hats to get from Miami, the other edge opposite Ruben Bain, super physical, super violent, sets an edge, gets it done, was a big sack guy, despite not having a ton of desirable measurables. Feels like he would fit everything Ben Johnson's about, you know, to me. Zion Young would be another guy down there from Missouri who can do a bunch of different stuff. but, you know, a lot of edges in this group.

This is a solid edge class again, which is kind of a thing every year now. Nick, you're talking about value. You're talking about the depth that some of these positions. And when you are in the range the Bears are in in the low 20s, I'm starting to get that trade back vibe. Is that something that many of those teams in the 20s because of the depth with some of these positions might do? That's always, you know, it's always something that they're always on the look for.

like we just said like if a team wants to best around down there and trade up or trade out for Ty Simpson or like Chambliss was the one for me like if he was going to make this draft or he was going to be in this class he was a guy that I thought would have been like Jackson Dart a great example of sit there bottom of the first somebody comes up and trades into that spot and takes him I don't know if they would do that for Garrett Nussmeyer I don't know if he's quite on that level I think he might be a stretch maybe he has a great combine and changes people's minds I don't know but but Beyond that, I think that they're going to try, but I think it's tough. Like the two things that I would look for, though, in terms of teams wanting to trade around, like if some guys start falling, like if Jeremiah Love starts falling, Caleb Downs probably isn't going to fall too far. But if those guys start sliding, Kenyon Sadiq, the tight end, who's really special as well, that can kind of mess with things, right? That can kind of mess with the board and, you know, change people's, you know, whatever. So that's when trades can kind of start happening in my mind. possible, but I don't know how likely it is because that third quarterback is not really

jumping off the page. You mentioned safety, Caleb Downs. I don't think the bears are going to get up high enough to get him, but they do have a need at that position. And I'm wondering with the way the safety class looks this year, how far back can you go and still get a good safety because the bears might be needing one, maybe multiple? Yeah, the bears are in the first world problems group now because this is what you do. You just, like the Ravens have done this for so many years.

You just wait because there are really good safeties. And we never know where these guys are going to be drafted, right? Because of, like, people don't value it as much as they should. But Caleb Downs is no worse than the second best player in this draft. Like, there's no, I think he's the best player in the draft. And, I mean, we're talking about him as a guy that could be there at like 10, you know, which is crazy to me. And then the same conversation with some of these other guys too. But like, but that to me, like the safety class, as we're talking about, McNeil Warren,

the kid from Toledo, Dylan The Annaman, the kid from Oregon, the other two, both those guys, I think some teams will probably have them graded in their top 30. I think those guys are good enough. Like those guys are big, they can play multiple safety spots. They can come up in the box and hit as well. But if they slide down the board, all of a sudden you're looking at like Nikki Minwari went off the board last year in the second round. And I don't know if teams have learned their lesson.

But like, you know, one of these years, Malachi Starks was the best safety in the draft couple years ago, last year I think it was, and went to the Ravens at the bottom of the first, right? So it's like, one of these years' teams to learn their lesson, but I don't know when, you know, Brian Branch went into the second a couple years ago. I think the bears earned another good spot there, too, to maybe play the board, be patient. And, hey, if you love a guy, like, if McNeil Warren is sitting there and you love him, just jump the line and take him and don't be afraid and just be like, that's our guy. We think he's going to, you know, change the back end for us. I think that they're in position to do kind of whatever they want back there.

Nick, you're at mock draft number three. and I know everybody has their guy. So I want you to tell me you've done each of these mock drafts. Who's the guy you keep coming back to and saying, nah, it's him. Like, this is the guy. It won't change from now till April. This is the guy that people are going to regret not drafting.

I think it's Caleb Downs. It's either Caleb Downs or Jeremiah Love. But to me, it's probably Caleb Downs because I just, I think he's so unique and special. And there's going to be people that get caught up in his size. He's not real big. He's barely six foot. If he is that, maybe 200 pounds on the nose.

But in terms of the fearlessness, the intelligence, that kid could play, you know, eight positions for Ohio State and be fine, you know, and get it done. And he was like he was their best get it done guy at all spots. When things were falling apart, he was the one who would fix it. He played middle linebacker basically for Jim Knowles, the one year there before he left. And then Patricia moved him around a bunch last year, too. I think to me he's the best football player, period, in the draft. You know, Arville Reese is more talented. Some of these other guys might have more physical gifts, too.

But, like, that's the guy that I think some teams might, like, if he falls to, like, the Saints or something at 9, I think that's one where teams might look back and be like, well, what do we do here? You know, that was not, that was not smart. Saints, a team that could be on the move in the right direction based on how they finished last season. Nick Baumgartner joining us here on Rahimier's and Grody. On 104, 3, the score, he is the senior writer in NFL. draft analyst for the athletic.

You mentioned Jeremiah Love, and I'm really curious about him. So many people connecting him to Kansas City Chiefs, because, let's face it, they've needed a running back for a long time. Is this just a match made in heaven? How would you describe the Chiefs and Jeremiah Love? And what do you think translates the best from his college work at Notre Dame to now being in Kansas City? I mean, it would be perfect. I think that his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and just be a receiver is something that Andy Reid, I really feel I could have a lot of fun with. I mean, let alone the fit with Mahomes and some of the pressure he could take off just by being a standard three-down back who can get you yards.

You know, he's he is in the class of, and he's bigger too, but he's in the class of the Bejan Robinson, Gibbs, Shamir Gibbs, you know, Christian McCaffrey, the guy who can be on the field all three downs. You can move him around. You can play another running back out there with him, put him in the slot, let him do some different stuff. Just like was the best down-to-down playmaker in college football offensively this past year. I thought he should have won the Heisman. I don't have any problems with Mendoza winning it. It's a cool story. But love was the best, like for me, when you turned it on and said like who's the best player out here, it was almost always offensively.

It was him. So I really feel like he's another one, almost in the same conversation as Caleb Downs, where it's like if teams don't want to do this, I think you might end up regretting it. I don't even know how much, like every running back needs help. Like, Gene T last year, I still think he's going to be a good player, but he goes to a terrible situation. I think Love is almost good enough to where he could even make a bad situation a little bit better, right?

Like if he didn't go to the Chiefs and went somewhere else, he's a special player, so I think he's one to watch for sure. Last year we saw Ted McMillan going that first round, and it felt like what we saw in the NFL, we kind of saw in the process leading up to the draft. Who is that guy in the first round amongst the wide receivers? Or is it multiple guys that could have that type of impact this year? Yeah, this is a cool receiver group too.

There's three at the top that it's going to be, I would think, a debate well through the combine. It might be one that teams have different guys all the way through draft night, depending on what you want. Colonel Tate from Ohio State, the big 6-3, 200-pounder, maybe 210, whatever he is that played opposite Jeremiah Smith, a big guy who can play like a small guy, but also was great in the air and play all three spots and do all that good stuff.

Jordan Tyson from Arizona State, who that's, he's the most complete. When he's healthy, he's had some injury issues in the past. When he's healthy, he's the most complete receiver in the class. Physical blocks, like he's a very good blocker, like a bigger Amin-Ross-St. Brown, if we can think about that, like a bigger version of that. And then Mackay Lemon from USC is the smallest of those,

of that group, he's probably about 510, 511, maybe 190, but like, fearless, awesome in the air. Another guy who could play all three spots and block and do all those good things. All three of those guys, I feel like are like top 15 players in the class. Wouldn't surprise me if somebody in the top five or six, like the Giants or somebody says, he's perfect fit for us. Like, you know, we're going to do this and we're going to, away we go. So those are special players. I think that, again, like Ted McMillan, when we see receivers like that,

it's smart to do it, especially when you got a young quarterback, who needs that, you know, like these young guys come in and they're ready to go. So this is a really exciting receiver group, especially at the top. Nick Baumgartner giving us all kinds of insight, the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for the athletic. You can find him on the artist formerly known as Twitter. At Nick Baumgardner, that's his at. He joins us also on the Twitch stream.

So if you're looking there, you can follow the Twitch screen at the score, Chicago. That's actually our handle for everything these days. days at the score Chicago. One last question before we get you out of here. Fernando Mendoza, anyway, he doesn't go number one overall? I don't think so. I think that just, the Raiders had waited way too long, you know, to pick a quarterback, and they got lucky here. I mean, this guy fell into their lap. I think that he's, I think he's a real deal. Reminds me of like a more athletic Jared Gough, you know, like he's just a really sharp guy in the pocket, stands in there, we'll take a hit, accurate, smart. You know, some people during the season didn't know, look, a lot of

scouts, they didn't know what to do with that, all that positivity that comes out of him, right? Like, he's just, it's like relentlessly positive. But I think when, as time went on, you started to hear, like, you know, it's like people like him. He wears on people. You know, he's magnetic. And it works. So I do think that he'll be worth it. And he's a guy that you could, I think, plan in there and build your team around.

So I think that special quarterback, I think he's one that, unless they get a great deal, you know, the Raiders, I think should probably have their guy. All right. We appreciate you stopping by. Go follow him on X, the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for the athletes. Thanks so much for your time, Nick. You've been, fellas, anytime. All right, so that's Nick Baumgartner. We're going to switch, cross things up, if you will, back to the old NBA,

because there's a commissioner there, Adam Silver, who has been longer-helded as maybe the favorite of the commissioners. For a long time. If you start looking around, and obviously Goodell, obviously the other sports, a hunk of metal comes to mind. But Russ Dorsey, he took off his chef hat, and now he's going to put it back on because are we cooking Adam Silver? Is that what's going on? I have thoughts. He's not sure that Adam Silver is the right guy to lead the NBA into the next decade or so.

We will have those thoughts and more. It's Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. The great Kevin Harlan. I just pulled through the Taco Bell drive-through. And I've got a couple of big, nasty, supreme burritos right here waiting to beat. You know, the first thing they ask you now, I'm using the app. No, I just want my burrito.

I don't want to use an app. Bring a lot of mild sauce because I'm going to squirt it all over the place. Put some hot sauce off on my burrito, baby. Rahimi Harris and Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. Edgum doesn't have the response, another off-gets a board. Mosella's drive. And finish. Modest Boozella's doing work.

That's right. He is a three-time rising stars participant, and he is a champion this time around. Playing on a team with Ted Holmgren and, more importantly, VJ. Edgecombe. If you're looking to see what prospects look like versus what. You want to see what it looks like? It looks like that. Yeah.

VJ. Edgecom is a dude. Yeah. He can, I can see him in the All-Star game very quickly. A lot of shades of D. Wade in there. that man can play basketball at a very, very, very high level. But you know what? Not everybody was happy with All-Star Weekend, because guess what?

People like to complain about NBA All-Star Weekend. It is an easy mark. It is low-hanging fruit for a lot of reasons. But my partner today, Russ Dorothy, here on Mojeehemi Harrison Grotie, he has some issues with the man leading the association at this current juncture, Commissioner Adam Silver. And before we get into why Russ has issues with Adam Silver, Adam's got a lot of people upset with him on where the league stands on tanking in the NBA

after he issued a $500,000 fine against the Utah Jazz because they pulled their starters, Larry Markinen and Jaron Jackson Jr. After three quarters in a game recently. And then also against the Indiana Pacers who weren't playing the full complement of players available to them as they continue their tank efforts in the 25-26 season. Here's what happened with Adam Silver when he was put on the spot All-Star Weekend. Yes, it's been part of this league for a long time. I mean, back in the 1960s, there was a coin flip.

You know, at some point, it was in 1980s. We moved to a lottery. That lottery has been changed, I think, roughly five times over the years to try ahead, to stay ahead of some of the behavior of our teams. The incentives are not necessarily matched here. I think that the tradition in sports were the worst performing team receives the first pick from their partners. When any economist comes and looks at our system, they always point out you have the incentives backwards there. That doesn't necessarily make sense.

I think there was a more classical view of that in the old days where it was just sort of an understanding among partners about in terms of behavior. of behavior. I think what we're seeing is modern analytics where it's so clear that the incentives are misaligned. I think when you maybe further answer your question, are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we've seen in recent memory? Yes, is my view. And which was what led to those to those fines and not just those fines, but to my statement that we're going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of team's behavior and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice. And there is a bit of a note when you see it quality to this. I mean, we spend a lot of time at the league office going

back and forth with teams on injury reports, on coaches' decisions. It's not a position necessarily want to be in. But I'd say also to address your question, it's not what the fans want at the end of the day. Although my caveat is, and this is where teams are in a difficult place. Many of you in this room have written understandably about our teams that the worst place to be, for example, is to be a middle-of-the-road team, either be great or be bad, because then that will help you with the draft. And so in many cases, you have fans of those teams. Maybe it's not what they want to pay for to see poor performance on the floor, but they're actually rooting for their teams in some cases to be bad to improve their draft chances.

So I think we're coming at in, I'd say in two ways. One is, again, focusing on the here and now, the behavior we're seeing from our teams and doing whatever we can to remind them of what their obligation is to the fans and to their partner teams. But number two, as I also said in that statement, the competition committee started earlier this year, reexamining the whole approach to how the draft lottery works. And ultimately any changes will require a vote of the Board of Governors, so then we'll need to go in front of the Board. But there have been lots of different ideas out there over the years, not just necessarily changing the draft lottery odds yet once again, but looking at whether there's a better system here to try to align incentives. I think when the point about this year, when you look at totality of the circumstances, I mean, of course, I'm paying attention to what's happening. And the perception is you have a very deep draft class this year.

A perception who knows whether this will be the reality that the next two years draft classes aren't as good. There's no doubt that's affecting the behavior of our teams. But at the end of the day, I think all the teams need to step back, the ownership of those teams. And just as a reminder that we're all in this together, that we want to have fair competition. We want to have fair systems. and to keep an eye on the fans, most importantly, and their expectation that we're going to be putting the best product forward. So that's Adam Silver, trying to explain his way out of the tanking conundrum,

because it has become a conundrum about, and I thought the one part he was very clear on, and it makes all the sense the world is, teams have figured out if we need to be bad this year, to be bad this year, but not next year. It's got to be this year. They will do what it takes to be bad. in the class that has the biggest stars. So what people heard there, a skilled orator, Adam Silver, because he did a good job at trying to explain where things were at when it comes to tanking,

give you a little history lesson on where the league has been, how they've changed the lottery over time, et cetera. It was the part at the end that made me laugh because he actually did a good job up until the last 30 seconds where he was like, you know, I know this year's draft class is great compared to. the next two and our teams need to kind of look at them and say, hey, we're all in this together. To which if I'm another team, I say absolutely the hell not. I don't care about the next two years or the other teams.

Thank you. I'm trying to get Camboozer this year. I'm trying to get AJ this year. I'm trying to get, oh, my boy from Kansas. I can now that you put me on the spot. Listen, here's the point. There's always going to be that one draft class where we need to have. have a top five pick in that draft class.

This qualifies as that. And I don't know that I have any faith in Artur's Carnas Chavez to make anything happen if they were to get a top five pick. I don't have any faith that he would pick the right guy. See, the thing with this draft class is if you get in the top three, it's set it and forget it. It's like you could get any of the top three guys and feel really good about where you are. Well, currently the Bulls roster, yes, they need help everywhere. The number 11 pick again or 12 again or God forbid you fall even first.

I don't trust them to find the diamond in the rough. You need the sure thing. They need sure things with their roster and where they are. And not only do that any short, like, you're not looking for rotational players. Like, you need the dude. You need a Caleb Wilson and AJ DeBonson. Yes. Cameron Boozer, and the guy you were thinking of was Darren Peterson.

Darren Peterson. From Kansas. Yes. But you think Adam Silver has a problem in general? I have seen Adam Silver be the commissioner of the NBA for some time now after taking over for David Stern. And a couple of things I believe about Adam Silver. I think Adam Silver is a good person, right? Like if I had to say, at his core, do you think Adam Silver is a good dude?

I would say yeah, right? I feel that. I would also say that I think Adam Silver has done a terrific job with the business of basketball when it comes to globalizing the game even further what they were able to do with their TV rights to which other leagues are like, no, we need kind of get in on what Adam did with the NBA

because they got all the different body got streaming with Amazon. They got NBC in there now. They still have, Peacott. They still have ESPN as a point. partner, right? They were able to move on from Turner and be cool, right? They have that figured out.

So from the business of basketball standpoint, what they were able to do with the end-season tournament, even though I'm not a fan of it because I think like the season and the playoffs should be good enough. You win out, you made that a thing where you can get eyes on it. You have a brand sponsor for it as well. You're able to do that with the end-season tournament. but I look at the product of the game of basketball right now and I don't think the product is great.

And I do think Adam Silver's strength, but also his weakness is that he likes to tinker. And I think the league has tinkered a lot. But when you look back at his tenure, what that they've tinker with has actually worked to the level of you think or they thought it should. That is the voice of Russell Dorsey here on Rahimi Harrison Grotty. On 104-3, the score.

We're talking NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and your question is a good one. What is he going to be remembered for it? More like, I think he'll probably be... Outside of Donald Sterling. Because I think... That's what I say. His biggest... He stepped up in times of crisis and handled it the right way, I would think, is the biggest thing.

They got through the bubble season in the right way. I think even this All-Star talk, I think, is secondary to the fact that the league is strong, and they're now doing a transition to the next set of stars, LeBron, Steph, KD, to the next guys. I like where the game is. I think the issue is basketball has changed because sports and our attention span has changed. if the shot clock, excuse me, pitch clock, excuse me, didn't exist. We'd be having a very different framed conversation about baseball right now. But they made the two big adjustments, the shift and the pitch clock,

and now the introduction of ABS, I think, is helped move baseball into the modern era. The problem with basketball is there's still 82 games in a season. And the way we as society have made it a rings or nothing. culture, teams are now gearing to make sure that their guys are healthy for the postseason and they're not as concerned with the regular season. And why should they be? They try to change the minimum number of games played for all the NBA honors, whether it's MVP, Ricky the year, all NBA. That hasn't worked. I think they're still trying to figure it out. To be honest, Russ, do you have any good suggestions for our commissioner, Adam Silver of the game that we

love? So when it comes to the product of basketball, I think I don't want to put a hundred percent of the blame on him because I don't think he in the office in New York can necessarily control how the game of basketball is played. I think that's a grassroots thing that has happened over time. I also think that the rise of Hall of Famer, Future Hall of Famer, Future Hall of Fameer, has changed the game of basketball significantly. But I don't like the idea of like people, oh, you, I saw a suggestion like you take away the three point line.

It's like, that would bother me because it's like, bro, no. What about moving it back? I don't necessarily love that either. You know what I mean? Like, once you start changing, and I know rule changes are a part of the game, but it's like that would feel, what's the word for it? Inauthentic might be the word. I mean, do you want to bring back hand-check? What do you want to do, Russ?

Tell me how you want to change basketball. Yes. Oh, you wanted to get physical again. A little bit more. Because, like, I think one of my issues with, and I love old heads, and I mean that with all due respect. But, like, I don't, I never like talking about basketball. Like, oh, back of the day, you couldn't just come in a lot.

I don't think being able to punch people when they drove to the basket. That's not good? That wasn't good basketball. Like, let's, let's, but like, more physicality. I think is helpful. But also, I just, I think sometimes in the effort, and this is a specific to Adam Silver thing, but I think it's part of the job of a commissioner as well.

You're thinking so, you have to think so forward, you have to be so forward thinking in terms of like globalization, expansion, XYZ, you forget that the people that you're trying to do this for is your fan base, and you're so focused on new fans, new fans, new fans, new fans, fans that probably don't care ultimately what you end up doing. It's cool and flashy and sparkly. That the core of fans that got you to this point, you've completely turned off. You know why this is hilarious?

You just sound like an old baseball fan now. That's what you sound like right now. That's what you sound like. But I'm talking about for basketball. I understand what you're saying. But you sound like those baseball fans that complain about. But here's the difference, though. I'm cool with you trying to be forward thinking, but it's like you don't even care about

the product anymore. Because you're so forth. You're like, but the business is great, but the product sucks. I think with baseball, it's more, well, I can't find the game. Well, you also can't find the game in basketball because it's on prime now, or it's on peacock. But you understand my point of like global is cool. Yes.

But also, it feels sometimes that you don't actually care about the product that you're trying to sell to all these brands and. partners. All that, and I don't think we've come up with any ways to actually improve said product, although the physicality thing is a thing. That's not what they want to pitch to the Europeans. They want the beautiful game. So more Europeans will be involved, more international play. China is a whole country with a billion people. Some would say that Europeans are more physical. Some would. Some would. But in the NBA, we know it's... And that they play a better brand of basketball. They definitely play a better brand of basketball. But the physicality,

the athleticism. There's not as much athleticism in the European game as there is in the American game. That is bar none point blank the truth. All right. We're going to take a time out. When we come back,

we're going to go back to something that happened over All-Star weekend, correct? That's what we're doing. And so you may have heard some of the things that were said on social media, but Reggie Miller

got a chance to interview former president Barack Obama. And let me tell you something. He set himself up for an answer that brought back for Reggie, I'm sure, traumatic memories. That's up next on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104-3, The Score. We're all in this together. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's 10 to 2 on 104-3, the score.

I'm a big Bulls fan. Yeah, we hear. It's Rahimi Harrison Grotie on President's Day hanging out with Russell Dorsey. I am Marshall Harris. We're having a time, right? Well, we were having the time. Tell him what happened, Russ. A microphone.

Y'all got to get these joints secured. But no, we've been having the time. We've had a blast. We've talked Bulls. We've talked about the draft, which you were surprised I was as excited and enthused about. Super enthusiastic about the draft. Like, I'm not a college football guy. Like, I'm very much a tell me who's going to be good at the next level type of guy.

But, yeah, I like talking about players in the draft. I like talking the draft experts like Nick about what's the who's the, who's the their guy. Like, you're going through this for six and seventh months and watching tons of college football, talking to people. And it's like, nah, this is the guy that people, if you miss on, you're going to regret it. You know, we have a whole segment called Who's Your Guy, right? I do. Okay. So make sure you know that. I'm a score listener. Okay. P1. P1. P1. Russ Dorsey, everybody. That's why we let him on the show today. So, you know who else is having a time? Who? Barack Obama had himself a weekend.

outside of the aliens. He was outside in L.A. How about that? With his wife, Michelle Obama. They lived there. Yeah, and they were outside, though. They were at the All-Stargate. They were front and center.

They were. Front row. And Reggie Miller, he got the chance to interview the former president. But Reggie Miller probably didn't know exactly what he was asking for when he started asking Barack Obama questions. That run by Michael Jordan in Chicago.

Do you have a favorite moment during that time in Chicago, in the 90s. I always enjoyed watching us beat Indiana. Oh my goodness. I would do that to me. I knew you were going to say that.

I will say that nobody terrified me more than Reggie Miller with a possible three-point shot at the end of the game. You did push off Michael on that one play ball. Come on, Mr. President. Everybody knows it. Did he push off in the Utah series? No, right?

They didn't call it, right? No. No. We gave it to you. He had to come back in game seven, though. Didn't happen. You know how I know he didn't foul him because the referees told me so. And Tim Donahey, I don't think was at that game. So that's how it worked. Courtesy of NBC there as part of the All-Star festivities,

Barack Obama's waiting for him. Yeah. Waiting for him to ask a question where he could roast him. Yes. He is enjoying himself as not the – It's probably way more relaxing living than being president of the United States. So you can just go to games with your lady and talk to Reggie Miller. front row and talk crap and talk to Aunt Edwards

and have Aunt Edwards say he's my favorite person. Like, yeah, it's probably a way more relaxing vibe for Barack Obama. Is that what KD's going to be like in retirement? Because he's my favorite player that doesn't play for my team. Like, KD is a hoophead to the core. KD is such a complex dude because I know KD loves basketball. And I don't know what way he'll give back to basketball, but like that is going to be,

I think that's going to be important to him. Like it might not be broadcasting, but he has all his other stuff with boardroom. One of the best sports investors you're going to find. Like his portfolio. He's got a wild portfolio. You're talking about a guy that's very close to a billion dollars net worth because of his investments.

But yeah, like I think guys are leaning into it more. I think it took a couple of generations for guys to say, oh, the media. But guys are finding their own ends into it. But again, to circle back on what we started talking about at 11 o'clock. And if you want to listen to that conversation about Wild the All-Star Weekend isn't as bad as you thought it was.

Use the Odyssey app. Hit that feature to go find that chapter, part of the Rahimi Harrison Grotie show. But listen, Kevin Durant is out here talking all the time. Anthony Edwards is talking all the time. Back in our day, you had to wait till a feature on NBA Inside Stuff. A monitor shot. Yeah, like, that's what it was. couldn't get all this free game. But now, free cheese everywhere in these social media streets,

whether it's a clip of a podcast or a whole podcast. There's just no imagination and no anticipation, except for one guy I can name who does that. Who's that? The guy that gets paid millions of dollars to talk, and that's Michael Jordan. Oh, that annoys you, doesn't it? Yeah, because it just didn't. Look how entitled you are right now to Michael Jordan's thoughts and inner workings. know what's funny about the insights of a champion or whatever they called it. Insights of excellence, I believe. Ray, that's what it's called, right? Insights of excellence with Michael Jordan?

Yes. If we didn't get that, I wouldn't have felt any different about Mike. Like, I just, it didn't do anything for me. Wait, so you didn't listen? I did, and I was just like, okay. And this is from like a person who lives in the city of Chicago. But what I'm saying is, if he speaks, you're going to listen to what he has to say. That's the difference.

I did to the first couple of it and I just caught the rest on social. But that's the point. You're still catching it. No. The first time it was like appointment viewing. Oh, you watched it live. I watched it live the first one. I didn't after.

What were you hoping for from him, Russ? You know, Ray, that's a good question. He doesn't know. I don't know, but what I got left a lot to be desired. Basically, Russ watched that live segment. and he was like, this ain't it. But I saw them preview the next episode, and I saw Mike in the same outfit.

And I'm like, ah, y'all just chopped up the out. Yes. This is not what I was asking for. And that's what I was like, see, that y'all played around with us. Because they just chopped up the hour. It felt like Mike Terrico and them played in your face. Yeah. I mean, they did.

But you know what? Your face was still looking at the video, whether it was live or not. You fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And you couldn't. You can't. pull that card anymore. I thought you can't get fooled again. You can't. Yeah. Yeah. A man once said that.

Yeah, like what card do you play now for them? Play more of Michael Jordan. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't think people are going to believe you this time. What do you mean? It's not about them believing. It's like Michael Jordan is speaking. Do you want to hear what he has to say or not? No. No. I think I bet, I bet now that we saw what we saw, the answer is going to be no. Did you want like studio talk, him talking smack about players currently? No, because I knew that that would, you can't pay Mike enough to sit in the studio.

Well, so what did you? You know, you know what they brought? They paid him to sit in his house for 45 minutes? What did you want? If you can't give me an answer, then you can't be upset. Like, you know what you're like, you're like this one X I had.

I'd be like, what do you know for dinner? The best, the best thing that I saw from Mike's sit downs with Mike Tariko was the story he told. about how he hadn't picked up a basketball in years and was scared out of his mind to shoot that free throw for that dude. He was like, oh, this dude was the greatest player ever.

And then, like, he knocked down the free throw, but he was like heart beating fast and everything. That was great. But outside of that, man, I'm disappointed. You're not trying to hear it.

No. You think they bring Mike out for the playoffs? In the same form, yes, not any new, like he's not going to be in the studio. He's above the studio. That's the, That's the truth.

I know that. It's just like... That's what it is. All right. You know who you want to hear from... You want to hear from Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel. Spiegel and Holmes is next, but first, we got transitions. So that's like all four of us talking together.

That's coming up as that's it for us. Rahimi, Harris, Grotie, 104, 3, the score.