Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Ian Happ reflects on Cubs' signing of Alex Bregman

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote were joined by Cubs left fielder Ian Happ to discuss the club's additions this offseason.

The talent that's here and the talent is continuing to develop here. We obviously have some mainstay guys like Ian Hap. Ian Hap. Cubs All-Star Outfielder. Ian Hap, 23 bombs on a year and hits one right on a button. Over to left field his head and one hops into the Ivy. Sheets did not think he hit it that hard and it went right over his head. Two out double for Ian Hap and that is as hard of all as he's hit in the series.

Gold Glove Award winner. The Cubs have won the ball game. They have won the National League wild card series. Battle against San Diego. Not surprisingly, it went right down to the final at back. Host of the compound podcast. We got playoff baseball. We got end of the year.

Where do you want to start? Connect Roasters coffee enthusiast. Here's a man that probably has five fresh pots a day. On 104-3, the score. We toast you in half. It's coming soon. Good to hear the sounds of baseball. It's February, man.

Spring training is like right around the corner. Huge day here at the score, Rahimi Harris and Grotie. Because we went FM today. We're always AM. We're up there. We're out there. The people can hear crystal clear downtown. If you got buildings, if you're on lower whacker, I might go down to lower racker just to see, just to see what's good.

Absolutely. Just to see how it all works at FM. Yes. We are 104-3, the score. and it feels so good. And yeah, one of our friends of the program is Ian Hap. He joins us now on the Circa Resort and Casino Hotline, Circa Las Vegas.com.

CERCa has a lot to do with what's going on here as well. So we thank them. And we thank you, Ian, for being here on this big day. What's going on, man? Thanks for having me. Glad to do it. Yeah, you sound good. You sound good.

Listen to that. Sound crisp. Yeah. Very good. Ian, I understand you left your workout just a little bit early to come join us, so we appreciate that, first of all. But how's it going for you, man? I mean, are you feeling like, A, spring training is almost here?

Oh, yeah, it's close. I probably got a weaker show before I'm down in Arizona and with the boys. It's an exciting time of the year, and we get the best two months ever in Arizona. Yeah, yeah, that's a good time. It's a great lifestyle. I've lived adjacent to it at times and my time covering the Cubs and seeing how that all works.

It's really a beautiful thing. Another beautiful thing for the Cubs this year, Ian Hap. I don't know that you've been on the score on Rahimi Harris and Grotie since the Cubs did sign Alex Bregman. Your reaction to having that player on this team, which won a playoff series last year? Yeah, it's an exciting addition for us. He has such a playoff pedigree,

been on winning teams his entire career. year. Obviously, we've had just similar timeline. The big leagues we were drafted the same year, came up around the same time, and so we've overlapped quite a bit, but he's a competitor and a huge addition for us. It feels very different than when you guys kind of went up against the trade deadline and not much happened for the Cubs and to understand like the financial restraints that may, or constraints, I should say, that maybe we're happening for the Cubs that seem to have now been unlocked in a way with this free agency signing and the understanding that more could come.

Does that have you more optimistic than ever about where this team is? Yeah, I think we had a really good run last year and a great group. And one of the exciting things about when you can keep a group together is just the experience growing together. You know, getting to watch Pete and Michael Bush and some of these guys continue,

K continue to develop and learn how to play for full season. The big league has been really fun to watch. So this group that we've had together for a little bit to continue to add pieces and grow together has been a lot of fun and our coaching staff too. Just consistency of that year every year has been great.

Looking at the personality of this team and you mentioned how that you came up with Bregman at every step and now here you guys are together you know, as I think some would characterize you guys as grinders. Nico Horner is like that as well. Danesby Swanson seems to play like that. Bush, a lot of guys, is that the identity of this team right now? You guys are like the gym rats of baseball, it feels like.

I think we have a group that loves playing, loves being at the field and talking baseball and being around it and thinking about the game. That's a really fun thing to be around, and especially when everybody shares those same characteristics. But, you know, our identity last year was just doing all the little things right. Obviously, we played great defense. You saw that.

We won the team Gold Glove, which was a really special award. But the attention to detail on the base running, guys taking extra bases, guys beating out balls in the infield, you know, to the next base to help out their teammate and keep rallies going. Just little things like that and the awareness of the attention to detail of something the counsel really cares about. and it's trickled down to the group. So it's a fun-branded baseball, and it was a lot of fun to be a part of last year. And the council part, since you brought him up, I mean, there has to have been a ramping up period that occurred with Craig Counsel as well.

He's going into his third year now with the Cubs. He's got a better hold on things. He's got a better idea of what makes you guys work too. So how much is he responsible, Craig Counsel, for the identity of this team and a team, again, that won a playoff series last year? Yeah, he does a really good job of setting the tone on expectations and kind of what's important to him and should be important to the group. A lot of that was kind of the base running that you saw last year and the attention to that. It's one of the most controllable parts of the game, so really caring about that was a big part for counts.

But I also think, you know, for anybody coming into an organization the first year, you're trying to get a feel for everything that's going on. And then you saw in his second year just some changes, whether it's staff-wise or identity of the team-wise. So it's been fun to have him get comfortable in Chicago and see his love for Wrigley Field and the fan base. You get to see that for people over the course of a couple of years. It's a pretty special place, and people get to experience it and see that all summer long. It's really cool. We are celebrating our first day on FM here on 104-3, The Score, with special guest, Gold Glover, Ian Hab. joining Rahimi Harris and Grotie and Ian, every offseason is different, right? And I know you guys

work on some stuff similarly and then some things you really get specific on. Is there something that you really wanted to focus on this offseason for yourself and your development and maintenance? Yeah, a lot of maintenance. You know, I've been lucky to be pretty healthy through my career. So a lot of reinforcing some of the things that have kept me on the field and kept me available. A lot of running this off season, a lot of speeds, a lot of running, and just working on some form and technique stuff, but getting in the gym to start running earlier. And I think just as you go through your career, you know, there's little things that year and you're out that you want to tweak, and that was a big one for me this year.

How was the fan fest this year? How was the Cubs convention? How did it? Like you said, you've been around a long time now, man. You've been to a lot of these. How was this year? It was pretty electric. I was lucky to be in Chicago for the kind of the full week, went to the Bears game. Oh, yeah. But just the mix between the energy of the city from what the bears were doing, the 16 team back to celebrate 10 years,

and kind of the energy from our season. That was an unbelievable mix, and the fans were so, so excited, and it was really fun to see. Yeah, man. I mean, you've gotten this, being around here as long as you have, nobody has a better sense of what Cubs fans are like and how much pride they have or the level to which it goes

when things are good. You know, the Cubs fans are always there. Bears fans are always there. But that level, Ian, that you didn't even know could exist does exist, right? And you felt that probably with the Bears game too, didn't you?

Yeah, it's just electric. And the city, we're so lucky, though, fan base that's behind us no matter what. But I tell guys all the time, there's nothing like winning here. And when you're in the middle of the summer and you're in first place and you're playing good baseball, you know, it's not only Wrigleyville and Wrigleyfield. It's the entire city that's excited, lit up, Cubs jerseys, Cubs hats all over the city. People are excited about it. And it doesn't get any better than, you know, middle of July, middle August being in first place and that place jumping.

Ian, I know it's a brand new season coming up. I'm just curious what have been maybe the best off-season conversations you've had with your teammates about gearing back up as we get a week plus out from restarting this thing. How much contact do you have outside of Cubs Convention, obviously, and some of the other things that you guys do, just in personal conversations with your teammates? Yeah, I mean, you keep in touch with a bunch of guys. It's been great to kind of check in on guys throughout the off-season. Pete was around over the holidays, and we got to work out together and hit together a little bit of Wrigley, which was great.

And, you know, just getting to CubsCon and having everybody there and being able to, you know, that's the first time to be able to sit down and really talk baseball with Breglin for a while. So, you know, getting to chat with him, you know, always checking it on Nico and Dan Tweed and Jamison throughout their off-season. So it's been fun. You know, you get little things, not only baseball things, but things that are going on in people's lives and vacations

and those little things that are really fun to just... You're with these guys more than you're with your family throughout the year, so you've got to check on them when you're not with them. It's weird for us. You go 250 days together, and then you don't see them. It's like, guys, where are you? What are you doing? Right, right.

I mean, you guys have to coexist together, and one of the guys that I know that you love playing with is Anthony Rizzo. He's been hanging around for the 10-year thing. Obviously, he's going to do some ambassador work with the Cubs. and now he's going to do the TV thing with Joey Vado. You knew he was going to do his television, right, Ian? Yeah, that was an easy. That was a layup.

You knew he was going to be on TV. It was just a matter of where. He'll be great at it. He's a great personality, and people love listening to him talk. So he's going to be awesome. I look forward to watching him on TV and seeing him and Joey is. That's an electric combo together. Can you imagine the conversations at first between those two?

Oh, my God. I mean, like, I always wanted to know. when watching all those games with the Cubs and Reds, and like they would chat every single time that they would pull up. I bet you've been in on some pretty nice Joey Votto conversations yourself, though, Happer, right? Oh, yeah, Joey, it was one of my favorites to talk to.

He was great, and the best thing about Joey is he would remember, he'd have a conversation in the first inning, and you'd get back on first in the fifth, and he would pick up the conversation from the first. What? That's a lot of individual conversations. to manage over the course of a game, right?

Oh, yeah. He was on it. He would be thinking about and have an answer for you an hour later. That's amazing. Yeah, and I got to have some good ones with the race when he was with the Yankees. Oh, yeah. It was fun to be able to get over there and hang out with him over there and, you know, talk about where we were going to dinner that night or something. That's hilarious.

So, so wait a minute. Has Votto been or will he be on the compound podcast? He has been. Oh, he's been a guest. Oh, okay. Oh, that's fantastic. He was a great guy. We've had both those guys.

There you go. We've had Riz probably three or four times now. And yeah, we did get Jovey once, and he was great to talk to. Oh, that's amazing, man. He's just so entertaining. And I just, I can only imagine what it's going to be like for those guys when they get together. As we get closer to this, I'm just curious, do you feel the buzz? Like, what is your preparation process when you're a week plus out, when you're less than two weeks away from showing up?

yeah we do i mean we do a really good job of phasing kind of the workouts um you know over the course the off season so kind of at the start of the off season you build out your phases of and and you kind of backtrack to all right when am i going to get to spring and and when's the first game of spring and then you kind of plan it out so um you know the workouts run right into it and then through spring and from a you know moving around standpoint and the actual baseball stuff you know you're throwing more you're hitting more you're getting ready but those first two or three weeks in arizona is when you get all that time on the field to really get as much practice as you need in, which is kind of the best time of the year.

It's a little bit more free for us, and you get plenty of exposure to it. So it's just really getting the body ready to get through these next eight months. Yep. And yeah, man, excited that it's coming soon. We mentioned that the Compound Podcast, ENAP, co-hosts the Compound Podcast, which is now part of Odyssey Sports, actually. New episodes drop each web. Wednesday, Wednesday, with the latest discussion on the Cubs and baseball, download and listen to the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcast.

You should check that out with Ian Hap. He's got guys like Rizzo and Vado who come on the podcast. What is the latest hap with Connect Roasters? Connect is great. We had a booth at Cubs convention, and so we were serving coffee to people. I think Jameson made sure that he got a cup of coffee before he was doing his round Saturday morning. So, yeah, we're still doing the Home Run Club. You can subscribe.

Offield be shipped directly to you every month. So go check that out. And hopefully we'll have a couple cool things around regularly this year. That's awesome, man. And it means a lot that you would take the time in your off season. These days are precious and few before this stuff gets real for you. So looking forward to talking to you more, Ian. And thanks for coming on, man.

Thanks so much, Ian. Thanks so much, guys. Have a good one. Yeah, you too. That is Ian Hap, the Cubs Gold Glove outfielder. For a time, Gold Glover. I mean, I was going to go that direction with him a little bit and just for some reason I didn't. But it really is.

What a cool thing with Ian Hap who was like kind of didn't know what he was. He was a center fielder. He played some second base. I watched him play second base when he came up at the big league level in a couple of games. And to have found his place in left field where sometimes you stick guys, but he's done the most with it. So I'm impressed with his gold glove ability. I like that this, what we're doing next says. at 1.45. It just says

Grody at the Wiener Circle. You took a trip, didn't you? Took a trip. I did it. I went, I've been to Wiener Circle before. They let you behind the counter. With a camera. That's crazy. With a camera. That's next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.