Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Russ Dorsey talks Cubs & World Baseball Classic (Hour 4)
Episode Date: March 12, 2026In the final hour, Mark Grote and Leila Rahimi were joined by Russ Dorsey of Yahoo Sports to discuss the latest Cubs and World Baseball Classic storylines....
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National MLB Insider for Yahoo Sports.
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 Coramstrong 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.
Insider and analyst for Friday night baseball on Apple TV Plus.
Hey man, postseason.
We're a show hey.
And in the biggest moment, on the biggest stage, the best player to walk the face of the earth showed us exactly where he was.
Russell Dorses.
On 1043, the score.
The score.
The only thing we're missing is Marshall with all of his crew in here.
We had Clay Harbor.
Now we have Russell Dorsey, the noted baseball insider.
He's an insider and analyst for MLB Network, Friday night baseball on Apple TV Plus.
There's a lot of gyms.
talk that went on between the
Russell Dorsey and Clay Harbor
transition. I feel like
there was a lot of... Clay was a professional athlete,
though. The workout tips are strong.
You were a college athlete.
I was not. But you practically
were? The only thing that stopped
you from being an actual college baseball player
was the injury you sustained. I can't
say it. I can't
allow myself to say it.
Because you were. You were a college baseball player.
No, man, I can't do it.
And they're Division 1, aren't they?
In fairness, yeah.
I think I'm a way better athlete right now than I've ever been in my life.
He said that.
Clay said that too.
Yeah.
Clay has talked about how if he were in the same shape that playing that he is in now,
he thinks his career would have lasted longer.
Like, and that's a good thing.
Like you want to get to 30 and be like, damn, I'm in good shape.
Like that's, and I think for everybody out there, you don't have to look like Clay Harbor to be in good shape, right?
work on your leg muscles
longevity in life
is tied to
leg strength and having muscle
in your lower limbs.
It's also mobility.
Mobility moving around
and keeping some muscle in your legs.
A lot of people think
that their knees are hurting
because they're older
and your knees are probably hurting
because of mobility issues.
You know what's funny is like,
yeah, you guys were talking to gym
and talking workout and then when I got a hold of you,
we're talking about you.
You're at bad at sports.
Although I'm trying now.
It's one o'clock.
A good influence.
This is the lunchtime show.
That sounded great, though, a burger?
A big sloppy cheeseburger with some fresh fries.
Fresh cut.
French fries are sweet.
The vat of oatmeal did the job today.
A vat of Layla's special oatmeal.
That's a lot of oatmeal.
Well, I don't use, this is just a container.
I don't actually.
There's no way in hell.
My oatmeal bill every week would be a billion dollars.
I'm like, damn, that's a lot of oatmeal.
No, this is a 24-ounce.
She's half a gallon.
24 ounces?
She's feeding.
She's feeding.
Three cups of oatmeal.
It's time for Layla's feeding.
Jeez.
I'm randomly running at Arlington nights.
Like, you come in at 10 o'clock so full.
Like, oh, I've had three cups of oatmeal.
It's like horse oats.
Just sitting there like concrete.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, I would just, I just end up like wanting to run like a race horse the entire time.
One day at work, I did bring oats, apple, and a carrot to work.
And then I realized what I had done.
What type of oatmeal?
This is the rolled oats, just the traditional Quaker.
You have like, there's all these different, like, steel cut.
No, I just want the plain ones, but I don't like the quick cook.
I like the ones you have to actually cook.
They just taste better to me.
And that is enough of oatmeal talk on the score.
Shout out to the oatmeal eaters out there.
Shout out to oatmeal.
We did have no espresso talk, so that was big for Team Italy.
We'll get into Team Italy in a little bit.
We had Italian beef talk, too.
Yeah, we had Italian beef talk.
in order of celebrating team Italy.
And it's 312 day, people.
Chicago.
Do what you like on 312 day.
That's what I say.
We also have some Cubs news.
So this is new.
They just sent out a media release.
I consider it breaking whether or not you do is not my problem.
So guess what?
Wildfire, you're hearing from me again.
Breaking news on the score is brought to you by Wildfire.
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at Wildfire restaurants with five Chicago land locations.
The Cubs have trimmed their roster.
It is now at 46 players.
Left-handed pitchers Luke Little and Ryan Rawlison
and outfielder Justin Dean have been optioned to AAA Iowa.
Right-handed pitcher Vince Velasquez,
catchers Ariel Armas and Casey Optiz,
and outfielder Brett Bateman have returned to minor league camp.
I don't think that's a surprise.
Who, who, who, and who?
Well, Vince Velasquez is older.
Chicago's spring training roster of 46 players
consisted of 25 pitchers, five non-roster invitees, four catchers, one non-raster invitees,
10 infielders, that's four non-raster invitees, and seven outfielders who are three of them,
non-raster invitees.
So that is the latest when it comes to the Cubs roster as they continue to trim here and there.
Anything stick out to you, Russell, as far as trying to figure out who this team is going to be
once everybody's back from the World Baseball Classic.
We got the news today that Matthew Boyd is going to be the opening day starter.
Yeah.
I think that's the one you could say, okay, that makes a lot of sense based off of what he was
able to do last year, probably how stretched out he is right now.
Yeah, that makes sense.
I think the thing when it comes to the Cubs that I'm curious to find out is with the Tyler
Austin injury, like that was a guy that was supposed to come over, hit against left-handed
pitching and be that force off the bench for you.
And with him not in there, does this allow Matt Shaw to play a bigger role than maybe he
would have played had Austin not gotten hurt?
And so I think you saw the lineup with, you know, Matt Shaw playing a little bit of
first base yesterday and like him getting work there.
And increasing his versatility is only going to help him and help the Cubs.
Because look, if you have a guy that can play a million positions, that's really,
really valuable. So I think for Matt Shaw, him being able to be versatile defensively,
but also be able to be a guy that's strong against the left-handed pitching. Like you find
ways to, that's how you find ways to get guys in the lineup, right? What can you do? You're
a right-handed hitter and you can bang against left-handed pitching. There's going to be a
spot for you on the roster. That's the thing, though, with Matt Shaw. We think he could play
all these positions. Like, we, like, I don't, I mean, he's been fine so far. But can he
really consistently play the outfield? Can he play the, I don't know they're going to use him
at shortstop. We know we can play third base, but is he going, like we always think about Ben Zobrist,
right? Ben Zobrist excelled at those positions. I think that we're just assuming he's going to
be good. We don't know that yet about Shaw. Right. And he's going to get his opportunities to,
like everything we've seen is that they are going to give him opportunities to. I think the other thing
when it comes to Matt Shaw playing all these positions
is they have a lot of guys
that play every day at
short. Obviously, Dansby
is going to play between 155
and 160 games
a season. Nico is going to play
between 150 and 160 games a season.
So you're not going to have them
there. Now you bring
in Alex Bregman. It's not like
he's going to take that's way from Alex
Brickman who you just brought in his free agent.
And Alex is probably
going to play between 140
games and 150 games at third base.
The one thing with Bregman is there could be some days where maybe you dh him, right?
But he is also a good defender at third base.
So it's not like you have that situation where nobody's a good defender and it's like,
well, he's above average there so we could just plug him.
So, yeah, they're going to have to do some work to find him at bats.
But for him, it behooves him to play all these positions or at least attempt to play
all these positions to get himself in the lineup.
And I think we had the interview.
The morning show played the discussion with Matt Shaw talking about him trying to adjust to all these different positions.
And I think you're right, Mark.
We don't know that this is going to work out.
Good teams need a player like this.
Ideally, it's not your previously top prospect.
You know, in the organization, ideally that guy's probably got a regular spot every day.
But I see why they're trying to make it work.
I think of a guy like Kike Hernandez who has made a career at whatever Dave Roberts needs him to do that day, he's going to do it.
Hey, I need you to play left today.
He's going to play left.
I need you to play center.
I need you to come in and play third base for defensively and come in for Max Muncie late in games.
He'll do it.
If Mookie Betts needs a day off and McGarohas isn't playing like, hey, play short, play second base.
It's a blowout.
I need somebody to jump on the mound.
and saved the bullpen.
Like, he's done that and made a lot of money in the big leagues doing that.
Also, he hits against the left-handed pitching, right?
And when the postseason gets there, he takes his game to another level.
So there's a benefit of having guys that not only have the ability to do that,
but also provide value in other ways.
But, you know, the real find on Kiki was that he was not this Ballyhooed prospect coming up in the Astrosystem.
He was a gift.
And I think he was somebody who also came into the organization on the big league level
in that way.
They needed him to step up from the minor leagues.
He got his opportunity
and made it impossible to go away.
Yeah, I think for
with Shaw, the draft positioning
is always going to be a part of his story
while he is in Chicago.
Now, I'm not saying they're just going to move him for nothing.
But while he is a member of the Chicago Cubs,
that's always going to be a part of,
well, he was a first round draft pick
and you want a first round draft pick
to be a utility guy.
Well, that's the situation
him and the Cubs find themselves in.
So for all parties involved,
you want to make the best of the situation,
hit against left-handed pitching,
be willing to play all these positions,
which he seems like he is,
and thrive at them, right?
Like, if I had to say at the end of the season,
how many at-bats does Matt Shaw have?
What would you guys say?
Oh, man, that's a good question.
400?
Is that reasonable?
I mean, that's like below, like, last year, Michael Bushhead.
Bush had the seventh most at bats.
He had like 600 something.
So I'm just like taking it from the end of the least amount of bats for the starters.
I put that in air quotes because Bush didn't start a lot of times against lefties.
So I'm going to say I'm going to go four hondo.
Is that hondo?
See?
Yeah.
There I go again.
I was going to say between 300 or 400.
So I'll split the difference and say 350.
And the only reason I'd say that
I would have said higher if it's gone.
The only reason I just don't know
how many, because we listed off all the guys that play
every day. So I just don't know in my mind
where the at-bats are.
Yeah. And so it's, okay, there's going to be some
tough left-handed at-bats
for Michael Bush. Even though I think
Michael Bush might get more opportunities.
Seems like they really would like, I mean, they're letting
them plow through obviously in spring training.
There are going to be some matchups where
it's beneficial for Matt,
or for Michael Bush to be in the lineup.
there's also going to be somewhere she's like, hey man,
Chris Hale on the Mountain Night.
Don't even worry about it.
We're going to put Shaw in there.
Enjoy your day off.
I think those situations will arise.
I think there are going to be some situations where tough left-hander out of the bullpen
comes in and you say, all right, let's go to Shaw late.
Yeah.
The other thing, too, is like, you know, his name did pop up in trade talk.
So you want to make him more about it.
I mean, he still might be a tradable asset.
Do you think he is at this point?
Or do you think they need that guy on this?
team that is in must-win mode, I think.
Because of the Austin injury, I think you need him on the roster right now.
Now, that changes if different things happen.
He's not thriving against left-handed pitching, but also that makes him less valuable.
So, like, I think there are a lot of things that you have to try to balance.
Is there a young kid in the minor leagues that's tearing it up and it's like,
maybe we want to get this kid a look.
I don't think you're going to ban.
him to Siberia this short into his career.
Like, I just don't think they're going to do that.
I'm a never-say-never guy when it comes to transactions,
because I've seen a lot of guys get moved that I didn't think would get moved.
You know what I mean?
So it's not like he's costing you anything financially.
But he just might look valuable to other teams.
Like you said with the pedigree, being a first-round pick.
He could potentially start somewhere else.
Yeah, there might be other scouts and GMs.
I see that.
club control portion of it where it's like he has five and a half years of club control.
They have time to try to figure this out with him.
Correct.
And I think that that probably means more to them than it does to anybody else.
Also, they don't have a ton of dudes under club control after the 2026 season.
They're also up there in average age of team.
Yeah.
Aren't they in the top five in average age?
I think they are maybe top seven.
It's somewhere higher than 10.
So you're right.
But yeah, Nico comes off.
Is Swanson done after this year?
No.
Or did he got two more years?
Ian Hap's last year is a year on his contract.
He has three more years after this year.
Oh, is a three more years after this year.
Oh, man, he's that guy.
He signed in December of 22.
Yeah, so that's seven.
And that was a seven year deal.
Yeah, 7177.
He's that guy.
So three more.
Always got three more years left on his contract.
So yeah, Ian Hap, Nico.
Look, say you.
Say ya.
Like, they have guys on the roster that.
that will be free agents very, very soon.
So it's not like you can just abandon him
and it's like, oh, shoot,
I wish we had that guy with five years of club control
on the roster still.
And I think that probably means more to,
that value is perhaps,
I don't think it's his greatest value to the team right now,
but maybe it's one A.
The club control?
Yeah.
Portion of it.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's,
it changes the calculation.
And who's to say there isn't a point in the year
where he has to get the bats in Iowa.
But also, you just don't know.
I don't, I guess the trade deadline is probably not going to be as active as in years
past, because last year's wasn't either.
Right.
But I wonder if they keep that in mind just in case it can be.
It's just, we just don't know what their needs will be in July.
Yeah.
Which is why it's hard to say.
Like, you hope knock on wood, everybody's healthy, but we know baseball.
and that's just not how it is.
So I think it behooves everybody involved to keep options open.
Yeah, and I feel like the years of control of nothing else,
you're still at five after this year.
You know, that's what makes this, well, four and a half,
but still, that's what makes this such a big deal.
Yeah.
We talked about it a little bit,
but Matthew Boyd gets the opening day started.
I think we could all agree.
Like, hey, he earned it from last year.
He's the veteran.
I have no beef with that whatsoever.
How do you line up their,
the rest of the rotation.
Is Kate Horton got to be your slam dunk number two?
Where does Edward Cabrera fit in?
What's your kind of rough draft, Russ,
as you look at the starting five for the Cubs this year?
That is a good question.
Do we want to say, like, from opening day,
two weeks from today, or, like, by the middle of the season,
what's the, like?
Because then we got to add the Justin Steele component in there, too.
When do you think he's coming back, by the way?
June, because there's no reason to rush them,
because they have decent debt.
Why don't we avoid lefty, righty, lefty thing right now to say like who their best
pitchers are?
Okay, so if Boyd's their open, okay, go ahead.
Like your top five starting pitchers.
You go Boyd, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera.
Yep, yep, yep, yep.
He's probably three.
That's what we were working with.
And then whoever you want.
Shoda.
Oh, you say whoever you want.
So you're saying like maybe a sod, sprinkle a dash of Ben Brown.
That's the benefit of depth.
Yeah.
They don't have to have that.
You don't have to.
And at some point, you might have to go six-man when Justin Steele returns.
That was the concept.
That's what they thought that the discussion was going to be.
Craig Counsel touched on it a few weeks ago.
And we talked about it a couple weeks ago when I was here of like the benefit of depth is
you could have three guys have 25 starts.
You can have three guys have 10 to 15 starts.
You can have a handful of guys that have five to seven starts.
And if the goal is to get yourself to October as healthy as possible in your rotation, right?
Like that's what the Dodgers were able to do last year.
And then their starting rotation was very strong going into the postseason.
The goal is to avoid the ever-loving hell that was the starting pitching situation in the playoffs.
Yes.
Yes.
That's the goal.
Running out of gas.
That is the goal.
Well, I don't know who's going to pitch tonight.
And then you're like trying to avoid starting Shoda and that whole.
thing.
Disastrous.
We will have you pitch
two-thirds of an inning
when we feel like it
to begin the game,
maybe or maybe we'll just
I mean, no,
I want none of that next season.
Feel bar,
feel bar,
feel bar,
he's back.
Yeah, he is.
They,
that game where they finally say,
all right,
Shoda's going to start in Milwaukee.
And you,
you just knew what was going to happen.
And then it happens.
And then you're just like,
man.
And then they win the off season.
They're like,
no.
enough. And that's the thing is that I can't tell if Craig Counsel is more flexible than I give
him credit for or if he's sneaky stubborn sometimes. Because I feel like he is flexible, but then I
also feel like he's sneaky stubborn. I do like the idea of pot luck fifth starter. You know what I mean?
Yeah. You like the idea of a wild card. I guess so. Colin Ray. Yeah. Roddy gets a dash of
unpredictability. A dash. Yeah. Colin came up earlier. Yeah.
I always mentioned
Colin.
You could have made the argument.
We tried to for Colin Ray
during some of those playoff conundrums.
Oh, don't get Marshall going.
No, Marshall and I were on the same page with that.
James and Tyone could be their fifth starter by the end of the season.
He was the one guy you could depend on in the playoffs.
And that's not a knock to Jamo.
That's just like they're going to have Cade and Matthew Boyd
and Edward Cabrera and Jamo and Justin Steele if all are healthy by the end of the season.
And that's a really good problem.
that. Yeah, it is. I really,
let's just save this feeling. Let's save it.
Okay, so now we've got to talk to you about the World Baseball Classic,
because I want to hear your reaction to the misstep, to say the very least, by, by, I mean, yeah, Dero.
Do you speak Italian, by the way?
I don't, it's not one of languages. Okay. And then, yeah, the game last night was pretty
entertaining. I'm not J.P. Morosi. Marose. Yeah, he's amazing, man. He does speak Italian.
I know, and he does all the access.
There's a guy who's tearing it up in the World Baseball Classic for Team Italy that I talked about the last time I was here.
And I got some smoke for the morning show too.
Oh, we got a lot.
We got a lot.
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Harrison Grody.
We are the best show in this town.
to have the coach and or
quarterback sit right here.
Because we're here for a good time. We are
here for a good time. We're fun. We're
funny. We're serious sometimes. Sometimes
we cry. Sometimes we laugh.
Like, this is perfect. If you
want a high chance of a drink spilled
all over the studio, we are definitely
repeat. Middays 10 to 2. Maybe
we're the show for you. On 104,
the score.
That one. There it is.
If we got it all, let's see. It's deep.
That's the Rizzo song.
Why isn't he on the Italian team?
He was once.
Yeah.
This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score.
Russell Dorsey is in with us today on this Thursday.
And the World Baseball Classic was a lot of fun.
That highlight courtesy of Fox.
It was supposed to be on Tooby, but they switched it over to that FS1.
Yeah, can we talk about that?
Are you on board with Tooby?
I'm not on board with the fact that the better game got bounced to Tooby
for some game that people potentially could watch
because Team USA had implications.
That's whack.
As somebody who lives in America and was born here,
I did watch the Team USA game or the Italy game,
curious about what was going to happen to Team USA.
I was a self-centered American in those moments.
The Dominican versus Venezuela game
was elite baseball and elite baseball atmosphere.
That game should have gotten the better treatment.
but oh yeah you did a post
you did Instagram post didn't you on that
your three your three observations
yeah one of the number two was that
the Dominican Republic and team Venezuela
had the best vibes of any teams
and who had the better you had one
one's vibe was better than the other
no I said that uh
or maybe there was something in the music
well Cardi B called out
Venezuela on one of the social media
as it was like you don't want this smoke
no Venezuela had drums
before the game like every game
and Team Dominican Republic has like choreography and dances and everybody got a handshake,
which is crazy because none of these dudes play together.
And then in two weeks you come up with handshakes and stuff, it was great.
But like that game was amazing.
Fernando Tatis Jr., bombs away.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a bomb.
Junior Camino didn't, Homer in the game.
Juan Soto home, like, Junior Camerero is 22 years old and hit 45 home runs for the Tampa Bay
raised last year like get to know that name it's just the environment of pure joy of baseball and
country pride in lone depot park in miami and i think seeing that ballpark which to me i actually
like going covering games there and seeing games that matter in that building is so awesome and and seeing
the crowd rocking in that stadium was great.
It is an innately baseball.
The fallacy of Miami is that there is a huge baseball-loving audience in South Florida.
It's just that the Marlins are sometimes good and sometimes not.
Sometimes they'll win a world series.
Sometimes they'll tank.
And Yasmati Grandal and I talked about this because I go,
it's interesting to me that this is such an epicenter at a place where Latin players
love to play.
Yasmi is from
Hyalea,
South Florida,
Miami suburb.
Manny Machado,
captain of Team
Dominican Republic
from Miami.
Yonder Alonso at the time
was a teammate
when I talked to
who called the game
last night too.
Bingo.
And so,
and these guys
talked to me about this.
I said,
let me get this straight
because as Texan
who loves football
where football is the thing,
you would think
the equivalent would be the same
at the pro level
in Miami and it's not.
Yeah.
So I was thrilled
to see the crowd
actually fill up
that ballpark
like they do and I agree with you
it is an easy place to do our jobs
it's a fun place to work which says a lot
they built a wonderful ballpark there
and then to have it filled with
the crowd of like the OG
baseball fans who absolutely just
love the game for the love of the game
the ballpark is in Little Havana
it has a neighborhood feel
outside and then
I'm a big crowd pop
guy like it's football
like I think of
the DJ Moore touchdown against the
Packers or the Colquemette touchdown and you just hear the crowd like erupt after the Fernando
Tocci Jr. Homer yesterday like you get that type of feel where it's like I know the building
is shaking right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's like I wish I was in there in that environment. Yeah. It's just
seemed really cool. And I think for people who love baseball, it's just there's no team,
blinders of team. It's just like, no, this is really cool high level baseball. Well, it's fun. Like
Cardi B talk a noise about Team Venezuela saying you don't want the Dominican Republic smoke.
Like that's what it, that's fun.
Right.
Like you have people who are fans of, who are just, I'm Dominican or I'm Venezuelan and it's just like, I don't even watch baseball, but I want the Dominican Republic to win.
You know what I mean?
It's funny.
I know a lot of people like that.
But that's why we love the Caribbean series.
Right.
Like the Caribbean series, if you don't know, has the exact same type of vibe.
I was talking crap with Ray because I'm like, yo, team Mexico, got to do their thing because team, I, I,
selfishly wanted to see what the fallout from Team USA getting bounced.
Right.
And then Team Mexico.
DeRosa got bailed out.
They blanked the bed.
Bailed out, man.
They slugged around.
Got rocked against Team Italy.
He was playing really well.
Sorry, Javier Assad was fine, Ray.
It was fine.
Until he wasn't fine.
Two home runs, four to third.
And think about the world baseball classic,
Javier Assad had three years ago.
Exactly.
That's when he really bust onto the seat.
No, no glasses, though.
Did you notice that?
He went contacts.
Is that what he did?
I don't know for a fact.
Yeah.
But like the logical conclusion is he either got LASIC or.
Yeah, I'm disappointed, man.
That's like his signature piece right there.
The glasses.
He also looks slimmer.
Maybe it's because he doesn't have the glasses.
That part is good.
Yeah, that's very good.
I will say I did tune in.
I confess.
I tuned in to the Fox Sports 1 game because I wanted to see what was going to happen
to Team USA over Venezuela and Dominican Republic.
I'm sorry.
I was the one.
I was the self-centered.
You wanted to see Vinnie.
Pasquantino hit home runs.
No, no, I had seen enough of those watching White Sox baseball.
I've beened up right now.
I'd seen enough of those watching the socks,
but I did want to see what was going to happen if they were going to hit enough
runs.
And Pasquantino actually acknowledged it after the game.
Like he knew it was very much on team Italy's mind that they had to score a certain
amount of runs and win by that.
You're welcome, USA.
Yeah, there it is.
We were thinking of you guys.
All right, what did you think about the DeRosa thing?
I feel like you got a mouthful for us on Dero.
I think it's easy for people.
Let me start here.
My guy Dero messed up, right?
Like, I love Dero.
We all do.
We all do.
We work together at M.O.B. Network.
He knows baseball.
Like, I think there are a lot of people out there.
He don't know blank about it.
Dero knows baseball and guys respect him.
I think he definitely got caught up in the moment.
Oh, hey, we clinched already.
The problem is they didn't clinch.
Then they lost.
And then they needed somebody else's help to get in.
And then today he was asked about it and said, hey, that's my fault.
I shouldn't have said that on the network.
But then he doubled down and said, but I knew we hadn't clinched it.
I'm like, ah, zero, come on, man.
You just got to say, hey, I messed up.
But my issue is, number one, how about Team USA just doesn't lose to Italy?
that's the thing
I think you'd start there
there was a point in that game
where you're like
is team USA about to get run ruled by team Italy
like that was
that was gonna happen
until PCA hit two homers
and kind of kept
team USA in the game
that's one
number two
Dero isn't the only person
who's supposed to know
that they hadn't clinched on that staff
should all be embarrassed
he has a whole coaching staff
including a former Cubs manager
they have a GM
Don't they?
There's a G.
There's a,
the PR staff,
somebody has to tell Gero.
So media relations.
Hey man,
we actually have to win three games and go three and O in,
in,
or four and O is,
right?
You got a four and on group A
to move on for sure,
for sure,
or be one of the top two,
you know,
and somebody has to tell him,
hey man,
we didn't clinch nothing yet.
So that's,
I can't put it 100%.
He plays a role in it
because he's the figurehead.
but to say it was just his fault is unfair to the other people who were supposed to know that they hadn't clinched yet.
All right.
Speaking of Team Italy.
Amen.
You got the floor.
There's a guy who's been playing shortstop for Team Italy by the name of Sam Antanachi.
And people are tweeting about him.
He's having multi-hit games and, you know, his IQ is on display and catching people off guard on the bases, getting out.
And a couple weeks ago, here on this show, here on this very show.
Right here.
I told a story about a scout that two years ago told me, hey, people need to keep an eye on this kid because he's going to be good.
And then the next day, I'm scrolling on Instagram and I see, I hear my voice.
But the figures on the screen weren't of me or the two of you guys.
it was of the morning show.
Mullen Hall.
Mullian Hall.
And there was a lot of laughter after our clip there.
And I'm like, what's going on here?
So I made sure I listened back and there was the, they were taken aback by my story.
Now, a couple things.
Number one, my main point of telling that story was that people outside of the Chicago
White Sox.
years ago, identified Sam Antanachi and said, this guy has tons of tools, and tools like this
keep a guy in the big leagues for a long time, right?
The average career of a player in the major leagues is five years, maybe a little bit less
these days.
And so for a scout who's been doing it for a while to say, this guy has the tools to play
in the big leagues for a long time, I think that matters.
And if you want to say, oh, 12 to 15 is crazy.
He's going to be better than Braden Montgomery.
That's crazy.
He wasn't saying that he's going to be the best prospect of the ones that they had.
He was just saying with his skill set, that guy, you can say he's going to play in the big leagues for a long time.
That's it.
That's the only smoke I have for Mollion Hall.
Like there's no beef, nothing like that.
I'm not doing not doing radio wars here.
No, man. I just had no radio wars.
I just wanted to let...
We'll push back.
Yeah.
It's okay.
That's what we do.
That's the essence.
It's okay.
The other part of that story
that you told of your favorite scout
who loved to Sam Antanachi,
you said he hustles everywhere.
Yes, and you're seeing it on display.
Yep.
On the biggest stage.
Like, hey, man.
Shout out to Springfield Sacred Hart Griffin.
And really, Sam Antanachi and Kyle Teal,
go get him, White Sox.
Poor Kyle Teals now hurts.
I was watching the game and saw him hit...
And true White Sox fashion.
We have a soft tissue injury.
Saw him hit the back and then just, I'm like, oh, no.
And my dad texts me, who's a notorious White Sox fan.
What's up, Ricky?
And he's like, yeah, man, that's probably going to be six weeks.
The White Sox next day.
He's going to be out there at least four to six weeks.
On the scale of, on the newly created White Sox, White Sox, So White Sox, So,
White So, Scale of Soft Tissue injuries.
Where do you rank Kyle Teals?
Listen, it didn't, he didn't rip the hamstring off the bone, like happened with,
that's what happened with Luis Robert.
Like his leg exploded and run down the line.
That was bad.
That was, he missed like half the season with that one.
And then there was the Eloy Humana's smattering of hands.
Just jumping in the nets and whatnot.
Okay.
I think the worst Alloy injury for me is, it was one of his first spring trainings with the White
Sox when we knew he'd be on the team where he tried to rob a Homer and hung on the wall.
his shoulder popped out the socket.
I should laugh.
And it was just like, brother, not only were you not robbing that Homer, that was like
20 feet over the wall.
What are you doing?
It is like in a spring training game, we shouldn't be trying to rob homers.
And you know, you should know your body enough.
But yeah, like he hangs on the wall, shoulder pops, and it's like, he had a torn pectoral muscle.
You know he's only 29?
Eloy?
He feels like he should be 33 right now.
He's been swinging it for the...
Baltimore.
He's on the Blue Jays.
He had a son of the minor league with the Blue Jays.
Oh, okay.
He was with Baltimore last year.
And he's been swinging the Batwell, so he might make the team.
Okay.
All right.
The Blue Jays?
No reason to not root for Eloy.
I mean, it's not a nice guy.
He was very popular.
He plays with the joy of life.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sometimes it doesn't happen in your first stop.
That was a guy who was a top five prospect of major league baseball.
I was very excited about him.
Notable soft tissue injuries in recent White Sox history.
Hamstring.
Didn't he injure Charlie Tilsen back in the day?
Like he ran into Charlie Tilsen.
Don't you hurt Charlie Tilsen?
Poor Charlie Tilsen.
Charlie's doing fine.
He's doing fine.
Yeah, he's got a beautiful family.
Charlie Tilsen, I think.
Shout out to Charlie Telson.
That was like bad White Sox good stories.
Charlie Tilsson.
Yeah.
I hung out with him weirdly enough at a birthday party two years ago.
What?
We love.
a good person from the area.
And he was very happy.
Of course he wanted to go better with the White Sox.
But he's enjoying his life.
And I haven't checked back with him for a little while,
but he seems to be a very happy man.
And he could always say that he played for the White Sox.
As a kid who grew up in the North suburbs,
like shout out to Chuck Tilson, man.
Pretty sure we created a graphic at one point.
Charlie Tilson.
I'm glad we got to Charlie Tilson.
I am too. That's great.
We had a graphic one time that had his war just so we can have the graphic
that said Charlie Tilsons war.
Oh, very good.
Charlie Wilson's war,
Charlie Tillson's war.
It was his actual,
you know, war measurement.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That made it make sense.
Coming up next year on.
Let me tell you about Charlie Tilson.
Coming up next to Rahimi Harris and Grotie,
let me show you a trick.
Hey, Grody,
when'd you get in?
Oh, I'm excited.
Next.
On the score.
I'm beamed up right now.
I'm in Beed out.
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When's you get in? This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie with Russell Dorsey in on this
Thursday. And
Russ, you are now going to be
present for a tradition we
like to call, when
did you get in?
Okay, A.k.a.
When did you get into spring
training? Pat Hughes,
Ron Coomer, take it away.
Seventh inning? Ron,
I've been in Arizona now for a few days.
I know you've been out here for a couple of weeks.
But you
always hear the similar questions
when you first arrive.
And it becomes kind of
comical after a while.
You anticipate hearing them
and then you just smile when you do.
But it doesn't take long.
Do you remember the four questions that we
have informed
our audience that you invariably
will hear over and over
and over again every single spring?
You'll hear four questions.
Do you remember what the first couple were?
Yeah, I remember them. Go ahead.
No, I do. I know.
This is...
Well, the first one they see you.
Usually they've forgotten your name.
That's A.
And then B, when did you get in?
Here's the ground ball to short.
And the throw to first is going to be in time.
It's a one, two, three inning.
Bottom of the eighth inning gets underway.
We are chuckling about the four questions that you hear when you arrive at spring training every year.
The first one is, when did you get in?
and that's exactly the way you hear it many times too
especially if the person hails from
the southern portion of our great country
when did you get in
so in other words
you know when did you arrive then the next one
where you stay in
that one always kind of puzzles me
where are you staying
do you really care
where anybody else in the entire traveling party
is staying during the spring
no nor do I really care
share where I'm staying.
I'm in the state of Arizona.
How's that?
Yeah.
I sometimes think that that question is put to you
only so that they can then tell you
where they are staying.
Yeah, yeah, I could go with that.
Yeah, we're staying over in Scottsdale,
a real fancy place.
Uh-huh.
Well, good for you.
Yeah.
I'm staying over in the mudflats.
Yeah.
Oh, solid.
The old.
Mudflats.
Yeah, the mudflats section of the valley of the sun.
Glad I haven't been over there lately.
You wouldn't want to be.
And then those of us that arrive in spring training,
did you have a good winter?
And I'll tell you why it confuses me.
How much detail do you want?
There's the pitch on the way, a swing, and a chop fowl.
Most of the time you just say, yeah, great.
Yeah.
Good.
Yeah.
Sometimes you feel like discussing things in detail.
Do you ever go into detail about your winter?
Well, our dog got sick and had to put a bandage patch on him for a while.
The last one is always, well, have you lost some weight?
You look good, have you lost some weight?
I like to say, no, but I've gotten a little taller.
I have.
I'm working with a trainer and some real good stretching.
And as a result, I'm actually much taller than I was a year ago.
Thanks for asking.
I didn't know at our age.
We could get taller.
It's a lot of stretching.
Yeah, a lot of stretch.
That's what it is.
Yeah.
I need to get one of those machines for the house.
The very first day I got into camp,
you know, I wasn't thinking about your four questions, to be honest with you,
but I got blasted with the first one really before I even got out of my car.
When did you get in?
Right now.
Because I pulled into the lot, saw somebody in it.
That was the first question.
And I'm like, well, you know, I still got stuff in the back if you want to help.
Sure.
Right now.
Yeah.
And next year I'll send you my itinerary.
So you'll be waiting for me.
He's not wrong about the questions.
It's not at all.
Right?
Like, as somebody who's been to Arizona, those are generally,
and they might be different variations of those.
four questions.
That's great.
When did you get in is the best.
Did you notice Pat tried to be formal about it the first time.
He said like, when did you get in?
And I'm like, nah, Pat.
When did you get in?
But then it became, where'd you get in?
I don't necessarily ever remember it always being the Southern accent with the when to get in far.
I love that that's what it is because that really makes the whole bit.
But I don't necessarily remember in my three.
years of covering spring training full-time
having an extra amount of southern
accents.
What did you get in?
The underrated question in there was
how was your winner?
And it's usually how is your off-season.
But that's a big question that people ask
when I haven't seen you since the postseason.
Yeah, the weight loss thing too is real.
I definitely ask about the off-season.
I ask how people's off-season.
That was your off-season.
Where are you staying?
That's a safety concern.
I don't know if I like that one.
Yeah.
Don't tell him what you don't tell.
I think Coom was on to something.
I really don't want to tell you.
By the way, that was Pat's last spring training game of the year before the real stuff starts.
So I also think, like, he was hilarious throughout that whole game.
I think it's because that was like his Friday.
Yeah, he's like, I'm letting it fly.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm letting on all the notes.
We're going to do.
I'll be on a flight here soon.
I guess.
I'm playing the hits.
That was Saturday.
And then Sunday, he was funny, too.
So we may play that for you tomorrow.
I don't know yet.
But always, always, always.
love listening to Pat and Rod, and yeah, we all had points. We were laughing at what they were saying
over the weekend. Coming up next, it is time for our afternoon show. Lawrence Holmes, Matt Spie,
thanks for coming in today. Thank you guys. Happy to see you. Spring is here, and the shopping list is
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