Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Ryan Dempster talks Tom Ricketts' high expectations for Cubs

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote welcomed on Marquee Sports Network analyst Ryan Dempster to discuss Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts' high expectations for his club in 2026.

Ryan Dempster. Two and two. Going to go the fastball away. Not the location he wanted, but it worked out as fielder. Swimming missed. Seven Ks for Dempster. They're efficient, much more like the Ryan Dempster that we've seen all season long. Swing and a miss.

Strike three. Struck him out, four punchouts here in the fifth inning. I mean, get rid of an old aging pitcher for a guy who can finally help your team. It seems like it makes sense. Yes, me. I don't know how much of a genius that SD can is. It's 8 for 14 in the series, Paul. That's as hot as you can get.

You mentioned it, go ahead. If your coffee is lukewarm in the clubhouse, put it on Pete Rose's lap, and it will be scalding hot. With Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 The Score. I reckon I left a good footprint on how to drink. I know that. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 to score, and that is a fantastic introduction to our guest,

Ryan Dempster, the former Cup from 2004 to 2012, two-time All-Star World Series champion, purveyor of humor and music and the like. And he joins us on our Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the circus sports app today. And Cage the Elephant in the introduction for you there, Ryan, just to get ready for this weekend Datings Fest. How are you? I'm doing great. And that was one heck of, I can't, I forgot I said half that stuff.

Doesn't that suck? That's our daily basis. You blacked out. I spent his stuff about Theo because I thought he got way too much credit anyway, so it's great. Right. That euphemism, though, for the coffee and Pete Crow Armstrong, that was tremendous. You know, we were talking about PCA. There was an article saw that if Sharma did in the athletic talking about his swing adjustments.

I said that that's probably one of the biggest storylines for me is how he's going to adjust to the league adjusting to him last year. You know, what would you say now, just given what you're looking for with him, for example? Yeah, I think last year for Pete was probably as valuable of a second half as he could have had. And people are going to be listening right now going, what, he struggled in the second half. Awesome. And you know what he did in September? He figured it out. And he got back.

He got to his 30, 30. Like, people always do that. We see in the first half, like a guy will get 14. wins and we're like, here we go. Denny McLean, 30 wins is coming. Guy hits 35, 40 home runs. Like, he's going to hit 7. It is so hard to do that month after month after month and the league adjust and everybody's telling you how great you are and things can slip just a little bit. So I thought what he went through last year and then figured out a way to write the ship in September, I just think it's so huge. And I think that he learned

from that, from talking with him. I think he understands how hard this game can be at times, even though all the success he had. And I think we're going to see an even more polished Pete Kromstrung this year. And I think, you know, does that mean he's 40-40? No. It just means that I don't think you're going to see these ups and downs like you maybe saw last year. And I think the overall consistency is going to be better. And that's, that's for me, the mark of a guy who's finding himself and I think has finally found himself. in the major leagues. This guy's going to be a star for years to come. Well, you said not 40-40, and that's a fair thing to say. That's hard to put on

anybody's plate in this day and age. But what do you think he is? Maybe you just said it. Like, you still think that PCA is going to be a star in Major League Baseball. He's more of what we saw in the first half of the season than the second half of the season. Yeah, I do. I think that there's a common ground in the middle, and I think that it leans towards more what we saw in the first half. I mean, this has always been the talk of him. He's been doing this since he was 12 with Team USA. You know, I just think, A, defensively, he's as good as he gets. He's Gold Glover. No doubt. That's one of the best, if not the best center fielder in the game. What he can do on the base pass, you know, maybe there's not 40 home runs every year,

but I think 40 stolen bases a year is something very realistic. I think what you learn, and from talking to guys and being around guys, is sometimes when they get into that home runs, run zone where they're just hitting a ton of home runs, and they're not pure home run hitters, like Aaron Judge or Pete Alonzo or these guys, is that all of a sudden you start to swing for the home run because you've just hit a bunch. Like, oh, man, I hit 12 this month. Cool. Here I go. And it becomes something that all of a sudden you get out of your swing and then you lose your swing and then you're trying to find it and you're being, you know, let me take a pitch. Oh, that pitch is right down the middle. Oh, let me, let me go ahead and be aggressive. There's a first, it's like you just

get caught and caught in that hamster wheel, and I think he got caught there for a little bit in August, you know, July and August, and I think he got out of it, and this is a guy who's determined to be great. I think chasing greatness is a really important thing that more guys should aspire to, and I think that he learned a lot last year. I think he's full-on ready to go again this year, and he's just a special kid. He's a special player, and I think, you know, the possibility of what he's able to do, I think we'll just continue to grow. Is he, Matures, he's still a young ball player, especially when you look at bats and miles and all that kind of stuff on his career so far. I think he's potentially a guy every year that could be 30-30.

Does he have a 40-40? And I'm sure, but to put expectations on a guy, I think, is unfair. And I think we're just going to continue to see a great version of Pete Armstrong. We're talking to Ryan Demster, the host of Intentional Talk on MLB Network, former Cub for many years. And Ryan, I think you're on to something. and Mark has talked about this too. We've talked about it on the air. Where there are times when because PCA is such a good bad ball hitter,

you know, where there are times where the swing at the plate looked a little bit more like a golf swing than a batting swing because he was trying to hit something low and give it some launch angle. I think those are the ones where I want them back and to say, you know, it's okay. It's okay to not go for the bad ball when your plate discipline is requiring you to do different things. Yeah, I'm with you on. not. And I think what happens is when we struggle, you know, I can speak from a pitcher standpoint, because I can't speak from a hitter because I struggled my whole life as a hitter. So did we.

So, if you look at the numbers, they don't lie. Oh, 99, I had a Wayne Gretke batting average. So it wasn't very good. You found your niche. It was pitching. Yeah. Safe to say. When I, yeah, when I struggled, you know, as I found that when I tried to force the issue, throw the nastiest slider I got, a guy just spat on it and said, I'm not swinging at that. And so for a hitter, I noticed with Pete a lot of the time was he tried to go get the ball,

and I'm going to go get it, and I'm going to swing before it's even there. And when he's going good, and when hitters are going good, that's what makes it hard for us as pitchers is we go, man, this dude is like, you know, locked in. He's spinning on my nasty brink. He's waiting for me to come to him. And I think, to me, that's what we're going to kind of see more and more out of Pete is just that comfort in himself and say, okay, and I think that's where he got to towards the end of the season. And, you know, and in September, and, you know, like, listen, you're not going to hit 50.

Just because you have 30 at the break doesn't mean you're hitting 50. And it's about good quality at Bats, and Pete learned all this stuff and talking with him. I know he's determined to just be the best version of himself. And when we see that, he is a bad ball hitter, and that's fine. When you're locked in, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., bad ball hitter. Like, I threw a slider in the dirt that bounced in the other batters box, and he pulled it for a base hit in the hole in the Olympic Stadium. So, like, you can be a bad ball hitter and be successful,

but when you're struggling, that's where you have to get back. And I just think, you know, this is a kid who puts so much work in, and he's going to be perfectly fine this year, and I expect him to be back in center field at the All-Star game and having that kind of quality season again. Ah, Olympic Stadium. Always good to hear about that cavernous stadium where you could...

What did you say? What did you call it? The Staud du Olympique. That's what they would always say when you take that train out there to a, you know, a boisterous crowd of 800 people with Buzas and Yupi trying to distract us while we're playing.

That's hilarious. Stade is stadium in French. Ah. I just remember, you remember the umpire Dutch renter by any chance, Ryan Dempster? Do you remember? I know the name, yeah. Yeah.

I just remember. hearing his voice would just cannon through that stadium. You would hear, strike one from Dutch Renner. And it would just resonate. And the ball calls were hilarious, too. Ball one! It was a beautiful place. We all have nostalgia.

I remember, by the way, that stadium back in my early years with the Marlins, I went in there, and I was running laps after a start. And I'm running the outfield. And every time I get to center field, I'd hear this like a club. like boom, boom, boom, like music going, like house music. And I'm like, huh. And then at first I thought it was the player's parking lot, like maybe a guy in the car really like techno.

I don't know. And so I'm like, now I finish my run and I go out to center field. There's nobody out there. And I'm like, and I keep walking. And I go further and further into the innards of Olympic Stadium. And all of a sudden it's getting louder and louder and I open a door. And there is a full-on rave that is still going from the night before. What?

That's really. Amazing. We went back to the clubhouse with a couple guys. They go, boys, shorts, t-shirts, let's go. And we went out at about 1230, and we had a full-on dance rave at Olympic Stadium. That's awesome. Oh, that's awesome, man. I love that.

We were keeping out, you know, metric shakes and Gatorade. They were having some other substances, I'll just say. They were having a lot of fun. Close sticks. We're at an all-time high. Oh, man. Uh-huh. Yeah.

It's like, it's like, walk at the free party, you never. knew would happen. I love that kind of stuff. I miss those days. Oh, that is beautiful. That reminds me the time that I was at Purdue University, where my cousin went, and there were four of us. We walked into a fraternity house that we were supposed to go to. There was nobody there, except for a few of the house moms and kegs. So five of us got to drink out of a keg that was a party that we didn't expect to have. So it was, yeah. The youth we shared. Oh, it's so good. Oh my God. That's the voice. That's the voice of Ryan Dempster. This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on the score. Of course, Dempster. The co-host of Intentional Talk on MLB Network, Marquis Sports Network analysts. And of course, he was a member of the Cubs from 2004 to 2012. Got to talk pitching with you a little bit here, Ryan. And here is my question with all these arms, Kate Horton, Matthew Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Justin Steele, Tyone, Shoda, Imanaga. Who do you think by the end of this year we will have called the Cubs ace in this starting

rotation? I'm going to say Kate Horton. This kid's special, man. I watched it, I mean, a work ethic, determination, studying college. We would have been talking about maybe another round of the playoffs

if Kate had been able to not have the injury bug bite him there a little bit. This kid's got swing and miss stuff, electric stuff, different slider than we see in the game. I think he's one of the bright arms around baseball, not just with the Cubs. So, yeah, I think, you know, and his ability to sit down on the bench with a guy like

Matthew Boyd and have James and Tayae and talk to him about pitching, these are veteran guys who, you know, have been in his shoes before and they're now veteran guys and just, you know, putting their knowledge on him. I just, I just think he's got the ability to be next level good. And we saw so many flashes of that last year, consistent stretches of that. and I think it just continues to build off that. We're talking to Ryan Demster, as we mentioned, and I guess I have to, I mentioned that I would say this,

so I've got to do it. Your fellow Canadian, Celine Dion, you know the song? It's coming back to me now. Are you familiar? So when Tom Ricketts... I only karaoke that once a week, Leah. You do not. You're kidding, right?

Please tell me you're kidding. Because if not, we would all support you. I'm doing once a week, but I have karaokeed it. See, I knew you would know. So when Tom Rickett said, we need to win more world series. And he said that so declaratively, I thought, I heard the song, I heard it's all coming back to me now. And then it all came together. But I say that to say, see, now we've got it if Ryan wants to karaoke.

Now we're playing it. I love it. But that's how I felt when I heard Tom Rickett say that. You know, when you hear him say, we have to win more World Series. that feeling of wanting the playoffs again. Like, how did that hit you when you know the owner is saying that out loud? He's putting the standard out there. It came back to me.

Well, yeah. And I think, you know, I think that was the standard that Tom set. You know, early on there was the rebuild. Okay, now we are where we are. And there's a World Series win. And there's, you know, playoffs every year in 2017 back to the NLCS. and all this kind of stuff, and then COVID hit, you know. And it changed a lot of things for a lot of teams.

A lot of stuff changed, right? Finance has changed. People left. Other players got traded away, all kinds of stuff. And then you start to miss the playoffs as a player, as a front office, as an organization, as an ownership. And then you get it again, and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, I really love this. This is fun. I want to do this all the time.

I want us to win a World Series again. And that should be the standard. And I'm glad that Tom talked about that because I know how much he wants to win and he wants to do it year in, year out. Like, listen, not everybody's going to be the Dodgers and good for them. Like, they spend the money and they're setting the standard of getting players and developing a winning culture. You know, people are like, I've got the Big Bad Dodgers, the Big Bad Dodgers.

2012 Major League Baseball was paying their payroll in April. Like, wasn't that long ago. Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. And so they, it's not like this has been going on for 25 years. And like we see kind of ebbs and flows of different teams doing this where they're kind of the powerhouse for a little bit. And I think it's time that the Cubs got back to being in that conversation. And I think Tom said that, means it.

And we see it going out there and getting a guy like Alex Breggman, going out there and making a trade for a Cabrera, going out there and signing guys, stacking a bullpen so we have a ton of arms. Like, that's what you need. You need good players. You need depth. You need pitching. And I think the Cubs have all of those things. And as long as you're putting yourself in a top five, top seven payroll every year, you're at least making the commitment to your fans and to your players that were out here to win. And now you open the door. Like, say all of a sudden you're in first place at the trading deadline and you got an opportunity to acquire somebody that might cost you some money, there's not a doubt in my mind that Tom and Rickett's family

and front office are going to be like, yeah, let's go get them because we want to win. And it's really awesome to hear. And I hope that it's something that just is the gold standard in Chicago, that every year it's about making the playoffs and trying to compete for a World Series. And it's just really great to hear him speaking that way. Ryan, thank you for saying that. And then also, before we let you go, we have to talk about this ridiculously good lineup for innings Fest that's going on in Tempe. Friday, it's Mumford and Sons, Gugu Dalls, Mild Smith, group love, peach pit, okay, go, Marcy Playground, Saturday, 21 pilots, Cage the Elephant, Lord, you're on the fray, dashboard, confessional, Silver Sun pickups, Blink 1-82s on Sunday with sublime and public enemy. Big boy, bowling for soup, Eve 6. Like, this is a hell of a lineup, even for Innings Fest. This might be your best one yet.

This is really great. Tim Sweetwood, the gentleman who started this festival, and I was able to come and start being a part of right away with my off-the-mound show, really hit it out of the park with this lineup and who's coming, and great artists, great people, and we're super fired up. It's crazy. Saturday, Sunday, sold out.

You know, if you want to ticket, you've got to go to a secondary market. Friday, we're close to that as well. So, and then the activation, the baseball activation for baseball fans, you know, you can go to a Cubs game. You can go to the home opener on Friday and then go over to Tempe Beach Park and come to the festival. There's baseball players there doing hitting lessons and appearances where there's sign of autographs taking pictures. We have our stage with our show. We'll interview different, you know, personalities of the game, players of the game, comedians, rock stars, all of it. And it's just so much fun.

It is, you know, a beautiful venue right there on the water where you can walk back and forth. Everybody's there to have a good time. It's really killer. We're super pumped. I'm super excited for what we put together for the shows and can't wait to see how the weekend plays out. And, you know, the opening day across spring training in the Cactus League. And then we have this beautiful festival where people get to go check in some music and enjoy each other's company. You're right.

It's as good a lineup as there's been for sure. Oh, yeah. We as a team are trying to figure out how to get there. Ryan, it sounds like you've got a bit of business to take care of. I heard a little kiddo's voice there, so we'll let you get to it. This has been a lot of fun. Thanks for catching up. Yeah, absolutely.

I just, when you guys are lifting, you know, when I'm feeling down, you lift me up, you know, it's really great. It is all coming back to me. See? Thanks for playing along, Ryan. I can't wait to hear the karaoke of this. I am so excited. Hey, have fun at Innings Fest. Ryan Demster, his show Off the Mound will be a part of it.

Thank you for joining us. You got it. Absolutely. It's great to be with you guys this morning. See, Ryan. That's Ryan Dempster and family. Do you know what song they used to... We gotta go to this Inex Fest.

Oh my God. What the hell? How did I miss this? It's like a dream lineup. Like I was like thirsting for that sort of lineup this summer. I never quite got it. 21 pilots, Caj the Elephant, and Lord Huron together. Oh, my goodness.

And I like Silver Sun pickups. Oh, I love Silver Sun pickups. And Cajel... Vertical Horizon is a part of this. Cage of the Elephant's starting to be one of those bands that, like, I don't know, they're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I don't think, but they're one of those bands that have been around forever and they just keep putting good stuff out, like where you really start to have to appreciate that band and come a little closer. That song, I realized recently is a blast it song. You know, some songs just sound like when you hear them full. Play that song. I heard it for the first time all over again by blasting Come a little closer by Cage the Elephant. It sets really good with loud. That's how I feel about Panic Switch by Silver Sun Pickups. Also, Vertical Horizon. Let's take you way back here.

Okay. What was one of my favorite home run calls by Dan Patrick? Out of the island and into the hideaway? Oh. Into the highway. Is that what it was from vertical horizon? Yeah. It was slightly overplayed, but then again, everybody's slightly overplayed.

I believe it was out of the island and into the hideaway. Okay. Do you know what? It was out of the island and into the highway. You've got to double check because lyrics on this show can be suspect. That's me. No, no, you can just say it. Mark Grody's lyrics are suspect. You could say it. That was the old school sports center after Pedro Martinez was on pitching out of the island into the highway. It was like a very commonly used home run call. Oh, by the way, somebody say it ain't so groats, not the weekend because I said I know. I respect the weekend. I really do. Like I understand lots of people get joy from the weekend. I don't. Okay. We might touch on that later. And 3-1-2 wants to know that lineup. It was for innings fest. That is going on.

and Tempe. It starts on Friday, Tempe Beach Park and Arts Park. And it is really cool. Ryan Dempster's show. He's going to have a big part in it. Jake Peavy is hosting an all-star baseball jam. Miguel Montaro is going to be a part of it. Give megie. We are good. Grand Slam, Maggie. Just calling Granny. What? Yeah. All right. We're going to figure out how to get tickets to this. And apparently, like, we got to all pile up into Matt Spiegel's booth on Friday. Let's do it. figure it out. The pressure is on, Mitch Rosen. In the meantime. In between time.

A little bit of draft talk or at least positional knee talk for the bears coming up because interestingly, Ryan pulls Mike at a third bite in an apple that not many GMs get to have. So we'll discuss that next.