Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: How many homers will Munetaka Murakami hit this season?

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey welcomed on Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes for the daily transition segment.

What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president? Where are the aliens? Where are the aliens? Where are the aliens? Well, depending on when you ask, former President Barack Obama, they're somewhere out there because, you know, it's a vast space and there's got to be some life maybe, but he's seen no evidence on this planet that the aliens exist or are here. We want to say thank you to Russell Dorsey for coming in and filling in on president.

Day. Of course. I appreciate you for having me, Marshall Harris. Also, we want to say thanks to the men behind the glass who have sustained all of this. That would be one Ray Diaz and one Tyler Bureybaugh. And also to the people who make us appear lovely on the

Twitch stream, that would be Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis. And now we bring in the fellas. Spiegel Holmes, Spiegel and Holmes, Matthew Spiegel and Lawrence Holmes. What's up? What's happening, boys? We're just hanging out, man.

Hi, boys. Give me a minute. We figured it out, right? Oh, I guess we haven't figured it. No, quite yet. But yeah, it was good to see you guys. Been listening this morning and it was sounding good. Appreciate it.

We just, you know, trying to really just have a good time. We had lots to talk about, you know, on Monday shows, there's always, like, too much to talk about. But we narrowed it down because baseball man is in the house, so we talked baseball. Yes. And then NBA All-Star Weekend, I have very strong thoughts on that, like the nostalgia. And it's not just NBA All-Star Weekend. but the nostalgia thing is real. It makes us remember things differently than how they were.

Yes. And I want to make sure people understand that. And then we had some excellent draft analysis, as we had guests, Nick Bumgarner from the Athletic, also Elias Schuster from Bulls on S.I. And Megan Montemiro, Cubs writer for the Chicago Tribune. So we just had a good time. We did. Two things for you, Lawrence.

And the second one, I want to get speaks thoughts on it too. Yes. So number one, I had a friend reach out to me over the weekend who is Puerto Rican that listened to our segment on Friday, and he was very gracious and appreciative that we talked about it and said we were honorary Boricruis. So that was really cool. That's what's up. Number two.

Weepa! Yeah. The conversation that we had in transition this morning and led into the show, a home run projection for Munitaka Murakami. 55. I think, speaks. I think Shingo was a little excited.

Shingo's on it, man. He's fun though, Russ. You know how funny it is. I get it. I get it. Marshall got a little excited and said 40, which I think is a crazy number. 40 and 200 strikeouts.

It would be the most homers by a Japanese player in their first season ever. 24 sounds right. I was, I said somewhere between 25 and 30 and I'm thinking 28 sounds about right because that leaves he's going to miss hit some out the ballpark and he plays at the rate which helps him. There's going to be some doubles in there

you know like 24 and 35 like that sounds like a good idea for me. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. The power is supposedly unprecedented from a Japanese player. I heard you Russ say that 200 strikeouts is more likely than

40 homers and I think you're right about that. But I think he's going to get to 30 or 35 if he stays healthy because they're just going to throw him out there every day. He is going to be box office for them. He is a big time signing on a business side. He's the most important and best signing of their offseason by a mile. Sure. And they're going to throw them out there.

And whether it's DH or whether it's one corner or the other, depending on what they let him work out, he's going to get, that man will get 600 plate appearances if he wants him. My only concern and speak as you get this part is the left on left splits are probably you're just going to have to throw him

away in this first year because there are some tough left-handed matchups that he's going to have to see. There's some tough right-handed matchups that he's going to have to see. And a big league bullpen is real. Yes, where they're going to be like, yeah, we're going to bring this guy in

just for you, Big Man. But if the, and I ask Marshall this, if you get 30 to 35, but it comes with 200 punchouts, are you okay with it? Of course. 100%. 100%. Sure. I mean, the guy is, I think it's a smart signing, and the reason it came back to you is because people are terrified of that kind of thing. Yes.

They're terrified that he's like, he's Mark Reynolds. You know, he's Japanese Mark Leonard. He's Adam done. Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, got late. Late era White Sox, Adam Dunn. He officially broke the three true outcome dreams of a lot of organizations. Adam Dunn that got benched for Britt Lillibrich back in the day.

That was not good Adam Dunn. By the way, Adam Dunn's 40-Homer's season as a White Sox player is the worst 40-Homer season statistically in the history of baseball. That's a tough one. Second layer of that question. You did have 105 walks that season. Chicago baseball player with the most homers this season is who, you guys? Hmm. I'll tell you my answer. And I had to be talked off the ledge because I was still very much beating the drum of the newest Japanese player. But I went with an older Japanese player and Sayas Suzuki.

That's my first instinct too, Marshall. It's my first instinct. Michael Bush. That was my answer. It's a good call. I think Michael Bush hits 35 homers this year. Yeah. Could very much. will be the case. I think it's those two guys. I will say that Alex Bregman's batted ball profile plays really, really well for Wrigley. And Scott Boris

was telling me that off to the side on Breggman's signing day was talking about how the way that Breggman hits to the power alley in left center. He thinks he has thought for years that Breggman belonged at

Wrigley. Like his analytics people have thought that for years. So outside shot for Bregman on that one. So hopefully, there won't be any problems with any sort of video boards or anything like that. And then you're good to go. Marshall, I didn't hear what you said about All-Star

Weekend. What did you think of it? Well, I was fine with it, and I think all the people who have been complaining about it, and they need to do better. I was like, actually, they did pretty well. They did pretty well. But here's the thing, Lawrence, because of the attitude coming into it. It's hard to change.

people's my hearts and mind. People have seen what happened on Sunday, and it was actually kind of humorous the way the championship went down because them old heads were like getting that body revved back up again versus players 10 years younger than you and then some. That's hard to do. But the competition level was really what people have said they've been asking for. This is what you want it. And what I tried to explain to people is, listen, we are in the social media era.

Back in the day when we were kids or even young adults, that All-Star weekend that you remember, the reason it was so special is because it was the one time of season you got to see and hear from people interacting with each other from a star level, a former star level, all of that. Now, that's a Tuesday on Twitter. You see podcasts, you see everybody talking, you're not as curious about people because you hear from them all the time. You really do. You know, it's funny, like you're saying that, I think part of the reason that those All-Star weekends were so much fun is because I wasn't on Twitter. It's because I didn't have anybody telling me it sucked. Yes. And I wasn't, I haven't been on Twitter, what, Tuesday will be what,

Lawrence, three weeks or a month for me? I think it's a month. I think it might be a month. Wait a minute. What? I don't know this. I mean, I haven't gotten rid of the account. I'm just, I'm just not spending time there. So like, it requires a little more effort to be a news gatherer and my guys are helping me out, which is a beautiful thing if we need to see something. but man I am divorced from that initial layer of people telling me things suck before I experience it or while I experience it and I tell you I'll tell you what man I turned that game on yesterday that was great that was super fun TV those guys cared when banyama played like he gave a crap and everybody followed suit and then the old heads like with kD was an edgy weirdo um and a fun edgy weirdo like he he had an edge to him all those guys had an edge that was a that was a very good

our product yesterday. And I know we talk about the format and it's changed so many times. What I do like about this format, and if you don't like the overall, I get it. But with the 12-minute game, you understand that we're playing defense from jump because if we get down by 10, the game's

over and you're not going to get to play in the championship game. And it was a pickup game, man. Jalen Brown was warming up on a side court and they're interviewing him, you know? All those guys are warming up and trying to stay warm. And then, oh, we won so we stay? All right. And obviously the old heads got tired, but I think they've found something.

I don't know how long it lasts because we thought they've found something before, but I think they found something yesterday. The players are playing too. I like this a lot better than East West, and I think when you put the country pride part of it into it, and you had some of this buildup leading up to the game where Katie's like, talk to Luca and Yokic in the European.

Awesome. Right? And then at the end, Anthony Edwards said, hey man, shout out to Wimby, because he was aggressive and got guys competing. I am so in love with Wimby highlights. Like, it's become, like, my favorite thing. Like, every morning I'm like, oh, they did that. And it's funny to me that we are watching evolution.

Like, with him, like, we are watching basketball evolution. Because we used to always think, like, growing up, not you, Russ, because you're a lot younger than the other three of us, But when we would see these dudes, when you would see Manute Bull or Greg Oster Tag or Mark Eaton, you'd be like, yeah, why don't they just throw the ball up to that guy every time? Yeah. And just let them do their thing. And now that's exactly what the San Antonio Spurs are doing. You know, it's funny, it's funny, Lawrence, like thinking about all the freakishly big players of our youth.

And along the way, like the different signposts, like, oh, there's Sean Bradley. Oh, there's Manute Bull, which he said. Like, oh, there's Ralph Samson going back away. Well, I'm not going to include Ralph Samson in that group because he was out here getting it. But he could really ball. Like Bradley was awkward and eventually figured out how to ball. Eden was awkward and figured some things out but never really. Wemby's got a handle.

Wemby feels like when you saw KD and you're like, that's a seven-foot two guard. You know, it's crazy. Sometimes you see guys, Wemby should not be as smooth and comfortable as he is for that size. That is a freak of nature. I love seeing him get the ball in a secondary break. And then as the defender, you've got the decision to make on what to do. Good luck. And it's like, well, where is my help?

I'm going to need the other four dudes on the team coming home. Because the way you describe that, like, if you're the guy back, he could pull up, he could dunk on you if you make the wrong move. Hey, hold on you. He go duck on you if you make the right move. Yeah. Seeing him in those moments where the defender is caught in between and kind of makes the decision of, I'll dare him to shoot it. And he's like, oh, all right, I can do that too. How about defensively when he's at, he's in the corner outside the three point line, and then he takes one step and blocks a layup from the other way? Like that the coverage that he has, it's like a condor, you know? Like, he just is so much coverage.

And the thing is, seeing him in the post and then watching the decision that has to be made by the defender in the post. Do I front him? Okay. But they have just figured out, throw the ball to him even if you front him, and he'll just reverse dunk it. Like, it is amazing watching him. It's funny because, like, even him against All-Stars or him against regular NBA dudes, it's like that. It's like the equivalent of that footage of Derek Henry. in high school when he's just

he's just a completely just a completely different sized human and skilled human than everybody else. Wembe can look like that in an NBA game. I mean, there's been moments in the NFL where Derek Harris looks like that too. But the high school stuff, I mean, that's like, I've shown that to so many people in my life.

The coolest part to me is that guys, like, he's nowhere close to figuring out what he is the player yet. And he's already started to say, okay, I'm the best player on the floor. Like their last game before of the All-Star break. He had 40 against the Lakers in three quarters. Like 26 minutes, right? The 60-point game is coming, and it's coming soon.

My favorite moment of your show today, though, is when you're talking about aliens and Obama's, you know, letting the cat out of the bag. But really, it's just a belief system that he smartly is a part of because it'd be an awful big waste of space. As one of my favorite movies on the subject, contact has said, be an awful big waste of space. There's a lot of footage on that video tape. Hours of footage. Hours. But as you're talking about it...

Angela Bassett out here, hiding the truth from us. Man, is she good in that? I was so mad at the end of that movie when they said that part of it was like, oh, so that was all real that I just saw. Yeah, yeah, it was. Of course it was. But they buried the truth, spoiler late. So,

but when Russ just blurts out, have you seen some of the stuff that's in the ocean? That's my favorite sentence of your show. Because Russ, Some of the stuff that's at the bottom of the ocean is... There are like monsters down there. There are stuff that we haven't even gotten to yet in the ocean because it's just too deep and too dark.

They said we know more about space than we know about the ocean. Did you guys, anyone watch any of Will Smith's like where he like went around the world doing all these different things? I forgot the name of it, but it is worth your time. It's so good. There was one where they were like, we're going to take you, we're going to do a deep dive. and we're going to take you to a place where there's no light. And he was like, okay. So they built this whole thing and they dropped him down there.

And then they said, okay, now we're going to flash a light now at this part of the ocean, this depth in the ocean. And then you see all the stuff that's down there. And he was like, what is going on? Oh, man. There's like, there's gelatinous stuff that has one eye and like a hundred. sensors for fingers. Welcome to Earth.

Welcome to Earth. Yes. The very famous line. There are creatures that glow. Oh, yeah. There are prehistoric dinosaur-like

creatures down there. That's why when Ann said he didn't believe in dinosaurs, is like, have you not seen what's going on underneath the water? That's a problem. If you don't believe in dinosaurs, that's a schooling issue.

And even the point of like, there are parts of the ocean that create so much pressure we can't even to them. And things live there. That's a scary part. That's why I kind of believe that the kaiju thing could be real. Just based on that.

Like, we don't know what's down there. Point blank. Man. Yeah, I don't know what's down there. Maybe an edge rusher for the bears is down there. Hey. I mean, it's a deep draft. It's a very deep draft.

It's a deep sea. Get our jacques stole. Let's go. Let's go. It is funny, though, because I'm a huge sci-fi fan. So I end up watching. watching. Like, I love all the exploration that has gone on. And other than, uh, was it Sequest? Was that the name of it? There hasn't been a lot of Ryan, Ryan Sequest. No, not Ryan

Sequest. Um, I love that. There, there hasn't been a lot of sci-fi, serialized sci-fi that's based on the exploration of the ocean, even though there's a ton for us to do down. there. Why hasn't that, why hasn't that been done that much? That's interesting. It's a great question. Like, maybe because we, we don't think of it. Like, that's the final frontier. Like, that's the stuff where it's right here and you just have to be brave and engineer well enough to get yourself down there to kind of look around and see what's happening. Maybe if you ask your buddy Will Shatner about that. Got to say the whole name. They're still doing it, and I don't know how they're getting away with that commercial. It's brilliant. It's brilliant,

Shout out to Raisin Brand. Yeah, they figured out a way to do it. And that's what Raisin Brand helps you do. If you can't figure out a lot of way to do it, have some Raisin brand. I won't be doing the deep sea dive ever since the whole Titan thing. Like, they couldn't figure out what happened. The billionaire died. Oh, my God.

You mean with the, when they control it with the PlayStation controller? Yes. I thought that was fake when I first saw that on Twitter. They put a vessel in the deepest part of ocean, the most press. And they were controlling with the PS5. Hit the Triumph. This is probably not going to end up well. They're trying to put in cheat code.

As well as you want to come in, turn on a microphone and go, those people deserve to die. But you don't do that because you're smart in that. The truck stick is not really what you want to be using when you got people's lives in your hands like that. I hit the A button. I hit Turbo 2. I stiff-armed and it blew the ship up. And for those are the things that, no, not Will's new show poll to poll. Welcome to Earth is the show.

And some of the places that they went, like one of the other ones I thought was fascinating is that they went they went inside of a cave to record zero sound. Like they found the quietest place. And recorded that and then cranked it up and was there anything going on?

Not really other than like you being able to hear the earth move. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. Love that type of stuff. Yo, wait, Ray, we were supposed to listen to the Bill Nye, the Science Guy theme song today. What brought that on? I mean, not that there's any problem with that.

He's talking about his boy, Neil. Yeah, I was talking about Neil Durass Tyson. We were talking about the Earth and everything, and then... I said, Bill Nye was my guy. And so then we started singing the Bill Nye of Science Guy theme song, and later in the show, we'll do it. And then we never did. So then I'm disappointed. Lawrence, I actually, I did watch that episode where they got into the cave and had the zero sound.

and if you crank it up really, really, really high, you can hear somebody say, move Zorich to linebacker. That's exactly what you're ending up doing, for sure. Here's what we've got on the show today. Paul Papps is going to sit in with us today. We will talk to him about his Super Bowl experience and talk some bears with him as well.

We're going to get into our own thoughts. Tanny has prepared a lot of stuff for us for NBA All-Star weekend. The Caleb Williams thing didn't turn out great. Oh, we didn't talk about that. 10 for 15. My benchmark was Make a shot. Make one shot or no airballs.

If you got one of those things right, then I'm good. So beat Drusky wasn't on your... I mean, it's not great. It didn't beat Drusky, but that's not what he does for a living, so I understand. It's also not what Drusky does for a living. It might be time for to stop inviting him to stuff. It is what Jared McKay does. Listen.

Conversation to be had. I didn't like that at all. Not one bit. So we're going to do some baseball on the show today, too. Tom Rickett said a lot of things to say. So we are going to discuss some of those things, including the regional sports network stuff. No bueno. Yeah, no bueno.

What do you have against Marquis? Well, he exposed some interesting truths about the Cubs version of that RSS things. And we're going to get into Nico Horner on Matt Shaw and Matt. Shaw on the role and how that's all going to play out. Good stuff in there. But when we come back, we will start with the Cubs owner and what the Cubs should be doing. That is after a Tanny's opening. He's here today, and that is always a must listen.

It is next here on the score. And this segment is brought to by Ollie's Bargain Outlet.