Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: What happens if the Cubs' losing streak reaches 11 games?

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote welcomed on Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes for the daily transition segment.

Are worms meat, by the way? Is that meat? Like if a bird eats a worm, is that, is that, is that, is that, is that meat? Is that meat? Amazing. No, Russ Dorsi, something I don't want to say. It is meat, by the way. We were able to confirm it.

We were, yes, thanks to a bevy of texts and other ways of looking up information. Then the question about lizards came into play. Lizards also count because I'm pretty sure people have eaten alligator and other stuff. It's meat. It's meat. Yes. and we asked how many bears. Thanks to Mike Florio.

Thanks to Russ Dorsey for coming in today. Thanks to, thanks to J.T. Barrett for giving us some information that was valid. Mark. It was valid. Yes. Do less, Caleb. You're great, but do less. Yeah, you don't have to do so much.

Thanks to Ray Diaz, Tyler Beuterbob, Brandon Fryer, Cody Westreland, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis. And our transition is brought to you by TORC codings. High performance coatings for your home or business. T-O-R-Q-Codings.com. Thanks to Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel.

You're here. Hello. Hello. It's happening, gentlemen. What's going on? How are you handling your 10-game losing streak today? And that's transition. See you guys later.

How will he? No, it's a lifestyle. We're all dealing with a lifestyle right now. And it's making, it's breaking up families. It's like politics. You can't talk about the Cubs with your family right now. I think Speegs is on top of it. And it's something that we'll explore

late in the second half of the show today, I thought that his approach to Monday, I think a lot of Cubs fans should take that approach, not to necessarily go watch the White Sox. I don't know, that was a nice part of it. I know, but I think just that, you know what, I'm not going to do this today. Memorial Day, I took the day off. You gave yourself a day. Yeah, I put myself in sneakers.

I told myself, no, I'm not even going to grab a bat. You sat next to Craig. I did. Well. Craig, I'm going to just comes to it next to next. Thanks to you. I just didn't even pay attention. And I also didn't watch a highlight video condensed.

Didn't look at a box score. You know how hard that is for me. But yeah, so just completely. Then last night I settled back in just at time to watch Jordan Wicks blow up. And when that was 7 to 1, I bailed again. I left again. There was no reason for you to stay because the White Sox game was interesting and the Western Conference finals were going on.

And that Cubs thing wasn't going to get better last night. And it'll get better eventually. but maybe not right now. I left it 8 to 1. I was like, ah, maybe. I was like, man, it's 8 to 1. I need to wash the socks. And then I saw somebody cut in.

I saw a cut in with Palencia giving up a bomb. And I'm like, that dude is just out there to get some work. Exactly. Exactly. In there in the 7th thing. Go work on some stuff. I wonder if he's as mad as like a role this Chapman would get when they would put him in. And like the set, we have him.

We're so good right now that we don't need you and the Cubs are so bad that they don't need Daniel. Palencia. I'm going, so I've had, I've had this gauntlet. I am within a gauntlet of weeknight stuff that I have going on. I've got stuff going on every night. So I had to, I had to, I had to, I had to, I just stuff. I had to work. Responsibilities. Some of us are like, tonight I've got a junior high graduation. So I've got, congratulations. Yes, the need Madeline. Dear Madeline. Oh, I see. Dear Madeline. You're going to one. I'm going to one. I was going. I thought you were working on the speech, hence our worms meet. It's like, Grotie is valedictorian.

Finally. of some random junior high. Oh, you guys don't know my story. I just sold hot dogs, and that's about it. Drew Barrymore was in the movie based on your life. Oh, that's right. That's right. She went back to school.

So in other words, I had to go out of my way to watch the game last night and then this morning. So while you gave yourself a day off, I've been overworking for the Cubs and the White Sox on my DVR. And now I'm questioning it tonight. Should I take a night off? I probably can't take a night off because you can. You can. We can just talk bears or something. if you think that would be bad on.

A whole four-hour bear show tomorrow. I think they call it take the north. Not a state if they drop 11 in a row. Like it's going to... If this one goes to 11? Look, trust me, I have gone through this concept of... If there is a point where even we go, hey, you know what?

We need a break. You need a break. And we just ignore the Cubs for a day if things get too far down the road. What do we prepare with? Wacky radio bits or something? We just talk about anything else. Well, I don't think we have to necessarily get away from it as a topic,

but I think the honesty of getting away from it as a game is healthy. I do believe that if they could. Nico clearly yesterday. Yes. Yes. Well, and there's like, what is like this? There's nothing like this if, you know, in life. If you're a day.

In life, there's a lot like. Not the everyday nature of it, you can take a break. Like if you're on that team or you're part of that team and you just lose and get your ass handed to you every day and you're terrible, that's just, that's a really bad feeling that just doesn't seem to leave every day. Until it goes, right? Until it goes. It's coming.

There's going to be a five-run inning sometime in the next week or month. I'm watching Mark's face lose company. As he's talking. For which team? For what team? Jordan Wicks walks the first batter on four pitches. And how about then being really good? Like after the game's over, like, it's over.

And then Jordan Wicks is like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to strike out the side. I'm going to go out there and give you some length, even though this game's completely over. But then they got trouble again. And the fifth, that guy is a major disappointment. Seriously. That's a first round draft pitch. Yes.

From Kansas State. He's a major disappointment, and he's indicative, frankly, of an overall pitching philosophy that needs to be getting some observation. Yeah, what was all this pitch lab talk? Well, they've got pitch lab, but they don't have his velocity. Still? I thought they solved that with Edward Cabrera this year. That wasn't enough?

Is their velocity lab? I mean, they could use it. It's called the womb. You saw the stat last week. They're 30th in fastball velocity. Major League Baseball? I believe it. Out of 30. They have not been higher since 20. They've not been higher than 26th since

2018. Wow. That is nine straight years of not being better than 26th out of 30 in average fastball velocity. That is organizational philosophy at play in terms of drafting, developing, paying for free agency. And that is them fighting against

an industry that has decided that we just want as many guys who throw 98, 99, 100 as possible. We know they're all going to get hurt. So I get it. It's a bummer that everybody gets hurt. But look, all your guys are getting hurt anyway. So what league are you playing in? Chase, Velocity.

This is the nature of the beast these days. You could argue the same thing about slug with them, philosophically as an organization. I know that certain people are supposed to be the sluggers. You know, Alex Bergman's supposed to have more slug, relatively speaking, and Michael Bush is supposed to be one of those guys. But at the same time... To your point, Leila, they are built on fundamentals

and doing things the right way at all spots defensively as part of run prevention and trying to, you know, get on and do stuff. But yeah, they need homers. They need homers and they need velocity. Welcome to the big leagues. Exactly. Don't you remember when we heard management say, front office management say,

that they wanted to further diversify the lineup. And that to me says, contact people. It says guys who can walk, and it also, do you have to have a guy who can hit a home run or two? I love that. And they don't have that right now. They don't have, they don't have some of that. And then they call up guys who have the same profile,

contact hitters with modest pop, okay? Should have paid for Morikami. That's what they should have done. Or I don't know, kept Kyle Schwerber. They didn't really need to pay that. Like, Morikami's, his contract compared to some of the other ones that they've given out is nothing. and that may have been a risk worth taking. 29 other teams too.

But ideally you're going with Michael Bush hit 34 home runs or whatever last year. So we don't have a problem at first place. He's back up and running. The better question becomes, did they pay Peter Armstrong purely because of his defensive metric? Or do they pay him hoping that he would get something back when the league adjusted to him after that amazing first half? I have answers for that. But I know Lawrence, you wanted to say. say something.

Go ahead. I just think that even if they did, he will be worth it. I think so, too. And I think why you paid him largely is because his floor with the defense is going to be high. And you paid him theoretically to relax him and let him be teachable and not have to freak out about whether he's going to get paid. But that would be. That may have backfired. I largely agree.

But the problem is they paid everybody based on defense. Yeah, but I don't know that it backfired. into it. Like this is a teachable, it's a very teachable moment for Pete and a teachable year for Pete. And he better be on point and learn. This is, and this is part of why they paid him is like, hey, we got you. You're not going anywhere. Trust us. Listen to us. Open up. But I think the backfiring part is now you feel like you might have to live up to that contract. Even though the contract's not, it's not crazy. Like I remember when he signed it, it's like, man, that is very team friendly. And you're talking about a guy who's probably going to always be somewhere between four

and five, even with this offensive profile because of what he does in center field, you were hoping, if you're the Cubs, like, hey, we may have gotten ourselves a seven-win player at four and a half win player prices. If we stay on the psychological and as you bring up, he's feeling like he has to live up to it. He gave voice to that exactly after the error on the ball that went by him against Milwaukee and said, I'm not living up to it. as a person, so disappointed in himself.

Yeah, he's clearly struggling with some of that. There's a lot there. Human beings, right? Human beings play the game. I'm not ready to write the book on him by any means. No way. It's just I feel like there are a lot of players on this team who were paid based on their defense. It's disconcerting to not have a better idea of what PCA is offensively. Like if you look at last year where he had the tremendous historic start and then faded away.

And the offseason we're all asking the question, was he that or was he the other guy? somewhere in the middle. I have no idea. I think the first half of last season is the outlier. I think. But you don't want the chase rate of the second half to be the norm. I think that he might be a guy that his whole career has a high chase rate and has a high strikeout rate. But if you make a mistake and he leans into one, I felt like with him, and maybe he'll get to this,

I think that 2020 should be the floor for him. But now I'm worried that it might not be. might be the ceiling. I think they'll get that. You know what's funny? I saw a piece today from David Schoenfield on ESPN. I love his baseball writing, but he wrote a whole long piece on a whole bunch of guys right now in MLB who are great defense and no offense, right? And he'd like highlight seven main guys and then he references like 15 other. Danesby Swanson, nowhere to be found on this list. A lot of, the league is full of people like this right now, whether it's Joey Ortiz or whether it is Marcus Semean right now.

Victor Scott and St. Louis, Cabrion Hayes can't hit anymore. Denzel Clark with the athletics can't hit. Patrick Bailey, the Giants just gave up on him and traded him to Cleveland. He's hitting a buck 40. Like there are so many dudes in this league right now. The batting average hasn't gotten up, you know? This doesn't make me feel better, by the way. So you're talking about guys that have failed.

Could PCA be on that trek? I don't want to think about that possibility. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying like it's not as bad as it feels right now. The Cubs are not the crazy outlier. Oh, right. There's all these other examples. Yeah.

But you were expecting more than them to not be the outlier. You're expecting them to be competitive. The team that everybody predicted to run away with the division at the beginning of this year. You also think that one bopper would still be there, you know, on the team that did have Kyle Shore, that did have Cody Billender that did have Kyle Tucker. One bopper. Makes a big difference. Makes the line.

It makes sense. Then it's not two outs when your bases are loaded. Then it's not two outs when you've got a runner in scoring position. I mean, what they value does need to be examined because on paper, it completely makes sense. It does. The concept of we're going to be really strong defensively and our defensive run saved is going to be the best in the league. And we've got we're strong up the middle when it comes to all of that stuff. We've even got a dude who's got a gold glove out in left field.

Yeah. Like, that's how good we are defensively. And it is healthy and does produce a very high floor with consistency. You just also need the moneyed stars. But Aaron Bummer's going to fix him, guys. Aaron Bummer is here. He, in 19 appearances for the Braves, he's got an ERA of 7.63. Her is that good?

His last time out, he walked five people. That's great. And allowed six earned runs. It'll sit right in. Including a grand slam and a solid. Homer and back-to-back plate appearances. I mean, he does have what they don't have, though. So maybe if you do feel strongly about your pitching infrastructure and you go,

here's a guy who's got Velo, can we teach him how to pitch? The kid for the Brewers, Kyle Harrison, the former giant who in the Devers trade went to Boston, then the Brewers got him, what, for Caleb Durbin? They got a good pitch lab. You were obsessed with that trade. The Calderbin trade because he's local. He's a Lake Forrest kid. gets traded and so does Peralta.

Right. They all go, Willie Adamas the year before. Kyle Harrison went six shout-out innings last night. His ERA is lower through his first, I think it's 10 starts, than C.C. Sabathias was when he went to Milwaukee. Remember when C.C. showed up in Milwaukee?

It's a big deal. And dominated the world. It was a change agent when he went up there. When he went up there. And Kyle Harrison has been better than C.C. Sabathia when they got him. It's not fair. It never ends. It never ends.

But look, these are the big picture questions about the Cubs as it pertains to the Brewers. We ask this every year. And at some point, we should stop being surprised. They're a better organization. And the Cubs have got to figure out why. The Cubs themselves, not the fan base. Should take the manager. That's what I think.

The Cubs have got, well. Oh, wait a minute. But see, that's another part of this. That has got to be frustrated. for every Cub fan where you go, we'll make them weak by taking their manager. And it's like, oh, yeah, the other guy is also really good. And that's the guy that he always confided in. And shockingly, he's doing just fine managing the team.

I think he opened a door last night, though. We're going to touch on that later. Murph? Oh, Pat, with his scolding. Okay. Okay. I will say a couple things. Number one, say a couple things, Leigh.

They retained Christian Yellich after trading for him. Oh, Yelly. Yes. Yes. which was a very good move. And they also found a slug. It was just the timing with Andrew Vaughn was different. The concept of found slug is so rare.

And the Cubs did it with Bellinger, but that doesn't mean that you hit twice on that idea. Aren't they, I believe the brewers are dead last in homers? Yep, 37 homers. Just to make it worse, right? They're doing it without homers. They're doing it without slug. They're doing it without slug.

Layla, I turn on the radio today. I don't want to, I want to quote you exactly. I believe you said, I haven't had Botox yet, but it's just because I'm lazy. And cheap. See, this is the kind of sharing that not only is it not available to most of us, it's just not accessible. So I applaud you for sure. I mean, I might actually make effort to my looks at some point again. I mean, yeah.

I just don't feel like it right now. You become a radio creature like the rest of us. I mean, I was on TV with no Botox too. I've never had it. I've never dyed my hair. and I'm holding strong to that. I've definitely done that. I used to.

I quit. I quit the dying. You did? Yeah, I did it. I did for a few years. And I was like, who am I kidding here? I just,

yeah, I haven't done it. You got great hair. What I should do, though, is the Lawrence route of just shaving it all off. Why? Why? Why? Why would you shave your hair?

This side of Layla is right. You're making it work over there. I'm doing the best I can. He looks good with it. Are we all? If I let it go for two weeks, I'm out here looking like George Jefferson. So, hey,

You know, you're not. Yes, I am. Oh, I would love to see that. I mean, there's a little bit left, but it's a horseshoe. The next time you take two weeks off. Give me a picture. Come back with it or give me a picture. Weezy.

I will sing, moving on up. I'll sing that for you every time you walk in the door. Bentley. I don't think it's worth it. But I appreciate the offer. But yeah, that's why I was talking about Michael Smith last week. When we had him on, like, that man is a legend in the community for his hair line in the community because he's 50 and he still has that hair line impeccable

speaking serious to thing if you shave your head i don't know if you know that i got a hair guy i got people who can replace that that's right croots you're not even hearing about that's offensive are you still mad yes now i am you've re-inflamed the beast he is now i mean then there's marshall who looked strange with hair yeah i saw that pick of him and i was like he he he made the right call he did and now he looks like db woodside you know you guys have to i don't I don't know DB Woodside. He looks just like Marshall. Marshall used to say like Chris Paul and at first I was like, no, and then I'm like, yeah, yeah.

You got DB Woodside right there? Yeah, that's Marshall. It's completely Marshall. That's not him. DB Woodside is an actor with a fake name. It was actually Marshall Harris. Am I allowed to say Lewis Goss a junior a little bit or no? This is probably digging too deep.

No too deep. Okay. That's a little enemy mind sound effect. The thing is is that DB Woodside, there's also a doppelganger, another actor who looks like DB Woodside, and they get confused for each other. that guy is also Marshall, but I can't think of his name. Yeah, D.B. Woodside, that's a good, good family restaurant. They have a really good, a really good...

It's right there at Hallis Harbor. Welcome to Hollis Harbor. I wouldn't build a playground on that. Maria Pappas Talks, Tax Law with you. Oh, yeah, DB Woodside. Yep, you're right, Lawrence. Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, yeah.

All right, look, you guys can do this on your own time. You guys can do this on your own time. We've radio to do. Hot radio. Oh, you mean, we can go home? Okay, sorry. to hold you guys hostage. Didn't me to bother you.

Here's what we're going to do on today's show. Our friend Parrish Shuts, who has made the move from Fox 32 to NBC5. Are they just handing out money over there? I mean, they keep doing it. They just keep. It's really weird. Lou? The new studios and people just plucked.

And now Paris works over there. But he's still going to talk to us about the Bears and Maria Pappas. Here's my question. I know we're holding you guys hostage even longer. Relax. Here's my question. Since we had Maria Pappas on, does that nullify the goat curse and are the Cubs good to go? Because we went Greek?

We have to ask Hawk Harrelson. We'll ask him because no one knows more about the Greeks than Hawkerchief. His wife is Greek. He talked about it all. He's an authority. The lovely he talks about her all the time. So Paris is going to be on the show at 3 o'clock. Ben Solac had some really cool, like, nuanced conversation about.

Caleb Williams' season, and we need to share that and talk about it. We will also get into a discussion about someone trying to be an NBA superstar and not doing all the things that superstars are supposed to do. So we got to talk about that and all sorts of other stuff. We're going to start by talking about the Cubs in this losing streak. That is after Taney's Open, which you know is must listen radio. It is next here on the score.