Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: White Sox hit Shota Imanaga hard

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

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

flirted with the realtor twice twice and then I backed out. So you just brought up my life. How is that not the Bears right now? That's a great. That's a great point. Yes. Flirting and then pulling out. Wait a minute.

I just cringed. You did. You had like a visceral reaction. That's what she said. Yo. I was watching the segment when it happened. I was like, oh boy.

Did I cringe then too during the segment? No, you leaned into it. Okay. Yeah, you did. You actually will physically smile and lean in. Yeah, yeah, I know, but it didn't. Like hearing it back, I guess that's radio for you. Like you say, open up mouth.

Isn't that what Spiegel always says? Open mouth, say things. Open mouth, say things. And then you have to steer into the skit. I think I did. That's just the best way to straighten out. But then when you hear it back. He tried to say, he's like, Laley, you know what, you know, you know what that is.

And I'm always like, no, I don't actually. God, that's the first time I've made myself cringe. No, it's actually not the first time. Ooh, that hit me. Thanks to Ray Diaz. Thanks to Tyler Buterbaugh. Thanks to Brandon Friar, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, Max Curtis, Cody Westerlin. Thanks to Russ Dorsey for hanging out with us.

Thanks for Bell Whittington popping on. How about that? He just was in the building and decided to hop on with us. Yeah, I saw him downstairs and I was like, do you need someone to take you up? And he's like, no, Rich Wyatt's going to come down and give me a pass. And I was like, oh, all right, well, see you later. Thanks to Mark Gonzalez and thanks to Dan Weider. What a show.

Weedman. Weedsie. That's. Hi. Gonzo? Let's go. I know. Hi, Lawrence.

Hi, Matt. How are you guys? We're good. Well, I know I am. I shouldn't speak for Speaks. Speaks? All right. No one's speaking for speaks.

So I'll speak for speaks. Open mouth. He's doing well. He's doing great. No, I'm doing really, like, I'm doing well. Open mouth don't say things. It was one of those weekends where, like, like I had a goal in mind for things,

like how I wanted my weekend to go. And sometimes that ends up in the place of it goes completely left and you end up happy with it. This didn't. Like I had a goal for the weekend and I accomplished the goal for the weekend. And I was like, ah. And like last night around 8 o'clock was like, I don't have anything left to do. I did my duolingo.

I did all my good in the, well, that would have been great. But... See, that's one of those you might want to review the tape. Yeah. And I'm leaning into it now. But it was fantastic. It kind of looked and like,

I finished the show that I was watching. The diplomat, highly recommend it. Highly recommend it. Carrie Russell, non-felicity, but still Carrie Russell. So it was a good weekend.

How about you all? I had a bad weekend. I had too much bad stuff happening and I was ill. There's nothing worse than, And I got a few days off at the end of last week, and I started getting sick in the last few days. Why are you just now telling me this? Well, because... We would have sent you home from school.

No, no, no. I'm better now. I'm better now. And you know how it is when you're kind of ill. And the worst form of illness that exists in life is a stomachache because there's just only so much you could do about it. And you can't really eat. So there's just no satisfying in any way, shape, or form. So, yeah, that was a great weekend for me, dealing with that.

But I'm happy to be here today. I had to be home. I had to be home. I was kind of getting over something that I had to deal with on Thursday and Friday, but all is well. But I did a lot of home stuff like puzzles. I started coloring guys. I have really good markers and I color in things.

What's happening to me? I don't know. I own adult coloring books, but I listen to music and podcasts and stuff. Coloring is relaxing. Actually, you're just trendy. Everybody's doing that now. It's so damn satisfying.

I can't even tell you. So, but like I'm hanging around with that. Listening to the boy practice piano and talking with him. Lots of parenting going on at the house this weekend. It was nice. Low-key family stuff. So nobody sat in the suite at the Bulls game yesterday. Nobody went to the matinee game that we all could have gone to.

Ray was there to witness Ben Johnson almost take his shirt off. Take his shirt off. How about that? Ben Johnson shows up to a Bulls game. Bleep gets corrected. Oh, wow. Oh, my God, you're right. I'm thinking I'm the best coach in America.

But what about Scotty being there? Scotty's messy right now. No, but him being there is kind of not messy. Like him... Scottie brings the mess everywhere he goes, but to your point, Laila, it's nice that, like, everybody can seemingly get along, but they've played like ass with Scotty in the building.

I think Lawrence is on to it. Ben brings that sense of honest accountability to any team that he's near. these days. And Rob Dillingham was the big benefactor. Well, Rob Dillingham had a miss dunk for the ages last week. Oh, Rob Dillenham. Also, yeah, and by the way, not for nothing, that bounce pass from Giddy to Modis for the slam was nice and confident. I was like, oh, I guess the bucks of mine is Janus. Okay. And then Janus was apparently in the

building for the elimination chamber. Yeah, so that was cool. Also, we should probably follow up. because we did ask Seth Rollins if he was the guy in the black hoodie when we had Seth Rollins on. Turns out we were right. He was the guy in the black hoodie. Now what? Now what happens? Nothing. But shout out to Jake Cario.

She is the women's champion and she's also an AKA. And so she got like an AKA outfit. and then the AKA headquarters is in Hyde Park on 57th and Stony Island. I didn't know there was the headquarters. Yeah, the national headquarters of the A.K.A. is right there across the street from me. You probably walked past it. I did walk past it. Yeah. Yeah.

I saw it. I was like, oh, that's cool. A.K.A. is an office here because I just assume. No, it's the national office. So she took a picture with this incredible pink and green outfit on in front of it. And like, so shout out to Jay Cargill and all the folks, the Chicago people that came through, including Seth Freaking Rollins, who we smoked

out as the guy in the hoodie. Also, credit to A.K., a tremendous organization. No doubt about it. A lot of people you probably know. Yes. Yes. It's true. Got a lot of friends in that. I'm sorry, guys. I didn't have a very exciting weekend. I was outside a lot

during the week, so I stayed inside on the weekend. And I got my tax documents together and sent those off, which was a big plus. That's a win, man. I watched Shode I Managa and kept texting the home runs. Oh, boy. Yeah, so there was that.

I watched the Illini, Michigan game. That was not fun. But I felt like it was necessary because, you know, we're in that time of year. And I have an affinity for the Illini, having gone to North Texas. Yeah, they got beat down. Yes. We are in that time of year. To your point, Leila.

And I have sworn off watching Bulls basketball for the most part, although I did watch some of that yesterday. I found my way to it. and then found my way back to it, thanks to the group thread. But my goodness, the amount of college basketball I'm watching, the amount of intake I am providing in terms of like bull's targets and also getting theoretically smarter for the NCAA tournament. So this time I can like have my brackets blow up with knowledge instead of having them blow up without knowledge in a given year

because they'll still freaking blow up. But like, I am loving the college basketball university. This is a crazy deep freshman class, and I can't get enough of big-time games. What happened to the Illinois then? If you're going to be a big-time college guy. They got bulldozed by a very physical Michigan team. And I think Brad Underwood was disappointed at how much Michigan got after them on the boards and pushed them around in the paint.

That game was it lacked a little bit of flow until you got to like the 8. 18 or 16 minute mark in the second half. And then Michigan was just like, yeah, let me just push you all out of the way. And they got blowed out in that one. But they'll rally. They'll probably end up being the top three seed in one of the regions if they don't have like a really nice run in the Big Ten tournament. That's my guess right now.

I think that that's all incredibly solid. You know, like Wagler is really good, but I don't know that he's quite electric. enough to fight through everything he needs to fight through sometimes, but they were indeed out physicaled. I watched Arizona go up 20 on Kansas on Saturday and then have that one come all the way back to a two-point game and then Arizona go back up by 20. They're so deep and so strong and so varied. I think they're going to win the whole thing. Big 12 is a hell of a conference. Oh my goodness. And Michigan is impressive, but without Kaysan, I think they're getable.

It's going to be a really good tournament, man. There's lots of good teams, lots of good players out there. But I don't think that that injury is enough to affect Michigan seating. Like, you know what this is going to come down to, guys. It's going to come down to who the selection committee has biased toward in conference. Like which conference do they think is superior and that will dictate the seating. The seating doesn't really matter to me unless you're a one or a two. What matters to me is what is your possible

Sweet 16 matchup. Like that's the one, like, if you're a three or a four, then I'm expecting you to advance to the next weekend and who's waiting for you? Like, who's lurking for you, like, in that next weekend? That's what I worry about with Illinois. Like, who's going to be waiting for them that second weekend? Do you guys know what former Bulls coach's kid is in part leading the way for a school that is hoping to get their first ever NCAA win.

Tim Floyd. This year. Keep going. Fred Hoyberg. Correct. Sam. Sam Hoyberg. Sam Hoyberg at Nebraska has been fighting against the whole coach's kid thing his entire life.

But that kid balls, he balls so hard on defense and with scrappy little stuff. They love him. Nebraska faithful. love him. What, they start out, 20 and O, Lawrence? They started out something ridiculous. They're going to win their first ever NCAA game. And you talk in matchups is what got me.

Depending on the matchups, they could be a sweet 16 team. They're fun. Well, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about, especially since it became the conversation of college basketball this past weekend. And we were talking about it a little bit when we were talking with Jeremy Warner. There are a lot of people who don't think that Miami even belongs in the tournament, even though they are still. undefeated right now.

In the tournament? They are. In the, as they call it, tournament. Layla, going into... They belong in the tournament. Going into Friday, Joe Lennardi had them as an 11 seed. Okay, then. An 11 seed for an undefeated team.

That means that you might end up playing on Tuesday and not necessarily on Thursday. And there were some folks that were saying they are two losses away from not getting in the tournament. Think about that. And this is what the NCAA tournament is supposed to be. It's supposed to be the teams like Miami that have had, yeah, the Mac is not good this year. So then why, you get in over the nine seat in the Big Ten conference? I mean, that's. But that's frustrating because you do your job as a team.

You do your job and that was the whole point in the tournament, was to play well enough to qualify for the dance. And if you win your conference tournament, you know, Brad Underwood was on the wrong side of one of those at SFA, despite leading two years of incredible teams. And then because his team lost his conference tournament, they didn't get a bid. So they're doing everything they're supposed to do

to get into the dance. And I'm not going to sit here and listen to how some bubble team in a conference that's got a lot of really good teams should get in over an undefeated one. I think that you're right. That's the price you pay when you decide to get into the Big Ten or the Big 12 or the SEC. That's the price you pay.

I agree. But I think the Illinois connection, to it is kind of interesting too, because the team that could theoretically knock Miami out of the Mac tournament and maybe steal a bid is Akron, coached by John Gross, who used to coach the Illini. Yes, who used to coach at Ohio? Was the University of Ohio from whence he came? The fighting John Greenberg. Yeah, that's right.

And he was great there. He's been great at Akron. Okay. I think he's been to the tournament three times. at Akron and this would be his fourth, he's found his level. And he's doing well there, and I'm happy for him. I'm not ready for this yet. No?

Who are you guys? It sounds like you are. You've given in to where we are in the calendar. With spring games that don't feel so consequential because the WBC looms and a weird, odd Bulls team, it's college buckets, and that's all right. That was also the debate. Was it not? It was fake baseball game versus real Bulls games.

Was the 27-0 run real, though? Did that really happen? It was real. I don't know if that really happened. Were we more discouraged by Shoda Imanaga or encouraged by the specific White Sox players that were hammering the baseball in the game yesterday? You got guys like Edgar Carrow, who's been really good so far in the spring,

and Braden Freakin Montgomery, who could be with the White Sox real team by the middle of the summer this year. The one that Montgomery hit was absolutely crushed. Yeah, that was not an Arizona home run as everybody's giving that excuse. I think the exit below on that was like over 100, was 107 or something? What was Shoda's velocity on that, by the way?

Oh, didn't have the radar gun going. It drove me crazy. How about Braden Montgomery's triple? How easy did that dude just glide into third on the triple? He is a toolsy thoroughbred, the kind of thing that you'd dream on his pride. He needs to be the best player to come out of that trade, that crochet trade,

and he absolutely has the possibilities of doing it. So like I get excited about Montgomery. Shoda, shodda's an accidental $22 million pitcher, man. That's right. Do you know, I mean, that's what they, they didn't want him to pick up the deal, and he did, and they'll roll forward, and he's not going to be counted on to be one through four by the time. It's nut-cutting time, and Justin Steele is back. But, yeah, I mean, a little velocity could help. But to me, it's like if he didn't show the depth to change the mix and stop giving up bombs last year, I need to see that depth to change the mix now.

Velocity isn't the answer in a league. When you're not 98-99, the difference between 91 and 94, that ain't it to me. So color me the same concerned I was with Shoda at the end of the year. The ball in question thrown to Braden Montgomery was an 82.7-mile-an-hour sweeper that didn't sweep. And then it was off the bat at 107.7 miles an hour with a 38-degree launch angle. Ball go far. Do you guys hear what Russ said, the real sleeper in terms of the prospects? Antinacci?

Yeah. We have our gauge Tater Workman. Sam Antanachi, infielder, second baseman, but, you know, can play all over the place. I had a white socks guy tell me at that Cub Sox game when I was out there, Grots was like, yeah, watch this kid. Watch Antenotch. Okay. Oh, yeah. So Russ is not alone in their excitement for that kid.

Anytime there's someone to be excited about it's good, but it is spring. and, you know, like, even, I'm not even that worried about Shoda or PCA who finally got some good at bats it looked like yesterday against the White Sox. First two hits of the spring. Yeah, and he had been scuffling a little bit. I am curious to see how quickly he particularly can ramp it up for the WBC and what he looks like in what is the closest thing that we're going to see to major league at bats. like real at bats in situations where people are trying, they're not just doing stuff. Like, Shoda could have just been out there yesterday.

Like, I'm going to just throw my sweeper a little bit. Or I'm going to really try to hump this fastball today. Now it's like, hey, we have to pitch to this guy. How do we pitch to him? And we'll see what type of mixes pitchers use against PCA and whether it is connected to the ways that he was getting out last year. I think they're very different stories. Like, you know, because Shoda has to go deeper in his pitch mix.

But the offensive guys, the offense guys, like you talk about PCA, Pete and Dansby and to a lesser extent, Nico and others are talking about things they're going to do differently. And that's common that they will think about it in an offseason and come in at the beginning of camp. But when it's nut-cutting time, do they just kind of go back to trying to be the best of what they have? been. And, you know, so Pete, to make some progress, like you're talking about Lawrence, good at bats yesterday, in the WBC, I would assume he's going to try to be the Pete from the first half last year. And that might set back some of the stuff that he's trying to do in terms of progress. And it wasn't imperative to see it or even important necessarily to see it,

but it was really nice to see Alex Bragman hit the ball out of the park yesterday. I enjoyed that entire at bat though. Like that at bat was an Alex Bregman at bat. There's a lot of patience in it, picked his pitch, and drove it over a wall. It's beautiful. Yeah, and I keep thinking

about something that Boris said on the day that Bregman signed when I had him off to the side there and I was talking to him for a little while. He's like, you know, I told Alex, of all the ballparks, Riggly's the one that suits you the best. And I'm like, more than Fenway? He said, yeah, more than Fenway. And I said, why? And he said, I don't know.

Our metrics just said that ball to left center really floats. It really floats for him at Wrigley. So, I mean, there was a little specious, but he's got a big team of analytics people over there at Boris Corr. So maybe a big power here for Bregman. That would be nice. Shout out to the texture that I just fact-checked this fact, and it makes it even more spicy for the Mac tournament.

John Gross's brother is Travis Steele, who coaches Miami. So you could have one brother Knock the other brother out of the tournament Wow Seems egregious It does It also seems fun It does indeed

Seems like very fun That's kind of cool I love when that stuff comes up Yeah It's the family line That's the storyline in and of itself I'm sorry I was excited about what was on you guys show today Here's what we're doing

Brian Baldinger is going to join us at 325 today We're going to talk about left tackle, offensive line, all sorts of stuff. My guy, Caden Proctor, Roll Tide. We're going to do that. Elise Minnaker is going to be on the show today. I thought Elise was really great yesterday talking about both teams. Like, she had done her work, and, like, she had great little nuggets on the White Sox as well as the Cubs yesterday. So we're going to talk with her about all things Chicago baseball.

Kevin Fishbane is going to join us. Fisie Business is going to walk us through. what was important from the combine. But where we're going to start is yesterday. And I was toggling between three things while the Bulls thing was going on. And the Bulls out here messing up my opportunities to make fun of them online.

I had the Pointer Sisters locked and loaded for them and their Sesame Street song to play had the Bulls lost 12 in a row. Damn it, they ruined it. That song is great no matter what. It is, but it would have been so pertinent. had they gotten to 12, but they didn't. Why? Because Ben Johnson was there.

Tanny's Open is next, and you know it's must listen. It's next here on the score. Aldi is a breakdown. And this segment is sponsored by Jewel Osco.