Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome in to Rahimi Harrison Grody. I am Marshall Harris, joined by national baseball insider. He's all over the MLB, the host of the Relay with Russ podcast. It is Russell Dorsey. Good morning, Russell.
What's going on, Marshall Harris?
Well, you know, something is going on. The White Sox and the Cubs, for the first time since the regular season finale of last year, have... One on the same day. How about that? How about that? And I understand you were actually at the game in which Edward Cabrera said, let me remind you guys of who I could be if, I don't know, I played for a ball club where fans show up.
Yeah, the stuff was nasty. Like, he looked like a dude last night. And that's what, when they traded for him, that's what you were expecting. And I know that's what Cubs fans were expecting near the... front and middle of that rotation, a power arm that has nasty secondary stuff that, when healthy, can be a difference maker in your rotation.
And that part, when healthy, do we put an asterisk by that? Do we just hold on for dear life? Because that's been the main issue with Edward Cabrera. He's never had outstanding control. But when your stuff is that good, you just need to be in the neighborhood and people have trouble with fastballs that now are hitting 97, 98 miles per hour.
Before the game yesterday, when talking to Craig Council, he was just like, we're not trying to, we haven't tried to change anything with Edward Cabrera. We thought he was a really good pitcher. We brought him in. We think he's a really good pitcher now. And now he's trying to get a really good pitcher to make as many starts as possible.
And the big factor in that is the health like he made the most starts he's ever made last season.
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Chapter 2: What were the highlights of Edward Cabrera's Cubs debut?
And you just want to continue that if you're the Cubs. And so you're going to find ways to do that throughout the season. But if the stuff is going to look like that, you're you're in for a great ride this summer.
And again, Owen Casey got off to a tremendous start, although he suffered his first loss of the season last night at the hands of the Chicago White Sox. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but let's focus on this Edward Cabrera performance. 80 pitches, 49 for strikes. So again, the control wasn't outstanding or anything, but he only faced 19 batters and he retired 17 of them.
Five by way of strikeout, four of those strikeouts coming on called curveballs. for the third strike, and he looked like a guy who was energized in playing in front of a crowd that clearly matters. That's the largest home crowd that Edward Cabrera has ever played in front of. Pitching for the Marlins, this guy pitched in front of crowds that average around 11,000.
So to get well over 30,000 at Wrigley Field on an absolutely glorious... night for baseball, especially when we're talking about in March. We're not even in April yet. It was just a thing to behold. He got offensive run support early and then it was pretty much game over.
Chapter 3: How did Edward Cabrera's performance compare to expectations?
Yeah, it's... One... Being at the ballpark yesterday, that's what it's about, right? A beautiful 78 degrees at first pitch. Sun's out. You got the grilled onion smell and you're like, oh, this is summer in Chicago.
But when that game starts and you see the type of that first fastball coming at Edward Cabrera's hands and you're seeing 98, 99 on the gun, you're like, OK, like, let's buckle up for it. And against a lineup that was swinging the bat well coming into this series, he showed that, okay, I'm not worried. I know what you're talking about with the ball-to-strike ratio. Yeah, it wasn't 75% of strikes.
But he found a way to... Get guys out without walking the yard, right? Usually if you told somebody that was the ball-to-strike ratio, you'd say, oh, he must have walked like four or five. No, only walk one guy. Retired 17 of 19 that he faced, and that base runner was eliminated on a double play ball. So was able to get guys out. And I'm excited to see what that type of arm does against –
teams like the Dodgers and the Mets and the Phillies, the teams that you think the Cubs are going to have to deal with to be at the top of the National League.
Well, that's the point of why they went out and got this guy and found that Owen Casey was worth giving up, a guy who got off to a hot start again for the Marlins. And if it's Edward Carrera that you're looking at now, I was upset about the way that the rotation unfolded, mainly because I'm not even saying Matthew Boyd wasn't a guy that you should consider to have an opening day start.
It's more about the fact that because the lefty starts, and we know you want to go lefty, righty, lefty, Shota Imanaga ends up, in my opinion, too high in this rotation. Like, we shouldn't have to wait for Game 4 to see what we saw last night from Edward Cabrera. If you start Cade Horton Game 1, Matthew Boyd Game 2, Edward Cabrera Game 3, now Imanaga's on the back end. You can say 4 or 5.
We know Jamison Tyone. Roll the dice and see what happens tonight. But for me... Edward Cabrera is showing you why, in my opinion, he's already the second-best pitcher on this staff, point-blank period.
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Chapter 4: What challenges has Edward Cabrera faced in his career?
Do you agree with that?
Sure. Okay. If I'm going off of the talent, the arm talent, yeah.
Well, talent or 2026 results. I know it's early. I know it's been one start.
That's my thing with you, Marshall. You're a guy like, I'm all in today. I'm a wait-and-see guy. It's what makes me a good baseball reporter.
Chapter 5: What did the Cubs coaching staff say about Cabrera before the game?
I am also a wait-and-see guy, and I felt like I had to wait too long to see what Edward Cabrera would do in a Cubs uniform.
We don't always know why teams line up their starting pitching the way they do. Sometimes we do. Maybe a guy, the way they came out of spring training, finishing out spring training, you had it kind of lined up the way you wanted to. Maybe a guy needs an extra day. Sometimes that happens where you're like, all right, we'll push this guy out a couple of days. We'll drop this guy in.
Don't need as much to get him there. So, yeah, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on why he started yesterday as opposed to the series against the Nationals. But it worked out. He pitched well. He got guys out, arm looked lively, and now we'll see where that goes the rest of the way.
Talking about Edward Cabrera's performance in a big 72 win over the Angels, an Angels team that came in at 2-2 here on Rahimi Harris and Grody, Russell Dorsey in alongside me. I'm Marshall Harris, hanging out with you, because I love talking baseball. Baseball was my first love. I continue to love the game, even though sometimes it does not love me back.
I'm saying that specifically as a Chicago White Sox fan born and bred. So we're taking a look at this game. And the other thing that stands out from this performance is the offense showing up in a big way. And Ian Happ continues to hit bombs. He looks like he is locked in at the plate, whether it's from the left side or the right side. The power is on display.
Yeah, that ball he hit last night to the opposite field, ball just kept carrying. And from where I was sitting, because I went and saw our friends here at the score who were celebrating Lawrence and Speaks in their first pitch in seventh inning stretch last night. And from where I was sitting, it just looked like, oh, that's going to be a fly out.
Ball kept carrying, kept carrying, kept carrying, and carried out the yard. And it's one of those things where... Ian's being rewarded right now. You're swinging a hot bat. Those balls end up carrying. Even though the best ball he's hit so far was not a home run. The ball that ended up being a fly out in the series against the Nationals was absolutely crushed.
But he still has three homers right now. And you're seeing a guy that looks like he belongs in that three hole where he's been hitting.
And that was one of the big criticisms by a lot of people who are not on board with Ian Happ as a consistent guy because he's an up-and-down player in a way, but at the same time, he's pretty consistent in another way. When you talk about the full 162 and what he's been able to do,
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Chapter 6: How did the Cubs' offense perform during Cabrera's start?
Yes, you have.
And he gets a two-run single. It looks like this is what I expected from the Cubs offense on a night-in, night-out situation where somebody goes deep, a couple other guys get big hits, and Pete Curl Armstrong, he hasn't homered yet, but he looks active. He looks active whether it's at the plate. I haven't. Been critical of any of his at-bats so far. I like his plate approach.
And then when he gets on the bases, he's a terror. He's a terror. He scored from first base on that two-run single from Carson Kelly.
Yeah, I think when you have these athletic players in your lineup... they wreak havoc, and you're seeing that PCA Niko. Who, by the way, I didn't know how I felt about Niko and where he would hit in this Cubs lineup. Obviously, you don't know until the lineup card comes out.
I actually really like him in that 5-hole because most people would say, oh, you want Niko in the leadoff spot or hitting in the 2-hole, but I think having him hit 5th It adds a guy when you have runners on base that has back control and can just shoot the ball somewhere, throw something to the gap, and now you're really cooking.
And that adds another one of those athletic guys on the bases to swipe a bag, to score from first on a ball in the gap, all those different things. And I think that's going to add another dynamic to this lineup. Now, against left-handed pitching, if you want Niko to be the leadoff hitter, I fully understand that. But against right-handed pitching, I like that five hole for Niko.
I like him specifically for the protection that he offers Pete Crow Armstrong. And I think at this stage of his career... Pete Kerr Armstrong needs a little bit of protection. He's a guy who can hurt you, but certainly if you figure him out, it's not like the job is done unless there's two outs because Nico Horner, now you've got a guy who's basically bat-to-ball contact in a positive way. Right.
The benefit that it brings you having those guys hit back-to-back is the same benefit that you would have if they were hitting one and two in the lineup. Let's say Pete gets on. Pete can swipe a bag and Nico is a guy that is comfortable hitting with one or two strikes.
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Chapter 7: What factors contributed to Cabrera's success against the Angels?
You're not worried about, oh, well, I got a strike on me now. You know that he's going to be able to attack the strike zone, even if he has two strikes on him. And, you know, a lot of hit and run could come from those situations where you're talking about getting defenders moving and Nico being able to use that back control to throw a ball somewhere and potentially drive and runs.
One of the things I was interested in, because I saw this research, and after a couple of sub-two war years from Mike Trout, he's back in town, right? And he's coming off a series in which he went 6-for-13 in a four-game series, two home runs, looking like the old Mike Trout. But Edward Cabrera shut him down, and he goes 0-for-4 before the game.
Craig Council talked about what the pitching will need to do against this future first ballot Hall of Famer.
He's a great, he's an all-time player and a great player. Injuries have robbed him of a lot of the last... three or four years. But I think he's, you know, he's just one of those players where no matter kind of what's going on, you want to watch him.
You know, you watch him in pregame, you watch him during the game with an extra, just extra closely because it's fun watching, you know, the all-time great players. And so... Our job is to do a good job against them. He hit a couple homers early in the Houston series, and then they walked him a whole bunch, frankly. So he probably walked too much.
We're going to have to attack him a little better than that. But in the right spots and in the right way.
And see, here's the thing. We get to find out immediately if Craig Council is really going to attack this guy. He's got the right guy, I think, on the mound to do it tonight. Jamison Tyone, career against Mike Trout. Trout's just one for nine against him. Now, the one is a home run because, you know, Jamison Tyone. But did you like the way they handled him in general?
Are you as concerned as I am? Obviously, I'm concerned about Jamison Tyone making his first start.
I like the way they handled Mike Trout. And I agree with what Craig Council said before the game. Like, you got to attack him. One of his strengths throughout his career that made him a Hall of Famer is the on base. The fact that he was willing to take walks. Right. And you have a guy that's walking 90, 100 times a year.
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