Examining the state of Cubs pitching

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Rahimi & Grote Show 13 min 5 speakers 4 chapters transcribed 5 months ago

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What recent performance has Shota Imanaga demonstrated?

Grote 0:00

And the 2-2. Fastball strike three called. It looked like the batter was looking for something off speed. He crossed him up with old number one. Another strikeout for Shotok. He has struck out six of the last eight hitters. We're back with more Rahimi Harrison-Grody. Live from Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. On Chicago Sports Radio. 104.3 The Score.

Rahimi 0:31

That's right. That is courtesy of the Cubs Radio Network. That was Pat Hughes on the call. And we broadcast from Circa live through the Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. When we have breaking news on the score, it is sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Speeding in a work zone is a no-win. Mind the signs. Avoid the fines. Ray Diaz is our producer. Ray Ragle is here as our engineer. Our video team is Cody Westerlund. Jacob Stutz, Max Curtis, and Connor O'Donnell as we are live. Filling in for Steve Rosenblum today as well, broadcasting until 1245 from Las Vegas. You heard it there from Pat Hughes, Shota Imanaga, through six innings of no-hit baseball, through 100 pitches, nine strikeouts, only a single walk.

Rahimi 1:18

It was the nicest outing we had seen yet from a nice body of work that Shota Imanaga is putting together before the game. Jed Hoyer gave an update on the Cubs and it started with him talking about the injury to Cade Horton.

Jed Hoyer 1:34

Yeah, no, he's going to have surgery with Dr. Meister. I don't think we're going to reveal the exact day, but he's going to travel there and have surgery. What type of surgery? Is it just the brace, or is he going to do both? I think they go in there and they figure it out. Yeah, best case from a recovery standpoint is just the brace, but that's always unclear. If they go in and make repairs, then it'll... probably add three months or so to the recovery. I know it goes without saying, but just how much you feel for Cade in this situation. Yeah. No, I really do feel for him a lot. I mean, I think he'd done everything possible. I think we had done everything possible. I think we were unbelievably conservative with him.

Jed Hoyer 2:15

He really, even since we drafted him and, and how hard he had, uh, he had worked, um, and how hard we had, uh, worked, uh, to get him to this point. He looked, he looked fantastic. And, these things happen, you know, as part of a baseball season. And I feel terrible for him. I know he'll come back strong and good, but I'm just a little solace to him right now, given like the way he was throwing and the condition he was in. And I'm sure he's frustrated, but he'll be back and excellent.

Unknown 2:48

Jack, can you go back to just that inexact science of the solid? You said you tried to take care of him last year. Do you look back at, Not that you did anything wrong, but how much do you examine? What can you do with a guy that you're trying to keep healthy and you can't limit him to 20 pitches a game? How do you examine it all?

Jed Hoyer 3:07

I was going to say, when I look back on our progression with him, we didn't pitch him the year we drafted him in 22. In 23, we- Could not have been more conservative with how we threw him. Obviously, he spent a lot of time in the IL in 24. And then last year, we used him. But certainly, we were really careful with his pitch counts. We didn't push him. Obviously, he had the rib injury late in the season. You hope that that kind of surgery He'll last longer, obviously, in this case. You know, he broke down again, and the hope is that he'll have the repair and get back and, you know, get back to where he was. But you have to play. You have to pitch. I think that's ultimately, like, you know, you can't... Guys are throwing 96, 97 with, you know, great stuff.

Jed Hoyer 4:00

You have to let them go pitch. I don't think there's a... When I look back, I don't have any... thoughts or regrets about how we handled him because we were so conservative. And obviously he broke down. So I just think that that is the nature of pitching in 2026. It's a hard part. You have to build up a lot of depth and we just have to have a next guy mentality.

Rahimi 4:26

That was Jed Hoyer before the game yesterday.