Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What lineup adjustments should the Cubs consider?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody.
AJ, how are you?
Good. I can't believe how fancy y'all are now. I mean, it used to just be a radio call-in show. Now I got to put clothes on to do this thing. I can't peak too early. I got to kind of try to control my peaking. So, you know, it's a little early to already put a shirt and a hat on. Middays 10-2 on 104.3 The Score.
Now the 0-2 pitch on the way. Strike three called. Ian Half called out on strikes. for the second time in the game. And here comes the pitch.
Chapter 2: How are injuries affecting the Cubs' performance?
Swing and a miss. Strike three. PCA tripped up near home plate, making a hefty follow through. One away.
That was Zach Zaidman and Pat Hughes on the call. Ron Coomer as well. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And we talked about this earlier. It wasn't just a... It's not just the fact that your pitching staff is injured. We know that. It's not just the fact that your bullpen isn't up to snuff. We know that. They are also somewhat injured. The Cubs lineup is very much...
Up for discussion when you've dropped two or three to the Brewers, you've dropped two or three to the White Sox.
Chapter 3: What are the statistics on the Cubs' batting with runners in scoring position?
You might get swept by the Brewers tonight, depending on what happens. And in the meantime, Marshall brought it up as well. The runners in scoring position with this team is a problem. Almost every day we've talked about those numbers. 24th ranked batting average with runners in scoring position.
It's all a problem.
Yeah, it feels a bit that way right now, despite having those two 10-game win streaks. So it was brought up on the morning show. Of course, we were going to bring it up amongst ourselves. But it is an indicator for me, Mark Grody, Marshall Harris, when Bruce Levine even mentions the idea of tinkering with the lineup.
And Mark, I just want to get you ready for this weekend's Inside the Clubhouse show with Bruce. When you hear Bruce talk about that, I think that's a good indication of something probably needs to change.
No doubt about it. And as an update on that, Bruce and I were texting away yesterday telling me about what's going to be lined up. We've got some cool things that I don't want to reveal right now because we want to make sure that it is in stone. But, yeah, we will be out at Gallagher Way doing a three-hour and 45-minute edition of Inside the Clubhouse.
I get to fill in for David Haw and Bruce Levine. I don't know why he's allowing me to work with him, but he is.
He wants to face the conflict between you two head on.
I think he does. Bruce is a beautiful man and a great baseball man as well. You know, for sure, for sure. Yeah, there's not a lot going well for the Cubs at this moment. And I definitely want to hear what you guys have to say about specific lineup changes because I know you both have thoughts.
But my bigger thought is, and I will ask this to her, we will ask Jed Hoyer about this, is because I said it in transition. The Cubs have good hitters. I like the Cubs' offense. So is it a matter of just being in a slump, or are there actual changes that need to be made for the Cubs? Does somebody need to be benched?
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Chapter 4: What lineup changes have been suggested by the hosts?
We know that the pitching needs fortification, but is there an issue, a real issue, with any of the Cubs' position players going forth throughout the season?
I think it depends on who you ask and when you ask them, Grody. But I'll say this. I think the Cubs have a good lineup. And I say good because I think the strength is they're evenly balanced from top to bottom. The problem is part of that balance is that no one is out here scaring you. Who's the scariest hitter in the Cubs lineup?
I don't feel like pitchers, especially if you're a good pitcher, an established pitcher in baseball, whether that's a Jacob Mizorowski, whether that's Kyle Harrison later on today. Who is there like... all right, you got to be really careful with this guy.
That's the biggest difference between this Cubs lineup and some of the lineups that you see across baseball of teams with winning records, of teams with playoff aspirations. They have guys that you are afraid of. Like that dude can wreck you. Who's wrecking you on the Cubs?
Even when they're at their best, I think Michael Bush might be the best answer because he's got the power potential to do so. Seiya, he's streaky, but he can do it from time to time. But it's not a constant threat. There's a lack of a constant threat in this Cubs lineup.
Well, there were only two batters yesterday. who had multiple hits. One was Nico Horner batting leadoff. The other was Seiya Suzuki. And like you said, Marshall, I just think Seiya did the right thing in the at-bat that you thought should have been an error of the RBI that I thought was him rolling over the ball, but he made hard enough contact to make that work.
And there are times where I feel like he has been particularly subjected to induced soft contact from at times, like a soft fly ball. But when you take a look at the lineup, You know where Christian Yelich is batting, for example, for the Brewers. You knew where Kyle Tucker was batting last year.
And because of Kyle Tucker's resume, we saw that have to change in the second half of the season because of the injuries. But when you saw where he was, pitchers respected him. And they knew.
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Chapter 5: Who are the key hitters that need to step up for the Cubs?
And then guys like Seiya Suzuki knew that they provided protection in the lineup. So... Ian Happ right now, I think batting cleanup, you probably have to move him down. And that's when I started to kind of tinker. This is going to sound crazy, but I almost wonder, because of the element of protection with Seah, do you put him next to Nico Horner, who's your most likely chance to get hits?
Because then he knows that he is more likely to get a hit as well. We've just seen that play out over time. He needs to be more aggressive on the first pitch. So when I was tinkering with it, I had Nico, Seah, Bregman, because I'm still... I still want Bush batting cleanup.
I think that that's probably, if the lineup works, the best way of having, I'm looking at it not necessarily from handedness, but who I know can get on base. And then Ian Happ, I have Moises Ballesteros, but if it's Carson Kelly in the lineup, I probably want him fifth. Yesterday you had Miguel Amaya batting ninth. And then after that, Moises Dansby, PCA.
I like PCA batting ninth just because he can turn a lineup over if he's on base. But something I think has to be messed with at least. At least try it for this game three to see if that would break it up.
So I understand what you're saying here. Here's what I would say as far as the Seiya portion of it. Right now, Alex Bredman just isn't giving you enough. So he, to me, is the guy that needs to move down the lineup. I would like to see Seiya in the top third of the lineup. And with that, I like the idea of Michael Bush leading off.
Remember when he was struggling, like really struggling before the big hit against the Pirates?
That 0 for 30, yeah.
Right after the beginning of the season.
So in the month of May, this man's got a 468 on-base percentage. I would argue that a lineup against right-handers with Nico Horner leading off and then Michael Bush and then Seiya Suzuki would behoove him. And I'm almost tempted to put Bush back at the top of the order because of the on-base percentage.
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Chapter 6: How does lineup protection impact player performance?
I know it sounds radical because he doesn't have the pop, but if you think about Seiya Suzuki being a guy that you can't pitch around because Nico Horner is your contact guy behind him, I think he's going to get better pitches to hit.
I like the idea of Nico and Seiya together. Put him next to your most consistent hitter. Because I feel like what we saw with, he became a better version of himself next to Kyle Tucker last year. And if that somehow could happen again.
But we're here sitting here talking amongst each other about trying to figure out the best fit for something that, with the payroll, with who these people are supposed to be, some obvious answers here. And we don't have them right now.
Yeah, and you talked about the spending money. You see a texter here, and I was going to bring this name up so it goes along perfectly from the 224 and 312-644-6767. If you want to play along with us here on Rahimi Harris and Grody on the score, the texter says, I'm not upset yet, but was anyone else bidding for Alex Bregman?
Bregman simply has not gotten comfortable yet at the plate this year he is at spurts where he has been productive and helpful and I'm not saying like you can't really tinker with him too much he's just been around too long to say yeah we're going to demote you in the lineup but something's got to be done and I don't know if it's the proverbial day off are there and I'm not saying today you got to win the game tonight so nobody gets a day off today yeah you've not earned a day off so
Not you either, PCA.
I was just going to bring that up, Layla. That is perfect. Pete Carr, Armstrong. Who doesn't in this lineup right now need to take a deep breath and just take a day off right now? Unfortunately, you can't afford to do that with these guys. I have an answer to that question. Yes, please.
It's Michael Bush. It's not close. Michael Bush has been great. Over the last 30 days, 289, 431 on base, 526 slug. And that's why Bregman has to go down. It isn't necessarily him just being bad or anything. It's like, you have no slug, sir. Yeah. Move on down.
I hate to do this. Really.
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Chapter 7: What role does Michael Bush play in the Cubs' lineup strategy?
Like, you do, because he was the prize pickup in the offseason. And a guy like that, you just want to let him find his groove. He knows himself better than Craig Council or anybody in that organization. But something has to be done. And I hate to say it, but change for the sake of change. Everything that you guys said made sense to me.
I don't push back on it at all because I'm here for whatever they want to do just to mix things up a little bit to get these guys right. Because... They are good hitters. It is a good lineup, but something is amiss right now.
Well, and I feel like sometimes I think about the Terry Francona lineup. You know how it was switch left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right down the line. And that's the template, right? That is the template. You don't have that. This is a know your personnel type. Absolutely.
And that's why I think to myself, okay, Nico, say I put them together because we know say it does better when he's, he's next to somebody who gives him that protection. Or where you have, okay, well, Michael Bush still has the biggest chance of pop for me, so I put him in the cleanup spot.
Alex Bregman, then theoretically, if Nico's on base or one of those two are, then you're less likely to have an out. And then you're trying to figure out, okay, well, who can hit with two outs in a lineup? And the problem is when you don't know what your 5-9 is doing. But yeah, but you've got it. But he also can hit. So you've got to keep him up there. And that's why this is so tricky.
It reminds me of our conversation that Marshall and I had earlier in the week with Evan Altman when it came to not knowing who your true three, four are without a doubt.
the good and bad thing to kind of go back to that theme from earlier, you have a team full of productive hitters, but I guess you go back to the, again, to throw it maybe to another sport and you say, well, in football, like if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one. And if you have eight number five or six hitters, You don't have a cleanup hitter.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the Cubs' current struggles on their season?
Like a true, you know, outside of, again, Horner up at the top of the order, getting on base, stealing bases, just running well in general. It's almost a toss-up. I almost feel as though on any given day, you can just roll the dice out there, put these guys in any particular order, and I don't think you're going to see a whole lot of difference in what the offense is going to produce.
You don't have that bona fide middle of the order. This is the guy who's going to give us 35 to 40 home runs every time. He's going to drive in these runs every time. And that, you know, therein lies the problem. I don't know that there's a particular outside of what I said with maybe Bush and just saying this is what it's going to be.
And I feel like that's what counsel has done is saying, yeah, absent any true answers anywhere. This is what we're rolling with. And they're just going to have to get it done.
So that was Evan Altman earlier in the week. Evan does great work. Our segment here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody as we talk about the Cubs lineup is brought to you by AlmostFreeTeeth.com. Save on dental implants today. Can I read you just a sample of our text line right now? Please, Layla. At 312-644-6767. Lay it on us. 708- You are correct. They still missed first half 2025 Kyle Tucker.
Other 708 says that threat is supposed to be first half 2025 PCA. Who, if you rewind to a year ago this time, we were talking about could have been the cleanup hitter. My, how things have changed. 815 wants to troll. Why not? Bask in your glow. Did the White Sox get in Cubby's head or just PCA's head? Hmm. 815, I love Nico, but if he's your three hitter, they're cooked.
And then 224 says, might need to flip Nico and Alex. So just a small sample size here. And our Twitch mob also chats too. They're at the score Chicago on Twitch. Everybody's got a different way to try to put this together.
I go back to, okay, because people are pointing out on the text line, yes, Kyle Harrison, a left-handed pitcher today. So what would you do specifically today? It's a game you need. It's not must-win because we're not even in Memorial Day yet. But you don't want to get swept by the Brewers at home to start your series play with them on the season. Here's what I'll say.
It just makes you have to sweep the Astros this weekend.
I mean, it makes you feel like the pressure is on. The pressure starts to build. As you mentioned, Layla, the Cardinals are right there. The Pirates and the Reds aren't dead. It's the most competitive division in baseball, and you were at the top, and now you're not, and you need to find a way to hang around until the stretch run at the least.
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