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Chapter 1: What is the significance of Nico Hoerner's contract extension?
I'm so sorry to do this to you. I'm so sorry. But if you're the person who says, hey, it's only April. It's only one game. You guys go crazy after a game. Yeah, we see them all the same and they all add up the same. And then the next thing you know, that one game in April that we were so casual about that you didn't want us to necessarily address for your own personal reasons.
becomes a real big issue when you're trying to figure out seeding and whether or not you get a home wildcard series, for example, or a divisional. So they all count to me the same, even though they're 162, and I'm okay and I'm not okay at the same time. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score, and... There was good yesterday in the Pekra Armstrong announcement being official.
Pekra Armstrong will join our show. You don't want to miss it at 145 today. We'll carry his press conference at 1. And then additionally, we get the news about Nico. But it was all after watching the Cubs lose a game that I don't think either one of us, Marshall, thought they would lose to the Washington Nationals for opening day.
The Nationals are not good.
There's that.
The Nationals have low expectations.
Scientific explanation is key here.
The Nationals are not expected to compete for the National League East division title. There's that as well. Then there are the Cubs. And the Cubs are predicted by just about everyone to win this division, despite the fact that they have not been winning this division, and despite the fact that the Milwaukee Brewers are out here winning.
with always something brewing, whether they have lost their ace, Freddy Peralta, or not. And we'll get to the Brewers and their decisive win over the White Sox momentarily.
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Chapter 2: Why is the Cubs' opening game performance concerning?
We got our wish, Marshall.
And maybe more so than I even thought. Because I was expecting, you know, somewhere between three to five year extension. Probably four years sounded right to me.
Breezy. A breezy extension.
A breezy extension. But when you hear six years, this is the team saying, not only do we want to keep you around, we believe you should be a Cub for the entirety of your career.
For life. Cub for life is how I look at it. P. Crow Armstrong is still going to be young. That would take him into his 31 age season for his extension. But that is not the case with Nico Horner, who already was homegrown and already was playing on a veteran deal. So that was significant. And let's tip our hat to the guy who broke it first, Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation.
Michael does great work. He does break that news. And it was a real shot in the arm yesterday reading that after watching what was... The win was definitely a factor in yesterday's game and understanding the elements that went into that, but also understanding that Matt Boyd running out of gas might be an issue that carried over from the end of 2025 into 2026.
But for the Cubs to give out two major extensions in a single week's time, it's that up-the-middle defense. You've got your infield short and second lockdown and then Alex Bregman on another vet deal. I like where this is headed. I like that it's something that... we don't have to think about and that a team that we wanted to act bigger market is doing just that and signing some of these players.
We don't know the exact terms of the contract, but at six years, and this man obviously is going to get a raise of some kind after a three-year, $35 million deal, you would guess that it's either a six-figure contract or right around six figures, right? And if it is... You mean nine figures? I meant nine, yes.
If it is nine figures, now you're talking about a team that all of a sudden would have four different players on nine-figure contracts, and that looks... more like what I guess I have expected the Cubs to have on their payroll when you're earnestly trying to contend for a World Series.
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Chapter 3: How does the Cubs' roster compare to their competitors?
But you're also saying effectively, Marshall, that the Cubs are operating under some cap, right? When you say that, it might not be your cap. It might not be my cap. It might not be cap man. It might not be a cap that is applied with the CBT and Major League Baseball, the competitive balance tax. But you're essentially you're trying to fill holes with holes that are created.
So you are kind of budgeting under that concept. And the problem is you're competing with teams who don't. And then you're also competing with a team who has an insanely high success rate in the Milwaukee Brewers of evaluating talent. So I say all of that to say... Keep the ones who you have. In the words of Daryl K. Royal, dance with the one who brung you.
And in the case of Pete Crow Armstrong and Nico Warner, two people who aren't as big of question marks, at least when it comes to just baseline their defensive value. We need to see who Pete becomes as a hitter. But we understand who Nico's been consistently. That's why it was surprising to see him go 0 for 4 yesterday. I'm like, oh, Nico's got this. Aw, man, he's 0 for 4 too?
I treat that as more of an aberration compared to what we've seen out of his body of work even in the last couple of seasons. He was 273 the year before that in 2024. He was 283 as a hitter for average in 2023. And... That is with 150 games in 23, 151 in 24, and then the 297 in 156 last season. I ain't worried.
So here's what you got to understand about Nico Horner. And this is why yesterday was an aberration. Forget about the 0 for 4. Let's talk about the biggest spot in which he comes up with a couple of runners on.
And they need something.
The one thing they cannot have is a double play. This man grounds into a double play. I want to explain something to you. Nico Horner last year had four GIDPs. Four! All season! That's incredible. In 649 plate appearances, this man had four GIDPs. And when he came up, I was like, well, he's not going to ground into a double play because I just...
had looked at it like earlier that day I was like man this guy really just stays out of trouble he doesn't strike out and he doesn't ground into double plays he's not getting you two outs exactly his out is usually just one which is outs is currency and then He grounds into a double play. And that's when I was like, this ain't the Cubs day. Ray knows. I told him.
I was like, yeah, this is not the Cubs day.
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Chapter 4: What does the Cubs' strategy reveal about their future plans?
He was like, Marshall, Marshall. I was like, where is that coming from? And it was behind the light.
Oh. Yes, that's exactly how it felt. So thanks to everybody who came out. But last year we were riding high. We had had a ton of food. We had we were out there on a Friday. All of us decided to stay and just hang out because we finally got a little day off after that. And we're watching show to mow them down. And it was fun. The weather was better. And they were like, yeah, good game.
Look at show. They got a win. We let's hang out at Sluggers until eight o'clock in the evening, which we did. Is that how late we were there? We were there late. But it wasn't the same vibe. And frankly, the weather was an absolute issue. Let's call that what it is. Every time they showed a wide angle drone shot of the ballpark, the flags were just straight out. Did you notice that?
I'm like, oh, we can read all of the symbols on the flags perfectly.
I was impressed the drone was up there staying steady because my goodness.
There was at least 30 miles an hour. And I want to get into what we saw in that game because I think the weather actually did one Cub some favors early. So we should probably do that next. Let's get into what we saw in the game in the season opener now that we have congratulated Nico Horner on a well-earned and obvious extension.
Also, by the way, guys, didn't I say Rinaldi's Pizza Party if Nico got extended?
Are you sponsoring said pizza party?
I'm going to at least try to see what we can do here. Shoot or shoot. Rinaldi's is a friend of the station, as we know, and they have a Nico Horner pizza that he created.
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Chapter 5: How did Nico Horner perform during the opening game?
And 670 can be heard well downstate where at least the Illini came through for us yesterday. So let's talk about that Cubs game coming up. We'll get to the Sox one as well because it is of importance. And like we mentioned, Pete Crow Armstrong will join us at 145 to talk about his new deal. So we'll do all of that. It's a good day here on Rahimi Harrison Grody.