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Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

Russ Dorsey talks Cubs & World Baseball Classic (Hour 4)

12 Mar 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What insights does Russ Dorsey share about the Cubs' roster changes?

2.258 - 5.722 Russ Dorsey

Russell Dorsey, National MLB Insider for Yahoo Sports.

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5.922 - 27.726 Unknown

My eye is on which version of Pete do you get in 26? Because if you can get, we'll call it 65%, even 70% of the first half Pete Crow Armstrong offensively with that same high quality defense that we saw from him since he's gotten to the big leagues, to be honest, then you still have a high quality player.

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27.706 - 31.212 Russ Dorsey

insider and analyst for Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+.

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31.472 - 42.79 Unknown

Hey, man. Postseason, we're a show. And in the biggest moment, on the biggest stage, the best player to walk the face of the earth showed us exactly where he was.

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42.991 - 46.997 Russ Dorsey

Russell Dorsey. I'm Russell. On 104.3, The Score. The Score.

48.513 - 61.433 Leila Rahimi

The only thing we're missing is Marshall with all of his crew in here. We had Clay Harbor. Now we have Russell Dorsey, the noted baseball insider. He's an insider and analyst for MLB Network, Friday Night Baseball, and Apple TV+.

Chapter 2: How does the injury of Tyler Austin impact the Cubs' lineup?

61.794 - 67.663 Leila Rahimi

There's a lot of gym talk that went on between the Russell Dorsey and Clay Harbor transition.

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68.885 - 71.128 Unknown

Clay was a professional athlete, though.

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71.108 - 74.736 Leila Rahimi

The workout tips are strong. You were a college athlete.

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74.796 - 75.317 Unknown

I was not.

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75.778 - 82.192 Leila Rahimi

But you practically were. The only thing that stopped you from being an actual college baseball player was the injury you sustained.

82.333 - 86.923 Unknown

I can't say it. I can't allow myself to say it.

87.564 - 90.831 Leila Rahimi

But you were. You were a college baseball player.

91.032 - 91.092

No.

91.679 - 92.28 Unknown

I can't do it.

Chapter 3: What are the expectations for Matt Shaw's role in the Cubs this season?

96.089 - 99.456 Unknown

I think I'm a way better athlete right now than I've ever been in my life.

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99.636 - 100.959 Leila Rahimi

He said that. Clay said that, too.

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101.14 - 101.38 Unknown

Yeah.

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101.48 - 108.115 Leila Rahimi

Clay has talked about how if he were in the same shape playing that he is in now, he thinks his career would have lasted longer.

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108.155 - 131.136 Unknown

100%. And that's a good thing. You want to get to 30 and be like, damn, I'm in good shape. And I think for everybody out there, you don't have to look like Clay Harbor to be in good shape. Work on your leg muscles. Longevity in life. is tied to leg strength and having muscle in your lower limbs. Support the hips.

131.156 - 131.577 Leila Rahimi

It's also mobility.

131.617 - 135.245 Unknown

Mobility, moving around, and keeping some muscle in your legs.

135.405 - 141.278 Leila Rahimi

When your knees hurt, a lot of people think that their knees are hurting because they're older, and your knees are probably hurting because of mobility issues.

141.292 - 148.945 Unknown

You know what's funny is like, yeah, you guys were talking gym and talking workout, and then when I got a hold of you, we were talking about cheeseburgers. See, you're a bad influence. Yeah, although I'm trying now.

Chapter 4: How does the World Baseball Classic affect team dynamics for the Cubs?

149.786 - 161.405 Unknown

This is the lunchtime show. That sounded great, though, a burger. A big sloppy cheeseburger with some fresh fries. Fresh cut French fries. Oh, man.

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161.665 - 165.191 Leila Rahimi

The vat of oatmeal did the job today. A vat of Layla's special oatmeal.

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165.211 - 166.894 Unknown

I call this a vat. That's a lot of oatmeal.

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166.874 - 180.507 Leila Rahimi

Well, I don't use, this is just the container. I don't actually, there's no way in hell. My oatmeal bill every week would be a billion dollars. I'm like, damn, that's a lot of oatmeal. No, this is a 24 ounce. She's half a gallon.

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180.567 - 183.86 Unknown

24 ounces? She's feeding.

183.92 - 184.621 Leila Rahimi

Three cups a day.

184.641 - 187.626 Unknown

Three cups of oatmeal. It's time for Layla's feeding.

Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Cubs' opening day starter choice?

187.786 - 188.227 Unknown

Jeez.

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189.328 - 191.291 Leila Rahimi

I'm randomly running at Arlington Heights.

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191.311 - 198.682 Unknown

You come in at 10 o'clock so full, like, oh, I've had three cups of oatmeal. It's like horse oats. Just sitting there like concrete.

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199.123 - 208.878 Leila Rahimi

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I just end up wanting to run like a racehorse the entire time. One day at work, I did bring oats, apple, and a carrot to work, and then I realized what I had done.

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209.078 - 210.28 Unknown

What type of oatmeal?

210.665 - 213.072 Leila Rahimi

This is the rolled oats, just the traditional Quaker.

213.112 - 216.24 Unknown

There's all these different steel cut.

216.581 - 226.227 Leila Rahimi

No, I just want the plain ones, but I don't like the quick cook. I like the ones you have to actually cook. They just taste better to me. And that is enough of oatmeal talk on the scores.

226.207 - 231.635 Unknown

Yeah. Shout out to the oatmeal eaters out there. Shout out to oatmeal. Where's all my oatmeal people?

Chapter 6: How does the Cubs' pitching depth influence their strategy?

234.859 - 236.882 Leila Rahimi

We'll get into Team Italy in a little bit.

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236.902 - 238.043 Unknown

We had Italian beef talk, too.

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238.144 - 244.232 Leila Rahimi

Yeah, we had Italian beef talk in order of celebrating Team Italy. And it's 3-1-2 day, people.

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244.212 - 245.574 Unknown

Chicago, what's up?

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245.594 - 261.294 Leila Rahimi

Do what you like on 312 Day. That's what I say. We also have some Cubs news. So this is new. They just sent out a media release. I consider it breaking. Whether or not you do is not my problem. So guess what? Wildfire, you're hearing from me again. Breaking news on the score is brought to you by Wildfire.

261.714 - 281.256 Leila Rahimi

Enjoy a delicious meal, or if you're me, a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, at Wildfire restaurants with five Chicagoland locations. The Cubs have trimmed their roster. It is now at 46 players. Left-handed pitchers Luke Little and Ryan Rawlison and outfielder Justin Dean have been optioned to AAA Iowa.

281.81 - 290.178 Leila Rahimi

Right-handed pitcher Vince Velasquez, catchers Ariel Armas and Casey Optes, and outfielder Brett Bateman have returned to minor league camp.

Chapter 7: What are the standout performances from Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic?

290.358 - 291.499 Leila Rahimi

I don't think that's a surprise.

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291.519 - 292.72 Unknown

Who, who, who, who, and who?

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292.96 - 317.914 Leila Rahimi

Well, Vince Velasquez is older. Chicago's spring training roster of 46 players consisted of 25 pitchers, 5 non-roster invitees, 4 catchers, 1 non-roster invitee, 10 infielders, that's 4 non-roster invitees, and 7 outfielders, who are 3 of them non-roster invitees. So, That is the latest when it comes to the Cubs roster as they continue to trim here and there.

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318.476 - 330.638 Leila Rahimi

Anything stick out to you, Russell, as far as... trying to figure out who this team is going to be once everybody's back from the world baseball classic. We got the news today that Matthew Boyd is going to be the opening day starter.

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330.799 - 343.925 Unknown

Yeah. I think that's, that's the one you could say, okay, that makes a lot of sense based off of, you know, what he was able to do last year, probably how stretched out he is right now. Um, Yeah, that makes sense.

344.065 - 368.506 Unknown

I think the thing when it comes to the Cubs that I'm curious to find out is with the Tyler Austin injury, like that was a guy that was supposed to come over, hit against left-handed pitching and be that force off the bench for you. And with him not in there, does this... Allow Matt Shaw to play a bigger role than maybe he would have played had Austin not gotten hurt.

368.907 - 385.476 Unknown

And so I think you saw the lineup with, you know, Matt Shaw playing a little bit of first base yesterday and like him getting work there and increasing his versatility is only going to help him and help the Cubs because look. If you have a guy that can play a million positions, it's really valuable.

385.656 - 400.041 Unknown

So I think for Matt Shaw, him being able to be versatile defensively, but also be able to be a guy that's strong against left-handed pitching, that's how you find ways to get guys in the lineup, right? What can you do?

Chapter 8: How does Russ Dorsey view the future of players like Sam Antonacci?

400.482 - 422.265 Unknown

You're a right-handed hitter and you can bang against left-handed pitching, there's gonna be a spot for you on the roster. That's the thing, though, with Matt Shaw. We think he could play all these positions. I mean, he's been fine so far, but can he really consistently play the outfield? Can he play the—I don't know if they're going to use him at shortstop.

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422.285 - 442.963 Unknown

We know he could play third base, but is he going— We always think about Ben Zobrist, right? Ben Zobrist excelled at those positions. I think that we're just assuming he's going to be good. We don't know that yet about Shaw. Right. He's going to get his opportunities, too. Everything we've seen is that they are going to give him opportunities, too.

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443.003 - 466.189 Unknown

I think the other thing when it comes to Matt Shaw playing all these positions is they have a lot of guys that play every day at short. Obviously, Dansby is going to play between 155 and 160 games a season. Nico is going to play between 150 and 160 games a season. So you're not going to have him there. Now you bring in Alex Bregman. It's not like...

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466.169 - 481.815 Unknown

He's gonna take, and that's away from Alex Bregman, who you just brought in as a free agent. And Alex is probably gonna play between 145 games and 150 games at third base. The one thing with Bregman is there could be some days where maybe you DH him, right? But...

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481.795 - 503.112 Unknown

he is also a good defender at third base so it's not like you have that situation where nobody's a good defender and say ah well he's above average there so we could just plug him so yeah they're gonna have to do some work to find him at bats but for him it behooves him to play all these position or at least attempt to play all these positions to get himself in the lineup

503.328 - 524.52 Leila Rahimi

And I think we had the interview, the morning show played the discussion with Matt Shaw talking about him trying to adjust to all these different positions. And I think you're right, Mark. We don't know that this is going to work out. Good teams need a player like this. Ideally, it's not your previously top prospect.

525.121 - 532.592 Leila Rahimi

You know, in the organization, ideally, that guy's probably got a regular spot every day. But I see why they're trying to make it work.

533.365 - 555.998 Unknown

I think of a guy like Kike Hernandez who has made a career at whatever Dave Roberts needs him to do that day, he's going to do it. Hey, I need you to play left today. He's going to play left. I need you to play center. He plays center. I need you to come in and play third base defensively and come in for Max Muncy late in games. He'll do it. If Mookie Betts needs a day off.

555.978 - 573.416 Unknown

And Miguel Rojas isn't playing like, hey, play short, play second base. It's a blowout. I need somebody to jump on the mound and save the bullpen. Like he's done that and made a lot of money in the big leagues doing that. Also, he hits against left handed pitching. Right. And when the postseason gets there, he takes his game to another level.

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