Ryan Dempster talks Tom Ricketts' high expectations for Cubs
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What are Tom Ricketts' expectations for the Cubs in 2026?
The score! Ryan Dempster. Two and two. The fastball away. Not the location he wanted, but it worked out as Fielder swung and missed. Seven Ks for Dempster. Efficient, much more like the Ryan Dempster that we've seen all season long. Swing and a miss. Strike three. Struck him out, four punch-outs here in the fifth inning. I mean, get rid of an old, aging pitcher for a guy who can finally help your team. It seems like it makes sense. If you ask me, I don't know how much of a genius that SD cat is. Eight for 14 in this series, Paul. That's as hot as you can get. You mentioned it. Go ahead. If your coffee is lukewarm in the clubhouse, put it on Pete Crowe's lap, and it will be scalding hot. With Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score.
I reckon I left a good footprint on how to drink. I know that.
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And that is a fantastic introduction to our guest, Ryan Dempster. the former Cub from 2004 to 2012, two-time All-Star, World Series champion, purveyor of humor and music and the like, and he joins us on our Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today and cage the elephant in the introduction for you there, Ryan, just to get ready for this weekend's Endings Fest. How are you?
I'm doing great, and that was one heck of... I can't... I forgot I said half that stuff.
Ha ha ha!
Doesn't that suck? That's our daily basis.
You blacked out. I thought he got way too much credit anyway, so it's great.
Right. That euphemism, though, for the coffee and Peter Crow Armstrong, that was tremendous. You know, we were talking about PCA. There was an article Saad of Sharma did in The Athletic talking about his swing adjustments. I said that that's probably one of the biggest storylines for me is how he's going to adjust. to the league adjusting to him last year. You know, what would you say now, just given what you're looking for with him, for example?
Yeah, I think last year for Pete was probably as valuable of a second half as he could have had. And people are going to be listening right now going, what, he struggled in the second half? Awesome. And you know what he did in September? He figured it out and he got back, he got to his 30-30, like, People always do that. We see in the first half, like, a guy will get 14 wins, and we're like, here we go, Denny McClain, 30 wins is coming. Guy hits 35, 40 home runs. Like, he's going to hit seven. It is so hard to do that month after month after month, and the league adjusts, and everybody's telling you how great you are, and things can slip just a little bit. So I thought what he went through last year and then figured out a way to right the ship in September –
I just think it's so huge, and I think that he learned from that, from talking with him. I think he understands how hard this game can be at times, even though all the success he had, and I think we're going to see an even more polished Pete Cromstrong this year, and I think, you know, does that mean he's 40-40? No. It just means that I don't think you're going to see these ups and downs like you maybe saw last year, and I think the overall consistency is going to be better, and that's for me the mark of of a guy who's finding himself and I think has finally found himself in the major leagues. This guy's going to be a star for years to come.
Well, you said not 40-40, and that's a fair thing to say. That's hard to put on anybody's plate in this day and age. But what do you think he is? And maybe you just said it. You still think that PCA is going to be a star in major league baseball? He's more of what we saw in the first half of the season than the second half of the season.
How did Ryan Dempster's career influence his views on team performance?
Yeah, I do. I think that there's a common ground in the middle, and I think that it leans towards more what we saw in the first half. I mean, this has always been the talk of him. He's been doing this since he was 12 with Team USA. You know, I just think, A, defensively, he's as good as he gets. He's a gold-glover.
No doubt.
That's one of the best, if not the best, center fielder in the game.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are Tom Ricketts' expectations for the Cubs in 2026?
0:00–3:54
2
How did Ryan Dempster's career influence his views on team performance?
3:54–7:26
3
What adjustments did Pete Crow-Armstrong make to improve his game?
7:26–11:08
4
Why is consistency important for young players like Pete Crow-Armstrong?
11:08–14:22
5
How do injuries impact a player's development and performance?
14:22–21:19
Speakers
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