Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Ryan Dempster talks Tom Ricketts' high expectations for Cubs (Hour 2)
17 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What are Tom Ricketts' expectations for the Cubs in 2026?
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. Yes, 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.
Chapter 2: How does Ryan Dempster view the Cubs' current roster?
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.
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Chapter 3: What insights does Ryan Dempster share about Pete Crow-Armstrong?
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.
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Chapter 4: How does Ryan Dempster assess the performance of Cade Horton?
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 ā
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?
Chapter 5: What challenges are the Cubs facing in their pitching lineup?
He's more of what we saw in the first half of the season than the second half of the season.
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. What he can do on the base pass, you know, maybe there's not 40 home runs every year, but I think 40 stolen bases a year is something very realistic.
I think what you learn from talking to guys and being around guys is sometimes when they get into that home run zone where they're just hitting a ton of home runs and they're not pure home run hitters like Aaron Judge or Pete Alonzo or these guys, is that all of a sudden you start to swing for the home run because you've just hit a bunch. Like, oh, man, I hit 12 this month. Cool, here I go.
And it becomes something that all of a sudden you get out of your swing and then you lose your swing and then you're trying to find it and you're being, you know, let me take a pitch.
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Chapter 6: How does Ryan Dempster react to Tom Ricketts' comments on winning more World Series?
Oh, that pitch is right down the middle. Oh, let me go ahead and be aggressive. It's like you just get caught in that hamster wheel, and I think he got caught there for a little bit in August, you know, July and August, and I think he got out of it, and this is a guy who's determined to be great.
I think chasing greatness is a really important thing that more guys should aspire to, and I think that he learned a lot last year. I think he's full-on ready to go again this year, and he's just a special kid. He's a special player, and I think the possibility of what he's able to do I think will just continue to grow as he matures.
He's still a young ball player, especially when you look at at-bats and miles and all that kind of stuff on his career so far. I think he's potentially a guy every year that could be 30-30. Does he have a 40-40 in him? Sure, but to put expectations on a guy I think is unfair, and I think we're just going to continue to see a great version of Pete Cromsham.
We're talking to Ryan Dempster, the host of Intentional Talk on MLB Network, former Cub for many years. And Ryan, I think you're on to something, and Mark has talked about this too, we've talked about it on the air, where there are times when because PCA is such a good bad ball hitter,
You know, were there times where the swing at the plate looked a little bit more like a golf swing than a batting swing because he was trying to hit something low and give it some launch angle? I think those are the ones where I want him back and to say, you know, it's okay. It's okay to not go for the bad ball when your plate discipline is requiring you to do different things.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the Cubs' financial strategies?
Yeah, I'm with you on that. And I think what happens is when we struggle ā I can speak from a pitcher's standpoint because I can't speak from a hitter because I struggled my whole life as a hitter. So did we. They don't lie. 099, I had a Wayne Gretzky batting average.
You found your niche. It was pitching.
Yeah, safe to say. When I struggled, as I found that when I tried to force the issue, throw the nastiest slider I got, a guy just spat on it and said, I'm not swinging at that. And so for a hitter, I noticed with Pete a lot of the time was he tried to go get the ball and I'm going to go get it and I'm going to swing before it's even there.
And when he's going good and when hitters are going good, that's what makes it hard for us as pitchers is we go, man, this dude is like, you know, locked in. He's, he's spitting on my nasty, but he's waiting for me to come to him. And I think to me, that's what we're going to kind of see more and more out of Pete is
Chapter 8: What exciting events are happening at the Innings Fest?
just that comfort in himself and say, okay. And I think that's where he got to towards the end of the season and, you know, and in September. And, you know, like, listen, you're not going to hit 50. Just because you have 30 at the break doesn't mean you're hitting 50. And it's about good quality at-bats. And Pete learned all this stuff.
And talking with him, I know he's determined to just be the best version of himself. And when we see that, he is a bad ball hitter. And that's fine. When you're locked in, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., bad ball hitter. Like, I threw a slider in the dirt that bounced in the other batter's box, and he pulled it for a base hit in the hole in the Olympic Stadium.
So, like, you can be a bad ball hitter and be successful, but when you're struggling, that's where you have to get back. And I just think, you know, this is a kid who puts so much work in. and he's going to be perfectly fine this year, and I expect him to be back in center field at the All-Star game and having that kind of quality season again.
Ah, Olympic Stadium. Always good to hear about that cavernous stadium where you can... What did you say? What did you call it?
The Stade Olympique. That's what they would always say when you take that train out there to a boisterous crowd of 800 people. What do you call it? Upazelas and Yuppie trying to distract us while we're playing.
That's hilarious.
Scott is stadium in French.
I just remember, you remember the umpire Dutch Renner by any chance, Ryan Dempster? Do you remember?
I know the name, yeah.
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