Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Sahadev Sharma talks extensions for Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong
27 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. I'm not a fan of any team. I'm just a fan of being right.
Middays 10-2 on 104.3 The Score. And a swing and a miss, and that's the ball game. The Nationals take opening day 10-4. The final and the first big league win as a manager for Lake Butera.
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grote on 104.3 The Score. That is courtesy of Marquee Sports Network. And we go to our hotline to not only congratulate him on the Illini making the Elite Eight, but also to talk about Cubs baseball. Nico Horner's reported extension. PCA's confirmed won the game and more. It is Sahadev Sharma. He writes for The Athletic.
He is part of the Northside Territory podcast as well. He is at Sahadev Sharma on Twitter. Sahadev, thank you so much for joining us.
Of course, happy to celebrate that Illini win with you all.
Did you think it was going to happen after the Big Ten tournament? Because I didn't.
I did not. I was talking to Boog about it yesterday. I picked them because I struggle not to pick them in my brackets, and I still felt they were going to lose last night. To see them come out and play that defense was really fun, really exciting. I stayed up with my son to watch it, and it was really nice.
It was a nice palate cleanser for that rough opening day, as was that Nico Horner extension, I'm sure, for the fans.
Your team played well, Zadav. You did good work. As far as the opening day, we'll address it, but not first. We asked the question here on our show, who was next when it came to Pequot Armstrong's extension? And then Nico Horner does get extended. What do you think that says about the direction this team wants to take as far as retaining talent and sending messages to their players?
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Chapter 2: What recent contract extensions were discussed for Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong?
You need pitching. You need all those things. But the defense can be the backbone, something you can rely on every day. You extend Pete Groh-Armstrong, arguably the best defender in baseball. Nico Horner is now extended around for another six years, arguably the best second baseman in baseball defensively. Just, you know, they have something you can rely on daily.
You know, when a pitcher steps on the mound, they're not going to lose that game because of poor defense. Very rarely will that happen to the Cubs. And I think they've kind of built this core to have, you know, something that you can define them with. And going forward, there's some trust. You know, obviously having the stability for Jed Hoyer, that allows him to do all these things.
It's kind of like when it all started as well. Once he got that stability, once they had a winning season, he was able to kind of put everything in place and be a little bit more aggressive with everything.
Sahad, it's great. I was reading your article, you along with Patrick Mooney, inside the offseason that reestablished the Cubs as big market players. And what you mentioned about Jed Hoyer having his stability kind of shows you where the decisions lie with him now. Because a year ago at this time, we were having very different conversations about the Cubs as a big market team.
It feels like they have turned a sort of corner here where if you're going to have ā three to four guys with a hundred million dollar contracts, there is a plotted direction that we didn't know was going to take place until now. Do you feel like everybody understands what's happening now?
I think so. I think, you know, they have a defined leader. There's no lack of, I think there was a, I don't, I wouldn't say this was roundly the feeling in the clubhouse when I asked around this spring, but there were some people agreed with the idea that coming into last year, uh, it was a different feeling than this year as far as the confidence and the feeling of stability and really trusting.
We are a playoff team. We are a World Series contender. It's not that they didn't believe they could win. It was almost like we kind of have to win or things are going to change around here type feeling. I think some people felt that way. I did get some pushback on that when I asked around, but, but certainly there was some people that are like, yeah, I think that's a fair way to look at it.
And, and I think that's, you know, you, you have a winning season. You don't have a lame duck head of baseball operations. Should that always impact the players on the field? Maybe not, but they're aware of what's going on, and Jet's been around for a long time. So it definitely has a feeling of we know what direction we're headed. This is working.
We can make this a winning culture and get back to the top of the mountain. Obviously, there's the big bad Dodgers to worry about, but this is one of the teams, a handful of teams that people look at and say they can contend with the Dodgers.
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Chapter 3: How do the Cubs' extensions reflect their strategy for retaining talent?
Look, when you try and sign Alex Bregman in February, it's very different than trying to sign him in December or January. Because when you do that, as spring training is approaching or already started... Basically, you're asking for extra money. When you do that in January, it's not an ask. It's like this is part of the offseason. This is what we're doing. So the thinking kind of shifts.
So you needed to get that done. You needed to be aggressive with it. And they were. That was something else we learned. When you talk about the aggressors, the Red Sox were more aggressive last year. They weren't as aggressive. The Cubs came after Alex Bregman and made it. known that he was their priority. They had a plan A offseason as far as what they wanted to do.
It fit in well because once you trade for Edward Cabrera, it makes it a lot easier to sign Alex Bregman.
Chapter 4: What does Jed Hoyer's leadership mean for the Cubs' future direction?
If they signed someone like Dylan Cease, if he came in at a price that they liked, I don't think you're getting Alex Bregman. That would have been a real long shot to be able to fit that into their budget. So It was an offseason that kind of fell into place well for them, and it's been a little while since they've been able to do that.
And, Sahad, I'm curious as to what's next for the Cubs because we were just talking a couple of days ago about, well, the Nico Horner extension, now that we know he's not getting traded, makes the most sense. I'm looking at this team and understanding what the trade deadline did not give them last year as far as opportunities to improve the ball club.
Where can this club continue to improve in terms of 2026? Is it going to be just an internal, you know, hoping that Jackson Wiggins and some of these other guys produce situation or do you think the it's open for improvement through the trade deadline this year
Oh, yeah. I don't think if you're a winning team, I think that's one thing. You can criticize the Ricketts for whatever you want. I'm not going to have big arguments about that. I'm sure there's plenty of legitimate criticism. One thing that I've seen them do is when the team is contending, they will find ways to add to the budget at the trade deadline.
Budget rarely is an issue at the trade deadline if they're legitimate contenders. It would be a surprise if the team is not contending this year. I think to decide what those holes are is a little difficult right now, one game into the season. But they will figure out whatever their weaknesses are entering the mid to late July period and go out and address those.
I don't think you can only rely on ā you need internal help.
uh jackson wiggins uh you know pedro ramirez whoever else some reliever that may pop over the course of the year uh these guys you you want them to help because that's that's the sign of a healthy and good organization but you need to go out and trade for guys too you need to if it's whether it's a reliever a starter whatever a bat whatever they need they need to be able to you know have the money and the and the pieces to go out and get that and i think
If there's one question, it's less about money and how good is the farm system right now. I think it's solid. I don't think it's great. So they need to continue to develop talent there. not only to help the team with those players on the field, but to trade guys as well.
And then, Sahadev, I know you did a story on The Athletic regarding yesterday's game. You touched on Matthew Boyd of it. What was the most, I think, to put it in perspective, what do you think is an area that needs attention out of yesterday's loss?
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Chapter 5: How has the Cubs' approach to building a winning team evolved?
Yeah, I think, you know, I try not to overreact to this stuff. I think it's really important to take almost nothing away from one game because if this happened in, you know, June, we wouldn't blink an eye, right? You just don't want it to be a trend. You want to make sure that fourth inning where the velocity dipped, what was the issue? And he talked about it. He felt it like a little off.
He didn't make the adjustment with his fastball quick enough. And it was an awesome pitch for three innings and suddenly a bad pitch. So is that... Is that easily correctable? That's what we're going to have to find out over the next, you know, weeks. Was that a blip? You want that to be a blip? He was so good those first three innings.
Some of the best stuff was seen from him in a Cubs uniform and he was an all-star last year. So I don't think, you know, I understand it's easy to overreact. This is what we do. Early season numbers are always, you overanalyze them.
uh but there's no reason to just yet uh but yes i i want to see i i i'm curious what what happened in that fourth inning and is it easily correctable that's that's what i would focus on i did offense actually pretty good one or two big hits and and we're we're talking about a much closer game so i the the offense was uh you know encouraging again one game none of it really matters
Saad, thank you. We'll look forward to your coverage from our PQR Armstrong extension press conference that we will play here at 1 o'clock. Thank you.
Thanks, Saad. Of course. Thanks so much for having me.
Take care. And good luck tomorrow to the Illini and Saad.
I'm looking forward to it.
Me too. That was Saad of Sharma, who is kind enough to join us here on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Coming up next, there is a, I can't believe I'm even saying this. There's an unexpected new development in the Bears stadium search, and it is coming from a place that I absolutely didn't expect it to come from.
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