Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bruce Levine talks Cubs' interest in Zac Gallen, Frank Thomas-White Sox drama

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote were joined by Score baseball insider Bruce Levine to discuss the Cubs' interest in right-hander Zac Gallen and the ongoing drama between White Sox icon Frank Thomas and the organization.

Harrison Grody. Can you imagine Lovie Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys, good better best. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody on 1043, the score.

It's going to take me a while to remember. Keep me honest, guys. And we now go to our Circa Sports. hotline. Download the circus sports app today. That is where we find Bruce Levine. He is at MLB Bruce Levine on Twitter. He is our baseball insider. He hosts inside the clubhouse Saturday mornings 9 to 11 right here on 104.3, the score. Hey, Bruce, how are you? Good morning, folks. How many are there of you today? There's three of us and you. Oh, oh. Full house, Bruce, full house. Mark Grody's there. What's going on, Bruce? How are you, buddy? Stop it already.

I have a question for all of you. Oh, wow. Good. I like this. The question is, with as much starting pitching as the Cubs have and maybe even adding more, if they go the way of a Zach Gallen or something of that nature. Are you okay when Steele comes back that they're in a six-man rotation and can manager, Craig Counsel, get by with seven bullpen guys? Yeah, I'll just say this because I feel like every time I've had a six-man rotation conversation,

it's temporary and it feels good when we have it. And unfortunately, it doesn't usually extend itself very long. So if that is the case, if they are that lucky at some point in a season to have it, Bruce, I think of it like house money. Like at that point, you're happy you've got it and it's probably not going to last forever and you've just got to ride the wave until it crashes. Bruce, knowing what we know about how pitching works, especially if you have playoff aspirations,

I would argue and be on the front lines of saying you need to have a six-man rotation, and that's the best way to operate in modern Major League Baseball, understanding where the most recent World Series participants, World Series champions, 100%. Just go six-man rotation out of the gate and then adjust accordingly. Right.

And before Mark answers, I'll just say, that is my look at this. Are the Cubs the mini-dodgers and other. words, you see so many of the pitchers that dominated in the World Series who didn't pitch more than 12 or 15 games in the regular season. They have that luxury with a $400 million payroll. So from the perspective of copycat like they do in every sport, Mark Grody, would this be a good way to go for the Chicago Cubs?

I agree with everything you said and Layla and Mark. What a luxury would be. And let me throw you a question. When he does, you ready for this, Bruce? When Justin Steele does return to the rotation, who do you believe at that time will be the Cubs' best pitcher? Who will be their ace up until Justin Steele returns to the Cubs to maybe retake the mantle of ace?

Oh, that's easy. Zach Gellon. Oh, I love that answer. You couldn't have given a better answer than that. More. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, talking to the people that usually want this stuff out there, not necessarily always happening, for the last seven, eight weeks, you know, Gallen and the Cubs have always

been connected since early December. And the idea that he is still out there without a contract and a quality starting pitcher who will probably have to take a three-year deal of some sort with some type of ability to get out of it after the first or second year, this might fall right into the Cubs lap. Now, do they know what to do with it? Would it be an addition where they have another starting pitcher to move?

Would this be a way of cutting down on all the Nico Horner and Matt Shaw conversation being moved to both? Austin. Again, pitching depth, as we've pointed out by all of us in agreement, is the key to success during a baseball season. And I think the Cubs are really hammering that home. No, Frank, I'm Frank. Bruce, I think that that's, yeah, well, you know where my, yeah, you know where my mind is, actually, Bruce, I feel like it is a good question of one that we are still examining. And I also did want to get your opinion on what you know regarding. the White Sox post about Black History Month and Frank Thomas obviously offended that he wasn't

part of the further recognition among firsts. Like, for example, he's the first two-time MVP that the team has had. There are many firsts that Frank Thomas can be a part of. It made sense as to why he was upset. You know, what's your understanding about what is happening now and how the Sox plan on addressing this? Well, my take on this, you know, I've known Franks since, you know, 1989 when he first came up. I mean, he's always been a really, really sensitive guy and a very excellent best hitter in White Sox history. Hard to argue that. I'm certainly the best power hitter in White Sox history by far.

And certainly iconic, you know, during his time. That said, you know, with social media and everything that it can lead to, you know, know, do you have regret after putting that out there sometimes after you post something like that? In other words, was it that offensive because there's a whole month of Black History Month that the White Sox will be paying tribute to all of their African American players, including Frank, numerous times. Was this a too quick of a reaction? Or, you know, does he really have a case saying, you know, I should be first and foremost all the time when you mentioned

African Americans and the Chicago White Sox. Well, it's just interesting that you phrase it that way, Bruce, because here was my immediate reaction. My immediate reaction is, as an organization, you understand and know Frank Thomas and know how sensitive he is. So you understand how an omission is going to come across. That's how relationships work. You learn the other person you're in a relationship with,

and you do everything in your power not to just outwardly give them a reason to be upset. I mean, anybody who's had friendships, relationships, whatever. You know Frank Thomas is sensitive. He's the first black American league two-time MVP in Major League Baseball history. Just give him that and keep it moving. Yeah. I would say Marshall, that's right. Because all the other stuff, you know, you start saying negative things about Frank Thomas. If you're a media person or anybody that talks about the White Sox, you're going nowhere with the White Sox fan base. You can't say anything bad about Frank Thomas. He was iconic. He was everything that people always wanted.

We know the flaws like we all have. You know, Frank has had them and emotions are a part of that. But nonetheless, that's probably good advice. Well, I also want to take the time to say, like, having worked on a show with Frank for years hosting White Sox preimposed game, and I don't even know sensitive is the word. And you know this as well, Bruce. Like, think about how hard he worked at a time when the steroid era was dominant. You know, that's part of it too. Like, omission, unfortunately, is something that White Sox fans bear a burden of. And I understand why Frank would feel the same way.

It's indicative of the entire discourse. Here's the interesting thing. Ozzie and Joey Cora and Layla, you know this, and you guys probably do as well, but I think it's worth repeating. Before every game, when they all played together during batting practice, Ozzie and Joey would get on Frank and do everything to make him upset. They would call him names. They would say he was weak.

They would say he's bad BP, that he's not hustling. And he would be on fire coming out after BP. And if you ask Ozzy about it, their method was, we want to get Frank fired up so that he gets three hits rather than two today. This is our motivation. They've said it, yeah, Ozzie has said it, yeah. And Ozzy, you know, that's why Ozzie's always the most interesting man in baseball, because he will tell you all these things and all the motivations that he used during his career as a player and as a manager.

But with Frank, I think he could accept the sensitivity stuff from his teammates because they were successful together. they were winning. You know, they had really good teams. He was MVP two years in a row. So everything was functioning well. You know, there have been many times where Frank hasn't been the, you know, happy with the team, happy with teammates, vice versa as well. That's just, you know, it's just the course of somebody's 17 or 18 year career, you know, it's going to happen. Frank has never gone out of his way to be a bad guy.

He's never gone after people. not him, but like many great players, he was always selfish about his numbers and always wanted to make sure that was first and foremost. And personally, I don't have a problem with that when you're that good. I got to ask this, Bruce, because you brought up the relationship between the White Sox and Frank Thomas. And it got ugly at times. I don't want to undersell it. I mean, with Kenny Williams, in 2006, Frank Thomas suing two doctors on the White Sox that alleging they had misdiagnosed an injury. I know that they settled that, the diminished skills thing, in 2002, all of this to ask you this, and I feel like I got to ask you this because there were opinions that went this way,

was any of this intended or petty on the White Sox part by not putting Frank Thomas in? because clearly Frank sees it that way. You know, I would say just it was a slight misstep by the White Sox, I would say. Because as talking to them right away, and I talked to everybody, you know, that kind of runs the place, not Jerry, but almost everybody else. And they all said, hey, we're paying a lot of tribute to Frank during this entire month. So, you know, we understand. understand what people are saying right now, why, you know, Frank is upset.

We, you know, just give it some room. You know, we love Frank, and we know how important he is to our fans. And that's it. And one of them said, hey, last I looked, we have a statue up there at him, don't we? So they just missed, it wasn't intended error. They weren't being petty. They just, it was an oversight. Okay.

I just, I wanted to make sure that it was clear. I mean, because there are people who have opinions that, the white sock this jerry rindsdorf being petty or saying somehow that's out there bruce and i want to make sure that that gets cleared up one way or the other so mark you brought up 2002 and i remember reporting uh before a game that frank um that frank wasn't in the lineup and when he came when he saw that he went ballistic with jerry manual the manager at that time and the next day he didn't show up on time for batting practice. And I reported that first.

He was upset about it. It was factual. But the reality is that the sensitivity and what happened back then, those things were real. You know, I mean, they happen. It doesn't take anything away from who Frank Thomas was with the White Sox. None at all. It just points out, you know, people are different. And like I said, Frank,

very sensitive guy very prideful guy rightfully so when that happens by the way when they do come up with that big infographic with all of Frank Thomas's accomplishments I want at the very top he's the dude that met with John Mitchell

when nobody else would yeah I agree with you Marshall and look for me he was a hero during that period of time because him and Paul Canerico Paul Canerco right there with him they were the instigators in really the first drug testing being taken place back in that time with the first drug test at that point in 2002 going to 2003 because of the fact that their numbers,

their teammates, everybody in baseball was being impacted by steroids. Frank obviously probably missed at least one MVP award because of steroids. And the others were being impacted. People were being run out of the game because they weren't taking steroids. They weren't strong enough to stay in the game. So, you know, I'll always think him and Canerico were the two forerunners of that. Well, Bruce, this is always great to talk to you. And we'll keep a lookout for any Zach Allen-related info, Bruce.

Guys, headed toward Arizona very soon. Looking forward to talking to you from there. Have a great day. Absolutely. That is Bruce Levine. He is the host of Inside the Clubhouse, which you can hear on Saturday mornings right here on 1043 The Score. And he is our scores baseball insider. And I know you guys touched on this, and I know we're running late to break.

But the concept of acknowledgement is what this is supposed to be. Is it not? You would know better than I. But the idea is acknowledge people's accomplishments. Acknowledge their accomplishments. But again, when you have a relationship with somebody, avoid doing stuff that's going to come across the wrong way. But also surrounding the entire discussion. of how much the White Sox and their players are dismissed unnecessarily.

This isn't, it's not an outlier to understand the upset. Oh, yeah. I mean, like, in this, the relationship with Frank, like we were getting into so complicated. And I said this about Frank. Like, let's be honest, he's holding big time resentments. He's just waiting. It felt like, and he was justified, but it also, at the same time, it also felt like he was just waiting for a chance to jump on the White Sox again.

holding on to things that he needs to do his part as well, is all I'm saying. There's no benefit of a doubt. That's the problem here. I don't know. I think it's because I work with them every day. Maybe I feel a little differently about it. That's understandable.

It really is. But I think the bottom line here is that when people deserve accomplishment, acknowledgement, then it's on us to give it to them. Absolutely. And if our part is something didn't get acknowledged right, then it's okay to say that and do the right thing afterward.

Still waiting to hear from the White Sox publicly on that. there's that as well coming up next year on mohamie harrison grotie on 1043 the score it's time for half time and we have our first notable super bowl prediction and it's from someone i'm scared of next