Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — October 2, 2026

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote pondered who will start at quarterback for the Bears on Sunday and welcomed on Chicago Sports Network analyst Steve Stone to preview the White Sox-Guardians matchup in the American League Division Series.

This hour is being brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric for all the right reasons. Call 8664-4-4-4-4-Sysons. Raheimian Grody. 10 to 2 on 104-3, The Score. This is John in Milwaukee. Hi, John, what's going on, man? The Cubs and the crew have a great team. Their greatest teams enough.

And the majors right now, I feel. Say what? The Cubs and the crew are the two best teams in the league. I just want to make sure I heard you right. That's what I say. Wow. Stay off the weeds. D. How do you come up with that after what you just saw, man?

I want to play along with you here, but I can't. Well, I just wanted to make a statement because the Brewers hired our coach, Pat Murphy, as a bench coach. And I think he was carrying Craig's counsel for a long time. I believe that he's just not as good as everybody puts him out to be, especially after he got that amount of salary. And I'm going to leave you at that. I assume you're a Brewers fan, right?

I assume, right? I've been watching the Cubs and the Brewers for 10 years straight, Never miss any games. What? The inspiring words of a fan who'll always root, root, root, root for the home team. You're a Brewer's fan, though, yeah? I'm both.

Up to me and Alphe. I got my cubby hat right on right now. I don't believe you. We did it! I know what you get? Fair with a fan. Fear with a fan. You're from Minnesota.

That's okay. I'm just mad at council. Green Bay sucks. Green Bay sucks. Green Bay sucks. Green Bay sucks. He doesn't watch football. Green Bay.

Oh, he doesn't watch football. Foozball. You playing a foosball behind my. The back foosball is the devil. This is the most random collection of caller. You're a brewers and Cubs fan. For 10 years. Hold on.

John, who's your basketball team? You got a basketball team? Well, now, I'm a fair weather fan, so they got rid of my Atonamu, however you say his name. Led by Janus, out of the rumbo. Are you a bear's fan? Well, since they're kicking ass, excuse my friends. No, you're good. Yeah, the dog bears.

Bears are going to kick ass. Excuse me. How about those bears? You've got a bear down on a daily basis. Layla Rahimi, Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score. Oh, we're going to bear down a lot today, Leila. It's Rahimi and Grotie on a Friday. Are you ready?

Are you ready to get bears-e? Well, I believe you said you had a bear's bucket of news that you wanted to empty. Oh, yes, the bear's bucket will be emptied at 1025. and make no mistake about it, folks. You are listening to a four-season heating, air-conditioning, plumbing, sewer and electric football Friday presented by your local Ford dealers and Advent. It is the Bears and Jets along the lakefront Sunday at noon. Cannot wait, the 2-1 Bears against the 1-2 Jets.

A Jets team. The theme of the Jets team is they are like, they're close. Look at the games that they've been playing. so far. They are close contests. They just, they lost to the Lions last week, 31 to 24, but overcame a 14 point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Week two, they only lost to Green Bay by three, and they beat up on the Tennessee Titans 23 to 10 in week one. Pardth. So they're, they're that team, Leila, that's teetering on being dangerous because they're close. The Jets, I'd say, may be the biggest, well, prior to Cleveland being.

three and one, which is shocking. Is that a real three and one? You watched more of the game last night than I did. I watched the entire fourth quarter. After I saw that exchange between Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy, I was like, oh, this is going to be interesting. Tell March I said, bleep you. Yeah, so basically that I turned on like the fourth quarter of the Jets and the

Jets, the Steelers and Browns game. First of all, let me tell you about that Andre Schimp, I think is how you say his last name. The kicker. Yeah, so he's from Vernon Hills. He was on the Bears practice squad at one time. Vernon Hills, hello. He's the one who made the game winner against the Packers last year for the Browns. And I was watching the game, and a friend of mine was talking to me about it.

And they were like, there's no way he makes this kick, right? For the game winner, I was like, oh, no, I've seen him kick. I'm like, I think he's good. And then he was. It was 56, and he made that thing with like another four yards to spare. Boom! Could have gone 60. He was on the Bears practice squad.

I just want to point that out. And he's a local guy. Why do you hate Cairo Santos? I don't hate Cairo Santos. I've learned to understand that Cairo will miss the 30-yarder, but then nail the, like, 52 screwball into the wind at Soldier Field. He's really one of the steadiest kickers the Bears have ever had, Cairo Santos.

But it's the 30-yarder where I'm like, and then you know who had a really nice day on special teams, too. Do you remember Richard Hightower saying his name is Jordan, Bohrquez, the punter for the... Oh, yeah. So he put it an 81-yarder that ended up being 61 because it was a touchback. My goodness. You don't have to spend a fourth-round drive.

pick on those guys. Ray, did you have something there? Oh, just quickly, my quick synopsis, I know this is a football Friday with a focus on the Bears. Yeah, bears, right. It was really a product of like the Steelers were a mess on offense for a lot of that game. They have no pre-snap motion. Yes. Zero. Like everybody just stands around. And on defense, they were a mess to begin the game. And then the Steelers defense kind of found themselves. T.J. Watt started to get to Sean Watson. But it was just they dug themselves the whole. That was the synopsis of the game. So, ergo, the Jets have become the benefit. of the doubt team in the NFL currently.

They have, and they got a pretty decent defense that is 12th in points allowed, sixth and total yards. They are fifth. Let me start with Rush. They are 12th against the Rush and fifth against the pass, which brings us to who will be passing for the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and both of your contestants spoke at Hallis Hall yesterday, and I must give this little caveat.

Neither quarterback spoke at the podium. It was not a formal setting, but both. quarterbacks were amenable to speaking to the media. I think right outside the locker room, I think they did that whole thing where they set up the podium because it just gets to be too big of a crowd inside of the locker room. And again, for whatever it's worth, FWIW, Tyson Baygent was the first of the two quarterbacks to speak. And he was speaking to about not getting the start on Monday as Case Keenham was the one elected to do that because of the concussion to Tyson. I'd like to think about it.

in the sense of, there's a couple ways to think about it. Obviously, I would like everything that the football world can offer me. But then there's also the part that I am from Shepard's University, so I have absolutely zero ego in this, and nobody's a bigger cheerleader and a fan of Case Keenum than I am. I think he is the epitome of what I believe a quarterback is and is supposed to be, so it was fun to watch and play. Did you learn anything watching him prepare? Yes. What did you learn? Yeah, just how he carried himself throughout the week. I thought it was vital for every quarterback in the room to see that. I mean, I know that I had a ton of notes outside of what we were doing schematically

just on how he was carrying himself and basically just what he did, meeting in and meeting out. Do you have any sense if you are the starter? I do not. Pretty well done. Add a girl, Cheryl. Yeah, good job by Cheryl Ray. And really, like, if you're rooting for the gamesmanship part of it, if you don't want to give it up to Aaron Glenn, what the Bears are doing at course,

quarterback, Tyson Badeon did a good job of answering that last question as well. He was well rehearsed on that, just to keep a steady poker face and do not allow anybody to know any different tone in your voice. But I also think that is him. He's pretty, he's been genuine like that. I feel like that's. Stoic guy. Yeah. Looks you in the eye. The has, has absolutely, has absolutely zero ego involved in it. I mean, human nature probably dictates that like, he, He would like to have been that guy in that spot. I mean, I remember doing the remote for Take the North, and the idea that I suggested that he was a backup quarterback

did not sit well with Tyson Vagent. Yes, but I also think it was the way he, from what you told me about that discussion, it was how he felt like he had to talk to himself to make sure he was ready and hold himself to a high standard of the starting quarterback. That's a good point. Yeah, to be ready at a moment's notice. And I'm not trying to make excuses for the guy.

It's just when you hear him enough talking and like hard knocks, I think was a really good window into kind of his personality and how he fits into a room. So I don't think it's lip service from Tyson Bejant. I also, to that end, the picture of Tyson Begant in the locker room while Case and Ben are doing their thing and he looks all. Some people thought he looked irritated. I thought that was just Tyson being Tyson looking stoic and looking professional like he always does. Let's listen to the other contestant. Case Keenham making the case for his starting at quarterback. For case.

Very good. For case. Yes. Bears. Man, I've been making my case for 15 years. Like, I'm trying to win ball games. Like, I don't really, I didn't go out there to make a case to be anybody except myself. And I felt pretty good about winning, you know, the football game.

And we won. So that's how I feel about that. You've had to live in limbo throughout your... Live in limbo. At other places. It should be a chapter in my name. next book. Well, if you want me to write your memoir, I'm more than happy to do so.

But given... I already have one. You have to be the... That's true. Yeah. Given that that's how you've gone about it, clearly, how do you, on short notice, just having been in that world for your whole time in the NFL, how does that make you ready?

I'm built for this. Like, I literally have all the situations, I mean, not all, but I've, I've so many banked reps of situations and outside noise. that I can just, I tune it all out. And I believe the truth and what my coach is telling me, one of my players, my teammates tell me, and what I see on film and what I know I can do. And, you know, you just go out there and do the best you can.

And then you learn from when you don't succeed. It's not failure. It's just an opportunity to learn. Nobody knows their role better than Case Keenham. He's a professional backup quarterback at this point. He's a quarterback who didn't necessarily expect to ever throw a ball in a real game with the Chicago Bears. Yeah. And I feel like he's playing with gratitude.

Totally. The both of them do. The both of them. They really do. I do feel like my possession arrow, well, that's possession arrows either one team or another. My, you know, the prediction arrow. Yeah. What do you got?

I feel like it is wavering a little more toward Bejan, even though I personally would probably still start case. Just because my coach brain, that's how I feel. but I think like the likelihood is turning more in the direction of Beijing. I feel that too and I have not heard anything out of Hallis Hall, anything exact, anything sourced from myself or from anybody, but it feels like the best guesses coming out of Hallis Hall and the reporters are that it's going to be Bejan as well. It is interesting to me that if it is Beijan, it will have been two weeks in a row that you will have had a quarterback starting that has not started a game since the

the year 2023. That had been the same thing with Case Keenum. It will be, if it's Tyson, the same thing with him as he started four games in the year, 2023. After he relieved Justin Fields, he had a hand injury against Minnesota. Then he comes in, and then he starts four games. And, you know, he was okay. He was okay against the Saints. He did have a three interception. He had a couple games with multiple interceptions. But I'm not going to dwell on 23. Tyson Bayjit is a different quarterback now

in 2026. Obviously a very different head coach, very different training, and we should probably give him the benefit, the doubt that he's better than what he was in 2020. I was too busy grinding my absolute face off. Yes, you were. Just like you can see where the preseason helped Case Keatim and

gave you an indication of what you might see on Monday night against the Eagles, I think you can say the exact same thing about the preseason for Tyson-Bagent. Absolutely. This Sunday, joined the score and Bud Light at the Sports Corner in Wrigleyville, Olin Kruits, Patrick Manley, and yours truly. We'll host our pregame show there.

Who's yours? I don't know who that is. It just says yours truly. I just read what's in front of me. That is happening from 9 to noon. 9 to noon? Who put the question mark in the teleprompter? I'll read anything.

Then... In a career? Then have immediate reaction. on the post game show after Chicago takes on New York. Compete in round one of Bud Light's National Football Faceoff Tournament, giving you a chance to test your football skills to win a trip to Vegas during an NFL playoff weekend in January. That's this Sunday before and after the game at Sports Corner in Wrigleyville. The Sunday fall Gallagher Way trip and Wrigleyville trip is a good one.

You can still enjoy the weather. Yeah, man. Yeah, you can feel a little crisp in the air for the football indication. I'm sorry there's no baseball there and that stinks. We have Jed Hoyer on at one. Yes, we do. Yeah, yeah, full Jed Hoyer. He's doing the season ending press conference.

We will carry that for you at 1 o'clock. We've got a lot more football. We've got Steve Stone at 11.25. Adam Hogue is at 11, 1225. Kevin Fishpain. So I always look forward to talking to those two guys, as we usually do on Fridays on this particular show. Thank you to our producer.

Ray Diaz and Tyler Buterbaugh. They're both here on a Friday. Connor O'Donnell, Max Curtis, Jacob Studs, they run the videos. The scorechicago.com editor is Cody Westrel. And if you'd like to watch us, search the score Chicago on Twitch and YouTube. And you can find our video stream each and every day. We could talk a little bit more about the QB situation coming up, but we've got other things we want to talk about, including Kyler Gordon, who was practicing yesterday.

How much did he practice? What was it like? We will tell you about that. next and other Bears notes as well on a Friday on Rahimi and Grotie on 104 3 the score. My name is Laila Rahimi and I love sports and I don't

care who knows. We like sports and we don't care who knows. Midday, 10 a.m. 2 on the score. The Bears. Fuck it. Oh, and Sledgehammer? The quintessential radio return music of I'd say the early 2000s.

It is a good song. What? Yeah. Like, you can't help but liking the melody of it. It is probably objectively. That's not what I don't know. But Peter Gabriel lived on the edge. Yeah, and I don't dislike Peter Gabriel.

I like some things that Peter Gabriel has done for sure, whether with Genesis or solo. I think that's just one of those songs I just heard way too many times. Yeah, because it's a quintessential radio return cut. It is. But it makes me feel good. Oh, yeah. Why? Why?

Because it just is. I've not noticed that. Man, I worked at a station that used it all the time back in the day. Well, this ain't that. Oh, yeah. How dare we use one of the better artists of a decade? Well, it doesn't matter. You didn't think I'd be caping for Peter Gabriel today, didn't it?

Peter Gabriel. Come talk to me. That's a sick song right there. See you there? No, I do like Peter Gabriel. I'm just talking about that song in general. I think I've just heard it too many times. That's all.

It's Rahimi and Grotie. on 104-3 the score, where we talk sports and music. We do like to talk music on this show and backstage and all those kinds of things. I just realized something about what is going to happen today at Hallis Hall with the Chicago Bears and the beats. The fact that, okay, so Kyler Gordon, if you don't know, was a full, Layla, full participant in practice yesterday. There was nothing limited about the designation. that Kyler Gordon was given.

If you don't know, the Bears did open the 21-day practice window for Kyler Gordon to come off of the pup list. And he's got to sit out one more game. And then he would be eligible to return, which would be against at the Packers. And if he doesn't return, they put him back on the pup. He's gone. He's staying there for the rest of the year. So there are some big moments of consequence coming up finally in the Kyler Gordon story. But what I realized is that Ben Johnson will be asked about Kyler-Groft.

Oh, on the list of things that annoy Ben Johnson. That is one of them. That is correct. What's been your message to Kyle Gordon? Get healthy. It's the click for me. It's the tongue click. I don't give a bleep tongue click.

Is that what it is? Or I'm pissed off and I have to answer this question, tongue click. You know what the list is. We've got over it. Yeah. I think that was also regarding Kyler Gordon. Oh, no, that was starters and preseason. Let's do the list.

Okay, starters in preseason. Kyler Gordon. Kailorden. Losing to the Lions for the last game of the regular season last year. Cell phone going off. Or is that a different category? Is that bad reporter etiquette? Bad, well, yeah.

Okay, what else? Let me think about this. Oh, the idea, did you say Tyson potentially being traded? No! Yeah, Tyson potentially, but that doesn't anger him. That was him coughing and having some fun with it because he loves it. Good point. It's still brought out a happier side.

Yeah. holidays. Holidays. Yeah, screw holidays. He's got Miami tape to break down. He has no idea what day. Yeah, that was time off. But also he didn't know what day Christmas was.

Right. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. I'll think of more. Yeah, we will. But here's the thing. Not only is a question justified. Last week's game.

By the Bears' beat. Sure. Yeah, yeah, talking about last season. Can't do that. But not only would a question is imperative, quite frankly, about Kyler Gordon today, guess what? If Ben Johnson is to give another one of those types of answers, and either way, even if he answers enthusiastically,

follow-ups are justified today, are warranted today. While before then, like we could all infer from what he was saying, he's not happy with him. And so not necessarily, didn't necessarily need a follow-up. Now if he gets pissy, you got to follow-up, right? What's the matter? Why aren't you answering these questions, Ben? Well, and even Ryan Poles.

I'd love to hear what Ryan Poles has to say about this because when he was asked about it, there was a question about his finality with the team. Whether or not he had played his final snap with the Bears and he was like, I don't know. Or if he was going to play this season. Right. The whole thing was a shoulder shrug.

The whole thing was like, uh-uh. And I'm not mad at him for saying, I don't know. It's just the fact of the matter is this all seemed very up in the air. Yeah. Yeah, no, he made that very clear. And again, what makes the whole thing unprecedented in my mind in Bears history is that you had the GM and the coach basically saying, you guys should feel free to interpret this however you'd like.

Well, and then there's Brad Biggs reporting where he said teammates called the situation, quote, bizarre, end quote. And that's another indicator. Absolutely. And then if we want to add to Kyler Gordon's side of it, we had Herb Howard telling us that players came up to him in the locker room and were saying how much they support Kyler Gordon, how much they love Kyler Gordon, how great of a player Kyler Gordon is. That doesn't mean that that reflects the entire locker room, but there are players in there that do indeed support him. So it's very interesting. It is the most mixed of mixed bag. It really is. And so we'll see. We had no idea if we're going to actually get to the point where this guy is going to play. Do you think he's going to

play? Like, is your prediction changed by the fact that he was a full participant in practice yesterday? Yeah, because I think a roster spot, the tenuous name. nature of the roster spot when you open up a window like that. So this would be the last game he can miss. But the better question becomes, is it like a situation last year with Malikma or with Nashan Wright and Jalen Johnson where the odd man out was Tyreeks Stevenson and that? You know, they want to go with the hot hand. They've talked about that. That's been the philosophy. So how does that work easing him back in? And that's a better question too. Yeah. I guess what Ben Johnson says today might be a good indicator of where they are with him

now and where they are with him going forward. You mentioned this, Leila. I think you were the first to bring this up yesterday, and then it came up again during transition today. There is a danger that the bears are facing against the New York Jets. This might be the most underrated, but high pressure streak in the NFL. Last season, the Jets, with their former defensive. back head coach Aaron Glenn

did not have a single interception. Well, guess what, friends, that has continued into this season. It is the Cowboys, the Jets, the Colts, and the Eagles are the only teams that don't have an interception yet this season. And I don't care if your case Keatom or

Tyson vajent. You cannot break the streak. You cannot be the team that finally has the Jets get an interception in the Aaron Glenn era. Don't be. Can't do it. That's 20 games. Don't be that guy. You can't be that.

No next team wants to break the streak. Patrick Finley was thankfully on this story at Hallis Hall. Did ask Press Taylor about this. Chets haven't intercepted a pass in a year and a half. Do you want your guys to know that or not? Honestly, I remember hearing that going into the offseason last year.

We haven't talked much about that, honestly. We're just going to go on and try to do our very best with every single thing we do. And obviously in the past game, and that's not something necessarily we talk about. We know what, as everybody says, turnover's coming bunches. And so we hope to not be a part of that. See, you don't want to break the streak. You can't be the team to do it. Don't talk about it.

And then that team will carry shame. For shame. The last interception was Ashton Davis, last regular season interception for the New York Jets, January 5th, 2025 against quarterback. You never get this. Miami Dolphins quarterback. Tyler Huntley. Wow. So it's one of the games where Tuo was out. Yes, it was. So it is as ambiguous and gray as can be. And this is not a good look for Aaron Glenn who played defensive back during his career with the jet. So while you can't really pin it on him and be like, oh, you should be doing better. It's not like he's in the

secondary. Right. That's got to be super annoying though, because I'm sure the questions are consistent and that's a topic in New York with Jets talk show hosts and that they have to deal with that on the daily. Oh yeah. Yeah, they know a healthy level of dysfunction, the Jets covering media. Yes. But you can't be the team. You can't be the team that breaks a streak.

No. Don't be. Press Taylor tried to kind of soften it. Why do I get the feeling that he also knows? He did not want to deal with that. Because he might be a little stitious. Just a little bit. Or maybe he's absolutely superstitious.

Have we talked to Press Taylor enough as a human to know that about him? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think this would be the time. Do you think that there's any chance that Joe Tunney will play left tackle on Sunday? That's the other part of this. So you're in a tenuous situation here with Braxton Jones being injured. And then Theo Benedid had some really tenuous snaps against the eagle.

There are some replays of guys just going right past him. Past protection seemed to be the concern with him. How confident are you with Theo Bennett at a left tackle? For a backup quarterback. Tyson Bejit runs, he's mobile, so theoretically that can counter some of that. I haven't been confident in a Bears left tackle for basically a season in three games now.

But to the Bears' credit, to Ben Johnson's credit, They have managed to overcome the issues at left tackle. Now, again, as I would say... I would say they've mitigated them. I wouldn't say they've overcome them. Well, what I was going to say is it's been maximum effort. Yeah. Mitigated.

Yeah. They have done what they've had to do. They've had to overcompensate at times to help left tackle or put them in a position to maybe putting, as they did last week, putting Darnell right and Jonah Jackson on the left side for a play. Poor Darnell. As they did. Well, not poor Darnell because they're doing this. that because Darnell is excellent. And it did again make me think, is Darnel right? Does he,

does he still the future at left tackle? Is there any chance that we reopen those talks, depending on how Ozzie Tripillo does, which I guess is the real answer? Trapio. Like, Ozzie Trapillo. Thank you. How good is Ozzie Trapillo going to be? Like, that's still the number one question. And it's not out of the question that he plays this week. We don't know at this point. Hold on. But it's possible. The bucket giveth here.

Okay, so now you're saying that there's... I don't think you'd start. Can we, as a media unit, handle Trapillo and Kyler Gordon coming back in the same week? Well, Kyler's not coming back. Kyler's not coming back this week. He can't play this week. Yeah, it's the next week. Right, right, right.

So though, but... No, when I say this, I meant like the same week. Like practice or stuff. I guess Tripillo, yeah. I guess technically Trapillo is a possibility for Sunday. He is now. In my mind, he's not. So that's why I went to the following.

I get that. No, I totally get that. Like, I don't see a scenario where he would start, but I could see a scenario where he comes in. And maybe we'll get more of those answers today, like out at Hallis Hall. Maybe we'll know more about Tripillo. Maybe our guys will have Hogan a little bit later, Fish Bain as well. They could probably help us out with that. But that's it, right?

like that he is supposed to be Ozzie Tripillo the stabilizer at that position now played last year but I don't know that he was necessarily outstanding he was better than I think people thought but we still don't know if he could play the position these are problems that I did not want

to have but we have yes they have arrived oh we have the announcement remember that time that I alluded to doing a show in Wisconsin was that yesterday That was this week at some point in this weird week of us staying up very late most of the week. You guys don't even remember the caller said badgent. That's how weird this week did.

Well, we have an announcement about our show in Wisconsin. Oh. Yeah. Go ahead. Next Friday, October 9th, joined we the score at the world famous brot stop in Kenosha for the return of the Brat Bull previewing Chicago against Green Bay. Our show will be there broadcasting live from 10 to 2. followed by Matt Spiegel and Gabe Ramirez from 2 to 6 that afternoon. We'll be joined by special guests, hosts from our enemy station,

the fan of Milwaukee. It's going down. As well as the show's gearing up for a much anticipated rematch this Sunday. That is next Friday, 10 to 6 at the Broad Stop in Kenosha. It is all brought to you by Ziegler Subaru of Kenosha. For a great experience, visit Ziegler Subaru Kenosha.com. Can't wait, looking forward to the Brat Bowl. coming up next with us.

Wait, are you picking us all up again? Are we going to ride with you up there? We can, but okay, if we're going to do this on the air, here are the, because Ray, you need a ride as well. Yes, sir. And Tyler, you're welcome too. I'm stuck here. Wait, can you fit the soundboard in your trunk somewhere?

Yeah, can we springing with us? Put in the trunk, we all go together. Tyler is an adult, he owns a car. So here is my only. Maybe a minute. Just forget it. Ray. We got, we beggars can't be choosers today. Right, right. Exactly. Exactly. So here's the deal. We're just out here. You guys have to. Passenger princesses. You all need to meet at my place. That's it. That's the circumstance. You got to come. You got to be in my lobby and I will drive.

Whoever. And listeners, come on to my lobby. Anybody that shows up in my lobby will all get in the car and we will drive to Kenosha together. It's going to be great. You know how else is going to join us out there? Who? James Big Cat Williams. No way. Really? Yes. He's fun. I love talking to him in general, and then he's joined us at the Brought Stop before, so that's great. James Big Cat Williams will be driving you guys home, too, by the way. So that's the deal. Do you really want to upset that man? No, no.

Wait, if we show up at your lobby, can we say how to Dave the Cat? No, because he'll just hide, unfortunately. Damn it. Yeah, I wish. Scaity Cat. Yeah, he really is. Will Dave have the ox if he wanted to come with the Broth Stop? Keeps pawing at songs.

Yeah, maybe we'll bring him. Maybe we'll bring Dave the cat. He'll have an absolute blast. So that's my only requirement. He's a unique cat. Yes, he is. We have to talk about this, and that is the latest twist in the Bears Stadium saga.

Are you ready, Leila? Yeah, but don't say we told you so. Okay. But there is something new that I think is pretty valid in all of this. It's Rahimi and Grotia, 104-3, the score. I didn't want to correct you, buddy, but it's a... Yeah. Grotie.

Appreciate all the flowery comments there. Midday. 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. Score. Does this mean mob and dad are arguing? Or Kyle Tucker's talking about his injury? I'm sorry. I feel like I'm about to go on the raging bowl.

Because this is the Great America song. That's where my brain goes. I understand where your brain goes there. The Kyle Tucker injury. Yeah, Lord, that's playing in the background. And then the Cubs went like 6 and O in the Vangabas era. Do you remember that? Do you remember that?

You guys know the Great America guy. Am I the only one who's in on that reference? I know. I know him as the Six Flags guy. Yeah. The old guy. The old ball guy. Tap dancing.

That's right. Yeah. Welcome back to Rehemi and Grotie. On 1043, the score. I am staring down a story right now from Capitol News, Illinois, written by Brendan Moore, who actually was on the score today on the Hahn-Paeton show. And the headline is, all the right players at the table. Pritzker talks Bears Stadium in CNI exclusive.

Here's the dealio. Here's the thumbnail for everybody. Governor J.B. Pritzker said there were, quote, all the right players at the table Thursday. That'd be yesterday. As he sat down with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Chicago Bears minority owner, Pat Ryan, and key state legislative leaders to discuss keeping the team in Illinois.

quote, this is from Pritzker. I think it was a helpful meeting, close quote. Pritzker told my colleague, Ben Stolensky and I in an interview in his loop campaign office Thursday afternoon saying, action, quote, should happen in the fall veto session that begins next month. Also in the meeting, as I mentioned, was Ryan, who is a Bears part owner and board member with a net worth of $9 billion, according to Forbes. Ryan, the retired CEO of Aon, is the primary funder of Northwesterns, $875 million new Ryan Field, which opens tonight, incidentally, cats against the cats, the Dantley Lions tonight against Penn State. Go cats.

So I guess the... Also cats. That's right, cats. Fishbane a little bit later on today. Yeah, yeah. Big day. I imagine he's probably going tonight. But no Kevin Warren part of the meeting, Leila, no George McCasky part of the meeting.

Oh, you mean the guy saying the sole focus part? Grady, what were you going to say? I like your gesture there. Oh, no, I was just going to say that that's sort of what we latched on to when we talked about the story that Kevin Warren wasn't there. And apparently hasn't been around for three months in terms of being a key part to the stadium. The phrase when the governor says, all the right players are at the table. and the players don't include the team owner and then the president of the team

and instead includes the one board member who's not in the McCaskey family who does indeed know how to run a stadium project and then also includes the NFL commissioners is that not a sunned moment and I love it like that is that is shade upon shade Yeah, but this is...

If your job is to be part of... Is to help get the team of stadium and that is the phrase that was used by the entity you want to get money and help from. And when people say, oh, they're not asking for state money. They are. When you ask for a tax break,

that's what that is. So don't, don't, don't parse the words here. They're asking for help from the state. So therefore, that is not how you want to be talked about if you're not at that table. I do. My biggest takeaway, though, is good for the Bears, good for whoever made the decision to put Pat Ryan in a forward spot to, I don't know if he's like running this thing now.

He should. But the fact that they have allowed this to occur and that it has been made public, I think is good. I think it's good. And we can critique Kevin Warren all we want, but all I'm looking for is for them to adjust and to allow this thing to go forward in whatever direction forward is going to go. I do think there needs to be some accountability held here because... Like Kevin Warren should be punished? No, just that people should be held accountable.

Well, hasn't he been? Haven't we been slamming him every chance we get? I don't slam Kevin Warren on everything. No, but on the stadium is what I'm saying. Has he not been held? been held accountable every day. But I do think that this makes me look differently at any bears messaging that comes from Kevin Warren and George McCasky, even more so than it already did.

When we devote time and effort and you guys devote calls in time to talking about how the bears, quote, sole focus, end quote, was Indiana when the whole time, whole time they're talking to the state of Illinois politicians and even acknowledge it that day. Sure. And then on the other side of it, Mike Braun's out here saying, welcome to Indiana. And now all the right players are at the table to get a stadium deal done at the place where they bought the land? Yeah. Well, I think it was interesting, too.

We got a break. We'll get to Adam Hoag, who actually wrote a whole story on the stadium so we could definitely ask him about it, if that's part of it with Hogue here in just a second. But as it was put with the writer of the story this morning, and this is correct, because I've heard the same thing, that Pritzker has never been the biggest impediment to the Bears. So it's the state legislature that is being strong, if you want to look at it that way. It was the state senators out of Chicago, yes. Exactly.

Yeah. Prisker wanted that bill to pass. And there is an election coming up, too, in case people don't know, and five weeks down the road. So how crazy does anybody want to get when it comes to political season here? Let's bring in Adam Hogue next. We'll talk about the bears and jets. Like I said, he wrote a whole story for CHGO about the stadium situation. as well as we bring in Adam next year on Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, The Score.

The Score. Hi, The Hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. Adam Hogg says, Adam Hogue, Bears Insider. What's up, everyone? My name's Adam Hogue. Host of the Hogan John's podcast. If we ever wondered what it would be like if Ben Johnson ever had the chance or the ability

to go out there and play quarterback in his own offense, that's the closest thing to that we'll ever see is what we saw last night. Case Keenham, he calls Ben Johnson a brother. They clearly have his bond, and he's basically the player coach, and he goes out there and leads the Bears to victory. Adam Hogue. Adam Hogi or Hogg, excuse me, I don't know how to pronounce the last name. With Rahimi and Grody on 1043 to score.

Yes, sir. You are listening to a four-seasoning, air-conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and Electric Football Friday presented by your local Ford dealers and Advent along with Lela Rahimi. I am Mark Grody. We are Rehemi and Grotie on 1043, the score. And yes, we are always happy to have Adam Hogue join us here on the

score. He is, yes, the host of the CHO Bears and Hogue and John's podcast. And Adam is joining us on our video stream to watch Adam. Search the score, Chicago on Twitch and YouTube. How you doing? Adam? Thanks for coming on, buddy. I'm good guys. Grotie, Leila. It's a, I don't know.

My mind's kind of on the white socks, though, to be honest with you. Oh, in the best way. I, uh, focus and stay football driven here. Well, I did hear you and Karm talking about the white socks a little bit.

I think I heard you say the socks just, you're just stressed. You're stressed watching the socks. No, that is the one team I like go full meatball on still in my life. There's no denying it. And he was making fun of me because I was really mad that in the first inning of that game the other day

that they only scored four because at the bases loaded and they didn't get that extra hit. And I'm like, I'm telling you, Karm, it's going to be a problem. And he was like, oh, they're going to be fine. And then you know what? In the end, he was right. The Astros only scored three. Yeah.

Okay, real quick. I do need to chill out a little bit. Okay, real quick. And then we'll go hardcore football because people are tuning into here Hogue's football thoughts and stadium thoughts. We're going to get to all of that with Adam Hogue. Who do you want to see start

for the White Sox tomorrow. It's tomorrow. Holy cow, it's tomorrow. I know. Wow. That snuck up on me too. Tomorrow at noon. Davis Martin? Yeah, let's go with this.

There's just no more openers, even though it worked. I don't like the opener thing. It just. Hagen Smith is out. Okay. Well, he would pitch three innings, I guess. Wait a second. No, hold on.

What? Here's what you go, guys. Wait, no. I just saw this announcement. Stand by. Merkin, an hour ago said Hagen Smith, the starting game one for the socks. Holy cow,

there it is. How do you like them apples? I mean, it did work the other day. It's three innings. We're really good. Did anybody check and see if Sam Antanachi is alive? Like the socks have supposedly arrived on the field in Cleveland. I just we need to know. Is he all rashed up,

are you saying, because he's allergic to champagne? No, no. I just think they got a little crazy. Oh, because he was drunk. Yeah, they had a good time in there. Yeah. Well, we'll try to confirm that. We've confirmed Hagen Smith. No. And you know what, Adam, you've been through enough.

You deserve to be distracted by the White Sox. At least for a day. What the hell? What are we doing if not? Even though I did just say, I don't love the opener. Hagen Smith has been awesome. And he's exciting. He's a young player.

Like the Bears have a lot of these young players. So we can ride with that. I can ride with that and accept that in game one. And I'm weirdly, this is probably a bad thing because I was actually pessimistic about the Astros series. I'm weirdly optimistic now because I felt like they actually managed to get some rest while also winning two baseball games this week. Because the rest thing with the pitching was what worried me the most. They have a great bullpen, but they're all tired.

And now they somehow managed to survive in advance while also nobody pitched more than once all week. That's great. That's really good. No doubt. They're fresh. Obviously Cleveland is fresh. And maybe they've had too much rest. I love those angles.

They've been sitting around too long. going to be ready to play. We'll have a little more White Sox talk later here on Rehemi and Grotie, but we've got to get to the football with our guy, Adam Hogue, of C-H-G-O and the Hogan-John's podcast. And I'm looking at an article that you wrote here. We were just talking about the stadium, Adam, and it says why Roger Goodell and Pat Ryan's involvement could save the Bears in Illinois. Explain further on that. Say more on these heroes. If you want, the Bears in Illinois on the heroes that could be Roger Goodell and Pat Ryan. Well, you know what?

What's really stood out to me, guys, and what went into that story is actually months of reporting that goes back all the way to when they didn't get the legislation they needed at the end of May. In the conversations I had actually in just the days and the weeks that followed, you know, the latest stadium debacle, which is what that was at the end of May, there was. weirdly a lot of optimism coming from the Illinois lawmakers side, despite the fact that publicly the Bears were like, we're going to Indiana. Now all the focus is on Indiana. And the reason for that optimism was the fact that they actually were able to pass legislation in both

the House and the Senate. It just wasn't the same legislation. And they weren't on the same page. But they all felt like, hey, we can come together and pass something here. We just need better direction and communication from the bears themselves. And that was the sentiment. I know Brendan Moore was on the morning show today too and expressed the same thing. And he's, you know, well more connected than even I am with everybody involved in this on the Springfield side. But, you know, he expressed the same thing.

It's just they needed better direction, better communication from the bears. And Kevin Warren just wasn't that guy. It just, they had to have somebody else. represent the Bears. So entered, enter Roger Goodell and Pat Ryan. Now, the first time Roger Goodell's name was mentioned to me

was literally, I think the day after they didn't get the legislature. It might have been June 1st. Okay. And like, watch. Roger Goodell is going to get more involved here. This is not the NFL's first rodeo with this stuff. And it was pointing out to me that before Roger Goodell was ever commissioner of the NFL,

he handled stadium business. He was, this is like, this is what he did. This is his baby. stadiums. And so he, and this is not the first time and it won't be the last time that the NFL has had to get involved in either relocation, whether that was the Rams going to L.A. or some of these stadium situations. And so it was kind of like hitting that red button and being like, all right, it's

time to call Roger, get him involved. And, and then the Pat Ryan thing became even more interesting, which is the first time I heard that was, I think, back in July. And I just didn't know really if this was leading any progress. That's why yesterday was significant to me, the fact that they're going to actually release a statement coming from the governor's office, pointing out specifically who is at the meeting, because that's been a little bit unclear on all this. Who's actually doing the talking? Who's actually representing the Bears? No, no, no. This is who's exactly in this in-person meeting and who's not in the meeting as well. And that notably, of course, being George McCasky and Kevin Warren. So will it lead to actual legislation? We'll see. But it certainly seems like the right

people are finally in the same room. And as one source put it to me yesterday, rowing the boat in the same direction, which has not been the case during this entire five-year saga. It finally seems like they're starting to get on the same page there. And I do think that that is significant. So November 17th is the next day to watch guys, because that's when the veto session begins down in Springfield. Well, and it's funny because we're still getting a lot of comments on our text line. Oh, you know, J.B. didn't get this done. I don't know how many times I have to say this, and I have no dog in this fight, but Pritzker was very annoyed. The pilot bill didn't pass. He pointed out that in the majority of states in the nation, they have something like that,

a bill that will be a payment in lieu of taxes, and that that bill was supposed to help the state of Illinois. So everybody thinking that this was somehow on Pritzker, that wasn't the case either. He wanted that bill to go through. The city of Chicago had a block. The senators from the city of Chicago had a block. We tried to ask Brendan Johnson about it, what was the city's role in the pilot bill failing? And that that wasn't communicated. He didn't answer in that and when I asked

him. So I think it's important to note here that it seems like the governor's office has wanted to get something done on this for a while, but it was the bear's fault that they didn't have anything to present yet. The fact that it's not the McCaskies are worn, that's a bad sign if you're looking for adults in the

room and those two aren't a part of the adult group. Yeah, look, the blame game in all of this, we can go on in circles and circles and circles and circles and circles and all of it. My answer to that has always been that there's been parts on both sides that have been problematic. I mean, when it comes to that pilot bill, I think, you know, you're, you're right. I mean, the governor's been for that and they and and they've wanted to see that passed. On the other hand, if you go into the specifics on what they ultimately agreed on and passed in the house, it, it was, written in a way that there were too many unknowns and it was kind of opening it up Pandora's box for all these other areas of the state that we admittedly here in this giant city of Chicago

sort of forget about. And so it just left a lot of people in the Senate uneasy. And ultimately, that's why that stalled that last week in May. So, however, then they came up with something that was actually very similar to what's going on in Indiana right now. and then they couldn't get communication from the bears on if they even wanted that or not because Kevin Warren wasn't down there. By the way, Karen Murphy did go down there at the urging of some lawmakers that week. So it's not like the bears weren't represented.

I know it's been out there a lot. They were. But still, we all know Kevin Warren was the guy, right? Or George McCasky. And regardless of who was there and who wasn't, the communication just wasn't good enough. and so that's why it's stalled out then on the other side. So, yeah, we could do the blame game forever. I think what's important here now is there is pressure

because what the pivot did happen in Indiana, it is there. Are they stalling right now? Yeah, probably. I think they are. That's pretty much obvious. And now we can see if the right players who can actually communicate. And that's the thing about Pat Ryan.

And then we can talk football too. But the Pat Ryan thing here is significant because he knows how to play the game. He knows he has, relationships. He has these important business and political relationships in this state, which Jerry Reinsdorf does too. I've had his name come up to me a bunch of times and all this and being like, yeah, look, for all Jerry's faults and the fans might not like him, he knows how to get things done when he needs it from a business standpoint for his teams in this state. And

that's what Kevin Warren has failed at so far since he's been the team president. And Pat Ryan, I would compare him more to Jerry in terms of knowing the right people. And obviously, I don't think the timing, by the way, is a coincidence that this is all kind of coming out. It is the morning of Ryan Field opening in Evanston, actual physical stadium guys. It's real. It was built. And his name is on it. Yeah.

Yeah. And we'll get the football here in a second. The last thing I'll say is, like, I agree with you. Like, we could do a whole three hours if we want with people calling in and blast. Kevin Warren and George McCasky. Get it right. It's like replay review. Just get it right.

We're moving forward now. Okay, the right guys are in place. The right faces, the right bodies are in the meetings now. So at least even the bears aren't going to say it. A concession has been made, and that's good. This segment with Adam Hogue is being brought to you by Advent. Breathe well, Live Better. Visit advent knows.com.

Let's get to the football, Hogue. and specifically, I think it was you, I definitely heard talking about this. The practice yesterday, in the name of secrecy, can you describe to our audience how sort of intense they were at making sure the media got the heck out of the practice in a timely fashion yesterday? Yeah, so typically we'll watch stretching and then there'll be, I actually don't know this specific time off top of my head, but, you know, a decent amount of time, maybe 10 minutes, somewhere. Sounds about right. At least somewhere around 7, 8 minutes after the stretching, I would estimate, where they're actually running individual drills.

And, you know, it's enough time that you're not rushed. They got done with stretching yesterday and made the announcement, 90 seconds. You got 90 seconds here. And then you're getting kicked out of the Walter Payton Center because they were inside yesterday with all the rain. And it was literally 90 seconds. I mean, they were counting it down. I love it.

They're down to 10 seconds left. I don't remember that ever happening in all the years. I've been out there for this short period of time. And I think the reason for that, at least from what I could tell with my own eyes, honestly, guys, I was watching Kyler Gordon. I was like, I was trying to get some video of Kyler, not even the quarterbacks. And I got one outstanding video, maybe even award winning of him punching one ball out. Nice.

One rep in this one individual drill, guys. We got one rep from Kyler Gordon. But in reality, if you looked over where the quarterbacks were, they were just running through this like ball carrying gauntlet with all the running backs. Like it was very clear they did not want anyone to see anyone throw a pass in this time period. And then we were kicked out of there. So do I even know if that's legal based on the media rules? I'm not even sure. I also don't really care that much.

Right. That was interesting. And a departure I've thought, because honestly, since Ben Johnson has gotten here, I have not found him to be an. overly paranoid coach compared to some of the other ones that we've had. But I also understand that there's weeks like this where you want to play the game with your with your quarterbacks and not let the other team know. And then who knows, maybe 20 minutes from now he'll actually just announce who the starter is going into Sunday.

We'll find out. Yeah, there was a lot of gamesmanship. But as we talked about too, Adam, what concerns me almost more because I know Tyson Bayesian's game and I know Case Kingdom's game is that the left tackle situation is a problem. Like we saw what happened when Theo Beda came in in relief of Braxton Jones. That is as concerning to me as anything.

Yeah, certainly. On the other hand, I would point out that I, while they don't have the blue chip player like the quarterback room does in Caleb Williams, I do think it's similar in that they, it is nice that the bears have probably three

reliable options when Ozzie Chappelle's healthy, which he's getting closer to healthy. In And when I say reliable options, I'm talking about guys that you can trust to start a game and win a football game with. And there's certainly ways to help that weakness. And the Bears have essentially had to do this now for a season plus now into the second season with Ben Johnson, where they're pretty strong. They're really strong at three other spots on the O line. They're strong enough at center.

And then, yeah, they have this weakness over on the left side that they've had to manage. But I think that they've, for the most part, successfully managed that. I don't think they view Theo Benedict as somebody they want to have to start the rest of the season. But I do think that they trust him to spot start. And certainly they've trusted him in these first few games to come in and play the second quarter for Braxton Jones as they try to manage that knee. Now, obviously, he had a setback in that game and aggravated it further. And now it sounds like he's going to miss more significant time. So if I had to guess, look, Theo's going to start this week.

the big question I think will be, is Ozzy able to dress and basically move in the Theo's role for at least a week or so where he's the swing tackle and the backup if he has to go out there? And then ultimately, between those two guys, who do I think that they would trust more to be the quote unquote full-time starter? If needed, I think that they would probably ultimately move to Ozzie Tripilla. But it is nice to have all of those options. Not to mention your nuclear option, which is what they had to do in the playoffs. and that's move a Hall of Fame left guard and Joe Tuny over to left tackle,

which isn't the worst nuclear option to have at such an important position. Yeah, no, it's not. And Jordan McFadden's name was mentioned because he was part of that as well against the Rams. Our segment with Adam Hogue is brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric.

For all the right reasons, call 866 four seasons. Adam, you were filming the right person. I would have been doing the same thing if I had been there in the Walter Payton Center watching Kyler Gordon. What do you think about the whole situation? You think that that man plays at Green Bay a week from the Sunday?

Man, that's a good question because I think what's part of this, though, I keep coming back to this, Grotie, the first press conference of training camp, before we even knew that Kyler was going to be out for as long as he was and ultimately reached the point where he wasn't even with the team for the first couple weeks of the season. They said on that first day that Kyler Gordon was going to have to earn his position back and basically compete

for the starting nickel job whenever he got back out there. That was back in late July. It is now October and he just got out there for the first time yesterday in an actual practice and it's just back in the building for the first time this week. So that

kind of tells me that we need to slow play this a little bit. Now, could he potentially be active and be somebody that can still help you? I don't know. I just think there's a lot of, it's more than just the health. I think there's some feelings involved. I think there's a lack of trust involved that he's got to earn back. Do I think he ultimately can earn all that back?

Yes. But I just don't know that we should rush it. On the other hand, the amount of injuries that they continually seem to have could be the one thing that rushes. and I also think when we're talking about good football players who are highly paid and he is highly paid, it is quick for coaches to forgive a player if they come back and they look pretty good and they stay healthy. But that's ultimately, however this plays out, the staying healthy thing with Kyler is going to be the big thing. So it's probably a long way of me saying, I have no idea. This thing has been so weird.

It's been so weird from the start. I don't know when he's going to come back. But I will say it's obviously a very good sign that he's back in the building. him because that was weird. For him to actually leave the team for a couple of weeks had me pretty concerned. So he's back. We'll see where it goes. But obviously we know he can't play this Sunday against the Jets.

Well, and I think your point about when he is actually healthy, is he even the guy to start with? That's really probably the question that may vex the Bears coaches even more. I like that. Yeah. I agree with that. I wouldn't. Yeah.

And Tyreeks got to be healthy too. Yeah. But I don't think he's done anything to lose his sports. by yet. And certainly Malik, as a rookie who's been, yeah, he's had a couple rookie moments. I know they

referenced some communication errors this past week, but he's done more than enough to me, for me, to stay out there, whether that's inside or outside. And him having that versatility means that this is almost, to me, I almost view this more as a Kyler versus Tyreek conversation, even though

they play different positions, than it is Kyler versus Malik, Muhammad because I feel like either way Malik Mohamed can be on the field because he can play ball spots. Adam, we have to let you go. But the reason we have to let you go is because we're going to talk about the white socks

with Steve Stone. So I think that that is justified. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you. Yes, I would definitely trust Stoney's opinions on this team more than myself. And ours, yes. I'll just be yelling in the background and enjoying it and joining in as much as I possibly can.

But you guys have a great weekend. Thanks, man. That is Adam Hogue. You can follow him. on X at Adam Hogue, H-O-G-E is the way the last name is spelled, host of C-H-G-O-Bairs, and the Hogue and John's podcast. And yes, we are talking white socks and guardians next. Hagan Smith is the socks starter in game one tomorrow and noon. We'll talk to Steve Stone all about it here on Rahimi and Grotia on 104-3, the score. Steve Stone.

I certainly love black Sabbath. Former MLB Cy Young winner. Steve Stone is the first American. American League pitcher sends Danny McLean to pitch three hitless innings. Color analysts for CHSN. When Stoney watches a game, he's going to call it like the season. This is a team that adopted the philosophy in spring training. Why not us?

When nobody gave them any credit that they could get there, they had less than a 1% chance to make the faux season. Wow. And here it is. Steve Stone with Rahimi and Grody on 1043 the score. Oh, we're pumped up here on Rahimi and Grotio, 104-3, the score this segment with Steve Stone is being brought to you by Pete's Market. No one does fresh like Pete's as Steve Stone, the White Sox game analyst for CHSN,

joins us. He happened to be in the booth for both of the playoff games as well. Stony, thank you so much for coming back on Rahimi and Grotie. And what was it like to watch the White Sox dominate two playoff games to really put a punctuation mark? on this season so far, which obviously is ongoing. Well, it had been a while since I've been involved in doing playoff baseball, and it was thrilling. And I will tell you, there's just a little something different about getting a base hit,

driving in a run, winning a game in the playoffs as there is during the regular season. I know you have to win to get there into the playoffs. So once you do, just each and every play, each and every situation gives you almost tingling up your spine. It was thrilling. It worked out exceptionally well, and now they get a chance on a rematch with one of the teams that they've had all kinds of trouble with, and one of the teams that they were battling to win the division didn't be able to get there. However, now that they are there, they get to play them again, which is really great to play the Guardians. I can't wait to get into that match.

I've got to ask you one more question about doing the broadcast. You look so good, man. You were wearing you had your suit on up there. feel to be putting the suit and the tie on up there as opposed to your comfortable white socks swag that you're usually wearing? Well, I think that wearing a jacket and tie is something that's really nice if you make it to the postseason. However, I was very fortunate.

The two main broadcasters that I've had over, oh, I don't know, the last 30 or some odd years, Harry Carey being one who would never wear a jacket until we either went to New York or Los Angeles where he could go out after the game and really enjoy himself. But the other time it was hawk and it was hairy. Neither wanted to wear a jacket and tie. So we both wear very casual stuff. It's made the last set of how many years very comfortable. But there's something about wearing that jacket and tie doing a playoff game

and having the team that you are secretly rooting for because you can't show a great deal of partisan joy when the socks are scoring a whole lot of runs early, especially. but that was a thrilling situation, actually. Well, and Stoney, how did it feel to be a part of witnessing of White Sox playoff series win, and in Houston, no less? I mean, 21 years, that's been my question to a lot of people, is just how it feels to be a part of something like this again.

Oh, I think it's something that you think about, you hope for, then you realize back, and a lot of people can't go back and capture what it was like, watching this team in Arizona. You know, Camelback Ranch is a nice place. We share it with the Dodgers. The Dodgers had a really good idea they were going to go to the postseason when spring training started, only because they always go to the postseason when spring training starts. And so looking at their team knowing they would get there and knowing it really didn't matter

much what they did during the course of the season because they were good enough to eventually wind up in postseason play. It wasn't really the case where the socks were concerned. they had this idea amongst themselves, and it was strictly amongst themselves. There was a feeling, and I mentioned it, and you played it in the opening, why not us? And that was the feeling that they got in spring training, where nobody gave them a shot. I mean, this was a team that they probably would lack a bit in starting pitching.

They might lack a little bit in defense. After all, we were playing a second baseman in left field. And, you know, don't forget, this is a team that proudly brought to a first baseman and left and a first baseman in right when they played with Vaughn and sheets in left and right field in major league games. This is the team used to playing teams out of position. And so when you looked at spring training, you're wondering how the defense was going to hold up, would they help the pitching well enough?

Could the pitching hold up? And a lot of cases, it didn't really work out that way. A lot of cases, the starting pitching couldn't get it done. And then it was up to what became a really strong bullpen. I think that was the heart and soul of this team, is leaving games early, which are starting pitchers did ad nauseum. And unfortunately, then, the bullpen had to come in, and this bullpen overachieved from the beginning of the year to the end. I mean, these guys were always there. They were always getting the big outs. They always had to go more innings than you want them to go.

I mean, many times that starting pitcher would leave in the fifth inning, and then it was up to the pen to deal with it the rest of the way, and that's what they were able to do. Yep, and you're going to probably, Steve, see a similar scenario and lots of bullpen guys again in game one on Saturday. That would be tomorrow at noon because the announcement has been made that Hagen Smith will be the starter, just like he was in game one against the Astros, Parker Messick, who we're getting very familiar with Cleveland, is starting for them. What say you about this pitching matchup starting with Hagen Smith getting the knot again? Well, take a look at what he did in Houston, and you realize that those guys,

still are mystified with his stuff. I mean, this was the guy when the socks signed this guy, when they allowed, when they, when the guys who were pro-Hagan-Smith, as opposed to the guys who were pro-Caglione, when these guys took over and made that trade ahead of Jack Caglione, who is going to be a terrific power hit. I mean, this guy's going to hit 35 probably home runs a year. But they saw something in Hagan-Smith they really liked,

and that was a left-hander, and guys couldn't pick up the big. baseball. Now, granted, that was two or three miles an hour ago where he was thrown the ball a bit harder. But many times when a guy cannot achieve the velocity that he had just a few years before or the year before, there's a problem. But the thing with Hagen Smith is you can't pick up the baseball. That's the most amazing part of his delivery is guys just cannot pick it up. They don't know when he's thrown a fastball. They don't know when he's throwing one of those sliders or you can call it whatever you want to, they call it, I don't know, six different names. It's still a slider. But he could, he can do that, and you can't pick up the spin, which means you get a lot of awkward

swings. You get a lot of guys. They swing at what they believe is a fastball, only to see it disappear low and away and out of the zone. And I think if you take a look to three that he threw against Houston, you realize there's some pretty good hitters there, notably Alvarez is pretty good. Altuve is going to, about ready to set the all-time record for most home runs in the postseason. So they have a bunch of guys who can hit the baseball. Cam Smith hit a couple of home runs that he hit seemingly eight miles. And I believe that this team decided they were going to go out somehow and bear down and do whatever they could against Houston to get on the board early.

And the most amazing part of it, we got a chance to talk to both managers before the game. And it was as if they were reading from the same script. We sat down first with Espada, Joe Spada, and I said, what are you looking for? And he said, I want to get on the board early. I want to make sure that our guys are aggressive as they possibly can. I don't really have any pitching plans per se. I'm going and go with what I have and see how much of the bullpen I have to use that first game. It turned out he used eight pitchers in the first game.

That's amazing. eight pitchers in a playoff game, but that's what he did. And it turned out that the socks pitchers, the socks pen was just a little bit better. Stoney was there in at-bat in particular in this playoffs, where despite the White Sox lead, where you said, okay, this is crucial. Were you stressed out during any at-bat in particular you would like to highlight? Well, yeah, there's one thing that really came clear, and that was the socks this year, year had gotten ahead a lot of times early.

And they'd gotten ahead by three, sometimes four runs, only to see slowly but surely the other teams start to peck away at dead lead. And eventually they find that they couldn't hold the lead because of something, you know, the bullpen wasn't working as well as they would like or they make a defensive mistake, which they usually make one or two during the course of a game. But the bet that helped things, it was four to nothing. and it looked like the socks were going to dominate the second game and everything was going to go really well.

And slowly but surely you saw this Houston team, which didn't give up, and I have to give them credit for that. They didn't give up in the first game. They did not give up in the second game. But what tore their hard out was pretty simply the Mide Ruff home run. He got to the point where at 3-1, he was sitting there looking, and it looked to me like he was looking for a breaking ball. It was a 3-0 county.

He took a fastball down the middle. Everything was fine. And it looked to me like he sold out for a breaking ball. Gave up on whatever fastball they could throw and look for something that was going to break away from him. He got it, hit it out of the ballpark. That took it to 7 to 3 and pretty much, as the story will be told, that pretty much ended it. But that particular home run, giving the socks who had given away that 4-0 lead, made it a 4-to-3 lead, and then he came up and hit the ball out of the ballpark on a breaking ball, which was pretty.

important. I think more than anything else, I think that took the heart out of the Houston team. Yeah, no doubt, man. And Chase Midroth has been just what an amazing season he's had. He's already doing more than I thought he would do, but that is a great at-bat to latch on to. Steve, thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs, and we will catch up with you later. Well, it's my pleasure, and going head-to-head with the Guardians is something I think every Sox fan wanted to see happen after they lost out on the division race to them because they had at one point a four and a half game lead. They watched that kind of disappear and it would be really nice to be able to get a little, if not revenge, just a little payback, you would say, against

those guardians. And, you know, they played them head to head all year. These were, these were really close games. They were probably as close to games as any two teams had. I really look forward to these playoffs. Amen. Steve. Thank you so much. much, man. Okay, take care and have a good rest of the show. We'll talk to you down the road. Thank you, Stoney. Great job this weekend. Well, this week. Thank you. Yeah. Well, and how's... You know who you got to think about, Layla. I haven't seen a lineup yet, obviously, but Tommy Fam did hit that home run against Parker Messick in that game. Remember that day? He crushes Parker Messick. He owns Parker Messick.

Are you ready to accept him in the lineup? Are you having it in you? Can we not do clean-up? Can we not make them the cleanup batter? I could compromise for you on that. Do you mess with the line of it all? I don't know. I don't know. Let's talk about that. They only flipped like two people last time.

I have something that I think almost qualifies for breaking news. Do you want to just make this? It's a programming note here. Let's just make this breaking news because to me it is. Breaking News on the score is brought to you by IDOT. At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down. Give them the space.

Share the road. Folks, it is not a game. So I am looking at a text message here. It says from Ryan Porth, Parth, transition today will be. Transition today? Mike Vassel. Mike Vassel. You've been asking for him for months.

I have. Mike Vassel calling in between 2 and 205 today. So it's going to be transition with Spiegel and Holmes, you and I and Mike Vassel. I'm a wizard, you know, what's going on here? I love that. A four-man weave with Mike Vassel. That is absolutely beautiful. This is tremendous.

This has the potential for some hilarity. Open the phone lines. What do you guys think about us having Mike Vassel on transition? 3-1-2-Zer. Coming up next, halftime, we'll tell you everything that we have been talking about so far today. And Ben Bradley called this one of the weirdest stories he's ever done. Ben Bradley is reporting for you. Enough said.

That's next for halftime on 104-3. read the score. It's been a hot one on Rahimi and Grotie so far today. Man, it's a hot one. Oh, it's smoking in here. It's Rob Thomas and Santana, smooth. I hate my brain. And Peter Gabriel.

I really do. Yeah, I hate my brain. Stretch hammer. It's just, if I'm doing a radio show, somewhere in there, sledgehammer is one of the return pieces of music. I prefer. It's the rules. Come talk to me.

That's a great song. You want a Peter Gabriel's song that you haven't heard. Like when you go to your workout today? Who did Addicted to Love? That's Robert Palmer. Ah, crap. You might as well face it. That's another guy who I'm like, just, I mean, they got MTV'd way too much.

Anyway, we've talked about Bears today a lot. We've talked about Bears quarterback, of course, Tyson Baygent versus Case Keenum. I don't think we really came to any conclusions because they're not showing their hand out at Hallis Hallis Hall. Well, apparently Case Keatoms had to cut back on his text mex, and I feel bad for him. That is true. He did mention that yesterday. You can't live off of Koso. I've tried. It feels like Tyson Bayesian's going to start. That's the best we can do. Yeah. Yeah.

But who knows? But just one of you can't throw the interception. You cannot be the team that breaks a streak. Right. Jets have not thrown an interception since basically the 2024 season. Well, they haven't gotten, they haven't taken one away. They haven't taken it away. Dennis Allen would not be happy with you without phrasing. The DA. We've talked about the Bears Stadium because there's been more talk because Roger Goodell and

J. B. Pritzker talking Pat Ryan. Pat Ryan is in there. There has been no sign recently of Kevin Warren nor George McCasky in those meetings. That is highly notable. Pat Ryan is a deal maker. Yes, he's the one that built the stadium or funded the New Northwestern Stadium, which opens tonight, by the way. You see this building we're next to over here? Bingo. Bingo.

He was a hire up in that big, beautiful building, which is, isn't that attached to our building? Yeah, it is, right? The pedway. The pedway. If you can know the pedway, you're good. It's like no one lower whacker. It is a skill set. Cheek code.

Adam Hogue was on the program today. Talked a lot about the stadium because he had some really good insights. And we got into some bears on the field as well. And we just had Steve Stone on the show. Stoney to talk about the White Sox and start to get into the Sox in Cleveland. And it was announced today, too, if you did not hear, that Hagen Smith will be the starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Tomorrow at noon when they take on Cleveland, game one of the,

the best for five. It's nap time. We are fans of Ben Bradley here at Yee score. Yeah, he's good. Homeward Flossmore guy, went to school with Lawrence Holmes. He's great on WGN. So I follow him on Twitter. And when Ben Bradley says he's reporting on one of the strangest stories he's ever encountered,

I respect that newsman's acumen and his credentials. So without further ado, a dilemma in Lincoln Park that affects everybody in it. Got it. I was walking around the park and I noticed there were dozens of holes around trees. And then I started seeing more and more holes around different trees. I mean, here, there's a dozen holes around this tree here. And then a few months ago, I went for a walk at dusk. And within 15 minutes, I counted 42 rats running around.

Yeah, as you can see, I mean, there's a ton of rat burrows here. David Pike was so stunned by the swarm of rats in Lincoln Park, he took this video. Other neighbors noticed, too. You know, you see some rats in the alley and stuff right near the trash, and that's, again, kind of be expected, but this was different. You can see here, here's a rat trail. It wasn't until recently that they realized how different this all is. When I described as people, this gets into the stranger than fiction aspect of it. It's like a luxury melange of a really nice nuts.

I'm talking Brazil nuts, wallnuts. And I was looking, and I'm no arborist, but these do not come from these trees. These are not acorns. You can see all the scattered nuts around. You see, those nuts aren't falling from trees. They appear to be imported. And why are there piles of bizarre, expensive nuts everywhere in our park? No one could crack the nut of an explanation until one morning this year when Caroline Novak was out for a walk.

And I actually saw a handful of them. I think it was five. walking early in the morning of the same shoulder bag and so I just said, hey, what are you guys doing? Because they were throwing the nut. She's not the only one who witnessed it.

I noticed someone with a satchel and just thought it was someone out there feeding squirrels. So I walked up and I, you know, just said to her, hey, I was just curious what you guys are doing why you're throwing these nuts under these trees. And she said, we're allowed to do this. And I said, oh, yeah, I was just curious

why you were doing it. She said, we're not feeding the rats, unprompted. I didn't even bring up. She said, we're not feeding the rats. I said, oh, okay, well, I think you inadvertently are. They and other neighbors complained to the city, which determined a nearby homeowner was leaving nuts outside their own house, attracting not only squirrels, but their rodent cousins, rats. The neighbors suspected the crew leaving the nuts a few blocks away in the park are doing so at the direction of the homeowner. We've even dealt with it, but we've never dealt with a situation where it's like feed for hire for better lack of a term where someone's

paying several employees to feed the animals in the surrounding area. The alderman said the city contacted the homeowner and even issued multiple violations, which he says have been paid and not contested. Typically when you ticket somebody, it stops their bad behavior. This has not stopped it if anything, the behavior is increased, the feeding is increased since we've been ticketing them. Last month, the Alderman's office sent this letter, warning that more fines could be coming if they don't knock it off with the nuts. We don't want to throw anyone under the bus. We just want to stop this feeding that's causing problems in a dense neighborhood. Alderman Canootson said he isn't sure how this will end or even why it started. We wanted to know ourselves, so we paid the home a

visit and encountered a woman who would not give her name. I'm just trying to better understand, like, why are all these nuts being gathered up? Why are they being distributed in Lincoln Park? I really have no comment for you. I'm sorry. Rich people problems. Ben Bradley, nicely done. Stop them.

Do you know how much Brazil nuts are per pound? Per pound. The fact that this woman... $22 a pound. A woman. The fact that this woman got these tickets, these. these fines, which I have to imagine are not cheap, and just is paying them off without complaint.

Oh my gosh. And still feeding the rats and the squirrels. It's crazy. Everybody on the text line, y'ar. Yes. That was, but what's going on? Like, you're a crazy cat lady. You're feeding rats with luxury nuts because you have too much money

and you're paying the fines because, what? You feel bad for rats? Well, guess what? They're going to outlive us all, dude. Why are all these nuts being gathered up? They're going to outlive us all. And the squirrels are, are doing okay too.

The crazy cat lady. You're just throwing money onto the ground to feel better about yourselves. Like, what the hell is this? The crazy cat lady may need to let the cats loose. And by the way, how dare you use that phraseology, the crazy cat lady. She's being a crazy cat lady about nuts.

Yeah, but there's no such thing as a crazy cat lady. That gives cats a bad name. I'm sick of it. I'm putting my foot down. What about the woman from the Simpsons? You had like hundreds and then she was like throwing the cats of people. That's the picture that went into my head. And listen, I love cats too, okay?

They could kill the rats. Yeah. But all of it can be stopped if she just didn't throw hundreds of dollars on the ground and then pay the fines. Why are the piles of bizarre expensive nuts everywhere in our park? Similar to how you guys react to us on social media and over our text line and such. Sometimes you just know things aren't about you. This is not about the squirrels. This is about some weird issue.

It is. They're rodent cousins, rats. Bring in the cats. They did that a couple of years ago in Chicago. Yeah, remember? I think it was Pilsen neighborhood. Uh-oh, we found the burner. 2-24.

God forbid someone feed hungry animals. They're rodents. They know how to forage. They are creating an infestation. That's why there's a code that they're violating by doing this. I was in the... You see all the scattered nuts around. I was in the Pilsen neighborhood having a nice Italian meal a couple years ago.

And there were like cats all over the place. and it was because of the rats that they had let the cats loose to get the rats. The cats are our friends. The rats are not. There's coyotes in the city. There are coyotes in the city.

And coyotes are doing the same thing. Like coyotes go after the rats and sadly bunnies. But the point is, there's no need for any of this. And it creates a bigger problem with an infestation of rats than it does anything else. Rats. Yes. Yeah.

Hungry animals deserve to be fed, but by people who know how to do it that don't create bigger problems for the rest of us. Do the pigeons deserve to get fed? There are people who do that. You've seen the pigeon people, haven't you? Yeah. Where they just get a bread.

They're not supposed to do that either. Just throw it out. I think those people have good hearts, but it's, yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. They say, please don't feed the animals. Yeah. This is the biggest line I've heard in a while. 773.

This is brilliant. A crime that only entails a fine to a rich person is just a price. It's like a football fine. True. We've got coming up. Up next, we have five on it. Yard. By the way, which we'll include today. Today's a very special five on it.

It will include our predictions for bears. Time and real estate on this program is dictating that we do our predictions a little bit early. So five on it is next. Rahimian Grotie, 104.3, the score. Knock it off with the nuts. This hour is brought to you by Jules Osco. I got five. It's time for five on it.

Rahimi and Grody. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 1043, the score. I got five on it. It's a really busy day here on 104.3, the score. We've got the Jed Hoyer Press Conference talking about the end of the Cubs season at one. We have White Sox pitcher and official wizard Mike Vassel joining for a special edition of transition. So it'll be Grody, Lela, Spiegel.

homes and Mike Vassel at two but it's a football Friday so you're listening to a four seasons heating air conditioning plumbing sewer electric football Friday presented by your local four dealers and advent we've got Bears business baby number one on the day of the

week that the Bears starting quarterback typically speaks the team sent both Case Keenham and Tyson Bayon out to meet the media at Hallis Hall I know both of you would go with Case Keenum if it were up to you to decide who's going to start on Sunday but Ultimately, which QB do you expect to see on the field?

I expect to see Tyson Bayesian on the field. They, one of the biggest reasons is it cannot be overlooked. They paid this man. They paid this man $10 million. And I get it, that's not the most exorbitant amount that we've ever heard, but they committed to this man. They paid this man for a reason. Ben Johnson also told us, and he could be doing the gamesmanship thing,

but he said that pretty confidently, there's a reason that Tyson Bay is the same. second string quarterback. Conspiracy theory stuff, Tyson was the first one to talk for whatever it's worth, out of the two yesterday as they stepped out of the locker room. I think that matters. Yeah, I think that's part of it.

And then one more thing, just hearing, like, listening to Press Taylor yesterday after the show, mentioning the intelligence and competitiveness of Tyson Baygent, and then saying, here's the money line, similar to Ben. So I think it's Tyson Ben does love Tyson a lot He does and there's clearly love for Case too I love Tyson

It's not quite to the level of No He's been a baller from the day that he was born Now that was Ben talking about Case Keenum the first one was Ben talking about Tyson Bejit so he loves his QBs I think there's no doubt about that You're right about the contract though

They need to make themselves look correct in this Yeah And I think the other piece, too, is you could say now in conspiracy theory, maybe Tyson Bayesian talked first because of alphabetical order. There's always that. Or maybe he was just. Bejan comes before Keenham. Yeah, but here's, you know what?

Actually, that probably was dictated by the PR staff. I was going to say that's, that's reporter's choice. Go ahead, Ray. I was expecting the ultimate, ultimate gamesmanship from Ben Johnson and just have a table with both of them rolled out at the same time. Oh, that would have been great. That would have been incredible, but also chaotic. So incredible.

Who would you, Layla? Let me ask you a question. Instant question. In five on it. Instant question within five on it on it on. If you had the first question with those two at the table, you don't have to give me the question. Which quarterback would have you directed the first question to?

Case, because he started last time. Oh, wow. Okay. So you're giving him honors as the 38-year-old veteran who just started and was excellent. Okay, good answer. He's up there in years a little bit. But I do think that Tyson Bejan starts partially because of what you just said, but also because of Sunday where Ben Johnson said there's a reason he's our number two quarterback.

But I just think when somebody's that hot, you got to go with them again. I'm with you. But if they want to prove me wrong, okay, I think this is the opponent to mix it up. So mix it up. Show me what you got. But I will say that Tyson Bejans 2 and 2 is a starter. So this will be the defining tiebreaker for Bejan if he is the starter.

And like Case Keenham, as he had been. Unless they tie. I don't see them tying as the Jets. Tays and Beijing has not started a game since 2023. It doesn't matter because Case Keenum hadn't started a game since 20203 and he was all-wirl. Number two. What if they just play at the same time? There you go.

But they literally rotate plays. You did not? Oh yeah. Have Case in the backfield. Oh, yeah. Line him up in the slot. The case in the back field. With Ben Johnson. Tyson.

Tyson, Bay, it's a case Keatum. Carry on, Ray. Ben Johnson is the play caller. Anything is possible, isn't it? Here's question number two. Outside of the quarterback position, which player needs to step up in order for the bears to beat the Jets? Bears.

Okay. Also, thank you to our texters who are all pointing out that if you really want to help wildlife, give them water. Water! Okay. everybody fresh water that's coast to coast bottled water you're not just water out of your sink buy them the good stuff yeah rich lady if you want to do something glitzy why don't you just buy them some evion or something smart and then everybody wins and there's fewer rats okay getting back to

the task at hand which player needs to step up in order for the bears to beat the jets Rome-Madunese. I'm going to throw you another ball in the end zone. Prove everybody wrong. Prove them wrong. I want to see you catch a ball in the end zone. You've had a couple of rough spots there. But you know what?

This seems like a great time to just loft one up to Rome and then do the whole go up and get it thing. Okay. He can do that. He used to do it when he was at the University of Washington. Matchups are a little different now, but I still think if Ben Johnson is going to say, blank them kids and roll out Sam Roush for a fourth down conversion,

then you can throw the ball again to roam in the end zone. Hey, he did it against Carolina. Had a terrific go up and get it catch against the Carolina rookie in that contest. I'm going to say, I'm going to go with Colston Loveland. And it's partly because I think he can do damage against the Jets defense. And just like reviewing the Jets Lions game, Do you have breaking news? C-Signor.

Yes, please. Breaking news on the score is brought to you by IDOT. At some point of the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down and give them space, share the road. It's not a game. Jason Leisure, 16 minutes ago. Theo Benedet will start at left tackle for the Bears on Sunday against the Jets. Per Ben Johnson, Ozzie Tripillo will not play this week.

Okay. All right. Trapio, though, we don't know. So if there is something, if something happens, at left tackle with Theo Benedet, then we probably would get the nuclear option of all Joe Tooney moving over to left tackling. I don't know who else is going to be active on that offensive line. Is Jordan McFadden?

They can activate him. So that is something to watch, like, the backup part of that, who's active and who's inactive, all of which we will cover on Bears Prix from the sports corner in Ridleyville with Olen-Cruits and Patrick Manley starting at 9 a.m. Layla might even be there, maybe. I'm not holding you to that, by the way.

Yeah, sleep. was at a premium this week. I get it. Trust me. And I usually collect on the weekends. Amen. I will consider it a bonus if you were there. I would not go that early that day because I need sleep too. I didn't. I stayed up late last night watching the Steelers and Browns game. After I saw Aaron Rogers start to malfunction, I was like, oh, what do we have here? I will watch this game. Layla, I made popcorn just for the occasion and I was watching that. That's right. Popcorn. Morning Carmel. Morning Chicago Mix.

It's a Hall of Famer right there. David Hall. David Hall loves popcorn. You let him have his things. I didn't get to answer the question. Oh, sorry. That's okay. I did say Colson Loveland, but I didn't give the complete Y on it.

What is the Y, Grody? What is the Y, bro? The why on it? Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. The volume was low for Sam Leporta in the game against the Lions, but he had a 28-yard or three catchers for 44 yards,

and it would appear that the 37-year-old linebacker to Mario Dave, was struggling a little bit in coverage. So I wonder if that's a matchup that will be exploited by the Bears. Colson Loveland is my guy. Thanks, guys. I appreciate that. Got it. Number three. Thanks for your thoroughness, Mark Grody.

Yeah, yeah. Hey, that's Mark Grody. Hey, that's Laila Rahimi. Hey, this is 104.3, the score. And this is 5 on it. Here's question number three. What do you make of the report from Capitol News, Illinois, that neither Bears chairman George McCasky nor president and CEO Kevin Warren

were in attendance for a meeting about the Bears push to build a new stadium, a meeting that included Governor J.B. Pritzker and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Very simple for me. I like it. I like it that the Bears, that they have quietly pivoted. We've all known that there have been issues with Kevin Warren and or George McCasky and leading this. And if you're getting wrong, then get it right. I keep comparing it to replay review that like, hey, man, I know you screwed up.

Umpire, you made a bad call. but get it right and we could all move forward. So I liked it. Guys, I'm going to go to a familiar quote here in the bag. My ex-husband was commercial real estate did very well. You know what he used to say at times like this? Coffee is for closers. Well, yeah, that's a movie.

Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross. Yeah, because they used to like saying it. Also, greed is good. Greed clarifies. They also, those types tend to also love Wall Street, the original. That's great. Great stuff that the whole scene. Indeed.

Yes. Blue Horseshoe Lozano. Sit down. Blue horseshoe Loz Anacott's deal. But the point is coffee is for closers. So the deal makers have to be in the room. And if you're part of the money but you're not part of the deal, that's bad sign, my friends. Bad sign.

Good sign for us because things are going to finally get done. But bad sign if you were tabbed for this task and you're not. In the meantime, don't stand in the way of progress. Pat Ryan, 89 years old. still got it deal maker. Coffees for closers. I rest my case. Hilarious watching that movie

because for some reason that speech has been popping up on my Instagram stories. Because you're cool. Lately? Because yeah, I'm cool like that. When he brags about this is like the movie was in the 1980s, right? 92 was when that one came out.

He's like, do you know how much money I made last year? $82,000. Number four. Well, that, well. Well, it's about that time. Sunday afternoon. It's Bears, it's Jets. Who you got?

Bears, 30 to 17 over the Jets. Don't be the team to break the streak. Don't let them get their first interception in a year and a half. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't let it happen. In the Battle of Ben Johnson versus Aaron Glenn, I'm taking Ben Johnson.

I have the Bears winning this game by a final score of 24 to 14. Tyson Bajent. That's Bajent to you. Bajant will start the game. He will go 17 of 30 for 172 yards, a touchdown and an interception. I'm going Bears 2717. Tyson Bay Agent is going to lead them. And he's in a start, and I think he should start.

But I think it's going to be a little tough for him with this Aaron Glenn defense. I'm going to go. Bears beating the Jets, 27-9, baby. No touchdown scored. I'm that confident in the Bears defense this week. Hey, hey, hey, Geno Smith doesn't deserve the same. I know, but I'm doing it anyway. He's up there in years a little bit.

Yeah, 31 of 37 for 321 yards and three touchdowns. The man, Gino Smith, speaking of interceptions, has now thrown an interception yet this year. So there's a revival going on with Gino Smith this year. Five on it. Number five. Thank you for your predictions. And now for a turn to baseball.

Who is your pick to click for the White Sox ALDS opener against the Guardians tomorrow? All right. All right. Why is your face so like? Because I am like kind of haggling between a couple of players right now. Oh. You know what?

You know what, Layla? I know what you're doing. This is going to be, no, I'm doing it. I'm not, don't try to predict me. Oh, no. Okay. I'm doing it. This is going to be as if it already isn't.

This is the postseason of Chase Midroth. I knew you were going to do that. Oh, Chase Midroth. I thought you thought I was going to pick a pitcher because that's usually my little trick here. I did that last time. It worked out for me. It did. But I think that this is the magical postseason, because there's always got to be that guy.

I think it's Chase Midroth. Chase Midroth. I think he hits at least. She's so good. He's so good. I think he hits at least a home run. I think it's not a three-run home run. I think he hits a two-run shot against Cleveland tomorrow. It's so breathless.

Mune's delivery. Chase Midroth. She's so good. That's, man, you need a friend who. who cheers on you the way Mune cheers on Chase Midroth. Yeah, who knew he had in them. That's a real teammate right there. Yeah, man.

I wish we'd hear more from him throughout the season. Yeah, he's the rock. He's the rock. Chase Midroth? Or Mune? No, Mune. Yeah, he's great. Lots of times he didn't talk.

Maybe hangover. I don't blame him. I also love the I am Japanese. That was tremendous. Okay, so you said Chase Mydroth. I predicted you were going to say Chase Midroth. I got to go back to the dude, man. I got to go back to my

always pick of pick to click. Tommy fam? No. Miguel Vargas. Oh. And you know what's funny as Miguel Virgus did not have a hit in the Astros game against

the White Sox in game two. He's due. He's due. Give me Miguel Vargas for old time's sake because he's part of the reason you're even in this situation to begin with. Maybe I should have to go with Sam Antanachi. Can he be your honorable mention? I'm going to take, you know, I'm going to taking two honorable mention guys.

I am going to take Sam Antanachi, just the way he has let off both of the games. Game two with a double, first game with a walk, hit by pitch in that first game as well. Like all the Sam Antanachi stuff was going out, assuming he is cleared, all his rashes have cleared up. Yikes. The champagne allergy? Yeah. Yeah. And then, look, I know you don't want to hear it, Leila, but Tommy Fam did hit a home run against Parker Messick, a game which they did lose eventually.

but it was a profound moment and a profound day right here on Rahimi and Grotie. So give me Tommy Fab for Sturting Command for me. It was just so unsurious. Like you were literally on an elevator. You had an elevator pitch not only to get yourself off of the injured list, but then say I can help the team and that puts you in the lineup batting cleanup. Like that's audacious. They knew something, Leila.

There's some things you just can't explain. No, no, I think it was the opposite. I think he knew the combination to the lock did Tommy fam. He knew how to get to Chris Gets. Oh, lock me. Yeah, that was really what this was, is he knew how to get to him. So I think that's what, it's like a kid getting to their parents. There are certain phrases that you know you can say that will, that will turn the fortune in favor of you.

I like dad better. Yeah, I think, ooh, snap. I like mom better. I got to even that off. You know what? I'm going to have an honorable mention that is very hipster. my pick the click. Yes.

And Andrew Benintendii. You're such a hipster, Lila. I never thought in a million years that I would be saying this. I don't know that that's even hipster. No, it is good. No, he's had so many big hits this year. Tons of big hits. Prior to this season, you would have never heard me.

Like when Marshall said that Andrew Benetendi was going to get over 20 home runs, I was like, I think it tops out at 20. Well, they're living in the now. Because that had been his entire career. You're living in the now. This season, that man, almost ever yet bad he has, has been a big at bad, it feels like. What was Mike Vassel's lecture about the present in the past?

Well, ask him at 2 o'clock today when he joins the score. But we also just need to play it because I forgot what the quote was and it was pretty good. It was also bars. We've had some good, we've had some good unlikely philosophers this week here on the score. Whether it was a texter saying a crime to a rich person is just a price. Or Mike Vassel talking about the present. No, there's something like today and there's something like tomorrow. live in the present. That doesn't make sense.

Nobody's pouring alcohol down my pants. That does make sense. But it does. It does make sense that there's nothing like today and there's nothing or there's nothing. What was it again? Wait, if you're living in the present, how could we be talking about tomorrow? The present is right this second. And there's nothing like tomorrow.

Live in the present. But he said tomorrow. But it makes sense. It does? Is this what we're going to talk to? No. No, I'm drunk. The past is for cowards and losers.

We'll keep it moving forward with basketball. Passes for cowards and losers. That's a Bica quote. 312. Vargas has hit a couple Monster home runs in that Cleveland Stadium this season. I think he's going to feast in those road games. At first, I thought you were saying cookie monster, but a couple

monster makes more sense. Couple monster. That's it. We have ended five on it. We have been cut off. You know why? Because we got to get back to bears. Kevin Fishbane, senior writer at the athletic, covering the Bears.

He is at Hallis Hall right now, I do believe. And we'll see what other news might be coming out of the hall. That is next. Fishing Business with Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, the score. Kevin Fishbane. We found Kevin Fishbane. Bears beat rider for the athletic. Your team scored 59 points.

They hadn't done that in 46 years. 46 years. I was reading your... Just enjoy that they saw. scored that many points. They're not going to do it every week. Kevin Fishbane talking bears. Matt Eber, Flew, George McCasky, Ryan Poles, Kevin Fishpane. On Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, The Score.

It is Rahimi and Grody on 1043. The Score. Thank you for being with us today. Kevin Fishbane is joining us on our video stream to watch Search the Score, Chicago, on Twitch and YouTube. We go down the Edens to the North Shore and Hallis Hall. And we go inside of Hallis Hall. and that is where we find Kevin Fishbane. Hello, Kevin. How are you?

Hello, guys. Happy Friday. Thank you. Same to you. I know the coach has spoken. Did he name a starting quarterback? Not only did he not name a starting quarterback, Mark, he said, hey, maybe he'll even throw Miller Moss into the conversation. No. He was having a little fun. Because a reporter asked to clarify,

because he did rule Caleb Williams out. He said, so it's Case Keenumer, Tyson, Bayesian, right? Ben said yes. Hey, hey, how about Miller Moss? He's here too. Uh-huh. So, no, we did not get the starting quarterback announcements, so we will have to wait until Sunday morning.

I wouldn't be shocked if it leaked elsewhere. But, yeah, Ben wanted to keep Mums the Word ahead of Sunday. As we talked about last week, you know, if he can keep Aaron Glenn on his toes for an extra 15 minutes, he's going to do it. Yeah, that's what it seemed like. And I know, Kevin, you were present for, we talked about it a bit in our meeting, a lot of the discussion. We forget sometimes, you know, that was the same Dan Campbell staff. That was the brain drain.

It was Ben Johnson leaving at the same time Aaron Glenn left. And I know that there was a little bit of discussion from Aaron Glenn surrounding the familiarity. What was your impression of like what Dennis Allen had to say and just that whole mutual understanding of the coaching tree? Yeah, I mean, Dennis Allen played with Aaron Glenn. He coached Aaron Glenn. Then he was on a coaching staff with Aaron Glenn. Of course, Ben Johnson was with him in Detroit. So a lot of familiarity.

They know a lot about him. I think, and again, not that the Bears would disrespect any opponent, but because of what these guys know about Aaron Glenn, they have a feeling about what they're going to get from the Jets. And we've seen it in their two NFC North games, both losses, but they came right down to the wire. And they're playing hard. Gino Smith has been outstanding so far this year.

year completing and passes. An incredible rate hasn't turned the ball over yet. So, you know, look, obviously every week the Bears are going to make, the coaches are going to make sure that their players understand what's at stake and not to look past an opponent. But the familiarity that Alan and Johnson have with Aaron Glenn helps because they can say, we know this guy, we know how these guys are going to play, they are going to play tough, and we got to match that on Sunday. This segment with the voice that you're hearing right now.

with Kevin Fishbane. It's brought to you by Advent, Breathe Well, Live Better. Visit advent knows.com. It's Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, the score. And I know you wrote a little bit about Bejant versus Keenham, Kevin. How different would the game plan look if it is Tyson-Bagent relative to Case Keenum? I don't think it would look much different, Mark. The only thing would maybe be a design quarterback run here and there, whether it's, you know,

Bajent keeps it on a little zone read situation, a quarterback draw. You know, that's the only thing I could really think of. I think generally, you know, maybe there's some more deep concepts. Maybe that they can, you know, let the play, they can have some plays that have some deeper routes and trust that Bajun can have a little bit more escapeability. You know, he's not Caleb Williams. But you should be a little bit better in that regard than Case Keen. But I think it's probably going to be pretty much.

much whatever the Jets defense dictates as far as game playing goes, I'm guessing it's going to be pretty similar for both quarterbacks. And you know, you guys remember when Bejan came in 2023, one of the really remarkable things about him. And again, Division two undrafted rookie that year was how quickly he got rid of the football when he stepped in in those four games. And we saw, obviously Case Keenham did that at a ridiculous level Monday night, especially against the Blitz. But I think that's also a hallmark of Bejant's, you know, Arsenal. And that's something that the Bears are going to want him to do and get the ball of those playmakers quickly. And I imagine we'll see, if he's a start, I imagine we'll see a little bit of that. But I think the playbook probably

is the same again. And Ben Johnson mentioned this. Admit it. Like there's obviously a mobility difference. Like Bejan can move a little bit better probably than Keenham can at this point, Keenham's career. So that could open a few extra things up for Johnson possibly. Oh yeah. I remember taking the notes during the preseason. You know, rollout King Tyson Bejan. So I assume that we'll see a lot of that, especially when, you know, like we just saw, too, the announcement about Theo Benedet starting at Left Tackle. So I wonder how much that factors in to perhaps a Bejan playbook. Yeah, it's a good point, Leela, because, you know, he's comfortable throwing in the move and that allows Johnson to use some of those play action rollout concepts that we see Caleb Williams a lot. And yeah, it'll be interesting with Theo playing, you know, he's obviously going to start and it looks like he's going to play a full game at Left Tackle. I don't think they'll be rotation until Ozzy Tripolo is game ready. I will say this about Theo. When I went back and watched the Vikings game and his series, I believe it was in the

second quarter, I was actually really impressed. I don't know why I didn't say actually. That was such a good pass rush, and that was obviously a really difficult game for the Bears' Offensive Lions. So I feel like I'm expecting to see leaks everywhere. He did a nice job holding his own. You know, he had a couple misses, like a lot of those guys did. did in that game. But I asked Dan Rochard about it last week, and he too thought it was an

impressive showing from Bennett. So getting to have a full week to prepare to be the starter should hopefully put him in a better spot also. But yeah, the Bears will be kind of it, that they have got, you know, still a younger player, still not as much experience as the other guys playing over there. So that I imagine is going to factor in the game plan as well. Dare I ask you, Kevin Fishbane, if you guys dare to ask Ben Johnson, about Kyler Gordon today. Grody Ben Johnson got a few Kyler Gordon questions, and he told us, he goes,

Kyler's on the field. I'm happy to talk about him now. You know, he didn't want to talk about him when he wasn't in the building or wasn't on the field, but now, you know, he said, he goes, look, this is a guy who we know is a really good player. We just have to see him out there. And since he goes, he said, since we got here, talking about himself and the coaching staff,

we haven't had that opportunity very much. So it seems like some of those guys who are in the Pup, got a little extra work in pads on Wednesday night around the walkthrough, and good opportunities for Chapo and Chamar Turner, Noah Sewell as well, and Kyle Gordon. And, you know, he seemed pretty upbeat talking about it. I mean, I think all these guys are waiting to see, right? Like, you just have to see what it looks like and how long can he stay in the field.

How many string of consecutive games can he go? I know my colleague Dan Peters said yesterday when we shot a video together, he goes, no one else about Kyle Gordon until three consecutive games. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he put that mandate on to take the North podcast, too. Yeah, which, you know, what he's doing, Grody, he's pointing it at us. Yeah, yeah, you have to be the one to write about it after his first game. You're going to be the one to have to talk about it.

You're going to talk to nobody. You know, he's really bust tossing us and making us do the extra work is what that is. But yeah, I think it was obviously a major shift in interest in talking about Kyle Gordon, because, as Benjohn said, he's here now. He's practicing. I'm happy to talk about him now. And now we wait and see when he can come back and what that looks like. This begs the question, who else is dead to Ben Johnson? Our segment with Kevin Fishbane is brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric. For all the right reasons. Call 866 four seasons. All right. Well, that was a pleasant plot twist that I didn't expect. But it also sounds like perhaps there is some compliance with protocol that might lead to results. So that's also a good thing, Kevin. Yeah, and the fact that it was one thing for them to open his practice window.

Then they said he was a full participant and that he was a full participant yesterday. I don't know if that means he'll be activated next week, but it means that he's good. Like he is practicing. And, you know, I don't know if they feel like we need X number of weeks of him practicing before we can really put him in a game because we just got to see it. Or if they're like, oh, yeah, your CAF is fine. Like, we know what you can do.

Let's put you back in the lineup. up. It's, there's still, Lela, so much mystery with this thing. And I, I look forward to when we get a chance to talk to Kyler Gordon, once he's activated off the Pupplest, that's, we'll get a chance to talk to him and we'll see what he's got to say. I'm sure he's pretty frustrated that it's taken this long. And I'm sure he's pretty aware of what's been said and speculated about him. And as I've said to you guys before, I think, I think a lot of speculation is fair, unfortunately, because you just don't know. And we just haven't gotten a lot of answers. But what matters, now to the Bears is he's practice windows open.

He's out there and there's a chance that he could be in the lineup pretty soon. Additionally, I want to hear what both you two think, ye Bears writers, Kevin Fishbane and Mark Roddy. Are we surprised about the DeAndre Swift DNP on the practice report yesterday? Was it rest? Do we have any indication of what that could have been? So a very intrepid reporter asked Ben about that earlier. thankfully for you guys, he's on your show right now.

Yay! Wow. I jumped in to get that. Fortunately for the Bears, it sounds like it was a maintenance thing coming off Monday night, just knee kind of banged up from that game. And Ben even said he is optimistic for DeAndre and that he will practice today. But Layla, there were alarm bells for sure when you see DNP knee on a Thursday because your first fear is that something that happened in.

practice or somewhere outside the building 100%. That's what we're out. That's your kind of thinking. But yeah, Ben said it was just kind of more, sounded like a just a lingering thing from Monday, took a day off, should be out there today. Sounds like they feel good about him for Sunday. Will he be limited or about a pitch count?

Who knows? But it sounds like better news than you might have thought when you saw that on the injury report. That is great. That's great. That is intrepid. I don't know, though, if that was as intrepid as this little bit of audio, a little bit of a magical moment

that occurred in the Bears' media room yesterday. I know you don't love talking about the previous game or yourself, so it's two strikes against me. But I have to ask you how... You only got one more. I'm going to choke up with a battle a little bit just try to make some contact. How did it feel to be recognized

in terms of getting a game ball? And what was the last time that you were presented with a game ball in the locker room after a game? Last year against New Orleans. That's straight three. What a move! Larry Mayer asking the questions

and then Kevin Fishbane with the strike three. So good, Kevin. So good. I mean, listen. Listen. Listen. Listen.

Look, I love Larry Mayer. There's nobody in this meter room, I think, that has more admiration for that man. As goofy as he is. Absolutely. Come on, Larry. You work for the team website. You don't remember that he got the game ball

against the Saints last year. His former team. It was such a big deal. He was like, he was cheering. I mean, remember that game meant so much? It's funny because Mark, last night, I said to my wife, I'm telling her the story. And she interrupts me. And she goes, wait, didn't it's Dennis now?

I don't get the game ball against the Saints? I'm like, Larry, my wife knows that he got the game ball. You work here. So, yeah, I had, he left me no choice, but to ring him up there with the strike three. It was excellent out of view. We had to chuckle about it in our pre-show meeting. Kevin, Big Day, Northwestern, Ryan Field. Did you see this here on the, there we go?

Got the purple cats. It's, uh, yeah, I'm very excited. I'm trying to temper expectations as far as the game itself. I mean, I'm hopeful. I feel good about the way the cats have played, but it's just a special event tonight for, for Cats Nation to see that stadium. to have a game there. I'm pretty fired up. That's awesome, man.

Congratulations to you and everybody, Northwestern. It's going to be beautiful. Any, I guess two more quick things. If you have a favorite nugget, because I know you've always got a good string of nuggets in your stories in The Athletic. I was reading some of those this morning. And can you give us your prediction, which I know is also in the athletic?

Did you guys talk about the last time the Jets beat the Bears in Chicago? No. Mm-mm. Did not? 1997. It's been a long time. Yeah. Do either of you, I don't know if you know, do either of you want to guess how many passes Eric Kramer through that day?

24. I'll go higher. Grody? I'll just go higher. Higher than 24? Yeah. 60. Oh my God.

In 1997? And that's how you get up there on the Bears All Time list, my friends. He's one of the best Bears quarterback's at that time. That box score was just a joy to go through. I think Ricky Proll led the Bears receiving that day. Speaking of my cats, Darnell Autry was the leading rusher that afternoon. Kramer's 60 passes thrown still a franchise single game record. But that is the last time the Jets have beaten the Bears here.

The Bears are a three-game win streak against the Jets. As Soldier Field and Mark, I did predict that that win streak will continue. I had a pretty close score. I think I said 25, 24. I just think Gino Smith's playing well right now. They've got some weapons in Sadiq. and Garrett Wilson. I know the defense is playing really great, but this is just another test for them, and I'd like to see how they fare, but I do think that Ben Johnson's offense

will find a way to keep rolling and get another win for the Bears. The Bill Parcells coached Jets. Bill Parsales. Wow. As Jerry Jones is saying, remember that? Bill Percall. To open up the stage in. That's right. Great stuff. Kevin, man. Have fun tonight. Have fun at Solder Field on Sunday, and we'll catch up with you soon. You know that.

All right. Thanks, guys. Go cats. Yeah. Go cats, Kevin. Thank you for being intrepid. No doubt. Yeah, man.

I mean, like I told you, Gino Smith, over 300 yards last week. He just mentioned Sadiq, that be Kenyon Sadiq, the rookie tight end, had seven catches for 105 yards beyond the lookout for him. And Garrett Wilson's been Gary Wilson. It's been very good for the Jets, the one constant that's been on that team. 10 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown against the Lions in a loss. Coming up next with us here. Let's talk more bears. What?

Coming up next with us here. Us here. Right here. A sta a key. Jets coach Aaron Glenn, reflecting on his time with Bears coach Ben Johnson in Detroit. Does this give somebody an edge? We'll discuss next on Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, The Score. Rahimi and Grody, Midday, 10 a.m. to 2 on the score.

Rahimi and Grotie on 104.3, The Score. This Sunday, joined The Score and Bud Light at the Sports Corner in Wrigleyville, all includes Patrick Manley, and yours truly. We'll host your pregame show there from 9 to noon, then have immediate reaction on the post-game show after Chicago. Takes on New York. Compete in round one of Bud Light's national football face-off tournament, giving you a chance to test your football skills

to win a trip to Vegas during an NFL. playoff weekend in January. That's this Sunday before and after the game at Sports Corner in Wrigleyville. All right, we said we were going to talk about Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, but we got something better. We've decided and agreed upon and audible.

I think people would probably much prefer to hear Ben Johnson talking about actually talking about a full participant in practice yesterday and today Kyler Gordon. Here is the head coach on Kyler Gordon.

We had an extended practice on Wednesday to get some of these guys on PUP and some of the young guys, just some extra working pads. And he looked good. It was encouraging. So we're kind of, I call it a stress test right now and see how well he holds up here over the next few weeks. How does he go about regaining your trust as he gets mixed back in here? Yeah, well, we've got to make sure that he's healthy. And he can, like I said, we got a three-week window, 21 days to where we can truly evaluate where he's at, and make sure there's no setback. So I think that's step one.

How do you balance frustration with him being out over the past year and a half with the potential of what a great impact he can have for you? No, man, he's a phenomenal football player. And we have just been in a struggle, everybody, everybody's been in a struggle to get him out there. And so, you know, we let that, he's out there now. I'm more than happy to talk about anybody that's out on the field. He's out there right now, and we're excited about what the future could possibly hold.

But it's a matter of putting in a good day's work every single day, stacking consecutive days up, and we'll take it from there. But he is a very talented player. He always has been. It's just unfortunate since we got in the building a year and a half ago. We haven't had him available very much. And so we'll work through that. And if he can help the team, he's going to help the team. Interesting.

The first thing that comes in my mind is there have been plenty of other players that have not been available that he hadn't dismissed as much as he dismissed Kyler Gordon. He has not dismissed Shemar Turner nearly as much. He did not dismiss Dio O'Dangbo nearly as much as he straight up dismissed Kyler Gordon. And now here he is. Still sounding like he's saying it a little bit through gritted teeth, a phenomenal football player. But he also then says everybody's been. That's the truth part right there.

Everybody's been in a struggle to get this man back on the football field. Well, and that's the part that Ryan Poles alluded to as well. And they've been on the same page about this. That's kind of where we go with this. It's not necessarily that Kyla Gordon going to an outside source to check on his foot is a bad thing. I question that particular guy's credentials because sliding into your DMs about how you're standing doesn't sound professional to me. And the meantime, there's the other side of this, which is Ryan Poles was saying, you know, we've tried everything. And he implied in a statement during training camp that they weren't on the same page.

And then somehow there was time that was lost or maybe things that were repeated or the process was very inefficient. And we saw that when you say you're going to go and then you're not in pregame warmups. That would imply that whatever is happening isn't working right. but that it was important for him to be there. Like, I think it's way more important for him to be with the Bears training staff than it is to be with somebody else. Yeah, and that's the question now. And it was Dennis Allen was discussing it yesterday when he was asked about Kyler Gordon. Herb Howard played some of it for us.

It's can he get healthy, which apparently he is, can he stay healthy now? That's the trick. But I've never heard him sound this encouraged about Kyler Gordon. Clearly. I'm not. We've got the audio. to back you up on that. Even, yeah, he's talking about him in a positive way.

I mean, last year, don't you remember? He said, I don't know. I feel like I don't know him. Right. And now he's calling him a, quote, phenomenal football player. And maybe he's taking the cue from Dennis Allen, who, and I went back and listen to that whole thing, Dennis Allen from last night. And he didn't back off a reporter, asked him, I think it was Emma, said, how glowingly

you spoke of him. And he said, yeah, it all stands the same. And he said, Dennis Allen, paraphrasing, he's a player who can help us, win football games. So he is entered back into, after all that, he has entered back into the good graces of the coaching staff. It doesn't take away, still Layla, the mystery of what went on. Like the next part of this is hopefully next week, hopefully he is activated for the

Green Bay game. Cannot play this week? Hopefully activated for the next game, the Green Bay game. And then I want to hear what Kyler Gordon has to say, because then he would be available in the locker room. And also, it's not like you haven't tried. It's not like you even tried to talk to him. Right, yes, I did.

I was in the locker room after the first preseason game. He was right there. I said, do you have anything to say? And he said, not right now. I said, will you have something to say? He said, yes, I will have something to say. So I don't know what that will be, but hopefully we will find out next week. If only you had asked when.

Yeah. I was like in a weird place because I didn't even know if I was supposed to be talking to him. I was like, oh, there's Kyler Gordon, shiny object. I went right to him while everybody else was talking to the pertinent players in the game, which they should be doing. I was like, are we allowed to talk to this guy? Sub on Ahmed or something? No, that's to him, but.

Exactly. All right, we are needing to take a break here because when we return, Jed Hoyer, end of the season press conference. The Cubs president of baseball operations will be live. We will carry it live and we will react to it as well. Cannot wait to hear what Jed Hoare has to say next on Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, The Score. This hour is being brought to you by Vasectomy Clinics of Chicago. Hello again, everybody.

Hi. Welcome me back into. Hi. You mean me. How are you? You and everybody, all the everybody's that are listening right now to Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, The Score, thank you so much for doing that. You are listening to a four seasons heating.

air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric football Friday, presented by your local Ford dealers and by Advent as well. Layla and I are standing by, you can say, because we've got one eye on our super secret monitors here in the score studios on a press conference, which is about to go down with the Cubs president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, and we were to bring that to you live once it begins, it will be brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers, audio provided by the Marquis Sports Network. Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. I just don't know how many...

The problem is he can't talk about personnel that we would like to know about their futures because, well, you can't do that right now and then there's that whole CBA issue. So I want to hear what he has to say about just how they were able to piece this together. Was the wild card enough, given all the end? injuries you had on this team. Based on my reactions over the past two games I saw by his team,

I would say no personally, but I'm not the general manager. So I'm very curious to hear what we're going to in this upcoming hour. We see some familiar faces. Saw Ryan McGuffie talking to Gordon Whitmire. How about that? Did you see Gordon? I did. Yep, both those guys right in the front row of the press conference. But yeah, we'll be very interested to hear what, If Jed Hoyer has an opening statement, if he kind of tries to give the season ending conclusion, or if it's just one of those. All right, guys, what do you got? What do you want to talk about? But we got to know about, like, how he felt watching the ending of this, man.

Because we've had, like, a lot of the, like, back when Theo was here and Jed to a similar degree, like, they would go on for a long time, these press conferences. Oh, I mean, that's the famous press conference where Theo said after what the 20s. 2018 season, the offense broke. And it stayed with us for the rest of our lives. It did. Yeah, that's when everybody had to go. Now we look at Jed Hoyer sitting down in his seat. Let's go to Jed Hoyer at Wrigley Field. Brennan and Freddie are on either side.

So just raise our hand and we'll get you a mic. And we can go from there. Megan, if you want the first one, you can go right here. Jennifer, obviously a team with World Series goals. Just how do you reconcile regular season success and then obviously getting swept in the wild card series? Yeah, I think it's disappointment. I think that we're doing exit meetings today, saying about the players, saying about our coaches. And I think that's really the sentiment that I have is just how disappointing it is.

The season was unlike any season I've been through in 25 years. There was a number of times. I think things felt incredibly dire during the season. I think we had a mid-April stretch where I feel like every reliever was hurt. We had a late June stretch where we were scrambling to fill out a rotation in any way. We survived those things incredibly well, I thought. We also had periods of the year, long periods where I thought we looked like maybe the best team in baseball. We looked like a fantastic team for long stretches.

I think the fans kind of resonated with that. And so we leaned into this team because of those stretches and because we survive those, we survived the downstretches. We had these exceptional stretches. We leaned into it. And, you know, ultimately, as we sit here today, you know, it feels like we let something slip away. And I think that's probably the hardest thing. You know, I think these fans deserve home playoff games. We let home field slip away by playing poorly in September, especially the last week.

And then we let a chance to go deep in the playoffs and really get this team playing in the postseason. We let that slip away by playing poorly in San Diego. So I think that's sort of this emotion or sentiment I have as I see here today. It feels like we let an opportunity slip away that we won't get back. We have to work really hard to get back to that place. Obviously, I think losses like this are really motivating. But in the moment right now, I feel for the fans who support of this team so much because, you know, I feel like they deserve the long run this year and we let us up away.

Go over here to Bruce on the lobby. Chad, a couple of weeks ago you talked about, we asked about pitching. He said, well, we may have to reevaluate what type of pitching, what type of pitchers we look for. Did you even mean as far as what you teach and what you have in your lab? Can you leverage a little bit on that? Yeah, I mean, I think we had a pretty imbalanced season in a lot of ways. Our position playing group, I think, was the best in baseball. You know, we had the best offense.

We had a really balanced offense in a lot of ways. We didn't strike out a lot. We had homers. We walked. we played fantastic defense. From a pitching standpoint this year, it was sort of struggle from the get-go. Some of that was based on injuries to some guys

who were really counting on, but some of it was, you know, based on poor performance, you know, some poor acquisition. And so I think that's something that we have to look at. You know, right now, I feel like, yeah, we are a bit imbalanced, And how do we balance that out? I don't think it's one thing. I think it's having the humility to look at every aspect

of the chain, you know, from scouting, player development, major league development, major league acquisitions, all those things. Ultimately, that's my responsibility. But I feel like we're doing a lot of things really well on the position playing group or the hitting group. Obviously, our defense really helps our run prevent I think for all of our struggles this year, I think we're 12th in the league and runs allowed.

But we're leaning on our defense too heavily. And I think overall, the overall quality of the pitching has to improve. And I think that, like I said, that that's really the thing that I think about our offseason, when I think about the seasons to come, that has to be the goal is to get our pitching infrastructure and pitching quality to the level of our position player group. Jesse. Chad, you could probably draw a straight line from your two playoff exits to, you know, not weighing the division, not having the buy home field for much longer than one series.

So, and since hiring Craig, Milwaukee's only widen the gap. What is it that they're doing, and you know, maybe even along the lines of pitching in particular, but what is it that they're doing that is sort of overwhelming you guys? Yeah, well, I mean, they've had the, they've been the best record in baseball at the last two years. They've had an exceptional two seasons and there's no denying that. And I think both having them in our division, having the best record in baseball, and I think that being in the National League, I mean, it's a, it's a, you know, the standard has to be exceptionally high. I think the area that, that, you know, from a major league standpoint, you know, their pitching has been

exceptionally good. And I think like going back to Bruce's question, I think that's the area that we have to double down and really focus on. Obviously, like I said, I think that the position playing group this year was exceptional. And I think that that's the biggest area that we have to have to focus on. Why? I think I just said, I think that the focus has to be on all areas. I think that, you know, trying to pinpoint any one area, I don't think that's what it is. I think that would be oversimplifying a really complicated thing. But I think we have to be with. We have to be willing to look at all aspects of our pitching operation to figure out, like, how do we get the pitching part to the level where our position playing group is? It's not there right now.

This is at least the second year in a row where we're talking about pitching again. And does the philosophy need to change as far as what you're willing to spend on swing and miss? You just talked about you can't rely on your defense as much. Swing and miss costs money, a lot of money. does it you just need to be more aggressive in that area? I think a willingness to look at all those things. I think that whether it's swing and miss, whether it's, you know, I think we gave up far too many home runs this year.

And whether that's a stuff issue, a fly ball tendency issue, like all those things, I think are fair things to look at. I think I said hundreds of times during the course of the year, like, you know, we can't catch homers. You know, like any ball in play, I think we have the, the best chance in baseball to make that play. And as I said before, as a result, our run is in a decent place. But we gave up so many homers that cost us big.

And I think, you know, our home run rate, I think, was the second worst in baseball. And I do think that's something we have to look at. And again, exactly what's causing that. Is it stuff related? Is it style related? Is it, you know, is it anything we're doing for? from infrastructure standpoint, because I do think that is something that we struggle with. We struggle with the homers.

And when we have really good defense, that's something that we want the ball in play, and it wasn't in play enough this year. Patrick. Chad, just one one on pitching. This seems to be kind of a parallel to when you guys won in that previous era of having a great position playing group, really from top to bottom in your organization, kind of squeezing out results pitching-wise at the, major league level, but I guess broadly, like, why is pitching development so hard?

Yeah, I don't think that's an unfair thing to say. I think that I think it is similar in a lot of ways. You know, one of the things I do think for our season that is frustrating personally was that, you know, I think about the guys that were hurt this year that in this time, it's Kate Horton, you know, a homegrown guy that, you know, kind of drafted and developed Justice Steele, obviously missed time. You know, Ben, we traded for it when he was a young pitcher. And so, yeah, we struggled to keep some of those guys healthy that I think have swinging missed off,

that have the potential to really improve our pitching group. But, yeah, I think that over the stretch, I think we've absolutely done a better job developing, hitting, developing position players than pitchers. And, yeah, we needed to spend a lot of time thinking about why and how we can level up. on that because it has we've had different stretches where I think that we've we've gotten better at it but right now the gap has widened a bit and we need to we need to address it.

Jed you just mentioned three guys that you know are going to be part of your future how can you rely on those guys how much can you rely on those guys knowing that they're coming off injuries moving into next season versus trying to kind of fortify around that yeah I think it's a it does present a bit of a team building challenge All three of those guys are really talented. We'll have medical meetings this week, but exactly how much we can, how many innings we can rely on,

how much we have to factor that into our team building is very real. So yes, I think all three guys have a real chance to impact us next year, but how much is a real question? And I think we have to kind of build accordingly. Jordan? As you're looking at every part of the chain of pitching, as you said you're going to do, how much will you be looking at the staff? Do you think the staff is nimble enough to be part of this change,

or do you anticipate changes on that front as well? Yeah, I'm not going to talk about staffing in particular right now. We haven't had a chance to really sit down and meet since the season ended. But, yeah, I think that thinking about messaging, thinking about the different areas we focus on, I think all of those are fair questions, and we have to address those things, you know, but I'm not going to comment on staffing at this point. This Cubs Press conference you're hearing on 104-3 The Score with President of Baseball Operations.

Jed Hoyer is brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Capital and cash since you've been in charge. How big a failure is this team compared to previous years where you fell short? Yeah, I think we'd put resources. resources into this team because we believed in this team. I mean, as simple as that. You know, there were, like I said before, I think there were long stretches where, you know, we looked like we could be a dominant team.

And, you know, as a result, we, you know, I give the Ricketts family a lot of credit. You know, Tom, we pushed, you know, in part because of the injuries we had during the year, we had to take on a lot of payroll to sort of to survive and take on those guys. and the family was incredibly willing to do that, traded prospects away to supplement this group at the deadline. And we did that because we believed in it. We believed in this group. I think we had the best player in baseball.

We had an exceptional position playing group. And so we believed in this group and we fell short and we let that opportunity slip away. And I think that's the part that it will nod us for a long time. Chad, you talk about just like the defense and the pitching group as a whole, but Edward Cabrero is one of the big. biggest moves that you guys made. What can you kind of point to at this point in the year

about why it didn't work with him this season, maybe even apart from health? Yeah, I think those things are interconnected. But yeah, we struggled with Edward. I think Edward has had a lot of success in the big leagues. He's a really good big league pitcher. I think we have to think a lot about what things contributed to him struggling.

And we have to look at ourselves and look at what we not do to get the most out of him. He did struggle a lot with these blister issues and how much that impacted, you know, these different spin pitches is unclear. But he's super talented. He has a swing and miss stuff that we're looking for. We didn't get the most out of him.

And that's something as an organization we have to own that I have to own. And we need to really focus on that. He has a lot of talent. He really cares. And we just have to get more out of him. Megan, right? You obviously gave up a lot in the Clay Holmes deal,

and he seemed like a guy if he came back feeling good after the leg fracture. Like, this is a game one playoff starter. What do you make of how his season with you guys played out, especially at the end? And, you know, I think it was maybe a little surprising and ended up, you know, factoring in it all in the wild card. Like, was he healthy? Can you just give us an overview on just what you saw from Holmes?

Yeah. I mean, I think in so many ways, and Clay fits our team really well. You know, he puts the ball on the ground. Even with us, I think it was like high 60s ground ball percentage. We convert the most ground balls into outs. We thought it was a perfect fit. He had some really good starts in August.

He had a nice run in August for a while. And he sort of tailed off. And like how much of that was because he came back from injury, you know, how much was that was just the length of the season. You know, obviously wasn't pitching his best baseball towards the end. And I think that's not just with Clay. I think that's one of the biggest challenges in these jobs is getting everything synced up right to go into the postseason. Obviously, Clay wasn't throwing his best going in.

You know, Gosman got hurt at a random, you know, play at third base. Certainly those are two guys who were counting on to get out, especially against a very, you know, right-handed lineup in San Diego. Not having those guys kind of optimized, certainly hurt us. But that's the challenge. you're not always going to go in in perfect health or perfectly optimized. And this year we didn't, and it hurt us. Bruce over here, North. Chad, the convoluted way people will have to look at the postseason here

as far as adding to their team next year, how do you as an organization look at, you have upwards of 10 guys that would-be free agents, yet you don't know what the structure is going to, to be of the CBA to be able to pay that type of money. So how do you feel caught in the middle of that, knowing that you have a month to talk to your own free agents before anyone else can?

Yeah, I think with all the free agents, and we have a lot of good players that are free agents, I think we're not going to be able to bring back all of them. I think that's clear. We're not going to be able to bring back every player. we're certainly going to talk to a lot of them because I think there are a lot of good players. We fit well with them.

I don't know where that's going to go, but I can assure everyone there'll be a lot of conversations between the guys that are free agents and the Cubs between now and, you know, December 1st and then obviously potentially afterwards. But, yeah, we can't retain everyone. The team's going to look and feel different next year. I think that, you know, in a lot of ways,

that's a good thing. but I do want to emphasize that we do have a lot of good players that are going to be free agents and we'll be in touch. Do you have a firm idea about what the CBA brings to you guys and being able to do something before? I don't think anyone really has a firm grasp on that. I think we'll make the best decisions with the information that we have at the time. Some of those may come before the December 1st and some may come after, but I don't think anyone at this point has a firm grasp on that. I think if they say they are, they're probably incorrect.

I think that we're all going to have to make certain assumptions. Just a quick follow-up to that and then another question. So do you operate as if the rules are going to be the same until they're not when it comes to the CBA? I wouldn't say it like that. I think that if there are contracts that will make sense, no matter the – the setup, then I think you make those deals. And I think that there are certainly going to be contracts that are going to make sense regardless of the structure.

And I think that's, knowing what's going to, what is going to be after, I think, I think that's kind of what I was saying. I think you're making a lot of assumptions. But certainly there are deals, contracts, players that you would retain regardless of what that structure was. In particular to Ian Hap, maybe Suzuki as well, just because they've been here a long time, especially have, usually you don't forecast things, but is that door been closed, have you guys talked,

or is everything still on the table? No, everything's on the table. You know, I think Ian and I will probably sit down here the next couple weeks once everything settles and this kind of get together. I mean, I think with Ian in particular, as a guy redrafted in 2015, that, you know, a homegrown player who's just,

He was truly embraced what it is to be a cub in a really special way. I think the stuff he does with the guys in left field is amazing. For me personally, watching his maturation, you know, has been really fun. You know, I think we had our run-ins early on in his career, and we've grown to have a really great relationship. And I probably respect the way he plays baseball and thinks about baseball as much as anyone I've been around in terms of like he's so, his process is so good, his way of thinking about his own results is so mature. And the way he goes about getting ready to play,

I mean, you see him doing his eye exercises every single day. You see him juggling in his locker every day. Like every single day he came in here to try to win a game to prepare himself. And I think he was a model for a lot of the young players. So I have nothing but, great thoughts and feelings about Ian and we'll sit down next couple weeks. Jed, you alluded to some of the acquisition issues that you'll evaluate, but given the sizable resource advantage you had, particularly in the division, how much of this falls on you, what happened this year falling short? And then kind of related to that, if you were the owner of this team,

given those resource advantages, would you consider changing, making front office changes with the people that built that team? Yeah, and I think we do have, I think in our division, I think we do have an advantage. I think in the National League. I think it's incredibly competitive financially, you know, and we're competing in a really hard league to make the postseason. Some really good teams, some teams that invested heavily didn't make the postseason. I think the division, that's a fair comment. I think in the National League, I think that's a real challenge. I think the expectations have been raised here.

And I'm actually really proud of that in a lot of ways. I feel like when we got here, it was making the postseason was really celebrated, making it twice in a row, just didn't happen. And so I'm proud of the fact that over 15 years, we've changed the entire expectations of what it is to, to be with the Cubs. I think that we should always be thinking about changes and improvements. I think for me personally, I have to be better next year than I was this year.

I think we have to look at that every single year. But in terms of where we are as an organization, I'm really proud of it. And I think that I guess I'm really proud of the fact that we've changed the expectation of Cubs fans over the last 15 years. I think that's something that says a lot about the work we've done. You're listening to the Jed Hoyer season ending press conference, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers on 104-3, The Score. Is the focus going to be as far as your resources, prospect capital, money,

is that going to be on pitching or can you invest a little bit to kind of make sure that the offense at least stays close to this level? Yeah. I mean, I think that it's safe to say that the biggest part of our focus going into the off-season is going to be on pitching, whether that's 100-0 or what ratio that's going to be, I think is not to be determined yet, but certainly the great majority of our focus is going to be pitching acquisition going in. I think we have a really good core position player-wise. We have really good prospects, you know, kind of close to ready. I think we're in a good, very good,

remarkably healthy position on the position player side, and I think that we have to focus our resources and energy on the pitching side predominantly. Pete obviously had an incredible MVP season. When you see someone that young put together that complete of an offensive season after what you've seen the last couple years, how does that at all change the calculus of how you view the position player group when you have a player of that caliber? Yeah, I mean, what he did was incredible. I mean, I think I said before, the best position player season I've ever seen personally. he's going to the MVP, I'll win the Hank Aaron Award, I win the platinum glove.

To do all those things in one season is incredible, and we're just lucky to have him. We're lucky to watch him play every day. Yeah, I mean, I think that the focus will be on being 40-40 in those things. The thing that gives me so much comfort is I know offense can go up and down at times, but what we have defensively in him is so terrific. You know, our up the middle defense that we have is really kind of the backbone of this team. And he's the biggest part of that. And so he does give a level of stability and comfort knowing that I know he's going to produce offensively.

I don't know, like 45 homers and 41 still on bases is a challenge, but to do every single year. But the standard he's set defensively is really incredible. and that allows us to build the kind of team we want to build around defense. As you move forward with your plans to figure out what to do in the corner outfield spots, how big a part can some of the guys that played reserve roles this year, like Matt Shaw or Pedro Ramirez, even kind of factor into that whole calculus? Yeah. We had really good versatility this year.

There was not a ton of time. We had overlap between Matt and Pedro because some of the, some of Matt's injuries, but I thought a year ago, our bench probably wasn't deep enough. I thought this year we actually had a really deep bench. Conforto did a fantastic job for us. The casting tandem was solid. And then obviously having Pedro on Matt,

super versatile, both really good players. And we can ask more of them, I think going forward. We didn't have to this year, given the nature of our corner outfield. But I think they both can certainly do that. And I think we'll lead on both those guys more heavily, going forward. We know your philosophy on spending bullpen arms,

but how did this year kind of further inform how you will likely approach that market, just everything that you went through on the relief front season? I think on the relief front, honestly, like, you know, how we spent, probably not my focus. I did a poor job in the bullpen this year, like full stop. You know, the guys we acquired this winter didn't produce nearly as well as they did a year ago. You know, I thought last year I was really, really proud of our bullpen in 2025. It was a huge part of our success last year. You know, we sort of built a bullpen with the same philosophy or the same thoughts of mind,

and we didn't get it right. and that's something that we've spent a lot of time talking about already and we'll continue to talk about. So I take responsibility for that and something that we'll look to improve on this offseason because it didn't work out as well as it did in 25 this last year. Craig, a lot of people think that Craig Counsel did a fantastic job of handling the bullpen and getting what he could out of it. Other people are disappointed. What's your take on it? What's the thoughts about what type of you had and what you expect? I think Craig's a, I think he had a great year. I think he's an incredible manager. Players love playing for him.

You know, we're incredibly well prepared. I think that the, I can't imagine a more prepared group of players. And I think that like Craig sets a standard for that. And I think in game, he's a really good manager in game. He handles a bullpen really well. There was a lot of stretches this year where we were super banged up and undermanned. And I thought he kind of willed us through some games by this managing the group that he had really well. So I thought in a lot of ways he had a really good year. There's a lot of challenges that were associated with, especially on the pitching side. We just had so many injuries or constantly in flux.

And to be able to handle that and get the most out of those guys, it takes a step. steady hand to do that. And I thought he did a great job of that. You said you're going to do a lot of self-reflection and look internally. If you were Tom Ricketts and you were having a meeting with Jed Hoyer, what would you ask you? I think I'd probably ask a lot of the same questions that we've answered so far today. You know, I think that there's a lot of exceptional things that happened this year. I think when you look at a team that has the best offense in baseball

and the best defense in the last 15 years. I think that there's a lot of good things going on, but we had a lot of injuries, and we had a pitching staff that wasn't nearly as good as the offensive side, and I think that's what I would focus on. Jordan? Just you had a lot of expectations and things that you thought about Alex Preggman going into the year

now that you've gone through a full season with him, what can you just say about kind of the ups and downs that he went through, how you saw him navigate those, and then the way he fought to come back at the end of the year. Yeah. I mean, a couple of thoughts on that. I think that in a lot of ways, Alex's season was a good reminder for me of how long the season is. He struggled for a long time, you know, and fans were all over him.

I think it was really difficult for him and to be able to keep working, keep fighting through it. It's a testament to a pretty tough person. you know, that to sort of fail in your first, you know, a few months in a new city, you know, he knew, he knows, he knew and knows the expectations that are put on him, and he just kept working and kept working. And like I said, it's a good lesson, good reminder for all of us. It's a long season. And, you know, a player of that quality, you know, he's going to find a way to get it done.

And his second half was remarkable. and you look up at the end of the season. And he was a top 10 player in baseball, you know, by war. I'm assuming he's going to win a gold glove this year. And a lot of that was through his work he did on defense. And, you know, candidly, I think we felt his absence the last week. You know, I think that one of the things that this gnaws at me is the fact that we had home field and we kind of gave it up in the last week.

And I do think we missed him in the last week. We sputtered on offense, and I think that his presence, I think, was certainly, his presence was felt, and when we lost him at the end, I think it made a big difference. But great player, great teammate, comes in here to win every single day. And, yeah, I mean, I think that when you look at the totality of the season, I don't think we could ask for more in the first year of a big contract. Chad, I want to focus on the ending to the season. I mean, I hear you praise Craig, the camaraderie,

Bregman, the glue that he brings, and, yeah, you missed him for a few games. But in the most important moments in September, and certainly the home series against the Marlins, the double-hug against the Red Sox, team didn't come through from 30,000 feet. What were you seeing again, you know, praising a team for five months, but then when they needed it the most, it wasn't there. Yeah, we didn't hit.

I mean, I think it's as simple as that. I think that our offense was really good for most of the summer. We had a bad stretch in May for a while, but otherwise the offense was really good. And we didn't score. I think we scored two runs in each of the Marlins games. We scored three in the first Red Sox game, got shut out in the second game, scored a little bit in the game that didn't matter at the drop, and then scored one run in a playoff series.

So, I mean, really, we just didn't score. and, you know, certainly not through lack of effort, lack of caring, you know, lack of preparation. I think, you know, to a man, I think the guys have sort of come in to the exit meetings and, you know, letting home field advantage slip away. They think they knew how much it meant to last year's series against the Padres, and they saw how much it meant to this year's series. So it certainly wasn't through a lack of awareness of how important that was. we just didn't hit. And baseball

it's an empty answer, but at the end of the day, you know, like I said, it's not through lack of caring. It's not through lack of talent. We scored the most runs in baseball is here, but, you know, some of those hitting environments were not easy. I think women was blown in for a lot of those games, but regardless, we just

didn't get it done. And like I said, we let that opportunity to slip away. You are listening to 104-3, the score, this Cubs Press conference with the president of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer's being brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Did that buzzer-beater deal with Stroman, you were talking to say all the up to the end? Are you still kind of willing or able to do stuff like that, especially before the lockout, especially considering the holes on the pitching staff,

the kind of relative weakness of this free agent class? Like, are you still open to doing those deals in November? Yeah, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Yeah, I think that, um, yeah, I think that, um, I think that period is going to be active. And I think that there will, like, if deals make sense, you know, kind of, like I said before, regardless of the structure, I think they're going to get done. You know, last time there was sort of a sprint in the moments before, and then there was like a sprint in the moments after. And, you know, that may be a blueprint for how this goes again. You know, we're going to have a likely, a period, an empty period in there. But, yeah, I think there will be activity in November for sure.

In terms of, you have very clean books. That's a great thing to have. There's not bad contracts, unlike some of your counterparts. However, you've got to rebuild your entire pitching staff, your corner outfielders. How realistic is it with the compressed time you're going to have November and then a sprint that you can get all that addressed on a team that has expectations of contending? I don't think the timing will impact it. I think that, yeah, we're going to have to have a good off-season.

We're going to have to be creative. We're going to have to fill a number of holes. I don't think it timing affects that. I think that can get done. I just think we have to make good decisions, and we have to define deals that make sense for both sides. This is a little bit of something. similar to what Jesse S, but the playoffs are a different beast.

Craig talks about that a lot. A two-game wild card is a small statistical sample, but are there any big picture lessons you take from those two games to apply going forward, whether it's through roster construction strategy, anything like that? I think my biggest takeaway is playing at home helps. I think that in the way the system is set up, you don't get a chance to come back and play games, you know? And so when you lose home field, you lose all the home games in that series.

I think that makes it really difficult. You know, we have a real home field advantage here. They have a real home field advantage in San Diego. I think that that really hurt us. You know, it's hard to, it's hard. Two games, I don't believe two games is a great way to think about your roster. I don't. But I do think the San Diego, the way they're built, I do think that they have an exceptional bullpen. That is the absolute strength of their team, you know? And so

a year ago, we got out to leads and we were able to hold on to those leads. This year, we fell behind in both games, and you sort of know going into those games, you know, going into any game against the Padres regular season or not, you've got to play with a lead and we weren't able to do that. So I do think that that team puts a lot of pressure on you in terms of how you play. Judd, thank you very much for your time. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

Thank you. That is the Cubs president of baseball operations. Jed Hoyer right there answering myriad questions, many of them focusing on the pitching, but pretty versatile. We need to take a break right now. When we return, hopefully Layla and I will have a little bit. of time left just a little bit to react to what we just heard from Jed Hoyer. It is.

Before a very special guest did too. Yes. Mike Vassel will be joining us at two. It's the most important transition the score has ever had. Magical. Very magical. It'll be magical. The transition with a guess, that's five different voices.

It's a wizard grody. That's coming up at two. It's Rahimi and Grody on 1043, the score. Rahimi and Grody. Midday's Tyndal 2. on Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. I mean, I think we had a pretty imbalanced season in a lot of ways. Our position playing group, I think, was the best in baseball.

You know, we had the best offense. We had really balanced offense in a lot of ways. We did a strike out a lot. We had homers. We walked. We played fantastic defense. From a pitching standpoint this year, who sort of struggle from the get-go.

Welcome back to Rehemi and Grotia on 104-3, The Score. Hope you enjoyed the Jed Hoyer Press Conference, the Cubs President of Baseball Operations, from whom you just heard right there, talking for about 40 minutes out at Wrigley Field, answering tons of questions from the media. And Layla, I guess my theme from this, have I had to use one of his quotes to sum up all of what we just heard.

and it is the truth. The overall quality of the pitching has to improve. And that was the theme throughout, if you want to get specific, the swing and miss aspect of it. It was Edward Cabrera who was support, because we talked about that. Like, Edward Cabrera was supposed to be the changing of that, right? Kate Horton at the beginning of the season.

We asked Judd last week about Edward Cabrera, and you could tell that he was frustrated with his performance too. Absolutely. And in this press conference, said they have to get more out of him. but what does that really mean? Now, what was surprising was how harshly Jed talked about the pitching when he talked about not just needing to improve, but bringing up infrastructure.

I thought that meant coaching staff and possibly other things because you've had some indictments under pitch lab lately. One of them closes games in Milwaukee, you know, in Trevor McGill. So how are you going to try to make that better? and then him saying that he was bad at the bullpen this year. Yeah, he admitted it. Full stop. I did a poor job on the bullpen this year.

Full stop was the quote that I wrote down. Yeah, no, and he blamed himself for that. He is correct to point out that they did a great job of surviving at certain points in the season when we literally didn't know who the starting pitcher would be because of Horton, because of steel, because of Ben Brown, because of James and Tyone, because of Matthew Boyd. I mean, I'm just listing pitchers who have been injured this year for the Cubs. But he also said correctly, and there was a time where it felt like the Chicago Cubs were the best team in baseball. But they let it slip away.

They let it slip away and the offense sucked at the end of the season. And he mentioned that too. He said we let this slip away. I didn't hear the totality of the season talk from Jed Hoyer like we had heard before. I heard somebody who knew that they had their chance, and I think a lot of other, I've talked about this with Russ Dorsi last week, a lot of other teams in the National League

smell blood in the water. Could this be the year the Dodgers aren't as powerful in the postseason? And you had the chance, and unfortunately just like losing home field, which he touched on. Yeah. You didn't get it done. Yeah.

No, you did not. You didn't get it done. I thought it was interesting, too, that look, brought up the idea of, I guess a reporter probably, the idea of developing your own pitching, which they have gotten better at. And I'm going all the way back to Theo Epstein because they really didn't even try when Theo Epstein was here.

Yeah, they accepted it. I feel like with the other, they're just like, nope, we're going to spend on pitching. We're going to develop hitting. Yeah, right. And it worked. And they're probably going to have to, they need an ace. They went out back then and got John Lester. They made the trade for Jake Carrietta.

Nobody knew that it was going to work out as well as it did. You look at it now. and there's two pictures that they were developing, Kate Horton and Justin Steele. I don't know if I'm leaving anybody out, like starter-wise, but there still hasn't been enough of that. Maybe it's Jackson Wiggins.

Maybe he is somebody that is developing and maybe he will become an ace for the Cubs, but they need an ace. That's basically the theme of you and I have said that. I said that ahead of it. It doesn't matter who starts because all the Cubs pitchers right now are the same. They're all decent, right?

Would that be the word of the Cubs starters, decent number threes? Yes, three's on a playoff team. And he said there's not enough swing or somebody said there's not no swing and miss. I thought that was Jed. That was. And that's another point to this. Now he did point out Clay Holmes. I would like that Megan Montemarrow asked him about Clay Holmes because should have.

You gave up a lot for him and he didn't even pitch in the postseason. And then Jed talking about how he fit with the team by keeping the ball down. So it sounds like that may be a shift in philosophy. They may want to get back to more groundball pitchers instead of guys who tunnel with a high fastball because they want their defense to be able to collect that. That was even when they brought him in, I thought that that might have been the case because he was different from the rest of what they had, but still not a swing and miss guy. And they haven't had historically many of those. And think about how long Kyle Hendricks lasted with this ball club and he wasn't that. No, I mean, Lester and Arenda were.

Yeah, that's it. Yeah, I mean, that's really about it. I thought some of the questions, too, that were coming in about how much culpability, how much responsibility does Jet Hoyer have, and what would you say about you and all of that? And he said he had to be better, but he also did point out at the very beginning that it's on his watch that expectations have been raised by the Cubs to a time when they were just happy to be there in the playoffs. And now the expectations from Cubs fans is get there. I take a little exception to that because that is the precedent that you set. And Cubs fans should be greedy.

Cubs fans should expect to not just get to the playoffs, but win in the playoffs. Yeah, you did. You raised the bar. So now you've got to accept it and take responsibility for the bar when the bar goes down. No, I agree with that. And I feel like there were times when the mantra just get into the playoffs was also theirs since the World Series. Yeah. So if that's the case, you can't really stand.

hadn't buy that anymore. We were kind of talking off the air about our interpretations of Ian Hap. And Jet Hoyer did say, did say everything's still on the table. And then he went on to speak glowingly of him, as he should, because of his embracing Ian Hap, as he does every week on our show, embracing of Cubsness and the whole thing that comes with it. And the early days that were a little fragile, like when Ian Hap got sent. down. He was pissed. Ian Hap was pissed and I think still has not gotten over that. But I don't know.

How did you hear that? Did you hear that Hap's coming back or do you think that he's not? I kind of, it sounded to me like somebody who wants to bring back. But maybe, I don't know, maybe that was his way of also saying goodbye. Yeah, that's kind of what I felt. I felt like he was giving the proper amount of respect to somebody like Ian Hap. Like, because of what he's meant. So he's not going to come out and be like, yeah, he's out of here, he's gone. You just can't do that with a player that's been around this long.

I mean, God, he brought Dansby Swanson to tears. He brought PCA to tears. Like, I don't even think I knew how much Ian had meant in the clubhouse. No, I think that was a, we know what he means to us on Tuesdays. No doubt. But when it came to just hearing those two talk about him, especially Danesby. Like, that was really moving. It wasn't.

I, like, again, I know how much, like, the team likes Ian Hap, like, because why wouldn't you? I didn't realize it was that much, like, to bring a man to, and maybe they know that he's not going to be around, but just speaking about Ian Habb, people get emotional in that clubhouse, which is amazing to me. Yeah, incredibly, it's an incredibly high compliment, no matter how you look at it. It is. It is. No doubt about it. We want to let you know tomorrow from two to three, you can tune in for the Bank of America, Chicago Marathon,

preview hosted by Josh Liz and featuring race director Kerry Pankowski, Jenny Spangler, and more. I was a part of the first episode. Nice. It's tomorrow at two right here on the score. I'll be listening and you should be listening to what is about

to go down next. It's the most important addition of transition that you will ever hear. It is like a lifetime movie starring Valerie Burton Ernie. It is coming up next. We are going to have on not only will Spiegel and Holmes be here like they are for transition.

We are expected to be joined by Mike Vassel during the transition. That is next on 104-3 The Score. No, there's nothing like today and there's nothing like tomorrow. Live in the present.