Kap & J. Hood

8/8 9 AM: Pedro Grifol Fired by the White Sox!

Hour 3: Breaking News: The White Sox fired Manager Pedro Grifol. The White Sox are having their worst season in team history at 28-89. Who will be the next manager for the White Sox? Former Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champion and Bears radio analyst Tom Thayer joined Kap & J. Hood to preview Bears vs Bills preseason game and the latest Bears news and the Kap & J. Hood Classic Cut of The Day.

Duration:: 44m
Broadcast on:: 08 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What time is it? It's Thursday. Thursday. Tom Thayer. Thayer. 1985 Super Bowl Champion and Football Analyst for the Chicago Bears. Heat to win the division. Win the division. Get into a playoffs. Former offensive lineman. Do they need to get better? Do they need to give up less sacks? Yes. Or Tom Thayer. Tom Thayer. It's Thayer Thursday on Captain J. Hood, ESPN Chicago. Good morning, Chicago, and welcome into the Captain J. Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000. And we're streaming on ESPN Chicago app. But David Kaplan, Jonathan Hood with you. We got Shay. And we got Jay Moore. We have you here on this deal breakers Thursday. It's also a Tom Thayer Thursday here on the home of the Bears, ESPN 1000. A few moments ago, we had breaking news that Pedro Grafalle was fired by the Chicago White Sox as we went through the records during the break cap. We're talking about Grafalle who went 61 and 101 in 2023. And he ends his tenure 28 and 89. Worst team in Major League Baseball, one of the worst teams we've seen in Chicago sports. And he was let go on the Sox off day. And so not as surprised that it happened. We just didn't know when. And we found out it's this morning. Yep. Then on the day off, they let him fly back with the team. And then they pulled the plug this morning. So again, Chris Goetz can go out and want Terry Fran Kona, or Tom Thayer, or you or me. Are you going to empower him and pay the price for what a Terry Fran Kona would cost? Tom Thayer would be very expensive. So again, we'll keep that to your eyes in that story. We'll talk more about it coming up at 9.20. But first, let's go to the hotline. That's where we find the aforementioned Tom Thayer on the CarX Tiger and Auto Hotline. Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom, yes. Don't worry, call the carX name. Good morning, Tom, how are you? I have no almonds this week, boy. So I'll be speaking with a clear try. Unlike last week, what I ate the almond right before I came on with you guys. That was so good. So funny. So we were up there the last two days. My question for you is this. I don't remember when you were going up against HAMP and Dent and McMichael and Fridge and Hartenstein that there were all these injuries. Iron sharpens, iron, I get it. Why are we seeing so many injuries? Not just the Bears. League-wide in training camp among linemen. Because they don't hit enough, they're not-- we didn't go through all the off-season stuff. They're going through months and months of OTAs and all the unpadded practices that they go to. We lived in the weight room during the off-season. Got our bodies prepared for what we were going to go through during the regular season. And then when it started, it started. And we were mentally and physically prepared to go through the practices that we were going through. And it was just the way that I think the transition of business from Dipka's era as a player to the way he transitioned to our era as we went through the paces of our practices back then. But I was listening to you guys on the way up here and thinking about this. When I was looking at the highlight tape when we were all at McMichael's house this past weekend, there's a lot of pictures up there from Ming when we were getting ready for practice. And go look at our uniform when we are getting ready for practice. I mean, we were fully taped up. We were spatted in our ankles, our hands and our wrists. And everything was prepared like we were getting ready to play a game. Our helmet was filled with air so-- because we knew what the impacts and the collisions were going to be like. And that was just the process that we lived through at that stage of football. And because Dipka went through it himself as a player, he only put us through the steps of preparation that he knew that he went through. And it was probably harder in some relation to his career. Yeah, so I think that-- Cap, you asked a really good question when we were talking about what's happening in training camp. It's a big, far cry from when Tom played. That is for sure. But the thing is, is that with change, my hope is that there's sharpness. So when you take a look, for instance, of the offensive line, what stands out most that you think is a positive moving forward? You know, fortunately for the Bears, they have a guy like Chris Morgan that plays guys at multiple positions. Because as you see, there's been a couple of guys that haven't participated in practice yet that have thought that they're going to play a big role in this offensive line. So now when you've got Jotari Carter playing at multiple positions, you've got your own carving, good looking rookie playing multiple positions, Larry Borham, all these guys. So because you don't know who's going to be there on game day, and then when you think of what the offensive line was supposed to be, they've had more snaps with Ryan Bates at Right Guard in Colman-Shout in that center, then they have Ryan Bates at center in Nate Davis at Right Guard. So you've got to be prepared for anything that can happen to you week one of the regular season when they play Tennessee. - So I sat there the other day at practice. Hoodie's watched, he said he was watching a lot of the linemen. I literally wanted to just lock in on Caleb and just watch his mannerisms and just watch how he conducts himself. And I watched them in a drill where he was, I'm going to say 20 yards from the end zone, 25 yards, and he got the snap, he stepped back, he looked left, he looked right, he looked over the middle, and on his fourth read, I'm watching him scan the field. Bam, he hits DJ Moore for a 20 yard game. I never saw Mitchell Trubisky go through progressions like that. I never saw Justin Fields go through progressions like that. Are you noticing a difference? And is that something that is innate or taught? Learn, what is that? - A kind of combination of everything, Cap. The innate ability for a quarterback to have the patience behind whatever protection he called in the huddle and being able to go through his reads, even if they're realistically timed or at this stage of his development, unrealistic time, to go through every progression to know where they're supposed to be, I think is real positive. - The very first play of the very first teamwork of the opening practice this year, Caleb Williams went through progression of first option, second option, checked out. And that's something that Justin never did. Justin was a drop back, first option, and run type of guy. And listen, Justin had all the confidence in the world in his athleticism. But Caleb Williams has all the confidence in the world in his quarterback play. And I think as a Barris fan, as the development of this offense, with the multiple weapons that you have at your disposal, that's what we want to see him do, is to go through those reads. Now, let's speed it up into the preseason game or even the first regular season game. If you have an offensive line in there, then you think maybe there are some vulnerabilities in five step drops, then don't offer them a lot of those. You have play action passing, you have screens, you have three step drops. You have immediate release of the football according to the route called in the protection offered you. So we're not gonna ask the offensive line or Shane, Waldron, or any of these guys that do unrealistic things that maybe they don't have the capability of doing right now to put Caleb in the most quarterback confidence position he can be in. So I'm encouraged by what I see out of Caleb every day, but when reality sets in in Buffalo, and there's crowd noise, and you look at his command of the cadence and the offensive line, I think we'll get a better thermometer indicator of where things are at at this point in the preseason. Super Bowl champion, Colorado's for the Chicago Bears. Tom Thayer with us here on the cap and Jhood Morning Show. Would you think of the new alignment for the special teams or the kickoff? I like it. You know, I was so disappointed in the lack of returns last year in the Super Bowl that I kept saying to myself, something's gotta change. And whether it's the way they line these guys up to get the ball into the hands of playmakers a little bit more. I'm more interested to see and as the vanilla as it was in the first Hall of Fame game, I'm sure every special teams coordinate around the league is studying that first game to see, okay, what can we create? What is the type of personnel we wanna use? Are we gonna have point of attack returns or are we gonna have misdirection returns? All these types of things that have to play into the mind of special teams coordinator and how they're gonna try to develop the biggest returns or give you the best option to be successful. And then you have to kind of get imaginative about the personnel groupings. 'Cause there are there offensive players that are willing to tackle? And are there defensive players that you can put into to get them to understand how to block? In terms of watching the defensive line, I know much has been made on a daily basis. We gotta get in got way or trade for Matthew Judon or see if his son Redick is gonna get moved by the Jets. Are you concerned about the pass rush? 'Cause I love the backers and the defensive backfield or more concerned about the offensive line and their ability to protect Caleb and run the offense. I'm more concerned about the pressure from the defensive line, Captain Jay Hood, because to me, if you're gonna go into a game, you better have at least six to seven quality defensive line and that can go in there and contribute no matter what the down and distance is. And I think that as an offensive line, like I mentioned, Shane Waldron can intelligently call types of protections that best sued Caleb at his point of development along with the offensive lineman that you have in there. And then you can keep multiple bodies in their tight ends, running backs, to be those extra protectors. If your only really premium defensive rusher is Montez Sweat, you're gonna see offensive coaches that are gonna say, okay, every time Montez Sweat is lined up here or there, we're gonna slide in that direction. And as you guys seen over the years where the center comes out and he points out the linebacker, they're responsible for, a lot of times you're gonna see him point in the direction where Montez is. And now if you have four blockers on three guys and then maybe one guy will escape late, it's always gonna be tough to get Montez the freedom that he needs in order to get to the quarterback but also to get other guys free. And with the development of some of these guys throughout the course of the preseason, someone is gonna have to stand head and shoulders above the rest of the group to give 'em that second option that they can kind of use their defensive skill up and down the line of scrimmage. Maybe to separate Montez from the option of 1B. - I need your help, Tom. Could you please help me with Vailus Jones? I need your help with this. Okay, so at the time that he was drafted, I was not a big fan of it because I know that those tires started to get bald because of how much time he had in Tennessee as a ball player and I said, well, how's he fit? If he's not gonna be a wide receiver, can he be a special, special teams player? Haven't quite seen that just as of yet. Now the innovation of trying to put Vailus Jones in a position where he could be a running back. I'll just ask you, how does that fit when you have already in camp? Swift who's very good, Herbert, we're gonna find out if he makes the team, Roshan Johnson. I mean, to me, it's a scarlet letter when he's on the field. If Vailus Jones is in the backfield, we know where the ball's going. So I'm just trying to figure out his value like to me, if he's not a difference maker, special teams, I'm not sure of the value. - You know, the value to me for him being in the backfield is get the ball into his hands as simply as possible to allow him to be the type of ball carrier is 'cause he's got courage on kick off return. He's willing to run full speed at defenders coming at him and have those defenders make the commitment whether they wanna stay in his path and hit him or they try to wanna have a kind of a chicken tackle where he bounces off for four to six extra yards. In for Vailus, if he was the kick returner, if he was a plane in the backfield, if he was lined up on the line of scrimmage, say at the wide receiver position, the neck side by side with Colin Johnson, and both of those guys are super willing wide receiver blockers and they're good at it. So now you're trying to create a sweep lane or a little bit of extra protection for Caleb to run an RPO in their direction. There's multiple ways you can use them. I don't think right now you just wanna completely lose sight of them. And if you are gonna try to put the ball into his football and into his hands, how easily, how simply can we do it? And let's see, you know, if he compliments the backfield and, you know, can he take the place of one of those other guys you mentioned. Last thing for me, what do you expect on Saturday when you and Jeff are broadcasting the game, Caleb plays one series we just heard from Sean McDermott that he's playing it on Josh Allen, playing the entire first quarter. What do you expect the Bears to do? I know they've had some injury issues. - Damn, I hope he plays a quarter. I don't wanna see him out there for three handoffs and then grab a cap. I need to see him come out there and okay, have a series successful or not, come in the sideline, get some coaching comments, understand how that process is gonna run, get together with your receivers or running backs or offensive line, make a couple adjustments and corrections, get back on the field and have at least another series. I need to see him use his cadence in a hostile environment. Because one of the things that's really plagued the Bears offensive line so far and training cap in here is a bunch of fall starts. And now when you think of week two in Houston, it's gonna be in an environment unlike any others that Caleb has played. And even though he played in a major conference, he played in a lot of outdoor stadiums and a lot of the noise escapes from the top. When they go to Houston week two, that roof's gonna be closed. They're gonna keep the noise inside that building. And I think you'll get a little bit better indication how they can approve that part of their game when you take them into Buffalo on Saturday. - Our cover starts Saturday morning at eight o'clock right here on the home of the Bears ESPN 1000. As always, tell me, we appreciate the time. - Anytime, man, I love talking to you guys. - You're the best highlight of the week, man. - Tom Thayer with us on the hotline. - Car X, tire and auto hot. - Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom, boom. - Don't worry, call the car X name. - When we get to talk to Waddle on Wednesday, we get Courtney at the start and end of each week with all the stuff going on and then Thayer. What a great week of football coverage, man. - And Albert Brea. - Oh, and I forgot, Albert, I got. I didn't mean it that way. I was just talking about the local people here. - Yes, yes. - When Albert's available, it's always good to have him on as well. Never know when he drops in on the show. - That's correct. - The White Sox have fired manager Pedro Grafall. We talk about it next on Captain J. Hood. - The truth of the matter is, you're listening to Captain J. Hood on ESPN 1000. Weekdays, seven to 10 a.m. But it'll last a lifetime. It may only be three hours a day, but it'll last you a lifetime. (upbeat music) - Captain J. Hood on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. But with you, it's 10 o'clock. And then it'll be Mike Greenberg coming in at 10 o'clock. Followed by Carmen Yerco, 12 to three, while in Sylvie, 236, 30 and two. Bears weekly with Jeff and Tom, and then Black and Abdullah at 7.30 right here. I'm home with the Bears and the White Sox, ESPN 1000. So, Cap, it's official. Pedro Grafall has been fired by the Chicago White Sox. And so, I know that the next step is, well, who's gonna be the next manager of the White Sox? Cap, because the Sox aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I'm sure it's not gonna be a manager of note, because that manager of note, looking for a second opportunity or some veteran manager like Fran Kohners could look at the ball club in the go, you gonna spend any money? No, you have any stars? No, I'll pass. There's no need for a name manager if you're not going anywhere. Okay, so a year ago, Tony was gone. They could have gone after. Not saying they would have gotten them, but if you're willing to pay, you could have gone on two years ago to get Bruce Bocey. There were a lot of Sox fans that wanted Bruce Bocey. Bruce Bocey goes to Texas. He's friends with the GM there. They have a good vibe, a good partnership. Oh, and by the way, the owners said, "Here's the checkbook. "Go get me Corey Seager for 325 million." Oh, that guy over there, Marcus Simeon, 175, I'll take him, that's half a billion dollars on two guys. Oh, Max Scherzer's available, or this guy's available, or that they went out and put their money where their mouth is, and they won the World Series. So, Craig Council's a perfect example. He's gonna finish with a worse record than David Ross probably. Correct. It tells you maybe it wasn't a Ross problem, it's a roster problem. So, again, you could go try and get Terry Francona, why would he take this job? If he's gonna go through the grind of managing a major league team, his health is better, why would he take this one where he has no chance of being successful? He won't. So, you have to go out and convince A, Jerry to spend money, A, on a manager, B, Jerry, we have got to upgrade the roster. I'm not telling you to go get five-show Heo Tonys and spend three and a half billion. I'm not asking for that. You're telling me you cannot stabilize your roster with some spending, and I'll tell you that's nonsense. What I'm telling you is when you take a look at the White Sox, and again, we just have to be able to accentuate these points, the Chicago White Sox, in the midst of the worst major league baseball season, more than likely ever, definitely in 100 plus years, their 23.9 win percentage is narrowly ahead of the 1916 Phillies. That was 23.5%. They're batting averages at 216. If I haven't seen this, that bad since the 1910 White Sox, they're run differential in the minus two fifties, as bad as the 1932 Red Sox. And keep in mind, again, Cap and I are saying, again, the White Sox are in the playoffs in 2021, and look where they are in 2024. This is closer to a Justin Gershell job. The guy is the AAA manager for Charlotte, then it is for Tito Francona. There's no reason for a name manager to be here, Cap, because it's a pile of crap. Understand the point. Let me get the point out. The point is, is that look at the organization. Why would a name manager say, I can fix it? I know that there's all these geniuses around the sport to go, you know, I can work with this young player, this young player. You're working with nothing. So keep in mind that this particular ball club right now is spiraling backwards. A young manager from the minor league system for the White Sox should be managing this team. Pedro Grafalle, let me go back from the beginning. When Grafalle was hired, and I'm sitting in that seat right there where you are right now, I said, oh, just a boob with a, with socks on his cap. Just a guy, a guy from the Kansas City organization, because it wasn't going anywhere, Cap. Even as good as, as La Russa was, for the amount of time that he was around, the ball club was going in the wrong direction because of injuries. And that's, that's where it was going. La Russa had to balk at players, like, well, you know, a lawyer can't run fast down the first baseline because he's got to preserve his energy, gotta make sure he doesn't get injured. Same thing with Mancata. He didn't want to manage that, but this is where we are. All my point, my point is is that when people are saying, well, who's gonna be the next manager? The next manager is set up to fail. He is, just like Grafalle was, same way. Okay, here's what, the one thing I would push back on you is, if you have the cuts still up there from Jerry that Sylvia Waddle played the other day, we played it. Where Jerry said, I like our core and, but we also have to hold these players accountable. You remember him saying that? - Yep. - And they get their program that they're gonna work out in the off season? Well, we're gonna have to monitor them. Whoever you hire has gotta be someone that is willing and able to hold players accountable. And guess what? If you can't run hard down to first base, I don't care how much you make, you're not gonna play. I'm not gonna watch this anymore. We may not have as much talent, we may not have the highest payroll, but you've gotta hold people accountable, period. We're gonna have one way we play, the right way. And I don't care if it's Jonathan Hood at first base or Andrew Vaughn, he plays the right way or he does not play. And if you come into camp, like Aloy did, out of shape, you're not gonna be with us. I don't care. That crap has to stop. - Well, Cap, that sounds good, but there's only very few Aaron Boons and Snickers and baseball that can hold players accountable. - But Brian Snicker wasn't an expensive guy. He goes to what you were just saying. - No, but the point, I'm accentuating your point. The point is that when you have the backing of management that says this is what I want, we have a standard of playing, Yankees, Braves, teams like that, right? The Orioles right now, a standard of playing. When you have the backing of management, you can say those things. But Pedro Grafalle, we're gonna battle you every night. We're gonna find a way to beat your ass every night. Was he motivating those players? No. I'm sure he was exactly how you were, but then he actually got the job. What I'm telling you is, is that that style could work, especially with organizations that'll back you and to with talent. Don't have any, either one of those things. - Well, I don't want to make predictions, but in this division, and with the core of talent that we have, I would hope that I expect that it'll get, the next year will be a lot better than this year. But you know, how much better? I don't know, but look at the core of this team and if we can get them all on the field, you know what I mean? And one of the things that we're doing this year, it's a little different. Every year we send players home with a plan. This is what you've got to do. We're gonna add this year is we're gonna police these plans. I'm gonna make sure that the players are following their plans. So when they come to spring training, they're ready. We're not gonna take their word that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. So, given the division and given that we have a really good core of players, I would expect next year will be better. That was his expectations. Okay, first of all, when you have the police players, police them, then they're not as motivated as they should be. Like DJ Moore, DJ Moore signed 100 and whatever million dollar extension, right? Yep. Rich's contract by season in the history of the great organization of the Bears. They've been around since the start. And guess what his first thing was when he was talking to his teammates? Back to work, let's go. 'Cause he's a motivated guy. He wants to achieve success on the field as well as in his bank books. You got to police them? And that's the policing you did? I watched Alloy Jimenez. He gets injured in spring training. Mankata running the first, blows out. We haven't seen Heidner-Hairman's August. Come on, man. What's going on around here? Well, again, it's deeper than who are the managers going to be there for all of the entire season. The organization and its problems is deeper than who's going to be there to preside over the ball club. So if you bought the team, how do you fix it? Well, first of all, I've got to be able to spend money. That's one thing on free agency. And it's going to start with pitching to the offense. That's one thing. I'm not saying I'm going to be the Rangers. I might not have to wear with all of that, but I'm going to do that first. Secondly, I'm going to have a statement talking about how, hey, this is the new White Sox. We have to be-- we know that we've been going in the wrong direction, but we are going to try to straighten this out for you, the White Sox fan. But again, it's going to take time, just like the Bears. Just like any other team that's languishing in the last place, Cap, is going to take a long time for you to get there. But you're going to have an effort, and it's going to bear fruit in five years or less. I can't say that openly, but that's my plan. It has to be a five-year plan. It has to be. If it's more than that, and I think it will be because of how Jerry Riesdorf runs his business with this White Sox team, it's probably going to hurt for a long time. For me, it'd be a five-year plan. It has to be, because no matter who you like in a minor league system, you don't know if it's going to work out. But you know that guys that you know that can get the job done, they can take the ball every fifth day, the guys that can give you key base hits, that can set a culture, you can pay for those guys. You're going to have to. Because think about it, Cap. If you're trying to cultivate that kind of culture of guys that can hit the baseball, that can let your team on fire, it takes time, too. rookies don't do that automatically. Not in baseball. It takes time. That's why I've been telling you about the seven, eight-year plan. The ineptitude of the organization, the unwillingness to spend not a lot in the minor league system, and it's not going to get turned. That's why I'm voting for Jerry Shell or someone else to manage his ball club. Because we already went through this with Graffal. He's going to tell him what to do. He's going to make sure he's got-- you heard what I heard in that dugout, in that clubhouse. He didn't necessarily rule with an iron fist. As a matter of fact, there was some players that didn't like Graffal too much. He didn't have enough backing because he's fired today. Correct. He's gone. They couldn't-- They could have done exactly what Baltimore did with Brandon Hyde. Hey, you're going to lose a lot, but we believe in you. Whatever you say, we believe that you're going to be the guy for the future when we get this thing turned. Graffal didn't last that long. I'm looking at Brandon Hyde's record. And I'm a huge Brandon Hyde guy. I like him very much. Got to know him when he was with the Cubs. You've got to ask me a lot. A lot with the Orioles. And they stuck with him, as you just said. Brandon Hyde, when he came into Baltimore, they told him, hey, man, this is a complete rebuild. But we are going to back you. And his records were 54 and 108, then 25 and 35 in the pandemic shortened season, then 52 and 110. Most guys don't survive. They're gone. And guess what? He turned it into 83 and 79. They started to graduate some kids, 101 and 61. And this year, they're 21 games over 500 and battling for first in the AL East. That's management saying, relax. That guy is in charge, and he's going nowhere. Good for them. And they drafted well. They developed well from Adley Ruchman and Santon there. And then when they had the chance to pounce, they got Corbin Burns from the Brewers, because the Brewers couldn't afford it. They've got a team that can win a World Series. People left it Tony, and the team was good. And then as soon as Graffal took it over, it was 61 wins. Same ball club that had Grandal, and Vaughn, and Elvis Andrews, and Tim Anderson, and Joanne Mancotta, Ben Antendi, Louis Robert, Oscar Collas, Aloy. You had a pitching staff cap that could keep you in ball games. You thought on the surface, right? It was starting with Dylan Sees, then Michael Copac, and Gioleto, and Lance Lin, and Mike Clevenger at the end of the rotation. Guess what happened? Injuries and aptitude, it blew up, and I'll look at him. It should not be a manager of note. The Sox don't deserve that. 3-1-2-3-3-2-E-S-P-N-3-2-3-7-7-6 is our phone number. Cap and Jay Hood? - Well, they asked you a quick question. Would you, as the owner, Jonathan Hood, would you hire the guy at Charlotte, or are you saying the guy at Charlotte, 'cause it's Jerry who won't spend money? - Tell you next on Cap and Jay Hood. (electronic beeping) - Here's to Dave's headline, headline with Cap and Jay Hood. (upbeat music) White Sox have fired manager Pedro Graffall. Thank you. - For coming, here's your check. - Get out! Chris Gatch will announce who his interim manager is at 11.30 when he meets the Chicago media White Sox have today off their 61 games, under 500 easily. The worst manager in White Sox history by record. They'll get the Cubs Friday, and Saturday and get another day off, a rare Sunday off during the baseball season when they play part two of the Crosstown series with their neighbors to the North Cubbies. Also are off today after taking two of three from the Twins, and the Bears back at work at Hallis Hall. We'll see how much Caleb Williams will play on Saturday. The Bills have announced Josh Allen, and the starters will play at least the first quarter. Jay Lord! (upbeat music) - You're listening to Captain Jay Hood. (upbeat music) Follow the show on Instagram @thecatman and @igjhood. This is ESPN Chicago, Chicago's home for sports. - Captain Jay Hood on the ESPN 1000, and the ESPN Chicago app. The home of Chicago White Sox has a White Sox fire Pedro Graffall as the manager, as a lifelong White Sox fan cap. It didn't matter if Graffall was fired today, if he finished the season. The season is the worst I've ever seen that we've all ever seen at 28 and 89. I mean, and here's the thing, Cap. Even with some talent, the problem is there was a lot of injuries, and a culture was not set. And so this is what you get. You're more along the lines of a last place team for a while than even being in the middle of your division. Middle of the American League, because you just don't have enough. We talk about this all the time. You're not gonna win without talent. You're not gonna win without pitching. And so it's just a team that's just rudderless right now. 28 and 89, a civic embarrassment, a national embarrassment, the Chicago White Sox. Pedro Graffall was just a small part of the major problem with this White Sox team. And that is ownership. That is a way of playing. That's the minor league and major league system. All of it, Cap, is just the worst. 30th in everything. 30th in everything. That's what it is. It is truly pathetic where it's at. Like I said to you yesterday, when the Cubs finished 67 and 95, or 65 and 97 back in 1997 when they started on 14, it felt like my baseball team was the worst, and they were bad. 28 and 89, whatever they are now. Are you kidding? Like, how can you be that freakin' bad? - Well, you know how they can get that bad 'cause we've lived it. You know how it is. When the highest-paid player, my contract standpoint is Andrew Bennett-Tendy, and he's hitting 210. That's all you need to know. That's what you're paid for? I guess you get what you're paid for. Corey Lee, Andrew Vaughn, who's a boss, Nikki Lopez. When they went North, Cap, with the team, you knew. We both knew. This isn't good enough. Shay asked us in March, shot a no shot. This team could lose in over 100 games. Yeah, look at the team. Your piece build a starting pitching staff together, which I've never seen in history of White Sox baseball. They don't even know who's gonna get the ball at the end of spring training for opening day. But this is what it is. And so now Pedro looks like a clown because, well, you know, the worst manager in the history of Chicago White Sox and maybe the history of sports. Well, look at the organization. If Pedro's that bad, what are the White Sox? Paulie in downtown on ESPN 1000. Paulie, good morning. Hey, guys, good show. What's up, buddy? Boy, a couple of things here. First of all, I thought Corfall was gonna still be around. So I'll find out what really happened behind the scenes. But I mean, the facts have lost 44 games where they were leading and their middle relievers gave the game up. Is that Corfall's fault? Let me save you the dime. They're 28 and 89. You don't have to make a call. They're terrible. No, but I think it's irresponsible and Kathy has brought it up that Ryan's door doesn't care what happens the next couple of years. He is going to break this union. There's gonna be a strike starting in 2027 because and the reason why I brought up that stack was because Ryan's door if it's not paying middle relievers who is a position that was created for failed starters. This is like these are guys that are failures that the union created a position for that you can pay five to 10 million to. That's what this strike is about. These guys are way over-paid and there is gonna be a salary cap. They're not gonna let them look at the books. The players only bring in 20% of the revenue. Gambling brings in more revenue than the players. And this is Jerry showing you. This is a perfect example. Are you telling me if Bruce Bocey came in to share the facts would be any better? They got a double 18. - Okay, everyone asking a question, Paul, like two years ago, three years ago, Tony LaRusso won 93 games with basically the same roster that Pedro Graffal was handed. - Yeah, but the Cuban ball player, these guys are, they've proven to be a bad investment. - Yeah, I just... - No, you wanna let that stand? The Cuban ball player, you heard what he said. - Right, there are good Cuban ball players. There are some that are not. There are some American ball players that are good and there are some that are not. I think you're wrong. For all the warts that Tony had, he was 77, he shouldn't have gotten the job. He should have let Rick hire whoever is that he wanted. If you're gonna let him rebuild the team, you gotta let him pick his manager. That all said, they won 93 games and lost what, and four to Houston. They won one in the series. And then Jerry said to Jose Abreu, 'cause I had a friend who was standing there. Hey, Jose, we're gonna do everything we can to bring what we need here to help you get a World Series for us next year. What they do, go look what that 93 win team did and how much they were committed by spending money to take the next step. They didn't, very, very, very little bit. Don't tell me Joe Kelly, we got Joe Kelly. Joe Kelly's a pedestrian reliever at best. Just sure we took him deep nine miles into the LA night last night. They didn't warrant all in. And that 93 win team was a pretty damn good baseball team. - I don't know if that's your tech spot or your not or whether that you guys communicate. That'll be all for him. We're turning into the Bears anyway. So that'll be all for him for a while. - Yep. - Who do you guys? - I'm not gonna, I'm not going to let someone, you want to criticize the organization and rightfully so. You want to criticize Jerry Rhys Orph rightfully so. But if you're, when you put the onus on the Cuban ball player, which is the problem with the White Sox, that'll be all for you. - How many Cuban players do they have? - That's, I understand my point. - Yeah. - That might not your question, my point. That'll be all for him for a while. You want to talk to him offline, that's all on vacation? Please put him on line one. Not on this show, not on this show. Now ask your question. - How many Cuban players do they have? Luis Roberts Cuban. Who else do they have? Is my cotton Cuban? I think I thought-- - Cares, why are we justifying his point with anything? - I'm not justifying, I'm asking a question. - But it's not worth responding to, it's stupid. He's calling up and carrying water for Jerry Reinstorf about making a point he's going to break up the union, backing him with that Cuban ball. I'm just, don't even, don't even associate the point with anything. - I want to know how many Cuban players they have. 'Cause I think that's, he's wrong. And I think it's an overrated thing to say that. Luis Roberts, a damn good player. He didn't have a good year this year. That's fine, that whole thing's a train wreck. He was an MVP candidate a year ago. Was he not, I think he finished top five in the MVP. So to put it on, the Cuban players are bad investments, I think he's an offensive statement and I think he's dead wrong. But I don't think they have that many players from Cuba. - I don't. - That's why it's even, you double down on the dumb on that. - Right. - Just dumb. - That's my question. Who else did they have, Moncata and him? Who else? - See, again, just blanket statements just to make statements. - Who am I missing? I don't think I'm missing anybody. - No. - That's all I'd say. - Jerry's gonna break up the union, hoodie. He's making a point, he's gonna break up the union and get rid of the middle reliever. - They tried that before and it didn't work. - The only point he's making is that he doesn't care about his fan base. - Sure. We have a programming note cap. So we got Carmine and Yurco. They're gonna begin at 11 o'clock. So 11 a.m. - Okay. - So an hour of greenie and then Carmine and Yurco will begin at 11 and we're gonna carry the Chris Ghents press conference live at 11.30. - 11.30 will carry him live. - So check in at 11 o'clock for Carmine and Yurco. Carmine, the passionate white Sox fan. He'll have a lot to say at 11 o'clock like I do and then Ghents will speak to the press at 11.30 about the firing of Pedro Grafalle. - There you go, not surprising. Not surprising. - You had intel on that a while. We just were just wondering like which day, right? - Yeah, when it would go down, we thought when he wins the game, then they'll whack him on the off day and they did. They did. If they had won last weekend, they'd play Minnesota last weekend. If they had won one of those, he would not have managed in Oakland. So they got it done. It, Fonito. - So. - But again, just go pull the records up. That was a 93 win team. - No question. - 93 wins and I think they finished 500 the next year. - And Tony got sick. - Tony got sick, Miguel Cairo on 18 and 16. There was talent on that team and Pedro has driven it right into the gutter. Right into the gutter. - And all of it and those guys not available and then again, no accountability. All of the, it's everyone's fault across the board. When you lose like this, it's on everybody cap. It's on everybody. - Agreed. - But it's not all about how much you spend, it's who you spend it on. - Absolutely. - And hold your players accountable. And we didn't see that. It was a horrible manager. - We've got the cap and J-hood cut of the day right around the corner, right here on the home of the White Sox and Bears. ESPN 1000. (upbeat music) - You cap and J-hood, I'm back. - Appreciate you guys. I listened to you surrounding the ESPN 1000 apps. - Chicago's home for sports. - ESPN Chicago. - Train Camp coverage is brought to you by Heart Rock Casino Northern Indiana. Now time for the cap and J-hood cut of the day. - Rocky by Chicago cuts. - Dave Cows. - David Plum and Matt Moore's awesome restaurant on the south, North side of Chicago River. J-hood. - Yo. - Yes, it's boring, but it's a sport. - Oh! - Whatever. - Cut it. - It's not boring. - Okay, then you're boring. - All right. (upbeat music) You better bring to your pads. You better get low. - Excuse me, I just ate an almond. - Fine. - I'm stuck in my throat. But anyways, you know, he's, excuse me. I, an experienced veteran that's really doing some good things. - You do know, I just ate an almonds gonna live on forever on this station. (laughing) - Good. I can't believe I did it. You know, you guys were playing the introduction. I go, "Oh, I got this bag of almonds in front of me. I'm gonna eat one." And I did it. And then it does it every single time. (laughing) - I thought that we should. - So good. - I'm okay, sorry guys. (laughing) - It's all right. - And that's all, folks. - The Captain J-hood cut of the day. - Our guy, Tom Thayer. No almonds before an interview. Brought to you by Chicago Cutts. Dank House, line the sale. Door side of the Chicago River. - Cap today is National CBD Day. That's gotta be made up, right? - I would think, certainly a newer holiday. CBD has great, great properties. Great. - Yes. - Helps a lot, but you gotta find the right stuff. - So what is this, Cap? Could you help me? What is M-O-C-H-I? Mokey? - M-O-C-H-I? - Yes. I don't know what this is. - Is it an ice cream type thing? - I think so. - It's right here. - Mokey. - What is this? It's National Mokey Days at M-O-C-H-I? - Yeah, and I think it's like a, they sell 'em at Whole Foods. You can go in, maybe Mariano's has 'em. They're like frozen with like an ice cream treat inside. M-O-C-H-I, or Mokey, is a Japanese rice cake made of mochigome, a short grain, glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients with water, sugar, cornstarch, pounded into paste, mold into a desired shape, and then be served frozen. How 'bout that? - You ever had that? - No, I've never had one. - Me either. - Never have had one. - Say I learned something today. And of course, most importantly, Cap, it's August 8th, so you know what that means. 8/8, 88. That was the first night game in Rigleyfield history, but then they had rain delay after they flipped the lights on. The late, I'm assuming he's dead, Harry Grossman. He was like 80 some years old. - Probably so. - So, unless he's 120, he's not with us anymore, but he flipped the lights. Cubs fan Harry Grossman. And then the next night was when they officially played. And against the Met, I think, right? - Yes, I believe so. Phil Bradley with the home run, Sam broke in the home run, but it was washed out. I believe that game. - Thanks, Les. - So, I believe that was the case. - The Grover here working with you. - I remember it well, it was great, man. Great day. - It was. - Thank you, Shay. Thank you, Jay Moore. Thanks everybody for checking us out. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 7 a.m. So long, everybody. - Great, Pat. - From Chicago. - Ooh, down in the table.