Speaker 1: I think right now, the hope of the White Sox
Speaker 1: is I don't know, being better than last being better
Speaker 1: than the Rockies.
Speaker 2: That's it, all right, We've got the athletics, John Greenberg
Speaker 2: back on with us, and unfortunately we're gonna start talking
Speaker 2: about the White Sox here to start. AJ on the
Speaker 2: call this morning, John was like talking to John about
Speaker 2: what what are we gonna.
Speaker 3: Say about the White Sox?
Speaker 2: Right we cover every team, so John, what should we
Speaker 2: talk about?
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's a good one. I mean I would
Speaker 1: probably talk Cubs maybe a little more than White Sox
Speaker 1: right now in Chicago. That's just my uh, just just
Speaker 1: some editorial advice. The White Sox are five and eighteen,
Speaker 1: you know, which is probably about you know, they're ahead
Speaker 1: of pace from last year, so they got that going
Speaker 1: for them.
Speaker 4: Better than who They're better than the Rockies. That's why
Speaker 4: I were my purple today. They're better than the Rockies.
Speaker 1: I think that was the That was the rejected tagline
Speaker 1: this White Sox season.
Speaker 5: You know, they went with the one hundreds better than
Speaker 5: the Rockies, right, better than the Rockies was the other one.
Speaker 6: Oh but John on this show, John, John on this show,
Speaker 6: before AJ says anything on this show. AJ needed a
Speaker 6: one shot for this comment. He said, they cannot be
Speaker 6: worse than they were last year. They cannot be And
Speaker 6: I said, maybe statistically, like in the win loss column,
Speaker 6: But is this team worse than last year's team minus Fetti?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Probably. I mean it's like, you know what it
Speaker 5: reminds you of a little bit.
Speaker 1: I mean, we can do Chicago comparison. But when the
Speaker 1: Cubs like went on like their big THEO rebuild in
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, they had the most losses and the twenty
Speaker 1: thirteen team was way worse because Rizzo didn't hit, Castro
Speaker 1: didn't hit, they didn't have like you know that twenty
Speaker 1: twelve med like Dempster in the beginning. Guys like that
Speaker 1: that they end up trading. And that's kind of what
Speaker 1: this team reminds me of because they have like I mean,
Speaker 1: there's you look at the roster in the air, there's
Speaker 1: no talent almost and the talent they have isn't hitting.
Speaker 1: I mean the guys that aren't hitting right now, it's
Speaker 1: Luis Roberts got up five twenty eight, Oh, ps Vaughn's
Speaker 1: four sixty one.
Speaker 5: I mean, these guys, the guys they have that are real.
Speaker 1: Major leaguers and you know, can do things. Are the
Speaker 1: ones not doing, you know, not contributing. And right now
Speaker 1: the rule five guys are two of their most valuable players.
Speaker 1: So I think that tells you a lot.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we were gonna show this tweet, We're gonna save it,
Speaker 7: but since you brought it up here. Batting averages there
Speaker 7: they are the five worst. Three of them are the
Speaker 7: White Side, Robert, Vaughan and Vargas.
Speaker 1: I went to the Crochet game, you know, when he
Speaker 1: started against them, and Crochet against Vargas was like one
Speaker 1: of the most overmatched. It was like, I mean it
Speaker 1: was Vargas couldn't even touch him. I basically couldn't touch him.
Speaker 1: I mean I think he struck him out three times
Speaker 1: in twelve pitches, and he was just like waving at this.
Speaker 1: It was I really was hoping Crochet was going to
Speaker 1: get that. No hitter in that game would have made
Speaker 1: me happy to be there.
Speaker 4: What John, what's the hope? That's all I want to know.
Speaker 4: What's what's the hope? I know prospects, you.
Speaker 7: Know, prospects, farm system prospects, But who's the impact player
Speaker 7: of the prospects. Because I've said this numerous signs. Noah
Speaker 7: Schultz never is a third year of pro Ball's never
Speaker 7: pitched in a fifth inning, not like you in a
Speaker 7: fifth inning, which is unbelievable in three years. Okay, see right,
Speaker 7: Montgomery's down there struggling in triple A. Right, Teal didn't
Speaker 7: get off to a great start. Hero is obviously already
Speaker 7: there and he's showing some signs. But is he, you know,
Speaker 7: the catcher of the future, is it Teal? The pitchers?
Speaker 7: Who's the pitcher? I know some of them are up already. Well,
Speaker 7: what's the hope? I mean the prospects? What and how
Speaker 7: long do the White Sux fans have to hold on
Speaker 7: to prospects?
Speaker 5: I mean it's gonna be a while.
Speaker 1: I mean I would say their best I think their
Speaker 1: best prospect in terms of like impact is probably Braden
Speaker 1: Montgomery in class. Hey, he's the guy that was the
Speaker 1: big you know. I think it was what red Socks
Speaker 1: number first round pick last year they traded for. I
Speaker 1: think he's the one that's got like real impact potential.
Speaker 1: So how long does it take for that guy to
Speaker 1: make a jump. Is he gonna have like a Cam
Speaker 1: Smith like, you know, like jump to the major soon.
Speaker 5: I think that's it.
Speaker 1: I mean, Caro, mydraft that they look good. At least
Speaker 1: Shane Smith shows that they got, you know, some idea
Speaker 1: what they're doing with scouting some of these like overlook, guys,
Speaker 1: I mean number one in the rule five whatever.
Speaker 5: But like that's it, age.
Speaker 1: I mean, they don't have any money, you know that,
Speaker 1: and they don't you're you're I think they're relying on
Speaker 1: your boat tour to provide the revenue to make this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: make this back up, it's aj the boat.
Speaker 4: You better be there, John, you better be there. John.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm if Mark's the bartender, Scott Murkins the bartender, I'm.
Speaker 7: Who would make any money then give all the drinks
Speaker 7: away for free?
Speaker 5: Right every girl that comes up there between the age
Speaker 5: of like thirty and sixty drink.
Speaker 1: So no, I mean, I mean, is it you know,
Speaker 1: you know the HPS stuff with which I talked about
Speaker 1: with you guys, Is that to hope that he's gonna
Speaker 1: come in eventually and infuse some money with his team?
Speaker 5: Is it just the prospects?
Speaker 1: I mean, because they're not it's not gonna They're not
Speaker 1: anywhere close to the point where like, okay, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have some prospects like last time, and then spend money
Speaker 1: on guys. I think right now, the hope of uh,
Speaker 1: the White Sox is I don't know, being better than
Speaker 1: last being better than the Rockies.
Speaker 5: That's it.
Speaker 6: There is there a noticeable shift in the type of
Speaker 6: game the guys want to play.
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 6: I understand they're not hitting above two hundred, but it's like,
Speaker 6: you know, to me, it looked like a lackluster, lackluster
Speaker 6: leadership last year from the top, from the managerial spot.
Speaker 6: Have you been able to notice any glimpse Because any
Speaker 6: of these prospects, anytime you talk about prospects, they have
Speaker 6: to come into a system that is already established. You
Speaker 6: can't just have Bradon Montgomery come in and be like, guys,
Speaker 6: we're doing it this way, Like do you see a shift?
Speaker 6: Has Will been able to make that shift a parent
Speaker 6: or not yet?
Speaker 1: You know, that's kind of and that's funny you say that,
Speaker 1: because that's what gets was talking about when I talked
Speaker 1: to him. It's spring training, like one on one about
Speaker 1: this is they've got to kind of establish some kind
Speaker 1: of White Sox identity. Listen, I don't think the guy
Speaker 1: I just don't think the guys believed in Griffall, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think at least Will. They're not winning much yet,
Speaker 1: but I think Will at least isn't kind of I
Speaker 1: think he presents himself better to major leaguers. I think
Speaker 1: he's got a different kind of personality. I think guys
Speaker 1: might have a little more faith. But it's hard to
Speaker 1: say like he's implemented something when they're five and eighteen,
Speaker 1: you know, through the first month. I do think from
Speaker 1: what I've heard and from what I've noticed, Yeah, the
Speaker 1: mood's a little better. I mean, a lot of guys
Speaker 1: from that team are gone, so they can't you can't
Speaker 1: really even ask guys about what happened last year because
Speaker 1: they just weren't around for it. So I think the
Speaker 1: mood's a little better. I mean, how could it not be.
Speaker 1: How could it be worse than last year mood wise,
Speaker 1: because Griffall was terrible, the team lost, you know, twenty
Speaker 1: in a row. It just seemed like there was.
Speaker 5: Impending doom on the team at all times.
Speaker 1: So I think the goal this year, as sad as
Speaker 1: it is, is just to be a normal bad, one
Speaker 1: hundred lost team. That's not you know, going viral every
Speaker 1: few days for like incompetence or TV calls or you
Speaker 1: know other catastrophes. I think it's just a like lay
Speaker 1: low and be bad.
Speaker 5: And but guess what.
Speaker 1: Here's the here's the upside, AJ is because of the
Speaker 1: new baseball rules this year, they've.
Speaker 5: Got uh they can draft number one next year. How
Speaker 5: about that?
Speaker 4: Hey, that's what we got to look forward to.
Speaker 7: Here's like you said, Deremanto is a lay low and
Speaker 7: be better than the Rockies.
Speaker 4: It's amazing. I just want to cry.
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Speaker 4: All right, I have two questions for you.
Speaker 7: He says something really interesting that you know, they want
Speaker 7: to establish a culture. And this isn't Chris Gotch's job.
Speaker 7: He was the farm director, so he should have kind
Speaker 7: of done that with these guys. And now he's a
Speaker 7: general manager. So isn't that is that his job? Is
Speaker 7: that Will Venable's job? And then when you answer that,
Speaker 7: I have one more question for it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we can get on it, right. I
Speaker 5: guess it's everyone's job.
Speaker 1: But you're right, Guts listen, Guts has to take some
Speaker 1: questions on that because he was the farm director. Now,
Speaker 1: I think what he will say, what a lot of
Speaker 1: farm directors of bad teams might say, is they weren't
Speaker 1: You might think they're responsible for everything, but they're really not,
Speaker 1: because the people above them.
Speaker 5: Make a lot of the big decisions.
Speaker 1: Like yo, hear a lot of farm directors say like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is my group, but like the president of the
Speaker 1: GM made this pick or pushed us to do this.
Speaker 1: And I think, Agent, you know, that's the problem with
Speaker 1: the White Sox when they've had people that were there
Speaker 1: for so long, is you never really knew who was
Speaker 1: making the final decisions or were the decisions being made
Speaker 1: in a manner that would please the people that were
Speaker 1: in charge. But listen, Guts has to take some responsibility too.
Speaker 1: But guess what, Jerry gave him the job, so it's
Speaker 1: up to him now to kind of figure it out.
Speaker 1: I will say, Guts, I think is at least I
Speaker 1: found him to be a straight shooter. We in the
Speaker 1: media find him to be like amazingly open about stuff,
Speaker 1: so we like dealing with them. I hope that, you know,
Speaker 1: for his sake in the White Sox sake, his vision
Speaker 1: or whatever, and working with Will, I hope it succeeds.
Speaker 7: We all do. We all do, John. But by the way,
Speaker 7: that's that's like the GM. It's like, I need five
Speaker 7: more years to rebuild again. Right, Oh, it's.
Speaker 4: Not my fault. I didn't draft the players and I
Speaker 4: didn't come on. I mean whatever.
Speaker 7: Okay, anyways, now one last question, John, is it time?
Speaker 7: And I love Jerry rhins Orf to death?
Speaker 4: Is it time?
Speaker 7: Is it time for the Ishbia brothers to come in?
Speaker 7: They already own a bunch of the team. Is it
Speaker 7: time for Jerry to finally because fans are clamoring for it,
Speaker 7: people all over are clamoring for it, and Jerry it's
Speaker 7: his decision at the end of the day. But is
Speaker 7: it time for Jerry reins Orf to sell the team?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I mean, and I you know, you feel for Jerry
Speaker 1: from a human side. You know him, You have a
Speaker 1: personal relationship with him that I don't, so you can
Speaker 1: see that side how much he loves baseball and how
Speaker 1: much he loves the game. I think it would be
Speaker 1: Jerry a great service to the fans for Jerry just
Speaker 1: to kind of hand it over and to kind of
Speaker 1: to kind of move out and move along. Because if
Speaker 1: he really cares for the fans and wants to make
Speaker 1: things better, as he said repeatedly, then he should see
Speaker 1: that it's just time for him to go time for
Speaker 1: him not to give up control of the team, I mean,
Speaker 1: and let someone else do it, and you know, and
Speaker 1: then Jerry can be remembered not only for that in
Speaker 1: the short term, but for the good things that he
Speaker 1: did do for the team and for the franchise, and
Speaker 1: not just be remembered for the chaos, you know, especially now,
Speaker 1: I mean, things are as low as they've been, so Yeah,
Speaker 1: if I were Jerry's sons or whoever, I don't know,
Speaker 1: if he takes advice from anyone besides like Tony LaRussa,
Speaker 1: I would say, like, yeah, let's get like a you know,
Speaker 1: a true like timeline to hand this over to them,
Speaker 1: kind of like what the Guardians did with David Blitzer
Speaker 1: and they kind of put a clock on it. I
Speaker 1: know Jerry doesn't like to be told what to do
Speaker 1: or put a clock on anything. If I were him,
Speaker 1: I would do that, And I think the fans would,
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't say embrace him, but I think
Speaker 1: they'd at least be happy with how he's left things.
Speaker 7: Got it all right? Before we go, we have to
Speaker 7: talk about the other team. We just talked about the
Speaker 7: other team in Chicago. Crats is crying that the Reds
Speaker 7: are still gonna win the division. Are the Cubs the
Speaker 7: best team in the NL Central even with their bullpen?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean, I think they have some
Speaker 1: real pitching. They gotta address the bullpen, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: need another starter because of Justin Steele. But I mean,
Speaker 1: look at the lineup right now and listen. Are they
Speaker 1: all gonna hit like this? But everyone is hitting except
Speaker 1: Swanson right now, which is kind of bad since he's
Speaker 1: their highest paid position player. But everyone's hitting besides him.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kyle Tucker, incredible, ops, you know, one point seven,
Speaker 1: Suzuki Bush, They're all hitting.
Speaker 5: You Know.
Speaker 1: The guy that's really impressed me is pe Crow Armstrong
Speaker 1: because now they were building him up already in Chicago,
Speaker 1: and AJ knows how that goes here. When a young
Speaker 1: player has like a good month, you know, they want
Speaker 1: to like give him like six radio shows and like,
Speaker 1: you know and make them this big star and it
Speaker 1: doesn't always work out.
Speaker 5: But pie Crow Armstrong is really hitting.
Speaker 1: And that was like my big question mark going in
Speaker 1: the season was what this guy can do. And Kyle Tucker,
Speaker 1: like we've seen it in a lot with the Cup
Speaker 1: where guys come in and like, you know, big stars,
Speaker 1: and I think they kind of get I don't want
Speaker 1: to say, like I mean Lester talked about this with me,
Speaker 1: John Lester, just like the pressure of being with the
Speaker 1: Cubs and being that big name guy kind of gets
Speaker 1: to guys. Kyle Tucker is awesome. He's better than like anticipated.
Speaker 1: And the whole story now is whether it can afford
Speaker 1: to keep them, which is kind of sad. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think if the Cubs can add to their pitching
Speaker 1: and they have the money to do it, I think
Speaker 1: they're absolutely the team to beat in the NL and
Speaker 1: better than better than I expected them to be.
Speaker 6: So far came out that they'd like to extend Kyle Tucker. Well, duh, yeah,
Speaker 6: how much more? How much more have they missed the boat?
Speaker 6: It should have been? We traded for Kyle Tucker and
Speaker 6: before he even puts on his suit coat with the
Speaker 6: you know, with the jersey over top of it, we've
Speaker 6: also extended him. Is this just another example of Cubs
Speaker 6: ownership dropping the ball and not taking advantage of an
Speaker 6: opportunity because this man gets a free agency We're talking
Speaker 6: four hundred and fifty plus million.
Speaker 1: Well, rite, because in the NFL that that happens immediately
Speaker 1: when you make a trade like that, the extension has
Speaker 1: already done, right. I don't think Kyle Tucker wants to
Speaker 1: sign an extension, though I don't know if he does yet,
Speaker 1: like and especially since before he got here, you know,
Speaker 1: he's going to make a lot of He's why wouldn't
Speaker 1: you want to go free agency? And I know the
Speaker 1: Union and the player I mean, the players Association wants
Speaker 1: guys to go into free agency and to create this stir.
Speaker 1: And even though he's not a Boris guy whatever, he's
Speaker 1: going to have some other offers.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: The question is how many teams can afford what he's
Speaker 1: going to be looking for. So yeah, I do think
Speaker 1: it's both cases though, because the Ricketts family has never
Speaker 1: signed anyone close to the deal he's going to ask for.
Speaker 1: And in fact, this team is cut payroll from last
Speaker 1: year when they when they traded for Tucker, they had
Speaker 1: to sell Bellinger, they had to get rid of him,
Speaker 1: and I thought they would use that money to address pitching,
Speaker 1: and they didn't. You know, they've gone with kind of
Speaker 1: the scrap heap with these older guys. So it's a
Speaker 1: real question whether Tom Ricketts has the interest in spending
Speaker 1: four hundred million dollars or more for fifty five on
Speaker 1: any player. And with the labor agreement getting you know,
Speaker 1: going to end after twenty twenty twenty six, a lot
Speaker 1: of people think Ricketts is going to be real hawk
Speaker 1: in those negotiations, you know, looking for a salary cap
Speaker 1: because that'll benefit him as a big market owner who
Speaker 1: doesn't want to spend like the Dodgers, Yankee Phillies.
Speaker 4: Why not? So why not? They can? They make plenty
Speaker 4: of money.
Speaker 7: Don't tell me they ain't making money, John, They're making
Speaker 7: all They're making more money.
Speaker 5: They know what to do with their ayj.
Speaker 1: This has been like the biggest discussion in Chicago, and
Speaker 1: no one can believe it. And people around baseball. If
Speaker 1: you got you guys, talk to everyone, talk to execs
Speaker 1: when you get them off the record, ask them what
Speaker 1: they think about the Cubs and they're not spending like
Speaker 1: they should be spending, you know, and it's a big
Speaker 1: conversation and people are.
Speaker 5: Really looking at it.
Speaker 1: And now I say this, if they if Kyle Tucker
Speaker 1: hits you know, even close to like this all year
Speaker 1: and they don't resign them and they have a chance
Speaker 1: to you know, it's not something where he just wants
Speaker 1: to leave.
Speaker 5: I don't I would.
Speaker 1: I've never seen Cups fans this angry already about something
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 5: And they will be. They'll be like storming Ricketts's like,
Speaker 5: you know, suburban mansion. If this doesn't happen, well get
Speaker 5: it done.
Speaker 7: I know we gotta go, but I gotta ask. Just
Speaker 7: give me a thumbs up her thumbs down. The New
Speaker 7: City connect from the White Sox. Is this the laziest
Speaker 7: worst attempt at just saying we're gonna give a giveaway.
Speaker 7: We're gonna market a giveaway thing that we do every year.
Speaker 7: Make it Bulls white sauce, Like, what do we think?
Speaker 4: For me?
Speaker 5: Down?
Speaker 1: It looks like something that said Jewasco on the side.
Speaker 1: AJ they give it the first five?
Speaker 7: I agreed. I said the same thing when I first
Speaker 7: saw them. I'm like, wow, they really got creative with these.
Speaker 7: They took the Bulls Jersey made a White Sox.
Speaker 4: They do a black Hawks one every year, they do
Speaker 4: a Bulls one every year. Giveaways. They did so well
Speaker 4: with the first one, right, they crushed the first one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh, you gotta keep their confidence up. Okay, they're trying.
Speaker 5: Hey, I can't.
Speaker 1: They're giving away boat hats though, they're giving away White
Speaker 1: Sox boat hats, so I expect to see AJ wearing
Speaker 1: that when he's captaining the river fast as Minow.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's three hour crews.
Speaker 1: I'm a little worried about the White Sox boat cruise,
Speaker 1: but what can happen? But I'm gonna go on it just.
Speaker 7: J especially since me and Aussie are on it at
Speaker 7: the same time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm excited for the five stuff, so I gotta
Speaker 1: work on a story on that. I'll give you a call, AJ.
Speaker 1: We'll hash out all right, John.
Speaker 2: That was another tagline that did not get passed through
Speaker 2: this year. Get on board the sinking Ship. Were like, no, no,
Speaker 2: we don't like that. And there's a whole cruise coming
Speaker 2: up this year.
Speaker 4: It's just there's three cruises by the way. If you
Speaker 4: don't know what I'm talking about, check my Twitter.
Speaker 2: You can see enjoying a day and the five crew. Okay, John,
Speaker 2: great catching up and you dude, appreciate the.
Speaker 5: Time talking to you guys. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Check out John's work in the Athletic