Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Are the Cubs going to have a Jameson Taillon problem? (Hour 2)
18 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What insights does Mike Florio share about the NFL's future?
Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain. Mike Florio. He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet. NBC Sports. I'm sorry I'm late. I was talking to Robert Kraft. That isn't the time for an airing of grievances. Pro Football Talk. I got a lot of problems with you people. No, you're going to hear about it.
On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score. I want to keep talking Legos. We like talking Legos, too, and football with our guest, Mike Florio. He joins us on our hotline, and he is on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago. He is the creator, the editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. He is at Pro Football Talk on X, and he joins us now. Oh, he got the fireworks going and everything.
And NCAA Tournament 4, Mike's got his West Virginia quarter zip. Mike, how are you? Doing great. Yeah. Not in the tournament that counts, but in one of the made up made for TV tournaments that I won't watch. But, you know, my wardrobe choices go like this. Whatever is the closest and the cleanest is what I put on. That's always a good choice.
But, you know, I know that the Mountaineers are no strangers to March basketball, so I still think it's appropriate and timely. And you know if they get to the finals of that tournament, you'll jump on the bandwagon. Probably. Probably. If there's nothing else on that night. I will say this. They're playing for $500,000 of NIL money out in Vegas. So there is something on the line.
So I feel like you might get a more spirited effort from the Mountaineers in that tournament than maybe some of these other teams and other tournaments that exist and have gone by the wayside. Oh, they're in the crown. We were just talking about the crown. I remember when the NIT was actually something people cared about.
Now, I think I saw that in the field, they only have four major conference teams. So it's, hey, for the people who like college basketball, there's plenty of extra college basketball to watch. This is a really bad segue, but unfortunately it works. Mike, speaking of crowns, we find out that J.C.
Tretter is now the head of the NFLPA and a circuitous path, to say the least, was taken to get the crown of the Players Association. What do you make of this?
And it's funny that you mentioned Crown because when he talked about his resignation as chief strategy officer from the union last year to CBS and also said, I have no interest in being executive director, he made some sort of Game of Thrones comparison to the situation. It just shows me once again, how detached and I hate to use the word apathetic,
But I feel like the players at large don't pay attention. They aren't troubled by things they should be troubled by. Tretter was the president the last time they hired an executive director with a top secret process that gave them Lloyd Howell, whose tenure was a disaster. And then Howell had hired Tretter to be the chief strategy officer, and on their combined watch,
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Chapter 2: Why is there concern about Jameson Taillon's performance this spring?
For example, the collusion grievance that the union One, kind of. They caught the NFL with their hand in the collusion cookie jar, and they hid that ruling for more than five months. It wasn't until Pablo Torre and I locked arms and found the thing, and Pablo was the one who uncovered it, where we were able to read it and say, why in the hell did the union hide this?
They could have used it as a cudgel against the league at every turn. So there is some strange stuff happening. that's in the background that the players didn't seem to really care about when it was time to, more importantly than picking the winner, putting together the current list of finalists because the executive committee picks two to four finalists, they pick three.
There was one former player and guys like Dominic Foxworth, Jeff Saturday, Matt Schaub, they couldn't get to the final dance, so if anybody wants a former player, the only former player they have is the guy who said eight months ago, I have no interest in being the executive director.
I didn't believe him then, Mike, and I don't believe him now if he says, well, I really didn't have any interest because he's sitting there in that job, even though things change. And I want to know what you think is going to be the biggest thing that changes for the league now with J.C. Tretter on top and the NFLPA back in, I guess, business as an organized body that can do stuff.
If I had to make a prediction on what's going to happen next, I think sooner than later, the NFL is going to swoop in with an offer on a new collective bargaining agreement that will include 18 games starting in 2027. They still don't have a firm date for Super Bowl 62 to be played in Atlanta in fewer than 23 months.
And it's almost unheard of when you consider all of the various pieces that are necessary, a convention center for a full week, for Radio Row, all the hotels that need to be squatted on in a major city to accommodate everyone who will be there. They usually have the date in stone by now.
I reported right after the Super Bowl that it's not picked because they're holding open the possibility of going to 18 games as soon as 2027. I think the league is going to move quickly. I think the league will say something like, this is the best offer you're ever going to get. It's only going to get worse if you make us wait.
And if we have to lock you out to get to 18 games, it's going to be even worse than that. And the question is going to be and the challenge will be to get Tretter to recommend it. And then when Tretter recommends it to the people who just voted for him, they're not going to repudiate the guy they just hired to be the executive director.
This is a perfect time for him to recommend a new CBA in the aftermath of the players making him their new leader. And for Tretter, my curiosity is this. You brought up something that I hadn't even thought about. Talk about this idea that you had that maybe the NFLPA could get the NFL to say, yes, one more game, but everyone is limited to 17 games except certain positions. Hmm.
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Chapter 3: What specific mechanical issues is Jameson Taillon facing?
a private equity fund that has been authorized to buy up to 10% of teams. It felt like, and I used to joke about it, and maybe the joke's on me, it felt like Lloyd Howell was a Manchurian candidate, and Tretter was very close to him. Right. Tretter was the president when Howell was hired, and then Tretter was hired by Howell to be the chief strategy officer of the union.
So to the extent that Howell was in some way tainted by this idea that he was put in place to do expedient deals with the league. JC Tretter is just a half-click away from that. And he's got the cloak of legitimacy because he's a former player. But that's why I think this whole thing could happen quickly. And look, the players will make a ton of money, not as much as they should.
The players will win concessions, not as much as they should. And the NFL will keep rolling forward with short-term millionaires and long-term billionaires. I think that's the part that I'm still trying to grasp is why wouldn't you just do the simple work? Why aren't there more active union reps on teams to discuss why their apathy is hurting them?
Why they could be in a more advantageous position as players? Somewhere you would think there would be an internal mechanism to help at least push back and vet some of these options that may be better for the union as a whole. And I think here's the problem. And I hear this from time to time. The star players aren't involved in the union. Now, the lawsuit that was filed after the 2011 lockout
had Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees on it. That's the only time we've seen the franchise quarterbacks stand up and lock arms and push back. They need to have star players at the front of the line. But most of the star players are making huge money. So... they're compromised by their own W-2s when it comes to that.
And it's easy for them to be apathetic because they're making the kind of generational wealth that's going to take care of three, four, five generations of their family members. And I think that becomes part of it. Franchise quarterbacks are also company men to a certain extent.
I know that there was frustration within the union when Russell Wilson wanted to use the grievance process to challenge his failure to get a fully guaranteed contract, because he's always been regarded as a company man. So now you want to cross the line to the labor side when you've been aggrieved in some way. But that's the problem. The stars don't stand up. The stars don't speak out.
The stars don't fight. And if the stars would ever fight, Then, you know, I'll give you an example. There was a time when union leadership under D. Smith was trying to get the players to understand the leverage they had by just collectively refusing to participate in the offseason program. Just no one's showing up.
And you're never going to pull that off because guys are going to want to go try to earn a job. And, hey, that guy's not here. I can go take his job. But if you've got all the quarterbacks... to not show. That's all you need. Good luck having practice with no quarterbacks. So all the quarterbacks come together and say, I'm not going to show up, but they can't even pull that off.
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Chapter 4: How is Taillon's mental state affecting his pitching?
Jalen Waddell could be like the Michael Thomas in the Denver offense. And Michael Thomas was a guy who had astronomical numbers until he injured an ankle in 2020 and was never really the same guy again. But that guy that you design the offense around, that's how Sean Payton does it. Chris Sims was explaining that today. It's built around the stars. Quarterback to the star receiver.
And they get him at a great deal based on his remaining contract. And at some point, he may want an adjustment. But from the Broncos' perspective, They probably want to see what he does this year. And if he does have 120 catches, then yeah, we'll pay you accordingly. But it helps take that Broncos offense to the next level. And the Dolphins are tearing things down.
I don't think they're tanking per se. They're just rebuilding on the fly. Tuatango Bailoa's gone. Tyree Kill's gone. Bradley Chubb's gone. Micah Fitzpatrick's gone. And now Jalen Waddell. exits as well. And I think it's strange that they're taking the position they're not going to trade running back Devon Achan because he's under contract for one more year.
Why not flip him for maximum value, too, as you're going through this rebuilding? So, you know, the Dolphins, they haven't done much. They haven't won a playoff game in 24 years. And they are undergoing a major reconstruction and rebuilding to try to turn that team into a contender. That is Mike Florio.
We appreciate the perspective and the info always, especially when it comes to this curious situation with the NFLPA. Mike, thanks. Enjoy your lunch, Mike. Have a great week. Great talking to you as always. Good luck with the crowd as well. You might be surprised. You might end up watching. See ya. That is Mike Florio.
He was not enthused about the West Virginia Mountaineers being in Vegas for the crowd. I get it. And yes, this is typically West Virginia tournament time. You know, Huggy Bear, Bob Huggins, of course. Kevin Pitsnoggle. A staple. Pitsnoggle. But you know what? Latavius Simmons. We made fun of the crown last year. And we talked about it. I remember Lawrence was like, yeah, DePaul's in it.
But then what did I end up doing? What did we end up doing? We are DePaul. Watching the crown. Listen, the $500,000 NIL money is why that tournament has surpassed the NIT. Oh, we get to go to the Garden. How about we pay for half a million dollars? How did everybody in college basketball come to be? Tournaments. They played in nothing but tournaments growing up.
You tell somebody there's a tournament, they know what to do.
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Chapter 5: What adjustments is Taillon trying to make for better performance?
They hit the tournament mode and then suddenly it's a game. Just saying. I was watching two games I didn't care about last night. You tell players there's a competition? Oh, you're talking about the basketball game. Oh, yeah. I was glued to the... I watched the... Those games came down to one score games as well. I watched a decent amount of UMBC and Howard because it was a pregame to the WBC.
And to Grody's point, let's not forget that this is the biggest time of year for true TV. Yeah. It's true TV's time. I was blindly... And practical jokers for everyone. Yeah. Impractical Jokers is great wallpaper television if you forgot to change the channel. It's like a dream show of mine to be on, by the way. Oh, yeah. Oh, I can see that. Oh, my God.
Do you want to be the person executing the joke or do you want to be the one in the ear? Both. All. No, probably executing, though. I don't think I'd want to be in the ear. I want to be in the action. But you get to say ridiculous things and have people do ridiculous things. That's why I initially said both. So, yeah. Yeah. You were a perfect fit for that show. I think I would have fit in.
I lost my calling, but those guys are great. Oh, well, you can slum it with us. Yeah. And Mark has been doing some sleuthing as well because he came across a couple of concerning quotes from Jamison Tyone. So we need to talk about those as we get ready for the regular season, and we'll do that next. Rahimi Harrison-Grody. I'm not a fan of any team. I'm just a fan of being right.
Middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score. The next pitch is hit high in the air, deep left center field, racing back near the wall, looking up, Shaw, it's gone. Mookie Betts has gone yard, and the Dodgers extend the lead six to nothing now over the Cubs here in the third. That's one thing about Betts, you make a mistake, he puts the barrel on the baseball a lot.
unfortunately Mookie Betts does that is Zach Zaidman and Ron Coomer on the Cubs radio network with that call Jameson Tyone gave up 10 runs on eight hits he walked four batters in just three and a third innings on Sunday against the Dodgers but yeah Mookie Betts is pretty good at baseball I'd say is that that line that Tyone threw up is that bad Is that bad? It's not ideal.
You know, like you'd rather have it in a game that doesn't count than one that does. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And Mark, it's the quotes after the game that you were very interested in that you found. Yeah, usually when, and especially in the case of a veteran spring training, guy gives up a bunch of runs, everybody just sort of blows it off.
He's working on stuff, he's trying stuff, it's spring training, it's hot, the ball's carrying, all the usual stuff that we hear from everybody making excuses in spring training, and most of us buy into it because we don't really have a choice. But...
Jameson Tyone himself, after that 10-run performance, is not buying into it, referring to it as a, quote, big step back, referred to as a mix of mechanical problems within his delivery and mental challenges. Now that he has had a few bad spring outings, Tyone speculates he might be pitching away from contact a little bit. because of the hard contact that he has allowed.
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Chapter 6: How do the Cubs' pitching depth options impact Taillon's role?
I feel like as you get older, sometimes you manipulate some things and adjust some things. We've seen a trend of some of my stuff ticking down, and we were trying to tick it back up. There's some clear things I can get better at. Backside connection, using my lower half a lot better. Yeah, that being said, it's also on me to make sure when you're in a game you go out and compete.
It is hard to be thinking about a million things, but also I've always been good at that in my career, tinkering and adjusting, but going out when it's time to compete and competing, and right now I'm not doing that. kind of all over the place. So, yeah, just, again, got to be better. Do you envision part of the evaluation process of, like, okay, what does the next step look like for you?
Do you think there is a balance of, like, wanting to take the stuff that you guys are trying to tweak and improve for long-term versus stuff you know works well that gets you results? Yeah, I mean, it's a fine line of... I am not a guy who just accepts bad results or my stuff not being where I want it.
I'm always tinkering behind the scenes, and it's a fine line of tinkering to stay sharp or tinkering to mess yourself up. And right now I've tinkered a little bit and messed myself up. And now it's just about tinkering to get back to where I know I can be. And I feel like once the season gets going, I know what I can do. I know I can work my way through a lineup and execute pitches.
That being said, I have to put my body in a position to execute the pitches and do what I know I can do. That'll be what the next 10 days is, is just finding a way to get back to that because I know I can help this team. Obviously, if I do stuff like today, it's not going to help the team, but I know I can get to a point I'm really confident. Thoughtful stuff from Jamison Tyone.
I just want to give credit to Megan Montemurro. That is the story that I read in the Chicago Tribune. You heard her voice amongst others in that report. But what do you guys think when you hear Jamison Tyone? I guess as a veteran, I'm okay because he's been through this before. He has worked on stuff before. He has adjusted before. But it is a little worrisome this close to the season.
When a pitcher like Jamison Tyone says he has a... Any pitcher says they have a mechanical problem, that's a red flag. And mental. I mean, like, every physical and mental. But then when he's telling you that he's now pitching to avoid contact because he knows he's giving up the home runs, that means he's gone away from his game plan. Like, what do we always know about pitchers?
Hit your spot, right? If you do that based on the framing and how that's supposed to go, then you're going to get a certain result. Like, for example, fly ball pitcher, if he hits his spot, then theoretically it's weak contact to... center or right fielder, something along those lines.
If you're a ground ball pitcher, you know, like even Nolan McClain in that first inning, like we saw, hit your spot, induced the 5-4-3 double play. So that said, that's the thing that I think gives me a real pause. James Sontag is so wonderfully candid. I love that he's telling us this because he'll tell you exactly what's going on. However, it doesn't make it any less worrisome.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of Taillon's struggles for the Cubs' season?
going into the season has maybe even missed a start because you know they got the day off early they got some some wiggle room but for him to say both mechanically and he's inside his head that's why it's a bigger red flag to me all of this that's happening right now especially since he was really good at the end of the season and in the playoffs and i was like okay let's keep that going but somewhere along the line it went bad and your point too of like maybe skipping a start
The good news is the Cubs have the depth. They have cover-up this year for anybody who might be slumping, with Edward Cabrera being added, with eventually Justin Steele returning to the rotation. The Cubs, in theory, will not be as dependent upon Jamison Tyone, maybe, as they were last year or his whole time here with the Cubs. Even Colin Ray, his existence.
There's guys out there that can help them get through if... It's Tyone or if it's someone else early in the season who isn't quite right. Because I'd rather have my guy be right at the outset and delay his start to the season than have him go out there trying to figure it out in Major League Baseball games. And we know how much each of those games mean. I know 162 is a big number, right?
But you look at what's happened to the Cubs, not just last season, but seasons before that where they just miss a wild card spot. You got to have your best guys out there. Well, and frankly, this goes back to just a couple of main things. You know, when you get older and you don't throw as hard, that's what makes batters be able to turn on the ball better. They see it. It's slower.
I think the last time that Jamison Tyron was really giving up a lot of home runs was
what i end up seeing is the ball spends a lot of time in the perfect part of the strike zone you know it just spends a lot of time in the strike zone like when i don't know that's not a scientific explanation it's just when you watch it you know that for the hitter there's a there's it takes up a lot of real estate in the part of the plate that they want to hit the ball so because of that you know lack of movement whatever you want to call it run
You know, a lot of people say that now. But when there's no allusion to that type of ball, I think that it's easy for guys to be able to turn on it. And perhaps that's what we're seeing. I think with him specifically, the more time his pitches spend in a hitter's hot zone, trouble. Trouble. Trouble. All kinds of trouble. And that's...
If he's not working on the margins, like the edges of the plate, and especially with ABS coming into play, maybe that's part of every pitcher's thought process now that was different than before, is that that's a real thing. If I don't throw strikes, I can get called out on it. But you only get a couple of those.
And the thing is, I feel like in this case, if he's knowing that he's pitching to avoid contact, but it's still being turned, that's what concerns me. If you have no confidence that the ball is going to get to the spot where you need it to go, or your scouting report says it should go because it's been turned on, that to me is the biggest perhaps red flag of all of this.
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Chapter 8: What key moments from the NCAA tournament are discussed?
And then the Cubs wanted to add a pitch to his arsenal. And it took a while for him to work through that because that pitch that they tried to add did not work out. And it messed him up. It was a sweeper. But here's the thing. He brought it back last year and it worked. Right. That's why it's tricky. For sure.
It's just scary to me that they tried to do this in the spring and his first year with the Cubs. And it took a while to work through that. And now here he is in the spring with some issues. This makes me a little nervous. Well, here's the other thing, too, is this is part of it in Megan's story that I think is pretty important.
Tyone called Sunday's start a big step back after feeling things were trending in the right direction while pitching for Canada in the WBC. So he thought that whatever he had working, apparently the change of setting was helping him. So that's a tough part of this as well when you put it together. He needed that Canadian home cooking to get him right.
Well, sometimes we all got to go home to get right, right? He's actually from outside of Houston, but sure.
wait tyone's not canadian no well i think there there's a heritage connection there but i but tyone tyone is from the woodlands texas okay fine but yeah sure why not this is rahimi harrison grody on 104.3 the score mark also mark also was watching the the they're not playing games how do you want to describe him marshall It's the first four.
How about we just call them the worst teams in the NCAA tournament? But they're not if you're playing for an 11 seed. Listen, there's big power four schools. There's like real schools, non-small conference schools who make the tournament who don't get a bye to the 64.
Like when we get to 96 teams, are we going to call it, oh, that's not really the tournament if you didn't get a win to get to the field of 64? That's how preposterous people sound saying that this is a play in anything. It's the first four. first four. That's what they call it. They call it a lot of crap. I still call it the Sears Tower. What are we doing here? I still call it Heinz Field.
There it is. I still call it U.S. Cellular Field. I still call it Comiskey Park. I still call it The Cell. The Cell is actually a great name. It was. That was nice and easy. The Cell sounds kind of badass. They hated that, though, because they wanted to hear the full sponsor, U.S. Cellular. Also, I know we've got to go to break, but Jameson Tyone, he's got dual citizenship.
Both his parents are Canadian, but he was born in the U.S., so he's got dual citizenship. The Canadian Eagle. I knew there was a connection there, but yeah, high school ball and all of that grew up in the woodlands. Yeah, so coming up on halftime, what I have is just a great... From the games.
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