Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Jake Peavy reflects on his 'glorious' days with the White Sox
03 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: Who is Jake Peavy and what are his career highlights?
Yeah, Jake Peavy had a few of those. The Cy Young Award winner, three-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion, and White Sox from 2009 to 2013. Kind enough to join us on our hotline. He's now doing work for MLB Network. Jake, thanks for joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grody.
You know, I'm happy to be here. What an intro. Very kind of you guys. I'm happy to be on its opening day there, and I'm in Boston for opening day here versus the Padres.
Jake, you're talking to an Alabama guy, fellow Alabamian.
north alabama i know you're an la guy lower alabama and we've got a north alabama guy on the mound today and grant taylor who went to florence high school i'm curious to your thoughts about him being a bullpen guy versus being a starter and now he's an opener in this game so we're what how would you handle a guy with as much potential as grant taylor well i i think they're just trying to figure out how they're going to deploy him i you know i think that's just um
The key there in Chicago all year is to find out what you got and what they're the best at. It's interesting that these guys today, I think, are having an easier time than maybe so 10 years ago and certainly way beyond that of transitioning in between what a starter actually is doing and what a reliever does. They're not very different in today's world.
A lot of them are ripping it and gripping it. go as hard as you can for as long as you can. You're not really doing the mixing and matching and saving some like you were taught to do, say, 15 years ago. So I think the transition in between the starter and reliever is easier than it ever can be, and they're just going to find out where they like him best. It's huge stuff.
I can't wait to watch alongside all of you.
Jake, that's so funny you bring that up. It was one of the things that I jotted down in my notes to ask you about. Because you were a bulldog, man, your entire career. You were, give me the ball, let me stay out there as long as I possibly can. And nowadays, you're right, guy goes five innings, that's a successful outing for a starting pitcher.
Does that insult your sensibilities a little bit, or do you think it's a smarter way to use pitchers?
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Chapter 2: What was Jake Peavy's experience like during his time with the White Sox?
They always have, but in different ways. And we've seen that recently. What do you think of just how they've been able to use their riches in the bullpen and the way you talk about where they're really a supplement to who may be starting the game?
I think if you're building a team, it's a great point of what the Padres have done and how they've stayed relevant is pitching and defense out there. They have not slugged, if you look at the numbers, in the last of the league, the last few years, but they find themselves in the playoffs every year. It goes back to even my days there with Trevor Hoffman. We had a Hall of Fame closer.
And I like to, when I'm building my team, I like to build the game backwards for sure. And when you can have a guy like the Padres have a guy that's throwing the ninth inning, they have a guy who's throwing the eighth inning. It's not matchups. They're not worried about who's coming up. It is, you know, last year Robert Suarez was throwing the ninth.
Then we went and got Mason Miller at the deadline. He's the eighth. Jason Adam was throwing the seventh. You had Maury Holm and Estrada in the six and righty-lefty combo to come in and put out any fire with a lead in those innings.
So you're asking your starter just to get you to the fifth or the game tied or the lead, and we believed that we were going to win that game because of the strength of the bullpen. So you've got to have that bullpen. We all love them. The role has changed. These guys aren't ā
Back in the day, it used to be if you were in the bullpen, you kind of were a failed starter because everybody was trying to start. Now, with just the science and how they've gotten every kid throwing 95 to 100 and they can teach him spin, he can get guys out, especially one time through.
A lot has changed since Jake Peavy, our guest, has been in the major leagues. One of those things implemented this year, the ABS, the balls and the strikes you can challenge. What have you made of this new system, and how much do you like it, love it, hate it? Give us your thoughts on what you've seen so far.
Oh, I'm in love with it. You know, and I'm certainly happy that I'm done playing because I think it's going to end up being a huge advantage to the hitter. Because, you know, just like as we started with, you know, Quest Tech back in the day and started measuring these umpires down to... how we had it previous to this latest ABS challenge.
Everything's kind of been geared to get the ball more over the plate. And in my day, we were certainly trying to throw the ball an inch or two off the plate and get that call to strike. And now you really, you can't do that. And, I just love that it's changing the complexity of innings, which is changing the games. Truly, the outcome of games are being dictated by this.
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Chapter 3: How has the role of starting pitchers changed in modern baseball?
I don't want to see any more. I love the human element of the umpire, and I just need to give the umpire a little bit of grace. It's a very tough gig.
Yeah, no doubt. It eliminates, too, one of the great baseball traditions of both dugouts chirping at an umpire to some degree because you can actually get it right. I love that you started bringing up some of those old White Sox starting pitchers, the Freddie Garcias and the Mark Burleys and John Garland. You were here a little bit after some of those guys, the prime years of the championship.
How do you characterize your time with the White Sox, as Layla said at the beginning, from 2009 to 2013?
Thank you for asking that question because my time in Chicago was as glorious of a four-year run as I've had in life. I first off didn't know I wanted to come. If you remember, I was offered this trade early in the year in May and declined to stay in San Diego because I didn't know at that point in time I had to be traded and that the ownership was changing.
But then Kenny Williams really wanting me and saying, Jake, I want you to be a part of this team. I love your attitude, and we're going to win a championship. And I hear those words, and I jumped in full circle. From the day I got introduced and number 44 was put on my back, President Obama called in that day because he's the 44th president from the south side of Chicago. Super cool moment.
And then ā I was done for the year. My first conversation was Kenny, and I had a career and life-changing event. And I'll be short because I know we're always past the time, but I came over in that 2009 done for the year. But we were trying to battle the Tigers and the Twins, and I end up pitching three games on a really bad ankle.
I came back to spring training, and that's what Don Cooper and Juan Nieves had saw of me on a bad ankle moment. back to spring training, building off those three starts of video. And I ended up doing something that no other pitcher had ever done. I tore my lap in July there of that 2010. Completely had to find doctors to do surgeries.
And so it was a very tough thing not coming to Chicago and being the number one alongside Burley and being another one of those names.
But to go through lap surgery and come back and rehab all of 2011, go out there and pitch for a little bit and think it was over, for that to end in 2012 being an all-star, again, being Pitcher of the Month, and just being who I was supposed to be in Chicago alongside Adam Dunn, we couldn't beat the damn Tigers. and get over the hump and win.
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Chapter 4: What are Jake Peavy's thoughts on the current state of pitching strategies?
They're putting together a group, and I was in spring training. I got to go over for a couple days and see it. They're building chemistry and camaraderie and feeling like a college team camaraderie-wise. You've got to have that to get through the grind, and you already see they've been punching the face, and we're finding out how positive can you stay. But Will Venable's been over Bochy.
Bruce Bochy is the best manager I ever thought about being under, and we can talk about the four championships and why. Will Venable has seen and got every bit of that experience. He played under Buddy Black and some other great managers as well. So I think his style, his brain, how smart he is, paired with Josh Barfield and Chris Getz,
And then again, I think the blend of them trying to figure out how to be new school analytics paired with the player that they were as well. We've got a little bit of ways to go on the south side. We just saw the Marlins are rebuilding, and they look a tick ahead of where we're at rebuilding. But it's coming. We've got some players.
It's just, again, like we talked about with Grant, just finding out what we got and where they work best, and then start to supplement around in the next few years to get back in the central mix.
We sprayed to all fields with you, Jake Peavy. This has been a fun conversation. Thank you for joining us.
Thanks, Jake. I appreciate you letting me ramble, guys. Happy opening day. I hope it's a little bit warmer there in Chicago than it is in Boston.
I think it might be. It's like in the 50s. We've got some sun. It's good.
All right. The sun's key. We do not have that little drizzling rain. But opening day win. We've got to go beat one of our own. Dylan Cease, you've got your hands full. Good luck.
Amen. Jake Peavy, thanks as always. You can check his work out on MLB Network, of course, and we are happy to talk to him. We'll let him ramble anytime.
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