Kap & J. Hood
7/15 8 AM: Jesse Rogers
[Music] Good morning and welcome in to the Captain J. Good Morning show on ESPN 1000. And we're streaming on the ESPN Chicago app with Chris Blackin for CAP. I am J. Hood. Thanks so much for being with us here on our Monday morning show. It's now time for Shot or No Shot. And it's brought to you by The Fine Folks Over at... That would be ESPN Bet. Now live in Illinois, sign up today. And new users get $100 in bonus bets with any sports book bet. Take that. Bet. We say good morning to Shay W. Norling. Bet. Shay. Good morning boys. How are we on a Monday training camp Monday? Oh, good kid. We're great. We're great. After the storms last night, we're great. I think we're all good. My tree's down all over Jackson Park and South Shore. I had to dodge. I was finally just one in a video game trying to go around that stuff. It was bad. I didn't know how bad it was. I woke up this morning. Did you see the photo on social media of three lightning bolts simultaneously hitting the Sears Tower, Trump Tower, and the Hancock Tower at the same time? Yeah, that's pretty cool. I saw that this morning. There's no way it's real. But apparently it was a real photo that was captured. Well, you know it's real. It's a real storm when on the news they're breaking into sporting events. And then they're also saying we know that you think that tornadoes can't touch down in the downtown area. But if you're in a skyscraper, you might want to start heading to lower floors. Ooh. That was a rough storm last night. I will open up the back door and say this because Peacock works at NBC. The amount of listener complaints about people breaking into programming for weather is amazing. She shows me some of the letters. Yeah. I know she's going to kill me when I get home. But I have to bring this up because it's still a public service. I know we have the information on our phones. I know that we have social media and all that. But it's up to the meteorologist to be able to say, "Hey man, listen, I know that you're watching your big brother or you're watching your favorite sporting event or whatever." But we just want you to be aware that you probably should get to the basement or the attic or someplace safe. I know it's annoying for some. And you prefer by maybe the side by side, especially during college football season. But it's a public service. People need to know. The issue last night during the Cup of America final was that they went soccer small box, weather big box. Do you get a Mark Strel? No, it was... I don't know. Mark Strel? I'm just saying, can I have the sports in the big box? I understand. The alert is fine. I have no problem with the alert on the screen. And you telling me that there's a twist coming at my house? There's no problem with that. But can I get the large box for the soccer, please? The alert also a problem during DVR programs. Yeah, well, yeah. You want the dialogue? Beep, beep, damn it. I missed it. But they're doing a public service, though, right? They're supposed to be doing that. Which I'm totally okay with. I don't mind it. Can I get the big box? Large box, please. For my football. There's something like your old large box. You and I can agree with. Okay, all right. Good. Here's Shane Orlick. Shane? rookies report to camp tomorrow for the Bears. Caleb Williams and Roma Dunes. They are still unsigned. They have not signed the dotted line on their contracts. We've talked about this being kind of a non-story hoodie. You believe it's a hard knocks ploy. But now, like, you're really up against the clock. The first practice is for rookies starting tomorrow. And no contract signatures from either of the Bears' first round picks. Shot or no shot. There is reason for concern now. That's a no shot. This is a television event. This will be taken. This will be a story on our show this week. I'm talking about it in a positive way that they've signed. And then after that, that'll be all. I believe this is something where it was going to be on one of the cameras. That it's going to, there will sign and it'll be taken care of. Only reason why is because Caleb Williams or Roma Dunes. They can't circumvent the system. They can't get around it, Chris. It's just what it is. I mean, there's no extra perks. The rookie contract is what the rookie contract is. They ain't going anywhere. It's been reported that Caleb wants to break the mold. For quarterbacks and quarterback contracts, that's out there. And each minute that passes as we head towards tomorrow morning, I'm starting to get more concerned. I thought this would happen over the weekend and we would be good. I know you keep pointing to the hard knocks situation. Will they sign in front of the cameras to make it a big deal? I just want them there and signed. And you said this week. Does that mean before 10 o'clock? Will we get this done today? Tomorrow? Is it going to happen in the morning? Will this happen before 8 30 today and Jesse gets bumped? How are we hitting? You know what I mean? This has got to happen pretty soon or it's going to be a major story. I'm not concerned. If Caleb's not there tomorrow. Yeah, I'm not concerned. I'm just not. I just think. Each minute that passes I'm starting to get concerned. No, I think it's fine, Chris. I think it's fine. First of all, they're going to be on the field. I don't think there's going to be this major controversy with their signing late or signing on. I think it's going to be just fine. The other thing is too, is that if this happens then for sure Caleb will be trying to get a piece of the Chicago Bears. I'll be the next thing, trying to be able to be part owner of the Chicago Bears. Well, you mentioned the rookie contract is essentially when you're a first-round pig. It's all kind of in the CBA. It's all set for you. There's not a lot you can really change. That's second deal though. If Caleb shows up and balls out for two-plus seasons, the Bears better be ready to pay someone as the highest paid quarterback in the NFL and for him to want to break the mold. Because that's what's going to happen with the second contract. Yeah, that's the going rate. That's what's going to happen with the second deal. If there's any hang up here for this first one, you know that second one's going, it's going to be a much bigger deal from Caleb's point of view. Yeah, Shay, despite the satellite lawsuit that's going on with the NFL, the number will continue to raise. You'll find this way back up there again. It might level off after this deal because it's as they're appealing right now, aren't they, Shay, with the NFL and I think there's an appeal process. Okay, even if it levels off, it'll get back up there again where you're going to pay quarterbacks in excess of 60, 70 million. That's what it is. It's the going rate. As ridiculous as it sounds to long time sports fans, that's what is, that's how valuable the position is. The quarterback position is in the NFL that you'd pay that much. Because it matters. Here's Shay, darling. Yay. Jay. Jalen Johnson, it continued his media tour, talked with Rich Eisen. What is that Jay war? Is there a celebration behind you? Yeah. Good time. All right. Good. Jay and Johnson on with Rich Eisen was asked and talked about Justin Field's time in Chicago. Listen to this. It was unfortunate. I think kind of him departing. I wasn't surprised, but I definitely thought he was definitely unfortunate. But again, it's the business of it. Sometimes you get kind of pushed out just through the time you just do when you come into a situation. So I feel like overall, he gave his heart to the team and gave his heart to Chicago. He, I mean, it was never anything short than his full effort. So I think for me, he's definitely loved and respect Justin as a human, as a quarterback. But I think he was just an unfortunate situation coming in when he came in. Basically said Justin Fields never got a fair shake in Chicago. I've openly disagreed. Shot or no shot. Justin Fields never got a fair shot in Chicago. No shot. Next. Don't care to expound on that. No. You get three years to start in the NFL. You got to win at some point. He had, what, 35 starts in a Bears uniform? I mean, I don't want to recap our shows from December, January heading into February before we knew the Bears were absolutely moving on. But he had the time, he could have proven that he was above average quarterback. He didn't do it. He was given the opportunity. That's a fair shake. It is a fair shake. Anytime that you get a certain amount of starts in the National Football League, when you are the guy, you have to look over your shoulder and you fall short. It's just not true. If you want to throw out the first year and say, well, this is a rebuilding year, fine. But the point is though, is that a fair shake, what is a fair shake? Is a fair shake sticking with a quarterback for a decade and never getting to where you need to be? I mean, this is not the 80s, man. I mean, you have to, in this league, you move on quickly. I don't care what position it is. If you feel like you can be able to upgrade the position or you feel that position is underachieving and you want to replace it with someone else, that's how it works. You don't have five to ten years to wait anymore. That's how I grew up, Chris, of someone that you know sucked. That you know that wasn't right for the position. But they stuck with them anyway because that's the contract and we're going to develop them. You have to understand that teams move on today. It's quicker than it has ever been before with sports and athletes. If you underachieve, you're out. Of course, you don't have time for the grass to grow. Caleb Williams underachieves, he'll be out too. That's the way sports work. This isn't intramurals, you know, like a fair shake. He was a quarterback for three years. Hey, they go up to Green Bay in the final week of the season and they can't score over ten points. Didn't they score nine? I mean, what are we talking about? I get like, he's a player, he's a part of the team. It's not going to trash Justin Fields on the way out. They all liked him. So yeah, you know, he's one of their guys. But that's a fair shake. I'm sorry. If you get one season or like a half season and you're injured and then they move on. That's like, all right, you didn't really get to see it. Justin Fields played. He played a lot. That's a fair shake. It is a fair shake. I don't, I don't, first of all, it was a choice. His choice is someone who's a Pittsburgh Steelers or your own team. He chose the goddess with the Steelers. That's what Jalen Johnson did. He did. Instead of saying, well, we moved on. I hope the best for Justin. Nah. The Bears didn't give him a fair shake. Okay. So now you have a problem with the Bears management in that regard. That's what it sounds like. I don't think he has a problem with the management. I think he's just resigned to what it was when he came in that the coach was kind of dead man walking and the situation was never great around field, so he didn't get the chance to shine. That's a shot at management. Maybe when I think. Maybe. It's a direct shot saying that, well, they didn't give him a fair shake. So now you have a problem with them for not giving your friend a fair shake. I think he's okay. My read on it is he's okay with who's managing it now. He just thinks the timing was wrong for Justin and what happened to him wasn't necessarily his fault. Like that type of thing really bothers me because from fans it seems like some expect every team to always have a perfect situation for a player to work out. You know, you got to line up the GM and the coach and the player. They all have to be on the same timeline. Otherwise that player is never going to win and that player is only good if he's on the same timeline as a coach. I'm sorry. He had every opportunity to be a good quarterback. He's not a good quarterback. Therefore the team is moving on. It's pretty simple. If Jalen Johnson wasn't good in coverage, then the Bears would move on. Yes. He's had a fair shake. He's been here for a moment. Fortunately for us, he's one of the best corners in football. So we got a new deal. That's the way it works. He's going to ball out in Pittsburgh. Shay. All right. The MLB draft began yesterday. The White Sox made their first pick at five where they selected Arkansas pitcher Hagen Smith. Yeah. Dude is awesome. Yeah. He's a real real brother. Power pitcher left the big, like this is a really good player. However, the expectation going in was that the White Sox would focus on getting a bat. They are bereft of bats in their farm system outside of the top level guys like Colson Montgomery. And a lot of people had the thought, well, what's really the impact of a college bat? You don't have to look very far. The rookie of the year favorite right now in Texas, Wyatt Langford, college bat, first round pick, gets selected. He's having a season where he's making history seemingly on a weekly basis. Shot or no shot, the White Sox screwed up by taking a pitcher. That's a no shot. That's a no shot. If crochet is going to be dealt here at the deadline, which is very likely to happen, Hagen Smith, and this is all different, Chris, as you all know in the college draft. Who knows? Because it's not like the NBA or the NFL draft where you immediately see the player that you draft. I'm just telling you that when you're the White Sox, beggars can't be choosers. They need everything. They need everything. When you're a 71 loss ball club on your way to over 110 losses and you have a farm system that's, you know, just decent, you need to be able to have as many impactful young players that will be in your system for a while. Hagen Smith, who I saw actually pitch at Arkansas, is a hell of a arm, a hell of a hand, and he's going to help this White Sox team if he stays healthy. He's that good. He's one of those guys, Chris, that you're just flipping through the channels. You stumble along, ESPNU or the SEC network, and all of a sudden you're like, who was that? And it's a guy that was that good. And again, baseball's been from other sports, but Hagen Smith to me is the real deal. I saw him. He's fantastic. I'm going to say no shot, but I will add this. If you are at the bottom and you need everything, what's the quickest way to becoming relevant again? Positional players were starting pitching. I feel as if it's a more risky proposition, continuously taking starting pitching, especially when it seems as if they're going to trade crochet, which I'm against. I don't think they should. If you finally stumble upon someone who seems like a star, don't you want stars on your team for the long haul? He's young. Like, I understand that the pushback will be like, well, you can get more prospects. Well, you have a proven commodity here. Why are you moving off of someone who is one of the best pitchers in the first half of baseball this season? I don't get that. Well, I've been saying, Chris, is that you have to start someplace. Like, even in the Bears, you have to be able to say, here's one of our cornerstones. We're going to build starting a nail. Exactly. Exactly. And if crochet is traded, I don't know who that is. Yeah, like, hasn't crochet proven that he's worthy of being a cornerstone? I would say so. What is a quicker way to rebuild an organization with arms or with positional players? Because the future doesn't seem very bright for positional stars. Like, are there positional stars in the system coming up, Colson Montgomery? If he's a star, he's kind of struggled in minor league baseball. We'll see. No. I mean, but the risk is, is that the person that you choose for an offensive player could be Andrew Vaughn, who at this point is a bust. Yeah, he is. You're right. Well, it could go both ways, right? Bust potential is high for young players. I get that. But it seems like an interesting because what we saw back in 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series, the way they built, they had a bunch of positional young stars and they paid for pitching or they traded for pitching. So like, which way is the best way to kind of put together your roster moving forward? I might say no shot, but. Well, Shane, they need it all. I mean, when you have negative war players like Ben and Tendi and Maldonado and Vaughn in your lineup on a daily basis, you're not going anywhere. My issue is that is I think if you want a quick rebuild, the way to do it is spend through the nose and on major league resources and we know they aren't going to do that. Right. It comes to selecting a pitcher. Okay. But now I think I would trade crochet because at some point you have to get bats in your minor league system by hook or by crook. If you keep crochet, that's great. But by the time you're good, you're like keeping him, you're only lengthening how long it's going to take you to get good again. By the time you're good, you're going to have to pay him. They've shown no appetite to do that. So at that point, I'm like, yeah, maybe you should trade him and just go full, full youth mode. What I'm hearing from both of you is that the problem here is the Chicago White Sox. It all starts with money. Yeah. Every bit of it. The whole conversation we just had is about money and you're the lack of spinning it. Yeah. Where Ben and Tendi is walking around with money falling out of his pockets and a negative war and a negative on the ball club. It's embarrassing. The 71 lost ball club at the all-star break. It's the worst we've ever seen. I said at the start, we've ever seen. On the start of this year on Carmine and Yurko, I said that I projected 42 wins. And they laughed at you. I think I'm still, well, no, I mean, we were kind of joking around with it, but I've stuck to the 42. I think I'm still on pace for it. I told Cap, I thought this was the worst roster I've ever seen in my life. He laughed me out of the room. Pre-season. Now look down. Good job with White Sox Weekly on Saturday. Hey, thanks. Thanks for listening. Yeah. The drive back from golf. Yeah. It was a good job. You weren't the only one tuning in. I didn't say I was the only one. I just said you're not the only one that tuned in. Oh, tune in. See? Rick was there. Rick was. Tune in. And Chris Gaff was tuning in. Step on my joke. Around the NFL is coming. You're a follow-fi. Jesse Rogers, the latest on MLB at 835. Cap and Jhood with Chris Blackin for Cap on Chicago's Home for Sports. Cap and Jhood, I'm back. Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. On Chicago's Home for Sports. ESPN Chicago. Nick Bolz sucks. He sucks. I'm just a fan. I'm not a football developer. I love the Green Bay Packers. The guy is front, but there he goes. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. I love winning. He starts the comedy. This is a really thickly built guy. I mean, what's the answer you're looking for on these things here? It's time to go around the NFL. Right here on Cap and Jhood on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Chris Black is in for Cap. Shane, we were just talking about one that first weekend happens for college football. The adjustment for us to find out what conferences on what network. That's got to be fun. Well, the good news is you want us to look for the Pac-12 network any more starting August 1st? Thank God. Oh, so it's off my cable. Yeah, that's it. 419. That's it. Goodbye. Good Britain. Some fact. Big win for me. I get the Big 10 network. Some good. Yeah. That's good. We're all good. Well, a lot of that's good. I mean, have you seen these conferences? Have you even gone to the ESPN.com feed? They haven't reorganized yet, have they? Yeah, they have. Oh, last week when you went to the different conferences for college football. They were still set. They were last year. It looks like a CVS receipt. You have to see this. It's amazing. Yeah. Well, we go around the NFL with Shane Orling. Shane? All right. Well, this is actually going to be a college edition of Around the NFL because in fewer than seven hours, the 11 year wait is over. I will have my hands on a college football video game. Oh, I thought you were going to say something with your wife. Okay. I've only been with my wife for eight years. But this is his love. This is what he wants. Why don't you get your hands on something? I haven't hit it in four months. See? There you go. We'll make it 11 years today, apparently. We all haven't hit it in 11 years. We all haven't hit it in 11 years. Is this game? Are you kidding me? That's what I'm saying. It's been 11 years. People are excited. I have friends who are buying consoles just to be able to play this game. People are getting back into video games. So I have some advice for the people. When you get your hands on this and you start up your dynasty mode, I have my top five schools that you can use in dynasty mode. Starting with number five, my personal selection, Appalachian State. You get a fun belt team that's had some minor success. You can bring them to the mountaintop. I have one requirement if you use App State. Every single season, you must schedule your opening game in Ann Arbor. That's fun. I like that. Because he wants that upset so bad. He wants your team to be ready to go and you win at the big house. You recreate history every single season. All of a sudden, Sharon Moore. These guys did it. These guys did it, man. Launch them to the sun. You're firing Sharon Moore. You take over App State and you schedule that opener in Ann Arbor. Sharon Moore is getting launched. That's so funny. All right. Next one. Number four is Kennesaw State. First year, FBS. They've made the leap. You can create your own version of James Madison a year ago. With your first year in FBS, try to make a bowl. I don't believe they'll have those ridiculous bowl game restrictions on Kennesaw State in the game. This is what dreams are made of, hoodie. Yes, I know this will not surprise you. Chris knows this. Yeah. I have a Kennesaw State shirt. Oh, yeah. Actually, I've seen that. I'll wear that to the office one day. Just in honor of Conference USA One, but two, that could be a great team for your game. For college football. Kennesaw State. I love that. The Owls. All right. What's the number? Number three is going to be New Mexico. This is playing the game on maximum difficulty. You are a complete zero in terms of support and in terms of recruiting. You got to start from the very bottom and build a powerhouse. It's the most rewarding way to do it. This is real. Knows to the grindstone type stuff. It's a multi-year process, but the ultimate bragging rights. If you can win an national title with New Mexico. All right. Next one. Number two SMU because it's legal to pay players now. We're restoring the Pony Express to its former glory. So he's got Eric Dickerson in the back in the backfield. And now you can pay for players. Yeah. I love SMU. The best part of that 30 for 30 is that when they were caught with a death penalty, they still had the shady drawer of money. Even though they were caught, they were like, they're still paying players. You know, you're caught right. Here's another $200 sign. Go right ahead. So they kept paying them. So crazy that story. You ever see that 30 for 30? The Pony Express. Very good. All right. Next one. Number one is actually going to be two teams. I'm typically against using traditional power conference teams for your dynasty. I think it's too lame. But these two schools present a unique opportunity. Oregon State or Washington State. You can use either one of them. They're not exact vengeance on those Pac-12 losers who told you you aren't good enough. Show them what it's like at the Palouse with Wazoo. Uh-oh. Sounds like a Charlie take. Oh, yeah. So I was thinking about Oregon, Oregon State. Mr. Platypus. Yeah. Mr. Portlandia. Yeah. Charlie. Yeah. Oh, by the way, is Charlie playing by the way? I'm sure he is. Oh, yeah. What team did he choose? Oregon, Oregon State? He's, well, you know, he probably will do a dynasty with both. I've told him you can't choose Oregon. You choose Oregon. You're a Fed. Yeah. It's kind of too easy. They're like the third ranked team in the game. You can't choose a top five team. No. It's like, Abdullah. He goes, oh, Alabama. I'm like, you can't use Alabama. Are you insane? I was using a Miac. The last time I played this game, I think I won three national championships with Miac team. And Shay gave me the report that it's not, you can't use non-power five or, or no FCS teams. Right, Shay? No FCS teams. FBS only. I think there is a feature that will allow you to make a custom team. So if you want to create Howard, bring some five stars to Howard and win a title, but you got to move them into the FBS. Yeah. So instead, I'm going with UMass. The team I selected back in the day, I always went with Hawaii. Hawaii, yes. Yeah. We brought that up last week, I think, off the air. So what if we started a dynasty with Hawaii playing the college football game? Good old Rainbow Warriors. Yeah. You get the time zone advantage. Yeah, the throwbacks are awesome. Yeah. I think that. That was a team I always went to back in the day when I played. Shay, I'm going to let you choose my team as we get ready to talk to Jesse Rogers. These five, I want you to choose the one I'm going to go with this weekend. North Texas. Mean Green. Not bad. You tap. Which I'll-- You know, Chris, a long time favorite of mine. You built-- I built my betting Saturday with UTEP, a UTEP loss, all the time, as you recall. Always UTEP first. Utah State, UL Monroe, or UMass? UMass. 100%. UMass. No doubt about it. Yeah. You get to join-- you get to join the Mac. You take over a perennial loser school in football, but that is a fun story. It's a fun journey to take yourself on easily UMass. OK. You get some weather, too. Right? You do some rain. Northeast. So you get some rain, a little snow maybe, kicked in. OK. Late in the season. So this is the new college football game. I'm going to start off my whole dynasty team. I'm going to start with UMass. Yup. The Miniman. That's great. Yup. That's outstanding. That's no problem. Because that's how you do it. It's easy to slide in Georgia and be like, here we go. OK. The recruiting is so easy in that situation in those games. But it takes time to build a North Texas Mean Green or a UMass. Of course. So that's going to be fun. So am I uncool because I'm not going to purchase a system to play this? Yup. We're hearing here. Yeah. OK. Well, for now, but at some point you will be playing it. It'll be around-- If someone brings in the work, I'll play it. Or it's going to be someplace. It'll be at some party and it'll just be there and it's like, OK. Jake, can you bring in yours so then I can just play it? Yeah. I think I'm going to bring it in one day and we'll do a little tournament upstairs on the seventh floor. All right. I'm in for that. See? That's fun. It's the only way I'll be able to get cap to play. You know, he's not going to buy a system by the game. So I got to bring it in and then play cap. So you're saying I'm like cap? Well, yeah. Oh, no. Cap Jr. in that seat. Oh, no. Oh, what are we doing? It's wrong with that. He's all a favor. Yeah. Sure. I love LA. Yeah. Jesse Rogers will be coming up next to the latest on the Cubs and Sox and everything else, all-star game right here on the Cap and Jhood Morning Show. Follow Chicago's Home for Sports on Twitter at ESPN1000. Cap and Jhood are back on ESPN Chicago, Chicago's Home for Sports. Jesse Rogers is with us on the Cap and Jhood Morning Show with Chris Blickman for Cap. I'm Jay Hood and Jesse is brought to you by West Coast Men's Health, helping men with ED and chronic pain for over five years go to West Coast Men's Health.com. Jesse from the All-Star Game is on the Hotline. Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom. Don't worry about the correct slam. RX brings us Jesse Rogers. Good morning, Jesse. How are you? I am good. Good morning to you guys. What's going on? You know what's going on. 45 and 51 for the Cubs in the first half of the season. What's your letter grade for Cubs baseball and the last place in the division? Yeah. I mean, it's a D. I guess I wouldn't give him a failing grade, but it's definitely a D. You know, the thing that comes to mind is what Jed Euler said about last year's team. They left wins on the table. It certainly feels like the Cubs left wins on the table in the first half. They followed up a year where they fired their manager because of that very thought and they hired another guy for a lot more money and they've kind of played similar baseball, bad bullpen, and at times bad in the field in the course that the long slump on offense, which they've started to come out of. So it's not a failing grade, but certainly no better than a D. Jesse, in the last week, they've played better baseball. Have you seen enough for this to sustain in the second half? What I've seen enough of is I think their offense is going to finally sort of normalize, right? It was at the bottom of the league in so many categories for over a couple of months. It was bound to turn. I mean, we're not talking about a team that was expected to lose 100 and rebuild like the White Sox. They were expected to be decent and they've been anything but. So I think offensively they have gotten better here, Chris. I'll give you the numbers. Over the last 30 days, the last month, they're 12th in OPS. Over the last 15 days, they were ninth, they went up to ninth and just over the last week, they're second. So even the smaller to bigger sample sizes, they're at least in the top half. And what's interesting and it goes back to what we've talked about, not a lot of stars on this team is during that time period, there's not like one player in the top five in OPS. I think it's Suzuki ranks 30th over that time frame in OPS. So it is, it has been Pico Armstrong like yesterday. I mean, that was a great game. It's been Suzuki. It's been a half. So there's good news there. They spread it out a little bit. But the bad news is you still want that one guy, you know, and they just don't have it. But if four or five can go get out at the same time, which has been happening. So yeah, Chris, I do think offensively they're there. I don't know for sure they're going to get, you know, they're going to pass everyone. I don't know that for sure. Remember, it's, I don't know what is it, 98 games they've played. So the only 64 left. It's time to really play some good baseball for an extended period of time before we can say anything positive more than what we've seen over the last week. Jesse, as we take a look at the second half of the season right into the trade deadline, that will tell a great story even before we get to July 31st, August 1st, where this Cubs team is headed because it's Arizona for three, then three in the division against Milwaukee, three against Kansas City and then another three against Cincinnati. So even before that, I think there should be an indication of exactly which direction Jed's going because adding on and struggling to get over three and a half games in the wild card, that's not a recipe for a playoff team. No, and Jed does not want to give up his prospects for a crappy team. You know, you have to earn it and the team has not earned him to go out and give up one of his best prospects to get another hitter or whatever. I don't think they're going to do much either way. Now they could trade Ballinger and/or a reliever too, so I guess that's kind of big. And if they add, I think it's a closer and I don't think it's much more than that, maybe a lefty reliever now that Luke Littles on the shelf, there's not a ton to do. One or two ads or one or two to sell. And you're right, the schedule, I mean, look, they're going to have to have weeks like they just had. Go on the road, beat the Orioles, at least split with the Cardinals in a four-gamer, which is always hard with a double-header there. They're going to have to do that against good teams. Go five and two on your next home standard or, you know, four and two with the Diamond And then, you know, like you said, the Royals and Cincinnati Reds are pretty good. So schedule's not going to matter. They need to gobble up wins against whoever it is, and they proved last week they could do it. The Orioles, you know, are one of the best, but they certainly got them at a good time. Jesse, I think Shohei Otani is the biggest star in baseball, but this week at the all-star game, will Paul Skeens be the most talked-about star in baseball? I think you're right. I think so, because between Otani and Judge, there's been a ton of press around them for a few years now, right? There's no mystery in either one of their free-agent seasons, like it was a couple of years ago with Judge. Last year with Otani, a lot of times that'll dominate the conversation, but Skeens, being in college a year ago, to this point now starting in the end of the all-star game, it's unheard of. And yeah, he's just a freaking nature built a little different. I think you're right. I think you will be kind of the talk of the next couple of days, for sure. So Jesse, who's the biggest star in Chicago baseball? And then relate that to the all-stars that you'll be going to be covering the next couple of days. How close is it? Well, I don't think Crochette or Imunaga are the biggest names nationally, I mean, nationally. I mean, in Chicago, I guess Luis Roberts, the biggest star, but he's not here. You know what I mean? Yeah. Crochette is the next kind of guy because he's going to get traded, you know, and he's burst onto the scene. I mean, there's some name recognition with Crochette and Imunaga, both. They both kind of burst onto the scene this year. But nationally, they're not looked at as, like everyone's talking about Paul Skeen starting. If Crochette starts, okay, that's nice, and I hope he does, though, announce that today, I actually think it's going to be Corvin Burns. But nobody's on the edge of their seat if Crochette's going to start the all-star game, right? And Imunaga's sort of come back down to Earth, but the best talent in Chicago is Luis Roberts, if he could put it all together and stay healthy. It's interesting the way you put that when it comes to Crochette because we're still wondering whether that Crochette's going to be with the White Sox by the time we get to the deadline. So, and then you see what the White Sox did in the draft, they got that big lefty from Arkansas, who is outstanding Jesse, I've seen him pitch, he is a power arm, so I think that was a great pickup by the White Sox. So from your reporting, do you feel like Crochette is going to be expendable on this team by the time we get to August 1st? Yeah, it feels that way, and it's just about timelines, it's about the fact that his time is almost up in terms of team control, and then you're going to have to sign up with some big contract, I think it gets feeling quantity over quality, get three prospects for one player, and hope that two of them will turn into Crochette types, whether they're hitters or pitchers. So, and that is a little bit of the danger, okay, let's talk about that pick real quick. I didn't love it as much as the guy that went after him, Jack Cagleyone from Florida, two-way player, now he's probably only going to hit, but you never know. Florida. What's the thing, remember, with pitchers, there's that chance that they're going to get hurt, and as you're hurt, that eats up service time and all that stuff, and all of a sudden, they only had one year, half a season of Crochette as a starter, because of course, they had to ease them into it as a reliever first. So, look, it was interesting, both teams reverted to what they know. The White Sox, specifically like left-handed pitching, and they have done well with them. Mike Shirley, the scouting director, kept mentioning Chris Sale and Noah Scholz and Gary Crochette, and now Hagen Smith, the Cubs took a college hitter. That's what they know well. Chris Bryant, E&F, Nico Horner, Kyle Schwerber. So, it's kind of interesting, both teams reverted to what they know best, but I think it's risky with pitchers, and I'm not saying Theo was right or wrong, but his theory was, draft the hitters. That's a lot more reliable from college, and then a choir pitching that's established. The White Sox are doing it in an opposite manner, and the detriment is you might lose a pitcher to injury before they've really done anything for you. Jesse, you've laid out why the White Sox would trade crochet? What's your opinion? Do you think they should? No, I don't think they should. I think they should sign them, and that's easy to say, because it's not my money, but I think they should sign them. These kinds of guys don't go on trees. I love his makeup. I love his want. I love the fact that he doesn't like coming out of games after two winnings like they did with him on Friday to reduce his workload. I think they should sign them. Now, I understand why, again, a 4-for-1 or whatever replenishes your system, but the more guys you trade now, the longer this is going to take, so I would keep them. So, I'd like the idea of keeping them. All right. Everybody coming up, because Jesse was helping right the 2024 MLB draft day one winners' losers in tickaways. It's on ESPN Plus, so we asked you to go there to check out Jesse and some of his opinions of the draft that's on ESPN.com. We'll ask you about ready-made players that's ready for Major League Baseball in the near future with Jesse. That's coming up on Captain J. Hood. Let me know in the comments below if you'd like to make any facts, and I'll see you on the next video. Jesse Rogers is brought to you by West Coast Men's Health, and he's joining us here on The Cap and J. Hood Morning Show with Chris Black and for Cap. I am J. Hood. Still to come. At 9 o'clock, we'll talk about the Bears. There's five big questions that Chris has about the Bears. We'll get to that coming up at the top of the hour right here on Cap and J. Hood. Jesse, you helped write the piece on ESPN.com regarding the Major League Baseball draft, and so Travis Bezana with the second baseman from Oregon State was number one. It's the first time the Guardians ever had the number one pick. How ready-made is he? When you go through the analysis, I mean, because when it comes to the draft, Major League Baseball and B.A. NFL, when you hear these names, you want to see them on the field. How soon, because the Guardians seem like there are going to be a special team, could he actually be with the Major League Ball Club? Yeah, it's funny. We were at the bar last night. I'll drop some names, Eduardo Perez, Kyle Ravitch, Jeff Passon, and we were joking about how the MLB draft doesn't have a lot of cash. Hey, right? It's not like the other drafts. Let's face it. But what I said was, you know what would be really cool? If on July 10th or 15th, whenever they were going to hold the draft, you know, maybe you can move it up a little, whatever, that you could draft for need in the second half. Can you imagine drafting last night? The Cubs need a closer. They take some closer from some college, you know, and they put them into their lineup right away. I'm going to wear a hitter, whatever the case may be. I mean, that would make the draft really interesting if you could contribute right away. Having said that, of course, they need some minor league time, but not like the old days, Jay Hoat. We're going to a major college program, especially in the SEC, but we see Oregon, like Basana, I mean, all over the country, the big programs have the technology and the coaching to bring these guys along pretty quickly. There's a lot of interchangeable players in the top end of this draft. The number one pick could be the best in the draft, the number 10 pick could be the best in the draft. In fact, number nine went to Atlanta. Remember this name? Connor Griffin. If he works, he's Mike Trout. He's got that kind of ability. Now he was a high school player, so they got to, you know, that's years away. But a lot of these college players were interchangeable from the two pitchers that went high, Higgins Smith, Chase Burns, for a lot of the hitters, the one that went right after the White Sox Jack Kegelioni. The Cubs took a college hitter from Florida State Camp Smith. These programs do so well by these players, Jay Hood, that a lot of them are near college ready, having said that, it's still a year away at least. Like you're not, you're not flying single double AAA in like three months. It's, it's at least a year unless you're really special. And I'm not sure that bazan is any different than any other minor league right now. But it's not three years away. Like it used to be our four years away. Jesse, you're talking about eyeballs on the MLB draft. Why didn't they, why don't they have the draft on Wednesday night then? Every title. He's all played yesterday. Chris, there's all sorts of problems with the draft. I mean, they had, I think they had five players in attendance and none of them were the top picks. Maybe the six. Yeah. The agents don't, agents don't like to bring players because if you fall, you're sitting there in the green room, just like the other sports and baseball is much more, much, you know, less, much more of a crapshoot. So look, I'm not sure why it's Sunday instead of Wednesday. I think it's just part of the festivities. And once the game's over, everyone's kind of moved on. I think it would be probably my answer. It's sort of, you know, everything builds, the draft, Homer and Derby, and then the game. So I don't know, I don't have quite the answer, but no executives like it combined with the all-star break. It's too close to the direct trade deadline for them. It's baseball's weird. Like, you know, every other sport has a draft in the offseason, right? There's all sorts of things that baseball does that's different. And I get it. The calendar's different for this sport. This is how they've chosen to do it and not a ton of people like it. Chris, I agree with you. When you talked about crochet, our conversation before we had Jesse on was talking about trying to find cornerstones for your franchise and saying, okay, we're going to start with this. When you are trading crochet or FETI or flexing or whomever else they're going to trade, you're still looking to find out who your cornerstones are. Like I'm a Corey Lee fan. I think that that could be the future of the White Sox, but it's got to be more than that because a lot of these guys, including, you know, the Ben attendees and others are expendable. And it's like, if it's not going to be crocheted in whom, right, that means that your repills even longer. You're not going to spend the money to be able to get yourself into contention. So it is going to go through a minor league system or young players, right? Yeah, absolutely. Totally agree with you. So yeah, they're just starting over there. I mean, we just have to accept that. I mean, we're going to analyze every trade, July 29th, July 30th. But if you're a fan and you love that stuff, great. But if you're a fan and you just want to see winning baseball, it's years away again with the White Sox. There's no other way to put it because they're not buying their way into it. They're drafting and trading their way. And that's why he's going to trade crochet with two years of experience or two years of team control for three guys with six years of team control. But that means, you know, some growing pains with those guys. So it's going to be a while. So if I gave you the Phillies or the field, who do you like in the National League? Yeah, I mean, I should take the field. I'm going to take the Phillies. I mean, they are just on a mission and don't have a weakness. I can't find a team that doesn't have a weakness except for them. I mean, they have everything, including starting pitching, which is usually the thing teams are looking for around July 30th. They don't need to find starting pitching. They just need to stay healthy. I mean, they just need to stay healthy. I mean, they just need to stay healthy. I mean, they just need to stay healthy. I mean, they just need to stay healthy. I mean, they just need to stay healthy. I mean, they just need to stay healthy. They don't need to find starting pitching. They just need to stay healthy. And with such a big lead in their division, they can back off some starters. It's not just Nola and Wheeler. It's now Suarez. It's now Sanchez. They're really deep in all areas. I think the Phillies are on that mission to complete the task with Bryce and everybody there. He gets his first World Series championship. And then they're going to happen. They lost game six and seven of the NLCS at home last year. We saw that coming, but I'll take them instead of the field. And that's I don't usually do that because baseball is such a crap suit. I would usually take the field on that question. Jesse, who wins the home run Derby tonight? OK, hold on. Who did I vote for? I don't know if it's posted yet. I'm trying to-- oh, I took Marcello Zuna. I took Marcello Zuna. I did some weird launch angle analysis. He's got this launch angle that I think will work for the home run Derby. A lot of people are taking Elanzo for good reason. Adolas Garcia, the hometown kid. So I went with a complete upsend with Marcello Zuna, who is a slugger in the most direct way. 40 home runs last year, 26, 27 at the break here. I like Marcello Zuna tonight. Shay, plus 425 odds on Marcello Zuna. Make the people some money, Jess. Yeah, other people like Bobby Whit in a big way. I think Whit and Elanzo are getting a lot of play. Garcia, the hometown guy. Some people like Gunnar. So you know, he's definitely an upset, upset call there. Jose Ramirez. All right. Oh, is it? Yeah, I like Jose Ramirez. What do you mean, man? What is that? Plus 1,300. I don't know. I don't feel like he's, you know what I mean, like, he's not-- I don't think he's built for home run Derby, be it a switch, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't like Jose Ramirez in this. Didn't his last time in the Derby he hit from the wrong side and was terrible? I don't remember, I don't know. You're saying 5, 9, 190 doesn't get it done for Ramirez. That's what you just said, Jesse. Yeah, I just-- I feel like Marcelo Zona is like the truest slugging type, like a couple other guys, like Elanzo, where Jose Ramirez is just a great hitter, just a great hitter. Not necessarily a great, great slumber. Yeah. I don't think that Tim McCursion will like that analysis. Jesse. Good. But it's all I got. The Ramirez is really good. I don't think you-- I don't think you'd like that analysis that you just gave there. I study long, study wrongs, so I just said, you know what, I like Jose and I didn't really think too much more than that. And have fun in Texas. Thanks so much for your time. You too, guys. Have a great week. Talk soon. It is Jesse Rogers brought to you by West Coast Men's Health on the Car X Hotline. Huh? The biggest questions that the Bears have to address here before the training camp opens in two minutes on cap and J-hood.