Kap & J. Hood
7/9 7 AM: Can the Cubs Save Their Season This Week?
Kato! This is your morning routine. Listen to respect my name. Cap and G hood. That's right, that's right, we bad. Watch the show on Twitch. Follow ESPN 1000 Chicago. Stream the show on the ESPN Chicago app. And on in-bam. 100.3 HD2. And on ESPN 1000 Chicago. Now, no, no, no. David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood. Good morning, everyone! Bring 'em out, bring 'em out. Whoa! ♪ Bring 'em out, bring 'em out ♪ ♪ Bring 'em out, bring 'em out ♪ ♪ Bring 'em out, bring 'em out ♪ ♪ Bring 'em out, bring 'em out ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ♪ Ooh, God. Welcome in to the Cap and J. Good Morning show. On ESPN 1000 and we are streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. With David Kaplan, Jonathan Hood with you, we got Jack, we got Kevin. We've got you for a three hour ride here on this Tuesday morning. What open phone lines for you? 3-1-2, 3-3-2, ESPN, 3-3-2-3-7-7-6, is our telephone number. We got a lot to get to before we're done at 10 o'clock this morning, Cap. But first and foremost, I'm glad that you are taking care of those in need. Once again, one of the things that people don't know about my partner is he is one that takes care of people. He's a people's person. He takes care of people. It is amazing to me. The reason why that he was running late this morning to the meeting is because on the off-ramp, he decided to be able to buy, I don't know, $50 worth of flowers. And they do it all the time. Maybe those flowers might be dead in a day or so. But Cap said, "You know what? Let me have the whole bucket. I will take care of you." And so I just think that's great. You sold them out, now you can go and give them a nice cup of coffee, a nice breakfast. And so that's how it went down. What do you mean? I think it's great that you take care of people. I don't think, again, people don't need to, folks, right here, right here on YouTube. Just look at me, right here if you're watching YouTube. Folks, he's got a heart of gold. He's David Kaplan, he cares about people. And I will just tell you right now, if you have some flowers you're selling on the side of the expressway, Cap will buy the entire bucket. Thank you. - Okay. - What do you mean? - The fact of the matter is-- - I think that's a great gesture. I just wanna just point it out. I know you might be embarrassed by what I'm saying there. A little blushing, I understand, Cap. But I just think people need to know the heart of gold that you have as an individual. - I've always said to my wife, my kids. My hobby is making people happy. I get great joy how to try to make people happy. Can I do something to make your day better? - Yeah. - I was driving to work. I have bought the flowers on the street when the guys walking between the cars. - Yeah, this morning. - No, this morning was different. - They called a minch move. - Okay, I was bu-- Okay, we're gonna go there. I'm driving. This is a while ago. I was not married to Mindy yet. I'm driving on Tui and Cicero. And I notice a girl, this has gotta be 30 years ago. - You notice a girl? - Girl driving in her car and I'm like, that girl's gorgeous. I had a girlfriend at the time. I knew I wasn't gonna stay with her long term. - Sure. - Here's the flower guy. I said, hey, flower guy, come here a second. At the red light. Lot of traffic, late afternoon. I said, how much are the flowers? - Five bucks. I said, okay, here's 10. I want you to take the bouquet of flowers. I want you to go up to that car right there. See that gorgeous blonde? Huh? I want you to give her the flowers and I want you to give her this note. I had written a note. Love to get together. And I want you to give me your number back. He brings her, the flowers brings me her number back. Now the girl I was dating at the time was a teacher. The girl in the car sends me her number back. - Sure. - I call her. She's like, that's the most romantic thing anyone's ever done, sent me flowers in traffic. - How about that? - That's amazing. - How about that, stud move right there. - She said, let's get together. I said, tell me a little bit about, what do you do? She said, well, right now I'm a student teacher. She was my girlfriend student teacher. - Oh God. - Yes. - I said, Jackson a full sweat right now 'cause you haven't mentioned WIP or RBIs in the first segment. - I said. (laughing) - I said, you're a student teacher where are you student teaching at? East Prairie School. I'm like, oh, oh, oh, and I know a bunch of the teachers 'cause I've been dating this girl for a while. I said, oh, who's the teacher you're working for? Ms. Owens. Oh, oh, oh, I've been dating Ms. Owens for quite a while. I'm like, I'm coming out, I'm coming out. (laughing) - Well, actually I was, I have a girlfriend, but I was trying to set you up with a friend of mine. That's how I advocated myself from the situation. - Good job. - Now fast forward to today. My wife who I've been married to we had our 20 year anniversary last week. My wife and I go to the farmer's market and there's this awesome flower lady, Mary Ann and her son, Anthony. - Flower lady. - Flower lady. She's awesome. And we would go there most weekends. Well, a lot of weekends, I'm in Wisconsin now so I don't see her. - Sure. - She calls me at 5.45 this morning. - Oh. - Hey, Cap, how are you? Good, where are you at? I said, I'm driving to work. She said, well, Anthony, I were working a farmer's market in the city today. - You are? - Yes, right behind Water Tower. By the Museum of Contemporary Art, there's a park there. She's our plaza. She said, I've got all your wife's favorite flowers. Two roses, gladiolas and sunflowers. I'm like, I can't get there to like 11, 10, 30 when we get off. She's like, I don't know what I'll have left. Just swing by right now. I said, all right, I'll be there in a few minutes. I drive by. She puts them in the car, I pay her. I'm like, my wife's gonna be thrilled. That's it. I call my wife. Hey, good morning. Have a great day today. Guess what I bought you today? What? Tell her the flowers. She's like, you have a bucket? Nope. - They'll be dead by the time you get home. - God. - In the heat, in your car? No, that's not gonna work. You gotta get a bucket. Where am I getting a bucket? - Big Danny's got a bucket in his office. - Oh, he's got a bucket in his office, all right. - Yeah. No chance. - Yeah. - So, I call the flower lady back. - I said, Marianne, I got a problem here. - What? - Did you forget something? - I don't have any way to... Are they gonna die in my car? What's up? Mindy's telling me. Oh yeah, they'll be dead by 11 a.m. Oh God, I won't be home to 130. - Yeah. - She said, I got an extra bucket, come back. So, I doubled back. She gave me the bucket. I had young Jack throw water in the bucket. I said, all the flowers in there. And there, the booth is gonna smell great all day. - It's needed. That's for sure in there. - No question. Wow. - Well, no offense, Jack. But I mean, there's other people that work there. - In that same area. - Yeah. - Like Kevin. - Kevin. - I smell great today. - Mallards. - Yeah, believe it or not, Mallard. - Mallard. That's the weight of this. (laughing) - Wait just a second. - Yeah. - So the flowers are all back there. - It's awesome. - It is awesome. - So, that was my morning. - I think that was a little late. - I think that's great that, again, Jack, if you're listening very closely, helping those in need. This flower lady moved from the expressway to downtown Chicago. - It was pretty good, pretty good. - She works farmers markets. - I like that, huh? - She works different farmers markets. Marianne and Anthony, they're awesome people. - Well, whatever, you can get a buck. I mean, I don't know, it doesn't matter. It's just, it's great location. I mean, it's always location, location, location, right? That's what matters. - That's it. - So the idea that you get off of the off ramp and get to downtown. Now, how did I get there? That's a question. I mean, train. You carry all those, I mean, that's got to be something. Taking all of those from, you know, whatever shelter they're from. - They live in Kankakee, they have a home in Kankakee. - Kankakee? - Yes. - That's what they say. That's fine. I mean, whatever works for the story for them, I just think it's incredible. What? - They have a, they grow all of this in Kankakee. Yes. - And they got here. They made it. - They have a van. They load up the van. - They have a van. - Yes, they do it at different farmers market every day. - Did you see this van? - Mm-hmm. - Did you see it? - Yes. - Oh, you saw the van. - I did. - They parked downtown. - Right there. - Right by the farmers market. Yeah. - I just think cheese lady over there. There's a bunch of cool things. - Hold on a second, hold on a second. There's a cheese lady as well. - Yeah. - Really? - The cheese people is the name of their stand. - The cheese lady that I remember was the free cheese and the regular administration. It was free. - Yes, they gave up, but that wasn't really good cheese. - It was only one, I remember. - Yeah. - Line up and get a brick. - That night we needed it. - It was free, we just stopped and got one. - Big correct. - Big block of cheese. - But I always try to think of what would make my wife happy today? Whether it's picking up her prescription at Walgreens and sitting in that awful drive-through line or picking up flowers at the farmer's market. So when she walks in the house tonight, there's gonna be this tremendous, awesome scene of flowers. - So you don't go in to the Walgreens. You sit in the drive-through line. - Yes. - Hmm, interesting. - Yeah, 'cause I could play on my phone while I'm waiting. - That's a long line sometimes, you know. Maybe seven, eight deep. - Yes. - Hmm. - It was three deep yesterday, but the guy in front was a maniac. - What happened there? - I just saw him exchanging back and forth and gesturing. - Oh yes, yes. - And by the time I got up there, I said, "What, that first car?" - Well, problem there. - She said, "He's a problem all the time." - Well, here's the thing, and this is the problem, Cap, when you have a glass, and you're encasing glass, and you're outside, and you're yelling at glass, it's not like when you used to talk to your local Rexall drugs guy. - Rexall. - When you just go right in, right? - Or Rite Aid. - Yeah, you go right in, how's it going? - Yeah. - And they would know you by name, you see. - What color was Rexall's sign? - Red and white, I believe. - Like it was orange. - Was it orange? - I think so. - I know the Gulf gas station was orange. - Yes. - I believe it was. It was good to be able to know your person, but now that's a problem. You don't know people because you are separated between glass, you see. - That's correct. - You're outside and you're screaming at glass, because your prescription isn't ready in all this other nonsense. Is it me, but when you're around people, when you go inside, hey, you get a chance to know them. You know, they're family, everything else. That's what's changed in society, Cap. And that's why, Jack, any time that you're driving around and you see a flower lady or a cheese lady, make sure that you give them something. You never know when they can be able to upgrade and be able to work downtown. They go from the highways and just getting a dollar or two to whatever Cap gave him, probably a good 50. More than likely, he won't pay his fines here, but he definitely will pay for the flowers. - 40 bucks. - Yeah, of course. How much was the bucket, by the way? Was that a throw in? - She gave me the bucket. I will say you got a lot of flowers for 40 bucks. - Pretty awesome, huh? - It was a good deal. - Marianne and Anthony take good care of me. - What's great, the moral of the story also is that if you're going to surprise, now there's no surprise that Cap, there's no such thing as a surprise because as soon as something happens to him, he'll let you know five seconds afterwards. If it was me, those flowers would be dead because I would try to surprise Peacock. Be like, "Hey, I got the flowers that you wanted, but they're all dead." But here's Cap, though, immediately telling his wife, "Hey, I got those flowers you wanted." And thank God, Mindy said, "Well, what about the bucket?" - I made him dead, I would let him in the car. - That's the point of the whole thing. - Here's what I think of you, dead flowers. - Right. - That wouldn't have went over well. - Right. - Well, for our sake, I'm glad you elected for the flowers and not the cheese. (laughing) They do have an awesome, awesome Cabanero cheese. - Oh, that should have stood out there. We'll put that in the studio. It would have smelled like how it normally smells. - That's it. - Like feet. - Like melor. - Well, you leave melor on it for God's sakes. - All right, hockey. (laughing) Whoever's back there. You know, we have some catching up to do because we were not together yesterday. - Right. - There's a lot we gotta get into. - We do. - That we have not talked about, including how important this week is for the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs did not lose or win yesterday because they were off yesterday. - I think we're in good shape. Otis the owl, I have incorporated now, is a good luck charm for the Cubs. Otis the owl's three and one. He said more success than anybody on that stinking team. - Well, let me ask you a question. - Yeah. - Who named the owl? - Mindy actually named him after the late clubhouse man, Tom Hellman, who died last winter, been there for 50 years, and he was called by the players for 50 years. Otis. Hey, is Otis here? Yeah, right there. - He was the best. Otis was an amazing man, and he was great to the cancer charity, the benefit that Mindy runs with malnotties. He was always generous. She would feed the players. We had a great relationship with Otis. And so when Otis died, we were heartbroken. Mindy bought me an owl, a plastic owl, so that ducks in Wisconsin. - Yes? - Don't crap all over the pier by our house. 'Cause that will stop it, just one owl. - Yes. - You'll stop them from crapping all over the deck. - The ducks don't come on the pier. So she gave it to me for Father's Day, and I got you plastic ducks she bought at Bass Pro Shops. - That was your Father's Day gift, one of them. - She got me some other cool stuff. But this was a plastic owl. And so I said, you know what? I started talking to the owl. - Of course you did. - And the owl was telling me some things that Jed and Craig Council should be doing. - Oh, the owl was talking to you. - Yes. - Folks, let me just tell you. My partner, slowly but surely, slipping away. He's talking to an adamant object now. He's talking to an- - Not an adamant. - It's not? - No. - Why not? - That owl came to life. - Yeah, okay, I doubt it. - And so Mindy said, oh, you're having fun with your owl. What is the owl's name? I'm like, it's a good question. I don't know. She said, why don't you name him Otis? After Tom Hellman, I said, don, that's a great idea. Otis the owl's three and one now. He beat the Phillies. Steele took care of business on Friday. We didn't play well on Saturday. Hendrix got hurt. And then he won again on Sunday. He had a day off yesterday, the owl, 'cause he had a long flight to Baltimore. - Oh, okay. - Tonight, we've got Tyone going with his 29.9 ERA. Let's go Otis. Get a cup of coffee and find a way to win a damn baseball game. - Jack, while you're sitting there, can you do me a favor? Could you call the people and the white coach? Could you call them? Just pick up the phone and call them and get this guy there. - Just that said, he calls already the name. - Okay, so maybe by eight o'clock, he'll be out of here. I mean, so this is what's happening, folks. You can hear him aging before your very ears. He's talking to an owl to try to get the cubs back. - And he's always been talking back to you. - You say? - Yes, yes. - Is he telling you to get the angels on the schedule a few more times? - That would be nice, but he did tell me why's owl? Said, "Team with bad bullpen? "Doesn't have much of a chance, "but now the owl made a roster move." - He's, what? Very interesting syntax there for the owl. Wait just a second. - Hunter, but-- - I'll also say no ticky, no washy. You say that too? What the hell are you doing there? - What breed is this owl? (laughing) - Just a minute. I don't think that that's right, Cap. - The wise owl said, "Bring Hunter Biggie up from the miners "with his .790RA." Hunter Biggie's now in our bullpen lookout. - Just be careful. - I've been screaming for change. I finally got it. - Just be careful. - Just be careful. I don't want to hear him anymore about the owl. - The wise owl is three in one. - Okay, and again, as Kevin pointed out, as he's listening intently, because he's going to give this report to the people and the white coats that are going to come get you here soon, that I was talking back to you. If you're hearing from the owl. - Just remember I told you that team was what? - Eight under, or nine under, when I brought the owl to the forefront, I promise you my owl will have a better record. - Okay. - All right. - That's it. - Now, what happens when the cubs start free-falling? - Gets swept by the oracles. - Yeah, what happens then, to the owl? - That's not going to happen. - You want a bet? - I'll bet you that they don't get swept by the oracles. - Okay. - I'll take bouquet of roses. - Okay, and I'll take a $25 gift card to Starbucks. - You in? - Sure, let's do it. Your girlfriend's going to crush you when you have to buy me that gift card. - All right, so we got- - Put this guy out of his misery tonight. - Sandwich bat wattle. - There you go. - How about that? - How about that? - 3-1-2-3-3-2-E-S-P-N-3-3-2-3-7-7-6 is our telephone number. (laughs) How bouquet of roses. Sea Pack is a special man. It's an important week for the cubs before the all-star break. Should the cubs be sellers? What's their plan? Some thoughts about the cubs, then and now, next on Captain Jaywood. (upbeat music) - Captain Jaywood, our best. - Get ready, woo, we are tour and we're doing it better. Did anybody else a lot? - Chicago's home for sports. - ESPN Chicago. (upbeat music) - It's a Captain Jaywood show on ESPN 1,000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. We're just hoping that you're gonna have a great Tuesday morning. 3-1-2-3-3-2-3-7-7-7-6 is our phone number. We'll hear from Conor McKnight with the latest on the White Sox and everything else MLB at 750. Cap last season, the cubs were 42 and 47 at the all-star break. I know you remember this. And they continue to stumble along until they won 10 of 11 from July 18th through the 29th. And it went from buyer to seller. We remember some of the cubs players unbended knee to Jedhoyer, hey, don't break up the team. We'll find a way out of this thing. Don't break this up. You wanna add on and go ahead, but I don't wanna go anyplace else. I love the environment. I love being here. You recall on September 6th, the cubs were 76 and 64. And looking like they're on their way to the playoffs and then the bottom fell out because again, Jed did not do right by the ball club by getting the right relief pitching to kind of hold things up 76 and 64. - Right, the only thing he added was your guy. - Closs. - Jose Closs, who now pitches in Toronto on the other day, I think he threw two pitches, both wilds and they got them out, he came out. - Yes. Just understand where the cubs were at that time and think where the cubs are today. And I think as I was thinking over the break about the cubs in their situation, I recall the conversations that you and I had about, well, if you're going to be a seller, who are you selling off? And so now, and when we were together last, you said, hey, you know what, if they're not gonna turn around unplug this thing, you said this, you said, hey man, break this thing up. If you can't get any better than this, then start selling off parts. My concern as a cub fan would be this, is that if you're going to sell off parts, if you can't turn this thing around by the time you get to the deadline, are you sure that Tom Ricketts will be able to help you add because you need significant upgrades? Not just cast offs for your bullpen, but actual offense as well. That's my question. If you're going to step, take a step back. Will you take two steps forward? You should as an organization. I'm not sure, well, the Cubs will. - So, like we were talking with the Z-Man in there, Kevin Z-Pack, before the show, where what do you really have to sell? Like if you go down that path as you've laid out? - Yeah. - What do you really have to sell because there is no scenario where you're going to completely tear the roster apart. I don't think that's a good decision to tear it apart. There's some good players there that are wildly underperforming. But if you look around the diamond, okay, you have the worst catching in baseball. - No question. - The worst, because as bad as Maldonado isn't, I know he had a homer for the Sox last night, his third of the year. Corey Lee has some upside down. He's like a 22 year old kid. - That's our future. - I like him. He's got nine homers, like he's got a chance to be a very solid major league player. Michael Bush, his numbers are better than Peter Lanzo. If you're going to take one of those two to the roster, okay, Michael Bush should be the one going. Look at his numbers. He's had a really, really good year. So, as much as we're critical of where this team is and it falls at the feet of the president, Jed, Michael Bush for a double A pitcher Jackson Ferris. Right now today, that is a big win for the Cubs. I don't know what that kid's going to end up doing in Dodger's minor league system. I know Michael Bush is going to be your first baseman for quite a while here. He looks really, really good. That's your future right there. - Okay, Niko Horner, Niko's okay. I like Niko, he plays hard. He's a good defender. He's okay. - You're going to piss Jack off again. - What is he, Niko Horner? - You call this, right? He was not happy with your Niko Horner analysis. - Well, let me hear what Jack's breakdown of the great Niko Horner is. - Nothing special. He's a decent player who's still young enough where he can be a core part of a team that wins just not now. - Core part. - But in a couple of years too. - Core part, like what is a core part? What is he, what, like what is he? - He can be your starting second baseman. No doubt about that. I don't want him to take it. - Most replaceable player on the roster other than a bullpen guy that only comes in when you're getting crushed. - It's an easy to replace Gold Glove defense in a 280 career average. That's pretty good numbers all around. - He's okay. He's not all that. He's not, if I like him, he's nice. He's Niko Horner. - You're not gonna, there's analysis. - You're not gonna, like if they traded Niko Horner in a deal and you got something back that you liked, you're not gonna cry that Niko Horner's going. It's not like you traded a superstar back. I'm absolutely fine with that. But he's having the worst year of his career by a significant amount hitting wise. He's a career 280 hitter and this year he's hitting 246. So in my opinion, you're selling low on Niko Horner when realistically you have him under control for two more years, so why not keep him and hope he bounces back to that 280 level instead of selling him at a 250 batting average value? - Yeah, I'm not telling you I'd give him away. I didn't say that, but look, his OPS is 667. - I mean, let's not go crazy here that, oh my God, Niko Horner, is okay. - Well, Cap, he's a victim of circumstance. The whole ball club can't hit. He's just part of it. I'm just saying like he's part of a lineup that can't hit. That has not been good enough offensively. That fair to say? - That's fair. - Okay. - And again, I like him. I'm not, please don't think that I don't think he's a good baseball player. He's not a star. He's not the linchpin to a championship. - Cap, my bigger point, my overarching point about the Cubs is this is very uneven, this ball club. Here's what I mean. Give me a time as a cup fan that you recall, where the starting rotation was good enough to compete, but the offense is lousy. Like who would want in a rotation steel with a 2.95 ERA with a tie-on, a sub 3 ERA and a 1.18 whip, showed a 3.16 ERA, a side who I think is very solid. I'll just take those three, showed a tie-on steel. - Yeah. - You can't win with that? You should be able to win with it, but again, they don't have enough support. It's very odd. And this is what Jed will do to dance for his supper with Tom Ricketts. When it comes to the end of the season, the Cubs are a non-play-off team, Tom's gonna say, well, how do you evaluate this ball club? How are we gonna dig out of this? Well, look at our starting pitching. And that is the positive of the team. But what about the offense? If you're gonna trade someone, that is gonna be Bellinger. After all this hue and cry we had over the winter, gotta sign Bellinger, gotta sign Bellinger. Okay, so he's just a guy. He's a jag, just a guy. He is, he's not a special ball player. He should be, but he's not, with this lineup on this team, he's just ordinary, like the rest of the team. - Yeah. - He's just a guy, just ordinary. - You're right. - So, but again, the big point is, so what do the Cubs do? - Because if you're not gonna, if you're going to get to the deadline and you gotta sell off parts, will Tom say, well, you know what, I know it was an off season, let's spend more? That's a tough one to sell to Tom, isn't it? - I would think, now you have a lot of money coming off the books, a lot. I did the math for you a couple of weeks ago. It's like 70 some million. Now, some of that gets eaten up by arbitration raises or extensions, whatever it is. But you have a team that has no personality, has no star to it. Name me a star on the team in the everyday lineup, not the pitching staff. Name me a star, like I love Justin Steele getting upset when he was walking in the dugout, wake the F up, love that, that's great. Tell me in the everyday lineup, who's a star? Like, I told you Michael Bush's having a really good year. He's a really solid baseball, is he a star? - No. - He's a star, he's going to be one. - I don't know, he's in his third year now. He's a nice player, I like him. Is he in half a star? He's been playing great as of late, he's great. He's not a star, he's a very good player and one of those glue guys that you like on your team. Is Dan's be a star, stop. His numbers are pathetically bad. Niko, he's a nice player. You're catching, as I said, worst situation in baseball. Now, one of their top prospects is Moistus Biasteros. - Yeah. - He is killing it in AAA. Does that mean he's going to do it here? A prospect is a guy who's never done it. I don't know the answer to that. So you've got to, and then your bullpen is awful. - Yeah. - Bad bullpen. - Bad, but when you don't have a closer, the Waisal told me, teams without a closer have no shot. And you entered the season without a closer. There was no scenario where Alzalay was going to ever be your closer. Where lock it down in a championship run, stop. - This will be very interesting, as Jack laid out for us before the show. Baltimore for three, and then St. Louis for four. Holy smokes. That's it, and it's right there. And for those who have not seen Baltimore, I've seen quite a lot of Baltimore baseball, actually, because they're just on the package. They're like the 6.05 game. They're like, "All right, let me tune in, see what they're." Oh, Santander. Oh, look at that. They got some hitters on there. - Oh, they're really good. - They're really good. - Mount Castle. - Santander, Adley Roch. That team's loaded, loaded. Watch them over your supper. - And then they traded for Corbin Burns, and now they're reportedly salivating at the thought of Garrett Crochet, Tyone, anybody else that gets moved. They want to add a big-time arm. They can win the World Series. They're that good. - They're going for it. - So the Wise Al has his hands full tonight. You got three games, as you said, in Baltimore. And then you got four in St. Louis, and then you're at the All-Star break. I mean, this week, it's hard to say, 'cause I've told you I don't see a run coming with this team. Maybe the Al can get that done, I don't know. But I'm telling you, at the end of this week, you could be completely dead, or you could be going to the All-Star break going, all right, we showed some life. We took two or three in Baltimore, and we took three of four in St. Louis. Like, let's let this week play out and see what happens, but you cannot, it's like building a football team and not having a good offensive lineman. - Yeah, a good offensive lineman. - No, I totally understand that. - And then go, we gotta fix this offensive line. Like, how many years are you gonna run a bad bullpen out there? - Yeah, and you're up the tracks here. If you don't, at least breathe some life into the ball club against St. Louis. I mean, let alone, I mean, to me, the Cubs have saved Ollie Marmal's job. - Yeah, no question. - They had the matchups that the Cubs had against St. Louis. That team was dead. They were ready to take that team apart and fire Marmal. - Correct, and now that since late April, they've played better than almost any team in baseball. And if you look at where this team is, think back to when the Cubs won the World Series. They had a closer Chapman. He was amazing. And then they went and got Wade Davis. And he was here briefly, but he was really, really good. And then he ill-fated signing a Brandon Moro who could never get on the field. They haven't had a closer. - Yeah, that's just, that's brutal. But it starts tonight, Cubs fans, against the Baltimore Orioles. Couple of 535 starts on Tuesday and Wednesday. All right, do you trust the Cubs management to build a contender? We'll get your calls in on that 3-1-2-3-3-2 ESPN, 3-3-2-3-7-7-6 is our telephone number. If you're on hold, you will be on the air on the Cappin' J-Good Morning Show. - The Chicago Games. - Okay, it's about that time. You tuned in to the Cappin' J-Good Show. - Everything ain't hardcore, you know, you know. - On Chicago's home for sports, ESPN, Chicago. (upbeat music) - It's a Cappin' J-Good Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and is streaming on the ESPN, Chicago app. With Usil 10 o'clock, the Mike Greenberg comes in at 10 followed by Carmine and Yurko 12 to three. Waddle and Peggy, three to 6-30 into White Sox baseballs that take on the evil twins. That's a 6-30 pregame right here on the home of the White Sox, ESPN 1000. 3-1-2-3-2-3-2-3-2-3-7-7-6 is our telephone number. Jesse Rogers is on the Cappin' J-Good Morning Show yesterday talking about the possibility of the Cubs trading Cody Bellinger. You know, I know Scouts are all over Bellinger and some of the relievers. I'm not sure there's other deals to be had if there are. There'd be bigger ones trading a guy that's under contract. So I see them moving Bellinger unless something changes in the standings. Capp, I think that's what the next couple of weeks are going to be about. They've got the draft in a week along with everybody else here a week from yesterday and then they'll move into trade season and unfortunately it looks like it's gonna be selling rather than buying. Selling rather than buying. That was the comment from Jesse Rogers that covers Major League Baseball like a blanket for ESPN and ESPN.com. I just want you to think about it Cappin' just in the central alone. We're looking at a small market Milwaukee Brewers team. This is not a shot at them. We're just talking about market size. Where there are 53 and 38 this morning, the St. Louis Cardinals, we mentioned last segment, the Cubs helped breathe life into the Cardinals because now they are just four and a half games behind. I didn't see the Cardinals being the second place at all. The pirates in the reds and then there's the Cubs at the bottom. All the money that's spent on the Cubs and you're just trying to figure out okay, if it's not this year, then when? When will the Cubs be able to put the big boy pants on and be a contender? I would like for the Cubs if you're a Cubs fan. I'm sure you agree with this. You wanna be able to get in the mix to be able to compete against the Phillies. The Padres. The Dodgers and the Phillies are a different story cap. I mean, because of the amount of stars that they have. But you just wanna be in the race. You could be the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League. If you just are able to get more offense and a better bullpen. I know those are two big what-ifs, but this is what's the problem with the Cubs right now. Yeah, for the Cubs to turn things around, it's gonna take more than a plastic all from fast pro shops. That'll help. But they have, it's gotta first start in the room. The guys in that room have got to get back to their career norms. I'm gonna ask you Dansby Swanson to hit 425. You can't hit 204 or whatever it is he's hitting right now. Man, thank God, by the way. Let me just give you your kudos as always do. You're on him before everyone else. I want your MLB network over the holiday. They're on him. I mean, there's a big spotlight on Dansby Swanson 'cause they're looking, doing side-by-side analysis. I think it might've been Brian Kenny. They were looking at it. They were just stunned that he's really not the player that they thought he would be this season. So it's not just here. Everyone's like surprised. - Okay. - About Swanson. - Yes. - Yeah. - And I don't know, we should pull the audio. Maybe Kevin can find it. Cliff Floyd after one of the games last week. - Yeah. - Directly called out Dansby Swanson. - I saw that. - Did you see that? - I did see, I saw it live. - He blasted him. Hey man, you gotta call it as you see it. This is on marquee and he drilled him. Let me read you this number. - Don't look like that Jack. I mean, it's bad. It's not like you're a handy dandy glove man, Niko Horner. He's not getting it done. All the money that's spent on him, they spent money on him like he was going-- - 77 million for that dude, Jack. - Yeah. - No, I'm aware. - Not good. And I'm amazed. - Go ahead, change hitting coach. - Dansby Swanson's been in the big leagues forever. This is not about the hitting coach changing how he hits. He stinks right now. Listen to this, I read all these different blogs. Cubby's crib put these numbers together. Over the course of the past month, this is as of yesterday. Swanson is slashing, get this. 186, that ain't good. 262 on base percentage, that's horrible. 340 slug, my grandmother died in 1995. She could have a slug of 340. With a weighted runs created plus 100 is league average. Mike Trout when he's really going good is in the 180s, like that superstar level. He's at 69 in his last 107 played appearances. - Say what you want about your grandmother, she's very good with the sweeper. - There's no such pitch as a sweeper. That's what John Smoltz said the other day. - No, listen, you see it all the time, right? I know it's a slider. - Yes. - I know what it is. - Yes. - It's just funny that everyone uses it now. - Everybody calls it, I was listening to a national broadcast and John Smoltz was, please don't call it a sweeper. And I'm like, I love you. He said, there's no such pitch as a sweeper. There's a curve ball, there's a slider, there's a split finger fastball, there's a fork ball, there's a screw ball, there's a change up, there's a foreseem, a tooth. There's no sweeper. - That was John Smoltz, loved it. - No, he's right. - Dan's B Swanson. This whole season, again, League average is 100. Below 100 is not good. Below 90 is horrific. - 77. - Yeah. - And you're paying that dude 20 some million a year. What are we doing? - Cap it almost feels like there's something personal going on. And hopefully, whatever is happening with him, that he could be able to snap out of this and get better in the second half. - Because when it's that bad cap, you say, and we as fans don't think this way because we believe that the players are robotized sheep. They're supposed to do exactly what they're supposed to do every single day, field your position, give three for four, whatever. It's a game of failure. My hope is that in the second half, this will turn around. Because to me, I never thought that Dan's B Swanson was a great ball player. - Not even a very good ball player at times. - Just a winning player that we can add to the mix. - But the hope is that whatever is going on with him, it turns around in the second half because this is unacceptable. - In July alone, Dan's B Swanson is over 19, striking out just half under half of his appearances entering Sunday. His strikeout percentage in the month of July is 47.4%. - I mean, it's a benchable player. It's a benchable player. Dan's B Hayward. - I mean. - It's a benchable player, very sad. - That's not good at all, no. But again, if you're a Cup fan, right? You're hoping that that turns around in the second half. - Yeah. - That's the only way that this is absolutely going to get turned around is if it starts first in the locker room, but then management has to step up and support him too. You cannot start a season without a closer ever again. - Shout out to council by the way, the last game for the Cubs as the Cubs beat the Angels five nothing. Starting Mr. Boney III, almost fell out of my chair. - Yeah. - What are you doing? What does he need time? This is not the first game of a double header. You don't need him out there. - So they started him on Friday and I was up in Wisconsin, I'm watching the game. And while his offense is horrifically bad, it's Swanson level bad, like he's hitting like 149. - Yeah. - He made three plays with his glove on Friday in the adjusted steel game. - Yeah. - One when the game was tight, I mean a rocket. And he made a diving stop and threw the guy out. His defense was amazing. - Connor's next on cap and J-hood. - This is cap and J-hood. They beat in the traffic commute, so you don't have to. - Shout out to him. - Shout out to him. - Shout out to him. He's on the car at his time and on a hot flight. - That doesn't help me. - He is. - Rattle, rattle, thunder, fire, boom, boom, boom. - Rattle, rattle, thunder, fire, boom, boom, boom. - Rattle, rattle, thunder, fire, boom, boom, boom, boom. - Don't worry, call the car at the same time. - He's on the car at his time and on a hot flight. - That doesn't help me. - He is. - Rattle, rattle, thunder, fire, boom, boom, boom. - Don't worry, call the car at the same time. - Good morning, Connor, will you? - That was, good morning, how are we doing? - We're doing well, Connor. What's the difference between a slider and a sleeper? - One moves a lot, one moves a little. It's everybody throwing all kinds of different breaks and balls, and it's just, I don't know, man, it kind of depends on what the pitcher wants to call it, the batter wants to call it, and I guess if you hit it, you can name it, right? That's to go back to take your leak for that one. - Did you hear John Smoltz was on with? - I think it was with, God, the Joe Davis. - It might have been Joe Davis, it might have been someone else. He was on, and the playback player said, there's a sweeper, he's like, stop. There is no pitch, call the sweeper, stop. He said, we've got sliders, we've got curve balls, we got change-ups, we got fork balls, we got split finger fast balls, we got multiple kinds of cutters and fast balls. There is no pitch, call the sweeper, and the play-by-play guy went, oh. - Yeah, and Connor, you called a sweeper in your play-by-play on the Big Ten and the White Sox, so you call it that too. - Yeah, I do, and if John wants to have an aerodynamic conversation, I'm happy to partake. Listen, I mean, breaking balls are breaking, well, we've been calling stuff different stuff throughout the entirety of Major League Baseball, right? We had splitters and splitters and all this other stuff. This was, we've been changing things as we go here for decades at a time. I don't know what the uproar is, but I understand that we fear change, right? - We do fear change, usually. So let me ask you a question. Last night, look, whether the White Sox win one game or not, it's not really gonna matter in the big picture. I get that, but that said, watching the game last night, you've got a five, two lead, you've come back, the twins were playing Little League Baseball and the hustle play by Aloy gets another run. It's five to two. Why go to a guy you just brought back from the minors? It's not like it's 11 to two, it's five to two, it's the twins. Why go to Jordan Leisure there? - Jordan had just come back up from the minor league. It's not like this bullpen has, you know, drawn out a lot of stoppers in this one. It's time to see what you've got in some of those young kids. And I think the way Jordan pitched last night, sure, maybe there's a batter or two that he faced that he probably didn't need to. You know, maybe he's out there a little bit longer. Maybe after the first home run, you go get him. Matt Walner flattening that baseball. - Oh, God. - So a billion miles an hour. - You know, what was it, one 16? - Eight hot cars hit ball in the whole season of anybody. - Yeah, I think it's the second hardest hit baseball in twin history, according to stat tracking error or stat cast error. That ball is absolutely roached out of there. It went a long way very quickly. But listen, I mean, the record's what now, right? And it is about finding out what you have in those young kids and even the harder lessons that you're going to learn or lessons you've got to learn now. You don't have to learn those later on. Pedro made a point of talking about that as it pertained to Michael Copac prior to the game and he's really tough outing against the Marlins two nights ago. And he comes out there and has a nice, you know, one, two, three inning with the zombie bass runner out there at second. And the first out moved him to third base. So I don't know that like, I understand that it's frustrating to watch a bullpen blow it. Yes, it always is. There's nothing worse in baseball than wasting good starting pitching. And unfortunately, that's been the case for the White Sox in too many circumstances this year. However, like you said, cap the one extra win or the one extra loss here and there doesn't matter. It's about learning the lesson got to learn for this organization. And unfortunately, Jordan had to get, I guess, taught a tough one last night. Connor, what do you think of the staying power is for the twins here for the season right now? Five games behind, but also a wild card contender. What do you think of their ball club overall for their staying power? Well, I wish they were healthier. That's for sure. Whether it's Buckston or Lewis, you know, those guys have really dealt with a lot of injuries. I mean, shoot White Sox fancier in this town above. I've seen it, that team is in it again. I think they probably like a starting pitcher. They're bullpen top eight. In terms of wins above replacement, you've got Duran, you've got Jacks and field bars, had good moments despite an elevated ERA. I think that offense is pretty interesting. The hit by a pitch to Carlos Correa two nights ago, you know, before the White Sox played them last night, it was tough because he had been really turning it on. I like their chances to make a playoffs. I think they'll add, like you know, like you guys both know, they are like a handful of teams in this weird money situation where nobody quite knows what the TV future is, like the immediate TV future and revenue, and that's going to change how teams operate in the short term. So I don't know their wherewithal in adding some of the payroll that they need to add otherwise. And that's why here's the segue for you. That's why the White Sox are such an interesting shopping destination, right? Because Garrett Correa is an ace and being paid $800,000 this year. And because Eric Fettie is a solid three slash two, and he's being paid $7.5 million next year. Every team in baseball can afford that from a monetary standpoint, whether every team in baseball can afford to pony up the prospect. Wherewithal, the capital that you've got to do, that's another question, but the White Sox are in a great place. When it comes to the trade deadline, even though many thought they wouldn't have to be here in 2024. Connor, have a great day, man. We'll be tuning in tonight. Always a pleasure, fellas.