Kap & J. Hood
7/2 7 AM: Connor McKnight
Chicago, this is your morning routine. Listen, respect my name, Cap and G hood. That's right. That's right. We're bad. Uh huh. Watch the show on Twitch. Follow ESPN 1000 Chicago, stream the show on the ESPN Chicago app, and on in there. 100.3 HD2, and on ESPN 1000 Chicago. Now, no, no, no. David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood. Good morning, everyone. Bring him out. Bring him out. Bring him out. Bring him out. Bring him out. Bring him out. On the ESPN Chicago app with David Kaplan, Jonathan Hood with you. We've got Jack. We've got Jaymore. We've got you for three hour ride. On this Tuesday morning with open phone lines for you three, one, two, three, two, three, seven, seven, six. That is our telephone number and cap plan to talk about here within the framework of our three hours and just saw the the audience knows. Cap and G hood nation knows. Cap is just doing these three hours just to get away from his family. Um, he's just, he's put him, he's isolated himself in a room to himself with the door locked because he's got, I don't know, 18 people in the cap in. Outside of his home, of course, if you know what to know what cap home is, there's just a glowing motel light with some of the light bulbs out, of course, it says cap in because that's exactly what you're having cap all that family in there. And you're just trying to get away from this morning. Thank you for joining us. So some of them have left. We had 17 and four dogs. Yeah, 17, four dogs of the 17. There were a handful of little ones. My sister lost grandkids, my two grandkids, and there are people that don't like a dirty house. And then there are people who don't like a messy house. Yes. Look, I have two dogs. I could deal with a little dog for, so, you know, I keep it. We keep it very clean. Messy. I don't do deal with. I don't. And so I'm following around scooping up books and puzzles and throwing them right back into a toy box. Uh, where's the piece of the puzzle in that box somewhere over there? Oh, yeah. Well, what's the, what's the turn down service like there, uh, in your home? I mean, is there a little chocolate on the pillow for each person? No. No, but last night we went, uh, place in town had a small town living, but they had, uh, a wine tasting. So my wife said, we should go with our son, Nick, our son, Alex, and their wives. And we walked. It was a mile walk. Oh, God. It's like they've over running around here. And I'm not going to drive, obviously. I'm having a wine. So we walked the mile, get to the wine tasting. It was fine. Had a good time, uh, find people at badger liquors we're putting on the wine. And there's a restaurant right there. So we go in. Everyone needs to eat. So can we let's order dinner? Uh, oh, which is special. Clamped, uh, corn chowder. So they order a bunch of corn chowder and then two Americas there. I'll have a corn chowder. I'll have, uh, someone got salmon and someone got this. And it was very casual. Waitress comes back to the table. Um, I'm so sorry, but the corn chowder ran out. It's gone. Okay. We'll take whatever other soup it was. I can't remember. She comes back like five minutes. We ran out of that soup too. We don't have any soup. Okay. All right. Can we just get that main courses? Um, that's why I'm here. I'm actually the manager. I'm not your waitress, but we ran out of everything you guys ordered. What? Oh, uh, they didn't have a kitchen at this place. Oh my God. They bring the food from another site. They truck it over. And it was busier than expected because they had this little wine thing. So I'm so sorry. All we have is a couple margarita pizzas if you want those. Nope. We'll pass. Thanks. Got up and walked in my home and root. My kids are like, we're ordering pizza. They call someplace. They order. They come home. Pizza's not there yet. Obviously it's not like instantaneous. Yes. We're going to bed. They went upstairs and went to bed. Mindy, I have to work tomorrow. I'm going to bed. She was having none of the nonsense and pizza show up and yours truly is basically the only one there. So they're all in the fridge. Okay. Quite a night. Okay. Well, first of all, I mean, what a night. First of all, uh, if Chicago cut steak houses, the White House, that place you went to last night is the outhouse. Holy smokes. I mean, seriously. Yeah, but this is, but here's the thing. Cap, no one had told you that you need to be in Wisconsin and to be able to have small town living. Yeah, you like the piece and quiet. Yeah, that there's a lake. Sure. It's all great. But you have to know that you're going to go down a few steps in class when it comes to the five star restaurant experience. The idea that you go out for dinner and there's like all the stuff that you want is not there and the place didn't have a kitchen. What kind of greasy spoon did you go to last night for God's sakes? I didn't pick it. See what I mean? Small town living. That's what I like. That's it. Then you didn't your family learn from green acres that maybe small town live is not the best. When you got to depend on a, on a Mr. Drucker to get you your, get your vittles. Yeah, when you're Drucker did not bring the food last. You understand, right? You're Eddie Albert in that spot. You know this, right? You're, you're the guy with the suit and the, and the, the vest. And they, when we were walking toward the house, I said, anyone want to watch a movie? They're like, yeah, what do you got? I said, either top gun Maverick. Oh God. Or the beekeeper for the seventh. Oh my God. Oh my God. Now that is small town living. We got two movies there. What they show them at the plate and to drive in. That's it. That's what you've done, Cap. That's what you've done. You just minimized yourself to small town living. So there's no complaints. You went to a place with no kitchen looking for dinner about that. No kitchen. Can you guys cook something? We don't have a kitchen. Everything gets brought over from our other facility. Oh really? Yeah, we just warm it up. Oh, great. That's no cut. Can I just take that? Delicious. That's no cut right there. That's it. So, but we had no baseball last night for the Cubs or White Sox. So, nobody lost last night. Thank you very much. In breaking news. It was the, yeah, that is the case, Cap. So, you had no baseball and then you had no food in the restaurant. What a night. And that's why folks that he has locked himself away from these people and that he is away from the family because the cap in is closed for the morning. Correct. It's ridiculous. That's it. This is a, you know, I said last weekend, that this is a big series for the Cubs. It take on the Brewers. He lost three out of four against San Francisco. San Francisco, a team that's not very good, but the Cubs found a way to just scratching claw and still lost three out of four. You lose against Milwaukee two out of three and Brewers fans are just chuckling, laughing at the fact that their manager is now in Chicago, floundering in last place in the National League Central while the Brewers are fattening and happy in the top of the division. And it gets easier for the Cubs though because you take it on Philadelphia for the next three. Good luck. Yeah. At this thing last night, there was a guy in a Brewers quarter zip. He had to have been 75 years old. And as I walked by, I said to him, uh, hey, Brewer fan, well, he goes, where are you from? Chicago. Nice. Yep. He said, Hey, ask the trader. Craig, how things are going down. I don't have a response. What do I say? Then you can say nothing. They're laughing because the Brewers are again, small market team. Is it sustainable? No, you know what happens? They'll get to the first place. They'll bottom out in the playoffs, then they'll try to find a way to sustain themselves to be a contender, but not to the championship level, but whatever, whatever they're doing cap, they are on top of the Cubs right now. That's it's amazing work by that, uh, that organization. Well, then his final shot, his salvo at me after we couldn't get any food as we're leaving. Yeah. He said, Hey, who you guys take a number one overall next year? Oh God. He was fired. Okay. Fights the old man. Could you? His name's Caleb. Remember it. Could you take him? That old man? Oh, you call it. He was strong. A strong old lover hoodie. Oh, okay. Well, well, here it is. It was Nesky tonight, the starter for the Cubs against the Philadelphia Phillies. It's a TBS game of the week, by the way. Don't embarrass the nation cap. The Cubs have to win the game. They're missing Harper. They're missing Schorber. Maybe the cubby go out and today's the day. It all turns around. Well, no. You're 39 and 46. There's a lot of rumor out there that more John Marosi stoked the fires yesterday from MLB network that they could trade Niko Horner. Well, they could trade Jamison, Tion. Would you like to hear the sound or would you like to repeat everything John said? I'd love to hear what he said. Okay, because I want to get your reaction to it. Although you look at the Cubs, they've been at her near the bottom of the N.O. Central for a while. And you consider where they're at at the moment. I would mention two names right now, Jamison, Tion and Niko Horner. Jamison, Tion has two years left on his contract after this year, 18 million dollars a year. And then Niko Horner in his case, he's got about a year and a half left on his deal before he becomes a free agent, a gold lover in the case of Horner and Jamison, Tion and a year where maybe there's not a ton of controllable pitching available, like the Cubs have to consider the possibility of moving a Jamison, Tion and this case. Now, Horner, you look at teams like the Seattle Mariners, for example, needing potentially a second baseman to help for the long term there, not just this year, but beyond as well. I think the Cubs, again, it's going to be hard for any team in the national league to make that decision. But the Cubs have struggled so much, Lauren, to get any kind of traction. But I think they have to at least think about it. John Marosi on the MLB network talking about the Cubs and their trade line, their trade deadline moves are possible trade deadline moves. I'll go back to what you told me several weeks ago regarding the Cubs and you said, well, let's look at the roster, who would you trade off the roster? Because you covered it a lot of these guys in the roster. As your opinion changed on that because you said, well, you know, you get to the deadline and if you're just kind of hanging in there, maybe you're not making moves. But the way they're going right now, Cap, it would not surprise me if Jed was sell off some assets, even assets that you like. I mean, if you look at their roster, who's really, really marketable on that roster? Obviously, Justin Steele, but I need more Justin Steele's not less. So I would be stunned if he was moved, but you'd get a handsome price for him. First base, you're not moving over Michael Bush. He's actually hit the ball really well the last month. He's, you know, they adjusted to him. He adjusted back and he's 26 years old and he makes no money. So there's no reason to get rid of him. Nico makes $10 million a year. So will you get a lot for him? You get decent back, cold glove, second baseman, shortstop. There is no maniac in the world that would take the Swanson contract. Chris Morrell, you could move him to second, which is more of a natural position for him than third. Makes no money. He's just turned 25 last week. You're not going to get a lot back. You're selling low on a controllable guy. That would be stupid to trade him. Ian Hap has a no trade clause. I don't know if he would wave it to go somewhere. I don't think so. Cody Bellinger? Yeah, what are you getting? You're asking someone to take on potentially two more years of big money, big, like 27 and a half million a year. And Suzuki has a no trade clause. And he's been scuffling as of late. So you're selling low there in your rotation. Okay. You want to trade Jamison, you could sign another journeyman type pitcher in the off season. You're catching maybe the worst duo in all the baseball. So what are you moving? Well, you heard that from Marosi there, would you be surprised that those players are gone from the Cubs? And the thing is, if you are going to make moves, the question always is for any typical fan, how can you get back up there? You have a $230 million payroll. You're not winning as is your last place. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of movement with this Cubs team because the offense is dead and you don't have any pitching any pitching on the back end of your bullpen. So you're not just going to just lay there and just die. You're going to try to make some moves or try to get better. But the question is, can you get better if you have a lesser payroll? That's I mean, we're just young players and a few veterans sprinkled in. Well, when we come back for break, I'm going to my friend Joe Johnson, it obvious shirts, put out a and all central standings with payroll included. People are going to be stunned. Is there any stop with the Tom Riggets doesn't spend any money when they hear this this breakdown? Is there anything that the Cubs can do to give you confidence before the all-star break in a couple weeks? Let's talk about that 3 1 2 3 3 2 3 7 7 6 is our phone number of cap and Jhood weekday morning 7 to 10. Follow Chicago's home for sports on Twitter at ESPN 1000. Cap and Jhood are back on ESPN Chicago Chicago's home for sports. Cap and Jhood on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app as we bring you in on this Tuesday morning with a little George Benson. Cap, I got news for you. You know, I poke you in the ribs sometimes about you on the boat on the water listening to Yacht Rock. I'm driving in this morning and there's a commercial on Series 6M that says yes, now on channel 105. You love Yacht Rock? Well, here's Yacht Soul coming to Series 6M. So, now it's going to be competing boats. You and your Yacht Rock and my boat is going to be George Benson and Smokey Robinson with Yacht Soul. Happy New Cut. How great is that, Cap? I love my Yacht Rock. Well, now there's Yacht Soul. I'm looking forward to listening. Right up my alley. This is so ridiculous, Cap. I mean, just like Yacht Rock is, again, it's an acquired taste. This is some of the music that I know I'm very familiar with that you listen to on Yacht Rock, but now Yacht Soul. So, that's going to be me. That's right, Jay Moore. We're going to have low George Benson, low Smokey and the Miracles. Yacht Soul. That's going to be fantastic. Hey, by the way, there was some news at the break I just stumbled on. When I was a kid, I don't know if you liked it, if you ever went to one, Jack in the Box, you remember Jack in the Box? Yes. Did you like Jack in the Box? Some people did, some people didn't. Wait, hold on a second. Yeah, Jack in the Box was in Chicago. Correct. They left in 19. They exited in the 80s. It's been between 40 and 50 years since they were last at Chicago, said their CEO. You know what? Honestly, Cap, I hadn't had Jack in the Box unless I was at West. I did not have it in Chicago because I don't think it was south. So, my brother and I loved Jack in the Box tacos. Yeah, I think, but it must have been north or in the suburbs because I don't remember itself. The first time I had it as it was, it is that adult in Vegas, I believe. Jack in the Box is announced this morning, the company telling the Chicago Tribune. It's been 40 to 50 years since our last time in Chicago. We are coming back. We will open eight company-owned stores, mostly in the suburbs, one near Midway Airport, and we will have franchise-owned stores as well. How about that? Well, congratulations, McGrath. We just happen to have a Jack in the Box right now. Congratulations on your new restaurants. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, very good. Jack in the Box is with it. And so, no, I didn't have that until God, I was in my 30s out, you know, traveling. I haven't had it in probably 30 years. Yeah, so that's good. That's good. That's an acquired, I mean, I mean, if I have to have have it, like Jack in the Box or Whataburger, I'm probably leaning Whataburger. I just had that in Houston on my last vacation, just because I hadn't had it and had that in 20 years, that burger. So, interesting. So, could you please tell us, and by the way, the question still stands about where the Cubs are going, because not only John Marosi, but also Ken Rosenthal on Fox said that the Cubs could be sellers. I still don't see it, Kevin. We're a month away, as you said. It's not even July yet, and they have the exact same record that they had last year at this time. So, last year, what happened? They'd won 10 of 12 at one point in July, became buyers, acquired gamer Candelario. This year, could they trade Cody Bellinger, if those things go badly? Yeah, they could do that, but they've had rotation injuries, they've had bullpen injuries, they've got 19 one-run losses. The most in the majors, their offense has been a disappointment. We've seen any number of teams turn around in the last couple of weeks or so, the Astros, the Mets, the Red Sox, the Cardinals, the Cubs are thinking maybe they're next. Well, you know Tom Ricketts better than I do, Cap, and I know that he knows baseball enough to know that when Jed comes ahead and hand and say, "Well, we were injured all season, we couldn't get out of last place." The retort from Ricketts on the other side is, "Yeah, but what about the offense being so bad, and what about the bullpen, your choices for the bullpen?" I mean, I'm sure that Jed will dance for his supper and say, "Hey, man, we were injured all season, that's why we underachieved." Well, hold on a second. Now, Milwaukee's 50 and 34. Yeah? 50 and 34, so they are six and a half clear of the Cardinals on a payroll of 108 million. Corbin Burns, well, he's a great pitcher. Oh, wait, he pitches for Baltimore now. They traded him away. Brandon Woodruff, oh, wait, he had Tommy John surgery, he's out, and all they keep doing is winning. 50 and 34, they're at 108 million. St. Louis, second place, 43 and 40, 175 million. Pittsburgh, 40 and 43, 84 million. Cincinnati, 39 and 45, 103 million, and a dead last, 39 and 46, 227.1 million, the Chicago Cubs. You could literally add Milwaukee at Pittsburgh or Milwaukee and Cincinnati together, and they don't come to the Cubs payroll, yet we keep hearing Tom Rick, it's his cheap, he won't spend any money. That's the fan base, Hugh and Cry. Now, could they spend more than they spent? Certainly. But guess what? 227, you dwarf the rest of the league, and you're in dead last. So why should I give you more money? It would be my question to my employees if I was the owner. So are you prepared to take a step back by doing that? You mean step back in payroll? Yeah. You prepare for that? Because that also, when you do that, you're not winning with a 230 million dollar payroll. What do you think you're going to do with less? Well, who on this team do you go? I have to have that guy. Okay. I don't want to trade Eminaga. I don't think they would. I don't know why I don't know why you've saw a sip of my question. I don't know why you're doing it this morning. I'm asking you a direct question. I'm giving you an answer. I asked you, what do you do, Cap, if you have less payroll, are you prepared for to be a non playoff team? That's why I'm asking you. But why does less payroll mean that I am a non playoff team? Who on my team that is being paid a lot of money is a non-starter in trade docs? Is the dance be sponsored? No one would take him, but he makes huge money. It's not how much you spend. It's who you spend it on. Fair. Yep. Milwaukee's at 108. Right. We're more than double. So if you if you cut some of the payroll, are you cutting fat out? Are you cutting somebody like, Oh man, I don't want to get rid of him. Like when they got rid of swarber over an eight million dollar salary, ill-fated decision because he's hit a ton of home runs in Philadelphia. And he's a good player for that. He's injured right now, but he's a really good power hitter. So if I told you you're going to cut 30 million off the payroll, now you're at 197. You're still the highest spending team in the division. Who is a non-starter? I can't trade that guy. Who is that? Don't you like Suzuki? He has a cornerstone for the franchise? I do. I like Sam, but he's right now he's been an average player. Showed. Same thing with Shoda, a cornerstone. Yep. I like him. You're not trading him any time. Okay, so but if I told you, oh, Dan's B Swanson's off the books, they got rid of him. Oh, they throw a party. Yeah, unfortunately, that sticks in your cross. So mad so badly at because of the money that he's making and you're not getting your return on investment as a fan. But it's what you told me. You said, well, what do you expect from it? You're getting a gold glove and just, you know, average offense. Well, what was he with the Braves? A terrific glove and average offense. Correct, but they had a bunch of really, really good players. Yeah. On that roster, so he could slide into that role when you pay him $177 million to come to Chicago, the expectation from the fan base is, well, that guy's going to hit 300 and drive in 80 and hit 25 home runs. Doesn't look that way this year. Cap, I would just tell you, my point of view is that the Cubs could cut payroll, take a step back. And the difference between the Cubs and the other teams in the division is that they have a cornerstone or difference maker. I'm talking about in their offense, like showed as a difference maker as a starter, it is no doubt. And just as steel is as well. I'm talking about offensively. Yeah, who do the Cubs have that you go? That dude, difference maker, who is that? Cody, making $27.5 million, certainly not playing like a difference maker. It's okay. If the Cubs would trade him to a contender, Cody Bellinger, he could be just like the added piece to a really good team, but not the difference between winning a championship, right, and not winning a championship. Fair point. If you dropped him on the New York Yankees, who Jesse Sudd does yesterday, he's being scouted by the Yankees, potentially. Okay. If you drop him on the Yankees and they've got Aaron Judge and all these other good guys, Stanton, I mean, they got, they're just a really, really good team. Well, Cody doesn't have to carry the team. He's not the star of the team. He's just a guy on the team. Maybe he's a really good player. They're short porch in right field. Rizzo's hurt. So, yeah, no question about it. So, Cup fans, are you prepared to be sellers at the deadline? You heard from John Marosi from MLB Network, as well as Ken Rosenthal from Fox? Are you prepared for the Cubs to be sellers of the deadline? And what should the Sox do with their stars? Let's get to your phone calls next on Captain Jay Hood. Here's to Dave's headline headline with Captain Jay Hood. Adrian Wojnarowski reports play Thompson headed to the Dallas Mavericks. He had been with Golden State his entire 13-year career. The deal is for 50 million. Nine-time All-Star All-George headed to the 76ers. He intends to sign a four-year $212 million deal with Philly. Jason Tatum agrees to the richest contract in NBA history, five years, $314 million. The new deal begins in 2025. We'll run through the 2029-2030 season. Again, the biggest richest deal in NBA history. Cubs at Phillies after day off yesterday. Hayden Wysneski on the hill over at Wrigley. No, Bryce Harper. No, Kyle Schwab, we're both on the injured list. White Sox at Cleveland tonight. Chris Flexinig, it's Carlos Carrasco, as they battle the first-place Guardians. First pitch, 540, covered starts at five on ESPN 1000, and the Skyer in Atlanta tonight to take on the dream. Jay Moore? Captain Jay Hood are back. And you know this, man. Chicago's home for sports. ESPN Chicago. It's a Captain Jay Good Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Here's hoping that you're going to have a great Tuesday and a great holiday weekend. Cap and I are talking to you about the Cubs. Are you prepared for the Cubs to be sellers at the deadline? And what should the Sox do with their stars? We're talking about it right here on Chicago's home for sports ESPN 1000. It goes to John Marosi, who mentioned earlier cap on MLB Network. Although you look at the Cubs, they've been at or near the bottom of the NL Central for a while. And you consider where they're at at the moment. I would mention two names right now. Jamison Tyone and Nico Horner. Jamison Tyone has two years left on his contract after this year, 18 million dollars a year. And then Nico Horner in his case, he's got about a year and a half left on his deal before he becomes a free agent. A gold glover in the case of Horner and Jamison Tyone in a year where maybe there's not a ton of controllable pitching available. The Cubs have to consider the possibility of moving a Jamison Tyone in this case. Now Horner, you look at teams like the Seattle Mariners, for example, needing potentially a second baseman to help for the long term there, not just this year, but beyond as well. I think the Cubs, again, it's going to be hard for any team in the national league to make that decision. But the Cubs have struggled so much, Lauren, to get any kind of traction. But I think they have to at least think about it. Thoughts there from Jon Marosi. Yeah, again, what are you getting for Nico Horner? You get something nice. I mean, he's a good player. He's not a star. And Jamison Tyone, if you can get out from underneath 17 million a year for the next two years, plus the rest of this year. Well, that's, I guess, you can always go sign another journeyman type starter in the off season is the way they would look at it. Let's go to the phone lines and talk to you, St. Louis, Missouri, listening on the ESPN Chicago App. Here's Blake Jack on Kappa Jayhood Blake. Good morning. Hey, good morning. How's it going, guys? Blake was 6.4. How you guys doing this morning? What's up, buddy? So as far as the Cubs go, can they turn the season around? Absolutely not. Who's coming out of this bullpen to save us? They've already blown 18, 17, 19. It doesn't matter. I've lost count. They've blown, they've blown countless saves. Any guys who can throw hard and strike people out and right now they don't have it. But if they are going to sell, who are we selling? You got to sell pieces that are super valuable because Cody Bellinger, what are you going to bring back? If you're going to sell, you got to sell off a guy like Nico Horner. You got to look at maybe selling a guy like Justin Steele. You got to give up these big pieces if you want a big return because there's no star on the roster now. So far, there's none in the minor leagues and we're not going out and giving wants out of the bag. So what do you do? Blake, we're presenting a telephone call. From my seat, again, the house could be burning down around me, God forbid, and I'm always, we'll figure this out. They had the same record, basically, that they had a year ago when they finished one game out of the playoffs. Now they had to get red hot to do that. I don't see this team getting red hot, especially with their upcoming schedule. You were telling me it's Phillies, it's Angels, it's Orioles, it's Cardinals. I mean, you could be in a world of hurts by the all-star break, a world of hurts. So long, everybody. But I'm not getting rid of all my pieces. I'm not Justin Steele. Justin Steele is one of your leaders. Why are you trading him? This is not a complete tear it apart and rebuild. That's not what this is. Do they need to make some moves? Yeah. Who's making those moves? I don't know. Jed's going in the final year of his deal. They've got to be better, obviously. But blow it all up. You don't have that much to blow up. That's my point. You're not just to move guys, just to move them. Everyone says, yeah, I've got a bunch of tweets here. Look at me in the face. Get rid of all these veterans and bring all the kids up. The kids can't come up if they're not ready to play A, B, you have some veterans, you can't move. Yeah. As we Swanson, for people out there that don't know the rules, you can't just take a veteran player and go up and send any of the minors. That's not how it works. Not allowed to do that. And you've got a couple of guys with a no trade, which is just a head scratcher. I don't know how Ian Hap. Great players, yes. Ian Hap has a no trade. I don't know how that happened. But we have to look at history cap when it comes to the Cubs. I think that you can agree with me. And I think you've said this on shows in the past that you have to be able to pull the trigger earlier early before it's too late. I thought that the Cubs under Theo held on to the court too long to the point where you'd watch games in the second half of seasons in which the Cubs can even scratch two or three hits together, let alone putting runs across the board because the team got stagnant. They won the World Series Championship and then like in 19, let's say it's something 18 and 19 into the pandemic, the team just wasn't hitting. And so I think that it is prudent for Jed Hoyer for his own job and for the Cubs to take a good long look at this roster and say, boy, we're just getting inconsistency offensively. We need to bolster this somehow. If we need to trade a couple of assets to get there, say, for instance, you trade a couple of guys because you think Vladimir Guerrero can be a difference maker, that's what you have to do. But you got to get out of last place. That's embarrassing. As you laid out, $230 million payroll in last place and Milwaukee is in first place. Tough. That's tough. Yes, it's absolutely awful. It is absolutely brutal. But again, there isn't a lot you can sell here to get a huge return. And the guys you could get a good return on, as I said, I'm not trading just it still. This thing should be fixed in the off-season. That means you got to add to your bullpen. You have money coming off the books. I spelled it out a couple of weeks ago to you. Kyle Hendricks is off the book, $16 million. I mean, you got a bunch of guys that are not going to be under contract and you're going to have a chance. I'll do the math again. But I want to say you're going to have, like, 40 or 50 million off your payroll. You tell me you can't go out and fix your team with that? And Peecan, here is Micah on cap and Jhood. Micah, good morning. Hey, good morning, guys. How are you guys doing? Well, great. Thank you. Hey, love the recap cap. Hope Council watches them. But this team's got to try to sell as much as they can. I mean, with how it's constructed, constructed, they're doing nothing. They're doing nothing next year if changes aren't made. I mean, you got to try to sell Horner half, Bellinger. I think the only position players I would hold on to would be Suzuki and Morel. But I mean, they need to try to sell as much as they can. The most disappointing player this year has been Swanson. I mean, he's hard to watch, man. And that contract is another Hayward contract there. Yeah, he's making $28 million this year. It should be 26 this year, 28 next year, 28 and 26, 28 and 27, 27 and 28 at 26 million to 2029. That's going nowhere. Niko's making 11, 5, 11, 5, and 12. And then he's done after 26. But you've got guys who are coming off the books now. Like, you're going to save a bunch of money. You're not resigning. I wouldn't think Patrick wisdom 2.7 David Bodie's out of contract 5.5. You still are going to have Bellinger, but you're going to have a bunch of money that gets freed up. Kyle Hendricks, 16.5. Yes. What about Drew Smiley? 10 million? I mean, you have some flexibility there. Nine from Hector near us. I mean, you're going to have a lot of money freed up here. You're going to have 40 or $50 million you can go out and spend Jack, you disagree with Nicko Horner being expendable on the ball club. He's a solid second baseman. He's still young. He's a guy that could be around for a little bit and just going back a little bit too. I'd like to combat a little bit this narrative that dance be Swanson's contract is just as bad as Jason Hayward's. Jason Hayward's first year in Chicago. He had an OPS plus of 68, which is horrible. Dance be Swanson was a league average hitter this year. And he still has a positive war because of his defense this year. So, first off, I completely disagree with that. But no, I think Nico Horner is a guy that still young can still be a cornerstone. And you're trading him on a down year if you trade him this year. He's only hitting 240 hit, 280 last year. And on average throughout his career, he's about a 280 hitter. That just seems like you're selling low to me on Nico Horner. But how impactful a player is he? He's got some defense. He's not he's not a huge difference maker, but he's a good player on a good ball club. He can be a very good player. I got two of my top four prospects, our second baseman that are supposed to be here next season. That's their ETA. Matt Shaw, who was a first round pick, James Triantos, top four prospect in a top three system in all the baseball next year, right now committed money, 164 million. They're at 227. So do the math. They got 50 something million dollars they could spend. He was that will get eaten up by arbitration. I get it. Yeah. But but you can move some guys out to 100%. Understand, Jack, your point. And if he is dealt, Nico will be a key cog for some playoff team, especially defensively. And he has a little pop in the bag trade for him otherwise, a contender wouldn't trade prospects for him unless they believe he can contribute to a winning team. And I still think he's young enough where he keep him around for at least one more year, maybe sell him next year when he's closer to the end of contract. But right now when you still have another year of control, I just I wouldn't give him up this year when he's just not hitting as well as he has throughout his career. We'll hear from Conor McKnight next on Captain Jayhood. Welcome back to Captain Jayhood. You're officially locked in. On Chicago's home for sports. ESPN Chicago. It's a Captain Jayhood morning show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Now time for Conor McKnight. And Connor has brought to you by the Access Community Health Network. And at every stage through every age, Access Community Health Network is your family's medical home. And Connor is on the hotline. That'd be the car X tire and auto hot. Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom. Good morning, Connor. How are you? Good morning, fellas. How are we doing? We're doing great. Thank you. It's the White Sox against Cleveland. How do the Guardians do it? It's funny. We're talking about the Cubs and how they're in last place and Milwaukee's in first place, small market team. How's Cleveland doing this? You know, it's funny. You look up and down the offense and obviously you've got guys like David Fry. And you know what I'm mentioning? David Fry before Jose Ramirez or Stephen Kwan. It's something weird is going on in Cleveland. But David Fry's been awesome. Jose Ramirez has been great. Josh Naylor is taking that next step, which a lot of people didn't think he'd take credit to him for the development. The offense is a lot better. I don't know if you guys have read around the wind tunnel changes that taking down some of the scoreboards in right field have made through progressive field. There's more homers going out there. It's not like it's a cheat code or anything. They didn't type in the code for Ken Griffith unit all around every time you make contact in Nintendo 64. But it's kind of like that. The rotation's been weird, right? Like Shane Bieber's not there. Tristan McKenzie just got option to triple A. They get a couple of starters with five in the ERA's. The bullpen's good. It's weird what they're doing, but they are doing it. It's been consistent. And here's the thing guys, they play pretty good defense. And so on the margins, they don't seem to give back a whole lot. And I think that matters when it comes to a team that's got a couple of funky pieces to it. So Connor, I'm looking at the Cubs payrolls 227.1. Dead last third worst team in the national league. And the Cleveland Guardians 107.9. That's it. 107 and they're killing it. And they don't have anyone other than Jose Ramirez. He makes 17 million. No one else makes more than 6.7. So this, I can't believe we can't sign all the top guys. That's a bunch of nonsense if you get the right guys. Yeah, it's probably harder to do it the way the Guardians are doing it than the way the Cubs are trying to do it. It's weird when you develop your own pitching, when you have the pipeline, and this has been, you guys know this, but this has been Cleveland's calling card for the last like decade and a half almost. They can create their own pitching. Even if that pitching doesn't last forever. I mean, you think about a guy like Aaron Savale and everything he was to that rotate. He's been discarded and moved around to three other places like it. These these these systems, these pipelines that exist to bring those pitchers up means you get to be less expensive. And I think that's where a lot of ownership who see that kind of repeatable method, whether it be with the Rays or whether it be with the Guardian, they want one of those of their own. Yeah, they want to find that oil well in their backyard because it's cheaper than going somewhere else. And I get that that's maybe the easiest thing to do with with all the new technology that we have, right? The way that we can develop pitchers with the grips and all that other kind of stuff, but it doesn't mean you can't invest in it. You still need to, whether it be through personnel or tech or combination of both, you still need to put the resources into that to bring out of it this this manageable and under control pipeline that the Guardian have pitch wide. So kind of the way. Go ahead. Putty. Yeah. Putty Cleveland, I told you, is that 100.5. They're 26th in baseball right in front of them, 25th at 100 1.7 Baltimore. Move up to Milwaukee, 22nd Kansas City, 20th the twins 10 over 19th the Mariners eight over 17th like there's a bunch of lower payroll teams doing it, Johnny. Yeah. Yeah. So I asked for ask you both Connor, I'll start with you. Do you believe that we could draw a line of demarcation saying as far as the major, you know, big time salary teams that it stops with the Dodgers with the Otani signing and then we won't have these big signings anymore in which you just have to be able as you mentioned, Connor, develop your farm system, have a way of playing a style of play and then go from there, kind of roll the dice because I feel like we're not going to see any more of these Dodger-like salaries in Major League Baseball across the board. It's possible that we're seeing a decline or that we're on the other side of the bubble. I mean, it would be really hard to say anything other than that when you have show here, Tony Steinick, but what he did, I guess three things there, right? One, there's a new CBA coming sooner than anybody really wants to think about and that may well be a bloodbath. Two, you've got the uncertain TV revenues for a handful of different ball clubs that put some chaos into the overall payroll expenditure for a ball club. That's real, right? We talked about the revenue sharing in this league, but uncertainty, you know, revenues get followed a lot, right? And talked about it in different ways by different teams. Uncertainty is real and that's something I think we're trying to deal with, but the common thread to a lot of those teams is the farm system. So when as frustrating as the Cubs are, this so far, the season and other things you have, they do have a good farm system. It may not be ready yet. There still are benefits to reap out of that. It's just, you know, those plants got to be ripe when you go pick them. Otherwise, you know, they can spoil. Yeah, highly disappointing where baseball is in a quote, unquote big market. And then a friend of mine said, well, Lisa Socks left the number one pick. And for people that don't realize this, if you're in a major market, you cannot pick in the top 10 or in the lottery. I think the top nine consecutive years. So the Sox pick fifth this year, but no higher than 10th next year, correct? That's right. And those guardians who we've been talking about, the White Sox will play tonight, have the first pick in the draft. They lucked out a little bit like the Bulls did with Derek Rose. I think the guardians had a 2% chance at this one. If you were around, of course, the both at a 1.7% chance there. How about that, Cap? Crazy. Absolutely crazy to see how the rich get richer. But again, I still think White Sox are eighth in the fan graphs, minor league rankings. The Cubs are, one ranking has them second, another one I saw has them third. So there should be some good players coming for both teams. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's right. And you get the draft coming up on the 14th and a trade deadline that is seemingly going to enrich this White Sox system by our whole mess. The odd five o'clock pregame for Connor for the Sox and Guardians. I don't know about you, Connor. Like Friday, I was at the ballpark. The 610 start is a little bit odd. Central time, for sure. We love 610 starts. Yeah. We love 610 starts. That means we can get it. We love nope, Victor. We're very pro 610 starts here on the broadcast team. I understand that that puts a wrench in everybody's dinner plan, but we like them. So a 540 start with the Sox in the Guardians. As always, we appreciate Connor. Thank you, sir. Thank you, boys. It is kind of a nice day. And he's on the hotline. Car X. Tyranado. Brought to you by Access Community Health Network. Shout out, no shot. Two minutes on Cap and Jay Hook.