Kap & J. Hood
7/1 8 AM: Jesse Rogers
[Music] Good morning and welcome in to the Captain J. Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app with David Kaplan, Jonathan Hood with you. Now time for Shata No Shot brought to you by. That would be ESPN Bette Live in Illinois, get that $100 in free bets when you make any sports bet. Wager, open your account, download that app. Today we say good morning to Shea, winger, Norah Bette. Good morning boys on a Monday, how are we feeling? I'm on Monday when I get to see Hoodie in a Kima Lai Juan, Houston Rockets, Shurzy, it's a good morning. That is an awesome shirt. Washday at the hood household. Digging deep into the drawer for this one, just something clean. That one's cool. After, you know, after smelling like liquor for the weekend, might as well put on something clean. We've all been there. Let me tell you something, Cap. The Brewer fan, as I see on my phone here, laughing and smiling this morning. Believe me, I'm getting it from all sides. Laughing and smiling. It's unbelievable. How did these small market teams do it, man? The structure, knowing that you may not win the big one. But the point is, though, is that it keeps the fans interested that you're at least going to be a playoff team. The guardians, you know, the Milwaukee Brewers, teams like that, finding a way. Meanwhile, these big payroll teams, they're sweating it out. By the way, at the break, I pulled up on my phone the highlight. You remember when Jim Leland told Barry Bonds to leave spring trading? Yeah, he started screaming at him with F-bomb after F-bomb. All right, you want to have it out? Let's do it right now. You can go home and he went off on him. Those Barry Bonds, yet Cody made a mistake. And it just keeps happening. Yep. You don't talk to players like that anymore as we turn to Shay Norley. Well, he brought up the Brewers, making the playoffs. I was glad at least over the weekend to see one team in this town be a little aggressive. The Blackhawks went and traded themselves back into the first round with two second round picks. They ended up with three picks in the first round. Today, the expectation, when free agency officially opens, they'll go sign Tyler Bertuzzi, the half a point per game player in Toronto a year ago. Feels like they are making moves to build a competitive team sooner than later. Shot or no shot? The Blackhawks are going to end up getting back to the playoffs before the Cubs. Oh, gosh. That's a shot. That's a shot. And I never thought I'd say that. Never thought I would say that. I'm just wrong, man. I don't mind being wrong here every morning, but boy, that looks my pick of them to get to the playoffs. It's like the Cubs are not interested as much as I am in their team. It's it's unbelievable how bad the Cubs are right now. The Blackhawks in the playoffs sooner than the Cubs. If I had told you that there is no way either of us would have signed up for that. No way. The Blackhawks started their rebuild what two seasons later, technically. God. And it was unfathomable, but you go land counter, but are picking the top five again, get three guys in the first round. Feels like they're going to make some splashes and free agency this off season. Yeah. And this kid Tyler Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi. Yeah. Yeah. So Todd, he's got to be related to Todd Bertuzzi, right? No question. He's not. It's not his kid because I'm looking that up and the parents are not Todd and whatever. But I just played in that call tournament in Toronto with Todd. I could have broken the story and never even thought that the Chicago Blackhawks. He's the nephew. Tyler is the nephew of former NHL player Todd Bertuzzi, who was an animal and the nicest guy in the world when I met him, but he was just physical and tough played. I think until he was 39. So we're getting a guy like that. Let's go. Please ask that question after the major league baseball trade deadline, just put a pin in it. Just bring it up again. Well, it's July people, people aren't doing what they're doing this summer. This will be a fresh, fresh question for the audience. Will Cody Bellinger be wearing different color pinstripes? Matter of fact, shot or no shot after the major league trade deadline with the Yankees sniffing around in the Cubs right back where they were a year ago. Shout or no shot, Cody Bellinger will be wearing different color pinstripes on August 1st. Johnny, no, you can have this one. I'll say no shot, cap. I will say no shot. He's wearing different pinstripe? Yes. Oh, I'm going to say shot. And guess what? I'll put his not following the fundamental rules ass right in my car. I'll make sure it's charged up and you right to the airport. I'll say no shot because it might be a team with just solid colors with no. Pinstripe. Oh. Yeah. Okay. The Atlanta Braves use. The Atlanta Braves use them. They don't. Do they wear? I don't think they have pinstripes. I think those are solid colors. The Braves. They might have an alternate with pinstripes, but I think you're right on the solid color deal. Just just. Let's go. No shot. I like to see the Yankees be the old Yankees. They're poor. They're scufflin. Geez. Can you answer me a question? Yes, sir. It's a serious question. Yes, sir. How can Miles master bony at one forty nine or whatever it is he sitting and Patrick wisdom and the catching situation like how do these guys stay in the big leagues? The scenario keeps it home runs in the minors. Other guys look like hmm got a chance maybe and they don't even get a chance. We keep bringing the same goofs up. Oh, well, the answer to the question would be that they don't want the good young talent of the Cubs sitting. They feel like if you're going to call them up, they should be playing right away. And by the way, you might get your wish at the end of the deadline. I think that's the answer, Cap. The answer is they don't they don't want their good young prospects sitting on the bench watching instead of not instead of playing every day. But who do you let him play? I had some of these guys. Okay. Like the catcher, right? You would you'd rather have a young catcher than what you have right now. Okay. He just went up to triple A and he's killing the ball up there. I'm going to trust that they know more than you and I combined about player development for me. They do this for a living. They get paid a lot of money. So if they feel like moist as biosteros, yeah, we love him. Top six prospect and a loaded system. If he needs to stay down there, okay, I'll trust that you guys know better than I know when he'll be ready, but he can't be that far off. He can't be. Okay. And what about the other players? Like you don't want to see you don't want to see all the Patrick wisdom up there, right? You'd rather have a minor league player than wisdom languishing on the bench. I would just like to see can Alexander Canario jumpstart your offense at all. And if he can't, well, then what are we doing? He's got what 15, 16 home runs and the minors are ready. He'd be the leading home run hitter on the Cubs. You wanted to you want an answer. I mean, that's the answer. I'm sure that's the same thing they would say. They'd rather have master bony seen on the bench than your best minor league hitter. They are horrifically bad for what it's worth. Ballestero said MLB pipeline is a 2026 ETA cap. I wouldn't get your hopes up here. She 26 he's in triple a shape. Look up his numbers. P L B. He's in like 310 I think in triple a how can he be 2026 20 years old. They don't want to activate the clock. Look that up boys. Thanks. Come here. Two interesting stories came out in a Bob Nightingale trade deadline piece regarding the Chicago White Sox. I got very scared of something when I read through days. The first was that the Sox quietly engaged with Garrett crochet on talks about an extension looking to lock up their young apparently phenom pitchers, but excellent this season. No progress was made. The idea of the White Sox are going to be able to extend crochet. They've lost faith in that. They're a little more motivated to move him also per Bob Nightingale. The White Sox are trying to move Andrew Benantendi who has 50 million dollars left on his deal from 2025 to 2027. He's also been one of the worst players in baseball this season, 45% worse than average by OPS plus and all of a negative 1.8 wins above replacement. Now for my little fear shot or no shot. The White Sox are going to use Garrett crochet to get out of the Andrew Benantendi deal. You got to get as wow, no shot because their payroll is small compared to the big market teams. You can't minimize the asset that is Garrett crochet just to get out from underneath a crappy contract. That should be a separate deal. Hey, man. We made a bad signing. That was a previous regime. Pay it off and move him, get something done, eat what I got to eat, gone. You got a max. If you trade crochet, which I think is a mistake, he's 24. He is top 10 pitchers this year in Major League Baseball. Yeah. That's fair, right? Yes, it is. Okay. You're going to trade him and get less back so you can move a bad deal. That's just bad management in my opinion. Yeah. That's a no shot. And Shay, if you were in charge of the White Sox, you would have cut Benantendi. Just cut your losses. It's not going to Chris gets. You just would have. I mean, you're not going anywhere. You eat the money and you just move on. It's just that's the kind of owner I would be in sports in general. If I made a bad deal, $75 million for Benantendi and we are a year and a half into said deal and he's one of the worst players in baseball, I would find a way to pay him 50 million to F off respectfully. Yeah, that's that's all fair and I would agree cap. These are two separate entities. We're talking about two separate players. You want to trade crochet because you want to get draft picks and you want to get younger. Go ahead. I'd rather for them not to cap, but I understand the position the Sox are in the crochet could be aces for this team the next few years, but the Sox aren't winning the next couple of years. They're just not. So with or without crochet, it's going to be the same ball club. They're trying to trade to get another crochet. He's only 24. You told me he's 29 30. Okay, I get it 24 years old flame throw and left hander. Good person in the room like there's no negative. I agree. I agree. These are two separate deals to me. What did the Royal do? Remember when you came on and said the Royal have just signed Bobby Whit Jr. for $285 million. Remember that? Yeah. Okay. The race goes, wow, super cool. We committed to one of our young guys rather than being a farm system for everybody else. And the Royal, while maybe not going to win the world, sir, they're having a better year this year. 47 and 39. Correct. Look at it. Look what happens when you spend a little bit in invest and say we're going to have a cornerstone in our franchise. Look what you have. Who's the cornerstone on the White Sox? But Gary crochet should be one. If you're ready to win. Yeah. If you're building, if I could tell you like, okay, in three years, cap, you'll be in the playoffs. Okay. Then you keep crochet along. You keep you keep them with you on the ball club, but they're not ready to win in three years. They're not. Wow. They're not ready to win in five years. It takes a lot. You have to reimagine the minor league system to now. Correct. Don't forget about that. Yeah. That I think that's the tough part is your minor league systems bottom third in all of baseball and having crochet long term is nice. But when you're through, if you were a year away, I could see locking them up. When you're three or four plus years away from contending, you have to reload your minor league system and you can do it by trading crochet. Shay, I'm a bottom line fan. And what it comes down to is have you done it before Chris gets where you could be able to say, hey, we are trying to fix the minor league system. Now we have all these assets and we're going to be ready to win in three years. We'll fight in the job as a GM and then as a person that was presiding over the minor league system, it was in the middle. Now it's even worse than that. And the bottom of the third. I mean, think about the Orioles, right? They need starting pitching help. They think they can win a World Series. They have one of the best farm systems in baseball. Can you snag to their top five? It'd be nice. That would be nice. And those are star level players like that. Yeah, but they're not giving you Jackson holiday either. You'll probably not. But can you get Heston Kirsten? Maybe. Maybe. Now, once they're on your team, what are you going to do with them, Cap? What are you going to surround them with? And that's where I'm saying it as a bottom line. This is not just being negative, just being a realist when it comes to the White Sox. It's going to take a lot to get underneath the Han and Williams regime to try to fix this thing. I mean, the Rocky Series is one thing. It was like two Spiderman memes pointing at one another. You're bad? Well, you're worse. So this series didn't tell me anything. No, it did not. Can you squeeze in one more? Yeah, on Friday, hoodie, we were reacting to the spectacle of the presidential debate with Chris Black, who believed we were missing a golden opportunity as a station for a campaign of our own. If you missed it, we've put together some promotional material. The place, ESPN Chicago, the year 2024. One candidate born and raised in Tokyo. No nonsense host David Kaplan. He's all nonsense. Yes. The other candidate also born and raised in Tokyo. That is offensive and inappropriate. Two sports talk show hosts will vie for a one-year term as president of ESPN Chicago. Whatever that means. We'll civil discourse lead the day in this race of no purpose. Everybody just tweet cap at once. Just right. Take that. No context. No nothing. Or will this just turn into petty fodder for each other's shows? My response is, okay, then you're born, stay tuned to ESPN Chicago for election 2024. Shot or no shot, cap, would win the election. That's a shot. That's a shot. Oh, you believe you take that so be. Now the election, this is a black creation believing that someone should run for president of ESPN 1000 in this election year. And we believe that you would be the candidate to get that done. I can tell you this, I'm not speaking for Sylvie because I'm not going to negatively campaign unless I have to. I would, there will be a level of accountability that you've never seen before. Oh man. That means new pens for everybody and new yellow pads. Correct. And a working computer. No more. Well, I walk into a studio and have a mic fall out of the hole. The mic stand. Okay. Damn. Do you have any other campaign promises? Yes. I will make sure that every day you come in, lunch is provided by management. Whatever your shift is or dinner. There will be an endless stream of cold beverages available in the lunchroom. All at no cost to anybody else. That's awesome. Congress is laughing that one out of the building. No, who shot that gets through the majority leader Craig went what? I will say just in terms of the campaign, I like caps ads a lot. If we're going the attack ad route, no disrespect. I'd take Jay Moore and I creating attack ads over Tyler and Miller. Oh man. And there's me and Waddle on the other side of the room just lobbying back and forth, making negotiations on behalf of both candidates, having a heads of lunch. To be all kidding aside, I have a less than zero interest in politics and in running. So I will just sit back and be a good team. Oh no, brother. You've been nominated. Yeah. The convention has happened without you. Yeah. Thanks. Folks, David Kaplan, you know me, folks, he set your table in the morning. You got to figure, what station do you want for sports? Mommy. That's what you got to do, campaign. Around the NFL, next on Captain Jay Hood welcome back to Captain Jay Hood on Chicago's home for sports. ESPN Chicago. Nick both sucks. He sucks. I'm just a fan. I'm not a football. 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. I love when 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 Captain Jay Hood on ESPN 1000, reminding you to check out the YouTube channel for Cap and Jay Hood. Yes. Cap and I have our own YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to Cap and Jay Hood, the YouTube channel. In case you missed certain segments on our program around the NFL. Here's Shane only check. All right. We have a list here. Some CBS sports writers voted on players who are on the track for the Hall of Fame. Will they make it or not? Ah, I will offer you Williams, Roman Dunes, I will set the NBA. I will offer you the player. You can tell me if they voted yes or no. I'll start with Devontae Adams, Devontae Adams careers, six Pro Bowls, three all pros. He's led the NFL and touchdown grabs multiple times, over 10,000 yards for his career. 12th all time in career touchdown receptions, five touchdowns from the 100 mark Hall of Famer or no, yes, no, CBS sports voted yes. The career numbers is 29th all time and catches 44th in receiving yards, not quite good enough. If he continues at the pace that he's expected to, should be more than enough. Packer, right? Do they do that in the NFL? Do you pick a helmet? I don't think you do. I think you just go in. I think he goes in as a, a raider. But no rings though, right? No rings? No rings. No. Yet. Yeah. Where's he going to get a ring? Fair. You don't know. Yeah, maybe when he's 35, he gets traded to the bear at the deadline because of an injury heaven forbid and we win the Super Bowl. You don't know. All right. Next one. Keenan Allen. No. Six. Six Pro Bowl nods, no all pros. Ify career marks. Hey, no all pro, huh? Never made an all pro. Hmm. Just a solid player cap. Very good player. Dang, the answer is no for me. That typically keeps you out. If he gets a Super Bowl and a couple all pros in Chicago and keeps the career numbers at the track that they're at, he's got a chance. But today, no shock. All right. Zero. Mike Evans is next. And this one's interesting because people forget Mike Evans has been like the most consistent incredible wide receiver in the NFL 10 straight thousand yard receiving seasons. He's also one of just four players in NFL history with 750 catches, 10,000 yards, 90 touchdowns in his first 10 seasons and he has a Super Bowl. That's a yes. No. Oh, they voted yes. Majority voted yes on Mike Evans. I think he's rather easily a Hall of Famer. What holds him back. He's a good player. I just took it. Yeah. I don't think there's anything holding back. I was just taking a guess on how the goofy, you know, committee would be. That's a yes for him for sure. There is some goofiness that will come into play in a little bit when we get to a couple quarterbacks that made this list. But first, let's go with DeAndre Hopkins. Hmm. Uh, DeAndre Hopkins. Cardinal. I would say no, all the very good. I would not say yes to that. Shane, what do you, what do you think, Cap? First guess DeAndre Hopkins really good player, not a Hall of Famer. That is correct. He's not a Hall of Famer currently. He's basically the Arizona slash Tennessee version of Heinz Ward, who is also not a Hall of Famer. But that should like Heinz Ward, everybody knows Heinz Ward, one Super Bowls with Pittsburgh, right? He visits this great wide receiver for the Steelers. That's how strict the NFL Hall of Famer is. Yeah. Uh, you know, if that was baseball or basketball, Heinz Ward would be in the Hall of Famer. Of course. Nice guy. Decent numbers. I don't know. NBA, the basketball hall of fame as you put it. It's like the village bice. It's like a divvy bike. Everybody gets a ride. No question. No question. DeAndre Hopkins, all the very good, looking at his numbers, Cap. Uh, yeah, a long time with Houston and now with Arizona. His numbers are. Now he's with Tennessee, right? Yes. The comp is plexigal burris. So there you go. Sure. Without the shooting himself in the leg part. Yeah. Uh, Tyree Kill on this list, obviously Hall of Famer Tyree Kill. That is a shot. He is. All pro nods. He's one of the best receivers really to ever do it. Did you say Tyree Kill? Yeah. Tyree Kill. Yeah. He's a Hall of Famer. To the quarterbacks where I think we can embrace a little debate. Matthew Stafford, two Pro Bowls, zero all pros, zero MVPs, one Super Bowl win and the all time statistics, currently 11th all time in both career passing yards and touchdown passes. But did they vote him in? Uh, they probably didn't. And if it's my vote, he gets in posthumously. Oh, let him and Kelly enjoy the moment down the line. Do you think she'll bring the backup quarterback from Georgia to his induction ceremony? The one she was sleeping with or the other one? Yes. She comes double fisted if you probably think special. Wow. Uh, I will say they did not vote him in yet. That's correct. They did not vote him in. And I, this is the Eli Manning debate. You have the Super Bowl and Eli has two of them. You have. And two Super Bowl MVPs, I might add. You have no all pro. Stafford does not have a Super Bowl MVP either. I believe one that correct fraudulently given the Cooper Cup. It should have been given the Aaron Donald. Agree 100%. You and I unlocked up. But for Stafford, you have the all-time statistics, but you are a losing player in Detroit, went to a loaded team where you didn't win Super Bowl MVP. You've never made an all-pro team. You've only made the Pro Bowl twice. Then if you look at historically, if you don't have an MVP in your quarterback, you ain't getting in. So yeah, I would agree that he's not a Hall of Famer, but he will be later on in life. The other Russell Wilson. The Wilson is a Hall of Famer. Read some numbers, please. For his career, well, the accolades are really what it comes down to. He's got the Super Bowl. I believe he was Super Bowl MVP, nine Pro Bowls, two trips to the Super Bowl. Origin, please? Origin. Yes. For Russell Wilson? Can you say it in the sentence? Russell Wilson stinks in 2024. What are you asking me? What is it? It's like the spelling. NC State quarterback. Like the spelling bee. NC State and then Wisconsin. It's like the spelling bee. I'm trying to be careful because I don't want to get in trouble. The spelling bee. That was Ask the Origin. And also I'll say it in the sentence, because maybe that will sway us one way or the other. I thought you were walking me into a chat. Russell Wilson to me is a Hall of Famer cap. Do you don't think so? I'm going to say... Come on for Ciara. I like Ciara. We had a good time together. Um... Not like that. Hold on. We were in a golf tournament. Breaking news. I would say he will resurrect his career in Pittsburgh and then we'll get in the Hall of Famer. He's a Hall of Famer to me. I think he either needs to win an MVP or a Super Bowl. He actually got fewer votes in this poll than Stafford did. Both were no's. If either of them win an MVP or another Super Bowl, I think they're both locks. Well, that's not happening for Russell Wilson. That'll be all. This is it. Then I got bad news for Russell Wilson. He ain't getting in. His numbers are quite to this, Cap. Ready? Jim Kelly. Roger Starbach. Matt Ryan. Dan Fouts. Randall Cunningham. Steve Young. Matt Stafford. Ken Anderson. Joe Montana and Cam Newton. That is named for you, I think, five Hall of Famer's. Yeah, he's borderline. I think he needs to have a good year in Pittsburgh and I think he will. He will be 36 this year. I mean, he's 36 years old. I mean, I think at this point in time he's a Hall of Famer. Now again, it depends on when he gets in, but he's getting in. Seattle team is, again, whenever you think of that defense, Russell Wilson was a big part of it as well. He and Pete Carroll. I don't know. I'm not denying he was a big part of it and he has a legacy in this league. But zero all pros never won an MVP. It's unheard of to have only one ring, no all pros and no MVPs and get in as a quarterback. Unheard of. Man, I thought, well, OK. Sorry, hoodrope. I just thought he put enough work in to get there. And nice enough guy. Smile. The point of the exercise is the NFL has it right. To get into the Hall of Fame, you have to be the very best of the best. You basically have to have been a top three player at your position at some point in your career. And if you weren't, you're not getting in. All right. That is our look around the NFL right here on Captain J. Hood, some baseball conversation with Jesse Rogers, Cubs Sox, everything else MLB, with Jesse Metz. You've met him again. I am. All right. Jesse will be with us coming up next on Captain J. Hood. You're listening to Captain J. Hood. Follow the show on Instagram @thecatman and @IGJhood. This is ESPN Chicago, Chicago's home for sports. It's the Captain J. Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Now time to talk to Jesse Rogers brought to you by the West Coast men's health, helping men with ED and chronic pain. For over five years, go to west coastman's health.com and Jesse's on the hotline. That'd be the car X tire. And auto hot. Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom, boom. Shh. Don't worry, who do you call it today? Good morning, Jesse, how are you? I am good. This trip to Milwaukee, no better than the one that you guys were at a month ago. They've lost eight games in a month. They go two and five on the road trip. So many places to start, where do you guys want to go? Well, I'm a little angry with you, Jesse. What did I do? I want you to go to the next Craig Council boring media meeting. And I want you to walk in there and go, Craig, I'm asking this question for Captain Hood. Or if Hoodie doesn't want to cosign, you can put it right on these shoulders. Your team makes more outs on the bases than any team in baseball. There's no level of accountability. Cody Bellinger forgets how many outs? Well, it's a mistake. Chris Murug gets picked off first. Well, it's a mistake. And it keeps happening. Is there going to be at a moment where you realize, this now is blowing back on you. And your team is the one that's the worst in Major League Baseball at running into outs on the bases. At what point is the light going to go off and you go, I don't care if I'm playing a vendor from the upper deck, but someone else is going to be out there, respect the game. So, OK, I will put it that way to Craig. It was a big conversation point to Jed on Friday. I hate Willie Harris problem me aside. Yesterday, I had a conversation with him. This is an organizational thing. Listen to me, Cap, this is an organizational thing. I wanted to play this cut. I'll just read it to you. This is from Jed Hoyer Friday. Listen to this. We've done a ton of research. Plays at the plate are really hard. It behooves you to be aggressive in those situations. You could take that a little too far. Now, he's talking about Willie when he says this. He is aggressive. And off the scorecard we work off, he does a good job. And I'm told in terms of their scorecard, he's like third in decision making, however they determine those things. So, I agree with you with everything you said. But this is an organizational decision to be this aggressive. They do lead the league or second or third and going from first to third. So, this isn't on Craig or Willie. This is on Jed and everyone in that organization. They've decided to be this aggressive. - But Jesse, according to the challenger, forgot how many outs there were. That isn't aggressive. - No, that's stupid. Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt. And you're right. I mean, what am I gonna do? This is not a rookie. He made a big mistake. I agree with you. Yeah, that's why I said I will take that question to Craig. But in terms of the outs at home and the bigger picture, this is how they determined to run the bases. This is why they've led the league and outs at home as much as Willie Harris has made back decisions. They've decided aggressiveness is worth the trade off. I disagree with it because for every good base running move, you shouldn't have a bad one. It can't be a one to one ratio. - You don't have the, see, the thing is, it's not the wrong being aggressive. You don't have the players to be aggressive though. The fastest player in your ball club is Pete Girl Armstrong. So you could be aggressive, but if you guys, if you have a bunch of guys that are a little bit above station and station, Jesse, then what's the use of being aggressive if you're gonna get thrown at the plate? - Yeah, they'd probably debate you a little bit. They'd say Horner's a good base runner. Even a guy like Bellinger swans, someone he's healthy. I mean, I think he has her somewhere in the middle. - No. - Yeah, they have some wheels, but they're not the, Milwaukee's better at running the bases and stealing and things like this. I mean, remember, Horner stole like 45 bases last year. The answer's somewhere in the middle, but I don't disagree with you. There's not a lot of hobby biases on this team that can get away with it. So, and everything isn't talking to Willie. Like, you know, you guys tell me honestly, which is the better way to go. You have a bad offense, right? You have a bad offense. Everyone sees that. So, should Willie and the team be taking extra chances to score some runs because the offense is bad, or the opposite because you're not scoring a lot, giving away outs on the base pass is really gonna come back to haunt you. I mean, I think it's more the second thing than the first, but I get that there's a decision to make when you have a bad offense. - But, Jesse, hoodie and I've talked about this. When Christopher Morrell gets thrown out a second, that was, he had beaten the throw, his hand came off, the guy knocked his hand up, whatever. Okay, I can live with that one. When he gets picked off of first, and when Cody Bellinger is around second, like, oh God, there's only one out? That stuff cannot go unpunished. I don't care if he's making 27 and a half million, or 275,000. You got it at some point. Let me ask you a question, Jim Leland, Bobby Cox, Aussie Gian, Tony LaRusa, when he was like the sharp man, that he was with the Cardinals. You're telling me, those guys would tolerate that stuff. There's no chance. - It's just bad. - David Ross wouldn't try to tolerate that. - No, Jesse, sometimes you just get so, you can get so caught up in the numbers, but just on a surface level, you know bad baseball when you see it. That's bad baseball at Clark and Addison. Bad baseball. - And I said that to Jed, I, you know, we were talking a lot about the offense, and I said, what about the controllables? And he admitted it's been bad. So cap, you're right, there's nothing wrong with the direct question. Is there a consequence to bone-headed, base-running plays? Is there a consequence that we're not seeing behind the scenes, whatever? And this brings me to the Justin Steele outburst, because what I did was follow up yesterday, and I kept asking players, does it surprise you that fans universally were in favor of that? Of you guys showing the world that there's frustration there? And of course, their answer was, of course there's frustration, you guys don't always see it. I go, yeah, but fans want, and it's almost like this as well. We want to see, it's an emotional response. We want to see Craig Council address it for us to see it. I don't disagree with you, Cap, but you know, how he's doing it, those are good questions because it keeps on happening. You know, some of it by design, I guess, according to Jed, some of it not. The overall thing is, and Jed said this correctly Friday, like if they're up 10 to two and Bellinger gets picked up, he didn't say this, exactly, it's who cares. They need to score more runs. They were 27th in OPS in May, that went up to 20th in June. They're one in two in months, like April was good. Now they've had two bad ones. If it's one in three, Katie bar the door. Somehow they have a good month in July, we could talk about things. But obviously the season slipping away, and it's slipping away because of this offense. That's the bottom line. 20 million dollar players across the diamond, and they cannot. Now here's the answer, go back to what you said. Like when you're not scoring, you need to pick up some wins in different ways. And they haven't done that because of these controllable things that they failed at. - You've blown 17 saves, Jesse. - I know, I hear you, but you know, you can't be expecting four, three games every, winning four, three games every night. I still go back to the offense. They need a closer, he screwed that up. They need a closer, but you can't be trying to win four, three, five, three, three, two, every single night. You guys know this. The good teams have a great run differential, and they have games where they can rest their bullpen. 'Cause either, I was even talking to really everybody's like, it almost be better some nights if we lost 10 to one than four to three. And just to rest people, and there's less stress and all that, then the nights you lose. But they need to win a few seven to one, eight to one. You know, they won one game all month against the Mets, eight to one, that was somewhat of a, you know, is some breather between, you know, saving the bullpen and all that stuff. It's just not happening offensively. - All right, we'll hear from more from Jesse coming up. And that's all right, Cap. Hey, you know what? The Cubs are going through it now, but have an easy, easy part of the schedule starting tomorrow against Philadelphia. We'll hear from Jesse talking about Craig Council and the Cubs, we'll hear from Craig coming up next on "Cap and J-hood." (cheering) Follow Chicago's home for sports on Twitch at ESPN 1000 Chicago. Cap and J-hood are back on Chicago's home for sports. ESPN Chicago. - Jesse Rogers with us here on the Cap and J-hood Morning Show. Jesse, you guys chance to talk to Craig Council? - Yeah, we went back and forth a little bit about the trade deadline. And I just wonder with him coming from the walk with he has a different perspective. So give this a listen, it's about a minute about the trade deadline. - I'm confused a little bit about like trade deadline. (laughing) I'm a little bit confused 'cause there's like, there's no like, you can be confused whether you're adding yourself or buying or selling. And your team can be better. There's still 60 games left and you can play really good. - Well, no, I think that's what this is happening to him. - It doesn't, it doesn't, there's a game the next day. It's not like, no, there's no statements maybe. There's still gonna be a game the next day. No matter how it happens, no matter what, you guys, you guys, whatever narrative you write about the trade deadline. - Yeah, but if you trade pending free agents that are veterans, it gives you a much less chance of winning, so that's why-- - According to you, what are your last-- - Yeah, according to me. (laughing) - Well, I mean, according to common sense, right? - I've been taking a lot of trade deadlines that I've been through. - Yeah. - And you tell me, Jesse. - Milwaukee's a little different. - No, that's what I'm trying to change. - Okay. - All right, it doesn't have to be. - Okay. - Now, see, that's good. See that cap? That's shooting a crap. That he's not all focused and talking underneath the shirt. That's Jesse Rogers getting Council loose and a great conversation. - Well, I told this to your go last week that with Council now that I've covered him for a couple months, even though I've known him for 25 years, never covered him day to day, you really do have to go back. Not, he just, he gives short answers and which might satisfy you, but a lot of times it's not enough. You need to go back. Here was the point of that though. I think in Milwaukee, their trade deadline philosophy was always twofold, to help now and the future because of their market, right? They were always trading for now and even the Josh Hader trade was for that moment and the future, even though it didn't look like was for that moment, they got back a reliever who didn't pan out, but they also got something for the future. The reliever was Tyler Rogers. They thought he'd help out at least a little bit. So, but the Cubs don't have to do that. They don't have to do two things at once that the trade deadline. And so if things don't go well, just use Kyle Hendricks, for example. He's a pending free agent. If he pitches well this final month, they will trade him for a prospect. It won't be a trade where they get something for the now and the future, that'll be just for a prospect. That's most of the time what you do with pending free agents. I think coming from Milwaukee, he had a deal with two things at once. Big markets don't have to do that. Now, Jed might make a trade for the future, but if you trade away veterans and you start bringing up rookies, yeah, maybe they catch lightning a bottle, but again, common sense would say, if you trade away your veterans, you're probably thinking about the future. So, I thought it was a little bit of a strange exchange, but he has a different perspective. - Yeah, the thing I would say to him is, Craig, come on man, you guys can buy any guy in baseball. That's just a fact. If Duance Soto, I'm not saying he would, picked up the phone and said, yeah, Jed Hoyer, please. You tell him it's Juan Soto. Hey man, I wanna be there. Here's the number. You match that number. That's what I've got on the table. I've always wanted to be a cub. You can do that. You can't do that in Milwaukee. So, when you don't add on at the deadline this year, you're making a statement that your team's not very good. It's not that you can't afford people. - Yeah, yeah, with Jed, it was much more black and white on Friday talking about this stuff. And we kind of informed that of Craig and he's like, okay, well, that's different. Jed's saying it, but I understand that in uniform people are like, you know what? July 30th comes, there's a game the next day. That's kind of what he was saying, but the team changes on July 30th, you know, if you're not in the race. - Right, if you trade Ballinger and somebody else, your team theoretically should take a hit. - Yeah, and so we kept on asking Craig throughout the weekend really, you know, do you need to play better in July because of the deadline? And he would say, just use the first part, not the second part, we need to play better in July. He just didn't, and I get it with some in uniform personnel. They don't look at the 30th as a deadline, the way an executive does. But we all know it is a deadline. Maybe in Milwaukee, it wasn't, for whatever reason, it will be here, it will be for Jed next this month. And, you know, I mean, I would say 90% chance that they're gonna sell off, right? There's not a lot to sell anyway, but their mindset will change come July 30th on this season, if they don't really go on a huge run, which they did last year, so I guess, anything possible. - I have an important question. I love Hoodie's perspective on it, because while Hoodie cheers for both Chicago teams like I do, he's a Sox fan, I'm a Cubs fan. - That's just a fact. If the Cubs and White Sox are playing, I want the Cubs to win, Hoodie wants the Sox to win. So it makes it a lot of fun for one of the people I'm closest to in my life. We have this, you know, running dialogue, it's fun. Do you believe that if this team continues to play this lousy brand of baseball and they're dead last at the end of July, the Jed Hoyer's job is in trouble going into the final year, or do you believe Tom will not pull the trigger out of? - I think his job is in trouble, yes, because in this sense, it's not like they're gonna come to him with an extension. So the clock will be ticking at that point. My guess is he would just go into his final season as they lame duck if they finish this poorly. I don't think you'll get fired in the off season. That is just my gut. But as I've said to you before, we don't know Tom's MO in this situation 'cause we've never seen it before. He fired Jim Hendry a few months onto the job, basically. And then he's had two guys the rest of the ways. I think his job will be Jeopardy and 25 for sure. Like normally if they'd made the playoffs this year, Jed would probably get an extension. So let's just start with no extension and he's a lame duck executive next season. That's the way I would look at this. - So, okay, before I let you go. - Yep. - Yes, he would have gotten an extension if this team was battling in first or right there with the Brewers. Unfortunately, they're not. The fact that it's so bad that you've outspent every team in your division by 60, 70 million, and the Brewers are running away at hiding and your team has only the Marlins who sold the first week of May, their best hitter and the Colorado Rockies who are a train wreck as bad as the White Sox. I mean, Jesse, that has to figure into, because you don't want to let your executive go into a lame duck year, do you? - I don't think it's unheard of. Like I've said before, manager executive two different roles. It's not perfect, Cap. It's not perfect. - Jesse, then you go into a off-season where a guy like Ryan Pace was fighting to keep his job rather than making decisions for the long-term health. - Well, but here's the thing, Cap. - That's human. - Fighting to keep his job equals what they need to do anyway. In other words, they need to make the playoffs in 25. So whatever he does in the off-season of 24 to make the playoffs slash save his job, I'm four. So the goals align, because I don't care about 26. Nobody cares about 26.7, 28. After three, four years of not making the postseason. And really five years since having a good team. So saving his job and making the postseason should be synonymous next season. So I don't have a problem with whatever he does in 24 to do those things. - And I disagree with you, and I know we're out of time. I disagree with you. 'Cause if you said, well, we loaded up, we got a 36-year-old who had a career year, but I gave up three of my top five prospects. - That's not jet anyway, that's not jet anyway. He's not gonna go against-- - Desperate people do desperate things. - No, he's not gonna go against all his morals and beliefs and all that stuff. He's got a hope going, Casey is the rookie of the year next year, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Look, this, as we say goodbye, this is reminding me a lot of the end of the last run, where they have a broken offense and they don't understand why, where at least the parts look a little bit better than the sum, we're in Milwaukee, the sum is so much better than the parts, or at least equal to. So that's the first thing they have to figure out. Why did we go so wrong on offense? And then we'll see what jet does. - Jesse, have a wonderful rest of your day and ask him that question. And if he bristles, you can say it came from me. - Oh, I'll say it came from you either way. Love you guys. - Please send the tape, okay? - Okay, you got it. - All right, there he is. Jesse Rogers on the car X tire and auto hotline. We've got NBA free agency. Now a little nugget drops that Stephen Samcoast is gonna hit free agency and the Blackhawks are a dark horse for him. What is going on? The Hawks are engaging on top level players. Let's go. All of it coming up next.