Kap & J. Hood
6/28 8 AM: Jesse Rogers
[Singing] Good morning and welcome in to the Captain Jay Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app with Chris Blecken for CAP IMJ Hood and now it's time for Shadow No Shot as brought to you by That would be ESPN Bet, now alive in Illinois Sign up today and new users get $100 in bonus bets with Annie Sports Book Bet, we say good morning to Shay W. Noerling Good morning Chris and Hoodie on a Friday, how are we feeling? Good morning Shay Good morning Happy Friday Yeah it is a happy Friday A vibes Friday Oh absolutely, are you kidding me? Great Can we just get to football? I don't mean around the NFL, I mean can we get to get our camps opening yet? I think the we're what? July 16th is when rookies report to camp for the Chicago Bears so we've got like two and a half weeks and we're there Does it feel like it's later or is that just me? It's going to be early because they have the Hall of Fame games so That's also the release date of NCAA 25 for anybody paying attention July 16th My attention will be divided unfortunately with rookies reporting to Bears Camp Yes, he'll be throwing touchdowns I'm going to be rebuilding Appalachian State We're starting to die in a state Yeah, I was sad to know unless Shay has it wrong that we're not getting any me acting swag schools in this spot It's FBS only, always was I was building Howard for years on the old game I think you could build custom teams back in the day I probably can with this game as well but yeah, the licensed games are FBS only So can I get Wyoming? Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah Maybe you know what, Hawaii rainbows are going to run here Yeah, a little New Mexico action, how about that? You know what, I'm going to be doing that It's going to be a lot of running shoot It's going to be, I'm just going to just turn it upside down Why not the Revenge of the Beaver? Oregon State, they get ditched from their conference A little Oregon State A more Cougar guy, if I'm going for Pac-12 revenge We appreciate the submission there, Charlie You're welcome He's a platypus, by the way, I don't know if you know this Have you heard this from Charlie? No He can go either way Oh, that's good In the state of Oregon All I was going to say Yeah, so I was going to say I don't judge, but go Those individuals call themselves platypuses I think that platypi Whatever Yeah, it's close I would say that he needs to choose We need to pin him down to make him choose A duck or a beaver That's right You got to choose Isn't that something? No, but he's not the only one I've met someone Who's from the state of Oregon The guy had a duck golf bag Started up the conversation And then he told me That he roots for both In one other sports scenario Do you root for your arch rival? Yes And it could go either way That you just, whichever team's better that season That's the team you go with And that friend that Chris met Was Fred Armisen Here's your name Chantlandia Let's go Alright That guy doesn't golf Do you think that guy would In a debate Are you of whose golf game's better? No chance NBA draft is over It means that you can look forward now I can not drive you Who's closest to the pin? More on that a little bit Okay We can look forward now To the rest of the Bulls Off season There are some reports That in addition to trying to move Zach Levine The Bulls are now also trying to move Nikola Vusovich There's the wrench in the wheel That teams apparently are looking at Levine and Vooch And without being able to also acquire Alex Caruso Are significantly less interested In both players So maybe the Bulls jumped the gun a little bit But shot or no shot All three of Levine, Vooch And Damar will be gone Part of the season in October That's a no shot Not all three I would say two But not all three I'm going to say shot I think all three are gone I think they I think Damar's going to leave on his own You have to move Zach Levine And there's no use for Vooch anymore So get something back I think all three are gone Now the reason why I say it's not all three Is because we have to know who's in the front office And the chairs are tourists kind of show this See, I was trying to I don't know if it resonated with Cap or not I know what it did to the audience But I was saying that When you don't make moves Like our tourist conno-shovas You are on ice with the rest of the GMs They know you're there You might be friendly with them But you don't want to negotiate with someone that doesn't pick up the phone Right? This whole thing And whether that is a Michael Reinsdorf issue Or a conno-shovas issue The perception is You don't want to deal I have players that That's on your roster There's players on your roster As on team X That like to have a my team But you won't pick up the phone So there's a circle As you will know Chris In the league Where GMs will deal with other GMs Carno-shovas is at a place Where the bulls are in basketball hell And there's some talent that she kind of want But you don't deal with carno-shovas Because they didn't pick up the phone The Sam Presti deal I got intel on how Of a hardliner that Sam Presti is As a general manager Because the conventional wisdom was How come the bulls didn't get a draft pick? Right You know why? Because Sam Presti is like I want Caruso You want Josh Giddy? Or ideal? I like to have one of your draft picks No I'm hoarding your draft picks Take her and leave it I'll hang up now Okay, let's do it Yeah That's how Presti works man He doesn't mess around in like Dilly Dally Okay, I was thinking this last night I don't know why I popped into my head But AK is approval rating Has got to be the lowest of any GM Or VP of basketball operations in the city, right? The worst Yeah, because I have zero faith That he's going to figure this out I have zero faith that he's going to make these moves And put the bulls in a better position going forward I know there's something about the way The lack of enthusiasm in his voice When he speaks The kind of He doesn't come off as like a know-it-all But he does kind of paint a picture to me as a fan As if we're not seeing what we're seeing Like the team is actually in a better spot Than what they've been the last couple of years And I don't trust him I don't trust him to get it done It's a no shot for me I don't think they can get all three done I don't think he has the wherewithal I get that done And I don't think he has the shot because they have to There's no other option You're going young Buzellis You have Giddy You can't bring back those players So that's why I'm saying it's a shot All right, well, yeah, the Cubs won last night Or yesterday In the day Five, three, in extra innings Ian Hap hit a two-run homer in the tenth Was the difference in the game Cubs didn't win all week Well, Cap was in here He was forced to sit in that chair And be enraged, frustrated with his baseball team But with Chris Black in the chair We get to react to a Cubs win Just like last week When Chris Black was in the chair After the Cubs had beat the Giants Shot or no shot Black in the morning Is the Cubs good luck, John? That's a shot And the Cubs are really the Mocha Joe Spite store right now When Cap is there That's what's happening They are not winning When Cap is in That's a Spite store Close for business No wins For the Chicago Cubs Oh, Cap was he playing about us We want to play by Nancy Swanson For the 18th time this week Nope, we're not winning Shut it down But Chris comes in though Look at the inspired Cubs Coming from behind To salvage the series against the Giants Big win That's exactly what happened In the tenth How about that? Two-run Jack from Hap They did it for Black That's exactly what happened Only if the Cubs knew that Chris never opens up the standings For baseball Yeah, uninterested I'd say this Yeah, it's an absolute shot Because Cap cares so much He cares so much If the Cubs are going to be great They're going to be good If they're going to make a move What's Jed doing? All this stuff Yes, shot He has the yes Good luck charm, yes It's good to have you React to a win Appreciate it It wasn't all wins yesterday In this country In Atlanta Yesterday A very embarrassing day Braves? Yeah, I know Braves, it's unbelievable, right? Sleepy They could not Be less interested In playing the White Sox I agree with you I'm a bright fan, I'm disappointed Atlanta is disappointed today Agree totally But in the city of Atlanta An even more embarrassing day For our country Unfortunately, yeah What? The United States On the world stage Lost to Panama In soccer Oh Tim Way was ejected On a red card In the 18th minute Had to apologize To his teammates After the match The US lost Disappointing To one match To Panama Shoner no shot This was the most embarrassing Thing to happen In our country Yesterday No shot No shot I mean Bronnie did get selected by the Lakers 55th after the reports that Rich Paul was telling teams Don't take Bronnie James Also embarrassing? Yeah, what else happened yesterday? Kind of a hard one, rookie of the year No, that's great That's great From the city That's awesome Good for him Good for the Hawks Yeah, that's great That's great That's great That's great That's great That's great From the city That's awesome Good for him Good for the Hawks Yeah It's a no shot Although I will say As someone who Really enjoys watching USA Soccer And following the men's team And their struggle For the last 40 years To be relevant It was such a Disappointing Slash expected way For a match That they needed to win To go Like a situation Where they start the match And they get a goal That was pulled off the board Because of off-sides But they seem to have All the momentum at the start To then Give up a red card On a bone-headed Punch A push to someone's face Which you cannot do It wasn't a bad call It was a red card So now you're down You're playing ten men For the rest of the match And you have no possession Which is typical of US matches And eventually Panama broke through And they win the match Two to one And once again The US find themselves In a spot on Monday Where they have to win To advance From the group stage I can't ask you a question Again, I'm just asking you Because you Know more soccer than I do What has happened To the coaching cycle And soccer Or halter again I mean the You know The van Gundy of soccer Coming back here again Another job Are you bereft of quality Guys that can be able With new ideas That can coach the men Soccer team? Is that it? Is the end bear That you can't find someone Else? Yeah, there's so much Corruption within USA soccer That even though There was scandal And poor performance In the past They brought him back And people want him Fired now The unfortunate part is We're in a world Cup cycle Which in two years Will have the World Cup with this same team So like to make a move at Manager now heading into After Copa America is not ideal Come on man Go overseas and get a top-level Manager bring them in I mean it's the same crap Every single tournament Major tournament They can't even get out Group stages I don't understand why You're doing awesome Last night they put it on Yeah And there's no way It's very unlikely I think The US wins on Monday But I don't know why you keep Going back to the burr halter Well, there's nobody else Yeah That's weird Of course No, imagine that in the Traditional sports that we Talk about every day Yeah, right? So it's just like, well, we can't Find any other coach So we're just going to run it Back with Bernie Bicker staff With JB Bicker staff Yeah Oh, just run it back again With Bandicundi Again, stand Bring it stand back again That's exactly it Right? Why would you do that? Like, there's got to be Fresh ideas and a new way To be able to be a manager And soccer Besides going with the same guy The same sleepy burr halter Totally agree Strange Did you see what Also happened to our country This week in sports? Oh, sports. Hold it. Okay. Go ahead. It's sketchy right now Anytime you bring it up Yes. In the international American football championships The U20 World Championships The United States lost to Japan 41 to 20. They're football, right? In American football. Yes, yes. I did see that. I thought it was. Yeah. The U.S. lost to Japan In our own sport. Postgame show next. Who's playing in these games? It's got to be like the It's got to be. You have to be people. Kids who couldn't even Make college teams, I would Like D1 college kids on N.I.L. Deals are never going overseas To play in this. Listen, let me just say this. This whole civic pride thing That we're doing around here. I mean, there are other Countries that we well know That can do sports And be able to perform And train and get better Because they know the U.S. Is a bully on the block. So they'll do whatever it takes To be able to beat us In all of these different sports. This whole civic pride thing. How come the United? We're supposed to be the best. But for some, It means more in other countries And it is our country. We on the outside as fans It means a lot because of the Olympics and the pride of it all. Does it mean as much to the Players as it does in other countries? Where they train all day. They always see the red, white and blue. We must beat the red, white and blue. We must make the American suffer. It becomes a rocky movie at some point. Yeah, I mean, look at France. And the NBA draft. Yeah, I mean, there's no surprise to me That 20 years ago, Tony Parker was winning championships With the San Antonio Spurs. He has a lot of impact and influence Back home where he has teams, Like AAU teams and professional teams. And that influence has now 20 years later. You see bears fruit. There are players from France Who are consistently now getting drafted In the top five picks of NBA drafts. After the 92 dream team just bludgeoned Those teams. The international players said that's enough. Whenever it takes. I'm getting over there to America And I'm going to do what I can do. I'm going to beat the American players. They worked harder. Yeah. And now look at the league now. You have to have a year. Back in the day when we were growing up It was about stashing the Euro. Yeah. All right, draft them. But we won't see them for another five years. There's a stash to Euro over there in Lithuania. Poland. Put them over there. Nope. You bring them to the big club now. Because they can make a difference. Of course. What card? I didn't even know there was like a younger Football League. Internationally, Shay. I didn't either until I saw the big headline That USA lost to Japan. And I could not believe my eyes. I didn't know what that means. Like what was the age group? 20. You 20. Okay. So it's not anyone that's playing in college football. No high schoolers. It's between high school in the U.F.L. I think. Because I was going to say like what's Cam Newton up to? Like if this was like just put your squad together And go over there. Like let's get Cam Newton quarterback. There he is in leather and lace. You can spot him anywhere. Yeah, right. Like with big hat. Yeah. Like I'm sure he could still play a little. No. No. Okay. No. He's got a hat with a tag hanging off the side. Like Mini Pearl. I don't think that's going to work. He's a podcaster. Can't you go? He's a good coach. Maybe he's a podcaster. I would chase Daniel over him. Yeah. Okay. Right now. I would take chase Daniel over. I mean we have quarterbacks. Yeah. Yeah, we do. Yes, we do. Around the NFL's next. Cap and Jay Hood with Chris Blecken for Cap. Right here on ESPN 1000 and on our YouTube channel. Welcome back to Cap and Jay Hood. You're officially elected. I'm Chicago's home for sports. ESPN Chicago. I'm just a fan. I'm not a football about here. I love the Green Bay Packers. The guy is from. But there he goes. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. I love winning. He starts to come at a home. This is a really thickly built guy. I mean, what's the answer you're looking for on these things here? Whoa. And now it's time for Around the NFL. Right here on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Jesse Rogers is the latest in the Cubs Sox, everything else MLB at 835. Still to come. Our full breakdown of what happened as far as Barney James in the draft. There's a lot of twists and turns with that move yesterday for the Lakers. We'll explain. But first around the NFL. Here's Shay Norley. Yeah. I just want to wrap up this. Apparently the U-20 team losing to Japan. I was looking at the roster because I just want to know what is this comprised of. Yeah. I don't know the names of any of the kids on the team right now. And obviously 18 year olds. There's a 16 year old quarterback out of Nebraska. But the alumni is interesting. Jonathan Taylor was a part of this at one point. Tyron Matthew was a part of this. Honey Badger. So my take now is the head coach needs to be fired. You can't launch him into the sun. You can't lose to Japan. If you're getting that kind of pedigree, these are the kinds of players we can expect to see. Maybe good solid college recruits. Shay, could you give me a box score? 41 to 20 was the final. I can't see it. Is there a box score if you're looking at it? No, I couldn't find the box score. I had to go to the International Federation of American Football website to get the roster. Finding the box score has been tough. Give me a box score. Does rivals have the roster and where they're committed? Are these commits to South Carolina, Florida, Texas, or is this like Colgate? Are these kids actually going to play college football? Or are they a bunch of kids that are going to play at directional schools? I'm kind of kidding. You don't have to look up rivals. I'm curious, though. It's very interesting. Who did the U.S. really lose to? That's what I'm saying. One of the quarterbacks on the team here has an offer from Bowling Green and is not nationally ranked. Bowling Green? Bowling Green, probably the worst program in a half. Yes. There's a convincing argument. Yeah. So, I mean, is it really that much of an L? Are we taking that big of an L today on a national stage? I just think the coach should be fired. Are we taking that much of an L on a national stage? Yes. Yes. We did. For this? Yeah. Many reasons. Yes. Here's Shane Norley. Speaking of taking L's, my dream maybe has come true. The NFL is going to pay me money. They have lost their Sunday ticket lawsuit. There is now civil action. And according to what I was reading from their brochure pamphlet, whatever, if you were a residential subscriber to NFL Sunday ticket any time between 2011 and 2023 and you did not opt out, you are a part of this. You are eligible to be a part of a $4 billion payout to 2.4 million residential subscribers. Well, that's more than the Facebook lawsuit. Yeah. The $14.01 there. If it goes the way it sounds like it'll come out about $2,000. So how do you mailbox? How do you get your check? It says do nothing right now. You'll have to opt in, like provide information at a certain point down the road. But right now, as long as you've done nothing and haven't actually opted out, you're in. You guys ever trust that? You get the piece of mail that says if you were a part of this during this date to that date, all you have to do is... I do it every time. You do it every time. It's free money. I want the Facebook lawsuit. What about scams? Aren't you guys worried about scams? Not with that, no. No. All right. I get them in my email all the time, and it's like law firms emailing me going. Yeah. We think you're a part of this. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. I think against MLB TV, I'm in a few. Oh. It's like an auditor. Boy, he's litigious. All right. Yeah. Listen, man, it's free money. Wow. Do you understand your first and third amendment rights? I can't sit here and film any time I want to in front of this building. I'll sue you. He's one of these auditors. Yeah. You see on TikTok. Yeah. The moment someone touches his camera. He's like, I got it on film. I got it on film. I got it on film. That got me through COVID, by the way. Seven days of just watching these auditors just talk about like, hey, you're the police officer. I know my rights. You know you're right. I can sit here and film all I want. I can stand right here in the post office. Look like a maniac and just film for three hours. Because I'm in the lobby and I have the right. The right. Get out of here. All right. Shirk off. All right. So what? Well, Chris, you were asking before the show, how does this relate to football? Is there anything that comes out of it? So I was doing some reading back here and there are concerns that are growing that the league could lose Sunday ticket, which is kind of their freely owned revenue sharing stream, which could reduce the salary cap. That would obviously have some pretty big implications because the salary cap just rose by 15% this offseason. It's been an explosion in the wide receiver market in the quarterback market. If this actually damages the salary cap, did we just live through the NFL's version of the NBA's summer of 2016 when they thought the TV growth would be way more than it was. Auto Porter was getting a max contract. Everybody was paying everybody. I mean, I don't want this to be a shingle held up by the NFL saying, well, now we can't pay someone through the nose because, again, look how much the NFL's making, though, Shay. All right. $4.7 billion damages for now. That's what the money is. Okay. I don't have to give it to you in one lump sum. I don't have to do it all at one time. What I'm saying is is that because the NFL still making money hand over fits with all of their TV and streaming deals, they'll be fine. You don't need any tag days for players now. I want the numbers to go as high as possible because I want to be able to see who's going to be the first $100 million quarterback. We're getting there now. We're in the sixties in a conversation now. What I'm saying is is that with this lawsuit, that should not deter the NFL from paying a lot for players and more than we've ever seen. I saw a Brett Coleman on YouTube. He mentioned this about this topic of conversation. If the salary cap doesn't grow the way it's expected, the team this would hurt the most could be the Cleveland Browns because the Cleveland Browns were expecting the cap to continue to rise to then soften how much money they gave guaranteed to the Sean Watson. So if the cap doesn't go up the way they expect in the future, the Browns might be totally screwed. Don't turn the NFL into baseball. Let's not do that. Like, well, we don't have the money to pay, so there's going to be kind of a soft cap. We're not going to go over the top and they have the money. Let's not do that now. Well, the $4.7 billion, even if it goes down or if it flattens, it's not going to stay that way. But it's not really an issue of how much money owners can or are willing to spend. You can still go over the cap in terms of cash. It's just you have to be under that number by the start of the league year. The Browns could get asked if the number doesn't go up and they have the monies fully guaranteed for Watson. They can't move it anywhere. Yeah, they'll get it. I don't think this will be. I don't believe this will hurt as much as the perception is. I do not. Speaking of quarterback deals, latest on the Miami Dolphins, they are not expected to offer to a market deal, said whatever contract extension he is offered will not be in the realm of Trevor Lawrence or Jared Goff. I was stunned by this. You can make the argument to has been a better quarterback than Trevor Lawrence in their shared time in the league won't sniff the Trevor Lawrence money. If I'm too, I'm never signing a deal. And if I'm the Dolphins, I guess I'm letting them walk to a yeah, I would I would go after I would I think to at this moment has performed better than Trevor Lawrence. You could argue that Trevor Lawrence has a higher ceiling, but last year was pretty disappointing with the turnovers from Lawrence and the growth that we didn't see. And to was leading one of the best offenses in football last season, I would I would hold out for for what he's worth. Chris, do you believe that to a tug of Valoa, say if he was with the Patriots would be as good in the same division? No, with the Jets, would he be as good? Maybe with the Saints, would he be as good, but I'm asking you is maybe I'm just asking you, do you believe that his offense is transferable? Because that is his skill set, good enough to raise the boats of any other offense in the NFL. That's in the middle of the NFL. He's not a perfect quarterback, but he's above the average quarterback. That's the way I would put it. That's good enough to get paid in this league. Good. Of course. Trevor Lawrence is a straight up average quarterback statistically so far like what about this exercise? Are the Jaguars better with Trevor Lawrence or with Toa? I feel like it's the same. I feel like it's the same. I think they would both be okay. There's a ceiling on their success, but not great. Are the Dolphins better with Trevor Lawrence or with Toa? I feel like I feel like it's the same to me. I'm gonna go Toa because I think to this point he's made better decisions in games than Trevor Lawrence has. Don't you think Trevor Lawrence is a better talent, but he makes some bad choices with the football. Do you feel like Toa is better quarterback with McDaniel as his head coach? Yeah, 100%. Don't you think Trevor could be able to learn from McDaniel? Yeah, yeah, he probably could. I just feel like it's the same to me. It's the same conversation to me. Maybe you feel like one is better than the other, but I think if that's the case, it's slight to me. To me. Yeah, I just keep leaning on what he actually accomplished to it. And yeah, and to accomplish quite a bit last season with the Dolphins. All right. Music stops. You know, that's it. That's the end. That's the end. That's the end. Mr. Black, you've had your time, please, Jonathan. You have 82 seconds left. Would you like to use it? Yeah. So, um. Never seen that before. That was. Well, I'll tell you one thing. My golf swing. We're gonna hear from him. I can get closer to the pin. My club tournament. Damn. We'll hear from Jeff. Shot in 18. How much more time do I have? We'll hear from Jesse Rogers. 48 seconds, Jonathan. Well, he covers baseball. Folks, let me just tell you. When it comes to baseball and baseball coverage, Jesse Rogers. He does a great job. I like Jesse. And, uh, well, here's Jesse on baseball and the Cubs and Sox. Time, Mr. Hood. That's your time. Huh? Here's to Dave's headline, headline with Captain Jay Hood. Yesterday, the Chicago Cubs beat the Giants 5 to 3 in half with a two-run home run in the 10th to give the Cubs the lead and the win. They win 5 to 3. They're now 10 and a half games back in the division and four back in the wild car. They face off against the Brewers in Milwaukee tonight at 7-10. The White Sox beat the Braves 1-0. The make-up game from April the 3rd. The White Sox are now 22 and 61 on the season. 23 games back in the wild car, Jonathan. Pre-game show for the White Sox tonight here on ESPN 1000. Kyra McKnight will have it for you at 5-30, first pitch, right after 6-10, with Lancaster and Darren Jackson as the White Sox take on the Rockies here on the south side. The Las Vegas aces beat the sky last night, 95-83. But Angel Reese had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Her ninth straight double double, which ties Candace Parker for the longest streak of double doubles in a season. And the 8AM hour of Captain J. Hood is brought to you by the Village of Bowling Brook, home to the 2024 Live Golf Individual Championships. Jonathan? Welcome back! Thank you, Bruce. J. Moore? Welcome back to Captain J. Moore on Chicago's home for sports, ESPN Chicago. Black jobs, sorry. It's the Captain J. Good morning, Joe. The ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app, Jesse Rogers, and brought to you by West Coast Men's Health, helping men with ED. And chronic pain for over five years, go to West Coast Men's Health dot com, and Jesse's on the hotline, the Carx Tire and Auto Hotline. Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom, boom. Morning, Jesse, how are you? I am good, J. Hood. You're going to join me in Milwaukee tonight, like we did last time. It's a first place showdown, just like last time. Oh, wait a minute. It is not the first place. No, it is not. It is not. But this is a first place team to get to last place team. You know, as we get going here, I just want to get your thoughts about the last series against the Giants. Just the preview was that the Giants were struggling coming into that series and the Cubs gave the Giants live. It's kind of what the Cubs do now. Met struggling. Grimace comes out. Those are first pitch. Met are a better team. It's kind of like the Cubs are breathing life into these struggling teams. That's what we're saying. Yeah, I just keep hearing from people saying it's the same game every night. Every night. Like, you know, you get good starting pitching. The offense, for some reason, just stops it three or four runs. I mean, they could score four in the first, and then that's it, right? Last night or yesterday afternoon, they finally got those extra runs. It came in the 10th inning, of course. But then in those other games, then the bullpen will blow it. It's been this game over and over and over. And that's what it felt like those first three days in San Francisco. It felt like that yesterday. But then they did get a great performance by Porter Hodge for his first career save in the 10th inning. I mean, we've had two or three four guys get first career saves. They feel like this year, you know, whether it be Colton Brewer or Porter Hodge. But he in half came through. Let me give you a good good something good finally. Okay. In half, it's the 10th inning home run. They went five to three, right? In half is the first cup ever to hit at least 10 home runs in each of his first eight career seasons, 10 runs in his first career eight seasons with the Cubs. Rizzo did it for seven, Leon Durham, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks. They all hit 10 or more home runs for seven seasons. Ian happens the first to do it in his eighth. And I will say he's hitting 228, but he is making the most of his hits. He hits 275 when the game is late and close, you know, within a run and it's late. Four home runs, 17 runs driven in games that are late and close, including the 275 average. So at least in half in some clutch moments has come through. But really nobody else has, nobody else has. So I got to give him credit. So that's how it's sum up the series. They were sort of, you know, fortunate to squeak by yesterday, but it's kind of in the same thing every day. Jesse, am I making too much of it to suggest that the next couple of weeks leading into the All-Star game will be the most important stretch of the season for the Cubs? You know, I would just say all the way till July 20th, you know, 25th, because Jed Hoyer doesn't have to make a decision until then. But I understand what you're saying, because if they're just treading water until the All-Star break, they won't have enough time to get there. Now, remember, they came out of the All-Star break last year and they start winning a lot. But 10-game win streaks, you know, you just can't count on them, right? So I would say, yes, these two weeks, three weeks, I mean, just to add it all up through past the All-Star break are very important. But certainly as we hit the break, if Jed has the standings in front of him and it's looking like this, Chris, then I don't think those few days after the break are going to make it different. But I would add it all together all the way to July 25th is going to be important. Also look at the opponents. This weekend, you're on the road in Milwaukee, you face the Phillies, you have the Orioles in there, and then the Cardinals, who are a wildcard team at this moment. I mean, it's a tough stretch until the All-Star break. Yeah, they have not put themselves in a good position at all. I mentioned on the air yesterday, you know, the Baltimore Orioles have four starters that are hurt, the Yankees have some injuries, you know, I'm not comparing them to those teams, but the point is, you know, if they had gotten off to a little bit better start or play better, I should say, in May and June, you could survive a bad schedule. You could survive a few injuries. Now they have to fight through all that and move up the standings at the same time. I hate the fact that they had to play Sunday night baseball, fly to San Francisco, play for no day off, fly to Milwaukee, play three, Milwaukee's just, I mean, Milwaukee's 48 and 33. I mean, of all the things that have been wrong about in my life in baseball, this Milwaukee Brewers being 48 and 33 might be at the top of the list. I thought for sure they'd take a step back. Instead they've taken a step forward. Could you explain why that is the case because you have a new manager in place, counsel leaves and becomes a Cubs manager, and I would agree with you, on the surface, because the Brewers, small market team, they were scrappy under counsel. You thought maybe with a new manager it'd be different. Why have the Brewers been able to thrive? Well I could tell you why it's happened like statistically, but why, what's in the water up there? I can't necessarily say, other than, look, no one man makes an organization. So maybe we all overvalued what counsel brought to the table up there and there's something organizationally that they're very good at. Jay Hood, it's the same thing that the Cleveland Guardians are really good at. What is it? It's all the decisions on the margins when you are a small market team. It's all those daily little things, development, scouting, drafting. The answer to the question is, they're getting great offense from players that you didn't necessarily see it coming. Not just Yellich. Okay, where did William Catreras come from? What a trade that's turning out to be. They have a bunch of young players. Good signing and Reese Hoskins. Let's compare the Cubs. Could have signed Reese Hoskins. All they had to do was offer him more money. Michael Bush is having a decent first year, but he's not showing the sort of power and slug and danger that a guy like Reese Hoskins is showing. And then again, I go back to the young players. They're just having young players succeed. Joe Ortiz, he came over in the Corbin Burns trade, Jay Hood. So all I could tell you is it's just a series of daily decisions that small market teams make that have nothing to do with payroll, really. They're just everything but payroll and they succeed at and that is the Milwaukee Brewers. And by the way, the Brewers went with the old friend Al's Kaikal as a starter yesterday in a victory the Brewers had against the Rangers. As we hear more from Jesse, we find out from Jesse if any facts, next on Captain Jay Hood. You're listening to Captain Jay Hood. Follow the show on Instagram at the Catman and at IGJhood. This is ESPN Chicago, Chicago's home for sports. Jesse Rogers is with us here on Captain Jay Hood on ESPN 1,000 and screaming on ESPN Chicago app. How about that, Jesse? Finally, the Sox got one that gets an uninterested Braves team yesterday, won nothing the final. Yeah, I guess Chris Sal wasn't that interested though. That was one of like a throwback game for him. It's his first game with at least seven innings pitched, one run 10 K's since August 8th, 2019. So that was one of the classics for Chris Sal, but yeah, the Sox have been pitching well out of their starting rotation, considering everything, like that's the one thing that's been okay when you talk about Fettie and crochet and yesterday, cool and all that stuff. So that's been good. I'll give you one little socks tidbit. I don't know if it's a sock. I don't know if it's a sock snippet, but if it applies to anybody, it'd be the white socks. I was talking to an executive yesterday, and he really thought that there would be several pre-July 30th trades, you know, wouldn't, you know, I mean, not July 29th, but meaning could be all-star break, could be before the all-star break, pre the frenzy that happens at the end of July. And he didn't say who, but I really think if that's the case, if there's at least one or multiple, the white socks would be involved. That's all I hear about with Gats going back to the things he said, even in spring training. I will make a trade at any time. And with all, you know, with a bunch of players available, especially in that rotation, these teams that are injured on the mound, I think would love to pull early triggers on a deal. So be ready, July 1st, July 10th, the all-star break. I think that Chris, Chris Gats could do it at any time. So I think that's interesting. Jesse, what team surprises you the most in all major league baseball to this point this season? Well, other than Milwaukee in some ways, the Cubs, I mean, I did not, would not have imagined them being this bad. I really could not imagine them being this bad. When we talk about how good the Guardians are, but we could have said, oh, I think the Gardens will be good, like, but obviously they're better than I thought. The Brewers are better than I thought. But the Cubs are the most surprising team to me. Last place halfway through the season, 11 games out, only two teams have overcome this kind of a deficit halfway through the season in the divisional play, 0-12 and 0-6. It's just, I mean, kissing the division goodbye before July 1st, Chris, it's the Cubs. Maybe I'm, you know, geography biased, but it's the Cubs to me. So Asada goes on the IL. And so we're looking at tie-on steel, you know, Hendricks is back into the Strine rotation. Does this mean Wisnesski will get another buy at the Apple against the Phillies? Yeah, Wisnesski's back in. So yes, he will pitch next week. He's been giving up some home runs, but outside the home runs, he's, he's been okay. Everyone else is still ways away wicks after the all-star break. Yancy Al Monte, 60-day IL, he wasn't recovering from shoulder issues. Ben Brown is the one guy, maybe, because this neck injury wasn't as serious as they thought. He still has some bullpen to throw and stuff, but that would be a huge addition, Jay Hood. But yeah, Wisnesski back in there and, you know, who knows, I mean, Kyle Hendricks has veto rights, but maybe he's auditioning for a trade for another team. The way he's pitching, if he could keep it up for another month, teams would be, would probably be lining up. There's so many injuries out there. I just find this whole thing fascinating about where the Cubs are slip sliding away, Chris, because look, you lose three out of four against San Francisco. This Milwaukee series will have all the hype and all the bells and whistles, because our friends at ESPN Milwaukee, Jesse, they are laughing, belly laughing at council going from a solid organization, solid, you know, for a small market from Milwaukee to last place with a $230 million payroll in the Cubs. And so what I'm saying is that I find it interesting that when we get to the deadline, if the Cubs have not turned this around, for them to stand to stand still and not make any wholesale changes, because usually in that spot, you know that you pair back payroll. But based on our conversations and what I've heard from you, Jesse, you feel like the Cubs probably won't do a lot of wholesale changes is like it is what it is. Yeah, it can be hard to deal with guys under contract. I'm not going to say it's impossible. It just, it doesn't always have to be the pending free agents. I mentioned yesterday, my example would be like, you can trade in half under contract for Vladimir Guerrero, two years of team control there. So like you can do deals like that, they have nothing to do with the pennant race. I don't know what you had thinking because I think that, I mean, I think he's really disappointed, but I don't think he planned on this. I don't think he planned on a sales job, especially after last year where they actually bought. And when you start buying, that usually means your rebuild is over. Like it should be over. Now you're taking the next step. They've added enough to have a top rated farm system, although it's not already producing at the major level now, J-hood. So yeah, I agree with you. It's going to be a little bit difficult to navigate if they're not in the race. Now that if they're in the race at all, they've got to go get the clothes. They've been saying that forever, as everyone else has. But if they're not in the race, I don't know, all bets are off. I don't know exactly what he's going to do, but it wouldn't shock me if he moved somebody under contract just to change things up and try something else, get a power hitter at first base or something like that. Jonathan, I don't know if you heard this yesterday in a comedy in Jericho, but Jesse was asked. But this Cubs team would be any better if David Ross was still here. I was surprised by Jesse's and Jesse, you can give the answer again or elaborate on it, but you essentially said that you thought that this team would be better off with David Ross. Yes. I said that in the short term because he knows, he knows the organization obviously. He knows the players and he also knows what lane he's in and they won 83 last year. I think they'd have a better record. Sutcliffe said to Sylvia and myself the other day that he felt like Craig was still evaluating. It surprised me, and I don't know if he's right, but there does feel like a little bit of a step back from counsel. He had his hand, he had his fingerprint on every part of the Brewers organization and it was an aggressive, you know what I mean? Like he wasn't laying back. It feels like he is watching a little bit. That's the only explanation I could come up with seeing all these disastrous ways they're playing the game, outs on the bases, defense. I know that throwing a turning over table isn't the answer. I'm not saying that, but he's usually really good at the little things behind the scenes and that's on and off the field, everything, and I just feel like something's going on there where he's kind of watching more and the fact that Sutcliffe said that makes sense. So maybe he's taking a step back now to take two steps forward later. Like there's no doubt he's going to bring in some coaches, right? I mean, Willie Harris should be renting and not owning this point. That's a big statement. I mean, come on, they lead the league every year and outs on the bases, outs at home plate. That can be misleading. The more runners you get on, the more, but that's not the case with the Cubs, right? They had another out at home base at home plate. I feel like coaching changes are definitely coming and some others as well. So yeah, I think in the short term, they would be better with David Ross right in this moment. I find that interesting, Jesse, because when you hear from Sutcliffe, a guy that's been in a lot of clubhouses, so council comes to the Cubs and thinks he has a ready-made team, I just need to tighten the screws on this team will be fine. And then he sees like there's, first of all, you're very injured. So other problem, you can't say healthy, but then the players are supposed to be cornerstones on the team. They're not playing well either. You're not very good on the base pass. And so I could see him at the end of the season. However, this ends up, then he turns the table over on Jett. It goes, so what are we doing here? You're probably here to win. So I looked at this team for a year. I played the players that you gave me. Okay, enough of this. I can see that happening. That makes more sense. But with Ross, I think there'd be more accountability with Ross behind the scenes, not in front, but behind the scenes where players he knows versus counsel for players that he doesn't. Yeah, that's very possible. I think that's very possible. I do think that Ross had a little bit of a weak spot with young players, and that's why the Cubs with their highly ranked farm system, they wanted to give it to someone that is used to managing young players and dealing with them. Thing is, he's not really dealing with them just yet other than Ben Brown and Wozneski. He hasn't brought up Owen Casey or the bigger names. So I don't think his strength has really been showing up in a way in terms of that. But I think you're right. I think there probably would be a little bit for an aggressive accountability because he knows these players and has relationships with them. Have a great weekend, sir. You two guys. Have a good one. See you, Jesse. Talk to you next week. We'll talk to you Monday. We'll talk to you Monday. We're having a battle thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom. Don't worry, call the correct scheme. Rich Paul's scheme. Did you have a problem with it? ronnie james conversation in two minutes on capping jayhood