Podcast: DJ Moore's big deal, Bears first depth chart and Cubs and White Sox trade moves

in Chicago you know that all Sports Rock the Bears Hawks Bulls Cubs and talks pick your favorite you can choose as long as the Packers lose for everything you need to know it's bills for Ski Sports Talk Chicago Bill SW Ski Sports Talk Chicago hey everybody welcome to another edition of Bill sworski Sports Talk Chicago this is your host Alex and sha on this episode we have got so much to talk about big breaking Bears news all kinds of Cubs and White Socks trades but first like to thank our sponsor of the Rockford Ice Hawks if you're not familiar with the Rockford Ice Hawks they're the AHL minor league Affiliated the Chicago Blackhawks what does that mean for you you get to see the stars of tomorrow today at familyfriendly affordable prices season is not going on right now but that shouldn't stop you from heading on over to ice hog.com getting yourself a hat shirt Jersey tickets and more tell them Sports sunsha Alex wow so I was doing some work getting ready for the Pod and then I sat down I'm like I'm gonna watch some of the Giants Hard Knocks and and then you're like hey did you see the breaking news and here we are yeah and this news broke about I don't know 20 minutes ago and I was kind of getting ready for the show I got home from work I ate dinner and I'm scrolling through you know because it was trade deadline day the Cubs barely did Squat and they suck and they're getting killed right now and the white socks are a joke so I'm just kind of scrolling through it whatever and then all of a sudden boom Adam sheer comes DJ Moore is gonna be a bear for the next several years and we don't have to worry now about how long he's going to be here because he's going to be here through his best years DJ Moore just signed an extension with the Bears Ryan poles locked him up few months after he locked Jaylen Johnson up so Ryan poles is getting these extensions done and that is big news as we're in the middle of Camp yeah so it's a four-year $110 million extension with 82.6 million in guaranteed money and he'll be under contract through the 2029 season so dig it we've got him for one more year on this contract and then so we got five five years so that is what put him at for Keenan Allen roughly Keenan Allen's age so yeah we'll get him through his best years so put put this in perspective for a minute just really really quickly having DJ Moore romad dun and Cole KT locked down for the life of Caleb Williams's rookie deal not counting the fifth year option this was uh tweeted by Aaron leming how about that that's awesome that's huge very huge I mean Ryan PS really orchestrated this well it all came together just aligned very very well roster wise I mean because you have an experienced wide receiver throughout his rookie deal you have the guy you drafted just a few picks after him who he's going to grow and learn with and is building this relationship with this very promising player in romad dun and then this year you get Keenan Allen with that and I don't know how long Keenan Allen's going to be here it may just be the one year but man you at least know that adun and Moore are going to be your one-w punch going forward that makes things a lot easier as you move on as you do other things because you know you're going to have those top two guys yep that's uh that's incredible news and it gives you that flexibility that once once you have to pay Caleb Williams um you know you're you're not bogged down by other contracts of Aging players so I mean you could almost look at this is you're entering your window and this isn't this year is not your Prime window year because one you have a rookie quarterback two I don't think the team is still quite complete yet but you're at least entering a year where you you expect to at least compete they're not gonna be favored to win the division I don't think they are not favored to win a Super Bowl don't think they are you're kind of at the borderline of a playoff team but if you're borderline playoff team that's in the race throughout the year and you're seeing your quarterback grow and you're seeing your defense play then you know that's where you realistically can look at yourselves because I think by 2025 you need to be looking at that as a year where your Super Bowl favorites or at least among the Super Bowl favorites you're never going to be the number one favorite but you got to be in that mix right now I think the Bears are in that mixed to contend for a playoff spot but you want to be by year two of Caleb Williams to be legitimately in a spot to contend for a postseason run because keep this in mind too your defense is built to win right now for the most part could you put more in the front seven sure but you know for the you know you got Montes sweat in his prime you got Jaylen Johnson in his prime you got jaquin brisker and Kyler gor kind of entering their primes because what do you and I both know is that windows in the NFL are sacred and they're not very long unless you have a pat momes Payton Manning Tom Brady Drew Brees Brett Favre Aaron roders type of quarterback right and we don't know how long Caleb Williams or I should say how good Caleb Williams is going to be yet so you're moving into your window now even if you're not in the prime of it but you're you're moving into your window now because you got these guys down yeah and I want to step back to a point that you made that is really good is you know with these rookie contracts with young quarterbacks it's important to capitalize on that and what happens is you know if you in that big money contract you can you can totally continue to win if you've got a pat Mahomes a Tom Brady and Aaron roders um Joe burrow with these huge contracts because they make other people around them better but when you're paying a Dak Prescott or a Daniel Jones um these big money that's you need The Supporting Cast around them which you have to pay because they don't make the team better and so you get yourself stuck and so the bear should start to be in contention during this uh window with Caleb Williams at least that's the goal that's the goal uh in this rookie window and the hope is that he's TR a Transcendent player that when you do pay him stupid amounts of money after that that you're still going to be in a contention window because he's so good that you know you you don't have to have uh a stud tight end and two stud wide receivers and all of these players around him you know he's helping to make everybody else better with his abilities on the field and keep this in mind to is even if Caleb Williams is good like I'm just talking good I'm not talking Pat Mahomes Josh Allen Joe burrow level I'm talking like even if he's regular season deck Prescott good or you know statistically around where you see Kurt Cousins where you're you know maybe you don't have the reputation of winning the big game but you know you're you're throwing 4K yards and 30 touchdown passes if that's what Caleb Williams is doing guess what when that time comes where he needs to get paid we're seeing what quarterbacks are getting paid right now yeah think about what he could potentially get by then yep unless there's unless they come up with uh these new rules where there's a cap on quarterback salaries or you know either dollar amount or percent of cap Etc even if there is a cap it's gonna be a lot oh it's absolutely gonna be a whole lot and I just don't know would the Players Association go for that kind of thing I don't know but the the quarterback salary is going to be a weird position for the uh the Players Association because there's a salary cap and that's not going away right and if you keep having your quarterback make more and more in a bigger chunk of it that takes money away from other players because you you were stuck in that cap so you can't pay so you you know so as a the union are you representing quarterbacks are you representing all players and your goal should be to want to see all the players get paid and the correct if you don't if you don't put some sort of governor on the this the the amount of money that quarterbacks make that takes food out of running backs mouths so it's a weird position for them because they can't they can't be on the side of everybody period just can't with the quarterback salary discussion and it's not saying that quarterbacks don't deserve to get paid or paid a lot of money because it's the most important position in the biggest sport in the United States but you at some point is if you're paying all the money to the quarterback what do you have left well yeah and I mean think about too is it's not just the quarterback position either look at what the W wide receivers are making obviously DJ Moore just got this extension but man think about like Justin Jefferson and what Aman Ross St Brown just recently got in extensions I mean they're getting paid a [ __ ] ton of money too everybody's gonna get paid a lot of money because the salary cap is high but um but I mean I'm talking like especially these positions yeah it's running backs are going to be the the one they're hurting even though they bounced back somewhat this year um I think you're going to continue to see them make less and less yeah but I mean I just I think it was a very unique Market this year in the running back position yeah uh and then what's gonna happen is you're going to have to rely on one-year contracts and lots of rookies to make up uh to to fit into that salary cap right so that's what where it's going to hurt is the veterans that are at the end of their prime or just outside their prime those are the guys that you know so should have capitalized more in your Prime sure yeah I mean it's I mean that's kind of the it's kind of the game you play in football especially when you look at certain positions like you know this year was a very unique year for the running back Market you saw running backs get paid in free AG and you saw them get traded where how often do we say oh the running back ran out on his rookie deal okay draft another one you know because you know for that reason to say hey these positions are more Expendable now and we can just easily replace that in the draft on a rookie deal obviously again this this year it was unique it was unique but that's how we've typically looked at it for a while right right for the most part I mean there there were exceptions you still have your Premier running backs in the game but you know the middle low tier even some of the upper tier you can get away with saying okay like I mean Dave Montgomery he's good and he's really good in Detroit because he's well set up there but he's a guy where the Bears were comfortable saying you know hey you played well for us but we're going to go another route and they did so that's that was just a common theme of what you saw in many other markets in the past whereas you know with wide receivers these top dogs are getting paid and they have been getting paid consistently yep um but you know going back to the Bears you've got DJ Moore now locked up uh and um you've also seen Ryan poles start to cook here is did you see the news about Tory Taylor our new punter I did see that yes so Ryan poles was able to get a roster spot exemption because he's a foreign player and they've the NFL has wanted to uh promote foreign players in the NFL so they have gotten an exemption so doesn't count as a roster spot you get another player in there which is huge which is one extra player is really huge so that was that was really smart on his his part um and it was uh you know I didn't even think about that but you know Ryan poles is starting to cook here you know we' seen him make some mistakes but boy he's he's got a plan he does there's a plan there's a vision it's becoming more clear now you know the extensions came at the right time because having DJ Moore locked up now that's one less conversation you got to have over Caleb Williams's rookie year that's one big thing that you just got out of the way right and I know the other contract talk that's come up is Kevin Jenkins and the Bears told him that and his his people that they're not willing to have that conversation until they have their bye would be the first time they'd be willing to talk about and I and to me that's just clearly says we want you here but you got to prove you're healthy and the health is always been it's never been the talent it's been the health because he has not played a full season yet and he's on the last year of his deal his rookie deal so four fourth year in the league and we haven't seen a fully healthy season and that's when he's when he's playing and he's healthy I think Pro Football Focus last year had him as one of like the sixth best guard in the NFL eighth best he was he was up there um so he grades out really well and but he's just got to stay healthy he just gets these stupid injuries you're like H how do they keep popping up it started when he was drafted and he had a back injury and then you know it just goes from there yeah I mean that's I've always been a huge fan of Tevin Jenkins but I would not be really surprised if they decided to not go that route I really wouldn't be it's it's hard to guarantee a lot of money to a guy who hasn't played one full season yeah I I would not be I would not be surprised if they moved on from him and it's again nothing to do with Play It's just even if he plays a full season this year that doesn't mean next year he's gonna play a full season or the year after that or any other year that's the thing and um plus when you have back issues as aignan that's got to be really really just uh really tough I just I mean at least if you see him through the the bye you know you get a better sense of of where he's at because he's talked extensively about how after last season he's really he's really started to change his offseason routine both the way he works out the way he takes care of his body his nutrition um to try to stay healthy I think he recognizes where he's at and I really hope he does because like I said when he plays it's a Difference Maker he is a Difference Maker yeah absolutely um and then you know we've got that same situation on the other side with Nate Davis Nate Davis is currently injured and I don't know the extent of set injury but it does not appear that the Bears are wavering in their support of him being the starting Right Guard um and you know last year I know we dogged him around this time because he wasn't there we found out later why so I I want to just be hesitant because you don't know but he did have injuries as well last year and the guy doesn't seem like he likes to practice and as an offensive line as in the NFL you just need to put in that work uh um so I I hope he plays well but it's getting harder and harder for me to believe that he's gonna make a big impact right um so did you see the there is an unofficial uh depth chart for the Bears right at this point I didn't but uh I would love to take a look sure so the the way they have this is two wide receivers um so it's DJ Moore Keenan Allen no surprise there behind DJ Moore is Tyler Scott who's having a very nice Camp yeah behind him is behind Keenan Allen is romad dun behind romad dun is veis Jones Jr behind Tyler Scott is DeAndre Carter and on the outside assuming they keep six wide receivers on the outside looking in is Colin Johnson and Dante Pettis so nothing terribly surprising there no and I almost want to say Dante Pettis right now might have the upper hand considering he's been here before I don't think but you never know I don't think either one I think if based on this the six wide receivers will be DJ Moore Tyler Scott DeAndre Carter who was listed as punt returner one Keenan Allen romad dun and veis Jones Jr who's listed as kick returner number one I I guess I yeah I mean okay I just veis Jones I just I don't know I don't know but He's listed as kick returner one and punt returner two I feel like you know I feel like veis Jones this is just my opinion I feel like if you were to compare him to Dante Pettis and maybe a disagree I feel like veis Jones has a higher seal but I feel like Dante Pettis might be a little safer I don't know if that makes any sense no I hear what you're saying um I mean I think it's very very easy to say like that you know these games in the preseason and these this training camp will will say a lot about where veis Jones is at because if if he starts dropping passes or not working hard or his kick returns aren't there you've got a Dante Pettis who you know is you know the floor you know the ceiling are the floor the floor isn't incredibly high and neither is the ceiling but you know where it is um veis Jones floor is pretty low but his ceiling theoretically decently high it's it's it's much higher than D Pettis right his floor is also significantly lower than Dante Pettis yeah and you know maybe I was wrong in saying Pettis has the upper hand because he probably doesn't but I just feel like it's it's [ __ ] get off the pot with veis Jones I I really do this if he is not significantly better either as you know an elite kickoff guy or as a real contributor on on the offense or preferably both this is going to be his last year I I would I would say yeah because this is what his third year yeah I don't think they would keep him for that fourth year I think they would just churn um but I I think I think they really really hope that based on these new kickoff rules which which could be exciting um I I think the type of player he is could really do something good you know I think I think they made a a mistake in not bringing C darl Patterson back because I think cord darl Patterson is just gonna look Elite I know with these new kickoff rules and Cordell cordal Patterson bro yeah like that guy is going to look like in Prime Devon Hester and and he already looked good but these n kickoff rules where he's just got to break one line of of Defenders h i i as soon as those as soon as those rules change I'm like man the first thing I thought is if we still had him yep but alas alas we do not let's see uh left tackle Braxton Jones followed by Larry borham followed by uh Karan amaji who is still injured um but he has list third string right now left guard it is Larry or Tevin Jenkins second string is Jer Carter and then Jerome Carvin Center says Ryan Bates or Coleman Shelton so that is still an open competition with Doug Kramer as the third string Right Guard is Nate Davis followed by Matt prior and Bill Murray then Theo benedet who was a priority unrestrict or rookie free agent so so that the the third guard position is he gonna be Ghostbuster is you know is he going to play with the the Tune Squad um he's gonna be a champion bowler okay but what's funny is I've heard multiple people when they ask who's the funniest guy in the locker room and multiple people have said Bill Murray that's funny hopefully he went and had lessons with Bill Murray on Comedy that would be amazing that would be amazing amazing and you know what it would be really funny if Bill Murray makes the team they need to bring Bill Murray to the opening game to shake hands with Bill Murray because you know Bill Murray would do it oh yeah um and then behind Bill Murray has Theo benedet the uh the rookie out of Canada who I think has a high like a high ceiling he's just pretty raw and he's got a lot of work to do I think he's Prime for practice squad but is he Dan aaro he is not that'd be cool if he was if only right tackle Darnell Wright then Jake Curran and Avante Collins um so not a ton of surprises um the the interesting thing I didn't know Coleman Shelton is a left-handed Snapper so going from Ryan Bates to Coleman Sheldon you're switching off between left and right-handed Snappers to a uh rookie quarterback who had didn't take a didn't take a whole lot of snaps under Center is interesting I just I tweeted this the other day I really really just wish they took that position more seriously I I really if there's one area the Bears I really don't like it's how they're handling this I hear it just worries me I hear what you're saying the Bears have been incredibly high on Ryan Bates Coleman Shelton has been uh has started a lot of games at Center in this league so either way they should be in a much better place than they've been the last few years yeah I mean Cody whitehair was who was just not a center really struggled last year but got a rookie quarterback now I just wish it was better yeah I hope I hope that somebody Rises to the top quickly because I want I want that person to be working with Caleb Williams just regularly um let's see tight end not a surprise here Cole KT uh Gerald Everett marcedes Lewis and then Steven Carlson uh quarterback Caleb Williams and then it is a uh a tossup for the backup spot between Tyson bent and Brett rippen so they they are going to have a that be an open competition so so I think that with uh this quarterback competition there needs to be another town hall on the radio and we got a debate Brett rien or Tyson agent as qb2 why debate Caleb Williams and Justin Fields when you can debate this well Tyson bent was grinding his face off this offseason that's true that's true and boy though I see the workouts that he does I'm like dude good for you there is no way in hell I'd be able to do that I I get out of breath just hearing him talk about it I know I mean if you look at him he's a physical specimen he is insanely strong and his dad I think we talked about this was like a competitive arm wrestler not a competitive arm wrestler arguably the greatest arm wrestler of all time that's amazing if he's not the he is one of the top three like his dad is ridiculous they there used to be a arm wrestling TV show on I think AMC or one of those stations and it wasn't ESPN the oo no it was like a they tried to make it like a reality show and it was called like Game of Arms so they took like teams based on the city where you lived or where you were the state you were from and they get Like These Arm wrestlers and you would go to another city and you would compete and uh and Tyson Bean's dad Travis was like the dude on the show that kicked everyone's ass awesome yeah and he's like a [ __ ] talker and uh now he teaches com like how to be a good AR arm wrestler like he he's ridiculous you just watch him go and he'll have this guy who's got this giant arms like a huge man and he'll let him go like till he's like an inch above you know putting him down and then he'll just with no effort just boom he won just it's it's insane watching this guy arm wrestle and he raised Tyson bent to be a grinder a hard worker and you know I I don't see assuming health I don't see a way Tyson bent doesn't win this backup job yeah I don't either I I I truly I truly don't either uh is I'm sorry Mark rippen Dad Brett rippen um he was brought in to be a veteran to help be the the more mature voice that you know somewhere between a coach and a you know a younger player he's an elder Statesman in that quarterback room he's like that translator um andent I'm gonna my everything translation he is going to work very very hard yeah it's uh it's that's what you need in a in a quarterback room you got that you know most of the time it's the Backup backup is that guy but just having that third string guy in there because you know Caleb Williams is a young rookie Tyson bent is in his second year and then Austin Reed is your number four who is another rookie so you have two rookies a second year player and then Brett rippen who's not that old is like your Elder Statesman so like the that's you know just make him your third string and even the practice squad guy because nobody's taking them off your practice squad and and then get your uh and then get your um you while we're talking there's just a fire truck with its lights on sitting outside my house have you check to make sure your house isn't on fire no they're looking somewhere across the street so I have noidea what's going on anyway uh yeah nobody's taking Brett ripping off your practice squad I I think there is a chance somebody might take uh Tyson beun off your practice squad I don't think it's terribly high but I think it is a it's a reasonable enough possibility that if you don't want to lose him you don't want to keep three quarterbacks I don't think is you put you put uh Brett rien as your number number three your emergency quarterback put him on the practice squad nobody's taking him and he gets to be in all those meeting rooms I think that's the smart way to go that's just me yeah I I think that's fair that's more than fair uh K blosson game is the only fullback so he's number one still I feel like he's gonna be our fullback for eternity I just wonder if we're going to keep a fullback we'll see how this goes uh sure yeah running back DeAndre Swift is your number one and then it is a competition for number two between khil Herbert and Roshan Johnson and then Travis Homer and Ian wheeler are your number uh you know up there for competing for number four um on defense where you start to see a little bit of uh of you know got me surprised a little bit so the starting defensive line you're starting your starters just that was no-brainer it's Montes sweat Andrew Billings Javon Dexter Demarcus Walker TJ Edwards taine Edmonds jaquin brisker Kevin byard Kyler Gordon Tyreek Stevenson jayon Johnson that was about as gimme as you're going to get but [Music] Dominique Robinson still listed as the number two Edge rusher behind montz sweat yes he is yes he is however um I do think there are some eyes on Austin Booker right you know I I have not been to training camp yet my tickets are for a couple weeks from now but uh what I've heard from Austin Booker he shown a lot of flashes but he shown a lot of Need for growth um so makes me the the flashes make me happy for you know his future here but I wonder if he's going to be a situational guy I don't I don't think you can put him on practice squad um so that he it's a numbers game so I I would assume he's going to make it unless somebody absolutely just blows them away that's ahead of him but behind Demarcus Walker you have Jacob Martin Daniel Hardy and khid Kareem uh so I'm just hoping Dominique Robinson takes that big step up finally yeah I mean it's he showed promise in that opening game in his rookie year against the 49ers in that Monsoon but since then you kind of forget that he's on the team I have heard Demarcus Walker is looking much much better yeah I've heard that too I've heard that too and hopefully that translates to the regular season I heard him talk and he said he was at best at any point last year 75% so if he plays well I still would like somebody more veteran to come in and and have be that third rotational pass rusher so you're not having but you know nobody's nobody's jumping up to sign uh uh inway no because he worked out with the Carolina Panthers and they ended up signing somebody else yeah yeah so they nobody's jumped him yet and you get gives you more time to see what Austin Booker and Dominique Robinson look like in the preseason and if they show that hey you know you trust them then that then that saves you some money um but the it's not the starters on defense I'm worried about it's the depth I agree the The Edge rusher depth is your interior offensive or defensive lineman depth is so after Andrew Billings you have Zack Pickins and Michael dwam for and behind gervon Dexter you have Byron cower and Keith Randolph Jr and DeShawn mallerie I liked Keith Randolph but I think he's got a long way to go before he's a a real contributor um so I'm not in love with that depth there um the surprising is you look at linebackers Noah suul who was a Bears draft pick last year is listed as third string so TJ Edwards then uh amen Aban Bigga is second string then Noah suul and behind traine Edmonds it's Jack sandborn and Micah Baskerville so Noah su's gonna have to work his butt off to make this roster yeah absolutely and then the other position that the depth worries me is your safeties so behind jquan brisker you've got Elijah Hicks and tarius Moore behind Kevin You' got Jonathan Owens and Adrien coar um don't love that um behind Kyler Gordon you have Greg strowman Jr and Josh Blackwell who I like both of those guys I think they they both good players um behind Tyreek Stevenson you have Terrell Smith who showed he can play last year and Leon Jones and behind jayon Johnson you have jayon Jones who's another player I like so h i i don't love the depth on this team if everyone were to stay healthy which doesn't happen in the NFL season I I don't think this is a terrible team no no it's not I wouldn't call it a Super Bowl team or a big-time contending team but you have enough in my opinion against the schedule you have to win some games um you know whether that's 8 n or 10 it remains to be seen but you know like I said last year what you kind of established was is that if you're going based on last year is you were no longer a bottom feeder you were at the beginning of the year because you were ill prepared and you just played like absolute dog [ __ ] it was embarrassing in a joke but as things kind of started to gel a bit more on defense you bring in Montes sweat and you see kind of what some of the other guys can do like how DJ Moore balled out and Cole KT taking a step forward word when you put that all together you're like okay you know when you played teams like the Falcons with Tyler hecki obviously the Panthers or the Cardinals you're like okay you know we can beat those teams we're better than them and I mean [ __ ] man you were you were three historic losses away from winning 10 games I that's you if you don't see Tyler Scott slow up on a Justin Fields pass against Detroit and he keeps running that route you beat them you go two and0 against the eventual division champs and the team that made it to the NFC Championship if you don't have Darnell money blocking on a a fourth down run for Justin Fields you beat the playoff bound rounds I mean even even if you blew that game early against the Broncos you could have won nine games and had a shot at that final Wild Card the issue is though is one you got to finish those games and two you got to beat better teams more consistently I mean the signature win last year was against the Lions but Green Bay still owned you in both games and we saw the Chiefs did to them and listen we could talk about how close they were against the Browns you lost the end of the day you lost and you beat bad teams so it's a sign that they're more competitive I and I mean you know I I'll I'll give this to is the Bears were technically the worst team in football in 2022 by Design they stripped it down I'll I'll give them the fact that they were pretty competitive in a lot of those losses against some good teams they could have beaten the Dolphins they had an opening to beat the Eagles they were in the game against the bills until the fourth quarter you know they they play competitive under Matt Eber flu it's the question is can they reach the level of actually being good because playing competitive and beating low tier teams is one thing but you got to take the next step and that's what we have yet to see we don't want to be a middling team anymore we don't want to say hey we won eight games were competitive technically you got to be better than that you got to you got to beat the good teams you got to go out there and you got to show especially in this division where this division is scary good because oh boy the Lions people saying oh the Lions last year blah blah blah I think they're going to be better this year that team is scary so you got to go out there and gotta go out there and prove you can beat those guys it's a lot to prove right and and most of the reports out of camp um uh defense apparently just looked great just flat out looked great they're playing hard too did you hear about Mont sweat being pulled aside saying like hey don't hit our quarterback like that the ad got kicked out of he got kicked out of the the drill that guy's guy's hungry wants to eat yeah he's like you know what I was taught to finish the finish the play and um you know so that that defense is playing hard and playing well and the offense has been up and down and I know you know there's a lot of things to consider you got a rookie quarterback who's learning a brand new playbook you've got a whole new offense because you've got a new offensive coordinator um that it takes time to and you've you know you've got an offensive line that's that's has not played with this group much at all if any um so it's going to take some time and I've heard that it's mostly been uh penalties and things like that but I I think you know from the plays I've seen you've seen some absolutely brilliant throws and and some awesome wide receiver play I just I just think that playing against this really good defense is going to do a lot of good for Caleb Williams and this offense yeah did you see the throw this did you see the throw this morning to romad Dun yeah got him between the Defenders just a it was beautiful beautiful yeah he's had so many just chefs kiss throws and you know what a lot of struggles too which is expected yeah and uh the only bummer is we're not going to see him in the Hall of Fame game no I wanted to talk about the Hall of Fame game coming up um because people have been talking about the Bears and Caleb Williams and how they're going to play and how they're going to practice and you know they were making some points on the radio driving home talking about well you could play Caleb Williams but not have him do anything more than hand the ball off where you could say okay he hands the ball off he's he's getting it's still acclamation with the team you're still getting reps in that are important but you're not risking him too much and I get both points I do I think what I could say is what you said last week or whenever it was about them just needing to play in the preseason you're absolutely right the regulars have to play in the preseason Caleb Williams must play in the preseason he's a he's learning it's so important for him to do so um am I going to put my stock into whether he plays the Hall of Fame game or not not necessarily because the Hall of Fame game is an added-on game it's not one of your three preseason games and what I do want to know is the Texans aren't playing any their regulars I assume you've heard that right um yeah but Caleb Williams is not not going to play well right so what I'm saying is did both teams come together and say hey we're not playing our regulars you don't want to play your regulars do we just not want to do that I mean that's a possibility it's just an early game I'm fine with that the rest of the preseason Caleb Williams better be playing yes because and I think he will be he needs it he needs it and uh you need you need to have these guys get snaps and get real live action and that offensive line needs to be playing and getting pads on pads it's the only way to get into shape and get ready for football is pads on pads right and there's going to be those games in preseason where you're going to see Caleb Williams play a little more than I think other games but I think it's there they they have a number of reps that he's going to get in total so it's not going to be proportionate is what I'm trying to say no I but you know what is we should see him play like other excuse me man um we should see him play uh this similar level to other starters in the league is that's what I want to see I want to see the bear starters you know I don't want to be oh they one drive that's it done one drive uh I want to see them I want to see them play a half I want to see them play you know the a quarter in the first game and half for the the next one I want them to be ready I want I don't want week one to come out against the Titans and just be flat because I don't think the Titans are very good but the NFL you got to respect every opponent in the NFL no matter who it is yeah the N NFL has so much par that any team can beat any team and um and if you are not prepared and ready to play that Titans game is going to come back and haunt you at the end of the season you're gonna look back at that game and go man if we would have beat the Titans we'd be in the playoffs right now or whatever it is like you're we're going to regret it you got to go out and you got to you know it's a it's a blessing and a curse to have an easy schedule to start your season you know the blessing is hey stack those winds up for when it gets hard and then the hope is that you're you know you're playing your best and you're in a Groove and you've found your Rhythm and you've got your offense put together for when those tough teams come that you're better prepared to play against them on the flip side you're like you know what if we're going to lose to Green Bay I'd rather lose to him week one and get it out of the way and then have us be in Rhythm when we're playing you know the Titans and the Vikings the teams that you know we have a better shot at beaten be in the in the you know the the driver seat for those so you just got to take advantage got an easy schedule to start the season easy you know you don't start your division play until late get in the Rhythm early be ready to come out week one and look good it's not only good for you it sets the tone for how the media talks about you for the rest of the season and I know they're every coach and every GM and every player would tell you they don't care what the national media says but let the national media say something bad about them they all know about it and they all talk about it well I know that they said x y and z i I don't care but you know clearly you know about it so you know what they say about you you are paying attention is if you start the season hot they're going to build you up they build you up you start believing in yourself the minute that you know you're three and 0 they start the conversation who of the three and 0 teams are contenders and who are pretenders right it means something it absolutely means something mean absolutely means something to the fans but it means something to those players and those coaches in that building they'll tell you otherwise they know what everybody says about them yeah absolutely by the way somewhat related somewhat unrelated did you hear what byard said today about uh Caleb Williams in the locker room was this uh about the uh telling everybody to clean up after themselves yes glad you said that I I mental note I was reading about that on my uh come home from work on the L and I was like I want to talk about that and I forgot so glad you brought that up um so was that Kevin bued I didn't he yes I believe it was yeah he was he was on with Molly and haw they were out at um Lake Forest so he was telling them on the radio yeah so he was talking about how um you know he he being Caleb Williams came in and said listen we all use the hot tub we all use the cold tub we all we all are using this area and he's like it's it's it's a mess you know people leaving water bottles and trash and he's like you know the custodial staff has to come in here and work really hard to try to clean up after us let's all be adults and professionals and clean up after ourselves and I I think I think for a player that's never actually taken an NFL snap to come in and tell veterans to clean up after themselves to conduct themselves like professionals that's huge I think it's huge for sure I mean I mean the fact that a veteran allpro went on the radio and said that it's not nothing because you know you'll see oh why you reporting that that's not news that was a veteran player coming out and telling you that you know it's there's been you know Mitch trabis at points showed he had Talent on the field flashes of talent but you did you ever did you ever believe in him as a leader and and the stories that came out about how he made people turn TVs off in the in the building because he didn't want to see bad things said about him things like that just that's why the quarterback position is so hard to be a master of in the NFL and it's so hard to figure out who's going to translate from college to the pros because it's not just your physical abilities it's not just how you throw the ball there's so much of personality and mental ability that goes into it that you just there you can't measure and I think the fact that he carries and conducts himself so with so much confidence but not not you know in a braggadocious way in a just like he believes in himself and he he knows who he is and he's going to conduct his business as best he knows how and regardless of what you think when he says I don't care what you say I believe him because I've seen when he does care and I've seen him go after TR Twitter trolls because he's like I got time today and and he just goes off and when he's and then there's other times he just brushes it off don't care I paint my fingernails look at this I put a you like I don't care look at my pink phone case I don't care like I I believe him I believe him when he says he doesn't care and when he's talking to Veterans and he's so and he's it's not like he practiced in the mirror being confident and it just that's just who he is he exudes that and it's going to help him on the field yep well said yeah it's I don't know what kind of player he's gonna be but I've seen some of the insane throws he's making I've seen him throw side ared looking the other way very Pat Mahomes likee and and looked at e at it you add on to that how hard he's working with other players on the team learning The Playbook I don't know if you heard the story how he was with Keenan Allen and they wereing each other on the Playbook and they stuff you love to see yeah it just I I I've never believed I've believed in Bears rookie quarterbacks before I've put the meatball sauce on all over me and slathered it everywhere I this time just feels different and you know what admittedly you and I talked about a few months ago when we were still in season for last season we didn't really know about Caleb Williams we kind of like H we have some reservations and I I didn't buy as much into the personality stuff but just you know it's like hey you know Justin Fields has these problems Caleb Williams has these problems the rookie against you know the the record against X number of teams we we we said this stuff I I'll own up to it I'll be the first one to own up to it but so far from what I'm seeing there there's just so much that I really like and I'm glad that a lot of what the narratives were going around are just being proven wrong and wrong day after day um makes me feel better because it's easy to start a rumor or a narrative and have it kind of be presented as fact when it's really not so um Caleb Williams got his extension and doesn't have an ownership stake in the team like it was reported so you know it just kind of goes to show so you hope that he keeps building on this learning on this so I also want to just really laugh really really laugh at Caleb Williams's Snapchat story uh not Snapchat Instagram sorry um it's TJ Moore extension breaking news and Caleb Williams says every dinner on bro now say less laughing emoji that's hilarious I love it I love it h and I believe in him so much that I'm not going to buy a Caleb Williams jersey neither am I I'm not risking it I am not risking it I'm not doing it the closest I've come to getting anything from any new bear is I got a shery of DeAndre Swift and that is just because his last name is Swift and it says bears there you go and I'm a Swifty so just wanted to Swift bears and you know what's gonna happen is week one I I won't say it I won't say it I don't want to put any negativity Into The Ether right now um oh did you see the uh hard KN trailer I did I did I'm very excited about it um I'm getting in the groove of things I started uh last night I started watching episode one of the Giants Hard Knocks to kind of get into it and I'm I'm eager for the Bears to to start on this oh and the other night too oh was I watching might have been watching the stupid ler baseball team I root for but either way I was watching TV and they had uh Harold in the purple cray oh yeah opens opens this week oh my isn't that funny Harold in the purple cray opens pretty much right when hard KN is coming around H that's funny with I saw that trailer and I started laughing so hard just picturing George mcy in it hey guys Purple Crayon but hey you know what maybe maybe on Hard Knocks they will capture a scene in the office of George mcy and there he is with his purple cray coloring Grimace eating grapes so um The Hard Knocks Bears season debuts uh Tuesday next Tuesday August 6th at 800m I'm ready for it I am ready for it too and I'm excited to see who's going to be the breakout star of the show I'm excited to to see players and like things I care about I've watched Hard Knocks before and some of them I finished some of them I haven't I've lost interest like I don't care um but I have a vested interest in this one so it's G for obvious reasons yes obvious reasons and I've got I've got a 55 gallon drum of uh marinara sauce oh no to just bathe in while I watch it you're gonna be in one of those old timey tubs just sit up in the middle of your living room I'm gonna have a I'm gonna have a hookah with marinara sauce oh dear God oh man I was just gonna eat my marinara sauce on some spaghetti going to have a nice nice Caesar salad and some garlic bread on the side I'm going to have a monacle and I'm gonna have my pinky out and I'm gonna be sitting in my marinara being a meatball you're gonna classy meatball you're just gonna look like the biggest douche wad in the world but it's gonna be great it's gonna be absolutely great also I feel like we need to be drinking uh I'm gonna say red Kool-Aid out of a brandy glass well you know what's funny is a friend of mine uh who listens to the show is uh he gave me a bears like a one of those like insulated coffee mugs and inside he put a packet of Kool-Aid oh that's funny and I've and like a fine wine I've been saving that packet of Kool-Aid and used the mug but I've saved the packet of Kool-Aid I think I know the exact moment to have it is Tuesday at 800m there you go and you know what I think I have some Kool-Aid too because I actually do like drinking it in the summer and I'll buy you know when summer comes along I'll buy maybe three packets of it I'll buy a purple I'll buy a green I'll buy a red and then sometimes I'll buy a blue or an orange or uh I might have pink lemonade but either way whatever one I have I might be making that myself so you and I could both be doing that I I do somewhere we have a uh like a a brandy you know like the whatever you would call them like the is that called a sniffer yeah whatever that is you know it's it's a fancy fancy jug kind of uh you know pardon my ignorance on what you call it but you know I'll just sniff a sniffer okay so I'm gonna have that and you know I'm gonna be sitting down and an English gentleman's gonna come out of nowhere oh I see you have some nice brandies what how old is it oh this is cool ably e this is this is Koolaid I'm watching the Bears clink clink clink classy as you can see so I want to do a hard shift here have you seen Wolverine and Deadpool yet yes I have oh my God was that good so funny so funny and I'm and I'm sitting here right now with both of my Deadpool uh and Wolverine popcorn tubs so I've got the one that's headpool and I've got the one that is supposed to be uh the Ripoff of the Dune 2 popcorn bucket where it's got Wolverine's mouth that you stick the hand through his mouth to get the popcorn and I was at Comic-Con last week when they came out so I called my wife and I said how much do you love me and she goes uh oh what are you about to ask me I'm like when they when AMC down the street opens on Thursday can you be there first person there and buy these stupid popcorn buckets she's like fine and she came through with flying colors so a I've got both of those and uh I'm going to reee the movie again tomorrow and hopefully I can score the the baby pool popcorn bucket yeah you got to have the full collection you got to have the full collection of these things I'm eating out of a skull head with a with a uh a Deadpool mask and one of those old timey when the when the Bears used to play in the Super Bowl every year or I'm sorry in the championship game pre- Super Bowl leather helmets with a twirly top oh my God so good love it h all right so today was the deadline for the MLB trade and uh the Cubs made some moves they did the white socks made a lot of moves I would like to talk about the white socks first if you're okay with that because I am extraordinarily annoyed by one of the trades would you like to guess which one uh is it the Morell trade no no I'm saying the white socks oh the white I'm sorry I'm sorry uh yes I know exactly the the Eric fety one yes do you know why I'm annoyed because the Cardinals got Eric fety and Tommy fam for basically nothing they traded away Tommy Edmund who's been hurt all year and they didn't even have to give up any prospects I'm also mad because one of the prospects that was one of the best prospects that the white socks got in this trade um has a stress fracture that he he was injured on Friday before the trade and he has a stress fracture in his left tibia and is out for the season so they traded for a guy that's not playing for the rest of the season and is hurt like how white socks is that yeah I I I really thought that that was a light return for what it was considering that in this trade you gave away fetty and fam and copc because that was a three team trade and you gave copc to the Dodgers you got three guys back from the Dodgers none from the Cardinals yep now Miguel Vargus was a top prospect and there's still some promise in there he still got to find his in the Major League level the other two are just wild cards but I really thought you could have gotten more there Miguel Vargas at one point was the number three Prospect in baseball I'm sorry number three Prospect in the Dodger system number 29 in baseball which is still really damn good considering the Dodgers are always among the top in Prospect he has major league experience not a ton but he has major league experience but his slash line in the majors is 239 313 423 I really have a strong suspicion that he's a quadruple a player I'll give him a chance we'll see um I think if anything he might be a decent MLB player but um you know am i counting on him to be a perennial Allstar no not necessarily with the other prospects who the hell knows um I think that in terms of what they traded away the freaking Cardinals got themselves a really nice starter fam is that versatile bench bat and is like everybody kind of just waiting for the Dodgers to fix copek like that's what we're expecting right yeah absolutely absolutely um but I mean jell Perez is was the number 17 player in the Dodgers system he played in the Futures game he's 19 years old played at the a level uh and had an 8800 Ops with 10 home runs in 75 games um so I I that you know he is somebody they like okay I I could I could uh you know I don't think that's a terrible return there um I'm hoping that Miguel Vargas is is a change of scenery guy and the fact that he's not really blocked he can play he's got playing time yeah and maybe just the playing time is going to be helpful to him to to improve yeah for sure and now that Paul D Young's been shipped out you know obviously there's going to be plenty of time for him to play um but we'll see we'll see I I just think the socks could have gotten a bit more and I think the Cardinals should have been forced to give up more but you know that was annoying yeah very Paul they why did why do the Cardinals why does everyone willing to trade people for nothing to the Cardinals drives crazy look at the Cardinals look at the Brewers they got freaking William contras for essentially nothing it's very irritating um yeah white socks traded Paul D young to the Royals and got right-handed pitcher Gerald uh Rosado who's 22 years old he's not in the top 30 in the Royals farm system but and he's got a 185 ER with a little over 10 strikeouts per nine playing a ball yeah maybe you get yourself uh maybe you get yourself a reliever down the road I mean Paul D young had some nice power numbers I think he had like what 18 homers some 16 17 18 something around there so like you had you know you trade away a nice veteran power bat he wasn't a stellar Defender like he once was doesn't really get on base at a great clip but you know I think that's a pretty standard return for a guy like that yeah you you got essentially a uh lottery ticket yep um and then uh Tanner Banks was traded to the Phillies for 19-year-old William uh bergallo who is the number uh or he was a number 11 in the Phillies farm system played High a this year with a 735 Ops a 295 average seems like he's going to be a on base guy rather than a power guy but for Tanner Banks I think that's a pretty good return yeah again it's you know it's just another lottery ticket but that's what you get with these um then surprisingly ELO Jimenez was shipped out that was a shock not surprising that they wanted to trade him surprised that somebody took him and the Orioles of all teams like they have so many other options internally and externally they could have gone with and you got the guy that can't stay healthy and can barely move I was very surprised and that trade it sound like it was made they just that those socks wanted to just basically get him out of there yeah they're paying a portion of uh um of his they're paying a portion of his salary I think they're getting a low-level Prospect back but I don't even know who it is uh I think a pitcher or something um it's it's basically a salary dump right and for the Orioles I think uh they're looking for more production out of the out of the designated hitter spot um they'll they'll probably put him in whenever adley rushman is not in the DH spot uh so they've already got good offense just putting them in there just gives the the POS of some power um so the uh Infamous trade the canana for ELO and C trade is all but done in Chicago Dylan CE is in San Diego where he just threw a no hitter congrats to him ELO is now was in San Diego watching that happen live yeah that's pretty cool yeah it was W it was uh pretty exciting yeah and then Jose canana who hasn't been on the Cubs in years is with New York I believe so um the sock still probably technically won that trade in terms of value but uh the Cubs did not go on that run like they were supposed to after they won the World Series and the white socks didn't have that massive window where Eloy was going to be hitting 40 homers and CE was going to be winning saong after saong in Chicago either so I think all in all an incredibly disappointing output from that trade on both sides of town I mean CE is Far and Away the best asset that came from that trade I mean he's he's legitimately great when he's on and Eloy was a massive bust truly a massive bust for the white socks and did you hear um the NBC Sports Chicago did you hear that clip from their uh live trade analysis show no so I don't know who it was talking in the middle I I was it McGuffy I don't I I don't know who that was but um he was talking with uh Gordon Beckham and Chuck and he's like good riddance I'm glad this loser's out of here like very harsh words for ooy Jimenez and I mean listen the body didn't allow him to play but I also didn't always really see a motivated player and I can't help but wonder if there were some issues with him in the clubhouse cuz I think that a lot of people questioned his work ethic and Leadership I don't really know for sure I can't say but um I don't know just didn't really seem like a winning player to me which is a shame because the talent was off the charts with him I mean you remember how when he was young and he would just effortlessly flick at the ball and would go 500 feet yeah it's just too bad that all that Talent didn't turn out and can a new environment help you sure I just is the body going to allow it it's it's really hard for me to say that it will um so the guy who's been playing a lot of the DH at bats for the Orioles is Ryan o'hern um who this season is got an 812 uh Ops and has 12 home runs already so which is better than Eloy a lot better than Eloy so I'm a little surprised by what their expectation is I am too I am too unless unless they're planning to put Ryan o'hern in the Outfield because they uh the Orioles did trade one of their outfielders to the Phillies for a pitcher that could be that could be I just I think he had other internal options but maybe they saw something they could either fix or think or they're just taking a chance well they their GM did say that he thought a change of scenery would be helpful well it's it's a risk but I don't know if it is because I mean I guess if if it's a bad locker room situation but as far as financially like they're gonna they're they're gonna buy them out at the end of the year I think it's like a$3 million buyout they're gonna buy them out and they've got tons of money like they're a low payroll team because all their good players are young and and cheap so it's they've got new ownership that's got it's willing to spend some money so it's not really a big deal they're just you know for them it's just a few million dollars for this one season and if he does come through and just becomes the ELO Jimenez that the white socks thought they were getting when they traded with the Cubs then then yeah you could keep them and then buy them out after next year it's not that huge of a contract you're no it's not we'll see how it works out so I don't think it will work out I I'm expecting them to buy him out and then him be a free agent at the end uh in the offseason um so yeah the white socks stink and they're about to get worse um they're on a 15 game losing streak uh the G crochet things seem to ruffle feathers in the front office with Chris gets you heard that interview right yeah that whole thing is just uh you know there's know he didn't get traded Robert didn't get traded which I'm kind of not surprised his value isn't the best right now but uh crochet is staying and we'll kind of see how that how that turns out but at least with crochet he can kind of ramp down the way he wants to here if there's any bright side there and maybe he does get an extension later I don't know or maybe he gets traded this off season we'll see I have a feeling they're going to trade him in the off season when they can reset the market and he's got the whole year of pitching well um I I'm just I'm I I was I heard so much smoke from the Yankees and gar crochet that I was shocked that there wasn't a fire maybe there was smoldering something and just fell through at the end I don't know was an in involvement on it but I've heard a lot of reports about the Yankees being in on GAR crochet yeah yeah there was them the Dodgers and then I think the Dodgers obviously they went after Jack flare so yeah just imagine if the white sock would have held on to Dylan CE and sold high on him yeah I mean I still think there's hope for Drew Thorp I know he didn't have a good start against the Mariners but uh I still think he have something there potentially yeah but it doesn't I mean it doesn't change the fact that if you would sold on I don't know oh you could have really gotten a hall now yes yes um so uh the last thing I add with the white socks is the rumors about their next head coach or I'm sorry uh head coach their manager did you hear the rumors that might be AJ pinski yeah I heard that and he uh I know he kind of denied it and of course he's going to deny it because you don't wanna you've got a guy that's in there right now right it you know is AJ Pinsky can be a total [ __ ] but I think he knows that that's you know one of those faux PA is talking about taking somebody's job that has the job it's a that's a tough one right exactly and you know what I don't even know if they're actually serious but when that's put out in The Ether I don't think that's clearly just speculation or some rumor I there's clearly something some conversations that had been had or are being had I don't really know but the thing with AJ being a manager is in my opinion he could be a good manager but is the white socks are doing it again let's fall back to the circle within our Circle let's not look outside because it's probably them saying oh well you know we went outside of Pedro Gul that didn't look who by the way that's a whole other issue and he's going to be here the rest of the year as this team continues to chase the record for worst team uh in history but uh you know you're you're going to be falling that trap again if you're really considering this and again maybe it does pay off but do you they really they just keep doing it they keep doing the same thing of not wanting to go outside the organization keep it within the F do you remember what they had to do to convince Robin Ventura who didn't even want the job yeah I I I mean the one thing I can say about AJ pinski is he's not a yes man he loves the white socks but even when he was the White Soxs Ambassador he was an employee of the team he went on whatever podcast that would take him was like I'm buddies with Chris gats that was a terrible hire what were they doing like he doesn't care and so I feel like he's not a yes man and that bodess well for the organization and not do I think it's the right one no I think I I mean go get like Terry Fran cona you could get a real manager like I'm not saying I'm not saying a I'm not saying AJ can't be one but I he probably has an arc like David Ross could be where where at best he's he's a mid player manager with that that's got a a you know uh he's a Stern dad um like that maybe that's what the white socks need I don't know but I think you could do worse listen you anything's an upgrade from Pedro Gall at this point I mean honestly is I'm gonna I'm gonna put it this way Pedro gfal is not gonna be the White Sox manager next year right no zero chance zero chance if if I told you that you had to spend your next paycheck at your job on a bet you had to there's no other choice and the options on the BET were you either take Azie Gan and AJ pinski as your next manager or anybody else on Earth which one are you gonna put your money on probably uh AJ or Azie that's the my point is I are they I I just think that they have those two player or those two coaches have those two guys I'm not going to call both of them coaches because one's only but uh those two guys have too much white socks smoke and we've all figured out who Jerry is and Jerry is the puppeteer of this team Chris gats has Jerry's left arm up his butthole you know being used as a puppet so the Azie or AJ seems the likely candidates that I I would be the same if I had to put money down I would take those two guys and leave the field for everybody else I would feel so much safer and doesn't mean it's going to be true it just if I had to put money down that's where I'd feel more comfortable with my money sure did speaking of Pedra fall did you hear the report from today no so this was according to 670 The Score it was on the uh Parkins and Spiegel show and basically there was a report that around the All-Star break Pedro graall tried to motivate the White Socks by saying if this goes down as one of the worst seasons ever it's obviously on no one but the players and okay like everybody has an issue with that that was I'm just reading the Tweet here but also the motivation was uh if you're the worst team in baseball everyone's going to remember you and I kind of get what he's saying but I don't think you deliver it like that and apparently some veterans were really not pleased about that um and that's where kind of the well it's on the players thing but um it's on everybody the team's not good Pedro isn't going to make a better manager isn't going to make this team good but he's got to share some of that brunt too and clearly the messages that he's sending in the clubhouse are not resonating and presenting hey if you're the worst everyone's going to remember you I I just I don't think they really appreciated that very much I'm just gonna say that Pedro gfal is no Lou Brown that's not how Lou Brown would have managed a bad team he's not Lou Brown nor is he the manager from uh Bull Durham the lolly gag speech yeah uh Pedro grafal I've I've heard Danny Parkins say because he knew him from and knew people that knew him from the the Kansas City days that he is he's a brown noser and he does whatever to to uh win favor and keep his you know spot at where he is and that's annoying and that's that's not what this team needs and I you already you have a the worst manager in baseball you have team that has no talent and a lot of injuries you promoted somebody that was in the front office that was bad at his existing job promoted him he was bad at his job and in the front office of that put together that what might be the worst team ever assembled and you promoted him he failed upward yeah yeah it's just this is a disaster Rin dorf what did Rin dorf say last year we owe it to our fans to get better as soon as possible we don't want to go outside the organization because it would take a year to evaluate well guess what you were bottoming out further than like any other team is bottomed out before yeah it's it's insane insane how quickly this fell I mean just a couple years ago sure they overachieved but they were in the playoffs and this is where they became it's it's insane here's the exact quote from Jerry reinsdorf the conclusion I came to is we owe our fans and ourselves not to waste any [Music] time say that again in your voice the conclusion I came to is we owe our fans and ourselves not to waste any time we want to get better as fast as we possibly can if I went outside it would have taken anybody at least a year to evaluate the organization I could have had Branch Ricky come back it would have taken him a year to evaluate the organization the fact that in that speech he was referencing Branch Ricky who's been dead for like what 70 years I forgot that he mentioned Branch Ricky and then he went on the whole David Xin crap he mentioned Branch Ricky Branch Ricky died in 1965 at the age of 83 H 83 oh my God good gravy he last manage in 1955 1955 insane so it was so the time when he last was a general manager in professional sports to the time that Jerry dropped that that nugget was almost 70 years and he's probably because that's the only front he was like [ __ ] who's a front office person I can think of all right the young whipper snappers will know Branch Ricky they saw that movie with with Black Panther in it 10 whatever years ago it was Harrison Ford good old H solo he'll know that I I'm looking at a picture of Branch Ricky and uh I would not if you gave me a lineup of two people I would not have been able to pick out which one was Branch Ricky when I when I think of Branch Ricky I literally think of him when uh he was played by Harrison Ford in 42 if you put a picture of FDR next to Branch Ricky I probably couldn't pick them apart I don't know he kind of looks this one looks like he could be an FDR oh my God he he was a general manager from 1913 to 1955 you dropped Branch Ricky just how much more out of touch could you be and he doesn't care doesn't care he doesn't care straight up doesn't care nope as long as those keep uh coming he's still making that money for him and his co-owners yep so I guess we could talk about the Cubs here yeah Cubs made two moves um the more important one is they trade Christopher Morell Hunter Biggie and Ty Johnson for uh Isaac petus um I don't know how to feel about this one I mean Christopher Morell was just a big bag of potential and hasn't amounted to anything and was a terrible third baseman he's exciting electric the power is incredible he's a great guy I think he's got a lot of potential and I think the rays are going to get the most out of that potential I think he can become really legit with the Rays with the Cubs this year he was really struggling batting under a 100 Ops well over 700 um but uh I do think the Rays will be able to help that and bring him to where his potential is ISAC parades I like ISAC Paredes he's a better contact he was like a near five win player last year he's had a WRC plus of 130 and over over the past few years with the Rays is that a product of the Rays is that how good he is we'll see this is a risky trade but I kind of like taking the risk um I know today Morel homered in his second at bat is array and Paredes had a few uh babit luck line outs but uh you know one game we'll see um I don't really know how this is going to work out I like taking the chance I know a lot of people are upset Morel is gone and I understand that but um you know the numbers for Paredes over the last two years are really good he's got a lot of control I don't think he's going to have as good a power as we'd hoped but um he's a better Defender that's for sure yeah Christopher moral slash line with the Cubs this year was 199 batting average 302 on base 373 slugging 675 Ops with an Ops plus of 89 um that's not good that's just not good enough and he was a terrible Fielder and we know he had a lot of balls hard for routs he had some tough luck we know but uh you know it's eventually you got to get the the results to come around and and he was a 0.1 BW war is Isaac is a 2.5 B war and his stat this year with Tampa are 245 357 435 for a 792 Ops and a 127 Ops plus and he's the last three years he's been pretty consistent Ops 74 792 Ops plus3 132 127 um and he was an All-Star this year and you've got several years of Team control still on his contract he's a significantly better Fielder I think I think it's the safer option um yeah you're probably right Morel Morel you're right is much more exciting and but ex we've learned jav bayz was an exciting player and we shipped him out and there was a lot of people upset that we shipped out jav bayas I still see a lot of jav bayas jerseys out there um but uh that excitement just ask Tigers fans are they did did they like the excitement no it has been very good there no I worry that Christopher Morell is gonna be that same guy he's got power he's got excitement he's it's just it the if the produ isn't on the field at a certain point even if it's babit block or hard outs whatever the case is at some point that production has to be there because at the end of the day a hard out and a soft liner out are the same thing yeah yeah H but um you know it Jed Hoyer said he was going to make moves for Beyond just 2024 and this is what you get you know Isaac parades is under control for the next few years uh so you're getting a cost controlled player um you know Morel was too but you know cost control player for a cost control player so uh we we'll see how it works out because this was the big Cubs move it it here here's another thing to consider Christopher Morell is terrible third baseman so you're going to have to play him a DH a lot right if you brittis is going to be much better third baseman you can play him at third base that opens up your DH spot for Suzuki to play DH and you can start pulling in some of those minor league players in that Outfield and and let them get a little more playing time yeah I mean you know you can kind of prioritize things now um I like seya dhing more you have your noted third baseman now playing Third Base regularly so you know it maybe that comes of something um so the other trade that the uh the Cubs made was they moved Mark lighter Jr to the Yankees for two 24 year old prospects Ben cowls and Jack Neely another one who's hurt them in Chicago uh Ben cowls uh in double A this year 295 nine home runs uh 848 Ops in 88 games Neely with a 2 281 erra over this was between double A and tripa A this year 281 erra but almost 14 k per nine which is a little intriguing yeah you know it's I I was a big Mark lier Jr fan but you know trading away a 30 plus year old pitcher in a season you're not going anywhere for an intriguing upside younger arm I think that's a fair return for the Cubs I know the one guy is injured but uh in terms of value and play you're getting back I think that's a perfectly reasonable return for a good reliever who was more of a splits guy and really relied on having his grip in place because when that splitter was working it was virtually unhitable but if that wasn't working just so then it was very likely he was going to get hit pretty hard so I think that's a very reasonable return yeah so Mark glider Jr is uh 33 years old and when's he turned 34 he's he's like 33 and a half so he'll be I mean clearly 34 when the next season starts s um you know the he's got a shelf life in him and so to get to 24 year olds do they do they pan out I don't know uh but it's you're trying to reset here it's kind of like it's the kind of the philosophy that the Red Soxs have had is you compete a year you you have an offe reset comp compete and you stay relevant that way and until the the Cubs find out who their of their farm system are are legit and who are not and uh you know you move on from some of these bad contracts and and bring in some good ones that this is probably the best you're going to do yeah I you know so many people were livid online today about the trade deadline I was just kind of just I don't feel anything anymore they're just so dead to me right now and every time they show an ounce of looking competent then they lose three games where they just look absolutely lifeless and terrible yep I just I'm sick of it so so done yeah I I just I I I've lost any hope for this season and honestly I don't know what they're going to do in the off season to to get that much better they've got pitching that just how are they going to fix this offense I don't think uh Juan stto is coming through that door no no he's not even if he goes uh to the free Agia Market I don't think they're GNA Pony up I think they should I think that that would put some life into it but you know it's I don't think that's happening um another another thing that didn't make sense to me is there were a lot of reports that jamus and tyion was on the trade block mhm so you the day before the trade deadline you you started him I wonder I really wonder if they just didn't get what they were looking for even so why wouldn't you just postpone a start one day I I agree I agree because I agree the the Cubs I you know you could have pitched him today and known whether or not you were going to move him and one one day moving his start uh you know yesterday the market could have completely changed for him today but if you pitched him yesterday and he gets hurt or he gets lit up uh you know that significantly hurts any any chance that you had of of making a deal that next day so the market must have just been absolutely not what they wanted or they weren't really looking to trade him which I find a a little bit hard yeah I mean the thing with tyion is he's been overall incredibly effective but uh you wonder if the peripherals just didn't really align with what teams were looking for especially because it's not like he'd be a rental he is under control which is valuable normally but maybe they look at the money he's making in the periph like e do we really want to go after that if he was like a much higher strikeout uh not put the ball in play as much type pitcher then I think that's different because it really was a sellers Market this year and you saw some of the deals that some of these teams got for like wow they got that for that guy but uh yeah maybe just in the line with what other teams were willing to give up and what the Cubs were looking for so it is what it is yeah because you would this wouldn't be a rental you get this H the remainder of this season and then the next two seasons at 18 million per so that's that's not an insignificant investment no it's not and if you look at the Cubs you know that they they could have they're a high spending team but not a high high spending team and they're you're not the Dodgers yeah you don't you don't have that unlimited payroll you you that $18 million could have gone elsewhere um you know like you're paying right now you're paying uh $27.5 million to Cody Bellinger 26 to Swanson 21 and a half 21 to Suzuki and for very little production you know you're gonna get 16 and a half off the books for Kyle Hendrick next year and I believe 10 and a half from Drew smiley um but you know you've you you need to get more out of that those High payroll players yeah Danby Swanson especially High guy Cody Bellinger give me give me more Cody yeah like Ian hap all right he's playing well but give me more says Suzuki maybe a little more little more pop I mean he's overall been fine but yeah I oh my god Tommy fam hit a grand slam with the with the Cardinals of course he did of course he did God I hate baseball I hate baseball but if you look at say Suzuki um his on base is 339 his Ops is 818 just fine but he's got 15 home runs I think we I think we were expecting more you know it's not terrible but I think we're expecting more yeah and I mean it's uh it's probably not helping that he had a lat injury but you know your point still stands and and a better Fielder well if he has more time a DH then maybe that won't be as uh won't be as big of a deal but ju just pointing that out there but you're absolutely you're you're you're not wrong so yeah baseball's terrible and I hate it I don't I don't like it here hate this sport so much I just I miss winning just want to see my my teams win um you know the the Bulls are garbage I think they'll be more fun garbage especially if they can figure out how to get rid of voo I think they'll at least be fast-paced garbage but they're gonna be garbage the Blackhawks I think are GNA be significantly better but they were so bad that significantly better just puts them at not good so it's all my eggs are in a bear's basket which is the worst place to put them because that that team is the kings of breaking my heart I know I know I know it's it's putting your hopes putting your hopes in the Chicago Bears all in that basket is like uh giving Fuller a Pepsi and and hoping he doesn't pee the the bed easy on the fluids kid Fuller in his Pepsi is there anything else you wanted to talk about nope I think I've said my piece well I think that's going to do it for this episode of Bill swerski Sports Talk Chicago I want to thank everybody so much please hit subscribe however you listen to podcast that's iTunes uh whether that's iTunes Stitcher YouTube Etc Spotify all the the the aggregators uh follow us on social media atsy Sports facebook.com Sports skysports.com or shyam Pat 2 for Alex on Twitter or Alexander jpat creative.com for all the cool stuff that Alex does and again thank you guys so much for listening and until next time Bear Down a lucky break the good Lord wants the CBS to win we thank dicka and go for all they have provided cops swim cops whm cops Wim oh I don't want her you can have she can't fit in my van and she looks like remember New Yorkers smoking crack is not legal on blames Bears 31 to -7 the St oh when the bears go bearing down I want to for