Manoah’s Setback, City Connects & Superman Pillar | Blair and Barker Full Episode

Manoah’s Setback, City Connects & Superman Pillar | Blair and Barker Full Episode

[Applause] finally Kevin Barker we got a sweep we should have bought a broom in here not I told you told just going to happen listen to me next time 3-1 the uh Blue Jays beating the Chicago White Socks yesterday that is a three- game sweep for my blue jays and um the Jays have today off before they start a three game such a front runner you are I’m a non-runner pick I’m a aside yeah Jays have today off before they start a three- game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates it is of course City connect Jersey week yeah and uh the Jersey will debut on the field tomorrow night Monday which is June 3 will be a Vlad bobblehead giveaway I what one of those and uh Wednesday June 5th will be the Blue Jays backpack give away with the city connect design well I’ll get you one of those the Jays will be wearing the uniform in the field uh well three of those nights so there you go that’s awesome City connect Jersey’s coming out and everybody in social media has been crapping themselves the last four or five days can finally go back to having their having their lives I I just mindboggling people really care that much it’s just it’s I mean I get it’s a jersey um you know and I remember covering the Montreal Expos when clo brochu decided that he was going to put the Flur to Le the uh Quebec provincial logo on the expose Jersey which I really liked I I thought it was terrific um but oh my God it created s there was such a political uh a political storm in Quebec I mean it was a it was a symbol of Quebec separatism and all this it was um I mean it was I thought it was a genius marketing Ploy by by the uh by the Expos at the time to really kind of reinforce their status in the province it would also happened to be at a time when they trying to get the province to kick in money for a new ballpark but uh I mean I I lived through that and I just thought people it is a baseball uniform and it at first and it looked great but you would think that the uh you that the imposition of this this this logo um well I mean it would be the same thing if the Blue Jays took took the maple Lea off their logo people who get all worked up in arms I mean you know me I don’t like nationalist logos on anything I just don’t it’s to me it’s a sports event not a political event but anyhow the new jerseys will be out today and they’ll be available tomorrow and everybody can go back to being happy and worrying about important things this is such a good segue and worrying about important things like Alec manoa’s uh elbow Alec monoa left last night’s game after an inning in two thirs complaining of elb complaining uh with elbow discomfort he was scheduled undergo an MRI today you we I don’t imagine we’ll know the result of the MRI today we may have to wait until uh we may have to wait until tomorrow for that but um let’s hear from Alec monoa this is a postgame uh scrum postgame interview he did with with uh with hazel uh with Hazel May uh after last night’s game after his exit so let’s hear what Alec monoa said and then Kevin we can come back and and take a take a deeper dive into what this might mean for the Blue Jays what was that feeling like when when you released that on one pitch yeah it was just uh feel like I was just guarding it um like through my warm-ups and like that first inning sounds like circus music and uh like even a little bit on that second inning um and then kind of just mentally told myself like hey just stop thinking about it like it’s just a little achy like it’s it’s fine um he’s talking mostly bothers me when I like extend uh so I think mentally when I told myself like don’t think about it like I didn’t guard it and I kind of just got more extension than I was the previous pitches and um yeah I just kind of just felt really Pinchy and um at that point like mentally I was just like do I keep grinding through this and maybe make it worse or um you know just hand hand the bot of somebody else that is Alec monoa uh and Kevin that was you know we we got a text from our friend Caleb Joseph uh as soon as he threw the last pitch saying he’s squeezing his hand that is a uh that’s a sign of an elbow issue it’s not a good sign of course we’ll await the result of the MRI and you know knock on would we wish hope for the best praying for him yeah for Alec monoa um Trevor Richards came in and um outstanding I mean outstanding is just I mean you want to talk about put your big boy pants on you want to talk about sacking up it is you sacked up three in the third Innings well I say let me say three and the third Innings and uh the Jays uh as I said went on to uh to get a a a 3-1 win over the Chicago White Socks but look um I guess I mean there’s no good news with Alec manoa’s injury obviously but the fact that Bowen Francis appears based on everything we’ve been told appears to be ready to return off the is might alleviate some of the concern but my understanding was I think Bowen francis’s last outing was three in a third Innings so I don’t know if you can necessarily expect him to come in and be your quote unquote fifth starter I we were led to believe that yariel Rodriguez was being uh that the Jay’s plans were to work him into the bullpen mix I don’t know Kevin maybe that’s changed now maybe you go back to what we had at the start of the Year where you have yiel Rodriguez Francis back right but it’s not his fault but they got to do something and that would appear to be one of the options and yeah I know Trevor Richard’s going multiple Innings I know Bal and Francis can go multiple Innings I mean right there you figur give you probably somewhere in the range of six Innings all things are are equal and everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do you know what though I hate the idea aide of having to re I want Trevor Richards available seven days a week there you go just to change up the arm speed and you know the location of the fast ball I mean he can do it in different quadrants he get left he’s out like he’s a weapon right and you have to use that weapon to eat Innings to give a lineup a chance to have a big inning I I’m not sure that’s what’s best for your team but you know maybe this is just sort of what they have to do I I’m not sure there’s anybody else at the minor league level you want to be calling up trying to hope and pray that they they give you you know a decent start to give a lineup a chance so they’re they’re sort of a rocking a heart place here but I’m sure they’ll fill in the blanks there again I you know some of the lineup the guys in the lineup are starting to look a little bit better maybe that’ll give them a little bit more confidence to be able to I don’t want to say Throw anybody out there but you know if guys are scoring some more runs looking a little better at the plate hitting some more homers maybe that would give Pete Walker and John Snyder a little bit more confidence to maybe throw a guy out there they really don’t want to throw out out there because of the way their lineups looking so yeah look it is what it is right this is what you have to do you said it last night or yeah was it last night after the game that not too many teams have five legit starters I mean you know a lot a lot a lot of teams have are going to have to you know have been doing and and are going to have to do what the Jays are about to have to do with teams I mean there have been teams that have been backfilling in that sh spot uh all year long now I mean the problem for the Blue Jays is this had emerged as a real strength and you know if you want to go down the road of potentially making a trade which you know has been a talking point around here one of the areas of strength was starting pitching and and if Alec monoa if Alec monoa needs to be shut down for a while and then you’ve got to build him up again again we don’t know but if if that is the case that’s your that’s your starting rotation depth poof and on the flip side of that I’m can Trevor handle this like you know’s he’s going from high leverage one inning me of the order to you know two or three Innings and trying to add length and you know it’s it’s a lot to ask you know mentally physically heart rate changing routines like just the quality of stuff he’s running out there again we talk about it’s not his fault is it Trevor Richard’s fault like you know sooner or later he’s probably going to be raising his hand and go Uncle it’s just this might be too much so maybe you know I’m sure they’re going to figure it out out and you know do the best they can to try and again give the lineup a chance to have the big inning that’s what this ultimately comes down to is who who gives him a better chance to do that may maybe it is a Francis Rodriguez instead of a Francis Richards because you like to keep Richards do you have any idea what you getting from Chad green raise your hand if you do no you’re watching this show anybody anybody I see your hands because I don’t think you know I I the way I’ve talked to people are around that team maybe they feel a little bit more um conf in him than than a lot of people do so yeah it’s you know there’s still some things there to iron out and I’m sure they’ll try and figure that part of it out and again they’re playing a team that they should have enough quality of Pats they should starting pitching should be good enough to to keep that team from scoring runs so that lineup’s can score enough runs to win most of the games the Jays are 26 and 29 right now with the three games against the Pirates coming up look there’s a chance there’s a chance they could uh get out of that pirate series at 500 maybe a game below 500 uh and then of course we talked about the schedule really bites but it’s funny it we spent the last two weeks it seems talking about trades and I’m sure we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about trades but I just want to mention the St Louis Cardinals here M because two weeks ago when we were looking at possible trade partners and and you know social media or the NA national writers in the states we’re talking about teams that may need to do something teams that may be looking to to shake things up the St Louis Cardinals were very much one of those teams sure St Louis has gone eight- two in their last 10 games they’re half a game out of a wild card spot like and and the reason I’m mentioning this is this is one of the reasons it’s not all that easy to make a trade like that because with the Wild Card format you are literally a good week away from being in a position where you can legitimately look at getting that wild card spot I’m looking at St Louis a half game out now Pittsburgh’s coming into town they’re two and a half out the Washington Nationals four games under 500 two and a half out yeah you know go to the American League uh we talked about the Blue Jays 26 and 29 four and a half out Tampa Bay 27 and 29 two games under 500 Four out Houston 24 and 30 two they’re seven back so what I’m saying is and the Jays have gone six and four in their last 10 the Rays have gone three and seven Houston’s gone four and six you are literally a good week away at at any point in the season from from finding yourself in a wild card which is which is why they put it in in the first damn place but the reason I’m mentioning this is because that just kind of it it it should reinforce and we’re going to talk about this with David Samson in a few minutes it should make it difficult for teams to make a call on what they see coming down the road remember we talked about Alex you said I looked at run differential in 2015 our run differential was better than the Yankees we had 11 games left against them so I thought that we could make a move frankly I thought we were a better team than the Yankees at that point in time then we make this move that makes us an even better team against the Yankees and make a series of moves so it it just it it just gets back though to the idea that um I mean who’s out of it the white socks are out of it the angels are out of it Oakland’s out of it Houston’s seven back are they out of it I don’t know I think Houston housers aren’t acting like they’re out of it no so we just we have to keep that in mind about just how quickly this thing can turn around yeah it’d be nice if Turner got hot if vlat starts hitting more Homer at B you know goes on one of them streaks for a week where you can’t get him out like that’s sort of what they need right they’re going to face some good teams after Pittsburgh like you’re going to need your three big ones in the middle of that order you know Dalton keep hitting homers and David Schneider keep doing what he’s doing leading off like maybe George Springer starts consistently pulling velocity in the air like like you know you need some guys to start doing some things all at the same time I think it’s to your point because I think you feel like for the most part they can PE piece the pitching together they’ll figure out they’ll figure they’ll figure that I mean they got enough and Pete Walker in my mind’s the best pitching coach in baseball they’ll figure that out their rotations good enough that it’ll probably add some link you know that that might take a little pressure off the Chad greens and the and the Trevor Richards and the Zach pops of the world dare I say he’s all of a sudden going to probably start getting a few more you know High leverage situations against some tough rting I meaning the way he has recently that’s uncomfortable that’s what that is like nasty late moving weird arm angle and he just looks you know mean enough and and Goofy enough out there that you know you don’t want to dig in so good it’s like for me it’s going to and it’s always been the same conversation we’re going to have with the Jays can somebody or somebody’s in the middle of the order all at the same time start doing some special things I said this if they can’t have a guy have an MVP month can they have two or three that have above average months at the same time if they do that because of the way they pitch and the way they play Outfield defense and their baseball IQ running the bases for the most part you would think they could go on a decent run and beat some quality teams that they’re about to face what we’ve seen since George Springer has moved down in the order is we we’ve we’ve we’ve started to see a Jo like you would love to have seen this out of the leadoff spot for George Springer last night a walk two run scored and a hit yep that I I take that out of the leadoff spot all the time but what but what has happened here you talked about this on on Blue Jay’s talk last night I thought it was it was a really good point it’s almost as if I’m not basing this just on on one game I don’t want to base it on one game but you know what it’s almost as if now the lineup looks like it’s starting to lengthen out a bit if you’ve got a guy Springer who’s going to get on base down there MH you’ve got a guy Isaiah ker FFA and who knows where where that’s going to end up but right now he’s having good at bats he’s he’s he’s he’s making good contact he’s having quality at bats all of a sudden you’re starting to see a little bit of length added to that order yeah and you know I mean I guess if you really want to go there the question would be why did it take so long to do it but a fair question you know I think we can probably Cobble together some sort of answer and and at this point mhm it’s it’s pointless to look back and say why it didn’t happen earlier because it didn’t happen earlier no we we can’t happen now we can’t rewrite we cannot rewrite that history but um yeah looks like the pressure’s lifted to me him hitting in the I don’t know about you but it just looks like got a little bit more giddy up in his step in the seven almost he almost pulled that pulled that ball out of the park class I mean he’s hitting it hard to the pull side and its velocity that fast ball at 95 was middle away once the last time you saw him take middle away heater and yank that thing to left Center it is rare and for him to be doing that his swing don’t look any different it’s not like he’s you know I you know I ikf now all of a sudden doesn’t have a leg kick no he ain’t doing it’s nothing’s really changed I mean he’s maybe moved his hands around a little bit to flatten out his Barrel to give him a chance to to get to different quadrants but other than that just seems to me like he’s not overthinking it and there’s not as much pressure on him hitting in the seven I said this to you like there there’s pressure everybody yelling and screaming about you know he’s a Hall of Fame lead off hitter look at all them homers he’d hit there’s pressure there there no pressure in the seven hole like if he doesn’t hit with Runners on base in the seven hole Yeah you g to pay any attention to that I mean you may a little but you ain’t going to as much if he was sitting in the leadoff spot so good for them to make the change and you know they’re again they’re going to need multiple guys to step up all at the same time that’s the question can they what’s your confidence level in Jordan Romano right now he gave up a home run again yesterday he’s got a 659 erra the bullpen in general is it needs it needs to be to be stabilized a little bit but ficky velocity’s confusing to me that I mean ain’t like he’s pitching every day I mean far from it yeah I just don’t I don’t understand that part of it I mean by no means is he mechanically sound on the mound like he’s Crossfire guy and you know he’s more of a Max effort muscle his way through outings than he is to pitch his way through it but that’s the thing right it’s okay if if you’re you know sort of want to abuse secondary stuff if you got the 97 in the tank but I them things more 94s now like now all of a sudden your your slider has to be tunneling longer it has to break more it has to be missing more on point if not you get destroyed because of it like again that was 94 middle up mhm I mean that that as you’re closer I’m not sure so you know hopefully look he’s he uh you know he does what he’s supposed to do which is I think the only thing that matters right now in this part of the season is just get it done who cares how it looks like it’s you know Jimmy Garcia’s taking care of the hybrid role where it’s the seventh or eighth inning he’s getting the me of the order with the lead then you have to give it to whoever you’re giving it to and then Jordan comes in he gives up a homer so what it’s three to one they win the game good for him yeah that’s uh you know it is all about it is all about winning right now and it really doesn’t matter how you do it it’s like it it’s all about winning but the you know the velocity is is uh would have to be would have to be some concern because it’s really he’s really good when it’s 97 98 when it’s 94 I mean you got to pitch a little bit more and that’s hard to do it’s hard to pitch in the ninth inning sometimes you got to be able to throw that thing right by somebody right fastball count 0 1 21 like here it comes see if you can hit it and again this it’s about winning I mean it doesn’t really matter how it looks so confidence level hey you got it done so I’m very confident how’s that all right man there you go David Samson will join us in a few minutes he is host of nothing personal with David Samson we are going to talk D David’s a nothing personal podcast uh I listened to it the the other day and um he comes across as having some sympathy for where mark shapire and Ross Atkins are right now with this with this organization I want to talk to him about that we’ll talk to him about city the city connect uniforms which uh I think they’re being unveiled on social media tonight at like 7:15 or something like that and then there’s a there’s a reception tonight to to formally unveiled them but um we’ll talk to David about Just Uniforms why do people care and uh the Tampa Bay Rays have uh put out their latest state Stadium renderings which look really good we’ll talk to David about anything’s better what they got getting ballparks built in Florida see you’d never find a baseball writer say that because it’s a great it’s a great place to work really it’s a oh it’s a great place to work I mean I’ve never been there it’s a great place to work it is it is it is a great place to work um anyhow and they’ve got great Cuban sandwiches at the uh Stadium which is of course the most important absolutely as you will know yep uh we also want to talk to them about the incident if we’re going to call it that last night cor Lopez of the New York Mets uh firing his glove into uh the stands after being ejected from the game then going on I wouldn’t call it a rant um he was calm he was calm unfortunately it was one of those things where because he wasn’t speaking in his first language he he made it sound as if he thought the Mets were the worst team in baseball which he’s a liar that white socks are the worst team in baseball but he made it sound as if he thought the Mets were the worst team in baseball at Rockies are and but he also said something about it basically it sounded to me like what he was trying to say is you know they can do what they want with me I am the worst teammate on the worst team in baseball anyhow he was df8 afterwards heard but there is a backstory to it as well um he’s you know not to make not to make excuses for the guy but as Boomer scon Boomer scon did a bit on this today on radio pardon me in New York um he’s had just a a an awful time with his son uh his son’s Health Boomer s said and again I don’t know where where he got this from but apparently his uh Jorge Lopez’s son is waiting for a transplant anyhow Andy Martino of sportset New York will join us we’ll try to get to the bottom of that and uh it’s it’s it’s a bizarre story because you know subsequent as soon as this came out a lot of of the guys who’ covered Jorge Lopez over the years a lot of Dan Connelly of the Orioles and they basically all weighed in social media and and said this does doesn’t sound like the Jorge Lopez that we know so anyhow we’ll talk to talk to Andy Martino about that Jason Gill is going to join us we’ll take a look at the pirat it’s gonna be a lot of fun at five o’clock it’s going to be jam-packed at five o’clock Kevin PL is going to join us Kevin polar is on a heater yeah to say the least good for him um yeah it’s it’s it’s a great story his numbers I wouldn’t say he’s replaced Mike Trout but if you look at his numbers oh don’t say it don’t you a great is a great story Kev Kevin polar is we Kevin and I talked about this a little bit and I’m sure some people will remember this but those people who think the blue jay’s history began in 2015 might not remember it but I mean there was a time where Kevin po was was demoted to tripa a by John Gibbons because he didn’t like the way Kevin polar reacted to being pinch hit for in a game and Kevin PL is a guy who was a low there’s a little bit of David Schneider there not a fancy draft pick worked his way up eared it earned yeah everything he got earned everything he got he was sent down to Triple A didn’t say anything Gibby to his credit didn’t bury him nope could have oh God he could have veryy listen there have been managers in the city that would have buried him uh Gibby do his credit didn’t bury him any person you know the story Kevin po comes back has a terrific career very important part of those teams and uh he’s a guy now that you know look at the at the I think what we could say is the end of his career teams want him yeah I mean final P team teams are giving him a uniform yeah so it’s really a cool story it is and uh he’s one I always enjoyed talking to Kevy he’ll join us at 5:00 and we’ve got tickets to give away to see the Jay and oral we’ve got a very busy show so I’m going to shut up let us take a break and come back with David Samson it’s Blen Barker on Sports 590 the fan in sports all right we’ve got tickets to give away later in the show to see the Jay’s and uh Orioles oh this is a this is a good trivia question you see you see Henderson hit his 18th last night huh Henderson yeah gunar Henderson hit hisun 18th last night I also saw that yeah man that’s how it’s supposed to look Jeff yeah that’s how it’s supposed to look buddy I mean are you are you close your eyes and think of that perfect one but that’s about how it’s supposed to look are you kind of getting the sense that the AL East is going to come down to Baltimore and New York I mean I think I told you that didn’t I beginning of the season I think it just it’s bringing David Samson he’s host of nothing personal with David Samson and former MLB executive you know just tell me a little bit about how because we’ve talked about bow and vlat and what you would do and all that but walk me through what Mark and Ross must be must be thinking about right now when it comes to in particular those two guys but to the team in general well they’re despondent so let’s start with that they’re incredibly disappointed so far with the season and what you do now is something a little different than in previous years because you’re looking at your window differently when the window of winning is opening and it’s a little delayed or you have a step back you’re able to say we’re fine we’re in the prime of the window don’t panic but when the window’s closing and you feel like it’s your last chance to have this core come together and win I’ll never forget every time I’ve rebuilt it’s after a window closed and we didn’t have what we wanted out of the team and to acknowledge that admit it and then act on it it takes a lot and I believe that’s what’s going on right now in the offices in Toronto they are trying to figure out what they’re going to do and they do it by doing markers hey in 10 days if we’re not blank then we really have to do X or Y and sometimes you push the can and kick the can down the road it’s interesting because uh Dan odow was on the MLB Network and making and same thing talking about the Blue Jays and his Point again some someone who like yourself has had to make these decisions he said the one thing said I’m not a fan of half measures either you look at the two years or 18 months you have left with these guys and say you know what okay let’s just what do we need to to win with these two guys and then we worry about it or you say hey it’s not working but his his whole point was half measures don’t work he said they’ve got guys that they could trade guys who were free agents this year Danny Johnson Romano Garcia maybe you know they may not bring you in a uh you know a guy who you’re going to have under control for the next five years and is going to perpetually be going to All-Star games but he might be someone who can help you win with bow and vlat and that’s kind of what he was talking about yeah that’s another very important thing that differs from people who watch sports versus people who are in sports when you’re looking at a trade or you’re looking at your team we do a lot of but for analysis but four is hey this specific trade did not work the way we hoped but there are players playing now who are getting at bats or getting Innings who would not have had these at bats or Innings pitched but for us making that trade so we’re looking at evaluating those players too and so that’s also part of the equation if you do make a decision who that you’re going to move a player you also have to think about who you are going to give that plane time to and the evaluation of that player is just as important as the valuation of the players you’re trading for did you ever make a positive move just so you didn’t have to answer the question I I I would like to say no but I’d be lying of course there are many times that we would do things and because the pressure just mounted and we see it in baseball all the time when players get signed extensions are given to players or managers because there’s so much noise that eventually the owner just says uncle and you try to protect the owner from doing that but it can be deafening as you both very well know the media can be deafening do you think the Jay’s offense is one piece away you know you’re a player what does that mean we all say that don’t we like hey if we get this guy we’re gonna be great does that ever work that way not really no it’s fun to talk about where who do we add to vlat to really bring out the best in why I’m asking you because I didn’t know the answer the answer is you’re never one piece away what you are we always would say it differently we’re one moment away and we would keep waiting for the moment whether it’s a comeback Victory whether we have create a blown save whether we get a save in a situation where hey we should have lost that game or when we take advantage of an error that the other team makes we look for a moment and try to build on that and if it doesn’t work you wait for the next moment moment so I would say we would focus more on moments than on pieces uh we are anxiously awaiting in this city for the Jays to unveil their City connect uniforms tonight so people can we can pull people back from the edges of the of the buildings in this city um look I I I had went on a little Spiel at the start of the show DAV I don’t I don’t know if you I think this was before Jeffrey and you took over the team the Expos had already had the Flur de Lee put on their their Jersey the provincial right and I was saying I remember the I mean that was a that was a political decision you lived in quec you can understand why it would be a political decision but it kind of because I’m a guy just you know uniforms or whatever you know put it on it’s got a number you can name fine that kind of sort of reinforced in my mind though that there are you have to be careful when you go about making changes to to uniforms um but the city connect thing I I don’t know if I still don’t know if I like it or not you know there’s some I like the Padre’s there are some of them that I do like but there are others I just look at them and go why and can you there’s I know there’s a business I know why because kaching kaching kaching right everybody it’s the same reason English Premier League teams change sponsors every two years cuz they know that people are going to go and buy the Manchester United shirt that has Chevrolet on it because they don’t want to wear old one that had something else on it but this whole notion how did it start and just as someone who owned a team what would what would you not do to a uniform I guess is is the way I would put it good question so we we had an owner who was very Yankee Centric yes and and the Yankees are known to never change their uniforms they try to keep them as clean as possible that’s where our facial hair policy came from and that all worked well until I would point out what the money ramifications are when you have a change in the uniform when you add a patch or get a sponsor it’s really all about trying to drive Revenue these City connect jerseys we all remember a time when there was a road jersey and a home Jersey it was only 20 years ago where there’d be one alternate jersey yeah now you never know who’s playing what where when because in basketball you you wear your road uniforms at home teams wear white on the road it drives me insane you don’t know where the damn game is and the reason why this happened is the fans kept buying the jerseys that’s the craziest thing and we never dreamt that there’d be such an appetite around baseball for there to be so many different caps and jerseys that’s why there’s now A Mother’s Day cap a Father’s Day cap a July 4th cap a Memorial Day cap you have so many hats because you get to put them on display at the team store at the flagship store of New Era and people buy them that’s I I hate to say it but it’s really that simple as a as a baseball fan how do you feel about that because you grew up in New York I’ve got to think you’re probably a Yankees fan as a child I believe were you or were you a m fan I was Nicks no Nicks number one Giants two Yankees three but remember my childhood the Yankees people don’t remember this the Yankees were terrible yeah from 78 to 96 it was and that was really the prime of my life but I guess what I’m getting at is as a as a fan did you did you feel an allegiance to the jersey or no I was I had an allegiance to the names on the back of the jersey and the irony of course is that when I was the president of a team I would tell the fans and the media have an allegiance to the front don’t worry about the back we’re we’re changing out players but all you should worry about is Miami but of course as a fan you know you want players to relate to and my great example is the players in basketball where you hate them as your opponent and then they are on your team and you love them my childhood is a former Raptor Charles Oakley when he was a bull he was despised then he becomes a Nick and you love him right Dennis Rodman is an interesting example again with Detroit and Chicago baseball players are the same do you remember when Wade bogs went to the Yankees yeah yes that was insane you can’t like Wade bogs and then all of a sudden he’s on a horse having won a World Series and everyone loves them yeah see I like I like change I like different jerseys I like I look forward to that like it was because you wore a lot of jerseys Lally it’s like something you look forward to you know what it’s like David it’s like the Home Run jacket it sort of gives you something to strive towards like you’re a big leager and you get to wear all these different uniforms with your buddies like I I mean sometimes I think you can’t overthink it right and it’s I know why they’re doing it but as a player I kind of like that but don’t you run out of room on your wall when you framed all the jerseys you have that you ever wore where do you put them all I sort of lean them up against the wall it’s not so much about hanging them right you got to lean them the major league no no the major league ones are hung yeah that’s the minor league ones are to kind they’re kind of down we used to allow our starting pitcher to choose the Jersey yeah that’s what the JS do and then we realized that uh like Ricky and Alaska would only liked the black jerseys and then all if you win a game you got to wear the black jerseys the next day so what we then did is made a set schedule that every Monday to Thursday it’s this jersey Friday night home games are that one Saturday night’s that one and Sunday afternoons another one David what’s wrong with the Mets there my word of the day this morning was dumpster fire and it’s been copied around the media today and uh the manager just went on and said we have standards here and I don’t know if they Workshop that with the PR department because I guess the standards are mediocrity or spending a ton of money for no good particular reason the Mets have a problem which is great news for the rest of baseball because the other owners were very nervous about Steve Con coming in because he said he wanted to be the Dodgers and owners were very upset about that they don’t want very many good organizations who have money to spend but the good news is after four years they realize he’s just a guy who will spend money and waste it how uh how are Mets fans handling that because you know they when he came in it was you know boy it was he’s coming in at a time where the Yankees are kind of I wouldn’t say treading water but you know there’s some concern about how’s commitment compared to his dad etc etc and then Here Comes this guy who’s going to spend to make the Mets winners and and I’m just wondering how that fan base reacts reacts to that especially now that it appears as if the Yankees you know are going to have a terrific year and Aon judge looks like looks like Babe Ruth again um and they may have Wan stto at some point Mets fans have got to be just looking at this and pulling their hair out so I’ve noticed that Mets fans are becoming like Jets fans and they’re becoming a little like Cubs fans pre2 2016 where they celebrate together with their misery almost like they expect it and they rally around it I would be worried if I’m Steve Co what happens if the Mets actually win because then what are people going to do but it’s pretty scary around here in New York in that people aren’t going to games and it used to be at City Field that they would go even when the Mets were not particularly performing well and it’s just not happening anymore and my guess is that worries Steve con much more than Lopez being designated for a son did you ever have a player throw anything in the stance and did you care if he did oh I clearly would have cared if they threw a piece of equipment or did something that could hurt somebody because then it’s a lawsuit in terms of if you want to throw a glove I would have been embarrassed and the only way I would have designated the player is if we wanted to designate him and he weren’t good but if let’s just say uh the Mets best let’s say srino got grumpy and then threw his glove in the stands they would not have designated srino Yeah by any stretch it it just happened to be it was a $2 million reliever so it makes it easy to do that and so we always say there’s no double standard we treat everyone the same but we were lying to you we totally treat players differently according to whether or not they’re good David I’m wondering we saw the Rays uh Stadium renderings uh today yeah and of course obviously you have experiened uh getting a ballpark built in Miami something I that and I I vaguely followed that I’ve been following the Tampa Bay situation a little more just because you know it’s near Denon and the Blue Jays train there but is there a different is there a different set of politics at work on that Coast of Florida compared to Miami well my experience is in Miami and Miami is closer to Chicago than the Milwaukee is in terms of politics and the insanity of it I don’t know how insane Tampa is St Pete I just know that anytime there’s a renderings release it makes me smile because the final ballpark is usually never like the rendering number one number two you do a rendering release when you don’t yet have a deal to release because you want to put pressure on in a negotiation you want to get the fan base lathered up or the politicians lathered up and so this is a purposeful release of the renderings today because they did a press conference announcing a deal which was great except they didn’t have a deal and now they’re concerned about that so you put out some renderings and hope you can finish the deal well that would that sort of force the raise organization to spend more money on a player we see it in Kansas City right you’re trying to get a new stadium you dump a bunch of money into one of the best players in baseball you think the ray now obviously the Rays don’t have a ton of money but would this sort of force them to have to go out make maybe get a big night player to come in because you got a new stadium you know we we always would talk about the Bob nutting situation in owners meetings if you recall the Pirates when they opened PNC they signed a guy named Jason Kendall I don’t know if you’re listeners they may remember him I want to say he got 55 million or some amazing contract for a catcher and it did not work and so it turns out that making these big signings which I did in 2012 we signed everyone and then traded them to you because we wanted to have momentum into a new stadium it turns out really what fans want is they want to be comfortable they want to have acclamation good temperature and they really would like wins and in Tampa they’ve had so much winning without attendance that if I’m Tampa I’m frantic because we’ve already won so we’re supposed to keep winning and then hope that all of a sudden fans will come because it’s so much better in St Petersburg at this ballpark versus the trop so it’s not even like a relocation so I think baseball’s nervous and T is nervous they just want to get the issue done with so they can move on to expansion David really good of you to join us today thanks so much man thank you so much thank you have a great man David Samson host of nothing personal with David Samson a former MLB executive with the Marvel I think it’s interesting to to hear him answer about the one piece of away thing and how organizations think about that in front offices and you know you’re adding a piece hoping that that piece just basically going to carry your team for a long period of time it’s not the easiest thing well and I’ve always thought it’s it’s one piece away an NBA team can be one piece away because you got five dudes in the court at the same time have a clean up Pitter who hit 30 homers and drive in a 100 for the Jays that wouldn’t be one piece away but other than that you know um not saying they can get it bring another pitcher and you know pitcher pitches once every five days hey the the thing with it I think there are teams that are one there one it depends what your one piece away from being are are the Jays one piece away from being able to be a World Series Contender no uh are they one piece away from a team from having a better offensive team that would be a better lock at a playoff spot yes but I I I don’t think now I think if a front office just like you did to start the show looks at the standings and sees because of Where the wild card’s at and how many games you’re behind if I add one piece a guy that can thump car hit the three-run Homer a bunch a week help you win games that way that’s I think the point is would it work like if you brought a healthy Pete Alonzo in here who could drop 30 in the second half of the Season he may not be healthy that’s what I’m saying right but if healthy he could drop 30 that wouldn’t help that wouldn’t take you to the you know just the limit of okay now we can make the playoffs now now that we’ spent all this money and the owner ponying up and doing his part new stadium and eyeballs to the set like that’s the point right I don’t know I don’t know because it do you have faith enough in this Bullpen that’s a great well would it hide it the more runs you score like you you wouldn’t have to use many down there and what is the net gain who is he replacing in your lineup I I mean if you got a guy who can hit 30 does it matter like I mean wouldn’t be one of your big guys but but what I’m saying is if he’s replacing a guy who you know who who isn’t very very good yeah but if he’s replacing a guy who’s he going to replace if he’s going to replace George Springer I mean I know he’s not because George Springer is an outfielder but what I’m saying is there is an element of subtraction involved in that and if you add Pete Alonzo to the lineup I mean he’s only going to play first base are you going to DH flatty fulltime I mean you could do it you could do both I’m just throwing that name out there because of what David said and how a front office thinks about one piece see I I think they don’t think it that way that’s why you saw Al when he made all those moves it was a plethora of pieces cuz he knew that’s what they had to happen right also he also momentum and he needed more pieces to get it and he also it wasn’t just momentum he also realized that he was putting together a lineup That would be difficult to pitch to because it had so many strengths and and different weaknesses there was literally a group of eight different hitters and you know we we talked to I think wasino SAS was on and he did a terrific article I remember at the time the atic on on that Braves lineup and and talking to people around baseball who had faced that Braves lineup and said we spent so much time in our meetings going over their hitters because every guy was different some guys had to get him out inside middle are the guys yet and I I think there are a couple of ways of going about this but the thing is where I think that one big ad might help here is I really do think fans need something to get excited about fans need need this front office to do something to to to kind of reignite uh excitement that I think is frankly is diminishing and that’s I’ve made this point that’s what really scares me about this you do not want to become like the Leafs were a couple of years ago where people don’t care you do not want to do that you don’t want to be that team where people are either so frustrated that they don’t like your team or they just don’t care and boy that’s when you’re a baseball team and you’re playing every day you know we’ve talked about this you know what the the worst team to cover is a bad baseball team because it gets sour fast and it’s sour 247 it’s not like hockey where you got three days off maybe or the NFL where you got a week off it’s every day the same crap gets sent out in the field the same crap keep happening and um you know sometimes I think David’s right the let’s add one guy and he’ll put us over the top I think maybe at the end of the year around the trade deadline maybe you get to that point but I just I don’t know if one guy puts this I don’t think one guy puts this team over the top whatever the top is I I think they need they need a couple of moves and frankly they may they may may need a subtraction here and what I mean by that is maybe as good as George Springer is defensively I I don’t know and and we’ve seen some life from him offensively right now but maybe this team could be better with somebody else than George Springer on it again I’m not I don’t know how that that happens but um I used to think this team was like one one guy away but now I just I I just don’t know I think you maybe need a couple of pieces here and there but but a middle of the order Thumper I would certainly that would be a start Optics showing you care I that’s a that’s a funny way to say show when you care right is you know and that’s why I asked David about that have you ever done anything just to just to do it so you don’t have to answer the question and you know it’s the Gibby phrase like Gibby used to do that a lot used to tell me that I don’t know like I don’t just don’t know what the best thing is for to to sort of get it going in the right direction I keep it short there you go I mean you are an you know you are an entertainment product there it is too I mean people want to tune in and watch excitement you know run prevention ain’t it uh Kevin polar speaking of run prevention well and run creation this year Kevin po a very good defensive outfielder but also having a terrific year offensively for the Los Angeles Angels Kevin polar will join us next we’ve got tickets to give away to see the Orioles and Jays Andy Martino of sportset New York will be along to talk about the Mets Jason gly who got very popular very quickly in Toronto Jason Gilly host of the mound visit podcast will be along we’ll talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates off day for the Jays tonight City connect tonight pirates in town for three tomorrow we’ll talk about it Blair and Barker on sportset 590 to fan and Sportsnet all right welcome back to Blair and Barker uh the Jays have tonight off they will be uh unveiling their City connect jerseys tonight reminder that tomorrow of course the Jersey will debut on the field Monday is uh the Vladimir Gro Jr bobblehead giveaway wearing the city connect Jersey and nice uh June 5th Wednesday is Blue Jay’s backpack giveaway with the city connect design and the Jays will be wearing their jerseys on the field for those three games um well I would uh say dare say that our next guest is probably one of the most popular players to wear a blue jay’s Jersey of any description and uh he’s having he’s having quite a year with the Los Angeles Angels he is Kevin polar and we’re very pleased that uh Kevin joins us Blen Barker Kevin thanks so much for doing this uh today we’re it’s always it’s great to hear from you we we trust that you’re uh that you’re going well I’m just you know just reading the Angels game notes you’re hitting 431 with eight extra base hits 20 RBI through the first 17 games uh it’s the second most in angels history behind Joe Rudy um you know it it’s obviously it’s such a great great start for you with the angels just tell us tell us how it came about and and what the the key has been oh I mean I wish I knew all those things I wish I knew what the key was but um yeah I mean I got I got you know I signed with Chicago and the white socks in spring training got released resigned back and then got released you know about a month into the season um and went back home went back home to Arizona with my wife and my kids and was just kind of sitting at home um you know trying to figure out what I really want to do you know part of part of me was like okay uh maybe it’s a sign maybe it’s time for me to to hang him up you know I got released by you know not one of the best teams in baseball so your mind kind of starts to think like okay if I can’t play for them like where where do I really fit um you know and then I just got some good advice from uh you know some outside help and he he just encouraged me to to finish the race and I didn’t know you know where the starting line was I didn’t know where the Finish Line was and you know fortunately I got a uh a phone call the following day from the Angels you know asking me if I would be interested in coming in and uh I said absolutely um hopped on a plane honestly got the phone call that I was going to Anaheim my my suitcase was still packed from coming home from Chicago uh got to the airport in 20 minutes I was on a flight you know 15 minutes later Landing in Anaheim and it’s just kind of been a uh kind of been a surreal Journey you know I think part of the success is just not really knowing when it’s going to be over for me and just really trying to go out and enjoy every single day and not uh really be so concerned about you know tomorrow or the following day or who’s pitching a week from now just really embracing the opportunity to be back on in the big leagues and being back you know close to home where I grew up in Southern California and um it’s cliche that sounds just really trying to enjoy every single day and um not worried about tomorrow I’m not worried about you know playing for anything next year you know I’ve kind of been pretty open about being pretty sure this is gonna be my last year playing and just wanting to be able to go out on my own terms and being hopefully it leads to a lot of success on the field and uh you know be able to walk away from this game with my head held high Kevin what’s the hardest thing about going to all these different organizations and trying to fit in I you know what it was it was hard maybe the first couple of times um I’ve done it so many times now where you know you in this game as you know um especially with the amount of teams that I’ve I’ve been on now you know I’m not walking into a clubhouse to a bunch of strangers anymore I mean even here in Anaheim I got Ron Washington and ey who you know I had in Atlanta last year our our infield coach go go one of my best friends who I’m actually living living with right now which is like an unbelievable surreal kind of thing to you know be reunited with one of my best friends one of my former teammates who’s who’s now a coach with angels and we actually get to live together why while my family is still back in Arizona um and then there’s a handful of players that I’ve I’ve played with in other organization so but like as you know you you you play this game long enough people either you’ve either played with people or people kind of know about you you you kind of develop a reputation in this game of you know what kind of player you are what kind of person you are and it’s just been a lot easier now now that I’ve been on nine different teams to just walk in a clubhouse and be my authentic self and uh it’s been an easy transition especially coming here with with knowing so many of the players and the staff and the hitting coaches i’ I have history with so just being able to come in and just you know strip it down and be raw and emotional and talk about you know how I was feeling when I left Chicago and how I’m feeling now and the things that I wanted to accomplish in this game and you know not be too proud to ask for help and it’s been a great it’s been a great uh you know I don’t know how long I’ve been here almost a month it’s been an enjoyable month Kevin you’ve got over a thousand hits now you broke the 500 run Plateau did you think when you were when you were with the blue jays and you were kind of starting your career out I’m thinking like 2013 2014 maybe 2015 obviously you played 159 games but back then did you ever imagine that you would be you know you would be putting up that many hits and and and scoring in that many runs cuz those are those are significant numbers for for a guy’s career yeah I mean I yeah I mean I I knew going honestly going into last year in Atlanta there was you know some individual accomplishments some Milestones that I wanted to achieve it was the 100 stolen bases the 100 home runs uh the thousand hits and to me I thought that was going to be really just cool for myself like I I didn’t think that there was a a significance in those numbers in this game because you think about the great players of play we got guys with 700 homers and 3,000 hits and 4,000 hits and you know I don’t even know how many stolen bases I’m sure there’s you know over a thousand stolen bases so you know in in my head from where I started I was like damn those would be you know that would be a cool accomplishment and as I was able to you know reach the 100 homers the 100 Soul bases the thousand hits and the 500 runs and you know really kind of like look through you know social media when I was able to do that and kind of see the Rarity of you know how many players in this game that have been able to achieve that it it it blew me away it blew me away to to know that I was in such a you know small elite club of players and then my name alongside of the people that have been able to accomplish that it’s you know you got MVPs and multiple time Allstars and then you got Kevin po so you know it just to me it’s just uh you know to me it’s just you know perseverance and you know really never giving up in this game and just you know kind of chipping away every single day but to answer your question you know 2013 2014 no I I would have never thought I would been able to kind of you know reach these milestones in my career 2015 when I played 159 games and I kind of established myself as an everyday player uh an everyday center fielder I thought sky was the limit for myself not to say that I don’t think I ever in my in my brain thought I would be a of Famer but you know I thought I hit 278 as a you know firsttime full full-time player I probably had 160 some odd hit you know I I thought that you know that was kind of just going to be the norm and then uh baseball happens baseball is uh it’s it’s a crazy business it’s a crazy sport um it’s full it’s full of Adventures and Mysteries and and and disappointment and excitement all wrapped in one so for me to to to to get those things you know going into my 10th year this year on nine different teams um it it was really cool for me you know and you know baseball is also just uh has a way of being very poetic you know I I just happened to I just happened to be in Texas uh playing the Rangers where my parents now live um got a hurt got a hit in the first game put me at 9999 um walk didn’t get a hit the rest of the game uh had the day off the following day um was anticipating playing on Sunday uh got the lineup the night before wasn’t in it called my parents in the morning and said hey uh I’m not in the lineup you guys make the choice if you guys want to come they said hey we’re going to be there we’re going to be there and then to be able to get a pinch hit in the eighth inning you know Bas is loaded you know Drive in the winning run to get my thousands hit with my parents in the stands um just in this game you never really know where you’re you you can’t like you can’t write a script like that considering I started in a different organization to start the year to to be able to go out and you know get the amount of hits I’ve had since I’ve been with the angels to kind of put myself in a position where you know all those things sort of lined up um you know that’s also the beauty of baseball as as painful as it can be sometimes as brutal as it can be sometimes sometimes it just gives you a little magical moment that um you know you know makes all the uh the the bad things the the sadness in this game all worth it you mentioned B what’s the biggest baseball mystery you’ve been able to figure out over your career that uh Yer that yesterday success really doesn’t mean anything the next day and that’s kind of kind of where I’m at right now is you know I’ve I’ve been pretty successful since I’ve been here you know I I I tried to tried to like allow yesterday’s success to just allow me to feel confident and breed confidence but every day is such a mystery in this game who you’re facing how you’re going to feel if your swing’s going to be there if your pitch recognition going to be there I think I just learned you know years back that you know there’s two type of people in this game the the ones that are humble and the ones that are about to be humbled you know even through even through successes that I’ve had in this game I’ve always just tried to remain really humble because I’ve never found this game to be easy maybe there’s some guys in this game that you know are the top of the top players in our our industry that kind of just roll out of bed and baseball is easy for me for them for me it’s always been a challenge it’s always difficult and uh you know when H when I’m having success I just try to stay grounded and humble and uh just keep my head down and continue to work and enjoy the successes but never get too high in this game because it has a way of you know bringing you back down to earth and you Kevin I know you’re in tremendous shape but how tough is it being a 35 year old big leager yeah I mean it definitely takes a little bit more work I mean it’s not just the 30 it’s not just the age it’s the miles you know i’ I’ve played you know quite a few games in my career [Music] um but I think I think the thing that’s really kind of uh you know allowed me to just continue to play is you know regardless of the opportunities that I get on the field I go into every off season with the same mindset that maybe someone’s going to give me an opportunity to play every day maybe that opportunity presents itself through an injury or performance but I I I still train in the offseason like I’m G to play 150 games a year and if I don’t get those then uh I don’t get them but I I always want to just be in a position where my body is ready to go out there and perform at a high level every single day um but yeah I think I think the days of me kind of just showing up to the field and you know putting my uniform on doing some side to side little toe touch and going to play are longone the the the the prep that goes into it um is a little bit more um but yeah I mean I feel good I mean it’s crazy to like even it’s easy it’s crazy to me to even like think 35 years old is old I still feel like a kid you know that I’m a I’m about to be married 10 years this year I got two kids a six and a four year old you know but I still feel like a kid myself playing a kids game at 35 years old do I get to just show up to the field and go out to batting practice and and and expect my body to feel good and hold up no but um you know I go through you know a pretty good prep routine of just making sure my body feels well you know days that I don’t play I I definitely embrace the uh the opportunity to let my body like recover and heal but um yeah I mean it’s crazy to think 35 is old in this old in in baseball but old in life I still feel young uh the pitchers you faced your first year in the big leagues compared to the pitchers you’re facing now what’s the biggest difference I mean obviously velocity and and and movement but um I mean even even the first you know couple years I was up the big leagues you’re still facing legit arms I just think you know if you got to like maybe a four or five starter or they as a four or five starter in a rotation you know scheduled to for you to face in a series you know there was going to be a little bit of a let down you the stuff wasn’t going to be as good you know they maybe would we what we would consider a little bit more crafty the ability to pitch but the stuff wasn’t there and then obviously you had a couple of those guys in the bullpen you had a long relief guy that you know was a failed fourth or fifth starter that was pushed into the bullpen that was a guy that ideally wanted to get to in the bullpen and you know maybe a couple couple other guys in the bullpen that just didn’t have the stuff I mean every every single day you’re facing stuff you know there there’s there’s really no let down anymore um and even if they’re even if even if the guy is not like a high velocity guy uh he probably has you know a unicorn fast ball that has unbelievable ride or carry or cut or sink um and then the ability to spin the ball um you know in the upper echelon a spin so just every every day is uh there’s really no there’s really no letup um you know one through five in a starting rotation and now you’re just really just facing big arms out of the bullpen with stuff and maybe the ability to pitch isn’t isn’t the same it was maybe five six seven eight years ago but I mean stuff plays you know the the the decision making is a little bit quicker the uh the recognition and and and trying to like pick up the shape of of Sliders and curveballs are a little bit more difficult now guys have the ability to hide those things a little bit more but you know with that is sometimes you just got to dig down deep and and and and be committed to a very small small Zone and um honestly try to hit mistakes at this level is how you can really the only way you can be successful because the stuff is so good now Kevin we’re going to let man thank you very much for your time uh it’s great to talk to you it’s great to see you having success and keep it going and be well stay healthy guys good to hear your voices nice catching up with you guys thank you so much all right take care yep Kevin par the Los Angeles Angels uh three for four in his last game against the Yankees 43 win uh he’s on a career high 11 game hitting streak hitting 488 during that time so recorded a hit of a hit in 14 of a 17 games since joining the Angels uh 16 RBI through his first 12 games that’s tied for most in franchise history and yeah you know we we we kind of like it’s kind of like we grew up with Kevin polar yeah Kevin pl’s now played 1,148 games 4,145 plate appearances he’s got 102 stolen bases he got a career batting average of 259 112 home runs 503 runs and 1,8 hits yeah he’s earned the right to go out on his own terms which is pretty cool I mean he said that right it’s his last year so good for Kevin man he’s he’s he’s a lot of fun to root for uh we’re going to play some audio from uh postgame audio from the New York Mets last night this is Jorge Lopez who was ejected from the game threw his glove into the stands and then uh well said this after the game do you regret doing that no no I don’t I don’t regret it uh I think I’ve been looking the worst team in probably in the whole MLB so you know whatever happened happen so whatever they want to do it I’ll be tomorrow here if they want me you know whatever they want to do just to clarify what what you said just cuz I didn’t fully understand did you say I’m on the worst team is that is that what you had said yeah probably it looked like I mean that was Jorge Lopez uh he was DFA following the game and um well let’s just bring it I want to bring in Andy Martino of sportset New York uh he’s also author of the new book the Yankee Way the untold story The Untold inside story of the Brian Cashman ER it was released last week Andy thanks so much for joining us and first of all congratulations on the book I’m uh looking forward to reading it as someone who uh spent a lot of postseason days following the Yankees back when that was a regular occurrence um explain this thing the the Jorge Lopez thing to those of us who didn’t see didn’t see the whole the whole player everything and I mentioned that and again correct me if I’m wrong but Boomer asias mentioned something this morning about there’s also some health issues with Jorge Lopez’s son and I mean he wasn’t saying I don’t think he was saying give the guy a pass for that but I think he might have been saying hey this guy may have a little more going on in his life than than than we know well thank you guys for having me thanks for the comments on the book and yes that’s true he does have a son with some serious health issues uh it’s part of a complicated situation here just one ingredient in the stew I guess uh I’ll take you back just to give you the five ws for a minute for your listeners uh Lopez through his was ejected from a game arguing a check swing yesterday on his way out untucked his jersey and threw his glove into the crowd uh following the Met’s loss the manager Carlos Mendoza said that was unacceptable we’re going to handle that internally uh Lopez came out to speak to the media said what you heard uh there is a lot of uh confusion lack of clarity over whether he was saying he’s the worst teammate which is what he claims uh whether the Mets are the worst team I think it’s hard to Fathom that he would say that the Mets are the worst bleeping team uh but it was it was a weird thing uh you had someone who’s clearly still very upset after the game maybe maybe shouldn’t have been talking as much as we in the media appreciate accountability maybe he wasn’t quite ready yet uh and shortly after his his availability there the Mets designated him for assignment uh some of what it wasn’t for one particular thing I mean it was the whole everything it’s so it wasn’t the worst team thing that cost him his job so much as the glove toss which bothered the manager met are trying to have a new culture it’s been messy around there that’s no secret for a lot of years in a lot of ways and they felt that that was unacceptable but also Lopez also said that he didn’t regret it and Lopez met with the manager Carlos Mendoza G and president of baseball Ops David Sterns uh before he spoke to the media and then said that he hadn’t met with them so that didn’t sit well with the Mets either he said he hadn’t met with them he just had so they’re like what is this so it was all enough to combine to say we don’t want this guy on our team anymore from their perspective and that’s what happened Andy was there anything happened before that because when I saw the the glove being thrown I’ve seen Pete anavila was being held back with in the minor leagues by one of my managers he’s trying to get in the stands after a fan I mean it’s I’ve seen worse things it’s nothing’s ever happened in the past again I understand what he said and that would probably sort of the icing on the cake was you know you say that about your organization you’re probably gone nothing in the past has ever happened with Lopez before that not with the Mets uh he was on the I with the twins last year with some mental health stuff that he was dealing with uh but he’s well liked I teammates from Baltimore from other places that he’s been have liked him uh he has been dealing with that situation with his son uh I I I haven’t seen him use that as a reason or excuse or what have you for what went on last night uh and overall he’s been a professional they have appreciated that he’s one of those relievers that’s available all the time when they need him and he’s been fairly effective nice guy honestly nice guy so this was definitely a jarring incident overall for everybody involved what what uh I mean the million-dollar question here but what the hell’s happened to that team I mean I you know I look at it’s a mess but I mean they’ve got Francisco Lindor they’ve got some guys that I I think are pretty solid dudes you know I know Pete Alonzo’s hurt now but um just when did it just kind of fall apart 1962 really and there you go uh no it’s been look they you know what happened last year they went to the season with sherzer and Verlander Championship aspirations broke it down and that didn’t work out this year there were more modest expectations but they thought they were going to be a 500ish team which nowadays means you can be in in the playoff race uh so that that what they projected it’s a bridge year but not a rebuilding year uh it’s a little confusing for everybody who’s experiencing it and then covering it to figure out exactly what’s happening but I I’ll tell you this for all their issues and there are many uh Edwin Diaz coming back uh blowing four saves Adam adinos had to come in and he’s blown some saves R Garrett had to come in he’s blown some saves all of which would be Diaz games if Diaz was right so my point is if you take away the Edwin Diaz Factor they’re actually pretty close to the 500 team that they expected to be now there issues with their defense there’s issues their stars are not producing Lindor Alonzo mcneel and there’s a lot of stuff going on but for all of that they’d actually wouldn’t be a crisis if they just converted their save opportunities uh but really it’s just a team that was supposed to be mediocre and has played much worse than that and you the weirder thing about it too is that they’ve got a rookie manager who’s done a nice job they’re happy with uh he’s been good culture guy good in-game game guy so it’s not leadership it’s just uh one of those things about the game being weird which as we all know it is sometimes what do you think they’ do with pet Lonzo Andy I think that if they don’t start winning well I know that if they don’t start winning fast they’ll have to entertain offers for them at the deadline but they don’t know that they’re going to get the kind of offer that’s needle moving enough to put their fans through moving Pete Alonzo when you talk when you think about a right-handed power hitter half a Season Rental that’s not usually the profile of a player that gets you a blue chip Prospect back for a rental so if you’re getting some teams kind of I don’t know 10th 15th ranked Prospect who you don’t really if your fans aren’t going to get that excited about maybe you just ride it out with Alonzo and hope that that helps you resign him if that’s what you want to do so I think that’s the way it’s going to go is if somebody I mean you know on the other side of that it’s been a rough year for offense all around so maybe a team does step up and make a great offer in which case they’d have to listen but uh that’s what it will come down to I think not their willingness to talk about them but what do they actually get offered Andy really good of you to join us today thanks so much again congratulations on the book and uh we’ll be in touch than you Andy all right no problem thanks guys see you Andy Martino of sportset New York does a terrific job you can follow him on Twitter at Martino NYC uh as I mentioned the the title of the book the Yankee Way The Untold inside story of the Brian Cashman error was released last week and uh the reviews have been really good and uh there is a lot of a lot of us think we know a lot about the Yankees because they’ve been part of the furniture for so so much you know so many years of our baseball lives but uh there’s a there’s a ton of stuff in there uh about Brian Cashman and the way the Yankees have gone about their business so uh it’s a great read if you’re a Yankees fan or if you’re a baseball fan you want something to read while you’re down on the beach uh it is a terrific read we’ve got tickets to give away to see the Jays and the Orioles we’ve got Jason gly former MLB pitcher we’ll do that after our break it’s Blen Barker on sportset 590 the fan in sportset all right welcome back to Blair and Barker so we’re just having this discussion off air about the Jorge Lopez situation I’m kind of pissed off now he a little I seems like a nice guy well you just had a bad moment and uh I I told Kevin you know a lot of guys who covered and this is in some ways this is kind of when social media is good a lot of guys that covered Jorge Lopez a lot of the beat writers guys who would have spent time around him in Minnesota and and and Baltimore and that they all said in social media like this is and I know everybody everybody’s a great guy I I get that everybody in sports is a great guy very seldom to people look at a guy and go boy that guy’s a dick very seldom but yeah I did but um so many people took to social media and said this is like not you know the guy that not normal that we knew I mean I’ve played the interview back a couple of times I mean I got to tell you and and I think Andy I’m going to give Andy credit because I think Andy’s right as much as you know we love athletes to be standup guys etc etc there are times where I just assume just assume a dude not speak and and I cannot believe I cannot believe the Mets would have allowed him to address media like they didn’t care I just can’t especially if you especially if you’re going to know your DFA ESP if you’re going to know you’re you’re you know you’re you’re going to DF and I listen to that thing and I just the guy’s upset and you know worst team I I thought what he was trying to say is you know what I’m the I guess I’m the worst teammate on the worst team in baseball and and and and you know basically saying I guess I’m just a bad person and like falling on a sword and all that I I don’t know I I felt anyhow I and and I guess you know the DFA was probably in the works but I I just yeah I was going when he thre the glove it sounded like there are the media guy in me would like access to everything um but there are times where I under and I used to tell this to PR people there are times when I understand why I can’t have access to something just makes sense and I can probably you know what I can write my story there you go anyhow I’m with you um I anyhow stuff like that is unnecessary drama drives me nuts when it there’s so much about that team that stinks as it is wow you know that unnecessary drama drives me nuts anyhow uh we’re going to give you a chance to win Blue Jays tickets to see the Jays and the Orioles we’ve been doing it all season long on Blair and Barker oh boy oh boy Mark buffo hit it out of the park with this one almost made up for yesterday all you have to do is text the corre D I’m sorry you know I’m just kidding curses on the screen all you have to do is is text the correct answer to Our Daily Baseball trivia question to 5959 right our last trivia question question’s not right all the time shut up our last trivia question and answer was this pitcher turned position player is the only Canadian to play for both the Orioles and the Blue Jays the answer is Adam loen today’s question is to win tickets to see the Jays and Orioles at the Rogers Center in June 4th and I know I who’s a big Rage Against the Machine fan I I know why he would drop this in this former blue J second baseman whose walkup song was Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine had a short stint with the Orioles during the 2014 season this is really hard this former blue jay second baseman whose walk up song was bulls and parade by Rage Against the Machine had a short stint with the Orioles during the 2014 season text the answer to 59590 for your shot to win see rules at sportset do no sportsnet.ca 590 not a chance I’m getting that not a chance I’m getting that show it to me uh Sean Markham also I know him you might have played oh you probably played with him I mean you played with everybody you play with him yeah of course you do but still I there’s no way that’s his that’s his walkup song yeah it’s a great song Sean Markham used to warm up to it too that’s that’s understandable but understand guy yeah I would have never got that yeah you’re not surprised that Sean Martin would warm up to a Rage Against the Machines neither no oh no there were uh there were a couple of warm-up songs AJ Bernett uh The Beautiful People by Marilyn mansion that’s it and come out throwing 93 and me laughing at it I can’t believe I like that’s what I said I said dude if you’re G to come out to that song you better you better be blowing 99 93 it’s like what’s the matter with you change your song and I think Bri Brian tet’s warm-up song was Gimme Shelter which I really like too but anyhow there you go all these stupid things you remember gosman’s money is a great warmup song uh the Pittsburgh Pirates will be in town to take on the Blue Jays was good enough to have a walkup song in a in a three a three- game series against the uh the Blue Jays a reminder it is City connect weekend Friday the city connect jerseys will debut on the field we’re about an hour and a half I guess maybe a little more away from seeing them revealed on social media Jason gly is a former MLB pitcher with the Blue Jays Pirates and the Braves he’s host of the mound visit podcast uh Jason gly joins us in ban bar Jason ask you if you had a walkup song Jason did you ever have a walk out like whenever you well what was it like and when did you get it like was it first year second year third year when was it no man you have to be a closer that was a long long long road before I got to pick my song man I never got one I was too afraid I wanted to sneak up on proar Jam whipping that was my song nice there you go I do actually do remember that yeah now now you I mean now the stuff they do is you know pirate Technics light shows you better be good boy you know look at me here I come 94 middle yeah we were asking we were asking the question here when Jordan Romano got his light show and walkup song what happened happens though if you end up coming in in the eighth inning like do you do the the whole shebang in the eighth inning nope anyhow um no you can’t you can’t no I think that is the curtain show that’s where you know the pyrot Technics go off and uh but no one had a better one than Mario no rera right abut there was no better there was no better entrance by just the way he ran being a Yankee and Metallica come on oh it was and it was perfect the just when the first couple of chords sounded one pitch chance and then the bullpen door would open yeah he comes is he sick is he there that’s not him is it no I remember ver greatest of all time the greatest of all time absolutely I remember verell saying that whenever he saw mariana rivera come into the game he immediately went to the bat rack to get three bats ready because he was going to be breaking he was going to be break take somebody else’s bed that you didn’t like yeah I thought you were going to say he went to the bathroom three times no he did no not not not Vernon but he did he knew he was going to have some bats Broken Bats broken oh my God hey Jason uh you know we’re going to see the Pirates in a couple days we’re I mean I’m sure the Jays are happy they’re missing skines and Jones I’m kind of upset because I was kind of looking forward to that um yeah because kilometers per hour is a lot more than 100 miles per hour so that’s very good you guys really see some see some guns lit up up there that would be great always break the speed limit when I’m going driving to Toronto I for always forget to change the kilometers per hour but that would be great and it’ be great if you didn’t tell if if you didn’t tell them that they were kilometers they could look back and go wow throwing 150 um seriously though like the Pirates B there’s some good stuff going on there Jason where do do you think this is the year maybe this year or next year that ownership commits a little more to that team CU I mean they’re a lot of fun too I’ll tell you what man you know we we we got off to the best record in baseball I said we like I’m still playing you know we we won they lost right that’s what I’m now I’m saying but that’s what we say but um no this this club has a lot of talent it’s always been here I mean when you when you get first round pick after first round pick I mean we had Garrett Cole here and and uh you know likes of arms like that that have come through this organization it’s just you know the stigma is that this is a 4A Club sometimes because we’re developing we keep on we keep changing jerseys that are in the gift shop because we’re we’re rent a player you know it’s like get a guy here get them uh in development as break them in as a big leager and then we’re going to give him to the LA Dodgers or big Market teams like that and Yankees come in even the Blue Jays I mean gosh it’s uh there’s a b load of town that you see through here and you just wish that the they could keep the band together but you know I always tell people I go when ownership wants to change 1979 um they have a really good way to do it if they keep the band together so I don’t know what what that’s going to take but um start start at the top for sure because I know I know for a fact even me who loves Toronto you guys know I’m a big blue jay fan love being a blue jay it’s my childhood team growing up love being a Jay but um you know I just I just don’t understand why uh they don’t they don’t keep it together man I I don’t get it so it’s such a great it’s it’s such a great Baseball City too Absolut Pittsburgh is when Pittsburgh’s Goodall’s better when they’re good yeah too absolutely yeah no I mean like I said I had a chance as a free agent to be play for a couple Mark big Mark team players want to come here and play here and stay here and when I was a free agent I had a chance to play the Dodgers Chicago Cubs and the Blue Jays were were you know talking in talks as a free agent and I signed back here yeah um just because it was I was like man there something’s going on here we uh we did some things and big things is just even why winning a wild card game here because winning hasn’t happened sometimes so to be a part of something like that was was very special and Monumental the fans don’t forget this is a very uh Sports oriented town I mean we’re the only city that has all the colors are the same for every sports team Major leag team we got and uh you know people love Pittsburgh the way they play if you play hard here man they they they back it pretty good first impressions of SK and what’s the next step for him you think I mean he’s the real deal don’t change a thing just you know his his thing is he’s been pretty consistent I mean even in the minor leagues his track record proves exactly why he was the big gun and um it’s fun to watch and this kid is just starting so I think the upside is still for something to be seen and this guy’s going to be challenging you know 15 16 to 20 strikeouts the game he’s capable uh mi in a couple no hitters I think that’s not not uh out a reach for that kid with the stuff he’s got all three plus pitches and he’s he’s mentally too uh a Workhorse and doesn’t seem like much fasis him so it’s exciting to watch I’m glad he’s on this this side of it we’ve got to see him pitch a few times here I did myself and um yeah I mean look how else can you say about the kid he’s doing some some good stuff right out of the gate is it gloves off or they have a plan for him like you said you know just go pitch every five days or they going to you know maneuver that around you know how they are organizations sometimes they can’t get out of their own way instead of just going his kid knows what he’s doing here’s the ball for five days do you think they’re going to let him do that listen man I don’t know if the kid can handle it if you’re in the big leagues you know you have to kind of stop with the white gloves I mean that if you’re not ready then that’s why you’re in in Triple A right if you’re in the big leagues Let Me Pitch you know know the kid know the character know his workload um obviously understand you don’t want to Red Line of Porsche even when you first get it you want to open it up and and and and Let It Rip but uh you know like I said with a power arm like that you know the only thing I could think of is like a deg Grom look how hard and last long steady deg gr was and he threw hard so you know and it it it things things Break um when you overuse them and and throwing a baseball why is it hard because it’s an unnatural motion and and it does happen but uh you know I’m just hopeing that like you said he he does what he has to do to keep himself healthy the club will be behind that as well um he seems like a extremely hard worker and uh this City’s the city he’s got the key to this city here for now I know that yep Jason uh last night we uh had a situation in the Jays game where Alec monoa came out after an inning in twoth Thirds with uh with with Elmo elbow dis Elmo Elmo discomfort could be too elbow I’ve got Elmo discomfort elbow discomfort yeah exactly yeah let’s just move on oh with with with with elbow with elbow discomfort uh and of course the bullpen was immediately you know forced into emergency and Trevor Richards came out and threw three in the third Innings and I I’m wondering as a guy who was a longtime major League reliever what’s it like in a bullpen when you know you guys are watching the game and uhoh starting pitcher something’s wrong like H H how does a bullpen react to that well I think the middle reliever is the first one that’s that’s saying oh geez but uh because you know sometimes you don’t get that that time to stretch and mentally prepare but uh you know you just hope that hey we’ll get you guys through through one here and you hope that the next starter can give you kind of a a pickme up the next day because um like I said the bullpen become such an integral part especially when starters are going four and a third uh nowadays it’s not like you’re expected to throw six plus Innings every time out it’s uh you just give us what you got and we’ll make you know we’ll make and rip and replace uh it’s a different it’s a different brand of baseball um You Don’t See a lot of you know complete games and you don’t see a lot of I I look at you know some of the stats of yester year right you try to draw a comparisons and it’s almost like when you’re a current player you hate to hear this stuff because you’re like man I’m busting my butt I would go do that but they’re not brought up that way you know what I mean uh the brand of baseball I played through three different ER it it’s changed some the rules and the things that go on so it’s not like an old man and and you wish that the game would come come back to when it was I I think it was when it was at his best M you know um the brand that I got to borrow I loved it and was grateful for the play at that time I don’t know how I would react to the to the shot clock and all these other things and you know having to undress before I go back in the Dugout I don’t I don’t know what I would react to um or mentally just kind of have to refocus on uh with all these other things and variables but um yeah it’s it’s it’s an interesting debate right it’s interesting debate and that’s why you have all these talk shows and you sit there and you ask what what it would be like but yeah going to a bullpen and tapping into that Bullpen too much um you pay for it later on so that’s why you kind of have to have the whole staff as a whole Jive when it’s like hey man you got me I got you we’ll pick each other up it’s going to happen some nights I mean I’ve I’ve I can sit there and say guy like a Vex and like AJ Bernette I saw him give up 10 or 12 against the Cardinal stayed in the game just so that the bullpen would be fresh I me he wore it yeah you know and so you sometimes you sit there and you’re like wow I I liked him as a teammate but I had I had some dumbfound respect after that game in particular because I was like you know what this guy is not here for himself and it’s about us as a whole and uh that just showed me I knew that’s why we had a winning team you know because it was about us not about just individuals so uh that’s a big I guess maybe answers your question right yep yeah Bullpen arm how hard is it to get their velocity back when they lose it it’s not where you want it to be how hard is it for them to get it back for a bullpen to get velocity End season how hard is it to to find it yeah to find it back again uh I think again it’s just a it’s just having the steady culmination I think that’s all on the individual to take care of yourself um you know what what are you doing as a regimen in a routine and I think once you find it and uh you know I lived on adrenaline and that’s what got me through so I don’t know I don’t know what does um you know when the crowd’s behind you game’s on the line you know that to me if you can’t if you can’t get that to help your velocity then I don’t know that to me was a noise and and the feeling that I SP to this day I haven’t found anything that comes anywhere close to that feeling so my velocity came from adrenaline um and uh even when I didn’t have it I figured out how to use what was on the what was on the menu that day you have to trick them believe if you’re throwing you know four to five mil hours you know slower then you got to figure out a way um to adapt and make make pictures when you got to make pictures to get those out yep really good of you to join us thanks so much man great to talk to you again be well thanks buddy hey all right tell said thanks too brother I will take care man see Jason see you man Jason gly for MLB pitcher host of the mound visit podcast he did grow up at Json he’s a uh spent a lot of time in Syracuse I believe MH um he was funny I I think Hazel might might know the story as well because I think she was part of it he was actually in the clubhouse when he was released or sent down and this was the time when the uh Jays had first really started talking a great deal about their high performance Department yep and um Jason was you know getting ready to leave and saying bye and the media there were saying goodbye to them um so well first thing I’m gonna do I’m gonna go out have a big cheeseburger and a ton of beer because the high performance Department back then they were watching right yeah they didn’t want that I remember Jason gly doing that it was fun when he was here man and he he could throw heart yeah I find that interesting how how when you lose it how do you find it like there’s some Jay’s guys it’s moody right that that velocity’s all over the place how do you how do you get it how do you maintain it how like it can’t be the easiest thing but I and and hearing him mention that it’s something I hadn’t thought of I obviously there’s got to be an element of adrenaline if you’re a closer because you’re coming in there’s high drama there’s high stakes um it’s really a mano am Mano situation for a closer MH and yeah I just it seems to me that it would be so it would just especially because baseball is a day-to-day thing after a while I would think you just run out of adrenaline I don’t know I mean you’re you’re you’re playing for three outs like I guess you can’t get it up for three outs like what yeah you got light shows Jeff like you can’t run in and get fired up about light shows I mean I think Rano pours a whole gallon of water on it like it’s a car it’s like a car wash and it’s like yeah I mean if you can’t get fired up that doing that Jeff boy I me you’re a big leer making tons of money I thought you did have a walk up song was it in college wasn’t it not a chance wasn’t it Dumis Walker or something that was that was in high school oh in high school yeah I was I was I was a t in high school yeah you were I was bombs and I think I already 14 punchies I think I already called you were the redneck Otani I think weren’t you yeah that’s rude but yes I was yeah I know it’s I I can say I was really good I can say that yeah now look at me I think Jason was on uh went real country right there boy did you ever other side of the mountain right yeah yeah that’s where you from giby how come Daniel Norris sound so different than Kevin Barker and they’re both from the same part of the country well well Jeff Cuz Bark’s from The Other Side of the Mountain that’s that’s why I don’t live in a van either you’re wrong once again yeah where’s all this they’re on speed do I told you you know what and of course Gibby is the Mets bench coach absolutely is how how you think how how I mean you would think the greatest uh coach SL manager in the history of the sport clean things up you know what I’m saying like you’d think he’d figure it out New York boy yeah that is a uh that that’s a difficult Lono look real good though to Jay’s uni you’ve been banging this I’m just telling you right now we got to see isn’t his his hand being x-ray yeah I know I’m talking about a healthy one oh yeah so uh there you go we’ve got uh we got a skidadle out of here we’re going to go into see us some City connect jerseys some of us are right right under the bus boy Welly you good at that ain’t you do not forget the city connect jerseys will be uh out on social media in a little more than an hour I believe they’ll be unveiled they’ll be all over social media I’m doing what the people tell me Friday the Jersey debut is on the field Monday shot Parker got to read this Monday is the Vlad bobblehead giveaway and Wednesday is a blue jays backpack giveaway with City connect Des signs see you

Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker recap Toronto’s sweep of the Chicago White Sox. David Samson stops by to chat about the City Connect uniform series and much more! Kevin Pillar speaks on his resurgent year and reflects on his unique career path after reaching the 1000-hit milestone. Andy Martino breaks down the Jorge Lopez situation and more on the Mets. Jason Grilli chats about the Pirates’ exciting outlook with Paul Skenes.

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0:00 – Jays Sweep the White Sox
24:35 – David Samson on City Connects & More!
48:08 – Kevin Pillar on His Career Resurgence and Reaching 1000 Hits
1:06:07 – Andy Martino on Jorge Lopez & the Mets
1:19:27 – Jason Grilli on Paul Skenes & Pittsburgh’s Optimistic Outlook

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