Bob Nightengale Drops A *BOMBSHELL* On Blue Jays Media… WHAT Did He Say? | Blue Jays Rumours

Bob Nightengale Drops A *BOMBSHELL* On Blue Jays Media… WHAT Did He Say? | Blue Jays Rumours

Bob Nightingale came out with some quotes today talking about Kyle Tucker and his potential landing spot in Toronto. You are Locked On Blue Jays, your daily Toronto Blue Jays podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to Locked on Blue Jays, part of the Locked On Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Your team every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Bob Nightingale came out having some words with uh or about Kyle Tucker, about Bo Bashette, and about a lot of other players in this league, not just players, but organizations themselves, and put the Toronto Blue Jays as a potential landing spot for Kyle Tucker and some other quotes in regards to Bo Bashette, which we’ll get into obviously, but uh we will do a complete Bob Bashette episode and breakdown of, you know, what the potential earnings are there and and what will he make his move back to Toronto. Uh, lot to come on this show as well. Sports betting, again, a lot of you pretty interested in that part of it. There will be a new cap on some certain props that will be available and and what the bet limit is. Um, we’ll get into that in the third segment, but a lot to come here. We got to talk Kyle Tucker and his potential landing spot. Carter, um, you know, this is something that I saw yesterday morning. uh you brought it up to me sort of as uh as we were preparing for the podcast and uh something that we have to talk about obviously because it’s in regards to the Toronto Blue Jays. 100%. This is a guy that is probably the biggest name on the free agent market. There’s some other guys surrounding him, but when it’s all said and done, I think by the end of this year, Kyle Tucker will be paid the largest contract of this 2026 class. We’ve seen a bunch of different uh analysts and insiders linking the Toronto Blue Jays to Kyle Tucker and for good reason. Like looking at previous seasons, show Otani was linked to the Toronto Blue Jays, Juan Sto, Corbin Burns, Tay Oscar Hernandez, Roki Sasaki, the list goes on and on. The Toronto Blue Jays have been in the market for top tier caliber free agents and once again they will be in the market for Kyle Tucker. So I’m just going to jump into the quote from Bob Nightingale and this will kind of explain what the situation is with the Toronto Blue Jays. So Kyle Tucker is a native of Temple and he Bob Nightingale predicts that he will sign with the Yankees, Blue Jays or Dodgers and GMs have also predicted this as well. Then he continues on says don’t be surprised if the Toronto Blue Jays are a perfect fit in your eyes with Kyle Tucker with the current situation going on like does it make sense for the Toronto Blue Jays to go out and sign Kyle Tucker and should that be their main priority of this offseason? Carter, me and you had a conversation about this before a little bit. And sort of where my head is at is yes, you want Kyle Tucker, you want to have the best player, some of the best players in the game on your team. And let’s not get confused. It’s it would be great, but for me with the not only, you know, the amount of players they have in this outfield, Daltton Vo is going to play center field. He will be the center fielder for 2026. You’re going to have Anthony Santon Derback. You got guys like Nathan Lucas and Addison Barger looking to get blank time. Dave Schneider that takes away one of these utility positions that this team loves to use. So, it’s always a possibility. Yes, they they could absolutely go out. They want to make this team better. They want to do whatever they can, and this would be a move that makes this team better. But at the end of the day, Carter, this is my full-on stopping point here for this conversation almost, is that to me, they don’t go out and get Bo Bashette and Kyle Tucker. It’s one or the other because you’re not going to pay both of these guys. Plus, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s contract kicks in this year as well. So, you’re going to be paying a lot of money to what would potentially be three players. And we said it ourselves, Carter, in the last episode that we were looking for this team to go out and get a starting pitcher and and a good one that’s going to be here for a bunch of years. So, how much is this organization willing to spend? because uh you know we’ll get into his contract and whatever as it comes but um I don’t know Carter to me this just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Obviously I think the Toronto Blue Jays will always try to be in on the best players as we’ve seen over the past few seasons. They want to make a and give that big splash and and get that best guy and and you know be one of the teams that you know other teams are terrified to play. But this one to me just the fit isn’t the fit’s always there for a guy like Kyle Tucker, but the fit isn’t there in the sense of this organization they’re spending and how many guys they are going to have to bring, you know, resign or sign in the next few years. It just I don’t know. I I just can’t see it. Personally, I the way I wanted to start this is I wanted to go into how much the Toronto Blue Jays should have coming off the books and should have available to spend in this 2026 off seasonason. So again with arbitration with some deals that need to be still need to occur. This is just a projected and it’s not a concrete number but they have a pretty good estimate of what it would be coming off the books. So they should the troubling should have between 39 and $48 million coming off the books. That’s with Bob Bashett’s uh arbitration coming off. Again if you want to resign him that’s going to be part of that 39 to 48 million. But you’re playing a little bit more of Vladimir Gro Jr. Max Sher’s off the books. Chris Facet’s off the books again. Sir Anthony Dominguez, Ty France all your free agents. you’d have all of that money. And then the Toronto Blue Jays made about 50 million in revenue from that World Series run. And if you know the Toronto Blue Jays and the percentages and what they like to reinvest back into that lineup, a significant portion of that 50 million should be thrown back into that lineup. And Ross Atkins has come out and said that the uh the budget and the spending will not go down. If anything, it’s only going to go up. Again, that’s a big help from the World Series round. So in to like the money in theory should be there, but will the Toronto Blue Jays go out and sign both Bobette and Kyle Tucker? That’s going to be the biggest question I think for a lot of people. Do they have the financials to go out and sign both of these guys? In theory, they do, but will they is a completely separate question. I don’t think they will. I don’t think you do go get Kyle Tucker and Bob Bashette. You have three at that point franchise names, three guys that would ideally be signed to long-term contracts. Even with all the books or all the numbers coming off the books and all the money coming off the books, investing that amount of capital into just positional players while you still need starting pitching and bullpen help probably not the best decision. And you talked about the fit. You talked about Kyle Tucker where who would he be taking playing time away from? If Kyle Tucker signs with the Toronto Blue Jays, I think that means somebody’s getting traded. Nathan Lucas, Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, one of these guys probably has to open their spot and will not get as much playing time. So they will have to be traded or moved in some capacity if they want to, you know, be a regular on a major league baseball club. So that would give the Toronto Blue Jays a little bit more leeway to make a trade. But I think in terms of like positional needs, you probably need a shortstop for second base a little bit more right now than you would need of a right fielder. Like you said, if Kyle Tucker is available and the Toronto have the funds to sign Kyle Tucker, you kind of sign the guy and worry about the rest of it later. So uh when you look at Kyle Tucker’s baseball, I mean, it’s it’s a sea of red. like this dude is a very good baseball player. Uh like just going over I’m not going to go over everything obviously, but some of the ones that stuck out to me. He just does not chase pitches, which if you know the Toronto Blue Jays, the team that does not chase pitches either. Had a chase rate of 17.6% in 2025. That’s in the 98th percentile. Gets on base a lot as well. Something the Toronto Blue Jays did a pretty good job of in 2025. Had a 14.6% walk rate in 2025. That is in the 96th percentile. Doesn’t strike out often. You get a common theme here. Kyle Tucker is that type of caliber player and just type the the build that the Toronto Blue Chiefs uh front office does like. So again, 14.6% walk rate, 96 percentile, doesn’t strike out, 14.7 strikeout percentage, it’s 85th percentile, good off speed hitter, and even better fast ball hitter. Uh does not whiff a whole lot. So everything that Kyle Tucker is fits the Toronto Blue Jays pretty well. Is a previous goal glover. Again, is going to make every routine play. Maybe won’t make the flashiest plays of all time. isn’t the fastest guy necessarily, but has stolen 30 bases before. Has stolen 25. And the last three years he was healthy. He stole 25, 30, and 25 bases, respectively. So, it’s not as much of Kyle Tucker isn’t a good baseball player. Everyone knows Kyle Tucker is a good baseball player. And when you’re that good of a player, you’re going to fit any single team, no matter who you have in that outfield. But if you have priorities, which the Toronto Blue Jays do, and obviously when you look at a team, you have to have positional needs. I think if we’re weighing the Boba Bett priority compared to Pal Tucker, it makes more sense for this team to go out and get Bob Bashette. But hey, if it’s in the budget, get both of them. I don’t think any fans are going to be opposed to that. Yeah, Carter. And we’ll start off the second segment by talking a little bit about his contract and what he’s projected to get. Obviously, in regards to the Bo Bashette contract and where that sort of all adds together. Um, but when you’re talking about this guy’s baseball, Savant card, this is a a lot of analysts have come out and said that they don’t think Kyle Tucker’s had his best season. we haven’t seen the top of Kyle Tucker’s uh you know when you look back at his career when he’s all said and done that we haven’t seen his best yet and it’s only yet to come. So that that’s a big stepping stone as well and if guys are realizing that around the league that says a lot right then and there that this guy only has more to give and only has more to give on a potentially you know World Series caliber baseball club and as we’ve seen the Toronto Blue Jays are a World Series caliber baseball team. Now, yes, adding Kyle Tucker probably elevates them even more. So, it’s not necessarily a fact that the Blue Jays could not use uh Kyle Tucker. It’s not a scenario that he doesn’t fit this team. It’s not that he doesn’t fit the mold. It’s not that he’s a he’s an allout power swinger. It’s it’s nothing like that. This guy fits very well. If you look at how how he plays the game, it’s very Toronto Blue Jays ask Carter like you talked about. Um but at the end of the day, the biggest question is how is this all going to work out in the payroll? So, I think let’s take a quick break, Carter. come back. We’ll sort of compare his and Bobett’s contract to a potential money still being able to be allocated from this Toronto Blue Jays team right after this. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. You guys know how much I love Game Time. It is one of my favorite places to go and get my tickets. It’s the only place I go to get my tickets. NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being at the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle. Between cues, login screens, and prices, jumping at checkout, it’s just frustrating to be honest. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the Game Time guarantee. You’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So, the price you see is the price you pay. That’s my favorite component to all of this is I hate going to the checkout and being like, “Oh, okay. The tickets are $60, but oh, then you go to the checkout, it’s 90.” That doesn’t happen on Game Time. It shows you straight up exactly what the tickets are going to cost. That’s a a big feature for me here. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code Loc MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. So Carter, continuing on, as you sort of mentioned the budget here for the Tremonal Blue Jays, as we know, uh, the estimated revenue from the postseason run, Carter, was about $50 million. And you have to think that they do like to reinvest. They will reinvest some of that money, but is it going to be all 50 million? I think you’d have to be laughing at yourself to uh assume that. So let let’s say it’s on the low side here. I think 30 is I was going to say 25. So yeah, we’ll go 25. Yeah, just split split the difference. Yeah, exactly. So, you have that plus what what you talked about earlier is money coming off the books, money available after guys have left. Obviously, that’s not including a Bob Bashette resign, nothing like that. So, Kyle Tucker is estimated to get about a 10-year deal worth uh I believe you said it was just over 400 million. So, say that’s 40 million a year, give or take. Again, a few million. Sure. Um Bob Bashette, Carter, I know we haven’t completely gone into that contract. Where do you have Bob Vette projected at least on an AAV if you were looking at things right now just so we can sort of work out the money in our heads? Yeah, I think Kyle Tucker at the end of the day is going to make more money than Bobette. I think he probably should make more money than Bobette with what he offers defensively. I haven’t really thought about the AAV too much for Boba. I’ve just kind of been looking at like the amount of money that I’d be willing to pay him. For me, I kind of started between 200 and 250 million. I think it we’ll have to see if he does get priced out of that. So, in terms of an AAV, I think I’d be somewhere comfortable between 25 and 30 million if I had to be somewhere in there. For Kyle Tucker, I’ve seen multiple reports of what his contract could projected to be. Like, I have uh from Bob Nightingale, he predicts 400 million, between 10 and 12 years. I’ve seen 12 years at 48 million. I’ve seen 11 years at 418 million. I’ve seen a 340 million thrown out there. I’ve seen 450 million. So, again, there is a big gap between what is projected by some analysts compared to others. But I think in terms of what at the end of the day these guys are going to get paid. Kyle Tucker’s contract is going to be larger than Bobett’s. Yes. Yeah. For sure. And there’s no question for me there at all. I 100% agree. I’m I’m going to estimate his just by what we’ve heard so far at $40 million uh per season, AAV, whatever. See, that would be higher than Vlatty, just so the people know. Yeah, that’s Yeah, great point. Crazy. But that’s potentially what it’s going to be. and Bob Bashette. I I’m I was sort of in the 27 million AAV range. That’s probably where I had them placed just by thinking, okay, you know, 250 at eight years, whatever it was, it’s going to be close to that. That would be my estimate. So, right then and there, Carter, give or take a few million on either side, you’re spending $67 million if you wanted to get both of these guys out of the potential. I think it was 45 plus the 35 or 30 we said. So you’re looking at 75 million. So that only leaves you with a measily what 10 million say is to spend on then a bullpen arm that we talked about a starting pitcher that we talked about. That doesn’t leave this this Toronto Blue Jays team a ton of room to work with. And that’s why I said I think if they do sign Kyle Tucker, we’re probably going to see a Toronto Blue Jays trade for financials, for again positional value. It’s going to be one of the Addison Bargers, the Ernie Clement, the Nathan Lucas’, probably some MLB talent paired with some prospects to maybe get a top tier starting pitcher, maybe just to get an average starting pitcher or maybe you see one of those Ross Atkins trades where he gets a bullpen arm that you didn’t even believe was on the market. So, I think in the world where you sign both of these players, like there has to be a trade. I don’t think there’s any way around it. And it might come in the term of Asen Barter. I think that’s the guy that’s probably going to carry the most value for your baseball club. And the target for me should be probably a bullpen arm. But again, you’d have to see on what they would end up wanting to do. And they probably want to shed some salary as well. So if you sign Bobette, does he want to play second base? Does he want to play shortstop? That’s something that we’ll probably get into on tomorrow’s episode. If anything crazy doesn’t pop up again, the offseason, you know, anything can happen. So we’re not going to set in stone for sure. We’re talking about Bobette. We’ll focus back on the Kyle Tucker stuff. I just I don’t see it as being likely as them getting both of them. I just I can’t really fathom that in my head. When you look at what Ross Atkins does, how aggressive that he is. He was aggressive in the show Otani market. When you look at the Juan Sto market, he didn’t necessarily get up to that 765 million. The Mets were the only team that did that. And you look at just Ross Atkins throughout his tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays. And just being a general manager, is there a bad contract that you can look back at and see what Ross Atkins dished out and say, “Hey, like that’s an egregious overpay.” Like that is a massive overpay for a ball club. I don’t see one at all. I think he’s a very conservative and selective guy when he’s signing free agents. And I think with Kyle Tucker being the main guy on the market with all these again big powerhouse teams and these big teams with big payrolls, which we’ll kind of get into I think after this point, I think if they want to sign Bobet and Kyle Tucker, they’re just going to get priced out of both their markets. Yeah, I I agree with you. I think they’re going to try to stay within their means, and you can’t do that in regards to these guys. These are both guys that the price points that we put out Carter could realistically go higher than that and and most likely will uh with you know when you start to get into these bidding wars we’ve seen how all of this stuff has worked whether it was with you know show Otani and and Juan Sto obviously these are completely different players and and you know huge name guys show Otani will never be touched in the conversation of uh you know anybody getting close to what he makes but eventually it’s going to get there anyway because players are just going to continually earning more um and Obviously, we’re going to have to see what happens uh in the lockout and what the CBA and everything and and they decide on which could shake up a whole bunch of different things, but that’s why there are some players that are wanting to cash in now before that lockout and the new rulings or whatever is going to come of uh of the agreement. So, it’s going to be interesting in watching that, too. I think there are going to be a lot of teams that are looking to spend a little bit more this season because they know that hey, there’s probably going to be a lockout and um there might be new rulings in place afterwards. So, I’m going to be really interested to see how that affects the markets of guys like Bo Bashette and Kyle Tucker in this offseason here. See, that’s an interesting point. Do I not sure if GMs would want to operate under the impression that there is going to be a salary cap because that you’re making again you’re you’re taking a leap. you’re taking a risk, which again could pay off in the future if it does have a hard salary cap. You got to believe that they’re not going to be able to implement that immediately. It’s going to have to be grandfathered in and that gives you a pretty significant advantage over the field. But then if they don’t decide on that and they have some sort of other ruling and then you just paid all these massive contracts, you maybe overpaid a few players depending on what they end up doing. Like that’s a risk that you’ll have to see if GMs are willing to take and maybe that is a little bit of inflation, but I don’t think GMs are going to operate under an impression that isn’t confirmed for them. I I think it’s going to be the opposite, Carter. I I think these all these GMs are going in here expecting there not to be a salary cap because I think the implementation of a salary cap is I’m going to be completely honest to me seems damn near impossible with the amount that these guys are paying. The the players are not going to want a salary cap. The GMs obviously I think are going to be okay with some GMs are going to be very happy with it. Some are going to be like whatever. There’s been talks of a salary floor. So, I I’m sort of in the in the thought process of these GMs are going to go and pay guys and they’re going and not only the GMs, but the players themselves are going to use the increase in pay as the exact reason why they cannot have a salary cap in this league. This whatever happens in this off seasonason and this season specifically is going to impact what happens during that 2027 lockout, which is going to be insane. And I think you’re going to start to see a lot of these stepping stones be laid. And so Carter, it’s actually the exact opposite. It’s not spending a ton because you think there’s going to be a salary cap because I think that’s a detriment because then you you might be too close to the cap and you might not be able to spend for the following seasons. I think it’s spending now because you’d think that there might be a different ruling in place. So I again I have no idea what’s happening behind the scenes in regards to this. This is a Manfred massive decision that’s going to come. Uh but it it start I think you’re going to see it start to affect in this MLB season in 2026 of everybody the players uh all the associations and everything start to try to figure out what the next step is going to be in the MLB and and when you have larger conversations in regards to this obviously we’re going to do a whole lockout thing at some point because there are a lot of these little pieces that are that could affect this season. Obviously you’re seeing the uh the introduction of the ABS system already uh coming in 2026 Carter. So little things are starting to make movements here. Now how will this affect certain guys price points? Will it will it affect it in the sense of GMs are going to go out and spend? Maybe. Will it affect in the other way where you might see these guys contracts not come in as high? And that’s why I this is one of the most interesting off seasons um that I’ve been watching baseball because it literally nobody knows what comes next. And that’s a crazy thing. See, I I really don’t think GMs are going to be impacted based off the future lockout because you’re just operating under false reality. You have no idea what’s going to happen with the salary cap. Why would you let something that isn’t confirmed change the way that you approach business, change the way that you approach free agency? For me, that just doesn’t make any sense. And that’s a very, very risky move. If you, especially if you’re an established GM and you had your job for a significant period of time, you make a mistake like this, that’s a pretty fire, easily fireable offense. But on the other side of things, maybe players have a little bit more freedom to exercise their rights and, you know, maybe maybe be a little bit more bold in their contract selection. So if they think there’s going to be a salary cap, maybe they’re going to want a longer term contract. Maybe they’re going to want to add a few more years onto that contract because again, salary cap’s a whole different conversation conversation. Sorry. But I just have like how do you not grandfather it in? Like there’s no way you can just introduce this hard cap when teams have signed contracts. I feel like, you know, with especially the states already with how many times they sue people, feel like just there’s going to be so many times they would have the opportunity to get sued and just so many civil cases, civil disputes. It just seems like an absolute headache if that was going to be the way it was happening. Again, there’s so much to be un so much to be discovered, so much that is left to be uncovered right now. So, I just don’t think the GMs are going to take that huge risk and operate under the assumption that there’s going to be a massive change. Not that it’s going to be I think uh I think it’s not going to be the money necessarily that makes the change, but I think it’s the length of contract. And in regards to length of contract, Carter, that’s where I think it could impact payments because if you’re going to pay a guy for 11 years because you think, oh, you know, will there be a a a year cap like there is now in the NHL where there the guys can only sign for, you know, so many years? I think it’s six now is the max uh length deal. Um so that could be something that comes in. So, if you get these guys this season and before and you can sign them for an 11 or 12 year contract, that could be a difference maker and in turn that makes you either pay, you know, some guys maybe you’re able to pay a little bit less because you you’re not paying them for six years. It’s it’s a whole big conversation, but in the end of the day, the the major part of this is the Blue Jays probably in in we broke down the money probably don’t have the room to sign Bo Bashette, Kyle Tucker, a starting pitcher, a bullpen arm. They don’t not they don’t and then the and then all the moves that they want to make you know around that as well. It just it can’t happen to me. So as great as much as I love this conversation and I always love to hear that the Toronto Blue Jays are in on some of the biggest names in free agency. That’s fantastic. But at some point, we have to take our fan cap off here for a second and and think about the money and the business behind all this because that’s a that’s where all of this comes down to is how much money does Rogers want to spend uh paying guys this free for agency even though they are in what looks like a win now mode because I think that’s where you have to be after this past season. Yeah. How can you not be in winow mode when you were two outs away from winning a World Series? But let’s put like our hypothe hypothetical caps on. Let’s kind of figure out like what it would look like if somehow it was the perfect world. And the Blue Jays were able to sign Kyle Tucker and Bo Bashette. Starting in the outfield, you pretty much have your confirmed outfield the entire season. So that again takes away playing time from some of the other players. Torch Springer, what you saw from in the DH spot, I don’t think you can take that away from him. Yes, he could play right field the odd time. I think predominantly if you want him to be your DH. If Daltton Bar is healthy, he is your center fielder. I don’t care how bad he performed in the World Series, he is your everyday center fielder. Anthony Santandere, I talked about in the last episode, people forgetting about him a little bit. This h guy has to be in your lineup. It’s as simple as that. Whether it’s left field or right field and then if you sign Kyle Tucker, there it is. There are your four outfielders that you would be playing pretty much day in and day out. Then you look in the infield at shortstop hopefully. Maybe it’s second base. Again, doesn’t really matter in this example. Bobette would take that other spot. Vladimir Gro Jr. at first base. So that leaves one position. That leaves third base open because all Kirk your catcher again, Tyler Heinman, whoever it ends up being. You have Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lucas is your fourth outfielder, I guess, at that point. Where does Miles trough in? You’re not too worried about that if you have Kyle Tucker, but it’s that third base spot. It’s Addison Barger, it’s Ernie Clement, it’s David Schneider again. Is he even on the roster at that point? So, it makes things pretty tough for the John Schneider platoon approach. And that’s why I just don’t really see this as being a thing that is actually going to happen for the Toronto Blue Jays. I think they definitely will sign one guy and I think they’ll go out and spend money on one big fish whether that is Bobette ace caliber pitcher that S tier guy that we’ve been hoping for for a very long time Kyle Tucker whoever it may be they’re going to sign they’re going to be aggressive we’ve seen the Blue Jays are willing to spend but as much as we’d like them to spend like the Dodgers they are not going to spend like the Dodgers is just unfortunately the reality in the situation so I think with Kyle Tucker it’s a possibility but it’s either Bobette or Kyle Tucker and I’m interested to see among amongst the fan base, what Bobette has done for this franchise, and just what everybody knows about Kyle Tucker. If you had one preference, one guy that you prefer, and again, a lot of this comes down to how these guys project, Bobette will probably be a good hitter for a long time, but where do you put him defensively? So, would you rather have Kyle Tucker or Bob Bashette? That is an interesting conversation that I would like to have with every single one of you. Again, that’s impossible, but leave your comments on which one you’d rather have. So, Carter, I I’ll guess I’ll throw it to you. Which one would you rather have? Like are we talking to like it just in totality like with the contracts with the length of contracts like how let’s say they both sign an eight-year deal. I don’t care what like Kyle Tucker is going to make more money on that deal but whatever in this scenario Kyle Tucker eight years Bobette eight years it’s so I think Kyle Tucker is going to be better for longer. I think with Bobette I think he doesn’t project as well. Again the speed already isn’t really there. He’s not a base runner. Again the bat to ball skills will always be there. He will be a guy that will be a a run producer. With Kyle Tucker, I think he’ll be better for a little bit longer. But if we’re looking at right now and we’re looking at what Bobett’s done for this franchise, we’re looking at how important he is to the clubhouse again with the Vladimir Gro Jr. stuff with Bobette expressing interest that he wants to be here. I haven’t really heard anything about Kyle Tucker saying that he wants to be here. It’s very close for me, but I think you got to stay with the hometown talent. I would prefer Bob Bashette longer term than Kyle Tucker. And I I’ll tell you exactly why I 100% agree with you. And it’s not just the fact that Bo Bashette was played here his whole career and I want to see him back and and hopefully eventually win with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The point I I I’m making is is that it depends what you’re paying them. You’re probably not paying Bobette $30 million. You’re probably not paying him as much as as Tucker. So you have then more room to go and supplement the rest of your lineup. And I think that’s massive for me is is I don’t want to see an off seasonason where one big move is made but that’s it. That’s not how you make a winning lineup. A winning lineup is made with good players put in in every spot instead of a great player put in, but then you’re sacrificing your starting pitching. You’re sacrificing the bullpen. And I think you can still do that with Bob Bashette in this lineup and then going out and getting a starter, going out and then getting a bullpen piece. I think that does enough for me this off season. I I don’t think there has to be this massive uh Tucker signing for me to be over the moon about this offseason. I I maybe you guys think differently. Maybe I know some of you guys aren’t a big fan of Bobette. I don’t understand that, but I’m I’m happy to hear you out in the comments section below. Um Carter, I know there’s a massive uh sports betting uh piece that just came out that we want to talk about. Obviously, we’re both fans of sports gambling, but uh this puts it this could put a massive dent into some of those more big time sports gamblings. Do you have anything else to say just before we kick out of here with uh with Tucker and Bob Bashed or whatever is going to be? Yeah, I just wanted to add it the teams that I’ve seen that are interested in Kyle Tucker. Again, the Bob Nightingale said it’s the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Blue Jays, but again, it’s not in a vacuum as much as maybe Bob Nightingale portrays it to be. I think there are obviously some other teams that are in here as well in the running. And the New York Times ranked the likelihood of of Kyle Tucker signing with these teams. And the tiers that they used are just the most obvious thing of all time, unfortunately. So in tier one they have the Dodgers and they they have some titles for this as well. They have it as dynasty mode. The Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest likelihood of signing Kyle Tucker. Who would have thought? Again, crazy news. Again, breaking. We’ll throw it on the podcast. Tier number two is the Yankees and they use start spreading the news. I’m here today. We used it on our podcast as well. They New York Times would have thought the Yankees at number two. So that’s why it makes perfect sense if you’re going to be a New York Times post a New York Times article. This made a lot of sense to me. And then the tier number three, the usual suspects, which I thought actually was a pretty good title. It is the Chicago Cubs. It’s the Boston Red Sox, the New York Mets, the San Francisco Giants, and the Toronto Blue Jays. Pretty much the names that we saw with Juan Sto with Roi Sasaki, with Show Otani. Unfortunately, it’s the big market teams. You didn’t have the Phillies in here. There’s a couple other ones again that weren’t in here, but predominantly with these big players on the market, if you’re not one of those top eight teams, unfortunately, the way baseball works, you don’t really have a chance. So, uh, with Kyle Tucker, with Bobette, unfortunately, with the teams that are involved, you’re probably going to have to pay him a little bit more than you expect to pay them. But, uh, either one of them, whether it is Bobaet, Kyle Tucker, as much as I want would just barely want Bobaette a little bit more. I’d be okay with both of them. Yeah. Carter, wait, hold on. So, you’re telling me the Oakland I was going to say Oakland, the Athletics aren’t going to go for Kyle Tucker? They might try, but they might offer him like, you know, a fiveyear, $50 million contract, and I don’t think he’s going to take that one. Exactly. No. Okay, we’ll be right back. back. We’ll talk some sports betting. We want to hear all your guys’ thoughts down in the comments section below. So, make sure you leave those and we’ll be right back. Today’s episode, speaking of sports gambling, uh today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. I enjoy betting on games. I said I wasn’t a big NBA guy, but uh you know, I’ve been starting to get back into it thanks to FanDuel because hey, I’ve been betting on the overs. I’ve been betting on overs and and praying it works out. I don’t know a whole lot. I got a buddy at work that knows it pretty well. Has been hooking me up and that’s thanks to FanDuel. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel’s giving new customers $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. to make sure you do win that first $5 bet. Make sure it’s on a lock. Uh not on the NFL this year because no game is a lock in the NFL. So head to fanuel.com to sign up today and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, Carter, I know you’re not as much of a sports better as I am, but to me, this is a story that is crazy crazy for sports betting, but it makes complete sense. MLB announcing $200 limit on prop bets with sports books in the aftermath of the Guardians scandal. This is the Guardian sports book right here, Carter. Um, so pretty much what this is saying is that there will be a $200 limit on bets able to be placed on certain props. So that’s uh like balls and strikes, uh pitch velocity, things like that. So I mean shocker, right? Yeah. I wonder why this is happening. There might must be something going on with some uh some betting issues within the major leagues. Manuel Colass Ortiz. Again, this is obviously their ruling. Joey Otani has his own rule about the DH. You know, we got a little bit of a class A rule now with uh limiting the amount you can place saw on those pitch bets. I mean, I I hate those anyway. Like I that’s not something that I would personally bet on. maybe like a first strike like I don’t mind that one. But in terms of pitch velocity like SF you really know Paul then congrats to you but we see it all the time with pitchers having their ace tough not having their ace tough and then it being everywhere in between. So for me like betting on velocity again a lot of betting is shot in the dark don’t get me wrong and you can definitely use your sports knowledge to help you out a little bit and make things a little bit easier. But for pitch velocity it’s so like it’s it’s impossible to know what players are feeling on a day or a day on any given day in and day out. Yeah 100%. And again, like I said, I I don’t think that this at the end of the day is a gambling whatever. People are trying to place this as gambling is terrible. It’s not. You just have to be able to keep it under control. And there’s some people that just can’t. And and that’s something that they have to do. And it’s not a good thing. There are definitely people that are going to take advantage of that for some people. And and that’s brutal to see. But it’s these players just having a better head on their shoulders and knowing what to do. It’s not that hard. Don’t bet on the games you play in and you would be fine. But this is the day and age we live in. So if you want to be mad at the sports betting sites, fine. But I don’t know. There’s a lot of people that that use them well and and have fun and are able to, you know, hey, I’m you know, I’m watching NFL games all Sunday. I’ll throw a 10 buck down on a parlay. I’ll throw 20 bucks down on a parlay. That’s your that’s your night out, right? instead of going to the bars on Saturday. Oh, I’m going to place a 20 buck, $20 bet and watch football on my couch. I don’t see that as a big issue. It’s the problem when, you know, you do get into these big scandals in all of these leagues that seem to be happening nonstop. And I don’t, Carter, I don’t personally know what the way to stop this is. There’s there’s really nothing. Otherwise, it’s pretty much, hey, see you later, sports gambling in totality. That’s really the only way to stop it completely. Yeah, I think they’ve done everything they can. Just don’t bet on your own games. saying if you do bet on your on your own games and it’s found out that you’re betting on your own games, it’s a lifetime ban. No, that no ifs, ands, or buts, you’re out of the league. And I think that is a fair ruling. I think that’s exactly what they have to do. I just again, we talked about on the last episode. I I just can’t believe it’s that hard to, you know, not bet on your own games, not bet on your own league. Like, I guess we’ll end it with this. Like, do you think there’s some merit for like allowing MLB players to bet on other teams throughout the league just based off of their knowledge? Do you think that’s almost like insider trading because they’re playing each other and again they have friends around the league or do you just I think for all intents and purp purposes to make this as easy as possible. Just don’t bet on the league that you’re playing in. No, if you’re playing in the MLB, don’t bet on the MLB. You got a million other leagues you can go and bet on. Do that. The Ber pitch league. Hey, we hit the over on the Carter first home runs this year. So, out your incoming. That’s right. I’ll take that. U but no, and at the end of the day, you know what? I think all these betting sites are doing it well, right? They’re they’re seeing if there is something scandalous or potentially scandalous, they’re reporting it to the league. And I think that’s that’s a big step forward in all of this is is the betting sites taking accountability for these massive bets that are being placed. So, you know what? I I I got to give them a little bit of a hat tip here. I think this this is the right thing to do and and what this needs to be stopped. There has to be a call out here, especially to some of the commissioners in regards to some of these players. So, I think that this is right now being handled and being looked at the best he possibly can without completely getting rid of sports gambling in totality. Uh, but Carter, we’re going to have obviously a big Bob Bashett episode tomorrow to talk a little bit about his contract and what he means to Toronto bringing him back and sort of what the fan think about it. So, again, leave us your comments on Bob Bashette down in the comment section below. Maybe we’ll use a bit of it tomorrow. But, anything else before you kick out of here for the night, Carter? Yeah, just uh wanted to apologize for again a little bit of my voice. still recovering and I wanted to throw these on for Braden and a little bit of myself. I was very close to being Howard Stern, Pitbull, you know, whatever you want it to be. I was almost going to wear these during the podcast because in my three years of moving out to our place we’re in now, I have not been to the doctor and now there I have three prescriptions. One for my eye, one for my ear, and one for my throat as well. Just going through it right now, unfortunately. would have rocked it like this. But I luckily for me, and maybe not for Braden, Braden really wanted this to happen. But uh luckily for me, my eye was feeling a little bit better, so I did not have to wear that stern goggles on the podcast. But unfort Yeah, I just want to apologize about my voice. We’re still going to battle through this. We’re again, as long as I’m not, you know, bedridden, I’m not, you know, stuck in my bed and unable to talk like I was almost on the last episode, we’re going to be coming at you guys with content no matter what. So, I just wanted to just let the people know kind of what was going on on my end. Yeah, Carter, it was it was a hilarious sight. This guy’s in the hospital this afternoon and I get a a video of him and I see his eye all like gked up and I’m like, geez, this guy’s we got to put the goggles on this man. This is not going to be a great look for the pod. And uh you will see uh you know a sporadic timing of guests. We’ve got a couple people lined up as as well as the return of Skyler Peters, Don Wilton, Tristan Baronowski hopefully will be coming on all three of them at some point and you know throughout this off seasonason because they want to get their thoughts and opinions out as well. You know, sometimes it’s a nice little shake up to hear some other perspectives. Thanks again everybody for watching and we’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.

The reports have already been firing on all cylinders, as the Toronto Blue Jays have been named as one of the favourites to land Kyle Tucker in free agency. This comes with a bunch of questions: what would his contract look like? Would this impact the likelihood of Bo Bichette resigning? How would the Blue Jays manage their outfield? There is so much to dive into, and so many angles to take on this narrative. We break it all down right here on Locked Blue Jays.

Your current Toronto Blue Jays roster: Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Kevin Gausman, Yimi Garcia, Anthony Santander, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jeff Hoffman, Yariel Rodriguez, George Springer, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Andres Gimenez, Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, Brayden Fisher, Max Scherzer, Leo Jimenez, Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement, Jake Bloss, Nick Sandlin, Bowden Francis, Joey Loperfido, Orelvis Martinez, Ricky Tiedemann, Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Seranthony Dominguez, Christian Bethancourt, Louis Varland, Tommy Nance, Jonatan Clase, Tyler Heineman , Myles Straw, Shane Bieber, Easton Lucas, Paxton Schultz, Mason Fluharty, Eric Lauer

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