Jays-Rays Preview & Happy Paul Skenes Day! | Blair and Barker Full Episode

Jays-Rays Preview & Happy Paul Skenes Day! | Blair and Barker Full Episode

[Music] hey what’s going on welcome to Blair and Barker I’m Blake Murphy sitting in for Jeff Blair today alongside Kevin Barker Barker how we doing man been long weekend I had yeah I can’t wait it’s uh it’s you know the weather looks okay you know it’s not raining just yet so yeah hopefully it’s uh and I and I know my wife’s put me to work as soon as I’m done here I got to go plant flowers so woohoo So you you’re actually hoping for like a little bit of rain at some point you want to get those in there you want to be nice and dry and then then it can open up all right do it get it out of the way let it rain grow wife’s happy I’m happy there we go we also obviously the the Blue Jays are back home so we don’t have to worry about a rain out five off days in 15 days you feeling like like there hasn’t been enough baseball a little bit the last couple weeks eh well some would say because of the way the offense looks that’s a good thing it’s not that’s not a bad thing no all joking aside I think if you’re a player you sort of take those days and you you know you walk away from it have a little mental break and and sort of recharge when it comes to that and you know maybe figure some things out you know just to give yourself a chance I that’s I think that’s all everybody’s asking going is walk up there give yourself a chance and and let the cars fall what do they may and a real big uh stretch of games ahead here for the Blue Jays tonight starts 13 and 13 days and a 16 game stretch where the rays are back above 500 now but two days ago this looked like 16 straight against sub 500 teams they kind of got to get something going here yeah absolutely look that you know what is it it’s the it’s the 10 six against the white sock four against the Tigers and three against the ray so you take two out of the three against the ray you take eight out of 10 against those other two teams hey all of a sudden now you’re above 500 and you know maybe the conversation tomorrow with the GM might go a little differently yeah so a couple housekeeping items uh first uh tonight’s game is a Friday night baseball on Apple TV plus exclusive so we won’t have the broadcast on Sports at television we’ll have it on the radio side Ben shman and Chris Laro I I mentioned this on Jay Talk Plus earlier people didn’t know this on Apple TV plus you can switch the audio over and listen to our guys on the radio while you watch the Apple TV way to tell people broadcast as well uh go to apple.co mob gift for instructions on how to get a free trial to watch that game tonight sounds complicated it’s it’s it’s all right it’s all right I figured it out two weeks ago a couple beers in so we we’ll be we’ll be all right we’ll manage um the other housekeeping item is uh Ross Atkins is gonna speak tomorrow uh pregame he’ll talk to the media he’ll do his little Dugout thing what are you expecting to hear what do you want to hear at at a general manager Ross Atkins tomorrow yeah I think there’s a there’s a little that we care I mean you you got to be a good salesman here you know I think we it ain’t like you can come on there and go hey the off is not getting down well thanks like we sort of we sort of already know that it’s just the fact what are you going to do about it like I think people are now sort of starting to want to hear they haven’t heard from Ross in a while and you know I think he’s got to come out a little bit of a bang here and say sort of you know we got to fix this where our pitching is good enough our defense is good enough you know the messaging between the coaching staff and our players is good enough it’s just the results one side of the ball it’s just not good enough so we’re going to do our part as an organization as a front office to try and get this taken care of and and we we promise that the players will continue to work hard and do everything they can do to have the best product on the field they could possibly have so you know I think that’s the point that I think people want to hear other than that what else could he could he possibly say I mean my fear would be I guess it’s going to sound like I think he did one in August and we haven’t heard from him since opening day so he hasn’t done this yet this year but we heard late last year when the offense were struggling they were dead last with hitting or hitters and run R hitting with runners in scoring position he the well the baded ball metrics you know we believe that all that’ll even out even me as a numbers guy like we’re a year and we’re like a year and a quarter into it now like I I don’t know and all those numbers have gone the wrong direction too even if you believe in them so you can’t even sell it huh yeah I don’t I don’t want to I don’t want to have to sit here Monday uh coming in on a holiday and sell that yeah I don’t I don’t think people want to hear we believe in the core yeah yeah we’re past that like you know we understand who the core is it’s two people it’s the guy it’s the guy at first and the guy at Short everybody knows you don’t have to come out and say it it’s how do you fix it like that’s the point here right I’ve said this and I’ll continue to say they’re not a last place team they’re pitching’s too good their defense is too good their baseball IQ is too good offensively they’re not how do you fix it that’s the thing I think the people that are invested in the Blue Jays every single day like me you and a pleth of other people want to hear how do you fix it like enough of the we believe and and you know if they keep doing this our our metrics tell us this yeah we can see it that it’s not working out how do you fix it make it better and how do you quite frankly get some people in here and hit some homers like you know they don’t do that a ton and if you notice most of the really really good teams do a bunch of that cuz pitching as you well know is really really good so stringing together four or five hits in a row against a really good pitch is really really hard you got to have some really good HS with some great with some great game plan so that’s that I think is the two things I’d like to hear you go back to Monday’s game for example the stringing hits together they won that game but it felt like a miracle when vgab came up with that bloop single to score a run and you had three or four hits in that inning it felt so rare uh yeah being bottom five in home runs and top five in home runs allowed that’s a that’s a tough way to go uh if you have comments by the way on what you’d like to hear from Ross Atkins or just generally as always on Friday not fire himself he’s not going to do that he’s not gonna say that okay can you imagine oh man I mean no I couldn’t imagine that uh all right back leg line is open for your questions and comments on the Jays and Major League Baseball 416 413 3959 it is Friday you want to we we got a Ryan Spielberg is coming on with us in a little bit he’s on the Apple TV broadcast uh tonight Brian Anderson your pal from the the raay TV analyst at B Sports sun will join us we got John Schneider at 3M as you guys always do on Fridays Jesse Rogers ESPN will join us as well load management yeah managing our load you get us four big guests so we don’t have to do as much ourselves you know how do you figure out how to play less and make more money I mean that’s the it’s the American dream yeah it really is how do you do it I mean it’s it is amazing that they actually have to have that conversation I mean if you’re if you’re a player I think you want to raise your hand to an organization say hey why do you think I work so hard in the offseason why do you think I spend all this money on my body most of them do yeah and trying to play as much as I can possibly play I mean it’s a six-month season for most teams or players so that part of it I really don’t understand but it’d be an interesting conversation to hear what he’s got to say it’s interesting to read that Jesse Rogers piece and that’s up at ESPN by the way um and yeah you look at a team like the Braves who’ve been one of the best teams in baseball over the last couple years good playoff runs and they play their same they play eight of those nine guys every single day yeah yeah well it’s a habit right it’s just sort of you you show up you know what you’re doing you know you’re basically at in the lineup every single day you know you’re going to be playing your position yeah I just I look it’s almost like you’re trying to invent ways just to get just to make it give a player an excuse you I was I was reading his his article and it was you know he’s making the example that he’d heard from certain GMS and certain presidents of teams that said it like they they take into account like how many times the dude ran on a three2 pitch it’s like really I it’s a lot it’s a lot to it’s a lot to understand it’s a lot we’ll talk about it more with Jesse and I’ve gone through this on the basketball side as well where when the Raptors won the championship load management was the biggest part of the conversation keep kawh Leonard healthy for the playoffs and it worked out and Kawhi Leonard hasn’t been healthy through the playoffs since but that’s a 82 game schedule where you’re playing 40 minutes a night versus an everyday one where there’s probably something to having your body ready to be in there uh every single day you’d know much better than than I would I look look I I I took pride in playing every single day and then I went to winterball and played another 80 some games so was it my body just got used to playing I mean I I played first so I got to stand around a lot they stand around a lot it’s you know it’s not like they’re going out there running all over the place for 4 hours straight you it’s not soccer so look again it’s stop making excuses for for athletes just I pay you to play I want to write if you’re healthy I’m going to write your name right there in the lineup every single day until you’re hurt how about that it’s that simple but it just doesn’t seem like it’s that simple anytime yeah the other thing that you know the other thing on the basketball side and sorry to make that comparison but this is where I came from first right the basketball and the soccer side is in basketball it’s all we keep guy ready for the playoffs but out of 30 teams make the playoffs after 82 game you don’t have to be at your best every day to make the playoffs in basketball you do in baseball it’s a long season and the difference between 87 wins and 89 wins could be your your ticket in your ticket home right now would you like to see somebody other than Bo and vaty playing nope because Jay don’t really have anybody else but if there’s load management I mean those two dudes play all the time it’s look what I just don’t know is there is there an equation that will take tell you you’re I’m sure there is I mean there’s an equation for everything else I’m sure that’s how they go about it it’s just it’s confusing it’s especially coming from a big guy who never missed a game in 16 years because of injury again I know I played first but I still played hard I played on bad Fields like you got to just sort of figure out mentally and physically how to keep yourself on the field for me that’s more up to the player than it is the organization that’s why that’s why the organization plays you all that money yeah and then we’ll talk more about Jesse’s reporting on this when we talk to him around 3:30 again that piece is up at ESPN you could check it out um let’s uh let’s do a couple calls before we uh before we bring in Ryan Spielberg’s from the Apple TV plus broadcast I think we got Josh from Colona BC up first with one for you Barker the Jays obviously are scuffling uh they know their offense is bad um you know it’s it’s not just been bad for this year they know it it wasn’t great last year either so Barker if you were the Justin Turner in the clubhouse you know the old guy that’s been around for a long time and you know had a good career to back it up what would you say to the players if anything to try to get things going is there anything you could do as a player um I’m just curious how it works in a clubhouse you know how do you get these guys going yeah that’s a great question you know you know the first thing you’d want to do is not be too for his last 28 I mean I understand he’s not been healthy and you know he’s been sick and you know there’s you could you could hang your hat on that but look clubhouses and baseball don’t work that way it’s a marathon not a Sprint and you know it’s just very no matter how long you’ve been around the actual other player has to come up to you it’s not the other way around like it Justin Turner is not going to go around to each locker and go hey how I help you today like can can I help you to figure out something like it’s just not going to work that way the easiest way is to lead by example go out between the lines and rake and back leg City everything you see like that’s the easiest thing to do and how to of contribute and you know if you’re doing it other players will try and do the same thing you’re doing and I think that sort of is you know I it’s not so much of what you say it’s what you do and I think that’s for me where the Blue Jays and Justin Turner are at it’s and again everybody wants to think that that an older guy stands up in the middle of a locker room and yells and screams at everybody and that just so happens works well maybe I don’t like a breaking ball maybe that’s all I’m getting maybe I don’t like a fast ball in that’s why I’ve moved off the off the plate a little bit like it’s two eaches on it’s just because you’re yelling at me and telling me I need to do this well thanks Captain Obvious like I it’s not like they don’t know that they’re struggling right so I mean it’s a fair question it’s a it’s why you line yourself up with some experienced guys that younger guys can walk up and ask how did you get out of it but for me it all starts with leading by example between the lines go out there and do your thing and everybody will want to follow more valuable coaching from Justin Turner when he’s standing on First Base than saying something to a guy walking back to the I like when he’s jumping in the air running around third to the third base coach after he said a homer it’s those kind of things but that’s a you know it’s a solid point it’s just it we we like to say that you know it’s just an easy fix by yelling at everybody in a clubhouse I guess this is not hockey I’ve never been in a hockey Clubhouse but it just sounds like that’s sort of what everybody’s leaning on right it it seems to work in a clubhouse like that in baseball it does it because not everybody’s the same like not everybody for the line in the lineup can go up and sit fastball a lot of them don’t like the fast ball so you know it’s what I do is not what you’re going to do what you do is not what he’s going to do it’s like everybody’s individually sort of trying to figure out their own selves and for Justin turn it to walk around and do those kind of things it’s just not going to work uh you mentioned he’s one for his last 24 I think you said two for his last 28 you you see anything troubling there or just the just a quick blip here yeah I would I would think maybe it’s trying too hard you know he he’s sort of I everybody rolls their eyes at that because they’re making tons of money and you know who how dare you try like you’ve been around long enough to not try yeah sometimes when you’re around things that’s just not working and you try too hard you sort of fall into that it ain’t working for you either now I know the League’s made a little bit of an adjustment with the elevated fast ball and crowding him with the elevated fast ball and you know he’s 39 like he’s had a a career year at 38 to think that he’s going to do that again a year older that’s a lot to ask like it really is that’s why me and jeffre yelling and screaming about they need two or three Turners not just one Turner they need two or three Turners like if a Turner that’s 39 that’s having a little hiccup then the other Turner can step up and and sort of help carry the team for a little while and it’s unfair for us to be asking a 39y old to carry the team for long periods of time I really do think that’s the case yeah and the left-handed Turner who’s gotten more playing time because Turner was down with the flu lately’s hitting a buck 11 so there you go there you go we got another one here from Diane in Paris Ontario that’s that’s my neck of the woods so let’s see what Diane has to say and I just want to say I am not in the camp of fire John Schneider I’m actually in the camp of I would love to see John Schneider manage this team under a different GM I think that Atkins ego is a little too big and him and his analytics team are the ones that need to go Martinez was a great batting coach for two years and then he wasn’t as soon as Madding Lee got near there but I don’t think John Schneider gets opportunity to manage this team the way I think he would like to manage this team and I’m okay with the lineups the last couple of days although I’m going to agree with Blair move Springer I hate that he comes up to B more than anybody else thanks have a great day that’s a great call I mean I’m not disagreeing with what anybody’s saying about George Springer what’s what’s the other option like I I don’t I don’t disagree with any of that I I think it’s when you’re struggling you play the best player players get those best players the most advanced who is the other person I I everybody yells and screams about David Snider when he’s not he had one good time or two two good games to lead I look it sort of is what it is when it comes to this it’s the collection of four or five guys at the top of the order if they ain’t going to hit homers they’re going to have to get big hits right so I think that’s that’s kind of what it is I’m I’m in that same C I mean I think that’s a great call who what other manager would would sort somehow figure out how to fix the the lineup I The pitching’s Good the defense is good I mean I think Jon is trying the best he can best he can do about you know putting runners in motion and and putting pressure on a defense and I mean ultimately is it time for us to point the finger at the player and not the coach anymore I mean I’m that’s where I’m at I’ve been in a bunch of locker rooms it’s real easy to to blame and yell and scream at the at the coach I’ve had some really bad coaches it wasn’t their fault that I stunk cuz I I should be old enough and been around long enough to go you know what man what you’re saying may work for somebody else just ain’t work for me I appreciate your advice I appreciate appreciate you trying but go away I mean I think they’re at that point now they’re old enough to they can do that right especially the guys that we’re counting on to go where they want to go that’s a tremendous call and I couldn’t agree more yeah and it’s you know the George Springer conversation yeah you can move him for a little bit they moved him for a month last year and it it worked out until it didn’t you know Whit marfield cooled off when they put him up there but George Springer’s not going to start hit hting better because he’s hitting six you’re just going to move him to six and then if he figures it out he figures out well they had a better option right in Whit mfield he was raking for a while John put him up there it was a better option it was a better spot you’d rather have him up than than George getting the exter bat but who is that other person I I think the the most common answer is David Schneider right now the on base percentage is up there you know two walks the the other day there’s going to be some swing and Miss stuff there no perfect option the what they need is for George Springer to to hit like George Springer in that spot and uh all right so you mentioned the JS have at least tried to get some stuff going on the base pass I I wonder how big a part of this series that’ll be because the Rays run more than just about anyone and they don’t do very good job protecting the run so maybe our next guest will get to call a couple stolen bases tonight uh Ryan spil borgs Apple TV plus broadcast analyst Rocky’s broadcast analyst co-host of loud outs on MLB Network radio with CJ nski it is Friday night baseball on Apple TV plus Ryan your second Jay’s game in like two weeks man you got to feel pretty familiar with these guys uh a lot more than that because we had the I came for Rockies too so we yeah I’ve been in Toronto quite a bit in the last month and I love it uh I love Toronto uh we’re actually in the harbor uh and I’m trying to get my coffee at Tim Horton so I’m I’m all I’m all Toronto out right now sply you ever been on a lineup That struggling one through nine and if you have how did you figure it out or did you uh you know what I think any Kevin you know it’s like every lineup goes through you know Peaks and valleys and when when it stinks is when everybody stinks at the same time um I think in the case of Toronto like it was good to see bobash get three hits is good to see vlat you know s the bat a little better um but you know when it’s your whole lineup you know you start to wonder you know like hey how much of it is the lineup is having a struggle or how much of it is is really Personnel um you know like if you feel super confident that your entire lineup like hey man we’re just we’re good we just we’re we’re not getting going then there’s like a calm there’s like a legit calm you’re like we’re going to we’re going to hit like relax um but if you’re not quite sure based on the back of your baseball card if you actually can really come through it then that’s when Panic sets in and that’s when I don’t want to call finger pointing because that’s not that’s not what’s going on but you’re like damn I got I do have to do a little bit more so in the case of Toronto and this this off season you know you got to remember like your highest OPS player last year was Brandon Belt he’s not on the team you know like you’re using Cavin be beio who you know was awesome in the second half last year and this year he’s not been great so you have I think I counted it was like six players on the in the roster with the Ops below 650 that’s terrible that’s that’s not good and so from those guys he started digging in you’re like okay well which of these guys is a you know 750 or League average Ops on basb slugging so it’s like B bashet all right and then you start to wonder like I don’t think Isaiah Conor fppa is is an above average Ops I don’t think C beio the course of the season is above average Ops so so you start to question well what is the reality of this offense will they eventually pop out or play to a level and I can’t answer that for you because I don’t think the F and the way it’s constructed has enough players in there that believe in their overall skill set because they just haven’t proven it they’ve also got a bunch of guys who in addition to you know the Ops or whatever they’re just not hitting home runs right d barsh is the only guy on this team on Pace for more than 15 home runs right now and that’s not going to cut it in the uh the current environment uh regardless um Ryan you were on with me two weeks ago on J Talk Plus the the other show and we talked a little bit about Vlad and Vlad was still kind of in the the the valley of going through it there he was starting to come out a little bit but you mentioned a stat uh to me on that show which was how Vlad was performing against fast balls that was something you had looked up something that was of concern to you vlad’s been a little hot since we last talked at least from a hitting for average perspective that the extra base stuff hasn’t come are you liking what you’ve seen from him are you seeing steps in the right direction when it comes to Vlad I am seeing steps in the right direction I I mean like tonight we we have a pretty cool breakdown of of to give you an idea especially when it comes to vlat because I like here’s here’s a guy that I think should be like an 8 800 850 900 Ops and he’s still below it um but if you start digging in the last couple years hard hit rates uh you know quality of contact swing percentages Chase rates he lines up with some of the best hitters in baseball so he his like underlying numbers on swing and you know contacts he lines up with some of the best hitters it’s like shotani Aaron judge Juan stto and you’re like okay then then where is this guy right like then where where is the production if you’re get if you if you have all the skill set and tools to be one of the League’s best hitters well well where is that um because that’s that that’s the question that I’ve had consistently especially since the last two years um so I think I don’t I don’t know what it is going what’s going on with vlat I mean he’s a guy that like like Kevin and I would probably just pour love into him right like like try to take pressure off of him like let him just feel like he’s one of the boys yep but then you know behind his back we’re like damn we really need this gu that’s it hey sply I got the Ross ains the GM for the Blue Jays is talking tomorrow and when I knew you were coming on I I was trying to figure out a question to ask about that and I think I want to ask it this way if you were in the lineup for the Jays and you were one of the guys that was struggling offensively and it had been a while since the GM has spoken to anybody I think it was the first day of the season the last time he spoke which is that’s a long time and I think if you’re in that lineup you’re thinking to yourself man it’s awfully weird that he’s talking tomorrow would you be paying attention to what he has to say tomorrow no not at all uh I mean the the only thing I I think when you have these little you know my mopas or you know like CLE into the air I think part of it is is just you know assurances that the manager’s fine the coaching staff’s fine um that that you know you’re playing below expectations that you’re you’re wanting to get going uh I think you want some reality too though if you are going to read any of the of the cloaks right like when you’re in the clubhouse you you want to you want to see that hey we got their back we we know they’re going through a rush stretch we believe in them um whatever I mean like like know the guys are going to be sitting around the the TV screen watching it and you know like I I think I think what’s really telling is you got 26 games in 26 days this is going to be a a monster stretch there’s no days off um being below 500 stinks but these little stretches when you play this many games in a row you you often get two two results either you just go even worse or you finally get the team swinging the bat in the right way and you go on these runs so if you think Toronto is capable of a run well here it comes it’s about to come if you think they’re going to go sideways well then here here’s the sideways and a month from now we’re gonna be talking about uh what I would assume to be some changes so um it’s kind of that fork in the road right yeah and you’re you’re just you’re right there at it but players are not going to listen to it um probably coaches are going to listen do a little bit more than the players yeah Will said yeah and look if if you said if it goes sideways they’re Ryan if it go this this weekend aside because it’s Tampa Bay and they’ve turned it around a little bit but if it goes sideways against white sock Tigers white sock Pirates uh that thing’s going to go sideways sideways in a hurry um briyan look when when a team’s not playing poorly the the quality of schedule doesn’t matter all that much right like you can’t go in there feeling too confident you’re going to beat pretty much anyone if you’re playing bad baseball but how do you you know when you’re in a bad spot like this four games under 500 you haven’t been able they haven’t won a series in over a month how do you avoid the kind of trap of well we got the white socks and the Tigers and the white socks coming up kind of in the back of your head you play clean baseball you play against the sport I mean that ultimately Toronto’s good enough they play they play against themselves they they play the best version of baseball that they they’re capable of playing I’ll give you an example I just the the Rockies were the worst team in baseball and I’m comfortable saying that they were the they were the worst team in the National League and and it wasn’t even close and what happened was they got some quality starts and they just ripped off seven in a row including sleeping the San Diego Padres so even a even a team like Colorado that does not have the same roster as Toronto you just get a little bit of confidence you get like one or two things to go your way you can rip off some wind it it’s just it’s just you got to be patient with it that’s that’s the one thing that you’ll hear from players all the time is there’s a sense of urgency but you also have to have a sense of patience because um it changes it changes overnight sply are the Rays back they won what they took three out of four from the Red Sox they won nine of 13 are they back well they’re back in Toronto I don’t know if they’re backpack um I I think I think when it comes to Tampa uh they’re still just hanging hanging by a threat um very similar offensively there’s some players that are are not performing R Ro arena is not performing uh yandi is not a top three MVP this year um they’re they’re just kind of going off of off of fumes you know in a way um so I mean like there’s if this team ended up being well below 500 this year I’d tell you yep that sounds right if this team goes on a run and they get healthy in some of their arms back and they end up going on a run I’d say yep that sounds about right so um Tampa has always kind of I leave them alone yeah I try not to pass pass judgment on them because they they somehow some way find a way to to figure it out and if they don’t then they don’t um but I I think the level of expectations between both teams Toronto has way more pressure on this group than Tampa Bay does and there’s something free and easy about playing in a organization like Tampa Bay where you know that outside pressure that noise you just don’t hear it you don’t feel it um Toronto certainly feels like there’s way more noise and way more pressure uh from the outside and Toronto doesn’t have an entire starting rotation on the iil right now in Shane BOS Shane mclanahan Ryan pepio Drew Rasmus and Jeffree Springs like a whole rotation on the I and Tampa still managed to be a game of above 500 here um Ryan you mentioned the Rockies went on that seven game win streak that got them all the way up to 15 and 28 I still think that probably a team that’s going to be uh looking to sell I know you had some thoughts on Louisa rise getting dealt early and getting dealt before the kind of late July crunch when everyone makes those moves um could you see the Rockies being a team that puts guys on the table earlier rather than later uh it would be completely counter to what they’ve done in the past I mean I think Ryan mcmah would look fantastic in a torona blue jay’s uniform uh it gives you your left-handed power third Bas with an Ops or 900 playing like an All-Star and you got multiple years of control um you know that that deal makes a ton of sense i’ also want to see it sooner rather than later um but I I just don’t know who has the appetite for it you know does Toronto have an appetite to trade probably like Ricky tetman to to grab that or um you know is Colorado willing to you know trade a guy that’s probably has some Surplus value as far as his contract’s concerned uh and the level play but to keep him on a team that’s going to lose 100 um doesn’t make a ton of sense so I I I would like to see Colorado make some more moves but they haven’t shown in in certainly in the last seven years that they’re capable of doing it so we’ll see uh I mean that that deal on paper would make a ton of sense and and because I love Ryan McMahon I think he would look great uh in a blue J absolutely you nailed that and I’m sure the JS won’t be the only team calling on them so nope uh Ryan SP Apple TV plus Friday Night Baseball Tonight welcome back to Toronto have a great time tonight see you down at the park thanks buddy see you guys see you briyan sporks again it’s Friday night baseball on Apple TV plus it’s the only way you can watch the game tonight you can Google or Apple support uh how to get that installed and how to get it free for a couple months there uh we still have the game on the sportset radio network and you can toggle over to listen to Ben Schulman and Chris laroo uh if if I don’t know I want to listen to Ryan spilberg they just came on with us gave us good stuff but if you want to listen to our broadcast that’s their that’s there as well you like Ryan mcmah Kevin absolutely I mean I think he would fit well but the while sply was talking there what what is the Blue Jays have to give up it’s a bottom six or bottom seven farm system right yeah like I I don’t know how they’d get him because it was it’s it’s going to take some some like more than two I mean do they have more than two guys to give up I unless you’re going low low levels of the miners you know you give them a couple lottery ticket style guys like the Oakland A’s always prefer quantity over quality in their prospects they they get back but at the high high end you got two guys in the top 100 and nobody particularly close after that they like Martinez who knows like it’s you know two each his own kind of thing some guys like some organizations like him some don’t I I mean he would look perfect hitting second or third for the Jays and you can sprinkle in the righties and you know he can drive in runs and and he just change up how guys throw to both sides of the plate but I just get back how do you get how would you get him that’s the question I got me it’s already thin it’s uh and the in have made it thinner so uh we’ll we’ll see how that goes uh let’s take a break let’s talk to your pal Brian Anderson let’s see Brian Anderson terrific raise analyst also unfortunately a Leafs fan so he’s probably still recovering uh he’s probably going to ask us hey who’s the new coach what’s going on is that announcement coming uh we’ll get a little bit more inside the raise it’s Tyler Alexander on the hill for the race tonight against Chris Basset 707 down at Rogers Center uh we’ll talk to Brian Anderson on the other side Blen Barker continues on the sports side radio network and sports at 360 welcome back to Blair Barker Blake Murphy sitting in for Jeff Blair Kevin Barker alongside me uh Friday 707 start down at the Rogers Center Chris Basset against Tyler Alexander we’re going to talk to Brian Anderson race TV analyst momentarily here uh what do you got on Tyler Al uh gez what do you got on Tyler Alexander for us man it’s Friday yeah yeah look look I you know he’s left-handed I think that’s you and you I think sometimes if you watch the lineup for the Blue Jays especially the right-handed hitters that matter in the middle of the order they overthink it like pick a sometimes you just I know this is and this is very hard to do in 2024 I really do think you you go if you chase most lefties around the strike zone it’s going to be a long day for you you got to split that thing in half give him half the plate until you get to two strikes right whichever side you like more pick that side I don’t doesn’t really matter what he does well why would you look for a guy’s best pitch that makes no sense like I nobody else can hit it why would I look for it so I’m looking L I’m looking location and I’m going to simplify that thing and look for a really small window and if it’s not in that window until I get to two STS I’m going to let it go maybe it’s that maybe that’s why they’re not hitting homers it’s as simple as that I’m hunting a window until I get to two strikes and see where the see where it ends up at the end of the day so yeah I think it’s that simple you know he’s got a good cutter he’s got a decent fast ball don’t throw hard yeah I if he gets a 90 on the gun he’s he’s pumping us this screams overthinking it I mean just out in front rolling over you know looking breaking I just again I know it’s educating guessing time of baseball but I think you simplify it look window yeah Alexander off to a bit of a a rough start this season uh was expected to be kind of like Sean Armstrong like another long multi- inning guy maybe an opener for them but all the injuries have racked up they let him go seven last time out even though he gave up six runs three home runs in that one so they’ll give him some leash and this is a guy who’s given up I think nine homers on the year maybe you know I know I know they’re they lot the second most home runs of baseball Jay’s a third Jay don’t hit any yeah like no no confidence at all can’t can’t even can’t even sink the hook in a little bit I want to just what would tell you that anything that they’ve been doing up until this point would Bode that they’re going to have a good day against the Lefty they should hit homers no the only guy hitting home runs on their team is a lefty also so do varo is the only guy that’s got more than four so could be a tough one there Chris Basset on the other side of this one uh the Rays have done decently against uh against right-handed pitch they’re they’re pretty split even a couple of their lefties are are off to uh not slower starts but Josh low wasn’t in there for a little bit Jonathan Ronda wasn’t wasn’t in there for a little bit um what did you make I I didn’t get to ask you this uh I’m sure you and Jeff talked about it but uh going with Basset here and Kikuchi on Wednesday instead of flipping them around do you like that one well yeah absolutely because the Rays you know some of their Lefty bats are not in there and they can’t platoon the way they can against the righties like they used to right and just it bodess well to get bass it against more righties than lefties and you say is you know can eliminate the lefties that the the Orioles had and flip those guys around who were switch hitting so yeah it made total sense like that that again the organization John Snider Pete Walker they did exactly what they were supposed to do to give the lineup a chance to have the big inning it just didn’t happen and now the only concern is the eight days between starts like that’s a long time I know he’s had you know some some run and experience doing it and he’s an older guy and he’s been around but you would just think the you know the more you do it consistently the better off you are at it that’s a lot between starts so we’ll ask John when he comes on what what the biggest worry is and what he’ll be looking for but I think if you got anything because he is a touch and field guy right you want the late movement on the two seamer you want the sometimes occasional cutter against the lefties you you know you want to have those where you want them in quadrants that you want them in to make the other stuff unpredictable it’s the other stuff can it be unpredictable with f on eight days of R that’s a lot right so that’ll be I think the one thing you’d be looking for butse John more we know about that yeah last time out bass threw all eight of those pitches three or more times he was using everything last time out so that’ll be fun we’ll talk to John Schneider at 3 o’clock we’re waiting on ba Brian Anderson still here so let’s take one of the uh one of the calls from the back leg line again it’s 416 413 3959 if you want to drop a question or comment there we’ve got one from Jim in tilsonburg for you Barker Jim a couple of weeks back Kevin you asked what was wrong with the Blue Jays y I believe what’s wrong with with the Blue Jays is that the team is constructed basically from middle infielders thinking that they could use one or two of those middle infielders in the Outfield and so forth these are guys who have come up through the system as infielders middle infielders and so forth what this team mean really needs is at least three big well-known outfielders all right yeah I’m not sure how to take that I I I think they were relying on a couple of guys to carry their team and they could fill in the blanks with the what Jim was talking about right I think that was sort of what they were banking on you know why they didn’t try or maybe they did try and the guys they were trying for just didn’t want to come here I mean I think sometimes we got to remember that too you know it’s a choice you know you got to have two Tango and may maybe that was a little bit of it too and some of it might have been you know you put all your eggs in one basket with Otani stuff and then it doesn’t work out and how late it didn’t work out maybe just didn’t have a pivot move or moves to go to so yeah I don’t know about the outfielder thing I think their defense is really good I I think you know I would take a couple of DHS I I’m okay with that right it’s guys that can thump guys that can change the game hitting a two and three run Homer is what they don’t have and until they really get those can we take the offense serious that’s the thing you got to ask yourself is it’s a big enough sample size even sply coming on here saying maybe the talent’s just not good enough I mean I think the sample size is probably big enough I think we can start having that conversation though yeah it goes back well beyond just this year right it’s not a 40 game sample here no I think so I think we can sort of you know not always blame the coaching staff or not always blame the khakis or you know giving the wrong information or giving too much information I think sometimes it’s just maybe that do that you’re asking to do something can’t do it maybe that’s it let’s see if uh Brian Anderson thinks some of the Rays who have off who have been off to similar starts can do the same he’s the raised in-game TV analyst for B Sports son Brian Anderson he joins us now Brian good afternoon man thanks for doing this how we doing uh absolutely fellas uh doing great you know it was it was it was nice to get to Toronto uh the raids we just came from Boston and you have a four game series and that’s as long as a series that you’re going to see in Major League Baseball but when you have a four game series and they’re all night games you feel like you move to that City so felt like we were in Boston for about a month so thankfully we’re up here in Toronto in a nice little tidy three game series Brian what are the Rays what’s that what are the Rays what if you were going to give a definition of what the 2024 rays are what are they oh wow um I would probably at this point go with inconsistent um you know the the one thing that you you can Bank on with this team typically is the consistency of it and and their performance but it’s been kind of up and down you know the Rays went into the season with the uh the idea that one of the main strengths of their team one of the pillars was going to be their Bullpen and Kyle Snider the pitching coach said um this is the deepest and most accomplished Bullpen that I have had in my time here and you agree you look at these guys resumés on paper and you’re like wow what a group and they got off to a horrible start absolutely horrible through uh you know most of April now they’ve turned it around in the last few weeks and they have gotten back to to being very very dominant you know I think Collective ER about 18 over the last three weeks three and a half weeks or so so they have turned it around but you know it was just a very inconsistent start same thing with with you know the offense um there were there were some guys the new guys kiero playing very well Rickie palaso playing you know very well um and then you had yand B was not hitting the ball like he normally does Randy and Rosena not hitting the ball like he does now Yan’s got it going here uh recently um and Randy’s showing some signs of maybe being able to to dig out of a a little hole that he’s put himself in but overall it’s just been inconsistent which is why they are you know like the old Bill Parcels you are what your record said they’re right now a 500 team win one lose one up and down ba I was watching the game last night and I actually saw the Rays make a mistake with Mound visits the the raise the rais bench don’t have a person over there counting Mound visits what’s going on what’s happened well you know here’s here’s what’s really interesting so I didn’t understand that the rule is such that you’ve got four Mound visits if you use all of them before the ninth inning then you’re afforded one extra yeah in the nth if you don’t use all four of them then you are not afforded an extra one and just last week on the home stand and I actually had a field day with it because I was not really sure of the rule I knew that the Rays were out of Mound visits and I know in the ninth inning they made a visit and I thought well what what good is having Mound visits limits if you get as many as you want I mean what what are we doing here and so that had happened with the Rays on the homest and then of course yesterday the the fourth Mound visit was the catcher uh Ben rvet going out to talk to the pitcher um when I think Rafael Des was coming up so that constituted a mound visit and it was the their last one and it was used in the ninth inning and then Here Comes Kyle Snyder because it was a big part of the game and once he crossed that line um you know he was told he couldn’t go I’m not even sure that the umpires knew I think that they were just going to send him back and be done with it and then Alex k um came out and made a big stink about it he’s got to leave he’s got to leave and he pestered him enough that they ended up calling New York and got word that yep Jason Adam has to come out of that game never thought I’d see the Rays mess up I gotta be honest with you just not the Rays way ba yeah not something like that Hey listen Kyle Snider uh came to the I sit in the very last seat of the airplane um and that’s where you know Dwayne and I are are are back in that area and other members of the media the radio guys and uh and Kyle Kyle came back all the way to the back of the plate to apologize to us he goes guys I’m sorry I messed up I dude nobody cares I mean game got one and Ras Mo I said listen you got a Ras over saage so good for you but uh yeah he was having some fun with it after the fact they don’t they don’t do that very often nope now fifth career save for raso Ramirez too it’s not like he’s got a bunch of them so I’m sure he appreciated the uh the flub there um look in ba in that Bullpen they do have Pete Fairbanks back now a little bit Jason Adam and Garrick cger have been good in the back end is that something like the starting pitching is going to go whe based on the health and when guys like BOS and and springs can get back does that Bullpen have the pieces to stabilize itself yeah there’s no question and you can even throw in there uh Phil maton he’s been outstanding you know the last gosh month I mean his last you know 10 12 14 outings he has given up nothing um he got off to a rough start too but he’s been outstanding Sean Armstrong Clevenger cleer the only time I’ve seen that guy get himself into trouble is when he gets himself into trouble you’re not going to put together two three four hits against him now he may walk a couple of guys and you get a hit and score a run or two that’s about the only way that you’re going to get to him when he is in and around the strike zone he is just a nightmare for for hitters and then you know Jason Adam has been their most consistent reliever um and then Pete Fairbanks you know back from the nerve issue that he had and I will tell you this his last two outings were against Boston and that was as good as I’ve seen him and since early last year I mean complete and utter dominance just fast ball slider in the zone in good areas and uh just just wipe out type stuff so he’s been he has been really fun to watch and and like I said over the last you know three four weeks this Bullpen has really really shifted gears and gotten back to being as dominant as everybody thought they would be uh whenever I look at your lineup parades is sitting 305 I think he’s got eight homers and and 20 ish RBI why is he so good ba because he’s so consistent in his approach you know it’s really interesting with parades and I’m not sure how many home runs he has now in his career 60 61 whatever doesn’t matter every single one of them has been to left field every single one of them he has an approach that I’ve never seen before he has an open stance but he’s right up on the plate like the the back corner of the Batters box that’s closest to the plate is where his right leg is and he starts open and as that pitcher starts to deliver the ball to the plate he does a great job of closing and he has unbelievable plate coverage to the point that he’s had a number like three or four home runs this year two left field on pitches that are on the black of the plate away so he has excellent plate coverage and you know he’s done a really good job um you know hitting lefties of course but he’s done a really good job hitting righties I think at going into the game last night he was hitting just over 300 against both lefties and righties and what he’s done against right-handers that has really helped him um is he has limited his chases of breaking balls off the plate like you can just tell that he has such a good feel for where the outside corner is and if he reads breaking ball in the middle of the plate he takes it because he knows that it’s going to sweep off the plate and he’s done a really good job of that and he’s forced the pitcher to try to put him away with the breaking ball that he keeps on the plate and those are the ones that parades jumps all over so that’s where he’s had a success against righties if he’s not chasing uh breaking balls that are off the plate away and then he’s forcing them back on the plate in the 2-2 3-2 count and he’s hammered and uh and he’s not missed very often I think you know he went over the first two games of the year and from game three on he has been the most consistent hitter uh for the raids without question yeah he’s got one of the best at pulling the ball in the the air that’s uh you can it could be an oversimplification sometimes but he’s real real good at it he’s got a couple of those wall scrapers uh there in Tampa a quick one for you before we let you go here uh Brian yni Diaz you mentioned he turned it around a little bit his splits from April to to May are really really Stark uh what’s gone into that is that uh you know is he is he would we say he’s back to being yandi Diaz yes yeah he’s back um the timing was a little bit off you know in the month of April he was getting beat on pches in the zone that you never saw him get beat on like like his his Landing leg was getting down just a little bit too late and so you know pitches in the zone were were beating him he was fouling them off popping them up it just wasn’t the same um he has gone back to being more on time and More in sync with his with his swing and he’s going back through the middle of the field again really concentrating on doing that now here recently uh the extra base hits home runs doubles that started to spike a little bit for him because now he’s not only staying with that through the middle of the field approach but he’s been getting the ball in the air and you know you know how that’s such a big deal in in today’s game you know exit velocity and launch angle and he’s always been a hit the ball hard guy but for the majority of his career he’s a hit the ball hard guy and it’s been on the ground now you saw a little bit last year him getting the ball in the air taking some chances to to try to drive a pitch when A’s in his favor or when he feels comfortable with who’s on the mound and you’re seeing that more here in the last couple of weeks getting the ball in the air and as hard as he hits it that that Ball’s going to carry and so the doubles and home runs have started to come uh quick answer with Tyler Alexander if I were facing them what would I look for um wow you know what I I would he’s he’s a finesse Lefty and he uses both sides of the plate he pitches very effectively to the glove side and when he does then he’s got a chance to confound a lineup um but I if if I’m a right-handed hitter I’m I’m waiting for that change up uh but he’ll sweep it and cut it and and that fast ball in he tries to mix very well and sequence very well to try to get you uncomfortable because he’s not overpowered his fast Ball’s going to sit at 89 90 miles an hour but when his command is there it’s it’s one of those really soft o for fours that you take and you’re like how did that guy get me out four times but he mixes his pitches very well and and so it would be hard to to tell you what to what to look for but just know that he is going to use both sides of the plate so maybe early in account you think about ambushing him on a fast ball that he tries to come middle in with and and get him to left field but um but yeah he he’s it’s all command with him if he doesn’t have command then typically he doesn’t have a very good night when the command is on and you can see that to the glove side when he goes to the glove side in on righties away to lefties and he’s getting that pitch made consistently he’s got a chance to have a good night thanks buddy thanks Brian Bri Brian Anderson Ray’s in-game TV analyst at Valley Sports son we got to take a break Blair and Barker will continue after the break with John Schneider welcome back to Blair and Barker Blake Murphy sitting in for Jeff Blair Kevin Barker alongside me happy Friday hope you guys are all going to have a nice long weekend here Jay is going to play three at home against the Rays then they’re going to play three at home including a holiday Monday afternoon game against the white sock stick with us this hour we’re going to give away some tickets to that one uh little well I mean we’re not going to give them away you got to get the trivia answer right to uh to ear them and you got to spell it correctly as well which is always always an extra challenge here um we we’re we’ll talk to John Schneider manager of the Toronto Blue Jays momentarily here we just talked to Brian Anderson you you were pretty spoton in the Tyler Alexander evaluation there you know ba didn’t say it in the exact same way but pick a part of the plate and focus in don’t don’t worry about that he’s got six pitches and and he’s going to pinpoint them yeah he his job is to keep you off balance my job is to combat that and not let him like I trying to follow him around the strag zone you just can’t I and again I hear a lot Buck Martinez says this all time go up look and change up who can do that like how you know how good you the reason why they throw change UPS is it’s hard to tell the difference between the two how am I supposed to look for it I don’t know how you do the only thing I would think of is you change mindset of where you want the ball to end up which adds length and keeps good Direction with your shoulders right so you’re not pulling off the baseball it’s not so much I’m looking for the change of that I’m just thinking I’m hitting this ball if I’m right-handed to Right Center I’m not going to be out and around this thing and cut myself off and pull it to left field because if I do he’ll pull the string and that part of I don’t understand but Ba’s exactly right because he doesn’t throw hard he’s going to have to get you looking in to get you out of way with something spinning right either that that sweeper thing he throws or the chain chub so I say you give him took two strikes and if it works out it works out if you if if you chase you’re not going to have success for sure I don’t think well let’s see what John Schneider manager of this Ronald Blue Jays thinks about it John good afternoon thanks for taking the time out how we doing good guys thanks for having me how you doing good uh so John Chris bass’s going to start tonight you guys had a bit of a decision to make with the rain out and the schedule juggling and things like that uh can you walk us through a little bit of why you guys decided Kikuchi against the Orioles on Wednesday Chris Basset tonight against the Rays and was there little bit of it that way hey it’s Chris Bass and bobblehead night no no not so much bobblehead night no I think uh I think just looking at how their lineups are you know a lot of lefties in in Baltimore a lot of righties here for Tampa um and kind of just try to match up the best that we could with Chris too especially he’s so flexible you know giving him a couple extra days you know not getting off his routine he’s fine with that um and just like the way you say’s throwing the ball try to keep um you know the Hendersons the the rushman right-handed the Sanders right-handed um you know Mullins all those guys kind of just liked him better against that team um and both you know kind of on an extra day arrest uh so that’s kind of how it should out John you being a former catcher is there something no one that a guys had eight days between starts that you could do behind the plate set up bigger is there something that you could help him along at least early in the game to get him in the flow I think you got to see how Chris is going really I mean he’s he’s again he’s such a a veteran and and kind of a pro um you know he appreciates the extra days but at the same time you know I think Jen does a good job Kirky as well of kind of harnessing their stuff based on what they’re seeing um so it’s uh we trust Chris that he’s going to be crisp and sharp and execute like he like he normally does um catcher’s job is yeah you know that he’s on a few extra days rest probably got a little bit of extra giddy up on his heater and things like that and and how to how to kind of command that as the game goes so eight days is obviously a little on the extreme end but these all these off days you guys have had scheduled and unscheduled there are a couple starters here who have gotten some EXT and when you guys look ahead to the next month where there’s barely an off day how valuable do you expect that to be the fact that these guys did get an extra day or two even three here and there yeah I mean I think with with any rotation especially ours you know we we ask a lot of our rotation and they’ve answered the bell for a long time now and the more off days you can get them I think the fresher they are the deeper they get to go into games you know what I mean when they’re on extra rest I think uh you know it’s easy to kind of keep their bump their pitch count up a little bit and trust that they’re going to navigate some spots later in in the game too and you know I think any any pitcher at this at this stage of their career really are they’re always going to be appreciative of the extra days and um as long as everyone keeps performing the way they are um you know we’re going to be we’re going to be in every in every game for the most part so it’s uh it’s been nice that they do get the extra days and and hopefully it it shows up in their performance John manoah’s pitching this weekend is there something in his last start that would tell you whatever that he’ll be predictable and you’ll know what you’re going to get from him in his next start yeah I think just you looked at the way he pitched against Minnesota you know tough lineup obviously and uh you know he was just in the zone I’ve been saying it for weeks you know with Alec when he’s in the zone he’s going to get outs and his only real cryptonite has been um you know the base on balls hit by pitches whatever it may be those things happen but when he really limits it and allows his stuff to play in the zone he’s going to be pretty damn good um so I think whatever it was 78 pitches through seven Innings his last outing um that’s that’s really good for him especially so I just love the way he was attacking I loved what his again I’ve been saying for a while now his stuff is the best I’ve seen in a while for him um going back a couple years so I think just getting it in the zone consistently um is what you saw against Minnesota and confident that he’s going to continue to do that had you guys given any consideration with the extra off days and the rotation juggling to bumping him a day to the white socks just again because of the righty Lefty balance that you mentioned uh that you thought of with Basset and Kikuchi or was that getting too cute at that point yeah I think at that point getting a little bit too cute I think with the off day yesterday and with the rain out in Baltimore it made perfect sense to get us in there he was still on an extra day rest um and then it allows Kev to get one to get one and Alec to get one too so I don’t I don’t think looking that far ahead was kind of our our plan um again if it hadn’t ran it would have been Chris and Baltimore so it’s uh we like the way it lined up though for sure over this weekend uh not to give me Trade Secrets but is there a plan that you guys have come up with to keep Jimmy Garcia looking like this John that’s that’s electric stuff man like that is almost no chance stuff is there something you guys have come up with that can sort of keep him where he’s at now not giving away secrets you know I’ll let I’ll let Pete answer that one you know Jimmy is uh it’s such a luxury to have because you could put him in anywhere I mean coming in second and third nobody out and getting out of it and then going back out for another inning I mean that’s a that’s a tough ask uh he’s just been so damn good it’s um he he’s just sticking to his routine you know what I mean it’s a it’s a big dude who throws hard and he’s coming at you with four pitches which is really really hard to do um as a reliever you know I think what’s really been great for him is his fast ball execution whether it’s a sinker and on rties are at the top with his for seamer sweeper has been a really good pitch for him that’s been new this year then the change up against lefties he’s uh he’s confident to kind of throw any pitch in any spot really and I think that he’s just really honed in on his pitches versus certain guys and his stuff speaks for itself but uh knock on wood hopefully we can keep him right where he’s at because he’s he’s up there best in the league right now that spot the other day where you come out and there’s two outs you go to Mesa he’s thrown 17 pitches and those are all high intensity pitches uh tough to take him out of that spot both because of how well he’s pitching and just the intensity when you go out there to take the ball from him yeah I mean he’s tough dude to take out no matter what I think looking at it where you know you’re looking he’s coming off of a little bit of a back thing and you don’t want to you know two innings is is is tough um to go to get the job done like he did and then go back out and then I I just didn’t want to roll into you know 25 25 27 28 pitch outing and have him be down for a couple days um you knew it was going to be you know him versus a lefty there or it was going to be Timmy versus a probable pin hitter um but I think you know more so it was you know looking and understanding what he had gotten out of already um even after the leadoff Q shot double from Santander um and second inning but just you know those those High leverage pitches add up and um at that point you got to trust everyone in your Bullpen before you try to get into the closer I I know the bullpen pretty well rested because of the couple of off days this week but do you anticipate having some some reinforcements back soon I know Bowen looked really good on Tuesday and I know Chad and and yario had been progressing yeah they’re uh they’re getting close you know I think um I think Chad will actually be in a in a triaa game on Sunday and uh probably Ariel on Tuesday um and out and scheduled for another one here um on Sunday I believe as well too so they’re they’re getting there they’re getting close and um you know hopefully they continue to progress in the right in the right direction and they’re all going to be welcome additions whenever they’re ready to come back John did you see anything with your offense against the best team in the American League that would tell you they’re about to take off you know Kev I mean you face Corbin birds and Kyle bradish you arguably have you know some of the best stuff in not only the division but I think the league I think what we did against Burns I think we struck out twice which was really encouraging couldn’t really kind of get the big hit um it’s tough ask against a really good pitcher and then you get bradish out after four Innings yeah I do I like I like the overall approach it’s kind of been the same thing where we’ve we’ve been missing that big hit you know schneid up there with the Bas is loaded lines out on a 3-2 pitch uh we need to have those add-on runs I believe and in in conversations with the hitters and with the hitting guys you know we we want to just really focus on making sure these guys guys are taking good aggressive swings before you get to two strikes now easier said than done um but I think that that’s what we’re really focused on right now with that it’s not only you’re going to find yourself you know getting a good pitch to hit you know which I think we’ve done a really good job of over the course of the year but it’s just what you’re doing when you’re swinging um that’s where the the focus has kind of shifted a little bit and if you can you know Tempa is a little bit different with how they deploy but if you can if you can get the starter worn down um and then get that big hit and get some insurance runs or add-on runs you’re going to be in a good spot so it’s I think vlat swinging it the way he is B swinging it the way he is right now um Jano schneide even VAR kind of turning the corner a little bit it’s uh it’s been really encouraging and we just got to do it consistently you know it’s it’s really it comes down to what we’re doing with pitches we’re swinging at um even more so than the pitches we are swinging at I think that we’ve been talking about that for a couple years now and we’ve kind of conquered that point to say yeah we’re swinging at good pitches we got to do a little bit more with what we’re getting John whenever you have a lineup that has challenges hitting the long ball is there anything you as the manager can do to force the envelope a little yeah I mean I think certain situations do pop up whether it’s a bond hit and run safety um trying to steal some bases things like that these are conversations we we have a lot you know what I mean you want to say okay this is going to this is going to turn and guys that are going to you know that have hit home runs before are going to and we we definitely need that to happen and in the meantime you know it’s my job our job as a staff to see how can we how can we help support that you know in our work and our prep but also how can you force some things when the situation does pop up in a game so those are things we talk about um again you’re trying not to ask people to do something they’re not good at uh but at the same time we talk about it as a group to where until we get really good rolling and we’re hitting some two three run homers pretty consistently you got to make some other things happen yep John the lineup came out while we were talking you here at Springer Bo Vlad at the top one two three Bo hasn’t hit second this year uh so he’s back toward the top of the lineup here that a I I take it as a vote of confidence that this I think 10 hits in the last six games is a that’s a real turnaround for him yeah man again I’ve been saying this for a while it’s a matter of time till B hits it’s just it’s about as proven a track record as you can get since he’s been in the big leagues and he’s hitting the ball as hard as he ever has in his career um in this month and I think think that um you know getting him there um keeping vlat 3 where he seems to be pretty comfortable um is is a good time to do it so again it’s the confidence has never wavered in boat whether it’s himself or me or anyone in this building with him with a bat in his hands I think when we did move him it was to kind of give him a little bit of a blow and and get and kind of get on get get back on track which he’s done uh so yeah that’s uh trying to get him up Bo can hit Bo has the ability to hit really good pitchers too and those are the guys you see at the end of the game and right now you want him up there uh Justin Turner got off to terrific start what are you seeing now from him Sean yeah I mean again I think um a really really good start and I think right now he’s just getting you know he’s getting pitched tough inside a little bit um and he’s probably you can you can ask him probably but I think he’s not getting as good of swings off as he did earlier in the year um but you know again talk about track record you know he’s he’s going to be just fine I think and and um understands his swing better than anybody else so part of it is the way he’s being pitched again he’s 39 we’ve asked a lot of him in the first month and a half whether it’s DH and playing defense things like that um you still got to pick and choose your spots to get him off his feet and make sure he’s good to go um but all the confidence in the world that you know JT is gonna have quality of BS every single night uh knock on wood here but is he and are all of you guys kind of behind what was going around the clubhous the last week or two uh getting there you know between myself uh him George a couple pitchers um yeah we’re getting there I think the off day was good uh we’re definitely turning the corner and uh you know hopefully everyone’s kids aren’t bringing these germs into the clubhouse as it seems like it has been for the last year or so but uh yeah for the most part everyone’s feeling better um still still working on my voice a little bit here but it’s uh it’s been a rough couple days for everybody John where do you think Dalton varo has improved the most in his game understanding where he hits the ball hard and sticking with it really you know he he verbalized it I think it was his Bat against aen where um he’s sitting on pitches now he’s sitting on some soft stuff from lefties and he’s trying to get the ball in the air pull side you know I think when Dalton does that I know you’ve talked about that at length with him or about him he understands that you know so I think having an understanding of where in the zone he can do that and then deliberately trying to do that um again I think he’s made great strides and there’s still room for improvement with him uh but man he he’s been if if he can kind of continue to roll or get rolling the way he kind of was a couple weeks ago I mean it just it makes our lineup that much better what he does defensively obviously speaks for itself I can’t believe that dude does not have a gold glove yet um but it’s uh I think Dalton just understanding where he can hit the ball the hardest and what he’s again it kind of goes with our whole lineup is what are you gonna do with those pitches when you do get them and understanding what makes you what makes you good and dangerous yeah all right uh John Schneider manager of the Toronto Blue Jays thank you so much for taking the time out this afternoon great job buddy appr good luck see see you buddy see you John Schneider uh manager of the Toronto Blue Jays yeah bo bashet back up in the two spots Springer bashet Vladimir Guerrero Jor at the top of the order what do you think yeah look I I think B’s their best hitter all around right it’s it’s if if anybody was going to take Springer spot it would have been B bashet like I I think that’s where they’re at and you know again it’s you’re going to you’re going to die on this teal with who you’re having in the leadoff spot and how you’re trying to get those three or four guys all hot at the same time I just wonder about the home runs I mean I know what John said there and John’s supposed to say that because John’s the manager and I just who does he think’s going to hit homers I I that’s the look he would never say that and I would never ask it’s not fair for me to even say that so you know because he’d get mad at me anyway and and yell at me but I just I wondered that part of it to for them to go on a streak like a you know a Philadelphia Phillies 12 game winning streak don’t you have to did homers like don’t you yeah don’t like it’s just you’re going to run into good pitching like you’re going to run into pitching that just don’t give up hits well look at the Orioles game the other day that they walked off right they hit a solo home run to lead off the game and then a walkoff home run to end it and they got nothing in between yeah it’s that kind of thing right it’s just your pitching keeps you in it long enough for you to run into one and I that’s that’s the part of it I just I is is it lack of talent or is it a is it a mindset is it confidence is it you know what they’re trying to sell to the players is it the information that’s being given them is not good enough like I think that’s the part they need to figure out if they can figure that part out then maybe they can go on a decent run here again I I still say this they’re at the part of their schedule where they can go get above 500 you get above 500 it’s confidence building like any sport is made of confidence you have to have confidence in your craft to do well at it and just seems like they’re not ooing that right nobody’s in a hurry of running the plate to to take their swings unless David Snider he’s always that way but most of them are not right they’re dragging their bat up there at least it looks that way right and they’re they’re more grinding mentally than they are just thinking about there’s the ball I want to crush that thing when they need to try and get back to more about that so I just think that part of it I know John and you know Jon’s good at sort of selling that part of it to the public I just wonder how that part of it’s going to get better and can it get better and that I think is the question the organization has to figure out and it’s uh look this run is is a bunch of teams that don’t hit particularly well after this raise series it’s a bunch of teams that are below 500 to well below 500 but uh all of those teams struggle much more on the offensive side than the defensive side so this could be a good run for your pitchers not necessarily for your hitters you’re also going to see a Pittsburgh team by the way uh maybe I hope we get to see Paul SK me too he has just gone so he’s pitching right now yeah three Innings nobody on base 7ks the first nine swings of the game were all swing and Miss that’s awesome I mean just it’s it is you’re hoping he’s not the waiting for the shoe to drop right he throws so hard that just how’s the body consistently taken that maybe he’s thrown so hard for so long the body’s used to it right it’s it’s like playing every day it’s like why would you give me load management when I play every day like my body’s just used to it so maybe he’s one of those guys maybe he’s a unicorn when it comes to you know he throws so hard and so consistent and you know I I haven’t really dug into mechanically if he’s good enough sound enough to be able to finish the same and it’s free and easy or not but you know it’s must watch like if you’re you know even not even if you’re a Pittsburgh fan if you’re it’s like it’s like Paul SK day watch every time he pitches he pitched against al Manoa in manoa’s last triaa start and it was phenomenal like I don’t know how Nathan Lucas got three hits off of him but that was it it was the first time all year a team had gotten two consecutive hits off of him in that game that’s how good this guy is his slowest fast ball so far today is 98.2 that’s awesome what’s the hardest does it say uh 101.2 that’s awesome yeah you know again it’s just can you pitch at a 100 I mean that’d be the kind of cool thing right it’s you don’t see a ton of that deg Grom used to do that he’s been hurt forever right it’s that guy that can pitch can locate 100 and both sides of the play guy has a weakness down in the way you throw 100 down in the way if you don’t like the ball up you throw the ball 100 up so it’s just again it’s it’s nice to see Pittsburgh good or better right you actually got something to look forward to if you’re a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and a and a baseball fan that you would actually be flipping the channel oh look it’s Pittsburgh I’m stopping and not continuing to to push the the remote so yeah good for them good for him and and hopefully he he has a long career and we get to watch that forever yeah hopefully we get to see it in a couple weeks and that series is here so you could maybe see him in person but also you know next year every every second year or whatever Pittsburgh’s a great place to go see a ball game driveable for me yeah I have been there a couple times it’s beautiful I used to took batting I didn’t play there a lot I took batting PRS there when I was on teams that went there I used to try to hit the ball in the water all the time which is kind of cool right you you we’d make bets where if I if you hit a ball in the water you had to fix the other guy you know a hamburger or whatever you know it’s not so much about money in the big leagues it’s more about you know the the forcing them to do things they don’t want do so it was more fun that’s a beautiful park it might be the the the nicest park in baseball yeah it’s up there I’ve done I’ve done 24 and I would say it’s right up there I like the Rockies I think the Rockies in the in the summertime and the you know you can see the mountains from home plate like it’s just a really really cool place I I like that place too San Fran’s up there for me too you’re looking again you’re looking out at the bay not I think it’s the surroundings of the park that’s not always the nicest of places so I think that is what you need to try and overcome but yeah the park and the wind and the and it’s cold there a lot of the times too which is hard to overcome great beer selection though oh it’s yeah it’s it is a beautiful Park I mean I I’ll give you that but it’s there’s a lot of nice Parks like it’s you know there’s uh the Yankees Yankees Stadium is pretty nice so yeah there’s I like going to Boston too I like going to Milwaukee Milwaukee’s nice there’s a lot of nice stadiums including the Rogers Center where we want to send you absolutely all right uh we’re giving you the chance to win Blue Jays tickets all season long here on Blen Barker all you have to do is text the correct answer to our daily base trivia question to 590590 yesterday’s question was longtime Ray Ace David Price was dealt to the Blue Jays from the Tigers during the 2015 season which team did price make his Jay’s debut against striking out 11 batters the answer to that on August 3rd 2015 was the Minnesota Twins I didn’t remember it was the twins I was at that game though uh today’s question to win tickets for uh Jay’s white socks on Monday which is a 3 pm start on the holiday Monday and Tuesday we’re also giving away tickets for Tuesday May 21st uh so text the answer to this question to 59590 This two-time World Series champion manager got his start in the white socks organization where he famously managed Michael Jordan in the minor leagues name him big hint last time I was on the show with you we talked to someone who had just done a podcast with the answer to this and talked to this uh talked about this story a little bit so again which two-time World Series champion manager uh managed Michael Jordan in the minor leagues text that answer to 590590 your chance to win tickets for Monday’s game and Tuesday’s game all right Kevin let’s take a break we got uh Jesse Rogers at ESPN on the other side we’ll talk a little bit about that load management PC Road we’ll also uh take a couple more calls to the back leg line 416 413 3959 send those calls in as blairon Barker continues Sports at radi Network and sports at 360 welcome back to Blair and Barker Blake Murphy sitting in for Jeff Blair for the day Kevin Barker alongside me what’s he Jeff Blair builds a 4-day weekend here what’s going on yeah yeah it’s it’s load manager unbelievable how about that good tying good tyeing we’re going to talk to Jesse Rogers of ESPN national MLB reporter in a few minutes here he had a piece up at ESPN talking about how baseball is getting into their own load management era for lack of a better term basketball’s been there soccer’s been there uh we’re talking about wearable technology big graphs with the darker the red the more in the Red Zone you are the more risk you are Kevin I know you’re not a big fan of this stuff you think a guy guys should be in there every day as long as they’re healthy enough to be in there every day yeah that just sounds like giving a player an excuse to not play as much then that that’s what it feels like right it’s like the basketball thing you were talking about right that’s why they had to make a rule to where you can you have to play more like it just seems to me like they’re going to somehow figure out a way to take advantage of that and why would you even want to give them the the advantage or the the thought process of even trying to do that I just doesn’t make I don’t know I maybe I’m overthinking it maybe they’ve been doing this for a while it sounds like you know a lot of organizations are trying to keep certain players on the field and you can understand certain players that have trouble staying on the field and you would sort of figure out a way to schedule out how many days they’re going to play in a row and they don’t play a day game after night whatever the you know the approach is but everybody I just don’t understand that it just doesn’t make any sense to me you pay me to play I want to play that’s all it’s it’s up to me to figure it out if I can’t play then don’t pay me as much yeah I’d want to play every day too I mean not only to win and to get in there and you probably feel better hitting every day but your numbers that’s your next contract well you work half a year I mean it’s not like you’re you know you’re you’re building houses here you’re you’re you’re playing baseball I maybe again I’m overthinking this and and think too highly of the athletes that play baseball and it is a it is a a an actual tool for you to sit down and think about how to get in through through an entire season without getting hurt I used to do it figure out ways I could you know take a little off after a game don’t hit as much to keep me on the field give me a better chance of going where I want to go so yeah I just don’t sometimes understand it well Jesse Rogers National MLB reporter at ESPN wrote the piece let’s see what he thinks about it but first uh he is joining us from I believe at the Pirates Cubs game where Paul SK has been perfect through four and has nine strikeouts how’s it going down there Jesse Yeah it’s amazing to see him in person I mean he’s just firing fast Balls by Cub hitters but of course adding on a 90 mph you know off speed change and Sliders I mean everything is elevated in terms of velocity off speed included it it’s been amazing to watch uh struck out the first seven batters that’s tied for a rookie record with Jacob deg Grom uh 12 up 12 down he comes as advertised I mean first Career Road start no nerves at all Wrigley Field Day game the only game in Major leue Baseball and here he is Mo guys down up to nine strikeouts through four Jess it’s almost like he he’s he’s been there before right it’s just like it’s a habit for him he’s going to he’s playing catch with the catcher that’s sort of what it seems like when you watch him from afar is that what it looks like up close it it does what what it looks like to me is a guy that just knows he has a supreme skill set and as long as he doesn’t get in his own way you know get in his own head um early on in his career if he just goes out and plays I’m sure that’s what the Pirates are telling him let your skills take over don’t think too much just go play the great ones can do that right the rest of us have to think about things uh I think you’re kind of right he’s so good that there’s no reason to change anything just be yourself and you’re gonna get a lot of guys out and he’s doing it it seems unfair that he throws five different pitches on top of throwing he’s averaging 99.7 on his fast ball today he’s throwing it in the zone three quarters of the time and oh by the way he’s got three breaking balls on an off speed yeah I don’t know you know the Cubs faced him last week so usually that’s an advantage for the hitters and they got to him a little bit now that was his first career start so I’m not sure what the difference is between today and last time it’s supposed to be a little bit easier for the hitter but it’s been more it’s been more difficult so it’ll be interesting to hear both sides after the game um remember this is the this is the the field that kri wood once struck out 20s to tie the record um I don’t know if skes will stay in the game long enough to do that well look I mean that that number is in in in uh Jeopardy at some point in this guy’s career if he stays healthy before we move on Jesse is is do you think the Pirates have a game plan for him hard thrower throws that many pitches I mean you know you don’t want to close your eyes and see him getting hurt but you can close your eyes and see him getting hurt you think they got a plan for him yeah yeah I mean speaking of load management right this is I mean I wrote about position players because with pitchers everybody knows the deal like we’re going to limit Innings we’re going to limit appearances outings you know uh there’s a whole industry dedicated to load management for pitcher so you better believe they have a plan for him I I haven’t really dove into that plan but obviously they he could have made the team out of spring training he didn’t um so they they’re just going to slow play it it’s not like this is the the year for the Pirates right necessarily so they need to keep them healthy as long as they can and I think this first year they’ll be especially careful him and Jared Jones another electric young arm that they uh are surely going to keep some bubble wrap on as much as they can so um we alluded to it before we brought you on here you kind of just alluded to it you had this piece at ESPN up earlier this week called how load management is becoming MLB’s next big thing it’s more on the position player side we’ve always talked about how to kind of keep pitchers as healthy as possible and we’re failing dramatically with regards to that uh but this story is about how teams are trying to get you know ahead of the curve keeping position players healthy it’s getting technical it’s getting graphy uh can you give us the I mean I read the piece but for the listeners who haven’t got a chance yet give us the high level of what major league baseball teams are trying to do to keep their position player guys healthier yeah let me start with this because I’ve done a lot of interviews about this article and I heard you guys before I came on I didn’t realize and my editors didn’t realize the phrase load management was so triggering for people and I get it because we associate it with the NBA and taking days off that’s really not what this is about it’s it’s it’s almost the literal meaning of load management uh managing your load and I heard you say it before and after games as Matt Arnold said my last quote there to keep players on the field now maybe there’s a time in the Future Part two or three of this story where they decide no stars need one day off a week maybe we will get there we’re not there yet right now it’s really about reducing workloads before and after games especially for the guys that play every day what got me to write the story was really just understanding and talking to people about how much they track and they track every single movement you go to your left you go to your right you you take off from first base on a Full Count you run down five balls in in right center field you steal three bases uh or conversely you do nothing for five days because you’re you’re striking out you’re not moving around on defense it’s all charted and I I I was able to see a couple of these colorcoded crafts nothing crazy it’s not like um it’s you’d look at it and you would understand it right away if you’re in the white or yellow you haven’t moved around a lot if you’re in the red like uh Alex bregman is you you might live in the red zone that means it’s showing fatigue and most of the time for the star player it doesn’t mean a day off necessarily it could if there’s a dip in production it usually means backing off the workload and everyone’s different talking to talking to Xander Bogart seem’s like the first thing I eliminate is BP but I will take ground balls Swanson was kind of the opposite for example and Dan B Swanson told me he completely changed his routine after being at Wrigley Field for a year because they play so many Day games so the the the the charting of the movements helps but it’s not the end all be all it’s the player along with the the the numbers behind it last thing is I mean there might be a point where you try to get ahead of fatigue and say give a there’s a there’s an old school trainer that used to be with larusa that would say give them a day off before they need it I don’t know if you can convince a star you need a day off before he needs it it usually takes a dip in production so all these things I think help but I still think when it comes to the Stars the players are going to have the the strongest voice in the room je Jesse whenever I listen to you talking I read your article I was thinking about everything that he’s writing here I learned in the minor leagues like I learned how to sort of back off and and you know I played I played a lot no Min Le so I got a lot of time to try and figure all this out but it was just a I don’t understand I think the part where organizations at the big league level have to explain these things to players are they or am I overthinking it no I I know you you there is some something to that now you you played I didn’t and is there a scenario where your bat speed has slowed up your your you’re you’re you’re moving around a little bit slower and you don’t even realize it I don’t know that’s the question I think they can bring these charts to these guys and it it might explain a dip of production or you know slowing down your spe or something I think that’s the thing like may maybe a player doesn’t realize that he’s fatigued a little bit although I think most of the time you do so I think it’s just something to help them not determine a a course of action I mean Mike schel told me he might go to a guy if he’s in the red zone for for weeks on end and be like hey do you want a DH today just to get you off your feet a little bit again it is a lot of it tied to Common Sense and that’s why I don’t think this is really groundbreaking necessarily I just find it interesting that they can track everything and it can show up in a color-coded chart the next day to explain maybe what’s going on with a player it strikes me Jesse and I have the experience on the the basketball side not being a a former player like Kevin but that the most important part as I’m reading your thing what I’m thinking in my head is like man if you just like came to a player and took this and were like here is the sheet this is what we got to do that would be a tough sell whereas if a player is just you know feeling not 100% there is like you said a dip in performance or something like that and they know this is there to come and ask them how like is is how you communicate this to players and how you make it available to them like the the information itself the track itself probably isn’t all that valuable because all 30 teams can look at what their guys did how many plate appearances how many catches it’s that ability to kind of communicate it and and help the player find it useful that is what could make this actually valuable to teams yeah I think I think you kind of said in there somewhere I think when it when there’s a gray area like it’s obvious when a guy is is is not hitting for three weeks right something’s going on maybe fatigue is proud of it it’s some things are obvious and then there’s that gray area and I think you’re right you bring it to the player but you’re so right about the communication too I mentioned to Bogarts I’m like you know because I’m a I’m a reporter I’m just like black and white like hey does shil come to you and say you’re in the red zone you need a day off he he laughed he’s like no no no it doesn’t work like that we talk I talk to the strength and condition coaches maybe he’ll come suggest a DH day but it it is about how you communicate things and it’s usually the manager who who has that delicate touch especially with the star players because look star players that play every day year in and year out you know all of a sudden if there’s a different production everybody wants to know why and maybe it’s it’s related to some fatigue so um but again none of it Trump what a player is saying unless he’s just completely fooling himself right and and I think organizations know when that happens as well so it’s just a it’s just another tool and I think I think it’s used best when you’re in a gray area and you’re looking for answers J Jesse none of what you’ve learned would tell you that an organization is using this tool to determine on how they’re going to pay a player is that right one way or the other no no I not really I I think they use it just for training purposes almost if that makes sense um and and and and the opposite is true too when that color grid comes out you know you’re playing every day you’re playing every day and that grid comes out and your role player is in the white he hasn’t moved at all a bunch of Dereck Shelton pulled me aside yesterday and was talking to me about this as well like we make sure those guys every three days are running around when we see the sheet they haven’t gotten into a game they we we got it late we didn’t do batting practice we make sure our our you know uh backups are doing them a lot just as we might pull back on our on our regular guys let me tell you the other thing and I just mentioned derck Shelton Mike sh it was amazing and there’s another reason I wrote it and it should be part one of a series to be honest the the the pass the passion the managers had in talking to me whether I put their quotes in the story or not I mean literally Derek Shelton who I didn’t quote pulled me aside yesterday and he’s like I’m glad you’re at the ballpark I have a lot of thoughts on this and you know you saw the quote by David Bell he’s like in my second career as manager I really dove into this Mike schil that was in his office for half an hour about this this is something this is the other thing I want to get across it’s it’s what teams and manager talking about behind the scenes because I think they feel strongly that fatigue plays a part in dips in production travel is maybe a little different now than uh than in the past you know uh the Sunday night game then you’re playing on Monday somewhere all these things play a part it I will just tell you that managers have a lot of strong feelings and a lot of passion about this subject so I found that interesting as well awesome Jesse really appreciate it the piece Paul skin is back on the mound so we should probably let you go and get on with your Friday and this incredible uh not debut second game for uh for Paul skin have fun Jesse oh first road first Career Road start perfect game what’s to watch right okay Jessie Rogers guys yeah Jesse Rogers National MLB reporter at ESPN yeah skin is back out there he’s through four and a third now uh he’s even getting the uh the called strikes a little off the plate now it looks like too so if it wasn’t hard enough Kevin yeah look that’s sort of you know you you’d like to think that that the Umpire wouldn’t get caught up in the moment I can tell you that that happens a lot so you know hopefully they keep it in the zone and and force him to to go out there and make pitches all right we’ve got a couple calls in the call line for you the the back leg bits uh because it is Friday and that’s what we do here you uh you ready for a couple end of the week absolutely all right uh first we’ve got uh Elaine in Vancouver what does Elaine have for Kevin Barker Kevin what’s the fastest speed that a pitcher through to you that you successfully were able to hit I was just wondering if the speed was slower in quote your day thanks well Kevin Brown was the the hardest thrower more most movement guy that I’d ever faced I I think when I when I played it was far and few between the guys that consistently would throw upper 90s it would be I think that was the whenever at least when I went to it B it was how hard he throw once he throw two strikes that was all I wanted to know is how hard he throwing watch he throw two strikes simplify it that much now you sort of know how hard he’s throwing like mostly everybody you’re facing is you know upper 90s and can pitch at that and tunnel the secondary stuff off of that so I Kevin Brown was hardest guy the most movement guy that I had ever faced but it was far and few between right most guys were sitting in those low 90s instead of the high 90s and you know you could let it travel then not so sure now that you consistently can go up to the plate and have a a hitting coach tell you oh let it travel you know let let it travel and let it get deep you let it get deep you’re out so you know I think that’s a very good question but I think it’s just a consistency of how much you didn’t see velocity when I played I guess then too if you saw a guy who was a monster velocity mix if you were 90 seeing 93 94 and then 100 it’s maybe a little different than if you’re seeing 98 most days and then like Paul SK is throwing 101 that’s that’s crazy but if you’re already seeing 98 from guys most days maybe the jump isn’t as significant and a lot of the times now even though guys throw that hard they throw a lot more sliders they throw a lot more breaking balls they throw a lot of change up like they throw a lot of secondary Stuff Plus the velocity like it’s not going and they’re not predictable with the velocity right so you’re in between on what you’re supposed to look for that’s why hitting has never been tougher is because they are almost pitching backwards and when you pitch backwards then you got velocities that they got now you know that’s why you see batting average what is 230 something yeah the lowest it’s been since the dead ball era I think something I saw today that’s a great question Ops League wide down under 700 right now good luck yeah and there’s I mean it’s got to be tough as a hitter to figure out fast balls have never been harder and never had more life but usage on them is down because breaking balls are also so nasty because that’s hard to hit too yeah it’s tough I don’t envy these guys Billy and Toronto also has a question for us on the back leg line what is Joey vad doing like I have heard not one peep out of it like has he decided not to come back or is he still working in dun Eden and going for a swing or whatever but I’m sure that they could probably use him up here by now but I really don’t know what’s going on so if you could answer that I would appreciate it thank you very much byebye you have any idea uh I mean I know what the latest update we got was uh it’s basically that he doesn’t want to get back into games until he’s 100% so he’s been swinging he’s been doing some Fielding he’s been doing some running but he hasn’t faced live action yet and he’s not going to do that until he’s a th% yeah I mean I don’t have much to add on that like I I saw him in Spring try looked fine to me I mean I optically he looked like he was R and ready to go I asked him how he’s feeling he said I’m feeling good and then the next thing you know he just disappeared I and then I heard he was taking ground balls which they were all excited about that he was throwing long toss in the Outfield they were excited about that but he wasn’t hitting I mean yeah so we I I know he’s at least been hitting off of te because he’s posted videos of it and the teams told us he’s been doing Fielding stuff and uh things like that he’s also been he’s been watching games and tweeting about him come on with us man if you just want to talk ball if that’s what you’re doing in your downtime I I wonder when it will be enough yeah he’s had a long career he’s been he’s done pretty well for himself when was is just enough enough like just going and take him bat in practice and trying to get healthy again I this is just me I know if ID had a career like he’s got and had enough money that I could do backstrokes in it I’m probably not going to go to Dun Eden in a in a You Know Field seven and try and take ground balls I that’s just me I’d try and do something else and have a little bit more fun do some traveling and you know I could tweet about the Jays from Europe that’s just me but good for Joey like I if this is the way Joey wants to do it then good for Joey uh more specific to your question Billy May 7th was the last time we got an update and that was that he was making good progress on hitting and Fielding the next steps would be live at bats and then live games but we haven’t heard an update on that so maybe I’ll ask him tomorrow uh when I’m down there uh we’ve got one more to wrap our week up it’s Phil in Toronto it’s relevant to that conversation we just had with Jesse Rogers I am calling about load management uh cannot that be used for the coaches and the organization to be able to give some players a uh an excuse uh uh for the team to let them have some time off I.E George Springer uh Jerry Springer as I like to call them nowadays um he needs some time off he doesn’t want to really do it um and then they the the Jays need him to be off for a little bit and uh load management will give him an excuse and save face uh I’m not sure what you think about that but let us know let me know thank you here’s what I think about that you want to let my answer to that call your union rep if a team tries to do that if I paid $25 million to a guy he’d do what I told him to do yeah I I’m not going to make up some excuse because he’s not performing at a high enough level that I I feel like I should be paying or playing him that’s me now does the real world work that way absolutely not like it’s there’s a reason why he hasn’t been moved down in the order what that is is beyond me but I’m assuming it has something to do with track record past and how much money he’s making now everybody Gonna Roll their R throw their hands in the air that’s it like again remember the times that he’d been moved down in the order they had better options do they have a better option right now you could argue no I mean Davis we Jeff said this yesterday we talk a lot about David Schneider if I had told you that beginning of the Season you’d have been like uh oh he was a part-time player on yeah yeah a year and a half ago you would have known Davis if you fell on him like no offense that’s just the way it is that that’s the point I think and I just get back to that thing and the when you start paying a guy a bunch of money he should be doing what you tell him to do the most interesting that part of the load management thing for me as it pertains to George Springers he played 154 games last year they actually kept him healthy for the first time since like his second year in the league so they did something right it’s just they didn’t you know that’s not coinciding with the performance staying where it needs to be so it’s not a it’s not a health and availability thing for Springer um and yeah you can’t get to pH to Phil’s question I know it was a little tongue and- cheek but if you start trying to use that stuff and I know you asked Jesse as well would teams use it in contract negotiating stuff that’s when the union is going to throw their hands up and be like no more wearable technology you know our guy’s going to work out on his own he’s not going to come in so you you know as well as anybody that new bat speed thing you don’t think they’re going to use that like saying that you know two years from now his Bat speed’s going to go down like and I’m not going to pay him this amount of money you know they may not come out and tell everybody that but you know it’s tool that that’s available they’re going to be able to use that that’s what I said if you’re a player man you’re like holy moly trist C from the uh from the Red Sox kind of already came out and said like yeah they they’ve like my people have told me if you’re training for bat speed uh and this would be a load management thing as well but also just training for bat speed you’re going to get injured you’re going to see more oblique rib injuries cuz I mean he’s a cost is a big guy and you’re a big guy imagine if you what you were training for was that speed and that rotation yeah fast twitch muscles how do you do that right how do you make your your muscles twitch faster to make your bat faster like it’s some things you’re just born with like it’s you know some things you can’t teach and when you get the foot down it just tends to go faster than other bats go and why rock it why Rock the Boat that’s that’s where I’m at I that’s I said I there there has to be a time when just enough’s enough right yeah they just got to stop coming out with STS if they don’t just stop telling us about him how about that I don’t know maybe this is a good tool maybe maybe baseball players will love it me I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have loved it I mean at the player side at the team side I think there are a lot of RIS I think it’s fun for someone like me to play around with and I got three minutes before blue J Central hey look isak Pettis doesn’t swing hard he’s one of the lightest swingers in the league and look at all these pulled flyball home runs he that’s curiosity that’s entertaining for me but if teams are starting to you know you’re starting to scout for and train for and acquire for bat speed which is just one component of what you’re looking for I think that’s real risky what’s what’s the deal in 2024 is to beat the guy to the spot if I do it mechanically or with bat speed why do they care yeah right as long as I’m doing it that’s the the mooki bets do have the quickest bat in baseball look what he’s doing I told you’s sitting like over 380 against the fast ball he’s beating the dude to the spot like that is just it’s like okay look it’s not working in in batting practice what we’re working on cuz you’re this thing says the bat speed went down now what do I do do I start over again and then it’s going to take me longer I’m GNA stink when I go it’s like this is just not going to go well I mean I don’t know maybe I’m just gives me another reason to yell hey it’s it’s good it’s uh I enjoy it it’s entertaining like I said I don’t if if someone like me doesn’t even have a ton of utility for it other than like this is fun to play around with then uh yeah maybe we don’t need too much more uh Kevin Barker we got a couple seconds welc to my side yeah uh I’m get there slowly man more time I spend with you the more I feel in for Jeff Blair thanks for having me today man for coming this has been Blair and Barker Jeff Blair will be back with you uh the time slot moves to 4 to 6 starting Tuesday so coming out of the long weekend you guys will have a new time slot there uh as a reminder tonight’s game is an Apple TV plus Friday night baseball exclusive so if you’re not an Apple TV plus subscriber you can access a 2-month free trial of Apple TV at apple.co MLB and you can Google or check Apple support for how to do all of that stuff we’ll also have the game for you on the sportset radio network uh I’m going to head down tomorrow should be a fun one Ross ains talk a pregame Kevin you have yourself a wonderful weekend man all right have a good weekend everyone uh Blair bark will be back with you at 4 pm. Tuesday I’ll be back with you uh 10:00 a.m. on Monday

Blake Murphy and Kevin Barker open up the Back Leg Line, before being joined by Ryan Spilborghs ahead of the Blue Jays-Rays weekend series. Brian Anderson dives deeper into the series providing a scouting report on Tampa’s pitchers. John Schneider makes his weekly appearance on the show to discuss tonight’s lineup and the decision to start Chris Bassitt. Jesse Rogers discusses Pirates’ rookie Paul Skenes’ electric second major-league start against the Cubs.

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0:00 – Back Leg Line & Ryan Spilborghs on Jays/Rays
31:24 – Brian Anderson on the Rays’ Pitching
49:30 – John Schneider on Tonight’s Lineup & Chris Bassitt
1:12:51 – Jesse Rogers on Paul Skenes & MLB Load Management

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