Are The Blue Jays Being USED As *LEVERAGE* In The FREE AGENT Market? | Blue Jays Rumours & Breakdown

Are The Blue Jays Being USED As *LEVERAGE* In The FREE AGENT Market? | Blue Jays Rumours & Breakdown

Well, over the years, the Toronto Blue Jays have missed out on some big time free agents. Was it them being used as leverage? Were they in all these talks and just couldn’t get over the hump? And is this year any different? You are Locked on Blue Jays, your daily Toronto Blue Jays podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Blue Jays, part of the Locked On Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Your team every day. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets across the app. Download the app today. As always, I’m Braden Wasco. He’s Carter First. You can find us on Twitter, Braden FiveCow. Carter First, too, as well on our main Twitter account, Lockdown JS. You can follow us on Instagram and Tik Tok at Lockdown Blue Jays. And if you’re new here to YouTube, hit that subscribe button. It’s one of those things, Carter. We talk about it all the time. We’ve talked about it the last two years. Have the Toronto Blue Jays just missed out on a bunch of free agents because they’ve been used as leverage, or has it been that they just haven’t been able to push those offers over the top? Has Toronto been a place that players wanted to come and play? It’s a fair assessment. It’s a fair argument to have and a debate to have and one that we’re going to have today because what is going to happen with the 2026 roster? Will they be able to get free agents to come here to Toronto? It’s sounding pretty good so far, but is that all just in the wind and and people speculating or is it known fact that the Blue Jays will get some of these top end guys? So, Carter, it’s an idea that came to you a few days ago that you wanted to have this conversation. So, where do you want to start? I think we just have to start with all of the talk that’s been going on, all of the headlines of free agency. There is unfortunately not a lot of information coming out right now. So, as podcasters, as guys that follow the Toronto Blue Jays, we’re looking at literally every single thing. We’re like fiends on the internet right now looking for anything, any big name related to the Toronto Blue Jays. And every single article we’re seeing is the Toronto Blue Jays are in on this guy. The Toronto Blue is our favorite Salan Kyle Tucker, their favorite Salan Boashette. They’re talking to Evan Diaz. They’re talking to Isel Glaciius. They’re talking to pretty much everybody under the sun. But this feels super familiar. This feels like conversations that with this being, you know, our second year of the podcast and just being Blue Jays fans for our entire lives, this feels like conversations that we’ve had very similarly in the past, kind of feels like some deja vu going on for the Toronto Blue Jays. So, to start this off, I just kind of wanted to go into all of the players that the Toronto Blue Jays have been in talks with, not just this year, but the kind of the storylines that we’ve been hearing about last year and years previous. So just a few guys that I’ve kind of gone over really just this last year but I threw show Otani in this one obviously as well because that one was the worst of all of them like John Morosei he is on the plane he is coming to Toronto maybe he was coming to Toronto but he was not coming to Toronto to stay he was coming you know just for a little tourist endeavor into the great downtown streets for the Toronto’s play by the Rogers Center but that show obviously sucks then there was Juan Sto they were in talks with Juan Sto really went down to the wire fair. They were at teams amongst that interest with Janoto, but that one wasn’t as heartbreaking. Ro Kisaki one, that was another bad one. You make a trade for Miles Straw, which ended up working out pretty well for the Toronto Blue Jays. Smra has been a fan favorite doing some recruiting for the Toronto as well which definitely cannot hurt but how invested they were in the Roki Sasaki sweep stakes for how sure of a deal they kind of thought it was to get Roki to go out and make a move literally at that time was just to get more international bonus pool money to get Roki Sasaki and unable to get that done. That’s another one. Corbin Burns with the Tims cup fiasco. He had a Tim Horton’s coffee cup so that must have meant he was coming to the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately not. Uh Max Freed was the perfect fit at one once upon a time. He was a lefty that would have complimented his starting rotation. That did not work out like Snell very early on in the 2025 off seasonason was linked to the Toronto Blue Jays. Tay Oscar Hernandez to make things right for all the wrongdoings the front office did to Tay Oscar like William Thomas because Bo wasn’t very good. There was talks to Bregman. Those are just a few from the last season that the Toronto have been in on. And how many of those players did they get? Not one of them. I guess there is a consolation. Vladimir Crow Jr. was supposed to be on a million different teams. He obviously did come back to the Toronto Blue Jes. So, I did want to throw that in there. And then this year we like Eva Diaz, Ryol Glaciius, like we’ve talked about all of these guys. So, for you is like is this just another scenario where we’re in on all these players, the Toronto Blue Jays, fifth highest team in payroll are being used as leverage as a team that does go out and spend money. Are they being used to kind of help other teams and or other players cases out to, you know, be used as like a little bit of a dealing tool to try to get a little bit more AAV, maybe a little bit extra year of a term, whatever it may be. Are they using the Toronto Blue Jays to get better contracts from other organizations? H man, you know what? Pe people like to go so far one way or so far the other way, right? The whole leverage thing to me is just a bunch of BS to be honest. uh teams are going to sign where they will. They they are going to try to get teams to outbid other teams to drive up their price. That’s how baseball contracts have always worked and most contracts in any league. That’s how they work. So, no, I don’t think the Blue Jays are strictly being used as leverage here. But at the end of the day, I I’m sort of a little bit on the other side as well because I don’t believe that the Toronto Blue Jays are going to go out and get every single player that that we that you know has been said that might come to Toronto. No, that’s not going to happen. I I think honestly the thought process of getting Bob Bashett and Kyle Tucker in the same year. To me, it doesn’t it it’s just not going to happen. I I don’t believe that that is going to happen. As much as I wanted to, I’m not sitting here, you know, with the champagne bottle in hand ready for both these guys to come to Toronto. No, I I think they get one of them and and they’re going to get a starting pitcher. They’re going to get some bullpen pieces, but I don’t think it’s going to be every single top end guy. It may not even be, you know, in the talks of all these starting pitchers, it may not even be a top end starting pitcher. I do believe that either Bo Bashette or Kyle Tucker, one of them will be in Toronto, and I have to go with Bo Bashette if I’m thinking and and just how all of this is going to go. So, it’s tough. I I’m a little bit torn because no, it’s not just leverage. It’s how the MO works. And I do in my heart believe that this team is going to go out and try to make bids for these big players to try to get them. But at the end of the day, it’s not just who the Blue Jays are talking to. It’s about who the other 29 teams are talking to. And if they can outbid the Toronto Blue Jays, can will are the Toronto Blue Jays willing to outbid everybody on everybody? Probably not. So, it’s an interesting question and and it’s it’s tough because as much as I I want to sit here and be a Toronto Blue Jays believer in the sense that I everybody wants to come to Toronto and everybody will come to Toronto, I I wish that’s the case. But, you know, after doing this podcast for two years and and knowing how this league works, I just don’t think that’s going to happen. Yeah, it’s it’s business. like you’re going to use other, you know, other rivals, other teams, other organizations to your benefit. If you’re a player in that situation, you’re not going to go into those meetings and say, “Yeah, there’s naturally nobody hitting up my phone. I’m if I don’t sign here, I got nothing. So, yeah, give me your blank check. Give me exactly what I want.” No, they’re going to if you’re going into you’re going to talk to Aaron Boon in that front office, you’re going to go to the Yankees, you’re going to say, “Oh, the Blue Jays are going to try they’re trying to pay me this much for this term, and the Phillies are in my year, but also the Dodgers are another team that’s been talking to me.” You’re going to go and you’re going to use other teams against each other. That’s just how it is as a player. You’re going to want to get what you think you are worth. Whether that is 30 million, 20 million, 2 million, whatever it ends up being. You’re trying to get what the best contract is for yourself and your own situation. Whether that is money, whether that’s a perfect fit with where you’re which position you’re playing at, for how long you’re playing there, for what you project for the future. There’s so many different things that go into it. And you’re definitely using other teams as leverage to a certain degree. But if you’re the Toronto Blue Jays, we we kind of talked about this before, but why wouldn’t you want to be in on all the best players? Why wouldn’t you want the opportunity to sign all the best players? And for sure, the Toronto Blue Jays aren’t blindly just throwing blank checks out for Kyle Tucker, Ranger Forest, Framer Valdez, and now all of a sudden, they’re paying $4 billion for these players. And that’s just not realistic. At some point, you have to be logical. You have to be realistic. If the Toronto Blue Jesus can sign Kyle Tucker, Bo Bashette, Ranger Suarez for the contract that they’re accustomed, they’re kind of just ready to hand out to these guys and they’re willing to pay for sure they’re going to sign all of these guys, but they’re going to get outpriced on some different players. They’re going to have different evaluations on some players. Maybe, for example, like I’ll just use Adrien Hower as just a guy I’m thinking of. Maybe the Toronto Blue Jays don’t view him as a starting pitcher in their top five whatsoever. but another team like I don’t know the Tampa Bay Rays. Let’s just view Adrien Hower as maybe one of the rotation arms. So, it’s how you evaluate players. It’s teams fit. Like there’s so many different things that go into it. So, I don’t think that the Toronto Blue Jays are being used as leverage per se like oh like there’s no chance that any of these top free agents sign with the Blue Jays because there’s a lot different this year than there is last year. There’s a lot more going for the Toronto Blue Jays right now than there was in previous seasons. But I think where this kind of comes to a forefront is that people’s expectations get a little bit too crazy and they believe that the Toronto Blue Jays are going to sign Kyle Tucker, Ranger Suarez, Edward Diaz. They’re going to get Robert Suarez and Ryella Glaciius as well because why not? If your expectations are that high going into free agency, you’re just kind of letting yourself be set up to be put down. So I think tempering expectations is a big thing there. And I think the Toronto Blue Jays, while they aren’t on a lot of these players, they’re not going to land every single player that you’re seeing in these headlines. Yeah, Carter, it’s a great point and it goes back to exactly what me and you talked about last season and what we preached to everybody last season is don’t let those expectations get too high, but don’t also be completely out on this team. You know, keep keep everything tempered right now. We we want to see what this team will do. And you have you have the full right to get upset that they didn’t do enough uh you know, when it comes to this off season. you have the full right to to be over the moon and excited about what they did do. But right now, we’re we’re sort of just in a waiting game. And if you sit here and and won’t be happy with this team unless they have Kyle Tucker, Bo Bashette, uh whoever, Edwin Diaz, throw throw names out, whatever, Michael King. If they don’t have all of these guys, he’s a trade for show, too. Actually, he’s coming over. He’s finally coming now. He liked what they had going there during during the World Series. Yeah. If you’re sitting here expecting all of that, I mean, you’re just setting yourself up to be disappointed because that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to go out and spend $120 million per season on three guys. That’s just not going to happen. So, I I I hope that everybody is excited and they are paying attention to all the little details and news and, you know, that’s why they tune in. You know, some of you tune in to our podcast so you can get the most up-to-date information and and we’re happy to do that and we’re happy to sit here and speculate with you guys. But, at the end of the day, we’re going to give you our honest thoughts about, hey, is too much too much? Can this team viably do this? Because we’re not going to sit here, we’re not trying to, you know, clickbait anybody into saying that, oh, we think the Toronto Blue Jets are going to get this player, this player, this player, this player, this player. That that that that’s unrealistic. I mean, we’re not Carter. I don’t I wouldn’t even enjoy doing that, right? If I’m sitting here, why am I getting myself worked up about a season that will never happen because this team won’t have nine guys that are going to make the All-Star team? Like, come on. It it I don’t know. It It’s It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating as a fan sitting here too because Carter talked about this last episode and it sort of I was sort of laughing about it the last couple days. It’s sort of why the MLB is the worst off season but also the best offseason because things don’t happen right away. It gives fans a lot of time to sit here and speculate and Carter me and you’ve been doing a good job at uh sitting here speculating, haven’t we? Yeah, that’s all we can really do right now unfortunately. like we can reflect on the 2025 season, but even though I’m like it has been a little while, I’m not fully ready to do that still, at least the World Series aspect of it. Yes, we can go back and draw on like how many good moments that there were during the regular season. That’s what free agency is for us. Like, you got to have some fun with it. You got to speculate. I’m going to end this at least this segment off with two things. I kind of brought this up before, but Toronto Blue Jays fans should be happy that at least we’re in on and in contention for a lot of these free agents. Like there’s a lot of teams that don’t get to speculate like Kyle Tucker gets to the market the free open market and teams like oh well he’s just not coming here like we can’t pay in that like there’s just no way at least the Toronto Blue Jays you’re in on Bobaet you’re in on Kyle Tucker you’re talking to Ranger Suarez you’re talking to all of these top premium free agents and another thing is is that for example with the Kyle Tucker with the Bobette if you sign Kyle Tucker or Bobette like you’re not going to be as aggressive for the other guy you’re not going to be as inclined to like overpay for another guy because you already have that one juggernaut that you did sign. So in other way, in other words, if say Boba gets signed by a team, maybe they are more aggressive to Kyle Tucker. Maybe they do throw a little bit more money at Kyle Tucker because they now need him more and there isn’t that backup option of having Bobette. It’s like with these uh with relief pitchers, they’re not going to go out and sign Rigger Suarez and Ryell Glaciius and Ryan Helley and Edwin Diaz. They’re having backup options. They probably have one guy that they really really like and if he goes, they go on to the next guy. they have backup plans because we kind of saw it with Shoi Otani and it’s you can’t have a backup plan for Shi Otani but you didn’t get Otani and then where did you go almost felt like the Toronto Blue Jes were lost in that sense you want a team to have a backup plan you want them to have a way to pivot and it’s again it’s a lot tougher to pivot from guys like you know Juan Sto and Joe Otani and while it would be tough to pivot from guys like Bobette Kyle Tucker Ranger Suarez Valdez you get the picture you still have other options and you still have other plans just in case everything doesn’t go according to your blueprint which it never does in Major League Baseball. Carter, that was a big moment for us uh going into the 2024 season is is us understanding that there was no backup plan and this team did not do a good enough job planning for the future in regards to show Otani not being a Toronto Blue Jay. Moving into 2025, we saw that happen. We saw the plan B, the plan C’s come into effect. Now, hopefully in 2020, going into 2026, we see this team’s plan A happen. and Carter, why is this a destination or why isn’t this a destination that players want to come to? We’ll talk about that as we get into the next segment. Plus, little little Hall of Fame ballot for one of the Toronto Blue Jays, a guy that, you know, I’m sure all of us sit here and still love to this day. So, we’ll talk about all that as the show continues right here on Lock on Blue Jays. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. I’ve been placing bets like crazy. I love placing them on on the the NFL and I’ve been even getting back into the NBA, you guys. I I I’d say this every episode. Not a huge NBA guy for a long time. I think 2014 and 16 I was huge in the NBA. I didn’t I wouldn’t miss games. I’d be playing the video game, you know, all that. But I’ve fallen out of love with it. But the sports betting has brought me back. And the NBA, there’s really just no better place to to bet on NBA action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of a game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets to use when your first $5 bet wins. That first $5 bet has to win. So, make sure you do take a look. Take a game you know for sure this team’s going to win. You don’t got to win a ton of money. Just make sure it wins. Head to fanuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, Carter, why is Toronto now a much more desirable location than it was even a year ago on this day? I mean, you know, we look back at all the guys that were missed. Why do you think the Blue Jays are being talked about so much more favorably this season? Well, I I I should even ask you this question. They just made the World Series. They were two outs away from World Series. But it’s not just that. I I think winning will do that. It always does. And being in a situation where you are that close to a victory will always matter. But it’s also a little bit about the clubhouse. It’s it’s about the environment. It’s about what the players say to each other when they talk at, you know, even by text. You know, you’re buddies with some guys in the other team. Maybe you’re texting, hey, this place is fantastic. Carter, why do you think some of those reasons are outside of obviously making the World Series? Yeah, the World Series is the biggest one. Like, at the end of the day, like money talks, but a lot of it is winning. Like, winning solves a ton of problems. Winning solves a ton of clubhouse issues. Just a ton of just interpersonal issues. Obviously, when the revenue side of things, you’re going to make a lot more money. Just ask Edward Rogers in the 2025 season compared to the 2024 season. So, in terms of like why would people want to come here? Obviously the World Series thing and just being competitive baseball team is going to be a lot better. And that’s kind of what we wanted to lead that last segment into this segment is that things are a lot different this year. Whereas maybe the Toronto Blue Jays were being used as leverage in that 2025 offseason because they didn’t have a lot going for him at that time. Bob Bashette just had a horrible year. George Springer looked like he was done for completely. It was pretty much the Vladimir Gro Jr. show and what was going to happen around Vladimir Grow Jr. You looked at the prospect pool. It was a bottom five prospect pool in all of baseball. When you’re looking at things now, and I’m not even going into the clubhouse stuff yet, just having Vladimir Kro Jr. locked up for 14 more years, that was an uncertainty the Blue Jays didn’t have going into that season. Boba, as much as he isn’t for sure coming back, you know that Bobette is Bobette and he’s the right now he’s the favorite to come back again in quotation like the air quotations favorite to come back to the Toronto Blue Jays. Will that happen? We will still have to see. Then you got guys like Treya Savage who you drafted and is looking like a perennial stud. Again, we’ll see what happens with that. But Addison Barger, a guy that looks very good as well. You look at guys like Ernie Clement kind of rejuvalizing his career, rejuvenating his career. You look at Louis Varlin, some of the guys that they got at this even trade deadline who are here for a very long time. So just in terms of the future of the Toronto Blue Jesus as well and like their direction of a team, that is something that is a lot more clear as well. And then just looking at the clubhouse stuff, we have to obviously go into that as well. This isn’t the exact reason why Shane Bieber took that player option, but that definitely had to factor into it. his wife said that she found her love for baseball once again with the Toronto Blue Jays taking that player option a very teamfriendly deal. So part of the clubhouse has to go into that just being uh with all those guys. All those guys very being very easy to talk to, very kind obviously like a brotherhood and then just with the family stuff as well. The wives obviously loving and hanging out at the clubhouse outside of baseball. Their kids all being relatively the same age. It’s a very attractive family orientated location especially for players that maybe are starting their young families like Trey Savage like the Addison Bargers. Even for guys like Max Sherzer who have a million kids still running around having a good time over there as well. Then you talk about, we can talk about done eating, how nice of a spot that is to be in, you know, January, February, and then into the spring training as well. You know, you’re in Florida, you’re not right in Toronto, at least not until the end of March. You get to avoid most of the cold season. Living in Winnipeg, we get a lot of that. Toronto gets similar, obviously, temperatures to what we get here. So, avoiding that is a definitely a big thing. And just how like complex and how much money was invested into those training facilities. A lot of players saying they are some of the best in all of baseball. So, in terms of winning, if you want a winning team, you got the Toronto Blue Jays. If you want good facilities, you got the Toronto Blue Jays. If you want talent, you got the Toronto Blue Jays. If you want, you know, the power of friendship as well, you have the Toronto Blue Jays as well. So, if you’re looking at comparable seasons, like there is a ton of attractive reasons to come to the Toronto Blue Jays. And they should be looking to compete for an AL East title, a playoff title, and hopefully a World Series championship once again as for the first time since 93. But being in the World Series once again since last year. Yeah, Carter, you you hit you hit that one out of the park and and I think the the one main thing that I take away from that and I think shouldn’t be overlooked is getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. locked up. I think that might be if not the biggest reason, one of them. It shows that you are have a commitment to win. It’s not just a one-year blip. You do well. Oh, we’ll try to push this next year. No, it it’s you have Vladimir Guerrero Jr. through his prime. you you want to take advantage of every single second that you have this all-star player in your franchise. And what that tells other players within the game of baseball, including Bo Bashette, is that we are dedicated to winning and having a winning culture, not just for this year or next year. So, if you sign here, you’re not going to throw away four years of your contract. You’re going to be competitive throughout all of that. And you brought up Louis Varin, a guy that with a lot of term left on his contract as well. There are little pieces like that. The young Treyus Savage still with so much time on hand. I didn’t even list half of my guy. Like Alejandro Kirk is locked up for another four years. Anthony Santandere, I know he didn’t have a good year. That guy’s locked up for a while as well. Andress Gimenez, like just for pitchers, like if you’re a pitcher coming to the Toronto Blue Jays, yes, I know the bat, like I’m the first guy that will tell you the bat is not where we want it to be. But if you got put this guy in shortstop, he’s like a floor is a three three and a half four player. Like this is probably again, he’s not even a shortstop. And if he moves there, he’s one of the best defensive shorts stops in all of baseball. So if you’re a pitcher, and that’s not even just stopping there. That’s Don Bario in the outfield. That’s Ernie Clement at third base wherever. That’s Asen Barer if you have him in the outfield with that power like that cannon of an arm that he has. Nathan Lucas pretty good defensively. Is he on the team again? Whatever. But you have a bunch of guys that have Kirk being the catcher, you know, calling your games. You have so many guys in your infield that are so good defensively. Then we didn’t even talk about the fan atmosphere as well and how unbelievable the fans are throughout not only just the playoffs but even the regular season like you’re getting 40,000 on average down the last three years or three years three months of that regular season in 2025. So the fans are ridiculous. I mean if you’re a player maybe Tuesday night you have a looney dog. You know there’s little little incentives all over the ballpark for reasons to come to Toronto. And hey if you come to Toronto open invite on the pod. So if you want to come on the pod too you want a little more incentive lockdown blue has your back here. Yeah. Yeah. I’m sure that should be reason number one they get to come on the Locked On Blue Jays podcast. Uh for sure. But uh no, you you’re you’re nailing the head, Carter. I mean it there are so many attractive options of of why to come to Toronto. And a lot of people will say the weather, but I mean if you’re in Toronto, that’s the main thing. Weather taxes. I hear all the time. Yeah. And if you’re here in the summer like for baseball, the weather’s beautiful. Like we again we’re from Manitoba, right? Like everybody talks about how cold it is. Well, in the summers it’s 35 out Celsius. Like it it’s it’s nice. I don’t know what you’re talking about. In the winters, yeah, it’s cold. But a lot of these guys don’t live here in the winter anyway. They go back home. They go back to wherever. So, don’t worry about it. Taxes. Okay. Not much we can do about that. Like LA has taxes. Like there’s a bunch of different places. Like, yeah, if you want to go, you know, maybe to the Rangers or something or like you go to Florida, like there’s some spots that definitely benefit you more. But the Toronto Blue Jays usually can kind of override that with just paying a little bit more in the open market. Like if you have to overpay slightly. Yeah. Yeah. Or in bonuses. Yeah. Like there’s ways around it is what I’m saying. Exactly. Yeah. Absolutely. There’s there’s so much they can do and usually they do do because they they don’t want they don’t want that to be the factor of why players decide to come here or not to come here. So again, I I mean a lot of you guys know this. You you you’ve watched this team. You may live in Toronto or in Canada. You understand, right? the the love of the game. When your team is good, man, this this country really rallies behind it. And you know what? There’s people that listen to this podcast, Carter, that aren’t from Canada. There’s guys from the States, guys from all over the world, uh, that tune in, and we’re so thankful for that. But that just means there are so many Blue Jays fans, not only in Canada, but around the world, in the United States, in these other parts of the world. Yeah. Just just ask Seattle when the Toronto Blue Jays go there. Even like New York, Boston, just the Toronto Blue Jays travel so well as well. And with obviously Vancouver being right by Seattle, closer to Seattle than you are to Toronto, like it’s like they take over when they play in the playoffs there, like the Seattle Mariners were selling Blue Jays merch. Like that’s a crazy statement. I would be livid if I was a Mariners fan, uh, you know, in Seattle when that was happening. If I just, you know, trying to get a beer at the game and then I see a Vladimir Crow Jr. jersey, probably wouldn’t be too excited about that. But that’s just the impact that fans all across Canada, not even just in Canada, we have even listeners for the pod. we have in Europe, we have in the States, all over the place. I think we have a couple from Australia as well. So, just the demographics that not only this podcast, but the Toronto Blue Jays reach in general. It’s it’s absolutely insane. So, there’s fans all over the world love baseball and it should be the exact same for players. You come to Toronto and you definitely feel that from the the entire fan base. Absolutely. And I think we’ve done enough advocating here for Toronto. I I I don’t know if you know they’re going to raise the locked on Blue Jays flag and be like, “These guys are the advocates for Canada, but you know, we try to you know, we try to do our part. to advocate for it. You can just come to Toronto and like it will just show you everything you need to know. Yeah. You know, again, it’s it’s hard not to love love love this country, love this team and love the the atmosphere and the baseball it brings. So, yeah, we’re we’re happy to do that once in a while and and you know, we want to show our appreciation for not only all of you that listen to this podcast, but all of Blue Jays fans, all the Blue Jays, everybody that comes here. It’s an absolute blast. So, Carter, we do want to take a break. We want to talk about a guy that’s potentially going into the Hall of Fame, at least on the ballot. We’ll we’ll bring that up when we come back after this break. So, Carter Edwin and Carnacion is on the 2026 Hall of Fame ballot. I mean, what a career this guy had. His time in Toronto, uh, just unbelievable. Uh, you know, still showing his face around once in a blue moon. Uh just something cool to see more or less, you know, even if he doesn’t uh doesn’t get in, just to to be on that ballot is something cool to watch for all the Blue Jays fans. Yeah. Whether he gets in on his first try, I really don’t think he will, unfortunately. But whether he does or not, it’s a good guy to have around the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse. We saw him pretty much all the time in 2025, talking to Vlatty, talking to whoever, having those interpersonal relationships. Pretty good guy to listen to in the clubhouse. He’s joined by a bunch of first- timers like Howie Kendrick, Daniel Murphy’s on this list. uh Hunter Pence probably just not get in. You got guys like Carlos Beltran and then obviously like some steroid guys like the Manny Ramirez, the Alex Rodriguez, a bunch of guys that are going to be controversial. I love Edanasio and I’ll always remember the 2016 home run. I’ll always remember his tenure tenure in totality with the Toronto Blue Jays. I just think when you look at this list and you look at some of the Hall of Famers that are aren’t in the Hall of Fame already, at least, you know, off their first ballot, you know, having multiple tries, as long as you get over the 5% threshold, you could continue to stay on that Hall of Fame ballot. I don’t think he gets in first try. Probably don’t think he gets in second try, but that’s not taking away anything that Edwin did throughout his career. Just what an acknowledgement to even be on the Hall of Fame ballot to try to get into that Hall of Fame. Incredible career. Yeah, Carter. And when he was ranked on this uh ballot, they do like a ballot ranking of of sort of where all these guys land. He he he would rank around 16th uh on this ballot. So that’s not that’s not good enough odds to get in. I hear a lot of conversations being rolled out of Hall of Very good. Uh is that somewhere you would place Edwin or do you think you know maybe in in some of his final years he could sneak in? I think he’s like if there was a middle ground of like if he’s just over the hall of very good then I don’t think he’s a hall of famer. I think if there was like a hall of great like maybe if you want to do that like that’s where I’d put Edwin Cassion. Again no disrespect like you you can still be an unbelievable baseball player and not make the Hall of Fame. Like there’s some talks about if you want a more real life example of player playing right now. I guess not a real life example. These guys are real human beings believe it or not. But a right a present example is Kyle Schwarber. People are talking about whether he should be on the Hall of Fame list or not. And is home run power enough? Again, different situations, but is that enough to get uh into the Hall of Fame? Like Kyber just hit 56 home runs. Like this is a player that is a very good baseball player, but does he get into the Hall of Fame? Probably not. It’s different story. So with Edwin again, so many Treddle Buch memories. One of my favorite players growing up as a kid, just watching him throughout those glory years with Jose Bautista, kind of the Bash brothers. I know when Josh Donaldson came, that three-headed monster, you were a massive fan of Josh Donaldson, obviously Edwin as well, though. So, yeah, it’s a lot of good times and a lot of good memories when you look at guys like Jose Bautista and Emmanio. Yeah, exactly. And they’ll go down as as, you know, all-time Blue Jays probably up there in the rankings for everybody. But sometimes that’s just not enough. You you need to eclipse certain milestones in a career and you have to do that in so many different categories and it just just not quite there for Edwin. But a huge hat to him. We love Edwin and Carnas. You know, he will always be a staple in what, Carter, our childhoods, right? Our our teen years. Uh, and for some of you, you were probably adults, but but for us, we were we were, you know, mid to late teens at that point. Uh, I wonder how many I wonder how many conversations that uh when forced parents to have about getting a parrot for how many home runs he hit, you know, with the parrot porch that he had running around the bases. I know. Uh, I was almost one of them. Almost asked my parents for a bird, but yeah, that was going to be the easiest no of all time if I was really You don’t You don’t think Rio would have got you a parrot? No, I think Yeah, he my dad Randy, he might be, you know, he might be a bird guy. I did ask him actually. That was that was one that went over his head and went straight to the boss of the house at that point. He does have buddy now though, so he does have Buddy. Not quite a bird, but I think Buddy would do some damage to that bird if we did have one. But I don’t know. Parrots Parrots get a little crazy, you know? He might be saying some crazy things during the Jays games. Like imagine like we saying funny socks. Funny so sucks. Like that’s not something. World Series game seven. No thanks. Like that’s let’s get the bird out of the house. Oh, I love it. I love it. Uh thanks everybody for tuning in. Hopefully you enjoyed this episode. A little something different from us. But uh yeah, sometimes you just want to sit there and chat ball a little bit and that’s a little bit what today was. Uh we’re hoping to have some bigger episodes coming for you guys throughout this off season. A ton more. I mean we’re here every single day. So we hope you guys enjoy everything that we put out and uh yeah, we’ll be back with you tomorrow. No days missed here.

The Toronto Blue Jays have been linked to many of the top free agents are the market. However, this feels like a story we have heard before. Fan have heard this narrative over the past two off-seasons, but the Jays front office has missed out on almost every big free agent they have engaged in talks with. A lot has changed one year, but are the Blue Jays just being used as leverage in these discussions once again? In this episode, we talk about the rumours surrounding the Blue Jays, and if we believe the Blue Jays will be able to pull off the big move in free agency that fans have been looking for. We provide you with the most up to date news, storylines and analysis right here on Locked On Blue Jays.

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

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