[MUSIC] >> Wow, Chris Bassett, yes, I agree, I had a lot of things on my Blue Jays. >> That was one of the most depressing things I've ever heard in my life. >> I have had a lot of things on my Blue Jays bingo card this season. Even stuff I didn't expect to hit, I put it way down in the corner of your top hitting prospect and pop for Royds a second he comes up. Like that one, for example, I had that on there, I didn't expect that to hit. I certainly didn't expect the phrase, no one on this team has clean hands. We all have blood on our hands. >> We have four shakes, we are on us. >> I love it, yeah, McBeth, like, out damn spot. He's going, I can't get him clean, I'm trying. >> I was trying to think, I know, in a while since I've done it to the meetings. >> I knew it was McBeth, and I literally just started Googling McBeth out. And then the quote appeared for me, because, hey, I don't have that on the tip of my tongue. >> Anything worse than your pretentious English teacher being like, this is what Shakespeare meant. Like, how do you know that? >> God, he wrote that 500 years ago, you think you know what he meant? >> God, I hate it. >> Okay, so quick story on that, there was nothing worse than that, but I had a media literacy class that we could take in high school. No, this was cool, because we could watch like real movies. >> This teacher, though, he would just be like, we're a cool hockey jersey every Friday, so you know you're in on this guy. I do forget his name though, so that's tough. Yeah, I know. >> Showed out the show. >> That buddy, you know, if you're there. And he was the exact opposite, because, again, we've all had the pompous English teachers like, no, no, no, no, I understand you made a great argument that you think this what it means, but no one could ask him because he's dead, but this is for sure 1,000% what he meant, and there's no way to wave her from it. He was the exact opposite. He's like, tell me what this movie means to you, and I'll hear it. And as long as you like put forth- >> I like that, give me your tape. >> Give me your tape. >> Yeah, and honestly, maybe he's the reason I'm here, he's just like, give me a take on this, and I had to give it. >> I actually got kicked out of Mr. Morley's, is there ever been a more English teacher's name? >> That's, yeah. >> Mr. Morley's- >> That's pretty good. >> Because I was so sick of like him telling us what it meant. I was like, Mr. Morley, I gotta ask you, how do you know that? How do you know what it means? >> He sent me back, and because he got an argument, anyways, kind of mean, kind of, you know. >> Yeah. >> Is it a bit of symbolism for what I do for a career anyway? >> I would say. >> Yeah, anyways, James. >> Chris Bassett, that was dark, dark and deserving, quite frankly, man, when even your floor setter starter ends up in a game that's 13 nothing and bigger and is pitching. It's just, every time you think we've reached a new Nadir of dark Blue Jaysdom, they are like, no, hold my beer. John Schneider's like, I'll take it, give it to me. >> I need it. >> Yeah. >> So I have a cold mirror after the skin. >> Is it left field, Marina? I need another sponsor. >> Cuz man. >> Like, it just, at every, honestly, like at every turn, when you think, okay, like the year's not going well, and then Bishette's got flamethrower, he'll figure it out, he'll figure it out, he'll figure it out, he'll figure it out. No, he's hurt. And that's gonna be the thing, and it's just gonna be this lingering injury, and he's gonna come back and have a good month, and I guess we're supposed to be excited about that when it happens. You think, okay, you're finally getting some new blood up here, like we were all clamoring for Arelvis. >> Yeah. >> And it's like, we were all, we were all understanding what it was, like- >> Arelvis was clamoring for something. >> Yeah, exactly. And now he's not gonna play baseball for 80 games, sir, however many of that suspension, he served. Alec Manoa, he had the moment five seconds maybe, maybe the last five minutes for others, were you thinking? Maybe back as at least a building block, no, her done for the year, probably not gonna pitch much in actually either. Take a teedem in, you think, okay, this is like the year where at least you get to see, hey, young starter, and hey, maybe he can be the next Nate Pearson, and maybe he's the next Nate Pearson, as he goes and gets second and third opinions on an arm issue. It's just at every single turn, it has just been dark, dark days for the Blue Jays. >> So here's what I'll say, I am a Blue Jays addict, I still watch four games a week. I'm not locked in. >> How much tougher? >> Always on it. >> How much tougher is Jason 30 these days? >> It's been a bad season. >> Show, it hasn't had its strongest season, Blue Jays in 30, been a tough year, a lot of the protagonists, a lot of the main characters aren't having a great season. Writing's bad. >> Here's what I'll say. I haven't, after the initial enjoyment, I mean, so the initial, not enjoyment, the opposite of it, the initial disappointment of getting past the expectations, where we went in this year, and I was sort of expecting it to be similar to last year. >> Yep. >> Were there a plucky team, good pitching, they're a wild card team, but the margins were razor thin, clearly, where it's just like, if you're getting bad pitching or bad, you can't get hit like, we thought the offense was bad last year. The start of the season, it was as bad as I can ever remember of Blue Jays offense being it was horrific. So once you get past the initial disappointment, and you get rid of guys like Vogelback, and you bring up the kids, you start bringing up Horowitz, you start bringing up Ernie Clemente, you'll start getting more regular playing time. There are moments of this season where I have enjoyed watching it. >> For sure. >> Where it's like, oh, this guy could be something, this guy could be something, like, I've loved the spring of resurrection, I love how he's looked again. He and the Aussies and this a guy that now that you could maybe consider, maybe consider a good second half of the year. >> Tells you everything you need to know about the Blue Jays that the good thing is maybe we could get rid of the Cup player. >> Every so often, Gunnar, they have a game where like holy crap, this is depressing. And yesterday, what is like the Blue Jays bullpen, there can't be a worse unit in the league in terms of offense, pitching, they're blue, I think I just quickly pulling up Ben Nicholson's, Smith's Twitter here, Ben Nicholson Smith in the driest way possible. He's just so, the way he treats is so great. The Blue Jays bullpen, which began the day ranked last in the American League and lasted the major leagues in war, has now allowed nine run so far this afternoon. >> It is good. >> Presented without comment. >> He says, early comment, now pitching. >> Honestly, it's a good thing. He is so like straight laced as he is because if you, if he had like a shock, shock radio show, you'd be like, look at this guy, look at how he tweaks them, he does it so well. But it's just, that's where this team is at, you just present the facts and it's very damning in the game. >> Also from Ben Nicholson Smith's Twitter. >> A few weeks ago, Trevor Richards seemed like an intriguing trade candidate. In his last seven appearances, he has pitched six innings while allowing 15 hits, 15 earned runs, and six walks. He has become a big part of the Blue Jays bullpen, but struggles coming at an inopportune time. >> Yeah, you think so? >> I think so. >> So, they, to me, I have this thought in my mind that they are not that far off of being half decent and being in the conversation for a wildcard team next year. Because you look at what the, we look at teams last year, like didn't the, weren't the royals horrific last year? >> Yes, they were very bad. >> Weren't the, like weren't the St. Louis Cardinals awful last year? >> Mm-hm. >> Weren't like there's multiple teams that were bad last year that have turned it around and you're in the mix. But like. >> The difference is, and like not to turn into this into like St. Louis Cardinals today. But the difference is, is that those teams are on the upswing cycle of their trajectory. Like their young players are now coming to the majors and leading that turnaround. Man, I've been looking, have you, have you seen any of those poking around here? Like young player? No, okay. I was just checking. >> That's not one. >> I was just checking. Okay. >> But I mean, they've, they've built through free agents all up with this team and maybe they can convince themselves that they can do it again. And I'm not even a, I'm caught in between. >> Mm-hm. >> Just full tear down of this baby where, you know, bow and Vlad and everybody, like everything should be on the table. But if I'm ownership, our beloved Rogers. >> Of course. >> Doodaloo. >> Yeah. >> Our beloved Rogers. >> That's a human joke. >> Yeah. >> I know. I got it in before you could. >> I don't even think they use that anymore. >> I think they don't just mine. >> Our beloved Rogers, if you're looking at, you're like, hey, Mark, how much do we spend on that stadium? What do we do with that stadium? >> Yeah. >> And we're going to do what with the team? We're going to tear this thing down to the screws and we're going to have tickets that cost a lot and rightfully so everything costs a lot. There's a lot of inflation. >> Is anything cheap in there? >> No. Coffee $800. >> I will say my coffee and muffin from McDonald's is $3.25 this morning, so it's a pretty good deal. >> Mm-hm. >> I just- >> No for you. >> I have a really, really hard time believing that ownership is going to be like, let's tear this baby down and have a 100 loss team in our brand new stadium. >> Yeah. >> Like, can you see a world where that happens? >> No, I don't see a world where that happens. >> I think the other, I think the problem with it is the stadium. I think the other problem with it is, is there are just, there are two pieces here that you're going to have to pick between and then the other one has to be used to kind of reset. >> Well, I think it's a pretty, no, no. >> They've made their, they've made their decision for sure they have and part of it is the player making the decision for them with performance and talking about Vlad and that regard, not Bo. >> Yeah. >> Like, I think he's done his, he's held up his end of the bargain up until this year. But Vlad, absolutely pay him, you need somebody to be the standard bearer for your team. This was always the way it was supposed to have gone. If you would have gone to anyone in the Blue Jays org and just showed them this season from Vlad and said, hey, this guy is two years away from free agency, they would have said, okay, I would have liked like a couple more homers, but yeah, let's give him the contract. We've been setting my, like, they've been, they're like a kid getting ready to buy their first car. >> Yeah, inside money for this Vlad contract, since he was 16 years old, they, it's like, all right, they got, been scratching off. It's like, all right, Christmas is coming, got to make sure we have the money stowed away. And obviously, the money's there with this team to pay it in the luxury tax for a team that lost 13 nothing to one of the other worst teams in baseball last night in, in the race. So that, I, I look at it and that's the thing is you have to pay Vlad and then you have to just kind of try to retool around him. >> You're going to, if you hang on to Gosman and Bassett, and I don't know after that last night, I don't know that the markets heating up on Bassett at all, you're going to have three good starting pitchers. The jury is out on if Gosman and, and Bassett can be like true number two's on a great play, but they'll, they're fine numbers of your starting rotation, Jose burrios, maybe he is not your, with a bullet ace of all aces, but that's as good a guy to lead you into a season as any. You're going to have three solid arms there. You have a couple of pieces that just give this team some hope, some life. And I think most importantly, something new and different and it can't be 39 year old or however old he is, Justin Turner. That can't be it. It has to be somebody new that kind of crazy that this is the guy I'm going to use as an example, but he's the only one that's been brought in is like of the Dalton Varshot ilk of like, hey, this is a little different now, don't please don't trade away your best prospect for a guy who's just a, you know, piece of the puzzle, got a difference maker. But I think that's what you need to see is like, if Varshot wasn't traded for the best prospect on the team and he was just a guy they were able to maneuver and get, you know what you'd say? Man, that was different. That's something interesting. I can complain about it. I could talk about his defense occasionally runs into one, but there's just been so much of the same, same with this team for so long. And it was fine when it was playoffs playoffs, but clearly that isn't going to happen this year and you just need a big reset this off season. They do. And I think trading Vlad would be a really, really crazy move and they're not going to do it before the deadline. So that's out the door and they're not going to trade bull before the deadline. He's hurt. He's been hurt all year. You're not going to trade your one of your best assets at his worst value as he could ever have it right now. I just have a hard time with the full tear down because that's something that fans kind of long for. Yeah. It's like, holy crap, I would kill for 87 wins right now. I would kill for a team that's in the mix for the wildcard doesn't work that way in baseball, either. But so this deadline, yes, with Ross Atkins, so Kukuchi, Chad Green, I guess, maybe Danny Janssen. But I don't know why you just I think maybe just give him a contract and give him around Jimmy Garcia. Who else are we talking about here? Trevor Richards. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think I trust Ross Atkins to be able to extract enough value from teams for those traits. I think where I'm at with it is it's not even about trusting him. It's that I don't like, okay, who's the greatest baseball executive of all time? Like pick your guy. I don't think they could extract gold out of what the J's now have to work with on the trademark. And I just don't think it's detrimental at all. Like, I don't think he's been very good at all, but like, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to get somebody's B prospects for, for you, say, get somebody, somebody can. And that somebody can be Ross Atkins get the six best prospect in the Mariners org or whatever. But what I will say is if you are going to trade bow and flat, if you are going to do full reset. Yeah. I got to tell you, it's not going to be Ross doing it. Nope. I think you let him handle this deadline and let him trade the UFAs. Is it UFAs and baseball? Is that all? I just call free agents. Free agents. There's no restricted. Yeah. So team control. You trade. He loves it. You trade away. Oh my God. We got 41 years of control. I told this. I longed for the good old days. I had to say in the stupid stuff. We had BNS on the show the other day. And for my money's worth, that was the greatest move he ever made as J's GM because I still got mileage out of that quote. So I don't think, like, let him do this deadline. You're clearly not fired mid-season. God no. But you got to bring in a fresh side that said to eyes, baby, for this off-season because it's a huge one for the J's. Like, are you, you need to figure out what you're going to pay Vlad because to me that's still a little bit confusing, even though he's having a great year and he's starting to look like what I thought he would look like. You got to deal with Bo who's been pouting all year, who's been had an awful attitude, had an awful season, talking to every other reporter and being like, I love, they try to win here. I still can't believe that. It's like, oh, oh, I saw some fans be like, oh, some guy caught him off guard and asked some questions. It's like, he leaned into that. He's chained on his chest. I said that I made this point at the time it happened. Go ahead. Like, everybody, you, we all watch sports here. The idea of road player doing a sit-down with the opposing team's TV crew, which just does not happen. So I think it's crazy that I've got to this place because I used to think Bo was a better player than Vladi. And I thought for a long time if you're going to sign somebody, it would be, no, but it matters in Toronto that somebody wants to be here. >> Boy does it. >> That's been an issue with this organization forever. >> And he's always wanted to be here in Vlad, yes. And he's said it again, like, I think you just sign him? I think, guess what? Even if you got to overpay him and it's going to be deemed as an overpay, you need baseball players in your baseball team. >> Totally. >> He's a marketable star who's been in the All-Star game multiple times, been in the home run derby. Like, if you're going to stink, you've got to at least have something to convince people to come down to the park and watch. >> Totally. >> So, they got some big time heavy lifting to do in this offseason. And I'm not sure what they're going to do. But to back to my other point, this trade deadline, I think you have to be very wary of the public perception of punting on next season as well, when you, like, if you start thinking about trading God, or you start thinking about trading Bassett, you better be getting really good packages back, because you need to still give off the public perception that you're going to be competing next year, where all you need to be is half-decent to be in the conversation for a playoff team. So, there's a lot of thoughts flying around with me with the J's, and they're just in a really interesting spot. >> Yeah. >> And Tuesday's going to be super, it's a Tuesday or Monday, that the deadline. >> Tuesday. >> Tuesday's going to be super interesting for the J's. >> Yeah, it's going to be fascinating, you know, I do, I was, we're going to transition to Olympic stuff. I do it at eight before we, we talked to Rob here. So let me throw this at you, you mentioned Bo and Vlad, and I think a lot of people are of the same opinion of you, that if you're going to, like, again, go back in a time machine to honestly six months ago, which one of these guys do you want to build around? Do you want to build around Bo, or do you want to build around Vlad? The idea of one is super serious, and he's just a serial winner and competitor, and every day that he doesn't go four from four, and the team wins 13, nothing is a bad day. And then the other guy who, the trade well as friends, because it was too loosey-goosey, and everyone's having too much fun. >> Buddy, I've been, I've been one of the biggest serial offenders of killing Vlad. I got early in the season, I got ratioed by Ricky Romero on Twitter because I've learned a video of Vlad smiling after striking out, and it was so sour. He's pissed me off more than any athlete, maybe, in their first few years than he, than Vlad. He pissed me off. Maybe this is too pie in the sky, maybe the fact that Bussette has had the year and seems to have soured in a way that I quite frankly, seems a little unforeseen for me. Maybe this is too, we're too far gone and the horse are too far out of the barn here. But the more I thought about it, because I've been, again, of the same opinion of everyone else, like, okay, if you got to pick a guy to be your leader, go with Bo. I actually think this is the perfect two guys to lead your team if they're both going. Like the idea of having one cornerstone, who is going to get paid more just because of the like production leading into the year, is Mr. Happy Go Lucky and every day is a good day. And hey, I could still smile when I go over four and hey, we're going to get them tomorrow. And the other guy being the exact opposite, does that not like, if there's a world where they can meld them together, that feels like exactly what you would want. The yang and the yang, the two guys working in step, but it just seems like they're rarely going at the same time. That's just been a weird kind of happenstance of their times here together. And then whatever one of them is going more, the team takes on that personality. And I don't, I don't look at that as like a flaw of those guys as leaders. I think if anything, it proves that people want to follow those guys. And when it's lab leading the way, the jacket's back and everybody's having fun and smiles a plenty. And when it was bow leading the way, it was like, all right, Matt Chapman, me and you're going to look mean to everybody until they agree with us. And that worked too. I just think that this is in a perfect world. If you could meld the two guys together and have two kind of diametrically opposed guys, which sounds weird to say, I actually think that is the best kind of like future for the J is to lead them into it. Yeah, I just don't think it's a new point. I think it's a new point. Bo is gone. He's as good as gone. And I think he wants to be gone. And I think the organization probably at this point, after what they've seen this season. And he's had some monster seasons. How many times he led the A.L. and hits? I think outside of this year, the worst he's finished is fourth. Yeah. So he hits. He's a great player. But like at certain points here, when, you know, when the rubber hits the road, you've got to make a decision on something. So I. What do you think is more likely that they trade him in the off season or that they let him have the hottest of hot starts next year and trade him at the deadline. It depends on the seasons going. Yeah. Like if they're in it at the trade deadline and he's still in the team, you can't trade them and they lose him for nothing. I think it's very likely they trade him in the off season. The value is going to be depressed. I don't think it will be. It's not going to. It's not depressed to the point that they're right now. It's not good. No. But in the off season, when it's like all he's fully healthy, he's back. Oh, we got best shape of his life stories and like, but in November instead of February. I mean, other teams have professional scouts. For sure. They've seen him play. Yeah. They know how good he can be. That's what skills are. Yeah. The defense. Probably should be a second baseman. But I just, I think that if you're going to trade him, it's going to be in the off season because if you get off to a hot start next year or like a decent start and you're in the mix, then it's like, well, we're going to hold on to him and you're going to lose him for nothing. It's a tricky one. You can't do the, uh, the Rays, Randy or Rosarana trade of, of beating a team 13 nothing and then saying, Hey, Randy, take a hike. Get out of here. The Rays are unbelievable. They're craving. We read this all goes back to Blake Stell in the world series a hundred years ago. I thought that I heard they're trading them from you. Yeah. Like one minute before the show. I was like, Oh, yeah, sorry. I was snoring. When that happened. It's okay. That is a stunning trade for me. I'm like, Randy, Rosarana. Isn't he one of the best players in baseball? Very good. Mm hmm. He has two, he has this year and two more seasons of control. Well, that was the interesting thing about the Rays was a lot of people were pointing out, Oh, the Rays are definitely in their classic seller position. They don't have free agents. Everybody there trading away has years of game. I'm not saying a game above 500. It's like in the mix went to a game above 500 by whooping the Jay's last night is how they got there. And then they, uh, the Rays, they acquired Aidan Smith, Brody Hopkins and a player to be named last. The player to be named last will be the future MVP of baseball. Well, that's what's so funny. Like I see all these people in the, I'm just looking at a passing tweet about it. And everyone's like, holy fleece for the Mariners. Mariners made a, oh my God, it's like, okay, you guys don't follow baseball. Have you watched baseball one time? Apparently not. They will. This will definitely be a good trade for the race. There's no chance. It's not. I, I, if the Rays are trading, Randy, a Rosarana boy that puts some thoughts into other people's minds. Like if they trade him, he was like one of their corner store guys, he was like one of their best hitters. They thought their best hitter. Yep. I'm, I'm stunned by that trade and it makes me feel a little bit differently. So a little bit about the Jase. Yeah. Well, I think the problem is, is like the Jase would kill to, I mean, one, they'd kill to have Randy or Rosarina on the team, but they'd kill to have a guy like that to trade right now. We talk about it. Like of all the guys that have control and have time, it's Bo and his Vlad, that's it. And aging starting pitches. So it's just, they would kill to be able to make that trade. I don't think they would. I think they would hang on to him and it'd be like, Oh, we can get close and he can be part of the retool for Nick. Like, I think all that would happen. But I think that they would love to be in a position to be like, Chris Bassett being absolutely nails, heading into the deadline and then being able to maneuver and that. And I don't think, I don't think this is some team that wants to get rid of Bassett. I think if anything, then they want like more Chris Bassett's on the team. You again, he was, he was heartbroken. They all have blood on their hands this season. He said, in the darkest opening in fan history, Oh damn spot. So last thing for you. Yeah. It's more for Ross Atkins, if you're listening, okay, I got to be honest, don't think so. If you're at the trade deadline, okay, and you're trading away, these guys, yeah, can you get some position players, not just no more project picture pictures? Because how many guys have they drafted that just haven't worked out, yeah, they're pitching, they're drafting of their pitching has been awful. Like Ricky Tiedemann was supposed to be another next best thing. I haven't seen him in the majors. I just, I'm thinking back to all the guys who drafted and none of them contributed. So like the pitch on the pitching side, like who was like, if someone can remind me, Manoa was there. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. And he was great for what he's in. Incredible. But I mean, honestly, just like the idea of getting a guy to the majors that quickly and finding somebody who was able to do that, like you do have to tip your cap to them for that one for sure. I mean, he's got hurt since like, yeah, I just, I think that they need to not just get project pictures and like, could they maybe get like a major league borderline ready outfield field? Well, this is, so. So this is exactly, this is exactly the, the, the schism I think right now, not in the front office. I would imagine they have somewhat of a coherent plan, I hope, but is in the fan base of what do you want? Like, and I don't, I don't get bogged down in the baseball draft. But you know, they take this like very high floor college pitcher who we were talking to, we're talking to Frank Catalunado and Jose Cruz, Jr. I forgot which one of them, but one of them like faced him this year with his team, he was managing in college. They're like, yeah, like he's very close, but naturally speaking, generally very close also means kind of higher floor, lower ceiling kind of guy. And this is the schism of what the J's have kind of tried to do. They've taken the super long term projects and then the guys they have taken that are supposed to be here, haven't quite panned out yet. So I think that's the other thing is there will be people in this fan base who say, I don't care if the best plot prospect you can get is an 18 year old take them. And if it takes five years, so be it. But other people will say, hmm, could I get a Santi al-gues? Well, do you have any of those poking around a guy who would just be on the team for a couple of years, maybe even make an all star game in the fakest all star. So I'm just looking at, there's an awesome piece in Sportsnet.ca and we got to go because we get to bed. But another Ben Ben Nicholson Smith wrote an awesome article on the blue J's draft record from July 10th. So they had, you know, Bishette was their pick. So if you go back to 26, this is for the excerpt from Ben's article. If you go back to 2016 and include Bishette, the blue J's Rick second behind in the division behind Baltimore and Ward drafted. But since that, the organization inflection point of 2017, Toronto ranks last in the alleys, trailing the Orioles, Bianchi's Red Sox and raised by a substantial margin. So you just fall in behind the teams that you have to be on the big, the good drafting that they've done. And I suppose you'd rather this than the other way, but it's been off the strength of one or two guys. Like it's been Manoa. It's been Bishette. Whereas other teams will have a bunch of these kind of much lower war guys, but our contributors or, you know, the 25th man on a roster. And again, I think you can, you can kind of quibble with either side of it. But what we can't quibble with is just need better bodies in the system, quite frankly, you need them. We need, we need to talk to Ben Shulman next, voice of the blue J's heard him on TV last night. I usually hear him on the radio and you'll hear him on your radio next morning show continue sports. And if I had none of the fan unrivaled insight, analysis and opinions on all things blue J's Blair and Barker, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Fan morning show running along here. And this insider is brought to you by Don Valley North Lexus where you can expect X months online and then the showroom visit Don Valley North Lexus dot com time to dive into the blue J's and who better to do that with than Ben Shulman. Benny, how's it going, buddy? We woke you up. One last night. Are you nice? Are you nice and chipper in the morning? Are you a big morning guy, Ben? I don't think so. I think baseball conditions you're not exactly to be a morning guy because the late nights but I don't mind the morning so I'm happy to get up and talk to you guys. Do you're not like you're not fully you say kukuchi needing your 37 hours of sleep a day to prepare to call each game each night? You're not quite there. I would. I would fail if I needed all that I could do a more with three or seven hours of sleep than 37. I will say if that event that took place yesterday afternoon was an evening game that was like a three and a half hour, 13 nothing game. I don't think Ben would be on with us right now. Yeah, that if it was David Schneider's 14th inning walk off, I'm probably no that then come on. This is where you're supposed to at least lie to us and be like, what are you talking about? Of course I would get up to tell the great heroic story of the babe and his walk off except it was a 13 and let's actually just begin here. Thank God for the pitch clock. You know, there's a lot of nights we thank it and I do thank it. I look at it every day and I see it blinking down five four and I go, Oh, thank you. I'm so thankful for you pitch clock. Can you imagine what that game would have been like? It's like you got earning Clement out there. He has no internal clock for how fast this is supposed to go. That game would have taken a hundred hours last night if we did not have the or yesterday afternoon if we didn't have the pitch clock. Yeah, it would have been tough. I can slightly imagine it because although they lost big yesterday, I actually as a fan went to the largest shutout loss in Blue Jays history back in back in 2012. They lost 16 nothing to the Oakland days. And as tough as yesterday was the Blue Jays pitched Jeff Mathis the catcher in that game. And the thing I remember most is in that one after going down huge Travis Snyder actually hit a home run and Josh Reddick robbed it with with the age of eight or nine nothing at that point. So yesterday was tough. I'm not sure it gets worse than the game that I watched in 2012. I mean, I always had some bad slow long games over the years. I will say not to do too many pitch clock picks. Yeah, I know. It's the best thing in the world. How do we live without it? Honestly, it's so crazy to think back is this how people that this must have been what it felt like when like taps were invented running water was a thing. How how? Well, I was perusing my TikTok as I want to do and I saw like a clip from a world series game that was like an extended at that. This is horrific. It was 40 seconds between every pitch. And I remember one of the takes going into the into the pitch clock era was it's going to rob of all this drama and it's going to rob and it's going to be too rushed. And what if it comes down to pitch clock violation is the winning run of the world series. And I've just that conversation immediately went out the window, Ben, which is gone. Yeah, the drama of David Ortiz undoing the top button on history and the adding gloves was was intriguing, but I was a big fan of it. I I still am. It is awkward every once in a while when there's the ball or strike, but I think the average fan barely even this is the clock anymore. And then that's the best I hate to why I hate to give you a window into how the and again, like baseball, different sport than others, the average fan. There's a lot of average fans that go when that guy come up, I didn't even see what happened the last of bad. Kind of like passive watching and listening, I'd say, I've actually though, but like it's now it's like a drug. I want less time. I want to go down. Like give me 10 seconds. I want it to go to town, but he's been clamoring to get baseball back in the Olympics and maybe that's the way we do it. Speed baseball, three seconds for each pitch specialist. That's all they do. It is coming back in 2028 already. So that's good. All right. Break dancing out. Hopefully. Yes. He's question. Well, no, let's stick to let's stick to baseball in the Olympics. Would you love to see it? I, I cannot envision a world where the owners and the players that agree on literally anything, I guess, other than the pitch clock and even then the players that thought about disagreeing with it for two seconds earlier this year. Can you ever see a world where we get these players in the Olympics like baseball can come back and, you know, like we all love our like petals, stubby clap moments. Of course you do. But God, I'd love it if it was like, you know, all the Canadian guys who are the big leagues now, like the nailer boys and, you know, again, like we could sit here naming names forever. Do you think we ever get major league players in Olympic games? I'm not going to rule it out entirely, but I don't have a ton of faith in it. I still think that the likelihood that they take a break right in the middle of the season is low. It ends up extending the year and I think a lot of guys don't want to do that not to mention, you know, a lot of teams are probably worried about giving guys up right in the thick of the season. So it feels unlikely to me. Like you, I really wish it would happen. And even when we get kind of a taste of it, like we've seen with good turnout at the World Baseball Classic the past couple of years, it is a lot of fun. But yeah, for right now, I would be surprised, but you never know, 20 to still always away and in the future after that, maybe there's some incentive that we don't realize now that that pushes teams and players toward really wanting to get in there and playing in the Olympics. Right. Now I have a Blue Jays question for you, Ben. Just quick point of fact about that. If that happens, my trout still won't win anything that matters when he wins on America losing to Japan. I love it. Here's, here's what I'll say. I talked about this earlier with Gunner where once you got over the initial disappointment of this season, clearly not going away, a lot of us thought it was going to go. You know, the J's are going to be a sort of a plucky wild card contender against much like they were last year. And once you got over that original disappointment, I have had nights where I've enjoyed watching this team. And there's some good stories like love that I've seen from Horowitz, Vlad. He's been unbelievable. The resurrection of George Springer. But every so often, there's a night Ben that just reminds you of how far away this team can be. And last night was like, holy crap, they got a lot of work to do coming up this deadline in the offseason. Yeah, you know, I think, you know, to your initial point, even if a team loses more than they win in baseball, you're going to have a lot of fun nights. But if you lose more than you win, you're going to have some tough nights. And then yesterday was about as rough as it's going to get. I mean, I had to say that because you never know what's coming to the future. But it was, it was a tough one yesterday and, and I think what it showed was two things. One that, you know, they still, even though some guys have had some big offensive months, especially at the top three guys in the order, that's what we opened with on the TV broadcast. You know, there's still a lot that the lineup needs in terms of adding to it. And then it, it really showed you, I think, you know, how, how tough of a year it's been for the Blue Jay Pen, not, not that that night is completely representative. That's an especially bad one. But with all the injuries and a little bit of inconsistency as well, I mean, that turned into not a game and it really was a game for five innings. It was three nothing going into the sixth and then it really kind of blew up after the bullpen came in. So for the Blue Jays, you know, if they are going to try and, and compete in the near future, kind of like you said, there's a lot of work to be done. There's, there's several areas that have to get addressed and, and I think it's possible to do it, but it will take a big effort if the Blue Jays are going to turn this around and in one deadline in one off season. Okay. You're, you're better at this than, than the two of us. Let's be optimistic for the rest of the season. What are, what are like the good storylines? I think you would like to see Vladie put an exclamation point or just kind of finish off this great ear he's had. I, I suppose that, you know, a, a shed healthy month would, would be nice in here, but what do you think are the kind of realistic good storylines we can, we can get in the second half or post deadline part of the season here? Yeah, you mentioned Vlad for which I think when you look on the offensive side of the ball, those two stand out, the most, you know, you're probably also watching the developments of Leo Jimenez and some of the other young players and, and maybe some more guys to even come. If some people are dealt with the deadline and some spots, open up. Like you said, hoping, you know, to see the health of Bo and, and probably even more in their future Isaac Hunter, Palafo, who has had a great season for the Blue Jays, his best offensive season to date on the pitching side. I think there's some relievers that you watch for, for next season. It's, it's all about, I think, looking for who can contribute next year. And, you know, Genesis Cabrera has put together a pretty impressive year. He's now, it, it seems the lead lefty for the Blue Jays. Brendan Little, though, has worked his way into the fold and although his last appearance was not his best, I think you look at him and think, what can he be going forward in the same? Could be said for a couple other relievers in the pen. What is Eric Swanson going to look like in this second half and, and, you know, what can you get from guys like Ryan Burr, et cetera. And then I, I really look, I think my most fun one is, is Yari El Rodriguez, you know, what he's done in July and, and if he can continue to do this going forward, how important that is for the Blue Jays because you figure, you know, at least you say Kakuchi's spot in the rotation is going to be available for next season and, and perhaps there's another rotation spot. I don't think so, but, but maybe another one is open as well. So, uh, Yari El being a guy that can contribute in the rotation for the Blue Jays next year is massive. And what he's done in July, it's not only been effective, but he's just really fun to watch in general. He's very entertaining. So, uh, he's probably at the top of my list in terms, uh, what you want to watch going forward in the second half. Yeah, I think that's, uh, that's number one with a bullet for a lot of people. Again, I mean, Vlad, Vlad certainly is there, but I think it's a little more expected. And that, that was kind of the point I was hitting on earlier is just, it's been a lot of same this year. I think the idea of there being something new and Rodriguez is certainly a tick that box. I think that, uh, that gets, uh, the people excited or as excited as they're going to be this year. Ben, thanks so much for jumping on early now. Go take a little nap, get ready for some more baseball. Appreciate it, Benny. Thank you very much, guys. Have a good one. Joe's, uh, Ben Schulman, you can hear him on the radio normally here on TV this week. Uh, that insider is brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom visit Don Valley, North Lexus.com. I gotta say, he mentioned Brandon little there. Yeah. I'm buying a little stock. Oh, this is classic. You got a, you got a dabble, you got to pick a guy at least. I think the way that like lefties develop, like you don't, to me, it's not like you're going to go out on the free agent market and you're going to get a lefty reliever. It's like, unless it's BJ Ryan, I don't think you're going to be doing that. You always develop these guys from within. And I guess they, did they claim, uh, off wavers? Right. You always, like these lefty relievers are so wide around and it's just like, I, I feel like they come out of nowhere even when Tim Maisel was at his best, I feel like he totally came out of nowhere. And I actually like what I've seen from little decent delivery, like, I, I've, I've liked him a little bit and I'm just like looking through the names of this pitching staff. Like who is going to be on the team when they're good burials burials, I guess that, that's all I got long until they're good. Like I guess if you want to say they're going to be good next year, there's no, but I mean, even if, if, if the blue jays are good in three years, I think Jose burials is still on this team. What under, how long is he under contract for? So he has, he has this year, two more and then I, he, he has an opt out. I think it's after two years following this season, but the, the years left on his deal after the opt out pay him just short of 50 million for two years. And that's a very like sketchy one. You absolutely nailed it. Okay. We talked about it. Like we've talked about this yesterday burials contract. That's why I literally paid yesterday, but so the thing is that we were looking at that. There's a world where he opts out and says, let me go get 360 from somebody, but there's also a world where he's like, give me that money in a good situation. And I mean, look what happened to Blake Snell this offseason, right? Like that's a guy who has a ton of Bonafide's and again, like we understand what he is as a pitcher. But that was a guy who had to take a two year deal that would have kind of paid him less than I think he was expecting to get. So burials is a very, he's actually a very iffy one because that opt out, I could, I can see it playing both ways. I could see the player saying, lock me into that. I can also see him saying, no, no, no, no, no, we're going to redo this thing. So then I guess Romano will be on the staff when they're good, right? That is totally dependent on how quick you think they're going to be good. He is, he is a reliever that has already had injuries and he's 31 years old. Yeah, I guess baseball guys are always way older than you think. That's the thing. Like we all think of Romano, like gun to my head before I pulled it up in front of me I would have thought 26 years old, 27, something like that, 31. And he's still our election. Right, just in debt, you're servitude to these guys forever. So he still has one more year of control after this. So I guess next year will be his, you know, sucks, bad time of that injury for him. Yes. But like, I guess he'd be on the team when they're good, but like I'm looking through these guys. I mean, it depends what you think the turnaround is. If it's two years, then sure he can be on the team, it's very plausible for good. For sure. Yeah, he's a five year as under contract and I will say, like the cut of his chip. I do. It's like the way he finishes an athletic position, the way he just like, huh, like when he's like standing there, like when he's ready to go, I do like the look of him. Okay. He's got some nasty off speed stuff. He's just a, he's like a control guy. I like the way he looks. I think he's a good pitcher. He is the, well, God's been again. It's like, if, if you think the turnaround and hand up, I do not, if you think the turnaround comes next season, then of course, you have a Gaussman, of course, Chris Bassett. But if it is literally anything beyond that, I don't think that that's a guarantee. At all. Because if you're going to retool, what Bassett and Gaussman are going to be in the last years of those deals or second to last year for Bassett, I guess, it's not going to be what this is now. Those are going to be your like best, probably three, four starter on a good team. And this is what's so detrimental gunner about the drafting record, where you look around the league and the good teams, it's got arms for days coming. They're just pulling up people who are just like, they're, they, you look loose. Get up here. I don't know. I saw a highlight of a guy that played for the Diamondbacks. Yeah. I'd never heard him before pitching the injury. One of the best follows. Oh, Danielle, it was going off to me about this guy yesterday. The number 62. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what the hell his name is. 22 or something like that. Yeah. He's throwing 102 mile an hour cutters. He's got this nasty slide piece. Just feels like every other team calls up these young guys. And the Jason's have none of that coming. Never. It was supposed to be our man, Zouvelette, and I don't know what happened. I don't know. Right? Poken around. Ben knows where he is. Ben would find him. You know where he is? Not close to or in the Major League. But this is exactly the time in a team's trajectory. Yes. When you need to like start bringing in the guys that like underneath the top wave and it's just not coming. So that's why this deadline for them is so massively important gunner where they need to just fill up the farm system with some decent guys that can maybe contribute next year or the year after. And it's teed him and he may be Pearson. He may be. Pearson. At this point it's like you dare say take Pearson. No. He's been there. No, I can't do that. I know. But what's the track record to prove otherwise? What's happened with Nate Pearson is one of the more heartbreaking things because I'm sure I don't even want to know what they could have traded Pearson for at the top of his worth. It's also twofold that Nate Pearson, I'm sure there's a lot of teams who feel like they have this guy. He felt like the last guy who 100 was special. And then the second he showed up, it's like, oh, 100, 100 straight as an arrow. Yeah. Doesn't play anymore. You got to do the Duran where it's like, oh, this is my splinker and it goes 100. Yeah. You know, and like Jordan Hicks, he had a nasty 102 mile an hour to have a little cut to it, that sort of thing. So it's going to be a long one even build to get their pitching staff into where it needs to be. Because just looking at these names in this list, yeah, it's heartbreaking. Well, even if you don't, even if you don't envision like these trades setting up your system to be the wave, it's like, they don't have an ability to go out and get the guide. Like this is the problem with, and it's like, takes you've heard in Toronto 10,000 times, but it's like, this is the problem with the Varsho trade. You use your biggest sexiest piece to go get nothing, a piece of the gears, like, and not a big one. The small gears, although he's literally in top 10 defensive runs, no, no, he's at two separate positions. He's an incredible defender. It's so good. He's so good. If they signed him, just a free agent, just a guy of course, that's what I said. The idea of the like, he's kind of short, he's kind of stocky. He runs into one on occasion. And if that was the guy and he came to your team literally any other way, home run, you'd be like, wow, what a great move by Ross. But unfortunately, that's not what is, is getting said here. Yeah, Blue Jays, it's like, it's been a while since they've been here. We are fully back into meaningful September baseball conversations. Like, we're not going to have that this year just to just to clarify, just to clarify. But man, those were the darkest days of Jay'sdom, right of, wow, could we, one day, could we be five and a half back in September, but the thing is, those conversations, the team was good. Yeah. They just had no chance within the old format. I know. With the Yankees and Red Sox in their division, the wild cards. What I did a bit of this yesterday as well, but the other thing is that you look at this, you look at this now and forever, the A.L.E.s was the excuse, like, well, I mean, you're in the A.L.E.s. What do you want to do? Buddy, the Tigers are better than you and they're third and essential. So can I just have one request that I know you will love this request? Okay, I do. I know you will. Okay. I pretty love it. Can we just not ever have Joey Vodel on the chase? Oh my God. Every day I got to, like, with the newspaper, like, whack Ben. It's like, I see credible baseball people be like, when will we say Joey Vodel's debut? Like, hopefully never. Why? Like, can we just skip the part where he hits 140 for the J's and put him on the desk with Jamie and Caleb? Can we just skip that part? I should put him there right now. Like, we don't need to see it. I agree. I wholeheartedly agree. I can't believe that there's anyone that's having, like, I know it's grim. I had no one's grim. I had one moment. And I told Ben this. One day that I would have, and I would have complained about it, but I would have allowed it. If they're going to completely lean into the story and they were going to call him up on Canada Day to play in the home game on Canada Day, it's like, again, I would have my thoughts on that. I would definitely share them with all of you. But if you're going to do it because it's strictly like PR, make nice, then do it that day and let him come out in his dumb mountain outfit that he loves to wear when he's not saying he doesn't care about Canada baseball. So I think that's the day I would have been all hand-written pretentious now to try to trick all the dumbbells. You don't have to, we're, we are singing to the same. Do you agree? I love to agree. I love to agree. All right. Let's see if we agree here. It's now time for the wake and break presented by Sports Interaction, your home-growing sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly, Rangers and J's starting up a series tonight. This will, this will shock you. The J's minus 130 on the money line. I think I'll be taking the Rangers there there plus a hundred over under total in this game is eight over minus 105 under minus 115. I'm just going to take the Rangers straight up on the money line. It's blue J's folks. You've heard us talk about them for the last hour. It is grim right now. I don't expect it to get better tonight. So yeah, give me Rangers straight up on the money line. Love that. If you can get the J's, so if you can get the team playing the J's as a dog. Yeah. 10 times out of 10. If you want to get jealous about his one and a half runs, 165 there. Oh yeah. There you go. Rangers. Sorry. I'm just telling you, telling you how to spend your money. That was the wake and rate presented by sports interaction. Your home growing sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. All right. We've teased it all morning. It's finally coming. Our draft of Olympic sports. We most want to watch and maybe our Atlantic division power rankings coming up on the other side. One hour left.
