[MUSIC] Whilst the Bruins come in here and play an exceptional road game. And beat the Maple Leafs by a score of four to one. Despite being outshot, 33 to 30 on the game. >> Boston played hard, they defended their net extremely well, you know. And they make good on their chances of we don't make good on ours. You tend to overanalyze the game and overemphasize the negative. We did a lot of good things here today. But you can't just do good things and expect to be the team like Boston. You gotta do great things, you gotta be ultra competitive. You gotta be great on special teams, there's a lot of things we need to line up. And then we're enough for those for us to make. >> I think just knowing the rivalry between Boston and Toronto, I think when I first signed here, that was the series between them. And it's always exciting to play against the Bruins. [MUSIC] >> Bad morning, Joe Sport's at 5'9" in the band, Ben Anis, Frank Gunning. So all the good of the previous week and a half, just a race. >> A 60 minute nod, not quite. >> I don't think that's how it works. >> No, we've ruined it though, as you said, not the top of the show. >> Yeah, you'd like to have one W in the three games against the Boston Bruins. This season, the Maple Leafs have none. They have two points out of it though, couple of overtime losses. Not yesterday though, as they lose 4-1 to the Boston Bruins in the third matchup between these two teams this season. And Joe Wall, making a second start since returning from his high ankle sprain. First one went pretty well against Arizona. Yesterday, it's like he's not to blame. >> Nope. >> And yeah, late in that game, Leafs are pressing and boy, making the Bruins think about it down 3-1, made a couple of saves. Before the Bruins put it away with the fourth goal. It's interesting though, in a week in which it did feel like we were gonna go start to start and we still are and Sheldon Keefe saying that the schedule is going to dictate which goalie is gonna start this week. That with yet another Bruins game to come on Thursday and a back to back after the Sabers game on tomorrow, on Wednesday, that it was Joe Wall starting yesterday after the incredible performance on Saturday against another team that's one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Although not in the Atlantic Division, so didn't bolster their horrible record within the Atlantic Division and the Leafs only better than the Canadians as far as intra-divisional play this season. What did it indicate to you, if anything Brent, that it was Joe Wall getting the start yesterday instead of Ilya Sampson off? >> It indicates what Sheldon Keefe has felt the whole season long, that when push comes to shove, if all things are equal, that's the guy he's more confident in. I don't think that Ilya Sampson off can't change Sheldon Keefe's mind, but I think at the start of the season, that's how Sheldon Keefe felt. If you go back and I'm not talking about the comments after the two rough games, even before those Sheldon Keefe's comments talking about Joe Wall and wanting him to be involved and then at every turn making a point to prioritize getting him in, it is pretty clear to me that that is the goal tender Sheldon Keefe has the most confidence in. And I don't say that right now, I say that to me, that's the guy he thinks he's going to be most confident in coming April when the playoffs start. And that's why I think he got the start against Boston, and that's why I think he'll get the next one on Thursday. >> Yeah, it's the only, I mean, the only counter argument to that you can make is that, hey, coming off the injury, we don't want him sitting too long, right? Like, if we're going start to start, as not back to back, like this play on Saturday, Billy Sampson, I played one of his best games of the season against a team that's somebody that you may have to go through this spring. If we're just going evaluating start to start, there's absolutely no reason not to give him that start against the Bruins. Other than if you think, okay, I know, I said it's scheduled, dictates it, and it's a meritocracy here for this week, but Joe Wall's only made one start since he returned. We really can't have him sitting for a prolonged period of time. So that's your argument, I guess I can hear it to some degree, but no, they're force feeding him. They're force feeding Joe Wall, and now they're in a place where, I mean, if you are going on meritocracy, you can't have him despite again, not his fault. >> Nope, they only scored one goal, and it came in the third period, and the game was largely out of reach at that point. You're not going to reward him with another start on Wednesday against the Sabers. So that means that Sampson enough is starting in that game, and then Wall's again against the Bruins on Thursday. >> Well, and this is part of where it'll be interesting what actually happens, and what they say is happening, because they're not going to come out and say, yeah, it's effectively a demotion that he's starting on Wednesday because we want Sammy and the net on Thursday. That's the other part of this is that, you know, the key if I don't think it's ever been too crystal, Mike, Mike Babcock made it abundantly clear. He wants his best goalie on the first night of a back-to-back because you get your chance to win. There's no, what about at home, there's no get, Keith's been a little more wishy-washy with that. It's been, there hasn't been a definitive number one for the bulk of Keith's tenure here outside of, again, it's fleeting moments of Jack Campbell and Freddie Anderson for a short time. But the overlap between Anderson and Keith was almost non-existent there as well. So I look at it and I think that it's just proof positive of how much more confident he is in Wall. And honestly, it's not right to feel that way right now. But I completely understand where he's coming from. Like I was around for Ilya Sampson off falling off, not having his play dip, but falling off the face of the earth as an NHL goaltender. Yeah, but he's also the only Leafs goaltender in the last 20 years to win a playoff series, you know? Yeah. Okay. So we just throw that out. Well, I would argue that as good as the playoff series win is, everything you saw this year is equally as bad. Now the moments don't matter as much, being that goalie in November and December and into January, that didn't kill the team the way it would have. If you were that guy in April and heaven forbid in May, when the playoffs roll around, but I think you have to weigh those things somewhat similarly because the thing with Sampson off is that it's we're going to do Jay's least parallels all the time. I'm going to actually bring it back to Jay's is it's like with Manoa is we've seen it gets so bad that how long does that have to and it's not a matter of he can play so well that it removes that after taste. It's that we need to be far enough removed from it that I don't think the other shoes going to drop. And I do think there's got to be an element of that with Keith or the other shoe could drop. The other shoe could drop a Joe wall. All right. Like, okay, he's been pretty consistent since he's been an NHLer and that's what that's all the coach wants. The coach, of course, would love to have a guy who can go back there and make 10, 10 bellers a night and stand on his head, but really he would take a higher floor over a higher ceiling. I would sure, sure, sure. And it was I of the same belief and am I like in my heart of hearts still of the same belief that believing that Joe wall and part of this is the contractual status and yeah, the Joe wall is the goaltender of the future and wouldn't you love for that to to emerge and wouldn't you love for the the discussion? Maybe not that you would love for it to be obvious, but yeah, pretty clear that Joe wall at least gets the opportunity in game one against whoever in the opening round of the postseason. But I also open to the idea that Samson off returns to form and looks like the guy that had a near 9/20 save percentage and was the better goalie over six games against Andre Vasilevsky and Vasilevsky get it didn't look at his best in that series. But at times, you know, you Samson off looked amazing, right, like they don't win that series without the performance they got out of Ilya Samson off in that six game series. Now, it just it does feel like they're force feeding it, right? Like let it happen organically if that's what you believe is ultimately where this team is headed is that Joe wall is going to outplay Ilya Samson off and he is going to deserve game one of the postseason. Okay, we'll let that happen. Let let Ilya Samson off stub his toe against the Boston Bruins. What it what it feels like it's like to overt. And now if if you give wall to start tomorrow against the sabers and and force feed Samson off to the Bruins, it does feel like now you're you again, it feels like there's too much hands on like you can see you can see how the sausage is made if they do that. So I I think the way I look at it is that they just don't think they have enough time to let it happen organically without force feeding wall, the big moment games or the games that are going to have that playoff feel. I do want because I I agree with you and I want to be clear. You asked me what I think Sheldon Keith is thinking. You asked me what I'm thinking. It's give Ilya Samson off the net against the Bruins this week with how good he's been. Of course, that's what I'm doing. Let me just make that part abundantly clear. But in terms of the Leafs, I think they look at it with wall and they say, okay, this is the guy in our heart of hearts, we're more confident in because of the injury history that's happened in the past because of the injury he had this year as much as they would love to say, ah, we could just let it happen organically and we'll feel good about heading into the playoffs. I think they still need to see it in games that matter or measuring stick games or playoff field type games. However, you want to define that. I think that's why you're seeing it from them because as much as they think that's the way they want to go and they feel that's the way this is trending and the contract to all of that, I think they still want to see it before they go charging into the playoffs head first with Joe wall as their guy. Okay. All that's true. Yeah. And it's not like you're trying to lose hockey, but you don't start you don't you do not start Joseph Wall yesterday. If your number one priority is picking up the two points against the Boston Bruins. I'm sorry. You just don't. Okay. But haven't we been complaining that that's been keys problem all the time is treating every game like life or death. Okay. All right. So then you're admitting that you don't really care about winning the division or having home ice advantage, which is fine. Yeah, I will. I will right now put hand up and say don't really care about winning the division. Again, it's not like you're hunting, but like, yeah, if you're idea, if you have two, two goalies that are, you know, there's no defined starter backup and whoever's rolling is really no argument to be made against Ilya Samsonov considering the performance. No Saturday, your best chance to win the hockey game yesterday was with the guy who looked at his best at most recent, right? And both guys, listen, we can't talk about track record with either guy because yeah, their coin flips both of them on a given night, but the coin is landing heads most recently for Ilya Samsonov. So yeah, I guess what you're telling us is that you're, you're still in the mode of experimenting and that, okay, you'll, you'll, you'll take the two points as they come, but surpassing the Bruins, having home ice advantage, maybe, you know, catching the Panthers, not carrying as much down the stretch and having a chance to win the division, which is still not an outside, it's an outside possibility, but it's not an impossibility. May beliefs end up atop the Atlantic division. If that's what you're telling us, I guess I can't quibble, but then if that's the case, it's hard to argue with, hey, well, where's the, where's the effort level? Like, where, where is the, like, feel a dam for this team against a divisional rival that could be their first round opponent, you know, if, if the players are being told, maybe not explicitly, explicitly, but implicitly by the coach that, hey, we're making decisions that aren't necessarily to win in, in tonight's 60 minute hockey game. Yeah, like you're telling me that they're like not a 1% of their effort level, maybe changes in that, in that 60 minute hockey game? Oh, I mean, I'm the biggest believer in, yes, as much as you would love every guy to go out there and play every game like it's game seven to stand the cup finals is just not. No, Bruins wanted that game more. They were embarrassed over the weekend. They did. They wanted that game. They were embarrassed. They got their tails kicked by a social Islanders team. So of course they were going to come in there. And it's the Leafs. There is an element of that. I understand the point you're making. I just think that as much as we're sitting here, having this discussion over hot hand, and I don't think the guys do it so explicitly is like every day they have like a tribal council in in Leafs and it's like, all right, who's going to be the last survive in Leafs goalie here? But you don't think those guys are a little split from game to game from week to week. You give them the sodium pentathol of who the better goalie is on any given night. And yes, sometimes have sometimes there's a clearest day answer where 20 of the guys on the team are going to say, uh, come on, what are we doing here? But I think for the bulk of this season, much like the coaching staff has been kind of split, I bet the room is kind of split on that. Yes, but there's no one instance for sure. Yeah, not, not the case. Like if you want to make the like locker room case, it's like, ooh, is the Ilya Samsonov? And it's hard to argue because, you know, he's been so bad for so much of the season, right? And he's just playing for his next contract and yadda, yadda, yadda. But are you not looking around and saying, Hey, I thought this is a meritocracy. I thought we're going start to start. Like that was pretty good. Didn't you like the two points that I picked up against pretty good Rangers team and a dueling a guy that also might be headed to the Hall of Fame and Igor Schusterkin down the line? Like, didn't you like that? That argument. I could only add credence. Yeah, but I also think that much like if a, a goaltending in players are not the same. So they shouldn't be treated the same. But I think that, again, I think athletes, they probably think of themselves as closer to one another than we do in terms of a player to, or a skater to, to a goaltender. But if a, you know, Austin Matthews and Joe Wall, I don't know if they're actually the same age, but they're the same draft year. Okay. If a now, Austin Matthews is a completely different animal. But if somebody that age comes back from a layoff and you find a way for them to get in the lineup and you put them up and down the lineup, we've seen it with Tyler Bertuzzi of meritocracy. He shouldn't have been on PP one. Like you do different things to get different guys on your team going. And that's why I think that I don't, I don't think that they look at that and say, oh, we're punting on tonight because we have wall and net, but I, I also think that there are guys on that team who again, push comes to shove. They probably go, awesome. We got wall and net tonight. They probably feel really good about him again. Like they see the exact same thing we do. And as much as Samson on has been good lately, they were the ones who had to wear it when he was hanging them out to dry for a month and a half straight. And I do think that that is probably lingering more or not, I shouldn't say more, but it is lingering in the back of their minds, maybe more than we think. Yeah. And he'll face the team, uh, the lit them up to the tune of not nine gold, but they scored nine goals against, maybe it's last time. Elia Samson off started against the Buffalo Sabres, ruining my trip to, to the queen. That's right. I forgot about that. Yeah. No, I was just going to say, the other thing I was going to say is that, and we've talked about this with the lack of measuring stick games is, okay, Boston, like that definitely is one. You got a couple more games against the hurricanes this month. There's an oilers game in there, but there's two capitals games. There's two flyers games. There's the Sabres tomorrow. There's the Canadians. I do wonder that's the thing I'm going to kind of be keeping tabs on is not the starts for each guy. If they kind of work out, but if we do start to see a pretty clear delineation of who gets the bigger starts because there are going to be some clear kind of big games and much less so for this, the least need to get their points in all these games, but they're going to be playing playoff teams and they'll be playing non and I'll be interesting to see the breakdown there. Cause I think that'll tell us a little something about what the Leafs are doing with their goal attending as well. Do you care about the record against the Atlantic Division, right? Like the Bruins thing is one thing being 0 and 3, but having or 0, 1 and 2 is one thing. They do have a 2 and 1 record against the Rangers who obviously don't play in same division, but like, yeah, they only have a better record than the Montreal Canadiens within the Atlantic Division. Do you make anything on that? Yep, I do. But not the doom and gloom that I think a lot of people do. Much like it is when they play every team in the NHL, but especially for the Atlantic Division teams, it's, they're, they're super bowl every time. Like you, you can say it should be the Florida Panthers cause of what they did. It's not. I'm sorry. Like Florida Panthers that, that you don't have teams putting a target on your back that way. That's what it is to me. You see the way the sentence play in every game against the Leafs like it is. Game seven and the Stanley Cup final, Montreal Canadiens, the exact same thing and the Leafs actually have the record against them. So I, I would, I have much more concern when it's the record against playoff teams or the teams you will, and I, I know they'll have to go through Boston or one of those, but I've also watched those games. So no, I, I guess the wide sweeping way to say it is no, I'm not overly concerned because all these Atlantic division teams treat it like game seven, the cup final. Yeah, the record, the poor record against the Atlantic is largely built on them being one in five against the Sens and Zabers. There you go. Okay. So do those matter? No. And they've only played Montreal once and they picked up the two points against them. So yeah, it looks a lot different if you were able to be the bad teams that will not be an issue in the postseason. Yes. Yeah. The zero wins in the column against the Bruins stands out, but yeah, not like they're getting their butts kicked right, all these teams that they're going to be up against in the postseason, even the Panthers and lightning, they have pretty solid records against this season. So they won 14 of the last 19 despite the loss yesterday. Okay, Leafs are good right now. Trade deadlines fast approaching Friday, looking forward to that show on Friday. Leafs have made a move, got to right hand shot, defense, but it's going to play I guess on the top pairing. And Ilya Labushkin next to Morgan Riley, their Lucian stand in for this season. They're still grinding. And I mean, to the Labushkin trade point, they got some cap retention there for the clear express purpose of making yet another move as we approach Friday. Now I guess maybe take yesterday's performance out of it because maybe that changes your thinking around this thing, but like the recent run of play for this team has been pretty outstanding. Yep. Hard to nitpick all that much surrounding this team recently. Is there a risk, Brent, of making a move that upsets the apple cart? I don't think so because I don't think that move is there to be made like Adam Henry, because the guy that keeps getting bandied about if you don't feel good about Max Domi, I just don't see that as realistic rental for that price and everything we've talked about here. I just can't see that happening. I can understand being weary of making that move because that does kind of remove all the causes, all the jenga pieces to come tumbling down. You got to build it all back up. That one I'm weary of, but the idea of you can't add to the blue line or you can't go get another kind of you can't go do a two for one trade where you get a five six defense been in a 10 to 13th forward in the mix there. You can do something like that still without upsetting the apple card. So the only trade that would do that is your two C trade and I just don't see that happening. Even if you were able to make a big swing on the blue line and big swing relative terms like Adam Larson is the type of name that gets bandied about a lot. You can do that without upsetting the apple cart on this team a thousand percent. You can do that. It's just the center position because you finally got things stacked and yeah, in a perfect world, sure, but Adam Henry, I really like him as a center, but I can also see a world where we're going, God, you need a little more offense when you like to have don't me be it. So you're just on the other side of things there. So no, I don't think there's a move that would upset the apple cart and feel free to add to this team still. Yeah, if there was a Ryan O'Reilly with term out there, right? Like, sure. Oh, wait, he does have term because he got it in Nashville because he's scared. I think he has a modified no trade clause on what I was saying. I actually think it's just a big old ax on draw. Yeah, he is. Tyson Berry available also, by the way, right hand shot. Yeah, I'm good. I'm kind of good on it. Yeah. No, I mean, the point is absolutely correct. Like, there is not a defenseman that you're adding to this team. Oh, what? Oh, sorry. You're going to upset Timothy Lillegrine, who's been like in and out of the good graces of Sheldon Keefe in the postseason every single season. He's been a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and probably going the other way in that deal as well. Yeah. I mean, maybe this is painted too much by the 60 minute picture he painted yesterday. Yeah. No, I think I would like probably an improvement on the TJ Brody, whoever the right hand shot defenseman is that's going to be your shutdown pairing. I think that that would be kind of good, like, and I it's not perfect, but we've seen proof of concept with Morgan Riley and somebody who is just a little more dependable in their own zone and Nelia Labushkin is taking stop in the cycle. Like, that makes sense. But yeah, no, the rest of this, there's there's not a single move, like, I'm sorry, like, Simone Benoit has been out freaking standing. If you're making moves to make Simone Benoit your seventh defenseman, okay, he's the best defenseman on the team. So it'd be hard to add six new guys. Yeah. I don't, I just, I do not see that move as, as upsetting of what has happened here over the last week and a half. The move that you said, like the, the two see bringing in another sentiment, bringing in another forward, frankly, like, it's hard to see the pieces considering how the three of the four lines are, and it's not that you're moving out, Domie or Bertuzzi, like, what are you talking about? And you can get, they're not going to, but let's say the Leafs in just like the content piece that this would be call up their old pal Kyle and they're able to strike a trade for Jake Gunsell. Okay. Well, let's say that happened. You can do that. And then all of a sudden you have knives on that Tavares with Tavares there. You bump McMahon down. You have Tavares. I know. I know how dare I love Bobby McMahon too, but you could fit in a top six winger, a middle six winger on this team, but you don't need to. I think that yes, knives is going to have his moments. He's going to have moments where he pulls back, but you could even honestly, if you wanted to do that, you could do that without upsetting the apple cart because all you're doing is putting him in the Matthew and I spot and then you put knives with, with Tavares and then all of a sudden McMahon's poking around on your fourth line with David Camp. So I think you could do that. That's not going to happen. I think one just feels a little too raw. If Brad for a living can't make a trade with Calgary, think it's probably pretty tough for Kyle to make one with Toronto and just doesn't make sense. It's not what this team needs. But honestly, if you wanted to do that, I think you could without upsetting the apple cart. Now again, the pieces, it's like Matthew knives is probably going the other way in that deal or something along those lines. Okay. Like it's not cheap to go get Jake Genssel as a rental. That's why I'm not saying to do it. But if you wanted to do that, you could even go do it without upsetting the apple cart. Yeah, maybe. I don't think that's realistic. No, I saw this one again. I know. Yeah, a thousand times. Yeah. I think what is realistic is another right hand shot defense ban and whoever fits into your price range, right? Like even if it's just a depth piece that you're not a hundred percent certain is going to be in your top six come to the postseason. I mean, the Larson trade is a different deal because he is under contract for next season as well. And especially if you get some retention there, but everything out of Seattle is like, Hey, we got to keep some people around here and he's he fits in nicely. I think, yeah, the price point might be to a point where the Kraken can't ignore it. Yeah. I mean, well, that's what if that's, that's what that feels like to me is it's almost like I have some contractor buddies and they have their price to do a job. And then there's the like, I don't want to do this. So I'm just going to quote you a price that and then you reach that price and you're like, damn it. I got to do it. All right. And I honestly think that's exactly where they're out with Adam Larson. It's like, all right, this is our, I don't want to trade the guy price. And guess what? They're going to come in. They're going to be jingling all their first round picks in their pocket. So you're going to be like, damn it, I can't go out this weekend. I got to know lay bricks or whatever, whatever we're going to say, Adam Larson does play defense. Yeah. Mops up a dirty wet pit. Our man on the text line. I forgot about you, bud. All right. When we come back, Josh Donaldson, retiring, where does he fit into the all time Blue Jays conversation? And I know we're separated by a day. But I got to weigh in on Anthony Kim's return to professional golf. Like I don't. Yeah. That and more next. As the fan morning show continues, Ben Anis, Frank Gunning, sports net five, nine of the fan. Big guests and bigger opinions on everything happening in leafsland. Real kipper and born, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is a sad, but also a happy day for me, you know, so where, you know, I ain't put an out fire retirement in the game. You know, it's sad because I'll be not able to go out there and play the game, but I love it anymore. It's also a very happy time to get to be around the family and you'll kind of take that next chapter in life. Number 20, Josh Donaldson, Josh Donaldson is the guy and every time you see this guy play, he does something special. He's a superstar. Another payoff and Martin on the ground. Andrews makes a play, he goes to second out there, throwing a first. It's really just about going out there and, you know, either getting job done or, you know, this isn't the tri-league, you know, this is the get it done, like, and, you know, eventually they're going to find people who are going to get it done. Fan Morning Show Sports, that five out of the fan bed and it's Brent Gunning, so we'll have this discussion. I assume you're going to be with me on, so Josh Donaldson retired. He does not belong on the level of excellence. Agreed. But that quote belongs on the level of excellence. Can we do that? Can we, like, have a... Why not? Like, this is the get it done league on the level of excellence? I actually think that they should borrow from college football and it should not be on the level of excellence. It should be inscribed. You have to touch it when you walk into the dugout of, like, get it done league, not tri-league. That is... Honestly, we're going to talk. Donaldson is legacy everything and, like, MVP, the Donaldson dash. That should be it. That's going to be the thing that's talked about in this town for a hundred years. I'm going to still be referencing that, oh, I mean, I'll be long dead. I mean, I'll be like, if I make it to, like, 70, let alone a hundred more years from where I'm at right now. But that's the thing that's going to live in infamy. How many times have you referenced that since then not even just about this baseball team, not even about sports, just about your own life? I've definitely of like, come on, this is the get it done league, not the tri-league here. To my kids, I've done it all. So you're right to say that that quote belongs on the level of excellence, but you're wrong because it should be like on the top step with a dugout, they have to look at it every time they run out. That quote lives in infamy, for sure. Yeah, there's two quotes that kind of, to me, exemplified that generation of Blue J.C. I mean, it's more specifically 15, but the Donaldson dash does happen in 16. Remember, they did make the American League Championship Series in 2016 and yeah, got shut down by Ryan Merritt as they tried to mount a comeback against Cleveland, but couldn't do it. It's the Donaldson, it's the get it done league, and it's the David Price, oh, you don't like it, pitch better. There's two things, like those are the two things and it's a return to relevance. I thought you were going to say shaken in the boots because that's not the good one. You don't like that one. But that guy is going to, he's already on the level of excellence now, Jose and rightly so. But yeah, Donaldson, I mean he's, Jose and Edwin Encarnacion were already here, right? And they had no success at all. And they make the trade, shocking trade for Josh Donaldson. You're doing Brett Laurie. Remember like that was. Oh my God. How beloved. There were A's fans that I'm sure were like devastated to see Donaldson go, but we're like, oh, we're resetting the timeline here with a guy who is going to be a superstar of the future here, a really exciting player. And obviously things didn't pan out for Brett Laurie in that direction. But what a shocking, shocking trade sending shockwaves through this city from a baseball perspective. He arrives and they don't have a media success. But yeah, that quote is the beginning of a changing of tides in 50 and 51. And yeah, the trade certainly helped, but he's the face of this team returning to relevance. Yeah. And there's so many memories. There's, yeah, obviously the Donaldson dash in 2016. There is boy, an opportunity in game six against the Kansas City Royals. He makes the final out of that game as well. He hit it hard. It's actually the hardest hit ball he had of that entire series was the ground ball he hit to shortstop. Yeah, that ended the game ended the series and sent the Royals eventually to the World Series. But yeah, it was everything. It was the mentality. It was the three headed monster. It was the final series of the season in September going into Anaheim where it was a neck and neck battle. Josh Donaldson, Mike Trout, who's going to be the American League MVP? And Josh Donaldson was like, I will actually, I will destroy the Angels in a three game series in this, this should be a cumulative award. And if there's any sport where it shouldn't be narrative driven, it would be baseball, but it just so happened that we showed up in this ballpark at this point in the season with the, the race as tight as it was and it was hard for people to ignore. It was an incredible singular season. It was an incredible four year run for Josh Donaldson. It just, it wasn't long enough. And I mean, it's a little different if even we're having the quad Leonard conversation where they won the World Series in 2015. They didn't. It's funny. So this isn't the only way to look at it. It's actually like the worst way in my opinion, but I wanted to get a little ground rule or a little frame of reference for it. So just pull up like the baseball reference page for the Toronto Blue Jays and up at the top, they have the top 25 guys of war for the, and the guy Josh Donaldson is directly behind is Roger Clemens. Dude, I have Roger Clemens written down feels perfect. It's like, yeah, that's it. He came in. He was a comment. He was great. Now again, it's like different, different dudes, a pitcher versus an everyday guy. Roger Clemens didn't lead this team to the playoffs. That's the other part of this. That's why. Roger Clemens was better. He went back to back. Say young. Or it's what I was going to say. It's like team success versus the individual and as much as the how good, good is not fair, how transcendent Clemens was in his seasons as a J, the team never had anything to show for it. That's the whole point of it. Now in baseball, it's one sport. It's every day, especially with a starter, you can say, all right, you got rocket on the mound tonight. It's going to be great. But the team success allows the Donaldson era to feel so much better, more important. And yeah, the fact that it was slightly longer, the other part of it as well is the way he played the game. And I know we're kind of talking about that with the quote and the intensity, but it's the position he played as well. Like, I don't say this is a knock on Batista. He was a great third baseman when he did that, but wasn't a corner out fielder. Like this is a guy who played a premier, sexy defensive position and played it in a premier sexy way. And it just, again, there is such a narrow list of athletes who felt like they had that owning the town of them. It's like, it's Gilmore in 93, we talked about it with Coli Leonard. He didn't want it. He was like, I'm just going to live in my condo. You guys have the key to the city. Great. But he certainly had that for that Raptors run and on a team with Batista and Edwin on it. And I'm not trying to make this into who his team was because it was always Batista's team. He had moments where he felt like the biggest rock star of the bunch, which is kind of crazy to say. Yeah. And he does have the postseason moment and his numbers in the postseason are very, very good. He doesn't have the bout cheese to bat flip home run. He doesn't have the Edwin walk off in the wild card game against the Orioles moment. He has the Donaldson dash, but yeah, he feels like a very fitting thing for him as well. Like, and again, like not that he was there. We think of him as some tremendous athlete, we think of him as a great hitter and he was athletic. And the idea that it's just a heart and soul got find a way play very fitting that that's his. Yeah. And for a guy who played 13 years in major league baseball, he's an important player in the history of major league baseball and in an era, not just in Toronto, but like he's if you follow baseball over his tenure, you know who Josh Donaldson was. And despite the fact he only spent four years here, it's obviously the franchise that you associate him with most. And I here's my guess, and it would be smart on his part to do this. But this is not the last you'll see of Josh Donaldson in Toronto. You're going to see plenty of Josh Donaldson around now, whether that's an immediate capacity or whatever, Josh Donaldson knows where his bread will most likely be buttered. It's not in New York. No, no, no. And despite the fact that a good season in Atlanta, it's not in Atlanta. And they don't really have a baseball team in Oakland anymore. He should show up and start yelling at the old ownership. That's the only other move. Yeah, of course, like come here, glad hand, do the Vernon Wells, shake hands, kiss babies, be a part of the team, be a part of the media apparatus. Go hang out with Joe Carter. It is golf tournament every year, whatever it is. This is absolutely the place he has the chance to kind of do that the most. And I think you're seeing the far from that era, right? Like Batista had, Batista was raised to the level of excellence. You see him around the team more Edwin's been a camp the past couple of seasons. It's a hard thing to do when you have a, and you know, they didn't ultimately win, but it was a great era of Blue Jays baseball. And it's so still relatively speaking and, you know, time close to the group that's here now is you don't want those guys hanging around all the time because you want your flatties and your, your bows to be able to really take ownership of and not have these franchise icons from so that were part of the team so recently around. But I think now that those guys are older and you see the, the, the Donaldson's and Batista's and Edwin's kind of coming back into the fold. It does feel like now there's been enough time to pass where you're comfortable having those guys around. And it's not going to be a, you know, too much of a wait for lack of a better term on this core. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see how much he does. He's going to be on Blair and Barker today as well, I should mention, so make sure to check that out. But yeah, it'll be interesting. Jose Balteista, I don't think has the personality type that wants to do too much media or be like you, even though like being fed in for the level of excellence thing, like you couldn't do the speech live. Like you had to tape that because yeah, it's just not, it's something he's comfortable in doing. I feel like Josh Donaldson is probably pretty comfortable in front of a live microphone. And we've seen him in multiple podcasts and, and it's Twitter account is active. Yeah. This is a guy I think you're going to hear lots more of in this city in particular. Yeah, I don't know why, but it feels like him in, in like no offense to AJ Przinski's co-hosts, but it feels like him and AJ Przinski with what hosts a great baseball podcast. Yeah. That's if he doesn't get gobbled up by like MLB network. Yeah. Honestly. Sure. Because I remember Josh Donaldson, hey, where is he? Where is he? What's he doing? No, you're going to, you're going to see plenty of JD. I'm thinking. All right. So is that the airport over the weekend in Miami? And was surprised to see, yeah, for a long time. You know what they were showing on the TV? Mm. Live golf. Okay. It taped a lay, but yeah, they were showing live golf and I was like, oh, that's nice. I like golf. Literally anything to distract me. Yeah. And also I was like, ah, Anthony Kim. Let's see it. And obviously, yeah, okay, we saw it and now it's over for over final round, he had back to back 76s in the first two rounds, 53rd place finish is only 53 players in the field made the cut because there isn't one. So made a cool 150 G's and he has locked in for the rest of this live season. He was 11 shots behind the second last dude in the field and 33 strokes behind walking Neiman who won the damn thing. So I was very intrigued to see Anthony Kim this weekend. Like, what are we going to see 12 years in the wilderness and he said, Hey, I'll tell my story at some point, but I'm here to win golf tournaments. Which one? Yeah, no, you're not. And it's over. And as much as you can put on a happy face and say, I saw some good things and there was progression and at one point, like we're supposed to hang our hat on him making like 11 straight parrs or something. I'm good on that. Yeah. What amazes me is like people like, Oh, that scratch golfer like that guy could be a pro. It's like, do you realize that you finish even par? You're like 20 strokes bag of lead. You're going to make like five, six birdies around on the PGA tour or even on the live tour who has major champions in it. But yeah, no, it's over for Anthony Kim. It sucks. And I now know like I can make, I can give an answer to boy, I wonder what Anthony Kim should have done. Should he have come back? Should he have taken the money? Should he have given it back? And like clearly this circumstance allows him to recoup some of the money that I guess he has to pay back to insurance. I mean, I do believe him that one day in the not too distant future, we will hear more of the true story or the full story and probably come at the conclusion of this year when there's obviously no money headed his way from pro golf anymore. But yeah, now we know, oh, Anthony Kim, you were right. Good on you to stay away for 12 years until there was an obvious guarantee of cash headed your way despite your performance on a golf course. I had to Google this quote so I didn't butcher it, but this is what I was thinking about with the Anthony Kim. It's just better to remain silent and be thought of fool than to speak and remove all doubt. And that's exactly what happened with Anthony Kim. He's sitting there. I know you've had this, these arguments, these conversations over the years of, yeah, what do you think? Do you think he's good? Do you think he'd come back? Do you think we, I was wondering, I was not pouring dirt on the possibility that he was going to still have a game, but, and look, it's like, yeah, when I, when I chop off my own arm to be as good at golf, that's Anthony Kim is right now of course I would. But that's the point of what you're getting at is being, being even a scratch golfer. You're so far removed. And, you know, I know people are going to look at this as sour grapes would live. It's different to finish 53rd on live than it is dead last in a PGA tour or make a cut at a PGA tour event. Look at some of the names, you know, you got your Brooks Koepka brother poking around on the live tour. You have guys that are amateur champs who would not have got a sniff on the PGA tour over there. So it is a weaker crop. Yeah, the high end, sure, like you can, you can put together a top five live leaderboard that looks great. But the fact that Kim isn't coming anywhere close to sniffing that it's sad. Quite honestly, I'm thrilled we got the answer to this because this has been like my like sports Sasquatch. It's like I've heard glimpses of it of, you know, maybe there's a, you heard he was at a driving range in Dallas somewhere. We finally got to see it. But unfortunately we didn't get to see Sasquatch. It was just like a dude in a guerrilla suit. Shank and yeah, uh, uh, irons from middle of fairway, um, but Tiger does that. So who amongst us? Yeah, sure. Okay. What do you think is happening here with Anthony Kim? Do you think this is a guy that truly like is so, is so into himself that really did believe that he could return after our 12 year absence and hey, I played in some member guests and I've made some birdies. It's still in me. I'm still the same physical guy, not yet 40 years old, 12 years may seem like a long time to you, but it's not like I haven't picked up a golf club over that span. Or do you think this is, Oh, I did the math and I actually looked at like the last place finish for all these live events and yeah, I know I got to pay back some money again. We don't know the full details, the speculation is that he suffered an injury that allowed him to, to recoup some of his PJ tour losses or lost earnings that he could have incurred over the last 12 years through an insurance policy, but he would have to give that money back if he ever did return to pro golf. Is there like, is it, hey, I actually believe in myself to be able to win again or is it like I did the math and okay, I can actually at least break even if not make more money or if it's close, like maybe there's like a 1% chance I still got it in me. It's just a cold calculated decision I made and it's financial. You nailed it at the end. There is, he's, he's a professional athlete. Like I know he's been lost in the wilderness, but you still had to be wired that way to get to that height as a 22 year old or whatever he was, you know, playing in presidents cups and ride or cups. You still have to have that in you, but I think it was mostly a naked financial accounting decision with the thought of, but maybe, but maybe I've still got it. I also do wonder just, he's too young for this. But when you've been, you know, a pro since you're 20, it's like, is this maybe a little midlife crisis, see if he's just been lost in the wilderness and go, I can't do this anymore. I need something to do with my life. I personally just blame him. Well, I do. I just want to be clear. If an insurance company wants to give me, you know, who knows how many millions of dollars to like not do this and I could just go play golf every day. Like I get where I get where he's coming from, but I also can see him saying like, I can't have done this for, it's been almost like 12 years that he's just been lost in the wilderness, doing nothing. He's, he's 40. Like the idea that he'd think about how much time he has left on this earth where he has to do something. So I think it is mostly naked financial decision with little bits peppered in of maybe I still got it and I got to do something and I've bought enough sports cars, I guess. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know how you can't compete on the PGA tour the way he used to and know where you're at and understand how like just universes apart from the guys that are capable of winning week in, week out, you are and and convince yourself that you're there. Like if you gave me an option, hey, what's more likely tiger, I can't even set it like one major. Tiger wins two more majors or Anthony Kim finishes in the top half of a live field. I think it might take the tiger one. I don't know if I'm going that far. I think I might. Oh my God. I mean, I'm not going to tell you. You get one. Okay. One one tiger. Major. Yeah. Like if we're talking about the top half of a live field, yeah, he finished dead last by 11 shots. It's not like he finished dead last by a couple of shots and there was 11 shots back in the lead. He finished dead last by 11 shots. No, miles between him and the next worst professional golfer in the world. Okay, or at least among which I had a way to say it because I don't like calling live like a top tour. But you know, there's guys poking around on like sunshine tours in Europe who I feel like are probably maybe worse than the second worst live golfer, but I don't like calling it a top tour. So with with Kim though, I think that again, I'm just going to say it. I'm so happy he did it. I don't think it was smart for him to do, but I would like to shake his hand and say, thank you because I'm so happy I got to see you. But it sucks. Like there's, it doesn't suck because listen, I don't need to give live any W's, but like the one reason I might have been encouraged to turn on a live event would be Anthony Kim. And there was a curiosity, obviously, but the first event and even the first 76, you're like, Oh, okay. He's getting his feet wet. Oh, it's pretty clear what's happening here. Right. Like, and especially when you see some of the breakdown of the stats, like the swing speed, like the low like tour average and the advancements in technology since Anthony Kim was on tour, like not understanding and also like some of the anecdotes coming like, Oh, I forgot a ball mark. I know. It's just that was the one I have to be honest. It's like part of this is on the caddy and, you know, tiger near. I forget what it was. I think it was like the old way, uh, open a pebble where he like was down to his last ball because he took them all out of his bag, practicing putting in his room. This thing's happened, but that kind of leads me to believe that it's just a naked financial decision and is not overly locked in. Is that a dumb way to look at it? I don't know. But that is how I look at it. Yeah. It's how I look at it as well. I do. I mean, yeah, I guess it can't get much more embarrassing than finishing dead last by 11 shots and shanking a shop in the middle of a fairway. And it's not like there's like billions of fans on the grounds or billions of fans watching these tournaments week to week. I mean, is there a point where it gets too embarrassing for Anthony Kim and he says forget it. Thanks. Thanks. But no, thanks. Just looking at the schedule because if America like America like no offense, like Americans will get on you. Right? Like over it. It's like, I don't think they're booing them in Saudi Arabia, which is where it was last week. I don't know that if it's do by, they're going to be booing them. But I don't like I'm gonna be some American stocks and dorale. Yeah. Trump might be booing him for all we know, honestly, I'm not ruling it out. Yeah. It'd be interesting. Anyways, yeah, again, just one more time. Thank you, Anthony. Yeah. Hope you're happy, Anthony Kim. I don't wish ill on you personally, but yeah, that was jarring to see. So March 8th, they're in Hong Kong. I don't know that he's getting hammered there. But as you said, Trump dorale National April 5th to 7th, live golf Miami could be a tough one for well. And the media, the golf media will be certainly descending upon him to try and get more quotes as to what happened the last dozen years or so. All right. Time now for the Waken Reich presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly Raptors without Scotty Barnes. It seems like for the rest of the season underwent successful surgery on that broken hand are at home against Zion and the pelicans tonight. The spread has New Orleans, favored by eight and a half, the total Brent is two 28 and a half. Man, it is so hard to get a feel for this Raptors team because you have two or three, especially without Barnes, because you have two or three guys that can just kind of decide it's their game. Give a night. And that's not always a bad thing. It's not always a good one either. I am going to take the pelicans to cover here minus eight and a half. I know it's, uh, it's tough to trust this Raptors team one way or another, but just without Barnes, everything seems so disconjointed. Give me pelicans to cover eight and a half. So last time Raptors played the pelicans was not close, 138 to 100 in favor of Nolland. So yeah, I think eight and a half sure, maybe garbage time, they get a little closer, but I feel comfortable with an eight and a half point spread in favor of the pelicans. That was the Waken Reich presented by Sports Interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly. When we come back, Nick Kerpreos of Real Kipper and Barnes, the fan morning show continues. Ben and his Brent Gunning Sportsnet 590, the fan.
