[MUSIC PLAYING] Dancer will get the chance. Steak and score. The farmer, Pittsburgh, Penguin, makes the move, and slides it between the wickets of Samsonov. It was the game here in 5, 3 minutes here, we lost 1 point. I don't know, it's tough. It's tough and we don't have time for think about this. A lot of more game coming. It's probably about today and the focus for next year. What do you think the team needs to matter on the panel? I don't know. So it's not my business, but I just need to start the talk. Maybe I need to start the talk about the team. No, I haven't seen, but the best. Because the best games are ahead of it. I believe the best, best is best games are ahead of it. And I'm pretty sure the people will see his best version. If you can get confident inside of that, I think if you can get comfortable there, you guys could have a good goal. It's both of them, right? To go to goal is just good. And that's a privilege those these days to have a good goal is. Bad morning show, Sports have 5-9 in the fan band. And it's Brent Gunning. I was if Yanny Kuznetzov talking about his countrymen and former teammate, Gilena Samsonov. Not quite coming up with enough saves in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes over the weekend, but he was pretty spectacular. In that game, yeah, he's right. Like, yeah, make a couple more saves, and maybe we're not having the same conversations about the penalty kill as we've been having. But like, it's only so much a man can do. Yeah, I also did like how he started that answer with the truth of, I don't know, I don't know. I'm the goalie. Honestly, nothing good, nothing good has ever come from the goaltender opining on what is happening in front of them. Because if they're like, oh, the boys are great. It's all on me, we go, okay, Jack Campbell. I've heard this before. And if they say anything remotely critical, there's just no good place to go from that. So yeah, avoid that trap as best as you possibly can. Samsonov. Okay, you're Mr. Making Excuses for the Toronto Maple Leafs today. I've been known to do that from time to time. I'm going to put one on a T for you here, thank you. The brain was swirling, thinking about it. And you're right, like, there is no good match over the Maple Leafs. It's like, oh, yeah, ecstatic to play. The Islanders who just get in and, you know, you don't think there's a world where Sorrelkin stands on his head? Oh, I do. Yeah, obviously. But here is what the Leafs have had to deal with in their seven previous post seasons, okay? I love where this is going. Out of the gates, first four right. And of course, you know, the subsequent post seasons have painted a different picture of this. But first kick of the can, it's the president's trophy champs, the Washington Capitol. That was not the Stanley Cup year. But that was a pretty tough opposition. Next year, you had a Bruins team that didn't, that lost in the second round, I want to say to the lighting. So I'm not including them. Okay. But in 2019, sure, you had a Bruins team that did go to the Cup final and came within a game of winning it against the St. Louis Blues. 2021, okay, it was a Montreal Canadiens that finished more than 20 points behind you. How dare you? But they also had two Hall of Famers at the tail end of their career. They made it all the way to the Cup final. I cannot go down this path. All right. Well, yeah, I did. No, no, no, you can continue going. But with that one specifically, I just, we can screen about it for 30 minutes or not talk about it at all. 2022, you lost to the Cup finalist, Tampa Bay lightning. Oh, that's real. Yeah. Last year, okay, you got through around and you did lose in five games to another Cup finalist. So over the course of the Austin Matthews tenure in the seven post seasons that have ended in defeat, four times you've lost to the Cup finalist. Is that not unusually tough? Now, granted, you're in the post season. Everybody's good, right? But like to be on the side of the bracket that so immediately gets the team that almost wins it all. No, it must be said didn't win it all. They've never played the actual eventual Cup champs in any of these post seasons. But is that not an unusually tough road? Because it looks like they're headed towards another matchup against the Stanley Cup favorites. The Florida Panthers, despite the fact that they might not end up winning the President's trophy this year. Yeah, I think you can easily make an argument that the Leafs series, whether it be in the first round or whether it be in the second round, have been against opponents of a quality that you would expect to see in a conference final. But I can just as easily sit there and make the point of, oh, so when it's a team that actually has a puncher's chance of winning a Cup, they lose against them. And that's what happens. I don't believe that. But I think that that's closer to the truth than, oh man, the Leafs had no shot. They just went up against the second best team in hockey every year. There was no way they could have done it. So I look at that and I think that if anything, it more points to the flaws of this group to say that, oh, all the teams that were almost good enough to win, they couldn't get past them, not even once. I think that's what you, that's what I take out of that. Even me, chief excuse maker. So I see your T and I kick it down. I want nothing to do with it. That being said, I generally agree. And you got to, and listen, this is not a team that, despite the fact that it felt like the number one goal over the first seven years, the goal is not to win one round, or even two round, it's to win the Stanley Cup. But the conversations we've had over the last almost a decade are a little different if they do win around early on, early on, and you're not going to be able to convince me that the Carolina Hurricanes have it just as tough playing the Flyers in the first round as the Leafs might against the Florida Panthers. But then's the break, breaks baby. - Yeah, and you know how we know that's true? It's because the Oilers made it to a conference final, and we talk about them in much less dire tones than we have the Leafs, even when they were firing their coach 'cause things were so bad. We still weren't talking about it. It had to be this year because guess what? They've actually made a run of some consequence. - All right, time now for our insider, brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online, and in the showroom, visit donvalleynorthlexus.com. Today's insider, the great Frank Servelli, president of hockey content for dailyfaceoff.com. How's it going, Frank? - Pretty good, how are you guys? - Good, having the Leafs been unlucky, facing all those cup finalists over the last seven years? - Oh man, it's so tough being in the Atlantic. - Well, okay, listen, that is the one argument I would make, that it is, they exist in a period of time, and maybe the lightning are aging out of that, but right as the Panthers are aging into it, and maybe the Bruins are about to age out of it as well, but man, they just seemingly have staying power a year over a year. - What's the excuse? - There is no excuse, it just factually-- - Why couldn't the Leafs be the Panthers? - No, they could, and they should have been. And honestly, you go back to the number of games that they've blown in the final five minutes, and frittered away points in that regard. It's a bunch of, it's nine times the Leafs have given up the game tying end, or go ahead goal in the last five minutes of regulation. - Different story if they hold on to Leeds, the end of regulation this season. - It's not about Leeds, it's not about this season or the way it's gone. If we're just talking pure, look at the state of where, let's just even call it the Eastern Conference is going, look at what the Florida Panthers have done since Bill Zito took over. Look at their roster construction and where they're heading. Look at their ability to change things up this summer with cap space. And you can't even sit back and say, "Oh, well, the Leafs were just incredibly aggressive," and they made some bets that didn't pan out. And you know what? They were in a tough spot this year with assets and couldn't really do a lot. The Panthers were in the same spot. The Panthers went for it a couple years ago when they won the president's trophy. - Yeah. - Last year made it to the cup final. And this year have as good a chance as anyone. And then moving forward with Sam Reinhardt at 50 goals and the rest of that lineup, like they're not going anywhere anytime soon. - No, and they've done it with some really bad contracts. - Yeah, they want a president's trophy and then they traded away their core and Jonathan Uberdo and the Matthew Kachuk deal, like it changed everything. Yeah, I mean, we'll never get to see that. The Leafs will never be able to pivot away from this core unless you consider John Tavara is moving on from him after his contract expires. But I think we all expect him to resign at a lesser rate and still be a part of this team. Yeah, we'll never get to do the sliding doors thing where, yeah, the Panthers go from good team but pivoting off their core to an even better team. That's just, we're locked into this forever and ever. - But I guess my point would be why couldn't that have been like if you consider where the Leafs were in 2018-19 and where the Panthers were then? I mean, why couldn't the Leafs have been the Panthers? - Well, I mean- - They could have, they just made six missteps in between here and then. - Well, they could have. I think the thing that has to be included as part of this and hey, it's like they could have made the decision not to sign John Tavares, but John Tavares was there, like that was their big swing, their big move. He comes here, he gets his 11 sheets a year. It wasn't Matthew Kachuk saying, I'm gonna go sign in one of two places and trade me there and put me in a good spot. Like that was the sliding doors moment. Was the Leafs got Tavares who was a more aged player and I don't, you know, I don't think you can sit here and relitigate the signing of Tavares. Like I think it would have been a fool's errand to say, no thanks because you could talk about the production but there was just so much that went into that. The Leafs had been down that road so many times before. So I think- - It felt like that was a watershed moment, didn't it? - Yeah. - I remember exactly where I was at the moment in time when the Leafs pulled that off and it was like, oh man, the Leafs are for real now. - Yeah, it did feel that way. And I think, I mean, and the problem with the Tavares thing is that, I don't think it's a Tavares problem, but it's the thing I have problems with all of this stuff with Dubis and the Dubis era, I guess, it's not a Dubis problem, but it's a Dubis era, is that we can never get a proper litigation on things because of the flat cap. Like if the cap kept going, what do we say about that John Tavares contract? And I don't mean to turn this into a really litigation- - Yeah, no, I think that's fair. But that's a really good point. - And no, and other teams were hurt by it. No team will ever be hurt by it more than the Leafs were, just of timing. And so, yeah, I mean, we can relitigate this again. But there is some element to that, but there's also getting- - But there never seems to be enough actual criticism for the missteps that took place. - Yeah, the Kyle Dubis criticism maybe? - Oh, yes. - So, like, I'm just gonna bandy out some of the ones, 'cause I think there's been plenty of criticism, but maybe you feel differently. The one that I feel like he takes the biggest bullets for still is the Nazm cadre trade, followed by probably the Mitch Marner contract. People lump all the contracts in to say, "Oh, they all got too much too soon." But the Marner in direct comparison to Point 2 signed, I believe the next summer after or the same summer for much, much less money, those are the two that I do think he still gets a pretty healthy dose of criticism for. I mean, not to say there weren't other moves, but I feel like those are the kind of two Flashpoint ones that people typically go to. - Yeah, where are we headed with the Kyle Dubis narrative here after, you know, first kick of the can, he gives up assets for a guy in Eric Carlson who is actively like, like he's not a net positive. Let's put it that way. It hasn't gone well. - How's that possible? Like, I'm sorry that I'm just, I actually laughed out loud, not a net positive. Like, that's the nicest way you could possibly say it. - Yeah, no, it's been like the thing that, the phrase that comes to my mind is abject disaster. - Yep, no, you could definitely put it that way. And then you got this upcoming contract negotiation with Sydney Crosby that it feels like it's going one direction. Hey, he's got time to turn it around and you don't want to be too rash with these things, but he's one of the youngest executives in the NHL. It's, man, it's hard to not now retroactively look back at and Brent's right, there's real, there's tangible moves that he made as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I did like the moves at the deadline, getting Ryan O'Reilly, and they did win around at least, but he's taken swings and misses at the deadline. He's given up assets for, for wind now players and he never won. And now this is, here's what it comes back to every time for me. - Yeah. - Poor evaluator of talent. - Yeah, hard to argue against it. Like where are we headed with the narrative of his career if we're headed towards men? - The highly questionable is what it is. That's the most straight way I can say it. Highly questionable. - Yeah, what does it say? Okay, maybe the question is, it doesn't say anything about him. It says that Sydney Crosby wants to stay in Pittsburgh. Does it say anything about Sydney, or I'm sorry, I guess I could say about either guy, that it seems like Sydney Crosby is wholly, and again, this is off, feel free to recruit it, but all the reporting seems to be that their two sides are marching towards an extension, is that does it say anything about either party, that they seem to be willing and able to, or wanting to continue working together? Like obviously I realize Crosby's choices are, he can be a penguin or not, they're not gonna fire the guy they just hired here, but does it say anything? Because to me, I would think it means he has some belief. I don't think Sydney Crosby is just willfully signing away his last competitive years. He may realize that's what he's doing, but I don't think he's wilky. - I think he already gets that, does he not? - I don't know. - Like what are the odds that this team and the current state that they're in, with the current contracts that they have, will be competitive at any point in the next eight years. - That's low. - Is there a scenario where he signs this extension, but there's also an agreement that, hey, we can revisit this, like I'll give it another go, and there's a chance for us to become relevant. - Yeah, more or less, like, I mean. - He won't get a no trade clause, he'll get a must trade clause. - Yeah, he'll get a, it'll just be like, you let us know whatever you wanna do, essentially is, but that's the way it's always been, I think. When you're a player of that magnitude, if you're on, I mean, not just the franchise, if you're on arguably the NHL's Mount Rushmore, if he comes into your office one day and says, I'd like to be moved, what are you gonna do? Say no. - Yeah, certainly not that. I don't think you'll be able to just say no to Sidney Crosby, like, you're right, you have to, the whole point of it is to, if he's gonna try to ride out into the sunset there, is to kind of keep him happy, Ben, you have anything else on the pens or-- - No, no, keep him happy. I mean, the only way you can do that is by just trying as hard as you can. - No, of course, but what I mean by keep him happy is if he says, okay, I've like, I re-opted, I wanted this to work, it's not, and then he has to move. Yeah, obviously you're not gonna hold Sidney Crosby against his will. I don't think that's a PR battle, you're winning there. We have seen the, I don't know, is it a dog fight? I know that's like with planes. What is it when people, I guess it'd be like a butter knife fight that's happening in the bottom of the wild card in the East there? - None of these-- - I actually, I thought about this yesterday. I would say pillow fight, but it's actually a disgrace to pillow fights because sometimes those can at least be entertaining. - Well, I've also like, if you catch somebody right with a pillow, it can like, could stun 'em for half a second, I don't know. - So are you one of those guys that watches like the slap battles? - Oh my god. Let me put it this way. I don't ever see-- - The CTE battles? - I don't ever seek it out, but if I come across it, I'm watching for a second, but that is not what's happening. - But that's an applicable comparison, is that it feels like-- - You're right. - I mean, those can at least be entertaining. This one's like, hey, you want the eighth spot now? All right, you can have it. I mean, that's what it feels like on a nightly basis. You're watching these teams, you're like, first off, is anyone any good? And second, does anyone actually wanna make the playoffs? - Well, that's where I was going. Which of those teams needs it the most? I mean, it's the playoffs you can sit here and say, they all do. They all want the two dates minimum of revenue, sure. But from the kind of cycles that the teams are in, which of them kind of needs to get in the most? I mean, you can make the argument of the Sabers, but I don't know. None of those guys are ever going anywhere. They're all locked up and paid. So which of those teams do you look at is saying they kind of need to get in the most of those teams that are scrapping it out for the wildcard spots? - I mean, to me, it's the cap, because I don't think they're in any different situation than the pens. They're just more realistic and closer right now. Which, I mean, honestly, think about where these teams were heading into the season. The caps were a low 80s team last year in points. And the Penguins finished a pointer too short. And the fact that we're sitting here after the trade deadline with a few weeks to go in the season. And the caps are four points up on the pens with a game in hand. I mean, who end the caps? Aside from the pens trading Jake Hansel, the caps also moved off of meaningful pieces on their team at the deadline and are now still competing. I mean, it says a lot to me about, first off, the job that Spencer Carberry's done with this team. And second, that maybe there's something here that they could continue to build off of moving forward. That the pens don't really have a hat to hang on. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's even more embarrassing when you look back at this Penguin season that they couldn't really be relevant in a bottom of the Eastern Conference that looks like it does right now. Yeah, that's, that's, that's rough. Just look at the gold differentials. The Penguins minus two, and I know people have been saying that all year. It's like, oh, well, Pittsburgh's gonna find a way to turn around. Look how good their gold differential is. The caps are minus 30. Not an ideal. The lightning have scored 70 more goals than the caps, 70. Yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's ridiculous. I want to get your Austin Matthews heart trophy possible. Oh, I mean, we're past the deadline. We couldn't, we couldn't talk to me without doing that. No, absolutely not. Not only on pace for 68 goals, okay? So who knows, maybe he's got a hat right around the corner, but it does feel like when you look at some of the outrageous scoring seasons that are taking place, and, you know, according to Nikita Zadorov, the player he would most want to build a franchise around Nathan McKinnon, leading the NHL in points, Connor McDavid, maybe he's gonna have a hundred assists this year that there are guys within shouting distance of Matthews. You're gonna have maybe some more 60 goals scores that it feels like Matthews has to-- Shouting distance, what does that mean? They're gonna score 60. There's gonna be other 60 goals scores this season. Okay. But anyways, it does feel like-- I thought you meant shouting distance in the MVP race. Oh, no, no, no. I meant in the rocket race. Like, Matthew still leads the way by seven over Sam Reinhardt. But yeah, he's gonna win that, but it doesn't feel like it's gonna be a runaway. That it, the point was that Matthews, it feels like needs to score 70. Did they have a legitimate heart trophy shot? Do you agree? I would, yes, wholeheartedly. I would say, look, there's a lot of historical components to this that yes, 70 is a really nice round number and important number to get to, but no player has ever won the heart trophy. I don't think no player has ever been a finalist for the heart trophy without even leading their own team and points. So that's one thing to look out for. Two, I just, with the season that McKinnon has had, and just some of the moments, I mean, even this weekend, that backhand pass, kicking up to your stick. I mean, end leading the league and score, it just, he's put himself in a really prime position. I don't wanna say it's his to lose, but it feels like with a few weeks left in the season, we're reaching that territory. Still not willing to count out McDavid. Kucharov season has been ridiculous with, not just the points, but the gap that he's had between his own teammates. And I would personally, right now, I would have our Temi Panerin higher than Austin Matthews. - Just 'cause of the, what he's meant to the team as opposed to those around him, is that the argument there? - Yep, his season has been absolutely spectacular. He's gonna, he's having a career season in goals, points, and what he's meant to that Ranger team, that by the way, go back to February 1st, there's the number one team in the league. - Renpei Mania, it's amazing what it can do to you. You've talked about the narrative here, we understand. - Or Igor Schisturkin, rounding back into all world form, I mean, one of the two. - Well, how do you think he got inspired, obviously, by Renpei arriving? You've talked about the narrative here. Does that bother you, that it's such a part of the conversation? Sometimes it's easy. More seasons than not, I have a feeling that Conor McDavid's in existence. It'll just be easy, you go, all right, 97, play him for the Oilers. He's running away with it, go give it to him. Does it bother you that narrative is such a part of this? I've seen the argument of, oh, hold on. So if Austin Matthews gets 70 goals, he's gotta win it. And if he scores 69, he has no chance. I've seen a lot of people getting irks by these things. For me, it's sports, man. We all talk about these things. It's the reason why there's so much money involved. It's the reason why we all have jobs, 'cause we love the debate. So why shouldn't a narrative be part of it? That's the way I see it, how about you? - I would say the only part of the narrative that bothers me is when people try and determine before the season starts, oh, it's just his turn. Like it was, oh, Nathan McKinnon hasn't won one before. It's just now's the time. - We still kind of do this with the Norris, though, right? Like a little bit. - And we do, and it's disgusting. - Agree. - I think it's the wrong way to approach it. And I see that with a full throat in mind knowing that I'm part of the Professional Hockey Writers Association that determines the voting list. I think that's the wrong way to approach awards voting in general. I can't deny that it exists in some factions of the organization that I hear, if we're out for dinner or beers or whatever it might be that I hear people talk about that. And I don't think it's appropriate. But I would say when it comes to, if you were to say that about McKinnon at some point early in the season, that right now, he's done basically everything you could possibly do to not only is that not a thing, he's, I think to me right now is the most deserving. - Yeah, yeah, he's in the Art Ross trophy lead position as well by a couple of points on Kucharov, although why he's played two more games. So Kucharov maybe can catch him. Yeah, there's still kind of loves doing math live on air. It's his favorite thing. - That was not math too. - You can actually, you can see the smoke coming out of his ears. - Yeah, I thought you were going to get to, get to a points per game. - Oh my God, on the fly. No, I'm going to do that. - Thank you. - Frank, thanks as always. Talk to you again soon. - Have a good week guys. - Yeah, you too. Frank's River Valley, our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit donvalleynorthlexus.com. I have a solution, just to hand out lifetime achievement, heart trophy awards. - Oh, like they do in the Oscars? Like if there's somebody who's like, "Ah, I've been nominated a hundred times." They don't win. Eventually they just can, but they don't Oscar. - But people don't view that. - The same as like winning best actor, right? - No. - No. So that's the problem. - But you still get a trophy. I guess a heart trophy, you do get like a miniature version of the heart trophy. - I actually think you do. - Or a ring or something? - I don't think it's a ring. 'Cause I mean like, how would Wayne or walk around? - Yeah. - But yeah, no, I think it's, I think you do get a miniature replica of the trophy in and of itself. I, it's like, how insulted would you be if you're like a hockey player to get the lifetime achieved? It's like on one hand, it's like, - Right. - Just put me in the hall. How about that? That's called the lifetime achievement award, Hall of Fame. How about that? Not, you win this award that doesn't matter for anything. - How do you feel about the narrative, like surrounding Leaf fans when it comes to Austin Matthews, heart trophy, Canada Sea? Because it feels like the 60 goal season, it was like, this guy has to win the heart trophy. - Give it to him. - He's talking about here, 60 goals? He's gonna score 60 goals. And like 70 is, we'll see. If he gets a 70, maybe the, the, the Q and the cry will, will grow louder. But my sense is like, everyone's kind of like, yeah. - Who cares? - Yeah. Well, one who cares and two, like, yeah, it's hard to argue with the already cupped champion who's leading the R Ross trophy race or like the all time great, Connor McDavid, who's resurrected this Oilers team who fired their head coach, was losing in regulation to the San Jose Sharks, who might have 100 assists. Doesn't feel like there's, like, we just don't have it in us this year to be like, no, this guy, he should be the heart trophy winner. - You know, why? - Why? - 'Cause he got his. So it's like, it's already been stamped home. And I do, I do think if the, if he goes on a goal scoring run where it seems, 'cause there have been times where 70 is felt inevitable, that when that happens, like, if he has a couple more - Well, as you can say, like the 10 hat tricks, he threatens that? What is he at? Six or seven, no. - This week, it's like, throws a hat trick in there. He has another two gold knight. All of a sudden, you're gonna see it pop up, but I don't think people care as much one. 'Cause everyone on this team, or everyone who cares about this team is Max Domi. We do not care about individual awards. I am, then we pull a gourd, Stella. You want an individual award so bad? Go win the cons, Mike. If that's the thing you care about so much, I think there's just such an element to that. And he's got it. There's no, hey, you have to stamp Matthew's home is a great. You have to make sure he gets his heart. 'Cause I think in a world where Conor McDavid exists, all fan bases think, oh, if my guy doesn't get it, then the year he truly deserves it, he's never going to get it. Because McDavid just starts the year as a de facto MVP. And I don't think that's quite the same as Frank with somebody working a narrative. I think we just all understand he's the best player in the world. And it's like Ty goes to McDavid unless somebody has a really good story to tell. And this year, there's a lot of good stories. - Yeah, but there's also a numerical argument for the other guys. - No, no, exactly. - Yep. All right, let's mention Blue Rodeo hitting Budweiser stage on Saturday, August 24th, along with guests, Matt Mays and Begonia, we're giving away tickets in today's show. To enter for a chance to win, text in today's code word, many a mile to 59590. Again, that's many a mile to 59590. Today is the last day we're giving away tickets for this event. But if you don't win with us, make sure to go to ticketmaster.ca to secure your tickets as they are on sale now. All right, when we come back, I know many people view Joey Votto as a guy that hated Canada baseball forever. Who would think that? - Maybe me. Except factually, he played on a couple of team candidates of the world baseball classic. We'll talk to one of his teammates over that span, Chris LaRue, Sportsnet 59590, the fan, Jay's broadcaster. Next, as the fan morning show continues, Ben and his prank gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan. - The best Blue Jay show out there, period. (crowd cheering) Blair and Barker, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. (dramatic music) - Fan morning show, Sportsnet 590, the fan. All right, a week Thursday, the Blue Jay's opened up the regular season. Yeah, we got regular season baseball tomorrow. Brent, by this time tomorrow, we may have a completed game in the major leagues of baseball. - Certainly not a complete game. Not on the opening day and not in the year 2024, but the game itself could be completed. - Yeah, in Korea as the Dodgers and Padres get set to open up their regular season weirdly and then play some spring training games after that. But yeah, a week from Thursday, Blue Jay's opened up their season in Tampa against the Rays. You have to be determined whether Joey Votto will be there, but I tend to think not despite the fact that his debut yesterday went pretty well. - Okay, quick, quick question about the thing you said about the Dodgers and Padres playing. If you're a Dodgers fan and who cares about those guys? But would you not be irked? - Show Hayotani, my sexy new toy is here. And I have to watch a game at what time is it over there? Four in the morning or whatever in LA time? Like I got annoyed when John Tavares' first game was in a barn in Lucan, Ontario at six o'clock, okay? So do you think there'd be any of that? Again, who cares? They're Dodgers fans. They're gonna have everything great in their life this year, but I don't know, like I'd be irked if I was them. - Yeah, I mean, maybe again, you're living in LA. You're living in LA, you do factually have Show Hayotani. It's just one of-- - So far to nothing them. - Yeah, it's just one of 162, or sorry, two of 162. So yeah, you're probably placated by one. Hey, like, oh, I'm so mad. Oh, wait, I could just go to the beach. And two, like we do have the best odds to win the World Series and Show Hayotani. So yeah, probably not. - Probably not. - All right, let's talk to Chris LaRue. Sportsnet 5.9 of the fan. Blue Jays broadcaster, former Major League reliever. How's it going, Chris? - Things are going great. It is raining here in Clearwater, and it is our first off day in a while. - Oh, that's amazing. - That's amazing. That's cruel. That's really, really, really nice. - I know that, that probably makes you guys feel better, actually, that it's raining, and we get that off day. - Yeah, well, I mean, it doesn't feel great when it's lousy here, and it's amazing there, and I wish it was amazing. But yeah, no, it's like, yeah. So, no, I'm fine with it. So I want to ask, what do you got on deck? A little Scrabble, maybe some solitaire? Big day now, I guess, sir. - No, it's a good excuse to just relax and sit in your hotel room and watch Netflix. - There we go. - There we go, out of boy. So we don't get to see Joey Votto today. We wouldn't have, either way, because as you mentioned, day off today. But yeah, he left yesterday's game after stepping on a bat. Got to be careful with those things. I don't know if it was his own bat. I haven't heard tale of it being somebody else's bat, and somebody else feeling responsible for-- - Well, and who's the bat boy? Come on, or Batman, or whatever's going on down there. Come on, take responsibility. - Yeah, I think they're actually Batman now, which is kind of weird, but-- - Batman, yeah, all right. Well, anyways, he steps on the bat, and it hurt like the Dickens, not serious. Apparently, he's going to take the day off today, maybe get back into a great, friendly game. Tomorrow, what's your early take on how 40-year-old Joey Votto looks? - So I walked into the clubhouse for the first time, a few days ago, I arrived from California, and I was trying to kind of interview everybody, but chat with everybody and see where everybody is, and I saw Joey in the corner there, and I played with Joey in high school. We used to go to draft workouts together, and he was a catcher, and I was a catcher, and it was a pretty interesting thing, but I caught him just for a split second, and he looked at me and I looked at him, and he said, "Are you 40 yet?" And I said, "No, not till April, man, not till April." And I was like, "Are you 40?" And it was kind of like the weird, you know, the Spider-Man meme where they're pointing at everybody? So we're both 40 now, and we're looking at each other, and he says, "You look good, man, you look good." And I look at him, I'm like, "Joe, you look good too, man." For 40, Joey Votto looks like, I mean, obviously his skin isn't like a 25-year-old, looking guy, but his body-- - Meets a Botox, man. - Yeah, no, no, he doesn't strike me as a Botox guy, but his body and the way he carries himself, he shook my hand, and my hand felt like it was gonna be squished. Like, he is still that guy, and when they signed him, I was really excited, not because he's going to be a huge factor on this team, but he still has the ability to hit seventh, eighth, ninth inning, big home run for this team. He had 14 homers last year in 65 games. That's not bad. And keep in mind, he was hurt for the better part of two years. I think people forget that. He was playing through pain, playing through injuries. He was trying to keep that career going, and now he tells me, and he tells everyone that he is healthy. Who knows what he's gonna do? He's one of the smartest hitters of all time. I think people forget that. I was talking to Guillermo Martinez, the Blue Jays hitting coach, and I know you guys have talked about him at length. We actually joked about that the other day. And he was telling me that when you're dealing with a guy that is that brilliant, like he's one of the smartest baseball players of all time. When you're dealing with a guy that's cerebral, you kind of ask him, hey, what can I do for you? It's not what, it's not, hey, you should be doing this. It's what can I do for you? And that kind of puts into perspective just how important he is to this roster. I hope he makes it out of spring training. I think that he probably will need two or three weeks in Buffalo or extended spring training. But just for him to be here, he has like the core of about him where people just wanna watch him, wanna see what he's doing. And I have this T-shirt. I don't know if you guys know the company homage, the T-shirt company homage. - No, I've never heard of that. - No, I haven't. - So it's just a T-shirt company. I think they're out of Ohio. And it's a Cincinnati red shirt and it says Joey Botto still bangs. So basically it's just like he's an old dude. And for people that don't know when you're banging, it's a term used for hitting. And so actually it's just like, hey, this guy's old, but he can still hit. And I've been wearing it around town here in Clearwater. And I get so many comments, so many looks, so many, so many, hey, that needs to be blue. That needs to be a blue jay's color, whatever. So people are genuinely excited. And I truly think that the fans think that he's gonna be on his team day one, but we'll see what happened. - I think we found out what you're doing on the off day. Like I'm sorry, I know you wanted to chill, watching a little bit of Netflix there, but I think you got to get the printing press out and start hawking some T-shirts. I think that's what you got to do today. - I think I need to make one of those T-shirts that if anybody's listening that makes T-shirts, what did he say when he first came into camp? I might suck, but I probably won't. We need that on a T-shirt. We need that. If you sell that outside of Roger Center day one, those will fly off the shelf. - Yeah, we need to see him at the major league level. But yeah, first foray into spring ball yesterday, look good for him. First pitch off Zach Wheeler going over the fence. I mean, it's one pitch and it's a great for league game, but it is Zach Wheeler. It isn't 95. This is a guy that in Joey Votto that's used to working counts. And maybe, I mean, it was a get me over sort of thing from Zach Wheeler. What do you make of like the 40-year-old and his first swing of any import in an important year in his 40-year-old season that he takes him yard? - I'm not gonna think too much about that one swing that he took. I think a lot of people can go up there and have one good swing. I'm most impressed with the fact that he is using the middle of the field. He said afterward that when you're a good hitter, you tend to use the middle of the field and you tend to go to all fields. And he did that in his first swing. So that shows me that he's still Joey Votto. He still has that impact bat. And I mean, I'm happy for him. I'm not happy that he stepped on a bat and rolled his ankle. But I truly have no idea how that's gonna turn out. I haven't heard much about it. I'm sure he won't say much about it. And I guess we'll see on Tuesday. - Yeah, we'll see. He had said he thinks the one day off should be enough to kind of give him some time, but you know, ankles can be funny. And as you said, you know, you, a young man who is not 40 wouldn't know this, but Ben and Joey Votto who both are 40, they would know that, you know, the ankles get a little creaky. So we'll see what shakes out there. You mentioned it with Votto, what he's looking to do, use the middle of the field. When you're watching guys down there, what are the things that you're kind of looking for as we come to a close of camp here? Like we're really getting to the end of things. Ross is starting to get trimmed down. Obviously at the beginning of camp, it's one thing which you're looking for towards the tail end. What are some kind of surefire signs of a team that's kind of ready to get off to, you know, who knows what the record is, but a good start here is at the tail end of camp. - I never, I never take a lot of stock into how a guy performed in spring training because you and I both know that a guy can hit 400 in spring training and hit 160 in the regular season. That's just how baseball works. Spring training is such a small sample size. But with that being said, I always look at, do they look healthy and do they look right? And when I say right, I just mean, is there swing path right? Is there fast while coming out of their hand correctly? What does their arm look like off the mound? Just little things like that. Like it's really, really important that, and I know fans love to see guys do well in spring training, but it just doesn't really matter. I just love when guys stay healthy. Jeff Blair has said this a million times on his show. He just wants guys to stay healthy. That's the best thing that can happen in spring training. And we saw that with Joey Votto yesterday. You stepped on the bat. We saw that with Alec Manoa. We saw that with Kevin Gossman. It's just so important to stay healthy. Just get through spring training. That's actually all that should happen when you're a guy that's not fighting for that roster spot. When you're a guy like Ernie Clement, obviously it's important to perform because you have to show the team that you're ready for the big leagues. But I would say for 95% of guys that aren't fighting for that roster spot, just get through spring training healthy. And I wish I would have told Joey that two days ago, I would have said, "Hey, man, just stay healthy. "Just stay healthy." - Yeah, he would have gone over three, but he wouldn't have stepped on that bat, but he's trying to do both. He's trying to stay healthy, but also he says, "Miner League," or just a minor league deal, just trying to make this team. And I'm gonna take him out his word that he's been told the exact same thing. I mean, they do have a guy in Daniel Volgabak who provides the same sort of thing on a roster that Joey Votto is gonna do, and he's younger, and he's performed more recently at the major league level. I don't know. I think if Joey Votto is performing, go ahead. - Yeah, so no, I was gonna say that I've had conversations with a lot of Blue Jays, executives, or like front office, or whatever you wanna call them. And they love Volgabak. - Yeah. - They love him. So it's gonna be an interesting call when they either have to choose Joey or Daniel. At this point, they're essentially the same player. I just think that Votto is an incredible story, he's an incredible human. He'll probably sell a few jerseys, although I don't think that should matter. I don't know, what do you guys think? What's the word in Toronto? Are people super excited about him being on this, potentially being on this roster? - I think the Jersey thing is not a nothing. Like, I think if you have an opportunity to see Joey Votto in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform at Roger Centre, that's, and it shouldn't not be a nothing. Like, this is, it's a business, and now we have 26-man rosters, and whoever's playing that role is not gonna be starting a bunch anyways. It's a limited role on this team. And as you said, maybe a guy that comes off the bench and pinch hits at the end of a game, and both guys, I think it's six and one half dozen, the other. Yeah, Daniel Vogelbach has had a more recent positive track record of success. He's also not like a Hall of Famer, right? Like, okay, maybe you get the good couple of months at Daniel Vogelbach. He's also had plenty of months throughout the course of his majorly career, where he's been unplayably bad, and obviously, clogs up the base pass. I think the way I see this working out, and Chris, maybe you can speak to this. I see this as Daniel Vogelbach gets the first kick of the can at that role. Joey Vogel goes to the international league or maybe extended spring or whatever. Although, I do think you probably need to see him against real pitching. Like, we need to see tangible results against minor leaguers before you call it Joey Vogelbach. But Daniel Vogelbach gets a chance, and if he gets off to a hot start, maybe you delay the call up of Joey Vogel, and if he flounders in his early season plate appearances, then it just opens the door for Joey. But I see Vogelbach making this team out of the gates. I mean, I definitely agree with you. But like I said earlier, I've known Joey for over 20 years. So obviously, I have a little bit of a biased opinion. I think that having him on the roster would be incredible for the Blue Jays. He is, like I said earlier, he is, I hope you have a chance to talk to him at some point this season when he's on the roster. He is so interesting to talk to. But I just have to say this, in 2009, I was on the roster when he hit that home run against the USA in the World Baseball Classic at the Rogers Center. - Yes. - Who's that against J&T? - I don't know if you guys remember that. - I think I'm on him in there. - That's right, yeah. - And I have to say, I remember that moment like it was yesterday, and for him to hit, let's say, I'm on the roster when he hit that home run against the USA in the World Baseball Classic at the Rogers Center. - Yes. - And for him to hit, let's say, 20 more homers at the Rogers Center potentially this year, it makes me feel like a kid again. It almost makes me feel like I'm not working for Rogers or for the Blue Jays. It makes me feel like I'm a fan again. And I'm excited about it. I hope it happens for him. But I also know that Daniel Volubak is a good player as well, and the Blue Jays really, really like what he does. - All right, before I let you go, yeah, I want to just pick up on that idea because Joey Voldo did play for Team Canada, the World Baseball Classic twice, was your teammate on that team. And then subsequently had the comments that he later, you know, went to great lengths to try and separate himself from, but talking about how he doesn't think about or care about Canada baseball at all. From what you know of him, having played with him for 20 years, known him for 20 years, what motivates Joey Voldo and what is his relationship honestly with Canada baseball? - Oh, that's a good question. I don't pretend to know what he thinks about baseball Canada or anything. All I know is that he just wants to succeed when it comes to baseball. That's all I know about Joey. I don't, I think he loves Canada from talking to him. He loves Canada. He loves being in that Blue Jays uniform, obviously growing up in Toronto, he was always a Blue Jays fan. I mean, how can you not be a Blue Jays fan playing baseball and growing up in Toronto? I don't know how that question was worded when he answered it like he did. I think I would have to listen to the question. Maybe it was taken out of context. You guys know as well as I do that sometimes that happens. I would love to listen to the actual question that was asked before I, before I judged what he said. I don't know when it was like eight years ago, maybe. - Yeah, it was after God, what year was it? - Yeah, that eight years actually sounds almost exactly right. It was after he played, he never again played for Canada at the World Baseball Classic since, but his last World Baseball Classic I want to say was 2013. So some time after that. - But he also signed that big contract somewhere around 2010 or 2011. I don't know exactly when he signed that big contract, but I think that had something to do with it. Like I said, he's just a very cerebral guy and he thinks through everything. So going to the World Baseball Classic could have potentially hurt him and he didn't want to hurt the Cincinnati Reds. He didn't want to steal money from them. He's always thinking two steps ahead, right? It's not necessarily just I don't like Team Canada. I don't like baseball Canada. I'm not playing for that. It's never just that. There's always more to it. And I think that people forget that the people that don't know him forget that he's two steps ahead of you. The reason he's doing something is not the reason you think he's doing something. - Yeah, it was 2018 that he had those comments. Yeah. And he's moved off of them and he did the media blitz after that to try and separate himself from that and yeah, proves that he put it. - Well, maybe I was wrong then, I don't know. - Yeah, Chris, always a pleasure, man. Looking forward to hearing you on the broadcast this year. - All right, talk to you guys soon. Thanks for having me on. - Thanks, Chris, Chris LaRue, Sportstime 5.9 of the fan Blue Jays broadcaster, former Major League reliever, teammates of Joey Votto at the World Baseball Classic. And I do remember that home run off of Jake Peevey and a formative victory over Team USA, the World Baseball Classic. One of these years, one of these tournaments, Canada's gonna get through the opening round of that thing. - Yeah, maybe. I have made my comments pretty clear. I just think it's hard to take out of context. I don't care almost at all about Canadian baseball. Pretty hard to take that out of context. Some people don't forget. I'm one of those people. I think the road to forgetting all this is like the Ruse said, 20 bombs at Roger Center? That feels like a fair trade to me and a lot of people. - Yeah, that's a rousing success if Joey Votto is hitting anywhere near 20 runs at Roger Center this year. Especially considering, again, the role that he's gonna be asked to play on this team and being a late game pinch hit option. I think that the most optimistic scenario is that he's taking time away from Justin Turner as the full-time DH, but that probably means there's a lack of production or an injury and like the lack of production. Like the most obvious area that I see this thing happening if Joey Votto is good, is Isaiah a kinder full F I can't hit. Justin Turner has to play more games at third base. Joey Votto moves into a more full-time role at DH, but that's a really pie in this guy's scenario considering the last two years of Joey Votto. - Yeah, certainly is, certainly is. And my takeaway from that conversation was about their comments and yours is about the production. I think that says a lot about the both of us. - Yeah, okay. Day off for the Blue Jays back in action tomorrow in Dunedin. All right, this has been the fan morning show, Ben and his friend, Gunning Sportsnet 5.0, Ben. - Good morning. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
