(upbeat music) - Happy Friday, bad morning show sports. I'm 500 fan, man, Anis, and Brian Gunning. Good morning, Brian. - Good morning. - Ben. - I tried to throw you in there, you're such a pro. I tried to say that in a weird cadence, and even then you're like, "Damn, we'll just do it." - Yeah, that's fine. Like, you want me to respond to you? - No. - You're a hello? - No, it's fine. - I thought I was gonna throw you off guard. You have said to me, you feel like our good mornings to end the shows need to have a little bit of different, like, we need different versions of them, so I tried to throw something at you a little different. - Yeah, I don't, I think, here's the thing. I think when it happens organically, that's cool, and like, I'm not against it. Sounds like there's maybe a little too much thought on your part. - No, it just happened right then there. - Yeah, no, I mean, you're, like a bolt of lightning, it was like, you know what, it was like old school cartoons? - Yeah. - It's like the literal light bulb of my head. Like, I'm gonna give them something a little different. - I mean, the way you broke it down after the fact would like, kind of counter that idea. - That's just a lot buzzing in my brain. It's the difference between the two of us, is like, your thoughts at this time of day, like, not like, rehearsed by any means, but very much like, hashed out. And it's like, yeah, I have those as well. But, until you really like, rattle me into a topic, it's all just, free consciousness. - It's just you. - And if you were driving the bus here. - Generally speaking, it is, it's funny. It is like, the difference between the way, I think most people start shows in general, but specifically morning shows and me, a day like today would have been hard for me to start a morning show. 'Cause I usually like a, again, not rehearsed, but I kind of know where I'm going with it. Like, I like a big, sexy intro. Like, there's nothing more fun for me than after, like, I'll just, let's pretend it was earlier this week, which Ben Nicholson Smith chastised us for, I think, rightfully laying out the possibility of it being one of the best moments of the Blue Jays season when Babe Schneider hit the two-run shot off Josh Hader. It's like, I would have had a big, sexy, like, spiel, almost, off the top of like, "And the babe is going deep." And, like, almost something like that, as opposed to you kind of wading into the waters. And like I said, it's like, just different strokes for different folks. - The babe going-- - Well, I don't think I would have just said, like, the babe goes deep. I would have been, see, it's weird to do it retroactively, but it would have been something like, you know, good, blank, morning, whatever, morning it was, decent day to be a Toronto sports fan, the Blue Jays are getting blanked and Houston, everything is falling silent and just, when we needed it most, the babe comes through. I think it would have been something along those lines, then it would have thrown it to you. But this is why you drive the bus, 'cause I just think that would be odd, to throw it to you in that manner. Do you have you go like, "Hello, hello, friends?" - Okay, so it's the show after the '72 Summit series, Paul Henderson just scored against the Russians. - Yeah. - How are you starting that show? - It's actually funny because I don't know that there's a moment in my life that I have relived more because I don't know if they still have it there, but at the hockey hall of fame, like when I was a kid, it was like, "Go into the broadcast booth." It was actually very telling of what I was gonna do with my life, that my buds are being seven-year-olds, and they're like, "Oh, they fell down!" And there's, you know, just being dumb seven-year-olds. And I'm like, "Excuse me, excuse me." - Someone's gonna be listening to this. - This goal was scored long before I was a thing, but on the anniversary of my birth, like I've always held the Paul Henderson goal is like this sacred thing partially 'cause of that. So, yeah, if it was the day after that, I would have been like, eat at Russia, something, something, geopolitics, a fair version of Putin at the time. Good guys win. - Yeah. - It would have been, again, like a little more exciting than that. - Okay. - No, it's an interesting window into your mind. - Well, it's also like, it's good for you to know. We have that in the chamber. - Okay. - Yeah. - You're like, feel free. - Let me put it this way. We're gonna need some more good things to happen to the, well, I mean, any sports teams, given the tenor of the last show we did, but specifically, the Toronto Maple Leafs. - So, like what? - Don't listen. - If you were in Pittsburgh doing Pittsburgh Sports Radio today, would it be? - Sydney Crosby, off the mat. You counted him out. You said Kyle Dubas was done. And you know what? They're not. Two points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. - Yeah. - I also think I maybe didn't do a good job of explaining it 'cause I don't like to come just screaming off the top. I like it to be more of like a, like a bubbling pot or cauldron, if you will. Like where it's like, oh, how we doing? Good morning. Bit of us. Okay, so again, like I'll give you a coalfe notes version of it, if we were in Pittsburgh. Bit of a sleepy game. You never see that with, and I'll just do the names that we're using on the broadcast last night 'cause it was driving me nuts. - The great aid in Sid, the kid, and just when you out there. Not us in the great city of Pittsburgh, but you all out there. We're doubting Sydney Crosby and his band of merry men charging back to a playoff spot. Something along those lines. - Again, hard to do it when I don't have the like fervor for. I mean, again, we'll talk about this. - Yeah, you can fake it. - Well, yeah, you can't. - You can't fake it. - No. - I've been fake it a lot. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Faking it right now. (laughing) So you're, hold on. So you're more enthused and you're restraining yourself? - Ah. - No, you're faking. - I'll never tell. - You're faking being awake. - Yeah, you'll never know. - All right, I think I got the gist of it. - All right, here's one of them. - That was a fun soldier until Lord knows where. - Here's what I would do is if I was doing a Toronto radio show on a Friday, with no Toronto teams playing. - Let me do that for six minutes. - And, you know, yeah. Leaves not even practicing yesterday. I'd say, hey, yeah, this penguins team, who we did bury a couple of weeks ago, and rightly so, in an embarrassing season after acquiring the $10 million 100-point defenseman, Eric Carlson, Kyle Dubas, after departing Toronto, with his tail between his legs, overplaying his hand, arriving in Pittsburgh, getting a near decade-long deal to be one of the highest paid executives in the National Hockey League. Yeah, that might not be embarrassing anymore, because Sidney Crosby, despite not having a point yesterday, despite not having a shot on goal, his heart trophy candidacy continues to build as the Pittsburgh penguins. Like, we're getting a, that was kind of a throwback rivalry game, and you're right to say that it wasn't, it didn't exactly have the same feel as when those two were, like, Stanley Cup contenders, and those guys were. - Some dueling hat tricks, yeah. - Yes, Sidney Crosby, like I said, is re-entering the heart trophy conversation, but it was like, not that long ago we were talking about, oh, is Alex Ovechkin, like, this is gonna be an embarrassing trot towards history, because he's gonna have to play 15 more years and five goals a year to pass Gretzky. But still, some on the line, late career, for those two teams, and the penguins coming out on top, finding themselves just two points back of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and it's a bunch of, I think, cannon fodder teams playing to get into the Eastern Conference, but there's no debate that that's an intriguing race down the stretch. Like, if you're looking at the thing that's most interesting, unless you're into home ice advantage or teams winning divisional titles, which do they raise banners for? Like, if the Leafs ever won the Atlantic Division, would there be a banner going up at Scotia Bank Arena? - God, no. - No, no, no, no, not a chance. - Okay, well, we don't know, 'cause it happened. - Yep. - But yeah, other than that, West is pretty much home and cooled out, as the Blues are seven points back of a playoff spot, this is all we got in the Eastern Conference, and boy, there's one team that I think you can squint and make a case for, giving a first round opponent some pushback, and it's the Pittsburgh Penguins who might just make it, Brent. - Yeah, it's the wild card, but it's also like that third spot in the Metro, right? Like, the Flyers are there with 83 points, that's one of the teams the Penguins are chasing, but it's like, there are four teams within two points of the third spot in the Metro, with the Flyers, the Islanders, the Capitals, the Penguins, and yeah, none of those teams are a scary matchup for a first round team. The Penguins are a scary matchup because of one guy, really. You know, it's about the core, and you know, we shouldn't completely dissuade what Geno Malkin would mean in a playoff series, or a guy like Chris Lutang, or even Eric Carlson. But let's be honest, it's about one guy, but suddenly Crosby's dragged this team into the playoffs in years past, and got swept by the Islanders, so it's not to say that it would necessarily go all that differently. But I just think there's no, there's no story at all that would be better. I mean, I suppose the Philly thing, if you're a believer that, oh, we get three more goods, torts, soundbites out of that, but there's no one on Philly that we all of a sudden feel differently about, or we're having, you know, a moment with, sorry, Morgan Frost and Travis Connectney, like it's not doing it for most people. And then even the Islanders, like again, it's the coaching story there. It's Patrick Wan as exciting and fun as that would be. No, it's nothing close to the story that it would be to have the caps or penguins get in at this point in time. And obviously the pens are a way better story. Part of that is just, you know, the way we feel about one of those guys versus the other. But yeah, it's, I mean, it's an amazing race of teams that if we, again, if we were doing like a playoff panel, if I was the commissioner of the playoffs, maybe we just have one last team this year. Maybe none of you deserve a spot is actually how I would feel about all this. Yeah, or actually I guess it'd be two of you 'cause one of them's gonna get it in the metro and one of them's gonna get it in the wildcard. Yeah, okay, so just checking into sports interactions, heart, trophy odds. Not to be found is Sydney Crosby, not in the top four. Mm-hmm, Nathan McKinnon, the favorite, Nikita Kutrow, second favorite, Connor McDavid, coming up third and Austin Matthews. Well down the track at fourth. And if we're gonna go by counting stats, despite the fact that this is another point-per-game season for Sydney Crosby, it's not on the level of the guys at the top of the arboros race. And then, you know, Austin Matthews has a not outside chance at 70 goals. But it is the most valuable player award, Brent. And it's different, this is a sport unlike baseball where it's like, well, your value is, like there's no ancillary thing that you can impart on your team, I don't think, in baseball, other than the statistics that you provide. And like the defense is like one of the maybe things that it's harder to quantify. But we have a pretty good, we're getting better, right? And quantifying what that is, the whole package, pretty easy to identify in Major League Baseball. One thing the NHL has going for it is this, like it's not an individual sport at all. It's not even like basketball where it's like the one guy taking the shot, right? It is a collective. It is a free-flowing, nebulous type sport. You can make the argument for a guy's impact on the ice going outside the numbers. I think it's pretty clear that that happens all the time. I mean, is Sydney Crosby, despite Vegas, not believing so? Entering the heart trophy conversation. I think the problem is the seasons the guys at the top are having, and I'll throw Matthews as the fourth one in there, are all gonna be so spectacular in their own way that it's tough to spin a narrative-based heart trophy. And that's what this would be because if we're doing the, if we're doing the actual conversation about this where it's like, well, Sydney Crosby means more to the Penguins than, I don't know, Conor McDavid means to the Oilers, and they can't get good trouble. But we should lay out what the numbers are. They're unbelievably disparate. - And before- - than 84 points. - Yeah, go ahead. - And Kucharov is 133. - It's, and then I don't have it in front of me, but the Kucharov forever was leading in the percentage of points above your teammates. - Yes. - The percentage of points that he has. - Yeah. - It is just to get- - They have a better record than your Penguins. - If you're actually just doing the most valuable to the team thing, there's two choices. There's Nikita Kucharov. - Mm-hmm. - And there's whatever goalie you think is the most important to his team. 'Cause that's the actual answer to this. If this was the, like, if this was the art-roshier that should have gone to John Tavares, but because he's so honest, it went to Jamie Ben with 89 points or 87 or whatever it was, then I think you open the door for Sydney Crosby to come riding in on his white horse and look at him, he's getting the Penguins back to the playoffs and you can spin a story about what that means. And I think that's a fine thing to do, but not when guys have 130 points and McDavid's gonna have 100 assists and Matthews is gonna be knocking at the very least knocking on the door of 70 goals and McKinnon's doing everything he's doing in a, even a normal NHL season that I am here for this. And I think narrative should play a part when there isn't an obvious winner. Like, I think if there is a converse, and again, especially in a sport like hockey where it is, so when it's close, you really can make your argument for either guy. Then I have time for a narrative entry in the discussion, but those, again, three, four, however many of them you want to include at the pile at the top, the statistical case is just too, too stark. I love Zib, come on, we can't do this. - But you know what, like, yeah, it's just, it would make us feel better to see Sydney Crosby winning the award over Nikita Kutrov, who wouldn't even give us a half-ass effort at the All-Star Skills Competition in Toronto, come on. - Yeah, I don't want Kutrov to win it for that reason alone. I am that petty, and I'd be fine with it. The other thing that I think is, I'd love to know about this, and I don't think the players, particularly if we think about this enough to care, and I would imagine, you know, they do all the voting at roughly the same time, the writers and GMs and do all their voting for all these various awards. But if the players knew who won the heart, like, let's say they saw somebody found the envelope and they're like, "Oh man, it's gonna be Kutrov." Does that change who gets the Ted Lindsay award? Like the one that the players are voting on. This is an interesting thing, 'cause we don't have this in other sports. Like, we're starting to have it more. It's like, you know, we'll see player polls and stuff, but where it is an official league award handed down, this has gone to McDavid every year that he has definitively been the best guy. The year he was heard, it went to Drysidal, the year Matthew scored 60, it went to him. And that's kind of gone to Conor McDavid. Kutrov slipped in one year there as well. I do wonder if the players don't like who the, I guess it'd be the writers pick if they would feel differently. Obviously, again, they're just gonna vote at the same time and one won't affect the other. But I do think that's a fun little thought exercise for them. - Yeah, I don't think. - No, it wouldn't be Crosby, just to be clear. - Yeah, and I think a vote for Crosby and the case would maybe make it's like an anti-Cutrov thing. And it's a, like- - It seems more, it seems more like a fan thing. - Because the conversation I wanna have next is about the penguins in general and Sidney Crosby's impact on the neutral fan, right? That has no dog in the fight. - No dog. - Not a caps fan, not a flyers fan, but somebody who's maybe you're a Leaf fan. Leaf fans are tough, I don't know, you're a tough example 'cause you're a dubious guy, right? - But there's so many that aren't, but are very much, we're enjoying the penguins demise this season seemingly and being in cap hell, paying Eric Carlson all the money for forever. Yeah, and the lack of return and a Jake Hansel trade, but like- - Michael Bunting squared last night, by the way. - I noticed, no question. - Bad goal by Linger, but we're not gonna quibble with that. - Yeah, he was number eight. - Looking weird, by the way. Single digit Michael Bunting, I don't know. - Penguins won the game with like 20 shots on goal, it was odd. - Yeah, like we said, it wasn't a Picasso, actually it was. It looked weird and in the end, it was very valuable to a couple of people. - Are the penguins the team in the NHL? If you're a Canadian, because of the Sydney Crosby of it all, that you're rooting for, if you have no rooting interest, like your second team, or like if you're evaluating the bottom of the Eastern Conference right now and you're like, hey, my team is home and cooled out either because it's been eliminated or because they're in the playoffs and you know, who really cares about playoff positioning and yeah, Lightning also won and leaves only two points up on Tampa and like the idea of playing the Rangers is not out of the realm of possibility at all. It's a very real possibility for the Leafs. Anyways, besides the point, are they the team in the NHL that you most likely have a rooting interest for if it's not your team? - I don't think it's even close. The only team, and I wanna just go on record to say that this disgusts me, what I'm about to say, I think the only team that maybe can give them a run for their money, and like, the calls from coming from inside the house, like I've heard this from like our very own Sam McKee, it's like Vegas is very much a new popular team. I hate it, I love it. Everything they stand for, they're shiny buckets, they're being gifted an amazing franchise off the hop. I do think they're kind of coming in that they've never had a misstep. I think that the cap stuff maybe rubs people, but we've been through these wars so many times specifically in this part with Kucharov, it's like, that's cap enemy number one, not whatever Vegas is doing, I think they're coming, but yeah, it's not even close regarding any other team. In, you could see a world where this would have been the Oilers for a 12 year old, but Conor McDavid's never had a moment that matters for the country, like sorry world juniors, God love you, you know, I watch them play when they were here at Scotia Bank, I remember it fondly, but that stuff doesn't really hold weight the way, I don't know, like a golden goal does, and because of that, he's never had the chance to kind of catch him, 'cause quite honestly all, you know, I know crazy thing to say, cups aside, but it's like the Oilers have had a run, the kids could get excited about, if you're a kind of, you know, if you're a 12 year old, the way I was once a 17 year old watching Sydney Crosby, I do think there's a chance where that could have been it, but yeah, it's the penguins, it's the penguins, it's the penguins, and honestly, it's not even close, and I think a big reason why as well is that there hasn't been the international hockey, I think that's the thing that makes you care about guys from other markets. - Oh, it's like 100% 2010. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's Sydney Crosby being the last NHL position player, 'cause Kerry Price won it in 2015 to win Canada's Athlete of the Year award, which is now called the Northern Star, used to be the Lou Marsh award. - One day I'll get in that room, a demo if you're listening. - Yeah, and not to say that Conor McDavid didn't have a legitimate case in years past, like, oh, obviously, but what puts these guys over the top is when they have the International Olympic success, like, Crosby is Captain Canada, like, his case is unassailable, he's never taken a public misstep, right? - Well, I think that's the other, I think that's the other thing that can't be overstated in this. Like, we were banding about this topic last night, I was mentioning to you, like, the Chiefs, or the closest team to this. Sydney Crosby is not doing commercials for Pfizer, and, you know, like, taking a stand, and, you know, like, I don't want to overstate this stuff, but, like, he's not getting involved in the next Canadian election. Even when he does take a stand on stuff, he's like, don't tell anybody I did that. It's like, Sydney Crosby donating, you know, tons of equipment to, you know, groups of color try to get more diversity in the game, and he's like, ah, could you not? Like, no, no, take more stuff. How about I give you more stuff if you don't ever tell anybody I did this? He goes out of his way to never take a stance on anything, and I suppose there is a, I think, a smaller and smaller sub-section, people who don't like that either, but unlike with the Chiefs, it's like, it's not Patrick Mahomes, but the next most visible guy on that team has a, I don't know, pick your percentage of America that has just decided they're out on him and they hate him. I don't even think that exists for Crosby either. Yeah, Chiefs are a good one. I think the Chiefs might be winning too much to be that team in the NFL, and really threaded the needle perfectly with losing in cup finals, and then coming back and winning, and then not always feeling automatic, but always feeling like he's there. God, he threaded it, and I'm sure he would say disagree. Give me six, that I would have threaded more perfectly. Yeah, I don't know, are the bills that team in the NFL because of the tortured fan base of it all? Like, honestly, the Leafs should be it in the NHL, but everybody hates the Leafs. Well, no, I do, okay, not in this country, but actually you think the Leafs will become that, should they ever win or go on a run? I do think in America's team. The guy to be America's team. It's gonna be, oh, God, what a spot that's gonna put me in, but it's gonna be Austin. Like, there's no world where the Leafs do that, and it's not led on the back of Austin Matthews being incredible. Yeah, see, and all of Canada is lining up to hate them, wanting to dunk on them at every turn. If they go, if they do this, they go through all the teams that every other hockey fan base in America cares about. It's like, yeah, they're going through the Rangers, the Lightning, the Bruins, the Panthers, you go through some combination of that, the Leafs kind of would become America's team. Oh, yeah, I'm fine with that. Yeah, I know. I'm okay with it. I just, yeah, I wish. And actually, you know what, it's kind of perfect, 'cause that would only make the rest of Canada hate us more, and I'd be so okay with that. You know, I understand it, and again, like, I think it should be the Leafs because, I mean, tell me if your sports sensibility is this way, I was thinking about the NBA, and this team would be, for me, like, it's kind of the Knicks, which is weird. Oh, I've long made the case that the Knicks are the Leafs, like, spiritual cousins. Yeah, I mean, it's the Sixers more, though, because of the tank, and because of, like, the attempt at, like-- Oh, I just mean, like, franchise-wise. Not this iteration, it's just, like, the home of the game. It's the Mecca, it's the most famous arena. It's like, it was me, I believe. Aaron's a no-scoture man, like, that's why I think. It's not this era. If it's era-specific, I definitely think the Sixers are much better foil, but just franchise-wise. Really lining up, again, the difference, though, is it's like, are people making-- People loved when Knicks fans celebrated after winning a round. It's like, people just make play on the parade jokes in both ways. Yeah, I can. We're too close. I think it's-- Obviously, there's more hockey fans in this country than in the United States, but yeah. So the view we get is just, it goes beyond hockey, the, like, lack of adopting the Maple Leafs, because-- Oh, yes. And they show up in your arena, you hate Toronto, because it's the center of this country, because the most people live here, because it gets the most attention. Hate us, 'cause they ain't us. Yeah, I mean, there's just no debate about that. Anyways, you know what, let's take a break. Can we just have that sent over to the fine folks in Calgary and Vancouver, if they just are looking for some content today? I think they would specifically enjoy the last 10 minutes of that or so. Oh, yeah. You just send that along. I think we can absolutely do that. When we come back, Blue Jays going to play an afternoon game in the Bronx today. And they're going to try and get a hit. They're going to try and do so against a former Blue Jays. Marcus Drummond makes the Yankees start on their opening day today. Also, I went to Roger Center, give you a report on how the Reynolds look. Can't wait. And how the food tastes is. There's spoiler. Good. I'm going to come back more of the fan morning show, Ben and his Brent Gunning Sportsnet 590, the fan. Hey, it's Ayla's For A Fire. And I'm Justin Cufford. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame, 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Fan morning show, 4 0 5 9, the fan band. Brent Gunning, good news, looking for a cast. Looks good in the Bronx. Like for early April in the Northeast. It's like good if you want to sneak in a baseball game, but not good if you wanted to swing the type of sticks we like. I mean, there you probably could play. I'm not going to play here. I had a tea time originally. Thought about her. Yeah, when the forecast looked better, but like five degrees and like chance of rain. Yeah, it's coming right right around the corner. Next week is going to be good. Anyways, I know I've derailed you. I stuck him a little golf topic. Yeah, you don't have to. It doesn't take much. No, I know it's perfect. Like I just throw down the like the spike strips and you're like. Golf conversation back on the rails. All right, Blue Jays, Yankees. Yankees home opener. Very excited Yankee fans because they got Juan Soto and Aaron Judge's healthy and Giancarlo Sten. He's healthy and everything's coming up Yankees. That's great. They're off to a five and one start. Blue Jays only game under 500. But boy, the offensive start is rough as they've been no hit and one hit already in the early days of this season. My favorite thing is, you know, people not dissuading you from the idea that the home pressures really were partly to blame for the huge split discrepancy between home and road for both Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Dalton Varsho. That's bad news if you believe that to be true because it's going to be worse, right? Like it's going to be even worse. Like Dalton Varsho actually had like a pretty good opening day game and came into his first game at Rogers Center with like decent statistics. And he's off to a worse start. Vlad actually was off to a good start last year and it just, it never manifested in any positivity for either guy at Rogers Center. Who's most in the crosshairs right now when it comes to this team's unbelievably slow offensive start? Well, I mean, we can go like micro or macro on this because ultimately it's the guy who put this team together is like who's in the crosshairs. I've already heard the bubbling resentment regarding the higher you go up and up on the ladder in terms of who put the team together. But from a player standpoint, it's only one guy. It's Vlad. We can sit here and we can talk about Varsho and him needing to be better and, you know, proving some worth to the trade. It's probably never going to be anything close to even a wash given what we think Gabriel Moreno is going to be. And Bulbashette, we've talked about the expectations but it's going to be Vlad. That's the guy that's going to be squarely wearing the crosshairs of this team. Because again, pick any of the other eight guys that are going to be in the lineup for that home opener. And they'll all be performing below expectations unless the season in the Bronx goes gangbusters. They're all going to be performing under expectations. But the only one guy that people still expect, there's only really two guys that the, I think, general public expects things from in this lineup. It's like they'd like things from George Springer. They understand he's longer in the tooth. Justin Turner's been a nice story. Maybe you're a kirk guy. Okay, that's cool. But it's Bo and Vlad. And guess what, one of those guys, generally speaking, does what is expected of him and leads the American League and hits. And the other one of those guys is Vladimir Gerogen. And it's just that's going to be the guy who's going to wear it. And it's not fair. Part of the reason he wears it so heavily is because there is not a lot of other support beams in this lineup. No, I think it's fair. It's very fair. Well, okay, it's fair for him to wear it. But there also should be some more kind of load bearing walls. It shouldn't just be two guys that you're building the entirety of a lineup around. But yeah, it's going to be flat. I think it's fair when you're him and you're now making the money that he's making, right? He's not making the money. He will make if he realizes his potential in his free agency. And yeah, in two years, he's making real money. Now he's making 19, almost $20 million this season. The reason though I don't think it is Vladimir Gerrero Jr. because as bad as last season was. Yeah. And it was bad. There's no more like, well, he was pretty good. Like the X-Men Tanger, Vladimir Gerrero Jr's 2023 season was bad. He was bad because he plays first base and he was barely an above average offensive player. And the defenses we've seen this guy want to go glove. I mean, it tells you all you need to know about the importance of defense at first base, right? It's where you. Can you break? Yeah, you're in it. Yeah. It's where you put the guy who has no defensive position. Miguel Cabrera of Vladimir Gerrero Jr. Anyways, as bad as he was last year, as bad as you think he might be this year. He's still going to be at least an average to above average offensive player. He's going to have a week or two where he does carry this team or comes up with a big home run or comes up with a huge RBI. I think the guy that's going to wear it more because the potential very much exists that his offense makes him unplayable, which he was oftentimes last season. But the equity that they've given up to acquire this player and the position that they put him in once again to start the season is not fourth, it's fifth, it's Dalton Varsho. To me, it is Dalton Varsho. And boy, it's interesting. We'll talk about my little sojourn to Roger Center, which you were going to go, but you had dinner. Sick. Yeah. Or he's fake and shit. Sick or whatever. Yeah. I don't know. They could do that at three. Yeah. Well, I mean, you talk about the go to the driving range. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, no, for sure. For sure. Ah, you got big problems up ahead. But from our boss, Fabros Battle with my child right now that yeah, he's like three and he's like, Oh, I can just like say, not feeling so great. And then daddy comes home and you'll have a good time when I was sick home. My daddy just turned on video games. Don't talk to me. Yeah. I mean, but that quick. That sounds good to him. I'm sure. Yeah. I mean, I would have taken that as well yesterday. Anyway. Some of the conversations I was having off the record with some people about like, Hey, how awkward here you want, but I'm not this is like this is called like getting information on background. Mm. Okay. So you don't attach names to this. Right that down. Go to J school here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Information on background. Not a lot of people like in their honest moments are like, Oh, yeah, it's just a blip. Like, come on. It's not freak out. It seems a couple seven games. It's offensive to be fine. And you know, don't var shows good hitter that that one I didn't hear. I didn't hear like, Dalton var shows got it going on. Don't you see the swing? It looks amazing. Kind of heard the opposite. Yeah. And if that's the guy again, like look at your five through nine hitters, it's hard to imagine either any of these guys really emerging as some offensive force. He's the one guy that you're like, Oh, well, maybe like even if he goes back to the Arizona guy, but that was just a slightly above average offensive player. Like what we saw last year, you get a repeat version of that. Like that guy was unplayably bad, not just against lefties like against lefties, one of he or Kevin Kiermaier is not playing in the game. But it might get to the point where I don't care what kind of amazing defender you are in the left field, if you're going to say that again in the left field. Right. Yeah. Like look at the cast of characters that have ever played left field. It is maybe even more so than first base, the place that you put your no defense big bat. If that continues, which is more realistic than then Vlad, he can't get any worse honestly than last year. I think I think it just goes to maybe the way like you see the world for lack of better term. It's like the second. I shouldn't say the second, but about a month into the Blue Jays season, I had written off Dalton Varshow ever coming close to providing value for that trade and maybe that was completely unfair. But boy, scoreboard, I've been right on that one and I've been hardly alone on that island. I just think I'd kind of written off the player. To your point, I'm sure there are a lot of people that will not have done that who will be still invested, obviously the franchise is, but the fan base as well. So I'm sure there will be people who are expecting more things from him. But I just, I guess it's maybe my expectations of the player versus what the team needs him to be in other people. And that's why I think it's going to be, it's going to be Vlad because I think that, and it also goes to frustration with the way it was built because, again, not that there should ever be pressure off of Vlad given the pedigree, given what we've seen him do and given the way he's paid, but there should be a couple of other guys that you can point to and, you know, part of it is like I mentioned, like the age with Springer, you're not going to sit here and ask him to be 28 year old George Springer. I mean, he like literally was never that as a blue chain. So I just, and Justin Turner, it's like he's 40 years old. I've already considered them having won the Justin Turner signing, given what they've got out of him to a certain extent. So that's why I think it's just going to go back to Vlad is I've already kind of put Varsho, you know, to do a Leafs thing here. It's like he's on team B, okay. He's not in the core for so I don't, I mean he's, no, no, no, the offense he provided is like team F. Yeah, no, I know. I know. Yeah. Because of that, that's why I just, I think so little, it's the mad bad. Yeah. It's like, I don't think about you at all. Yeah, I mean, if he does that in a second season as a Blue Jay, I don't know how there's any salvaging like that you can talk about is defense till you're blue in the face. Are you surprised they haven't, and I know part of it is like Cure Meyers been useful for them. But are you surprised they haven't just said no, you play center field, like we need to get something out of this, I mean, that would, that appeared to be the plan headed towards this season. And I guess they felt like Kevin Kiermer just fell into their lap and they had to do something that had to have a backup plan. But yeah, I think you're going to see two pretty similar players this season. Has a guy ever needed short porch Yankee Stadium love more in his life than Dalton Vercio? Sure. I mean, yeah, maybe we'll see. I mean, Roger Center is supposed to play pretty well for the pendant hitters last year as well. And it didn't. I'm just, I'm trying here Ben. I just want to, I want to go back to the pressure thing. Yes. Before I move on to something else, again, like this is, hey, we've heard really smart people say, yeah, you know what? The pressure of playing at home, new ballpark, all that, that may have gotten to Vlad and Dalton Vercio, Vercio, new team. That's tough. True. Who's under more pressure than Davis Schneider? Again, like I keep shoehorning Davis Schneider topics in, but it just, it makes me laugh. It's like, oh, now Vlad's under pressure because like he might not be regarded as the best player in the game and might only get $20 million a year in free agency. And like Bo might be the best player on the team. And Dalton Vercio, who's again, like going to be forced into action every single day. Yeah. It's like might, you know, have his playing time reduced a little bit, but no doubt is going to get into arbitration. And one day hit for agent Davis Schneider, you don't hit this week, your career as a major league or maybe over, and you don't have a good performance in your two appearances this season. Maybe yeah, you are just a platoon guy and then like you go five starts against left-handed pitching and you don't get a base hit. Goodbye forever. Like, no, no, they don't sort of come to me with like the home pressures are part of the reason that Vlad and Dalton Vercio struggled at Roger Center last season. I like almost disagree or I like agree with both parts of that, I should say. It's like, I hear what you're saying about the home pressures and don't give me that. But I also do not want to poo poo the pressure that and to your point, they're just completely different. But I think the pressure of having stakes is so much more than the pressure of playing free and loose. And yeah, it's like he wouldn't be a major league ballplayer. But Davis is not his whole life growing up at every single turn at 15 or 14 to 13. He thought he was going to be a big league ballplayer like there was never a moment in his time. And yeah, probably have to show him some insurance or something. I think the idea of the stakes of having to live up to the end, this isn't don't take this as me going. Oh poor flatty. No, deal with it. Overcome it. The stakes are beautiful. It's what makes sports and life worth living. But I don't think you can poo poo var show. I feel very differently about this. It's like, sure, new team, first time being traded, proja for a loop. I can hear all that. The pressure of viewer, I, that part, I hope there's sons of major Lakers. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, not, not exactly the like being Vladimir, a junior born in Montreal and doffing your cap to that. It's a little different than the be in Dalton bar show, like it is a little, it's a little different. Yeah. But the thing I keep coming to or I come back to with this is that I don't want to, I don't want to undercut the point you're making about Davis Schneider and like staring down his professional life. I just think it is just as much, if not infinitely more pressure to try to live up to the name. And yeah, it's like, but what? Because okay, your argument is that, and it's like, I don't know, maybe this is the way I think about it. But your argument is that Vlad, Vlad doesn't live up to it. He completely flames a worst case scenario, he's a millionaire set for life. Yeah. And he's, and he's always going to be on a major league roster, right? And that's the other thing too, if you're like, well, it's not just about money. It's like, okay, well, so what? Like someone will always convince themselves that there's something, the 2021 season is still in Vlad. Like he will all like, can you imagine worse comes the worst? Like Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. of one off season has to sign a one year deal in Pittsburgh, right? You don't think they're like having a parade in Pittsburgh? I guess, I guess, and part of it's just the way I view things is that I think it is just as bad, more so worse, but definitely just as bad to have to sit there living with the failure of not living up to being Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. than it is to be a. And again, like, I don't want to, I don't want to put this on this guy, but to go to David Schneider and be like, all right, well, you gave it a run, you gave it a try. And guess what? You like hundreds of thousands of people did not get to stick in the major leagues. Like I really, I, I think that, and I just know myself, I would sit there every day thinking about what a failure I was, whereas if I was a Davis Schneider, it's like, all right, I gave it my all. You wouldn't be like driving your Uber thinking about like, hey, what it could have been? Like no offense. Well, I guess the argument is, is that, and again, it's like, maybe this is like, just how I feel about myself. It's like, well, it never would have been. I was, again, I don't want to make this book, David Schneider, but Brent, that's not the way like there are more than a few guys that have like, I would argue, and there's hockey players same deals. I've talked to tons of golfers who were three shots away from making a corn fairy. I had like, like sliding doors, it's like not a huge difference. And what, like, if I just shown something in my brief forehand, like I learned something in my second tour of duty back in the minor leagues, and if I just applied that the first time and got like, that would honestly haunt me to my grave. And especially if Davis, Davis Schneider, who I keep bringing to the forefront, because this is your side. No, but I keep bringing this point to the forefront. And people need to be run. Like, he has had an incredible minor league career, he's been a very good minor league player. But yeah, if he went back to the minor leagues, kept doing that, he's like, well, I couldn't I translate that at the major leagues, if they just give me like a longer run, I could have figured this thing out, but it's not the way it works when you're a whatever 18th round pick. No, I, you know what, I just realized, as you said that, it's like, I think what's coloring my perception of this is like most of the people, the athletes that I've had those conversations with are golfers. And they've told me their story about, I need to go, but that is just pure performance. That's it. That's why you can't keep a golfer away, right? Exactly. And that's what I was going to say. You made your pot or you didn't in the final hole of qualifying school, but, but it's like you either hit it a ball over the fence or you didn't and it'll make a long track record sport. He's done that in the minor leagues. It's not the same, right? But there's lots of guys who you're like, man, that guy retired from professional baseball, Matt Hegg, current Blue Jays hitting coach for loss. And he had a moment in the major leagues of baseball, but he's a minor like track record is like amazing. He's one of the like all time minor league home run leaders. You don't think that guy thinks like, hey, man, if I've just gotten a kick of the can a little bit longer, Eric Thames, another guy, former Blue Jays. Mashing in Asia, yeah, and came back and got a contract in major league baseball with the Brewers and had some moments, but you don't think that guy was like, well, and injuries were a part of his career too. But there's like a myriad of guys who it's not like, hey, in golf, you shoot 65 a bunch of times. Like you finished at the top of the Corn Fairy tour. Guess what? You get your, you got a whole year on the PGA tour. That's not the way it works in baseball specifically, but Hawk is kind of the same way like you can, man, look at some of the junior hockey numbers that it's just, it's to me. That's the most pressure when it's sliding doors between being a somebody and listen, I'm a nobody and being a nobody, right? Like professional athlete is a somebody being you, me, the other people that are listening to us. Most of them, nobody. I guess I get relative terms, relative terms, relative terms. Again, I guess that's it. I'm like, yeah, being one of us ain't so bad, but being so close, but then, but then being so close to being, so are supposed to have being not, not good, not great, transcended, all the fame, all that, never living up to it, that would just, it would eat me alive every single day. And I know you're making the argument of like, yeah, so would the other thing. Yeah. So your argument is the, the difference between being a good major league baseball player and making millions of dollars and being the best of all time is bigger than the difference between being a major league baseball player and a minor league baseball player. Not in lifestyle or anything like that, but I do think in terms of feeling like you left something on the table or not having scratched the surface. That's what I think. Yeah. I think that's an insane take. Okay. Yeah. But agree to disagree. Mark is throwing it on the mound for the Yankees tonight, who I think still has a Toronto tattoo, right? Doesn't he? Doesn't he have like the Toronto skyline tattoo? Yeah. I have to be honest, I think that Johnny Depp, like Winona Ryder tattoo that he had to like get changed to, why no? Yeah. It's really tough. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't want him doing that to our city. I don't know. Maybe change it to like a portrait of a raccoon or something. That's like a little more. Yeah. Could be, could be many locales. I, I, yeah. I, I, I'd be lying to you if I was super up to date on Marcus Strowman's Inc. Yeah. I don't think to contract, but in terms of the ink on his body, I got nothing for you. I'm pretty sure he has a Toronto tattoo, but yeah, it does feel, he feels like a favorite son here, right? Had some, some great, great moments as a, a Bluejay and he, depending who you ask. I mean, no, no, no, moments were great, but the favorite son thing is definitely depending who you are. My fan? Like who, what fan has bad things to say about Marcus Strowman? Not, I want to be clear, not me, but I think there are many people who were rubbed the wrong way by the, and again, like don't, don't lump this on me, but the like, look at me nature. Yeah, that was, I think, I think there's a, I don't want to overstated that it's everybody, but I think there's a pretty sizable amount of people in the fan base that have that. Oh, it was always a story there. And again, this isn't me. Don't put this on me, but I, I feel like this is very much a thing that bubbled up even when he was no longer here. It's like anytime his name would kind of pop up in the news, it just seemed like that sentiment was, I don't know, gurgling around for me. I mean, to me, that felt like the old head thing that was, it was more people used it as a straw man than a real person that was having those takes. I mean, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm too close to it. Although. I'm thinking of exactly one mutual friend of ours, for sure, that I'll tell you about later, but I don't think they're on an island. Yeah, okay. Maybe. You know who I think is maybe in that camp is like this Blue Jays front office? So, I mean, it wasn't the only reason why he was approaching free agency, but he was summarily dismissed like he was shipped out of town unceremoniously. A guy that was a very passionate player, there's no question about it. It's not hockey, right? Like, it's not like, well, the only thing missing from this generation of Leafs team is the passion. It was nice to have a guy unapologetically, like, especially a proud, boisterous, loud American talk about how great Toronto was. Like, I do think that can't be kind of overstated. Yeah. Or understated. No, I think he was almost universally beloved as a Blue Jays, obviously, they won't be rooting for him. It's a great afternoon in the Bronx. All right, I want to talk about my trip to Rogers Center yesterday. He is regale me. It's beautiful. Okay. So, I think for the average fan, last year's Renault's are the thing that's going to have the most impact on your Blue Jays game experience, right? Like the open spaces, the right field, the fifth deck, like those areas where you can spend the 20 bucks, you don't have a seat and you just walk around. Although there's an addition to that, honestly, the thing that I've, I should have tweeted about and that not enough people are talking about, there are drink rails around the entire stadium now. Like that. Love that. I'll take it back. Because if there was one nitpicking of those open spaces last year's, they get jammed up real fast. Yeah. Right. And if you're not one of the first people into the ballpark, yeah, no shot, tight, tight, but now there's more areas to stand and honest, and the 100 level seats are moved closer to the action. There's less of them. So there's less seats actually underneath the overhang, you're like barely under the overhang. If you're under the overhang at all, if you're on a rail at the top of the 100 level. Okay. I like that. So, I love that. The corner's a little different, especially the left field corner because it's been built up. Like the retaining wall is much higher. And there's some, I honestly, maybe this gives you some insight into the type of person I am. I love the idea. Like it goes up the aisle works in such a way that the higher you go up like right by the corner, right by the foul pole, there's like one seat. I think one or two seats by themselves right next to the aisle, which is like, to me, that looks like the best seat. Oh my God. The same house. Yeah. It was always my favorite seat on the subway. Like the one solo seat. Oh, yeah, glorious. It's not going to impact your fan experience, but obviously the whole idea with this renovation has been to take a multi-purpose facility and turn it into a single use facility, which is baseball. Like a ball. Yeah. Which it looks more and more. And now the transition is almost entirely complete. Part of that was the dugouts were also, you know, they were not, they were permanent in quotation mark, but they could, they could be removed, right? When you had your monster truck rally, this is all news to me. The dugouts didn't have power outlets. Oh. So like they had these iPads and they had whatever their guns or whatever they were using. They had to like run back inside the clubhouse to either grab a battery or charge them. So now they have power running to the dugouts, which is something I never considered. It feels like, that feels like a news bulletin from like 18, 24, not 20, 24, but yes, good to, good to know. I didn't know the dugouts were removable. I got to be honest. I never would have thought that. Yeah. Well, the more you know, learn something new every day and you know, yeah. New food vendor this year and even more delicious. I love they had the, this thing that I'd never had before, have you ever had this? It's a Jamaican patty, but it's like a stuffed Jamaican patty. Do you got like the Jamaican patty? I don't know what you call it. Stuffing. Yeah. No, no, like the patty. Yeah. Like the actual like the casing of the patty. Yeah. What do you call that? Is it the casing? No, but like people know you're talking about the yellow part. Yeah. The yellow part yellow, yellow patty part. That's not what it's called. Stuff. Patty cake, patty cake. Yeah. Stuffed, which was to me the best thing I had yesterday. But like, what was it? Okay. What was the stuff with though? Like, okay, there was. Because I'm confused, because it's like generally speaking, there's not just yellow pastry. Like there is stuff inside. Yeah. But it's huge. I've only ever had a Jamaican patty with just meat, right? Yeah. No, there was like onion tomato. Okay. This one I was getting at. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You kind of left that out. It's like, I would just hit you. There's a Jamaican patty. They put stuff inside of it. I'm like, wow. More than just beef. Like the beef. No, it's like a taco except with the Jamaican patty. See, this is a better vision. Like, I don't like the casing doesn't sound right. No, it's not right. It's the patty part of the patty. No, the patty part of the patty is the meat part. Or it's the whole, yeah, pastry. Okay. There you go. I definitely used that word like three times in the end. Nah, no, I don't like that. You're saying casing. I don't like that. No, I don't like the casing. Anyways. Good job. All right. When we come back, honestly, you're just like, great job by you. I'm so proud of you. I didn't waste out. You missed out. I did. Again, like, yeah, it's like my kid faking sick. Yeah. That was very full. All right. When we come back, Leafs getting set to play their historic rivals tomorrow night. They're biggest. Some might even say. And not me. Nah. What's left to be deciding these final seven games for the Leafs? That and more next is the fan morning show continues. Ben Ennis, Brent Gunning, Sportsman 590, the fan.
