[MUSIC] It is Blue Jays home opener, Blue Jays and Mariners. And we are down at Roger Center for fan morning shows 4-7-5-9 of the fan, Ben Eddiss and Brent Gunning. And last year, I don't know what you expected out of this ballpark as far as the offense is concerned. The fences are different and just like mathematically, like physically closer in certain areas. It was hot. Maybe didn't play like one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in baseball. But it playing like one of the most pitcher friendly ballparks in baseball was a surprise. >> Yeah, I don't think that's what anybody had drawn up there. I don't think like the, I don't know if the khakis get involved with ballpark dimensions. >> I think they do. >> But if they did, I don't think that's the way they drew it up there. Yeah, it was quite honestly pretty jarring and I don't, physics is weird. But I don't expect, I don't expect, physics is weird. >> Yeah, that's a very bright cutting take. But like, I don't expect the infield seating configuration changing to affect the way the ballpark plays, that, I mean, right? >> You said it to me like I'm like, oh, so dumb to say physics is weird. And then I asked you the question that I was kind of tiptoeed doing. You're looking at me like, I don't have my answer for them. >> All right, I'm going to have an answer that sounds dumb and might be dumb. But here's, there's twofold things. >> Give it to me. >> You can't sound dumber than I did. >> Okay, one, one. Okay, when the roof is open, the airflow maybe is different. >> See, this is why I said physics is weird. >> Okay. >> And two, if there's just like physically less matter in the infield. >> Okay. >> Gravity, perhaps, is lesser. >> Now we're out, now we're out. Unless Neil deGrasse Tyson is going to descend from the heavens here, which I don't even think he believes in. To correct us on this, we should probably move on. But I don't think, I don't think it will impact the way like the offense plays. >> Yeah, I don't think so many more. >> Here's what I think is going to impact the way the offense plays. Just things like normalizing, okay? Roger Center last year, according to Statcast, the 23rd easiest place to score in baseball. >> Okay. >> So that's bottom seven in all of Major League baseball. But what you can do on the Statcast page is you can do single season, which nobody does and you're not supposed to do. >> No. >> Or you can do three-year rolling average, which is what you're supposed to do. Because it takes multiple years for these things to even out. So you cannot take, according to the people who know, according to the big brains, you cannot take a single season and extrapolate how a ballpark plays, especially when we're getting used to what this is. >> I would agree with that. We do small sample sizes in a season. But yeah, for a ballpark over the course of its life, 81 games, pretty small sample size. >> Yeah, it is. But yeah, today is the debut of the new look, Roger Center. Happy to be joined now by Marnie Starkman, Blue Jays VP of business operations. It's yet another opening day. Thanks for doing this. This is exciting. >> Thank you for having me. We're so excited to get this going. >> Yeah, Marnie, I'm sure like me. Yeah, we've spent lots of time in this Roger Center under the previous configuration. Can you believe that this is the same ballpark that we attended three years ago? >> No, I can't. I had a moment last night before I ended the hotel to bed where I just looked out and just, yeah, felt so much pride, I think, just on what's been accomplished. I think absolutely over the past two years. >> Yeah. >> But more specifically, since the day we stopped playing, what's happened here has been incredible. Double shifts, 2,500 workers, incredible work by our Blue Jays staff to just make this happen. And we keep saying it was about 18 months of work done in five months. So I can't wait for fans to come in. I hope when they come in, they see how well phase one and two look together. And then really just sit in the seat, right? Like it was all about the seating bowl this offseason. And I hope that fans can recognize the difference. >> Yeah, so I think obviously when people came last year, the so much of the changes was focused on, I mean, not that this year's different in terms of the fan experience, but it was different seating areas or public areas or different bars in the building. You know, here now, it seems like you said much more on the infield seating. What is the thing you're kind of most excited to show off about it when fans come in today? >> Yeah, I think, look, we've made some refinements to our outfield district as well. We had such positive success there the first year and that will still be bumping. And hopefully it remains the place to be. But yeah, this this offseason was really about making this a ballpark. So although we'll still have large events, I think, like you know, the bowl used to rotate for other events and was really meant also for football. So the real focus has been just the reorientation of the bowl, the seats, you know, looking at the mound and home plate because you are here to watch a ball game, all the drink rails around the concourse. And then really what we heard, more leg room, wider seats, cup holders. >> Yeah, so that's really, you know, that's really what the focus is. And then what our premium fans will see is what's going to be below. So obviously we needed to get the bowl intact before we could start building below. So player facilities, I would say are 85% there. And then the amenities below are starting to be built for those 1600 fans. >> Yeah, what I noticed most was walking through those 100 level seats was the difference in space that you had between people's like, like if you're obviously not during the course of play after and at bat, walking out to the aisle to go to the concessions of the bathroom. Yeah, people aren't going to have to like scooch and you're still running into their legs. Like there's a lot more room. >> Yeah, you didn't realize it, right? But even though we had done some small seat replacement since 1989, the spread depth and learning all this construction language was so narrow, right? So really, that's what I think people don't realize is this bowl was taken down to nothing. Like really, then we dug down to build some of the amenities and then rebuilt the concrete. And we were able to do that on a different angle with wider aisles and rows. So hopefully that's what's recognized. >> Yeah, I think it's, when people sit in those seats, it's impossible to ignore. I wonder if there was ever a moment for you, because we've all, I mean, most people have had renovations done at their house. They've had contractors in. And generally, when they say something's going to be done at a certain time. And for a certain price, yeah, yeah, it's not always the case. >> My husband kept reminding me it's the final touches. It's the final touches. They go in fast. And a few weeks ago, I was like, well, I hope so. I'm not going to be here, April 8th. >> Yeah, like there's no backup plan, right? Like what was there ever a moment where you're having trouble sleeping? Because you wondered whether this thing would be done in time? >> Yeah, I think look, we had an incredible partner in PCL. And I think they kept us posted. I mean, the biggest issue was when we demoed and dug, right? Because you really don't know what's down there. Even though they tell you they've surveyed it. >> Oh, we had hardwood down there. [LAUGH] >> I think it was, I'm sure you guys know, but I led with an incredible leader, and at Kernerotte, who's now at the St. Louis Cardinals. And I remember the moment when we looked out, and it was literally, there was no stance. And I said to him, like, what are we doing? >> That was two weeks ago. >> But yeah, I think that we had no. But even two weeks ago, look, I mean, the reality is, we have been on the road. And we've had to, like, if you look at what's even been done the last three days, it's incredible. So I think, yeah, there were definitely some of those, what are we doing moments? And some of those moments where you looked at each other and said, are we not working in baseball? [LAUGH] But look, I mean, I grew up in this building, and I walk around now. And I just, I hope fans get to really experience it in the way that it was designed. >> Well, and you mentioned it, like you grew up in this building. I think for a lot of people in this city, like even people who wouldn't, I think, consider themselves like a rabid Blue Jays fan. It is just kind of like a communal backyard. And I think one of the coolest things about it, and it's funny, I had this thought walking in, you know, like we talk about all the sports teams in the city, and some of them around since 1900. But it's very cool to see like, yeah, I was kind of here for almost all of this. And just to see the ballpark kind of become like a living, breathing entity. And, you know, change is almost always a good thing. And just to kind of see how it's evolved over the years, it just, I don't know, like it makes me, it's not really a question. It's just, as we're talking here, it does make you feel like old, not make feel old, but it makes you feel appreciative of how much you've kind of got to see here and how different it is now. >> Yeah, I think that was one of our intentions. And in the design was like, look, we're still a ballpark, and we still have our avid fan. And those are, those fans are so important to us. And they're going to get to experience the game the way that they've wanted to. But then look, our job is as a, you know, sports organization here. And as a game, a baseball is to get younger and make this place more exciting. And I think that's really the point, right? You can sit in a seat and watch three innings. You can go with your kids to the kids' zone. You can have a drink on the drink rail and experience the game the way that you want to experience it. And that might be different with your buddies on a Tuesday night than with your family on a Sunday. >> Can't confirm. >> Yeah, exactly. But that, you know, look, like that's what we have to do to grow our game. That's what we have to do to grow our fan base. And hopefully with these renovations, you know, they're over the next 10 to 15 years, people can experience the game in different ways. >> So what is left to do? Is there much? Like, I think from just a view point of this press box here, everything looks done. But there is some stuff underneath that still needs to be finished, right? >> Yes, absolutely. So we're ready to play baseball today. >> Good to know. >> Good to know. >> Good to know. Step one. So yeah, that's already and good to go. What's happening is what's below. So the clubhouses are in great shape better than I think we were expecting. So that we're ready to play ball and have all major league baseball requirements there. And then below the premium clubs are still in full construction. So there's three clubs that seat the 1600 fans behind home plate. I think there was a bit of a misconception. I think people thought we were creating this entire bowl of premium seating. And that's not the case. >> Yeah. >> There's 1600 seats. And remember those folks that used to sit down there had to walk up 30 rows to use the washroom or do anything like that. So we're building the clubs below, and those will open mid-season. And so fans who are sitting in those seats will walk through a construction site today. And you'll get to see the work that's still happening. So that's I think the core part of the project. And then like always, we have tremendous support from our ownership team. And we'll continue to use our annual capital to focus on the fan experience. And so all of that is still really the thing in work. So ideally by like mid-July, the large project will be complete. >> Yeah, you mentioned the player facilities there in terms of club houses or anything else there in terms of like workout area that's still to be worked on or you've been able to make improvements on? >> Yeah. So I mean, Mark is definitely the best person to walk you all through. I'll give him credit on that. I mean, he obsesses over it. And look, we need to be the best place to play. I mean, players have to make a decision to come to another country. And I think what we want to make sure is when they're here, their families and them as athletes are taken care of. So that work is still in progress. But yes, we had a lot of learnings for our player development complex in Florida. So took a lot of those learnings in terms of what we built over here. And because of the reorientation of the bull, we had to move the club houses anyways. So that work is still, I would say it's about 85% done. And we're looking forward to taking everyone through that, hopefully in May. >> So the price tag, what, 400 million? Give or take? >> We were just close to 400 million. I mean, what happens in a project like this is the scope obviously changes. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> As you start to see, okay, well, in order for the phase two to look like phase one, we need to do these things. And then I think just in this market, the reality of working double time. I mean, what people don't realize is how fortunate we were to have the roof. >> Yeah. >> We talked to our other teams who are trying to make renovations while it's snowing in the off season or dealing with rain and winds. We've been very fortunate. So yeah, we were just under 400 million. And honestly, like I said, the support, don't forget, this was all privately. >> Yeah, that's what I was going to get to. >> That's forgotten. >> No, it should not buy me. >> Yeah. >> No, it shouldn't because down the street, we got the Buffalo Bills building a whole new stadium. There's been lots of conversation about, yeah, some private profits, but public funding of stadiums. How important is it that no public dollars were spent on the near half a billion dollars of renovations? >> Yeah, as a taxpayer. >> Yeah, we all are. >> But I would say, yeah, I mean, look, it was, you know, I mean, Mark has said this time and time again, the support from Edward and Tony has been incredible. But I think the other thing to remember in this is the speed to which we were able to work, right? Like a lot of times when it's publicly funded money, you're waiting years and years. So your designs are getting dated. And for us, we were fortunate. Once we were told go, following the pandemic, you know, we went and we went quick. And that means that what we were able to design is still relevant because otherwise, things get dated so quickly. And I think the other thing that's just a myth that we forget is how fortunate we are, where we are in the city. >> Yeah. >> People can take transportation here. >> Yes. >> We're in the heart of the city. You can head out to King Street for dinner after. All these things that, you know, a lot of ballparks are surrounded by parking lots. And we forget how fortunate we are at the location as well. >> No, I mean, you mentioned location. And it's the two most, to me, it's the two most obvious things about the ballpark that, again, there's a million things that make it great, but it's a location and it's the roof. It's like we were joking earlier about the first game at Exhibition Stadium. And it's snowing. And like, I don't know, maybe that is kind of perfectly on brand. And it's a great first game. You wouldn't want to have to deal with that every April. >> No, I mean, imagine the eclipse, the eclipse at the roof. >> I am. >> We're in batting practice. We'd be in trouble today. >> Well, interesting. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, is this fun? Like, can you take a step back and take like a deep breath? I know it's not totally done in July. I guess it'll all be behind you. But I imagine this has been an insanely stressful couple of years putting this stuff into place. >> It has, it has. But like I said, I mean, we have so much support and what you all don't see are just the incredible people that like live and breathe J's and care so much about the fans that are going to walk through this door today. And I think that's really where most of the pride lies. >> It looks great. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> How do you guys got to see it? >> Before we let you go, I'm going to put my co-host on the spot. I don't know if you're taking requests, but. >> Music. >> Polls. >> Oh, yeah, real metal foul polls. >> So, okay, I'll tell you the story then. >> Okay. >> So the foul polls were actually supposed to be in place. And we wanted those because that was the final touch of making this look like a ball park. But, you know, we have Taylor coming and we have some big concert. >> Wow. >> And actually, the reality is, is the way in which we need to get trucks in and move things for concerts, we need the polls to be able to move up and down. >> Well, and I would say I did say this to him. >> I'm not blaming it on Taylor's trip, I'm just saying. >> No, you better not because it's like, you've done a great job with the park, but they will come for you if they believe anything about it. >> I know. >> I will go as far as to say, like, I wouldn't be mad at a poll. But I do feel like the mesh net, it's like ballparks have little quirks, little things. And it's a weird thing for me to remember. But when I think of homers in this park, I see them scraping by the mesh more times than not. >> Yeah, the intent was that the intent was a poll. It definitely causes more obstruction than this. But we would have done it. It was just once we actually looked at, we still need to get large shows in here. And we want to have big shows in here. So there were some things that we had to hold on to from 1989 and those were that. >> I love it, I love it. Does Taylor, like, has she called you? Do you have this show up on your phone? >> No, I don't. I don't. >> You don't have contact? >> I'm sorry, I do not. But we are excited to have her. We have an entire baseball season before her. >> Yeah. >> I keep reminding everyone. >> Hopefully a long one. >> Hopefully a long one, yeah, which is why she's in November. But yes, we are still excited to have Taylor. >> Yeah. >> But more excited for tonight. >> Yes, sure. >> I can't wait. Can't wait to see baseball. Marnie, great job. And thanks for doing those. >> Thanks for having me and a happy home opener. >> There's Marnie Starkman. Bluejay's VP of business operations. All right, more of the fan morning show, Ben and his friend, Gunning, live from Rogers Center next on Sportsnet 590, the fan. >> The best Bluejay show out there, period. Blair and Barker, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. [BLANK_AUDIO] >> Fan morning show, Sportsnet 590, the fan live from Rogers Center, Bluejay's in Seattle Mariners. Bluejay's home opener, it's Ben and his, it's Brent Gunning. It is Sportsnet 590, the fan Luis Castillo against Jose Barrios, both the Bluejay's and the Mariners off to. I don't know if the Mariners would consider it a C minus start. It might be a D for them because they had some home games. I think for the Bluejay's C minus is fair. Let's bring in Ben Schulman, radio voice of the Bluejay's. Ben, how's it going? Good to see you, man. >> It's going, it's going great so far, really. >> Wait, how great? >> It's going great so far. >> It's going well, it's going so well, it's going just terrible. >> Ooh, I was about to say. >> I'm feeling comfortable right now back in the booth. No, no, it's, it's going great. It's fun, it's exciting to be here once again, to be up in the booth right now, talking with you guys a lot of fun. So, I can't wait for this long home stretch. >> I'm super happy that happened with us and not tonight. >> [LAUGH] >> Say, it has to be said. >> It has, it has to be said. >> I was saying earlier on, like I showed up, I've never been here at five o'clock in the morning, because why would I, right? >> Yeah, I've never been here at five o'clock in the morning. >> Yeah, I don't know if you've ever been here at 8.30 in the morning. Like, why would you need to be here at 8.30 in the morning? But these headsets are brand new, Ben. >> Oh, yeah. >> Like, everything's brand new. >> The hunt level. >> Are man? >> Yeah, I saw him taking the plastic off. It's just like, it's a brand new ballpark feel, including the headsets. >> Yes, so we broke him in for you. >> I'm happy, you know, the booth hasn't really changed. And I think we got a good thing going where, like, there've been a lot of renovations over the years, but this is kind of the Tom and Jerry booth. >> You're right. >> It's the same as it was before. There are no more, well, there's a little bit of loose wiring over there. But there's not a ton of loose wiring, but it's, it's, it stays untouched. >> My promotion reads for a sponsor that is not sponsoring the team right now, as long as they're in front of me. So, yeah, it's great to be back. >> It is like a time capsule, like frozen from the exact last time. And again, like a lot happened here in the, in the off season, but yeah, frozen to, to last year. So start of the season this year, we were saying kind of a C minus C start. It's weird, four and six. If you just say the record, you go, that's fine. You come home, four and six. It doesn't feel like it's fine though. And it doesn't feel like it's just been four and six. What's been your read on the first 10 games of the season? >> Yeah, purely on the record, I, I don't hate the record. I mean, there are, there are teams who have gone through much easier stretches. Like frankly, I think the Baltimore Orioles are either what five and four, six and four. And they've played the angels, the royals and the pirates. Like that's a very different start. >> The world meeting pirates. >> Yeah, yes, then going to the race, going to Houston, going to New York. But the way that they've been getting it done, obviously, I think it's frustrating for a lot of people and rightfully so. They haven't strung together consistent offense. They've had three kind of big days of eight plus runs. And then they've had one other day or two other days where they've scored even three runs. And the other games they haven't reached out. So that, that certainly has been a concern for them so far. You know, I, I think that they need to get it going a little bit and, and start hitting with more consistency. We've seen, you know, I think a lot of talk went into approach last year. >> Yeah, I don't think the approach necessarily has been the problem. >> And their top three in baseball and pitches seen per plate appearance. >> And they're walking like crazy. Like I don't think they're swinging at pitches outside of the zone. I just think, frankly, John Shinder said it and I think it's true. They haven't hit balls with enough authority yet. They're hitting a lot of ground balls. Obviously, that no hitter is going to stick in people's minds. There wasn't maybe safer. >> And the one hitter. >> Yeah. And the one hitter safe for, safe for Jose Abreu is kind of diving stop late in that game. There wasn't, you know, like a typical, oh, a guy lines a ball and someone makes a diving catch, no hitter play. They just didn't really hit the ball hard at all that night. So they, they have to make an adjustment. They're hitting really well against fast balls and not really against anything else. They, they have to figure out a way here to start hitting the spin. >> Yeah. And I think people are, are right to have question marks about the bottom of the order and whether it can produce enough and especially considering the off season they had and considering the questions around the offense going into the off season. What I think is the area of optimism is that they're four and six and they've looked as inept offensively at times as they have with the top four outside of Justin Turner not hitting too. Like those guys, like, does anyone question whether Bulbish yet is a good hitter? Because I don't know, can you can question whether Vladimir Guerrero Jr is the ever going to be the 2021 version? He's not like a 190 hitter. So yeah, that part of the offensive start is not sustainable. >> Yeah. That's, that's what I'm thinking. I know there's a lot of attention on the bottom half. But frankly, I think the top half has been the main reason right now that the Blue Jays haven't scored runs. I mean, most teams are not driven by their guy hitting in the seventh spot. You want it to be good. Don't get me wrong. If you're the Dodgers, that's Teoska Hernandez. But in most situations, I did that one just to jab. >> They don't need jabbing right now, Ben. I know. I'm excited. Yeah. I've seen my mentions. Like this fan base is, yeah, there are people are angry. And I understand why it's a very similar team to last year. So I think in a lot of years where a team would get a fresh start, necessarily, not necessarily this team does, because they, you know, end up with a lot of the same guys. If those guys can get going, I think that you'll see more offense. I mean, they were not the offense they should have been last year. They weren't like bottom of the league like they are right now. They were 14 baseball and runs per game. >> And like the outside of like the run scoring was middle of the pack and not as good, but like some of the other numbers like WRC press were hot. Yeah, they were actually like a good offense. >> It was runners in scoring position at times. >> And it was weird like the difference between them and like the vaunted Orioles offense. It was the greatest of all time that put up 10 runs a game or so it felt like. >> Yeah. >> Like not that much of a separation. >> They hit for a better average, I believe, than the Orioles. >> The Orioles were top of baseball in batting average with guys in scoring position and slugging with guys in scoring position. And that helped them out a lot. The Blue Jays obviously needed to correct that, but they do need to hit more. I think we saw a little bit more from Vlad. We saw a lot more from Bo and George, I would say, in the last couple of games in the previous two. George had hits in all three games in New York. Bo in the last two games. I think he was like two hits in a walk on game in game two and then a walk in two hits in game three or two walks in a hit in game three, something like that. So he started to get it going and who knows, you know, the neck thing and stuff might have just slowed Bo down a little bit to start the year. But yeah, they need more out of the top guys for sure. And then I think you start to worry about what's going on with the bottom guy. >> Yeah, it's just, I think the reason why there's so much frustration as well is that, again, like to your point, it's a similar team, although it's not like IKF is here in Justin Turner, like there's certainly a handful of new faces, but the core of the team is mostly unchanged. But I think the reason it's so frustrating is because you're, and again, it's a long season. These things can in theory change, but once again, we're staring in there and I pulled it up to this morning. It's like their Babip with runners in scoring position, their second or third last in baseball right now. And the problem with that stat is depending on what you believe, you can look at it and tell yourself one thing or another. If you believe you're having good at bats and you have talented hitters, you're going, well, that there's no way that can't normalize, but we've seen this movie before where they have had that low number and it's not been a little blip. It's been over the course of a big sample size of a full season. So I think that's why there's kind of so much consternation right now. For sure. I mean, Babip's a tricky one, batting average on balls and play because if your, if your teams, you know, and I know some people are going to grown at all these numbers, but if your team's exit velocity is high, I hate numbers the most that I brought up. Yeah. So if your team's exit velocity is high and your babip is low, you're like, okay, we're hitting the ball hard and getting unlucky. We're hitting in that guys, but their exit velocity isn't that high. If you hit balls soft, your batting average on balls in play is not going to be high because at the end of the day, you're hitting a lot of ground balls or hitting lazy fly balls to center field. It's not like, you know, they're exactly teasing home runs a ton of the time. They have, you know, there were a couple hard liners like Turner had a few, fewer hits this past series than the ones before, but he like smoked a ball with the bases loaded at Alex Firdugo had a liner caught, I think on a leap by Anthony Volpe at short. So you're like, okay, he probably deserves more hits. But as a whole, I don't think you've seen that so far, they have to figure out a way to hit the ball harder, frankly. And I it's really simple and it's really complicated in another way, like that bit where, you know, it's if they can hit the ball harder, hitting the ball hard usually generates hits. That's why at the end of the day, people not just in Toronto, but outside of Toronto are so fascinated by Vladimir career junior busy hits the ball hard constantly. Now he was hitting it too much on the ground last year. But when you hit the ball hard, but the long of the ground was taking the highest of his career. I know it was it was weird. And there was some stuff I heard like, well, he's hitting the ball too straight. Yeah, that's it. Like it didn't travel as far to center field as it should. Yeah, as it should have. And then I look at other stuff and it's like, well, he actually hit as many home runs to center and right as he did last year, but not enough to left. So he should be pulling the ball more. But I kind of think of him as like a little bit more Miguel Cabrera than maybe like a pure home run hitter where he hits a lot of line drives and they get out. So it's it's complicated. And then it'll look simple if they start hitting the ball hard, but they got to get something going here. And hopefully, you know, they start to get it going against Seattle who like you guys mentioned has not performed very well to start the season either another team with playoff expectations. They were caught one game out of the playoffs kind of like the blue chase were a couple years ago. They don't want to make their return in 2022 after 20 years, a one off thing. And there's a lot of pressure I think on both these teams to to really start to get going. Yeah, and Luis Castillo off to a rough start in his first two starts the season. Although we've seen him be pretty dominant. He's nasty. Yeah, but the guy they traded him for got dinged with like an 80 game. So maybe not the worst. So yeah, if you go back to last season, a team that's struggling wouldn't necessarily want to return to this building because the Blue Jays did not I mean that the whole season was not a great offensive season for the Blue Jays, but specifically in this new configuration at Roger Center, which didn't make a ton of sense. Honestly, Ben, it wasn't everybody. But it was two guys specifically that changed their entire years. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Dalton Varshot, you remove the home splits from their season or they do the same thing they did on the road at home or like you're supposed to do slightly better. And then those two guys had good seasons. They were like at least 100 points down at home in OPS. Both guys is that like how do you view that because on the one hand, you should just view that as a weirdo blip. But this last year was the first time we saw this ballpark be configured differently. Maybe it's it's not as offensively friendly as we once believed. Yeah, it's it's hard to know right now. Like I lean blip over making big declarations yet because when you're like Statcast kind of has their stats on which parks are hitters parks and which are pitchers parks like obviously Colorado's right at the top. You have big, big ballparks that are at the bottom like in Oakland and they like to do their stat in like three year averages. They bring three years together and figure out the hitting environment. So one year I think is a is a smaller sample than it might seem even though they played 81 games here. But maybe you know they looked at the new configuration and I don't know I'm just speculating. I don't know this for sure. Maybe they tried to hit differently because it looked more inviting inviting to certain places. I mean theory you know kind of left center and right center for Guerrero are going to be two of his biggest power zones. And you would think that they would have thought about you know the current hitters on this team when configuring the I think so. I think so. I mean it is a long term project but I definitely I definitely think that they they did it. It was weird. I mean they were a better team overall on the road than they were home also. They were like 11 games above 500 on the road and I think three games above 500 at home. My math isn't right there. But it's close. Five games above 500 at home. But it's it'll be interesting to see how it goes this year because lower wall should provide them some opportunity to hit more homers. I mean it's just it's I don't see why it wouldn't. You know we'll see you know sometimes there's talk about how often the roof is open and how often it's closed and does the ball fly better when it's open. I don't know that there's ever been like actual science to prove that. But that's what the general like thought is. So maybe the roof was closed a little more often. I haven't really crunched the numbers on that at this point. But it it'll be interesting to see because I mean they haven't hit well on the road. So maybe it's a flip and and I you know be down with that. That'd be cool. There's a there's a great minor league line at least that it's if you're going to be bad be bad on the road. Yeah. So hopefully you know and they have they haven't been bad. It's too early to say that. But yeah I would agree with that too. So I think they can get something going at home here. They have plenty of time to work it out. 10 straight games. They're going to get the Colorado Rockies in here. Yeah. Look at that. Maybe get some confidence going. Maybe bring my eight year old to that game. Yeah. Yeah. So you know you know and remind him that Chris Bryant used to be a prominent player in Major League Baseball. One day. So yeah we'll have to wait and see. I'm not sure on the ball. Let's let's say it is a pitcher's ballpark. Are we sure that's the worst thing for this ball club with the starting staff that we think they have and the like I mean just again like obviously it's a it's a long term project to your point. It's like yeah I think I would think they'd take some of the hitters and can into you know consideration when putting it together. But it's you know over the lifetime. But for this iteration of a Blue Jays team I would actually think it'd kind of be more successful or want to be in more of a pitcher's park. Wouldn't you? I think you could definitely make that argument. I mean you look at Baltimore. They leveled their wall and moved back 20 feet left field because their pitchers were not great and they were giving up home runs and threw a lot into left handed hitting offensive players and allowed fly ball pitchers who typically give up home runs to come in and give up really long fly balls instead. So I think as long as you know what you're dealing with and they have a good handle on it they can they can mold it to how they'd like to. They're not going to do something as extreme as Baltimore and like kind of in my opinion like really make a beautiful ballpark a lot uglier. But you know I think that if you know what you're dealing with which I'm sure they have more than enough people studying everything to do with this that they can build their ball team over maybe even a couple years to kind of get to the point where they exploit their ballpark. Yeah where are you on the pitching for this team because we've seen some great performances. We've seen some not so great performances. We've also seen a guy in Kevin Gossman be pitching with diminished velocity but him saying all the right things and then going back 12 months ago and looking at that start in Kansas City there was as much questions as there were about the offense being able to produce at a higher rate than a season ago. There's also a question about okay what if like Vlad he does hit the ball better at home this season. Isn't there also a reasonable case that the pitching would take a step backwards especially with the help considering the year they had a season ago. Certainly I think we're already seeing the health side of it. I mean the fact that you know they went to bound Francis because he pitched so well in the spring but they also like there wasn't much of a competition. Alec Minow was not healthy at that point and they didn't have to deal with that last year whether Minow was on the team or not did not have to do with health. So I think that from a health standpoint you could see regression you know I think it's reasonable to wonder if they pitched so well last year. I mean a couple guys had career seasons. Is there even if it's a small step back just a small step. I think they were hoping to counter that by having a bump up in their five starter production and maybe being able to kind of replace that overall. In the short term I would say I have some concerns about the pitching in the long term I don't. I mean we talked before we went on you know Kevin Gosman weird start really unfortunate because that's one of their better offensive days and they end up losing nine to eight but in the long term I'm not too worried about Gosman. He was kind of trying to pull off something that really is hard to do which is going to a season after pitching once in school training. Like that is just not very easy. He's you know in his mid 30s he's thrown 1500 innings more than that to this point. So if he's not injured which he's not it sounds then I think he'll bounce back whether it's the next start I don't know but I think the the long term of Kevin Gosman this season is good. Love the way burrios has looked so far. Kukuchi really had a good second start. I think you're starting to see him look like himself again really use that curve ball well which he used a ton last year. Bassett hasn't had the two greatest starts. I thought the defense really let him down in the first one. Oh yeah. He was the double play that changes the whole game. He gets he gets hit for an earned run on that play. Like even one of the runs is on her but one of them is earned because he can't assume a double play in the world of errors. I assumed it in my head. But yeah you know like and and then later there's another error which they call a basic his bow is deep in the hole but if slides scoops it or if that throws made on the air that guy's not on he doesn't score. So I thought Bassett's been a bit better than the numbers have shown. I have a lot of faith in him as a guy who's just been very consistent throughout his career pretty much and then you know they they do you know have to you know try and figure out can they get Francis to keep them in games a little bit longer than the first two. It's his first two major league starts. I think he's still got a little bit of time. You know wasn't the greatest rehab appearance of all time for Alec Manoa but it starts a 30-day clock where they're going to have to make a decision in 29 days I guess now whether they want to you know keep him in the minors bring him up to the majors. There's Yariel Rodriguez who also could be built up a little bit more. So they they do have some some questions there about what they're going to do with five and then they just need to get the bullpen guys healthy. I have all the faith in the world. I actually think the bullpen has been really good for the most part to start the year. I don't disagree and they're missing their two biggest guns pretty much. So when they get everyone healthy I got a lot of faith in the pitching. Again it's just kind of these couple weeks and and maybe that's the same thing for Danny Jansen in the offense. We'll just have to wait. Man I know it's it's 29 days from now but I think I know which way that Manoa decision is trending. I just can't imagine what they would have to see between now and then to bring him back up. It seems like the point I was making earlier is that you know if he goes out in that outing and he has a not even a great outing but just a good one a stepping stone you can start saying okay here's kind of the path the plan but with every bad outing he has it feels like it exponentially makes it longer. But there's there's bad and then there's like walking the first four hitters with like two strikes thrown in there and a hit by a pitch and you know throwing no strikes. Like there's bad like I can I can there's bad yeah and then there's bad but like I can stand a world where it's like guys feeding the strikes and you can argue oh well they're just they're just teeing off they're you know cheating on that the first pitch fastballs and he gave up like four home runs or something. There's bad and then it's like the one thing that you're supposed to do throw strikes you can't do like right out of the gates that's concerning. Yeah I think it's concerning I mean if you know but if he goes out and his next three minor league starts are good yeah I think they're gonna put him on the ball club like I'll be on I mean the ceiling and again I know we've all heard about it but this there are not that many guys who have that ceiling. I mean there are great great pitchers in the Blue Jays starting rotation one of them has been a sci young finalist other than Alec Minoa it's Kevin Gosman and like like guys who are going to make 200 million dollars throughout their course of their career will never a lot of them finish the sci young finalist so I think if if he can rein it in the command being the biggest part the hits are the hits like you guys said I mean it's his first start if he goes in there and and he has literally no scout because it doesn't matter and he's just throwing fastballs and stuff the guys tee off I saw it when I was at high with the four win tin caps Blake Snow got rocked in a rehab start it's like he went out a week later and dominated you know it wasn't a problem I was gonna say some MLB GMs would tell you it's not very good yeah but you know I think at the end of the day if he can get it in the zone they'll give him a shot there are other options though they're deeper than they were before and that's a good thing for the ball club overall that I think they have a couple different places to go so Rodriguez it seems to me I mean I guess Mitch White is the other obvious option they're like how do you think what Rodriguez is doing in Buffalo affects the the leash on Bowden Francis I don't think they're ready to you know throw him overboard quite yet but I also don't know that we go four five starts deep into a year if they continue to to look like this how much do you think it's about kind of what Francis does to keep his job versus maybe a guy like Rodriguez maybe forcing the issue a little bit yeah there's a lot of factors I mean if if if Bowden can keep them in ball games like I think he's gonna get this month at least you know and and if he can keep them in ball games then I think he's got a good shot to stick around but if they really you know if if it's five or six earned runs the next time out it or something like that in limited innings then they they want to win this year like they understand the point that they're in in terms of the the window and I don't think they'll let things go too long Rodriguez is a as a weird case because he didn't pitch last year and I think that a big reason why he didn't even start in the bullpen with the Blue Jays potentially is because they don't want to hurt him yep he's on a five-year contract with them they wanted to be valuable going forward but they also understand that this year next year might be the two most important years of that deal it's very possible unless you know their big moves come in that we haven't seen yet or extensions coming that we haven't seen yet so I think that if he keeps pitching well he's gonna force his way to some part of the team if they need him in the rotation then maybe he'll be in the rotation if not I could easily see him being in the bullpen as a guy who gives length but not like a long guy necessarily in terms of mop up as a long guy in terms of leverage guy if yeah like you know like you your starter is having a tough one yeah you know and you need like Andrew Miller kind of if I don't want to like fight Andrew Miller I don't want to throw that on him but but you know like if you can get two high leverage innings out of him every two three days or something like that that might be a big deal because they you know they take 2015 Andrew Miller yeah oh my gosh 2015 16 whatever you want from him but you know I think that you know they've already made some moves that essentially have cost them extra money in terms of like taking vocal back and retaining vato I think that they're pushing to try with the team they have to to win as much as they can and so that could push Rodriguez up to the majors as soon as possible yeah the time is now like no no messing around here and I we've seen it at times with the the lineup construction like Dalton Varsho fifth hitter it didn't last very long right like it's Kevin Bijo hitting fifth we didn't see and David Schneider start the next night after after the home run against Josh Hader but we yeah we've seen him be on the day after that yeah yeah he's been more a part of the conversation I mean to that point yeah with the urgency of winning this season and making the playoffs and and and not letting things snowball snowball how how much influx do you think the bottom you know five players in the lineup how much influxes that is that lineup on a day to day basis I think it's going to change a lot to be honest I think they've built the team to make it change a lot like they have guys that play they have a lot of guys that play a lot of different positions with some different skills and I think that if if they did that on purpose which I believe they did then then it makes sense to you know hey there's a left hander or there's a guy who works down in the zone a lot like Marcus Drumman that's when you want Davis swing when when are we ever going to see the numbers on the swing the swing path yeah because they got the swing path a lot of side by side video basically and and you know work it out there but I mean we've seen Ernie Clemente already kind of hit his way into the lineup a lot more I mean we've even seen Isaiah Kiner Foleff be in the outfield I think they'll use the bench a ton in a lot of games I mean in that nine eight game that they lost they used the whole bench yeah and actually like a lot of it worked out very well Brian Servin came in as a pinch runner yeah hands on two wild pitches and scored Kevin Bizio had an RBI single in the ninth inning you know so a lot of of things that they can do with that bench I think it's going to change a lot and I think in game it's going to change a lot I would say that all 13 guys on this team you know maybe the catchers know a bit of a pre-planned schedule but all 13 guys on this team should be ready to play every game so I was just going to follow up on that I'm sorry I am sorry you're fine buddy I was just I was going to follow up that yeah I don't think it was in the plans to play Justin Turner at third base already twice start him at third base already twice this season that was the one area I was like oh I mean how if if the offense is a problem best way to get another bat in the lineup would be to put yeah one of your offensive producers who can capably if he can capably play third base put them in the lineup which means I mean they're they're not playing the the guy they gave a two-year contract to an Isaiah Kiner Folefa if you know Kevin Bizio or Ernie Clemente is playing second base but it allows you to play like a Daniel Vogelbach or maybe when Joey Votto's here play a Joey Votto you can get another bat in the lineup the question is can old old like 39-year-old bones Justin Turner handle you know 20-30 games at third base I mean if he can and and we'll we'll see if it's a tougher toll for him at at Rogers Center on turf but yeah doesn't that seem like an obvious place if you can squeeze a few extra starts for Justin Turner in the field like you can you can help your offense it seems pretty pretty significantly yeah I think so I think I think Turner I mean we've already seen it I think he's gonna be at third more than people expected I at least you know show out more than they expected 10 times yeah well that I I didn't believe them I'll be when when Showalee our colleague Aspen people for bold predictions I don't remember the exact number but mine was something like Turner ends up in like 65 to 70 games in the field and not not starting to be clear yeah also just as a broadcaster good job that's a nice bold prediction I hate it when people come in and they're like I think this merry minute thing might happen now that's gonna leave the team at home run yeah good job by you but I I think that Turner you know he had a rough first game at third and he subbed into a game late first game he had an he had an error in his first start also but he played third I forget if he was Houston New York I think it was New York and they got Volga back in as the D.A. Yes he looked fine he made a couple plays over there I mean this guy has played what like a thousand games at third base is he gonna be the rangeiest third baseman on the planet no he would tell you that but you know he certainly is more than capable between the years to play that position his arms still looks fine and I think sometimes he sacrificed a little bit of defense for a little bit of offense yeah his old team the L.A. Dodgers I mean look they're great players but they're playing Max Muncie at third and Mookie that's a short stop like it was neither of those guys should be playing those positions in an ideal world mash but they they I believe until yesterday scored like five plus runs in every game because they're ridiculous so I'm okay with Turner playing third when they need it I also think they want to get Springer some DH days there's gonna come a time when they're gonna want to give Vlad at least a DH day he plays pretty much every single day both place pretty much every single day so I think you need that flexibility because I'd rather Turner be at third then be out of the lineup altogether yeah I'm I'm there with you you know I just thinking about that third base competition one of the guys who's gonna factor in there at least at least for now and in part of it anyways is Ernie Clemente and he feels like he is right out of like central casting for this year's fan favorite guy oh he has such low expectations that nothing's ever gonna be his fault he already has a pinch hit homer he's flying around out there and he can pick it he kind of feels and he's a localist guy yeah and he really does feel like he was created yeah I'll take it I'll take it and when all these guys are more than we'll take it but it does feel like he was created in a lab to be like a fan favorite type for this particular team like obviously everybody's gonna gravitate to your bows and your vleads but he feels like the you know it's just like really carrying the torch from Santiago Espinal I guess yeah I think he's got a lot of things that people like I mean first of all he's a he's a talented defender I think that a lot was talked about his bat there was one game last year where he made two errors at short and I think a lot of people were like oh I don't know if this guy can play defense he can really play both that short third he can play second as well he also can go in the outfield and that helps them out a lot too and then you know he's exactly what a lot of people are gonna like when you get a fan favorite throwback contact guy lots of singles like you know the dad who watched contact hitters in the 80s is gonna tell you to follow that guy right now and it's good I mean he's a good player he's a great guy he should get all that respect he's worked really hard he was he was released by the Oakland Athletics last spring like you know that for a lot of people you could have looked at that and thought I don't know if this guy's gonna come back up reworked his swing entirely with Matt Haig back up and he's been you know maybe short of Turner the most productive hitter so far for the Blue Jays and the highest average hitter of any Blue Jays so far this year so I think it's great I feel like he's gonna be in the lineup more and more and more as the season goes on there's gonna be more of a scout coming up that's gonna be something he's gonna have to deal with not that that he was a rookie this year he had played in the majors but you know you get into a series and you're like whoa that guy's hitting 350 all of a sudden you're gonna spend a lot more time on on figuring out his weaknesses and trying to figure out what he's doing you're gonna kill me for this but the second you said he was released by the A's I had immediate Simone Benoit thoughts of like I also ran team guy couldn't catch on with them comes here I don't know see crazy things I have a lot of time for Ernie Clemente and especially the defense it's going to allow him to play in line-ups a lot more easily than Davis Schneider where the fit is not like seamless but I've also looked at both guys minorly track record and Clemente he's always hit for a pretty high average but never walked never hit for any power like the Davis Schneider thing I can't get like what he's been throughout the entire course of his professional life like that there's a real potential that you have something there offensively where are you on the Schneider discourse so I I think that Schneider can be a bit more than a guy who hits against lefties but I haven't hated their deployment so far I mean at the end of the day look we all thought maybe he'd be in the lineup after Hader he wasn't they put him in the line up the next day he went over four like against the right handed pitcher he's number frozen this is what we're doing with him like he can't have a bad day I know well he can't have a bad day but he can't have a good day and not hit cleanup and and like pitch play second and center field without it being a problem too I think that he's a young player still kind of getting into his groove he knows what he is other people know what he is as well I think like I want him to play almost every day I don't know if I want him to start almost every day and you know I think that there's a lot of potential there but I expecting him to drive this offense for me is a dangerous thing to do I don't think it's very fair to him to be honest as a guy who has played 45 major league games something like that even less because he played 35 last year he's not driving but like you can give him the map he can help navigate a little bit no like certainly he should be a part of it don't get me wrong and look if you you know you talk about the top four let's say Danny Jansen's healthy he's fifth you know you probably throw lefty in there to get a little left right maybe that's bigio then you have Shider seventh that's intriguing don't get me wrong it definitely helps but I think that there's a bit of a healthy medium between what's going on now and maybe what people are clamoring for where he's playing like four days out of six or something like that or maybe yeah I knew that wasn't gonna be enough four out of six is where I is where I'm sitting sweet spot right now but we'll have to wait and see I mean he's playing so few games it's it's still really hard to know we'll have to wait quite a while until first bitch but you will be here you I'm gonna get very comfortable at Starbucks Ben this is great thanks for doing this thanks for having me guys there's Ben Schulman all right blue jays and mariners blue jays home opener tonight this has been the fan morning show Ben and a spread gun exports that five out of the fan good morning you
