[MUSIC] >> Gotta get this in quick before it's not true. Tiger Woods leads the US Open. >> Tiger Lady Birdied his first hold of the day. He's starting on the back nine, par five. >> But he made Birdie. >> You didn't need that at all that context. >> What are Tiger Woods leads the US Open? >> Matt Fitzpatrick also made Birdie more context. I don't want that. >> What did Will's Alatoras end up? By the way, this is fan morning. We'll just support that five out of the fan Ben and his brain gunning. Where did Will, did you see what score Will's Alatoras ended up with? Because he also played that whole similarly. So Tiger went forward in two, I guess he was using a wood. Some description to the second shot ended up in the whatever you're calling the stuff that isn't the fairway there. But then put it within ten feet and must have made the Birdie putt. Matt Fitzpatrick laid up and made a good shot. Will's Alatoras laid up and made a bad shot. Do you know what he scored? >> I don't know, but so I laughed at the putt he hit from off the green that rolled back to his feet. But then what made me laugh even more than that is how good these guys are and him getting the teach on that, he put it to like a very makeable five feet with basically the exact same shots. >> Yeah. So he made bogey. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So stupid. Like yeah. >> Who's where Will's Alatoras was? >> You could, I give you ten balls. You're not getting one nappers. >> No, I'm not. >> No. >> Good stuff. So the Mitch Marner discourse, it continues. >> By the way, that's just like that's going to happen today and tomorrow on the show of me seeing something on screen in the US opening halfing to talk about it. >> Why not? Because yeah, it's one thing and we don't host the show on the weekend, but on the weekends at this time, there's nobody of note is playing, but this is, yeah, you got all the big names and parts. >> Of course. Always, yeah. >> Yeah, yeah. And yeah, we got Tiger Woods in the turnway. >> Tournament leader about to hit his second shot. >> Yeah. >> 167 out on the par 411, that was Mitch Marner, okay? Again, I don't, I feel the need to add this caveat, but I don't know if I should. Because maybe it's a straw man that people are saying Mitch Marner is no good. Nobody's saying that, right? Nobody who's watched the length and breadth of his Maple Leafs career could possibly have any credibility and say that Mitch Marner is like a net negative for your hockey team. >> Even the biggest doubters among this fan base would never say that. >> Yeah. He's been incredible, especially during the regular season and as I pointed out to Frank Cervelli, like there's been post-season moments, right, okay? Even this post-season, now that it was few and far between, this is a bad post-season to use examples from the, say what you will, that goal could have spurned something and I think it was game three where they were down three one and he scores that goal and got a water shuttle, right? >> Yeah. >> But for circumstances, partly out of his control, right, as far as timing is concerned and him being the one guy who has the contract that is up for renegotiation with just one year remaining on his deal, he's become the guy that's been the topic of conversation when it comes to breaking up with the core for and a potential return on trade of freeing up close to 11 million bucks. All right. Let's talk to our insider, who's brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley North Lexus.com. Today's insider, Hockey Hall of Famer, president of the Oats Sports Group, where he is skills coach to many NHL players. Adam Oats. How's it going, Adam? Thanks for doing this. >> Oh, my pleasure. How are you? >> I'm doing very well. Let's get right into the Mitch Marner of it all because obviously, let's, we could start some other place where you can start some other place, but where you know what we want to talk to you about and it's your opinion on Mitch Marner, who no question has had a great NHL career to this point. Obviously, a lot of Maple Leafs wore it during their postseason series and this game seven overtime loss to the Boston Bruins. Do you think he can be a different spaker in the playoffs? >> Do I? Yes, of course. Of course I do. I think he's a fantastic hockey player. >> Do you think the criticisms that were lobbed his way were unfair? >> Yeah, I do and obviously I knew you were going to ask me that and you know, when you look at the finals right now, okay, so Edmonton's down to nothing and they didn't score in a game and because they're under the microscope, you know what, all the articles can be negative if they want it to be right now, right, in two games. There's a power play over Florida's winning. We haven't won yet. So depending on how you want to write it, there's always storylines and that's the world we live in. Now on the flip side of that, as a player, you know, last time I checked, everybody plays really hard, there are little details that work on every guy's game and that's sort of what I do for a living now. And then you're looking for answers and of course, Toronto's looking for answers for Mitch, for Matthews, for Tavares, for the core four, I heard you say it, right? And you know what? When we don't win, everybody's under the microscope. >> Yeah, I mean, you see that right now with him and he is certainly a guy who's wearing it. I think the way this postseason in particular played out that Matthews and Neelander were hurt and they've certainly taken their shares of slings of it. And when you miss several games in the series, it's certainly a little easier for people to point the finger somewhere else. There has been some talk at points in time about the style that the player plays in terms of the playoffs and it being more East, West versus North, South. Do you think that that's, I mean, a myth for a lack of a better term, that a player of that style can't succeed? Do you think they're because the other question that's been asked is it's either play style or just physical stature. But I mean, we had a guy in Jonathan Marcia's show, "When the cons my last year, what do you think it is about Marner's game that will allow him to succeed in the playoffs?" And again, he's had the moments, but ultimately not the team's success. Do you think it's just the team's success that is holding him back from getting the proper credit that he deserves? Or do you think there is more that he needs to do as well in the playoffs? >> Well, I think every player can always play better, no matter what. But you use a great example with Marcia so, right? So there's a player, same type of player. And obviously, when you look at sort of like this year, for example, when you look at all the teams that have lost, as a GM, I'm sure you're trying to pick apart your team. And you're looking at your goal, you're looking at your defense, you're looking at your forwards, you're looking at your speed, your toughness, your physicality, right? And then obviously you have to go to special teams, which is critical. And it's funny how a lot of times in this year, special teams aren't answered. Like Toronto's power plate wasn't very good, Nashville's wasn't very good, Carolina's wasn't very good. Boston changed their power plate because it was struggling. And when you're under such a small microscope, like Edmonton's over right now, where they were lighting it up the first year out. So at the end of the day, those points are critical to a guy who was a point producer. If you are a guy that gets 100 points in our league, like Makita Kucharoff got 55 points on the power play this year. Well, obviously that leads into his game. So when you're a power play guy, you need the power play to work. So Matthew has missed a couple of games in a short series that obviously affects the power play. You're trying to fix that, of course, but that ends up falling on all the other guys. Now, that's why I kind of said a few weeks ago, you can't blame one for 24 on Mick Marner, you can't. You can't, it's not fair. No, it's two units. There's coaches, there's a head coach, right? And as you know what, at the end of the day, like everybody's responsible. And that's really all I meant by that. And if the power play happened to be five for 22 in that series, they would have kept playing, right? No question. I think that's been the connective tissue through all these postseason losses, though, frankly, Adam, like the one series they won last year against the lightning, they were good on the power play. And then they were bad against the Panthers. Like that's the head scratching thing about this team is they've had even good regular season power plays, but when it gets to the postseason, it's dried up. And you're right to point out the Austin Matthews injury as being one of the major reasons why it floundered in the postseason this year. But it's been, you know, it hasn't worked even with a healthy Austin Matthews. And even during the regular season, it had a good month of February. But outside of that wasn't nearly what we expected it to do. All right, diagnose the power play. Help us here. I figured out why, with all these incredible players, why, why are they incapable of scoring 5 on 4 or seemingly in the postseason? Well, it's not that easy to talk about sort of like without your video and explain it. And you know what? Every single team in the league seriously has good hockey players, right? Everybody does. So there is, there is moments in time where your power play should be pretty good. It should. And you know what? Everybody's trying to figure that out. And it's not that easy. And that's sort of, like I said, it's one of the things that I talk about. And right now, like Edmonton's Oh, for what? Florida's only one for 10, but Edmonton's like Oh, for nine or something right now, right? In two games. So, and obviously that's critical to Connor, Hyman, Nugent Hopkins, Bushard, and dry title, right? So those five guys that we look at the scoring right now, who's leading the league? Those guys and their power play's been fantastic. So, and you know, the other thing to think about is every player as a confidence package, every single guy, the goalie, the goalie has a confidence package. If he lets in two goals early, that affects his confidence. And then we end up talking about it. So every player, depending on what type of player you are, statistics matter, right? So your stats, you know, you know, obviously winning is number one, of course. But but if I'm getting paid to produce, that's how we win. If I don't produce, then we don't win. And that's why it all boils down to after a team loses and everybody pours gasoline on the fire. And you know what? Every guy lives with that. Every guy knows that. But that's awesome what we live with, right? So you talk about the confidence package for a player. And I think that's really interesting to talk about with the particular situation that Marner's in now. I mean, there is talk about the part, the very real possibility of him being asked to waive his no move clause. I'm not asking you to get inside Marner's head in particular, but could you see a world where the confidence package in Toronto takes a bit of a beating with it being such a talked about? I mean, Mitch Marner has one great game. We're talking about him like he's walking to the hall and he has one bad game. And it's the complete opposite conversation. Could you see a player having been through the rigors of playing in a market like this saying, Mm, maybe that confidence package is going to going to be a little more expansive if I'm in a different market and being open to to waiving a no move clause? Well, I mean, that would be his decision. But to your point, yeah, very hard. And obviously Toronto is a very hard market. All the Canadian, all the original six markets are very hard. You know, it's a it really is. It's hard. It's what, but like I said, it's what you live with. And that's another reason why you're always looking for solutions. But but for him, yeah, of course, like, you know, that was one of the things I said, it's like, you know, they lose tomorrow. He wakes up. He's got to go Starbucks, right? Get a coffee. Well, everybody knows, right? And he knows. We and that is something that we live with for sure. Yeah. I mean, we were pouring over a still photo of him with Craig Barooby. It wasn't a Starbucks. I don't think but they were having a coffee together. It was very fancy. Sure. It was as an expensive coffee to the Craig Barooby of it. That's a guy you're familiar with, former teammate with the capitals. What kind of an impact do you think he will have on this team? And if he gets the chance to coach Mitch Marner, what kind of an impact do you think he could have on him? Well, first of all, a really good man. I played with him for seven years. Obviously, you know, in an era where he was a very tough man and, you know, back when you really had to be tough. And he he's a guy that wore it every night. And when you listen to him talk, he's a no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, since guy very direct. He gets his point across. He's obviously won a cup as they lose it. So and he's coached a long time now. So he knows how to sort of like do it. And obviously, I know Toronto would be looking for him to help out. I got like Mitch and come up with solutions for him. And you know, that's that's a coach's job. And he's and she's been there before. Yeah, he has. I think this is a certainly a different collection of talent. I mean, every team is different. And that blues team, obviously, they're pretty talented group going on to win the cup. That's kind of the whole point of the thing. But the players he's working with here in Toronto are just kind of a different flavor. How much do you think that kind of changes the the job that Craig Perubay is asked to do? And then to kind of tie that into the power play, how much do you think just a new set of eyes, a new voice, something new can kind of help unlock that? Well, it's a good question. But you know, I don't think Craig will be the power play coach that you know, that is not necessarily his calling and teams usually have every guy for a specific thing based on how they played in the career kind of thing. And obviously in Toronto, you've got a lot of said eyes. So it's not just one guy. And that's how it's collective. And it goes down. And this is sort of like what happens to the teams. And obviously, right now, you know, you think about like Edmonton waking up this morning, they probably got 30 guys looking at that power play video, right, trying to come up with solutions. So it's not just one guy ever ever. Craig just happened to be the boss. Yeah, certainly. And I wouldn't I have a lot of time for Craig Perubay. But I wouldn't necessarily say power play is where I would put him, you know, not that he couldn't do it. But yeah, certainly, certainly other strikes. Yeah, certainly other strikes for him. In terms of the coaching, how different are coaches, not in terms of the messaging because I think every person is different. Obviously, they're going to message things differently. But there is a bit of a copycat league going on and where teams stylistically play pretty similarly, not say everybody is the exact same. But I guess what I'm asking is outside of the messaging, outside of the tone in the demeanor, how differently do you think the Leafs are going to play under Craig Perubay, then they've played under Sheldon Keith for the last whatever it's been five, six years. Well, you just said it's a copycat league, right? And me personally, I don't happen to be a fan of everybody copies. But but at the end of the day, Craig brings a no nonsense attitude. Obviously, he's been there. He's won. And you know, unfortunately, in our world, when we lose, we make changes and we bring in a new guy and hopefully that stimulates some guys. And you know, I worked for Lulamorillo for a few years. And I know one of the things that Lou does is when he makes a change, he is hoping to change some guys because every single coach, there's always a couple guys on every team that don't respond to that particular coach. And there's a couple guys that maybe do very well under that particular coach. And when you make a change, sometimes it does shock the system. And I know that's what's going to happen here. Like that's one of the things that you do make a change for and Craig will bring something in and we're hoping for certain guys to respond and change it up a little bit. And that's really all it is because the because the show goes on, right? The show goes on no matter what every day. And this is also once again, like I said, this is the world we live in, right? So they're looking for a little subtle changes, very subtle changes. Yeah. And we've seen proof of concept. I mean, with that blue steam that Craig Burupa took over, they went on their run when they made head coaching change. Why aren't you in studio? You're in the city. Where are you? Are you? Are you like close to us? We're Bloor Jarvis. Where are you? You know what? I'm actually pulling to Toronto yesterday. I started yesterday was my first day of my road show. Like in the summertime, I traveled I'm on the road right now for two and a half months. So it's funny because guys are still playing and I'm and guys are already training for next year. You know, it's a 12 month job and in the summertime, I fly around to all the cities and I kind of work with the guys in their like hometowns or where they, you know, where they spend their summers. That is a that's an awesome gig. And you know, I know you're like Toronto area guys. I knew you were from the city. I didn't realize you were from Weston. That's the same area of the city I grew up in. And anytime I get to touch base with somebody from that part of it, it's always awesome. So yeah, that is awesome that you're you're back in the city. In terms of the in terms of the work you do, I imagine it's pretty illuminating to get to work with a lot of different styles of player. And that's kind of the thing that's most interesting to me, Adam, is how how different is everybody you work with in terms of their brains and how they process the game? Because you know, I've heard you talk about it before and you know, it feels like I'm getting a download from you. I just am curious how different are, you know, even elite skill players maybe who play the game in a similar style, how differently is it to kind of find the right language to talk to them about it? I think that's always to me one of the kind of most interesting parts of coaching. Well, you know what? Actually, you just brought up a great point. Every guy has a different language, right? And you know, when you look at a game, some guys play 20 minutes, some guys play seven, well, they're all there to win, but they're also there to be successful. They want their coach to like them. They want the GM to like them and they want to be successful. So when I watch a guy's video, I know what that particular guy needs to make everybody like him. So I just put a plan together to make that guy improve a little bit, whether it's a fourth line right winger, a sixth defenseman or the star of the team. And you know, obviously we have, we have a video component to it, which, you know, hey, the video doesn't lie, you know, like if you're a right winger and you have to get the puck out, you got to get the puck out, man. So we work on, we work on how do you get the puck out? There's skills involved in that. There's skills involved in every single thing we do. So we just spend the whole summers working on all the little skills that go into the details of the game. So I imagine considering you are here in the city at this time of year that this is now when guys are starting to ramp up and it feels pretty early after the season ended. But I guess not. And I also guess you don't want to divulge any of the potential Toronto Maple Leafs you're working with right now. But like, yeah, what is the timing? What is the timing for these things like this? So is this like, is this right now where you start getting back on the ice if you're an NHL player? Oh, yeah, look guys have been on the ice already for a couple of weeks. For real, like, you know, like season ends, they have the year end meetings, they usually take a little break and then they start to gradually get back into it. And what I usually do is I fly into a town for three days, we skate for three days and give them some ideas to work on for like the next sort of like six weeks. And because they're going to go on their own, they work out, they train, they go get on the ice a few days a week and they work on their skills. And the goal of it obviously is to get a little better. And that's it. And some guys need to get 1% better. Some guys need to get 8% better. But you have to keep you have to keep evolving as a hockey player, right? You have to get older, you make changes, you know, you need them to like you, you want to keep playing. So you got to figure out ways for them to like you. I know I'm going to sound like grapes here, but you hear that kids? Homework doesn't stop just because you're a professional hockey player grinding away, basically summer school, you have for these kids. We talked a lot about the power play. We've talked very little about the cup. Finally, I've mentioned the Oilers in there so often when we're talking about the Leafs power play, we say, well, the Leafs have this transcendent talent. They got Marner and Tavares and Matthew is a kneelander. And the point I think a lot of people do end up coming to when they when they try to ask, why can't the Leafs power play be more like the Oilers is? Well, Connor McDavid's really special and the Leafs have a lot of special guys, but McDavid is just truly a one of one transcendent. How much of what makes the Oilers power play tick is simply him being special. And I don't say that to take anything away from Bushard or Drycidal or Hyman who are all obviously very important pieces, but it does seem to me like a bit of a fool's errand when we compare anybody's power play to the Oilers because there's only one of that guy in Connor McDavid. Well, you're right for sure. Connor is, you know, obviously arguably why he's up for the heart, but every single team has fantastic players. You said Marceso. So last year, Marceso won the cons might, right? And he doesn't scale like Connor, but obviously he's a very, very talented man. Every team has five talented men that can go on the ice. Usually a power plays about eight guys, but five guys is the first unit and they're very talented. How they get it done, that's up to them and the coaches. And obviously Connor is fantastic. You know, like you think about it, Drycidal stands in a certain spot. Everybody knows where he is, right? Oh, that's been standing there for 15 years. Samco stands there, right? But there's a collective five guys sort of have a purpose and understanding of how we're going to try and score. That's it. You all five guys need to understand how we're going to try and score tonight. And it's hard because you know, like a good power play is one for three, right? Yeah. Well, at least we would have taken that. It's like being a baseball player. Yeah, failure is part of it. Yeah. It is baseball baseball. You're, if you're one for three, you're really good. Yeah, you are. You're amazing. You're a Hallfamer. I like yourself. Three out of three out of 10. Yeah. You have, you're obviously from here. You have such an intimate knowledge of this, this area and all that goes into being a hockey player that plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Do you ever think about, you know, in your career and you play in some big markets, obviously, in the original six hockey teams, do you ever think about how you would have felt playing in Toronto? Was there ever like a moment where you thought, man, would have been nice to be a Toronto Maple Leafs during your playing days? For sure. You know, my family from here obviously would have been special, but obviously when you watch and being around it a long time now, I know it would have been hard. If you could get off to a good start, it would sure help. There was a moment, I think, halfway through my career, I think there was a chance that there were some rumors that maybe I was going to get traded, but it obviously never came. And you know, big picture, I know I talked about it with my family a lot. It would have been special to play for Toronto, for sure. That's awesome to hear. I'm going to cut and pace that for anybody. I'll cut out the parts about it being hard, but I'll just leave the parts I like for anybody who's considering in the future. No, again, no, we don't need to focus on that. Just the good stuff. It's a lot of rewards for play here. You obviously throughout your career had partnerships with a ton of great goal scorers. I mean, we think of Hall of Notes still. What goes into forming that partnership? You know, we often, you know, as people who analyze the game or people just looking at his fans will think of lines. But I think a lot of teams kind of put their players together more in tandem than necessarily trios. Is it just reps? Is it spending time with the guy outside of the rink? What goes in as a great setup man to kind of building a great partnership with a great goal score? You know what? At the end of the day, it's chemistry. And sometimes you get players where their skill sets kind of like collide. And you know, obviously that's another thing I see with Mitch Miner is like, he is a guy that I would call a past first guy. And obviously awesome Matthews is a shoe first guy. So right away you see a chemistry. And that is something that I'm sure they think about a lot because you don't want to one guy affect the other. And you know what? Just so happened, I had the same sort of thing with Brett. I had the same thing with Camnilly where our skills collided and it forms a partnership. And you know what? That's obviously, then all of a sudden you have something that we know, we're all pretty good players. And everybody has one thing they do better than the other, right? Some guys are faster skaters. Some guys are more physical, right? And that's obviously something they bring to the table. It's a little different. Guys who can pass the pockets a little different than guys who can shoot it. But obviously we need all of it, don't we? And that's what chemistry really is. And when you have it, you know, you got to be careful because it's very special. Yeah, you can't be giving it away for nothing. That's for sure. Oh, you got to be careful. Adam, welcome home. Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. Guys, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Is Adam Oh, talking Hall of Famer, president of the Oats Sports Group skills coach to lots of NHL players in the city of Toronto where he is training NHL players. Yeah, currently, perhaps. I mean, they don't have to be leaves. No, it's like, and there are a couple guys from the city that play in the NHL. By the way, he was our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit Don Valley, North Lexus dot com. Yeah, I mean, again, like, I don't think anybody's saying much more is not a good player. Really knows is a good player. Part of this is circumstances. Part of this is man. If you think just making a coaching change for the sake of coaching change is impactful just because it's like a different look, like how many years consecutively can you run the same core players out there before making a change? That's the real impetus for this. It's not. And it's not also nothing that Mitch Marner had the postseason that he had. Like if he was the best player on the ice and still was in the same contractual spot, we wouldn't be having these conversations. But it's when two things collide, which they are with Mitch Marner. Yeah, they are. And it's also, you know, it's not to say he still couldn't have made an impact. But yeah, you take away the two best goal scores on the team in shock or a set up man doesn't look as good as he's going to. Now again, that's not me making excuses for him because he's having a chance to do that. No, I actually do that. No, no, no. No, you're being sarcastic when I say that. And it's like, just cards on the table. He's the one guy on the team. I don't make excuses for it. It's like, no, it's a little lay it at his feet. That's fine. I make excuses for the sweater, not the name on the back. Okay, Ben. But when I, when I look at where the spot mariners at, you were, you were right to frame it this way from the jump of it can be a little bit about the angst in the fan base or whatever. But this is just about timelines. Yeah, if William Nielander had saw, if that it just was flipped, we'd be having the exact same discussion about it. So I it's tougher because he had three goals in the series. But yeah, well, it'd be, it'd be tough a while. And he's actually the guy who's like performed the most. He's the only one who doesn't have the massive drop off in games, five, six and seven in series from his point per game. Now it's also slightly lower in the first four games of series. So do without what you will. But yeah, I think that there's just an element of this where you, you have to look at it. You have to consider it. You also can't make a bad move for the sake of making a bad move. And that's where I keep getting pulled in opposite directions. Like every time I am convinced, Mitch Marner will not be a leaf in September. I go, I don't know. I think they're going to look at the trades we talked about of a like, okay, Shay Theodore, that's a good player, Brad should living with love to have him on his team. I don't know that he'd love it more than Mitch Marner. I don't, I don't know. And that's where I keep kind of coming to with this. Yeah, the fingers thing. I know the money. The money. Yeah. As mentioned earlier in today's show, Santana coming to Budweiser stage this summer, June 26 with counting crows as part of their oneness to her, to enter for a chance to win tickets text in today's code word freedom to 59590. Again, that's freedom to 59590. One last pair of tickets giving those away tomorrow. But if you don't win with us tickets on sale, ticketmaster.ca. When we come back, the great Adnan for a MLB network as the fan morning show continues, Ben and his Brent Gunning Sportsnet 590, the fan covering the blue jays from an analytical perspective. Jay's talk plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jay's talk on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Fan Morning Show Sportsnet 590, the fan Ben and his Brent Gunning. So like in a vacuum three and three road trip, no matter where it is, really, like just on the road, Oakland and against the division leading Brewers team. That's fine. But not when you're the blue jays and this is the start you've gotten off to and not when it happens in the way that it does where nothing feels different. Like, oh, hey, some of the starting pitching performances were good. No kidding. Yeah. Shocker. Hey, they didn't score enough runs. Oh, no way. It had no hits. I'm floored. Oh, wait. Oh, the bullpen was overexposed. Who would have thunk it? Yeah, I feel like Denny Green right now. They are who we thought that but we're not going to let them off the hook. We're going to make sure they properly, they properly wear it as we have thus far. And the other thing about the three and three roadie, you're right. Normally. Okay. Sure. I don't think that's going to work out. You can correct me. You have the big brain over there. If the math is right on this, I don't think that's the 97 win pace they were supposed to have to play at to get to something close to like what we expect the wildcard number to be at. But everyone in the wildcard race stinks. So we'll see. Red Sox are back to 500, which they've been at for like seeming late the entire season. They are the team between the blue jays and the Minnesota twins who currently hold down the third wildcard spot in the American League at 36 and 32. You don't have to be very good to make the playoffs. So, I mean, that's still a dangling carrot. The blue jays showing no indication that they are very good at all. In my opinion, it's not bad and work of MLB network who joins the line right now. I was like, go and add in. Ben Brent, good to be with you guys. MLB network had the Jay's Brewers on yesterday. Yeah. So in the midst of corralling the work boys, I was able to watch the game. And I, God, I can't wait to talk to Ben and Brent that that implosion of the sixth city was painful. The catch band two outs and the heavens just just come down on us. It was a disaster. That's our life. That's what it is. Yeah. It's generally like, yeah, it's the offensive opportunities that are non-existent, which were like, yeah, they would have. They had three hits going into the ninth inning in that baseball game. But yet the sixth inning in particular. And I know that the hits come after the play, though, it is the most notable where it's blue jays leading one nothing and a first and third to a play where like the one of the fastest teams and according to the fan graph base running metric, the best base running team in baseball tries to steal second and the blue jays still. What are you doing? Like, right. You don't throw that ball. Like, fine. Take that. Give you that little bit. Go ahead. Take the base. Let's just get the guy. I couldn't believe you threw the ball straight. Little league. I could not believe that. What are we doing? No, it's just like what? What does this team do well? Okay. They have some pretty good starting pitchers and they have some pretty good defensive out fielders in Dalton Varshow and Kevin Kiermeyer. Like who's going to argue with the defense they play? And the catchers generally are pretty good defensively. Oh, yeah, didn't look so great. I mean, Isaiah kind of left us also allowed to like pick that ball to if like you're a gold glove infielder. Anyways, though, like, say something good about the blue jays right now. Like try it. Try it, Adnan. Ah, it's a very late. They recognize that changes need to be made. Like, I think in the past, you would say, hey, you know what, Kevin Visio. He's part of this group of over major leaguers. He's going to be a stud and now you go. You know what? He's sitting 200. Has it worked out? Okay. Yeah, he had some some flashes, some good defense. When you're at 375 on base percent, it's not working out. See you. Let's okay. Horowitz, we need some offense. We're calling up Spencer. Let's see what you can do, buddy. David Schneider, you're going to get more playing them because you can provide offense as well. Like at the very least, the jays brass realizes here in the middle of June that this team as presently constituted is not good enough. Now, those are incremental changes, as we know, but hopefully there's more to come. Hopefully, they realize, hey, this is not an untenable situation. But as I said to you guys before, I can't really take any team seriously until they're 500. If I was the commissioner of sports, tomorrow, all sports, my first rule, I mean, acting is that if you have a sub 500 record, you're not allowed to make the playoffs. So if you're going to, you know, we have to have 12 playoff teams and it's a national league is insistent that only four players will be above 500. And guess what? Only four teams make the playoffs. Sorry. That's all we're going to do this because I can't watch a 162 game season and you're going to be, you know, 75 and 87. I mean, it wouldn't be that bad. 80 and 82 and make the playoffs. But no, you're not allowed to. You have to have more wins than losses. So with a J specifically, I said, you know, if they win yesterday, I'm like, I will pay attention. I will pay closer attention to your 500 team. You're out of the out of the last place, American League East. Now the Rays are there. Let's see if we can make a run, but then you lose a game like that. It's one step four, two steps back. Hopefully the J's recognize it. More changes need to come because offensively, it's just rough. Like you said, we can point out one air, one misplay, Tim Mays, coming to who cares. Bottom line says, how do you score one run? You got to start scoring some runs, man. That's a tough team to watch. Yeah. And the Blue Jays record when they score the astronomical number of three runs or more in games is ridiculous this year. That's the thing that is so frustrating about it is sometimes you say, ah, this team's got to score. And what you mean by that is six or seven because the pitching's no good. That's the part of this that is so infuriating is that you're not a four run team that needs to get to five or six or seven a night. You're a one or two run team. We're just asking you to score four runs of all game. It's really not that that harder. It shouldn't be anyways. I think that's the infuriating part of it. And then from a team building perception or for perspective, they're kind of at this crossroads now where they have had to deviate from the team they want to be because the lack of offense has been so severe, but it's taking away the strengths of their team and kind of leaning from the pitching and defense team they've been. And I think that's just the incredibly tough spot that Jay's are in right now. 100% and I think that that's been the issue, Brent, is that in the past, you said, okay, this team is in a bang, but then they sacrifice that level of offense for defense. And it's okay, rather than run scoring, let's focus on run prevention. And so you discard Jaskar Hernandez, who I just watched in the Bronx, the guy was tearing apart Yankee pitchers, wouldn't believe them. Like God, imagine if he was still on this Blue Jays team, you make moves like that and you sacrifice defense for offense and you think it's going to work out, but no, they per team that may have won five of seven games, but they haven't been at 500 to April. Like think about that. How could the 2024 edition of the Blue Jays not been at 500th April? And yet this is a situation that we're in, but you this is the bet that you made, right? If you're, if you're supiring Atkins, or this is what you guys want, do you sacrifice offense for defense? It's, you know what, run prevention is the way to go. And it's not like Ben was saying, you can, you can praise Farshan, Jeremiah's defense, but the last time I checked, they both have like OPS is not even close to 800. Like it, it's, it's a really, and what, and that's it's frustrating part of it, Brent. As you said, we're not asking for much, right? If the both of them was giving up leads and then we're like, Hey, you know, we have to score a stick. I get that. Literally, you can give me four runs. We could rip off an eight game winning streak. I think that that shouldn't be too hard to ask for in today's baseball, where so much focus is on offense and launching, running into a couple of, you know, bad pitches, a couple of mistake pitches. Those are home runs. Get it done. No, they're neither fish nor foul. They're, they're not a slugging team. They're not a defense team. They're not like hits for average, but no power team. They're just like a bad team at this point. I did must be said, frankly, they'd be a whole lot different if they had like a Juan Soto in the middle of their lineup, which maybe we could revisit the focus on Choyotani and not on trying to trade for Soto. I don't know if they could have put together a package headline by Michael King, the way the Yankees did anyways, but he's available to anyone who's got the cake this off season. We saw Joel Sherman mentioned the Blue Jays as well as the Cubs as a potential team that could be in on Soto, who's going to break the bank. Yank is obviously going to want to probably run this thing back. I mean, let's just start with the number. It seems all reports are that that Scott Boris wants to at least reach the 47 million per that Choyotani's real world value is on his deal. Does that seem like a foregone conclusion that whoever is going to end up with Soto is going to have to at least pony up, I don't know, four hundred and seventy million dollars and probably be more than that, but like forty seven per. Yeah, I think that's a good way to start, Ben, because people just thought random numbers go five six, you know, but look at the arithmetic to look at the logic to it. You're right. What Scott once always focused on is setting the bar for all of the clients is that this is the best ever at this level. So if he can say the highest AAV, then that's what I'm looking for with regards to Soto. And don't forget, of course, he turned down the 15 years 440 from the national. So I don't move, by the way, six years. Right. Yeah, exactly. And by the way, and I am up with many others when he was struggling that first little bit of the pot is like, hey, he's never getting that 440 now, maybe 300, maybe 350. How long we were. I'm like, oh, he's going to get north of 440. So the first number has to be at least 450. Okay, I don't care if it's seven for 450. Like if that total number has to be higher than that. And I think that in the past, we just saw this off season. You know, these guys, like Matt Chapman, we're voting for $100 million deals. Instead of his three year 51, you go to higher AAV shorter term. That is not going to be an issue for one Soto, right? There's not going to be an issue where Scott's going to allow. We wanted 10 years to sell, but everyone seems to be offering four and five and six year deals. Oh, Tony got 10 years. Soto is going to get 10 years. Okay. We all know, and especially he's younger than Tony. He's only 26 years of age. So even if a bat declines in his age 35, 30, 60s, which actually should, you're still going to get the primo years of Soto. You're looking at like six or seven great years until he goes into his early 30s. So I would think, and I've got the fact that my colleagues all assume additional numbers, because people are kind of guessing, but I just think 10 for 500 to me is what stands out. I just, you know what? Did I see the round number half a billion, 50 billion a year. Scott Morrison say, yep, this is a record sitting deal. Soto can feel good about it. And by the way, with a 10 year deal, he'll still get one more crack, right? He could still squeeze out a three year, $100 million deal, whatever kind of career. So to me, the pitting starts at 10 and five. And again, the Cubs and J's, that was the pocket. And like you said, Ben, maybe it would have been too quick to pivot last year because you would have to make it's a trade to get Soto to go up asset. There's no assets here. It's just money. Do you have enough money, cold, hard stinking money? You can get this guy who's been transcended in the Bronx. What? Sorry. I just had to fist pump because Tiger Woods made a putt at the US open. What version of the Yankees is going to be negotiating with Juan Soto and Scott Boris here? Because I've heard both versions of them in, I don't know, I think six weeks apart of, hey, we're going to open up the purse strings and boy, this competitive balance tax. I don't like it very much. How much do you think that's posturing and how much do you think it is the Yankees being being maybe unprepared to, to, you know, meet an offer that gets to half a billion dollars? I think it's the latter because I think when a house timer first made the comment is saying, hey, Lewis, he's going to be here at the Yankees. We'll get it done. We'd like to engage. And then Juan said, hey, listen, they got Scott's number. They want to talk. We'll talk. I don't, I don't have to wait till the end of the season. If you blow me with an offer right now on the blast, we would potentially consider it. And then it very quickly became, as you said, how the wang it a second, like, they're just to be clear. This $300 million payroll isn't really working that break for us. This is not, this is not a tenable situation. So it's always tricky when you say, Hey, we'll sign you no matter what. They're like, Oh, really? No matter what? Awesome. I'm not exactly no matter what. So I, if you, when I first heard a house comment, I was like, maybe there's a 30% chance they sign what wants over during the year, even though Boris's clients are generally wildly averse to that. I don't know who it is, but no matter what, they will wait till the end of the year. Scott wants to test the market and he will wait as we know into February into March, even in April, in the case of Jordan Montgomery, who has really struggled that that strategy has not worked out for him. Blake's now that strategy has not worked out for him. So I personally wouldn't like it if it was Scott Boris blind. I was like, listen, man, by by 515, I want to get this thing done. Let's just get the best offer. I don't want to go too late. In the case of still, that's not going to happen. There are plenty of suitors. But yeah, I don't think the Yankees sign them during the year. I think the way it plays out is, and this isn't the worst thing for the Yankees is that Soto balls out. He has an unbelievable time. Let's suppose they win a World Series. Fantastic. First World Series in 15 years, they open up the checkbook and they say, all right, 10 for 5 and actually the Cubs guy, we're going to give you a 12% and the Yankees go, we can't be spurned here. Whatever ends up happening, you do get that World Series. Now, I think there'll be basket backlash and outcry if the mighty Yankees got outspensed by one of the Cubs and the Blue Jays. But I don't think it's the worst strategy in the world rather than if you sign him now to some preposterous deals. Suppose they get, they lose, they're not going to lose the twins, but suppose they lose to the Mariners. I don't think, oh my God, like, again, the Yankees would be still thrilled to have one sort of locked up long term. But I don't see it happening during the year. I don't think it's the worst strategy in the world for either side, by the way, one. Listen, man, he loves his spotlight. He is loving playing in New York right now. So it's not like he's facing the pressure or stress. Go out there and crush and you'll get that contract no matter what, wherever it may be. No, he's so good. I mean, there's just, there's no questions about him anymore. Yeah, and he's not yet 26 turns 26 in October. It's stupid. Like the guy's hitting free agency as one of the best players in the league at that age. It just, it does not happen. And I mean, it feels like what he and judge are doing is historic, right? Like them being a right left duo in the middle of that lineup. I guess you can talk about Freddie Freeman and Shoyo Taney and that Dodgers lineup. We just saw them go head to head. I mean, when you watch those two going belly to belly, and I know Soto was out for a little bit with the Yankees fans were on pins and needles to see the diagnosis there. No big deal back in lineup by the end of that series. I mean, is that when you think about the all time duos in the middle of a lineup, is that, is that one of the all time greats already? Like, does it feel like that? Oh, yeah. I mean, we were looking through the numbers, Ben, just by OPS and like they're like over a thousand both those guys. That's like Ruth Garrett territory. Like when you start thinking of like all time great duos, not just to the Yankees in the history of the game. That's what you're seeing right now with judges. So there's still a few more months to go. I get that. But at their pace right now, like judges is not quite as home run pace, but he's still on pace 59 home runs and 142 RBI. Like his numbers have been gargantuan ever since the first two weeks, you have to a slow start, you know, player of the month and make, et cetera. And Mike Lo made a great point to me, the former World Series champion. You know, Mike made the point that, you know, with judge, you often just focus on the power, but he's actually a lot more selective at the plate than you realized. And with Soto, the focus is always on an incredible batting eye and not as much in his power. But both those guys have added that to Arsenal. Now Soto can bang as much as anybody like, yeah, he should hit 40 plus home runs. And judge will always wait for his right pitch. Like I was at that game Sunday night. This is Dodgers Yankees. I mean, it was an electric atmosphere, Spike Liam, a house, Bobby Bock lost even strip up from the sopranos, all the stars are up. And that judge at bat when they're five, four, I mean, three one count, fouls it off. Next pitch parks it in the left. I'm like, I thought that that back to me was so perfect. He was like, he was not going to waste his time with a pitch you didn't want to hit. And when he got his pitch, he annihilated it. Like it was just, in terms of anatomy, but at bat, that was the greatness of judge. You're right. I missed those against Soto to get the form tightness. Although I did see my buddy Aaron Boone, I asked him for a BP passes out of the game. Yeah. Very early. Yeah, which was fantastic. Oh, the only thing I said, you guys know this, I shouldn't realize I'm like final game Sunday night baseball, the Yankees are not going to be out there for BP. So the boys are disappointed. They want to see judges, the moonshots. But we didn't think we'll keep that hitting hitting some moonshots and some grounders, etc. But anyways, when I saw booney, literally the first words that I'm out for. Hey, thank God. Something serious to Soto. And he gives this look at like that deep exhale, which was like an exhale of about like six months of anxiety if he had found it was like, oh, like, yeah, like, thank God. Oh, yeah, three games for him, tightness. Hope we do each Monday and away we go. But it's been, it's been fun, man. He told me he's having a blast. I was like, I can imagine telling up that lineup. What do we got today? Judge, like, like, like stands OBP, like, look at his numbers, like, man, he's still like like a 290 on base guy, which would annoy me. But when he hits, like, he's, he's banging, like, that's the four or 46 foot home run. Think he's on pace for 38, 39 home runs. Like, they pretty much thought Stanton was a lost cause, right? I'm sure people around baseball thought that he could hit your 40 home runs again. Like, it's, it's amazing. But it's, it's Soto and judge, man, those guys are, it's awfully impressive to watch. And sorry, one more point. I always think of basketball with Soto because I think of, like, you know, Nash or Curry, like how cool it is when a guy can be 90% from the freezer line, 50% from the field and 40% from three, right? That 40, 59. To me, that's why I always love about Soto is that he's a 300 average guy. He's a 400 on basis of 500 slug. Like, that is so exceptionally rare in the game of baseball. And to me, it's like, it's a pure hitter. That's what I always think of him. So do I think of that basketball analogy? Yeah. And maybe we're a little too early to, and not that the Orioles are no good, but that to say that it's their division, forever and ever. Amen. Yankees, I ain't going nowhere, especially if they sign Soto to the giant, enormous extension he's going to get. Um, Adnan, always a pleasure, buddy. Thanks. Ben and Brent. Thank you, boys. We'll talk to you. Sounds good. Adnan Burke, MLB network, to the Yankees of it all, which is like, ah, nobody wants to see the Yankees win, but they have to be relevant. And I mean, Adnan mentioned all the stars that we're going to tend to see. Yeah. We all know what baseball is. And it's, it's everything pales in comparison to what the NFL is. Yep. But baseball has gone away from being a more national sport where everybody knows all the storylines of all the teams and the major players. And it's gone to a very regionalized sport, right? Like, yeah, not many people, sorry, tune into the Sunday night baseball game, right? Like that used to be more of a, of an institution, an institution, an event. Yep. And instead, it's like, you follow your team. Unlike you have a passing interest in the rest of it. I think the idea of at least having two part of it is like the, the, the flattening of the playing field, but having two goal posts here of the Yankees and the Dodgers and it would be better if it was like in the same division, we could do Yankees red Sox and 13 times a season. Yep. And said, we just got the, the couple that they play or at least you play everybody wants a season. At least we got those two. That felt like an event when those two teams met with their payrolls with the star players. Like if baseball is any chance of getting anywhere close to where it used to be, it's the consistency of the star players being on those big teams and then them playing every season and perhaps meeting in a world series. Yeah. And you know, it harkens back to the NBA conversation we had at the very beginning of the show today, the idea of, okay, like the baseball regular season can be for you to watch your team and care about your division. And then all of October, we sit here and, you know, unless your team is playing one of them, you pray that the Yankees or Dodgers keep winning so they can meet in the world series. And you get to have one that you really, really care about. Like I think that is kind of a not dream because to your point, Sox Yankees, but like if it can't be your team, man, what would be better than Yankees Dodgers World Series right now? No, I don't disagree. The only thing better would be if the Sox were relevant and it was Yankee Sox in the ALCS and then won it. And then, yes, Yankees Dodgers in the, the world series and it was like Dodgers Braves. Yeah. I know, but they're all like dying slowly in Atlanta. Yes. It's like Jalen Brunson's hand. They're just slowly disintegrating in Atlanta. Yeah. But once great franchise. I think it's all man. North American pro sports has just been all about parody. Every commissioner, every pro sport here has been striving for. And I understand it. You want everybody involved and you want it. You don't want to have irrelevant franchises. But I think it's, we realize what we've lost. And I think a lot of people are like me pining for something like we used to have, which is measuring sticks, great franchises with great players. Sure. You wish it was your local team, but it'd be great if your local team was great enough to beat the all time great team. Totally. And it's fun to hate the Yankees once in a while when they just suck. But eventually it stops being fun and you need them to be good to really truly hate them. And that is what baseball is all about is hate in the Yankees. There isn't honestly, like even the people in New York are like, I agree. That is what baseball is about. Is y'all of you hating the Yankees? Evil Empire. Yup. Totally. Bring it back. All right, I'm off. I'm off tomorrow. So you'll be back. Oh, doing radio talk. Yeah, talking so much golf for a dead yellow. Three hours in US Open Talk. Yup. Probably. For us. Springless and Stanley Cup final. Yeah. All right. It's been the fan morning show and in the spring gunning sports at 5.9 in the fan. Good morning.
