[MUSIC] >> Fan Morning Show Sports, the 5-9, and fan Matt, Sprank Gunning, henster Dao, Stanley Cup final as it travels the furthest distance any Stanley Cup final has ever traveled from sunrise Florida to admits in Alberta for game three tomorrow. >> That's a win. >> That man will be putting a team in Alaska just to take that away from Canada. >> You can't have that. >> Sorry, you can't. >> And then obviously cuz it's an expansion team or a team going to a new city in America that'll just be amazing from the gym. >> Yeah, the idea that that team in Arizona just languished forever and that they're immediately gonna hit the ground running with their cache of picks and it finally turning around. >> $50 million in cap space? >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's the big thing though. >> Must be nice. >> That's the thing, the money is not the thing. >> Any who hope you enjoy, I don't know, multiple wives, future Utah players. >> I'm saying like soda, I feel like that's their big move, you can't do the caffeine. >> Yeah, that's true. >> Okay, when this series resumes, Leon Drysad will be back on the ice cuz he was not given any supplementary discipline for his hit to the head of Alexander Barkov, which I never really thought was in question, but it's certainly when it, hey, in Palmer, he didn't say he's doing great, he's not doing any worse, but he's gonna play in game three. >> Of course he is. >> Yeah, if he's not injured, I don't necessarily know what the case was for Leon Drysad. Did that surprise you at all that that was even like a conversation that the potential exists for, I don't know, second best player in the series to be suspended? >> Yes, it surprised me that we were even having a conversation about what are we talking about? A guy hit somebody in a Stanley Cup final game, like, what are we doing here? I've seen way more egregious things that have not gone punished and we're only talking about it because of Barkov feeling, you know, slightly worse for wearing. I'm sure it's not slightly. It didn't look fun, but he's gonna play. I don't know what we're talking about here. >> Yeah, well, it turns out we're talking about nothing. >> Yes, it wasn't suspended. >> No, no, I know. But you all, why are you all getting upset, pre-ang, pre-agrieved. >> All right, time now for our insider brought to you by Don Valley, North Lexus, where you can expect excellence online and in the showroom, visit DonValleyNorthlexus.com. Today's insider, the great Renau LaVaugh, TVA Sports. How's it going, Ren? >> I'm pretty good. Thanks for having me, guys. >> Thanks for doing it. Yeah, you were one of the first to break the news that there would be no suspension for a dry cycle on the play that, you know, certainly knock Barkov out for the remainder of that game. Were you at all surprised by that adjudication? >> No, well, not at all. I mean, it's better to be safe than sorry, right? So that's why you have to check, you have to go and see what the league thinks about it. Remember one thing, the league's got some angles, camera angles that we don't have, right? So sometimes what we see on TV is something, but, and I'm going to give you a good example of this is, you know, when Sam Bennett hit Brad Marsha in the second round, right? Remember, when Brad Marsha went down, didn't finish the game, didn't play after a missed one game, you know, if you look at the angle that we have, we had at the time, sorry. I mean, it was tough to say why Brad Marsha went down, and it took a couple of days after to see Brad Marsha getting a right punch directly in the face by, you know, Sam Bennett. So, I mean, me personally, I thought that that incident should have been, there should have been a suspension on that play, but this is me. And obviously I'm not paid to make decision in the league with, you know, who should be suspended or not. So, but when I look at what happened on Monday, for me, I look at it. I didn't like it at first, right? You have one of the best players in the league down. But when you, when you take a, you take a big breath after the game or in the next morning and you watch replay, it's kind of obvious with other angles that this is not going to be a play that's going to be a, a, a, a, a, and, but, but you still need to check is you still need to go see what the league really thinks about the hit and, but we'll see. And I believe that, you know, the league made the decision really quickly that that was not a, a, a, a, a, so, anyway, what's done is done. I believe that Sasha Markov is going to play at tomorrow. Yeah. I think he'll, I think he'll get out there. I mean, we've seen what guys have played through it this time of year and obviously like, hey, there is a point for, for every player, every body where you can't go, but I think he will be. I was just kind of looking through the history, you know, the last one I can remember in a cup final was the Aaron Rome hit on, on Nathan Horton. The only thing I wonder about this and I don't think this was a play. Let me be very clear about this, but let's say it was a more egregious hit. How much do you think the fact that it's Leon Drysidal would have entered into the NHL's thinking on this? Cause we've, we've seen this in the past, not with suspensions, but in games where they were pretty clearly officials have said, we don't want to call a penalty here. We don't want to decide the game that way. Do you think the NHL or I guess I should, I should word it, do you think the department of player safety would have had any hesitancy because of how important a player Drysidal is. If it were a more egregious hit, this should have been suspendable. Do you think that would have entered the equation at all? No, it would have been suspended. Let, let, let, it's Sarsha Barkov on the other side, right? It's one of, it's one of the best player after Bob Roski right now on a pander scheme. So, uh, Leon Drysidal can hit as much as you want legally, but if he's doing something illegal and you have a player down that's being injured, let's say Sarsha Barkov was injured and it was crystal clear that he's not going to play the next game. I think it's obvious that Leon Drysidal would have missed at least one game. Otherwise, it would have been a, I mean, you and I would, would have talked about it for a, for months, why there was no suspension on that hit. You know, I understand what you mean though. What you're saying is it's Leon Drysidal, it's not your fourth line player, right? And, and if it's your fourth line player, it's easier to suspend that player than the Leon Drysidal. And I'm, I understand all this, but, but the reality is, I don't think the league, the, the way they're doing their, uh, they're making their decision. They're looking at the, the name and the number in the back, you're, you're, you're, uh, hurting a player with an illegal hit. I mean, you, you should be suspended and, and, but, but the thing is, if you look at the big picture, how many times we have, uh, a great player like Leon Drysidal going over the board, going, doing something on the ice that is totally outrageous. It doesn't happen that much. That's why sometimes I'm upset to see really good players in the NHL being injured and it's always a fourth line player on the other side. That's what I hate. You know what I mean? Yeah. No, at least it's a couple of star players getting into it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, in the, yeah, you could see a world in which Sasha Barkoff is missing tomorrow's game and maybe it is a one game suspension for the Leon Drysidal, but, uh, nobody, any worse for where. Um, so I was curious to see the messaging from the others after game one where they outplayed the Panthers and got gold aid, Sergey Babrowski, and yeah, we're fine, we're not depressed. You know, that happens. We just keep the same effort up. Um, yeah, I think game two was almost predictable that the Panthers weren't going to be as bad as they were in game one. In retrospect, doesn't it feel like the Oilers missed a ginormous opportunity in game one of the series? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. What they miss. It's crazy. I mean, and, and kudos to Sergey Babrowski. Well, what he did in game one was Dominic Ashik, like it was just amazing to watch. It's been a while since I've seen a goldie being so flexible everywhere in his crease doing everything to save that puck. I mean, it was courageous, I'm pretty sure he was just gas exhausted after the game, especially the first two periods. And the third, I think he had a little breeder there, and, and, but in the first two periods, I mean, it was, it was just, I wasn't all watching the, the Irish play the way they played that game. It was, I wasn't shocked, but, you know, reality came quickly when you have only three forwards. I'm in a dry cycle and McDavid having shots in game two, it's, I can't believe it, six shot totals for four, three forwards, 13 shots for the, the decor. I mean, this is, this is totally nuts. And they didn't, didn't play well at all, I think, you know, the, the Panthers were the, by far the best team starting in the third period of game one. So that being said, at the end of the day, I don't think this playoff series is, is over. I mean, you want to see how the crowd is going to lift the orders, the players for game three, I believe they will. But one thing for sure, what happened is in game one is a big missed opportunity. Like you mentioned, for the, for the orders, it's, but, but you have to give a lot of credit to a guy like, to, to not too many cash, but, uh, Sergey Bobowski. Yeah. I mean, he's playing like it might as well call him it. It's certainly, uh, it certainly has been that, that level of performance for him in every, and like, Ren, I, I love that I could talk to you about this stuff because you're, you know, you cover hockey, but you're a sports fan in general, we see it across all leagues where the team that wins every other team in the league says, okay, what do they do special that we have to emulate? If the Panthers win, we're going to tell ourselves one thing. And if the Oilers win, it feels like it's the complete opposite. The Panthers is this team built on physicality and toughness and depth. And the Oilers is, you know, not to say they're unphysical, but it's two or three guys pulling the mail and they're going to do it with skill and more so than will. How interesting is it that at the end of this cup final, depending on who wins, it seems like we're going to have a very, very different story, whereas in some of the past cup finals, it seems like it's been teams that are more kind of mirror images of each other going against it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I see where you're going. And there's a couple of things here. First of all, um, you know, the Panthers did some changes after last year, but especially with their decor, right? They wanted that to have bigger, bigger guys there, um, uh, you know, a guy like Nicole Mikala was really good defensively, but it can, can move his feet at the same time. So, um, so they made the, uh, the changes there, but I, I believe that, and it's for Maurice, who mentioned it, um, the morning of game one, he said last year, uh, at morning, skate in, uh, Vegas, I had 14 quote, unquote, uh, healthy bodies, 14. And he said, when I'm saying healthy, it's obviously playoff healthy, which is different than the regular season 14 is not a lot, but I believe, I believe that the orders are close to have only 14, 14 healthy bodies right now. It may be 16 or 14 or 15, but, but there, there, there is a lot of injured players on that, that roster. And I believe that this is, this is adding an impact on the way the players are obviously trying to their, their best, a guy like Evander Caine was invisible last game. Yeah. Well, he's not skating. He's not there during practices. Um, I, I believe Leon Drysidal is playing through something, Leon, when there's a practice, is the last guy in the first guy out during games, he's going back to the dressing room a couple of times per game. I mean, you, you look at it physically, it's, it's really, really tough because you're asking some players to play through injuries than, and if it was a regular season game, they would have been out for probably two, three weeks, right? So there were, I think we're asking a lot, but one thing for sure, I think the Panthers learned something last year, they learned stuff during the Seneca final. And now it's, it's kind of easier for them to play that type of hockey. I think the, I do believe maybe I'm naive here. I do believe that the, the orlers are, are learning a lot. They are learning a lot. They're looking at the panderers right now and they're saying to themselves, ah, that's what we have to do. And, and until you, you don't see it, you don't face it, it's easy to look at it, you know, on TV, but to play through it, I think is another animal. It's a different game. And I wouldn't be surprised if the orlers are back. If it's not next year, in two years in the Stanley Cup final, I wouldn't be surprised at all. However, even if Leon Dreyseidel leaves, obviously it's going to be a big blow, but Conor McDavid is a hell of a player. Yeah. He's a hell of a player. He's going to win a Stanley Cup at one point. And probably the orders are going to play a game that's a little bit similar to what the Panthers are playing right now. Yeah. Toronto Maple Leafs would love to be learning the lessons that the orlers are learning. Being down to the Stanley Cup final, they keep, you know, they keep going back to the school in the first round. I mean, they thought they graduated, but not back to remedial first round for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But yeah, let's talk about them, Ren, because you're one of the great insiders in the sport and we've heard, you know, little dribs and drabs about the Mitch Marner thing. We've heard from his agent. We've heard a little bit from Brad for a living. I mean, where are you now as opposed to when the season ended as far as the likelihood that Mitch Marner will be asked to waive his no move clause this offseason? Well, obviously it's a discussion between, you know, agents, Mitch, management of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I mean, draft is coming, what, draft will be in two weeks. So lots of things are going to happen with between now and then. If you look at the match, you could track trade, it happened way after draft, right? It happened somewhere in July, and it surprised a lot of people because we kind of knew that the truck wanted out, but it was not as public as maybe. And Mitch Marner never wanted to ask to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs, but we were looking at the TVs right now, it's kind of obvious that something can happen. And you wonder if it's going to be a trade that's going to be made before the draft, or after the draft. But if I'm Brad for living, we did the match, you could track trade. I mean, I mean, no rush because it's obvious that it didn't win that trade, right? And that trade is, and I'm going to go back to what match you could chuck wanted, you wanted to be traded, so you have to make a trade, you have to do it. Now I wonder if you're a Maple Leafs fan, you need to win that trade. If you're not winging it, you need to be close to say, you know what? We lost Mitch Marner, but what we have in return is ask good, and Mitch Marner is still a really good player because I believe Mitch Marner is a really good player. So you need to make sure you need to be 100% certain that what you're getting in return is going to be at least the equivalent. And I understand, probably I'm talking about Mitch Marner as a really good player and people are saying, well, that's not what we're seeing in the playoffs. Okay, but put Mitch Marner on a really good team, on a playoff team, a team that knows how to win, you think that that team is going to be less good? No, that team is going to be better. So a little bit like, and I don't know when compared to two, but it's like field castle with the Pittsburgh Penguins, right? The need of field castle to win those two Stanley Cup. So that's where I see a little difference here. Anyway, we'll see. But what I just hope for the, you know, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, for Brad's reliving, for the Leafs fans, make sure that that rate is going to be a really good trade. And if you need to take more time, take more time. Don't rush it. It'll be a big mistake. The Maple Leafs are going to make the playoffs next year. Don't worry. They'll be in. I don't think that's the question is, are they going to be in or not? They're in. They're already in. But it's the playoff and you want to make sure that you'll have something in return that's going to really help you playoff-wise. Yeah, I'm right there with you in terms of that. You know, the interesting thing, and obviously a lot of people are going to look back to the Matthew Kachuk trade, and I'm not saying that this is necessarily the way they would have gone, but you know, you look back at the package that they got for Kachuk there. It's because Eweger. It's a prospect of first round pick. And then it's Jonathan Huberdough. You know, I do wonder if Tre living looks at that and says, not that, you know, it's like the Calgary situation and the Toronto one they're in right now, I think are very different, but I do wonder if there's an, that can be informative to him to look back at that and say, you know, maybe I don't need to get all the pieces in the trade. The cap space in and of itself can be a piece here because, you know, I just look at what Huberdough is doing in Calgary and quite honestly, they'd be better off if they just had the space to spend and they would have, they would have liked that trade better if Huberdough just wasn't in it, which would have been a crazy thing to say at the time. I wonder how much of that for living is going to look back on and kind of take into this possible trade with him. Yeah, and it's a really good way to look at it. And I'm with you. What you need to get in return is what you were talking about cap space, what you need to be 100% sure that there's a player available out there that's going to be a Toronto Maple League soon, right, that's going to be that guy or close to a match you could talk, but there's not a lot of match you could talk available right now around this league. So you have to go really, really deep right now. You have to, there's, I'm pretty sure a lot of phone calls that are being made, a lot of discussion, but don't lose Mitch Marner just because you think that that's the best thing to do for your franchise. The best thing to do for your franchise is the day you're going to pull the trigger is you're going to have a plan in front of you that's going to make sure that you're not going to waste talent that you have in your roster, especially Austin Matthews. He needs to win a Stanley Cup too, and it's going to be priority and I'm pretty sure it's priority for him and for a lot of players on the Maple Leafs roster, they're right there. They're knocking on that door, they have a really good team. The orders are in the Stanley Cup final right now, who taught that the orders will be in the Stanley Cup final really before the start of the playoffs, not a lot of people. Maybe some gamblers that were really, really high on the orders, but they were high on the Hurricanes and I couldn't understand why. So now the orders are here, they're probably not going to win the Stanley Cup probably, not saying it's probably, but that being said, they're going to come back. But the thrown only Maple Leafs needs to be today's orders at one point. They need to go there. They need to go learn, but I think that they can't go in and win it, even the first year. But they need to go in and that's the key, and the key is to look at what the Panthers are doing really and to say, this is what needs to be done. You need more character guys, that's what you need, that's the reality. No question about it, and perhaps a franchise altering trade is days, if not weeks or months away from happening for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ren, appreciate the time as always, thanks for this. Enjoy the rest of the day, it's a beautiful morning in Edmonton, so hopefully it's going to be a fun one. Yeah, fingers crossed, thanks Ren. Take care guys. You too. Ren, all of Waa TVA Sports, 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.com. Yeah, there's no Matthew Kajung available, and I guess the center said there is no Brady Kajung available. Yeah, no, you can't have him. I think God, honestly, just power ranking the worst things to happen ever to the city of Ottawa. I think first is whatever the public transit debacle that God, I just know every time I look at the city of Ottawa, they're like, ah, the LRT is not working. So that is the worst thing, second worst, Brady Kajuk Leafs legend. God, it would be so good. Oh my God. One for one, do it? I mean, yeah, I mean, you do that in like less than a heartbeat if you're the Maple Leafs obviously. Yeah, obviously. Especially Brad, you're living going like, ah, the one that got away, I got his younger brother. You kidding me? I mean, he doesn't have a 99 point season. No, he's, he's not the, like, he's the, he's, it's funny because we think of Kajuk as both the better player and like, we think of him as actively meaner, but Brady is way crazier than Matthew. Mm hmm. Like there was that hit. There was him just going at the Red Wings bench this year. Anyone who wants it. I'm right here. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. He's got a screw loose. Yeah. I do have my questions. Not that we need to do a big Brady Kajuk block here. I do have my questions about like giving a young player the C and it clearly not working and what the weight of that could be. But guess what? He wouldn't be wearing it here. So, yeah. No, he would. You'd obviously gladly do that. That would be a very effective trade. Yeah. I also, if we've talked about that, obviously, Marner is in control of all of this. You talk about that from a sentence perspective and how they do not want to live in a world of Brady Kajuk, Leafs legend. I can't think of anything meaner to do to Mitch Marner than turn him into an Ottawa Senator. Yeah. It's the meanest thing you could possibly do. No. Like at least if he were to, like, you wouldn't do this, but like you trade him to the Canadians. It's like a storied franchise. Sure. It's to stick it. It's like, no, he's just the little brother forever. It'd be awful. In Canada. Yeah. Where they can't pay their head coaches commensurate. They can't compete on a level playing field for head coaches. No. They couldn't get Sheldon Keefe even if they wanted him. That's right. Yeah. But they got DJ Smith. Former Leafs assistant. And then that didn't work out very well at all. Yeah. Good job by them, I think. Although I do have a soft spot for DJ Smith. Yeah. You know, when I was green. Yeah. All right. Rodgers has announced an exciting new national contest. Bring Stanley home to send Rodgers customers and hockey fans from across Canada to the Stanley Cup final in Edmonton. Rodgers customers have the chance to win 10 VIP trips for two to attend game four in Edmonton. This Saturday, this prize also including travel and accommodation plus premium viewing at a game day concert featuring Shania Twain outside Rogers Place. Visit rogers.com slash Stanley Cup to enter for your chance to win and for more details. When we come back afternoon affair in Wisconsin today is the Blue Jays looking to win the rubber match against the Brewers talk to Dan Shulman next. The fan morning show continues Van Anis, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan. Diving deep into leaps, Raptors, J's and NFL, the JD Bunkins podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Fan morning show Sportsnet 590, the fan Blue Jays and Brewers series finale two o'clock today on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, the fan professional athletes blow my mind consistently. But guys in Spencer Horowitz's situation or Davis Schneider's situation, they really do just like the top of my head just it comes right off and like my brain spills out because you got a big head. So it's like a trap. So those guys had good minor league seasons and good minor league careers, but nothing's been handed to them their 28th and 25th round picks and they have to produce like not tomorrow not a month from now like today yesterday actually like or about bye bye like from the major leagues and maybe forever to never return. They don't get Boba shed and Boba shed also started his career very well and like that has allowed him the opportunity to have a slow start like he did in 22 or like he's having again in 24 because we have that equity of seeing the end of the season baseball reference page. But the pressure like you want to talk about pressure game seven world series like the pressure on Spencer Horowitz who's getting thrown into the two spot right out of the gates who's playing in position. He's played fewer than 20 times in his professional career to produce out of the gates and he's done that. It's it's kind of mind blowing to me anyways blue jays with a chance to win a second consecutive series this afternoon in Milwaukee against the Brewers. That's where we find Packers fan Dan Shulman. How's it going Dan? It is going well here in Packer Country. How are you doing? Well, have you? So yeah, you guys were talking about all the swag that you bought for yourself in Wisconsin on the broadcast yesterday. I imagine you all swag would would not be true, but yes, some swag I bought a hoodie. I imagine you've been to Lambo right like how many times you've been to Lambo? Four. Okay, but while I was here, I just wanted to, I don't know, I had some free time so I went to the store that's in Milwaukee. Why are you fighting it? Just just be yourself, Dan. It's okay. Nobody's criticizing your your packer fan. It's like you're defensive. I'd be leaning into it way more. I would be going out of my follow up question to, well, you've been to Lambo. Well, well, okay, the question, well, because if you hadn't, I was like, kind of like, do you make a pilgrimage? Is it worth going in the season just to see it, not to see a game? It's too far. It's about an hour and a half from Milwaukee. So, I mean, I guess you could like if I hadn't been for games, then maybe, then maybe, you know, rent a car and go and all that, but I've been, I've been for games. So, but it is a pilgrimage kind of place. There's no question about that, but, but yeah, it's fun. It's fun to see cheese heads here at in Milwaukee and around the ballpark and that's nice. It's nice to be amongst your own every now and again, but you don't expect it. Do you own a cheese head? No. All right. That's a bridge too far. Like we can have to and show them wearing a cheese head. No. Actually, it's funny because the first night I wore a packer pin on my lapel. But all of our bosses were obviously watching the Oilers and the Panthers because I didn't get any phone calls and, you know, the Brewers broadcasters are friends of mine. Jeff Levering is a friend of mine and I know well, and he saw the pin and he's from Wisconsin. He's a packer fan and all that. And he goes, we got a cheese head in the booth if you want it like of course they do. Why wouldn't they have a cheese head in the booth? But I, speaking of a bridge too far, I thought doing our open with a cheese head out. Yeah, that I can agree with that, but like having one in your possession Sunday in the man cave. Yeah. The middle of them. Duke. Very different. You and the dog and the cheese head. Come on. No, I have a helmet. As you may have seen, if we've done like face zoom stuff or whatever on the show. So there is a helmet very visible and I have a nice, like a pennant, like a rectangular pennant with all Super Bowl years and stuff, but no, I'm I'm a grown up. I don't think I need a cheese set. Okay. Have you put the helmet on? Yeah. Come on. Tell me, Dan, like has there ever been like fourth quarter need a score down in Hellman on? No comment. Yeah. That's what we needed. Yeah. That's what we needed. Yeah. That's what we needed there. I just the only problem now is I'm I'm not going to be unable to do this interview without picturing you in a cheese head. Like we've talked about it too much that now that's all I can do. I can think of it. I've never even put one on. I've had one not in my possession, but in my, you know, there's been one in my, in the vicinity of me at relevant times in my life and it's never happened. I've resisted this. You know, if you've gone this far without putting a cheese set on, I think I can make it the rest of the way. Yeah. It was like the Prince of Wales trophy or something, you know, I don't want to touch it. Yeah. So Spencer Horwitz has been everything you could have expected him to be when they called him up. He's not hitting home runs, although he hit one to the warning track against the lefty yesterday. I thought he's looked full value for what I expected him to look. I am curious to see and it's a writing on the Hill today, I was looking at his minor league splits. He's he's got pretty pronounced splits, righty lefty, but he still hits for average, still gets on base against lefties in the, the, the overall lack of power gets even more pronounced against lefties. Do you think he's an everyday player for the Blue Jays right now? That's a good question. I mean, first off, I think he'll be leading off today. Um, you know, he's let off two of the four games, but the two of the four were when Schneider wasn't in there, but Davis Schneider has been struggling and I, I, I'm assuming Davis Schneider will be back in there, but I'm guessing that Horwitz will lead off. I don't think they're going to put him in there against lefties yet. So generally their lineup against lefties is eight right handed bats and Dalton Varsho and you need Varsho or Kermier in the lineup because you need somebody to play center field. The two guys they have to play center field are left handed bat. So, um, I, I guess they could put him in that would mean sitting, you know, Clement or IKF or somebody like or Turner or say, you know, somebody and then make it work positionally. I would guess at the outs that the answer is no, that they're, they're going to sit them again. They don't see very many lefties, as you guys know. So, but you know, they probably see righties four out of five. So I would guess right now he's going to play against righties, sit against lefties, but that can change and as you well know, you know, like if vocal back starts and they bring in a lefty, Turner comes into pinch it, that sort of thing. Like if, if a lefty starts against them and a righty comes in in the sixth inning, I think we'll see him pinch it, you know, like we, um, John Schneider is using his bench a lot because they're trying to maximize, um, their chances on every single match up. But, um, I think right now facing righties, playing second, maybe a little first, he'll play first every now and again, I would think, but he's done a great job. I mean, he's been exactly the guy that he was a triple A the last year and a half. This is, this is who we spent quality of bats, line drives, take some walks and every now and again, hopefully run into one. I just hope he can doing, uh, he can keep doing what he's doing because, uh, boy, oh boy, do they need guys to get on base and help the offense and all the, you know, he's turned into one of their most important offensive players in like four days. Yeah. He certainly has the staff that's kind of been making the rounds a little bit, uh, with this team has been the, the number or their record when they score three or more runs. You know, I think we can look at that and obviously there are certain games that there, there are certain games that play out differently when you, when you kind of get offense early, not that it's come in the first inning for, for this team. But you know, when we look at this team trending towards the trade deadline, how do you look at the fact that one bat and it's crazy to say about a team that's been as anemic offensively as this group has, but maybe one bat with some pop kind of could change things. I don't think this team is a, in a position to be buying yet, but when you look at the success they've had, when they have even minimal offense of three runs, how do you think that kind of changes their, their approach towards the deadline? I, I just think, yeah, it's obvious if they're going to go out and get something. It's a bat. They don't need a starting pitcher, um, unless somebody gets hurt. I mean, I know they're still trying to sort out the fifth spot, but I think they'll do whatever they can to sort that out internally. Maybe a reliever, although you like to think, you know, Yari El Rodriguez coming back, somebody to the bullpen, some more depth there. They've got some guys above a little Romano coming back. So maybe you pick up a reliever, but obviously the overwhelming screaming need on this team. Um, is a bat or two, and I agree with you. They're not in a position to buy yet, but I'm sure you guys look at the standings fairly frequently. Um, it's absolutely a, uh, chaotic ugly mess in the middle of the American league right now. And it's the same in the national league. I mean, last year, Arizona got in with 84 wins and there may be a team in each league that gets in with that many or maybe even fewer this year. So we got to see how the next month goes as you guys know, they're playing a lot of really good teams in the next month. Um, um, and they're playing a team like Boston who might not be really good, but that's team the Blue Jays got to beat and pass and put in the rear view mirror if they're going to have a chance to make the playoffs. So, uh, I'm sure that, you know, people are already looking around and figuring out who might be available, but if yes, they go get a bat, I think I got to go get a real bat. You know, somebody who's going to hit like one, two, three in the order and really help them. They've got a lot of guys who can hit seven, eight, nine, they need guys who can hit one, two, three, four and get on base and drive in some big runs for them. So I think it's way too early. It's what is it? June the 12th, like the trade deadline is over six weeks away and the draft is first and all that. And it's, it's rare for a major trade to happen before, you know, the last week or ten days before the deadline, but, um, you know, a lot can change between now and now and then we've seen guys, hot guys get cold and cold guys get hot. So let's see where they aren't a month or so. You know, hopefully they can still be in this, if not a better situation among them all. Yeah, some tough of opponents the rest of this month as well. Tough opponents before the All-Star break, frankly, um, you say Kukuchi yesterday. What a battle for him. But I, yeah, I feel like Dan, that you get that start from you say, Kukuchi, like the first couple innings in 2022, he doesn't make it five. Like he's, he's just, he's a different guy three years after starting his career with the Blue Jays. And of course, Pete Walker is going to be the face of all the success that he's had and it's more than just Pete Walker. But it's an, it's an unbelievable story for me, honestly, watching what he was in 2022 as a Blue Jays and just how unplayably bad he was. And then, you know, doing a deeper dive into like, what did they get from the, the, the guy that had an All-Star season in Seattle, but was only half a season, a very good pitcher, didn't really have a long crack record of being good. He was more than playable last season. He's taken another step this season. The question I asked off the top of the show, it's a tough one to answer. But I'm going to make you answer it. Like what was the more impressive feat for this organization turning Robbie Ray into a Cy Young award winner after he was one of the most unplayable starters in baseball, just a year and a half prior, or what they've turned Yusei Kukuchi in in three years. That's a great question because Robbie Ray was all over the place walking guys like you say did his first year. It's a really good question. I think maybe Kukuchi because they have to change everything with Yusei. And I know Robbie Ray was and is a phenomenal story and I hope he gets healthy and gets back and has a great career. But they changed everything with Kukuchi, the shape of his pitches, how much, which pitches he throws, how much he throws them, and his delivery. Like go back and find a video of his wind up from two years ago and then look at it now. And I've asked Pete Walker a couple of times, have you spent more time with Yusei Kukuchi than you have with any other pitcher you've ever had? And the answer is yes. Like they worked and worked and worked. And at the beginning, in the nicest way possible, Yusei was a little bit stubborn about things because he was very set in his ways about how he wanted to do things. And it's interesting because his last year was Seattle as you mentioned that he was an all star, but he didn't even finish the year in the Mariners rotation. And then he comes over to Toronto and he doesn't even finish the year in the rotation. And at some point, obviously enough was enough for him and he said, okay, let's go. What do you think? I think it's an incredible story for one of the best and nicest and most popular guys on that team. I don't know. Tyler Sodastrom is a huge fan of his, but in the open end, but maybe the R goes want you to say the play linebacker. What's the season? But it's a great, great story and I agree with you. It was hard for him yesterday. He didn't have his best command and he got hosed a few times on the strike zone, although that happened both ways. That was brutal. Yesterday, right, but he got the outs he needed to get two on, two out bases loaded, two out, two on, nobody out, whatever. He got the outs he had to get and he gave them kind of five messy gritty innings and didn't allow a run against a pretty good team, like the fifth or sixth highest scoring team in Major League Baseball this year. So he's been great. And we said it on the air yesterday, like, I don't know if they're going to get more than one all star on this team, but he's got a chance. Barrios has a chance. Jimmy Garcia's got a chance. Those to me are the top three candidates and, you know, you look back a year, a year and a half and you would have said, boy, I wonder if he even finishes out his contract with the Blue Jays. Now he's got a chance to be an All-Star. Yeah, it's, it's been remarkable and obviously you got to give the coaching staff a ton of credit, but I got a hand, a bunch of that to the, to the player as well. I have to hand credit to the baseball gods. Regular season baseball is a beautiful thing, but it's also a long and arduous season where you guys do this every day. How nice is it when you get a little piece of levity like the bat stuck in the net just to give you something else? You love the game. You love to talk about it. But Ben and I were saying, we, we need one or two of these. You don't want a side show every week, but we've had, I think it was in Arizona where the beekeeper had to come in and save the day earlier in the year. How nice is it? Just every once in a while to get, if you will, thrown a curve ball like that, Dan. It's, it's a gift from the baseball gods. It really is. And the baseball has more of this stuff than football hockey and basketball combined like that. This kind of stuff doesn't happen in those sports. Baseball is a wild, imperfect game and this kind of stuff happens. And you know, of course it's flatty because it's going to be flatty and then there, there are some bloody jokes you can put in there. And I was really happy because I made my silly little Chris Bassett is the professor on Gilligan's Island and I bet you he's the guy who tries to figure this out. And the next inning he walks out with like with a, with a 30 foot pole, you know, so Tony Romo over here calling him. Yeah. Yeah. So like where's Chris Bassett finding that, you know, and it's, and he's Jerry rigging some little contraption of tape and wire and string and, you know, it was, it was great. And the fans were into it on, you know, on both sides, Blue J fans behind the third base stuck up Brewers fans. We were having fun with it. So yeah, you do need it. You know, 162 times two and a half to three hours. A little levity is nice and I hope people are okay with that. If they're not, they're going to, they're, they should be, you know, because there's a lot of serious stuff, but this is sports and, and baseball gives us a little bit of room to do that kind of thing. So I actually got some funny tweets like you guys need to stop going to commercial breaks because that's when they're trying to get the bat out and that's what we want to see. Or you guys need to go split screen until they get the bat out of the netting and, and I was like, that's awesome. So yeah, yeah, those were great, great suggestions. So you know, it'll never happen again in our lifetime, right? Nor will a Blue J pitcher truck somebody outside the dugout and Oakland again in our lifetime. But we've had two beauties in the last few days. Yeah. That's been good. Did you find it? Like, was it a pool scare? No, it looked like a ball retriever, honestly, like a golf ball retriever. I think that's what it was. Yeah. Why do they have a golf ball retrieve? Do you know the answer to that question? They're starting pitchers on every baseball team. That's why they're ball. Yes. Yes. I guess I'll ask Moose today. So Moose was a moose top of a son who I mentioned, he's the manager of clubhouse operations, but he's really the manager of everything. Like if you have a problem, you go to Moose and Moose fixes it. So I'll ask him where they got that basket, like ran out of the dugout to do his throwing session yesterday. So I yelled at him, but he didn't have time to come over and so I'll ask Moose where they got it. It was funny and it was so obvious basket was going to be the guy like it was just making him crazy that the bat was stuck out there and he loves figuring stuff out. That's who he is. And that's not surprising to anybody who watches the team. You could see that personality on the mat, right? So, but yeah, it's fun and it's always more fun when you're winning. So let's see if they can get one today, get to that magical 500 mark and see how he goes. Yeah. Clavin Stan, it's time for third now in the American League East. I don't look at the tippy top because that's a long way away, but like third, yeah, better than last, which they are right now as other type of the Red Sox. Dan, enjoy the game today. Thanks for this. Okay, guys. Thank you. Go back. Go. Thanks, Dan. Showman. Biggest Packers fan, the works that sports that I would imagine. Yeah, I think the Lambo won't put a cheese head on, at least admitting to it publicly. Remember, or no, the helmet is, or no, what do we ask him? Well, yeah, no comment was that was the helmet. Okay. I couldn't remember. Yeah. Certainly. He's gone. The helmet. Obviously. But yeah, the idea that it's, I think is a funnier look than a cheese head. Yeah. Like the cheese. It's like you're supposed to wear that. I mean, you're supposed to wear a helmet, but you're playing. Yeah. Is he going to go get in a three technique and try to try to rush the passer there? I don't. I don't know. Yeah. And I, again, you don't want, like, you don't want 10 of those a week from a weird moment, but one a week is just wonderful. And the kakuchi of it all, I really did forget about that. I feel like we kind of skimmed over him, getting smoked or smoking soda strum, whichever way you want to see that going. But yeah, that was, that was funny to kakuchi him eventful week for him. It has been. It's been an eventful week for the Blue Jays in general, as far as having stories that's around them, the darn baseball related. Yep. Perhaps they've shot their bolt now as far as those quirky weirdo things. I hope not. I also think so Dan's going to inquire about the pool skimmer, the ball retriever. So he says, yeah, and he said he was going to ask Chris Bassett, by the way, like, I think asking Chris Bassett now, like, I think he took that very seriously, like getting the bat down. Obviously. Like, I don't think there were a ton of laughs had for him, who's like, this is, I, this is a distraction for everybody. Like, I need to solve this problem. I think what you hit on is probably the correct genesis of where the ball retriever came from, that, hey, starting pitchers start every fifth day. Yeah. Sure, there's stuff to do. And you got to be at the ballpark, of course. But we, I think most people have heard about oral hershizer taking his golf clubs on the team plane. Like that happens. Yes, no anecdotes of road starting pitchers that have played in some notable golf venues here in the GTA. Yes. I think that's going to be a tough one, though, to get somebody on record to sing. Yeah, Chris Bassett's like, yeah, no, that was, that was my, first of all, embarrassing that you would have a ball retriever in the bag. And two, there's no way you would make it public knowledge that you carry your golf bag, not just on the road with you, the park to the, it's in the clubhouse. Yeah. That was not the tough one. You can message this. You could just say getting in some swings with a wedge is all part of a warm-up routine, getting the shoulders activated. Yeah. The bar retriever's nice and long. You could use it for like stretching purposes and you just say it's the rumors. Just be like them. It's a, they're those evil guys over there. Yeah. So you lie. Yeah. Obviously. Yeah. But then it's still, we get something out of it. Oh, I forgot to mention this. Because it needs mentioning. We mentioned it earlier in today's show, but Santana coming to Budweiser stage this summer, June 26th with the counting crows as part of their oneness tour to enter for a chance to win tickets. Text in today's code word supernatural to 59590 again. That is supernatural to 59590. We have another pair of tickets to give away tomorrow, but if you don't live with us tickets on sale at ticketmaster.ca. So where do you stand? I don't believe you carry a ball retriever. No. No, no, no, no. Neither do I. No. My dad carries a ball retriever. He's in the demo for it. So why is that? I don't know. Like, okay. So the golf course that we play routinely does have like a lot of water hazards. So there is many an opportunity to retrieve a golf ball, but he has retrieved in his, not just his life, but in like the last year and a half, retrieve more golf balls than he'll ever need to use for the rest of his life. Yeah. So what point is it like enoughs enough with the ball retrieving like to have the ball retriever in your bag? Yeah. I think honestly, I think it's more of a like, I think of it as like, not that your course gets backed up like this, but like courses backed up, when we fish some balls out here, let me see what I can do. But yeah, eventually it does reach a point of demarcation, but I just couldn't bring myself to carry one in the, in the bag. I just couldn't. But also once you're like, once you're over 60, it's like, go for it buddy. No one expects anything. Oh, okay. So I, producer Jeff Asparti before we go just alerted me to the fact that with the Brewers ballpark, which is no longer Miller Park, American family field, which is a company. Okay. American family. Yes. I'm your company. We're good name. They have virtual golf. See, there it is. Okay. But you need a ball retriever for virtual golf. No. Will you bring your bag? You go, you go to the same. You go to the same. Will you bring one club to the sim when you go or do you bring your bag? I mean me, I bring a handful. I don't bring my whole bag, but a lot of people, you're going to go play around on the sim. You bring your bag. I do that all the time. There you go. Okay. We got, we solved it. Maybe. Mission accomplished dish or it's Chris Bassett's perhaps we'll find out in time for today's game. Two o'clock. We'll be back tomorrow with another edition of the fan morning show, Ben and his Brent Gunning Sport 759 event. Good morning. (dramatic music) You
