Are *HUGE* Changes Coming For The Blue Jays?…. | Blue Jays Rumours & Breakdown

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way, and with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help choosing a plan that fits your needs. So you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Head to StateFarm.com to get a quote. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. This Toronto Blue J Season was full of disappointments. Many things went wrong around the way, but we'll break down if the Toronto Blue J's can fix those issues in just one offseason right here on Lockdown Blue J's. You are Lockdown Blue J's. You're daily Toronto Blue J's podcast.

1:02Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome back to Lockdown Blue J's. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by CalShi. For a limited time, download CalShi and use code Lockdown to get $25 when you trade $25. CalShi. Trade what's next. I am back. It is Carter. First here with Lockdown Blue J's with a different co-host today. It is Skyler Peters who you guys are familiar with. We're going to break down the season recap. What went wrong for the Toronto Blue J's? The odd thing that was good for the Blue J's. And then the odd season coming up here as well. There is still a time to discuss the Toronto Blue J's having the extended offseason. So we will have a bunch of time to talk about a bunch of different things going on with the in the Toronto Blue J's. But Skyler, it's been a little while. It's been over a month. We've been through a lot of turmoil. The ups and downs throughout the Toronto Blue J season. Overall, just how is the feeling right now that all and everything is set and done? Well, I'm currently abstaining from Playoff Baseball.

2:04I did check the scores this evening. Unfortunately, I had to witness Ben Rice hit two home runs and drive in six as the Yankees crews to beat our Boston Red Sox in game one. But yeah, it sucks. I mean, the only saving grace is hockey's started again. So there's something to fill the sports watching time. Much to the chagrin of our, you know, lives and girlfriends. I'm sure that we're hoping for a bit of a reprieve after 162 disappointing games of Blue J's baseball. But yeah, just quite a change from last year. Still trying to wrap hand around it for sure. Yeah, whether it's college football, you have NFL football. You were hoping to have Blue J's baseball on, but you have the NHL. Like it's one of the best times for sports in general. Just a little bit unfortunate. When you watch the Oscars and White Sox have a full pen day. And you feel like the Toronto Blue J's could have been there. If I mean a bunch of different things could have went a different way. So we were talking a bunch about this off camera. Like the Yankees looking like they're unbelievable. A bunch of other different things as well. And I figured I would have to phrase this question this way because there is one glaring answer

3:04that everyone's been talking about all season long. Unfortunately, we're going to start with the negatives because this was a very negative season. Or at least the season that fell beneath expectations. So for you, like, what was the most disappointing thing to watch this season? Besides Vladimir Grottoon, what he did throughout 162 on the baseball field. So anything other than Vladimir Grottoon, you're that disappointed. You are really stuck out to you this season. I think when, like, I look at the totality of the season, the biggest disappointment to me is wasting such a good bull pen, especially the back end of the bull pen. I mean, Louis Varlane finishes the year with the lowest DRA and the majors, relievers or starters. Tyler Rogers is also in the top five in that category. Spencer Miles was found money. Probably the best rule five pick in Blue Jays history, least recent history. And those guys really set up the bull pen for success and set up the team for success and opportunities when they had a few runs and they had to get through the 7th and 8th and 9th thinnings. Unfortunately, the offense didn't give them that many opportunities to take a lead

4:05into the 7th and 8th and 9th thinnings. And it was really unfortunate because last year we saw everything kind of come together at the right time for the Blue Jays to get as far as they did to game seven of the World Series, you know, the offense, the pitching, the defense all meshed. And it just never seemed like I could probably count on, you know, two hands how many times that we saw all three phases of the baseball game come together for the Jays this season. So really feels like a wasted opportunity knowing that this team is better than that offensively. And, you know, you never know, especially when it comes to the bull pen itself. I end the starting pitching. I mean, obviously Dylan C said a sion caliber season up until the very end and the injuries derailed kind of the rest of the rotation. But, uh, no wasting good pitching is tough because you never know what it's going to come back like next year, even if a lot of the personnel remains the same. Because it felt like with an offense that would have put up four to five runs with the bull pen that you had. If you got into the sixth inning, you had Mason Fluarty, you had Tyler Rogers, Louis Marlin, Braden Fisher, like a bunch of different guys that you thought

5:06to go out there and give you a zero. And that's not even including Spencer Miles, who's a little bit of that Swiss Army knife role where you saw him have success really everywhere he was, whether it was an opener, I mean, closing in some situations, being that seventh inning guy, being a multiple inning guy. So in terms of you saying they're wasting the pitching, really what you are saying is that the offense kind of sucked throughout the entirety of the season, which is due to Vladimir Gras juniors, which is due to a bunch of different guys that you thought would have more success for this Trouble Jays organization. But unfortunately kind of falling through the weeds, whether that was the chase rates, whether that was the lack of power, whether that was the timely hitting that we just never really saw. And you brought up that point is that if you had good pitching, the office just did it show up. And then the odd time that the Blue Jays would score runs, it felt like that was the time that your bullpen was going to have those blowups. That's when your starter was going to go out and have three at ex-pitched of six early rides. Like you could never have this team on the same page, a cohesive team that played all facets of the game together. And that's just one of many reasons why the Trouble Jays have kind of ended up here. So clearly the Trouble Jays need to make additions. Clearly this team needs to get better when you make a World Series run. You kind

6:07of run it back for the most part. And then things completely kind of fall on your face. You've got to change some things. So I'm going to start with the lineup. How many bats are you adding to this team? Are you just letting it kind of go? Because there is a couple guys that within the system here are going to be available to you. At least you hope are going to be available to you in some capacity. You just still have athlete saw taught there. There is a wide range of opinions on that guy and his tenure with the Trouble Jays. We just haven't early seen him with his tenure with the Trouble Jays. And then Asim Barger, which I think fans look at a lot more favorably. So I guess my question to you is are those two enough to rejuvenize this offense? Are you adding additional bats in the free agent market? No, I think you definitely need to look and prioritize a bat. And thankfully the Blue Jays have been set up and away over the last number of years where it's not like you need an outfielder necessarily to be that guy. You know, say I Suzuki's one that I think a lot of people are going to be looking at as a potential fit for the Toronto Blue Jays in this off season. But you know, if it's an infield or a third baseman, you have the ability to move guys like

7:08Addison Barger, Cosmo, Okamoto and Vlad Gruer, Jr. round a little bit. And with that DH spot opening up with the expected departure of George Springer, I think the opportunity is certainly there for the Blue Jays. I think they can go out and add too. Or at least like an addition by subtraction type of scenario where maybe you give up one of the players that we expect to see on the roster or have seen on the roster generally over the last couple of years, you know, for an upgraded bat. Even if that means a little bit of a downgrade on defense, obviously thinking of a guy like Andres Jimenez, you know, when it comes to defense within, it's going to be a severe downgrade. He's applied in glove for a reason. But yeah, certainly one needs to join the mix. And at the end of the day, you're going to need more than 57 RBI's from the combination of Flagler, Jr. Addison, Barger and Anthony Santander, the last two of which had zero on the year and combined for nine games played. So I think, you know, a lot of optimism over the Jays for 2027s probably going to come with that internal

8:10progression that they could have with the roster additions, you know, guys that we already know are either on the 40 man or in the case of Santander and Barger just on, you know, the 60-day IHL and spent most of their season there. And then obviously the flag of Guerrero Jr. returning to four of his is the number one priority for him and, you know, the future of this franchise, not only next year, but for the next 13th. Well, in theory, when you look at just within this organization, not even going outside looking at some of the free agents, you need Vlad, as you said, to return to his form, even having an oldie average season, if he has that this year for the Trudel Blue Jays, they're probably in the playoffs. They're probably playing baseball right now. So that's first and foremost, another thing you have Alejandro Kirk, Casima, Okamoto, like a lot of people, including myself, think you can actually get better from the season that he had here in 2026, expanding into 2027, especially with the full season under his belt, getting familiar with MLB pitching. And then if you get anything from Anthony Santander, Addison Barger, like you have Alejandro Kirk, you have Nathan Lucas who can be that role bat. Maybe you don't want to play him every single day and maybe that's how

9:11you upgrade is you get that outfielder that has some capabilities from the offensive sign. So I think up minimum you have to add one bat. I think the more the merrier you can see how things can kind of go from expected to kind of what the hell is going on here. Oh my goodness, we need to get somebody in here immediately if we want this team to be salvageable, if we want this team to be watchable, especially from the offensive side. So clearly they need to add offensively. I think I know what your answer is going to be for this as well, but let's flip the sides of this. Let's look at the pitching. We had eight votes, what we thought were viable starting pictures in the spring train and going into opening day. That went to about three within a month. So clearly, I think the Trudel Blue just need to spend into starting rotation. So I'll kind of ask you this is a two part question. What kind of caliber starting picture are you asking for the blue jazic? Are you looking for that Dylan C's type? Are you looking for maybe more of that Joseprio's that's the middle of the rotation? Or are you just looking to add another guy in terms like a Spencer Erigetti, maybe another guy to battle for that fit starter? And then just how many starting pictures or in bullpen arms included? Are you hoping that the Trudel Blue Jays acquire this offseason? Whether that is through

10:13free industry or trade. Well, I'll answer your question with a question. Do you know how many different pictures pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays this season? Oh, it's going to be five billion, but for real gas like 40, like a ton. 39. 39. Pretty solid. I had no prior knowledge of that, but I knew it was just everyone. It was a revolving door all season long. That includes Tyler Heinemann and Miles Strog. God bless them cleaning up a couple games that didn't go our way. But yeah, 37 real pictures for the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a franchise record. Okay, 37 real pictures. I don't know about real pictures being included in that. Like we had some guys that I don't know if you can call them a major league caliber picture. Like maybe it's more like 30, but 37 pictures came out for the Toronto Blue Jays. If you look at their baseball card, it says P on it, you know, like great beside their name. I got someone classified as a picture right now. I guess technically, but there's a debate that I mean, me or you could have similar, similar results if we went out

11:13there. You know, maybe the Miles Strog like Miles Strog was better than some of the pictures that Toronto Blue Jays spoiled the season. Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, we we have a lot of unknowns that I think that we should have known the season was getting off on a bad foot. We, you know, the Jays swept the opening series against the A's and we thought it was business as usual, but in that third game, it was Cody Ponds lasting less than three innings and, you know, being out for the season with the knee injury. And I had him as a guy that might get some back-end say young folks this year. And we never really got to see what it was. And I mean, we all remember when the Blue Jays resigned Mac Sherser and he was like their eighth starter and camp. And we were kind of asking the question like, do they need this many starting pictures? Well, then Mac Sherser ended the season as the number two starting picture once still in C swan on the IEL for the Blue Jays. So how many arms do we need? I guess nine because eight wasn't enough this year. At least nine. Hope for the guy. I think 37. Hope for some better health, obviously, from guys like

12:16Treyis Savage and Jose Brieos won't start the year with the team, but, you know, if he can return to some semblance of his form base that over most of his career, he's going to be a viable option for the Blue Jays, Bout and Francis is in that same boat. You do have Spencer Ergeti, which, you know, he was a bit of a disappointment ever since coming over from the Astros in that trade for Dalton Varsho, but, you know, maybe an off season and a full spring training with the team, an extended spring training with the team, actually, I guess, and more training in the off season, if they're a lockout as a possibility might help him. I still think a reunion machine Bieber makes a lot of sense if the dollars make sense. No longer is he, you know, maybe one of the top pitching acquisitions of the trade deadline, like he was when he joined the Blue Jays two summers ago, but he could have absolutely be a number four or a pretty good number three if he, you know, finds his form and is able to control that ball or maybe gets a little bit of his velocity back. So we'll see what that brings for the BJs. Maybe a reunion with the Kennengosman is a possibility, or if that Schurser does want to come back one more time, you know, maybe there's a spot for him

13:18somewhere, although I don't think that one's as much of a possibility, just given the fact that obviously he's going to want to spend as much of the, his probably as final year of his career, if this wasn't it, you know, when the majors. And I think the Blue Jays need to be looking a little bit higher than that, but I really think you have a good one A1B and C in Soriano. I'm really excited to see a full season of Jose Soriano working with Pete Walker. There were a lot of flashes of it since he came over from the Angels and I think the rest of the pieces could fall into place. Obviously with Helping the Big Cove, yet they're Trey Osabuch, Jose Barrios and Bounden Francis Slash, Spencer Eragedi Slash, Shane Bieber would probably be my ideal five-man rotation to start this season. Yeah, you got a few options, which is a good spot to be for the Toronto Blue Jays. At the very top of the market, you have a guy like Tariq Scouple, which I think they have an outside chance of to say the least. Then there's guys like the Kevin Gawsman's, maybe the Ricky Ray, another guy that is familiar for the Blue Jays kids, he had a different look from the left side. And then you also have guys, again, within the organization, the guys that you didn't even mention here, Spencer Miles is kind of that wild card, maybe he's a guy that gets stretched out,

14:19and then two more that have more, way more of an outside chance, but two guys in Jake Blossom and Ricky Tee, didn't if the dude can stay healthy, but there was a big if Spencer Miles and not Duke can stay healthy, I had about 14 and he's pitched for this season, and then we saw Spencer Miles be one of the best storylines for the Toronto Blue Jays here in 2026. So there's a bunch of options on the table, the Toronto Blue Jays have to take a shot at a few of them. I think that is at minimum what we were expecting on this podcast, but there is still a ton more that we want to get into, just about the season, Flanger Grows, Junior's quotes, we're still circulating around the internet, so I'm going to have to ask you about those. Tom, where we want to dive into, and we'll jump into it after this short break. Today's episode is sponsored by Five Hour Energy. If you've got a sweet tooth like I do, you know how tough it is to find the perfect treat without all of the sugar, and that's why the fruity rainbow, Five Hour Energy Shop, brings back that nostalgic flavor in a whole new way. Fruity Five Hour Energy Shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. It's a quick easy way to satisfy that sweet craving,

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17:24way, I still haven't been able to watch that in totality, not the highlights, anything. Have watched the Mariners back. The Yankees can't bring myself to watch the Dodgers. Maybe at some point throughout the series getting a little bit better, but still the hurt and the pain is there. But one guy that's going to be in the spotlight is the team's manager. It is John Schneider, whichever way you spin it. So for you, Skyler, is John Schneider's job in the hot seat? Is there another manager that you would be looking at? Or do you think there's just more of a product of the players being bad on the field rather than the manager's fault? Helpsify and meet myself. When it comes to John Schneider, I thought he was in a really tough position for a lot of the year. It seemed like an embarrassment of riches in spring training. The pitching decisions seemed like they were going to be easy. There seemed to be like a cavalry coming in case of injuries when it came to pitching. Then this bullpen throughout the early part of the season blossomed into one of the long bright spots for this team. I feel like he and Pete Walker pushed all the right buttons when it came to bullpen deployment for most of this year. There

18:28wasn't really any head scratching decisions, save for one or two, but it didn't become like a consistent theme like we've talked about. With previous iterations of John Schneider, like Blue Jays teams or past managers of the Blue Jays as well. Just look at what the Mariners did. Going from Scott's base to Dan Wilson and now Dan Wilson announcing his own firing at the end of the season. It could be a lot worse. I'm willing to give John Schneider the benefit of the doubt. Can everybody improve on the Blue Jays, including the manager? Yeah, I think so. But I think when it really comes down to constructing a lineup, that can be dangerous, not only at the plate, but when they're on the bases. He really had his hands side a lot of the year. Just given the way that the roster was constructed, how injuries played a factor, especially when it comes to a guy like Alejandro Kirk, losing a lot of time behind the dish and at the plate for the Blue Jays. Then obviously the continued struggles of Vladimir Gros Jr. Not having the flexibility of a switch batter like Anthony Santander and missing power from that lineup. I think it was really tough to find a solid one

19:29through nine. And to his credit, he tried a lot of things, especially that lead off position throughout the year. And then the addition of Brett Bateman really seemed to solve that moving forward. And all the all accounts are he's going to get the chance to be the lead off hitter and center fielder for the Blue Jays at the start of next season too. So hopefully some of these problems are kind of solved for John Schneider. I think he can solve some things on his own. But if you ran back, you know, this exact same bullpen roster construction performance and the pitching decisions when it comes to bullpen deployment from John Schneider, I think you would probably give it an A or an A plus again next year. So a lot of it will come down to health and who's available in the adding order. But I don't think he's on the hot seat at all. I agree with you. I don't think he's on the hot seat at all. I think a lot of this was out of his power. Like I don't think you can control Vladis production. I don't you can control the injuries that this team had, whether it was the starting rotation. I mean, the bullpen having to be overused, not having everyone available every single day. Like I would love to see Louis Barlin go out there seven days in a row, almost like he didn't play off since 2025. It's pretty much what he felt

20:31like. But the dude's arms going to fall off like we saw what happens when Dylan C's is overworked. You saw his arm literally almost fall off the socket. You almost saw the muscle be exposed from his right shoulder because of just the ball of pitches he was throwing every single day. I like every single day he was throwing 105 110 pitches and eventually that catches up to you. Luckily, we didn't really see that in the bullpen too much like Louis Barlin had a ton of appearances. Tyler Rogers who does I mean is known to have a rubber rubber arm. They some Florida 83 appearances. Like that's a lot of appearances to have over 162 when you had a deep playoff run this season before brainfisher and other guy. So in terms of that, like I don't think you can complain about the pitching argument too much there. The pitching decisions. But sometimes when I watch John Schneider, it's mostly with the better players. It's not with like the Nathan Lucas. He's not saying he's a bad player, but he's not the face of a franchise caliber player. The Brett Bateman's those type of players, but it almost felt like he was operating in handcuffs. It almost like that it was written into George Springer's contract, Vladimir Grov Jr's contract that you couldn't move these guys down in the order if things weren't going to plan. And I'm on the side

21:31of these guys need to be good if this team ever wants to make a playoff run like you're gonna need Vladie. You're gonna need George Springer. No, you can't just sit them on the bench and expect to be a better baseball team. But with Vladie having the caliber of season he had throughout the entirety of the season, really not going through a hot streak at all. Does he have to hit two? Does he have to hit three? Like can we at least not experiment with him hitting five or six? So that's really my only gripe with John Schneider is that he's sometimes too much of a players manager, especially for the superstars and those faces of the franchise. I would just hope that he could pivot a little bit more quickly, a little bit more reactive when things aren't necessarily going to plan in terms of a game, a season, or just you know, maybe a hot and cold stretch that these players go through literally all the time. So this one is actually going to be a quick brain question. I'm going to throw in here. Brandon decided that he wanted to get in on the action. Unfortunately not being able to be here today. Of course he asked David about David Schneider who's going to ask you if he's in the starting roster. I just I vetoed that. I said no, you're not allowed to do that because I need in there to like 30 players that are probably doing another team rather than him. But I do love David Schneider just again, not the not the greatest baseball player I think at this point. Maybe

22:34needs a little bit more confidence. But his question to you is about Ernie Clement, which is not exactly where I thought he was going to go. He wants to ask you if you think Ernie Clement is and should be the starting second baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2027. I'm going to go with yes because I don't know how many upgrades there are that you could get like a reasonable cost when the priority you know is a big bat probably a big right handed bat. I'd have to look at who's available in the free agent market, but I just don't really think there's anyone that's going to marry the level of defense that we've expected from Ernie with this season obviously being a bit of a hot liar hopefully. And the production, I mean you know he's the perfect guy that can hit in the bottom of the order and you know start to help turn the order around and there's all of a sudden there's a guy like Ernie or Andres Jimenez on base for you know the big boys when they come around. And I think that's super valuable. He's obviously the active batting average leader in MLB postseason out of all the current players in the league. It's a small sample,

23:40but the guy did hit 411 last October. It's you know not something that should be forgotten. So I think he's definitely earned another shot. Should he be on the roster and starting at second base next year? Yes. Should the leash be short? Also yes I think they they need to come into camp with a couple of options. Moving on to Asimina's back to second base is an option if there's a short stop out there that provides a little more power at the plate and is somewhat reliable defensively, but I just you know given everything that we've come to expect from obviously the front office and John Schneider. I do expect Ernie will be there again, but he's going to be one of the players that's going to be a sneaky X factor for food days next year as well. I completely agree with the fact that he's going to be on the roster. I'm not exactly sure if I'm there in terms of his starting at second base full time every day in 2026. I think we'll see Ernie Clement kind of go back to that platoon role and I've looked into this a little bit. The main two guys in the market right now are Brandon Lau who I absolutely love and I would love to see

24:42you come to the Toronto Blue Jays, especially with his time with the rays just being the Blue Jays killer really tormenting us kind of like Kyle Rally kind of like a lot of these different players have in Toronto Blue Jays history. So I'll be open to that in a Glebertor as is another guy that I don't like nearly as much as a guy like Brandon Lau. I think I'd rather have Ernie Clement. I think you just have to pay Glebert a whole lot and I'm not exactly sure where he fits into this order. You would get more of the upside which you do need especially in the offensive side of the ball but I'm all in on Brandon Lau. It's kind of where I'm at the market's going to be insane because this isn't necessarily a great creation class in terms of the position players but the Toronto Blue Jays are going to add somebody. Boba Shett could be another option if you want to take a flyer see how that goes back in Toronto but we're going to we have to talk about this. We couldn't go through the entire episode without talking about Vladimir Grot Jr. If you want to talk about anything specific that you saw from the season about how disappointed you are go ahead to answer that kind of at the end of the first question that I'm going to ask you but it's just about the quotes and how we handle these quotes. I'm going to give a quick refresher for the people. This is a very condensed rendition of how this went down. So Vladimir Grot Jr. wanted a podcast was asked

25:45about the contract is overall about his play and he says I want everyone to understand one thing. The money they gave me wasn't for what I'm going to do. It's what for it was what for I already did. They didn't pay me for what I was going to hit 40 home rounds every single year. They pay me for what I already accomplished. Then he doubled down and said I understand some fans. They don't understand the way that I was trying to say specifically but what I said is the way I feel. Then about a couple days later came out and said I regret my comments the other day I felt like the comments I made the other day are not really what I wanted to say. I really feel that everyone my fans everyone deserves an apology from me. So overall are you just thinking that this was misinterpreted. Do you think that bloody kind of said how he felt and then he was like oh crap like clearly this is not being perceived well which I don't know how in the world is this going to be perceived well. And the last thing is do you just think it's a smart idea to be talking about you know your contract and what the fans are expecting from you when you're in the midst of your worst ever professional season of baseball. You know what I felt bad for Vlad at times during this season it was just really tough to watch obviously given all of the pressure what everyone

26:51expected of him coming off of the World Series run last year and then of course you know now he's the 45 million dollar man and with that you know there comes a level of offensive and clubhouse leadership that needed to be displayed and you know we'll never know the true extent of the club house leadership aspect of it on this podcast but I do feel like comments like that were probably really tough for a guy like you know George Springer to hear who was coming into the last year of his contract that he signed to be you know the dude in Toronto their biggest ever free agent signing of all time at the time he signed that deal in 2021 and you know he lived up to every dollar on that 160 million dollar deal and you know Vladimir Guerrero Jr if he wants if statute beside Joe Carter's outside Roger Center one day he's going to have to do something similar over the next 13 seasons and you know he could be the best Blue Jay of all time and many statistical categories should be by the time his contract is all said and done so it's a long season I think there were

27:53a lot of eyes on him not just you know at the local Toronto level but nationally as well because you know his name does the talk to NLB player for the first time heading into the season things of that nature and you know it's probably really hard to manage especially as the season will run so I don't blame him for the initial comments him doubling down and then trying to redact what he said two days later was just super confusing to me so I don't know who got in his ear and said this probably isn't a good idea it was someone in the clubhouse you know someone that's part of his kind of inner circle but the fact that you know he kind of said the same thing twice and ended up trying to walk it back was confusing and you know it could be a little bit concerning we've seen this with other professional athletes before Anthony Rendon comes to mind for a lot of baseball fans that's where you want to be after a big college hypertension and that's where my mind went which was really scary like the first time I heard that Pablo Sandevol and other one who signed a big deal and you know said similar things and never lived up to his deal with the red socks so yeah it is

28:54a little concerning but you know by all accounts we heard this on almost every broadcast throughout the season is you know the showman's been or down depending which way of listening the game etc say he's always in the cages he's always working you know be one thing if he was just kind of showing up as you know one of the guys and you know kind of doing the same thing as a davis Schneider an Ernie Clement for example and he wasn't getting results because when you get in paid $45 million a year it has to look like more than that and by all accounts it did and the results weren't there so we'll just hope that you know in offseason and turning the page and maybe some adjustments that truly benefit his game moving forward it was in store for for blood I think that was the biggest issue and critique amongst the fan bases that fans were a little worried that he's complacent now is that oh I got my money I don't care about the baseball I got my bag by futures taking care of it financially what does it really matter what happens to the baseball like the matter what baseball he plays he's still going to get a big percentage of that contract so I think that's what fans were worried about but I think that is the saving grace what you just said is that it's

29:55been reported everywhere whether it's from the booth whether it's hazel may on the field art and swelling like it could be literally anybody Jamie Campbell like John Schneider here from the teammates of the time they say that fly your grow junior is one of the hardest workers on the team you saw like and you saw and you you were listening to all these reporters talk about Vladis hiding 400 balls every single day Vladis always in the bad end cages before the game after the game he's trying to work on things so I think that does goes to show you at least that he does care the question is can he fix this in one offseason you don't only see a lot of these other superstars go through stretches for a full season like this it can happen but you hope that really early on next season you don't see these same struggles continue so there still is a couple other things that I want to go into that's 2026 playoffs are amongst us so I kind of want to go back to the 2025 team for just one question to get your opinion on that and then I want to know who do you have winning the world series here in 2026 I wish it could be the Toronto Blue Jays but unfortunately we are not going to get back that this year stay with us we will be back right after this short break

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32:04in the live market meaning there is no house and as the probability changes you can buy in and out of your position download CalShi and use code walked on to get $25 when you trade 25 CalShi trade what's next. Alright Skyler I got two more questions for you here with the 2026 playoffs on and with the Toronto Blue Jays not on the TV right now sitting at home doing kind of the same thing we're doing except they're probably not thinking about the season near as much as we still are right now but you kind of talked about some of the players that I wanted to ask you about the Kevin Gauspins there's been some rumors from Mitch Bannon that he might be interested in your in a reunion for with the Blue Jays. Shane Bieber another guy that you named well I want to expand that even further if there was going to be a reunion with the Toronto Blue Jays here in 2027 if it is a match sure as it could be like a Dalton Varsjo trade at the trade deadline it could be even how boba shit which has been rumored at times throughout the season to come back released opt-on was contracted with the Metz maybe it's Gauspins Bieber if you could pick one of these guys to have a reunion with the Toronto Blue Jays from that 2025 World Series team who would it be.

33:08Well you talk about a neat second base and you know a guy that was maybe an underrated aspect of this 2025 World Series team was Isaiah kind of for Lafayette so I don't rule him up as a you know potential reunion if you really want to shore up the defense just getting both there's probably bigger priorities for the Blue Jays next year than trying to get a third times the charm reunion with iKF I really think Bieber or Gauspins makes the most sense and see I don't know what it is maybe it has something to do with the PDC and the the job that people walkers done with this pitching staff over the years but it does seem like pitchers leave here and they have nothing but glowing reviews about their time in Toronto and I think you know a lot of that's the clubhouse in the atmosphere and you know the Blue Jays still selling out almost 70 games in the season that was kind of lost from you know the summer onwards I think a lot of that would affect any player but it just seems like it's more tangible on the pitching side and given the Blue Jays need and what they experience when it comes to starting pitcher injuries this year I could really see a

34:10reunion with a guy like Shane Bieber or Kevin Gausman I think Bieber is a little more realistic given the fact that I think he knows he has to prove it we'll see with the market decide as ultimately I think there's a number that the Blue Jays you know have to decide they can't go past and Shane Bieber may very well go past it with another team you know Kevin Gausman has a legacy here already he's you know one of the greater Blue Jays of the last 25 years there's no doubt about that so I don't think the need maybe is as much there I think he can you know really go chase a world series ring if he decides that's what he needs to do you know hopefully with Blue Jays that the team he wants to do it with because he believes they have a great chance but I really do see see Shane Bieber coming back most likely out of any of those options and he did leave some gear at the Roger Center for Good Luck according to I believe it was Ben Nicholson Smith who tweeted that on Monday so we'll see what that all means as this offseason gets rolling and gets stopped by a

35:12potential work stoppage and then gets rolling again and whether or not we'll see 57 suit up for the Jays ago I was really hoping and now I'm disappointed that you didn't say Jeff Hoffman you got the opportunity to leave the way to the way to the way to Hoffman and of course that went through the way side I don't think anyone's pick a Jeff Hoffman I think the one that makes the most sense is Shane Bieber because I think he has the opportunity and the potential to get better like I'm not sure if Kevin Gosman gets better than kind of what we've seen this season like maybe it's a little bit better in terms of like the actual numbers but the underlying metrics like I think the best baseball is behind Kevin Gosman similar to a guy like Chris Bass at like IKF you could take the shot sure like Matt Shares or kind of the same idea Matt Shares would be fine just for the storyline if you want to get back Justin get past Justin Verlander in the strikeout totals I would love to hit for him to do that as a Toronto Blue J but I think Shane Bieber does just make the most sense in terms of what he could be for the Toronto Blue Jays in the future and the last question I have Skyler to end things off not necessarily a Toronto Blue Jays question but I guess it could be spun to be a Toronto Blue Jays question but just your World Series prediction who is it from both sides is it an

36:13NL team is an nail team give us your World Series match up and then your winner as well I think it's going to be an nail team this year I don't think it's going to be the Dodgers I think Milwaukee will find a way to get past them I'm a little concerned in a seven game series with the back end of Milwaukee's playoff rotation might look like they tried to add at the deadline and I like Dusty May and you know I don't think he would have much of a chance against that Dodgers lineup you know but if they can find a way to you know outscore and out defend the Dodgers in those games and then obviously rely on the Jacob Mizorowski's when when he comes around in the order you know twice maybe you see him three times in a seven game series type of thing I do think they have the potential to surprise the Dodgers and on the AL side I think it's either the Yankees or the Rays and I've taken the Rays because there's no chance in how come taking the Yankees we were talking off the off the mic that Yankees Dodgers makes a lot of sense that would really fuel the MLB's narrative heading

37:18into this potential work stoppage about the need for a salary cap and something like Rays Brewers would do the exact opposite I think so it'll be really interesting to see how it plays out I'm kind of rooting for the Phillies as well but they really back their way into the playoffs I think they're kind of up against it and honestly White Sox fans deserve this so as long as their playoff run goes on after you know three straight hundred lost seasons you know I'd love to see it happen on the South Side Chicago and maybe we get an all Chicago World Series and Kevin Gosman gets his chance to shut down Mara Taken Mara Kami and win a World Series championship that'd be pretty cool and you know basically any former Jay as a guy I'll be cheering for throughout the postseason for sure except for Eric Lauer that is absolutely fair and that is exactly what I was going to say my dream is to have the Chicago Cup the Chicago World Series where you don't leave Chicago you just you're playing the cops you got the White Sox two teams that I have nothing against whatsoever and I think would be just a hilarious World Series going into what is most likely going to be a lockout

38:19what do I think is actually going to happen I have the worst gut feeling of all time that we're running it back and it is going to be the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees no matter what which way that goes it doesn't really matter like there is I do have a preference I talked about on the last episode I think I still rather have the Dodgers win one over the New York Yankees but that's my hell like that is the worst possible scenario that's the worst possibility and I don't even know if I would actually watch that World Series I probably still would but I would hate every single minute of it well Skyler thank you for coming back on thank you for going over a little bit of the season recap which we're going to have a lot of time throughout this offseason doing whether it was Vladimir Grove Jr. whether it's not George Springer anymore but there's still a ton of Tronwood J's players that we're going to discuss that are on the roster and then hopefully some players that are additions this offseason whether that is the starting rotation the bullpen or the position players thank you guys for watching and we will be back with you guys tomorrow your SoCal Honda dealers are honored to help the community our program started the first

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