Jays Swept Away by White Sox, Lose Fourth Straight

0:00Well, the Nelly, I don't think we will be waxing poetic about the baseball we saw in Chicago this Easter weekend. It was not a pretty showing in any regard by the Blue Jays or essentially anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Austin Voth entering for an under the weather, Eric Lauer, the third inning, the offense completely no showing again, barger, leaving with ankle discomfort as a cherry on top and as a result, a listless three nothing lost with the Jays in Chicago. I'll tell you what, the Jays getting swept by a team that lost over 100 games last year, leading right into Easter Sunday dinner is the perfect storm for the hottest takes imaginable. Like the takes will be absolutely flying at the dinner table tonight. Let me tell you, Jays under 500 for the first time since like May of last year. Oh, baby, this is going to be some hot takes care tonight at dinner. Yeah, that's a great point, chill.

1:00Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, no Easter eggs to be found in Chicago for them. Okay, so they're going to hop on the bird. It's going to be a pretty quiet somber flight home, I would imagine. They're banged up. They can't score runs right now. But this is not this is not foreign territory. You have these, these swoons over the course of a season, I feel. And even on that point, you know, before the game, let's talk about how I'm not ready to panic. I practice, practice patience, exercise patience. Don't worry about it. This Jays team, you know, they've proven it. Look, they were just in the world series. I'll take, I'll take back about 75% of what I said there. Like, I mean, you know, it's hard. It's hard to maintain that sort of even keel, calm, cool approach. And demeanor when you do get this type of performance, it's the first time they've been swept since last June, in this series, they hit two for 22 with runners in scoring position.

2:02All six of their hits today show where singles. So there are things that have become absolutely points of concern. It, it is still early in the calendar, but naturally, I think you hit the nail on the head. This is the day where it, we are prime from some, for some wonderful hot category, both from you and I, and of course, everybody out there that's listening that wants to give us a shout or reach us on the text line. We are here for you on this Easter Sunday. That is Daniele Franceschi. I'm show Ali. You are, of course, listening to Blue Jays talk. We are live on the sports and that radio network. We're also streaming on sportsnet.ca and the sportsnet app. Like Daniele said, you can give us a call 416-887-050590. One triple h equals 60590, star 590 on your cell. You can text us as well. 59590, name and location. The people's text line already humming. It's always open, standard messaging and data rates may apply. I'll, I'll say this to start.

3:02I do think there's no question. It sucks to watch the team play so poorly to start the year, right? No question, they are playing a particularly stinky brand of baseball right now. So I have no qualms with people who want to vent their frustration, right? It's a four game losing streak and really it's like a five of six game streak against the Rockies and now the White Sox in which basically nothing is going right, right? Like even if you want to look at this four game losing streak, it'll probably happen again at some point this season or they're very lazy if it's not a four game losing streak, a four game sample size in which things do not go well. And we will get into the nitty gritty here for this very, this one game today very shortly. But I do think, unless you think that everything this team did last year was a complete mirage. Even if you do think maybe they overachieved last year, even if you think, unless you think literally everything they did last year was a mirage, then things generally will normalize over 162 games, right? If you're worried about being way back to the Yankees, don't blame you.

4:03The team was also a back of the Yankees last year and so on the division. I'll be in a very close race at the end of the year. They are playing poorly right now. Okay. I guess what I'm saying is both things can be true, right? Both things can be true that I think go in nine games in which they are four and five, which is like, I think objectively bad, and especially when you keep on heightened expectations, I do think that is generally speaking, you can't look at that and not think they've played poorly. But also over a long season, you know, unless you are one of those people who think that nothing last year, nothing last year that happened, unless it was matters, then maybe, maybe, maybe that's how you feel. But otherwise, I think things tend to normalize. Just think of the dichotomy, though, show of where the emotions were seven days ago compared to where they are a week later, right? Seven days ago, they're wrapping up a sweep against the A's. They are playing with tons of resilience. They're showing that come back prowess that you saw all of 2025.

5:05These wax and poetic about boy blue chase just picked up right where they left off. Like, it felt like we were at the park 20 minutes ago and we're back, baby. And then a week goes by and they have these obviously these these moments where they haven't looked great. It's been a prolonged stretch throughout the course of the week here where they've played some bad baseball, have run into some outs, defensive miscues. The pitching obviously out of the bullpen has been suspect and now the tenor has has flipped. It's changed. I think we're going to go through this exercise all season long. Like this is how it works, right? This is common. It's normal to have this sort of narrative arc with any team. I don't think last year, the majority of it, I don't think it was a mirage. I don't, you know, you know, I'm going to use barger as an example here. I'm just going to use out of some barger as as a point of reference. Right now show to go to the point you referenced about, you know, the fact that it says four

6:05and five in the record department and you just knowing what the competition is on paper. You come away and think, boy, that's, that's, that's less than desirable. It's a very, very unflattering record going into your series against the Dodgers. Less than barger's starting this year, one for 19 at the plate, right? He's really scuffling and you hope the bilateral ankle soreness, whatever that means, isn't serious coming out of this game, but he's one for 19. So if that one for 19 spell happens sandwiched in between a bunch of other things in the middle of August, we, we talk about it, but we're probably not making it out to be the biggest thing in the world. So I do feel like some of this stuff is getting magnified more because it's happening really, really early in the season. The greater point is when you look at the big picture, you have to remember these things are going to happen.

7:05Last year's Blue J's team also had moments like this, okay? They weren't infallible. It happened. So unfortunately for the 2016, it's happened quite early where you've had now a string of, you know, four or five games where it just, it hasn't looked great. Barger is really scuffling. He is. I know, I know you can talk about the offense as a whole and you hope the ankle discomfort thing is not something that's going to hamper him too long, but I mean, after he, after he, what it came, I guess he was removed in the sixth inning, but prior to that, when you saw the shots on TV of him, you know, running out to, running out the, the ground out at first base, you know, he limping a little bit, grimacing a little bit, even when he gets his glove from the dugout and runs out to Ray Field, even did not look 100% comfortable. So yeah, you're hoping that's not something that's going to limit him too, too much. But I mean, one for 19 to start the year, not great. I mean, Jesse and I were talking about Nathan Lucas yesterday and I see this as a huge fan of the guy, but he's also going through it right now, right? I mean, I'm sure the lack of consistent playing time has not helped certainly, but I mean,

8:08he's hitting into double plays, he's swinging at sons of stuff well off the plate. And I mean, generally, it might be something you can shelter if he's hitting lower on the order. And so your point about barger, if it's, if a slump like this is happening for him later in the season and the team is five games about 500 or better, you know, how you're not talking about it as much, but when, when nothing is going right and he's hitting the two hole, and I know they've rotated that two hole generally a lot over the course of the early part of the season. He was sitting clean up and like Lucas in the two hole today, as an, yeah, yeah, there you go. You're talking about two guys that are polarizing figures so far to start the season. The numbers are there though, like you mentioned, so Lucas after today, he's maybe got the biggest built in excuse because of the playing time two for 15, barger, one for 19, springer, six for 38, and he's hitting lead off Dalton, Marshall five for 29 and Marshall had one of the six hits today. That's not good. Those are guys you're counting on, right? Those are guys that you're going to be living and dying with over the course of your season.

9:09They are going to help define whatever your team can accomplish in 2026, and that's four pillars of your lineup that are off to objectively putrid starts this season. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look at the big, some of the big kind of inflection points of this game, right? I mean, runners on first and second, nobody out top of the third, fly out from springer, ground out from Lucas. He does work a walk. That's nice, but barger, ground out of the middle with the bases loaded. It was, I think, a pretty play from Tanner Murray and his, his MLB debut to get that throw to Merikami at first base. I think a lot of times that at least scores a run and the runner's safe at first, but still nothing going right for the team in that one. The seventh inning, Davis Martin, who carved this team today, Davis Martin, by the way, Davis Martin pumping like 96, 97 miles an hour in there. I did not anticipate that with such consistency, but Martin comes out of the game. Nine Hudson comes in. The Jays immediately get a pair of hits, so too on, nobody out and then fly out, strike out. Jordan Leisure comes in to face the top of the order and then springer goes around.

10:09And I think he did go around and is, is called out. I mean, Jays had against Davis Martin, even specifically, the Jays had four hits through six innings from against Davis Martin, right? He also just really wasn't made to work that hard. I mean, he had a nine pitch inning and then a six pitch inning. I think it was back to back. Back to back. And I think there was a period of time where I definitely considered just getting out to stretch my legs. And I turned around. The inning was over essentially. I mean, I think the six pitch inning, I swear, lasted like 90 seconds before I had to sit back down. So I mean, gosh, I definitely thought they must have felt really happy when Martin did not come back out, because I definitely thought given how efficient he was, he almost certainly could have. But yeah, Jays offense really scuffling and it's like, no one is exempt from it. It's a problem. Really? Him, it has got to a hot star, but he didn't do much of the series. Vlad, he had the home run, but outside of the home run and the walks here and there. I mean, he, he is also still, I don't want to call it scuffling, right? But he's still, I think he respect more from your stars on the team, right?

11:12And I mean, pretty much nobody is hitting right now. If just, well, I'll go to Vlad because I have the numbers in front of me. So he started to develop this reputation of being a notorious slow starter. And this now being the third year in a row, if you just look at his numbers through the first nine games of the season show, 2024. He had one homer, one extra base hit, eight total bases, okay? 2025 last season, no homers, three RBI, three extra base hit. And of course, today, or excuse me, this year, including today, one homer, which happened yesterday, four RBI, one extra base hit. So he's, he's got this routine now over time of, it's been a kind of a struggle, a bit of a slug, sluggish start coming out of the gates for him, right? And this is maybe the year, though, where you notice him most, because obviously boba shed isn't there as a running me and he's, and it's magnified even further when the other dudes we just talked about, barger, Lucas, Varshoff, Springer, aren't masking some

12:15of that lack of power from Vladie early on in the season. And then throw in, and I think this is why, you know, people that are texting us and calling us today, I would imagine show there's going to be some more consternation, not necessarily because of what the I test tells you, but because of the opposition. I really believe that looking at the calendar and seeing athletics, Rockies, white socks, and then looking at the record and sink four and five, oh boy, we're in trouble. I think that's where even some of the frustration and angst will come from naturally. Ben mentioned this that on the broadcast today show, the white socks hadn't swept an opponent at home since September of 2024. They hadn't swept a team at home. That tells you how bad they are and have been, and the blue jays end up bucking that trend for them, obviously getting swept in this three game series. Four on six, eight, seven, zero, five, ninety, one triple A, triple six, zero, five, ninety,

13:17star, five, ninety on your cell, go to the phone or those are the phones, we'll go to the text line in a sec, five, ninety, five, ninety, name and location. Let's go to Glenn in Markham, as our lead off caller here on Jace talk, Glenn, what's up today? Doing well, scrapping the show. Yeah, thanks for joining us, Glenn. What's up? Yeah, thanks. So I know I don't want to talk about the positive like this thing is going to turn it around. I know that. I know this thing is going to play better than right now, but I just want to talk about in my opinion, how they can play better going forward. Our problem is offense, obviously. I really want to see Clement and him minutes, maybe putting the one to a spot of the lineup and post bring her in the fourth spot. I know it's early on of the season, but I think something needs to change offensively.

14:18Line up wise, need to spark our offense. I feel like him in it and Clement, they have been our heart and soul since the last, the end of last year to the playoffs and now it feels like something good. It will happen when those two hit one, two together. So yeah, I just want to see the change. I think the, I know the coaching staff are way smarter than me. They will find a way to figure it out, but that's just my opinion. Yeah. Thank you. Great. Glenn, I appreciate the call. So yeah, so Ernie and Jimenez. Is that what he said? Did Ernie and Jimenez and one, two in some order? Correct. Moving them up. I don't hate that idea. I just, I would be surprised if after nine games, they take spring around. Kind of the lead off spot. Yeah. And again, no, no question has springer. He is, let's see, one for four today, he is hitting one 58 on the season. Now, I mean, Lucas is in a one thirty three, barger's hitting O 53, Okamoto, two thirty five. Varsho 172.

15:18And now, I mean to, to Glenn's point, Clement 297, him and his 273, they are hitting well enough. So I don't hate that idea in theory. It's just in practice. It seems unlikely you're going to be putting either of those guys in the lead off spot. And we have heard, we have heard John Schneider say this a couple of times throughout the start of the season at different points, whether it's to the media or in the clubhouse and so on. But the idea that, you know, they're really, they're looking to rotate guys through that two hole. So I suppose in theory, you could also play whoever you want in the two hole, but I also wonder, especially if barger, if anything's going on there with him, I wonder, I mean, I suppose if anything's going on with barger, you could see Sanchez, they clean up and someone else in the two hole, but I wonder how that might play out for, for all of these guys going forward. If they aren't going to put Clement and him and his anywhere, but the bottom third of the order. I, I think the guy that has the better case of the two to move up and the two hole screams

16:20like a perfect landing spot. It would be Ernie Clement. My Ernie Clement, bowl prediction of leading baseball and hits show it's off to a halfway decent start. He leads the team and hits right now with 11 that puts him four back of the major league lead. So even for a team that has been really struggling for offense, I mean, Ernie's still getting his hits. He's still collecting his base hits and getting on base frequently. I think him and his destined to be a nine hole guy. I think that's we, if we learned anything from the playoff running year ago, he, he excels in that role. And I think if you're a Blue J's fan on balance when the team is healthy and when they're going right, I think Andre Semenis is a very, very serviceable eight nine hole hitter, depending on who's in there. Like if, you know, if Brandon Valoswell is in there like it was today, obviously you're probably going to stick the rookie in the nine hole. So him and his by default hits eighth, but that, that to me feels where he, he belongs and is best suited. Clement though, there's just a lot to like there with his approach and the aggressiveness

17:23that he provides when he gets in the box. I'm never opposed to seeing him move up further up the order and get that chance. But there's no, there's no world where they're, they're pivoting off of Springer in the lead off spot this early into a season. That's just, that's unrealistic. It's not going to happen. I think it would take such an extended sample for us to get to that point where the conversation becomes real. But the one thing I will add and you brought up, Hazoo Sanchez and the barger aspect of it all. I'm ready to see more Hazoo Sanchez and clean up on a regular basis for this team because he's been one of the better stories, even, you know, Okamoto's batting average has started to dip a little bit. When you watch Okamoto at bats, you just see, you feel, you feel like there's something big that could happen in the course of an at bat. And I also get that feel when Hazoo Sanchez steps in the box and you know, he can change a game with one swing barger right now just doesn't have that feel and he can recapture it.

18:23But I'm ready for some more Hazoo Sanchez looks as a clean up hitter on this team. I mean, I was just looking ahead to the Dodger series. So they're going to have, they're going to see Yamamoto Otoni choose day Wednesday, but tomorrow they're going to see a spot start from Justin Robleski who is left, a lefty, right? I mean, I wonder if tomorrow in particular, if bar, let's just assume for the sake of this theoretical conversation that barger doesn't play tomorrow, right? So that's the case. I wonder could you see a situation in which Clement bats two against the lefty knowing how he hits lefties and then you have Sanchez hits hit fourth, maybe. What do they do? Do you get a David Schneider start in there to maybe, I mean, yeah, or how about this? And I think we've seen him do it already once or twice, but his Okamoto get bumped up to hit clean up because it is obviously you go, you are able to stack Vladie, righty, Okamoto, righty with a lefty on the mound, right? This is something though, it should be viewed as a strength. If you want to stay positive, what the J's did last year with how they mix and match

19:26their lineup, they still have enough flexibility and versatility through their lineup to be malleable with how they go about attacking these matchups. And I actually think that's a positive, like the game has become so inherently analytical to a fault at points, but the J's prove that when they do it right, it works for them. And they have a 162 plus playoffs to prove that. So I'm not as concerned about that piece of it. I'm really not. And if it's like Okamoto's out there tomorrow, hitting clean up because it's a lefty, OK, I'll be fine with that, right? Hazel Sanchez, the next time there's a righty starter, give me him in the cleanup spot. 416-8700-590, 1 AAA-60590, star 590, on your cell. Let's go back to the phones. Let's go to Jen and Toronto. Jen, what's up? Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. My concern over the offseason was we had often, we didn't shore up our bullpen.

20:33I love to Anthony, and I see the Yankees, the Bednar, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And as I see what we have, my concern too is Okamoto is like 50% dry goat rage, which was predicted by many people. And I want your opinion on why we didn't shore up our bullpen. Jen, appreciate the call. Thanks. Thanks for the call. Yeah, so I do think, I think the bullpen moves in the offseason for me, because the biggest move was getting Tyler Rogers, right? Now, Tyler Rogers is not throwing 100 miles an hour, obviously, but Tyler Rogers does get outs, albeit in an unconventional way. I didn't have any issue with that. I actually quite like the addition of Tyler Rogers. It does feel like in terms of Velo, in terms of stuff, they are somewhat banking on high leverage outings for Louis Varlan, too, obviously, now will be the first full season in

21:34the Blue Jays uniform after he was acquired at the deadline last year, then pitch what felt like a million games during the playoffs. So Varlan is one, even though he was not an offseason acquisition. And then again, not really an offseason acquisition, but the return of Jimmy Garcia, right? So it does kind of feel like they are, if you're only talking about stuff, heat, they are kind of banking on that. But I do think, you know, I mean, we can talk about the guys we saw today, but I do think in terms of stuff that's probably why they're so willing to give Spencer Miles a bit of an extended looksie here. I mean, two two innings from him at the end of this ballgame. And I know it came in a game where they were already losing three nothing for most of the game, but only two hits, no runs, no walks, two strikeouts. I think there is, I said the last time he had come into the game when he had gotten the win last weekend that, you know, I'm, I'm capital I intrigue. I'm still intrigued by Spencer Miles, but you know, going forward, I do think, you know, when it comes to, like I wouldn't say they didn't shore up the bullpen, but I don't, they don't definitely didn't go out and got get like the guys who can throw triple digits

22:36essentially, right? Which I think is what is always what people clamor for. I don't think that's necessarily always the only way to solve the problem, but it does feel like if there was, you know, if you wanted to go try and quote unquote fix the bullpen, I think that is probably the easiest thing you could fix a kind of mid season, whether it's picking guys up. And I mean, we can talk about man to apply and a sack, but yeah, I think, I think you can, to Jen's point, fix it if you need to, I'm not, but I'm not sure now that little is in the minors. I'm not sure it's the topic concern for me. I actually thought they acquitted themselves pretty well today. Those guys did, you know, Austin both comes up, man to apply who will touch on maybe in a moment a little bit further, but yeah, those guys and Spencer Miles, you know, it's nice when you can look at the radar gun and see 97. It does do something. It moves the needle a little bit. I think this game is not all about velocity, but it helps when you can just kind of blow guys away on occasion. And for years, we've been talking about how the J's haven't always had enough of that, right? A necessitated a few years ago that the Jordan Hicks trade to bring in a dude that could

23:41just pump 100 and 101 consistently, which is, it's cool to watch. But I think there's a little bit more nuance to it. I'm not surprised. And I would imagine Jen's sentiment is echoed by a lot of people in the fan base when it comes to the bullpen. And I think part of the reason it exists show right now that narrative is because the front office themselves, Ross Akkins himself made it very, very clear within the days following the World Series that relief pitching, the bullpen, the back end in particular was something they were going to seriously evaluate and examine pathways to improve. And then they didn't, they didn't really do a whole heck of a lot in that area other than Tyler Rogers, which I'm fully on board with you. I think it's a fantastic addition. He's been super effective so far, but I love that he's a completely different style of picture. The part that that they didn't address, which is started to rear its ugly head a little

24:42bit is saying, well, we're not married to Jeff Hoffman as a closer, right? And then suddenly day one of the regular season in 2026, Jeff Hoffman still are close and we are great. We're so happy. We got Jeff back there again. It's great. When we know behind closed doors, there was just financially, maybe it ended up being a little bit too costly to go out and make those moves. They didn't have the resources to go out and actually capitalize on getting one of the marquee arms available on the market. That's why they're in this position with the guys that they have. The good news is, well, as we've learned in recent history with baseball, it's been this way for decades, even. When you get to July, if your team's in a position to contend, there will be a laundry list of flame throwing relievers that you can probably go out and get. And so hang on. That's the best I can say is hang on. Hope that Jimmy Garcia comes back. Varlin's great Hoffman who seems to have studied the ship a little bit, right?

25:46They all continue to be pretty steady and then once July rolls around, hopefully it opens up some opportunities to add a reliever or two with some real pedigree that helps lengthen your bullpen. Yeah, because I do think, I mean, like we're so far away from the trade deadline, but I do think generally most teams are, you know, I know we're all, we like to talk about all who's the biggest bat they can add the deadline, who's the sexiest starter they can add the deadline. But I do think, I mean, we saw this last year, right? The biggest names that were moved at the deadline almost exclusively were relievers, right? Almost entirely. I mean, there are very few impact players were moved to the deadline that were either position players or starters. It's almost always relievers and I mean, like occasionally that's not true, but I think for the most part in terms of resources spent assets moved in and out, it's relief pitchers, right? So I do think that is if it continues to be, I don't even sure I would call it an issue because it does feel like a lot of the issues were centered in one small part of the bullpen because for the most part, and you mentioned this during the pregame show, for the most part,

26:48I mean, the varlands, the Rogers, the Hoffman's have all been fine to very good essentially, right? Right in Fisher, too. Right in Fisher, yeah. And so I think, you know, if you take little out of it, I would also add flu hearty into that conversation as well. I know his ERA looks a little wonky, but I would say most of the runs he's allowed to score came when he got hit by two straight comebackers. And then he's looked pretty good. All things considered, even if you include the opening stint from from yesterday. So I'm not sure it's it's quite a pressing issue if we're talking about the issues that are playing the team right this second through a four and five star through nine games of the season. It's, I would say it's mostly, you know, it's mostly offense, I would say. Oh, yeah. And maybe health-related things as well, but even with the health-related aspect of it. And I mean, that was also kind of a storyline today because Lauer was clearly still feeling under the weather, but even then the starting pitching is still a pretty good all things considered. Yeah. Totally. And you know what? Here's a number that reflects that for your show. And I was looking at this collectively, the entire staff, right?

27:49So starters plus bullpen, relievers, Jay's entering today, number two, an overall whiff rate and baseball pitchers. That's a, that's pretty good, right? That's generating a lot of swing and miss. That's flimaxing hitters. They had a near 37% chase rate as a staff. So clearly they do have enough stuff pitching lies, probably more skew towards the starters, but in general to be effective and keep you in games and get the outs, like, I don't think I'm pointing to what transpired today when you lose a game three, nothing can say, just didn't get enough outs, right? Or even Friday, Friday day game, hey, you just didn't get enough outs yesterday, some costing mistakes that end up really hurting you and, and, you know, Tyler Heinemann absolutely crestfallen because of those mistakes, but it's sort of these things that end up multiplying, right? They multiply, they start to snowball and that's where we are, but it's not, it's not necessarily pitching in a vacuum that is causing any problems.

28:53It absolutely is the offense. And by the way, I mentioned Okamoto and the idea of him hitting cleanup. I didn't even realize, you know, credit to, to, was it Jen, that mentioned the strike already. Credo to her for mentioning the strike rate, 17 strikeouts, most on the team. That number is absolutely high. And I, I still feel like when you look at the options that are at their disposal, if we're talking about playing matchups and who would be best suited and qualified to hit cleanup against the lefty, I think I still default to him. That's because he is a right handed hitter with some power, right? But yes, that strikeout number is a little bit alarming. I won't lie because you, I think I, and I, we were told, were we not, we were, we were told that the, the difference between a Kazuma Okamoto and Amura Takamura Kami is that Murakami's power is that the strikeouts, that, that Okamoto can be a more contact oriented guy, which fits the profile of what a blue J hitter looks like. That hasn't been the case so far with how often he, he struck out through the first

29:56week of the season. Yeah. Because his, his K rate from last year was something we spoke about a lot, Okamoto and how low it was and how the eye translates and again, I, I mean, nine games, I'm not sure I'm that worried about it, but I, I do think it's, it is a point of somewhat concern. It's just your point. I mean, like, you know, if, if, if barger doesn't play and rublesky's a lefty on the mound, you know, you're talking about who you put in the cleanup spot. Yeah, maybe, I'm not sure if there is a slam dunk answer. If only because, yeah, I mean, you know, Sanchez is not hitting lefties particularly well. His strength is hitting a variety. So maybe it was a bad suggestion by me and then Okamoto has been striking out a ton. So, and you don't have Kirk any, any don't have Kirk. So, that's going to be a tough proposition to figure out. Let's go back to the phones. 416-870-0590-1 Triple A, triple six, zero five dining star five dining on your solver to the text line in this sec as well. Let's go to Keith in Oshawa joining us here on jay's dot Keith. What's up? Hey, Keith, you there? It's Tony here.

30:58Oh, okay. Hi, Tony. What's up? Yeah. Hi. I just want to point out a couple of things. It's things like there's a meltdown going on in Toronto at night games into the season. You have your save itch. I believe it's still injured as am I correct? And Kirk is out. That's correct. And you have a number of your great starters that are not 100% healthy. Am I correct in seeing Bieber is not ready yet? That's right. And Barrios, okay? So, the sky seems to be falling in Toronto. And that's like a permanent thing. I'm calling you because I'm a former, I work both in both provinces. So, I've heard a lot in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal. But, you know, Montreal has a different attitude when it had the expose. They were always supporting them from, you know, in good days and bad. So, fair weather fans, you know, not so cool. I would just tell you that when I listen to WFAN in New York, because I follow what they say about the Jays, they're scared of that lineup. Clemont, Varsho, Snyder, Okamoto, Sanchez, Springer, Little, Barger.

31:59And, of course, Vlad, so what is wrong? Okay, this is what I checked out on the stats. The team after nine games is scoring 4.3 runs per game. 4.3 runs scored per game. And you're giving up 4.67 runs per game. So, you're not giving up eight runs again. You're not out of the games. You're basically at a 50-50 spot right now. And you have your best and most probably prolific pitcher, your savage, who's going to be a superstar. He's not pitching yet. So, chill, take a deep breath, be positive and, you know, be supportive. And I'm not talking about you guys. I'm talking about the fans. It's not over yet. You're not even at 16th of the season. And you're already throwing in the towel. I really don't appreciate that. I like following the J's because I love that kid, Vlad, Jr. I love this dad when I saw him in Montreal. And you guys have a phenomenal hitting team that the Yankees are still thinking about.

32:59You can still win this division. And it's a long season and dog days of August or around in a couple of months. And we'll see what happens when, you know, the sun hits the ground and people are tiring and different teams are injured. It's an evolutionary thing in baseball. And of course, baseball is a game of failure. And we didn't fail so much last year. We missed it out by a couple of crazy plays. And the team is still consistently there. Let's get the players that are injured back to snuff. And let's give them a lot of kudos for where they took us last year. And we hopefully we'll go back again. That's that's my take, guys. All right, Tony, appreciate the call. Thanks. Thanks as always. Yeah, I do. I mean, look, that kind of echoed what I was saying at the beginning of the show, right? I mean, it's a long season. Things generally speaking, even out over the course of 162. I do think what makes it so frustrating, Danielle, right? When it comes to why people feel like they've, it's not like you've been robbed necessarily,

34:00but why they feel like expectations are not being met because they're not right. They're four and five after nine games against teams that are generally speaking. Not we're not good in 2025. But I think it's because beyond what expectations bring for anything. I do also believe it's because it feels like they are beating themselves so much of the time, right? It's not as though the White Sox went out there in three games and absolutely hammered the baseball. It wasn't like the, they were outhitting them and into your point, not getting enough outs and whatnot. It wasn't like this was some kind of offensive barrage, right? It just kind of feels like generally they had, and they haven't been doing the things that made them successful for so much of 2025, right? I mean, tons of, and now look, they had, I forgot how many come back wins they had last year. It was like 45 or 48 or 49. Supposed to 50. Yeah, it was in the upper 40s last year. And again, there's so many games left that they could easily match or exceed that mark. But again, I think a big part of that means you have to have situational hitting

35:00and pass that baton and you have to have a lot go right for you. And again, I'm not saying you can't do that this year. It's just because it hasn't happened so far through nine games. I think it does make you feel a little, you know, a little concerned as to what could happen or what will happen when you haven't seen a lot of the, those fundamentals remain year over year. I, I think that's a, that's a wonderful summation of where things are at. You know, so it's our job, I think, to parse through a lot of the, the nonsense of the noise and figure out. What are the tangible things that can actually be taken away and quantified? Gosh, I sound like a khaki, but I don't mean to sound like a khaki, okay? And here's an example, like I brought up right off the top of the show. I mentioned runners in scoring position. That's right. But, but I think that is one thing if I'm just going to isolate that for a moment. I point to it and say, is it, is it justifiable to have, even if it's just, I don't know, a modicum of concern about runners in scoring position

36:02through nine games, I think it's reasonable and justified. The reason I feel that way is because we also have the backdrop of saying the best guy on the team a year ago when it came to clutch hitting and scoring runs with guys on base no longer place for the team. Well, but shit was a machine with runners in scoring position. So now he's gone. Well, that's going to require others to pick up the slack. So yes, we can reference two for 22 in this series. Oh, and six for 46 over the last six games, the two series against Colorado. And of course, now Chicago, that is an example of something tangible that as we parse through, we can actually say even on a day like today, April the 5th, monitor that, pay attention to that because it does feel like, eh, that might be something, barger one for 19, who knows, right? Bar show with five hits, eh, that's probably going to turn springer, probably

37:07going to turn all these things, probably going to turn. But I think that's the key. And where I do feel like, I don't know if you would agree with me on this. I always thought over the course of the offseason, I felt like there was going to inevitably be this natural transit transition period that was going to occur once the regular season began where you'd go from people were just condition night and night out for literally a month of their lives to watch the games that mattered with immense stakes every single night. And these games just don't mean the same. So you're going to have these, they happen. It's baseball and we have to readjust and reacclimate, almost recalibrate our entire thought process to figure out, okay, to the point Tony made, there will be moments where we have to take a breath and we do the Aaron Rogers, R E L A X relax, exhale.

38:07So there's, but both things can be true, right? Like that's the ultimate conclusion I have. Are there things you can point at and say that's worrisome? Yes, are you on the flip side saying, well, relax. Yes, all of it can be true. It's reasonable at sports, especially baseball long, long season. Let's see on the text line 595, dining name and location, Tom and Ajax. Hey, show and Danielle, a bit of a rough start to the season from both a play and injury standpoint. I do hope the J's are not the diamond backs of 2023 where the unexpectedly make the world series and had a step back year in 2024. I'm kind of with you, although the diamond backs and I've never really been a team that run a giant payroll. So maybe that does help the blue J's out. I mean, it should help the blue J's. I shouldn't say maybe, but it's not a not terrible comparison. Although I'll probably have to wait a little bit longer into season to see how accurate it is. Mike and Saskatoon, never fear guys. We started out slow last season as season as well. I made my way out there from Saskatoon during the four game series at home against the Yankees and turned it all around. I'm coming back from the med series.

39:07Yes, I'm taking credit. All right. Well, you know what? I'm going to write that one down, Mike. And we'll have to see if that's true. If and when you do come out here, let's see. This one is from Mark and Thorol. Then my eyes is really early in the season. The blue J's might have been overlooking these other teams because they knew the Dodgers were coming also to me. The season starts the day after the trade deadline. I don't think they were necessarily overlooking the teams like the White Sox and the Rockies. I think it's just, you know, like there are some really positive. I mean, people don't like to hear this because it's boring. But there were some very positive results under the hood for some guys, not for everyone. I mean, we went over Lucas and Barger and so on already. Okamoto with the high strikeout rate. We talked about these things. But like, there are some guys where the process looks quite sound. It just hasn't necessarily translated in results. So I think it's what I think or this early in the season, you can kind of hold off on that to a certain extent. I do like the idea that the season starts the day after the trade deadline. I mean, there's just so many games they play over such a long period of time that, again, I think I probably, I personally look at, you know, or you can make conclusions.

40:11You can draw conclusions as to what a team actually is. Maybe what end of six weeks, right? Four to six weeks into a month. And I think we're getting, we're getting close to a month kind of, right? I mean, we're getting close to being in through the early parts of April here. So, you know, by the end, by the third week of April, we'll be into four weeks. So if you really look a little bit past that, maybe into the first couple of weeks of May, maybe then you can start to make real determinations. But even then, I feel like things can turn really heavily. I mean, look, look no further than last season, essentially. I gave you the example for the game, right? The date, you remember the date? What day was the 28th? There it is. The 28th of May, 2025, the series in Texas at Jeff Blair, always references all the time whenever he gets an opportunity. So Wednesday and Boba shed a two run homer in the ninth inning to win a ball game for the Jays. And the blue Jays with that win were 27 and 28 on the season. And speaking of random May 2025 stats, you know, even Ben Shulman came in here earlier

41:16show and we were talking about the standings from last year. And I know Ben had mentioned that at one point in late May early June, I believe it was the Yankees were eight games ahead of the Toronto blue Jays. And obviously the blue Jays won the division. So it just, it does demonstrate there's a lot of baseball to be played. You know, before you even end up getting a real concrete understanding of what a team is. And gosh, you know, credit to the text tree, you point out the trade deadline. We can specifically point to that as being, there's some real qualitative evidence there. Two of the three main starting pictures for the blue Jays in the playoffs last year, Treyis, Average and Shane Bieber were not members of this team. Yeah, true. Until beyond the trade deadline, right? Like so much change, just average in the last like month, essentially showed up at the second week of September. And was like, I can, I can do this. We're like, wow, this is fun. This is cool. So yes, yes, a little bit of, a little bit of patience is, is required as we learn more.

42:20Let's squeeze one more caller in before we take our break. Rob and Hamilton joining us here on Jays talk. Rob, what's up? How are you doing, guys? Listen, I just wanted to say, I think this team is, you know, listen, we're eight teams into the season, you know, like you were saying, there's over 150 games left here. We need to just relax. Like we got four starting pictures out. Like, you know, that has to take an effect. You know, unfortunately, Barger got hurt and Kirk got her and Marshall with the shoulder. We got some injuries. This team, you know, as long as you stay in the hunt, they need to relax. I think they're putting too much pressure on them, where they were last year. And, you know, seeing that they have to, you know, come out of the gun and impress, you know, the country and the team. And we need to hit, we need to whenever they just need to relax, get back to, you know, simple baseball, the hitting will come, the hitting will come. Trust me, these guys are too good for that, not to happen.

43:21Eight games in the season. Let's just relax and, you know, yeah, it sucks losing obviously three in a row. But we need to, you know, we need to just calm down, you know, wait for the injuries to hopefully come back soon and then, you know, make an assessment on the team. But you can't make an assessment on a team with all the injuries that we have in pitching, our catcher, our fielders, you know, our new covers on a third base. You know, we just need to calm down and I really feel like if they can say in the hunt, they'll be fine. And like I said, the world series is not one in the month of April, right? So just relax and we'll be fine. That's all I have to say. Robert, yeah, appreciate the call. Thanks for thanks for calling in. Yeah, it does look like not everyone, but it does look like a couple of the guys. I mean, Barger was one of them and Sean Schneider talked about this earlier in the week. But yeah, earlier this week, that it does feel like maybe he's pressing a little bit. And I don't think he's the only one, right? I mean, we talked about Lucas.

44:21I'm sure it also can't help to not press when you know, you kind of have to make the most of limited played appearances, limited A, B's, right? So I'm sure that is a factor. I do believe that is a factor. And again, I think in terms of how you grade the team, it does feel like incomplete is the best way to grade it when you are missing so much of your of your lineup at the same time. I don't want to like just let the guys off the hook who have been, who have been here the whole time and healthy the whole time and have not produced in a consistent way. But again, because it's only nine games, that's why I hold off without with making too many, you know, determinative, too many, you know, nominated determinations. This early in the season, yeah, you're not going to make a definitive, you know, declaration on what the season is going to look like. Um, it's, I mean, gosh, we just experienced this. So it's, it's not a repeat of last year in that sense. But I mean, you, you, you, you understand the, the, just the sheer amount of, of highs and lows that are going to come with the course of a baseball season.

45:21And I, and I, I don't know if you saw any quote show from, um, from John Schneider post game today, but there was one that, um, Keegan Matheson shared that I, I, I did want to read just because I, uh, I think it sort of summarizes maybe actually the biggest source of frustration for he and then the rest of those guys internally, like what they're actually upset or disappointed with at this point. Um, quote, we've got to get back to playing our baseball. It doesn't matter who we're playing, where you're playing, what time you're playing, if you don't play your baseball, good things don't happen. That literally strikes me as, you know, that's, that's a guy who's got, figure on the pulse, a feel for big picture. And his whole thing is, guys, I'm not worried that we lost a few games. I'm more so concerned that we just didn't play our brand of baseball. And that entails shooting ourselves in the foot at times, right?

46:22Making uncharacteristic mistakes, not passing the baton, the way that we are. Hey, how about stop? We, we, we challenge pictures more by working at that little things like that. I feel like that's those are the symptoms that John Schneider is pointing to in that particular quote. It's not the actual result of we got swept, but the process behind it. And I like that quote because to me, it demonstrates sort of a very strong level of maturity. There's no overreacting going on. But at the same time, there is a standard that's been said. And I think it's so important that it exists. 416-870-0590-1 Triple A-Triple 6-0-590-Star-590 on your cell. Still some time to give us a call here until the top of the hour. 595-90, name and location. That's the way to reach us on the text line as well. Let's take a quick break on the other side. We'll get into the J's, a standings watch. Take a look around the rest of the division and I'll get to some quick hitters before we say goodbye. You're listening to Blue J-Stop on the sports and that radio network.

47:23You know, baseball is funny. It takes a while to kind of get into your groove. So I think the things you want to forget or some things on the bases and some things defensively and the offense will get clicking. You know, it's nine games in. You know, I know it's an easy narrative to write about and to talk about. And you throw, you know, opponents that didn't have good records in last year. It doesn't really mean anything right now, early in the season. So we got to find a way on this flight back home on the bird. It's Toronto to flush this. This is not our friend baseball and hopefully some good vibes at home and some crowd support and a little bit of energy kind of keeps us in here. That's John Schneider talking about the message to take out of a series sweep at the hands of the White Sox. A three nothing loss to wrap up that series sweep in Chicago. You're listening to J-Stock, you're on the sports net radio network. Show and Danielle Lee here with you until the top of the hour. There's still some time to give us a call for one six eight seven zero five ninety one triple eight triple six zero five ninety star five ninety on your cell.

48:25You can also text us as well five ninety five ninety name and location. Yeah. I mean, look, I think that that's kind of like the other half of the message that of the of the message that John Schneider given giving to the media and to the team. And you would read the first half of it before the break that Keegan had tweeted out in terms of playing their brand of baseball. So definitely seems, I mean, how could you not be? Definitely seems like John Schneider is very aware of what is transpired so far, not just from a hey, these guys aren't hitting or hey, certain guys in the bullpen are not producing. It's not I think it's any one thing. It's just I think he's very aware that passing that baton and situational hitting and all for all sorts of it. None of it has gone right. So yeah, you hope it's just a fleshed type of series and you move on. Maybe they maybe it is a play down to competition, play up to the competition when the Dodgers come to town. Who knows? But I do think coming back home probably will help a little. I think so too. I think there will be, you know, John mentioned some energy and the support from the fans. The building is going to be rock in all three days.

49:26I know even Wednesday is a day game, but it's a work from dome games. I don't know how much work will be getting done, but it will be absolutely rock and pack. I think the atmosphere will be beneficial for for this team to feel, I don't know, that palpable sense of enthusiasm again, right? Similar to opening weekend against the A's at Roger Center. I do believe this group feeds off of it. Like I think they really, really enjoy and relish those opportunities. You have the perfect guys going in this series as far as starting pitching is concerned. Shurser, your wily vet guy that's been around takes the ball ultimate competitor tomorrow. And of course, you're going with your two best and then Gosman and C. So this is as good as it gets. And I mean, usually we, boy, we spent years making fun and joking around when John Schneider would say, I just got to flush it, right? Got to just just got to flush that one. It's baseball. Got to turn the tip our cap and flush it. This is one where you say, no, you absolutely just have to kind of turn the page, move on

50:28tomorrow's a new day and hopefully keep it rolling, get back on to a positive on to some level of positivity and can get back in the wind column. Let's check out before you go back to the phones, the standings walked presented by bet 365 home of the five run early payout must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly. I believe because that rain delay, the rest of the A L East is now done except for the Yankees. I think that game only started less than an hour ago. Yeah, bottom of the second inning Yankees up three to one. They are seven and one on the season, but a couple of other finals for us to get to Virginia Lee Pittsburgh, beating the Orioles eight to two Chris Bassett taking six earned runs on the on the ledger in that one. I was a back and forth game between the Padres and Red Sox at Fenway, but eight to six the final score in favor of San Diego and then the Tampa Bay raise. This game was tied one one. I think for like most of the game, there was one nothing or one one for most of the game. And then top of the 10th inning, I guess most have brought some scoring because four

51:29one the raise did win in extra in 10 innings. So with that being said, and of course with the J's lost today Yankees seven and one playing the Marlins raise our four and five J's are four and five. The Orioles are three and six and the Red Sox are two and seven. There is a text that made me chuckle rust from Toronto. The J's look like the monster stole their talent. Positive it is. They also stole the rest of the East talent save for the Yankees. I mean, yeah, it is funny. I mean, coming into the season, how much should we talk about how the A L East was going to be the best division in baseball? And again, I'm sure patients being is being preached in all of those places except for New York where things are going pretty well right now, but I it is it is a tough start to to what we thought was a pretty deep division. I mean, this is always, but this is always the most competitive division in baseball, generally speaking. I mean, when the when the N L West is good, it's really good and at least maybe two. Well, these two, yeah, you're right. The Max and the Phil's are and are usually are usually pretty competitive baseball team. But the A L East, the A L beast, it's always great and competitive because we see it, you

52:33know, on any given year, a team like Tampa or Baltimore can easily re emerge. Same with the J's, re emerge, boom, you're back in the mix. I still think it's going to end up being a really tight battle and they're going to be potentially three playoff teams coming out of this division. Like there, there's going to be good teams, good baseball being played by the, the main, the main forces you expect in the A L East. Four, one six, eight, seven, zero, five, ninety, one triple, eight, triple six, zero, five, ninety, star five, ninety on your cell, got a couple more minutes. Let's squeeze in a couple more calls if we can. Irwin and Thornhill are joining us here on Jay's talk. Irwin, what's up? Hey, guys. Yeah, I'm really concerned about the J's. I think that when you look at their performance today and you look at some of the questionable management decisions, quite concerned how long they stuck with little. He was basically unwatchable, finally got sent down blew a bunch of games. Kaz is not does not play Jay's type of baseball. He strikeout rate is horrendous and the guys are not contributing so far.

53:38There's lots of injuries. They're in the American League East. So I'm not off the bandwagon yet, but there's alarm bells ringing all over the place and the next three games. I think are going to tell a lot about what we might expect in the first month. Irwin appreciate the call. I mean, I don't know how much the, like the Dodgers who are already a very good team come in and put the boots to the blue J's. I mean, no one's going to change their, everyone's going to be exactly where they were. No, I mean, like everyone's already pressing that panic button now. So I'm not sure the Dodgers series unless they go out there and destroy the Dodgers, which I feel like is unlikely. Even if you take two of three, I think people will be happy, but I don't know how much the Dodgers result will change people's mind if they lose that series. If they win, I think people will be happy to jump in on the bandwagon. But if they lose it, I'm not sure it'll change from what it is right now. I think Okomoto, I don't know, I mean, am I ready to say after nine games, the court on court doesn't play a brand of blue J's baseball, not even close for me. I mean, by the way, it wasn't, wasn't the whole bugaboo with Okomoto supposed to be his defense.

54:39I mean, he made some, he's looked phenomenal. I'm sure I'm ever worried about his defense, which I think, and I think that is very much on brand for Blue J's baseball. No question, we talked about this earlier, no question to strike out rate is much, much higher than I think you'd expect for a guy that I think while he had a K rate in last year of what 11% between 11 and 12%, which is extremely low. So I think you expected there was going to be some adjustment period and he struck out a couple more times today. So it's definitely, I can't, you can't say we're out of the woods there, but I've seen enough from the other parts of his game to not be that worried. Yeah, you got to account for some, some inflation. That seems to be common these days, the exchange rate and inflation show, I guess, going from going from Japan and coming over to Major League Baseball. You know, I think if we're, I talked about earlier saying, hey, there are certain things to parse through and you hope to identify tangible items you can take away. If you're looking at Okomoto and you're very concerned about the strike out rate, the

55:41one tangible thing I would point to and say, all right, continue to monitor that is how he's performing against fastballs because I think the velocity component of it is different. Everything else, I don't have concerns. I think there is a natural adjustment period, but how he performs against velocity will, I think, dictate more as far as how he's able to adjust and how quickly he can get fully acclimated compared to anything else. So that, that would be it. Is he striking out against heat? If he is, okay, then I'll be a little bit concerned. But if he, if the numbers level out and he's able to adjust to the velocity, I think he'll be just fine. And the defense has been great. It's been, it's been more than you bargained for as you mentioned. I generally, I think people's, like the, the generally accepted number I want to say is around 300 played appearances right before you can make a determination. Yeah, I think you're right. I remember Buck mentioned that. Yeah. Historically, he always had that. I make a judgment on a player until I watch like 400 at bachelor.

56:41Yeah. That's something like that. Yeah. I forget it because it was the exact number is. But and Buck's not the only person to have said that. I mean, how many, how many A, B, his 31 A, B's, I guess that doesn't count. This is include today. So not in 31 plus whatever, however many got today. But I mean, like, we're, we're, wait, I mean, he needs 10 times as many A, B, B, B before I feel like I can make a, a proper determination. Oh, we got a couple of minutes left here before we get out of here. I'm just curious. We didn't really talk too much about him. What do you think of Joe Man supply? Not bad. Not in a third. No hits, no walks. Three Ks. Yeah. Not bad. I think that sounds about right for me. Yeah. Honestly, not bad. I mean, there's some stuff to like there. I, I did find it curious thinking about the change, you know, and, and, and demoting little to bring obviously somebody up to get a new fresh face in there. I was curious. Was it going to be Joe Man supply? Was it going to be somebody else? The one thing Man supply has working in his favor is he is a lefty, right? Show. So if he happens to catch lightning in a bottle and just gets out for an extended period. Who knows? Cause they don't really have a bunch of other lefties in the system. The other guy that I had in mind would have been an Adam Mackleon maybe, maybe it's too

57:44early. Maybe they still think it's too early. So I didn't mind him. I think obviously continue to give him a look and let's see what he can do. Yeah. Synchro seven times change six curve four. So decent pitch mix for guy who went in and in and in and in a third, you know, located well enough. Not exactly throwing to Jen's point from earlier in the show. High Velo. And you know, I would say, I don't think he's really ever been a high Velo guy. He's 35. So even less so now. But you know, for a guy who said his fair share of injuries last year, it certainly seems like there is at least some utility for him this late in his career. I mean, even if he is viewed as the second lefty behind Flewhardy, who now is the, the, the nominal left handed pitcher in the bullpen, I mean, I do wonder how much run he gets going forward while little. And we don't know how long little will be down in Buffalo. I mean, I sure some people would say for the rest of the year, but I got to imagine he gets called back up at some point. And while he is down there, I do wonder how much run man to apply gets just out of, out of the fact that you just don't have another lefty that who's not named Mason Flewhardy. Yeah. Sure necessity. The little thing is interesting because I know people actually had somebody even texted

58:44us and asked, how long do you think you'll be down there? If, if Brandon little goes down there and performs and is, is, say, serviceable productive for a month, month and a half, I think you'll be up. But if it's a little touch and go and he's inconsistent, he's going to be down there for as long as he needs to be down there. So this is now your chance, Joe, man, to apply, go make it happen, go try and earn a spot on this roster long term. Justin Robleski tomorrow, Max Scherzer, what are you expecting at an old man next to me? And I think they need a vintage Mad Max performance where he's just a savage on the mound, stalking presence, give me some intimidation and fire in a world series rematch. She started game seven of the fall classic show. It's been playing on his and repeat in his mind. So I'm expecting a fun one to me. He looked good in this first start of this season too. Absolutely. You hope that carries over. Daniele, this is a lot of fun, man. I know wasn't the greatest series in Chicago, but always fun to be on there with you. Like I show. I think we made a lot out of what was a relatively innocuous three-nothing game. We solved it all. We solved all the problems in the last hour.

59:45That's Daniele Franceski. I'm a show alley. Blue Jays baseball brought to you by the local family-owned crowned as control centers in Pickering Ajax and Atobico right here in Ontario. I'll project your vehicle with Canada's number one rust protection. Find your local crowned as control family at crown.com for Daniele Franceski Benchelman, Chris Leroux, Tommy on Christian Cheneity, Brandon Brown as well. Why not? He's here too. I'm show alley. That does it for us. We are out of here. Blair and Barker, back with a regular daytime programming tomorrow and, of course, air back all week long for the post game shows. I'm back next weekend. Have a great Easter, everyone. We'll talk to you later.