The Kevin Karius Show - Mar. 2nd, 2026 - Thomas Hall

0:00Howdy howdy ho and welcome to fantasy fanfellas. I'm Hayden producer of the fantasy fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things sanderson and I'm steven your bookish internet goofball but you can call me the smash daddy and we are currently deep diving Brandon sanderson's fantasy epic misborn but here's the catch steven here has not read misborn before that's right hey so each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single and along the way we'll do character deep dives magic explainers and steven will even try to guess what's next spoiler alert he'll be wrong. News flash I'm never wrong episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, this is Pablo Tore from Pablo Tore finds out and today I want to talk to you about boost mobile because we spent a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies and sports over value contracts money tied up in the wrong places and so on but those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses boost mobile says switching to their $25 unlimited forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year.

1:04That's $25 a month for unlimited data talk and text when you bring your own phone if that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill. It might be worth a second look visit boost mobile dot com to learn more after 30 gigabytes customers may experience lower speeds customers pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the boost mobile and limited plan savings claim based on a January 2026 boost mobile survey of a thousand Americans with single line on limited plans comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the boost mobile limited plan for full offer details visit boost mobile dot com. We welcome in Thomas Hall from Blue J's nation. Good morning, Thomas. You're with Kevin Kerry. Thanks for jumping on sports 1440s usual really appreciated big guy. Of course, Kev always great catching up with you, but she this time of year when we're just about to get going here. Yeah, we are about to get going with the world baseball classic. It's a little different. I guess for spring training because you're missing a lot of players, but it's always great when you see this the world baseball classic. I mean, who could forget? I mean, when you got autonomy and trout going head to head and things like that, but maybe just before we get to the classic your Thomas give us your thoughts on how the J's have looked so far this spring.

2:15Yeah, I think they have, you know, gotten off to a pretty decent start so far this spring. I mean, obviously results records. You can throw all those at the window during great fruit league action, but I think when, you know, as you look at this roster, and you know, a lot of the guys, like you said, have have an absence left the team for the world baseball classic to Blue J's losing their entire starting infield. But you have, you've starting to see some early signs of what this team could look like this season and how they're looking to build off their magical 2025 season. And, you know, obviously the biggest departure that we haven't seen around this team is Boba Schett. And Anthony Santander too, not having him in this lineup for the foreseeable future has certainly been a big loss for the Blue J's too, but the arrival of Kazuma Okamoto has been really exciting. He's been hitting the ball really hard showing that same type of elite plate discipline that he did in Japan for so many years.

3:23You know, Vladimir Gerrard Jr., you know, I still think back to the swing he had earlier this week where he hit a ball off the wall at TD ballpark with one hand just showing that unreal strength that he still has. And then on the pitching side too, the Blue J's are now eight starters deep with their major league rotation. Once macchars are officially passes this physical and joins the team officially. And so, you know, there are a lot of interesting storylines as there always are around this time of year with the Blue J's. And, you know, so far, there hasn't been any shortage of ones to follow, even with a lot of guys now leaving the team for the WBC. What kind of role do you see, Max Scherzer filling for this team, Thomas, moving forward? Yeah, I think, you know, he's definitely going to be a starter. I don't foresee him being in the bullpen at all. But the Blue J's are going to deliberately slow play his build up this spring, you know, as a 41-year-old that makes a lot of sense for Mac.

4:35And, you know, he's still, you know, he's faced live hitters so far this spring before even signing back with the Blue J's. So, he has been throwing, but it's going to take, you know, that traditional four to six week build up timeline that that starters usually have in spring training. And so, I think for Max, like I wouldn't anticipate him being ready for any regular season action with the Blue J's until late April or early May. And at that point, who knows what the rotation will look like. At that point, the Blue J's are also going to build up Trey's savage very slowly. And there's a really good chance, too, once the season begins, that Trey will only be built up to three or four innings. So, there is a possibility that, you know, the Blue J's could fit Max into the rotation as their number six starter, or, you know, they could use Max as a spot starter when he's ready to go.

5:39There's so many different ways where they could include him into this rotation, but I think the biggest thing here is that they're being proactive about creating enough rotation surplus. That, you know, when there's regular season opens, and if things hit the wall, you know, they're not forced to scramble like they were last season, having to go to somebody like Jose Urania or Spencer Turnbull or Eastern Lucas. Instead, they have a future Hall of Famer like Max Sherser waiting in the wings, being able to provide some innings for them if they need him to. Yeah, Thomas Hall from Blue J's nation, our guest on the Kevin Kerri show on sports 1440. What did you make a Dylan cease and his start the other day? Vilo was up and had some pretty good movement on the ball, I thought. Yeah, Vilo was certainly up. Definitely was not expecting to see him throw out 98 99 in the first few pitches of his spring debut.

6:39That was certainly great to see. Great to see that Dylan is already, you know, looking like he's in mid season form with that Vilo. But yeah, the command looked really good. I really liked a lot of the fastballs that he had located at the top of the strike zone. That's one of his biggest strengths, especially when you're throwing in 98 99, that fastball is just, it's really hard to get on top of as a hitter. We saw how deadly that slider can play off of the heater as well. Something we didn't see though is the new change up that he's working on here in camp. And that will be crucial for him to continue to develop as he looks to improve against left-handed batters. You know, that's something that has been a bit of a weakness for him in the seasons where he hasn't been that sci-on caliber pitcher. And so Pete Walker and the rest of the blue jays coaching staff have been working hard with Dylan to try and develop another outpitch for him outside of the fastball and the slider.

7:43And even the curveball that he has to and that he features against lefties, it's, you know, just about getting them off his two top pitches. Just similarly to what Kevin Gosman does with his fastball and splitter, right, just giving the opposition another look. So they're not just sitting on one of those top two offerings. Thomas Hall with us in sports 1440. So everyone knows and you mentioned Gosman and everyone I think knows what cease can offer. And as you mentioned, you save it. She's a guy that they're going to maybe bring along a little slower. Everyone knows what they have with burials, but Cody Ponce is an interesting dude for me where, you know, not a lot of people know a whole bunch of balls. I'm coming over from the KBO here, but what have you seen from him? And is he like penciled in as the number five starter here? What do you think in here, Thomas? Yeah, the blue jays have already said that they strictly view Cody Ponce as a starter here, even though he has experience pitching out of the bullpen. But I think, you know, for right now, he's going to be a starter.

8:44Maybe when, you know, we get closer to the postseason and the blue jays start thinking about their playoff rotation and which guys could potentially move to the bullpen. Maybe they look at Cody Ponce as somebody like Chris Bassett who could go to the bullpen and provide multiple enemies of relief in that way. But I think for right now with Shane Beaver starting the season on the injured list, Cody Ponce is without a doubt a starter for this team right now. And he's somebody who looked pretty good in his first spring outing last week and he's going to pitch again today against the Red Sox. You know, certainly showed really good Velo as well in his first outing, getting up to 95, 96, much higher than we saw his Velo at the last time he was pitching in the majors. All the hype around Cody Ponce too is about that kick change up gets a lot of strikeouts. So it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the league sort of tries to adjust against Cody Ponce's best pitch.

9:50It really performs like a splitter more than a change up. So, you know, for the blue jays and how well they're able to master guys who have really good splitter as Cody Ponce should fall into that same sort of category here, which certainly creates a lot of excitement. But I will be intrigued to see, you know, stuff like how Cody Ponce fares against hitters for a third time through the order, stuff like that. Like, what are opposing hitters going to adjust against Cody Ponce when they see him multiple times in a game? So those are some of the types of things that I'll be keeping an eye on later in camp and then heading into the regular season two with him. Howdy, howdy ho and welcome to fantasy fanfellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the fantasy fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson. And I'm Steven, your bookish internet goofball, but you can call me the smash daddy. And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn, but here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.

10:53That's right. Hey, hey, so each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chip. And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert, he'll be wrong. News flash, I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts. The hustle doesn't have to hurt. If performance pressure is making it hard to breathe, growth therapy helps you navigate stress, set boundaries, and actually feel like yourself again. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and get started in as little as two days. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments, you just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges you're facing, grow therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states.

11:53Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growththerapy.com slash start now to get started. That's growtherapy.com slash start now. Growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. World Baseball Classic getting underway with some just some pre-tournament games and stuff. So the Jays are going to take on Canada tomorrow? That's correct. Yeah, they are. Just a little tune up game. Yeah. What do you make of that? I mean, like, what do you think of the team Canada squad? And what would be the chances they could maybe advance a little further in this tournament than maybe some people are expecting them to? Yeah, I think, you know, they have, you know, one of the better rosters, I think, in the tournaments. You know, the program itself has come a long way in the last several years. You know, having like legit major league players on Team Canada's roster is always huge.

12:58And, you know, even for somebody like Adam Macco, who is one of the Blue Jays pitching prospects, he's somebody that could ultimately end up playing a very big role for Team Canada. He's also got a lot of proof. A lot to prove for the Blue Jays organization too. As somebody who's going to be part of that triple A mix for the Blue Jays rotation has shown really good Velo. Or an uptick in Velo this spring. Somebody like Josh and Ailer is going to be a key piece for Canada's lineup. I think as how they fare in group play, you know, being in the same group as Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia. It's, you know, it's going to be an open competition, I think, for, you know, which top two countries come out of that pool. But I think Canada's got a good shot as anyone to exit pool play and head advanced further into the tournaments. And, you know, like in comparison to how they fare in 2023, this might be, you know, one of their best opportunities to try and advance deeper into this tournament.

14:04You know, earn their way into the Americans or come back to USA and try and, you know, come close to being in the same conversation as Japan and Team USA and the Dominican Republic. And all those, you know, top tier favorites for this year's tournament. Is there someone that's not on the roster for whatever reason that, you know, you're going, well, man, these guys could have really, really helped. I'm thinking in pitching and maybe, maybe brush or even a Kate Smith, something like that. But do they have enough enough in their pitching staff? Do you think Thomas moving forward here for a short tournament where, I mean, you got to be right on top of your game under the gates here? Yeah, I think that's definitely Canada's biggest question mark here is whether or not they have enough pitching. You know, when you're bringing guys out of retirement, like James Paxton, a few other guys, it's, you know, it's always a big question mark. And so, yeah, like having a map rash or a Kate Smith, that would be, those guys would be huge additions to the blue jays, or the team Canada's bullpen, particularly at the back end.

15:14On the heading side too, I think somebody like Freddie Freeman would obviously be a bat that they would love to have like they did three years ago at the 2023 tournament. But, you know, that's part of the unfortunate timing of having the WBC during spring training is, you know, especially on the pitching side, guys are really focused on getting ready for the upcoming season. I mean, you even look like Tarrick's look at Tarrick's schoolable with team USA. He's only going to pitch once for them. You know, so you just kind of have to make do with what you have and that's obviously what Canada has to do here. But if they're able to piece it together because they don't really have many traditional starters on that pitching staff, but if they can piece it together and give opponents a different look every time they get through the order, then maybe that'll be enough to get Canada to sneak by on the pitching side.

16:16But, you know, obviously too, if they score a lot of runs, then that would take a lot of pressure off that, you know, uncertain pitching staff that they have. What's a realistic expectation in pool A, Thomas, do you think? I mean, they're going to be in San Juan and they'll be with Puerto Rico Columbia, Cuba and Panama. What's an expectation here where you could say, okay, this is a record of whatever three and one, two and two. If they can pick up a couple of wins, where are you thinking? What's a reasonable expectation? Yeah, I think, you know, anything below 500 in pool play would probably be a big disappointment. I think for Canada, just given the level playing field, I guess I would say that they have in this pool compared to the other ones. But if they can get out to a three and one record, I think that would exceed most people's expectations around this team just because of the question marks that you have with this pitching staff.

17:20If they're able to win three out of four, that would give them certainly probably one of the top two seats in that group and allow them to move on. So I think that's definitely within reason. But I think, you know, probably a more realistic expectation for them is probably something like two and two. Who's got the best team in the pool as a Puerto Rico? I'd probably say so. At least they had the potential to be like obviously they're missing a lot of MLB caliber players because of insurance issues. But Puerto Rico's got a really good team despite those losses, Colombia's a team not to sleep on. Panama's got some intrigue up side too, but I think it's wide open. I really do. And that certainly gives the blue J everything gives Canada a really good opportunity here to try and make a big push and surprise a lot of people in this tournament. Yeah, I'm just looking at the Puerto Rican rosters.

18:20It's got some pretty big names, some good names too. So they're going to be in tough. There's no question about that team Canada here, but you never know. You never know. You always it's that Canada grit, right? Thomas something happens and all of a sudden, you know, like we've seen so many great moments over the years in international baseball. Somehow Canada just seems to find a way to get it done. Yeah, they really do. They're, you know, they're kind of the little train that nobody thinks they can, but they somehow find a way to figure it out. You know, and coming off the Olympics, hopefully Canada doesn't break everyone's hearts like they did it both on the women's and men's side of the hockey tournament. But, but yeah, it's going to be a really fun tournament overall and really looking forward to see how Canada can fare against these other countries that they're in the same pool with. For sure. Thomas has always great insight. Really appreciate everything that you do for us here on sports 1440. As always, thanks for coming on. Take care, man.

19:21Of course you too. Hi, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo Torre finds out and today I want to talk to you about boost mobile because we spent a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses boost mobile says switching to their $25 unlimited forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data talk and text when you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill, it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more after 30 gigabytes. Customers may experience slower speeds. Customers pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the boost mobile and limited plan. Savings claim based on a January 2026 boost mobile survey of a thousand Americans with single line unlimited plans comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the boost mobile limited plan for full offer details visit boost mobile dot com. Howdy howdy ho and welcome to fantasy fanfellas. I'm Hayden producer of the fantasy fan girls podcast and your resident lover of all things sanderson and I'm Stephen your bookish internet goofball, but you can call me the smash daddy.

20:32And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn, but here's the catch Stephen here has not read Mistborn before. That's right. Hey, hey, so each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chip and along the way we'll do character deep dives magic explainers and Stephen will even try to guess what's next spoiler alert. He'll be wrong news flash. I'm never wrong episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now the NBA is heating up March Manus is here and MLB is almost back every day. There's a new headline a new highlight a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about get real time scores breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.