MLB Insights with Randal Grichuk & John Schneider | Blair and Barker Full Episode

Intro [Music] there's really no point no that's my that's my dance of uh for a week what yeah Barker's happy it's Blair and Barker yeah for a Friday and uh when this show is over boy is his as you can go you got big plans for the All-Star no plans at all buddy boy none whatsoever my plan is not getting on a train for four days I like that I don't like the commuting thing yeah you don't like driving drives you nuts no I do like driving yeah I don't like I don't like driving here who who would want to drive in this city like I I said the cat so I take the train Train's okay there just a lot of people on as long as people understand that when you're in the top of the GO train a little sign there that has the little head you think they listen with the headphone on it that means shut the bleep up no one cares about no one cares about your conversation they just don't trust me they don't shut up and listen to music or re that's it yeah happy Friday everybody it is a happy Friday for you I mean I'm surprised we're a minute into the show and you haven't uh taking a shot of me for Paul SCH starting the allstar game you go pass did passon texted me like he's been texting me all day on a genius he said to me you're he he he apologized for calling me old on the show the other day apologized and he said you're not old you're wise and I said anyhow Paul SK starting the allar game that'll be fun be exciting for who will you watch oh I I watch I have not missed an All-Star game I've watched every allstar game probably for the last 20 years I've watched every pitch of every allar every single pitch well I covered it for you got to remember I was there for you know I covered like 11 or 12 of the suckers and I'll watch it in TV this is the right thing to do for baseball this it just is wonder nobody else in the National League anybody else wants to wonder if vlat Will face I wonder if vlat Will face him H vlat probably might be hitting sixth or seventh four fifth six somewhere in there so somebody gets on if somebody gets on then he might good luck with that sore hand he ain't be Hitt in the top four is he he'll be hitting clean up for the American League not vaty no I don't think it's vaty maybe depends on how many how many innings he ain't gonna go two innings would he I mean I think so I don't know if he's the greatest thing ever maybe maybe they have to let him go two innings is the next Nolan Ry uh we have Blue Jays baseball tonight at 940 on the network and of course right here on sportset 590 the fan the Jays opening a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks that will take them to the all-star break John Schneider the manager of the Jays joins us in a few minutes Randall gritch former Jay will join us as well he's currently with the Arizona Diamondbacks always good to uh catch up with with Randall what is that sorry it's probably passing I'm sure passing has it's he's not listening to the show oh he listens to the show he does he does listen to the he listens to it via podcast but he also you've already got a whole bucket of wrong sitting right over there somewhere around you so just you know deal with it buddy it's just the way it is everybody but Jeff Blair wants to see that dude pitch in the first I I'm fine with him pitching I just think I would have been fine with Ranger schare yeah maybe couldn't pick well you couldn't pick Ranger out of a lineup I couldn't pick F out of you could oh you could you're such a liar you could you're such a liar I could too you could absolutely if he just walked he just walked in in street clothes you couldn't pick him yeah I could no you couldn't look who that is Jeff Paul so the Blue Jays God love them are r at this thing they could uh could be well I mean with a win in this series that would be three Series wins in a row after uh after yesterday's yesterday's 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants uh the Giants General did you see what uh faran uh the Giants general manager faran zi said today what I mean I don't know if this is necessarily I mean it's not it's not a slap at the Blue Jays by any stretch of the imagination but it but well he essentially said that uh if that's the way we're going to play we're selling I mean basically uh let me let me call up what he said um offensively they ain't giving you much no no they're not no no no they're not R is the only guy you got to worry about and there's everybody else uh where is it uh yeah I can't find it now but yeah basically he said that uh to paraphrase him yeah if the Jays are going to do this to us yeah we we're backing up the truck that's uh that's basically it that's basically it who would you want from the Giants I mean I don't know depends on Ian they've got they've got some decent they've got some decent young guys uh here it is look we're four games under 500 now this is after the they lost to the JS we've we've got some God I hate the internet all this stuff keeps popping up in my screen that I really don't care but spit it out Jeff look we're four games under 500 now we've got some great stories but overall it's been a real disappointment I think we gambled a lot with this team we're over 200 million in terms of our payroll I think the need we need the players to show us what the right direction is for us if we show signs of life and feel like we're on the cusp of making a run that's going to indicate to dictate things if we keep playing like we did the last five days we're going to have to think about selling and signing some younger players because when I talk to Giants fans that's what I hear a lot they're so excited about guys that can be here for the next five or six years and we've got a lot of those guys coming to Sacramento now those guys that maybe will become free agents at the end of next year or the year after so that is uh other than the talking and the young guys coming to to Toronto sounds like the Blue Jays I was going to say and they're they're what they're 400 500 I mean they're not uh that's National League national league is not the American League it's just not you got I mean yeah absolutely the balance schedule I get that but there's a lot of bad teams National League like you got a chance there American League not so much like you know the sort yeah I mean the guys that I think you would the guys that they would probably be interested moving are guys like conforto um you know I don't know Patrick Bailey I mean Solair yeah they're they're yeah I mean think Braves might come a calling for a guy like salar they have a bunch they have a bunch of pieces that would round out your roster I don't think they necessarily have anything that would would go woo you know um oh this is news uh Whit marfield was released by the Phillies prior to tonight's game against the Oakland Athletics the Phillies released utility player Whit marfield so there you go uh they called up an infielder outfielder from Triple A Lehigh that uh Ben Nicholson Smith tweeted that about an hour go the Whit Mar yeah you know you're a good team when you start getting rid of Veteran guys who know how to hit good pitch and late in the season rights are not going to get too too loud for him no it's the Phillies Phillies is GNA win it in my mind they're the best te baseball the national after watching um after watching what they did to the to the Dodger I the Dodgers in trouble I wouldn't say trouble because they're going to make the playoffs but they if you if they get beat in the first round sa by I don't know the Brewers you be surprised I told you would I told you earlier you kind of laughed at me I I I think there may the third best team in the National League cuz you know Alex is going to do something Alex is going to do something and they got some dudes back I'll take the Braves I'll take the Braves over the I don't trust the Dodgers I don't trust the Dodgers at all they' got a lot of holes they've got the top of the order is great but they've got they got a lot of holes they they really do and man I I the national League's really top heavy it's top heavy one team it's the feeles than everybody else the Braves are going to go out and do whatever the Braves are going to do get another pitcher you know get a maybe another Outfield guy that can hit sixth or seventh and maybe win an MVP in a in a in a World Series that kind of thing I mean they're going to probably do their thing and then there's everybody else right now the Dodgers are sort of in that everything else just because of the way the injuries are and the rotation and even when the rotation gets back healthy is there a lot of unknowns in that yeah you you have any idea what you're getting from kersha would any Dodgers F raise your hand now be serious don't lie want Clayton Kershaw pitching in a big game hell no absolutely not not a chance so yeah I'm with you I'm sure they're going to go out and add and subtracting you know some Rumblings with that dude that plays short stop for the Blue Jays that you know what I don't that doesn't make a difference to me that I don't think so has nothing to do with they're pitching exactly yeah it doesn't and I'm liking my uh keep an eye on those Padres down there in the west keep an eye on the Padres I know they're seven back they're only two over 500 um yeah keep an eye on that team I I I just don't trust the Dodgers yeah it's the front office for the Padres you really don't trust you really don't know what you're going to get I know I know that they're going to do something yeah let's like too much maybe maybe yeah it's like it's like there's no happy meting in there it's like you you you either do too much you don't do enough it's like how do you how do you find it um let's talk let's look back a little bit at yesterday's game uh oh and the back leg line will uh be activated today 416 413 3959 we'll go to that later on in the show I've also feel free to tell Jeff he's wrong about I know I'm wrong about I just said I just said I said it's probably one of the dumbest things you've ever written the bottom of one of your articles no it's not it got you it got people that's not why you did it it sure is you that it's a hot take this is what I'm doing everybody's going to agree with me I don't care about it I want to revisit last night's game now who's God stop it does it ever surprise you how many people in your family don't realize that you're on air at a certain time or they don't care or they don't care which is possibly possibly true man it feels like Friday yeah it really does we're all over the place why I tell you what I'll tell you we haven't gotten the J yet we're like Kevin kerm up at the plate uh we will talk to he's hitting it where it's pitched now I mean he's taking what the pitcher gives it he's hot uh I will uh we'll we'll talk to uh to to to John Schneider About Kevin that story yesterday that moved during the game uh Kevin km placed on waivers and again there's no such thing as revocable waivers wavers is waivers is waivers is waivers placed on waivers uh it's not supposed to be made public clearly some agent spoke to somebody or agents and general managers are generally the ones who who know who's on waivers so um but there's no such thing is irrevocable irrevocable waivers you go on waivers until you're off the 40-man roster you you can play to your heart's content um because a lot of guys I guarantee you frankly there have been five or six other guys at least in the Jays who've been in waivers and have been playing well they've been all just don't know about anyhow in Kevin km's case uh it's pretty clear that what the Jays will likely do first of all I don't think anybody's going to claim him and the 4 and a half million left on his contract maybe somebody might I don't know I you know fourth fifth outfielder in a good team whatever outfitter for 4 million hey that's a lot um and uh it's not really a lot there there are teams that are paying there are teams that are paying that um I'm not saying I would but there are teams that are paying it any really good Defender like he can change the game on the defensive side of the ball offensively yeah offensively for mentally that that trying to pull everything in the air has looked to me anyway like it's sort of thrown him off and it's been hard for him to get the whatever he's trying to get back on the tracks and you lately it looks like he's a little shorter and quicker staying Clos with the front side any he's got hit the ball the other way I TR nice here let me it's F I know say but I mean the point is the point is that uh this looks very much as if the Jays are getting ready to release him um you know and and I mean I guess he has the the veteran player he he can he can turn down going to the he's not going to the miners Kevin Kar is not going to the minor so uh basically looks to me like the Jays are if there are no no feelers here who plays center if Dalton are if D's in Center if Dalton's hurt who plays center I don't know Dalton will be healthy but steart brough who cares I mean at this point at this point in time I'm sure there in the rotation it's uh you know it's you think complain itens it opens up um you know it opens up possibly opens up a spot in the 40-man roster anyhow we're going to see a lot of moves like this uh over the course of uh over the course of the next couple of weeks as the Jays kind of figure out in which direction or I should say as the front office tries to figure out which direction they're going even though I think most of us have an idea I'm sure they know already well um but the reason I mentioned it is because John Schneider you know uh had a chat with Kevin kermier after the game yesterday because it became public that cannot have been uh an easy discussion I'm sure Kevin's enough of a pro that he I'm sure he probably figured that this was coming but um yeah you know great great great on Joel Sherman for getting the story but uh you know I I the the waiver process is supposed to be is supposed to be it's basically like getting released I I've been released a bunch of times I know exactly how it feels I know exactly how it feels to be called in the office and have some manager act like he gives a crap about you like I I I get it I mean John's going to give you that same exact answer like you know this is where we're as an organization we really believe in what you've done here we really appreciate it we run preventing and you were a big giant part of that now the organization's heading in a different direction and we don't feel like you're a part of it no I think the discussion is we think that uh we owe it to you to uh make you available to a team that uh might be going to the playoffs that's a that's a okay I guess again I've been I've been released I guess that's difference the difference Kevin is that with all he's making money he's been in the majors for a gazillion years so but anyhow we'll talk to John Schneider we'll talk to uh we'll talk John's pretty good at that stuff so I'm sure he was good about and as I said it's probably no surprise so anyhow Uh Kevin Kier Meer is with the team in Arizona again you can play while you're on waivers he's still on the roster um and uh that's that's that's where we are with that let's focus on somebody that we think is going to be around for a while and I want to talk about Spencer Horwitz um saw the home run yesterday yeah from Spencer Horwitz uh you know look we I think we've been pretty clear I think everybody's been pretty clear he's got to be your everyday second baseman right now I'm with you he he hits second against you know what I hit him second against righties I said maybe against lefties you move him down but you know what I was thinking about what you said no let him let him let him he's got enough of a skill set let him hit second against better than he is right now is David Schneider better than he is right now no is Dalton vario better than he is right now the only guy'd be better is vlat I don't want vlat hitting second I want V hitting third there's nobody else better than him right now no you want hor what's hitting in front of vlat yes there's nobody else better than him there there's nobody else better but you know they'll sit around overthink it and put him in the six hole against some Lefty nobody's ever heard of probably because of of a bth of a of a bat path a bat path trying to do the best we can do for the player when you sometimes it's just best to get out of the way Spen hor it's two for five yesterday we mentioned uh the home run that he hit uh his fourth of the Year mhm off of uh off of Jordan Hicks yeah um Jordan Hicks ain't real good well I think they've he is 92 a he is making no he is making a transition back to starter and that may be one of the things that uh the Giants may be finding out right now is that it's it's works it it's great to do that at the start of the Year July and August roll around it looks like that and and if you do want to contend maybe you've got to have another option maybe you put Jordan back into the bullpen but uh it's a lot to ask it looked to me like he's making a a effort to not throw hard oh he how do you do that he I mean we had passing on they wrote that article he has and he has said that he has deliberately not throwing and it looks to me like he you aim the ball when you don't want to throw it as hard as you ultimately can throw it and then it looks the way it looks and you know if you get a decent hitter who's going to take a pitcher pitch and force you to throw one down the middle and it's it's 9293 you ain't getting 92 93 back a getting hit hard somewhere even if it is a bad sweeper I horw what's got an idea at the plate like he's you know he really like it's simple it's repeatable he doesn't have an obvious hole like it doesn't take a a guru hitting coach to watch him hit or a pitching coach and go man how do you get this dude out he's a gnat with two strikes he's got plate coverage he's got enough bat speed he can go the other away uh he can hit a a slider he can hit a sweeper uh he can hit elevated fast balls he can hit fast balls in he can pull a fast ball with velocity in the air uh I just don't know right now now maybe this is a hot streak and nobody really knows what he is and maybe it's just sometimes every hitter gets in a Groove and it just everything's working like your takes I mean his takes on point like he's you could tell it leaves the hand right away he knows it's ball or a strike or whether he wants to make a positive move towards the baseball it's out of the hand it's not halfway or three quarters of the way it's not when his foot's in the air it is that thing's leaving the hand you could see it yesterday and you could slow it down and I did it on purpose I wanted to see where his front foot was at I mean he's athletic quick lifts it it's repeatable he's got that set arm thing already done to where it's slotted I don't have to have that wasted movement which allows him to be that Gat with two strikes not changing anything thing because I'm doing it o I don't have to do something special with my lower half and actually think about the actual process of going through my two strike how would you pitch him uh I throw him a lot of back door breaking balls and force him to go the other way I mean if he wants to hit singles off me go for it I live I live with singles it's the it's the it's the being too fine aiming secondary stuff giving him a chance to you know scoreboard he's you can tell he gets bigger to the pool side according to what the scoreboard says if I need a hit I'm GNA stay up the middle of the other way if I as a team are up three two runs I'm leading off or I'm the second hitter guy gets out in front of me I'm going to try and get frisky party out front and do some damage to the pool side you can actually see him playing it out like it's and he's not overthinking it like it's again a lot of these this is why made he made a really nice play in the field yesterday too look it's it's a play that a second baseman should always make but because he went from first to second you know we're sort of you know wooo it's a play he should always make is my point and a and a throw he should always make but it's nice watching him make it he made it look like he's been making it forever which is what you want a big league second baseman to do how hard is that defensively to move from first to second in season it's the same side of the infield we've had bisho on this show a bunch we've had other people that have tried to go we've had Dalton on Outfield going from right to left Center to left same side of the infield is yeah because you know a lot of the times most hitters are right-handed that Ball's going to do weird things right a guy's right-handed thrower right-handed hitter Inside Out Ball's going to kick and go away from you you need to know that right right side of the infield because you're a first baseman you sort of already know that where you're playing it's not the double plays an issue anymore cuz nobody slides into yeah he's deeper now like they're they're real good about putting in the right spot when the ball's being hit and where he's not going side to side it seems to me this is just me that up and back are the biggest deal for him we've seen him go back on a Fly ball he don't like he coming in he just looks like he's sort of out of sort right so it's something that I'm sure they're going to work on just because offensively the way he swings the bat and excuse me can do things that right now a lot of guys are not doing and if you're a fan of the Blue Jays you got you know you're looking for to hang your hat on something and be excited about an offensive player that's they brought up from the minor league level that it's actually taking shape and what John Snyder told us about they wanted him to go down and start doing some things to the pool side with slug yeah there you go I mean he bounced one in the bay how cool is that before we uh before we uh we uh skip away from here and move on to Randle gritch and the Arizona Diamond Backs Kevin Gosman uh yesterday seven inning six hits three strikeouts two earned runs uh four singles after the first inning through a ton of four seamers [Music] um he goes into the allstar break Chris Basset goes into the allstar break uh do they both feel do you think they both feel good about where they are right now going into the all yeah I think they feel like if they got traded they could help a baseball team that's I think how they feel they're veteran guys they've been around forever I mean where their game is they know yeah I think yeah to I have no idea what gosman's talking about the B over upper half trying to do a different arm slot I would think the lower you are the more it runs that makes sense yeah you're watching me on TV like he wants to throw a two seamer that has sink to it he don't want it to run he wants it to sink sink not run you think if you drop if I drop on side of that thing it's going to run it ain't going to sink I'd rather be on top of it it's like the split finger you would think it breaks more if my arm is taller not on the side of the baseball when my bow is way below the baseball and on on the side of it it's like a two it's like Mesa when he was heing going through all the things he was going here and it wasn't sinking and they were all saying that he's on side of the baseball he's not getting on top of it I would think Kevin's no different with the for seamer want to locate it not have run to run to the arm side and have more vertical break dang with the split finger and if you do want to throw a sinker you get on top of that thing it's going to have natural sink to it you ain't going to have to overthink it maybe I'm over I just don't understand that part of it but again py and him or you know it seemed to have worked right the 60 what he throws 98 pitches 64 fast balls he was in the zone 72% of the time can't remember the last time he threw fast balls in the zone that amount of time most of the time he doesn't want to most of the time he wants to be a little up a little down a little in a little out he wants to be on the outskirts right I know he wants to attack but it's inner third outer third Miss up Miss down and then do the split finger thing right to get swing over swing over the top of it so that that has a lot to do with this split finger been I wonder if had anything to do with the Ramos hitting the Homer off the split finger tun I think the first second with the first in so that I don't know if that has anything to do with I this is I I wonder if it was anything to do if it had anything to do with the team that he was facing I think it's a combination of giant Park how do I keep him in the big part of the field left center right center center field can I do it with a split finger can I do it with a two seamer probably not but I can do it filling up the Zone with a four seamer outer third up down and occasionally cuz I want to show him something different stand them up to get them out the way with maybe a two Samer I throw him something in I think that was what it was a veteran Guy saying that his fast ball for whatever reason was playing it was high velocity I mean it wasn't it's more 93s than it was 95 96 97 so that had nothing to do with it but it was decently located he was very aggressive with it he was pounding the Zone he was getting ahead for the most part and I think a lot of the times again this gets back to that khaki thing boy you just overthinking you could see a bunch of giants hitters going up there basically waiting on the split finger you could actually see him and that went into play of why the 64 and out of the 98 pitches so you know sometimes teams just way overthink it instead of just going up there getting in an athletic position as a SE ball H ball uh Randle grit has had a uh kind of a quietly low-key decent year for the uh for the Arizona Diamondbacks reach base 11 of his last 14 starts hitting 311 over that time hitting 304 against lefties 300 with runners in scoring position and in the pinch this is something it' be fun for you to talk him about because you've always talked about how important or how difficult it is Kevin he's nine for 19 with three doubles a home run five RBI three walks and a hit by pitch uh as a pinch hitter this is a guy he's 32 years old now he's making a transition in his career and he's doing it with the team that uh is the defending national league champions Randall gritch joins us next it's Blen Barker on sportset 590 the fan in [Music] sportset all right welcome back to Blen Barker 940 eastern time will be the first pitch tonight as the Jays take on the Arizona Diamondbacks the first of a three game series we'll have it right here on sportset 590 the fan and of course on the TV side on sportset as well the Jay's uh attempting to win a third consecutive series after their victory over the San Francisco Giants last night and of course this will lead up to the allstar break and uh we're at that time uh with the Blue Jays where well as our old friend John Gibbons would say it's I was going to say it's nut cutting time but we may have been past nut cut in time with this team yep uh anyhow 940 will be the first pitch tonight we're very pleased at this Randal Grichuk on Diamondbacks & Approach time to be joined by Randall gritch formerly of the Blue Jays now of the Arizona Diamondbacks Randall thanks so much for joining us on blur and Barker today we we trust that you're uh we we we trust that you're doing well um hey I wanted to ask you this about the diamond box now they're 47 and 47 they're six and four in their last 10 they've won one two in a row uh they're obviously in the west uh the Dodgers are in the west you don't need me to tell you that so we the Padre's for that matter but I'm wondering since you've been with the Diamondbacks Randall what they went through last year and how they got to the World Series is it obvious to you when you walked into that clubhouse that this is a team that you know had a real it it had a real identity because of that because of what it was able to do in the postseason um yeah first uh first of all say for having me it's been a while um but but yeah you know uh when I got there in spring training you know I kind of initially thought uh obviously it's it was a very talented group of guys um you know I think playing for Colorado last couple years playing against them you know I just thought of Grinders you know I thought um you know the Dbacks grinded on offenses on offense they played really sound defensive ball and grinded on the base pass you know they took the extra 90 if You' give it to them they'd steal a bag um you know they've just played the game hard and you know that's one thing that I respected but then talent wise you know I felt like they had a ton of talent they had the confidence from from the previous year and uh you know I knew they had a chance to you know go on another fun run so you know I was excited to sign here when I got the chance to and when you go to a team with expectations like that how long does it take you to get used to what a new manager wants you to do look like just to sort of make him happy you've had a bunch of different managers I'm sure every manager's different when it comes to how you play what he expects from you on an everyday basis and then you add the expectations to it does it take you a while to get the feel of what a manager's looking for yeah so I think um you know I think early on in spring with meetings and being able to talk to Tor uh you know there's one thing that he expects and that's to play the game the right way play the game hard um as most managers should um so I you know I I knew that hey I'm the type of guy that I like to play the game hard I you know I can't you know not go out there not run hard on a on a ground ball or not go after a ball on the Outfield hard so I knew we were going to be fine there um you know with my role being in a unique role this year uh first of my career of not playing every day I knew I was going to have to figure out when I needed to be ready how I needed to be ready the situations that he pinch hits um defensive Replacements of those kind of things but yeah I would say probably the first couple weeks months of the Season you're you're kind of like all right do I need to be ready for this situation up up two down two up three up five down five like you know when's the cut off point of being needing to be ready and not making a move type of thing but uh you know it's been good few months in and uh you know it's been great with playing better ball as of late so hopefully that continues you mentioned the pitch hitting part of it I don't know if you knew this but you are nine for9 with three doubles a homer that's four that's 474 I mean that's that's not too shabby when pinch hitting is is a dying art now like there's just not a not a ton of those and it's can't be the easiest thing to do with pitching's never been better how have you been able to you know I don't want to say you were coming into this thing hoping you were hitting 474 pinch hitting but I I would think you were coming up with some ideas what's those ideas and has it changed from other people that you've been around earlier in your career that's tried to do that part of the of baseball yeah you know pinch is hard um you know you're you're coming in cold you know it doesn't really matter how many swings you take in the cage it's just not the same um as taking in a bat and uh yeah it's one of those things that you I've just leaned on the hitting coaches here um that have been doing it for a while and have either been in that role or seen guys in that role and talk to guys in that role to to form you know ideas of how how to prepare for it and and how to you know go into an aat that's coming off the bench that you know chances are you're probably coming in with guys on BAS to to either take a lead extend a lead um but yeah you just got to be ready you know you can't really go in and steal out and that bat and see what he's trying to do and uh you got to be ready from Pitch one um not necessarily swinging pitch one but being ready to get your a swing off Pitch one and uh you know you know you can't make a to a bad adjustments to that point it's it's one at bat it's it's ready you're ready to fire yeah the Dbacks are first in baseball at hitting with average with runners in scoring position at 279 they're third in baseball in home runs with Runners to scoring position with 31 is is the approach sort of the same thing with when it comes to runers scoring position as it is as a pinch hitter listening to you talk it's they're sort of similar when it comes to I would think approaches and how you would attack a certain at bat certain pitcher with a dude standing at second or third yeah I mean those are those are the ones you dream for right you if if you could tell me right now you're going to get four at bats with no guys on no outs or four guys on with guys on base um you're going to take the guys on base right that's how you make your money that's how you help help win ball games and um I just think that in those situations you have to one try not to do too much and and then just focus on your approach and your plan what are you trying to do how are you able to get that job done um and if if there's a way that guy's on second and there's less than two and you can get them over or know out to get him over to get what the guy behind you get him in so be it but you just got to really lock down your approach and stay stay aggressive but also um you know don't deviate from what the plan is Randall you you mentioned that this is kind of the first time you haven't had a you haven't had a full-time job or an every day I shouldn't say full-time job in every day played every day um you know there I'm sure you know there are guys who have done really well in their mid-30s and late 30s being the guy that other teams want to bring in because they can play great defense they can turn into fast ball I mean you know look Kevin is basically having a having a rebirth this year is it is it hard for a guy to go from you know I've got a couple of years of my contract I'm an everyday player now I might be going year to year um you know and and you know I might be playing I might be pinch hitting I might go to a team where they're going to use me more in defense as well as pinch hit like is it is it hard to get to that point in your career where you're almost going it's like you're going year to year you know you're going to have a job but you're going year to year yeah it's a it's a unique one obviously uh you know going into the year you know you have a one year deal and you know that there's a very good chance you might not be here um you know hope all goes well and they want you back and you want to stay there but um that's not always the case you know with prospects coming up you know teams have their kind of eye on what they're doing for the next few years but uh yeah you know it's forming new relationships it's forming new roles um especially with you know medical staff you know it's a long season you got to be on the same page with them hitting coaches U and Outfield coach you know uh it's one of those where it's I was actually talking to one of the teammates about it yesterday how it's some guys you know I looked at glacius I looked at po those guys have been on new teams for the last five or six years um still playing but and I I hold on to that that might be where I'm at now you know but like you said when you get older that that kind of what happens but um yeah it's been fun been fun here this year so far could you find happiness do that do you think as a player what exactly just be you know like like be being being the being that guy like that that goes from Team to team year to year and and and and you know and is able to contribute but you know has to live with the reality of a year-to-year deal would you be you know would you be happy doing that yeah I mean I think I think the certainty of knowing where you're going to be in spring training and that you're going to be there for a couple years you know when I signed that deal with Toronto it's new like okay M these are the relationships I know I'm going to be here for you know at least two or three years of the five years right you know you guys aren't there the whole whole contracts um guaranteed but you know you're going to be there for a little while and you know that that aspect is nice but but it is cool to see other teams how they go about their spring training how they go about their you know day-to-day preparation pregame what their postgame looks like uh you know just meeting guys around the league and other coaches so uh there's pros and cons to both sides we'll say that what uh if anything have you noticed different about the luris gel you have as a teammate now compared to the luris gel you had as a teammate when you were with the Blue Jays well when I first met gur and was a teammate with him he was an infielder obviously now he's he's an outfield he was in Outfield my last year or two in Toronto but uh one he's a heck of an outfielder he's he's gotten unbelievable great at getting good jumps and good reads uh but he's hitting for power now you know I feel like uh when he got over here last year I was here but they kind of changed the swing a little bit to to drive the ball a little more and I mean they pay dividends I think he had 20 something homers last year he's got 10 to 15 homers already this year um you know he's unbelievable I think we all knew every player in Toronto knew at that time that he had the hit tool he just had a knack for finding the barrel and hitting the line drive but now those line drives go out of the ballpark so it's been fun to watch it's been it's been fun to play alongside of him again um he's he's a heck of a teammate funny guy you know one of the better ones that I've played with Randa why is Christian Walker so good you know I think it's an attention to detail I think he knows his body real well I think he obsesses with the mechanics and and what the approach and um just how to hit and and um all the little details that come along with it you know he's constantly talking about hitting and he's a powerful dude so the chances are if he runs into one it has a very good chance of losing the yard but um yeah there's not a day or a time of the day that goes by that he's not talking about hitting working on hitting or thinking about hitting yeah and the baseball world doesn't really talk about him either maybe it's because he plays West Coast to Diamondbacks but it's rare that anybody ever says Christian Walker's name you look his stats up and it's 22 big ones with 66 RB it's like and everybody's talking about why ain't you talking about him it's so it's a weird thing unb it it is defens defensively he's the best defensive first baseman in the game so you throw both of those in into account and it's like honestly I don't I say the same thing you're saying so you're preaching to the choir yeah okay Randall this is the last one before we let you go I I need I need to I think the the last couple times we've talked to you I know we talked to you a couple times when you first got here in 2018 and it was sporadic when you've been on our show and and I've asked you why why is it so hard to hit pitching now and since 2018 when you signed with the Blue Jays until now that you're playing with the Diamondbacks what's what's the biggest difference cuz hitting's down through throughout the entire baseball world like it just it's almost looking like it's impossible to hit I mean Gosman yesterday threw like 70 fast balls in 90 pitches like it's it's crazy how hard pitching is to hit but that I think is the big question and a guy that's been sorted through the evolution of all of it 2018 is when you started talking about how good pitching was and now all of a sudden pitching's never been better why H why is pitching never been better so I I would say from when I first into the league in 2014 vo is drastically up one um so with vo being drastically up you're speeding up the hitters I think two I think pitchers movement on pitches has gotten unbelievably great huh yeah I think they one they try to spin the heck out of the ball I think harder they throw their sliders their curveballs their change ups with more intent so the movement is more where I think maybe back in the day they were pitching to hit location maybe and now the stuff might not have been as great and now I think it's moving a ton um but I think also like almost all the pitchers have a pitch that can run into you drop run away from you a lot of force team has a ton of ride now so I mean the pitcher literally can throw any pitch and any count and I mean the stuff has just gotten unbelievable um we as offensive players talk about it all the time like at what point is pitching going to Plateau to a point of like hey this is the best like in 10 years is it going to be even better like it's hard to see in 10 years it being even as much as it's gotten better in the last 10 years um but breaking balls heaters everything has gotten better it's it's it's it's a hard game to play it's crazy yeah Randall listen really good of you to join us today thanks so much uh stay healthy and uh continued success my friend be well thanks buddy thanks for thanks for talk to you later see absolutely that's Randle gr the Arizona Diamond Backs um yeah and he's he's had a really he's put together a really nice year and there are you know like I always remember guys like Don Baylor and that at the end of their career guys that were never never going to get multi-year contracts someone's always going to give him a job because they could hit a fast ball and go get it well to to to your point I that I was looking up his stats just to see if my my question was war was warranted and off the fast ball randle's hitting 329 off the speed pitches which is a something straighter right yep like a like a change up like a you know a split finger like something that has more straight and then downward movement to it to where you can sort of manipulate the barrel and still catch it out front and have a chance sitting 152 off the breaking ball so basically you can tell he's bought into one side of it and sort of eliminated the other side if I hit the something that's spinning more power to me but I'm going to hunt something straight and hard and get ready to hit it stats we'll back that up doesn't that make sense for a guy who's going to come into a game more often than not you're going to face vo well that's what that 474 is right I love what he said about you come in you got you got to get ready for the first pitch you got to get ready to like you want to swing at your pitch right and then and can't it's never the easiest thing to do that's that I think is he hit on something with the it's not so much the the velocity I they've made enough adjustments now and shortened things up and eliminated some wasted movement that will give them a better chance to to catch barrel and beat the dude to the spot now how they've combed that is not only are they throwing it hard it's moving later so it's tunneling it's looking like the velocity on the four seamer but now it either has run looking like a two seamer depending on what side of the plate you're hitting from or it's cutting so they can do it both sides of the plate and the velocity variance between the for seamer the Sinker and the and the two seamer and the cutter is not a great deal so it's very hard to tell the difference that's why hitting is so hard and now all of a sudden there's not a fast ball count like they will throw you a three breaking ball cuz because they want to and can they can flip it in there and throw it for a strike so yeah it's good luck that's a lot of what it is now and and Randle made a good point about can it ever like get better than it is now how how would it get better that's the million dollar question and and how would the better question is how will hitting ever catch up what can a hitter do to do something to combat the the velocity with movement I mean the problem what are you doing the problem is and we always talk about this with baseball and it's what separates it from other sports the First Act of a baseball game and I know you you've heard me say this the First Act of a baseball game is a negative act the pitchers it's the only sport where the defense has possession of the ball the goal in baseball is to not score when I hold the ball it's to make sure you don't score it's not like football where we're kicking off and you're going to have the ball and you're going to go down the field it's not like hockey we all want to score no the first thing as a pitcher I want to do is prevent you from doing anything and I don't know I don't know how hitting catches up to it I I just don't because you're always and and and because pitchers don't have to hit anymore all they have to to do is work on what they're throwing how they throw it that that's all they have to do and it's never been smarter like I you know I poke fun at the khakis all the time but the khakis yeah they're there to prevent runs I mean that's that's why they're there is to to keep a dude from from hitting a ball really hard where somebody else can't catch it where and where you really you really see it I think is the fact that organizations unless you're you know Paul skem I mean organizations really do treat pitchers like they're disposable let's just get as much as we can out of this guy's arm and then we'll KCK look at the race that's what they do right they're running them through there it's like a yeah how much can we get out of you absolutely as long as we can once we get you healthy we'll trade you cuz we know it's going to happen again and the pitchers know it and the pitch say all right well you know what my career may only be five years so what the hell I'm going to let it eat for four of those years or three of those years and if I have to spend half a year in somebody I got to spend half a year in somebody's I just Kevin I just don't know how aluminum bats somebody get hurt you imagine V using the aluminum I I don't know I I don't know I don't you doing something with the mound or or moving the mound like they I mean I'm sure there's something that major league baseball can do but an actual hitter trying to combat or change something up to to you know it's the movement with how hard they throw right it's it's if you well most people haven't but I have and standing in a batter's box even with a guy throwing 90 is not the easiest thing to do but you got a half a split second longer to make up your mind now it's 95 99 I mean the average fastball now is pushing 94 the other thing too like it's so hard to make up your mind whether you want to swing at it or not and the elevated fast ball now I the other thing too I think it was passon that made this point and it is true you know you can go into a cage and you can have all that pre-programmed stuff and it's throwing the pitch the exact same way you're going to see when you get out in the field but you're not out in the field you don't have the Twilight you don't have the Shadows you have the crowd yeah yeah and then you see people like Basset throwing the the elevated two seamers and the elevated Cutters I mean who in their right mind would ever think about doing that that was a no no when I played you never did that right it's too easy to get that ball in the air why would you ever do that now because you don't throw as hard as you used to throw and you want to miss the barrel get off the sweet Spa how do you do it with what because people don't like the elevated fast ball you do it with a little bit of movement and that gets back to that khaki thing so yeah I don't know I I don't know how you ever do it I maybe it is what it is I mean the athletes the athletes have never been better hitters as athletes have never been better than they are now it's not like they can work out more or or exactly less or we already went through the whole steroid thing yeah so um maybe this it is baseball is what baseball is now this is what you got to get used to watching I honestly think that this is the way it's going to be and you've you got the pitch clock in I mean you've controlled how how many times pitchers can step off I mean it's not it's not like it's not like they haven't done stuff to Pitchers cuz they have every year the past couple of years there's been some something added to impact on the pitching the pitch hitters would say that that's more of a hurry up and get me out thing I mean that has no bearing what me as a hitter is going to try and do to combat 98 with late movement that's what I'm say there's no and then we had Jason Stark on a couple of days ago said that the outfielders never played deeper so now all of a sudden you know the the the smart people running baseball teams are going oh yeah now you're trying to hit all these fly balls well we're going to give you the Little Blooper but we're going to take away the extra base hit it's like d danged if you do danged if you don't I almost hate to say it but I I almost think it's going to come down to they're going to have to do something to the baseball they're going to have to they're going to have to quote unquote juice the baseball that's the only that's the only thing I see Kevin I don't I don't know if that's going to make any difference de here's the deal it's like the top end hitter who is raking these kind of pictures will say now hold on now I'm doing it let everybody else catch up and and the pitcher's going to say well I've made all the adjustments I've worked out with all them camps I'm throwing hard let it let them figure it out John Schneider's manager of the tono Blue Jays he's got to figure some things out he's actually done a pretty good job of it the past couple of series let's see if we can do it again tonight 940 is the first pitch tonight Jay's and Diamondbacks the manager of the Blue Jays John Schneider joined us next Is Blen Barker on sportset 590 the fan and sportset [Music] all right welcome back to Blair and Barker on sportset 590 the fan at sportset a reminder that uh Mr Barker and myself are going to be taking some time off during the allstar break we'll be back a week from today huh yeah we're coming back Friday we have uh tickets to give away to see the Jays and the Rays at the Roger Center should we do that now absolutely while we wait for John Schneider yeah what do you think Derek you make the call should we do it oh then we won't then we'll wait because we're gonna have John Schneider in 20 seconds so we'll do the trivia the trivia question is disgustingly easy but uh the back leg is 416 413 3959 um it's your chance to leave questions comments for uh Kevin and we'll get to the back leg line at 5:30 but uh without further Ado let's bring in the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays John Schneider insight on Kiermaier, Bassitt, & Horwitz from Arizona John Schneider how you doing man what's up guys hey buddy Arizona doing it's hot man Arizona's hot how hot is it plane was like I think yesterday it said 108 today supposed to be 114 feels like but you know dry heat as they say yes dry heat GL the roof's closed yeah that is man I well you've been you must have been in Arizona this time of time I have but I don't remember 114 that's hot global warming my friend man global warming uh just some business get out of the way John just wondering if there's any updates on Dalton Bow and uh Jimmy Garcia in particular uh yeah uh Jimmy's gonna pitch tonight in in uh Triple A uh feeling better so he's going to pitch an inning tonight uh VAR think he should be good to go today uh just kind of waiting to see how he gets through the first you know initial things when he gets in and um B still dayto day he's not going to be uh in the starting line up today still kind of working through um best steps for him this series and kind of going forward so see how he is today um probably make a decision at some point today with Bo whether he's going to be uh stay active or or go on the I uh before we get to tonight's game and look back a little bit on that San Francisco series um there was a report yesterday in game about Kevin kerm uh going on waivers I know that you he he spoke to Shai and you spoke to shy and and um and and I was just wondering John I mean first of all we know the waiver process is supposed to be um secret or it's not supposed to be public I guess is the way to put it uh what was that convers ation like for you and and because again it's supposed to be a secret process it's out there you've basically got to address a situation like I don't know how many times you've had to talk to players about there's a report out there that you have been placed on waivers and I just want you to know etc etc etc how how difficult was that discussion yeah I mean it's right after you win a game and win a series and um I think out of respect for Kev you know um just wanted to have him from me and from the organization saw it online or something like that it's um players like that you know Kev understood it he understands where he is you know kind of where we are all that kind of stuff um he understood it you know it's it's something that's new and it's a little bit awkward but um he's cleared and he's he's you know with us today playing today um it's part of the business you know I think that you know kev's been around 10 years he kind of gets it he understands you know how it works um so it was you know pretty straightforward um it's always tough because you know you're having that conversation because you're not where you're at and the individual probably isn't where he's at isn't at where he wants to be so you know Kev understood it pretty quick and um you know happy that he's still here uh Danny Janson hit his first home run since May 20th anything you saw differently from the Home Run mechanically mentally that will tell you maybe he's going to start hitting a few more of those I think he's got to just drop to a knee every swing absolutely he'll hit it out y worked for Reggie Jackson didn't it why not it ain't broke don't fix it yeah um no he caught a sinker that he got in the air you know I think Jen when he's going good he can do that and um you know he's he's slowly kind of getting back to what what has made him a good offensive player over the last couple years which is getting the head out and pulling the ball and getting in the air you know um been an up and down you know awesome start for him obviously and then kind of a little bit of a of a lull of a rough of a rough patch a lot goes into it you know just he just just had a baby he missed some time you know um his performance you know this time of year all that kind of stuff probably a lot going on in his head but um his the last week his work has been better and I think just you know understanding what a pitcher is trying to do and he matched up pretty well against six yesterday but I think with him though he I mean he he he needs to kind of continue to do that for us going forward I that's just a big a big boost to our lineup if he's doing that how hard is it to make an adjustment when you're a pull hitter I they made an adjustment about flipping him a bunch of stuff away trying to force him to try to maybe think more right center than up the middle to the pool side is it tough to do that I mean standing around on top of the plate I I've never tried to do that but I I would think that's not the easiest thing to do to let it travel and just flip a slider to right field is that a tough for a pull hitter to try and do that yeah I mean he's he's very deliberate with what he's trying to do you know and I think in during that time where he wasn't going great you know teams were throwing a lot of stuff saw stuff going away he was seeing more change UPS from righties um I think he's not going to change his approach per se at that point it comes down to pitch selection you know um you're only as good as what you can handle what you swing at and I think for Jano it's okay recognizing I'm being pitched this way but it doesn't mean I have to swing at that I still need to you know try to force and work work at bats work counts into where he can handle the ball and you know sometimes it doesn't happen for a few games in a row but he he needs to kind of just stick with that it's you know he can still hit break and balls change UPS the way he wants to hit he just got to get him in the right spot uh for the because of the finger has vlat had to make adjustments offensively to try and have the same slug that he had been having before he got hit on the finger I don't think so I mean the first day or two after yeah he was a little sore um you know we saw him lose the bat a couple times in Seattle but I I think um he's fine you know he he just missed a couple balls in San Fran um you know right center and left field but um I he's feeling fine and I don't think it's going to affect him one bit going forward John how how good is it for Chris Basset and Kevin to go into the allstar break I mean I know I I I know that I'm sure Chris would have you know would have preferred maybe a little better Ting he scuffled a little bit but the team won both of their starts now they get to to take a breath uh in the middle of the Season how how important was it for those two guys in particular to kind of go into the break feeling good right and I know Chris talked about he wants to working some stuff but I mean I'm sure Chris is working on some stuff 247 anyhow but that had to feel good I think think for them yeah I think especially for Kev yesterday you know they're they're you know super aggressive on his heater yesterday I thought he located it fairly well uh against his former team there and and going seven innings was big for Kev after the outing he had in Seattle and for Chris in typical Chris fashion you know he comes in grinds through five innings after 63 pitches through two first thing he says to me yesterday is hey I'm available to pitch on Sunday if you need me you know that's just kind of how he is um so we'll we'll see how that you know if we even that but um I it is good I think for both of those guys who have been such a stabilizing force in our rotation um through good times and bad you know just guys you can count on I think like Chris's outing could have went sideways you know it could have totally went sideways after a tough game the first night there and the fact that he was able to kind of settle in and give us a chance to come come back that gets kind of overlooked um as opposed to some of his dominant outings so really good for those guys veteran guys to kind of you know end their half on a on a good note um we'll see how we line them up after the break and hopefully they can they can continue to keep going especially it was good for Kev it was good for Gau John you know all those veteran guys that you just mentioned uh they're all predictable like when you see them doing something mechanical you can basically you know Mark down as sort of what you they're going to give you that that outing is yariel Rodriguez getting close to being predictable every start now yeah good question um yeah I think he's he's getting predictable in a good way but staying unpredictable in a good way if that makes sense absolutely stuff you know what I mean but I I think he's comfortable in this routine now this starter's routine and I think he's understanding how his pitches play especially his fastball you know I think he was a little breaking ball heavy even you know the first outing when he came back in Cleveland um understanding that his fast ball is a really good pitch when it's and just being in the zone with it um not trying to strike guys out not trying to be too fine with it um but I do think he is really taking some good steps into being a a Bonafide starter you know and understanding how his stuff works in the zone not just you know getting in and getting out of the Zone but getting outs in the zone John it's been it's been impressive watching Leo gimnez kind of find his his his uh his footing early early in his career what have you seen from him that you really like I know Kevin's talked about how he does seem to have an idea at the plate we've seen him take some pites pitches yeah we've seen him take some pitchers pitches and you know look like a guy who kind of has an idea up there yeah I me I think the biggest step for him this year was kind of controlling the Zone which he showed in in Triple A and it's really it's translated in in a short amount of time here I've been impressed with that with him controlling the zone at the plate I've been impressed with this clock in the field you know I said yes finally got his first couple ground balls out of the way short um when he came up you know I I think I said to Hazel back at home where you almost want him to play with a little bit more up Tempo because he's such an evenk guy but I think what you're seeing is that kind of that even killed temperament really kind of paid dividends for him right now and he's he's been good you know first RBI first hits out of the way um you know stepped into the game when bow went out and was ready to roll he's been he's been uh uh he's been pretty impressive so far uh with Spencer at second base before we jump into his offensive side of the ball with him at second base what are you seeing uh what are you liking and is there something that you would like to see maybe a little bit more of maybe accuracy of arm like is there something that you obviously notice that maybe if he did a little bit more of that it would make him a better second baseman yeah sure I mean first and foremost I think he's he's pleasantly surprising us day in day out with you know play yesterday against yky kind of up the middle to his right um taking a good angle on that ball um he's he's been solid on the routine play solid on the double play I think things that he can continue to get better on it's it's the kind of in between plays that's when balls out in the Gap where is he going making sure he's lined up correctly talking to vlat who's the lead guy who's the trail guy um things like that that that just are kind of you know more Instinct you know instincts you know when you when you play there more you kind of you kind of feel more comfortable with it those are the type of things that we're always talking to him Carlos is talking to him every single inning about um but man I mean you can't ask for much more for a guy who's been a first baseman going over to second base in the big leagues and and uh you feel pretty good about him how's he been able to slug more to the pool side good question um again young younger hitter right and I think what has led to a lot of his success is understanding how he's going to be pitched and and really trusting information and not being afraid to take shots I think when he first got up here you saw when was it Milwaukee maybe you saw a lot of guys going in two seam cutter um you know and trying to jam him a little bit and I think his response was great to where you know instead of trying to to pull it or pull it foul he's like hey I'm not gonna swing at that um so it kind of speaks to his his mentality and you know when he gets a chance to let it eat he's he's letting it eat you know what I mean yesterday was a breaking ball 10 that you know that's that's not that's not easy to do you know to to put that ball into the Cove there on on a one oh hanging breaking ball but I think it's having the right approach having the M the right mindset and he knows when to when to let it eat and he knows when to kind of let it get a deeper and fight some stuff off and try to get on base so I think that's what it is um but been been again pleasantly surprised with the with the power he shown uh Lefty and righty he hitting second from now on rest of the season man he's pretty close you know I think you know the day Snell starts you know I probably took a lot of heat for not having him in there but he did come in and get the rally started with the double but I mean I think I think he's proven that right every every pitch is a little bit different you know and I think guys like him schneide Leo Ernie they understand you know I'm trying to put them in spots where they're going to have success now is Spence really opening some eyes whether it's framber Valdez Josh ha you know these yeah he's he's done he's done a really good job um I don't know if it'll be second in the lineup you know you may you may move it a little bit you know against a lefty but you know I think he's he's done enough to say all right I'm I'm ready to roll well I was all over you about the Springer leading off thing but and obviously I was wrong so I will never never doubt you again I mean I even came on our show and apologize to you I know you weren't listening but I apologize to you for absolutely not knowing anything that I know anything whatsoever about how to make out a lineup so I you mentioned Ernie I do want to ask about him he's hit a couple of homers he's had 11 total bases in his last three games it's free and easy it looks simple uh will is there something you've seen that maybe he's tapped into a little bit more power lately I think he I think he did that last year to be honest with you in in Buffalo and then you know you didn't really see it in the big leagues but I think him understanding how to um be a little bit more intentful with his swings early and counts and being able to adjust to pitches up and down in the zone you know he hits a change up from web that's like way down in the zone um that's the credit to his work that's the credit to his work with the hitting guys and being able to adjust the pitches up and down but I think Ernie you know he makes so much contact and I think kind of what you saw were pitches kind of where he can lift it a little bit easier for the home runs um and sometimes the blessing is the curse sometimes it's I can hit everything so I'm going to swing um so I think you know the last series or so he's he's gotten pitches in the right Zone albe a one of them was it two strikes and I think that just goes down to the work that he's been doing with his swing yeah John how does uh How does Zack pops cutter make his his Sinker better because we've seen him get some you know some responsible he's been put in some responsible roles here recently um great question you know it's it's kind of unnoted because it's you know he's throwing 96 mph hour Cutters in a 96 M hour Sinker that's it's pretty tough you know I thought the pitch the chappie the other day was actually a sinker and look up and it was a cutter um that he got him on on the fly out I believe but man with Zach's stuff and we've been saying this since we acquired him it's it's so good it's not like it's a lot like little where his stuff is so good you know get it in the zone and don't and don't get hurt um the addition of the cutter it just keeps hitters a little bit in between you know it's not like you're going to come in and sit first pitch Sinker and try to get underneath it if you're a righty you can get a first pitch cutter going the other way and you're going to grind out a third so I think having that in the back of their mind has been good and then you know it comes down to him making pitches with it it comes down to him having some confidence and throwing it and the catcher putting it down so I think they're all on the same page with it but again Zach's he's one of those guys that we're asking to step up in situations where you have a lot of your guys that you don't really um or that you're not not used to not having guys like him and Nate um Trev bur it's like okay here's your shot so take advantage of it you know it's been it's been a good couple outings for Zach with the cutter you mentioned Trevor uh you know I think lately and you well you know this better than anybody he sort of abuses that change up I mean now it's almost 7030 throwing that change up to fast ball he's almost predictable any worry that and would that change maybe of how you use him and what inning you might use him in because of the way heed uses the change up as much yeah I mean I don't I don't think it's he's aware of that and I think that when when treb's really the change up is such a unique pitch you know what I mean it's um it's different than any other change up or even split so hitters are they're looking for it if Trev get the key with Trev is just getting ahead you if he can land it for strike one or get ahead with strike one with his fast ball I think he's so much he's just in the driver's seat um he's just so much more effective so that's kind of what I'm always banking on so if it's the eighth inning if it's the inning if it's the sixth inning I'm banking on the best version of that guy coming out of the pen with good location so if Trev can get ahead of hitters I really don't think it it matters what inning he's going in um pretty pretty matchup proof righties and lefties because of that pitch but again it just comes down to him getting ahead of the hitters and going to work so it's uh I think the pitch is that good to where you can kind of be sitting on it and and still not do much with it but it all it all starts with him getting ahead in the count what do you got planned for the allstar break heading home to Florida uh after the game Sunday I'll be uh I'll be the guy with the family hanging out by the pool uh turning off baseball for a little bit but uh looking forward to getting home to uh to my own bed yeah awesome awesome man listen we appreciate your time uh go get him tonight and travel safely and enjoy the break yeah good luck all right guys thanks you guys enjoy your break too heard you got a week off so yeah yeah we we'll the next time you see us we'll be the first time we're back in studio so all right perfect you get a break from us as well thanks man see you buddy good luck talk soon take care John Schneider manager of the Blue Jays um interesting the Spencer hor W yeah I mean he's not he's not married to the two- hole which look I I but I I kind of I can get both on the list of things this team needs to worry about that's I I I can I can I can does he have a better option tell me it I mean I don't know it would depend on who's pit no he doesn't say it you can say it no like they right now the bats with him no matter if that guy's a lefty or righty are better than the other righty that he can throw in I know John knows his team better yeah but he no I was going to say he he did refer like I'm GNA have a hard time forgetting what Spencer hor how Spencer horr what's looked against Valdez and hater you know what I mean I'm I mean that that's like that's what kind of sticks in my mind um but I think you kind of got I I think what John was saying without really coming out and saying is is essentially let's see what the team looks like after the trade deadline you may be you may be seeing you mean if vat's here he's hitting second like yeah it's easy but but let's you know let's see what else let's see what the team acquire I mean I just I think John has to yeah I I don't think there's a whole hell of a lot definite with this team right now other than vat's hitting third and Springer lad off for now but I mean I don't like us changing unless they trade I I I don't think there's anything you know other than that yeah but um I think the I think the cutter from pop is interesting I think it's very sometimes hard for him to set the lane with the two seamer it's not a sinker it's a two seamer and and as hard as he throw it throws it's non-competitive a bunch of times so a lot of good hitters eliminate that especially when he has to face a left-handed hitter who can eliminate that side of the plate and know he's going in there and now all of a sudden you can even get a called strike on a cutter in and now the red flag goes up if you're a hitter and you're going uhoh now what do I do cuz he's got 96 both sides of the plate now I got to protect both sides I feel and I said this I I felt since they got him that there's something there I no idea what it is uh I know originally when they when they acquired him there was some talk that he was a guy they were going to groom for a ninth inning I don't know if he's got that I mean I think that ship has sailed but they have different heartbeat there is something there yeah absolutely but I mean I I think when they when they made when they acquired him they thought that you know let's see what we have here let's see if we can harness it but uh yeah there's something there it it's I I don't I don't know what it is and maybe the cutter is as long as he's getting some C strikes with it you got to get some C strikes if you don't they're going to eliminate it's the big leagues that's if you don't they eliminate one side of the plate they look right down the middle and if if they if if a hitter lets pop throw enough sooner or later he's going to throw you one down and you also know that what happens when you pitch in a late inning in what I'm going to call a responsible role the hitters are zeroed in more too cuz you're coming in probably with men and base or there's going to it's going to be yeah if you're getting leverage that means teams you faced before in you know same part of the lineup you faced before having better game plan against you you know when you can be a little bit more unpredictable like John was mentioning with the cutter teams will pinch it he's the type of guy teams might pinch hit against yeah I mean a natural movement that hard I don't think it matters lefty or righty it's just getting in the zone it's being competitive with it it's getting some called strikes that are not down the middle he does that because of that movement in the arm angle that he's got why not uh we've been giving you the chance to win Blue Jays tickets all season long here in Blair and Barker all you have to do is text the correct answer to Our Daily Baseball trivia question to 59590 standard message and data rates may apply our last question and answer was Daniel Norris Matthew Boyd and hyro labor van down by the river Daniel Norris were traded to the Detroit Tigers at the 2015 trade deadline for what pit words not the answer was David Price do you remember when I asked the one time how come Daniel Norris sounded so smart and you sounded the way you did and he was fromg said it's because he was on the other side of the mountain I just thought ever thought that's do you think that's funny I thought it was a I really did one the funniest things Gibby said uh today's question is to win tickets to CJ's and Rays at the Rogers Center on Tuesday July 23r on September 25th 2003 this Toronto Blue Jay hit four home runs against the then Tampa Bay Devil raise who was it he's left-handed it's the only guy this team's had that's going to hit that's that's not true no that's not true they had buch of I take that back anyhow today's question as I said is to win tickets to see the Jay's raised at the Rogers Center in Tuesday July 23rd September 25th 2003 this Toronto Blue Jay hit four home runs against the then Tampa Bay Devil race who was it text the answer to 5959 for your shot to win C rules at sport9 without question standard message and data rates may apply F how you go uh best hitter on the blue J no not on the blue the history of the Blue Jays and the history of the Blue Jays non Roberto Alamar division who would you rather have up that guy or Alamar down to run nining bases L take Tock buddy tick tock tick tock tick tock uh I would say thinkk long think wrong yeah so you have no idea just say it I have no idea I mean I think he's can't go wrong statistically he was here for so long yeah I'll say I'll agree with can't go wrong I I I'll agree with you I can't go wrong he was a remarkable Robbie Alamar was a terrific player allaround player he's like watching a gymnast in the infield he was so good um he was such a great Carlos though well there you go Bing Bang Boom it's Friday I mean everybody knew that anyway it's not like you told people something they didn't already know yeah this guy could roll out am you make more money than I make on the show though because I'd have never done that this guy could roll out of bed and hit doubles and see I was circling the wagons I was still talking about him and not giving away his name look what you did you just jumped right in there Feet First Look At Me car 416 413 I'm just now I'm all messed up yeah yeah yeah 416 413 3959 is the back leg line we will get to it on Friday it is Friday we always get to the back leg line I don't know what I'm saying we're going to take a break and come back and straighten this out it's Blair and Barker I'm right here buddy on Sports 590 the fan and sportset [Music] [Music] my microphone works fine there you go well you were talking and nobody could hear you I could hear be good just made a joke about you and your hair ball I know or fur ball what cigar I had earlier yeah you got to you got to cut down on those man you don't tell me what to do I get told enough what to do you ain't going to do it okay time I call you I can all I hear is smoking a cigar yeah it's not true you know you know actually what I'm doing is sitting on my deck trying to figure out what I'm going to say to to make you mad to get this show all fired up and have buddies of mine going you dudes are on fire today I can always I can always tell when you're smoking a cigar you get the you puff away on the phone and then you got the trying to give you a so yeah it's Friday that means we go to the back leg line 416 413 The Back Leg Line 3959 is uh the number to call should I run through this list gidy up buddy giddy up because it's Friday and four days off just around the corner okay let's go Jim from Calgary hey guys it's uh Jim from Calgary I know I said that great uh interview with Pete Walker I know Kevin you love him to death um would have been curious and maybe the next time you guys have him on I would have been curious if you would have asked them if during Springer slump and with b bashet in a big slump if they ever come and talk to him about how they might be able to see the ball better or or um you know get his insights as uh pitching Guru to help them hit anyway just really curious about that stuff because uh you know he would have a a different perspective anyway enjoy the show as always guys yeah that that's an interesting question I mean my first reaction was why not I mean they got 13 other guys that ain't working I go ask the pitch well they we used to do that all the time I used to do that all the time minor leagues big leagues no matter where I was at pitchers or pitching coaches both both both like if you ever saw me with a picture that usually meant I was stinking and I was trying to figure out how to fix it and you know if I if he was facing me what would you throw me why would you throw me this Cur was it Curtis Lan to tell me yeah he was beating me on the on Deck Circle which I've never believed that I mean I'm a giant human what you know do want I look like a child over there like it's and then you start to like Roll video back of how you look on the on Deck Circle and how really good hitters have it B on the on Deck Circle and how occasionally you'll see a good pitcher peek over to see who's on the on Deck Circle and they'll actually pay a little of attention to what he looks like is he paying attention to you and then you start to put two and two together that kind of thing so yeah I think the iPad's ruined all that and I I I would I would think the communication factor between conversations that a in the game situation between that I would have that older guy would have there were when there was no iPad there was not 17 hidden coaches there was normally one guy uh there was a pitching coach that was the conversations you were having what are you seeing how's it look does it look like it looked three hours ago when I was hitting Balls to the moon and that was how you would sort of translate the information hopefully don't do the same bad thing over and over again so yeah I think I think a lot of that used to happen a ton a lot more off the field than in the game now I I've asked a bunch of good hitters that I I I I think relationship between pitching coach and hitters would have to be really good I think relationship between a hitting coach and a hitter would have to be good enough that if a hitting coach was to see a good hitter talking to a pitching coach about what the heck's going on and why is this guy you know throwing me this way and then you don't come to the hitting coach yeah I mean there's 30 of them for the Blue Jays like sooner or later you're going to go to one of the 30 and they're going to multiply like rabbits like it's sooner or later you're going to go to the right one he's going to say the right thing Springer like it's just sooner or later somebody's going to say the right thing number bat straight up down gravity boom 98 I'm destroying it's like it took 95 of them to finally tell you that three and a half months in so Jim that's a tremendous question is but the people that I have talked to I don't think that happens as much now as it used to happen because now they have so much technology and let's let's be honest hitting coaches now have lots of feelings well I I was also going to say this L you know I think there's so much information out there now and and so much of it is you available electronically that I do wonder how much of that you know personal conversation goes on I mean I always remember our friend Pat henin talking about how Robbie Alamar came up them one day and said yeah come here with me we going out to the Outfield was absolutely and I think that I I think that still happens but yeah tipping the Tipping part's different than how would you throw me what you what are you see like like bass's real good at reading bats you think bass's going to walk up the B bashet and go if I were facing you this is what I'd throw you it ain't happening cuz you might be facing me in another two weeks it ain't it ain't happening so that it's just that that's that's why and there's lots of feelings there like they're just and used to there wasn't as much like it was everybody pulling on the in the same direction trying to do the same thing it ain't I I don't mean that a bad way but there's so much now individual technology that you can walk up to and just scroll it yeah play and actually see it taking place and now they can read how your bat speed is and they don't even have to be there anymore so yeah I just don't I think it I know it used to happen a ton when I played and from Toronto hi this is an from Toronto hi I'm I've called a couple of times this season but this is probably the one that I would most want answered it seems to me watching Bo bashet that he doesn't want to be a Jay anymore he is frustrated you can tell but he's frustrated more by his personal uh situation than he is about the team that he's letting down uh I really appreciate your thoughts on that it just seems to me the look on his face how he's reacting his shoulders I just don't think he wants to be a Jay anymore and that's fine thanks for answering bye yeah this is um I I you go ahead first an we really appreciate you calling in I I have I have no idea how you would see that in like I I I the way he looks is the way a 222 has looks that's that's the way you're supposed to look the the the actual mental part of you know saying that he looks like he don't want to be a blue jay anymore I I how what does that look like yeah I I'll I'll I'll say a couple things about that Bo looks to me like a guy who wishes 2024 was either over or he could have a redo of it um 222 he's a 222 hitter ever hit 222 no I am going to say this as someone who has said that this was probably what the dying days of the bo bashet Vlad era was going to look like if they didn't have these guys signed long term and I'm not talking about buying out arbitration but I'm saying if they didn't have these guys by now signed to a long-term contract I'm not surprised by anything we've seen um the fact that Bo gave gave that interview in San Francisco and I heard people people were saying oh boy everybody was reacting because of what Bo said and Bo was you know when you really listen to what he said and that da da here's the thing Bo hasn't done a lot of those interviews with of town media um you do an interview with the pregame show of another team the year before you become a free agent it's not an accident I I can I can tell you as someone I told a story on JD Bun's show earlier today covering the Montreal Expos Tim Reigns is a year away from free agency every city easy article Tim would you like to play in St Louis well St Louis boom Tim Reigns I wouldn't mind playing in St Louis headline easy headline done and then you know that's just the way it is so um no I I I don't think Bo is tired of being a blue jay based on what I'm seeing on the field I think Bo is probably already come to the conclusion that he is not going to be here long term and I think he's once you make that that mental break it yeah this this is this is this is what you end up getting and I've said this about Bo I've said this about Bo and I talked to Caleb about this Bo if you get him at the right time is fundamentally incapable of being dishonest there are some guys who will BS you to the hilt you get Bo in the right frame of mind at the right time he will be brutally honest with you look look there's a couple things I I I think off season I think he's very frustrated what they didn't do to to solidify the lineup make the lineup better is true I don't think I you're right I don't want to make it say it's all bow money contct let's not let's not lie about they gave him threeyear deal let's not lie about that like you you still got an obligation to show up for the team that has given you lots of money they have given him lots of money whatever that to they haven't done that for vlat they didn't buy out arbitration years no they took him to they took him to court didn't do that so so they they were buying into making him happy as the everyday short stop for the Toronto Blue Jays so you got to remember that part of it too do do I like that he said that no I don't he's he has an employer like he he works for the Toronto Blue Jays like that's they they've given him money he said see this is what I this is what I'm getting at what he said was very smart what he said was very smart because he didn't slag the blue JS he was asked a question and he said that the important thing is playing for an organization committ I think it's the the part where to actually put yourself in the position to have to answer the question that's it I mean you're hitting 220 like let's the bottom line is you're hitting 220 like and the expectations were off the charts coming into this season what said is right it is I I have no I don't know what that looks like well otherwise why would he do it why would he do it who knows have to ask but I I know I know I've hit 220 I know what it looks like well I'm just I'm just I'm just saying I we've talk know what that looks like do do I think Bose is a needs a change of scenery yeah I think he needs an absolute change of scenery yeah I think it has to be the exact right team I think the team has to be a winning team all the time yeah that's what I think essentially what he said go to that's what he said basically go to Carolyn from Acton Ontario it's a great question it is yeah got us far I yeah it's a question for Kevin um I've watched baseball all my life and I'm trying to wrap my head around why would they trade Danny Jansen when they have to have two catchers and why would they not trade Kirk um I'm just trying to understand the reasoning there I know all this trade talk and everything and yeah but um that doesn't really make sense to me unless it's something that I missing okay thanks love your show especially when you get Jeff upset abely AC awesome uh thank thanks for calling thanks for list this is an easy this is an easy answer one you can trade one you can't easy well and Danny the other the other part is Danny's a free agent you're not gonna have him next year any one you can trade one you can't yeah but you're not gonna have Danny next year anyhow one you can trade one you can't one's an asset for going forward to the future for the Blue Jays and one is I mean I'm talking about what you would get for Danny you're not trading Kirk to get anything like no who wants Kirk who's going to you stand they tried this yeah you're probably not they went down that road to try and but the point is you're not going to get much for either of them the reason you the reason you would trade Danny is because he isn't going to be here next year yeah sounds like they' tried to sign him too that didn't work no Shane from Halifax it's a good question hi guys great show thanks buddy um this question's more for Kevin as he was an next player um with Kevin km being put on waivers yesterday how do the players feel about that when they're saying we're still in this and we're going to Give It All We Got but with Kier going on waivers does that not tell you that management is thinking a different thing anyway guys great show watch all the time thank you thanks thanks Shane look I think that's a fair question but I I do think those most of the guys that have been talking about that we still have a chance of Veteran guys been around long have to understand where the clubhouse is at where the team is at where the where they're at and the standings they see the writing on the wall like you know there's a lot of common sense happening in that room so look again the I think sometimes people need to understand that baseball is still a very individual game you have friends and you're going to miss them but it's a very individual game and until it actually happens to you this is life this is the way it is like your buddies are going to go they're going to come and they're going to go and when your team has tremendous expectations and they're not living up to it yeah I don't I don't think there's a person in that team who was surprised that they'd be breaking this up nope and I don't think there's a person in that team who would be surprised that Kevin kier's on and by the way we should mention according to John he's cleared waivers yeah so that's shock let's see where that go what no oh hell no no uh look at your face you know he's he's a bench player I just said that to get you didn't get me didn't get me fired up Bob from Toronto Bob hi Jeff hi Kevin he it's Bob from Toronto again I just like to talk about discipline and respect uh I'm thinking of John and the manager of the Blue Jays John Schneider um I'm wondering if he has been too too close to too many of the players on the way up through the minor league system and now in the Jays such that you know he just doesn't carry the level of discipline and respect I mean respect for what he's saying to them not respect for him as an individual I'm sure they all like him in many ways but I think now it's about time that somebody who has the respect from playing the game like mattingley and so on is given the Reigns such that he can call the shots sure he's going to get information from the khakis but basically he has the overall wherewithal and respect to call the shots and to say to players no you're not doing the job right now this is what you need to do and I want you to start doing this now I mean he's been there for two years I don't think there's anything stopping Don maddingley from exercising some sort of influence yeah again his title is offensive coordinator I don't know what it means but as I said last night the Blue Jays are offensively uncoordinated so two times in two days yeah I wouldve been waiting to say that I've been waiting to say that but it's true um do I think that the players would respond any different to Don mattingley I think there are guys in that Clubhouse who are probably vaguely aware that Don mattingley was a major leager they know about it but I think they're probably guys in the clubhouse that have no clue what type of a major leager Don mattingley was I think a player I think a manager is only as good as his players yeah I think right now consistently the talent level on an everyday basis is just not there for the Blue Jays 1 through 26 and I was gonna say this if John Schneider is too close to some of the some of the players coming up you'd have a hard time telling that the bo bashet who he's managed all the way up and who moved all over the the lineup so um I think sometimes people misinterpret the fact that John has a lot of institutional knowledge or had a lot of institutional knowledge about players at the minor league level with meaning that he was really really close to those players at the minor league level you know I'm sure John had to scold bow and at some point when they were double A or Triple A uh and I also think that when you get to the majors and I've actually I've talked to guys who've come up through the minors and managed a team in the majors they'll tell you that major league the relationship changes like you might get away with the father son stuff a little bit in double a major leagues is different the relationships are automatically different you've got more voices in The Players ear I've never been on the team before where the manager was in the cage never I I I can't even really remember when I was in a clubhouse where a manager was actually in talking with players I mean I think batting practice Yeah it most managers do like managers that have been around a little while that want to stay in shape most of them do throw to the first round or whatever and they get used to it and they get in a Groove doing it and I just don't uh I mean if you want to blame anybody blame the headden coaches is it John's fault that Springer was stunk for three months and Bo hasn't been good and vlat was bad for two months and V Show's like falling off a cliff and I let's uh the bull pin's not any good is that johnville I let's go to Owen crisp and uh Westport Ontario very quickly squeeze this one in because I think this is a similar vein Mr Barker my name is Owen crisp MRP Ontario and I would like to know why management will not clamp down on flatty standing watching balls land in the infield and only getting to second base when he could get to third or Beyond I welcome any feedback that you can provide that's Owen crisp in Westport Ontario just north of Kingston yeah shout out to Westport family Cottage near Westport fine fine Brewery you have any idea what Owen's talking about I mean I've never seen a player go to Third and the I think he's talking about going maybe running maybe maybe running hard I I don't know I think V I mean I don't know I think vlat plays hard that's just me I mean I think this gets back to you know people people do see vlat laughing and having fun and all that I mean I I don't know I I um I mean I I again I think vlat plays pretty hard I think vlat like anybody else when they're scuffling has days where he doesn't look very happy and and but I've never seen day that vaty doesn't look happy when when is that day I was going to no I mean know I mean when when he I've SE well when he strikes out and he slammed his head bat and things like is what I'm saying but um I I don't uh I mean Owen's not a big fan of vlat you can tell that so every time that vlat doesn't do something that Owen doesn't like which is fine you're a baseball fan you can like and and dislike who you want I I haven't really seen that part of it I you know again I I'm sure that that John and and the Thousand khakis and high performance people and the 115 hidden coaches jeez we've gone from the same conversation we've gone from 18 to 30 to5 like I said it's like rabbits man they just multiply they multiply the same I'm sure the players I'm sure the players get in the charter they go the hell you I gotta be more I got to be honest who are I'll be honest with you if they trade vty the lineup's unwatchable I'm in that camp isn't it funny I would just got a few here but isn't isn't it funny how you go back to when vlat and Bo came up got to get both those guys signed they're the future then you thought boy vlat sure seems a little it seems as if there's some stress with Bo in the organization all the time because of contracts and vlat seems so happy to be here probably going to sign vlat and not going to get Bo then Bo signs that three-year deal through arbitration all of a sudden you're going okay it looks like maybe they can sign Bo because they've already agreed in what he's worth here and then vlat you know Bo hits well and vlat scuffles and you're going boy maybe they should focus in signing Bo then you get to this year and B's scuffling vlat takes them to arbitration wins and you're going ah man they're not going to sign either of these guys now all of a sudden people are saying you know if I had a choice I'd probably sign vlat more than both this is this it's it's like we've gone back and forth in this thing the whole time and I I think I think at this point the only guy you've got a chance of signing who's who is vlat and I don't know what how good that chance is miracles happen hey that's it for us everybody enjoy your weekend enjoy the allstar break we'll be back on Friday I mean adios I just I've never seen you this happy actually I have but that's a story we're not going to talk about on the air that's it for us enjoy the baseball enjoy the weekend enjoy the break watch Paul skines the allstar game watch him get lit up have a great break have a great weekend