Halford & Brough in the Morning - Dakota Joshua Is A Toronto Maple Leaf

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

In hour one, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Israel Fehr look back at the previous day in sports, they react to the Canucks trading Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs (3:00), plus they get the latest Blue Jays news & notes from Sportsnet Jays reporter Shi Davidi (26:03). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun announce. I think you're going to want to hear this. Five to go. Warriors cough it up. Lawson on the move. Three on one. Martin! That's the first half with an exclamation point. If there's a way that you can work something else for Mason McJavish, like that's the one I would jump on right away. would jump on right away. Good morning. Welcome to Halford and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. Happy Friday, everybody. It is Halford and Brough, but neither one is present. We've been slowly whittling away from the normal crew here. Laddie's on vacation.

Halford was here yesterday. Now he's gone. So it's just a dog holding down the fort. I'm Jamie Dodd on vacation. Halford was here yesterday. Now he's gone. So it's just A-Dog holding down the court. I'm Jamie Dodd. Israel Fair is my co-host. What's going on? Good morning, Jamie. A-Dog, good morning.

Good morning. And basketball fan here as well. Good morning, basketball fan. Good morning. How we all doing, everybody? Excited? Big Friday show. Wow, I got not a lot of excitement back.

Gotta connect straight to talk about. I was very excited with the With the Dakota Joshua trade just for the content sake. Yeah, as soon as it happened. I was like, yes It was definitely like okay. What are we gonna do? And then it's it's mana from heaven on July 17th You get a I'm not gonna say a major trade or anything like that But a a significant Canucks tray player, a roster player on the move. Now they didn't get a roster player back. Nope. That's the point of the trade, but they might eventually they might add one. What we love about this management group. Absolutely.

It's always the next domino. That's right. I mean, we can assume the trade was because they're trying to get a center, right? Well, we're freeing up calf space for their eventual center deal, wherever that may come. Well, we're going to talk calf space for their eventual center deal wherever that may come well we're gonna talk about that a dog don't you worry very sad three hours on that topic specifically we are coming to you live from the kintex studio kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for 650 650 is the dumb bar lumber text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years.

Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbar lumber.com and how for them brought up is brought to you by sans and associates species first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3000 five star reviews. Visit sans dash trustee. A lot coming up on the show today. As mentioned, we will dive into the Dakota Joshua trade from every possible angle here momentarily. But of course it is a Friday, which means it's an Ask Us Anything Friday, and we are giving away a hundred dollar gift card to AJ's Pizza on East

Broadway for the best ask us anything or what we learned submission so start sending those in now 650 650 is the dumb bar lumber text line we will announce the winner at 830 so of course ask us anything pretty straightforward you text in hashtag a UA you can ask the four of us any question you want anything on your mind and then what we learned, you know, the drill there hashtag WWL, what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports guest list today starts at 630 shy DVD sports nets MLB blue Jays insider will join us in the second half for I

guess ladder 40% of the major league baseball season starts today. Blue Jays facing the Giants I believe so we can talk to shy about the second half outlook for the Jays what he expects them to do at the trade deadline and maybe a little bit of the lay of the land around the league as well with shy seven thirty can you believe this is he we are I mean some training camps have started already for the teams I believe that are playing in the Hall of Fame game. But league wide NFL training camps get going next week. So Seahawks will report all the veterans will be reporting. We are there. We are at that time of the calendar. So we will look ahead a little bit to NFL training camp some of the big storylines to watch, some of the interesting teams to watch with Nick shook from NFL.com at seven 30 and at

eight o'clock it is the Moj will chat BC Lions with him and we'll get his thoughts on the Dakota Joshua trade and what might be next for the Canucks as well. I should also mention in there we got an open segment at seven so we can do a lot of ask us any things at that in that slot I have an ask us anything that I'm excited to share with the group so maybe we'll do that at 7 so at 8 o'clock it is the Moj at 730 it's Nick Shook and at 630 it's Shy Davidi before we do any of that let's tell everyone what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety

simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit BCCSA dot CA and with all due respect to the open, which we will touch on its second round is in swing here at Royal Port Rush. The big news locally, the Canucks traded forward Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth round pick all the way in twenty twenty eight and as a dog referenced and as we have become accustomed to with this management group we see a trade like this and our immediate question is what's the next domino to fall what's the next shoe to drop and we will get into that. I do think it's worth taking a moment or two

before we get to that next discussion. Okay. Is it Jack or Elizabeth? Who's it going to be? Are they going to wait? Is it Mason McTavish? As we heard from land in Ferraro as a suggestion on the intro clip before we get to that part of the discussion, I think it's worth kind of just taking stock of Joshua's time in Vancouver, what he did and also why ultimately this was the path that management shows with the player, despite not that long ago having signed them to a pretty significant extension. And you know, Joshua was one of those players whose early pro career was really affected by the pandemic and you know, taxi squads and didn't get a ton of time in the HL. It was

all disrupted a bit of a late bloomer. I think the story is actually that he had been playing with Utica when they were sharing like yes St. Louis was using Utica as part of their farm team as well and Ryan Johnson saw him was like oh man this guy this guy's got some potential the Canucks signed him to a really cheap deal. Eleven goals the first year and then of course remember the second year in Vancouver He really blossoms finds that chemistry with Ted with Teddy Bluger and Connor Garland and Garland Especially scores 18 goals in 63 games has some big moments in the playoffs for them as well And you know at his best he was kind of I don't want to call him a true unicorn or anything but it's rare to have players in the NHL with that combination of size and hands and touch around the net

that he showed at his best. For sure. And there's a reason, especially going back to that season where he found his game, he found chemistry with Connor Garland, that he was, he was a fan favorite. People really liked watching him play. He was one of the more popular players in arena, like reacting to what he's doing. It's not like there were Joshua jerseys everywhere, but what he was doing on the ice got a reaction from fans.

And going, hey, we like what this guy's bringing to the table. As you said, Jamie showed up in the playoffs. I actually, I had to laugh a lot yesterday when I saw the tweet that said that the Dakota Joshua has scored more playoff goals in the last two years than Mitch Marner and his team missed the playoffs the last season. So that tells you a lot, a little bit about where he's going and the mindset of Maple Leafs fans at the moment. I think they're happy to have them. I think for a guy like Dakota Joshua, and we can get into how difficult last season

was for him. There were some, some very legitimate reasons for that. And it's that weird thing that happens when you sign that contract for a guy like Dakota Joshua, as you laid out Jamie, the early part of his professional career was pretty turbulent. And for a lot of reasons that were outside of

his control, but he wasn't necessarily getting the opportunity that he wanted. It was quite up and down. He comes to Vancouver, he gets that opportunity. He gets a long-term contract that pays him pretty well for a number of years. And very quickly, that contract becomes a little bit of an anchor, not an anchor in the sense that it was completely Getting in the way of everything the Canucks wanted to do but it was at least a question of hey Where is this guy on the pecking order right now? He's certainly not among the top four wingers No, he's probably behind Kiefer Sherwood and Drew O'Connor at this point Can you really afford to have a three million dollar guy on the third on the fourth line?

Even though he does bring all those skills that you mentioned the physicality the the ability to to get to the net and to score goals he he got squeezed out and I do think that he's probably well I'm sure would have loved to have an opportunity to have the bounce back in Vancouver looking at it as I can do this in Toronto there they you know they brought me in for a reason. Yeah, and of course part of the story with Dakota Joshua then is coming into this season battling cancer and that's just

incredibly difficult circumstances and it takes him a while to get on the ice and then he was never really able to make that consistent impact. And I know there was other injury issues as well this year. And I don't think, and first of all, we should give credit to our guy, Thomas Trance at the athletic. And of course my Canucks talk cohost here on six 51 for,

for breaking the trade yesterday, but also for kind of being all over this in the weeks leading up to it pointing to Dakota Joshua and also Teddy Bluger as, Hey, like be prepared. This is definitely something that can happen. They're exploring it. These are targets on the roster. And as we've been talking about that and you know, relaying Drance's reporting, we've gotten some questions like, well, hold on. Why is it Joshua? Why are we not talking about Neils Hoaglander? Why are we not talking about Drew O'Connor here as potential guys to move? And I think you just look

at it and it's, it's not holding anything against him from last season but it was a down year. He's also twenty nine he's a lot older than Neal's. So you just kind of go through the combination of you know Drew O'Connor obviously they prioritize to get from Pittsburgh and sign him and I think the the speed element is a bit of a separating factor there what they like between him and Dakota Joshua. You just kind of go through all the different factors and Hoaglander making less money slightly, but substantially younger. And I think you would still say a lot more upside. So if you're kind of judging between these three wingers, okay, how what's the most logical move this

frees up the most cap space and you're also sending out the oldest player. And I'm not sure it was anything more complicated than that. You know there's been some bit like I think Rick Dahlia was and all they're souring on Joshua. I don't know if it was that I don't know if it was like I were out on this guy as a player as much as it is we want to have some cap flexibility. You go through the list of options in front of us. This is the guy that makes the most sense ultimately maybe by a narrow margin but you can understand why he was the target. Yeah, absolutely.

And the things that they have valued and valued when they gave him a contract extension, that those things didn't really change. And those are, I think, the things that are powering the opinions that we're seeing from the fans, that he has a physical element that a lot of the rest of the roster doesn't have. And that's the reason that people like him and valued him and what he brought to the

team. Those players, Drew O'Connor could maybe be a lesser version of that, but he does have the speed. Hoaglander, we know has the speed. We know he can be a bit of a water bug and a little bit of a pest, but he's not going to bring that top line absolute physicality that a player like Joshua is. So I understand fans now looking at the lineup and thinking, well, where are they getting that from? Well, Kane, maybe. Well, I was going to say, I

want to wonder how much the Evander Kane acquisition kind of gave them permission just internally. I'm sure you know what I mean in their own perspective and say, okay, well, at least we got someone that we think we can be a better version of that yeah right it to come in now this text comes in why are the Canucks getting rid of size and grit for not only just a fourth round pick but a fourth round and fourth round pick in three years from now. I get that like it's not like you only need one great player right so all of the ender canes so now we can just get rid of anyone else You also can't prioritize it over everything else right and clearly there's only one I want to see they need the money for to say that's exactly like they don't have a choice

I mean the Leafs like it was a steal for if I was a Leafs fan I'd be thrilled like if Joshua gets back to his peak you pretty much got the guy for free like that's a huge win for The Leafs this deal they definitely took advantage of the situation in the fact that the Canucks needed to move somebody out and I mean I don't think they could have gotten much more base in their situation but man if I was a Leafs fan yeah I'd be thrilled but also I mean you look at it and they gave a fourth round pick for of Andrew Kane right so you can say oh they took advantage of the Oilers in the exact same situation. Oh fourth round pick what does that do for

you? Well it gives you ammunition to make moves like this, right? If another team is in a tough spot, this can allow you to go get the deal done for similar tier of players, right? And obviously I think a Vander Kane has more upside than Dakota Joshua does going into this year, but that's ultimately what this is about. It's nothing. It's not a commentary on Dakota Joshua. And I get the it's unfortunate that I don't that he didn't have a chance to come back and have a fully healthy season with the Canucks and kind of remind everyone what he could do when he's in a really good physical spot. But I don't think this should be read as a verdict against him as a player or a verdict against

what they could expect from him this season. It really is in this case more about clearing up cap space for what they want to do next. Now, as we've become so used to with Patrick Alveen and Jim Rutherford, we're expecting, I think everyone naturally expects you see Dakota Joshua out for a fourth round pick. And I was wondering, is it going to be before our show that we'll see the next move? Right? Cause you think back to the JT Miller trade, it was later that night that they flip it for Marcus Pederson.

We there's other examples on a smaller scale where it's, you know, I go back to like the Travis Dermott trade, right? Where they moved to Amonik. And I think it was not long after that, that it's Travis Dermott coming from Toronto. We'll see. I know again, to reference Drance is reporting, he said kind of, well, hey, they might be comfortable going in to Trance's reporting. He said kind of well Hey, you know They might be comfortable going in to the season with this cap space and kind of seeing what comes available but that really is Where everyone is gonna be looking now and what we're all gonna be waiting for what is right there Jack Rosalvick is there 20 goal

Guy, I mean, I know he's not He's not the fate of favorite amongst Canucks fans necessarily I know some people aren't necessarily interested in the Canucks acquiring him, but he's scored 20 goals a couple of times and he's a serviceable player. So Rick Dollywell has mentioned that there's been conversations with Jack Rosalvick now sat our guy Satyarshah here at the station said they're maybe still looking to clear more cap space. Right. So that could be Teddy Bluger. That could be somebody else if they want to make a move of more significance than just someone like Jack Rosalvick.

Drantz again as I said suggesting that one they don't necessarily see any of the any of the remaining U.F.A. as the kind of quote unquote solution to the two C's issue which doesn't mean they wouldn't be interested in them but maybe they're also interested in keeping their options open into the season. So you add all of that up and Would it shock me if you know in an hour here, we're talking about a breaking Jack Roslick signing No, it wouldn't but I also don't know that we should just kind of Mentally expect and commit ourselves to oh, we're gonna be analyzing the Canucks new to see on Monday You know what?

I mean This was something that could it feels like it was not we have to do this because we've got another deal in the hopper and we have to clear the cap space right now. It was more, we know we want cap space, so let's just do this and then we'll see what comes along. Yeah. It's an option now for them where it simply wasn't. They did not have the cap space to bring in a player like Jack Rosalvick on a one or a two year deal at this point. And so they've given themselves that avenue to explore that. And it's a weird situation with him because he's been now on the market for 18 days.

We have not heard any reporting really about why that's been the case. What was he looking for? Was he thinking, I've been mentioning it throughout the week, did he think that he could get an AAV close to Christian Dvorak's 5.4 million in Philadelphia, given how much Rozzelvich has produced in his career? As Adog mentioned, multi-time 20 plus goals. He's been a guy that's been 30, 40 points pretty consistently.

He just had an effective season with the Carolina Hurricanes, a win in the first half of the season. As Adog mentioned, multi-time, 20 plus goals. He's been a guy that's been 30, 40 points pretty consistently. He just had an effective season with the Carolina Hurricanes, a winning team. We are talking about a guy who's bounced around a fair bit, but most recently was just part of a team that was one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. It's not like what we see kind of time and time again where sometimes there are some players that put up numbers on some bad teams, they go to free agency and teams aren't all that interested in them because sure, you put up 40, 50 points,

but you did it on a team that didn't do anything. Jack Rosalvick put up 40 points on a team that made the playoffs and was going into the playoffs seen as one of the Stanley Cup contenders. And I'm curious if his number is just that high and at this point, if it's been three weeks and that number hasn't gone down, we saw it famously in Vancouver

with Pia Suter a couple of years ago, at what point does the number go down? Yeah, because what we have seen time and time again is if you set a number at July 1 and that number does not get reached right away there's no point I think in lowering your demands immediately because you are going to get an NHL contract at some point. So wait it out see if teams make some cap space because say he went oh well no one's

gonna sign me I'm gonna take whatever three million two and a half million somewhere else. And then the Canucks make a trade and now all of a sudden they've got nearly $4 million to make a move. Especially with all of the cap space. And yeah, a lot of it is from teams that you project to be farther down the standings, but not all of it, right? There are teams that are, you know,

at least in the playoff mix that still have a fairly significant cap space to spend. You have to think he's not that desperate yet, Jack Roslick. Like I don't think we're in the one year, three million dollar range or anything like that for Jack Roslick. Now, is there a way for the Canucks to get it done

if he wants to come here? Yeah, I think there probably is. But it does feel like maybe it's more about him waiting for the right opportunity than it is, man, no one's even offering me a contract. Like I think that was the pew suitor thing. Like I don't know how many, go back a couple years, I don't know how many offers he was getting of any variety,

right, until the Canucks came calling. And I doubt that's the issue of Jack Rosavick, although as you said, there hasn't been a lot of reporting on that. So, I mean, who knows at this point. 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. This text comes in, Carlson,

Baines and Sasson are the happiest to hear about Dakota Joshua's trade. And I do think even more than okay, Jack Rosalick or okay, Marco Rossi or Mason McTavish. And we can talk about those players and those targets more concrete than okay. A two C is coming in the dominoino effect the clear domino effect from trading Dakota Joshua is about those young players and I would say ranking them Linus Carlson is the number one benefactor of this deal. This is a guy obviously We all know what he did in the Calder Cup playoffs for Abbotsford his his scoring touch

I'm on the show. Well, it's a big, what's the, what's where to stand? Is that how breath call it? Number one Carlson's dad. Yeah, that's it. But he looked good early looked at least not out of place in his NHL minutes, right? And then you see his goal scoring prowess at the age level. And it makes sense that the Canucks are looking at this

and saying, you know what, we would not pencil him in, right? Not gift him a spot in the opening night lineup, but they were so crowded on the wings before the Dakota Joshua deal. It was going to be very, very difficult for any of those young players, right? Whether you prefer Carlson or Baines or Sasson or even a Jonathan Luck or Mackie. And I think he's going to be in tough to make the roster at this point, considering the waiver situation for some of the other players. It was going to be extraordinarily difficult for any of those guys

to crack the roster breaking training camp. Now you at least have the path. And what it it wouldn't shock me at all to see, you know, a veteran winger on a PTO or a one year kind of veteran minimum deal come in to provide a little extra competition. But the path is going to be there for Alenis Carlson, for an Archdeep Baines, for a Max Sassen. At the very least, you can pretty much guarantee, I think Carlson and Baines are going to be

either on the opening night roster or the last cuts. They are going to get every opportunity at this stage of their career. Not Sassen? Needing waivers. I don't think Sassen needs waivers. I could be wrong about that. Oh, you're talking waivers specifically. So I think Sassen can go down. And I think that just inherently, look, it's open for him.

But I think that inherently makes him a much easier cut than Carlson or Baines. Baines is probably clear in waivers. Carlson might get picked up. But still, I think those two guys are going to get absolutely every opportunity to make this club coming at our training camp. For sure you need those guys at the bottom of the roster for cap reasons even though the cap is going up but the Canucks are going to assuming that they make another move between

now and training camp and soak up the remaining cap space or the cap space that they opened up with the Joshua trade. That's what made Joshua an attractive player a couple of years ago. He was someone who could contribute, his first year contributed in a fourth line role. His second year contributed in a third line role, where you're feeling amazing about that contract

at that point. If Carlson or Baines can come in, and I think based on the wingers that they have already, very likely to be a fourth line role, but still a role that you need to fill on your team. And if you can do it at close to a minimum salary, that is essential. That is essential to have efficient cash. Well, I think back to what Patrick Alveen had to say after the season before this most

recent one, right? The great season where they go to the playoffs and talking about needing to find an extension for Dakota Joshua. And what was the line? Well, I have to find the next Dakota Joshua. Now they did ultimately keep Dakota Joshua and I'm not saying Carlson is the same player, but similar profile as a bit of a late bloomer coming to the NHL, some physical tools on the wing and okay, can you get more out of him? And as you said, at league minimum,

he's making $775,000 next year. So if you can get a guy that you feel good, not just, oh, we're gonna call him up from Abbotsford and he's gonna plug into the lineup on occasion, but no, he's a third line winger for us. That might be pushing it even a little much for Carlson, but if you get that, that's an incredible value. And that kind of represents what Dakota Joshua was giving them before he signed the big

extension. We'll continue to talk a lot more about this and what their next options are, what it means for some of the young players, what you want them to do with the cap space. They've opened up with the Dakota Joshua trade. You can text in six 50, six 50 to the Dunbar Lumber text line quickly. The open second round underway right now. Brian Harmon in the lead at seven under a Scotty Scheffler has not teed off. I think he's teeing off at 10 after seven our time. He's at three under. So we'll monitor what Scheffler is able to do when he gets on the course.

Don't forget, send your, what we learns and ask us anything's in six 50, six 50 is the Dunbar lumber text line. We're giving away a hundred learns and ask us anything's in. 650 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. We're giving away a hundred dollar gift card to AJ's Pizza. I believe you're supposed to include the pizza emoji if you want to be eligible to win that prize. So make sure you do that. We will announce the winner at 830, but we'll read some ask us anything's anytime we get a chance throughout the course of the show.

Up next, Shai Davidi covering the Blue Jays and Major League Baseball for Sportsnet here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650. Welcome back to Help with a Brough here on Sportsnet 650 on a Fiesta Friday. It's Jamie Dodd and Israel Fair filling in for the boys live from the Kintex Studio. 650 650 is the Dumbar Lumber Text Line. Keep sending your What We Learned and Ask Us Anything submissions in. We'll announce the winner of the $100 gift certificate to AJ's pizza on East Broadway for the best submission at eight 30. Uh, how from a broth is brought to you by sans and associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit sans dash trustee.com guests on SportsNet sixnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on and now calling in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries from Sportsnet covering the Jays and Major League Baseball. He is Shy Davidi. Shy. Thank you for doing this today. How are you? I'm all right. Good morning fellas. How you doing? We're doing great. And second half of the season or at least the post all star break portion of the season gets going today for the Jays. They host the San Francisco Giants. And I mean, anyway, you slice it a very successful first half of the season to go into the break, leading the AL East over the Yankees over the surging Red Sox. With that in mind kind of what is the

the storyline of the second half of the season in your view, Shai? Well it's can they maintain it obviously and that's the huge question and then more immediately it's what do they do ahead of the trade deadline to try and bolster their chances to maintain that position and this is a been a season that has probably gone beyond expectations not just from a record perspective but it's also how they've gotten there you know Anthony Santa and there has missed significant chunks of time Max Scherzer missed the majority of the season significant chunks of time. Max Scherzer missed the majority of the season. They've had, Andres Jimenez has been on the injured list twice. You know, these were guys who were supposed to be pillars for this team. And it hasn't been them who've carried the Blue

Jays. It's been other players. It's been our reemergent George Springer. It's been the ascension of Addison Barger. It's been timely contributions in different ways from guys like Nathan Lucas and Miles Straw and Ernie Clement. And it's really been a team. And then the other thing is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had a nice season. Obviously got himself to the All-Star game again, but he hasn't gone airship carrier mode. So it's been really compelling.

I think all those elements tie together into what will be the story of the second half of the Blue Jays. The American League East appears to be wide open. The Jays have put themselves in a good position at this point, but the teams behind them, the Yankees, the Rays, even the Red Sox are right there. And I think the American League overall

seems to be pretty wide open. For as well as Detroit played in the first half. We know what Houston can do as well. There's not that team that looks like it has the dominant look. What do you think that's going to do for the trade market with all of these teams in the mix? Well I think the fact that you have so many teams who are going to go right down to the wire to decide what they're going to do. Like Cleveland and Minnesota are two great teams, right? Are two great examples.

Like they can, Texas Rangers as well, you know, these are all teams that can turn the trade market on its ear. And there are teams that are operating right now on parallel tracks. You know, they have a scenario where, you know, they could buy, they have a scenario where they could sell. And right now they're not in a position, even though they have records under 500, they could easily get hot over a couple of weeks and suddenly find themselves right in the thick of things. And so I think that to me is the major element here is that there are just so many teams that are undecided and there aren't and as long as those teams remain undecided there

aren't enough clear sellers for the buyers to go and pursue so it's gonna my guess and this is not atypical but be a late late moving market just because teams are gonna want as much information as possible for July 31. And right now, as it stands, like it should be pretty tight in terms of what's available. And whenever that happens, prices obviously rise commensurately. How aggressive do you think this Jay's front office is going to be prepared to be at the trade deadline? I don't necessarily mean in terms of, you know, the number of transactions or anything like that,

but more in terms of how deep are they willing to go in their farm system, shipping out futures to try to take advantage of this season and the fact that they are leading the AL East at this point of the year. I think they they're prepared to go fairly deep. I think the challenge for them is in sort of what they're prepared to go fairly deep. I think the challenge for them isn't sort of what they're prepared to do. It's more that their rivals can beat them in prospect deals. Right? So let's say you're the Marlins and you're looking to move Alcantara, right? The Blue Jays aren't the farm system that you're targeting. You're probably, hey, you'd want to go to the Red Sox system or you'd want to go to

maybe the Yankee system or you'd want to go to the Dodger system because there are deeper prospects and in some cases better prospects too. And so the Blue Jays can be beat in a number of deals where I think the Blue Jays have an advantage or at least an element they can use that the other clubs can't is they can take on more money than other teams and so sometimes clubs are looking for prospects sometimes clubs are looking for financial relief sometimes they're looking for a combination of both I think with it comes to deals where clubs are looking for either financial relief or for a combination of financial relief and prospects. The

Blue Jays are stronger in those areas but for the clubs who are just like we need to max out our return, we don't care about the money here, that's the that those are the clubs that the Blue Jays will have a little bit more trouble matching up with because again the other, there are other farm systems from contending clubs that are more attractive to buy from. At this time last year, we would have predicted that a big talking point for the Blue Jays right now would have been the future of Beau Bechet where his contract's coming up. There have been over the years a lot of talk about what that means. Is he going to be a long-term Blue J and so on? Because the team has played

well, we're focused more on how they can add to this team. But when you, when you look at the Bichette situation, the season that he's had, what's the outlook there in the short term? Yeah, it's really interesting, right? Because I felt all along that because Bo Bichette is a bit of a unique player in some ways, because he profiles in so many different ways, but he's not a power hitting shortstop, but he's not just like an average hitting shortstop, and he's not a defense first shortstop, but he's competent and all those elements. I think it's hard to frame the value on him. And I felt all along that when it came to him, that the sides needed the market to help them figure it out a little bit more.

And as of now, I still think we're in that spot where threading the needle on exactly what he is, Threading the needle on exactly what he is, you know, is he getting a Willie Adamis deal? Is he more Marcus Simeon in line? Is it bigger than that? Is he closer more towards Corey Seeger? There's a lot of eye into the holder with him because again, like he hits for average. There's no doubt that he is going to get you a ton of hits. Will he walk a little bit, but is his OBP is mostly rooted in his batting average? How do teams look at that as he ages and his speed declines?

Is he a shortstop longer term or do teams see him eventually as a second baseman? What does that do to the value? There are just a lot of numbers with him that are a little bit more difficult to figure out, whereas with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. it was not necessarily a touch more straightforward, but I think once the Juan Soto deal happened, you got a pretty good sense of what meant for the market of that of a player that elk. So I think right now the sides are on course for to get to free agency. Things can always change, but I don't think that if Bo Bichette gets to free agency,

it means that he's not coming back to the Blue Jays. I think it's more about just trying to figure out how to frame the value for him. And you mentioned Vladdy of course, who did get the contract done coming in to the season and you know kind of a strange season for Vladdy because you said he's at the All-Star game right? He's starting in that one but we also know he's not putting up the offensive numbers that he's capable of at his best. What does he need to do just to get that get to that extra level of production and really get hot for the J's down the stretch.

Well it's interesting, right? Cause one thing that people, that's kind of flown under the radar a little bit is the fact that he's walking more than he ever has in his career before, right? It's a 13.5% walk rate, 56 walks. Uh, to this point, it's, it's the highest it's ever been at the break. Uh, it's again, the more, more walking at a higher clip than before. And that's a pretty good indicator that he isn't getting a ton to hit. And so for him, it's when he does get the, a pitch that he can do damage on,

it's making sure that he doesn't miss it. And really that's something that it took Aaron Judge a while to get to as well, right? Like Aaron Judge was about the same age when he had it as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when he had his first monster season. And you know, Vlad is, Vlad has got five years in and is still learning and getting to that process.

So I think that's one element. Two, if there's a little bit, and I think this is in part why Bichette is behind them right now, if there's a stable, productive threat behind Guerrero in the banning order, maybe that changes a little bit how pitchers approach him at certain times too. And so I think those two elements can get there, but you know, we've seen this before with Guerrero where, you know, he's been good for a period and then he gets great for a period. And you know, from a timing perspective, the blue jeans have gotten so many contributions from elsewhere.

This would be the ideal period for, for Guerrero to pick it up and carry the team for the final two and a half months. We're talking to Shai Davidi here on Haliford and Brough Sportsnet 650. Chatting Blue Jays in the second half of their season starting today. And you know you were mentioning earlier Shai about hey they've been missing some key players, key acquisitions in Santander and Jimenez that they thought were really going to bolster this lineup and yet here they are leading the AL East and you kind of look at how that's happened and I think a lot of credit has to go to John Schneider and you know the debate and the

conversation around the Jays manager and how he interacts with the front office, how much control and independence does he have has been a fascinating one but I don't know how you know anyway you slice it you have to look at this and say but he's done a really impressive job. What have you made covering this team up close of, of how John Schneider has performed in his role this year? Yeah, you know, from May onwards, it's really felt like everything he touches turns to gold, right? Whatever movie comes in, like you did by like Eric Lauer's sudden emergence and then he's in the rotation and you know this was just a flyer signed in the offseason just in case kind of thing. The way that they've been able to mix and match different guys and get production at different points. Even someone like David Schneider you know getting sent down after a cold start to the season fixing

himself coming back up, but then locking in and getting a bunch of big hits for them in recent weeks. They really managed to get full by and there's been very good communication with players about if they're starting, why they're starting, if they're not starting, why they're not starting, when they might come into the game, the specific situation. These are the times you should be prepared for. starting, why they're not starting, when they might come into the game, the specific situation. These are the times you should be prepared for. You know, being told in advance, hey, like this situation is coming up two innings ahead,

you know, think about getting yourself ready for that spot if it comes up. Those little elements have really been important to the Blue Jays this year. And that's, that's on John Schneider, that's on the entire coaching staff. And, you know, I was talking to Nathan Lucas at one point. coaches this year and that's on John Schneider that's on the entire coaching staff. And I was talking to Nathan Lucas at one point and he was saying in years past we didn't necessarily pinch hit as much or sub guys in and out as much and you didn't always get the kind of notice that we have now. When you have that kind of notice then you can prepare, you can go down into the tunnel

and take a few swings and warm yourself up. Watch a video of that specific pitcher and think about how he's going to approach you, what you want to attack. So little elements like that have really picked up this year and have been a part of things. And it goes back to something, there are two things that the Blue Jays coaching staff John Schneider has always preached which is you know to players find somewhere find some way to be helpful in the game and that doesn't always mean a big hit but just do something that contributes to winning and then the other piece is the Blue Jays have to put their players in the best position to succeed and they've done that more often than not this year. As you know, all too well shy fans are not shy to share their opinion about this Blue

Jays management group over the years, but with a hot streak here, not a ton of talk about that and what the future looks like and criticism of recent moves, but I'm curious when you look at the whole picture and the moves not just in the last off season, but what they have been trying to build here. How close is this team to the management's vision? What Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins were looking to accomplish in trying to build this team and get it back on track after a disappointing season?

Well, I think they've certainly gotten the results at the big league level. I think it's also fair to look at what's going to happen next year. There are still gaps in the future. The farm system is better, but it's the fact that it was dry for a few years led to what happened in 2024 and led to a lot of the pressures that they're facing in this off season about their roster and some of the pitching depth challenges

that they've had over the past few years. They've corrected a lot of those things this year and they've got a new director of scouting, they added a new director of pitching to the farm system, they changed over a lot of player development approaches and so far at least it's the results have been better and they've actually had guys emerge from the farm system to give them important pitching contributions which is something they haven't had before be it Braden Fisher or Mason Fleuhardy or Paxton Schultz. So you know I think that

they're certainly in a much better spot than they were a year ago, not just at the big league level, but organization wide. It's still a bit of a gap from kind of where they were in 21. And when they had a team that really should have been in the playoffs, could have won the World Series and they, you know, they acted too late to save the bullpen that year and didn't get across the finish line. So you know the I think they're closer to that vision how sustainable this is it's still up for some debate but you know on the business side they are running a better business with the stadium renovated they did manage to upgrade the facilities in Dunedin, which is something that had dragged

on for the organization for a decade plus until it finally got done. There are a lot of positives too. So it's easy in a vacuum to swing one way or the other or to have some recency bias there. But you think on the whole, this is probably close to what they'd promised. But the fact is there isn't a post-season win yet. And that's also a key part of their resume. Shai, really appreciate this.

And hopefully the second half is entertaining for the Jays. Thanks for doing this. No problem, guys. Have a good weekend. That is Shai Davidi covering the Blue Jays in Major League Baseball for Sportsnet. And yeah, Jays resume their season four o'clock this afternoon hosting the Giants. You'll be able to hear that one here on sports at six fifty after the seas game. So a big baseball. We got the Mariners after that baseball triple header coming up Friday. Is heaven no it's sports net six fifty. That's right.

It is sports net six fifty. It's how for the broth. Jamie Dodd is real fair filling in for the boys today and it is an ask us anything Friday. So lots of good ones coming in and we got a few minutes here before we go to the next segment which is an open segment so we'll have a chance to read a bunch more send them in in, hashtag A-U-A. You can ask us anything on your mind. Adam, the former bath guy, texted, "'What's a bad habit of yours

"'that your significant other absolutely can't stand?' "'I don't know if I would call it a bad habit, "'but it is something they can't stand. "'I am a really, really fast walker. Okay. Just like put my head down. Yeah, I have that. I have that trait as well.

And it drives my wife insane. And it's funny because my dad was an even faster walker than me and it drove my mom insane. I have this, my dad is also, my mom calls my dad turbo because of that. And I think I just picked it up because I'm like, I'm trying to keep up with my dad. And I was not even as fast as him.

Like I've taken it down a notch. He's the standard. I've taken it down a notch, but it still drives my wife absolutely insane. And now it drives my kids insane too. Like I'll be walking to school with my daughter. And she's like, dad, slow down. Like, I just, I get distracted and I go top speed.

There's no reason not to. Yeah, that's, that's funny. Yeah, why would you walk slow? Yeah? Is this just a guy thing maybe it is I probably I'm a fast walker too And my wife will also get a little annoyed at me for it. They just like slow down. We're not in a hurry I'm like what's like I know you're crossing a normal street for myself You know and I'm like I just want to clear the intersection. Yes It's just like no you're walking through the intersection too fast I was like I'm not taking any chances here. No, I don't know the street. It's kind of and look like pedestrians

I'm I walk to work, right? So I'm I'm often on the side of pedestrians, but also like there's common courtesy Just get across the sidewalk. Yeah, you don't need to like walk the drivers can be crazy drivers I was got a right outside our station. I heard literally just cross Jason Brough save your life guy. He did he was honking guy Drivers are crazy. I almost got hit the other day right outside our station. I heard. Literally just crossed the street. Jason Brough saved your life. Yeah, he did. He was honking. Guy blew through a red light, literally five feet in front

of me, not even. And yeah, it was the honking of Brough driving to work that made me stop. He was like, what's this honking? And then this guy. This is this maniac. Yeah, I just see these guys ripping down whatever it is. Like, it was Cambie, I guess.

Cambie and Broadway. I think Cambie. And yeah, he was just ripping it. and I was like, oh man people are nuts People are nuts, but also like come on red light stop get out of the get out of the intersection Just for that reason alone. Yeah, exactly. Just go ahead and finish that crosswalk and get out of there Do you have another yeah a bit bad or otherwise think of one and then I went oh wait, it's the obvious one It's the it's the beard hairs in the sink. Oh That's a good one. It's kind of a classic. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's you know

I guess the other classic is the the toilet seat sure for men, but for me it's definitely the beard hair trim and not doing a good enough job of Making sure that those hairs don't just end up all over the counter a dog Do you have one other than the fast-walking that drives your wife nuts actually the fast walking might be mine It is yeah, I am a very fast walker just cuz I walk everywhere, and I just I don't even think about it I'm not I'm not trying to walk fast. It's not like I'm going normal to get home Which is like my normal this is it this is how fast I walk yeah It's like why I guess I'm also a very fast eater now that I think about it and that kinda,

I mean my folks would always make fun of me as a kid because my dinner would be gone five minutes within the meal starting and everyone else is just starting their meal. So I've always been a very fast eater and yeah, that didn't always hurt my wife as well. She's like, just slow down, chew your food. As long as you eat like a duck.

Homer Simpson like, pigs tend to chew first. He eats more like a duck. To me though, as long as you're not Like pressuring everyone else to eating fat. Oh, no. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, you finished your meal Just sit back relax, and it's not like I'm taking off right after like I'll sit. Yeah talking stuff I just that's I eat quickly this text comes in biting my nails, so I Forever ever since I was kidded as long as I can remember

bit my nails. And then like a year ago, without putting any conscious thought into it whatsoever, not like, oh I really gotta kick this habit, or this is my strategy or anything, I didn't care. I'm like, whatever, I bite my nails, I don't care. I was gonna say, you're giving yourself credit for taking a 30 year old habit? I looked down one day and I was like,

my nails are really long. I was like like I guess I don't buy my nails anymore I have no idea how it happened or why Jamie and I've never gone back to it. That's evolution I just woke up one day. I was like, I guess I don't I don't bite my nails anymore This text comes in is also from avatar G. My wife walked away really fast as well. I'm just saying Condolences to avatar G. That's dark Avatar G my wife walked away really fast as well just saying Condolences to have that's dark Mike the tile bender says you got to have two different walking speeds one for getting somewhere the other for strolling look If I'm going on like a if you're on the beach a nice walk on the beach or the seawall or something Yeah, I'm not motoring in city, but just you know, you're walking for a functional

Motoring in city, but just you know, you're walking for a functional Get it done finish I do not need to stroll that I would always rather be at The destination than on the walk. Why am I delaying things? Why not? Just get there Why not get to the restaurant or get to wherever we're going and then we can relax anyways 650 650 is the dumb bar lumber text line as As you can tell, it's an ask us anything Friday. So keep sending those ones in. I've got a Canucks one that I'm pretty excited to roll out. So we'll do that off the top of the next segment. We can keep getting in to the Dakota Joshua conversation

as well. He's now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. What's next for the Canucks? What do they do with that cap space that they've opened up? We'll talk to Nick shook at 7 30 and the Moj at eight. And of course we're chatting BC Lions with the Moj and speaking of the Lions, it's the biggest rivalry party of the year. Lions versus Rough Riders Saturday, July 19th at four p.m. With the watermelon smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get tickets at BC Lions dot com. More halftime broth next here on Sportsnet

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