OverDrive - Braden on Venezuela's World Baseball Classic win, Judge's legacy and the Blue Jays' outlook

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Former MLB Pitcher and Baseball is Dead Podcast Host Dallas Braden joined OverDrive to discuss Venezuela's win against the United States in the World Baseball Classic, Aaron Judge's legacy after the defeat, the AL East outlook, the Blue Jays' roster and the departure of Bo Bichette, the pitching depth in Toronto and more.

With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless. Big meetings land. Business grows. With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. We're joined now by one of our favorites, former MLB pitcher, co-hosts of the Baseball's Dead podcast. There he is Dallas, Braden.

What's up, Dallas? Not much, voice. How are we doing? Doing great, man. You guys licking your wounds down there or what? How are we feeling about Venezuela winning last night? Well, you know, I mean, I'll say this. For a hockey country, like the United States, as we've become, as everybody understands,

for us to be able to bounce back and take it to the diamond and come up just a hair short, sure, it's probably tough to swallow, but these guys are professional. No, it's, yeah, I mean, let's be honest. Is it disappointing? 100%. 100%. And I mean that with all due respect.

That's not late in. with expectation, but I think it's clear to say that that's the driving force, is the expectation. Anytime this team is put together in any sort of capacity with any complexion whatsoever, you expect to win. You expect to win ball games, and you expect to be the one who's standing at the very end of it all. That was not the case. A very deserving, a very good and outstanding Venezuelan team is actually the one who was left at the podium when it was all said and done.

So a tip of the cap to those fellows because they played an incredible tournament, not just one game. They executed on all fronts when necessary. Their bullpen was absolutely ridiculous all tournament long, really until the Harper Homer, they had gone virtually unscathed. So I think in totality, they put together a tournament worth remembering from an offensive perspective, from a pitching perspective. They made plays defensively when they had to. We saw the big swipe of second.

by Javier Sonoha at the end of the game, coming in for Arias after the walk. So, I mean, they just, they did everything right when they needed to, and that's how you win championships. Absolutely. And it is a team sport, and there's a lot of different guys on that team

that are superstars, great players, winners. Yet, you just knew it was going to come back to Aaron Judge in terms of the reaction one way or the other. You know, how the team played, how he performed. You know, a lot was made of his, I guess, pre-tournament speech that went viral. And last night he goes off and forth with three strikeouts.

How does this kind of adds to his legacy one way or the other in your opinion as a winner, a loser? Where do you stand on Aaron Judge in his performance last night? Well, when you're the captain of one of the most storied sports

franchises period in North America, in the world, frankly, there's going to be a microscope scope that you find yourself under that is hotter and more magnified than a lot of others. So his successes, his failures are amplified to the nth degree. And the WBC, albeit in March, is no different than the big stage when he finds himself there in October. And I think some of those, what I'll call lack of successes, others will deem them failures,

have been highlighted. And I'm not going to say it's not deserved some of the criticism because the numbers would bear that out. But I think that's just part of the role that he has taken on. That's part of the role. That's what comes along with having that status, that C on your chest, whether it's for your major league team or for the country that you're representing at the time, in this case, the WBC. Would you have liked to have seen more offense from him? No doubt. I think that very same thing can be said for everybody else that was in the lineup on that entire team. And I know there are some question marks about roster construction, or excuse me, should I say,

line up construction? And one thing I do want to say outside of some of the comments that were made earlier by Mark DeRosa was being Mark DeRosa, having to go into a situation where you're managing a roster that comes with restrictions and that comes with stern requests, almost slash demands, if you will, that's not easy. That is not an easy place to be. It's not an easy position to manage from. And that's not something that I think a guy like him is ever going to come out and publicly say and use as a crutch as to why things end up the way they do. So I think in one hand, you are justified in asking some questions and wondering if what the

hypotheticals would look like. On the other hand, I think you have to step back just a bit and realize that that is just not an easy perspective to have to manage from, especially when you don't want to publicly use it as, as I said, as a crutch. Well, do you think, is there another time that they could hold this where you could actually have full lineups and full bullpens and everything, full starters? Or is that just not an option? Jonas, I don't think it really is an option, man. As much as we all want to get excited about what the prospects look like of being able to start this thing in the middle of the season,

I just don't know that you're going to get enough people on board with that. I think logistically, that would be a nightmare, frankly. and I think, you know, if there was the idea of pushing spring training back or pushing the start of the season back in a WBC year, well, then maybe, because that might give players an opportunity to ramp themselves up. So we're at a point now at the end of spring training, where we sit today, with an opportunity for these guys. The next couple turns these starters are going to make are going to be getting near

and then leaving camp at full capacity. meaning they're ready to hit that 85 to 100 pitch mark when they take the ball in the regular season, when all of these pitches really start to count. So if you wanted to give them an extra week or 10 days or whatever it may be to wrap up and be an option so that this can happen in the WBC, then I think that might be something that you can look at. And I'd want to believe that everybody involved could be on board to get this thing started just a bit earlier, understanding what sort of momentum this tournament generates for the sport globally. We're not talking about folks in Idaho getting really excited about it for the first time in a while.

We're talking about folks all over this entire rock that we live on, being super pumped up about the sport of baseball and the energy that surrounds this entire tournament. We're chatting with Dallas-Braid and Longtime MLB. Our baseball is that podcast co-host. And I'm looking at, you know, what's going on in the spring now because the WBC is obviously beyond us and we're really chugging towards opening day here and I saw that Garrett Cole made his spring

debut today and you know if he's going to return he's going to be likely you know if he gets back to where he was throughout his prime that's a huge boost for the Yankees and I've seen a lot of people you know everyone's kind of mocking up how they see the AL East you know finishing

and it's generally I see the Jays or the Yankees at the top maybe the socks the Orioles obviously added a lot of power over the off season if Cole returns to 100%, which we expect he will, and he's dialing, they get a really good staff in New York. Do you think the Yankees are the favorite, in your opinion of the ALE East? Do you still have the Blue Jays?

Like, where do you stand on things as we're about two weeks out? I think it's tough. I've always had a tough time dethroning a team who has had the success, especially as recently as the Toronto Blue Jays have experienced. I think we can all understand that a lot of their success, success didn't necessarily hinge on one player specifically. It was a total team effort, as we say in baseball. But there was a player by the name of George Springer,

who I think had a lot to do with their success. Now, can you expect a similar season from here? From him this season, I don't know. I don't know if that's necessarily fair to put that on him. But I also think there's some other players on that roster that should they emerge or should they return to the level of expectation that I think came along with them initially? you might have, I think you might have a better feeling in placing them just above where the Yankees are. I think we saw some breakout performances last year.

I mean, you're talking about a guy in Ernie Clement who really hit the big stage and lit it up. There's a lot to be excited about when it comes to Addison Barger. I think for my money, the Toronto Blue Jays are still at the top of that list. I don't know that there's a chasm between them and the Yankees. but I do believe that it's a little tighter than maybe some folks give credit to. I wondered about Boba Chet and the impact that has on a clubhouse when someone who's like so significant on the team is just gone, how do you think like that will reverberate into this year?

Like does it have an impact on the guys you're just talking about where they're like, you know what? I got a little more opportunity here. How do you think that the Bichette departure impacts the Jays this year? Well, there's no denying that that production, is not something that you just replace overnight. And I think that's why I mentioned needing other individuals to step up and carry that workload.

I mean, let's not forget about what Vladimir Guerrero Jr. represents in the middle of that lineup. And I think if you can sort of lean on him and they can find a way, I don't know if galvanize is the right word, but I think if they can find a way to quickly move past the idea

that Boba Chet is not walking through that clubhouse door at any point in time, you can't be searching for help. You can't find yourself in a position early on, looking around wondering where it's going to come from, that's what this spring should have been about, was identifying how we are going to piece this together, how we are going to move on with the absence of Bovichet.

And that's where I think guys, like an Ernie Clement, like an Alejandro Kirk who continues to round out into a wonderful player, especially behind the dish, I think you just need those types of individual of our show. You need these types of individuals to continue to step up, to continue to deliver. and that's what allows you to move past. I'm not going to say forget,

because I know there's a lot of questions on whether or not this is a one and done for Bo. Right? We'll see you in 2026. Don't know how long we're playing in 2027. If we're playing in 2027, is there an opportunity for the Blue Jays to open up the checkbook once again and bring him back to the six where I think a lot of folks would have loved to,

including some steakhouses, see him remain for the rest of his career. Absolutely. I see. Yeah, I like that. I mean, listen, he's making $43 million with the Mets. this year. I don't blame them for taking that money. And you mentioned a couple of guys who I think they want to give the opportunity to. And protecting Vladian in the lineup, that's going to be a big conversation.

That was a big turning point for John Schneider last year. He moved Bichette into the cleanup role, and he mashed, and he was incredibly clutched throughout the season, and he was there protecting Vladi. I don't know who plays that role this year. Well, the guy that we would have thought Santander is just... Well, exactly. Santander is not a part of the program. He's not likely to play. Barger, I'm all in on Addison Barger,

but he's only likely going to be in the lineup against Wright. He's like, we'll see what happens on that front. The Santander, the Santander thing was honestly was a dagger for me, because the narrative that I've kind of been addressing is, will George Springer be able to follow up what we saw? And to the point of needing some guys to step up or fulfill expectation, Santander is, is the, individual that fits that narrative, that fits that bill. What could we get from him? A guy who was

essentially part of the witness protection program last year is still somewhere in a neighborhood comfy mowing his lawn and nobody knows who he is, right? He's just, he's not a part of it. And so that was going to be something that I think really could have helped bolster. I do want to say this. We're going to talk about Trae I Savage for a long time, I think, because that is an electric addition to the rotation and seeing what he looks like over the course of a full season. Now, am I telling you that we're going to get 200 innings from you, Cep? No, I'm not telling you that. But I'm telling you that having a guy of his caliber paired with a guy like Gossman, paired with a guy who I think I'm really excited about in Ponce, like there's some intriguing

pieces to this puzzle, right? You've got CIS. I think that was, I mean, that was done fairly quickly. that was taking care of in December. So I think, and then obviously you factor in Max. And whatever you're going to get from Max at this point, no doubt there's going to be competitiveness behind it, how productive and for how long and what kind of stretches. Because I think it'll be fair if we see Max take a breather, if you will at some point in time during the season.

But I think the pitching staff is in a position to be able to help this offense as it tries to identify who they are. Yeah, I think that's exactly what the plan is. He is Dallas Braden. Former MLB pitcher. Baseball is dead podcast. Great catching up with you. Dallas is always. Appreciate you doing this, man. We'll do it again soon. No problem, boys. Have a good one. Thanks for having me. There is Dallas Braden.

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