OverDrive - Kurkjian on the Blue Jays' impressive stretch, Ohtani's strong year and the Rockies' rough season

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

ESPN MLB Analyst Tim Kurkjian joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around MLB, the Blue Jays' hot stretch on the roster and the ceiling on the AL East, the star matchup between the Dodgers and Yankees, Shohei Ohtani's top notch season, the Rockies' horrible campaign and more.

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Maybe not. I guess let's get right to it. Here he is from ESPN. Here's Tim Kirchner. Tim, you're presented with the option to be a buyer at the deadline for the Blue Jays. Are you buying? Are you selling? Are you standing?

Pat, are you a believer? Where do you stand on the blue Jays? Well, you have to buy if you think anything other than that you're a complete idiot I love that. I love that. I like that. I got a real appreciation for that comment. I really Tim, I like that. I got a real appreciation for that comment. I really do. But seriously fellas, this is a winnable American League. It has been an up and down start for the Blue Jays. And at the moment, they're only a half a game out of the wild card. Now do I think they're going to make the playoffs? No, I don't. Do I notice that they just beat up on the A's? Of course, everybody beats up on the A's pitching staff right now. They have a higher ERA than that of the Rockies.

However, when you have already given Vlade all this money and people are waiting and people are impatient, I just don't think you can throw it in and say, well, we can't buy now. We can't buy. When you're in a playoff race, no matter how weak the American League might be right now. In other words, the Yankees are good, but they're not great. The Tigers are really good right now, but there are very few other really good teams in the American League. So when you have a chance to sneak your way into the playoffs by going to get somebody

i think you have to go get it but you gotta be smart you can't just give up good young players to get a rental that and you're still not going to make the playoffs be smart but keep your eyes open well i think likely to be the approach especially with this front office like they they need to win here. Mark Shepard might be a little bit different.

Ross Atkins is in a position where the heat's been on him in this market for a couple of years and that's putting it lightly. They've run into injury issues. Like I mentioned, priority coming on. Varsho had a hammy issue over the weekend. He's on the IL. Santander has gone on the IL. Yet you also got to look for internal improvement which was a catchphrase that Ross got buried for a couple years ago when he kept throwing it out.

Yeah you look at this Addison Barger kid, the weekend he just had man, this kid is unbelievable. Home runs every single day, can play all over the field. You know that one big bat, we kept talking about it Tim, like the one big bad was supposed to be Sonton Dare. If it's Barger, and I know it's early and it's a small sample size, but if this kid's real, how much can that help the idea of them being optimistic about their chances this year? Well, he is a huge element here. I was told about a month ago that this is this guy's chance to really show right now And he's the one that has to step forward and start to do something and in the last week certainly

He has I think he had two homers in the first 35 games got three in a row three Homers in three straight games got an OPS over 800 now. I mean this is good This is good what they're watching now Now how long can he keep it up? We'll see about that but this is what has to happen if the Jays are going to stay in this thing. They're going to have to get some production from people that they weren't expecting great production out of if they're going to do this. And again the schedule schedule gets pretty hard now. I mean they don't play a team, at least a bad team, until June the 20th when they play the White Docks. So they're up against

it, starting with the Phillies and a few other challenging teams here. So we're going to learn an awful lot about the Blue Jays in the next seven days, if not 19 days. Big time. And I think Schneider alluded to that you know you're you're not playing uh... you know texas anymore you're not playing athletics anymore you get some real heavy hitters coming through town you can hit the road plate of teams uh... varsho go back back in the air file is a real struggle for them defensively also he's been hit for power

son tonder it feels like this is as much about just giving him a breather. They tried that at times, even when he was banged up, giving him days off, multiple days off at a time. You know, we've seen this before where a free agent comes in and it just, it takes him a while to get going. We're deep into the season though. Though now Tim, like, are you concerned that not the whole contract, but the, the rest of

year one for Anthony Santander it could be a write off and if so how much of a hit will that be to the projection of the Blue Jays? Well I'm going to give them a little bit more rope here because guys hit basically a hundred homers the last three years. I watched them in Baltimore the last few years. That guy can hit, and he just hasn't hit yet. Neither has Juan Soto, neither have a lot of guys. You face the pitching you're seeing today,

it's difficult, especially when you're switching teams, you're switching countries, all this stuff. It's not easy. Now, however, he has got to get this going, and maybe a little rest little i'll think is going to help him but but you guys are right i mean if they're going to win a lot of these things are going to have to come forward

and they're going to have to be good the rest of the way because as weak as the american league might be somebody's going to get hot this week and that's where the blue jays have to understand that they're gonna have to keep playing better too. With Tim Kirchner of ESPN, so we saw Dodgers, Yankees over the weekend, Judge and O'Tonnie, you know both of them the pace cars in the American League, National League respectively.

Yet O'Tonnie, you know we were discussing this earlier, we've been discussing it for years, you know now he's coming off another Tommy John He's preparing to pitch again But it comes with risk because if he blows his arm out for a third time that might have an effect on how he bats What happens with them the rest of this season so if he does it haze it would be the third time Yeah, either be no way man. No way well I want to see a pitch you know wanting and making it you know actually happen or believing it's the right thing or separate conversations

Tim where do you stand on this the idea that Otani may pitch again and whether or not he should for the Dodgers? Well he's gonna pitch again and I think he should pitch again because nobody I've never seen anybody quite like him who every movement that he makes every throw every swing every time he runs it's all designed to make him the most remarkable player I've we've ever seen he is surgical about every movement that he makes and I refuse to believe that he's not going to be ready to pitch when he starts to pitch. Meaning he knows his body better than anyone, his sleep habits, all that stuff are remarkable and once he gets it

figured out I think he will pitch and I think he'll pitch well. However, if there's any sign of any sort of issue like this isn't going to work, first off, he'll be the first one to say this isn't going to work. And if the Dodgers say it, then they'll take him out and just let him be a hitter because they cannot afford to lose the reigning MVP's offense, which I think will never go away with the way he swings the bat. But yeah, they got to be careful with his pitching, but I think he will pitch in 2025, and I think he will pitch well. The question is, when is he going to pitch and how long is he going to pitch this season? Tim, how juiced up is that environment, like with Judge and Otani and the Dodgers and the Yankees?

Like, just, I don't know, that's quite quite a matchup seeing those two guys going head-to-head and just the teams and the the history of like how awesome is that environment when those guys are going up against each other yeah that was a great weekend in LA even though there was a blowout on Saturday and Sunday's game wasn't particularly well played judge Ot, like very few matchups you'll ever see. So those are the reigning MVP and they hit a home run in the same game and the last the only other time that happened was Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada in 2003. But these guys hit it in the first inning in the same

inning the reigning MVP That's never happened in the history of baseball And it was just perfect that that's how that series started judge hit a homer in the first and then Otani let off the bottom of the first with another home run This is star power at its finest. It's charisma at its finest. It's the two best players in the game. It's two of the most remarkable players we've ever seen. Ohtani being the most remarkable and then a 6'7", 282 pound guy who is having one of the great seasons anyone has ever seen and they're playing on the same field. It was

absolutely spectacular that weekend in Los Angeles. One of the greatest players we claim we've ever seen before was one of Ohtani's former teammates, Mike Trout. Where is he at? What is he right now in his career? Because I know he got injured earlier in the season and he's come back and it just...he just doesn't...we said some of the similar things about him that we did about Ohtani right now, But it's just nobody's saying anything close to that about mike trout right now Yeah, well, he's certainly not the mike trout of old obviously because he doesn't run the same way because he's had so many injuries He's not a center fielder anymore. He's a right fielder and he's just trying to stay Healthy and it's it's a bit sad to watch

because he he's one of the greatest players that I've ever seen I mean not Willie Mays but he's one of the greatest players I've ever seen but it has really ended here it's not over by any means I fully expect him to be a productive player but an MVP player and you look at him say he's the best player in the game it's possible those days are over granted where judges where Otani is and Mike Trout has beat up his body pretty badly with injuries slides just the way he plays but he's still a first ballot Hall of Famer if he never plays another game that's how great Mike Trout was for the first say eight or nine years of his career. if he never plays another game. That's how great Mike Trout was for the first, say,

eight or nine years of his career. Tim, on the other side of the spectrum, we've just been talking about greatness. This Colorado team, I mean, where are you at with them? I mean, we witnessed some terrible baseball last year with the White Sox, and this team is making them look like a bunch of all-stars. Like, where are you at with that?

Yeah, I find this to be sad, fellas. Obviously, this isn't good for baseball, that there's one team that is this bad. I mean, they are 9 and 50. And that just can't happen in the major leagues. They've had, they're on an eight-game losing streak now. They've had four seven- on an eight game losing streak now. They've had four seven game losing streaks already and we're at June the second. They have lost 21 consecutive series dating back to last year.

That is a major league record. They have been swept nine times already this year. And again, when they win, it's like an upset and that's not good for baseball because the ultimate beauty of the sport is that bad teams can go on the road play a really good team and win two out of three on the road well that just doesn't seem like it's going to happen for the Rockies so I hope they get this turned around remember i covered the eighty eight or else who lost their first

twenty one games and that was really difficult to watch for the organization the fans players i a i'd just feel a little bit sad that they've gotten to this point but in that division i'm not sure they're going to turn this around anytime soon now that's the thing that it's just going to get worse and worse and worse. And we've got a lot of baseball left to play. Hey, how does it get worse than that?

Well, the fans are just going to say, give rid of the team. I guess the volume of it all. The thing is, they're still selling some tickets. It's a great park. It's a great sports town. There's people showing up. That's what's amazing. Yeah, and that's why you can't give up on the rockies maybe on

their one loss record but that is a beautiful ballpark i'd love to go to denver those fans are really into it and they just need a team that better than nine and fifty yes everyone needs a team that's better than nine and fifty yet that is a reality in colorado right now he is tim kurchin of the sbPN it's always great catching up with you thank you Tim thanks fellas see you there he is Tim Kirchner of ESPN and do you just sent this that since May 4th Scotty Scheffler has the same number of wins

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