OverDrive - Matheson on Bichette's future in Toronto, the approach to Tucker and Bieber's status

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to discuss the MLB Winter Meetings, Bo Bichette's future with the Blue Jays and the market of players in free agency, Kyle Tucker's possible fit in Toronto, Shane Bieber's status entering the season and more.

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Fowell's doing well down here in Florida. How's everything up there? Well, we're waiting for some news. I mean, the A.L. East is getting bolstered here, right? Pete Alonzo, a big deal. That means Diaz left the Mets yesterday, and Alonzo left the Mets today. I'm sure a big story is what the hell is New York doing.

But what do you make of this move for the Orioles? And how might it affect the Blue Jays and the rest of the ALE East? and what they plan on doing. This division sucks to be in, fellas. I don't care how many times over the years, players and coaches tell me, man, I love it. You want to play against the best.

No, you don't. You would rather be in a division with four crappy teams and make the playoffs every year. I think the ALE East next year could have five of the best teams in the American League again. It's going to be back to that.

It's going to be a nightmare. And at least four of them are probably going to make the playoffs. Alonzo, I love that the Orioles are finally spending money. They have the new owner who's got tons of cash. They need to spend it on pitching, I think they're going to. But the East is a nightmare, guys. It is going to grind you down the dust.

And next year is probably going to be the best we've seen it in a long old time. The Red Sox aren't done. It's going to be nasty. Kagan, what's your take on the Bo Bichette situation? It's kind of fascinating how he's been a fan favorite, very popular guy, a guy that produced, his bad is very valuable. and I wonder how he's viewed the team's interest in Tucker if it pissed him off. Naturally, I think it would because he wasn't the first priority.

Even over the pitcher's cease that was signed, just kind of take us through the whole Bo Bichette scenario. Yeah, man, there's no romance and free agency, right? It becomes business so quickly. And for Boba Chet, a guy who is so beloved in Toronto, and he's coming off that home run guys, off Lutani in Game 7, that, man, that should have been behind Joe Gardner's home run as the second biggest moment ever for this team.

But because they lose, we're going to remember it differently. I'm curious where the Bichet markets add, guys, because when I look at a free agent, I kind of try to picture them in the middle and wonder which way it's going to go. Is this a free agent that teams are going to chase and really fall in love with? Or is it a free agent that teams are going to look at

and poke holes in and try to bring that number down from where we think it's going to be. I think Bichette might be in that camp. Where teams are looking at him and saying, well, he's not a shortstop. Well, he slowed down last year. He already was not a fast runner.

And when we think of short stops, guys, you typically think more of an Andres Semenes type, who might not have Bichet's bat, but he's quick. He can steal you a base. He can help you on the bases. Bo's not going to do that, period. That's okay if he's hitting. But I think the teams are going to be poking at that.

And that's why I think if you're the Blue Jays, man, even though this part sucks, the business part, you might just let that market play out. And if it starts to collapse or sag a little bit, you get into it. But I don't get any sense that the bow market is surging or really like running away and making him more money right now. So outside the city of Toronto, the market of Toronto, is it basically the impression for the whole league that the Blue Jays are all in after the C signing and they seem to be in on everybody? Is that the impression the league is getting? That's about it, guys. And the winter meetings, I mean, I think we don't have many good words to say about the winter meetings.

There's a lot of BS that we don't do in other sports, and I can't stand it, frankly. But at the winter meetings, when you hear the odd real thing, there's still a lot of guys being attached to the Blue Jays. And I know it's been a quiet winter meetings for them, but it's all just about the order it happens in. If I came down here and they announced Dylan Sees and Cody Ponce here, we'd be saying, my God, they're the hottest offseason of baseball. Now, I would love it if baseball had an NHL style off season. Everything happens in an hour.

I disappear for three months into a Guinness-fueled coma, and it's beautiful. No one has to see me, but in baseball, we do it slow. And this is going to play out slowly, guys, but the Blue Jays are this team that everyone's tagged to now. And it's going to say that way, because they're good and they have money. They have a ton of money. And they're attractive to players now. That's not just fluff from the front office saying it. Players are looking at this team and saying, man, if I can't get on the Dodgers, why not get on the Blue Jays?

Where everybody seems to love playing, where everyone gets paid, and where this whole country of people seem to be out of their minds about this baseball team. It's really attractive. Agents are saying, and players are saying it, there used to be some fluff today. that now it's real i buy it it's legitimate that people want to come to toronto not just when they pay them but for baseball reasons and that's a very good thing well we talked about bachette and his market and where it could or could not be going how does that logic apply to kyle tucker who you know is is the bell of the ball he's going to likely get the biggest deal the most money

likely has the most suitors what are you hearing on tucker and the connection with the blue jays man he fits the jays so well like he's everything the blue jays do perfectly if you took the blue jays offense and put it in a blender and made one player out of it it's kind of kyle tucker at this point his market might be a little bit like bowes just to a lesser extent it's not going to fall apart or really change much

but unless you are wonsoto or shoheyotani i find more often we get to this point of the offseason and say oh okay maybe those five or six scenes we've thought would be interested. Maybe it's two or three at this point. Maybe that list starts to shrink. Guys, we're even hearing the Yankees talking like a team that's not going to spend a ton of cash. They're acting not like little brother, but they're not acting like the big dog at all. The Blue Jays are. So that market, I don't think it's going to blow into this $460 million. I don't think it's going to do that. Maybe it's down around the

300 low 300 range more I would expect from the outside. But, man, he fits everything. The Blue Jays do. Again, it's just not a market they're going to chase, I don't think. If it's Soto or Otani, I mean, screw the money. You chase it. Those players don't come around all that often. Tucker's really damn good, but I don't think you chase the money and get uncomfortable.

You wait a minute. You let it come to you. You know, that's boring. It's not exciting. Let it come to you a little bit. And the Js have to be interested. They are interested. You fits them perfectly.

But, again, you want the money to be right because you're balancing that against maybe getting a mid-range guy. and some relievers, which they still definitely need. Right. With Keegan Matheson, and, I mean, not also, you have to believe that they're going to call you at the end and say, okay, we're making a decision now, right? Like, if you wait for the market to come to you,

you've got to hope that it actually does, which obviously Ross and Mark know the way the game works, and they'll check in, they'll do their due diligence. But I'm curious, like, let's say they get Tucker, and they sign them, and it's a good deal, long-term deal, and he's connected to this team for a long time, or we'll play for the Jays for a long time. What kind of ripple effect will that have on the current roster?

In other words, is Santander definitely staying? Does Springer have a future after this upcoming season if he plays great again? Like, if you bring in Tucker and it's big money and you connect him with Vladdy for the next eight to ten years, does everyone stay? Does some people go? Do you trade someone to possibly acquire those arms you just talked about? Yeah, that's the new corner. There's only somebody seats at the table.

you know and let me hit really quick on what you mentioned hey is that phone call the teams get the jays get that's part of being a team that's got money respective agents and that's why whenever whenever anyone goes on about there's a team that's the leader for this free agent no they're not that's almost never real okay there's not a leader there's not a frontrunner it all slowly builds and then one day boom who's in who's out let's do this quickly okay it's not a it's not a slow marathon race it says you wait around and then you run a sprint at the last minute and if the blue jays were the left someone like Tucker. That, of course, would probably make this,

you know, George Springer's last year. We'll see where that goes. Dalton Varsho is another one. But you can only have so many of those mega contracts on the books unless you're the Dodgers. So the Blue Jays would need to keep developing players, guys. They would need to keep finding success stories

like Ernie Clement, like Addison Barger. The beauty of those stories, yeah, they're good at baseball. That helps out. But when you can find those guys who are doing it for a million bucks, for three million bucks, that saves you. that creates a championship roster right there. So adding a big name like Tucker,

and this would even go for Bobachette, yeah, it starts to squeeze some guys. And Anthony Sontanderguis, maybe he's a bounce-back, fantastic story next year. God, I've got to see it first. Man, last year it was not good. The health I know is a factor, but it just wasn't good, guys.

And I didn't see a lot of signs that have me saying, holy crap, this is going to be great. If he was on a tear for 50 games and God hurt, sure, we're talking about that. those 50 games were really bad. So he's got to pick it up. And if that contract does not work, part of having financial strength is the ability to eat some stuff over the years.

The Jays are eventually going to have to get to that point on some friends, kind of like they did with the R.R.L. Rodriguez. If it's not working, you eat those few million bucks, and that's part of being a big dog in this league. Well, and in Shane Bieber's case, they didn't have a choice. He had a player option. He picked it up. And I was taken aback a little bit by Ross and his, His approach to Bieber, all of a sudden, you know, I guess there was some forearm stiffness at the end of the year or early into the offseason, and he's kind of still rehabbing.

Like, it's a continuation of the Tommy John comeback story, yet he's pitched in the majors. He's pitched in the World Series. Do we look back on it differently? Because there were a lot of people that looked at it through rose-colored glasses, right? Oh, he's here because of the vibes. He loved it. He would have played for a dollar because he loves being a Blue Jay. Maybe that wasn't the case, and where do we stand on Bieber and the Jays this season?

season. Yeah, listen, the Jays have a great club nose. It's real, and I believe in it. But I think that they're often framed as the only team in baseball that are friends, you know, and it's, that's not always going to swing guys. Money matters way more, fellas. Let me tell you, a million bucks matters a lot. So with Bieber, I always, I viewed that as surprising.

Yeah, absolutely. But I always thought there was a little something more to it, something I wanted to find out or talk to Bieber about. But we did find out from Athens this weekend. He was dealing with a little bit through that. Now, anyone coming back from Tommy John, when you wrap back up, you're going to feel it in your shoulder, in your forearm. Ideally, it's just that sortness.

And the way I look at it now, guys, I'm not terribly worried right now. Beaver's not going to throw 200 in his next year. I think coming back from Tommy John, you're probably doing a workload limit anyways. Maybe it's 150 or 160, something like that. You're probably better off to be easy on him early in spring training and in April. If you need to be softer with him then, then you've gotten for the end to crank it up. So in a perfect world, you're just a little easier with him out of the gates. It's not ideal, anything coming back from the surgery like that.

But right at this point right now, it's not a red alert or anything for me just yet. But it adds a little color to that, you know. It's Bieber loved his time here. He picked the Blue Jays because they give him a chance to cash in big a year from now again. Comes to money. But, yeah, that's a definite factor. another wrinkle we kind of learned this week okay well we'll see what they've got

the rest of the way there's still a long offseason left and there has been some news and I think the New York match of the team to watch now what are they going to do to respond to two star players leaving their team great stuff as always Kegan appreciate you doing this buddy we'll do it again soon

you got her fellas take care there is Keegan Mathes and MLB.com The lights are twinkling the playlist Sparkling I Heart the Holidays is here. Canada's home for Christmas music with non-stop festive favorites, 24-7. Gifted to you by Sleep Country.

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