OverDrive - Matheson on Santander on the IL, Scherzer gearing up for a comeback and the Blue Jays' winning ways

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Blue Jays, the offensive outburst to kick off the series against the Athletics, Anthony Santander placed on the IL, Max Scherzer nearing a return, the performance in the AL East and more.

Remember when your biggest problem was who burned the best mix CD relive those glory days at all your friends fest Presented by play ho Joe casino empowered by I heart radio. It's going down June 28th and 29th at Burles Creek with Avril Lavigne Rise against simple plan under oath the Veronica's and more camping parking and limited tickets at allyourfriendsfestival.com. Don't miss the party your. I saw you. Keegan any idea? Doesn't get any bigger than that downtown Toronto. Agreed, agreed. I hope I can be in attendance. Thank you very much for the invitation and it seems like at least for one night there's some more positivity with this baseball club for a while there for more than a week. It

was really ugly offensively. What does this outburst if anything mean going forward for the Toronto Blue Jays Keegan? It's another start guys, but they've had a lot of starts. They've been back to 500 and feels like a hundred different times they've been hovering around within two games of 500 either above it or below it all season long and This big win last week's big win over the Padres that's we put Padres It felt like something but this team is also very difficult to trust right now Even when you do get a big win like this, it's the A's but whatever they're an MLB team They all count when you do get a big win like this. It's still hard to trust that as a jumping-off point You need to see it for a week. You need to see them get four or five games away from 500 ideally

But you you can't knock it. It was a great performance. It's exactly what they needed coming off that road trip. That was Tough baseball to watch. I don't think anybody enjoyed watching any of those rays or range of games So step in the right direction, but they need a few more Well, speaking of tough game tough's tough to watch uh... keegan anthony sent out there this season fifty games played fifty five strikeouts hitting about one eighty uh... and now on the uh... d l with apparently a shoulder problem that was pretty evident

in the most recent handful of games where he's wasn't hit and all didn't look like anywhere near the guy the blue jays paid $92 million for. What do you make of this development and could this be a step in the right direction to get this guy healthy so that he can be the guy that they paid for? Long time coming guys. This has been a few weeks of this. First it was the shoulder, then it was the hip, now it's the shoulder again.

And like you mentioned Dave, he was not comfortable on the field. You could watch him just moving around the box, stepping out of the box. When he was in the field, he didn't look healthy, didn't look comfortable. And what worried me more recently was that when we talked to Santander, he said, hey, listen, the positive to this is that I can kind of tone my swing down a bit and look for more contact. Get rid of those big swings. The big swings are why they paid you. The big swings are what this team needs.

They need the home runs. They don't need you to hit 300. That's never been your game. Don't try to be that guy. They need big swings. They need a healthy Anthony Santander. That's all they need right now. He was not that.

And as heartless as this sounds right now, for the next 10 days 12 days 14 days The Blue Jays will have no problem getting that 560 OPS from someone else This is not going to hurt the current production of the lineup I don't think that's an issue right now If they can buy him this breather with Alan Roden with whoever else in the outfield and get him back at 100% totally worth it It's taken longer than I thought it would take this has been been a bit of a strange build up to this IL stint. I thought it would have came earlier, quite frankly.

But if they can get him right physically and mentally, I think at this point it's necessary because he's a slow starter, but fellas, we are almost in June. Nothing's starting at this point anymore. It's time to get going for this team. Well, Keegan, you mentioned if this team can go on a five or six game you know run here then you start to believe. Do you think they're capable of doing it? That's the biggest thing because we always feel when you're

watching it's two steps forward one back you know two steps back a couple forward like there's not a lot of consistency to it. Do you believe that this team can have some consistency and maybe run off a patch of games to get well over 500? Something we need to improve. Something we need to get better at this point because they're what, 55, 56 games into the season? They are who they've shown to be, which is a team that's kind of inconsistent. Now you can also reach for positives, which is that this team has played some pretty dreadful

offensive baseball and they're still 500 somehow. They do not need to lead the league in runs, they just need to be kind of average offensively for the time being. The bar should be a lot higher than that fellas, this is the AL East, come on, but if you can be a bit better, this can improve really quickly. The issue for me has been that Mack Schurzer is spot on the rotation. Every fifth day they are going to Eric Lauer, Jose Urena, it could be someone else tomorrow going back in there with Easton Lucas, with C. But when you're trying to work around that and some inconsistencies from Val and Francis earlier in the season, it's tough. Because if the starting pitcher does not have a good day, you've got to score seven or eight runs. This team has not been scoring seven or eight runs very often. So you need to get these things together. It needs to improve

because no matter what you point to for optimism, no matter what exit velocities, I don't care what their exit velocity is between May 17th and 21st when the sun is at this certain point in the sky, whatever. You need the wind ball games, the exit velocities. We've talked about that for years. I don't care too much about that anymore. It's time for more offensive consistency. And only then will you see some actual strings of wins, which is what they need to get some separation.

Pagan Matheson, our guest live from the Dome, Jays and A's game two tonight, of course, from MLB.com. His book, the franchise, Toronto Blue Jays, releasing on June 3rd. So right around so right around the corner very much looking forward to that i think i speak for all blue jays fans keegan when i say we're looking forward to the return of the aforementioned actions are i know is on the mound earlier this afternoon what can you tell us about what he was doing out there

not sure it calls everything baby steps is called every step of this baby steps but at a certain point this is something that the big closer reality he threw twenty two pitches today he based a few of the blue jays hitters so it was really wasn't just a bullpen session was closer to real baseball the plan right now we are on friday is going to do this in on tuesday and that would be the side whether he goes on on the rehab or not. Now the tricky part guys as we've all seen with

Max Scherzer is that none of this matters all that much until he throws 50 or 60 pitches and bounces back from him which is why the bullpens and the live VPs it's important you need to do it this is like spring training all over again but we're not going to know how he's doing and we're not going to know how healthy his thumb is For a few more of these until he ramps back up to 50 60 70 pitches and then bounces back So we'll see how he feels tomorrow. This is a step in the right direction But it's still pretty impossible guys to put a timeline on match sure sir because I've Done that a couple of times already and

we're past both of those timelines. So it's been a long one, longer than I thought this would take and it's still something where he'll be back when he's back and that can still be a matter of three, four, five weeks we'll see. I was thinking about the Blue Jays offseason this afternoon once the news about Anthony Santander came out and just how dreadful he's been at the plate all year long. Andres Jimenez another dude the Blue Jays traded for had two good games to start the year and basically didn't get a hit since. He's been hurt and Scherzer's thrown two innings this

entire season and yet somehow the Jays aren't 10-12 games under 500. Is this a positive that somehow they're staying afloat or should we have legitimate concerns that Atkins and Shapiro had one of the worst off seasons in recent memory? I think the other two major league level additions were Jimmy Garcia and Nick Sandlin. That's fair. After five on the IL right now. That is also concerning. That is concerning. And in some instances, I look at Jimmy Garcia who has a history of with the shoulder and the elbow in recent years. I look at Max Scherzer who's 40 and has had this thumb injury. That's part of the built-in risk. You were accepting that. Guys like Jimenez, you were not. Now,

at this point, some of it's always going to be injury luck, but when you're going five for five with these MLB level additions in the IL it's not good nothing's good about that now the Blue Jays depth has held up pretty well in light of that players like Nathan Lucas in the bullpen guys like Braden Fisher Mason Fluhardy Brendan Little have all completely exceeded expectations especially with Fisher and Fluhardy I did not see either of these coming, so they've backfilled this pretty well, but again it's about the ceiling. It's not about creating a strong floor and trying to sneak in with 84 wins, it's about trying to get past 90, trying to

make a run at the division at the top wild card spot ideally, and you need those big names to be doing that. And and man it didn't really hit me until today talking about this how many of these big league signings ended up in the IL man you don't usually see it go that far. So for all that Keegan you know you're 28 and 28 you're two games out of a wild card in an American league that is not particularly explosive, right? Like there are a lot of really mediocre teams in the AL this year. I mean, you know, if indeed this team can find the floodgates opening, as John Schneider, you know, kind of said, hopefully last night after getting a 12-0 win, could you see a

scenario where if the floodgates even sort of half open, that they could maybe make a little run here? There's never been a better time to go for it. July 31 trade deadline, I don't know the last year that looked this good to go for it in the American League. There's not a Dodgers on the AL side. There's not a super team on this AL side. And the Blue Jays can look back in 2015 when they were hovering around 500 and they got aggressive and went for it because it was open. They are going to have that opportunity again. I think this team is good enough to hang around this race. That should not be the goal. I do not consider that success,

but they're good enough to hang around. And if they can hang around, I think this is a year to go nuts at the trade deadline. Really be aggressive, really push in, because looking at this rotation, Mack Scherzer, whoever he ends up being for this team, is gone next year. Chris Bassett's a free agent. Kevin Gossman's two years away from that, and he's starting to look like himself again.

You need to cash in on that while you have it right now. Boba Shet, while he is here. You don't know if you're going to find those pieces again. You don't know if you're going to find them next year. While they have the opportunity, they've got to go for this and ownership, the Blue Jays, I think these last couple of years have proven they're at least going to spend now has it been perfect spending? No, but the money's there from a very basic standpoint. And I think it'll continue to be there.

So while you've got the shot this year, go for it. And I think they can stay in. Have you come by Alec Manoa recently? I thought I saw him on the, in the dugout the other day with the boys. So I mean, it sounds like his, his rehab is progressing. Where is he at and where do you think he can get back to? Yeah, we saw Manoa down in Tampa, fellas. I need to get on the Manoa diet. is progressing, where is he at, and where do you think he can get back to? Yeah, we saw Minoa down in Tampa, fellas. I need to get on the Minoa diet.

I need to see what he's been doing. See, he looks fantastic. Looks good down there, and he's starting to ramp up and throw bullpens. At this point in his Tommy John recovery, he's probably, let's say, two, two and a half months away from being back in games here at this level. Everything's going well so far. Most Tommy John rehabs are pretty standardized now at this point. But the model

for him guys is Hamjin Ryu a couple of years ago. Now ironically Ryu returned to the rotation in time to take Manoa's spot then. But if Manoa can return down the stretch for those last two months, those last six weeks. He does not need to be the savior. And you have to go back a few years to see him being a useful MLB pitcher. You do, but he can be depth. He can be an option. So the blue Jays can get away from this revolving door of long relievers, minor league starters that they're kind of leaning on here lately.

And man, if there's anyone who's going to embrace the comeback story, a heroic comeback, it's going to be Manoa. Man, he'll build that up, he'll nail it I think, but that can be a good one. I think August 1, keep August 1 in mind as a kind of a rough date for Manoa. Hegan, thanks so much for the time today. Can you confirm that your book launch event will be open bar next week? Anywhere I am is an open bar baby. Alright, my kind of book launch. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks buddy. You got it guys, take care. Alright, that's Gegan Mathesown punk punk revival. All Your Friends Fest hits Burles Creek June 28th and 29th. Presented by Play Ojo Casino and powered by iHeart Radio.

Headliners Avril Lavigne and Isaac Ainst. Plus Simple Plan, Boys Like Girls, Veronica's, Under Oath, and so many more. Camping, parking, and all the emo nostalgia you can handle. Get your tickets now at allyourfriendsfestival.com.