OverDrive - Matheson on the Blue Jays landing Bieber, his role on the team and the trade deadline views

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to discuss the Blue Jays' deals on the roster, the team's addition of Shane Bieber, his long-term approach in the starting rotation, the role on the team, the overview of the bullpen, Ross Atkins' assessment at the trade deadline and more.

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the more you save. Switch to Canada's fastest 5G-plus network today. For details and more great offers, visit a Bell store or bell.ca slash promotions. Bell, back to school, just got better. Here's Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. There he is. Oh, he's taking the jacket off.

I love that look, Keegan. I love this look. I'm trying to mix in some hybrid looks here, fellas, you know. And it's all about, it's building up to the moment that this beautiful face, Grace's Sports Center. And it's got to be a dry face, fellas. Dryness is the number one priority this time of year. I'm looking down at the spot 6 p.m. So I got to be dry by then.

I like it. Ice water, slow walk down. but we're doing it, man, big day. I feel like we should be talking like stocks with Keegan. Doesn't it look like he's got some great like AI stock in the future or something like that? You've never seen it. It's this diamond mine in a country you've never heard of. Exactly.

Diamond mining is what I think the Blue Jays were kind of trying to do today. I like this play. I have described it as high risk, higher reward going out and getting Shane Bieber. What do you make of this move by the Jays? you play on upside man which at this point makes a lot of sense because if the blue jays are going to target the starting pitcher it needs to be like we've talked about hey someone who can start game one two or three in a postseason series i don't care about a number five i don't care much about a number four but with beaver when he is back from this tj recovery which will be really soon he is someone who has an opportunity to raise this group ceiling and beyond kevin gosman who's probably that game one or two starter i don't really know how that shakes out right now But if Bieber is healthy, and if he is himself, he's going to be one of those guys. He is capable of being that. He's capable of being a top-10 starter in Major League Baseball.

We've seen him be the best pitcher in the American League in 2020. So this is a big swing on upside. There's risk involved, and it's a high price to pay. It's a real high price to pay if you're only getting him down the stretch this year. If he sticks around, if the Blue Jays find a way to keep him, boom, easy win. But this is the Jays being aggressive. and what else do you want to see at this point of the year if you're a Jay's fan?

It's your front office taking some swings to raise the ceiling of this group and it's about October. And if Shane Beaver goes out here or somewhere else and wins you a postseason game, it's the first time that's happened in a decade, man. It becomes worth it very quickly. Well, he does have a player option next year

that I think is $15 or $16 million. And I think the only way he picks that up is if all hell breaks loose down the stretch. So there is an element of gambling on that side. But I saw your tweet earlier today, Keegan, possibly comparing this to the Burrios acquisition, where they picked up Burrios and they had a deal done with him,

pretty long-term extension, the most money they've ever given to a starting pitcher. Do you think that's possible? Like, how would you handicap the chances Beaver is here beyond this year? It's got to be part of the idea at this point. And the optimism for that guys comes from the Blue Jays finances going into next year. Now, number one, they're just spending money. money. They have the money to do this if they want to. But Max Scherzer is coming off the books. Chris

Bassett's off the books, Bobeshit, Chad Green's already off the books, I guess. And you look at someone like Kevin Gosman with one year left. There's money to play with here. And it's certainly something the Blue Jays will be talking to Bieber about, obviously, at this point. And you're right. The only way that option gets picked up is probably if it goes wrong. If Bieber pitches like the Blue Jays hope he will, then it's really attractive to go out and be a free agent. He will want to make that money, and he should. But if there's a way that the Blue Jays can keep Beaver, even if it takes a major extension or some added money next year,

that turns this into a huge win for the Blue Jays. And they're always a team that likes to do their business a year early. This could be that, and a full healthy season of Beaver, man, this is a legitimate still in his prime at 30 years old, top end starter in Major League Baseball. When he does come back and he's pitching for the Jays, what's the most likely scenario for how they're going to deploy the rotation? This gets tricky, guys. It's one of those good problems, and honestly, the lazy answer is probably that it figures itself out.

Somebody sucks by then, somebody's hurt by then. But if everyone's healthy, it's interesting. And there is an argument to be made for a bit of a six-man rotation here and there. Keep everyone fresh. Kevin Gosman, Chris Bassett are not getting younger. Max Schurz was 41. Like, I'm sure these guys can use an extra day here and there. but down the stretch it gets trickier because it's not just about picking your five best starters it's about picking who would make the most sense

in the bullpen and looking through this group even if Eric Lauer is the number five for example which I don't think he is but how would his stuff play in the bullpen versus how would Max Scher's stuff play in the bullpen for two or three innings maxing it out that might be attractive

I don't want to be the dude to tell Max Scherzer he's pitching out of the bullpen no thank you but maybe that's out it goes. I don't know. There's lots of options they have here, but it needs to work in a way where whoever is bumped out of the picture can be valuable in another role. Not just

used there, not just kind of chucked there to park, but they have to be valuable. Good problem to have, but it's going to be a big conversation, especially at Beaver's back here in the next couple weeks. So you see, Kagan, how the Yankees have bolstered their bullpen in a very big way, acquiring David

Bednar, acquiring Jake Bird, you know, to add to an already pretty formidable set of relievers there. In your opinion, if the trade deadline was now, have the Jay's done enough on the bullpen side of things to make you comfortable going into potential playoff games? Not quite. That's why I think one more ceiling razor makes a ton of sense here.

Because, guys, this is a great example. Right now, today, this conversation about how we need to change how the Blue Jays are discussed. It's no longer about making it into the playoffs. If they only sneak in at this point, that's a failure. They've got to be chasing that buy in the first round. They need to be winning the ALEs. So it's no longer about comparing them to, oh, can they beat the twins in the wildcard?

Can they take two out of three from the Mariners? It's how they stack up against the Dodgers. How do they stack up against the Padres? Teams who are really adding and really doing aggressive things. You need to compare them to number one in Major League Baseball. Right now you can still see how they may be lagging behind just a bit, but that's nothing that's not surmountable at this point. The Yankees being an interesting one.

They are pushing in, frankly, a little more aggressively than I've thought. And the annoying thing about the Yankees is that if they get hot and hit for power in a series, they can just beat you with the home run ball. They are built for that, very high or low outcome team. Whereas the Blue Jays are built to be a little steadier, the same team every game, the Yankees can be all over the place. And if you catch them on the wrong day when Aaron Judge hits a ball 500 feet, you're toast and their bullpen

makes that even better. The Mariners adding guys I think is a big one as well the record hasn't been as scary so far but they're a talented team man and we've seen that team give the Blue Jets fits right here in the postseason so there's a lot of aggression happening all over the league now and

front office has reacted at no matter how much they all want to talk the same and dress the same and look the same when they talk about how we stick to process yada yada if the other guys go out and do something big you got to react to that There needs to be a level of emotion and reaction involved in this. With Keegan Matheson, MLB.com, Jays acquiring Shane Bieber.

Obviously, they've acquired, you know, Dominguez in terms of bullpen help. That was a couple of days ago when they were in Baltimore. I was, we were talking about this earlier, like Scherzer and Bieber, who are both wildcards at this point. But what I also like about them acquiring Bieber is to me it's almost one more lottery ticket, ace-like lottery ticket. but I'm not convinced both of them will be available at 100% on October 1st. But if you're hedging your bets and you give me Bieber and Scherzer and I've got to get there and I got only two months to worry about, I kind of like that, math, if you know where I'm going with this Keegan.

Like, I just need one. Two would be great. You give me Bieber 2020 stats and Scher 2020 Scherzer. That's unbelievable and it'd be probably the best three-man rotation. Any team in the American League can throw out. but if you're hedging your bets, Bieber, Scherzer, and it feels good that I can get at least one guy for the finish line into the playoffs,

that will be massively significant too. Yeah, it's all about quantity, guys. Same conversation with prospects. I mean, having the number one guy in the world's cool, but if you have five good ones, you're probably further ahead. It's our quantity. And there's a certain level of the unknown going forward here.

One of these guys, which is really good right now, might go in the tank. We don't know that. Somebody might shake their elbow next week. We don't know that. So having some quantities is a great start. And on top of that, you want to shoot for high outcomes. Nobody cares if you come third place.

There's no bronze medal. There's no reason to play it safe and just try to get further down the line. It's a situation where you've got to try to win it all. And if that means that you might fall flat and come in sixth or seventh or eighth place, whatever it is, so be it. They only remember the team that wins. It does not matter if you make it to the ALDS. or CS, it needs to be about upside at this point. And it needs to be about pitchers or players, like Vladdy, for example, who can steal a game.

Because eventually, guys, we are going to be on here talking October 10th, October 21st, whatever it is. We're going to be talking about one inning in one game that changed everything. It's going to change how we remember this team, either as champions or as ALCS contenders or as a team that flopped. It's going to happen. And that's when you need the upside. You need that one player who can make a difference against another great team that has their own great players. So I like upside plays. And it's all about upside at this point of the year.

We know that there's some risk involved in acquiring a player who's coming off Tommy John surgery. But given what you know about this front office and where they've been, aka Cleveland, would there be a level of comfort that Jay's fans should have in this front office acquiring this player? I think so at this point and given how he's looked in his last couple of rehab outing guys I think Monday or Tuesday it was his last one with Cleveland

everything looked great the fancy numbers the basic numbers everything was good and Tommy John recovery is now it's still major reconstructive elbow surgery yeah but it's so common now and teams are so good at rehabbing this

and Bieber is a very physically gifted person still at 30 years old so it's an asterisk It's something to wonder about, but I don't think it's something to worry about. And the Blue Jays, there's always medicals involved guys, as you know, in any sport, any trade. Especially in this one, though, they would have a pretty good knowledge of how that elbow looks. And long term, I mean, if you're signing him to an eight, nine-year deal, sure, that's another conversation. But given how well his rehab's gone so far, I think it's looking pretty good here.

We're seeing the same with Alec Manoa on his path back to. Once you're to this point, you're usually out of that danger zone. And you're beyond that first year. So it should be all upside from here. The Keegan, well, Gays also make a depth move acquiring Brandon Valenzuela from the Padres for Will Wagner, Valenzuela catcher, who's in AA right now,

was ranked, I think, the 22nd best prospect in the Padres organization by Fangraphs. What do you make of this move? I mean, you know, there's obviously the idea of a depth catcher. It also frees up a roster spot on the, on the Blue Jays lineup right now. You know, what's, what do we, what do we read into it? The roster spot interests me, guys.

This is a spot where I'd love to pretend I know Valenzuela's entire career and had heard of him prior to 20 minutes ago that I was down in Chattanooga watching this guy play or wherever he was. But as a catcher in the upper minors, makes a lot of sense because the Blue Jays are thin there. They used to be a pretty deep catching system back when they had Jansen and Moreno. Right now they're thin. I don't think this has anything to do with Alejandro Kirk either.

All signs are positive there. But getting someone into the system who could conceivably be a quote-unquote long-term backup, could play a few years as a backup. He looks strong against the running game. That's a good quality to having a backup catcher. And if the Blue Jays can settle down that spot, Tyler Hidemann's handled it pretty admirably and pretty surprisingly this season. But if you can hammer that down, that's worthwhile.

And I think Will Wagner was about to be squeezed out by Dalton Varshal returned. and there are so many other young kind of fringe AAA big league players on this team who are just having better years simply than Will Wagner. He has not recaptured that magic from last year when he looked like even a potential leadoff option for this team. It hasn't been the same this year, but the roster spot's intriguing, and guys, I always compare catching to quarterbacks in the NFL. There's not nearly enough of them, not close.

So anytime you can get someone under the age of 36 who is competent, It's a big win. If they're 24 and they're a ranked prospect, even better. So that's good business. What was going on down at Baltimore, and how significant was that win yesterday for the Jays? It was a messy series, guys. Just three days, four games, probably the hottest games I've ever covered. So I was struggling and I was sitting still.

I don't know how those guys were playing, but that was a mess of a game. And they needed that. If they had lost four in Baltimore, then we start to have some way different conversations about this team. There's some scrambling and panicking and urgency. It was sloppy. It was messy. They screwed up five different things, but they made the last play at the end. They figured it out. That was a sneaky big win coming off of a road trip that was just kind of the picture of a team that's tired and worn out and grinding through what is always for me, guys, last week of July, kind of the longest, most tiring stretch of the season. Once August is here, it's a playoff race

every single day. It's momentum. There's life. But I think every single person in the organization needed the off day today. And it was ugly baseball, man. But I think everyone's happy that's over. Well, the trade deadline's not. We've still got about 40 minutes. I guess we'll put you on the spot before we get you out of here. Do you think we'll see at least one more trade by the Blue Jays between now and 6 p.m.? I do. We can scrub this audio from online if I'm wrong. Exactly. I do think one more makes too much sense for this team right now and with how everyone else is doing it

one more. Okay, one more for Keegan, let's do it. All right, Keegan, great seeing you, man. Thanks for doing this. You got it, guys. Take care. Kegan Matheson, MLB.com Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you.

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