OverDrive - Matheson on the Blue Jays landing Santander, Guerrero Jr.'s impending deal and the fallout from Sasaki

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson to discuss the storylines around the Blue Jays, the team's signing of Anthony Santander and his role on the team, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s impending extension, the next steps after the Roki Sasaki and more.

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Can you put this into perspective how significant this signing is, not only from a team building standpoint but from a stop the bleeding standpoint for the Blue Jays this offseason. Yeah we're talking about something else now which is what they needed. I think five six hours ago when we planned to talk this evening it was probably going to be about how big of a mess they made on Friday with Roki Sasaki. Now we're talking about something good and Santander has made sense all offseason guys. This is an easy fit. They need power. He hits for power. They need lefty. He can hit lefty as a switch hitter. There's nothing complicated about it. It just makes sense

and this has changed what we are talking about. We're not talking about them coming in second. Somehow nobody's reported who came second in this. It's funny how that changes when the Blue Jays are not there to crap on by certain folks. It's amazing. Where's that report? Who else was in on this guy? It's funny that nobody's tripping over themselves to tweet that out for a hundred points on

Twitter. Nope. Maybe in a few minutes here. No kidding. But this one just makes sense, guys. We're no longer talking about Roki Sasaki and how ugly that was. This is what the Blue Jays want. They want to get away from that narrative and want to get away from being that second

place, blah, blah, blah. Guys, I was excited when I was coming on. I saw the tweet about the Blue Jays are screech. This might say a little bit more about me, but I thought we were talking about the black rum. Before I watched the Twitter clip, I know a little more about black rum than saved by the bell I was getting excited about that we're not talking about that anymore no we're not it's a win for the Blue Jays and Santander is solid rock solid

everybody loves the guy and he does what the Blue Jays need it's a win Keegan do you think there's anything leading into spring training and bringing it back to the dome for the start of the season that this management group could do to get the fan base kind of off their back? Like is there anything that could possibly make that happen? Vladdy, it's always Vladdy. I think at this point and... always gladi I think at this point and it wasn't saying that they might have to overpay to ease the fan base it doesn't that that doesn't even make sense to say that it's tough it's tough because in this position you're not getting a discount on Vlad E whatsoever you need to be pushing pushing pushing beyond

what even his top market value could be. But to hardcore fans and I think to casual fans as well, which is something guys I try to remember, the average baseball fan is my buddy who watches a game a week. It's my mom, it's your uncle. They love Vlad. That's what's going to get 90% of fans, not the loudest fans online, but most fans. That's what's gonna get them back in, is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. being a Blue J long term. Boba Shet would be another one of those, but I think Vlad is far likelier and has expressed that more so.

With Vlad, guys, it keeps coming back to him. Everything comes back to Vlad because they're trying to get someone to take their money, they're trying to have a long term star, and they have proven as they chase after Juan Soto, Corbin Burns, Shohei Otani, they've proven they've gotten money. If you're Vladi and his agents, you're pointing at all of those saying, beautiful, beautiful, because you know the Blue Jays have that money if they wanna spend it.

Not only is Vladi good, he is beloved, he is a face of a franchise. I don't think there's 30 faces of a franchise in baseball, guys. It's about being more than just the best player on your team. Vladi's embraced it, he's embraced a city that's faces of a franchise in baseball guys. It's about being more than just the best player on your team. Vlad is embraced it. He's embraced the city that's not always been embraced in baseball.

And I think Vlad is still the big one. He's going to be that big one. It's going to be the story, the question on the first day of camp in God, I'm scared myself three weeks here. I need to get myself together. But this is going to be everything revolving around Vladdy still. So Keegan if you have a crystal ball and it comes across your your desk and it says Vladdy signs a long-term deal what is there a number you have in your mind a term like what what would this look like that you would be like

okay they got it done and it might be an overpay or whatever but what does this look like at this point would probably start with a four if you're doing a rate now and annual value i mean i need to do a better job of this speaking annual value we do a better job of that in hockey and other sports but that the term matters as well you're probably talking ten or twelve years so what's the annual on that is it hovering around that forty visit thirty eight where the Blue Jays can get them if there's more term involved

Term matters a lot this fifth year mattered for Anthony Santander Year six mattered for George Springer your four mattered for a hundred Ryu when you're a veteran I think it probably starts with a four at this point and you've got to be getting pretty close to That 40 million dollar mark at that point and you've got to be getting pretty close to that 40 million dollar mark At that point now you're paying a premium you are paying the top top value Probably a number that Vlad E isn't going to grow much from through the year But that's the cost of doing business right now with a guy who frankly guys Vlad E holds all the power right here This is in Vlad E's the palm of his hand right now.

He's playing it well so far. I think he's going to play it well. He's gonna be smart with this. And anything right now needs to start with a four. With Keegan Matheson, yeah, exactly. And he also understands everything that we've laid out here. That the fan base is up in arms, that the front office is reeling.

Like, you know, you're right, Santander signing is a win for the Jays. It's a good sign. It's a move in the right direction. But what happened on Friday with the Guardians and the Sasaki Jays was a complete and utter embarrassment and disaster. And they, like, Miles Straught,

now they're just stuck with this guy. Does he play a game for them? What do you see the plan being? Because they've got him under control for a while, decent money, and they're not getting anything out of it because Sasaki decided to sign with the Dodgers. I could see a way, guys, if Dalton Varsha was not ready from his shoulder surgery in September. Maybe Miles Straw is that glove first defender that you play a few games out of the start of the season. But Cleveland paid him to play in triple A last year. And the Guardians getting the Blue Jays to take that contract is probably one

of the best moves of the off season for them. I'm shocked at that move. And guys, when that move came down, I think it was around 1130 a.m., you take that as a sign that the Blue Jays know what they're doing and have this lined up with Roki Sasaki. When that happened, I'm staring at a story on my screen right in front of me right here that I started writing to be ready that the Blue Jays had signed Sasaki. Because when you make that move out ahead of everyone else, you better get it right. The Dodgers stood there confidently, probably chuckling a little bit.

They waited for Sasaki to come to them. Then they made their move and they made a better move. The Blue Jays were extremely aggressive, which you've gotta be, but you need to know where your next step is coming. And the amount of texts I've gotten from around baseball with other media, people in other front offices has been not exactly positive for Toronto's Blue Jays lately. They got their ankles broken and they tore the arse out of their pants on the way down.

Man, that was not pretty. That was as tough a deal as you are going to see in a long time. They got screeched. Not the type of scree see in a long time. They got screeched Yeah, not the type of screeched in I like that was a newfoundland Reaching it was like a bad screech Keegan we were talking about the welcoming committee No, no, we were talking about the welcoming committee. The Dodgers could throw out there That's like Dave Roberts, Otani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts Like is there truth to the Jays kind of pitch committee with Dalton Varsho and Chad Green?

Who was the other guy and Bichette? Oh, yeah, like where's Ladi in this situation? Where's Bureaus? Where's Gosman? Why aren't they do they just say that's not my business or what the hell's up with that? Yeah, when you compare that to the dodgers that's uh... if a player could pick between one of those dinner parties i think it's going to be pretty clear which one they're going to take and i'm not saying that i really don't know that i'm just talking about the comparison of the two now it's quite a different it's a different planets it doesn't bear whatsoever

and frankly shines a light on what the blue jays are up against right now look at those three players. Chad Green is what on this roster? The number three, number four reliever in a free agent year. Dalton Varsho has a couple of years left. Boba Shett is in his last year and is, I think we all know, not the most vocal, not the most outspoken publicly player. And that's okay.

That's just fine. But in this situation I was I was pretty surprised to read that report that that does not compare whatsoever to what the the Dodgers would have brought to the table not just with guys like Betts and Freeman but you have Otani you have Yamamoto and that's an example the Dodgers are a beast of their own but that's an example of once you start to acquire these Japanese players you can start to build on that with that relationship it's what the Blue Jays are desperate to do but when you compare start to acquire these Japanese players, you can start to build on that with that relationship.

That's what the Blue Jays are desperate to do. But when you compare those two pitches and then you compare the shot at a World Series, I mean, the Blue Jays would have had to really wow him with their pitching plan or something like that. But in terms of one versus one, it's a complete no contest uh... wiki matheson m o b dot com so where where's the next step going to take the blue jays in your opinion what what is the next uh... position that they need to attack here because we all i think we all concede and we all know they still need to do more if they want to have any

chance of competing this year yeah they need one more big bats and someander was a great step in the right direction. They still need more power. Peter Alonso fits that beautifully, I think, still at this point. He can play some first base while Vladi plays some third. If I'm Vladi, I would like to go to free agency. Having just shown the league, I can competently play third base. Not going to win a gold glove. You're not gonna wow people

But not only do you open up the number of teams who are interested in you You get away from the conversation of hey baseball doesn't pay for his basement anymore. Look at Pete Alonso We're having that conversation over and over Vlad E needs to get himself away from that convo a bit if I'm him. I'm happy to go play third base I think he would be Pete Alonso makes a ton of sense, but adding another bat profile will be another one that's talked about. On the pitching side, I think that's important as well. Mack Scherzer is one name, Jose Quintana is another. I think out there the Blue Jays will be interested in. If you do that, you slide Yari Al Rodriguez to the bullpen as a long guy, an upside guy, and suddenly everything's starting to look okay. Suddenly you can look around and say, you know what?

The AL is not terrifying. Now that should not be the goal. This team should be chasing the AL East, not the sixth wild card spot again. But pretty quickly, the Blue Jays can get back to a spot where this is realistic. They can make another postseason run. They just got to spend a bit more. You don't sign a closer in Jeff Hoffman, even more than Santander, guys. You don't sign a closer, a top end closer, if you're not going to try to give them some

games to close. They need to spend a little bit more, need to push in a little harder on this. Santander is a good step, but you can't stop there. Yeah. And I would expect they'll keep going, but we'll see if they're screeching the end or maybe they close. Maybe they go Zachris on this and start landing a long zone another arm maybe a bullpen arm and all the sudden

everything start to move in the right direction uh... keegan always great seeing you man thank you for doing this uh... you got a fellows talk soon you got a keegan matheson of and will be dot com