OverDrive - Matheson on the Blue Jays thriving streak, the trade deadline options and Santander's injury issues

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joins to dive into the Blue Jays' series against the Yankees, the depth of the team making their mark, the trade deadline outlook and Steven Kwan sitting in the mix, Alek Manoah and Anthony Santander's status to return, the AL East division race and more.

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Intact Insurance, your auto service ace. Certain conditions apply. Josh stares down the business end of his baby brother as he takes the reins on diaper duty. But Josh comes prepared with a diaper change tutorial. The video stream fast and strong. The baby stream contained. Yes, when the Harman switched to Bell Pure Fiber Internet, they wondered why they didn't sooner. Let's head down to the dome.

Here he is from MLB.com, part-time co-host of this very program. Here's Keegan Mathison. How are you doing, Keegan? Fellas, I'm back in the coal mines here at my real job. It's not nearly as glamorous. Right, exactly. But, you know, we're doing well. We got to do both of them.

Suited up, did a little SC earlier with Sarah, doing a little later, so you know, sweating in the suit, but everything's going well, guys. The more the Blue Jays win, the more I have to put on a tie it's a bit of a dangerous game here. Nothing wrong with that you look good you feel good and the the team's playing good man I mean it's it's amazing what can happen because we're discussing this off the top of the show Keegan you look at even the lineup tonight you know get Ernie Clement leading off. You got Loper Fido playing and right You've got like a list of guys and a roster

And a lineup card that if you pick them up and put them in the lineup last year, you'd say well That's a team that's gonna win 76 games, which is what happened and this year they're on pace for somewhere in the mid 90s Like how do we make sense of this where you know again it's it's not all these additions from the offseason that have launched them into a different category. It really is the internal improvement which is somewhat incredible considering how much we goofed on that commentary this time last year. Exactly it's all the stuff that we typically make fun of when you hear every season. There's going to be internal improvement, they're going to put the roster together in

better ways, they're going to find advantages, what is it, winning in the aggregate, all of this stuff that is front office speak, that you roll your eyes at, and that really tends to mean nothing most years when you hear it. It's working. And when it works, you have to call it what it is. It's working right now. And most of this, most of it comes from the player's side. They've done an incredible job of this and playing their roles.

Guys, and accepting a role in Major League Baseball does not come easily to everyone. When you are a platoon guy who's going to play a hundred games, sometimes the guy thinks they should be playing 150 and that affects them. I think the Blue Jays and their players have done the right job of knowing their role, sticking with it, and succeeding in it. Beyond that guys, the coaching staff deserves some credit in this. David Poppins and the Hing staff of course deserves a large share of that. I think John Schneider is going to get some buzz for AL manager of the year and

I think he deserves that. It's a situation right now where this team was supposed to be about 500. They're chasing an AL East title right now. That's what gets you in the conversation for AL manager of the year. He's going to be in that and it's just all working. Guys this is what it looks like when it all works. Not just one or two things, but the whole thing all at once and it might get better with the deadline. So Keegan, you know, you touched on it's all working and one thing that I really think is that everyone feels empowered that they can have an impact on the game. So where is that coming from? Is that, you know, from a youngish vet

like Vlad, you know, empowering these guys? Is that from a youngish vet like Vlad, empowering these guys? Is it the staff, the manager? Where is this success of just these guys feeling like they can contribute or should contribute every night? Yeah, that's such a great word and I love that, that they're being empowered to do this because I've been around teams and I know you guys have been around these types of teams in different sports where when a young guy comes up they're a little nervous. Am I allowed to sit here? Am I allowed to get in on this card game?

Am I overstepping? Do I kick off a veteran if I do this the wrong way? I don't sense any of that guys. There's still order. It's not chaos in there and it's not a daycare but it's a clubhouse that when the young guys walk in or when a triple-a guy who comes up for one day there's a sense that they can contribute right away in a meaningful way and a sense that they belong and are part of it. I've been around clubhouses where

that's just not the case and it doesn't feel good. Where I can see that reliever who just came up looking nervous and awkward and left out it's honestly guys it's uncomfortable to be around and I've been around it a lot but this is the complete opposite and that allows guys to hit the ground running and like Joey Loper Fito is a good example he's been a triple-a all year nothing spectacular down there but he came up boom right into the game and he's helping them win immediately that does matter and I think that comes from the players comes from veteran guys like Bassett and Gosman Scherzer George Springer was a big part of this but guys like Vladdy too you

know if you are a 21 or 24 year old kid you get called up the Blue Jays and the dude making 500 million bucks comes over and welcomes you and makes it clear that this is where you're supposed to be. Everything gets easier. And suddenly you are yourself again. Your shoulders are back, you're standing straight, and you feel like you belong.

You get rid of that week-long, awkward period of, how do the flights work? How do the hotels work? How does my life work. You get rid of that and you're a ball player. That's how it works. One of the bigger... I mean, there's so many topics leading up to the trade deadline. We're 10 days away from that and obviously that's kind of the overarching topic and then

you get the Yankees here and they get a three-game lead on them considering where they were two weeks ago. But the daily chatter about who's going to bat leadoff I think will consistently you know take place. Do you you know Ernie Clements hit leadoff again tonight we've seen a variety of different players over the course of the year do it. Do you think they're ever going to settle on a guy you know in that spot do you think that's something they might be trying to achieve between now and the trade deadline what do

you see happening in terms of the leadoff spot, you know, the rest of the way? I don't think they're going to guys settle on one person. You'll see Ernie Clements definitely against lefties and he belongs there. It's a good fit. You'll see Nathan Lucas. They could go back to some boba shit, but I like where Bo's hitting now. Guys, I don't think this seems had a real true leadoff hitter the past four or five, six, seven years and

At times that's been a problem and it's been a problem for example When they were trying to wedge boba shed into that spot I I like Bo being in spots where he has some runners on base and He can try to do some damage because Bo is a singles hitter doesn't excite me all that much Bo Bichette when he's driving the ball is one of the most dynamic and unique offensive short stops in baseball which is what he needs to get back to. And leadoff hitters can look a lot of different ways. Kyle Schorber is a great leadoff hitter. He does not look like the small slap-hitting steal a base type of guy but it is something I think that kind of under the

radar the Blue jays could look at at this trade deadline or at the latest in the offseason if there's a big splash to be made for a leadoff hitter that really changes the entire look of this lineup that's got to be attractive for making it work with any comment with nathan lucas two guys

who i didn't think would have a single game that lead off that kind of the theme of the season. But if they would be able to find a true legitimate number one leadoff guy, that would change everything in this lineup. And I think that would slide guys even into more advantageous spots, especially platoon wise down the line up. Well, so Keegan, let's say a certain player in cleveland's steven kwan is available and obviously would cost a lot of anything he is two more years

if you think that's an investment they would be willing to make a because obviously got to pay to get that type of player it'll be such a roth ackin style ball player guys what they could be is a Cleveland, which really ups. Exactly. If Ross Atkins has a Stephen Kwan poster in his office already, I would not be surprised. He's kind of like a souped up version of all these players the Blue Jays have rolling pretty well right now.

Now Kwan would not raise the offensive ceiling significantly right now. He's not having his best offensive here, but it's still a menace to face as a pitcher. He's a really annoying hitter to face, which I mean in the most complimentary of ways. But the defense, of course, fits in with what this team is doing. As that hand of bad as well, it fits in a lot of ways. Yes, it would be expensive, but anything cool you're going to do is expensive. And this has got to be an expensive deadline for the Blue Jays. Their farm systems had a good year, which essentially means they have more money in their pocket. They have

some fun money to spend. And man, if you win the AL East, not even if you win the World Series guys, if you win the East, if you get to the ALCS, think of those 2015 and 16 teams guys. They didn't win the World Series, they didn't make the World Series, but they're beloved and they're still talked about because they went for it. Man, Stephen Kwan is a player that casual fans in this city have heard of. Yeah, improving your bench, that's fun, great, whatever. But what made 15 and 16 so exciting is that people had heard of. Yeah, improving your bench, that's fun, great, whatever. But what made 15 and 16 so exciting is that people had heard of Troy Kulowicki. They'd heard of David Price. These were stars. These are guys who had been to all-star games. When you raise the ceiling

with someone that people have heard of, man, that's the ticket back to 15 and 16. That's the ticket back to this being the coolest spot in town sold out every night he can have got an update for the guys that are playing uh... well once down at minnow and then uh... sat on their well what's the latest on these guys home and know that the simple one of the good one he threw two winnings there yesterday twenty eight pictures i think he's probably gonna make gosh four five six more starts

at this point i think you look at him as a bonus. If he makes it back this year, it's a bonus and you're very happy. This is more about next year with Manoa, but if an injury happens and Manoa comes back at the right time, A, that would work out. B, you know that the big man would lean into that narrative. He'd be all over it. That would be pretty cool. Santander, guys, is the mystery and mysteries are not good.

John Schneider said today it's still going to be a couple of weeks until he starts swinging again but that it's still a week to week sort of deal and it's not a ton of weeks left guys, what are there eight, nine weeks left in the regular season and it's been this way for two months already. At this point it's starting to feel like we might not see him play again this year. We'll see on that, the Jays aren't ruling that out and we don't have the info that we should yet But when something like this drags on and on and on and shoulders are complicated things man Even when he starts to ramp up it's gonna be slow and even when he was playing it wasn't good

So that's been a mysterious one and mysteries are not a good thing when you're talking about an injury. So that's a file that onto the bad news, I guess, for now. With Keegan Mathis and MLB.com. So in terms of, you know, the vibes around the team today compared to when the Yankees arrived a couple of weeks ago for that four game series that the Jays eventually swept. How would you describe it? How would you describe where this team is at going into this series? I can't imagine they sweep them again. That would be seven straight wins against the Yankees in two weeks. That seems unlikely.

But the idea of them winning two out of three and all of a sudden you leave this series and head to Detroit with a four game lead over the Yankees would be massively significant and I can't imagine they have anything but over confidence that at a minimum that can happen starting tonight. Yeah, this is momentum guys like there's there are not any feelings in pro sports like the one around the ball club chasing the postseason because for the team and for fans but for these players like this there's no time to overthink there's no time to over analyze and take three days to pour over what you got a game and then there's a

game and a game and a game this race is such a sense of momentum right now and it can be addicting because right now the roles have changed when the Yankees were here three weeks ago the Jays were two down and they were chasing the Yankees because they're always chasing the Yankees. The Jays have been the little brother since 2016 and they've been at that kids table. Now they're the ones being hunted and that's a different game. And if you're Mack Scherzer or George Springer, you know what that looks like. But for a lot of young players, they don't know how it feels to be at the top of a division and be chased and i think that might be a good thing

you know whatever play your own game and right now against the yankees they can create some distance but they're going to get everyone's best from now on the yankees are not going to be saving relievers for whatever their next series is i don't't care what it is. The Jays are the team that's being chased now for the Red Sox, for the Orioles, for the Rays. Everyone's looking up at Toronto and I think the Jays need to embrace that. That's where they should be. You're a big market, big payroll. You're supposed to be on top at this point. You feel that sense of momentum every single day that it can snowball quickly sure can and things change quickly uh... but it's it's gonna be a fun week for

this team again they had three at home as the yankee started tonight and they had to detroit for uh... big big week coming off a big big weekend enjoyed down there keegan will do it again later in the week you've got a fellow sticker keegan matheson, MLB.com. Yeah, it's going to be fun. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on iHeart Radio or wherever you get

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