OverDrive - Matheson on Yesavage placed on IR, the injury timeline and the lineup formation

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joined OverDrive to discuss Trey Yesavage landing on IL and the injury timeline for his shoulder, the starting rotation outlook to begin the season, Cody Ponce's impressions on the mound, Addison Barger's leap lineup, the formation of the team and more.

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Our main man here with TSN as well. Here's Keegan Matheson joining us. Keegan, what's your level of surprise on this savage situation? The fact that he's starting the year on the injured list. Well, I won't pretend I knew exactly what the injury was, but there was obviously something. Okay. It's clear that we were missing a piece of this story all spring. And when you're missing a piece of something, nine times out of ten, it's health.

It's an injury. So this is not good news by any means. And I think a lot of injuries are being framed as good news just because the guy's not having an arm amputated. But there's nothing good about this, okay, when you're talking about a shoulder. A shoulder is very complicated, okay? And the Blue Jays, I'm going to be the dramatic guy this season, I guess, but games in April matter. Okay, this is the AL East. And this is a division that was tied at 94 wins last year.

The Red Sox are going to be better. The O's are going to be better. The rays will at least be pesky, right? If you are only getting 20 Trajia Savage starts instead of 26, 2830, that might be a win or two, right? This is worrying off the top for you, Savage. Anytime I hear a shoulder, I don't like it. Ideally, this is just a blip, but I've got to see that proven first. Now, it's interesting how, again, it's amazing where we are with this front office

and the organization and the reputation today compared to a year ago, where throughout this whole process, like I have noticed, and I have taken shots from people online and everyone when I have questioned, like, what's going on with you, Savage? And it's like, how dare you? an accusation. Don't worry about it. They know what they're doing. Shut up. Like, it's all good. I'm like, I'm just wondering what's going on.

Where if this was a year ago, it would be these are idiots. They don't know what the hell they're doing. They're going to ruin this kid. And again, they deserve an update of reputation based on what happened last year. But I think what you're pointing to is somewhere more reasonable and kind of in the middle, Kegan, that, you know, it's not the end of the world. Doesn't mean he's not going to pitch for them. But it is a hit. And it's something, like, they've known about this.

Like he has said on the record, I believe, down in Dunedin today, like this was before he even got to camp. Something was going on with his shoulder. He's been aware of it. And, you know, they're kind of slow playing it here. And I'm not convinced they have an answer for when he's going to be 100%. Is that accurate? Like, do you get the impression they know when he's going to pitch for them?

I don't. No. And the thing that started to get a little strange for me was more recently. When I think back-to-back outings, he threw the same number of pitches, 35, 35, two innings, two innings. That signals that something's not progressing. Okay, and at this point, like the clues were kind of there all through spring training. When Trey was handling this, I think, well, but, you know, giving some of the same answers,

John Schneider saying some of the same things, you start to piece together the clues. And it's no great scandal by any means, but I think that we could start to sense that something was a little off. Now, there are two parts to this that I'm concerned about. Number one is just the workload. Do they need him to be back to 85 pitches? Is 60 enough? When do you want to get him back all the way ramped up? I don't know.

The second part of this is that you've got to be good. Okay? I use, and very carefully here, let me tee it up. I use Alec Manoa as the example. This is not a Manoa situation. I won't go down that road. But that's an example that I think Blue Jays fan. Nobody wants to get that.

He wants to hear that name right now. But we're going to at least look at that road sign, okay? When Alec Manoa came back, he got his workload back up. He was up to a guy who could throw 100 pitches again, but his stuff was not back after shoulder issues. So that's part of this conversation as well. Yassavage needs to get back to a workload, but then you need to see his fastball up at 95, 96.

You need to see his splitter make a few people look stupid again. Okay? That's the other part of this equation. And today, John Schneider didn't have a timeline for that. It's not smart to give him one right now. But I don't think this is something where suddenly he is back in the rotation two weeks from now. It's similar to Jose Berrios, guys. I mean, how he is going to pitch through a stress fracture in his right elbow, I don't got a clue.

Okay? But I don't think either of these are going to happen next week. So, Kegan, just for clarification purposes, because reports were out about you Savage. And maybe I just took this a little, took this. took this incorrectly. He showed up to camp with the issue. He's feeling better now, but ran at a time to be ready for the regular season, which kind of led me to believe that he's on the right track. Everything's okay. He just needs to kind of ramp up. But you're saying that that's not necessarily the case, that there might be more going on here. Yeah, you still need the stuff to be back. In terms of timeline, you're right. And that's a good point to make in terms of how this worked. What we understand as of today, you know, 510 p.m. Eastern on March 19th, He showed up to camp feeling not great in the shoulder. That's why it started out slow on top of a plan that was already in place. So it's kind of layers of slowing down his spring training.

Now you've got to work that workload all the way back. And that's what they're doing now. They say he's feeling a bit better. But on top of that, you've got to get your stuff back. So it's like a regular spring training buildup where Max Scherzer or Jose Berrios or Kevin Gosman. Maybe they go out on February 25th. and they're throwing 90 miles an hour. And we all panic.

Then they tell us not to panic, and it's not a problem, right? But you've still got to get the stuff back. I think that's going to be part of this for Traja Savage and to have the full motion, the full use of that shoulder feeling completely 100% fresh. And I don't think the Blue Jays are going to rush this either. You know, I know nobody rushes a young pitcher. But Traja Savage, this is one of the most valuable people in the organization.

So you've got to make sure he is all the way right. with Kagan Matheson. So we know Savage won't start the year, or Rios won't start the year, Bieber won't start the year. So the rotation sets up, Gosman, Seas, Ponce,

Scherzer, and likely Eric Lauer. So that's your five-man rotation. Let's presume that happens. You know, they've got to go through 20, 25 games with that, if that's the case. How do you feel about that five-man rotation and how does it set up over a possible four or five times through the rotation?

Not nearly as good as it could be, but a heck of a lot better than most teams would find themselves after losing three guys. This depth is really impressive. Like, as I remember when we were talking a few weeks ago, where the heck is Max Scher's are going to pitch? Well, he's going to pitch right here. You know, these things work themselves out every damn time.

If they had signed 20 starters, 15 would have gotten hurt. It just works out this way, every year. So they're in a way better spot than most teams would be right now. But there are some better rotations than this, in the AL East. You know, the offense is going to have to do some of the heavy lifting early in the season. And they're going to need guys like Gosman, like Cease, to be dominant early. You know, you won't have that settle in period.

And I know that sounds a little pushy, but again, American League East, there's not a lot of time to settle into a season, especially early on when you start out with the A's, with the White Sox, with the Rockies, you got to win a few ball games in there. So this situation right now, it's good enough to get them through. Eric Lauer, he gets what he has wanted. You know, not the way he wanted it, of course, but he's wanted to start. He gets to step in.

And if they can survive this, they just need to get to the next guy coming back. The next piece of news needs to be good news, okay? One more piece of bad news, then you get into who's next up. And that answer is not clear right now. So the next news needs to be in the right direction after a few that have been in the wrong direction.

Higan, as Cody Ponce exceeded your expectation so far. It's just spring training, but better than you thought? Hell yeah. He has looked really good. And spring training guys, there's some things that I do care about, okay? I've learned like struggling veteran George Springer last year. There's probably some clips of me on this show being a little too dramatic about George Springer last year. I've learned that with certain guys when they've proven themselves, spring is just whatever. But with pitchers, especially a pitcher like Ponce coming back, I almost treat Ponce like a prospect, guys, because he, He was in Japan and Korea. He's been gone from the big leagues.

He's coming back a new man. He's new to us and what we're seeing. So the pitch metrics, the fancy stats about what his pitches are doing, how they're moving, matters. And it looks really good. Okay, the Ponce signing. I loved it from the beginning because it represented upside. If you're giving a guy three years, 30 million bucks, you can give it to an aging veteran who's just throwing slop and is going to eat some innings and get beat around.

but, you know, protect a spot. Or you can take the swing on upside. That's what the Jays have done. I thought it was a great deal at the time. I like it more right now than I did at the time. and he has looked fantastic. I mean, I think it's a 0.66 ERA in spring training. And the reasons look just as encouraging.

So that's a big one. Hagan, we talked about how, I mean, the ALEC is always tough, but the Yankees got better. The Red Sox brought in some guys. Everyone, I think we can all agree that Jays exceeded expectations last year. So there's going to be a little bit of regression to the mean this season. The sports books are not favoring the Jays this season.

They're not expecting maybe what we're expecting from them. So where do you see the Jays with small sample size in spring training? Where do you see them kind of shaking out in the ALE East and in baseball as a whole? I think they need to be a favorite in the ALE East, but the Yankees are right there. Like even if I project the Blue Jays to win the division, what am I projecting it by 0.2 games, right? Like this division is so good. And I think that in Toronto and Canada, I think we don't want to admit how good the Yankees still are. Okay? They're really good. They scored a million runs last year. They're going to do it again.

They're going to get back Garrett Cole. They're going to get back Cam Schlittler. They're going to get back a good rotation. The Red Sox will be better. This will be tough. And the Blue Jays now have a target on their back. Okay. I think this is going to be noticeable the first couple weeks of the season. I mean, big leaguers should not lack motivation. But if you are the A's, the White Sox, the Rockies, That's a lot of young players, a lot of fringe players, frankly. But you are now taking a run at the team that was just in the World Series and almost knocked down the Dodgers. The Blue Jays will get fewer lazy days this season.

Okay, they're going to get everyone's best. And you're going to need some players to step in and account for that. If George Springer regresses a bit, who's going to make up for it? The easy answer is that Vladdy can make up for everyone. Okay, if Vladdy is who he can be, he makes up for anyone that stumbles, but they're going to need some others. Addison Barger, Dalton Varshow being a couple more. With Keegan Matheson.

So you wrote an article today about Addison Barger, and he hit a missile yesterday. Like you talk about a guy who's getting a lot of play around baseball. He had a beautiful catch today. Yes. And, you know, he's, I'm curious how they utilize him this year. Like last year it was basically only right he's on the mound. He famously hit, I believe, that Grand Slam in game won against the lefty on the mound.

Like, what do you think the plan is for Barger this year? you're John Snyder. Are they going to unleash him? Is he an everyday guy? What do you see his season projecting to be? I want to see him in the lineup every damn day. Like that skill set is rare. Outside of Vladdy, Addison Barger can do things than most other people cannot do in this league. Okay, he throws harder than just about everyone. He can hit the ball as hard as just about anyone. And we saw last year against lefties sometimes. There's some shortcomings. There's some struggles. But I think he is earning a the opportunity to try that out and to show this team what he can do every single day or at least

giving him 145, 150 games. And I think he's in the right place mentally. You know, Addison Barger, everything about this dude is just cranked up maximum 10 out of 10 intensity. And I think he's learning to like take the odd breath, you know, not every day, but once the week, just like a quick little exhale, you know. So that's going to help him pace himself over the year because no matter how strong you are, no matter how heavy of a weight you can lift, the season is long and it wears you down. I think that hit him last year, and I think that he's in a much better headspace right now. There is no player outside of Vladdy who has more power over this team's trajectory than Addison Barger. Like, he is the guy who can pop, hit 35 homers and sneak into the number 10 MVP

voting type of guy. He has that talent. Maybe it goes the other way, but that level of talent's got to be in your lineup, man. He can change you. game in a second in any phase of the game. Yeah, it's, I mean, we're going to find out obviously by next week, but how do you see the lineup playing out? Like, let's say one through five. I mean, there's obviously going to be

movement and guys, let's say there's a righty on a mound. How do you see Schneider filling out his lineup? Behind Springer in the leadoff spot, they've been playing with Dalton Varsho, number two, which is way different than like a Nathan Lucas, who they would do more last year. Varsho will strike out a few times, but,

we've seen five home runs in spring training. His swing looks great. Always trust a man in a contract year. That is motivation, the likes of which I cannot even understand. So I would bet on Adis, or sorry, bet on Dalton Varsho in every single way.

This year he looks fantastic. Then you're going to have Vladdy. Alejandro Kirk works in there in that four or five spot. Addison Barger does as well. Then you have Ocumoto probably down number six. So the platoons will be played a little bit. I think Vladdy stays three. He likes to be number three.

John Schneider would love to live in a world where Vladdy wants to be two, but Vladdy likes three, so Vladdy stays three. But that number two spots the interesting one to me. You know, that that's the Bobichette spot. And I think it's one that could change quite a bit. But I don't mind the idea of Varsho getting that first crack. If he can reach base a bit more, he's fast. He is pound for pound as powerful as you get in Major League Baseball.

So maybe he pops for 30 plus this year. That protection in the 3, 4, 5 is nice. Yes. Yeah. If you go Kirk into Barger, into Okamoto, you know, give or take, yeah, I mean, obviously Vladdy hit in third. I don't know, it's going to be interesting. Like Schneider worked his lineup a lot last year and did so incredibly well.

But, you know, we'll see every year is a little bit different. Is Ernie Clement an everyday ball player this year? I would think he is. He has. He's earned it. Yeah, if Bargers every day, is Okamoto an everyday guy would think, you know, so like how much flexibility do you see in the lineup where guys like Lucas and Davis Schneider and others, you know, find it.

bats over the course of the year. And then you look at kind of thirds of the lineup. You know, like the one, two, three will work. And like you said, Kara, the four, five, six, that's a nice pocket. But the 7-8-9, that's last year where they had some fun with Miles Straw. They'd be bunting.

They'd be running. They'd be doing, they're kind of a different ball club down in that bottom third. And that's a good thing. You know, you're not asking speed guys to be power guys. You're just asking them to be themselves. But I think Okamoto is sneaky good. I think he's going to surprise a lot of people and he's going to be a lot of people's favorite player

by the middle of the season. But Kirk in the middle of there, a perfect fit. And man, if barger pops, everything changes, man. He can really take this lineup to a totally different world. He can have been reading that Okamoto actually is a really funny guy and that him and Vladdy have kind of hit it off

and that as people get to know him, that he's going to be, I mean, I don't want to go Muninori Kauosaki, but that kind of level of personality, is that what you're seeing? Yeah, everyone loves them. His teammates love the guy. and so for you. My job so far is standing back and just kind of watching. And the way he gets along with Vladdy especially, they're like the new buddy cop movie,

I think, in the Jay's infield. Like they've got their own handshake now where it's like they slap hands and there's a bow, which is great. I think I've mastered my bowing at this point. I think I've got through the routines pretty good. We'll see. But he's been a great personality around camp. And he brings such a great energy.

Like we have so many more Japanese media members around now. It's just kind of perks everybody up. It's really cool. I think covering Okamoto is going to be the most fun I have these next couple of years. And I think it's going to bring such a different energy. And I think people will realize very quickly how big a deal this guy is. Like he is a big deal in Japan coming over to the big leagues. And his personality, we're starting to slowly see it.

There's a lot to adapt to here, but you're going to see a lot more. Love it, Kegan. Great catching up, buddy. We'll do it again next week. You got her. We'll talk soon. There is, Kegan Matheson, MLB.com. I Heart Radio is throwing it back. 2010s, the decade. To the days of huge hits.

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