OverDrive - OverDrive - April 11, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the biggest storylines from the Masters Tournament, Connor Hellebuyck looking for the Hart Trophy and the Maple Leafs' lineup perspective against the Canadiens. Blue Jays Manager John Schneider joins to discuss the season outlook for the team, Vladimir Guerrero's significant role with his contract extension and the lineup foundation in Toronto.

All new, all Canadian, the best of our great nation, one song at a time. This is Justin Bieber. Hi, this is Terry Clark. We are Nickelback. Made in Canada, on iHeartRadio. Rock, pop, hip-hop, and when it comes to country, it's the true north all the way. Loud and proud. An all new digital radio station from coast to coast.

Made in Canada, played in Canada. On the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca. It's gonna get loud. This hour of Overdrive is powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, Overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker up on TSN 2, Brian Hayes, Yo Dog, Jeff O'Neil,

Jamie Noodles, McClennan. What's up? What's going on on a Friday afternoon? How we feeling? I have one hashtag to start the day and it goes like this. You quit on Mackle, hashtag you quit on Rory and I didn't you're such a loser and it's so untruthful this guy I do feel bad because you caught a couple strays there's some jerks on Twitter underneath that tweet it's like

he also quit on the sends I almost wrote back and wrote I know he's a jerk another guy was like he quits on everything. He hates the devil's I do hate the devil's So I I'm not I'm not gonna sway off that but listen We've had we had private phone calls where we were torching this guy yesterday Macaroy for what he did down the stretch and to his credit. I think it was as early as this afternoon Yeah, it was it was even when he made the turn at one under him like this guy he's not aggressive enough what's he doing he's gonna finish one under and have no chance and he absolutely destroyed the back nine he shoots six under it's the low score of the day he's right there I'm happy for the guy so am I it's an amazing story because I

think I think he just had a like a talk to himself and who knows what goes on behind athletes minds it's one of the most fascinating things like we see them as superstars and they are but like what actually is going through their head are they nervous are they panicky like what thoughts go through their head and maybe he just had a talk to himself and said I am playing too good right now to let two holes Wreck what I'm doing I got to go lights out But that's what I got to do to get back into this tournament because I'm not in I'm not a kid anymore And who knows how many opportunities like this come around and didn't we finish the show? Because we literally finished the show with him at zero and you saying on thursday

uh... friday's usually pukes it on like is that's not a strong day correctly guys well i remember that generally thursday's were an issue for me that that was the concern was that it was kind of following down a similar path and it can feel like there was a fork in the road where if he shot seventy five today missed the cut it would not have surprised anybody now but it was not a lot of activities kindness kinda crappy thursday and then he'll make the cut with a solid round kinda crappy saturday and then he'll go lights out when it doesn't matter on

sunday right repented some kind of top twenty position where everyone could say all their story and it doesn't mean anything i'll be wins man i i I had a good feeling about him before the tournament. Yeah, here we go. I don't think you did. Mr. McElroy. Guys. Look at this guy now. Jeff McElroy, always a believer.

Hayes, we said some really nasty things today on the phone. I mean, some of the worst things we could say about playing a par 5 and doing certain things you know i've just had i'm just happy that he showed some jammy climb back into it this other guy the chef for man bodies right on the scale he's had with them right now i've just never seen a guy what he'd loath surround their like he's holding on

air and it's like the caddy says that branch up there i want you to hit the strivers starting at that branch turn at one yard to the left and he just nods his head and he it's a joke the way he plays golf course it is man he loves sir it's the perfect description he's a kind of he's an annoying guy to be behind at the mall you know you're like can you move like get out of the way he's a mall walk he's a mall walker at Augusta with five pound dumbbells yes and he is currently six under but this leaderboard is

The horniest leaderboard you can have on a Friday afternoon Rose the shambo McElroy Scheffler Lowry there's Cory Connors who's one under on the day five under on the tournament So he just gave up a shot going through a man corner brought to you by brazzers spotty i it is as good as it gets happens there days there hovelins there all birds there matzah yama like it's just a lot of the right side of the rock star it's not a big it's not a guy that's come off the you know i've uh... the tin copper anything now i do you know it's not any of those that there's not a surprise name that's like

freddie ridley said the other day boys he's like we're not here to torture the best players in the world what we're here to do is identify them you're damn right you're doing that freddy ridley that's right damn right and fred ridley jr earlier in this this week al's brother came out and he said that's exactly what way we anticipate happening and again it's still ongoing right now on TSM we'll continue to track it see who makes the cut see where everything lands see where the Canadians are at Nick Taylor's into the weekend he had himself a really good week a really good day today so that's big Nick Taylor breaks that streak of nine straight missed cuts at majors he's

into the weekend so a lot more on that later this afternoon Graham Dillett coming up John Schneider will join us it looks like news just broke that the games postponed tonight so yeah they're in baltimore but the there's there's bad weather so they're not even gonna play so it's a day off and john's got a call in the house you know he he loves golf he is probably watching yeah the call channel or espn is like i gotta call these idiots and check in and see what's going on

man was he bent out of shape with that umpire yesterday at Fenway. Wow, that was embarrassing. It was awful. I know it goes like, I sound like a homer, but you're looking at it. Wasn't it 10 of 12 bad, you know, they go back and 10 or 12 went against the Jays. Like that's ridiculous. Horrendous. Terrible. Horrendous call. Like, Bechette got tuned up early in the game and he just turned around

and looked at him like, are we really doing this like are you being serious right now and they end up losing an extra innings but they take three or four in Baltimore it's a great great start they they are still not hitting or in Boston before they get to Baltimore they have they're still not hitting any home runs like it they are they've hit six times he's kind of getting bizarre a little bit like somebody tweeted yesterday they've had six on the season. Kind of getting bizarre a little bit. Like somebody tweeted yesterday, the angels had six home runs today. Right. Jays have six the whole season. And you talk about the most obscure statistic, I would say possibly in Blue J history, they

have played 14 games. They have hit six home runs as a team. They have come from three players. This parlay, if you put this parlay in three weeks ago, through 14 games, three players would have home runs. You would be a billionaire today. George Springer, Andreas Jimenez, Tyler Heineman have the three home runs. Heineman has a home run. He hasn't hit a home run since 2019.

Like it is crazy what's going on with the offense. Yet the staff is on fire. The rotations been great defensively they've been playing great they're grinding out wins and playing small ball absolutely. Yeah they're there eight and six again going into Baltimore rained out tonight but John Schneider will join us in 20 minutes. Yeah well and we'll get into a number of things with him including the Vladdy stuff right and I wonder if he looks back on yesterday thinking I wish I didn't give him a day off knowing they're not gonna play today

Yeah, the other thing too is you just said a day off in Baltimore like that city's very very Gritty like yeah, I'm the players. I would have just said you're not canceling. We do not want a day off Well, we want to just playing in We want to wait for something else down the line. We don't want to be in Baltimore. I know that somebody who listens to us in Baltimore is going to take offense to that. That is one of the roughest cities I've ever laid eyes on. There's just no doubt about it.

No one has anything. It's the biggest dump in the world. There's no other way around. Listen to you too. I love Baltimore. Oh, yeah. I love Baltimore. You've always been a Baltimore guy. Look at you two hating Baltimore, a beautiful port city. Beautiful port. They used to have

an AHL team, the Skipjacks there. Like it was, and it was, we were warned. They were like, don't walk to the, like the rink was close to like, yeah, you know, got walk in pairs, go on the team bus. Like it was like that type of nonsense. Like it was scary, scary. It's a beautiful place. Beautiful place. Do you remember the famous show? Was it the wire?

The wire. The wire was out of Baltimore. The wire will, the wire could, it could not be worse for a city's reputation than that show. I mean it really it is I love that they blatantly like showing like downtown Baltimore on the screen and street names and stuff It's a or was it just one of those no things that people knew it's shot in Baltimore And it's based on it's based on true events like the guy who wrote a guy by the name of David Simon I think was his name. He I believe used to be a

Investigator, I think he worked for the paper down there and it's about the you know The drug trade drug game down there the policing of it all the politicians and how dirty they all are It's just an incredible show on HBO's But it's West Baltimore East well, it's and it is you look you watch one episode You're like, I'm never going there ever in my life. I'm telling you, it is bang on again. I wasn't in. You're not hanging out in West Baltimore. No, but to have, again, being on the road and you're excited to have the coach and

the manager come in and go, guys, no messing around here. Don't go out. Don't be be you know a And we all we went to like a bar around the corner had beers had dinner all of that And then it was straight back and they were like do not mess and and keep in mind This is in the miners in like 1991 this is not you know recently and it was scary there were you know I don't think I was seeing things anything that we don't see on tv everyday anywhere in any big city that mean

that's not you can find a wherever you want to go but it was we were warned like you'll be smart then and let's not go out there i'll take all tomorrow's my city you guys are haters i love baltimore it's the biggest dump in the world now it's it's it's a gritty city i will pay the rate in the world i i want to's a gritty city. The biggest dump in the world. I want to say Hayes, the rink had a stage at one side. There was no fans. There was a stage.

I don't know what was going on. It was the weirdest layout setup. A stage. JP, play it again. Just play it all day long. It's the biggest dump in the world. You know what? We could use that for multiple reasons.

If we're talking about a place, a city, or if a guy melts on a golf course or anything a guy throws a pizza behind the net it's the biggest dump in the world yes we are going to that cue call a lot yes if anyone has any issues at any point like referee can't see anything in the third period blows calls. It's the biggest dump in the world Yeah, I was talking to somebody today and my phone must have cut out and they were talking asking me about the guy taking a leak In their lake yesterday at the Masters and I'm like, well, it's not like he took a dump like and somehow the phone cut out And it was just like you what did you say? Like you you said he took a dump in there I'm like, I don't think he took a dump that is literally broken telephone like is that

I guarantee you as innocent as that was somebody pulled him aside from Augusta National and said don't ever do that again a hundred percent man that's a Roger Dorn that's a Willie Mays Hayes you know like you do that again you owe me 20. It's the biggest dump in the world. Yeah you cannot relieve yourself in Ray's Creek at Augusta. No, Ray's Creek. Ray's Creek is probably named after somebody and his family's just horrified right now, right? Oh for sure, it's you know Ruth Ray the former governor of Georgia, you know, and it's something some esteemed member of society. Yeah. But yeah, there's a drop for us moving forward and So we got John coming up John Schneider in about 10 minutes MJ will join us. We got a big weekend for the Leafs We're getting closer and closer to the endgame. I will say this

That win by Winnipeg last night was so impressive Yes, and I think you tell me if this is crazy You tell me if this is one of the biggest dumps in the world in terms of a take I think Hellebuck may have wrapped up the heart last night. He did I think heart statement That's a heart statement game you go into Dallas and say no dice He has he has more shutouts than like 26 teams in the league or something like that It's over last night There was like TSN did did a thing on Twitter is like, is this an MVP statement

game? And he went in there and got a shutout. He just won himself the heart trophy last night. I was asked yesterday for SC, you know, Ken, what can Hellebuck do? Because he was number two, I believe, behind Dry Subtle and FanDuel. And they said, you know, could this be a statement game? And I said, it all, he's had a statement season right again and then I said yes you know what if if he delivers the president's trophy he's gonna win the

Vesna like what else can he do and then first at all all categories and then I said you couple that with with dry settles not playing right now so you know I get it and I that no slight on Leon Dry Settle. I think he's had an amazing season. I do believe it's a heart worthy season. But right now, you know, Edmonton's playing tonight. Dry Settle's not playing. Hellebuck's putting shutouts up against one of the top teams, a cup contending team in

the Dallas Stars last night. So you're right. I think he's pushed through. I do believe if he hasn't won it last night, I mean right. I think he's pushed through. I do believe if he hasn't won it last night, I mean, you know, he's right there. It's 1-1A. McKinnon... McKinnon's banged up now. That's weird to talk about. That's the thing. Like, so McKinnon now is banged up and that is probably going to cost

him the Art Ross, right? Now Kucherov probably sneaks in there. I just... You look at it, the last goalie to win the heart was Kerry Price. And Price's numbers were a little bit better. He had more shutouts. I think his save percentage was 933 and Hellebux is like 926 or 927. Both of them are... Yeah, crazy, crazy, man. Crazy. And Price, I think, started even more games. But Hellebux is gonna get 62 starts have a around a 930 say percentage of goals against under two you know he's got more shutouts than 27 teams in the league that was the stat I mean there's other guys have a great offensive seasons but nothing that's crazy not like as great as Dry Settle's been I'm not sure this is this has not been his

best statistical year of his career I don't think he's had better years yeah um Mcdavid's had clearly better Kutrow said better McKinnon had better last year it just for me first place president's trophy best player on the best team and the fact that he plays every night I think that should matter you look at his stats because I was looking it up last night after that game every Every year of his career, the guy plays every night. Like he every single year of his career, it's like 57 starts 62, 64, 59, 66. The COVID year he started like 43 of 56 games or something. Never hurt, never a night off, never gets pulled. And for just out of appreciation for the fact that he's an old-school guy I want to see him win it like I want to see him win it for that

So he steps up and goes next year. I'm gonna start 65 games Well, and anyone that doesn't like it you can Here's another thing Hayes. He said his own personal career high in wins and I know wins are team stat and all that but 45 wins this guy has underneath his belt in 61 appearances. Unreal. 1.99 save percent are goals against like it just I think he's had that's a hard season and what's crazy about Hellebuck and it wasn't that long ago he would have amazing season statistically little off

here amazing season little off here amazing season little off here he won the Vezna last year yeah like that's the great like he's doubling down and you know for me I I agree I think he has to be the lead dog for the heart just based on what he's done now this team Kevin Sawyer did a really nice sit down with Gino and he laid out. Now this team, Kevin Sawyer did a really nice sit down with Gino and he laid out some stuff. This team isn't Hellebuck only, that's the thing. In past years, he's been the guy.

Like it's been Hellebuck and hey, he gives them a chance every night. The team is a lot better in front of them. I know, but people hockey, people that know hockey understand there's not that, there's not that megastar up front. There's not that McCar there's not that mckinnon yeah there's a bunch of good players and then there's the goalie yeah you're right because again if you look at that Habs team in 1314 I think it was not a stacked team at all won a lot of

games you know but not a stacked team like Sue Ben was still there PK I don't think he won the Norris that year but it would have been around that era that he won the Norris but you're right you look at it Kyle Conner's a stud he's a stud and Shifely's a stud and Morrissey's a stud but none of them are gonna win the heart none of them are gonna be up for the Norris or anything like that and it's just a really well balanced team where Halibut clearly is the man yeah and that was just a really impressive win and that pretty much wraps up certainly the division probably the president's trophy. I think they get

a three-point buffer on Washington and you know it's very similar to what the Leafs are gonna be dealing with but now all of a sudden Ekman Larsen not practicing today he's banged up the Leafs are gonna have to play five defensemen tomorrow night. I saw that. And probably Sunday in Carolina. Well yeah it's a cap thing they're up against it I guess they've been using long-term IR forever. I don't know. It's a complicated cap scenario where, for whatever reason, they can't call anybody up,

which I find stupid. I mean, it's so stupid. But the argument- The embarrassing is what it is. It is. Now, I'm sure the league would say, well, then give yourself room. You know, then give yourself flexibility.

You know the rules, so that's the counter. But it is silly that you're this close to the playoffs in a team of this stature And what I mean by that is they're going to the playoffs and they're in first place have to prop possibly play five defensemen tomorrow night Because McCabe's not gonna play an Ekman Larsen is not gonna play well Edmonton the other day went 11 and 5 I don't know if you saw that because Wallman was sick before the game. Right. So it was they played 11 and five, like not 12 and five or 12 and six, 11 and five. And McDavid came back in because our NH was nicked up. So, you know, these teams that are up against the cap, like it's, hey, we're going to play short tonight. Listen,

these guys can handle it. They can all handle the ice time and all of that. But it's just, it's a bit weird. And it's obviously a bit concerning as you look through the league and you mentioned it. Colorado just going on a road trip. They're leaving half their team at home right now. Like, I think teams are going okay, if we're still in our spot, enough's enough. Like the weird part is, other teams have to put their foot on the gas going we want this spot like the Leafs want this spot They can give themselves a breather if they have a good weekend Then they could shut some guys down then they can do what they need to do What do they need on the weekend? Do they need three or four? I think they need two. I think you need two I mean Tampa's got What do they have Detroit tonight? I think after Detroit is a win and they just played Florida last night

So sets up well, I think they got Buffalo on win and they just played Florida last night. So sets up well. I think they got Buffalo on Sunday after Buffalo plays Florida tomorrow night. So they get back to this is all week leaves Detroit, Buffalo, they're going to face them all back to back scenario after they played Florida the night before. It's just a massive advantage for Tampa. So I think there's a good chance Tampa walks out with four points this weekend, which means if you want to, if you want to have a lead as of Monday, you got to get at least two points Yeah, you got it. You know, you got to have two or three points like you do yourself some favor

You win both games you win both your home free and more or less your home free and and and in the end like you've got To look at it that way. But you know, I saw Jerry Hockenpah was skating in it. Yeah, he's out there Hockinpah's out there patch All right, he's out there like he's not they're not prepared to play. It doesn't sound that way anyway But it's you know, you're starting to get some guys, you know around the cusp of like and we were talking about it yesterday Like what's it gonna look like here at the bottom of the roster? They've got some options, but you want to be healthy I don't know where McCabe status is that I did he wasn't even on the ice today I don't I don't know I'm getting a little nervous about that and you know, Brady Kachuk not playing again tonight That's another gotta be nervous in Ottawa, man. I think that's flown under the radar, but that's game six and

You know now the sudden like I know your Travis came out in the media like I know Travis came out in the media a while back maybe a couple weeks ago said he had a hip thing going but there's now they've deemed the upper body the the injury was a collision I called the game it looked you know was an incidental collision but it was still heavy I don't know the nature of the injury but you know I all you can hope is the guy is just saying look I'm not playing until the playoffs because I just don't care enough we clinched nothing's important But then if it's like misses game one, then you got a serious problem Well, you've got a serious problem on your hand

If you're if you're if he's not a hundred percent like Ottawa even to be compete in the playoffs needs everybody And in in that and that being said, you know, there are teams down the stretch here I you know I was looking at that Edmonton team too. I think the McDavid thing was Coy because my understanding is he was available like a week ago and they were just like, no, you're going to be 110% before you even look at the ice type of thing. And he bullied his way in there or whatever.

But dry sidle, I think they're being overly cautious. Sounds like Stuart Skinner is available available is going to back up tonight so they're in at home same type of thing he's going to play I think so so these teams that are trying to get healthy here with a week out you know nine ten days out but you got it your star players have to be available to you when it's go time that's the biggest thing and and it's not like hey, you know what? I haven't played in a month now I'm just gonna turn it on like you you know guys are good enough to do that, but so much at stake Yeah, it's careful. Yeah. I mean it can go either way, right?

You can be rusty or you can be fresh for the first time in a long time And I guess what we'll find out as we get closer to the playoffs because by this time next week the playoffs will be set regular season be over and we'll know you know it's gonna happen quickly in terms of where all the chips fall again the Blue Jays in Baltimore tonight but it's been postponed due to bad weather but John Schneider will join us so we'll get John's take on the season so far Jays are eight and six they just took three or four out of Fenway Vlad E is he splashing money around like is he is it is that something the manager to more than a team dinner that's like you fly the boys to Vegas trainers coaches everyone something's got to be on the line I would think you do that but you from Baltimore what's

the get to DC pretty quick I was just gonna well you could do it DC or you could do it you're gonna wait for the timing we were out west you're gonna fly us into vegas on an off day and it's yeah that's true or not start okay well let's do it uh... john can tell us about that and if any plans are in action already uh... and again will continue to look ahead to uh... a series that will resume or will start tomorrow in baltimore uh... tracking the masters tracking korey conn, who's still out there, and he's six

under on the tournament, two under on the day. So he's right there. I just watched your guys, Bernard, what's his name? Bernie Langer. Bernie just threw it in the water. The water got his face. Well, he just, he's dying to make the cut. You know, he said to his son, I was lip reading, he said to his son, he goes, God damn, I'm

just gonna miss the cut now. I swear to God, that's what he said he's probably did he was on and then it rolled down as i was i i i i i i i i i thought that is can said that i know he said that where is that so that yeah he's on fifteen putting for bogey uh... no burning eyes are on to you know what i saw to my peripheral which which this guy, you gotta claim this, and you are owed royalties. Because Scott Van Pelt was sitting there

with Justin Rose, and I could see that they were wrapping up the interview, and Van Pelt went in for the handshake, and Rosie met him right in the middle in the Butler cabin. It was your handshake, you gotta try to find the viz. It's so awkward, it's so uncomfortable, yet they pulled it off and made it look professional actually it's funny you say that i watched that live and i was like that was beautiful that was a great handshake yeah i think this was

a congratulations on leading after thirty so from the bridge get it will come back in a side is not there yet will get a full breakdown of svp and justin rose and butler cabin uh... john snyder coming up mike johnson still to come overdrive continues tsn ten fifty and on tsn two the best of our great nation one song at a time justin bieber this is terry clark we are nickelback in canada on iHeartRadio. Rock, pop, hip hop. And when

it comes to country, it's the true north all the way. Loud and proud. An all new digital radio station from coast to coast. Made in Canada, played in Canada on the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca. It's gonna get loud. all right overdrive continues powered by fando john schnider will join us here in a moment will get to uh... mike johnson later this afternoon don't forget your ticket in the princess margaret home lottery gives you a chance to win over seventeen thousand prizes valued at more than thirteen million dollars

and it also helps us all dream of a brighter tomorrow. Every ticket sold supports world-leading cancer research, never thought possible discoveries and promising new treatments at Princess Margaret Cancer Center and that's definitely worth supporting but time is tight. Midnight tonight is the absolute final deadline for the nine million dollar grand prize, a stunning seven thousand square foot Oakville show home plus a half a million dollars in cash buy your tickets now at princessmargaretlotto.com. All right, John Schneider here in a moment.

They got a day off in Baltimore. So I got to think that's a big win. If you're going to get a rain out, there's never rain outs in Toronto because they'll just close the dome. Right. You're on the road. You got no responsibilities. Like, there's no expectation that all of a sudden you're running errands or hey maybe you got to

do something around the house I think you just kick your feet up and basically watch the Masters all you watch the mat or you could go to an establishment possibly all day exactly but go like I said about baltimore go in pairs go with us so that i think you are curious to come with them is our job bring a bat with you yes bring walker maddingly in a bad if you're going to work uh... here is the got the night off it's uh... a rain out in baltimore here's the manager of the blue jays john schneider what's your plan i got an off day john

uh... you guys attempted me right now i don't know uh... of the Blue Jays, John Schneider. What's your plan now? You got an off day, John. You guys are tempting me right now, I don't know. I'm actually doing part of that. I got my feet up in the hotel watching the Masters and we'll see where the rest of the night goes. Yeah. It is nice to kind of just kick your feet up and turn the mind off for a little bit.

Absolutely. As far as cities to get a day off, where would that rank on your list? The bottom. Don't radio yourself now. Just be, like, it can't be that high, can it? I would say there's definitely better places to have an off day. It's a great hotel. It's a great hotel, but's a great hotel but the weather

in Baltimore this time of year is great. So yeah, it's not on the top of my list. Okay. Yeah, it's a hotel spot and that's all that matters. Like you said, you got a good hotel and you guys are riding pretty high coming out of Fenway. You take three of four and yesterday was a battle. It goes to extra innings. I heard a lot of the guys talking after the game about kind of gritting out games and playing with grit. And those are words we appreciate on the show.

I think you were echoing them as well. I mean, what do you make of your team up to this point? Yeah, I think, well, that's a very accurate way to describe it. It's, you know, it's tough road trip going New York, Boston, and Baltimore out of the chute, but I think that's the kind of group that we have, from pitchers to our position players. The starting pitching has been phenomenal, and the bullpen's been great as well. There have been really close games, but we're kind of getting contributions

from everyone and I think there's something to be said about coming to the yard and expecting to win which is what we're thinking right now and there's a big difference in expecting to win and hoping to win. So there's definitely some different personalities in the clubhouse that kind of amplify that a little bit and we talk about it every single day. So it's nice that there's those conversations happening and it's showing on the field too. So it's been kind of a total team effort. John was it good news, happy to get the Vladdy stuff out of the way?

Was that at all a distraction or did was that maybe more distraction when it came to the media the fans on the outside but uh... you know tell us or walk us through the process and and happy to get it done yet definitely happy for him and for us that we got it done you know no matter how many times near him uh... you know you say you know i'm worried about just today. It's there, right?

It's there, and I think Vlad is a little bit more at ease now that everything is official and completed. So, he's a special guy, you know, and I think this is obviously a huge, huge deal for our organization, and, you know, historically big contracts. So, it's really cool that I've been able to kind of see him evolve as a player, both minor leagues, big leagues, and couldn't be happier for him to be rewarded for that.

So again, there's a lot of boxes you have to check. It's not just on the field. When you're making a commitment to a guy to kind of be the face of your franchise, there's a lot of things that he does that are really important to us in the clubhouse as well. So looking forward to, you know, the next couple of games here, but definitely for Monday to where we can kind of, you know, get him in front of everyone and speak to the fans. And I know that there was a lot of talk about whether or not it was going to get done. So happy for Vlad E, thrilled for the organization and for our fan base to have someone to kind of grasp onto for the next 14 years. Schneids, that kind of number is like, doesn't that warrant more than like buying everyone

some lunch? Like that's like, you get everybody on a burden go somewhere on a day off a West or something, isn't it, man? Well, yeah, I mean, with the rain out today, you should see the group chat going down about where's Vlad taking everyone. Yeah, that's half a billion dollars is a lot. Yeah, man, it's a lot. Vlad, he's very, very thoughtful, I will say that.

He takes care of a lot of people. So I'm sure he'll treat everyone in his own way over time. With John Schneider, and you mentioned the behind-the-scenes stuff. Obviously, that kind of price tag comes with an expectation that you're going to produce. You've got to be a superstar. You've got to be one of the best players on the field. And that's what everyone on the outside can see is what he's going to do in the field, what he's going to do in the batter's box, what kind of numbers he's going to put up over 15 years but in terms of the maturation of Vladdy and and maybe what you've seen the last couple

years and what you think needs to be triggered or needs to possibly continue to mature is there anything in particular you can point to behind the scenes where you say with this type of commitment we need this that or the other behind the scenes from Vladik Guerrero Jr. Yeah good question I mean we obviously think the production is going to be there right for the for um the duration of this contract I think what he's already done in the last couple years is realize how much um power his voice has right when he's talking to the guys and I think he I think he doesn't like to be overly vocal, but I think he understands now when he talks, people listen.

And with the contract, whether you like it or not, comes a certain expectation of how we do things, the way things, you know, how do we want them done, and he's gotta live it, you know? So I think players feel that as well. When you do get a contract like this, I think you feel a little bit more responsibility to do your part, not just production on the field,

but understanding how important you are to the team. And Vladdy has already started to do that behind the scenes. I think that's what gave us even more confidence to really hammer out the extension is because he really, really understands how good he is and he really understands the influence he can have on everyone else in the pub house. Well, and the amazing thing about him is,

we're living in a modern sports world where a lot of guys take days off, a lot of of guys if they're 90% they're not gonna go you had to pull them from the lineup yesterday like he plays every single day and you've been around baseball for a long time how important is that characteristic you know in terms of investing in a player knowing yeah he's worth a lot he's already worth a lot of money but he's a baseball freak to play, you've got to drag him off the field. How significant is that in terms of the leadership you're talking about? Yeah, I love that.

You know, he's been durable, he posts every day. I think people kind of forget that about him, but he posts every single day. And you know, just we were talking through when we left New York about getting him a day off. He was doing so much in Boston here with the physical and he was after games going for MRIs and doctor stuff. I mean he was really doing a lot so we wanted to get him at least half a game off of his feet throughout that whole process but to have a guy that plays every day I mean just right in Guerrero every day for one. It's it's awesome It's great, but just to know that you're doing it, you know day after day after day

You know bows the same way these guys never want to come out of the lineup and that's that's just such a luxury luxury to have and when you're talking about a guy that's gonna Be the face of the franchise going forward You know how you how you post and how you compete every single day just is a huge, huge part of it. The tweets are popping up about how you guys are having success without the long ball. John, how do you kind of balance the success you're having and still kind of maybe letting guys know that any time now maybe step up with the long ball or is that something you literally can't say anything about?

It just kind of has to happen organically Yeah, I mean they know right I mean I think the quality of bat has been so encouraging up and then a lineup and that's without you know guys Who are going to hit homers hitting homers yet? So It's we I mean it if you guys could have been in Boston in New York and how cold especially Boston it's freezing you know, they're it's it's hard to hit this time of year and We absolutely know that the power is going to come from the guys that we're expecting it to come from so

Not worried about it But I do like that I do like the way we are scoring and I do like the way that we are trying to Manufacture runs and the quality of that and beating down starters So if we keep doing that and then the home runs start coming, I think that's when you see you know a little bit more you know you know run scored, bigger innings, less one run games, all that kind of stuff. But right now a lot of it is weather, a lot of it is getting into the flow of the season and have all the

confidence in the world that these guys are going to hit the ball of offense. With John Schneider and yeah it is amazing through 14 games, Bichette, Santander, Vladi, none of them have hit home runs. Only three guys on your team have hit a home run. I said earlier if you parlayed Heinemann, him and S Springer as the only guys to hit a home run through 14 games you'd have a billion dollars. It's crazy to see, yet it's a reality and again you're over 500 and you're actually getting production from the cleanup spot which was a huge discussion last year. We talked about it countless on this show. We had you on a bunch. Jimenez has hit there, Springer hit a home run in the cleanup spot the other day and your

strategy, can you take us through that? Like you've got you're going Beau Vladdy Santander, you're pretty committed to that and then you've got a guy who doesn't generally hit for power. George has clearly throughout his career but he's always let off the road his career what i think is through your strategy in terms of what you want between your four five six hitter because it's somewhat unconventional in terms of like that power bat quote unquote not being there in the four hole every day

yeah um... good question and there's a lot of different ways to do it i think the top three you know I think just watching Bo hit over the course of his career and where he kind of landed in Spring training it he's instant offense when he's right. You know having Vlad behind him. I think I Want Vlad up in the first inning and I want and I want Tony up in the first inning you know so I that I'm pretty committed to where, you know, the three hole comes up with nobody on in two outs, you know, more than any other time in the game

in the first inning. And you get a guy who had 44 homers last year, it's a chance to just A, give you a quick lead and B, you know, with the way the games are run these days, it makes the other manager think, okay, do I want my starter to face this guy three, four times? You know, so that way the games are run these days it makes the other manager think okay Do I want my starter to face this guy three four times? You know so that's the thinking behind that with him in the four hole For one I just I love that. I love the at bat quality when we acquired him. You know we Meaning the you know the organization David Popkins

We kind of immediately said there is way more in this bat You know looking back to just a couple years ago when I think he hit 20 homers or 22 homers or something where he, we didn't want him to, yeah, you're hitting fourth to a bunch of the hit 30 homers. The quality of the bat, he can either hit the ball hard, he can run, he can steal a base. I kind of just liked that there

to get a left-handed hitter in there too. And then followed up by either, you know, Georgia or Kirky, depending on who we're facing, you know. I love the way Georgia's swinging the bat. He's made some adjustments with Pop as well and has been really, really productive and really, really efficient in his bat. So it's not set in stone. I love what the bottom of the order is doing to do, whether it's, you know, Lukey, Roden, Miles, Piney. I mean, it's these guys are, they're, they're putting together really good at bat. So the thinking of it is it's almost like three parts, right? You got Beau Vlad Tony, you got him, me, Georgie and somebody, and then you can kind of mix and match at the bottom three. And as you turn it back

over to the top, whoever's at the bottom two they're usually they're pretty good base runners so you have some contact skills some on base skills and they can run the bases for when the big boys come back up around so that's kind of the way I thought about it when I put it together and again it's probably going to change over the course of the year it always does but I kind of really like how they kind of play you know off of one another and it's really a nine against one attack. Well and one adjustment you'll have to make is when Dalton Varsho returns and it sounds as if he's trending in the right direction defensively your stats

have been great your play has been great I mean that must be very encouraging that you got a gold glover who's not even playing for you and everything has kind of been working in terms of you know people doing what they're supposed to do but what's the latest on Varshow and how do you see him impacting the way you're going to fill out the uh fill out the lineup card every day? Yeah Varsh I mean for one I think it it gets so overlooked that in my opinion you have the best outfielder in baseball and you have the best infielder in baseball on your team every day up the middle and him and as in barsh so He's he's progressing really well this past week has been his best week throwing. He's

Yesterday through to the bases. He's gotten out to 200 feet in a throwing program and the feedback from him has been really good Both the consistency and when when he's throwing and how he's feeling afterwards, so hopefully by the The beginning of next week we get him into some minor league games Where he has been playing but just hasn't been making throws. So I think hopefully beginning next week He's kind of full go in the outfield and then after that get him up to triple-a for however many games we need to get him up there and catch and get some game speed under his belt. But I hope it's not too much longer until we see him.

And then I think when he is here, you know, he'll slot in somewhere in the middle of the order on basically a nightly basis. So thrilled that he's making progress and excited to see him go to work up the middle of the defense with him and as a bow to you know Max Scherzer brought in we know what he's capable of but obviously you know nicked up you know how concerning any updates all of that type of stuff where you know how valuable he can be but obviously not available to you. Yeah, I mean unfortunate right?

I think Max he had a good spring, actually a really good spring and I mean talk about just a difference maker in the clubhouse right? Hall of Fame pitcher he rubs off on everybody and basically no nonsense which is awesome. He's continued, he's been throwing for about four or five days now. He's throwing every day and just kind of ramping back up to where we can get him off a mound. So I think the fact that it was only about a week down from throwing will hopefully expedite that process

when he does get on the mound. And he's obviously very, very important to our team and what we're trying to do this year. So as soon as we can get him back, we're definitely gonna welcome him. Well, best of luck with the plans this afternoon. You got some time on your hands. Enjoy Baltimore and we'll catch you back home on Monday.

Thank you for doing this. You bet, guys. Good talking with you, thanks. You got it. There's John Schneider, manager for the eight and six Blue Jays, rained out tonight back in action. He's always great with us. Always. Yeah, he's always fun to chat with, man. He's listen, he, uh, they're in a good spot right now. They're, they're, they're playing well. They're not hitting for any power.

He makes a good point about the weather and all that kind of stuff. But these guys, the guys that are going to mash are going to mash. Like, you know, Bichette's going to hit, Vlad is going to hit, Santander is going to. It's once they hit, the other guys, they gotta keep up. You know, you can't, that's the issue. You can't have them show up and then all of a sudden the staff falls back down to earth or starts to crater or your bullpen starts to fall apart a little bit. And you know, we didn't even mention that, like the bullpen has been been really, really quality for them. Jeff Hoffman was great at Fenway a couple of days ago. He's been very good, very good statistics. His arm looks good. Thank you to Baltimore. Thank you to Atlanta for passing on him. It's been a good start. All right, what do

we got going? We got a lot going on today. Actually, you know what we should do? Al's brother has been hiding four different locations in the city, four different spots, and it's time for you details where he has been all week four one six eight seven zero ten fifty calls right now four one six eight seven zero ten fifty the first caller through can name all four of the locations that al's brother was hiding up this week wins a pair tickets to see leaves red wings april seventeenth

finals brothers been brought to you by mccall pine ford in aurora our family the ford family in you or one six eight seven zero ten fifty there you go calling now and tell us where else brothers been uh... by were tracking tracking the masters were correct on it we got to have an update for us for a connor's given update for scott is six under last night's under a car is six under, but more interestingly, Rick Dunlap, who blew a 90 at Augusta National

yesterday is dash three through 12 today. Yes, I love that. Ricky Dunlap. I love that he said he played man. I give him so much credit. I thought he'd be able to shoot for sure and yeah he's on 14 he's 300 for the day he's gonna miss the cut by a million strokes but still he battled he was grinding like how much would he miss the cut by 16? It'll be yeah 12 to 14 strokes probably just wouldn't tell the story if he was at the airport and someone said where'd you play golf today and he said Augusta National and they said what you shooting he says 67 but they didn't ask what you shoot the table wow you miss a cut man 67 that's lights out only one

one round cut this year yeah somehow you had to shoot 66 or better to get a weekend I just missed it all right Mike Johnson in about 15 minutes thanks again to John Schneider dear Dear Hazy B coming up later this afternoon, Overdrive continues TSN 1050N on TSN2. That just happened with me, Vashi Kapelos, Candidate Asides 2025. Stay informed with my exclusive iHeart Radio podcast, available Friday afternoon, straight through till election day and beyond. I'll have your weekly highlights and my unvarnished analysis of the campaign of a lifetime. The candidates, the quotes, available Friday afternoon straight through till election day and beyond. I'll have your weekly highlights and my unvarnished analysis of the campaign of a lifetime.

The candidates, the quotes, the polls, and the momentum. That just happened with Vashie Capellos. Canada decides 2025, fresh every Friday. Stream on your schedule with the free iHeartRadio app. Melodon Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a side and a drink and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less.

A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston Pizza. All right, Mike Johnson in about 10 minutes might sprinkle in a few mini jerry's into the next hour. I've been saying that the last couple of days, we never do a few mini Jerry's into the next hour. I've been saying that the last couple of days, we never do it, but today's the day. Mini Jerry's are coming up. And the Leafs and Habs tomorrow night, Ivan Demidov, right, at Pearson, people stalking him at Pearson Airport last night.

But weren't those Habs fans? Yes, they were, which I actually have great appreciation for. If you're a Montreal Canadian fan in Toronto and you go to Pearson, that is a diehard fan. What I wanna know is, the people with the Habs, how do they know where he, like how do- They were tracking his plane, man. They were doing the Ohtani Babcock move.

That's what it was. The guy was, he was in Turkey. He was literally in Turkey. Why is he not getting onto another plane? Like why? Oh, he's just meeting the team. Oh, I get it. Yeah, the Habs are in town.

They play Ottawa tonight, but he's probably like, and there's not many flights from Istanbul to Montreal, I don't think. So it could have been a scenario where it's like, you got to get into the country, fly into Toronto, and then maybe back to Montreal. He might be there right now. I don't know. He also might have had to do paperwork in Toronto to get, you know, as far as visas and stuff like that too, right?

Like there's working, like there is some like business side of coming here. That's why he was in Turkey, man. They were waiting for his papers and they were tracking him and getting a new haircut. Maybe exactly. Maybe Struddy saw him over there. Maybe Struddy could give us the flight plans from Turkey into Canada. Wouldn't that have been incredible if Strud was on that flight and walked out with all those Hab fans?

Ha! With a helmet on in the background. Demidoff takes a picture of Struddy's salad and says, this guy looks familiar. Yeah, this is an NHL veteran. Saw this guy at the Spangler. What is it? Who is this guy? Spangler Cup legend and Turkey hairstyle aficionado. But yeah they were tracking

his playing man coming over for turkey and that's like that's bold. In Toronto out Pearson Habs fans waiting for him that's that's how much hype is around this kid right now. Yeah it's pretty crazy but it's committed it's committed fandom. Those aren't patrons those are fan fanaticals. Those are fans. All right. Hour two coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN 2.

You've been listening to Overdrive powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. That just happened with me, Vashi Kapelos. Canada Decides 2025. Stay informed with my exclusive iHeartRadio podcast, available Friday afternoon, straight through till election day and beyond. I'll have your weekly highlights

and my unvarnished analysis of the campaign of a lifetime. The candidates, the quotes, the polls, and the momentum. That just happened with Vashi Kapelos. Canada Decides 2025. Fresh every Friday. Stream on your schedule with the free iHeartRadio app.