OverDrive - OverDrive - August 11, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Join Jim Tatti, Keegan Matheson and Michael DiStefano for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Blue Jays' series against the Dodgers, Mason Fluharty's impressive outing against Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, Trey Yesavage going to triple-A, the depth of the Blue Jays' roster and how they've built a winning team in Toronto. Keegan lists the keys for the Blue Jays leading up to the playoffs in Keegan's Keys and the best contenders across the AL in the league.

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Fan-Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Welcome aboard, overdrive, and a sizzling Monday. Jim Taddy, Kigan Matheson from MLV.com, and Mike DeStefano, aka A-B-B-L's brother, to guide you through the early stages of this week. And, of course, we're talking baseball a lot. Coming up very shortly, we're going to have Eric Hosmer at 505. Yes, Guy, no guy at 530, Bruce Garriac at 545, because the senators finally have their land deal done and the new arena will be on its way so we'll flesh that out

Richard Griffin will be by at 605 Mark Ross talking NFL at 630 and uh Kegan's Keys at 425 keys to Blue J success you all said for that I hope so I hope so they're handling it well themselves yeah but man oh man what a weekend in uh in Los Angeles it was and by the way so we met for the we've talked many times over the last 10 years yeah we met face-to-face for the first time about 35 minutes ago. 30 minutes ago.

We used to do so many 6 a.m., 6.30 a.m. radio hits for the millions of Ontarians listening. Not with me. We've done. I don't do more. Hundreds and hundreds of radio appearances. That's one of the cooler things about coming in here is meeting people who I've texted 100 times,

talk 200 times, and they all say, man, you're better looking in person. It's great. The phone has a nearly similar look. It does. Oh, man, while I was saying earlier, I was like, yeah, I've met Keegan a handful of times, but I don't think it's ever been in a situation where beverages weren't involved. Hey, best from a distance.

But you know what? You never know. How long do we have left? Two hours, 59 minutes? 702. We'll see what's happening by 702. Expect the tray to show up just as you're leaving. I like it.

I like it. So I guess, you know, we're going to put, we're going to do a Perry Mason on you. The A.B. and I are going to grill you. The first question is, what is your expert testimony on what you saw on the weekend against Los Angeles? I wonder if the words of Mason Flew Hardy. have ever been said on Overdrive. I doubt it. It's got to be one of the first few. Not to an extent that it's about to be discussed. Amazing how that worked out. The first couple of games showed you what you have to be

afraid of if you're a Blue Jays fan or if you're the Blue Jays, which is a team that can outstar power you. And the Blue Jays have done a very good job of putting all the pieces together of adding 10 players to get the output of 12 or 13. They're really squeezing a lot out of that lemon, but you can get out star-powered. You can get out Otani, you can get out Freddie Freeman in the post-season. Vosite's had a big series. Buki sure did. And

that's what can happen to the Blue Jays. I know that's being picky, but we're not talking about sneaking into the playoffs now. We're talking about taking a run of the World Series, something serious. And you can get out Superstarred if you're the Jays. That's why they need Vladdy. It's why they need Bo. But then in the final game,

you see some of the magic. And if you're not going to out-star someone, You have to have a little bit of that magic. They had that in Ernie Clement with that big late home run. In Mason Flew Hardy, who got thrown into a situation, like, come on, against Otani and Mookie Betts. Ridiculous, two of the biggest outs of the season from a guy that is, what, number 10 on the list I would have expected to get those.

So let's just break down the Otani at bat with Flew Hardy. I mean, educate us on how he approaches that. He went right after him. I mean, that was fun to watch. I mean, where's all that coming from? Going right after him with not a big arsenal of pitches. If you're Chris Bassett, no problem. Splitter, curveball, slide, a fastball, fastball, splitter.

You can keep him guessing. Mason Flew Hardy is going to throw that sinking fastball and that big bending, breaking ball we saw over and over. If I know that, an idiot in a chair here, Shohei Otani knows it, my goodness. And Otani's approach fouling those off with big cuts. If I'm on the mound, I'm shaking. at that point. And I think back guys to when

Flew Hardy first came up to the big leagues. There was a lot of talk over, my God, John Schneider's throwing this guy to the wolves right now. And his first few outings were in ridiculously high tension situations. And Flew Hardy, sometimes there's a beauty in being the guy that's just not supposed to be there. Because you know what? House money, screw it. Let's see what happens. And if Shohei Otani takes you deep, he was supposed to because he's Otani, you're Flew Hardy.

Hey, that's how it was going to go. The manager's not going to get blamed, not you. But he kept going at him and going at him. And in that three-two count, I was sure it was going to be a ball. I was sure he was going to walk him. And I have all the respect in the world for how he handled that. And then the final out of the game as well. And, man, the over under on cold beers on that charter flight home for Flew Hardy and the guys, take the over.

But just an incredible performance indicative of how this Jay's team works. Man, it was not supposed to be Flew Hardy, but it had to be, and he did it. But that's kind of what this team's done all year, where they've had these unsung heroes come up in big moments, whether it's, you know, at times it's been low perfido, you know, since he's come up after the All-Star break. How many big moments has Barger had who wasn't on this team at the start of the, at the start of the season, right? Ernie Clement has come up with some big, that Miles Straw, Dalton Varsho, like the guys who aren't stars have come through. that internal improvement has kind of come through. And last night was Mason Flew Hardy's turn.

Louis Varland deserves a lot of credit for that, too. Kind of stop the bleeding. Because, like, that was not a good outing for Eric Lauer. Probably the worst outing that he's had so far this year. It's been a nice season for Lauer, but obviously gets yanked in the third. And you got to piece together a bullpen day. Coming off an afternoon game, coming off a night game, bit tough. But Louis Varlane went into, what, an inning in two-thirds?

I think he ended up getting out there. Touched a hundred. So touched a hundred. had got the outs that he needed to stop the bleeding and kind of reset the game from there and the Jays were able to get back into it. So he deserves a lot of credit and obviously the bullpen kind of kept things in check at that point. But those two guys, those two pitchers who, again, three weeks ago, he had no idea if

those two are going to factor in. I mean, Barland wasn't even on the team at that point. And Flew Hardy was kind of, you know, is this guy a big leaguer? Is he going to go down once Garcia gets back and they add some guys at the deadline? Well, all of a sudden, now you look, okay, Fleurdy might be a guy. He might be a guy, and he showed. He's got some Cajunas in a big-time situation like last night. Even who came in after Varlane, Fischer.

Yeah. I mean, he was a throw-in in the Gavin Bigio deal last year, who I didn't care enough about to write. And it's at this point of the season, when I see a trade like that go down, you make a decision. There's a certain bar that something needs to clear for me to write a story or tweet about it. And I remember looking at these stats, Okay, Braden Fisher. He's in the minors. These are his numbers. Okay, whatever. That can be a note at the bottom of a notebook. Now he is one of the most important relievers in this entire bullpen. I look at the lineup yesterday. Five on down, Thai France, Dalton Varsho, Ernie Clement, Loperfito, Tyler, Heinenman. It's, guys, it makes me think to spring training when I, I shouldn't say waste all that time because I love being in Florida in February of March. But so many times where I'm here on overdrive and I'm talking about, guys, here, the mighty.

word of baseball. Here's what's going to happen this year. Here's the player that's going to be important. These are names we never talked about. I never said Braden Fisher's name. I never talked about Ernie Clement being not just a villain guy, but a legitimate starter, a high upside players. Amazing. He's one of the more

underrated players in the AL, I think. They're getting it from everywhere and it's still happening, guys. It's August 11th. A month in, I thought hey, luck, poof. It's gone. It's still happening. But it happens with the game on the line. It's not something that You look at the box score, go, hey, this guy did this, and it was early in the game.

It's with the game on the line. Somebody steps up, delivers a hit. I mean, there's Clement yesterday with the big home run after a fielding error, and they bounce back, don't they? Ernie Clement, like that big home run in that moment blows me away because he's built for speed, for contact. Ernie's an incredible athlete. You put him in a competition of five or six different sports,

one of the best all-around athletes in Major League Baseball. But I've had meals bigger than the guy. Ernie is not a large person. He is your classic middle infielder, who is quick and twitchy, but not built for power. You can see him there, but turning on that pitch in the right spot, knowing who he is. Ernie Clement impresses me so much, guys, because a classic story of someone who, again, when the Blue Jays claimed him, I believe it was from the A's in spring training, I don't think I bothered to write a story that day.

Because it was another, oh, mid-March, this guy's going to plug in in AAA. I see 10 of these a year. This Blue Jays team is going to be stuck in my head for years because of stories like that. There's never a move that doesn't matter because it might turn into this. Every player that's come up has seemingly had a moment. And that's why I think is so special about this group, right? Like, how many guys realistically have come up and called up through AAA? That's been a dud.

Not many. And that's where I see the club have. And I spend so much time around this team. and I still struggle to determine what a clubhouse means or what the value is. And I'm very hesitant to talk about it because it's still not my place. I'm a visitor in that clubhouse. Even though I'm there for an hour a day, probably longer than they'd like, I'm a visitor. And I still don't know it like they know it.

But when I see young players come up, Braden Fisher, some of these young position players, Joey Loprifito spoke to this when he came back. They are immediately empowered because I've been around teams where the new guy who comes up, the waiver claim who comes up for a day. He's sitting out in the stairwell. He's on FaceTime with his family because you can tell he doesn't really know anybody. He's out in the dugout scrolling his phone because you can tell no one's talked to him yet. It's, yeah, these are adults, they're pros, but it's still a social dynamic like anything else.

Now I see immediately when a player is up, they're in the middle of a card game. They're talking to the guys. And John Schneider, importantly, is probably putting in the line up immediately. and if you go for four, well, you were still part of a win probably and you feel like you're part of the team. I think this is where we see the clubhouse, which is normally a fluff storyline. I think it's real this year.

Well, I mean, that's what we're watching. We see that in terms of who's performing and a guy gets called up and delivers right away. I mean, it just feels like how you describe that. So you said earlier, like, that they can get out star-powered. Does this, the way the Jays do this, does this remind you of any other team that you've seen, major league baseball before?

You'd need to go back through a lot of Blue Jays team years and even when you look back through more of those 80s teams where they were getting contributions from all over in terms of Blue Jays context, going back through a lot of the teams, the Blue Jays have been stuck up against

that Royals team back in the Royals is where I'm going, yeah. They did a lot of everything. The ball and play a ton, not a ton of power, but that was a little more extreme than this Blue Jays team and they went heavy on bullpen, which the Jays are trying to do. But this goes back to what David Popkins, their hitting coach said in spring

training, that great teams can score every way. And he used the word creative, which at the time I said, oh, my God, here we go again, creative. It's sometimes the simplest way is the best way because it's right there in front of you. But they have nailed creativity. And some days it's going to be Vladdy, hitting a big three-run home run, ideally a little more often. But other days, it's going to be what we're seeing now, moving the ball around, playing

great defense, great pitching. They are a very individual team. I can look at the Yankees and say, hey, they're boom or bust, hoping to God they hit four home runs. I've seen that type of team before. I've seen it a lot. And I've seen that team fall apart before. When they go for a week without the home runs

and suddenly their managers getting tossed every day. Oh, like the Yankees right now. It is rare, man. It's rare what they've got going on. And they're a very individual team. Not many like them. Are we ready to, like, say that this is that. No, because, you know, you alluded to, like, for the longest time, we talked about when's

the bubble going to burst. When's the bubble going to burst, right? Guys like Clement, guys like Barger, like they're going to regress back to the means. You know, Miles Straw can't, you know, hit as well as he is, or Tyler Heimant can't continue to hit the dates he's got to fill in for Alejandro Kirk. But they've continued to do that. And we're now, you know, approaching mid-August and everyone is still contributing to the same point.

Like, I'm looking at it right now in terms of, you know, this team. like OPS or in terms of OPS Plus, like you've got a number of Blue Js in WRC Plus, 12 them above league average at 107 or more, 12 Blue Jays with a WRC plus in the triple digits. That's since the All-Star break. So that's not pre-All-Star. That's since All-Star break. The last month, they've just continued to put forward the type of offensive output that a lot of us expected to slow down.

It hasn't. So are we getting to a point now where it's like, this is what the Blue Jays are? Like this is just their quality deep ball club who just has an amazing approach at the plate They're not striking out at all Although this weekend There's far more swing and miss than they had you know previously But this this this this ball club is is getting to a point now

Where it's like okay I think this is just what they are They're just a quality offensive team That's where depth comes in I think Which is again is another thing like creativity on the offense It's another thing that when used wrong Kind of like the buzzword we've seen in recent years There's great depth Well you can't have just

depth. You need to build something on top of that foundation. Now they have both. And when you have the high-end outcomes with some depth as well, that allows you to have a week where maybe Nathan Lucas is a little slower. George Springer's not in the lineup. You lose Alejandro Kirk. Okay, boom, here comes Bob Shett with a big week.

Here comes Joey Loprafito out of AAA, who I hadn't talked about in months to have a big month. They have quantity. And that's one of the best approaches. We like to talk about baseball, especially people in baseball. They like to talk about it like they can know and measure everything. The best approach to prospects, big leaguers, fringe guys,

is to have five of them. Throw them to the wall, one or two stick, and you look smart. When you only have one or two, they're going to bounce off that wall and come right back at you, but the Js have quantity now and it's working. Well, maybe one of the better untold stories is player development. I don't think you expect to see that in Major League Baseball, but I think the Jays have been guilty of this for a number of years.

Their player development this year has been, I think, the best story in this whole organization. And it's not going to show in prospect rankings after the year, but they dealt Cal Stephen. They dealt Kenri Rojas, who was a really, really good left-handed pitching prospect. And they dealt Geron Watts Brown.

Those are three top ten pitching prospects who they've turned into their big additions in Varlane, in Dominguez, in Beber. So that's a way that this player development group has helped. But now, I've spent a lot of years talking about how many guys are getting elbow surgery. And I'm

not writing those stories this year, which is refreshing, and it's good for them. But they have made changes. They've looked at it and said, hey, here's where it was going wrong. And that's the first step. That's encouraging. I like that. And this group has done an incredible job this year. It's hard to measure that year over year, but there's so many success stories.

You see that with Trayy Savage coming up to the system. You see that with the pitching development success stories. They've nailed that. And that is what allows them to have this depth coming. And it's not even about 19-year-olds developing into big leaguers. It's about those 23 and 24-year-olds like a Braden Fisher, making that jump, unlocking just a little, something extra. And the J's, their farm system this year, incredible story,

and is not getting a ton of attention because I know it's not the big leagues, but it's powering the big leagues. Well, how about now, Trey Savage moving up to AAA? I was announced earlier today. I think you broke that story Open Kegan, if I did see. you got the scoop on that one. But, like, is he a guy, now that he's at AAA, like, is he a guy that you think could factor into the Major League Ball Club at this point?

Like, why else would you move him up to AAA so quick? Yeah, I don't want to get a look at him before getting to the big leagues. Has to be at a certain point. When he's down in AA, that's, double A is the development level, AAA is the Prove-A level. Right. Because when you get up to AAA as a pitcher, you are going to go up against maybe a few top prospects,

but more importantly, that 32-year-old journeyman, who's played a thousand games in AAA, who is going to spit on your breaking ball and not jump at the things the 20-year-old hitters are going to jump on. I think Treyia Savage is going to overpower AAA as well. And not only is he an incredibly gifted pitcher, and I mean gifted,

but he's an adult in all of this. And when I cover prospects as much as I do, I mean adult as a high compliment, because he has taken their development plan this year, he's run with it, he's nailed it, and he's been mature about it. and he's old school man he wants to strike you out

and he wants you to know that you just got struck out I think people are going to love Trey you Savage and as you're seeing that on the screen right now for people watching what's so special about Trey you Savage and for people listening on audio it's his release point

he releases the ball straight up over his head and what that does is create this incredible deception between his fast ball and his curve ball because now that curve ball is no longer humping up in the air it's all coming downhill

on you. It's like he has the high ground on the hitter and it's attack, attack, attack. It fits his personality and 15 strikeouts per nine innings this year across three levels going on to his fourth is ridiculous. At a certain point this is no longer about development. It's about one really simple question, guys. Is Trey Savage

one of the 13 best pitchers? Yes. The answer is yes. It's been yes for a minute. I think it's yes today. It's going to be yes tomorrow. What's it going to look like? I'm not sure. maybe that two to three inning roll, if they can get him up. I think he'll pitch a bit in AAA Buffalo. Maybe they consider putting him on the 40 later this month.

A month ago, I said it was a 2% chance. It's not a majority percent chance right now, but it's bigger than that. That's the storyline for the team. I mean, you could pretty well apply that to anybody who you didn't know about, and all of a sudden the guy goes up five rungs in the ladder overnight. So, you know, obviously a glut of pitching, which is nice. They're talking about six-man rotation to get to the end of the season. What's your take on that?

Rarely am I the six-man rotation guy. I think this is when it makes sense, honestly. Because so often when a team is talking about a six-man rotation, I'm looking at it and saying, well, that guy sucks. Just making a five-man. Come on now. The Jays have six really good pitchers who deserve to be in a big league rotation right now. And yeah, Eric Lauer's coming off a tough one.

He's been one of the best stories of this whole season. And he gives you a lefty in there. That's important. I think that can stay a bit longer. how I see this going is Bieber coming back after another outing and you can run with six for a bit if it doesn't take care of itself by then it will a couple starts into it

somebody will be sore somebody will hit a wall somebody will have a velocity dip it'll happen but I think you can start out with that six man and it's going to give people an extra day of rest that can get a little bit long I think there's only one tricky spot in early September where it would be a little too long rest So that could be the turning point in this.

A couple off days in the scale. Yeah, a couple in there. And you don't want to get into being seven or eight days. But they have the talent there. And September 1, you could add another bullpen arm. You can beef that up and help them. I think it makes sense. As much sense as it's ever going to make,

because you have six big league starters who are on any team in baseball, an MLB caliber starter. So my count is 43 games in 49 days. So there are, with the gaps in there. Obviously, there's a lot of work to be done. And they haven't claimed they haven't obviously sealed the division and Boston's in pursuit, so you have to watch

that you don't sort of talk yourself into a corner. Yeah. It's kind of a nice part, though. Like over the weekend, you drop two to three to the Dodgers, but you don't lose any ground in the division. Like the Padres did us a nice favor. They went out there and beat the Red Sox. They did their part for the Blue Jays. Because you were looking ahead last week to the schedule.

You got the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Rangers. Like, man, with the Red Sox on the Jay's heels, you're looking at that schedule. Like, man, Toronto's got to win some ball games here. You're now looking like, okay, they got through the Dodgers, didn't lose any ground. We'll see the Cubs, very good ball team. They're coming in tomorrow. They got the Rangers. Just continue to do what you're doing.

Yeah, absolutely. When you look at that division race guys, it's all about that now and still sticking at four still. It's nice to be able to keep that there. The Red Sox are for real, though. I think they've been written off a little too early. So, sort of a sidebar. I don't know if you've had this experience or not, but Shadur Saunders with the Browns talking to reporter Tony Grossie about negative comments.

Grossie works for ESPN Cleveland, and obviously he said something that Sanders didn't like, so here's the clip. I'll be hoping you got some positive to say, but you don't want to say negative. And I'm like, I ain't do nothing to you. I didn't see none positive. I just don't know, what I did you know to you, Tony. What I do? What I do to you, Tony? Seems like they worked it out.

Could have been worse. What did I do to you, Tony? I love it. Ever have anything like that? Had a few. And let me say, I like how they handled that. Yeah. The guy stood there.

They told us. I have seen players meltdown. I've seen players scream at reporters. I've seen players make a scene. And that's going to be the same on any beat, on any sport in any city. It happens. There's incredible pressure. And guys, if I showed up here today and had a terrible show

and somebody wrote a story about how bad I was, yeah. I'd hate them too. I get it. If I wrote a bad story and somebody had that, it does happen. I do unfortunately open the mentions. Don't open Twitter. But if I were getting that much feedback from that many people, I get it. But that's how you handle it.

You have a conversation face-to-face. You're both people. You're both human beings. And I like how they handled that. I've had some more contentious than others. My favorites are the ones where maybe a player will keep it in mind and just remind me. I've had players saddle up to me in the clubhouse and just very quietly whisper. The gigs, I thought my power was gone the day after hitting a home run.

And that's a great way of them telling me, hey, dude, you're a bit of an idiot, but it's okay. We know how this game works. Reference. And I've also had some players much more openly upset with what I've written. But back when I was, man, starting out on this beat 10 years ago, I had a veteran writer who covered the Jays for much longer than I'd been alive almost. There was a reliever one year in spring training who really had an issue with something I'd written about him. He was on the fringes of the roster.

He was trying to hold on. And he took a shot at me in front of some people. So I said, okay, 8 a.m. the next morning, I'll be at your locker before you get there. I stood there. He stared a hole through my soul, wouldn't speak to me. I said, all right. I walked out, and this old reporter said, ah, Kiggs, you'll be here longer than him. Don't worry about it. And that's how I try to think about it. You know, he may have made a bigger dollar than me, but I've stuck around a little bit longer. So as long as it's not Vladdy lighting me up, I try to let it bounce off me a little bit. But there are moments, and not as many as there used to be, though.

I started out covering those, you know, Batista Stroman-Donaldson-type teams. and I went into the clubhouse. I didn't know what was about to happen. Now it's a little more settled, but I kind of miss the wild card, you know? A lot of us do. I know Batista, because a couple of times I was in there, and that was like the one, same thing, a veteran reporter is like,

here's a couple of rules, all right, let's, don't talk to Russell Martin before he starts. Don't talk to Jose pregame, and then the starter. That was it. Don't talk to Russ. Jose, off limits, then obviously whoever's starting that. in that game, which I found interesting, because then you got other guys who were very talkative, like our Justin Smoke was always very talkative.

Anytime you go out there, Kevin Polaro would sit there and chat with you, but some guys are just like, do not even look at that individual before the game. They're so locked in, zeroed in, dialed in. Max Scherzer. Shurs is one of those guys. If he's walking past me on a start day, I just pretend I'm on my phone. I don't even risk it, you know? Right away, go to the phone.

Did that start live up to expectations for you? Wow, many. Like, I just, going into that game, I was so jacked up about it. We talked about it, probably nearly the whole three hours of the show on Friday. And to see both them go out there and shove was pretty nice to see. It's so cool. Like, that top of the sport, you know, like Rogers versus a braid, like type thing. It's just you don't get them all that often.

And for them to be doing what they're doing at this age is, I don't think I can even put into words how remarkable it is. Because the human body is not made to throw pitches like that. and especially not do it for 25 years as a pro. The longevity, the more I cover baseball, the more impressed I am by longevity. There's 100 people who can throw 104 miles an hour. Whatever. Do you have an elbow four years from now? Those guys have done it for years and years.

It impresses the hell out of me. Just amazing. Totally agree with you. Longevity at that level is special. Sometimes we take it for granted, but it's special. Coming up next, Keegan's keys to the Jays as they move forward. And later on, Eric Hossper, at the top of the hour, We're talking baseball, of course.

You're listening and watching to Overdrive, Live on YouTube. TSN 1050, TSN2. Overdrive, Jim Taddy, Kagan Matheson, and Mike DeStefno, aka Al's brother, A.B. With you on a Monday, a sizzling Monday. The J's off today at home to Chicago and Texas this week, then back out on the road again. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to play something to chew on, and the big question would be who's the biggest threat to the Jays. But in the meantime, we're going to play this game called Keegan's Keys.

the Blue Jays keys leading up to the playoffs. What do you have? What do I have? It reminds me, guys, of when I'm sitting on my couch in the winter watching NFL game, and they say the three keys. Establish the run, stop the run, force turnover. I say, thank you. Thank you.

I've been enlightened. I have been lifted up off my seat. Yeah. I love the smart Alec answered. Are you asking a coach? Joe, what's the key to victory? Score more runs than the other team. Oh, yeah.

Thanks. John Gibbons used to love that one. I can still remember one day pregame. He was asked. I forget who it was yours. back, but, uh, what, you know, what's it going to take to beat the Red Sox? And he did his lean back and looks the guy up and down, score more runs, go more runs. And, uh, the answer is usually obvious. But yeah, guys, I want to look at some things that I think are going to determine

who these Blue Jays are, because it's been a big shift in how we talk about them from the last five years, which is, golly, wouldn't it be nice to be invited to the playoffs as a wild card? Wouldn't that be great? Yeah. And I think that this entire market is in the middle of and I think needs to continue to have a shift in mindset that the Blue Jays now think like the Dodgers think like the Yankees think where you're not trying to sneak in you're trying to win the division it's always supposed to have been about the division in this city and any conversation about the Blue Jays has to start with Vladdy it's always always about Vladdy and guys I love what I've seen from Vladdy lately like we're seeing a little bit more of the power and earlier

this season I was vocal and I wrote about it that I think the Blue Jays needed more from Vladdy and I know that not everyone loved that but I believed it and he was good not quite over that line to being great and I think he's there again. I was at 19 home runs right now when you look at his last three seasons going back to his big 48 homer almost MVP year 32 26 30 home runs this is just who he is now and because Vladdy is built tall and broad and strong we want 50 home runs I don't know if that's going to be who he is, but he needs to be hitting doubles. He needs to be splitting the gap. And he needs to be doing something other than that early season base hit for him, which was the line drive to right center field over the second basement. Everyone can do

that. The guy's built like Gurney Clement and Jimenez can do that. Vladdy is someone who can change game. And I think we're seeing that now, guys, when you go back to the start of July 963 OPS, 983, sorry, that's even better than he was tracking last year. And I think we're seeing right now someone who is completely embracing his role. Like I've covered Vladdy since he was 16 and I'm seeing someone who is really, he's long been a man

and an adult in all of this, but I think he understands his role as the guy who does need to welcome the new guy. The guy who needs to speak up after a bad loss and we're seeing this. And Vladdy lately through that road trip through these last couple of weeks, he looks like someone who can

win a game again. We talked about getting out starred by a team like the Dodgers. Vladdy can win a game. And when you're in the postseason, a seven-game series, the teams are going to be close enough. If it's Blue Jays, Dodgers, and the World Series, they're close enough. Whoever steals a game wins the series,

and I think Vladdy can steal a game. Well, I mean, he's the face of the franchise. Are you comfortable that he's growing into that? Absolutely. I've spent a lot of time around Vladdy, and actually a couple of weeks ago, I spent some time at Vladdy's house with him for a story I have coming up in a few days,

kind of a unique story, but just being around him away from the field with his family, it helped me understand what life as Vladdy is, because it's not all at the ballpark. The ballpark can be his sanctuary at times. It's very structured. At 305,

you go hit with this guy. At 320, you go to this meeting, 340, you go to the hot tub. It's very structured and comfortable. But life in Toronto, when life as the face of a franchise, when everybody wants a little bit of your time. and your cousins want your time, your family wants your time, your buddies want you, it's overwhelming.

And I see a young man now who's 26. I mean, if you gave me 500 billion to 26, I would have been in jail by the end of the sentence. But I'm so impressed by how he's handling this because every room he steps into orbits around him. He's not able to hide. He's not able to relax and go out and have a quiet dinner or go out to a friend's birthday party and be the guy in the corner. You never get to do that again. But I think he's embracing it. I think he's understanding it. And I think that takes effort. It doesn't come naturally to guys. I've seen the effort from Vladdy. And we're seeing that right now. If he plays out this contract, he's probably the greatest Blue Jay of all time. If he wins a World Series, boom, over. The

conversation doesn't even need to be had. He's embracing it. And I always say, guys, being the face of the franchise is much different than being the best player in your team. And I do not think there are 30 faces of a franchise in Major League Baseball right now. It's hard to do because it takes a little bit of off-field stuff as well. And I think he's getting that off-field. Honor number two, fellas, as we move through the list, into the dugout now, John Schneider. Yeah, there you go. I think that we need to talk about John Schneider coming down the break here into the stretch run,

because in my books, John Schneider is a favorite, maybe the favorite for A.L. manager of the year. That's quite a climb. It is. I mean, yeah, as everyone predicted, as my beloved friends on Twitter all predicted prior to the year. But I don't have a manager vote this year. I have an MVP vote. I would prefer a manager vote. Probably it's the easier one.

But the manager vote, I know how these work, because I've voted on manager of the year before. You're around other managers enough. But of the 15 American League managers, do I know them well? No, I don't. So you look at which team over it, you're. And if a couple of teams overachieved there, I probably have my number one, my number two. Maybe they're in Seattle or Kansas City. I haven't talked to them this year, but I'm a voter, and that's what I'm looking for.

I think people from other cities are going to look at John Schneider and consider him a favorite, right alongside A.J. Hinch of the Tigers. Yeah. And Schneider this year, guys, I go back to spring training. And I've long been a believer in Schneider because I'm a big believer that coaches and managers can develop and change. We tend to make up our minds, whether it's the NFL, major league baseball. Day one, you see a coach. Nope, I hate the guy. Oh, he didn't throw it to my favorite player enough.

Oh, he took out my favorite pitcher. I hate that guy, and I'm going to dedicate the next seven years of my life to hating him. And I'm a big believer that they can change and develop, and I've seen that from John Schneider. I mean, outside of his wife and kids, I probably ask him more questions than anyone of the world, which, you know, poor guy, number one. But I'm around him too much before. every single game after every single game

and I've seen that shift over the years and I go back to spring training guys and it wasn't even a big media scrum it wasn't a big conversation but I remember one day and it was I'm there for 40 days so we run into each other a lot and just in between fields Schneider and I were talking and he

kind of had this exhale and he said man Keegan and it was a little more colorful than this but like I think we've really got something here and I've learned over the years when someone is saying that for fluff and when they really mean it and And I think when I have relationships with coaches like this, they know that I'm probably not going to bite on the fluff anyway. So if they say it, I trust that.

And I can still kind of hear how he was saying it. But there was this conviction in his voice. And I see a version of Schneider now who's really letting it rip. Like he's just letting it fly. He's doing what he thinks. And if it backfires, okay, it's going to happen a few times. But that's who he needs to be. He's never going to be the careful manager.

Like when he was coming up as a prospect manager, he was the guy who had some history. historic ejections, and he was the red face, like as red as these logos are behind me, that was him in the minor leagues. And that's when he's at his best. And so we talk about players leaning into what they do best. John Schneider's doing that. I think, like the perception of John Schneider from the beginning of the year to now, next to probably George Springer, and he could probably throw Bobichet into that conversation as well.

Schneider's probably the guy who's the perception of him has changed the most. Because there was still that stench of taking out burrios, right? Like that's still, even to this day, people will still talk about that decision and how, you know, there may have been no backbone and no feel and whatever it was. But now it seems like every button that this guy presses right now works. No matter how the lineup card is put together, his feel for what, like that Mason Flew Hardy. Like instead of letting Jeff Hoffman last night pitch to O'Don, Connie and try and get that out. They paid him to be that guy. He said, I believe Flew Hardy will

give us the better, the better result. And he trusted that in his gut. And he went and he made that change, went and made the call to the pen, brought him Flew Hardy, boom, worked out perfectly for him. Could have backfired, as you mentioned, but no one had any faith in Flew Hardy. So it didn't wouldn't have matter. No one would have put that on Schneider. But that was his decision to go to the pen in that big moment and bring in Flew Hardy because it gave them the best. opportunity to win. It's just little, little tiny decisions like that have really built up over the season that have put this guy in the frontrunner for A.L. Mandrador, he's the betting favorite now for A.L. Mandradorier, it was A.J. Hinge for the longest time. But coming out of

the All-Star break, the Tigers kind of fell a little bit. The Jays continue to soar. And now you're looking at that guy, and it's like, man, a year ago, people are clamoring for this guy's job. Now he's the best manager in the American League. It's working. A week ago, I told him Schneides, I was just on overdrive, and they were asking me about what a good job you were doing. I didn't know how to answer that question. It's brand new to me, but it's working. And he chuckled. Yeah, he thankfully.

Number three. Next guys, I move to Andres Jimenez, who will touch on quickly. Jimenez is coming back soon, probably in this upcoming homestand. And is Jimenez their biggest best player? No, goodness no. But he has to play, and this is when the roster gets a little bit awkward. Does he, that's my question. Does he have to play?

I think he's got to play a bit. probably in some sort of platooning role at second base with Ernie Clement and then you work some of the at-bats around that. It's going to be a bit awkward though and this is again a good problem but someone you traded for, someone you're paying legitimate money to who needs

to get going. Santander is a bigger or more awkward decision but Jimenez is going to be one. Coming down the list with a couple pitchers we'll finish up with Jeff Hoffman, we talked about him a bit off the top. Guys, Hoffman coming into this and listen, I don't like the broken

down selected by date stats, but coming into it since June 1st, 2.86 ERA over his last 24 games. He'd been okay. In April, he was as good as I've seen a reliever in this city in the last 10 years. Winning games, not closing them, winning games, completely. Then he was bad, then he was good. Who's he going to be down the stretch and in October? Because when we're talking about a five or seven game series, if you blow one of those games, poof. It's not a problem to have it to close it? Like that's the one guy in the pen you want consistency from. You want it to be a little more predictable. And we've seen this high wire act with Jordan Romano over the years where he kind of liked to put a guy on second and third and make it spicy

and make it interesting. But we're seeing it a bit with Hoffman. At his best, I'm blown away by who Jeff Hoffman is. And there's a little bit of swagger to it as well. He wants to close that game and blow the kiss to the other dugout. It works when it works. But last night with that Dodgers game, the five walks. It's tough to watch happen as it unfolds. Louis Vireland is there. Sir Anthony Dominguez will help, but they're going to need Jeff Hoffman

because at some point there's going to be a game, three, two, game five, elimination game. Is he going to come up? And there's a ton, a ton of pressure on Jeff Hoffman. Then guys, move into the very end of the list, and we can spend the last couple minutes on Shane Bieber here. But who is Shane Bieber going to be when he comes back? And if he returns as the ace caliber pitcher, the Blue Jays can win World Series.

If he returns as an okay pitcher, I still see that path being a little difficult. It's always going to be difficult. But they're going to need to add to that Gosman-Schurzer game one, two, three start. Oh, you're penciling in Scher. Shurzer. I am. I'm a believer. Because what I think about, guys, is game three with or without Shane Bieber. I think that Max Scherzer, the way he's pitching right now looks like it in that game. Two or three.

If Shane Bieber is not dominant, by game three, the Blue Jays are at a disadvantage against a good team. My God, against the Dodgers. Of course, we saw the pitching they rolled out this weekend, even with Yamamoto, backed out. If the Blue Jays can get Bieber back to who he was, man, that gives them a one and two with Gosman. Maybe a Scherzer in game three, that's when it gets really fun. Wow. We're already going there. I like it. We're making plans. I was just staying outside. I need to start booking hotels. Reparation is key.

Yes, guy to that. Okay, coming up next, who is the biggest threat to the Jays in the American League? So we've got some options there. As Overdrive continues, live on YouTube, TSN2, TSN1050. Overdrive, Jim Taddy, Kagan Matheson from MLB.com, and Al's brother, Mike DeStefano, Overdrive is brought you by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score.

We're going to play something to chew on now, and it's brought you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. enjoy a $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree aside 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. So the question is, who possesses the biggest threat to the Jays? Could that be the Astros, Mariners, Tigers, Red Sox, or maybe themselves?

Maybe themselves. Jeff Hoffman. Okay. Wow. It's got me the Red Sox, I think. I mean, that's the team within the division, right? That's the team that they're facing. Outside of the division, I mean, what the Mariners are doing right now.

I mean, they've won what, seven, seven of eight since the All-Star game. They're getting home runs. Julio Rodriguez, his bat has come alive again for them. Got great pitching. They added at the deadline. I think probably the Mariners would be the biggest threat, but I think that the Red Sox have to be right there too. They had such a good base of pitching already, too, the Mariners.

And they were aggressive at the deadline, and they've got a bit of that magic built up right now. And we've seen how that goes for the Blue. Jay's against the Mariners in the postseason. And when I look down the list, the Red Sox, you try to think of more of momentum. Like I get real, what have you done for me lately at this time? I don't care about the run differential or any of that stuff that doesn't matter. And people don't actually care about.

But I look at what the Red Sox are doing right now. That can be scary. We've seen the Blue Jays handle the Tigers. Yeah, they're scary. Yeah, they could beat the Blue Jays four to ten times, I'm sure. But I don't think that's the biggest threat right now. The Mariners absolutely have to be in that conversation. The Red Sox belong in there as well.

The Astros, especially after adding Correa, I love that. Bring it back. Bringing back the band, some experience at that point. But the Blue Jays, I think, have earned the right to kind of be their own biggest threat, if that makes sense. When you're at the top, it's about keeping your own momentum going. and they're good enough to control any situation they're in. But we've seen lately some of the things that can go wrong,

even for the very best. Well, it's the pitching, right? That's what concerns you most is the pitching. Whether it's, you've seen some off-starts from Brios and Bassett. Even Gosman hasn't necessarily put together four or five quality starts in a row. It's been a couple, but you haven't seen a big mass, like a big month out of Gosman. you know, and ultimately the bullpen, Jeff Hoffman's

going to be the biggest question mark for me. You know, like if Jeff Hoffman doesn't put it together between now and how long do you let Jeff Hoffman kind of work out his kinks before you try some other guys? Still a bit longer after this. Like given how he was doing through June, through July, and he's still the closer,

but it's given how small a switch I think that would be, I think he's still ride it for a while. because moving Louis Varland How long's a while? Like, is that like... Into September. Into September. I'm not too origin with it

because it's not like you're installing a new quarterback who needs to take over an offense or there's not a lot of learning involved in this. It's just, hey, Louis, Yareel, Sir Anthony, go out there this time instead. Throw strikes. And it's the same deal. And I've seen how good Jeff Hoffman could be. If this was a 4.5 ERA that looked like a 4.5 every single day, You replace that.

But he has looked 85% of the time like a dominant elite elite closer. The other 15% have been pretty tough. So you're trying to find how you can get over that 85 and make it a little bit bigger. I think my concern on the pitching side is more about the

home runs guys, which is still a Jeff Hoffman topic, absolutely. But they're starting pitchers, 108 home runs allowed. Only the A's at 111 have allowed more. They've been pretty homer prone, and that can break open a playoff game really quick. Yeah, I would suggest that, you know, the Jays are in the driver's seat,

so it's up to them to do the job. And if somebody gets by them, it's because they stumbled. I think that when we look at the Jays, though, you'll probably agree with me that you're looking for that sort of pristine performance, and I don't know that we're going to get it, because it's an ensemble cast. You know, the hop and stuff could be just normal wear and tear at this point of the season. You know, Bieber comes up and we were talking in break.

You said he could get five or six starts? I mean, that's sort of a change in direction, isn't it? Yeah, and you'd better nail it when you do that at that point. And I think the pieces will come together in this bullpen. The bullpen itself was pretty good. It was stumbling a little bit mid-season when you had some Chad Green injuries, Jimmy Garcia being out, that's tough. But Varlane, Sir Anthony Dominguez is a monster in the playoffs.

He has been incredible in the postseason. And I believe in that. Like, the postseason is a big, scary place. If you can succeed there, I don't come. all that luck. I don't care if it's five innings. He's got about 20. I believe in that for Dominguez. But Bieber coming back, that will, I think, only add to this. He is a pitcher who should be pretty predictable. This is not your 99 throwing scatterball pitcher coming back. I think in both of his AAA outings so far on the rehab, he's had one walk, six

strikeouts. He's very predictable. Shane Bieber is Shane Bieber every day. If he has a two and a half ERA, it's because he's giving up two and a half runs exactly somehow every single start. He's the same guy every time. I don't think that disturbs too much. But Hoffman in the bullpen, that's still in flux. Dominguez, Varlane, and then Yario Rodriguez is always there lurking

a very, very underrated pitcher. He could do anything as well. So we're projecting the Jays for the rest of the season, regular season, and what could happen in the playoffs. Nice to be in that position. Coming up in the next hour, Eric Hosman, the former MLB player will stop by on the Toyota hotline

after that some yes guy, no guy. And after that, Bruce Garriock, there is a hockey story. The Ottawa Senators are all mapped out. The Breton Flats situation is done. So the new rink is on its way, and things are looking up for the senators. And, you know, that's been a long developing story. But finally, it looks like it's reached the final stage. Overdrive continues.

TSN2, TSN 1050 and live on YouTube. Something to chew on is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP, where you get an entree, a site, 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. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandool.

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