OverDrive - OverDrive - August 29, 2025 - Hour 1 - Erik Kratz

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes and Dave Feschuk for hour one of OverDrive! The guys get into the Blue Jays’ anticipated series with the Brewers, Shane Bieber’s home debut, and what Anthony Santander can bring to the Jays in September. They get into Jerry Jones’ reaction to the Micah Parsons trade before being joined by former Blue Jay Erik Kratz to tee up the Jays’ series with the Brewers.

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Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, Internet, just got better. This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. 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 TSN2. Brian Hayes, and there's Dave Festruck of the Toronto Star. What's going on, Dave?

What's going on, Hayes? How you doing, my man? I'm out here on the wide open prairies of our great country. and the weather is better than it is in Toronto. How can you say the weather is better in Winnipeg than it is in Toronto? Yeah, that's a rare, rare comment. But you're right, man. It was six, seven degrees this morning.

And it is, it's quarter zip weather for me. This is back-to-back days. I'm rocking the quarter zip. I had the jeans on. Took my kids shopping today with the intention of possibly getting myself a couple of things. Never happened naturally, right? sold it as like a back-to-school thing. We went for lunch and then my mom was coming to pick them up because I'm coming in to do the show and we were across the street at the Scarborough Town Center

and we hit Eritzia, we hit Lulu Lemon, we hit H&M. Not one story I had any intention of stepping foot in, but it did cost me some money as you can imagine and now we're all set up. But now we have because one outfit for first day of school, that's not appropriate. Now it's like you got to have options, right? My oldest daughter, yeah, I got to have options just in case it's warm or it's cold or, you know, what happens. So we had everything covered this afternoon. So you couldn't fit in a back-to-school at Golf Town? No, exactly.

And that was actually what I was thinking. I'm like, if I can just jump into Golf Town, I need a couple new gloves, right? There's a couple new things I need for the fall weather as we turn the page here. But no, Golf Town was not in the cards. But it's all good. Yeah, and you're right, the weather, it hasn't been perfect, but it is sunny, which is better than it was yesterday. And I presume the dome will be open, right?

I presume it'll be open. You would hope so. And I'll tell you what, man, there is, you can feel it with the Jay's Brewers of all teams. You know, neither team has won anything in the playoffs in a long time, clearly. It's the thing about the Brewers. I would think the Dodgers are looking at them saying, good for you. like good stuff. That's great. But let's see what you got come playoff time, right?

There's probably a couple of other teams, I'm sure, like the Phillies and teams of that elk, even the Mets, although they haven't won anything in the playoffs in a long time, that are probably looking at the Brewers thinking, let's see what you're really made of. And I would guess the same thing applies with the J's. And certainly with the Tigers, like you look at the top team in the National League is Milwaukee. The top two teams in the American League are Detroit and Toronto. It's been a long time since any of those teams actually won. and so I'm sure they have to continue to prove it,

and that's the beauty of a weekend like that, and this one in particular is it's a litmus test. You know, we don't see it that often over the course of 162 games and dozens and dozens of series, but this is as big as it gets with Milwaukee in town tonight. You can really feel the energy in the city. It's a great moment, isn't it?

Because I loved what Eric Lauer said because he pitched for the Brewers a few years back, right? And he was talking about how this is, to his eyes, quote, a dirt bag matchup. And I think what he meant by that, Hayes, is like, these guys do not have stars, right? Like, they have

stars. Vladdy's making the $500 million. You know, Bo's a star. You know, but they don't have an MVP candidate, either team. Right. Neither team's going to have an MVP. Neither team really has a Cy Young Award winner on the roster that this year. Like, no one's going in the Saiole is going, and he's

been rocking. But, yeah, you're right. But Steins has got it. Absolutely. They're facing he's the closest thing the jays are facing parolta tonight and he's he's been a revelation but he's not he's not beaten out skiing no it's not but and they don't have like they don't hit home runs in the way that the Yankees do

they both they're just kind of grinders right they make contact they get on base they they're one two in hitting with runners in scoring position jays are first and average of runners scoring position Milwaukee's second so they just try to they're opportunistic they're grinding it out

they're dirtbag teams that have found a way to get to the top of their respective leagues, and nobody expected it. That's exactly what it is. Like, both of them, you look at it and you're like, prior to the season, I did not have either team penciled to be in the situation they're in. Milwaukee was anticipating they'd be a competitive team, a pretty good team. Jays over the last five years have had good teams, clearly. Last year was more of an outlier, now that you look at it, you know, prior to last year,

they went to the playoffs two years in a row, and the year before that, they won 90 plus games. But you're right. In terms of the star power, Vladipops, Beau is a star in this market. He doesn't ring out throughout baseball. And the same thing in many ways in Milwaukee, yet fundamentally they're both very, very strong. They both have depth. And tonight,

with Peralta going from Milwaukee, you know, obviously the story is that Shane Bieber's making his home debut tonight. And I am very curious to see the pop he gets, because this is when it really rings out. This is when it really feels like it's the real deal. You start on a Friday night

in Miami. He almost felt like they shoehorned him in. They didn't, but he was prepared. And you heard more about the Buffalo start than anything else. And then he goes down there, he pitched great, and it's been a week. Like, he's been sitting late now, and I'm curious what he's got going into a game in a

series like tonight. And as big as this series is, and it is huge. This is a marquee series because of the standings. The Yankees series next week, And then the Red Sox series in a couple of weeks, those are actually the biggest series, the rest of the season. This one is not. You know, this is about bravado.

This is about ego. This is about a litmus test. This is about you not getting punked at home if you're the Blue Jays. Although I don't think they will because they've played really well at home all year. And they've always played up to their competition. You and I have talked about this all summer. They've played really well against really good teams. So I have no reason to believe they won't continue to do that this weekend.

But they're in New York next week. That's the series. Like that's the biggest series. We were talking about Orion and I prior to coming in here, is this the biggest series of the Shapiro era. And I don't, I'm not sure he was there in 16. You know,

they went to the ALCS. That didn't count. It was Anthopoulos and Beeston's team still. You know, he had some big series. I'm sure when they first got back into the playoffs in the Vladiera. This one, again, very, very substantial because of the records

and because of the buildup. And it could be in a perfect world, a World Series preview. but it's even bigger next week. This is about survive in the next few days. When you go down to Yankee Stadium next week, that's where we're really going to figure out what's going to happen the rest of the way.

Yeah, well, you're right. This is about surviving, Hayes, because right now you're looking at it. You're three and a half up on the Red Sox who've won four in a row, but the Red Sox have got the Pirates for a few now. You're four games up on the Yankees who've won five in a row and are mashing like crazy. And they've got the White Sox for three more.

and here you are against the best team of baseball at home. So you don't want to be going into, you know, you don't want to go into that series against the Yankees, you know, with less of a lead than what you have right now, ideally, right? You don't want this sort of be a turning point where, oh, you get swept by the Brewers, they sweep the white socks. Suddenly you're going in there. It's nearly neck and neck.

And so, yeah, this is a huge series. I don't know if it's the biggest, this is a pyro era. You're right. Because every series from here on out is going to, feel really big when you're trying to clinch a division. Yes. But it's big for a lot of reasons. And I just think it's kind of fascinating because, you know, you look at the preseason

Vegas win totals, Hayes, like the Brewers were 82 and a half. They got 83 wins right now. Right. The Js were 79 and a half. They've got 78 wins, you know, with almost a month left in the season. Like, I just love the storylines of both these teams. And it's great to see the meeting. Absolutely.

And, yeah, I mean. The other reality here of where the wild card is going, and there's still a lot of games to be played. There will be jockeying for position. Kansas City is still lurking, to their credit. The Royals are still lurking. I don't think they're going to get in. It feels like, as we've said, you know,

countlessly over the last couple of weeks, it's going to be Houston, it's going to be Detroit, it's going to be Toronto, and then Boston, New York, Seattle. Like that feels like what we're looking at. And as we know, whoever the third wildcard team is, they're going to play the divisional team that doesn't get, one of those top two seats. As of right now, that would be Houston.

That means if Boston catches you, if New York catches you, you're likely, you know who you're playing is one of those two teams. That's right. And I would relish that opportunity because it would obviously be, you know, thoroughly entertaining and you'd like to believe at a minimum the Jays would hold on to that top wild card spot so the games would be at the Rogers Center. But you don't want anything to do with the Yankees in a best two or to three wild You want nothing to do with that.

And that's where, you know, when you talk about Shapiro and Atkins and how they're looking at this, they've done the wild card dance twice. Seattle and Minnesota, they didn't sniff a win, right? Like in the idea of putting yourself back in that position where you're going to be in a wild card spot if you drop. And I don't think they will. Again, I have faith in them based on what they've done all year against the best teams. And yes, they're in a tough situation right now with Milwaukee.

But Milwaukee's beatable. I think they're getting them at the right time, right? Brewers lost last night. They're playing okay. They're not playing great. They had that heater a couple of weeks ago. They've cooled off naturally. Jay's been really good at home.

But the Red Sox, if they don't cool down, and if they take two or three or sweep the Jays in a couple of weeks, or the Yankees do the same thing, and somehow the jockeying position leads to the Jays dropping out, that's who you're playing. You're playing the Yankees of the Red Sox. And, you know, it's a negative thought. It's a dark thought, but it's one that I'm sure Shapiro and Atkins and Schneider

and all the players have to be aware of. Like, you've got to hold on to this top seat. It's incredibly imperative. Oh, it's incredibly important. You're right. And, hey, man, you're right, though. You're catching the Brewers at the right time. Like, they went on that 14-game win streak,

but they've lost, what is it? They've lost 8 of 12 since. And I think, like, that's the question here with both these teams, Milwaukee and Toronto Hays, is like, anytime you're defying expectations and you've exceeded what anybody kind of projected for your team, there's always those people in the corner kind of tapping their watch going when are they going to come back to earth right and you know with the way the brewers have got a yeah they're on a bit of a bit of a cold streak the jays when you look at the way their bullpen is sort of limping through the second half here with the with the 29th era in reliever era since uh since the all-star break you know like they're like both these teams are showing signs that you know the the apple cart could topple over right if you're not careful.

But as you say, like every time you've heard a doubt of the Jays, they found a way to say, no, not so fast. Don't doubt us yet because, you know, they come back and kind of surprise you. So I wouldn't be shocked if they do that again here. And this bullpen sort of finds a way to write itself and they can find a way to hold on to this lead. Yeah.

I mean, again, they've done it all year. We're almost into September. And they've set up the rotation for success this weekend. We're Bieber tonight, Gosman, tomorrow, Scherzer on Sunday. And, you know, in terms of mentality of those other teams, Aaron Boone's taking a lot of heat for his somewhat, you know, nonchalant confidence in the Yankees, right? When they were struggling in June and July and even in early August, he's like, I believe in our team. And once we get to September, we'll be fine. He might be on to something, you know, like, it's Yankee fans kind of, they hate on them for that kind of stuff.

And they've bobbled the ball around all year defensively. They've been a mess. They've had a lot of issues at different times. but it's a long, long race. And the Yankees, they have confidence, right? They deserve that because they do make the playoffs every single year. They're in the World Series last year. So that's their viewpoint.

I can guarantee it they may not say it publicly, but their viewpoint, Michael K was representing the company two months ago when he won in his big diatribe is that they're the Yankees. They're going to figure it out they're better than everyone. And the Jays are going to come back down to Earth. That I think has been inspiring for the Blue Jays. But now it's crunch time where the other teams are going to dig in. and the Yankees are, you know, having won five in a row,

the socks have won four in a row. So you got to keep it together here with Milwaukee in town tonight. We're getting some news down at the Rotter Center right now that I guess Jimmy Garcia is going to have season-ending surgery, clean up the scar tissue. That's not a surprise. He's been out for a long time. That's disappointing because he's an arm that I think John Snyder trusts

is a reason they brought him back this year. He's just never healthy. But there is some, I guess, positive news on the Anthony Santander front. He will do a full slate of baseball activity today, including ball pin or batting practice on the field. So I'm assuming he's going to face some live pitching. I mean, they'll be floating in pitches, but nonetheless, yeah, and I guess he's going to travel with the team of Cincinnati. It sounds like he's actually relatively close. Wow.

If he's taken like live BP and he's on the field, he's going to start traveling to try to get, you know, acclimated with the team again, it's still not quite yet September. and the roster expands, right, as of September 1st, not that that's going to factor into him. He's on the 60-day-I-L, and they can kind of adjust that as they choose. But still, nonetheless, I mean, I like it. I like it.

Like, it's another potential option between now and the end of the season that Santander could be a guy that steps in. 92-5 million-dollar bats are, A, expensive, and B, always welcome in your lineup. As long as Hayes, the one thing with Santander, though, that worries you is that, you know, you're in this pennant race, every game's going to matter, he's going to go on a rehab stint, and then he's going to come back to the major leagues, and then they're going to have to have a period where they give him at bets. And he's a notoriously slow starter. We saw it this year.

Now, some of that may have been injury-related, but he was essentially a non-entity at the beginning of the season before they sat him out with the shoulder problems. And so you wonder, Hayes, like, how short or how long is the leash for Santander to get back into his groove boarding the proverbial moving train of a pennant race when he did not start this season? Oh, well, he's coming back off injury and he is a slow starter to begin with. Yeah, those are all questions that need to be answered. And you're probably not going to get the answers, right? You're probably not. You're just going to have to allow it to happen or you're just going to put a halt to it. because how much can he really heat up?

How much can he really show you in 5, 6, 7, 10 games before the end of the season? Maybe enough because he's a veteran, maybe. But he's also a guy that at this point, you're likely going to have DH or be a pinch hit, you know, an option off the bench. Right. You know, and Springer's DH in tonight with Clement Hurt. Barger's going to hit second again, which, you know, Snyder's been committed to him. And I think he deserves it, especially what we saw two nights ago.

he had the big hit, and you've got to hope that that launches him out of this slum. But he's playing third base because Clement's hurt, right? But I think when Clement returns, with certainty we can say Clement's going to play third, Bo's going to play short, him in a second, Vladdy first. Barger, if he's in the lineup, he were facing a righty, that's the guy you're going to want in right field. If you're going to have Springer-D-Hing, which has happened, you know, Nathan Lucas has been a really good, right-handed bat for them or left-handed bat against righties. You know, what happens there?

I guess what I'm proposing here is with Santander, where do you find at Bats for him unless you're going to put Springer in the outfield and then I guess you're looking at Arger Lucas coming out. Those two have been really, really clutch for this team for a long time now. Yeah, that kind of goes back to that trade deadline argument, right?

We were all talking about, okay, you want to add but how much do you want to disrupt the chemistry and the sort of role-playing, you know, every next man-up kind of mentality that kind of fueled this team, right? And those two guys have been a big part of that storyline of the depth of this team, the ability for the offense and the timely hits to come from so many different places. And so, you know, we've seen it a lot this year already where guys get demoted who don't deserve to get demoted, guys get sat out, who don't deserve to get set out, because there's no passengers on this team, right? So many guys are contributing.

but that's the question like Schneider's going to have to ask himself is how many how many at bats am I going to give Santander in lieu of a barger or a Lucas right who've done nothing but their job and yet hey when you got 92.5 million dollars tied up in a guy

of course you're going to give him at bats right are they going to be wasted at bats is going to be the question that is the question because yeah they they and this is where John Snyder comes into play we had Keegan on yesterday and Keegan was talking about you know five things he wants to see throughout the rest of September.

And one of the points he made was John Snyder continuing to be himself. And what Schneider has tried to emphasize, and I think he's done a good job of this year, is he's going to play his gut at times. He's going to stick up for what he believes is right. When he's in the moment, he's going to go with what he believes is right. That's an ownership play.

You know, like Santander is one where the owner might sniff around and be like, well, we're paying this guy so much money. What are we doing? It's been a wasted asset for him this year. You'd think they would look at it appropriately. and say, even without them, look how much money we're making because they're winning game, they're leading the Hale East, and they're going to the playoffs, and they're selling out

every single night. So maybe that is, you know, we'll afford them to look past that a little bit. But, you know, Santander's a legit, like, he's a power bat. He's a 40 plus home run, switch hitting power, he's a game-changing option. Ideally.

Ideally. And another reality is the other guys don't have any playoff history. You know, like, Barger doesn't know what's coming in October. Lucas isn't a guy that was relied upon at any point in his career in big playoff moments. You know, so that's another kind of, I guess, part of the conversation is how do you consider that? Yes, reps are one thing, but how do you also take into consideration in the history and how comfortable they're going to be in the moment? Because a lot of these guys are kind of stepping into uncharted territory.

well look i mean you start making a list of all the guys who haven't proven themselves in the playoffs on the blue jays roster and it's a long list yeah you know and it's and it starts with hey let's start with laddie and bow right like and then it like santanderer's got a grand total of five playoff games on his resume so he's not exactly a seasoned world series uh you know veteran here he's that you know he's never been there so so yeah like i agree with you like it's these are tough choices for schneider because you don't have a lot of playoff pedigree to go by. Can you even look at that? And, man, these lineup, these lineup sort of situations are going to be, you know, very difficult for him to figure out at times. If all these guys stay healthy,

if Santander is an option, you're right. Like, Santander ideally, like a switch hitting guy that with, there's a reason you gave him all that money because you thought you needed this power bat for these very situations to contend in the ALE East where you were getting out slugged by the Yankees, where you did not have that sort of. of, you know, that power through the lineup that you felt you needed. And you're not really hitting that many home runs this year.

Although, you know, you've started to a little bit more after the break. But, but yeah, this is a 40-plus home-one guy. That's the question, though. He's like how much runway is he going to need to get up to speed? Well, and, again, who you're playing. You know, if there's a lefty on the mound, then that makes it easier. You know, like Barger's coming out. And, you know, Lucas may be coming out.

And there's Santander who can step in in a situation like, that. It may be situational, right? You may have a scenario like that, but listen, this is a good problem to have. You wish you had a bullpen arm coming back as opposed to a bat, you know, right now. Like the offense has been very formidable, it's been productive, they've put up wrongs, they've been great with runners in scoring position, they've been clutch. You wish, you know, everyone was returning to help, but maybe that Garcia had a better outcome, but he didn't. So Garcia's done for the year, surgery upcoming, but Santander, again, is down at the park, I guess right now taking batting practice and he's going to travel with them to Cincinnati after this weekend.

So that's pretty substantial news and a pretty big update on that front. Eric Kratz is coming up of Fowel Territory, former Blue Jay himself. He'll join us in 10 minutes. We'll get his take on this like Santander would he trust it. I feel like veteran ballplayers would say you go with the vet. You know, you go with the guy that you know, the guy that, yes, he's, he's at a mess of a year. It's been a horrible first impression. largely due to injury, clearly for Santander,

but prior to the injury, it was a mess. Like he never got off the ground here. Like he never got off the bat. It never started well for him. But he is a veteran that has proven his talents. And we'll see what Crats has to say about that, including what he thinks of Brewers Jays tonight with Bieber on the mound and Peralta on the mound for the Brewers.

So we'll catch it with Eric in about 10 minutes. We'll get into the Marner Masters conversation that has caused a big. storm get your take on that a little bit later this afternoon and uh the parsons deal micha parsons deal got happened during the show yesterday dave at five o'clock it was a pretty wild live reaction and i went home and i saw the jerry jones and stephen jones you know press conference and i i i didn't think they made it better thought he made it worse in many ways i thought jerry jones indicating that they they started their pursuit of a trade by finding a defensive

tackle you know like it was it was almost like you always say this about the draft you never draft for need you never draft for need you don't trade for need when you've got a scenario like this one like parsed yes if it's a one for one maybe you do that hey we have an abundance of wide receivers so we're going to trade one we need a defensive tackle or we have a lot of linemen we need a linebacker so let's see if we can go one for one here that's not the case here this should have been everyone call us best offer wins instead it's well we kind of need a defensive tackle and there's Kenny Clark and he's 29 so we'll just work with the Packers

and if I'm the Cowboys again this scares the hell out of me because I can reason with the sales pitch I think it's wrong but I can reason with we're going to reset the whole organization if that's the plan it's not going to work out bygones

be bygones he doesn't see at eye with us we don't see at eye with him yes we got DAC and CD land but no guarantees they're going to be here beyond this year or the year after that we may have to reset the whole organization. Okay, I think that's the wrong play, but I can understand it. I can reason with that. But where that comes to a halt for anyone believing in it is that the guy who's going to come up with that plan and then orchestrate the plan is Jerry Jones,

which kills any optimism you could possibly have. Like you can't spin this if you're in Dallas like, oh, right move, Parsons is overrated, too much money, you know, blah, blah, blah. They need to reset. that if you had a competent GM or an owner that was standoffish, I might be able to listen to that, but you don't. And so I can't. So it didn't make me feel any better if I'm in Dallas, based on what Jerry and Stephen Jones had to say in response last night. Well, I bet it made you feel damn good as a Packer fan, sure.

And as it should have, I heard from a couple Packer fans last night who were like, where was this when Aaron Rogers was the quarterback? Why couldn't they improve the defense when Aaron Rogers was the quarterback, which is a valid point. They won a Super Bowl with Roger, so. The one time they had a really good defense, you know, like, and they kind of struggled to find it in other years. But, yeah, you know, I don't like to be agist. In fact, I don't think I am. I like to give Jerry the benefit of the doubt, but he came off in that press conference, like a doddering old man.

Yeah. Who's a little bit past it, maybe more than a little bit past it, you know, calling Mike up. a Michael more than once, sort of. And, you know, going through this whole thing about how he thought he had a handshake deal, I mean, which is just so crazy. The idea that you were so stubborn that you thought you had a handshake deal with the player and therefore you weren't going to negotiate any further with his dastardly agent. Like, that's just how the, that's just how business is done in the NFL in pro sports,

Hayes. Everybody knows that. And Jerry knows that. So this idea that he was like, yeah, you know, my. my handshakes, my bond, and I wasn't going to budge off that. Like, it's just so silly the way this whole thing went down. And I'm sure there's a lot we don't know about it, but from what we do know about it,

it makes the Cowboys look like they're run by a guy who has no clue what he's doing. And that's a sad thing to say about a guy who also presides over the richest empire in North American pro sports. He obviously knows what he's doing to some degree. Yeah. But this was just an absolute, an absolute debacle on every level. Yeah, it was.

And again, they have all this cap space, and it's meaningless now. You can't use it. There's no one available to be signed. And that's another thing. All we talk about with Jones and the Cowboys is how much they're worth. That's his legacy, is he bought the team for $190 million, and it's worth $11 billion, or whatever it is. You know, $13 billion, whatever it is. Right.

Like that's all it is. And here's another example of it. Well, we're not going to pay this guy, but now we've got all this money. And it's just money, money, money, money, as opposed to production. and making sure the players you know on the same page and yeah it was it was not a good look for Jerry Jones yet I think it's a consistent one

quite frankly because really this is the way he's been operating for a long time it's a mess and the Packers swooped in and said fine we'll take advantage of that and the rest is history all right Eric Crats coming up we will catch up with Clarence Hill Jr. he's in Dallas he'll join us in about an hour

he was there for the presser last night day after what's the result like what does he make a Micah Parsons does he think Parsons is worthy of being the highest paid non-quarterback in football history that more in about an hour. Jay's Brewers tonight. Overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN2.

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of the final score. Brian Hayes, Dave Feschuk. Former Blue Jay, Eric Crats, coming up here in a moment. J. Brewers tonight. Kyle Schwerver hit four home runs last night. Jeez. 21st player in MLB history. And I would say that Delgado

four game home run at the dome is one of the, what, four or five most famous regular season games in Blue Jay history? Oh, yeah. Like one of the great, great regular season moments that I can think of in Blue Jay history. It's just incredible to see that last night. And those old school Philly unies are so solid.

I'm so happy they were wearing those when he did that last night. Well, and he was the last Philly to do it wore that uniform, of course, Mike Schmidt. I mean, that's how long it was, Hayes. Like that's like before our time, like 80s, early 80s stuff, right? Like it's crazy how it just doesn't happen very often. and pretty magical night. Yeah, Schwarber is so easy to like. We saw him at the All-Star game, right?

He won the, what did they call it, the bat off? The swing off. The swing off, that's what they called it. And he went three for three and just mashed. He's got the beard. He just, he looks like he just wants to, like, hammer beers, hit home runs, hang out in the clubhouse, win ball games. He just looks like an awesome guy.

And he's had a great career. And at Philly's team, they're a really good team. But four home runs last night. Unreal. All right, here's former Blue Jay co-host with Fowl Territory. Here's Eric Crats. What's happening, Eric? How we doing, boys?

Doing well, man. How many four hit games did you have throughout your career? And the big thing out, the guy, didn't he? Uh-oh. Like, four dingers, four dingers is like a, that's like a great season for me. Right, man. Four home runs. Like, how dialed in does a guy have to be?

And at what point does the other team say, like, maybe, we should have avoided throwing that last pitch. You know, like, do they go back to the clubhouse and say, like, obviously we had the wrong game plan last night, but man, four home runs. Like, what more can you say about Schwerber? Unfortunately,

for the Braves, they just, they're, the personnel that they're running out there right now, they've just been decimated with injuries. So that to me is where it wasn't the gameplay as much as it was, well, who do we have that will get them out?

And the ironic thing is, I thought he was going to hit his fifth one. I really thought, like, wow, this is going to line up, and he's going to hit it because he was facing a position player. And sure enough, of course, it's the position player that gets them out. Exactly. Incredible. Yeah, well, I was going to ask you about that, Eric, you know, this, we've been having that debate about the position player pitchers. I mean, I was watching the Angels playing the other night. They were getting drilled.

They had a guy in there who's throwing like 35 mile an hour lob ball ball ball. in a major league baseball game. Like, do they have to intervene on this? It seems like it's, I don't know the stats behind it, but it seems like it's getting more common. Maybe it's just late season stuff when teams are getting drilled. But do you think that should be, you know, the subject of a major league baseball rule

where they avoid that farce, or are you okay with it? They kind of made a rule, kind of like a half-baked rule. They understand. Major league baseball is not going to make a crazy rule over because they understand that there is. is some longevity and health to their players, to pitchers, which teams are just burning out left and right. It's just injury, injury, injury, injury. And I think this is a way that they feel like they can help curtail that. And the rule is you can't pitch unless it's an eight-run game

after the seventh. But the thing that most people don't know is you can actually pitch a position player if you're winning by and I don't know what the exact number of runs is but you're able to put in a position player if you're winning which most teams don't but the reality is the value of it really does help health and it helps the team in the long term to not have to waste another bullpen guy for an inning with former blue j foul territory co-host ericrots so we got the brewers in town tonight and um as I'm sure you're aware of this, Eric, this city is buzzing right now. The Jay's, you know, they've had such a great year.

They're a fun team. It's entertaining. Whenever you kind of got an underdog, it's got the major league script playing out. You know, they broke camp and people like, what the hell is going on here? What are they going to do this year? They just got getting better and better and better. And now they set up the rotation because they had an off day yesterday. And, you know, they've had this six-man rotation where they got Bieber tonight, Gosman, tomorrow, Scherzer on Sunday.

Let's start with Bieber going tonight against Peralta for the Brewers but he looked great in his opener last week in Miami would you anticipate that continues? Do you think maybe he was running on adrenaline and maybe he comes back to Earth tonight? Where does your head go first when it comes to Bieber stepping on the mount at the Rogers Center for the first time?

I believe it and I only believe it because I listened to a couple interviews of his after his game. He didn't rush his rehab assignment. He didn't rush it to make it back, which I can't believe how tough that would have had, would have had to have been because, like, you go to a new team, it's like, all right, I'm part way through my rehab. I'm ready to help this team. The Guardians, they weren't, they weren't in the playoff hunt. I guess they were in a hunt for a little bit, but, you know, now you're on a team that's in first place.

Like, I'm going to speed this up, but he said, I took the time that I felt like I needed, that the organization felt like they needed, and he should. showed he was ready. And to me, I think being ready is the biggest thing. When a veteran comes back from an injury, he knows what it's supposed to feel like, and he clearly was juiced about what he did. My opinion, I expect the same. I expect the same. And maybe I wouldn't have said that about 10 days ago when the Brewers were just, I mean, I think they had scored like 14 to 15 games. They scored eight or more runs. Now they're going through a little bit of a swoon, which is okay and they're not scoring as many runs

but I think this is going to be a big series big series for the Brewers to step up but also the big series for the Blue Jays to say you know what? We're not just hitting on or we're not just beating American League teams which I think American League teams

while I rarely say this it's a weaker league. It's a weaker league and I think there's some hate for the Blue Jays. There's some hate for the tigers There's some hate for, you know, anybody else that's up in, you know, the Astros or the Mariners up in the West. And I don't think it's completely unwarranted hate, but I think it's an opportunity for the Blue Jays to really show that, hey, you know what, we are as good as the best team in the National League. Hey, Eric, when you look at this Brewer's team, I mean, obviously you talk about that run they had. They won 14 straight there.

they've lost 8 of 12 since and we were trying to batten around before you came on Hayes and I like is this team for real do the Dodgers and the Phillies the teams that are sort of seen they may not be ahead of the Brewers and the standings but they've got a pedigree

of maybe being a more playoff contender type of team than the Brewers do you think they scare anybody or do you think people are kind of waiting for them to sort of fall back to earth and sort of reveal them as the not quite top of the standings team they may be.

Well, I have to first ask you guys, do you think that the Blue Jays are top of the standings team? Well, I mean, literally are they, yes, like the Brewers, but do I think the Yankees and the Astros are scared of them? No. No. I wouldn't based on their history. Again, I don't think the Dodgers would be scared of Milwaukee.

Should they be? I guess that's what we're asking you. Should they be? For sure. and that's why I wanted to ask that because there's so much similarity in these two teams. American League, National League.

Two teams that have won games. The goal of being in the big leagues is to win games. And I don't think every prospect understands that. They're like, well, I've done so good in AAA, and I went up and I only got 25 at Batch, and I got sent back down. It's like, well, did you do good in those 25? Well, 25 is not a lot of that bats.

And it's like, okay, this is the big leagues. It's about winning. And so when you're winning in the big leagues, like the Blue Jays, like the Brewers are, you have to have some level of respect. I think it's less scared and more confusion or bewilderment in the sense of why are these teams winning? Why are the Blue Jays winning? I can say why the Blue Jays are winning. It's because this team should have been winning the last three or four years consecutively.

They've had great defense. They've had great pitching. They've had a lineup that you're like, oh, this lineup is going to bang, and they just didn't. And then the pitching fell off a little bit this past year, but two years ago, they were phenomenal starting pitching, and the bullpen wasn't necessarily as locked down as it needed to be once Romano went down. So there's things that make teams not win, and the brewers have figured out how to win games.

are they scared no but my advice would be you better be because this team hits the ball out of the ballpark the power numbers again there's so many similarities between the blue jays and them they're power numbers while they're not league leading or even up in the top half of the league for the last half of a season the power numbers have come through and they have like they've been one of the best i think it's been top five the brewers have And you sit there and you go, all right, well, I guess we need to respect them, but we're not scared of them. Those teams aren't, those teams are not scared of, are not scared of the Brewers. But I also would say that no big league team is scared of another big league team.

Because you're, you're cooked if that's the case. Yeah, well, exactly. That applies to every sport. If you walk on the, you know, the pitch, the field of play, the ice, and you think the other team is better than you or you can't be with them, you're screwed with Eric Croutes. So, you know, you referenced young guys coming up and, you know, trying to find a role. And there was a pretty positive update on Anthony Santander about an hour ago, half an hour ago. I guess he's going to take live batting practice today.

He's going to travel with the team down in Cincinnati. He's been on the 60-day I-L prior to going on the IL. He really did nothing. It's been a complete right-off season for him. But, you know, he's a veteran, switch hitter, hits for power. this would suggest he's going to be available to them in the next couple of weeks. Do you think they should put him back in the fold and let him catch up the speed and just say we've got to trust him because of what he's done throughout his career

and the reason we gave him $90 plus million? But as a result, you know, Lucas has got to come out or Barger's got to come out or Clement's going to lose at bats or whatever it is, these younger guys who have played really well for them and really factored in, Lucas isn't young necessarily, but he's played really well for them. where do you stand on that divide? Like sticking with what got you here or do you just want Santander's ready

and he's like, I can play, I can hit for you, do you put him back into the full? You put them back in. You definitely put them back in. Because, first of all, it's not a bad problem to have to have too many bats in the lineup or too many bats available to you

because you can find places to put the best nine batters, out there and not just, you know, go, we got to go with the hot hand. The other problem is, or the other thing is, too, a lot can happen between now and when he gets healthy. So to me, that would be a good problem to have to say, oh, you know, should we put Santon there in the lineup? And the reason totally is why they will.

And, you know, guys like Clement are going to lose at bat. Guys like Lucas are going to lose at bats is because. he adds a layer to the lineup when a pitcher, and we just talked about not being scared, so that's kind of funny that I'm talking about this, game planning as a pitcher, as a catcher, as a pitching coach, you have to figure out how to navigate a lineup, especially when you start talking about playoff chase baseball. You start talking about playoff baseball. It's all about how you navigate through the lineup. And when you have what many would consider an aircraft like Anthony Santander in the lineup, it changes how you approach other guys.

Not saying one guy is going to hurt you more than another guy. It just means that every time you're in a situation, you have to know where Anthony Santander is coming up. Okay, I can walk this guy because there's two outs and a power hitter is still two batters away. But he changes the dynamic. Just like when the Mariners picked up a Eugenio Suarez, who had a four home run game earlier this year for the Diamondbacks, he came in and I think he was hitting like, I think he was like three for his first 30 as a mariner. But the team's offensive production went up. It's not necessarily Santander's production. It's what it does

to the rest of the guys. I can't walk Vlad. because we do not want to face Santander with a runner on first and second. I can't walk Boba Chet. Boba Chet hits a lot of pitches that are outside of the strike zone. If Santander, for example, would be hitting behind him, I'm not saying he will, would be hitting behind him, they have to throw to him. They have to throw pitches closer to the zone, which Boba Chet is going to make even harder contact than he already is

on pitches that are outside of the zone, because you just can't give you can't give a guy like Santander base runners to then drive in because that's his specialty, that's his superpower. Well, I can't wait to see him get back if and when that does happen because like you said, it's a pretty good problem to have. You know, you throw on a guy who can hit for power and everything's been pretty positive for this team right now and I don't know if that's going to be in a week, two weeks, three weeks. We'll see, but it's going to be a fun weekend with the Brewers in town.

and I'm sure you'll be enjoying that like you do every night with every game it's cooking out there and we really appreciate you taking time for us. Thank you, Eric. Absolutely. Any time, boys. You got it. Eric Kratz, former Blue Jay. Fowel Territory host, or co-host with Fowel Territory. Great to catch up with him.

But there you go, Dave. He's like, you put him in. You know, you find a spot for him somewhere. Again, maybe it's not every single day in the line. Maybe he's not just your DH, regardless of whatever the matchup is. But, yeah, I mean, I think, I think that's likely going to happen. If Santander returns and he can play,

he's going to be on that playoff roster and he's going to get some of bouts. Question is, how long's the leash, man? I really believe that's going to be, we're going to be talking about that. It won't be long before we're talking about that because a guy that's a notoriously slow starter, I just cannot imagine he's just going to start sprinting out of the gate here, right? It's going to take him a while, and the question is, how long can that while be that you put up with it? That is the ultimate conundrum, and that's the gamble. you know, one way or the other.

But I would lean towards it probably happening, and we'll see what the timeline is on that. Steve Phillips coming up into the next hour. More on the Micah Parsons trade and the fallout in Dallas and also how pumped up people are in Green Bay. I'm seeing videos of him flying up. He's ready to go. And you know all of a sudden that back is fine, Dave.

Parsons will be playing week one at home against Detroit. The back's 100% fine. No problems here. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSA. too. Looking for a job, but not sure where to start. The Career Foundation is here to help. We support people from all backgrounds with job search, skills training, career counseling, and more. We also connect to you with top employers ready to hire, all at no cost to you. Whether you're starting out,

changing careers, or returning to work, we're with you every step of the way. Connect with us today. Visit CareerFoundation.com. That's careerfoundation.com. Changing lives, one job at a time. All right, Steve Phillips in about 15 minutes. Jay's Brewers tonight. Kyle Schwarber hit four home runs last night. We'll get back into the fallout of the Micah Parsons deal down in Dallas. And I'm seeing the details of his contract coming out because NFL contracts are so complicated. Yeah.

They're never what you, like, the initial reporting is never 100% accurate. And not that it's meant to be misleading. it's just they throw out the bold number and then you actually get into the details of what's actually guaranteed and how many years it's really going to be in terms of which way the team and the player could see it and I'm already seeing that details are coming out

and it's a little bit different than what was advertised yesterday. It looks like closer to a three or four year deal at around $42 million per year. Right. Is actually what it's going to be in the end because every deal has got, you know, extra years and extra money and some of it's guaranteed and some of it's not and some of it's like injury related kind of insurance type bonus structures um so we all talked about

yesterday 47 million a year it looks as if it's actually going to be closer to like 42 million a year which would be appropriate because that brings him closer to where miles garrett and t j watt actually are right right like it's it's he leapfrogged them but not by like you know 15 That's what it seemed like. That's what it seemed like when it was first reported. But then, yeah, the breakdown is, you're right, these things are crazily complicated. You think you need to be smart to be an NHL capologist, an NFL capologist is infinitely tougher, right? Because there's just so many more, so many more parameters to the deals in terms of guaranteed money and all the options and all the other categories of signing bonus and this and that.

It's crazy stuff. Right. There's escalators and all that stuff. But, yeah, the way it breaks down, according to Spot Track, which is a pretty good website to follow and track all this stuff, is it's $120 million guaranteed at signing, which would suggest, you know, $40 million over three years, okay? And then there's some early vesting. There's, you know, you got to track where the guaranteed money is per year. And that really tells you what this actually means for both parties. But it's not only about the cap, like the Packers may be thinking, okay, we can get out in three years.

they'd want to. It's more likely Parsons in two years goes, now you're going to pay me again, you know, now you've got to re-up again, which very well could happen. Which the teams are fine with, because they don't like taking too much injury risk, right? Exactly. Exactly. It could work for both parties. And if he

performs great over the next two years, then awesome. You're the Packers, go for it. Let's keep rolling. Our two coming up, Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score.

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