OverDrive - OverDrive - February 18, 2025 - Hour 3

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Join Michael DiStefano, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 3 on OverDrive! MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joins to discuss the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. failing to reach a contract extension, the impact of the deal and the next steps for the franchise. The guys go around the sports world in the latest edition of Confirm or Deny and Al's Brother hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

We're back on Kidsplained. Today's breaking story, what's missing in schools? Let's go live to a classroom to find out about the lack of school supplies. Thanks Kate. We always seem to be out of paper and pencils and we don't have enough textbooks. Ugh, it's like trying to do math without numbers. What we need is more investment in schools, right Jamal? That's right Kate. It's hard to learn without the basics. Want to help support students? Go to knowmore.ca. That's K-N-O-W-M-O-R-E.ca. A message from the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association.

Hour three of overdrive on your way with Mike DiStefano, aka Al's brother, got noodles in the o-dog with me. Keegan Mathison going to join us in about five minutes. It was a big day in blue Jay land. There was a deadline last night that the Jays and Vladimir Guerrero jr. Had to meet in order for Vladimir to sign an extension the deadline came and gone and no extension was made so Vladimir Hit in the market this summer crazy. It's crazy. Yeah, it's it's just to a point where It's crazy. It's just to a point where in a world, and I want to ask Keegan this out of the gate, in a world where athletes are basically handed the bag.

Not handed, they do things. Obviously, they separate themselves, their talents, their abilities, whatever it is. But everyone gets paid nowadays. If you're an elite talent, you get paid. And for whatever reason. And the other thing is that people need to understand this. You don't just tell Ross and Mark this is my number and you get it. There is a process and I don't know, it's just bizarre. All I

want to know is why did they not want to pay the man? Because I'm sure there was some number out there that was reasonable and it just in their minds was just unreasonable and now I don't know it's just going to be so I think it's going to be messy like Vlad said he didn't want to negotiate during the season because that's a distraction I think him not negotiating is a massive distraction well it's going to be talked about a lot here every week they're going to say any word on the contract and like unless he comes out and says don't ask me about it the rest of the season, he might have to do that. He probably will. I would imagine he will. But here's a comment that he had earlier today that I thought was, you know, a shot across the bow pretty loud and clear. He said, I'm here. We didn't get an

agreement. Now they're going to have to compete with 29 other teams. That's what Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said to Toronto Media this morning. That is quite the mic drop. It is. All I could think of is, is this the same as the Mitch Marner situation, but Mitch Marner controls his scenario where Vlad, he doesn't, right? They could trade him and just get pieces for him. But it just, I don't know, they see something. That's where I keep coming back to. They've seen something in Vlad E that they don't want to pay that number. And whether it's his diet...

Okay, Jamie, but the fans, you understand this more than anyone. The fans want to know is, okay, we're moving away from Vlad, what is plan B? Well, I don't think there can be. It'll be interesting, and that's something that we could probably ask Keegan. If there's no Vlad, and keep in mind, Beau Bichette also is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and could walk for nothing. So Vlad and Beau, the two pillars of your team over the last five years could both take off and get absolutely nothing for it.

If that happens, what do you do? Do you go into a full-fledged rebuild and start trading off anyone who has value? Or do you take the money that you were going to give those two that didn't want it and go and try and get multiple pieces and try and put together a winning ball club? It will be interesting to see what they decide to do. Because the offseason that they had just had does not necessarily say, hey, this is one year and it's a last hurrah. This is an offseason where they sign guys to multiple year contracts and they expect to be competitive for a few years down the line. So I don't know where they're going to go if things go south here with Vlad.

Well, you're going to ask him all year. He's got an interpreter, right? And he's going to just say that's not talking about it or don't want to get into it. I thought his message today, Jamie, would have been a lot stronger. I know he... I don't believe the interpreter and I don't want to get into a hole. I just don't... I think he talks to everybody at first base so there's no interpreter there

i thought his message message would have been a lot stronger if you just no interpreter because you know what the questions were to be you know the deal close like he didn't need an interpreter for that well he would have said no one word answer no was the answer to that question well yeah that that there they're 100 million apart. That's right. Then he's got something with a five in it, they've got something with a four in it, and

they've dug in. And you know what? Take your business hat, you've got to put it on too. Do you believe in Atkins or you just say give him whatever he wants and then what happens if he hits 28 dingers this year? I don't believe it. Like, if they're $100 million apart, like that's what... I literally heard people say, this organization's a joke, and then five minutes later they said, I wouldn't give them

the money either. So, it can't be both. It is an interesting kind of predicament that the Blue Jays do find themselves in, because if you look at Vlad's career Like yeah, he's coming off of an MVP worthy season. He was fantastic last year hit 30 home runs 323 batting average a 940 OPS you could argue is his best season If not second best season few years back he had that MVP worthy year, but outside of those two seasons He's been a good player above

average player maybe you can even say great but he hasn't been a superstar outside of those two seasons so if you are the Blue Jays you got to wonder okay what Vlad are we going to get the next ten years last year's Vlad or those two seasons of Vlad or the other four years of Vladimirenberg rare junior is a tough question to ask but that's that's what they're asking themselves and right there they're betting and say this is the financial area that we're willing to go to you know and and keep in mind like a lot of things factor in

rogers like date there's there's a lot of money involved here the dollar is not strong so you're gonna have to pay a lot of money involved here. The dollar is not strong, so you're going to have to pay a lot of money on that and the juice on that. Like, to me, there's... I still come back to this. They see something that they do not believe he is worth that number. Now, will somebody else give it to him? Like that's...

He's betting on himself. But, you know, I just... You're going to lose that asset, but it's not like hockey where you're gonna take that money and spend it on somebody at like in its salary cap this is a hard cap in in baseball and and i don't know would you look at it say the blue jays of dot nothing with him and bo there anyways right so they might be looking for a change yeah they could be the case i had but had to be a tough sell

an absolutely tough sell, especially if they get nothing in return. Well, brother, before you get to Keegan, I just want to say this interview is under protest with Keegan. Yes. He just sent a picture of him on his porch, and he said he can't wait till this interview is over because he wants to have a porch beer. It's disgusting behavior. over before it's because he wants to have a porch beer. Let's bring him in. Keegan Matheson, MLB.com, Blue Jays Reporter. What's the

bevy of choice the second you hang up with us, Keegs? You know what fellas? I'm gonna run out the show with you guys because this means more to me than a crisp delicious balcony beer here in florida let me tell you uh... i think it's so let let's just get down to it obviously glad to know that road junior the deadline was set it was not met and then we've heard from bladdie we heard from ship i wrote here from hackens today what do you make of everything that went down the last twenty four hours with bladdie in the

non-extension nothing good happened today uh... absolutely nothing good nothing encouraging to take from it whatsoever it was a ugly morning uh... for the blue jays of an organization and for glad he was a fascinating morning because i thought that gladi handle this quite well

uh... he has as we've heard from others, he's grown up a lot in these last couple of years and I think he has come to understand this business side at just the right time. Now growing up around the game helps that but this level of decision could be overwhelming for a kid that is 25 going 26. He seems oddly comfortable with it, strangely comfortable with it. He's really managed it well from what I can see. Obviously what fans heard from Ross Atkins and then later Mark Shapiro was not what anyone wanted to hear because people wanted this to be a celebratory day. They wanted Vlad E. Extended. This deadline has been hanging over camp now

this deadline has been hanging over camp now and from here on it's going to hang over the season. Guys I understand why Vlad is set that deadline and I think it was wise of him but every story I write this year will have that line in it but this is Vlad E's last year potentially every question we ask will have a little twinge of this to it this is really going to hang over everything we see from this team because this competitive window was all tied to Vladdy. Yes it was about Bo and other prospects and adding the springers and Rieus and Gosmans and everyone else but Vladdy was in the center of, this entire thing for the last almost decade since those 15 and 16 teams.

And if you lose a Vladi, you can spend a hell of a lot of time looking for your next Vladi. Sometimes you don't find them for a while and the Blue Jays now are looking at that major risk, which is not exciting anybody. How did we get here today, Keegan? What is it about Vlad E? And people do need to understand you can ask for the world and you're not necessarily going to get it. So there might have been some outrageous number that the Jays just weren't willing to go to. But in the day and age of star players getting paid, why was he not paid today and it's a good point that we don't know the numbers that's a big factor in all of this now

the closest we got was Ross Atkins saying that this would have been a record-breaking contract so I said Ross what record would it have broken and he said the Blue Jays record George Springer is the biggest Blue Jays contract that means it was over a hundred and fifty million dollars i would hope so my goodness that probably the first four years of the deal i'll make a little numbers keegan where you think the lead the numbers will get leaks relatively

and show i think they will and the first time i hear it i will not believe it when you hear it the first time i'd be awfully hesitant it's something i would want to hear in detail from both sides and the numbers like you mentioned are a big part of this because it's possible the Blue Jays were really lowballing, it's possible Vlad was asking for a billion. We don't know that right now but it is clear guys like you mentioned star player contracts in Major League Baseball have taken off. It doesn't matter that Vlad is not Otani and he's not Soto,

because he isn't. But contracts are moving in one clear direction and it's happening pretty suddenly. And that's turned all of this into a moving target that the Blue Jays have had to chase a little bit. I don't view this as a front office the chases things they like to set their values stick to that to the word discipline i know is what everyone wants to hear

right now that really fires folks up this has been a moving target and like laddie said they were not close to the word close got twisted and beat up a bunch today i don't know what it means anymore but what he says they weren't close and that's what matters The word close got twisted and beat up a bunch today. I don't know what it means anymore. But Vlad says they weren't close and that's what matters. So is there any chance, and you might have answered the question already, but I just maybe I'm twisting it a bit, that this could be taken to the muck a little bit where the agent starts leaking stuff or you start negotiating in the media and you go in different directions

to try and manipulate the situation. It seems like everything with the Blue Jays and Atkins and Shapiro, they're tight lipped. They keep everything to the best, but maybe the agent starts to stir it up on the other side and maybe forces their hands to kind of negotiate a little bit more in public where we do know numbers or we do know scenarios that could maybe either explode the situation or help bridge it. It sure could happen guys and the point that I would keep an eye on, like time wise, would be if Vladdy just gets off to an eye on. Like time wise would be a flatty just gets off to an

unbelievable start. We're two months into the season, he's already into the 20s of home runs, he's OPSing over a thousand, he might be an MVP candidate. Wow the Blue Jays didn't give him X number, maybe that's when it trickles in. And again it's something I'd want to hear from both sides, I'm always hesitant when you hear it the first time, why is it coming out? Who is motivated to have that out? I'm always a little wary, but when it reaches that point, it can get messy.

Guys, we've talked about the Aaron Judge example from a couple of years back a lot of times. Going into 2022, I remember how shocking that was, where kind of out of nowhere, Brian Cashman said, hey, this guy turned down this many years and this many dollars and It was a bit of a shocking moment that I don't think Aaron Judge loved Eventually that was repaired But I think the Blue Jays are quite the opposite of that. We've seen that through Otani Soto and this thing

They don't like to say much in these situations. I'd expect it'll stay that way But if Vlad is on a tear to start the year some things might loosen up How is this gonna resonate back when they get home or back to Toronto Keegan? I mean Vlad he said he didn't want to negotiate during the season. He thought that would be distracting I almost feel it would be more distracting with this scenario. How does this bleed into the fans coming to the game? Are you guys going to be asking Vladi on a weekly basis if there's an update? It just seems like this could get ugly when they get back to Toronto.

Yeah, that's not going to go well because while I understand that Vladi does not want to negotiate through the season, it is the single most important story about the Blue Jays this year and for several years frankly It's gonna get asked about. If he's playing well, it will get asked about. If he's playing poorly, it will get asked about. If he gets hurt, it will get asked about. And fans are going to be all over this because this one guys is where I really need to think of this because this one guys is where I really need to think of your casual fan who wants to go to the game have a beer watch a couple of games on TV each week

they don't care all that much about where the numbers might have been which we still don't know they don't care much about how first baseman are valued or market valuations blah blah blah any of those multi syllable words they care about the fact they love Vlad E Vlad E is a Blue J and he wants to stay a Blue J. He keeps saying that. That's going to catch people because fans love this guy. The Blue J's history is full of either star players who have left later in their career, think about a holiday at Delgado, or star players who came to the Blue Jays when their careers were already established. You look at Joe

Carter's, Jose Bautista's, there's lots of examples. This is the shot at a guy who stays and plays 15 years and takes a run at being the greatest Blue Jay of all time. People are going to grab to that. There's going to be the we want to let each other and i think he's probably going to give them a lot of reasons to do that along the way if you were the j's p our guy keegan and after scrums were over and you sat down in a room with mark and ross and they said how do you think we handled the questions today what would

you say the fellow that when i would crack the beer i think we're going to have a uh... uh... i mean i i don't know if there's any way to break that news and do it in a way where fans are going to appreciate what you have to say but they just have a way of not sounding like human beings answer like they couldn't get into the word close and it was just an awkward exchange and you

talk about Vladimir bringing it back to Toronto can those two bring their act back to Toronto and not be hated is that possible that's awfully difficult at this point guys because fans want Vladimir and they connect that directly to this and to Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro who we heard from today. Shapiro was the more direct of the two. He's saying that there's no such thing as close you get the guy or you don't which I agree with. I don't care about close in a negotiation, free agency, anything. It doesn't exist. One team gets a guy, 29 don't, period. But I do understand that

what fans want to hear at this point is something more in the direction of listen, we didn't get it done right now, we love this guy, we think we can get close, we're gonna keep this rolling all season long, we want to bring him back. It happened with Aaron Judge, let's make Vladdy a Blue J. Because when you do speak about valuations and about discipline, et cetera, et cetera, you're speaking to a very small percentage of a fan base, I believe. And guys, this is something I try to remind myself

day to day when I'm doing my job, is that 95% of fans are a casual fan who has a couple of favorite players, they love Vladdy, they love going to a ball ballgame they love the Blue Jays and they don't care what the exit velocity was at the launch angle and it's going to be awfully hard to connect with those fans who are being told something they don't want to hear which is that Vladdy might be going to free agency where 29 other teams can bid on him especially guys that we have seen

those free agent processes run their course with the blue james coming close at the top of the market but not landing the otani the soto the rookies socky recently uh... that they a very tough sell and uh... but call it a room i'm happy i was not in the fellows that's a good way to call with the game at the same i want to go back to the close discussion and you

know bladie was a pretty pretty you know blunt when asked if they were close he said no and then you know mark in and uh... and akins had a different interpretation what the work close was but i'm curious if you think it's because like why weren't they close is it more so because they're unsure of what Vlad is like is he the MVP that he

was a year ago or is he the you know good player that he was the two seasons prior or is there maybe just some discrepancy and pay based on you know positional value like why weren't they close yeah that was the big one today let me I've walked all the way across the hotel room fellows because i want the quote on my laptop it just depends on how you define close that's too big of a word to talk specifically about and i'm not comfortable talking about numbers

was how ross second that and what would have been the what would have been the worst case scenario if he said you know what we were a hundred a hundred million dollars apart, would that piss off their agent? What would be the harm in saying that? Agents wouldn't like it, I don't think, when you crack that open. I often think there's too much paranoia around that, frankly. I don't think agents would love it getting to this point. But when you talk about close guys a year ago it was really hard to value a gladi because he was not coming off

this great he was coming off of good years not great one now he has a great twenty twenty four and yet that great twenty twenty one when you almost one mvp yeah it's a little tougher with a first baseman instead of a shortstop or an outfield it's a little tougher with a first baseman instead of a shortstop or an outfielder. It's a little tougher to find that sweet spot But we're not talking about a situation where they should be hundreds of billions off or five seven years of length off They should have a bit of a closer middle ground than that now if you are Vlad E You can also ask for the world right now

Knowing that nine months from now you can also ask for the world right now, knowing that nine months from now, you are gonna have a pretty cool opportunity to sit at the table and be the most attractive free agent on the market in a big spending winter. That's a pretty fun place to be. But the definition of close, I certainly erred more to the Mark Shapiro side,

which is that there's no such thing as close. And Vladdy's answer is what matters most. He was very short, direct, he said, no such thing as close and Vladdy's answer is what matters most he was very short direct he said no were you close no Well, I mean the only thing I could take away from that guys is Let's say there were 10 million a year apart on a 13 year deal. That's a hundred and thirty million But you you're defining close if you're five million a year apart technically that's not a lot but if you're doing it on a term deal now you're at fifty sixty million dollars apart so I think maybe

that's where Atkins is saying well define close you're going down to yearly or going to the life of the contract but the fact that they won't share numbers we won't be able to define whether it's close or not just based on lack of information and the annual value is is something that's way more important that gets discussed about I think in baseball we and and I'm at fault for doing this too much saying oh it it's a 400 million. It's a 500 million Well, is that seven years or 20 years? What are we talking about here? I think with the Vlad E the average annual value Which I think we do a much better job of in hockey contracts for example the average annual for Vlad E

You're probably looking into those high 30s going into the low 40s range That's a rough 10-year 400 million Do you go up from there, down from there, up in years, down in years? Then you get into deferrals and opt-outs and all of the more complicated factors. But it's better and simpler to focus on that annual value. That's a smaller thing.

It's more controllable. And you go from there. Because if it's a big gap yikes but if once you start getting within a few million you start asking yourself well what is this guy worth to ticket sales what is he worth to how we're going to be able to track other free agents which is a whole other conversation now but that's where you've got to get there's a sweet spot that they are clearly just not close to well and if they remain not close between now and the trade deadline how likely is it that the Blue Jays start fielding calls

on Vladdy? You absolutely have to unless the Blue Jays are making a legitimate run in which case you swing the other way you say this is Vladdy's from last year maybe this is Bo's last year maybe you've got to make a run at it blow out and make a run at it this time more than ever before but if the Blue Jays are having a poor season or even more awkwardly guys if they're stuck in the middle you've got to look at that as a potential turning point for the franchise and I don't want to get too doomsday ahead but this is part of what the Blue Jays are looking at now. If they get into the season and it's

not going well, when you look down on the farm there's not another Vladdy coming, there's not another Beau Bichette coming right now. They have some top guys but not a Vladdy, not a Beau, not a guy who you can definitively build around in the next couple of years. If that presents an opportunity to find one of them, it's something they're going to have to very uncomfortably entertain because it is not easy to find these guys. And the last six or seven years are not a good example

of this, but it's the most important thing that you can find. It's like having a rookie q b on that she gillian you can add stars around him know it it's so valuable to have those young developed stars who are progressing through their cheaper years you gotta find them i don't think the blue jays have one coming right now

uncomfortable that is a bloody might end up being that opportunity six seven months from now. Well, you talk about the organization and the franchise and the leadership. What group gets to withstand all that and continue to make decisions for the organization moving forward? I mean, they blew out Josh Donaldson and Tulo and all these guys and they were starting over and then they said they were World Series contenders, which a lot of other people also thought they were. They haven't won squat, they haven't won a

playoff game and are they going to be allowed to be a part of another cycle through? It's tough, man. Three different ways I look at this quickly. One is going through managers. You go from Gibby to Montoya to John Schneider. This group has gotten a few managers. They've gone through a few pivots as well. They started with that veteran team tore down, rebuilt. They built up to make the playoffs. 2021 they had that incredible offensive team. Then they pivoted away from that to defense. Now they're trying to pivot back a little bit to offense That's multiple pivots at this point as well Do you get to go into another full rebuild that isn't likely?

That does not happen much in Major League Baseball where one failed rebuild leads into another without changes Especially guys when at the end of the day the biggest number here is a zero zero postseason wins since those twenty fifteen twenty sixteen teams if the blue jays were to end this this vladdy and bo era with zero postseason wins that's just crushing that's absolutely crushing this was the dream duo you rarely get a duo like this coming up who

are not just this good but that beloved that marketable by fans to go through all of this without a postseason win until now that's rough that's really rough really quickly Keegan I mean now that the deadlines pass for Vlad like you think they'll end up circling back on Bo Bichette here? I think that they will have that conversation, but I don't consider it all that likely. But Bo, especially coming off last year, if Lattie is hard to find a number for, my goodness, Bo is extra hard. I think he is a guy who will be motivated to have a huge year,

maybe chase that really Adam-esque money. But I would still expect... to be in free agency next year i don't expect to be a fun free agency for jay's fan sticks here it's it sounds stressful already yet has it been for the last couple years he but but but the tony watchman sodo next year's gonna feel uh... terrible specially if he ends up with the red sox who apparently are

the leading contenders in the Vladimir Guerrero sweepstakes already. Oh boy. Oh boy. Alright, we'll let you get to your, we'll get you out of here so you can get back to your balcony beer pal. Look at that. Oh, we're sitting here looking at snow banks and you looking at some beautiful beautiful lake out there and i mean i am a very very jealous man i keep in thank you for doing this is always pal which i didn't see i'll have one for each of your fellows take care of our yes i think in that mattison blue jay's reporter for and i'll be dot com

gotta say hello out to the reporters like everyone that covers pro sports. When you're a player, and this is true, and it's ignorant, and it's just the way it is, you're like, oh, God, here comes these people again. Here comes this guy who wants to talk to me. Like seeing the people work and how they get their job done at the Four Nations face-off, like late night at practice the next day, running around it's just it really is impressive and i give a massive shout out to everyone of them my colleagues at tsn

and everybody that does it because it's just round the clock work and they're so good at it and they work so hard and all they're doing is trying to do their job and promote the game, promote the stories, the storylines and it's it just kind of made me think like when i I was a player, all I said was, like a lot of the times, oh, here they come again to bother us. Here comes Chip. Here comes Chip.

Whatever. Yeah. And it's just, it's an ignorant way to approach it. And I just want to acknowledge that everybody there was incredible the way they worked. Some of them, I mean, enjoy their lives, though. Some of them crawl into the practice in the morning and you know they've enjoyed the city, which I don't mind, I actually do respect.

They have a great time. They have a great time and I respect that about them as well, Jamie. Exactly. Who are the bag-chuckers out in Nashville? Those guys. Chris Mays and Hal Gill. Yeah, those guys enjoy themselves. There guys are some bank chuckers in

the media I think as soon as they like they're under the gun to get that piece written and filed or whatever and as soon as that last letter is typed it's like floor it pin it get the whiskey going I don't know my days of going out are over I didn't even get to put eyes on who was roaming around Montreal I go to bed at 9 o'clock Thing is is that the morning skate you should be able to see who crawls in that's the difference I got eyes on I put eyes on people at morning skate all the time to see if their face is on sideways or not That's that's where you can really tell who's had a time or not

But you're right the guys are they put in a lot of work and you're right, guys like masters we tease all the time but... Guy works his ass off man. Oh yeah. God, Rashad, like Pierre, CJ, like all the media that were there, like every outlet, it's just, it was around the clock, it doesn't stop and they're just so good at it and getting... And then you go home and you see Twitter, and you see how they just put their stuff out.

It's just, it's great work. I'm not just saying that because I'm in the media now. It's just, you get to see what they actually do, as opposed to being a guy that said, oh God, here they come again. So, yeah. You have a perspective, though. It's perspective.

That's what it is. Different perspective, pal. All right, we still got some confirm or deny to get to we'll do that next you're on overdrive on TSN 2 and on TSN 1050 I can neither confirm or deny that that this is in fact a signal It's been my honor and a privilege to serve as the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club. It's time for Confirm or Deny.

Do you regret giving all those gentlemen the no trades or no movement clauses? I can either confirm or deny that. I can't confirm or deny that. Alright it's Tuesday which means it's time to get into some confirm or deny statements will be made with a confirm them or deny them and let's get cooking will stick with the blue jays theme here

and the first of the guy not signing vladimir guerrero junior is the biggest mistake in franchise history I'm gonna deny it because as Jamie mentioned if this guy was asking for something outrageous and I'm sure this evening sometime later this evening the numbers are gonna be leaked in some capacity and what happens if this guy ultimately is a dud? What happens if the focus on preparation, fitness, diet, all of that doesn't stay intact and you've got all that money swallowed up in a guy who conducts himself like that? So there's risk either way.

And they've decided, and by the way, this has been year after year, they've taken this guy to Arb I think three times yep and they've just decided they're not handing him the bag right now anyway so I'm gonna deny it because who knows if he's that guy that's had the two seasons that have been incredible maybe he's not that guy and it seems like the numbers that the J's are crunching, they don't believe he's going to be that guy. Or they would have paid him like he is that guy. So I'm going to deny it.

Yeah, I'm denying it too. They see something. I don't know what it is because we're not behind the curtain. But Jamie, it's whether they're right or wrong and what they see. Right. You're right. But here's the thing. And I can understand it from the Blue Jays fan perspective is the

Blue Jays, everyone up here, Hazel, he says that. Nobody wants to come to Toronto, all of that. If Vladdy wants to stay here, then you've got to figure it out. But at what number? To me, it has to be an outrageous number that they haven't gotten this done. Even if you decide, okay, as a company, as ownership, you decide we're going to overpay because we're going to get it back in Jersey sales. We're going to get it back because this guy is the face of our organization. And you decide to overpay by X amount per year, millions per year.

It might not be good enough. That's the thing. Like until we know the numbers, I don't think it is, but I'm gonna deny it. I think once the numbers get released, you're gonna go, okay, this guy wants 50 million a year on a 12 or 13 million, or 13 year deal. So what's the number you think that villainizes Vladdy?

Like, what's that number that makes you go, oh, no wonder Ross didn't balk is it 500 500 million Total in the contract over what 12 years 40 to 50 million a year something like that would probably be the number So if it comes as low crazy guys if you think about a couple years ago where things didn't get to this stratosphere before ago where things didn't get to the stratosphere before Ohtani, before Soto, before Judge, they could have had this guy at an all-world discount deal. All-world. Well, you look at Acuna's deal is like the biggest sweetheart contract in baseball. It's a 10-year, $100 million deal.

And he's an MVP. And they overwhelmed that guy and said, you want $ hundred million dollars and he said damn right I do and they signed him to a ten-year hundred million dollar deal and at the time that was like oh my god look at the bag they gave that guy yeah now it seems like it just a drop in the bucket yeah well it was considered a risk right like is he really what they think he's going to be a lot of prospects hadn't panned out but he's turned out to be worth every penny and and triple that realistically quadruple that he must be pissed now though yeah which is maybe a reason why Vlad he wasn't willing to to make that bet he bet on

himself how many years is left on that it's probably at least four or five possibly six because that guy had ten million a year oh my god won a World Series he's pissed. I'm looking at Bryce Harper's deal he said before the deals weren't too crazy I mean this was considered a whopper when he signed this back in 2019 but his contract 13 years 330 million and that was outrageous. It was because that's the one that topped the a rod one from many years ago and it's like $340 million. Oh my God.

And I'm sure Bryce is looking around saying, I mean, at the end of the day, he's probably not complaining about how much money could you possibly need, but he's like, man, if I just hit the jackpot like eight years later. He's a TikTok star now though. He's doing all these like at home videos now. Maybe he's got a second interest but I don't know why a guy who's so famous and is on TV

playing baseball every day wants to bring the world in to watch him make a coffee. It is weird. He's like this is how him make a coffee. Yeah. I don't know. It is weird. It is weird. He's like, this is how I make my coffee in the morning. I was like, man, you really want to go there with people? He was making banana bread the other day. Banana bread, yeah, I saw that.

I saw that. And not just because, it's because of the idiot, I can't imagine the idiot comments. Like, the idiot comments would drive me away so quickly. So quickly. Yeah. I don't know. He's just trying to normalize. That's how bored he is.

He's sitting in his beautiful kitchen. You can see the high end stove behind him and everything. He's making banana bread. It was ridiculous. It just, I don't know. He must be bored or something. You got to find something better. Something to do in the off season. Something to do. I'm going to, I think I'm going to

confirm it though, personally. I just, and look, this is an organization that has made a lot of missteps. But to me, like as Keegan was saying, they built their entire organization's future around this guy. and if you don't get them signed like that was plan A and you don't get them signed now you got to move on to plan B and I'm not sure they know what that looks like. So to me it's that's an organizational failure to not get this done and find some sort of resolution or at least figure it out sooner than day one of camp like why this wasn't more of a priority back in November is a question that I also have maybe you would have had the whole off

season where there's more suitors available in the trade market if you know that this guy's asking for half a billion dollars and you know you're not gonna want to pay that and he's not gonna come off of it by 150 mil it seems like there was a lot of different avenues to go down other than get to the point we were at this morning. Yes. Where it's all of a sudden day one of training camp and that is quite a sour note to start the year off.

Like it's doom and gloom on day one. That is not good PR, man. No, not at all. Alright, next one. Confirm or deny, Elias Pedersen will never find his stride again as a star player for the Vancouver Canucks. Elias Pettersson will star again for the Canucks? Never. Will never star again.

He said never. I got to go recency bias and confirm it after what I saw in that Sweden game playing nine minutes in kind of a laugher where everybody could have kind of took a deep breath and said, let me put on a show here. He didn't even come close. You're right though. He did not even come close. But the word is never.

And I'm going to say, I'm denying this because I think he is going to find his form. I really do. I think at some point. Maybe it's with a different team, it could be or you just said oh at the starting of the show You said he's got to get in the gym. What if he grows up and just matures physically? That's what I mean. Like he's got that man strength You know what guys are like when they're 27 28 29 like that mark stoneskates around out there That's like that's man strength. Like he goes into a corner, he comes out with the puck every time.

Like that's, I look at that. If Pedersen has some, you know, good couple summers of, of working out and just being a stronger on the puck. Listen to what you just said. A guy that's on an 11.6 million dollar contract needs a couple summers in the gym. Like that is insane. Oh, talk. I think that would worry me

is the fact that it's it's it's lingered into the following season like if that were the case you think that conversation should have happened about getting in the gym put on some weight get some strength so that what happened at the end of last year what he scored two goals from the moment he signed that contract all the way through to the playoffs it was it was ugly an ugly end to the year you would think that conversation would have happened and he would have got off to a much better start this season, instead it's just continued.

So how can you have, you know, how can you think that it's gonna change on a win going forward? I don't know. I don't think it'll change on a win. Maybe he limps through the rest of the season, but I just don't think he's gonna be an irrelevant player.'t think he's going to be an irrelevant player. I think he's going to be a top notch player. The guy has had, I think, 100 point season, did he not?

Or close to? A couple years ago, yeah, before he started that deal. He had 100 point season. You don't forget how to play hockey. You know, your confidence can get shot. There are things that, you know, circumstances that come in your life and go. But I do believe he will regain

his form it might not be anytime soon but we might be having this conversation three years from now and going man that guy you know that guy's finally the lights going on for him you know it took I don't know this Pierre-Luc Dubois looks like a player in Washington right took him three or four organizations to kind of sort it out, but it just, maybe it is a change of scenery or maybe it's just growing up, but I do believe in him, but maybe I'm in the minority of that.

Vancouver needs him to turn things around. They bet a lot on him, obviously, with the contract, and then choosing him over Miller was another strong bet, so they doubled down on Pedersen. He's gotta come through for them. All right, last one here. Maybe we can do another little after dark afterwards losing him over miller was another strong bet so they they double down on peterson he's got to come through for them right last one here maybe we can do another little after dark afterwards if we got some time

but uh... the nb all-star games this weekend not sure father view caught a uh... a second of it doesn't seem to a little bit a little bit of of its uh... u.s.a. versus the world is the only way to fix nb a all-star weekend take a page in the four nations face-off nothing to do not denying at all they gotta blow it up there are honestly the only the only way to make that game somewhat interesting i think would be to do for the nbp the best player in the game to make ten

million dollars i'd truly believe that's the only way that would get their attention. It's been embarrassing for five or six years. Like the pride in the All-Star game of MJ, Larry Bird, and I know that's really dating myself, but even LeBron, early years, Steph Curry, like it has turned into a laughable experience as far as the viewer. They've got to just blow up the whole thing. They've all shown the world that they don't they love showing up That's the crazy thing. They all make sure to be there But as far as playing I don't know

Leagues in trouble, they don't even play regular season games. They don't play on the road They got guys that don't dress like they wonder why viewership is down. It's not because everybody's shooting threes all night It's because guys don't play hard and they don't care like why should the viewer care if they don't care to play lebron showed up this weekend and then pulled shoot day of the games that actually i'm just not going to play today i'm going to focus on the lakers and making a run with luca it's like then why did you come yeah like i just i i laid eyes and I don't know how I got caught, but I watched the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and there was a mascot playing in it.

Like there was a guy in like a wily coyote uniform, I don't know what the hell it was. There was a mascot playing and then you're looking at them like, who is that person? There was like one, I think heartthrob because every time that guy touched the ball, the girl started screaming. I called my daughter over. I'm like, who the hell is that? She's like, I have no idea. That person didn't make one basket.

It was amateur hour. Like I think the score for the longest time was like 1210 for team bonds versus team rice. Which also makes no sense. It was awful. Like why you got Barry Bonds and Jerry Rice as head coaches in an NBA basketball All-Stars? Like you can't get former NBA All-Stars, you got to get Barry Bonds? You know who was decent? Terrell Owens.

Yeah, I can see that. He's an athlete. He's a free- He's an athlete. I can see that for sure. He was chewing up the court because he was running up. There was another former NBA guy, you can tell he'd put on a few LBs and he was struggling to get up the court. I was dying loud, but I'm like, this is terrible.

Then there was a mascot on there playing, like playing a regular role role like not just be in a goof out there the mascot was trying to play i was like what is going on it's it's it's a joke i i'd there are going to come to grips with deals whether it's the nb a n a chile the nfl i mean thank god for the four nations turn because has been way better than what any all-star festivities we've had uh... in more forever I would say so you know the NHL they they're leading the charge right now I guess you could say in midseason best on best that's

for sure all right one more lap around the track fellas overdrive continues on TSN 2 and TSN 1050 today's best bets are powered by FanDuel make your picks and assemble a a same game parlay in seconds on the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Not much on the sports calendar tonight fellas, so how about a little futures play? I'm looking at the Four Nations, I'm looking at the MVP category and sitting there with the third shortest odds, Sidney Crosby at 5 to 1. I like that play, I like it. Today's best bets powered by FanDuel. Live same game parlays are available every four nations faceoff

game on the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Now Sid the Kid 5 to 1 third shortest odds. Well you got to figure if they win any pots a couple or anything does anything on thursday night it's almost i don't know i think i kinda think it's mcjee's is moment though i'd i think it's now he was a little bit of a sad for connor mcdavid to say watch this folks

i'm gonna get the torch from ced i've watched i've learned and i'm to take control of this. It just wouldn't shock me whatsoever. I agree. I agree. Or you could have a goaltender steal it. It could be the Connor Hellebuck show. Yep. Or the Jordan Bennington show. You know?

Wouldn't that be a story? Everyone kind of clowned on the guy for the week and he comes up big. I hope he doesn't. That'd be great. I hope he doesn't, man. Yeah. Would be a fantastic story. Well, hey, the big guy's back next week. So you guys, you've had the supply teachers all week long, the real guy back in. You guys

excited for it or what? Is he back tomorrow? I believe he's back tomorrow. I believe he's back tomorrow. We might as well not. That guy will be yelling and screaming for three hours straight. We might as well not miss so much this week so much going on But he'll be back and he'll be ready to tee up Canada US foreign nations face-off on Thursday You know it all right boys a lot of fun Excited to be with you guys as always that does it for us Not much going on tonight, so I was gonna say enjoy the games and that whole thing There's not much, but we'll be back tomorrow at 4 p.m. We'll chat then. to powerful podcasts. My grandmother marched with Martin Luther King. And Black History Month radio.

We're shining a light on the music, stories and culture that inspire us all. Black history is our history. Celebrate with us. History to make it. Listen on the free IR radio app.