OverDrive - OverDrive - July 31, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Frank Corrado and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! MLB.com Blue Jays Reporter Keegan Matheson joins to discuss the Blue Jays' trade deadline deals, the team landing Shane Bieber and his fit on the roster. They also break down the largest deals from across the MLB trade deadline, the AL East significant moves and how the Blue Jays are building towards a playoff run.

From tariffs to trade deals, the markets are changing. Is your portfolio ready for what comes next? For all your questions, you need a money guy. Kelvin, the money guy, will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity. The best way to navigate uncertain times. With strategic advice from Kelvin, you can not only protect your investments, you can grow them. Don't wait. Call 416-457 plan or visit ask kelvin.cai.a.

Getting them ready for back to school comes with a lot of questions, like... How many binders will they need? Should I buy an alarm for their alarm? And where can I get budget-friendly phone plans for my whole family? That one's easy. With Bell, the more phone lines you get,

the more you save. Switch to Canada's fastest 5G-plus network today. For details and more great offers, visit a Bell store or bell.ca slash promotions. Bell, back to school, just got better. Hour two overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Brian Hayes, Frankie Corrado, Dave Festchuk. We're about an hour away from the MLB trade deadline expiring.

Deals are still coming in. The Jays have just acquired AA catcher from the Padres, Brandon Valenzuela, in exchange for Will Wagner. So Wagner, you know, he's played a fair amount this year, but always kind of felt like he was on the outside looking. in, like didn't really feel like he was a guy that was going to find like a permanent role on this team. And especially with Varsho returning, I think at some point Wagner was going to kind of get pushed out. But Valenzuela, again, he's a 24-year-old. He's hitting two, slash lines, 229, 313, 387, 12 home runs, 46 RVI and 87 games. What this suggests to me is they need insurance in case Kirk, you know, is banged up.

more so than what they believe he is. You know, he's in concussion protocol. They think he's going to have a double-A or AAA start tomorrow and then hopefully rejoin the team on Sunday. You got Kirk, you got Heinemen, you got Sanchez. You know, it's depth at an important position. I wouldn't anticipate Valenzuela as a guy that's going to play for this team anytime soon, if at all.

But it is a position where you want to be covered in case two catchers go down. Organizational depth. You got to have some depth at that position. That's what they've acquired here. That's been on a lot of people's list, right? And this guy has never played in the major leagues. Right. So he is truly depth.

Yes, he is depth. He's double A. He was ranked 26 on the Padres prospect list, according to MLB.com. So it's interesting that like Wagner's value again, it's not like Wagner has not hit well. He doesn't really defend well, run well. Like he's had blips on the radar where he's, he's had some big. moments. But I think it says more about Wagner's value than anything else. That it's more so they've got to clear some space. He's not going to fit in. He's not going to play here. What can you grab? This is what you can grab. And it's a body going the other way for the Padres. They both need

a body at a position and the Js get some organizational depth. That more just feels like a little housekeeping more than anything. Last day to get some housekeeping done. And I guess it makes sense with Kirk being in concussion protocol. Yeah, I would think that that's one that could have been in the back burner like a couple weeks ago. And I'm like, yeah, let's just do it. You know, I'm always fascinated by that. Like what, how many trades are kind of in the hopper, like just waiting there?

And how many just get forgotten about or teams, you know, they start get preoccupied with other things and they don't come back to it. But, well, this AJ Preller out in San Diego, I don't know how he's getting to all this stuff. He's making more trades than anybody. And yet they're still in contention. Yeah. You know, like, it's kind of weird what San Diego is doing here. Like, they're retooling on the fly.

And yet, absolutely in a, you know, playoff hunt. So they've been really active, though, for years, man. Probably's been doing that, like, for years, man. Like, they go all in, then they're kind of out, then they're back in, and then someone gets $350 million, and then this guy, you know. It's like they, but it's like they, because they live in the shadows of the Dodgers so much, it's like they have to overcompensate for things and say, we're going to be uber active and we're going to be aggressive because we have no choice.

We have to try and compete with the Dodgers. And I appreciate that. Like they've been a competitive team for like a number of years now. So. Never mind just the Dodgers, the Giants too, which, you know, they had a lot of down years. But like those are two big markets that you're competing with that are your neighbors. Absolutely. But I think Preler's got that philosophy that I think a lot of people have on the fan level, which is prospects are prospects.

Get me players that can play. I'm not interested in three years down the road. I'm not interested in 21-year-olds. I want guys that can play today. And that's what he seems to be doing. Well, and Will Wagner is a guy that will likely play. Yeah. Like, he'll show up and he'll be on the 26-man roster and he'll play.

I don't know how much he's going to play. I don't know exactly what it's going to look like. But obviously, you know, both sides are comfortable with that deal. The big deal for the Js today is them acquiring Shane Bieber from Cleveland for, you know, prospect of some significance, their fifth-rank prospect and arm who's been pitching very well recently. but Beaver's coming off Tommy John he won the Cy Young five years ago he's got ace like stuff if he's healthy

to chat about that deal and what else could be coming over the next 55 60 minutes here's Keegan Matheson of MLB.com there he is always taking the jacket off I love that look Keegan I love this look I'm trying to mix in some hybrid looks here

fellas you know and it's it's all about it's building up to the moment that this beautiful face Grace's Sports Center and it's got to be a dry face fellows. Dryness is the number one priority this time of year. I'm looking down at the spot 6 p.m. so

I got to be dry by then. Pace of myself. I like it. Slow walk down, but we're doing it, man. Big day. I feel like we should be talking like stocks with Keegan. Doesn't it look like he's got some great like AI stock of the future or something like that? You've never seen it. It's this diamond mine in a country

you've never heard of. Exactly. Diamond mining is what I think the Blue Jays were kind of trying to do today. I like this play. I have described it as high-risk, higher reward going out and getting Shane Bieber. What do you make of this move by the Jays? Play on upside, man, which at this point makes a lot of sense. Because if the Blue Jays are going to target the starting pitcher,

it needs to be like we've talked about, hey, someone who can start game one, two, or three in a post-season series. I don't care about a number five. I don't care much about a number four. But with Beaver, when he is back from this T.J. recovery, which will be really soon, he is someone who has an opportunity to raise this group's ceiling. And beyond Kevin Gosman, who's probably that game one or two starter,

I don't really know how that shakes out right now, but if Bieber is healthy and if he is himself, he's going to be one of those guys. He is capable of being that. He's capable of being a top-10 starter in Major League Baseball. We've seen him be the best pitcher in the American League in 2020. So this is a big swing on upside. There's risk involved, and it's a high price to pay.

It's a real high price to pay if you're only getting him down the stretch this year. If he sticks around, if the Blue Jays find a way to keep him, boom, easy win. But this is the Jays being aggressive. And what else do you want to see at this point of the year if you're a Jays fan? It's your front office taking some swings to raise the ceiling of this group, and it's about October. And if Shane Bieber goes out here or somewhere else and wins you a postseason game, it's the first time that's happened in a decade, man. It becomes worth it very quickly. Well, he does have a player option next year that I think is $15 or $16 million. and I think the only way he picks that up is if all hell breaks loose down the stretch.

So there is an element of gambling on that side. But I saw your tweet earlier today, Keegan, possibly comparing this to the Burrios acquisition, where they picked up Burrios and they had a deal done with him pretty long-term extension, the most money they've ever given to a starting pitcher. Do you think that's possible? Like how would you handicap the chances Bieber is here beyond this year? It's got to be part of the idea at this point. And the optimism for that guys comes from the Blue Jays finances going into next year.

Now, number one, they're just spending money. They have the money to do this if they want to. But Max Scher is coming off the books. Chris Bassett's off the books, Bobeshit, Chad Green's already off the books, I guess. And you look at someone like Kevin Gosman with one year left. There's money to play with here. And it's certainly something the Blue Jays will be talking to Bieber about, obviously, at this point. And you're right.

The only way that option gets picked up is probably if it goes, wrong. If Bieber pitches like the Blue Jays hope he will, then it's really attractive to go out and be a free agent. He will want to make that money, and he should. But if there's a way that the Blue Jays can keep Beaver, even if it takes a major extension or some added money next year, that turns this into a huge win for the Blue Jays. And they're always a team that likes to do their business a year early. This could be that. And a full healthy season of Bieber, man, I mean, this is a legitimate still in his prime at 30 years old, top end starter in Major League Baseball.

When he does come back and he's pitching for the Jays, what's the most likely scenario for how they're going to deploy the rotation? This gets tricky, guys. It's one of those good problems, and honestly, the lazy answer is probably that it figures itself out. Somebody sucks by then, somebody's hurt by then. But if everyone's healthy, it's interesting. And there is an argument to be made for a bit of a six-man rotation, and there. Keep everyone fresh. Kevin Gosman, Chris Bassett are not getting younger. Max Scherzer's

41. I'm sure these guys can use an extra day here and there. But down the stretch, it gets trickier because it's not just about picking your five best starters. It's about picking who would make the most sense in the bullpen. And looking through this group, even if Eric Lauer is the number five, for example, which I don't think he is, but how would his stuff play in the bullpen versus how would Max Scherzer stuff play in the bullpen for two or three innings maxing it out? That might be attractive. I don't want to be the dude to tell Max Scherzer he's pitching out of the bullpen. No, thank you.

But maybe that's how it goes. I don't know. There's lots of options they have here. But it needs to work in a way where whoever is bumped out of the picture can be valuable in another role. Not just used there, not just kind of chucked there to park, but they have to be valuable. Good problem to have, but it's going to be a big conversation, especially with Bieber's back in the next couple weeks. So you see, Kagan, how the Yankees have bolstered their bullpen in a very big way,

acquiring David Bednar, acquiring Jake Byrd, you know, to add to an already pretty formidable set of relievers there. In your opinion, if the trade deadline was now, have the Jay's done enough on the bullpen side of things to make you comfortable going into potential playoff games? Not quite. That's why I think one more ceiling razor makes a ton of sense here. because, guys, this is a great example. Right now, today, this conversation about how we need to change how the Blue Jays are discussed.

It's no longer about making it into the playoffs. If they only sneak in at this point, that's a failure. They've got to be chasing that buy in the first round. They need to be winning the ALEs. So it's no longer about comparing them to, oh, can they beat the twins in the wildcard? Can they take two out of three from the Mariners? It's how they stack up against the Dodgers. How do they stack up against the Padres?

teams who are really adding and really doing aggressive things. You need to compare them to number one in Major League Baseball. Right now you can still see how they may be lagging behind just a bit, but that's nothing that's not surmountable at this point. The Yankees being an interesting one. They are pushing in, frankly, a little more aggressively than I thought. And the annoying thing about the Yankees is that if they get hot and hit for power in a series, they can just beat you with the home run ball.

They are built for that. very high or low outcome team. Whereas the Blue Jays are built to be a little steadier, the same team every game, the Yankees can be all over the place. And if you catch them on the wrong day, when Aaron Judge hits a ball 500 feet, you're toast. And their bullpen makes that even better.

The Mariners adding guys, I think, is a big one as well. The record hasn't been as scary so far, but they're a talented team. Man, and we've seen that team give the Blue Jays fits right here in the postseason. So there's a lot of aggression happening all over the league now. And front office has reacted at. No matter how much they all want to talk the same and dress the same and look the same when they talk about how we stick to process, yada, yada, yada.

If the other guys go out and do something big, you've got to react to that. There needs to be a level of emotion and reaction involved in this. With Kagan Matheson, MLB.com, Jays acquiring Shane Bieber. Obviously, they've acquired, you know, Dominguez in terms of bullpen help. That was a couple of days ago when they were in Baltimore. I was, we were talking about this earlier, like Scherzer and Bieber, who are both wildcards at this point. But what I also like about them acquiring Bieber is to me,

it's almost one more lottery ticket, ace-like lottery ticket. I'm not convinced both of them will be available at 100% on October 1st. But if you're hedging your bets and you give me Bieber and Scherzer and I got to get there and I got only two months to worry about, I kind of like that, math, if you know where I'm going with this, Kegan. Like, I just need one. Two would be great. You give me Bieber 2020.

stats and Scherzer 20-20 Scherzer, that's unbelievable and it'd be probably the best three-man rotation any team in the American League can throw out. But if you're hedging your bets, Bieber Scher, and it feels good that I can get at least one guy for the finish line into the playoffs, that will be

massively significant too. Yeah, it's all about quantity, guys. Same conversation with prospects. I mean, having the number one guy in the world's cool, but if you have five good ones, you're probably further ahead. It's about quantity. And And there's a certain level of the unknown going forward here.

One of these guys who looks really good right now might go in the tank. We don't know that. Somebody might shake their elbow next week. We don't know that. So having some quantities is a great start. And on top of that, you want to shoot for high outcomes. Nobody cares if you come third place. There's no bronze medal.

There's no reason to play it safe and just try to get further down the line. It's a situation where you've got to try to win it all. And if that means that you might fall flat and come. come in 6th or 7th or 8th place, whatever it is, so be it. They only remember the team that wins. It does not matter if you make it to the ALDS or CS. It needs to be about upside at this point. And it needs to be about pitchers or players like Vladdy, for example, who can steal a game.

Because eventually, guys, we are going to be on here talking October 10th, October 21st, whatever it is. We're going to be talking about one inning in one game that changed everything. It's going to change how we remember this team, either as. champions or as ALCS contenders or as a team that flopped it's going to happen and that's when you need the upside you need that one player who can make a difference against another great team that has their own great players so i like upside players and it's all about upside at this point of the year like we know that there's some risk involved in acquiring a player who's coming off tommy john surgery but like given what you know about this front office and where they've been

aka cleveland would there be a level of comfort that jays fans should have in this front office acquiring this player? I think so at this point. And given how he's looked in his last couple of rehab outing guys, I think Monday or Tuesday it was his last one with Cleveland. Everything looked great. The fancy numbers, the basic numbers, everything was good. And Tommy John recoveries now,

it's still major reconstructive elbow surgery, yeah. But it's so common now. And teams are so good at rehabbing this. And Bieber is a very physically gifted person. It's still at 30 years old. So it's an asterisk. It's something to wonder about, but I don't think it's something to worry about.

And the Blue Jays, there's always medicals involved guys, as you know, in any sport, any trade. Especially in this one, though, they would have a pretty good knowledge of how that elbow looks. And long term, I mean, if you're signing him to an eight, nine-year deal,

sure, that's another conversation. But given how well his rehab's gone so far, I think it's looking pretty good here. We're seeing the same with Alec Manoa on his path back to, once you're to this point, you're usually out of that danger zone. You're beyond that first year, so it should be all upside from here. So, Kagan, well, Jays also make a depth move acquiring Brandon Valenzuela from the Padres for Will Wagner, Valenzuela Catcher, who's in AA right now, was ranked, I think, the 22nd best prospect

in the Padres organization by Fangraphs. What do you make of this move? I mean, you know, there's obviously the idea of a depth. catcher. It also frees up a roster spot on the Blue Jays lineup right now. You know, what's, what do we, what do we read into it?

The roster spot interests me, guys. This is a spot where I'd love to pretend I know Valenzuela's entire career and had heard of him prior to 20 minutes ago that I was down in Chattanooga watching this guy play or wherever he was. But as a catcher in the upper minors, makes a lot of sense because

the Blue Jays are thin there. They used to be a pretty deep catching system back when they had Jansen and Moreno. Right now they're thin. I don't think this has anything to do with Alejandro Kirk either. All signs are positive there. But getting someone into the system who could conceivably be a quote-unquote long-term backup, could play a few years as a backup. He looks strong against the running game. That's a good quality to have a backup catcher. And if the Blue Jays can settle down that spot, Tyler Hideman's handled it pretty admirably and pretty surprisingly this season. But if you can hammer that down, that's worthwhile. And I think Will

Wagner was about to be squeezed out by Dalton Varshal returning, and there are so many other young kind of fringe AAA Big League players on this team who are just having better years, simply than Will Wagner. He has not recaptured that magic from last year when he looked like even a potential leadoff option for this team. It hasn't been the same this year, but the roster spot's intriguing, and guys, I always compare catching to quarterbacks in the NFL. There's not nearly enough of them, not close.

So anytime you can get someone under the age of 36 who is competent, it's a big win. If they're 24 and they're a ranked prospect, even better. So that's good business. What was going on down at Baltimore and how significant was that win yesterday for the Jays? It was a messy series, guys. Just three days, four games, probably the hottest games I've ever covered. So I was struggling and I was sitting still. I don't know how those guys were playing, but that was a mess of a game.

And they needed that. If they had lost four in Baltimore, then we start to have some way different conversations about this team. There's some scrambling and panicking and urgency. It was sloppy. It was messy. They screwed up five different things. But they made the last play at the end. They figured it out.

That was a sneaky big win coming off of a road trip that was just kind of the picture of a team that's tired and worn out and grinding through what is always for me, guys, last week of July, kind of the longest, most tiring. stretch of the season. Once August is here, it's a playoff race every single day. It's momentum. There's a life. But I think every single person in the organization needed the off day today. And it was ugly baseball, man. But I think everyone's happy that's over. Well, the trade deadline's not. We've still got about 40 minutes. I guess we'll put you on the spot before we get you out of here. Do you think we'll see at least one more trade by the Blue Jays between now and 6 p.m.? I do. We can scrub this audio from online if I'm wrong. Exactly. I do think one more makes too much sense for this team right now.

And with how everyone else is doing it, one more. Okay. One more. One more for Keegan. Let's do it. All right, Keegan, great seeing you, man. Thanks for doing this. You got it, guys. Take care. Kagan Matheson, MLB.com. One more. One more for the Jays. You know what Keegan might need? Babies have like on these strollers, they have like bands that you can attach to like the handlebar and it just blows the air in your face. And it's pretty small.

Like, you could bring that on the road. That's something I think Kagan needs in the press row. There's that, like, little, you know how it is, right? There's that little piece of glass. Yep. You clip it, fan. Good idea. And you can bring it with you.

Plug it in. Won't lose battery. I like that idea. I think that's the play for Kagan. Very smart play. Very smart. I talk to them about that. Yep.

My kids will bring those fans into their class every once in a while. Like into June when it's really getting hot. Yeah. Never any AC in any schools. Although I just find that that's, I'm always curious about how distracting it is, especially my youngest. Like, she's in kindergarten, she's got a fan. I'm like, that's just, I know the teachers are going to write us and say,

please don't send the fan anymore. Have you seen that? Yeah, I wouldn't blame the teacher. No, like I get it. It's hot, but she will not stop playing with the fan. And then she's bugging other kids that she has a fan. Like, yeah, making the noise and then blowing the air into the fan, which makes a noise. Nonstop.

Yeah. Yeah. No chance. there's a new fan design it's like a neck fan have you seen these ones they go around your neck and close the air close the air up i've seen the kids wearing those and what took so long to create something that seems so simple but around the neck fan like it's just blowing right up you kind of right up your neck up your jugular vein you know keeping everything nice and chill i got really an idea any of us could have come up with that i know it's so simple we've sweated through so many

shirts yeah we didn't come up with that you don't have to hold it it just kind of sitting there Yeah, it's, I mean, I've never tried one, but they seem like they're getting popular. Yeah, why not? It's, it's evolutionary, right? Something different. But, like, guys travel, guys bring printers on the road, right, to print their stuff. You could easily bring that in a knapsack. That's, that's carry-on material.

You need a really compact and one of really good design. You don't want extra baggage, right? It's like noodles. Like, he's got his seven shirts. They're like, you don't need extra stuff. No. He's not a man that he has no time for baggage. No. Extra baggage.

No. No. He might be the most efficient person I've ever met. Like his whole life is based around efficiency in every regard. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. Every second of the day is like how can I be as efficient as humanly possible? That's what he does.

Yeah, I admire that. Like, I mean, the idea that he was going for 14 days and he said, you know what, I'm bringing seven shirts, I'm doing laundry once, very regimented. Yeah. Like, I would never do that. I'd be like, I got a few shirts. How many I don't know? Meaning how many pairs of underwear do I have?

I'm not sure. And could be 12. Do I have enough for tomorrow? I don't know. Right. Find out when you get over there. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Just roll the dice a little bit. Roll the dice. But I like, like, he sleeps better. Like, I'm, you know, I'm probably a little more agitated. I'm thinking, I don't know if I, you know, am I going to have clean underwear for tomorrow? I can't be sure. You'll find out when you get there. And guess what?

No one's going to know anyway, so it's all good. Does anyone know if you have your underwear inside out? because you haven't been able to do laundry. And you brought 12 pairs on a 14-day trip? Nobody knows. No one's going to know. Nobody knows. You know, thinking back to that hit with noodles,

the only thing that we, as an investigative, occasionally investigative journalist, we really don't know if he has a back to that. He very well could. He doesn't take a shirt off. Remember, like he snucked that in, which was brilliant. I was going to take a picture, but no one wants to see that. Right.

Never know. Exactly. We don't really know. That's exactly what you would say if you were guilty of an awful back tattoo. Denial. I'll send you a pick, but you don't want to see it. No. And it was such a, it was such a convincing and calm denial. Yeah. Like, we didn't even press it. I'm not even joking. Like, when Struddy said that stuff the next day, I had unprompted texts from noodles. Like, what are you guys doing over there? I hear, I don't know. Maybe he's got nothing to hide. Maybe he does.

But we don't know. Like, we didn't get the reveal. So he wasn't going to take his shirt off, his five-star shirt off. Now, that was his go-to, like, in Rome. big dinner type shirt. Dinner in Rome and he's got the 2013 shirt. The old Navy 2013 summer model. It works, man. Yeah, it's unreal. Good looking shirt. Yeah, it's a good looking shirt.

All right, we've got Keith Law coming up just after 6 o'clock. Gibby will join us. The Mets have been red hot. They've been obviously very active as well. And Gibby knows what it takes to kind of turn the page over into August, post-trade deadline. The mood around the clubhouse. up with Gibby in about an hour. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. From tariffs to trade deals, the markets are changing. Is your portfolio ready for what

comes next? For all your questions, you need a money guy. Calvin, the money guy, will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity. The best way to navigate uncertain times. With strategic advice from Kelvin, you can not only protect your investments, you can grow them. Don't wait. Call 416-457 plan or visit ask kelvin.ca.com. All right, more trades coming in. The Rangers are acquiring Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks and as Dugie was pointing out, apparently, Fanduel, they had the odds pretty high on Merrill Kelly coming to Toronto. Now, clearly when Shane Bieber was acquired, that came to an end. But Merrill Kelly is on his way to the Rangers. The Rangers are still, they're in the hunt.

like they've been a lot better recently in the right there won the World Series a couple years ago then were horrendous last year and now they're kind of back in it and probably looking at the AL saying why can't someone get in, get hot and go on a run here? That's the trade you want to see what the return is right? Because we know what the return is now for Shane Bieber

and the fact that he's coming off Tommy John and there's some risk involved but if that's the guy that I guess Fandul was saying this is the guy most likely to go to the Jays then would the price for him? him have been way more than it was for Shane Bieber. Good question. It's a good point. But the Rangers are kind of

in that spot where they're seventh in the A.L. right now. 57 and 52. But if you look at the old run differential, which is what, you know, we talk about Michael Kaye. Yeah. But Alex Anthopoulos, when they were 50 and 51, you know, at that famous trade deadline 10 years ago

and Alex Anthopoulos made those impactful moves that kind of changed the course of Blue Jays history, they were really good on the run differential and not so good in the record, right? So the Rangers are third in the American League and run differential and, you know, quite a bit ahead, of course, the Blue Jays. They're plus 72. Yeah.

Js are plus 23. So, you know, it's interesting how GMs look at things, right? Like, you know, I guess in Texas they're saying we're better than our record. And if we get better at this deadline, we can have a hell of a stretch run. Well, yeah, I mean, they're tied with Seattle now. Seattle, they've acquired some big pieces, right? They've acquired some big pieces. The Rangers now have made multiple moves.

Houston's making a lot of moves. They just picked up Carlos Correa. They've added other pieces as well. Like the West, like what's interesting here is I look at the Red Sox and I'm waiting to see, like, are they planning on making any significant moves? Do they feel like they're right there

because they're only a game back in the Yankees? They're currently ahead of both Seattle and Texas for that second one. wild card. But if those teams are chasing you, what are you doing? If you're Boston, what do you, like Tampa's always going to do what Tampa's always going to do. They're just going to kind of sit, play it out. And I don't really think Tampa's in the running, but plus 53 run differential, better than the J's. Yeah. You know, and listen, you still, there's still, there's 50 games left to be played. That's the thing. Like, there's a lot of baseball. This

time last year, Detroit was not in contention for anything. And all of a sudden they took off. Like, that is going to happen. I don't know what team it's going to B, but one of these teams, whether it's Cleveland or Kansas City or, again, the Rangers or the race, someone is going to get red hot and sneak into the playoffs. Just like the Jays did, right? Like if you portion the season out into three portions, the Jays were fine for the first. Back in 15, you're talking about this year, you're saying, oh, them getting red hot the second portion, yeah, right?

It's like they were what, they were an average or a 500 team for, I can't remember how many games it was, but the first portion of the season, then they went on an absolute heater. Now it's up to them to play above 500 ball, which they absolutely will and should. But someone's going to catch the same kind of heater that the Jays just went on for the last, I don't know, was it 50-something games? 100%. Heaters, yeah, that's a big part of it. Who's coming down the stretch hot is going to determine how we feel about how the playoffs are going to play out too?

Who stays healthy? Merrill Kelly, by the way, someone tweeting out three prospects for him. Okay. Well, you've got to rely on rankings and all that because, you know, And again, the Blue Jays have proven that the rankings can be misleading, right? Like they, over the last couple of years, and this was a big talking point last year, and I hammered at home a lot. They were a bottom 10 team in the majors.

They were a bottom 10 farm system. They were top 10 payroll. I must have said that 50,000 times last year. But Addison Barger's playing. That's right. Like where was baseball prospectus on that one? You know, baseball America. He's playing.

Ernie Clements playing. Joey Little Profito's playing. These are guys that, yeah, sure, it's not a 19-year-old stud and low A-ball that you believe is going to be the next Derek Jeter. But these guys are here and they're playing and they're young. And Kirk is still young. Vladis 26. That's right. You know, like there are guys getting traded now, 24, 25, 26 with upside.

Vladdy's 26. Yeah. Bichette is what, 27? So they've got young pieces that have already arrived. So it's great that other teams have guys in low A ball and A ball and A that may not play. Maybe they will play, and if they do two, three years from now. Jays have a lot of young guys that are contributing to a winning ball club right now.

Yeah, but to Frankie's point, like, you can't forget where you came from here because the first 54 games of the season, they're 26 and 28. The Jays, yeah? Yeah, the Jays were. Yeah. Like, it's actually hard to believe. It's hard to think back to that. That's why this heater's been so crazy.

10 in a row, sweep in the Yankees. And then, you know, game 55 is the one where Bo is the hero in a big two-nothing win, right? Pinch hitting, yeah. I guess that's why, too, Dave, you have to capitalize on this right now because you have to think maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. Like, they're not as good as the heater they were on, but they're probably not a below 500 team either. So if they're somewhere in the middle, you have to bolster as much as you can. And to Keegan's point, like we talked about with Shane Bieber, like this is, This is a move that raises the ceiling for them as far as how good they can be.

Maybe it doesn't do it today or next week, but in a month and when it's crunch time and it really matters, you could get some significant innings out of a guy like Shane Bieber. Absolutely. So 25 minutes left. Deals always come in after the deadline as well. You'll hear something at 620. Jeff Passon will tweet out. But a lot of the names that have been bandied about have been flipped already.

Yeah, for sure. It doesn't mean there aren't other guys, and there obviously are a number of teams that have decided we're going to sell. Even some teams that are kind of hovering around 500 have decided that they're willing to do that. You know, I look at the twins now, like if they're just trading pieces off and just move it off guys, and they've done that a lot with Correa, with Duran, with others, you know, who else is there that could possibly get flipped? We'll see it. I don't know if the Jays are looking at them. I don't know if they're looking at Pittsburgh. If you go back to Arizona, there's a lot of different teams. but we'll keep you up to date on what's going on

between now and the trade deadline. Again, Keith Law will join us in about a half an hour. John Gibbons in about an hour. The Summer Macintosh story just keeps getting crazier and crazier. So she's won three goals now. She's three for three. It's almost feels like a foregone conclusion. She's going five for five.

Yeah. Right? Like it doesn't seem like anyone's even close. The only thing stopping her from having what she believes is a great world championships is she wants to break records, right? She was disappointed when she only won gold and didn't set a new world record. Like, she's competing against herself.

You're watching all these races. There's no one even close. But there's times where there's no one even in the screen. Yeah. Like that is remarkable. She has raised the bar so much, and it's so amazing. But, like, truly dominant. I love that she wants the world.

Like, she's pissed that she didn't get a world. This is her winning. Like, this is her winning. A couple of F-bombs and all right, yeah, good stuff. She sets the world championship record, but she does not set the world record. Okay. And she's ticked. She wants the world record. Yeah.

Which is what she should want. That's her level of dominance. It's crazy, though, that she doesn't even care that there's people behind her, that she's racing people. She's racing with a number in mind. And she's like, I need to hit that number. I don't care that there's other people in the pool. Might as well not even be there.

No. Like, that's, you talk about athletes that were the best at what they do. it's like they don't realize who's around them or they don't care necessarily who's around them. It's like I have my sight set on this and no one's going to get in my way. Yeah, no kidding. Like that's when you know you're dialed in

and you're a superior athlete, like in your prime, which is pretty wild. She's 19 years old. But that's the nature of swimming and gymnastics and there's a lot of different sports where usually it is 18, 19, 20, early 20s. And that, you know, you look at the timing.

She had a very successful, games, clearly last year. Like a very, very successful Olympic games. But now you've got to wait four more. And that's, you know, I'm not taking anything away from what she's currently doing. She's going to go to the world's every year and likely clean up. And I think she'll get to L.A. in 2028 and clean up there, I think. But it's a long ways away.

They get back to the Olympics and start setting, like, records there and start doing what Phelps did. You know, because that, like, Phelps did it, does he have five different Olympics? I think he might have been. I think he might have been there in Sydney in 2000. It's like a 15-year-old and got all the way up until 16, for sure, he was in Brazil. Oh, yeah. So that would be, I believe, five. You think about Phelps, like, that's the thing about this World Championship

is that Phelps has the record for a world championship dominance with five goals. And, you know, Summer can match that, right? Incredible. Just incredible. Yeah. When you start matching Phelps, it's not an Olympics, and we're not going to pay the same attention to it, Unfortunately, just the nature of the game. Yeah, and it's halfway around the world.

Halfway around the world. But it is, the standard is incredible that she's setting for herself, right? And now she's got to face Katie Ledeckian an 800 meter dual. That Ladecki is kind of owned in the past. Yeah, Ladecky's, well, yeah, it's not Ledecky's best distance, I guess. It's kind of a meeting in the middle of kind of both their strengths. But, I mean, if you're betting, you're probably thinking. Well, she's been swimming against Ladecky so far.

far. Lejecki's, and it's, yeah, not even close. It doesn't feel like it's, it's going to be close,

although who knows? LeDecky's obviously a great champion that they might be able to muster something, but yeah, it feels, how often do you see an athlete that just feels inevitable,

right? It's like Scottie Shephler right now on a golf course, but there are many. Well, it was like, it was like Brady got to a Super Bowl and you said you can't bet against Brady.

Right. I feel like Mahomes is the same thing, even though they lost last year. And now I guess if you're talking about in the pool, it's like, Macintosh is there? It's her race, and it just depends. Is she going to break a record at this? That's right. Yeah, there's very few, like, individual athletes that can really, you can point to that you just feel over confident that they're so in, you know, in the zone and locked in right now. Tiger. Like, Tiger couldn't care less that there was other people in his prime. Couldn't care less that there was someone else four shots back. It was like, I just want to torch this course. And if you're minus six, I want to be minus, 15.

Yeah. And there's an intimidation factor, too. Like, I'm sure you're seeing her, you know, walk up or walk out and you're like, here she comes. Like everyone knows summer McIntosh's the pace car right now. We just talked about the socks. Breaking news. They've acquired Joe Ryan from the twins.

So we're just talking about both teams. So the twins just going to continue to unload everything. It sounds like it. The twins are putting up the white flag. They're out. There's only one team coming out of the central. It's clearly the Tigers. You know, the Tigers are the most comfortable team, I would say, in baseball right?

Now, everyone else is kind of competing. The Jays are still competing. Houston's clearly got some action now with Seattle and Texas. But the Tigers are going to cruise to winning the Central. So Joe Ryan, we don't know what's going back the other way, but you add him to crochet, you got Ryan. All of a sudden you got a couple of arms there. Like something was going to give with the socks.

Yeah. Like you can't, you're the Boston Red Sox. You're in a wild card spot. You can't just say we're not doing anything. You got to require somebody, and they have. although there's still a lot of fan frustration in Boston I think well yes now I will say Devers hasn't really settled in that well with San Francisco and they got red hot after he left they won 10 in a row going into the All-Star break

doesn't mean he still wasn't their best player no I hear you and the mooky bets PTSD is still there man like and it's going to be for a long long time I get it but this just felt like the socks like Boston had to snap out of it and do something significant because you can't watch the Yankees, the Jays do this, Seattle, Texas, they're behind you in the standings right now. You're just going to let them sit. You've got to pay a price and go get somebody. As much as we've given the Jays their flowers for how they've played and the acquisitions that they've made and they deserve all of that. And we've talked about this. If you're the Red Sox, if you're the Yankees, you're looking at that division saying,

we can get these guys. Like we know that they're probably somewhere between what they did in the first portion of the season and the second segment of the season. And if we put things together here, like we have the power to do it. So the Red Sox being a wildcard position is not that different than where the Js have been in, you know, not last year, but the previous couple of years where you're like, just put it together at the right time and you never know what can happen. And it's, you know, similar to what we talk about with hockey. Some teams like, you just kind of get yourself in because you know you might be built

for something at the right time. Yep. Well, now, like the socks have crochet into bellow, into, Kelly. That's your one, two, three. And those were all pretty good arms. Like that's, you know, again, we, some of these teams are not going to make

the playoffs. They're not all going to make it. Like if the Js make it, if you feel good about the Yankees making it, Detroit's going to make it, I think Houston's going to make it. Seattle, Boston, Texas, one's not making it. No. So those teams have made, they've been active. Someone's not making it.

And someone's going to look back in the trade deadline and say, we paid a premium to get guys or a guy, and it didn't pay off. But this is a fascinating season, though. Like, this is such a bunch pack, like with the Dodgers not dominating like you kind of expect them to. It's nine teams with 60 or more wins, guys. Nobody has more than 64. And then there's the Red Sox and Yankees with 59 each.

There's 11 teams there that all think they can win this thing. Yeah. Who's going to be the most consistent? Or like that, ultimately, you can have all the first. fire power. You can have the rotation. You can have the bullpen. Who's staying healthy and who's going to be the most consistent down the stretch. And there's like with that many teams in the mix, you can't conceivably say that they're all going to play at the same rate. Like someone's going to have to drop off. That's just the nature of the games and like the amount of the amount

of time that we have left in the season. Absolutely. Well, and that's why look, we don't know what the Jays are going to do here. We still got 17 minutes or so. But if it's just two guys and we had, you know, we had Keegan Matheson on. He fully expects him to get at least one more arm for the bullpen. But it is, like, it feels a little underwhelming to date, you know? Yeah. With 17 minutes to go. Yeah. Given how wide open it is and given how

clearly the shopping list could have been longer. Yeah. Sir Anthony Dominguez, who's, you know, a power arm can strike a lot of guys out, can also walk a lot of guys. But he's going to be one of your five or six arms you're going to trust down the stretch and into the playoffs. And then Shane Bieber, who it's a tough trade to sell immediately because he's

going to be in New Hampshire tonight or whatever. He's going down to Buffalo. Like he's not pitching for you. But his resume is one that is very easy to sell. But there's risk. You know, Joe Kelly's going to step in and pitch. You know, like these

these other kind of arms who are currently active and healthy and are put together a season, they're going to teams and they're going to start pitching right away. And the other thing, keep in mind, like the Js are just coming off a stretch of baseball that was not great by any stretch.

Like, they salvaged a win in that last game, but they need to kind of put what happened in Baltimore and that last game in Detroit behind them and find what they were doing a few weeks back. Because if they're going to do what they did for the most part in Baltimore, it doesn't really matter that you got Shane Bieber. Yep, that's true. So, yeah, you've got, man, you've got a lot of moose.

And there's going to be more, I think, over the next 20 minutes. You've got to think. Yeah, there's going to be more. There's a lot of talents still on the board. Yeah. Meryl Kelly's on the move, Joe Ryan's on the move. Yeah, and there's, again, a lot of teams, what you'll notice, especially in the American League, it's a team that you're trying to find like three starters,

three or four, if you're lucky, that you can really rely on, and then give me a few arms in the bullpen. Like, that's kind of what it is, right? Like, try to frame whatever that wild card's going to look like, whatever the DS is going to look like. We have three or four starters you can trust, and then it's wild cards after that. and then fill out your bullpen and roll the dice.

So we'll see what comes of it over the next 15, 20 minutes. Keith Law, in about 20 minutes, his take on what the Blue Jays have done and what they haven't done, and how we may reset the American League in particular, with all this activity, with all these teams, whether in a playoff spot or right near a playoff spot, how does Keith look at this American League today compared to maybe where it was a week or two ago?

So more on that in about 20 minutes. John Givens still to come as well. Best Bet's powered by Fanduil. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. From tariffs to trade deals, the markets are changing. Is your portfolio ready for what comes next? For all your questions, you need a money guy. Calvin, the money guy, will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity. The best way to navigate uncertain times. With strategic advice from Kelvin, you can not only protect your investments, you can grow them. Don't wait. Call 416-457 plan or visit ask kelvin.ca.com. All right, MLB trade deadline, about 10 minutes away from expiring.

Deals will likely come in after the 6 p.m. deadline as well. Sounds like Dustin May is on his way from the Dodgers to the Red Sox. So they just, Red Sox just to wear Joe Ryan from the Twins who's having a phenomenal season. All-Star pitcher, you know, they add him, Garrett Crochet, they've already got, you know, Sox loading up on arms. Yankees have loaded up in terms of their bullpen. Houston's active. Seattle's active. Texas is active.

Tigers have been somewhat active, not, you know, overwhelmingly. And the Jays have acquired Sir Anthony Dominguez and Shane Beaver and a depth catcher who likely will not play. For now. For now. We've got nine minutes. Yeah, nine minutes. It comes through.

Nine minutes. Could be something else. Sean Schorani are tweeting out that Mikhail Bridges has agreed to a four-year extension with the Knicks, which is interesting timing, that the Knicks are just like, you know what, we're going to slide this in, you know? A lot of going on. People are focused on the Yankees and the Mets. We've got some business

to take care. What's the thing with Bridges? Was there, like, did he, minutes or something? Like, he didn't play or Well, his brother was in one, wasn't it? Wasn't it his brother that there's a story there?

With Bridges, I can't remember. Wasn't there? I don't want to say, was it a gambling thing or I don't know I don't I don't want to speak out of yeah I don't because I saw someone spoofing on the on the signing and something about minutes yeah so there was I think there might have been I don't want to speak at a turn I don't I don't remember the exact story but something was going on there but this is a different bridges yeah yeah this is uh this is the Knicks bridges and there you go you got some NBA news in there too we're really cooking with gas now right after at

the top of the show talking about nothing is happening in the NBA or the NHL, still not much happening in the NFL. You got something. You've got the NICS being active. There you go. The Red Sox, like the Dodgers moving on from a pitcher that would help the Red Sox. Can you help me with that one? Like how does that make sense? Wouldn't the Dodgers need pitchers just as much as the Red Sox? They have so many injuries. And May has been injured. It May was that one of those young guys coming up that was like highly, highly touted. And it was, you know, here's their future.

ace and he's going to take over for Kershaw. They're waiting for, you know, Snell's on his way back. Obviously, Otani, his arms building up. And, yeah, may have Tommy John a few years back, but they were moving under the bullpen this week because of Snell,

I believe. Okay, and you got Sizaki, who at some point may or may not, who knows what's going to happen with him, but they, like the Dodgers are just waiting for a lot of bodies to return. Numbers thing. And it is, I think, a numbers thing. but yeah so we'll see man

there's a lot of teams hunting down the Blue Jays right now looks like the Yankees are acquiring a shortstop Red Sox are not packing it in that's for sure like they're not looking at themselves as third in the division and saying well it's just not our year we'll try and get them next year

they obviously truly believe that they would have a chance to not only just get into a wild card spot but perhaps even catch the Jays you got to believe it I mean it's just been such a weird year you know you just no one's been great and the Blue Jays have been inconsistent

right so as much as they've been great what are they 38 and 18 in their last last handful here but after going 26 and 28 so it's you know it's it's a fun year man like this is a really fun stretch run for Major League Baseball

so Yankees have acquired shortstop Jose Caballero from the Rays who is a plus plus defense offensive infieler, which means Volpe is looking at it, saying, I'm in trouble here. Well, he's terrible. Anthony Volpe has been a disaster, yet he's hitting okay. Like, and recently I saw someone post his stats last night, and his last, you know, 10, 12 games, small sample size. He's hit for some power.

He's getting on base. That's going to be the question. Like, what do they do with Volpe? Because defensively, the left side of the infield has been a disaster for the Yankees, a disaster. In the big moments, too. Yeah. They've acquired a third base, when they've acquired a short. Now, both plus plus defensively, clearly it's something that the Yankees realized that they

had to attack and they've attacked. So the Yankees and Cashman and company down there, they've been very active. Like, they've made a lot of moves here. They're pushing their chips and they're all in. They're a believer that they can do it. And we'll see what comes of it over the next five to ten minutes. All right, final hour coming up. Keith Law, John Gibbons will join us.

We'll recap the MLB's trade deadline. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. Tate Knight to remember. I think you know what this is. Tate McRae hit Scotia Bank Arena, August 19th, and IHart Radio could take you there. With $500 spending cash and more,

just stream IHard new music for 10 minutes a day on the free IHR Radio app. See the prompt? Tap, enter. And do it daily for your best chance to see Tate McRae live. The new album, So Close to What, is available now.