OverDrive - OverDrive - July 7, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Join Jim Tatti and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips joins to discuss the Blue Jays continuing their winning streak, the team's collective unit and the resemblance to the 2015 roster. The guys go around the sports world in the latest edition of Yes Guy, No Guy and Masai Ujiri giving his conclusion to the Raptors. 

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The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app Our number two overdrive TSN 1050 TSN 2 Jim Tattington, Dave Festreich from the Toronto Star with you all afternoon Very shortly Steve Phillips will join us to dive into some baseball. So the Jays are in Chicago tonight. Barrios goes for Toronto Three games there break Thursday and then three games at Oakland so that's six

games into the All-Star break and sitting pretty good first place three points over the Yankees and Rays just looking at the run differential only plus 12 but the I guess the mark against the team is the away record 20 and 22 not good. No and you don't want to get too too overconf mark against the team is the away record 20 and 22 not good. No, and you don't want to get to too overconfident against the Chicago White Sox as bad as they are because the last time the Blue Jays lost the series was to the Chicago White Sox At home, right? I lost two or three from the White Sox back in June so man

You're right. They haven't been great on the road and they haven't been great taking care of business against the White Sox. So yeah, you'd like to think they could run this eight game win streak into a 14 game or heading into the All-Star break, given the fact you're playing two of the worst teams in baseball and the White Sox in the athletics. But you start thinking that way maybe it doesn't happen. Yeah just looking at so Oakland is what 37 and 55 16 and 29 at home Chicago is 30 and 60 and they are 19 and 24 at home so it's a good recipe there I mean I don't know that they take all said me I don't know they take all six but it easily talked into four or five yeah easily yeah

sure I mean it's I mean look I mean on the other side of it you know the White Sox and call six but easily talked into four or five. Yeah, easily. Yeah. I mean look, on the other side of it, the White Sox and athletics, as bad as they are, they still won a combined 67 games. They win every now and then, right? They win one out of three. I know, but look at this, the run differential, Oakland's minus 140.

I know, right? That is dreadful. That is so bad. And Chicago's minus 84, so that's minus what, 224. Well, and Chicago actually at home is decent. Like, they're just, they're only five games under 500 at home, so. You can't take them too lightly

as you head in there beginning tonight, but man, it feels like the Blue Jays just can't miss right now. Like, it's just like. Oh, it's such a fun story to watch because it it's a different it's like watching the same movie with a different ending well no the same ending but but different plot every yeah every night yeah something seems to work out in their favor they make the big play they make the big sacrifice but they you know they have the big 14 pitch at bat

that leads to a something good they you know they did there's been so many of those storylines of just key moments where you come up with the big play and you know and the beauty of it for the Blue Jays is kind of it's been the opposite for the Yankees right as they've sort of struggled as the Jays have prospered here and opened up this three-game lead like your main rival to win this division the New York Yankees is kind of you know doesn't feel the magic right now. It's kind of going sideways for the Yankees, which is, which is a nice kind of parallel

storyline as you as you're on the best streak you've had in many, many a decade. So you, you sort of got into this earlier, you were saying that one of the best things about this team is the inability to drive in runs, which has plagued the team, I want to say for almost two and a half years, evaporated seemingly overnight. Is that your best storyline of all this? Well, it's got to be up there, right? Because we spent the whole, like how many times did we have that conversation? Ross Atkins himself brought it up, like last year, late last year talking about how, you

know, maybe the approach with runners in scoring position wasn't't right maybe their own players felt pressure with runners in scoring position which was not a good sign right if you if you're sort of questioning the composure of your hitters with runner in scoring position as as the sort of de facto explanation for why you weren't producing nobody liked the sound of that no and it just hasn't been a problem this year for whatever reason. Whatever the problem was last year, it just seems to have evaporated this year. It's kind of inspirational because there are some changes but nothing catastrophic. In fact, last year I think you would say at the deadline they liquidated some talent and brought in some maybes who have turned out in some respects.

But the fact that they could do it sort of within is maybe something to take note of as well. Yeah. Well, without a doubt. I mean, that's the beauty of it. It hasn't been the guys they brought in that have been the saviors here. It's been guys that nobody expected to be saviors. Like Addison Barger did make this team out of spring training.

And look what he's done for them. You talk about the need for a power bat. Well, you'd need it a lot more if he wasn't around. That's right. That we'd be talking a lot louder about the need for a power bat if he wasn't around. Bam Bam has been a big plus for the Blue Jays. And guys like Bichette yesterday,

you saw both sides of that, bobbled an infield ball and then as he got up to the plate the next time just popped one out of the ballpark. Yeah, exactly. Like making up for a mistake and kind of picking up your teammates when they make a mistake. It's been a big part of this team.

It's just that the chemistry just seems different this year, right? Like that to me is, remember when Alex Anthopoulos was here and they made that incredible run during the latter days of his general manager's stint here. And he kinda talked about how, as an analytics guy, he wasn't always kinda sold on chemistry.

Like he was more of a numbers guy. He was like, yeah, you build the team, and you find the roles you need to find. Define the roles and fill the roles, and you'll be fine. But that team kinda of made him believe That that team that made that first playoff run there made him believe Chemistry matters like there's something that you can't put a number on you can't use an analytics

algorithm on that just makes a team work and makes a team play better and it's a contagiousness of You know enthusiasm the contagiousness of enthusiasm, the contagiousness of good hitting, the contagiousness of good attitudes and good approaches. All that stuff, good luck going to your analytics department, the guys in the khakis and the pocket protectors and saying, put a number on that for me. But you know it exists when you see it in action. Yeah, it's a little different than other sports I almost sort of explain it this

way it's it's chemistry in terms of performance playing off performance right yeah exactly because it is an ultimate that's the beauty of baseball is that analytics sport it's it's a head-to-head matchup sport right you can you can quantify that very easily when you're at the plate there's nobody to help you when you're on the mound there's nobody to help you I guess a catcher does help you to some degree but you've got to throw the pitches and as a batter you gotta make the swings but but you're right how do you quantify the fact that when one guy's hitting another guy hits better when you know

when one guy's picking somebody up when he makes a mistake that makes that guy play better in in in recompense. I mean, there's something to it, man, and it just feels like this team has it, right? At least right now. And look, it's gotta go on longer, it's gotta happen as the summer wears on here into August, and then into September,

and then obviously you gotta be playing your best baseball beyond that if you wanna actually do the damage you're hoping to do here win the American League represent the American League in the World Series and why can't it happen this year there's no there's no juggernaut at the top of the standings that you're afraid of not anymore and there's just some some great storylines Kirk going to the All-Star game is just a fantastic storyline that's great it's really it's really great for him mean, we had Rich Griffin on last

week. He called him Alejandro Kirk, the Blue Jays MVP to date, which, you know, when you think about it, I think Griff's logic is essentially, look, I mean, George Springer has been their best offensive player by a lot of metrics. Obviously, if you just look at the raw numbers, the OPS is of it all. And you look at, okay, Springer's been their guy, but who's harder to replace, right? You can't find catchers doing what Alejandro Kirk is doing. And the Js don't have another catcher that can do it. They've got other outfielders that can hit.

They've got other outfielders that can take George Springer's place if he's out for a while, but maybe not to the same effect right now, because George Springer's turned back the clock in a really fascinating way here when a lot of people thought he was washed up and kind of playing out the string of a great career but yeah it's for Kirk to be doing what he's doing I think it's well deserved that he's heading to the All-Star game. Joining us now on the Maple Toyota hotline is Steve Phillips.

Steve welcome how are you today? I'm doing great thanks for having me. Our pleasure so looking for context here I mean obviously the Jays are on a run here. What jumps off the page for you? I mean what is surprising to you over their last, I want to say what, five weeks when before that they were just struggling as they had for the previous two years, but this is different now. What makes it that way?

Yeah, I think really it's the, and I daresay it, the internal improvements that have happened with the hitters in this organization, right? We kept hearing, you know, we're going to have to get better internally. These guys are going to have to be better. It's not the answer is not outside. It's these guys will be better. We have to make them better. We believe they're going to be better.

And now you've got Ernie Clement swinging the bat. You've got Anderson Barger really swinging the bat Alejandro Kirk is better and you know you're getting contributions from a broader list of players that's making it not come down to you know Bichette and Guerrero and hopefully somebody on either side of them and so you know they've gotten late. I think we lost them there. We're going to have to reestablish contact. Hope this is.

Seems to be a pattern, Jim. Hope this isn't a regular thing. I'm going to have to double the invoice. Very abrupt. Just like, it's just like, you know, it's not like a cell phone click where, or like a cell phone cutout where you sort of hear them for a second

and you don't hear them. That's just like, like somebody cutting the line. The dropout. Like, yeah. Yeah. A dropout. Yeah. You don't want to have dropouts on a radio show generally. It's nobody's fault. There's nothing we can do. I like that Luke. Thank you Luke. I think it probably is somebody's fault. Who should we blame? I'm not sure. I don't know. But internal improvement is you know at some point

when he comes back we'll figure this out. Maybe that's the way to go for a lot of things because i i i just get the impression a lot of sports there's only so much changing you can do i mean sooner or later you have to look yourself in the mirror make the improvement maybe you know what to to brad tree livings point about the d the dna of the least maybe that's what you do that so those d welcome back in our apologies for the technical problems uh... i don't know where we were, but maybe just talk about, again,

the internal improvement and how difficult that is normally. Yeah, I mean, it's just one that it just there were so many question marks. Look, I'm not completely sold that Ernie Clement is going to hit like this, that Addison Barcher is going to hit like this. But they're hitting like that right now. And I think Springer bouncing back is a huge part of this not only for his own production but for

the it allows him to really be more of a leader and look he's a leader anyways but when you're not performing it's really hard for you to believe and speak with conviction to make your words matter to everybody when you know you're struggling you're going to say if you need to do this this this and they're like well yeah but what are you doing and so you know I think to everybody when you know you're struggling you're gonna say if you need to do this this this and they're like well yeah but what are you doing and so I think they've got you know and I talked a little bit about this already that they're in a rhythm right now that that you know good teams have a way that they play when they win and you know they go out there to get good starting pitching which means they're not chasing and playing from

behind all the time they're scoring early they're getting a lead they're adding on runs, they're playing good defense, they're being more aggressive on the bases, which leads to more runs and creating more holes and pressure on the defense. And then you make them play defensively, which rallies the pitchers to throw it over the plate more, which means that everybody's excited when they come in off the field. And so there's just this momentum that starts to roll where it impacts every component of the game. And they're in it right now.

And look, at some point, they're going to come out of it. And the key will be that they just weren't a streaky team, but they're a good team, and that a loss is only a loss and not the start of a losing streak. But I would say that they're playing some inspired baseball and you know you see them rooting for each other even more instead of you know their heads down and the introspection that comes when everybody's struggling. Steve we've been sort of debating who the MVP of this team is and that's just a feeling around town where the people are looking to give credit for this incredible run they've been on here.

We've heard on this station in the past handful of days a bunch of different choices i think pat man and i both were leaning springer uh... as our mvp we heard uh... rich griffin are former blue jay's pr guy and and and great contributor here at the s and radio griff had alejandro kirk as his mvp

before it votes for bo Bichette from others. Where do you land on who the MVP of this Blue Jays team to date would be? Yeah, you know, it's interesting that, and there's something that I think is very telling about the fact that, you know, it's hard to find the one guy and that's the key is that you are getting contributions that it is somebody different every night doing the job that they are. And I think right now, I would probably say Springer to this point, I mean, leading the

team in home runs, leading the team in RBIs, leading the team in OPS, and 10 for 10 in stolen bases. So, and you think he's driven in the most runs, he has scored the most runs, and so actually three runs short of Vlad in the run scored category, but, and again, I think then the leadership aspect of it added onto it. I give it to Springer, but I think it's a very,

the bigger story is that there are a lot of names you can throw out there, and that's the sign of a pretty you can throw out there and that's the sign of a pretty good team or a team that's at least playing pretty good. You talked about how all the elements collide. If that was a football term, it would be complementary football. I don't know if that exists in baseball, but I think that's what we're seeing. I want to ask you a sort of a pointed question.

How legitimate is the bullpen for you? Can it continue on? I had stats in the weekend, 14 in the third inning, six hits, two runs, that's pretty darn good. It's been good, but I think that for me, I see them as a good bullpen that can get better. And Hoffman's had a great month, there's no doubt about that, a great month in June.

But I do think that for me, I want another guy that can pitch the ninth inning. You know, if I can get a Ryan Helsley, if the Cardinals fall out of it, or a Mudos from Seattle, if they fall out of it, I would like to get another ninth inning guy or an eighth ninth inning guy that, you know, you can mix and match Hoffman with a little bit at the end of the game. I think that, you know, that's one for me that I just I want to shorten the game for the rotation and know that if you play the Blue Jays that you better have a lead after five because if you don't you're going to get a string of relievers that can shut you down and I think they're probably one impact reliever away from being able to do that

and one guy that, you know know can blend in with the rest of that bullpen you know and I'd like a little more support from the left side there if you can and and then you know I think you've got to consider where you are at the starting rotation. I know that you know with Lowell and Scherzer and certainly there's a little more stability there but I want to make sure that I'm protecting anything catastrophic. This is not a year to hedge your bet This is a year to go for it. You made the investment in Vlad E This is he's the youngest he's ever going to be And you know, you don't know what you don't have a shot next year under control

You don't know what you know, you don't have basset next year under control You've got you've got some decisions you're gonna have to make. And I understand that they don't like to give away the farm. Remember in the whole marching pile getting on Ross Atkins back in 2015 when they went for it and they went big and they get priced and Tula Litsky and those guys. But you know what?

I'm going for it because if you wait for next year, next year may not ever get here. Injuries get in the way we saw them. In, injuries Bichette did for the last several years. You know, you don't know what you're going to get from other guys. You're going to get under performance and aging players. And you've got the bounce back from Springer. You've got Bichette and Guerrero in the mix of things. If you can get Santana there going.

But you know, you've got Kirk. You've got Luke's doing things. You've got a lot of guys contributing. I think you've got to go for it and do not hedge your bet at the trade deadline. What do you make of the Yankees, Steve? How big a threat are the Yankees to sort of pull out of this swoon they're currently in, let me do last seven or the last ten, and it goes back even farther than that for the Yankees where they've begun to struggle here, although they did beat your Mets

to finish out the weekend series in Flushing Meadow. But if you're the Blue Jays, how big a threat do you consider the Yankees and what is the sort of factors that are going to swirl around and decide whether or not the Yankees actually make the charge that the Blue Jays would dread? Or the Yankees sort of wallow in their sorrow

and fall out of the race Yeah, so you know just be clear. They're only my mats when they win the games They're the team that fired me have nothing to do with them anymore Noted yeah So you know I think that that I mean the Yankees have some pitching problems and the injuries have really hit them hard. And you know, and for every team, you know, every team has problems, every team has issues, but you know, they're a team that they were in a rhythm and now they've gotten out of

it. You know, Fried's been very good obviously for them. But you know, Rodan had a bobble and now look, they've lost a number of pitchers to injury and now it's, you know, Clark Schmidt is dinged up again right now. And you know, you got Marcus Strowman back in the mix for them. And they need Strowman. Remember, he was, he wanted to trade because he wasn't going to be a starter. Then he got hurt. Now he's got a chance to start, but he's got a 70 RA.

And they're going bullpen days on some days, and their bullpen's getting worn down a little bit. And look at the end of the game, and Luke Weaver hasn't been as good as he was last year. Devin Williams, not as good as he was last year with the Milwaukee. And then if Judge, and I thought this all along. I thought when Stanton came

back, it was going to mess him up. That when Stanton came back, it was going to take Goldsmith and Ben Rice and complicate their playing time and their positional play. And, you know, I think that, that, you know, taking over that DH role means judge can never serve as the DH. You can't give Dominguez a break in the outfield that I'm DH for a day and so you know I do I think Stanton messed them up and and their pitching has been wallowing and with the starting pitching it ding around it affects the bullpen

too so the Yankees can turn it around and judge can put them on their shoulders and lead them back and if he gets the support from any number of those other guys they can outslug some of their pitching issues until the pitching gets better but by cast was going to be really aggressive because they're losing hold of this thing right now in watching it does look to their fingertips

steve without getting into the history lesson of of who made the comment and and and what city works in uh... the blue jays run differential of 12 after 90 games. Is that a legitimate concern or where are you on that? Yeah, I'm concerned about it. I think run differential certainly tells a story. And when you're 14 games over 500 and you're just the plus 12,

what it means is you've had very good timing that you've scored more on days that you had a chance to win and you've had some blowouts mixed in there and you know when it gets away from you it gets away from you but generally you know the more difference between how many you score and what you give up is an indicator of the strength of your team or the weakness of your team. And for the days they have outperformed their numbers. You know their record is outperforming the way they have performed on the field. It can balance out with a couple of blowouts here and there,

but yeah, I do think it's a little bit of a concern because we've seen in the past Alex Anthopoulos, you know, when he was there back in 2015 and they run to 500 but they had a plus 40 run differential. He looked at it and said we're better than our record. Timing's been a problem. Timing always turns around and we're going to get hot and everybody else has a hard schedule and we're going to come back and make the playoffs win the division that they did. And so the run differential means something to me but we'll only know at the end of the year if timing, because timing can last over 162 games. It can. You could just have good timing where you know the days you score you do it and you win and the days you don't you really lose.

It's not normal, but I think it can happen, but I'm not going to look at any negative right now for the james we've been wanting more often to have been wanting uh... more production from the bottom half of the lineup and now we're finally getting it and i think really it's just more sit back and enjoy it then they start to look for a bit for reasons why we don't want to like this team the all-star break uh... less than a week away steve uh... the the rosters are

now assembled for the big game down at atlanta next week who was your biggest uh... s uh... snub on the roster obviously toronto bands that george springer should have been considered giving these uh... fourth in the american league in opiates uh... who do you think that's not the worst uh... in your uh... reading of the rosters

yeah i think that you can make a case that certainly Springer is a snub. I think you can make a case that Carlos Narvaez catcher for the Red Sox, a little bit of a snub, but you know, listen, Kirk has played out of his mind, and so I'm okay with that. And I think Soto, you know, I think, you know, they may get in there at some point and if with injuries and, you know, somebody not being able to play and perform, you can make case Trey Turner. The Phillies is a snub, a Roserina, a bit of a snub with Seattle. He's on his way to another 2020 season overall. But you know, here's the thing, it doesn't matter. And, you know, Framber Valdez, I mean, I don't know. I mean, seriously, I mean, he's got a 2.9

ERA. And, you know, the way I look at it, he's got 115 strikeouts and 115 innings. I guess, it doesn't matter. Look, we can expand the roster, but it's always going to be that next guy who feels like a snub and not everybody can make it in No pitchers generally You know those that deserve it get in because there are guys who can't pitch for the all-star game or they're a little sore They don't want to pitch And you know, so it's it's easy to get worked up now, but let's see what it looks like once we get to next Tuesday they've

Wanted to get your take on the the cleaning of house that went on with the washington nationals uh... firing the g m michael is o and manager uh... dave martinez uh... they've obviously had some great success with that uh... with that team winning the world series is recently as twenty nineteen but uh... thought there was time for a change uh... how did you read that situation?

Yeah I was surprised that it happened so quickly and at the timing of it you know it just seemed odd and I know there were clauses in the contract for options to be exercised and that sort of thing that they may have you know my initial thought of it was oh they had a really bad month of June. Owners probably thought the manager should be fired and Mike Mike Rizzo, the general manager, probably said, I'm not firing the manager, it's not, you know, there's no reason to fire him, and then over that, he got fired, but I'm hearing that that's not the case, that they had an option, they had to pick up and they decided that they weren't going to do it, and they wanted to have a different

direction, and in some ways, look, if they're not going to be the leadership team moving forward, then you want somebody in place to make the draft picks for you, to make the trades at the trade deadline for you, who's going to be part of the future of that organization. And so, I don't know, it's, I'm surprised. I think they've got a nice group of young players there. That Soto trade has been huge. Injuries have hurt them a little bit. You know I thought this was the year to spend money and bring in a couple of veterans around

the young kids that would help their development but they decided to wait a year on that. But man there are worse jobs in baseball than getting that nationals job with with James Wood and Mackenzie Gore and CJ Abrams and the Hasselkid lead the way. They've got a nice foundation of some really good young players. Dylan Cruz, Top Prospect, first round pick from last year. It's a fun team for sure. Steve, thanks very much. Appreciate your perseverance.

Oh, you got it guys. Thank you too. Appreciate it. As Steve Phillips says, Steve joined us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Drive the built in Canada fuel efficient, fun to drive, Toyota RAV4, gas or or hybrid models available visit mapletoyota.com. I think I don't know if you'll agree with me Dave in all the decisions that teams make the head guy for baseball the general manager and the field manager that's precarious.

Without a doubt I mean look we've seen managers are pretty disposable in Major League Baseball, and sometimes you wonder how sort of much in charge they are anymore in the age of analytics where everything's run by the guys in the spreadsheets, and what decisions do you actually make as a manager is always up for debate. We've had that debate in Toronto at really key times in playoff games, right, about who's actually making decisions not lately but no not lately

exactly but but anyway yeah you're right it's it is precarious but they hate that Matt that Washington Nationals you know general manager manager combo there with Rizzo and Martinez they've they've been around a long time and they had the World Series ring together and hey it is it is surprising in some ways that you'd go away from that but it's same timeline as the as the Raptors going away from Masai Ujiri right? The Nationals won in 2019, the Raptors won in 2019, the honeymoon's over and you got to start thinking about the future and sometimes ownership thinks about the future in a different way than the people in the current seats. The big agenda. There you go.

The big agenda backed by the big money. That's right. Well, the bottom line. Overdrive is brought to you by Fandual, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. And oh, look at this. Yes, Guy, No Guy is next in Overdrive. You're listening on TSN 1050, watching on TSN 2.

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Can't wait. Here we go. Yes, guy, no, guy number one. The 2025 Blue Jays are at the same level as the 2015 Blue Jays. Well, look, are they yet at the level of the 2015 Blue Jays in the hearts and minds of Blue Jays fans? No, because this team hasn't done what that team did, which was electrify this city after the longest playoff drought in the four major sports in North America was overturned by the incredible trade deadline work of Alex Anthopolis who took a team that was 50 and 51 on July 28th and turned it into a team that went all the way to the ALCS. So it hasn't done that. Does it have the makings of that?

Does it have the feeling of a team that could achieve great things? Yeah, I think it's starting to get that feeling. Yeah, I'm gonna go with a no guy there as well. It could be, but we're early. We're not even at the All-Star break, but it does rekindle memories of that, and we hope that they keep doing that,

but way too early to make the call there so that's a firm no guide yes i know that number two blue jays must sign boba shat at the start of the offseason well i'm a kind of yes guy and that in terms of if you want to keep on and you've got clarity that he wants to stay why would you sort of weight you know i mean why would you be signed wait? You know, I mean, why wouldn't he be signed by now,

I guess would be the question, but. Yeah. There's no clarity on that right now. So, you know, yes guy, ideally, in an ideal world for a guy who's, you know, bounced back off of last year's horrendous season, injury plague season, and is now a guy that people are talking about in the hierarchy

of Blue J MVPs to this point in the season, he's a guy you need, he's a guy that people are talking about in the in the hierarchy of blue jm vps to this point in the season he's a guy you need he's a guy you'd want to have around but it's about mutual respect and mutual agreement here and we've never gotten any clarity whether boba shed wants to stay here long term now maybe a season like the one they're having if it continues we'll make him want to stay i'm gonna kind of go no guy here I just think if that was the case he'd already be signed. Yeah. You know I again not before the All-Star break and you know projecting to what happens we don't know if he's gonna continue on the way he is or not. Well you have to believe that some of that would have to do with how

this season ends up. Yeah. If the magic we've seen over the last handful of weeks continues into August, September and October, maybe all the assumptions about the fact that Beau Bichette wants no long-term part of Toronto, maybe those assumptions turn out to be wrong. So now we have summer cooler questions, which means they're all hockey until the end of this segment. Yes Guy, No Guy, number three Cali Yarncroke and David Camp will both be on different teams by opening night of the season which means October. I'm a yes guy on that in all likelihood. I mean it seems like they're surplus guys. Toronto's got a lot of guys that are bottom six

quality. I mean David Camp didn't even really contribute to the playoff hunt for the for the Maple Leafs making decent money. Yeah. You'd like to be able to... Now what, how do you move a guy like that? What do you get for him? Do you trade him to a team that needs to get to the floor? We do know there are teams that will be in that position depending on how their caps shake out. Yeah it just seems to me like you know what impact have they made here and are there other players in the hierarchy right now that have a better claim on those top six or those bottom six forward slots and I would say probably yes. Yeah so camps at

2.4 for the next two, Jarnkroek is at 2.1 and this season will be his final on his current deal. I'm gonna go yes guide on that. I believe that one of them, if there's any trade and there has to be one at least, one of these guys is in the trade for sure. Well yeah, I mean the thing is they're not particularly attractive assets right now you know other than if you're trying to make up you know salary cap floor space. Yeah they've just got a glut of bottom six forwards now they do they do I think they've got 11 of them you know that neither guys exactly a sell-high proposition right you know part of a package part of a

package that in there and there may be somebody that sees value there yes guy no guy number four Max patchy already will resign with the Maple Leafs if I had to guess on this and it's and it's a guess I'd say yes guy I'd say he I think I think there's a feeling that you know when all is said and done is as tough as the season was for him last year living away from his family as tough as the season was last year not playing from what mid-February until the beginning of the playoffs and then having to wait to get into the lineup as the season was last year not playing from what mid February until the beginning of playoffs and then having to wait to get into the lineup as the playoffs began it was a good season for Max Patcherelli. He had some

incredible moments. Yeah like I mean for a 36 year old guy coming off a you know a double Achilles problems pretty amazing pretty amazing comeback and you know like when you got close to Max Batredi in that dressing room at times last year like this guy loves the game and he was he was absolutely reveling as being a reveling in the idea of being an impact player on a team that needed his impact desperately at times. Second line left winger in the playoffs. And I just don't like I mean yeah Father Time's undefeated but you know Max Batredi you know did a pretty his impact desperately at times. Second line left winger in the playoffs. And I just don't, like I mean, yeah,

father time's undefeated, but you know, Max Batchready, you know, did a pretty good job of sort of keeping him at arm's length last year. I'm gonna say no guy with the Leafs, just because of what he said, how stressful it was in his family. I don't think he wants to revisit that. So I think he plays, but not with the Leafs.

Yeah, that's another possibility, but I mean, the fit is there though for the Leafs. Like, there's a reason but not with the Leafs. Yeah that's another possibility but I mean the fit is there though for the Leafs. Oh yeah. There's a reason why he chose the Leafs last year and there's a reason why the Leafs would like to have him back because the fit's there. He fills a role that they need. Yes guy, no guy number five, Jack Roslavik would be a great fit with the Leafs. I'm a yes guy on this. Yeah. You know, could I go from great to good?

Can I go from great to pretty good? I mean, I'm not going to maybe great's not the word I'd use, but he'd be a potentially amenable fit. He'd be a fit. He'd be a fit. Yeah. Let's leave the adjective out until we see, you know, a little bit of evidence of how great he would be.

But check it next year. There is the there is the fact that he's got some some sort of history of austin matthews and you know a right shot you know a guy who can feed knows what matthews likes knows knows where to hit matthews theoretically although they haven't played together since they were you know development team guys back down in the states but um look they need we've just been talking about. They're gonna need help in terms of replacing Marner by committee and Maybe there's a you know a great fit who knows but a fit. Yes. Yeah, I would have gone gonna go yes guy in that

He's a fit Definitely could play for the Leafs So let's do yes guy no guy guy, number six. Connor McDavid, Eichel, Kaprasov, will all finish their careers with their respective teams. Well, I'm gonna go big no guy on this. Just because it's just, I mean, obviously with McDavid, it's just so rare for anybody to play for one franchise. And we just had Marty Buran on talking about how

McDavid's at the point of his career where shorter deals might make sense and putting pressure on the Edmonton Oilers to put the team around him that can maximize his competitive window here is gonna be a factor. So the idea that they're gonna be able to do that, we just, you know, they've had an underwhelming start with this off season so far and so I

McDavid alone. I just have a hard time believing that he at some point won't test the waters and look You know at least contemplate a future Beyond northern Alberta. Yeah, I would agree with that I might even venture to say all three of them will move on at some point Yeah, they'll have the opportunity to for sure right exactly mean the bill the failure and i mean uh... is so rare in this week for me and i close on his on his uh... second team

uh... who knows the capri software we don't know a lot about that guy i don't think we we get a lot of windows into what he really is looking for what he's really gonna like uh... and will find out shortly i guess but yeah mcdavid alone i'm some saying i'm saying no guy uh... let me just throw in an ad lib yes guy no guide um... yes guy no guy you are buying into the blue jay's you're drinking the blue jays kool-aid here

well i'm a no-guy kool-aid i'm not i'm not like i'm well aware that this team stunk out of the gate Oh, yes, you know by by extension they could stink again and they may well stink again But look, I'm like anybody in this town like when when the teams are doing well in this in this city It's it's it's a great city to be in like there's this very Like the magic of summer nights at the ballpark when the team is good I mean you can't beat that stuff. Like it's infectious. It makes the whole city alive.

It makes the downtown alive. It makes all those businesses around that building alive. It makes the streets alive after games and before games. And that's kind of an infectious thing. And as somebody who lives in the city, I like that a lot. So I buy that. Like I buy that people are buying into this team and I buy the people are excited about this team and that it that in itself is a really good thing you know when you think of the Raptors and obviously six years now since the title

still some residue there the least playoff failure the Jays stumble it's just all dressed up in no place to go when you're talking about the downtown for for playoff runs. Everybody's all set for it. It just doesn't happen. Yeah, I mean that that's why you know the championship parade you know what is it six years ago now just like that that's a those are moments you'll always remember right like yeah you know having known people who were at the last Leafs championship parade in 67 none of whom thought who were at the last Leafs championship parade in 67, none of whom thought they were at the last Leafs championship parade. They all thought out they'll probably win it in a couple of years. They won four in

the decade so it was a regular thing. Right, but that's the beauty of sports and that's the beauty of sort of celebrating the moment. I find it funny knowing in our day and age of the way we consume sports and the way we think about sports, it's actually amazing to me like all my Blue Jay loving people that I text and email with, everybody's kind of caught up in the deadline. And everybody's like, what do we trade for? What do we need? What do they do? How should they go about this? And it's like, people have a hard time kind of enjoying the moment. You know, it's like, because this isn't enough, right? Like a nice little run in June and July is not enough.

If you don't back it up, it is. Exactly. So it's great to have the town on board, but you know, the bandwagon can get a lot more people aboard and if it doesn't end up in a place that's a lot more satisfying than the playoff runs of the Shapiro-Atkins era have ended up it's not gonna mean all

that much. Well and they're in Chicago tonight and then weekend in Oakland two very beatable ball team six games in seven days they've won eight straight the the recipe is there isn't it? Recipe the 14 game win streak into the all-star break although those white sox have been pesky yeah to the Jays to the Jays yeah eat him to two of the three the last time they were in Toronto so yeah you don't want it you don't want to pencil in wins against these bottom feeders because they do win a reminder more in the Jays at 630 where there are crats and at the top of the hour, Maple Leaf Hopeful Easton Cowan, who had just a great end to his junior hockey career, Memorial

Cup and of course a couple of stints on the World Junior Team and ready for NHL action. We'll get his thoughts on that. And up next, an open segment, so it's going to be a potpourri of stuff that we're going to talk about. This is Overdrive on TSN 1050 and TSN 2. the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Wrapping up our number two overdrive, Jim Taddy, Dave Fest, Chuck McToronto's star. And on the way in, TSN 1050 giving you a chance to win VIP club access to the Ontario Honda dealers, Indy Toronto. Today's Indy insider keyword is speed. Starting right now you have 10 minutes and 50 seconds to text speed along with your name

and city to 105050. Next Monday first up we'll be calling one listener with a VIP package including seats in a covered suite located at trackside, internal lemon, food and beverage, access to the IndyCar paddock to get up and close with the teams, cars and drivers and standard message rates apply. Full details at tsn1050.ca. Nice little package there. Really nice package. It's always a great event.

Yeah, it is. And it's been around for years and they're really a fan pleaser. Masai Ujiri was a fan pleaser, delivered the big trades, the gutsy moves, sort of a handbook on how to asset manage your situation, let go by the rafters a couple of weeks ago, said a goodbye in the ABC show, Good Morning, the Good Morning show, and issued his own own release today so let's listen to that how much this trial means you Yeah, that's well said. I mean, that just, you don't have to say anything, just the words.

He had an interesting, and I guess maybe for lack of a better description, lovable connection with this city, didn't he? That was one of his strengths as an executive, Jim, was the idea that I remember talking to Jed Hughes, and Jed Hughes is not a household name in Toronto, but Hughes was the guy who headed the search that landed on Masai Ujiri as the next president of the Toronto Raptors back in 2013 when Tim Laewicki came to Toronto

espousing that winning is everything and we gotta start having that New York, LA mentality that we don't accept anything but winning. Laiwiki went out looking for presidents and of course on the Leaf side he brought in Brennan Shanahan on the Raptor side. He got Jed Hughes who was a headhunter to find Messiah Eugenia and Jed said to me one time, he said the beauty of Messiah is he can communicate with everybody in the building. He can talk to the usher, you know, like their friends and their law messiahs he can communicate with everybody in the building he talked to the usher

like their friends and their their long lost and and he can spend time with that person to make them feel important and he can talk to the owner the usher in the owner and he can instill confidence and belief and a good feeling you know in

both those people and that you know is a rare skill. Like the idea that you're that high profile executive, you're that in demand, but you're also in every man. Anytime he was with us in the booth, I mean he had a way of communicating, as you say there, that would be on your level,

which again is a really good skill. He, for me, he brought the franchise credibility, brought it to a different level, and certainly increased the value of the franchise credibility, brought it to a different level and certainly increased the value of the franchise tenfold. But aside from that, the asset management, which is something we'll talk about on any team for a guy to come in and remove the coach of the year and one of the more popular players in DeMar DeRozan and turn that into a championship, that is just textbook.

You won't see that often. I mean, it's not only one of the great trades in Toronto sports history, I'd say it's the best. It's one of the great trades in sports history. Like it really is. It's like, how do you take good, how do you go from good to great? The toughest step to take, right?

Take a team that was knocking on the door of Eastern Finals, but couldn't get past LeBron all those years with Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan as its main one-two punch. Take that team and make them a contender, make them an instant championship threat with one deal. And it was a deal that, I mean, it was a deal that was very difficult to make because you talk about connection. I mean, DeMar DeRozan had an incredible connection not only with Masai Ujiri and with the coaching staff of that team and with everybody involved in

that team because he'd been drafted by the Raptors, developed by the Raptors, become an all-star with the Raptors. He had a great connection with the fan base too. People love to this day love DeMar DeRozan and have a lot of time for DeMar DeRozan. So that was a tough trade. It was tough to fire Dwayne Casey, you know, given all that Dwayne Casey had done for the Toronto Raptors program through all those years. But after LeBron got him again in that playoff sweep, I mean, you talk about the emotion of Masai Ujiri. I'll never forget that night in Cleveland. I was there and LeBron went down and went one on five against the Raptors and hit that bank shot to win

the series and finish out the sweep. By a lot of accounts, there was real acrimony in the coach's office and Masai Ujiri was the source of it demanding better. We can't keep losing to this guy. Something's got to change. Guess what? The fire of the coach made the trade. Next year won the championship.

The feeling was at the time that if something big didn't happen The regression was going to start to hit the franchise and he pushed the button at the right time Probably the strangest thing is you could fire a coach of the year and replace them with one of your own Assistance and yeah workout Nick nurse was a perfect fit for what happened the next year Well, it's sometimes forgotten that that coaching search went on a long time. And I remembered, you know, doing some reporting audit and trying to figure out who they were going to hire. And, and you know, Mike Budenholzer was in the running.

There were, there were a lot of names thrown into the hat. Missayu Jerry did a lot of due diligence during that time. And, and it was kind of an interesting choice in the end, because as more than one coaching agent said to me like it's pretty tough to make the case that the guy sitting next to Dwayne Casey for the past handful of years is the solution to replace Dwayne Casey because obviously Nick Nurse had a hand in all those losses that Dwayne Casey presided over to LeBron in those big games that the ones that really

really ate at Masai U decided your and wanted him to it or certain spired in the major itself it was an interesting choice it was an off the board choice in a lot of ways and nick nick nurses an off the board coach in a lot of ways we've we saw you know his is sort of knack for box in one outside the box and one defenses in janky defenses is that very deris risk of Lee called the Raptors defense during that finals

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