OverDrive - Phillips on Kevin Gausman's trade value, John Schneider's media approach, and the Red Sox 15-game win streak

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips joins the show to discuss George Springer and Kevin Gausman’s value in the trade market looks like, if John Schneider needs to change his tune in the media, what he’s hoping to see from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. moving forward, and how the Boston Red Sox are cruising to a 15-game win streak.

Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on Internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. All right, let's bring in our TSM Baseball Insatter. Joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline, here's Steve Phillips. What's happening, Steve? Hey, guys, good to be with you. How are you?

Yeah, we're doing well. Unfortunately, we're talking about the Jay's being a seller here at the Trade. deadline and we referenced George Springer and you know George his struggles this year well documented he's you know there's no pop in the bat his numbers are way down he's 36

his contracts up at the end of the year but he is a former World Series MVP he is a guy that performed incredibly well last year especially in the playoffs if you're a team like Boston a team like I don't see Tampa necessarily doing this but one of the front running teams in Major League

Baseball would you see value in acquiring a guy like George Springer. Yeah, I mean, you look at his postseason numbers. He's one of the best postseason players in history. I mean, he is a great postseason performer. The Chicago White Sox should go after George Springer. They're young. They have very little experience in postseason play.

They have very little experience about being in first place down the stretch. And so a guy like Springer would be huge for the White Sox to be able to nurture some of those young players right there, work them through it, talk to them through it. And so, yeah, I could absolutely see that he could be a factor for a team there. You know, the Phillies, I think, are looking for a right-handed bat. Now, they ideally need an outfield. They're in Springer obviously hasn't brought a glove to the ballpark in weeks. But, you know, if he could muster the energy to get out to the outfield a little bit,

I think a right-handed bat there because Swarber's going to DH, but getting, you know, a guy like Springer into a DH role would be a factor there. the White Sox can afford him in a D.H. I could see the Guardians considering a guy like that. The twins, if they think they want to go for it a little bit. So I think that there are some guys that have better numbers, but I think for that team that's looking for, even if it's a platoon situation and a veteran leader,

I could see Springer fitting for some clubs out there down the stretch. Steve, I feel like Kevin Gosman might kind of run parallel to George Springer, where it's an older veteran player, you're betting on can we get two more months out of this guy being who they once were. Do you see there being much of a market for someone like him coming off of a tough stretch? And do you think the teams out there will still believe that they can grab a number three, mid-rotation guy, a little cheaper? Yeah.

So I think that as it stands today, if they wanted to sell, I think he would be, you know, well down the list. He's got probably two starts. I think there's 10 games before the 6 p.m. deadline on the third. He'll probably have two starts in there. And, I mean, one, if he goes out there, he pitches great, then I think there will be some interest there that maybe whatever was going on, he's been able to overcome a little bit.

If he gets a second start on the 31st and goes out there and deals and pitches well, then I think maybe you could see some more aggressive play on that. But his performance has been disappointing. It's one of the reasons why they are where they are right now. He's 0 and 6 in his last 10. starts with a 6.1 ERA. I mean, it's been awful. And he doesn't seem to have an answer for it.

So, you know, I think that, you know, somebody will probably take a chance on him, even if he doesn't pitch better. But I think that if they want to get anything in return, he's going to have to give them one really quality starter, two very good starts to get something back. Continuing with that theme of starting pitchers, you know, with a history veteran guy. Shane Bieber is a little bit different because of his most recent two seasons, basically,

where he's coming off, you know, Tommy John. Last year it took him a long time to get back into the lineup. Pitched okay in the playoffs. This year took him a while to get back into the rotation. Hasn't been so great. How could they possibly sell that, you know, if you're a respective GM out there? A guy like Bieber, his history, who he is, do you see a value, do you see a market with a guy like Shane Bieber? Yeah, I think what you're selling is this last.

start was pretty good. And he'll need to have another good start. And at that point, it's just a matter of, you know what, he's shaking off the rust. He just needed a couple outings to kind of get himself back on track again. Fastball velocity's backwards been when he was pitching his best back in Cleveland. He's never been an overpowering guy. The breaking stuff, the spin rates out of it. You can spin, you know, if he gives you another good start, you could spin that the veteran guy down the stretch who, when he missed time and came back off the injure of those last year, did a nice job for the Jays, more than serviceable job. And I think that you could sell,

yeah, he's missed time, but he did that before and he was good when he came back. So I think there's a way to do it, but again, not a major return. Well, Steve, actually, that's what I was curious about. As a GM, how do you decide whether the return is just worthwhile

or do you just hang on to a guy? In a lot of these situations, it's all down years. So you're just not going to be getting back what you want. I mean, what's the line between let's just get something back or we just hold them. Yeah. If they're going to walk at the end of the year and their free agents in this

expiring contract, trade them. Get what you can get. Cut your losses. Get what you can get. Get out from some of the money. Go get prospects and return. And now, you know, my experience has been that whatever money you save by trading away veterans with expiring contracts, that money's not really there for you

next year. It just might cut your losses for this year a little bit. It's not like to say, oh, well, you know, you save 50s, $15 million, I'm going to put that on your payroll for next year. And again, we don't even know what the payroll is going to be for next year. But I think that if you've got expiring contracts and somebody wants them and you can get a dozen bats and balls, get them. You might as well do it.

There's no sense holding on to somebody that you're not going to offer a qualifying offer if that's still in play in this next CBA. They're not going to get Beaver qualifying offer. I don't know. You can give Gossman a qualifying offer right now going into next season. And so I think that because of that, you take what you can do. got. Steve, when you look at the Blue Jays now, and you have been behind these closed doors for teams

that are having good years, frustrating years, and I'm really interested now by how John Schneider's handling the public messaging on this. He said, listen, I know you guys want me to get angry. Fans want me to get angry. It's not going to happen. And of course, what we hear there is much different than what he's telling players behind closed doors. But in this situation, do you want your manager to be that steady calm presence?

or is there a time to get bleeped at the podium and throw some things for a manager? When does that come? Yeah, so I think that I wanted to be the steadying influence, but I think there's also a time when you flip over the table in the clubhouse with all the food on it and you throw a temper tantrum and you chew them up a little bit and spit them out. and then you go to the press conference and you know you just say listen we have a little talk and you know

I think the boys heard the message loud and clear we'll see if it has any impact on it all if you have to say anything at all if it leaks out that you you know you tore into it a little bit then you can say listen I'm not going to talk about what happened in the clubhouse but you can understand that you know

we're pushing the guys the most of the best way we can but I would think at some point that he needs to erupt behind closed doors. I don't want to publicly call out players and throw anybody on a bus.

I don't think that works. I think you lose your team that way. But I think there's a way to do it in the clubhouse where the Mets is clear. I love you, but Dog Nubba, you better get yourself going to go a little bit right now or things are going to change around here in the future. Yeah, he's really trying to lay it on thick

that it's not an effort issue. It's not a caring issue. So he just can't do it. which I think the problem he's created there, Steve, or the corner he's backed himself into, is if he does blow up now, I think the first question would be if I'm Keegan Matheson down there is, okay, so who didn't give the effort that led to this?

Yeah. Like now that you've blown up, because last week when they were terrible, like they have been embarrassed the last two nights, like destroyed by Tampa. And he's coming out with the same message, you want me to snap? I'm not going to do it, not an effort thing.

if he does snap tonight, then doesn't he have to give you an answer on who didn't give you the effort? Like if that's his explanation, I'm only going to snap if I don't like the effort, then if he does snap, he's got to explain who didn't give it to him. Right, right. It's not, it's a, you're right about that.

And it would be a fair question to ask him 100%. I think that this is a results-based industry. This is a results-based job. And yes, you know, effort, is critical, but I expect that. Like, if you're not giving me 100%, but at some point, you've got to start making plays. And enough of the

making errors and everything else, I patted you on the back, that part didn't work. I would have to leave open for myself different tools to be able to push buttons on players. And sometimes anger can get them going. And what you do, you may call out

your veterans and say, call them in, Springer and Vladdy, and say, boys, we've got to change something here. So understand you're the leaders. I'm going to tear you up a little bit right now in front of the boys. And I need you to be able to handle it, take it, and use it to inspire everybody else. I think there's a way to do that with your veterans that, because once you do it to them,

it impacts everybody else. Because if you're chewing up on Vlad Garrow and George Springer, then what do you think everybody else is feeling? Like if Snyder's disappointed in those guys, then he's disappointed in me too. And I think players sometimes expect that. I remember some of the best butt-chewings that we ever got from minor league managers that were just unbelievable. Like I've seen them later and I said, man, that speech you gave when I was in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Like I still have goosebumps about that one.

He'll laugh about it. The manager, you know, Sam Pallazzo, longtime Major League coach. He's, oh, my gosh, it was one of the greatest butt-chewings I've ever heard. But I've had every year a manager would give something to somebody flipping over the food table. just to see if it could spark the team to get them going into direction. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't, but you've got to try something. Steve, if you're in the front office or the manager's office and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is on your team. Any star player, face of the franchise is on your team, sub-700 OPS, everything is going wrong.

What do you want to see from them down the stretch? Do you want to see some of that frustration come out? Similarly, what do you look for or want to avoid seeing? Yeah, I don't think players getting overly, like players are so hard on themselves as it is. Like their internal voices, if people could see, you know, like in cartoons, they have the bubble that pops up that shows what you're thinking. If they could actually see what the guys were thinking about themselves, you wouldn't believe how much they're beating themselves up. And so I don't want them to beat himself up more because that to me compounds the problem. It forces you to try harder and trying harder get you into a deeper hole. You start to do too much.

You jump at the pitcher. You're overthrowing. You're overcharging a ball in the outfield and he gets by. It just doesn't work to get on a guy to try harder. And so you've got to try to take the burden off of them. But I think that at some point a nudge here and there, if it's not working with the pat on the back and the hug, then I think a kick in the seat of the pants is okay. And I don't need Vladie to throw.

bat and get frustrated. I don't need him to get thrown out of a game. But I've got to try something for him, to him, so that it can trigger something to get him going. So the Red Sox won again this afternoon. That's 15 wins in a row

for the Boston Red Sox. What is the ceiling for them this season? Yeah, I mean, they've kind of exceeded it right now. I mean, I like them coming into the year and then they were so bad early on. They couldn't hit. And now, honestly, it's when the Scottish soccer fans showed up at Fenway Park.

And I say that. And it's funny, but I actually think there's some truth to it because all of a sudden they started to have fun. You know, they were losing and they were down and they were hanging their head. Nobody was smiling. Then all of a sudden they win some games. They're like, people are going crazy. And like, this is the greatest thing ever. And then it kind of reinforces that fun and the behavior.

And then the more you produce, the more you celebrate each other, the more you stop thinking about yourself, the more you're celebrating, look at the fans, it pulled them right out of their morass and got them going in a different direction. And so I think that what they believe in themselves right now is they're good enough. They're starting pitching is really good. And that's without crochet.

And with Connolly early on the injured list right now, they've got really good starting pitching. They've got a team coming together offensive. When you think about that, they don't have Roman Anthony playing either. I would say Mark Anthony. Congratulations to him and his wife having their second. a child together, his eighth kid.

But I saw that at People Magazine or something. But I mean, you know, Roman Anthony's not doing anything, but this is just a team that's believing in themselves. And I got to believe that Alex Corr is sitting there going, wait, really? Like this team's playing like this right now. And I'm sitting at home. And boy, I wish I could be part of it.

No kidding. Yep, no kidding. It's an incredible run. We'll see what they have in the second game of the double-heder today against Baltimore, Jay's in action tonight. Steve, great catching up. you, buddy. We'll do it soon. Okay, thanks, guys. Have good night.

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