OverDrive - Phillips on Springer's monumental stretch, Bichette's value growing and the bullpen issues

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines from the Blue Jays' series against the Reds, Jose Berrios' future in the rotation, the bullpen issues on the roster, Bo Bichette's contract value growing, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s season as a whole, George Springer's excellent stretch and more.

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Hey, guys, good to talk to you again. Great to talk to you. What a wild ride that was last night. The Barrios conversation, I hate to start with a negative because they won and there was a lot of positive and we will get to it. But when you look at Barrios and where he stands now, for me, clearly the fifth guy in the rotation, if he continues, you know, in this kind of dark place that he's in for the rest of, of September, what kind of role can he have, will he have come playoff time? Yeah, I think that, I mean, he's not going to be on the rotation for the playoffs. And I mean, if it ended right now, I don't see him making the playoff rotation.

And because of that, it's why I keep saying that I think that he could use a change, the bullpen could use a change. I would put lower in the rotation, and I would put Rios in the bullpen. And I would give him the experience of going out. there warming up, start an inning to begin with for the first couple of times, doesn't have to be high leverage, but I think that he's got the kind of fastball that will play up if he only has to go out there and air it out for one inning. And he's got the breaking ball with that sweeper that can be a wipeout pitch that, you know, look, you've got a couple things that

can fix the bullpen right now. One is the change in philosophy. They've got to be more aggressive. They were better yesterday. But you've got to attack, throw strikes, don't walk anybody. Work ahead in the count. If you give up a hit, give up a hit, but you cannot walk anybody because you've got a better chance of putting runners on with a walk and giving up hits if you find hitters in 201 and 3-1 counts. So you've got to throw strike. Then you've got personnel.

And there's nowhere to go now to fill a spot. Now they signed Baraki to a minor league deal after he was let go and they call him up. That's great. He actually is fared pretty well against lefties this year. Righties have torched them. so they've got to find the right run in the lineup to be able to put him into a game so he's not going to get too many right-handed bats. But I think Brioz could be a weapon.

I'd at least want to find out because we've had all year to look at the other guys to know who's part of the solution, who's part of the problem. And I would like to see Brioz get a chance to go out there. Then maybe the change out of the role will get him back to being aggressive and attacking. He'll use two pitches and just try to use the sweeper. in the fastball. But yeah, I think otherwise, you know, he's a non-entity for me, because I don't know that I even start him again the way that he picked. I would run Lauer back into the rotation right now after the clunker yesterday by Burrios. So, Steve, you know, I don't mean to double

down on the negativity considering where the Js are, but as a manager, how concerned would you be about the closers and what's been going on there? Yeah, I mean, listen, they've got the worst bullpen ERA since July 27th, second worst since the All-Star break. They have the second highest walk rate for their bullpen. And, you know, they've blown 23 saves on the year. I think it's eight or nine now for Hoffman. And, you know, the one thing about Hoffman, I give him credit,

like he'll blow a save and he'll come back out the next time. And, you know, he may get into difficulty, but he's gotten a job done. It's just that he's proving that he's resilient too much. right, too many blowing saves to be able to keep showing us he can get the save the next time. And so I'm very concerned about it. I think that now, you know, these guys are all capable. And so, you know, I would do, you know, motivation isn't a big thing in baseball or 162 games.

But there's not 162 games left. And now I think that trying to rally the troops, trying to motivate, trying to get them to run together, to, you know, to become a closer-knit group, to all, you know, hang on each other's pitch. I think you've got to try that now. I think you've got to try the emotional aspect of it because, you know, it doesn't work in a marathon, but it works in a sprint. And you're kind of in the sprint right now. And so I would challenge them to let's see if we can't, you know, get a 70% first strike rate percentage. Let's see if we can't retire hitters on three pitches or less by attacking the zone and get to 70% of the time doing that.

And really, as a unit, make them have a goal that they're trying to accomplish that would lead to the success that you want, but not trying to find the success, but just trying to do one pitch at a time to find success. And so I think they've really got to try to do everything they can from a mental state as well as a physical state to get this bullpen back on. track. Steve, unlike these two, I'll stick with some of the positives, and Bobauchette certainly has been one of those. You know, I expect that out of you. Mr. Positive. I fully expected that.

Mr. Positive. What is his performance, which has been incredible, like, what is that doing for him as far as numbers that's going to be coming up for him and his next deal, and especially, like, what, like, his numbers versus Vladdy's numbers? I'm talking about contract numbers. Like, what is he doing for himself as far as, between him? particular numbers coming up in his next deal. Oh, yeah.

So he's added zeros to the back end of it, and he keeps changing the number at the front of it, you know, where it might have been a $100-plus million deal. I think it's well over a $200-plus million deal, and it's got a chance to be a $300-plus million deal. He's going to play it at, you know, what, 29 next year for the full year. And I think that, I think he turns, maybe it's 28. It turns 28 in March. I think it was March as his birthday.

But, I mean, he's still young. So it's going to add on the years on the back end of the deal. The fact that he stayed healthy all year and the fact that he's gotten better, the fact the power's coming, it's going to be a mega contract. But I still think it's within the range of what the Blue Jays can afford to pay. I do. I think that, you know, this is a large market team. Sure, Blatty's making a lot, but they've got some pitching coming off the books.

and you know you hope maybe treat him in at some point can work his way in your savage can work his way in you've got and so I think there's a way to keep Bichette there and and still do it but you know I think teams are going to look at him as a shortstop teams are going to look at him as a second basement as a third basement so you're going to get a lot of demand for him and it's going to run the price up but you know I think it's it's one that the Js could and should still You just mentioned Vladdy, like, what are you seeing out of him? I just, everyone's got the expectations, and they know he's the face of the franchise,

and he's got the contract, but there's been a few instances the last couple of games where he's doing his full, like, point to God after running out a dribbler and getting the first base, and it's just like, that's not like Otani Soto-like. Like, it's just, it's kind of got a weird look to it, Steve. Yeah, so, I mean, right, when you get the new, or infield hit, that's, you know, I don't know that I'm going to the heavens on that one, but I think that, you know, I think he's in between right now, so I don't really know how healed that hamstring is, right? It's a little unclear. You know, as he playing through

it, is it still bothering him some, but he's caught in that in-between space with his approach at the plate. And when he gets that way, when he strides, his center of gravity drifts towards the middle, as opposed to striding and keeping his weight on his backside to be able to then hunt the bottom of the baseball, rotate, and drive it. And so when he gets to that point where he drift forward and his center of gravity changes, he can still deliver the bat through the zone with great bat speed, but the angle of it changes. And instead of the upper cut swing, it becomes the level to down swing, which means he hits a lot of hard ground balls. And so, and he gets that way when he's not healthy sometimes in the bottom half,

the legs of the foundation of the swing and the kinetic links that start with your feet to your calves, to your quads and hamstrings, to your hips, all are part of delivering the bat to the ball, right? The hips lead the hands, and so the bottom half matters. So if there is something wrong there, it's messing up his ability to drive the ball. But when he's not confident to just stay back and drive it

and not seeing the ball well, he does get to that midpoint where he drifts a little bit, And that's where I see him right now. The good news is that he's due to get out of it and he's due to get hot and he's due to drive the baseball and he was there for a while and I suspect he'll get back there again and it probably happens at just the right time when some of the other guys cool off a little bit. Well, that's exactly at the ebbs and flows of, you know, the other guys picking him up because George Springer is on such a heater right now.

This guy, you know, he's not going to get, you know, high-end MVP votes, but I was reading something out of New York, you know, last week people saying maybe Stanton should get MVP votes. Are you nuts? If he does, Springer should get a million of them with the way he's played this year. I love arbitrary Staten just come out into the lineup? Well, he's been hurt all, but when he's

playing, he's, he's masher. You know, the point is he was picking up, Judge. The point I'm making is that if you're going to find someone not named Judge or not names, you know, O'Tani in the National League, and, you know, it's got to be... Raleigh. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. It's got to be Springer with the way he's performing it. Two more home runs last night. I love arbitrary stats in baseball. They're the best because you can come up with whatever detail you want. But we stumbled across one last night. Opta Stats tweeted this out that over a 45-game stretch, the last 45 games for Springer, he's got 66 hits, 50 runs, 39 RBI, 16 home runs, nine stolen bases. The only other MLB players to reach all of those numbers over a 45-game span in a single season.

are Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Babe Ruth in 1920, Lou Gehrig and 31. I get it's an arbitrary stat. I get it's only a certain amount of time. But Ruth, Gerrig, Springer. That's how good he is. That's how electric he's been.

And with Bo doing what he's doing, if Lattie catches up and they stay at this level, Steve, this is a three-pack that is going to explode. I don't know how opponents are going to stop him with how well they're playing. Yeah, and then here's the thing On either side of that You've got Nathan Lucas

You've got Addison Barker You've got Varsho Who's now homered in back-to-back games And really swinging the bat Well, Varso had 17 home runs And 171 at Bats Crazy One every 10 of bats

He's hit in a home run And that's a huge rate One of the best rates in the game And so, you know, Barso's doing it And you know, Clement will come up with a hit Kirk's come up with some big hits And obviously clearing the bases With the double over the center fielders

had yesterday. And so a lot of, a lot of good things with the offense. And I'm with you, Springer has, you know, and he really made an effort in the off season to change, to change his approach, to change his efficiency with the swing. His bat speed is better. He's driving the ball better. There's less movement. And he's in a place where he just gets the bat to the ball, almost on every swing. And so it's been a remarkable story. And he certainly, you know, know, you know, think about two for me. The other one that I think is remarkable, you got beamed in the head with, what, 95 to 97. Well, on a concussion protocol, and, you know, I always worry about guys coming back from that

where do they flinch, right? They see the breaking ball come, and it's a natural inclination that you give a little bit, that you hesitate just for a second when that ball looks like it's coming at you. He's not missed a beat. Like there's no fear whatsoever in his mind, and he's been on a heater. since he's come off that concussion protocol and he's been a great leader for this team and you know

there's something about when he dives in head first scoring at home plate he gets up and he looks out that roar that it pulls everybody along with him including the 42,000 to 45,000 fans at the stadium. He's been fantastic. It's been a great, great story unbelievable story. Stats are off the charts

and this is what they brought him in for. I just thought it would be three or four years ago as opposed to this year but full credit to Springer. And I guess nights like tonight or why you go out and get Shane Bieber and you're trying to win a series. You've got an off date tomorrow. Then you're at Yankee Stadium, the biggest series of the year. The biggest series in years, I would suggest starting on Friday.

This would be Beaver's third start, you know, since coming back from Tommy John. He's been great through the first two. Any reason to believe we'll see anything but, you know, electric stuff out of Beaver tonight. No, I think he'll be, I think he'll be good. You know, you work in the extra off day, and at least he's, you know, on the sixth day. And so I think that it's always helpful for him coming back just to get the extra day when you can do it. And so, you know, I'm looking for him to go out there and throw strikes. You know, and if he can do that, then, you know, it comes down to, you know, he's got good enough stuff.

So maybe they can hit him. But I don't know that they can as consistent in as many different looks as he can give hitters, where he can throw the fastball with pinpoint control. He can throw the curveball, the knuckle curve, with that 12 to 6 break from top to bottom falling off the table. Then he can throw the sweeper and start it on a plate and break it off the plate. He's got a feel for the change-up as well. And he can throw any pitch at any time in the count to keep hitters off balance, which allows him to go through the lineup into the third time because he's got so many different sequences that he can go to and use all of his pitches in a way to neutralize the hitters.

And so he's a fun guy to watch. If you're, you know, if kids want to learn how to pitch, he's the guy to watch. Great stuff, Steve. Enjoy the games tonight, buddy. We'll do it again soon. All right, terrific. Thanks, guys. Steve Phillips, our TSN Baseball Insider, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline,

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