OverDrive - Schneider on the Blue Jays' roster, managing high expectations and the team in the spotlight

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Toronto Blue Jays Manager John Schneider joined OverDrive to discuss the outlook for the Blue Jays' season, looking forward from the World Series' defeat, the additions and subtractions, managing the high expectations of the team, the pitching roles, Dylan Cease, Kazuma Okamoto in the spotlight, gearing up for the season and more.

With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless. Big meetings land. Business grows. With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. We head there now and catch up with the manager of the Blue Jays. Here's John.

How you doing, John? Fellas, what's going on? How you doing? We're doing very well. Thank you for doing this. That won't feel quick for you getting back to Dunedin or what? Well, I live down here, but yeah, you're kind of blinking. Here it is. You know, everyone's back.

It's been great, though. It really has. It was, you know, productive off-season, but definitely went fast, definitely some different routines for guys after playing in November. But it was awesome to get everyone back here, and so far, so good, and camp. Schneides, tell me this. Coaches worry a lot. You guys, I think the players, we do that to you, but for everybody that thinks,

oh, they went to the World Series and everything is going to be a party and smooth sailing come spring training. Like, what would keep you up at night these days? Please tell me, I'd love to know. Nothing, right? Yeah, I'd be lying. I think really, I don't worry much about this group because they're that level-headed. But I think the things that, I mean, health is always the thing, right? Health is always a thing, no matter how late you play into the season.

and making sure that we're kind of hitting benchmarks for everyone to get ready for the season. That's really the thing. Everyone's going to be a little bit different. Like you guys will see, pitchers will be kind of ramped up at different speeds. That's from the physical part. And then just the mentality part. You know, I told the guy's first full squad workout. It's, you know, hey, we're, yeah, last year was good.

And we have to recognize it. And we have to understand what made us good. But we can't rest on it. You know, you have to, I said, we're not defending the American League East or not defending the American League, you know, we still came up a little bit short. So we're attacking 26 like we did 25 with the goal of winning the World Series. So I think them hearing that, you know, is good, but that's how they're thinking, too, you know, and I want anyone who's new in the room to kind of hear that and not just assume that, you know, hey, everything is smooth

sailing and, you know, let's have a World Series rematch in October of this year. You know, just how we got there was what's important. Well, and you mentioned the, you know, the new guys here, but what about the guys who have left, you know, that have been pillars in that clubhouse, you know, Bow in particular, Basset the last few years, Max was only here for a year, Scher, but he's a massive personality and presence. Those three in particular, among others, but those three in particular, them not in the clubhouse. How does that kind of affect the dynamic? What have you seen early in camp? Yeah, we were looking forward to see how it kind of played out.

It's definitely different, you know, different, right? And I think you bring in, Dylan, you bring in Cody in the rotation. and you have two more pretty unique personalities, and you guys will probably get to know them and see them. They fit right in. And in terms of, Beau, you know, yeah, he was here for a long time and did a lot of great things. And baseball, everyone's going to have relationships with them.

You know, I still talk. I was texting with Chris Bassett yesterday, you know, kind of giving them some crap about when we're going to face them. And you're going to have relationships with guys that you were around for a long time. but I think when new people come in, there's always a little bit of turnover. There's always a little bit of adjusting from people that are here, you know.

It's, I think Vladimir will have a louder voice. I think Kevin Gosman will. I think Dalton Varsha will. You know, that's kind of how it works. You know, it's just, you move on to the next year, and when you're around the same group every single day, these new characters kind of come out, you know, and we've been really kind of paying attention.

We paid attention to that last year, and then it became, you know, part of our DNA, like this amazing clubhouse culture, and you have to kind of let it unfold, you know. You can only say so much, but you have to kind of let guys step up that need to step up or that you would think would step up. And if there's things that myself or the staff have to do to kind of nudge a little bit, we do that. But for the most part, it's been cool to see new faces.

And as good as that team was last year, I'll remember it forever. I think some change can be a good thing and kind of keep people on their toes a little bit. So different, yeah, but I think we've been here for a couple weeks, and I think it kind of just becomes the new norm. So, John, a new season, but you saw another level from some of your players in the playoffs last year. Do you have to adjust your expectation with them? We were talking about it last hour how well Vladdy played in the playoffs compared to in the regular season. you know, do you adjust your expectations for them to start the season,

or do you just kind of, you know, business as usual? That's a good question. I've been asked that quite a bit in the off season, and even when camp starts. I think that at the very least you want to kind of meet the middle a little bit, you know, the experiences that everyone gained, myself included, staff included, they have to make you better. And you have to realize that that is the highest strength.

environment and our sport that we went through and it should make normal things a little bit easier so really just asking the guys and having you know asking ourselves like hey what were you doing in that moment what were you doing in that three four week stretch to where you're just kind of in the zone was it focused was it attention to detail was it um just worrying about winning whatever it was let's let's dive into that let's talk about that so expectations they're going to be raised, but I think when you just expect things to happen, that's where you get in trouble. You know, I think that guys that had these remarkable post seasons between Vladimir, Ernie, Trey, Addison Barger, Alejandro Kirk, it's kind of, okay, you know, Nathan Lucas, it's kind of like,

okay, what did you do in the entire year and even before the year to get to that point? And how can we continue to build upon that? and how can we continue to make strides we're trying to make? But remembering that when you're in those situations, you've already been in the biggest environment this sport has to offer. So let's try to stay in that zone as early and often as we can. That's what I was going to ask you, John. It's like guys like Ernie Kement and Lucas, like they played out of their ass,

and it's like they've got to be convinced or they should be able to convince themselves that, and I don't think they have to be superheroes every day, but they're not just the guy anymore, but they're not just the guy anymore, They just got to find some kind of balance there, if you know what I mean. Yeah, for sure. And again, like, I said it this year and I said it last year where I just want the guys to be who they are and not try to do things that they're not great at. You know, you work at things you need to get better on, but it's the definition of a team.

You know, I still want to out team every other team. I don't want to have one player carry us. I want these guys to understand how we are built, how we function as a team, as 26. both position players and pitchers, you know, it's, you got to play in sync. So for all the recognition, notoriety, you know, and the numbers they put up, I still don't want those guys to try to be anyone or not. I think when guys kind of continue to get better, then it's just, you know, it's just a better version of what they already were, which was already damn good. So it's been a, it's been a constant conversation we've had with the entire group to where this is. how we're built. This is what we're good at, and let's continue to lean into that.

With John Schneider, manager of the Blue Jays, down and Dunedin, again, they get started this weekend back in the spring training action. You know, your rotation is, it was a strength, obviously, at times last year, certainly down the stretch into the playoffs, and in the front office, dumped a lot of money and resources into it. You bring CISN, you bring Pons in. Obviously, Beaver wasn't here this time last year, and I know he's not ready to ramp up, but the hope is that'll be soon. How do you see this, how do you map out your rotation? You know, you said you've been down there for a week or so, week and a half.

You're dealing with some injuries. You still have Burrios who's still here. You know, and we know what happened with him at the end of the year and into the playoffs. But it seems like you've got a lot of options, a lot of right-handed arms. You know, Eric's down there as well. You know, how do you see this plan out? Because clearly the front office, and I'm sure you're aligned with them, feel like it should be a real strength for you guys.

Yeah, I think when, when you kind of look at overall our season, you know, there were times our starting pitching was great, and there were times our offense was great. You know, our defense was always stable. And I think that adding a guy like Dylan and Cody, it kind of just addresses a need for some swing and miss and a need for some durability and consistency. I mean, we talk about, you know, stuff and durability, you know, that's kind of Dylan ceased to a T. And when we acquired him, you know, there's a pretty clear alignment between, there was between us and him

even when we were kind of recruiting him going back and forth that we feel like there's some real potential for him to get even better and to take some big jumps this year even. So that's exciting. You know, you have, you know, the old staple, just Mr. Reliable and Kevin Gosman, who I can't say

enough good things about. He looks great for a guy who's, you know, getting up there a little bit, but just comparing him to his previous spring trainings. I don't know if it was a shorter layoff, but Kev looks great, hasn't missed a beat. And then, you know, hozy, too. I mean, fully healthy, he's looked sharp.

His stuff is back to where it was probably two years ago in terms of velocity and breaking ball. Change is breaking ball a little bit to make it a little bit bigger. So I love the guys are trying to evolve still, too. And then that's before we've been talking about Trey Yassavich, you know. I mean, what he did down the stretch into the postseason and World Series, was remarkable. After him, you have Eric Lauer.

So we're going to try to build these guys all up as starters, obviously. And then Beb's isn't that far behind. You know, Beavs is throwing, feeling good. He's out to like 120 feet. Hopefully in the next, I would say, I don't know, call it week to two weeks. He's getting off the mound and kind of starting his progression. So there's options coming too. That's kind of how we look at it, you know,

but feel really good about the stuff and the profile of everything. one's pitches that they're pretty unique. They're definitely different from night to night and guy to guy. So you can never have enough pitching. We get that. We know that. And there's some young dudes knocking on the door too, man. Ricky Teetam in looks great.

There's some guys that are opening our eyes down here as well. Beautiful. With John Schneider. Are you at all nervous with Okamoto over here that Kegan Matheson has taken the Japanese media under his wing down and Dunedin? They'll be hammered every night. I think

Kings have to take it easy on the sake maybe And as long as he doesn't have to You know Take all the Japanese media to his favorite place Wawa down here You guys don't know about Wawa It's a convenience store Slash grocery store

Kings wears them out But It's a whole new world man I mean there is so many more people there every day Akamoto is Such a perfect fit for us Just like his skill said Yeah you know he makes contact

He can hit home runs He's solid at third base and he's really funny. I think that when you get to really know him, not that we do yet, but being around him every day, man, he fits right in with George, but Vlad Varsh,

he's a character, and I think that there's going to be, you know, some fun to be had with the media that follows him as well. When you get to spring training, is it like natural instinct for you being the skip? Like, do you do a once, I know my hockey coaches,

like they just eyeball you up and down and take a real good piece? at what you were up to in the off season. Is that just like part of the gig where you just get, like you're getting eyes on somebody and just say, I'm going to do it once over here. Is that just natural instinct for you to do that, or do you do that?

Oh, hell yeah. You know, I haven't joined the best shape of your life club yet, but, you know, I think that the amount of times you hear, hey, what's up, great to see you, how's your family good? Oh, man, you look great. Like those lines right there. Like, you hear that all the time. But yeah, man, I mean, we're in touch with these guys and we're keeping tabs on them.

And, you know, especially after, you know, last season, you know, going through the World Series, playing as long as you possibly could, right, game seven of the World Series. We wanted to make sure everyone was getting enough rest but not, you know, getting the late start of the season. So, yeah, you definitely do that. And there's some guys that got after it. You know what I mean? I think it's always that way every single season. And pitchers, hitters, it's just kind of what you do when you see people.

You're kind of saying, all right, were you getting after? Or were you kind of smelling your flowers or whatever they call it? Because we had a pretty good year, you know. But everyone is here in shape and accounted for, so that's been a good thing. This is my last one, and it's kind of a nerdy sports junkie question. But that compound down there is massive. Who in the hell lays out the schedule on what, everybody's doing because there's a million people down there and everybody's doing different things.

Like, who maps that out? Yeah, all right. So I'm going to give some credit where credit's due. So a new staff member this year, Eric Duncan, he's a stud. He was our minor league field coordinator for, I believe, the last two or three years. Former first round picked. It's been a hitting coach in the big leagues before. He does the whole schedule.

So him and Pete lay out the pitching where everyone's going, who's throwing, who's throwing where, how many pitches. And then DeMarlo and Dunk are kind of spearheading where everyone else is going. With Dunk doing the dirty work of kind of getting it on a computer, making sure it's all printed. And then he sends it out the night before to everyone. And then once the day starts,

it's the worst job in baseball. I've done it. Running a spring training, man, it's just everybody needs you. I feel like somebody can kind of feel my pain that I go through the regular season or where everyone needs you as soon as you walk in. Hey, where's this?

What machines on this field? Who can I talk to you about this? It's going to rain. It may not rain. So Eric Duncan nails it, man. He's the brains behind the whole operation. And he's been nails so far. He's going to be an awesome initiative of the staff.

Love it. Love it. Well, we're excited to have you guys back in Dunedin. That means you coming home real soon, which is pretty wild. I know, man. Yeah, we can't wait. It's been, there's – I can sit here and talk for hours to you guys about it. It's just like the feeling we had in Toronto down the stretch.

at the end of the year, man, and how the fan base was embracing us and how we felt it even in the offseason, man. We've had March 23rd circled on our calendars for a while. The day we're flying up there. We can't wait. It's going to be awesome. Well, you've got to get through the spring first, and you guys are obviously off and running this weekend,

but we can't thank you enough for taking time for us and enjoy the spring. We'll catch up before the season starts. All right, fellas. I appreciate it. Thanks. There he is, John Snyder, manager for the Blue Jays. I'm Dylan. Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of

our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is bromance. Bromance is brought to you by Charm Diamond Centers, proudly Canadian-owned and operator. Charm has been part of your love stories and bromances for over 50 years. And you can find Bromance on the IHeartRadio Network or wherever you get your podcast.