OverDrive - Schneider on the Blue Jays' season outlook, Guerrero Jr.'s significant role and the lineup foundation

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Blue Jays Manager John Schneider joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Blue Jays' season, the outlook of the roster for the team, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s contract extension and his role for the group, looking for offensive power with the bat, the views on the foundation of the order and more.

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You guys are tempting me right now, I don't know. I'm actually doing part of that I got my feet up in the hotel watching the Masters and we'll see where the rest of the night goes. It is nice to kind of just kick your feet up and turn the mind off for a little bit. As far as cities to get a day off, where would that rank on your list? Don't radio yourself now. It can't be that high, can it? I would say there's definitely better places to have an off day. It's a great hotel. It's a great hotel, but the weather in Baltimore this time of year is great. So yeah, it's not on the top of my list. Okay.

Yeah, it's a hotel spot and that's all that matters. Like you said, you got a good hotel and you guys are riding pretty high coming out of Fenway. You take three of four and yesterday was a battle. It goes to extra innings. I heard a lot of the guys talking after the game about kind of gritting out games and playing with grit. And those are words we appreciate on the show.

I think you were echoing them as well. I mean, what do you make of your team up to this point? Yeah, I think, well, that's a very accurate way to describe it. It's, you know, it's tough road trip going New York, Boston and Baltimore out of the chute. But I think that's the kind of group that we have, you know, from pitchers to, to our position players, you know, there's been, the starting pitching has been phenomenal and, and the bullpen has been great as

well. And there, there have been really close games, but we're kind of getting contributions from everyone. And I think there's, there is something to be said about, you know, coming to the yard and expecting to win, which is what we're kinda getting contributions from everyone. And I think there's something to be said about coming to the yard and expecting to win, which is what we're thinking right now. And there's a big difference in expecting to win and hoping to win. So there's definitely some different personalities in the clubhouse that kind of amplify that a little bit.

And we talk about it every single day. So it's nice that there's those conversations happening and it's showing on the field too. So it's been kind of a total team effort. John, was it, you know, good news, happy to get the Vladdy stuff out of the way? Was that at all a distraction or was that maybe more distraction when it came to the media and the fans on the outside? But tell us or walk us through the process and happy to get it done. Yeah, definitely happy for him and for us that we got it done. No matter how many times me or him you say I'm worried about just today, it's there,

right? It's there and I think Vlad is a little bit more at ease now that everything is official and completed. So he's a special guy, you know, and I think this is obviously a huge, huge deal for our organization and, you know, historically big contracts. So it's really cool that, you know,

I've been able to kind of see him evolve as a player, both minor leagues, big leagues, and couldn't be happier for him to be rewarded for that. So again, there's a lot of boxes you have to check. It's not just on the field. It's when you're making a commitment to a guy to kind of be the face of your franchise, there's a lot of things that he does that are really important to us in the clubhouse as well. So looking forward to the next couple games here, but definitely for Monday to where we can kind of get him in front of everyone and speak to the fans.

And I know that there was a lot of talk about whether or not it was going to get done. So happy for Vlad. He's thrilled for the organization and for our fan base to have someone to kind of grasp onto for the next 14 years. Schneids, that kind of number is like, doesn't that warrant more than like buying everyone some lunch? Like that's like, you get everybody on a burden go somewhere on a day off west or something, isn't it man? Like, well, yeah, I mean, with the rain out today, you should see the group group the team group chat going on about where's glad they can everyone uh... yet

that uh... half a billion dollars a lot of the other i'm glad he's he's very very thoughtful i will say that he took care of a lot of people uh... from show treatable treated you treat everyone in his own way over time. With John Schneider, you mentioned the behind the scenes stuff. Obviously, that kind of price tag comes with an expectation that you're going to produce.

You've got to be a superstar. You've got to be one of the best players on the field. That's what everyone on the outside can see is what he's going to do in the field, what he's going to do in the batter's box, what kind of numbers he's going to put up over 15 years. But in terms of the maturation of Vladdy and maybe what you've seen the last couple of years and what you think needs to be triggered or needs to possibly continue to mature, is there anything in particular you can point to behind the scenes where you say with this

type of commitment, we need this dad or the other behind the scenes from Vladdy Guerrero Jr.? Yeah, good question. we need this, that or the other behind the scenes from Vladik Guerrero Jr. Yeah, good question. I mean, we obviously think the production is going to be there, right, for the duration of this contract. I think what he's already done in the last couple years is realize how much power his voice has, right, when he's talking to the guys. And I think he's, he doesn't like to be overly vocal but I think he understands that when he talks people listen. With the contract whether you like it or not comes a certain expectation of how we do things, the way things, how do we want them done and he's got to live it.

So I think players feel that as well. When you do get a contract like this I think you feel that as well. You know, when you do get a contract like this, I think you feel a little bit more responsibility to do your part, not just production on the field, but understanding how important you are to the team. And Vladdy has already started to do that behind the scenes. I think that's what gave us, you know, even more confidence to really, you know,

hammer out the extension is because he really, really understands how good he is and he really understands the influence he can have on everyone else in the clubhouse. Well, and the amazing thing about him is, we're living in a modern sports world where a lot of guys take days off, a lot of guys, if they're 90%, they're not gonna go. You had to pull him from the lineup yesterday. Like he plays every single day

and you've been around baseball for a long time. How important is that characteristic? You know in terms of investing in a player knowing yeah he's worth a lot he's already worth a lot of money but he's a baseball freak he wants to play you got to drag him off the field. How significant is that in terms of the leadership you're talking about? Yeah, I love that. He's been durable, he posts every day. I think people kinda forget that about him,

but he posts every single day. And we were talking through when we left New York about getting him a day off. He was doing so much in Boston here with the physical and he was after games going for MRIs and doctor stuff. I mean, he was really doing a lot. So we wanted to get him at least half a game off of his feet throughout that whole process.

But to have a guy that plays every day, I mean, just right in Guerrero every day, for one, it's awesome, it's great. But just to know that you're doing it day know day after day after day you know both the same way these guys never want to come out of the lineup and that's just such a luxury to have and when you're talking about a guy that's gonna be the face of the franchise going forward you know how you how you post and how you compete every single day just is a huge huge part of it the tweets are popping up about how you guys are having success without the long

ball john how do you kind of balance the success you're having and still kind of maybe letting guys know that anytime now maybe step up with the long ballers that something you literally can say anything about it just kind of happen as the happen organically it i mean they've been all right i mean I think the quality of the at bat has been so encouraging up and down the lineup and that's without you know guys who are going to hit homers hitting homers yet so it's we I mean it's if you guys could

have been in Boston in New York and how cold especially Boston it's freezing you know there it's it's hard to hit this time of year and we absolutely know that the power is going to come from the guys that we're expecting it to come from. So not worried about it, but I do like the way we are scoring. And I do like the way that we are trying to manufacture runs and the quality of the bat and beating down starters. So if we keep doing that and then the home runs start coming I think that's when you see you know a little bit more you know you know run scored bigger innings less one run games all that kind of stuff but right now a lot

of it is weather a lot of it is getting into the flow of the season and have all the confidence in the world that these guys are gonna hit the ball of offense. With John Schneider and yeah it is amazing through 14 games Bichette Santander Vlady none of them have hit home runs only three guys on your team have hit a home run I said earlier if you you parlayed Heinemann him and as Springer is the only guys to hit a home run through 14 games You'd have a billion dollars. It's crazy to see yet. It's a reality and again, you're over 500 And you're actually getting production from the cleanup spot, which was a huge discussion last year We talked about it countlessly on this show. We had you on a bunch.

Jiminez has hit their Springer hit a home run in the cleanup spot the other day. And your strategy, can you take us through that? Like you've got you're going, Bo Vlade Santander, you're pretty committed to that. And then you've got a guy who doesn't generally hit for power. George has clearly throughout his career, but he's always let off throughout his career what take us through your strategy in terms of what you want between your four five six hitter because it's somewhat unconventional in terms of like that power bat quote unquote not being there in the four hole every day

yeah um good question and there's a lot of different ways to do it i think the top three you know i think just watching Bo hit over the course of his career and where he kind of landed in spring training, he's in the offense when he's right. You know, having Vlad behind him, I think, I want Vlad up in the first inning and I want Tony up in the first inning, you know. So that I'm pretty committed to where, you know, the three hole comes up with nobody on in two outs, you know, more than any other time in the game in the first inning. And you get a guy who had 44 homers last year,

it's a chance to just, A, give you a quick lead, and B, you know, with the way the games are run these days, it makes the other manager think, okay, do I want my starter to face this guy three, four times? You know, so that's the thinking behind that. With him being the four hole, for one, I just, I love the at bat quality. When we acquired him, you know, we,

meaning the organization, David Popkins, we kind of immediately said, there is way more in this bat. You know, looking back to just a couple years ago when I think he hit 20 homers or 22 homers or something where he, we didn't want him to, we didn't, yeah, you're hitting fourth to a bunch of the hit 30 homers. The quality, the quality of the at bat, he can either hit the ball hard, he can bond, he can run, he can steal a base.

I kind of just liked that there to get a left-handed hitter in there too. And then followed up by either Georgie or Kirky, depending on who we're facing. I love the way Georgie's swinging the bat. He's made some adjustments with Pop as well and has been really, really productive and really, really efficient in his bat. So it's not set in stone.

I love what the bottom of the order is doing too, whether it's Lukey, Road, and Miles, Road and Miles tiny I mean it these guys are they're they're putting together really good at bat So the thinking of it is it's almost like three parts, right? You got Bo Vlad Tony you got him be Georgie and somebody and then you can kind of mix and match at the bottom three and as you turn it back over to the top Whoever's at the bottom to they, they're usually pretty good base runners. So you have some contact skills, some on-base skills, and they can run the bases for when the big boys come back up around.

So that's kind of the way I thought about it when I put it together. And again, it's probably going to change over the course of the year. It always does. But I really like how they kind of play off of one another, and it's really a nine against one attack. Well, and one adjustment you'll have to make is when Dalton Varsho returns. And it sounds as if he's trending in the right direction.

Defensively, your stats have been great, your play has been great. I mean, that must be very encouraging that you got a gold glover who's not even playing for you, and everything has kind of been working in terms of people doing what they're supposed to do. But what's the latest on Varsarsha and how do you see him impacting the way you're going to fill out the uh fill out the lineup card every day? Yeah Varsha I mean for one I think it it gets so overlooked that

in my opinion you have the best outfielder in baseball and you have the best infielder in baseball on your team every day up the middle and him and Ed and Varsha so he's uh he's progressing really well this past week has been his best week throwing. He's believe yesterday through to the bases. He's gotten out to 200 feet in a throwing program and the feedback from him has been really good. Both the consistency and when he's throwing and how he's feeling afterwards. So hopefully by the beginning of next week we get him into some minor league games where he has been playing but just hasn't been making throws. So I think hopefully beginning next week he's kind of full go in the

outfield and then after that get him up to triple-A for however many games we need to get him up there and catch and get them game speed under his belt but mhm hope that not too much longer until we see him and i think when he is here uh... you know he told health plot in somewhere in the middle of the order uh... on basically a nightly basis so

thrilled that he's making progress and uh... excited to be in go to work up the middle of the uh... of the defense of him and I'm excited to see him go to work up the middle of the defense with him and as a bow too. Max Scherzer brought in, we know what he's capable of but obviously, you know, nicked up, you know, how concerning, any updates, all of that type of stuff where, you know, how valuable he can be but obviously not available to you. Yeah, I mean, unfortunate, right?

I think Max, he had a good spring actually a really good spring and yeah i mean talk about just a different maker in the in the club after a hall of fame picture he he rubs off on everybody and uh... they could basically no nonsense which is often non he's continued been growing for about four or five days now he's growing everyday and just kind of ramping back up to where we can get him off a mound so I think the fact that it was only about a week down from throwing will hopefully

expedite that process when he does get on the mound and he's he's obviously very very important to to our team what we're trying to do this year so as soon as we can get him back we we're definitely going to welcome him. Well best of luck with the plans this afternoon. You got some time on your hands. Enjoy Baltimore and we'll catch you back home on Monday. Thank you for doing this. Keep that guys. Good talking with you. Thanks. You got it. There's John Schneider. That just happened with me, Vashi Kapelos, Canada Decides 2025. Stay informed with my exclusive iHeartRadio podcast,

available Friday afternoon, straight through till election day and beyond. I'll have your weekly highlights and my unvarnished analysis of the campaign of a lifetime. The candidates, the quotes, the polls, and the momentum. That just happened with Vashi Kapelos. Canada Decides 2025. Fresh every Friday.

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