Latest / Foul Territory / FT at Blue Jays camp: Manager John Schneider on new adds, Roki recruitment, Vladdy’s contract year

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FT at Blue Jays camp: Manager John Schneider on new adds, Roki recruitment, Vladdy’s contract year · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: He just needs to be aggressive. He needs to be
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: himself in the batter's box. He looks great so far.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We've got Blue Jay Skipper John Schneider with us right
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: now on foul Territory.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Schneid's has camp going for you. So far so good.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Guys are healthy and nice to have some veteran guys
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in here around the group. We already have good personalities
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: we brought into with uh, you know, Tony, Max, Him
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and Az. It's been it's been really good. Can't complain so.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Far today the hardest day, Today's first.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Day is sundowns. So you don't you don't like that?
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Are you the shoulder tapper guy or do you send
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: someone else's shoulder tap.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I've graduated from shoulder tapper guy to just having a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: shoulder tapper guy to come see. So that part is,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you know, it's never easy.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: But have you ever had anyone hide? Because there used
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: to be like I knew when I was it was
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: you'd like go hide. You try to, Like, man, I
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: really have to use the bathroom for like two hours
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: two days.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Yes, whenever they see me kind of wandering around the
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: clubhouses to see if they're here, they get a little squirrel.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but no hiding. No hiding it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Well, there's only like seven million rooms to hide into
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: this complex, so you can you can hide behind the
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: barber chair.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Hid of the float tank. You can do whatever you Yeah, hold.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Your breath, have like a little scarkle.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: It's a float tank, not a drowned tank. They stand.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Do they sit outside? Do you have do you have
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: somebody like they used to because you're still the minor
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: league side. No, they don't sit out in the parking
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: lot and wait for the reaper.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Do you remember those days? Those were brutal. No. We
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: let them get in.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: We let them get in, get settled, and try not
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: to get, you know, too involved in their day. But
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: it's it's a little bit different than what we were
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: playing together here.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Well, hold on, hold on, what do you mean they
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: said you had to sit in the parking lot.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we had minor leagues, you know, years ago, we
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: had coaches waiting in the parking lot. So as you're
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: walking in to start your day, this was not getting
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: reassigned or.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: This is like getting sent home.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: This is you're getting released. So you always kind of knew, damn,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: there's that guy. All right, let me check a different
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: route in or if you followed.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: You, because we used to just have the you walk
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: in like Major League. There wasn't the pink tag really
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: like that actually was a real thing. Ah, easier the
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: pink tag. Well, no, the problem with the pink tag
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: is that everyone walks in and they see the pink
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: tag and they're like, dang, that's my buddy that's getting
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: sent home. He he gone you he had a nice
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: two year run and a ball man.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Yes, since we have no go ahead, tough day, it
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: gets tough for us.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: It goes on yeah oh yeah, you know, because then
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: you're sending down guys that have played for you or
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: really legit had a shot to make the team.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: I don't envy that at all. And you tell everyone,
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: do you have like the standard lines you have to
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: use as a manager, because every manager has the standard line.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: You know, you just got to work on your plate
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: discipline or strike zone judgment. If you're a pitcher, you
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: just need to throw more strikes, control, you know, command
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: more pitches.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Reck There's there's definitely some consistent lines being thrown out,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: but all within what they're working on, you know, So
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I try to say, you know, make the decision hard,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: but don't worry about don't worry about opening day, worry
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: about getting yourself better and if it works out, it
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: works out. So we've got a bunch of good guys
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: here too, so it's always a little bit tough as
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: you go on.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: A lot's changed since you and I were in the
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: old complex. Now it's the new complex. Do you have
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: more communication than I mean, I just I just saw
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: Dick Scott's Dick Scott's bench coach, JP Aerre and Stebee
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: when I was over at Mets camp and like so
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: it's like kind of bringing back a bunch of old memories.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Do you guys communicate more with the players now than say,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: even ten years ago when you were still managing in
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: the bushes?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I mean it's constant, you know, day to day, multiple
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: times a day, and I think as players get older,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: they want to kind of know what's going on the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: ins and outs of every day, so we try to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: keep them as in the loop as we can, and
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: it is that's a big That's one of the, if
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: not the biggest, part of this job is trying to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: be in constant communication with everyone, especially your veteran guys
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: and just really kind of touching base with at least
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a few of them a day. So it is hard
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: here with all of the rooms you can duck into
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: or food room, whatever it is. But we kind of
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: go out of our way to stay in touch with
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: these guys.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, you guys have a sports bar outside, Yeah,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: big screen TVs. I mean it's it's not exactly like
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: you know, some random club. I mean there's a sports
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: bar like right behind us here, which is amazing.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Job.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, all right, you talked about in constant communication. How
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: how I know you talked to the front office all
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: the time? How much communication do you have with who
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: they bring in because you guys made some big additions.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: And then also there's two guys that are potentially free
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: agents at the end of the year. We have to
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: are really so how much how much communication do you
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: go to them and say, you know, you know guys,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: you know Bo and Vladdie, they're just they're just not
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: going to cut it, guys, like we should just let
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: them walk, we should trade them now guys that no, I.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Haven't said that one yet, but a lot, yeah, a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: lot of back and forth off season this time of
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: year in spring training. It's a lot of constant discussions
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: with ross the entire team, the entire baseball ops team.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: It's uh, it's been cool. I think, you know, thicking
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to the off season, we were kind of in on everyone,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: like everyone knows, and I think talking through how that
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: player would fit, that's a big part of it. Whether
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: meeting him on zoom or meeting him in person a
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: big part of it. So it's it's nice that Sorry
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I keep falling out here. It's nice that yeah, right,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: we have that good dialogue.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I think as the more you do this, the more
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: comfortable you are with saying, hey, this isn't going to work.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I don't see how he's gonna fit.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: So it's it's kind of a group effort, and and
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I love the guys we did bring in.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: It's nice. Now you got to tell us because we're
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: always talking about all these meetings. Everybody's having a three
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: hour meeting for the dev you know, all the development stuff.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Oh do I want to sign here because of this
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: guy or that guy? He tell us about the Rokie
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: meeting or meetings. Did you go to wan or did
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: you go to them?
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we did two one out in la at his
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: at his agency and then I think it was about
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: ten days later he came up to Toronto with a
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: big group of people, So it was it was cool.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: You know, it's cool to get to know the person,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: right we know the player, especially in his case, you know,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: well documented what he can do, and in free agency,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: like anything, there's so much that goes into it.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: We obviously if you're going after someone, we think the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: skill set's going to fit, and then you try to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: get to know the person a little bit and how
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: we can help him continue to develop in the big leagues,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: you know, in Rokies case, so it was it was
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: a big effort by a lot of different people. We
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: had players come up and meet him, We had zoom
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: calls going on with a lot of different people in
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the organization, and it was it was pretty in depth,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: you know, it's he came with a big group of
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: people from his camp and it was it was cool
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: to get to know him and how he worked and
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: unfortunately didn't work out, but it was it was three
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: days I think in Toronto after a quick trip out.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: To La Okay. I got asked because now we're talking
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: about Rokie, his teammate who won MVP LS. Were you
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: at the airport when the jet landed with like flowers
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: and chocolates and then you realized it wasn't show a No,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: it wasn't there.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I was so I remember seeing that. I was like,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I think I would know and had a good laugh
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: with all that stuff that was going on in social media.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: But no, I was here for the meeting in indeed.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Okay, because he did, you know, it was a very secretive,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: but we did confirm he was in Dunedin.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah I can I can break that or confirm that
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: right now. But yeah, he came here just with his
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: agent and his dog and uh it was a good
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: few four or five hours and and that was it.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: But was not at the airport waiting for the private
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: jet to land.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Appears that would have been great. But if you were
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: just sitting there and it's like, oh wait, that's not
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: him for someone else. He ran over to the next plane,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Oh he's for you. Uh. We mentioned Vlad earlier and
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: bo obviously agis no vladd put a put kind of
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: a time stamp on when negotiations. When that when that
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: came and went, did you have a conversation, did you
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: sit down with them and say, hey, we still want you.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I still obviously want you and need you, or did
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: you or did you just kind of go and went unset.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've known Gladdie for a long time, so
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: a brief conversation. Like for me, it's the business part
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: is the business part, the baseball part's my part. So
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit different with guys you have relationships with.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: But I think it was a fly by you know, hey,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: how you doing, just checking in really, So he's been
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: great throughout the whole offseason and through the whole process,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: and I think he's he's grown up a lot, even
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: from last year to this year, so understands the business
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: part of it and he's focused on, you know, being
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: here this year with us and winning. So disappointing, yeah,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: for sure, but it's not for lack of effort on
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: both ends, I can tell you that. And we're just
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: looking for a big year at him.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: Can you tell us the just your relationship where it
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: started with Vlad because people don't understand how long you
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: and Vlad have been together, Like it was the foreheaded monster,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: it was Cavin Bizio Boba shit, Vlad Junior and John Schneider,
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: but how much has he changed in that time? But
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: also tell us like when you started working with him
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: and started managing and coaching him.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Met him right when he when he signed.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: He was sixteen, and I think he went and played
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: with our buddy Dennis Holmberg in Bluefield, and you meet
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: him in spring training, you kind of get to know him.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Great guy, obviously, great kid. And it was twenty seventeen
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: where I had him for the first time in the
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Florida State League. Him and Bo came up after the
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Futures game that year, so I think really kind of
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: diving into the work with him that year and watching
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: what they had to go through as teenagers. You know,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: they're getting followed around by cameras and they're doing stories
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: every day. So he's eighteen years old handling all this stuff.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: So that year twenty seventeen, had him in twenty eighteen
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: in Double A with that same group, and then obviously
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen and the big leagues, we've been together
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and I still throw VP to him most days and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to watch him go from okay with Ladd Junior to
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you know, son of a Hall of Famer to where
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: he is now kind of creating his own brand, if
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you will, has been has been awesome wise beyond his years,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: has a ton of fun playing the game, respected not
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: only in this building but around the league. So it's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: been cool to kind of, you know, be there with
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: him throughout the first part of his career.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: He's a free agent at the end of the year
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: and you kind of brought it up, and we've talked
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: about a ton on the show. You guys are in
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: on everybody, right, what does it take to get over
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: the hump with guys? Because you did bring in Jersey running,
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: Centendiari running Hoffman, But what does it take to get
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: over the hump? Is it because I played it? I
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: didn't play in Toronto as a home player as a
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: blue Jay, but I played as a guest and it
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: was always great.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: It's awesome.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: It's a great city, it's fun, there's it's I mean,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: it's just as big as Boston and New orgis whatever,
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: whatever city you want to compare it to. It has
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: everything you could want. So what is it? Is it?
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Just do you think there's a stigma about like, oh,
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: I got to go to Canada because I know guys
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: like Mark Burley is one of my good friends. He
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: played there, he loved playing there. Krats has played there,
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: Krats love playing there. Guys love playing there when they
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: get there, So you just think there's something that's been
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: put out there that man, I don't know about.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: That probably a little bit right, just because you're only
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: team in a different country. That gets discussed when we're
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: on zoom calls are meeting with people. But I think
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the fit just has to be right. You know, the
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: fit has to be right from a team perspective and
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a personal perspective. When you hit free agency, you know
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: that the players driving the bus right. So where's spring
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: training in relation to home? What is my family going
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to be like up in Toronto? What obstacles may they
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: have if any? And I think going back to when
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: guys do get there, they realize, I mean, the team
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: we assembled there for players families is unmatched.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I heard you guys have like the kids have, like
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: their own clubhouse, but like slides and story lottery bar and.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: I call it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: It's it's the best in baseball. So once players get there,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I think they go, Okay, this is great. There's probably
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: a little bit of an opinion beforehand, but the city
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: itself the fan base itself.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I'm going to get this. I'm gonna figure it out.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: Yours are too fast.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: The fan base, the city, it's it's amazing. So having
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: guys like Passing Gosmin Hosey both kind of bespokespirst people
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: for that for the city has been cool. But I
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: think the player has to fit and the person has
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: to fit to.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: Wait, there's a two. There's a They upgraded the kids room.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: It used to be an absolute cave. Oh, totally upgraded.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: We're talking two stories, slide ball pit, video games, cubbies,
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: full kitchen.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: So they other like every kid had their own locker
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: with col.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's they go above and beyond. So
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: we do have a lot of kids on our team.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: A lot of guys have have young children, so we
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: kind of leaned into it a little bit with the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: with the resources that we can provide. So it's I
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: mean it's awesome. I have two kids, eight year old
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: and a six year old boy, and they you know,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: they fit right in. So it's it's a pretty cool environment.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: We talked about the one, the one two headed monster
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: of the kids. What about Bo? What does Bo need
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: to do to bounce back. What is the what is
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: the what's his goal obviously, but also what's the organization's
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: like view of, like, Hey, you need to do this
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: for or get back to doing this.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I really Bo's gonna have a Bo's gonna have a
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: big year. I think I don't want to put pressure
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: on him, and he doesn't really feel that kind of pressure,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: but he just needs to be aggressive. He needs to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: be himself in the batter's box. He looks great so far.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I think his goals are to, you know, just help
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: us win, right so as he goes kind of we
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: go to but he looks like himself. He's had such
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: a successful track record, you know, with a hiccup last year,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you feel really confident that he's gonna pick up where
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: he has been really his whole career. So battled injuries
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: last year and battled some things with his swing. He's
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: hit it off with hitting coach David Hopkins, and and
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: he looks.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Great right now.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: So he's he's obviously a big part of it, right
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the defense and right at the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: top of the order in some way, shape or form.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: So I'm just excited for him to kind of get
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: back to playing free and playing aggressive?
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: How do you guys win the Oh? Sorry, how do
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: you guys win the East? I mean, listen, it's it's
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: obviously the Yankees Orioles, you guys, the Red Sox man improvements,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: the Rays of the Rays. They just somehow, no matter
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: what happens, the Rays figured out. How do you guys
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: win the Ese? Because if you look at your team,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: you're like, they have a shot, sure because you're pitching,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: because your lineup if everyone is right, So how do
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: you do it? What? What's the key for you guys
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: this year? What's the let's say, two things that have
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: to happen for you guys to go where you want
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: to go.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: It's health first and foremost obviously, and it's winning in margins.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: It's the marginal games that how can we make a difference?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: So every every team is projected to win x amount
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: of games, right, the goal is to always outperform that.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: So how do we do that? What are things that
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: we didn't do last year? Whether it was base running,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: situational hitting, whatever it may be. The talent is definitely here,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: and it's uh, you can kind of predict probably some
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: close games. We have a really good pitching staff, and
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: we have a really good bullpen that's been totally remade.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: So game we're going to have a shot every single night.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: So it's how do you execute in the highest leverage
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: spot of the game. How can I get the best
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: guys in those situations consistently, whether it's lineup construction or
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: bullpen deployment, And you got to win some you gotta
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you gotta make some plays, and you have to make
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: some really really high baseball IQ plays that go unnoticed
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: at times.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: One of the guys that makes a lot of high
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: baseball IQ plays is Dalton Varshow you're not going to
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: have him for how long do you know? And how's
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: that recovery going? Because you guys are built on that
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: defense and that's gold.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, I mean obviously I think best outfield or
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: best defensive outfielder in baseball and best defensive infielder in
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: baseball with himI so Varsh, I'm not putting a timetable
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: on it. You know, he's been ahead of schedule since
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: about November and he's kind of chomping at the bit.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: He's DH two game, just hit two homers, But we
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: want the whole you know, his whole game there. You know,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: he's a difference maker on the basis obviously in center field.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: So we'll see. We're taking it in like three or
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: four day buckets, and if he keeps checking things off
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the list, great. If if it's April tenth, great, you know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: we want him to be healthy throughout the entire season.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And it's a it's a significant procedure he's coming off of.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: So he was here all Winner basically not all winter,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: but he checked in a lot down here to try
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: to speed this thing up, and he's he's nailed it
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: so far. So he's about one hundred and twenty feet throwing.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: He's done that for a few days and hopefully in
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the next week or so, he's thrown to the bases.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: See how that goes. And we're really kind of just
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: playing it by year. But so far, knock on what
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: it's been really good.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Okay, is Jeff Hoffman your closer?
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Okay, perfect. That's all we just had to ask because
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: because you know, yeah, he's not so I like.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: I like having roles in today's game. You know, some
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: nights will be different. Yeah, sure, if it's well.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: If it's just fourthday in a row, you might say
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: trying try yimmy or got yimmy.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: We got Chad. You know, those guys can do that too.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: But I think if it's and we talked about this,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: you know after he signed, if it's you know, your
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: face of New York and you see you know, Judge
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and Stanton coming up in the eighth inning, it's like, hey,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: how have you got this? You got this tonight and
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: we can kind of backfill the ninth accordingly with other guys.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: Okay, yesterday's game, something funny happened to the beginning of
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: the game. First pitch. Obviously, Trey Turner did this on
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: purpose to Max. Why does Max hate the abs so much?
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Oh boy, how much time do we have?
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, I mean that pitch is pretty much right
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: down the middle.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: So yeah, come to find out, Trey, I mean, this
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: was planned obviously, so Brendon Miller, the pump umpire, you
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: told us after the half inning. It was discussed at
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: the plate meeting. You know, Trey's going to challenge the
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: first pitch no matter what. I'm surprised Max didn't Chuck
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: went behind him and then challenge that or something, you know,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: knowing him and Trey's relationship. But Max is, uh, he
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: likes things in a very particular way, is the best
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: way to say it. And he has his opinions about
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of stuff in the game, and rightfully so
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: he's most likely a Hall of Famer.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: So most likely he's a fam I mean there's no
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: most likely. Yeah, he quits today. He trust me, he's
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: getting in, so.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: He's that was funny yesterday, and it kinda it kind
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: of sums up him.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: I think in a nutshell, did you give him a
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: high five? No, not even after that, because at that point,
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: like after that first inning, you know, everyone was chuckling.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: You should that would have been your shot.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I don't know's I'm working through that. I'm
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: working through the high five. But he was.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I mean he kind of got locked up by trade
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: doing that. You know, he thought Tredy was gonna swing
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: first pitch and try to pick him deep. So you
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: don't really see Max laughing on the mound too much.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Spring training a little bit different, but yes, it was
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: pretty fun.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: I mean it looked It's one of those moments where
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: you look back and what makes playing so much fun? Right?
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: And then spring training because you can kind of do
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: things you would never get away with. So I just
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: thought I just thought that it was hilarious, especially for
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Tray some when he knows and played with they won
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: a World Series together.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Long was over there and the dug.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: Egging it on.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: I'm sure it was good.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: How long did it take you to learn that Max
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: doesn't do high fives? Does he come in when he
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: signed here? Is he sent a text like, no high
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: fives start days. Don't talk to me on start days.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: We've heard all of the stories about his start days.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: It's obviously different in spring training, right, I'm waiting for
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: that switch to flip March twenty seventh, whatever it is,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: or whenever he slotted to pitch. We've heard about kind
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: of his hour to hour, minute by minute routine, But no,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: he didn't. I didn't know about the high five stills
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: first outing, and you kind of learned something new from
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: him every day. He usually wanders into my office for
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: anywhere from five to twenty five minutes every single day
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: and we kind of just go at it. So you
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: learn something new with him every day.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: For sure is here. So it's kind of nice to
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: have a Hall of Famer as your fifth starter, right,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you go Gosman Burrios, pass it Francis. Yeah,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I mean as your fifth starter. I mean he's pretty good.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: I'll take it every day. But he looked, he looks great.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I mean we and Pete and I are excited about
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: where he is physically and what he's brought to the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: guys in the clubhouse has been phenomenal.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Se Kratz wants to know if you just broke the
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: max is your opening day starter? I him, and I
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: just called him and I just called him your fifth starter.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: So I don't know. It's hard to go, Krats. It's
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: hard to go from opening day to fifth starter. Yeah, cool,
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I don't care where I pitch. Yeah, he's like, just
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I want to pitch. So it's if it's opening day grade,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: if it's if it's a fifth starter grade. He doesn't
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: really care. But we gotta start leting him up here
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: soon with how it's gonna look.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Got it? Well, thank you very much, Nights. I know, Crats,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: this may cratses a year. Maybe I don't know, month, year,
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: I don't know. But you know what the best part
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: is not one point did he say that you were
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: his first roommate so I'm gonna say it for him,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: Eric Kratz's first professional roommate. Here he is. Congratulations, good
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: luck to the Jays this year.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: Was it? Let's go Blue Jays play play.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: A few times? Okay, that's nice.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: I've seen it a couple of times.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Thanks.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks guys, good perfect, same trips.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you man, Thanks, Snead's appreciate it.