Latest / Foul Territory / Blue Jays manager John Schneider on Bo’s bounce back, Recruiting Roki, Boston ditching Devers

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider on Bo’s bounce back, Recruiting Roki, Boston ditching Devers · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: People forget how young Lad is. You know, he's twenty
0:02
Speaker 1: six years old and I think his best years are
0:04
Speaker 1: probably a handful of years ahead of him, when he
0:07
Speaker 1: has stuff really really ironed out.
0:14
Speaker 2: John Schneider, manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, joining us
0:16
Speaker 2: right now in foul Territory. Ahead, give him some love too,
0:19
Speaker 2: because we hit, we hit timing. I know they've they
0:22
Speaker 2: fell in one, but they've been they've been rolling right now.
0:25
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, my guy. Of course I text him all
0:28
Speaker 3: year and when they're struggle busts, a little bit of
0:30
Speaker 3: Schneids is like, no, no, I'm not coming on now.
0:32
Speaker 3: They're hot and all of a sudden, don't strike your head,
0:35
Speaker 3: don't shake your head.
0:36
Speaker 4: Right, I don't know about I don't know about all year.
0:38
Speaker 1: Okay wants me. Hey, you guys are playing pretty well.
0:41
Speaker 1: What about I got three options, you know, three different
0:44
Speaker 1: days of the week.
0:45
Speaker 4: But happy to be here.
0:47
Speaker 3: Yeah great, Yeah, there's so much. There's so much South
0:50
Speaker 3: Jersey Philly love right here. Todd doesn't Tod doesn't appreciate
0:54
Speaker 3: where he's from, but I know you do.
0:56
Speaker 1: Come on, yeah, absolutely, I can never forget that. Just
0:58
Speaker 1: in Philly last week. So I'll the family, you brothers.
1:04
Speaker 3: Did you did you coach? Did you manage for free
1:06
Speaker 3: because of all the tickets that you had to give
1:09
Speaker 3: up for the boys?
1:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, three h three days definitely for free in Philly,
1:15
Speaker 1: but well worth it for sure.
1:17
Speaker 2: So what do you got for us? What's changing? I
1:19
Speaker 2: know you get that question a million times when you're
1:21
Speaker 2: on a nice little few week run here. What are
1:23
Speaker 2: you seeing?
1:25
Speaker 4: Man?
1:25
Speaker 1: I think we're we're swinging the bats well, and I
1:27
Speaker 1: think the biggest thing really, I mean offensively as a whole.
1:32
Speaker 1: You know, we've we've been getting kind of up and
1:34
Speaker 1: down the line up, bottom of the order, middle of
1:36
Speaker 1: the order, top of the order, kind of at different times.
1:39
Speaker 1: And you know, bow Ladd Kerki, they've they've kind of
1:44
Speaker 1: started Addison Barger, you know, being a huge, huge impact
1:48
Speaker 1: bat for us right now. They kind of started to
1:51
Speaker 1: get it going at the same time. So it's been
1:54
Speaker 1: something that we tried to address in the off season,
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Speaker 1: both personnel staff. Getting David Popkins in here from Minnesota
2:01
Speaker 1: has been really good for a lot of our guys,
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Speaker 1: and I think the offense is kind of figuring out
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Speaker 1: what they can do. And beyond that, man, it's a
2:09
Speaker 1: pretty tight group you know, they never feel like they're
2:11
Speaker 1: out of a game. We've come back quite a bit.
2:13
Speaker 1: We've won some close games lately, and we've seemed like
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Speaker 1: we were losing them early in the year. But I
2:19
Speaker 1: look at the offense really that's kind of stepped up
2:22
Speaker 1: and kind of coming together collectively.
2:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I want to talk about one guy, George Springer.
2:27
Speaker 5: You know, a little bit of a setback last year,
2:29
Speaker 5: and he's come on strong. A veteran guy to stay
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Speaker 5: hot and get hot. I mean that can only boastball
2:34
Speaker 5: for you guys. Talk a little bit about him and
2:36
Speaker 5: his presence and him doing so well.
2:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, Georgie got off to such a good start this year,
2:41
Speaker 1: and you know, he's maintaining it. He's one of the
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Speaker 1: one of the many guys that have kind of hit
2:45
Speaker 1: it off of pop in terms of what he's trying
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Speaker 1: to do every single at bat. I think just having
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Speaker 1: Georgie man, it's he's at the point in his career obviously,
2:54
Speaker 1: he's done basically everything World Series, World Series, MVP, big contract.
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Speaker 4: And he's all about win.
3:00
Speaker 1: You know, we give him a lot a lot of
3:01
Speaker 1: flak for you know, DH and quite a bit because
3:03
Speaker 1: he's older, but he's been steady, he's you know, the
3:07
Speaker 1: production has been consistent, is it bats?
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Speaker 4: His base running has been consistent.
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Speaker 1: So I think having him kind of be back to
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Speaker 1: himself a little bit has been a huge, huge plus
3:16
Speaker 1: for us.
3:17
Speaker 3: My question was going to be somebody that you already
3:20
Speaker 3: kind of hit on a little bit. With Bo getting hot,
3:22
Speaker 3: are you seeing anything different in the sense of confidence,
3:26
Speaker 3: in the sense of like motivation, Like I'm a free
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Speaker 3: agent after this year, whether I stay at Blue Jay
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Speaker 3: or not. Is there something different that you're seeing him?
3:35
Speaker 3: Because when I watched at bats, is that bats with
3:36
Speaker 3: runs the scoring position have been elite and pro and
3:40
Speaker 3: I didn't I saw a lot of rollovers last year.
3:42
Speaker 3: I saw a lot of fly balls to left. Now
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Speaker 3: I'm seeing him stay inside the ball and recently balls
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Speaker 3: starting to go out of the ballpark. So is there
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Speaker 3: something like that we're not seeing that, like is motivating him.
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Speaker 1: I think he's, you know, last year first time ever
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Speaker 1: I think in Bo's life where he just you know,
3:59
Speaker 1: wasn't didn't perform close to his expectations for himself, you know,
4:02
Speaker 1: and injuries, trying to find his swing, all sorts of
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Speaker 1: stuff going on last year and it's really kind of
4:11
Speaker 1: him getting back to himself.
4:12
Speaker 4: You know.
4:12
Speaker 1: That sounds so easy, you know, and so funny, But
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Speaker 1: when Bo's taking aggressive swings, he's really good and he's
4:19
Speaker 1: hit the ball extremely hard all year. You look at
4:21
Speaker 1: from opening day to now, man, he's he's squaring the
4:24
Speaker 1: ball up. They're starting to go over the fence, like
4:26
Speaker 1: you said, but with runners and scoring position, it's it's
4:28
Speaker 1: interesting you say that. I mean, the numbers are what
4:30
Speaker 1: they are, obviously, but he's it's almost like he's on
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Speaker 1: the attack a little bit more when he's trying to
4:35
Speaker 1: get runners in and if he can just have that
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Speaker 1: mindset every single at bat, he's as dangerous as anyone.
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Speaker 1: But in terms of motivating I think he's I've known
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Speaker 1: him for about ten years now, through the minor leagues
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Speaker 1: and into the big leagues. He doesn't need anyone other
4:50
Speaker 1: than himself to motivate him. You know, he wants to
4:52
Speaker 1: be great, and I think last year was a total
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Speaker 1: outlier for him, and when you look at the course
4:57
Speaker 1: of his career offensively, so he's u he's kind of
5:00
Speaker 1: back to himself, and you know, he has a really
5:03
Speaker 1: really big desire to win, and I think when you
5:06
Speaker 1: look at it, you know, yeah, he's going to be
5:08
Speaker 1: a free agent. You know, he's expressed his thoughts about
5:11
Speaker 1: staying here. You know that part of it is kind
5:12
Speaker 1: of out of our hands from business side. But he
5:16
Speaker 1: really really wants to win, and I think that he's
5:18
Speaker 1: really enjoying doing it with this group.
5:22
Speaker 3: I was going to hit that you said, you said
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Speaker 3: he's dealing with other stuff. Last year. You've known him
5:26
Speaker 3: like this is like this is like your your little son,
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Speaker 3: your little brother, like you coached him when you guys,
5:31
Speaker 3: I mean double A, you guys were winning championships together.
5:35
Speaker 3: Did you see the looming pressure and talk about, well,
5:40
Speaker 3: you know what the team might extend Vladdie, not so much.
5:44
Speaker 3: Bo was Was there anything that you ever had to
5:47
Speaker 3: talk to him about last year, like deal with what
5:49
Speaker 3: or control what you can control during the season last
5:53
Speaker 3: year because you know him so well.
5:56
Speaker 1: No, I mean he gets it, you know what I mean.
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Speaker 1: He understands how the whole thing works. And I think
5:59
Speaker 1: that comes from being around the game forever and kind
6:01
Speaker 1: of going through it himself, you know. So it's the
6:04
Speaker 1: whole talk this offseason and in the spring the season,
6:07
Speaker 1: you know, all about Vlad and you know, rightfully, so
6:10
Speaker 1: after the year he came off of and kind of
6:12
Speaker 1: what he means to this organization. But Bo gets it.
6:15
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't have to talk to him at all.
6:17
Speaker 1: I think last year, you know, you just we were
6:20
Speaker 1: talking about him kind of just controlling what he can control.
6:23
Speaker 4: Really.
6:23
Speaker 1: You know, it was a it was a down year
6:25
Speaker 1: for us, and you know, we had some young kids
6:27
Speaker 1: come up, and you know, I think that was hard
6:29
Speaker 1: for everyone that was here, you know, until kind of
6:32
Speaker 1: the deadline and then you have your roster flips a
6:33
Speaker 1: little bit. But he he doesn't need I don't think
6:37
Speaker 1: much advice or motivation in terms of where he is
6:41
Speaker 1: in his career. He just kind of understands how the
6:44
Speaker 1: business works and and just wants to win. I think
6:47
Speaker 1: what he's done really this year thinking about it is
6:49
Speaker 1: just just putting winning in the forefront. You know, we've
6:51
Speaker 1: asked a lot of him over the over the years
6:53
Speaker 1: here in terms of leadership, and you know, you kind
6:57
Speaker 1: of get burst onto the scene with some of these
6:59
Speaker 1: other guys here, and you're kind of just forcing into
7:01
Speaker 1: the spotlight. So I think kind of just worrying about
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Speaker 1: him and not worrying about taking care of everyone else.
7:07
Speaker 1: He still does that on his own, you know, quietly,
7:09
Speaker 1: or you know, with a little bit of a voice
7:12
Speaker 1: if he needs to. But I think just worrying about
7:14
Speaker 1: what's important. You know that night to win is really
7:16
Speaker 1: kind of freedom up too.
7:19
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7:23
Speaker 2: and I opened up a slab pack. I pulled a
7:26
Speaker 2: Wyatt Langford Auto rookie card. I got an immediate offer
7:30
Speaker 2: from Arena Club. I turned it down. It was in
7:33
Speaker 2: the mid three hundredths range. I've gotten a few offers since.
7:36
Speaker 2: Thoughts on white should I hold on?
7:39
Speaker 3: I saw it? I didn't see it when you rip
7:41
Speaker 3: the pack, but it looks so sick with everything around
7:44
Speaker 3: and how it's spinning in your showroom. That John looked nice.
7:49
Speaker 3: But no, you shouldn't sell it. Maybe wait till he
7:51
Speaker 3: makes an all start or two, and all of a
7:54
Speaker 3: sudden that three hundred goes up and you're going to
7:56
Speaker 3: get another instant offer right away on Arena Club.
7:59
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8:02
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8:05
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8:08
Speaker 2: I'm going to do with it. But if I did
8:09
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8:13
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8:16
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8:18
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8:20
Speaker 3: I know your answer is probably gonna be, Oh, it's
8:22
Speaker 3: just the same guy. It's just the same old Vlad.
8:25
Speaker 3: When Vlad signed the it's his extension? Was there a
8:29
Speaker 3: little bit? Because you know Vlad too, like you've you've
8:32
Speaker 3: been you've been coaching your face off with all these
8:35
Speaker 3: young guys, and you're just riding on their coach I
8:37
Speaker 3: mean you now you're managing them. But it's like, yeah,
8:40
Speaker 3: you've been riding their coat tails. I get it. But hey,
8:42
Speaker 3: you know Cavin Bizio, he lefts but you're not riding
8:44
Speaker 3: his coattails anymore. But anyway, how how different is it
8:48
Speaker 3: for Vlad on that day when he signed, when it
8:51
Speaker 3: was when it was finally released, was there some kind
8:55
Speaker 3: of change in the sense of like relief. Was there
8:59
Speaker 3: like a like motivation to say, you know what this
9:03
Speaker 3: is on the franchise? Face now?
9:06
Speaker 1: It was pretty cool, he kind of he let me know,
9:09
Speaker 1: but I think we were in New York earlier in
9:11
Speaker 1: the year when it kind of tentatively got agreed to
9:13
Speaker 1: before it was you know, news broken and all that
9:15
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, and he kind of came in told
9:16
Speaker 1: me quietly before game, gave him a hug, gave me
9:20
Speaker 1: a hug, told him I was happy for him and
9:21
Speaker 1: his family. The press conference day was cool. You know,
9:25
Speaker 1: he's up there in his pink suit. You know, he's
9:27
Speaker 1: got the family. You get, you get Edward Rogers out there.
9:30
Speaker 1: You don't get Edward out there very often. So yeah,
9:33
Speaker 1: it's different, right, It's it's half a billion dollars over fourteen.
9:36
Speaker 1: It's it's definitely different. And he's, you know, ready for that.
9:41
Speaker 1: You know, I think part of the decision to extend
9:43
Speaker 1: the guy is not just what he does on the field,
9:45
Speaker 1: but what he's going to mean for this franchise and
9:47
Speaker 1: what he's going to mean when people think about the
9:50
Speaker 1: Toronto Blue Jays. So he's ready for that. We've we've
9:53
Speaker 1: had some some quiet discussions. It's been cool to have
9:55
Speaker 1: older guys here too, like Max Schureser, you know, being
10:00
Speaker 1: through it kind of be you know, Max has kind
10:01
Speaker 1: of been the standard and pitching for a while. We've
10:04
Speaker 1: had some cool conversations, the three of us about the
10:07
Speaker 1: expectations that come with this contract and just how you're
10:10
Speaker 1: going to be viewed, you know, not just what you're
10:12
Speaker 1: doing in the batter's box, but how you're being viewed
10:15
Speaker 1: on the bases, how you're being viewed in the media,
10:17
Speaker 1: how you're being viewed on defense. You know, so people
10:20
Speaker 1: forget how young Glad is. You know, he's twenty six
10:22
Speaker 1: years old, and I think that there's his best years
10:26
Speaker 1: are ahead of him. If that's I mean, it sounds
10:28
Speaker 1: kind of crazy, but I think his best years are
10:30
Speaker 1: probably a handful of years ahead of him when he
10:32
Speaker 1: has stuff really really ironed out. He is the same guy,
10:37
Speaker 1: I mean, it is. It is an easy answer. He
10:40
Speaker 1: understands that the expectations and the spotlight are going to
10:42
Speaker 1: be a little bit different. One of the things many
10:46
Speaker 1: things I love about VLab though, is he just comes
10:48
Speaker 1: to the park every day, smile on his face, and
10:50
Speaker 1: he's and he's ready to roll. So a little bit different,
10:54
Speaker 1: but yeah, token answer, he's He's basically the same dude.
10:59
Speaker 5: I don't want to you brought up Max. Sure's are
11:01
Speaker 5: a little bit eight batters he's face over four and
11:03
Speaker 5: a half innings or four and a third excuse me,
11:06
Speaker 5: struck out eight Excuse me again. When you see this
11:09
Speaker 5: guy coming back, is he ready to rock?
11:12
Speaker 1: I hope, man, it's it's been such a weird thing
11:15
Speaker 1: with him. I know he's had a fun issue in
11:17
Speaker 1: the past. It seems like we're kind of at the
11:20
Speaker 1: point where he's going to be back helping us. You know,
11:23
Speaker 1: I think we're taking a lot of stock not just
11:24
Speaker 1: in his outings, but how he's feeling the days after,
11:28
Speaker 1: you know, so schedule to throw a pen this weekend
11:31
Speaker 1: here with us, and then if he if he's feeling
11:34
Speaker 1: up to it, if he's recovering, well, yeah, he could
11:38
Speaker 1: be back in our rotation in Cleveland. And if it's
11:41
Speaker 1: one more in Buffalo, great, If it's you know, maybe
11:44
Speaker 1: not exactly on regular rest in Cleveland.
11:46
Speaker 4: If it's a couple more days, okay.
11:49
Speaker 1: But I think we're getting to the point to where
11:50
Speaker 1: we're looking forward.
11:52
Speaker 4: To seeing him pretty soon.
11:53
Speaker 1: And talk about a guy that's just you know, no nonsense,
11:57
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I'm still waiting for the
11:59
Speaker 1: first time I have to go take him out of
12:00
Speaker 1: a game, you know, in like the sixth inning or something,
12:03
Speaker 1: and he's gonna, you know, rip my head off. I'm
12:04
Speaker 1: still waiting for it, but I'm looking forward to it.
12:08
Speaker 1: You know, he's he still loves the game.
12:11
Speaker 4: I mean, he's in here.
12:12
Speaker 1: He comes into my office about half hour each day
12:14
Speaker 1: just kind of fucking shop about. You never know what,
12:17
Speaker 1: you know, so you're always kind of prepared for him,
12:20
Speaker 1: whether it's posing hitters, defensive positioning rules, this, and I mean,
12:24
Speaker 1: he's he's always on, you know what I mean. So
12:26
Speaker 1: to get him back is going to be huge shot
12:29
Speaker 1: in the arm for us. We've been we've been covering
12:31
Speaker 1: some innings with our rotation. Guys have stepped up, you know,
12:34
Speaker 1: some depth guys and some bullpen guys. So to get
12:37
Speaker 1: him back would be huge. Man, He's obviously Hall of
12:39
Speaker 1: Famer and looking forward to you know, him wanting to
12:44
Speaker 1: strangle me the first time I take him out.
12:46
Speaker 3: I love that. Send Send Kirk out, Send Kirk out
12:48
Speaker 3: for the team for the Mountain visit.
12:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna send Pete. Pete's gonna make all the
12:53
Speaker 1: pitching changes with Max out there. I told him, just like, hey, man,
12:57
Speaker 1: you know I'm not I'm not looking to get you know,
12:59
Speaker 1: some some bad press in some mountain business. I've been there,
13:01
Speaker 1: done that, so uh, you know, sent Pete out there.
13:06
Speaker 3: It's that's that's the play. I remember. I remember Doc,
13:09
Speaker 3: I remember Roy Holliday, Charlie Manuel, Charlie. Manu will be like, hey, yeah,
13:13
Speaker 3: go talk to him.
13:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's over.
13:17
Speaker 3: Cho Chouch looks over. He goes, you go talk to him.
13:21
Speaker 3: Nobody's going. Nobody's going out to the mountain and talk
13:23
Speaker 3: to Roy Holliday. He's pissed, he's spitting, snorting, he's sweating.
13:27
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's the same thing with Max.
13:29
Speaker 1: It's gonna be yeah, and spring training totally different animal.
13:32
Speaker 1: It's all I've had him so far, minus the three
13:34
Speaker 1: innings here first weekend.
13:35
Speaker 4: But I'm looking forward to him.
13:37
Speaker 3: Man.
13:37
Speaker 4: It's funny, he says. He's like, I'm the easiest guy
13:39
Speaker 4: to manage.
13:40
Speaker 3: Man.
13:40
Speaker 4: I always tell you what I got before the game.
13:42
Speaker 1: And you know, if I got one hundred and ten
13:43
Speaker 1: that game, great, If I got eighty five of that game, great,
13:46
Speaker 1: I'll let you know. And you know, we've just seen
13:48
Speaker 1: him be so fiery, so I'm just hopefully, you know,
13:51
Speaker 1: just looking forward to him getting back and and he
13:54
Speaker 1: just brings an edge about you too.
13:55
Speaker 4: You know what I mean.
13:56
Speaker 1: It's you know how it is Fraser crassy when you're
13:59
Speaker 1: no matter how the guy is, you're you're saying, Okay,
14:01
Speaker 1: we're facing Max sures of to night. It's, you know,
14:03
Speaker 1: kind of a hard had day for the opposing team,
14:05
Speaker 1: and you know what you're getting. So I'm just I'm
14:08
Speaker 1: glad he's making progress and hopefully he can he.
14:10
Speaker 4: Can be back soon.
14:12
Speaker 3: This is why you came on the show today because
14:14
Speaker 3: Max is doing rehab, so he's not there to bother you.
14:17
Speaker 3: I was just Todd was doing the gaming with for
14:20
Speaker 3: the Yankees, and Cole came up into the booth and
14:23
Speaker 3: I'm sure the dog, thank thank god Cole's out of
14:28
Speaker 3: the dugout. I'm sure there's times where they're like, You're like,
14:31
Speaker 3: thank god Max is on rehab down in Buffalo. I
14:33
Speaker 3: know he doesn't need to bother me during the day.
14:37
Speaker 4: He did he did one of that with us too.
14:39
Speaker 1: I think we were in Anaheim and he went up
14:40
Speaker 1: and did it in the booth with with Bassett on
14:42
Speaker 1: the mound. You know they're tight, so I think he
14:44
Speaker 1: went up with Buck and Dan for a couple of
14:47
Speaker 1: innings just to kind of, you know, critique what what
14:49
Speaker 1: Chris was doing in the third and fourth inning.
14:51
Speaker 4: But he's he is like that.
14:54
Speaker 1: He'll he'll all of a sudden, he'll come up and
14:56
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's just sitting next to me
14:57
Speaker 1: and Pete for an inning and a half just talking
15:00
Speaker 1: and it's like, hey, we got dude.
15:02
Speaker 4: You know.
15:02
Speaker 1: It's like we can catch up after. But he's he's
15:05
Speaker 1: a beauty man. He's he's one of a kind. It's
15:08
Speaker 1: like you see him from Afar and you kind of
15:10
Speaker 1: hear stories, but he's, uh, he's never off put it
15:14
Speaker 1: that way.
15:15
Speaker 3: That's good. That's good. So what you see out there
15:17
Speaker 3: is what you get. I mean hall of famer, I
15:19
Speaker 3: mean pro hall of famer, and you get to you
15:21
Speaker 3: get to manage him, all right. My question for you
15:23
Speaker 3: is something we talked about, texted about in the offseason,
15:28
Speaker 3: the whole Rokie Sasaki courting ship. You know, it looked
15:32
Speaker 3: like you guys were getting them. I asked you what
15:36
Speaker 3: kind of presentation you guys put together, and your answer was, dude,
15:40
Speaker 3: our player development stuff is next level. All the stuff
15:43
Speaker 3: we have in the stadium is next level. How close
15:46
Speaker 3: did you feel like you guys were, and is it
15:49
Speaker 3: disappointing that you didn't get him and did you feel
15:51
Speaker 3: like you were maybe a little duped the fact that
15:54
Speaker 3: he still went to the Dodgers and you guys put
15:57
Speaker 3: your best foot forward.
15:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was a long process. We went
16:02
Speaker 1: out to la and met with him out at his
16:04
Speaker 1: agency first, and then I think that presentation was pretty cool.
16:09
Speaker 1: We had we had guys from our pitching department, obviously
16:13
Speaker 1: front office, but a guy that we just hired, Sam Green.
16:16
Speaker 1: He used to kind of work in our front office.
16:18
Speaker 1: He's on our staff now put together a presentation with
16:20
Speaker 1: his stuff and kind of how it plays and how
16:22
Speaker 1: we can get it better. It was interesting because you know,
16:24
Speaker 1: he's a young dude and there's still some development that's
16:27
Speaker 1: going to go on, so he was interested in that,
16:28
Speaker 1: not just you know, what are you going to pay me?
16:32
Speaker 1: Or what is what are you going to do for me?
16:34
Speaker 1: It was kind of how am I? How am I
16:35
Speaker 1: going to get better? So it was interesting to kind
16:36
Speaker 1: of talk through that. And then he came up here
16:39
Speaker 1: probably ten days later to Toronto with a big group
16:42
Speaker 1: of people that were going to be, you know, surrounding him.
16:44
Speaker 1: When he did come over here and you know.
16:46
Speaker 4: We did dinners.
16:47
Speaker 1: You know, we had players here talking to him, We
16:49
Speaker 1: had people zooming in, showed him the entire facility. Like
16:53
Speaker 1: you said, the facilities that we have are our next level.
16:56
Speaker 4: You know. It's it's funny.
16:57
Speaker 1: We had you know, Raydall Gritchick in last series in Arizona,
17:01
Speaker 1: who used to be here, and he's walking around here.
17:03
Speaker 1: He's like, where was this when I was here? You know,
17:05
Speaker 1: It's that's a big draw for players, I think, how
17:08
Speaker 1: we can support them with facilities and technology. I mean
17:13
Speaker 1: the clubhouse, the training room, the weight room. It's like
17:16
Speaker 1: a four season spot in here. Sometimes you know, you
17:18
Speaker 1: almost feel like it's too So that's that's a draw.
17:21
Speaker 4: You know.
17:22
Speaker 1: It felt like he was really appreciative of everything we had,
17:25
Speaker 1: and it's just Diden't talking to you know, him and
17:28
Speaker 1: some of the guys and his team. You feel like
17:29
Speaker 1: you're in a pretty good spot kind of between us
17:32
Speaker 1: and the Dodgers and didn't work out, you know what
17:35
Speaker 1: I mean. It's uh, you always try to put your
17:38
Speaker 1: best foot forward when you think a player is going
17:40
Speaker 1: to help your organization. He's definitely one of those guys
17:42
Speaker 1: and I know he's hurt now, but seems to look
17:45
Speaker 1: like he has a really bright future ahead of him.
17:46
Speaker 1: And are you disappointed you miss out on some guys?
17:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
17:51
Speaker 1: You know it's it happens to everybody, and it's been
17:54
Speaker 1: cool to kind of go you know, we went through
17:56
Speaker 1: with show Hey the year before, you know, not to
17:58
Speaker 1: that extent we did with Sasaki, but it's cool to
18:01
Speaker 1: kind of you know, you get to hear yourself talk
18:03
Speaker 1: about your organization a little bit and you feel good
18:05
Speaker 1: about it, and you feel good about the process you
18:08
Speaker 1: go through and the presentation you can give and kind
18:11
Speaker 1: of what you can offer a player. And sometimes it
18:12
Speaker 1: doesn't work out. But that that thing in the it
18:16
Speaker 1: was pretty.
18:16
Speaker 4: It was pretty.
18:18
Speaker 1: It was a lot of planning, a lot of people involved,
18:20
Speaker 1: and I thought we showed really well and it didn't
18:23
Speaker 1: work out.
18:24
Speaker 3: What would you do differently? What did you learn from
18:26
Speaker 3: the experience because you're going to have to court and
18:28
Speaker 3: woo another player, how would you do it differently?
18:32
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, man. I mean, it's it's again. It
18:36
Speaker 1: wasn't me driving it. I was here kind of supporting it,
18:38
Speaker 1: but it's I've I've been through it a couple of times,
18:42
Speaker 1: and you know, you kind of do you compare it
18:45
Speaker 1: to what other teams are doing? Sure, you know, I
18:47
Speaker 1: think that when it comes down to free agents especially,
18:50
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much more that goes into it
18:52
Speaker 1: other than you know, yes, money and what are you
18:56
Speaker 1: going to do for my family? Where do I where
18:57
Speaker 1: do I live in proximity to the city. There's so
19:00
Speaker 1: much stuff that goes into it. Sasaki's case was a
19:02
Speaker 1: little bit different because he was, you know, so young
19:05
Speaker 1: and still you know, knowing that he wanted to be
19:09
Speaker 1: here in the States when his best years were here
19:12
Speaker 1: as opposed to coming from Japan. That was the most
19:14
Speaker 1: interesting thing about him was, you know, I want to
19:17
Speaker 1: have a couple of years under my belt before I
19:18
Speaker 1: kind of hit my prime and be adjusted to this league.
19:21
Speaker 1: So to do differently, man, I'm I don't know. It's
19:25
Speaker 1: it seems like, you know, every every presentation that I've
19:28
Speaker 1: sat through with players and it's a very attractive place
19:32
Speaker 1: to come. Again, this is the only spot I know,
19:34
Speaker 1: but it's not quite sure what else you could do,
19:38
Speaker 1: and you know, you feel like you put your best
19:40
Speaker 1: foot forward. Sometimes it's just not a match for the player.
19:43
Speaker 1: For a variety of reasons, But I don't know if
19:45
Speaker 1: we could have done anything different, maybe not have snow
19:49
Speaker 1: on the ground in the winter when guys are coming
19:50
Speaker 1: up here. I swear I was just gonna say seventy
19:56
Speaker 1: five and sonning every day.
19:57
Speaker 4: I don't know.
19:58
Speaker 2: There were some built in disadvantage just to start. So
20:01
Speaker 2: I feel like the pitch obviously definitely got you to
20:04
Speaker 2: a place much further than most. But yeah, you can't
20:06
Speaker 2: change the weather. You can't change the location. If he
20:09
Speaker 2: wants a few hours knocked off the flight, you can't
20:12
Speaker 2: do that, right, all right, I want to I want
20:15
Speaker 2: to take you to a current event here. So and
20:17
Speaker 2: it's a two parter. We had Ryan O'Hearn on the
20:20
Speaker 2: other day, who I'm sure you know well from facing him,
20:23
Speaker 2: and he's an all star candidate as a DH. He
20:25
Speaker 2: sent out a personal thank you to Craig Breslow for
20:28
Speaker 2: trading away Raffieldevers and opening up the DH spot. Do
20:32
Speaker 2: you have a similar vibe, because hey, I mean, this
20:34
Speaker 2: is the guy who has terrorized the division with his
20:37
Speaker 2: bat for a while and now you're not going to
20:39
Speaker 2: see him as much when you see news like that,
20:41
Speaker 2: just genuinely as someone who wants to win games. Do
20:43
Speaker 2: you get a little excited.
20:46
Speaker 4: I mean, they still have a good team.
20:48
Speaker 1: They got they got a few guys that have hit
20:49
Speaker 1: as well, you know, and they got some young guys
20:51
Speaker 1: that are pretty exciting. But yeah, it kind of caught
20:54
Speaker 1: us off guard. Carlos Fabulis, third base coach. He knows,
20:57
Speaker 1: you know, being in Boston for a number of years,
20:59
Speaker 1: he knows Raf and all those guys fairly well. We
21:01
Speaker 1: were a little surprised. You know, Brez did play for
21:05
Speaker 1: me in twenty eighteen. I don't know if anyone knows this.
21:07
Speaker 1: He was on the fisher Cats roster in twenty eighteen
21:11
Speaker 1: in the Bolt and he was commuting back and forth
21:15
Speaker 1: through his house basically every day, and and then bumped
21:20
Speaker 1: up to Triple A probably, but I think a month
21:22
Speaker 1: end of the season. So maybe I left, you know,
21:25
Speaker 1: left him, you know, with some good vibes and said, yeah,
21:28
Speaker 1: let's get rap out of the division.
21:29
Speaker 4: I'm not sure, but it's.
21:31
Speaker 1: Uh, it's uh yeah, it's it was a It was
21:34
Speaker 1: a big trade, you know, and you know, it's kind
21:37
Speaker 1: of that time of year and I know teams are
21:39
Speaker 1: just trying to make themselves better, but it is nice.
21:42
Speaker 4: I think when you when.
21:43
Speaker 1: You look over at a division rival and a guy
21:46
Speaker 1: that's really handled you pretty well, and a lot of
21:48
Speaker 1: people in the division, you don't really have to deal
21:50
Speaker 1: with them for as many times as you had thought.
21:54
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's kind of like a couple of years
21:56
Speaker 1: ago people are asking me, you know, are you are
21:59
Speaker 1: you hoping Aaron Judge signs with the Giants, And it's like, yeah, absolutely,
22:02
Speaker 1: you know it's I'm not I'm not gonna lie.
22:04
Speaker 4: So it's it is.
22:06
Speaker 1: It is a different thing. It's a different look to
22:08
Speaker 1: their lineup, but there's still a pretty damn good team.
22:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, like everyone to the nationally, go for it, have
22:14
Speaker 2: a great time.
22:14
Speaker 4: Out there, get out there.
22:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, go West. Second part of the question, what
22:20
Speaker 2: did you think of what happened there? Like, not that
22:23
Speaker 2: you've necessarily come across any examples like that, but how
22:27
Speaker 2: delicate the communication process can be, because you know, we
22:30
Speaker 2: it's been probably the number one drama saga of the year.
22:34
Speaker 2: I would say, from like a superstar player battling with
22:37
Speaker 2: an organization, there were so many levels owner goes to
22:40
Speaker 2: meet with him, all of that. So when you're observing that,
22:43
Speaker 2: can you take anything away from that because the only
22:46
Speaker 2: thing I don't know if you know Raf personally, but
22:48
Speaker 2: he's not Manny Ramirez for lack of a better term,
22:51
Speaker 2: Like he's like the quiet kid in the corner. Usually
22:55
Speaker 2: he's just smiling and having a good time. And now
22:57
Speaker 2: half the fans think that he's a villain.
23:01
Speaker 1: Right, It's it's funny, man being in this seat. You know,
23:06
Speaker 1: it's different than what you expect, I think when you
23:08
Speaker 1: first get into it, right, so I can remember just
23:10
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago where you know, you think
23:13
Speaker 1: you're you're in touch with everything and everyone and you're
23:16
Speaker 1: trying to please everybody, and you could just never lose
23:19
Speaker 1: the the communication with the players. I mean, even if
23:22
Speaker 1: it's just like a brutal conversation, you know, it's it happens.
23:28
Speaker 1: And whether it's you know, different ownership in Boston and
23:31
Speaker 1: it's a high profile organization obviously with a really passionate
23:35
Speaker 1: fan base. I don't know, you try to learn from
23:38
Speaker 1: it and just say okay there. I think every team
23:42
Speaker 1: goes through something like this, you know, and and every
23:44
Speaker 1: year and just sometimes it's not as big or or
23:48
Speaker 1: not as public, you know what I mean. There's always
23:49
Speaker 1: there's always kind of like an undercurrent, you know. So
23:53
Speaker 1: what you take from it is you've got to be
23:55
Speaker 1: as open and transparent as you possibly can be, and
23:59
Speaker 1: it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot
24:00
Speaker 1: of work in the off season. I've learned that from
24:03
Speaker 1: Ross and Mark specifically over the past couple of years,
24:06
Speaker 1: and it's something that I've tried to do more of,
24:08
Speaker 1: was try to be more connected in the off season
24:10
Speaker 1: with the guys and the staff and their families and
24:13
Speaker 1: certainly the expectations of what we're looking at the next year.
24:17
Speaker 1: And it takes time, and it takes reps. Man, it's hard,
24:20
Speaker 1: you know, because every person's a little bit different. So
24:23
Speaker 1: what you learn from it is just try to just
24:25
Speaker 1: try to keep the lines of communication open. And you know,
24:28
Speaker 1: again I'm biased because I've only been here. I feel
24:31
Speaker 1: like we do a really good job of that, and
24:32
Speaker 1: I know that, you know, there's always room for me
24:34
Speaker 1: and everyone to improve, but it's something you want to avoid.
24:38
Speaker 1: And when you're a big when your big name team,
24:40
Speaker 1: big name market franchise, and there's going to be tons
24:43
Speaker 1: of people uncovering things or conversations that may have happened
24:46
Speaker 1: or not happened it kind of just adds fueled the fire,
24:49
Speaker 1: which sucks. But it's I know Brez. I don't want
24:53
Speaker 1: to say I know him really well. I know him
24:54
Speaker 1: fairly well, and he's, you know, one of the brightest
24:57
Speaker 1: guys you know in the game obviously, and I think
24:59
Speaker 1: he's just trying to do what's right now and for
25:02
Speaker 1: the team long term.
25:03
Speaker 4: So you got to just keep the communication open.
25:06
Speaker 1: I guess it is the best way to put it,
25:07
Speaker 1: and hopefully you don't run into those spots.
25:10
Speaker 3: All right. Last two things, just more comments than anything.
25:13
Speaker 3: You broke breas you broke him. His numbers were brutal.
25:17
Speaker 3: You sent him up the Triple A. He wasn't ready.
25:19
Speaker 3: He was like thirteen years older than the average age
25:22
Speaker 3: person when you had him. You broke him, so he's
25:25
Speaker 3: not doing you any favors.
25:27
Speaker 1: I don't think it was before the three batter minimum.
25:30
Speaker 1: He was coming in to face like one less ye
25:32
Speaker 1: like three times a week and then going home to
25:34
Speaker 1: have a glass of wine, and.
25:37
Speaker 3: It broke him.
25:37
Speaker 4: I don't think. I don't think it was me.
25:39
Speaker 1: He had He had rap Soto and track Man kind
25:42
Speaker 1: of before it was even popular. He had it in
25:44
Speaker 1: our bullpen and he was like making pitches up on
25:46
Speaker 1: the fly and talking about horizontal movement and things like that.
25:50
Speaker 1: We weren't even you know, we didn't know what it meant.
25:53
Speaker 1: So I'll blame I forget who was a triple A
25:55
Speaker 1: pitching coach at that time, But we can blame him,
25:56
Speaker 1: not me.
25:58
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, it might have been Horseman. I don't know
26:00
Speaker 3: who it was, but anyway it might have been. It
26:03
Speaker 3: might have been Paul Elliott. But I'm gonna say that
26:05
Speaker 3: name only to say that when you stay two more years,
26:10
Speaker 3: pabably that it's a name that only Schneid and I
26:12
Speaker 3: know because we were roommates. Like the last time we
26:14
Speaker 3: talked about it, what's the gift that you want from
26:17
Speaker 3: the Blue Jays for your diamond anniversary of being with
26:20
Speaker 3: the Blue Jays when you have your twenty fifth year
26:23
Speaker 3: in the organization. We were drafted together in two thousand
26:26
Speaker 3: and two, and he was He was a player, and
26:29
Speaker 3: then he became a coach, and then he became a manager,
26:33
Speaker 3: and then he became the big league manager. But what
26:35
Speaker 3: do you want? What gift do you want? Do you
26:37
Speaker 3: want a Harley? Do you want do you want a diamond?
26:41
Speaker 4: Oh? Man?
26:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, twenty five. I'll be next year, which is pretty crazy.
26:46
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I'll have to call it. I'll
26:48
Speaker 1: throw out another name for it. Dennis Holmberg. You know,
26:51
Speaker 1: he was our first prosser and he was like the
26:54
Speaker 1: big collector of like the watches, the pins, the rings.
27:00
Speaker 1: Don't know, twenty five years and you kind of covered
27:02
Speaker 1: everywhere from rookie ball manager to big league manager.
27:05
Speaker 4: I don't know, man, I don't know.
27:08
Speaker 1: I'm not a Harley guy, not a motorcycle guy, so
27:11
Speaker 1: I like, you know, I like a nice truck.
27:13
Speaker 4: You know that might might not be too bad, you.
27:15
Speaker 1: Know, just throwing it out there, and you probably know
27:18
Speaker 1: more people than I do. Cratzy, just you know, sending
27:21
Speaker 1: that out there. Nice you know, GMC or Chevy trucks.
27:24
Speaker 1: I'm pretty easy.
27:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, there we go a truck and then Laddie, which
27:28
Speaker 2: was the gift before that that he's.
27:29
Speaker 3: Got already got it. He got his Laddie.
27:32
Speaker 2: That was the pre gift.
27:33
Speaker 3: He got his Laddie. So now Schneid's is gonna have
27:35
Speaker 3: to be extended because it's a coat. He's gonna be
27:39
Speaker 3: on his coach and then and then you can have
27:40
Speaker 3: your you can have you can have your license plate
27:43
Speaker 3: that says thanks Vlad, and it would be your your
27:47
Speaker 3: your license plate on your truck will just say thanks Blad.
27:51
Speaker 1: Right, I mean I've done I've followed him around, threw
27:53
Speaker 1: him in the derby, you know what I mean, riding
27:55
Speaker 1: his coat tails and you know I tried to get
27:57
Speaker 1: the four years included for me.
27:58
Speaker 4: It didn't work out. But have Ben for sure locked
28:05
Speaker 4: up for.
28:05
Speaker 2: The organization good dinners at the least. Well, Schneid's great
28:08
Speaker 2: to have you back on. Appreciate the time. Keep doing
28:11
Speaker 2: your thing. Teams looking great, great catching.
28:13
Speaker 4: Up, appreciate it. Thanks guys, good catching up.