Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

Blair & Barker

Alejandro Kirk Returns + How John Schneider Balances Workloads

12 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What roster moves did the Blue Jays make recently?

7.439 - 29.708 Jeff Blair

All right, welcome to Blair and Barker for Friday, June 12th. Jeff Blair, Kevin Barker. New York Yankees are in town for the first of three games tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Center. The Jays making some roster moves earlier today. I'll run through them quickly before the skipper joins us. Alejandro Kirk has been reinstated from the 60-day IL.

0

30.709 - 47.054 Jeff Blair

He will be active for tonight's game. Tyler Heinemann has been designated for assignment, and Dalton Varshal has been placed on the IAL with left wrist inflammation. Davis Schneider has been recalled from AAA Buffalo. He will be active for tonight's game.

0

Chapter 2: How does John Schneider plan to manage Alejandro Kirk's workload?

47.114 - 74.859 Jeff Blair

A reminder, tonight is a 7-37 first pitch at the Rogers Center because, of course, the World Cup game is going on. It'll be Ryan Weathers on the mound for the Yankees. And Trey Savage for the Blue Jays. Again, 737 right here on Sportsnet 590. The fan and Sportsnet. Shai Davidi will join us in a few minutes. Tim Kirchhen is ESPN's MLB analyst. He's co-host of Is This a Great Game or What?

0

75.02 - 81.971 Jeff Blair

He is in Toronto. to help call the Yankees-Jays game for ESPN Radio.

0

Chapter 3: What are the implications of moving George Springer back to the outfield?

83.053 - 97.015 Jeff Blair

He will join us later on in the show, and we've got tickets to see the Jays and Astros. So, Kevin, before we bring John Schneider on, are you surprised by – leaving aside Dalton Varshow and Davis Schneider, I mean, I think John kind of indicated there was a chance Dalton would go –

0

96.995 - 115.881 Kevin Barker

uh on the il that is by the way retroactive to june 12th any surprise at all that tyler heineman was designated for assignment i don't think so i think they took the best player i think when you're three games under 500 there's 93 games left you got to take the best 26 that you can take on an everyday basis right now tyler heineman's not one of them so not really

0

117.194 - 120.159 Jeff Blair

Any concerns about Brandon Valenzuela's playing time?

0

120.339 - 137.425 Kevin Barker

Absolutely not. I'm sure John will do a tremendous job. You know, I would think this is more about Kirky, you know, how they're going to handle Kirky, how many games he wants to catch, how many dead days he wants to DH. What's that do to George? I'm interested to hear what John has to say about George. Yeah, there's some things there I'm sure John's had to think his way through.

0

Chapter 4: How is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. performing against breaking balls?

137.465 - 141.531 Kevin Barker

But, no, I'm sure that John will play the hot hand when he needs to play the hot hand.

0

142.169 - 152.762 Jeff Blair

What would your expectations be for LA? Oh, we have John. There it is. Let's bring him on. The manager. There he is. The manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, John Schneider. John, thanks for joining us, man. Yeah, yeah, of course.

0

Chapter 5: What is the status of Shane Bieber's rehab and next steps?

152.782 - 166.118 Jeff Blair

Good talking to you guys. Can you tell us what went into the, we'll leave aside the Schneider and Varshow for a minute, but could you tell us what went into the decision to DFA Tyler and to stick with Brandon Valenzuela?

0

167.566 - 184.815 John Schneider

Yeah, I mean, I think performance and kind of just how we're going to use Kirk. I mean, Kirk, for one, great to have him back. You know what I mean? Such a big part of our team. And I think, you know, we're not going to run him into the ground initially. You know, he's not going to be catching every single day.

0

184.955 - 194.205 John Schneider

And you look at what Heine and Valley were doing and, you know, kind of the performance, the comfort level that Valley has kind of gotten to on both sides of the ball.

0

Chapter 6: What are the expectations for Brandon Valenzuela's playing time?

194.746 - 202.855 John Schneider

And it's tough. You know, it's tough when you're, you know, you're designating a guy, not optioning a guy, and you risk losing him and you risk losing depth, a guy that we know and a guy that we like.

0

202.835 - 223.543 John Schneider

a lot uh everyone in the clubhouse and a guy that performed really well for us last year so it's it's tough um but i think uh you know you got to kind of move forward and and try to put your best your best team out there every night uh john let's do a little housekeeping just before we jump into kind of what's going on with your team maybe shane beaver pitched last night 62 pitches five innings uh what's next for him

0

224.603 - 245.695 John Schneider

He's back here in Toronto. He's going to throw a pen here, and then we'll kind of figure it out. It's probably looking like one more to kind of get stretched out a little bit in terms of pitch count, but he was efficient with the 62 and the five ups, and he's feeling better with every outing. So ideally, just want to get his pitch count up a little bit more and go from there.

0

245.735 - 249.16 Kevin Barker

Jimmy Garcia, 93. Any concern with that?

0

249.916 - 251.578 John Schneider

No, just in talking to him.

Chapter 7: How does John Schneider balance the lineup amid player struggles?

251.878 - 272.004 John Schneider

No, you know, just saying that he feels totally fine. And, you know, I think those, those things happen over the course of, you know, rehab process or whatever, or regular season. I think if it's down, he's pitching again tomorrow in Buffalo, if it's, you know, not back up to where it normally is, I think then you start asking some more questions, but initially no, no concerns.

0

272.404 - 274.827 Kevin Barker

Where, where is Addison at with his process?

0

275.515 - 297.567 John Schneider

He's getting better. He's down in Florida. He's throwing out to about 120 feet. He's hitting with more intensity. He's hitting not live BP, but regular arm BP, and then progressing to machine work probably in the next few days. And if that goes well, we're hoping to get him into some rehab games middle to late next week.

0

Chapter 8: What challenges does Ryan Weathers present to the Blue Jays?

297.587 - 300.291 John Schneider

But I'm thinking the bar just turned in the corner.

0

300.271 - 319.817 Jeff Blair

John, I'm wondering when the discussion surrounding Brandon Valenzuela, you know, I mean, we've obviously everybody, a lot of people in the city have talked about it. You guys have talked about it as well. But, you know, I think a lot of people sort of look at this as it's a double edged sword, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, it isn't now because he's hitting home runs.

0

319.857 - 342.281 Jeff Blair

I was going to say you worry about the dude's development, yada, yada, et cetera, et cetera. Forget I asked that question because the guy's hitting home runs. But my point, is there a path forward where he might get some at-bats DH-ing? Or, like, have you guys kind of thought about this, worked through this?

0

343.222 - 365.154 John Schneider

Yeah, I mean, and it kind of involves multiple people, obviously. Sure. Um, you know, you watch for one, it's, you know, he got the chance to play pretty regularly here, which is good. So that the development part, you know, if Kirky wasn't injured, who knows where he's, you know, where he's at, he's playing every day somewhere, probably in AAA or, or if Kirky's hurt, he's playing every day here.

0

365.234 - 381.899 John Schneider

So you feel good about that. His role will be switched a little bit in terms of how much he's catching, you know, just so the work in between has to be adjusted a little bit. But, um, Yeah, man, if you swing in the bat the way he is, it's tough to not, you know, it's tough to not get him behind the plate. And D.H.

381.939 - 402.457 John Schneider

Kirkey, you know, we've started to kind of put a plan in place for George to get in the outfield and be that an option for us. Um, so you can kind of put some more guys in there and rotate that DH spot. So, um, yeah, we got to just see how everyone continues to swing it and, um, adjust accordingly.

402.477 - 420.103 John Schneider

But I think having the option to flip Georgie out there in the outfield, but whenever we need to would open up for, for him or Kirky, uh, John speaking to a Springer, any thought in maybe moving him down in the order? Uh, we'll see, you know, I mean, I think against lefties for sure. I like him up there. Um,

420.455 - 436.077 John Schneider

And, you know, his, you know, his best at bat, I think the other day was off the Ram, you know, 102, whatever, and he hits the ball to right field. So we'll see, you know what I mean? I think the lineup, you guys know how I do it. It changes. I feel like every day, but you got to kind of figure out a way to get everyone in the best possible spots.

436.097 - 458.241 John Schneider

And, you know, every day is just more feedback to, you you know, see who's doing what and kind of see where you put them. So we'll see how it is. You know, we got to really kind of hit the gas pedal here in terms of trying to create some runs and stack some wins together. So, again, these guys are all on board with wherever they hit. You know, it's not like a –

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.