Blair & Barker
Keys to An Offensive Turnaround with John Schneider + Berríos Injury Update
08 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
All right, welcome back to Blair and Barker, brought to you by Capital One. Capital One, giving Canadians credit for 30 years. The Blue Jays will open a three-game series tonight at the Rogers Center against the Los Angeles Angels. 7-0-7 will be the first pitch. Reid Detmers against Dylan Cease for the Blue Jays. The manager of the Blue Jays is John Schneider, and he joins us on Blair and Barker.
There he is. Hey, buddy. How you doing, man? What's up, fellas? How are you? We're doing all right.
How was your day off before Jeff jumps into these things? How was your day off? Was it well-needed for you? We talk about the player all the time. Did you need to step away and enjoy your off day?
Yeah, thanks for asking. I actually stayed home and spent it with Jess and the boys and flew up yesterday evening. Yeah, played a little golf, got my mind off the game a little bit, and I'm on the game that I'm terrible at, but it was relaxing. You know, getting ready to get after it today.
Very cool. Yeah, it says something about being a major league manager that you can say a game that you're terrible at is relaxing when you describe it. It's amazing how many people describe golf that way, though, isn't it? Yeah.
Yeah, every time there's a bad shot, I just remind myself I'm just an amateur golfer out here having fun. And, yeah, it just takes your mind off the work for a little bit. Good for you.
And the best thing is you don't have to answer a question about it. Unless it's from your playing partners. Hey, quick update. Just wondering when we can expect to see Addison Barger activated. Today, tomorrow, Sunday?
Most likely tomorrow. After playing a few games in Dunedin, the plan is he's going to travel today and most likely be active tomorrow. But we want to give him more day and just kind of recover from playing a few games in a row. And when he gets here, he can kind of hit the ground running.
Now, I don't expect the answer, but I'm going to ask anyhow. You have to. I have to. I'm sure you have a candidate or candidates in mind for the move that will have to be made.
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Chapter 2: What updates are there on Addison Barger and his activation?
I mean, everything is with... I mean, I think when you're scoring or you get out to a lead or you're adding on to a lead, you can kind of just take a deep breath. Everyone really, you know what I mean? And just say, OK, what do I need to do right now in the moment? You know, as opposed to I need to be perfect. I need to do this. I need to do that. I need to make this pitch.
I need to not let this runner get over and not let this run get in. So, yeah, I always say everything's easier when you're in sync and playing in sync is all phases. It's offense, it's pitching, it's defense, it's base running. And if one of those things isn't on or isn't consistent for a game or a game or two, the other the other things have to be.
really consistent to either give yourself a chance to come back in a game or to kind of squash a game where where it should be when you have a lead you know that's that's the brand that we want to play we haven't we haven't been there consistently so i think that's where it leads to you know those those thoughts creeping into a pitcher's mind those thoughts creeping into a hitter's mind those thoughts creeping into a defender's mind you know and it's it's my job it's the staff's job to just just make sure that these guys have the right mindset you know what i mean it's
It'll turn. These guys are too talented for it to not turn. And the things that we can control are what we want to control, right? Like hitting with runners in scoring position comes and goes. Hitting comes and goes. But I think defense-based running should never come and go. That should always be consistent. We know that we can do that, and we've got to be better at it.
Okay, where do you think Trey's slider is at, and how do you think him having his slider would help his outing?
Yeah, I think it's a little bit behind the split, right? And the fastball command, I think that's fair to say. And if he has, I think when we've seen him at his best, he has both of those pitches working, both off-speed pitches working. So I've been really happy with his fastball command in the two outings. And I think when he gets a better feel for the slider, lineup dictates it too, right?
I mean, a lot of lefties are stacking against him and it's primarily fastball split. When he has both of those things working, he's really tough. We've seen him, you know, be really, really good and strike out a lot of guys. So that's been the focus after his start in Minnesota in between. So hopefully he gets a better feel for it. And again, it's, it's his third outing. You know what I mean?
It's still, it's still technically early in his season. So, yeah. a field pitch like that can kind of come and go, but he's working hard to kind of get it more consistent.
Nice. John, it probably doesn't come as a surprise given what we kind of know about Jeff Hoffman, but Kevin and Dan Shulman were talking about this a little earlier. The way he has handled this situation, whatever the situation is, the way he's handled it, the way he's gone out, and to me it looks like he's pitching really well. Pitching. Pitching really well from a distance.
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Chapter 3: How is José Berríos' injury affecting the team?
It's that kind of thing. How does your group as a whole start doing damage, getting it down, getting it singing to the poolside in the air? In your mind.
Yeah, Kev, you hit the nail on the head, right? It's not – I've said it. It's not George. It's not Vlad. It's not Oak. It's not – One of those guys would be nice, you know, right to catch a heater. And I think that I think teams kind of follow that. Right. When when you get it going, it's like, OK, it can get contagious. So you need you need some guys that we expect to slug to slug.
And I think where we are right now, we're. Again, man, it comes down to us as the coaches figuring out, okay, how are we being pitched? Are we being pitched differently than other teams? Are we being pitched differently than last year? You've got to really formulate a plan and say, okay, if teams are going to
look at us as a group and say, okay, this team is going to make contact, but this team is also going to expand the zone. How can I best suppress some damage? And we have to do a better job of not only conveying, but then the players go out and doing areas of the zone that you want, that you want to hunt. And if it's not there, you can't budge. And that's where, that's where mistakes happen.
That's where slug happens. So again, man, it's, it's, it's not, I always say it's not asking guys that aren't home run hitters to hit home runs, right? It's like not asking Ernie and miles and hiney to hit 30, you know, but understanding when to hunt an area and take a really controlled intentful swing. And then it gets on rolling down the line.
So that's, there's, there's a few guys that need to slug more than they have and confident that they will. And then within that, you know, guys need to kind of just continue to be them. Yeah, that's the best way I can say it. But if you're trying to stack hit after hit after hit after hit against really good pitching every night, it just gets tough and it's inconsistent.
So that's kind of the spot we've put ourselves in and are confident that the guys are going to turn it around, but even more confident in the staff to have the plan to give to them.
Nice. It's interesting because that kind of dovetails with the question we had from a caller earlier in the show.
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Chapter 4: What improvements can Dylan Cease make in his pitching?
Timothy in Vancouver talked about batting averages. Is it a lost art? Is it not valued like it was in the past? And just hearing you talk about that, maybe can you give us a manager's point of view about what batting average means in 2026?
For me, it still holds a ton of value. I think batting average means you're getting hits against good pitchers. I know in the industry, it's probably shifted a little bit more to on-base and probably some slug, but you have to be diverse. You have to have guys that can hit. You're not going to go up there and just draw a walk against good pitchers. You're not going to go up there and just...
get three mistakes in an at-bat versus good pitchers, right? So you've got to be able to move the ball forward. You have to be able to generate some bat speed and make your own luck a little bit here, too. So I value it. I'd be lying if I said I value it out of more people than others. You know what I mean? You try to say, okay...
we want to put you in this bucket of, okay, maybe a little bit more room for error, more slug, lower average. And then there's some guys that are high contact, low chase. All right, let's go high batting average balls in play, right? So I think it's important for me, and it's especially important for me with runners in scoring positions.
I hate to use the word process. I think that's overblown sometimes, especially with a team that went to game seven and spent the amount of money on the roster that the ownership has with the Blue Jays. But there are individuals in your lineup that you can use the word process, and that's Sanchez. Where do you think he is? Because he's rocky, right? It's bumps in the road.
You know, one time he looks like he can't miss, and then there's times he looks like old Barky. Like just, you know, where it ain't going the way you want it to go. In that process of having confidence in your player, I know you breed that. You are very confident.
But where are you at confidence-wise that, you know, he's going to figure this thing out real soon and start being that Sanchez in the middle of the order guy that you want him to be?
Yeah, confidence is always high, right? And I think it's just because you hear the conversations every day with him and other players and the hitting coaches. So it's just a matter of doing it. You know what I mean? When you have the skills that he has, it really comes down to just the approach. And it comes down to situational awareness, each at bat. That's really what it comes down to.
So that takes time sometimes. It's hard to throw a guy in the middle of the order. And looking at guys that are similar to him, you can kind of say – you know, Barger is kind of similar to him. You could say that Kaz is a little bit similar to him. I think probably a little bit more bat to ball tendency, you know what I mean?
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Chapter 5: How is Jesús Sánchez performing and what adjustments are needed?
There may have been a hint in there.
Ponyongo. Ponyongo. I think Pinango not being able to play the infield hurts him.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I think that has to be a consideration. It has to be a consideration.
It does, but sooner or later, Davis is going to have to play a little better. Offensively, you can only stay in the big leagues so long.
All I know is, you know what, I counted him out last year. I'm not going to.
Well, they weren't five games under .500 when the expectation is a little higher going into a season changes things of how long the leash will be for certain guys.
Yeah, I'm just not.
But you also got to remember, he's not the reason why they're five games under.
No. We've been giving you the chance to win Blue Jays tickets all season long here in Blair and Barker. All you have to do is text the correct answer to our daily baseball trivia question to 59590. Standard message and data rates may apply. Our last question and answer was he's played for eight different teams in the MLB or in his MLB, God, in the MLB, in his MLB career. First time? I hate that.
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Chapter 6: What role does Jeff Hoffman play in the Blue Jays' strategy?
It's Blair and Barker on the Sportsnet Radio Network and Sportsnet.
Hey, it's Blake Murphy. And I'm Matt Bonner. Join us weekday mornings at 11 as we break down all things Toronto Raptors. It's the Raptors show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts.
All right. Welcome back to Blair and Barker brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving Canadians credit for 30 years. 7-0-7 is the first pitch tonight. The Jays open a three-game series against the Angels. I will be doing Blue Jays talk following the game. Barker will be on Blue Jays Central. So hopefully all perfumed up and makeup up.
No, no perfume. It's called cologne, too. None of that. Looking forward to it. Yeah, I mean, I really do think you need to start seeing some things headed in the direction that everybody wants it to look like. You're about to face some better teams. You're getting the Rays here. You're going to get the Yankees soon. Well, yes. I mean, John's not lying.
We all know he's saying when he says some dudes in that lineup need to start slugging. We all know who their names are. So, hopefully that happens. Hopefully they start winning some games. Play clean games. You're going to get beat. Have the other team beat you. Don't beat yourself. You do that because you're a good team, you'll out-team the other team. How's that? There's my sale pitch.
Yeah, no, listen, that's – As John said, other stuff comes and goes, but the one thing that can be consistent is catching the ball, throwing the ball, and smart base running. Yep. The other stuff is, you know, sometimes the pitcher is better than you, but the stuff you can control, you have to be cleaner at. And that's... You know, it's the second year now. These guys are smart. This is smart.
This is a really smart coaching staff. John's a really smart manager. This is the second year in a row they have stressed, and I do believe they stress fundamentals in spring training. Without a doubt. And it's the second year in a row that they've been – In May, they've been kind of disappointed with what they've seen from this team. We know about that last year with base running.
Yeah, I think it's because, you know, the base running out of the gate was not very good, but a lot of that had to do with dudes weren't hitting. You're putting pressure, trying to take the extra base. That's fair. Make it a little easier. I told you this, and I'll continue to tell you. They're hitters first. They'll always be that way.
When it's not working out offensively, every other part of your game suffers because all you think about is why am I 0 for 2? All that stuff I was doing in the cage that coach was trying to sell me ain't working. Now what do I do? That's reality of being a baseball player, especially the dudes that are trying to do it on an everyday basis. And pitching's never been better.
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Chapter 7: How can the Blue Jays improve their performance in clutch situations?
No, but I mean, it's probably... Yeah, at this point, you probably almost expect it. Yeah, he's thrown a lot in his career. He's thrown a lot in his career, and once you... The velo was down so much at AAA that... You just – you have to get a look. You just have to get a look.
Yeah, you remember, too, in spring training, he's still a little harder. You know, coming off the year he came off of, how his year ended, walking away from his team the way he did. I think he felt like he had to show up. Yep. You know, in a little bit more of form. Yeah. I don't want to say making a team, but, you know, he wanted to make a really good first impression.
And seems like it didn't work out for him. Again, we're rooting for him, but – This is kind of where they're at with this.
Chapter 8: What factors contribute to the team's offensive struggles this season?
Even if he was healthy, the 89, I'm not sure he's going to play.
All right, let's go to the back leg line. Mark in Rocky Harbor, Newfoundland.
With Dylan Cease taking the mound tonight, what secondary pitch do you think he should throw more often in order to keep his pitch count down and get him later in the games? Thanks. Bye. That's a good question, Mark. You know, it is a lot against lefties that will be the changeup, a lot against the righties in his last start with some sinkers.
Dan had mentioned the sweeper, which is a decent pitch for him. I think the changeup against lefties to sinker against righties, I think that's it. I think it's the count you need to pay attention to, right, where certain counts he used to in the past try and get swing and misses on. He's trying to get them to put weakly into play.
1-0 change-ups against lefties, 2-1 against righties to sinker, 2-0 against the righties or sinkers. Like, it's just you can play along with the kind of count, who's hitting, how that hitter's doing, what the scoreboard's telling him. Like, there's a lot goes into – he's obviously bought into trying to go a little deeper in the game. How do you do that? I think it's more about the count.
But I would look more change-up lefties, sinker, righties. How's that? Very good.
Joe in Oakville.
Joe.
Joe. In your opinion, guys, what happened in the turnaround last year that made them go? Was there something specific that turned them around last year that possibly could happen this year? Thank you.
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