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Blair & Barker

Max Scherzer Heads to the IL + Springer's 300th HR with John Schneider

17 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: Why was Max Scherzer placed on the injured list?

10.122 - 30.79 Jeff Blair

All right, while we get going with breaking news on Blair and Barker, we'll be joined by John Schneider, manager of the Blue Jays, in a few minutes, by the way. But breaking news, as I said, Max Scherzer scheduled to start tonight. He is on the I.L. with back spasms. I wonder if he caught them from Vladdy. He's on the I.L.

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30.83 - 60.969 Jeff Blair

with back spasms, and Braden Fisher will get the start tonight as the opener. So... Yeah, a late change for the Blue Jays. And speaking of the Blue Jays, let's bring in the manager of the Blue Jays. He is John Schneider, and he is in Boston. There you go. Hey, buddy. Hey, what's up, guys? Ah, you know, well, the Max News is just, I guess, just released a few minutes ago.

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Chapter 2: What are the implications of Braden Fisher starting as the opener?

61.63 - 73.906 Jeff Blair

A couple of questions here, John. The nature of the injury, the decision to start Braden Fisher, three questions, actually, and Shane Bieber's recent rehab outing. What can you tell us about those three?

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75.51 - 100.608 John Schneider

Yeah, I think with Max, you know, kind of felt it a little bit yesterday and talk through some possible plans for today, um, go or not go. And, um, kind of just from a roster standpoint, if you couldn't go, I think IL was the only way to go about it and not, not kind of keep yourself short. Um, Woke up today not feeling it, you know, as better as he would have hoped.

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100.848 - 121.872 John Schneider

So made the decision this morning for that, for him to go on the IAL. So hope, I mean, I don't, again, it's not like a soft tissue or ligament injury or anything. It's a back spasm, you know? So I think hopefully just calm that down over the next few days and see, see how he feels, see where that goes. In terms of fish, I think,

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121.852 - 137.262 John Schneider

Yeah, kind of look at today is, you know, kind of a traditional bullpen day like we've done with some guys with length behind him, whether it's Woods Richardson or Chad Dallas that just came up to take Max's spot, then kind of see where the game takes you. And then Biebs.

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Chapter 3: How does Fenway Park influence a hitter's mindset?

137.242 - 154.193 John Schneider

Um, physical reports were good. Pitch count was good up to 80 pitches and, um, you know, we've got to just touch base with him. I know there were some walks and some home runs, but I think from a physical standpoint, he felt good and he's been encouraged with how he's feeling. So yeah, I think would he have liked better results? Sure.

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154.554 - 167.618 John Schneider

You know, I know Dylan didn't have the best results down there in AAA before he came back to. So, um, He'll meet us in Chicago, and then we'll kind of come up with a plan with him and kind of see what the next happening is for him, whether that's one more or whether that's with us.

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168.199 - 175.112 Kevin Barker

John, you mentioned Fisher starting the game. Are you seeing a workload effect spin with him at all?

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176.442 - 192.745 John Schneider

I mean, it could, you know, I, someone asked me about that after the Yankee series, you know, I think that you get into this point of the year where guys have been asked to throw a lot of innings and a lot of ups and variety of different roles. I mean, yeah, I'm sure workload catches up to you. It's not, it's not an excuse by any means, you know what I mean?

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192.765 - 199.334 John Schneider

Like we know these guys are good enough to go and you trust them to go out and be good. So everyone have to kind of work through it.

Chapter 4: What does George Springer's 300th home run mean for the team?

199.354 - 214.82 John Schneider

He's one of those guys. Flu is one of those guys, Louie, you know, I feel like a lot of those guys are in that, in that category, but yeah, It can. It can for sure. It's just like when a starter gets his pitch count up, you know, later in the game, you know, you can affect some execution. So we'll see how he is today. But Fish is a guy that always wants the ball.

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215.16 - 238.613 Jeff Blair

Yep. John, my friend to the left here made a comment yesterday about Fenway Park and how Fenway Park can actually, and this is a quote from my friend, quote, get you where you need to be as a hitter. we saw George Springer last night and obviously hit his 300th home run. There have been signs of progress. You talked about it with Arden yesterday. George is trending in the right direction.

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239.114 - 251.927 Jeff Blair

I want to ask you in a general sense, though, not to disagree with Mr. Barker here, but this park and Wrigley, good parks for a team to go to when you're trying to find some slug.

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253.325 - 254.166 John Schneider

Yeah, I think so.

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Chapter 5: What impressed John Schneider about Myles Straw's performance?

254.206 - 275.434 John Schneider

I think that, you know, the wall here is definitely inviting for, you know, a lot of guys. You know, righties and lefties, I think. I've seen a lot of hitters come in here, both sides of the plate, and Fenway can kind of get you right. So, yeah, I think it's nice. We have some guys that have done, you know, historically pretty well here with the wall, too.

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276.241 - 291.356 John Schneider

that would be nice if that kind of coincides with, you know, an uptick and slug with the venues we're playing at, you know, atmospheres you're playing in and things like that. But for going back to Georgie for one pretty cool to witness 300 homers, you know, that's, that's a, that's a pretty cool accomplishment.

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292.116 - 308.596 John Schneider

And, and two, I think him trending in the right direction in terms of what he's swinging at and how he's swinging at the pitches. He is, is, is really good for us. So hopefully a few more guys can kind of follow suit and, and, have the friendly grounds of Fenway get him going.

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309.177 - 320.76 Kevin Barker

John, you mentioned Springer there. Whenever you see him slugging or getting the ball in the air to the poolside with authority, what do you think he's doing well that would allow him to be able to do that?

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321.517 - 331.165 John Schneider

I think his actual swing is in the right spot. He's staying in his legs, and he's kind of using his physical stature to kind of drive the ball.

Chapter 6: How is Alejandro Kirk performing since returning from injury?

331.386 - 351.523 John Schneider

The ball he hit in the ninth inning, it's about as flush as you can hit one. And then sack fly to right. When he's hitting the ball in the air to right, it's really encouraging, too. To me, it's just I think he's in his legs, and his swing is both where it should be speed-wise and kind of like plane-wise.

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351.503 - 356.81 John Schneider

Everyone knows he's at his best when he's getting the ball in the air and getting it off the ground. So it just means he's synced up.

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356.85 - 359.574 Kevin Barker

John, what about Myles Strahl's game impressed you the most?

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361.096 - 376.718 John Schneider

I think we've come to know the defense. You know, you squash the first inning coming in on a little bleeder and with the bases loaded and you get one going back. To me, it's the 14-pitch at bat, you know, in a situation where he, you know, usually, not usually, but he could bunt there and, you know,

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376.9 - 402.942 John Schneider

you know in that in that ballpark you're trying to play for some runs and you know he's in there against the lefty for a reason so the 14 pitch at bat that ends in getting himmy over after a double i think really kind of sparked us and um got us going so that was that was the highlight for me you know again the catches were nothing to you know turn your nose up about but i think we've kind of come to expect that from miles and um you know just kind of a

403.512 - 407.66 John Schneider

What a guy at the bottom of the order is supposed to do at bat right there against a tough lefty.

408.241 - 418.922 Jeff Blair

Now, I see Kirky is back behind the plate today. We've seen him now since he's come off the IL. I presume that he's progressing as well as you guys wanted him to progress.

Chapter 7: Is moving Vladdy down the batting order a viable option?

419.392 - 435.876 John Schneider

Yeah, he's feeling good. There's going to be some bumps and bruises, I think. I think, you know, you may see him a little bit on some swings and misses. He still feels the thumb a little bit. But, yeah, he's feeling good. He's been about as normal as you could hope for after a long layoff and a thumb injury, you know. So, day game tomorrow will probably be valid.

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435.976 - 447.913 John Schneider

But I think Kirk is kind of right where we had hoped in terms of return to play. You know, play, day off, play, day off, and then get two in a row. And then hopefully when we get to Chicago, you can kind of take the reins off a little bit.

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448.13 - 464.747 Kevin Barker

John, everybody wants to fix Vladdy. Is there an option to maybe move him down in the order? In the past, you know, with certain guys, it's helped. Is there that option on the table to maybe move him down a little, take a little pressure off himself? You know, just a couple days to just let him breathe a little.

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Chapter 8: What are the latest updates on Addison Barger and Yimi Garcia's rehabs?

465.948 - 485.827 John Schneider

I mean, for one, I think, yeah, everyone wants to fix him. You know, I tried doing it one day in a leadoff spot. Vlad, honestly, I don't think so. I mean, if... to take a little pressure off of them. I mean, the dude, the dude lives with astronomical pressure that people don't understand. Just his normal day is different than everyone. So I don't think so.

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485.867 - 505.709 John Schneider

I think it's just, it's going to take a game for him to get going or a couple of games for him to get going really. And he's going to be pitched the same way if I hit him first or if I hit him night, you know what I mean? So if anything, you just kind of monitor his work, you monitor the day to day. Do you need a day off? Do you need to blow physically? How's your back? What's your state of mind?

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505.749 - 520.848 John Schneider

All that kind of stuff. He's obvious. He gets it. He hears what everyone's saying. You know what I mean? And he wants to have more slug than what he has right now. But I don't think it really matters where I put him in the order. He's the face of our franchise. You know what I mean? And I got all the confidence in the world in him.

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520.948 - 538.577 John Schneider

And I've seen it too many times to where it just takes a game for him to get on a heater. And then he's good to go. So I don't want to do anything crazy with him, man. He's too good to kind of... try to, I don't know, try to motivate by demoting him. You know what I mean? So he's, he's, he's too good for that.

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538.998 - 553.083 Jeff Blair

I also wonder too, John, you know, when it might be easier to do that, right. If he was the only one scuffling, I mean, if you guys were, had slug breaking out all over the place and that, and, and Vlad, he was just kind of there almost as an Island.

554.025 - 554.125

Yeah.

554.577 - 573.43 Jeff Blair

It's got to be a dicey proposition to think about doing that now, right? Just because now, I know the focus is on Vladdy. It's always going to be on Vladdy. But now it's almost like you would be increasing the focus by moving him down. Or am I overthinking that?

573.781 - 594.752 John Schneider

No, I think you're spot on, really. It's just like the less that we can kind of feed into the narrative of Vlad the singles hitter. I still think if you look up at the end of the year, his numbers are going to be pretty normal to what they usually are. You know what I mean? So I don't want to add any more fuel to that fire with people that aren't in our clubhouse and not in our cage.

595.173 - 614.785 John Schneider

It's really a matter of time. There's some things in baseball that are pretty – pretty certain that you're going to see an outcome. You know what I mean? There's some weird years and weird stretches with guys and their careers. But, you know, Vlad's been good for a long time. And I think that it's just a matter of time until he's just really hot again.

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