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Chapter 1: What insights does Dan Shulman provide about Trey Yesavage's rookie season?
All right, welcome back to Blair and Barker on the Sportsnet Radio Network and Sportsnet. Just me right now. Barker is in a car, in a private car, being taken to the ballpark with a police escort. for his duties today on Blue Jays Central. No expense spared to get our man to the Rogers Center in time. 7.07 will be the first pitch.
Tonight is Trey Savage takes the mound for the Jays against Mike Burrows. The Jays looking to win the series after yesterday's 9-7 loss. The Jays down 4-0, staged a comeback.
had the lead, lost the lead, had an opportunity to win the game in extra innings, a gilt-edged opportunity with Nathan Lucas on third, one out, and took three pitches for George and Vladdy to pretty much torch that particular opportunity. So let's see what the Jays have in store for us tonight. Without further ado, let's bring in Dan Schulman, our Blue Jays voice on Sportsnet. There he is.
How you doing, Danny? Hello, Mr. Blair.
Chapter 2: What challenges did Shane Bieber face in his season debut?
How are you? I'm doing well. Hey, before we get to baseball, the NBA draft was last night. You obviously saw a lot of those players. Any surprises to your mind as to how the draft proceeded?
Well, I will be honest with you. I don't know much about Mr. Graves. I did not have Santa Clara at all during the last season, so he wasn't on my radar. But I think the top eight or nine kind of went as expected. And in my mind, it was an unbelievably loaded draft for about nine or ten picks. And then it kind of settled down. So I think everybody thought A.J. DiBonzo would go first.
He's an unbelievable scorer. I think there are some parts of his game that he's got to smooth out, refine, and
Chapter 3: How can the Blue Jays address their bullpen issues internally?
A little bit, but he's going to put up a million points in the NBA. Darren Peterson, a little bit of a wild card because he just didn't have, he had a mysterious season in Kansas. He had some cramping issues. He would start games, not finish games. You know, we didn't see him at full force. Cam Boozer, the highest floor of anybody going third. He went third. And you know what you're going to get.
You're just going to get a rock solid, a mature, smart, productive player. My favorite player in the draft actually is Caleb Wilson out of North Carolina who went fourth to the Bulls. I think he's got incredible upside, and I'm not so sure he's not going to be the best player in this draft. But it was really interesting. Great players, Keaton Wagler and Kingston Flemings and Darius Acup Jr.
out of Arkansas, who I think went seventh or eighth, I believe, is just a force of nature, a freight train. It's going to be really fun to follow these guys because it was as loaded a draft in the top ten as I've ever seen.
Chapter 4: What expectations are set for Trey Savage's performance against the Astros?
Perfect. All right. I appreciate that, and I know our listeners will as well. Let's move on to the Blue Jays. What are your expectations tonight for Trey Savage?
I would hope he would have a game just like he did in Boston and go deep into the game. So Caleb and I spoke to Trey a couple of days ago. John Schneider had mentioned that they're kind of putting more on Trey's plate this year. Last year, they didn't want to overload him as a rookie who just came up late in the year.
But this year, they're talking to him a little bit more about game planning and hitters weaknesses and all that, except before the last start in Boston. They just said to him, forget all that, get in the zone. That's all we want you to think about. Get in the zone. And he did. He was great against the Red Sox.
Chapter 5: What is Ricky Romero's perspective on Yesavage's development?
Now, he gave up the two home runs in the eighth inning, but he gave them seven in the third innings on a night where they desperately needed him. I'm hoping he can do a very similar thing here tonight. Get in the zone, get deep into the game, hopefully not give up a couple of home runs, obviously, in the eighth inning. But I think he felt good about it.
I think he felt good about kind of getting back to thinking about Trey Savage and saying, my stuff plays. My stuff is good enough. I'm going to make you guys worry about me rather than me worrying about you. And I think that's a good attitude for Trey Savage.
Yeah, I think we do need to remind ourselves, don't we, that this is his first full rookie season. And even though he was terrific last year and the lights are brightest and in a highly pressurized situation, That's one thing. 25 starts or whatever over the course of a regular season, going through a regular season grind is a completely different thing.
And I find it interesting that Jay said that, to be quite honest. I like it.
I find it interesting, too.
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Chapter 6: How important is the pitcher-catcher relationship in a team's success?
Well, it was Trey who talked about it. So John Schneider said, we're putting a lot more on his plate. And then Trey went into more details with me and Caleb. A couple of days ago, but I'll give you a direct quote from John Schneider. Again, this is a few days ago. He's learning how to be a big leader. And that goes to your point about 25 starts is different than this adrenaline rush two months.
And he, listen, he was historically good, incredible. You could not do better than Trey Savage did in October. But now there's more video, more people have seen him. And at some point, the arm angle is not going to be quite the mystery that it is the first time a team sees him. Now, this is the first time Houston's going to see him. So we'll see how much of a mystery it is.
But just given his stuff. I like the idea of him being a, you guys worry about me.
Chapter 7: What does Ricky Romero think about Shane Bieber's recent performance?
I'm going to do my thing, and let's see if you can hit me. Somebody like a Shane Bieber, and I'm not talking about last night's start, but somebody like a Shane Bieber, I think he's got to focus maybe a little bit more on the hitter's weaknesses. Do I throw this guy the sinker or the cutter or the slider or the curveball or the changeup?
But Trey Savage is a stuff guy, and I think if he is in and around the zone ā It's in his best interest just to be the aggressor, and that's the kind of attitude that he seems like he's taking.
What was the organization's read on Bieber after John, Pete, people around the team? What was their read on Bieber after yesterday?
I don't think anybody's ā you know everybody around here. They're not a rush to judgment group. They're the opposite of that. So I've heard you talk about that many times. I don't think anybody is ā jumping to conclusions. You know, first one, hopefully shake the rust off. Schneider was asked today about the velocity, which I think sat around 91.7 or something like that.
Chapter 8: What strategies should the Blue Jays employ to improve their playoff chances?
They'd like to see a little bit higher, but he said he's not concerned about it. He, Obviously, he's going to get another and another and another, and I think you see how those go. They don't need him to be ā I mean, they'd love him to be Cy Young-Bieber, but they don't need him to be Cy Young-Bieber. I don't think they expect him to be Cy Young-Bieber. I don't think that's realistic right now.
But can he be a good middle of the rotation, give you five or six innings, give up a couple of runs, give you a chance to win a game, Guy? That's what I think they're looking for, and I don't think anybody ā is too bent out of shape. Schneider did say that Bieber and Pete Walker already today were looking at video, working on things, talking about the next start and that sort of thing.
I apologize if you and Caleb addressed this yesterday or even in the first game of the series, but it's a 10-game homestand. Houston and Texas are right around them in the standings, maybe right around them in the standings for the rest of the year, the way things are going. The Mets are coming in. The Mets aren't having the best Best year.
This is a really significant homestand for this team, isn't it?
Yeah, I think so. So what I did say last night is I think, and I focused on the next seven games because those are the two teams, as you said, who are right around them in the standings. But I said, I think this is a sneaky, really important part of the schedule. Like, it's great when the Yankees come in, if you can beat the Yankees, but they're eight and a half back of the Yankees right now.
And you're not conceding anything with whatever it is, 83 games to go. But it is distinctly possible that we will be talking in September about Toronto and Texas competing for the final wildcard spot, or Toronto and Houston competing for the final wildcard spot.
So I'm very interested in the games against Houston, Texas, Seattle, Baltimore, the White Sox, Cleveland, because that could ā it's a mess right now in the American League. Blue Jays are under .500 and still in a playoff spot right now. So, yeah, I think it's very important. And when you lump in the Mets, another team not having a good year ā Like this can't be a four and six, five and five.
It's got to be a six and four, hopefully seven and three, something like that. And even then on the road trip, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, they've got to win more than they can lose. They've got to get on the right side of 500, in my mind, by the all-star break and stay on the right side of 500.
Are you surprised at all by anything Ross Atkins said in his media veil yesterday? You know, in particular, not listen, and I'm just... You know, we had Ross on today, and I think he kind of fleshed it out a little bit as well.
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