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Chapter 1: What insights does Casey Candaele share about the Buffalo Bisons' rehab strategies?
All right, welcome back to Blair and Barker. It is an off day for the Blue Jays. No off day for us. Never. Well, I guess we do it technically. We have weekends off. We don't. That's fair. Yeah. How's it going for you on this? Mexico's up to nothing. You were bragging about some. I get bonus points here. Two South African red cards. I should have bet. I actually should have bet.
I should have bet the red cards. Two South African red cards, one Mexican red card. Anyhow, I don't usually bet those. You don't? No. This stuff is always kind of fun. I'm just in, like, a fantasy league with a bunch of others. Yeah, you're fishing on that, trying to talk baseball. No, no, I'm fully focused. You are.
I mean, it's not that hard because you come on, you do a baseball show in Toronto today. All you talk about is Vladdy can't hit and Max can't pitch. Like, you can milk four hours out of that sucker. I mean, really. Two hours of baseball. You don't even need that. I mean, you can go back and forth. You can. So how would you fix Vladdy? There it is. You're going to laugh when I say this.
I would put him in the leadoff spot. I would leave him in the leadoff spot. And I would get somebody else in the lineup. Because I do think part of the issue is, and I know they're getting production down through the lineup and all that, but Vladdy may need a bow, right? Jordan had a Scottie Pippen. Yeah. Great players are like that. Yeah. Gretzky was a great player. Gretzky had Messier.
I'm just saying that. So you're saying in the playoffs it was a lot of everybody else and then Vlade kind of was able to go out and do his thing and be himself. No, no, no. Out of his mind. I mean, the playoffs are just a different animal. Vlade was crazy good in the playoffs. But I think it might be different over 162 compared to 16 or whatever it was. I can't argue that. And, you know.
Hopefully you're wrong because Bo's nowhere to be found. He certainly isn't. But you know who he did find today? Who's that, Jeff? We found one of our favorites, Casey Kandel. He is manager of the Buffalo Bisons, the Blue Jays AAA affiliate. Casey, always good to talk to you, my friend. Thanks for doing this.
Oh, you are welcome, guys. Thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure. I just don't have to manage today, so I just want to thank you guys when I go home.
Well, I mean, you got all these, I mean, God almighty, you're running out a major league pitcher every night. I mean, how much managing do you have to do?
Yeah, I run them out, and they're, like, just going through the motions. Then they go up to the big leagues, and they, like, shut people out and stuff. We're asking for a little help here.
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Chapter 2: How do major league pitchers influence younger players in AAA?
So, I mean, it's almost like, you know, if they ask one question as a minor league player to a big league guy, they're more than willing to, to talk to him about anything else.
Cool stuff. Casey, I'm wondering, you know, we talk about how going to the World Series changes an organization in terms of expectations. It just changes a lot of things. It kind of reinforces that what you're doing is right and all that stuff. I'm wondering if you've noticed a difference this year in not just at the AAA level, but in the minor leagues in general?
Has there been some sort of, you know, hey, we're the affiliate of the team that went to the World Series last year? Is there a different kind of vibe around the organization because of the success the major league team had?
Yeah, I think immediately, you know, you go to a World Series and go through, you know, watching and seeing you know, all the guys that were, you know, a part of that, you know, it's like, and it changes your, your view of and expectations of the organization. You're like, well, that was great. And we want to do that every year.
And, you know, the younger players see that as like, Whoa, Hey, we could go to a world series, you know, being in this organization and, and they see that the organization has a commitment to being, you know, a competitive team and wanting to go to the playoffs every year and wanting to get where they got to last year. And,
I think that players see that and then say, wow, you know, it can actually be done and we actually did it. And it kind of changes the vibe and, and kind of, you know, the expectations of, of everybody in the organization.
Okay. So has there been any offensive standouts in AAA this year?
Um, yeah, Catherine has been doing a good job. Um, um, you know, we got Willie McIver and he's been solid, um, offensively. We've had, uh, you know, some good contributions from a lot of guys. Javon Ward has come up and swung the bat well from AA. You know, and Sean Keyes has just recently promoted from AA, so he's here and he's swinging it pretty good right now.
So, I mean, we are offensively, you know, we can beat better, but there has been some individual guys that have put up some pretty good numbers, and so we're looking to trying to, you know, kind of gel as a team and get everybody going at one time. So there's been some pleasant surprises.
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Chapter 3: What is the plan for Shane Bieber's second rehab start?
Let's see, Joey Votto, one time when I got sent down with the Reds, said, go in the bin, just take what you want. He got some sweet bats, thin handle, big head.
I bet he does.
Boy, he's got some for two strikes. He's got some for party out front. Like, there are some good ones. Like, I would. Really? Boy, I couldn't. Like, I was holding one in my mouth. Like, I was trying to get them on as many as I could possibly get. Is he rare for that in terms of having a number of different at-bats? Well, yeah. You know, it's like Russell Martin, right?
You got kind of weights depending on the year, how many games you play.
Summer bats. There's a bunch.
But everybody's got their sweet one, like the one that just kind of gets them frisky and ā you know, makes them feel good about themselves when they're walking to the plate, and I take as many of them as I can get. Because, you know, they get them for free. It's not like you're stealing them or you can take too many of them and in or out of them.
And, oh, no, you know, it's basically if the clubby calls one day, they'll be there in five hours. So, you know, it's just kind of cool when you ā and that's why I tried to make as many ā established friends in the big leagues as I possibly could because I knew I was going to get sent down sooner or later, but I needed to take some things with me. You know what I'm saying? Smart man.
Cleats, that was a big one. Big one was the plastic cleats in the minor leagues. I'd take them a lot because them fields are really hard. Really? Oh, it's big time. Me and Chad Mottola. Chad Mottola. You know, either one of us would get called up. We would bring the other one a pair of those soft spikes just because ā Them fields stink, and the minor leagues are awful.
Like, it's just they beat you up. And, you know, the bigger we got, the older we got, the less we cared about how much we weighed. You know, we were just in survive mode. It was that kind of thing. So, you know, soft on your feet. It felt nice. Like, them shoes feel a little different anyway than minor league shoes. Just they feel different.
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Chapter 4: How is Davis Schneider progressing at the plate during his time in AAA?
It was your own. There you go.
There you go.
Oysters and lobsters.
You know, I don't like oysters, so I wouldn't have liked that meal.
I would have been quietly saying, can you get something else? If you're in Worcester, you're on the east ā Well, it's a bit inland, but you're close enough to the East Coast that you're getting. The good ones. The good ones. And he ain't going to get no cheap ones. He's not going to get them. No, no. Good for him. He's an oyster conistory.
I'm glad I asked that question because now I feel better about that. You know, I was feeling a little down when I had to tell my story. And now that you know who it was. Yeah, yeah. You have, I will tell you this, and I know we've got trivia here. Today, you changed my opinion about a ball player. Yeah, I did. You did. I did. Yeah, we booed him. You used to rather like this guy.
And you changed my opinion. With so much hatred every time he would come to the plate. We've been giving you the chance to win Blue Jays tickets all season long here on 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 made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays and played two seasons for the Astros. He's a five-time All-Star and former league MVP, but never won the World Series. The contemporary baseball era... It already has beaten me. The contemporary baseball era committee voted him into the Hall of Fame. The answer is Jeff Kent, and you saw him get slapped in the face. Hard.
By... Barry Bonds. About as hard as you can get slapped by a grown man. That was in a dugout fight. I was standing in over there, like, which team were you with? Padres. Oh, you were with the Padres. Oh, the Padres would have loved that, too. Oh, I love it. Padres would love that. Mocha, be a Mocha. Today's question is when Texas see the Jays and Astros on June 3rd at the Rogers Center.
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Chapter 5: What challenges does Alejandro Kirk face upon his return to the Blue Jays?
And we also threw out, what do you do, what would you do with Alejandro Kirk coming back? Who would you send down? Who would you keep? We'll throw that out as well. 416-413-3959. And then we'll see if the Jays do what you said. And then he can say, you know what? Listen, I said in Blair and Barker that they were going to do this, and that's what they did. Yeah.
Although if they keep three catchers, I'm going to take credit for that because I am the first person to mention it. You have been. I have been. It's Blair and Barker on the Sportsnet Radio Network on Sportsnet.
Hey, it's Matt Marchese. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world weekdays at noon. It's the Fan Hockey Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts.
All right, welcome back to Blair and Barker. Boy, oh boy, we were just dealing with some weighty, weighty issues. Good thing we got a great leader. We do. Where's our leader? He's missing. Missing a while. He's swirly occasionally, too. He's been swirly lately. We have guests in studio today, Gary and Courtney O'Dwyer, who bid. Well, basically, they won a date with Kevin Barker. That's funny.
They won a date. They bid on a date with Kevin Barker to help support the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. It's the second year in a row they've done it. Yeah, it's crazy. And so it's, I mean, as far as I can remember, probably the second, it's the first repeat date I've been on. Me too. So, I mean, clearly we didn't scare them off. They're wonderful people. They are wonderful people.
Great Blue Jays fans. Know more about baseball than we do. Yeah, they do. Yeah. And they're much nicer people, too. Well, much nicer people. And they are big supporters of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. They are, which we love. Which we enjoy. So we really appreciate this. We do appreciate it. Yeah. And, yeah, they're good people. They are. It's nice to have them in our show.
And hopefully this is ā was this show better than last year's show? Don't answer that. What are you doing, Jeff? Why are you asking? Every now and then I need some affirmation. I mean, I just do. There you go. See, I thought last year's show was better, but that's just me. Well, maybe they were a better team then. I don't even remember. I don't remember.
I'm sure we were talking about the same thing. No, Vladdy would have started hitting by now. Bo was starting to rake. Bo was starting to rake. There you go. Bing, bang, boom. Springer all year was raking. I miss Bo. Can I say that? Well, you can. You just said it. I do, too. Vladdy seems to be better when he's hitting behind him or in front of him. I just kind of miss him.
I enjoyed watching him play. You need one of those players who are just swirly every day and just don't care what everybody else thinks. liked watching him. I like that. Ron in Calgary had some thoughts. Ron.
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Chapter 6: How does the team handle the pressure of player performance and expectations?
I don't know how he's not. I would think he'd start. Well, it depends on the fan vote, right? You know, now Blue Jays fans are well ā and there's nothing wrong with this. Blue Jays fans are well-known for getting behind players. I mean, they ā God, they got Jose Bautista in as a writing candidate. Josh Donaldson's another guy. So, yeah, you could certainly do worse.
Louis Varlin's a no-brainer. Putting Ernie in. I feel kind of guilty because I think I've been a little guilty of sort of looking at Ernie and going, yeah, boy, he plays hard and he's overachieving. See, I don't think we can look at Ernie as an overachiever anymore. I think Ernie's just a really good baseball player.
I don't think you overachieve your way into being the best offensive second baseman in baseball. I think that... you deserve credit for having more. Hard work is great, but there's a certain amount of talent that goes into that as well. So those are the three guys for me. Yeah, I don't disagree with Ernie, but I think it's okay to say, you know, it's not fair to him to put him in a three-hole.
That's a lot of heavy lifting. No, I agree with you completely. Natalia in Sorrento, B.C.
Hi there. Hi. I've just been a fan of the Blue Jays forever, and I just think that some real ā Serious changes have to be made. I think surgery's got to be put on the BFA list and bringing up Mackle, Andrews, and Dallas back is going to strengthen our pitching abilities. And as you can see, the pitchers that are good are holding the line. Bye for now.
Thanks so much for everything you chat on on your program.
Awesome. Well, thanks, Natalia. That's very nice. That's very nice. Yeah, I mean, we both said, and we were not the only ones, and Joe Siddle was on with us. We kind of looked at each other, went out, and Malcolm went out, and I said, that's not the guy I would have sent out. He has options. Baseball's not fair sometimes. He does have options.
But there are guys that they've kept that I really don't care one way or another. Can I say this real quick? I hope they don't DFA Scherzer. I don't think it'll get to that. I hope not. I don't think it'll get to that. Make something. If it comes to that, he wants to stick around. He wants to be a part of the team. You know, it's up to him whether he thinks he can be good going forward.
There will be a way out of this. It's just not apparent to us right now. And that's fine because nobody's ā You know, nobody has to come out and say, you know, we talked about this ahead of time. I am going to ask John tomorrow, though. Like, did... You know, is there a plan in place for that decision having to be reached ultimately? I think that's a good question.
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