Chapter 1: What are the Toronto Blue Jays' recent struggles against the Rays?
Well, the Jays talk plus season could be off to a better start. Toronto Blue Jays lost on Sunday heading into episode one and then they lost last night. I was back down at the ballpark after a week or two away for Raptors playoff stuff and it did not go particularly well. Toronto Blue Jays lose eight to five to the Tampa Bay Rays.
It is the fourth already that they've lost to the Rays fourth in the last like eight days. Tough one for Kevin Gosman.
He did hit the career milestone of 2,000 career strikeouts, but also had his worst start of the season, seven runs, six earned over four and two-thirds, pitch inefficient over those first two innings where he gave up five, tried to give the Blue Jays some length from there, wasn't able to. So a day after they did the Miles, Nance, Lauer, stack. They had to use four relievers yesterday.
A little bit of roster churn with Eric Lauer getting designated for assignment before the game. We saw Yariel Rodriguez's return yesterday and it was maybe what you remember and certainly what you saw at AAA where he walked a batter but struck two batters out. The stuff looked nasty. Not entirely sure where it's going to go every single time but
There have been relievers who have had control issues in the past and been just fine if they have the swing and miss stuff. There was also a caught stealing of Ben Williamson in there. So nice to see Yariel Rodriguez back. Nice to be back on Jay's Talk Plus and back down at the ballpark.
And very nice to be joined as we are regularly on JTP by Dan Schulman, voice of the Toronto Blue Jays on Sportsnet. He joins us now. Dan, how are we doing?
We're doing great. I got the dog with me as always. This is always, when you invite me, you're inviting two of us. That's just the way it goes.
Look, if Sunday can get some camera time, that's all good with me. You would not be the first to have a dog sneak on. Before Julia was the co-host, her dog was a regular interrupter of the show during her guest segments as well. So all pets welcome here.
Good, good. She's happy right where she is right now.
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Chapter 2: How did Kevin Gausman's performance impact the Blue Jays?
that we can circle back to in a second, but also in part because he had his worst start of the season. Ray's seen him for a second time in the span of seven or eight days. The velocity was back up a little bit from what we've seen, but just didn't quite have it. Obviously, that first inning was a little weird. He had the comebacker. There was an error there.
What did you make of Kevin Gosman, you know, for really the first time this year, not quite having it yesterday?
You know, it's crazy. I mean, you know, I've seen a million Rays games and done a million Rays games and just stuff happens when the Blue Jays play the Rays. And the fact that it began with that kind of a play from Chandler Simpson and then Gossman, unable to make the play, you know, couldn't catch the liner, then went after it, tried to pick it up.
You could see he kind of snuck a peek out of the corner of his eye, whereas Simpson, because Simpson is so fast, unable to pick up the ball. If he makes that play, like, who knows? But it's... Maybe a totally different inning and maybe somewhat of a different night. I mean, he'd be the first to tell you he left some pitches where he didn't want to leave them. Right.
But there's the play where Simpson reaches. And it was originally scored an error, but then changed to a base hit. And if he makes the play there. He gets Simpson as fast as Simpson is, in my opinion. But then they just started, you know, raising their way to three runs in this inning and two in that. And they hit some balls hard, right?
Like Taylor Walls, who doesn't hit and not a great hitter, crushed the ball to right center for a triple. We know what Ronda later on in the game hit a home run. He left some pitches where he didn't want to leave them, and they made him pay. They're a very pesky, annoying offensive team because they refuse to swing and miss. They're kind of like the Blue Jays were last year.
I said it last night on the air. You may or may not have heard of their contact percentage. The difference between them and the second place team is basically the same as the second place team to the 16th place team. It's just crazy how infrequently they swing and miss. And they they're doing what they need to do to win games.
And I know people hate giving them credit, but you got to give them credit. They're playing really good baseball right now. Unfortunate for Gosman. I'm sure he would have loved to have gotten the milestone in a game where he pitched better and they won. But it is still a notable accomplishment.
Still one that he was, you know, you could see he was touched by it, but didn't want to lose his game face for too long. But only six active major leaguers have done it. And only 91 guys in the history of baseball have done it. It's a it's a pretty cool accomplishment.
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Chapter 3: What does Kevin Gausman's 2000 career strikeouts milestone mean?
And in my opinion, you know, him being all sorts of disruptive and, you know, probably messing with a pitcher's psyche to a certain extent. While those guys are coming up, that all plays into the hands of the race.
Yeah, you'd love to focus on Junior Caminero. He's got 11 home runs. He's a very dangerous pull shot hitter, but you've got to worry about this pesky guy on first. And yeah, Jake Cook, he was the one last year that's kind of like, well, you do college basketball. I didn't have that good a season, but at the combine, I just tested out of the gym. And that was kind of it.
Blaine Bullard, another one who they – I think it was a 12th-round pick that they went over slot to keep around. He's got 16 stolen bases in 27 games already at A-ball. So fun to see those kind of guys in the system. The other thing with Simpson, too, is that transition from he wasn't an outfielder coming up and now he's an outfielder and now his defense has gotten better is that like –
Last year, there was a question, and as a fantasy baseball sicko, you love a guy who has 50 stolen base potential, but if the batting average and or defense aren't enough to keep you in the lineup, like Nassim Nunez, for example, with like a 270 OBP, he's not playing every day.
Chandler Simpson's now gotten good enough with the contact and with the defense that he's a real everyday guy for that team. Annoying stuff on the Rays side. Not unexpected that they have figured out a way to nobody projected them to make the playoffs. None of the underlying metrics really say they should be this good. And of course, they're the Rays, so they're this good.
Want to circle back on the Kevin Gosman thing. So again, he did reach the 2000. career strikeout mark last night. You mentioned 91 players ever to do it, sixth active player to do it. And while he would have liked it in better circumstances, surely from a game perspective, it's pretty cool. Like you look back at his career and he was, you know, bouncing between starter and reliever.
He changed teams a couple times. He was designated for assignment. And now you look, and not only is he sixth among active pitchers and strikeout leaders, he's starting to make a dent in some of the Blue Jays leaderboards here in year five with the Jays. So when you look at, this accomplishment for Kevin Gosman, and maybe you'll talk to him today about it. I'm not sure.
Obviously, we didn't talk to him yesterday on a start day. You know, how special do you think that is for a guy who has had to go through a lot of different kind of arcs, a couple different styles of pitching? The splitter wasn't always there. You know, Caleb Joseph knows his start well. For a guy to have that kind of roundabout a route, to find his way as an ace in baseball to get to this.
How meaningful do you think that is for him and just, you know, for baseball to have a guy figure it out and then stick around that long?
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Chapter 4: What changes occurred with Eric Lauer's designation for assignment?
They bring in Ponce. They bring in Scherzer. They bring in Corbin. Like I think the Blue Jays were telling you, in a perfect world, Lauer was their long man. not a starter, but because of the injuries, he kept winding up for the most part as a starter. Then they use an opener in front of him. And he was very vocal about not liking that.
So beyond the results, I mean, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest the relationship had suffered on both sides. And then maybe it was just time to part company, but yes, they are very thin. And yes, none of those guys that you just mentioned are particularly close right now. Schneider said yesterday, if he had to guess, the first guy back would be either Scherzer or Bieber, not Barrios.
Bieber, if he's throwing to live hitters today, he'll probably do that two, three times and then maybe start getting into games. Like a month is, I don't even think a month is realistic. I think you're looking at five, six weeks at a minimum late June. Like we're talking about missing the first half of the season.
I think by the time he gets back, if he gets back and if he feels good and if he pitches like he's capable of pitching and we can't assume anything like we've been doing this Jimmy Garcia thing for three months now too, right? And now he's feeling sore again. You just can't assume what a guy is going to feel like and look like when they come back from a major injury.
And obviously Shane Bieber had the Tommy John and at times looked great last year, pitched some big games. But clearly they knew in the winter, not 100%, and that he was not going to be ready to start the season. So what do they do? I am not in the camp of stretching out Spencer Miles. And I think Spencer Miles has been great, like a real find.
You know, hat tip to the front office for whoever suggested getting him in the Rule 5 draft. But he's just got so few innings in his career under his belt. And I talked to him yesterday. He says he is... The healthiest he's ever been. He feels great. The Tommy John and the back surgery are way behind him. No concerns at all. But I don't know if you want to.
You can't put him up to 140, 150 innings this year, whatever the number would be. I think he's in a great spot now. And if he has a great year, you can look at that again next year about stretching him out if you have a need.
and you think he's able and and i also don't think they can do this piggyback cobble it together bullpen day over and over and over again they start 17 games instead 17 days on friday the lower spot is coming up saturday so it's in games 2 7 12 and 17. they need it four times in a row on regular rest
I don't know what they're going to do, but I think whoever's going to get a lot of those innings is not on the roster right now. Whether that means a C.J. Van Eyck or a Chad Dallas, or whether, as you know, you were there, you know, John Schneider dropped external breadcrumb in his comments yesterday.
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Chapter 5: How is Chandler Simpson performing for the Rays this season?
You don't want to be doing that to Kevin Gosman and Patrick Corbin.
And after this turn, you can't do it again for 17 days, and then it's 45 games in 48 days starting Friday. You can't Band-Aid this. You've got to figure this out if you can't.
No, and then there's the, you know, Patrick Corbin's been excellent, but the underlying stuff is not 360 ERA. And he was, there was a reason he was available as he was. So you got to kind of cross your fingers that that spot's there too. So Dan, I have to go back to the off season. I don't know how much of this you got.
And I don't know how you're probably smarter than me for not looking at your Twitter mentions and stuff like that. At the time, the Blue Jays added Max Scherzer back, which was SP8 at the time. I was getting messages and tweets. Where are they going to use all these guys? And I lean on the Dan Schulmanism of these things have a way of working themselves out.
I never want to hear ever again that there might be too many pitchers or where are you going to fit all these guys? It's kind of remarkable how this has gone.
Yeah, so SP8, I'm sure most of your audience knows, but, you know, the eighth starting pitcher in line. And so at that point, again, they knew Bieber was not going to be ready to start the season, and they knew Yusavage was not going to be ready to start the season. So let's bump him up at the time of the signing to SP6.
And again, as I said, and I'm sure you would agree, like, I think they made it obvious without saying it out loud. They preferred to have Lauer as a long man at a regular starter because they just kept signing guys. So, you know, when they signed Scherzer, like boom, right away, he was in the rotation.
And then, you know, the one injury that they've had and they've had so many, but the one injury that hasn't gotten discussed enough. And I know you mentioned it already is Cody Ponce. Like that is a major, major setback for this team. I don't know. you know, how effective he would have been. But I think he would have been pretty effective.
The sample size was small from what we saw in the spring, and then two and a third innings in his only outing before he injured his knee. But I think he would have been a big, strong guy who would have gone out to you and pitched a lot of innings and kept you in ballgames and really kind of stabilized the staff.
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Chapter 6: What factors contribute to the Rays' unexpected success this year?
You're also seeing him in those times. You know, he'll spit on something that's right on the edge. And his eye is untouched. And now he's, you know, chasing up over 30% of the time. Like, I think it's the first time his career has been above league average, chasing outside the zone. So to me, that says, you know, maybe it's pressing a little bit.
Maybe it's just not adjusting yet to the way pitchers are. You know, he's had a tough time with breakers and stuff like that. But... Yeah, that to me is the I'm pressing stat when I look at Vlad's profile. So like you said, he'll surely come out of it. We've done this once a year since 2022 kind of, but it's tough when the offense is going as it is.
Dan, real quick before we let you go here, because I'm keeping you too long as I always do. Jay's got off to a start similar to this in 2024 and 2025. 2024 continued on that way. They end up selling 2025. They turned it around right around this time of year. When you look at how this has gone, neither of those last two years were injury related in the way that some of this can be explained.
Do you see anything in the you know, when you compare those three seasons that lends optimism that the turnaround might might come here? Or is it a little too bit of a black box still?
No, I think the one reason to be pessimistic, as we've said, is they let the easiest part of their schedule go by already without taking advantage of it. I think there are two reasons to be optimistic. One is the American League, with the exception of two teams, is just a big ball of sludge right now. So they got to pick six teams.
And, you know, you can play the game like, well, to get to 88 wins, they're going to have whatever they're going to have to go. And how can
they possibly play 580 ball to get there but i'm not sure the number's 88 this year now teams are going to start getting better and separating themselves a little bit but i think it's good news that and i know it's silly and early to say out of the last wild card spot but what are they a game and a half two games something like that right like very very few teams have pulled away um and that is a good thing for the toronto blue jays so
The other good thing, as you say, is one would assume eventually they are going to get healthier. I mean, if I said to you, who were their most important hitters? Guerrero's obviously number one, not hitting like we know he can. George Springer was their best hitter last year. You know, he's been on the IL with a fractured toe and then...
had it happen again, although he didn't rebreak it, thankfully he's going to get going at some point, but he hasn't gotten going yet. Alejandro Kirk has played in five games or six games or something like that. Out of the 41 Addison bargers played in like eight games or nine games. Like these are four along with Okamoto, a newcomer.
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Chapter 7: How does Kevin Cash maximize his team's potential?
When we come back, we'll hear from the voice of the Tampa Bay Rays since day one. Dwayne Stats, one of the legends in Major League Baseball broadcasting. Broadcasting in year 51 of his baseball career right now. Joins us on the other side as Jstock Plus continues.
Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome back to Jays Talk Plus. Blake Murphy with you, the Toronto Blue Jays. Back in action tonight, 7.07 at Rogers Center after a battle of front of the rotation righties. Last night, Kevin Gosman and Drew Rasmussen, both of whom the opposing team had just seen last week, will get a battle of lefties tonight. Shane McClanahan. who is back to looking like Shane McClanahan.
It's been a long road back health-wise, but not stuff-wise. He looks real good. He'll take on Patrick Corbin, who has been an oasis for the Blue Jays after signing early in the season. And yeah, really helping stabilize one of the rotation spots that was in flux. They continue to have rotation spots in flux, as we talked about with Dan Schulman. But let's get the Rays side of this.
Let's talk to Dwayne Stats, voice of the Rays on play-by-play on the television side, an absolute legend in the game. Dwayne, thanks so much for joining us. How are you doing?
Blake, my pleasure. Good to be with you. Everything's working out well so far.
Yeah, for you and for the Tampa Bay Rays. So let's start at a high level, Dwayne. Coming into this season, people didn't have big expectations for this Rays team. You know, you look at the playoff projections and they weren't quite as high as the other teams in the American League East. And here they are in first place and they're nine and a half games up on the Blue Jays.
I know that for the last... decade or so, the Rays have always found a way. What have you made of the start this year? And how are the Rays finding a way this year, despite expectations?
Well, that's a great question. I'll tell you, Eric Neander, who heads up the baseball office. I think has stepped right in over the last few years to run that office. And they have a great staff. They make evaluations on people that other clubs seem to miss. And I'll tell you, in spring training, it was an interesting little look because they had
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the Blue Jays' offensive struggles?
There aren't many guys out there who would just be mop-up guys, but there are a lot of guys with a lot of different looks. out of that bullpen. And they'll use them according to situations and hitters they have to face and all of that. So it's always fun to see what happens next with this club in terms of who comes out of the pen and, you know, and everyday players as well.
One of the guys who we've been really impressed with is Ben Williamson, the infielder. And, you know, he was in Seattle and He's come over here. He's had a nice bat, a good approach hitting, and he's a guy who can play all over the infield. You can stick him probably on a corner outfield, too, if you had to. They find guys like that. They find guys like that in the bullpen.
They find position players like that to fill out a roster. And that makes, for me, that makes this a really interesting and fun team to follow.
Yeah, and it makes it a tough team to play six times in a 10-day stretch. We'll probably see Williamson in there today with a lefty on the hill for the Blue Jays. Dwayne, it was great to get to chat with you. Have been a fan of your play-by-play for a very long time. So thanks to you so much for doing this and enjoy the game later.
Well, I appreciate it.
You're very kind and we're looking forward to more fun baseball. Well, great chatting. Thanks, Dwayne.
voice of the Tampa Bay rays on television. And he has been there since day one, 1998. Uh, when that team got introduced, he has 51 years in major league baseball, did some, uh, came up as a Cardinals fan, did some Cubs stuff, uh, a few other teams as well. A Ford C Frick award nominee, a, uh, what? 7,000 plus games. He's called 10. No hitters. Um, Yeah, fascinating guy.
That's one where off-air I would like to bend his ear for a long time. We got a game tonight. Just mentioned, it's Patrick Corbin against Shane McClanahan. If you are looking for what will be different on the Rays' side, they have three spots in their lineup that are basically strict platoons. So we saw Jake Fraley, Richie Palacios, and Cedric Mullins in there yesterday against a righty.
They'll probably be back in there tomorrow. against the righty, but today those spots will almost surely go to Ben Williamson, Johnny DeLuca, and Ryan Valade as they kind of have three just full-time straight platoon, lefty, righty, no swing path, pitch type stuff, old school platoon style there. Otherwise, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect with this team.
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