Afleveringen
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Guests: Blue Jays icons Pat Hentgen and Vernon Wells
With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. putting pen to paper on the second-largest contract in baseball history, one that will keep him with the team until 2039, when heâs forty years old, and could very well make him the first âForever Blue Jay,â we are joined by two of the greatest players in club history. Pat Hentgen, who won 19 games for the 1993 World Series champs and picked up the teamâs first Cy Young award in 1996, was a Blue Jay for 10 years and in the organization for 15. Vernon Wells, who is in the top five of almost every offensive category in the Jaysâ all-time record book and still holds the teamâs single-season record with 215 hits (2003), spent 12 years with the Jays and was in the organization for 14. Theyâll talk about what it means to play in Toronto for a long time, to be stars here, and what the future could hold for Vladdy as a fellow iconic Blue Jay who will rewrite the teamâs record book and may well be headed for Cooperstown by the time heâs done.
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Overnight, the news broke that the Jays and their superstar slugger have agreed to the second-largest contract in baseball history. Guerrero will be a Blue Jay through his age-40 season with a 14-year, $500 million (U.S.) deal that kicks in beginning next season. We threw down a special bonus episode of Deep Left Field for you, sharing our thoughts about what this means, why it happened now and who could have been behind the final push to get a deal done nearly two months after Guerreroâs deadline passed. We also took your questions and comments on Bluesky!
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Guests: Blue Jays second baseman Andres Gimenez, outfielder Alan Roden, pitcher Jacob Barnes, Orioles/Baseball Canada outfielder Tyler OâNeill
This week in Deep Left Field, we talk to the clean-up man, record-setting slugger Andres Gimenez, who has 60% of the Jaysâ home runs so far. Rookie sensation Alan Roden catches us up on his first week in the big leagues and weâll also meet one of the new, but also not so new, guys in the Jaysâ bullpen, Jacob Barnes. As well, we talk to Burnaby, B.C.âs Tyler OâNeill, who extended an incredible major-league record by hitting a home run on opening day for the sixth straight season.
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Guests: Blue Jays 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., closer Jeff Hoffman, OF Anthony Santander, starters Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman, manager John Schneider
The 2025 season is finally upon us and so we bring you the Opening Day Extravaganza! The fifth season of Deep Left Field begins with a star-studded roster of guests to get you ready for the season. Youâll hear from star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. about his spring, his thoughts on the off-season changes and his future with the team. Youâll meet new Jays Anthony Santander and Jeff Hoffman, both of whom will be playing critical roles in the success (or otherwise) of this season. 40 percent of the starting rotation joins us in Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman, and manager John Schneider sits down for a conversation about his long tenure with the organization, his thoughts on Bo Bichette and Vladdy and his expectations for the coming year. The Opening Day Extravaganza is here!
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Guests: Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis, hitting coach David Popkins, Vancouver Canadians 1B Peyton Williams
Spring training is over and the Blue Jays are back home in Toronto, coming off their Grapefruit League title, getting set to open their season on March 27 against the Baltimore Orioles. We go over the season-opening 26-man roster for you, which includes a few surprises, then hear from last yearâs breakout star, Bowden Francis, who has to wait until March 31 to make his first start of the season. The Jays revamped their hitting department over the winter, and youâll meet new hitting coach David Popkins, who has the players buying what heâs selling, at least so far. Also, they call him The Iowa Meat Truck â we chat with up-and-coming young slugger Peyton Williams.
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Guests: Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano, Blue Jays pitcher Nick Sandlin
Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro held his annual spring training session with the media and we take you through what he had to say in painstaking detail. His confidence that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would re-sign with the Jays, despite their failure to make a deal all winter, the state of the farm system, whether players like Daulton Varsho, Andres Gimenez and Alejandro Kirk need to hit better for the Jays to succeed and much more.
Also, we head over to Phillies camp to check in with âthe one who they let get away.â Jordan Romano is thriving in his new digs. And meet the new guy â Nick Sandlin!
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Guests: Blue Jays outfielder Alan Roden, starter Max Scherzer, top pitching prospect Trey Yesavage
Deep Left Field is back in Dunedin as the Blue Jays move into their final week of spring training leading the Grapefruit League with a 14-9-1 record!
This week, we talk to the story of the spring â young Alan Roden, who is trying to hit his way onto the team and doing a spectacular job so far, batting .409. We also hear from Trey Yesavage, the Jaysâ first-round pick in 2024 who made his pro debut in this weekendâs Spring Breakout game with two shutout innings, and starter Max Scherzer, whose spring has been derailed by thumb soreness.
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Guests: Toronto Star baseball columnist Gregor Chisholm
This week, Gregor and I crack open the mailbag and tackle your Blue Jays questions submitted by email, on Bluesky and here at thestar.com. We touch on the leak of Vladdyâs contract demands, the broken promises of Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins, a Jaysâ fanâs existential crises and much more! One submission was pretty much a plea for Vladdy to get off the writerâs lawn! Your questions answered on this episode of Deep Left Field!
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Guest: Ellen Harrigan, current Los Angeles Dodgers VP of baseball administration and Blue Jays front office member from 1981-1995.
This week, weâre joined by Ellen Harrigan, who is about to begin her 45th season working in baseball. She started out with the Blue Jays in Exhibition Stadium in 1981, as part of a skeleton-crew front office, and will receive her fourth career World Series ring next month (Blue Jays 1992-93, Dodgers 2020, 2024).
Harrigan shares her story, from the quirky way she landed that first job with the Jays out of high school, to working for the modern-day Dodgers of Betts, Ohtani, Freeman and Sasaki. She was the first woman ever to be the general manager of a professional baseball team and has been a mentor, teacher and pioneer for women in baseball for decades.
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Guests: Former Blue Jays Communications Director, current Niagara Ironbacks owner Mal Romanin
With spring training games underway, many Blue Jays fans are still having a hard time getting the taste of a rough winter out of their mouths. The failure to lock up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Roki Sasaki debacle will be the biggest stories of the Jaysâ off-season, and have just added to the fury of the fanbase that seems to be close to boiling over, if it hasnât already. Mal Romanin, who was a member of the Jaysâ communications team from the J.P. Ricciardi era through the 2015 resurgence and into the beginning of the Mark Shapiro-Ross Atkins regime, joins us to talk about how baseballâs public relations teams deal with crises, whether theyâre generated by the front office or the players, and shares stories of some of the fires he had to try to help put out when he was with the team.
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Guests: Toronto Star Baseball Columnist Gregor Chisholm
Spring training is underway in Dunedin, Florida, and Gregor Chisholm has been there since the first day, which means he was there when the news broke that the Blue Jays had failed to come to a long-term contract agreement with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Gregor joins us to discuss all the goings-on from camp, first and foremost the how and why Guerrero is moving into a walk year that nobody wanted. Aside from the Vladdy story, we talk about what heâs seen and heard during the first week of spring. Baseball is back!
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Guests: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 Inductees Jose Bautista and Greg Hamilton
This week, we celebrate the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as it announces the newest honoured members who will take their place among the immortals at the Hall on Induction Day, June 7 in St. Marys. Jose Bautista headlines the class and he joins us to talk about his career with the Blue Jays, from the beginning to the BatFlip and beyond, and to reflect on becoming a Hall of Famer. Greg Hamilton, the Director of National Teams for Baseball Canada for a quarter-century, also stops by to talk about his career, his impact on baseball in Canada and his well-earned recognition from the Hall.
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Guests: Aaron Abrams, star of CTVâs âChildren Ruin Everything,â plus clips from Max Scherzer and Ross Atkinsâ news conference
and we bring you clips and analysis of that news conference. Scherzer talks about his health, the hows and whys of his coming to Toronto, his motivations in finally coming to the AL East and his feelings about baseballâs data revolution. Ross Atkins avoids a question about a possible contract extension for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Also, TV star and huge Jays fan Aaron Abrams joins us for a Jays vibe check as they get set to head to spring training.
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The Blue Jays Add A Hall of Famer
A busy January on the free agent front came to a close with the Blue Jays snagging Max Scherzer, the 40-year-old eight-time all-star who will bring his three Cy Young awards and two World Series rings to town with him.
With five trips to the injured list in the past two seasons, and only having been able to make nine starts in 2024, what does Scherzer have left to add to a decent Jays rotation? Can he stay healthy, and if he does how much should be expected of him? Does the big right-hander help the Jays in their quest to get back to the post-season?
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Guests: Blue Jays 1B coach Mark Budzinski, former Baseball Canada slugger Scott Thorman
Not too many people in the Jaysâ system know their new acquisition, Anthony Santander, better than Mark Budzinski, who managed Santander at two levels of the minor leagues. We get the goods on the new guy from his ex-skipper, who is very excited for the reunion. Also, we catch up with Cambridge, Ontarioâs Scott Thorman, a Baseball Canada standout and Joey Vottoâs inspiration growing up.
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The Blue Jays introduced Anthony Santander, their first major offensive acquisition in four years, and we bring you clips of his media availability and interpret Ross Atkinsâ attempts to sidestep criticism for the Roki Sasaki debacle and the Jaysâ failure (so far) to sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a contract extension. We examine the Cooperstown Class of 2025, as well as those who fell just short in the voting, and talk to Ayami Sato, the greatest female baseball player of the modern era, who will become the first woman to play pro ball for a Canadian team when she suits up for the Intercounty Maple Leafs this summer.
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Only days after the Roki Sasaki debacle, the Blue Jays finally added a significant power bat, the first time theyâve done such a thing in four years. Anthony Santander, a switch-hitter who clubbed 44 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles last season, got a five-year deal worth a reported $92.5 million to come to Toronto, and his slugging stylings are desperately needed for a team that finished 26th in the majors in home runs last season.
The addition of Santander bolsters a lineup that only had one hitter with as many as 20 home runs last year, and was definitely a significant enough move to warrant a special bonus episode. Finally, some good Blue Jays news.
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Thereâs no shame in making an aggressive attempt to sign a coveted free agent but falling short, and the Blue Jays have done that several times over the past few years, whether it was with superduperstars Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto or mere mortals like Corbin Burnes, Justin Verlander and Xander Bogaerts, but the way the Jays mismanaged the pursuit of Roki Sasaki required a special episode of Deep Left Field.
Not only did the Jays miss out on the 23-year-old Japanese phenom, who pings the radar gun at 102 mph, they quite literally threw away $11 million (U.S.) in doing so. This one wasnât disappointing, it was infuriating.
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Guests: Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman, Canadian Womenâs National Team shortstop Mia Valcke
The Blue Jays re-introduced Jeff Hoffman to the Toronto media this week, bringing the right-hander back as a free agent 11 years after drafting him and 10 years after trading him to Colorado in the Troy Tulowitzki deal. We bring you highlights of the conversation with Hoffman, including his comments about failed physicals with Baltimore and Atlanta and whether he will be the Jaysâ closer in 2025. Also, the Baseball Canada Ashley Stephenson Award winner, Mia Valcke, joins us to talk about her move from the outfield to shortstop in order to help Team Canada reach the podium at the 2024 World Cup. Plus thoughts on the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes and the ballot for the Cooperstown class of 2025.
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