Blue Jays Stretch Drive + Canada's FIBA Run with Dan Shulman | Jays Talk Plus

uh the Jay's Bullpen very well rested for better for worse off day today haven't used a lot of arms lately are you treating this series against Colorado this series against Oakland coming out of it um obviously they're not must win games mathematically but is everything on the table to make sure you take I don't know seven or eight of these next nine absolutely I don't see how it can't be uh you know the good news is you've got an extra Arm coming we assume it's Chad green so that you've got nin

e relievers uh I think it's almost playoff baseball I I mean this is the position they're in being two and a half out of a playoff spot so um if it was a month earlier I would say no and and but uh but I I think so I I think you got to win the game in front of you right now and and part of the reason you have so much depth in your Bullpen is that so if Romano can pitch you can use Hicks if Swanson can pitch once he's back you can use green if Mesa can't pitch you can use Cabrera so yeah I I thin

k it's uh full steam ahead every game they they've got to make up ground right now over these next nine games what you know whatever the magic number is six and three seven and two eight and one whatever it is I I don't know but they've got to play really really well and put themselves in a decent uh situation by the time Texas comes to town here's the magic number for you 9-0 I mean these teams they have a combined 310 winning percentage when they're not playing against each other it's uh it's

I know the road games and and it's traveling things like that uh but this is the time you mentioned Chad green we are all very very close to certain that he will be the extra arm added tomorrow when rosters expand he has had a pretty good and pretty extended run here in tune-up games 12 in the third Innings two earned runs a 15-1 strikeout to walk ratio fastball velocity up to about 94 and a half now he's coming off Tommy John we haven't seen him in the major leagues in a while so we have to tem

per expectations a little bit but this is a guy you have seen a lot of over the years both as a you know calling the Blue Jays games and calling postseason games when the Yankees were involved uh what are your expectations for what Chad green can add to this Bullpen if he's himself that's great if he's himself as he's a guy who I mean he could close the game if you want him to I don't think they'll need him to do that but if you if you want three outs in the eighth inning okay if you want five o

uts you know from the sixth through the seventh okay he can do that he's nothing is going to intimidate him as you said he's been through he you know he's been around the block a few times so um you know I don't know how you want to rank these guys like you've got Romano at the end and then you've got Hicks is probably the second guy uh Chad green to me goes in there Swanson's not here right now but you know is he at the Jimmy Garcia level is he ahead of Jimmy Garcia he's just another Dependable

quality arm another guy who can go out and get three out so you don't have to use another guy for a second inning or another guy who can go out and get three out so you don't have to use another guy a second day in a row it's just another option it's another guy who should be able to get big outs maybe you can get the starter out of there a little bit earlier when you've got that extra reliever on the team so I I think he'll help I mean again this is strengthening arguably the strongest part of

their team which is great for them to get them in the playoffs they've got to do better on the weaker side which is the offense right that's really what's ultimately I think going to determine whether they get in or Not by getting shot green is going to be a nice dish and then on the offensive side you can obviously add another position player with rosters expanding here it's not quite as straightforward as the Chad green one it may also be temporary because we're anticipating Boba shett and Ma

tt Chapman missing if not the minimum then close to the minimum so they could potentially be back in that Kansas City series when the Jays are back home but John Schneider you know maybe tipped their hand a little bit yesterday he mentioned that a contact profile at the plate is something they would like to add to this team uh you know we'd given how they've used the end of the roster spots in the past it seemed like maybe it was a Nathan Lucas spot here do Schneider's comments change your think

ing on that do you give us Spencer Horowitz type a longer look how do you feel about the position player Edition tomorrow well the first thing so I was in the office when Schneider said that and I kind of smiled on the inside because because I was like oh it's a mystery it's a game like now it's a clue he's given us a clue and I think he said what he said for a reason I don't think he was surprised he got the question and I think maybe he just said it so he wouldn't have to deal with a lot of a

relis Martinez and Addison Barger questions I'm not sure because but I think there are two possibilities and you name both of them um like I know Nathan Lucas isn't the you know he's 28 years old is he a prospect you know maybe not the sexiest name out there but he's done fine when he's been with the Blue Jays which wasn't very often he barely played and he's had a really nice Triple A year as well so I think it could be Lucas or it could be Horwitz um as you know and I heard you and Chris black

talking about it like if Brandon Belt is okay there's not much of a spot for Spencer Horwitz unless it's coming off the bench and that was another line that Schneider said we want somebody who can he didn't say Thrive but who can do well when they're not playing very often like that's you know you're not calling up a guy to play six days a week at this point I don't think so uh it you know maybe it's just a pinch hitting kind of thing um you know if Alejandra Kirk starts at catcher and his bat'

s not going great could Horowitz come off the bench and pinch it against a righty in the seventh inning maybe yeah so I think it's going to be either Horowitz or Lucas Lucas obviously offers more of a defensive possibility can play all three Outfield spots and he's a better Runner although I don't know that we would see him as a pinch Runner all that much is possible Horowitz is the Intriguing guy and I am a card carrying member of the Spencer Horowitz fan club my wallet's getting kind of thick

because I was in the David Schneider fan club early I'm in the Ernie club and fan club now and I got a lot of fan clubs going on right now but I think the dude can hit and I know offense is up at Triple A's I heard you guys talk but um I've talked to people who have played with him and know him very well and to a man everybody has said it it's real it's real so the strike zone judgment I think the power is coming the power is growing if you look at what he's done in the second half of the season

the power is coming mostly I hope he's on the 26-man roster next year to be honest with you that's where I spend about 99 of my Spencer Horwitz uh thoughts but um I think he's got a shot and and maybe just as a pinch hitter but I I think there is some value there if he if he's the guy that they pick up certainly yeah you look ahead to 2024 well Brandon belt's a free agent and everyone's really liked having him but if you have you know if you have Brandon Belt at home or you think someone could

be Brandon Belt uh from your minor league system maybe give a shot if if Nathan Lucas does get the call and anyone is disappointed by that in any way because they've heard everything about Spencer Horace and seen the numbers uh he Nathan Lewis hitting 345 AAA and has an Ops four points higher like zero zero four points higher than Spencer Horowitz so not a not a terrible option there I guess the other if you had asked me this a couple days ago hey Boba shots going on the IL and rosters are expan

ding I would have guessed that both of those guys were up were you caught off guard or surprised at all by the the Mason McCoy decision when Bo hit the IL a little bit I mean Otto Lopez is on the IL I guess what surprised me and I don't know you know we don't have to get into the whole pinch running thing but they they you know they call them up not to hit they called them up because he can play defense and he can run and I was surprised he didn't run in that situation we didn't talk much about

it on the air at all to be honest with you and I remember at the moment wondering if I was missing something like I just I just wanted to make sure I knew um you know what was going on but I I was a little bit surprised um because they have Clemente and they have espinal they already have two guys who can play shortstop so um and they've got like five guys who can play Third Base and four guys who can play second base so they're they're not short there um it wouldn't have surprised me if Lucas c

ame up even though that's not a positional thing uh you know a positional fit so I mean the short answer is yes I I was surprised that Mason McCoy came up because I I just didn't see that many opportunities for them to use them like I happen to think Ernie Clement can really play defense from what I've seen like I I've watched them do drills before the game and seen a handful of plays mostly it's short he can pick it I mean he's good so like you're I don't think you're putting McCoy in for Cleme

nt defensively so are you moving you know one of them the second or one of them the third maybe I guess but it just seems to me like they you know between Schneider and Biggio and espinal and Maryfield who can play second you know they've got a lot of coverage so yeah I thought they might bring up somebody who might be able to contribute with the bad I I I don't think it's a relis Martinez or Addison Barger it's um that's not happening in my opinion um if if if I think there's a one percent chan

ce of one of them I would pick a relis Martinez over Addison Barger at this point but I I thought it might be Nathan Lucas and I know it doesn't make sense but well we'll see how it goes there could be they might change their minds like on like tomorrow there might be two guys coming up and McCoy going back down I don't know like John Schneider got Mason McCoy into that game last night and part of that part of that made me think he wanted him he wanted to get him in a bat you know I don't want h

im to be with merrifield's Dad and half days of service time and zero games right yeah Moonlight Graham in real life and and you know that that sort of thing and Moonlight got to the play once but um or in the movie but yeah but part of me made it that's that's what made me think I wonder if two guys are coming but uh the beauty is 24 hours from now we'll we'll all know what's going on and and they'll be adding some pieces that can help them um and and they've got to get on a run like there's no

there's no time like the present and funky things happen in Colorado even with bad Colorado teams sometimes right but they've got to roll through these next nine games and put themselves in the best uh position they can I actually sat and watched the end as I was doing some Canada Brazil prep last night um I had the Mets and the Rangers on my TV in the background it's fun time of year right now so you know the the Mets do the Blue Jays a solid yesterday they hit a two-run home run in the eighth

and then Texas absolutely blew an opportunity in the top of the ninth and then the oldest Chapman hit a guy to uh to force in the winning run so so that was a good night for the Blue Jays DJ Stewart going absolutely Jose Bautista 09 mode with uh I think eight home runs nine home runs in uh this last little stretch here uh you mentioned you're doing prep for Canada basketball let's pivot there now I will say the one other possibility with the roster expansion there are a whole bunch of guys on w

aivers right now we'll find that out a little later today if the Blue Jays were involved in that and anyone made it to them uh Canada we know the roster the only question mark is hey is Lou door back tomorrow that is the expectation but for anyone who hasn't been paying attention hasn't been hearing Dan on the calls on Sportsnet the Canadian senior men's basketball team had a perfect 3-0 first round at the fibo World Cup they had the highest point differential in the first round they'll now play

Brazil on Friday and Spain on Sunday both of those games at 9 30 a.m on Sportsnet uh and the top two from their pool of four Canada Latvia Brazil and Spain will advance to the quarterfinals Dan what are your impressions of this club been through the first three games here they were the best team in the first round kind of feels like maybe there's an even higher upside to reach for this group yeah they've been great and I know you watched all three games you know they're down they're very sluggi

sh in the first quarter against France and it's like oh man are they going to get a going offensively they look disjointed you know France looks composed and then you know boom and the in the second half that Shea gilders Alexander just takes over and I thought in that game their energy and their defense was huge like they if Canada is going to do really really really well and they can a lot of it's going to be defense turning into offense a lot they have those kinds of Defenders they can get ou

t in transition they can score before the other team sets up their defense so you know the win over France was exhilarating like for all for you and me and everybody else who has followed Canada basketball it was like is this really happening because usually we're on the other side of this and that sort of thing uh Lebanon went as expected and then the Latvia game I thought was fascinating I mean they were in trouble in the first quarter they were down 12 a couple of times they couldn't guard th

em they just couldn't figure it out and I thought Jordy Fernandez the head coach did a masterful job of you know plugging the leaks that had sprung and and eventually the talent went out you know RJ Barrett hit some threes and Shea had another big game and it was great to see guys like Melvin Edgeman Phil scrub get like real minutes in a real game at this level and be big contributors so uh it was great um 3-0 going into the second round you take your record with you as you know that's huge and

for people who don't know it's as you said it's Brazil tomorrow and Spain Sunday I think a lot of people are really going to focus on the Spain game tomorrow's actually the bigger one um if they win tomorrow and Spain beats Latvia and they'll be favored Canada's in the quarters already if they lose tomorrow it gets dicey and the last thing you want to do is put yourself at the mercy of FIBA tie-breaking rules so tomorrow is a huge huge game um they should win they're better than Brazil but Brazi

l has played well so far um in this tournament you know they they played Spain tough and lost by 10 points at the end 98-88 so hopefully Lou door is back that's another Elite Defender uh when I watch Canada I mean they can they can play with anybody I'm always a little worried about some days the three ball Falls some days it don't and this is a team that could have some cold spell shooting the three as long as they've got other ways to score I think they'll be okay and this is a Brazil team for

anyone who hasn't caught them yet um they are one of the highest volume three-point shooting teams in the tournament so that's uh you know they they've only shot 37 but they've hit 14 threes a couple of times uh Yago Santos their their lead point guard is a very interesting piece they lost Ral Neto which hurts but hey if you are Canadian basketball fan if you're a Raptors fan you are going to see the optimal version of Bruno caboclo tomorrow too he is FIBA Bruno is a real real thing uh he didn'

t have a very good game in their final uh round robin game but he is going to be a problem on the boards uh the other element of this Dan and obviously getting to the quarterfinals the most important thing you can do is win every game and keep your eyes on your own page and things like that but I know that some people look at the World Cup as in addition to the World Cup hey it's an Olympic qualifier and for Canada to qualify for the 2024 Olympics that's something they haven't done since the yea

r 2000 they have to finish as one of the top two teams from the America zone five of the seven America's teams in this tournament have made the second round the U.S are probably going through Canada are in good shape to go through the Dominican Republic are in good shape to go through and look like one of the best teams in the round robin you can do yourself a favor tomorrow as well by not mathematics like you effectively knockout Brazil who are one of your competitors for that as well how much

are your eyes on what the Dominican Republic are doing right now as well when it comes to Olympic qualification constantly so like in baseball I'm looking at tiebreakers and in basketball I'm looking at all of the different groups like that's just my old statistics and Actuarial mind I can't help it it's it's the it's the way it works you're right and you know to finish on the podium of the World Cup would be phenomenal but let's be honest for most people in Canada this is about qualifying for t

he Olympics even more than it's about doing well at the World Cup if if I said to you they could finish fifth at the World Cup and not qualify or seventh at the World Cup and qualify that's an easy choice right you take seventh and qualify like there's no there's no doubt so yeah you have to look at what the other countries are doing but you can't control what the other countries are doing so like you said if Canada beats Brazil tomorrow basically that's it for Brazil Puerto Rico does not look l

ike they've got out what it takes to you know crazier things have happened but they're probably not a factor so it looks like it's down to the U.S Canada and the Dominican and the Dominican the Dominican Republic with Karl Anthony towns is in in my opinion the weakest quarter quartile or quarter remaining quarter of of the pool um if you're rooting for something if you're a Canadian basketball fan of rooting for something root for the Dominican to lose every time they play but also root for mayb

e the Dominican in the U.S to face each other in a quarterfinal because then somebody's got to lose and realistically you probably want that somebody to be the Dominican losing if Canada gets to the semifinals they're fine but if Canada loses in the quarters then you've got like five eight six seven you still play a couple more games and in theory Canada could be in that group and the Dominican could be in that group so at least they would settle it on the court in all likelihood the the big nex

t step for Canada is just qualify for the quarterfinals then you know you still almost uh assuredly control your own destiny but yeah the Dominican um has an easier ride but there's no point wasting any energy on that it's like man the Minnesota Twins are an easy division like you're like what are you going to do about it right so this is where you are go win the game that's in front of you yeah absolutely and you know I I've had some people ask me about like well would a loss be the worst thing

because then maybe you don't draw into the United States don't do that it's also the actually you know if we're if we're going on betting odds or just our own feel the likeliest scenario is actually the U.S against Dominican in the quarters is is how I read the way things shake out so then you're looking at a spot hey you get to the semis even if you draw the US you've gotten to the Olympics at that point because one of them will knock each other out uh Dan before I let you go here and get on w

ith your day and your prep uh you mentioned Jordy Fernandez a little earlier pulling the right levers pressing the right buttons he's a name that's gotten familiar to people here because he was in the mix for the Toronto Raptors head coach job he's been a key figure in I mean the Spanish program in the past the Nigeria program Jamal Murray's Ascension in Denver uh I know he wore a Kiss shirt on the broadcast with you guys which hey uh that that's bonus points for from me there as well uh how how

much have you been impressed by by Jordy Fernandez uh the person and the coach and what we've seen so far I love firstly I love him I didn't know him at all until he got the job and then Sportsnet asked me if I would do a sit-down interview with him which I was thrilled to do I'm not uh you know that's not what I do really but I was thrilled and then they were very nice to me because I had blue jay games at night they let me come to one of the morning practices um and just talked to him and I t

alked to Rowan Baird and get you know because I was doing the games and I sat all by myself and it was the first practice they had and not that he was shaking hands and introducing himself he had met everybody before Zoom phone calls but it was literally their first practice as a group and I'm thinking to myself man this is a guy everybody knows who he is and he's definitely got some FIBA cred and some NBA cred but he's trying to bring like some star-level NBA players in quickly he's got to get

them to buy in quickly and he's done it and to me that's the best thing you can say about it when he talks in a huddle like their eyes are locked on him they're doing what he tells them to do he's an interesting guy because he's very very soft-spoken if you're just sitting there and talking to him his shirt notwithstanding any more on the air there's obviously another side to him that we haven't seen but but he's very soft-spoken but you know we've heard him in the huddles right when you watch P

hoebe games you get the ball you get the sound in the huddles and I promise you when I tell you this some of the stuff that you haven't seen which just happened to coincide when we were in break we still see it in the studio he gets their attention when he needs to so I think both his tactics like his strategies they're great but I think the best thing he's done is he has connected with them as individuals and he has gotten them to buy in because all of not all these guys but many of these guys

are Stars right and then some of them are taking somewhat different roles here on Team Canada than they do even in the NBA to a certain extent so I'm thrilled for him and Parole and Baird and for Michael Bartlett and for all these guys that have worked tirelessly to try to get Canada to where they are now they're not there yet but uh the 3-0 start is you know everything we could have hoped for and more the point differential is everything we could have hoped for and more and I think the last of

your game the fact that they kind of got slapped in the face in the first quarter and responded as well as they did I think they'll come out roaring against Brazil like there won't be any more and I'm not saying they did they're not going to take anybody for granted they know now hey anybody can be good anybody can be a threat and any one loss can seriously jeopardize if not kill their chances of getting to the Olympics so I think you know Canada Brazil tomorrow they got to play that like it's a

final because that's the magnitude of the importance of the game I will say the one thing that the one benefit of doing this show while those games are on is I get the same feed that you get here in the studio I can't have it with audio but I can keep an eye on those things and I've had people tweet into me be like we can see you reacting to the basketball game while you're doing a baseball show man so uh that's the uh the root cause there Dan Schumann thanks for taking the time out this mornin

g 9 30 a.m tomorrow Canada Brazil uh Sunday 9 30 a.m Canada Spain uh enjoy it man keep up the great work and thanks again thanks Blake we'll see you soon