Artificial Turf Wars

Starting from low-A Dunedin, broadcaster Chris Valentine speaks about Roque Salinas, whose bat finally caught fire in July, J.J. Sanchez's 95-mph fastball, Josh Mollerus' wipeout slider, and Kelena Sauer's sweeping slider. Podcast host and voice of the Vancouver Canadians Tyler Zickel then speaks about his team being the first affiliate in the Blue Jays organization to reach 60 wins and Wednesday's cycle completed by Michael Turconi. Bob Lipman then joins the conversation from New Hampshire where the Fisher Cats now have a brand new rotation, with all five starting pitchers from the beginning of the season switched out with the recent departure of Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse. Bob also gives an update on Steward Berroa, Phil Clarke, and Trevor Schwecke. Up at triple-A, Bisons' play-by-play guy Pat Malacaro looks back at Davis Schneider's rung-by-rung progression up the Blue Jays' minor league ladder and looks forward to the upcoming two weeks of high-intensity baseball as Buffalo makes a push to enter the International League playoffs.

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Greg and Josh go over the moves made and not made the trade deadline. They discuss the pickup of leverage reliever Jordan Hicks and what he'll bring to the Jays' bullpen in terms of performance and variability, the cost of Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein, the pickup of Paul DeJon and what he'll bring as both a temporary starter while Bo Bichette recovers and as a reserve afterwards, and finally the move that wasn't made for a RH bat and why that is a problem that comes with extra risk.

They also answer listener questions

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Greg and Josh discuss the up and down road trip that led to a split against good teams, but got there in disappointing ways, the very tired bullpen thanks to the disappointing offence, the reinforcements such as the acquisition of Génesis Cabrera and imminent return of Chad Green, how the 6-man rotation with Hyun-Jin Ryu will hurt the bullpen depth, Jordan Romano's injury and how they'd cover the closer role, a lineup shuffle at the top and potential activity at the trade deadline.

They also give out a Do Over to Buck Martinez and a Gold Star to the Brewers stadium ops team.

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Broadcaster Gareth Kwok's Fisher Cats are still waiting on their first walkoff of 2023, but the broadcasters from the other affiliates talk about the most exciting walkoffs of the season so far. The Bisons' Pat Malacaro tells us his team is finally getting consistency from the starting nine and the starters, Ernie Clement and Spencer Horwitz's dual five-hit day, Orelvis Martinez's triple-A debut, and Zach Thompson's season reset while he was on waivers. Double-A New Hampshire has not really be consistent, but Gareth gives us positive updates about Leo Jimenez's on-base streak, Rainer Nuñez sliding into the middle of the lineup, and Adam Kloffenstein's success in his second season in the Eastern League. In the last segment, host Tyler Zickel of the Vancouver Canadians banters with Chris Valentine of the Dunedin Blue Jays about the D-Jays' rough patch in July and the C's remaining red-hot. We also get updates about Ryan McCarty, Victor Mesia, Jean Arnaez, Rafael Sanchez, Deveraux Harrison, Michael Dominguez, and Pat Gallagher.

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Greg and Josh talk about the last week of Blue Jays baseball starting with the All-Star game Jays news and Vlad's home run derby win. They also discuss the unheralded reliever corps repeatedly doing its job up and down the pen, Bassitt and Berríos continuing to give the Jays the chance to win, Kikuchi showing an ability to make adjustments that wasn't present in 2022, Manoah's discouraging start, a lack of patience/approach from three key Blue Jays hitters, Ross Atkins' press conference about the deadline approach, Gausman's minor abdominal injury and the pending returns of Hyun-Jin Ryu and Chad Green.

They also answer listener questions and give a Gold Star to Mookie Betts.

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Greg and Josh discuss the return of Alek Manoah to the rotation and what changes they did and didn't see in his excellent outing against Detroit, the changes José Berríos has made to his repertoire to reclaim (and even exceed) his former glory, the still somewhat struggling offence beating up on bad pitchers while having issues with solid ones and the pending return of Hyun-Jin Ryu, the confusing roster situation that it could create and how it could really affect the Jays' deadline plans.

They also answer listener questions.

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Dennis Gilbert, the architect of the Bobby Bonilla contract joins the podcast (37:00) to discuss how he got into the agent business, how the Bonilla contract came about and why he encourages all players to take some deferrals in their contracts to protect their futures.

Greg and Josh also discuss Yusei Kikuchi's excellent June, Chris Bassitt rebounding when reuniting with Kirk and the change in his pitch mix/calling, Vlad finding his power stroke for a still-underperforming offence, and some injury updates for Hyun-Jin Ryu, Chad Green and Zach Pop and what can be expected of them in the near future.

They also answer listener questions and give out a Gold Star to Brandon Belt's dry sense of humour.

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Host Tyler Zickel (Canadians) is joined by the wonderfully mustachioed rookie Chris Valentine (Dunedin Blue Jays) and the reliable veteran Bob Lipman (Fisher Cats) to talk about the state of the Blue Jays minor leagues. Chris nominates Ryan McCarty as the D-Jays' hitter of the month and updates us on Rafael Ohashi's return to form, Alex Amalfi's new curveball, Irv Carter's phenomenal changeup, and tells us that Brandon Barriera is throwing bullpens and is feeling good. Tyler's first-half champion Vancouver Canadians love Ian Churchill both on and off the field, Gabby Martinez needs to work on his two-strike approach, Dasan Brown's bat has warmed up with the weather, and Adam Macko (the return for Teoscar Hernández) had his best start since joining the Toronto organization. Finally, Bob makes his 2023 Around The Nest debut by recapping a heartbreaking 14-inning Fisher Cats loss on a balkoff and he tells us to ignore T.J. Brock's ERA because he has been lights out. We end the show with Bob telling us about Orelvis Martinez's amazing turnaround including improvements to his plate discipline and situational awareness.

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Greg and Josh discuss the latest in Blue Jays land. They cover the offensive approach that is limiting their power output and thus run production, the bad luck with RISP exacerbating the issue, the lineup shakeup to try and increase offensive production, the depth/roster construction issues being highlighted by Brandon Belt's injury, the extreme (mostly) highs and lows of Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt, Jose Berríos turning back into the guy the Jays acquired and how a bullpen game can be mitigated by swapping the rotation order.

They also answer listener questions and give out a Gold Star to the fans of the Oakland Athletics.

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Pat Malacaro (Bisons) speaks about the Bisons' low-slugging lineup, Cameron Eden's role as a second leadoff guy, and Paxton Schultz's solid debut. We welcome new Nester Chris Valentine, the voice of the Dunedin Blue Jays, who talks about the ebbs and flows of hitting and pitching in low-A, Brandon Barriera's performance ahead of his injury, Ryan Jennings preventing barrels, and some tough times for Tucker Toman and Manuel Beltre. Gareth Kwok (Fisher Cats) returns and give us an update on the double-A team that is now five games over .500 on the road, Leo Jimenez's bat heating up since an IL stint, and chats with Tyler Zickel (Canadians) about the "Shake & Bake" duo of Mason Fluharty and T.J. Brock. Tyler then tells us about Garrett Spain's game-winning grand slam.

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