Deep Left Field with Mike Wilner

This week, we talk to one of the outstanding young Canadian players working his way to the major leagues. Owen Caissie was named minor-league offensive player of the year by the Canadian Baseball Network for his terrific season with the AAA Iowa Cubs. We celebrate both that award and his being placed on the Cubs’ 40-man major-league roster with the 22-year-old from Burlington, Ontario.

We also look ahead to the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players and see which Blue Jays are on the bubble, and fill you in on the newest member of the Jays front office.

Listen here or subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can at thestar.com/subscribingmatters.

Guests: Toronto Star baseball columnist Gregor Chisholm

The Hot Stove season is upon us and the Blue Jays have a whole lot to do in order to get back into playoff contention. Gregor Chisholm joins me to discuss the task ahead of them. Will they sign Juan Soto? Will they extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? What other big bats are available for them this winter? Is this the right front office group for the job? We answer these questions and more in this Deep Left Field Off-Season Primer!

Guest: Former Blue Jays CF Kevin Kiermaier

This week, Kevin Kiermaier gives his final interview as a player, and he has come to Deep Left Field to give it to us! Kiermaier, who is about to retire, talks about going out on top – winning the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers – and finishing his career the way he started it, as a late-inning defensive replacement. He also reflects on his year and a half with the Blue Jays, what this season was like as the Jays sold off at the trade deadline, and how the Dodgers do things differently (and better) than they’re done in Toronto.

Guests: World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions

The off-season begins as the Los Angeles Dodgers are crowned World Series champions with a five-game victory over the New York Yankees, led by Freddie Freeman’s four home runs and World Series-record-tying 12 RBIs! When the champs were in Toronto to play the Blue Jays earlier this season, we spoke to Freeman about his love of playing for Canada to honour his late mother and to Roberts about being a teenager in San Diego when the Padres traded Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar to Toronto for Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff. You’ll hear those conversations, as well as a great chat with Mark Simon about Daulton Varsho winning two Fielding Bible Awards, including Defensive Player of the Year, and much more!

Guests: Blue Jays outfielder George Springer, creator of Dynasty League Baseball Powered by Pursue The Pennant Mike Cieslinski

Coming off the worst season of his major-league career George Springer joins us to talk about his personal disappointment, the Blue Jays’ terrible season and also the positives he managed to pull out of it. On the eve of the first Yankees-Dodgers World Series in over four decades, we reveal the results of a heart-pounding simulation run with Dynasty League Baseball and discuss the ins and outs of the game with Mike Cieslinski. Also, a look at the Jays’ new hitting coach and unexpected scouting director vacancy plus a pre-emptive rant about the Fielding Bible Awards.

Guests: Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, Dodgers 1B coach Clayton McCullough

This week in Deep Left Field, Kevin Gausman – who had his worst season in five years – joins us to reflect on what went wrong with the Blue Jays this year, how he turned his season around in July and how badly he wants to not just get back to the playoffs but to go on a deep run. We also talk to Clayton McCullough, who spent seven seasons managing in the Blue Jays minor-league system and now may be headed to the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. All that, plus a look at the Jays’ Gold Glove finalists and a peek into the Deep Left Field mailbag ([email protected])!

Guests: Blue Jays 2024 Team Award Winners Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Jose Berrios, Spencer Horwitz and Bowden Francis

Every year, good or bad, we poll the Blue Jays’ clubhouse to ask players, coaches and support staff to vote for the Jays’ end-of-season awards. This week, we bring all the winners into Deep Left Field! You’ll hear from unanimous MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr., pitcher of the year Jose Berrios, rookie of the year Spencer Horwitz and unsung Hero Bowden Francis with thoughts on their terrific seasons (and of course, the disappointment in the team’s results overall) and the promise, they hope, for a return to contention in 2025.

“Ross needs to get better.”

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Blue Jays’ president/CEO Mark Shapiro reiterated – word for word – the same thing he said last year while saying that Ross Atkins will remain in his position as general manager.

We go through Shapiro’s end-of-season media conference as well as Atkins’ appearance that followed shortly after, sharing their comments and our interpretation of them. It wasn’t as much of a debacle as last year, but it certainly wasn’t good.

Guest: Blue Jays manager John Schneider

The Blue Jays season ends with a whimper, swept at home by the 100-loss Miami Marlins. In this special bonus edition of Deep Left Field, we sit down with John Schneider to discuss what led to one of the most disappointing seasons in club history and what needs to be done to fix things to get the team back on track for a 2025 season in which it expects to be a playoff contender once again.

Guests: Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen, Blue Jays associate manager DeMarlo Hale and relief pitcher Dillon Tate

The Blue Jays final homestand of the season opened with Danny Jansen coming home, but playing for the Red Sox, after the long-time Jay was traded to Boston at the deadline. We renew acquaintances with the fan favourite to talk about the warm reception he got at Rogers Centre and how strange it is to see him in a different uniform. Also, DeMarlo Hale joins us to discuss his first season back on the Jays’ bench after a five-year absence, what led to the Jays’ last-place finish and what he thinks needs to happen to fix things. Plus, we get to know Dillon Tate, one of a boatload of relievers the Jays have claimed on waivers over the past month, but the one with the most big-league experience and one who is not far removed from having had serious success.