Deep Left Field with Mike Wilner

Conversations with future and current Blue Jays, Alek Manoah, Daulton Varsho and top prospect Trey Yesavage

Guests: Blue Jays top prospect Trey Yesavage, Gold Glove centrefielder Daulton Varsho, rehabbing Jays starter Alek Manoah This week in Deep Left Field, we head down to the farm and talk to right-hander Trey Yesavage, the Jays' first-round pick last July, as he prepares to make his debut with the Buffalo Bisons - the fourth team in the Jays' system for which he has suited up in this, his first season in pro ball. The 22-year-old has allowed just 45 hits and notched a whopping 134 strikeouts in 80...

After Rockies sweep, Jays nearly swept by Dodgers before dramatic comeback

The Blue Jays spent the weekend in Los Angeles almost getting swept by the defending World Series champions and the drama was so far through the roof that a bonus episode of Deep Left Field was required so we could all process it. From the high of a club-record 45 runs scored over three games in Colorado to just two runs combined in the first two games at Dodger Stadium and just two more through the first seven innings of the series finale, questions were starting to pop up about the Jays, despi...

Trade deadline pickups Shane Bieber and Brandon Valenzuela haven’t made their Jays debut yet, but discuss their whirlwind moves and more

Guests: Blue Jays rehabbing pitcher Shane Bieber, Buffalo Bisons catcher Brandon Valenzuela Two of the Blue Jays' trade deadline acquisitions have yet to make their debuts with the big club, and you'll meet them both this week in Deep Left Field! Shane Bieber spoke after his first rehab start in Buffalo, in which he threw five innings against the Syracuse Mets, allowing two runs on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts. You'll hear his comments about how he felt, the whirlwind that sent him f...

Toronto Star columnists discuss the Blue Jays trade deadline acquisitions Shane Bieber, Louis Varland, Seranthony Dominguez and Ty France

The trade deadline has passed and the Blue Jays made a deal right up against the clock, picking up big-armed back-end reliever Louis Varland from the Minnesota Twins to help bolster their bullpen, at the cost of prospect pitcher Kendry Morales and young, promising outfielder Alan Roden. They also got Ty France in that trade, for some reason. I'm joined by my Toronto Star colleague Gregor Chisholm to go over the Jays' moves at the deadline, including the surprise acquisition of two-time all-star ...

Blue Jays add former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, after adding Seranthony Dominguez. What’s next as the deadline draws close?

Guest: Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt They added to their bullpen Tuesday by acquiring Seranthony Dominguez from Baltimore, but a dozen more trades were made across the majors on Wednesday and the Jays weren't involved. Big Toronto targets Jhoan Duran and Ryan Helsley, a couple of huge relief arms, and slugging third baseman Eugenio Suarez all came off the board, going to Philadelphia, the New York Mets and Seattle, respectively. Who's left for the Jays to pick up on the last day? We go over th...

With the trade deadline almost here, Associate Manager Demarlo Hale discusses the 2025 Blue Jays

Guest: Blue Jays Associate Manager DeMarlo Hale The Blue Jays got swept in their Tuesday doubleheader in Baltimore and they've lost four in a row, but they've still got the best record in the American League and a four-game lead in the AL East. There is, quite literally, no need to panic. Between games of the double-dip, they made their first deal of Trade Deadline Week, acquiring big-armed reliever Seranthony Dominguez from the Orioles - he suited up for the O's in the opener and pitched for th...

The trade deadline, George Springer's injury and we speak with Blue Jay Joey Loperfido

Guest: Blue Jays outfielder Joey Loperfido With the Blue Jays holding first place overall in Major League Baseball and the trade deadline coming up on July 31, Deep Left Field is going daily for Trade Deadline Week! Today, we're joined by Jays outfielder Joey Loperfido, who was traded at last year's deadline in the Yusei Kikuchi deal, coming to Toronto along with Will Wagner and Jake Bloss, to discuss the difference between last year and this year. From his perspective, there doesn't seem to be ...

With the trade deadline approaching and best record in the MLB, we talk with Blue Jays manager John Schneider

Guest: Toronto Blue Jays Manager John Schneider The Blue Jays continued to extend their lead in the AL East this weekend by taking three of four from the Detroit Tigers, in Detroit. With the best record in Major League Baseball and the MLB trade deadline coming July 31, Deep Left Field is going to have updates every day throughout. We'll start this Trade Deadline Week with our conversation with Jays skipper John Schneider.

Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay, Kevin Gausman and Edwin Encarnacion discuss the first-place Toronto Blue Jays

Guests: Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, former Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion, New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay The Blue Jays came out of the all-star break and picked up right where they left off, sweeping the San Francisco Giants then taking two of three from the Yankees as part of a 5-1 homestand. This week in Deep Left Field, we sit down with Kevin Gausman, who threw seven brilliant innings in Monday night's win over the Yankees, to discuss the first-place Jays, who moved into a tie...

Roundtable: The Blue Jays start the second half in first place. Now what?

Guests: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of Kim's Convenience and The Mandalorian, Second City Veteran/TV Writer Pat Smith This week in Deep Left FIeld, we get you set for the unofficial second half of the baseball season which, for the first time in over three decades, will begin with the Blue Jays in first place. We present a round table (maybe triangle) with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Pat Smith to discuss the feelings around this first-half surge, what to hope for - and what to actually expect - at the trade d...

Blue Jays end 10-game win streak still in first place, plus the upcoming amateur draft and how Alejandro Kirk became baseball's best defensive catcher

4 games, 36 runs, +13 run differential, 1st place: The Blue Jays sweep the New York Yankees

Guest: Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes The Blue Jays have swept their way into first place by beating the New York Yankees four straight – the first time that has ever happened in Toronto. The Jays scored 36 runs over the four-game sweep, coming from behind twice and rebounding from blowing an eight-run lead once, in four intense games in an incredible atmosphere at Rogers Centre. Since May 27, the Jays are 23-10 – tied with the Houston Astros for the best record in the major leagues over that...

The Blue Jays are in first place after beating the Yankees 11-9 and Davis Schneider, Myles Straw and Chad Green join Deep Left Field

Guests: Blue Jays reliever Chad Green, outfielders Davis Schneider and Myles Straw This week in Deep Left Field, we talk to three of your first-place Toronto Blue Jays. Davis Schneider, who homered twice in Wednesday's win and is hitting .400 in the Yankees' series through the first three games, talks about the run he's been on, the run the team has been on for the past six weeks and how they're doing it in the absence of some big pieces. We catch up with Myles Straw to talk about his impact in ...

Blue Jays pitcher Eric Lauer dives deep into his red hot season so far and Rangers manager Jeff Banister talks Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip and more on today's show

Guests: Blue Jays pitcher Eric Lauer, former Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister This week in Deep Left Field, we present two in-depth, long form, incredible conversations. First, we get to know left-hander Eric Lauer, who emerged seemingly out of nowhere to be arguably the Jays' best pitcher over the past couple of months, and inarguably the one they would be lost without at this point in the season. Then, we get a fresh perspective on the biggest Blue Jays moment of the 21st century. Current A...

Blue Jays are two games behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East; on the show this week, Diamondback Randal Grichuk and Jay Braydon Fisher

Guests: Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Randal Grichuk, Blue Jays pitcher Braydon Fisher This week in Deep Left Field, we catch up with an old pal Randal Grichuk, who played four seasons for the Jays, is back in Toronto for the first time since being traded to the Colorado Rockies in spring training of 2022. We look back at his time here, at the Jays' great 2021 team, Grichuk helping to break in a 20-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr and, of course, we get the story on his nickname, Handsome Randal....

Jordan Romano, Don Mattingly and son, Phillies GM Preston Mattingly

Guests: Phillies closer Jordan Romano, Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly and his son, Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly The Blue Jays chose not to tender a contract to homegrown closer Jordan Romano, who is third on their all-time saves list, this winter, and he was snapped up by Philadelphia pretty quickly. He came back to Toronto and got walked off by old buddy Alejandro Kirk. We talked to Romano after that game. And with fathers' day weekend upon us, we talk to father-son Mattingly...

Inside the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame banquet with Jose Bautista, Greg Hamilton, Larry Walker, Ernie Whitt, Denis Boucher and more

Blue Jays associate manager DeMarlo Hale, plus A's outfielder Denzel Clarke

DeMarlo Hale, Athletics/Baseball Canada outfielder Denzel Clarke This week in Deep Left Field, we sit down with DeMarlo Hale for his thoughts on the Blue Jays season so far. Hale thinks a season is best looked over after each third, so we look back at the first third and forward to what he thinks the team can accomplish over the next couple of months. We also introduce you to Denzel Clarke, a Pickering native who had his coming out party at Rogers Centre on the weekend. While the Jays were sweep...

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Chair Jeremy Diamond on Jose Bautista and other inductees, plus Padre Tim Leiper and ump Steven Jaschinski

Guests: Former Blue Jays/current San Diego Padres coach Tim Leiper, major-league umpire Steven Jaschinski, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Board Chair Jeremy Diamond This week in Deep Left Field is all about the true north strong and free! Tim Leiper joins us to reminisce about his Jays days and talk about Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Jose Bautista and Greg Hamilton. Leiper, a southern California native who now makes his home in Huntsville, Ont., was coaching first base whe...

Blue Jays centerfielder Daulton Varsho, third baseman Addison Barger, Buffalo Bisons manager Casey Candaele and more

Guests: Blue Jays centerfielder Daulton Varsho, third baseman Addison Barger, Buffalo Bisons manager Casey Candaele This week, we talk to two of the players most consequential to the Jays' recent turnaround that has seen them win eight out of 12 games going into their May 22 series finale against the San Diego Padres. Daulton Varsho leads the team with seven home runs despite only having been active since the end of April. He joins us to talk about his power prowess, his ongoing recovery from sh...

Rookie left-hander Mason Fluharty, pitching coach Pete Walker and our very own Gregor Chisholm

Guests: Blue Jays reliever Mason Fluharty, pitching coach Pete Walker, Toronto Star baseball columnist Gregor Chisholm This week in Deep Left Field, we introduce you to rookie left-hander Mason Fluharty, who came within six outs of throwing a "perfect game" out of the bullpen. As the Jays hit the one-quarter mark of the season, we catch up with pitching coach Pete Walker for his thoughts on how the pitching has held up so far, with a focus on the starting rotation, and Gregor Chisholm and I shar...

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, Director of Position Player Development Eric Duncan, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and more

Guests: Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, Director of Position Player Development Eric Duncan, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt The Jays might be in freefall, but we’ve put together a tremendous show for you regardless! Kevin Gausman joins us to talk about the aftermath of his 53-pitch inning in New York, his dominant outing against Cleveland and his family’s off-day adventures in Toronto. We get to know Eric Duncan, who is in charge of position player development throughout the Jays’ farm system a...

Blue Jays home run leader Anthony Santander, reliever Brendon Little, 1B/OF coach Mark Budzinski and more

Guests: Blue Jays home run leader Anthony Santander, reliever Brendon Little, 1B/OF coach Mark Budzinski The Blue Jays miserable April is over and it ended with a massive comeback win against the Boston Red Sox. No one might be happier to turn the page to May than Anthony Santander, who is hitting just .175 as the calendar flips. The switch-hitter joins us for a frank and open discussion about his early-season struggles and how he and the team hope to turn things around. After the interview, San...

Blue Jays outfielders George Springer and Nathan Lukes, pitcher Easton Lucas and more

Guests: Blue Jays outfielders George Springer and Nathan Lukes, pitcher Easton Lucas Coming off a sweep in Houston where Blue Jays hitters were almost completely shut down for three games, we go over an agonizing “week that was,” one in which the Jays only won once and one that finished on a tear-your-hair-out frustrating five-game losing streak. One of the only players on the team who is hitting at the moment is the resurgent George Springer, and he joins us to discuss his unexpectedly hot star...

Blue Jays reliever Yimi Garcia, catcher Tyler Heineman, Atlanta 3B coach Matt Tuiasosopo and more

Guests: Blue Jays reliever Yimi Garcia, catcher Tyler Heineman, Atlanta 3B coach Matt Tuiasosopo We celebrate the 250th episode of the podcast with the first-ever 1-on-1 interview with Yimi Garcia in English. The big, scary set-up man with the 0.00 ERA turns out to be a gentle giant off the mound! We also check in with back-up catcher Tyler Heineman, who is off to a sizzling start to the season, both at the plate and behind it, and since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has officially signed up to become a...

Forever in Blue Jays history: Pat Hentgen and Vernon Wells discuss Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and their time in Toronto

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 he’s forty years old, and could very well make him the first “Forever Blue Jay,” 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 team’s first Cy Young award in 1996, was a Blue Jay for 10 years and ...

Happy birthday Jays, and nice $500-million gift: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., a forever Blue Jay

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 Guerrero’s deadli...

Blue Jays second baseman Andres Gimenez, outfielder Alan Roden and more

Guests: Blue Jays second baseman Andres Gimenez, outfielder Alan Roden, pitcher Jacob Barnes, Orioles/Baseball Canada outfielder Tyler O’Neill This week in Deep Left Field, we talk to the clean-up man, record-setting slugger Andres Gimenez, who has 60% of the Jays’ home runs so far. Rookie sensation Alan Roden catches us up on his first week in the big leagues and we’ll also meet one of the new, but also not so new, guys in the Jays’ bullpen, Jacob Barnes. As well, we talk to Burnaby, B.C.’s Tyl...

Blue Jays Opening Day Extravaganza

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. You’ll hear from star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. about his spring, his thoughts on the off-season changes and his future with the team. You’ll meet...

Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis, hitting coach David Popkins and more

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 year’s breakout star, Bowden Francis, who has to wait until March 31 to make his first start of the...