Episode 15 of Jays’ Nest features some great Blue Jays discussion. We gain some insight into the minor league lifestyle with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler who is the voice of the Blue Jays A ball affiliate, Lansing Lugnuts. He offers some great colour to a team that will feature some very intriguing prospects this season. We also dig into the stories from the second week of the Blue Jays’ 2015 season. We hand out our weekly awards as well.
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Our episode started with Jesse Goldberg-Strassler. He joined us to talk about the Lansing Lugnuts, which was great because not many of us Blue Jays fans get to hear things from the point of view of someone in the know with this club. Firstly, he described the weather conditions that players have to compete with and in. He raised a very good point that due to the fluid nature of the roster, the city of Lansing never knows how constant their roster is going to be. So, because of promotions, demotions, etc. the Lugnuts have to focus more on the entertainment side of baseball to draw fans. So, they have things like a camel appear every Wednesday.
Jesse also touched on some names that we should be watching out for. A couple names in particular are Sean Reid-Foley and Ryan McBroom. He brought some inside stories about the development of Reid-Foley. And, to top it all off, Jesse provides us a unique take on the person that Kevin Pillar is and what he brings to the table. It is very interesting.
Our discussion turned to the performance of the last week, the second of the 2015 season. We looked at the demotion of Todd Redmond. While we aren’t surprised to see this move made, we are still of the belief that he serves a valuable role for a big league team. Given that he’s not had a long leash this season, he may still prove valuable. After this, we talked about the early struggles of Russell Martin. And, almost on cue, he seems to be turning things around. But, we talked about the fact that there is plenty of time for him to make us forget all about his first 10 games.
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We moved on to discuss the much maligned new turf at Rogers Centre. While MLB may be “watching” the situation, we talk about just how silly this is given the advantages other fields have over visiting teams like Tropicana Field does. We then also had a great conversation about the new positivity that seems to be surrounding this 2015 edition of the Blue Jays. There seems to be a new level of “likability”. As a spin off of this discussion, we wonder what will happen if Kevin Pillar struggles given the fact that he is not as bubbly and smiling as often as some of the rookies. Will fans still love him tomorrow?
We also handed out our weekly awards for Hitter of the Week, Pitcher of the Week, Misplay of the Week and Play of the Week. Can you guess which highlight reel catch was recognised? And we wrapped it all up with a quick look ahead to the upcoming week against the Orioles and Rays.
So, kick back, relax and enjoy Episode #14 of Jays’ Nest podcast. Don’t forget that you can tune in every week (now on Saturdays) to our LIVE Google Hangout to interact and ask questions. We welcome your participation. Look for us on our YouTube channel, iTunesand Stitcher! Go ahead and give us a ‘like’, some ‘stars’, a comment, or otherwise general goodwill. Thank you for taking your time to tune in. We appreciate the love!