Blue Jays Morning Brew: Homer Bush joins the podcast!

R.A. Dickey and the Blue Jays take on Clayton Kershaw this afternoon in Toronto

Homer Bush joins the podcast  –  A bonus episode of The Jays Nest Podcast (subscribe below) is available for your weekend listening pleasure, and a special release calls for a special guest.

Homer Bush joined Shaun Doyle and I for this week’s podcast, where we talked about his playing career, life after baseball, and some of the biggest issues impacting today’s game, including PED’s and the new sliding rules at second base.

As a member of the 1998 New York Yankees, who won 114 games and swept the World Series, Homer has seen some of the best baseball played in the past two decades. He was later dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays as part of the David Wells and Rogers Clemens trades, where he lined up alongside Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, Jose Cruz, Roy Halladay, and many others.

Bush has stayed involved in the game and is currently doing some great work in youth baseball in Texas with the Rangers. He’s also released a book, entitled Hitting Low in the Zone: A New Baseball Paradigm. Homer has embraced an analytic approach to hitting, which makes for a great point of view when paired with his playing experience. You can find his book here, where it’s available to order!

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Rotation Review  –  Over at BP Toronto, Joshua Howsam gives an excellent breakdown of the Blue Jays’ rotation through the first month of games. There’s some great information in here as to “why” they’ve been so successful, too.

Puig The Best  –  Yasiel Puig seems to be enjoying his time in Toronto. The day before walking the edge of the CN Tower, Puig took to the water for some fishing. Take five minutes and relive the full story with Andrew Stoeten at Blue Jays Nation, and join me in moving Puig up your list of favourite players. (The Rocky Balboa-style punches left me weak).

Superman  –  At Blue Bird Banter, Eric Elliot looks at the incredible start of Kevin Pillar (one that many predicted wouldn’t happen after the outlier of 2015). Among American League outfielders, he sits second to only Mike Trout in WAR. That’ll do.

Next: Fun with numbers: Statistical outliers through one month

Bullpen roles  –  Jeff Blair’s latest for Sportsnet highlights a big issue that remains in the bullpen: nobody knows their role. Well, except for closer Roberto Osuna.

Questions for Alex  –  Ian Hunter rings in the Return of Anthopoulos with five questions from his tenure that have been left unanswered. I’m especially interested in the question regarding Yu Darvish. I not-so-fondly remember the late-night reports trickling out that the Blue Jays had won the bidding…