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Blue Jays: Jay Bird Watching Podcast discusses the Home Opener

ByTyson Shushkewich|
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 02: Danny Jansen #9 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates with Teoscar Hernandez #37, Alek Manoah #6, Bo Bichette #11 and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 after hitting a 2-run home run in the fifth inning during a MLB game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on October 2, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 02: Danny Jansen #9 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates with Teoscar Hernandez #37, Alek Manoah #6, Bo Bichette #11 and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 after hitting a 2-run home run in the fifth inning during a MLB game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on October 2, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

With the Toronto Blue Jays home opener just hours away, the Jay Bird Watching crew hosted a podcast last evening to discuss all things Blue Jays heading into the 2022 campaign.

Hosted by Brendan Panikkar, Craig Borden, Adam Corsair, and Kris Key, the JBW crew starts off by going into the final roster decisions made by the Jays as they trimmed the roster down to 28 players. The biggest news the gentleman discussed was the opt-out of Greg Bird and his decision to sign a MiLB deal with the New York Yankees.

The gentleman discussed some possible reasons Bird decided to opt out of his Minor League deal with the Jays, especially since he seemed like a lock to make the roster in a bench role given his lefty-bat. While it doesn’t look like it was vaccine-related and more of a personal decision, the guys all concluded that it may be more difficult for him to crack the big league roster with the Yankees compared to the Blue Jays unless Anthony Rizzo ends up on the IL, with Gio Urshela 2.0 fears creeping in should he find himself in New York this season.

The Jay Bird Watching Podcast crew hosts one last podcast before the Blue Jays home opener later this evening against the Texas Rangers.

Other topics that were discussed include Nate Pearson’s role once healthy, Ryan Borucki starting the season on the IL, and some player predictions in regards to the Toronto Blue Jays that I won’t spoil for you and recommend checking it out to see where the group concludes.

Ending the episode, each member of the JBW crew made some bold takes and I must say, some are very, very bold. Kris Key thinks that the prelude of Teoscar Hernandez trade discussions this past winter could flair up again and see him dealt at the trade deadline while Craig Borden thinks Bo Bichette will go 40-40 this campaign (he had to be convinced to be a bit bolder from his original 30-30 quip).

The Jay Bird Watching Podcast will be hosted every Thursday evening as the baseball season gets underway and can be found on multiple platforms including Twitter and the Jays Journal home page. They will also be hosting a Twitter space event this upcoming Sunday at 2:00 pm EST, so I recommend checking in and chatting it up with JBW during the game.

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