Toronto pitcher Erik Swanson on post-hype Jays, sign stealing thangs

00:00:00
Speaker 1: It wasn't just our lineup that under performed, it was it was everybody. Our bullpen was atrocious. And I could say that because that was a huge part of it.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: Here we go, we Jay's picture Eric Swanson joining us right now on FT ahead crats. This has to be you to start to say hello.

00:00:18
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't even need to see that ugly face. I mean, look at that, why why why? No? Just Swanny. The mustache just needs to be cleaned up.

00:00:27
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. We gotta do something. I don't have much there, so I feel like, in order to look older than twelve, I gotta at least have three hairs.

00:00:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, but now you're getting to the point where you gotta look young. Contracts start coming out. They're like, oh, that guy's like twenty six. Is that Sponson? No, No, that's not Sponson, that's Swanson. Are you jealous that there's another guy in the big leagues named Swanson? So he kind of took your it kind of took your flash flair.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of. Now there's there's a couple of them, Swanson, Swanson, Swanson. They're all over.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Yeah. As a AWR, you just have to make sure you you keep reinventing yourself different things.

00:01:12
Speaker 1: That's that's right, that's right.

00:01:15
Speaker 3: Hey, how you feel.

00:01:17
Speaker 1: Doing good? Man? Finally healthy? Feel good? Been a grind of a couple of months. But we're finally back throwing games again, so we're good.

00:01:25
Speaker 3: What does that look like? What does that look like like? Walk us through what the beginning of this season starting in February was like for you. And then like that mindset of like the Boys are gonna put me in a big spot in these games once I get back.

00:01:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, coming into to camp. I actually went down to Florida in January, so I was down there early. I felt great, body felt great, and then the whole forearm thing happened where I had the nerve issue and it was just just kind of link for a while, couldn't get better. Which makes it pretty frustrating to have to go through an entire spring training constantly having setbacks and then now being at the point where you're starting to build back up into games, and then you have one more season starts and then you got to watch the boys on on the iPad while you're sitting in a hotel room down in Florida. Never makes it easy. I mean, rehaving sucks. Nobody likes to do it. But we made it out of there. We're back and ready to go.

00:02:31
Speaker 3: Do you think baseball babies you pitchers too much? From whatever angle you want to take it. Ah, you were starter and then you became a bullpen guy. Well, don't throw so much. You gotta throw a lot to be able to get Oh well this hurts. Okay, we're shutting you down. Like, do you think if you were in a different situation, do you think baseball baby's the pitcher's too much? Just in any any way that you can think about that, like a little thing hurts h Nope, shut it down. We don't want to be big big time.

00:03:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean I think it goes both ways, though, right, it goes some guys are getting babied and then now we're we're trying to argue the the part of you know, how do we let guys go longer? Now now guys aren't thrown enough. So it's like that double edged sword. It's like we're trying to figure out that happy medium of it. But uh, yeah, for sure, guys are guys. I think guys they come up depending on where you're at. You know, you get kind of putting that routine of you know, the days that you're throwing on, and that's always the big adjustment when when you see these young guys come from the minor leagues of the big leagues and they got to be ready to throw every day, and it's it's that big of an adjustment. So I think the organizations that do it where they kind of treat those triple A bullpens like a big league bullpen is a huge advantage.

00:03:52
Speaker 2: All Eric, I want to talk about your team for a moment. Where do you think the Blue Jays are at right now? Is they've been playing much better ball over the past couple of weeks, aside from you of course back in the mix.

00:04:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're in a really good spot. I think you look at up and down the lineup, the guys that are showing up for us, the guys that are expected to show up for us. Everybody's doing it right now. You know, you see those power numbers start to creep back up where they should be. You get some of these young guys that are that are filling their roles and coming up in really big situations. That's what it takes to win ball games. So that's what it takes to to end up playing meaningful, meaningful baseball in September and getting into the postseason. So doing exactly what we're doing right now moving forward is going to be how we get there.

00:04:43
Speaker 3: Is it hard to watch this team underperform? When they've underperformed? I mean from afar, we're looking at this lineup like day on, like, why did these guys not hit? Why did they not hit last year and score a bunch of runs? Is it hard to watch them? As a bullpen guy, you're sitting out there last year now a little bit this year and seeing it, like, how do we not score nine runs a game?

00:05:08
Speaker 1: Yeah? For sure, I mean yeah, there's no there's no way to sugarcoat that. For sure. It's frustrating, But you know, it's the same thing. You look at last year. It wasn't just our lineup that underperformed, It was it was everybody. Our bullpen was atrocious. And I could say that because I was a huge part of it. You know, it's last year was a perfect storm of you know, everybody underperformed and then unfortunately, you know, you you end the last year the way we did. We went out, we signed some guys this year coming into camp, everybody's excited, and I think, you, look at what we're doing right now is what we're expected to be doing. So I think there's a lot of hype around what we're doing right now. But at the end of the day, it's like the guys in the clubhouse, it's like, this is exactly what we're supposed to be doing. So you know, why why do anything or why expect anything different than what we're already doing.

00:06:05
Speaker 2: I want to play off the word that you just said, hype. So for a couple of years, people were really high on the Blue Jays, right people, fans, writers, etc. Sexy World Series pick for maybe the prior couple years, you didn't really see much of that heading into this season. Do you believe in post hype, because that's the thing with prospects. Sometimes it's like the guy's twenty one comes up. If he's not good right away, people kind of forget about him. I mean, I honestly even think someone like Jackson Churio fits that mold, like he struggled for like a month and a half, people forgot about him, and then he was like probably the best rookie position player in baseball last year for the rest of the way. Do you feel like the Blue Jays have a label like that?

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Speaker 3: Can you feel that as a.

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Speaker 2: Team where you go somewhere and it's like, oh, we're playing the Blue Jays, or maybe the prior couple years it was like, oh, it's the blue Jays.

00:06:53
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I think you saw it last year a little bit. We went in we finished twenty three where we lost to the wild Card in Minnesota, and then we went into camp last year and a lot of teams were or not a lot of teams, a lot of people were kind of picking us to to not do great, and guys get pissed off about that and they you know, we talk about it, you see or you hear what's going on, what people are saying about you. And then you go into this offseason kind of the same thing where it's like, all right, the Blue Jays need to make make some moves whatnot. And then we go into camp and it's it's kind of the same thing. It's you know, the hype isn't as high as it was in previous years, but I mean at the end of the day, it's like you're there to do your job. You're there to to try to win as many ball games as you can, and that's I mean, that's all you can really try to focus on. I mean, that's the that's the easy answer to say. It is what it is. But there's always going to be hype. And when teams don't do well, people people hop on that train as quickly as they can, and people or pretty quick to hop off as soon as it flips the other direction.

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00:09:05
Speaker 3: How much of the boys talk about the stadium changes? You talk about the boys and how they like talk about expectations, what they're gonna do, how much of the hitters, but also the pictures, Like it's not just your hitters hitting in the stadium that seems like has suppressed home runs? Do you pictures in the bullpen? Go ay suppressed nothing. We just got a much nicer seat up here now.

00:09:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean that's something we've talked about the last couple of years, for sure. I think going into those renovations, everybody thought power numbers were just gonna soar. Everybody thought they were gonna take off a little bit more. Uh, and they didn't. Obviously, I don't. I don't know the exact numbers of it. I don't know if it's you know, gone up slightly or whatever it may be. But it seems like it's pretty similar to what they were. I mean, you talk about it. For me, it's more so like, uh, is the roof openers the roof closes? Is one of those power numbers start to creep up?

00:10:03
Speaker 3: Which one is it? Which one's better? Because I know Ari Dickey always wanted the roof closed so that his knuckleball would knuckle puck.

00:10:09
Speaker 1: Time roof open, the ball flies, especially you get a certain wind in that city, it pushes it out pretty good the center.

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Speaker 3: Or do you look because because when we would have the roof open, I mean this was twenty fourteen, we'd look at the banners that used to hang in center field, and if the banners were moving, they the win was like just flying straight out the center. Everywhere else it played fair but center it would just launching pad.

00:10:38
Speaker 1: No, you're exactly right, those banners start to move out there in center, that ball floats out there just a little.

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Speaker 3: Just for the fans when they go to the park, they need to know.

00:10:50
Speaker 4: Eric, Yeah, exactly, Eric.

00:10:52
Speaker 2: So, so your rookie year is twenty nineteen. Now we're at twenty twenty five. Where do you think the game is at with signs compared to how you got to when you first entered the league in terms of signs stealing? Right, Like, you know you've been on the Blue Jays for a few years now. I was thinking back. I remember the whole thing with the Yankees with with Peekaboo Judge, and then recently we had the Red Sox and the Angels with some beef and then you see afterward the first base coach taking some signs. I'm texting with friends who think that it's illegal, I'm like, nah, as long as they're just not using a device, you can do that. So from a pitching perspective, where do you think the game is now compared to where it was in twenty nineteen? And what do you guys do as a team to try and make sure that you know signs aren't being stolen?

00:11:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely in the game, right It's It's been in the game for as long as any of us has played. Obviously, you know the technology that's there allows people to archive certain things, pick up on tendencies and that's just the world we live in now. Unfortunately as a pitcher, but I think there's certain things that you can do to figure that out. Some guys do a great job with it. Unfortunately, some guys don't figure out there they have certain tendencies until they get to the big leagues. And you know, it goes both ways. It goes you know, he takes teams time to try to figure out who they're facing to figure out their tendencies. But you also got to have guys on your team they're able to say, hey, this is what you're doing, and you need to stop doing this because somebody's gonna pick up on this pretty quick. And that's not necessarily just you know, whether you say it's a first base coach, third base coach, that's a guy at second base too, right, Like guys relaying signs from them from second have been It's been a part of the game forever, and as a pitcher, that's up to you to to try to make sure he doesn't figure out how to do that. It is what it is. Obviously, you know, it'd be great if it wasn't part of the game. It'd be a lot a lot easier on me, but uh, it is what it is, and you got to figure out a way that that, you know, guys can't pick him up. All right?

00:13:09
Speaker 3: Who's the guy on the mic? Because I remember calling you up to the front of the bus when you were in Triple A and making you get on the mic. But who's that was? That was twenty eighteen. You've grown up now, Okay, So who's the guy on the mic right now? Who who does who does that the most work in the front of the bus on a road trip for the boys?

00:13:29
Speaker 1: That's Springer right there.

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Speaker 3: And what's his what's his what's his go to that you can tell us here.

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Speaker 1: His go to? Let's see, let's see what do we what do we say that we that we can't get in trouble? That Springing does a good job. I mean, he's you gotta have a good personality on the mic. You gotta have a guy that can that can keep things rolling and constantly talk. He does a good job. Anytime we got on the bus after you know, big series win, whatever it is, you know, we're shouting out people who did good stuff in that series. You know, try to get the boys a little bit fired up. Talk about who we're gonna face this next series and make sure we know what we gotta do, and then you know, depending on how long the bus ride is, and we have some fun with it.

00:14:24
Speaker 4: You mentioned first of all before I even ask you a question bare down. Then second of all, did you did someone call Springer up to the front of the bus and ask him why he was jumping up and down like a two year old and then got tagged out after he slid into third and came off the base by about this far.

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Speaker 1: He was just excited. Man. You know, sometimes you get a little bit excited, a little bit of a little bit of an ankle ankle issue, I think is what it was. A little uh tweak tweak the ankle.

00:14:52
Speaker 4: Okay, And are you really sold on JJ McCarthy as your starting quarterback because there's a good chance you guys finished fourth in that division this year.

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Speaker 1: I knew that is gonna get brought up. We're not finishing fourth. I I like J J JJ is gonna be good for us. You know, Donald Donald was was a good filling why while we needed him. I think JJ healthy Now I think I think he does really good for for the Vikings.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: Wait, you you just said us and we, So you're so you're gonna be taking you're gonna be taking snaps in the cold north like you're gonna be up here, or do you Is that fair? Can you say us and we you're not on the team, Swannie?

00:15:36
Speaker 1: That is that is a pretty good debate that I've had many times. You never know, I might take some snaps. We'll see, we'll see if we can't get up there for uh mandatory practice here in a couple of weeks, and maybe might be out there. You never know what position?

00:15:52
Speaker 3: Would you play?

00:15:54
Speaker 1: Kicker?

00:15:57
Speaker 3: Could you kick? Could you make a field goal? Or are you just saying you're you're just on the kickoff team like you're just doing the kickoff.

00:16:04
Speaker 1: No, I can boot it. I can boot it a little bit.

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Speaker 3: That's what they teach you in North Dakota.

00:16:10
Speaker 1: I kicked a little bit, kicked a little bit of practice growing up, punted a few few times in the game, so I got a little bit of a boot. We could get there, Okay.

00:16:22
Speaker 2: Eric, I want to finish with this. I mean, you of course know this, and maybe I'll bring in aj and Kratz right now, although I don't know if they'll get this. Maybe they will. So you've been involved in three trades in your career, and I'm looking back at other players involved in those trades.

00:16:40
Speaker 3: Nice names.

00:16:42
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know the three, right?

00:16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:16:45
Speaker 3: Should we see if they know?

00:16:47
Speaker 4: I know the three because I've been to Fargo North North Dakota before.

00:16:52
Speaker 3: What does that matter?

00:16:53
Speaker 1: What does that have to do with anything?

00:16:56
Speaker 4: Because I'm the only one that's been there on this show.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: So you know the three players that eric'sson has been traded for due to the fact that you've been to Fargo, North Dakota.

00:17:04
Speaker 5: Okay, go ahead, Beltron, Okay, there's one that was good, the Oscars one, yep, and.

00:17:14
Speaker 4: The third one just escaped me.

00:17:15
Speaker 3: But there's a left, the big the Big Maple. Come on the Big Maple.

00:17:19
Speaker 4: Paxton, James Baxton.

00:17:21
Speaker 3: You know that's pretty cool.

00:17:22
Speaker 2: What do you think about being involved in trades for some pretty big deal players or I mean, do you not care at all? I mean, probably more cool to look back on someday when you're talking about your career sitting in a rock and chair, like, hey, got traded for some pretty big names.

00:17:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I say the first two I got traded for were I was I was the throwing I was the I wasn't the player to be named later, but I was not the headliner of either one of those.

00:17:49
Speaker 5: Uh.

00:17:50
Speaker 1: And then I'll say the third one, third one I earned. I earned the third one.

00:17:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, but justice Justice is not pitching Justice Sheffield. If you guys remember that name, was the young, tiny little we call him tiny little Lefty. He was like Ricky Romero, like two point zero. But he was the headliner of that. And then Swanny got thrown in because he had a really good catcher who probably helped him succeed at the triple A level, just.

00:18:17
Speaker 1: Saying yeah, yeah, some would say that.

00:18:20
Speaker 3: It was Hagy, it was Higgy, it was it was Higgy that was helping.

00:18:24
Speaker 4: We wouldn't say that, right, Sonny. We wouldn't say that, but some people might.

00:18:28
Speaker 1: Some people might, some people might.

00:18:30
Speaker 4: But before you go, I know Josh Allen and we gotta go. But Josh Allen comes up there and takes me pece. So next time you see him, were your vikings at and say, man, I wish you would have kept Sam Darnold because they're pretty close. So I just want to see what his answer would be.

00:18:44
Speaker 1: All Right, I'll say something to him. He was there two years ago. I don't think he came up last year. We'll see if he comes up this year.

00:18:50
Speaker 4: Okay, because they I've seen them together, I've met them together. They they're pretty.

00:18:53
Speaker 3: Tight and off topic, completely off topic. So that people know you do spell your name correctly. You're one of the like three people in baseball that spells your name E, R, I, K. So there's that.

00:19:11
Speaker 1: I don't know another one that does.

00:19:14
Speaker 3: He's a GM for the race. Eric Neander, all right.

00:19:19
Speaker 1: There you go.

00:19:20
Speaker 2: Wait, I want to last word on this. No get you get headliner in two trades. I know Justice Sheffield didn't work out. You were looked at as the side piece at the time. How did twenty twenty two go Mariners make the playoffs first time in a billion years? You had a one six eighty R, seventy punches in fifty three and two thirds innings. I would say if I look back at the history of that trade worked out pretty well for the Mariners. It's the only time they've been in the playoffs in twenty In the past twenty something years, they've been in the playoffs two thousand and one, I think it is twenty twenty two and that's it in the twenty first century.

00:19:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty cool one to be a part of.

00:19:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we'll give you that one. You've got two out of three. I hope you enjoyed this. Thanks for putting up with R. E.

00:20:05
Speaker 1: R I K.

00:20:06
Speaker 3: Good talking to you.

00:20:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I appreciate it. Fellows, thank you.