Star who best fits in Toronto, overpaying free agents and more: Raptors mailbag
Once again, I must thank you all for the variety and volume of questions. You can read Part 1 of the Toronto Raptors mailbag here.
Let's get right to the questions, thus leaving room for a gratuitous joke or two.
(Note: Some questions have been edited for clarity and length.)
If there was a significant upgrade trade available to make that had the Raptors pushing in most of their picks as well as some trade ballast, which position and for whom would you trade? Would it be an upgrade at centre to (Jakob) Poetl, an upgrade around RJ (Barrett), or an upgrade at the point guard position for (Immanuel) Quickley? And are there any candidates you can think of on a second apron mess of a team (Phoenix?), or even a contender whose window looks like it's shut (Boston, Bucks), who the Raptors may consider? — Gregor B.
Beggars cannot be choosers, Gregor. We have yet to see Brandon Ingram play, but the half-court offence is the biggest problem on the team. I wouldn't look at things positionally, but rather who could do the most to help in that aspect. Ignoring the Giannis of it all — if he becomes available, the Raptors should make their best offer — Devin Booker interests me the most. There is no indication the Phoenix Suns want to trade him, but he is the type of scoring machine the Raptors could use.
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Plus, think of the content opportunities with Booker and The Raptor.
Most non-Canadian analysts are confused by the Raptors because they see four guys who want the ball in their hands and want to make decisions. But isn't that the whole point of Darko Rajaković's system? Is there a chance Quickley, RJ, Ingram and Scottie Barnes can buy in and play some beautiful basketball based off the pass and surprise people? (With Poeltl as the 5.) — James R.
The perceived issue is not that four guys want the ball in their hands. It's that, aside from Quickley, there isn't much proof they can be effective offensively without it. I'd dispute that a bit with Barrett, who is awesome at zipping around screens, taking handoffs and getting to the rim. But (in admittedly broad strokes) Ingram is a midrange merchant and Barnes' playmaking usually has him in the main action.
I wouldn't rule out that beautiful basketball you've asked about. If Barnes screens more and improves his shooting, Ingram backs up more often and there is that buy-in that you mention, it can work, with Poeltl acting as a hub. A lot of ifs, but not impossible.
Hey, E, do you think the sad state of the East next season will have any effect on how the front office operates this offseason?
Even if we took a fairly big swing (bigger than the Ingram trade), I'd argue we're still pretty far away from the top of the East. So I'd lean towards 'no,' but curious what you think. — Big Gradey Energy
I took part in a roundtable about this subject, so I'll direct you to that for most of my thoughts. Pending what happens in the offseason, Indiana, New York and Cleveland are still going to be very good, Boston will be competitive, Detroit had a good year from which to build, Orlando has a lot of upside, and teams such as Atlanta and Chicago have similar potential for upward mobility as the Raptors. Milwaukee and Philadelphia are wild cards, capable of 55 wins or 55 losses depending on the offseason and health.
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In general, the conference's weakness should push teams such as the Raptors a smidgeon toward aggressiveness. It doesn't change the calculus too much, but it should provide a little more incentive to try to win in the present.
What are the odds of the core of Quickley, Barrett, Barnes, Poeltl and Ingram staying on the team at the start of the season? As well as the odds of that core making it past the trade deadline? — Malik H.
If I were a betting man and it wouldn't jeopardize my professional credibility, assuming I have any of that, I would bet on those five still being Raptors after the end of the season. As stated often, the Raptors have potential fit questions and definite financial issues, so I'm not ruling out a trade, but it isn't easy to construct one.
If there is a trade, Barrett is the most likely to go because of the team's relative depth on the wing and his shorter, cheaper contract compared with Quickley's, Ingram's and Barnes'. He doesn't have a lot of (or maybe any) positive value, but trading him would be the simplest.
If they have a disappointing year, Ingram and Poeltl instantly would become more likely to be dealt — assuming Poeltl doesn't sign a contract extension this offseason. (They can offer him an extension starting at $27.3 million this offseason.)
Congratulations on the promotion at work, Eric.
The Raptors have consistently overpaid in both money and term. Has it worked for them? Or do they need to revise that policy?
Meanwhile, let's watch a few Raptors in the Eastern Conference finals. — Kevin M.
Thanks, Kevin. If you're wondering what the main difference between being a staff writer and a senior writer is, it's that I now smoke cigars in rooms with mahogany bookshelves and complain about youths. (Just joking. I was doing that before, too.)
When reading my colleague Michael Grange's column about OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam (and the end of the post-Kyle Lowry Raptors, in general), I was reminded of Masai Ujiri's saying, 'I personally don't think contracts were an issue because historically here the players know that we've taken care of the players here' in regard to the disappointing 2022-23 team that led to the departure of Fred VanVleet and eventual trades of Anunoby and Siakam.
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I have two main thoughts about your question and the quote. First, though players pay attention to how teams treat their players, if it doesn't work out exactly the same for them, that ceases to matter. The Raptors' offering Lowry, VanVleet and others friendly deals even when markets didn't develop for them as they expected didn't matter to Siakam when he ultimately thought he was worth more than the Raptors were prepared to offer. It's one of those things where you don't want a bad reputation, but the goodwill it creates lasts as long as any individual is paid.
Secondly, it's the role-player contracts that will kill you. We'll see how the Ingram and Quickley deals play out, but it's the Chris Boucher, Khem Birch and Gary Trent contracts that bother me more from a process standpoint. The length of the Birch deal likely cost the Raptors some draft equity in the Poeltl trade. If you're going to create one-team bidding wars, make sure the players are essential to your plan.
Is it wrong to think Ja'Kobe (Walter) is the best/most interesting wing player on the roster? — Chris B.
It isn't if we're talking about the younger players. His length makes him an intriguing defender, and he didn't appear too bothered by the NBA's physicality even in his rookie season. We will need to see how he develops offensively, but his rookie season showed me he could be an effective two-way player.
Wondering who you think would be the best fit at No. 9 for the Raptors with the players that are likely to be available? — Patrick L.
I am not going to pretend to be a draft expert. The Raptors aren't set anywhere that they should be avoiding any type of player.
Saying that, in terms of pure fit, Arizona freshman Carter Bryant makes a lot of sense. Ignore his per-game stats — everything about his game says he could very easily turn into a very good 3-and-D role player. Also, he has a 7-foot wingspan. Raptors! Truly, that archetype fits anywhere.
Of course, I was also very high on Dalen Terry, another long wing from Arizona with comically low usage. Ask Chicago Bulls fans about Terry. Or better yet, don't.
Hi, Eric, how do you think Toronto is viewed as a destination for free agents now?
Toronto seems to be in a weird grey area in the NBA, as it is a major North American city in terms of market size, with a massive population and crazy fans. But players have avoided us in the past, which is why we've typically had to trade for and then sign all our talent (see Ingram, Quickley, Poeltl) — Pietro P.
First of all, trades have largely replaced free agency as the way major players change teams. It is easy to parse Ujiri's words and see there has been some difficulty getting superstars to be all in on coming to the Raptors, as players tend to have lots of say on where they end up in trades of that magnitude.
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Beyond that, I'm not interested in the conversation. The weather and taxes are real, but it is not as if Oklahoma City is a destination. Yet, the Thunder signed Isaiah Hartenstein, the free agent who fit best with the team's young core, by building an amazing team and targeting him. Have you been to Oklahoma City? All apologies, but it is not bustling.
I'm not a league historian, but I can't imagine there have been many better times to be a team in a non-glamour market. The CBA, with its punitive measures against overspending, is likely to ensure that continues to be the case.
Are we ready to say that next year it's playoffs or bust? What expectations should the Raptors be setting for themselves? — Zac W.
Let's wait until the offseason plays out for anything definitive here. We're definitely trending in that direction, though.
(Top photo of RJ Barrett: Kevin Sousa / Getty Images)
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Because when we talk about Vladdy being a great Blue Jay, well, who's he up against? Who does he need to be better than? I think stuff like that makes everybody a baseball fan, and it's something that I nerd out about anyway. I'm really interested in the history of the team, where they've come from. I'm happy to be covering the Blue Jays from the fancy Rogers Centre press box and not the Exhibition Stadium press box. It's probably a bit better spread in the one I cover them in. It's been fun to learn about that. Josh Valdez: You mentioned Vlad just now. Do you cover him and this era a decent amount in the book? Or is it more focused on past years? Keegan Matheson: Yeah, it's pretty evenly balanced in terms of time. Now, I start at Exhibition Stadium and how Skydome was built, which I really love writing, but I also include two chapters on Vladdy. 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So to talk to people, and even talking to John Schneider, who was his manager back then, he just sits and shakes his head. He's like, "Man, I'll never see anything like that. It only comes around every 20, 30 years." So I wanted there to be a Vladdy chapter that was just about that, so that I can kind of frame that in history, and it's always there. The next Vladdy chapter was about his 2021 season, in which he nearly won the MVP, and when that team almost made the playoffs I think that's a great tragedy of the era, that that team did not make the playoffs with Marcus Semiem and Teoscar Hernandez in that lineup. But that frames kind of the best of Vladdy at this point. And that was really fun to write and document. Charlie Montoyo, his teammates speaking about what a superstar looks like. Like one of the best seasons we've ever seen in Toronto. Now, going into present day, the book was obviously written well ahead of Vlady's extension, maybe that's a chapter we can add if we go to paperback eventually. But my big fear was that he would get traded or something and blow the whole book up. I keep thinking of Tim McMahon, the NBA reporter, whom I really respect. He wrote the Luka [Doncic] book, and boom, Luka gets traded. I lost sleep over something major happening like that, thankfully not. But yeah, two Vlad chapters that were really fun to write, and hopefully it gives me reason to write a third or a fourth or another book someday. Josh Valdez: Has the book changed your perspective on this season or just the present day? Do you feel like you're not as stressed anymore about stuff that could change or outdate the book now that Vlad's contract is locked in? Advertisement Keegan Matheson: Yeah, I do, and that was a big anxiety point for me because things can change very quickly. You know, one swing, one game, one parade changes everything. And I'm really happy with where it's landed, And because this window is still kind of open, I struggled with that a couple of times, like, should I write the story on this era of Blue Jays baseball, under Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins? We're still in it right now. And while it has not been good yet, they have not won a postseason game since 2016. I started covering the team in 2017. So, all I have covered are teams that don't show up in the postseason. But all they have to do is do that once. And whether I think that's going to happen or not, probably doesn't even matter at this point. The moment you break through, when the Blue Jays get hot and go on a run this year, next year, the year after, the last 10 years immediately don't matter anymore. Because when you have a moment like that, like '92 and '93, even like '15 and '16, those [latter two] teams didn't even go to the World Series, and I think they're forever going to be held up by a lot of people as a couple of the great Jays teams that really mean something to people, because they got them back into baseball, or they reminded them of how much they loved the team. All you've got to do is have a moment like that, and it can change everything. So I'm I'm happy with where it landed honestly, I don't even mean this as a marketing play. I genuinely mean that it changed this whole job for me, because it changed how I approached stories every day, it changed how I understand this team. It made me much happier doing this job. And it made me realize that, yeah, probably tomorrow or the next day, I might have to write a story about how somebody's curveball didn't work and it got hit a few times. That's fine, but that's factory work. By the next day, that story's not going to matter, but it made much more interested in the bigger stories around this team and the stories that have a little likes to them. And it reaffirmed for me, I guess, that those stories do matter, because when you have a moment like Joe Carter, that lasts forever. When you have a career like Dave Steve did, that lasts forever. Like Roy Halladay, like José Bautista with that one home run. I'll be 70 years old talking about the bat flip. It reminded me that those can come around anytime, even though it's been a rough decade for the Blue Jays, if just one of those moments come around, you forget about everything else. Advertisement Josh Valdez: And what do the Jays have to do, in your opinion, to finally get back to the mountaintop? Keegan Matheson: They need to develop some sort of identity. I keep going back to that 2021 team, which was one of the best lineups we will ever see in Toronto, period. They had Semien having an all-time season. Vladdy was playing MVP-caliber baseball. There's not always going to be Shohei Otani to win it in front of him. He was playing like an MVP, and you had a lineup that was threatening from top to bottom, because it had power. And the Blue Jays have gotten away from that. Right now, they're a team that is stuck in a lot of 2-1, 3-2 games. And when you're playing that type of baseball, you need to be perfect. because one mistake can send it sideways. When you're playing a game like they played in 2021, and I'd argue even like '15 or '16, you can make five mistakes. You can completely screw up, but if someone hits a three-run home run, guess what I'm writing about, the three run home run and a win. So I think they need to get back to more of an identity, and identity is usually based on offense, which hasn't been there lately. So you can not only get out to lead, but chase teams down if they get a lead on you, and I don't see that lately. That's why we've seen three trips to the postseason go 0-2, 0-2, and 0-2. And each one has come with an extra layer of heartbreak. There was the José Berrios decisoin in Minnesota. There was the meltdown against the [Seattle] Mariners at home. Like they haven't just been losses, they've been tough losses. Those stick with you. But in order for them to shake that off, I think they need more life offensively. And since 2021, the reason I bring that up is that it seems like they've pivoted away from that. Like, it kind of spooked them a little bit, but I think that's the way. Because the 2021 team, I really believe this, and I'll tell you a lot of players and coaches really believe this, that if they had have gotten into the postseason that year, they were going on a run. Like, I think they could have been a World Series team, period. And they just, just missed. Advertisement Josh Valdez: Lastly, who's a Blue Jays player, either that's in the book or not, that you feel like is underappreciated in the fan base? Keegan Matheson: Oh, great question. I think of a couple of answers here, but I don't think that Dave Steve gets enough attention or respect from newer Blue Jays fans. And Blue Jays fans who were around in the 70s, 80s, 90s, they will talk your ear off about Dave Steve because they watched him pitch. But I think that anyone around my age, even 40 and under, I don't hear enough about Dave Steve. There's a couple of reasons for that, and one is that Dave Steve has not kept himself present or public-facing, and I write about that in the chapter. That's okay, that's his choice. If I had to deal with reporters for 20 years, I would probably ride off into the sunset and hide in a log cabin myself. Totally his choice, and that's okay. But a lot of former players who we see them more on TV or doing radio appearances, they kind of stay in the public consciousness. But with Steve, talking to his catchers and other players, like I talked to Buck Martinez, talked to Ernie Witt about him, Pat Borders about him, the three men who caught him the most. And Buck Martinez, the first thing out of his mouth, he said "Best right-handed pitcher the Blue Jays ever had." And it's the team that had Roy Halliday for a decade. People talked about Dave Steve in ways that surprised me and ways that were really fascinating to hear. Now, yes, he would blame his infielers for every error, and he had evil eyes. He would stare two laser beams through your chest if he screwed up behind him, absolutely. But I think he was not just a dominant pitcher, but a fascinating character as well. Advertisement A lot of this book was around reading old archival newspaper coverage or archival magazines, Sports Illustrated, other weeklies and monthlies. And it was a big lesson for me that players were a lot more open back in the day. And I understand why, but some interviews and conversation with Steve I would read just really opened my eyes to a guy who was kind of battling with the spotlight, and he knew that spotlight was there because he was great. But greatness and the attention that comes with it is not always comfortable for people. I see someone on the other side of this, like Joe Carter, who is at events, and he has embraced it. He'll talk to every single person like it's the first time he's ever talked about that home run. Not everyone's that way. So hearing old teammates talk about Dave Steve, even old hitters who faced him, I think, made me appreciate just how great he was. He did deserve, and he still deserves a much larger conversation about the Hall of Fame. Whether he's worthy or not is still very much up for debate, but even if he's just closer than he's been, that's still something that deserves to be talked about, because he fell off that ballot, and I don't think that we have the proper conversation about him. Because Steve was a more modern pitcher than the 80s would suggest. Like, he's a guy who you could drop in today, and he'd have success. You know, Buck Martinez said he was throwing a sweeper before it was a sweeper. Like he had that incredible, incredible slider, and he represents the generational divide among Blue Jays fans for me, because fans who were around to watch him pitch will go on and on about Dave Steve, and they really should. But younger fans, I think they're just not exposed to as many Dave Steve highlights. They don't see him on TV, they don't hear as much about him. And that's something I hope can be a little more alive in the minds of the Blue Jays fans, because it's really too bad Steve pitched in the era that, you know, you didn't have three teams getting a free pass into the playoffs with the Wild Card. I wish there were more opportunities for him and those great 80s teams, that would have changed everything. But still, someone who I think deserves, even a guy who's considered one of the greatest Blue Jays of all time, I still think he deserves a much larger place in the Jays' history conversation. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
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Jose Berrios Had 4 Words After Blue Jays' Win Over Cardinals
Jose Berrios Had 4 Words After Blue Jays' Win Over Cardinals originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Toronto Blue Jays fans finally have plenty to be excited about. After meandering around .500 for most of the season, the club is now 36-30 after their 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, tied for second place in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays. Advertisement Starting pitcher Jose Berrios tossed a four-hit shutout in 6.2 innings vs. St. Louis before the bullpen blew the lead in the eighth. However, center fielder Jonatan Clase hit a 415-foot solo homer to center to tie the game at 4-4 in the ninth, and catcher Alejandro Kirk hit a go-ahead RBI double in the 10th. Closer Jeff Hoffman then secured his 16th save of the season. Berrios sounded off about the win postgame, via Keegan Matheson. Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Jose Berrios (17)© Jeff Curry-Imagn Images "That's a playoff game," the 31-year-old said. He also mentioned that the win reveals the makeup of the clubhouse. Berrios is now 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 14 starts this season. The Minnesota Twins selected Berrios No. 32 overall in the 2012 MLB Draft. They promoted the right-hander to the big leagues in April 2016, and he made the All-Star team in 2018 and 2019. He pitched 12 total playoff innings with Minnesota, totaling five earned runs and 14 strikeouts. Advertisement The Twins then traded Berrios to the Blue Jays in July 2021, and he won the Gold Glove award in 2023. The 6-foot, 205-pounder made one playoff start for Toronto that season, totaling one earned run on three hits in three innings. The Blue Jays are now 8-2 in their last 10 games. Related: Phillies' Rob Thomson Announces J.T. Realmuto News After Blue Jays Game Related: Blue Jays Reporter Opens Up About Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani in New Book This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
