Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - A Glimpse Of The Future: Cardinals Take The Series In Colorado

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

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Today on a special crossover episode, that sure had all the makings of a coursefield classic. You are Locked on Rockies, your daily Colorado Rockies podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Rock on Rockies fans and Cardinals fans. Welcome into a locked on podcast network crossover with Locked on Rockies and Locked on Cardinals. We're part of the Locked on MLB. network on Locked on Podcast Network. You can find us free and streaming on your favorite streaming services and on the Locked on Rockies and Locked on Cardinals YouTube channels where you can go be

part of the show, fire off your hot takes. And every time you like the videos and subscribe, you're helping us out big time. It's one of the best ways to help out the shows and help them grow. I am one of your hosts today, Paul Holden, the host of Locked on Rockies. And I will let my co-host introduce himself and take it away from there because we got a fun one to break down mixed with, I'm glad they won because I'm kind of fired up frustrated after that series. And I'm wondering how you're feeling, JD, here at the end of the season, because we got to talk that series. We got to talk two teams with interesting futures ahead of them and interesting off seasons ahead.

And I wanted to get some highs and lows from the Cardinals. And I'll give you the highs and lows from the Rockies from 2024. But before we do all of that, introductions are in order. Yeah, thanks, Paul. I'm J.D. Haffron. and I'm a national radio sports broadcaster. And I'm born and raised from St. Louis. I've been a lifelong Cardinals fan.

So I've been doing the podcast for a couple of years now. And I've got to be honest, today's game, like it was fun. Even though the Cardinals lose and they blow it in the eighth inning, it was fun because either of our teams are going anywhere this year. So it was one of those games where I'm like, you know what? I'm not going to get all worked up about this. You know, it's one of those fun Coorsfield games just happened to not go for the Cardinals this way. And, you know, overall, though, a pretty good series until that inning for the Cardinals.

So I don't really have a whole lot to complain about in this series. But the Rockies rally in the eighth inning on Thursday, and they steal one away from St. Louis. And the fans out there, we've been calling it the Road to 61, our friends at Fanduil at the beginning of the years, that the Rockies win total at 60 and a half. So all of those out there that took the over were very happy at to see this one play out there. So that was fun to see. And it was a fun game.

And it was, I think in context, I mentioned my frustrations because I just felt like the Rockies were flat in the first two games, which was surprising. The announcement of Charlie Blackman's retirement is a huge deal. The team just they lost a series in L.A., but we're going tooth and nail with the good Dodgers team. But the Rockies just have. not avoided the strikeout bug all season long. It's been a massive, massive problem for them.

Over 50% of the games, I think, this season are close to it. They've struck out 10 plus time. So that type of stuff is frustrating. But it is a day game at Corse Field at the end of the season. You know, the only thing I wish was different was I was there enjoying it in person because it looked like a picture perfect day there in Denver. So, yeah, the series was good. What are your takeaways from the Cardinals right now? What are you looking for when you're watching the Cardinals at this stage in the season? Of course, you know, unfortunately, the playoffs aren't going to be there. The offseason is right around the corner. And we'll get to that, that focus here more specifically because for us, Rockies fans,

we got some young guys to look out for. Of course, Rockies fans are celebrating the final week of Charlie Blackman of his career before he retires. I'm curious, what is on your mind as a Cardinals fan right now? It's seeing progression from kind of like the way the Rockies go where you're letting the young guys. get some action that might not see as much playing time at this point of the year if things were a little different. If the Cardinals had won four or five more games, they'd be right there. But that's really what I'm looking forward to is, you know, what these guys are doing with

all this playing time leading into 2025 because, you know, there's specifically the pitching staff. There's going to be some turnover there because you've got some veterans. You guys saw Kyle Gibson today. No guarantee he's going to be back. There's a player option there for. next year. And there's not a lot of rotation spots at the moment. So the Cardinals are going to make some decisions there. You did get to see Michael McGreevy in this series, who was somebody that was down at AAA. 95% of the time this year, he's made three appearances at the major leagues. Two of them

starts and has looked really, really good. I was very much impressed with how he looked in his first appearance at Coors Field. It's not an easy place to pitch. And, you know, the rookie came in and looked really, really good. So he's a guy that. that we're excited about that it's going to be competing for a rotation spot next year. Watching guys like Ivan Herrera who hit a bomb today, Jordan Walker, out in right field, still trying to figure things out in the field. But you can see him progressing at the plate. You can see the talent there.

Obviously, Mason wins been really, really good throughout the entire season. You got to see some Victor Scott, some Pedro Pahas. You know, these are guys that if the team decides to cut down on payroll, which is the rumor that they're going to be shaving some payroll, not adding it. It's going to put a lot of attention on these young guys. They're going to be like, look, this is your time to shine. Like we're not going to go out and buy veterans and just have them kind of get us by. We want to take that next step and we want to do it with the youth in this organization.

So that's what I'm watching right now is how they react to making mistakes like Thomas and J.C. On Thursday, you know, making an error in that first inning. You know, how does he react to that? How does he take it into the abats with them later on in the game? Stuff like that is what I'm paying attention to. And I find that to be more exciting than watching all Goldschmidt hit again. Or Nolan Arnaudanato hit again. We know who they are.

We know what they are. I'm more excited about the future than I am with what the veterans are bringing to the table at this time. And it's interesting. I wonder if you thought at the beginning of the season you'd be saying that, you know, about about goldschmidt and aranado i mean of course i think we've avoided it long enough we have at least got to act really frustrating season for both of those guys in the future of goldschmidt obviously a little bit different than the future of aranado since the opt-in and everything like that break it down for me with those two guys i mean the the you're just not too long ago

basically co-mvPs if you look at it and and and what looked like really bright future ahead has led to some some frustrating times especially for those two guys Yeah, it's hard to come up with a reasoning why, we want to say just father time caught up with Paul Goldschmidt. I mean, he's 37 years old now. Nolan Arnado is a few years younger than him, but for whatever reason, the power stroke has just kind of vanished from his game. I mean, he's not going to make it the 20 home runs this year, which is shocking. And I know that, you know, playing in course fields a different whole thing than playing at Bush Stadium. the same time. I think it also has a lot to do with the way people are pitching Aronado.

You know, when he was getting, when in his prime years with Colorado, you know, I went back and watched some tape and stuff and seeing, you know, like what looks different about him than what he was doing then to what he's doing now. And it seems to me is like, just back then, if you threw anything middle to inner half, he's ripping that sucker down the line and left. And he's not missing them. This year, a lot of the pitch. his way had him, you know, looking that way the whole time and then he would miss his pitch on the inner half of the plate. And that was costing him because, you know, he's never been a slugger in my eyes. You know, he's a line drive hitter that happened to hit home runs. It wasn't, you know,

and that's weird to say about a guy who led the league in home runs at a couple times. But it's not, he's not hitting 480 foot bombs and stuff like that. It's usually solid contact, middle end, and he's sitting line shots down that left field line. And that's where he was getting his his home runs for. And he just had a tough time adjusting this year. And he's put a lot of pressure on himself about it. He's, you know, admitted to anybody who will listen that, look, I realized that the last few years have been really, really tough. And I will take full blame. He's like, I've gotten into some bad habits. A lot of people thought maybe it was injuries. Maybe he was dealing like last year was a back injury. We didn't know if maybe something like that was

happening again this year because you guys know Nolan as well as anybody. He's not. He's not one to want to take a day off ever. Like he wants to be out there each and every day. I was shocked he wasn't in the finale. I was shocked to not see him out there. Apparently he just today. They just was a day. It was a plan day.

You will take the stay off. You do not have a choice. They weren't going to even give him an opportunity in the last game in Colorado. But, you know, it's concerning because you still got him under contract for a couple of more years. And when you're two big pillars, you know, the guys that were supposed to be, the meat of your order with Goldie Aronado. And then, of course, Wilson Contreras being that third guy, when Wilson's not around most of the year because of injuries unfortunate ones too,

nothing that you can really do about those. And then the other two are having career worse seasons. It makes it awfully tough. And I don't care what team you are. If the three biggest bats in your lineup do not show up, there's not a team on in major league baseball that is going to meet expectations and survive when that happens. And that's what went on with the Cardinals this year.

So it's got them considering like what, what do we do? Because a lot of people thought it was a foregone conclusion that they would try to re-sign Paul Goldschmidt when the contract was up, give him like a one or two-year extension, let him finish it out. And now you've seen a steep decline in back-to-back gears. And it's like, well, we love the guy. But man, business is business. Maybe it's time to cut bait.

We don't know how much he's going to cost when he reaches free agency. what would he agree to to come back? Are you willing to not move other pieces around to play first base in 2025 just solely? So Paul Goldschmidt continue to have at bats. It's a tough place to be because Goldie is one of the great guys in all of Major League Baseball. But back-to-back gears like this, for me, it's time to move on and see what some of these other guys can do for you instead. Yeah, the business side gets tough. The Rockies are facing that, certainly this year.

Charlie Blackman is retiring, which is going to free up some spots, but he was getting there. And when you look at it, obviously in the series, you might think it's different. But one of his career worst years this year, Charlie knew that it was time to move on, which will help the Rockies. But the Rockies have to navigate the Chris Bryant situation, which is really tough. When you're talking about the money and injuries that have plagued him as well, Ryan McMahon's inconsistencies are huge.

he has fallen off completely in the second half of the season, as has been a trend for him going forward, you know, after being an all-star for the first time. So kind of some similarities there with the veteran players and the decisions that need to be made. The Rockies are in a little, you know, they get the benefit that Charlie moves on.

Chris Bryant, if healthy, could probably do the de-hing and the Rockies can then keep the field for Michael Tolia to play first base, who has been their starter now for, I think, over 60 straight games. He's made, the Rockies have made a decision at first base.

And that actually, you might remember, Aleris Montero, he's been basically in the minors this year after being DFAed earlier in the season. The Rockies are going to have to find something to do with him and that because I don't expect him to be playing much of a role with the team. So there's some interesting options the Rockies have to figure out in terms of their contracts and playing time for young guys as well. They got, you know, Aaron Schunk had a massive series. They need to keep him on the- bro. Who is this guy? You killed him.

He's Brendan Rogers is backup. Brendan Rogers is hurt. And Shunk's been looking for an opportunity to play consistently. And look what happens. You know, you gets that chance. I'm used to Charlie Blackman doing damage against the Cardinals because he's been one of the great players in Colorado history. And so when he rips you, you're like, you know, it's Charlie, you know, Chuck Nassie.

Then you got an Aaron Shunk in the nine hole just mashing the entire series. And it was like, every time he came up, he was like the toughest at bat of the series outside of Charlie. And he did some damage in this one. I was impressed with the kid. Yeah, absolutely. And just like you mentioned, that's what Rocky's fans are looking for. We're looking for you, these young guys to make some moments. And you know, you mentioned Walker with the defense. And we're watching Nolan Jones missed to misplay balls out there in

left field too. It was just like that's, you get so worried because Nolan Jones such a great year last year. And then this year, the complete opposite. So he's, he's going through a lot. It's really interesting because a lot of these players and both of these teams, they got a lot to figure out going forward here in the off season. Let's talk about what the off season looks like for the two teams and what we think we got a little preview there with with the goldsmith talk i'll give you a little insight on what i hope the rockies are doing as well coming up here on this crossover edition of locked on rockies and locked on cardinals forgot to mention this at the top but this episode's brought to you by booking dot com yeah the right stay can make you a fan of any city even your baseball

rivals book today on booking.com the official accommodation partner of major league baseball get the booking dot com app today we also got to tell you about our friends over at robin hood as i'm finding my little overlay here before i'll join you on that well let me just tell you about them here with robin hood gold you don't need a silver spoon to eat up the financial favors of the one percent robin hood gold allows others to get the rates and perks usually reserved for the high Now the resourceful individual with Robin Hood Gold can earn the very liberal rate of 4.5% APY on uninvested cash, receive unlimited 1% deposit bonuses, and be rewarded with a handsome 3% retirement boost on an IRA account. Robin Hood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth for any net worth. These generous benefits are now available for only $5 a month.

The new gold standard is here with Robin Hood Gold. Sign up at robin hood.com slash gold. Terms apply for product specific disclosures. Visit robin hood.com slash gold. Investing involves risk. Rate may change. Gold membership is offered by Robin Hood Gold LLC. Welcome back into Locked on Rockies and Locked on Cardinals. Recapping an exciting fun series there.

Cardinals putting up some numbers, getting some offense there in that series, at least five runs in all of them in that. That's a nice little bit of momentum there. Are they finishing up the season on the road or at home? Do they head back to St. Louis or where do they go? No, we're over to San Francisco now to finish up the season. We finished our final home series last weekend. So we get to go take on the Giants.

And my prediction at the beginning of the year was 84 wins. So if they had won today, I would have been looking all right. I was right there. But then, you know, the Rockies do what the Rockies do. And two out magic with five and the eighth crazy stuff against the bullpen. I feel like this is the status correct. and if somebody wants to correct me on it, but I believe the Cardinals are 61 and 3 this year after seven,

if they have the lead after seven innings. Like, it's been crazy. So to have this happen, you're just like, oh, my gosh, but people who are like with pitchforks and got their torches going right now on Twitter X right now, who are so upset, I'm like, all right, calm down. It's not like this has happened a whole lot of times. And things happen at Coors Field.

It's a different world at Coors. And it just took the Rock. a couple days to get things going to throw that magic in there. But, yeah, we'll be in San Francisco after this. You know, the one thing I think that it doesn't get taught. We talk about it a lot here, obviously, with the altitude change and a lot. That has to be one of the most brutal flips to go from cores to San Francisco as a road as like a team like the Cardinals who doesn't, you know, the Rockies have been getting dominated by the car or the giants for years and are terrible on the road. And that's the history.

But like, that's got to be, I wonder how much that's talked about. like in the clubhouse or something like that because when you're talking about polar opposite places to play it doesn't get that and it and it's cooling off you know i here on the west coast like it it isn't going to be it's going to be an interesting situation there and before we dive into some other stuff jd i just wanted to maybe pick your brain real quick uh on a big baseball story uh last game of oakland was played uh just finished up actually shortly before and this was a heartbreaker man i mean there's a lot of baseball history and the more and more of the comes out about how it all went down. It's been disappointing. I'm just curious if you had any

thoughts. We don't have to spend too long here, but I think it's important for us baseball guys to at least talk a little bit about what's going on and what happened with the A's. Yeah, for sure. I mean, to be blunt, it sucks. I think it sucks. Yeah, no, that's really. Yeah, St. Louis, we know what it's like losing NFL teams. We've lost two of them now. Right. One of them the ownership took it to Arizona and then we lose the Rams because the NFL torpedoes things. in St. Louis and forces it to move to L.A. like just did the whole city wrong. It was brutal.

And to see it happen to other cities in any sport, it sucks. Like I feel so bad for the fans of Oakland who, you know, for years and years and years and just like almost any franchise. Like if you put a competitive product out on the field, the fans come out. They'll be there to support you.

And when you don't do that on purpose, like what do you want them to do? Like it was a terrible spot to be in and to know that they're just going to be hanging out in Sacramento for a couple of years at minor league stadiums and then hopefully going to Vegas. I mean, it's supposed to still happen. But like it's just bizarre that you would let like a majorly baseball

would let this happen to any team no matter what the circumstances for. And I feel horrible for the Oakland A's fans. Great tradition there. I remember growing up watching the, Bash brothers and those really good teams with Tony LaRosa at the helm in the late 80s or in the early 90s. So many great moments from the Oakland days over the years. And to see it all be wiped away right now and just be packed up and taken to Sacramento, it sucks.

I hate it. I hate it for the game of baseball. I hate it for the fans. And shame on ownership there and shame on Major League Baseball for allowing this to happen. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. and the letter that comes out this week, I mean, it all just feels so disingenuous from their side.

And it just to hear, it just bad story after bad story comes out and of everything. And again, it's like, people are frustrated with Rocky's ownership, but the Rockies have gone out and spent some money, put money into their ballpark, care about the relationship with the fan

and try at least some things. And maybe it's not always successful, but at least that's what I remind myself because I would like right now it's a gut wrenching there's generations of of people that like I couldn't even imagine what would happen if I woke up without Rockies baseball next year that's it's for me I know it's a young team and the Rockies don't have a lot of history but for me it's my life I grew up going to Coors Field I grew up watching the Rockies and for generations of people who have shared that with their kids and their friends and XYZ to lose that and then to kind of be slapped in the face telling like

it's your fault. You didn't show up and blah, blah, blah. When in reality, it's like, no, the A's have been lauded for years for their, their awful ownership and to just kind of brush off everything onto the fan and local government and then be like, oh, we did everything we could and do all, you know, this sob story at the end. It really is just heartbreaking. So I, like I said, I just wanted to at least get a couple of thoughts there as this is a tough, a tough day for Oakland baseball fans here. But let's shift to the future of our franchises here. You already mentioned the Cardinals facing a tough decision with Goldsmith there.

Do they have the pieces in place to replace Goldschmidt and succeed with it? What do the Cardinals need to do to win an NL Central that usually seems competitive? And let's just kind of all admit, the Brewers were shocking this year. Yeah, yeah. And the Brewers, but they keep winning. Like when you go back and look at it, the Brewers have kind of dominated this division recently. And it's just player development and smart moves is really what it's been. A lot of the blame the fans of myself, as far as the Cardinals failures over the last couple years,

we put it at the feet of president of baseball operations, John Moseilock, who is, it's not that they don't spend money. The Cardinals have a $175 million payroll, which is plenty to go out and do something good, but he spent it poorly. And he's spending it on guys that, you know, aren't difference makers, you know, Miles Michaelis is going to make $17.6 million next year. And he's been one of the most hitable pitchers in baseball for three straight years now. Like it's just, it was a bad investment, a bad decision. Paul Goldsmith, like people complain about, you know, Goldie, not living up the expectations and making 26 whatever million this year, whatever. But this is what it's supposed to look like

at the end of a contract. You know, he's in his final years. It was supposed to go down. You weren't, if you had gotten him, if his last year had been that MVP year, imagine where you'd be. You had a, you know, forked over even more money. Like, this is what it's supposed to kind of look like.

As far as pieces to replace him, there are different ideas of how to go about that if you don't bring him back. Some people want to see Jordan Walker, who you saw again in right field. He's had a tough time going from, he was a third baseman in the minor leagues, Then he, they moved him to outfield last year. Well, actually, you know, they moved him to outfield.

Last year was his full, full year, I think at the end of where he started. But he hasn't been there very long. Let's put it that way. And so it's been a lot of growing pains for Jordan Walker out in the outfield. But, you know, big guy, great arm, a lot of speed. I feel like it would be a waste to move him down to first base. But, you know, people are coming up with that idea. Alec Berluson, not a great outfielder by any means.

either left-handed bat. He could be a good first baseman. You guys didn't get to see Luke and Baker in the series. He was on paternity leave, but he's a guy, big guy, mash his left-handed hitting. So we wonder if there's like a combo that can be done there between Berluson and Luke and Baker at first base next year. And that way you would still get the offensive side that Goldie offered you. How do you replace them defensively? I don't know, because that's one side of Goldie's game that kind of gets taken for granted. We don't think about it as much because you expect it at this point. But it's not going to be easy. They've also thought about Ivan Herrera. They've got three catchers now, Wilson Contreras, Pedro Pahas, and

Ivan Herrera, who you saw both of those guys in this series. Maybe one of them starts taking some turns at first base. Maybe Wilson Contreras scoches over to first base. So, but whoever you put there defensively, it's going to be an issue because you're kind of teaching these guys. You know, Luke and Baker is the only one that's actually been a first baseman this whole time. But it's just something because you're trying to find spots for all these people. Like it's tough not to have Herrera's bad in the lineup. When he's been up in the major leagues this year, he's proven that he can hit at this level. Is he a good catcher?

That's that's debatable. We're not totally sure about that, but you want to get that bad in the lineup. Are there other ways to maneuver things like trade? to bring somebody in. You bring up the A's, a guy that Cardo fans have asked for since last year is Britt Rooker. I mean, almost everybody wants to get him out of Oakland or wherever we're going to call him now. The A's ball club, I don't know, what are their names going to be?

But a lot of people who are in him? He doesn't make a whole lot of money right now. And you get a few years of them, maybe sign him to something. But he's a D.H., you can play some outfield. Is that the big bopper that you can stick in the middle of your lineup to take over for what you were expecting out of Goldsmith this year and didn't get, there are ways to go about it. But again, if you're going to slash payroll,

you're going to have to do it with the young guys. So there's going to be some maneuvering. There's going to be some discussions. And a lot of people expect them to just go ahead and give Goldie a one-year deal and bring them back anyway, which I don't know why we keep. It feels like we're just running in place with the same guys. And I just am like, look, can we just clean slate? let's move on from everybody involved.

Nato's going to be your veteran. Let's move on from some of these old veterans in the rotation that aren't under contract. And let's just start the push with this group of young guys and see if we can develop them up that way. Yeah. And well, you mentioned first base defense. And it's something that I think matters more than people give it credit for. Michael Toy is for the Rockies. It makes your infield better.

It makes it is a huge impact when you can have that. So just replacing that the Rock, it took the Rockies forever. And really still are still uncertain to replace Todd Helton. I mean, I know I'm talking about replacing a Hall of Fame first baseman, but we're talking about, I'm talking about just a league average first baseman when we're talking about war when you look at some of the names that have played first base for the Rockies. It's a very, very important position.

As for the future of the Rockies here, I mentioned they got Charlie Blackman, who's retiring, which is going to free up that DH spot, most likely for Chris Bryant, but that's going to be a big question. There have been, you know, do you possibly cut, cut Chris Bryant and try to move on. I don't necessarily know if the Rockies are ready to make that call and just eat that money yet. But we've seen some big, we've seen some people do somewhat similar moves. And man, you're looking at that Aeronado contract right now.

And that's kind of a cheap deal for him. Like I can only imagine if he was in this modern market with outside of this season, what he would have been there. So like you mentioned, you're going to have Aeronado. You got that good veteran there with a nice deal. The Rockies are kind of facing this albatross of the Bryant deal. if he comes back, he's healthy, and he becomes, reinvent himself as a DH that helps the Rockies.

Great, that will take it. But we're still waiting on that. The Rockies have to add pitching this off season. They cannot go. I think the Rockies need to embrace something different that they, that they need to go to some pitchers that know that they're only going to get a one-year deal and say, we will pay you to come pitch for a season.

Just try it. Just go up for the challenge. And then you have a success. I got a couple of guys we can give you. I got a Kyle Gibson. I got a Michaelis, I got a Lance Lynn, like, who do you want? You want a Stephen Matt's, he's got one year left. We can chip them all to you, Paul.

You know, it's just like, it's just one of these things where it's like there are some the bullpen, the Rockies bullpen got real young at the end of the season. You saw a bunch of guys in this series still figuring it out, but it's a bunch of guys that can hit 100 and you're like, all right, sweet. Well, that's really cool. But the Rocky's starting rotation is going to be the biggest thing that they have to address this off season. It's just simply, the pitching isn't up to snub.

And the Rockies have to completely overhaul their offensive approach. We mentioned the strikeouts. The strikeout problem is horrendous. They are one of the worst teams in baseball when it comes to striking out. And I know baseball still has a lot of the three true outcomes and it built into it right now. But the amount of striking out the Rockies done do is really flat out unacceptable. But the other big change that might be coming for the Rockies this year might be a new manager. But Black has not reached a contract extension with the Rockies.

Talks have at least as a recording of this, most of the most of the, the last reports where they dried out at the beginning of the season, I do think it, I respect Bud Black, but I think it's time to move on. You need to let Bill Schmidt bring in the GM that he wants to work with instead of just inheriting pieces from the past and actually get somebody in there that's going to look at this modern game of baseball and take a different approach.

I appreciate what he's done for the Rockies and Rockies pitching, but six straight losing seasons, possibly back to back 100, seasons. Multiple times Rockies pitching this season has blown four to five run leads in the ninth inning. A new major league record for most amount of four run leads blown in the ninth inning of ball games. 16 one loss to Arizona to start the season. You know, there's and amidst another MLB worst record to start the season of consistent games trailed. You know, those type of mile markers are bad. Bottom of baseball and pitching. Bottom of baseball. And

baseball and certain offenses statistics. Like, this cannot continue. Yes, the Rockies went younger this year, but Jake Cave played in 120 plus games this year. You know, a lot of veteran guys still got a ton of playing time, and we still didn't figure out what's going to happen for some young guys as well there. So lots of questions for both of these teams and lots of questions for the Rockies to figure out here going into the off season. Let's take a quick break and let's focus on some good.

And let's keep it with mostly good stuff. We'll have a couple of probably lows. But let's talk about some of the highs and lows of 2024 here. As the season, unfortunately, getting ready to come to a close, just like this series between the Rockies and the Cardinals. We'll do that after a quick break. Before we do that, though, got to tell you about our friends that help make this show possible, and that includes booking.com, booking.

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What are some of the best moments of 2024 for you? Like a singular moment. I mean, we had a couple of walkoffs earlier in the year with Nolan Gorman, which was really exciting to see. Generally, they played a lot better down the stretch here at the end

where, you know, we're starting to see the kids having some fun. They've won a lot a lot more series here at the end of the year, which has been kind of nice to watch and watch the, you know, the, the, the cooler baths at the end of the games and stuff. Like, we hadn't seen a whole lot of that this year. Everything was sent out like a really a grind, a lot of one-run games, a lot of, a lot of close losses. Like the bullpen has been something that's been special watching Ryan Housley,

who got the save in game two against the Rockies. One pitch, by the way, got to be the easiest save ever in the history of a. You look like that. He's a day at the office there. Yeah. And that ended up tying the franchise record for saves in a season at 48. So he's been a huge bright spot for the Cardinals this year, which has been really fun. Mason Wynn has been a bright spot at shortstop. It looks like they got something there. It looks like they got a very, I don't want to go superstar yet, but gosh, he's got the tools, man.

He's got the great arm. He's got the speed. He's got a great approach. and this is his first full year was up for the final month last year and really, really struggled at the plate and had a lot of people concerned whether or not he was going to be able to hit this level. He's put all that to bed. That's been awesome to see. Alec Berluson has had a breakout year of sorts hitting from the left side. So there's been a few bright spots, but it's still not enough to overcome just the disappointment

where, honestly, coming into this year, a lot of people thought, you know, yeah, Cardinals are going to be right in it again. And I never thought that. Like I never thought any of the moves they made were enough to have them competing for a playoff spot this year. You know, that's why I said, 84 wins at the beginning of the season. I know that was enough last year to get into the playoffs. Probably shouldn't be enough. 84 wins is pretty low. I just thought they were kind of a mid-level team. And Sunny Gray was a nice move. And I'm not disappointed with how Sunny Gray. he was this year. But when your next moves were Kyle Gibson and the Lanslin, it just never added up to me. Like, that's not going to be enough. I really don't think it is. And you know how you

were talking earlier about how managerial moves. Maybe it's time to move on from Bud Black. And, you know, a lot of Cardinals fans are ready to move on not only from John Moseylock, our president of baseball operations, has been there forever now. But they're ready to move on from Ali Marmal. as well. And I get, I get a lot of grief because I don't put as much blame on what Ollie's doing than a lot of other people do. I think you have only so much to work with. And like, it's not his fault that Paul Goldschmidt isn't hitting or that Nato's not hitting. And Contreras is hurt. He didn't make these moves to bring Lance Lennon and stuff. Like, these weren't his decisions. He can only do with so much, you know, what he can do with,

you know, so much with what he's got. And so I always tend to blame. front office people. I always laugh in sports when like the GM fires the head coach for sucking when you put this team together. It's your fault really more than a coach. You know, it's, it. And Ali got the extension of the off season and he's got next year, John Mosey's got one more year under his deal and, you know, fans are kind of like, are we really going to wait one more year to let them just kind of fade away or should we jump the gun? We got Hein bloom, who they, you know, they brought in from the Red Sox. And do we let him take over and then bring in his own manager?

You know, was Yadir Molina somebody that could pop back into the picture as a managerial candidate? That's something that the fans certainly want to see is, is ownership going to have the courage to make a stern move like that? That's what we're worried about because Cardinals haven't dealt with this kind of stuff before. You know, they're not used to failure. And, you know, I talk with friends around the league and they're like, are you kidding me? Like the Cardinals are only pulling in 30,000 a night and they're crying, you know, everybody's crying about it. Oh, they didn't get three million fans this year.

We feel real bad for you guys. You know how many franchises would kill for something like that would kill to have 80-something wins pretty much every year and never have losing to see? But it's a different standard in St. Louis. And this is back-to-back years. and now fans have started to stop showing up at the games. And that's going to hurt the wallet of ownership. And if there's going to be a drastic move,

it was something like that that would have to take place for it to go down. And I'm wondering if they start next year and they're like, no, no, no, everybody's coming back. We're running it back again. You're going to see all those empty seats all over again. And nobody will trust you. And that's a big deal in St. Louis. They don't have losing seasons.

all that really all that often or ever and they don't have light houses that is one of you know it's considered to be one of the best you know home field advantage advantage is probably in baseball when you're talking from a fan perspective uh as as we've basically run out of time just for the the highs from the rocky side breton doyle i think surprised everyone and became a elite center fielder i'm sorry that we didn't get to see more of him he's been a little on you know a little tendonitis or something in the need yeah but like all season he's it would you play defense like him? He was a lot of fun to watch this year. I like Doyle a lot. Yes. He and he's a name to keep your out fantasy baseball fans out there. Just keep your eyes out there for Brent and Doyle next year.

2020 seems to be, might be the norm for him. He really did Ozekiel Tovar. Big hit to help spark the rally you saw. He has really developed the Rockies hit on another shortstop, which has been great. And, you know, it's, it's, it's the, the, some of the moments. Michael Tolia's had some good moments. The bold, the young bullpen of the last season. Kyle Freeland wasn't great in this finale, but did come back after a disastrous first force starts to really have a solid stretch of the season. Still kind of not as great as we were hoping for from him, but did show some bounce back there. So there's some stuff for the Rockies that it leaves some encouragement there. They hit this over and they got it. They might avoid the 100 losses. Also, the shunky monkey. That's right, man.

There we go. He's new cleanup dinner. He's ready to go. He's amazing. He's the best sitter on the first. And he's going to be an interesting spot because the Rockies are going to have an interesting choice to make with Brendan Rogers, arbitration player. He's someone that maybe hasn't hit that ceiling, some player. I thought he was going to Seattle for sure.

I thought it was like a done. I thought it made the most sense. But regardless, lots of great stuff still to come. I'm sure this won't be the last time we chat JD. Big off season ahead. Before we go, where can everyone go to make sure they're staying up today with all things you and all things locked on Cardinals? You can follow me on Twitter, Axet, JD Sports Radio, as well as the podcast. I'll underscore cardinals.

And of course, you can find the podcast, you know, wherever you get your podcast, free and available everywhere. And on YouTube as well, we love to see you guys over there. We just passed the 10,600 mark, I think is where we got. So we got more subscribers than we got people in the stands at Bush Stadium, which is great. That's awesome, sort of, because we wanted to be packed in both spots. So if you do like what you're hearing, make sure you stop on by, like, subscribe, and comment. and we'll get back at you for sure. Absolutely.

And if you're like curious about the Colorado Rockies, you can follow me at Paul Holden 33 or at L0 Rockies. We're on the push to 1,000 subscribers. We're a little behind on the YouTube subscribers. But if you Cardinals fans, come to hockey's worth the show. We are trying to get to our 1,000. We're hoping to get there before the end of the season.

We'll see what happens. Still some time before the final game is there. Where are my Aaron Shunk believers? You should be subscribing immediately. See, there you can. go. And for all my St. Louis, and we know that there is a lot of St. Louis, Colorado crossover there. So make sure that you're going over there and checking out Locked-on Cardinals. But folks, until next time, this is Paul Holden saying so long from the Locked-on Podcast Network.