Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Andre Pallante's Career Arc Has Taken An ALARMING Plunge

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Cardinals' pitching woes reach new lows. Is Andre Pallante's time in the rotation over?JD breaks down St. Louis' alarming pitching struggles, focusing on Pallante's shocking regression. He explores potential replacements, including prospects Gordon Graceffo and Quinn Mathews. Plus, analysis of Wilson Contreras' suspension appeal and the newly released 2026 schedule featuring exciting matchups against AL East powerhouses.Tune in for an in-depth look at the Cardinals' pitching crisis and the tough decisions facing the team's management.Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIOFollow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_CardinalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit 5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025.UpsideSimply download the free Upside app in the App Store or Google Play and use the promo code SEASON to get an extra 25 cents back per gallon on your first fill up. Start earning cash at the pump, today!Click Here: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2FMonarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)#ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I've had enough of the Andre Palante experience, and I want off of this ride. Please, I'm begging you. This is Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, there are Cardinals. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day.

You can follow me on X at J.D. Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. You'll find us on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, the Locked on Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account. Use code Locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So the St. Louis Cardinals have had starting pitching issues all season, all season. And it was something that didn't surprise any of us.

fans, experts, they all pointed it out to them saying, hey, you know, this isn't very good. This is a problem. It was a problem last year. And they thought they could fill the void. They got sunny gray, but then they were like, let's go get you at Kyle Gibson and the Lance Lynn. And we're like, no, that's not going to work. And it didn't work.

It didn't. And it was a clear weak spot for them again this year for the team, for the organization in general, which only got weaker as this season has. pushed on. The hope was that, you know, Sunny Gray would leave the charge. Eric Fetty, you were hoping would be more like the guy that he was before the Cardinals traded for him at the deadline when he was with the Chicago White Sox when he was quite good. That Andre Palante would continue the progress that he showed in the second half of last season as a starter. And then Miles Michaelis would, you know, figure out how to stop throwing so

many strikes when he's ahead in the count and be a better version of himself. He had Stephen Matt's. Could he be that fifth guy in the rotation? Could he stay healthy? That was the big question about him. Matthew Libertador ends up entering the mix late in spring. It seemed like he was set up to be in the bullpen. And then they were like, let's go with starter. And that worked out, which moved Matt's to the bullpen, who became a very serviceable swingman starter, long reliever of this year and is now in Boston. Of those four original guys, only Sunny, well, I guess Libby, we'll keep him in there, too. Of those guys, let's just put it that way, Sunny and Libby are the only ones that have really lived up to expectations. Michaelis continues to be miles. No progress really there outside of a couple games where you're like,

oh, look, that was really good. And then there's the normal games that you see where he gets pounded. Eric Feddy was a complete disaster after the middle of May, so much that he got. moved to Atlanta for future considerations and was so bad with them that he got released after accumulating an ERA of 8.10 in five starts. And he is currently looking for work. And then there's Andre Palante who he's still 26 years old, about to turn 27 in September. But the career arc for Andre Palante, it is heading in the wrong direction at an alarming rate. And on Tuesday night, It was just another disastrous start for the right-hander who allowed the first six guys to reach base and allowed four runs before ever recording an out. It was five to nothing before the team even got a chance to swing the bats.

It was seven to nothing before they stepped into the box for a second time. And you can talk about, you know, being the Ra Ra guy and like, hey, never give up. A lot of game left to catch up. And, you know, that's very positive thinking of you. But when this is the norm, it is extremely, extremely deflating as a team. And when you're staring down Mitch Keller over on the other side, a very good picture for the pirates, you already kind of knew that odds weren't very good that things were going to swing into the Cardinals direction, following the first inning.

Like you're like, uh-oh, we're already down five nothing. Much Keller's on the hill. Let's see what we can do. But you kind of knew what was going to happen. Like everybody was already clicked off. We're done and moved on to other things. The regression of Andre Palante, it's so alarming. It's so alarming because this was a guy that despite the Cardo's preference to use him

in the bullpen as that, you know, guy who could get ground balls, which he is very good at, and had a knack. for getting lefties out at one point in his career. He wasn't finding that much success in the bullpen and asked if, you know, he could try being a starter again where he ended up thriving in the second half. You know, he was pretty good. You were like, all right, we could do this.

It was one of the few positives that we took away from the 2024 season as far as how the rotation ended up later on. Now, we were hoping that perhaps, you know, Palante and the pitching, you know, coaches and Dusty Blake and company and found something and unlock something that maybe he could be relied on to become a back of the rotation type of guy. Nobody thought that Andre Palante was going to be a top two, top three guy in your rotation. That's not the expectation. And if that's what you thought he was going to be, then that's your fault. But all of this, like just even being a back-in guy has been completely blown to bits here in the last couple months where like Fetty and like Miles Michaelis, he's been one of the worst pitchers in all of baseball. It's incredible that the Cardinals are even sniffing the 500 mark when you've got three of those dudes.

Fetty, Michaelis, and Palante going out there every fifth day and starting for you. they finally moved on from Fetty. Michaelis is here until the season's over. And you're dealing with Palante, who's just been terrible in the second half of the season. Now, first half of the season, not that he was that good, but five and five,

ERA of 4.49, you feel like you can work with that a little bit. Nothing special. And you'd see some Clemsons out of them that, you know, made you hope for the best, that okay, all right, all right, here was a good one, okay. But then you'd have another bad game, and it feels like you just, much like the Cardinals all year,

one step forward, two steps back, and, you know, all those good vibes that you would pick up from Palante. After a good start, they'd all get thrown out the window. Second half of the season has been a nightmare. He's now one in seven with an era of 7.91 and 8 starts. opponents are hitting 321 against him and 3.71 on batting balls and play. So when they make contact, whether it's on the ground or not, it's going through. It's finding grass.

Guys, that's not even competitive. That's just a guy getting butchered by everyone he faces. He's batting practice. And if they're not hitting him, he's just going to walk you anyway because he has trouble with that. And if you break it down further, just in the month of August, 0 and 5 with an ERA of 9.82. Opponents are hitting 358 against him in 403. That involves in play.

He's basically a pinata out there for the other teams. And instead of candy coming out of them or high chew, as we've started to learn about that, the runs and wins for other teams are just flowing out of him. And after another whooping last night, which ended in an 8 to 3 loss where Palante somehow made it through five innings, which was a miracle after his wretched start. Manager Ali Marmal spoke with the media and we got this quote,

courtesy of our buddy Jeff Jones at B&D.com. Ali said we have to take a look and figure out what's best for him, but also take into consideration, all the other variables of what we have below and what that would look like. It's more than just there's more moving parts to it, for sure. We'll sit down tomorrow, review everything and make it a sit down. on next steps. And then Daniel Guerrero at the post dispatch.

Got this one. He's got to be mentally tough enough to endure some of the crap that goes with learning on the fly. It's not easy. I agree it hasn't looked good. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it has. It hasn't. And we have to figure out what's next.

And this isn't anything personal with Andre Palante. It's not. Nobody dislikes him as a human being. I know the dude's trying. and you can see how upset he is on the mound. He doesn't want to lose. He doesn't want to pitch badly. He doesn't want to let his teammates down.

He doesn't want to let the fans down. We know that. I would love to see him succeed. I would. But this is business. And as much as you want to help him out and see him work through this and get him back to being a competitive pitcher again,

how do you ask your team to back a guy who gives you almost no chance to win as soon as he toes the rubber? It's the same thing that was going on with Eric Fetty earlier in the year. At some point, eventually, you just got to tap out. You got to say enough's enough. And you got to move on to something else. Try something else. Something else has got to work, right? Something. You know, they had McGreevy in the waiting to slide into that spot for Fetty. Doesn't have anybody that's quite ready to just take over

that role. But there are some options. So who could they turn to instead of Poliari? moving forward. We'll discuss those coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. There's nothing like catching a baseball game live. You get the energy, the crowd. Well, maybe not so much in St. Louis right now, but most of the places, you get your chance to see your team in person, which is great. But actually getting tickets sometimes that's the tough part, right? That can be the pain. You got to deal with cues, login screens, surprise fees. It takes all the fun out of buying your tickets. And that's why I use game time. I really do. It is the app. It's my go-to that I trust that gives you the advantage. It just gives it back to the fans. Game time, it's fast, which I love. It's easy, which I love even more. And backed by the game time guarantee. You're always going to get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So the price you see is the price you pay. I used to deal with those hidden fees and I would get so upset about it. As soon as I started using game time, don't worry about that no more. What you see is what you get.

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which I am completely on board for it. And I have not seen whether or not they are going to do that yet. But there's been talk about it. There's certainly been talked about it. Talk about it. Just got this. Andre Greenio has been recalled from Memphis, John King, mid-back strain has been placed on the 15-day IL.

Well, that was quick. That was quick. That's unfortunate. Anyway, now that John King or Andre Greeno, we're going to be somebody who jumps into the rotation, but that's unfortunate news because that kind of has to go with what I'm suggesting here. One of the guys that we saw last night is a guy that I think the Cardinal should try putting into the rotation again.

And that's Gordon Gricepho. A few years. ago, Grisepha was thought of as one of the top arms in the organization. He was the minor league pitcher of the year for them in 2022 as a starter. It's 25 years old. It had been a starter for most of his minor league career until this season, where he's been used exclusively out of the bullpen when he's up on the Cardinals roster and when he's down at Memphis. He's only got four starts down in Memphis and 24 appearances. The thought process behind moving him out of the rotation and into a bullpen spot has been because of the be low where you've seen it hitting 99 and they think that in short bursts he could be very, very effective.

And I'm not here to argue that fact. But he was your pitcher of the year in the minor leagues as a starter. Is he not good enough? If he was good enough then, why is all of a sudden he, no, no? Last night he throws two winnings. he strikes out three pretty impressive he's got that unorthodox wind up which you know when you see it you're like what what is doing um i don't know what it would take to stretch him out at this point of the season i mean we're talking about the end of August here and he's been in the

bullpen all year so um i don't know what that would look like to utilize him as a starter the rest of the way but he he's certainly somebody i'd think about all right so i'm throwing the gordon grecipho hat in the ring i think that's somebody they should look at for that And beyond this season, if I'm being honest. Like if you got this organizational depth issue in the starting rotation, you got guys like Cooper Jerpy and Tocoa Robe, out with injuries right now. You need dudes who can be in the starting rotation. And if Palante is not going to work out, then you've got to find other people.

And if you're not going to sign them off the streets and as free agents, you've got to find somebody. Gordon Grospo, I think, why not? Give them a chance again as a starter. What about Quinn Matthews? Now, Quinn Matthews was the minor league pitcher of the year last year in all of baseball. Like, it was very good. Bumpy starts of the season.

Injuries had that shoulder thing going on there for a bit. And it clearly had an effect on him. A lot of walks over the first four months of the season, like games where he was walking five and six, like weird, right? But Matthews has been so much better in this month of August. He looks healthy. and he just looks more like himself, more like the dude that we saw last year who just, you know,

just blasted his way through every level of the Cardinals minor league system where he made it all the way up to AAA before he, you know, started to struggle a little bit at the end of last season. Maybe that was fatigue, you know, coming on at the end of the year. I don't know. But again, rough start before,

but now in August, one-in-one, 2.7, 3-ERA and 5 starts. He struck out 34 batters in 26 and a third innings, just nine walks, opponent's hitting just 206 against him. And I understand, you know, well, we don't want to rush him. I get it. I get it.

But again, this dude's 24. This is not some 20-year-old kid that is still maturing. Like, he's a man. He's got to be 25. So why not let him get him starts in the big league level where there is really no pressure whatsoever? You can go out there and pitch really, really well. You can pitch bad and maybe gets hit a little bit. But it's not the end of the world.

but I just, I want to see somebody else other than Andre Palante go out there and just get his head bashed in over and over. Now, the one thing that's good about Grycepho, which is an issue when it comes to Quinn Matthews is Grycepho, obviously he's on the 40-man roster. He's on the Major League roster. Quinn Matthews not currently on that 40-man roster. So you would have to make a move there. And my idea was that you would drop Anthony Veneziano. now the John King was back, and that would open up a spot for him. But now King is back on the IL, and you don't have any lefties.

You don't have any. So they brought Grinio back up. So it's not like they brought Beniziano back. So maybe that's a move they could make. I'd rather see Quinn Matthews than have Anthony Beniziano on my 40 band roster. That's just me. It is really a shame that Toccoa Robe went down this season because he was the guy I was really excited about after seeing him in the spring and what he was doing in the minors this year.

I was eyeing him up as somebody that hopefully we get to see in the final month of the season sucks that he got hurt. He's going to be out possibly all of next year, which really sucks. You've got Curtis Taylor. Who? Curtis Taylor. Duh. You don't know who he is. I know.

30 years old, 8 and 4, 3.35 ERA at Memphis this year. and at the very least, maybe he can give you competitive starts to give you a chance to win. And he's proven that he can pitch deeper into games. Again, he's been doing it at AAA. Major League's a big difference. But you go back and you look at his game logs with Memphis. I can't lie to you and say I've been watching a lot of Curtis Taylor starts this season for the Redbirds. But looking at his game logs normally goes between five and seven innings.

You know, sometimes it gets dinged up. but for the most part, he's been a very competitive pitcher for them. He's another guy who would need to be added to the 40-man roster as well, but it's not like, it's not like these guys could do any worse than what Andre Palante's been giving you. That's the point I'm trying to make here that you're just looking for something more competitive right now. And you're trying not to damage Andre Palante any further than he already is at this

point. but you need to do something for the team. Like he just can't keep putting this guy out there and expect the rest of the team to be okay with that because they're not getting a chance to win. Like falling into three, four, five, nothing holes every freaking time. If I was on the team, I'd be pissed too. I'd be like, dude, come on, man.

So we'll see what they end up doing. Cardinals tend to hang on to things a little bit too long and knowing them, they'll probably wait even longer and give Palante another start. But those are some of the options that I see available that maybe they could roll with. Or just pick up somebody. Andrew Heaney just got cut from the virus. Find somebody, somebody that's just going to give you something more. I don't think Haney is the answer.

But somebody who can give you something more than Palante is giving your team right now. All right, coming up next. Got some news to talk about. The Wilson-Cont-Contrera suspension came down. Cardinals, 2026 schedule dropped as well. Plus, we'll take a quick look at tonight's game. We'll have all of that before you coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Hey, Cardinals fans, are you still paying full price for gas? If so, stop leaving money behind.

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Night. It's every game every night. I'll see it along a local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB game night on the Locked on MLB YouTube channel or wherever you listen to your podcast. I will be hosting once again tonight with my man John Frisch from Locked on Angels. Had some fun talking about Wilson Contreras's tirade on Monday because that was as angry as I had ever seen Wilson Contreras. That was that was something after he got ejected by home plate umpire. Derek Thomas. And it's going to cost the Cardinals first base been plenty, not only in money,

but the league is handed down a six-game suspension, which Willie has appealed, which is why he was back in the lineup on Tuesday. So far, I have not seen an update on anything else having to do with that suspension. And he is in the lineup tonight. They just dropped the lineup for this evening.

There he is, bet and cleanup playing over at first base. So no new news to discuss when it comes to Wilson Contreras's suspension. Before the game, I didn't see footage of him. I thought this was great. Running over to shake Thomas's hand, which was a cool gesture by the veteran who, you know, he took issue with getting tossed for something that he says he didn't say.

So I can't blame him. I ran a poll on X asking fans to weigh in on his behavior. 53.1% of the votes said they love that reaction. Well, 46.9 said there was no place for that. The throwing the bat part was the part where I think most fans didn't like. I didn't like that either and ended up hitting your hitting coach Brant Brown. Just don't be throwing bats. That's crazy.

The gum, that was funny. The gum didn't hurt anybody. It actually worked out in favor of the company, Hichu, which I'd never had before. There's footage of the Hichu on the field that they had to clean up. Apparently it's not even gum. It's more of like a chewy fruit candy. I assume it's something like taffy. Never had it, but it's something that you're able to chew on,

but then you can swallow it, which, you know, gum, you're not supposed to do that. But if you guys want to send some over, I'd be more than happy to try it on the podcast. But that worked out for that because I got a lot of mentions during last night's telecast, and obviously you're seeing photos of it everywhere. 26th schedule came out.

Cardinals are going to open up at home on March 26th against the Tampa Bay Rays from the American. American League. The Cardinals will also be hosting the Boston Red Sox, which should be good. Guardians, Mariners, who have been a lot of fun to watch this year with what Cal Raleigh's doing. Royals, as always, the I-70s series, the Rangers, the Orioles. You get Jackson Holiday, visiting Bush Stadium, and then you get the White Sox next season. So some good ones, okay ones. The Cardinals will be on the road to face the Tigers, Astros, Athletics, Twins, Royals, Angels, Blue Jays, and Yankees for three games each.

They play the Cubs for the first time in late May. They'll also face them twice in July, once in August. It's the same thing that everybody's mad about each year since they started doing this, where you don't get to face the division opponents as much as you used to. You only get 13 times now, which is a bummer for people. But tis what it is. Tonight's matchup on paper, you would think it favors the Cardinals, right? Sunny Gray on the hill against the pirates, Carmen Maginsky, whom they've already faced twice.

Both times, Majinsky has actually pitched very well against him. In two starts, he's won and over the 2.79 ERA with eight strikeouts in nine and two-thirds innings. Sunny, he's been good against the pirates as well this year, two and one, 2.45 ERA. The first two starts against the pirate, Sunny was very, very good. And then his last start against them was part of that series where the Carl's got shut out three times in a row by Pittsburgh. And it wasn't a great game for him.

So should be a pleasant night at the ballpark. That's going to favor sunny gray. Less sweat usually means we get the good sunny gray. So hopefully that happens tonight. And hopefully the Cardl's bats can come back to life in game three and not have to recover from a three, four, five, six run first inning, which is becoming all too familiar and is very, very annoying. I can't tell.

I'm kind of sick of that. Thanks for making a lot. So on Cardinals first listen every day. We appreciate you. haven't already. Give us a follow on X at L.O underscore Cardinals and a Jannie Sports Radio, TikTok, Instagram, and Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube. If you have it already, we're making that push for 13,000 subscribers. If you're not one of them yet, we would love to have you on board. You're the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on

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