Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Angels ZEROING IN on former St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols for Manager | Will Molina Follow Suit?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Following their decision to keep Bali Marmal for another season, one of the greatest players in the history of the Cardinals organization appears to be the frontrunner for a managerial job. But with another team. You are locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Hafford, a former national radio sports anchor born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the lockdown podcast network, covering your team every day. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat.

Starting point is 00:00:42 On today's episode, we're going to talk about day two of the wild card week and one of our NL Central brethren already sent packing. So that didn't take very long. But the bulk of today is going to be about a situation that may or may not upset some fans in Cardinal land. and that's the news that legendary Cardinal Albert Poohalls is now the frontrunner for the managerial opening for the Los Angeles Angels. Now according to reports from the athletic and a bunch of them across the internet, they say that sources tell them that Pooholes could be owner Artie Moreno's leading choice to take over for Ron Washington, who is now 74 years old, missed a big chunk of time this season after having quadruple bypass heart surgery. thankfully it looks like he's going to be okay but age health and you know the biggest factor the fact that

Starting point is 00:01:35 the angels just didn't win underneath him has led to that dismissal and i love the quote that he gave the athletic about things with the angels he said you know when you're a competitor and you're in charge sometimes you've got to make chicken salad out of chicken ish although he didn't say ish he said he said the word that you think i meant to say um and i love that i think that's fantastic it's colorful. And it's true. You know, you can only work with the players and the tools that they give you. You know, Holly is learning that first hand here in St. Louis. First year, he's got a number of really, really good players. He's got Goldie and Aronado at the top of their powers. You've got pools and Molina and Wainwright. You've got all of these guys that were able to lead that team

Starting point is 00:02:22 into a postseason appearance. Now he's got a below average group of players. And they're like, hey, try to make these dudes better, go win some games. Good luck, you know. So not a great spot to be in if you're a manager. But the Cardinals are going to bring back Ali anyway, who still has one year left on his deal instead of moving on and looking in another direction. And the two names that are constantly brought up when talking about replacing Ali were the names of Albert Poolhole. in Yaddy or Molina. Now, to me, it seemed that Yadi was closer to becoming an MLB manager first than Albert,

Starting point is 00:03:06 but it looks like I'll be wrong, which is nothing new. But I'll be wrong on that front. If Albert decides to take this job in L.A., there is one thing about this that I believe needs to be dispelled, okay? Before we, is that even a good picture of them? Here's a good one, Albert. That's pretty classic. if you're watching on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:03:29 If you're just listening, bear with me. But there's one aspect of this that needs to be dispelled, and that's that Albert wasn't allowed to become the Cardinals manager if he was ever even offered the job because of his contractual obligations with the Angels. Now, if you remember, part of that $240 million deal that got him to sign him with the Angels and leave St. Louis back in 2012 also had this 10-year, $10 million personal services contract that would kick in after he retired. which is what happened following that magical 2022 season where he led the Cardinals to the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:04:02 He just went nuclear in the second half chasing the 700 home run plateau, which he reached. And he's been working with them this whole time. It's not like Albert hasn't been doing things. We just don't hear about it that much here in St. Louis. He's been with the Angels in uniform during spring training with them. He's been working with Angels prospects at his academy in the Dominican. So it would seem that the angels kind of had him locked up, if you will, and that he was either going to be with them or he was going to be with nobody else, right?

Starting point is 00:04:38 It made sense. Fans were constantly pointing this out to me on some of the posts that I made when I was talking about, you know, are you guys nervous? You're going to miss out on Albert or Yadi. And it made sense to me that maybe that is part of the obligations, that he wasn't allowed to go with anybody else. else. But we also know that contracts can and will be broken under certain circumstances. Nothing is set in stone. There are buyouts and stuff that happen all the time to allow people

Starting point is 00:05:08 to switch organizations in a number of different sports. So it's not, you know, it's not just baseball. It's all over the place. And then I saw that Derek Gould from the St. Louis Post Dispatch and SCL Today.com responded to a similar tweet that I was getting about Albert not being available because of the personal services contract. And Gould responded with this. Manager offer would trump personal services and angels would have, would save $7 million.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Poo holes wouldn't choose that rollover a chance to manage, right? So the idea that even if the Cardinals wanted Albert, that, you know, what if there was like, you know, we want Albert, he should be our next guy. So the idea that even if that was the case that they couldn't have him appears to be false. That appears to be false. So we can squash that narrative.

Starting point is 00:06:01 Apparently, that's not true. If Albert wanted to be the manager of the Cardinals or any other team in Major League Baseball, he would have a chance to do that and would be able to work something out with the angel so that he would be able to pursue other possibilities. So if the Cardinals wanted Albert, all they'd really have to do is just offer him the job. that's not what they're going to do, at least not for 2026. They have made it very clear that Ali Marmal is back for the final year of his contract. And if you've watched any interviews with Hein Bloom, he likes Ali a lot and is clearly not putting any sort of blame on what has

Starting point is 00:06:48 transpired as far as the lack of winning in the Cardal's organization. He's not putting that all on Ali. If that was the case, he would replace him right away, but he's not going to. At least not for 2026. The next name that everyone is keeping an eye on now, if this pool hole thing does go through and he becomes the manager of the Angels, the other guy that you worry about now is Viadir Molina. I'm going to discuss his situation and why there is reason to maybe not be so nervous about him joining another club just yet as a manager. We'll talk about it next coming up on Locked on Cardinals. The NFL season is here,

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Starting point is 00:08:45 So what are you waiting for? Visit fandle.com to download the Fandul app today and get started. Thanks for making locks on Cardinals your first listen every day. If you enjoy daily Cardinals content, you can follow the podcast on X at L underscore cardinals. We're also available on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram at Locked on Cardinals. And I post this question on Monday that, you know, by rolling with Ollie for the final year of his deal, again, it's what I expected them to do. But by doing that, is it worth it if you're missing out on a chance to bring Albert back or bring Yadi back? Albert appears to be very close to taking that job with the Angels. Yadi is a different story than Albert in many ways.

Starting point is 00:09:31 ways. First off, we're more familiar with Yadi as a manager than we are with Albert. You know, we saw Yadi returning to the dugout with the Cardinals on two occasions this past season, which was great. Of Albert and Yaddy, I've always felt that Yaddy was the one who would be the first one to get a managerial job just because, you know, he's been managing in a number of different places already before Albert was. So he was on that path a little. bit earlier than Albert got on that path. I also felt long ago that he would be the future manager of the Cardinals if that's a path he wanted to pursue even during his playing days. And there was a number of different reasons why you've got that commanding presence behind the dish. You got the way he

Starting point is 00:10:17 interacted with teammates, the ability to control the game and understand not only what his team needed to do, but what the other team was needing to do and the other team's thought process. And, you know, as a catcher, you have to cover all of these things. And we saw how quickly things went sideways in 2023, but he wasn't behind the plate and in that dugout. He was basically a player coach already. We didn't realize how big of a deal he really was. We thought we knew.

Starting point is 00:10:46 We didn't realize how big it was until everything fell to pieces in 2023. They bring in Wilson Contreras. They're like, oh, my gosh, he's not Yadi. What are we doing? He doesn't know how to do everything that Yadi did. Uh-oh, do we got to put him in left field? we don't know what to do. We're freaking out.

Starting point is 00:11:02 So you saw that happen. And another thing that I believe gives Yaddy the edge over Albert is just loyalty. Yaddy has always been a cardinal. He's revered in this town. You see how the fans react to him when he comes out to bring the lineup card to home plate. Like they stand up and cheer for the guy. How many times does that happen? Only when Yadi does it.

Starting point is 00:11:31 And unlike Albert, he never left for more money elsewhere. Now, don't get me wrong. I was never mad at Albert for taking the contract that he did and leaving for the bright lights of L.A. I understood it because I understood the money side of things at that point where the Cardinals offered this. And then the angels trumped that. And he was like, well, I'm not going to leave $50 million on the table or whatever it was. So we took it. I get it. It actually kind of worked out for the Cardinals because Albert's career went on a decline when he got to L.A.

Starting point is 00:12:07 And Ricardo went on to win another championship. But, and I don't think it's tarnished anything in his career. I'm not saying that. But, you know, there's something to be said about a guy who didn't leave, who played with the one team, his whole career. We feel the same way about Adam Wainwright. You know, yeah, he was in the Atlanta organization when they acquired him. But once he was a big leaguer, it's only been the Cardinals. We like that. It's a special bond that you have with those kind of players. But if there's no opening in St. Louis, I don't believe Yaddi is just going to sit around and wait until one happens. And there are a number of managerial openings right now in Major League Baseball. The Angels, obviously, twins, giants, Rangers, although Skip Schumacher looks to be the guy who's going to take that one,

Starting point is 00:12:55 the Nationals, the Rockies, the Braves, just opened up one. A lot of talent there. The Baltimore Orioles. Some of these teams had intern managers that took over for managers, got fired in the middle of the year. So decisions need to be made on some of those people still. But you get the idea.

Starting point is 00:13:13 There's spots to be had. So should we be nervous that Yadi is going to jump to one of those spots if he's offered a job? Part of me, yeah, yeah, I'd be a little bit nervous. but there was another line from Derek Gold that might help put that anxiety at ease just a little bit. In a recent article, he wrote that Molina is committed to return as team Puerto Rico's manager for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. And he said the timing for him to pursue a major league job is likely a year from now. Once his son completes his senior baseball season and graduates high school and also after the MLB draft, Molina said he's open to being a coach.

Starting point is 00:13:57 on the path to managing. All right. So if Molina is cool to wait until next season, funny how that lines up with Ali's contract expiring, which then opens up a door for him to become the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Now, we also know that Ali and Yadi have a very good relationship. You wouldn't have seen Yanni in the dugout if they didn't. They stay in touch.

Starting point is 00:14:27 talk. Ali, from everything we know, wanted Yadi in the dugout is like, yes, more of you. Let's do this. Come over. Let's be a part of this. The more Yadi, the better, right? So that kind of, you know, puts everybody in a bit of a weird spot, you know, where one guy is out, the other guy is in, and the other guy's been helping the guy kind of come in. It's kind of a weird spot. But at the same time, business is business. There's also the possibility, and this is something to think about as well, that if Albert lands this job in L.A., that perhaps he would like to bring Yadi on as a coach with him in L.A. I haven't heard a whole lot on that matter, just yet. That's just been something that's been kicked around a little bit, but it's certainly

Starting point is 00:15:20 something to think about. But the other side of it is if Yaddi isn't really, ready to commit to him, and if in Derek's quote, isn't ready to commit to an MLB job, not just managing, but an MLB job in general for another year, then perhaps this isn't something to be all that concerned about. Like, why would he commit to a year with the Angels if he's not ready to commit to a full job in Major League Baseball? So maybe that's not something that we really need to be concerned about. It's just, you know, something when I get my mind going, and I start thinking of different ways that this could unfold. So what are your thoughts on this?

Starting point is 00:16:01 You know, I got a lot of responses on the decision to bring Ali back. They kept flooding in, which is awesome. I got a lot more angrier responses on day two. I don't know if it was because the last episode, there was a lot of positive thoughts that were brought up. And the angry mobs came back and were like, no, down with Ali. But we got a lot of those. I appreciate it. I'm not upset about that. It's just, it was just funny that more negative stuff

Starting point is 00:16:29 were it was coming in on day two. But I want to know where you guys stand on on what's happening with Albert and Yadi. Are the Cardinals missing the boat here? How upset will you be if one or both of them end up managing elsewhere? And it's Ali Marmal in the dugout for the Cardinals still. Do you even trust Albert and Yadi to be the next manager of this team, especially knowing where they are in this, and I'm going to use different words instead of the words you're used to, but what about in this restoration or this renovation of this organization to make the Cardinals great again? Are those the guys that you even want in charge? Let me know in the comments section or you can hit me up on X if you want to.

Starting point is 00:17:13 I want to talk some playoffs next. We had our first elimination and it's someone we are quite familiar with. And I kind of want to compare what the Cardinals are now to what that team is. that just got knocked out of the playoffs. We'll get into that next coming up on Locked on Cardinals. This episode is brought to you by prize picks. Every day we make decisions. But on prize picks, being right can actually get you paid.

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Starting point is 00:20:49 It's been a lot of fun to, you know, it sucks that it's not the Cardinals. And I do make it a point when I'm hosting to point out all the former Cardinals that are on the show that are in the playoffs right now. Day two of the Wild Card Series saw three series, force a game three, and one team was already sent home packing. and to no one surprised that team was the NL Central Cincinnati Reds, who were the very last team to get in. The Dodgers beat up on them on Tuesday night, 10 to 5,

Starting point is 00:21:20 then spanked them again on Wednesday, 8 to 4 to send the Reds back home unceremoniously. You know, that Dodgers team is freaking awesome, right? They're really, really good. They've got one wart on their roster, and it's the bullpen where they haven't figured out who they can trust yet. And every time they're even throwing starter.

Starting point is 00:21:39 in the bullpen to come in and help them out. And those guys haven't got it done. Emmett Sheehan was in the game last night, and he had to be pulled mid at bat. It was a one-two count, and they pulled him out. Like, it was very weird, but it worked. They got the strikeout. But, you know, they got two excellent starts from Blake Snell

Starting point is 00:21:59 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Anybody playing the Dodgers, it's going to be a tough matchup. This next round with them and the Phillies is going to be awesome. But very tough, especially for a team like the Reds who were not a great offensive team this season. They just snuck in after the Mets fell apart. And it makes you compare what the Cardinals are to what the Reds were, who although they went 0-2, they still went to the playoffs. They still got to play meaningful baseball in October,

Starting point is 00:22:29 which is what you're trying to get to. That's the first step to get to the next step and the next step and so forth. I think the Reds, one glaring spot that the Reds are way better at than the Cardinals is starting pitching. They've got Hunter Green, Andrew Abbott, Nick Ladolo, Chase Burns, Brady Singer. And these guys are younger dudes, too, for the most part. And that's where the Cardinals are really trying to play catch-up when it comes to competing for a playoff spot. You know, like where we're in, you take the Reds. rotation. Where would guys who are currently on the Cardinals rotation? Where would they fit in?

Starting point is 00:23:11 Where would they rake? You know, would Sunny be third? Like, would you rather, would he be fourth? Would you rather have Hunter Green, Chase Burns, and Andrew Abbott? Would he be fifth? Would you rather have Nicolito over him? And don't, I'm not talking about like payroll price. I know that Sonny's making on a godly 35 million next year. I'm just saying the player he is. You know, Does Michael McGreevy crack the top five? Does Matthew Libertor? Just goes to show you the difference in talent that the Reds are putting out there in their rotation than where the Cardinals are, something that they're certainly going to be working on.

Starting point is 00:23:49 Sal Stewart, the rookie, top prospect for the Reds, nice piece for them down the stretch. The Cardinals were hoping that they would get something like that from Nolan Gorman or Jordan Walker needed them to be their Sal Stewart's, someone who can do damage with one swing. wing. Neither of them stepped up and did that this past year. Will they ever? We don't know. Maybe Yvonne Herrera can be that guy when he was healthy. He was crushing it, had an excellent September. Like what I see from him. J.J. Weatherholt, he's going to be one hell of a player as the Cardinals top prospect, but he's not a masher. Like he's not 30 home run potential like Sal Stewart is. Cardinals need Walker or Gorman or someone else to go.

Starting point is 00:24:36 be that guy along with the other talent you have surrounding them. To go with Herrera and Mason Winn and Alec Burleson and Brennan Donovan and Wilson Contreras moving forward. They really missed that dangerous bat. Thought it was going to be Gorman. Thought it was going to be Walker. Didn't happen. Need those two to step up and be one of those guys or find another guy to do it.

Starting point is 00:24:57 In the other games, the Cubs got blank by the Padres and their Super Bowlpin. Former Cardinal manager, Mike Schilt, made the bold move of pulling Dylan's Seas early in that game because throughout the year, Dylan Sees just hasn't been very good after the fourth inning. He's been horrible, to be honest with you. And Schultz got that incredible bullpen at his disposal and made it work for him. So great job by Schulte. Series will wrap up at Wrigley tonight. Andrew Kittridge they had get the start for the Cubs in that one, which was interesting. Guardians forced to game three with a big eighth inning and had that excellent challenge early on to negate the tigers go ahead run.

Starting point is 00:25:38 So excellent managing right there. And then you had the Yankees hang on to beat Hein bloom's former team, the Red Sox. When He was there, he caught hell for that Trevor Story deal. And now that Trevor Story is finally healthy, he had a hell of a season for the Boston Red Sox and is proving to be the biggest piece of their offense right now in the playoffs. He was in on all three Boston runs.

Starting point is 00:26:05 He almost went deep again off of Cruz, but that ball died in center field right in front of the warning track, saved Cruz's bacon there. Yankees ended up surviving and winning game too. But also thought it was interesting that both those teams, Boston and New York, have payrolls of $300 million in New York. You have 200 million in Boston, and they have to rely on two pitchers tonight with a combined 18 starts

Starting point is 00:26:29 in the big leagues to decide who's in and who's out, Who's going home? It'll be the rookies. Connelly early for Boston. I am Schlittler for New York. I just thought that was very interesting. You know, if you squint really, really hard, you can almost see Quinn Matthews and Liam Doyle doing that

Starting point is 00:26:48 for the Cardinals in the near future. But you've got to squint really hard. Really good podcast interview done by Chip Carrey and Brad Thompson with Heim Bloom after his hire. The Cardinals posted that on their YouTube channel. And it really shows, more of Hime's personality and his vision for the Cardinals, he was very blunt, he was very open with what they're planning to do, which we didn't get in the press conference.

Starting point is 00:27:13 You know, there's only so much time. They sat down with Hime for, it's like 50 minutes long. It's a little bit long, but it's very, very well done. I posted that. It's on YouTube. I've posted that if you haven't seen it already. And we're going to be talking about that interview in tomorrow's episode because it was really well done. The word transparent, something that we haven't gotten a lot from John Mosea lock

Starting point is 00:27:37 over the last few years or whatever is something that Hime kind of shows. He's very transparent on his thoughts and what he thinks it's going to take to get the Cardinals back to where we all want them to be. So that's kind of your homework assignment for tonight. You go watch that and we'll discuss it on Friday. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio, TikTok and Instagram, the Lockdown Cardinals. You can like and subscribe on YouTube as well. Would appreciate that.

Starting point is 00:28:11 It really helps our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Angels ZEROING IN on former St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols for Manager | Will Molina Follow Suit?

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