Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinals Calling Up Thomas Saggese!

Starting point is 00:00:00 One of the Cardinals top prospects appears to be getting the call to the big leagues, plus what to do with Miles Michaels, who is becoming more and more painful to watch each and every time he takes the mound. 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, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm a National Radio Sports anchor, born and raised in a Lou and a lifetime Cardinals fan. and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can find me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast's Twitter account at L.O. underscore Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:00:46 I control that one as well. I do a lot more talking on the Cardinals version than like my own personal one. So if you send me messages and stuff on the personal one, I don't really go there all that often, but it is there for you. I want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. Find us on YouTube as well, like, subscribe, and comment and interact with us, help our channel grow.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Hit that notification button so you know that the new episodes are posted and that way you don't miss out on anything. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to by Fandall now through September 22nd. All Fandall customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday take it from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit fando.com to get started. So let's start with the newest stuff here today, which is some good news, I think, in my opinion. A report from MLB insider Robert Murray says that the Cardinals are going to call up number four prospect Thomas Sejacy,

Starting point is 00:01:48 who was acquired in the deal with Texas for Jordan Montgomery last year. This has also been confirmed by Katie Wu. So Jacey hitting 253 this season, he's got 20 bombs, he's got 67, RBI's, nine stone 1 bases, the OPS at 751 for Memphis this year, really turned on since July. He's been more of the hitter you saw last year when he won the AA MVP award. 11 of his home runs have come since the beginning of July. He hit 349 that month and 2.35 in August, but he popped seven dingers in August. So it was a bit of a slow start for him this year coming out of the gate, but has turned things around. and now you're seeing him put up solid numbers once again.

Starting point is 00:02:32 John Denton says the timing of this makes sense with the Cardinals wanting to give Mason win a night off, and Brennan Donovan's still dealing with the infection in his swollen big toe. It's also another glimpse of the future for this team that has 2025 on their mind more now than ever after the rough series with the Mariners over the weekend where they ended up dropping two of three to a team that, you know, they're not a bad team overall. but offensively, they're supposed to be a really bad team. They've got elite pitching. Cardinals learned that the hard way by scoring just seven runs in those three games.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And I thought they were going to be close games, a lot of two to one, three to two type of ball games. The Mariners score six in game one and then 10 in game three. That was not what we were looking for. Game one, Fetty, was decent, but got yanked after four and two-thirds innings. And of course, after praising Matthew Libertor so much recently, he gives up a two run Jack. They get three off Leahy late in the game. And the Cardinals only muster one run on Jordan Walker solo shot, which was an absolute missile over the left field wall game.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Two, you get the brilliant performance from Kyle Gibson. He throws a season high, 112 pitches. He strikes out nine, gets you through six and two-thirds innings. Then on the other side, Logan Gilbert, who's a very good pitcher as well, he's burning through the Cardinals lineup until the bottom of the eighth, Pedro Pahas. It takes them deep into the night, two run shot. Cardinals win that one, two to none. But then we get to Sunday. And this is where I want to focus a little bit,

Starting point is 00:04:05 because this has been a very big topic of discussion. It's something we brought up here on Locked-on Cardinals a few times already, is Miles Michaelis. Miles Michaelis gets the start, and it went about as bad as it can get. He was not good. The first five batters get hits. Double, single, one to nothing already. Single, double, three to nothing.

Starting point is 00:04:27 followed by another single. We're five batters into this sucker and you're down three to nothing already. Gets the next two guys on strikes, first and third two out. Another base hit makes it five to nothing before our guys even pick up a bat. It took them 23 pitches just to get out of the first inning or just to get to the first out. It wasn't the first inning. First out, 23 pitches. Comes out for the second inning, lead off single, gets a fly out.

Starting point is 00:04:52 Then Rania Rose Rana rips a two run, Homer. You knew it would happen eventually. that at Rosarayna would do something. Seven to nothing. And, you know, these are the Mariners. These are the Mariners. Not a good offensive team whatsoever. Bottom of the American League in a lot of categories. If it wasn't for the White Sox, they'd be at the very bottom of a lot of the categories.

Starting point is 00:05:14 Michaelis allows another double before the second inning finally ends. Ali closed the book on him after that. Bring some Stephen Matt's for the third inning. And there you go. So, I mean, to go into a hole like that right away, against the Mariners with the way their pitching staff is, is not good, almost insurmountable to come back against them when you've given up that amount of offense already.

Starting point is 00:05:41 According to Rob Brains, Michaelis has now made eight starts for the Cardinals since his last win, which was on July 21st. And I know wins and losses, we can, you know, it depends on a lot of things for that to happen. But over that stretch, he's been terrible, 54 hits. 30 earned runs in 37 and a third innings. That's an ERA of 7.23, guys. 7.23.

Starting point is 00:06:04 Now you go back to June 27. Michaelis has won only two of his last 13 starts. The area 6.75 over that stretch. ERA on the season of 5.55, according to Jeff Jones, the last cardless pitcher to throw at least 150 innings and have an ERA of 5.50 or higher was the, you know, the legendary Kip Well. back in 2007. You're like, who? Exactly. They've only had 11 such seasons in their history,

Starting point is 00:06:34 according to Jeff, eight of which were in 1929 or earlier. The three modern times were Kipp Wells, Jason Marquis in 2007, and then Jose Jimenez in 1999. Some fantastic throwback names by the way, Jason Marquis, Jose Jimenez, yeah. But this is the level that we've dropped to with Miles Michaelis. This is the level that we've dropped to with Miles Michaels. This is how bad he's gotten this season. I don't know what else you need to see from this guy to prove to you that he doesn't belong in this rotation anymore. Either come up with something like shoulder fatigue or sore hip or something. Oh, my hammy.

Starting point is 00:07:14 Something. Something. Sit him down and let someone else have a crack at his starting spot for at least the rest of this year. Now, the argument that you'll get from, you know, people like from the Cardinals, I should say, not from fans. fans aren't going to argue with me on this at all. But the argument that the Cardals will say, well, we're paying him $17.6 million. That's why it needs to be in there. As lame as that contract, it is if the goal is to win, why would you keep throwing them out there?

Starting point is 00:07:45 Why? If the goal is to rebuild for next season, if that's what you're starting to think of, you're like, okay, 2025, let's start working on that instead. Why would you keep throwing them out there? Like there's really not a whole lot of positives with Miles Michaelis taking the ball anymore. I feel the same way about Lance Lynn. Like I don't know why we're going to start him. He's not going to be a part of the future of this team.

Starting point is 00:08:08 I can't imagine that the Cardinals would bring him back next year and select his option. Kyle Gibson, maybe. I don't see how you're going to bring Lance Lynn back. But Miles Michaelis is not helping you win right now. and he's not going to help you figure out what you're going to do in the future with any of the other prospects that you have in your organization that probably deserve a crack at a starting job. So what is the point of him in this rotation anymore this season?

Starting point is 00:08:41 The question is now, what do you do with them moving forward if you were to make that decision? So we'll tackle that question next on Lockdown Cardinals. You've heard us talk a lot about Handel, America's number one sports book. well, we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all fan dual customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV-based plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season, Sunday afternoon, out-of-market game. And all you need to do is have a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time, which is great too.

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Starting point is 00:09:53 all you need to do again is visit fando.com slash locked on and download america's number one sports book. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals. Your first listen today for your second listen. Go check out the lockdown in will be podcast hosted by Sully. He's got you here daily to provide national expertise with its trademark humor. You could prepare for the fall classic with Sully. He's got you covered every single day on Lockdown MLB. It is available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

Starting point is 00:10:26 your team every day. remember you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals hometown broadcast with Sirius XM. Just download the SXM app and search the word Cardinals. So what do we do with Miles Michaelis, guys? What do you think? What do you want to do with them? All right. You know what he is.

Starting point is 00:10:42 You know what he brings to the table each and every outing. Where do we go from here? All right. So this year, as I said, you could come up with some sort of injury designation. Like we don't know as of the time that I'm doing this, that we don't know what the corresponding move is with Thomas and Jason. see yet. So maybe something happens. But you can come up with some sort of injury designation. Like I said, arm fatigue is a good one. You can call up someone like Michael McGreevy, who was awesome and his one and only start at the Major League level earlier this year and has continued to pitch

Starting point is 00:11:13 pretty well at Memphis. Now, on the surface, if you go to McGreevy's numbers, they're not going to jump off the page at you, 8.8, 3.97 ERA, only 134Ks and 145 innings. But since making that start for the Cardinals at the end of July, which he was brilliant. he has gone three and one at Memphis with a 2.56 ERA, 38 strikeouts, and 35 and two-thirds inning. So whatever change he has made, it's working. It's working. And when you start thinking about next year's rotation, you know, where most of us have decided, hey, 2024 is not going to happen. They're going to miss the playoffs for a second straight year. Unfortunately, what's on tap for 2025? Well, when you start thinking about that

Starting point is 00:11:56 rotation. Michael McGreeby has certainly put his name into the discussion. And I don't think at the beginning of the year, you would have thought that because he hadn't had much success in the minor leagues. He was just kind of a, meh, pitcher, just kind of middle of the road. And it didn't look like things were going to work out as well as you'd hope when you took him in the first round a few years ago. But things have changed. There's been some adjustments made. And now Michael McGruevy, looks like somebody that you legit need to start thinking about taking out one of those starting rotation spots. Right now, if you look ahead and you go towards what you got under contract for next year, Sunny Gray, Eric Fetty, Stephen Mats, Miles Michaelis, and Andre Palante. You've still got the options

Starting point is 00:12:45 on Lynn and Gibson, but currently they're not, you haven't activated that. So, you know, we don't really have to concern ourselves with that. But those are the five that I think are penciled in as you're starting five. Gray and Fetty, they're not going anywhere, right, unless you decide to trade Fetty away, which is something that I've seen people bring it up. They're like, well, what if you traded him again? Like, what if you were like, well, here's a year of Eric Fetty to somebody and you get some prospects in return. If you weren't blown away with what he did this year, since he's been in a Cardinals uniform, I get it. It hasn't been the best. It hasn't been as good as you thought it was going to be. So that's an idea. But as of right now, I think Gray and Fetty,

Starting point is 00:13:25 because at what fuddy cost is going to be, they're going to want him. You know, they're going to want to keep him around at 7.5. Stephen Mats, who they're okay on Sunday in relief after the Michael is shalacking. He'll certainly get a crack at the rotation again. It's always about health with him, really. If he's healthy, he'll be in that rotation more than likely. And I've said before with the lack of left-handed pitchers that you have available as a starter, it's kind of nice to have Stephen Mats there when he's healthy, of course,

Starting point is 00:13:55 break up just the righty, righty, righty look that you have in your rotation already. Andre Palante had an ugly game against Milwaukee. Okay. But he's been a really nice surprise for you and has definitely earned a spot in the rotation for next year. Hasn't done anything to screw that up, I don't think. That leaves Michaelis as your last guy and puts your former first rounders like Michael McGreevy, like a Zach Thompson, who was up on this club earlier this season and has

Starting point is 00:14:22 been in Memphis ever since. they've been on the outside looking in now. What about Quinn Matthews? We're starting to see guys not afraid to just let them pitch at the major league level, younger pitchers. And again, Quinn Matthews was a college guy. He's not some high school kid who's been in minor league baseball for two years. He's only 21 or something.

Starting point is 00:14:42 No, he's a mature man now. So Quinn Matthews coming up in being a part of this rotation next year. I'm not rolling that out yet. It's something at least. least that I bet fans will be excited to see if you actually thought about it. What about Gordon Grosso? Ian Bedell, can none of them be more competitive at the major league level than what you're getting from Miles Michaelis?

Starting point is 00:15:09 Is that what we're telling us? Or are we saying, but he's making 17.6, so we have to put him in despite him not being a good pitcher. And that, again, comes back to is winning the most important thing here? are you just worried about saving face because you screwed up on that contract? And it was a mistake. Kevin Wheeler, whom you can hear in the afternox, was pointing out how bad Michaelis has been recently.

Starting point is 00:15:34 And so, you know, I tweeted him. And I was like, hey, what would be your plan for Miles next year? If you were in charge, would you just cut your losses and move on from him the way that, you know, the Cardinals did with Dexter Fowler? They shipped them to the Angels, eight almost all of the salary, basically. And just kind of was like, look, we screwed up. Let's move on. Or do you give Michaelis another shot in the spring?

Starting point is 00:15:58 So those were the options I kind of threw at him. If we look at those two options, because I don't want to just glaze over it. But I know a lot of people just want to get rid of them. I know that. And I get it. I get it. I completely understand that.

Starting point is 00:16:15 You want a DFA, just remove them, eat the money. Again, this is a big part of this because Miles is still owed so much next year. and it's not just a couple of million dollars. We're talking $17.6 million that you would have to pay him to not pitch for you anymore. But that's what some fans want. They just want to see it. And chalk it up as a loss cause and move on. Just move on with our lives.

Starting point is 00:16:39 The other option, keep them around until next year, see if he can figure something out. Maybe the coaching staff or somebody come and figure out why he's become one of the worst pitchers in baseball and try to fix him in his final contract year with the team. This is the option that Kevin Wheeler went with. He said, I don't think I'd just flush the money down the drain, but I definitely make spring training a competition. They kind of went that route this past spring when it came to Stephen Mats. They wanted to see what he could do if he could stay healthy and make a determination from there

Starting point is 00:17:13 as to whether or not he should be in the rotation or he should be shipped over to the bullfin, despite being paid $11 million. dollars. Zach Thompson was in the mix, Matthew Livertore as well. So maybe that's the approach that they go with in spring training. Give Michaelis a fair shot, give them the off season to figure it out, see if there's something that we can do here, and then make a decision from that. The problem is, would the Cardinals actually do that? Is that something they would actually try?

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Starting point is 00:18:35 it's easy. It is very easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. So keep your rider die alive at eBay.com slash motors, eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers, eligible items only exclusions apply. Thank you for making Locktown Cardinals. first listen today. Now go check out the Lockdown MLB podcast, prepared for the fall classic with Sully, who has it all covered every single day. You can find the link to Locked on MLB in the description. So you don't have to search. It's all part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So we go to those two options for Miles Michaelis. And personally, I think the best decision is to just move on because it's not my money. And I don't feel bad

Starting point is 00:19:24 about them. And I don't want to keep handing the ball over to a guy who since July I doesn't give you a chance to win most games. You know, you get these little, these blip starts where he looks good. Like it gets the brurs. They win three to nothing and a game Miles Michael has started. Who saw that coming? All right. So is he more of that guy?

Starting point is 00:19:45 Or is it a guy that constantly gives up five, six runs and four rings and just isn't very good. It's just one of the most hitable major league pitchers on the planet. I mean, come on. As much as it is, like it is beautiful. Miles Michaelis is on. Don't get me wrong. Like there are times when you watch him and he's drilling the corners. I mean, he is on the black of the plate all day.

Starting point is 00:20:12 And then he's got that looping curve that comes and it's fool. And sometimes it can be really, really nice, but it doesn't happen enough to where you can sustain him getting blasted three out of five starts. And that crushes your bullpen. You know, there's an effect to all of this. So the logical and what I think the more cardinal way to do this is they're going to give Miles a chance to redeem himself in the spring next year. I agree with Kevin Wheeler. I think they're going to bring him back again and say, all right, let's see what you got and take it from there. Probably not the approach most fans want, but I don't, I just, I don't see this cardinal ownership, this front office turning their back on a veteran.

Starting point is 00:20:58 I certainly don't see Ali turning his back on a veteran. He's not that manager to just say, well, you just don't have it anymore, dude. You're done, and we're going to bench you. No, he kind of gives them the benefit of the doubt, which is an admirable thing, but there's a point where you just got to cut the cord, man, and you got to say, look, we're not winning ball games when you're throwing anymore. And we got to do something about that. Could you trade them?

Starting point is 00:21:24 Could you trade them? do the Fowler, eat a substantial portion of his contract, sure. Sure. Here's my thing. That's great if you want to do that, but you've got to find somebody who wants him. And I've seen comments where, oh, of course, there's going to be people out there that want him. You know, he eats innings and says, well, does he? But he's only lasting three and four innings because he gets killed.

Starting point is 00:21:54 Is he really eating that many? innings for you. Sure, he's been healthy, but it's, it's just not been good. And I, I mean, I'm sure there'll be somebody. If you're going to eat 10, 12 million of that contract would pay him, you know, the 5 million to 7 million to, to, to watch and pitch. I just, if I'm another team, I'm looking at it going, why would I want him? Even at a discounted price, like, what is it about him and if he's not good enough to be in your rotation and you're the Cardinals who were just floating at 500, why the hell would I want him? So that's just how I think. Because I just think he's gotten that bad.

Starting point is 00:22:35 Like he's to the, you know, like I said, he's like the Patrick Corbyn. He's the right-handed version of this, a very overpaid guy who at one time was a better pitcher and it just isn't anymore and it gets creamed a lot of times. Like not just four runs over five anything, like seven. for and stuff like it's bad so personally i'm just ready to move on to the next era of cardinals baseball and my miles michaelist feels like kind of hanging on to the past like it's just like it's kind of like with goldy like i understand why there's reasons to bring him back and stuff but i feel like you're hanging on in the past of a portion of cardinal baseball that hasn't won much and i i'm ready to see new faces and uh see what goes on with that i'm just

Starting point is 00:23:23 I'm just kind of done with it. He's like a relic, and I just, I don't need to see it anymore. Certainly don't need to see it anymore this year. So we'll see what happens. New series begins tonight. Reds and Cardinals at Bush Stadium. The Reds essentially ended the Cardinal season with that sweep in Cincinnati, which arguably the ugliest series, the Cardinals played all year,

Starting point is 00:23:45 when they just got waxed by the Reds the last time these two teams hooked up. Neither of them are going anywhere. the Reds certainly love to beat the Cardinals. That's kind of their thing. They really get enjoyment out of defeating the Cardinals. Tonight you've got Andre Palante getting the ball against one of the Reds top pitching prospects in right-handed, Rhett Louder, who in his last appearance looked really, really good. Shut up the Houston Astros over six and a third innings.

Starting point is 00:24:15 Palante looking to bounce back from his rough performance against the Brewers. You got a first pitch set for 640. St. Louis time. Wednesday, you're looking at Lance Lynn coming back, making his first starts. It's going on the IL. Again, I don't know why we're going down this road. Like, why are we watching Lance Lynn pitch, though? Then Sunny Gray coming up on Thursday, which is a day game, and then they travel to Canada over the weekend. So, you know, I just want to see new blood. I just do. I just do. I, I, I, I've seen this show for two years and that, you know, we're over it and we're ready to see new blood. I hope we get to see Thomas and Jacey playing.

Starting point is 00:24:59 I don't want to see him just rotting on the bench, you know, with Donovan, you know, dealing with that infection. I hope that we get to see a decent amount of Thomas and Jacey playing second base along with, you know, Mason went at shortstop. So we'll see what happens there. I want to see new pitching, you know, I want to see some of these young guys get a crack and get some major league experience. not Michael McGreevy again. You know, what is he deserved? What has he done to deserve to be stuck in Memphis anymore? Like, here we are creeping up on the middle of September.

Starting point is 00:25:30 You're pretty much done. What are we doing? So we're going to let Lance Lynn and Miles Michaels continue to pitch. Like, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Also, one of, address this here real quick, super sad news yesterday to hear about the passing of one, James Earl Jones. That, that sucked, man.

Starting point is 00:25:49 And most of us grew up knowing James in some way, shape, or form. Darth Vader, obviously, the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies. Lion King, he was the king in Coming to America, one of the great Eddie Murphy movies. But obviously, baseball-wise, his roles in Field of Dreams and the Sandlot were awesome. The Sandlot, obviously, was a cool one because you didn't know that was who it was going to be. You had no idea. It was spoiler alert. He has the cameo in there as the owner of the beast.

Starting point is 00:26:27 So that was really, really cool. But of course, the speech and field of dreams that he makes, obviously huge. The script portion of it is at the Baseball Hall of Fame. And I don't know one guy when it comes to Field of Dreams, who doesn't get a bit emotional with the have a catch part, which is at the end there of Field of Dreams, but, you know, the speech, which leads you into that whole section there is obviously a big portion of what that movie is all about. And it's good. So if the Cardinal season has got you down right now, okay, but you're still a baseball fan

Starting point is 00:27:06 and you're just bummed out because the Cardinals aren't who you wanted them to be this year, maybe flip on Field of Dreams to remind yourself why you love the game and why watching the Cardinals tonight can still be an enjoyable experience despite the playoff window seemingly closing every single day. So thank you for making Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day. If you guys haven't already, do me a solid. Give me a follow on Twitter X at L0 underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio. Please like and subscribe on YouTube to help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason.

Starting point is 00:27:40 And I will see you next time on Locktown Cardinals. Have a good one.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinals Calling Up Thomas Saggese!

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