Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinals HAVE To Fix This For Next Season

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

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Some stats that define the St. Louis Cardinals disappointing season, plus a proposed Nolan Aronado trade to the American League East on today's episode of 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, I am your host for Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio and you can follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. I do want to thank those of you that make Locked on Cardinals your first listen every day free and available. Wherever you get your podcast, we're also on YouTube. If you haven't already, stop on by, like, subscribe, comment, interact with us and hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes are posted. 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 being brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app. create an account and use code a locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. All right. So I know we're trying to move forward with the Cardinals and what they're going to be doing in the 2025 season, but we still have to look back and reflect on what we just went through in 2024 to understand what areas need improvement moving forward to the next season. So looking back on the 2024 year, the St. Louis Cardinals had a lot of good and bad moment.

hence the close to 500 record, they never really seemed to get over the hump, right? You know, they dug themselves a hole very early on in the season, which they warned us was probably going to happen because of how difficult their schedule was going to be. And it took them quite a while to dig themselves out of that. And then they kind of ran out of juice and limp their way to the finish line at 83 and 79, weren't able to make any significant moves.

at least not like huge moves to make them so much better at the trade deadline. You know, they flip Tommy Edmund in that three-team trade. They get Eric Fetty, who doesn't quite work out the way they wanted. Sean Armstrong doesn't do all that much when he's in a Cardinals uniform. Pretty flat, right? Tommy Evan goes on to have a fantastic postseason with the Dodgers, because of course he does, goes on to win a championship. Cardinals don't make the playoffs for a second straight year.

Now, the whole season wasn't bad. I'm not saying that. It was certainly an improvement from 2023, but there were some obvious areas that need improvement moving forward in 2025. And I want to talk about one of them that stood out because I was asked the other day, like, what was it about the season? What's like a stat that defines what the Cardinals just went through this past season and why they weren't as good as we thought they were going to be?

Just give me one stat, one area to focus on. And I thought about it for a second. I'm like, this is the one that stands out to me the most. Like if there was a spy where you could point at and go, there was, that was kind of the downfall for the Cardinals in 2024. A very big negative number. That would be hitting with runners and scoring position. All right.

For you every dayers who have been with me since the beginning of the season, you know that this Cardinals team was terrible with runners in scoring position. position and it rarely mattered who was up. They all kind of stunk at it this past year. It was a big time negative number for the team. The Cardinals hit a miserable 229 with runners in scoring position this past year, which ranked them 27th in the league among 30 teams, mind you, for those of you who aren't aware, the Cardinals, it's part of the thing because they won 83 games despite hitting 239 with runners in scoring, or 229 with runners in scoring position, which is kind of amazing when you think about it, because if that number was significantly

better, I mean, it doesn't have to be the top to the league, but somewhere closer to the middle of the pack or the upper third, maybe we're talking about a playoff team for the Cardinals, but it didn't work out. The other teams below them were the now homeless athletics who won just 69 games. Next was the Chicago White So. who won a grand total of 41 games, which was a record for futility in the modern era of baseball. They hit 219 with runners in scoring position. And an owl in last place, which might shock you a little bit,

the now roofless and possibly homeless, Tampa Bay Rays. We don't know where they're going to play next year because of the damage that was done during the hurricanes. They only hit 212 with runners in scoring position, but they managed to win 80 games. The next grouping of teams actually above the Cardinals were the Pirates, the Angels, the Giants, and the Mariners. Pirates had 76 wins.

Angels had 63. Giants had 80. Mariners had 85. So of the bottom eight teams in hitting with runners in scoring position last year, only two of them had winning records. The Cardinals at 83 and then the Mariners at 85. The Cardinals also hit just 27. home runs with runners in scoring position. That was dead last in all of major league baseball,

dead last with just 27 home runs with runners in scoring position. The White Sox had 28, Blue Jays had 32, Rays had 33, Giants and Marlins had 34. They're on base percentage with runners in scoring position 303. That was 27th in the league. Only the Giants raised in White Sox were worse. slugging position or position slugging percentage with runners and scoring position 342 now was 28th in the league ahead of only the raise in the white Sox OPS 645 also 28th ahead of just the raise in the white socks you're seeing the theme here right no real damage done with thunders and scoring position all year long and you can't set yourself up in situations to score as much as they did and then not score. I like the Cardinals failed to do over and over and over and expect to win a lot of ball games.

That's why I say getting 83 wins and being this bad at hitting with runners in scoring position, kind of crazy that they even got 83 wins. and it's not only bad on the field and it's, you know, tough to watch, but think about mentally. Everyone just kind of starts to push, you know, they're like, oh my gosh, it's on me now. Now I got to come through. We can't seem to get this. All right. And you put a little more added pressure on yourself.

And it becomes a psychological issue for the team as well. And as I mentioned, it was kind of like an epidemic throughout most of the team. There wasn't a lot of guys who did that great. You know, some of the guys on the good side of batting averages with runners in scoring position for the Cardinals. He had Alec Burlinson who hit 2.80. Brandon Donovan hit 279. Nolan Aronado hit 272, which, you know, that's a fine average. But Nolan had no pop whatsoever this year.

He had just eight extra base hits this year with runners in scoring position. Eight. Four doubles, four home runs. That's it. In 2023, he had 18. 2022, he had 21. And he falls all the way down to 8. Another person we point the finger at is Paul Goldschman.

And rightfully so. He came up with runners in scoring position 143 times this year. Tops on the team hit 203 with just seven extra base hits. Just brutal. Lars Newport. And that's what I'm saying. Goldie is not alone. Lars Newpar, 88 at bats with runners in scoring position.

Hit 227. Nolan Gorman, 82 of bats with runners in scoring position. Hit 159. Wilson Contreras, 62 at bats with runners in scoring position. Hit 210. A lot of the other guys on the team, smaller sample sizes. But when you see the names and you hear about, these are some of the guys that the Cardinals are expecting. to make major contributions next season.

And their numbers are appalling with runners in scoring position. Jordan Walker, 214. Michael Ciani, 154. Victor Scott 103. Pedro Pahez, 224. Mason win. God love him. Fantastic player.

256. So not terrible. But not great. Thomas and Jayce hit 77 in his time with the team. And those numbers just stood out to me. And when I was going over the question, I'm like, where is it? And I just right there. Look at that.

Look at that. How many games could the Cardinals have won if they'd just been a little bit better with runners in scoring position? What if they've been a whole lot better? You know, where would they have been then? but those numbers are going to have to improve a lot if this team is going to win some ball games in 2025 with this group of players. And that's just the plain and simple truth of the matter. And there's another area that kind of coincides with runners in scoring position that I want to harp on a bit next,

a place that I want to see some improvement at when it comes to the Cardinals offensively. I'll tell you what that is next on Locked on Cardinals. There's not a whole lot of things better than going to a live sporting event. Baseball, wonderful, right? Basketball, a whole lot of fun. NHL games, the blues, going to football, college or pro. And with the GameTime app, you're going to be able to find tickets to all of your favorite sporting events that you want to be a part of, whether it is blues hockey or slew basketball or Missou football or the St. Louis Ambush or whatever it is that you're interested in, you've got to get tickets to. Game Time app is going to have you cover. That's where you're going to find fantastic. They got killer last minute deals. They got all in prices. They got views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee. They take the guesswork out of buying tickets to all of your favorite sporting events,

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every day. You can leave comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. I know we got a lot of people commenting about the Roki Sasaki conversation yesterday. And it's funny to me that people get all upset. They're like, why are we even talking about this? Why not? Why not? What else do you want to talk about here in the off season? You know, that's a big story. Roki Sasaki, coming to Major League baseball, not going to cost as much. money as everybody thought he would. So why not talk about it? Doesn't mean it's going to happen, but we can have a discussion. Can we not? I want to have a discussion right now about another

area on the offensive side of things that I want to see the Cardinals improve on. And we, runners and score in possession obviously need some work. Sure. You could always use more home runs. Sure. But one of the places that I was kind of shocked that the Cardinals weren't as good at was the stolen base department. Speed. The Carls were 14th and on base percentage this year. So, you know, right in the middle of the pack. But they only stole 91 bases this past year, which ranked them 22nd in Major League Baseball, and I would love to see that number grow up. We've talked about this before every day or is no with this. I grew up watching Whitey Ball as a kid, and I enjoy the speed aspect of the game. And nowadays, they've made it.

it is easy as possible for teams to steal more bases. And for different reasons, the Cardinals don't do that. At least they didn't this past year. Granted, you have to have the guys who at speed get on base, which was a problem. Your top OBP guys were Wilson Contreras, who's not going to run a whole lot, had four stolen bases and half the season, but he's not your guy. Yvonne Herrera was next to no BP. Not a runner either, but he had five stolen bases in 72 games. Bridget Donovan was next. Five for 10 in attempts, but you know,

not considered fast by any means. Lars Neupar had seven and 10 attempts, but I'd like to see him run more with the amount of walks that he gets that I would like to see him put a little more pressure on the other teams. Alec Berluson had nine stolen bases this year. There's no way you knew that. There's no way you knew. Alan Burleson almost had double-digit stolen bases this year.

Fourth most on the team. Mason win had 11, but he's your lead-off guy. I feel like that number has to be higher. I feel Mason win is a fast guy. He's quick. He's your shortstop. Very athletic. There's no reason why he's not running more, in my opinion.

Has to be up there where Michael Ciani was this year. Michael Ciani stole 20 bases, led the team. Michael Ciani had an obfell. VP of 285. That's terrible, but he still managed to steal 20 bases. You can't tell me, Mason Wynn, who had a better on-base percentage. I think it was 314. I don't have the stat in front of me, but I think that's what I saw earlier.

But you can't tell me he can't swipe 20 or more bags next year and just put a little more pressure on those other teams, the pressure that we saw our catchers go through this past year where they were terrible at throwing out runners. It was brutal. Guys were just running around the bases. Every walk, every single was a double, sometimes a triple. And it sucked. It sucked watching it happen.

I want to put the shoe on the other foot. I want to be the team that's doing that to people. Jordan Walker has to get on base more. I've stuck up for his speed a whole lot on this podcast. He can run more. Again, it has to get on base. But he only had one stolen base in his only attempt in 51 games. Scott clearly has the wheels.

You know he does. He was a speed merchant in the minor leagues. Got to get on base. That was the problem this year. Had five successful steals and six attempts. But that's over 53 games. Like every time Victor Scott is on, he needs to take off. There's no excuse for him to just stand over there at first base and wait and wait.

No, go, run. You know, I watch the Brewers. steal 217 bases this year. Five guys stole 20 or more with Bryce Terang swiping 50 on his own. Bryce Terrang's on base percentage was 316, like a snitch above base and win. And he had 50 stolen bases. You know what that tells me that when he is on base,

that dude is running. That dude is right. He's got a green light, go. Take second. Turn it into a double. The brewers are dictating the play. They're not waiting around for something to happen. They're being aggressive.

The Cincinnati Reds, 207. We're just going to go through the NL Central here. The Reds, 207 stolen bases. The last two years, they're running all over the place. They've got a couple of guys that are considered extremely fast. Obviously, L.A. the cruise, elite speed. But not all of them.

And they're running all over the place. place. The Cubs stole 143 backs. Pirates had 106. Then you look at some of the teams that I believe that the Cardinals are trying to emulate a little more when it comes to how they're using their payroll, how they want to rely on some young guys, teams like the Tampa Bay Reyes, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Guardians, those are kind of who they're trying to pattern themselves after, right? Guardians had 148 stolen bases. The raise had 178. the Royals had 134. The Washington Nationals didn't have a great season this year. They're rebuilding with younger players. They led the league and solo bases with 223.

Like, you don't think that's going to help them turn things around quicker by being able to do that and dominate in one area? Offensively, the Cardinals don't dominate in anything. There's kind of, and that was something that, you know, had been brought up lot last year was like, what is there, who are they? What are they good at? What are the Cardinals do? Nothing. There's kind of average and everything. You know, below average in some areas, but like there's no identity with this team. And I feel like there needs to be one. And when you're hitting in a cavernous ballpark like Bush Stadium and the ball's not flying out and you're not getting those home runs, what are other ways that you could win? Whitey Herzog, the Lake Great Mighty Herzog. What did he do? He had the AstroTurf, which he knew. Speed would be great on that.

And he had this huge ballpark. Why don't we use speed instead of relying on power? Let's hit the gaps. Let's turn singles into doubles, doubles into triples, and let's do it that way. It's an exciting brand of baseball. I think it's a winning type of brand of baseball that the Cardinals should probably embrace. I don't need three 40 home run guys in the middle of my order. I need guys that. I need guys that, that are going to keep innings going, keep driving people in. I need guys stretching and putting pressure on the defense, make them throw you out at other bases because you have speed. Again, you got to get guys on base to do it,

which was kind of tough for some of these guys, actually. But I would just say, if they're going to improve, they got to be able to do something really good at at least one area offensively. And if it's not going to be power, it's got to be on base percentage, stolen base, things like that. That's just my opinion. Now, we know that Nolan Aronado has been the center of trade discussions, or at least rumors. I shouldn't say discussions.

I should say rumors because nobody really knows yet. But ever since the Cardinals announced, they're going to be doing this reset thing, Nolan Aronado's name has been tossed around as somebody that probably will be on the move. All right? People seem to have finally embraced that that's probably going to happen. and I saw a recent trade proposal that would send them to the American League East. And I want to get your opinion on that. And I'll share it with you next on Lockdown Cardinals.

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You can find locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. All right. So trading Nolan Aronado. Just let's be honest. It seems like a logical thing to do, right? We love Nolan. You love Nolan? I love Nolan.

Been a great player in this league for a very long time. It's been a great cardinal for the last couple of seasons, both on and off the field, which is great. Something that us St. Louis Cardinal fans, ourselves in. Like, not only is he somebody who gives maximum effort on the field. I mean, sometimes he doesn't run so hard down the Earth's baseline, but you also know that he's a good guy off the field. Family guy, got married, kids, like, he's been great, right? No complaints there. And we appreciate that. But business is business. And if the Cardinals can move

the remainder of his contract, they would probably pull the trigger on a deal. As long as no one says they can do it, right? Because as you probably know, no one or not, it was one of the veterans who has one of those no trade clauses, essentially allowing him to veto any deal that the Cardinals make if he wants to. If he doesn't want to go to a certain team or a certain city or a certain division, he doesn't have to. He can stay at St. Louis Cardinal until he's done if he wants to. Two of those guys, Wilson Contreras and Sonny Gray have reportedly let it be known that they are not interested in leaving. They want to stick around and remain a part of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, be a part of this reset and help them get back to, you know, the good old days, so to speak. Miles Michaelis apparently has no trade clause, which I had no clue about.

Katie Wu did the reporting on that. I was like, wait, what? Since when? But apparently he's got one. And we haven't really heard any specifics about Miles Michaels. It hasn't been a name that's been brought up a whole lot as far as his reactions to things. So we don't know what he wants to do yet. We don't really know what Nolan Aronado wants to do yet,

but we've heard that one of these guys has let it be known to go ahead and explore some things to see what else might be available. And many believe that person is Nolan Aronado, who at age 33 has, you know, he's just not won much of anything in the postseason. Not with the Cardinals, not with the Rockies. it's been a disappointment for him personally. He's had a lot of things go well for him as a solo guy, but he still hasn't gotten that championship.

Don't have that ring yet. That's something obviously that Nolan Aranao wants to get. And he just seems like someone who at this stage in his career would be willing to waive that no trade clause to go to a team who's ready to contend for a championship right now. And who can blame him? Not me, not you. like the guy wants to win.

If it's not going to happen here, why not try to get somewhere that it can happen sooner rather than later? And there's no shortage of blogs out there that write up different trade scenarios for teams. And with the Cardinals possibly moving Aronado, I've seen quite a few of these trade proposals. And I don't know, this one caught my eye. I wanted to run it by you. This one's courtesy of fan-sided Zach Presnell, who has one with the Yankees. But it comes with a disclaimer. So before I tell it to you, this trade proposal is something that he says would be good for the Yankees if, if they are not able to sign one soda, who is being courted by a number of different teams for obvious reasons.

He's awesome. And he's young. He ain't going to be cheap. But obviously, people want to talk to him. Rumors right now have the Yankees, the Mets, the Blue Jays, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, and somehow the Rays involved. I don't understand how the raise can be in on this bidding war, but apparently that's the rumor. Wouldn't it be hilarious if he went to the Dodgers?

Like Shohei, Soto, Betts, Freeman, Tommy Edmund, and then all the pitchers, and then if they got Sasaki on top of it, no, it wouldn't be. That's not funny at all. I'm kidding. I hate that. But anyways, here's what Zach writes about. when it comes to a backup plan for the Yankees of Soto Leaps.

He says Juan Soto, Glaver Torres, and a few key bullpen pieces highlight the Yankees for agency class. One piece of the backup plan would be replacing Torres at second base with another infielder. Adding a third baseman would allow them to move Jazz Chisholm, Jr. Back to his natural position at second base, and that would kind of work perfectly. That's where the Cardinals of Nolan Aronado enter the chat.

ESPN insider Jeff Passon recently spoke on Aronado's trade market this offseason saying, another player who's no trade clause complicates things is Aranato, who turns 34 in April and spent 2024 as a league average hitter. Aronado is valuable. His glove at third still dazzles, but with $74 million left on the final three years of his deal, Colorado was paying $10 million of it. The Cardinals would need to eat money. Now, the deal that Zach proposes here would say Nolan Aronado and some kids. cash considerations to the Yankees for two top pitching prospects, Will Warren and

Kade Smith. So that's what it looks like if you're watching on YouTube. That's what he's got. Here's what Zach says about these guys. Says Warren, 25 made his big league debut last season, though it came with mixed results. Before that, Warren had been a top arm in the minor leagues, namely in 2022 and 2023, struggled a bit in 2024, though he still has multiple above average pitch offerings that make him a valuable prospect. Smith is 22 was excellent this season in his first year pro ball. The right-handed pitcher tossed 93 and two-thirds innings with a 3.65 BRA split between low A and high A as an elite fastball and slider combination while also offering a curveball

and a change-up. Now, looking at this trade, I know fans are going to be upset because neither of these names, games are well known guys. Will Warren is currently the number five prospect for the Yankees, according to MLB pipeline. Smith is number 12. But if there's something, at least I'm starting to learn about what could and couldn't happen this offseason,

I'm learning that if Nato was dealt or any of these high-priced veterans get moved, we'd better temper our expectations on what the return is going to be. because, and then this is specifically for Nolan Aronado, because of the decline in his offensive numbers pointed out, you know, what he'd been doing with runners in scoring position the last few years. The decline in his offensive numbers, decline in the power. His age, going to be 34, obviously, on the wrong side of 30 now. And, of course, the money that is involved in this.

So we still don't know how much money the Cardinals might have to eat, to send Aronado to one of these contenders. You're hoping, the hope is, is that, you know, there are a number of teams like the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Astros, and others who will want him. So that creates some competition that, you know, would help the Cardinals out. That would lead to them, you know,

perhaps getting better prospects and not having to eat as much money of that contract. But we'll have to wait to see when it all goes down. What are your thoughts on this deal? I need to know. Drop a comment down below or hit me up on Twitter X. Personally, I don't hate it. I get why we would want more.

But from a business side, I get it. I get it. You can never have enough pitching. So getting two capable arms that, you know, the Yankees have an MLB pipeline say are decent arms. That's good. That's a good thing. And you got guys like Nolan Gorman and Brennan Donovan who can move over to play third base, you know?

You've got a Thomas of JC who can pick up the slack on any of the middle infield spots. You know, not that you need somebody for Mason Wend, but if something were to happen, you've got him to play shortstop, but you've got these other guys that can play some third base. You're going to save a buttload of cash. I get that. And maybe with those savings, you can use it towards some other areas that could use a little bit of grooming. until this franchise gets back, excuse me, on its feet again. So I don't hate it.

Yeah, I wish we could get more. But I understand it. I understand the business side of it. But I'll tell you one thing. I actually, I wouldn't want to be Nolan Aronado in this situation, to be honest with you. Because his sole purpose is a backup plan to Soto and he would have to fill the shoes left by Soto. I mean, talk about pressure. Yikes.

That would not be easy. And we all know playing in the Bronx, not the easiest place to play. They were booing Aaron Judge in the playoffs. Arguably the best hitter in baseball, the booing him in the playoffs. So if I was Nolan Aronado, I'd think twice about going and playing in a place like New York,

but maybe he would like the challenge. We'll see. Drop your thoughts below. Check out the link in the description for Zach's full write-up. that he's got up at fancited.com. Thank you guys for making Lockton Cardinals. Your first listed every day be having already. Give me a follow on Twitter X at L0 underscore Cardinals

and the JD Sports Radio. Please like and subscribe on YouTube. Making that push for 11,000 subscribers. Can't do it without you. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I'll see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.