Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Cardinals Make A Splash With International Signings

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

- Bob Uecker Passes Away - International Signing Period - Two Top 40 Players - Future Is Bright - Around The League - Pete Alonso - Jack Flaherty Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 ht...tps://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?sid=YouTube Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rocket Money Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today. Gametime Download 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. FanDuel From big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL Playoffs are better with FanDuel new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED BUCKS in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED - Win or Lose. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. Make this playoff season unforgettable with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. 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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals signed 12 free agents on the opening of the international signing period, one of which is actually the son of a former Cubs closer. We'll talk about it today on Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts network. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals. I'm J.D. Happen and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. We're covering your team every day. You can follow me on TwitterX. JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. We want to thank those of you who make Lockton Cardinals your first list. And every day we're free and available wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:00:43 You can also find us on YouTube. If you haven't already, like, subscribe and comment 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 of baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app and create an account. Use the code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So we start off today's show with some somber news. If you haven't heard already, it was announced by the Milwaukee Brewers earlier today, that longtime broadcaster and former Cardinal Bob Euker passed away today at the age of 90.
Starting point is 00:01:20 A statement from the family says that he was battling small cell lung cancer since 2023. So a private battle there that ultimately looks like it caused Bob Euker his life. sadly. What a treasure he was in the baseball community and, you know, in life itself. But if you've never seen interviews or his Hall of Fame speech, if you've ever watched that, I encourage you to check it out. It's hilarious stuff, had the whole crowd in stitches. He used to be somebody who was on, you know, talk shows all the time, like the Tonight Show and stuff like that, just because he just made everybody laugh. He was such an entertaining guy that, I mean, how many baseball players do you see go on talk shows these days?
Starting point is 00:02:06 Like, you know, like mainstream talk shows. It just kind of chit-chat. How many announcers, you know? How many times do you see that? It just doesn't happen, you know? And Yuker was one of those guys that just made everybody laugh. So Mr. Baseball is what he was known as. Not the Tom Selleck character from the movie, but he was just a magnificent storyteller.
Starting point is 00:02:29 Most of us know him from his character, Harry Doyle, in the Major League franchise series in those movies. He was also the dad on Mr. Belvedere. I know a lot of people probably don't remember that. Back in the 80s, middle of light commercials, that was a big deal with, with youke. They were TV gold back in the day. Ball player-wise, he even said it.
Starting point is 00:02:51 He made fun of himself all the time. I would tell you how not good he was. Six seasons in the major leagues with the Milwaukee Braves, the Phillies, the Atlanta Braves, and then with the Cardinals in 1964, and 1965, part of that championship team in 64. One of my favorite cardinal memories that involved Bob Euker was the famous story. Obviously, I wasn't around when this happened, but was the famous story about him going out and shagging fly balls.
Starting point is 00:03:20 He like, I guess they had like a band or something in the crowd that day. And he, they were shagging fly balls during batting practice and he grabbed one of the guys tubas and strapped it on and then was trying to catch. fly balls in the tuba. And he was like, I didn't catch all of them. There's probably some dense on the tuba when he was done. And this is in front of game two of the world series. This is not just a Thursday day game at Bush or something like, no. This was in front of the world series.
Starting point is 00:03:50 Game two, just trying to keep things loose against the Yankees. That's a story that always has people gritting. I mean, can you imagine somebody doing that in this day and age? Can you imagine, I mean, who would do that on the, Cardinals pitching or on the Cardinals, you know, just on their roster right now. Lars Dupar maybe, Miles Michael is maybe somebody like that grabbing a tuba and then just running around the outfield. That would be, it would be quite a sight in this day.
Starting point is 00:04:17 But sad to hear, sad to hear about the passing of Mr. Euker. So if you get a chance to, you know, flip on some Harry Doyle highlights, I know I've retweeted a bunch of them today, something like that in honor of one of the most famous. 200 lifetime hitters in the history of this great game. Maybe do that today. On to business about the Cardinals, they still have not made a trade or a free agent signing for the Major League roster thus far. But the team did sign some international free agents on Wednesday, which was the opening of the international signing period. One of them has a very familiar last name that I'm sure plenty of you will recognize. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with what the international signing period is,
Starting point is 00:05:01 Basically, it's a set timeframe where an international player is eligible to sign with a major league team. It goes from January 15 through December the 15th. He's got to turn 16 before he signs. It has to be 17 before September 1st the following year. The biggest name on the list this year, no surprise here, Roki Sasaki from Japan. The latest on him is that he has narrowed his list down. Surprise, surprise to, I just realized I don't have. my frame up here. Hold on. Let's get this up here for everybody's show. And let's see.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Does this work? No. No. There we go. All right. Now you can see it. I was wondering why so they changed some things here on our setups. And so we're also kind of learning on. So apologies for that. But anyway, surprise, surprise. Roki Sasaki, the Dodgers. Obviously linked to him, the Padres. And then the Blue Jays, kind of that dark horse third team right now. The window closes on his negotiation period on January 23rd. So we should see some news about him real, real soon on where he's going to end up. We know it will not be in St. Louis, but there were some players at the team signed, 12 of them to be exact. Some of the names of the players of the Cardinals did put pen to paper with the first one in the highest profile signing that they ended up landing as left-handed hitting outfielder Roynelly Stroke.
Starting point is 00:06:29 And if that last name sounds familiar, it's probably because you remember his father, Pedro Strope, who was a pitcher in the major leagues for 13 seasons, eight of them as a member of the Chicago Cubs, along with Stinson, Texas, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Royale is just 16 years old. He's ranked as the 28th best prospect for this international signing period that according to MLB pipeline, Jesse Borek at MLB.com. wrote a piece on a couple of the Cardinal signings and said this about him, said the deal is worth around $1.5 million, according to an industry source, despite his physical attributes, 6 foot 1, 180 pounds, at age 16, mind you, and potential for significantly bulking up. He draws rave reviews for his bat-to-ball ability as much as his power.
Starting point is 00:07:22 In addition to being equipped with a pro pedigree, he is seen as extremely projectable due to his size and physicality. shows aptitude for center field, but his long-term home is likely in left or right, allowing his bat to be the tool that should carry him up the Cardinals ranks. Now, when we talk about depth at positions for the Cardinals in this organization right now, Major League roster obviously pretty full, right? But down in the system, as far as looking at, you know, high profile prospects, top 30 prospects that are outfielders, the Cardinals have their 20-23 first-round pick
Starting point is 00:07:59 in Chase Davis, who saw a significant bump in his production in year two in the in the pros. He's number seven on the Cardinals list, former third round pick in the same class that Chase Davis was taken. Travis Honeyman is at number 13. You've got Wanbin Cho at number 24, former fifth round pick. Zach Levinson is number 25. And that is it. That is it in the top 30 for the Cardinals prospects, again, according to MLB pipeline. So Outfield is certainly a sports. spot that could use an injection of talent for the future. Again, 16 years old. So 16 is very, very young, just being able to drive legally in the United States. All right. So a lot of time between now and when he would likely make any sort of impact on the Major League roster. But, you know,
Starting point is 00:08:52 top 30 guy out of the entire world in international signing. That's not bad. We'll take that. The Cardinals also landed another outfielder inside the top 40 of the international prospects list, and we'll discuss him next on Lockdown Cardinals. Okay. Here we go. Telling it, new stuff. Going to live events is a whole lot of fun, right? Whether it's live sporting events, music, theater, wrestling, obviously is a big deal right now.
Starting point is 00:09:32 Comedy shows, all of that stuff. I enjoy going to live events. it gets me out of the house, especially in the wintertime when it's cold and it sucks out and you don't want to be a part of anything. But going to a live event, at least you got some excitement and you get to be indoors for the most part. And when you need a ticket to any sort of event, even out of town, doesn't have to be wherever you're living. The Game Time app is where I go. It's where you should go as well because it is the easiest way to find seats to the games and to the events that you want to go to. Believe it or not, game time has actually now made it easier to get tickets for your favorite events with their new
Starting point is 00:10:05 feature which is called game time picks now it's a feature that it just kind of filters out all the fluff all right it gets rid of all the like oh my gosh you don't want to feel overwhelmed when you're looking for tickets and it gets rid of all the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets many of them you're not going to be interested in in the first place uh post malone jelly roll the big show at bush stadium in may uh you can get tickets to that on the game time app and just click on gtie picks there at the top, boom, filters down to give you all the best options. It's very simple. It's very easy. It's going to take the guesswork out of buying tickets, which is what the
Starting point is 00:10:42 GameTime app does. So download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code locked on MLB for $20 off. Your first purchase terms apply. Again, create an account, redeemed code Locked on MLB. That's L-O-C-E-B-O-N-M-LB for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it? Game time. Once again, thank you for making it locks on Cardle's your first list. And every day. You can leave your comment. Comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X. Anytime you want your feedback is always welcome. And encourage, we are going to be doing a fan feedback episode to wrap up this week.
Starting point is 00:11:17 So get those questions and comments in and let me know what you want to talk about in the upcoming episode. So after Strope, the next highest rank signing that the Cardinals had was right-handed hitting outfielder Kenley Hunter, who was ranked number 37 by MLB Pipeline. According to sources, Hunter signed for $700,000. This is what Borick says about him. Just four position players from Nicaragua have made it to the big league since 1976. Hunter, with his ample upside already prominent at age 16, will have an opportunity to join that lineage as he begins his pro-odicy. Hunter was a standout performer for Nicaragua at the 18 and under Pan American Championship in Panama in August 2024, going 11 for 26, with a 577 on base percentage.
Starting point is 00:12:06 against premier international competition. Evaluators see him as having a natural propensity to get the bat to ball, evidenced by his track record of performance in front of scouts. For all of the excitement around the long-term offensive profile, speed is Hunter's calling card. Those wheels should allow him to get looks in the center field as a team, but he has the type of frame that could fill out as he acclimates to the rigors of pro ball. So those are the two big names.
Starting point is 00:12:36 the more high profile names that the Cardinals were able to land. Again, they made 12 signings total. Other notables that signed for $300,000 or more. And I don't want to butcher these names, but they don't have a lot of enunciations available for all of them. And there's not a lot of video on these guys because they're kids that are playing in different countries. So Juan Ruano, 6'3, 185-pound catcher out of Panama. He's signed for $750,000.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Scott Plaza, actually over at Redwood Rance.com, did a write out about some of the players that the Cardinals were targeting and actually had him on his list saying that he's big for a catcher, which obviously 6-3 is a pretty large guy, but big for a catcher, uses his size to drive the ball with plus power. Scouts see him as more power than hit currently, but they are mostly in agreement on his home run potential. Rwano has some work to do defensively with its mechanics and his size might cause an eventual move from the position. But for now, the development plan is to have him stay behind the plate. And I think about 6'3 if he's going to grow into a body that maybe he reaches 6'4, possibly gets to 6'5, think about 200 to 210 pounds somewhere in there. Sounds like a first basement of me, which the cartels do not have a whole lot of those in their system. that, you know, are banging on the door of top prospects in the league.
Starting point is 00:14:05 So that would make some sense. Miguel Hernandez shortstop out of Venezuela, $500,000. Plaza says that he is a defense first shortstop with soft and quick hands that currently make up for his below average arm at the position. While known for his defense to this point, he is not a total slouch at the play. To Scouts praise his ability to go gap to gap with his line drive hitting approach. The one thing about shortstops, and you're like, Shortstops. Wait, we've got Mason Wend. He's going to be here for the next 15 years. What are we doing?
Starting point is 00:14:36 The thing about shortstaps, too, is usually those are your best athletes that are on the field. And short stops, you know, you're seeing a lot of teams actually signing more shortstaps, drafting more shortstuffs because those are the kind of guys that you can move the different positions because they have the athletic capability to do that. So if you need a guy to go play third or second, but obviously can play some outfield as well. Short stops if they start there. Usually they have the athletic ability to make a move like that. So just because he's a shortstop, nah, doesn't necessarily mean he'll be one later on down the road. Moving on on the list here of guys, they signed Yeperson Porto Latin, or it could be Porto Latine, another shortstop out of the Dominican Republic, $450,000 signing bonus, switching shortstop in a kind of Tommy Edmund-like profile is what Plaza says about him,
Starting point is 00:15:33 says that he hits better from one side of the plate, in this case, his left side. Continuing with the Edmund comparison, scouts do not pinpoint one tool that stands out, instead noticing him as a player who can do a little bit of everything. He shows solid plate discipline and athleticism with the ability to play both middle infield positions. Cardinals like their flexibility. A lot of teams like to have flexibility with their flexibility. players and be able to move them around if they need to. So it makes a lot of sense there. Final two names here that signed for above $300,000. You've got Daniel Gomez, who was a right-handed
Starting point is 00:16:08 pitcher out of Venezuela. And then you've got, what did he signed for? $350,000. And then Yostin Pena, an outfielder out of the DR, $300,000 as well. The other names they signed were Michael Cordero, a third baseman from the DR. Sebastian Dos Santos, a shortstop from Venezuela, Juan Carlos Garcia, pitcher from Mexico, Miguel Hernandez, another shortstop out of Venezuela, and Jesus Perez, also an infielder from Venezuela. So, I'm doing some strong signing, a lot of scouting, a lot of work in Venezuela, apparently, home of now Cardinals' first baseman, Wilson Contreras. A lot of good talent has come out of Venezuela over the years. And hopefully, hopefully a few of these guys, you know, they grow up to be productive members of,
Starting point is 00:16:56 the Cardinals organization moving forward. Obviously, they're all very, very young, okay? That is something you have to remember about this. These aren't even 18, 19-year-old guys. These guys are all around 16 years old, and they're very young. And it's going to take time. It's going to take time before you see them have any sort of impact at the major league level, if any, at all.
Starting point is 00:17:18 I mean, these are all, you know, yeah, baseball is when you're drafting and signing young players, like it's, you know, it's a crapshoot. You know, it's not. I mean, even when you go to other sports, you know, the NBA or the NFL and the NHL and these guys, it's more like the NHL than any of those other teams because you're drafting guys who are quite young who are going to work their way up through a system where in the NFL and the NBA outside of the G League, you know, these guys are going to be right on the roster for the most part. So it's part of the youth movement.
Starting point is 00:17:51 And this is something that the Cardinals are going to be looking more into as ways to build their roster. even more. You know, the Cardinals had a couple guys from last year's international signing period who have already cracked the top 30 prospect list at MLB pipeline. You've got Brunelli Franco, 17-year-old pitcher. He's up to number 21 on the list already for the Cardinals, was ranked as the 25th best international prospect last year. Didn't have a great year in his first year with the organization. He was 0 and 3 with a 6.16 ERA and the Dominican Summer League. But again, he's a kid. It's got to. take some time. Here's one that stood out to me. Catcher right now Rodriguez, 18 years old. He's number 23 on the list, but had an absolutely bonkers year offensively last year. Hit 345. Check out these stats. 345. It's at home runs and 38 RBIs in 41 games in the Dominican Summer League. The DSL is what it's called. His OBP was 462. He slug 683. The OPS was 1.14. five. That's a better OPS than all world Shohay Otani had last year at the major league level, obviously. But I'm just saying, look, look at those. I mean, those are crazy stats.
Starting point is 00:19:10 And he's a catcher. Cardinals have been doing pretty well as, you know, prospect wise, as far as catchers go recently, Leonardo Bernal, Jimmy Crooks, obviously are big ones. You've got Yvonne Herrera, Pedro Paez right now at the major league level. So they've been pretty good so far as catcher. That'd be nice to see him. This guy, this kid, Rodriguez, 18 years old pan out. We'd love to see those stats continue throughout his career. And then they've got a shortstop, Yonaro Padilla, at number 29, 17 years old.
Starting point is 00:19:43 He had 287 last year in his first year, but he had 22 stolen bases in 35 games. So speed, defense, probably his main stuff. and sorry, phone just clicked there. Probably his main pieces of what make him an attractive player moving on. And, you know, you pair these kind of people up with, you know, guys that are higher up in the top. You know, guys that you've taken in the MLB draft, you know, their number one prospect, J.J. Weatherholt, who, number 18 overall on MLB pipeline right now, he's only 22 years old.
Starting point is 00:20:19 Teen Keds is up to number 61 overall. He's 22 years old. Quinn Matthews. is number 77, he's 24. He's going to be up on that roster real, real soon, I think. Jimmy Crooks is 23 in the big leagues. You've got Mason Wynn and Jordan Walker and Thomas C.C. They're all 22 years old right now. Victor Scott is 23. Gorman, the old man, Gorman is at 24 years old. Yvonne Herrera, 24. McGreevy is 24. Matthew Libertzoor, ancient at 25 years old. So there's this group of talent that the Cardinals have acquired.
Starting point is 00:20:54 and our building that are 25 years and under, that if things go the way we hope they will, and not everybody is going to pan out, obviously. They're not all going to become superstars in this elite level, but it's a group that together will come up and could be quite a force for the Cardinals in the next couple of years. And as I've said before, this whole idea of shaving off these long-term old veteran contracts and stuff,
Starting point is 00:21:24 idea is to have this stuff all come up together. And then what you do is you find free agents that are veterans that are pieces to bring in to compliment the young talent instead of having your young talent and drafting talent to compliment the old expensive veterans that you have on this team. The team still obviously has veteran talent. You know, you've still got Sunny Gray and Wilson Contreras on this roster. and Miles Michaelis, which, you know, he's only got one year left. But you know what I mean? You know, Nolan Arnado is still here at this time. But the idea is to kind of flip what they've been doing and make that the way that they build their organization even better.
Starting point is 00:22:10 And it makes sense. It's just unfortunate that now you're at a point where it's going to cost you wins at the major league level because it takes time to build this sort of thing. So that is the plan moving forward. And, you know, you can look at it in two different ways. You can look at it as the future is bright, which is the way I tend to look at it. You know, you hear these names and you see how other scouts and other teams talk about these particular prospects. And you're like, yeah, you know, that's great. Are the Cardinals, do they have the right people in place to make these guys as great as they need to be to compete for a championship one day?
Starting point is 00:22:45 That's a real question mark. That's what they're trying to build. They're assigning new coaches and new type of talent scouts and stuff to make. these guys is the best they can possibly be, which is not something they did a whole lot of prior to this season, which is some of the, you know, the change and the turnover that is happening in this organization. And I think Heim Bloom has a lot to do with that. He came in and he said, look, this is where you guys are lacking at. This is where there's a problem. If you want me to build your organization up the way I got to do Boston, who currently has the number one ranked
Starting point is 00:23:19 organization as far as prospects in their farm system in the big leagues you want something like that these are the changes that have to be made and that's what they're doing so i look at as the future is bright perhaps some of these guys will surprise us here in 2025 to make bigger strides to bring us that next great brand of cardinal baseball that we all want and crave to arrive a little bit sooner rather than later and perhaps that happens but at least it appears from the outside looking in that they're on the right track and they're making smart decisions. We're going to jump into some news from around the league,
Starting point is 00:23:55 including what's going on with former Cardal Ace Jack Flaherty? How the heck is he still a free agent? We'll talk about it next on Lockdown Cardinals. Thank you again for making Lockton Cardinals. Your first listen today for your second list. You can find Lockdown MLB, our baseball guru solely brings you a daily blend of humor in baseball. Keeps you updated on all the teams in this offseason,
Starting point is 00:24:20 even the more quiet ones like the St. Louis Cardinals. You can find Lockton MLB on YouTube. or wherever you listen to your podcast. So the MLB free agent, Big Board, still has some pretty notable names on it. Roki Sasaki, obviously the big one. That's the highest one, his decision. We'll be coming here real, real soon.
Starting point is 00:24:37 Again, the negotiation window for him wraps up on the 23rd. So depending on when you're listening to this, you've got about a week. Okay. So Alex Bregman, still out there. He's holding up what possibly could be any sort of trade with Nolan Arnato. and other teams around the league.
Starting point is 00:24:56 So we're waiting on him still. Hello, Alex, any day now. Pete Alonzo is still there. Anthony Santon Dare and Jack Flaherty. All of those names are still inside the athletics top 10 of their free agent big board. Still without homes. Still without homes.
Starting point is 00:25:13 The latest on Pete Alonzo has the Mets believing that he's going to end up signing someplace else now that according to S&Wise Annie Martino, the team did re-signy signed. Jesse Winker today, which according to Martino was part of their post-Alanzo pivot plan, which is supposedly going to include a relief pitcher, perhaps Tanner Scott, who was still out there. Obviously, had a huge year last year with the Marlins and the Padres. Some other teams that have been brought up that have been sniffing around Alonzo, Blue Jays, Giants, Angels, Giants always seems like a good home to me.
Starting point is 00:25:48 I don't know why. There's something about I just have a respect for the San Francisco Giants. and I feel like that would be, you know, get him out on the West Coast, you know, get him away from New York and the East Coast stuff and let him go do with stuff there. Angels probably would throw some more money at you, but not exactly a winning environment. We get to play with Mike Trout, if and when he's back on the field. Blue Jays, though, Blue Jays. I know last year was an off year for them, but teaming up with Pete Alonzo and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Starting point is 00:26:20 and some of the firepower that they've had in their offense over the year. So that would be interesting as well. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see where he ends up. But Jack Flaherty is the name that really has, I'm very surprised that he hasn't signed anywhere yet. He had a great year this past year with Detroit and the Dodgers, still in his prime, at age 29. It's not going to cost you a draft pick because he got traded from Detroit. So you don't have to worry about that.
Starting point is 00:26:51 So what gives? Like how is Jack Flaherty still out there? According to a story in the athletic from Ken Rosenthal and Will Sam, and they suggest that maybe teams want to see Flaherty put together two consecutive seasons of elite performance before handing him a significant deal. Now, us in St. Louis, we can sympathize with this type of thinking after seeing Jack burst onto the scene with the Cardinals. We're like, yeah, we got an A.
Starting point is 00:27:19 here we go he's going to be with us for the next decade it's going to be amazing and then injuries injuries injuries kept messing with jack shoulder his obliques and it's just always it was always something for a few years there and then when he was healthy you'd see him do these great things on the mound but you just didn't see him healthy enough and um you know the the injuries just screwed it all up and they traded him away and they got i guess a decent return you know, Drew Rom had an arm injury this past year. Show Walter is still very, very young in the minor leagues. Cesar Prieto, I don't know what his future with the team is.
Starting point is 00:28:00 He's 25 now. So they got to figure out something to do with him or, you know, it's then it's not going to look so good. But last year, what, 3.170 RA for Jack last year with Detroit in L.A. but Rosenthal and Salmon point out that he was inconsistent for the Dodgers in the postseason. He had a really good stellar performance in game one of both the NLCS and the World Series, but then subpar showings and the respective game fives of those series. The time in Baltimore was absolutely forgettable.
Starting point is 00:28:35 That was a bus for Baltimore. And it also was pointed out on fan graphs that his fastball velo and movement are trending down. So that could be a reason as well. And I get, I get it. I get why teams might be hesitant to hand him a long-term deal, but it just kind of surprises me that in this day and age and everybody trying to acquire as much pitching as possible that someone at his age and with his skill set and coming off the strong year
Starting point is 00:29:01 and, you know, seems to like figure some things out. Nobody, nobody has signed him yet, you know. He hasn't gotten someone to bite on a deal yet. And, you know, the people during the off-season, you know, before the off-season started when they were projecting things and predicting where people might go. A lot of people were thinking a four-year deal for Jack. And maybe it's something more like a three-year deal with an opt-out after one or something to that effect. But somebody will get them. Somebody will get them.
Starting point is 00:29:30 It won't be the Cardinals, but somebody will get them. Countdown is on for spring training Cardinals, pitchers and catchers. The dates for reporting were announced February 12th is when pitchers and catchers will report for full squad workout. are going to be on the 17th. So tick, tick, tick to talk on these free agents for the Cardinals to get a deal for Aronado done, signing any relievers to help bolster the bullpen a little bit. We've talked about that. Still a lot of questions, still some things to be figured out over the next couple of weeks before spring training begins. But it's going to be here quick. It's going to be here quick. Thank you for making a lactone cardinals your first list. Every day, if you haven't already. Give us a follow on Twitter X at L.O underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. on YouTube and help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best
Starting point is 00:30:16 fans in baseball for a reason. I will see you next time on lockdown carcels.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.