Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Could A Six Man Rotation Be In The Future For The Cardinals?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sunny Gray makes a strong first impression at Cardinals camp and why the Cardinals could be going with a six-man rotation to start the season. 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 Jady Haffron and I'm a national radio sports anchor born and raised in the Lou. When a Lifetime Cardinals fan and I'm your host for Locked-on Cardinals, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team. every day. Follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio in the podcast at L.O.

Starting point is 00:00:45 underscore Cardinals. I want to make those of you who make locked on cardinals your first listen every day, free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube if you're listening to the audio version of the show right now. Awesome. Great to have you. If you want to see the visual version of the show, head on over to YouTube. Make sure you like and subscribe and comment so you can interact with us hit the notification button so you know when new episodes are posted. We are creeping closer and closer to 9,000 subscribers would love to get to 10 before opening day.

Starting point is 00:01:15 We'll see if we can make that happen. But it's up to you. It's up to you to like and subscribe and comment and interact and be a part of the show. That's what we want because this is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans in baseball. All the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode being brought to you by Fandall. Make every moment more. New customers join today and you'll get $150 in bonus bets.

Starting point is 00:01:36 If your first bet of $5 or more wins, just visit Fandall. dot com slash locked on to get started. So pitchers and catchers first official workout was today. The first full squad workout will be on Monday the 19th. And when that happens, we can begin counting down to opening day, which will take place on March 28th in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. Yeah, out of all the teams that we have to open up against this year, going to be against the Dodgers. I'm sure there won't be very much media there for Dodgers opening day whatsoever. however. Anyway, happy Valentine's Day, by the way. First, did you get your wife, your girlfriend, your significant other? Did you get them something for Valentine's Day? My wife, shout out to her,

Starting point is 00:02:20 got me tickets to go see one of my favorite comedians, Anthony Jesselnik. I know he's dark humor, and it doesn't, it isn't for everybody, but she got me some tickets. So love you, sweetie. Thank you so much for those. I decided to paint a new bedroom for her. So, you know, whatever. Anyway, But more importantly for us baseball fans here, happy pitchers and catchers day. It was a beautiful day in Jupiter and we got to see a lot of the presumed starting rotation throwing off the mound today as well as the relievers. Here is a photo up on YouTube courtesy of John Denton at MLB.com. Wilson Contreras talking to newcomer Andrew Kittredge after his session today.

Starting point is 00:02:59 In the quote there says that Wilson Kutreras chats with newcomer Andrew Kitchrich following their bullpen work together, Contreras was complimentary of the movement on Kittrich's knuckle curveball during the session, which is great. We like to hear that. That's good because we're going to need Kittredge this year. He's going to be a big old piece of that bullpen. Yesterday, new ace, Sunny Gray took the bump and made a big impression on everyone in his brief 15 pitch session.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Starting catcher Wilson Ketraeus, he just saw on the screen, talked about it afterwards, saying what I take away from Sunny Gray is his mindset because that tells me a lot about his game. The way he went through his bullpen was impressive. I'm really excited for what he's going to bring to the table. Like I told Sonny, we have the same attitude in games and that's going to help us out. We want to beat somebody and we're not making friends. And we saw that type of firing contraris last season. We were able to dub him Villain Willie at times last year where he was getting under the skin of the other team and wasn't out there to make friends. He was. trying to beat his opponent, but rarely did we see that type of passion from anyone else on the

Starting point is 00:04:09 field. People showed it from time to time, but it just wasn't there very often, and losing will do that to you. I commented multiple times last year that the team just seemed a little, a little too reserved, a little too laid back with Newpar out, with multiple injuries throughout the year. We didn't see a lot of guys who showed emotion. You know, Lars was that ra, ra guy who was always, you know, doing his thing with the pepper grinder and everything. Aronado does show some passion on occasion, which is my personal favorite version of Nolan Aranato. I love it when he gets fired up, whether it's for somebody throwing at him or him hitting a home run in a key situation. But Goldie is not that guy. You know, he's a very

Starting point is 00:04:51 quiet guy. Gorman is not that guy. Paul DeYoung, who played a lot last year, not that guy. Jordan Walker was a rookie, so we haven't quite seen. seen that just yet. Tommy Edmund's pretty chill. Dylan Carlson seems pretty reserved. So there just wasn't a lot of attitude on the roster and on the field. And I think adding Sunny Gray and Lance Linda the equation is going to help unlock some of that for the team. And Gray is ready for the challenge. But he knows that other people are going to have to step up as well. They're there and they're ready to help out. He told John Denton at MLB.com, I accept all responsibility and all the leadership things with open arms, but we also have four other guys who have a ton of experience.

Starting point is 00:05:34 I'm a vocal guy, and there are other vocal guys on the staff as well. I may lead one day, and then somebody else leads. I would hope guys come to me with questions, and I'll do the same. I'll go to anybody who can make me a better pitcher and ask questions. If you truly want to get better and you truly are in this to win a world series, it's a constant revolving door of leadership. I view myself as a leader, and I would help everyone on our staff views themselves that well, those other guys that he's talking about on the staff, Miles Michaelis, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, Stephen Matt's.

Starting point is 00:06:06 They were all on the mound today in Jupiter getting their work in. We've got a photo from that, courtesy of friend of the show, Katie Wu from The Athletic, tweeted this out with them in action on the mound today. You can see the gorgeous blue skies in Jupiter, Florida. You can see the not so beautiful grays that they're wearing. I hate the fact that they can't wear their reds. Like the one I'm wearing right now, if you're on, if you're on YouTube, I got like the batting practice, red jersey on. I love those in the spring training. I hate the fact that they got to go to their nasty gray looking road ones.

Starting point is 00:06:43 And I just, I'm not a fan of that. There's no color to it. Anyway, if you haven't heard already, the Cardinals have kind of a tough schedule at the beginning of the season, not only competition-wise, but travel-wise. They're going to start in Los Angeles, the Dodgers for four games. That'll end the month of March. Then there's three in San Diego to April. So they're going to play seven games in seven days because they're not going to get rained out

Starting point is 00:07:05 Los Angeles. They're not going to get rained out in San Diego. Then they go to the home opener for the next day on April the fourth against Miami. So that's eight games in eight days. Plus, they're switching time zones from the West Coast to the central. Then they get a day off. Then there's two more against the Marlins, followed by three at home against the Phillies before their second day off on April 11. So that's 13 games in 14 days, summer day games, summer night games. You got the travel. That's going to start the year against some very good teams, too. Three of the four were in the playoffs last year. Oh, and after that day off, their second one, they go back to Arizona to face the NL pennant winning Diamondbacks for three before going to Oakland to face the A. So if my math is correct,

Starting point is 00:07:46 18 games and 20 days with travel between the West Coast and St. Louis, kind of exhausting. And many of wondered with such a difficult start to the year, whether or not the Cardinals are destined to come out with a slow start again like they did last year and will be continuously trying to make up ground like they did in 2023, which they ultimately failed that. They could never make up enough ground and were never able to get back all of the games they lost in April. So to combat this, the idea of using a six-man rotation has been brought up. So we're going to discuss that further on Locked on Cardinals. Passion driving patience. That's what brings home the winning trophy. It's also what keeps your ride or die alive.

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Starting point is 00:10:18 You can leave comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want because your feedback, is always welcome and encouraged. I try to get back to as many of the comments as I can get to. So don't be shy. If you got a feeling about something good or bad, let us know. So Derek Gould, the fine writer over at STL today.com, and with the Post-Dispatch, released an article tonight talking about how the Cardinals are considering using a six-man rotation to start the year because of the amount of games

Starting point is 00:10:47 right out of the gate that I just explained to you. They're going to do 13 and 14 days. And they're going to do it against some very good competition. and to help alleviate some of the demands and probably the stress that's going to be on the rotation right out of spring training. They're talking about this six-man rotation. Now, in his article, which I'll link in the description and in the show notes, Gould says they've not committed to it. Officials said then they intend to get some feedback from the pitchers who are committed to routines.

Starting point is 00:11:16 Because we all know, you don't want to get any of the pitchers out of black. World Baseball Classic last year. All right. how many times we heard that excuse this offseason and how it had such an effect on how the guys who were playing in the World Baseball Classic, which the Cardinals had a ton, how it kind of messed them up a little bit. But as Camp began on Wednesday with the first official workouts for pitchers and catchers, the Cardinals have already geared spring training and prepped a competition for that sixth spot, if that's the direction official choose to go into the 2024 season. Now, I've mentioned all offseason that outside of the veterans starting five that you already have, you've got former first round picks, Matthew Libertor and Zach Thompson, waiting in the wings for a rotation spot. If when one of the veterans goes down, hi, Stephen Matt's injury prone, you know, if you were to go down with an injury,

Starting point is 00:12:11 one of those two would slide right in, that you've got some pretty good depth there. But they also showed last year that both of them can be quite useful coming out of the the bullpen. So what do you do? What do you do with these guys? In a perfect world, you would just pick a lane for them either as a starter or a reliever instead of yo-yoing them back and forth like they did with Zach Thompson a lot last year, a little bit to Matthew Libertor, but it was Zach Thompson that really, he was all over the place. He's a reliever. Then he has to get sent down to Memphis and start pitching again as a starter. And then they bring him back up and then they're making him like it was all over the place. And it just

Starting point is 00:12:50 just seem like a mess. But either of them seem like nice fits as what we like to call the swing man, right? That you've heard about that can make that spot start when it's needed, but also be a long reliever for you out of the bullpen. They both seem to fit that profile as well. But if you've got a six-man rotation to start the year, perhaps at least one of them can remain as a full-time starter early on, even with the other five main guys still healthy.

Starting point is 00:13:19 that's kind of what we're shooting for here. Gould says that both of them will spend most of spring training on a starter schedule, which would include starts in exhibition games and stretch innings to build arm strength, and that the Cardinals will spend the springs weighing their major league need against their prospects long-term potential, their development and most of all their performance. But he did add that the big league need will sway the decision, which it should. You're not down to win championships at Memphis. That's great if you do.

Starting point is 00:13:51 We try to win championships at the major league level. So you want your best pitchers up there throwing in whatever capacity they can. You want your best arms on your staff in St. Louis, not at Memphis and not at Springfield. So that's the idea there. In my opinion, in no way shape or form is this saying that the Cardinals don't have confidence in the innings eaters, as we've come to know them, that they brought in this offseason. but it's certainly something just to kind of keep an eye on in the early going here.

Starting point is 00:14:23 And it's not like you're thinking about starting someone who isn't prepared to start in the majors yet. I mean, remember they started toying with Jordan Hicks becoming a starter last year out of nowhere because they needed somebody to fill a spot and the injuries were taking their toll on the rotation already. It's not like that. You know, both Libby and Thompson have proven that they can do it at the major league level. So I really don't see the harm in it as long as the other guys are on board. Again, not trying to alter routines. We're not trying to go through this crap that they went through with the

Starting point is 00:14:54 World Baseball Classic last year where they're geared up to be starters. Then Michaelis hardly pitches for Team USA and it threw them out of whack. All of that, we don't want to worry about it to be that. Right. So as long as everybody else is on board, I'm cool with it. If it's going to keep the arms that much more fresh and, you know, keep everybody healthy. I would rather see that happen. So let me know your thoughts on this idea, though, and whether or not you think

Starting point is 00:15:18 it's a good or a bad idea for a six-man rotation just in the early going. Maybe just in, I don't think it'll go through the entire month of April, but it could. You know, if it's working, I mean, why would you alter it? But, you know, it's all about routine and it's about getting people on a, you know, a pattern of five days of rest or whatever they need at the time. So let me know. Let me know in the comments section down below or on Twitter X at L1 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio, what your thoughts are on that possibility.

Starting point is 00:15:50 All right, where it is, you out of your Molina? Maybe a little late. Getting to camp. I'm going to tell you why next on Locktown Cardinals. Get buckets with your first bet on Fandall, America's number one sports book, because right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150. $150 if your bet wins.

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Starting point is 00:16:48 and I just kind of dig them. So I've been paying more attention to betting on the Indiana Pacers recently. I need Halliburton to get more healthy. But you can be a part of this for whatever team you're rooting for. We know we've got the All-Star break coming up, but make sure you're visiting Fando.com slash Lockdown and shoot your shot. Fandall, official sports book partner of the NBA. Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:17:21 Lockdown Sports today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day. with the local experts of Lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. Go to Lockdown Sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. The fans, front office, coaches, players, all of them were very much excited about the news that Yadde or Molina was returning to the team as an advisor in 2024. Heck, when we were at the winter warm-up, John Moseilock, when he comes out on the stage for the first time to do his interview, one of the first things he did was,

Starting point is 00:17:55 ask the crowd. Are you guys excited to have the Adi back, which was followed by kind of a relaxed round of applause. I mean, we were all kind of like, I mean, yeah, but are we going to be any good? We were more concerned with that. And I feel like Moe was looking for a little bit more energy from the crowd when he asked that question. But again, it was kind of early in the morning. And it was butt-ass cold out too. It was freezing that day. So a lot of us were still just trying to literally warm up as we got inside ballpark village. But anyways, we've discussed the possibilities and what Yadi is going to mean to the team in an advisor role this year and how much good he can be for, you know, the catchers,

Starting point is 00:18:38 Wilson Contreras and Yvonne Herrera, how he's going to be able to help out the pitching staff by being around, keeping an eye on things, seeing what's working, what's not working, ways that they can adjust things, but also be a guy for the everyday players, guy they can interact with yadi and learn from him as long as he's around we were told that it's not going to be something where it's an everyday thing for yadda or malina he's not going to be in the dugout it could happen he could be in the dugout throughout the season at different times but it's not going to be something where you expect him to be in there for you know a month at a time like i I wouldn't expect that.

Starting point is 00:19:17 I'd say like maybe a homestand or a road trip here and there, perhaps something like that. But it looks like his arrival in spring training is actually going to be put on hold for a little bit. Derek Gould reported that Molina likely won't report until closer to when minor league camp opens. And after he gets some time with family in Puerto Rico following the end of the winter ball season, now there were some reports online that Yadi might be managing another team during the winter ball session and then there were reports that disputed that. I don't know what's true or not. All I know is I trust what Derek Gould puts down. And if he says it's just going to be a couple of

Starting point is 00:19:57 weeks later and he's going to visit his family and stuff and then he'll join him. I'm willing to believe that. Jeff Jones from B&D.com tweeted that Moe said that Yadi may not be at camp for a couple of weeks, perhaps coinciding with the opening of minor league camp and said the team wanted to give him some time given his winter ball schedule. This is not the end of the world. I don't care. This is fine. I don't need Yadi to be there day one holding everybody's hand. It's okay. All right? He'll get there. No need to freak out about this. Yadi isn't expected, as I said, to be around the club every day anyway. So sure, you want him to be there as much as

Starting point is 00:20:36 possible to help guide the pitchers and catchers as much as he can, but all in good time. He doesn't have to be there right now when they're throwing 10 pitch sessions and 15 pitch sessions and taking pop-up practice. It's okay. It's okay. He'll get there. It's not like the cardinals have a staff of 23-year-olds who don't know what the hell they're doing in spring training and are just cutting their teeth in the big leagues.

Starting point is 00:21:00 That's not the case whatsoever. These guys are, dare I say, grizzled veterans. you know, they're all in their mid-30s or older. And they know what they need to do. They know what they got to do to get ready. They're fine. They're going to be okay. He'll get there.

Starting point is 00:21:15 He'll get there. Everybody, everybody relax. Everybody relax. One picture that was not a camp today was newly signed reliever, Keenan Mendleton. He was not. By the way, he's going to be wearing the Wayne Gretzky number 99 jersey this year.

Starting point is 00:21:30 Fun fact, so to Gucci is the only other cardinal to have ever worn the number 99. Did you know that? Did it from 2002 to 2007. And we love so to Gucci. And I hope we love Keena Middleton when he does arrive. But he was not there. He's dealing with a stomach virus today. And it was the only pitcher not in camp for the first official workout, but he's expected to be back with the team within the next couple of days. So don't sweat that either. He's just a little under the weather. You don't want stomach bugs to start getting passed around the clubhouse at the start of spring training. So no worries. And also quickly, I hate drawing attention

Starting point is 00:22:10 to these things because I feel like that's what the people who do these things are seeking in the first place. But obviously thoughts and prayers going out to the victims of the shooting today in Kansas city where they were holding their Super Bowl rally. Just tragic stuff, man. You know, you get a day of celebration. You're celebrating this amazing accomplishment for the team and for the city and for the fans. and then it just turns to horror because a couple of people. And I just feel awful. I feel awful for the victim. When I first saw it, I thought people were joking.

Starting point is 00:22:42 I was like, no way. That's not happening in Kansas City. Lo and behold, it did. So I feel bad for the victims, their families, the community who have to endure this. So it just sucks, man. So just know that we're all thinking about you guys in Kansas City. That's just terrible stuff, terrible stuff. All right.

Starting point is 00:23:01 We're going to wrap it up. Thanks for making lockdown Cardinals for first listen every day. Again, if you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter X at L.O. underscore Cardinals and a J.D. Sports Radio. Make sure you like and subscribe on YouTube. If you're watching daily on YouTube and you're not liking and subscribing and hitting the notification button, why? Why? Why? It's real easy. Just a couple of clicks, man. Do me a solid. It'll help our channel in love for the Cardinals grow. You'll feel good about yourself by doing it. You're the best fans in baseball for a reason, and I'll see you next time on lockdown cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Could A Six Man Rotation Be In The Future For The Cardinals?

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