Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Could the St. Louis Cardinals SEND Nolan Arenado, JoJo Romero to Mariners?

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

St. Louis Cardinals may be nearing a surprising trade pivot—could Nolan Arenado be on the move to the Seattle Mariners instead of Brendan Donovan? JD Hafron breaks down the ongoing trade speculation... swirling between the Cardinals and Mariners, raising questions about Arenado’s declining offense, JoJo Romero’s potential as a trade sweetener, and what Seattle really needs to complete its World Series puzzle. The conversation spotlights the shifting value of Cardinals veterans and teases just how high the asking price still is for Donovan.Key topics include St. Louis’s hunt for veteran starting pitching, potential fits like Zach Eflin and Jose Quintana, and the ongoing quest to balance a young, unproven staff with experienced arms. Plus, celebrate Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith’s 71st birthday with a look back at his iconic Cardinals moments and the impact of recent minor league moves as Luken Baker heads to the Arizona Diamondbacks.0:00 – Cardinals-Mariners Trade Rumors12:17 – Veteran Pitching Targets23:38 – Ozzie Smith Birthday & LegacyFollow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonstlcardinals.supercast.com/Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIOFollow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_CardinalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload 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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.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 #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals and the Seattle Mariners have been rumored to be linking up in a trade at some point, but it might not be for the guy that everyone thinks today. 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 Jody Hafer, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And welcome into another episode of Locked on Cardinals. Part of the Locked on podcast network. now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you to our everydayers for being here all along. And for those of you who are new, welcome in. I hope you enjoy the content. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your
Starting point is 00:00:53 first purchase. On today's show, it is Ozzie Smith's birthday today. So we're going to show some love to the wizard. What veteran starter might be a good fit in? St. Louis. We'll discuss that. But we're going to start today with the rumor mill involving the Cardinals and the Seattle Mariners. Now, we've been hearing rumors about a possible deal between these two clubs for quite some time now. They've kind of been dancing with each other for a while, neither one ready to commit to one another. It makes a lot of sense as to why it keeps happening. You know, the Mariners were super close to making the World Series this past year before losing to Toronto in game seven.
Starting point is 00:01:34 They're in a win now window. While the Cardinals are in the reboot state of mind, Seattle has an excellent pitching staff and farm system that the Cardinals would love to dip their claws into and find some pieces to add to their collection of prospects or major leaguers, if that's possible as well. What Seattle appears to be lacking in, as far as trying to complete their puzzle to get to the World Series,
Starting point is 00:02:00 more on the offensive side of anything, right? you've still got AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh. I would have voted for him as the league MVP for the American League side, but Aaron Judge won it anyway, but I would have went Cal Rale. Young superstar center fielder, Julio Rodriguez, J.P. Crawford, pretty steady over there at Shortstop, and they've briefed signed first baseman Josh Naylor. So solid pieces.
Starting point is 00:02:26 They also lost switch hitting infielder Jorge Polanco, who is now in New York and is going to play with the Mets. apparently he's going to try his hand at first base for them. So, you know, good luck replacing Pete Alonzo with Polanco. Third baseman, Eugenio Suarez, who they traded for at the deadline. Currently a free agent after clubbing 49 home runs last year. Only 13 of those came with Seattle. And he also hit just 189 in 53 games with them to close out the season,
Starting point is 00:02:53 although not so bad in the postseason. But here's where enter the St. Louis Cardinals, right? They've been dangling Brennan Donovan out there for anyone interested. And we've continued to hear that there's a lot of interest, ton of interest. All the teams should be in on Brennan Donovan, right? So we've heard that across the league. People love them.
Starting point is 00:03:15 People want to bring them in. The price tag, though, at this point, might be a little bit much, might be a little too much for some teams who were hoping to get him at a more of a discounted cost as far as prospects that they would have to give up. Seattle, for whatever reason, we haven't been able to complete a trade between these two teams
Starting point is 00:03:36 when it seems like Brendan Donovan would be a nice fit. Maybe the asking price is a little too much for Brendan Donovan for Seattle. They could be one of those teams. Maybe they're not all that impressed with what Brennan Donovan would bring to the table. Not quite sure.
Starting point is 00:03:51 So what happens if the Mariners pivot? What if they pivot and maybe continue to talk with the Cardinals about a trade, but not for Brendan Jonovan. Instead, what if they went after Nolan Aronado? Now, now, now stay with me here. Stay with me here. I've seen this brought up a couple of times. So I thought, hey, why not? Let's look at it, see if it makes any sense. On the surface, I still find it very hard to believe that any team would truly want Nolan Aronado at this point because of the regression in his office. Seattle would be looking for a bat. Nolan Aronado is not a great bat. Seattle's not a great place to hit. Despite what Cal
Starting point is 00:04:36 Raleigh did there, it's not a hitter-friendly ballpark. It's geared towards pitchers. I don't think the two years and the remaining money are all that big of an obstacle at this point after witnessing the Cardinals willing to eat money on both the Sunny Gray and Wilson Contrars trades. Rockies are still chipping in as well. So the money thing, it's going to get figured out. But to teams who need a third baseman and are looking for offense, really feel that Nolan Aronado is much of an upgrade to other things they either already have or other things they can find on the free agent market that would be cheaper
Starting point is 00:05:14 than giving up whatever prospects you would have to give up. A trade for Nolan Aronado by itself, I don't think it's going to cost you all that much, right? Like, doesn't it feel like we're getting to the point where Nolan Aranato, has been traded for a minor leaguer and a player to be named later, maybe cash consideration, stuff like that. I feel like we're almost to that point where there's just not a whole lot of interest in. And two years ago, I'd never thought I'd say these things. But father time is still undefeated and his offense keeps dipping.
Starting point is 00:05:45 The injuries starting to mount up each year. And I just think it's a really hard sell right now. The third base market also hasn't hardly budged either. You know, we had Miracami signing with the White Sox, although he's going to be. going to go play first base for them is what we've read. The other two big names, Alex Bregman and Suarez, they still haven't found homes yet. Seattle could just resign Suarez. In fact, if I'm Seattle, that's kind of what I'm looking at first and foremost if I'm
Starting point is 00:06:12 them. I don't know what it's going to be. I'm sure the Swares camp is just kind of waiting on what Brugman gets. And then they'll filter down. And then Suarez can say, well, this is what I want. And maybe they can figure something out at that point. So, but if it doesn't work, if, you know, another team jumps and is like, yeah, we'll give Suarez, you know, three years. Here's the funny thing is Suarez and Aronado are the same age.
Starting point is 00:06:39 Like it seems like Aronado is four years older than Suarez, but he's not, but he's just not as good offensively anymore. But would Aranato be an option? Is that something maybe Seattle would be interested in if everything else is exhausted? every other option. The way that you can maybe finagle this thing, and I've seen this brought up, is what if you put Jojo Romero with Aronado to get a deal done? Give them something that they would actually, not that they don't want Arnado, but something more to it, you know, sweeten the pot a little bit. What kind of return would that get you in a situation like that? I have no idea. For the Cardinals, it would suck that you would have to use Jojo to move Aronado. But,
Starting point is 00:07:25 I don't know what else to do at this point. It certainly wouldn't be as juicy of a deal as whatever trade would center around Brennan Donovan, but that would be the point for Seattle to give up less and fill not one, but two spots on the roster. On MLB.com talking about what Seattle has going into next season. Currently, they got Ben Williamson slated to be the starting third baseman, whether that's accurate or not. I don't know what else they have in their season.
Starting point is 00:07:55 system that they would want to stick over it through. I'm not sure. Okay, I know they got obviously some prospects that they could slide up, I guess. But I'm looking at Ben Williamson's stats and he's not much of an offensive threat either. I would rather have Nolan Arnott other than this guy. Now, he's 25, but, you know, I think a future Hall of Famer over at the hot quarter would be a better solution than, you know, a guy going into his second year who I'm looking at the minor league stats. No pop whatsoever.
Starting point is 00:08:30 There is not a, he's not a thumper by any means over at third base. Is he great with the glove? I don't know. I don't follow the Seattle prospects close enough to know that. But having a guy like Nolan Aronado into the mix, you know, it's still Nolan Arnado, right? It's just not the one that was MVP caliber just a couple of years ago.
Starting point is 00:08:49 And the bummer side for the Cardinals is that Donnie is the piece that could net them some really fun prospects in return, right? And Nato and Jojo would not. Although Romero's got some worth being what he is from the left side in the bullpen. He's got one year left, attaching him to Nato would diminish his worth in some capacity. But it's just something to throw out there, something that I saw brought up a couple of times around the interweb. And I was like, you know what, let's talk it out. Let's discuss it a little bit. I don't know if you like it or not. I don't know what you're going to have to do to get rid of Aranado. I don't know how you're going to talk to angels into taking him.
Starting point is 00:09:30 I just don't know without saying here, just take him and we'll pay 95% of his contract. I don't know how else to do it. And I don't know how much the Cardinals are willing to eat. It just, it's a bummer of a situation. And I said it before. As soon as that Houston deal didn't work last year, I'm like, they are screwed. They are so screwed if he does not have a good solid bounce back year and he didn't. And now we're seeing that.
Starting point is 00:09:55 So imagine a few years ago saying, I can't move Nolan Arnado, nobody will take them. Crazy, crazy, right? I also saw in that same article about Williamson being the third baseman for the for the Mariners that Andrew Simon was the name of the writer who did it, that he was going through all the free agents and which ones fit which team's best. And he did name a free agent starter that he thought would be a good fit for the Cardinals. We're going to jump into that and discuss it next on,
Starting point is 00:10:23 on Cardinals. We're in the midst of basketball season. Christmas Day had some cool games, didn't it? And there's nothing like being in the building, the crowd, the energy, the moments. You can't get watching from the couch. The only problem is, you know, getting NBA tickets used to be a hassle. Long queues, logins, prices, changing at checkout. That's why game time is the game changer. For me, for you, for everyone. It puts the advantage back in the fans' hands as makes scoring great NBA tickets, fast, easy, and stress-free. The last thing you want is a complicated app. Nobody's into that anymore. And you'll notice immediately when you open up the GameTime app how easy it is to use.
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Starting point is 00:11:53 You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level. Go ahead, free. Join the Everyday Club. Today, get locked on Cardinals with no interruptions. Members only Discord. access and more all for just five little dollars a month or you can go 50 bucks a year and save money that way go to locked on sdl cardinals dot supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more now we know the cardinals are trying to acquire as much pitching as possible that was one of the big goals for hymn blooming company was to restock this organization which just was very very thin at the starting rotation category right That's where like we have nothing.
Starting point is 00:12:35 People were hurt. There just wasn't a lot going on there. And Heinblum has done a good job of finding some new arms. It brought in quite a few. Young, controllable was the preferred type of arm. But in recent pressers, Heinblum stated that the team is still on the hunt for different ways to improve. We talked about the right-handed bat with Thomas Govain on Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:12:56 You can go back and check out that episode, but still some solid names out there that I think could do some really good things in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform, not only for the Cardinals, but for themselves financially and for their career moving on. But he also said that a veteran starter is something that feels like it would be beneficial to this young staff. And I completely agree. I'm still in the mindset that there's like one missing piece to that starting rotation. I like that you got young arms. You were able to gather a few of them, but they're still not that veteran, right? You know, your group in no certain order is Dustin May, Matthew Libertor, Hunter Dobbins, Michael McGruevy,
Starting point is 00:13:37 Richard Fitz, Kyle Leahy, and Andre Palante. Behind them, you've got a lot of guys who you hope are going to have good futures for you, but they haven't even been tested in the major leagues yet. Some of these guys haven't gotten past double A yet. Bryson Mott's, Quinn Matthews, Eishon Henderson, Cooper Jerpy, on and on. There's stuff there, but they don't feel like they're ready. Maybe Quinn Matthews could be ready this year. Could Mott's and Henderson, come from double A to AAA and then to the major. Maybe jerpy's coming back from an injury. A veteran starter would be a nice luxury to have for this young pitching staff.
Starting point is 00:14:14 Now, is it a necessity? Maybe not. Maybe not. But it wouldn't hurt. The thing is you need to find the right fit. You got to find someone who is willing to take on a leadership role like that, someone that you trust to help out your pitching staff. that doesn't mind teaching, and nurturing guys.
Starting point is 00:14:37 We heard of Dustin Mays Presser when he talked about, you know, you're kind of like the old man in this rotation. And he was, yeah, he said he was kind of excited to be that guy to help these people out. But again, he's 28. Like this is, no, he's not, he's not the veteran presence that when you say veteran presence, that's not the type of guy you think of. You normally think of somebody a little bit older, a little wiser, a little grayer. who's seen a bit more and has been through more than Dustin May has been through yet.
Starting point is 00:15:08 Now, there are a few names that still fit the bill in this particular category. And the one that got brought up in this particular write-up was Zach Eflin. And it's a name that we've brought up before as well. Now, Eflin is a former first round pick. 2012 is when it happened. Been around the block a little while, has had moments of success, moments of failure, and a lot of moments of injury problems. He went from the Padres to the Dodgers to the Phillies
Starting point is 00:15:36 before his career really began to blossom. He even got the save against the Cardinals in their last playoff appearance way back in 2020. It was Zach Epplin who got the save in game two of that series against the Phillies to knock the Cardinals and Poo-holes and Molina and company out of the playoffs and we haven't sniffed the playoffs since. Signed a three-year deal with Tampa Bay after his time in Philly was the largest deal in franchise history.
Starting point is 00:16:01 at the time. Three years, 40 million, which is, you know, when you go back and listen to that, you're like, that is hilarious that that's the biggest one that they've ever signed. It was really good for them in 2023. It was a nice signing. He slipped a bit in 2024, ended up getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles where he pitched much better and so much that he ended up being Baltimore's opening day starter this past season, but what in a great year. Six and five, five point nine three ERA and 14 starts. Season ends prematurely, thanks to a vacuum. injury, which did require surgery in August, and it could put him on the shelf past opening day this year.
Starting point is 00:16:38 Like he may not be ready for spring training or opening day. It just kind of depends on where his rehab's at. When the injury went down, it said anywhere between four and eight months recovery, that was August of this year when that happened. So we'll see. Now, anytime we bring up a pitcher, that might be a target for the Cardinals, the comment section loses its mind if the guy has any sort of injury history. They all want somebody who's healthy and you don't have to worry about.
Starting point is 00:17:13 Unfortunately, Eflin's got an injury history. So you would have to worry about that. So I'm guessing fans are not going to love this idea whatsoever. But a lot of the guys that the Cardinals might have interest in or can afford or willing to pay for are going to probably have a checkered injury pass of some sort. That's just kind of where they are when it comes to what they're doing with their money. It's why some of these guys are available in the first place is because of the injury history. You're hoping, like with Dustin May, the upside is worth it and that he can stay healthy.
Starting point is 00:17:49 Tyler Malley is a name that's been brought up a lot, right? Has had some good seasons. I like him to. Make sense for what the Cardinals are doing. has had a ton of arm injuries over the last few seasons, though. You can't ignore that. Lucas Gialito, I see his name pop up in the comments section a lot. Another former Red Sock had elbow issues in 2024 and 2025. Walker Bueller, former Red Sock washed out in Boston. They didn't like him.
Starting point is 00:18:18 He was terrible. Goes to the Phillies, kind of resurrects things at the end of the year. Also has dealt with elbow and shoulder problems. Personally, I would like to see the Cardinals look at some guys, like a Chris Bassett or Zach Lattel, but they might be out of the Cardinals price range. There might be teams willing to go three years with these guys, although Bassett's 37 years old.
Starting point is 00:18:40 So three years would be maybe two years with an option or so. I don't know. I just feel like those are the guys that they might be out of the Cardinals price range at this point. When you think about season veterans, you think about guys that have seen it all and been there and won everything that would be awesome to have in a Cardo uniform. Justin Burlander and Max Scherzer.
Starting point is 00:19:05 That would be amazing, right? But are these guys at the end of their careers going to want to join a rebuilding team that is in no way, shape, or form ready to compete for the playoffs or a World Series? Probably not. Probably not. If you're in their shoes, would you want to? A name that I still like is former Cardinal Jose Quintana. I liked Q when he was here.
Starting point is 00:19:32 I still like him. Going to be 37 in January. Certainly he's got the experience. 14 years in the big leagues was with the Cardinals in 2022. It was excellent then, has continued to pitch very well since leaving, combined with the Mets and the Brewers in the three years since. He's 24 and 23 with a 3.79 ERA. Not spectacular by any means.
Starting point is 00:19:57 ERA plus of 107 made 68 starts, but 55 of them are in the last two seasons. to remember we had that rough first year with the Mets injury-wise, but last two seasons, then pretty much healthy. He's also a left-hander who would balance out what is a righty, heavy rotation right now for the Cardinals. It's Libby, and then it's all righties. There's nobody else. So if you're looking for a guy and you hear Heim Bloom say these things like, you know, giving hitters a different look, different shapes, you know,
Starting point is 00:20:33 when they're delivering the ball. There you go. You know, Libby and him do not throw alike. So that would be something I think would benefit this rotation. And as I mentioned, he's been healthy for the most part recently. Last year at the end of the season with Milwaukee, it wasn't an arm injury. It was a cast stream that knocked him out. So you would think something like that isn't something to worry all that much about.
Starting point is 00:21:02 it happens, but at least it wasn't an arm injury. So once again, I'm just throwing it out there. Like, who's going to fit with what the Cardinals do? What's going to make the fans happy? I mean, I don't see a big problem with Jose Cantana. Again, would he want to come back to St. Louis in a non-winning role where, yeah, he probably gets flipped at the deadline or something. If that's something that interests him, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:21:28 I don't know what his market's going to be. I'm just, I'm more surprised if people don't give him more credit than he, than I think he deserves. But throwing it out there seems to make sense to me. Let me know what you think. Comment section below on X as well. What are these names? Any of these names make sense for you?
Starting point is 00:21:46 Who do you like the most? Who do you like the least? Let me know down below. A former Cardinal is signing out West. Plus, it is the Wizard's birthday. The one and only Ozzie Smith. We'll talk about that. Coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.
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Starting point is 00:22:59 The Packers already clenched with the Detroit loss. Thank you very much, Minnesota, on Christmas. but still night games at Lambo are fun to watch. Jordan Love is not going to play in that game. Malik Willis is going to get the start and might look at Malik Willis rushing yards for this one. Running back, Derek Henry, Josh Jacobs should get a ton of work. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season,
Starting point is 00:23:19 visit fandwell.com, place your NFL live bets all season long. Fandul, the game moves fast, and so can you. Thanks for making it locked on Cardinals your first listen of the day. Thank you for making it locked on the number one sports podcast network. Speaking of number one today, the 26th of December, in case you're watching this at a different time, is Ozzie Smith's birthday. 71 years old today for the wizard,
Starting point is 00:23:46 who has always been my favorite cardinal. Growing up, I just, I wanted to be him so bad. I wanted to be him so bad. Switch hitter, speed, the glove, obviously, the backflip, the cool turns at second base on double plays, usually with Tommy Hur. What a combo that was to watch. Obviously, the Cardinals were pretty darn good for most of the,
Starting point is 00:24:08 years Ozzy was in uniform, so winning is great. All of it was so cool. All of it was so cool. He had those magical moments on defense, which it seemed like he had a highlight real type of play almost every single game. Diving plays in the hole or up the middle, being able to go into the hole, to go deep into the hole and still contort the body quick enough to get an accurate throw off, even though he didn't have the strongest arm. You know, he would definitely do not have the arm of a shortstop in today's day and age like him and Mason win arm wise no contest but Ozzie got rid of the ball so quick his hands were so quick and he just was very accurate with his throws to first base flipping the ball behind his back when he would come into charge
Starting point is 00:24:51 to get the out at second base you saw that a couple of times that was always really cool just the ability to constantly make the right play yeah I mean the dude did a backflip when he came out to his position I mean come on nowadays you're looking to see a guy even run hard to his position. This guy is over here doing acrobatic tricks for fun to amuse and entertain the fans on his way to his position. Obviously, one of the greatest cardinal trades of all time, sending Gary Templeton to San Diego for Ozzy helped shape more than a decade of Cardinal baseball.
Starting point is 00:25:24 Other big moments that I remember. I remember the highlights, because I was tagging. That was 82 World Series. I don't remember that at all. But tagging up and scoring from second base in the 1982 World Series. on a fly ball to center field in Milwaukee when the center field are slipped on the warning track and he was running hard. He'll never get embarrassed when you hustle.
Starting point is 00:25:45 Left-hand and home run off the Dodgers tied need and fewer in game five, the NLCS in 1985. Jack Bucks call the go crazy folks go crazy. Obviously, is immortal. It was the NLCS MVP that year, but then we all know what happened in the world series in the blown call at game six against the Royals and then get killed by the Royals in game seven. So that wasn't fun. The diving play, one of my favorite ones is the diving play over Kirk Ford and left field in 1986.
Starting point is 00:26:12 Pop up the shallow left. If you've never seen the highlight, pop up the shallow left. Ozzy turns his back to the infield and sprints out. He's got Ford coming in from left field. Ford dives head first for it. Ozzie, mind you, these guys are running as hard as they can. Dives head first as well for it in the opposite direction. So they're set on a collision course and they're going to smash.
Starting point is 00:26:34 mash heads and knock each other out. Ozzy ends up going over Kirk Ford, somehow does not collide with them, barely hits his foot on the way down, and makes the catch. Absolutely nuts to think about it. If you haven't seen that highlight, go check it out. 1987 finished his second in the MVP voting to the Cubs,
Starting point is 00:26:54 Andre Dawson, despite not hitting a single home run. Can you imagine that happening in this day and age? Like for anybody to be in the top three, not a single home run. Ozzie did it, though. Was the Silver Slugger winner at Shortstop without a dinger? Hit 303, no home run, 75 ribbyes, 43 stolen bases, 104 runs scored, struck out only 36 times at over 700 plate appearances.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Magnificent stuff. Obviously defensively, gold glove winner, like, yeah, I mean, he was incredible. From 1984 to 1989, he had a war of at least five and topped out at 7.3 in 1989. hitting home runs. Like 7.3 would have been the fifth highest in Major League Baseball this year. Judge Otani, Bobby Witt, and Cal Raleigh. Those were the four that would have been ahead of Ozzie 7.3 this year. Just shows you how incredibly was all round, where it wasn't about power with him.
Starting point is 00:27:55 He was able to do so many things. 15-time All-Star, 13-time Gold Glove winner, had a cool restaurant while it was around had a cool batting cage place while it was around in westport as well he's one of the best to ever do it so if you're too young to appreciate him uh do yourself a favor and look up osie smith highlights and what made him special um it's awesome like it takes me down memory lane every time i see it and if you didn't get the chance to see it live go see what it's all about because incredible stuff on there and lastly luke and baker has signed a minor league contract with the a Arizona Diamondbacks. Hack of a AAA header.
Starting point is 00:28:35 Just couldn't quite put it together at his limited time in the major leagues with the Cardinals, was with the Dodgers minor league system last year after he got claimed on waivers by the Dodgers. I didn't look at his stats, but I read that he was fine. But I don't know. I don't know what Arizona still needs a first basement. It would be funny, though, if they signed Luke and Baker to this minor league contract. And they're like, yeah, you know, maybe we'll give you a shot. and then they bring in Goldschmidt, who was blocking him in St.
Starting point is 00:29:04 Louis, one of us, too. Would that not be just like, if you're a Lucan Baker fan? So, anyhow, that's all the stuff I got for you today. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals your first list. Every day if you haven't already. Give us a follow on X at L.O underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio, TikTok and Instagram and Lockedong Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel in love for the Cardinals grow.
Starting point is 00:29:22 I hope you all had a great and fantastic holiday over the last few days, no matter what you're into, whether it's Kwanza, Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever, whatever it is. I hope it was outstanding for you. I was able to get some pretty cool things. I got a new neon, which I posted up on our X page that's going to be in the back here for the videos here in the near future. So we'll get that going in 2026.
Starting point is 00:29:49 But for those of you on video, we're going to send you over to the first ever 24-7 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure that your second listen is locked on MLB. do the best fans of baseball for a reason i'll see you next time on lockdown cardinals have a great

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