Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Is Oli Marmol Finally WINNING Over The Fans? Which St. Louis Cardinals Should Be ALL STARS?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Has the narrative surrounding manager Ali Marmal changed enough now that the Cardinals are winning? And fans actually want to be at games. And do they actually want him to be in charge over somebody like Yaddy or Molina now? We'll talk about that and more 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 fans. I'm J.D. Haffron. And there was a time not so long ago that Cardinals manager, Ali Marmal was public enemy number one, maybe number two among fans who blamed him and John

Starting point is 00:00:46 Moe-Zalc for all that was wrong with the St. Louis Cardins. And I'll be honest, I was one of those guys that pointed the finger at both of them in different ways for towards Mo than I did with Ollie. But is that still how fans are feeling after the start to the season, the generosity, he just showed to the tarps off crew this weekend and the moves he's made in game to help lead this Cardinals team to a 27 and 19 start. Not easy questions to answer, which is why we bring in help. We go to the bullpen and bring in our guy Thomas Gobain from Redford Rance.com. So he can answer some of these difficult questions with me. Questions just like this. Thomas, welcome back.

Starting point is 00:01:29 How was your weekend, buddy? It was good. Yeah, my son at his last tee ball game of the season. season. So I think officially I can become a major league manager now because I coached a full season of T-ball. Let's go. Let's go. Put your name in the hat. Maybe they need you. You know, the Cardinals have been known to hire people who have no managing experience whatsoever before. Yeah. I'm no different. Yeah. I mean, what's the interest with you and Mike Mathini? Not that much. Yeah. A few million dollars in a multi-year career. But besides that.

Starting point is 00:02:00 You know, a couple gold gluck. Whatever. We're picking you apart. here. It's a work in progress. All right. Thomas could be up there any day now. The Ali Marmal narrative, all right, because we know how, I mean, me and you have been talking Cardinals for years now, and we know how angry this franchise or this fan base got about

Starting point is 00:02:26 things going on with this franchise, with this ownership, the way they've done some things. Ali was somebody who obviously took a lot of heat. he's the manager and that's just part of the job you're going to take heat when the team is losing more than they are winning whether or not the people above him were more to blame you know for the decisions they made the money they're spending you know he can only work with what he's given it's not his job to go out there and sign players and trade people that's not what he does but how big of a fan let me let me just set the set the bar here first how big of a fan of

Starting point is 00:03:00 Ali have you been over the years not personally not as who he is is a person and his personality, but strictly as a manager, how would you rate his tenure with the team up to this season? I think looking at just the record, it's been disappointing. You had a wonderful 2022 season, but then the club falters in the playoffs. I think you can pin that on the manager for a little bit as well, just not getting the team ready. But then Paul Goldschman, Nolan Arnato, cratered at that point, too. There's a factor. Many of those middle three years, 23 through 25, and I don't think he was given a fair shake with the roster setup as well either. I was disappointed like I wanted more out of him,

Starting point is 00:03:40 but I also was being a realist and was able to see like this is not a complete roster. There's obvious holes. We've got mid-30s guys that were relying on to be the fulcrums of the offense. So I wanted more. I had some frustrations with his bullpen management, as does any other fan with any other manager. But I really think he's settled as a leader of the team since his first year, though. and I've always taken that into account.

Starting point is 00:04:04 Yeah, and I agree with you. I mean, every manager is going to have issues each season. Like they're only human. Nobody's perfect, even the best of the best, are going to make the wrong call. They're going to bring in somebody from the pen that is going to get rocked one day. And you're going to be like, why the hell did you go to that guy? And it's, you know, there's a science to it.

Starting point is 00:04:22 You know, you can start to see Ali this year with, you know, kind of the blueprint that he comes out with where he goes, all right, this is the idea. and this is what we want to try to accomplish and get us there. It's still on the players to perform, though. And when the plans don't work, you know, it's never really the players fault. It seemed to always come back on the manager.

Starting point is 00:04:40 And I always thought that sucked, you know, because the manager is only got what he's got to work with, you know. It's hard to do something when you've got castoffs from a bunch of other franchises as your three or four top guys. I feel like he, you know, with the rotation he's had to deal with. he didn't sign those people to those contracts, you know, he's not the one signed Miles Michaelis and traded for Eric Fetty and did all of these things, you know, he just had to put them out there. And if they weren't any good, what do you want him to do about it? Like, it's not really on his shoulders for that. So where do you put, like, you see how he's been this year with the team and, you know, he's become a bigger leader.

Starting point is 00:05:23 Do you think that has a lot to do with a lot of the veterans being moved out now he's kind of, you know, he was like the youngest manager in baseball for a couple of years there. And, you know, veterans maybe looked at him a little differently. Do you think now that it's like his young group of guys that it makes it easier for him now that he doesn't have to worry about veteran players above him? He's always been a player development guy, even that was his calling card when he was a young manager in the minors. I think this is just a group of guys that he can mesh with and work better with. I mean, he's 39. He was, what, two years older than Paul Goldschmidt.

Starting point is 00:05:58 He's right there with Lance Lynn. I mean, those are his peers at that point. Now these are young players. He knows how to communicate with them. He knows how to work with them. He knows what gets them going. And that might be exactly the medicine that the team needed and that Ali needed to find the success this year.

Starting point is 00:06:14 Yeah, and I agree. I feel like cutting out some of the, and I hate, because I don't dislike guys like Goldie and Aronado and Sunny Gray and Wilson. I just felt like everything was very stale. And I just wanted something else. Like just you're redoing the same thing every year. And I just, I just want you to cut the crust off the bread here.

Starting point is 00:06:36 And like, let's, let's focus on what we got here. And it's worked out so far. Do you feel like the fan base has started to turn and accept Ali Marmal as somebody that, you know, he just got the extension that is he somebody now that is accepted that they're like,

Starting point is 00:06:51 you know what? Maybe it's not going to be such a bad idea to keep them out, keep them around for a couple of years, even if that means losing out on Yadi as a manager of your team. I think the online narrative has changed. I'm probably on Twitter too much, and I've seen a lot of flipping, especially after what you did this weekend

Starting point is 00:07:08 with those thousand free tickets for the fans. I think that was a real turning point. Fans had already started to warm up to him with his leadership this year. His decision making is always going to be questioned, but that's just part of the job. I think that his personality fans have really started to warm up to and they're seeing what he can do when given a chance.

Starting point is 00:07:25 So I would say that the tie has turned, you're always going to have the dissenters, but that's the same thing with anything else in the world. Yeah, I mean, if they crater the rest of the season, Yeah, right. People are going to turn on him immediately. But, yeah, I feel the same way. And one of the things that turned me on to accepting Ali Moore was getting to know him outside of just being the manager.

Starting point is 00:07:51 If you ever see him and he's starting to do it more nowadays, where he's doing more interviews. with radio and TV and stuff, and he's being more open about things where it felt like, you know, at the beginning of his career, he was a little closed off and he was just kind of, you know, well, we're going to keep this in how he was very

Starting point is 00:08:08 cardinals business like. And now it seems like things have loosened up a little bit. And you would see him and hear him in interviews with other radio stations and stuff. And he's got a fun personality. Like, he's a really nice dude and a fun dude. And he's got a good sense of humor. And I feel like you're starting.

Starting point is 00:08:25 starting to see that come out a little bit this year, which is also made, you know, the aura around the team feel a little bit more relaxed. Yeah, I agree. I think it really started the morning after show last year's spring training before 2025 season. They had him on. He's cracking jokes of the guys. I think another thing that jumped out to me was him inviting Yadi to be on, like, this is a guy who could take his job in three months.

Starting point is 00:08:51 He's like, no, come sit next to me. I want you here. And those are two great qualities of a leader you want to know his own weaknesses and then want to have other people fulfill them and the depth of slight personality. Yeah. I love the fact that they've opened up a little bit. I love that, you know, like in game. They're talking about decision making and stuff with the Cardinals broadcasts and they're very open with what they're doing. And it's not like that was one of the things that we all complained about.

Starting point is 00:09:17 Well, I don't mean to lump you in, but it was something we complained about. No, I guess. That was that, you know, you know, there. Yeah, there wasn't a, you know, they weren't very open with what they were doing. Every answer that Mo would give you was like a riddle. And it just was like, what are we doing? Like, can you just be honest with us? Let us know, like, this is the path we're going.

Starting point is 00:09:36 Just tell us. And we're more than happy to jump on there with you. But you got to let us know what we're doing here. And it was always very confusing. It doesn't feel that way anymore. It feels like like with Hyam in charge and Ali being more open and talking with Dusty Blake and Bram Brown and stuff and these telecasts, like you're really. getting an inside look as to what it takes to turn this franchise around.

Starting point is 00:09:58 100%. And I think Derek Gould mentioned this on one of those podcasts over the offseason. The Cardinals have that ability to be more open a little bit more free. There's not that overarching pressure to be competitive and to hide the secrets that are making it's more free. It's more loose. You have that ability to be more open, I think, right now. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. And it's fun. And it kind of makes you feel even closer to the team, in my opinion. Like, you feel like you're in that dugout with them. you're understanding what he's seeing and they're explaining it all to you for even the casuals to be a bigger part and to understand why certain decisions are being made.

Starting point is 00:10:32 Why is Ryan Stannick coming into games when he was struggling so much? Because they're going to need him later and they've got to figure it out. And he tells you that, you know, it's no longer where or they just hide the truth with, you know, just the typical answers that you give to the media. So I don't know, I've just thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it's been fantastic. and I think it's been some good medicine for Cardinal Nation to get it. And it gets us behind the team even more.

Starting point is 00:10:58 And I just think they've done a great job with that so far and being transparent. I think it's been great. So good. The Cardinals are winning so many games. And we've got guys that perhaps deserving of All-Star consideration, should any of them be mentioned among the best in baseball in the National League, when the All-Star game comes around in July. We're going to look into the future next with time.

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Starting point is 00:14:41 Tap the link of the show notes. We're going to lock down STL Cardinals.com for more information. Once again, we welcome in. Thomas Govain from Redbirdrance.com. We're going into the future a little bit. And, you know, positive vibes surrounding the team right now, considering, you know, we had this group of people there doing awesome things.

Starting point is 00:15:03 showing their enthusiasm for the Cardinals. You even had Fred Bird taking his jersey off after the win the other day. So things are good. And it got Thomas thinking about, hey, we're like eight weeks out from the All-Star break. Like it's not going to be all that long before the All-Star game is here. It's taking place in Philly Citizens Bank Park on July the 14th. So are there any Cardinals that may or may not be in consideration to become one of the NL all-stars and represent this team?

Starting point is 00:15:32 If you remember last year, they let Donovan Donovan go there. Brendan Donovan got to be our all-star, not maybe because he deserved it, but because every team gets to have somebody represent them. And that's a weird place for Cardl's fans to be, where he were like, nobody, nobody's worthy. I feel like things are a little bit different this year, Thomas, and I think you do too. So let's start with the pitching staff, and then we'll make our way down to the position players. But of the starting five, Matthew Levertoe, Dustin May. Michael McGreevy, Calahe, Andre Palante.

Starting point is 00:16:05 Do any of them in your eyes get consideration to become an All-Star this year? No. No, no. No, I don't think so. Not even McGreevy. If he gets a hot like three or four starts before the break, I think he might have an argument as like the three pitchers ahead of him got hurt and like we just need somebody. I don't think so. Maybe McCreevy. That's one of the things too. is because so many guys are like they can't because they just pitched like so there

Starting point is 00:16:37 McGreevy if you had a leader in the clubhouse it'd be McGreevy though right yeah yeah yeah I mean he doesn't strike out a lot of people but man that ERA is is juicy looking I love it so all right let's go to the bullpen anybody in the bullpen maybe a closer first name starts with an R what do you think you're hitting the nail on the head yeah it's Riley O'Brien he's second and saves in the national league he's got 2.45 ERA R8, 25 strikeouts, more than innings he's pitched. And you're going to see closers get recognized more often just because of their exposure. And they've got the counting stats that other relievers don't quite have.

Starting point is 00:17:14 It's him and Mason Miller at the top as far as National League relievers go right now. So I would imagine, is it three relievers are picked for the All-Star game, right? Is that the number? Great question. Or my way off. Yeah, however many there are, hopefully he's one of those guys. Isn't that wild to think, though, that Riley O'Brien, a guy, that they just kind of grabbed from Seattle's trash bin is now one of the top closers in the

Starting point is 00:17:39 National League where he's being mentioned with the immortal Mason Miller right now. Yeah, it's crazy. Good for John Moseilock, right? Yeah. Can we say that yet? That's the thing, too, when we were talking to that first segment and I didn't really have time to get to it. But, like, you know, people went, I was one of them that was very mad at John.

Starting point is 00:17:55 But most, the guy that was in charge of putting this whole team together, Hime didn't go find these guys like I just found the younger guys the A ball double A guys but he didn't draft J.G Weatherhole although some of these guys he was kind of behind the scene so maybe he gets a little bit of credit for yeah and I would imagine it's his development people that flip to switch for George Walker you know there's that too but these are most dudes really so uh you know people don't think about that so much all right speaking to Jordan Walker let's move on to the position players uh talking about guys that could be all star capability here and be available for the all star game July 14th should be and the thing

Starting point is 00:18:37 it sucks is that like none of these dudes on the Cardinals roster are you know household names so nobody's going to vote these people in I'd be shocked if any of the fans are like yeah Jordan Walker should be in there over you know all of the people they've heard of for the last 20 years but he's certainly somebody that is deserving if you just look at the numbers right absolutely Yeah, I mean, a lot of the voting comes down to a narrative perspective as well. So Jordan Walker has that comeback story that people like to hear that might give him some votes here and there. He's first and weighted runs created plus among nationally outfielder's second and F war behind surprisingly Mickey Moniac. I don't know if that is.

Starting point is 00:19:18 Colorado, dude. He's on fire. And then he's also second and slugging OPS and ISO, a power statistic, third and ad. like he's top three and pretty much any offensive statistic. His defense is right there as well. I think he's top six in defensive run saved or that's above average one or the two. The problem he's going to have is the game is in Philadelphia. So yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:41 There he is. The game is in Philadelphia and they always vote in surplus, those fans. So now that it's in Philadelphia as well, you're going to see Adelis Garcia get some votes. Bryce Harper's not going to mess with his position, but he's going to get a lot, you know, the names are going to go towards Philadelphia and the Mets and the Cubs. They're going to get all these big name guys out there.

Starting point is 00:20:06 So it's up to the same. Who's Cardinals fans who are now showing up to vote Jordan Walker. Yeah, you don't have to be at the games to vote. You go online at MLB.com and you can, like, fill the ballots and stuff them with all of the Cardinals because that, they used to be what Cardinals did. I used to make fun of my parents for it. because, well, my dad, he wouldn't do it.

Starting point is 00:20:27 But my dad would fight. He would actually pick the real ones when you had to punch the little holes out. So I remember that. Bring your own ballpoint pen from home and you got to. Yep. And then my mom would just, although Cardl's starting lineup, she would just vote for them like,

Starting point is 00:20:38 mom, come on, that's late. She's like, nope, these are my players. I love them. And that's what she would do. So, um, yeah, it would be nice to see the Cardinals fan show up, uh,

Starting point is 00:20:49 online. And, uh, maybe we get the, uh, Stephen F. Austin guys to, to start something for, voting for the Oscar game because that seemed to work when they're in charge of stuff. All right.

Starting point is 00:21:00 Outside of Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, look at the numbers. They're right there with some people. Does he deserve to be mentioned among all stars this year? Silver Slugger last year, pretty good. Yeah, you know, that's a wildcard. I don't expect his name to be thrown out, but

Starting point is 00:21:16 I could definitely see it. You got to imagine the first baseman he's going up against, thank goodness, Wilson Contreras, is out of the league. Harper, yeah. I mean, from a popularity perspective, he's not that. Matt Olson is having a ridiculous season as well. So he's got a shot. I would imagine he finished his fifth, six, maybe, just from name recognition alone.

Starting point is 00:21:37 Yeah. But his numbers are there. I know we find these guys to be special, but like, you know, Mason win just defensively. Obviously, he doesn't have the offensive numbers to get there. Yvonne Herrera. No. Schohe.

Starting point is 00:21:50 Schwerber's going to get the DA. Showhane. Schorber. Yeah, it's going to be really tough for Yvonne to get anything like that. I feel like J.J. Weatherholds gotten a lot of attention nationally, so maybe he gets some votes. But yeah, it's going to be tough. But Riley O'Brien, Jordan Walker, for sure, those are the two that we think they should be there, shouldn't they? Yeah, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:22:12 Yeah, they've earned it with their play. Yep. Well, we got eight weeks for certain guys to get better. And hopefully eight weeks for the other guys not to lose any steam as they head into the all-stitch. our break. Once again, it's going to be July 14th at Citizens Bank Park in Philly. So about eight weeks away from that. So that'll be a lot of fun. All right, up next, this is where, all right, I hope you got some ice cubes around you, Thomas, because we're going to put you on the hot seat tonight. Up next, we talk about questions from fans. We're going to invade the brain of Govane.

Starting point is 00:22:44 That's what we're calling it. It's coming up next on Lockdown Carpice. Hey, it's Mike and John from Lockdown Angels. We wanted to talk to you about something that's important, and that's your family. I've been married a few years now, and my wife and I have a one-year-old and we're always thinking about his future. Who's he going to become? How can we help? In what ways can we make sure his future is secure? Yeah, I'm in a different season. I'm married. I have for young adult kids. And lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to make sure my family's taken care of in the long term. This is why life insurance matters, not because it solves everything, but because it helps provide financial security for the people you love the most. And that's where ethos comes in. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy, 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, supply in minutes, and even get same-day coverage,

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Starting point is 00:25:00 18-plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements. requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calci.com slash regulatory. Thank you again for making Locktown. Carlos first listed on the day. Thank you for making Locktown the number one sports podcast network. Thomas Gylvane from Redbird Rance.com joining us here today. And we've been getting questions sent in from listeners. We get them for every single video. And most of the time, I'm the one who has to answer them. But now I got Thomas here today.

Starting point is 00:25:39 So I am going to put all of the pressure on him instead. It's all on Thomas Govain today. So we're going to invade the brain of Govain and see if he's got any different answers than I have for some of these burning questions by Cardinals Nation. So first question, it actually has to do with the minor leagues with, you know, bullpen fluctuating the way it does from time to time. There hasn't been much, you know, injury concern with anybody yet. But if it does happen, this is a good question for that. Who in the minor leagues do you feel will have a real shot at helping this team in 2026 that isn't on the team now? Are you talking to any position or just pitchers?

Starting point is 00:26:17 Any position you want it. I'll go with Jimmy Crooks. I think that the catching position needs something a little bit stronger. He's dropped his strikeout rate pretty significantly. His contact seems to be a lot better over these last two weeks. He struggled pretty heavily at the beginning of the earth with rate and chase rate. I think if it goes Jimmy Crooks, I believe. that Heim Gloom wants the catching situation to be solved by the end of the year,

Starting point is 00:26:40 and he's probably the answer to that solution or that problem. And what do you think they do, like, let's say it's not an injury to make a move like that where, you know, somebody doesn't, you know, spraying a thumb or whatever might happen. But what do you think they do? If like Pozo, Paez, and Herrera are healthy, like, what do you think is the logical choice to swap out to bring Crook's? What I, probably Paix is out. I think that Joel Pozo is a wonderful catcher to have on the roster.

Starting point is 00:27:10 He's got the energy off the bench. He has the ability to be a fine catcher defensively. And I would love to see it at Jimmy Crooks and the Von Herrera platoon or Crooks gets most of the games, 100, 120. And then Herrera plays DH those games and fills in a catcher for the other 40 to 60 games. Yeah. No, I do the same thing on, I know it's not real life, but in my. video game I have where it's Crooks and Herrero. One hits against lefties, one's against right. Yeah. That's how it works. And we're doing great. We're doing great. I just so everybody knows.

Starting point is 00:27:45 Do you think the Cardinals's ability to win these close games is sustainable? Because, you know, we've seen a lot of come from behind victories and they win them in their last at bats and whatnot. Is that sustainable? Or do you think the worm is eventually going to turn on them and cause this team to sink a little bit and ruin some of these good vibes? Yeah. I mean, you see extrading games in one-run games are the stats that fluctuate the most year to year for team results. I fully believe in the young player's ability to just not think about what's going on and just act. Like there's no pressure.

Starting point is 00:28:18 They don't. I know they know the situation. It's silly to say they don't, but it just doesn't affect them the way it might. They don't feel the pressure. They're just going on going out there and doing the way they usually do. Yeah. And I agree because they're they're so young. They don't know any better that they should care as much as maybe some veterans do.

Starting point is 00:28:35 where they're thinking ahead, like, all right, we win this game, this happens, we're five games back or what, like, instead there's like, we're just out there playing ball, and if we win, awesome, that's the whole goal. This kind of one of circles back to kind of the All-Star stuff we were talking about. Which of the five starters do you feel has been the most surprising so far this season? Because in a way, all of them have in their own ways, right? Yeah, Dustin Mays turned it around. I'll give them that.

Starting point is 00:29:03 I think Liberator's been surprising in that. like a 5% negative way. Yeah. But I'll go with Andre Plante as the guy who's really stood up to me. He's brought his ERA back down. He's out of 4.04. His best year, 2024, he's at 3.78. So he's close enough to that figure.

Starting point is 00:29:20 He has a career high strikeout rate this year at 18.8%. His walk rates at 8.9, which is fine enough for me. He seems to be doing the right things while still getting the ground balls. You're never going to see 20% strikeouts from him, but it's nice to see a figure where it is. Yeah, and I enjoyed his game, even though they lost on Sunday, I thought it was a really good Palante start

Starting point is 00:29:43 because I would rather see him giving up singles and making the other team put the ball in play than walking people, because nothing drags a team down more than watching your pitcher putting people on base. It's so annoying. And they know that. It's not like these pitchers don't know that.

Starting point is 00:29:59 It's just sometimes that, you know, they don't have the capability to keep the ball in the zone as much. and I enjoyed the fact, even though he gave up eight hits, I'd rather see that than five hits and four walks given up and again himself. Next question. Nolan Gorman, is he ever going to be the slugger? Everybody thought he'd be, or is this who he is? And the team should look elsewhere for a third base help down the line.

Starting point is 00:30:23 I think this is the way is. It was either last year or two years ago. I can't remember when I wrote it, but it was, I think it might have been before last year, the runway season. I wrote that we know who Nolan Gorman is. this point. He's changed his profile a little bit, less power, more on base. But I think at this point, he's going to be a streaky guy. He'll end up somewhere around that 105 OPS plus mark. He'll get 20 home runs, but that's about it as far as his ceiling goes at this point. Plays Jordan

Starting point is 00:30:49 might be an option at this point in the minors. He's not on the 40 man, but I'm worried that might be a little bit more of the same that we see just from the right side. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be interesting. I mean, it's not, not any hate on Gorman. It's just, you know, we haven't seen him make that jump. You know, what Jordan Walker has done this year has obviously made people think, well, now we can fix this guy and we can fix this guy and bring these guys in. And I just don't know if Gorman's got what it takes to do that. He's always going to have the swing and miss the way it is. But, yeah, I have been impressed with how he's played defensively. So I will get him credit there. Last question, Will the car, because this one comes in all the time.

Starting point is 00:31:30 and I just want to hear you answer it instead for once. Will the cardinals make any moves at the deadline to add to this team? Or are they going to upset everybody and trade people away like Jojo Romero and Dustin May because other teams were willing to fork over a ton of prospects to get them? See, here's the tricky part about that question because they will get players, but they will also trade Dustin May and Riley O'Brien, you know those guys. I think that there's a world where Hyme Bloom finds majorly. league talent to add to this roster where there are holes, while also trading major

Starting point is 00:32:04 league talent that we currently have to replenish the farm system. I think it's going to be a balance of each. He's going to find a couple guys he likes that he can get on the fringes for cheap to add to the major league roster while also trading our expiring contracts. Now, if the card does absolutely go off and they are somehow 20 games above 500 and they have sole possession of first place, I think it's a different conversation. It's also a different conversation to play crater. But for now, I think it'll be a float somewhere in the middle.

Starting point is 00:32:33 Yeah, I feel like, I feel like Jojo's gone. I feel like that's a done deal. At least Dustin May's got like that optioneer next year. So if he is, you know, if things are going well and they're in a wild card position, they don't have to trade him, you know. And, but Jojo is somebody who's a free agent at the end of the year. And I feel like that's one of those guys where is at the end of the world if they flip him? I not really you know but you got to find somebody else to fill that left-handed

Starting point is 00:33:01 spot at the end of the bullpen of the back of the bullpen but hey these are problems for later on down the road don't have to worry about it now for now enjoy the winning that is happening right now let's get after Pittsburgh that's the next series that starts no Paul skeins in this series which I said yes I'm like I don't know if it's good or bad they would beat them yeah that's a loss row no Paul skein so we're going to go two and one this series yeah so we'll see how it goes. But looking forward to that. A lot of division games coming up with, you know, the Pirates.

Starting point is 00:33:31 And then it goes the Reds and then Milwaukee and then Chicago. And so it's going to be a fun stretch of baseball. And hopefully the Cardinals continue to be that team that we've seen over the, you know, the first, you know, quarter of the season so far. And they're able to do some good in this series. Anything else that you're working on at Redbirdrance.com that we can send people to? I'm going to work on that three All-Stars piece, those three names we talked about as well.

Starting point is 00:33:56 And then I will be at the bloggers and podcasters day this year, first time for me. So not a piece to write, but my presence will be at Bush Stadium on May 30th there against the Cubs. Yes, I will be there. I will be there as well, sir. Our TARPs will be on, though, right? We're keeping TARPS on. I don't know if that's going to be a thing still at that point. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:34:15 Thinking sustaining. I don't know if that's sustainable, but I would love it. If everybody wants to keep going up to the TARP's off terrace and doing this, obviously, Ollie's not going to buy your tickets all the time. But if you can pull this off and keep it going for the rest of the season, more power to you guys because that would be incredible. But all right, Thomas, I appreciate you stopping in. And thank you guys for making Lockedown Cardinals.

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