Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Is This The "Get Right" Weekend For The Cardinals

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! DoorDash Get all your Mother’s Day gifts, all in one place and get 50% off your next order, up to $15 when you spend $15+ on your next flower, convenience, grocery, or retail order now with code LOCKEDONMLB. That's LOCKEDONMLB. Order using DoorDash today. Terms apply. Monopoly GO! Get in the game and join your friends. Click HERE to Download MONOPOLY GO! now free on The App Store or Google Play. PrizePicks Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonmlb and use code lockedonmlb for a first deposit match up to $100! eBay Motors From brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuel FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – win or lose! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. 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.

Two of the greatest offenses in the history of baseball are set to battle in St. Louis this weekend as the hot swing in Chicago White Sox come to Bush Stadium to face the ball bashing St. Louis Cardinals. This is a special locked on White Sox and locked on Cardinals crossover. 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 and White Sox fans. I'm Jady Haffern and I'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in a lieu with a lifetime Cardinals, and I'm your host for Lockedown Cardinals,

part of the Lockedown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio. You can follow the podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals, one of those of you who make Locked on Cardinals and Locked on White Sox. Your first listen to every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you're stopping by, you're liking,

you're subscribing, and you're hitting that, notification button so you know when new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardle Nation. And for it today, serving White Sox Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode being brought to you by eBay Motors, from brakes to exhaust kits and beyond eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride or die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to bring home that big win. Just keep your rider die alive at eBaymotors.com. Eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed Fed only available to U.S. customers.

Well, happy Friday, one and all, and welcome to the weekend. It's here. And what a weekend we have to look forward to in downtown St. Louis with the White Sox and the Cardinals set to face each other and what I'm sure is going to be three explosive offensive games beginning on Friday night. While we're here, while we got you, please give a nice Locked on Cardinals. Welcome to my partner in crime today and host of the Locked on a White Sox podcast, Mr. Todd Welter.

Todd, welcome in, sir. And by the way, welcome to the Locktown Podcast Network, about it. Yeah, thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it. Looking forward to, you know, just those 10-9 games that we're going to see on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You know, I can't wait to see, you know, how many home runs are going to be hit. It's just going to be such a fantastic game.

You know, I never got a hint of sarcasm from you there on these juggernaut offenses that we're going to see because. it's going to be bad. Like I, I'm expecting one nothing, not because of a pitcher's duel, one nothing because of like nobody being able to hit with runners in scoring position. It's going to be bad. But it's more than likely going to happen that way. Yeah, I don't know if the kids and the fans are purchasing all the bleacher seats

and left and right field, just awaiting the amount of home runs that are come flying over the walls from both of our squads this weekend because it's been tough. It's been tough. The White Sox are coming into this series this weekend with the worst record in Major League Baseball. They're six and 25. They recently swept the Tampa Bay Rays, which when I saw it, I'm like, of course they're going to get hot, right? Before the Cardinals have to face them.

And they've now lost three straight and seven of their last 10. On the Cardinal side of things, they're not that much better. They are in fourth place in the NL Central at 14 and 17. They've lost two in a row and are five and five in their last 10. The White Sox, Todd, stop me if I'm wrong, but they kind of. of knew that this was going to be a tough year. This wasn't going to be the most competitive team coming into the season. Would you say that's accurate? Oh, yeah, it was going to be bad, but I don't think everybody was expecting it to be historically bad. They're off to the worst

start in franchise history, and it's not like the White Sox haven't been around since 1900. This is like, you know, everybody thought maybe 10, 11 wins by now, because the hope was they would be better than last year's start when they got off to a 7 and 21 start and just everything crumbled from there. But it's even worse. Like it's historically bad. They are three and eight in one run games. That's all bad it's been too. Like they give you a hope and then the bullpen blows it or they commit a bad error like Paul DeYoung did on Wednesday.

We know that guy. Yeah. We're quite familiar with them. Now coming into the year, you guys did have one thing in your pocket. You had one of the biggest trade chips this offseason, and that's former White Sox pitcher, Dylan Sees, who ended up getting shipped to the San Diego Padres. Back in March, you got three of the Padres' top ten prospects in return.

It was a guy that a lot of Cardinal fans were hoping that they would be able to sweet talk the White Sox and is shipping them over because at the time, people were concerned that the Cardinal, you know, it was all about pitching this offseason. They were trying to fix this pitching staff that was so bad. And they're like, God, it would be nice to. pair Dylan Cs along with Sunny Gray and just have that one two punch at the top of the rotation. It ends up going to the Padres instead.

Now, looking back on this deal, like I said, it happened to back in March and we're in May now. What were your thoughts on the trade at the time, like the whole timing of it, where it was, you know, right there at spring training? And has it changed at all since the season has started and you've seen how poorly the White Sox season has begun? So the timing was fine by me. In fact, it took Chris Gets finally this long to realize that he wasn't going to get as I think John Heyman got an executive that said that he was asking for the moon and the stars in the sun.

So it took him a little bit of time to finally realize that he wasn't going to get that trade package. Like I believe there was a rumor from the Reds that he was asking for their two top pitching prospects and then two more top ten prospects. like that's how high it was. Yeah. It needed to be done because he was making $8 million. That's the other thing.

Still cost effective and still under team control for another year. He was their best trade asset. And this team was so terrible that he was the last piece of the roster tear down because the title contention window slammed shut because of a lot of reasons, including one of the reasons was Tony Larusa, you guys' boy. We know him too. Yeah. But I like the trade, and I still do.

You know, as you said, they got three of the Padres' top 100 prospects, I mean, top 10 prospects. True Thorpe, he was at the time MLB's Pipeline's number 85 prospect. He's now up to number 77, I believe. And Hiro Iriarte, try to saying that fast three times. Yeah. He's another guy with a great fastball. and they're both tearing it up right now in double A. And one of the biggest things that gives a lot,

at least that I try to tell the Locked Out White Sox audience, is you at least have hope to have a young, talented, controllable starting pitching down the road. And that's what you need to be competitive when you act like a small market team. You know, they've got Garrett Crochet, who we'll probably talk about later. They've got, you know, he's looking to be a dude.

they already brought up Jonathan Cannon and Nick Nastorini for a few little, a brief debut. So they've got a lot of young controllable arms, and that's why I like the deal. And then Samuel Zavala, he might actually be the answer in Wrightfield. The Sox are still trying to replace Jermaine Die, and he retired two decades ago. Like that's how bad, right field has been an eternal hole in this lineup. And, you know, he's 19 years old. He's off to a slow start, but he's got everything you wanted, a hitting prospect, especially being 19. And then Stephen Wilson, he's been okay out of the pen.

He did have a rough outing last Wednesday, but again, he's controllable for three more years, and he turns 30 in August. So you can flip him at the deadline, or again, you still have a relatively affordable arm in the bullpen for the next three years. And one of the things that sunk the White Sox was they used a lot of their limited resources, financial resources. on the bullpen and you don't want to be spending that much money on your bullpen like they did you know for like Liam Hendricks and Joe Kelly and oh god not not getting trauma a lot of people who are not there anymore is no no um what's been the fan reaction to this where you know i mean i being in st louis and then you know we're not that far from chicago and we understand uh that you know people are upset about the cubs not spending enough money.

Do they feel the same way about the White Sox? Are they like, hey, we are in Chicago. Like, why can't we afford the pretty big toys that everybody else is getting? Or do people understand what's going on there and that this rebuild's going to take some time? So right now, the fan reaction is somewhere between apathy and rage, not with the trade, but just with the team in general. Because the owner, Jerry Reisdorf, he's one of the worst owners in the team. I mean, they are in the league. They want, you know, there's been chance for sell the team for now about a year and a half.

He's also asking the taxpayers to cover a $1.9 billion new stadium he wants. And he's only willing to chip in $200 million. So it's right now apathy. And, you know, a lot of people just turning away from the team. I would equate it to, you know, from the hockey side when the Blackhawks became irrelevant in the early 2000s with old man Bill Wirtz just keeping the games off of TV, the home games off of TV being just absolutely cheap. That's where the White Sox are right now. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun. It's a little bit familiar because with all the success that the Cardinals

had of over the years, you know, there's a lot of upset fans right now too. The Cardinals apparently also are asking for some money to do some renovations over at Bush Stadium. And, you know, the fans are kind of upset that they're not spending more money considering, you know, their owner is a billionaire and is deciding, no, I'm not really moving past that $200 million payroll spot. That's where I'm comfortable. That's what we're spending. So that's Mo's job to go out and field the team that can win under those circumstances. And so far, it has been easy. The Cardinals this offseason for your White Sox crowd, they had to rebuild an entire pitching staff, really. They went out and got A.L.S. I young runner-up, Sunny Gray.

They signed a couple of veterans, a Kyle Gibson, former White Sox, Lance Lynn. You're familiar with him. They also got Keenan Middleton, who was with the White Sox last year. They traded for Andrew Kittridge. And, you know, they're floating around under 500 right now after an ugly season last year. And it's got fans deeply concerned that they're headed down a similar path here in 2024. Now, the one thing that we kind of hinted at at the beginning of the show was that these teams have one thing in common. and that is that neither of them have been able to hit the baseball hardly at all.

So we're going to talk about the offenses for both sides coming up next on this crossover episode of Locked on Cardinals and locked on White Sox. Passion driving patience. That's what brings home the winning trophy. It's also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. From superchargers to roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and a whole lot more, whether you're into speed, They're into power. What if it's style?

What if it's all three? Which, you know, why wouldn't you want all three if you could get it? eBay Motors has got you covered in all of these different areas with over 122 million parts. Freeway number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And bonus with eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed each and every time to fit your ride. And if it doesn't, you get your money back. Because with eBay Motors, they're interested in you burning rubber, not burning through your cash. That's not what it's all about.

With all the parts you need at the price issue won, it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride or die alive at eBay.com slash motors. That's eBay.com slash motors. eBay guaranteed fit, only available to U.S. customers, eligible items only, exclusions apply. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day? You have to turn down the volume because of the shouting.

We get it. So make the switch to locked on sports today. It's a free 24-7 sports streaming channel It's programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. Locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis. We've got opinions. We've got news. It's streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app.

It's all part of the Locked-on podcast network your team every day. Remember, you can catch every pitch of the Cardinals hometown broadcast, since they are in St. Louis. With SiriusXM, just download the SXM app and search the word Cardinals. And thank you for making Locked on Cardinals and Locked on White Sox your first listen every day. we would love to have comments from you in the in the comments section on youtube as well as hit us up on twitter x anytime you want that feedback always welcome and encourage once again todd welter host of locked on white socks joining us for this crossover episode todd what's your twitter handle for everybody listening to the audio version of this uh you can see it if you're watching youtube but on the audio version uh let everybody know where they can follow you at todd j dub j dub is that a given or did somebody give that to you? Well, yeah. I mean, when I was at Marquette, I was always called T-dub, so I went

Todd J-dub because my middle initials J. So Todd J-Dubb. Also, I'm from Johns. Also, I'm from Johnsburg, Illinois. There you go. And how long have you been, have you been a White Sox fan your whole life, or is this just job-related? Or how did you get into the White Sox? Oh, I've been a White Sox fan my entire life. So I grew up in McKenery County, which is like the far northwest suburbs, way out there we're a suburb we have a metro line and like chicago city residents versus suburbian residents it's a thing in chicago like you know are you true whatever but yeah i grew up on there i grew up in cubs country but i'm a diehard socks fan my dad was a socks fan he had season tickets um and he always took me to the game he was well he's part of a season ticket package and he would keep four

games and i think he got like 10 so you would sell the other six and he would take me and we'd sit and watch to Sox and eat Scott Peterson hot dogs for a buck 75 because that was the only time we could pay for concessions. And then he dropped his season tickets after the strike. But I've always been a Sox fan. But I have covered Major League Baseball. You know, we were texting. I covered the Brewers for the Associated Press because I do reside now in Milwaukee. So I'm very familiar with the twins.

I mean, with the Cardinals. They played the Twos played the twins. Sorry about that. Yeah. So I'm definitely familiar with the twins. Cardinals on there. Who was the favorite White Sox player when you were growing up? You're going to games with your dad. Who was it? Who was it? You always wanted to see. Oh, you got to go Frank Thomas. So I'm dating myself about a old man. Yeah, you got to go with Frank Thomas. You know,

it was always amazing to see him, crush a home run. Ozzie Gien, Lance Johnson, you know, Jack McDowell was awesome to see. Another former Cardinal, Lance Johnson. That's where he started. It was with the Cardinals. The one dog, definitely loved, you know, Alex Fernandez, Wilson, Oliver, all those guys. And then there was the white flag trade of 1997. And that's what I keep trying to remind our audience is being a white socks fan is like being on a roller coaster ride. Like, you know, they'll crush your heart. Like my first heartbreaking moment, 1989, I think I was seven years old.

They traded Harold Baines. And I was crushed, but they got Wilson, Alvarez and Sammy Sosa in that deal. So then they go win the division in 93. And then, yeah, you got the white flag trade. But then eight years later, you win a world. series. So, but right now we're, we're definitely in a, in a very bad peak right now. Well, I think it's always nice to hear for, for Cardinals fans, because we have been really, really, really, really, really spoiled over the years. And I, I don't, and we, we expect that every year that,

you know, it's going to be 90 wins. It's going to be a division title. Definitely playoffs. And to have last season and what's going on this season happening, it's kind of a smack of reality in the face for Cardinals fans. And, uh, We're not sure how we're supposed to handle it. We don't know what we're supposed to do with our hands, Todd. We're confused. We don't know why nobody can hit. It's weird.

You guys are going through it as well as far as the offensive side of things, too. Batting has been a problem for both of these squads. And if you want to watch a lot of offense, this is probably not the series for you this weekend because they are bottom of the list in most offensive categories. Home runs, the White Sox 22. Cardinals 21, 29th and 30th in the league. That's last and second to last in case you're wondering. Run scored. Cardinals are at 28, White Sox at 30th.

He got the A's in there at number 29 hits. Cardinals 26, Sox 30. Batting average Cardinals 26, Sox 29. OBP, Cardinals 25, Sox 30, sluggy. You're catching the theme here, right? Slugging Cardinals 27, Sox 30th. And then OPS, Cardinals 28th, White Sox 30th. Now, for the White Sox.

A couple of reasons why you guys might be struggling offensively is because two of your big guns out with injuries right now in Luis Robert and Yohan Moncada. Yeah, Luis Roberts is going to be out at least through, I think May, Montcada. You know, they're saying he could be back by July, but I don't trust him at all to be back through the rest of the year. You know, Moncada, especially, he was off to a great start, 282 average. But again, these ailments just keep crushing his career. And he's also the highest paid player. But the biggest issue is two other bats that needed to step up then in their absence. Andrew Benettony and Andrew Vaughn.

They are off to very slow starts. Now, Benny, he's hitting the ball a little bit better. He crushed a couple of home runs in the last couple of series. And Vaughn, he had a decent series against the twins. But it's still, it's not enough to help the offense, especially an offense that is full of just replacement level of players. And, you know, Benetendi, he was supposed to be the leadoff guy. He failed so badly that now we got to go with Nikki Lopez as a lead-off hitter.

He's basically an automatic out and he's a nine-hole hitter. Benetendi, I saw that. It was in that race series. He had that big game with a couple of dingers and I think like six RBIs. But yeah, he seems like a shell of the hitter that we saw in his early time. in Boston and in Kansas City where he was an all-star. What has been the problem with him so far? Is he just swinging a mess in, popping up?

What are you seeing over there? So he was going more for, and this was more, I think, one of the beat writers James Fegan reported on this, that he was more going again for contact, trying to go the other way. And what he's adjusted now is he's just trying to crush the ball, just hit it hard. And, you know, that's the problem too with the White Sox offense.

One of the things that you've missed was the socks had the lowest hard hit percentage in baseball, according to baseball savon. They don't hit the ball hard. And that was one of the things with Andrew Benatendi is he just, he was more going for contact. He's made an adjustment in his swing though now where he is trying to lift the ball and launch the ball, which I think is what is needed. And you're seeing him start to produce.

I mean, I think his average was at one point at like 150. So now it's above 200. So progress. Now, it's funny, because we feel you because we've got multiple. multiple guys hitting under 200 still. And Paul Goldsmith just got over that Mendoza line. So trust me, we understand exactly what you're going through. Our top prospect, Jordan Walker, kind of similar situation where he was trying to take things to the opposite field because that's where they were throwing him.

Everything was outside or trying to get him to chase away. And it eliminated any sort of power that he had whatsoever. We're talking about a guy who's the size of Jean-Carlo Stanton, 6-6, 240. 45 pounds and he can't lift the ball. He can't get it in the air. He's not hitting home runs. So they've sent him down to Memphis to work on that again and work on those launch angles and, you know, what he's doing as far as batting, what his plan is when he's in the box

for guys that are throwing him away like that because you're like, how is this guy got one RBI or like no home run? Like it's, it was weird that he's been dominated as well. Another guy would to bring up on the White Sacks side of things because this was a dude that back of 2019 was look like he was on the verge of becoming one of the elite sluggers in the league. Eloy Hemines, 31 dingers that year in 2019. But since then, the production is tailed off. And as you mentioned with Moncada, injuries have been the real problem with him.

Yeah, he cannot be relied on. I think he's only played over 100 games like twice in his career. He already got, he got hurt in the third game of the season. Now he came back. He is, he's been hitting a little bit better. His average got dropped down to, I think it was after the Phillies, one of the games in April 19th. He was at like under 100. So he's been on a tear recently, but

he just, he cannot be counted to stay on, stay in the lineup. He is a guy that will probably only play 100 games a year. He's probably likely not to have his option exercise. And that was another thing that the socks did during the first rebuild was

they gave a lot of these guys, these contracts and, you know, for cost control. And it made sense, but then some of these guys just stopped working and taking care themselves and one of the speculations is, is Eloy was one of them. So he doesn't keep himself in the best shape. He's getting all these soft tissue injuries or he gets hurt when he's in the field. He's a he's a terrible fielder. He tried to make a diving save in spring training over

the fence and just totally snapped his shoulder. So that's just what injuries has been a big thing that has killed the socks and put them down to this six and, oh, God, I, We just say bad start, bad, so you don't have to say the numbers. It's okay. It's okay. We're not here to punish you

anymore than you've already been punished, Todd. It's okay. I hope you guys are ready to be 500, though. You got a really good chance of going 500. Well, you say that and it's something

the Cardinals have failed to get to over and over and over. So it's funny. You mentioned soft tissue injuries. I'm starting to see a common theme here about how these two franchises are mirroring each other because we had a guy who had the same problems didn't he did take care of himself very, very well was Tyler O'Neill.

He was always in tremendous shape, but constantly got hurt. And they finally had to pull the court on that whole plan and trade him in the Boston. And of course, he's, you know, tearing it up for Boston when he's in their lineup. So we get it. We get it, man. So we bow that both of these offenses are terrible. All right. We get that.

So we're going to switch up things and talk about the pitching matchups. Maybe maybe there's a hint of hope there. For the White Sox, I know the Cardinals have been actually a lot better at pitching than most people thought this year. So we'll get into those pitching matchups for each team this weekend next on this crossover episode of Locked on Cardinals and Locked on White Sox. Baseball season is officially underway. Don't miss your chance to add your favorite players from the Diamond and your prize picks entries, whether it's strikeouts, RBIs or first inning runs, take your pick of more or less and add them to your prize picks entry today. if you're listening to what me and Todd are saying, offense is not going to be good this weekend.

Maybe, maybe. That's a hint to go ahead and pick up some of these pitchers that we'll be starting this weekend in your prize picks entry. You can also get in on the playoff action in the NBA and the NHL and went up to 100 times your money on price fix. As you and the world's best players take the game to a new level during the postseason for both the NBA and the NHL. One of my favorite things about price picks is just how easy and simple things are done.

It's not confusing. If you're new to prize picks, it's not a confusing app. Very simple. You can make your picks, submit your entry, and you can do it all in less than 60 seconds. And when you win, you get your money right away. Quick withdrawals, easy gameplay, and an enormous selection of players and stat types. That's what makes prize picks, the number one daily fantasy sports app. So download it for yourself today and check it out.

Download the app. Use code locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. That's download the app. Use the code locked on MLB. and by the way, lowercase, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-M-L-B for a first deposit of match up to $100. Pick more, pick less, it's that easy with prize picks. All right, we need a time out real quick and a pause to talk about Monopoly Go. If you haven't tried this yet, I don't know what you're doing.

I don't know why you're waiting because I'm going to, I'm not going to just let this pass you by an opportunity to have some fun, enjoy a really good game. It's got a lot of good stuff inside it. It's Monopoly Go. where you can team up with your friends for time tournaments, where you work together to build up each other's boards. The more you win together, the more awesome prizes you can unlock. And there's so many other things that you can grab,

like unique stickers that you can trade with friends to complete albums to get yourself some big prizes. They got cool new playing pieces to travel the boards with. They've got hilarious emojis. So you don't always have to get along with your friends. We're guys, we get it. You like to give each other a little crap here and there. You like to smack talk.

So you've got those emojis that you can use for taunting your friends when you smash their buildings, when you heist their vaults. Plus Monopoly Go feels new and exciting every day with constantly changing tournaments and challenges. A ton of unique mini games like digging for treasure. You can do that. They got robot Pachinko machines. And there's always new timed events that help you win big like massive multipliers for everything you win or rent frenzies. There's just a lot of stuff going on here. And it's a lot of fun stuff.

and you can enjoy it now. There's always something fun to discover in Monopoly Go. So get off the bench and go download it now for free on Google Play or the app store. Game on. Locked on has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. It's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the Free Fire TV channels app. Locked on 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 each and every league.

You can find Locked on Sports today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. Once again, host of Locked on White Sox, Todd Welter, joining us today for this crossover episode. We're previewing this weekend's Titanic matchup, offensive matchup between the Sox and the Cardinals at Bush Stadium. Let's get into the pitching side of things, Todd. We know the hitting stinks. How about the pitching side of things?

How are things in Chicago starting pitching-wise you trade, Dillon C's? There are still some familiar names, though, in that rotation that the White Sox have been using this year. they've been at least able to keep you guys in games despite the offensive woes. Oh, yeah. The problem is they're just not going deep into games. Last series against the twins, all three starting pitchers barely were able to go five innings.

But Eric Fetty, he goes on Saturday. He's been one of the few bright spots this season. They signed him out of the KBO. He was so bad for the nationals that he got exiled basically to Korea. He makes a few changes and he wins the MVP there. and he's been outstanding. He's emerged as a stopper. He's got 20Ks in his last two outings.

Gare Crochet, he's a dude. I mean, all he's got to do is basically avoid the big inning. You know, he started off. First three starts, he looked like an ace. Like he looked like the guy. Then he was struggling through the next three starts. Last start against the twins. He looked more like that guy.

We saw the beginning of the season. But they're going to be very, very careful with them. I would expect him to probably go again. no more than five innings. He had five innings, 77 pitches against the twins. So they're probably going to be kid gloves because he only had 73 career endings prior to this season. So he's going from a reliever to a starter.

He had Tommy John surgery in 2022. But then you get treated to Brad Keller tonight. I bet you guys can't wait for that ace. Well, Brad Keller, this is a good day, being that St. Louis is in Missouri. So they might remember Keller from his time with the Kansas City Royals. And yeah, nothing to all that special. As far as, and this will be something that'll be good for the Cardinals. You know, out of the three that are starting, this will be the easier matchup on paper

because we've got Sunny Gray going for us on the one side. So I would say advantage Cardinals when you go Sunny Gray against Brad Keller. Gray has been everything in the Cardinals could have asked for and more since signing him from the Twins last year. He's three and one. He's got a 1.16 ERA. Ray. The lone loss, by the way, Todd, was against the NL Central leading brewers where he only gave up two runs and six and a third and he struck out 12. Yet, because the offense couldn't put the

ball in play, they, they loop. So clearly not his fault in that one. He won earlier this week against the Mets and what was so far his worst out in because he didn't get started due to a hamstring issue earlier in the season, but he ended up giving up four runs over six innings. He struck out nine, though. So, I mean, it's not like we're like, oh, you stink. It was a still a very good outing, but he's been great. So Advantage Cardinals on Friday, that's for sure. Saturday, you mentioned Eric Fetty, the former first round pick from the Nationals. Things never worked out for him there. And he's been really good so far. And guess who you guys get to face on Saturday? Former White Sox Lance Lynn, who gave up 785. I think that's the exact number of home runs

last year. What was going on with the home run ball in Chicago? Because it wasn't just Lynn who was getting torched. Well, it's a very good home run park, even though the White Sox struggled to hit home runs in their own park. But, you know, the ball carries very well, especially again, it's just like Wrigley Field. If the wind's blowing out, the ball is going to go out. If the wind is swirling, you're going to struggle to hit. But that was the issue. It's a very good hitter's ballpark. And the White Sox just decided to construct a roster with guys that can't put the ball in the air. Yeah. So that's probably not a wise choice. Yeah. Because him and Gialito struggled with home runs last year. And, you know,

everybody was just curious. Like it was because he really sucked, was he tipping pitches? But you think it was just kind of the home ballpark was going against him? It was the home ballpark. And I think it was also location. The only guy that was ever really tipping his pitches was Michael Copac. And they moved him out of the to the bullpen. So, and he's now just back to throw in 100 miles an hour. So if you guys get Kopeck. All he's going to do is throw his four-seem fastball. So just lay off it. If he does decide to throw a slider, then he's effective. But he's basically going to try to throw 102 miles an hour every time. And then it didn't help for Lance Lynn to be traded to

Dodger Stadium, where that's another ballpark where you can drive the ball pretty well. And that's where he was giving up. I think another, what did you say, 785. I think about half of them did come at Dodger Stadium. Yeah, just the ball was flying off of bats when Lance Lynn was throwing. and then he has been a lot better this year, by the way, because that's actually a battle of undefeated on Saturday. Because fatty 2 and 0, Lynn won and O, although he should have a better record than that, because he's actually pitched very, very well.

And then you mentioned Garrett Crochet on Sunday, big left-hander, one and four. I've enjoyed him in fantasy due to the strikeouts, but, you know, he's had a couple of bad games, but you're going to get that with young pitchers, you know, he's still trying to figure things out. So what's the key to beating Garrett Crochet? If he doesn't go deep into games, how do you work the counts against them?

Does he struggle with any certain pitches throwing it in the zone? No, he's pretty good at throwing strikes. The thing is, is what I'll try to do every now and again is he tries to get it down on right-handed hitters. And he's a left-handed hitter. And that's the one pitch where if you try to get it down, you can almost see it. It'll leave like a little extra tick for a hitter to catch up to it. That's where I've seen him make his mistake is if he's going on to a right-hand or trying to get it down, and in, that leaves the ball up just for a brief second for you to kind of launch it.

And that's what happens. He gives up, you know, in those three bad starts he had, he had three bad innings where he gave up a bunch of home runs. You know, Cincinnati, he gave up five. I think there was two home runs on that. Philadelphia torched them too, you know, and that. And what I noticed, too, and I was like, watching, I'm like, wait a second. It's usually when the ball is down that on the right-handed hitter is where he's going to leave himself up for getting, getting hit pretty good.

That could be interesting for Nolan Aronado because he has lost all of his power, it seems, but loves the ball down, loves the ball low and in, dead pole hitter. So that might be a matchup to watch on Saturday or on Sunday. And that's pretty much it. What's going on this weekend? Who on the offensive side for the White Sox

is your pick-to-click? Who's somebody we should keep an eye on this week? I'm actually going to go with Andrew Vaughn. I mean, he had five hits in the last series, so maybe he's finally starting to get out of his struggle. And then the other guy is, apparently the missing piece was Tommy Fam. You know, they've won three games since he was at it. So I'm going to go with two. I'm going to go Tommy Fam and Andrew Vaughn.

I was surprised you didn't go Tommy Fam and Paul DeYoung just revenge weekend for former Cardinals, because that's usually how it works out. I don't know if you saw over this past week where the Cardals faced Jack Flaherty for the first time. He just goes out and strikes out a career high, 14 hitters in the game. So I don't know. People like to shove against the Cardinals when they have been jettisoned from St. Louis at some point in their career. So Tommy fan, Paul the Young watch, and then some Vaughn in there as well.

On the Cardinals side of things, I wish there was somebody that I could tell you to be scared of. None of them are really any good right now. the guy that's made the most difference, and I'm hoping that they kind of shuffle things around a little bit to get him closer to the top of the order is rookie shortstop Mason win. He has been somebody that's been pretty fun to watch, both on the offensive side and the defensive side. But they've had him lower in the order most of the time.

They keep Britain Donovan at the top of the order as the lead-off guy, but he's only hitting like 222 now. So I don't know. I'll just go with Nolan Aronado. bottom up that maybe that'll be a good matchup on Sunday. So I'll stick with Arnado this weekend. So that's the guy that I think White Sox pitcher should keep an eye on this weekend. What about the ghost of David Eckstein? Because that's our owner's favorite player. He said that David Eckstein is his favorite player ever.

I wish we had guys like David Eckstein and could get on base like he used to. The guy had no business being a professional athlete. And yet he went out and had wins a World Series MVP. and he was just a great guy. We loved having him in St. Louis. He's one of the key piece to the World Series championship. But, yeah, his ghost is long gone. All of the ghosts of Yadir Molina, Albert Pujols, the ball vanished. They're all gone.

And now we've got what we've got right now. A team that looks like on paper should be good, but they haven't been able to put it together yet. So honestly, just hoping the Cardinals could take two of three this weekend. That was kind of the goal this week was to try to, go four and two. They've already lost two against the Tigers, so if they could come out even at three and three, I think that's, at least it's progress, as you mentioned earlier. It's at least progress. Well, you're playing the unofficial get right team of Major League Baseball. All right. Well,

maybe we'll get the brooms out. We'll see what happens, although I'd be shocked if anything like that were to go down because the Cardinals have one win in a series finale so far this year. They're one and nine now. So they suck. Please don't give me hope. Please don't know. All right. Well, let's wrap it up.

Thank you guys for making Locked on Cardinals saying locked on White Sox, your first listens every day. If you haven't already, give me a follow on Twitter X at L0 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. Todd, what's your handle again? At Todd J-dub. All right. Give him a follow as well. We'll have some fun on the social media's this weekend together. Please like and subscribe on YouTube to both.

the Cardinals and the White Sox to help our channels grow. And you guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals and Locked on White Sox. Todd, we'll talk this weekend, buddy. Sounds good.