Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - John Mozeliak And Oli Marmol Are Back, But Goldschmidt Is Out And So Could Sonny Gray

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

- Mo And Oli Are Coming Back - Directional Shift - Goldschmidt Is Out - Other Veterans Could Be Move As Well - Chaim Bloom Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LO...STLCardinals?sid=YouTube Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Booking.com The right stay can make you a fan of any US city. Even your baseball rivals. Book today on Booking.com – the official accommodation partner of major league baseball. Booking.com, Booking dot YEAH! TonaI Tonal is the world's smartest and most effective strength training system that helps get you stronger. Right now, Tonal is offering our listeners $200 off your Tonal purchase with promo code LOCKEDONMLB. That’s Tonal.com, and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for $200 off your purchase. PrizePicks Download the app today or click HERE and use code LOCKEDONMLB to win $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup. PrizePicks. Run Your Game. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The 2024 season has come to an end, and we've already got some insight on some major decisions that have already been made for 2025. And I don't think fans are going to like them all that much. This is Locked-on Cardinals. You are Locked-on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, there, Cardinal fans. I'm Jady Haffern and I'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou, with a lifetime Cardinals fan. and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. Follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio and the podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals,
Starting point is 00:00:46 your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. We're also on YouTube. Stop by, like, subscribe, comment, interact with us, hit the notification button so you know where the new episodes are posted. Because this is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. You can start the season with a big return on Fandul.
Starting point is 00:01:06 Place your first $5 bet, and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets. Guaranteed. Visit fandle.com to get started. All right, the Cardinals close out the 2024 season with a 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Well done. Well done. We can be happy about that.
Starting point is 00:01:25 Michael McGreevy, awesome. The dude was awesome once again, which is very exciting to have a talent like that. moving forward into the future for this franchise. They end up taking two out of three in the series and finish the year with a record of 83 and 79, which puts them in second place in the NL Central. Record-wise, actually tied with the Cubs, but they hold the tiebreaker over the Cubs. So second place, both St. Louis Cardinals and the NL Central in 2024, which allows me to, because they won the series as well,
Starting point is 00:01:58 to wear my ugly, loud, old man victory shirt one more time here in 2020. before I retire it and we move on with something new next season. If you've got any suggestions for me, let me know in the comments. I will go through those and we'll come up with something fun. Anyway, record-wise this season, considerable improvement on last year 71 and 91 campaign, but still it falls short of expectations of the fan base,
Starting point is 00:02:25 which has a playoff or bust mentality. They demand more from their team, from their players, from their coaches, from the front office. and from ownership. We've talked about how things have soured in this organization a lot in recent episodes. I encourage you to go back and listen if you want some of the explanations as to why the Cardinals have been a shell of their former selves in recent years. Plenty of reasons to go around. But now that we know how they got to this point, what are they going to do about it, right? That's what everybody wants to know. Well, how are you going to fix it? What are you going to do?
Starting point is 00:03:00 What are you going to change about everything to get things back to the way they used to be? Not so long ago, which just a couple of years ago, we're talking about, you know, two guys that were, you know, one wins the MVP. One is in the top three of MVP voting. We're going to the playoffs. Unfortunately, the upset loss against the Phillies, but we were following pooholes hitting 700 home runs and stuff. Like there was still energy and excitement about the Cardinals franchise. and since that time, things have gone the wrong way. So the team is going to hold a press conference today, Monday,
Starting point is 00:03:36 at 2 p.m. St. Louis time, where hopefully we will get some more clarity on what the vision, what the direction, that the team has chosen moving forward to get things right again is going to be. Now, some things have already leaked, much to the dismay of Cardinal fans all over the world, that vision, according to multiple sources,
Starting point is 00:03:55 will still include both president of baseball operations, on Moseilock and manager Ali Marmal returning in their current roles for the 2025 season. So Mo's not stepping down and turning into an advisor or something like that here in 2025. Ali Marmal is going to be your manager once again in 2025. Neither of those moves surprise me, by the way, but they have been reported by multiple sources. Derek Gould at the St. Louis Post Dispatch was first to report it, says in his latest article, that adjustments are planned within the front office and organization to include investment in player development and technology, expanding staff and increased influence for executive Heim Bloom, among other moves. Now, he did a phone interview with John Moseylock, who told him and admitted that, yeah, changes are coming.
Starting point is 00:04:48 He went into some detail about those changes, telling Gould, we're shifting to a heavy emphasis that puts it back on scouting and player development. I would say that over the past 10 years or so, we've run a lean operation, and part of that was to allow us to maximize success at the major league level. But over time, you learn that machine can wear down. It's just not producing at the level at one step. That's not to say our minor leagues are in disarray, but an emphasis on infrastructure is something we have been taking a very serious look at. It's obviously going to be a shift in philosophy. Instead of looking for short-term answers, we're going to try to take more of a long view. Now, more details on that directional shift. Our plan to be announced during the press conference this afternoon,
Starting point is 00:05:35 Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. will reportedly address what was obviously another disappointing season for the team. He's supposedly going to address the massive attendance drop, which is, it was shocking to me here this year. I mean, I don't blame fans for not coming out, but it surprised me a little bit that a team that was still hovering around the 500 mark that the majority of the city didn't want to come to a ball game, that they were over it. It shocked me, to be honest.
Starting point is 00:06:08 And apparently he'll also be addressing and explaining the team's change in emphasis and some of the personnel decisions related to that goal. goal. Those changes include more power for Heinbloom. We're going to discuss that a little bit later. Obviously, a lot of us believe that, you know, Bloom, when they did bring him in, was just kind of like in waiting to take over for John Mosea Lach's job when he steps down. So I still think that's the plan after 2025. So we'll discuss his role. And obviously, there's going to be some personnel changes on the field with the major league roster. It might not be happening with the manager. We're not totally sure. about the coaching staff yet. We don't know who's coming, who's going there yet. But Ali Marmel is going to be back, but not all these players are going to be back in 2025.
Starting point is 00:06:58 And apparently one that is definitely not going to be returning is former NLNVP, Paul Goldschmidt, and possibly staff ace Sunny Gray. We're going to talk about those guys coming up next on lockdown Cardinals. Hey, NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandul, America's number one sports book. You know how sometimes you'll be watching a game, you know, and you got your phone there and you're checking up stats and stuff if you're a fantasy nerd like I am. And you can just sense like a trend is happening in that game. You get a hunch on how things might go. Like Sunday, I'm watching the Packers. And that opening drive, as soon as the Packers dropped that first interception, I knew. I was like, oh boy, I was like, we're going to be in trouble today, aren't we?
Starting point is 00:07:42 Things aren't going to go quite the way we were hoping they would? And that's how it happened. It didn't go well. They made it a lot closer than I thought it was going to be. But the point is when you get those feelings in the middle of the game, you can now hop on the Fandul app and check out the latest stats, view live, play by play, and so much more on the same page where you actually place your bets. They've condensed it there for you to make it that much easier for you. You got two Monday night football games tonight, Titans at the Dolphin, Seahawks, at the Lions.
Starting point is 00:08:12 With Fandle, you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. place your first $5 bet. That's $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet at fandole.com. That's fandle.com. Thanks for making a lot on Cardinals for first listen every day. You can leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Feedback is always welcome encouraged at JD Sports Radio and at LO underscore Cardinals on X there. So one of the main reasons for the failures of 2024 was the offense, right? Like we know this. This is not new news to you. this team was built around three veterans offensively, right?
Starting point is 00:08:55 Paul Goldsmith, Wilson Contreras, and Nolan Aronado. Those were your guys. That was the meat of your order. Those were the guys who were supposed to carry this team through thick and thin. And they all had terrible seasons. They all had terrible seasons. Now, Willie, he was really good when he was on the field, but he got hurt a lot this year,
Starting point is 00:09:13 appeared in just 84 games due to multiple injuries. Obviously, the broken arm was a big one. Now he had the finger there at the end of the year. So losing your number three or cleanup hitter for the whole year, basically, losing them for almost 100 games, that's a big deal. That's a big deal. Goldianado appeared at 154 and 152 games respectively. So they were on the field a lot, but the problem was they weren't all that good. Both had the worst seasons in their likely Hall of Fame careers.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Now, Paul Goldschmidt is the one I want to focus on here. His continued regression was rough to watch for all of us involved. because nobody likes to see the decline of a player that you like. It was painful watching Adam Wainwright in his final year. It sucked. I don't want to remember Adam Wainwright as that guy. And I don't want to remember Paul Goldschmidt being the guy that he was here in 2024. Final numbers, 245 average, 22 home runs, 65 RBIs, 11 stolen bases.
Starting point is 00:10:14 You look at that. And it's not like it's bottom of the league bad. Like it's not like you're this is like oh my gosh this guy cannot hit at all anymore OPS plus of 98 league average is 100 so he's right around league average but the eye test right the eye test tells you that father time has finally caught up with the 37 year old it's the lowest batting average he's ever had it's the third lowest home run total he's ever had in a whole season it's his lowest rbi i total it's a career low at o bp slugging and o p and a career high in strikeouts.
Starting point is 00:10:51 The trends are there. All right. The trends are there that Paul Goldschmidt is not the guy that he once was just a couple of years ago when he won that MVP, that the skills have declined enough where he's not going to get better magically overnight. No hockey puck handle on the bat is going to fix him. And all of a sudden, he's just going to be awesome once again at his age. It just doesn't happen.
Starting point is 00:11:17 unless PEDs of some sort are involved with players, which is how older guys got better back in the day. But, you know, Goldie's not that guy. He's not going to use that. Keeps himself in tremendous shape, takes care of himself. But it is what it is, man. It just is a tough reality. This is also the end of his contract with the team.
Starting point is 00:11:37 So we knew that there was a decision that was going to be coming up. And according to Katie Wu at the athletic, that decision has been made. The team is expected to part ways with the seven-time All-Star. We always thought it would be a Cardinal thing to do and resign him for at least one more year, maybe a two-year extension. But apparently that's not the case. Wu says Goldschmidt's exit is expected to be the first of many decisions that the Cardinals will make this offseason. Per a league's source, they will unlikely retain any of their impending free agents, which includes relievers Andrew Kittridge and Keenan Middleton,
Starting point is 00:12:14 whether that will impact starting pitchers Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, who have close. Clubs options for 2025, remains to be seen. That bums me out a little bit about Andrew Kittrich because I have enjoyed having Kit on this ball club. I thought he was a very good relief pitcher and a very serviceable pitcher. But, you know, perhaps it's not only just not wanting to pay him, but maybe they feel like, all right, maybe that's the best he's going to be and he's not going to get any better and he's going to start to decline.
Starting point is 00:12:42 So maybe they're kind of like, all right, let's not hang on to that because that would be a cardinal decision that they've made. made in previous years as they would hang on to a guy for a little too long. So maybe that's being proactive, which would be a good change for the team for once. It is hard to believe, at least in my opinion, that they'd bring back either Lynn or Gibson if slashing payroll is the objective here, right? You know, they both make a substantial amount of money. And, you know, Lynn looks like he was ready to retire, the way he spoke.
Starting point is 00:13:17 and talk about things at the end of the year. But maybe he comes back for another one. Gibi looks like he's got some juice still left in his tank. Normally, that would be a guy that I would think the cartels would want to hang on to. But at this point, the way they're going about payroll, it makes sense that you're not going to pay the amount of money it's going to cost to bring him back for another year. And what about guys who are still under contract, right? Wu said this.
Starting point is 00:13:43 One source indicated a reduction in Major League payroll could be coming with the club plan. extensive upgrades to their minor league system. This could put multiple players' futures into question. Nolan Aranado has three years remaining on his eight-year, $260 million deal. Sunny Gray's three-year, $75 million contract is backloaded. He made just $10 million this season. Wilson Contreras is still owed $54.5 million through 2027. Ryan Helsley should see a major increase from his 3.8 million,
Starting point is 00:14:12 2024 salary as he enters his final year of arbitration. USA Today's Bob Nightingale floated the nugget out on Sunday morning that the Cardinals intend on shopping, Sunny Gray, this offseason. We know that, you know, Sunny's salary is going to escalate. Katie pointed out 10 million this year. And then I think it goes 25 and 35 after that. I think that's how the map goes. He's also got a no trade clause. And so he doesn't have to go anywhere. Sunny Gray doesn't want to leave. He doesn't have to. But Nightingale said that the Cincinnati Reds, one of Gray's former teams, are expected to be among the teams aggressively pursuing him. He also says that the Milwaukee Brewers are keeping a close eye on Paul Goldsman
Starting point is 00:14:56 because they still believe there's plenty left in the tank. And that would just kind of be fitting that he has his career worst year with the Cardinals and his last year with the team, ends up signing with somebody like Milwaukee, and just lights it up for them in their order. That would be fitting. They're going to be losing Willie Adamas, who's going to become a free agent and is going to make a buttload. They're not going to pay him. So Reese Hoskins is up.
Starting point is 00:15:23 So it makes sense. And Goldie's had a lot of success sitting in Milwaukee. So I see why there would be a fit there. But that would be tough if he comes back to bite the Cardinals after they let him go. But I'll be honest. I never thought I would see the Cardinals get to this point, like where they're just selling vows. veterans off the way we've seen other clubs do it. Seems like the A's and like the Marlins have done recently.
Starting point is 00:15:49 We don't know yet if it's going to be a complete tear down where all of these guys are gone, where they're just going to start just slashing salary to a point where, you know, all of these guys even with the no trade clause, like Arna, they're like, look, we're going to move you. Where would you like to go? Like, I don't know if that's the conversations that's going to be had. I still, it would shock me to if that is how far it went when it comes to this. Part of me believes that they would still want a couple of these guys to still be around.
Starting point is 00:16:23 But it doesn't appear that that has been ruled out yet, that a complete, just let's clean it all out and let's go with the prospects and we'll sign some cheaper veterans to fill in the holes. But no more of these big time free agent targets anymore, at least for the moment. some people will be on board with that. And some are going to have a tough time, a really tough time, swallowing a rebuild pill, if you will, featuring mostly youngsters with just a few veterans sprinkled in. It's going to be odd. It's going to be odd.
Starting point is 00:16:57 But you want change, and this is one way to go about it. I think it's sad that this front office and ownership has allowed a franchise like the Cardinals to deteriorate to a point where this is what might happen. And yet the guys who got the men this mess to begin with get to stay in charge. Like it's weird to me that John Moseilock will get to finish out his contract because of loyalty, I guess, for how many years he's been at it. So they're going to just let 2025 fade off, no big deal. Like they're like, well, all right, one more here to you guys.
Starting point is 00:17:37 But then we're moving on. I mean, if you're going to gut this thing, why not just wipe everybody out and let the new regime take over? But, yeah, it's weird to me that they're getting a chance to start the cleanup on the mess that they've created. But Heim Bloom is going to be a part of this, obviously. What will his effect be moving forward? We'll get into that because Gool got some quotes and talked about it a little bit as well. So I'll tell you what he had to say about Heim Bloom coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. game time is an authorized ticket marketplace of major league baseball that makes getting tickets
Starting point is 00:18:20 faster and easier i don't know how the crowds are going to look next year with with this new direction of the team but still under the same direction of the old guys who got us to this point in the first place but my guess is plenty of good tickets will be available for the 2025 st louis cardinal season and game time is where you're going to want to go to go grab those with killer last minute deals all in prices you get views from your seat your lowest price guarantee. Game time takes the guesswork out of buying him. There'll be tickets, but it's not just baseball. Game time is a wonderful tool to get tickets to all your favorite events, whether it's college football, whether it's NFL football, uh, concerts coming to town,
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Starting point is 00:19:35 That's L-O-C-E-D-O-N-M-B for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals your first listen today. Now go check out the Lockdown MLB podcast. Prepare for the Fall Classic with Sully, who has you covered every single day. You can find the link to Lockdown MLB in the description so you don't need to search.
Starting point is 00:20:02 It's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Sully also did a nice goodbye and farewell to Oakland Coliseum and to the A's, which I thought was cool as well. So he's been covering the A's stuff this year for us. So go check that out too because, you know, change is coming to them as well. Not quite as drastic for the Cardinals as it is in Oakland, but change isn't coming here in St. Louis and Heinbblum, who spent the past year, going over the Cardinal's system with a fine-tooth comb is going to be a big part of what is hopefully
Starting point is 00:20:35 a turnaround for this franchise. According to Gould, he will have an increase role this year. He says he was auditing and reviewing the Cardinals organization, visiting every level and the Academy in the Dominican Republic and spending time with officials and coaches throughout the system. His influence will expand to including shaping player development as well as input on major league decisions. Now, background on Bloom for people who aren't so familiar with him real quick, he was outstanding in Tampa Bay, started as an intern and worked his way all the way up, helped them shape and build that organization, which continued to just make smart moves, churn out prospects, they got rid of veterans at the right time and kept it very, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:22 as far as payroll-wise, very, very manageable. But yet, they kept winning. And this past year was tough because they had a ton of injuries to their starting rotation. Obviously, you've got the Wander Franco stuff that went on to. Those things can't be planned for. But still, they had a good season as hell like they were terrible. So Tampa Bay, obviously, that's the kind of. of organization the Cardinals, I think, are striving to be like.
Starting point is 00:21:50 Now, when he went to Boston, he was tasked with even more responsibility. Things didn't go as well there. He did help build their farm system back up, but they also wanted him to do some other things like shedding payroll. Sound familiar. And he struggled to find success in that area. The Mookie Betts trade ended up being a disaster, the Xander Bogart saga. That was a rough one for Boston.
Starting point is 00:22:13 Trevor Story's contract has been terrible. He did not do all that well at the trade deadlines where he wasn't very aggressive to add pieces to the clubs that needed a couple of things just to get them over the hump. So a lot of people's opinion, he was not very good at that side of being in charge of things in Boston. They loved how he turned things around developmentally, but did not like his decision making when it came to kind of, you know, the GM jobs of it all. So perhaps that is a reason why Mo is sticking around. Like if you try to piece this together, maybe that's why Jamo Zaylock will be in charge in 2025 once again as they let Bloom focus on the development side of the organization. And Mo will be there to kind of take care of the payroll issues that they want to move on from and stuff and to make the trades and stuff like that. Maybe that's why he's getting a chance to stick around here in 2025 and the role of president of baseball operations.
Starting point is 00:23:22 You know, maybe they're not trying to put it all on Bloom right away. Let Mo handle this side. Bloom you get this side. Mo will kind of tutor you on the ins and outs of making deals and whatnot. Maybe that, I don't know if that's a great idea considering some of the deals he's made recently, but perhaps that's the idea. I'm just, I'm just guessing here. either way life as a cardinals fan sounds like it's going to be very very different from this point forward some people are excited about it i've seen a lot of fans that are on board like yes except for
Starting point is 00:23:52 why or mo and nollie's still back but other than that they like that there's going to be some change some people are cringing at the idea of all of this you know some of the uh the i don't want to call you old but fans that have been around much longer uh are like what or no we're not tearing this down what is this? I've just always said they need to pick a lane. You can't just kind of hang out in the middle and try to sign free agents all the time and patch things up when you can't afford the best ones. So you're bringing in second and third tier guys that aren't good enough to get you to that next level. And while also hoping that your young talent performs well, but if they don't, you just ship them out. You're not kind of living or dying with them. You're just like, well,
Starting point is 00:24:36 if they're good, cool, if they're not, we'll go find another 38-year-old to fill is role. So, you know, they were just kind of putting a band-aid over things year after year after year and avoiding the real problem, which is they have become so bad at developing their own talent that they kind of push themselves into a corner where they had to go by not top-level free agents because they couldn't afford them to fill out the holes that they couldn't build through any of their young players because they're not good enough anymore. So they're going to start it down and they're going to fix everything from down here up and hopefully become what the Cardinals used to be once again.
Starting point is 00:25:19 Does that make sense? Does it make sense? It sounds like it makes sense in my head when I explain it. The question is, I don't know how low the payroll is going to get. That I don't know. But we've heard the number 50 million floating around for a bit now that they were going to slash at least $50 million from the payroll. moving on from some awful contracts like Miles Michaelis, Stephen Mats,
Starting point is 00:25:40 although you'd have to eat money in those deals, plus Goldschmidt's contract, the options on Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn should do the trick where you wouldn't have to trade off guys like Sunny Gray and Aronado and Wilson Contreras. But if a full reset is actually happening here, I think that's when you approach Sunny and Wilson and Nolan and say, look, this is what we're doing right now. Now, you want to be a part of this or not? Because if not, you've got these clauses and we can move you. Or are some places that you'd be interested in.
Starting point is 00:26:16 And then you can shop them around and see what's out there. But if you end up having that conversation and like, hey, we don't know if we really want you around anymore because of how expensive you are, does that make you want to play for that team anymore if you're Sunny Gray or Wilson-Catreras and Nolan Aranato? So I don't know. It's a delicate situation. I hope they get all of this right because if they don't, there could be some very, very dark days ahead for this Cardinals organization. But what are your thoughts on all of this? Let me know in the comments. We can all weep together over the collapse of our beloved franchise,
Starting point is 00:26:52 a franchise that just won 83 games. Mind you, the last time they won a World Series. They won 83 regular season games. So it's not like this team is the White Sox, where they're just terrible in every aspect of the game. They're not. That's not it, but it's not what we're used to, right? This is not going to be what we're used to. So it's going to take some adjusting. But there are bright spots in this organization that I think you should still be excited about, you know, seeing what the, you know, the catchers have done without Wilson and Tres around with Pahas and Herrera. I think those guys did a great job. We've got to figure out how to throw runners out. You got to learn how to hold runners on.
Starting point is 00:27:35 That's something that needs some work on. There's a guy named Yani or Molina who could probably help you with that. You know, at first base, Luke and Baker and Alec Berlinson seems like a nice lefty-righty combo. Second base. You've got guys like Nolan and Donovan and Sejacy that are available there. Mason Wynn, obviously locked up at shortstop. Over at third base, you've got Aronado.
Starting point is 00:27:57 But if you move on from Aronado, you've still got Sejacy who can play third base. You've got Nolan Gorman who can play third base. your outfield has got Lars Neupar and Jordan Walker and Michael Ciani and Victor Scott the second. You've got Alec Bernalison still there. You've got Brendan Donovan and you've got some guys that are in the minors as well that might come up and surprise you again. Coperniac is a guy that why not?
Starting point is 00:28:21 Why not give a chance? See if you can do it at the major league level. But pitching wise, you know, if you move on from Gray, hopefully you move on. If you're doing that, then hopefully you're moving on from a guy like a Michaelis. and a maths as well. But, you know, you've got Palante. You've got Michael McGreevy. I think that's really the hardest part because I think offensively,
Starting point is 00:28:44 you've got enough bonies that you feel comfortable moving on from, you know, specifically Paul Goldschmidt. But pitching-wise, you're kind of thin in your starting rotation if you decide to move on from a bunch of these guys. So that'll be an interesting spot to see. I would hate to see Ryan Helsley traded, but I get it. I would get the business decision of it to. to trade him while he's at top market value and see what you can get in return. So I understand it.
Starting point is 00:29:11 I do. One of the things that made the New England Patriots so good for so many years, obviously you had Tom Brady, but it was their ability to move on from veterans before they started declining. They would get rid of them at the top of their, you know, their peak of their levels of a trade market value, move on.
Starting point is 00:29:29 Those guys may do okay for another year. And then they would trail off big time. and the Patriots would survive that, and they wouldn't have to pay their expensive contracts. So, you know, that's kind of where you're hoping the Cardinals will get at one point, where they're not locked into bad contracts for two or three years when things are going south. So that could be something that is on the wall for guys like Aronado. I mean, you saw his decline this year.
Starting point is 00:29:56 How much does Wilson Contreras have left on the take? Will he continue to be this really good hitter moving forward, or is he going to start to slip? I don't know. It's going to be interesting. The press conference today obviously is going to be a big deal. So I'm curious to see how they go through that and maneuver through that and sell us what they're going to be doing here in the future. So again, that's going to happen at 2 o'clock St. Louis time. I believe Bally's is going to be airing that live. It's also going to be on KMOX radio-wise. So we'll be all over it. And we'll talk about it in tomorrow's episode.
Starting point is 00:30:29 But thank you guys for making Locked on Cardinals, your first list at every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter X and at L0 underscore Cardinals at JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for our Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason, and we will see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

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