Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - John Mozeliak Says THIS Is The Cardinals Top Priority

Starting point is 00:00:00 Winter warm up was this weekend. And John Moseilock spoke in great detail about the difficulties about trading Nolan Aronado. And yep, he used that word again, you guys. 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. I'm Jady Haffern and I am your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You give me a follow on Twitter,

Starting point is 00:00:34 rex at JD Sports Radio and the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locked on Cardinals first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube, like, subscribe and comment, and hit that notification button. So you know when the new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardal Nation and giving the best fans of baseball,

Starting point is 00:00:53 all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode, meeting brought to you by Fandul from the first whistle to the final drive. Fan Duel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers can bet $300 and get $300 and bonus bets if you win, your first bet. This fandle.com to get started. The Cardinals 2025 winter warm up was this weekend and the lack of excitement surrounding the event kind of goes hand in hand with the lack of excitement that fans are feeling about the direction of the team this season. Last year, you know, you were coming off a dreadful in 2023, but you had some excitement. You know, there was some buzz in the building.

Starting point is 00:01:33 because of the signing of Sunny Gray and you had Lance Lynn coming back and Kyle Gibson, plus the announcement that Yadir Molina was going to be rejoining the organization. Obviously, the Adi thing didn't quite work out, though the way we wanted it to and became one of the major disappointments of the season. And despite missing the playoffs for a second straight season, the team did improve this past year. I know we tend to forget about that because we're like, oh, they didn't make the playoffs. This team sucked. And they didn't.

Starting point is 00:02:01 They had a winning record. They went 83 and 79, but they finished six games out of the wild card. They were 10 back in the division, and fans were clearly displeased with the efforts of the front office and the performance of the team as a whole. And attendance proved that. You saw how bad it dwindled at Bush Stadium. It's going to happen again this year. You know, there's a lot of upset Cardinal fans right now. And normally at this time of year, you know, Mo in the front office would be working on making some sort of

Starting point is 00:02:32 additions to the team to bring them closer to playoff contention. You know, we would be ripping him for, you know, targeting low-hanging fruit and making fun of his additions and stuff. But instead, the organization is in the transition period. And because the franchise has done almost nothing this offseason, there is very little excitement for things going into 2025 right now, not only locally, but, you know, nationally where many experts are just predictions. a terrible season for the team. I think, and maybe this is me being a homer, I feel like they're

Starting point is 00:03:08 underrating some of the capabilities of some of the guys on this team. You know, gone our former MVP, Paul Goldschmidt now with the Yankees, but last year wasn't the Paul Goldschmidt that we all know and love. He was a shell of his former self. Andrew Kittridge. Now in Baltimore, that's obviously something that a hold will need to fill in that bullpen. Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn had their options bought out and are currently free agents. You know, they've talked to, you know, hey, there's conversation that Kyle Gibson could be somebody that they would like to bring back if something else were to happen. But it's been a bit, really, since we had heard from John Moseilock, really since the GM meetings

Starting point is 00:03:49 at the beginning of December. And back then, the priority was trying to trade Nolan Aronado. And sadly, here we are on the backside of January, the back nine of January, if you will. and nothing has changed, which is a problem. Because if there's no change, that means there's no progress. All right? There's no progress in what this franchise is trying to accomplish going into 2025. So Mo spoke for quite some time on Saturday at the winter warmup.

Starting point is 00:04:22 And I've got a few of the quotes that I want to share with you, a lot of it dealing with what's going on with Nolan Aronado. So when asked by a fan, what are the plans for Nolan Aronado? Mo replied in kind of the most Mo way ever by saying, you know, it's the elephant in the room. Hopefully we are going to trade him. It really would be best for all parties, but it might not happen. He might still be a cardinal. We have to wait and see.

Starting point is 00:04:47 The offseason is not over. There's still time. By the time we get to Jupiter and open up camp, we would like to have some closure, but that's not to say we will. We're going to have to be patient throughout the next eight to 10 weeks to see where it gets us. And yes, John Moseilock, use the P word again. That dreaded P word that all of us are sick and tired of hearing. Ask for our fan base right now is a little bit of patience, forever a little bit of patience plus his little patience. So just be patient.

Starting point is 00:05:18 We heard this. Over. Really just ask for people's patience and all of this. And ask for from our fan base right now is a little bit of patience. Forever a little bit of patience plus as a little patience. So just be patient. Yeah. John.

Starting point is 00:05:31 John, hey, John, we are sick of hearing the word patience. The fans have been patient. They've been patient since 2011. This is 2025. That's when they won their last championship, but I know it's not an easy thing to do. I get that. Winning a World Series is not something he just like, oh, no big deal.

Starting point is 00:05:52 They went to the series again in 2013 and lost to the Red Sox. I know that. They've won the NL Central five times since their last championship, which is great. not taking that away from him or the organization, but the NL Central is normally considered one of the weaker divisions. Each year, each year it feels that way due to the market size is really of the teams involved. You know, Chicago's a big market, obviously, but they're the Cubs.

Starting point is 00:06:17 And, you know, they had that what looked like was going to be a dynasty going because they had that great team that ended up winning them a title. And then it just fell apart. It was dismantled really, really quick. But Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, not big markets. and we know that. And despite making the playoffs every year from 2019 through 2022, they haven't actually won a playoff series since 2019 or even a playoff game since 2020.

Starting point is 00:06:40 When they lost the wild card series against the Padres, two games to one. They got bounced by the Dodgers in the wildcard game in 2021. Damn you, Chris Taylor. And then they got swept by the Phillies in the wild card series in 2022, two to nothing. The fans are tired of your plead for patience. They are sick of it. And I don't blame them. And unfortunately, they don't have a choice in all of this because what else are we going to,

Starting point is 00:07:04 what else be going to do? You know, the fan base, the franchise, it's all handcuffed by this situation with the Cardinals wanting to move on, but not being able to move on. So here's more from Mo. Quote, I think priority one, two, and three is still Nolan. When asked about the deal with Houston falling through, he said, I was a little bit surprised. I think looking back at that, I think when Kyle Tucker was traded to the Cubs, it was almost more like order of operation.

Starting point is 00:07:29 Had we been a few days ahead of that, I think there would have been no. Here we are. So, yeah, things happen. And I've said since that veto trade happened, that Nato turning it down was going to bite the Cardinals. It was going to bite Nolan in the butt. Because believe it or not,

Starting point is 00:07:47 Nato is not a hot commodity. Teams are lining up to get him like they have in the past. They see the writing on the wall. He's in the decline phase, right? He's in his decline phase. We can be honest about this. Nolan Aronado is in the decline phase of his career. And the power is a big deal, obviously.

Starting point is 00:08:11 That's been dissipating the last couple of seasons. The bat speed, it's slowing down. But salary doesn't come down with, you know, his production. He's still getting paid as if he's one of the top, you know, 10 players in the league, which he hasn't been over the last two years. And as I've mentioned over and over until Alex Bregman, finally picks a friggin' team. Notto and the Cardinals are screwed.

Starting point is 00:08:34 Mo also addressed whether or not the team is asked our Notto to expand his list of teams that he'd be willing to go to. And Mo said it's something that they've talked about, but not something that they demanded yet. He did say yet. Eventually, it feels like either the Cardinals or Nato or both are going to have to start making some concessions here just to get something done, which is, as Mo says, is in the best interest for everyone involved, which I completely agree with. As much as we respect Nolan Aronado and we think he's a great guy and, you know, I, it's not that I want him gone from existence on the Cardinals team. It's just better for everybody involved if that was what happened. You know, it just doesn't make sense for him to be back on this team next year, which is just the reality of things, you know?

Starting point is 00:09:24 I realize I didn't have this up here on YouTube this whole time. Hold on. Let me make sure I get this right. Again, I keep toying with this thing as if, is it showing it? There it goes. There it goes. That's what we wanted to look like. Sorry about that on YouTube. All right. So we're going to talk more about what Moe had to say, including his thoughts on perhaps pivoting to tradeaway pitchers. If a Nato deal doesn't take place, we'll get it to you next on locked on cardinals. From big upsets, the game winning drives the NFL playoffs are better with fan duel because right now any customers can bet $5 and get $200. and bonus bets. That's guaranteed. That's 200 bucks in bonus bets.

Starting point is 00:10:08 Win or lose. The Fandle app gives you everything you need for live bets, same gay parlays, and so much more. How did you guys feel about the divisional round? Was that enjoyable for you? You know, football's kind of dead to me at the moment due to the fact that, you know, my Packers are no longer in it. But I just, it was still, I guess, I guess it was still a fun weekend. The divisional round had, you know, the upset of Detroit, which being in the NFC North with my Packers, obviously I'm ringing against them. So that was kind of fun for me to see the commanders go into Detroit and take them out.

Starting point is 00:10:46 Big upset there. Eagles take care of the Rams and that snowy mess in Philly. The Chiefs continue to just win ball games. They knock off the Texans. Bills take down the Ravens, setting up your AFC championship game with the Bills of Chiefs and then the NFC commanders at the Eagles. So just visit fandle.com to join today and get started with, I believe it's $300 in bonus vets. That's Fandall.com, $300 in bonus mets.

Starting point is 00:11:09 That's make this playoff season unforgettable with Fandle, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Thank you again for making a locks on Cardinals your first list in every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Feedback always welcome and encourage. So if a Nolan or an auto trade does not go down, which I still think it will. I think they'll figure it out. but also be prepared for this trade to actually suck butts. It's not going to be a good one.

Starting point is 00:11:41 It's not going to be something that Carmel's fans are like, woo, like it's going to make it feel like we gave Nolan R&O away. That's what I'm preparing myself for. But if he isn't moved, if that doesn't happen, then the Cardinals' backup plan would be to move salary in a different way. And clearly, it's going to be something to do with their starting pitching. You know, it's going to have to be some of that salary that is invested in the starting rotation specifically we're targeting stephen matt for talking eric thuddy those are the big ones uh as

Starting point is 00:12:09 much as we would like to move miles michaelis is in his 17 million dollars plus he's got the no trade clause uh hasn't been very good so he's probably not going anywhere but mo really doesn't want to have to trade these guys away which is you know i feel like he should feel this way he says don't really love that idea we really like what we have we have some depth in our rotation right now so i really don't want to start tearing away from that. And I don't blame it. I really don't. Every year we go into the season pointing out, you know, we do this where we got five guys,

Starting point is 00:12:42 who are your main guys in the rotation? Remember like Mo said that? I don't remember. It was the last year of year. We were always like, well, we got five. We got a starting five. We got a starting five. And the hope always is that, oh, yeah, you know, we got the five guys and they're going to

Starting point is 00:12:57 make 30 plus starts, no big deal. And that is not even remotely accurate. about how things go in Major League Baseball. Every year for every team, guys go down with injuries. The Cardinals didn't deal with, what I would say, a ton of that last year. You know, Sunny had that injury in spring training, which scared the bejesus out of us. But he makes 28 starts. Lance Lynn, he had the knee issue, still made 23 starts.

Starting point is 00:13:23 Matt's was barely around. What else is new? But Michaelis, despite his inflated numbers, he still made 32 starts. He gave you 15 quality starts, which led the team. Kyle Gibson made 30 starts. Andre Palante made 20 after becoming a full-time starter. And then Eric Fetty, he had 10 after coming over at the deadline. So pretty reliable rotation considering how fragile starting pitchers can't be, right?

Starting point is 00:13:52 You know, pitchers are, they're fragile, man. Depth is a very important plus for every team to have. And if they do stay healthy, perhaps a couple of them become trade pieces at the deadline for you. We're talking about the Cardinals rotation again. So I fully agree with this from Mo, the last place I want to move anyone from is the starting rotation. I don't want to screw around with that if you don't have to. Sunny, Fetty, Michaelis, Matt, Palante, Michael McGruevy, who was very impressive in his three starts last year. Will he be as good this upcoming year?

Starting point is 00:14:28 now the teams have some tape on them and stuff. I don't know. I don't know. Zach Thompson. What's going on with Zach? What are we doing there? We know from Jeff Jones. He told us that, you know, they do still have an option for him so he can still be in the minor leagues.

Starting point is 00:14:43 But, you know, what's the plan with them? Gordon Gryseppo, Quinn Matthews, obviously, Tink Pence, Ian Bedell, Sim Robesah, Toccoa, Robes. All of these guys could at some point pitch for this team in the big leagues at some point this year. It could happen. And going into the season, thinking they won't is probably a little bit foolish to think that all of our guys are just going to be perfect and, hey, okay, and there's not going to be any hiccups and no issues is that's, I feel like that's stupid. And it's one of the things that I've seen people talk about online when it comes to the Dodgers and their God Squad rotation that they've built here, who, you know, shocker landed Japanese starter, Roki Sasaki, on Friday, projected starting rotation in LA, just to, you know, compare it to what's going on

Starting point is 00:15:31 with the Cardinals, okay, when it's like, why would you not try to trade some of these starters instead? You know, their projected rotations got Shohei Otani coming back from the elbow issue. Yoshinovi Yamamoto hurt most of the year last year. Blake Snell, Tyler Glass now. We know how he can get hurt. He got hurt again last year. Now you've got Sasaki plus Clayton Kirshall. He's dealt with a bunch of injuries, but I'm sure he'll be back. Tony Gonsland coming back from injury. Dustin May coming back from injury. Plus, you've got pitching prospects. They got a slew of them, but a few of those guys are dealing with injuries. Bobby Miller took a step back in his progression last year after destroying the cardals at his first start. Everything else is

Starting point is 00:16:13 kind of bad for Bobby Miller. And it has, when you have all these names, it has people wondering whether or not the Dodgers want to trade any of them away. And it doesn't shock me that they want to hang on to these guys. They might, they might trade some guys, but, you know, depth is a real luxury that it really shouldn't be taken for granted. And usually one or two of your top five are going to go down at some point with an issue with a shoulder, an elbow, blisters on their fingers, an oblique, a leg, a knee, the back. Pitchers are just so susceptible to injuries. I mean, look what happened to the Braves. You know, they, they, Spencer Strider last year getting hurt. really put them in a bind. They were lucky that Chris Sale became what Chris Sale was last year to win the NLSide Young Award. But that was crazy, right? Like you just got to be prepared for some of these top guys go down. Trading away pieces of your depth is not a very smart idea at all, at all. So, you know, even if the Cardinals had a rotation like the Dodgers do, I'd still be hesitant to move any of them just because there's so much risk involved. So I, I

Starting point is 00:17:24 I see why it's kind of like, dude, we really got to trade R&Ato. If the idea is to still cut salary, which does it have to be? I think they're okay right now. I think they're going to be okay going into the season where they are payroll-wise, but they'd still like to slash a little bit and obviously get Nato off the books, opening up that third base spot so Gorman can get the starts over there instead. That's really the idea here. That's what they really have to do.

Starting point is 00:17:50 And whether or not they eat more money or Nato expands his list so that he can, can get the hell out of Dodge. It's something that's probably going to have to happen eventually. Again, we're still waiting on whether or not Alex Bregman is going to make a decision where he's going to go. So we're kind of at a stance still because of that. We're going to wrap things up next with more news from around the league because another star player, another star pitcher, ended up choosing to sign with the Dodgers

Starting point is 00:18:15 and people are not happy, not happy about it at all. We'll talk about it next on Lockedongardles. Did Rocket Money help you find any subscriptions? you forgot about or that you were paying for twice because that's definitely happened to me. I'm not joking. This is not me just reading stuff. This is Rocket Money helping me. And now I'm just letting you know they can help you.

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Starting point is 00:19:10 Your spending habits or even the goals that you want to hit here in 2025. Let's not forget, taxes are coming up here soon. Rocket Money is over 5 million users and has saved a total of 500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features. So cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com slash locked on today. That's RocketMoney.com slash locked on. RocketMoney.com slash locked on.

Starting point is 00:19:48 Thank you again for making Locked on Cardinals, your first list in today for your second list and find Locked on MLB. Baseball guru Sully brings you a daily blend of humor in baseball, keeping you updated on all the teams during this offseason. You can find locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. So the Dodgers have struck again. They struck again. And at this point, all I can do is laugh at what's happening in the league right now

Starting point is 00:20:12 because nothing's going to stop it. Tanner Scott, arguably the best free agent reliever on the market. This offseason has agreed to a $42 million deal with L.A. That includes a $20 million signing bonus and $21 million in deferred. salary. It's just the rich get richer, man. Scott had his first All-Star game this past year when he's with the Marlins before he got flipped over to the Padres, the trade deadline. He's going to join a bullpen that's got Blake Trinan coming back, Michael Copac, Bruce Star with Gratterol, among others. He joins the Dodgers incredible free agent class, which features the Japanese stars in Roki

Starting point is 00:20:51 Sasaki. And I believe it's pronounced Hyacong Kim. I think that's how he pronounced as well, two-time side young winner, Blake Snell comes in. Outfielder Michael Conforto. He's joining them coming along back with their other free agents that they had to re-sign to Oscar Hernandez, Blake Trinnan, as I mentioned. They got that new deal done with former Cardinal Tommy Edmund. Just ridiculous, right? Jeff Passon tweeted that when Scott's deal is official,

Starting point is 00:21:19 the Dodgers luxury tax payroll for 2025, but will exceed $375 million, which is about $70 million. more than the next highest team, which is the Philadelphia Phillies. And I actually had to tease. So Connor Thomas, who we've had on the show before from Locked on Phillies, he's their host, had to tease him because he had tweeted out how, you know, this Dodgers thing has gotten out of control and it's gotten out of hand and someone needs to step in.

Starting point is 00:21:44 And, you know, so I took a couple pictures of what payroll was like for the Phillies of the Dodgers last year and kind of to remind him that the Phillies actually spent more than the Dodgers last year. And they were projected to spend more than. than them this year right after the Sasaki signing. That's not the case now. I don't think because of, you know, this new deal. But it's, but it's not like the Phillies haven't gone out and spent a ridiculous

Starting point is 00:22:08 amount of money as well. They just haven't had success that LA has. I don't have the title to show for it. And I wonder, and it got me kind of questioning whether or not, if any fan of any teams would be upset if their team was doing what the Dodgers are doing? Would we be mad and asking for change if the Cardinals were doing this? these things. Like, would it be like when Cardinals for ruining baseball, man, we got to get something done here. Would we be like that? Because I don't think we would. I think as a is a homer for the

Starting point is 00:22:39 Cardinals, you're like, dude, if they decided they were like, you know what, screw all of you. We're going to get everybody. We're spending 400 million dollars. I think Cardinal fans would be high five at each other and say, finally, you know, we're open up the wallet. We're getting something and done here. Now, in Conner's defense, he was more upset with the deferred money, the bug Sam. And I get that because the Otani deal was is bonkers. It's nuts. But it's not illegal. It's not illegal. They aren't breaking any rules. They just found guys who were willing to do these deferrals. You know, a lot of guys would rather have the money up front. They don't know, you know, what their life's going to be. Heck, they could be dead by age 40. They don't know. And so they're

Starting point is 00:23:22 like, no, I want to get paid now. I'm not. going to do this whole thing where you just pay me until I'm like 60. I don't want to do that. But they found some guys who were willing to do that. Plain and simple, the Dodgers are just doing it better. They're just doing it better than everyone else. They're spending, they're investing in their products so that they can win and generate even more revenue, which is the idea to earn money, you spend money. That's usually the case. And, you know, they found some players willing to buy into that. So I'm not mad at L.A. at all. It's going to cause some ripples down the road, though.

Starting point is 00:23:56 Any of these teams, you know, could have tried to come up with similar ideas, but they didn't. Or if they did, you know, the teams that tried to come up, they aren't currently in cities that players want to go to. You know, it's L.A., you know, even though it's been dealing with a lot of, you know, the fires and stuff, which is awful. But still, it's Los Angeles, man. It's Hollywood. So people enjoy going there. Former rapper turned actor, Ice T. Very good phrase right here when people get mad about this.

Starting point is 00:24:24 this stuff with the Dodgers and are pissed off about how things are going. Don't hate the player. Hate the game. It's not the Dodgers' fault. It's major league baseball's fault that they don't have a salary cap or salary floor implemented. December 1st, 2026, it's going to be a very important date. I want you to bookmark that in your calendars because that's when the current

Starting point is 00:24:45 collective bargaining agreement is going to expire. The one that they just did ended a 99-day lockout and many fear that this next one could be much, much longer and be much, much worse. Revenue sharing, salary arbitration, attendance declines. You know, if you were the players, would you want a salary cap? Hell no. Hell no. That limits your ability to make more money.

Starting point is 00:25:07 So why would they want one now? Why would they agree to this? Because the Dodgers are so good. Like, okay, you guys are right. We'll quit making as much money as we possibly can just because the rest of you won't spend. And the Dodgers are willing to. it just reiterates to me why the Cardinals are doing what they're doing right now. They're trying to improve from within because they aren't going to spend what the Dodgers are doing.

Starting point is 00:25:35 They're just not. That's not where they want to do it business-wise. It's not what they're interested in. So they're going to have to develop their own talent to compete with them and the other big market teams. A lot of the teams from baseball are going to have to start doing it this way if they had it already. And that's the problem with the Cardinals is they've waited so long. to finally put the money into, you know, doing stuff to develop and think about prospects better and all of that, that that's got them where they're at right now. Like if they'd started doing this a few years ago, we wouldn't probably have these issues.

Starting point is 00:26:08 But they made a choice. They wanted to spend on payroll at the Major League roster. That was where they wanted to put their funds at instead of down here. And they thought maybe they could pull it off and win a championship with guys like Goldi Annato. And it didn't work. It didn't work. We're going to cover more of the winter warm up because obviously a lot of people spoke there. Mason Wend, Verdad Donovan, Quentin Matthews, Jordan Walker.

Starting point is 00:26:31 So we got plenty of this to go over throughout the rest of this week. So we'll get into it, I promise you. Thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals for a list of every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on TwitterX at L.O. underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Lockdown, Cargles.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - John Mozeliak Says THIS Is The Cardinals Top Priority

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