Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Meet Your 2025 St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day Roster

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals opening the roster is set, and there was one major plot twist that surprised a lot of people. 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 J.D. Hapford, and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals. We're on YouTube. comment, hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes in the shorts are dropped. And I know that sounds funny when I talk about dropping shorts. But you know what I'm talking about if you watch the videos.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Also available on TikTok and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans of baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockton MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. So Grapefruit League play is over. It's done in the books.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Cardinals fall to the Washington Nationals by a score of two to one. Eric Fetty solid today in his final start. Not a lot of offense to talk about for the Cardinals. So really no need to go into that game all that much. The big news is the Cardinals have set their opening day roster. And there were a few wrinkles. We could say that. They were unexpected.

Starting point is 00:01:30 But the major plot twist was what they did with the starting rotation, where Matthew Libertor is joining your incumbent number one, Sunny Gray, Sunday's starter Eric Fetty, veteran Miles Michaelis, and Andre Palante. Now the names that I'm sure you've noticed that are missing from this group are veteran left-hander, Stephen Matz, and young right-hander Michael McGreevy, which is bothering some people.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Matt's is going to start this year in the bullpen. pin. Going to be their long relief guy to start the year. Again, before people start flipping out about who's doing what, what the roles are, you know things can change, right? Like this doesn't all just get locked into stone and you're just set there and it doesn't ever change throughout the year. This is going to be something that moves around. It's going to happen. But Matt's is going to start as their long relief guy in the bullpen. McGreevy is going to begin the year in Memphis. We're going to delve a little deeper into those decisions in a bit, but I want to focus on Matthew Libertor's promotion, if you will.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Because when the Cardinals traded Rania, Rania, for Libertor back in the winter of 2020, the idea was that he was going to be a starter. That's what he was, former first round pick, you know, the rest. A Rosalena goes on to, you know, be a superstar for a couple of years. And Libby continued to basically not meet expectations. Now, the expectations of a first round pick, the expectations of a guy who's supposed to be a starter. And we kept saying, patience, patience, patience, and, you know, things were, patience was running thin with Matthew Libertor.

Starting point is 00:03:16 Last year, the Cardinals decided to use him almost exclusively as a relief pitcher. He makes 60 appearances and started just six games. As a starter, not great. One and two, ERA, 6.35 in 22 and two-thirds innings. Not a whole lot to write home about, right? As a relief pitcher, so much better, so much better. Two and two, ERA of 3.69 in 63 and a third innings. And he got better as the season went on.

Starting point is 00:03:49 Final two months, he made 25 appearances all in relief, settled into the roll, finally picked the spot for him. Cardinals have a problem with that. And then Ollie was able to pick and choose when he wanted to use Matthew Libertor. Got to decide who were the guys that he was going to face. Give him a better shot at succeeding. And he did. ERA, 2.67, much better. Gave up burned runs in just five of those final 25 appearances with really one ugly game kind of screwing up the numbers a little bit, gave him four runs on five hits and just two-thirds

Starting point is 00:04:26 of an inning against the Yankees. But he was really, really good. It became a weapon out there with Jojo Romero, Andrew Kittridge, Ryan Fernandez, and Ryan Housley. And Ali deployed them very, very well. He was a lefty with strikeout ability. Obviously, that's really nice to have in your pen, but the cardinals have kind of a strange dilemma right now, if that's even the proper word to call it. The Cardinals have four capable left-handed pitchers on their staff. Two of them debut as starters, Stephen Mats and Matthew Libertor. The other two are John King and Jojo Romero. Moving McGreevy into the rotation and having four lefties in the pen didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Starting point is 00:05:14 I brought this up before. It was like, all right, so we're going to go with all righties in the rotation. And then we got, wait, four? lefties out there in the bullpen didn't really add up. Okay. Plus the other part of this dilemma, which it's not even a bad thing, but the fact is that all the Cardinal starters in spring training, they're currently healthy.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Not a lot of teams can get through spring training with the five guys that they kind of want to be the starters staying healthy the whole time. Usually people got to make adjustments. Look what the Yankees are going through. But right now, everybody seems fine, even though Sunny Gray hasn't had a great spring, says he feels fine. He's not hurt. Andre Palante, a little low on the velo right now.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Doesn't appear to have any injury issues. Now, certainly this is something they can fluctuate. Matt's, as we know, has fought that injury bug his entire career. And we knew that they were going to keep levee stretched out to be a start. under this offseason. We knew that and through the spring. Nobody hid that from us. That was never in question. The reason behind it was that it was easier to throw less innings after being used to throwing a lot more than it is to be used to throwing less innings and ramp yourself up to throw more. But under the surface, perhaps this was something

Starting point is 00:06:44 the Cardinals were thinking about all along. You know, they continue to use that word transition year, despite starting Stephen Matts five times this spring and looking pretty darn good. Give Matt's credit in those starts. ERA 2.29 over 19 to two thirds innings. They only gave Matthew Libertur one start. And that was on Saturday. They had him come in relief five times where he was good. ERA this spring, 1.29. The cardals are going to flip flop them. They're going to put Libby in the rotation. Matt's is going to the bullpip. and I'm not here to argue that it's a bad move because I've been beating the drum

Starting point is 00:07:27 of putting Stephen Mats in the bullpen this whole time. If you're in every day or you know this. Like I'm like, I know what Stephen Mats is. Transition year, right? I don't need them in my rotation. I've got other guys I want to watch. I just thought that it would be Michael McGrievey getting that spot and not Levertor. Now, the idea is that it will remain this way.

Starting point is 00:07:51 until April 11th. And that's when the team doesn't have as many off dates. They got just one between April 11th and May the 7th. And that's when Matt's, if the plan goes accordingly, will then join the starters again. They'll implement that six-man rotation that we've heard them talk about a few times. Now, when Ali was asked about this decision,

Starting point is 00:08:15 he told the media, sometimes we focus on opening day and the start of the season, but a different way to do it, then Libert's or just going to the bullpen and then an injury happens and you're tapping into McGreevy is that this allows for some flexibility. Mats and Libby are going to be stretched out as starters and you have some protection with McGreevy starting in Memphis. It was a hard choice because McGreevy was very effective and he had a good camp.

Starting point is 00:08:41 He's going to come up and help us, but this allows for one more layer of protection. And McGreevy had an amazing camp. did everything in his power to take over one of these spots. But the Cardinal starters, I mean, nobody, I mean, Sunny Gray has been terrible, but we're not going to put Sunny Gray in the rotation. Palante could have had a better camp, right? But he earned it after what he did last year in the second half, where he's above where McGreevy is as far as in the pecking order.

Starting point is 00:09:15 They're not moving Michaelis to the bullpen. So not really a spot for McGreevy. The one spot Libby will have to get better at when he faced his right-handed pitchers now that he's going to be a full-time starter. In his career, Rebys are hitting 292. He's got to be better against them. They got an OPS of 878 against them. Lefties, just 218, 576 OPS. He's got to be better against him.

Starting point is 00:09:41 As a start of the opposing manager is going to look at those numbers. We'll start every right-hander we have. They're going to stack them. They're going to stack them. So it's going to have to figure out how to be more effective against those guys to succeed. And then you're also thinking about the long term after 2025. Michaelis, Matt, Fetty, contracts are up after the year.

Starting point is 00:10:04 Likely not going to be around, right? Which leaves you sunny grain, Andre Palante. And if you believe that Matthew Libertor can be a starter and that he's going to figure out how to get right-handers out consistently then you can add Libby to that mix, right? So you would have Gray, Palante, Libertor, along with McGreevy, and more than likely, Quinn Matthews. I mean, that's a pretty nice young stable of starting pitchers.

Starting point is 00:10:32 It's a good spot to start with, right? And in this transition year that we're talking about, why not see what he can do now? Like, I don't hate the move. Now you got to, here's the thing. They got to give them the runway, which they've brought up a lot. You got to give him the same runway that you're going to give position players. Can't give him two starts and then pull the plug like the Cardinals have been known to do. You got to stick with it.

Starting point is 00:10:57 And I'll acknowledge that, saying I wanted him to have the ability to go into St. Louis, knowing that he's a starter and not the back and forth. This isn't a tryout of a couple of starts. He's going to start. Don't look over your shoulder. Go be a starter. And we'll evaluate as we go. And I put the poll question up on X asking whether is this a good move?

Starting point is 00:11:18 Is this a bad move with Libertory and the starting rotation? And so far, just over 65% of the vote says good move. People seem to like it. Personally, I got a little nervous and I get a little nervous when you move a guy who has found a lot of success at a certain spot and you try doing something new with him, switching it up. But I see why you're willing to give him. him this opportunity and hopefully it pays off.

Starting point is 00:11:45 So your rotation from the outset is as follows. Sunny Gray, Eric Fetty, Miles Michaelis, Andre Palante, and Matthew Libertor with your bullpen consisting of Stephen Matt's for now. Ryan Helsley, Jojo Romero, Ryan Fernandez, Phil Maton, John King, Kyle Leahy, and Chris Roycroft. We're going to get to the offense next where two of the guys that I wanted to see on this team made the cut.

Starting point is 00:12:09 They're at. well, one that we thought maybe wouldn't be on the team is actually still here. We'll talk about it next on Locked on Cardinals. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious. Well, of course you are. Crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios are one of the highest protein nuts. Each one ounce serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value.

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Starting point is 00:15:31 But the battle of Victor Scott the second against Michael Ciani, that was the one that personally I was keeping a close eye on. It was something that intrigued me. And the battle for that roster spot was an overwhelming knockout by Victor Scott, right? he just pummeled Siani in every way possible. Scott finishes the spring hitting 3.49, a surprising four home runs tied for the team lead. Didn't see that coming. Seven Rimmies.

Starting point is 00:15:59 He led the team and runs scored with 11. He was tied for the team lead and hits with 15. Third in walks with eight. Stolen bases, tops on the team with five. Ciani on the other side, though, he ends the spring hitting 95. One run scored. No extra base hits. one RBI, seven walks, yay, two stolen bases, but he strikes out 15 times, second most on the team.

Starting point is 00:16:23 Ugly stuff, right? Nothing about what Michael Siani did this spring with the bat, says he should be on this Cardinals opening day roster. The only thing that he's got going for him is that his defense and speed would be a valuable asset late in game, which he would. and I've pointed that out before. It makes a lot of sense. And that Victor Scott might be better served playing in Memphis if he was not going to do that at the major league level. That's the only way it seemed to make sense that Siani would win this job and that Scott would go down.

Starting point is 00:17:03 They toyed with Newton's center. It's clear that he can play there if he needs to, but that Scott and Siani are superior centerfielders defensively. there's, you know, there's really no discussion there about that. It's plain as day. So as asked backwards as it sounds, having the lesser all-around player on the roster, which was Victor Scott, over the clearly, or I'd say, which was Michael Siani,

Starting point is 00:17:33 over the clearly more talented player, which is Victor Scott, was something that was being discussed. But instead of having to actually make a choice between the two, the Cardinal said, you know what, F it, we're going to keep them both. And they've named Victor Scott the second, the starting center fielder for opening day. So congratulations to Victor.

Starting point is 00:17:55 Ali said this to Katie Wu from The Athletic about the decision on Scott saying, you tell someone to go work on something and he comes and does exactly that. You have to reward that. Scott has earned that spot. He's the center fielder and he's going to go play. At the end of every month, we'll evaluate and sit him down. We'll have conversations. And we go from there.

Starting point is 00:18:15 but this isn't a you got two weeks to show what you're capable of doing it's not that so again like with matthew libertar they're saying that guys have earned these roles and that these are not tryouts this is their job now the only way they're going to lose this job is if they aren't any good at it but this is their jobs now the decision to keep siani obviously might surprise some people because of poorly he was offensively this spring but he's a guy that they clearly value and want around they like him he hasn't done anything wrong he's never been a good hitter but they love the fact that he could be somebody they can deploy late in the game and you know and i brought this up too i'm like if you've got a situation where you know the idea was to have you know donovan and left but

Starting point is 00:19:08 you could switch things up where you could put you know newt was going to go to right and victor can go to left so you know, you can go to center and you're covering a lot of ground there. It just makes a lot of sense. Donnie moves in to second base, Gorman comes out of the game. Like, it just makes more sense defensively late in the game. I get that. So, um, the guy who apparently lost his role was Jose for me out of all of this. He had reportedly made the team.

Starting point is 00:19:38 Katie Wu had said that sources say he's on the team, made the spot. No, has not happened. That is not what's the case. He has been sent down to Memphis along with Jose Barrero. Both of them opened some eyes, I think, this spring. But they're deciding to do this. So I got my Victor Scott. So I got Stephen Matson in the pen.

Starting point is 00:19:59 I got my Victor Scott that I wanted. The other guy I wanted to see on the team was, who was also on the bubble, was Lucan Baker, who also made the opening day roster. Way to go, Luke and Baker. 273, four home runs tied for the team. lead with Victor Scott, eight RBIs, an impressive nine walks. The Cardinals last year lacked thump from the right side on the bench. They did. There was a weakness. And Baker fills that void.

Starting point is 00:20:24 He can only play first in DH, which is not great, right? It's got some ramifications to the flexibility of this roster. But I'm glad that he's getting a spot to start this season. Where this is really going to pinch things is it bats for Alec Berluson and no one going to who we thought was part of this hole, you're going to have this runway. Because your roster has Herrera and Paa as a catcher. You're only going to start one. You're not very dangerous to start Paa as a catcher and Herrera at DH. You don't want to get stuck in that.

Starting point is 00:21:03 You got Contreras at first, Donovan. Now it's second, which makes this infield so much better defensively in my eyes. Mason, when it's short, not over a third. Then you got Newt, Scott Walker, with Burley and Gorman as your D.H. Ciani and Baker are your other two bench spots. There's your 13. So line up construction. What does that mean for that?

Starting point is 00:21:26 We will tap into that next on Lockdown Cardinals. The NCAA tournament is here, and so is the bracket breakdown. Locked on podcast network and Amazon Fire TV channels are teaming up to deliver NCAA tournament coverage like never before. Watch studio shows featuring former players and Lockdown's local experts as they guide you through every upset, buzzer beater, and bracket matchup. Stream it all for free on Amazon Fire TV channel. Search Bracket Breakdown to see it all for free. It's your team every day.

Starting point is 00:22:06 Thanks for making a Lockton, Carlos, your first listen today for your second list and check out the Lockton Fantasy Baseball podcast with our host, Dominic Martino, and Matthew on A. MLB Fantasy draft season is here, be the most informed fan, and set yourself up for a league when, find Lockton Fantasy Baseball. baseball on YouTube wherever you listen to your podcast. So how will these lineups look? That's the question, right? They're going to look a little different against righties and against lefties. I'm thinking something like this. Shortstop Mason win.

Starting point is 00:22:37 This is the order, too, that I think that they might go with. Shortstop Mason win. Left field, Lars, Newport. First base, Wilson Contreras. Your DH, Alec Berluson, or Nolan Gorman. Third base, Nolan Aronado, Brennan Donovan at second, catcher Yvonne Herrera, right fielder, Jordan Walker, and then Victor Scott the second, batting ninth. I am a big fan of the righty, lefty, righty, lefty.

Starting point is 00:23:07 I like the back and forth just because it makes it a pain in the butt for the opposing manager later on in the game. But something to that effect. I'm sure there's some things that you can move around and massage a little bit there, like does Berliss and a half to or Gorman have to bat fourth, maybe Donovan bats for it. That could be a thing that I wouldn't put it past him. Yvonne Herrera could be higher up in the order considering the way he's been hitting this spring, you know?

Starting point is 00:23:37 Is there a chance that Lars, Newport, ends up batting lead up at some point, or maybe Victor Scott scoots all the way up there. We'll see. The, you know, production will dictate how that all works, but that's kind of the idea I think that they'll go with. Against lefties, it's a little bit trickier because of how many left-hand. hitters the Cardinals have with only Baker and whomever isn't catching that day. As your righties on the bench, I personally would love to see Baker get that DH

Starting point is 00:24:01 against lefties instead of Burley or Gorman. So you'd go with Mason when it's short, New Bar and left, Contreras at first, not a batting cleanup at third, Herrera then at catcher, or you can flip-flop them if you want. Donovan at second, Walker and right, Baker-D-Hing, Victor Scott at Centerfield. And you'll notice that there is no backup shortstop here on the roster to start. And I only said that Donovan would fill that role when needed early on. And obviously these things, like I said, they can be massaged. Maybe Gorman gets more time against Ritey's at third to give Nata more days off.

Starting point is 00:24:38 You know, does Walker necessarily have to play every day? You know, giving him four starts out of six a week. That's pretty good. That's what I call runway. When he doesn't go, you can put verse. early, give him some run in left field. Newt swings over to right field. Donnie can go out there with Gorman at second.

Starting point is 00:24:58 But that's really going to be the tough part for, for Ali this year, is figuring out how to get everybody into the game and give them ample of bats. He told Katie Wu, I'm going to do my absolute best to get everybody the necessary amount of the bats for us to know what we have at the end of the year. These are fair questions, but we'll see what this looks like in 30 days, 60 days. 90 days, but we'll have a line of rotation that while we're all healthy, still gets guys at bats. And honestly, I was really hoping that Walker or Gorman would have had better springs to stand out a little more and make giving them more of bats a little easier,

Starting point is 00:25:40 a little easier pill to swallow, but it didn't happen. So it's kind of like you're force feeding them in, even though they look like crap at the plate most of the time. Walker, dealt with the knee thing. Gorman got better, but you never really saw them just like, boom, you know, Walker had that 3 RBI game just recently, but like, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:03 I just hit hope for more to be like, yes, there they are. Those are the guys. But overall, hard for me to complain about things. I know people are going to be upset. The McGreevy somehow is not on this roster, but when you've got everybody healthy and you've got this many veterans signed and you didn't trade anybody like you thought you were

Starting point is 00:26:24 going to probably do. This is what happens. This is what happens. But like I said, I got Matt. Matt's is in the pen. That's where I wanted him. Victor and Baker make the team. That's what I wanted.

Starting point is 00:26:39 I wanted to see these things happen. And the Cardinals agreed, at least for now, that these are the smart moves. I'm a little surprised they didn't keep Jose for him. mean, who had a really strong spring hitting 292, got hot late, one home run, nine RBIs, but just because it's like this on opening day, doesn't mean things won't get massaged after things get figured out. When they start to figure out who's good at what, how things need to be, whether it's injuries, whether it's production needs and issues, you know, Luke and Baker still has an option

Starting point is 00:27:17 left. Michael Siani's got two. Scott's got to. So if things get goofy and they figure out, okay, wait a minute, this isn't, the puzzle isn't coming together the way we wanted it to, they can adjust. For Mina Barrero are there for infield help.

Starting point is 00:27:31 You got a lot of help in Memphis. Coperniac and Helmin are down there. San Jacey is down there. McGreevy, Matthews, Ticoor Robi, Tinkins, Sam Robbersa, all down there for rotation debt. A number of relief arms like Riley O'Brien, Roderimunoz, Gordon Grecephel, Ryan Lutos, Nicky Anderson, Andre Grenio.

Starting point is 00:27:52 Memphis got kind of a nice squad down there. And we're going to get to hear about it because Monday cards are in Memphis to play the Redbird. So Andre Palante said to get his final start of the spring. And then it's off to St. Louis to prepare for Thursday's opener against the twins, Sunny Gray versus Pablo Lopez. Looking forward to it. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals.

Starting point is 00:28:13 Your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio. TikTok. and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason.

Starting point is 00:28:27 We'll see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Meet Your 2025 St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day Roster

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