Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Most Overrated And Underrated Cardinals
Episode Date: December 26, 2024- Nolan Arenado - Alex Bregman Waiting? - Overrated - Underrated - Happy Birthday Ozzie Smith Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?sid=YouTube Lock...ed 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! Rocket Money Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today. 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 The NFL Playoffs are almost here, but it’s not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel because right now, new customers can finish the season strong with TWO HUNDRED and FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins. 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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Some thoughts on the Nolan Aronado situation and the Cardinals, which includes some much needed additions to their staff.
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, Cardinals.
I'm J.D. Hafer and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
covering your team every day.
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First and foremost, happy holidays to everyone.
I hope you have had a magical and wonderful festive holiday season thus far, but it's time to get back to the grind for a lot of us.
Some of you are off until the new year.
so congratulations.
But for the rest of us, hey, here we are.
We're back to work.
And the Cardinals technically have been on the clock this entire time.
They've been working still not a whole lot to talk about roster-wise.
Not a lot of updates have been given about anything that's happening with Nolan Aronado,
not much to share.
I wouldn't expect anything else until after the new year begins.
But we know that Nolan turned down that traded with the Astros, which again was his absolute
right to do that. He's allowed to do that. He has earned the right to do such things.
According to things that I've heard, things that I've read, the no trade clause,
just he used it because he wasn't ready to make a move yet. Okay. He wants to see what his market
might develop into, what it might look like later on down the road, perhaps after an Alex
Breggman signing before he makes a final decision on whether or not he wants to agree to any
traits, which, you know, it makes sense.
You know, he wants to see all of his options.
He wants to know, all right, these are like, say, the four teams that I can go to.
All right, what city would I want to move to?
Which what, you know, I can understand why he would do it this way.
And if he feels like he's not getting what the market is going to be for him, like maybe
right now he you know the card is have told him hey we're down to we've got like two teams who
who are ready to go and maybe he's like well i think it's going to get better than that i think
I'll have more options later on I don't blame him for waiting you know again he's earned the right
to do that with the no trade clause very inconvenient for the cardinals who were probably thrilled
to have a deal done with the financial compensation that they were comfortable with agreed upon
and we're probably looking forward to moving on to shaping their roster without that salary on their books anymore.
And I think all of us fans are a lot like this too.
You know, we're all kind of tired of this.
I'm sure Nolan is tired of this.
He wants to know where his future lies.
He wants to know where he's going to go.
There's also the fact that returning to the Cardinals is not completely out of the realm of possibilities.
If he doesn't find a spot that he wants to go to, he doesn't have to go.
really does. And it would be a little bit awkward if he came back, considering how far along
things have gotten to a point where I trade was agreed to. But we'll continue to wait. We'll see
what else transpires. I've been saying that Nato is waiting on Alex Bregman to make a decision.
And I never thought about it the other way that maybe Bregman could be waiting on Nolan Aronado.
that that's something I hadn't thought about but uh you know his leverage also becomes stronger
with teams if they decide to go with no one are not at them if they make a deal and they're like
all right we'll take nato that's another team that gets eliminated which means there's not as
many options available so um you know he can be like look it's between you guys who wants to
overpay for me and uh unless he gets an offer he can't refuse this this could drag on for a little
bit. So again, I'm assuming something gets done as soon as the calendar turns over into the new year,
but it could drag on. It could drag on. The Cardinals have made some moves. It just doesn't have
to do with their roster right now. It was with their staff, more importantly. Very significant,
though. Very significant. Not as much fun, obviously, is talking about bidding on free agents
or talking about making trades of future Hall of Famers or anything like that.
But as this organization resets, they are adding people, personnel,
who they believe will help build better players from within,
which is the mission right now for the Cardinals.
They want to avoid having to pay outrageous money for players who didn't start with the Cardinals.
You know, when you bring up your own prospects instead,
You've got all those arbitration years and, you know, where you're not overpaying.
You know, you go out to the free agent market immediately.
You're overpaying for somebody, almost guaranteed.
You're overpaying for that person.
And they don't want to do it anymore.
And I don't blame them because it hasn't exactly work.
It's not like we're bringing in ring after ring every year and winning championships.
It hasn't really worked that way.
So they want to develop their own and pay those guys instead.
So our buddy Daniel Guerrero at the St. Louis Post Dispatch broke down the new hires that the Cardinals have made.
I want to run through them real quick for you.
I mean, we're not going to go into huge background checks on these guys.
But I want you to be aware of who these people are and what the Cardinals have done thus far.
The moves, according to Guerrero, include the hiring of Ryan Barba as minor league field coordinator.
Jose Lager as assistant minor league field coordinator and base running coordinator.
Austin Mine as minor league pitching coordinator.
And then Ethan go for it as the minor league catching coordinator.
Now, if I butchered some of those names,
apologize. It's not like I'm familiar with those guys, but the Cardinals have not previously
had, you know, these hires, they have not had field or base running or catching
coordinators at the minor league level, which is absolutely shocking to me. It is absolutely
shocking to me that an organization that preaches fundamentals carded away does not
have people in the minor leagues helping their prospects out with fundamentals.
Like that is mind blowing to me.
You know, and it made me think about like, like I just got a brand new grill for Christmas for
my in-laws.
Got us a new grill so I can go out there.
We can eat healthier and I can grill some stuff up.
But anyway, it's for the back deck.
And to me, it's like putting this whole grill together.
All right.
I'm going to put this whole thing together using all the.
big basic pieces, but I'm not going to use all the screws and the nuts and the bolts that are
going to keep this thing steady.
And sure, you're going to get by for a little bit.
It's going to wobble a little bit.
And eventually, though, that whole sucker is going to come tumbling down.
So you just can't do it that way.
And it made me think of the Cardinals not having coordinators in these positions all these years.
Like crazy, right?
More from Guerrero's article.
Mine is a Wright City High School graduated, played for St. Louis Community College in Lindenwood University.
He's going to take over as the Cardinals Minor League pitching coordinator.
He says the latest player development staff additions come after the Cardinals brought Larry Day as the organization's director of player development.
Carl Cochin as director of performance and Matt Pierpont as director of pitching.
Legger's move to assistant minor league field coordinator and base running coordinator comes after he spent four seasons as manager for the Cardinal.
class double a affiliate in Springfield, Missouri.
They have not announced who's going to replace them at that level yet.
Barba 40 years old served as the major league coordinator for the San Diego Padres last
season, which we all know has former Cardinal manager, Mike Schilt.
He was a minor league field coordinator for San Diego in 2022, an assistant field coordinator
and infield coordinator during the 2023 season, often played a role in preparing players
for a pinch hit or pinch run situations while also aiding their first base.
coach and planning their running game, which is great because I want to see the Cardinals utilize
that more and more. I think there's more athleticism on this roster and on this team than was
taken advantage of last year. And I run, run, run. The rules have made it so you can run. They
made it easier for you so that you'll do it more. And it'll, you know, not only will it be good for
your offense, but it excites fans. And we all know how things were back in the day when the Cardinals
used to run a lot. A lot of fans are out there enjoying those games.
Myina is a former Baltimore Orioles minor league coach.
Worked as the pitching coach for Class AA Bowie in 2024 and Class High A Aberdeen in
2023 before joining the Orioles spent just over a year as the director of pitching for
premier pitching performance, which is a training facility in Winstville.
And then Goforth is only 27 years old.
It was previously a player coach in the Pirates organization, worked as,
as a catching and game planning coach for class,
high A Greensboro in 2024,
then it's rookie ball in the Dominican Summer League in 22 and 23
and held them on a league assistant coaching role in 21.
And I know all of that is extremely boring,
behind the scene stuff,
and it's not that exciting.
I get it,
but aren't you glad as a Cardinals fan?
I know I am that they are finally taking the plunge
and addressing this stuff,
like things to make their players better players
are actually doing it now, getting them the proper coordinators and the proper coaching to teach them the right way so that they are ready when the minor, when the major leagues call upon them.
And perhaps now some of this high in talent that maybe they didn't think lived up the expectations while they were with the cardals and went on to blossom with other organizations will now develop better with the cardals, making them what we want them to be, which is a high powered prospect turning machine.
At least that's the dream, right?
So I like it.
You know, I like that they're doing it.
They said they were going to do it and they're doing it.
So good.
I do want to take us back to the 2024 roster in today's episode and discuss some of the most overrated and most underrated players that were on the team.
We'll get into that next here on Locked on Cardinals.
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Once again, thank you for making Locked on Carlin.
at today and every day you can leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter
X anytime you want your feedback is always welcome and encouraged the Cardinals had in my opinion
my humble opinion a solid roster last year you know you took a quick glance at what they
had going into the season and clearly there wasn't anything that like stood out were like
oh my gosh what a team you know there wasn't this you know these elite players that were there
but it was a solid roster.
They ended up with 83 wins.
I had predicted 84 wins at the beginning of the season.
I felt like they needed one more starting pitcher,
like top-notch starting pitcher to really kind of push them into that next level.
They didn't get that.
They went out and got Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson instead of bucking up for that after bringing in Sunny Gray.
So the thing that I take away from last year, though, is that with Nolan Aronado and Paul
Goldschmidt having crappy years.
They'll tell you themselves,
it was crappy, it wasn't good.
And only getting a half season from Wilson Contreras and still winning 83 games,
I take that as a major, major positive for this team and this roster moving forward.
Now, we're going to start with the overrated guys.
And obvious choices are Arnado and Goldsmith.
We can pick on them all we want.
You know, their names are what kept them relevant while their production dropped off
tremendously. We know this. We don't have to revisit this all the time. But easy targets.
Let's move on to another name that I don't know if this is going to ruffle feathers or not,
but I'm going to go with Lars Newbarr. Give me some Lars Newt bar as an overrated player
because Lars Newt bar, I think, and it's partly the Cardinals fall because I feel like they
hyped him up too much. I just really do. I feel like they hyped them up so much that his expectations,
at least our expectations of him,
I don't think he's ever reached those
since they brought him up.
And I remember talking about him when he did get called up.
And, you know,
I was going back on his numbers in the minor leagues
and wondering, like,
why does everyone think he's going to be so good all of a sudden?
Like, what was it that was going to click for him?
It was going to make him this,
I mean, the way the Cardinals made it sound
that he was going to be this all-star caliber player day in and day out.
Like, I just, I didn't,
get it. You know, I understand that some of his analytic stuff is really, really good. I get that.
But the basic numbers, the stuff that you see on the back of the baseball card, the stuff that we see day in and
day out, not the extended advanced numbers, but the normal stuff, the batting average, the home
runs, the runs, you know, that stuff, the basic stuff, they were always just kind of, eh.
Like, Newbar's got a superstar attitude.
Don't give you wrong there.
I love Lars Dupry.
You're a great guy.
But he was never a power hitter, never hit for high average.
So I just never understood why all these monster expectations came about for him or why he was talked up so much.
And even in the world baseball classic, I know he's batting lead off for Team Japan.
ended up winning the gold and I understand all that. But it's not, you know, nude had good numbers
during that very brief tournament. It's not like this was something that went on for months and
months. You know, everybody gets a hot seven day streak here and there. But it wasn't like he just
went bonkers in that tournament. It was hitting like 550 or something crazy. No. So I don't know.
I just never understood it. I know the injuries have been a problem. They've set him back. But even
then I just, I think nude is just a good ball player and I think that's just it. I think that's all
we should expect from him. I don't understand why any of us would think that he's going to be
any more than he already has shown where he's going to give you about 250 batting average,
1215 home runs, 60 ribbies and probably play about 115 games. Like he just has a problem with getting
dinged up during the baseball season.
I just is what it is.
I don't know why we should expect anything more than that.
He's a piece of the puzzle that you want to move forward.
You can't have superstars in every position.
Even the Dodgers, guys that are, you know, pieces of the puzzle, not superstars.
But I don't think Lars Neufar is the main cog.
We thought that he might be.
So at least by this point, you thought he would be a bigger role in what's going on with things.
and it hasn't really happened.
So I'm going to give him the overrated tag for 2024.
A couple of other names I'll mention is overrated,
despite me being a proponent of both of them,
major proponents of both of them.
This team is going to need them in a major way next year.
And that's Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman.
And it's very, very hard for me to be down on these guys
because they're young players, specifically Walker,
because I'm not down on them, really.
It's just when you are, when you get the billing as the top hitting prospect in baseball,
and two years later, you still haven't solidified your spot at the major league level and at the major league or on the major league roster.
That's bad.
That's not great, you know?
And I know it's not easy to live up to those expectations.
and but that's where he was supposed to be by now.
And here we are.
And we're hoping for great things coming up in 2025.
I have all the belief in the world that this upcoming season now that Jordan's got,
you know, this defined role, a little less pressure because there's not as much fear
of being sent down again because they want the young guys to go through the trials
and tribulations of the season.
Just because you have a bad two weeks, doesn't mean you're going to get shipped to Memphis.
Like you are.
They're like saying, you're, you're.
here. This is your spot. Right field is yours. Okay. Do your thing. And they're going to keep
them out there, too, by the way. Contreras is going to get first. And from what I heard,
Nolan Gorman is going to be your third baseman next year, if and when a deal with Nolan Aronado
is done. But I'm looking forward to what I want out of Walker is just to be, be confident, be more
confident and just play loose, man. Go out there and have some fun. You know, when you get around
guys that are your age, you feel a little more comfortable and you play a little bit better,
a little bit more loose. And now that they've kind of shaved some of these veterans off,
you know, it's going to be a younger vibe in the locker room and in the clubhouse. So I think
that's good. I think that might help these guys. Gorman, he's a little bit a different story because
he's had almost double the games and played appearances at the major league level than Jordan has already.
And again, he got sit down last year after his struggles.
But another top prospect coming up and he just hasn't figured it out.
And how to be more consistent at the major league level is really the problem for Gorman.
We know we can do it.
But also a guy, like, I'm not, I didn't give up on this guy.
I'm going to die on this Nolan Gorman Hill, I think, at some point.
but hopefully same ways that I feel about Walker, more defined role.
You know, if Nato gets moved, you are this third basement, okay?
You're not the second baseman with Donovan lurking in the background,
trying to take, you know, maybe taking that spot.
You were our third basement, all right?
You're the guy, and this is where you're going to be.
And you're going to be hitting in the meat of this order, and we believe in you.
Ups and downs, we're there with you.
So keep your head up.
A lot less pressure.
We'll see if he can unlock the consistency to be the 35, 40 home run a year type of hitter at the major league level that you've seen glimpses up.
You know, you've seen flashes that we're like, dude, this guy is just ungodly power.
But again, high prospect billing has been sent down every year that he's been up on this team.
A little bit overrated so far in his big league career.
I'll also throw this one at you just for fun just to kind of get everybody talking.
What about Ryan Helsley is overrated?
Incredible season.
Let me explain.
Incredible season breaks the save record, obviously, for the Cardinals,
wins the NL reliever of the year award.
But for those of you who watch day in and day out,
and I'm sure you're one of the everydayers
because you're listening to a Cardinals podcast at the end of December.
So you watch almost all the games too.
How many times did Helsley come out of that bullpen
and into a game, and you were, without a doubt, supremely confident that Ryan Helsley was going to finish that game and you were going to win comfortably.
I mean, he's really good.
Don't get me wrong.
Don't get me wrong.
But there was a lot of times that he would come out of that.
That door would swing open.
He'd come out and I'm like, all right, all right.
Here we go, Ryan.
This is what I need for him.
You just go throw strikes.
Trust your fast.
It was always like, oh, my gosh, can he pull through?
And then I just feel like, you know, when you have a closer that's supposed to be one of the best in baseball,
that you don't feel so stressed when they come out, you know, like I know, I know Mariana Rivera is one of the greatest of all time,
but any of the Yankees were nervous when Rivera would come into game.
No, you figured it was over, you know?
And think about today's guys.
Let me just put this out there for you.
If you had a choice, okay, and you can pick any reliever in the league to close out a game.
You get the whole league to choose from.
At what point are you choosing Ryan Helsen?
Are you choosing him first?
Or are you taking him after guys like Devin Williams or Josh Hader or Emmanuel Claisse or Evan Diaz
or Mason Miller, Johann Duran, Minnesota, Robert Suarez, San Diego, Andres Munoz in Seattle,
some guys with filthy, filthy, nasty stuff.
where in the mix there are you taking Halsley?
Because after all the accolades he got this year,
if he's not top three, does that make them overrated?
Who's for thought?
Think about it.
Think about it.
I also know some people are going to say Sunny Gray is overrated,
but I think Sunny did what I expected him to do this year.
The home runs went up, did not see that coming where it was going to be that many
home runs that he gave up.
But outside of that, this is what I expected.
and expecting him to be quite at the level he was last year or the previous year with Minnesota.
So I feel like he was pretty on par with what I expected.
But some people will say overrated for Sunny Gray.
But tell me who you think is overrated in the comments section down below.
We'll talk about some underrated players coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.
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So who are some players that don't quite get the love,
maybe that they deserve on this Cardinals roster?
I think there's only one place to really start with
because now I think people in St. Louis love him
and I don't think he's underrated in the St. Louis market.
But outside of St. Louis, you'd be hard-pressed to find a lot of people
talking about this guy.
And that is Brendan Donovan.
My man, there he is.
Cool hair.
cool smile, fun personality, Mr. Consistency. Outside of stealing bases, the guy does almost
everything that you'd want a ball player to do and beat. Among qualified hitters on the team this
past year, 278 average led the team, 14 home run, 73 ribby, second on the team, 34 doubles,
tops on the team, second in walks, first in OBP, second in slugging, first in OPS, second
and batting average with runners in scoring position, a place that the whole team pretty
much struggled outside of him and Alec Burleson and Wilson Contreras when he was healthy.
OPS plus of 112.
And I don't think anybody talks about this guy outside of St. Louis.
They don't even know who the alley is, which is sad.
But hey, good for the Cardinals because we love them.
Of course, defensively, Brandon Donovan, an elite utility player.
Let me get you a picture of them sliding here.
Look at the hair.
That's my dude right there.
That's a ball player I want to be friends with.
Yeah.
And it doesn't matter what position in these plays.
You had him in left field this year.
Right field for a little bit.
Second base, third base.
He's got you covered.
You can trust him anywhere you put him.
Committed only two errors this past season.
One at second, one at third.
None in the outfield.
Oh, and if you don't love him after all that,
makes less than a million dollars a year.
Made $757,200 to be exact this past year.
So on a team that had much bigger names, much bigger salaries,
and of course you had prospects who were supposed to be all that and then some,
Donnie was better than everybody.
Donnie was better than everybody this year.
So certainly underrated outside of St. Louis, again, in the market.
we all know and love them outside the market extremely underrated.
Kyle Gibson is a name that I'll say was underrated this year, in my opinion as well.
Doesn't look like he's going to be back next year unless some trades are made,
which is still possibility.
But outside of like five starts last year, Kyle Gibson was as dependable as you could get.
He had 30 more starts again this year, which was the fourth straight season that he's made 30 or more starts,
which is really tough to do in this day and age.
He's not an elite pitcher by any means,
but I'll tell you that I'd rather have him over Michaelis or Matt's,
and it sucks that at this moment,
he's not on this roster and those two guys are.
That sucks because you're not really putting together your best roster
when you've got him as a free agent who, as far as I could tell,
would love to pitch in St. Louis again.
Love being a cardinal.
And you got those two guys on the roster instead.
That sucks.
That's not good.
But I don't know.
Maybe something gets done and we get Cald Gibson back.
I would put Mason win on this list because I think he got passed over.
Again, not underrated in St. Louis,
but I think he got passed over by much of the league because he plays for the Cardinals.
Because if that dude was a rookie doing what he did this year but was doing it in a major market,
if he was doing it in New York or L.A.
or Chicago or any or Boston or, you know, any of the teams that, you know, Major League Baseball kisses their butts,
they'd be drooling over this guy in his skill set.
Everything you want in the ball player.
He's got the look.
He's got, you know, the ability to hit for average.
If you need him to, he's got pop.
He's got speed.
He's got the cannon arm.
He could have won a gold glove this year.
He was right up there.
dude's got it all and is in my opinion the future face of this franchise he has passed up
Jordan Walker you know and maybe Jordan catches up to him that'd be great to have them
both kicking bud their best friends why not that'd be great a little Batman and Robin thing
going on there that'd be cool but I can't wait to see him in near too I'm very excited about that
also shout out to Alec Berluson underrated as well a very quiet 269 21 home runs and 78 RBIs this
past season needs to be better against lefties so he can be an everyday player because it's hard
to keep him in the lineup when you're going to hit like 100 against left-handers.
That sucks.
But, you know, he mash his righties, no doubt about that.
So it was very impressive in his second year in the big leagues.
And I hope he's able to carve out a role as the DH or however they're going to get him
at bats because they need to specifically against right-handers.
He's got to be in there each and every time.
Let me know. Let me know. What do you guys think?
Any other underrated or overrated players that I failed to mention in this one?
You want to get some angst out and rip on some people. Go for it.
That's what we're here for.
Real quick, before we get out of here, happy birthday to my all-time favorite St. Louis Cardinal.
I got him on my wall over here.
You can't see him, though, at the moment because he is locked onto this wall.
But Ozzy Smith turns 70 years old today.
The Wizard.
As a kid, I used to watch his movie.
Ozzie the movie VHS cassette tape over and over and over.
I'd have it on in the living room.
And then our kitchen was over here and there was this white, blank wall area.
And I used to throw a racquetball up against it and just mimic all of the Ozzie Smith moves that I could do.
Could never do a backflip at any point in my life.
But he was amazing, dude.
If you've never seen highlights of him, the picks, the quickness, just how smooth he was, the dives, the accuracy, how quick he would dive.
pop up to be able to make the throw because not like he had,
you have like a Mason win type of arm or anything like that,
but he was very quick.
The release got rid of it so fast.
Switch hitter ran the bases really well.
Speed, colorful guy, you know,
was always laughing and having a good time.
Loved everything about Ozzie Smith.
Still do, still do.
So happy birthday to my favorite St. Louis Cardinal.
Happy 70th to Ozzie Smith.
Thank you for making a lockdown cartels.
Your first listen every day.
Have you haven't already.
please give us follow on Twitter X at L0 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio,
like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and love for the St. Louis Cardinals grow.
You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason,
and I will catch you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.
Happy holidays.
