Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Nolan Arenado To 1st Base?

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

- Nolan Arenado https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5947221/2024/11/26/cardinals-nolan-arenado-trade-talks-position-change/ - Trade Packages With The Red Sox https://redbirdrants.com/3-nolan-arenado-trade-packages-for-cardinals-to-capitalize-on-red-sox-interest - What If This Doesn't Work? Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?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! 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. Omaha Steaks From legendary steaks to mouthwatering desserts and more, save fifty percent off site-wide at OmahaSteaks.com. Plus, our listeners get an extra thirty dollars off with Promo Code MLB and a thirty-dollar reward card when you shop early. Ibotta Download the FREE Ibotta app now and use code LOCKEDONMLB to get 100% cash back on your Thanksgiving feast starting November 1. FanDuel You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! 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.

Nolan Aronado, the first baseman? What does this nugget of news mean for the Cardinals trading him away on today's episode of 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 fans. I'm Jady Hafford and I'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou and a lifetime fan of your St. Louis Cardinals. and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day.

You can follow me on TwitterX at JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. I do want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube. If you enjoy daily content about the Redbirds, be sure to like, subscribe, and hit the notification button so you don't miss a single episode because this right here is a show serving Cardal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball.

of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Thanksgiving week is here. Thomas Govain is here from Redbirdrance.com. You know how we call Tommy Edmund, Tommy Twobags?

I was thinking about Tommy Tuesdays with you. Does anybody call you Tommy, Thomas, or is that just a jerk move? No, the last time I, The last time I've been called Tommy, I can't think of it. I was called Tom by my kindergarten teacher and didn't answer because I was always told my name is Thomas. All right. Well, we will not have to we could do Thomas Tuesdays.

I don't know. We'll work on that. Tuesdays with Thomas maybe. Yeah, something like that. We'll come up with something clever. We're smart guys. Thanksgiving coming up this week. What are your plans with the family?

Do you guys have to travel at all or do you get to stay home? Yeah, we're going to venture the I-70 East trip from Kansas City to St. Louis. We'll see if we can beat some traffic, work around it. My family's there. So we'll go visit them and spend a few days with them. Oh, very nice. Very nice. Do you have to do any cooking at all, or do you just get to eat?

Nobody wants me to cook. So I get to avoid that. Yeah. Are you staying where you are for Thanksgiving or are you traveling too? We stay with the wife's family because I have hockey games and stuff that I have to do. So it's tough around the holidays. They always schedule games right around the holidays because everybody's off work. So I'm always starting.

doing PA work for the hockey team then. But either way, looking forward to it. Also looking forward to finally getting some answers about Nolan Aranaato. We keep creeping closer and closer to the winter meetings. And that's when we think things will pick up even more for the Cardinals. But Nolan Arnato trade talk is seemingly everywhere right now. And rightfully so, I know some people are probably sick of hearing about it. But, you know, we're talking about a future Hall of Famer being traded away.

from the St. Louis Cardinals, which is not something that normally happens on the streets of St. Louis, man. Normally we're trying to acquire people like this, not ship them out. But these are, you know, our dads or our grandpas cardinals anymore. Things are a little bit different right now.

Things are changing. Things are evolving. And most people around the league do believe that Nolan Aronado's time with the Cardinals will likely come to an end at some point in this off season. Now, there's still no reports that Nolan Aronado has asked. for a trade. All we've heard is that if he's willing, if the Cardinals want to feel the things out with around the league and see what they can find, he's cool with that. He understands that,

but he's not saying, get me out of St. Louis or else. It's not one of those situations. But we did get a report today, Thomas, from Katie Wu at the athletic, that Nolan is willing to play first base, or at least less third base, to create roster flexibility for a potential new team. League sources briefed on this situation say the Cardinals have been exploring Aronado's potential trade market for weeks. Those conversations preliminary in nature have yet to yield any progress. Still a few teams have expressed initial interest per league source as the winter meetings approach. Talks are likely to intensify and there is a growing sense throughout the industry that Aranaa will be on the move. She says this of course does not guarantee Aranaana

will be traded. The cardinals' efforts to move the eight-time All-Star are complicated. He's got the full no trade clause. There's the money remaining on his deal, $74 million over the next three seasons, which is broke up in a bunch of different ways that we don't really have to go into. But according to her, the cardals likely would resist eating significant money in a trade, which is something that you and I have brought up before, that, you know, if they're going to move any of these high-priced veterans, are probably going to have to eat some of their salaries.

But she says potential suitors might resist giving up better talent if they could not acquire Aronado. at a discounted rate. Loseilock will not trade Aronado solely for the sake of moving him. Any potential return would have to make sense for the Cardinal's short-term and long-term plans. This will not be a salary dump. Katie article you can read at the athletic. Let's start with the first base thing, Thomas. What does that say to you that arguably the greatest fielding third basement of all time coming off being a gold glove finalist yet again? so it's not like his powers have deteriorated so badly that he can't move over there.

But he is willing to move to first base to facilitate a trade. What does that say to you about it? It's curious. Yeah, his defense has gone down the last two years, but it's still very good compared to the rest of the league. You mentioned gold glove finalists and all that. I don't know why he wants to move to first base unless there's a team that he really wants to go to and they have a legitimate third baseman already.

I can't think of any teams off top of my head that fit that bill, but as far as contenders go to the Detroit Tigers might be someone who fits that bill, who need a first baseman. That's the only reason I think he might consider moving there is there's a better third baseman already there, and he wants to go to that team, so then he would waive his no trade clause for that. It doesn't make too much sense to me.

His glove is his calling card at this point, so to take that away and put an average offensive player to first base, that's usually a premium offensive spot. That's curious. Yeah. And it also kind of the first thing I thought I was like, does that mean he really wants out pretty badly where he's like, I don't really want to be here? Again, this is just me thinking out loud.

Is that is that the vibe that you come with? That he's just like, well, I mean, if that's what it takes, I'm ready to roll because he's ready to win a championship wherever he gets traded to. And obviously, like you said, he can tell. the Cardinals, no, I'm not going to that team. I'm going wherever the hell I want. So he might have just one, two, maybe three teams that he's interested in going to. And if one of them doesn't need him as a third baseman, that would be the reason why. Yeah, exactly. He's probably trying to find a team that has third base, needs first base,

and he really wants to go there. The teams that match those criteria are pretty small, though. Are you on board with the Cardinals? Because what I come from this article, too, is that the Cardinals are playing a little bit of hardball here with the league? Or do you think that they should just move on from this, trade him, get it over with, despite not that many teams needing a Nolan Aronado at this point of his career? I like it. I think he still has significant value. What that value is, I don't quite know.

But he still has pretty good value. He's a plus defender at third base. If he moves to first base, that probably saps some of his value. He's at least an average offensive player, and if he goes to the right stadium, he could see a boost in his offensive numbers. Bush Stadium just kind of sucks everything out of everybody offensively. I think they should play as hard as they can just to get what they need back. They're a team that's in a reset, rebuild, retool, whatever you want to call it.

They need as many legitimate young guys as they can or near MLB-ready players. And No-Anon Arnato is somebody who can still net that return for the Cardinals even after his last two seasons. And I also like the fact that they're admitting that we don't have to trade this guy. It's not like it has to happen or else this team's going to fold. It's not a situation like that where, oh, man, what are we going to do? Like if we don't get rid of them now, we're screwed. It's not a situation at all. They can afford him if they want to.

They obviously still love him. And I still think there's a place for him on this team. I would love to see him stick around and help some of these younger guys. we saw it a little bit last year where he started to, you know, that that come to Jesus thing where he was like, you know, I'm starting to realize I'm not, you know, in my prime anymore. And it's time for me to kind of take on the mentor role. And, you know, it's going to take me spending time with younger guys instead of staying over here with the old guys if I want to be the better teammate. And I thought it was good for Nolan last year. I like him being around some of these youthful guys. But, you know, I completely

understand both sides of the equation here, whether the Cardinals decide to hang on to them or no one's ready to get out. You can't really blame anybody for making a move. One of the teams, you mentioned that getting him to a stadium where it's better for his type of swing and stuff. And I brought up, you know, where the Houston Astros just seems like a perfect fit for Nolan Aronado. Another one that we talked about briefly yesterday was the Boston Red Sox. And Thomas, you just put out an article this morning at Redbirdrance.com about some trade ideas that it would be the Cardinals and the Red Sox coming together on a deal. And I want to go through those coming up next with Thomas Covey for Redbirdbrance.com on Locked on Cardinals. Love the holidays, but hate grocery shopping.

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tis the season for the trade ideas. We talked about a couple of possible deals with the Yankees yesterday, which involved one of their top prospects and Jason Dominguez, a lot of feedback on that one, which we will get into in a future episode. So if you miss those, please go check them out. But today we're talking about the Red Sox. We got Thomas Govain from Redwardrance.com.

We just released an article up at Redbirdrance.com, talking about some possible trades with the Boston Red Sox. Now, this is a team that's got some curious things going on. You talk about Nolan Arnado positing. He's like, hey, you know, maybe I'll play a little first base. The Red Sox are a team that got a stud third baseman on the offensive side, but he sucks on defense. Raphael Devers is terrible at third base.

Like, he is brutal. He has led to the American League in airs at third base for seven years in a row. He's no good. He's not going to get any better. So we might as well move on from that if you're Boston. But they got another young guy interest in Casas, who was hurt a lot this past year, but bright future, 24 years old.

But they talked about maybe Devers moving over there. Then there's been talk about Casas getting traded for pitching help for the Red Sox. So there's some moving parts here that seem to kind of make sense. If Aranato was traded to Boston, you can see why there might be an interest there. There's also talk about them being in. on the Juan Soto sweep steak. So everybody's kind of waiting on that and find out where he goes before everybody can start moving around for their backup plans.

But Cardinals are just kind of waiting right now in a holding pattern just to see how the whole market shifts and where Arana would be a good fit at. Boston seems like a good one. We talk about ballparks where his type of swing being the pull hitter that he is, how that can be better utilized. and obviously with the green monster and left field, short porch, I feel like he would be quite happy playing there at Fenway Park. And you came up with a few ideas of some trades that would make sense for both sides. Where would you like to start? So there's three different types of trades.

One is contract for contract. Arnautton is expensive. Find a guy in their team that's expensive. The other is Aronado for a prospect. And then the third is probably the most complicated package that you could ever imagine, including R&A. I'll start with the contract to contract one. And this would be Aronado for Masataka Yoshida, who is at this point should be a full-time DH.

He's miserable in the outfield, but his offense is pretty good. He's a high on base guy. He is set to have 54 million over the next three years. So a little bit less than Aronado, but you throw in Nado's defense, it probably balances out. We wouldn't need to send anything else. so it's just straight up Arnato for Yoshita. This can move Brendan Donovan or Nolan Gorman to third. The other person can stay at second base.

So J.C. gets to be a full-time util guy in the infield. And then our outfield stays the way it is. Yoshita can be the team's primary DH, especially against right-handed pitchers. It's probably the easiest route. And then Boston can move Devers to DH. And the rest of their lineup remains untouched. Okay. All right.

That's an interesting one. you know because the cardinals talking about dhs next year you know we they don't really have like one guy whether it's like this guy will be our dh you know it's kind of a kind of a cycle like i guess you know gorman against righties and then somebody else coming in against lefties there's going to be contraris is it going to be baker they don't really have a full-time answer there and this would do that for it yeah it should um i've always been a proponent of like one guy is your primary dh and then you can shift for handedness of pitchers And so Yushita would fit that bill for the Cardinals.

Okay. All right. Number two, now we're dipping into some prospects here, talking about a pitching prospect from the Red Sox, which is something, by the way, and I talked about this in yesterday's show where they don't have a lot. They're very strong in like everyday players. Like they got a lot of those guys at the top of their list of a prospect.

Not as many pitchers, which is something the Cardinals are always going to be looking for, but you found one that might make some sense for that. Yeah, his name is Luis Perales. I hope I pronounced it correctly. He is coming off Tommy John surgery. He had it in June. So if we're trading for him now, he's only 21. Don't expect anything until 2026 out of the guy.

But when he did pitch this year, he's got a 70-grade fastball on an 80-grade scale, which is ridiculous. He threw just 33.2 innings, but he had 2.94 ERA in that time. He's got a good slider and a decent change-up. I think he'd be a nice pickup. I would imagine that Boston's not looking for too much from him coming off of the surgery. But if we trade for him now, he can work in our system for the next year and a half, rehab a little bit, and then see what we can get out of him in a couple years when he's a little bit older, a little bit more refined as well.

The Cardinals would probably have to send some money with Ardado. In this case, I gave him $10 million just to help offset some of the remaining costs of his contract. You're such a giving person, Thomas. It's so nice. It's that time of the year, yeah. 10 million. 10 million. No big deal, right? And one thing to just to remind fans that the Red Sox have one of the best farm systems. Time bloom right now. And Perales is actually, according to MLB pipeline, he's their number nine prospect, but he is their top pitching prospect according to their latest ranking. So it's not like we're talking about a guy who's just barely inside their top 30 or something. No, this is a guy that people, really do believe in. He's just coming off an entry. And that's why he might be available,

considering they would get, you know, a future Hall of Famer, no biggie. And $10 million from Thomas because, you know. Yeah, like. And then finally, you've got this mega deal that you put together. And I'm very curious to see what fans are saying about this particular one just because of the, here's the thing. Cardinal fans, the players that are on the Cardinals are always, worth more to us than to anybody else. Like we just were kind of blinded by that. And that's okay. I mean, a lot of fan bases are this way.

But you're shipping a few people out and you're going to get some prospects in return on this one. And you're giving out more money to Boston on this one. Tell us about this mega deal between the Red Sox and the Cardinals. I knew I wanted to do a mega deal for the third one. This is the third edition of what I had at one point. There was New Bar was going over. I have no clue what I was doing here. But it's Arnaudo.

It's Ryan Helsley. It's Gordon Grycepho. And it's $15 million this time. And in return, we get their number seven prospect, Yolen Cespitus. I don't think there's a relation to Jonas Cespedus. But we get Yonin Cespitus. He's the number seven prospect. He's a shortstop.

And then their number 13 prospect, right-handed pitcher, Richard Fitz. They get Arnado. They get Halsley to beef up their bullpen, which is something that they're looking to do this year. And then we send him Gordon Gricepho, who could probably be a back-end MLB starter, at least by midpoint next year. He's been in baseball long enough that somebody might want to try him out there. And then in Cestepidus, we get an infielder for the future.

He is only 19, I think. Yeah, he's still only 19, but he's slashed 319, 400, 615. and rookie ball last year of five home runs in fewer than 100 plate appearances. People are really high on him. Don't take his number seven ranking as gospel because, like you said, Boston's farm system is ridiculous. And then we also get Richard Fitz, who is just essentially a better Gordon Grispo. His fastball is a little bit more lively. It can touch 98, 99.

He's probably best as a back-end starting pitcher, but there's some assurance there. I mean, how many times if the Cardinals have been able to produce legitimate number four or number five starting pitchers. So instead of having to pay $14 million for Kyle Gibson, we get this guy for league minimum. And he could probably start next year for us. Fitz could. All right. So you've got this huge deal here. You're trading away the best closure in the National League, a Hall of Fame third baseman. And I'm just thinking what you can't put it like Thomas. You're going to give these guys away. You're going to get 19-year-old short step. and maybe a number five starting pitcher.

So I know it sounds bad, but you got to think about this in the long term. And if you could use, you know, a guy like, not Perales, but suspicists, who again, you mentioned like because their farm system is so good, he's actually like I'm looking at him right now, the fourth shortstop in Boston's rankings here. And all four of them are in the top seven.

and he's number seven. That's how many short drops these dudes got. So you're taking somebody away from there, you know, where they've gotten abundance of talent available and you're able to flip it for some very expensive dudes. And that's kind of what the Cardinals are trying to do right now. If they're going to trade these guys,

they want prospects who have a high ceiling and, you know, are thinking down the road. We're not thinking about next year. So when, you know, Thomas says, you know, he's 19, It's got a bright future. And you're like, dude, when are we ever going to see this guy? You got to think about the long term because it's not all about next year, which is what the Cardinals have done for so long,

where they're always worried about next year. And that's how they kind of dug this hole for themselves in the first place. So you just got to think differently. And I know it's weird and it's outside the box, but these are the type of things you got to think about, which is why you know, you're sitting there going, I had like three different deals going. That's why it's a difficult thing to do.

The first two are pretty easy to formulate. this last one was tough. I think Cardinal fans are so not used to trading MLB guys from prospects. We don't quite know what we're doing, Thomas. We have no idea with this. This is weird. This is bizarre a world to us. Yeah, and prospects are valued so differently in every organization. Unless you're in the meetings, you have no clues going on. So I know Cuspitus is a rising prospect. Richard Fitz has some assurance. This is probably realistic for what we can expect out of Ardado and Helsley together. All right. Well, we want to hear your thoughts. obviously we're going to put the link to the article so you can hear all the input that he's got on there at redwood grants.com.

We'll stick that into the description and in the show notes down below. So make sure you guys check that out. And they're always coming up with fresh new trade packages and ideas and stuff over at redbirdbrants.com. So make sure you guys check out all the different articles. Here's a thing that you spotted. And it was in Derek Gould's chat the other day. And you told me about, you know, I'm like, I just don't think this way.

But the question was brought up. What if this doesn't work? What happens? What do the Cardinals do next? We're going to dive into that coming up on Locktown Cardinals. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fanduel. America's number one sportsbook because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandil Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL and it's all in one place.

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Thank you again for making Locktown Cardinals your first list. Today for your second list and find Locked on MLB. Our baseball guru, Sully brings you a daily blend of humor in baseball, keeping you updated to all the teams during this offseason as the Wants Soto sweeps, thanks, continues to keep everything on hold, basically. He's got the latest info for you there. You can find Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast.

Again, Thomas Govain from Redbirdrance.com joins us today. Thomas, I'm a positive guy, all right, for the most part, which drives some people nuts. They're just like, dude, can you be upset about something ever? But I'm just, that's just who I am. That's how I'm built. But not everyone shares my enthusiasm about the Cardinals' new direction. I think it's been easier for me because I've just accepted it because it's going to happen whether you like it or not. So you might as well jump on board and figure out this way to make this work for you.

But it was brought up, what if it doesn't work? What if all of this just fails miserably? Where do the Cardinals go from here? What are your thoughts on that particular question? Well, when you put it that way, it's possible. That's the risky run when you play a bunch of young guys out there who are not proven MLB ready. However, we have been letting it ride with expensive veterans for the last two or three years, and it hasn't been successful.

So let's do it for cheaper at least. And if it falls apart, then at least we're not spending $190 million. We're spending $130 million. I think it would hurt more emotionally if the young guys don't do it, that has the last two years when the old guys haven't done it, because these are supposed to be the players for the next four or five years. If it doesn't go well next year or the year after that in the first couple of iterations, then that doesn't spell much success for the future.

Invers could hit reset again after 2025 or after 2026. So let's all hope and pray that it does go well. Well, we're definitely hoping and praying. I'm of the mindset that I'm not as nervous about what's going to happen this year. It was something that you and I were texting about where you're like, well, you know, at least expectations won't be, hey, NL Central's championship or bust, man, where, you know, this is what is expected. This year, we're not really sure, like, what exactly the team is going to be

because there are so many question marks that surround this team. because of the youth. You know, we're talking about, is Jordan Walker going to be the guy that we all hoped he would be? I certainly have not given up on him yet, but you should see the comments section. If you were like, oh, Jordan Walker was supposed to be this crown jewel sucks.

Get him out of here. And I'm like, wow, wow, dude. He's like 22 years old. Like they're already, you know, haven't we seen this movie before where we're like, okay, this guy's not good enough. We ship him out. and then he goes and tears it up for somebody else.

That's the whole point is like we don't want to do this anymore. It doesn't make a lot of sense. And I brought up yesterday talking about the contract for you say Kukuchi that he's signed. You know, he got this three-year deal and he's going to make $21 million a season. And we're talking about a guy. Is he really even that good? And you're going to pay him $21 million per? That's where this market is right now.

And it just doesn't make sense to do it this way anymore, at least in my. eyes. And I don't care. I know we got a billionaire owner. I understand that. And he's got all the money in the world. But at the same time, is this the smart way to go about it? I mean, it hasn't worked for the Phillies. They didn't win a championship that way. I mean, the Dodgers had to put together. Yeah, they got a crazy payroll. But you saw what Shohei Otani did with his contract. And they also put together like three MVP dudes. And they've got, you know, for a long time, they've had this great farm system, which has allowed them to go outing. get some of these guys. So when we say like, you know, the Dodgers, oh, they went out and bought a championship,

not necessarily. They built a great farm system and then used that stuff to go find these pieces. Yeah, they spent some money in free agency, but they didn't do it the same way that the Phillies have been doing. Yeah, right. And I think that one of the benefits of this season is that we can see what these players are. The cardinals have been stuck in this run of holding on to guys for too long and then trading them for no value. like Tyler O'Neill or Dylan Carlson or trading guys too early and not seeing what they can become because they're trying to make these playoff pushes. Randy Rosarena, Adelaise Garcia, Sandy Alcantra, all those guys. So now we can at least see A, who's going to be on this team for the next four years,

and then B, who can we trade now that we know they're not legitimate players? And they probably won't come back to bite us in the butt down the road. Yeah, and that's another thing is where, you know, people like, well, if we trade for prospects, do we know how to develop them and stuff? And I'm like, well, that's something that they're working on. They're trying to be better at that to make sure that they don't fail these prospects that they get the utmost out of them each and every time. But you see those names where, you know, they did develop these guys.

It's not like they went to other team systems and then played for five years and then got called up. Like these guys went to other teams immediately and made an impact. So the Cardinals were able to develop some of these guys, you know, for a lot of what their career is, you know, the, the Zach Gallons and the Sandy Alcontra's and the Doleys guy, they were all in the Cardinals system for a few years. Then they got traded. And then they went on to have success. But it's not like they learned a bunch of new stuff over a three or four year period with these other teams. You know, the Cardinals had developed those guys. Yeah, absolutely. They're able to continue that. They just, they just ended up trading them earlier. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's, that's what the goal is now. is to A, see what we have in the guys that are major league ready, and then B, build up our farm system development process so we can keep them and make them our own. Yeah. And, you know, there's a bright future in our system, not only with guys already on the roster. You know, you're seeing how young the Cardinals are getting, but also you've got a JJ Weatherholt who's coming up through the system who people are losing their minds over because he's been so good so far.

people are very excited about him. Chase Davis, a former first round pick, starting to become that guy that they thought he was going to be when they took him in the first round. So there is the future. The idea is to develop some of these other guys that they've taken in the later rounds, you know, like a third, a fourth, fifth round, make them an impact on the major league roster. And I'm excited about it. I, you know, I'm tired of them paying for guys like a Michael is and a Stephen Mats and spending all this money on guys who, in my opinion, aren't worth the money. Yeah, absolutely. Michaelis will not get butts in the seat either. Mason Wynn and Jordan Walker might. So I think that the ownership group sees the benefits there too. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you taking time out today. Make sure you hit up Thomas on Twitter at Thomas Govane. You can also follow all his work at Redwood Rance.com. Thomas, I want you to have an awesome Thanksgiving. I appreciate you, as always, for coming on each week and being a part of things.

Absolutely. Same too. Happy Thanksgiving. All right. And happy Thanksgiving to all of you guys. Thank you for making Locktown Cardinals, your first list in every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on TwitterX at Ella underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio, like, subscribe on YouTube, and 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 Locktime Cardinals.