Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - SNUBBED: St. Louis Cardinals SHOCK Fans by Leaving Nelson Velazquez Off Opening Day Roster!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The opening day roster is said, and there is one major omission that's got a lot of fans scratching their heads. 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 fans. I'm J.D. Hafford. And this episode is brought to you by MLB, the show, 26. Visit MLB, the.com, slash locked on and use code locked on to unlock a pass. for use in Diamond Dynasty,

Starting point is 00:00:36 available now on PlayStation 5 Xbox and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. On today's show, final exhibition, game in Springfield, before the team heads to St. Louis, we're going to talk about that. But today's main focus is the decision-making that was made yesterday.

Starting point is 00:00:56 It was announced before Monday night, before the teams took the field, and it has to do with the final roster, the final roster is set. Now we're not going to go through each and every one of the guys who are on the active roster, the way we did with the pitching staff in yesterday's show. We can do that tomorrow. But there was one major surprise. Unless you've been under a rock, you probably heard about it already. It was one that caught a lot of people off guard, including myself. And that was that Nelson, I'm choked up talking about it. And that was that Nelson Velasquez did not. I repeat, he did not make the opening day roster, which is a bit shocking. Arguably, the best hitter on the team throughout the spring. He batted 357, which led the team among guys who got normal playing time. Let's go through these stats real quick because he did a lot of great things, things that I thought the Cardinals wanted. 357 batting average. He had four home runs. That was the

Starting point is 00:01:57 most on the team. He had 10 ribbies, most on the team. Recorded 15 hits, most on the team. scored eight times tied for most on the team walk seven times tied for second on the team he only struck out four times which was a big deal if you recall any of the stats that we brought up about the last has his previous stents with the the cubs and the royals the strikeouts were a problem yeah there was pop but he he wasn't putting the ball in play very often so to see him cut that down to where he did in the spring fantastic had an o bp a 449 second behind only Burleson among players with regular playing time. Slug 667, highest on the team among those regular players.

Starting point is 00:02:40 OPS, 1.116, highest on the team among a regular player. So I considered him to be almost a lock to be on the roster. So what gives? What happened here? And honestly, I get it. Doesn't mean I have to like it, but I get it. How does the 27-year-old right-handed hitting outfielder, who you repeatedly said was something you were searching for,

Starting point is 00:03:08 right-handed power that can play the outfield? All right, you got him. He goes out, he performs like that, and then he does not make your roster. And the answer is the 40-man roster. That's essentially what happened here. And it was the one thing that we were a little bit worried about. If you saw any of the comments in the sections below the videos,

Starting point is 00:03:31 and stuff that were, you know, I'm going back and forth with people. That was a question that many people had was like, well, who goes if Velasquez makes the team? We know J.J. Weatherhall was making the team. There's going to be some movement. Something's got to happen. Now the 40-man roster, let me quickly explain this for those who aren't familiar because not everybody knows everything about this stuff, you know, it's kind of technical. But it's basically the group of players that are under contract with the team who are eligible to be,

Starting point is 00:04:01 brought up to play in the major leagues on the active roster on that 26 man roster. Players on the injured list, selected minor leaguers, obviously the normal 26 guys you'd have. Players got to be on this list to get called up to be activated and join the Cardinal. So, you know, when we went through the whole thing this offseason with guys like Joshua Baez and Leo Bernal getting added to the 40 man, they had to do that to protect these guys so that they wouldn't get taken away in the Rule 5 drafts and stuff by other teams. They didn't want to have to pass these guys through waivers or anything like that where other guys can grab them. So you got to get on that 40 man first and foremost.

Starting point is 00:04:42 Nelson Velazquez is not on the 40 man. He didn't get a major league offer. He wasn't on the 40 man roster. So to add him to that group of 40 people to become a member of the active 26 that you see in St. Louis, there would have had to be a move made to get him on there and remove somebody else off. The 40-man roster for the Cardinals has been very full throughout this offseason. And when I looked at it, there were two names that stood out to me that I thought could go on the 60-day I-L. So when you move a guy to the 60-day I-L, they don't count against your 40-man anymore.

Starting point is 00:05:23 So it essentially opens up a spot. and there were two guys that I thought would fit that bill for the 60 day IL, not even talking about Lars Newpar, who there's still kind of, I don't know, we don't know what we're doing yet. We hope he's back sooner than that. But the names that I saw there were Toccoa Robey, who we know went with surgery last year. So as far as I know, he's out for the whole year, right?

Starting point is 00:05:46 Like, he's going to be rehabbing. So you can put him on there. And then Cooper Jerpy, who was returning from his surgery. I don't know if he's ready. I don't know where he's at as far as the rehab and stuff. So I thought he was a really good candidate for 60 day I. But those are two pitcher spots or opposition player spots. And I don't want to sound uninformed.

Starting point is 00:06:07 But that was just the way I looked at it. Like, okay, well, if you're going to move those two and you don't have any other pitchers that you want to add right away, those would be the spots for Velazquez and JJ. And I figured one of either Jose Fermin or Thomas O.J.C. would get. sent down instead. Now I brought this up before. Jose Fermin is out of minor league options. So you would have to put Jose, if you wanted to put him into the minor leagues, you had to put him through waivers, which means the other teams would get a chance to claim him and take him away from you. Apparently that was not something that they were willing to risk.

Starting point is 00:06:46 I find Jose Fermin to be a solid ball player, but there's nothing through the eye test. There's nothing that makes him special in my eyes. Like he's fine, but they didn't want to change that. They wanted to keep him. So if I, if I'm wrong about any of that stuff, which I don't think I am, but if I am, then I apologize. But I think that's all correct. And there's also another side of those two,

Starting point is 00:07:15 that it's not just 40 man number crunching type of stuff where, you know, there's just not enough spots for everybody. And maybe I didn't focus on this enough during the spring. but what was the level of competition that Nelson Velazquez was facing day and day out? Were they major league guys for the most part? Or were they minor league guys who are working on things? Because Derek Gould of the Post Dispatch pointed this outset, assigning him to AAA Memphis will get a chance to build on his strong spring

Starting point is 00:07:42 by showing the contact rate from Grapefruit League games translates to the regular season, along with the power the cardals will crave. In the article, Gould continued saying, you know, Ali Marmal spoke with Velasquez on Monday morning. that his message was essentially perform with Memphis and force our hand. Now, personally, I felt he had already done that with his performance in the spring, but maybe that wasn't the case. You know, maybe there were some things that they want to see more from him.

Starting point is 00:08:09 No, he is not a very good defensive outfielder. I get that. The idea that Ivan Herrera may not be ready to catch day in and day out, probably had something to do with this as well, because now you're carrying three catchers, essentially, with Herrera, Pahas, and Poso. So if Herrera needs to get off his legs early on in the season, you've got Posa who can fill in,

Starting point is 00:08:32 you got Pahas, who can fill in. So I assume that that went into this decision making as well. But we all know, here's what it looks like, okay? Because you can go in this and I can find ways why this makes sense, but you can also look at it where the Cardinals tend to reward guys that they are familiar with. Velazquez did not come up in the system. He's not one of their guys.

Starting point is 00:08:54 They like to kind of stay in their comfort zones, and both Fermin and Sejacy have been here for a couple of years now, so I'm sure that that helped. Another thing that Gould brought up, too, was their comfort with Fermin and Sejc and the outfield now, that they like what they saw from them this spring. But another thing that we need to remind everyone, too, because we all get worked up about this.

Starting point is 00:09:19 We freak out, and that's just being a, fan. That's part of the word fanatic. That's why we're like we are the way we are. But just because things are the way they are right now for the opening day roster doesn't mean that in a week or two, things aren't going to change. The guys aren't going to get hurt or underperformed. They've changed their minds on things. And that would open up the door for any of the young guys at Memphis and not just the last guess, you know. The team didn't have to bring him to St. Louis. But they have invested a lot of time and effort and have a commitment to guys like Jordan Walker, Victor Scott, Jose for mean, Thomas Jacey, the decision to keep Joel Pozo, obviously, loved what he brought to the team last year.

Starting point is 00:09:58 So they wanted to heap them around. All of that hurt Velasquez's chances. My guy Nathan Church, I love him. Earned his spot for sure by the numbers that he put up this spring. And I'm very much psyched for his opportunity. But from the outside, when it first happened, it just felt like a very John Moseilock move, you know, not aggressive, very safe. we'll kind of see what happens type of move and honestly it just didn't jive with what the feeling I had about what this camp was doing uh it just kind of went against it and then it was like

Starting point is 00:10:31 we kind of slipped into the old same old cardinal type of stuff which is not what any of us want you know we we want to be aggressive about things and take this path and go this way with it i understand it i understand the move as an organization I do they were able to keep the guys. They didn't have to make a lot of changes. Velasquez goes down and he's going to get a chance to play every day at Memphis and see if he can continue to do what he was doing. But it doesn't mean we got to like it. You know, I was hoping to see him up on the team. I wanted to see him in the lineup right away to see if he could continue what he did this spring at the major league level. That's what I wanted

Starting point is 00:11:12 to see because if he had failed, then you ship him out. But at the same time, that would have cost somebody else a spot and they weren't willing to do that. So I get it, but you don't have to like it, right? In the spirit of competition, Velazquez was better than Jose Fermin all spring. Like there wasn't anything that Jose Fermin did that was better than Nelson Velasquez except maybe defense, all right, which in the spring, I'm not really paying as much attention to what the outfield defense is looking like. But in the end, the 40 man decided this more than spring training stats. So that's just kind of the way it is. He's not gone from the organization.

Starting point is 00:11:48 he's going down to Memphis and if he continues to rake and like Ali said, force, force their hand, make us bring you up again, then it'll happen. One name that did make the team, though, and that should put a smile on everybody's face is JJ Weatherholt. He's here. The era has begun. Weatherholt is going to be with the Cardinals from opening day. Officially made the squad. So we'll discuss him. And we've also got to talk about the game in Springfield from Monday night. All of this on the way on lockdown. Cardinals. Today I'm thrilled to be talking about our sponsor, MLB, the show 26. Greatest game in baseball. It's back with this newest installment. And I've been all over this sucker. Got my

Starting point is 00:12:34 Cardinals team built on Diamond Dynasty. I still trying to get Liam Doyle. You got to go through the Conquest map. But I got Musial. I got Victor. I also, excuse me, made a move where I went and got Willie McGee from the San Francisco Giants. I was able to complete part of their affinity stuff. And so I got Willie McGee, who's in a San Francisco Giants uniform in like the card that it shows. But we all know he's a cardinal at heart. So I got him in right field right now. Roland, Cheney's, Weatherhole, Carpenter, Rodriguez, Herrera, Gibson. You know, I got this team up and roaring.

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Starting point is 00:15:34 This is not, you know, show Hey Otani not making the team or something. Like it was something that it was a fresh name. It was a new name. And so we were excited to see what he could do. And maybe we uncovered something special. But with all of this talk about Velasquez, it kind of took the attention off of the fact that JJ Weather, Holt has made the major league roster.

Starting point is 00:15:57 It is going to make his major league debut on opening day with the team against the Tampa Bay Rays. And this is exciting. This is one of the top young prospects in baseball. Sky's the limit with this kid, right? You know, didn't have what I would consider a great spring by any means. I mean, you look at his numbers. He only hit 212.

Starting point is 00:16:16 Remember he got off to a really hot start and then things faded away a little bit. Hit 212, a couple home runs, seven ribbies, a couple of stolen bases. but he also had nine walks, which is really key. None of these numbers are like mind blowing by any means, but this is the right time for JJ to begin his major league career. There's no pressure, right? There's nothing. And he also didn't have anything left to prove at Memphis.

Starting point is 00:16:40 You know, he dominated there in the second half of the season after he got promoted from Springfield. So there's nothing to send him down there for. There's nobody blocking him on the major league roster. Service time be damned. Let's go. We want to see this kid play. You know, he had a rough start defensively in the field,

Starting point is 00:16:58 the first few days of spring training, but seemed awfully comfortable the rest of the way. Majority of the time, he's going to be at second base. We know that. That's his world. It's going to be JJ and Mason up the middle, which is a freaking beautiful young core that you got right there. I mean, think about the Cardinals up the middle right now.

Starting point is 00:17:17 If Victor Scott's offense can turn around, Mason wins can get a little bit better. But think about that with Victor. Mason, JJ, you got Ivan Herrera as your catcher. Remember the good cardinal teams have always been strong up the middle, and they're building something there. Obviously, it's not polished and it's not perfect yet, but certainly should be very good, you know, for years to come.

Starting point is 00:17:42 At least that's the hope. But I'm sure he's going to get some time at shortstop, possibly third base as well. My bold prediction, so we just released the NL Central Preview show, for Locked-on. And a lot of it was making fun of me because all the teams in the league or in our division are excited about the fact

Starting point is 00:18:03 that the Cardinals aren't expected to be very good this year. And they can kick a little dirt on us right now because all this time for year after year after year for decades, it's been the Cardinals who have been the cream of the crop in the NL Central. So this time around, they were kind of teasing me for the most part. But JJ Weatherholt, my bold prediction, was that he was going to be the NL rookie.

Starting point is 00:18:23 of the year. And there weren't a lot of arguments with me on that one. They were like, dude, we realize this. Other teams realize how special JJ can be. And one of the things he's got on his side to win an award like that is that he's going to get all the playing time in the world to prove that, you know, this isn't just hype, that there's more than this, that all of this good talk that we have about him, all of the accolades and stuff that they're actually warranted. The numbers in college and in the minors say that he should be a fantastic player for years to come. Great attitude. And this is a part that I love.

Starting point is 00:18:59 I mean, outside of the physical tools of J.J. Weatherholt, his attitude, his demeanor, you know, he's a baseball junkie. He loves to play and learn about the game and find ways to improve himself. Constantly, you know, talks about never, never settling and always striving to be better, which is something you love to hear from a young player. somebody's got drive like that that doesn't say, you know, look how good I am. My ish doesn't stink at all. You know, he's not like that at all.

Starting point is 00:19:31 He always wants to improve and be better, find different ways to become better. Not everybody is like that. He also appears to have a great attitude about the game itself. Like when I say that, I'm talking about knowing that mistakes are going to happen in this game of baseball. You're out there a ton, 162 games. There's going to be a lot of baseballs hit and put in play. And he's going to have some rough days in the field and at the plate. He's going to make errors.

Starting point is 00:19:59 But he certainly comes off as somebody who won't dwell when things go bad. You know, we've seen guys in a cardinal uniform before. Still might have a couple of those guys that appear to get down on themselves fairly quickly. And it's hard to bust out of slumps or improve on things. when all you're thinking about is your last error or that last strikeout. It feels like JJ is mentally prepared for what this season is going to bring, which is, you know, it's probably going to be a lot of ups and downs. I mean, nobody's expecting him to come out and just start hitting 3.30 with 25 bombs,

Starting point is 00:20:35 30 stolen bases is awesome as that would be. The talent is there to do it, but it's not likely going to happen in your rookie year. offensively, the thing that stood out to me the most this spring was the plate discipline, his willingness to take a walk, to not try to do too much at the plate, to not chase just to put bat on ball. And it's what might make him the perfect leadoff hitter for this team in the early parts of the season. This lineup's going to fluctuate. You know, if JJ is leading off for the first week, he could be batting second the next week. He could go down to seventh at some point.

Starting point is 00:21:11 Like, things are going to move around. going to tinker with this thing and find what works best for everybody involved. So, Ali said this about him that Weatherholt has the ability to stay on the ball, talking about him offensively, uses the whole field, which you've seen that. The opposite field ability is phenomenal. Takes a professional of bat. He has a willingness to be coached. He craves what's next for him. That's a really good quality to have. And I pointed this out before as well. Wherever J.J. Weatherholt has gone, they win. College, they win. since become a card doll, every level he goes to, they win, Palm Beach, Springfield,

Starting point is 00:21:50 celebrated championships. And I'm sure if you gave him a full season at Memphis, they'd win there too. Sure, it's not all him, like he's not a one-man wrecking crew. But when you look at leaders for this franchise moving forward, they don't get much better than what we got in J.J. Weatherhole. And that's an awesome thing. He's going to be one of the pillars of the Cardinals organization moving forward. and he's somebody that I think everybody can fall in love with,

Starting point is 00:22:18 get behind to trust and roll with during this transition year in 2026. If you're looking for an excuse to come out to the ballpark, you're disappointed that the Cardinal slash payroll got rid of some of your favorite people. There's new faces coming up and JJ along with Mason Wynn and young guys like Nathan Church and Joshua Baez at some point. and, you know, Yvonne Herrera and Gorman, Walker, Burleys. I mean, these are all young men. And they're going to be growing together.

Starting point is 00:22:53 And that's what I'm excited about this year. And JJ is a perfect type of leader to be a part of that. So let me know what some of your favorite qualities about JJ are, making you believe that he's the real deal moving forward. What do you like about it most? What do you think he needs to improve on? So hit me up in the comments section. Let me know below up next. We're going to talk about the exhibition game in Springfield from

Starting point is 00:23:15 Monday where Dustin May was on the hill for his final tune up before the regular season. This is Lockdown Cardinals. Hey, this is Jeff Carr from Lockdown, Reds. And you know, I've reached the point in my life where my wife and I are looking toward the future. We've got the house. We've got the career. We even have an awesome dog. But now we need to secure that future. That's where Ethos comes in for us. When I look at this insurance or that insurance and I try to pick up. pick one, I might as well be reading an entirely different language. Ethos clears up the noise and gets me set up with exactly what I need,

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Starting point is 00:25:57 so hopefully you did get a chance to catch some of the action. It was definitely on par with what we've seen so far this spring. No scoring, not a whole lot of offense in this one. on final score three to two for the major league side. The first guy I want to highlight from last night's game is Dustin May. Dustin May was on the mound. Been a solid spring for Big Red who seemed a little frustrated at times with his outing on Tuesday, but I'm still kind of getting used to his body language.

Starting point is 00:26:25 But from what I can tell, he's a guy that expects a lot from himself. He's kind of a perfectionist, it seems. And when he isn't executing the way he wants to, you can tell. And maybe he won't be like that when we get into. the big league games. But here in the spring when he's working on stuff and, you know, trying to get ready for the regular season, you can tell there's a few times where he's just like, ah, I missed my spot or he's upset about, you know, the shape of the pitch or, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:53 somebody fouls it off a few times. He's like, ah, here we go. But we'll see, we'll see. But it's not like he was trash on Tuesday. I want you to get the wrong vibe here. He went four innings allowed no runs on three hips. He struck out four. Kind of hard to be upset with a line like that.

Starting point is 00:27:08 and most importantly, he came away healthy. And we'll make the third start of the season on Sunday at Bush Stadium against Tampa Bay. Alec Berluson got the scoring going in this one for the Major League side. First inning took the lefty, Bryson Mautz, who pitched pretty well in this one, deep to left field, opposite field shot. It just kept going. Like it didn't seem like when it went off the bat, I thought it was just going to float down into the corner a little bit. Just kept going.

Starting point is 00:27:37 Just kept going. made it over the wall in left field to make it two to nothing. Mason went and gotten on ahead of him and with a walk and he finished O for one with the K. Some of the other notables, J.J. Weatherholtz, O for two. So Jacey, O for five with two strikeouts. Jordan Walker, O for two with a walk, although just in the last few games, let's be honest, if you watched anything that Jordan Walker's been doing, man, he looks a lot more comfortable at the plate, which, you got to love that.

Starting point is 00:28:04 My guy, Nathan Church, uh-oh, O for three. Victor Scott O for two with a strikeout. The only run scored by the major league side outside of the home run by Alec Burleson was another home run by Trey Page, who is not going to be on the major league roster, hit his in the top of the eighth inning. He only had seven home runs all of last year in his time with Bioria and Springfield. So it's not like he's some massive, you know, slugger. But he was the one who gave him the three to two lead and the, and ultimately the win.

Starting point is 00:28:36 Bolpin was solid outside of Riley O'Brien, who gave up four hits, including a game-tying two-run shot to Brian Torres. He also struck out, too, though. Ended up getting the win in this one, which is, you know, it works out with, you know, the relief pitchers. But a very shaky spring for Riley O'Brien, you know, really good last year. Had the injury, the cap issue early on, and it was up and down and up and down. So, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:29:06 We got to get them leveled out for the big league games. Justin Brule, Ryan Stanick, Matt Svonson, all through shutout innings. Skyler Hales got in for the save in the ninth, but he'll be in the minor leagues this year. But Brul Stanix, Fonson, you got to like what you saw out of those guys. On the Springfield side, Joshua Baez went two for four with a double. He continues to be one of the most impressive guys in the organization. And doesn't it just feel like he's on the path to superstard him with the power in the speed. Like you're starting to see more national people talk about Joshua Baez, who had that

Starting point is 00:29:41 huge breakout year last year at Springfield. We'll see if he can continue that in Memphis, but he's been a monster all spring. There was, you know, not only what he was doing in big league camp, but, you know, you're hearing about the power that he's showing off in minor league camp as well. So very excited for the future of Joshua Baezas. Cesar Prieto, Colton Ledbetter had a couple of hits each. I continue to be impressed with what I've seen from Ledbet, better. On the bad side, Nelson Velasquez, maybe mentally wasn't all in it for the game on Monday, but 0 for four with a couple of strikeouts, which was disappointing. Leo Bernal, Jimmy Crooks, plays Jordan combined to go 0 for 10 with four strikeouts. So not the greatest look there.

Starting point is 00:30:24 Like I mentioned, Bryson Mott's solid outside of the Burley home run. We got see Jared Schuster throw four shutout innings, former first round pick from the brave. So definitely a deep. decent depth piece that, you know, there is some talent there. He's struggled over the last couple years in the major leagues, but he could be a guy later on because I just, I can't see that it's just going to be Jojo and Justin Brule the whole time is left-handers. I just feel like there's going to be other people in the mix. Schuster could be one of those guys. Nick Rockay got in the game. So he's somebody that could be available. Obviously, packing on. We've talked about Gordon Grispo got some action last night. The loss went to Ryan

Starting point is 00:31:05 Fernandez who gave up that Traypage home run. But another tight game where offense wasn't easy to come by. Kind of seems like that's going to be the running issue throughout the season for the Cardinals. Decent pitching probably, but not enough runs. But we're going to find out soon enough because the next game we play, opening day on Thursday. So coming up on Wednesday show, we're going to do a full rundown of who's on the roster. And we'll talk about that.

Starting point is 00:31:34 We'll talk about, you know, batting lineups and stuff like that. So we'll get into it, man. It's almost game time. I'm very excited. Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals. Your first list in every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals. We're on TikTok and Instagram at Locked on Cardinals.

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