Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sonny Gray Has Made A Decision On His Future With The Cardinals

Starting point is 00:00:00 After the Wilson-Gintreras moved to first base bombshell yesterday, we've got the latest whispers and rumors concerning the Cardinals and their top starter, Sunny Gray, as well as third baseman Nolan Arnado 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 J.D. Hafford and I'm a National Radio Sports anchor. You're born and raised in the Lou and a lifetime Cardinals fan, and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:00:36 part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can find me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at LO underscore Cardinals. We want to thank those of you who make Locked on Cardinals your first listen. Every day, we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you like, subscribe and comment, and hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes are posted.

Starting point is 00:00:59 This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account. Use the code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So yesterday we got word that Wilson Contreras was going to move on down to first base, right? And from what we've gathered and from what's been reported, this was not some ultimatum by management. Like some people speculated like, hey, you know, John Moseilac didn't call Wilson up and at least from what we know and say,

Starting point is 00:01:40 hi, yeah, we're going to try and trade you. And the only way you can stay in St. Louis is if you move to first base, take it or leave it. I'll hang up and listen. So that's not really what happened. It does not appear that that's how the conversation went between John Moseilock and Will's Contreras. It sounds to me like they had a discussion about whether or not he wanted to be here during this transition period that the Cardinals are going through. You can call it a reset, call it whatever you want. But if he wanted to stay, then great. Let's find the best way to go

Starting point is 00:02:25 about keeping him healthy, keeping him in the lineup more, while also allowing the team the flexibility to let younger players like Ivan Herrera and Pedro. Paul has get time behind the plate and at the plate. You know, one of them is a much better defender. One of them is a much better header. So they won a little bit of each. And they don't not want to use Wilson Contreras and Wilson was on board. He made it known to the Cardinals that he wasn't interested in getting traded,

Starting point is 00:02:53 wanted to stay and be a part of this franchise and this city moving forward. So they came up with the best solution they could for the situation. it doesn't appear that there was any ill feelings about the move and that Wilson will just tackle it head on and try to be the best first baseman DH that he can be for this team in 2024. And I love that. I absolutely love that.

Starting point is 00:03:17 I love that the communication between the front office and Wilson Contreras seemed much more clear this time around than what had happened in 2020. where, you know, we started hearing these rumblings about him moving to left field. And then it was like, wait, no, that wasn't what we were talking about. It was something other than that. We're not going to send the left field. We want them behind the play.

Starting point is 00:03:46 But we wanted to take a step. Like, there was all this, you know, like just this going on, right, between the two parties. And, you know, Wilson never spoke up and said anything bad about it. Like, he went with the team and was like, I'm cool and we'll do this and I'll work on this and I'll try to get better. And I think he did get better. I think he was a much better catcher moving forward. But now things have changed.

Starting point is 00:04:16 That's just the simple truth about it, things have changed. And they needed a different solution and they needed some help with what they're doing here, with trying to stay younger. but also not trying to rebuild completely, right? You know, this isn't a tear down is what we're being told. Like they're not trying to blow this whole thing up. These are some of the quotes that, you know, I heard that these aren't verbatim from John Moseilac,

Starting point is 00:04:48 but these are the things that you're reading is that that's not the goal. The goal is not to destroy this roster and become some, you know, a horrible team to, you know, and not to pick on the white socks, but to not look like the white socks or to look like a team like the Marlins did last year or any of these bottom theater teams that weren't going to compete whatsoever. They, they're not trying to do that. At least that's what they're telling us, that they are trying not to do that. But I love the fact that Wilson Contreras wants to be around.

Starting point is 00:05:23 But what about the rest of the high price veterans with no trade clauses like Sunny Gray? Nolan Ironado, Miles Michaelis. Well, according to Katie Wu with the athletic, Moseilock has had discussions with those players. Explain to them the situation, what's going on with the Cardinals. And if a player wanted to stay through this transition, the Cardinals would welcome that. If not, the team would work with the player to find an agreeable trade.

Starting point is 00:05:47 Willie is in. We know this. And at least one other veteran is on board with the Cardinals reset plan for multiple league sources. That veteran is Sunny Gray. Sonny Gray apparently is not interested in moving on as well, has told John Mosey like he preferred to stay with St. Louis. Now, this does not surprise me whatsoever, not even in the slightest,

Starting point is 00:06:11 because Sonny had offers to go to other places during his free agency last year, and he wanted to be in St. Louis. His family wanted to be in St. Louis. He clearly loves the history and the tradition of the St. Louis Carthels franchise. So it makes sense that after one year, he's not ready to pack up and move again. Now, things go bad this year. Maybe he changes his mind. But again, I love that he and Willie have decided to stay.

Starting point is 00:06:41 They want to be here. Young players need veteran guidance. And I'm more than happy to see them learn from these guys moving forward. Now, Katie continues saying that the futures of Nolan Arnato and Miles Michaelis, that those are unknown, though trading either player is no guarantee. Not only will their full note trade clauses complicate any potential transaction, but both players are also going to have big salaries that could deter teams. Arnado is due $52 million over the next three years, though some of that money is deferred.

Starting point is 00:07:17 Miles Michaelis is in the final year of his deal. He's going to make $17.6 million this year. one of them has apparently asked to or at least asked Mo to explore a few things. So we're going to discuss who we think that is next on Lockdown Cardinals. With Robin Hood Gold, you don't need a silver spoon to eat up the financial favors of the 1%. Robin Hood Gold allows others to get the rates and perks usually reserve for the high society. Now, the resourceful individual with Robin Hood Gold can earn the very liberal rate of 4.5% APY on uninvested cash and be rewarded with a handsome 3% retirement boost on an IRA

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Starting point is 00:10:24 Thank you for making locked on cardinals. Your first list. And every day you can leave comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encourage. now that we believe that we know that both Contreras and Sunny Gray want to stay. What about Nolan Aronado and Miles Michaels? The other two high-priced veterans with no trade clauses. Sure, there's other tradable guys. Stephen Matt is a tradable guy. Ryan Helsley is going to get some attention. I'm sure there's some other guys that are on the roster that people are going to call about.

Starting point is 00:10:52 But Aronado and Michael is making a lot of money, no trade clauses. That's what we're focusing on today. It wouldn't shock me if both of them. and were willing to go elsewhere. Not at all. Just because of the type of competitors, those guys had been in a Cardinal uniform. Same can be said about Willie and Sunny.

Starting point is 00:11:12 Like, it wouldn't have shocked me if they were like, you know what, I get it. I'll go somewhere elsewhere, you know, I'll help you guys out by getting out of your hair, taking my money elsewhere, taking my talents elsewhere. But at the same time, I get to go play for a winner or something like that

Starting point is 00:11:26 because they have no trade clauses. They can decide where they want to go. If I'm an opposing team, I would certainly be more, interested in Nolan Aronado than I would in Miles Michaelis. And, you know, if I'm a team and I feel like I'm one guy away, I'm one guy away from completing my championship puzzle. And either of these guys is the answer.

Starting point is 00:11:50 I don't know why I wouldn't pull the trigger on something. You know, Michaelis is just the one year left. So it's a one and done situation if you get Miles Michaelis into your rotation. Nolan a little more complicated with the years and the money. it's Nolan freaking Arranado man. Moe mentioned recently that he had an individual asked him to explore a few things. So said that he was going to try to do that,

Starting point is 00:12:16 said he'd prefer to not name that player for leverage in terms of trying to do something with him in a trade. Now, if you had to guess who that player was, I think a lot of us are leaning towards believing it's Nolan Arnado. that we think that makes the most sense that he would be the one that would be like, you know, I kind of, you know, I kind of get it and I don't really want to be here anymore.

Starting point is 00:12:42 The reason for me is that Miles has one year left before free agency. And if I'm him, I would rather move just once, just one time during that period rather than get traded, pack up and move, then I have to do it again when the season ends if he doesn't stick with the club that he got dealt to. As far as Nolan goes, I still believe that Nolan Aronado is plenty of good baseball left in him. I don't think he's cooked.

Starting point is 00:13:07 I don't think he's toast. I don't really want to trade him in the first place. But at the same time, I get the business side of this. He makes a ton of money at a position where the Cardinals have got some less expensive options available to them. We've talked about it. Nolan Gorman, Thomas Adjacy, Brendan Donovan. if need be Jordan Walker. That's where he came up is over at third base.

Starting point is 00:13:31 You've got a Cesar Prieto coming up through the minor leagues. You know, there's some options there. They, you're not, you know, Jose Fermin can plays with third base if you need to. But you're not like where like you don't have anybody, like where you're just screwed. So, um, you've got that as a plus for the Cardinals of why you would be okay with dealing Nolan Aronado, cutting the money. you've got a backup plan. And as far as now, Nolan Aronado goes,

Starting point is 00:14:00 he wants to win a championship. He does. It burns him that he has not been able to succeed in Colorado or with the Cardinals to get even close to a World Series. Like, I'm sure it's driving him nuts. It was the whole reason why he wanted to come St. Louis in the first place is because the Cardinals normally compete for postseason. They're usually there.

Starting point is 00:14:23 And here we are, two years in row, they haven't made the postseason. And the simple truth is there are plenty of other teams out there that are closer to winning a championship than the Cardinals are after missing the postseason in the last few years. So in my opinion, if Nolan Arnado does get traded, then he needs to go somewhere. And this is with Nolan's best interest. He needs to go somewhere where he's not the guy.

Starting point is 00:14:53 So he needs to go some place, obviously a big market who can take on the money. So Dodgers, Astros, Phillies, Yankees, Boston, Mets, whoever, they need to be able to obviously absorb the salary are a contender right now because that's what he wants to do. And it's got to be a place that I think he just needs to be able to slide into the lineup. Like he doesn't need to be the three, four, or five guy. Maybe he ends up being one of those guys. but he at this point in his career, I don't think should be expected to carry a team like we thought he was going to be able to do here. Like we thought him and Goldie were going to be fine and be able to at least do it one more year together.

Starting point is 00:15:35 And it blew up in our faces. It just didn't work out. And I think that's what he needs. He needs to go to a team that's loaded with at least two other guys, if not three. The Dodgers make a lot of sense, right? but to take the burden off him because it weighs on him and you can see it when he was with the cardinals you could just see how much it upset him that he was not coming through and he knew everybody was depending on it and it was driving him crazy of course nato has to approve

Starting point is 00:16:06 whatever team wants him so in the end if it's not somewhere he wants to go he doesn't have to but my guess is there'll be some teams some good teams too in good city and in a good place that are ready to compete for a title, they would love to have them a Nolan Arnado on their team. And the fact that John O'Sahawk is saying like, I don't want to say anything is I don't want to ruin any leverage here. Makes it sound like they're not just going to give them away just to be like a salary dump.

Starting point is 00:16:35 You know, they're hoping to get something good in return for any of these guys that they trade. You know, it's not just, you know, we got to get rid of these guys, man. We don't care. Who wants them? Somebody give me something. It's not that type of situation. It's like, dude, we want to make a good baseball trade for our franchise. And we realize the power that Nolan Aronado is worth and what he could do for another franchise if he gets to, if he gets moved and gets to be a part of somebody else.

Starting point is 00:17:02 So, and I think that's good because I, you know, when I was talking with Thomas the other day and he's talking about a ball guys. And I'm like, oh, God, please, no, don't tell me that we're shipping Ryan Halsley and we're shipping a Nolan Aronado for a ball players. No. Like, it's got to be better than that, doesn't it? At least I hope so. Anyway, give me your thoughts on what you think if it's Noon Arnato you think is the guy that Moe was talking about. Do you like how they're going about this? Does it make sense? Are you happy that Willie and Sunny appear to want to stay in St. Louis and be a part of this franchise still? The other big news today was the deal with Fanduals Sports Network. So we'll get to the latest on what's going on with that next on Locked on Cardinals. there's not a whole lot of things, at least in my opinion, better than going to a live sporting event, whether it's basketball, whether it's hockey, football, of course baseball, duh.

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Starting point is 00:20:00 taking on the Ravens. Joe Burrow has been on fire this year. He's in the MVP chatter. Lamar Jackson is your reigning MVP having a heck of a season. Obviously the big man behind him, Derek Henry leads the league in rushing. He's been huge. Should be a fun matchup tonight. A lot of different ways to win some money. Just visit fandal.com to join today. You'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's Fandau.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandle, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Thank you again for making Lockdown Cardinals your first listen today for your second listen. Find Lockdown MLB baseball guru Sully brings a daily blend of humor and baseball,

Starting point is 00:20:52 keeping updated on all the teams during this offseason. The big ones, the little ones. What's going on with Juan Soto? Where's he going to go? Where's Blake Snow going and Corbin Burns, all these huge free agents who are going to make huge money. Sully's got an opinion on all of it, and you should check it out. Find Lockdown on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. So the Cardinals TV and ticket revenue situation, which we know is a big problem, right? Nobody knew what was going to happen. Where is this extra money going to come from that we were supposed to get?

Starting point is 00:21:22 Now we're not going to get. What are we going to do? We're freaking out. We've got to trade everybody. Well, reportedly, this has been resolved, which is probably a big way to offer. a lot of people's minds and shoulders as the offseason begins. According to multiple reports, the Cardinals announced a multi-year renewal with Diamond Sports Group regarding their local television rights.

Starting point is 00:21:43 Vandals Sports Network Midwest will remain the home for Cardinals regional broadcast. The deal replaces the 15-year $1.1 billion deal before the Cardinals and their broadcast partner reached that agreement's midpoint. Now, for the first time, this is something new. Pay attention. direct to consumer streaming will also be available. For a fee, subscribers to Fanduil Sports Network, who live in the network's designated Cardinals territory,

Starting point is 00:22:11 can stream Cardinals games through the network's app. Pricing for the subscription will be announced at a later day, but the Blues currently offer the same option, and it's $20 a month. For outer markets and fans who use MLB TV to watch Cardinals games, your access will not change whatsoever. Okay, the production, it's going to appear the exact same. No reason to freak out.

Starting point is 00:22:34 No reason to panic. You're good to go. Rework television deal secures at least some of the revenue that cartels were concerned about. They were like, we don't know. We're supposed to get this and we don't know if it's coming or not anymore. Financial terms of this deal were not disclosed. But according to the Sports Business Journal, team president, Bill DeWitt, the third estimated the rights fee deduction a little bit north of 20%.

Starting point is 00:22:58 Now a source with knowledge on the deal told the post-dispatch that the Cardinals took a 23% reduction from their expected payment. The team was expecting around $70 million in rights fees for the coming regular season. The cut from that is going to be $17.3 million that they won't be receiving. Does that make sense? So they're supposed to get $75. They're going to take 23% reduction, which means you subtract 17.3 from the 75. Okay, that's where they're at. The Post Dispatch also reports that it's not a decade-long deal, like previous broadcast agreements,

Starting point is 00:23:36 and an official described how there are options built into the new contract that will give the Cardinal some direction if Diamond Sports Group continues to experience financial turbulence or does not emerge from ongoing bankruptcy hearings. Now, the athletics got this covered. St.l Today.com has got it covered, and you can read even more into all of this. but Bill DeWitt is quoted as saying this definitely is great news for fans, particularly those who have cut the court or have been dropped from their cable provider or those who have just experienced blackouts that keep them from Cardinals baseball. This is going to increase access and availability, particularly in markets where fans have been unable to get the games that they want.

Starting point is 00:24:18 So that's good news. Cardinal fans will now get the product they want. It's going to be more readily available. Got the fees and stuff. are going to be a part of things played. If you want something, you go out, you get it, right? I mean, I still remember as a kid, as a wee little JD, and I remember we had the Cardinal Network,

Starting point is 00:24:38 and it was 50 home games or something like that, and you had to pay for it. And I forget what my parents paid, but such huge fans, the whole family would come over, we'd watch the games together and stuff. It was really, really cool. And we were like, whatever, we want to watch it. So we're going to end up paying.

Starting point is 00:24:55 So I would imagine Cardinal fans. that many of them are going to balk at this if that's indeed what they want. You want to see your team? I'm sure you'll be willing to pay a couple of bucks a month to make that happen. Now, it does not mean that they are going to reverse the whole plan here to cut costs and try to build a younger, more cost-efficient team. That is still the process moving forward. That's not going to stop, but at least we're not completely in the dark about what's going

Starting point is 00:25:21 to go on with those TV fees that they were hoping to get the rights fees and stuff. So at least we got some clarity on what's going on there. So that is the news. It's been a busy couple of days with the Cardinals, which is good because the offseason can be a little bit dull, especially if you're not chasing down after free agents and stuff. So good to report what I think is mostly good news. Not a lot of bad news. Not as bad as, well, we thought it was going to be.

Starting point is 00:25:46 I'm excited that Willie and Sunny want to stick around. I'm excited to see what they do if Nolan Arnato is the guy that is willing to be moved. I'm curious to see what they can do there. I think it opens up a lot of possibilities. Clearly, it opens up a lot of money if he is the guy that gets traded away. So, you know, we're in flux right now. And, you know, this will be something that will, you know, probably be talked about between now and the winter meetings. Like, there's not going to be like, that's not going to happen tomorrow that there's going to be some massive trade.

Starting point is 00:26:18 At least I don't think so. But at least we're starting to get some clarity of what's going on. with the Cardinals. So thank you for making you locked on Cardinals. Your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on Twitter X at L.O. underscore Cardinals and a J.D. Sports Radio. Please like and subscribe on YouTube. We're making that push for 11,000

Starting point is 00:26:36 subscribers. We're less than 100 away right now. So if you're somebody who enjoys this content, you come here for your Cardinals news and you know, you're not put off by the way I explain things to you, then please like and subscribe on YouTube and help our channel grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. And we will see you next time. on lockdown cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Sonny Gray Has Made A Decision On His Future With The Cardinals

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