Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals 40-Man Roster Faces SHAKEUP Before Rule 5 Deadline! Donovan/Gray Trade Proposal

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

St. Louis Cardinals face a crucial 40-man roster crunch ahead of the Rule 5 draft deadline. Who will earn protection—and which familiar names could be let go?Rumors swirl around trade packages for Brendan Donovan and Sonny Gray, including a creative Atlanta Braves proposal featuring top prospect Cam Caminiti and former All-Star Bryce Elder.00:00 Cardinals' Rule 5 Deadline Dilemma03:23 Cardinals Roster Protection Discussion08:12 "Emphasizing Pitching Variety"12:36 "Cardinals Rumors: Brendan Donovan"14:18 Brendan Donovan Trade Interest Growing16:39 Young Pitcher Scouting Report19:59 Cardinals Trade Concerns24:09 "Thomas's Dream MLB Rotation"27:25 "Risk-Taking in Player Potential"31:18 "Cardinals Roster Talk & Rule 5"Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-st-louis-cardinals/Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIOFollow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_CardinalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload 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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.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 #stlouiscardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Time's running out for the Cardinals to lock down their 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft. Today we break down who's staying, who's at risk, and why these decisions could shape the future of the team all before Tuesday's critical deadline. 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, a former national radio sports anchor born and raised in St. Louis, a lifetime Cardinals fan. and welcome to Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one podcast network, sports podcast network, if I'm being specific. Big thank you to our every days for being here with us all along of those of you who are new.

Welcome in. Hope you guys enjoy the content. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Coming up, we'll break down exactly who the Cardinals must protect on the 40-man roster, before the Rule 5 draft will analyze a blockbuster trade idea involving Brendan Donovan and Sunny Gray and reveal a bold, realistic dream rotation for 2025.

They could change the bird's destiny. Joining us today, our good buddy, Thomas Govane from Redbird Rance.com hanging with us on a Monday. Thomas, how was your weekend, buddy? Everything good? Yeah, it was great. Weather was nice. We got to go outside a bunch of the family and parents came in town as well.

So we spent some time with them. It was good. Yeah, like we know how the days are dwindling as far as time to be outside. It could end at any moment. So take advantage of that. Got a question for you real quick. Before we get to the baseball stuff, my wife and I and a group of friends were off to see the new movie, the new wicked movie tonight.

She's a huge fan. The wife is. There's a big group going. Is your wife a wicked fan? Does she drag you to those things? No, not so much. We watch. Maybe when it came out at home, or you could watch it at home on streaming and we enjoyed it,

but it's not something like we seek out, really. I went through a musical viewing phase back in, like, high school and early college, and that was enough for me. Yeah, I've had to go see this play. Like, until I met her, I didn't even know this thing existed. I was like, what? What is wicked? I don't get it.

And, yeah, she has dragged me all over the Midwest to different cities to catch the musical live. and now she's totally obsessed with stuff. I've had to buy her the donut tens. I've had to get her the cereals, the cup cake. Like it's crazy. The movie popcorn bucket. Are they doing one of those for the release?

Probably. I don't. If it is, I'm sure I'm forking over money for that too. It's going to happen at some point. And luckily we got the special screening tonight that we're going to. So I don't know. I'll let you know how it is. But something else that is wickedly difficult to figure out from time to time is the 40

man roster for baseball teams. And for the Cardinals, there are quite a few names that need protection if the Cardinals aren't going to put them at risk ahead of the Rule 5 draft. And the deadline to do that is Tuesday. And I think it's at like 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I believe. And that's Eastern time, I think. But either way, it's in the afternoon. And they're going to have to get this crap all figured out. So you and I were kind of going back and forth last night, chatting about some names and stuff that, you know, are options to either get protected. But then you're looking at the 40-man roster and you're like, hold on a second. There is just not a whole lot of space right now. So there's going to be some tweaking

is going to need to be done by Heinbloom and company. So some of these guys aren't at risk of going to other organizations. So we're going to pick your brain today and see what you think about some of these names. So who are the guys on the list, in your opinion, that the Cardinals should be protecting or at least looking at to try and protect? I think there's three locks. You've got catcher, Leo Bernal, outfieler, Joshua Baez, and then left-hand pitcher, Bryson Mott's.

Those guys are, they need to be added to the roster in my mind. Bernal is a legit catcher. He won the gold glove and the minors for catchers list past year. Joshua Baez finally took off as an outfielder on the offensive side. His speed and defense has always been there. And then Mauts finished the year with a 2.98 ERA, 134 strikeouts, 114 innings. So I think those three guys are definite locks for added to the roster. You've got a couple of fringe guys.

Blaise Jordan, we just traded for him with the Red Sox this past deadline. Cooper Jerpy and an injured lefty who's always had stuff in that funky delivery to throw people off. I've heard names like Pete Hansen as another guy, 25-year-old prospect, helped the Springfield Cardinals Texas League Championship this past year. He's more of like a decent, more low-ceiling guy, and then you've got Cade Winquest, who I saw you interviewed him. I got to speak to him as well, a great guy. Yeah, good guy, good guy.

Yeah, and he really turns something around in the second half, So he might be like a sort of a wild card if they add him to. But Bernal, Baez and Mots are probably the three locks, guarantees. Yeah, that catching situation, obviously, you don't want to lose Leonardo Bernal. We're still kind of trying to figure out how are we going to hang on to all these dudes? Like it feels like somebody's going to have to go at some point and be used to get other people to bring in for other positions where the depth isn't quite so good. So, yeah, the Leonardo Bernal one. They actually brought up, it was at MLB where they were like listing like who's like the most difficult like toughest rule five decisions for each organization.

And Pete Hansen was the guy that they brought up. He's not ranked as far as the prospect list goes with the MLB pipeline. The reading on it, Hansen can't push his fastball past 92. That's what you want to hear. Right. But he effectively mixes three secondary pitches, low 80s change up and slider, mid-70s curveball, and throw strikes, 22 third rounder from Texas compiled a 3.93-3-ERA and a 123 to 37, K-to-walk ratio in 137 in a third innings at AA. He is left-handed, so that's a nice little

bonus for him as well. But that first line, Thomas, he cannot push his fastball past 92. really weird in 2025 when most people are hitting 96, 97, 98 on average. That's, that's usually where these guys are these days. We're talking about a guy who can't push it past 92. That seems like a guy that most fans are going to say, go ahead, leave him on protected. It's okay. Yeah, I think there's another element to that as well. You look at the Cardinals draft and even parts of their trade from the deadline this past year, and they really emphasize stuff and fastball, fastball velocity, which makes me skeptical that Hansen's picked. If he is picked, I think that shows that there's a lot of returning viewpoints from the previous regime. Maybe there's still some

effect that the John Moseilock effect is still hanging around. But if you see a guy like Cade WinQuest or Max Rajick, I think that those guys are the ones that, if Bloom goes to that route, then we see really a change in focus for the organization. Yeah, Rajik, former pitcher of the year in the Cardinals organizations. So, you know, that was just like two years ago. It wasn't like it was that long ago. So he's certainly a guy that people are going to be like, wait a second. We're not going to keep him. But again, new regime, new scouting, new ideas and stuff like that. And there is one thing that I will say about Hanson as well where, you know, Heim Blum, he hasn't really talked about the pitching as much, but he's been asked about, you know, how to, you know, rearrange the hitting and stuff. And he's like,

you don't want the same of everybody, you know, the same style hitter. And I would assume the same thing goes for him with his thoughts on the pitching. Like you can't just come in with the same style pitcher every time where it's just heat, heat, he. I mean, you want somebody to mix things up. So when you hear 92 and like my reaction, obviously is going to be kind of what a lot of people says where it's like, oh, 92, what is that? But when you put that in there against guys who, I mean, look how Cardinals do against soft

tossing lefties when they're starters. Like how many times have we seen the Cardinals? struggle with guys, you know, the, the, don't throw hard. And it just makes it difficult because you're not used to seeing it. So keep that in mind when we talk about guys like, like Pete Hanson, maybe, maybe we're overlooking it a little bit. All right. So if you are going to keep some dudes, are there guys on the 40 man right now that you are ready to say, Sianara, thanks for being here. Leave your, leave your jersey at the door. We're going to hang on to that. Yes. I think the cardinals need to be careful, though, here. You can't just dump everybody for prospects, because a lot of these guys will not be ready in 2026. I don't think we're right now. And right now, just real quick, you got, we both were doing the numbers. 37, we think are still on the 40 man right now. So you got three spots, which made sense why you gave us three guys, but you could still make some room. So I just wanted to know that. A trade of anybody, Aronado, New Park, Gorman, brother. That opens up spots. I think Jorge Alcala, we could be okay losing personally, John King. I'm about tired of him.

I think we could, yeah, he might, he might be a non-tender guy. Nick Rackett, Chris Roycroft. I think there's, there's about four or five names. You could just kind of be, Joe Poso, there's a few guys out there. You could just kind of be okay, but fly. Yeah, if Chris Roycroft is still around, I'm not going to be pleased with that. Like, have we not seen enough? Have we not seen enough, Thomas, of Chris Roycroft?

I get it the size. Like, it's intriguing. You're like, ooh, look at this monster dude out there. but he gets shelled every time he's on the mound at the major league level. So I'm kind of ready to move on from the Chris Roycroft. 6-8-2-30 should be better than what we're getting out of him. So that's just my opinion. Leave your guys' thoughts in the comments section down below as well.

Who do you want to kick off the 40 man? Who are some names that you want to add? Do you agree with Thomas's thoughts here on whether or not those are the guys or should there be other guys that you guys think that should be protected instead. First and foremost, obviously, you know, Bernal is going to be at the top of the list. So that's like the name that everybody's waiting on and keeping an eye on that they're like, that's going to have to happen, right? So I'm not worried about it not happening, but who else will be protected. We'll find out. Deadlines coming up on Tuesday. So coming up next, I'm going to throw a hypothetical

trade at you guys, including Thomas, who I kind of teased with last night when we were texting, but this one came from another member of the Lockdown Podcast Network from another team. And he was like, how about this? And I was like, that's not too shabby. I'll tell you about it next coming up on Lockdown Cardinals. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action. Then Fandle the official sports betting partner of the NBA now, even if you miss the start of a game, which happens all the time.

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And thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network. If you enjoy daily Cardinals content, you can follow the podcast on X at L. underscore Cardinals. Also available on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram at Lockedong Cardinals, Thomas Govame from RedbirdRantz.com with us here today. Brennan Donovan's name continues to pop up in the rumor mill. You know, it's just the, it's just it's the one name. Like you're hearing more about that than you are, Aronado and Sunny Gray, for obvious reasons. The no trade clauses that those guys have are going to obviously alter some things and the flexibility of the Cardinals and Heinblum have. Whereas,

Brendan Donovan, you can just trade them to whatever you want. There's no restrictions here. We've heard the Dodgers. We've heard the Mariners, Yankees, Cleveland. We heard about the Houston Astros over the weekend. It was another one that popped off at MLB.com who have this heavily right-handed lineup. They could use a lefty in there. And it's not a surprise that people won him.

First off, you didn't like the fit in Houston because go ahead. Tell everybody why you're like no to Houston. Yeah, I don't think their farm system merely stacks up to what we need in a trade return package, especially for Brendan Donovan. If we're trading him based on the reporting I've seen and how hot of a commodity he is, you can do better than Houston if you're aiming for prospect. Yeah, so Thomas Govain thinks Houston's prospect pool sucks is what he's trying to say. And then that's so many words. That's what he's trying to say. So no to Houston, not enough of the good stuff that we want to get our hands on. And we know that it's controllable young pitching.

That's, Hyne Bloom is not hitting that. That is what he is after. There have been no, you know, where he's dodged the question. That's what he's looking for. He wants starting pitchers. So I've been chatting with other locked on hosts. And they're starting to come in a little bit quicker now about deals to get Brennan down because there's so many people that want them.

I wanted to get what would you offer? What do you think Brin and Donovan is worth to your organization? And Lindsey Crosby, who is one of my co-hosts on Locked on MLB Game Night during the season. And he also does the Atlanta Braves postcast for Lockdown Braves. And he said he was not only interested in Brin Donovan, but he's like, what about Brennan Donovan and Sunny Gray to Atlanta? We've talked about this before. Atlanta makes a lot of sense for Sunny Gray because of the fact that, you know, he's got the no trade clause.

but we assume he wants to stay closer to Nashville where his family is, which is one of the reasons why he chose St. Louis in the first place when he was a free agent. So here's the proposed trade that included both Bernard Donovan and Sonny Gray. So Thomas, I want your thoughts on this. And obviously for you listening or watching, leave your thoughts in the comments section as well. The proposal is this, Sunny Gray, and he says, you keep $10 million. So I'm assuming that means we pay $10 million of Sonny's. remaining contract. And Brindonovan, in exchange for their top prospect, Cam Camannetti,

fellow starting prospect, Drew Hakenberg, and MLB vets, Bryce Elder, who's the right-handed starter, and then Aaron Bummer, who is the left-handed reliever. Now, Cam Caminetti was the Braves' first round pick just here in 2025 when, you know, the Cardinals took Liam Doyle. 24th overall, You recognize the last name. He is the cousin of former NLNBP, rest in peace, Ken Kamenetti. He's only 19 years old. They took him on a high school. So keep that in mind.

But according to NEMOV pipeline, he is the Braves number one prospect, which, as we know, Cardinals will love to get their hands on guys like that. The next name was 23-year-old pitcher Drew Hakenberg, selected in the second round in 23. In 2024, he pitched from high A, made it all the way up to AAA, tried to do the trade you savage. Thomas didn't make it all the way to the pros, but he did his best. He led the Braves Arms and ERA and batting average against. Went seven to five of the 307 ERA and 25 starts. This year was a bit different when just two and eight had some injury issues, was at a 6.99 ERA,

stayed at double A when he wasn't going down to rookie ball to come back from those injuries, had some control issues too, but still very young. Scouting report from M.L.B. Pipeline says he throws both the four and two seam fastball, former up to 97 and averaging 94.7 miles per hour last year and the latter averaging over 93, leading to high ground ball rates, sinker heavy in college, but featured the four seamer up in the zone more and pro ball with solid results. His best secondary offering is his power to plane curve. They can miss bats. There's change up. Also got some swing and miss there along with weak ground ball contact. And he mixes in a hard 90 mile an hour cutter as well.

And then we've got guy the the pro guys. You got Bryce Elder, 26 years old, 8 and 11, 5.30 ERA last year. Not great. I know 12 and 4, though, in 2023, hasn't been quite as good since. Groundball percentage is very good. But that's about it. Contract-wise, pre-arbitration will be R1 in 27. And then you got Aaron Bummer, 32-year-old left-handed reliever, 42 appearances last year,

3.81 ERA, the ERA plus at 109. In his career, like most lefties, he's been better against lefties. Last year, things were kind of even. He was kind of the same against both. He does make $9.5 million. It will be a free agent after the season. But, you know, you've got to pay somebody eventually. And you're getting rid of a lot of contracts there with the Donovan and

study gray, at least a lot of money. So three controllable young arms, which we know the Cardinals want, and one lefty bullpen upgrade over your boy, John King. who you mentioned, even though you love him. Your thoughts, Thomas, on this particular trade proposal. Again, my first reaction was, uh,

that's all right. What do you think? Yeah, I can get behind that reaction, too. I think Cam Caminetti is an interesting piece. He's young, though, 19. I mean,

we probably won't even sniff him for other three years in the majors, two or three years. But he's got the stuff. His fastball seems lively. Good strikeout rates. The other prospect, Hakenberg, You mentioned a strong 2020-4 season, which was great, made it all look to AAA,

had a 1.5, I think, ERA at that point in a little bit of time. But then last year, it was just a mess, which hopefully it was a cold. Yeah. Hopefully injuries for the reason for that. And it wasn't any mechanical issues or anything like that. That's something that we can fix with some rest, really, with him. The Bryce Elder thing, actually might be the most interesting part of this to me. He was an all-star just two years ago.

His last two years have been pretty bad. 652 ERA and 24, 5-3-E-E-R-A and 24, 5-3-E. ERA last year. But there's definitely something there. I mean, he's a former top prospect for them is a name that people might remember as a pitcher that we should keep an eye on. He's got a lot of team control. I think he's still in free arbitration. That's an appealing factor to me. The money is a bit of a wash. Cardinals probably saved themselves like $10, $15 million by the end of it all. I know that Bummer has a $10 million contract for next year. So they're saving some money. I'm sure that's music to do what's ears. But Aaron Bummer over John King is.

is nice. I think Ian Romero would be a good pair of lefties in the bullpen too. I like the deal. I think it's creative. I think it's unique. I would be okay with it. Yeah. And when you hear first round pick and number one prospect, you know, we're all preparing ourselves to get lowballed for all of these guys that the cartels are trying to unload. You know, we're all prepared for it because there are some limitations with some of these guys. You know, we understand why Aronado's not going to get the best return. I have no idea what they're going to get for Nolan Aronado, but I don't expect it to be great, which is sad to say at this point in his career.

Sunny Gray with as expensive as he is, you know, it's going to be tough. And again, some of these guys that are, they want Sunny Gray, he may not want to go there. And so the guys that were, if he's like on a list of say like four dudes, like four teams, they only have to outbid themselves. It's not like the rest of the league. have to go up again. So that's something that might, you know, limit what Heinbloom can do. The Donovan part is what's going to garner you the most. And, you know, you hear three young controllable arms right there with, with Elder and with Kamenetti and with Hackenberg. That's exactly

what the Cardinals are looking for. So deals like that, when you see that, obviously, you don't want to immediately go, yep, boom, we're done. Let's pull the trigger. But at the same time, if that's where the negotiations start, that's like huge for the Cardinals, if they could pull off something like that, right? Yeah, I think it, my other concern is that it's very pitcher-heavy. It's only pitchers in the return. You're giving up position player like Donovan.

I think I'd like one of the prospects, maybe instead of Hackenberg, one of their position players as a prospect. You're getting elder, you're getting Camannetti. Let's throw in an eight to 12 position player prospect instead of Hackenberg. That'd be fine with me. That's my only other Greg, though, I think. Yeah, yeah, it's part of the negotiations. So we can go back at Lindsay and go, all right, we don't want Hakenberg, but we want

these guys and we'll see where it gets us. But like I said, I put this among the locked on hosts in our group chat and other ones are starting to come in where other people are making bids. So maybe we'll go through a couple more of those at a later date. But not a bad start when I saw that. I was like, all right, all right. but leave your comments in the comments section down below, let us know what you guys think. All right, now we're going to start dreaming.

We're going to dream with Thomas, who put together his realistic yet dream rotation for the Cardinals in 2025. So we're going to get to that coming up next here on Locked on Cardinals. The NFL season is back. And honestly, there's nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let's be honest, getting tickets can also be. a hassle can be an issue. Cues, login screens, prices jumping up and checkout. Don't like that. That's annoying. That's frustrating. And that's why you should use game time, just like I do. It's the app that gives the advantage back to fans. It's fast. It's easy. It's backed by the game

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your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, promo code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-M-LB for $20 off. Swipe-Tap, ticket, go, download game time today. Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals your first list and every day for your second list and check out Locked on MLB hosted by Stully, bringing you a daily blend of humor and baseball throughout the off season. You can find Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Thomas Govain from Redbirdrance.com with us. Rapping things up with a dream rotation. All right. This is, this is, this is, Thomas's dream rotation. And again, he kept this grounded because we were making the joke earlier, like, sure, we would love to trade for scubal and skeens and get Sandy Alcantara back in the fold

and just dominate and, you know, cruise to a championship. We would love to do that. That is extreme dreaming. Okay, this is, we're going to keep this a little more grounded where at least it's a little more realistic. But at the same time, a dream idea to perhaps put together this group of pictures Thomas and have them lead us in 2026. So you put out this piece. Explain who is on this list so that, you know, we can enjoy the happy dream moments with you and live amongst the clouds. To defend myself, like you said, this was a realistic dream. In a perfect world, we'd keep Sunny Gray. We would sign Michael King and we would trade for Bryce Miller or something like that. But once again, we're being realistic with the Cardinals here. I started off with Kyle Leahy at the

I think that he's a solid back-end starter. I think that the conversations around him from Allie Marmal at the end of the year. Leave me believe they're really going to give him a chance at starting. And I'd take him over Andre Palante, I think, for next year, too. Amen to that, brother. You can end right there. And I'd be like, that's cool. Let's go.

I'm ready to go. Here we go. We're on it. No more Palante, man. Get his butt back into the ball pin until he figure stuff out. I'm with that. Yeah. Yeah.

After that, it's Michael McGreevy. Another solid floor guy as your number four pitch. pitcher last year he's kind of forced into the three-ish range. I think he slots him nicely as a four or five pitcher at the bottom of the rotation there. We know we're going to get out of him. It's going to be ground ball heavy, not as many strikeouts, but he's going to be able to control the game. After him, it's our first free agent, Dustin May.

I waffled between like Dustin May, Lucas Giolyto, and then Walker Buehler. I think Gioledo is going to be priced out of us. And I'm not sure Walker Bueller fits exactly what we're looking for. So I went Dustin May, 28 years old, one of the two youngest. pitchers on the free agent market high stuff high prospect profile but just really bad with injuries yeah that's really been the issue with dust him hey he's the guy i like to uh medicals you got you got to worry about that because that's been his real issue but when he is on the mound at least when i've seen him pitch that dude is nasty and he's got that sweet red flow coming out of the back

of his hat too like and he's just got an interesting arm angle he's just legs and arms coming at you and he was such a big prospect with the Dodgers. And eventually they just bought him out of the rotation, really, as they started buying free agents. And they didn't need him anymore. So they didn't get much for him in return, but it ends up with Boston where, whatever. I feel like if there's going to be a project,

give me some Dustin May. I would love to see what he could do on a one-year deal. Yeah. And if he pitches well for us and we're not in contention, trade him at the deadline, gets a prospect. I really think that's a mold that Hymn Blum needs to take this year, maybe even next year to sign a couple of... Yeah, we can go a little risky.

We're not expected to be making playoff pushes and go over the world and say, if it happens, cool, but we're not expecting it. So you can take a couple of risks and maybe you hit pay dirt and you find somebody that you unlock something inside them and they stay healthy. And that would be great. That's my issue with the Walker Bueller stuff. Like he just, I know he pitched better with Philly, but he just kind of looked toast last year where I still still.

see a lively arm in dust and may, you just got to keep them on the mound. Yep. Matthew Libertor comes in at the second spot. Once again, realistic dreams. Would I prefer Libby at the three and a half four spot? Yeah, probably. But I think you can take another step next year. He pitched a career high in innings.

He knows what it takes now for a full season to get to that 160 mark and 30 starts. I think we'll see some growth from him from last year, get that ERA closer to four, maybe even a touch below it. I think we'll see a good liver tour next year. I think he'll really step into his own. Yeah, I agree. I like the future of him, especially remember how weird it was in spring training where,

again, they were like, I don't know, he could be in the bullpen. He could be a starter. Now we don't have to worry about that crap. There's no yo-yo. It is, you are a starter, dude. You are a part of this rotation. You're a big piece of this future and go get him.

Yep. And then my resident ace, resident ace, not an actual ace in the league, is Bryce Miller from the Mariners. We get him via trade. potentially Brendan Donovan, large new bar and a prospect, like think hence, I don't know. Somehow we get Bryce Miller and we put him at the top. Last year he struggled.

He had a 5, 6, 8 ERA and 90 innings. He was hurt for most of the season when he was healthy. He was ineffective. But just a year before that in 2024, he went 180 innings, 2.94 ERA, 8 and a half strikeouts for nine innings. Like that's near top of the rotation stuff that we just need out of somebody. We haven't been able to produce that since Jack Clarity in 2019. Yeah. And that was six years ago, for those of you who are mathematically inclined, it's been a bit.

And hence why, Heim Bloom is like, yo, we need to get this thing going and we need young control of arms because we haven't been able to build any in quite some time. So you can understand why that is a target. I'm in, dude. I like the Bryce Miller stuff. I feel like Seattle is very intriguing because of the amount of starting pitching that they have. and it looks like they're going to keep Nailer, but E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hainio Swerres is still a guy that's out there that was that third base for them at the end of the year. So he may not be back. They're going to look for some offense. And maybe that's something we can work with. They're definitely one of the teams that are certainly interested in Brennan Donovan.

You've heard their names pop up amongst those other guys like the Dodgers and the Yankees and stuff. So we'll have to wait and see. You know, it's going to be interesting to see how Hine Bloom, maneuvers this whole thing and see what he can get in return. And we're just hoping, fingers crossed, that it's much better than what his predecessor was able to get for one Tommy Edmund, because that didn't work out so well. So that's what we're all hoping for. All right. Anything else you're working on right now at Redbird Rants.com, Thomas?

I'm going to take a look at history for the trade of David Freeze out of the Cardinals of 2013 a few days. And then I'm also looking at former Cardinals who could get a big payday this winter and free agency. All right. So be sure to check that out at Redbird Rance.com. And a big thank you to all of you for making Lockedon Cardinals for first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L-O-1-U-U-Rourn-Cardals at a J-D-Sports Radio, TikTok and Instagram, a lockdown Cardinals, like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and love for the Cardinals. Make sure you guys, he'll find you. Thomas Govain at Thomas Govain, G-A-U-V-A-N on X. He's on there, always talking Cardinals. More than happy to chat with you guys. too. Be nice. Be nice. Don't, don't be rude to them. But obviously, we're all about the conversation.

We all want to improve the Cardinals at the same time. So we're going to keep throwing ideas up against the wall. We'll see what sticks and we'll see what Heim does at the deadline as far as this 40-man roster goes and the Rule 5 draft. Because that's the other thing is we don't even talk about on the other side of the thing. When we find out who's unprotected, who the Cardinals could pull off of other rosters. I know Ryan Fernandez was the last one. It was nice one year. Was not so nice last year. hopefully they get him squared away, but you can find some decent stuff in the Rule 5 draft. So we'll keep our eyes on that as well and keep you posted online. So make sure you guys are following along.

You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We will see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.