Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals' Deadline FRENZY Nets Six New Prospects | Who's Left In The Bullpen?

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

Cardinals' Trade Deadline Shakeup: Prospects, Pitching, and Future PlansSt. Louis Cardinals fans, brace for impact. The Redbirds' unexpected role as sellers at the MLB trade deadline has reshaped the ...team's landscape. Host JD and guest Thomas Gauvain dissect the Cardinals' moves, analyzing the departure of key relievers and the influx of promising prospects. From Jesus Baez's potential to Blaze Jordan's power, they break down each new addition to the farm system. The duo explores the bullpen's reconstruction, evaluates pitching prospects like Mason Molina, and grades the front office's deadline performance. Will these trades set the stage for future success? Tune in for expert insights on the Cardinals' bold strategy and its implications for seasons to come.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!5-Hour ENERGYTime to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Supply HouseJoin the TradeMaster program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code S-H-5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonmlbGameday HueLet your colors talk—because colors speak louder than words. Right now, you can get 15% off with code MLB15 at GamedayHue.com.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year.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.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals made three deals at the trade deadline and turned them into six brand new prospects for the organization. We're going to discuss those moves and what's in store for the Cardinals moving forward on today's episode of Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts network, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardals. I'm J.D. Haffern and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. Give me a follow on X at JaddySports Radio. The podcast also available on X at L0 underscore Cardinals. You can find us on YouTube, also TikTok, Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans of baseball,
Starting point is 00:00:47 all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by five-hour energy transfusion. Go to five-hour energy.com today and use my promo code, which is locked on golf to receive 20% off your order, only valid through September 30th, order transfusion flavored five-hour energy shots today. All right, our good buddy, Thomas Coveyne from Redbird Rans.com, squeezing us in here today to basically sift through the chaos that was the MLB trade deadline, pretty wild time. It was an exciting trade deadline. Not exactly for the Cardinals, but for Major League Baseball in general, a lot of big names on the move. A lot of crazy deals went down. My first thoughts, though, that when watching things unfold the last couple days, particularly on Thursday when all health. was breaking loose before the deadline was, God, I missed the days where it was the Cardinals looking to improve their team for the playoffs run and not basically be, you know, the carcass
Starting point is 00:01:47 that all the other teams were pecking at trying to go win a title with whatever meat we had left on our bones. It was a bummer. Did you feel the same way or were you glad that, you know, the Cardinals were doing what they were doing? Yeah, it's never fun to be the team that's selling. I guess we are, it's good that we're not the Minnesota twins. They got gunned, I'm pretty sure. I don't know who's much for them. It's tough. I mean, you always look at the Cardinals is a team that should be contending,
Starting point is 00:02:12 that should be in the hunt in August and September, and to see them selling it, it's not exciting, but it's necessary at this point. I am curious, like if, say they came out of the gate five and one after the All-Star break instead of one in five, I wonder what exactly they would have done to improve what they have, because it wasn't like there's a lot of wiggle room on that 40-man roster. I just am curious what they would have done and what the plan might have been,
Starting point is 00:02:36 but we will never know. But yeah, it's not a lot of fun to be on this side. I almost tweeted that out too because I was like, I was like, at least we're not the twins where we did. They just blew up the whole roster. Not that long ago, these guys were a playoff team together, got their first win, the first playoff win together. And then it just is, it's over, just like that.
Starting point is 00:02:58 So at least we didn't go down that path. let's start with what the team's going to look like moving forward, Thomas. Then we can get into the prospects that they acquired. Nobody offensively moved off the Cardinals roster, although according to Mo and John Denton's article that, you know, he said he got some trade offers on their left-handed hitters, but they weren't motivated to move hitters that they had under control unless they were to put it mildly blown away.
Starting point is 00:03:24 And he said they just weren't. Were you disappointed at all that none of the lefties like, like Lars, Newpar, Nolan Gorman, Alec Berluson, Brennan, were you disappointed that none of those guys got moved? Yeah, maybe a little bit disappointed. I'm not surprised at all. I mean, from the beginning, Moe said it was going to be expiring contracts. Maybe someone else if they were blown away like you just told us.
Starting point is 00:03:47 So I'm not overly surprised that nobody was moved, a little bit disappointed maybe. But I also think that those are tasks for the offseason. I don't suspect that Newbar, Gorman, Burleson, Donnie will lose any value over the next two months, if anything, they've got value to gain. And so maybe an off-season trade would fit better. There's no timeline. You can work a little bit slower. You can be a little bit more methodical with your approach.
Starting point is 00:04:10 Who I was really surprised and wanted to trade was Joe Romero. With relievers, you never know what they're going to do year over year. His value is probably as high as it could ever be right now with that year and a half of control. At ERA near two, I think he would have been a really good reliever on the market had he been traded, not quite to the Joan Duran level, but somewhere between Duran and maybe Ryan Housley. Yeah, because he's ever since like that, what, first month where he was just kind of trying to figure things out,
Starting point is 00:04:38 couldn't get the V-Lo up, and since then he's been one of the best in baseball. Like, his numbers have been sick. Yeah, he hasn't allowed to run in July, 15 strikeouts. He had a really good month. Yeah, it's been nice to see him. That brings me to my next question, really, is like, you know, we haven't seen any new transactions just yet.
Starting point is 00:04:57 as to who is going to come up and fill some of these empty spots on the roster. But I'm looking at it. And Jojo's the only left to enter left standing. We don't have anybody else, which maybe that was part of the issue too. Maybe they did get a caller too on Romero. But they're like, we don't have any left to enter. Anybody? Does anybody at triple, Memphis?
Starting point is 00:05:19 No, nobody's down at Memphis either. He's the only guy left, Thomas, which is a little crazy to think about that, you know, this bullpen as good as it's been, you know, you, so many injuries have taken some of these guys out of the equation. And now you're just stuck with Jojo, which, you know, if you wonder who is going to be taking over particular roles on the team moving forward, because you still have to field the baseball team for the St. Louis Cardinals. And certain people are going to shift around probably. Again, the transactions aren't out yet. So we don't know exactly who it is.
Starting point is 00:05:51 But if you had to guess, who do you think are going to be the guys that slide into the roles of, you know, closer, taking Helsley spot, set up man to take Mayton's spot, and then what Stephen Maths was doing, where he was essentially the long relief guy. I'd suspect that Jojo Romero gets the first shot of being closer. Riley O'Brien will get some high-leverage stuff in the eighth inning, maybe even spell Jojo in the ninth if he needs a day off. I said off-season, this past off-season,
Starting point is 00:06:19 and Gordon Grosophos said himself that he would love to be in the bullpen. I think he'd be an excellent high-leverage guy. I would suspect that Kyle Leahy fulfills that long relief role that Stephen Mats had. Also, he could see himself in the seventh or eighth inning, depending on the matchups. So I'd say between those four Romero, Gricepho, O'Brien, and Leahy, those are probably our four main guys back in the bullpen with Romero getting the first shot at closer. Do you like the idea of stretching out, Kyle Leahy? I'm not opposed to it.
Starting point is 00:06:47 I think it's obviously a role that needs to be filled. And ever since, you know, like the first month and a half, he hasn't really been that great in, you know, the small one inning type of appearances. And he looked pretty good when he threw those three innings the other day. So are you, you on board with that? I think so. I didn't follow him much as a prospect. And I know he got some starts down there in the minor leagues. If Sunny Gray being traded this off season picks up some steam, we literally don't have five starting pitchers unless we convert Kyle Leahy to that role.
Starting point is 00:07:20 So I think that would be a nice end of year transition. Keep ramping him up, give him around that two to three-eating mark and then get him a good off-season plan as well. And another guy that I'm looking forward to, which I'm anticipating he'll get called up, again, is the return of Brian Fernandez, who we all know was just shelled at the beginning of the season. And then he wasn't all that good when he got moved down for a little bit,
Starting point is 00:07:43 but has certainly pitched up much better over the last, like, month and a half. And so I assume he's going to get another crack at, things in St. Louis. So I would anticipate that one. I'm excited to see if Andre Grenio can carve out a role for this team moving forward. I haven't hated what I've seen from him in the small sample size that he's been up. But that's really my big question. I don't know who the left-aiders are going to be outside of Jojo. Maybe they just won't have any because John King injured, Matt's gone. Coverage got to empty there. So we'll be interesting. You know who is available? Rich Hill. Rich Hill.
Starting point is 00:08:20 baby, bring in Dick Mountain. Let's see it. Let's see this guy. He's 45. Give him a 16th team. Why not? He's got Cardinal written all over him. I can see it happening.
Starting point is 00:08:31 I can see it happening. All right. So we're going to talk about the prospects next because the Cardinals ended up flipping those three bullpen pieces. Turn them into six new prospects. And we're going to talk about all of them. Two of them offensive. Four of them are pitchers. So we'll get into that.
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Starting point is 00:10:26 Thanks again for making a lockdown carlos. First listen every day. Leave your comments on YouTube. X TikTok. Anytime you want feedback, always welcome. and encourage Thomas Govain from Redwood Grants.com. Joining us here today, be sure to give him a follow at Thomas Govain on X as well. More than happy to have conversations with you on there.
Starting point is 00:10:44 The Cardinals sent Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets. This was the big trade that everybody anticipated. We all thought that was going to be the one guy that brought in the biggest hall. They got infield prospect, Jesus Baez, right-handed pitcher, right-handed pitcher Nate Dome, and right-handed pitcher Frank Ellesault in return. for this. I want to talk about bias first. And we're going to start with the offensive guys because I want to get to the Blaze Jordan trade as well with Stephen Matt's. But let's talk about Baez first. MLB did do a release today of the top 25 prospects
Starting point is 00:11:18 that were traded at the deadline. And I don't know if this means much to anybody, but Baez did come in as the 10th best prospect in their opinion that ended up getting traded. So people believe in this guy. And you did a write up about him when the deal went down. kind of have the background of the scoop on what went down with Jesus, who he is, what he has. You did that at Redbird Brants.com. Make sure you guys check that out. But what can you tell the listeners what you learned about the new Cardinal Infielder,
Starting point is 00:11:48 Jesus. Yeah, Kylie McDaniel over on ESPN, also did a write-up. He called himself crazy by writing about every prospect that was traded, 97 of them. He had, yeah, he had Jesus Baez as his fourth best prospect. So that's a little bit reassuring as well. Yeah, he's a power first bat control type of guy, a little bit undersized, 510, 180 pounds. He profiles as a third basement if his arm can keep up over there, otherwise second base. It's interesting.
Starting point is 00:12:18 He's got high exit velocities. He doesn't chase too, too much unless it's out of the zone, really. But good power potential. He should be an interesting corner infield, second baseman prospect. He's only 20, so I wouldn't expect to see him further two. three, four years at least. And it was last year that like people, like he really popped and came off the page for people where they were like, whoa, this guy has got a little something.
Starting point is 00:12:43 And then unfortunately he had a knee injury. And, you know, people will just look, because a lot of people will just look at the, you know, what his stats are on the back of the baseball card and go, well, what the, this isn't all that great. But that's the thing is he got hurt last year, right when he got promoted. What do you have like eight games or something like that at the next level after he got called, you know, got promoted up. And so he's rehabbing from that too. He's coming back from a knee injury and stuff as well. And yeah, you're still seeing a lot of promise there. A ball player. So he's 20 years
Starting point is 00:13:16 old, as you mentioned. So certainly somebody who's geared towards the future. It's not somebody we're going to see anytime soon. But, you know, the scouting grades on him will be hit tool 50, power 60, which you love to see running 40 arms 60 fielding 50 overall they gave him a 50 so um it's somebody that I mean obviously some people are excited about him uh outside of the cardinals organization and people who talk about the cardinals because we can always spend things and be like well yeah he's real good look at this and don't pay attention to this but to see that national guys are also showing some love like this kid's got a future you know if things go the right way and he continues to progress the way he is that there's some potential there.
Starting point is 00:14:00 Let's stick with those offensive players. Let's go to Blaise Jordan. I have to say, got to be the best name that got traded at the deadline. Oh, yeah. It's just like coolness of it all, you know? He sounds like a comic book character. The Stephen Matt Steele goes to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Blaze Jordan. It has been at the minor leagues.
Starting point is 00:14:20 Two levels this year was a double A, triple A, hitting a combined 308, 12 home runs, 62 ribbyes, 22 doubles, and an OPS of 872. Your thoughts on the return of Blaise Jordan, somebody that, obviously, we've been talking about it. We've heard other people talk about him for a while that it's somebody that Cardinals probably are interested in. Now he's finally in the organization. Your thoughts on that return for Stephen Matt. Well, A, we can now have a triple bobblehead giveaway where it's Mason, Blaze, Jordan, Walker. I mean, basically, and play George and Jordan.
Starting point is 00:14:55 Yeah, so there's some marketing that the Cardinals could do that. Hell, yeah. Yeah, why not? He's definitely power first. The Cardinals have been eye on him since the 2020 draft. He comes from Boston, where Hyne Bloom is very familiar with him there. It's a pretty obvious trade piece. I think his ceiling's a little bit higher than what other people might think.
Starting point is 00:15:13 He's got a lot of power potential there. You mentioned his OPS is in the upper 800s. He's got some serious pop. He's definitely a corner infielder. If his arm can play up, He can be at third base pretty well. Otherwise, he profiles best as the first baseman. It's kind of like one of those exciting prospects that you just trade a 34-year-old rental reliever for.
Starting point is 00:15:35 It's a lottery ticket. You can dream on it. If you falls flat, whatever, you traded two months of Stephen Matt's for it. Yeah. And to get somebody who slid, I think he, what, number 17, I think an MOB pipeline for the Cardinals now, to get that in return for Matt's, who's been an injury prone, long, lever mid 30s like you said i mean that's i don't think that's so bad you know to to get a shot like that and he's somebody that out of all the guys that got traded to the cardinals he's like the closest
Starting point is 00:16:04 to making any sort of impact at the major league level because everybody else is a ball guys for the most part uh and yeah blaze who's uh you know he he he's got an interesting um personality and stuff if you've ever seen interviews with them uh and uh he he just seems like a guy that he's a masher, especially he gets left-handers. I didn't see the numbers there were pretty good, and we know the Cardinals have some trouble hitting the left-hand and fencing. So to get somebody like that, you know, it's nice.
Starting point is 00:16:37 And I know that people want the power to be better than what it was, but I love the guy that just like, I'm excited to, you know, you see the doubles and you see the 308 batting average. Like, that excites me. I would rather see that than 230 and 25. five home runs right now. I would rather see, you know, the more well-rounded batter, which is what he's really become so far in the minor leagues
Starting point is 00:17:02 as opposed to just swinging for the fences every time. Yeah, and I think this might be the theme for a lot of these prospects retreated. It allows us to clear out some of the guys that we've seen in the system for four or five years. I mean, look at Luke and Baker. They profile pretty similarly, that first corner infield or first baseman. We know what Luke and Baker is at this point. He's not going to get time in the majors. You can kind of trim that fat, so to speak, and then get these new prospects in who are a little bit unknown and have ceilings that might be higher.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Yeah, I agree. You know, it's time for some new blood. You know, we've been. Yeah, exactly. I've churning through the same dudes for the last three years. And it hasn't worked. It's not like they didn't give ample opportunities to some of these guys. And it just didn't work.
Starting point is 00:17:46 So you have to move on eventually. And it's nice to see some new faces in the organization. MLB pipeline scouting grades for Blaze Jordan, 50 on the hit tool, 50 power, 30 running, which is funny because his name is Blaze, arm 50, fielding 40. Overall, he's a 40, but he's exactly what he said. Hit first kind of guy, then you try to find a place for him, whether it's VH, first base is probably the best spots for him. We got Nate Dome, 22 years old. We'll start with the pitchers here, 6, 4, 2, 10 out of Indiana, third round pick,
Starting point is 00:18:21 24 out of Mississippi State. Scouting grades, fastball 55, curveball 50, slider 55, change up 40, control 55. Overall, they give them a 45, which mathematically makes no sense when everything else is in 50s. So far this year at two A ball stops, he combined three and five, 2.87 ERA 77 whiffs in 62 and two-thirds innings. So that's an 11.3 strikeouts per nine. And then this is just part of the Mets trade here. And then the second pitcher, Frank Ellisault, who was not ranked in the Mets top 30, and he's currently not ranked in the Cardinals top 30 either.
Starting point is 00:18:58 But 6-2-2-10, 23 years old, A ball as well, 4-and-5 record, ERA 304, 65Ks, and 56 in a third innings. Opponents only hit 180 against him in his whips under 1, which tells me that at least he's around the zone, which is always good because we know how annoying walks are. But your thoughts on those other two pieces that came along with Jesus Baez in the trade for Ryan Helsley from the Mets. Yeah, the Cardinals targeted something very specific between the draft and then these trades here with the prospects,
Starting point is 00:19:28 and it's lively fastballs. Both of those pitchers have it. Nate Dome, you said he has the 55 value fastball. It can touch 99. It sits in the mid-90s. It's pretty lively, and it plays off really well with his mid-80s sweeping slider that he's got as well.
Starting point is 00:19:44 The same can be said of Elassault. There's not too much out there of him. He's not even ranked in our top 30. He wasn't in the Mets. stop 30. But he also has a fastball that can touch 98, 99. It's got a lot of movement on it. Good release point as well. I think Elassault profiles more as a relief pitcher. Dome could be a starting pitcher. They will both also be a couple years away as well, though. Yeah, 22 and 23 years old, I believe is what their ages are. So, and I know that part of the
Starting point is 00:20:15 thing is that people are going to be like, well, what about the team now? And this is obviously the deals that they have made here. They are not geared for this year, not next year either. We're talking two years down the road at minimum. So just keep that in mind with this. This is not done to turn this around for next season by any means, but it does, it's what I call replenishing was the word I used to replenish what they're missing in the organization right now as far as prospects go. Yesterday was Phil Mayton just sitting around just waiting. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:51 Wait and waiting. Because we're all like, wait a second. Then we forget about him? Because I know they left him in St. Louis when they all went to San Diego because they anticipated trade. Finally, they pulled one off at the, just right before the buzzer, really. So, and Mo likes to do that for whatever reason. And yep, he traded for another Molina.
Starting point is 00:21:09 We're going to talk about the return for Phil Maintown and much, much more coming up on Locked on Cardinals. Today's episode brought to you by Game Day Hugh. and so is this particular. Hold on. I got to get it up here for you guys. Look at this hat. It's got the cool little stripe in the back. Obviously, the colors, red and white. Going with what the St. Louis Cardinals have. And you can get them in the other colors, too. You go the navy blue. If you wanted to, you would go navy blue and white. You can do that too. For Cardinals fans, likes me. This hits the mark. I love these type of things for the golf course.
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Starting point is 00:23:02 Be sure to check out the new Lockedon MLB Game Night every game every night all season long at local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB game night on Locked on MLB's YouTube channel or wherever you listen to podcast. Thomas Govane from Redwood Grants.com. Kind enough to join us here today. Phil Mayton was the last to go just before the deadline yesterday. It took a while. People started to freak out a little bit because they were like, dude, and he's not going to screw this up, right?
Starting point is 00:23:30 Or he doesn't get traded at all. Somebody wants Phil Mayton, don't they? And eventually the deal did come down with Texas Rangers, two pitching prospects and some international bonus full money, which is always nice. But the names that came over, obviously the first one that stands out to everybody is going to be the name Moina.
Starting point is 00:23:50 hilarious in my eyes. I even text you that. I was like, hilarious. That Mo in his final transaction at a trade deadline is the president of baseball operations, the GM for the Cardinals trades for a Molina. That's what he did. And apparently he wore 41 in the minor leagues too, which is Yaddi's old number too. Like, it's unbelievable. And I wonder if they've been holding that in their back pocket. They're like, well, yeah, right. It's not work out. Can we at least get this guy? Because it's funny.
Starting point is 00:24:17 But Mason Molina is the name of the guy, seventh round pick. He's 22 years old from the 2024 MLB draft, actually drafted by the Brewers out of the University of Art. Arkansas. What can you tell us about Mason Monlin? At times. First of all, I'd recommend that people go follow Kareem on Twitter X. He's a great follow for prospects. He's got a lot of information about these guys out there, especially those guys that, not Hazie's bias. We know enough about it, but the other guys that we have quite gotten to. His fastball, unlike the others, it's low 90s. It's got a good movement to it. His best pitchers actually has changed up. It plays off well with his slider that he uses and he throws a curveball some of the time.
Starting point is 00:24:58 but he's primarily three pitch with fastball changeup slider. Good strikeout rates, despite not heavy stuff. He has a strikeout rate north of 30%. Good whiffs as well. He's solid left-handed pitcher, which is what we need, apparently. That was a key word right there, left-handed, man. We could use a few of those right now. So, yeah, like he ends up being, what, 26 on the top 30 prospects for MLB pipeline,
Starting point is 00:25:26 scouting grades fastball 50 curveball 40 slider 50 the change up as you mentioned top pitch at 60 control 45 and again a 40 rating even though he's 50 50 50 60 I don't understand don't do math don't do math I don't get it and that's like simple math too like that's within one and a hundred so I'm like uh I can figure out a better average in this but that is what they have a mat so whatever but yeah another Molina coming to St. Louis. courtesy of John Moseilock. And as far as we know, this one will show up and will actually come back and appear. Maybe not in Cardinals uniform for a while, but at least he will be in the organization. He's going to go, I think they sent him to Peoria, which is where all these A-ball guys ended up going first. And then the final guy, another cool name here, superhero type name, Skylar Hales, 23 years old, coming to the Cardinals, courtesy of the Texas Rangers. any knowledge on what Skyler brings to the table for St. Louis.
Starting point is 00:26:31 Another hard-throwing fastball pitcher. Yes. Crazy. Yeah, we got a bunch of those now. What are we doing here? It can hit triple digits since around 95. A good slider as well. Those are his two primary pitchers.
Starting point is 00:26:43 He'll use most of the time he profiles mostly as a relief pitcher, though. So don't suspect him to get any starts in the near future. Solid depth piece. Yeah. And, you know, something I haven't harping on. is, you know, everybody wants the starting pitchers and everything. But you're seeing more and more of how important the bullpins are to these teams. I mean, like what the Padres did at the trade deadline.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Look what the Mets did. They got three dude for their bullpen. And it's just, and I keep reiterating this to people. It's like it's not like it used to be, you know, I know six innings is a quality start, but I feel like they should scoge it down and be five now because that's what people are doing. It's five innings and then you hand it off to the bullpen. and you just let these guys throw as hard as they can from one inning, then you move on.
Starting point is 00:27:32 And that's kind of just the way things are going. So as you pointed out, clearly, they were shooting for certain types of pitchers in these deals. It's hard throwing guys, swing and miss guys, which is something obviously the Cardinals have missed a lot of at the major league level. They just have not been able to get enough swing and miss. And you see the fallout from that because when it's pitched contact people, they make contact eventually they find holes.
Starting point is 00:27:58 And when that happens, it's bad news, which is, you know, I worry a little bit about Michael McGreevy. I know people were excited like, ah, funny, come out of here. I'm like, McGreevy's just like these guys. But he's cheaper, but he's cheaper and he's younger. That's what matters. He's a very similar style pitcher. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:18 Where, and what's great about him is that he's very good with, you know, his control, doesn't walk a lot of dudes. but it's very similar to what you already have in a Michael is and an Eric Fetty. So the expectations that he was just going to come in and be amazing is like, I don't know. I don't know how good he is going to be. But I hold out hope that he'll be better than what we've seen from those other guys. But these are all the different prospects overall, Thomas.
Starting point is 00:28:48 What kind of grade do you give Mo and the boys for what they gave up, which were rentals, in exchange. James for six prospects. Where do you put them? Yeah, from that perspective alone, like, what did we give up? What do we get back? It's probably a C plus. I mean, they targeted some specific areas. We don't need these relievers for the next two months, probably. From an overall trade deadline perspective, I would have loved to see one or two, like a Jojo Romero and a bat go. That would have really put it on another level. But just what he gave up, when he gets back, six prospects for three
Starting point is 00:29:18 pitchers. We don't know what those prospects would be, but there's at least some optimism there. I'll give him a C plus. All right. C plus, I can go with that. Yeah, and I think that's the real bummer about it is we won't know for a while. That's the tough part about these types of deals is that you just, if there's no instant gratification, they're not going to show up even for opening day next year. And you're like, oh, my gosh, look, he rebuilt our bullpen with all these guys. It's just, that's not the way it's going to go, which is unfortunate because in this world,
Starting point is 00:29:50 everybody wants what they want now. And if it doesn't come here right now, then it's fail. So a lot of people are going to look at this and say, not a great job, but it's part of the long game that the Cardinals are playing right now. And that's unfortunately where we are. And now we have to go play a team in San Diego who just went wild once again. I love it. He's a nut, dude.
Starting point is 00:30:13 He just doesn't care. He's doing whatever he can to get the ring this year. And he'll do it again next year, probably if he has. The thing is the Padres is the fact that they have this many great prospects, year after year to move at the deadline to get guys. But I don't know. That was a crazy trade to trade their shortstop and get Mason Miller, you know, like a top-by prospect for another closer?
Starting point is 00:30:38 Who cares? Go for it. The athletic did a write-up on the winners, losers, and snoozers. And they had a whole paragraph about like, AJ Preller is limiting above the stadium right now. The authorities are there, but they don't care because they know who comes. I guess the dude's just crazy. I love it.
Starting point is 00:30:54 As part of it is like it's it's very entertaining and you wish you had a little bit more of that. Yes, yeah. But not a lot. Like at parts of you're like, okay, hold on. Hold on a second, dude. Let's look for us a little bit. But yeah, he's just, he's just firing away out there in San Diego. So now we get to play the Padres with all of those weapons.
Starting point is 00:31:13 They now have three all stars. If you want to count Mason Miller as an all star because he kind of is anyway, but he just wasn't. So that's four guys in their bullpen. You were just able to split with them. in four games. So we'll see what happens with Cardinals and Padres tonight out there on the West Coast this weekend. All right, Thomas, we're going to let you go, brother. I appreciate all your time. And anything new working up at Redbirdbrands.com with your name on it. I've got that. Hazus Bios write up a few small little bit more information on him.
Starting point is 00:31:42 And then I just submitted one today about the players who weren't traded up the deadline, but might be traded this offseason now. There we go, because it doesn't stop the future. It will involve more D.O. at some point. So get Thomas's thoughts at Redbirdrance.com. Make sure you give him a follow on X at Thomas Gophane. And thank you guys for being a part of Locked on Cardinals, making us first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio,
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