Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Must MOVE ON After Ryan Helsley Signs With Orioles, Closers Market Updates

Episode Date: November 30, 2025

Ryan Helsley exits St. Louis' possible plans as the Baltimore Orioles’ new shutdown closer, shaking up the MLB reliever landscape and leaving the St. Louis Cardinals searching for fresh firepower in the ninth inning. Which veteran or breakout arm will step into the role—and will the Cardinals finally move on from the last remnants of their recent core?0:00 — Helsley Signs, Closer Market11:06 — Cardinals Trade Deadline Recap20:11 — Marmol Extension ReactionsFollow & 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.

Former Cardinal Ryan Helsley has signed a new deal with a new team. How this affects the closures market and the Cardinals need for their own shutdown guy in the ninth inning. You are locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey, they're Cardals fans. I'm J.D. Hafforda, former national radio sports anchor born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And I welcome you to Locktown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast. network. Now the number one sports podcast network, all because of you guys. You're the ones that made us this way, which I appreciate. So thank you to each and every one of you. Thank you to the everydayers for continuing to be here. And thank you for those of you who are new. Welcome in. Hope you enjoy the content. It's a show that serves Cardinal Nation. It gives you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Fandall. Right now new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download the app today.

On today's show, we'll get some more of your comments and reactions to things in Cardinal Confessions, specifically the possible extension of manager Ali Marmal. We'll also look back at the deals that Cardinals made at the trade deadline this past year because that's connected to where I want to start today's show. And that's the news that former Cardinals closer and still rating NL Reliever of the Year. might I add, Ryan Helsley has found himself a new home and it's not going to be back with this, St. Louis Cardinals, though, although some people thought maybe there was a chance. I thought maybe there was a chance. According to sources, the 31-year-old is sending a two-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles. Instead, this two-year deal is worth $28 million, but it features an opt-out after the first season.

It hasn't been officially announced yet. They still got to go through the physicals and whatnot, but the O's wanted to get somebody to take over for their normal closer, Felix Bautista, who's a beast, but he's recovering from right shoulder surgery. He's not going to be available until late August or September. So they need somebody else to fill the void. If he does come back and the O's are in contention, then that's one hell of a one-two combination that the Orioles would have. The question is, can Ryan Helsley reestablish himself as a top-tier reliever after what went down last season? Now, Helsley was not as good as he was in 2024.

He was effective with the Cardinals, but all you have to do is watch the tape. And if you were there with us the entire time, how frustrating some of those appearances were. When you look at the numbers, they're not that bad. You know, you got a three ERA, 21 saves in 36 outings before he got traded to the Mets on July 30th. But every single game, it just felt like you were sweating.

And you're like, oh, my gosh, why is it always so difficult? So difficult to get these final outs, which, you know, it's part of the game. The last few outs are usually the most difficult. That's why you pay closures big time money. But it just seemed like every single time there was traffic on the bases. And it just drove us nuts. So when the trade went down, I think a lot of us were high-fiving. We were excited about it because we could move on from Ryan Housley.

He's now New York's problem. And the bright lights of the big apple, they weren't all that fun for Ryan Housley. He struggled big time. 7.20 ERA in 22 games. He did not record a save because that wasn't his role after he got to the Mets. Hardly of the return that they were hoping for after giving up three prospects to land him. And now he's off to Baltimore. They got nothing to show for it. Didn't even make the playoffs. Now, one of the things that kept getting brought up in regards to Helsley's struggles last year was tipping pitches. It was something that had been talked about while he was with the Cardinals.

It continued when he went to New York and when you primarily only throw two pitches, which was the fastball and slider. If you're tipping one of them, how huge is that for the opposition? They got a 50-50 shot. It's coming down the pipe. And then if you got a towel of some sort, makes things way easier for them. That's coaches say they identified that issue that when his arms were coming set, the arm position was changing based on whether he was throwing fastball or a slider, made things a whole lot easier to hit. Even when he was with the Cardinals,

we pointed this out that it was astonishing how well guys were hitting his fastball. You know, the V-Lo was still there. That wasn't a problem. He's 99th percentile in V-Lo. But it was getting hammered. They hit 4-22 against his fastball last year. Wow, with the Cardinals and the bats.

It's like, 4-22 compared to a 140 batting average against his slider. He ended up wrapping the year up with seven scoreless innings over the final six appearances. So the O's clearly hoping that things got figured out. And then if Alistis back at 100 percent and Helsley has a good year, he can opt out and hit the market again if he wants to. And the Orioles will be like, all right, bye. And they'll hang on to Batista. But you got this move and the trade of Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward. And that's two solid pieces for the Orioles in 2026, who were very disappointing in

2025. Now, I was certainly under the impression that the Cardals would be looking at the closer market this year or should be. They should be still, in my opinion. Would have at very least reached out to Ryan Helsley about a return. I forget who had the report that he expected them to reach out to him. So not sure if that happened or not. According to Katie Wu, about 15 teams expressed interest in him. Maybe the cardinal for one of them.

But a big part of me is also glad that the temptation of bring Ryan Helsley back, it's over. And no offense to Housley. but I'm just ready to move on from all of these mainstays that have been here the last couple of years. I'm ready to turn the page on all of them. Halsley and Matt's got moved. Those were two pieces. Sunny Gray is out.

Michaelis is out. Aronado, we think, is on his way out. Maybe Wilson Contreras could be moved. We shall see. Brennan Donovan clearly has a market, perhaps Newport or Gorman. I'm just, I'm ready to, to move forward. Okay. We gave that group three years to figure some crap out.

It never happened. And I just think that bringing back Helsley would have been redundant and boring. Like I just, I'm ready for new blood. I'm ready for younger people. And I still think the Cardinals should look into the market for the closers. Plenty of names are still out there. Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, Devin Williams, Kenley Jansson, Pete, Fairbanks, Luke Weaver, Kyle Finnegan.

There's a bunch. And am I the only one who didn't realize that Suarez was as old as he was? Like, he's 34? What? I had genuinely, had no idea, did not realize that Robert Swares was 34 years old. That blew me away. But most of those names, including Suarez, are going to cost a decent penny. So could Heim and the scouts identify any of the other dozens?

of arms that are available as a possible clothes or possibly. Possibly, that's her job. Go find the talent. Maybe they feel comfortable with the right-handed side with Sonson and O'Brien at the back end and Jojo is your lefty guy. There's talk about Jojo getting moved. So maybe he's not around anymore. The argument to get a known commodity is also that if it works out,

you can pull the old Phil Mayton, right? Sign him to a one-year deal. do whatever it is you do with them, make him a valuable piece again, and then you flip them at the deadline. It was beautifully done last year with Phil Maton. If there's one thing the Cardinals have done very well the last couple of seasons, it's bullpen pieces. You had Andrew Kitcherge the year before that.

Phil Maetan now, funny that the Cubs went out and took care of both of those guys after they were no longer Cardinals. But yeah, it's something they've proven they've been pretty good at. And so I trust them to do it again. So do I think they're going to go out and spend a butt ton of money on a guy like Edwin D.S? Hell no. But, you know, in the Finnegan range, something like that where, you know, it's one year, a certain amount of money, could move him at the deadline. And then you're not on the hook for anything else.

Absolutely. Would any of those guys that we listed? You know, Devon Williams, probably going to be more expensive. Probably going to be more expensive. I know it would be cool story to have him come back to St. Louis where he's from, but probably going to be more expensive. so I wouldn't imagine that would work. But, you know, a veteran like Kenley Janssen, Pete Fairbanks, who was with Tampa Bay, solid.

Luke Weaver had a bounce back year last year with the Yankees. He looked really good, especially in that first half last year. I was like, wow, this was the Cardinals first round guy so many moons ago. I can see why. But Kyle Finnegan is kind of the guy that feels more like what the Cardinals would jump into if it was going to be a free agent. but we'll see. Speaking of which, you know, talking about the film Mayton signing,

I was sitting there going through the relievers and I'm like, you know what? I haven't really gone back and revisited the prospects that the Cardinals got at the deadline with the deals for Halsley and Mayton and Mats. And I thought it would be kind of fun, you know, slow. Not a lot going on in the baseball world right now. So I thought we could go back and check in on them. So we'll do that next, coming up next on Locked on Cardinals.

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You first listen every day. 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.O. underscore Cardinals. We're also on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. At the deadline this past year, John Moseilock made his final trades as president of baseball operations when he traded Ryan Helsley, Phil Mayton, and Stephen Mats for prospects. We do not know who had say in what prospects they had to get.

I don't know how much. Heim Bloom was pulling the strings from behind the scenes. We don't know. But since two of those three have already found new homes, as far as the guys the Cardinals got rid of, Mayton's now a Cobb, Ryan Helsley's gone to the Orioles. I think it's a good time to go back and see what those deals got for the car. Noles and how they did after coming to the organization. So we'll start with the big one, which was the Helsley deal to the Mets for minor league prospects,

infielder, Jesus, right-handed pitcher Nate Dome, and right-hand-hand-reliever, Frank Ellesalt. Now, Baez was the big piece, right? He was the highest-rated prospect that came back to St. Louis and is currently the Cardinals' eighth-ranked prospect, according to MLB pipeline. People like this kid. Right behind newly acquired left-hander, Brandon Clark, mind you, who came over in that sunny grade trade. So before the trade, Baez, who's only 20 years old,

infielder was hitting 244, which is in home runs and 42 RBIs in just under 300 played appearances over 70 games at High A, Brooklyn for the Mets. After the deal, he remained in High A, played 27 games for High A Peoria, and hit

243 with four home runs and 15 ribbies in 11 at bats. Now, to go from Brooklyn, New York, to Peoria Illinois, a place that I lived in for a few years and worked in, that's going to be a big culture shock. And all three of these guys that came back in the deal for Helsley, we're all in Brooklyn at the time and all had to move to Peoria, Illinois, which, no offense to Peoria, Illinois. I had a great time when I lived there, but quite a difference between Brooklyn, New York and Peoria, Illinois.

All right. So to do that, culture shock. So I don't blame any of the numbers for those guys sliding a little bit after the trade. Baez is OBP, his slug as OPS. They all took a hit when he came to Peoria. But people are very high on this kid. Certainly looking forward to his progression in year two within the Cardinals' organizations. Nate Dome currently ranked number 18 in the Cardinal system.

Again, also at Brooklyn when the trade happened. He was one and two with a 2.62 ERA and 11 appearances. 10 of those were starts. after he got to Peoria, went 0 and 2, 5.11, ERA, and five starts. Walks for a problem, issued 9 and 12 in the third inning, struck out 13. Need some development. Need some development, no doubt. Then Frank Ellesol, who is not in the Cardinals' Top 30, but was also at Brooklyn before the deal,

although he spent most of his year at St. Lucy, which was the rookie league, right? I believe so. That was just A ball. Maybe that's just A ball. But anyway, he was down there below high A for most of the year. or three and four, three point O two ERA and 18 appearances. Seven of those were starts. Goes to Brooklyn, goes one and one, two starts, 3.18 ERA.

And just like the other two, the numbers weren't great when he got to Peoria. He goes O and two and four appearances. Three of those were starts, 5.59 ERA, eight walks and nine and two thirds innings. Hopefully the Cardinals and, you know, all these people that they are hiring within the system can help these guys. Moving on to the Phil Mayton deal, got dealt to the Texas Rangers. Again, has now signed with the Cubs. Why, Phil? Why? Why do you do it? In return, the Cardinals got minor league pitchers, Mason Molina and Skylar Hales.

Mayton was solid with Texas. Went three and two, three. Five-two ERA, picked up three saves as well. Turn that into a two-year deal with Chicago. Molina is currently ranked number 27 for the Cardinals, and the 22-year-old was playing in High A. This is a great name, by the way, Hub City Spartanburgers. Wow. Wow. Anyway, South Atlantic League is where that team resides. He was one and two with a 2.6-3 ERA and seven games. Six of those were starts, but gets to Peoria. Not bad.

Two and one, two-eight ERA and five starts, 27Ks in 21 and two-thirds innings. He did have some walks, 15 walks in those 21 and two-thirds innings as well. But hey, let's focus on the positives here, right? So the Ks were there. Things went well for Mason Molina. you like to see that. And then there's Skyler Hales, who just turned 24 in October. He was actually in Memphis. You know, most of those, these guys were talking about, where, you know, A ball guys. Hales was not. He just turned 24. He's at Memphis after this trade,

spent time of double A and AAA when he was with Texas, ended up going, in picking up five wins when he got to Memphis. Goes five and oh, 16 appearances, no starts. The ERA, a little high, 5.4.0, but, you know, the five wins, Sounds like a solid middle relief guy. 24 years old already. We'll see what he can do this year. Well, you know, more than likely start a AAA unless something happens and he blows everybody away at spring training, which I'm sure we'll get a look at him then.

And we'll see what happens. The final deal was Steve and Matt's to Boston for infielder Blaze Jordan. Matt's went on to make 21 appearances for Boston was very, very good, very good at Beetown. Did it all relief, no starts, 2.080RA. the FIP tells you a different story at 4.84, which means his normal ERA, maybe you got a little lucky on some stuff. But serviceable, obviously, Stephen Rats. And I'm sure somebody will jump on him, whether it's to be a back of the rotation starter or another long relief guy in the bullpen. Somebody will pick up Stephen Mats.

It'll happen. Meanwhile, just not the Cardinals. All right, just not the Cardinals. We don't have to do that again. Meanwhile, Blaze Jordan is now the number 19 prospect for the Cardinals. He was mashing at AA while in Boston's organization got promoted to AAA in June, where he was hitting 298 with six dingers and 25 ribbies before the trade happened. Comes to Memphis.

Batting average not so good. 198. He did pop seven home runs and 37 RBIs and 186 plate appearances for the year at the just AAA level. The soon-to-be 23-year-old hit 248, 13 home runs and 62 RBI. So respectable numbers for the season, though. If you combine what he was doing in double A, before he got promoted to AAA.

You combine all the stats there. 270, 19 home runs, 99 RBIs in 129 games, and just under 500 of bats at 493. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Most guys struggle when they move up a level. So to see that he was doing actually pretty good with the AAA affiliate for Boston

and then, you know, struggled batting average wise when he got to Memphis. But again, you're moving. These are kids. man, they're getting traded in the middle of a season and having to move. And it's not easy. Like, can you imagine being 21, 22, and your job just moves you? It's culture shock.

It cannot be easy. And some of these guys weren't even 20, you know, like Baez 20 years old. So with all three trades and the sunny gray deal, the Cardinals have added five members to their top 30 prospects list. Two of them are in your top 10. you get Richard Fitz as well, who should be in the rotation day one of spring training. I feel like that's not so bad for three expiring contracts and a 36-year-old starter, who, yes, cost you $20 million, but also saved you from having to pay any more of the $40 million. So it saved you $20 million that you were going to have to pay him anyways before the deal,

because his salary was $35 million plus that $5 million buyout. I know they've restructured things since he got traded to Boston, good for them. But the Cardinals were able to save $20 million by making that deal. And they got a starter and they picked up a top 10 prospect for their organization. So far so good. Hard to complain about that stuff in my eyes. Hopefully any future deals with names like Nolan Aronado, Bernie Donovan, hopefully they'll be as fruitful.

We're going to wrap things up with Cardinal Confessions. reactions to the possible extension of manager Ali Marmal. Oh boy. Oh boy. Things got hot. We'll get into it next on Lockdown Cardinals. Thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals. Your first list every day for your second list and check out Lockton, MLB, hosted by Sully.

It brings you a daily blend of humor and baseball throughout the offseason. You can find Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. So if you didn't hear that there was a report that the Cardinals have discussed an extension with manager Ali Marmal. came from Derek Gould at STLTDay.com. Talked about it in the last episode and explained my thoughts on it and why it may not be the worst thing considering where the Cardinals are in this rebuild. And I know there's not a lot of people out there that love Ali Marble. I shouldn't say that. There are a lot of people out there that don't like Ali as the manager for the Cardinals.

I don't know if it's a personality thing. I didn't really see much of that. but they are just ready to move on to a different voice. And I gave you reasons why I think maybe it's not such a bad thing to have Ali around still. But I wanted to hear your thoughts on it, explain to me why it is or isn't a good idea. Here were some of the responses. And we're going to start with the negative ones. Okay.

Dozens and dozens and dozens of responses on this one. These are just some of them. Most of them are pretty quick. Absolutely terrible idea. That's it. That's all the person wrote. JD, you're losing credit for being an Ali fan. Thought you were smart.

No, no, no, Michael Scott style from the office. Rebuilding begins with the foundation, which is management. Sitting Mo away was first. Replacing Ali should be next. What is this love affair with Ollie? Terrible idea. His teams are not fundamentally sound. He cannot put batting orders together.

Really odd. Ali is not MLB coach material. His record reflects that. keeping him is stupid. He doesn't have a winning record, by the way. Ali lost me with how Tyler O'Neill was treated. How was he more qualified than Yaddy or Albert? No, no, no, dear God, no.

This guy's only winning season was a team put together by another manager. And then you look at the poor fundamentals his teams have. I mean, they run the bases like a little league team. And their lack of just baseball knowledge by his players for whatever reason, the media in St. Louis loves this. guy and I just don't get it. Keeping olive oil will only crush attendance. Please don't do it. I don't know if attendance can get much worse than it was last year, to be honest with you. But last time I checked, I don't go to the games to watch the manager manage. You know, I go to watch players.

And that's just me, though. Here's another one. I won't spend any money on this organization until Marmal is gone. It just continues like this. A lot of these responses, similar. verbiage, which was expected, absolutely expected when talking about Ali. Because I know he's not the most popular guy. I feel that John Moseilac was under more heat than Ali for the reasons I gave you in the last episode. But we did get plenty of responses too, which was great. Because for those of you who don't like Ali and don't want him around, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not.

We're just having a discussion about it because I feel one way. you might feel the other. The goal is we want the Cardinals to freaking win again. And who's going to lead that? And some people don't want Ali behind the wheel anymore. And that's fine. I can understand the reasoning why, but I gave you some reasons why I feel like maybe he should stick around. Ali hasn't had a ton of talent to work with, which is one of my main reasons why when I see him with better rosters, I see two winning of seasons when he's had subpar. our rosters, we have losing seasons. And even the last two years, you know, despite not having the most talent and having aging veterans and selling at the deadline, the last two seasons, this team has been competitive.

I know we had a losing season here in 2025, but they hung around there for a bit. But he's got those two winning seasons in 22 and 24, but he's also got the fugly 23 season, which was awful, where we had so much, there was just a disaster all around. And then last year, where they were hanging around for a while, they became sellers for the second time in 40 years. The fundamentals thing, I'm with you. I'm totally with you. Certainly something that needs to be worked on.

Base running, mental mistakes. But it's a pretty young team that he's been working with. Like it wasn't Paul Goldsmith, Nolan Aronado, you know, Brendan Donovan making these mistakes. It was usually younger guys that were doing those things. So pretty young team, you would hope that those things would improve as time moves on, as these kids mature, they continue to play at the major league level, which is an entirely different speed than anything they've ever been a part of.

I remember one of my big issues at the end of the Mike Mathini era was all the dumb mistakes, the stupid mental errors, the just dumb things that they would do, drove all of us nuts, including the managers, trust me. And then they brought in Mike Shelton for whatever reason, things cleaned up a bit. Same team, same coaches, but for whatever reason, things got better. hope things will get better. And remember, Shilty had a more mature team at that point than what Ollie's been working with. But I just don't put it all on Holly. I don't. I think that's the coaching staff in general that it's got to be better, which is why they've expanded and are hoping to eliminate this stuff with more advisors and more coaching in the minor league, something they did not have

for a long time. They've upgraded all of this so that when these guys are big league ready, that these problems aren't as frequent at the major league level. That's the idea. Can they follow through and get it all done? I don't know. We're going to find out together. I did like this response, though. Okay, so this is the first time I have commented.

I'm 59 years old. Saw Lou Brock Steel 3rd at Bush Stadium in 1979 in person. Love that. By the way, Lou Brock was my mom's, or it still is, favorite player. Loves him. We have autographs, you know, bases. by Lou Brock and posters of them. She loved them. I had a chance to play against

his kid back in the day. He did get a hit off of me, but I also struck him out a couple times. But we had nothing but love for Lou Brock. So that's cool. 1979. You're in person for that. Longtime fan, third generation. I have no problem with Ali Marmal. In fact, this season will just add to his experience. I loved watching Albert Niatty. And yes, they have a little managerial experience, but does that really mean they would be anything more than a ticket sell? The easy thing, and let me say this, the easy thing for Hym to have done was come in and fire

Ali and let Yadi take over. Could have, bang, could have made that happen and be done with it. And Cardinal fans would have been like, yes, we got our dude. Everybody had been excited. It would have made everybody happy. You'd have made headlines, both locally and nationally. So if the decision is so easy, why haven't they done it? It can't just be the money for Ali's final season that they don't want to pay, right?

It can't just be that? Can it? I find that hard to believe. These guys just paid $20 million for Sunny Gray to go away. You don't think they'll eat the final year of an Ali Marmal contract. Come on now. There's got to be more to it. And as of this show, no other teams in baseball have high.

hired him or Albert either. Why? Is the rest of the league all run by incompetent idiots as well? Or is there something more to all of it? That for whatever reason, Yati and Albert don't have managerial jobs yet. Doesn't mean they won't. Doesn't mean they won't. But it makes you wonder if there's such a slam dunk, easy decision to have these guys running baseball teams, why aren't they? How come MLB teams haven't jumped on board and taken them from the Cardinals? Why? Now, if either of them gets hired, which at some point they will, they will get a job eventually, and they go off and succeed, then we, in the Cardinals end up floundering with Ali, then we can look back and rip Hyam and company, and you guys can make fun of me and all the rest of us who were like, that's not a bad idea for screwing this whole thing up.

You can do that. personally what my plan would be i'd still let ollie finish out his contract this year this would be the year and then see how things are earn your extension by what happens here in 2026 how we're able to blend the rebuild and still trying to teach and win at the major league level let's see how he does you'll get that plus what you've seen so far in the past that you can go off of and then you can make a decision. And it's not like other teams are banging down the door to hire Alley. When Craig Counsel left Milwaukee and went to Chicago, people really wanted to get their hands on Craig Counsel. Who's lining up to take Ali away from the Cardinal? Nobody that I know of.

So earn it this last year. There's no need to jump ahead. If he does a great job, then do what must be done. You signed the guy. He earned it. But if things go sideways and we have problems, then you're not stuck. You can move on, find a better fit. Maybe it is Yaddy. Maybe it's Albert. Maybe it's somebody else. I don't know.

But I just don't, I don't see why you need to do the extension just yet. But I understand why they like them. I understand why people don't like them. So tis what it is. You know, we're all kind of split on this thing. Bottom line is, like I said, we just want the Cardinals to win. So whoever's going to be in charge, I hope they get it right. And I hope that.

All of this momentum that feels pretty positive. I hope it continues. I hope it continues throughout the offseason. Big thank you for making Lockdown Cardinals. Your first list in every day. You haven't already given us a follow on X at L.O underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio. TikTok and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow.

You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals in the month of December. That's a wrap on November.