Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Offense Lacks Right-Handed FIREPOWER After Wilson Contreras Trade

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals have already made a couple of big moves, but they could still use a right-handed bat. And today we're going to tell you the ones that we think make the most sense to impact this team in 2026. You are Locked-on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, there are Carlis fans. I'm J.D. Hafford, a former national radio sports anchor. Born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And welcome to another episode of Locked on Cardinals. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you to our everydayers for helping us get there. For those of you who are new, welcome aboard.

Starting point is 00:00:42 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 Fandall. Now, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandul.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. So on today's show, we're going to be discussing the latest moves by the Cardinals. A couple of trades, Sunny Gray, Wilson, Contreras. there's been some signings, but we're going to start today with the free agent market, specifically the right-handed bats that are still out there and which ones, if any,

Starting point is 00:01:11 actually makes sense for the Cardinals moving forward and to help us sift through these names. We've got our good friend Thomas Covade from Redbird Rants.com. Here he is. Thomas, welcome in, buddy. Happy holidays. See you and yours. How are you? Doing well.

Starting point is 00:01:25 Thank you, J.D. How are you? I'm good. I'm enjoying the offseason so far because it's starting to, to, pick up for the Cardinals, although not everybody's is happy about what's going on with them and who they're getting rid of and who's coming back in return. But we'll get to that a little bit later. The Cardinals have made those two big trades as we talked about, Sunny Gray, Wilson, Contreras, both go into the Boston Red Sox in exchange for five new pitchers, two of which should help this

Starting point is 00:01:50 team this year. Richard Fitz, Hunter Dommitz. They've also signed Dustin May. They've added Zach Kent from Cleveland and Matt Pushard from Miami. So that's five new arms that could impact this year's 26 man roster have a very good chance of at least impacting the roster this year. Now they aren't closing the book on pitching. They'll keep their eyes open about adding more arms. They're always watching, always looking for ways to improve. But for now they've added a lot of solid depth to what was a very lean department in the organization over the last few seasons.

Starting point is 00:02:23 I'm Bloom said this is what his goal was. Like we got to restock stuff. So he mentioned in his press conference on Monday night, though, that the team could also be in the market for a right-hand. bat, either an outfielder or he said there's a possibility of, he sees like a path for an infielder to come in as well, said he doesn't want to not give internal guys a chance to, you know, take those roles on. So J.C. Jose Fermin are the names that I would come off the top of my head. But depending on what opportunities are available, that maybe there's something that could happen

Starting point is 00:02:55 from somebody outside of the organization. We know the team was left-handed heavy and still is. Newt, Victor Scott, Burleson, Donovan, Gorman, Jimmy Crooks, other guys on the 40 man. You got Prieto, Church, Torres, J.J. Weatherholt isn't on the 40 man yet, but we're pretty sure he's going to be up on the team this year. That's a lot of Southpaws. And by trading away Contreras, arguably your best right-handed bat. You've lost not only another one of those, but we assume Nato is going to be gone at some point as well. So there's two of them. Now you're left with Jordan Walker, Mason Winn, Yvonne Herrera, Sejacy, Pedro Paez, Jose Fermin, and Joshua Baez, as far as the 40 man goes. Now, Baez hasn't played above AA yet, so we're not going to rush him, so we don't think that's going to be an issue.

Starting point is 00:03:41 That means you're left with Jordan Walker, is your only right-handed outfielder on the 40-man roster right now. And then you've got wins to J-C and Fermin on the end field. Right-handed hitters, which used to be everywhere, Thomas, are now at a premium across the league. not a lot of impact bats with power from the right side available. So what we're going to do today is we've given Thomas a little project. Give us three names. And we're going to use a Christmas theme to this. And we're going to call this our Cardinals Christmas wish list as far as right handers go.

Starting point is 00:04:16 So we'll have a big present, which is like his top scenario, maybe a little dream scenario, maybe a little bit out of reach scenario. You've also got the little present, which is, you know, that could be possible. And then we'll call it a stocking stuffer for the lower level one that maybe you don't think is really going to happen. But it's still a possibility out there as well. So hopefully that all makes sense. We're going to start with our big present. All right, Thomas, big present, someone that is realistic, but more wishful thinking than anything.

Starting point is 00:04:50 I'm going to start off the top with a former cardinal and Harrison Bader. here. He's got the center field defense, right-handed stick that we would love to see in the outfield. He actually has shown some pretty good offensive numbers since he left the Cardinals. He was no slouch at the plate when he was up when he was the thus, but look at his numbers last year, they were pretty strong overall. I think Bader would be an excellent addition. He could platoon with Victor Scott the second out there. He could play a corner outfield and then his defense would be even better out there. People are seeing two years, $24 million for him. A, that doesn't fit our competitive window and B,

Starting point is 00:05:24 that's probably more money than what Hime is wanting to spend on what was probably going to be your 25th man on the roster, 26 man maybe. So he's my big present. I'd love to see him come back to the St. Louis, but I don't see it happening. Yeah, he's made his way around the league, sure,

Starting point is 00:05:40 since he lets St. Louis, the Yankees, then to the Reds for like a split second. 14 games with the Reds in 2020. He's now been with the Mets, Minnesota, Philadelphia. But the thing about him is, like you said, you know, he's a useful guy.

Starting point is 00:05:57 He does a lot of things that people like. And again, finding right-handed hitters, it isn't easy anymore, which is really weird, because that used to be the thing where it was finding a lefty that was the difficult part. Now, there seem to be everywhere. And it's the righties that are getting to be more difficult to get on a roster. So, yeah, I think if there's a move that would make people happy, who are not so happy right now with things that are going on with the Cardinals. Bringing back a fan favorite, like a Harrison Bader, obviously, would be fantastic.

Starting point is 00:06:31 You know, he's going to be 32 next summer. Doesn't run quite the way he used to, but that's okay. The Cardinals aren't a big stolen base team outside of Victor Scott anyway. But, yeah, he's still got some pop. And obviously, he's got the flare and the defense that Cardle fans would enjoy once again. My big present, I'm going to go with a guy that was on a team in the division last year. I'm going to go Miguel And Duhar. And I'm just specifically thinking what he does against left handers.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And last year, the dude mashed 389 against lefties. He's 31 years older, will be in March. His split OPS plus was 179 against lefties. So I am all in for that. I have no idea if he's good on defense or anything like that. And I don't care, to be honest with you. just looking for somebody from the right side who can do some damage if, you know, if we're thinking like, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:26 if it's Newt that's going to be in left, if he's still around, you know, that when he gets hurt because he will, because he does all the time that can slide in there and also give some of these guys a break, you know, if Newt needs to play center, Victor Scott needs a day off, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:41 you got a guy like him who could just kind of slide in there and, play against those left-handed pitchers. So thoughts on Miguel Ann Duhard. Do you like that one? He wasn't a name that was on my radar until he just said it. I do love those platoon splits against left-hand pitchers. That's something we need for 179 OPS Plus. I don't love his defense.

Starting point is 00:08:00 He grades out negative pretty much everywhere he's played. And I don't think he's played center field for a couple of years either. If I'm looking at his log here, it looks like, I mean, you've got to go back pretty far. Yeah. Maybe never played center. Sorry, all corner out here. My bad. No, not even center field.

Starting point is 00:08:15 From an offensive perspective, love it. Defense. I'm not sure. Yeah, yeah, there's going to be some concessions here as far as the defense goes. And yeah, he's primarily kind of a left fielder. I don't think he has any business being in right field either. So it would be I'm just looking at offense where we're trying to make up for whatever. We've lost from Contreras and what you probably are going to lose from Nato.

Starting point is 00:08:38 So that's where my thought process is. He could be as bad as Marcelo Zuna was in left field for all I know. And I'm just looking at the bat right now. So all right, those are our big presence. We're going to move on to our little presence and the stocking stuffers. We're going to have those names coming up for you next on locked on card notes. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything feels different. And that's what makes live betting with Fandall so exciting because you're not just watching the game anymore.

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Starting point is 00:10:32 Members only Discord access and more offer just five bucks a month or $50 a year. If you want to go to that route, go to locked on STL Cardinals. dot supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. So Thomas Govane from Redmerbrance.com joining us here today. I got to get our Christmas look back up here. Here we go. There we go. A little more festive.

Starting point is 00:10:52 We're looking for right-handed bats. This is our Christmas wish list for right-handed bats that can help this Cardinals team. In 2026, we're not talking about down the road in a couple of years now. We need we need some impact bats to help whatever this office is going to be in 26, infielders, outfielders, they're all available. You can go DH. You could go Marcelo Zuna if you wanted to, although he wasn't all that good and he can only DH, but hey, these are your wishes.

Starting point is 00:11:21 So second tier or a little present. Who do you got for us, Thomas? It's not a little present. Nicknames actually a big Christmas. I'm going to go with John Kenzie Noel. He was DFAed by the Guardians about a week or two ago. Yeah. Yeah, he's so, don't get too excited.

Starting point is 00:11:37 He strikes out 33% of the time for his career over about 350 played appearances. He is walking at less than 5% of the time. However, he is 99th percentile in bat speed, and his exit velocity is also pretty ridiculous, too. He's great for home runs. He is not the best defender. He is a slow runner, but man, when he makes contact, that ball. will fly and he's right-handed. Yes, and I believe when he got released,

Starting point is 00:12:04 I remember looking up some of the stuff, he's got a pretty good arm in the outfield, too, from what I remember that cast. He does, yeah. He's certainly one of those all-or-nothing type of guys, but if he figures it out, which he might, because he's still young, right? Would you say 24 years old?

Starting point is 00:12:20 24, yeah, five years of control, too, if we pick him up. Yeah, we're talking about a guy that's a year older than Jordan Walker, like, That's somebody that fits what this team is all about right now. Can you figure out how to get him to not swing and miss as much? Is he just going to be the next Nolan Gorman from the right side of the plate? I don't know, but it's certainly something.

Starting point is 00:12:44 He's got some tools there to work with, obviously. I feel like he hit almost 30 home runs at AA a couple of years ago. So there is power. You've seen him with some big flies this year for Cleveland. and obviously great nickname. That's cool. We're fans of that. How much fun is, you know, like Chip Carey going to have with a name like Big Christmas?

Starting point is 00:13:08 Oh, he's a blast. It all depends on his number, though, on the back of the jersey with Chip Carrey, though. That's the thing you got to look out for. That's true. What if he got signed and was 69? What would Chip Carrey do in a situation like that lose his mind? What did his head just explode? I'm pretty sure, yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:27 So there's a name to think about. I'm going to go with another guy that was in the division. In fact, he was on the same team as Andrew Hart was at the end of last season. He was with the Cincinnati Reds. He's got a goofy look. If you saw him out in public and he wasn't wearing his uniform, you've never guessed that this dude is a major league baseball player. But his name is Austin Hayes.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Last year, 319 against lefties. He did have some injury concerns last year. But when he was in the lineup, the dude was pretty darn effective for the Reds. 19 against lefties split OPS plus of 168. Once again, I have no idea if he's going to go in the outfield at all. He may be absolutely terrible, but I know he can swing a bat, and he was a pretty good bat with Baltimore for a couple of years before he ended up with the Reds. And the injuries really kind of tapered the shine off of that signing for them last year. But I believe he still hit like 15 home runs last year.

Starting point is 00:14:23 Granted, playing at Great American Small Park will help those numbers just a bit. But at the same time, I feel like he'd be a solid one too. And he'd be a guy that if you're thinking about you sign him, he's a veteran, and he does pretty well somebody that you could probably flip at the trade deadline and send him off to, I don't know, someplace, someplace in the AL East, who could use, you know, maybe Boston, something like that, you know, a team that's always wheeling and dealing. you can do something like that who, you know, people are going to be interested in a guy like Kim at the deadline.

Starting point is 00:14:56 So that would be a name that I would keep an eye on. I did see that the Mets were thinking about some Austin Hayes in their life. So that could happen as well. But named to put on the list as well. All right, moving on to stocking stuffers. Who's your next name, Thomas? Okay, I might have taken this wrong here based on the directions. I'm going to go Joe Adel as my stocking stuffer,

Starting point is 00:15:18 primarily because it's so far-fetched that the A's would trade him at this point that I don't think it's going to happen. So it's like that's talking stuffer. Yeah, it's like the item you put under Christmas is. You're like, there's no way some he's going to get this for me. It's crazy. And then all of a sudden you see it there at Christmas morning and it's Joe Adele right underneath your tree. He's got that he's got the speed. What do you think it would take to get him out of L.A.?

Starting point is 00:15:41 I don't know, no, Arnado is not enough by himself. But if all these prospects we've built up, I'm sure Hymn is cooking up a tree. trade at some point down the road. Why not do it now and get Joe Adele? He's got the pop from from the right side. He's got plus defense in the outfield. He's what Jordan Walker could become right now. Yeah. So why not get him? Yes. I've used that comparison many, many times for the people who have already given up on Jordan Walker because that's how they felt with the angels with Joe Adele. He'd been up a couple times. Didn't look all that good. Look like he was never going to be the the big hitter they thought he was going to be, but he was always so young.

Starting point is 00:16:18 And then this year, there he is, already. Swinging and missing a lot, but oh boy, does he got that massive power finally came through. He had a 931 OPS against lefties last year. Like, that's crazy. Yeah, and he's super athletic, too. So he's somebody that I think he could move around the outfield as well. So certainly an interesting name. I would love to get me some Joe O'Dell in my life.

Starting point is 00:16:43 I have to ask John Frisch, who does. locked on angels if there's a tray that we can cook up with with aranado although he's he's i've asked him before i'm like what do you what do you think you could use him right and he's like honestly i have no idea what we do with nolan aranao he's like i don't know how much that really helps our team but i don't know the angels like to get older veteran guys and uh see what they can do with him so maybe that's something that works out i'm not entirely sure i'm sure cardals would have to pay a lot to get it done. But that's a need, obviously, to keep in the back of your mind if he becomes available

Starting point is 00:17:18 via trade. I went a different route. I went with somebody who was like an older version than all of these guys. But Starling Marte is the guy that I was thinking of, is my stocking stuffer, 37 years old. And although if you've seen him, because he was with the months last year, that dude is of rock. Like he's been in tremendous shape his entire life. He reminds me a lot of Reggie Sanders from back and how he takes care of his body and stays in great shape. Nothing all that special about him against lefties or righties. There's not really a whole lot of difference there, but just solid, just a solid

Starting point is 00:18:00 player with a split OPS plus of 109 against lefties. I'm just trying to think of a guy that certainly doesn't need to play every day. I don't think anybody who signs him is going to expect him to play every day unless he just gets signed on name alone because he's had a really nice career in the major leagues. But he's somebody that I, you know, I wouldn't mind seeing out there in the outfield taking some reps in left field. I doubt he can play center field at age 37 anymore. That takes that off the table. But I don't know. What do you think about him? Just a piece of the puzzle at the back end of the roster here. I like it.

Starting point is 00:18:41 That veteran experience, that's something that would be huge for the team. All-Star just 2022, not too long ago. Cardinals' last best season. I know it's a century ago for someone who's 37, but still he's got that pedigree to him. He's got the experience. I think he'd be a nice outfield bench guy. Yeah, and I think that's where he is and is at this point in his careers.

Starting point is 00:19:03 He's played with the Mets in Oakland, in Miami, Arizona. most of us remember him in the division when he was with pirates early on in his career. So another guy that's traveled a little bit and maybe he becomes somebody worth something in kind of the Tommy fam mold where he's somebody that another team would want at the trade deadline at some point to bring that veteran presence to their squad. So Starly Marte put him in the stocking if we can get them. So those are our choices for right-handed bats. before we wrap up this segment, is there anybody on the left-handed side of the reliever market that you are still interested in?

Starting point is 00:19:46 I know they signed Jared Schuster, former first rounder from Atlanta. 2023, he was their number one prospect in their organization. I don't know if it says how bad the Braves organization like their farm system was at the time. But obviously things haven't worked out since he left Atlanta, has gone to the White Sox, was in the minor leagues with Oakland. And so is there anybody out there left-handed wise that you still have your eye on? Because a lot of the guys that you and I have talked about and discussed, they're already off the board with Newcomb getting signed just today. Yeah, so two weeks ago, I wrote a story about left-handed relievers to replace Jojo.

Starting point is 00:20:23 It was Caleb Teobar, Caleb Ferguson, Sean Newcomb, and then my backup was Drew Pomeranz. And since then, every single one of those guys assigned. So I've given up on left-hand relievers at this point. No, Justin Wilson is my guy. Now, Boston Red Sock last year. So there. Yacker. He has no Heim bloom connection, though. He joined them last year for just one year. He's got a legitimate four-seamer 27.5% K rate last year. His walk rates are a little bit escalated, elevated, but that's not too big a problem. He's good at limiting hard contact. He turns 39 next year. So once again, he could be one of those like sign in a one-year deal, four million. million dollars, give or take, and then flip them at the deadline for some prospects. Okay, so definitely a name to write down there.

Starting point is 00:21:10 I'm still on the Danny Colon thing here, formerly of Texas and Minnesota last year. And one of the things that I've liked about him, and this is super corny, I mean, not only to be good in real life, but he's real good on MLB the show, if you've ever tried to hit him, super tough, super tough. So he's somebody that I still got my eye on. Yeah, he's a same. I don't think he grew up in St. Louis, but he was born there. Him, and you know how, like, you've noticed that we,

Starting point is 00:21:39 heim for whatever reason is bringing in redheads and, you know, light brown-haired type of guys. Yeah. Give me, what about Andrew Chathen, brother? What about Andrew Chafin? We're not called the Redbirds for nothing, right? Isn't that? Right.

Starting point is 00:21:54 Like, doesn't Andrew Chaffin just scream Cardinals right now with all the things? He's been on every team in the league, I think, but the Cardinals. left-handed, super porn stash, great hair, doesn't mind getting traded wherever you want to send them after the fact. Like, I feel like that makes a lot of sense, too, if we're going to keep up with what Himes has been doing thus far. But we want your guys' thoughts in the comments section down below. Right-handed hitters.

Starting point is 00:22:21 Do you like the choices of the six that we named? Which ones do you think are realistic and you would want? Which ones do you think are trash? And as far as the lefties goes, Are there any lefty relievers out there that you guys think the Cardinals should still be interested in? They're going to have to do something because if Jojo does get traded, they're really going to be hurting. I've heard some people bring up maybe Cooper Jerpy, turn him into a reliever. Maybe I don't know.

Starting point is 00:22:44 He's coming off injury. So I don't know how they're going to want to do that where he's got to get up and down and up and down his reliever all that often. I don't know if that's a great idea. He's never pitch past AA either. So there's that too. I think he needs more time. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:22:57 That's the other side of it too. So let us know your guys' thoughts in the comment section. And we'll get some responses to that in another episode when Thomas joins us. Coming up next, though, haven't had a chance to talk to Thomas since Wilson Contreras got traded. I want to get his thoughts on it. And maybe he's got some, you know, words of wisdom to calm, some people down who are a little worked up about what's happening with this reboot, this rebuild, whatever the hell you want to call it with the Cardinals. and some people are freaking out, Thomas, and they need you to console them. So we're going to do that coming up next on Lockdown Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:23:43 Did Lockdown Cardinals make your Spotify wrapped? If so, then prove it on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everyday Air Club. Just tag our National Lockdown Podcast Network account on any of the social platforms. Doesn't have to be on X specifically, any of them. We'll drop you a code, be one of the first to join our Everyday Air Club to get your favorite show ad-free and exclusive access to the members-only Discord channel. Once again, Thomas Coveyne from Redbirdbrance.com is with us here today. The Wilson-Contrares trade took place on Sunday night, late Sunday night,

Starting point is 00:24:15 and it's kind of been the talk of the town for the last 48 hours. Your thoughts on the Contreras trade, do you feel like the Cardinals got enough in return for him, considering how much money they had to send the other way, another $8 million going to Boston for one of our own players to add to the Sunny Gray, $20 million that they're already paying Sunny Gray, so that's $28 million going towards people not on our team and playing for Boston. Do you think it was a fair return

Starting point is 00:24:42 with the three arms they got back? I do. So the fact that we're paying something 15% of Boston's payroll next year, that sounds like a great thing. Not a great plan. Yeah, right. I do. I'm fine with the trade.

Starting point is 00:24:57 I don't love seeing him leave. I was hoping that he, I mean, you look at the guys we had, Sunny Gray, Brenda. Donovan, Wilson Contreras, those three guys alone, that's a good veteran leadership core that you'd like to have should you be a contending team. But just based on where we are in our window, I totally get why they're trading those two and why Donovan is being shopped at least. I think I've heard a lot about the Fahardo kid. Is that how you wake her Fajardo?

Starting point is 00:25:24 Just the name alone is excited. Yeah. I've heard a lot about him, only 19, but he's got great stuff. He should be a name to keep an eye on in his next two or three years. Hunter Dobbins should be able to give us solid innings. I think it adds depth to our rotation. We've got seven guys now that you could truly call starters. I think that's great going to the spring training with Quinn Matthews down in the minors as well.

Starting point is 00:25:47 That's great depth as you go in. And then with Bloom wanting to continue to add starting pitching, the rotation is not very high end, but it's something reliable at least. And I'd rather be given these innings to these young guys than guys like Miles Michaelis or no offense. but like Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson a couple years ago, I'd want to see these young guys get the innings instead of them. Yeah, that was something I was thinking about today too, and I've seen it brought up a couple times.

Starting point is 00:26:11 Like, you know, as tough as it is to watch guys you like, go to other teams. But the problems that Hime is fixing by moving Wilson and moving Sunny is instead of the name, like you mentioned, like a Miles Michael, like, okay, last year, Miles Michaelis, Eric Fetty, and Andre Palante. All right, you want to see that trio on the mound again? Or would you rather have Dustin May, Richard Fitz, Hunter Dobbins, giving them a chance to Kyle Leahy,

Starting point is 00:26:46 Kyle Leahy, see what they can do as well as going with, you know, the McGreevy and Libertor. You know, Palante's still in the mix, but you know what I'm saying, though? Like, would you rather see young guys with upside like that, Or would you rather see what you've seen the last couple seasons with the Cardinals where you're just like, we're never going to win with these guys. At least with these people, there's more of an unknown with a higher ceiling, right? Yeah, there's some hope there, too.

Starting point is 00:27:13 I mean, you hope that they can turn out to be. Even if it is a rough year in 2026 for these guys, they're still young. They're still under team control for quite a while. We can work with them at least. And we're not paying them $18 million a year. Yeah. And the other side I want to point out, too, is that, like, you know, people are getting upset that these aren't. all 100, you know, top 100 prospects coming back or whatever.

Starting point is 00:27:34 Fitz and Dobbins, it's not like these guys were scrubs. They were both top 30 guys in Boston's farm system before they got traded. Dobbins was lower on the list, but Fitz was, I think, number 12 at one point. So it's not like these guys are bums that they're, they're just, you know, just guys are pulling up from AAA and giving me the Cardinals. No, these were guys that had legitimate shots at a serious future as Major League Baseball players and they've all graded out to be what we would call back of the end rotation guys. But instead of them being Michaelis making 18.5 million or whatever the stupid number was that

Starting point is 00:28:11 he was making like instead of paying that, you're paying peanuts for these guys instead. And again, a higher ceiling. So I feel like that's something that you got to think about. And moving Wilson-Gatreras, as much as it's a bummer to lose what he is in the clubhouse and what he is in the lineup, you are giving more at bats now to Alex Burleson every day, who last time he won a Silver Slugger Award. So does that suck?

Starting point is 00:28:39 Is that bad? No, this is not Nathan Church taking over at first base, you guys. This is a guy who just won the Silver Slugger Award, back-to-back seasons of excellent production that you're now going to give more at bats too. Yvonne Herrera, again, you mentioned him. If he's a catcher, if he's at first, if he's in left-eel. wherever they're going to put him out there every day that they can. Yep.

Starting point is 00:29:02 You're hoping he stays healthy because when you look at the numbers he had last year, if that carries over to, you know, 155 games, I mean, look at the damage he would have done. Yeah. Oh, and then back to 100 Dobbins. I mean, look at how excited fans were to see McGreevy come up last year. Dobbins had a better ERA, his K rate was at least comparable, if not better. I mean, if we had 100 Dobbins in our system and we brought him up in July and fans had the excitement they have from McGreevy as they do with him.

Starting point is 00:29:29 It's a different story then, too. I mean, they're not going to be aces. They're not going to be number ones in every single team, but they're fours. And that's what we need right now, just to log some innings, get some experience. Yeah, and hoping that they progress and get better, because that's the other thing. It's like, these guys aren't capped. Just because this is what they did last year doesn't mean that that's all they're going to be. You know, these are guys that have years and years, hopefully ahead of them to improve.

Starting point is 00:29:54 And maybe the Cardinals and Dusty Blank and Company, whether you have faiths, in them or not. Maybe they know a few things. They can help these guys and make them even better. You know, they've had some success stories with guys coming up through the system already. McGreevy's one of them. And I wouldn't just say like, well, this is all they're ever going to be. No, they're just guys that are available and ready to go major league level now. We know they've done it before. They face major league hitting before. So you kind of trust them to eat some of these innings that you've lost by moving on from Sunny Gray and Miles Michaelis. So as bad as he might have been, at least he was there every day, right?

Starting point is 00:30:32 That's the one positive we take from it. Like he always showed up for work and he would usually give you five innings and, you know, had a lot of bad luck in some of those games, too, that he ended up taking out of Ellson. So I don't know. It's not all doom and gloom, but I can see why fans are upset. You know, you're seeing guys that you care about going to other teams for dudes. You've never heard of ever in your life. freaking you out a little bit. And we get it. And I hope you're prepared because when

Starting point is 00:30:59 Brendan Donovan gets traded, whenever that goes down, it's probably going to bring back some guys that you aren't all that familiar with either. But those are probably going to be guys with higher ceilings than even the guys we've already talked about that they just received from Boston. What did you think about the report that Boston's interested in Brendan Donovan? Whatever. Give me Peyton. toll and then I'm fine with it. Yeah, I don't I don't really see where he fits in Boston. Like I know they need a second basement, but he doesn't seem like the centerpiece that they've been looking for. I'm not sure if that's another left end of

Starting point is 00:31:36 bat there. I don't know if they need that, especially given their outfield lineup. Whatever. I mean, if Boston would, or Heinblum was keep on taking his former team's prospects. That's fine with me. It would be the 2028. I think I treated yesterday. It was like the 2026 Red Sox will be the 2025 Cardinals and the 28 Cardinals will be the 2025 Boston Red Sox Farm System. So we're just swapping with me because that means that we'd have the best farm system in baseball, right? Yeah, right. And then I'll be in the majors by then. So it's fine. Go for it. Rob them. There we go. I know you used a really good word when we were texting about things when we first saw this and that was a smokescreen. You're not really buying that Boston is a team that's really chasing Donovan as much as you think that maybe this is a little nudge to get the other teams moving. Yeah, I could see. I mean, Seattle, giants, even the rays have been whispered. I think that this may be more of like a, hey, we're going to deal with these guys

Starting point is 00:32:31 if you don't start giving us what we've been asking for for the last two months. Yeah, no, yeah, very well could be. Like, we'll see, though. I wouldn't presume we'll get anything done before Christmas. No. It's certainly going to be there when we get back from Christmas break and everything. And I remember Heim saying that he was hoping to get one more deal done before they kind of went away for the rest of the Christmas holiday

Starting point is 00:32:56 and it looks like the Wilson-Katreras one with the deal that he was talking about. But I know they aren't the names that everybody's used to seeing or whatever, but there is something about this team that's kind of exciting because of the unknown that is going on with them and how many of these young guys are going to come up who could be great. They could fall on their face and be terrible. But it's the unknown and the idea that, hey, maybe something special could happen in the near future, maybe not in 2026, but down the road that will make the Cardinals great again.

Starting point is 00:33:29 If I could steal that phrase, I hope that doesn't upset everybody. But that's what we're looking for. What's going to happen in the long term? That's what we're shooting for. But once again, leave your comments down below. Let us know what you think of everything. Do you still believe that Heim Bloom is a double secret agent for Boston? And he's just given the Red Sox, all all the good players from the Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:33:48 who didn't win Diddley Pooh here, by the way. Can I point that out as well? These guys that were trading away, what did they win over the last three seasons? Nothing. So why would you want to keep them all? So just think about that. Think about that for a second. And thanks for making Locktown Cardinals for first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:34:04 If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L.O. underscourt Cardinals at the JD Sports Radio. You can also find us on TikTok and Instagram at Lockedong Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube to help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. Make sure you guys are following Thomas Govain on X. And anything new coming up at Redbirdbrance.com. future from you before we get to the new year. I've got a really great story I've been working on for a while.

Starting point is 00:34:28 I've talked with the guy from Tred Athletics who's been working with Bryson Matt Mott's for the last year or so now. And I've got some quotes from him about his progress and everything. So I'm pretty excited about that one. All right, Bryson Mott's the reigning Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year. Maybe he's on the roster in 26. That's not out of the realms of possibility. Why not?

Starting point is 00:34:49 Think about it, fans. you on video we're going to send you to the first ever 24-7 national lockdown podcast network youtube channel on audio make sure you make your second list in locked on MLB Thomas thank you so much as always buddy and happy holidays to you and your family bro same to you all right you guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason we'll see you next time on lockdown cardinals

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