Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals PITCHING Overhaul Transforms Weakness To STRENGTH!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals have made multiple additions to the pitching staff and to the organization pitching-wise. Today we're going to examine what the staff looks like right now and how it becomes a strength heading in to 2026. This is Locked on Cardinals. You are locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey, there are Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Hafer, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in Louis, a Lifetime Cardinals fan, and welcome to another episode of Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you to our everydayers for being here. And of course, to anybody new coming in.

Starting point is 00:00:47 Welcome. Hope you enjoy the content. This is the show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Fandul. The division round is now here. And Fandle is officially in playoff modes. So visit Fandul, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL and grab your profit boost pack every NFL playoff game day. On today's show, we are focusing on pitching, pitching side of things with the Cardinals heading in to the new year and to help us piece together this puzzle known as a pitching staff. We've got our buddy Thomas Govane from Redwood Rance.com joining us. Good morning, Thomas, and happy new year, buddy. Good morning to you. Yeah, it's been a while. We haven't gotten caught up

Starting point is 00:01:27 in quite a long time. Before Christmas was the last time we spoke. Yeah, yeah. So it's good to have your your smiling face back in here again. I'm sure our listeners and viewers are happy about that. They're probably tired of seeing this mug constantly by itself. So good to have you on board, buddy. Speaking of new faces, the Cardinals are doing something, Thomas, that frankly, I'm loving.

Starting point is 00:01:50 I'm loving so far. And that's adding arm on top of arm, on top of arm to what was a very depleted cardinal organization when it came to to pitching. It was something that, Bloom was very honest about when he took over that they wanted to add young controllable arms first and foremost, but also just needed to to get more guys in the door and add some depth to what this organization had already.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Last year, the Cardinals got, as you and I know, very lucky, right, with how their starting rotation was able to stay healthy. But we know that's not how things normally go. And after we said goodbye to guys like, you know, your favorite pitcher Eric Fetty, Stephen Mats, Phil Maton, Ryan Helsley. There weren't a whole lot of guys that, you know, we're ready to make that jump, right? They were ready to jump into the major leagues and take on those roles,

Starting point is 00:02:46 whether it was due to injuries, whether it was lack of production, or they just weren't ready to be in the big leagues yet. Now it feels like to me that Hym has replenished a lot of those empty holes in the organization, and I'm not just saying major leagues, I'm saying in the minors as well, with not so much top tier guys, but capable guys with ups, side who are either well thought of prospects or have shown they can pitch in the big leagues. Thoughts on that, right or wrong. Heim's doing a pretty good job with that.

Starting point is 00:03:13 He has been doing a good job. You look at the trades. He's brought in all those arms from the Sunny Gray and Wilson-Contreras trades. Those are strong minor league depth guys, some with solid ceilings as well. But then there's also the minor league free agent signings. Jared Schuster from the left side, they just signed Bruce Zimmerman as well. you go back way back to November. Scott Blewett was signed back then, too.

Starting point is 00:03:36 So there's just a bunch of replenishments that have been coming the way. Yeah. And, you know, Mo was still, I don't want to cut Moe out of this because he was still in charge when some of those deals were made. But, you know, I'm guessing, a lamb had a big role in some of the returns they got. You know, Maytime goes to the Rangers, picks you up, Mason, Molina and Skyler Hales. Helsley, gets you Frank Ellisault and Nate Dome, along with Enfielder, Jesus, Sonny Gray, get you Richard Fitz and Brandon Clark.

Starting point is 00:04:01 you mentioned Scott Blewett, maybe the worst last name for a pitcher ever. But, you know, at least he's not a closer. Like if you're a closer names blew it, then you're really. I mean, yeah, you just set yourself up. There was a Reds pitcher by the name of Homer Bailey at one point.

Starting point is 00:04:16 I'm like, Homer as a pitcher is just, I mean, make him a hitter if you're a parent. Come on, guys. They claim Zach Kent, who ultimately got DFAed again. But Matt Pushard from Miami, took him in the Rule 5 draft. They signed Dustin May.

Starting point is 00:04:31 You mentioned the Contreras trade under Dobbins. Joe Heaker for Hardo, Blake Aida. They signed former first rounder, Jared Schuster, the lefty you mentioned. Zimmerman, you mentioned, who was with Milwaukee last year. They trade for Justin Broll, which led to Kent getting claimed by Texas. And then our guy, Ryan Stanick, got signed over the weekend. By the way, have you seen this picture of him? Look how beautiful.

Starting point is 00:04:52 Nice. That guy. I'm so glad he's on a car girl now. That's so good. But that's a ton of arms, dude. You know, they just added to this organization. And there were also some Rule 5 minor league guys brought in as well that, you know, maybe we're not all that familiar with.

Starting point is 00:05:08 But of the guys I named, my mask's not always great. But I feel like I think I was at 16 brand new arms, 2026. 16. I may not be done yet. And I hope not because I'm loving every bit of this. And sure, you lost some solid dudes along the way. Phil Meaton, now a cub. Gross. Hellsley is now an Oriole.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Matt's goes to the raise. So those guys got flipped and at least you got something in return because they were bolting anyway. They were no longer going to be from the St. Louis Cardinal for the lengthy. So you were able to flip those guys and turn them into a couple of pictures each. Sunny goes to Boston. That's obviously, you know, you would love to Sunny Gray, but you get it. And then, of course, you've moved on from some of the leftover guys like

Starting point is 00:05:53 Michael is. Hey, Alcala, John King, Roder Ramio's like, you're not going to miss those guys. The one guy that I know that you and I both are like, oh, that one stung, Kate Winquest getting taken in the rule for the draft. Boy, we both have had a chance to chat with him. So him going to the Yankees, best of luck to him. I hope they send him back. I hope they don't have room and he has to come.

Starting point is 00:06:14 A lot of new blood coming in and I'm thrilled with it. And you team up these brand new guys that you got along with the prospects that you already have. You got your first round pick, Liam Doyle, who I saw this morning, got ranked by MLB Pipeline as the fourth best, left-handed pitching prospect in all of baseball. So obviously the feeling is huge there. Quinn Matthews, Eishon Henderson, Bryson Mottes, hopefully healthy Cooper Jerpy.

Starting point is 00:06:40 We should be back this summer. Chewin-Linn, second round pick, Tanner Franklin, Luis Gastilum, Max Ratchick. He's still around, former minor league pitcher of the year for your organization in 23. It's Co-Arobby and Sim Robbersa are on the mend, but should be back in 27. And now you're looking at something that has gone from what everybody looked at as a major, major weakness to a strength in a very short period of time.

Starting point is 00:07:08 Are you as impressed with this as I am or am I just drinking that Cardinal Kool-Aid? No, I like it. It's a lot of depth. I mean, you've heard the last, I mean, it feels like since 2022, the narrative from the minor leagues has been we don't have pitching that can come up and be reliable in the majors, even if it's just a spot start or 15 bullpen in any. by the end of the year. We don't have those guys. That's what it's been. And now there's just so much replenishment. There's so much depth there. It's not high end. It's not guys they're going to be like we're not throwing a 23 year old Ryan Helsley out there again to restart that. But it's

Starting point is 00:07:40 guys who can fill in some innings, give them more reliable major leaguers a breather for a day or two. It's those types of signings that we need. And I think that even adds some depth for trades. You look at especially the high end prospects we have, not this winter, but you look at 27 or 2028 where we might be wanting to make that move to get a star or something. We've got so much pitching depth that we could handle a hit from that farm system. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Haim set a goal has followed through on it so far, which I think people should be pleased with because the last guy who was in charge,

Starting point is 00:08:14 people felt like he didn't really tell them what the hell was going on most of the time. And that upset fan that they weren't in on what was happening with the team. So will all these guys pan out? of course not, but the more arms, the better in what we call the arms race of Major League Baseball and you just keep stacking them one after the other because like you mentioned, pitching currency is worth a whole lot out there on the market. And when the Cardinals do get to that point when they want to make trades, as you mentioned, maybe 27, 28, and they want to move guys to go get star players.

Starting point is 00:08:45 Maybe they don't have in their organization at other positions, then you've got the ammunition to go ahead and get that done, which is great. So now with the guys that they've already got under contract. And again, we don't know if there's going to be more coming, if more trades are going to go down, which is going to shuffle this stuff. But as we sit today on the 13th of January, you and I are going to put together our rotation and bullpen for opening day. I want to know what Thomas Govain thinks the starting rotation for the Cardinals should be on opening day,

Starting point is 00:09:14 if everybody's healthy, starting today. Yeah, we're making you look into the future, Thomas. So get that crystal ball ready. We'll do that next here. on Locked on Cardinals. The division round is here, and Fandall is officially in playoff mode. Every game during the NFL playoffs,

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Starting point is 00:10:57 Get Lockdown Cardinals with no interruptions. The members only discord, access, and more offer just five bucks. a month or he can go 50 bucks for the annual and do 50 a year. So go to Lockdown, shton, cartinals. Dot supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. Once again, we got our guy Thomas Govain from Redbird Ranch.com joining us here today. Give him a follow on X at Thomas Govain, spelled G-A-U-V-A-I-N. So we all got the, you know, we've got these names that are not wearing the birds on the bat, Thomas.

Starting point is 00:11:28 And in spring training, some of these guys are going to rise. fall some will get hurt but i want you to put on your your best ali marmal space as far as like all right these are the bodies these are the guys all right if everyone is healthy how would you like to see the starting rotation look for opening day against the Tampa Bay raise and uh i suppose you can say who your starter is going to be that day if you want to i won't make you do that but who are the five guys that you go and saying this is my this is my five this is this is the core right now I think I'll actually give you my opening day starter. I've been pushing for Matthew Libbittor just because, I mean, he's been in the system for a while.

Starting point is 00:12:08 I think that next year he could be another year he sees a big jump. So I'll give Libby my opening day spot. I think Justin May fits in next. Michael McGreevy. And then I like Richard Fitz and Hunter Dobbins round out the rotation. Okay. Now, obviously, like I said, injuries, we're not worrying about that right now with Hunter Dauvin's still trying to come back from the knee injury from last year. We hope he's ready for opening day.

Starting point is 00:12:31 There's no promises there. but he's certainly a guy then I'm excited to watch. And, you know, because Boston was high on him and it was ready for him to be a part of that rotation when the injury went down. So let me ask you this. So Richard Fitz, what are you doing with Kyle Leahy if you got Fitz moving into the top five? It's a wonderful problem to have starters at the ready. I think I think Leahy fills that Stephen Matt's rule from last year. He'll be the swing man.

Starting point is 00:13:02 I think he'd be a nice spot starter given five, six, seven starts throughout the year. Just to spell some guys. I mean, Libertora has the highest innings total out of any of these guys, I think. And that was just last year. And even he needed some breather. So I think Leahy, and they'll even throw him Palante as swing men out of the bullpen to get some spot starts here and there. They could go three innings and relief if we needed them to, that kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:13:25 Isn't it wild to see how young this team really is? And I just take away the ages because that that's not what I'm concerned with. but when you look at it, you know, Libby basically a rookie as a starter last year, right? We know he was a relief pitcher, but it was his first year as a major league starter. Michael McGreevy was a rookie last year. Hunter Dobbins was a rookie last year. Richard Fitz was a rookie last year. Isn't that nuts to think about that this is what Cardinals are rolling with?

Starting point is 00:13:51 I don't say it's a bad thing. It's just like when you look at it like this is a young group of guys that are going to lead this team. Dustin May being the veteran under the age of 30 is nutty. My grouping, I had May, Libby, McGreevy, Davids, and I'm given Leahy the benefit of the doubt just because he just seems like the more I hear about it, the more I'm like, I feel like they want him to take that role. Spring training, obviously, will tell us who ends up winning that role eventually. But, yeah, Fitz or Leahy. what does this do for your bullpen? Because there's a lot of arms back there that we got to sip through now because of the additions,

Starting point is 00:14:36 which again, good problem to have, right, Thomas? Yeah. Oh, and we're playing a game here where there won't be injuries, but there will certainly be injuries in spring trading and literally near. So just to have that depth that is wonderful. By bullpen, right off the bat, I'm going to say, I think Romero's traded at some point in the next two months. I don't expect him to be on the opening day roster.

Starting point is 00:14:55 So that throws things off a little bit. I've got Matt Sonson, Riley O'Brien, I mentioned Leahy and Quante as swingmen out of the bullpen. Ryan Stanick, Breel, how did you say? I can't remember how he pronounced his name. The new guy. Justin Ruhl, thank you. Yeah, Justin Brule, Matt Pusherd, and then Ryan Fernandez. Gordon Gricefo didn't make my cut here on this list.

Starting point is 00:15:17 I think that he has a chance, but with Palante and Leahy as swing men, I'd actually want to see what Gricepo can do as a starter down in AAA again, get him built back up. But he did not make my cut. Yeah, I agree with most of that. I got Fitzpalantes, your long relievers, because I swapped out Leahy to be that sixth man. I have because they're still here. I have Jojo on the team, because he's still here in the moment.

Starting point is 00:15:43 So I gave Brule and Jojo as your lefties. I actually had Grispo as my last guy in Push-hard. Ryan Fernandez was my last guy, too. So I think you can switch, even pushered Fernandez and Greceph. I can see in one of those three. Sure, sure. Yeah, I can absolutely see. And that's what's going to be great in spring training

Starting point is 00:16:02 is seeing the competition for these pieces, like these particular roles. You know, best man takes it. So that's going to be fun, which is something where Cardinals really haven't had a whole lot of where it was just like, I mean, this guy, guess is going to take the last. You know, it wasn't like you were excited to have this competition.

Starting point is 00:16:20 We're like, oh, okay, cool. But I got Grisepo in, although I'm with you. Like I want to see any of the former minor league pitcher of the year for you as well. I want to see him do more. I want to see if he's capable of doing more than just being, you know, the back of the last guy on the roster type of bullpen guy. You mentioned push yard rule five draft in case you guys are wondering why we both have Matt

Starting point is 00:16:47 pushard on. If he's going to be with the team, he's got to stay on the 26 man roster, active roster. So you would have to have him up there. so that's why he's there. Stanick and his gorgeous long hair, O'Brien, Fonson, all gray. What do you think they do left-handed? If they do trade Jojo,

Starting point is 00:17:06 and let's say they get prospects are returned up and from the Major League. What do you think they do left-handed wise because you're just going to go in with Nick Racette and Justin Bruill? I mean, was that what we're doing? Maybe. So Palante is reverse splits, I believe, for most of his career. So I think that he could get some spots against lefties.

Starting point is 00:17:25 I really don't know. I mean, there's not many free agents left. You and I've talked about a couple of them, but a lot of lefty free agents were signed in December, and they were taken off the market. I think they'd just kind of let it ride and see what happens, get the right-hand relievers some experience against left-handed batters and throw them into the fire.

Starting point is 00:17:43 Yeah, I mean, because with Jojo's still there at the moment, there's not a need to go get another left-hander. Right. That's why you're not seeing that. But if he does get moved, I'm still holding that hope, brother. You know, they brought St. and St. Louis native, Danny Kulom, come on down.

Starting point is 00:18:01 Or how about the hair duo of a Stannick and like Andrew Chafin together, just with the mops, just whippin? They'd have to hire a barber for the clubhouse, I think, at that point, right? Just to keep it clean. It would be bored. I think that would be a lot of fun. I also wish they had another lefty to put into the competition for the starting rotation. You know, it's a lot of right.

Starting point is 00:18:30 It's going into it. You know, this is wishful thinking. I wish they had something like that. Now, they do have a lot of names that are on their way up. Exactly. Yeah. Matthews, Henderson, Mott's, Doyle, Jermil, Clark. You look three years down the road, we're going to have nothing but lefties in the rotation.

Starting point is 00:18:50 Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's coming. It's just they're not ready yet. And maybe you'll see some of these guys at the end of the year. But each has their own reason why it isn't time yet. And I, you know, I still want to win some friggin baseball games at the major league level. So I keep pounding the table for a veteran lefty of some sort. But with all those names, it's probably not going to happen. So you've been working on something. First off, let us know in the comment section, who you agree, disagree with. Who do you want the starting five to be, you know, again, pretend. everybody's healthy going into it. Dobbins is healthy. The knee feels great. Let him know if he's a party of your rotation right away is Fitz, is Leahy. Who do you want to see up there? Who's got the nuts to put Palante in the rotation? I want to see it in the comment section down below. And then, of course, let us know what your rotational look like. But Thomas, you've been working on something for Redwood Ranch.com about individual seasons, good ones, not negative ones, which a lot of people have been negative here in the off season. But you put together some good ones. We're going to

Starting point is 00:19:51 jump into that and talk a little bit about what those damn cubs did over the weekend as well. This is all coming up on Lockdown Cardinals. Once again, a big thank you for making Locktown Cardinals your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown on the number one sports podcast network. Thomas Govain, RedbirdRance.com here with us again. And you've got something up at Redbirdrance.com about individual seasons, the greatest ones of the last quarter century. I'm going to give you the floor, let you explain to everybody.

Starting point is 00:20:26 first off, what got you on to this subject, and then whatever, which ones you want to bring up, I don't want you to give it all away because we want people to go read the article as well. But how did you get to this and what made you want to write this? Our site editor over at Red Burrance, Josh Jacobs, wrote about the all-quarter century team for the car. Bears fan Josh Jacobs, by the way. Yeah, right. He was back to the team this weekend. He's living his best life right now, I think.

Starting point is 00:20:54 Oh, gosh. He wrote the all quarter century team. That gave me a little bit of inspiration. There's a guy on Twitter, Yankee World, I think is his name, and he's been doing all quarter century by position. And so both those things combined, I was like, let's just make a Cardinals 10 best seasons of the first quarter century. It was the hardest part about this wasn't necessarily like which one's 10th,

Starting point is 00:21:20 which one's first. It was not putting Albert Poulos's 10 seasons in the first. the top 10 list. The answer is Albert Pool holes. Thank you for reading. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:30 So finding Albert Pool's non-Albert Pool season thrown in there. I mean, it all depends on defense versus offense, all around season. That was kind of tricky as well. But it is not all Albert Pool holes. He did snag four of the spots. And it was tough to figure out which one was one, two, three, and four seasons. Yachty makes an appearance in there. You got a couple of pitchers as well.

Starting point is 00:21:54 The big three. from the early 2000s is thrown in there as well. So it was a fun project to work on. And I put at the beginning of it that nobody is allowed to break me for it because it is a ranking list and everybody's got different opinions and different preferences. Yeah. And part of it too is going through it. And I go down these rabbit holes all the time where I just start reading about

Starting point is 00:22:17 because things aren't so great right now at the major level for the Cardinals. We're rebuilding. and we understand that. But how good these rosters were in the past. And you're just talking about the last quarter century where just how amazing and some of the names and the teams that these guys put together. It's shocking they didn't win more World Series championships.

Starting point is 00:22:41 Oh, it's crazy. How good some of these teams were put together. Yeah, I mean, you look from even 01 all the way through 2019, you could probably stretch it. Definitely 2015. The amount of talent on the roster, and the individual fantastic seasons that we had. It was crazy.

Starting point is 00:22:58 And you've got a couple of the top, like 07 was a little bit rough. You look at that too. But even outside of that, you've got fantastic individual players and then all around great seasons for the team. It was a wonderful time to be a Cardinals fan. It still is. Like, it's different, but that era was fantastic. Yeah, yeah, we were certainly, and I say the word spoiled sometimes,

Starting point is 00:23:20 and sometimes I get some backlash for that. but I just say it because we didn't know any better of how not to be a contending team. Not saying we were the greatest team and, you know, we're the best team in baseball over every single one of those years. But we knew we were going to be standing at the end of the season with the ability to be in a playoff spot. And to not have that right now where there is no hope that that's going to happen. And things can go wild and some of these dudes can be amazing this year. And, you know, we could surprise some people like they did the first couple of months of the season.

Starting point is 00:23:56 You know, they were right in the thick of things for quite a while. Remember, we were getting towards the trade deadline and people were wondering, do the Cardinals sell or at? Because they were close enough to a playoff spot. But it's not like it was where you had, as you mentioned, the Big Three and Albert and Jimmy and Carpenter and Wainwright, you know, Larry Walker was a bit piece for the Cardinals at that point in his group. It was very freaking Walker was on the team. Yeah. And Ryan Ludwig, like Ryan Ludwig had fantastic seasons too. And he was the fifth best hit around the team probably.

Starting point is 00:24:29 Yeah. Lance Berkman in 2011. It's, yeah. Yeah. And it makes you, you'll see that. And then you'll go back to like what they were in the, you know, the 90s weren't always great early on. And when Larusa got here, things got better right away.

Starting point is 00:24:43 But you go back to the 80s and you'll go look at those teams. You'd be like, look, how much fun this was. And, you know, we, we, we, we, we, we, crave it and we want to get that back sooner rather than later. So hopefully Haim will steer the ship in that direction. But make sure you guys check out that particular article at Redbirdrants.com. Is there a certain one of those top 10 that you want to mention that really stood out to you and impressed you not named Algar Pooholz? Not Albert Pools. Okay, let me find you real quick. I got there. I'll pick a picture then just to throw things off a little bit.

Starting point is 00:25:18 05 Chris Carpenter is probably the one that really, yeah. I mean, he 21 and 5 record, 283 ERA, 2113 strikeouts in an era where strikeouts really weren't that fantastic. He pitched 240 innings, All-Star, Cy Young, like, that was a really complete season for him. I know like a 2-8-3 ERA, it's still sub-3. Like, that's fantastic. I know you see other seasons of his where he's even below that, but that's still a great ERA over 241 innings. So that was pretty special year for him. Yeah, and just a bulldog on the mound.

Starting point is 00:25:51 You know, he just, he looked, he just like mad all the time. I love it. Oh, absolutely. He was there to work, man. He wasn't there having fun. He was there to work and beat you any way he can. And yeah, very few people are better than playoff Carpenter too. I mean, he was a fiend in the off season or the postseason.

Starting point is 00:26:08 And for everybody giving the Cardinals crap for taking risks with guys who have had injuries, remember how they got Chris Carpenter from Toronto in the last. the first place. He was injured and the Blue Jays were like, I don't really need this guy. He's all beat up. Cardinals took a risk, signed him. He was out the entire first year that they had him in their organization and then blossomed into one of the best pitchers in Cardinals history. Are you saying that Dutton May is about to win a Sion? Is that what you just said? That's what I heard, I think. I'm not going to go that far, but, hey, sometimes you got to take a swing, Thomas is what I'm saying.

Starting point is 00:26:43 Yeah, I agree. Guys, you know, they have the. there is a possibility they bounce back to. There's a chance they crash and burn. It does happen. But, you know, sometimes you got to take a swing and see if it works. And that one, for sure. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:58 Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's no looking back on that one. Yeah. All right, real quick, before we wrap up, over the weekend, Bregman to the Cubs was a little bit of a shocker. I thought he was going to stay in Boston. I can't believe Boston let him get away if they wanted him so much. And now you've got this cluster funk.

Starting point is 00:27:16 that they've created by, you know, losing Devers and Bregman in one year. Like, uh-oh. Apparently their idea now is to hunt down Bo Bichette and try to get him to Boston. But their chief baseball officer, Craig Breslo, acknowledged that, yeah, you know, free agency is one way to improve the team. But the other way, Cardinals fans say it with me, make it a trade. That's right, Boston. The Cardinals have two guys.

Starting point is 00:27:42 They can play third base. I don't know if you know about this, but Nolan Aranato. Brennan Donovan, Nato has always appeared to be, at least to me, I feel like he'd be a good fit in Boston. I think him in that city would be awesome. I think they would love him. His buddy Trevor Story is there, the Green Monster. And then there's Donnie who would also, I think, love it there and thrive, can play in a

Starting point is 00:28:04 bunch of places, but it's going to cost a whole lot more to get him. So I'm going to let you make a decision here, and you've got to pretend your breastlo now. Pay a crazy amount to Beau Bichette, which means you got out. bit everybody like the Phillies, Toronto, everybody who's gunning for him. Trade for Donnie and give up even more top prospects to St. Louis or work

Starting point is 00:28:26 out a deal for Aranato. They cost you very little. You have the Cardinals kick in some cash so it's not expensive. What would you be thinking right now if you're breastflow in the Red Sox after losing both Devers and Bregman now?

Starting point is 00:28:42 I think I'd be worried. I'd get run out of town. if after losing Bregman endeavors and then making a third trade with the same of those Cardinals, a team that just won 78 games. Like, I think I'd be run out of town. Probably Nado.

Starting point is 00:28:57 You don't have to give up as much. He'll slot in very cleanly at third base. You don't have to worry about shifting anybody else around or anything. Like, you would, like, Brennan Donovan is obviously the better acquisition, but that's a lot of calculus you need to do with playing time at that point. I think probably are not. It wouldn't cost too much. You can ask for,

Starting point is 00:29:13 excuse me, for however much money you want to. send few prospects, lesser prospects back as well. Yeah, well, like all of a sudden, making a third trade with the socks doesn't seem like such a bad idea. But will Boston be the team that, you know, Arnado says, okay, trade clause aside, I feel like he would. I think that the Red So I think so. So, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:29:38 Get some doubles off the green monster. Yeah. Yeah. I had an argument with the guys over the Angels, last week. It wasn't an argument really, but it was stating a case for why Aranato still isn't like garbage, you know, and I'm just like, look, his first half before he got hurt, he was pretty good. And if you double those stats, he would be a top six, seven third baseman offensively in baseball. So there's still something there, although they get hurt. But I don't know. I just kind of

Starting point is 00:30:07 opens the door again for the Boston Red Sox to come charging in. And maybe we make another deal with them. So we'll see what happens. If Nato goes to the Red Sox, any thoughts on where you think Brennan Donovan might land at this point? And then again, it all depends on where Boba ends up signing. We know Catel Marte's off the market now, which is great,

Starting point is 00:30:27 which moves Donovan up a tier in the list there. Where do you think with that? Seattle or San Francisco, I think, for Donnie, those seem like good fits. They both to me pushing pretty hard. The Royals, I would imagine, are still hanging out there. I don't love the package we could get from them, though, as much as the other, especially Seattle.

Starting point is 00:30:43 Like if we can get a Seattle trade, that'd be huge for the team. So I think Seattle or San Francisco for Donnie. Okay. All right. You can put your crystal ball away. No more questions for you, Thomas. We're free to go. As always, make sure you guys give Thomas a follow at Thomas Govain on X.

Starting point is 00:31:01 Make sure you're checking up on all of his writeups and stuff at Redbird rants.com. So looking forward to some more moves here, hopefully soon. And when it happens, we'll be checking in with Thomas. and get his thoughts on all of that. And thank you to all of you for making Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X, and LECD Sports Radio, TikTok and Instagram,

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Starting point is 00:31:38 com to join the club. For those of 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 your second listen is locked on MLB. Thomas, as always, thank you so much for being a part of things, brother. Of course, thanks for having me. And thank you guys for joining us.

Starting point is 00:31:57 You're the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

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