Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Strategy QUESTIONED After Fermin Gets the Nod Over TOP Prospect JJ Wetherholt!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Finally put Brendan Donovan on the IEL, but the name that got called up was not the name that fans wanted to hear. 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, Cardals, my name is J.D. Hafford and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at Ella underscore Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:00:34 on YouTube as well as TikTok and Instagram at Lockedong Cardinals. Come check us out wherever you get your podcast, wherever you watch podcast. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds on the back. Today's episode brought to you by Fandole football season is around the corner. You can visit the Fandole Lab today and start planning your futures vets. Now, the St. Louis Cardinals came into Miami licking their wounds after an ugly five game stretch that saw them lose two games to the Colorado Rockies, who have all of the

Starting point is 00:01:04 sudden gotten hot, by the way, and it won six of their last seven. So maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that they got beat by that. I mean, it was, but still, maybe there was something else going on there. Maybe the Rockies are just playing good right now, one, six or seven after beating the Dodgers on Monday. And then they lost three straight to the Yankees, and they did it in a bunch of different ways, right? Game one, they fell behind early, but the offense couldn't cash in.

Starting point is 00:01:29 Game two, the offense rocks Max Fried, but Sunny Gray in the bullpen get Rocks, even harder in a high-scoring affair. And then on Sunday, they fight back to take a brief lead, but the defense lets them down and the offense just vanishes over the second half of the game. And they lose that one. And it was as if they were just finding ways to lose. And that tends to happen to bad baseball teams or teams that are just kind of in a funk. In the Cardinals case, I believe it was kind of all of the above being short-handed as well. Didn't hurt. Some key members of the team like Wilson Contreras and Bernie Donovan, Nolan Arnado, Victor Scott the second. Those guys aren't around. You traded off three big pieces from your bullpen.

Starting point is 00:02:10 So I mean, you're down to some of the guys that are supposed to be backups that are playing more and more. They did get Willie back in the lineup on Monday. So that was great news. But Donovan joins Victor on the IL. And in his place, much to the dismay of Cardinals fans, it was Jose Fermin getting the call up instead of top prospect, J.J. Weatherhole. Now, the front office. They're not stupid. Well, I think they're not stupid. But in the case, this particular case, I should say, for mean, actually makes more sense. For the simple fact that both Nolan Gorman and Thomas O. J.C. need playing time as well. Both of them are healthy right now. They'd like to see what they can do with more starts and more at bats and more time in the field.

Starting point is 00:02:58 So throwing J.J. Weatherholt into the mix and putting him on this roster where you want him to play every day too, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense right now. If this was a pennant race and the Cardinals were in the thick of things right now, perhaps it would be different. But it's not. The Cardinals know that. So they don't need to force a move with JJ right now. They can bring for me back up. And from all accounts, Donovan's not going to be on the IL much longer because he was already, it's like, you know, retroactive to like last week. So it's not like he's going to be up here very long for Meen when Donovan gets back. So for Meen can come back up. He can be the utility guy off the bench, a right-handed bat.

Starting point is 00:03:42 And if he plays, cool. If he doesn't, so what? No harm, no foul. And in case you've been under a rock or don't pay attention to the minor league guys, which is fine. That's why people like me exist. That's what I'm here for. In 26 games, since getting cold.

Starting point is 00:03:58 called up to AAA Memphis. J.J. Weatherhold is batting 3.10 with nine home runs at 17 RBIs, has an OVP of 405, slugging 670, and has an OPS of 1.073. Basically, he's tearing the cover off the ball at AAA, and this is after he was already killing it at double A, where he hit 300 with seven home runs in 34 RBIs in 62 games for Springfield. On the season, J.J. Weatherholt is now betting a combined 303 at both levels, 16 home runs, 51 RBI, 17 stolen bases, an OBP of 419, and an OPS of 948 and 323 at bats. That's really good. That's really good.

Starting point is 00:04:41 That's why he's ranked as the number six overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB pipeline. It's why fans are so eager to see him get called up. They wish he was here now. They'd rather see him in the big league sooner rather than later. But there's no rush. And I know that's annoying for a team that can't seem to get past 500 anymore. You know, they're just kind of floating around there. And maybe somebody like a JJ Weatherhole would be a spark.

Starting point is 00:05:13 Could be. But, again, there's no rush. Now, maybe they pull him up in September. Maybe they give him the same kind of treatment that Mason Wynn got a couple years ago. give him a taste of things before bringing them up for good, which the Cardinals did the following season with Mason win. And this would be, you know, a precursor to having him on the roster in 2026. It has worked out pretty well in Mason's case, I think.

Starting point is 00:05:41 He struggled mightily in that first month, if you remember, people were like, this dude can't hit a lick. What's he going to do? But after getting a taste and then having an entire offseason to get prepared and then having spring training and getting the shortstop job right out of spring training. He's put together a solid rookie season. He's got back to back good years. And we've seen his game improve once again in year two.

Starting point is 00:06:06 The defense has been there both years. And the offense, it's similar to what he did last year. But I feel like he seems like he's a better hitter, even though the numbers don't say, hey, he's so much better this year. It just feels like especially in the second half that he's been better. So I'm willing to be patient for JJ's arrival. I'm more than happy to let some of these other guys who were promised at bats when the beginning of the year started, namely Nolan Gorman. It's fine letting them play a whole lot more and just seeing what happens.

Starting point is 00:06:39 You know, it'll give Heim Blum a better idea of what he's working with moving forward. That way he can make a judgment call on who should stay, who should go, what he might be able to get in return for some of these guys, you know, that don't, fit his plans moving forward. As a fan, it sucks. As a fan, it sucks because you want to see the shiny new toy, right? You want to take it out of the box. You want to play with it.

Starting point is 00:07:05 Drive it around the house, have some fun with it, right? I would love to see this year's number one pick Liam Doyle, pitching in the minors already. But it doesn't seem like that. It's going to happen. But there's no rush. There's no rush on this thing. The Cardinals have a very young team as is.

Starting point is 00:07:21 J.J. is making strides at AAA. He's only been there a month. He's enjoyed, you know, a winning culture at all three levels that he's been at so far. Memphis, 23 and 22, but they've won five in a row. Let him enjoy it. He'll get to St. Louis soon enough. There's no guarantees that if you brought JJ up that this team would all of a sudden become good and start playing well. So why risk it?

Starting point is 00:07:48 And maybe if he doesn't come up this year and he's around in the spring, Obviously, he'll be at spring training again. He'll be in camp for sure. And perhaps things have changed around the Cardinals by them. You know, Heim Bloom is going to take over. We know that change is happening. Perhaps there is a new manager in place and new coaches for him to get accustomed to. Maybe it's a former Cardinal legend that ends up whispering in his ear by then as a manager.

Starting point is 00:08:13 Who knows? Who knows? I'm not making predictions. I'm just saying things might change. And to bring them up and then have. the turmoil that is what the Cardinals are right now. I don't know if that's such a great idea. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:08:30 I think he's doing well in Memphis, and I think it's fine keeping him there. So we'll see what they end up doing eventually. At some point, if these injuries keep happening, then he's going to have to come up because they're going to run out of bodies. But the Cardinals did get back in the wind column on Monday, and they finally were able to take advantage of somebody else's mistakes for once, and they did get one of those injured guys back.

Starting point is 00:08:52 so we'll talk all about it coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. August 26th is officially Fandall Features Day or Futures Day. It's a brand new holiday for football fans who live for the bold predictions, right? And preseason hunches. You always want to be like, all right, what's the lottery ticket this year, right? Like who's the team that's got the lowest odds that I can put money on and end up, you know, cashing it at the end of the season. We all do that.

Starting point is 00:09:22 But for just 24 hours, Fandall is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling out who you think the MVP is going to be, you're eyeing a long shot division winner. There's always one that seems to pop up, right? Or you're ready to crown your Super Bowl champion before week one kicks off. This is going to be your moment. Crown your champion in August. I'm a green base packer fan and owner.

Starting point is 00:09:42 So of course, I'm going to roll with the green and gold. Jordan Love, year three of starting, although he's hurt right now, but it should be back for week one. Josh Jacobs in the backfield was excellent last year, new first round wide receiver, Matthew Golden, shiny new toy for the Packers, which is nice to add him to the likes of Jaden Reed and Don Tavian Wicks. The defense, Lucas Van Ness from her first round pick. He's been looking good at camp in the spring so far in training camp.

Starting point is 00:10:10 So I'm mad, man. You know, you always walk into the season thinking your team's going to do well. But of course, you can go within the teams like the Chiefs or the Eagles or the Bills, you know. It's up to you. These are your choices. Visit the Fando Lab today. start your future's bets now because futures day is one day and one day only. Fandul, play your game.

Starting point is 00:10:36 Thanks for making Lockstone Cardinals. Your first listen every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on X or TikTok anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. You know, bad teams find ways to lose ball games. I've said it a million times this year because when the Cardinals aren't going right, they find ways to lose. And on Monday, you had two teams who were under 500 playing each other.

Starting point is 00:10:54 So you kind of figured that one of them would screw up enough just so that the other one can take advantage. And lucky for us, as Cardinal fans, it was the Marlins who made mistake after mistake after mistake and allowed the Cardinals to pick up a much needed eight to three win. Let's start with the pitching side of things. In the Yankee series, we saw Palante fall behind three to nothing in his game. And that was in the first inning. Sunny Gray falls behind two to nothing in the first inning. And then it was Miles Michaelis who was doing well. Cardinals couldn't put any runs on the board. Fourth inning gives up. three. Boom. Cardinals are in a hole three to nothing once again. It's a tale as old as time. Cardinals

Starting point is 00:11:34 pitchers get off the bad starts in games. And then the offense is constantly having to come from behind and bail them out. And once again, it happened in this one with Matthew Libertor on the mountain. They fall behind again. Cardinals get the bat first. So they get a crack at Yuri Perez in that first inning, but they don't score. And then the Marlins, they start off quickly with a double on the very first pitch that Matthew Libertor throws. Then there's a single. Then a sack fly, one-nothing Marlins. Here we go again, right? Libby settles in a bit after that.

Starting point is 00:12:01 Then in the fourth inning with two outs, he tries to get ahead with a sinker and the hitter was Eric Wagamon, and he takes the sinker, which was right down Broadway, and pops it over the wall in center field to make it two-to-nothing. Marlins tried the same thing on the double

Starting point is 00:12:16 to start the game, was just trying to get ahead, threw it over the plate, missed right over the heart. Marlins were clearly looking to attack early against Matthew Liberty, or like he likes to get a pitch over first. So if it's something you like, you swing that freaking bat.

Starting point is 00:12:31 And they got him a few times. They tagged him in the sixth inning when the first two hitters both swung at the first pitch again and hit doubles to tie the game up at three apiece to end Libby's night. Now, the key number, if you heard me say it in there, was that he was in the sixth inning. Yeah. Matthew Livertore made it to the sixth inning, folks. He got through five, which is something he has not done very much of in recent in memory. In fact, hadn't done it since July the 5th. That's been a while. A month and a half,

Starting point is 00:13:02 that's been a while. Only got the 75 pitches. You know, they're kind of monitoring this whole thing with them at the end of the year. Pitch counts and stuff. They don't want them, you know, completely gassed. But, you know, you got these guys who were swinging early in counts, so that helped them out. But getting through five for Libby, that's progress. It's progress, especially this late in the season. Five innings, three runs, five innings, three runs, five it strikes out five, only one walk. He did not factor into the decision, but this was a better outing for sure. More innings, strikeouts were back up. Remember he had a couple of games where he's only getting like one, like just wasn't getting people out, didn't see the velo plummet like before.

Starting point is 00:13:43 So all of that is good news for the Matthew Libertore camp. Bullpen, we know, has had its issues recently. Again, this was expected with the guys that they moved on from and people switching rolls and shuffling around and now you got other guys putting, you know, time in during higher leverage situations. So there's going to be a few struggles as people start to figure out what they're good at and not good at in those situations. But these are your guys for the foreseeable future. It's not like Ali has a bunch of other options to go to. So, you know, if there's not guys of the miners that they got buried down there, just waiting for a chance, that's not the case. Like, they've gone through the gauntlet of relief pictures that they have available to.

Starting point is 00:14:25 them and they've kind of settled in on this grouping that they're moving forward with. And this time he goes Matt Sonson, Jojo Romero, and then Jorge Alcala to finish things off. Sonson jumped in after the back-to-back doubles to tie it up. And got a little lucky. I'm not going to BS you. He got a little lucky. You know, you had that base at the right field. and the runner was on third already and still didn't score.

Starting point is 00:14:56 You know, that was the one where he didn't get a good read on the ball, was thinking Newt might catch the ball in right field, was tagging up, but he kind of like got off the base first, then went back to tag it by then. Newt had made this miraculous, like, short hop snare. Because if he did, like, thank God he did that. Because if he did, it's going to the wall, and that dude might be circling the bases.

Starting point is 00:15:16 But he did get it. So the runner couldn't advance home. So they hold him there, even though it was a base head. And with first and third and one out, they get Hicks to line one over at Willie at first base, who doubles up the runner to end the inning. So, yeah, it was a little lucky.

Starting point is 00:15:31 It was a little lucky, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. But nice job by Willie on the play, being smart, having his head in the game, knowing what he needed to do. Svanson gets the miracle to get out of the inning with the lead, or with not giving up the lead, I should say. Had a much easier second inning, got him one, two, three. He looked really, really good there. So solid work for him in this game with two winnings.

Starting point is 00:15:54 Jojo, who had had back-to-back rougher outings for him, has a clean eighth. And then they turned it over to Alcala in the ninth inning when the score was eight to three at that point. So they didn't need to keep Jojo win. Gives up a single, but and also had a balk, which was a good. But he ends up striking out too, hit 99 on the gun a couple times. One of them at 99.7. So he was that far away from triple digits. You can see why he's bounced around to a couple teams because he's got that lively arm.

Starting point is 00:16:24 You can see why teams dig him. And he's been fine so far for the Cardinals. Now four games with the team, three and a third innings, no runs, one hit, one walk, three strikeouts. So kudos to the pitching staff. But the offense ended up kind of outshining anything that the pitching staff did in this one because they came up in a big way, took advantage. of a lot of Miami Marlins' mistakes. And it was nice to finally see it.

Starting point is 00:16:53 It was nice to be on the other side of things for once, where you're not the team kicking the ball around and screwing things up. Instead, you're the team that's taking advantage of that other team making those mistakes. So we'll discuss all of the chaos that was what the Marlins were doing on defense and on the mound. We'll get into all of that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. This episode brought to you by Price Picks, the Daily Fantasy Platform to let you turn your football predictions into real rewards. Preseason already heating up, college football not too far off. It's the perfect time to lock in your season long, more or less picks for the 2025 football season.

Starting point is 00:17:34 And you do it all before week one kicks off. Now, whether you've got your eye on some big name quarterbacks, breakout running backs, Ashton Genty is obviously a big name, but what about Hampton with the Chargers, Omarion Hampton? guy that you might want to take a look at if you're not already. Prize picks makes it easy to get in on the game. Maybe maybe you're thinking about something as simple as overall touchdowns. You know, the reigning MVP, Josh Allen, I believe he was at 27.5 at one point. So that feels like a layup to choose that one, right?

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Starting point is 00:18:34 Thanks again for making Locktown Cardinals your first listen today for your second list. And check out the new Locked MLB Game Night. It's every game every night all season long at local analysis. On a national scale, you can find MLB game night on Locktown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Now, the offense was not the problem last series, but to see them do the things that they do. did in this particular game against the Miami Marlins was very pleasing to watch.

Starting point is 00:19:00 It brought a smile to my face because, as I mentioned, finally, it was somebody else throwing the ball around and making big mistakes and dropping the ball and wild pitches. And, you know, if you want to be a team that wins consistently, like the Milwaukee Brewers, you got to cash in on the other team's mistakes. You just have to. Plain and simple. The Brewers do it better than any other team in the league. The other teams that I watch that are similar to that,

Starting point is 00:19:34 the Detroit Tigers, the Tampa Bay Rays, although the Rays have fallen off in a big way here in the second half, but they're those kind of teams where, you know, they're not just a murderer's row of sluggers. They're not the Phillies. They're not the Dodgers. You know, they're not the Dodgers.

Starting point is 00:19:52 those types of teams. They find other ways to beat you. And when you mess up, that's when they pounce on that mistake. It's a death by a thousand cuts when those are the types of rosters you have, which is what the Cardinals have. We know they're not a power team. And the Cardinals were that style of offense on Monday. And that's the kind of stuff I like to see. You know, the Marlins, they were a mess last night. They committed two errors in the game. Yuri Perez had four wild pitches. There was a pass ball, five walks issued.

Starting point is 00:20:30 I mean, if you don't win a game with the other team doing all of that, then you really fudged up royally. But this time, the Cardinals didn't. The Cardinals saw those mistakes and made smart base running choices, took advantage of it. Cardinals who scored got on baseball. because of either an error or a walk, five of the Cardals guys who scored. When the enemy makes a mistake, you take it.

Starting point is 00:20:58 You say thank you. And the Cardinals said thank you a lot last night. The most egregious error was the drop fly ball in right field, right? Two outs. Was it Dane Myers in right field? He drops that fly ball from Yvonne Herrera would have ended the inning. But he drops it. Herrera hustling, gets the second base.

Starting point is 00:21:15 And then Burley singles him in to give the birds the lead. And they never look back after that. new back at the top of the order where he belongs had two hits. Wilson Catreras back in the lineup. Welcome back, Willie. Had two hits at a sack fly in his return. So great to see him. Made that nice play at first base to double up the runner to get out of that one inning.

Starting point is 00:21:35 The sixth inning. Burleson had a three hit night. Came up clutch multiple times, two RBIs. Pedro Pahez had another RBI single. And then that final blow was the two run shot by Nolan Gorman, his 12th of the season and the ninth inning. Rob Raines over at STL SportsPage.com had another cool stat. He always finds the cool ones.

Starting point is 00:21:55 I'm always jealous. He gets him. I wanted to share this one with you from him. Gorbans Homer, the 23rd by the Cardinals since the all-star break. Move them out of its time for last place in home runs in the National League over that stretch. The pirates are now the lowest with 22 since the break. Your leader, the Philadelphia Phillies with 49. All in all, though.

Starting point is 00:22:20 Pretty successful night at the ballpark in Miami. No injuries, which was great. Didn't hear about anything bad there. You know, Libertor, a much better start than we've seen from him in the last month. The offense taking advantage of things, good base running, bullpen doing things, solid overall defense, although Gorman made another error over at third base. He's got issues throwing the ball, dude. I don't know what it is, but he couldn't get the grip on the one.

Starting point is 00:22:46 You can't see him looking at it. He's like, ah, I can't, hold on. then he just spikes it. So I don't know. Maybe that's not his spot to be. Maybe it's just the fact that he's getting used to things again. But whatever. Came up big in that ninth inning with the two-run shot.

Starting point is 00:22:59 It was off a lefty too of memory serves. So you like to see that. You know, you'll exchange the error for a two-run jack, I think, in days, you know, these days when it comes to the offense. So pretty much everything was positive coming out of this one. Team really needed that. I needed that. You needed that.

Starting point is 00:23:17 After that five-game skin, there wasn't a whole. lot of happy thoughts going around. And to see them pick up the win, that was good. Michael McGreevy on the bump on Tuesday night against Edward Cabrera, who got lit up by the guardian of his last outy, but he's been really good recently in his four previous outings before facing Cleveland. He'd been very, very good, including his game against the Cardinals, where he only gave up one earned run, two runs total,

Starting point is 00:23:42 but one earned run against them in six innings, but the Cardinals ended up pulling away and winning that game seven to one. So hopefully they can take what they got from hitting off of him last time and use it for tonight's game and have a little more success against him. But that's what we're hoping for. But back in the win column, that's a good feeling. It's good to get one. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals for first listen every day. We haven't already.

Starting point is 00:24:06 Give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio. You can find me on TikTok and Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals. Do not be shy. Feel free to leave comments all the time. We're going to do some Cardinal Confessionals. probably tomorrow. Get your thoughts. Well, hopefully, hopefully the good ones after tonight.

Starting point is 00:24:22 I would love to see McGreevy have another strong outing against this Marlins team. That would be nice. Hopefully we're talking about another Cardinals winner. And it'll be happier thoughts than usual. But give me your thoughts on JJ Weatherholt and whether or not you think it's a good or bad idea to bring him up in the situation the Cardinals are in right now and with him succeeding the way he is at AAA after just, you know, 20, what, six games? whatever it is that he's been down there.

Starting point is 00:24:49 So let me know. We can discuss it in tomorrow's cardal confessionals. Please like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and love for the Cardinals, girls. We're making that push for 13,000 subscribers. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals Strategy QUESTIONED After Fermin Gets the Nod Over TOP Prospect JJ Wetherholt!

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