Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals WELCOME Yadier Molina Back to LEAD Young Catchers, INSPIRE Winning Attitude

Starting point is 00:00:00 Yadda, you're Bolina, officially back with the St. Louis Cardinals. Find out how his role will impact things in 2026 on today's episode of 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.

Starting point is 00:00:26 Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm Jannie Hafer, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And welcome in to another episode of Locked on Cardinals. part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you to the everydayers who continue to be here with us. And if you are new, welcome aboard.

Starting point is 00:00:42 I hope you enjoy the content that we have for you here today. This is a show that serves Cardinal Nation and gives you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today's show, we've got a former Cardinal who has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. So we'll get into that. For the first time, we've got some prospect talk with Tyler from Redbird Farmhands. He's going to be joining us here in a little bit, but we start today with the news that one of Cardinal Nation's favorite sons is back with the team in 2026. The Cardinals made it official on Wednesday that Yadda here Molina will be returning to the team as special assistant to president of baseball operations. You know him better as Heim Bloom.

Starting point is 00:01:23 And this is awesome. The team in Heim released a statement saying that we are happy to welcome Yadi back to the Cardinals organization. He is an elite competitor, a consistent winner, and one of the greatest ever at his position. And we look forward to many contributions during his visits with us in this new role, both in and out of uniform. Yaddi will provide input on our catching program. We'll advise our staff on catching and game planning strategy and will give me, that's Hyme Bloom talking, and our front office valuable perspective from his unique vantage point. perhaps most important, he will help us nurture in our players the high standards, attention to detail, and championship mindset that are so critical to winning. Now, for those of you who have not been following what Yadda or Molina has been up to since wearing a Cardinals uniform, he is set to manage team Puerto Rico again in the World Baseball Classic this year, which I cannot wait to watch, very excited about it.

Starting point is 00:02:23 So cool when they did it last time and can't wait for the WBC again. He also managed a team both in 2023 and 24 to the Roberto Clemente League titles in Puerto Rico. Also guided the team to a 2024 Caribbean series. He also managed a team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League to the playoffs in 2022, returned to the team in 2025 and was recently awarded the VPBL, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, manager of the year honors. So it's safe to say that he's, you know, done some serious resume building. And now it appears that he's going to take on an even bigger role, make an even bigger step into Major League Baseball as a coach by accepting this role with the Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:03:10 Now, my initial thought when I saw this was, hell yeah, right? I mean, what Cardinal fan wouldn't be excited to have Yadda or Molina back in the fold? We love this dude. So to have him back in with the team in any capacity. Bravo. We love that. We love our former players, our former heroes coming back and participating with the team. And any way we can get up, fans adore him clearly for years.

Starting point is 00:03:40 Mo loved him and continued to try to find ways to have him around and involved with the organization. Ali and the coaching staff, they love him and have never been shy about their approval of him being in the the dugout and around the team whenever they can get them. I imagine that the players love being around them. Living legend. It all makes sense. So I love it for the fans, for the team, and for the Oregon general. I also love that this has happened fairly swiftly in the new year. I mean, here we are in the 21st of January, and this is already done, which is great. We didn't really know how Yadi's relationship with High and Bloom was. You know, sometimes we forget, at least I do that Haim has actually been here behind the scenes for a couple of years now.

Starting point is 00:04:27 You know, at the winter warm up, you can hear people when they would talk to the, hey, welcome to St. Louis. And he's like, yeah, you know, I've been here. Like, we forget that Heim Bloom has developed relationships and been a part of things the last couple seasons already. But now he's the guy in charge. So I am sure at some point or another, Hein Bloom and Yadde or Molina have crossed paths and have gotten to know each other.

Starting point is 00:04:50 But Yadi, as you know, was Mo's guy. So you can see how maybe moving on from Jamo Zalak could also have the cartels kind of move on from Yadi. Maybe he didn't feel the relationship was as good. You know, there could have been something. There could have. But it doesn't appear that that's going to be a problem whatsoever. So for Hainbloom to, you know, not only want Yadi back, but to give him even more to do, kind of a promotion in many ways with all of the things that he listed there that he'll be a part of.

Starting point is 00:05:20 and for Yadhi to be willing to accept that role and commit to it, it's fantastic to hear. It's awesome. And again, can we give a little bit of credit to manager Ali Marmal in this one? If there is one guy on the planet that is a threat to take over Ali's job when his contract is up at the end of the season, don't you think it would be Yadi or Molina? Like, he's got to be one of the top guys. And for consecutive seasons now, Ali has been there with open arms. like, come on, come on in, man. He's going to have that guy in the dugout with him at times

Starting point is 00:05:55 and having a bigger impact on the team and the organization this season. And we know Ali isn't the most popular guy among fans because the Cardinals have been won as much since he's been in charge. But most of that, I don't really put on Ollie. Sure, he was learning on the job, was the youngest manager in baseball at the time. But I feel like most of that, any of the issues that the Cardinals had had,

Starting point is 00:06:19 really been because of the people above them, not doing a very good job at maintaining what has made the Cardinals so good for so long in the first place. And that was player development and making smart traits, you know, had guys like Jack Flaherty, Alex Reyes, still William Carlson, Nolan and Jordan Walker, still here. But had these guys all worked out the way they'd hoped, maybe the Cardinals aren't in the situation that they are in right now. How would things look differently if, oh, I don't know, if they hadn't traded away guys like Randy or Rosa Rain. Adoles Garcia and Tyler O'Neill, Harrison Bader, Jordan Hicks, Tommy Edmund, Sandy Alcantara, Zach Gallen. What would this franchise look like if those guys had still been around?

Starting point is 00:07:00 You know, we know that the catching core is wildly talented right now within the Cardinals organization. 19-year-old right now Rodriguez, top five catching prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Leonardo Bernal won the minor league gold glove award this past season as a catcher. Jimmy Crooks has been a top prospect for the Cardinals for a couple of years now and is looking to make an impact at the Major League roster this year. Ivan Herrera needs a ton. And I mean a ton of work behind the dish if he wants to remain as a catcher in the big leagues moving forward. And who better to help these guys, right?

Starting point is 00:07:37 Then one of the greatest defensive catchers in baseball history. Coming in now with an expanded role to help these. guys to teach these guys. Expert tutelage. It's a huge win for the team. It's a huge win for the fans. I'm excited about it. I'm really glad that Yadhi is at a place in his life where he feels like he can handle a little bit more as far as like being in the States and being around the Cardinals even more. I think it's great. I think it's fantastic and I'm looking forward to it to see what he can add and how he can help these catchers. And, you know, anybody on the team, honestly, pictures too moving forward here in 2026 so good stuff there speaking of prospects up next we're going to

Starting point is 00:08:20 have Tyler from Redbird farmhands has not been on the show before we're going to have him join us to go through some of the international signings get his thoughts on some of these young kids who are kids these guys are 16 and 17 year olds man but he does the the studying he watches the tapes and he's all over it so he can give us some insight on what these guys are going to be at some point in their careers and why the Cardinals have signed them. So we'll chat with him about those things, including the biggest catch of all for the Cardinals in the international signing class so far. And that is Emmanuel Luna. We'll be talking about it coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life.

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Starting point is 00:10:09 If a TurboTax expert didn't file for you last year, just filed by February 28th. will help you. They take taxes off your plate and get back to your real life. Visit turbotax.com slash local to book your appointment today. Thank you again for making Locked on Cardinals, your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Locked on the Never One Sports Podcast Network. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go ad free. Join the Every Day or Club today and get locked on Cardinals with no interruptions.

Starting point is 00:10:45 Members only to escort access, access to an ad free audio feed for Locked on Cardinals, which is compatible with all your podcast places. You can be an invite to the members only. Locked on Everyday Air Club Discord server, which includes group chat just for listeners of this particular show. Other hosts pop in. We talk about other things going on in Major League Baseball. Obviously, you had the Bellinger signing today.

Starting point is 00:11:08 We talked about Luis Robert getting traded last night to the Met. So all of that was in there and you get all this for just five bucks a month or $50 a year. We've got to locked on SCL cardinals. That supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to, to learn more. Now joining us for the first time on the show, I want to welcome in Tyler Gettinger from Redbird Farmhands, who does a lot of work, right? He writes for card prospects. He hosts the Redbirds on Arch Podcast. Tyler, it is great to finally be able to speak with you since you've got a lot of knowledge on these guys that, you know, some of us just, you know, we just don't. We don't have it.

Starting point is 00:11:50 And so you're the man with the information. For those of you who are listening, if any of you have ever have prospect questions or want to learn more about Cardinals prospects, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not reading Tyler's work and following him on X. So head on over there to cardinals prospects.com. Check it out. Obviously, follow him on Redbird's farmhands as well. So Tyler, thanks for coming in, dude. How are things with you today? I'm great, J.D. This is a full, this is a full turn moment for me because first podcast ever watched around the Cardinals was locked on back when Lucas was hosting.

Starting point is 00:12:22 So it's a full circle moment for me for sure. Good old Luke Lucas got busy with life, man. He started doing some college stuff and then he got married and making babies. And, you know, he had to hand things off to me. But he's doing really, really well for those of you who were with the Lockdown Network early on when Lucas was hosting things here at Lockdown Cardinals. But no, it's great to have you, dude. Hope to have you on more because you're one of these guys that like if you ever are online

Starting point is 00:12:48 for fans that, you know, go online all the time, which most of us do. And you're always seeing you popping off talking about prospects and stuff and you just have more knowledge about it than a lot of the people out there. And this is kind of your time to shine, dude, because the international signing period began last week on the 15th and the Cardinals, they made quite a few signings. And I was talking about this earlier. I mean, these are kids. We're talking about 16, 17-year-old kids. But a lot of them have very bright futures. And none of them are bigger than Emmanuel Luna, who was listed inside the top 10 international prospect.

Starting point is 00:13:22 by MLB Pipeline. This weekend at winter warmup, they were talking about the international class and how big a deal he was and how they actually had Luna in their personal rankings, like he was a top five talent to them, not just top 10. So obviously they think very highly of them.

Starting point is 00:13:40 17 years old listed at 6-2, 204 pounds, right-handed hitting outfielder from Santo Domingo. The nickname Dominican Aaron Judge is something that's been put out there, which I feel bad for him because, you know, You hate to put labels and predictions on somebody, especially something like that on a kid already. But what is your evaluation on what this kid is now? Like, why is he good now?

Starting point is 00:14:05 Why is he considered such a special talent in this year's international class? Well, for first off, J.D., like you said earlier, these kids are 16 and 17, so this stuff can change fairly quickly. You know, a guy can go from a no-name prospect like Raynell Rodriguez was signing for 300k and end up becoming, you know, a top 20 prospect and all of baseball in my mind. So, but Luna, what makes Luna special is, I mean, you look at the size. Like, I kind of compared him to Joshua Baez in my recent article on the international stuff because he just looks like a linebacker in college football. He doesn't look like a baseball player.

Starting point is 00:14:40 And when you just listen to the sounds off as bad, it's crazy. I mean, the ball's whistling 110 miles an hour at 16 years old is, you know, just incredible. But yeah, he's big, physical. He can run well. I mean, most scouts project he'll steal some bases, be able to play center field at a high level. Now, what happens when he fills out his body and gets even more power? You know, maybe he goes to a corner outfield, but right now they're projecting him to stay in center. He's really athletic, and you see why the cartinals are really excited about him.

Starting point is 00:15:08 I mean, this guy has all the tools to be a future star one day for sure. Yeah, we got to see, you know, you find little clips and videos of these kids online. and the one thing that I noticed about Luna when he was taking it. It's batting practice. So you're supposed to be smoking the ball in the first place. But it's just such free and easy power. Like it's not like, you know, you see some guys and they're really jerking the bat to get through the zone to, you know, hit it a long way where he's just kind of.

Starting point is 00:15:36 And there it goes. It just flies off his bat. One thing I did right in my write up about him was he gets around his hip rotation. Like he gets around so fast, like the hip rotation, the hand speed, like everything is just lightning quick and that that's what lets them get to all that power at that size. All right. So we're very excited about him. A lot of people are hype about him.

Starting point is 00:15:57 And you did mention, I do want to say this to the to the listeners as well, but, you know, sometimes these guys, they get signed and they're not, they can come out of nowhere and become something even special. I was looking back a couple of years ago, I'm like, who was else in these international classes where guys like Juan Soto were like ranked 25th, 26, something like that? So things can change, as you mentioned. And so it's nice to be excited about some of these guys. But at the same time, it's a very unknown thing because you just don't know.

Starting point is 00:16:25 They're just kids right now. 17-year-old shortstop, Carlos Carillon is the next guy I want to talk about. Casual fans going to see, oh, he's a shortstop. We got one of those. Why are we doing this again? Well, one of the reasons why is because short stops are usually the best athletes on the team and often transition to other positions, including the outfield. What are your thoughts on carry on?

Starting point is 00:16:46 because he's not he's not like Luna. He's a thin guy, but he's got a lot of athleticism, doesn't he? Yeah, this is an ultra-athletic guy. The Cardinals actually stole him late away from the Padres. I want to say the first time I saw him late to the Cardinals was maybe August. So this is a later guy in the class. He's ultra-athletic. He's going to stick his shortstop if they decide to keep him there,

Starting point is 00:17:06 maybe some center field. You know, this guy's going to be able to play around the diamond. He was a switch-hitting shortstop. Now, he originally was just a right-handed batter, and this is interesting. he actually went over to the left side and the swing looks better and the scouts say the swing's better from the left side than the actual natural right side. So that's kind of a little cork in his game that wasn't really expected.

Starting point is 00:17:26 But I think this is a guy who obviously there's a little bit of clunkiness in the swing. I mentioned that in my article that the swing still needs work, but you can see the athleticism and you can see the bat speed that's going to allow him to potentially be a good player if fully developed correctly by this new development team with the Cardinals. And from what I've read, too, he's pretty awesome defensively already. Like he's a pretty slick infielder. So it's really kind of filling out, becoming an offensive guy is where he really needs more of the work than anything. But certainly an exciting talent there.

Starting point is 00:17:58 The team also grabbed a few outfielders. One of them was Christopher Vargas, 17 years old. Another guy that he's got some girth to him already, 6-1, 200 pounds. What's Vargas working with that the Cardinals were attracted to? Vargas, this is interesting because a few years ago, his academy director said he was a top 10 outfielder in the class back of 2024. He's obviously slipped since then more in that, you know, 75 to 100 range, according to some people. He's very, he's kind of athletic. He used to play center field.

Starting point is 00:18:32 He might profile more as a corner outfielder now that he's filled out his body. But he gets to pole side power so easy. I mean, you watch all the videos and he's really able to get to. get to that right-handed pull-side power that, you know, Rayneill Rodriguez got to that allowed him to be such a good prospect. So that's something that's intriguing about him. He's got a good arm. Like, this is an overall solid prospect all the way around.

Starting point is 00:18:53 He doesn't have anything super flashy, but there's the base there to be a solid prospect for sure. Once again, we're talking with Tyler from Redbird Farm Hands. You can follow him on X, and you can also check out his work online as well at Cards Prospects. talking about the international class here. Let's switch it up to the pitching side of things a little bit because if there's one thing that I,

Starting point is 00:19:14 you know, when I think Dominican Republic and I think international, I think about young guys with just cannons for arms, the pitchers, they seem to just, you know, grow on trees in these places. You got a few names that he got some insight on. One of them is 16-year-old right-hander, Rafaeli Moranta. What can you tell us about him?

Starting point is 00:19:33 Maranta is interesting because he actually spent most of his youth in America in Kissimmee, Florida, playing in PG tournaments. He's 6-6, according to perfect game. The Cardinals, when I looked it up, had him at 6-4. So he looks more like the 6-4 than the 6-6. The perfect game might have exaggerated the height a little bit there. But he sits in the low 90s, like 90 to 93 with a really wiry, like 6-4, 6-5, 150-pound frame.

Starting point is 00:19:59 So there's pretty obvious projection there to add on some weight and add on some velocity. He had a perfect game score of 9, which is like really good. like you're looking at high level D1, you know, at that level in terms of, because it's on a scale of 10, obviously. So nine's, nine's a pretty solid player. He's proven, he's proven himself on the, on the American soil already. So that makes him just a little bit more intriguing than your normal Dominican guy that you don't really know much about.

Starting point is 00:20:23 The fact that he's already been over in America is kind of assimilated with it should help the transition if he does make it stateside, you know, 2028, 29 range. Now, I mentioned this when we were texting earlier that one of the names that popped off to me was Emilio Jimenez. And it wasn't really his name that made made me double take for a second, but it was the height. Again, 16 years old, six seven already. Any insight into what the very tall Jimenez brings to the table because I hear six, seven and 16 year olds. And I'm like, what was this guy going to be seven foot one day? Is this the next Randy Johnson coming up? What's it? What is this guy? Yeah, I was he's out of Blanco Academy. And I was reading

Starting point is 00:21:06 some stuff on him. There's not much on him. I think there was like one or two post I saw, but I think his nickname might be the giraffe. Like, I don't know if the translated correctly from Spanish to English, but like he's already six, seven. You look at the pictures and this almost, he almost looks taller than six seven. He might be like six nine. Who knows? He's, he's super tall, super lengthy. We'll see how the mechanics are. I haven't seen, actually haven't seen any video of him pitching, but we'll see if he can control the mechanics. You know, when you get to those taller pitchers, that's, that's really the main key is can they stay within them because sometimes with having all that length, you know, the mechanics can get all out of all out of all, all out of whack.

Starting point is 00:21:44 And then, you know, the control won't be there. Kind of like Chenway Lynn had this past year. I mean, he's really tall and the mechanics didn't get him well. So we'll see what Jimenez has. But if you can control himself, we might have a good pitch on our hands. Yeah. It's just at least somebody to just keep an eye on just for the sheer fact. The giraffe.

Starting point is 00:22:03 I mean, come on. That's awesome. We got an amazing zoo in St. Louis, too. It fits perfectly. One more guy I want to talk about as far as this class goes. We know the Cardinals have that really solid, stable of catchers right now in the system. But they signed another one out of Venezuela, 17-year-old Sebastian Rojas. What kind of catching prospect are we looking at there?

Starting point is 00:22:23 Is he a defensive guy? Is he an offensive guy? What kind of dude is this? Yeah. So Rojas is the earliest pre-agreement I can find. So obviously these teams agree with these players. sometimes, you know, years in advance. And this guy, I know back to October, September of 23, they had an agreement. So back when he was 13, 14 years old and crazy. It's, it's good and

Starting point is 00:22:47 bad for me, right? Because once these guys get off the market or they get signed or pre-agreement of the team, they almost stop producing video of them. It's like my hitting videos of him or like back when he was 13 or 14 and the academy really hasn't shown me. He's in team all doing his things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, I don't have any newer video. of him hitting. Now a separate account posted some of him catching. And that's kind of his whole, that's his forte is he's going to be a really good defensive catcher, really fast pop time. He looks to be a really good framer. So he's probably going to be a defensive first guy. Baseball America said he was a bat, a bat to ball type of guy overpower. So we'll see where that,

Starting point is 00:23:23 we'll see where the, we'll see where the hitting's at. But he's, he's projected to be a defensive first guy for sure. Okay. Well, again, with the international class and these kids, it's usually four or five, six years down the road before we really see any sort of impact out of them. Maybe with Luna being as highly touted as he is, things work out a little bit earlier. We have seen guys obviously come from other teams like Juan Soto and, you know, Rodriguez and in Seattle. I mean, there's plenty of guys that start young and are able to make an impact at the major

Starting point is 00:23:58 league roster earlier than thought of. But, you know, you just got to kind of be, I hate using that. keyword because we're all sick of it, but you got to be a little patient with these guys, because, again, they are 16 and 17 years old. Now, real quick, as far as players who were with the Cardinals already, all right? We know about the J.J. Weatherholz and the Liam Doyle, as you mentioned, Rodriguez, Leonardo Bernal, Joshua Baez, you brought up. Cards got a pretty nice crop of talent in the system, but who are some names that maybe aren't getting the headlines that these guys are getting, but could, in your opinion, make a decent impact with the team

Starting point is 00:24:31 sooner rather than later? The first name that comes to mind for me is Luis Gastilum. He's a right-handed relief pitcher. He was at Springfield this past year, basically served as their closer. He strikes out the world because he has this Devin Williams. That'll be the comp for the change-up. It's a bunny. I don't even know how to describe it.

Starting point is 00:24:50 It's an insane unicorn pitch. That's probably the best way to describe it. It's a unicorn pitch that no one else has. The secondaries and the fastball aren't the best, but he can almost ride that change up to MLB success, assuming that when he switches over to the MLB, MLB ball at AAA, that that change up shape stays as it is. Because it's just a ridiculous pitch. And I think he could be a back end of the bullpen type of guy with that pitch just in itself.

Starting point is 00:25:15 It's just an insane pitch. Who else? Yeah, we got to see, we got to see him a little bit in spring training, too. And he's got, he's got the nice flowy locks coming out of the back of the hat and stuff, too. So, yeah, he's certainly an interesting one, because I always say this, too, you know, it seems like all the teams and, you know, fans, They want to see, you know, triple digits all the time, all the time. But what is it like as Cardinals when we watch them play guys and when they go up against some soft tosser and they're like, why can't they hit this dude? Because they don't see that very often.

Starting point is 00:25:43 And so if you got something like Gasolome does with that change up, that is something that nobody else possesses and is going to make him that much more effective at the big league level when he finally gets there. So certainly a good one there. Anybody else? One name. When you're really looking at these guys, it's more relief pictures that I kind of think of. like who can make an impact this year that you don't expect. Michael Watson's another name that I'll call it. He rose four three levels this year all the way from Palm Beach all the way to Springfield.

Starting point is 00:26:11 He's the left-handed pitcher that kind of throws at a weird angle, has a good rising fastball that is just destroying hitters in the lower minors. We'll see how he does once he gets to AAA. But he's interesting because he was undrafted free agent out of that 2024 class. And he's really just risen and becoming one of the better prospects out of that class, honestly. So I'll be very interested to see how he, rises. Maybe he has that Matt's fencing type of breakout where he starts at double A and finishes in the majors next year. So Michael Watson's definitely a name I'd be watching. Okay, there you

Starting point is 00:26:43 have it. So write these names down and be ready. And then as far as the international guys go, write them down, but put them somewhere safe because it's going to be a few years before we, we hear about them more than likely. Put them in the 2030s. Put them in the 2030s. There you go. There you go. Tyler, thank you for stopping in and helping us out here. I hope to have you back again real, real soon. Make sure you guys are following him at Redbird Farm Hands on X. Also rights for card prospects and the Redbirds on Arch podcast. Anywhere else that we can find you, Tyler?

Starting point is 00:27:11 Nope, you nailed it right there, all those three. All right, brother. Thank you, as always. Thank you as always for coming on, dude. We'll talk to you soon, all right? Thank you. We'll discuss Carlos Beltron getting in the Hall of Fame next. Plus Cody Bellinger finally signs.

Starting point is 00:27:31 He headed back to the Bronx. This is Locked on Cardinals. Thank you again for making Locktown, Carlos, your first listen of the day. And thank you for making Lockdown, the number one sports podcast network. All right, let's talk about Carlos Beltron. Former Cardinal, Carlos Beltron, a longtime Braves center fielder, Andrew Jones. We're both elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America this week. This was Beltron's fourth time on the ballot.

Starting point is 00:28:06 Jones is ninth. They'll be joining Jeff Kent and getting inducted. into Cooperstown coming up in July. Beltron spent time as both. He was a Cardinal and a Cardinal Killer in his career, which spanned 20 years starting with the Royals. Then he was with the Astros, Mets, Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, Rangers, then back to Houston.

Starting point is 00:28:28 He was a force in the playoffs against the Cardinals that year in Houston, 2004, when he just went bonkers. Remember that year? 4.35 batting average in the playoffs. eight home runs, 14 RBIs, six stolen bases. Did that in 12 games, just nuts. NLCS against the Cardinals that year, he hit 417 with four home runs and five RBIs with four stolen bases along with eight walks.

Starting point is 00:28:54 They couldn't get the guy out. Cardinals ultimately won that series four games to three. Only to get swept by Boston in the World Series. He took on the Cardinals again in the NLCS as a member of the New York Mets in 2006. And once again, that one went to seven games. He had a pretty good series in that one, too, when he hit 296 with three home runs and four RBIs. But he's best remembered in that series as far as Cardo fans go is the guy who went down looking on that Adam Wainwright Curbball to end the series with the Cardinals winning in four games to three. They would go on to defeat the Detroit Tigers in five games to win their 10th World Series championship.

Starting point is 00:29:31 He would not make the playoffs again until he joined the Cardinals for the 2020-12 season at age 35 brought on to kind of ease the burden. of Albert Pooholz jetting in free agency after the Cardinals won the series in 2011. Poohole goes to the Angels. They bring in Beltron. And he had two excellent seasons in St. Louis. 2012, he hit 269 with 32 bombs and 97 Ribbies. Then in 2013, he hits 296 with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs. The Cardinals would go on to the postseason both years.

Starting point is 00:30:03 He was in St. Louis, leading them to the playoffs in 2012, where they fell to the Giants in seven games in the NLCS. then went to his first world series when he was with the team in 2013, where they ultimately fell to the Red Sox again in six games. Two years in St. Louis, he had a combined 282 with 56 home runs and 181 RBIs was an all-star both seasons. Postseason, he was good to get a combined 306 with five home runs and 21 RBIs and 29 games. His time in St. Louis was a massive success. He wasn't there long, just two years.

Starting point is 00:30:37 But man, he was just what the doctor ordered when they got him, on a two-year, $26 million deal. Now, you can be mad about his involvement in the Astros scandal in 2017, his final year in as a player in Major League Baseball, but you cannot deny the fact that this dude was one of the best all-round players of his time, Switch hitting Beltron, one of only five players in ALNL history, with at least 500 doubles, 400 home runs, and 300 steals, joining Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez.

Starting point is 00:31:10 So pretty good company there. Very good list. And my memories of him in St. Louis are always good ones, man. He was fantastic. I only wish they'd had him on the roster even longer during his career because he was definitely a special player. Last order of business after the Mets traded for Luis Robert. Late on Tuesday night, the Yankees have countered by resigning Cody Bellinger

Starting point is 00:31:32 on Wednesday to a five-year $162.5 million dollar deal that, includes a full no trade clause, $20 million signing bonus, opt-outs after the 27 and 28 seasons, but no deferrals are included in this. According to reports with Bellinger back in the fold, the Yankees may explore trade options involving former top prospect, Jason Dominguez, or Spencer Jones, who's currently the number four prospect for the Yankees,

Starting point is 00:32:00 according to MLB pipeline. A lot of pop and his bad. Dominguez has struggled as far as, because he was like this huge prospect, and then he got up to the majors, and it just hasn't quite panned out the way they thought it was going to. Switch hitter, change of scenery type of guy. You know,

Starting point is 00:32:18 and say he's not going to cost as much at the moment. You know, is this somebody that perhaps Heim Bloom will check in on to see if New York has any interest in, you know, Brendan Donovan, a Jojo Romero? I don't know. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:32:31 He would be silly not to look into it to see if he can grab some, young talent. But another side of this, too, is that with the Mets and the Yankees, both getting outfielders, that probably limits the field of teams that are looking at Harrison Bader as an option. So maybe the Cardinals have a better chance at getting Darth Bader after all. I'm having fun with it. I still don't expect Harrison Bader to become a member of the Cardinals again this year. But I don't know. Maybe something gets worked out. We shall see. Thanks for making a lot. Time Cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L1 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio.

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