Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals Were Smart By NOT Making These Trades, Starting Rotation Worries And Victormania!

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

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The Cardinals front office gets drilled for the mistakes it makes. But sometimes, sometimes, they make some good decisions. And today, we give them credit for those 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. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm Jady Hafford and I'm a national radio sports anchor born and raised in the Lou and a lifetime Cardinals fan. and I'm your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network

covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio and the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. We do want to thank those of you who make Lockdown Cardinals, your first listen every day, free and available, wherever you get your podcast. We're all like free. You know what else is free?

Finding us on YouTube. Be sure to like, subscribe and comment, interact with us, and hit that notification button so you know when the new episodes are posted. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball, all of the info about the birds. on the bat. Today's episode is being brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app,

create an account, and use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. As you can tell on YouTube, but if you're listening to the audio version, you have no idea that Josh Jacobs was going to sneak in here, did you? Our buddy Josh Jacobs from Redmond Grants.com and the Newt News podcast joins us today to talk some Cardinals baseball. Before we get started, Josh, I want to congratulate you on your new contract with the Green Bay Packers. We're going to make a I love a running back for my Packers. And I love the fact that you text me about that as soon as it happened because it's what I thought of too. So in case you guys aren't familiar, the Packers signed a running back.

And his name is Josh Jacobs as well. And he was one of the top three-agrant running back. So I thought that was good. Also, did you get up this morning and watch the Dodgers and the Padres? Don't lie. Did you do it? Even with being a multimillionaire now by the Packers. No.

I wanted to, but I was so tired. So I just kind of watched some of the stuff this morning. And I like Glass-South stat line wasn't that good, but I felt like he looked really good. And so, I mean, Dodgers win. No surprise there. And some weird bullpen management by Mike Schilt as usual. So they're just going to put that out there. A subtle little jab at the former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

We're off and running, baby. Oh, man. I set my alarm and got up, flipped it on, fell asleep for like six innings, woke up and it was two to one, and it was kind of like watching through one eyeball. I was like, all right, I don't know how long I'm going to make this. And then woke up again and they were like rolling credits. It had just ended and the Dodgers had won. And yeah, it's just that's a really good team that they got there for L.A. And they'll have game two tomorrow on.

So if you're watching this on Wednesday, it'll happen on Thursday. So you get a chance to see Yamamoto for the first time in a Dodgers jersey in a real life regular season game. All right. Let's talk about the Cardinals, which is why everybody's here. We're going to get into some Victor Mania, Victor Scott the second, very exciting stuff, plus the starting rotations, lack of consistency so far this spring. I'm going to need Josh to kind of talk me off a ledge a little bit. I don't know if I'm completely suicidal yet with this, but I'm starting to get nervous. talked about it yesterday's episode.

So we'll see what Josh has got for us on that aspect. But you dropped a new article at Redwood Rance.com. If you guys haven't gone there to read his stuff yet, make sure you bookmark it, check it out as well. But Redbirdrance.com, we do a lot of second-guessing about the Cardinals. Their front office makes some mistakes for good reason. You know, they've made mistakes. All humans do.

they've spent unwisely on certain free agents over the years, but it's easy to point out the bad stuff and say, see, that's why we haven't won a championship since 2011. And then we don't give them credit for things that they do right. We just expect it. We just brush over it like it's no big deal. But today in this article, you pointed out five different instances where the Cardinals in your eyes made some smart decisions.

And we're going to focus on two of those here today. And we're going to talk about a couple of trade scenarios. that were available. Cardinals went one way instead of going another, and you thought these were the right decisions. The first one was actually during last off season when the Cardinals needed a catcher. And the options were you either trade for one or you sign one. And you think they made the right choice when they ended up signing Wilson Contreras. Yeah, and all of this is context, too.

Obviously, I wish the Cardinals would spend a lot more money and go over the CBT and be a luxury tax team. And if they could do those things, and some of these things could have been on the table. But that's an ownership thing. And as long as ownership doesn't want to do that, then the front office has to work within the constraints they have. So that's where a lot of this argument comes in. And so I recommend reading the articles because some of the headlines or the points you might be like, why, but then you read it through it.

It's like, okay, that might make more sense. You could disagree. That's okay. The Sean Murphy side of it. The reported asking price was Lars Neupar, Brendan Donovan, and Gordon Grisheffo for Sean Murphy. That's a lot to get a catcher. Now, Sean Murphy is one of the best catchers in baseball. he kind of had a down year last year after an all-star worthy first half and then was really,

really bad the second half. So, I mean, he's the kind of guy you've got to give up a lot for, but typically the Cardinals frustrate us because instead of spending money to just get a guy for just money, they go out and they trade some good prospects to go get them. And so they trade from ourselves, you know, and give up Zach Gown and Sandy Alcantara in the process, or they just rely on a young guy who isn't ready yet. But instead they went out and signed a guy. So basically, here's the scenario here. Do you want Wilson Contreras and a second round pick because that's what it costs them to sign him and then all his contract was actually isn't that much more than Sean Murphy's extension or or sorry and you also sorry, sorry, I messed that up. You want Wilson Contreras, Lars Newbar, Brendan Donovan and Gordon Grossoffo or do you want Sean Murphy in a second round pick? I want the first side of that. I want all those players. And I know Wilson Contreras had a down first half and I think that's what stuck in most people's head. of you got removed from being catcher. He was really slow offensively.

But the second half, he was top five in almost every major statistical category. All of baseball, so like not just catchers. Like he was up there with Otani, Matt Olson, all those guys. So he was a beast at the play. Obviously, he's done some work this off season on framing and such. He's a catcher that has flaws. So like, there's very few perfect catchers. And those are the ones that you have to give up the entire farm system yet because they're rare.

I'd rather spend the money on Wilson Contreras. have him and Brennan Donovan and Lars New Bar and a prospect like Gordon Grysefo then to have gone out and sent all that stuff off for Sean Murphy who they brave's smartly extended but now he almost makes as much as Wilson Contreras so it's not like you're getting a bargain on him either I just think going back they I in the moment it was kind of a weird decision to go after Contreras because he isn't the Cardinals mold and Sean Murphy just really was like if you're thinking of a two-way catcher he's one of the best in baseball but looking back I think the Cardinals made the right call

there. Yeah, and I remember going through the situation when it started leaking about who the guys were, the DAs were asking for. We were like, wait, what? No, stop it, Oakland. And then they end up making a deal where they didn't get nearly what they were asking the Cardinals for, which was weird, because you're like, okay, well, if that was what you wanted for, why is it less for somebody else?

I never understood it. I didn't get it. I really wanted Sean Murphy, because that was more interested in his defensive skills, is the way he's been able to handle pitchers and stuff. That's what I was excited about. And it just didn't happen. And knowing what we know now, as you said, Wilson Katrina, I love the guy. I love him last year, obviously, and people have stuck up for him.

He got a bad rap early on in the season. None of this stuff was really his fault. You know, even pitchers who aren't with the organization have come up and spoke out about it. Like, no, it wasn't Wilson's fault. It should never have come to where it got to. And like you said, an incredible hitter in the second half when he finally was comfortable in St. Louis. I mean, there was a lot of change there. I mean, imagine coming from the Cubs where you've been told to hate the St. Louis Carls for so long.

And now you're wearing their colors. And now they're benching you and talking about moving a lot. Like, it was just weird. Weird stuff was going on last year. But in the end, I love the leadership that he brings. I don't know much about Murphy, like who he is as a person or anything like that. but the personality of Wilson Contreras and his bat, I think makes up for a lot of the stuff that you might have gotten from Sean Murphy, who's doing just fine with the Atlanta Braille.

So it looks like it worked out for both squads. We're going to get into another trade. And this one, oh my gosh, dude, both of us. We're so excited about the idea of getting this guy. But now that you look back on it, you're like, maybe it wasn't such a bad move to not have gone out and traded for him. We're going to talk about that next coming up on Lockdown Cardinals. You can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. You can turn 10 bucks into $1,000.

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It's that easy with price picks. As you know, locked on his lunch, the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. Locked on sports today, baseball fans, tonight is the night. March 20 at 7 p.m. Eastern for the best MLB season preview coming exclusively to Lockdown Sports Today. Tonight, 7 o'clock, be the first to get local insight from the MLB local experts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. You can find it on the Lockdown Sports Today 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. Again, Josh Jacobs, joining us from Redbirdrance.com And the Newton News podcast. We're talking about a couple instances where the Cardinals, we think, got it right.

We think the Will Scatreras moves worked out nicely for them. Now there was a chance to go get a guy who I think is going to have an incredible season with the Yankees this year. But end of 2022, Juan Soto was available via trade. And for a bit there, for a bit, you got to admit, you thought it might happen. You thought it might happen. Could Juan Soto actually become a St. Louis Cardinal? We had Moe up in the box. Remember because Washington and the Cardinals played each other?

mo's up in the box with the Nationals GM hanging out shaking hands we're all like oh my gosh is this happening is it going to happen we thought it was done and then the next day he goes to the Padres and it doesn't work out in your mind Josh Jacobs you feel like looking back at things

probably a smart move to not have pulled the trigger on that deal yeah and again a lot of its context and it's not apples to oranges what the Padres gave up is what the Cardinals would have had to give up but everyone wants to get hung up on the Don Carlson side of things. And it's still super unclear how much of a hangup he actually was. But what is clear is there's no way it was just Dylan Carlson for Juan Soto or Dylan Carlson plus a couple other pieces.

Now, this is, again, it's hard to compare. But if you look at the package, the Padres gave up at the time, what the equivalent the Cardinals would have had to have given up would have been something like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Matthew Libertor, Mason, Mason Wynne, Tink Hens and Dylan Carlson to get the deal done. And that's like, that's a historic trade package. That's what the Padres gave up to get Juan Soda. And we saw what happened with the Padres last year. They missed the playoffs.

Then they had this flip Wonsodo for a decent package, but far less than what they gave up. And now you look at their opening day lineup and it's super thin. And they're pitching staffers and shambles. That's where the, I mean, we think their cartels are in a bad position right now. Imagine if they enter this off season with the Wonsodo on the books, but you know they're probably not going to extend.

him so they probably got to trade him. Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Aronado. I don't even know if they signed Wilson Contreras this past off season because of how they managed the finances. So I think we're looking, the cardals are in the middle of a rebuild right now if they had gone all in a one soda because what's the young talent they have remaining?

It's like Newpar, Brendan Donovan, I don't even know who else because they don't have to coerobi and Thomas to Jacey anymore because they didn't go out and get Jordan Montgomery and flip him. they don't have tin kents they don't join Jordan Walker they don't have Mason win they don't have Dylan Carlson they don't have Nolan Gorman

they're in shambles and so looking back again if the Cardinals were willing to go out and spend more money and be a luxury tax team this is a different conversation but again ownership doesn't do that I doubt they make a bigger run in 2022 because of Juan Soto but maybe they do so maybe that makes it worth it

but kind of considering all the context it really seems like that would have and shooting themselves in the foot. And now they're trying to trade off Soto, Nolan Arnado, Paul Goldschmidt, any of these pieces to go get prospects, that none of them are going to be as good as Doran Walker, probably none of them as good as Nolan Gorman.

I just like the position the Cardinals in right now compared to that. Obviously, Juan Soto is a future Hall of Famer, but context is everything. You're not just signing him for 40 plus million dollars year for 10 years. You're also giving up all this young talent, and you probably weren't good able to keep him around. Yeah.

And it's tough because when you see a name like that, and I mean, it couldn't have been easy for mode. It would be like, oh, my gosh, we're so, you know, because they were coming into the playoffs, with some really big momentum with all of the Albert Pools, and it was like, oh, my gosh, can we ride the wave? But yeah, I mean, you run into the Phillies and Wheeler and Nola and boom,

you're out. And it's like, well, would one sort of even gotten you past that round? Who knows? I mean, we don't know. but when you list all those names who were now starting pieces for the Major League Club and are your top prospects and the miners too, and you still don't have a ring, then you're like, oh my gosh, Mo is such an idiot for making that deal

where at the time we were all kind of like, yeah, who cares? Give up everybody. Let's go all in. It's easy to say that and not think about what the next three years might look like when you make a deal like that. You really have to have an incredible farm system put together to pull off a deal like that and survive for the next few years. And the Cardinals were not in a position to do that.

You saw how much they had to replenish the farm system this offseason. And then last year's trade deadline as well, they were in kind of a hole. So we're still digging themselves out of it. I know we got some nice pieces, but they're still not ranked like as one of the top, you know, farm systems in the league right now. So they're still working on that, trying to develop better and do better. all aspects. So looking back on it, though, it makes sense because the Padres didn't get a ring for them and they gave up a whole lot. And now they're flipping to get Dylan seized. They're flipping

like sometimes I don't know what the Padres are doing. I feel like they put a coin and go, let's go for it. It's weird. Weird to me. There's just like no, they have no path. They're just all over the place. It's why. Let's talk about the starting rotation real quick. It's a little bleaker. Yeah. The starting rotation with. Sunny Gray, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Stephen Matt's, and Miles Michaelis. Miles Michaelis has been the only guy this spring that has shown any consistency thus far, Josh. He's looked really, really good. He's going to be your opening day starter again against the Dodgers.

Until yesterday, I was okay. I'm like, all right, they're working on some things. These guys are veterans. They know what they're doing. They're not going out there throwing their best stuff every time. they're working on stuff, right? Well, now we're to a point of spring training where those were their third starts, and they only got one more to go before the regular season begins. And these things start counting. Stephen Matt's throwing today for the Cardinals. And none of them have looked all that great.

There's instances where you've seen some decent stuff out of Lancel and like his second start against the Mets was awesome. He looked great. Stephen Mats looks good for an inning or two, and then he gives up one big head. and it blows his numbers out of proportion. But all of them, and Kyle Gibson has just hasn't done anything, really all that great. Maybe an inning or two here or there, but most of the time he's getting pounded. How nervous are you getting as somebody who has been like me and has told everybody, hey, patience, calm down, spring training, relax a little bit. Now we're getting close to game time. And I'll be honest.

I'm starting to get nervous, dude, a little bit, a little bit. Yeah, I can't lie and say I'm not nervous. I mean, you're also, you're opening up against L.A. So it's not like you're facing the pirates to start the year. You've got a whole first month is a gauntlet of playoff teams. So not ideal. I would say, I think the fact that like Miles Michael, like I was probably the lowest on Miles Michaelis out of all of them.

I actually kind of was more confident Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson coming into this year. So the fact that Michaelis has looked so good gives me confidence. But like also, if I'm going to say I'm not. super concerned about bad spring training stats. I also can't be the guy that's like trying to pump you that Miles Michaels has a two point whatever ERA right now. So I just kind of think it's going to like regression is there for Miles where he's not going to be that good of a pitcher in the regular season.

And I don't think Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson are 10 ERA guys in the regular season because they weren't last year. And I know that Wayne Wright went from like bad to really, really bad in one year. I just don't think those guys are that either. Stephen Mats again is someone that they've at least been open about how they are purposely keeping him on a slower schedule right now. And he is someone they've been open about. He's working through some stuff and trying to make sure he's healthy going through the year.

And Zach Thompson's looked nice. So I think I'm not going to be freaking out about, I never thought the rotation was a strength. I've been probably a little bit less end of the world with the rotation than other people have. But my expectations is I hope that there are guys that can go out there, give you six innings, maybe you go up three to four runs and you hand it off to this really good bullpen to carry you through. especially Lance Lynn. I think he's a guy who stuff plays a little bit

above what it's doing right now. Kyle Gibson's the guy where it's like, I can see him falling off a cliff just because his stuff really isn't dynamic anyways and not that Lenz is super dynamic, but it's at least a little bit better. And then again, Steven Matts is a guy that when he's been on,

he's been really good for the Cardinals. When he's been off, he's been really, really bad. And so I think it'll bounce out a little bit more on that end. I think the Sunny Gray side of things with him progressing. And obviously he's not pitching opening day,

which is frustrating, hopefully be available for the first turn through the rotation, if not the second turn. So I think if you tell me, Gray is going to be back and good. Michaelis is better than I thought he was going to be in as like a number three, high end number four starter. You have Zach Thompson that you can rely on. And then you're just really hoping for at least one of those other three guys of Matt's, Lynn, and Gibson to be okay.

I think this bullpen is dynamic and strong enough to carry a mid, middle of the pack, or slightly below middle of the pack rotation. And then again, it's the offense is what needs to do things. So I think really all it does is just reiterated the concerns for fans, and it's probably reiterated the worst case in areas for me. But again, until the game start and even opening the day, like opening day doesn't define the rotation, the first week doesn't define the rotation.

You need time. But we all know like last year, time quickly flips. Like you can say be patient through April, and then you can dig yourself such a big hole that it doesn't matter. So as long as this team isn't going like 10 and 21 like it did in 2023, I think you can preach patience. But if it starts going that way, the Cardinals can't afford to pull the, oh, it'll be okay in a month card on us again. But if they're close to 500, a little bit below 500, I think it's fair to be like, hey, it's team.

This happens with teams sometimes. So I think it's a roundabout. I know a lot there, but in general, I'm not going to really subscribe too much to the spring training stuff because maybe Lance Lynn is going out there and trying his hardest. Or maybe he is working on stuff. They're not telling us. I don't know. So until the game's count, it's really hard for me to give a decision. decision on it. And I'm not going to get too high on Zach Thompson or Miles

Michaels either because again, it's spring training. Yeah, yeah. You know, if you're not going to be, if you're not going to say the bad stuff doesn't count, then all the good probably doesn't mean all as much either. But I don't know. One thing that struck me was after Gibson's start on Tuesday, the dude is pretty calm about it all where he's like, yeah, he's like, I'm not concerned about this. I'm really just trying to get right physically where I want to be for when the season starts. it almost sounds like he wasn't expecting to go out there and be lights out against these teams where he's just trying to get his body ready for the regular season. He's been in the league a long time for for a number of good teams. So I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I was just hoping to see a little bit better performance on Tuesday is really what I was hoping for. But I don't know. Like I said in yesterday's episode, I'll trust him until I can't trust him anymore. And then as far as Lance Lynn last night, Mets were just working the counts. man, that was a tough, tough game for him. And it seems like in the two games that he has struggled a little bit, he's had a, he's been getting squeezed some. If you can tell, first off, Angel Hernandez, you never know what the heck you're going

get out of him behind the play. And then last night, he just looked like there was a couple, he's just like, that sounds like, okay, all right, all right, I'm not going to give me that one and give them that's credit. You know, they gave him some tough at bat. So, but the VILO was there. Yep. And he seems healthy and he doesn't seem like he's all worked out. about things either. So maybe

I'm just being a little bit overly anxious about getting things going and I'll just relax a little bit and I'll suggest to everybody else you relax as well. Now somebody we are not going to relax about though Josh Jacobs is Victor Scott the second. Victor Mania is running

wild. What's you going to do Josh Jacobs when Victor Mania runs wild on you? We're going to talk about Victor Scott and the outfield coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event because game time is available. It's there. Put it on your phone. Fast, easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater

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Find Locked on Sports Today available now on the Free Fire TV channels app. Once again, Josh Jacobs from RedbirdRants.com and the news podcast joining us here today. All right, Victor Scott the 2nd, has been an exciting talent since the Cardinals drafted him. Nobody saw this really coming. They knew he was fast, but it wasn't like he was a superstar in college, and he has progressed very quickly, about as quickly as he runs.

He goes from A to AA, and then last year at AA, he has this incredible season, steals 94 bases, goes to the Arizona Fall League, nothing changes, lights it up, and is running all over the bases, and now at spring training,

he's doing it for the Cardinals. You're seeing in yesterday's game, the home game against the Marlins. He was starting in center, makes a gorgeous diving play in center field, wins a defensive goal glove last year in the minor leagues. Everything that you want and a center fielder, good leadoff guy, speed, defense. Victor Scott brings that to the table. And yet, the Cardinals will probably not have him on the roster. Explain this to us, Josh. Why is Victor Scott not going to be in a Cardinals uniform on opening day? Yeah, I actually don't know.

I like in terms of, well, like in terms like, well, I don't know as in as he's exciting, but I actually don't know that it's that he won't be. Yeah. And I'm not even sure that if they put him on the roster, it is the right decision. I'm so split on how I feel about how this should handle Victor Scott because there is precedent for like a Michael Harris to skip AA, come up to the majors and be really, really good. Rookie of the year winner that year. Yeah.

And he, and I like him as a comp because he wasn't like a top 10 prospect and all the baseball, Julio Rodriguez skipped AA, but that's Julio Rodriguez. Like there's a couple, Jordan Walker skipped up, but he had his struggles. But then you have the Gerardo Pararas of the world for the Diamondbacks who came up last year and batted 195 as they're starting shortstop the whole year.

And he turned it around. It was an all-star this past year. But like, you see both sides of it. And sometimes, quote unquote, rushing a guy for the sake of the immediate satisfaction of having Victor Scott up there could hurt his long-term development. And I love the fact that Victor Scott is so, like, talented that his floor is so high.

So even if he's not hitting at the Major League of level, he's going to give you elite defense and elite speed. But I'm dreaming of the Victor Scott that can't hit. And the one that's not just like a borderline league average guy, but it can be a little bit above league average, if not more. And is the guy that can hit lead off for you for years to come and truly be not just like a speed threat. Because whenever he sometimes gets on base, he's stealing bases that he's a guy that's consistently getting on base, worthy of hitting leadoff in the lineups, stealing 80, 90 bags a year. Like, that's the kind of playing gold gloves

defense in center field. So if the Cardinals think he's ready, then I think you go for it. You pull the Band-Aid off right now and you just put him in center field and you go for it. You figure out the roster later. But if they have hesitations about his readiness,

something like Kyle Reese over on Twitter, I think he follows Cardinals prospects better than anyone. And I think he's pointing this out a lot that Victor Scott's jumping on the first pitch or the second pitch of it at bat, which is like smart because you want to get the best pitches. But in the regular season, guys are going to see that and not give him stuff to hit early in the count. So he's got to start being patient. There's little things he's doing that you can kind of game it a little bit.

And it's not his fault. He's doing all the right things right now. But it's hard to truly know if he's ready to face consistent major league pitching all the time. I'm a huge believer in him. So like if you asked me, I'd say, yeah, go for it. But I also understand that player development is a really fine line in that. it does get in guys heads sometimes. And if a big flaw in his game is exposed in the first three weeks of the season

and the send him to AAA, yeah, he could work on it or it could become something that just is really hard for him to overcome. So if they don't go that direction, I think it actually is mainly to do with the fact that they really want him to become the full potential of a player that he can be. And so they give him some time in AAA. He's only had about 850 minor league appearances, which isn't a lot for a young guy. if they start him on the roster, I think it's because they think he's ready

and because they need that defense in center field. They want that dynamic speed. They feel confident with either Donovan, Burleson, or Carlson, and left, and they'll figure things out later. So I actually think the main reason they wouldn't put him on the roster is not because they think,

I mean, I think they do want to see what Dylan Carlson has. I do think they believe in Alec Burleson, but I think they're really excited about Scott and they want to do everything they can to make sure he becomes the best possible version of himself. And I think that's what Cardinals fans ultimately want to. I know it's really fun to think about April right now, but in October of next year, none of us are going to care if he was up in April if it ruins his development.

We would be much better served as Cardinals fans if we waited until May, June, July, because it helps him become the player he can be, but also, who knows? That's why very few people get to do this and do it well, because player development is such a training to figure out. And yeah, I mean, the Cardinals haven't always proven they're the best at it either, so I'm not going to try and argue like they should know. best all the time. And I mean, Victor Scott's been on a podcast a few times.

I know you've talked to him. He is just an awesome guy. And I'm rooting for him. He's going to be my favorite player when he comes up. He's so exciting to watch. So selfishly, I want to see him right now. I'm just going to pump the brakes a little bit and say,

if the Cardinals wait, it's not worth freaking out about because they called up Dylan Carlson. People wanted them to and he wasn't ready. They called him Jordan Walker and clearly he had to come down. People wanted Mason went out of open, on the opening day roster last year. That wouldn't have gone well. People wanted Matthew Libertor when he was tearing up AAA and then he was terrible at the majors.

People wanted Nolan Gorman when he had that home run tear to begin last year or two years ago. And then he struggled at the major league level. Like we often say we want these guys and then we turn on them really quick. And I don't want that to happen to Victor Scott. So I'm 50-50. If they decide to wait, I'm going to be like, I want to see him, but I get it. At the point in opening the roster, then it's like, go, go, go, let's go VS2. Yeah.

And one thing that has popped up is the health of Britain, Donovan where, you know, they were taking it slow with him. They didn't want him throwing from anywhere except second base to the beginning of spring training. Now they're using them in the outfield. And now that they're comfortable with that, that's another reason to send Victor back down so he can play every day because that's the thing. If you're going to have him on the team, you better play them that you're going to have to start. You're not going to just bench him and just let him sit over there and rot. So that's what you have a Michael Ciani for is to fill that kind of a role. You're not going to do that to Victor. And Berluson has done everything you've asked of him this spring. He's looked good

defensively. He's hitting 351. He struck out for just the second time this spring last night. Like he's done everything you've asked him. He trimmed down and he's looked good. Dolman Carlson is starting to heat up and finally gain that confidence that I've been waiting for him to gather again. I feel like he hasn't had it since his rookie year. Like he's just kind of been going through the motions and just looks miserable. Now we're starting to put bat on ball on both sides, not just hitting righty, but hitting left-handed too. And then Walker, obviously, you're going to have him in right field. There's just not a lot of room for him because now you can have Brinidadovin playing out there. You've got Siani is your fifth guy if you need to keep him on the roster. I just don't see a

path that Victor comes up on the team to start the year where he's given a chance to compete for that starting job. Like, I don't think they're going to give him the job. I don't think they're going to give him the job over Dylan Carlson. I just don't believe it doesn't feel like a cardinal thing to do. So I think that's where we're at with him. And let's be honest, when Newt Bar comes back, somebody's going to have to go away. And even if Victor does go, are you going to send him back down? Because he would be the guy. He'd be that last guy on the totem pole. So what are you doing there? So Newt's not expect to be out too far. And let's think about how the Cardinals have been health-wise over the years. Somebody going to get hurt again. It's going to happen. And if Victor's got a month under

his belt at Memphis and he's hitting 285 with 20 stolen bases. Come on up to the show, kid. We're ready for you. But I think just knowing the Cardinals, the way I've covered them over the years, he's probably going to go down. And you can just kind of sense it, the way Mo talks about it, where he even is kind of like, well, hold on a second. He's like, we do have a lot of guys that are already Major League ready, and we're not worried about being able to take on Major League pitching at this point. So why would we force? you know, a young prospect like him. He's got all the talent in the world, but why would we force it right now?

There's not a need to. Now, if so, if Dylan was hurt, maybe it'd be a different story because you would love to have that guy roaming around in center field and he can play every day. So that's where I'm at on things here. And real quick, before I wrap things up, what did your thoughts on the Blake Snell signing with the San Francisco Giants after seeing it just be a two-year deal? What are your thoughts? I feel like I saw a tweet or two of yours or like,

Man, because that's me too. That's me too. And I think the Cardinals, if they had a shot at it, might have said the same thing. If they had known Blake Snow would go for two years and what was it, 70, it was a 62 million? 68 or something. It was a 31 of fees of 62 million.

But either way, if they had known it was going to be a short-term two-year type of deal, I feel like they might have been all in on that, but nobody saw this coming. Yeah, like I think if you told the Cardinals last October that Blake Snow is going to be available, right now they can get him for two years, they probably would have waited it out because this is a great deal or even pay him a little bit more. But that's not like in October, no one was expecting Blake Snell to have that happen. So I don't think it's fair to go back and say, see, they shouldn't have signed Lenny Gibson. I mean, that's a whole other conversation we could talk about. They shouldn't have done that or not. But you can't say they should have known or they should have just signed Snell for two years because he wasn't going to sign that contract until this past week. So they would have gone into literally one of the last few weeks of spring training with the rotation of Miles Michael, Sunny Gray, Stephen Bats. Zach Thompson and Matthew Libertor. Okay, convince me you would have been excited about that at this point. But I also, it's frustrating that it doesn't sound like they were involved in the talks right now.

And the big conversation point is that would have taken them over the luxury tax. And that's something they've consistent, ownership, again, ownership is consistently said, we're not going to do. Now, the Mosea talks about how he doesn't like to get like, things don't like to be complicated for him. But he could have gotten complicated and tried to move Stephen Matt's and then move Matt Carpenter. and Brandon Crawford that should have signed, that should have freed up enough room, but then they wouldn't have really had flexibility during the season to go add stuff

because they would have been right at the line already. Again, that's an ownership thing. So I am really frustrated that Nguet Snell, especially that they weren't talking at the end here, at least to our awareness. Seems like you would have been the perfect fit. This would have taken the team from a probably win the NL Central to win the NL Central and be maybe not,

they're not on the Braves and Dodgers level, but they can compete with them in the postseason. They can give them a run for their money. And now the Giants are, they made a smooth move there. They're probably a wild card-ish team now. So, yeah, it's frustrating. I don't think it's fair to go back and say they should have done this in October because there's no way it would have happened.

But I do think they could have gotten creative right now, and they decided not to. And so we'll see how that works out for them. Yeah, and now we still wait on whether or not Jordan Montgomery is going to sign with anybody. That's the final domino that still needs to fall. And from everything we've got, I don't think the Cardinals are involved in anything that has to do with Jordan Montgomery either. So they've made their bed.

They're about to lay in it coming up here in just a few days, one of the regular seasons starts. All right. Josh Jacobs, you can follow him on Twitter X at Josh J-C-O-M-LB. Obviously, he's at Redbird Brands.com. Go read that new article he posted. There's three other situations where he thinks Cardals made some smart moves.

So check that out. I'll put the link in our show notes and in the comment section down below on YouTube and obviously the new news podcast. You guys got anything coming up here in the next couple of days you want to push. Yeah, tonight we record on Sundays and Wednesdays usually. So we're going live tonight to do our Cardinal season preview. So we'll tell you all for thoughts now. We think the season's going to go, how we're feeling about the rotation,

lineup, all that stuff. So excited to break down what should be a really interesting season. And I think all three of us have different views on how it's going to go. So it should be a dynamic conversation. All right. Be sure to check that out, everybody. And once again, thank you guys for making lockdown. Cardinals. Your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on Twitter

X at L.O underscore Cardinals. You can follow my personal account at JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube and help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. And we'll see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.