Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Latest Trade Deadline Rumors Involving The Cardinals

Starting point is 00:00:00 The latest trade rumors and information about the Cardinals plan with the trade deadline just one week away. 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, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Haffern 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 Locktown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio and follow the podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:00:39 We want to thank those of you who make Locktoned Cardinals your first listen every day, free and available, wherever you get your podcast, as well as on YouTube. You can like, subscribe, comment when you go to the YouTube page. Make sure you're interacting with us and hit the notification button so you know when new episodes are posted because 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 of Lockdown Cardinals brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah, the right stay can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Check out booking.com for your stay today. So the St. Louis Cardinals fall in Pittsburgh on Monday night by the score of two to one. Neither offense was all that great. Pitching for both sides was very, very good.

Starting point is 00:01:18 These games happened, you know, Cardinals lost the first game in Atlanta in a tight one. Remember, three to two and extra innings, people lost their minds about it. Oh, my gosh, what are we going to do? Cardinals went on to win the next two. Now Paul Skeens is on the mound for the pirates tonight. So that should be interesting and make things a little more difficult. But, you know, we'll get into that. We'll get into where is Jojo Romero? People want answers about that. That was a big question that people had after last night's game. So we'll delve into that stuff later on in the episode. We do have a bit of news here to get things going. The team

Starting point is 00:01:51 has officially signed first round draft pick JJ Weatherholt. So that's great news. Tommy Edmund is set to play tonight for AA Springfield after another setback with his ankle. So that's positive. But let's get into the juicy stuff, the stuff you really want to hear about the trade rumors, stuff like that. Let's get into it, shall we? We are one week away. That's all that's left before the MLB trade deadline hits on Tuesday, July 30th, 6 p.m. Eastern.

Starting point is 00:02:19 One week for some teams to basically poop or get off the pot. One week for other teams to decide to make some vast. improvements to their rosters for a playoff push. One week for tinkering a little bit. One week to decide how the future of the franchise is going to go for these guys. So a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure. And we know what the Cardinals needs are by now, don't we? Depth at starting pitching is something they need. How about another bullpen arm or two? A batter, outfielder, perhaps, who can hit right-handers very well, something this team doesn't have a lot of. So these are the problems that the Cardinals have right now with their current roeasterners.

Starting point is 00:02:57 And here are some problems that the Cardinals have with trying to acquire those things. Number one, the rest of the league wants the same stuff, right? Number two, limited number of players available for trade because so many teams are still in the running for wild card spots. Now you're starting to hear about some of these teams that are like, we might be willing to talk, a couple of them in the NL Central. You've heard the rumors that perhaps the Reds are ready to start moving on from some guys with expiring contracts that the Cubs, they're not ready to sell the farm, but they've kind of

Starting point is 00:03:33 decided, yeah, unless something happens here in the next couple of days, we're probably going to make some people available as well. Jameson's name has been somebody I've seen floating around. Cardinals trade parameters can be an issue too, because there are some things that the Cardinals can and can't do. They're not willing or hopefully not willing to give up many top prospects due to the lack of depth they already have in the organization. Remember, we just kind of replenish things last year because you ended up having to sell at the trade deadline. So now you've got all these prospects.

Starting point is 00:04:09 You don't want to get rid of all of them already. So that's something they don't probably want to do. So that's why you won't see them in on the bigger names, like a Garrett Crochet for the White Sox because of the cost is going to be so high that the Cardinals can't survive that. They can't give up five of their top 15 prospects to go get somebody like that. They're just not willing to do that. They don't want to take on a lot of extra payroll. They're not willing to do that either.

Starting point is 00:04:36 They're not one of these teams that has a 300 million plus payroll. They can just absorb that kind of salary. So you can take those guys off the list, somebody who's got a big paycheck coming their way. So that means they probably want to target guys with expiring contracts and guys who have just one year remaining, and that's probably, yeah, those are kind of where you got to narrow things down to. Another problem, outbitting or out maneuvering other general managers to get what they need. How much do you trust John Mosea Locke to do something here at the trade deadline of significance

Starting point is 00:05:12 that will make such an impact on these Cardinals that they will be pushed into that next level of team in the National League and be somebody people think, oh, they got a shot at the World Series title. Another problem. What are the player values of guys already in the organization? How do Moseilock and the rest of the front office, how do they view guys like Tommy Edmund, Jordan Walker, Stephen Mads? Where do they think they are? How much of an impact are these guys going to have? Because when you're talking about a starting pitcher, Stephen Matts is a starting pitcher talking about a right-handed bat. Jordan Walker is a right-handed bat. Tommy Edmund obviously can hit both right and left-handers, and he's very versatile, can do infield and outfield.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Do we really have to go out and get somebody? I'm just telling you, that's how they're thinking right now. We don't know those answers yet, but it's not complicated. The Cardinals, they need to improve in those certain areas, and only so many names are going to fit the bill for what the Cardinals can do. what they can take on and what they're willing to give up to get. So let's get into the latest rumblings and rumors surrounding the Cardinals and the league. So we're going to start with what MLB.com John Denton recently wrote. And he says the Cardinals are going to be chasing after two pitchers in particular. Here's what he said.

Starting point is 00:06:40 For the first time in decades, the Cardinals were sellers at the trade deadline last season as they dealt away five pitchers for a bad be of prospects. And in case you don't remember, Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, Chris Stratton, Henneses-Cabrera, all traded away. Now the Cardinals will use other, or now the Cardinals will use those prospects and others to try to lure pitching help

Starting point is 00:07:02 and maybe a difference making right-handed bat to St. Louis. Two pitchers, the Cardinals will likely target for a source. Rangers right-hander Nathan Evaldi and Ray's right-easy, Zach Eflin. So let's start with Nathan Evaldi. Texas Rangers, 34 years old. He's six and four. He's got a 3.34 ERA, ERA plus of 118, wrapping up a two-year deal with the Rangers, but does have a vesting option next year that has a $2 million buyout and becomes a player

Starting point is 00:07:32 option if he reaches 300 innings combined between last year and this year. He's at 243 right now. So he would have to average six innings over his next like nine and a half starts to get there. So not exactly an easy thing, but something that's certainly. within the realm of getting done. The Rangers are now four games back in the AOS. There's seven and a half back in the wild card. If the defending champions decide to sell,

Starting point is 00:08:03 they've got multiple names that people are going to want to talk about, including evolving. Max Scher, obviously somebody who's going to, people are going to have some interest in. The problem is Max has just recently said that he doesn't want to waive as no trade clause yet. This will be the third time in four years. And it doesn't sound like he wants to do that.

Starting point is 00:08:22 He is going to be a free agent after the season, and then he can go wherever the hell he wants. So maybe he's like, I just, I don't feel like moving again. I don't. So that's his prerogative. Other names include Andrew Heaney, Michael O'Rentzen, and relievers David Robertson and Kirby Yates.

Starting point is 00:08:40 Evaldi obviously also has the pedigree for doing well in the postseason, which he did last year. It was him and Jordan Montgomery were the big names that we're pitching for the Rangers when they went on to win the title. So that's one of them. Zach Gapleyn, 30 years old, five and seven this year with a 4.14 ERA, ERA plus of 94, so a little bit below average.

Starting point is 00:09:04 He's in the second year of his three-year, $40 million deal with the raise. He'll make $18 million next season. A number of the raise probably don't want to pay, which is why he is a trade target and would be made available, kind of like how the glass now was. He had one year remaining. It was a whole lot of money.

Starting point is 00:09:20 It was it 25 million. And so the raise were like, who wants them? And the Dodgers were like, yeah, we'll take them. It's been pretty darn good. Pretty good move, right? But that's where Zach Eflin sits as far as why he's being made available. The raise are 10 and a half back in the ALEs. They're five and a half back in the AIL Wildcard.

Starting point is 00:09:38 And I saw a report today that they are, the words were open for business, which makes perfect sense. Former Cardinal Randy a Rose Raina has been mentioned in rumors along with the reliever and Webster Groves and Mizzou product, Pete Fairbanks, among others. So these are some of the names that are on the table. There are other guys for the raise that are tradable as well. So you can see why the Cardinals would have interest in both of those starting pitchers. Afflin comes with the guarantee that he's on your team next year,

Starting point is 00:10:09 which will make him cost a little bit more. And I know fans hate trading with the raise because it seems like more times than not, The Tampa Bay Rays end up fleecing the other team. It's not just the Cardinals who they've traded with and have lost a trade. There's been others, the Pirates, since we're playing them right now, comes to mind in that Chris Archer deal. But the Rays are, they're going to be moving some guys. And the Cardinals should be ready when they do.

Starting point is 00:10:36 So who else is out there? Well, the next guy on the list is sporting a 10.1 Ks per nine this year. That's pretty good. We'll tell you about him next on. Locked on Cardinals. This episode of Locked on Cardinals is brought to you by booking.com. Booking dot, yeah, with summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games, it's time to explore those U.S. cities you always secretly wanted to learn more about.

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Starting point is 00:13:26 Now, the Toronto Blue Jays could make a huge impact on this year's trade deadline. They've got some pretty big names on that roster. It's surprising how bad Toronto has been this year, considering all of the talent that is on their roster. I mean, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichet, Kevin Kiermeyer, are names that have been floating out there as far as position players that are made available. Kiermeyer, I think. didn't they even like designate him or something? I forget what they did, but they made him available and then nobody took them. The team has said that they don't plan on moving on from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Starting point is 00:14:02 Or Bo Bichette, but it's popping up. So obviously, they're listening. So if somebody wants to come in and overwhelm them with a deal, they're not going to say, no, as we've said before. Almost everybody is tradable. There's always a price. There's something where you, you, You couldn't say no if they offered you this.

Starting point is 00:14:23 So I think that's where Toronto is when it comes to those particular players. Are the Cardinals going to get in on the Vladimir Guerrero Boba? No, they're probably not, although it would be pretty sweet to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform. But pitching-wise is where the Cardinals will have some interest in what the Toronto Blue Jays do. And one pitcher who more than likely will get moved is left-hander, you say Cacucci. All right. 33 years old. Cardinals have been listed as a potential landing spot by many people for Kukuchi, including the athletic, who said, Kakucci has been good rather than great in three seasons with the Blue Jays, putting together dominant stretches only to struggle for weeks at a time.

Starting point is 00:15:06 Still, his high strikeout rate and demonstrated ability to pitch like an all-star for stretches is likely enough to make him one of the most sought-after rental starters available. He would fit nicely in the number three or number four spot. of most contending rotations, but might not appeal to every team as a reliable playoff rotation option against righty, heavy lineups. And when you look at his numbers this year, you're probably going to say something like, ew, because his numbers aren't great. He's 4.9, 4.5.4 ERA plus at 89. Again, below average, 100 is average. But his FIP is 3.58.

Starting point is 00:15:48 which shows you that he's pitching better than some of his numbers are showing you. He does have 125 strikeouts in 111 innings pitch. That's 10.1 case per nine. And he's in the final year of his three-year deal with Toronto. Adding a lefty to this rotation, in my opinion, would not be such a bad idea. It really wouldn't. I mean, your lefty was Stephen Matt's in this rotation before. uncertainty about what he's going to do moving forward if he's going to be a part of the future of the

Starting point is 00:16:24 year at all. And if he does come back and he's healthy, you know he's a guy that you've been able to put him into the bullpen and he's been effective there too. So if he does get healthy and you can use him at some point, maybe just slide him back into the bullpen. Maybe that's where he belongs. Kukuchi has strikeout stuff, something the Cardinals don't have a lot of in their rotation outside of Sunny Gray. And again, expiring contracts are going to be kind of attractive to John Moseilocks. So it shouldn't cost the Cardinals all that much to land him. It's going to cost you something. You always got to give to get. But it's not going to be the outrageous stuff that some of these other teams are going to be asking for players who have years of control still with those guys.

Starting point is 00:17:10 Now, if you want to swing for the fences with Toronto, you could ask about Kevin Gossman, Chris Bassett. those are guys that still have a year of control left. They're both signed through 2025. So it's going to cost a lot more. But you're also getting some guys that have a better pedigree than Kikuchi does. But you say Kikuchi seems like he's kind of right in the wheelhouse of a John Moseilock type of move. And there may not be as much competition to get him as there will be for guys like Nathan Evaldi, Zach Eflin, Garrett Crochet, the list goes on and on and on, right?

Starting point is 00:17:49 They've also got a couple of relievers, Yemi Garcia and Trevor Richards, as ballpoint arms that the Cardinals might find attractive as well, and you might be able to package some stuff together and get two guys that can help you out from the Blue Jays roster. The Cardals and the Blue Jays have made plenty of deals in the past. Good relationship, so it wouldn't shock me to see something like that. The next name that continues to pick up steam is from the White Sox, Eric Fetty. And I know every dayers, you're probably sick of hearing about Eric Fetty,

Starting point is 00:18:23 but the reality is that he's a good fit for the Cardinals. And until he's dealt somewhere else, he's going to be someone that is linked to St. Louis. The USA Today's Bob Nightingale said in one of his recent articles that, quote, the St. Louis Cardinals have strong interest in White Sacks veteran starter Eric Fetty. So there's at least some smoke there. All right. People are at least saying, yeah, they're interested. And it makes sense.

Starting point is 00:18:53 Fetty is 31. Former first round pick. Just didn't find the success with Washington Nationals like many people thought he would in the major league. So he goes overseas. And he figures some things out. Something clicks. He goes on to win.

Starting point is 00:19:10 the KBO version of the Sy Young and MVP awards gets the pitching triple crown in Korea. Comes back over to the States with the White Sox and has been a very pleasant surprise for them. He's seven and three, 2.98 ERA. Doesn't have the strikeout numbers that you might want, but has an ERA plus of 138. Contract-wise, he's got another year remaining on the two-year deal that he signed with Chicago, but it's only for $7.5 million next season, which I know, a lot of money to me and you, but in the grand scheme of starting pitchers of Major League Baseball, who are good, not very much money. Kind of cheap.

Starting point is 00:19:53 These two names fit the mold of what John Moseilock would normally target. Let's just be honest about it. He's not probably targeting the top names that are out there. He's going to probably come in under the radar a little bit and go with guys in a lower tier. It's just the way the cartels have done business at the trade deadline for many, many years. Fetty continues to intrigue me more and more as more talk about him keeps coming out because you just can't ignore the success that the guy has had this year. Just recently in the month of July, he's faced the Guardians, one of the best teams in baseball, the twin. doing very, very well in the AL Central. And the Rangers, who I know haven't been the Rangers of last year,

Starting point is 00:20:44 but you know, he's still got to respect that lineup. And he's 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA and 17 in the third innings. And opponents are hitting 164 against him. He just continues to pitch well. At this point of the season, you can't deny that he's doing a very good job. And he's better than most of the first. of the options that you have in the Cardinals rotation right now. Locked on White Sox host, Jack Johnson reached out to me this weekend. Actually, I'll share this with you, asking,

Starting point is 00:21:18 so Eric Fetty and the Cardinals, what would you be willing to give up for someone like Fetty? And I was like, well, what do you want? Like, what are the White Sox after? And he said they want, they want hitters. They're looking for batting. They want infielders and outfielders and major league ready hitting if possible. So my response to him was Dylan Carlson, immediately pops off. Major League hitter, switch hitter, used to be a top prospect. Has it found the success or the playing time recently. Change of scenery would probably do them good. We've got infielders at AAA like Jose Fermin, Thomas and Jacey, and Sazar Prieto,

Starting point is 00:21:56 who are probably ready to go to the major leagues and start playing for somebody. You know, for Mien's been up already. And I told them that the Cardals have a number of catching prospects as well. I mean, you got Pawha's up on the team. Ivan Herrera, I don't want to trade Yvonne Herrera. And there are other guys below Herrera that are younger and might have brighter futures than Ivan Herrera, to be honest. But we know Ivan Herrera can hit at the major league level.

Starting point is 00:22:26 So that's somebody that may be included in a trade during this deadline. Now that Paul Hess has, this kind of passed him up because of his ability to handle pitchers in the way that he throws, which is better than. Ivan Herrera was. Not as good of a hitter, by any means, but you got Wilson Contreras for the next three years after this one. So I also asked him, maybe we sweet the deal a little bit, make it a little bit bigger. What about reliever Michael Copac coming in return from the White Sox, former first round pick, strikeout stuff, elite fastball velo and strikeout stuff, but he struggles with his command. As a year of arbitration remaining, I feel like the White Sox have very much

Starting point is 00:23:06 soured on him or are ready to move on, could we throw in, say, a non-top 15 pitching prospect in return for him? Could the Cardinals and Dusty Blake unlock the talent in Kopeck and figure out why he has trouble throwing strikes? Is that something, you know? Imagine two fireballers like Helsley and Kopeck in your bullpen and then Kittredge scoots up a spot. Ryan Fernandez scoches up a spot.

Starting point is 00:23:36 Just don't know. I'm just spit. balling guys. It's how negotiations are done. By the way, he never replied and said, yeah, deal, let's go. He never said that. But, you know, these are the things that we got to think about. This is how you come up with the deal. So those are the latest rumors of rumbling. So I'm sure more will come out. Again, we're one week away from the trade deadline. So more to come for sure. All right, we're going to talk about the game on Monday night against the pirates. That's coming up next on lockdown cards. Passion, drive, and patience.

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Starting point is 00:26:50 national show. So find locked on sports today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. So Monday night, Cardinals Fall in Pittsburgh, two to one. They had seven hits, but only got one run across. Nolan Gorman hits the solo shot in the fifth that went off the foul pole. Team leading 19th home run of the season. But unlike previous games against Mitch Keller this year, where the Cardinals did him pretty well, couldn't figure him out enough to score any runs on Monday night. The Cardinals left runners on second and third in the second. Two more runners on base. in the fifth. They went 0 for three with a runner in scoring position. Paul Goldschmidt had two hits, the only cardinal who had multiple hits in the lineup was batting in the seventh hole again and got two

Starting point is 00:27:33 singles in this game, which is good. You like to see progression. You like to see that out of Paul Goldschmidt. The top four hitters in the lineup, two for 18. Not good. Tough night for the offense. It happens. It did not go unnoticed online, though, by the way, as I was bobbing. bombarded with people just bashing the Cardinals offense last night. And my response to that was this Mitch Keller guy, he's pretty good, not like he's some scrub that the Pirates just picked off the street. He's now 10 and 5, ERA 3.34, ERA plus of 122. Mitch Keller is a legit top 20 starter in the National League.

Starting point is 00:28:14 Like, why are people freaking out that in his third game against the Cardinals, this year, he finally was able to slow them down a little bit. I didn't think it was going to come in such a surprise, but people were like, ah, Carl's were terrible again. In the old saying, good pitching beats good heading. Monday night, that was true. Andre Palante, give a little credit to Andre, man. He was good, too, by the way, six innings, one run, three hits, been very good in his last

Starting point is 00:28:46 four starts. He's thrown 24 in two-thirds innings. He's allowed six runs. Four of those were by the Royals. by the way. ERA of 2.19. Opponents are hitting just 193 against him. Andre Palante has been pretty darn good since finally getting a chance to start in the rotation. Now will this stop them from making any additions at the deadline?

Starting point is 00:29:07 I hope not. Like it's great, something to build upon, but I need more. Just give me some more. But Palante is sure giving them something to think about. I'm not going to say that he hasn't. But is it Palante that we're trying to get better than anyway? Are we trying to get better than Michaelis or Len at the same time? Think about that.

Starting point is 00:29:31 Think about that. The big play last night was in the eighth when John King was on the mound. He allows a lead off single. And then you get that wild pitch. And that really changed things because they're an RBI single by Nick Gonzalez. Breaks the one-one tie, makes it two to one. That's how it ended. And it got a lot of people asking me, like, where is Jojo Romero? Is he okay? Do we know if he's alive?

Starting point is 00:29:57 According to reports, he is alive. And there's nothing wrong with him. Hasn't appeared in the game since July 13th, which is why people are concerned. But here was the explanation that Romero had a lot of single and a walkoff hit against the same spots in the Pirates lineup when last the Cardinals visited Pittsburgh. So, Ali wanted to give the pirates a different look instead. Ali told the media afterwards, we felt good about keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible. They're going to have to single us to death. They did. That's what it came down to, right? As much as King is on the ground, as much as Reynolds and crews are on the ground, both of those guys are going to have to try to lift the ball and more power to them.

Starting point is 00:30:36 If they can, they singled us to die. So that's your explanation. It was another type ball game, something the cardals are all too familiar with here in 2024. for and it puts them kind of behind the eight ball, so to speak, in this series, because tonight you get to face Paul schemes. Yay! Who has yet to lose at the major league level? 6 and 0, 1.90 ERA and 11 starts.

Starting point is 00:31:00 One of those against the Cardinals on June 11th when he went six in the third innings, no runs, five hits, eight strikeouts. You had the controversy about for the Cardo fans giving him a standing ovation when he left the game or were they cheering for something else. He did not factor in the decision in that game. that the Cardinals ended up losing two to one. But since we saw him, since the Cardinals saw Paul Skeens last, he's 3 and 0 in five starts. Pirates are 3 and 2 in those five starts, by the way.

Starting point is 00:31:29 But he's got an area of 1.36, 43 strikeouts and 33 innings. Opponents are hitting 190 against him. So, yeah, he's really good. Now, he's only faced one other team twice so far. And those were in his first two starts. He faced the Cubs in both of them. And he was actually better the second time around against the Cubs. So is tonight the night that someone finally beats him?

Starting point is 00:31:55 It's got to happen at some point. Why not the Cardinals, right? Carlos will have Lance Lynn on the mound opposite him. Lynn has won three of his last four outings and in his last appearance against the Bucks on June 13th. Last at just four and a third inning is allowed three runs on four hits, but walk three struck out five. As they say in the movie taken, good luck. All right. We're done for the day.

Starting point is 00:32:17 Thanks for making Locktown Cardinals for first listen each and every day. If you haven't already, give us a follow on Twitter X at L0 underscore Cardinals and the J.D. Sports Radio. Please like and subscribe on YouTube to help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason, and I will see you next time on Locktown Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Latest Trade Deadline Rumors Involving The Cardinals

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