Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - These Questions Need To Be Answered IF The Cardinals Are Going To Make The Playoffs In 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today we break down some of the big questions and storylines for the St. Louis Cardinals in the second half of the season. 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. Haferin 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 Locked-on Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio. You can follow up a podcast at L.O underscore Cardinals. I do want to thank those of you who make Lockstone Cardinals your first listen to every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:43 Of course, we're on YouTube as well. Make sure you like, subscribe and comment and interact with us and hit the notification button so you know when 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. This episode of Locktown Cardinals is brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah. The right stay can make. you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Checkoutbooking.com for your stay today. So Mother Nature was not a friend of the Cardinals or the Braves or us on Friday. The scheduled first game

Starting point is 00:01:16 after the All-Star break gets washed out due to rain. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise because it was reported that the team's lone All-Star and Ryan Helsley, Matt Carpenter, as well as coaches Daniel DeScalso, Willie McGee. We're all having travel issues in getting to Atlanta leading up to the game. So I'm not sure if it was like a weather thing. I don't know if it had to do with the blackout cyber issues that were going on on Friday. But either way, doesn't matter. Nobody played baseball anyway. So as far as I know, everybody's in Atlanta now, which sets up a double header for today, weather permitting, because they're expecting more rain in Atlanta today. But from what I've been seeing this morning, it looks like they're probably going to get at least get one of the games in, which will be nice. So this also switches up the rotation a little bit. Sunny Gray was supposed to start on Friday. So Kyle Gibson's going to go in game one today. Sunny Gray will be in game two. Then you got Michaelis on Sunday for game three. What are some of the things that we're concerned about? Now that we got all that riffraff out of the way, what are some of the things that we're concerned about with the St. Louis

Starting point is 00:02:24 Cardinals? You know, what should we be keeping an eye on as we as we venture into the second half of the MLB season for the Cardinals. Well, the first thing that, you know, obviously we've been paying a lot of attention to here at Locked on Cardinals is what's going to happen at the trade deadline. You know, everybody wants to speculate. Everybody's got their ideas. I've given you dozens of targets from right-handed hitting bats to starting pitchers to ball pit arms. We've got another one that we're going to talk about a little bit later in this episode. but I've given you these different ideas and different trade targets. I guess we can go that way, which on paper all sound like solid additions for this team. Easier said than done to try to get these guys all in a Cardinals uniform. A couple of questions need to be answered.

Starting point is 00:03:17 They can affect the decision making at this point of the season in what the Cardinals are going to do at the deadline with the clock ticking here. how good does the front office think the people that they have already actually are? And we know that our front office in St. Louis tends to think a little bit more highly of the people that they have than outsiders do, right? How much do they believe Tommy Edmund is going to help them if and when he comes back at yet another setback with his ankle bothering him again? is Jordan Walker going to make an impact at the major league level this year at all? Didn't do much at the beginning of the year, has been sent down ever since. Is something going to click? Is he going to become a piece of this puzzle?

Starting point is 00:04:10 What is their level of faith in guys like Andre Palante, Miles Michaelis, Lance Lynn, is Stephen Matt's coming back? And if he does, is he going to be any good? ballpen wise how much has the wear and tear of what happened in the first half a tough first half that had so many tight games for this team how did that affect guys like Andrew Kittridge and Jojo Romero you saw them pitch much less effectively as the first half continued can they be the guys that we saw in April and May and parts of June after getting this time off at the All-Star break will they come back fresh? Do they have anything left? How much do they believe in guys like Matthew Libertory? Ryan Fernandez, John Keene, moving forward. Will they trust them more in high leverage situations?

Starting point is 00:05:06 That way, Jojo and Kit aren't used as much. You still want to use them. But anytime you're winning to only be able to go to them, not great. You know, you want to be able to split things up a little bit, that way they're not getting as taxed. You know, a lot of these questions I'm proposing right now, we don't know. We really don't know. And if I knew how they felt towards a few of these things, I could give you a more accurate

Starting point is 00:05:35 idea on who and what they will be targeting at the trade deadline. Now, in a perfect world, they would just address all of their needs, the three week spots that we have pointed out. And they could be able to get the guys that they can really. realistically, realistically go after it, right? I mean, there's always these ideas that, oh my gosh,

Starting point is 00:05:57 go get Garrett Crochet. Why wouldn't you? Of course, if you could, you would, right? But realistically, is that going to happen? No, probably not.

Starting point is 00:06:07 But can the guys that they are probably going to be in the market for? Will they be enough to impact this team to push them into that next level, where when the playoffs do roll around and let's say that they make it, that they can compete with teams like the Brewers and the Phillies and the Braves and the Dodgers in the National League. Here's what Bernie Miklis says on the matter.

Starting point is 00:06:29 President of Baseball Operations, John Moseilock and his honorage, can't ease up. The players are watching. The fans are watching. Everyone who cares about Cardinals baseball is wondering, what will Moseilock do to augment his roster between now and July 30th? The front office made enough offseason moves to raise the Cardinals into contention, but must finish the job. Last season's horrible collapse.

Starting point is 00:06:51 is dull ticket sales. The Cardinals have energized the fan base with a 614 winning percentage since Mother's Day and a more positive vibe is circulating a Bush Stadium, but it will be a long winter without a drop in business if the franchise fails to make the playoffs for the second straight year. I think I misread that with a drop in business if the franchise fails to make the playoffs for a second straight year. If management sits out the deadline or makes a minor move or two just for show, the inaction will give credence to a familiar criticism. The Cardinals aren't fully committed to winning. The St. Louis offense is terrible versus left-handed hitting,

Starting point is 00:07:31 ranking 28th of the majors in slugging, and 29th the batting average. On-based percentage in OPS, what should be the top priority for this team? Opinions vary, but keep in mind what Moseilock told Ken Rosenthal the athletic earlier this month. The big thing for the Cardinals, is, will we score enough runs? Getting Newfarr and Edmund back could change that calculus. We'll see.

Starting point is 00:07:56 Katie Wu from the Athletic also talks about this particular subject where, you know, we're trying to figure out what they might do at the deadline. She says recent history suggests St. Louis will again be conservative. This deadline, leaving Moseilac responsible for nailing impactful moves with minimal risk, which is much easier said than done. Now, expecting the Cardinals to make a big splash at the trade deadline, it's probably not the best thing to place your money on. It's not really what they do. When they go and get guys that are big-name guys, normally, it's an off-season trade, normally.

Starting point is 00:08:36 And I'm just kind of warning you that you're not going to like it. But to prepare yourself to watch the big teams fight. over the much larger names and contracts first. Then after that happens, you see what trickles down and what that effect is for the remaining players that were made available. And that's where I think Mo can strike and make a deal. And maybe he gets somebody better than you thought he could get. He's been pretty creative at the trade deadline when the Cardinals have added people over

Starting point is 00:09:11 the last couple of years. Last year, obviously selling, but before that. And those moves have worked out for the most part. And they weren't huge names. John Lester, Jay Hap, Jordan Montgomery, Jose Kintana. Like out of those four people is the biggest name before Jordan Montgomery was so good was probably Jose Kintana, right? Lester was at the end of his rope. Hap was at the end.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Yet these moves worked out. So I would expect something similar. and I don't think Mo's just going to sit on his hands. I don't. I think he'll get something done. But some of the names that we've brought up that are available might be out of his reach. Another major question in the second half of this season has to do with the Cardinals two highest paid players. We'll tackle that subject next on Lockdown Cardinals. This episode of Locktown Cardinals is brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah. With summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball,

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Starting point is 00:12:34 It's a free 24-7 sports streaming channel and it's program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. It's now streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Now, it's no secret that one of the big problems for this Cardinals' offense this year has been the lack of production from the two guys that the team was counting on to be their big thumpers in the middle of their lineup. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Aeronado. Heck, they haven't had their three best bats who I thought were going to be their best bats coming into the season, doing much when you mix in that Wilson Contreras got hurt. and the broken arm knocked them out for so long.

Starting point is 00:13:16 You've hardly seen him. When he has played, Contreras has hit very well, but we haven't gotten much of him this year yet. So not many teams, and this is where I want to kind of give props to what the Cardals have done, not many teams could sustain losing Contreras, plus have Goldianado in the midst of their worst seasons in their possibly future,

Starting point is 00:13:43 of fame worthy careers. But somehow, some way, they've been able to pull it together and have been able to stay afloat thanks to, you know, breakout seasons by guys like Alec Berlison and Mason Wend, the steadiness of Brendan Donovan has been. And as streaky as Nolan Gorman has been, and I know it drives all of us nuts, where for like a week, it looks like nobody can get him out. He's smashing balls 450. And then for two and a half weeks, he can't put the ball in play.

Starting point is 00:14:11 He just strikes out over and over. But Gorman right now at the midway point, a 17 home runs in 47 RBIs. That's production. You wish he could sustain it, you know, and spread it out a little bit, but it is production nonetheless. So we'll either Goldie or not, I'll be able to turn it around in the second half. That's a major, major question for this team. Here's what Bernie McClest says specifically on Paul Goldschman. Once again, you can catch this article on scoops with Danny Mac.com.

Starting point is 00:14:41 If Goldie continues making a large volume of outs, an obvious weakness that has flattened his on-base percentage and lowered his power, manager Ali Marmal will have to do what's best for the team. No, I don't think he'll bench Goldschmidt, but the Cardinals have no obligation to put Goldie in the prime lineup spots. In 369 plate appearances, batting second, third, or fourth in the lineup, Goldschmidt has a 219 batting average, 281 OBP, and a 361 slugging. based on WRC Plus,

Starting point is 00:15:11 Goldie is 17% below league average offensively when slotted at the two, three, four slots. This is something that fans have been barking about, I've been barking about. Like, if they're not hitting, move them down. Move them down. Let people come up. You've noticed lately that guys like Brin and Donovan are starting to hit in the

Starting point is 00:15:32 meat of the order a little bit more, which is what you need to do. Like, let the best hitters have a chance the biggest situation sitting behind Burleson and Mason when the guys who are getting on base. You know, Goldie and his 8 million strikeouts are not helping us. He's hurting us. Bernie points this out saying this debilitates the offense. It hurts the team.

Starting point is 00:15:56 Goldie has had much more success, but in only 35 plate appearances when batting fifth in the lineup. A decrease in playing time should not be dismissed. Alec Berluson plays a decent first base and using him there would give Marmel the flexibility to do more with the B.H. spot. Of course, Goldie can put all of this to rest by binging offensively when he comes out of the All-Star break. Now, my everydayers know that I've been on the barely to first base bandwagon, having him doing that full time next year for quite a bit now. I've been pushing that saying, I know it's not going to happen this year. He's just not going to move Goldie aside because he feels like he owes it to Paul Goldschmidt to not do that. But next year,

Starting point is 00:16:41 Goldie may not be around. And this isn't personal. It's just business. A normal Paul Gulchmidt would be a tremendous boost to this team for the remainder of the year. But I hope that Mo has been watching the decline over not just this year, but last year too. Two seasons worth of going in the wrong direction. And I hope he's been watching closely and doesn't do something foolish. This offseason by extending Goldie with a contract for a large chunk of his payroll,

Starting point is 00:17:11 Just because Goldie's a nice guy. We know he's a nice guy. Nobody wants him to fail. But you got to do what's best for the team in the franchise. And bringing Paul Goldschmidt back as of this day is not what's best for this franchise. Katie Wu chimes in on the subject, saying if the Cardinals want to be a true postseason threat, Arnado and Goldschmidt posting bounce back second halves would do wonders. The team needs a return of their power from its esteemed duo.

Starting point is 00:17:39 Goldschmidt's first half OPS of 664 is nearly 230 points below his career average. Aronado's 381 slugging is a far cry from his career 519 mark. Goldschmidt's 28% strikeout rate is the highest of his career. By a lot, by the way. Aronado was on pace to register his few home runs over a full season. He hit just eight in the first 96 games. It's been a brutal season for the franchise faces, and both have acknowledged this. How they fare opening the second half will call.

Starting point is 00:18:09 correlate to Moseilocks trade deadline plans. Wilson Contreras can't supply the power from the heart of the order alone, and there's no counting on when Tommy Admin will return or what he will look like given the inconsistencies many players face returning from wrist surgery. The Cardinals pledge roughly $50 million combined to Goldschmidt and Aronado this year for his reason. They need production from the heart of the order.

Starting point is 00:18:33 Amen, sister. Couldn't have said it better. You know, some teams, there are some teams out there with, massive payrolls that can absorb players with high salaries not performing quite up to par. They do exist. I mean, look what Nick Castiano's has done with the Phillies. Nothing compared to what he was doing with the Cincinnati Reds before he went to Philly. But they can handle that because they've got other guys around them and they've got a monster

Starting point is 00:19:01 payroll and they don't have to worry about it. The Cardals are not one of those teams. You've got not only the money they're paying Goldie and Aronado, but also, the large sums going to Miles Michaelis, $17.7 million this year and next. Stephen Matt's is making $12.5 million this year and next. And you're not getting your money's worth from any of these guys. That's almost $80 million of your payroll on those four dudes. And they're getting you a combined war of three right now.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Combined, altogether, three. Just to put that into perspective, former Cardinal, outfielder Marcelo Zuna by himself here in 2024 has a war of 3.2. He's beating all four of them combined. That is not money well spent. So, hopefully they don't make any more mistakes with older guys moving forward and keep extending them extra years and stuff. I hope it doesn't happen. We're going to wrap things up next with another trade idea that I spotted that I had really seen before. All right, this was a new one.

Starting point is 00:20:13 This was a fresh one involving an American League West team. We'll talk about it next on Locked on Cardinals. Order supplies from the website that's made for the skilled trades. Find thousands of parts from hundreds of brands in just a couple clicks at supplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com gives you 24-7 access to a huge selection of plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with fast delivery anywhere in the U.S. If you need help with an order, get industry leading after-sales service from the friendly and knowledgeable customer support team and talk to a real person every time. I know you're like me.

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Starting point is 00:22:37 betting partner of Major League Baseball. Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the Free Fire TV channels app. You can find Lockdown Sports today now available on the Free Fire TV channels app. Trade speculation continues with less than two weeks to go before the trade deadline, and you've seen a lot of the familiar names that are out there from the same teams, right? We've gone over on a lot if you're in every day or you're very familiar with. with people that are available on the White Sox, on the Marlins, on the Angels, the Nationals, the Oakland days.

Starting point is 00:23:19 I'm waiting for some teams to kind of fall off a little bit so we can get some fresh players to talk about. Because right now, not a huge pool of players that are available. Almost everybody in the league is trying to get players and add them to their rosters as opposed to trading them away. But I saw a trade idea from our friend Thomas Govain over at RedbirdRants.com that I hadn't seen before. And I wanted to bring it up to you guys. I was like, huh, thinking a little bit outside the box here, are we, Thomas? So check it out. He talks about Chad Jennings of the athletic, dubbing both the Mariners and the Cardinals as buyers in this article.

Starting point is 00:24:00 And he points out that Jennings wrote that Seattle needs an offensive boost. And he identified a pitching prospect the organization could part with, to fill that need. That pitcher is 25-year-old right-hander Emerson Hancock. Now here's what Thomas says about Hancock. What he lacks in stuff, he more than makes up for in command. His walk rate across the miners has never exceeded 9.2 percent. And he has limited home runs at an extraordinary rate. He's limited home runs at an extraordinary rate. He features a four-pitch mix with a sinker, forcing fastball, change up and slider. His fastball is loss some Zip. on it over the years, but his slider has become much more effective since he reverted back to

Starting point is 00:24:43 his three-quarter arm slot. Injuries were the story of Hancock's early minor league career, and this year he's performed shy of his projections. And nine starts at the major league level, Hancock has a 4.76 ERA, 5.41 FIP, and he's only struck out 5.6 batters per nine innings. Doesn't sound all that great, does it? But at AAA, he has fared better with a 2.49 ERA, 4.4 5th and a 7.06 Ks per 9 rate. He has ranked as highly as 82nd overall, according to MLB Pipeline among all prospects back in 2022. The trade he proposes, and this is where we might get some guys shaking their heads like, oh boy. The trade he proposes is Emerson Hancock to the Carters for minor league infielder Thomas Adjacy.

Starting point is 00:25:32 And this is what he says about it. The Cardals will receive a pitcher who can slot into the bottom of their rotation here immediately. And the Mariners will snag a middle infielder with ample versatility. Third base and second base are where Seattle needs the most help. And Thomas Sajee has logged plenty of innings at both spots. Now, if you haven't seen the numbers for Sajie, who again was the Texas League in BP last year at AA, not even remotely close to the same.

Starting point is 00:25:59 He's sitting like 249. He's got like 11 home runs. Like they're not horrible by any means. But it's not what you saw last year where he hit over 300. and was on pace for almost 30 home runs. Like he just had a monster year last year. Regression was probably going to happen. But still somebody that, you know, showed some stuff to us fans.

Starting point is 00:26:23 In spring training this year, people were big fans. Some people wanted him on the roster this year because they weren't sure what they felt about Mason win. Obviously, Mason Wynn has worked out. The Cardinals have drafted J.J. Weatherhole in the first round this year. he's a short stop, but most people project him to be a second baseman when he makes it to the major leagues. Guys like Sejacy, Cesar Prieta, who's having a very good year of Memphis, Jose Vermein, who you've seen up on the Major League roster a couple times, any of these middle infielders become a bit more expendable now because of J.J. Weatherhole,

Starting point is 00:27:01 a guy that some people predicted would be the number one overall pick. He slides to the cartels of number seven because of the head. hamstring injuries, but it's still like had a heck of a year at West Virginia and the previous year, an ungodly year in his sophomore season. So the hit tools are there. Defensively, he's very good as well. If he continues the path that he's on, J.J. Weatherholt, I mean, he's already a better prospect than C.C. and Prieto and for me. He already is, but he's got to prove it, obviously.

Starting point is 00:27:39 the pro level and with wooden bats and stuff. So we'll see what happens. But these guys that we thought, okay, maybe these are the future infielders of this team, they become a little more expendable. So you can chase down other needs like starting pitching and bullpen arms this year. So a trade like this isn't out of the question by any means. Is Cajee for Hancock something that'll probably happen? I doubt it.

Starting point is 00:28:04 I doubt it. But you could see names like Prieto. And C.J.C. and some of these other guys get moved for needs for the team now because of how they drafted by snagging Weatherholt in the first round. So just keep that in mind when you start seeing trade rumors out there. But I'm curious what your thoughts are on just this particular trade as well. Just C.J.C. for Hancock, something you would do. And remember, don't overvalue your prospects. Remember that. Is Hancock something that you're willing to take a flyer on?

Starting point is 00:28:40 Who hasn't had the success at the major league level that many people predicted that he would, but he's still 25 and has been pretty good at AAA. Maybe there's something they can figure out. Maybe spending some time with Sunny Gray would do him some good. I don't know. But I want to hear your thoughts on it. Would you pull the trigger on this particular trade?

Starting point is 00:28:58 Let me know. Thank you for making Lockton Cartels your first listen every day. If you haven't already, please give us a follow on Twitter X at L0 underscore Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio. Like, subscribe on YouTube and help our channel and love for the Cardinals continue to grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason, and I will see you next time on Lockedown Cardinals. How about how about we sweep this double header today? Wouldn't that be nice?

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - These Questions Need To Be Answered IF The Cardinals Are Going To Make The Playoffs In 2024

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