Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Where Could The Cardinals Trade Helsley And Arenado?

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

- Ryan Helsley wins the Trevor Hoffman Award and is named 1st Team All MLB - What Teams Fit A Ryan Helsley Trade - Where Would Nolan Arenado Like To Go? - All MLB Awards Announced Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms… 🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOSTLCardinals?sid=YouTube Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More 🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB Follow on Twitter/X: @JDSPORTSRADIO Follow the show on Twitter/X: @LO_Cardinals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! SelectQuote Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at SELECTQUOTE.COM/LOCKEDON. SelectQuote - They Shop. You Save. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) #ForTheLou #stlcards #mlb #lockedoncardinals Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The latest trade buzz surrounding Ryan Housley and Nolan Aranado on today's episode of Lockedong 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, I'm J.D. Haffordons, and I'm your host for Lockedon Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X and JD Sports Radio. You can also follow the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. I do want to thank those of you. They make Lockstone Cardinals your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast. If you are a more visually stimulated fan,

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New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. This isvandul.com to get started. Now it's no secret that the Cardinals are open for business when it comes to trading players. They haven't made any deals yet. So everything we're going to talk about today is pure speculation. but this is the fun stuff in the off season that allows us to play GM and see what deals we like, which ones we dislike. Normally, the Cardinals are trying to add people to their roster.

They still are in a way, but this time, the shoes on the other foot, right? Like, we're trying to trim some payroll. We're moving on from veterans if they want to be moved on from. and it's kind of weird right now as a Cardinals fan because this is not something that we do normally. But again, business is business and you got to understand why they're doing this. And the two big trade chips that the Cardinals possess at this moment are closer Ryan Helsley and third baseman Nolan Aronado. Now again, Wilson Contreras is going to move to first base, doesn't want to go anywhere. Reports are that Sunny Gray does not want to go anywhere. He would rather stay in St. Louis.

If that changes, then this will probably get altered a little bit. But as of right now, Ryan Helsley, Nolan Arnado, those are the big names. Those are the big trade chips for the Cardinals. Helsley is coming off a record setting year where he was one of the best closers in all of baseball. Just won the Trevor Hoffman Award as the top closer in the National League and was also named first team all MLB. So congratulations to Ryan. That was nice. I mean, the stats, they're ridiculous, right?

49 saves in 53 opportunities, seven wins, an ERA of 2.04. The whip said at 1.10, 79 punches and 66 in a third innings. Amazing stuff. And the key to this is he stayed healthy the whole time. They came up with that plan that we're not going to try to bring in in the eighth inning and make it a four or five out type of save. You get the ninth, that's it. And they stuck to that for the most part.

I believe there may be one, maybe two appearances, where it wasn't like a one-ending thing. But for the most part, they stuck with it. And all of that should make him quite popular on the trade block. Ryan Helsley is 30 years old. So right in the prime of his career, he's got one final year of arbitration remaining, which is going to see him get a significant raise.

And then he'll become a free agent after the season. Now, Helsley does not have a no trade clause. This is key, which makes him, one of the more sought after pitchers via trade in all of baseball right now. And things will pick up when we get to the winter meetings, I'm sure. But him adding, you know, what he won on Thursday night is not going to hurt the cause. That's great. Great news for Ryan.

Great news for the Cardinals if they do end up trading him. Nolan Aronado, on the other hand, he's a little more difficult to move because he's going to be 34. He has an own trade clause. He does do a lot of money over the next three years. and is coming off one of his worst seasons offensively since coming into the league. We're starting to see more and more outlets talk about these two guys more than anybody when it comes to it. And I'm not talking about just like, you know, just specifically the Cardinals.

But as far as guys who can get traded that would be, you know, make an impact throughout the league. There was a list recently. I think it was Jim Bowden that wrote this up. But there was a list of, I think, like his top 25 trade, you know, players that could be traded that would, you know, make an impact. And, you know, there were a few cardinals on there. But these are the two that I want to talk about today. And we're going to see, like I said, winter meetings are coming up in Dallas on December 9th through the 12th. So business will pick up.

We're less than a month away from that. But let's start with Ryan Helsley, shall we? Every team in baseball would love to have Ryan Helsley. The Cardinals would love to have a Ryan Helsley still. But they're resetting things and hanging on to someone who's going to make the kind of money that he's going to make and is worth what he is like his trade value right now. It's hard not to explore things. And you can call the Cardinals cheap if you want to that they would rather trade him away when he's going to make the big money. And that's fine.

But again, business is business. And if they don't want to pay a closer, that type of money, they're not going to. All right? It doesn't matter who they are. They're just like, look, where there's, it's like in the NFL. All right, the NFL, how many people pay premium money for like a running back? It doesn't happen all that often anymore. You know, all the money spent on wide receivers and left tackles and obviously quarterbacks and running backs.

They just kind of move on from them. And that's kind of what it feels like is going on with the closers these days. days and the Cardinals aren't any different. They're like, well, you're great, but we might move you instead of having to pay you all this money, not that you don't deserve it, but it's in our best interest not to spend that amount of money on a closer. And that's what they're going to go with. So he's projected to make $8.1 million after being arbitration eligible for the third time. That's per spot rack. That's actually. up because it was at like 6.8.

Now it's up 8.1. And if he did make that salary this year with the Cardinals, he would be projected as the sixth highest player on the team. That would be behind Sunny Gray, Nolan Aronado, if he's still with the team, Wilson Contreras, Miles Michaelis, and Stephen Matt's. And it's not like that number is the number that is really the issue here. It's what he could get into the free agent.

You know, they can pay 8.1. for next year, no big deal. But after that, the free agent money that he's going to command, it's going to be significant. You got guys like Josh Hater, who's making $95 million in his contract. What was it, Edward Diaz for the Mets, $102 million contract that he signed. It's safe to say that barring something catastrophic, Helsley is going to probably land something around that vicinity. Cardals aren't going to pay that, nor do I think they should. I really don't. closers can burn out very, very quickly. So I would not invest in that.

But you would hate to have him walk and get nothing in return. And the odds are he'll never be worth more than he is right now after having this healthy season and setting the record with 49 saves and getting first team all MLB and winning closer of the year in the National League. So contending teams are certainly going to be interested in him. And as I mentioned, Jim Bowden at the Athletic brought up two names recently that he thinks should take a look. at making a deal for Ryan Helsley, saying, once free agent reliever Tanner Scott signs, who's the free agent that went from the Marlins to the Padres last year at the trade deadline,

he says Helsley's market will shoot through the roof with the Orioles and Red Sox being among the logical fits. John Denton from M.OB.com also brings up the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, and Braves as possible landing spots. We know Heim Bloom as a history with the Red Sox, but we're still kind of trying to get over what the hell was that? that Tyler O'Neill trade. Not saying that was a Heim Bloom trade, but so far, that has been an epic failure with one of the pitchers they got in Nick Robertson already gone for the organization. So that didn't work out. But Bleacher Report rankings for farm systems has the Red Sox with the third best farm system in the league. So you don't want to rule them out just because one trade didn't quite go your way. I mean, obviously they've got some talent over there and you would like to pluck a little bit of that away in exchange for. or Ryan Helsley, if you can't. The Orioles have had a great farm system for a while now,

but they're only ranked 23rd on Bleacher Report because a lot of those guys got called up that were in the system. So like Jackson Holiday, Estim Kirstead, Kate Povic, they were all called up. Plus, they've also got Felix Batista coming back from injury. And I haven't heard anything of where I knew he had some extra work done on it, but it's, you know, the timeline is said that he's still due back for 2025. So unless there's been something else going on that he's still not recovering,

I don't know why the Orioles would be the team. I mean, yeah, it'd be cool to have both of them at the back of the end of your bullpen. But normally that's not what you're doing. So, but that's the name that he brought up. They've got the Dodgers at number eight. And after getting Tommy Edmund from the Cardinals at last year's deadline, would it be something of Helsley also went out west, but about an Aronado and Helsley package deal for a bunch of prospects. Think about that. Yankees are ranked 29 from Bleacher Report.

Also a team, remember to be thinking about Arnato if the Soto deal doesn't happen with them. And then you've got the Phillies and other team trying to shake things up after not winning the title the last couple of years, despite spending big money on multiple free agents and veterans. Bolpin-wise, Jose Alvarado was under contract for a while, but Jeff Hoffman, who was really, really good for them. He's a free agent, so there's an opening there. And then you got the Braves, which was an odd one that I thought, they, you know, they still got Razelle Laglacius under contract this year at $16 million.

And then it'll be a free agent in 2026. Doesn't seem like they need to make a move, but I would never underestimate the Atlanta Braves by trying to get more talent on their team. They're usually pretty darn good at that. So thoughts on those teams. Which ones do you think make the most sense? Who would you try to strike a deal with if you were in charge? So put them down in the comments section down below.

We're going to talk about Nolan Aronado trade destinations coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fandul, America's number one sports book, because right now new customers can bet $5 and you get $150 and bonus bets if you win. You got to make sure you win first. But then the bonus bets are yours, man. The Fandual Sportsbook app, it gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. He had Thursday night football tonight. That game sucked, man.

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moment more with Fandall, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Thank you for making lots on Carlos your first listen every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. Nolan Aeronado has it officially has to be traded. We have not heard that from Nolan Aronado yet. We are speculating that he is the guy that told Mosea Locke to explore some things for me. In fact, we haven't heard much of anything about the former All-Star and Platinum Glove winner yet. So like I'm saying, this is all speculation. This is just me and my thoughts and things that I've read on the Internet and talking

them out with you. All right. So that's what we're doing today. We're having a discussion about this. If R or not it was traded, where are some of the places that he could end up going to? And again, no trade clause. So he has the right to veto any of these destinations. if he doesn't want to go there, which makes trading him difficult.

It makes, you know, the money that he's owed. It's difficult to trade all of that. So you got to find a team that's got some deep pockets normally and is ready to win right now because that's where Aranao wants to go. So the Yankees are a spot that we've talked about before. They are trying to bring one Soto back first. Can't blame him on that. But if that doesn't work out, perhaps they could shift their thinking and go after. Naranato and bring him in and move jazz Chisholm, Jr.

Back over to second base. It seems like a good fit. It seems to make sense. It sounds like something that the Yankees would do, but you're waiting on Juan Soto. And if I'm the Yankees, and I'm just being honest here, if you let Juan Soto slip through your fingers, shame on you. Shame on you. He looks like he fits pinstripes so well.

I loved him as a member of the New York Yankees. I thought it was a great fit. I like him on the East Coast. I do not want to see him go out west and end up teaming up with the Dodgers and stuff like that. That would be ridiculous. Stay in New York. We need the balance. We need the balance there.

I don't want to see him as a Met either. Stay in the American League. I don't want to have to face him anymore. Another one that I've mentioned before is the Houston Astros. another place that makes a lot of sense. Alex Bregman is a free agent. He's going to have plenty of suitors. And I just can't help but believe that Nato and those Crawford boxes in left field

would be a magical fit. I just think they would get along quite well. The Astros certainly have some studs in their lineup already with Yordaun Alvarez and Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker. So Nato doesn't have to carry the load. You know, he can just kind of slide into where Bregman and was and they'll be all right. But if they don't want to pay Bregman, how much money would the Cardinals have to eat to trade him to Houston? That's the other thing that you worry about,

where some of these guys are like, well, we could sign Bregman if we wanted to. We don't want it. We don't want to spend that money. So you have to take on this amount for us to just take Aronado from you. So you really don't want to go there if that's the case. But, you know, I can see why other teams would ask you to pay for a lot of that contract, along with what the Rockies are already paying. How about the world champion Dodgers? All right, we brought them up. Why not talk about it?

The team announced they want to move Mookie Betts into the infield. Second base seems like the logical spot to move him to. Rumors are they're going to go after Willie Adamas. Shocker, you know, they're going to go pay another guy of buttload of cash. They'll have him play short, and then you got Tommy Edmund going into the outfield. that's coming in from the outfield also could open up that spot for Juan Soto. The more I think about it makes me want to vomit. God, I hate it.

I hate it so much. But they would slide Max Muncie over to third base full time. So it doesn't appear there's a great fit there. But it all kind of depends on who they can sign and who wants to be there. I don't know why anybody wouldn't want to be there. But things will always change. Things will fluctuate. So we'll have to wait and see how the Juan Soto contract kind of trickles down and has its effect on all the other teams that he doesn't end up going to.

Please, Dave, New York. The Phillies want to shake things up. As I said, they've reportedly placed third baseman Alec Baum on the trade block. I had one listener who had seen this report, but he showed me the video of them talking about. how maturity issues with Alec Boehm has been a, is been a problem. Philly certainly would not have a maturity issue problem with Nolan Aronado. He's as mature and dead serious as you can get. And it's another lineup where Nato doesn't have to carry the load, man.

He, he would fit right in there. You've got Harper, Turner, Schwaber, Castiano's is still there, J.T. Real Muto. you know, bomb, bomb last year hit 280, 15 home runs. He knocked in 90 runs, but in that offense, people on base all the freaking time.

Mato could do that for me. He basically kind of did it for the Cardinals this year. You know, it's, he could pull that off and play amazing third base for them. Phillies want to win now. This is, this is their window.

And obviously they don't have an issue with spending money. So I feel like that's a team you got to talk to. you know, of course you hate having to trade them inside the National League again, but it is what it is. And it seems like a place that Nata would be okay. You know, as long as he's not the main focus of things, I think he'd be all right in Philly. I think they would accept him.

He's going to get booed at some point or another because everybody does. But I feel like that's a pretty good fit for him, too. Another name, you know, just scouring the internet. I saw people mentioning the Kansas League Royals. That would shock me a little bit. They don't really enjoy spending a lot of money. and not us making a lot of money right now. But as far as like just baseball-wise,

adding him to a lineup that has Bobby Wood Jr. And Salvador Perez and Vinny Pasquantino, not too shabby, not too shabby at all. Does no one feel like the Royals are ready to make that next step and become a top team in the AAL Central? That I don't know. But he was comfortable living in St. Louis. And Kansas City's a comfortable place to live.

my family that lives there right now. And then I also saw the Detroit Tigers being mentioned. That's a team that kind of came out of nowhere. Like, you know, they were trading people away. They traded Jack Clarity away. And they still made playoffs. And we know they're not scared to make a big splash. You know, they went and got Miguel Cabrera.

And they made the horrible decision to sign Javi Baez. That did not work out. But I'm not quite sure Nolan Arnato would be a fan of. of the winning tradition that is the Detroit Tigers. Like, it's been a while. And I know it's been a while for the Cardinals too, but the Cardinals have a longer history of being competitive each and every year. So I don't know.

I don't know if you feel good about going to Detroit. That's just me thinking. Maybe you would. Maybe you would like it. But what are your thoughts on these places? If you're Nolan Aronado, And those were all of the cities that were going to put in an offer for you. Which ones would you say, all right, I'll veto my no trade clause to go to that city.

Or you would say, no, I will not go to this particular one. So let me know in the comment section down below, which one would be the most appealing to you if you're Nolan Aronado. Now, the all MLB award show was on Thursday. We're going to run down the winners with you next. and I'll tell you why it wasn't as depressing as I thought it was going to be. It was better than I anticipated. We'll do that next on Locked on Cardinals. The World Series, Super Bowl, the Olympics, the world's top athletes get to play in these top level sporting events

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That's select quote.com slash lock. Once again, thank you for making Lockedown Cardinals your first listen today for your second list and find Locked on MLB, baseball group Rooksulli brings the daily blend of humor and baseball, keeping updated on all the teams during the offseason, even guys like the Cardinals who, uh, yeah, we're probably going to have an impact on things, but we're not going to beat the normal carmels, uh, this off season. So you can find Lockdown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. all MLB award show was on Thursday night and it was like most award shows. A lot of corny jokes and silliness going on. And the Cardinals had their guy, Ryan Helsley, take home his hardware for best reliever and made first team all MLB, which was great. Once again, congratulations to Ryan Halsley.

But we knew there wasn't going to be a lot of talk about current Cardinals players at the show. He had Ryan Halsley and basically it, okay, it wasn't going to be a lot of chatter about it. what I was worried about was how many former cardinals were going to end up winning things. You know, you were concerned about it too because it just sucks. But guys that we're on your team wearing your hat and your colors ends up going to another team and doing really, really well. We've seen it happen year after year after year recently. And I'm happy to report that it wasn't as bad as I thought. In fact, no, former cardinals, maybe all MLB first or second team.

Thank God, right? Didn't need that rubbed in our face. So first team, you had William Contreras from the Brewers and Catcher at first base, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from the Blue Jays, second base, Catelle Marte from the D-Back, shortstop, Bobby Whit Jr. from the Royals, third base, Jose Ramirez from the Guardians and the outfield, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto from the Yankees, mooky bets from the Dodgers at D.H.

Oh, Hey, Otani from the Dodgers. Starting pitchers, you had Chris Sale from the Braves, Terrick Scoobel from the Tigers, Paul Skeens from the Pirates, Zach Wheeler from the Phillies, Corbyn Burns from the Orioles, and then your relief pitchers were Emmanuel Colise from the Guardians, and then I very own Ryan Helsley from the Cardinals. Your second team, Salvador Perez from the Royals, at catcher, Bryce Harper at first for the Phillies,

second base, Jose Altuve from the Astros, shortstop, Francisco Lindor from the Mets, third base. It was Manny Machado from the Padres. Out till their Jackson Merrill from the Padres. also making it in his rookie year. Jaron Duran was in the outfield from the Red Sox. Teoska Hernandez, who's going to be a free agent, from the Dodgers was out there.

Yordaun Alvarez was the D.H. From the Astros. The second team starting pitcher, Seth Lugo from the Royals. Should have been a card. Dylan Cs from the Padres. Should have been a card. Shota, Eminaga, from the Cubs.

Framber Valdez from the Astros, Michael King from the Padres, Mason Miller, from the A's and then Kirby 8th, who had that huge year for the Texas Rangers. Separate awards, Healsley won the best reliever in the NL. You know that already. Emmanuel Colossi of the Guardians won it over in the American League. That one's named after Mariana Rivera.

Aaron Judge and Shoahe Otani win the Hank Aaron Awards as the best hitters in the AL and NL. It's the second time that each have won the award. And it's also usually a predecessor to who's going to win the MVP awards. It happens a lot that whoever wins the Hank Aaron Award ends up taking home the MVP. peace. So it wouldn't be a shocker. Barron Judge won in the AL, Shohey in the NL. O'Otani also took home the Edgar Martinez Award, which is given to the top D.H. in the league. He is now won that award four years in a row, which is one side of the record held by David Ortiz, your MLB comeback players of the year were Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the White Sox. White Sox have now

won that in back-to-back seasons. Liam Hendricks won it last year. So there you have it. no former cardinals really guys that i wanted to be cardinals when they remained available at some point but nobody who was actually in our system shipped away for peanuts and then went on to be the greatest hitters and pitchers of all times so uh not as painful as i thought it might be um and it was it was an enjoyable show i had that on one channel and then i had uh thursday night football on the other one so not so bad on a thursday all right thank you for making locks on carlars your first listen every day if you haven't already please get us a follow on Twitter X at L.O underscore Cardinals and a JD Sports Radio.

You can like and subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. Again, we're only a couple of hundred subscribers away from reaching 11,000. And that would be huge if we can get there. So if you can help me out, that would be great. You are one of the best fans in baseball for the reason. Yeah, you. And I will see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals. Have a good one.