Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Will The Real Cardinals Offense Please Stand Up

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

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Week two of the MLB regular season begins on Monday night between the Cardinals and the Padres in this Locked-on Cardinals, Padres, crossover. We're going to look back at what the teams have done up to this point and then preview what's in store for this three-game series. You are Locked-on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Carlis fans. I'm Jady Hafford and I'm a national radio sports anchor, born and raised in the Lou in a lifetime. I'm 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. You can also follow the podcast at Lolo underscore Cardinals. I want to thank those of you who make Locktown Cardinals your first listen every day.

We're free and available wherever you get your podcast. We're also on YouTube. You should stop by, like, subscribe, comment, interact with us. Don't be shy. Hit the notification button. So you know when new episodes are posted, this is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans in baseball. All of the info about the birds. on the bat. As you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, we are not alone today.

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Padres are set to begin a series on the field tonight at Petco Park in San Diego. And to talk about things with us today is the host of Locked on Padres. Javier Reyes. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier. I think they've been, I think they've been, like, chaotically, like, they've had really eventful games. there's been like, you know, for every like extremely bad thing, there's been an extremely good thing. So it's been, it's been baseball, dare I say. And the fact that the Padres have also played more games along with the Dodgers who the Cardinals just face than everybody else because of the Soul Series is fun too because there's more for us to chew on, I think. What did you think about that soul series? Are you fan or foe? I mean, I get putting, you know, our teams over into other countries and spreading, you know, major league baseball. I love that idea. But just like weird timing to do it.

at the start of the season and then send you guys back to spring training and then start the season again. That was odd to me. The timing part I didn't get. I mean, I'd like to imagine Major League Baseball had its reasons for that. But for me, it's the timing combined with its West Coast teams.

So you're you're kind of cannibalizing one aspect of your reach. You know what I mean? Because this is the debut game. So it's like, why not at least try and get a North, northern team or East Coast team, I should say? Like, do that. that way it's okay six o'clock is at least feasible for a lot of people the west coast like basically

everyone there they're just not going to see the first real baseball game for either the dodgers or the podres whichever your affiliation is i didn't understand that at least if you're going to do the west coast things and soul make it like middle of the season you know i mean not like the first time people get to watch their team so i didn't understand the timing of it although the idea and the you know execution like on the field and in the country was really cool um i was just like why why that one I didn't understand it. And I'm not just saying basically as a bias like, yeah. They're literally leaving.

They're coming home from the bars and the games were started. Yeah. Literally exactly. Like they could just be on some bender or whatever. They're like, oh, wow, the Padres are on. How about that? Let's just stay. Staying up.

24-7 to go see the podres. Yeah, exactly. So that part of it I didn't get, but the idea, I love one baseball ads, like different games. They have the throwback game a little bit later this year. You know, we had the Field of Dreams game a few years ago. that they, in my opinion, stepped on stupidly the next year after. Hey, let's have this great walk-off victory between two, you know, big market teams. And then we're going to have the Cubs and Reds for some reason.

Like, I just have never understood why they did that. And yeah, so that was very silly. But overall, really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. Well, before we jump into a series between our two teams, let's kind of recap what we're just coming off of. The Padres, three and three on the year so far. You split the Soul Series with the Dodgers, one apiece, and then you guys took on the Giants.

Curb stomped them yesterday, 13 to 4. Give me one positive and one negative takeaway from the series against the Giants. I'd say the, let's get the bad news out of the way first, I guess. The bad news, I'd say, not really any dominant pitching performances really at all. There wasn't like, it wasn't necessarily bad. Dylan Seas wasn't bad in his Padre's debut, just a little bit like, fine. Joe Musgrove was certainly not that great in both

of his starts. I'd say that's a bit of a red flag so far. U. Darvish was good, but other than that, Tom Cosgrove, a big time reliever for them last year, he's been awful. He only got one out and gave up six and basically completely killed the Padre's game by himself in that one

adding. So that Michael King's velocity was down, which was a little concerning and he was walking a lot of battered. So I'd say just the lack of like basically no great starting pitching performances or even relief pitching performances outside of you Darvish, which is funny because Darvish is the one that had the bad season last year. So, you know, that's baseball. The positive would be, and it's a microcosm thing. It's me projecting and all that,

going off just a few games, but I really think the Padres have more depth. I know that they've, the allegations that they are four deep in the lineup, Tatis, Bogartz, Machado, last year Soto, and then, you know, this I guess would be Hassan Kim. I just don't think it's true and I didn't feel that way before the season. With guys like Graham Pauley and Jackson Merrill being some exciting upside plays in terms of prospects. Luis Campizano is better as a catcher than anything they got from A. Austinola last year. I think Jay Coroner could get a lot better.

And yeah, like I just like their lineup depth a lot more this year. And I really don't think that it's going to be just this fluky one series thing. Not that I expect Aguizier and Graham Pauly to just hit absolute moonshots in the out of ninth inning all the time. But I like that the offense, the bottom of it, the unexpected areas has produced. And I think that it's legit too. I don't think it's just a weird weekend serious thing. There's hope there. Yeah, that's something that actually kind of bit the Cardinals in their series against the Dodgers. I'll start with my negative as well. The pitching staff gave up nine home runs against L.A., and none of them to Shohei Otani or Freddie Freeman or

Will Smith. You know, it was Mookie Betts, who's clobbering everything. that he sees right now, but it was to Oscar Hernandez, and it was Max Muncie doing damage against them. And, you know, when you're taking on that Dodgers lineup, if you're not going to get those guys out, you're really in trouble because that top of the order is just disgusting. So that was rough, seeing the ball fly over the wall. And it wasn't like they were like, you know, hitting multiple three, you know, three run shots or something like that. It was a lot of solo blast, but at the same time, they add up. So it's okay to give up one or two here and there. But when you're giving up three or four at a time.

Like it's just, you know, they'll add up. And if you're, you know, offense can't keep up with them, you're in big trouble. My positive for the Dodgers series for the Cardinals, kind of like you were. I like what I saw from some of the younger guys, you know,

the names that maybe don't jump off the page for a lot of other teams and other cities, guys like Victor Scott the second and Mason Wend, defense was a real issue for the Cardinals last year. It was like a shockingly thing that happened to them where all of a sudden, they went from winning like five goal gloves to nothing. Like they were just not even in contention defensively for anything. And that was very weird for the Cardinals last year.

And Victor Scott in Centerfield and Mason went now with shortstop. That was kind of nice. They looked really, really smooth out there. And I like what I saw from them in center and at short. So that's a little something that, you know, hopefully we'll continue as they go on into the season a little bit more. We're going to jump into the Cardinals and Padres series. We'll get specifics. We'll start with the pitching staff next on this locked on crossover.

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I had it on this morning. And as soon as Stephen A. Smith came on. I'm out of here. He came on. I guess he was on vacation. And he came on. He's like, did you miss me? And he's, oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah. I'm like, oh, boy, make the switch to lockdown sports today. A free 24-7 sports streaming channel is program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories. all of the screaming. And it's not just Stephen A, man. It happens all over the channel. So Locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions and news, streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. It's part of the Locked-on Podcast Network,

your team every day. Thank you for making Locked on Cardinals and Locked-on Podres. Your first listens every day. You can leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encourage. Good or bad. We're here to get through it together. Once again, we are joined by Javier, Lacked on Padres host. And we're going to get into the series between our two teams, the Cardinals and the Padres. Padres again, three and three. Cardinals come in at one and three on the year. Let's start with these pitching probabilities.

I thought it was hilarious because today is April Fool's Day hobby. Kyle Gibson making his Cardinals debut for the regular season, at least against Matt Waldron. And because I play MLB the show all the time, I know exactly who Matt Waldron is, because he's the knuckleballer that when somebody gets them, they use him against you all the time. And he's a pain in the butt. Tell us about the knuckleballer Matt Waldron and what you like and dislike about what he brings to the table this year. First of all, I will always support a knuckleball pitcher.

I will always just, yeah, it's always just kind of cool. It's like a dying breed and all that. What's fun about Matt Waldron is that there's kind of not too much known. Don't get me wrong, like he did pitch for the pieties last year. and he was, eh, like, fine. It didn't matter. There were games that didn't matter, but 4.35 ERA isn't like the worst I've ever seen in my life

for a guy that you just kind of called up and then had to start at the end of the year for a bunch of games. So he was good in that regard. He didn't go super deep into games. He's impressed in spring. And I think that that's why he got the gig. It was between him, you know, some of the players that the Padres got in the Juan Soto trade,

Johnny Breed are Randy Vasquez. Instead, Vasquez is not, I think he's on a minor league assignment or has been designated there for a little bit and probably for a while we'll have to see how that transpire so he's far in depth and bretos been put into the bullpen and they just really liked what they saw from Matt Waldron and look with pitching coach Rubin Nehabila I believe in that man to potentially get the best out of anybody but I do like that he just one had a fine spring and two decent repertoire of pitchers he doesn't just have a knuckle ball he's also got the sinker and fourth seamer that he throws a decent amount of time along with a sweeper

that he's tinkered with from what I've seen a little bit to add a little bit more break on it, especially vertically. So because that was one area that I think he struggled in last year vertically with with his sweeper. So hopefully he impresses or at the very minimum, he's a five-starter. So you're just kind of hoping that he goes out there and does what five-starters do. You know, you can eat innings, not implode. The Padres over the past few seasons have had these guys that are just,

uh, every now and then they have to call up these guys, whether it be signing Vincent Velasquez and Jake Arieta or trading for Rich Hill last year, that they find themselves with these washed up sort of pitchers that are just getting bombarded. You don't want to have a Patrick Corbin as your five-starter. You want to have someone who's just okay. Kyle Gibson, you know what I mean? Like Kyle Gibson, while not an incredible starter and, you know, not to throw any slander, but for a team that seemingly has had a need for starting pitching since I was in high school,

finally I'd starty pitching and it's not necessarily the most exciting. in the world, although I know that he's not the only one they added. So I'm looking forward to seeing how that transpires. And against this Cardinals lineup that just had to face the Dodgers, maybe you kind of get them at the right time making your debut in Pecko. So I'm not expecting too much from him, but it's fun that it's not like there's, the word is an ad on him yet. Like for those other pitchers I just mentioned, that you're just like desperate at that point

and pulling out. You're bringing up that he throws some other pitches. Is he more like an R.A. Dickie? type of type of pitcher where oh you know what i have no idea but i'm running with it yeah he's ra d you heard it first from jd uh we got ourselves a former si yug winner in the fifth spot so i'm off for yeah i just mean as far as where you know r a would come out and throw some normal pitches a decent amount and then he would just you know baffle you with the knuckleball so i was wondering or is it like the old school tom candiotti type of stuff where it's just

that's all he's got man he's just knuckleball and every once in a while he might throw a straight ball but Is he, it's a pretty good mix is what you're telling us? Yeah, it's a pretty good mix actually. This isn't like, it is genuinely a repertoire based on just what he did last year. Who knows? Like, again, that's the other fun part about the unknown. Maybe he ditches some pitches, maybe he uses some pitches more. The knuckleballer, the only thing is that it wasn't his putaway pitch, 9.6% only with his knuckleball last year,

while 22.2% with the sinker, 13.7 with the four seamer, sweeper 13.8 and then cut it, 23. point. What is it? 3%. So that's not his put-away pitch. That seems to be the thing that he uses the most compared to the other pitchers, but he's not like he's banking on it to get guys out. Again, I'm curious to see how it pans out because again, he's still kind of young. He's got at least a little bit of youth. He doesn't have too much experience, obviously at the major league level, but from what we saw last year, not the worst dude ever and in spring he impressed. So maybe that's why, because I thought that basically universally everyone was like, it's going to be Brito. It's going to be Vasquez as a fifth starter. And this guy came out and impressed in the

spring. So maybe they saw something. All right. You mentioned Kyle Gibson for the Cardinals. He'll be the starter tonight. You know, 15 wins last year with the Baltimore Orioles, which was a great team last year. But when you look more at the numbers and you see the amount of hits that he gave up. When the Cardinals signed him, it was one of those, what? Hey, what? Like, hold on a second. Because there was a guy that you're very familiar with by the name of Blake Snell, who was still out there. And, you know, Cardo's fans had their hopes that, you know, it was going to be Sunny Gray and somebody of significance. And it ended up being Sunny Gray and a Lance Lynn and a Kyle Gibson, which just doesn't move the needle all that much. And it wouldn't for any franchise, but for a franchise that was coming off of an ugly, ugly season last year where, like, out of nowhere.

But it's like, how are we a 90-loss team? What just happened here? and to, you know, the fan base obviously thinking, hey, we got to really amp this up, man. Let's go get some of these pitchers. Why not bring Jordan Montgomery back in? And it just didn't happen. Heck, Frankie Bontas, you know, take a flyer of that, dude. I just, it's weird. Like, for me, I think last year felt like, and this is just my opinion as an outsider,

like a coming down to earth moment for the Cardinals where it's like, you guys can't just not spend on pitching, like, every year. I remember, I forgot when Stephen Matt's was something. but that was like the first big get in a while that I'd seen in terms of free agency, not necessarily your trades. So I was just like, okay, so this is your issues for a while. And you bring in mats to be the guy who hasn't really done much for them. So I don't know. I don't know.

And again, I do like Sonny Gray, like I do. But I think that this is a team that has been desperately needing starting pitching. While the Padres, I think their need for starting pitching has been a little bit overrated by a lot of people. I think they need it. But I don't think they've been in as desperate situations as the other teams. I think the cards had like a little bit of a dang. Wow, we can't just keep bargain bin hunting.

We actually have to go and get some guys. So we'll see how that all pans out. The good old days of Tony LaRusa and Dave Duncan be able to fix guys who were broken and thrown away and turn them into 15 game winners. Those days are long gone. And, you know, as you mentioned, you know, like there were other names out there. Like a lot of the guys that the Padres didn't sign, you know, guys like Michael Walker, you know. Nick Martinez. These are guys that, you know, I thought were better choices than somebody like a Kyle Gibson and a Lance Lynn, just based on age alone because these guys are, you know, 36, 37 years old.

And, you know, you mentioned not spending money on the starting rotation. They actually do. They just spend it on the wrong guys. Yeah, that's what I should say, yeah. That's what I should say, yeah. Wayne Wright, a ton of money last year. Yeah. Just there were no reason.

The results were awful. So when they have decided to spend on free agency specifically, on the pitching staff, whether it's starters or relievers, they, they crap out and they do it wrong. And so doing it this year, it was just, it was odd. We were hoping that, you know, because in the NL Central, it's not quite as competitive as what you got going on. Exactly. Yeah. It seemed like whichever team in the Central of the top four, I don't want to say the pirates are, you know, way down here or anything like that, but we know they're not going to spend money. So the other four teams, you know, if they had made that extra leap and so.

sign one of those big names, whether if Jordan Montgomery goes to one of those teams, you're like, wow, that's the clear-cut favorite in the NL Central. And none of them did it. They all stayed away. Everyone stayed away. I think it was shocking to me. I don't know why it went down that way. And Arizona was like, thanks, which obviously not going to do your Padres City favorites.

Exactly. Apparently the National League West is the only division with teams that try. So that's what I learned this off season. you're sure you guys don't want them. Boston, you want to give up the best? Yeah, like, hey, Boston, you want to give up the best player you've had since Pedro Martitas for nothing? Okay, great. This is fun.

I really like being in this division. Yeah, but like the division thing is such a great point. And that's again on the whole people are cheap sort of a soapbox. But it's just there was a good stretch. And I don't think I think it's over now. Like I think the pirates are at least, you know, could be a potentially competitive team. Cubs were competitive last year. The Reds, right?

Like there are teams. in that division. But there was like a three, four years stretch where it's just Brewers Cardinals. And both of them, you know, the Cardinals do make some trades for Goldschman, Aeronauta. So they do do a little bit. But the Brewers basically just chilled for like five years when they had the division outside the Cardinals and a freeze playoff spot every year. So if anyone wants to know what's the problem with baseball sometimes, look at Milwaukee. At least St. Louis can say we've won before. You know what I mean? The Cardinals could not. The Cardinals are not the Carls. The Brewers, it's like, like 1986.

I'm pretty sure, like Independence Day hadn't come out yet. Like Beverly Hills Cop just came out probably around that time. So like, what are you doing? So, yeah, that's the thing with the division. But we'll see. It's probably going to be a lot more competitive this year. The other provables for our series for Tuesday, you got Michaelis against you, Darvish.

You're pretty familiar with those guys. And then Wednesday, left-hander Zach Thompson for the Cardinals against Joe Musgrove for the Padres. So, you know, some good matchups here. you don't really know what you're getting out of Zach Thompson. You know, he's former first round pick, got a lot of upside, gave up three home runs to the Dodgers. But outside of that, he was actually pretty good. It wasn't as bad as the numbers say. So it should be a decent pitching series for both teams.

Now, offensively, the Padres, they lost a guy by the name of Juan Sotom, all right, in the offseason. You had to give them up, trade them to the Yankees. You get a haul in return. but you've still got the names that you mentioned. Zander Bogart's, Danny Machado, Fernando Tatis, Jr. How have they looked so far this season? And has there been any other surprises? You mentioned a couple of those names at the beginning like Campesano.

Are there any other surprises that maybe Cardo fans aren't aware of that you'd be like, you might want to keep an eye on this guy? Yeah, I will say Campesado. I want everyone. It has been my bit and my mission for like a year now that I genuinely do not understand. why, again, not to get too soapboxy, why the baseball community and projections just hate this guy. And including the Padres, by the way, for years,

they were just bringing them up. All right, you play three games up, you had a bad one, send him back down. And it's not like they had, you know, Buster Posey, or better comparison, Yadier Molina behind the plate, right? They didn't have that. They had all Sonola who, you know, had a surgery thing

and couldn't, like, see properly last year that they figured out later. And it's just, I don't understand why those, guys have earned unquestioned like Campesano take a backseat. And guess what happened? Last year gets called up, finally gets consistent playing time, and he's awesome, JD.

Let me tell you, for people don't remember last year, the coming out party for one Luis Campizano. This is a guy that had like a 134 WRC plus last year. He didn't hit for like necessarily a ton of power, but seven home runs in 49 games. Good slash line. 319,

356, 491. And so far, he has to take it a walk get but he's still like a 600 and he's got a 160 WRC plus he got lucky with one home run in the blowout game on Sunday it was like a ball it was only like a three out of 30 ballpark home run thing but even still he hits and yes the defense needs some work but I don't think his defense is horrific or anything like that I don't think that this is you know name whatever horrific defensive catcher Dante Bichette whatever you want to bring up did Dante Bichette play catcher I don't know why he's an outfield there he was an outfield there he's an outfile feel there. All right, there's some dog, big guy. Here I thought you were going to throw shade at Wilson Contreras. You had the opportunity. I didn't want you, man. I thought it was mean.

I thought it was mean. I didn't want to because everyone apparently was throwing shade at him. Including the team. What's going on here? So I don't want to do that. But yeah, like, so my thing is if he can just be slightly below average even or average, I just think this guy's going to keep hitting. He hasn't shown that he won't at like any level.

So I'd keep an eye out for him. And then Jackson, Merrill and Grand Pauly are like the two prospects. The Padres have been reluctant to play Pauley for weird reasons. They apparently like Tyler Wade for some reason. We'll see if they continue playing him, but he hit a home run off of Camilla Duval. Maybe that's the beginning of something. He started the next game. Struck out three times got one hit.

So keep an eye out for him. And then Jackson Meryl, a top 10 prospect in baseball. He's been getting the starting gig a lot. So those are like the unknown type of people. And then there's still, you know, other guys that people know the top of the order. At Jurek's in Profar, not a very good player, but inexplicably. better only with the Padres. You've got to hear me out on this.

No one understands it. It's got to just be a vibes thing as a reminder of that, you know, humans play the sport, I guess, right? Like that's part of this sometimes. So those are the people to watch out for. And otherwise, I will say Machado and especially Tateas, you know, got to watch out for those guys always. Tatis had the two home run game,

but it's not like he's been super lighting it up, not just yet. So I definitely keep an eye out for that, especially against some of the weaker Cardinals pitchers that we don't necessarily know about. He might go off against them. All right. Offensively for the Cardinals side, you know, a tough series against the Dodgers.

Here's the stat I want to throw out for you, Javi. The Cardinals got more catchers interference calls than home runs in the series. There were two of them against the Dodgers. Oh, no. In helping the Cardinals score runs, and they only had one home run. That's not a great stat.

Your offense is not going to be good when there's more catchers interference calls. then home runs. Nolan Arnato, another shaky start right now. He's hitting 63. He's got one hit. Goldie had an ugly spring. Had the one good game on opening day against Glass now and then had one hit the rest of the way. Nolan struck out nine times in the four game series. I'm not really panicking about it all because the Dodgers pitching staff is freaking good. Yeah. So runs up against the Dodgers bullpen when there were lesser pitchers who came out, but I just know the Cardinals have to hit to win because they're not going to win a lot of pitchers duels this season. And if they ain't hitting, they won it. So those are some of the

thoughts on what's going on offensively. Coming up next, though, we're going to give you our keys to victory for both sides as this Locked on Padres, locked on Cardinals crossover continues. Fire TV is your destination for sports, from live games to highlights to in-depth analysis. Fire TV offers amazing viewing experiences with smart TVs as well as the Fire TV stick. you can just plug right into your existing TV and we'll provide you with access to millions of movies and TV episodes as well as free and live TV. And whether it's the opening week of baseball,

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host, Javi Reyes, joining us here today. All right, let's wrap it up with who we think are going to be the keys to victory for either the Padres or the Cardinals. Who you're banking on in this series, Hobby? Honestly, look, it's just, in my head, the optics of an overused word for sure, but like the visual of like the Cardinals losing and starting off like one and six feels weird to me because they also started off poorly last year and then stayed poorly. So I think you could get like a competitive series, but I think they at least win, you know, one of these.

I'm not getting like a sweep vibe at all. And hilariously enough, it'll be the start where whoever's the least exciting Cardinals start will be the one that gets the win because that's how this always happens. Hey, take your pick, hobby, whichever one. Nobody's excited about any of them. If you were to look at the comments and you can look at the message boards, nobody's excited about anybody that the Cardinals throw out there. but I guess I would say that would be Kyle Gibson. Everybody's kind of hesitant on what he offers this year, although because he was getting lit up in the spring. And then his last start, he went out and was awesome, like nine strikeouts. It was just fantastic.

Oh, man. I think he's the most frustrating pitcher, like in the sport since I've been, like, heavily following it. So I'm going to say since like 2014. This guy, I mean, you're a big baseball guy. I don't know if you've been in those fantasy baseball leagues where you need a starter. Kyle Gibson has been available so many times and you look and it's always, always last start, six innings, three hits, zero runs, one walk, six case, right?

Then he gets obliterated the very next start. He's just the most inconsistent guy. So it depends what version of him shows up. It depends if the Padres hit and gets to him. But I'd also say just to kind of, you know, I think is this going to be one of those things where you just need to get to the bullpen, the Padres? they've had some short at-bats at times, you know, the offensive explosion games aside,

where it's just Tatis grounding out immediately, some Achado double plays, a Bogart's dribbler, things along that line, you know, the young guys are, you know, that's usually what happens with young guys. They'll have, you know, short-played appearances. Grand Pauly went down pretty quick in his first kind of start. So potentially that's where they need to improve, I think. And get to this Cardinals bullpen, which I got to ask you about,

I don't know, man. Like, here's the thing. there were years it's like Alex Reyes and you still have Gallegos you had Helsley and still have Helsley don't get me wrong and Helsley was like a sly young quality reliever that one season a couple years ago and then they had Jordan Hicks once upon a time I thought that the Cardinals were about to be like the Royals that year that they won the World Series and instead 23rd in bullpen ERA last year I just part of me like just thinks we still have Gaigos and Helsie at the top I even like the Keenan Middleton's acquisition. Like, what's the vibe on the Cardinals bullpen? Is it one that's going to be potentially a strength of this team or is this like a, you're hoping they bounce back because otherwise that might be the weakness. Well, this was one of my keys as well is because, all right, so the Dodgers series, there was some, we had a rain delay. All right, in the Yamamoto Lance Lynn game. Okay. Everything seemed to be going pretty well for both teams as far as how they

were using their bullpen. Well, when Lynn's start, which he was doing very, very well, shutting out the Dodgers over four innings. When he gets stopped because of the rain, the Cardinals had to go into the bullpen and use multiple arms to finish up that game. Oh, and then, by the way, it goes to extra innings. So you have to worry about that, too. So they had to burn through a whole bunch of guys to get that victory on Saturday. And we've had a couple of injuries.

You mentioned Keenan Middleton, hasn't even played for the Cardinals yet. He's supposed to, he's throwing this week getting back on the mound, so hopefully he'll be back. They just lost another guy that they got from Seattle named Riley O'Brien, who had an amazing spring, and he pitches once against the Dodgers. Now he's got a flexor problem in his pitching arm. So now you have to call up John King, who did not make the rest. You're already dipping in to AAA arms to bring them up to face the Dodgers,

and he's the one who gave up the home run to Max Muncie. They attacked the problems with the bullpen. I thought they did a great job of it in the offseason. But now all of a sudden, you had your one guy that was supposed to eat more innings. His start gets shortened. So now the bullpen had to come in and take care of that. And now you've got two injuries to two arms that you thought you were going to be able to bank on. So now you're kind of in the same boat that you were in last year where you're feeling like you're running a little fit in the bullpen already.

And you're just four games into it. So that is definitely something that is going to be a key to these victories if the Cardinals are going to get them is a guy like a Gibson tonight. We need six innings. Michael is we need six innings out of these guys, at least tonight, for sure, just to give them a little bit of rest in case they are needed for more, which the way this game is these days, your bullpen is very, very important. So you mentioned Elsley.

You mentioned Elsley. Comes in a safe situation against the Dodgers and gets ripped and it wasn't very good. Ela was down a little bit, which worried some people. I don't know if he's just kind of getting the kinks out from spring. He hadn't thrown since spring training. anyway, it had been a while. So I don't know. I don't know.

He said he was healthy and ready to go the next night. He was said if the Cardinals had the lead going into the ninth inning on Sunday, that he was ready to go again on back-to-back nights, even though he threw almost like 30 pitches on Saturday. So he says he's fine. Cardinals are panicking, but it's definitely the plan for them this season is to get these guys like Gibson, Lynn, Michaelis, when Sunny Gray comes back, six innings, we need that.

Yeah, absolutely. be in trouble. Yeah, and it hasn't been like, for the Padres, they've had bullpen issues, too, but it's because just the bullpen. This is a question of, oh, no, like our starters didn't perform. The starters were okay. Not amazing. They were definitely underwhelming based on what they are usually known for, you know, a musgrove, a king, you know, those type of guys, I think, have a little bit of a higher expectations than I think some of the Cardinals starters outside, you know, you're sunny gray types. So for the Padres, it's just, it's a lot of new faces of the bullpen. It's going to be curious to see how former Cardinals,

Mike Schult manages it. Hopefully, also for my listeners, you'll be listening to this after the first game is completed. So hopefully something awful did it happen and that, you know, I just look like a buffoon or either of us, really. But yeah, that's going to be it for the Padres too. And then this Cardinals lineup, I do have some like questions and fears with it. You know, there's win and Gorman. You know, Gorman was low-key kind of okay last year, especially for a young guy, like hitting for a decent amount of power. I think he hit what was it, 27 home runs last year?

Yeah, 27. It's pretty good, all things considered, right? Especially since I think some people might have expected him to take more time adjusting. And then you still got Jordan Walker who defensively, Tatis might be a little bit better. A smidge. A smidge better. I would give the nod by a hair. Yeah, for those who don't know.

Yeah. For those who don't know also, Jordan Walker actually was a really good batter last year for this Cardinal scene, which is, again, why I kind of am worried. like this Cardinals lineup is definitely intimidating in a lot of ways. But Jordan Walker was a, who boy, at least if you go by some of the advanced statistics, last year, defensive runs saved, my lord. It just wasn't great, man. No, it was a work in progress. He had to learn, he had to actually learn the position by at the major league level.

He came up as a third basement. And so, yeah, you're worked up about Walker. I can hear you, buddy. Yeah, minus 16 defense. of runs minus 14 knots above average not great there and I'm also wondering or not to cut you off I'm also wondering are you worried about no one are anato and this is it coming as a mani machado lover you know I can throw all the shots at the fact that gold Schmidt won the MVP and I think man he should have because you know it's blah blah blah blah blah we could get into that I'll

I'll upset some of your listeners real quick but in all seriousness erinado has been basically outside of the one year when he had a seven-win season and was third in MVP voting, basically since 2020, he's only had like one Nolan Aeronado type of season. I still think he's a good player, but are you at all worried that like the offense of Aeronado, this might just be a defensive first player? I'm not because I feel like last year he was dealing with some back problems. And so far this year, he's coming in healthy. He looked really awkward.

against the Dodgers pitchers, but, you know, the Dodgers have that, you know, effect on on hitters. Like, it just is what it is. So I think, because he started off really good in spring training. And, you know, he got off to a slow start last year, too, where he was making these kind of weird swings, which, you know, I want to say that, like, it's not a trend. But until he breaks out of it, because he's in this power slump right now, which is a little shot. And that's something you worry.

about. But there were a few of bats where, you know, he hit some line drives at the ball hard and it was right at people. So I think Nolan breaks out of it. I've been, you know, preaching the fact that I think this is going to be the Nolan Aronado Revenge Tour in 2024 because people like you are questioning whether or not that this is starting to be the decline. It's okay that they're saying, you know, I'm 32 years old. Is this where he's starting to go down the hill? And knowing Nolan the way he is, I feel like that is something that will motivate him highly. which is what we heard about him this offseason, and he's worked as hard as he ever has

because for the first time, he's not the gold glove winner. He wasn't the best third. Yeah, that was weird, man. Like, his defensive statistics are Hall of Fame caliber. And if he stinks for the rest of his career, and I'm not saying that, I don't want that. Like, the defense alone might make people be like,

I don't care if he played some of this creative course. Did you see that man's glove? Like, he was a platinum glove like every year. So I am worried about that, just because some of the statistics, So I don't know. I'm curious, was it just a one-year outlier or is this the beginning? I think it's going to be a big question.

But even regardless, Cardinals lineup, at least in terms of hitting defenses has some questions with the Air and out of thing and certainly Jordan Walker. But definitely a test for the Padres team, especially when it comes to their bullpen. That has been having a rough start for sure. Yeah, for sure, for sure. So should be a fun series on our side of things. Two names. You mentioned Nolan earlier because you guys are starting three Rides against the Cardinals.

So I would say keep an eye out. Gorman. And then I would also say Alec Berlison would be a name that you guys might want to keep an eye on. He is one of those contact hitters. Not a ton of pop at all, but he's one of those contact hitters. He's been a DH for the series against the Dodgers. He's pretty good at bats. Doesn't strike out a lot.

So he's one of those annoying dudes. You're going to be like, who the hell is this guy? And why is he bothering me? And why has he got a nine-pitch it bat going? This is crap. He's a guy that I would keep an eye on for the Padres listeners out. there as well. But first game tonight at Petco, they'll play three in a row

and, you know, for all the analysis on what's going on with the Padres, make sure you check out my man, Javier Reyes, over there. You can find him on Twitter X and he's very, very capable of chit-chatting with even Cardinals fans on Twitter. Yeah, I love y'all.

I have no beef whatsoever. Hopefully we get a chance to see Joker Hobby at some point. If the Cardinals can annoy him enough, maybe Joker your hobby comes out, you'll have to go look at the videos if you're not familiar with what I'm talking about to understand. There's the hat. You'll have to understand what I'm talking about. I've left that life behind. I hope I've left that life behind, but yeah, we'll have to see.

I appreciate you joining us for this crossover. Again, thanks for making Locktown Cardinals and Locktown Padres your first listen every day. If you haven't already, give both of us a follow on Twitter X and like and subscribe on YouTube for both the channels. And we appreciate all of you guys. you guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. And we'll see you next time on Locked on Padres and Locked on Cardinals.