Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - Willson Contreras Packs On The Power

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

- Willson Contreras Body Transformation https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mlb/cardinals/why-willson-contreras-added-size-and-is-ready-to-have-a-blast-or-dozens-as/article_8347ca2a-ee29-11ef...-9429-df2825a7854c.html#tracking-source=mp-sports - Toughest Part About His Move To 1st Base https://www.bnd.com/sports/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/article300528264.html - Benefits Of Moving To 1st Base - Fan Feedback 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! Wonderful Pistachios Looking for a snack that’s both delicious and nutritious? Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more. SelectQuote Get the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONMLB. FanDuel Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wilson Contraos has shown up at camp looking jacked, how the added muscle and move to first base will benefit him and the Cardinals this upcoming 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, I'm Jady Hapford and I'm your host for Locktown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on AXED, JD Sports Radio. at Ella underscore Cardinals. We're on YouTube. If you're going to watch those videos, make sure you like,
Starting point is 00:00:40 subscribe and comment there and hit that notification button so you don't miss that on any new episodes or the shorts that we will be dropping this year. Also now available on TikTok as well at Locked on Cardinals, Instagram coming here real soon. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation
Starting point is 00:00:54 and giving the best fans of baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. So there were a lot of reasons why the Cardinals struggled to win more baseball games in 2024. Most of those issues centered around the offense or lack thereof. Last year, the team ranked 22nd and runs, 22nd and home runs, 24th at RBIs, OBP, 14th, 19th and slugging, tied for 15th and OPS. And when you look at what the meat of the order was last year, you can see why.
Starting point is 00:01:29 Paul Goldschmidt, kind of a shell of himself last year. ended up, you know, when you go back and you look at it, and he had, what, 22 home runs last year? And you're like, well, that's not that bad, but it was kind of like he had that one spurt near the end of the year and it just made things look a lot. We know that he struggled last year, right? Eleanor Arnato, not up to his normal standards last year. Gorman and Walker couldn't stay in the major leagues.
Starting point is 00:01:53 And then there was the injury plate season for Wilson Contreras. The Contreras injury, you know, that doesn't really help much when it comes to what was going on with Gorman and Walker and their issues. But without Willie in the lineup, I wonder if Goldianado would have had better seasons, you know, the more solid bats that are around you, pitchers may have to pitch you a little bit differently. And what would Wilson provide in the lineup to help deviate throwing Goldiannaut of the ways they did last year, would things have been a little bit different? I don't know, maybe, maybe.
Starting point is 00:02:31 Now, the Cardinals, I will admit, this caught me off guard. The Cardals were 10 games under 500 last year with Contreras in their lineup. When I was looking up stats and stuff for those, I was like, whoa, I expected that record to be a whole lot better with Willie in there. The team went 37 and 47 last year with Contreras playing, and they were 12 and 19 in games that he played before he got his arm cracked by J.D. Martinez on May 7th. And at that point, he was hitting 280 with six home runs and 12 RBIs. Comes back in June and over his final 53 games, he hits 253 with nine home runs and 24 hours. RBI's before getting hit by a pitch that fractures his middle finger and ends his season. The team went 25 and 28 in those games.
Starting point is 00:03:13 Vicaturis was at the end of the year. And he ends the season, 263, 15 home runs. Shockingly low 36 RBI.I. I mean, 15 of those are himself. But he led the team in OPS at 380, slugging, a 468 OPS. I should OBP at 380, OPS at 848, and then the OPS Plus was 136. So he was the best offensive player on this team last year when he was healthy. And that was the problem.
Starting point is 00:03:46 He wasn't around long enough to see whether or not those numbers would continue to grow and go up. Or maybe they would come crashing down. We don't know. The knock on Willie obviously was never about his offense, though. When the Cardinals signed him, that wasn't the problem. Nobody was worried about how he was going to hit for this team. Most people were worried about him being a catcher. Was he good enough as a catcher?
Starting point is 00:04:07 We already knew that he had this cannon arm, but the rest of his game, as we learned in 2023, was not even in the same atmosphere as his offensive game. We had that whole fiasco in 23 about moving him to the outfield, then how weird that was. Things got better in 2024, but again, the injuries cut short his season. Well, in 2025, we don't have to worry about that anymore. That side of his game is out the window.
Starting point is 00:04:33 We don't have to worry about the catching abilities because now he's a first basement for the St. Louis Cardinals taking over for Paul Goldschmidt, who signed with the Yankees. And other than the change in position, there was something else that has stood out about Willie at camp so far. And that's the physique that he's carrying with him. Now, clearly, I'm not in Jupiter, Florida. I'm not at camp. So anything I see or hear about these guys will be through videos from. other sources, TV stations, beat reporters and whatnot. But I'm watching videos of him fielding grounders yesterday because, like most of us,
Starting point is 00:05:11 I'm curious if he's going to be any good at first base after being spoiled over the years with the play of Paul Goldschmidt defensively. And as I'm watching, I'm starting to notice, I'm like, does Willie look a little beefier this year? And I'm not saying like in a chunky way where he looks like he's overweight or something. but like just beefier in the torso, the chest, the arms, the shoulders. They just looked bigger than I remember. And this was while he was fielding grounders.
Starting point is 00:05:40 And lo and behold, we started seeing stories popping up about him putting on muscle this offseason. So my eyes were not deceiving me. Dude got into the gym and got pumped this offseason. If you're on YouTube, I'm going to throw up a picture of him fielding grounders. And you can just see it. Like look at the upper body there. of Wilson Contreras, like definitely thicker, definitely thicker. Legwise, you know, he's always had bigger legs being a catcher and all,
Starting point is 00:06:09 but he definitely looks larger than he has in previous seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals when we've paid more attention to him. I don't know how his physique went up and down and fluctuated when he was Chicago Cub, but definitely bigger as a Cardinal right now. And John Dent and Derek Gould and our friend Jeff Jones all did write-ups on this new muscular frame for Willie in 2025. And I love that it was coming out because I was questioning like how big did he get? According to Jeff from B&D.com, Contreras reported to camp weighing 245 pounds, having added in his estimation 12 pounds of muscle to his upper body over the winter. And as a
Starting point is 00:06:49 catcher, Wilson always placed a premium on flexibility and agility, prefer to keep himself in the range of 230 pounds, while knowing he would lose weight as the season. unfolded, which happens to everybody. This year, now he doesn't have to worry about those restrictions at all he doesn't have to worry about is much flexibility and being able to dart back and forth and, you know, block balls behind the plate and whatnot. None of that is going to be required of him anymore. Derek Gould over at STLt Today.com commented while not quite Harrison Ford when it comes to a new Hulk in Red referring to the new Captain America movie, which by the way, if you're a Marvel fan, honestly, not that bad. It wasn't that bad. Obviously, you can tell when reshoots and stuff took
Starting point is 00:07:33 place and the green screens and everything, but not that bad, not that bad, might want to check it out. But Contreras, the size has brought part of the early spring buzz. During batting practice at the first full squad of workout, Gold says teammates said Contreras was out there just hitting nukes. Contreras told gold, we lose weight during the season. And now that I'm a first baseman and I don't have to catch anymore. I put on 10 to 12 pounds of muscle. Feel stronger for sure. The ball is jumping a lot better than last year. I found my rhythm hitting again. And we've seen what Willie can do with the bat when he is healthy.
Starting point is 00:08:10 In his first two seasons with the Cardinals, he's been a legitimate threat in the middle of that order was a big part of this move to first base was just trying to keep them in the lineup more because, you know, they don't call the catchers gear the tools of ignorance for no reason, you know. players take a massive, massive beating behind home plate. Like they're back there and like, you know, foul tips are getting them blocked pitches. You got the wear and tear of what's going on with your knees up and down and up and down, having to throw back the ball to the pitcher after every single pitch.
Starting point is 00:08:46 Everyone brings up pitch counts for pitchers, right? And then you've got your catcher who's back there for all of the pitches, you know, not just the hundred that the starter sees. and then he moves on with his life. Catchers back there still going every time, throwing it. And yeah, he's not putting forth 100% effort every time. But it's still that motion over and over. It wears you down.
Starting point is 00:09:10 You're going to get sore from that. And, you know, obviously you don't have the collisions like he used to, but it just goes to show you how special the out of year Molina was to be able to play in as many games as endings as he did throughout his career where he didn't have a ton of major injuries that cut his career. short guys like, you know, Buster Posey, Joe Mower, you know, their careers behind the plate shortened their careers in general because of the punishment that they took. Eventually, those guys had to scoot down to first base. So seeing Willie make this move now, it shouldn't be
Starting point is 00:09:44 that much of a shocker. And you've got the younger bodies. You got Ivan Herrera. You got Pedro Pahas, who seemed more than capable of taking on the full-time catching duties after getting plenty of time there last year when Willie was injured. So I'm a big fan of Herrera's bat. I think that's going to be a huge part of the puzzle this year for the Cardinals. He's working on the throwing issues. We love Pahas behind the plate, his catching abilities, his defensive skills. You know, he's solid there.
Starting point is 00:10:12 Not as good as an offensive player, but he's not like, you know, a complete black hole at that spot either. But obviously, Herrera's hitting ability is far and away above Pedro Pahas. So I prefer Herrera to be my starter because I need that offense. But you've got that plus Contreras's bat all at the same time. You're going to get one of those two guys and you're going to get Contreras's bat in the same lineup all the time. And the real question is, can he play first? Is he going to be able to do that? That's what we really worry about.
Starting point is 00:10:44 The hitting, we think he's going to be good. I love the fact that he's added the muscle where he's going to bring an even more powerful aspect to his game. but can he play the position of first base? We'll discuss that next on Lockdown Cardinals. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, then crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one ounce serving has six grams of protein,
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Starting point is 00:12:14 your first list. And every day you can leave your comments on YouTube as well as on Twitter X anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. The Cardinals have been quite spoiled, quite spoiled with the defensive efforts of Paul Goldschmidt over the last six seasons. I noticed in the comment section
Starting point is 00:12:30 on a couple of these videos that I've been talking, about where people are like, yeah, that's one thing that doesn't get brought up enough is how good Paul Goldschmidt was defensively for this team. He only won one goal glove, but he also led the league and fielding percentage in three of those seasons as well. Christian Walker was incredible at first base for the Diamondbacks. If it wasn't for him, Paul Goldschmidt probably would have added a couple more gold gloves to his mantle. He's routinely been one of the best defensive first baseman in baseball, and it was just kind of overshadowed by the offensive. abilities that Paul Goldschmidt provided you.
Starting point is 00:13:04 You know, he's a very well-rounded ball player. And back in his day, he also, you know, had speed and stole bases and stuff like that. Goldie was a stud. Goldie was really freaking good. So questioning how things will be at first base this year for the Cardinals without him and having Contreras converting to play there completely natural. Everybody should be asking that question, is will he going to be good enough to play first base?
Starting point is 00:13:30 because that's what you worry about. Because if he's not, you've got an Alec Berlinson, and you've got a Luke and Baker, which makes Contreras really just a DH. And you're hoping to get more out of him than that. He's putting in the work. He's putting in the effort. Jeff Jones spoke with some of Willie's coaches
Starting point is 00:13:48 about the move to first base. Stubby clap is the team's primary infield coach and first base coach who Jeff talked to, said he's been working with Willie each day. And the one thing that he points out in Jeff's article which will link down below is that the feet, his feet are the most important thing. Clap said there's a lot more that goes on at first base than you realize. When you anchor first base down, it anchors everybody else down.
Starting point is 00:14:14 And you have the confidence to be able to throw the ball across the infield. I think you'll see that his feet play over at first base. He moves well. We've just got to make sure that we get him calm down, make sure that we're not trying to go too fast and help him realize. like how close he really is to first base and identify the speed of the ball hit and stuff like that and not to panic and be able to do stuff like that. Now, I didn't play a lot of first base in my playing days in my brief time where I did play some first base in college. It was usually after a game that I pitched
Starting point is 00:14:48 or if I was nursing a sore arm or something or the second game of a double header or whatever reason that I would have to go over there and do it. I just remember that when they first asked me to start learning how to play at that position, that the timing of getting over to first base on ground balls was something that as a normal infielder, I kind of took for granted. As a shortstop, you know, you field the ball, look, get your target, zip it on over there. And you just kind of took for granted that your guy was going to be there waiting for you in a great position and ready to receive the ball. Now, I'm on the other side of it, learning to do it as a first baseman. And And your first instinct is to panic and sprint as hard as you can to the bag so that you get there on time.
Starting point is 00:15:35 And I think that's kind of what Stubby is eluding to here and what he's talking about, that you don't have to be in such a rush to get over there, although your head is saying, hurry, hurry, get over to the bag because they're going to be, you know, throwing it down there. You don't want to be out of control when you get over to first base. The reason being because you've got to get your feet set properly and in a good spot, so that you can make a good stretch to whichever, you know, position is throwing the ball to you because there's different angles from each spot. And then you've also got to have your feet in a certain area where if a ball is tailing away from you,
Starting point is 00:16:11 or it's going towards the runner or whatever, like you're able to make those movements and still keep your foot on the back. Like there's a lot more to it than you really think about it. And because we've had, you know, Albert Poo holes and Paul Goldschmidt over the years who have won gold gloves, it's, we take it for granted. Then we think it's just like this simple thing to get down there. And it's not really. The footwork has got a lot to do with the whole infield succeeding as a defensive force.
Starting point is 00:16:41 Joan spoke to both Luke and Baker and Alec Burleson about playing first as well. And Burley had a really good quote saying it's the hot corner. It's just on the other side of the diamond, which is true. I mean, it's the same distance. Third base. He says it's not as easy as it sounds. Yeah, your main job is to catch the ball, but the infielder's making tough plays and stuff. They don't have good grips on the ball.
Starting point is 00:17:02 You've got to be able to read that. You've got to make some picks and stuff without a first basement. I mean, you don't really have baseball. And yeah, if you've got somebody who's a liability over there who's not going to, that's another thing that Willie's going to do. Obviously, picking a ball as a catcher is going to be different than picking, you know, a low throw from an infielder. But there's, I know it's my time, there's a sense of comfort that I'm
Starting point is 00:17:26 I'm sure all the Cardinals infielder's have felt over the years with Goldie over there. And hopefully they'll be able to find that with Contreras. The fact that he put on some weight, I think is a huge plus. It doesn't hurt. Show you another picture of him here about him making a stretch there. I mean, look at the shoulders on this guy right now. Like, he is buff. But, you know, you think about the size.
Starting point is 00:17:49 You know, Goldie was 6.3. Willie is listed as 6-1. Burley 6-2. obviously Lucan Baker is a friggin' mountain over there first base. It's got to be amazing to be an infielder and throwing the ball over to him every single day. Cardinal fans who remember back in the days in the early 90s, remember when Greg Jefferies was the first baseman for the Cardinals, really good offensive guy, but, you know, 511 on a good day, 175 pounds. So kind of a small target of their first base.
Starting point is 00:18:21 But, you know, over the years, you know, Goldie, 6, 3, Poo-hole. 6-3, Mark McGuire, 6-5, having a guy like Luke and Baker over there. You know, Willie, just 6-1, so it's going to be a little bit of a change for them. But, you know, putting on a little more weight, at least it gives you the appearance that there's a larger target over there at first base for the infielders. And I'll be honest with you. It helps. It helps knowing that. Willie also talked about how not being a catcher is also going to be a plus this year because it gives them time to focus on
Starting point is 00:18:54 other aspects of his game, specifically the hitting is what we, you know, we want him to be like this phenomenal hitter. And that's what you worry about the most. But, you know, obviously, you know, we'll take the time to, you know, work on defensive skills at first base and stuff. But, you know, when you think about all the things that goes into being a catcher at the major league level, scouting reports, videos for the opposing teams, game planning with the pitchers, like the whole staff you have to talk to
Starting point is 00:19:24 knowing all of their pitches and what they like to throw and when they like to throw things and whatnot and just, you know, the mental grind of catching, it's difficult. It's very, very difficult. It's not easy. So Willie won't have to worry about those things anymore and can use that time to focus on his new position. And of course, hitting the crap out of the baseball, which is what we love to see him do. So what could a healthy buff rejuvenated? Because there's something else about learning a new position that kind of, you know, sparks the energy. You're doing something new. And it just gives you an added boost of energy to something that he's been doing
Starting point is 00:20:01 his whole life, which is playing baseball. But now he's got to try something else. And it's probably going to add to a little more fun to the game and a little more excited, another challenge for him. So I think that's going to help. And what is all of this in a hitting focused Wilson Contraire is going to be like over a full season? That's what we're hoping to see.
Starting point is 00:20:20 That's what we're hoping to see. and we're going to find out, aren't we? So we'll do some fan feedback next, specifically discussion on how people feel about the return of Nolan Arnauto next on Lockedown Cardinals. In sports, having a winning strategy is everything. It's how the best teams make it to the Super Bowl, the World Series, Stanley Cup and NBA finals. And the same goes for life. You know, having a strategy like life insurance from SelectQuote can protect your financial
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Starting point is 00:21:59 MLB, our baseball guru, Sully, brings you a daily blend of humor in baseball, keeping you updated on all the teams during spring training. You can find locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. So we haven't really talked a lot about Nolan Aronado, the last couple of episodes, which, you know, some might find very much refreshing. I feel that way. I was very much burnt out of talking about Nolan Aronado, you know, it's just kind of like the same regurgitation of stuff over and over and over because nothing was. really happening. Well, at least it seems like the speculation side of things has ended, although you know, John Denton, who covers the team for MLB.com did an interview talking about that maybe Nato is still not going to be on the opening day. He said something like 30% chance that it'll be
Starting point is 00:22:46 the opening day third basement for the Cardinals, which, I mean, I guess it could still happen, I guess, but we'll deal with that when we get to that. I'm not going to start speculating on crap like that yet. Instead, I'd like to instead read some of the comments from our listeners about the return of Aeronado. Most people are excited to have them back. Anthony, not Tony, says that, JD, this was my closest dream for this team to have come true. Keep Nolan Aronato, change it up, and move Goldie to another club. I mean, I say move Goldie, not to say he's a bad player, because he definitely isn't. I was always saying that some things don't go together. Like Matt Carpenter would talk about his lucky salsa mixing well together with other things. The fact is Goldie and Aronado didn't perform
Starting point is 00:23:35 great together and like Milwaukee did last season, they went separate ways from Corbin Burns, Craig Counsel, Josh Hater, and they instantly became an elite ball club last year. Who knows, Goldie's splitting and giving more opportunities for Luke and Baker, Jordan Walker, Thomas, We can make a huge turn too. The R&Ato Goldie era, Goldie era did not turn out the way that we all hope that it would for sure. It was nice having both of them on the club. Neither one of them really in their prime at the point that we got him. They were kind of like on the last bit.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Like Goldie's MVP season was such a surprise. Like it caught everybody off guard. That was crazy. We expected Arnado to do what he was doing those first couple of years. but seeing Goldie just go whoosh and become the most valuable player in the league was bonkers in 2022. Like that was nuts to see. But name of the game is what have you done for me lately and how many championships you got?
Starting point is 00:24:36 How many rings you got? And with Goldie and Aronado on this team, they went 0 and 3 in the playoffs. That's all you need to point out. It's great to get those regular season accolades. That's fantastic. but what did you do in the playoffs? Did you get a ring? No. Did you get a win? No. 0 and 3 in the playoffs since Aranaado came on board with them. So neither of them doing much in those games either. So eventually you got to turn the page on things, which is one of the reasons I was
Starting point is 00:25:07 excited about this upcoming season because there was the sense that the Cardinals were going in a direction and they were going to stick to it. And that didn't really happen because a lot of the excitement got zapped for me a bit when none of the trades that we thought were going to happen ended up taking place. You know, Wilson, Sunny Gray, Nolan Aronado. The first two didn't want to leave, did want to, excuse me, entertain any trade ideas. Nillan Aronado was willing to, but it was a small amount of teams that he was willing to go to. So you couldn't really shop them around the league to really see what other teams would have traded for them. We got word that, you know, John Moseylock said that he didn't even approach Miles Michaelis about waving his no trade clause,
Starting point is 00:25:55 just figured that it wasn't necessary. So, right, Helsley, not getting moved. That obviously was a big deal. You know, people thought that that was going to be something. I was one of them that thought, hey, you can trade Helsley now and get some pretty good stuff in return. They decided, nah, we're not going to do that. So, you know, it kind of took the zap and the excitement away there for a little. little bit, but, you know, it's still baseball season. I'm excited and I'm optimistic about this team.
Starting point is 00:26:24 And one thing I will say this, I really love hearing the solid feedback that we're starting to get from the young players, not only at the major league level, but, you know, in the minor leagues, you know, guys like, you know, having Ian Bedell on the show the other day talking about all of the stuff he's been learning. J.J. Weatherhole recently did an interview talking about the changes in the minor league system for the Cardinals, the extra instructors, their attention to detail for developing players in the system again, it is the best way for the Cardinals to compete with those teams who have much larger payrolls. It just is. Now, you can complain that the DeWitts should be spending more if you want, and that's valid. They do have money. They've got plenty of it.
Starting point is 00:27:06 But developing your own stars is the way to go. And at least they've acknowledged that and are working to fix it. And then you've got a guy like Heinblum sets, take over and his expertise is player development. He's set to take over next year. So they're going in that direction. Instead of overspending for veterans who may or may not be any good and getting stuck in bad contracts, which has happened, they're going to try to build their own guys. And I'm all for that.
Starting point is 00:27:39 I think it's the right plan. And hopefully it works. Ghostface Gaming says, Arnado with Contreras and Burley, Herrera, Donovan, pretty good middle of the order potential solid two through six no matter where you put them also glad to hear the gorman is practicing all over the infield he will get his shots to be in there i agree so jc will be the odd man out but we have great depth it's a good problem to have you need several decent extras for the long haul let's go um yeah most fans are are glad ronado's back you know they're they're they're they're pleased with it um i think if they'd never
Starting point is 00:28:19 said that they were doing a reset and never gave us the expectations that something like that was going to happen. I don't think people would be quite as upset as they are about what didn't happen this offseason where basically nothing transpired. I just saw they were, who was it that was raiding the offseason? Somebody did this. I think it was at the athletic. Yes, it was at the athletic. Who was this here? Chad Jennings, Aaron Gleeman, and Moore. MLB offseason grades for all 30 teams. Dodgers get an A because of course they did because they spent a gazillion dollars and brought in a Sigh young winners and stuff.
Starting point is 00:28:56 And then the Cardinals get an F for not doing anything. So they get an F. And, you know, that's fine, I guess. I mean, winning the off season doesn't always necessarily mean you're going to have great success during the regular season. And a lot of teams have learned that the hard way. Yeah, I wish the Cardinals would have been able to add. a couple of pieces to what they got already to make them that much better.
Starting point is 00:29:20 But they're putting their trust in the guys they have in their system now. They think, well, you know, why go pay for these other guys when these guys here, we believe can be just as good as those guys. You know, it's why you let a guy like Andrew Kittridge walk, because as good as he was, you feel like some of these other guys can fill that role, you know. And you take a couple of shots on guys like, you know, getting Michael Hellman in here to be a super utility guy. And Nick Anderson,
Starting point is 00:29:47 like, you know, hey, if he gets back to form, maybe we, maybe we, you know, hit Peter with him, you know, we, we, we strike gold with a guy like Nick Anderson, uh, Rotary Munoz, guys like, you know, there's all these guys that are still, they're going to take some chances on, see what they got. They don't work out. They'll use other guys in the system to fill those holes. But, uh, there was, there's a lot of guys on this roster already that need playing time. And even without adding people from the outside world, without free agents,
Starting point is 00:30:17 there's still a number's crunch going on. There's still not enough spots for all of these guys that they would like to see play. And so it was really kind of pointless to go out and get any free agents this year when you believe in the guys you've gone. So that's just me, my optimistic version, you can call it the DeWitt's just being cheap. That's fine too. You know, everybody's entitled to their own opinion. But, you know, some fans are just never going to be happy unless Nato's gone, Mo, Olly, all of them. gone, do it, sell the team.
Starting point is 00:30:49 You see that stuff. Like some people are just not going to be happy. And that's just the way it is. So such is life. All right. Thank you guys for making Locktown Cardinals. Your first listen every day if you haven't already. Give us follow on X at L0100th Cardinals,
Starting point is 00:31:01 Nage 80 Sports Radio, TikTok at Lockdown Cardinals, plus like, subscribe on YouTube and help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I will see you next time on Lockdown Cardinals.

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