PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Cardinals guru Tara Wellman talks Paul Goldschmidt & more

Episode Date: September 23, 2019

Tara Wellman, host of Bird Seeds and contributor to Birds on the Black, hops on The Rattle Podcast to talk about what she's seen from Paul Goldschmidt this year in a Cardinals uniform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to welcome a special guest here onto the Rattle Podcast. Her name is Tara Wellman. She is the host of Bird Seeds, which is a wonderful video production that happens to daily series by series. What kind of frequency are we talking to here, Tara? A little bit of everything. I try to do series by series previews. When I am not on the road for my real job, I do some daily videos as well as game recap series. So it's a little bit all over the map right now. But in theory, yes, daily and series by series. Okay.

Well, yeah. So Tara does a phenomenal job, ladies and gentlemen, covering the St. Louis Cardinals, which of course, since the Paul Goldschmidt trade has become quite the team of interest for Arizona Diamondbacks fans. Tara, I have to ask you the pressing question. There has been, unfortunately, a bit of a lack of production from Paul Goldschmidt this season by most accounts. The home runs and RBIs are still there. I think he's right around 31 home runs, 92 RBI, if I'm getting that right. But the batting average is down in the 250s, where it's been pretty much all season long.

The OPS is just a little bit above 800. He's been above average, but he certainly hasn't been, you know, the MVP candidate that we're used to seeing. From your standpoint, Tara, does this look like a long-term concern? Does this look like a one-season fluke? And there's hope that he'll be able to restore that in the future. You know, it's been interesting trying to figure that out because in a lot of ways, whether you're looking at kind of the normal counting stats or even some of the deeper peripherals, he looks like the same guy in a lot of respects. He's just not getting the same results. I mean, if you look at just sort of the all-inclusive WRC plus, right now it's sitting at 114, which compared to his career norms of like 130 to 150 plus, it's been a very subpar season. But as you know, as you. mentioned, some of those key numbers are still there. So it's been a journey watching Paul Goldsmith this year. You got off to a really, really bad start. He's turned it on much more in the second

half, although in sort of a maybe typical Paul Goldschmidt muted sort of way, it hasn't been the fireworks and heroics all the time, but the numbers are slowly creeping up, which I think is a good sign. You know, everyone talks about how that first year with a new team and a new league can be a lot of pressure, it can be a lot of adjustment, it can, you know, produce some down numbers just because of the adjustment period. So I think everyone at this point is hoping that that's it, and it's not just a matter of this being the downslope of the career of Paul Goldman. Would you say, I'm curious, would you say there's any any particular part of his game or his strategy at the plate that is like specifically contributed to this issue?

Is there anything that you've noticed that's that you think has been the cause of this? You know, it's, I didn't watch him closely enough in Arizona to be able to really effectively compare. But one thing that's been so frustrating this season is the number of 02 counts that start often at bat. And it's got to the point where, you know, it's almost like you kind of feel like, well, just put two strikes on the board before he even steps to the box because that's what's going to happen. So I don't know if it's a matter of, you know, maybe not being aggressive enough against pitchers that he's unfamiliar with. Or if it's just kind of what he's always done, it's just not working as well. He's not able to kind of work the count back the other direction. One thing that he does very well is work an at-bat.

And he'll see six, seven, eight, nine, 12, 15 pitches and an at bat. So it's not necessarily that. It's just it feels like more often than not. He starts in the whole O2 and, you know, your options are a bit more limited at that point. So if there's one thing that I think has been frustrating, it's been that because then I'll, often it results in a strikeout, which you're going to get from Paul Goldschmidt, but, you know, with the bases loaded and less than two outs, that's a frustrating outcome for sure. I'm curious, what is what is like kind of the fan perspective on this trade, following the,

you know, the trade, Luke Weaver, Carson Kelly, Andy Young coming over to the Diamondbacks, obviously Luke Weaver and Carson Kelly have had really good seasons, not full seasons, but good seasons when they have been playing. And from a diamond back standpoint, I think there's a lot of positivity surrounding this trade. But I also haven't gotten the sense that Cardinals fans are, you know, necessarily bashing on this or bashing on the extension or or bashing on Goldschmidt himself, who frankly, I don't know how you could bash on Paul Goldschmidt, even if he were performing badly is just a hard person not to like. But yeah, what is what is kind of the overarching fan perspective about Paul Goldschmidt right now? I think there was a lot of, you know, it's been an interesting process as far as the reactions because it's developed a bit over the course of the season. Initially, when the trade happened,

it was like, great, Luke Weaver and Carson Kelly are not really going to factor in. Paul Goldschmidt can be the boost in the middle of the lineup that they've been looking for, really since the departure of Albert Pooholz in many respects. So the initial reaction was very positive. There was some concern about the fact that it was at the time, essentially a rental and the Cardinals haven't been great in recent history at securing those extensions or much less, you know, winning a free agency battle of any kind. So then when the extension was announced, everyone felt much better about it, that they were getting more for the value that they had let go of in Luke Weaver and

Carson Kelly. As the season has gone on, there's certainly been some concern that, well, hold on a second, Paul Goldschman's not getting any younger. Maybe he doesn't get better after this year. this is what we're paying for. This is the extension. Maybe it's not so great. There was initially some angst about the fact that the Cardinals traded Luke Voight to the Yankees. And he started off the season on a pair just hitting bombs all over the place. He could have been the first baseman.

I think that has sort of fizzled out a bit as the season has gone on, as most of us expected. So the reaction has been a bit volatile at times based on his performance on the field or what has been happening with the team. But you're right. He's a very hard guy not to. like. And I think that the thing that's been so interesting is that even when his offense hasn't been what everyone has hoped it would be, he's such an asset in other parts of the game. He's steadied an infield defense that was baseball's worst last year. And of course, he isn't done that

single-handedly. The middle infield for the Cardinals has been phenomenal with Paul DeYoung and Colton Wong. But Paul Goldschman at first base has kind of been the anchor of that. And I think a lot of people, myself included, were hoping that that would be the case, that he'd kind of be the steadying Paul Goldschmidt guy on the defensive side as well. And then from everything that I hear, he's such an influence, even in conversations with the coaching staff and talking about different techniques or applications of information and how to translate that and how to utilize it in really specific and maybe different ways. So I get the feeling he's been an incredible presence in the clubhouse as well. So knowing both of those things has I think alleviated some of the sting of the offensive woes at times. And then, of course, seeing him kind of step it up in the second half has helped as well. Do you think if Paul Goldschmidt is exactly what he was this season, if he, hypothetically, we know this won't happen.

But if he had exactly this season that he's had right now five more times after this year, do you think there would be regret over the extension in the trade? You know, I think if he was this same guy for two more seasons and then crashed, there would be. If he was this same guy for the entire duration of the contract, that's a different story, right? Because there is some expectation of fall off once you get to 32, 33, 34, 35 years old. Yeah. There's every indication that Paul Goldschmidt can be the kind of guy that ages pretty well in baseball because of his skill set and the way he's been able to maintain that. But yeah, I mean, if we're four years down the road and this is still the kind of production you're getting out of Paul Goldschmidt, I think that's a great sign for what the value of the deal was for sure.

Last thing, Luke Weaver and Carson Kelly, are you surprised that these guys have broken out for the Diamondbacks? I'm a little bit surprised by the success, not the success, but by the kind of the extent of the success that Luke Weaver was having before the injury, not because he's not capable, but because he was just very inconsistent with the Cardinals. And when he had regular opportunities, some days he'd be the guy that went out and gave up one run over seven innings. And other times he'd be out after four. So I wasn't really sure which version of that to expect from him in a new scenario. He didn't end last season particularly well.

So I don't know that I'm surprised that that stuff is there, but I was a little surprised by the consistency of it. Carson Kelly is awesome for me to watch because he's a guy that a lot of people in the Cardinals organization thought very highly of and felt like he could really be a contributor on a major league roster. He just wasn't going to get that chance playing behind Yadir Molina who evidently refuses to age. So Carson Kelly doing what he's done is really exciting to see because he's one of those guys that everyone really liked.

There just wasn't a spot for him. So I tend to kind of lean more in that direction where I'm just happy for the guy to get a chance and then to make the most of it. You know, the hitting was always there. It just wasn't always consistent again. And some of that had to do with just limited opportunities. The catching was always something that was kind of a work in progress. I feel like he probably learned a lot playing behind Yadda or Molina, but didn't always have the chance to apply that. So to see him go to Arizona where they really needed someone.

in that spot and to do as well as he has, even as you mentioned, without playing every single day. I think it's a great stepping stone for him. And I'm not surprised by the success that he's had. I'm just really happy for him. Okay, this is the true last thing, Tara. Is Adam Wainwright ever going to age? Man, I got to tell you, there have been some really high highlights of this season. Adam Wainwright's my guy, and he has been for so long. So the most, fun thing for me about this year has been the resurgence of Adam Wainwright because coming into this year, I don't think even he expected what he's been able to do on the mound. And, you know, it's been, it's been kind of a work in progress from the beginning.

There were a lot of moments where we thought he was going to be kind of the first guy out of the rotation. And instead, he's been one of the very few guys that there have been no questions about as far as his spot in the rotation. Now, he's not the ace of the staff anymore, but you wouldn't know that by the numbers he's put up in the last month or so. He's been able to just kind of adapt and adjust and kind of morph his ability into whatever it needs to be in the moment.

So is he going to age? I mean, I think I don't know how much longer he plays this game. He's not signed to any sort of contract after this season. I would not be surprised if he decides to pick up one more one year contract if the Cardinals will give it to him because of the success that he's had this year. But, man, it's been a revelation. and watching him, you know, extend his career in the way that he has and find a way to do it with a team that's putting wins on the board

in ways that no one really expected. Ladies and gentlemen, you can follow Tara Wellman on Twitter at Tara Wellman. I don't think there's any better person to follow. If you're interested in the St. Louis Cardinals and their upcoming playoff run, what appears to be a playoff run, of course, Paul Goldschmidt will be, I'm sure, a big part of that. So be sure to give her a follow as the Cardinals head. into the postseason Tara. Thank you so much for the time. We really appreciate it.

Thanks so much. Always a pleasure.