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Bruce Sutter, College football and the Cardinals
85 Plays2 years ago
My thoughts on the passing of Bruce Sutter, some NCAA football talk and the St Louis Cardinals and the fans,
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Transcript
Introduction and Technical Issues
00:00:06
Speaker
Pay attention, son. This is for your own good. This is Gateway City Sports. The rumors are true. What the hell's going on out here? This is Talking Sports on the Bleachers with Don Glenn. A confident young man. A superb athlete. A look at the sports issues of the day. Gee, that sounds kind of interesting. Grab a seat, pop a cold one, and let's talk some sports.
00:00:34
Speaker
You've got to get it done. Hey, hello sports fans. Hey, I regret to inform you that due to some technical difficulties, Uncle Frank could not be here tonight, but we'll try again maybe next
Sports Commentary and Famous Quotes
00:00:49
Speaker
week. Hopefully we get it done. Still plenty of things to talk about though. So come on up, have a seat so that we can talk some sports on the bleachers.
00:01:04
Speaker
Holy cow! Packers crowd the line of scrimmage, one on the shotgun, here's the snap, one on one, he's up to the right side, and her spender! Her spender is a goal line by Woodson! And there is your dagger!
00:01:32
Speaker
Gentlemen, start your engines! The British young Cinderella, he's coming out of nowhere, he's got about 350 yards, he's going to be here in about 5 minutes.
00:01:59
Speaker
I'm dead. Oh, he got on to that one. Are you crying? That's not crying! That's not crying, it's painful!
00:02:20
Speaker
I won't bow bone! I won't bow bone! You see that old man? You say I bow bone, come here bro! Nobody can beat me! You tell him what I say! And you say, I'm gonna kill him! Nobody can stop me! You say I bow bone and I'm coming after him! You tell him! Playoffs? Don't talk about them. Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?
00:02:57
Speaker
Hey, dad? You wanna have a catch? I'd like that.
00:03:16
Speaker
Well, like I said, sports fans, due to some audio difficulties, Russ Robinson is not with me this week. Well, we did try to record the show, but it seems like it was an audio hum. You know, it's got a low speaker feedback kind of hum, you know, that type of thing. And, um, so we went ahead and recorded because I could hear him and it seemed like he was coming through, uh, on the, on the recording.
00:03:43
Speaker
But when I went to do the editing, his voice wasn't there, so...
00:03:51
Speaker
Don't know what happened, but we're going to try again. Like I said, probably this next this coming week here and see if we can get that going.
Tribute to Bruce Sutter
00:04:00
Speaker
I mean, as usual, though, we had a great time with always do have a good time with the first one when he comes on the show and he's a good friend of the show and he's got a lot of insight, especially when it comes to the SEC, Missouri, that kind of thing, Cardinals as well. So we're going to definitely try to get him back on.
00:04:16
Speaker
Hey, I want to let you know that talking sports on the bleachers is a proud part of the Gateway City Sports Network and Gateway City Sports. You can find articles and other podcasts like Team of Rivals with Ron Nudle, Pete Gettys and Elliot Dewey or the brand new
00:04:34
Speaker
Well, maybe they're praying to us. They've been around for a while, but the new show, that's a winner podcast with Ryan Jenkins and Josh Brown. You know, give us a look. See if, uh, if you like, if there's something you like and we don't follow it, let us know about it. We'll see what we can do for that. Hey, I want to start today on a somber note, uh, legendary closer for the St. Louis Cardinals in the early eighties and part of the 82 worlds series, uh, winner.
00:05:01
Speaker
Bruce Souter passed away at the age of 69. He had been battling cancer. He died Thursday night, October 13, surrounded by family in Georgia. Souter was the first pitcher inducted into the Hall of Fame without starting a game. He was the inventor of the split-fingered fastball, or maybe not the inventor, but at least he was the one that
00:05:26
Speaker
Uh, made it work, if you will. Uh, he pitched for the Cubs, Cardinals, the Atlanta Braves. He led the National League in saves 79 through 82. And in one other year, uh, winning the Cy Young in 79, he won the Rolloids, Rolloids, Rollades, Relief Man Award four times. He recorded his final save September 9th, 1988 for the Atlanta Braves against the San Diego Padres.
00:05:55
Speaker
Then a statement released, Chad's suitor said about his father, all our father ever wanted was to be remembered and be a great teammate. But he was so much more than that.
00:06:08
Speaker
He said he was also a great husband to our mother for 50 years, a great father and grandfather, and he was a great friend. His love and passion for the game of baseball can only be surpassed by his love and passion for his family. Now, Whitey Herzog said a suitor. He had the best makeup of any closer I've ever seen. Whitey Herzog said that he
00:06:36
Speaker
He just cut the percentages down for me from 27 outs to 21 because he used them quite a lot in multiple inning sets. In his Hall and Fame induction speech, Souter said this, when I played, I never needed the spotlight, nor did I want it. I simply wanted to play baseball and be respected by my teammates and opposing players.
00:07:04
Speaker
So today my name Howard Bruce Souter goes on this plaque. This day is not about me. It's about the many people who have helped me along the way. Cardinal owner Bill DeWitt said Bruce was a fan favorite during his years in St. Louis and in the years to follow. He'll always be a member for his 82 World Series clinching save and signature foot fingered pitch. He was a true pioneer in the game.
00:07:33
Speaker
changing the role of the late inning reliever. And now for me, I was in college when Souter pitched for the Redbirds. And you knew when it got to the eighth that the game was closed here and number 42 was going to show up at some point and come in and take care of business. And I just heard the other day and I looked it up. Souter is the fifth player from the 82 World Series team who has passed away. The others being Joaquin Andar,
00:08:03
Speaker
Bob Porsche, David Green and Darrell Porter. Now I think everybody remembers and we've all seen the video of the last strikeout of Gorman Thomas in game seven and Darrell Porter comes rushing out and jumps in midair and suitor catches him there on the mound and you kind of have to wonder
00:08:31
Speaker
Did the roles reverse now for Souter's trip into heaven? I'm sure Darrell Porter is there waiting with open arms for his teammate and friend. You know, Bruce Souter is a true icon of the game and he's going to be missed. So rest in peace, Bruce. Rest in peace. It's always a sad time and a legend passes away and I want to extend my condolences to the Souter family and thank them.
00:09:02
Speaker
for sharing Bruce with baseball and the rest of the baseball world. Okay, time to move on. A little more baseball news, playoff news as you will.
MLB Playoff Standings Update
00:09:15
Speaker
They are rolling and I'll get to the cards a little bit later. But in the American League, the Yankees and the Guardians are tied up now at one game apiece after Cleveland won a postpone game today, four to two in 10 innings.
00:09:29
Speaker
Houston has a 2-0 lead over Seattle and in the National League after a 9-1 win today the Phillies own a 2 games to 1 lead over Atlanta and the Padres have the same advantage over the Dodgers after their 2-1 win today. I'm going to be honest with you and I'm serious. I thought Cleveland and the Yankees would be a good series but I did not
00:09:53
Speaker
to see the Braves and Dodgers down two games to one. That to me, wow. So here's the really interesting part about that. Should the Padres and the Phillies go on to win?
00:10:17
Speaker
they would be the two lowest seeds on the National League side to be in the league championship game. Philly was the sixth seed and San Diego was the five. So there's a little bit of interesting whatever you want on that
00:10:42
Speaker
You know, I'll tell you what, very seriously, and then the heck gotta be serious. Well, okay, I'm laughing, so it's not serious. But, uh, really, you know, you gotta think that the stores in Seattle, LA and Atlanta might be running a little low on Tums, Rolaids and Milk of Magnesia, Pepto-Bismol. I mean, guys might be using aromatherapy, meditation, anything to beat all this. I mean, your dad took games to zero or two games to one.
00:11:10
Speaker
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00:11:33
Speaker
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00:12:04
Speaker
So okay, I was going to talk to little SEC Big Tim with Uncle Frank and we talked a little bit about the coaches who've been fired. Scott Frost in Nebraska, Paul Christ up in Wisconsin. And we were looking kind of some SEC coaches who might be sitting on that seat. And you know, the name to come up was second year coach Brian Harsin at Auburn.
00:12:28
Speaker
And I think he's definitely going to be under some duress this weekend. They get to play number nine Ole Miss. I doubt if they lose Ole Miss they'll get fired, but if they don't play well, if they don't show up, you just never know.
00:12:46
Speaker
Who'd have thought Paul Chris would have been fired after getting beat by Illinois? I wouldn't have thought that. But we both agreed that the big game in the SEC this weekend is going to be number three Alabama at number
SEC Football Previews
00:12:58
Speaker
six Tennessee. And that game's going to get the most attention. It'll be on CBS 330 Eastern. And after last week when Bama barely beat a spirited Texas A&M team and dropped two spots, they'll definitely be looking for some type of redemption. And I'll tell you this though, redemption isn't going to come easy.
00:13:16
Speaker
Um, because, you know, Tennessee is five and O and they have three wins over ranked teams. They have been playing very, very well. Um, uh, they've, they've been tested early in this season, uh, winning at seven, number 17 pit, 34 27 at overtime. Then again, uh, two weeks ago, holding off Florida at home, 30 to 33.
00:13:44
Speaker
So even as good as Alabama is, I'm going to tell you what, they better watch out because this group of volunteers are battle tested and ready to do some elephant hunting. And I think they've got the ammunition loaded. We're going to see what happens. Another good matchup in the SEC of top 25 teams is going to put number 16 Mississippi State traveling to Kroger field in Lexington to face the number 22 Kentucky Wildcats.
00:14:09
Speaker
You know, they are four and two and they've beat number 12 in week two.
00:14:17
Speaker
uh... played tough against uh... number fourteen Ole Miss losing by field goal but then last week they lost to South Carolina by ten so who knows what Kentucky is uh... I think they can play with with uh... Mississippi State uh... but I think Mississippi State uh... their five and one their only loss was at uh... was in Baton Rouge against LSU
00:14:43
Speaker
Um, and that really was the only game they've been tested. I mean, uh, they won their other five games by an average of 24 points and get this 24 points, including an 18 point win over number 17, Texas A&M. So I'm going to tell you what serious mid season test for the Wildcats. I'm not sure they're going to pass. I mean,
00:15:07
Speaker
I'd like to see the Cinderella story, the prominent basketball school, have a football success story, but I'm just not that confident it's going to happen with those guys.
00:15:25
Speaker
This news did a big 10. Now there's two games of high interest and both are needed. There's actually three but there's two big main ones. The third one is going to kind of be on the periphery if you will. The first one is and the big one is number 10 Penn State who is a perfect 5-0 going up to Ann Arbor to take
00:15:45
Speaker
on the number five Michigan Wolverines who are 6-0.
Big Ten Football Previews
00:15:50
Speaker
Now Michigan, they played Indiana last week and in the first half it looked like Michigan might get upset. It was a 10-10 at the halftime but then Michigan took off in the second half and didn't look back. 21 unanswered points and you know the Hoosiers just went okay.
00:16:06
Speaker
Uh, so now Penn State though, had to rely on defense as well. I mean, as much as Michigan shut Indiana down, Penn State had to shut down, um, Northwestern, uh, and they only won 17 to seven. You know, they had, they had to clamp none of the defense because the offense wasn't getting it done. Now defensively, Penn State has held their last four of their five, excuse me, have held four of their last five opponents.
00:16:36
Speaker
under 100 yards in offense. They can only stop, excuse me, rushing offense. Now they cannot only stop the run, but they can also run the ball pretty well themselves though. They've got a duo of Nichols, Singleton, 7.3 yards per carry, and Crayton, and K-Tron, Allen, 5.3 yards per carry. Now this game can have big implications. I'm not serious when I say that. Because if Penn State can win this game,
00:17:05
Speaker
they would get a bye next week before hosting the only other undefeated team in the Big Ten East, Ohio State. If they could somehow win that game, they would control the Big Ten East. So this is a very big game, a big game. If Penn State wins this game, it can really throw some things into a tizzy, if you will. The other big game is
00:17:35
Speaker
Minnesota traveling to Champaign Illinois to do battle with the newly minted number 24 fighting Illini. Now Minnesota is coming off a bye week after a 10 point loss at home to Purdue. Illinois is averaging only eight points per game this season. Now you think that's, and that's very good.
00:18:04
Speaker
but they're going to face as good a defense as they've got because Minnesota
00:18:10
Speaker
is only allowing opponents 8.8 points per game. So we can see, I mean, Illinois won last week nine to six in a defensive struggle against Iowa. This could be that type of struggle. I mean, it really could. Although Iowa has a little bit better offense than, excuse me, Minnesota has a little bit of offense than Iowa did.
00:18:34
Speaker
Um, but, uh, you know, this is going to be an interesting game. Now, Illinois is also perfect 4-0 at home and has not allowed against this people. Illinois has not allowed a touchdown at home all season in the four games they played at home. They have not allowed a touchdown. They are 4-0 and Minnesota is also 1-0 away from home.
00:19:01
Speaker
I guess this is shaping up to be a battle, folks. Both teams feature a cup of nails running back. Illinois has the nation's leading rusher in Chase Brown with 879 yards this season. And he's coming off a 31 carry 146 yard game versus Iowa and has seven straight 100 yard games dating back to last season.
00:19:27
Speaker
Not to be outdone though. And I mean this, Minnesota is, they've got a stud horse and they're stable as well. Running back Muhammad Ibrahim, 567 yards, eight touchdowns this year. He has, and he has his own streak of 13 100 yard games straight. Of course dating back to last season. This game is like the Penn State Michigan game and then it's huge for the Big 10 West.
00:19:56
Speaker
Illinois has already beaten Wisconsin and Iowa. Both of whom are 1-2 now. Illinois is 2-1. A win against Minnesota puts Illinois in the driver's seat for a Big Ten West Crown. Doesn't give it to them because there's a couple other teams, and I'm going to get to that game here in a sec, that have a say so in this as well.
00:20:17
Speaker
And right now, those two teams are Nebraska and Purdue. In the pickle finger of faith, Nebraska fires Scott Frost after, I think it was game three, was it the Georgia Southern game they fired, after that game they fired him. And they have turned around to,
00:20:43
Speaker
They lost to Oklahoma, but they posted back-to-back wins versus Indiana Rutgers. They're 2-1 in the conference, the same as Illinois. Purdue, they're riding a three-game winning streak since losing to Syracuse on September 17th. Both teams are giving up 20 points a game and scoring 26 points a game. Now the fun part about all of this, they play each other this week.
00:21:10
Speaker
So you've got, you've got three games that have potentially division changing possibilities. Well, in the West, it's not a possibility. It's going to change the division. You know, now Nebraska, you know, they're riding the arm of Casey Thompson. He's got 1497 yards with nine touchdowns, but he has thrown six interceptions.
Nebraska vs. Purdue Analysis
00:21:38
Speaker
They've got a good running back in Anthony Grant, 647 yards, five touchdowns, and they've got a pretty nice receiver, Trey Palmer's got 40 catches this year for 544 yards and three touchdowns. Now Perdue has her own solid quarterback in Adrian O'Connell at 1,559 yards, 10 TDs, four picks, or only four picks.
00:22:04
Speaker
Uh, running game is split. They don't have a big stud horse, but they've got two guys that split the time. Devin Machleby and Dylan Downing, uh, both have combined for over 500 yards and eight touchdowns. Then Nebraska is going to have the hands full also containing the top wide out for Purdue at Charlie Jones, 603 yards and seven TDs. So I look for this game to be very tough.
00:22:34
Speaker
between Nebraska and Purdue, but I think Purdue is probably going to pull away on this. But if it goes the other way, this is the scenario that plays out. If Nebraska wins, if they beat Purdue, and Illinois beats Michigan, both teams have a bye week next week. Both teams would be 3-1 in the Big 10 West.
00:23:02
Speaker
And guess who they play October 29th? Each other in Lincoln, Nebraska. So, we're looking at if Nebraska beats Purdue, Illinois beats Minnesota, October 29th will most likely be the battle for the Big Ten West. It's not a guarantee because Illinois still has to play Purdue. They still gotta play Michigan, Michigan State and Northwestern.
00:23:32
Speaker
But, um, I mean, if Illinois wins this week and they, and it's made the Nebraska wins and they beat Nebraska, then you're looking at a situation where, you know, there are three, four, four and one in the conference. I mean, I don't know. And of course, and of course the cool thing about it this week, if they beat Minnesota, they're bowl eligible already.
00:24:02
Speaker
bowl eligible already and they would have four games left on their schedule, four or five games left on the schedule. Yeah. So, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's, I, you know, I guess the only protection for any of these teams is to win. If you win, you protect your lead, you know, and we all know how important it is to stay protected.
00:24:27
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:25:23
Speaker
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Cardinals' Playoff Performance
00:25:33
Speaker
All right, I'm going to finish up with the Cardinals here. And first, I want to say I'm not trying to tell people how to be a fan. Okay, so take this for what it's worth. But as my cousin is fond of saying, good God, Becky,
00:25:47
Speaker
The amount of people I see on Facebook and Twitter who are coming out and blaming Goldsman, Aeronado, Wainwright, Molina, Marmel, they're just, I mean, I think they're just taking a dart and throwing it at a dartboard. Okay, we'll blame this guy for the way everything happened and how the season turned out and especially in the playoffs. Now I'm not saying that the week hitting by Aeronado and Goldy was, and not just in the playoffs, but the last month of the season didn't play into the misfortunes of the Cardinals going into the postseason.
00:26:15
Speaker
And, you know, affect how things went. But really, no one was really hitting. I mean, if you look at a big ad, a grand total of 12 hits and three runs in two games. So just try and sit there and blame it on two guys or one guy or the rookies or the coach or the hitting coach. Stop it. Stop.
00:26:41
Speaker
Okay. People were upset the Pujols was playing in game two facing a right handed pitcher. You know what? He got two hits off of two different right-handed pitchers. Stop it. I mean, we had, we had some hits, especially the head seven hits in that second game and could have scored, should have scored some runs, could have scored some runs if we'd had the hits strung together and we'd had people on base. It happens.
00:27:12
Speaker
No, we don't like it. No, no, we wanted them to win. We wanted them to be, take Philly in two games, go on to Atlanta, come up with somehow steal three games in Atlanta, and then go into LA and take five games from their Dodgers and go to the World Series. That's what we all wanted. Guess what? You don't always get what we want, people. It's going to happen.
00:27:40
Speaker
So to sit there and try to point the fingers and blame this guy. Why did he do that? That is, you know, I'm sick of it. All right. We are not on the field. We are not in the clubhouse. We are not at the workouts. We don't know why they're playing these guys. Oh yeah, we can speculate. Well, only reason Paul Young's playing because he's making six million dollars this year. Bullshit.
00:28:11
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Well, maybe not bullshit. I mean, he may, that may be part of it because, you know, you're not going to pay somebody. This is six. It's like paying Mark Mack Harper or 19 million dollars to sit on the bench. Um, but you're not going to, you know, but to say that that's the only reason he's playing. No, I mean, he's still a very good defensive shortstop. Um,
00:28:36
Speaker
does have his hitting woes. And, you know, I'll get to a little bit later, but I do think his time in St. Louis is probably over. Um, you know, a lot of people question marbles, hailing the pitching staff, pulling the starters to really be held lean too long, especially in game one. Now here, there is some traction and I will, and I'll, and I'll, I'm going to, I'll stand behind this. Um, yes, I, he probably did pull Quintana, uh, too early. He probably did pull Michaelis too early.
00:29:05
Speaker
Uh, I don't think I would have gone to innings with Hillsley. I think I would have brought him in for maybe a batter or two, like he did in the eighth. And then I would have went to somebody else in the ninth. Uh, so yes, I get that. And I think that's legitimate. It is legitimate to say, why did Marmel do that? We don't like the way he handled it. That is 100% legitimate.
00:29:27
Speaker
But to sit there and say he doesn't know what he's doing, which I've heard seen people do on or say on Facebook and Twitter, you know, you know, marbles an idiot because this is the way because he doesn't have a handle of pitching staff. I'm sorry, but you didn't have a bitch all year about it. Why are you just not getting into it? Now, all this griping and finger pointing has led more renewed call to fire Jeff Albert. Okay, people.
00:29:58
Speaker
If you were happy with the way Brendan Donovan showed up, if you liked the way Yepes was hitting home runs, Gorman, even though he had some problems later. And if you are following at all Jordan Walker down in the minor leagues, let me explain something to you. They are using Jeff Albert's system.
00:30:30
Speaker
So to say you've got to fire Jeff Albert is meaning you're trying to fire some mode of success. His system is being taught all throughout the minors. You're seeing guys tear up the minors using Jeff Albert's system, okay? Well, Gorman didn't hit well when he got up. If you go back and look at Gorman, and this is serious, honest to God truth, if you go back and look at Gorman through his minor league career, every time he's gone up a level, he struggled.
00:31:00
Speaker
The next year, he came back to that level and succeeded. So I look for Gorman to have a big year next year. Well, I mean, not a big year, but a good year next year. I think a more, a year more what we wanted, we thought we were going to get out of him. You know, in some of the hateful comments I see about Carlson DeYoung, O'Neill, Kisner, Gagos, even Yachty and Pujols, you know, people in business are getting downright filthy and nasty. And, you know, I'm going to tell you this, take a chill pill.
00:31:30
Speaker
I mean, come on. You know, much was made of Carlson being the reason that we didn't make the photo trade. And while there is a threat of truth to that, it's not what people think. Now, please follow along. Because it's not that the Cardinals valued Carlson as a better player than Soto. That would be stupid. That would be insanely stupid to say that.
00:31:57
Speaker
But what they did value in Carlson was his ability to play center field. And the reason that was important because they knew there was interest in Harrison Bader, even injured. And they could use Harrison to get pitching. They knew this probably before the talks was so ramped up. So they knew they were going to have a hole in center field.
00:32:28
Speaker
If you trade Carlson for Soto and you trade Bader for Montgomery, you have no center fielder, you got Soto. Soto can't play the entire outfield. Yes, Nukebar played a lot of center and did very well, but that means you got Dickerson and left, which is what happened. So yeah, they needed an outfield. They should have did a little better on that, but Carlson was not the main reason.
00:32:58
Speaker
try and see who the main reason might be is Jordan Walker. Because everybody was saying, and I think it's well documented, maybe not documented, but well believed, I should say, that the Nationals wanted Jordan Walker. He was their prize at the end of the tunnel. And I think what the Cardinals were looking at was, you know, maybe not this year, but next year. Okay, if we have Soto and we got Carlson,
00:33:30
Speaker
We have Soto we've got a new bar. We still don't have a left fielder and If it's Carlson and Walker that has to go to get Soto We still don't have a left fielder now.
Cardinals' Management Strategy
00:33:44
Speaker
We got to find somebody now. It's now. It's bringing you maybe Donovan maybe Burleson Burleson didn't show much this year But if it in his small sample size short cup of coffee to lose you'll same thing very small sample size We don't know what those guys are gonna be
00:33:58
Speaker
We do know what Jordan Walker is doing and doing down in Memphis right now in the fall league. He's tearing it apart people I think he will be in left field next year. I do see them getting Doing something with Tyler. No, I don't know what they're going to do with Tyler O'Neill Move him to the center. I mean I'm ready I don't like usually saying it this way, but I'm ready to cut bait on Tyler O'Neill because quite frankly
00:34:29
Speaker
He's just too injured. He's been too many injuries. And I just think it's time that we probably found a different, he found a different home. And, you know, maybe, I mean, if he could make a DH out of him, fantastic. But we've already got Yepes, who I think is going to be your DH. Just primarily because he doesn't really have a defensive position to play that he is,
00:34:57
Speaker
better than anybody else on the team. So I think you're going to see him at DA. So that spot's taken. If Walker comes up, he's going to have to play somewhere. Newt Barr showed that he can play. So I think you'll see an outfield of in some form or fashion of Walker and Newt Barr, Carl somehow what positions they've got. I don't know. Probably Carlson center, Newt Barr and right Walker and left. That would be my guess.
00:35:26
Speaker
Um, now here's the other thing though, with Soto, had we gotten Soto, do you really think having him would have stopped Goldie and Arenado from falling off the cliff offensively? I mean, come on. So I said it during the whole Soto sweepstakes thing, one player was not going to change this team.
00:35:55
Speaker
One player is not going to change this team. And I'm going to say it again this offseason, because I hear it right now, because we need to get Trey Turner. We need to get Trey Turner. He'll make us a champion. No, he won't. Not by himself. We need to catch her, because they haven't got that figured out yet. Herrera, again, like Burleson and a couple of the small cup of coffee, so we don't know what he can do in the major leagues.
00:36:25
Speaker
Is he ready? If he was that ready, why wasn't he the backup to Yachty this year? So you're going to have him back at the Kizner next year? I don't think that's going to work. You're going to have to find a solid veteran catcher. And the only one that comes to mind right now is Wilson Contreras. I think that's the guy you want to go after. Now, some people are saying trade for Sean Murphy.
00:36:55
Speaker
Um, that's an option and you know, maybe, but, but I think catcher's going to have to deal, they're going to deal with that. Uh, but I'll get into some of that down the road. I'm not going to deal with that much today. Um, but now the final thought on what this year is, and I'm not saying this roster was set as a certified division winner and championship contender. Uh, I would be fairly, I would need to be fairly well inebriated to make that statement.
00:37:21
Speaker
Uh, and I'm not, so I'm not, um, making that statement that is. So first of all, Matt's was not enough in the off season that they, the rotation needed help. And even if Matt had not been injured, he would not have been enough. And even if the rotation hadn't suffered the injuries it did to, to, to clarity, Matt's was not enough.
00:37:47
Speaker
and they needed a second pitcher, they didn't get it. Second was bench strength. And I thought the signing of Dickerson as a DH bench bat fourth outfielder was not realistic. I mean, as a DH bench bat, maybe I see that. But I think the better option for a DH bench bat would have been Kyle Swarber. Big, big bat.
00:38:15
Speaker
You don't really need him to play fourth out because you had Lars Knuth bar. Um, so I, I, I, I think bench strength, you know, and adding poo holes, bringing him back. Now, Hey, I was one that said we could do it. If we made the right moves, another person left, but we didn't make those right moves, but I still think the signing was fine. Uh, because let's face it, he hit 700 and three home runs for his career.
00:38:42
Speaker
did it as a St. Louis Cardinal went out at the, maybe at the top, maybe not the top of his game, but he went out playing like at least a version of the Albert we used to know. And that was more than well. Now people say, well, it was the only reason they wanted him back was like put fans in the seats. Well, yeah, okay, I'll give you that. But
00:39:09
Speaker
it worked and he did pay some dividends. So, you know, as much as, but I still think the bench, the bench was just not well thought out. Um, the third was shortstop. And I was a big advocate of getting a shortstop in the off season because there was a plenty of around. I mean, you had story and semen and Carrera and Baez and a couple others and
00:39:35
Speaker
I wasn't high on story, but like I said, I was, you know, like Marcus Seaman, I think he would have been a good one. Like Seager would have been a good one. Um, you know, but I just didn't, I didn't think they could go into the season with the young. And of course, I think everybody saw that and then we were right.
00:39:54
Speaker
They couldn't and they tried and it didn't work. So you end up with Tommy Edmond playing shortstop and I kind of like the Edmond Gorman or Edmond Donovan combination at short second. I really do. So I think if they can upgrade the outfield, upgrade catcher, they can leave Edmond alone, leave him at short and I think everything's going to work out fine.
00:40:20
Speaker
Now fourth was the experienced bullpen help. I think they needed that. I thought they needed that. I was a big, big behind getting a veteran like a Brad hand. Um, you know, it doesn't have to be somebody who's going to get you 30, 40 sayings, just somebody that is a, that is a veteran presence in that
Fan Reactions and Sportsmanship
00:40:42
Speaker
bullpen. Yes. You had Wayne Wright and Michael is who have,
00:40:45
Speaker
who probably have pitched out of the pen, but they are not bullpen guys, they're starters. You needed a experienced bullpen hand to help steady those young kids and they just didn't do it. And I think that's one thing they needed and I think they're still gonna need it. So I said, we're gonna get into it, I'll get into those down the road as far as,
00:41:11
Speaker
who what we gonna go after but one last thing on the whole fan thing yes you have the right to question critique and even get mad when things go wrong but spewing hate calling people players garbage or trash that's not cool or funny we can criticize and still have a little class guys I mean come on okay
00:41:38
Speaker
Alright, I'm going to climb down from the soapbox now, and I think we're going to go ahead and end here today. So thank you for joining me tonight, and like I say, I hope to get Russ on next week. Also, hockey season has started, so I'm going to try and get Guy Bensing back on to talk a little bit about hockey.
00:41:57
Speaker
So if you like the show, let me know. Go to the show's website, TalkingSports-OTB-GCS.OnPodium.com or on Twitter, at T-S-O-T-B-G-C-S. And tell your friends where the show can be found, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:42:23
Speaker
So long for now, until we see you again when we can be talking sports on the bleachers. See you soon, folks.
00:43:04
Speaker
Talking Sports on the Bleachers is a member of the Gateway City Sports Network. Have a great sports day, folks.