Introduction and Dedication
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey welcome my spot up here in the bleachers got a good show for you today And this show is gonna be dedicated to Kay and Lou Thomas They came in my store the other day and wanted a shout out so Kay and Lou There's a shout out to you from Don Glenn from Talking Sports on the bleachers so bring your favorite koozie bring your favorite seat cushion and
00:00:24
Speaker
We got some stuff in the cooler. We got some hot chocolate going. If you rather have that and the snacks are plentiful. So get on up here. Let's talk some sports. You got to get it done. This is gateway city sports. The rumors are true.
Show Introduction: Focus on Sports
00:00:46
Speaker
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. Grab a seat, top a cold one, and let's talk some sports. Gee, that sounds kind of interesting. Gentlemen, start your engines!
00:01:21
Speaker
Grown on the shotgun, here's the snap. Romo looking, dumps it off, breaks that. Interceptive! Interceptive! The goal line by Woodson! And there is your Gallagher! Rule for the widespread stance. Arms out over the place. Bickford from the threat. So 1-1-5. A play, and there it goes!
00:01:57
Speaker
It's $6.99 and $700 at Dodger Stadium on September 23, 2022. Playoffs? What are we talking about? Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? Are you crying? There's no crying! There's no crying, baseball!
00:02:29
Speaker
You don't understand I could have had class. I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody. Holy cow!
00:02:59
Speaker
Hey, dad? You wanna have a catch? I'd like that.
Cardinals' Off-Season Moves Discussion
00:03:17
Speaker
Well, welcome back to talking sports on the bleachers, a proud part of the gateway city sports network. If you're looking for articles and content and podcasts, check out gateway city sports.com. Hey folks, I have got some real treat for you tonight. Uh, we did this once and I'm going to do it again.
00:03:36
Speaker
Pop, mostly because people said I shouldn't do it. So I'll do it again. Anyway, uh, we've got a round table that we're discussing the Cardinals. And, uh, originally we planned this as what they were going to do in the off season, but now it's going to be a critique of what they are doing in the off season. And I have with me today, Matt Polly from Campbell X and the Cardinal radio network. How are you doing, Matt?
00:03:57
Speaker
I'm good. Thanks for having me. And my other guest is one you guys have heard on here before. Daniel Shopdahl from C70 and meet me at the musical. Howdy. How are you? Good. All right. Well, let's just dive right in. Um, you know, the, the, the, the, uh,
00:04:18
Speaker
The whole thing was, you know, Mozaillock said, I'm going to, we're going to get three starting pitchers either by trade or free agency. And I was one of the few doubters that said, well, maybe not a few, I don't know how many doubters were, but I was one of the doubters that said, I don't see him getting three free agent pitchers. I just, I just didn't see that at least starting pitchers.
Debate: Strategic or Forced Pitching Signings?
00:04:40
Speaker
And now I'm sitting there with egg on my face. So did he back himself in a corner and have to do this or are these,
00:04:48
Speaker
Legitimate signing. I mean gray probably is maybe the first are they legitimate science? He actually thought out about getting I'll go with Matt first on that
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think they kind of back themselves into a corner with the things that they said last year, but also their record and the way they played back themselves into a corner because Cardinal fans expect a lot more and clearly there was a need when it came to starting pitching. I think some Cardinals fans don't feel like they've done quite enough because you look at the bottom four in the rotation right now, whatever or you want to put him in with Lynn Gibson, Michaelis and Matt's and it feels like.
00:05:24
Speaker
You got a bunch of number three and number four guys. But they said that they needed pitching, pitching, pitching. They said they wanted to add three starting pitchers. Moselok actually kind of hedged that bet a little bit towards the end of the regular season and at the GM meetings when he said two and a half pitchers. But then he goes out and he gets three and they're going to cover innings.
00:05:45
Speaker
I don't know. This is not a rotation that I would want to see them taken to a postseason series because of the lack of top end talent outside of sunny gray. But at the same time, they are in much better shape right now than they were last year. And I think it also feels like a rotation that depending on what other teams in the central do, this could be certainly good enough for them to be at least a playoff team. What do you think, Dan?
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with. I think that I've always felt like this front office, when they go out and say a specific goal, they probably already have it in mind because they're going to do that. It's when they say, well, we're going to look about improving our team or a little bit more of the, uh, vagueness, then maybe nothing happens. But when they give you a goal, like three starting pitchers, I figured we'd see three starting pitchers. How the quality was always up for debate. And it still is. I think Matt's exactly right.
00:06:39
Speaker
You know, this is a rotation that is significantly better than last year, while also being a rotation that is dangerously close to last year.
Concerns: Rotation Depth and Playoff Impact
00:06:49
Speaker
Right. I mean, if something happened, heaven forbid to sunny gray, then we're in basically kind of in the same type of position we were last year. Um, you know, the floor, the floor is higher, but it's still not, uh, where.
00:07:02
Speaker
Like Matt said, it's not a playoff team or not a deep playoff team. It doesn't feel like, you know, things can change. And we have heard, you know, that, you know, there are three pitchers might turn into more. Maybe they will be going into the trade market or something like that. But, you know, at least for right now, Mo can say, Hey, mission accomplished. And they're a much better team than they were.
00:07:26
Speaker
Yeah. And, and I, I will say I, I was shocked and I kind of told you before the show, Dan, I was, I was shocked at the, actually at the Lynn signing. I, you know, I, yes, he's a guy that's always been coming in and can eat some innings for you. And I think part of the problem with the starting pitching last year is we basically overused the bullpen. Cause there's some of the starters like Matt's.
00:07:47
Speaker
Um, Wayne, Wayne, oh, at times couldn't go and liberator, you know, didn't make it past the fifth inning. I mean, it's so you, you overuse the bullpen. I think with some guys like, like a Lynn, like a Gibson who can eat the innings. That's going to help. Is it going to help us enough? Like you said, to be a championship playoff team. I don't know. The jury's got to be, they're going
Bullpen Struggles and Season Impact
00:08:10
Speaker
to have to come up with some good years. The jury's going to be out on that. And Michael is going to have to go back to 2018 for him.
00:08:15
Speaker
uh if that's going to be the case to me so
00:08:20
Speaker
My contention has always been that relief pitching was actually more of an issue than starting pitching last season. When they were blowing about half of the possible saves, if they blow 25% of their saves instead of 50% of their saves at the trade deadline, this is a team that's in contention still. And that trade deadline probably looks very different. And perhaps they do add some starting pitching. So I'm not trying to minimize the need for starting pitching.
00:08:48
Speaker
starting pitching absolutely was a very very necessary thing but to your point with the way the bullpen was used last year they blew so many games that they could have won last year is a very different season if that bullpen looks uh just uh
00:09:06
Speaker
significantly different, but they don't even have to be putting up. It didn't have to be a top bullpen in baseball. Even a even a 25% blown save rate is not very good, and if they would have had that at the deadline again, there wasn't a few games of the top of the division.
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah. That's a hundred percent true. Yeah. Um, and to that point, do you think, you know, we're, I, cause we're still hearing, uh, possible trade rumors with, uh, with cease with, uh, I've heard a couple for glass now. I've heard a couple for a couple of other guys. If there's any trades to be made for more starting pitching, do one of the five we now have go to the bullpen.
00:09:50
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, if, if they're still here, I mean, I think that's my, that's kind of my point. Are they, are they, are we going to use them to get that other picture or are we using the, just get the other picture and throw them in the bullpen? Oh, I figure, you know, we're, we're really looking at Steven Matt's here, right? Because my cyclist is not going to be going anywhere.
00:10:08
Speaker
and the other two, everybody else has just got side. So, yeah, I don't think Stephen Mass goes in a trade for a Dylan Steeves or a Tyler Glass. No, I just don't think that that's a piece that those kinds of guys are gonna want back. So I would say that,
Speculation: Trades for Pitching Depth
00:10:26
Speaker
I think that if you make a trade like that, I think there is a possibility that Mass just stays in your bullpen. If they make a trade for a higher,
00:10:36
Speaker
salary type of guy or if they continue to listen to me and still do the Yamamoto deal, then you're going to see probably Matt shipped out just for monetary savings and you get some sort of prospect back and you're not really too concerned with it. But yeah, I think that especially the C situation, which is not going to be as expensive, at least financially, that may be where you're keeping Matt's around as a little bit more depth.
00:11:03
Speaker
This might not be a popular opinion, but Stephen Matz is going to make $25 million over his last two years of the contract. When you look at his ceiling and what he's been when he's been at his best last year for the moment he went to the bullpen on and also then when he was back into the starting rotation, his numbers were really good. That's a small sample size.
00:11:26
Speaker
But if we get towards the end of the off season and there's so many teams out there that need multiple starting pitchers, if you do end up with a Yamamoto, with a Cease, with a Glass now, I don't think it's overly possible that any of those things are going to happen. But if they do, if they're able to work it out somehow, I think there's going to be a team out there that would take mats off your hands and would take most of that salary. Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, I agree. Because like you said.
00:11:57
Speaker
He had his moments last year when you look and he was what you need. He was what you needed. You know, he came in, he thought it was one game. Was it after the London series? He came in through seven innings. Probably. I don't think anybody threw seven innings in the first half of the year. Maybe the second half of the year. But yeah, and they asked him, what was the change? And he said that he actually credited the bullpen coach with
00:12:24
Speaker
And I just tell him, Hey, trust your stuff, do what you do, what you know, what you can do. And, you know, if he, like you said, if he can do that, then I got no problem with him at number five. Uh, but the other thing is also keeping him healthy. Yeah. I mean, you know, and that's one of the issues I have with, with glass. Now that people want to talk about getting glass now, you know, um, when the guy can pitch a couple of full seasons back to back, then I might be in on it, but.
00:12:51
Speaker
You know, if you're going to miss, if you're going to miss it for 10 or 15 games, 10 or 15 starts, I mean, I'm not sure that's a viable option. Yeah. I mean, go ahead, Matt. Well, the only point that I want to make is that, um, I don't think the Cardinals.
00:13:10
Speaker
I think most people can sit here and agree that they're not gonna trade Jordan Walker, they're not gonna trade Mason Wynn, and I don't think they should trade Nolan Gorman. So then you have guys like, you know, Team Kentz is a top 100 prospect in baseball. The only other cardinal that's a top 100 prospect is Mason Wynn.
00:13:29
Speaker
If the Dodgers want Dylan Cease and it's the Cardinals and the Dodgers contending against each other, the Dodgers, the Dodgers have a better. They got a ton of top 100 prospects and they can give them way a lot more easier than the Cardinals can, because if there's somebody who's going to be a big part of the Dodgers future and they have to trade them to make a move, they can always augmented free agency later. So I think it's really fun to talk about the idea of a Dylan Cease or a Tyler Glass now being a Cardinal.
00:13:57
Speaker
I'm not saying it's impossible, but from a practical standpoint, there are other pitching needy teams that are just positioned a lot better than the Cardinals to be able to pull off a trade like that.
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I think we would have to give up. We would, we wouldn't have, or we, we'd have to give up a lot more talent down in the, in, from the farm. Plus to compliment that we'd have to give up some major league ready stuff. We'd have to give some, some club pieces. Like I like, like you said, I don't think when Walker or Gorman are going anywhere, but then now you're talking Donovan, you're talking Newt Barr, you're talking, uh, uh, Edmund. So, you know, do, do, do they want to pull that trigger?
00:14:43
Speaker
I mean, that's, that's all fair. And I think that's a, that is true. I mean, there is, you know, there are some redundancies on this team with, with
Risk Analysis: Trading Offense for Pitching
00:14:50
Speaker
Burleson and things that people that might be intriguing, but you know, you're right. I mean, if it comes down to who's going to have the better package, Cardinals are not going to win that. Um, now we've seen in the past that it's not always about who has a better package, but who has the package that the other team likes, right? I mean,
00:15:08
Speaker
the Cardinals seem to have been asked for a lot more for Sean Murphy last offseason than what he actually went for. So, you know, it doesn't mean that the deal can't be made on a trade, but I agree that, you know, that's always an issue. And again, trading for a guy like Cease, you know, you do start to tap into that offense, and that offense was very good, but, you know, there's also a risk of, you know, knocking down one of the pins that's holding it together.
00:15:37
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. Uh, we'll get into each one of these pictures here in just a minute, right after we hear about buying a car. Hey folks, have you heard about stress free car buying? Well, you know, it's possible at fifth street motors located at 2044 Rose Lane in Pacific, Missouri. They want to make your car buying experience less stressful. They'll help you find the vehicle you need, no matter what brand.
00:16:08
Speaker
At Fistree Motors, they believe in giving you the absolute best price on a pre-owned vehicle that's going to fit your budget. Check out what stress-free car buying can be. Give Brandon or Don a call today at 573-259-1306. That's 573-259-1306. Check out stress-free car buying. And when you do, tell them Don Glenn from Talking Sports on the Bleacher sent you.
00:16:36
Speaker
All right, guys, we are back. I got, uh, Matt Polish from camo X radio and the Cardinal baseball network. And Daniel shopped off on me at the mutual and see 70 with me today. We're talking Cardinal baseball. We're talking what Mo has done at the trading deadline that I didn't think he would do.
Lance Lynn's Role in Pitching Lineup
00:16:51
Speaker
Uh, so he's made an, he's made a fool out of me, but let's take a look and break this down. We'll start with the first guy they signed, uh, Lance Lynn, uh, Dan, you and I talked about there. So I'm gonna let Matt get the first shot at Lance linear.
00:17:04
Speaker
He's a guy who's going to eat eggs, right? He's a guy who's going to come into the clubhouse and hold people accountable. I think that all three guys, for sure, one thing that I took note of at the end of the season, Oliver Marmel talked about having the right guys in the clubhouse. And I felt like there was
00:17:19
Speaker
He was inferring that maybe some of the guys in the clubhouse did not have the right makeup. And what we see right now with Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, Sonny Gray, three high character guys coming in. So in addition to being a guy who's going to go out there and handle a lot of innings last year between the Dodgers and White Sox, there was better than 180 innings. Admittedly, he's coming off.
00:17:39
Speaker
He's coming off arguably his worst season in baseball. He's coming off a year where he gave up a ton of home runs. He's probably due for a bounce backs, but how much of a bounce back at his age? That's the question. I'm pretty confident that he's going to pitch. I have a better season next year than he did this past season just because it was. He was so far off what he normally would do. He's coming into a ballpark that's going to better fit what he the way that he pitches. I don't think the home run ball is going to be quite this.
00:18:09
Speaker
home runs again is basically what I'm saying. At the same time, there are some numbers from last year that are startling. When the average against the 260, you look at the hard hit rate, you look at things like that, he's that guy who's got all the equipment and everything in his home and he's going to be working on stuff and you appreciate that.
00:18:30
Speaker
But to me, there's a lot more unknowns than knowns when it comes to Lynn because just basically the question is how much can he bounce back from his performance this past year?
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's, you know, again, the home run is going to be big. You know, he's, I think it looked up in his next highest was like 27 home runs, give it up. And that was back in 17 with the Cardinals. You know, if he's back in the, you know, 2021, 22 range, that's significant as well. Friend of mine, the co-host on gateway sent me a thing. He looked at, looked at Lynn's starts with the Dodgers and had about two blowups with the other nine.
00:19:11
Speaker
he gave up three or less earned runs and he's pitching five to seven innings so you know if you're getting i mean if you're getting quality starts out of land land i think you're you're feeling pretty good about it and there's a really good chance of that i thought it was a very interesting conversation that he and jim hayes had on the cat's new youtube show about.
00:19:29
Speaker
how you know players these days I guess if you want to put it that way we're swinging at a lot of like first pitches and and things that he would I think at times trying to set up a hitter and they're swinging at pictures that he didn't necessarily expect him to so he's talking about changing his approach and you know you put all that together in a situation where he's familiar he's comfortable he wants to be at
00:19:52
Speaker
probably does have that chip on his shoulder as Mo said in the presser that announced him. Yeah, I think that you can see a good bounce back. Sure, he's going into age 37 year and that's going to be a drag as well, but I don't think you see a 573 ERA like he had combined between the two teams last year. Yeah, I think
00:20:16
Speaker
know, where he was at last year and where he's going to be this year. I think it's two completely different scenarios for sure. And, you know, with him, I've always liked the idea that he could eat innings, that he was that guy that you could go out there and you knew for the most part, you're going to get, um, he's going to get you into the sixth at least.
00:20:38
Speaker
You know, uh, whether he goes a full six or not, it's another story, but he'll at least get you into the sixth inning. And it's going to be, you're going to stay close for the most part because a lot of his home runs are.
00:20:52
Speaker
thank God, or solo shots, or at least they used to be. I don't know. I don't, I didn't look at what he had this year for, for her home runs. I know he had to be a lot of them, but, um, 24 solo, 20, 20 with a man on. Okay. So again, yeah, he's going to give up, he gives up those solos, which is, you know, that's only one run.
Kyle Gibson's Reliability as a Signing
00:21:10
Speaker
Hopefully you can get that back if the offense is playing right. But yeah, I think he's going to be, I don't know. Do you put him at five or Matt's at five? I'm not.
00:21:20
Speaker
You know, at this, at this point, I'm not sure which ones, which ones are five, but, uh, like you can make the argument for anybody in any order after sunny gray, two, three, four, five. Like you choose out the numbers that you want to use to defend your point. Yeah. You can, uh, I, I can sit here and argue any pitcher in any order, uh, for those, those other guys. There's really not a lot of difference between any of them. Yeah, that's for sure.
00:21:44
Speaker
Uh, okay. Now the next one they signed was Kyle Gibson. Um, and like I said, I've, I, I kind of liked him a couple of years ago, but have we, I mean, did we wait too late to get him in as, or is there something there that we don't know about?
00:22:01
Speaker
I like the signing. In fact, if I'm going back to the you can put people in any order right now, I probably feel confident. My level of confidence is probably highest with Kyle Gibson compared to any of the other three pitchers at that back end.
00:22:17
Speaker
He goes out, he gives you at least six innings almost every time out. He had 19 games of six innings or more. When he pitches deep into games, he tends to have quality starts. I know he had the 4-7-3 ERA. I know he has the 2-70 average against. There are some numbers that don't look great. His strikeout numbers aren't great. The Cardinals wanted to add more swing and miss. They don't get that with Gibson, I understand.
00:22:39
Speaker
We're at a point in baseball right now where if you're not a swing and miss guy, you are playing with fire on every single night, especially when you've got a high average against. So for the people who don't love the Gibson signing, I get it. I just, this is a guy that, and I'm not an eye test guy at all. That's not one of my things. I think you look at the numbers and you look at all the numbers, but for whatever reason, Gibson's the guy that I feel like when he goes out there, he's really going to give you that chance to win.
00:23:09
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think it's very interesting that in Lance Lynn, we kind of replaced a little bit of the Adam Wainwright gravitas and the Adam Wainwright connection to the organization and the glory years and all that stuff. And then with Kyle Gibson, we kind of replaced Adam Wainwright's benevolence. Um, you know, he's the vice president of big league impact. He's got a lot of, uh, irons the fire. He's, you know,
00:23:36
Speaker
Wayne Wright was about like a mentor type with him. So it's probably fitting that it took two pitchers to replace Adam Wayne Wright in this organization. But yeah, I think Gibson's an interesting guy again. You know, you're right. As Matt was saying, none of the stringling actually led the American League and hits a lot. So that becomes an issue as well, especially if the Cardinal defense doesn't step up like we hope it will after a rough year.
00:24:05
Speaker
But again, a guy that goes out there gives you the innings and does it well enough that you're going to stay in the ballgame. And yeah, I'm interested to see him out there and see how that adapts a guy that, again,
00:24:21
Speaker
much like like all three of these guys, right? This is which very interesting to hear this throughout everybody that really, really wanted to be in St. Louis that had really asked, you know, kind of made it a point to come to St. Louis and been wanting to come to St. Louis for a while. So it's very interesting that, you know, St. Louis is still that destination, at least for some pictures and some players, and it's going to be fun to see those kind of guys respond to the environment that they've been looking for.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that that cannot be understated. You know, if a, if a player is going to want to play in front of a certain fan base or in a certain locality, he, I think the fans react to that when they, when they hear that, when they say, you know, they, they see that. I think that's how Wilson Contreras got a lot of, uh, uh,
00:25:15
Speaker
fence sitters onto his side was, you know, his attitude about St. Louis, you know, he wasn't coming here to replace Yachty. He was coming here to be a part of the St. Louis Cardinals. And, you know, I think when you got players doing that and saying things like that, I said, it does make it more palatable, even if the numbers may not add up to everybody's specifications.
00:25:38
Speaker
You know, for me, I think something that's important is when you're on social media, everybody's a cynic. There's cynicism everywhere. For me, hosting post game shows after games. Tell you what, when the Cardinals win, we don't get a whole lot of phone calls. When they lose, we get a ton.
00:25:55
Speaker
So that tells you about the type of people and the attitudes that I'm talking to. And not that there's anything wrong with that, but sometimes when you're around it, like I'm on social media all the time, I'm talking to those people after every single game, you sort of forget things. And I thought, especially with the Sunny Gray press conference, I did think it was important for everybody to be reminded, even coming off
00:26:17
Speaker
Absolutely miserable season even coming off a period of years where the Cardinals even when they've got to the postseason They've done absolutely nothing in the postseason When when Gray was asked about the worry about that it was it was not a worry forum whatsoever it was just kind of a flash in the pan just a momentary thing that happened and there's this overall belief that the Cardinals are the Cardinals and
00:26:39
Speaker
and they're gonna be fine now obviously the organization has to follow up by putting together a roster that allows them to do that things uh those things but it may when we were going through the thing this past year where some cardinals fans were saying you know boycott games because of what the cardinals were doing i never liked that for two reasons the first reason is
00:26:59
Speaker
going to a game at Busch Stadium, no matter what's happening is pretty awesome. And I think about me growing up and going to games and they didn't always have winning years. And Mike, my love for baseball came from going to those games. But the other thing is you can impact other players. And Sonny Gray came into St. Louis a lot. He came into St. Louis with the Twins in August of last year. And even that, I mean, he wants to play in front of these fans and the crowd.
00:27:25
Speaker
Sometimes we make a little bit too much of best fans in baseball and baseball heaven and all that sort of stuff. And I get it. But as me, somebody who sat and worked in Milwaukee for six years doing Brewers post game, I think Brewers fans are fantastic baseball fans, but they're not Cardinals fans. And there's very few places that draw the kind of fans that we have in St. Louis. And that still matters. It doesn't matter as much as money. It doesn't matter as the opportunity to be your best self, but it does matter.
00:27:54
Speaker
for people when they're deciding where they want to play? Oh, I'm sure I guaranteed. I mean, you know, like I said, like I said, if you look at, if you look at, and everybody does that, you know, they've, you talk to different players or your interviews, they would be different players. And, you know, when they ask about St. Louis, it's always when people always say, Oh, it's one of my favorite ballparks to play in. It's one of my, you know, the fans are great.
00:28:18
Speaker
I'm like you, I was very happy to see at least Sonny make those comments and and Lynn seem very positive about coming back. So, you know, I think I think that's going to play. I think it's going to play well. We'll just see how it goes. You bring up Sonny Gray. So he's next up on the list. I notice people and you bring up social media and there's a really good point for that.
Sonny Gray: Lead Pitcher Expectations
00:28:41
Speaker
I got I see a lot of people saying we still need a number one.
00:28:47
Speaker
Okay. Granted, there are better pictures out there than sunny gray. I'm not saying he's the be all end all, but when has the runner up to the Cy Young not been a number one? So from my perspective here, I.
00:29:03
Speaker
I like sunny gray a lot. I have no problem with sunny gray being at the top of the rotation. I think the Cardinals could use two top level pitchers and you know, we get stuck on these numbers sometimes or your number one or your number two. I think for me, I think the Cardinals fans are maybe sunny gray is not the classic
00:29:21
Speaker
give you seven, give you eight, get three times through the order type of guy. He really, you look at as great as his numbers were. And again, I really like the signing. I'm not, I feel like I'm being negative on him and I'm not. I think it's a, he's a fantastic fit, but he does that bulldog ace that really doesn't exist much anymore in baseball. Those are few and far between. He's not really that guy and that's okay. But I think that's where some Cardinals fans are pushing back a little bit.
00:29:51
Speaker
Okay. Fair enough. It's also just a reaction to everything, right? I mean, it's that idea that, okay, the Cardinals have done all three. And if, I guess in a normal year, if you go get out and get a sunny gray, that's great. But the fact that there was such a hole and that the, the first two shovels of dirt into it where Lynn and Gibson, that it made you feel like it really needed to be over the top to make this rotation.
00:30:20
Speaker
extra strong and great. Again, it's great in a guy that is going to be better than the best pitcher on a number of teams. But when you factor that in with everything else, I think there is just that feeling that it just doesn't go as far as it should. Some of that then becomes a backlash on him.
00:30:42
Speaker
Well, yeah, and that's true. And like I said, you know, it's not like I'm saying that gray is the best that we can get out there because, you know, like you talk about Yamamoto, Snell is still out there. We've already talked about Cease. You know, there's a number of pictures they could get that are probably better than Sonny Gray at this point. But, you know, I think
00:31:04
Speaker
Whether you put him at the, at the, at the number one slot, or if you find somebody else and he dropped to a number two, he's still one of, he's still a pitcher. You need it at the top of that rotation. It's going to go out and get you, get you innings, get you wins, uh, come up with an attitude that he wants to be out there pitching. Um.
00:31:26
Speaker
and I think that's gonna speak volumes. Like I said, now whether we end up getting a second guide to go to the top of that rotation or whether we have to settle for, and I say settle for, because I do think Michael, this is a borderline two, more of a three than a two, but if we do have to settle for Michael, this is a number two. I'm okay with that, but if it comes down to when we get to the midway point in the season,
00:31:53
Speaker
And we're in command or we're close. Mo better start looking at what the playoffs are going to look like and make a change. Fair enough. Yeah. And you go back two years ago, Jordan, Montgomery and Jose Cantona. And I think we sometimes look at that with revisionist history. Montgomery now is not the guy he was when, when they acquired him. Uh, but that was obviously a solid acquisition.
00:32:17
Speaker
Kentana ends up being your playoff starter in the first game that year, although I think even if you put Kentana into this rotation, you would still just kind of lump them in with the other four. It's tough. It's tough to go add high-end top-level starting pitching. That is one of the most challenging things to do as a baseball executive.
00:32:35
Speaker
And especially, you know, if you're trying to think about, okay, we're going to tread water and, and again, this is where the Cardinals have run into problems before, right? This idea that we'll do enough that we'll be okay. And then we get to the trade deadline and we'll, you know, make a move then, you know, you never know what team's going to be actually contending. You don't know what's going to be actually on the market.
00:32:58
Speaker
And getting a, you know, getting any kind of pitching at that time of the year is difficult. And we saw that on the other side, right? The Cardinals got a pretty good haul for Jordan Montgomery this past year. You can, you know, it costs to get pitching at that time. So, you know, I'd like to think that they would, you know, kind of maybe learn a little bit and are going to try to get that a little bit deeper than going into the season.
00:33:23
Speaker
I mean, I heard Mo say a lot about there's a lot of time between now and next year's trading deadline. And it kind of feels like that's still in their mindset that they can just add on later on.
Call for High-Leverage Bullpen Additions
00:33:34
Speaker
Yeah, and I don't know why, but that's some somehow that that scares me. Hey, we'll be right back. We'll do some more pitching talking here in in a couple of minutes. And we'll see you on the other side of the Wiley Group.
00:33:52
Speaker
Hello folks, I want to talk about protection. We all know how important it is to stay protected. Just like a quarterback needs to stay protected in the pocket, you need to have the things in your life protected. Because as we all know, life will throw you that curveball sometimes. That's why you need Allstate. Wiley Group has two locations in Festus and Arnold to serve you. They offer home, auto, boat, motorcycle, business, life insurance, investments, and much more.
00:34:16
Speaker
They offer a customized approach that's unique to your situation to make sure you, your family, and assets are popular protected. They also offer great rates and savings. Give Sean and his team a call today, 636-764-6294. They'll help you with an insurance quote right over the phone because that's how they roll. That number again is 636-764-6294. Even give them a call if you just want to talk sports because they hear they do that too.
00:34:42
Speaker
Hey, with work, and school, kids, and everything, we have busy lives. So you can email Sean. Sean Wylie at Allstate.com. That's S-E-A-N-W-I-L-E-Y at Allstate.com. Talk to him about your coverage options, and remember, you're in good hands with Allstate. All right, and we are back with Matt, Paulie, and Daniel Shaw. We've talked about the three pictures that St. Louis has acquired in sunny gray. Lance, Lynn, and Kyle Gibson.
00:35:12
Speaker
Um, and we've talked a little bit about the rotation and, and I get it. And then we all know that we've got one, one top end and four guys that you can pick them out of a hat for their, for how they fill in the rotation. Um, to a certain extent, but, and you guys have mentioned it, you know, we've gotten into trouble the last couple of years with not having the depth in that starting pitching and we've got five.
00:35:40
Speaker
that are, you know, I use it a decent enough, probably should be able to win the central. Somebody goes down. Now, like I said, and if it's sunny gray, we know we're in trouble, but if somebody goes down, somebody else say Michaels goes down or we lose two, like we have the last couple of years, you know, the first part of the season, do we, do we have depth to make that up? Or is that something they may be still looking for?
00:36:05
Speaker
No, I don't think the depth is there. And especially if sunny gray goes down, because you just don't have any other high end starting pitching now. Are there some young players that are interesting coming up? Sure. Can Zach Thompson take another step forward? I don't even talk about Matthew Liberator in this spot. I really think the Cardinals are all in on him being a reliever moving forward. So as it is right now, you would think that Thompson is kind of that number six guy.
00:36:35
Speaker
But I think it's all about if gray goes down, then you're in trouble.
00:36:40
Speaker
If you've got gray and no team makes the playoffs or doesn't make the playoffs based off who their fifth starter is That's why you know even going to this offseason when the Cardinals are talking about three starters I didn't think it was actually that important that they got three now that they've done it It's nice that they did it But I wanted to see them make sure to get to and whoever your fifth starter is or whatever Collection of pitchers your fifth starter is those guys aren't going to be part of what you're doing generally in the postseason your
00:37:07
Speaker
You just want a guy who's going to be able to give you five. So I'm you could be worried about the depth if the number six or number seven starter and all of a sudden is trying to fill in for a sunny gray. But I think of a Miles Michaelis or Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson goes down and you're relying on one of those pieces for a short amount of time. I don't think it's going to be that much of a drop off.
00:37:29
Speaker
Fair enough. What's your thoughts, Daniel? I mean, yeah, that, that does make sense. And I get that, um, still, you can tell you're allowed to totally disagree with, no, no, I hadn't really thought about it in that, in those terms. So I get what that, that makes sense to me. Um, but it is, I mean, it still feels like it's more than that, right? I mean, you're right. There's only, you know, especially if you're talking about.
00:37:55
Speaker
You know, four or five, six starts, you know, if somebody's not out for the whole season, you know, if somebody comes to camp and can't move their arms, then that might be a little bit of a different story, I guess. But, um, yeah, I mean, for talking four or five starts is probably not a huge issue because there are arms to, to fill that in. We're not talking.
00:38:13
Speaker
We're not talking about the role Ramirez is of the world. Like we have in the, in the past, or even having to pull up a drew wrong from last year. Um, you've got guys like Thompson, you know, if it's late in the season, you may even look at a Tacoma Roby, depending on how that season goes, um, to fill those spots. I think it's always more comfortable as fans to have established, you know, depth that, you know,
00:38:41
Speaker
probably will be fine, but you know, you don't know anything when it comes to baseball either. So that's just the way it is. I mean, just, you may, and the Cardinals have thought they've had debt before, and then all of a sudden they're, they're using their 12th starter in the, in the system. So you just never know. We hinted on the relief pitching earlier in the first segment, and I want to kind of circle back to that.
00:39:01
Speaker
Um, I don't know how you guys feel about it. I think if Mo doesn't make it with the front office, let's, let's put it that way. Does not make a move towards securing some type of stabilization for the bullpen. Since you don't have a Hicks and we don't know if he's coming back or not. And they may be, they may offer him. They may not, who knows you've pretty much only got right now, Romero Thompson, Helsley.
00:39:29
Speaker
And, um, Guy Gagos, um, I'm not sure that instills a lot of confidence in me. I mean, cause Palente now, maybe, maybe he had an outlier of a bad year last year. I don't know, but it just seemed like he couldn't get it, get it going. Libertor as a reliever that intrigues me. I think I'd like to see that because it was clear. He, he, I don't think he's a major league ready starter. He may never be.
00:39:57
Speaker
Um, but after that, where do we go? I'm not a hot take guy, but this is going to be the closest thing you get to it. They, they need, they absolutely need to bring in two legit high leverage relief pitchers. You got to have a group that can put the seventh eighth and ninth inning on lockdown when you're leading by one, two, three runs. And they did not have that last year.
00:40:20
Speaker
And you can't rely. I like Ryan Halsey. Obviously he's a strikeout guy. He's a below guy. All things that I that I appreciate. He doesn't pitch every day. I was encouraged by his willingness to pitch him back to back days once he came back from the injury list this past season, but that's not really.
00:40:37
Speaker
his mo there's just going to be days that he's not available so at minimum you need two guys that you feel very comfortable with in leverage and you kind of have a plan for the seventh eighth and ninth and i'm not putting i i loved what jojo remaro did with this team this past year but
00:40:55
Speaker
There are a lot of guys who have moments, and then they don't follow that up. I'm a track record guy, and Romero doesn't have the track record. If you add those two guys, and then you get to spring, and turns out everything that Romero did last year was totally legit, that's great. You're going to find spots for them. You're going to find innings for them. You're going to find important moments for them. But this team, 100%, absolutely without a doubt, needs to find a way, whether it's via free agency or whether it's via trade, they got to go.
00:41:23
Speaker
find legit dudes that they can use on the back end of the games. But on the flip side of that, I mean, you're I mean, yeah, it depends if I don't know what guy I guess is going to bury. I mean, they said he was tipping pictures and he's figured it out. I will wait and see for that. But I do worry about the fact that this cardinal front office especially has had a pretty good track record of
00:41:49
Speaker
terrible moves on the free agent market when it comes to relievers and you know and occasionally they've been able to pick up a guy that you didn't expect and they would come into something but I do worry about them going out and overextending
Concerns Over Bullpen Overinvestment
00:42:04
Speaker
themselves on you know relievers are always so volatile anyway because partly because of the small sample sizes we get right you're looking at guys that pitch
00:42:13
Speaker
40, 50, 60 innings sometimes on a year. And, you know, one or two bad outings could be there or, you know, you get through a year without anything and you look great. And the next year you come to camp and all that catches up. So I, you know, it's, it's always felt a little bit dangerous to stock a lot of money into that bullpen. That being said, if they can find, they, they, you're not finding guys that, you know, are reliable.
00:42:38
Speaker
And usually what liable means, you know, guys that can throw a hundred miles an hour and strike people out these days would be very, very preferable. And figuring those out is difficult and maybe a bridge too far.
00:42:54
Speaker
And I'm not saying go sign Josh Hader and they're not going to do that. That's not the kind of money that they're going to spend. But there are relief pitchers out there who have been pretty reliable for a while. And you know what? If it blows up in your face, well, sometimes that's the cost of doing business. People talked about that with Yamamoto.
00:43:11
Speaker
I 100% believe that Yamamoto is going to be a really good major league pitcher for a long time, but he's never done it over here. So there's some level of risk there. That's that's part of what you get into. So I just it cannot be a repeat of next year of last year when it comes to the bullpen where you just didn't have a whole lot of reliable pieces on the back end.
00:43:31
Speaker
I agree. I agree. I mean, uh, it seemed like we kept, uh, we had a revolving door at the, in the seventh eighth ninth, who was pitching and, you know, maybe some of that was marble. Maybe some of that was those are most of that was probably the talent level he had back there. Um, but yeah, I agree with you. That's why I got about posing. The question is, you know, who, and you know, you said we don't go out and sign Josh Hader. I agree. I don't think they'll pay that kind of money, but.
00:43:57
Speaker
Is there a trade market we can get into for a relief pitcher and who might be willing to offer one up that we, that's, that they don't already have in their system. That's going to be the part that I think is going to be very tricky for Moda handle.
00:44:10
Speaker
I think they should just win every game by five or more runs and not have to worry about it. Well, there you go. I can agree with that. Oh, that's, that's good. Um, okay. Let's think we'll take a quick look here. Um, I tell you, let's do, let's do one, one more quick break and then we will come back and we'll, uh, we'll see what, what the future holds for the winter meetings.
00:44:35
Speaker
Hydration Multiplication. That's what you get from the number one powdered sports drink in America. It's called Liquid IV and delivers two times faster hydration in water and three times the electrolytes of traditional sports drinks. It uses cellular transport technology designed to deliver more rapid absorption into the body. It also delivers key vitamins like B3, B5, B6, B12, and vitamin C. It's non-GMO, contains no soy or dairy, and gluten-free.
00:45:01
Speaker
It comes in a variety of formulas. There's an electrolyte replacement formula I have used when working out in the yard and energy hydration formula for those times they need a little pick me up. Immune boosting formula that I use daily. It also has a kombucha blend for dietary health and have a formula for better sleep through hydration. They have a multitude of flavors. I'm partial to golden cherry, azu pineapple and strawberry lemonade. They all taste very light, refreshing, no aftertaste. They also have other flavors like lemon lime and even piรฑa colada.
00:45:31
Speaker
It also comes in sugar free and that uses an amino acid blend instead of an artificial sweetener that comes in lemon lime, green grape and white peach.
00:45:39
Speaker
There's also hydration for kids with Concord Grape, Crisp Apple, Tropical Punch, Banana, and Cotton Candy. Liquid IVs conveniently packaged in individual pouches or sticks so you can take them literally anywhere, the beach, the gym, the office or school, even on an airplane. Did you know that humidity in an airplane is 5-12% less than the Sahara Desert? So long flights get you dehydrated.
00:46:02
Speaker
that leads to jet lag. Coffee, tea, that doesn't help. Ask for a bottle of water, drop in the contents of a packet, shake it up, and say goodbye to jet lag. Liquid IV also cares about the world we live in, so they resource sustainable materials from family farms, they use 100% recycled materials in their packaging, and are provided grants to help expand access to clean and abundant water in other countries.
00:46:25
Speaker
So go right now to liquidiv.com. Use the code GCS at checkout to get 20% off. You can also shop better hydration by using my special link zen.ai slash talking sports on the bleachers and get 20% off anything you buy. Check out hydration multiplication. Try Liquid IV. Go to liquidiv.com and use the promo code GCS at checkout.
00:46:54
Speaker
Okay. I'm back with Matt Paulie and Daniel Shopton. We are talking about Cardinal baseball more in lines of the pitching and what we've added in his free agent market. The winter meetings start tomorrow. Well, I guess that's official opening. They were part of, won't officially have any actions on Monday, but, um,
Winter Meetings: Trade Speculations
00:47:13
Speaker
What are we looking for since we've already got three guys signed? What do you think the Cardinals are gonna look at any position players to maybe be able so they can maybe trade a O'Neill Carlson. Those are two names that have been mentioned very heavily as far as people, fans on social media wanting to trade. Do they look at trading some of what they picked up last year? Are those trade pieces they can use for
00:47:41
Speaker
You know, maybe hire minor league guys, or maybe add something to get something. Um, what's your guys is feeling on, on which way they, they take the winter means, or do they just sit back and watch as someone who's going to be there? I hope there's a lot that's going on because I hope I get to be reporting on a fair amount of things. Um, but I.
00:48:04
Speaker
I don't know how to answer your question. If they wouldn't have signed these three pitchers, I think it would have been a very active winter meeting. Now it's almost like what's going to come to them. I don't know how aggressive they're going to be. Overall this offseason, I think they trade Tyler O'Neill and I think there is a legitimate opportunity for them to trade
00:48:26
Speaker
Tyler O'Neill and Dylan Carlson. I think both those guys could be gone. But how much do you really get? It was an interesting decision to tender O'Neill because you're putting yourself on the line for 10 plus million dollars. If you don't get a deal done, there has to be some sort of confidence out there that the team out there is going to be willing to take on that 10 million dollars and give you something back for him that was worth you tendering him
00:48:52
Speaker
uh in in the first place i don't think they do that i just i don't think they i think this roster doesn't really i don't think it fits with both oniego and carlson when they do everything that i think that they want to do this season so yeah i think one of those two guys could get traded here in the winter meetings and
00:49:11
Speaker
Beyond that, I don't know. It's just it's hard for me to. I'm kind of rambling here because I don't know what this is going to look like. This is a week ago or a week and a half ago. This looks like it might be one of the most active winter meetings ever for the Cardinals, and now you're just not really sure what it actually is going to end up being.
00:49:27
Speaker
I think Matt's probably going to be able to get some sleep while he's there, unfortunately. Again, you look at the pitching market, we've talked a lot about this trading and stuff, but if reports are right, Yamamoto doesn't say he's not going to sign it until
00:49:45
Speaker
like after the winter meetings, sometime maybe, you know, next week. Well, that probably puts a hold on things, right? You know, smell probably doesn't sign into young motor guys. You don't trade a glass, no, and cease until those guys are off the market and see what you're on. So I think that a lot of the pitching that we've been talking about through this show doesn't happen this week. You know, yeah, Tyler O'Neill, some of those guys that are possible to trade, maybe they go this week, you know,
00:50:14
Speaker
maybe they don't I don't know I think yeah I don't see how really be very surprised if Tyler O'Neill is back on the roster this you know in Jupiter. I do wonder if they keep Carlson with the idea that Edmond might have to play some short just in case Mason Wynn's not completely ready or needs you know needs that kind of backup. So I you know I think there is some redundancy that they do need to clear off and but those are trades that don't necessarily
00:50:40
Speaker
you know really move the needle necessarily either and so could they happen at the winter meeting each yes could they happen you know january fifth i think that's just as as likely so i you know again you've got the draft lottery that that part will be exciting for sure because the cardinals will find out where they get to draft next year but i wish just to guess i have a feeling there'll be a lot of rumors and a lot of speculation but i don't know there'll be a whole lot of fire for that smoke
00:51:07
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with the both of you that I've said it since beginning or middle of last year that I thought Tyler should have been traded at the deadline. I thought they had an option to get rid of him at the deadline. But he may have been injured at the time, so it may not have been possible. But no, I don't think he comes back. I don't know whether Carlson, I keep going back and forth on Carlson.
00:51:34
Speaker
I look at him and like, okay, he can do this. We know we, we can, but does he will, I just don't know with him what you do with him. Uh, because when it looks like he's coming out of it, he gets hurt. And when he's healthy, he's playing like he doesn't know how to play the game. So I don't know what to do with, with, with, with the Dylan Carlson. And I'm not sure who really wants to take the chance on him at this point. He's still young and he's still got quite a ceiling to go, but it's just a matter of getting into, put it together, I think.
Mason Wynn as Starting Shortstop
00:52:03
Speaker
I'd be perfectly comfortable if this team opened up spring with an outfield group that included Jordan Walker, Lars Knutbarr, Alec Burrelson, Richie Palacios, and Tommy Edvin. I would too. I think that's a pretty decent outfield to go. And I do agree that I don't think you're going to see much in the way of Cardinals being aggressive traders or active partners in the winter meetings.
00:52:30
Speaker
But I do say if somebody comes to them and says, what do you want for O'Neill? And then maybe most starts massaging the feelings and say, well, here, we can throw this guy in besides and you can have our number, this and it, but you got to give us the value of a top end bullpen guy, something like that. I, you know, maybe that happens. Maybe it doesn't.
00:52:51
Speaker
Um, like I said, we're in an uncharted territory that the Cardinals haven't done in a long time and that's make, make some hay before the meetings even start. Uh, usually they're the last team to do anything at the winter meetings. So, or at least the last couple of years have been that way. Um, so yeah, I don't know. I don't know which way we go with that.
00:53:09
Speaker
How and when we come up with that roster in the spring, we know Wilson Contreras is going to be, what's he, what's his position? Is he going to be catcher or is he going to be a part-time catcher and part-time DH? What are you going to do with that? What are you going to do with, like you said, Edmund, if wind doesn't hit real well, can Edmund, you put Edmund back in it short, but when on the bench, do you send wind back down?
00:53:33
Speaker
I mean, there's so many variables that you can look at of what can and what what might happen. You know, I kind of in this way, I feel sorry for Mo, if that's even possible. Luckily, those are a lot of those questions will get answered in spring as far as Wilson Contreras goes, I just.
00:53:48
Speaker
He's he's your catcher. He's got to get a little better defensively They got it. Hopefully yada your Molina's presence in the organization helps with that But I I'm starting him behind the plate 90 to a hundred times giving him 20 30 games as the DH in addition to that It looks like Herrera is gonna be the backup So obviously you want him to play a fair amount so it's not gonna be one of these situations Where you're starting catcher is starting 120 130 games behind the plate the Contreras has never been that guy anyways, but he is your number one and
00:54:18
Speaker
Uh, we saw, especially in the final two months of the season this past year, the offensive force that he can be. What about Mason? When I think he's going to come out of spring training, unless he just totally blows it, he'll come out of spring training as a starting shortstop. But do we draw any conclusion from his small sample size last year of his ability to hit at the major league level?
00:54:39
Speaker
I don't think I can be unbiased about Mason Wynn just because I think he may be my favorite player, at least one coming up. And he, you know, as a guy that grew up in the Ozzy Smith era, you know, to have a flashy shortstop is, you know, hits all the fields. But I don't think you can take a lot from what he did at the end of last year. He typically, as far as I know,
00:55:02
Speaker
You know, and showed that a little bit last year at Memphis, you know, he's a bit of a slow start get adjusted the league. In fact, that's one of the reasons I think the Cardinals brought him up last year is to kind of get some of those things out of the way. And so hopefully that he'll come and start fairly fresh coming this year and having that kind of stuff under his belt.
00:55:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, is he going to be, you know, a huge offensive force to start with? I don't know about that. But, you know, I think he's going to have enough, enough offense and the defense put together.
Debate on Jordan Walker's Position
00:55:32
Speaker
I mean, there's a reason that the club kept his rookie year eligibility. And I think that's, you know, they have high hopes for him. And I think that there's a good chance that he'll meet him.
00:55:44
Speaker
He can't, he can't hit a, yeah, he can't hit a buck 72 like you did. If you did that, you're probably sending, if he does that for the first month of the season, you're probably sending him back to AAA and Tommy Edmonds going to have to play some shortstop, but there's no reason to believe that he's going to do that. As just mentioned, this is a guy who his track record is every time he gets to a new level, it takes him a month or so to kind of adjust offensively. And then he takes off from there. So I agree 100% with what was just said. There's, I don't think you take much away from
00:56:13
Speaker
Uh, what he did just other than knowing that he's got some big league experience and that's going to be good for him going into this season. Yeah, I think that's true. I mean, he was, that was just to get his feet wet last year. The Cardinals knew they weren't going anywhere. So using that last month to give him the opportunity to, to, to like you said, experience the, the major leagues and then have a pretty decent head up for next year.
00:56:39
Speaker
I want to shift a little to Jordan Walker because there's been a lot of, and I've seen it just in the last few days, a lot of people want to move Goldie and put Walker at first base. Uh, have we, I mean, the strides he made on the outfield last year, they weren't huge, but you could see progress in what he was doing. Uh, definitely better than he was at the start of the year for by a long shot. Uh, have we all, I.
00:57:05
Speaker
Are we already giving up on him as an outfielder or are we, are, are we giving up on Goldie as being viable? Which one is the case? I'm fine with Walker being at first base. If and when Paul Goldsmith, you know, Goldsmith's going to be a free agent in 2025. If Walker's long-term position is at first base, that's fine. Goldsmith's on pace. Probably have a bounce back season this year. What he, what he did this past season is not going to be something that he does again, but it was a good, this is one of the things that really challenged me this past year was
00:57:34
Speaker
I would get phone calls on the post game show and people would want Goldschmidt and Aronado benched for other players and say, yeah, okay, so their numbers that they're putting up are not as good as what they historically put up Goldschmidt coming off an MVP season, but they weren't putting up bad numbers. They were fine. So I don't move Goldschmidt. I give Walker at least another year in the outfield. He's never going to be a gold glover out there.
00:58:02
Speaker
You just want him to get to a point where he's not going to embarrass himself. And he's putting in a ton of work. He's put in a ton of work with Willie McGee once he, you know, all season long last year. So I don't, I don't buy the dump Goldschmidt and I don't buy the move Walker to first right away thing.
00:58:19
Speaker
No, I mean, if I remember right, that by the end of the year, you know, like for August, uh, Walker's outs above average was positive. I mean, he was trending in the right direction all year
Paul Goldschmidt's Contract Extension Speculation
00:58:29
Speaker
long. And we saw that you can see that, you know, as you watched him, uh, I think Goldschmidt, you know, the Cardinals have almost a tradition of giving out an extension in spring training. I think Goldschmidt very likely could be the guy that gets that at this coming year.
00:58:43
Speaker
like getting for a couple of years, because there's a lot of desire for legacy. We know that about the Cardinals, and I think they would prefer that that Paul Goldschmidt retired as a Cardinal. But, you know, no guarantees on that, of course. And if that's the case that are, you know, they're wanting to run that risk, Walker could always move to first or, you know, Alec Burleson could move to first or something of that nature. But, yeah, for 2024, especially, you know, Goldschmidt's there all year long and Walker's in the outfield, and I don't think there's a problem with that.
00:59:13
Speaker
All right. I'm going to ask you guys, uh, we've talked about a lot. What's your guys's final thoughts on this? So we'll, uh, you know, we'll kind of go take it as you want and we can hit the pitching again or whatever, but, uh, Matt, we'll start with you. What's your final thoughts on what they've done so far and where do you see them going from here and your outlook for next season?
00:59:34
Speaker
Really good start. They they've covered a lot of innings out of the ball from the rotation that's going to make the bullpen better. I do as I mentioned earlier. I think it's important that they add to the bullpen and I think it's also important that they kind of
00:59:49
Speaker
some of the mush that's there. The the the outfield situation has to be cleaned up. Tyler Neal is the most likely guy to get moved, but Carlson could could be as well. But this is this is a good start. The Cardinals have had as good of a start to the offseason as any team in baseball.
01:00:06
Speaker
Okay, Daniel, I will agree with Matt and then I will just get on my soapbox and say that, you know, young moto is a historic opportunity and the Cardinals really need to take advantage of that and, and I think they still can I mean, yeah, finances, this possible but I still think
Building Around Young Core for Success
01:00:24
Speaker
There's a long, there's a, there's a play there that they should be involved in and whether they are or not, I don't know. I feel like they're probably not going to be, but, uh, until he signs somewhere else, I'm staying on that hobby horse. I see. I get you. Yeah. Well, I think for me, I'm going to say, yes, it was, it, it has been a good start. I would have liked to have seen, um, you know, maybe, uh, a bigger splash.
01:00:46
Speaker
Uh, but for what they got, like, like Madison said, you know, you're eating a lot of innings. You're going to help the bullpen in that respect. I do agree. Also, we need to get some bullpen help. Um, clearing up what we've got in the mess. I think you start with a young core and you've got that core. You've got Gorman, you've got wind, you've got Walker, you've got Newt Barr to meet, to me. Uh, he's part of that young core.
01:01:10
Speaker
And I think that's the core you build around. You're not saying you don't keep an aeronaut or you don't keep gold. Yeah, you keep those guys. But I mean, as we're moving forward, we're looking, I would be looking at supporting those pieces. And if that means moving a Tyler O'Neill, a Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson, fine, then they go.
01:01:31
Speaker
Um, you know, I'm happy with that. Um, but I do think they need to concentrate on what their core is going to be. And I think that core is in that younger group. And so we'll see how it all pans out and we'll kind of go from there. So guys, I really want to thank you for coming. I know it was a, it was a, it was a screwed up mess trying to get this deal put together.
01:01:52
Speaker
But, um, glad you guys were able to make it on and we'll definitely have to hit, uh, maybe a spring training round table here, or maybe even, uh, maybe sometime in January to kind of digest what the winter meetings and everything that followed after it. But we'll, we'll work on that for the future for sure. So Matt, uh, where can, uh, where can fans find you besides KMOX?
01:02:12
Speaker
Yes, so at Mapauli on air on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
New Season Announcement on Cardinal Radio
01:02:18
Speaker
And yes, hopefully for folks who are paying attention to what's going on at the winter meetings, we'll be there. KMLX will be certainly on top of it in the Cardinal Radio Network. We've got our first Countdown to Opening Day show that I do with Mike Claiborne every week. This week, that show across the network.
01:02:33
Speaker
If there's live on your local station, it's going to be on Thursday nights. A lot of stations are maybe on the weekend or something, so check with them. But yeah, Cardinal Radio Network starts our weekly countdown to opening day show this week. Cool, cool.
01:02:47
Speaker
Daniel, uh, at C 70 on Twitter, cause I'm old and I'm not going to call it anything else. Um, you can find me, uh, you know, the, the podcast meet me at mutual gay way to baseball heaven. Pretty much anywhere you find podcasts, uh, Cardinal 70 dot sub stack.com has got the, and then there's also, uh, cards.com has, has some writings is there just at the exit interviews series where we wrote about every player. So.
01:03:12
Speaker
Um, yeah, you'll find me if you need me. Okay. That sounds good. Hey, and as for me, you can always look for me on the Twitter slash X, whatever you want to call the thing anymore. T S O T B GCS, or you can email the show T S O T B dot GCS at gmail.com. And you can find the podcast on Twitter or Spotify on.
01:03:35
Speaker
Apple is just about anywhere. It's kind of like danger to anywhere. You can find a podcast. You'll probably find me and also encourage you to check out gateway city sports. You can find articles from Russ Robinson, Brian spoke myself. I even get a few in now. And again, you can find a podcast, the team of rivals with Ron Nuttle, Pete Geddes and Elliott Dewey, the two for three with moose Mike Stevenson. And coming soon, the Derek King sports show with the one and only Derek King. And you'll find all that at gateway city sports.com.
01:04:04
Speaker
So for Matt Pauli and Daniel Shoptaw, this is Don Glenn saying, have fun, stay safe, and we'll see you again when we are talking sports on the bleachers. Good night, everybody.