Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Opening day in St. Louis! Will Velázquez make the opening day roster??

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Opening day in St. Louis! Will Velázquez make the opening day roster?? · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Jim Hayes along with Lance Lynn, who was not muted
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this week, so we're glad to report that, and Kyle Gibson,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: who is mobile. Gentlemen, welcome. We will start the way
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: we always do with some begging, So we would like
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you to subscribe to this podcast if you like Cardinal Territory.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We assume you do.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: If you're watching, go ahead and hit the subscribe button
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: because we want to get to seven thousand subscribers. Love Boys,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Spring training is over, Opening Day is nearly upon us,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: So the first question I want to ask is about
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Opening Day. Both of you guys have been through that.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Lance has been through a lot. You got the Clydesdale's,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you got the Red Jackets, you have all the festivities
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: associating with opening day. Lance, what's it like being part
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of Opening Day in Saint Louis.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: It's one of the better opening days of any organization
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I've played for obviously, when you have the clyde Deals
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: going around, you have the Red Jackets, you know, with
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: the Cardinal Hall of Famers out there, it's a cool time.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: And then when I was able to come back and
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: actually start the home opener in Saint Louis was was special.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: So all in all, they do a great job.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: They you know, they they have the.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Best, probably one of the best shows that you can
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: have on an opening opening day or opening home games
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: as sometimes they start on the road. But yeah, like
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I said, there's I'm trying to go back to every
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: team that I played for and had Opening Day for,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I would I would say that they have the best
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: one that that I had or that I had been
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: a part of. It's the coolest. They bring back the
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: you know, like I said, they bring back the Hall
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: of Famers and stuff like that. So it's it was
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: crazy though, I will say this when I left and
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: went to other teams and I was like, oh, they
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: they don't really do Opening Day like they do in
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Saint Louis. So it definitely definitely something you notice when
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: you when once you leave, it's.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Sort of our own little national holiday.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Kyle, when it's opening Day in Saint Louis, you pitched
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: for a bunch of teams. Uh, does it stand out
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: to you the way they do it in Saint Louis.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Uh?
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think having having different uh fanfare
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: such as the Clydesdale's having all the Hall.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: Of Famers out there. It's different.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: Uh. You know, there's not not any other organization that
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: does that. There's a couple of organizations, the Phillies and
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: the Orioles both.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: We come in from center field as you're getting announced.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: You know with the Phillies, we actually came down through
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: the stands and onto the field from center field.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: That was different.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: And then Baltimore has has an orange carpet the whole
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: way from centerfield.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: Uh. In one that was pretty special too. So. But
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: I think opening day, you know, we talked about it
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: a little bit last time.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Opening day is a pretty special time, especially your home opener,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: because you know, there's always a lot of excitement.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: You know, you're gonna have a sold out crowd. Everybody's
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: really excited.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: And it's just a kind of signifying a new season,
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: and you know, the jitters and the you know, anxiety
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: and the stomach you know, turn it a little bit.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Always created a nice feeling and a good start to
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: the year.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I want to share a little story. One year, they
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: put me in the pickup truck with Matt Carpenter, who
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: was like why are you here, Jim, and I said, well,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: we're gonna do a quick interview with you as we
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: as we take our lap around and thinking it was
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Matt Carpenter and they never threw it to me because
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the timing was off. So I got to ride around
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: in one of those pickup trucks and experience it. Pretty cool.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I think, Look, I've been through opening days in other cities.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I think Saint Louis is the best. But I'm a Homer,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and so my question is Lance spring training is long.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: When you break camp, what's the feeling like, what's the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: lettle of excitement just to get out of there and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: knowing fresh start the season is ahead of you.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: What's that feeling like?
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: It's one of the better feelings that there is. When
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: you start packing up the spring training home to get
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: everybody shipped back to your you know where you're going
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: for the season is exciting time. You know it's coming
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: to it's finally come to an end, and all the
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: you know, just the long days of hey, we have
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: to do this, we have to get ready, but now
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: we can go and then we can start playing games
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: that matter and count. So I would say, is it
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: is it too long. No, I think it kind of
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: fits right where you need that that five six starts
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: for a starting pitcher to build up. I would say
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: that position players probably feel that it's too long, which
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I don't blame them, especially, you know, they kind of
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: have to they into it just so they don't have
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: to play too much. I think it's right right where
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: it needs to be. It could it could probably be
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: a week shorter. I don't know where where Kyle is
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: on this. I think if you jumped right into games
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: and didn't have two or three live vps, you just
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: had one or you know, two, you could jump in
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: and get your five starts and that that could get
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: to what you need for this season. But there's no
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: better feeling than getting into a you know, a real
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: ballpark under the lights. No more one o'clock games that
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: are that are just that just get old by the
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: end of spring training. So it's one of the most
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: exciting times there is when you're when you're packing up
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: and getting out of out of camp.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Kyle, is it is it too long? Spring training? Too long?
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: Uh?
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: No, I don't think so. I think.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: What's interesting is I think we've had more injuries in
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: baseball especially for pitchers. I kind of wonder if shortening
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: the ramp up for starters, uh, isn't part of that,
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: you know, I think for the first time maybe in
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: like twenty.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: Twenty. I can't remember if it was Toy Toy with
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: Texas Lance or if it was the year after twenty.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: One, but you know that was when I first started. Hey,
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: your first start isn't gonna be until March because the
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: first week of.
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: Games, we don't need you in there.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: You only need five starts, whereas before and when I
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: was competing for a rotation spot, it was let's get
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: you as many starts as possible. I don't know, I
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: just kind of think that that slower build up is
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: good for arms. You know, even a week extra games
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: I think would be good for position players. And we
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: talked about this with holiday last week. You know, bats
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: normally tend to be behind arms, and you know, another
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: week of games, another two week of games maybe would
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: allow the bats to start off on a little bit
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: more level playing field as the pitchers, and then allow pitchers,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: you know, an extra week or two weeks of ramp
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: up and not feel like, you know, you have to
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: only get one live VP and then get in games. Sure,
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: I think everybody's ready to get out of town, just
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: like you know, Lance said, you know, you get to
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: March twentieth, then you're you see the light of the
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: tunnel and you're ready to go. Well, I mean we're
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: March twenty sixth for opening day. I don't know when
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: the last time was opening day was before March twenty sixth,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: But I've started April third or fourth before.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: I mean, so this is even a shorter spring training,
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: including the WBC.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: So I think starting after April, after April first and
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: extending it a little bit, I think is is really
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: what I would say, the better move, and it gives
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: everybody a little bit more time and you don't feel
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: the need to be rushed.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Lance.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: When you're done with spring training, though, just from your experience,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: are you ready to go or it's still the first
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: start or two of the regular season sort of on
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: your way through.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I think you're ready to go.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: All your pitches and stuff are where you need to
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: be if you if you do it properly, and you're
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: able to get the work that you need to do.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: I think that what people don't realize is when the
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: lights turn on and it's at seven o'clock game. There's
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: still this extra that you get from your first start,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: so the I like it every time you take them
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: mount there's a different soreness when you're building up, and
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: then that first start in a real game when it
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: really matters, has a different soreness to it too. So
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: you're fully prepared pitch count wise and and you know
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: your pitch mix and all that, but there's that extra
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: game game mode that kind of kicks in after your
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: first start, and then your first two starts probably feel
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: pretty good, and then that third and four start you
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: get the uh, that's when you get the.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Little little soreness.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: I guess that you got to kind of work through
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: and then you kind of hit your hit your stride
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: the rest of the year.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: That was for me, that was what I always felt.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: So you are ready, but there's just a little little
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: tick of energy that a little bit more, a little
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: bit more o that that bites you a little bit
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: after that first and second start.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: How about you kindle that first start you're making the
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: regular season, is it ready to go or still fine
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: tuning or working on a couple of things.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think it's a bad feeling.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: When you leave spring training and you think you're working
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: on a pitch or too, that's not great. Been there,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: you know, that's not very fun because you want to
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: go into spring training feeling really good about where you're at.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know that I ever threw more
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: than ninety pitches in my first start of the year,
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: and that was planned, you know.
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think you know, Lance.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: Probably threw one hundred pitches twenty and twenty one because
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: he was in the middle of a streak of one
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty straight starts where he threw one hundred pitches,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: so you know, he was There was no uh, there
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: was no dialing Lance back whenever he took that opening
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: day start because he was going for history. So you know,
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: it's a little different probably for him. But I mean,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: you know, most starters you get into the fifth inning,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: it doesn't matter how many paces you got there. They
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: got the bullpen going because the plan is only go
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: eighty five or ninety. So and to Lance's point, it's
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: because you know, it's the first time that you've got,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: you know, pitches that mean something.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: It's the first time that you're not in you're not
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: in a situation where you're gonna roll an inning to
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: get to your pitch count.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: You know it's the first first time where where you
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: know you're throwing one hundred percent, you know, effort on
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: eighty percent of your pitches, so.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: You know you just can't prepare for that.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I think Lance's spot on where you're gonna
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: have extra swortus and you just can't get ready for them.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Lance, last thing before we go to our first break,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: But you are a guy who threw pitches. You were
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: a guy known for durability. Let's say you were a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: pitching coach. I know you do that a little bit
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: on the side. What would your advice be the young pitchers?
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Because we see pictures raised to be five and dive
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: as they say, you always wanted to go nine if
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you could, but always throw throwing a lot of pitches.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: What's your advice for young pitchers to build up, en
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: up arm strength where that can be their approach.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: I think this day and age is a little different
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: because everyone wants you to max out every pitch, right.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: It's all about how hard you can throw, how hard
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: you can spin it, all these different things. I always made.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: It a.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: Game, how to get guys out or how to get
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: out without throwing max effort or not even showing, you know,
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: some of my best velocities and stuff like that.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: So that's the that's kind.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Of the I think that where the game's going to
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: come back to, because obviously MLB wants some of these
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: starters to go longer and stuff like that. So what's
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: your pitches that you can get quick outs and stuff
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: like that and then go for the strikeouts when when
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: you need to or when you know the time ask
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: for it. I think that's the main thing deep into
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: games is hey, how can I get out within three
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: pitches and then when I need to strike out, I
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: can go get it or and you know vice versa
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: on hey, you know working a double play ball or
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: something like that. So all that stuff's kind of gone away.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: I think that's the wave that's going to come back,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: is how can you get some quick outs and then
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: how can you use your strikeout stuff when you need it?
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: And I think that's when you see some of the
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: best pitchers in the game. You look up, they're still
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: in the seventh a inennings because they get quick outs,
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: they get ground balls, they get weak fly balls, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: then they have their strikeouts when they need it. They
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: don't need to strike out every hitter to be good.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: But most of those guys also walk a lot of
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: guys that are trying to strike everybody out, which automatically
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: makes your pitch caun't go up, and it also makes
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: you not be able to go deep in the game
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: because you got a lot of extra base runners. So
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I think is figure out how to get quick outs
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: and then go from there.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: It's very, very important skill. You're watching Cardinal Territory on
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• 15:07
  Speaker 1: All right, spring training can be fool's goal, But we've
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: seen some goods not so good from the Cardinals during
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: this spring. The rotation looks pretty solid. That was one
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: of the question marks I had. Who knows how it's
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: all going to play out. Some of these guys are
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: going to be getting the first taste as a major
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: league starter, and who knows how it's gonna go. But Lance,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: my question to you is, we've seen really good outings
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: from the Cardinals starting rotation. We got young guys like
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: McGreevey who's looked out standing, Libby who has you know,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: made his adjustment from bullpen to starter. May has looked healthy.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Lay he has looked very solid as he gets moved
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: into the starting rotation. We've seen some good moments from Polante. Also,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: do you think this is the way the season's gonna
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: go or is it impossible to tell at this juncture?
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Lance, Well, it's impossible to tell, and there's enough. I
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: don't know when the last time a team used five
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: guys all the way through a season. So I kind
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: I like the way they're.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Throwing the ball.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: I like the mix of guys that they have and
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: the things that they're able to do. I like the
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: depth that they have with some of these guys that
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: are going to be coming up and getting their first
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: taste this year, that they do some things differently too.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: I think, all in all, it's gonna be a it's
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: gonna be a fun developmental watch for everybody because you're
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: looking at some of these guys taking the next step
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: to like fortifying themselves as big league starters. Some of
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: those guys like, hey, this is my first year really
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: doing it, so how can I learn to navigate my
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: way through it?
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: And then you know, we'll see where we're at at
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: the end of.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: The year, and a lot of these guys haven't you know,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: thrown the innings that are going to be asked of them,
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: you know, in a full season before. So that's where
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: the depth is going to come in, and they're gonna
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: be able to mix a match with some you know,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: adding some starters and a sixth starter here at times.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: I think so all in all, you know, as a
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: you know, as a fan, I don't think you're sitting
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: here saying, oh, our rotation is going to be a
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: top ten in Major League Baseball. But these guys are
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: gonna be able to get out so that I think
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: they're gonna be able to get outs at a quality
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: level and be able to go deep enough to where
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: you don't have to abuse your bullpen and make sure
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: that those guys are putting spots to make them succeed also,
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: so I think they've got a good plan. You know,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: obviously it's gonna have some ups and downs, but they've
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: got talent that are going to be able to get
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: outs and it should be a fun little growth here
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: to watch.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Kyle, we saw the starting rotation look good at spring
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: size of what.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: You think they can be this year.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, sorry about that. The iPhone got hot shut down
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: on me. Uh you know, just temperature. Really, I got
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: the warning signs that had to shut down.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: Apologize for that.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: I think the rotation has a chance to be uh
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: a really strength to this team. I think it has
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: a chance to get hot, just like my iPhone just did,
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: really carry this team, and to keep the puns going
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: shut down opposing offenses, just like my phone did to
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: this interview. So yeah, I think it's kind of chance
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: to be good.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: I think I just saw an.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Interesting video with Libby and the high curveball pitching. Ninja
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: just posted it. I think there's some different things that
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: guys with stuff and guys with controllable movement can do
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: with abs make things tough on hitters, so it should
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: be a lot of fun. I think we have a
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: really good mixture of guys that can pitch with power
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: stuff and excellent stuff, and then a power bullpen that
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: has a chance to be really good. So I'm excited
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: to watch these starters work and hopefully we can see
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: him take some more steps forward and it'd be a
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: reason why the Cardinals are in baseball game consistently nine
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: in and night out.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Be huge.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: So a guy out of the bullpen who sort of
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: found it, found a sinker and we've seen him. Big
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: kid Roycroft throws really hard. I mean, he's a monster,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: and last year he got sped up a few times,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: didn't really have it, but he's had a really good spring.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Lance.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: What do you think the Cardinals may have in Roycroft?
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Obviously an imposing figure.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: On the map, No, I mean, obviously his stuff plays.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: He was so raw when we were with him in
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: twenty four. I think last year was a year of
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: even more development. But sometimes development doesn't look good on paper.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Your failures helped you develop a little bit more than
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: you're able to take the failures, the things you started
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: to feel as your second, you know, year in the
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: big leagues, and you know, I think you know you're
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: looking at a guy that kind of started pitching after
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: college after he I think he played some basketball in
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: college and then just started, Hey, I'm gonna start throwing
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: ninety eight mine hour sinkers and get to the.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Big leagues out of a at an indie ball.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: So I think you're seeing a guy finally put all
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: the things that he's learning together. Because he's athletic and
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: has the stuff to do it all. It was just
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: learning how to make it work for him at the
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: big league level, and that takes a lot of people
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: a long time, especially someone that you might have had
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: a little late jump in the pitching, you know, department anyway,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: So I think this could be a good jump year
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: for him to where he could become a leverage guy.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: He's got the stuff and he's not afraid of it.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: That was never the problem. I think a lot of
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: the things were going on were, Hey, I'm trying to
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: figure this out on a fly, and sometimes it works
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: easier in Triple A and you get to the big
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: leagues and you think you have to do more than
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: you need to, and then you're also got to maybe
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: a you know, different ideas and you try to do
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: more than you need to. So hopefully understands that he
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: doesn't have to do that, and then what he's been developing,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: he can just take it to the game and go compete,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: and I think we'll see a good year out of him.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: That's you know, a tough order for sometime, just acclimating
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to the to big league level. But you're talking about
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Roycroft kin of a guy who was a college basketball player,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: then quit basketball to focus solely on baseball because he
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: was told, maybe your stuff plays, maybe this is a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: chance to be a professional athlete. He rolled the dice
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and it's paid off. What were your impressions of Roycroft
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: in the early going.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think I really liked how he
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: had a different delivery.
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: I liked how his sinker played.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: It was fun looking up and seeing a negative one
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: Burt with a twenty inch runner sinker up there, coming
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: from that arm angle. So I mean, I think there's
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: a lot to like there. I think he offers a
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: different look with different stuff than kind of what most
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: guys are seeing out of the bullpen.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: We're seeing a lot.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Of people go out there with a power for seamer
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: that gets plitting this underneath of it, and I think
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: he offers something totally different. I would like to see him,
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: you know, and maybe this is what he's.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: Doing in spring.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: I haven't dug into this, and so we'll get an
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: idea here in the first couple of weeks. But I
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: would like to see him have a pitch that goes
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: away from rities consistently to really protect that sinker a
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: little bit. And I would like to see what you know,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: his version of a four seamer would look like. It's
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: no secret that the first pitch him in a bat
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: is the best time to throw a fastball in the
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: strike zone and to see what a hitter can do
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: because a lot of the times they're gonna fall it off, take.
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: It swinging myths.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: You know, ninety five percent of the time you're getting
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: that baseball back and you're not giving up a hit.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: So to me, that was a great time for me
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: to use four steamers to write E's gave a totally
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: different look and a pitch that I probably don't want
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: to get them out on.
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: So I think that would be.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: A really interesting time for Roycroft to use a pitch
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: that's not a sinker and the ability to offer a
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: totally different pitch to protect that. So I am interested
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: to see what he does over the first couple of
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: weeks here, to see how he's shifted usages and shifted
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: his approach, because one thing we do know, hitters getting
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: under a baseball is a whole lot easier than getting
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: on top of a baseball, as what we've seen with
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: four seamers over the last few years, So you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: I dealt with it myself. You have to find a
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: way to keep hitters from diving down because that's the
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: easiest pitch.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: To get interne last thing, we don't know what the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: final opening day roster is going to be at this juncture.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: They're gonna have to do some moving parts around. But
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you talk about not just knocking on the door. You're
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: trying to talk about a guy kicking it down. Is
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: what Alaska's did at spring training. At spring training three
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: fifty seven average, four homers, one point one one six ops.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: He's twenty seven, with big league experience. He's gonna make
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: it a difficult decision for the car those lands because
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: they could use a bat like that, and he's shown
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: pure patwork.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's done everything to make the team.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: There's no other way to say it. With with everything
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: that's gone on and where they're at injury wise, with
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: new and all that, so you can see it. It's like, hey,
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: we have an outfielder that that we can play and
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: we can do a lot of things with and he's
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: and he's hitting the ball well. So I mean, you know,
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: I think the only worry that you is are they
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: who they're worried about? Maybe losing off their forty man
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: to put him on, or you know, maybe there's somebody
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: that can go on the sixty days to get him
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: on the roster. You don't have to lose anything. So
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: that's kind of the roster things that you you know,
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: people don't really see or don't know why, Hey, why
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: is this guy not going to make the team. Well,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: you know, you don't want to lose a young guy,
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: especially when you are in a rebuild. It kind of,
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: you know, is a little different, but I mean when
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: you look when you look at his numbers in spring training,
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: where you're at injuries with new in this, you know,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: and where they're at as a team, why not give
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: the guy a chance? And especially with the he's swinging it, so,
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: you know, I hope, you know, there's always a good story.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: You need one, so maybe he can be this year's
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: you know, this year's story that you know takes over
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: and has a great, you know, start of the year
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: and then kind of you cements himself as a guy
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: that's you know, finding himself in his career because you know,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: there's some openings and there's gonna be some at bats there,
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: especially when you need to do some things you know,
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: d h right, he left he stuff like that. So
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: I think he can play, and I think he can
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: play at the big league level. So let's see if
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: they gi him a chance.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Kind last thing for you what we see it's spring training.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: How much of it is real and how much of
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: it is just an illusion? I guess sometimes it's tough
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: to tell.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: Uh, it is tough to tell.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: I mean, but I don't think it's fair to say
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: it's totally an illusion. But at the same time, you know,
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: in my standard fashion ride Dodger question, totally it's it's
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: not fully real either because it hasn't meant anything yet. So, uh,
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: you know, I think Lance is fully right. You know,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: he's he's done everything he can to make the team,
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: and the hard decision comes with.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: Who do you who do you lose? Right?
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: And you know, I think I think I had somebody
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: suggest on on social media that you, you know, put
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: one of the guys you option down on the sixty day.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: Well that would involve calling him up to put him
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: on the major league sixty day, because you can't put
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: him on a minor league sixty day to get that
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: roster spot, if.
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: I'm not mistaken.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: So Are they gonna call somebody up to put them
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: on the sixty day to free up that spot.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: Uh? That's not a move you make when you're in
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: a rebuild. Uh.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: And that's not a move you know, dafang somebody unless
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: you're totally done with them as a player.
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: Is not a move you make in a rebuild. If
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: you are.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: Looking at yourself as a contending team, do everything you
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: can to have the very best roster.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: Right now, is Velaska is a part of the very
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: best twenty sixty eyes? It really seems like he is.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: And that's no offense to any other player in camp.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: I think everybody would want to be added to the
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: roster and added to opening day if they had played
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: as well as he could as he did, and nobody
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: would take offense to him being put on there over them.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: So I think he's deserved a chance. It's just like
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Lance said, at whose expense is that chance given? And
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: you know that's gonna be a tough decision that him
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: in the front office has.
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: And how they're gonna make room for him.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: But yeah, he deserved it, and especially some of the
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: talk we've had over the last year with a righty
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: thump in the outfield. You know that I think Jordan
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: Walker hopefully will supply this year. But you know that's
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: something that the cardinalss have really desired and wanted, and
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: maybe he's right here for him and you just got
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: to find a way to get him on the roster.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: We will find out soon enough who is on the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: opening day roster. That decision is coming within a matter
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: of hours at this boy and gentlemen, good job as always,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and that's gonna do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. Hopefully that episode won't suck.