Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Early spring training storylines to at Cardinals camp

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Early spring training storylines to at Cardinals camp · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Great Food League Action is well under way, and so
0:07
Speaker 1: are we here at Cardinal Territory live from Roger Dean Stadium.
0:11
Speaker 1: Trevor's on one side of the complex and I'm on
0:13
Speaker 1: the other. We are back for episode nineteen. Trevor, Welcome
0:17
Speaker 1: to Florida.
0:18
Speaker 2: How do you feel so good? We're here in the flesh.
0:22
Speaker 2: It's amazing here. It's actually really nice today. It was
0:25
Speaker 2: good to be in the ballpark. The Cardinals aren't playing
0:28
Speaker 2: at home there on the road, but I caught a
0:30
Speaker 2: little bit of the Marlins game. The one thing that
0:31
Speaker 2: stood out, and you probably noticed this, Katie, but the
0:34
Speaker 2: Marlins attendance first, A Cardinals game attendance drastically different. I
0:38
Speaker 2: mean there's hardly anybody in the stands today.
0:42
Speaker 1: Yes, I deded, obviously, do not go to Dunedin today,
0:46
Speaker 1: and I stayed back to do some work at the
0:47
Speaker 1: complex and I was walking around and I was like, oh,
0:49
Speaker 1: I guess there's not really a game today because it's
0:52
Speaker 1: so empty. And then I heard the PA announcer doing
0:54
Speaker 1: starting lineups. I was like, oh my bad, there, I
0:56
Speaker 1: guess there is a game today. But yeah, Trevor, it's
0:59
Speaker 1: I feel like I can finally start like really getting
1:02
Speaker 1: excited for baseball season, because yeah, whatever spring training games
1:06
Speaker 1: don't matter, I hear you. But we're starting to get
1:09
Speaker 1: our first early insights as to how the Cardinals are
1:11
Speaker 1: going to piece together their lineup and their roster come
1:14
Speaker 1: opening Day, which is just over a month away. And
1:17
Speaker 1: that's fun to see because it's been a very long
1:20
Speaker 1: winter with that much to talk about and now here
1:22
Speaker 1: we are, so I wanted to ask you in this
1:23
Speaker 1: very small sample size, the Cardinals have played roughly three
1:28
Speaker 1: and two thirds games. It's the top of the seventh
1:31
Speaker 1: right now as we record who stood out to you
1:33
Speaker 1: so far?
1:35
Speaker 2: Well, I've been happy with the starting pitching. I know
1:38
Speaker 2: it's guys are going in very brief stints, but the
1:42
Speaker 2: veteran guys, they're getting their work in, they're getting the
1:45
Speaker 2: job done, they're getting in and out, having some quick innings.
1:48
Speaker 2: There's been some bullpen arms that have been very encouraging.
1:51
Speaker 2: I'm excited about some of the arms, some guys that
1:54
Speaker 2: have some elite stuff, some high velocity. Overall, the pitching
1:59
Speaker 2: is something to be uh to build on, and I
2:02
Speaker 2: think we have we have some tools in place, some
2:04
Speaker 2: pieces that that will be important and then I mean
2:09
Speaker 2: your boy, Jordan Walker. I have to say, I'm liking
2:14
Speaker 2: your pick more and more the more I see him.
2:16
Speaker 2: He looks comfortable in the box, the power looks very present,
2:19
Speaker 2: looks like he's he's he's ready to go, you know.
2:24
Speaker 2: Victor Scott another guy that looked really well. He's he's
2:27
Speaker 2: having a great game today. He's hitting the ball hard.
2:30
Speaker 2: And then we have to give a shout out to
2:31
Speaker 2: JJ Weatherholt. He was a guy that wasn't really on
2:34
Speaker 2: my radar. I'm not sure why, but seeing him play,
2:36
Speaker 2: I can see uh that he's he's a guy to
2:39
Speaker 2: be excited about. First Cardinals homer of the season. H
2:42
Speaker 2: followed up with H with a Luken Baker homer. Another
2:45
Speaker 2: guy that we got to be excited about. And then
2:48
Speaker 2: I'll mention to you last one, Katie, and then I
2:50
Speaker 2: want to hear what you think. But you can never
2:53
Speaker 2: really uh downplay a guy like Wilson Contraris. I mean,
2:58
Speaker 2: his reputation is he's always been he's a hard worker
3:01
Speaker 2: and he shows up. He likes to compete. But he
3:03
Speaker 2: looks good, he looks strong. I'm excited to see what
3:06
Speaker 2: he does at First Space with Gold Schmidt no longer here.
3:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was talking to Wilson today in the clubhouse.
3:12
Speaker 1: A few veter incident go on the trip, mainly the
3:14
Speaker 1: ones who played on Monday, just for playing time purposes.
3:17
Speaker 1: But I said, hey, Stephen Matz is a good teammate
3:19
Speaker 1: for you. He gave you two innings, five ground ball
3:21
Speaker 1: outs and you had it covered. Looked pretty easy. And he,
3:24
Speaker 1: you know, Wilson, he likes to laugh, and he scoffed
3:26
Speaker 1: a little bit and he said, I hear what people say,
3:28
Speaker 1: and he said, I don't care. He didn't use that
3:31
Speaker 1: exact phrase. What he did say is probably not something
3:33
Speaker 1: I'm allowed to say on the show. But he looked
3:35
Speaker 1: great out there, so and the bat looks good too, right,
3:38
Speaker 1: He had a scorcher of a hit with like a
3:40
Speaker 1: six or a scorcher of a ball six sixty expecting
3:42
Speaker 1: batting average. That was cotton right field yesterday. And I
3:44
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, it doesn't really matter if what the
3:47
Speaker 1: production is. As long as the bat looks like that,
3:49
Speaker 1: he's going to be fine. Of course, I'm gonna promote
3:53
Speaker 1: Jordan Walker's two hit day yesterday. I don't care if
3:56
Speaker 1: it was one game had what I really liked from
3:58
Speaker 1: Jordan Walker was just the quality of the advats and
4:02
Speaker 1: the production of the of each hit itself. So he
4:05
Speaker 1: went two for three yesterday Monday. First hit was a
4:08
Speaker 1: single off the middle eggs of velocity of one hundred
4:11
Speaker 1: and five miles per hour. His second hit a double
4:13
Speaker 1: down the line for an RBI and to the big
4:18
Speaker 1: thing about those two hits were that the balls were
4:20
Speaker 1: in the air. Both line drive hits hit it hard,
4:22
Speaker 1: hit it in the air. That's how we're evaluating Jordan Walker.
4:25
Speaker 1: So Monday's game gets an A plus for me. Other
4:28
Speaker 1: guys that stood out. I know it's a two inning
4:31
Speaker 1: sample size, but I thought Steven Matts looked really good
4:34
Speaker 1: on Monday. He looked in control, in command. He threw
4:37
Speaker 1: his full arsenal. I asked him after the game. I
4:39
Speaker 1: was like, are you just trying to throw as many
4:40
Speaker 1: pitches as possible and work through as many at pitches
4:43
Speaker 1: as you can in those two innings And he said,
4:45
Speaker 1: basically he wanted to use the full arsenal to really
4:48
Speaker 1: get a feel for all his pitches. You know this, Trevor,
4:50
Speaker 1: this is something that guys are working on early in spring.
4:53
Speaker 1: But he said, you know, I might switch it up
4:54
Speaker 1: a little bit, because I made the comment that his
4:56
Speaker 1: pitch mix looked nothing like how it usually looks when
4:58
Speaker 1: he's playing regular game, and he said, maybe that's the problem.
5:01
Speaker 1: Maybe I throw too many fastballs. I'm trying to mix
5:03
Speaker 1: in some off speeds. But Stephen Mattz, after a lot
5:07
Speaker 1: of health issues over the last three years, looks really
5:09
Speaker 1: good so far this spring, so that's good to see
5:12
Speaker 1: as well.
5:13
Speaker 2: What about our boy Quinn Matthews today, I thought he
5:16
Speaker 2: looked news.
5:17
Speaker 1: That's our guy. Uh yeah, he looked really good. Three
5:19
Speaker 1: strikeouts and two innings, struck out Blattie what I liked,
5:22
Speaker 1: and you can you can speak to this Trevor. He
5:25
Speaker 1: got in some trouble in the second inning, bases loaded
5:27
Speaker 1: and had to get out of it, and he did
5:29
Speaker 1: struck out the ninth hitter. What Ollie Marmal has said
5:32
Speaker 1: before is that that's where you really find out where
5:34
Speaker 1: a guy is at, where he's made of that it's
5:35
Speaker 1: easier to evaluate a picture like that. You know, queen
5:38
Speaker 1: innings are great, obviously, but if you have a guy
5:40
Speaker 1: who gets himself into trouble and then figures out how
5:43
Speaker 1: to get out of it, that's where you can really
5:45
Speaker 1: evaluate where a picture is at. And I thought we
5:47
Speaker 1: saw really good impressive for showing from Quinn Matthews today.
5:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, he got out of that inning bases loaded jam
5:52
Speaker 2: and even after falling behind one and oh to that
5:55
Speaker 2: hitter that he ended up striking out. So yeah, impressive
5:58
Speaker 2: for him to bear down and get out out of it.
6:00
Speaker 2: I know, like in spring training, you'll hear guys, whether
6:03
Speaker 2: it's a hitter or a pitcher maybe say like, I'm
6:06
Speaker 2: not too worried about my spring training stats. I'm not
6:09
Speaker 2: not too I'm just trying to get my reps in
6:10
Speaker 2: and get my pitches in and get get working. But
6:13
Speaker 2: I don't really buy that, Like I know, for me,
6:15
Speaker 2: when I was in spring training, like I wanted to
6:17
Speaker 2: figure out where I was, I was, I was doing
6:19
Speaker 2: the best I possibly could trying to get out in
6:22
Speaker 2: preparation for the season. And uh, I think we got
6:25
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of good momentum building for
6:28
Speaker 2: these players. I know, you know, obviously we want to
6:30
Speaker 2: win some games. It looks so far today like it's
6:32
Speaker 2: going to be a close one. But you know, you
6:36
Speaker 2: can't downplay the importance of spring training reps. In spring
6:40
Speaker 2: training at bats and so I don't know what you're
6:43
Speaker 2: hearing in camp. Hopefully guys are are having fun. I
6:48
Speaker 2: mean it's still early. Hopefully we're not taking it too serious.
6:51
Speaker 2: But at the same time, like we want to get
6:56
Speaker 2: a feel for where we're at and not completely throw
6:58
Speaker 2: these these games out the window.
7:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a little surprised to see the majority
7:03
Speaker 1: of the starters in Monday's game play six innings. They
7:06
Speaker 1: wanted the three at bats, so clearly these are, you know,
7:08
Speaker 1: competitions that these guys are taking seriously. We'll see Mike
7:11
Speaker 1: McGreevey start on Wednesday in Tampa. Andre Polante will start Thursday.
7:15
Speaker 1: Sunny Gray is still not scheduled to start in an
7:18
Speaker 1: exhibition game, but he's on track with his throwing program.
7:21
Speaker 1: He threw two innings of a same game on the
7:24
Speaker 1: backfields on Sunday, I believe, so all things good with Sunny.
7:27
Speaker 1: They're different pictures, prefer different pacing, different strategies in spring training.
7:32
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see Sonny when he's ready on the mound.
7:35
Speaker 1: But it's not spring training, Trevor without some early overreactions,
7:40
Speaker 1: and I have one for you, So look spring training lineups,
7:44
Speaker 1: spring training stats are that some you know, you can't
7:48
Speaker 1: draw a ton of conclusions from these, except sometimes you can.
7:51
Speaker 1: So let's see here. Okay, maybe we won't give it
7:57
Speaker 1: up here. Okay, let's try this again. I'm going to
8:02
Speaker 1: show the opening day lineup from the Grapefruit opener on Saturday.
8:06
Speaker 2: There we go.
8:06
Speaker 1: Then it took me like fifteen seconds. I know a
8:10
Speaker 1: hypothetical opening day lineup when I see one, and while
8:15
Speaker 1: a lot and this is fair Like a lot of
8:17
Speaker 1: spring training lineups are designated by service time, personal preference,
8:21
Speaker 1: off days, there's a lot of strategy involved, especially with
8:24
Speaker 1: this road trip on that the Cardinals are currently on.
8:27
Speaker 1: This looks like a potential opening day lineup to me,
8:30
Speaker 1: will run through it. Mason win at short, Brendan Donovan
8:32
Speaker 1: at second, Wilson Contreras at first, Nolan Arnatto at third,
8:35
Speaker 1: new bar and center, Herrera catching Oh my god, I
8:38
Speaker 1: can't even read a lineup right new bar and left field,
8:41
Speaker 1: Herrera behind the plate, Gorman, DH, Walker and Wright, Siyani
8:45
Speaker 1: and center. And of course presumably it would be Sunny
8:47
Speaker 1: Gray not Eric Fetty for the Cardinal's opening day lineup.
8:52
Speaker 1: Now I asked Ally Marmel about this and he played
8:54
Speaker 1: coy as he should. But I'm wondering, Trevor, is if
8:59
Speaker 1: the season started today, is this the opening day line
9:01
Speaker 1: if you would go.
9:01
Speaker 2: With what a question? Sure, I don't know, I mean
9:06
Speaker 2: off the top, based off of what I've seen from
9:09
Speaker 2: Victor Scott, I think he deserves a serious consideration for
9:12
Speaker 2: for the opening day lineup. But it's a long season, Katie.
9:17
Speaker 2: I mean this, this thing is gonna get switched around
9:20
Speaker 2: and turned upside down so many different ways. And uh
9:23
Speaker 2: with with players that like I mean JJ Weatherholt and
9:27
Speaker 2: what he's doing. Who knows where he ends up in
9:29
Speaker 2: the mix. But certainly, I mean this, this could be
9:35
Speaker 2: a good option for sure. What do you what do
9:37
Speaker 2: you think? What are your thoughts? I mean you kind
9:39
Speaker 2: of alluded to it. You think you think this is
9:41
Speaker 2: a this is this is what we got. This is
9:45
Speaker 2: regardless of the coyness of of Marmaal, you believe this
9:49
Speaker 2: to be our our maybe our first option.
9:52
Speaker 1: I think it's very close, and I think centerfield can
9:55
Speaker 1: go either way. I'm glad you brought up Victor Scott.
9:58
Speaker 1: He's in the offense or the early showings of that
10:01
Speaker 1: has looked really good. And I personally don't know which argument,
10:06
Speaker 1: because you can make an argument for both players. They're
10:08
Speaker 1: so similar. They're left handed, defensive specialists with a ton
10:11
Speaker 1: of speed, and they don't necessarily hit for a ton
10:13
Speaker 1: of power, but they have some pop. I think Victor
10:16
Speaker 1: more than Sianni. So centerfield is my big question mark here.
10:19
Speaker 1: But I think I like the balance of the handedness here.
10:24
Speaker 1: The Cardinals last year, it's such a left handed heavy
10:27
Speaker 1: lineup and it was really easy for opposing managers to
10:29
Speaker 1: strategize against. I mean, especially because the Cardinals bench really
10:33
Speaker 1: was not all that useful. It was very one dimensional,
10:35
Speaker 1: something that Olie Marmel talked about at length last year.
10:39
Speaker 1: I like Donnie in the two hole. I was not
10:41
Speaker 1: surprised at all to see Contreras and Arnatto three four.
10:44
Speaker 1: I was a little surprised to see Nubar fifth, but
10:47
Speaker 1: I kind of like it because new Bar has one
10:50
Speaker 1: of the best eyes in the game. He controls the
10:52
Speaker 1: plate well, he has a great approach, and he can
10:54
Speaker 1: do some damage. He hits the ball really hard, so
10:56
Speaker 1: I like that there, even though I was a little
10:58
Speaker 1: surprised to see it. Herrera is the asterisk that I
11:02
Speaker 1: want to put here. Because I think Herrera is the
11:05
Speaker 1: better offensive option at catcher and what he also brings
11:09
Speaker 1: us some right handed thump to supplement behind Contraras and Aronado.
11:12
Speaker 1: You look at the rest of this lineup. Donnie is
11:15
Speaker 1: a lefty, Gorman a lefty Sianni Slash Scott Lefty's new
11:20
Speaker 1: bar lefty, So you need some right handed power to
11:22
Speaker 1: supplement that. And when I asked Olli Marmal about it,
11:25
Speaker 1: he was like, Yeah, absolutely, Herrera and Jordan Walker. If
11:27
Speaker 1: these guys can figure it out, that's the complimentary power
11:30
Speaker 1: behind those big bats in the middle of the order.
11:32
Speaker 1: So I like Herrera there, but I still think we'll
11:34
Speaker 1: see Pedro pa Has there as well. Again, I can
11:37
Speaker 1: see them platooning, mainly because Pedro is so well prepared.
11:40
Speaker 1: His game prep is top notch, and the staff really
11:43
Speaker 1: likes to throw with him. So I'm not going to
11:46
Speaker 1: be totally sold, but I think it's a good indication
11:49
Speaker 1: of where the Cardinals think they can maximize this. Another
11:51
Speaker 1: thing that's really tough, and we've talked about it before
11:54
Speaker 1: on our interview with Ali Marmol last week, is he
11:57
Speaker 1: has to balance the best possible lineup to win that
12:01
Speaker 1: day with what the Cardinals are trying to figure out
12:04
Speaker 1: long term, and that's going to be really difficult.
12:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's gonna be guys that aren't playing on a
12:12
Speaker 2: specific day and maybe they should be, but you know,
12:15
Speaker 2: like Gorman for example, at the d H and maybe
12:18
Speaker 2: Baker gets gets some some some starts because they want
12:23
Speaker 2: to they want to have them get regular at bats.
12:24
Speaker 2: They don't want him going a week or two weeks
12:27
Speaker 2: without getting in the lineup and seeing actual pitching. So
12:31
Speaker 2: it's gonna be interesting to see. I think, like I
12:33
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier, I think we're gonna see it shaken up,
12:36
Speaker 2: especially early on and and how guys are performing. But
12:40
Speaker 2: that I think compared to last year, that's probably a
12:43
Speaker 2: good thing. It's a good thing that there are more options,
12:45
Speaker 2: there's more players that we're excited to see a lot
12:50
Speaker 2: of potential. I mean, we're seeing in spring training. There's
12:52
Speaker 2: a lot of things to be excited about. And you know,
12:55
Speaker 2: I was, I was listening to our guys at the
12:57
Speaker 2: Talking Baseball podcast, Coach Evan talking Jake. They gave us
13:01
Speaker 2: a shout out, so that was really cool. They do
13:03
Speaker 2: a great job. Yeah, I will well And they gave
13:07
Speaker 2: Katie Wu some love. They said they love themselves some
13:10
Speaker 2: Katie Woo, and I was I was kind of jealous.
13:12
Speaker 2: They did mention my name, but not with such affection
13:14
Speaker 2: that they gave you, which, by the way, I if
13:19
Speaker 2: you read our comments, like especially our last two episodes,
13:22
Speaker 2: people want less of me and more of you.
13:24
Speaker 1: So no, but I think it should be the opposite,
13:26
Speaker 1: because I think that the interviews are so good. I
13:29
Speaker 1: just like to sit back and listen. I so no,
13:32
Speaker 1: We're going to keep it exactly the way that it is,
13:34
Speaker 1: and I know we have some fun interviews coming up too,
13:37
Speaker 1: and if we met a Trevor only show teaser, so
13:41
Speaker 1: I'm excited about that.
13:42
Speaker 2: Well, forgive me for stepping on your toes, but I
13:47
Speaker 2: think we're doing a great job. We're figuring this out
13:50
Speaker 2: instill early. It's spring training.
13:53
Speaker 1: Three episodes a week, and hopefully my production will be
13:55
Speaker 1: better because I'm actually so disappointed so far on how
13:59
Speaker 1: it's looked. But we still have at least another half
14:02
Speaker 1: of the show for me to redeem myself. So keep
14:04
Speaker 1: our fingers crossed.
14:04
Speaker 2: We're doing great. We're great. But if you're a Cardinals fan,
14:08
Speaker 2: I don't know if I would recommend you go and
14:09
Speaker 2: listen to the especially if you're an optimistic Cardinals fin
14:13
Speaker 2: they didn't. They didn't give us the greatest prediction. They
14:16
Speaker 2: had our win loss at our wins with win season sorry,
14:20
Speaker 2: total wins for the season at seventy seven games. I
14:23
Speaker 2: said we were going to come in at the under.
14:26
Speaker 2: They gave a pretty good explanation. I'm not sure if
14:29
Speaker 2: I agree with that. The one thing I do agree
14:30
Speaker 2: with that we're seeing in spring train. There's a lot
14:33
Speaker 2: of things to be excited about. There's a lot of
14:34
Speaker 2: young players, a lot of young talent. The veteran players
14:37
Speaker 2: look pretty good so far. Still early, but I'm still
14:41
Speaker 2: on the hype train. I think we're gonna build some
14:43
Speaker 2: momentum over these these next few weeks in camp and
14:47
Speaker 2: get a hot start in April. I don't know, what
14:49
Speaker 2: do you what do you think? What do you got
14:51
Speaker 2: on this over under prediction? Katie?
14:53
Speaker 1: Well, first, I want to second your shout out to
14:55
Speaker 1: Talking Baseball coach Trev Talk and Jake. Those are some
14:58
Speaker 1: great guys at John Boy Media and we appreciate the
15:00
Speaker 1: love from them. But I'm going to disagree with their
15:03
Speaker 1: seventy seven wins under projection. I'm not going to go
15:07
Speaker 1: out there and say the Cardinals are going to win
15:09
Speaker 1: ninety games. I'm definitely not going to say that. But
15:11
Speaker 1: I think they're closer to a five hundred club than
15:13
Speaker 1: what people are saying. I've looked at a lot of
15:15
Speaker 1: projections Pakoda, ESPN, the Athletic and none of them have
15:20
Speaker 1: the Cardinals higher than twenty four out of thirty. So
15:22
Speaker 1: that's not what you want. But when we talked about
15:25
Speaker 1: this before, this is almost the exact same roster as
15:29
Speaker 1: last year. And I don't want to minimize the impact
15:31
Speaker 1: of losing Paul Goldschmidt or what Kyle Gibson and lanceln
15:34
Speaker 1: were able to do in terms of stability to the rotation.
15:36
Speaker 1: Those are three very key players to last year's eighty
15:39
Speaker 1: three win team. But I don't think the offense is
15:43
Speaker 1: going to be as bad as last year. And here's
15:45
Speaker 1: something that maybe we're not talking enough about. The NL
15:47
Speaker 1: Central doesn't look to be very good either. Trevor and
15:50
Speaker 1: fans get tired of this. I get it, you know,
15:52
Speaker 1: it's not just about winning the division, it's about being
15:54
Speaker 1: an actual competitive club. But I wonder, and this is
15:58
Speaker 1: total speculation way ahead of the game, if the Cardinals
16:01
Speaker 1: are playing five hundred ball through the first half of
16:03
Speaker 1: the next of this season, and a five hundred record
16:07
Speaker 1: is enough for a wild card berth What are they
16:10
Speaker 1: gonna do with the trade deadline? And that to me
16:12
Speaker 1: would it's just just know this organization and what they're
16:15
Speaker 1: looking to do, would make me think that the seventy
16:19
Speaker 1: seven ones would be higher because I have to think
16:20
Speaker 1: they would go for it. But again, way too early
16:23
Speaker 1: to be predicting that. It's not even March yet.
16:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're gonna probably have a lot to
16:28
Speaker 2: talk about, That's my prediction. We're gonna have a lot
16:29
Speaker 2: to talk about around the trade deadline. What direction does
16:32
Speaker 2: the front office choose to go with this team? I mean,
16:36
Speaker 2: we are in this transition or the pre new era
16:44
Speaker 2: of the front office, and so yeah, we're gonna I'm
16:48
Speaker 2: gonna be interested to see how this all all unfolds.
16:51
Speaker 2: A lot to be excited about.
16:52
Speaker 1: Right now, I think. So it's it's still so early.
16:54
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't we There's more things to talk about over
16:57
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18:04
Speaker 1: All right, Trevor, So you're back in Jupiter, Florida. You're
18:08
Speaker 1: back at Roger Dean, and I want to ask you
18:11
Speaker 1: what was your favorite spring training experience here or what
18:15
Speaker 1: tradition did you have here that you absolutely had to do.
18:19
Speaker 2: Well. The first place that I went last night for
18:22
Speaker 2: dinner was Guana Banas. I don't know why. I just
18:25
Speaker 2: liked that place.
18:26
Speaker 1: You do like that place.
18:27
Speaker 2: I don't think they have like necessarily the best food.
18:29
Speaker 2: The menu actually has changed a lot since I was here.
18:32
Speaker 2: I just like the outdoor vibe. Like there's not many
18:34
Speaker 2: restaurants that you can go to in the country where
18:36
Speaker 2: it's one hundred percent outdoor, So I appreciate I appreciate
18:40
Speaker 2: that any restaurant in the water, but for sure the beach,
18:42
Speaker 2: which I haven't been to the beach yet since I've
18:45
Speaker 2: been here. Have been busy all morning, but I like.
18:48
Speaker 2: I like going to the beach and soaking up this
18:50
Speaker 2: Florida sunshine. It's a great place though, brings back a
18:53
Speaker 2: lot of very fond memories. I know, like I mentioned earlier,
18:56
Speaker 2: the Cardinals fans travel well. They usually make a vacation
18:59
Speaker 2: out of this. It seems like for how well they
19:02
Speaker 2: packed the stadium, I know there's not that many local
19:06
Speaker 2: Cardinal fan residents, so they have to be coming from somewhere.
19:09
Speaker 2: But no, it's just it's a great time, a great
19:11
Speaker 2: time to be here. What about uh? What about you?
19:14
Speaker 2: What should I add to my list? Anything that I'm forgetting?
19:18
Speaker 1: Okay, So this is something that Polo Cencio, the Spanish
19:21
Speaker 1: broadcaster started a couple of years ago. Across from the
19:24
Speaker 1: stadium is this shaved ice place. And it is so good.
19:30
Speaker 1: I have to like restrict myself to one a week,
19:33
Speaker 1: but so I last have one on Sunday and today
19:36
Speaker 1: is Tuesday, so it's a new week. So I did
19:39
Speaker 1: get one for lunch today. It's super good. Crux Coffee
19:44
Speaker 1: is a mainstay. I get that almost. It's funny. We'll
19:47
Speaker 1: go in the clubhouse. It's clubhouses open at eight am,
19:49
Speaker 1: real early. We'll do about an hour in there, and
19:52
Speaker 1: then the entire Saint Louis media mob will go over
19:55
Speaker 1: to Krux Coffee, get our fix and come back and
19:57
Speaker 1: talk to Ali. So that's my little tradition. But you know,
20:01
Speaker 1: I think if you've never been to Roger Deine or
20:03
Speaker 1: Jupiter in general, it's such a fun place. It's the beach,
20:05
Speaker 1: it's baseball, and it's eighty degrees. It cannot get any
20:08
Speaker 1: better than that, and you never know who you're gonna
20:10
Speaker 1: run into because Jupiter is pretty small, so you see
20:13
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys out. I saw CC the trainer
20:16
Speaker 1: yesterday at dinner, Trevor. Where how did you pass the
20:19
Speaker 1: time from days that you weren't pitching? What did that
20:22
Speaker 1: spring training lifestyle look like for you?
20:25
Speaker 2: So fun? I was actually talking about this earlier today
20:28
Speaker 2: with one of my friends. It's kind of it was
20:31
Speaker 2: kind of tough because we were having kids at the time,
20:34
Speaker 2: especially early in my career, so we were always in
20:36
Speaker 2: the middle of nap time and changing diapers. But we
20:38
Speaker 2: were always sure to rent a house or some great neighborhoods,
20:41
Speaker 2: so like, actually, I have a friend that we rent
20:43
Speaker 2: we would rent a house from. It was a really
20:45
Speaker 2: fun neighborhood. We had a pool, we had friends that
20:48
Speaker 2: lived in the neighborhood. So just like going to the
20:50
Speaker 2: parks and getting outside and spending time with friends and
20:53
Speaker 2: family was most memorable to me, especially because you know,
20:57
Speaker 2: we spent all of our off seasons in Saint Louis,
20:59
Speaker 2: so it was like, you know, February March, you're getting
21:01
Speaker 2: out of the freezing cold and coming down to a
21:03
Speaker 2: place where it's eighty degrees and sunny and palm trees,
21:07
Speaker 2: like I'm might take full advantage of this. One of
21:08
Speaker 2: my best memories is I think so I have three daughters.
21:11
Speaker 2: I taught two of them how to ride bikes in
21:14
Speaker 2: spring training. It being Florida, I mean it's flat, so
21:18
Speaker 2: it was like the prime place to take on the
21:22
Speaker 2: endeavor of like as a dad, that's like such a
21:25
Speaker 2: proud dad moments teaching your kids how to ride a
21:27
Speaker 2: bike for the first time. Unfortunately I've taught them all
21:30
Speaker 2: now and I don't have anything else to look forward to.
21:31
Speaker 2: I remember, like when I was teaching my youngest daughter
21:34
Speaker 2: how to ride her bike. I was like kind of
21:35
Speaker 2: like a tear comes to miile, like this is the
21:37
Speaker 2: last one.
21:40
Speaker 1: That is super said, But your oldest daughter is she's
21:42
Speaker 1: like a gymnastics star, right.
21:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so she's taken bike riding to a whole new level.
21:47
Speaker 2: She's doing backflips on a balance beam that's as white
21:50
Speaker 2: as an iPhone, So she's got it figured out. That's
21:53
Speaker 2: not that had nothing to do with me.
21:55
Speaker 1: So no, you taught her balance and she took it
21:57
Speaker 1: from there.
21:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll take any credit I can get.
22:00
Speaker 1: All right, as we look to wrap this up, Trevor,
22:03
Speaker 1: is there anyone I mean, as games progress, we're gonna
22:05
Speaker 1: start seeing more, We're gonna see longer leashes. Right, You're
22:08
Speaker 1: gonna see starting pitchers start to build up to the three,
22:10
Speaker 1: four five inning mark. You're gonna see guys staying for
22:12
Speaker 1: at least three maybe four bats. What are you looking
22:16
Speaker 1: for in terms of evaluation for players as these games
22:19
Speaker 1: progress and the playing time progresses as well.
22:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, certainly, you know, starting pitchers, seeing what
22:26
Speaker 2: their velocity looks like over the span of four or
22:28
Speaker 2: five innings, just seeing everybody kind of gets stretched out.
22:33
Speaker 2: But and then there's a few guys, I mean, I'm
22:37
Speaker 2: looking at the lineup in the box score right now
22:39
Speaker 2: that still haven't gotten you know, their first hits. So
22:42
Speaker 2: you want to you want to see guys build momentum
22:44
Speaker 2: and notch some some points in the hit column on
22:47
Speaker 2: the box score. But beyond that, I think it's so important,
22:52
Speaker 2: you know, at this point with the clubhouse like just
22:56
Speaker 2: just developing some sort of chemistry. I mean, there's been
22:59
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff that's happened in the organization. There's
23:02
Speaker 2: all these conversation, all these external things happening with this team,
23:06
Speaker 2: and I'm not a part of it. I'm not in
23:09
Speaker 2: the clubhouse anymore, but I would just hope that there's
23:12
Speaker 2: some sort of leadership happening, there's some sort of chemistry
23:16
Speaker 2: being developed. However they do that, whether that's in the
23:19
Speaker 2: clubhouse or getting together away from the field. But it's
23:21
Speaker 2: a long season and when we're just at the beginning
23:23
Speaker 2: of it, so we have to find a way to
23:26
Speaker 2: make it fun. Like, yeah, it's a job. These guys
23:27
Speaker 2: are getting paid to perform and do a job. But
23:30
Speaker 2: when you put too much pressure on yourself, it makes
23:32
Speaker 2: it even harder and that's when things can really start
23:35
Speaker 2: to unravel. So whoever needs to step up, whether that's
23:38
Speaker 2: the staff. We've talked about the staff we had all
23:41
Speaker 2: the on We know the energy that they have and
23:43
Speaker 2: the thoughts and the message that they have to the
23:45
Speaker 2: team and to the fan base. But for me, that's
23:48
Speaker 2: what I want to see. I want to see these
23:49
Speaker 2: guys go out and have fun, be a team, and
23:53
Speaker 2: go out and enjoy the game of baseball.
23:56
Speaker 1: That's what it's all about. Right it's spring training, Baseball's
24:00
Speaker 1: We're almost one month until opening day, when things start
24:03
Speaker 1: to get real. But for now, you know, Trevor, I'm excited.
24:07
Speaker 1: I do think there is some legitimate competition in this
24:09
Speaker 1: Cardinals camp. Sure wasn't the most thrilling offseason, nor is
24:12
Speaker 1: it the most thrilling team on paper. But the things
24:15
Speaker 1: I'm going to be watching for as this spring progresses
24:17
Speaker 1: is the battle in center fields, the battle behind the plate,
24:21
Speaker 1: and just what exactly that rotation and bullpen combination is
24:24
Speaker 1: going to look like. One guy we didn't talk about,
24:26
Speaker 1: which we should have because he's a friend of the show,
24:28
Speaker 1: Gordon Groseppo, had a really nice outing yesterday and he
24:31
Speaker 1: threw two, which I thought was a tell. You know,
24:33
Speaker 1: they haven't just strictly decided on bullpen usage for him
24:36
Speaker 1: yet most starters are throwing two. Garseppo's right on that
24:39
Speaker 1: line for me. Could be a starter, could be a reliever,
24:42
Speaker 1: could be a little bit of both, could be a swingman.
24:44
Speaker 1: So you just never know. But you know this, the
24:47
Speaker 1: bullpen competition really starts to heat up towards the second
24:49
Speaker 1: half of camp. Your guy Riley O'Brien's off to a
24:52
Speaker 1: good start, so we'll see where it goes from there.
24:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, Grascello looks amazing. I was really impressed with this stuff.
24:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm excited about some of these arms that
25:02
Speaker 2: we've we've rolled out. You know, there's even a couple
25:05
Speaker 2: of guys that didn't necessarily have the best first impression.
25:10
Speaker 2: They struggled a little bit, but like the stuff, the
25:12
Speaker 2: stuff was there. They had glimpses of being able to
25:16
Speaker 2: compete at the highest level, at the major league level.
25:19
Speaker 2: So I wouldn't rule those guys out either. I mean,
25:21
Speaker 2: it's it's still early. There's gonna be a lot of competition.
25:23
Speaker 2: There's gonna be guys that you know, injuries are gonna happen,
25:27
Speaker 2: and we're gonna have to see, hopefully not hopefully we
25:29
Speaker 2: have an injury free camp and year. But I mean
25:33
Speaker 2: there's so much with this team, I think, in in
25:36
Speaker 2: the youth movement and in these players, and and really
25:39
Speaker 2: the new approach, like getting more back to the core
25:42
Speaker 2: of it, like a draft and development team. I think
25:46
Speaker 2: there's some pieces here where we're maybe not too far
25:49
Speaker 2: away of the end result that that we're all hoping for.
25:51
Speaker 2: So I think I agree with you, Katie. We got
25:54
Speaker 2: the catching competition, we got center field looks like you know,
25:59
Speaker 2: the d H spot. How are we going to maximize
26:03
Speaker 2: that production? But I don't know, Katie, Am I missing
26:06
Speaker 2: anything here? I'm just excited. I'm like here, I'm across
26:09
Speaker 2: the street from Roger Gen.
26:11
Speaker 1: I know you're back. No, you know, I don't think
26:13
Speaker 1: we've talked about this. Why are you here? Why don't
26:16
Speaker 1: you tell our beloved audience a little bit about your
26:18
Speaker 1: mission and what you're involved with.
26:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm here with the Baseball Assistants Team or BAT.
26:23
Speaker 2: It's a great, great acronym BAT, and so that is
26:27
Speaker 2: a pretty cool organization. It's been around for forty years
26:31
Speaker 2: and it serves to help players of the base or
26:33
Speaker 2: help members of the baseball family. So it can be
26:36
Speaker 2: a player, a coach, training staff, really anybody on the
26:40
Speaker 2: staff in front office, all the way down to the
26:42
Speaker 2: training room, and even even scouts and umpires. So the
26:47
Speaker 2: contributions come from players. So in spring training, our staff
26:50
Speaker 2: me involved, me included. We go into the MLB clubhouses
26:54
Speaker 2: and we meet with players. We describe the work that
26:58
Speaker 2: we do and the purpose of the organized. If they
27:01
Speaker 2: feel inclined, they contribute funds out of their paycheck for
27:05
Speaker 2: the year, and then we get to use those funds
27:07
Speaker 2: to help members of the baseball family that come on
27:10
Speaker 2: hard times, whether it be a natural disaster, illness, or
27:15
Speaker 2: or just things outside of their control. And so it's
27:17
Speaker 2: a it's a really cool organization. I mean, as you know, Katie,
27:20
Speaker 2: the baseball family is like it's a really tight knit community,
27:24
Speaker 2: and this organization is really the only thing in place
27:27
Speaker 2: that can help players and families that come on hard times.
27:32
Speaker 2: So I enjoy it. It's my first time doing the
27:35
Speaker 2: tour on this side. I've sat in it on it
27:37
Speaker 2: as a player, and now I'm a part of the board.
27:40
Speaker 2: I'm a board member of the Baseball Assistance Team, so
27:43
Speaker 2: I get to see really how how everything's operated from
27:45
Speaker 2: behind the scenes, and I feel very confident in telling
27:49
Speaker 2: players all the work that's being done and how their
27:52
Speaker 2: contributions are being being put to use. So yeah, thanks
27:55
Speaker 2: for bringing that up, Katie.
27:56
Speaker 1: No, that's awesome, and it's such a great foundation, one
27:58
Speaker 1: that I don't think a lot of fans really even
28:01
Speaker 1: know exists. So definitely keep up the good work there, Trevor.
28:04
Speaker 1: That's very awesome and it's needed, especially in this tight
28:07
Speaker 1: knit community that is the baseball world. For our baseball world.
28:11
Speaker 1: Before we sign off. We're gonna for our YouTube audience
28:13
Speaker 1: at least bless you with the three strikeouts that Quinn
28:16
Speaker 1: Matthews had in his Great Fruit League debut. Pretty nasty work.
28:20
Speaker 1: The future looks good, Trevor. What do you think?
28:23
Speaker 2: He looks really, really good. I was impressed better than
28:26
Speaker 2: I remember Quinn Matthews looking when I was doing homework
28:28
Speaker 2: this offseason. So he's probably not too far away from us.
28:32
Speaker 2: Seeing him spend some time in Saint Louis, I.
28:35
Speaker 1: Don't think he's that far away either. He's certainly someone
28:38
Speaker 1: i'm watching as well. All right, let's call it what
28:41
Speaker 1: a time was had, Trevor. You and I have places
28:44
Speaker 1: to be. It's almost four o'clock, which means it's almost
28:46
Speaker 1: five o'clock, which means it's almost happy hour. That's real
28:49
Speaker 1: girl math. So well, we'll be back. I got Alexa
28:52
Speaker 1: dak coming on a new play by play Boys for
28:55
Speaker 1: the Saint Louis Cardinals. Made history on Sunday as the
28:58
Speaker 1: first woman to call it play by a game for
29:00
Speaker 1: the Saint Louis Cardinals. She's my guest at the end
29:02
Speaker 1: of the week, and then Trevor and I will be
29:04
Speaker 1: back with you next week for those who at home,
29:06
Speaker 1: thanks so much for watching. We'll talk to you soon.