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Brendan Donovan traded! Instant reaction and analysis from Lance Lynn! · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to an emergency edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: The long discussed, the long.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Rumored, the long debated trade Brendan Donovan has finally happened.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Before we get to the details of that, let me
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: make a request. We put this at the top, but
• 0:27
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• 0:31
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• 0:33
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• 0:36
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• 0:41
  Speaker 1: As for the trade, twenty nine year old Brendan Donovan,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: All Star Gold Glover career two eighty two hitter, plays
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: all over the field, goes to Seattle in a three
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: way deal with Tampa. The Cards get from Seattle top
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: one hundred prospect Gerangelo Singja pitcher twenty twenty four first
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: round pick out of Mississippi State. Throws right handed and
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: left handed.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Better is a.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Righty and Seattle saw him purely really is a right
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: handed pitcher three point nine nine ERA over two levels
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: in the minor leagues last season. The Cards also get
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: from Seattle Tide Pete outfielder, just twenty years old, former
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: first round pick back in twenty twenty three nineteen homers
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: in High A last season. The Cards also get outfielder
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Colton Ledbetter from Tampa and they get two come picks
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: in the deal. So let's talk about Brendan Donovan first. Okay,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you don't really want to part with that guy because
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: he has so much upsize. We already mentioned, you know,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: all star gold glove guy, great in the room, as
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: they say. But if you're hind Bloom, you got to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: make room for JJ Weatherhol and you're trying to stockpile
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: controlable young talent.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: And he achieved that with this deal. Yeah, now you
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: look at it. You're here to get five prospects. You know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: obviously a prospect is a wait and see. You're looking
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: at a first round draft pick, you know, to outfielders
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: with some speed. I don't know where the hit tools
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: are at with either one of them. But like you said,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Donnie is a great clubhouse guy, a great just ballplayer.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: He's one of those guys you can put anywhere in
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the lineup, you know, anywhere on the field. He's going
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: to make winning plays and do the things that he
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: needs to do uh to be a productive player. Even
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: if he doesn't have his best game. So he's gonna
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: be missed in the clubhouse. He's going to be missed
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: on the field for the Cardinals. But you got you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: you got five prospects back there, or well, you have
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: three prospects back with two of the compicks that you're
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: gonna wait and see on on how you can use those.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Maybe talk about that a little bit later of what
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: that gives the Cardinals some wiggle room in the upcoming draft.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: And you know, you Donnie gets to go to a
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: chance where he gets, you know, a team that's going
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: for it, and he can kind of you know, get
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: get in a spot where you know he's playing for
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: something too, when you know that you're in a like
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: in a rebuild that you're in Saint Louis, so you
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: know it could be a win win for both sides.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's talk about Changa, who seems to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: be the prize jewel in all of this. Twenty two
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: year old with huge upside. And this is a guy
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: we see him throw from the right side. He's naturally
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: a lefter, a lefty grown up. He wanted to use
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: his dad's glove, so we threw from the right side.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, though, there was someone in a
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: podcast who was really, really smart who had identified this guy,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: liked him a lot before anyone else did. Who could
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: that be?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Who could that be? That was you? You went to
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: their last year's first runners, like this guy could be it?
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I found interesting. The Mariners have a prospect, twenty two
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: year old Jerangelo Sinja, who is a switch pitcher, I
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: mean legitimately ach pitcher. Now we know change it is
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: gonna be from the right side, but everyone has you
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: know that's seen this guy pitch talks about his electric stuff.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Why range of pitches can't do it from both sides?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: But to get this guy, you know, one of their
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: top prospects, top one hundred in baseball. Uh kind of
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: adds to what Heim was hoping to do, is shot
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: file young, controllable pitching. This guy fills the bill.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: No, yeah, it definitely does. It's gonna be It's gonna
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: be interesting to see. Are have they came out and
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: said that it's gonna be right? He only yet are
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: they to still try to switch the switch pitcher thing is?
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's gonna be a wait and see.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: That's gonna be way you see because Seattle said this
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: year they wanted to see him from the right side.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Only now, I'm sure the Cardinals haven't made that decision yet.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe they want to get him into camp and take
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a look at him. But supposedly Vilo is good from
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: both sides. You know, he can ninety ninety four from
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the left side, but he's much more powerful from the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: right side, and you know, tick it up to ninety eight.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: And maybe they look at that as just one less
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: thing to worry about. If you pick a side you
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: know pitching better than me.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're picking set. And I think you're
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: also looking at his walk numbers, as walk numbers have
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: been over four point, you know, four batters per nine,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: So that's a you know, that's a you know, one
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: side is better than the other. And this stuff plays
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: all indications I've gotten so far of everybody I've asked, Right,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: he's way better. It plays way better. And then your
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: next thing is you're worried about the size. Is the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: size is going to be able to hold up as
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: a starter over the course of a full season, or
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: is he more of a reliever body wise? And if
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: that's the case, he's more of a reliever, then maybe
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: you can make the switch pitching work. But if he's
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: going to be a starter, then it's going to be
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: probably a righty only. But if you want to use
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: the ability to be able to throw from both sides
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: and the stuff, maybe you can hone it in as
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: a reliever and actually be able to do it, or
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: maybe multiple winnings instead of hey, over the course of
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: a game you're going back and forth or something like that.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: That's gonna be tough to do. But maybe one appearance
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: here or this way or that way as a reliever
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: could be doable as a switch pitcher. So you know,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be a wait and see how he's gonna mature.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: You know, the frame is what it is. Was he
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: five to eleven, two hundred pounds, So you know, I'm
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: not saying that under six footer is gonna not that
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: can't hold up over the course of a big league season,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: but I will say that it's a little easier the
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: bigger yard.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Listen, I'm all for it for both SUPs because that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: would be a lot of fun. But I think about
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a guy like Mason Winn, who was legitimately a pitching prospect,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: and they were talking about him pitching and also playing
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: shorts up. But it's very hard to get to the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: major leagues, right, so sometimes keeping it simple is a
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: big plus.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And if you want to hit and pitch, you
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: grow up in Japan and be able to do it
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: the whole life, and then you just bring it to
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: major league you don't even have to work it up
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: through the minor leagues. But yeah, I mean being a
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: position player, being a pitcher, there's a lot of things
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: that go into that day in and day out. And
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: then if also if you're working on your craft as
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: a as a rightyna left, he that you can throw
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: things in a rench. So he's got to figure out
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: what's his chance chances already get to the big leagues,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: what's his best ability to stay healthy, where's his stuff play?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: And that's for the you know, I think the Cardinals
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: obviously you're giving up a big piece in Donovan to
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: get him, and he's the you know, the the centerpiece
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: of your deal. So they should have a plan on
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: what they want to do with him and how they
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: see him ascending to the big leagues as fast as possible,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: because like say, he's the first rounder, but he's a
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: college kid, so he should be more advanced and you
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: know on his way, you know, to be maybe even
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: to be a big leaguer at the end of the year.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: That started next year. So what side of the player
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: or what side of the mountain of throwing on is
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: going to make that happen? And you know, and what's
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: it going to entail, whether it's starting or relieving.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: So Pete a little younger, he's twenty drafted at a
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: high school, but a guy with a huge upside, an
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: athlete with a lot of power. He's only twenty nineteen
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: homers last year, also stole twenty five bases. A guy
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: who would first have thought maybe shortstop, but they liked
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: his athleticism and center field. I know he didn't hit
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: for average last year, but a lot of people with
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: very impressed with what this guy brings to the table lands.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're looking at speed and he's got he's got power.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Right the year before he hit like two sixty something.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: So we've got to figure out how to combine those
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: two things. Be able to go for it when you
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: need to go for it, and then be able to
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: put the ball on the play because put the ball
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: in play and run because he's got the ability to
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: steal bases and do somethings. So you know, you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: first second strike, go for it, get your best swing
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: off to your thing, but then be able to use
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: you put the ball and play, use your speed, do
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: your things like that. So and that comes with time
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: and the right people, you know, teaching him how to
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: do that and do the things that he needs to do.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: And if you can play center field and run like
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: that he can, that could be a huge upside. And
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: like you said, nineteen home runs last year as a
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: twenty year old, you know, that could be a twenty
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: five home run center fielder in the right, you know,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: right situation if we can get the swing and miss
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: down a little bit and get that batting average up
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit and use this wheels, you know, getting
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: on base. And hey, if you can hit twenty but
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: hit more doubles, put the ball and play a little
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: bit more, a single turns into a double because of
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: your speed. There's a lot of things still like there.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: So you know, I'm with you on that one. A
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: lot of upside young, but you know there's some raw
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: power there. But now we just need to make sure
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: to make some more contact, and then you know, I
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: think the glove plays anywhere you want to play it,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: but centerfield seems to be the spot that people liking.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: So if these prospects are powerball tickets, like you never
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: know which one's going to pay off, then coundle picks
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I think are like scratch off tickets. But have a
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: couple of those in your pocket for a guy like
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Don Bloom. That's that's a big plus, isn't it.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the draft is done in so many
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: different ways. Now you have the slot system, but it
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: gives you a draft pool. I don't know what the
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: number is going to be connected to those two comp
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: picks and Whet. It's going to probably should be around
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: a million dollars or two million combining them, maybe a
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: little bit more. So that gives them two million dollars
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: more to spend in their draft pool, whether it's hey,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: a guy slips in the first round and gets to them,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: they can use that money there, or they can you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: use you know, hey, we're going to load up on
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: our first three picks and our second, third round, fourth
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: rounders are just going to be senior signs, and we're
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: going to push all that money to our top three
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: picks to get as best biggest prospect as we can
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: maybe buy a kid, buy a kid out of college,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: or you know a kid that slips because he is
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: a high school kid that wants more money, and now
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: you can push him. You know, he pushes down a
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: little bit and you're able to get add him a
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: little bit more money and give him over slot. So
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: very interesting pieces to be able to move there. But
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: those also are tradable pieces. As the year goes along,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: maybe you sweeten a mid season trade because you're going
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: to have some guys that are you know, coming up
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: on the last year of arbitration or or you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: our kind of ending in that spot before they get
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: their free agency, and you can maybe tack on one
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: of those picks and get a better prospect. And next
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: thing you know, it's like, hey, I use those as
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: to upgrade. And it's always about hey, how can I
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: get a little bit better wherever I'm at, so I
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: have the deep system when I'm ready to actually spend
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: money in free agency.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: So if you're doing a build, a reset, rebuild, tearing
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: out whatever, you have all these materials now at your
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: disposals so you can build in whatever direction seems to
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: be the best fit for the ball club. I think
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: that's a great thing for for hind Bloom. Last thing,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: because one of the things that we said before we
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: even started with this emergency addition was well they cleared way.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: No one wanted to see Donny go because you're losing
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a lot, but they had to make a path for
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: JJ Weatherhol. I know we've talked about it before. Most
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: people feel second base the best position.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Boom.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: This is also a clear a path for JJ, isn't it.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: You'd say, yeah, But with Donovan being able to play
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: left field, I mean, now the question is who plays
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: left field? You know, is it going to be new
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: because you want Walker? Is it technically clearing a path
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: for Walker and Jj at the same time. So, and
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: if you look at it that way, and you're looking
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: at the build, you really need to know what you
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: have more so well with both of them. To be
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: honest with you, you know, you need to know what
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: you have with those two. You really need to know
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: what you have with Gorman. You really those three are
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: going to be what. JJ has got more of a leash, obviously,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: but Gorman and Walker are going to It's their year
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: to say, hey, I'm a big leaguer every day, no
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: matter who's on the mound, righty, lefty, I am a
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: major leaguer and I can be successful. And now they're
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: going to get that opportunity because that opens up the
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: spot for both of them to play every day, in
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: my opinion, and then when you know, you can spare
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: them with you know, Segacier or you know, whatever you
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: need at times throughout the year. So I think it's
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: more so hey JJ, Yes, but it's Gorman and Walker
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: too that you say, hey, boys, you're in the lineup
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: every day. Whatever spot you want to put him in,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: let him go. Same with Mason, you know, like you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: if we talked about earlier, it's like, if you can
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: figure out these young kids, you're going to play this position,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: You're going to hit in this spot in the lineup
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: every day because we want to give you the chance
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: to tell us you're a big leaguer and we can
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: build this thing around you. And I think that that's
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: a it's something that can go a long ways, especially
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: you know when you get when well, when you have
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the opportunity. But they also are making that opportunity for
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: him so you really got to let them. You've got
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: to let them do it, or you're really just gonna
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: be looking at it next year like, well, what do
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: we have again? So now it's like, hey, here's our group,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: let's see what we got and let's see where we
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: can go from them. And you have new and you
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: have and you have Herrera and then if Victor's in
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: center field, you have a pretty good defensive lineup all
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: the way around, and you have youth, and you have
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of different ways for the lineup to be
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: set in the ways that they can put the ball
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: in play. They can run a little bit, they can
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: have some power here, and it can you know, it
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: can cause some havoc and especially if they get comfortable
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: and they start finding their finding their groove. So that
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: being said, what you talked about earlier, let's see what
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: these minor league pitchers turn into. What do we you know,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: what are we doing to make sure that they have
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: what they need in the minor leagues to be not
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: only be ready for the big leagues, but be ready
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: to be contributors at the big league level, not just stuff.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: So I'm anxious to see what you know, I have
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: not seen or heard of any you know, pitching guru
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: that's been down there. You know, if you're just saying, hey,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: we want you to chase these numbers and this and
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: that sabermetrically, you know, that's you know, we've seen that
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: when you get up to the big leagues, if you
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: just throw things down the middle and have no plan,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: it gets you in trouble. And so there's a lot
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: of what and a lot of hey, let's see. And
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: when you have young prospects that are coming up, you
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: better have guys that know how to teach not only
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: the way to pitch, but how to get there and
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: also how to get out at the big league level.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: So we'll see what they have there. And all I've
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: seen is front office hires. I've not seen much of
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: the developmental hires of people that actually played the game. Well.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Hopefully with all these opportunities out there, some guys make
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the most of it and then hopefully the season can
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: be a little fun to watch. Lance always a pleasure.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it, and thanks to everyone for watching this
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: emergency edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: We'll see next time. Hopefully that edition won't suck.