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Who's the pick to click in 2026? · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Well, this Sunday afternoon evening edition of Cardinal Territory was
0:09
Speaker 1: supposed to be a series recap of the Cardinals Rais
0:12
Speaker 1: series in Tampa, but that game has yet to be played.
0:16
Speaker 1: It's around two thirty Central time as we record. This
0:18
Speaker 1: first pitch was scheduled for eleven ten. Severe weather at
0:22
Speaker 1: George Steinberner Field. Who could have forecasted that in the
0:25
Speaker 1: late August certainly not us, And we should be used
0:28
Speaker 1: to Cardinals rain delayers anyway, because, as Bernie and I
0:30
Speaker 1: were just saying before we logged on for the show,
0:32
Speaker 1: it's probably been the worst weather year for the Saint
0:34
Speaker 1: Louis Cardinals all season long.
0:36
Speaker 2: So we have no update for you right now for
0:39
Speaker 2: the game.
0:39
Speaker 1: The Rays released an announcement about an hour ago saying
0:42
Speaker 1: they were hopeful to begin this game around three pm
0:44
Speaker 1: Central time, weather permitting.
0:46
Speaker 2: And then this.
0:47
Speaker 1: Bad boy went out about ten minutes ago. I'll read
0:49
Speaker 1: it to you because it just made me laugh. It's
0:52
Speaker 1: so fitting for the weather trials and tribulations we've had
0:55
Speaker 1: this year from the Tampa Bay Rays about fifteen minutes ago,
1:00
Speaker 1: conditions have worsened and we are reassessing the situation. We
1:02
Speaker 1: continue to monitor and will provide an update as more
1:04
Speaker 1: information becomes available. So no estimated timeframe for first pitch.
1:08
Speaker 1: We don't even know if the game is going to
1:10
Speaker 1: be played, so no series recap. But guess what, We're
1:12
Speaker 1: still here to break down some Cardinals things. Welcome back
1:14
Speaker 1: to here.
1:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry I had to mean the reupt Yeah,
1:17
Speaker 3: I mean, I do care about the outcome of this game.
1:21
Speaker 3: I think it'd be good for the Cardinals to win,
1:23
Speaker 3: you know, back to back series. But then again, does
1:27
Speaker 3: it really matter whether they have a four and two
1:30
Speaker 3: road trip or three and three road trip. I mean again,
1:32
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to demean them, but it just doesn't
1:36
Speaker 3: matter all that much. So yeah, I think the show
1:37
Speaker 3: must go on.
1:38
Speaker 4: Katie. You know, the rain doesn't affect us.
1:41
Speaker 3: It's dry in my house, so I'm sure s drive
1:44
Speaker 3: where you are.
1:45
Speaker 2: Lewis definitely funny talking about this.
1:47
Speaker 1: It seems like every home homestand the weather is awful.
1:51
Speaker 2: Then the Cardinals go on the road.
1:52
Speaker 1: It becomes beautiful in Saint Louis, and wherever they're on
1:54
Speaker 1: the road the weather is equally as bad.
1:56
Speaker 2: So the good news is.
1:58
Speaker 1: If you are so inclined to come watch four thrillion
2:00
Speaker 1: games against the Cardinals and Pirates next week. It looks
2:04
Speaker 1: to be perfect baseball weather, seventy five degrees, minimal humidity. Yeah,
2:09
Speaker 1: who wouldn't want to see that? Who wouldn't want to
2:11
Speaker 1: see Cardinals Pirates four games during the week in August?
2:13
Speaker 2: Check it out.
2:14
Speaker 4: Come to bus chanting with us pitch. I guess I
2:17
Speaker 4: don't know. Well, maybe he's not scheduled. I don't know.
2:20
Speaker 4: I haven't even looked ahead. I'm well prepared for this
2:23
Speaker 4: show today, Katie, you.
2:24
Speaker 2: And me both. I don't even know how it became
2:25
Speaker 2: faker of the afternoon. My tea is thrilled.
2:28
Speaker 1: You know what, Bertie, I think as we progress to September,
2:32
Speaker 1: this won't be the you know what Cardinals September where
2:35
Speaker 1: they're making their usual playoff push.
2:36
Speaker 2: Right, this is a sad September.
2:38
Speaker 1: We're going sending a lot of time focusing on next
2:41
Speaker 1: year's roster, and there are a lot of things that
2:43
Speaker 1: haven't gone well for the Cardinals. There are a lot
2:44
Speaker 1: of problems they need to address. There will be plenty
2:47
Speaker 1: of questions about Hey and Bloom's transition and what the
2:49
Speaker 1: new front office will look like and We'll have plenty
2:51
Speaker 1: of time to discuss that, but I think we could
2:54
Speaker 1: all use some positivity right now. So I'm officially deeming
2:57
Speaker 1: this a cardinal territory.
2:58
Speaker 2: Hashtag positive EPISOD.
3:00
Speaker 1: And I thought you and I could talk about a
3:01
Speaker 1: couple of things that were either excited about or confident
3:04
Speaker 1: about next year from a player perspective. So my first
3:07
Speaker 1: question for you, which Cardinals starting pitcher are you most
3:11
Speaker 1: confident in next year?
3:13
Speaker 4: I'm going to say Matthew Libtor.
3:15
Speaker 3: And perhaps that's counterintuitive because he got off to that
3:19
Speaker 3: great start his first ten starts this year.
3:21
Speaker 4: We're magnificent.
3:23
Speaker 3: He really was statistically one of the best starting pitchers
3:26
Speaker 3: in baseball. And then whether we want to say he
3:29
Speaker 3: hit that wall, whether we say it's just, hey, you know,
3:33
Speaker 3: this transition is starting in the major leagus for the
3:35
Speaker 3: first time, I mean a full time starter. He hadn't
3:37
Speaker 3: done that for a long time, or he hadn't done
3:39
Speaker 3: that in the majors, I'm sorry, And yeah, I think
3:43
Speaker 3: for I think each each individual pitcher is different, and
3:46
Speaker 3: in his case, I think the the pile up of
3:51
Speaker 3: innings you know, obviously got to him. Thankfully for him
3:55
Speaker 3: and the Cardinals you know, he wasn't injured per se,
3:58
Speaker 3: but he just just didn't have great stuff for a
4:02
Speaker 3: while and he had to develop some survival skills.
4:04
Speaker 4: And I think I've really liked the way.
4:06
Speaker 3: He's handled all of this. I'm not saying it's been
4:09
Speaker 3: handsome the whole way, because it has n't. But you
4:12
Speaker 3: can see him bouncing back some. You can see the
4:15
Speaker 3: life returning to his pitches. And Katie, I looked at
4:19
Speaker 3: you know, I've taken the season and its entirety so far.
4:23
Speaker 3: We know there was a great part and of not
4:25
Speaker 3: good part, but he's basically I was looking at his
4:29
Speaker 3: adjusted e R A or e r A plus.
4:31
Speaker 4: He's basically a league average pitcher. But I actually think
4:35
Speaker 4: that's good.
4:35
Speaker 3: Because if in fact, he got through the hard part,
4:39
Speaker 3: the part where you know, things just he didn't have sizzle, right,
4:43
Speaker 3: If he gets through that, I think it'll set him
4:46
Speaker 3: up for next season.
4:47
Speaker 4: He'll know what it's like, his arm will be used
4:49
Speaker 4: to it, he'll train accordingly. Everything like that.
4:52
Speaker 3: I think it sets him up to have a really
4:54
Speaker 3: nice season next year because I think the maturity, not
4:58
Speaker 3: only mental maturity, but the physical maturity he'll be in better.
5:03
Speaker 3: He'll be in a better spot going in the next season.
5:06
Speaker 2: I agree from the Libby standpoint.
5:09
Speaker 1: I think we've talked all season about how much this
5:10
Speaker 1: was one thousand percent the correct decision for the organization
5:13
Speaker 1: to do in terms of seeing what he has as
5:16
Speaker 1: a full season as a starting pitcher.
5:18
Speaker 2: This Cardinals transition season, as we know, was designed to
5:21
Speaker 2: let the.
5:22
Speaker 1: Organization know what they have and a player after a
5:24
Speaker 1: full season of work, not April, not a couple months,
5:28
Speaker 1: not a first half or a second half, an entire season,
5:30
Speaker 1: and they identified very early on which players they wanted
5:33
Speaker 1: to see that in and Libby was one of them.
5:35
Speaker 1: So of course there are going to be ups and downs,
5:38
Speaker 1: and Libby's had his fair share of setbacks. I really
5:40
Speaker 1: like how he responded after his last start in Miami.
5:43
Speaker 1: Was hoping to see him build out that today. Who's
5:45
Speaker 1: to know if he actually will pitch today. But I
5:47
Speaker 1: like what we're seeing in Libby because he has with
5:50
Speaker 1: each setback, had.
5:52
Speaker 2: The right mentality to overcome it.
5:54
Speaker 1: And the innings limit or career innings that he was
5:58
Speaker 1: coming up on that's a real thing. But the only
6:00
Speaker 1: way you're going to get past that as a pitcher
6:02
Speaker 1: is to pitch through it, and the Cardinals have been
6:04
Speaker 1: I will say this about them, so cognizant and so
6:07
Speaker 1: detailed about pitching usage and innings limits and keeping their
6:10
Speaker 1: arms healthy.
6:11
Speaker 2: I really like what we've seen out of Libby.
6:13
Speaker 1: I hope he can turn, you know, finish the season
6:15
Speaker 1: strong in September, log more innings, get that Veilo up,
6:18
Speaker 1: sustain it, and I think come next year, if he
6:21
Speaker 1: is your number three or number four, okay, that's fine.
6:27
Speaker 1: I wouldn't pick him as my most confident one, though
6:29
Speaker 1: I do have confidence in Libby. I would go with McGreevy.
6:32
Speaker 1: And maybe that's recency bias, but I just really like
6:35
Speaker 1: what we've seen out of his demeanor because it hasn't
6:38
Speaker 1: been easy for him all season long. We know that
6:40
Speaker 1: it's been a very unorthodox year for Michael mcgree in
6:44
Speaker 1: terms of how the organization has used him.
6:46
Speaker 2: But he's come up and whether he's been hit hard or.
6:48
Speaker 1: Whether he's had success, he's the same, even killed guy
6:51
Speaker 1: in the clubhouse, he's laughing around, he's joking, he's comfortable,
6:55
Speaker 1: and he's still so serious. I think he has the
6:57
Speaker 1: makeup of a true mid rotation star, and I think
7:02
Speaker 1: that if the Cardinals start the season in twenty twenty six,
7:04
Speaker 1: and Matthew Libertorre and Michael McGreevy are the three and
7:07
Speaker 1: four pictures in your rotation or four and five. That's
7:10
Speaker 1: pretty good, Okay, you'll take those guys as back end starters.
7:13
Speaker 1: The issue that I have here, Bernie, is that the
7:15
Speaker 1: Cardinals don't have three starters to slot above them right now.
7:18
Speaker 1: You're not gonna put Andre Polante up there. If Sonny
7:21
Speaker 1: Gray stays, sure could he's the number one. Obviously, they're
7:23
Speaker 1: not bringing back Miles michaelis And you can make the
7:25
Speaker 1: argument right now that the best way pictures in the
7:27
Speaker 1: organization are Sonny Gray, Matthew Libertre, and Michael McGreevey. But
7:33
Speaker 1: is that a rotation that's going to I don't know,
7:37
Speaker 1: sparked fear in an opponent. Is that a rotation that's
7:39
Speaker 1: really setting those guys up for success. Michael McGreevy and
7:41
Speaker 1: Matthew Libertre next year to be confident in their abilities
7:44
Speaker 1: and their careers should be the back end of the rotation.
7:48
Speaker 2: If you have them.
7:49
Speaker 1: Trying to produce like a number two or three or
7:52
Speaker 1: one or two, that'd be worst case scenario. I'm not sure,
7:54
Speaker 1: you're setting it up best for success. So in my
7:57
Speaker 1: perfect world, Matthew Libertor, Michael mcgree three or four, four
8:01
Speaker 1: and five, and I'm really confident in what they be
8:02
Speaker 1: able to do at this point in their early careers
8:04
Speaker 1: as back end starters.
8:06
Speaker 4: No, I I agree, and I listen.
8:08
Speaker 3: I think I think we basically, I think that both
8:12
Speaker 3: of us would put McGreevy and limatare in the same
8:15
Speaker 3: in the same category. I mean, there's a lot to
8:18
Speaker 3: like about both of them, and I think we both
8:20
Speaker 3: agree that the best is yet to come. And I
8:23
Speaker 3: look at McGreevy, just to dovetail on your point, The
8:26
Speaker 3: thing that impresses me is that, uh, all right, you know,
8:30
Speaker 3: does he does he throw ninety seven?
8:32
Speaker 2: No?
8:32
Speaker 4: Is he going to strike out a bunch of guys?
8:34
Speaker 3: No? But if you look at some of the some
8:36
Speaker 3: of the underlying metrics, and you know me, I I do,
8:40
Speaker 3: you know, get into that stuff. His his ability to
8:44
Speaker 3: locate pitches exactly where he wants him to go. He's
8:47
Speaker 3: way above average in that part. He's way above average,
8:51
Speaker 3: and and some some other things like individual pitches. I
8:56
Speaker 3: won't get too deep in the weeds here, but he's
8:59
Speaker 3: a guy with with exceptional control and the Cardinals as
9:04
Speaker 3: a rotation early in the season. The first couple months,
9:08
Speaker 3: they were among the three or four best teams in
9:10
Speaker 3: the Major at locating their pitches, and then that all
9:13
Speaker 3: went to hell for a lot of them, right, But
9:17
Speaker 3: McGreevy is the guy that if you look at the
9:19
Speaker 3: minor leagues, and I know Baseball America had a thing
9:22
Speaker 3: where they were talking about best tools they saw in
9:26
Speaker 3: the miners this year and they mentioned McGreevy for his
9:29
Speaker 3: ability to locate and hit his spots in his control.
9:33
Speaker 3: So he's the type of pitcher. He's got a bulldog mentality.
9:38
Speaker 3: He's a great competitor. He's really really smart. He doesn't
9:41
Speaker 3: have to throw ninety seven ninety six to be effective
9:45
Speaker 3: because he really, really really knows how to pitch.
9:48
Speaker 4: And he doesn't beat.
9:49
Speaker 3: Himself because he doesn't walk people, and he works quickly
9:53
Speaker 3: and he had just during games. How many times we've
9:56
Speaker 3: seen him do that where he has a like the
9:58
Speaker 3: Dodgers got to him, there was another game, somebody got
10:00
Speaker 3: to him early and then he just shuts shuts them
10:03
Speaker 3: down after that. He's so smart he adjust within the
10:07
Speaker 3: game and for an inexperienced major league starter.
10:11
Speaker 4: That's a really good ability to have. So no, I'm
10:14
Speaker 4: with you.
10:14
Speaker 3: I think Liberator's physical talent can be outstanding. He just
10:19
Speaker 3: has to be able to, you know, build, build, build
10:23
Speaker 3: up that arm to the point where starting pitching and
10:26
Speaker 3: throwing one hundred and eighty innings is nothing for him
10:29
Speaker 3: and he can.
10:30
Speaker 4: Sort of glide through it.
10:31
Speaker 3: But these guys are both to me potentially exciting, but
10:35
Speaker 3: for different reasons.
10:37
Speaker 1: I agree, And I think you make two strong points
10:38
Speaker 1: about McGreevy there. When you are pitch to contact guy
10:41
Speaker 1: such as he is, the worst thing you can do
10:43
Speaker 1: is walk batters, And to your point, he rarely does
10:45
Speaker 1: issue a walk, so he does a nice job of
10:47
Speaker 1: putting himself in positions to succeed. And his adaptability, his
10:51
Speaker 1: ability to adjust and recover mid start, that's huge. That's
10:55
Speaker 1: a sign of a pitcher that I think is only
10:56
Speaker 1: going to continue improving and excelling at a much faster
10:59
Speaker 1: rate than maybe a lot of competitors, because a lot
11:01
Speaker 1: of times, especially where we are right now in an industry,
11:04
Speaker 1: these pictures need to start to recover, all right, gone
11:06
Speaker 1: or the day is We're a veteran, you know, you know,
11:09
Speaker 1: veterans now can of course adjust mid game, but rookie's
11:13
Speaker 1: coming up young guys, it's very hard for them to
11:15
Speaker 1: do that. They need almost an entire start to start
11:17
Speaker 1: over queen slate. But Greevy doesn't need that. To your point, Bernie,
11:20
Speaker 1: he's been able to adjust mid game really well, and
11:22
Speaker 1: that's encouraging.
11:23
Speaker 4: So well.
11:24
Speaker 3: I want to ask you this, and again, we've we've
11:26
Speaker 3: we've emphasized a couple of pictures that we're really positive about.
11:30
Speaker 3: What do we make Sonny Gray, Because Honey Gray, he's
11:33
Speaker 3: just up and down. He's all over the place. You know,
11:37
Speaker 3: I just don't know what to expect from him start
11:40
Speaker 3: to start, and that's that's not good if you're talking
11:43
Speaker 3: about someone who should be your prototype, number one starter.
11:46
Speaker 4: And the thing with having problems in the heat.
11:49
Speaker 3: I'm not making fun of him, you know, I'm not
11:52
Speaker 3: trying to denegrate him for that, but gosh, summers get
11:56
Speaker 3: pretty hot, and it's I don't know his chill, his
12:00
Speaker 3: July era as a cardinal starter, you know, it's like
12:03
Speaker 3: in the sevens, I think, and it's like I when
12:07
Speaker 3: Sonny Gray is on man, he is a pleasure to
12:10
Speaker 3: watch and he deals. He is fantastic, but there have
12:15
Speaker 3: been way too many games where you know, you're like,
12:20
Speaker 3: oh gosh, what's going on here?
12:22
Speaker 4: So I don't. I don't look. Look, he's a very
12:25
Speaker 4: talented guy, and he's a competitive guy. I just gush.
12:30
Speaker 3: He'll be thirty six next season, and I'm just not
12:32
Speaker 3: sure what to make.
12:34
Speaker 4: Of him at this point.
12:35
Speaker 3: You know, and you know, and he'll also be making
12:37
Speaker 3: thirty five million next season that backloaded contract. So anyway,
12:41
Speaker 3: I talk too much about Gray. I asked you the
12:43
Speaker 3: question that I started talking, But what do you think?
12:45
Speaker 3: Is there something I'm overlooking?
12:47
Speaker 2: No, I don't think so.
12:49
Speaker 1: And in one defense of Sunny Gray, when you look
12:51
Speaker 1: at the Cardinals overall record on days that he starts,
12:53
Speaker 1: they have won. And I don't know the record off
12:55
Speaker 1: the top of my head because I have in check
12:56
Speaker 1: since last start, but they've won an overwhelming majority of
12:59
Speaker 1: those games. I'm with you, though, He's had a couple
13:02
Speaker 1: of clunkers this year, much more than usual, more frequently
13:05
Speaker 1: that have really spiraled out of his control. And we
13:08
Speaker 1: I talked about this on the last episode. I'm not
13:10
Speaker 1: sure if he's here next year, and that speculation, okay,
13:13
Speaker 1: to clear this up. I've had no conversations with anyone
13:15
Speaker 1: in the organization that would dictate this. This is just
13:17
Speaker 1: my gut feeling and I've been wrong before. But to
13:20
Speaker 1: your point about the backload of contract, thirty five million
13:22
Speaker 1: dollars is a lot to pay for one player for
13:24
Speaker 1: a team that's looking to rebuild and scale back on
13:27
Speaker 1: payroll to an extent and look towards the future.
13:30
Speaker 2: Sunny Gray has no trade clause.
13:31
Speaker 1: I wonder if he's wanting to go to and play
13:34
Speaker 1: competitive games because he has thirty six years old and
13:36
Speaker 1: he's had a very decorated career, very talented pitcher. I'd
13:40
Speaker 1: wonder if he is here next year if he is okay,
13:44
Speaker 1: the Cardinals have a veteran that you know they can,
13:47
Speaker 1: they know is going to take the ball every five days.
13:49
Speaker 2: Cool.
13:50
Speaker 1: If they don't, that is a lot of pitching to
13:52
Speaker 1: pill and as we know Bernie, they don't really have
13:54
Speaker 1: a lot of pitching internally. So either way, it's a problem,
13:57
Speaker 1: and I think it'll be very interesting to monitor the
13:59
Speaker 1: early offseason on how High Bloom approaches that situation, because
14:02
Speaker 1: I'm not all that convinced any Gray will be in
14:03
Speaker 1: Saint Louis next year. But again clarifying one more time
14:06
Speaker 1: for the people at home, that is just my speculation.
14:09
Speaker 1: There's been no actual reporting to back that up.
14:11
Speaker 2: That's just a gutuling, and.
14:12
Speaker 3: I think maybe I think that speculation is got some
14:16
Speaker 3: footing because you're colleague Ken Roseveal the athletic when when
14:21
Speaker 3: he was here for the Yankees Cardinals game on that Saturday,
14:24
Speaker 3: he said he talked to Sonny Gray, and Sonny Gray
14:27
Speaker 3: in effect indicated he'd be willing to listen about wavings
14:30
Speaker 3: no trade clause. So if he's saying it's something he
14:33
Speaker 3: would consider, well that that kind of changes the look
14:37
Speaker 3: the outlook for that because until now he's always said no, no, no,
14:41
Speaker 3: I like it here, and he does like it here.
14:43
Speaker 3: But again, he'll be thirty six, and you know what,
14:46
Speaker 3: if the Atlanta Braves want him, it's they're closer to
14:49
Speaker 3: where he lives than Saint Louis's. It's really interesting, by
14:51
Speaker 3: the way, since I can multitask, I looked it up
14:55
Speaker 3: this year. In the two years that Gray's been a
14:59
Speaker 3: starting pitcher for the Cardinals, they're thirty six and eighteen
15:02
Speaker 3: in his starts, including nineteen and seven this year. And
15:06
Speaker 3: I don't know that that nineteen and seven. I'm sure
15:09
Speaker 3: there was some games there where he benefited for run support.
15:11
Speaker 3: But I'm a big see I never look at a
15:14
Speaker 3: pitcher's individual record, I swear I don't.
15:18
Speaker 4: I think the team's record tells you a lot more.
15:21
Speaker 3: I agree when a guy starts, because a lot of
15:24
Speaker 3: it has to do his teammates are confident. You know,
15:27
Speaker 3: they believe in him, and everybody knows. They go into
15:29
Speaker 3: it thinking, even if they don't, they go into a
15:32
Speaker 3: start thinking, Okay, Sonny's on the mound. Gosh, we win
15:37
Speaker 3: at a high rate when he starts, Let's go get him.
15:39
Speaker 3: I do think psychologically that kind of thing when you
15:42
Speaker 3: look at they've twice as many wins as losses when
15:46
Speaker 3: he starts for a team that's been five hundred ish,
15:50
Speaker 3: but for him to be they're eighteen games over five
15:52
Speaker 3: hundred when he starts in the last two years. There
15:55
Speaker 3: is something to be said for that. It's not the
15:57
Speaker 3: end all, be all stat I just think I think
16:01
Speaker 3: it does tell us a lot more than an individual
16:03
Speaker 3: win loss record, where you have to depend on the bullpen,
16:06
Speaker 3: you have to depend on the offense, you have to
16:08
Speaker 3: depend on the defense. You know, there's something about him
16:11
Speaker 3: that this team's His teammates buy in when he's on
16:14
Speaker 3: the mound. And I think that's an important thing because
16:17
Speaker 3: confidence for a team that's kind of in the middle,
16:20
Speaker 3: it's kind of hard to have that confidence all the time.
16:23
Speaker 2: I'm with you, Bernie, I'm with you.
16:24
Speaker 1: It'll be an interesting situation to monitor going forward, for sure.
16:27
Speaker 1: I will say this low bar, I know, but this
16:29
Speaker 1: offseason should be a lot more interesting than last year's.
16:31
Speaker 1: All right, we did the pitching side to this.
16:33
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17:42
Speaker 2: All right, Oh hold on, I pressed the wrong button
17:46
Speaker 2: on my screen. There you are you want to wear?
17:48
Speaker 2: All right? Bernie talked about the pitching.
17:51
Speaker 1: Naturally, we're going to talk about the position playing side,
17:53
Speaker 1: which I think is a lot somehow even more complicated
17:55
Speaker 1: than the pitching side. But the positive episode, I'm reminding
17:59
Speaker 1: myself positive, I have some Which position.
18:01
Speaker 2: Player are you most confident in next year?
18:04
Speaker 4: Oh? Boy, that's such a good question.
18:06
Speaker 3: There are there are several candidates, and I don't think
18:08
Speaker 3: you I don't think I know I'm not and I
18:11
Speaker 3: don't think you're You're going to go overboard with maybe
18:16
Speaker 3: overstating how good somebody is or whatever. But there's been
18:19
Speaker 3: some encouraging performances this year. But I have to tell
18:23
Speaker 3: you, you know, even though and I looked it up, you know,
18:26
Speaker 3: just wanted to be sure even though he is below
18:28
Speaker 3: average offensively, he's basically league average, but he's a little
18:31
Speaker 3: bit under I.
18:33
Speaker 4: Love Mason Wynn. I love what he does for this team. Uh.
18:38
Speaker 3: He is a guy to build around. His defense is impeccable.
18:41
Speaker 3: He's right well according to outs above average. He's he's
18:46
Speaker 3: the best defensive player any position in the game this year.
18:50
Speaker 3: And I'm very confident that the that the offense will come.
18:53
Speaker 3: I think it will come. I listen, we know that
18:57
Speaker 3: he's very talented, and we know that we saw his
18:59
Speaker 3: number on his way up in the minors. He was
19:02
Speaker 3: starting to develop to a really good hitter, and he
19:05
Speaker 3: was really good a lot of the time last year,
19:07
Speaker 3: and he faded, he got tired kind of late, and yeah,
19:09
Speaker 3: you do worry about that knee. You do worry about,
19:12
Speaker 3: you know, him getting banged up. And I think, Ali Marmle,
19:16
Speaker 3: this is just my opinion, and I've talked to him
19:18
Speaker 3: about this. I think he needs to be a little
19:20
Speaker 3: more careful. Let's talk about twenty twenty six. Not to
19:25
Speaker 3: wear certain guys down. They want to play, they're great competitors.
19:29
Speaker 3: Mason Win wants to play every day and I love that.
19:32
Speaker 3: But sometimes you have to sort of protect the player
19:35
Speaker 3: from himself. And the last thing they need is to
19:38
Speaker 3: have Mason Win banged up a lot of times because
19:41
Speaker 3: he plays so hard. But I think offensively, he's got
19:44
Speaker 3: so much upside. It's still amazing to me that he's
19:47
Speaker 3: only twenty three years old. He's a firebrand, he's a
19:50
Speaker 3: kind of as smart as could be. You never have
19:55
Speaker 3: to worry about his level of compete. I mean, it's
19:58
Speaker 3: all there. The only thing missing is he's got to
20:01
Speaker 3: get that offense above average and continue to grow in
20:04
Speaker 3: that area, and I think he will.
20:07
Speaker 1: So I was convinced you were going to go somebody
20:09
Speaker 1: else and I was actually going to go Mason Win.
20:11
Speaker 4: Well, look at that.
20:13
Speaker 3: You should have told me, you know, I would have deferred.
20:16
Speaker 1: And I think this actually proves our point that Mason
20:19
Speaker 1: Win is my player. I'm most confident next year. And
20:22
Speaker 1: there are other players you can go, like, you can
20:23
Speaker 1: go Donovan, but you know what, Donovan is all right,
20:26
Speaker 1: and there weren't any questions about who Donovan was coming
20:29
Speaker 1: into this year. You could go Herrera from an offensive standpoint,
20:32
Speaker 1: but there are too many questions about where he fits
20:34
Speaker 1: on the field for me and lasting the Cardinals need
20:36
Speaker 1: is another DH, although at least this one would be
20:38
Speaker 1: right handed. What a concept, But Mason Win. I'm trying
20:41
Speaker 1: hard to be positive. Mason Win is the when you
20:45
Speaker 1: look at what he was able to do this year
20:46
Speaker 1: as a defensive shortstop, he solidified that position, and he
20:50
Speaker 1: is still so young and has so much more growth
20:53
Speaker 1: ahead of him. I don't think he's even touched his ceiling.
20:55
Speaker 1: I know only Marmal thinks the same.
20:56
Speaker 2: I'm with you.
20:57
Speaker 1: The offense should tick up a little bit if he's
20:59
Speaker 1: right around league average in a second full year in
21:02
Speaker 1: the majors, based on what he's doing defensively, Okay. I
21:05
Speaker 1: think the only reason that we're a little disappointed by
21:08
Speaker 1: that is because we know he could be so much
21:10
Speaker 1: more and that's going to take some time. But who
21:13
Speaker 1: Mason Win is as a player, He's a competitor, He's gritty,
21:16
Speaker 1: he grinds it out, you know, and I think the
21:18
Speaker 1: more he plays, the more comfortable he's going to be,
21:20
Speaker 1: the more that offense is going to come. Most importantly,
21:23
Speaker 1: the more that base running is going to come, because
21:25
Speaker 1: he can be a true three way threat defensively, offensively
21:30
Speaker 1: and on the basis here. He just has to trust
21:32
Speaker 1: this stuff a little bit more. But I'm excited and
21:35
Speaker 1: confident to see what Mason Win does at shortstop. I
21:37
Speaker 1: think he is minimum one of the top defensive shortstops
21:41
Speaker 1: in the league, if not top three, and that offense
21:44
Speaker 1: will come. I think it's so exciting to think about
21:46
Speaker 1: with the player he could be, just given what we've
21:48
Speaker 1: seen from him so far, I'm all bored on the
21:50
Speaker 1: Mason Win train.
21:51
Speaker 2: So Vernie, that's two. That's two votes for Mason from us.
21:55
Speaker 4: Well, absolutely, and I think scouts would say the same thing. Now.
21:59
Speaker 3: Just to throw in another element to this, because I
22:02
Speaker 3: love this discussion. If I were to say, or if
22:05
Speaker 3: you were to ask me, for example, well is there
22:09
Speaker 3: a sleeper for next season, or is there somebody that
22:11
Speaker 3: may not be at the forefront of everybody's mind, And
22:14
Speaker 3: I would I would say, yeah, I got that guy,
22:17
Speaker 3: because I think I think the progress Nolan Gorman has
22:20
Speaker 3: made has been fantastic. Now I know he's still even
22:25
Speaker 3: even though like since late May, he's going very very well,
22:28
Speaker 3: and I know he still strikes out twenty nine to
22:30
Speaker 3: thirty percent of the time. I'm not saying he's perfect,
22:33
Speaker 3: but all these areas where he absolutely needed to improve
22:37
Speaker 3: in swing and miss rate, chase rate, walk rate which
22:42
Speaker 3: is really high, all of these things that he was
22:45
Speaker 3: really bad in and where the arrow was just pointing
22:48
Speaker 3: down and getting worse. He's cleaned all that up, and
22:50
Speaker 3: his plate discipline is there. He's still going to have
22:53
Speaker 3: two strikeout games, but he has less of them. And
22:57
Speaker 3: the thing I love about what he's been doing since
22:59
Speaker 3: late May has been drawing walk after walk after walk
23:03
Speaker 3: after walk. So I've had some some people that read
23:05
Speaker 3: me and watch my videos and they're little they're a
23:07
Speaker 3: little cynical. They think I'm a little too positive about
23:10
Speaker 3: Gorman and I understand that. I mean, he's got to
23:12
Speaker 3: prove over a long period of time.
23:15
Speaker 4: But when I.
23:16
Speaker 3: See him not hacking at everything, and I see him
23:21
Speaker 3: content to take walks and he's not, I see a
23:24
Speaker 3: guy that no longer is going to like beat himself
23:27
Speaker 3: all the time.
23:29
Speaker 4: Dude, he's gonna He's not.
23:30
Speaker 3: The he's not he's not as easy as out as
23:34
Speaker 3: he used to be, not even closed. So he's not
23:36
Speaker 3: gonna do the pictures favored by by hacking it stuff.
23:39
Speaker 3: You know, it's a foot outside or whatever. When you
23:43
Speaker 3: see a guy like since late May, you know he's
23:46
Speaker 3: got a walk rate that's like thirteen percent, and you
23:51
Speaker 3: know he's either first or second in every major category
23:54
Speaker 3: on this team, and even his batting average since late
23:57
Speaker 3: May is two fifty one.
23:59
Speaker 4: I think he's coming. I really do.
24:01
Speaker 3: And I know what about the defense, Bernie, I know,
24:05
Speaker 3: got to smooth that out. He's got to get better.
24:08
Speaker 3: But I think he has finally figured something out at
24:11
Speaker 3: the plate. And I think if you're the Cardinals, that's
24:13
Speaker 3: pretty exciting.
24:14
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree with you more. In that walk rate,
24:16
Speaker 1: not only is it a career high, I think it's
24:18
Speaker 1: thirteen point two percent, coming into play Sunday. It's also
24:21
Speaker 1: in the top eight percent of baseball. And when you're
24:23
Speaker 1: looking at the strides Nolan Gorman needed to make offensively.
24:26
Speaker 1: We talked about this before. It's about the approach. There's
24:29
Speaker 1: always going to be swinging, missing his game. That's the
24:30
Speaker 1: trade off for power. But there couldn't be a swing
24:33
Speaker 1: and misrate strikeout percentage of nearly forty percent like last year.
24:36
Speaker 1: That's just not competitive. That will not ply at the
24:38
Speaker 1: major league level. So how do you fix that. You
24:40
Speaker 1: change your approach, and all the underlying metrics suggest that
24:43
Speaker 1: those changes are happening a higher walk rate. I think
24:45
Speaker 1: a strikeout rate is under thirty percent this year, So
24:48
Speaker 1: that's super encouraging given to where it was at this
24:51
Speaker 1: point last year. With rates down, the average is up
24:53
Speaker 1: a little bit, and he hasn't sacrificed a ton of
24:56
Speaker 1: his power at the expense of that.
24:57
Speaker 2: So yeah, the defense is.
24:59
Speaker 1: Going to be a concern, trying to find a position
25:01
Speaker 1: for him. They can't have next year seven left handed dhs. Okay,
25:04
Speaker 1: they just can't do it. But I like what we've
25:06
Speaker 1: seen from Gorman and I'm interested to see how September
25:08
Speaker 1: looks for him as he closes out the season. Another
25:11
Speaker 1: guy that I think is kind of under the radar
25:12
Speaker 1: right now and is taking advantage of opportunity that he
25:15
Speaker 1: probably wasn't going to get.
25:17
Speaker 2: But because Nolan Arnatto got hurt, he's back.
25:20
Speaker 1: We're seeing better selection and better quality of contact from
25:23
Speaker 1: Thomas to jac. I think the biggest criticism you can
25:26
Speaker 1: make from s JC this year, minus the fact that
25:28
Speaker 1: he was just a little raw and a little inexperienced,
25:30
Speaker 1: was that he swung at pretty much everything.
25:32
Speaker 2: And he's a contact hitter. He's a good hitter, so
25:34
Speaker 2: I get it.
25:35
Speaker 1: But we're seeing him have slightly better approach and get
25:38
Speaker 1: acclimated more and more to the major leagues. I like
25:41
Speaker 1: that he can play around the diamond. I like that
25:43
Speaker 1: each week you seem to find gradual improvement. I'm not
25:46
Speaker 1: saying that he's a superstar or someone to build around
25:48
Speaker 1: next year, but for a player who wasn't supposed to
25:50
Speaker 1: see a lot of playing time in the majors this year,
25:52
Speaker 1: but because of injuries and because of availability, he has
25:56
Speaker 1: this second half. We're seeing a lot of improvement from
25:58
Speaker 1: to JC, and that excites me going into twenty six
26:00
Speaker 1: for him.
26:01
Speaker 3: And I would throw in because this again, I'm enjoying
26:03
Speaker 3: this discussion. I think Alec Burlison has checked a lot
26:07
Speaker 3: of boxes this year. You know that last season, if
26:10
Speaker 3: you go by way to runs great plus, he was
26:12
Speaker 3: six percent above league average offensively. This year he's twenty percent.
26:16
Speaker 3: So this is a second year in a row he's
26:18
Speaker 3: taken a pretty big leak. But what I like about
26:20
Speaker 3: it is he's swinging at more strikes, and that's a
26:23
Speaker 3: bit that was a huge thing he had to do.
26:27
Speaker 4: He would he would he makes contacts.
26:29
Speaker 3: With pitches wherever they are. So he was making contact
26:33
Speaker 3: last year even though he's really good. But when he
26:34
Speaker 3: when he sort of faded out late or when he
26:36
Speaker 3: had problems early, the root cause of it.
26:39
Speaker 4: Was he's hitting.
26:40
Speaker 3: He was swinging and connecting with the pitchers pitch rather
26:43
Speaker 3: than his pitch.
26:44
Speaker 4: You know.
26:44
Speaker 3: So yeah, oh, you know, a guy can throw the
26:46
Speaker 3: foot outside, he'll still put the ball in play. He's
26:48
Speaker 3: got great bathtball skills. But he's being more selective. He's
26:52
Speaker 3: punishing strikes a lot more consistently than he did last year,
26:57
Speaker 3: and he seems to be waiting for a pitch that
26:59
Speaker 3: he can so you know, he's twenty six years old.
27:03
Speaker 3: He's not a kid, and he's got, oh, I don't
27:06
Speaker 3: know about, almost fifteen hundred career played appearances, So he's
27:11
Speaker 3: not a baby. But these last two years we have
27:15
Speaker 3: seen what he can become. And I thought this year
27:18
Speaker 3: was a big year for him because he got above
27:20
Speaker 3: average last year, but there were still some bad habits,
27:23
Speaker 3: it's swing decisions basically.
27:25
Speaker 4: This year we've seen him take it to another level.
27:27
Speaker 3: And I think there's even another level because anybody that
27:30
Speaker 3: strong and anybody that has such superb contact skills like
27:35
Speaker 3: he does, the more refined his approach, the more the
27:39
Speaker 3: ball will fly, more extra base hits. I think he's
27:42
Speaker 3: got a chance to maybe, you know, take it up
27:44
Speaker 3: to thirty thirty five percent above average next season. So
27:48
Speaker 3: it sounds weird because you and I are being optimistic
27:51
Speaker 3: about several Cardinals hitters.
27:52
Speaker 4: But listen, the entire offense has not been good this year.
27:56
Speaker 3: We all know that, but that that doesn't mean we
28:00
Speaker 3: should dismiss or condemn everybody who's in the lineup. There
28:05
Speaker 3: are some bright spots that the problem is they're just
28:08
Speaker 3: gonna have to add on to that and they're gonna
28:11
Speaker 3: have to do the things you and I have talked about.
28:12
Speaker 3: They're gonna have to alleviate these log dams. They're gonna
28:14
Speaker 3: have to offload a left handed bat or two. So
28:17
Speaker 3: but I do think it's important to recognize there's some
28:21
Speaker 3: good stuff here, you know, you know, even though we
28:24
Speaker 3: all get down on the team, let's be fair, there
28:28
Speaker 3: really are some good things happening with some of these
28:31
Speaker 3: individual hitters.
28:32
Speaker 1: Agreed, agreed, And we talked about this before, Bernie, but
28:35
Speaker 1: it's there are plenty of supplementary pieces on this roster.
28:38
Speaker 2: The pieces just don't always fit because they are redundant.
28:41
Speaker 1: But once you clear that out and you have a
28:44
Speaker 1: better constructed active roster coming into next year or in
28:47
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, some of these pieces can really augment
28:50
Speaker 1: a lineup. They just need a star or two to
28:52
Speaker 1: build around. That's not coming this year, that's not coming
28:55
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six. But if you're looking for the
28:57
Speaker 1: future of the long term future of this organization, some
29:00
Speaker 1: of these players and what they're showing right now.
29:02
Speaker 2: I mean, we just went through four of them as.
29:04
Speaker 1: They have maybe the peak in the prime of their careers,
29:07
Speaker 1: will be key instrumental role players and hopefully the organization
29:10
Speaker 1: is in a better spot to add a couple of stars,
29:13
Speaker 1: and you'll see the Cardinals hopefully on the mend in
29:15
Speaker 1: a couple of years.
29:16
Speaker 2: That would be the dream, I would say.
29:17
Speaker 3: Right, And I know one other thing to mention since
29:21
Speaker 3: we're talking about next season, I mean.
29:24
Speaker 4: JJ Weatherholt.
29:27
Speaker 3: We already knew that this dude is potentially a great
29:30
Speaker 3: hitter as far as like batting average, drawn walks, things
29:33
Speaker 3: like that. The one question that I think was almost
29:35
Speaker 3: universally held by independent evaluators is that, listen, he's probably
29:41
Speaker 3: not going to be a twenty to twenty five home
29:42
Speaker 3: run guy. Although your colleague, my friend Keith Law had
29:47
Speaker 3: started to change his assessment and was saying, you know,
29:50
Speaker 3: I think Keith Law told me he said, no, the
29:52
Speaker 3: power is going to come. It's just a matter of
29:54
Speaker 3: when it's going to come. He's just too good of
29:55
Speaker 3: a hitter to where he understands what he's got to
29:58
Speaker 3: do to hit for more power without like sort of
30:01
Speaker 3: breaking his whole swing and messing himself up.
30:04
Speaker 4: And it's actually.
30:05
Speaker 3: Phenomenal this year the way he has made adjustments that
30:08
Speaker 3: he is hitting for power now, a lot of power,
30:11
Speaker 3: like every level.
30:12
Speaker 4: He's been.
30:13
Speaker 3: You know, you look at a ball last summer, then
30:15
Speaker 3: you look at double A for the first part of
30:17
Speaker 3: this year. Now triple A his isolated power number and
30:21
Speaker 3: his slugging percentage.
30:23
Speaker 4: That stuff is just.
30:24
Speaker 3: Going up and up and up and up. And you know,
30:27
Speaker 3: you look at him at Memphis. The dude is slugging
30:30
Speaker 3: six point fifty in Memphis. And yet he hasn't He
30:34
Speaker 3: hasn't sacrificed plate discipline.
30:37
Speaker 4: I mean, he's still drawn a ton of walks.
30:39
Speaker 3: He is striking out a little bit more, but he
30:41
Speaker 3: has not like sacrificed contact or being able to hit
30:45
Speaker 3: for high average.
30:46
Speaker 4: Or draw walks.
30:47
Speaker 3: He hasn't sacrificed that, even though he has adjusted his
30:50
Speaker 3: swing to get to get more pull power, get the
30:54
Speaker 3: ball in the air to the pull side. But this
30:56
Speaker 3: tells us why he's such a great hitter, because he
30:59
Speaker 3: he's waiting for pitches to do that. He's not just
31:02
Speaker 3: going up there to, like, you know, randomly helter Skelter
31:05
Speaker 3: try to pull a home run. He knows what he
31:09
Speaker 3: when he sees the ball coming out of a pitcher's hand,
31:11
Speaker 3: he knows right away, oh that's something I can drive.
31:15
Speaker 4: And because he's so smart, So.
31:18
Speaker 3: I was really excited about JJ Weatherholt before this, but
31:22
Speaker 3: then it's like, well wait a minute. Now he's turning
31:25
Speaker 3: on pitches and hitting him a mile and.
31:28
Speaker 4: He's slug in six point fifty. It's like whoa. So
31:32
Speaker 4: there was a lot more power there and we're starting
31:34
Speaker 4: to see it.
31:35
Speaker 3: That's pretty exciting. If you're a Cardinals fan. You got
31:37
Speaker 3: to be excited about that.
31:39
Speaker 1: See Cardinals fan so much to look forward to. It's
31:41
Speaker 1: not always room and gloom. Well at it's not on
31:43
Speaker 1: this episode.
31:44
Speaker 2: All right, we'll hear from Arena Club and we'll wrap
31:46
Speaker 2: this episode up real quick. Guess what's still no timeframe
31:48
Speaker 2: for when this game could start. It is what it is.
31:53
Speaker 6: We'll be right back, Okay, Krats, I opened up Arena Club,
31:56
Speaker 6: put my own money in there, and I wasn't gonna
31:59
Speaker 6: go big.
31:59
Speaker 1: I know.
32:00
Speaker 6: We went over the Ruby pack a week ago. This time,
32:02
Speaker 6: I just went for the low level pack where it's
32:05
Speaker 6: an easy entry point twenty five bucks. You can get
32:07
Speaker 6: yourself a big boy card. The Grail has many good options.
32:11
Speaker 6: I slice open the pack. We're looking at it if
32:13
Speaker 6: you're watching us right now, and I pull a card
32:16
Speaker 6: from the nineteen fifties. Super cool. I enjoyed the experience
32:20
Speaker 6: looking at it. It's Jim Gilliam, It's the top set
32:23
Speaker 6: from the mid fifties.
32:24
Speaker 4: It's cool.
32:25
Speaker 6: It's a Brooklyn Dodger. But it's worth more than the card.
32:28
Speaker 6: Like I said, I'm gonna sell it back. I got
32:30
Speaker 6: twenty eight bucks instantly, so I can buy another one
32:33
Speaker 6: of those packs and try and get what I want.
32:36
Speaker 7: Absolutely the excitement I heard Kip say before. The excitement's
32:40
Speaker 7: in the chase. You sold it back. Now you get
32:42
Speaker 7: to open another one. I enjoy when you slide it
32:44
Speaker 7: across the screen there and the pack opens, you.
32:47
Speaker 4: Know where to go.
32:48
Speaker 6: Arenaclub dot com slash foul twenty percent off your first
32:51
Speaker 6: slab pack or card purchase.
32:52
Speaker 4: Get after it.
32:55
Speaker 2: Okay.
32:55
Speaker 1: So for those of you wondering why the Cardinals who
32:57
Speaker 1: are now in our four of a random a it's
32:59
Speaker 1: not funny.
33:00
Speaker 2: It's not funny.
33:00
Speaker 1: If I was in Tampa right now, I would be irate.
33:03
Speaker 1: There is nothing worse when you are a beat writer
33:06
Speaker 1: to be on the very last day of a road
33:08
Speaker 1: trip on getaway day and have a home game on
33:11
Speaker 1: the next day, than to have a delay because you're
33:13
Speaker 1: not making any of your flights, you're gonna have to
33:15
Speaker 1: scramble both, especially if you're on deadline, then you got
33:19
Speaker 1: to fly out the first thing on Monday morning. It's
33:21
Speaker 1: going to cost your company so much money. And then
33:23
Speaker 1: you're going to show up to the first game the
33:25
Speaker 1: homestand just completely done, just completely exhausted, and you'll never
33:28
Speaker 1: get a chance to catch up. So my sympathy, use
33:31
Speaker 1: my heartfelt sympathies to the writer's breathe the elements out
33:35
Speaker 1: in Tampa.
33:36
Speaker 2: But so no update.
33:37
Speaker 1: And the reason why the Cardinals and Rays are waiting
33:39
Speaker 1: so long to draw this out, I believe is because
33:41
Speaker 1: there is no mutual off day that works for both
33:43
Speaker 1: teams for the rest of the season, so they almost
33:46
Speaker 1: have to play today.
33:47
Speaker 2: I don't know if the weather is going to let them.
33:50
Speaker 2: Then it becomes complicated.
33:51
Speaker 1: I don't really know if either of these teams are
33:53
Speaker 1: going to have playoff implications, So maybe it won't, but
33:56
Speaker 1: too early, not laid enough in the season to firmly
33:58
Speaker 1: dictate that. So maybe we'll see Matthew Libertorre tonight. If not,
34:02
Speaker 1: we'll probably see him Monday to kick off a four
34:04
Speaker 1: game set. And no, I also don't know the Pirates probables,
34:06
Speaker 1: I'll get there, but I'm excited to see McGreevy pitch
34:10
Speaker 1: this homestand Polante needs to show something. I don't know
34:13
Speaker 1: what got to show something this Homestand and then three,
34:17
Speaker 1: I guess kind of competitive series or games against the
34:19
Speaker 1: Reds coming up this weekend.
34:21
Speaker 2: Bernie, as we end.
34:22
Speaker 1: This episode on a positive note, like the positive people
34:24
Speaker 1: that we are, what's one thing that you are.
34:27
Speaker 2: Hoping to see from the team against the Pirates.
34:32
Speaker 3: That's a really good question. I just want to see
34:35
Speaker 3: more consistent bets from this offense. You know, they we
34:40
Speaker 3: all know it's a limited offense as far as upside,
34:43
Speaker 3: but I just I want to see better situational hitting.
34:49
Speaker 3: I want to see maybe less chasing. They're just they
34:53
Speaker 3: just need to be a little sharper minded about their
34:56
Speaker 3: approach and over long, long period of the sea and
35:00
Speaker 3: I mean, you'll go through phases where you know, you're
35:04
Speaker 3: just not sharp, you're tired, you're mentally tired, and people
35:07
Speaker 3: don't want to hear it, but it's true.
35:08
Speaker 4: It's a nature of the schedule mentally.
35:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, And but there's still a lot of guys
35:13
Speaker 3: that have a lot to prove and they know they're
35:15
Speaker 3: playing for future considerations, and so I never have doubted
35:22
Speaker 3: at any point their motivation. There was one series where
35:25
Speaker 3: I thought they didn't maybe compete as well as I
35:28
Speaker 3: was used to seeing. I mean, I was a little
35:29
Speaker 3: disappointing that, but I never I never doubt that they're
35:32
Speaker 3: going to compete and play hard. They went through that
35:34
Speaker 3: stretch obviously where you know, you looked up and it's
35:37
Speaker 3: the second inning and you're down five to nothing.
35:40
Speaker 4: All the time, you're not gonna look that great.
35:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, when you're in a that deep of a hole
35:45
Speaker 3: over and over and over again, you're you're gonna look flat.
35:47
Speaker 4: That's just the nature. That's human nature. But anyway, Yeah,
35:51
Speaker 4: I just would like to see this.
35:52
Speaker 3: Offense get more consistent because it's been kind of a long, slow,
35:57
Speaker 3: gradual decline for this as a team.
35:59
Speaker 4: I can see finished strong.
36:02
Speaker 1: All right, let's manifest that some more consistency, some good weather.
36:06
Speaker 1: We're gonna finally hopefully fingers cross the windows down in
36:08
Speaker 1: the press box.
36:09
Speaker 2: Haven't had that since May. Yeah, Bernie, this was fun.
36:13
Speaker 1: Hopefully our viewers can find some silver linings here. As
36:16
Speaker 1: we finished the season for as Natural and justified as
36:19
Speaker 1: the frustration and apathy is about this team.
36:22
Speaker 2: I do think at least we have a path forward.
36:24
Speaker 1: It might be a little bit of a lengthy one,
36:26
Speaker 1: but at least we're no longer sitting where we were
36:27
Speaker 1: a couple of seasons ago with a big question mark
36:30
Speaker 1: like when is this going to get better? I think
36:31
Speaker 1: the Cardinals are on their way to having it get better.
36:33
Speaker 1: It's going to take some time, but there's a blueprint,
36:36
Speaker 1: there's a foundation in place, so hopefully the team can
36:39
Speaker 1: stick to it.
36:39
Speaker 2: A couple of housekeeping items for you all.
36:42
Speaker 1: You can visit the Cardinal Territory shop dot com for
36:44
Speaker 1: first look at new merch. I use my Cardinal Territory
36:46
Speaker 1: mug this morning, and I have a Cardinal Territory Devil bag,
36:50
Speaker 1: which is great because I've decided to drive to Cincinnati,
36:53
Speaker 1: so I need to use.
36:54
Speaker 2: It for my luggage. Why I'm driving Cincinnati, Oh, because
36:58
Speaker 2: I forgot to book a flight.
36:59
Speaker 1: And they're two expensive. So that is why it wasn't
37:01
Speaker 1: my decision. It was a loser. You had one job,
37:04
Speaker 1: so go check out the merge. We're hovering right around
37:07
Speaker 1: four point five thousand subscribers. Let's get to five k
37:11
Speaker 1: we'll do a giveaway. Really appreciate the support of the show.
37:13
Speaker 1: I know Bernie does too, Bernie, what do you got
37:15
Speaker 1: cooking up next week?
37:17
Speaker 4: Oh? Just the usual. I will be doing some first
37:21
Speaker 4: STL Sports Central. I'll be doing some college football stuff
37:24
Speaker 4: this week.
37:25
Speaker 1: You know.
37:25
Speaker 4: Missoo opens our season on Thursday. I do. I love
37:28
Speaker 4: college football. What are you doing? Who are you? Who
37:30
Speaker 4: are you waving there?
37:31
Speaker 2: What is that?
37:33
Speaker 4: Oh? That's right, that's right? Of course? Please for please.
37:35
Speaker 1: Number eleven in the country only going up from here.
37:40
Speaker 3: They were awfully good man. It was a great story
37:42
Speaker 3: last year. So no, I'm looking forward to college football,
37:46
Speaker 3: you know, Katie. One of the reasons why people think
37:50
Speaker 3: I'm just making this up, I'm not. One of the
37:52
Speaker 3: reasons why I was. I had a big decision to
37:54
Speaker 3: make with leave the Post Dispatch or stay, and I
37:57
Speaker 3: was doing the you know, you're right down the reasons
38:00
Speaker 3: to go, reasons to stay, and the tipping point was, well,
38:05
Speaker 3: I wouldn't too, I wouldn't have to travel hundred and
38:08
Speaker 3: fifty nights a year anymore. Number I was the number one.
38:10
Speaker 3: Number two, I get to watch if I if I
38:13
Speaker 3: quit the newspaper business, I get to watch all the
38:16
Speaker 3: college football I want every Saturday from eleven am all
38:20
Speaker 3: the way up until midnight.
38:22
Speaker 2: Yes, twelve, never forget.
38:25
Speaker 3: I love watching college football. Like you have no idea
38:30
Speaker 3: how excited I am every Saturday morning. So yeah, so
38:33
Speaker 3: I'm pretty fired up because, like I know, there were
38:36
Speaker 3: some games this weekend, but but this coming Saturday, Uh,
38:41
Speaker 3: you know, let's go, you know, Ohio State versus Texas.
38:45
Speaker 4: That's pretty good. That's pretty good game.
38:47
Speaker 1: So I'm I feel like college football is the one
38:49
Speaker 1: sport that I can really still be a fan of
38:51
Speaker 1: because I have like some weird personal connection obviously because
38:54
Speaker 1: I went to Arizona State, so I'm very invested in there.
38:56
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, good again football program. Uh.
38:59
Speaker 1: And there is nothing better than like a November Saturday afternoon.
39:03
Speaker 2: There's like a.
39:04
Speaker 1: Chill in the air and you're sitting down and you
39:06
Speaker 1: watch college football all day. And people someone called that
39:09
Speaker 1: de generously, I would tell them to get a life,
39:11
Speaker 1: because there was really nothing like that type of Saturday
39:14
Speaker 1: when it starts in the morning, and then you know,
39:16
Speaker 1: if your team plays in the afternoon, they better win
39:18
Speaker 1: because the rest of the games for after that are done.
39:20
Speaker 2: But in my perfect world. ASU goes undefeated and.
39:22
Speaker 1: I'm happy for the rest of the off season. So look,
39:26
Speaker 1: this season is like whatever. But if you have a
39:29
Speaker 1: college football team, maszoo. I don't know, if you're Mike
39:33
Speaker 1: gersh Notre Dame on the Rise probably doesn't want to
39:36
Speaker 1: face ASU in in any bowl game. I get that,
39:39
Speaker 1: But there are things to look forward to in this positivity.
39:42
Speaker 3: Right and then then you see, you know, I grew
39:44
Speaker 3: up in Annapolis and I love Navy football. Yeah see see,
39:48
Speaker 3: i'd probably display that that that Navy uh watch all
39:52
Speaker 3: their games too, So yeah, there's like a little kid
39:56
Speaker 3: like it's one of the great weeks of the year.
39:59
Speaker 4: So any way, all right, I'm fired up. We talked
40:03
Speaker 4: to a little college football.
40:04
Speaker 1: I love it, I know, and only good things. If
40:07
Speaker 1: I do loses, don't ever talk to me. But if
40:09
Speaker 1: they win, expect me to bring it up on the
40:11
Speaker 1: show for the rest of the season.
40:13
Speaker 2: So yeah, all right, Bertie, we will.
40:15
Speaker 1: Talk again Cardinal Territory Friends next week. Got some fun
40:19
Speaker 1: things lined up in terms of interviews once I actually
40:21
Speaker 1: nail those down. But I promise I'm getting to that
40:23
Speaker 1: for Bertie.
40:24
Speaker 2: I'm Katie.
40:24
Speaker 1: Thanks for watching. Cardinal territory. Maybe the Cardins will play
40:26
Speaker 1: a game today, maybe not, but either way, we'll be
40:28
Speaker 1: back with you next week