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Cardinals mailbag: How does the youth movement look one month into season? · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: The Saint Louis Cardinals split the four games set with
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the Reds in Cincinnati. They head into May with the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: fourteen eighteen record, fourth place in the NL Central. They
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: certainly hope the new month will be kinder to them
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: than April was. But hey, they did at least double
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: their amount of road victories this week, so there's a positive.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: They went from two to four. Welcome back to Cardinal territory.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Katie Woo, back with you after a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: series off. Now, candidly, I don't really like to skip series,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: but if I'm going to choose one four days in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati in which there was a rainout, a day night doubleheader,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and a rain delay on getaway Day, I'm okay with
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: missing that one, but nonetheless very happy to be back
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: with you all. Back at Bush Stadium, where the Cardinals
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: are headed to kick off a six game homestand on Friday,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: three games versus the Mets, who enter play with the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: best record in baseball, followed by three against the Pirates.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: We are final seeing some more division matchups. The Cardinals
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: have you only yet to play the Chicago Cubs in
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the division. Chicago, by the way, had a great April.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: They certainly sit currently sit in first place in the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: NL Central. You're probables for this three game set against
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: New York. You're gonna see Sunny Gray, Eric Fetty, Andre
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Pilante taking on Clay Holmes, Tyler McGill and griff and Canning.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: The Cardinals would very much like for their series against
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the Mets at Bush Stadium to go much better than
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: their series against the Mets at City Field. Did we
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: know how that went, though, we don't have to talk
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: about it, And then of course they'll follow it up
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: with three games against the Pirates. So let's just jump
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: right in to this current episode of Cardinal Territory. It
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: is a Cardinals Beatwriter mailback episode, which means for the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: next thirty forty minutes or so, the only thing you're
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: gonna hear is my voice. Sorry in advance, but thank
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: you to all of you who contributed your questions either
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to myself or through Twitter on our page at card Territory.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I thought this would be like a pretty good time
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to check in with the pulse of the fan base.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: We're one month into the season. I combined March and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: April into one month because they only play a couple
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: of games in March anyway, and as we record this
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: on May first, I just kind of wanted to see
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: how we're feeling after a month of play. And one
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: thing I know about Cardinals fans who are very vocal,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: very passionate, and you are not afraid to let me
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: know how you feel. So let's just jump right to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: it again. Thank you so much for all of you
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: who asked questions or submitted questions. There were a lot
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: of repeats kind of around the same topic, so I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: tried to pick the topics that people were asking the most,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: but I thought this one here from Oh No, there
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: we go from Tim Ellerbrook was a good way to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: kick it off. Tim asked, how do you personally view
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: this team after one month compared to the twenty three
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and twenty four team? Are you seeing progress where you
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: think it should be yet? I like this question because
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: it's I mean, it's easy to talk about the transition here. Right,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: we are evaluating twenty twenty five so much differently than
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: how we evaluated twenty three and twenty four. Now twenty
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: three kind of an outlier, right, Cardinals come in after
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two and all Central champions, everyone kind of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: thought that they would make a much deeper run in
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the playoffs than they did. Didn't happen, and they followed
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: it up with one of their most disappointing seasons in
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: franchise history twenty four. You're trying to bounce back out
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: of that, and they had a much better season. They
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: finished over five hundred, but did not miss the or
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: did not make the playoffs for the second year in
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: a row this year. It's not necessarily about winning games now,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: certainly they're trying to, but the primary objective of the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five season is what it's runway. It's development,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: it's seeing what the younger players can do with consistent
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: playing time, and the organization has pubably said that that
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: is priority number one. Now. What they have not come
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: out and said, but they have certainly implied, is that
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: they are okay losing games to ensure that they are
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: giving these young players enough runway to play and so
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: that they the organization can make a decision on their
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: future in twenty twenty six. So with that in mind,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the fourteen eighteen record not good. I actually personally believe
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals are better than that record, which begs the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: question then why aren't they Which is a fair question.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: But if we're going to evaluate this team based on
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: what the primary objective that the front office has laid
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: out for us is, it's about if individual players are
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: taking steps forward, and I can name off the top
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: of my head plenty that are doing so. Victor Scott
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: the second dynamic, fun to watch, game changing speed, confident,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: he's worth the price of tickets alone. I think because
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: he's playing a such an assured, big type of baseball
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: and center field. I mean, he's perfect ten for ten
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: in stolen bases. I really like the brand of baseball
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Victor Scott is playing because I think it's authentic, it's genuine,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and it's himself. So one month into the season, the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Victor Scott, the second experiment in center field is going well.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: From a starting rotation standpoint, both Andre Polante and Mathaw
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Libertire look great. I really like what we're seeing at Olivia.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: I know the rain today kind of shortened his star,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: but he's been I think the most consistent starter for
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals so far this year, and he just keeps
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: getting better with each outing, so that's really great to see.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Kyle Layhy has been a gem as well. Ivon Herrera
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: took steps forward offensively before landing on the injured list.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: The good news is he kicked off a rehab assignment
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: with Triple A Memphis on Thursday, Homer two, and the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Cardinals hope that he'll be back within the next week
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: or so. Pedro Pa has done a nice job behind
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the plate as well. So individual guys taking steps forward,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: we love to see that. Now the face of the
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: youth movement, if you will keep in mind, they didn't
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: ask to be the faces, but here they are. Nonetheless,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman not exactly the starts to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the season that I either wanted or the team wanted.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: But this is kind of by design. If you're going
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: to start the season in struggle, the Cardinals want to
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: see how you're going to get out of it. So
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Jordan Walker has much better defender and right field. I
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: want to point that out. He has really put in
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: a ton of work to be a better outfielder and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it's showing. So I like what we're seeing on that
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: side of the ball. Well, you want to see better
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: offensive performances from both players. So am I seeing progress? Yes?
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I am? Is it translating in the win loss column. No,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: And I think that is what is super frustrating to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: fan base. To the fan base because as Cardinals fans,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you are conditioned to expect a certain caliber of play
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: from your local baseball club. And right now, the fact
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: that we are touting four games under five hundred record
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: and saying, oh, but the kids are playing well, you're
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: probably like, okay, and are we winning? No? So why
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: do I care? I get it. I understand, I can relate.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But if we're going off the messaging of what the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: season is going to be about from the front office,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: from ownership all the way down, it's measuring individual improvement
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and seeing what the next core of Cardinals could look like.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I think you're seeing many players take steps forward. It
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: just gets kind of get bogged down because they're not
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: winning as many games as they could. So thank you
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Tim for that question. It's a good one. Let's get
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: into our next one. These are all coming up randomly
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: by the way I pre selected them, but I have
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: no idea which order they're going to be in, so
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: it'll be just as surprised as you are. Okay, from
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Trent at the real underscore, t Cliff how sure are
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: we Alli is gone next year? Seems like a long
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: shot cards make the playoffs. Is he one hundred percent
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: done if Saint Louis isn't in the post season? Okay,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: we're not sure that Ali is gone next year. Let's
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: break down what we know right. Olie Marvel is under
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: contract through twenty twenty six. Now is it fair to question,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: with the new front office taking over, if they'll stay
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: with the current manager. Yeah, of course. John mozelex done
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: after the twenty twenty five season. Heim Bloom is coming in.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: We have no idea what heim Bloom looks for in
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a manager, because he has never hired one fully. Alex
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Cora was already in place with the Boston Red Sox
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: when heim Bloom took over their baseball operations, so we
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: have no idea what he's looking for, what he's coveting,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: and we probably won't until we get to the off season.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I know many of you are not necessarily all you
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Marmal fans, but bear with me right now, and I
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: promise I'm not being like the beat writer apologist. He's
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: tasked with running out twenty six guys, and he's been
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: told which players he needs to prioritize playing time with
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and sometimes that means not putting your best nine forward
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: every day. He's also been told, hey, we're prioritizing long
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: term development in which you may or may not be
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: here for, and it's going to cost you some games
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and you just have to wear it. That's great. You'd
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: love to hear that as a manager. So let's cut
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit of slack there, because what he's been
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: asked to do by his bosses is not easy, and
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: not many organizations, if any at all, would ask this
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: of their manager. So we're not sure he's gone next year.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I do agree. Currently constructed, it does feel like a
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: long shot the Cardinals make the playoffs. But if the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Cardinals don't make the postseason, that's not necessarily an indictment
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: on Olli Marmal. They weren't expecting to. They literally said
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: at their end of season press conference last year, like, hey,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: we're focusing on long term development and the twenty twenty
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: five season is going to look different. They didn't hand
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: him a playoff caliber roster. In fact, they kind of
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: just handed him a like worst water down version of
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, in which they overachieved and won a
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: ton of one run, two run ball games to finish
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: four games over five hundreds. So I get the concern.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I think the manager, anytime anywhere a team is struggling,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that's the one that's going to catch the most, just
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the most flack. You look at what Brandon Hyde is
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: going on with the Orioles. I mean, it's always the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: manager's fault when a team is losing. That's just how
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: a fan base is, That's how we are. I get it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: You're also from a fan base perspective. You have names
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: like Albert Poohole's linked to this, you have the Audia
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Molina throwing, Skip Schumacher, all three beloved respected Cardinals. So
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: I think it's natural to just be like, Okay, who's
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: going to be the next manager. Certainly it can't be Alie,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: but it can be. He's under contract through twenty twenty six.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: We have no idea what the dynamic of the team
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: is going to look like next year, and I think
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: he's done a nice job in managing the personalities of
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse. We can go back and forth on bullpen management.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I know that's a hot topic for you guys. Save
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: that for another time, But managing the personalities of the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: clubhouse when you have a ton of veterans who came
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: to Saint Louis to win and are now part of
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: a youth movement that they did not sign up for
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: but agreed to be a part of. Nonetheless, you have
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: a bunch of guys who want to play, but you
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: know some of them are on the bench or in
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: triple A so that guys can play every day that
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: they were promised to. That's really hard to manage. You
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: have twenty six egos in there at all times, all
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: some of the highest competitors in the world, and you're
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: telling some of them, hey, we're not going to play
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you right now because we have to play other people.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: That can be really hard to manage as well. So
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I expect to answer some version of is all marmal
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: fired every day for the next however many games we
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: have left right now, though no guarantee he's going anywhere,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and we won't really know that until heinm Bloom takes over.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you Trent for your question. All right, let's do
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• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Kratzy you look good, Doc, I hope you're watching because
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: looks good. All right, our next question, let's figure out
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: who it's gonna be. Who's gonna pop up here? From
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: at Mason Keith twenty five? How soon before the Cardinals
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: value production over potential? So JC playing over Gorman and
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Burley is the context? Okay, so full disclosure. I was
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: really surprised by how many questions I got about Thomas
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: A JC being sent down to Memphis. And maybe that's
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: on me for not explaining it well enough, but I
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: kind of thought this one was pretty self explanatory. And
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the reason I picked Mason's question here is because the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: question over valuing production over potential is key here. But
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I first want to break down why SJC was sent
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: down to Memphis, because you guys were having fits over
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: that coming into the season, which second baseman was promised
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: playing time by John Mosey Lock. I'll give you a
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: hint's Nolan Gorman. Nolan Gorman. They actually sat for a
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: little bit to start the season because Alec Gurlson has
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: such a hot spring, and Alc Gerlson is a part
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: of this youth movement, He's just not necessarily the face
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the face, Like we talked about a Gorman Walker and
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: new Bartman extent so on. So so jac came up
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: because Gorman was hurt and then Mason was hurt and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: you need an infield depth and he was playing every day,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: which was the designation. Now both Gorman and Mason are healthy,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: you have Brendan Donovan, and we're gonna get Brendan Donovan
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: by the way, because I feel like I haven't given him.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I have not been giving him enough credit. And you
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: have your your middle and field set. So there's no
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: way or no room for Thomas and Jason to be
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: playing every day. So he's gonna go to Memphis, which
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: is a blueprint similar to how John Mozelac and the
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals have operated for years and years and years.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I understand. We look at the production line. So Jace
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: was hitting three forty, had a slugging percentage over five hundred,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: really swinging the bat. Well, I get that from a
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: results standpoint, offensively didn't make sense, but we have to
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: look at the overall body of work and so Jace's future.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Why does my hand look so big behind me? My shadow? Okay, podcast, people,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you're not going to get it, but that really freaked
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: me out. Look like a ghost. Anyway, back to s
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Jac from an offensive production standpoint, Yeah, he was hitting
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the cover off the ball. He looked good. The game
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was a little raw. He's a little raw, right. The
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: game was a little fast for him. He was making
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: some mistakes, whether it was covering the bases or running
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: the bases, and he's supposed to. I'm big on s Jac.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a major league caliber
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: player one day. I just think he's going to benefit
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: for more time in Triple A. And I think the
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: majority of baseball fans would agree. If he's not playing
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: every day, he's just sitting on the bench getting rusty.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: So that's why he went down a Triple A. Guys,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: they were always going to play Nolan Gorman over him.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: They've said that since October on. Stay with me. Now.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: The bigger question here, as Mason points out, is how
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: soon before the Cardinal's value production over potential will they
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: They're going to give Walker and Gorman a very long runway.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: The whole point is for these guys, if they struggle
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and they fail to not feel the impending pressure of
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I'm going to triple A if I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: don't figure it out, It's hey, I'm going to have
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: time to figure this out and adjust in real time
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: and see what kind of player I can be and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: if I can fight through my struggles or not. How
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: long the Cardinals keep up that experiment is a big
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: question for the organization. They aren't going to like call
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: this experiment off after one month. Now, if we do
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: two months and they are eight games enter five hundred
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: and in danger of spiraling out of relevancy before we
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: even get to June, could they switch it up? I
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: don't know. I'd get into the impression that you should.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I don't really think it is the best decision to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: concede an entire season. You can concede winning some games, sure,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: if that means it's going to help you figure out
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the long term trajectory of some of your players. But
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: conceding in an entire season that I don't know if
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: this fan based can stomach. I know we've all seen
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: a bushtadium looks like lately. It does not look good.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Doesn't look very Baseball Heaveny to me. But fans have
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: a reason and a right to express their disappointment. They're
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: disdaining their frustration. Pick your word here. So, yeah, if
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: you're going from an offensive standpoint, said, Jac had the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: better numbers than Gorman and Burley. But this isn't to
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: jc's development here, this was always designated to be Nolan
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Gorman's to an extent, Alec Burlison's. We're just like we're
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: seeing Gorman getting a run right now, we're gonna see
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Burlison get a run of consistent playing time and when
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: there is a window for Thomas and Jac to play
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: every day, we are going to see him right now.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I thought we saw some really encouraging signs from him.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: He knows what he needs to work on. He knows
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: that the situations what to look for. So when he
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: comes back to Saint Louis the game isn't as fast,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: He's going to be just fine. But that's why he
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: was sent down. So Amazon, thanks for that question. I
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: thought you asked that one really. Well, all right, next,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: are guys tired of my voice yet? I'm kind of
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: tired of my voice? Who do you got next? I
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: don't think we've heard from Logan yet. Logan who Logan?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Richie at el Richie Underscore thirteen asked who will we
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: making the decisions at the deadline, Mo Bloom or both?
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Will the front office turnover guarantee you the Cardinals standing
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: pat a lot to break down here. The forty man
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: twenty six man roster decisions, those are John mosalocks decisions,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and they have been and they will be until the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: end of the season. Now, if the Cardinals get to
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: a point where they are either trading players away or
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: incrementally adding at the trade deadline, that's when Moe is
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: going to discuss with him what this is going to
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: look like if those moves are going to alter the
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: roster past the twenty twenty five season, because after the
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five season, this is no longer John Mosalok's team, right,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it's Heim Bloom's team. So if you are let's say
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals spiral out of this thing at the trade
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: deadline and they are fire selling and we're seeing a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: trade deadline similar to twenty twenty three, where if you
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: are on an expiring deal, you are out of here.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: MO is certainly going to talk to him about what
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: you want in a return, because the return is about
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the future. Now, on the flip side, let's say the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Cardinals are hovering right around five hundred, and we know
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: in the NL Central if you're around five hundred, you're
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: considered in it. And let's say John Mozelac, because we
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: also know this doesn't want to go down like this,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: no way. If the Cardinals are even close to contending,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: he's going to, in my opinion, add incrementally to give
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: them the best shot of sneaking into maybe the wild card.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Now these are all hypotheticals. I don't really love talking
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: about the deadline on May first, but I certainly understand
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: why fans do so. If he's just incrementally adding, he's
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: probably not going to take on any contract past twenty
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: twenty six, They're going to be rentals, right, So Moe
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: is going to be ultimately making the final decisions, but
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: he's going to be conversing with him, especially if some
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: of these deals end up impacting twenty six and beyond
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the front office turnover guarantee the Cardinals standing pat Maybe
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: it really just depends. It depends on what which players
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: are excelling where the team is at. Are they playing well,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: do they have good chemistry? Are certain guys taking steps forward?
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Does Nolan Arnatto look like a trade candidate. Does Ryan
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Helsley look like a trade candidate? Is Eric Beetti pitching
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: well Stephen Mattz So way too early to tell. But
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: in terms of who's making the decisions from a front
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: office major league roster standpoint, it is still John Mozeylock.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: He's not going to do anything that is going to
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: impact the future of this team though past the twenty
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: twenty five season, because it's not his team anymore. After that,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I think it's time for another adread, which means we
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: get to hear our favorite song in the whole world.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Let's hear from Fanuel Sports Network.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Me out to my team a band Drill Sports Now, Yeah,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: watch mas a finger and not be yes.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I'm just glad they local du.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Live forwards root real root for the Cardinals.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Fan Sports card those guys, the Birds on the band.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: I bet you. Okay, welcome back. Let's get back into it.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: We have a question from Trent and Weber. There are
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: reports of a couple of teams interested in Ryan Helsley,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: most notably the Phillies. What are the chances he gets
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: dealt before at the deadline? What if the Cards are
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: still in the mix but want to get a good
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: return for his great production right now. So we are
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: going to go ahead and make Ryan Helsley our FanDuel
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Sports Network player to watch now. The downside here is
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: that we haven't really gotten to watch Ryan Helsley a
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: lot because there haven't been a ton of saved situations
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: prefaces with the disclaimer. It is really difficult to say
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: what a team is going to do on May first,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: nearly three months before the trade deadline. But because of
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: recent reports involving Ryan Helsley, I get why you're asking this,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm happy to answer it. Two of the teams
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: that I know that are interested in Ryan Helsley the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Phillies' interest with
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Ryan Helsley dates back to the GM meetings in November.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I said this on foul Territory earlier in the week.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: They were super interested in Ryan Helsley. And you look
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: at the state of their bullpen right now, not very good,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: and you think, yeah, he could certainly help them there.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: But the Cardinals MO did not want to do that.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: They wanted to hold onto him because, as we know,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: they wanted to try to win as many games as possible.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: While still doing their transition rebuild year. I know we're
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: not supposed to call it a rebuild, but like it
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: kind of is whatever. So yeah, there's interest. There should be.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: The Cardinals aren't using him. I mean, he's their closer,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: but he's not really getting closing opportunities. The chances he
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: gets dealt before the deadline, he's not getting traded now,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: if that's what the question is. The Cardinals are not
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: going to trade away Ryan Helsley in May, especially when
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: that's just not something that they're going to do. Just
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: because the team has interest in a player doesn't automatically
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: put them on the trading block. I don't know what
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Ryan Helsley's future is past the trade deadline. If the
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Cardinals are in it, they're probably not going to trade him.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: If they're not, they probably will now. Yeah, I totally
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: get wanting to get a good return for his great
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: production right now, But you have trading someone in May
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: like this. This is not something that really any team
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: except the Padres do. It's just not something the Cardinals
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: are going to do here. So yeah, there's interest. Of
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: course's interest. He's one of the elite relief pitchers in baseball.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Relief pitching is so volatile, like we've talked about with
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the bullpen mishaps all of April. I understand the fan
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: perception of wellf Helsley struggles and lowers his production and
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: his value. The return is going to dwindle as well.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: And you're right, But that's not where the Cardinals are
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: thinking now. They're thinking they have one of the top
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: closes in baseball. They need to figure out a better
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: way to bridge their believers to get to him. This
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: is a conversation best suited for July, not May. But again,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: with the reports coming out, I get why this is
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: a hot topic. So let's pump the brakes on the
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Howsley trade rumors. He's going to be here for a
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: minute at least. We'll recircle around June. Middle of June,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: we'll re see where the team is at all. Right,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: coming up on our last few from at Mexi underscore Christo,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: has there been any indication from the front office that
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: we'd explore longer term extensions from some of our younger
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: guys Donnie Newton, et cetera. Seems like many teams are
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: doing this nowadays, and we're just letting players age out
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: of our beers. This is a good question, and the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: real answer is you're not going to see the Cardinals
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: extend anyone until Heim Bloom comes in. Unlike us, Mo
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Andheim agree on something, you know before mo leaves office.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: The reason why would John mozel Like extend any of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: these guys when that's not his team anymore. I think
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Brendan Donovan, we promised we'd get to him. Let's let's
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: shout him out right now. Three thirty three batting average,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: that's the fifth highest average in all of baseball, thirty
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: nine hits ops of eight seventy. He's played every position
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: for him basically, and I've seen Brendan Donovan become more
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: confident in himself as a leader, as a teammate. I mean,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: he to me, if you're looking at an extension candidate,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: that's who I would go with right now through our beers.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: To your point, like he has two remaining years of
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: arbitration left. I know this is something they talked about
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: very early on in his career. But then the front
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: office planned to change and Brendan Donovan switched agencies and
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: any extension talks kind of fell through. If I'm the
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: new front office regime, which I'm not. But if I was,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and I've come in and I'm heim blue. When I'm
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: looking to extend someone, I'm looking at someone like Brendan Donovan,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: who I think has just been He consistently posts. He's
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a steady player. He does whatever. He can't stay on
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the field, he can play around the diamond. He's to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: me like your true gritty Saint Louis Cardinal back when
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: they were churning out like seventeen different versions of Brendan Donovan.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: They've stuck true to that mold with him and it's
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: looked really good. So no indications from the most side
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: of the front office that any extensions will take place.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I will be interested to see what him Bloom does
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: when he takes over Lars Newbarr. Don't want to leave
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: him out. I know he's been under a ton of
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: scrutiny too. He's looked good this year. He's I think
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: one of the more underrated leadoff players in the game.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: The defense, which was never bad, of course, somehow got
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: even better under John Jay's tutelage, and I think you're
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: seeing him become more by dynamic player as well. So
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: boring answer here, no new extension news, but talk to
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: me in November. For as boring as this last offseason was,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: and I'm not complaining by the way, I got a
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: lot of relaxation, I'm expecting the exact opposite next year.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: But right now, though, guys, I kind of feel like
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: we are all in purgatory together almost, because we don't
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: know what this team is going to do. We don't
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: know which players are taking steps forward. We don't know
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: what the front office turnover is going to like. We
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: don't know what the manager is going to look like.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: It's okay to say that we just don't know. Maybe
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that should be the theme for the same those Cardinals
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. We don't know, but we'll see, we'll see,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: did you know? Speaking of not knowing something, In case
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: you didn't, you can now stream the Cardinals through FanDuel
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Sports Network, and if you use the promo code Baseball thirty,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: you can start it off with a thirty day sended
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: free trial at fandelsportsnetwork dot com slash packages. This deal
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: expires May second, twenty twenty five. That's tomorrow, nineteen ninety nine,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a month after your free trial canceled. During your free
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: trial to avoid charges. Eligibility restrictions apply. Visit fandalsportsnetwork dot
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: com for details. I say that's tomorrow, like I'm recording
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: on May first, it's actually today if you're watching this
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: on Friday, so don't miss out stream the Cardinals on
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Fandel Sports Network. All right, that's all I thought for
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: you guys for this beat Writer Mailbag episode. Thank you
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: so much again for the questions. Look, I know April
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: was not ideal. I know it was frustrating. Here's my
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: silver linings for you. The starting rotation has actually looked
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: really good. They consistently post quality starts. You might want
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to see more swing and miss I get that, but
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: they've done a really nice job of keeping this Cardinals
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: team in ball games. The offense inconsistent. That's gonna happen
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: when you have a majority of young players trying to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: figure their swings out. Brandon Donovan looks good. We talked
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: about that, Wilson Treis coming into his own, Mason Winn
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden a number two hitter who would
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: have thought, and the Lenard Atto looks much better as well.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: So the Mets have one of the best rotations in baseball.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: It will be a tough test for this offense. You'll
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: hope to get Herrera back soon. He will really help
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: some thump from the right side. The bullpen will see
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: about that. I maintain what I said earlier in the episode.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I think the Cardinals are better than their record, but
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: results matter more than anything, so we'll see Thanks as
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: always for watching Cardinal Territory, Bernie and I will be
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: back with you at the end of the week, most
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: likely Sunday night, maybe Monday morning, just depends. Yeah, we'll
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: talk soon. Thanks as always,