Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Michael McGreevy joins the show! He talks teammates & upcoming season!

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Michael McGreevy joins the show! He talks teammates & upcoming season! · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
0:10
Speaker 1: Jim Hayes alongside Lance Lynn and Michael McGreevy kind enough
0:16
Speaker 1: to join us for this edition. Before we get started, gentlemen,
0:20
Speaker 1: and Lance knows this, we always have the request. We
0:24
Speaker 1: want you to subscribe to Cardinal Territory, So if you
0:27
Speaker 1: don't mind, go ahead, reach out hit the subscribe button.
0:31
Speaker 2: Now. They told us to get to five thousand. We
0:33
Speaker 2: blew that number away. Now they want us to get
0:35
Speaker 2: to seven thousand.
0:37
Speaker 1: So if you like Cardinal Territory, please hit that subscribe button.
0:42
Speaker 1: Head back to the show, Lance, Jim, and Michael McGreevy. Michael,
0:46
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on.
0:47
Speaker 2: Welcome.
0:49
Speaker 1: Before we get started, I guess congratulations are in order
0:53
Speaker 1: because you just got engaged to your fiance, Dominique. So
0:58
Speaker 1: tell me how that happened, give us backstory, share the rolemates.
1:03
Speaker 3: I won't share too much, Jim, but it seemed like
1:06
Speaker 3: this was the off season that every Cardinal player got engaged.
1:09
Speaker 3: So every time a new guy would get engaged in
1:12
Speaker 3: Victor Scott, Gordon, Grisefo, Mason Wynn, my girlfriend now fiance
1:17
Speaker 3: would just be looking at me. I'd get that side
1:19
Speaker 3: eye when she's looking on Instagram and I'm like, oh,
1:23
Speaker 3: you see that too, and she said, yep, I saw that,
1:25
Speaker 3: So I felt I felt just so happy to be
1:30
Speaker 3: able to do it and just get a little bit
1:32
Speaker 3: of weight off my back. But it was I was
1:34
Speaker 3: so happy to do it. I got a photographer to
1:37
Speaker 3: reach out to her and kind of lying away and say, hey,
1:41
Speaker 3: I need a last minute model for a photo shoot
1:44
Speaker 3: down on the beach in Encinitas. Would you be willing
1:47
Speaker 3: to do it? So her hair, makeup and nails were
1:49
Speaker 3: all done. Photographer texting me about fifteen minutes into their
1:52
Speaker 3: little fake shoot and I stuck up behind her and proposed,
1:57
Speaker 3: and thankfully she said yes. I think it was a
2:00
Speaker 3: pretty surefire thing, but still had a little bit of
2:02
Speaker 3: nerves that I know was still a possibility.
2:06
Speaker 1: What a story, congreg Lance, do you feel at.
2:12
Speaker 4: Hey?
2:12
Speaker 5: That was?
2:13
Speaker 4: That was a great move.
2:14
Speaker 6: You know where you can sneak it in because they
2:16
Speaker 6: always feel like they know when it's coming. So there's
2:19
Speaker 6: no way she saw that one coming. And you guys
2:21
Speaker 6: have to realize they're all of the of the age
2:24
Speaker 6: to where that's what happens.
2:25
Speaker 4: When you're doing a build, right everybody is the same.
2:27
Speaker 6: Age, so you guys are all going to get engaged together,
2:31
Speaker 6: get married at the same time, and that's when the
2:33
Speaker 6: pressure gets on. Then it's like, Okay, who's gonna be
2:36
Speaker 6: the first one to have kids? And then it's just
2:38
Speaker 6: a it's just a snowball effect, especially you know, at
2:42
Speaker 6: that age.
2:42
Speaker 3: So I bet no one, no one was expecting Mason
2:46
Speaker 3: to be the first guy this offseason. At least I
2:49
Speaker 3: think he was the first guy. So you kind of
2:52
Speaker 3: uh got the snowball rolling and everything like that, and
2:56
Speaker 3: now it's just a matter of time before Jordan Walker
2:59
Speaker 3: does this. Well, I think.
3:01
Speaker 1: See Mason's the leader of that team. I'm telling you,
3:05
Speaker 1: Mason's the leader.
3:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, he goes, we go.
3:10
Speaker 4: Off betting, lead off, the line, play shortstop, he's your guy.
3:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
3:15
Speaker 2: I liked it. I liked it all right.
3:17
Speaker 4: I don't want to get Michael in trouble with right
3:21
Speaker 4: his lineup. Ollie, bet Mason leadoff. Let him let him go.
3:28
Speaker 1: You know, he played to a bag bee all the
3:31
Speaker 1: last year. It's better now. I think he'd make an
3:34
Speaker 1: ideal leadoff guy. People don't realize what he went through.
3:38
Speaker 1: I remember, like a few weeks into the season said
3:42
Speaker 1: my knee is jacked up, and he went on camera
3:44
Speaker 1: and he talked about it.
3:45
Speaker 2: Then it all came out.
3:47
Speaker 1: But but that guy still had a great season sort
3:51
Speaker 1: of coming out part, and he did it up with
3:53
Speaker 1: one wheel, right.
3:54
Speaker 3: Michael, Yeah, it was absolutely incredible. Like we always he's
3:57
Speaker 3: always played, been the guy to play. Every day he's
4:00
Speaker 3: doing on both sides of the ball, so the body's
4:03
Speaker 3: always banged up, and especially being so young and just
4:06
Speaker 3: doing so much when the body's like whoa, Like what
4:09
Speaker 3: are we doing here? And when I got recalled for
4:12
Speaker 3: good and just seeing the day to day of him
4:15
Speaker 3: in the training room getting treatment done for his body
4:18
Speaker 3: and what he needed to do just to even play
4:20
Speaker 3: the game and to still perform at a high level.
4:22
Speaker 3: And when the gold glove was nothing short of incredible.
4:27
Speaker 6: What you got, lad, I'm with you when when I
4:30
Speaker 6: was with him, as you guys know, the way his
4:33
Speaker 6: he's a very emotional player. So it's fun to watch
4:35
Speaker 6: him play because he brings that ascitement when you get going.
4:38
Speaker 6: That's why I say you put him at lead off
4:40
Speaker 6: and let him do his thing, because he can really.
4:41
Speaker 4: Bring a lot of energy to a lineup and a.
4:44
Speaker 6: Team but also when he's not going well at the plate,
4:47
Speaker 6: when he has his days, he wants nothing better to
4:50
Speaker 6: just steal a hit from the other team because that
4:53
Speaker 6: just says, all right, I got you back. Get a
4:55
Speaker 6: bunch of dickheads for getting me out all day. So
4:58
Speaker 6: that's the beauty of may In. The way he plays
5:01
Speaker 6: is he plays emotional, but he turns it into something
5:03
Speaker 6: positive even if he's.
5:05
Speaker 4: Not doing well on the offensive side of the ball.
5:06
Speaker 4: So that's why I have a lot of respect for him.
5:09
Speaker 1: I know, pictures love having a guy like Mason Win
5:13
Speaker 1: backing them up. So last year, Michael eight and four
5:16
Speaker 1: record Era four point four two, you got a taste
5:21
Speaker 1: the year before when you were teammates with the great Lanceling.
5:24
Speaker 2: What do you take away from.
5:27
Speaker 1: Last year that will help you as you get ready
5:30
Speaker 1: for the season ahead.
5:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was an absolutely crazy year, you know, expecting
5:35
Speaker 3: to make the team out of camp to getting sent
5:37
Speaker 3: down as the depth guy down in Memphis and then
5:40
Speaker 3: getting recalled for good. I'm always built and ready to
5:43
Speaker 3: go for as many innings as I can. I always
5:45
Speaker 3: try to, at least lately, I've been around one hundred
5:48
Speaker 3: and seventy per season. I only want to throw more
5:51
Speaker 3: so the body's built up ready to go. But the
5:54
Speaker 3: five day rotation of the big leagues is no joke.
5:56
Speaker 3: You see that once every four weeks. In Triple A,
5:59
Speaker 3: we're going to two Tuesday Sunday. You have that Monday
6:02
Speaker 3: off day to rest. But in the big leagues you
6:03
Speaker 3: don't really get that. You get a random off day
6:06
Speaker 3: every two weeks. So that last game in Wrigley, when
6:10
Speaker 3: I got taken out of the game, my body fell.
6:13
Speaker 3: I got nothing left. And taking that in for next year,
6:16
Speaker 3: knowing that it's a very grueling season with hopefully thirty
6:22
Speaker 3: plus games to pitch, I want to make sure my
6:24
Speaker 3: body's in the right spot, in the right place to
6:26
Speaker 3: be able to handle all thirty plus and hopefully pitch
6:29
Speaker 3: in October.
6:32
Speaker 6: Very nice, Hey, and you're talking about thirty plus starts
6:35
Speaker 6: in a big league season, yet you're going to have
6:37
Speaker 6: your I think every other start or.
6:40
Speaker 4: Maybe every third start.
6:41
Speaker 6: You got to go on normal probably give or take,
6:43
Speaker 6: unless there's a makeup something like that. So what are
6:46
Speaker 6: the changes or what are some things you might have
6:48
Speaker 6: implemented this offseason to say, hey, when I'm at the
6:51
Speaker 6: end of the season, hopefully making a playoff push or
6:53
Speaker 6: something like that. I still have what I need as
6:56
Speaker 6: a year goes on, because, like you said, the time
6:59
Speaker 6: or the it's time in between starts a little different
7:02
Speaker 6: in Triple A. So is there something you've thought about
7:04
Speaker 6: that's going to help you throughout this season?
7:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, So down in Triple A, I had a very
7:08
Speaker 3: good routine. I knew all the clubhouse guys, Me and
7:12
Speaker 3: Bja and Darwin were super close. So whatever I needed,
7:15
Speaker 3: I was basically able to get. And so if I
7:18
Speaker 3: needed to get to the field two hours before clubhouse open,
7:22
Speaker 3: they let me. And in the big leagues like I'm
7:25
Speaker 3: on a new schedule, I'm the young guy. I don't
7:28
Speaker 3: even have a full year yet, and I don't want
7:29
Speaker 3: to step on any anyone's toes. And so when clubhouse opens,
7:33
Speaker 3: that's when I get there. But I only have X
7:35
Speaker 3: amount of time to get what I need to do.
7:37
Speaker 3: So talking with Dusty, talking with Ali, hopefully talking to
7:40
Speaker 3: the clubhouse staff, getting maybe setting up a routine to
7:44
Speaker 3: where hey, like I won't bother anybody, but I kind
7:47
Speaker 3: of need to get in early to get everything I
7:49
Speaker 3: need to do. I like to run before the game
7:51
Speaker 3: really just kind of build up some endurance in Samona,
7:53
Speaker 3: to make sure my legs are under me, whether it's
7:56
Speaker 3: a hot day or whether it's starting number thirty towards
7:59
Speaker 3: the end of the year. It's making sure that the
8:01
Speaker 3: body is prepped and ready to go. When we're not
8:03
Speaker 3: just like, Okay, we have an hour to get going,
8:06
Speaker 3: let's just do what we can. It's making sure that
8:08
Speaker 3: every day is tackled with the utmost intensity to get
8:12
Speaker 3: the body ready to go.
8:14
Speaker 1: So the year before last, you were up a little
8:16
Speaker 1: bit and you were teammates with Lancelin, who is a
8:20
Speaker 1: it's a big presence. What's that like being in the
8:23
Speaker 1: clubhouse with a guy like lancelint.
8:28
Speaker 3: Pretty sure lance was dinged up when I got a
8:31
Speaker 3: when I got.
8:31
Speaker 4: One leg walking around so he could take me.
8:34
Speaker 3: Then in the training room, I was I was just
8:37
Speaker 3: trying to find out where the bathrooms were in the
8:38
Speaker 3: clubhouse because I had only been there once in July
8:41
Speaker 3: before the trade deadline. So I can't I can't say
8:46
Speaker 3: too much. I mean, it was nice hang out with
8:47
Speaker 3: him in spring. Was able to ask him a few
8:50
Speaker 3: questions shagging VP out at Roger Dean and stuff. But
8:53
Speaker 3: anytime you have a vet like that in the clubhouse
8:56
Speaker 3: where you could just lean on or just ask questions,
8:58
Speaker 3: or just watch how they go about their business, watch
9:00
Speaker 3: how they handle and treat the game. For how long
9:02
Speaker 3: they did it. It's definitely awesome to see.
9:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I think you got when you first got
9:08
Speaker 4: called up.
9:08
Speaker 6: You pitched the day after me against the Rangers, right,
9:12
Speaker 6: So I think I was in an MRI machine because
9:15
Speaker 6: that's when everything broke. And then when he got when
9:18
Speaker 6: you came back up the next time, you took my spot.
9:20
Speaker 6: When I went back on the I l and you
9:22
Speaker 6: guys went on a road trip.
9:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sonny. Sonny likes to give me crap about it.
9:26
Speaker 3: He's like, yeah, grievy. I you know, I was hurting,
9:30
Speaker 3: so I shut myself down. You're welcome for the extra spot.
9:32
Speaker 3: So I'm like, oh, thanks, Tony.
9:33
Speaker 6: Really, I think that might have been more me because
9:36
Speaker 6: I shut down first, but it was, you know, it
9:39
Speaker 6: worked out well for you. I mean, he got his
9:42
Speaker 6: most most days in a row at that point at
9:44
Speaker 6: that time because they were just saying, hey, we need
9:46
Speaker 6: you for a day, we need you for a day.
9:47
Speaker 6: It was on the the shuffle, as they call it,
9:50
Speaker 6: the shuttle up and down from this so that's a
9:53
Speaker 6: tough gig. But what are some thoughts of people don't realize, Like, hey,
9:57
Speaker 6: when I come up for a day and all that,
9:58
Speaker 6: there's really no to find your routine, your rhythm, whether
10:02
Speaker 6: it's getting ready for your start, you know, doing your
10:05
Speaker 6: homework this and that. So what are some things you
10:07
Speaker 6: can use from the past to be like, Hey, if
10:09
Speaker 6: I do get stuck in a situation, I know how
10:12
Speaker 6: to navigate my day, whether.
10:14
Speaker 4: It's talking to the catchers Dusty blah blah blah to
10:17
Speaker 4: be ready for those starts and then and then what
10:19
Speaker 4: you can take when you have your normal routine and
10:21
Speaker 4: hopefully be in there for thirty straight.
10:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, So for as much as I talked about the
10:26
Speaker 3: routine in the past, it's those spots star days where
10:29
Speaker 3: I had just driven four hours from Memphis to Saint
10:31
Speaker 3: Louis to be able to pitch. It's I don't have
10:34
Speaker 3: You don't have a lot of time to get ready
10:35
Speaker 3: to go. You just kind of go. Like that first
10:37
Speaker 3: Mets game that I came up for, and I came
10:39
Speaker 3: in relief. Thankfully I'd already faced those guys twice in
10:42
Speaker 3: spring training, so I had a good idea how to
10:44
Speaker 3: attack them anyway. So no meeting, no nothing, just coming
10:47
Speaker 3: with the basis loaded to bailout Polante. But then the
10:52
Speaker 3: other games like the Dodgers, the White Sox, the Cubs,
10:55
Speaker 3: it's hey, like thanks for coming, good luck, and that's it.
10:59
Speaker 3: So you have to have minimize routine to do just
11:02
Speaker 3: enough to get yourself ready to go. And so it's
11:06
Speaker 3: good in a way that like you're not a slave
11:08
Speaker 3: to your routine, but when you do have those scheduled
11:12
Speaker 3: starts being back in the big leagues, like, it's good
11:14
Speaker 3: to have the routine, but not have it be too
11:17
Speaker 3: much to where you are a slave to it at
11:20
Speaker 3: the end of the day.
11:22
Speaker 1: So the upcoming season, Lance and I have talked about it.
11:26
Speaker 1: We call it a build, and we call it a build. Lance,
11:29
Speaker 1: it's a build.
11:30
Speaker 4: With I think that's what IM's calling it now.
11:32
Speaker 6: It was a retool, but how it's a build because
11:36
Speaker 6: I don't know, it's turned a little bit more than
11:39
Speaker 6: just a retool, I think, but that's what we'll.
11:42
Speaker 2: Call it, a retol build whatever. But the rotation gonna
11:45
Speaker 2: have a different look.
11:45
Speaker 1: They brought in Dustin May, who's now like the veteran
11:48
Speaker 1: otherwise is gonna be a young step no Sunny, no Miles,
11:51
Speaker 1: no lance Lynn around.
11:53
Speaker 2: What's it like to be part of that group?
11:55
Speaker 1: And who knows that you know they could have added
11:57
Speaker 1: You know, we don't know what it's gonna look like.
12:00
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a young rotation. You're part of it.
12:03
Speaker 1: What's you like looking ahead to what you guys have
12:06
Speaker 1: in front of you.
12:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, with all the trades that have gone on this
12:11
Speaker 3: offseason and bringing in guys like Dustin May, Hunter Dobbins,
12:14
Speaker 3: Richard Fitz, it's you start to do the numbers to
12:18
Speaker 3: see who could be a starter. I mean Polante, we
12:20
Speaker 3: could stretch out lay he got me. It's like, oh,
12:22
Speaker 3: that's already six right, there only five spots. Like so
12:27
Speaker 3: it's gonna breed some good, healthy competition. I know him
12:29
Speaker 3: has said that many times this offseason. But they're all
12:33
Speaker 3: guys that have had good success in the Big League
12:36
Speaker 3: so far in their young careers, and they have high
12:38
Speaker 3: upside to build a good, strong rotation for years to come.
12:41
Speaker 3: So it was nice meeting everybody at FanFest and winter
12:45
Speaker 3: warm up a couple of weeks ago. I think everybody's
12:48
Speaker 3: psyched to get started and ready to go. But I
12:52
Speaker 3: mean nothing is guaranteed. Like, I appreciate you saying I'll
12:55
Speaker 3: be in rotation, but I mean I got to earn
12:58
Speaker 3: a spot. It's no, it's a business. I handled the
13:02
Speaker 3: business side last year. There were options, and we all
13:04
Speaker 3: get three years of options. I pray to God that
13:07
Speaker 3: I don't and I'm gonna work my ass off to
13:09
Speaker 3: stay up in the big leagues. But any of us
13:12
Speaker 3: could get sent down, but any of us could also
13:14
Speaker 3: be in the rotation. It's just like, we want to
13:16
Speaker 3: build this team to what it should be, and you know,
13:18
Speaker 3: like the best will play.
13:21
Speaker 6: No, that's what that's what you want coming in as
13:24
Speaker 6: a as a as a staff. You want that competition,
13:26
Speaker 6: which you're all young, you all know each other well,
13:28
Speaker 6: so I think it's going to breed, you know, a
13:30
Speaker 6: healthy competition.
13:32
Speaker 4: And in all, honestly, none of you in the big
13:34
Speaker 4: league level of thrown over one hundred and fifty innings
13:35
Speaker 4: in the season.
13:36
Speaker 6: So when you look at it that way, to keep
13:38
Speaker 6: people healthy and also doing well at the end of
13:42
Speaker 6: the season, like you talked about, we talked to Libby
13:44
Speaker 6: earlier this year, is maybe there's gonna be some six
13:47
Speaker 6: man days and stuff like that. So I think that
13:50
Speaker 6: that's going to, you know, bode well for guys getting
13:52
Speaker 6: starts and getting to do their things. Now, when it
13:54
Speaker 6: comes to those starts, where we at on our bread
13:56
Speaker 6: and butter, our bread and butter pitches, and where we
13:58
Speaker 6: at on our tinkering and the off season, because those
14:00
Speaker 6: are both things that people understand or don't maybe not understand.
14:04
Speaker 6: You got to make sure your bread and butter stays
14:06
Speaker 6: with your bread and butter, and then how are we
14:08
Speaker 6: going to bring some things with it?
14:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, so bread and butter being obviously the sinker and
14:12
Speaker 3: slider mix. It's always so funny, like the first time
14:16
Speaker 3: you step back on the mouth for your first ever bullpen,
14:18
Speaker 3: and I mean more than half the time, it's just
14:22
Speaker 3: not what it should be and you instantly go into
14:24
Speaker 3: freak out mode. It's like, oh my gosh, my sinker sucks,
14:27
Speaker 3: my slider sucks. I'm I'm just the worst pitcher ever.
14:30
Speaker 3: And that last day and regularly a couple of us
14:33
Speaker 3: we're talking like it's crazy, how like we're playing at
14:35
Speaker 3: such a high level right now. A lot of these
14:37
Speaker 3: teams go into the playoffs. You play at such a
14:39
Speaker 3: high level. After the World Series is over, they'll take
14:42
Speaker 3: some time off and then they'll slowly get back into
14:44
Speaker 3: pitching and they'll completely forget how to pitch. It's your
14:49
Speaker 3: mechanics kind.
14:50
Speaker 4: Of go away.
14:51
Speaker 3: Your feel for your fingers coming off the ball goes
14:54
Speaker 3: away a little bit, so you have to relearn it
14:55
Speaker 3: a little bit. So over time, like the sinker insiders
14:58
Speaker 3: come back. Everything's in a good spot right now. Singer, slider, curveball, cutter,
15:04
Speaker 3: it's all good. Obviously tinkering with the change of just
15:07
Speaker 3: making an even better pitch. I want to utilize that
15:09
Speaker 3: more this year, especially the lefties. Forcing fastball is always
15:13
Speaker 3: a good pitch for me against those lefties. So just
15:16
Speaker 3: refining that so it's not running as much. But got
15:20
Speaker 3: a bullpen later today and I'll get back to you
15:23
Speaker 3: after you see where we're at.
15:26
Speaker 4: I'll be waiting on a text. No, make sure the
15:28
Speaker 4: bread and butter is there, and let me know what.
15:30
Speaker 3: The tinker work with exactly.
15:33
Speaker 2: Lance.
15:34
Speaker 1: At this point, I would like you to kind of
15:37
Speaker 1: show your shirt because the folks watching, like Cardinal Territory,
15:42
Speaker 1: there's merch available. You want to look as handsome as Lance,
15:46
Speaker 1: lind say. We're going to hawk some items here, Michael.
15:50
Speaker 1: We have on the website. There are hats, t shirts, hoodies,
15:54
Speaker 1: all quality merchandise, all reasonably price, a whole bunch of stuff.
15:59
Speaker 1: It's at Cardinal Territory shop dot com. You can look
16:04
Speaker 1: as good as lance Lynn does. So I wanted to
16:09
Speaker 1: ask you, Michael, about one of the things that anyone's
16:12
Speaker 1: watched you pitch. And I'm sorry if I put you
16:14
Speaker 1: in the rotation. I think you're gonna be there. I
16:16
Speaker 1: know you have to say to.
16:21
Speaker 2: One of the things.
16:22
Speaker 1: Whatever you say people say, Michael McGreevey looks the part
16:27
Speaker 1: like from the first time you got into a major
16:29
Speaker 1: league game, it didn't look like it was too big
16:32
Speaker 1: for you.
16:32
Speaker 2: And here's the other thing I noticed. You always look
16:35
Speaker 2: like you're having fun out there.
16:37
Speaker 1: It could be ninety five degrees, it could be an
16:40
Speaker 1: outing that isn't going great. You always look like you're
16:43
Speaker 1: enjoying pitching. Tell me where that comes from.
16:46
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just fall in love with the game
16:49
Speaker 3: when I was so young. It's I get to play
16:51
Speaker 3: this sport as a job. It's what I love to do.
16:53
Speaker 3: It's where I've made over eighty percent of all my
16:55
Speaker 3: friends I've come from baseball. And the fact I still
16:58
Speaker 3: get to play this game for it, have to make
17:00
Speaker 3: a living for my family. It's it's unbelievable and I
17:03
Speaker 3: kind of just have to take a step back and laugh,
17:07
Speaker 3: like this is nuts, Like this is absolutely crazy that
17:09
Speaker 3: I get to do this, and it's such a blessing
17:11
Speaker 3: from God. But when I'm on the mountain playing, obviously,
17:15
Speaker 3: I want to be under control, make sure my team
17:17
Speaker 3: behind me knows, like the moment's not too big or
17:20
Speaker 3: anything like that, and I try to just keep a
17:21
Speaker 3: level face no matter who I'm facing. But you got
17:24
Speaker 3: guys like Sho, Halo Tani, Fernando Tatis, Mana Machado step
17:27
Speaker 3: in the box like this is pretty fricking cool, like
17:31
Speaker 3: some of the best players in baseball right now, and
17:33
Speaker 3: I get to face them, I feel like I'm I
17:35
Speaker 3: feel like I'm ten years old. Well when I'm on
17:37
Speaker 3: that mound, and I hope to not pitch like I'm ten,
17:40
Speaker 3: but just it's absolutely surreal, and like I try to
17:43
Speaker 3: just take every day as an absolute blessing that I'm
17:45
Speaker 3: on the moundin pitching for the Cardinals.
17:48
Speaker 4: And I mean, you got to think about this. Dad's
17:50
Speaker 4: a judge, mom's a lawyer, brother's going to be a lawyer.
17:53
Speaker 4: How's it feel sitting around the dinner table being the
17:55
Speaker 4: dumb dumb of the family.
17:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's the absolute worst. I couldn't tell you
18:02
Speaker 3: the age where my brother started beating me in arguments.
18:05
Speaker 3: And he's a little brother, he's three years younger than me,
18:07
Speaker 3: But it got to a point where like, dude, I'm
18:10
Speaker 3: the idiot of the family. I'm just the dumb baseball
18:12
Speaker 3: player that throws the rock down to the catcher. Ooh, yeah,
18:17
Speaker 3: everybody needs one.
18:18
Speaker 4: At least you're a professional athlete.
18:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, at least I got. It'd be pretty bad if
18:23
Speaker 3: I didn't get to the professional atmosphere. Then it'd be like, oh,
18:27
Speaker 3: like you didn't make it. Now you can go do something.
18:31
Speaker 3: You could go find something. I'm sure you can find something.
18:33
Speaker 3: I'm a degree though from UCSB, but definitely I don't
18:37
Speaker 3: think i'd be as high up in the law career
18:40
Speaker 3: as my parents and my little brother will be.
18:44
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about some of the other
18:45
Speaker 1: guys who I expect will be part of the rotation
18:49
Speaker 1: or could be. But let's start with Matthew Libertour. Now
18:52
Speaker 1: there's a young man at a very good season. I
18:55
Speaker 1: think the upside is through the roof. I know Lance
18:58
Speaker 1: really is high as well, But to me, that's the
19:03
Speaker 1: guy when you talk to him, it seems like he's
19:07
Speaker 1: a twenty year vetling like he just drifts almost with
19:11
Speaker 1: wisdom for a young guy. Just your thoughts on being
19:15
Speaker 1: teammates with Livy and what he brings.
19:17
Speaker 2: To the table.
19:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think you said it yourself. He feels
19:21
Speaker 3: like he's a twenty twenty year VET. I get to
19:24
Speaker 3: when we're sitting in the dugout watching the game, and
19:27
Speaker 3: it feels like I can ask Luby questions that I
19:30
Speaker 3: would be asking a ten year VET in the show. It's, hey,
19:33
Speaker 3: what would you think about this? What do you think
19:34
Speaker 3: about this? And he'd answer him like he's been there,
19:37
Speaker 3: done that, and he kind of has. He's had some
19:39
Speaker 3: time in the show, a lot more than me right now.
19:41
Speaker 3: But it's it's nice to have a young guy like
19:44
Speaker 3: that with so much wisdom and knowledge to where like
19:48
Speaker 3: we don't need that, ohle, this veteran presence that has
19:52
Speaker 3: ten plus years in the rotation. Now, granted that will
19:55
Speaker 3: be Palonte hopefully this year, with all his wisdom and knowledge,
19:59
Speaker 3: but Libby is such a good tool for me, and
20:02
Speaker 3: I hope a lot of the other guys in the
20:04
Speaker 3: rotation will use him as well. That you just learn
20:07
Speaker 3: so much from him. And I was telling Lance the
20:10
Speaker 3: other day, I felt like when I was a young pitcher,
20:13
Speaker 3: I feel like I was just a thrower. I just
20:14
Speaker 3: threw the ball and got out. But over time, like
20:18
Speaker 3: I developed like becoming a pitcher. And Libby's such he
20:22
Speaker 3: just knows how to do it. He knows how to pitch,
20:25
Speaker 3: and it's just like bouncing off him. It's I now
20:29
Speaker 3: like I'm turning into a pitcher.
20:33
Speaker 6: You talked about Plante. You guys went to the same
20:36
Speaker 6: high school. He's two years old and now he could
20:38
Speaker 6: be the veteran man on the staff.
20:40
Speaker 4: Is he still the same pain in the ass he
20:43
Speaker 4: was when he was in high school? Or has he
20:45
Speaker 4: elevated that a little bit.
20:47
Speaker 3: He's probably still the same pain in the ass. He
20:50
Speaker 3: might even be more because he has a lot more
20:52
Speaker 3: money now than he did in high school, so he's
20:56
Speaker 3: very I'm just I'm totally kidding. Falante is awesome. It's
21:00
Speaker 3: he's still with goofball. He's still the same guy from
21:02
Speaker 3: high school. But he is also one of the guys
21:06
Speaker 3: that has helped me become a big leaguer. In twenty
21:08
Speaker 3: twenty four, I was off to a super slow start,
21:11
Speaker 3: and he unfortunately got optioned down to Memphis to learn
21:14
Speaker 3: that two seams sinker, and he kind of sat me
21:17
Speaker 3: down because I just was going through four or five
21:19
Speaker 3: starts in a row where I just couldn't get out
21:21
Speaker 3: past the fourth and he's like, look like, you're not
21:24
Speaker 3: on the forty man. There's two other guys on the
21:26
Speaker 3: forty man here in Tripaa that will probably go before you.
21:29
Speaker 3: Everyone up top is healthy, they got more than enough
21:31
Speaker 3: arms up top. Just use this first half to like
21:35
Speaker 3: develop something. In the second half. That's when you'll you
21:38
Speaker 3: can grade yourself and look back of how your year went.
21:40
Speaker 3: Because we're greaded on the second half down here in
21:42
Speaker 3: the minors. Just use that and your season starts in
21:45
Speaker 3: the second half. Just use this time to develop and
21:48
Speaker 3: come June first, I completely like flip the switch, and
21:53
Speaker 3: I had a great second half of twenty twenty four.
21:55
Speaker 3: I'm a big leaguer by the trade deadline, and then
21:57
Speaker 3: I finished in the big leagues last two weeks of
21:59
Speaker 3: twenty five or so. As much as I like to
22:02
Speaker 3: we like to joke about Andre and all of his tendencies.
22:06
Speaker 3: He really didn't help me become a big leaguear that
22:07
Speaker 3: year in twenty four.
22:10
Speaker 1: I think he's universally loved in that clubhouse too. A
22:13
Speaker 1: lot everybody love you know. There's a little bit of
22:16
Speaker 1: click with you, starters, relievers, you know, infielders outfield.
22:21
Speaker 2: He's everyone's guy.
22:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, everyone's guy. Everyone's guy. You need you need someone
22:26
Speaker 3: to talk to, he's there. You need to someone to
22:28
Speaker 3: joke around him, bully a little bit. If he's your guy.
22:30
Speaker 3: If you just need just a teammate and a friend,
22:32
Speaker 3: he's also your guy. He's a man of many talents,
22:35
Speaker 3: and thankfully he's also a really good pitcher.
22:38
Speaker 2: Now, Lady, is a guy you mentioned that could be
22:41
Speaker 2: in the rotation.
22:42
Speaker 1: They're bringing him back as a starter, and he is
22:46
Speaker 1: a real quiet guy. You wouldn't know how intense he
22:49
Speaker 1: is on the field when you see him in the
22:50
Speaker 1: in the clubhouse because he's so soft spoken. He's also
22:53
Speaker 1: a guy that has a rubber arm, kind of like Libby,
22:57
Speaker 1: who he says, I always want the big tell me
23:01
Speaker 1: about what you guys might have A.
23:03
Speaker 3: Lady, Yeah, Kyle's a Kyle's like an evil genius on
23:07
Speaker 3: the mountains. He seems to have every pitch ever created
23:12
Speaker 3: he's got before seen you got a singer. He could
23:14
Speaker 3: run a two seam in there, change up, splitter, curveball, slider, sweeper, cutter,
23:20
Speaker 3: gyro slider. He's got everything, it seems, and it just
23:23
Speaker 3: seems like it comes so easy to him. And he's
23:26
Speaker 3: definitely a quiet guy, and he goes about his business
23:29
Speaker 3: like the right way. He is never not doing the
23:32
Speaker 3: right things. He's never not in the weight room, he's
23:34
Speaker 3: never not working on his mechanics, he's never not taking
23:36
Speaker 3: catch plays seriously. So it's a good guy like you
23:39
Speaker 3: want in the rotation or just on your pitching staff
23:41
Speaker 3: in general. I kind of want him to open up
23:44
Speaker 3: this year. And I feel like he secretly hates me
23:46
Speaker 3: a little bit because my first big league camp in
23:48
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, rookie's got to get there at seven
23:51
Speaker 3: am the second the clubhouse opens, and I walk in like,
23:55
Speaker 3: hey guys, good morning, good morning, like just to everybody
23:58
Speaker 3: because I'm excited to be there. So my first big
23:59
Speaker 3: lead camp, and Kyle comes to me is like McGreevy,
24:03
Speaker 3: like your energy is way too high right now, you
24:06
Speaker 3: need to like tone it back. And so anytime I
24:10
Speaker 3: see Kyle and like saying hey everyone, Hey, hey, hey
24:13
Speaker 3: hey Kyle, good.
24:15
Speaker 2: To see uh.
24:16
Speaker 3: And we like to call him e or like he's
24:19
Speaker 3: or from winning the Pooh.
24:22
Speaker 6: That fits though that that it doesn't not fit. Yeah,
24:25
Speaker 6: he always looks like man, I could catch a nap
24:27
Speaker 6: or he just he just caught one one of the two.
24:30
Speaker 6: You don't know if he's going or coming from a nap. Yeah, exactly,
24:37
Speaker 6: All right, stuff, good stuff.
24:38
Speaker 4: Well you look at I mean, if you look at
24:40
Speaker 4: the way that you're talking about the guys that we've
24:42
Speaker 4: talked about today, all of you have had similar paths, right,
24:45
Speaker 4: you got called up and down, you did the shuffle,
24:47
Speaker 4: maybe spent some time in the bullpen when that's not
24:49
Speaker 4: what you did this and that. So I believe the
24:53
Speaker 4: idea of you guys all feeding off of each other.
24:55
Speaker 4: And the way you were talking about talking to Libby
24:57
Speaker 4: and Polante is you guys have all they've gone do
25:00
Speaker 4: it before you, and they're all kind of passing down
25:02
Speaker 4: little tidbits on ways to do it.
25:04
Speaker 6: And I'm with Jim on this is all of you
25:09
Speaker 6: have the ability to get people out in multiple different
25:12
Speaker 6: ways with your arsenal, and you all do it a
25:15
Speaker 6: little bit differently. So that's the beauty of what I
25:18
Speaker 6: think people don't understand of what has been kind of built, right,
25:22
Speaker 6: we're going to build Jim. This is what they've built
25:25
Speaker 6: as a rotation, the ability to do a lot of
25:27
Speaker 6: different things and a lot of different ways. But everybody
25:30
Speaker 6: has that mentality of hey, we've all kind of had
25:33
Speaker 6: to deal with different adversity to get here. So I'm
25:36
Speaker 6: looking forward to what you guys are going to do
25:37
Speaker 6: this year as a group. You're a deep group, got
25:40
Speaker 6: a lot of different ways to do it, and you
25:42
Speaker 6: guys all feed off of each other well and get
25:43
Speaker 6: along well, So you know, I'm looking forward to how
25:46
Speaker 6: that goes or what are some maybe some thought processes
25:49
Speaker 6: that you're going into the season with on Hey, you
25:52
Speaker 6: know we got this, this and this, how can I
25:55
Speaker 6: help as a group, but also what can I take
25:57
Speaker 6: from certain guys as you go go through the season
26:00
Speaker 6: this year.
26:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think going back to talking with Libby and
26:04
Speaker 3: the dugout, we always talked about because we had a
26:07
Speaker 3: couple of vets and we had a couple of young
26:09
Speaker 3: guys and Andrea is kind of in the middle there
26:11
Speaker 3: with his four ish years in the show, Sonny doing
26:14
Speaker 3: his own thing. You're not going to talk to Sonny
26:16
Speaker 3: about how he goes about his business. He's an all star,
26:18
Speaker 3: He's one of the best pitchers I've ever seen. Miles
26:22
Speaker 3: is been with the Carlins forever. You're also not going
26:25
Speaker 3: to tell him how to do his thing. But now
26:26
Speaker 3: that we have Smiles.
26:30
Speaker 6: Way to say, it's a simple as deposits too, So
26:34
Speaker 6: don't you got to find.
26:35
Speaker 3: Your own way getting no kidding, but opposites attract in
26:40
Speaker 3: a way, so it's fine. But going talking about with Libby,
26:44
Speaker 3: with all these young guys that we're going to have,
26:46
Speaker 3: it's about creating an identity for the STAB. It's not
26:49
Speaker 3: just about like, hey, like everybody pitching well, and we
26:51
Speaker 3: obviously want to all do well, but it's what is
26:54
Speaker 3: this like rotation's identity? What is this rotation going to
26:57
Speaker 3: be built on? Like coming up with like certain rules
27:00
Speaker 3: that we have to do. Like I was talking with
27:01
Speaker 3: Lance the other day, like, hey, like are we going
27:03
Speaker 3: to be out there for every bullpen? Are we going
27:05
Speaker 3: to be out there for every starters bullpen before a game?
27:08
Speaker 3: Like what do we want to do. Do we want
27:09
Speaker 3: to make sure that like this, every starter feels like
27:12
Speaker 3: the other four guys has his back. Do we want
27:15
Speaker 3: guys to be out there the first through the fifth inning?
27:17
Speaker 3: No one's going back in the clubhouse during that time.
27:20
Speaker 3: We wanted like just every guy in that pitching staff
27:23
Speaker 3: is pulling in the right direction, like pulling for the guy,
27:25
Speaker 3: no matter who's on the mound, Like everybody wants to
27:27
Speaker 3: be on the mound at the same time. But it's like, hey,
27:31
Speaker 3: he's on the mountain late, he's on the mount right now.
27:32
Speaker 3: Everybody's got lay he's back, and there's no like, well,
27:36
Speaker 3: I wish I was put in right now. I wish
27:38
Speaker 3: I had the ball right now. It's no like we've
27:41
Speaker 3: built this rotation to be abandoned brothers and the bat
27:45
Speaker 3: abandon bad motherfuckers. Like at the same time, to do
27:50
Speaker 3: what we need to do and pitch the way we
27:52
Speaker 3: need to pitch, to get guys out and really build
27:54
Speaker 3: this rotation what it should be.
27:56
Speaker 1: All right, last thing before we let you go, that's
27:59
Speaker 1: team orient Will you appreciate it. I want to ask
28:02
Speaker 1: you about individual goals. Now players will say, oh, I
28:05
Speaker 1: don't set goals you do. I know everyone sets personal goals.
28:10
Speaker 1: I don't know what you could share, but if one
28:13
Speaker 1: of the things you can share with us that are
28:15
Speaker 1: your personal goals for the season head outside of making
28:19
Speaker 1: the team and being in the starting rotation.
28:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, other than that kind of boring, I guess kind
28:26
Speaker 3: of stick away all my goals. But i'd say if
28:29
Speaker 3: when in the sorry invitation to create positive energy right there,
28:34
Speaker 3: want to make every start be healthy, could as many
28:37
Speaker 3: innings as I can, hopefully get a career high in innings,
28:40
Speaker 3: just being that workhorse of the team. I couldn't tell
28:43
Speaker 3: you what my career high is at this point. Just
28:48
Speaker 3: make every start be competitive, strike as many guys out
28:51
Speaker 3: as I can, just get ahead of guys, and you know,
28:54
Speaker 3: just be that guy the team can count on to
28:56
Speaker 3: get a win when they need to.
28:58
Speaker 6: I got well, ready, got it. I got his numbers
29:00
Speaker 6: for you. He wants to make thirty two starts at
29:03
Speaker 6: least one hundred and eighty innings.
29:04
Speaker 4: We want to sub four e r A. We want
29:07
Speaker 4: to win twelve to fifteen games. We don't.
29:09
Speaker 2: We want to.
29:09
Speaker 4: We want to lose less than eighty. That's it.
29:12
Speaker 3: Perfect, Thank you, down, Thank you that's those are the numbers.
29:16
Speaker 4: That's what we're shooting for.
29:17
Speaker 2: Perfect. I'm going mine mine.
29:19
Speaker 4: First year starting the big leagues of one eighteen games
29:21
Speaker 4: to be an All Star.
29:22
Speaker 5: But you do you, I'm gonna says every year we're hey, yeah,
29:29
Speaker 5: well it was make every you know, thirty plus starts
29:32
Speaker 5: on hundred plus hundred eighty innings.
29:34
Speaker 4: Plus, blah blah. I try to win more ten games?
29:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, how about this fifteen and seven e r a
29:39
Speaker 1: of three four five.
29:41
Speaker 2: We don't go with that.
29:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, fine, that's fine by me. If we want to
29:45
Speaker 3: mix in a golden English, that's good as well.
29:48
Speaker 2: All right, just we'll throw that in there. Gold. But Michael,
29:51
Speaker 2: we appreciate joining us.
29:52
Speaker 4: I love that. I never came close.
29:56
Speaker 3: Seeing Mason's was incredible, and I was like, I need that.
30:00
Speaker 3: I need that right now.
30:02
Speaker 4: Be pretty on the shelf. None of your siblings or
30:05
Speaker 4: your parents will have that.
30:06
Speaker 3: They'll have their Yeah, judge can't get a.
30:08
Speaker 6: Lawder degree, whatever, judge whatever, bag Yeah gold and then
30:12
Speaker 6: you got gold.
30:13
Speaker 4: Baby.
30:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there could be gold in your future.
30:17
Speaker 2: I agree.
30:18
Speaker 1: We know you're getting ready to head out, so we
30:21
Speaker 1: appreciate you spending some time with those Lance as always
30:24
Speaker 1: constant delight. That's gonna do it for this edition of
30:27
Speaker 1: Cardio Territory. We'll see you next time, and hopefully that
30:30
Speaker 1: edition won't suck.