Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Chaim Bloom Time, Nolan Arenado's future, will Jordan Walker step up?

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Chaim Bloom Time, Nolan Arenado's future, will Jordan Walker step up? · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. I'm Jim Hayes, joined by Matt Holliday and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Kyle Gibson. Generally speaking, we're also joined by Lance Lynn.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: He's on a hunting trip. He was supposed to be here.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: We thought we would talk to him via tree stand
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of some sort, or maybe with a carcass, posing with
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a carcass.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: It didn't happen. But gentlemen, it's nice to see you guys.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Good to see you. To see Jim as always, it.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Doesn't seem like you're that sincere Matt Well. The off
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: season is now upon us, and in Saint Louis, that
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: means it's time time. I'm Bloom takes over as the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: president of baseball Operations. He's been around with the organization
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: for over a year, so he knows the lay of
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the land and he knows the cards that he's been dealt.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: He's already made some improvements to certain areas, beefed up
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: things at the minor league level, the developmental level. But
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: now he's got the ball. So Matt Holliday, I'm gonna
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: start with you. What should job one now be for?
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Heind bloom.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Uh, well, I think you have to decide how well.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: First of all, you should already know kind of the
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: areas that you're going to target as far as improving
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: your your major league roster. I think that you start
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: to look and you're starting to see guys opt in,
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: opt out of their their options and their their Uh
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: there's there's new free agents coming into into the free
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: agent pool that maybe you didn't expect. So I think
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: just just continuing to gather information as you head into
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: the general managers meetings where a lot of talks start
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: to begin on as far as trades go, you start
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: thinking about, I guess, I'm sure he knows his budget
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: as far as free agents go.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: As far as.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Filling in the major league team, what are your goals?
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Is your goals again, as we've talked about before. Are
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: your goals to win the World Series in twenty twenty six?
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Are your goals to take a step closer to the playoffs?
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Are your goals to continue to develop younger players and
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: give guys like JJ Weatherholt and potentially like a team
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: Kints or you know, some of the other young talented
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: players they have in the minor leagues, give them opportunities.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: So I think I'm sure they have this game plan,
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: but I think the next step for me is probably
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: deciding what free agents you might be in on, and
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: then you start to gather information on trade value. Uh.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: You know they've talked about trade and Nolan and Sonny
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: and contrasts possibly and and so I think once GM
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: meetings hits, that's when you start gauging, uh, the interest
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: on on trades and and guys that that you're trying
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: to get to move, and then you know what you
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: can get in return.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Now it's hard to know what he's gonna do, Kyle,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: but Hein Bloom has basically said we want to be
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: long term, so they will have an eye towards the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: current team and do the best they can because he
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: said they want to be competitive, but they also want
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to do it right for the long term.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Kyle. So when you look at this ball club.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: You played for him, uh, you know before, and I
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: know you're keep in touch with some folks and the Cardinals,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: what areas would you look at if you're Hein Bloom
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: in terms of the upcoming season.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the one of
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: the more fun discussions we had Jim was, you know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: a few weeks ago with you Lance and I about
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: you know, kind of what we would do if if
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: we were in him shoes, And you know, I think personally,
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: I feel like this is a team that with a
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: couple additions and not subtractions, I think they're a playoff team.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: Maybe that's being a little bit of a homer since
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: I was on the team. I don't know, but I
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: agree with everything Matt said. I think the one thing
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: that I would add is they have a lot of
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: players in my mind that are somewhat in like this
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: transition time where and what I mean by that is
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: they need to figure out with extra outfielders and extra infielders,
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: who are the guys are going to move forward with.
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: And not that you have to trade or release those guys,
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: but you kind of have to have a plan going
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: into spring training. You know, what's the plan for player
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: at A, B and C, because right now they don't
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: fit on our major league roster. Do we want to
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: trade those guys as well? Or are we going to
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: do we have the ability to use an option them
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: to the minor leagues and you know, hopefully have them
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: be a part of the major league, you know, roster
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: at a later date. So they just have some guys
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: kind of in that interesting stage of their career where
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: there are a couple of years in and you know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: maybe they're still trying to find their way, but the
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: decision time is going to have to be here sooner
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: than later on. You know, are they going to be
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: a part of this Cardinals franchise or not? And if
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: they are, you know, what's their role going to be?
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I think they do have a plan in place. And look,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Sonny Gray has already said he'd be open to a
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: trade this time around. He's a no trade clause. Wilson
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Contrera said, Uh, he wants to say he's got a
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: no trade clause. And that brings us to Nolan Arnado,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: who has a no trade clause. Jeff Passing just reported
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: then Nolan said he'd be open to more teams this
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: time around. The Cardinals were looking to deal him last year.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And Matt, I know you're good friends with Nolan Arnato.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: How do you think this all shakes out for him?
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean I think he's he gets dealt. He
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: gets dealt somewhere.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think, uh, as as the report, I'm
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: sure is that it's it's it's at this point and
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: in Nolan's career, you know, it's you got to find
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: the right fit.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: There has to be a need from the team. And
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: so yeah, I mean.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: I think that there's there's gotta be some willingness on
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: his part too, uh to maybe go some places that
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: uh maybe he didn't really you know maybe last year,
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: really want to go to. So I think that, you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: particularly the way uh they ended the season last year,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: I think both sides have have have pretty much decided
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: that that they'll do whatever it takes to get something
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: done to move on from from him his time in
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: Saint Louis. So I I think something will happen. I
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: think he'll get moved.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I don't know where. It'll be interesting.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of that comes down to where
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: does does Alex Bregman end up back in Boston and
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: uh some of the other you know, third base options.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean I think I think at the
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: end of.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: The day, when we're talking about Nolan, uh March first,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: he'll be on another team and and uh, it's just
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: kind of depends on you know, as far as return goes,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: how much money the Cardinals are willing to eat, uh,
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: will probably buy them a better prospect.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: So we'll see. It's uh, it's uh, it's gonna be interesting.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Nolan.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Jim.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: I got a question, Jim. I know I did this
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: in our last I did this, was serving it up,
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: you know on the previous podcast. Question kind of step
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: in here. Yeah, maybe I'm just maybe I don't really
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: know that what's going on here, But why is it
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: actually helpful now the second off season going into this
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: and making the goal of trading him out front? Do
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: we feel like last offseason that kind of, in my
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: mind hindered their ability to move him because everybody knew
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: that's what the plan was. And then I feel like,
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: what if they use that against them, saying, oh, well
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: they want to move him anyway, so it's not give
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: him as much, you know in the deal. I don't know,
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: maybe I'm way off on that, but I feel like,
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: you know, I feel like that might have hurt him
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: a little bit last year.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: And there's no question he was heard at the tail
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: end of last season wanted to come back, came back
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: looked like Nolan and that his offensive numbers have dropped off,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: But that guy highlight real defense game in and game out,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and he showed he still has it and there's still
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: gas in the tank and he wants to play. What
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: do you think, Matt, I mean, do you think maybe
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: the approach is wrong in terms of how they're handling Nolan?
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I thought that last year to some
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: extent of you know why, But I look, they pretty
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: much you know, when you do the swan song and
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: the farewell uh ending of last year, I think they're
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: they're pretty much saying that, you know, they're they're willing
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: to do whatever it takes to move in, which, like
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: you said, Kyle, I think there's certainly hurts your leverage.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know that you can still take
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: him back. I mean, I guess just like this year.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: I mean, I guess at the end of the day,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: if if you know nobody will give you anything and
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: they want you to eat all the money, you know
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: that he could come back and play third for the
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: Cardinals next year. But it certainly felt like both sides
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: are gonna do whatever it takes, and I don't ever
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: think that that helps your leverage to make that kind
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: of statement or you know, set up that kind of
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: ceremony as as they did last year. Look, I appreciate
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: the fan is getting an opportunity to give Nolan, uh,
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: you know, the the ovation that he deserved and and
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: sort of their appreciation for the years that he's put
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: in there. But like like Lance said, or sorry, like
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: Kyle said, it's it's it's certainly.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, if I'm negotiating with them, I'm I'm I know.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: That they're they're already have kind of moved on, So
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: we'll see. But yeah, I don't. I don't really see
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: the uh, the purpose of it other than to make
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: sure that no one got an ovation from.
• 10:31
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• 10:35
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• 11:40
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• 11:41
  Speaker 2: So, Kyle, I got to ask you this.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: So as the Cardinals are shoveling things and figuring out,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: like you said, who they want to keep, where they
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: want to go, what this team is going to look
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: like in this coming season, I'm going to ask you
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: who do you think is most likely going to be
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: trade and outside the guys we talked about arenatdo maybe Wilson,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: maybe Sonny. And I'm not talking about guys you think
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: should be traded. I'm just talking about guys that you
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: think will bring value or maybe what other teams want
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: that they'll be willing to give up more.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Jim, this goes back to your question once again
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: a couple of weeks ago, where you asked Lance and
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: I to trade people. But yet when we asked you
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: which media personalities from the Saint Louis market needed to go,
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: you did not give us an answer. So you're able
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: to ask us this question. I understand that you don't
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: have to answer it. So at the end, yeah, yeah,
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: we'll get to we'll get to that question later. Of
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: which of those you know, beat writers needed the Cardinals
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: going to move on from, I don't know. I think
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: it's tough. Like I said earlier, I think this team
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: is close to being a good team. I think they are,
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: you know, a good team and many regards. I think
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Sonny Gray is somebody who sure he didn't have the
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: same year this year as he had in twenty twenty
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: twenty four, he's still a staple to a rotation that
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: can make He's a difference maker. I think Wilson Contraras
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: adapted to first base really well. He and Alec Berlison,
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: with Burley's you know, versatility going to the outfield and
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: first base, they're difference makers. So Nolan's defense changes the game,
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: and I think his offense has the ability to to
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: come back at any times because he showed spurts here
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: in twenty twenty five. So I personally would be in
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: the boat of adding, you know, finding a couple of
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: players here and there, maybe on one year deals, still
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: giving you that flexibility to at the deadline if you
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: need to move Nolan okay, at the deadline, if you
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: need to move Sonny okay, because I think those are
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: the times that you can still get a lot of return,
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: but still shift and give the Cardinals fans, you know,
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: that possibility of the playoffs, and if it doesn't work out,
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: then I don't think you've lost yourself a whole lot.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: But that's why I'm sitting here, and I was only
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: a player and not in the front office.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: All right, Matt, I'm gonna put it to you, and
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I'm again I'm not saying who should be traded. I'm
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: not saying, you know this, all these guys you want
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: on your team, But I'm talking about guys you offer
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: up that will bring a return.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think that when you're in the situation
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: the Cardinals are in, everybody is available, you know. I
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: think for the right return, there are very few players
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: in the major leagues in my mind, who for the
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: right return, aren't tradable. So I think you would listen
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: on anyone and in the right in the right situation now,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: you know, I think if you start talking about guys,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: they may considered trading.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: You know, that have value.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: I mean Donovan comes to mind because he's versatility and
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: that he can play a lot of different positions and
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: would have a lot of value for other teams.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: So if you could, if you could trade a Donovan
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: for you know, a front line pitching prospect.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Or a potential middle of the order, you know bat
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: that that could you know, you could count on for
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: twenty five to thirty five Homers moving forward, I think
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: that'd be interesting.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I yeah.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, like I said, I don't if I was
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: in front office, you're listening on everybody. I mean, obviously
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: there's certain guys that they'd have to like to trade
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: Mason Win, you would have to get offered.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: A lot.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: But I think when you're in the position the Cardinals
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: are in right now, I think you listen on everybody.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: But I think probably if you're talking about somebody, maybe
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: maybe Earlson or Donovan are players that are good, good
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: players that might bring you the return that you're looking
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: for for you know, for maybe two years from now.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Being all star players or whenever you think your next
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: window to win the World Series is. I mean, look,
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: I'm with Kyle, like I think if you if you
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: go out and add two or three players to the
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: current roster, could they compete for the playoffs next year?
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah? I think so.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: But it certainly feels like they're probably going to trade
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: the three guys that we've talked about and maybe look
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: for their window to be a little bit further.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Down the line than next year.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: I think they've said in some ways they want to
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: win the World Series, not just make the playoffs, which
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: I would argue that if you make if you make
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: the playoffs, you have a chance to win the World Series.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I guess you know, if I had to.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Say, I would say the guys with value.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: That could bring you something would be probably Donovan's probably
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: the one guy I think a lot of teams would
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: value because of his his versatility, that he can play
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: a bunch of different positions, no question.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: But sorry, Jim, I don't mean to cut you off.
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: I think it will also be interesting on a guy
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: like Donovan or Mason Win. You know, those are guys
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: that I think in general should be extended but I
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: kind of wonder if over the next year and a half,
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: some of those extensions put on get put on hold
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: across the league as the CBA gets worked out, or
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: with a little bit of forecasting from the GMS, they say, hey,
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: these are guys you need to get locked up now
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: because of what's going to happen in the CBA.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: So I think that's going to tie into it a
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: little bit.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Potential work stoppage to me, is a backdrop for this
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: whole thing anyway. But but Kyle, with the situation with
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals now, and I agree, I think if they added,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: you know, they'd probably be in a good position to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs. Again, they need pitching, and in my opinion,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: to get the pitching they need, they're gonna have to
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: trade somebody, right, I mean, do you see it that
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: way or am I on an island on.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: That Well, I don't think you're on an island. I
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: don't ever want you to be on an island, Gym.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: You know, we're here with us, all right, you know.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: I think that, Yeah, I think I think everybody that
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: if you look at the teams who didn't make the playoffs,
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: my guess is is they are short on pitching, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: I think in general, preventing runs tends to be cheaper
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: than scoring runs. So yes, if I was gonna say,
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: how am I gonna If I'm gonna not tear it down,
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: but if I'm going to really start here, my focus
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: is gonna be on some of these young pitchers that
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: have come up and have gotten some work, and uh,
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: you know whichever guys those are, getting Quinn Matthews up
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: here and seeing what you have and yeah, if you're
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: gonna trade Donovan, which I'm totally against because of his
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: clubhouse presence and everything else, then you need to get
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: another guy like at Quinn Matthews type prospect that you
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: can have control of and is going to be preventing
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: runs the next six years. Because I think that's to me,
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: that's just a really good way to start, you know,
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: building a team. And you know, you see what the
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: Mariners did. You know, we talked a lot about the
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: Mariners pitching staff, you know, leading up to this postseason.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: Then I think they had a pretty good advantage on
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: salary and roster construction because of where that starting pitching
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: is control wise.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And they do have the Cards have a ton of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: good young pitching waiting in the wings. The question is
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: what about the upcoming season. That's why I think they're
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: going to be forced to make a trade. Another guy
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: that I always find interesting Matt because of his skill
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: set is Lars Newpark. Now, Lars didn't have a great
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: year last season, but apparently he was dealing with he issues.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: He had surgery on both. There's a guy who was
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: a good eye for the strike zone. He takes walks
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: when he's right, also has some pop in it in
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: his bat. And he's a guy that you hear connected to,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: you know, possibly being traded at some point. We don't know,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: and we're not saying we want to see anything like that.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: But what do you think the Cardinals have in large
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: New Part?
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, to me, he's kind of the of
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: a question mark as far as I mean, I think
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: we've seen glimpses of a really really good player like
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: you mentioned, that can hit for power, that can play defense,
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: hits left handed, seems to have a very infectious personality
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: that the guys like to be around.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: But he's another one for me. I just don't not
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: one hundred percent sold on who he is as a player.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: Moving forward word as far as where do you hit
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: him in the lineup?
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Is he a leadoff type?
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Is he a could he be a middle of the
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: order bat?
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Is Can he play center field? Is he you know,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: does he have to play the corner? I don't know.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: To me, he's a He's a player that I kind
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: of want to see. What is his next step is.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: I think he's getting to that time in his career.
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: I think he's probably what twenty six or twenty seven
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: now at this at this point, that would be coming
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: into kind of the prime years of his career. And
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: so I think that that's really when you know who
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: a guy is. Like, you know, the first few years,
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: you're kind of developing, learning the league, you're making adjustments,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: you're getting better. But I think by twenty seven, twenty
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: eight years old, you should be we should have a
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: pretty firm handle of of who you are and what
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: you're going to be able to do in the league.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: So I think this year is important year for him.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: I don't know what the I know he hits the
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: ball really hard. You know his exit v lows and
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: there's some you know, some metrics that teams like. So
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: I think there would be some interest and value in
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: a trade, but yeah, I'm interested to see what this
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: year looks like for him.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's had trouble staying on the field because of injuries.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: But Kyle, you play with him, and I know you're,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: you know, a fan of guys who bring energy in
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: He's one of those guys.
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he was to my in my mind, he and
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: Donovan are to the tone center for that team. And
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: I just pulled him up this year because I didn't know,
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: you know, some of the you know, what was kind
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: of going into But you know, I look at the
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: numbers compared to you his first three full seasons in
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: the big leagues. Obviously you can see there was some
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: health issues there. You know, this is the first year
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: of a full season they had below a seven fifty
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: nine ps. I mean, you're talking about a guy who's
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: an above average hitter, above average defender, and can play
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: all three outfield positions. Yeah, I mean, you know, could
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: you want a little bit more slug sure, But you
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: know this was also the first time they played more
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: than one hundred and seventeen games, So you know, like
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: you said, I think being on the field and having
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: that availability tool is important. But you know, if he's available,
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: he might be a twenty homer guy. He's a high
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: on base guy, and I think every team would be
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: interested in that. And you know, now, maybe because of
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: his arbitration status here, maybe he's you know, not something
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: that you know, the Cardinals want to, you know, kind
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: of go forward with. But man, I think what he
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: means to that locker room and what he means that
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: team is pretty important.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: So the last topic for this edition of Cardinal Territory
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: some we've talked about before, but as the Cardinals try
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: to project their future, you have to look at Jordan
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Walker because we all know how talented he is, and
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: he's had ups and he's had downs, and then he's
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: had more downs. So, Matt, you're a veteran guy who's
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: been around baseball a long time, you have kids who
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: played professional baseball, and if you were handling Jordan Walker,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: I know, you know is very talented. How would you
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: handle trying to get him back on track that he
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: can be something that will benefit the Cardinals?
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: I mean, look, I think that you know, you can
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: talk about swing mechanics, you can talk about him needing
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: to hit the ball in the air more. Obviously, the
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: physicality would want you to hit the ball in the
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: air when you hit it that hard. So look, I
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: think that if I was working with him, I would
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: I would just try to find out where he's comfortable.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of times when you start trying
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: to make big hitting adjustments or try to try to
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: create a different outcome, particularly when it comes to hitting
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: it higher, guys get uncomfortable and they get they don't
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: know where to put their hands. They they don't know
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: what they want to do with their stride and my
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: leg kick guy, my toe tap guy, my just a
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: stride guy.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: You know, do I do? I?
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: So I think I would want him to get comfortable,
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: And then I think there's a couple tweaks with how
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: you how you load your body to where you make
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: contact a hair further out front. I don't want him
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: trying to pull the ball in the air like. I
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: don't think that's a good hitting approach, and I don't
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: think that's effective anyways. But I do think there's ways
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: that if if you get your mechanics just slightly tweaked
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: to wear the ball, you're you're not coming forward, You're
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: not coming forward as the ball's coming in, and then
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: you're you're constantly always hitting it on to the top
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: because you're moving forward, the ball's coming fast. Where you know,
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: get him to kind of remain over his backside a
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: little longer so that you know that the contact point
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: is a little bit more behind his his head's more
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: behind and and he he can drive the ball to
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: right center more. I think tapping into his his power
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: potential for me is more to right center than it is.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: To the pool side. So I don't know.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think that again, he's another guy where
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: you look at potential and you dream on what his
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: upside could be.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: But you know he's still young.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: But at some point, like the production if you're going
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: to play in the playoffs, the production in a in
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: a corner outfield spot, you can't I don't know.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: Kyle could probably pull it up. I don't know what
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: his ops was this year, but you can't.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: You can't have a right fielder that that isn't producing
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: you know, uh some power and and A and a
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: in a in a pretty high I think I do admire.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: I think he has gotten better in the outfield. He
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: seems to be moving around better out there and he
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: has a very strong arm. But he's another one for
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: me is is uh is a question mark. I think
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: this is a big year for him. As far as
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: is he part of your future or not. I'm gonna
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: need to see a little bit more, you know, consistent
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: production for me to consider him like a pillar moving forward.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: And with Jordan, he got some coaching when he was
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: at Double A and he just basically said, they simplified it.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: They they moved his.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Hands out a little further and they told him the
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: main thing is is kind of you touched on him
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: at is They just want him to have his body
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: moving forward towards the ball now pulling off and he
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: and he got it for a while and then he
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: fell back into some bed. Have it so, Kyle, My
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: question is like on a pitching standpoint, you know, guy's
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: got great stuff, right, and the mechanics just keep kind
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: of getting messed up along the way.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: How do you know, how.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Would you try to fix up with a young pitcher
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: who you've seen do it, who you know there were
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: some adjustments mechanically that were made, but then he loses
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: it again.
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I got a really good piece of
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: advice somewhere in like twenty sixteen twenty seventeen. I had
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: struggled in twenty sixteen, and I was in my head
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: trying to get back to where I was in twenty fifteen, right,
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: And the piece of advice was, it's really easy to
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: chase ghosts, and you need to be real with the
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: player that you are right now, and be honest with
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: the player that you are right now. Jordan Walker obviously
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: had a great rookie season, right, you know, seven eighty
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: seven ops. You know, looking at the numbers, awesome, all right,
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: He's now two years removed from that, and he might
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: be a little bit different player, and that's okay, he
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: but he is only twenty three years old about to
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: be in his twenty four year old season. There's no
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: way in my mind that you give up on that
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: guy unless you're just blown away by the offer, you know,
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: getting like a pitching prospect. But I think if I'm
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: talking to Jordan, like, listen, buddy, I know everybody wants
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: to see you in that rookie year production, but we
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: can't be chasing ghosts, all right. You've got to become
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: the best form of the player who are right now
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: let's take your strengths. Let's you know, really expand on
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: those and how we can help get them to show
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: up on a daily basis. And that's, you know, to
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: your point, that's what I would tell a picture. It's like, Hey,
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: the league has now seen you for three years, what
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: are your strengths. What can we do to build on
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: those strengths and to use what you have right now
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: because you may not be the exact same guy that
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: you were two years ago.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Gentlemen, Really good stuff as always. That's going to do
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: it for this week from Matt Holiday for Kyle Gibson
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: and lanceln who's in a tree stand somewhere or maybe
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: gutting an Elk, I don't know, but that's gonna do it.
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: He's a whitetail season, Jim. It's whitetail season, not Elk.
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: He's in Ohio, not Montana. Come on next, I'm talking
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: about which beat riders are getting kicked off by the way,
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: just letting you know that was unfair that we didn't
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: touch on that subject.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, we will start with that and I will brush
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: up on my hunting season so I know what we're
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: talking about. That's gonna do it for this edition of
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. We'll see you next time. Hopefully that edition
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: won't suck.