Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Cardinals eliminated, Chaim Bloom’s Report Card, Dusty Blake Appreciation, Leo Bernal Keeps Rolling

Transcript

Cardinals eliminated, Chaim Bloom’s Report Card, Dusty Blake Appreciation, Leo Bernal Keeps Rolling · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory. Jim
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hayes alongside Kyle Gibson and the great Lance Lynn. Kyle,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: you're great as well. I just threw that in there.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow. No, no. I just threw that in.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Good start, Jim.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Here we go.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Good start.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: We're not even at the beginning either. Here we go.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: And you're great too, Kyle.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Wow. Wow. It's alright.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Just right out of the chute since Jim's going to
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: laugh here, he got caught. I caught a little bit
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: of heat from my Riley O'Brien point last week and
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: somebody made the point. I'm basically saying I don't know
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: why a scrub MLB pitcher has this bad of a
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: take on Riley O'Brien. I was like, man, I don't
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: know why you've got to bring my career into this,
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: but Uh, so don't worry, Jim. I, I had to
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: sit on that all weekend that somebody on social media
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: thought that because I was not a good starting pitcher
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: that I shouldn't be able to have that opinion. So clearly,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I don't know, maybe, maybe you think the same thing
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: or I'm just not as good as Lance, obviously, but
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: it's okay, Jim.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: I got some, I got some flag for Pedro, for Pedro.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: And it's like, I didn't say Pedro should be the
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: everyday starting catcher.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Did I? Like, It's like, yeah, Herrera. We have a
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: line here.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: Pedro is going to be a great backup catcher, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: he has a chance to play above that. But I
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: didn't say he should get every single start.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I thought we actually tied that in well. I thought
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: we tied that in well with the Bobby Wilson comp,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure what else we got to say. I
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: don't remember saying right now. I didn't say he's going
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: to be the next Rio Muto. You know what I'm saying? Like,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: come on, guys. I don't know. Watch the whole thing.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: Watch the whole thing. But that's the thing. That's the
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: thing writers can do. They can take whatever clip they
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: want and they can take whatever thing they want to.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Watch the whole damn thing and get your head out
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: of your ass.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Jim, do you have editorial say-so on these thumbnails and
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: the clips get sent out? Are they sending them to
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: you and running them by you?
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: No.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: It's the big boys.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: It's the big boys.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Here's the thing.
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: We started with a little cathartic, let's get it off
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: our chest and heal our wounds collectively.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: Okay?
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I'd like to move past it because here's the thing
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: about social media.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Sounds good.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I'm on it, and I know what it is, so
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I don't get my feelings hurt if someone attacks. We
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: all took shrapnel, okay? We took shrapnel for saying anything
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: nice about Riley O'Brien, who was an all-star, who had
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: 37 saves, give him his due. We took shrapnel for
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: saying Pedro Pajas is a legitimate Major League backstop, who
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: you guys have thrown to. You guys have thrown to them.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: So I take your opinion and I value it because
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: you've thrown to him. Now, let's move on.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: My son is looking.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: He's right over here.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: He's looking at me like there's something wrong with me. Dad,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: why are you so upset?
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Right. All right.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Cardinals have an off day. They will finish up in
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and then Milwaukee, staying at the Fistro Hotel, which
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: is haunted. They finished up their home schedule.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: They're out of it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: The Cardinals are out.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: They've been eliminated. We've known they were trending in that
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: direction for a while.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Finish up their home schedule 38-43, which isn't great, but
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: they did provide some good stuff, I mean, so far
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: this season. And I want to go back to Leo Bernal.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night, ninth inning, two-run RBI single to tie the game.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: They end up losing that one, I think. Then yesterday,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: eighth inning, bottom of the eighth, two-run homer to win
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: it for the Cardinals. We've seen them throw out guys.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: We've seen them handle pitchers. There have been some Hiccups
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: along the way because he's a young guy, getting his
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: first taste. But this guy looks like he's already the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: guy to be inserted into that position. So I'll start
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: with the great Kyle Gibson.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: On this one.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: What you've seen, I thought we really had a lot
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: of nice things to say about Leo last week. And
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: he continued that this weekend. He had himself a good series. Uh, defensively,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: it looks to be a skill that is not going
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: to be one that is in and out and inconsistent.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And offensively, obviously it's early in his career, but, uh,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: an over 800 OPS from the catcher position is elite. Um,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: and he's, he's getting big hits and timely hits when
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: the Cardinals need them. So, um, yeah, I mean, I
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: think this is a great taste for him to get
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: a start in the big leagues. And I think every
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Cardinals fan would love to see Leo maintain this type
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: of a pace, obviously come into spring training and, you know,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: just run with it. And I think what it does is,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: you know, and we're probably going to get to this
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: here in a little bit. So I'm going to hold
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: this point when it comes to the catcher position. But
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Leo seems to be a player that's going to be
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: a game changer for the Cardinals.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I agree with that.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: And Lance, this is a guy who, you know, sometimes
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: your first.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Call up, You're a little nervous.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: You don't look like you're ready to go. This guy
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: looked like he was ready.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: To go from day one.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Well, sometimes when you get caught up, it's bad to
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: have comfy pants, but he's shown different so far. And
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: if anyone's been to a clubhouse, they know what that means.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: But I think this kid's showing that he's not afraid
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: of the moment. He's been preparing for the moment. He's
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: ready for the moment. When you can catch and throw
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: like you can do, like that he's been doing and
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: can that we've talked about the way he can handle
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: the pitching staff and everybody talks about that. And he
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: has the hit tool also. That's huge. I think right now,
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: if you're saying the, one of the highlights of the
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: year is what's he's when, what's he's been able to
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: do when he came up to go into the off
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: season and you have him as, Hey, our number one
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: catcher with the other pieces catching wise that you have
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: around him, that's in a, that you're in a really
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: good spot. So, I think that's one of the huge
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: upsides for the Cardinals. And when you have a catcher
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: that can hit and catch and throw, that's huge for
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: you for 130 games a year.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: That's a big plus to have on a team.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: So, Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: you know is going to ruin your sleep?
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, definitely.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: I found myself on the golf course a lot lately. And, uh, sometimes,
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: you know, it can be long days out there. So
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: I reach in my golf bag. I keep the ultra
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: focus pouch right here with me, keep it in my
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: golf bag. And, um, it's part of my, my golf bag,
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: as I said.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: And so, uh, what are some of your favorite effects
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: of the ultra pouches?
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: Uh, definitely, you know, gives me a little bit of focus, uh,
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: that little bit of energy that I'm looking for. And, uh,
• 6:53
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• 6:56
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• 6:58
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• 7:02
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• 7:06
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• 7:19
  Speaker 1: And we've discussed this, the Cardinals have a stockpile of young, catching,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: talent ready to go. But this guy, Kyle, is endorsed
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: by Yachty. He's endorsed by Yachty.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: That means something.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: All right, because Yachty said, yeah, I see a little
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: bit of myself in him. That's a lot. So let's
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: talk about, you mentioned the catching situation. Yvonne Herrera, not one,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: two homers yesterday. Like this guy can hit, has trouble
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: throwing runners out. Maybe that's like his elbow acting.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: But I asked Herrera, because I'm a reporter, And I said,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: have they talked to you about maybe playing more outfield
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: or moving to first base, giving Burley?
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: He said no.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So I was surprised by that. Do you think the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: future for Herrera is being elsewhere and catching a little bit,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: but also playing elsewhere? What do you think?
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think that, you know, I look back
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: to what Baltimore did the last couple years with Adley
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: and Basayo. And I think when you have two guys
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: like Yvonne and Leo and then a third guy like Pedro,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: you have an absolute luxury. And you've got guys in
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: the minors as well that we've talked about. So I
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: think that I'm not always a huge fan. I've got
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: to kind of walk back here. I'm not a huge
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: fan of having a righty-lefty straight platoon at any position,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: especially when you have a guy like Bernal who's really good.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: and you have Herrera, who is a game-changing bat as well.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: So I think you probably in the future will see,
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: I think we talked about this last time, a little
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: bit of a rotation with Bernal and Burley getting the
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: majority of the games at their respective position, Yvonne getting
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: some DH time mostly, and then working in both of
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: those positions. I don't think you give up on Yvonne
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: and the catcher, I think the defensive skill is something
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: that can be learned and honed and made better. It's
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: not like taking a hitter who can't make contact and
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: has a lot of swing and miss and making him
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: a contact hitter. Defense is something that can really be
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: turned around in an off season, right? Like I've seen
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Mitch Garver and twins catchers go from, you know, average
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: catchers to elite catchers in framing and throwing in an
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: off season when they put in the time. So Yvonne
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: has that discipline. He has that, you know, hard work skill.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: And I think you still work with him and see
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: if you can keep honing in the defense.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: First, I got to say, Lance, that Kyle's background, it's
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: a new background. I he looks great. Kyle, you look great.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: The great Kyle Gibson looks great.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: My wife is.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Using the Zoom room upstairs, and I'm downstairs, and I
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: miss my ring light in my high seat. leverage vantage
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: point because i look like death warmed over this.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Jim jim i know we don't have a ton of
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: time to go over lighting and stuff but if you
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: put the light in front of you instead of the
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: window behind you that helps see i've got my window
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: right here you know so i got a little uneven
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: light but i get the window going all in the
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: face instead of from the back.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I told kai i told lancis before you came on
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that uh i got kicked out of my normal zoom
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: spot so In order to get this done and not
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: inconvenience you gentlemen, I threw this together. Lance, your thoughts
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: are out. Herrera, thank you. Death warmed over. Where would
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: you see him in the future if you were looking
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: into your crystal ball?
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: I think it's kind of the writing's on the wall
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: for DH, but I think if you can put him
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: in a spot where he can catch maybe once a
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: week play first once a week, DH the rest. That
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: really puts your team in a good spot to make
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: lineups longer, give guys days off their feet. Just all around,
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: make yourself a team that is day in and day out.
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: You can make it difficult on a starting pitcher because
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: of the way that you're able to maneuver positions, lineup spots,
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: things of that nature. So I think Ivan hits well
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: enough where you can kind of make him a full-time DH,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: but never take a glove out of his hand any
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: day of the week so he can always stay prepared
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: to do whatever he needs. Because if Leo does go
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: down or something like that, Ivan's got to catch three
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: of seven or four of seven type of thing, situation.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: So I'm always for the idea of getting catchers out
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: of the crouch as much as possible, especially if they're hitters.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: So if you can minimize both of these guys, just
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: wear and tear throughout a year, I think offensively they're
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: going to play better. And then you can, you know,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: give Burley a DH spot with, with, with either one
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: of those guys could probably play first and be totally fine.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: So I think they've got a lot of moving parts
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: that could be a fun way to put a lineup
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: together every time. And then with the hitting catchers you have,
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: and you can carry a third catcher that can be the,
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: you know, the, the defensive-minded catcher when you need him
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: and all that stuff. So I think they're in a
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: really good spot to do a lot of different things
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: to make their lineup deep and better. They were kind
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: of lacking, as we talked about this year, right? The
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: lineup got a little short at times, but these guys
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: are going to be able to make their lineup longer
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: and better and being able to sub some defense in
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: here and there to make it work.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: The bullpen has been kind of rough in the second half.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: There's no getting around it. But the starting rotation, has
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: found a way to suddenly hold it together, right? Some
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: young arms in there. He got innings limits. He got
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. Quinn Matthews has looked really good
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in his eight starts. I think seven of the eight
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: have been three runs or less. He's looked solid. My
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: question for you, Kyle, to start is Dusty Blake, pitching coach,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: does he not get enough credit for, and you've pitched
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: with that guy, right? Does he not get enough credit
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: for being a really good pitching coach?
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I would say that's a fair assessment. I mean, I
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: think it's– he doesn't maybe necessarily have the name recognition
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: just quite yet. You know, he hasn't been sought after
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: and moved to different teams and kind of gained that
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: name yet. But, I mean, you're seeing starting pitching numbers
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: right here, and wow, right? I mean, that's a really–
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: A really solid six. I know Libby's had his struggles,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: but we've already gone through those and what he can do.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: The starting rotation has been really good all year. Bullpen,
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: really interesting. I'd be interested to hear what Lance thinks
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: as well because I think there's been a lot of
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: roll shakeups in the bullpen. There's been a lot of
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: different times that guys are in this inning and that inning.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: And I don't think that really helps the bullpen. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I'm not blaming the coaching staff for Dusty at all.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I just think shakeups with injuries, shakeups with trade, shakeups with,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: you know, option, you know, recalls. I think it's kind of,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: you know, given the back end, just the bullpen as
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: a whole, a little bit of a struggle. But, yeah,
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I don't think Dusty Blake gets enough credit for, and Julio,
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: you know, what those guys are doing, you know, with
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: the pitchers.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: How about you, Lance?
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: No, I think you're you're seeing kind of the, the
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: way everything moves and flows with, with the group is
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: that comes from the top. It comes from Dusty and
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: Julio putting things in place. And then these guys are
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: showing up ready to go. I think the main thing
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: that people need to realize is this was a transition year.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: When you do, when transition years, you have to throw
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: guys in different spots in the bullpen to see what
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: they're made of, see what they're capable of. And you're
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: going to have success and you're going to have failure
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: with that. But, that will breed success in the future
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: by failing now when you're in this, you know, this
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: rebuild mode and stuff like that. The same thing with
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: the starters, right? They've had their success and they've had
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: their failures. Some of them more success than we thought
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: they would be. So I think when you look at
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: it as a whole, you got to give credit to
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: the coaching staff, especially Dusty and Julio and what they've
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: been able to do. These guys are preparing differently coming
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: up from the minor leagues than they ever have. And
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: that's because of what Dusty is putting in place to
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: go down the ladder so they're ready to go when
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: they show up and they know what's expected of them,
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: know what their offerings are and how they're supposed to
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: go use those for a game plan and stuff like that.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: So I'm going to say the things that people don't
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: see are the things that are showing up in the
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: little numbers and we are showing up when they show
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: up to the big leagues. And that's all because of
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: the plan that Dusty's put in place. From the top down.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: And that's just going to get better. The more these
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: guys get used to it. The more they get comfortable
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: with certain things. And stuff like that. And the more
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: Dusty is able to relay to them. The more they understand.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: This is just a surface scratching of things for this group.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: With kind of the retool from the top down. And
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: I think he definitely doesn't get the credit he needs.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: And you know.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: We're both Dusty guys. So that you know. You don't
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: get the credit you need. Because here's the truth of
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: the matter. People have never. Heard the name before, right?
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: The only pitching coaches that get all the credit are
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: guys who are, you know, their brother were Maddox or
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: they played in the big leagues and stuff like that.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: Dusty's putting the time, putting the effort, and he knows
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: what he's doing. And he'll get his due when it
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: comes time. But right now he's got to keep, you know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: stay on the course and keep building the program like
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: he's doing.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: It's time for me to shout out our friends at SeatGeek.
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• 17:43
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• 18:16
  Speaker 2: To your account. Once again, I say it in all sincerity,
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: thank you, SeatGeek.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I think the graphic that we just put up, the
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: graphic we put up, too... You know, and I just
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: think that also kind of tells the story about what
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: MLB values. You know, we had strikeouts. Okay, it's not
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: necessarily a strikeout staff. Whip, we have a lot of
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: contact guys because of strikeouts. So the whip is naturally
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: going to be higher. Opponents average, people see 26. And
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: my guess is the top 10 is somewhere around 235
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: to 240. It's not that big of a difference. Wins,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: you know, I think everybody knows this is a transition
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: year and then you have strikeouts there. everybody sees, well,
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: those are the numbers that MLB values. Why don't, you know,
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: you really have to take into account how young this
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: pitching staff is. And this is what Dusty and Julio
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: and the staff is able to get out of these guys.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: And they've overperformed in really every single metric. And the
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: wins in the bottom left there, the pitching, maybe the
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: most important. They have overperformed in every single aspect of
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: in my mind. And I think that is hats off
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: to the coaches and hats off to the players for
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: working together and making it happen.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: And you know, who else is a Dusty Blake guy?
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Every pitcher that I've talked to that he's been their coach.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: So like everyone seems to say, Dusty has done a
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: really good job, including you two. And how would you know,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: except that he was your pitching coach. So we took
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of heat because we praised Pajas for being
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: really good defensively, for saying that Riley O'Brien deserves some
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: credit for a lot of the work he's done. I'm
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: going to say this, too. Let's talk about Heimblum now.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: And you guys mentioned a rebuild.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: OK, it's a rebuild.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Can't lie about it. Can't talk your way around it.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: It's a rebuild.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: And the team has kind of exceeded most people's expectations.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Two of the minor league teams, are going to the postseason,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: which is good. And the minor league system overall jumped
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to the number two spot in the rankings put out
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: by Baseball America. So if you were grading Haim Bloom
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: for the first year of the rebuild, who knows where
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: it's going to go in the future, would you say, Lance,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: he's done exactly what he said he was going to do?
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: Just by the minor league team success, yes, and the
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: minor league being where they're at.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: That's that's where we're at right now.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Now the next phase is going to be how they
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: transition to big leaguers and putting a big league winning
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: team together. So, uh, so far he's done everything that
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: he was tasked to do, right? We've figured out how
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: to make Jordan Walker, uh, the guy we thought he
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: was supposed to be.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: We figured out how.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: To make, uh, our, our, we're playing, uh, above our, uh,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: expected what we're, you know, the win loss has been
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: better than expected. So, There's intangibles that have been put
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: in place, whether it's, you know, different ways of doing anything,
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: what the coaching staff's being put in, what they're given,
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: what the organization from top to bottom, these players are
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: putting in their arsenals to get ready to prepare themselves
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: for the big leagues are there. So now the next
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: step is going to be how are we going to
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: use all these minor leaguers, who's going to be, on
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: the big league team, who do we see fitting in where,
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: and then how are we going to put together the
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: best major league team we can with all of the
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: pieces that we have. So he's done a great job
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: acquiring pieces. Those pieces are winning games in the minor leagues.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: I think breeding winning in the minor leagues will breed
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: winning in the big leagues. So I liked the process
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: and where we're at, uh, what the next step is.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: Now, how are we going to be big league ready to,
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: to make a playoff push? And they've got a lot
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: of pieces that can do, some good things. And, uh, uh,
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: you know, like I said, I like the direction that
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: everything's going in. So he is, he has done what
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: he's been tasked doing so far now.
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: What's the next step of putting a major league winner
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: on the field? Kyle, rate them, rate them.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: I think it's been, I think it's been an A,
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: you know, if we're going, I didn't know if you
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: wanted like a, you know, nine point, whatever, eight point, whatever,
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: or the old school, you know, a plus a minus,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: you know, that scale, but I give them an A.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think, uh, You know, the staff in
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: the dugout and in the locker room clearly is getting
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: the best out of these players. I think there was
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: a lot of questions for fans going into the year
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: about Ollie and about the coaching staff. And if everything
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: needed to be shook up, I think those questions are
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: answered in my mind. I think we all knew the answers,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: but I think if you're a fan, you've got to
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: be pretty excited about, you know, that direction of everything.
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: And I think the hardest decision for this front office
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: is going to be when to pull the trigger. You know,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: when is it next year? Are you going to give
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: it one more year and see where you're at? So
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: I think that'll be in the grading scale is going
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: to get harder because I think expectations are going to
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: get higher. So, you know, let's see where they go
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: in this offseason. Let's see where they what they plan
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: on next year. And but overall, I think everybody's got
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: to be pretty happy about it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: So season's over, except for the last six games on
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the road. 2.7 billion. Except for what?
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: The season's over, except for it's not. All right. Keep going.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Gosh.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: You just started over. No, no, no, no.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: We're not starting over.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Leaving it in.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: No, that's fine. It is over because they're out of it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: They've been eliminated.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: It's over. Elimination. Might as well go home.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Home part of their schedule is over, to be more specific.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: They drew 2.2 million.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: It's not a tiny number, but it's down a little
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: from where it was last year. But I do sense
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: that maybe they have kind of reignited some fan interest.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to throw that out to you, gentlemen,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: because rebuilds are tough. They're used to seeing it. They
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: want now, now, now, because that's what they're used to,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: and they're fans. Do you think, Kyle, that the emergence
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: of a lot of these young, talented players has reignited
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: some of the fan base to– to take more interest
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: in the ball club?
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know the numbers from April to September, but
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: I really wish it would have more, honestly. I think
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: this team should have definitely excited fans. Based on what
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: everybody was clamoring about, whether it was sports radio or
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: social media or people at the stadium, they wanted change
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: and they wanted to know a direction, and as soon
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: as they knew a direction, they were going to show
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: back up to the park. That's all they wanted. And
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: I think what we're seeing is that no fan base
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: wants to go through a rebuild, no matter how the
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: front office frames it. No fan base wants to do it,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: even though they say they do, or else Bush stadium
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: would have been packed this year because they had so
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: many young players to watch and cheer on and a
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: team that outdid their expectations by possibly 15 games when
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: all is said and done. That is a lot to
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: cheer for. So I think, But unfortunately, Cardinals fans had
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: to go through something and hit a little bit of
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: a reality check with what they were asking. And I
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: think this is where Haim is going to have a
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: tough decision because Cardinals fans are going to believe that
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: they're ready now and that this team is ready to
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: go and they don't want to do it again. So
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: go sign this guy and that guy and make this
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: team a winner. But once again, that's not what Haim
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: was brought in to do, I'm guessing. And that's not
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: what the fans actually asked for after 2024, probably after
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: 2023 even. that's not what they asked for. And this
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: is where I think it's tough for a fan base
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: because they want to feel like they have a hand
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: in decision making because they're fans. But it's kind of what,
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: it's a little running joke in the locker room, right?
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Like we don't do front office decisions because we're players
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: and we play the game and that's what we're here
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: to do. And I think fans get wrapped up in
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: making decisions and thinking that they understand all the inner workings.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: And really, they could just enjoy this all if they
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: would just show up and be fans and root on
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: the team and see what happens. And I don't want
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: that to sound harsh, but a rebuild is kind of
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: what they asked for. And I don't know that they're
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: really showing that that's what they wanted in my mind.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Fans are customers and the customer is always right, right?
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Fans are different, but let's say it. Let's say it.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: Not always. I don't think they're always right at all.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: I don't think I get to show up to a
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: restaurant and tell the guy what's on the menu. You
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: know what I'm saying? Like, that's just how it is.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: I don't think that makes me always right. But I
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: think fans are important, right? Don't get me wrong. I
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: don't want to go full Lance Lynn and, you know,
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: get all like up in arms about it. I don't
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: think they're wrong. But Lance, what do you think?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: I feel like we share some sentiment here. let me
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: just say this.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: The reweight. Let me just say this. A renovation is
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: great when you're planning it. Oh, the kids is going
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: to have backslash. It's going to be nice. And then,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: you know, I have a kitchen for a month. And
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: then you're like, this renovation sucks. That's kind of what
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: we're seeing now.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Uh, sure.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, the renovation is a little, the renovation is
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: a little better than we thought. I mean, they're projected
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: to win 66 games.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Um, I think if you were to look at the
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: end of the year and see what fans are, okay,
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: they came out probably what we expect them to do
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: because Cardinal fans will come out. They might not come
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: out in the 3 million range like they did when
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: we were going to the playoffs every year and when
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: we were in NLCS's four straight years, World Series two
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: of the four years in that time frame. You know,
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: it's hard to get that much, you know, fan support
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: when you're not going to those things.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Let's be honest, right?
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: But I think where we're at, I think the fans
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: are going to come out in the way they are
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: until they see, and this is, I'm going off of
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: what every fan ever tells me, when are they going
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: to sign and go for the things that, to try
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: to win it? I think that's where we're, They're going
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: to be what they are until somebody's signed and there's
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: moves and there's reason for hype. If they turn around
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: and run the same team out there next year, you're
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: going to get the same amount of fan base because it's, hey,
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: we need to feel like we have something to come for,
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: and this is a good group, and we like this group.
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: Do we think this group is World Series contenders next year?
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: Cardinals fans... come when they think they're World Series contenders,
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: just like every other fans. But they come more than
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: fans in other places do when they're mid. And that's
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: the beauty of Cardinals fans. They will show up, but
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: they will show up way more when they're World Series contenders.
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: But they will not be bottom of the barrel, even
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: if they're not. And I don't know if that's good
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: or bad, but that's just the way the reality is.
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: It's a lot more fun coming to a ballpark spending
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: the money you have to spend to watch games when
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: you think you're watching a World Series contender. and you
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: feel that it's worth going to pay for because the
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: ownership is putting the money in to give you the
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: product that you think is going to win a World Series.
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: So that's my spiel.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Fair enough.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: That's the great Lance Lynn. That's the great Kyle Gibson,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: and that's going to do it for this edition of
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Cardinal Territory. We'll see you next time for the next episode.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: What was our payroll this year?
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: 100?
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: Cardinals, baby.
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: Get to 200 and let's go win something. That's what
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: the fans say. That's what all my customers say at
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: the golf course. When are the Cardinals going to spend
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: some money to win something?
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: Shit.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: Couldn't live without that, Jim.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Hopefully on the next episode, It won't suck.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Gentlemen, thanks. We'll see you next time.