Latest / Foul Territory / POBO Chaim Bloom joins @Cardinals camp + Cards Season Preview

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POBO Chaim Bloom joins @Cardinals camp + Cards Season Preview · Foul Territory

0:08
Speaker 1: We have the president of baseball operations for the Saint
0:11
Speaker 1: Louis Cardinals, Heim Bloom, joining us right now.
0:13
Speaker 2: Him.
0:13
Speaker 1: Great to have you on. So how is camp with
0:16
Speaker 1: We've been talking to some of the younger players. A
0:18
Speaker 1: lot of those younger players now becoming more senior members
0:21
Speaker 1: and leaders of the team as it was a busy
0:24
Speaker 1: offseason for you.
0:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's really been the cool part of this
0:28
Speaker 2: camp so far. Every year is different. You never really
0:31
Speaker 2: know what you're going to have in terms of the vibe.
0:33
Speaker 2: So you get in there and with a lot of
0:36
Speaker 2: these guys seeing that they can make this what they
0:40
Speaker 2: want it to be, and they can step up and
0:42
Speaker 2: they can take a leadership role. And I always believe
0:44
Speaker 2: you can lead at any age. It's really about bringing
0:48
Speaker 2: a really good and authentic version of yourself to this
0:50
Speaker 2: and it's been cool to see some of these guys realize,
0:52
Speaker 2: like they understand, the standard here is very high. We
0:55
Speaker 2: want to keep that very high, but they get to
0:56
Speaker 2: define what that looks like now for them going forward.
1:00
Speaker 2: It's always better than having it imposed from the outside
1:02
Speaker 2: when the group there gets to define it. I will say,
1:05
Speaker 2: you know, the biggest problem I actually have with this
1:07
Speaker 2: camp so far is that I thought I thought Krafts
1:10
Speaker 2: was going to be on the NOPE and.
1:11
Speaker 3: The big league.
1:12
Speaker 2: I mean, did you fire him to at one point? No, No,
1:16
Speaker 2: I never have Hadham. I did had him as a
1:19
Speaker 2: player briefly and then actually worked with him a little
1:22
Speaker 2: bit during one of the years of Boston and he
1:24
Speaker 2: was always so reliable. I guess he's changed.
1:26
Speaker 3: He's changed.
1:27
Speaker 4: You know, he's got he's got a big raise now,
1:28
Speaker 4: so he's getting the new palace done or new kitchen done.
1:31
Speaker 2: So you know, we had we had a renovation here
1:34
Speaker 2: throughout the entirety of last year as everybody could see,
1:37
Speaker 2: and all of our Jupiter based people just worked through it,
1:40
Speaker 2: got the job done.
1:41
Speaker 3: Order people grind.
1:42
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania people together with him will.
1:44
Speaker 3: Have to talk about for sure. All right, So I
1:46
Speaker 3: have a couple of questions.
1:48
Speaker 4: First of all, can I just ask why you guys
1:50
Speaker 4: couldn't put the sauna next to the club. Also, guys,
1:52
Speaker 4: there's now dudes in towels walking back and forth here
1:55
Speaker 4: in the public.
1:56
Speaker 2: You know, it's got a miss on the DNA has
1:59
Speaker 2: that is a new feet Sure of the performance centers,
2:01
Speaker 2: we have a sauna there and it has been very popular,
2:04
Speaker 2: although it took about a week before before we broke it.
2:06
Speaker 2: I think from overuse because there's an out of order
2:08
Speaker 2: sign on it. The last couple of days, I will say,
2:11
Speaker 2: the staff to player ratio of people who actually use
2:14
Speaker 2: the sauna is way too high. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't
2:18
Speaker 2: been in there yet.
2:18
Speaker 4: Players are young though they haven't. They don't have they
2:20
Speaker 4: don't understand that party get flush.
2:24
Speaker 2: I'm going to use it.
2:25
Speaker 3: As soon as we're doing this interview, I'm gonna go.
2:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have been there yet. I keep thinking if
2:29
Speaker 2: I go in there and then people are going to
2:30
Speaker 2: stop the conversation just exactly, I might try it at
2:33
Speaker 2: some point.
2:34
Speaker 4: So, yeah, that's smart, that's smart. You're president of Baseball Offs.
2:38
Speaker 4: How does the hierarchy work? You know it's different GM,
2:41
Speaker 4: President Baseball off. You have the second parking spot, but
2:44
Speaker 4: not the first one.
2:45
Speaker 2: No, No, the owner has the first one, as it
2:47
Speaker 2: should be. It's different everywhere. I mean a lot of it.
2:52
Speaker 2: You know, titles are different in a lot of places.
2:55
Speaker 2: When my career started, the sort of top person on
2:58
Speaker 2: the front office hierarchy was almost always a GM. But
3:02
Speaker 2: you know that being said, like when things got revamped
3:06
Speaker 2: with the Rays. Andrew Friedman the whole time he was there,
3:09
Speaker 2: never had the GM title. We actually didn't have a
3:11
Speaker 2: GM till till much later, so everybody does it a
3:13
Speaker 2: little differently. And then he started to see just you know,
3:16
Speaker 2: the job has grown, the industry has grown. There's just
3:19
Speaker 2: so many more things that we're competing on now, so
3:21
Speaker 2: front offices have expanded just to tack all that work,
3:24
Speaker 2: and that led to some different titles. At the end
3:26
Speaker 2: of the day, you know, what we're called is really
3:29
Speaker 2: less important than what we do and how we work together.
3:31
Speaker 2: So as long as that everything's clear to everybody, it
3:33
Speaker 2: shouldn't really matter.
3:35
Speaker 3: Is Andrew Friedman.
3:36
Speaker 4: We had him on we were in Dodgers camp and
3:38
Speaker 4: I asked him, this is he the godfather of GM
3:41
Speaker 4: president of Baseball offs because he was kind of the
3:43
Speaker 4: first raised guy right to go to the Dodgers and
3:47
Speaker 4: then there now they're kind of all over the league.
3:50
Speaker 2: You mean, the godfather the title or of like the
3:52
Speaker 2: raised tree, the race both kind of well, as far
3:55
Speaker 2: as the race tried, I mean, I'm curious what he said,
3:57
Speaker 2: but you know, obviously there's so many of us got
4:00
Speaker 2: to be a part of that and then go on,
4:02
Speaker 2: you know, whether there elsewhere to just do all sorts
4:04
Speaker 2: of cool things. It was a really special place to
4:07
Speaker 2: grow up and amazingly fortunate to have gotten my start
4:10
Speaker 2: in baseball from him and gotten to work work for
4:14
Speaker 2: him for all those years and and you know, stay
4:17
Speaker 2: a friend, and you know, it's there's a lot, it's
4:20
Speaker 2: a really special place. There's a lot of really cool
4:22
Speaker 2: things that came out of that. When I think about
4:23
Speaker 2: the people that I got to work with, the things
4:25
Speaker 2: we got to do, I couldn't ask for anything more.
4:28
Speaker 2: Wouldn't trade that experience for anything. As far as the title,
4:30
Speaker 2: I think there were a couple others, Like I think
4:32
Speaker 2: when THEO went from Boston to Chicago, that was that
4:36
Speaker 2: that title came to play there, and that was a
4:38
Speaker 2: little before. I'm probably forgetting one or two again. Titles
4:41
Speaker 2: are you know, on some level, they're important for everybody
4:43
Speaker 2: to understand and for there to be clarity around what
4:45
Speaker 2: people's jobs.
4:46
Speaker 3: You're the boss, right, so you're just like, I know
4:49
Speaker 3: this title.
4:50
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it's like, you know,
4:53
Speaker 2: call us whatever you want. We're here to get a
4:54
Speaker 2: job done, and that's what matters.
4:55
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I think this town
4:59
Speaker 1: and talking about say Lewis, has seen a ton of
5:01
Speaker 1: success in terms of their baseball team right for a
5:04
Speaker 1: long period of time. Do you think the modern fan
5:08
Speaker 1: understands the process of a team going through what could
5:11
Speaker 1: be some pain points and just whatever word you want
5:14
Speaker 1: to call it to get to the next great Cardinals team.
5:16
Speaker 1: Do you feel like the fan now is better equipped
5:19
Speaker 1: with how much info we have on prospects and just
5:22
Speaker 1: the game being covered and more extensively these days.
5:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to compare now versus you know,
5:28
Speaker 2: something way in the past where I just wasn't around
5:32
Speaker 2: and wasn't as a tune with with the Cardinals fan base.
5:36
Speaker 2: I will say just from being around the last couple
5:37
Speaker 2: of years, and I think this is generally true, especially
5:40
Speaker 2: in a baseball town. You do yourself at this service
5:43
Speaker 2: if you think you can pull the roll over the
5:45
Speaker 2: eyes of your fans. Our fans are really smart. They
5:47
Speaker 2: get this, and you know, I actually have felt you know,
5:52
Speaker 2: and I understand that. You know, people are polite. They
5:54
Speaker 2: may not tell you everything that they feel to your face.
5:57
Speaker 2: You usually got to put them behind a keyboard for
5:58
Speaker 2: that type of stuff. But what do you mean. You know,
6:02
Speaker 2: I actually have felt that, look to the extent, that
6:05
Speaker 2: this is the right course for our organization. We believe
6:07
Speaker 2: strongly that it is, and actually the best and quickest
6:10
Speaker 2: way back to where we want to go is just
6:12
Speaker 2: to lean into this and just make sure we're doubling
6:14
Speaker 2: down on building up our young talent base, because that's
6:17
Speaker 2: how the Cardinals always win. I think I have felt
6:20
Speaker 2: that our fans understand that, and I think we'd actually
6:22
Speaker 2: be doing ourselves and them a disservice if we were
6:25
Speaker 2: to try to pretend that something else is appropriate. You know,
6:28
Speaker 2: at the same time, there's not going to be a day,
6:31
Speaker 2: regardless how young we are, there's not going to be
6:32
Speaker 2: a day when we show up. It's place not expecting
6:34
Speaker 2: to win and not looking to win, and not looking
6:36
Speaker 2: to keep that standard really high. It's not a switch
6:38
Speaker 2: you flip. You established that from day one, and that
6:42
Speaker 2: should not change just because our strategy is a longer
6:45
Speaker 2: term strategy that intensity, the attention to detail, the hunger
6:49
Speaker 2: to win, whatever's on your plate that day. It's something
6:51
Speaker 2: that I preach a lot within our walls to our staff.
6:54
Speaker 2: You know, in any given day, whether you're a coach,
6:56
Speaker 2: whether you're a front office person, a scout, whatever your
7:00
Speaker 2: role is, whatever's on your plate that day, treat it
7:03
Speaker 2: like game seven. That's the only way we get where
7:05
Speaker 2: we want to go.
7:07
Speaker 1: So now let's push this forward and get people excited both.
7:10
Speaker 1: You know, I know the Cardinals fans know what's coming,
7:13
Speaker 1: but what about even for the national scene. Can you
7:15
Speaker 1: tell us what you've seen some exciting storylines in camp,
7:19
Speaker 1: whether it's names that you're seeing a lot of improvement
7:21
Speaker 1: from guys on the big league roster who haven't like
7:24
Speaker 1: fully blossomed and now you think the next step could
7:26
Speaker 1: be coming.
7:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. I hate answering this question because it feels like
7:30
Speaker 2: you're tempting the baseball gods just to point out all
7:32
Speaker 2: the things that are going right on March second. But
7:37
Speaker 2: it has been exciting. You know what stood out and
7:40
Speaker 2: I think give it to some of the newcomers, the
7:43
Speaker 2: group of arms that we have in camp and the
7:45
Speaker 2: way that they've looked early. Again, it is March second,
7:47
Speaker 2: so this feels like playing with fire with respect to
7:51
Speaker 2: the baseball gods, but that group has looked really good
7:54
Speaker 2: and you could see that both the camaraderie building within
7:57
Speaker 2: the group, and also these guys bringing some stuff to
7:59
Speaker 2: the party, which is cool and which is something that
8:01
Speaker 2: we need. Both you know, starters, bullpen guys at big
8:04
Speaker 2: league experience, guys at out big League experience that that
8:07
Speaker 2: looked really good, and then also just the energy to
8:10
Speaker 2: hunger from the physician player group. You know, whether it's
8:13
Speaker 2: you know, guys that are established to know exactly what
8:16
Speaker 2: they're doing, or maybe some guys like I think about
8:18
Speaker 2: Thomas a jac who was leaving us to go play
8:20
Speaker 2: for Team Italy, But who's really who's getting the chance
8:22
Speaker 2: now of play everywhere and really leaning into that, taking
8:26
Speaker 2: it on with enthusiasm, working hard. You know, guys are
8:29
Speaker 2: seeing that opportunity we had. I was actually tied up
8:31
Speaker 2: in a meeting. I didn't get out to see it.
8:33
Speaker 2: But we had this execution drill that the staff came
8:36
Speaker 2: up with. I think there's some videos of it that
8:38
Speaker 2: might have made it out on the internet, and you know,
8:40
Speaker 2: this is a drill. This is just trying to practice
8:42
Speaker 2: things that we're gonna have to execute in season. And
8:44
Speaker 2: the intensity the competition. I had somebody come up to
8:47
Speaker 2: me and say they were hearing like you know, it
8:50
Speaker 2: was it was sort of a college baseball vibe in
8:52
Speaker 2: a sense. But hearing things like hooting and hollering that
8:56
Speaker 2: they hadn't heard being here for a few years, and
8:58
Speaker 2: you know that's that's coming from the players, and that's
9:01
Speaker 2: been cool to see.
9:02
Speaker 3: Is that why you gave all it to your extension
9:03
Speaker 3: because he came up with this drill.
9:05
Speaker 2: Well the extension was well in progress.
9:07
Speaker 4: But I thought you saw this drill and you're like,
9:09
Speaker 4: we got to have him for two more years. Uh, No,
9:11
Speaker 4: I missed the drill. I was I was starting to
9:13
Speaker 4: need it. You know, you heard about it about I
9:15
Speaker 4: couldn't hear you know, there's doctor Phillips graduates from it,
9:19
Speaker 4: smart smart getting Sorry, I have trouble with this.
9:25
Speaker 1: Take it off, you got it?
9:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you can take it. You can take it out.
9:28
Speaker 2: I just want to make sure you can still hear you.
9:29
Speaker 2: But yeah, I figured there would be some mention to
9:32
Speaker 2: that at some point. No, it's actually been It's been
9:34
Speaker 2: great to work with Ali. I mean, you know, just
9:36
Speaker 2: you want to feel like you're on the same page. Uh,
9:38
Speaker 2: you know what we're what we're parking on. It's difficult.
9:41
Speaker 2: This game is hard. Everybody's competing zero some Game one
9:44
Speaker 2: trophy a year. You want to feel like the organization's
9:46
Speaker 2: on the same page, that we understand where we are,
9:48
Speaker 2: where we're trying to go, how we're going to get there.
9:51
Speaker 2: And you know that I have felt from day one
9:54
Speaker 2: and also just seeing to get where we want to go.
9:57
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if you're wearing a uniform, wearing a
9:59
Speaker 2: polo shirt, whatever, if you're wearing a towel in thesauna,
10:02
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to push yourself beyond what you have
10:05
Speaker 2: been where You're gonna have to get out of your
10:07
Speaker 2: comfort zone, push yourself to improve and not be insecure
10:11
Speaker 2: as to so insecurious to say there's nothing I can
10:13
Speaker 2: get better at. And he is a secure person who
10:17
Speaker 2: is looking to get better always and looking for people
10:21
Speaker 2: to challenge him on that. And that's the type of
10:23
Speaker 2: person that I enjoy working with.
10:24
Speaker 4: Since you're hiring ex Cardinal Catchers to come back to
10:28
Speaker 4: the organization, is two doctor Phillips high school brains in
10:32
Speaker 4: one room. Too much to have to ask for hair
10:34
Speaker 4: since you brought back your.
10:35
Speaker 2: Openings at present, But I think Yati might have taken
10:40
Speaker 2: the last.
10:41
Speaker 4: Oh, I can't believe you picked Yaudi over me. With
10:44
Speaker 4: our cardinal careers next to each other.
10:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely no disrespect. You are you are remembered fondly in
10:50
Speaker 2: this building.
10:50
Speaker 3: Well that's good, thank thank goodness for that.
10:52
Speaker 2: But yeah, but well we'll keep talking. Send me ash.
10:55
Speaker 3: Okay, perfect.
10:58
Speaker 4: You mentioned familiarity. Is that why you trade with the
11:02
Speaker 4: Red Sox all the time? You make all these trades
11:03
Speaker 4: with the Red Sox because of the familiarity with the
11:05
Speaker 4: prospects or is Craig Breslo.
11:07
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just about trying to get the best
11:10
Speaker 2: return when it's time to do business.
11:11
Speaker 4: Oh okay, because that means it just it just seems
11:14
Speaker 4: to keep happening. Someone used to work there. You know,
11:16
Speaker 4: there's players.
11:17
Speaker 2: You know what's funny. I been asked about that a lot,
11:20
Speaker 2: And like, of all the players we required there, there's
11:22
Speaker 2: actually only one that I was in the organization with
11:25
Speaker 2: That was Hunter Dobbins. The others were all acquired after
11:28
Speaker 2: I was gone, So I had to study up on
11:30
Speaker 2: some of these guys. You know, we get two guys
11:32
Speaker 2: and those deals out of their twenty twenty four draft,
11:34
Speaker 2: and Brandon Clark and Blake Ida and and the harder
11:38
Speaker 2: they picked up in a trade fits they picked up
11:41
Speaker 2: in a trade. Although I did do a little homework
11:42
Speaker 2: on him my last deadline, so I hadn't I had
11:45
Speaker 2: an eye on him, But you know, it's really looked
11:48
Speaker 2: with those types of deals. Obviously moving good talent, you
11:51
Speaker 2: just want to make sure you do the best for
11:52
Speaker 2: your organization. There's there's twenty nine other clubs. Whoever's willing
11:56
Speaker 2: to meet our needs and give and give us the
11:59
Speaker 2: best turn. You know that that has to be about
12:01
Speaker 2: the Cardinals and what's best for the Cardinals and not
12:03
Speaker 2: about me.
12:04
Speaker 3: Makes sense. How do you know when a guy's ready?
12:07
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if JJ weatherhold who everyone is expecting
12:10
Speaker 4: to be your opening day second basement and you know,
12:14
Speaker 4: hitting the top of the order, maybe opening day against
12:17
Speaker 4: your old team, the Rays, how do you know?
12:19
Speaker 3: How do you know? How do you balance being ready
12:22
Speaker 3: versus rushing?
12:24
Speaker 2: Look, I think the most honest answer I think anybody
12:26
Speaker 2: in the seat could give you in terms of how
12:28
Speaker 2: do you know? You don't. There's like to say this
12:30
Speaker 2: is a perfect science. It never is. There's always some
12:33
Speaker 2: art to it, there's always some subjectivity to it. You
12:35
Speaker 2: try to do the best you can in terms of
12:38
Speaker 2: having a clear eyed, objective view of the player, trying
12:44
Speaker 2: to take some of the emotion out of that view
12:45
Speaker 2: and be really honest both with the player also with
12:47
Speaker 2: yourself about you know, what are we working on. What
12:50
Speaker 2: do we need to see to make this decision, especially
12:52
Speaker 2: in spring training where you can really get fooled if
12:54
Speaker 2: you basis on spring training results, that's a good way
12:57
Speaker 2: probably to make some bad decisions do play into it,
13:00
Speaker 2: But there's so many other things that you're looking at.
13:03
Speaker 2: And then some of it's subjective too. It's get to
13:05
Speaker 2: know how the guy ticks, you know, how is he
13:08
Speaker 2: going to respond to that challenge? When is the right
13:12
Speaker 2: time to put to put him in there? Big leagues
13:14
Speaker 2: are really hard. I think oftentimes we tend to rush
13:18
Speaker 2: guys more than we let them overcook. But you also
13:21
Speaker 2: don't want them to die in the line either, So
13:23
Speaker 2: there is not a formula for it. Love to be
13:25
Speaker 2: able to tell you there is. I wish I could
13:26
Speaker 2: tell myself there was. I can't. But we just try
13:28
Speaker 2: to get all the appropriate input, untrust and ask the
13:32
Speaker 2: right questions the people that are closer to the player
13:35
Speaker 2: that might understand this. Players a person the best, obviously,
13:38
Speaker 2: look at the needs of your team, try to make
13:39
Speaker 2: a good decision.
13:41
Speaker 1: When you say tick, do you look at each player's
13:45
Speaker 1: you know, mental components and say, hey, if it doesn't
13:48
Speaker 1: go perfectly when he first gets called up, how do
13:52
Speaker 1: we think it will go when we have a conversation
13:54
Speaker 1: with someone And now just this is getting past JJ,
13:56
Speaker 1: but just with anyone with a call up, right when
13:58
Speaker 1: you're dealing with a prospect who's highly rare, and you're like,
14:00
Speaker 1: I think he can handle it, but we don't know
14:03
Speaker 1: for sure until we see it, and we might have
14:05
Speaker 1: to have a conversation with him and say, hey, you're
14:06
Speaker 1: going back to the minor leagues? Does that factor into
14:09
Speaker 1: how early you call up any top prospect.
14:13
Speaker 2: That's exactly at that and those types of questions or
14:16
Speaker 2: where my head goes the most, you know, most guys. Obviously,
14:20
Speaker 2: some to the nature of the game is that there's
14:21
Speaker 2: guys that are going to go up and down, be
14:23
Speaker 2: on the shuttle. That's just how we have to manage
14:25
Speaker 2: our roster out thirty clubs do. But obviously, you know,
14:28
Speaker 2: when you're doing something my choice, or you're doing something
14:30
Speaker 2: with a prominent player, you'd like to only call them
14:32
Speaker 2: up once. So you want to feel that they're ready
14:36
Speaker 2: for it, And that is one of the questions you
14:37
Speaker 2: have to ask yourself, is you know it's great if
14:41
Speaker 2: it goes, If it goes wonderfully and everybody's having success,
14:44
Speaker 2: everybody's having a good time, that's awesome. But what's going
14:47
Speaker 2: to happen when this guy gets punched in the face.
14:48
Speaker 2: What's going to happen when he fails? Is he going
14:50
Speaker 2: to be okay? Because almost all big leaguers, including good
14:54
Speaker 2: big leaguers, all stars, very very few guys never fail.
14:57
Speaker 2: Those guys are extremely rare cats amongst the population of
15:00
Speaker 2: big le years that are already incredibly uncommon. People who
15:04
Speaker 2: are the best in the world at what they do,
15:05
Speaker 2: they almost all fail at some point. Are they going
15:08
Speaker 2: to grow for it? Are they going to be able
15:09
Speaker 2: to stay with it? Are they going to drown? And
15:11
Speaker 2: if you believe they're going to be able to stay
15:13
Speaker 2: with it, you have to expect there will be failure. Yeah,
15:16
Speaker 2: you can be wrong. I guys some of these guys,
15:18
Speaker 2: especially the really good ones, you might not have seen
15:20
Speaker 2: him fail. So you're guessing, but getting to know the
15:22
Speaker 2: person and understanding how is this person going to handle adversity?
15:26
Speaker 2: How are they going to handle that spotlight. There are
15:28
Speaker 2: some indicators we can get on that, and those are
15:30
Speaker 2: important parts of the decision.
15:31
Speaker 3: How do you what do you say to people?
15:33
Speaker 4: Let's say hein Bloom is just a talent evaluator, right,
15:37
Speaker 4: because you've never you've never really been given the chance
15:40
Speaker 4: to build the team from start to finish. It's kind
15:42
Speaker 4: of Michael Olyas comes to mind in Baltimore, right. They say, oh,
15:45
Speaker 4: he drafts great and he develops guys. But now they're
15:48
Speaker 4: out there, they're in their so called window. Now people
15:50
Speaker 4: are saying, well, does he know how to put the
15:52
Speaker 4: finished product? What do you say to people that question
15:55
Speaker 4: whether you're just an evaluator and you know how to
15:57
Speaker 4: put a team over the top.
15:58
Speaker 2: Well, for starters, I guess I should say thank you
16:00
Speaker 2: for the compliments the extent that they think I can
16:02
Speaker 2: evaluate talent. That's a good place to start. I'll take that.
16:06
Speaker 2: I've been call worse. You know, there's only so many
16:10
Speaker 2: things you can control about you know, you obviously control
16:13
Speaker 2: a lot about how you do your job. There are
16:15
Speaker 2: things you can control things you can't control about the
16:17
Speaker 2: opportunities you get, and so you just try to make
16:20
Speaker 2: the most of the opportunity, do right by the opportunity.
16:23
Speaker 2: I understand those questions. I mean, look, we all share
16:25
Speaker 2: the same goal here. We're obviously in a phase now
16:28
Speaker 2: where the acquisition young talents first and foremost for us.
16:32
Speaker 2: But like I said, there's never going to be a
16:34
Speaker 2: time when we're going to be thinking about anything but winning.
16:36
Speaker 2: It just so happens that right now where we are,
16:38
Speaker 2: the best way to get there is to do this,
16:40
Speaker 2: and it's on me, on us, on our whole organization
16:42
Speaker 2: to make sure that we're always keeping winning first and
16:45
Speaker 2: foremost and doing whatever makes sense that on a given
16:48
Speaker 2: day to push ourselves towards that.
16:51
Speaker 1: Well, Hian, we appreciate the time. We're looking forward to
16:53
Speaker 1: seeing this next wave, this next brand of Cardinals baseball.
16:56
Speaker 1: Thanks man, good to see.
16:57
Speaker 2: It, appreciate it. Good to check in with you, guys.
17:06
Speaker 1: Let's do a little season preview on the Saint Louis
17:09
Speaker 1: Cardinals for the twenty twenty sixth season. First to quick recap,
17:12
Speaker 1: the off season was busy for them, aj and we
17:16
Speaker 1: heard it, I think most emphatically from Ali Marmole. Now,
17:20
Speaker 1: some veterans move on and they get to establish a
17:23
Speaker 1: new leadership aura right, So Wilson Contras traded away, Sonny
17:30
Speaker 1: Gray traded away. We can show some of these editions
17:33
Speaker 1: and subtractions here. Nolan Aronado traded away, Ryan Helsley was
17:37
Speaker 1: traded and then signed elsewhere. So those are four major
17:41
Speaker 1: veterans that are not part of the team here when
17:43
Speaker 1: they were part of the twenty twenty five opening day roster.
17:46
Speaker 1: Enter Dustin May to the rotation, Hunter Dobbins acquired via trade,
17:50
Speaker 1: Richard Fitz, Ryan Stannick signed up to be a veteran.
17:54
Speaker 1: We've already heard his name, Sinja, who's the big prospect
17:57
Speaker 1: coming over in the Brendan Donovan three way trade. And
18:00
Speaker 1: Clark also a name who could be a contributing factor
18:02
Speaker 1: from the pitching department. So first off, when we add
18:06
Speaker 1: and subtract here, aj, we know where the team's going.
18:08
Speaker 1: I mean, you're not going to hear the word very often,
18:10
Speaker 1: but it's not a bad word. It's just a word.
18:12
Speaker 1: It's called rebuilding. That's what they're doing.
18:13
Speaker 3: Right now, retooling, rebuilding, reloading.
18:17
Speaker 4: Every team nobody wants to use the word rebuild, and
18:20
Speaker 4: I don't know why, but that's what they're doing. And
18:22
Speaker 4: you saw the subtractions and those are veteran guys, but
18:24
Speaker 4: they feel like here in Saint Louis and in Jupiter
18:27
Speaker 4: that they have the right mix of young players that
18:30
Speaker 4: are starting to come up. And if you talk to
18:32
Speaker 4: them about their system, they really like their system. So
18:34
Speaker 4: we'll see how it goes. But they're definitely going to
18:36
Speaker 4: take a step back even from where they were last year.
18:38
Speaker 4: That's why I think it was nice of Heim Bloom
18:40
Speaker 4: to give Ali Marmal a contract extension because he doesn't
18:42
Speaker 4: have to worry about expectations. And the one thing that
18:45
Speaker 4: the Cardinals have been though, they've been upfront with their
18:47
Speaker 4: fans and they said, hey, listen, we're going to need
18:49
Speaker 4: to take a step back to take two steps forward.
18:51
Speaker 3: So they're doing it this year.
18:52
Speaker 4: They continue to draft well, if I'm Bloom's in charge,
18:55
Speaker 4: they'll continue to develop players well, and then they'll be good,
18:58
Speaker 4: hopefully in a shorter time than what most people expect.
19:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say.
19:07
Speaker 5: As a Cardinals fan, you sit there and go, Okay,
19:09
Speaker 5: we've had history of this, and you look at you know,
19:11
Speaker 5: no other organization has had history of success, and then rebuild.
19:17
Speaker 5: Wait no, they haven't rebuilt. There's a whole generation of
19:19
Speaker 5: Cardinals fans that don't know what a rebuild or reboot
19:22
Speaker 5: looks like, and this could be hard. And I hear
19:26
Speaker 5: a lot of words coming out of the clubhouse or
19:29
Speaker 5: coming out of this organization right now, like, oh, we
19:32
Speaker 5: got to start new, We got to start new. What
19:34
Speaker 5: are the things that they're keeping from the other from
19:39
Speaker 5: the last regime, the last regime that was supremely successful
19:45
Speaker 5: are how are they building to that? And I think,
19:47
Speaker 5: you know, you might have pieces in this organization that
19:51
Speaker 5: allow them to build on them, but what is the
19:55
Speaker 5: core principles of this organization that will make this be
19:59
Speaker 5: the Cardinals of old and not Okay, well we'll do
20:02
Speaker 5: this for five years and then we'll rebuild. The reality
20:05
Speaker 5: is they're going to need to spend money once they
20:07
Speaker 5: see a season like this and say, Okay, who's going
20:10
Speaker 5: to step up as JJ Weatherholt an everyday big leaguer.
20:13
Speaker 5: Is Mason win going to take the next step and
20:15
Speaker 5: be not just the elite on defense but a three
20:19
Speaker 5: hundred hitter every year? Is Jordan Walker going to be
20:22
Speaker 5: that guy? So there's a lot of questions that need
20:24
Speaker 5: to be asked when you go through a rebuild, and
20:27
Speaker 5: those questions need to be answered here this season.
20:31
Speaker 1: And let's show what BETEMGM is bringing to the table
20:34
Speaker 1: for their win total projection. Fangrabs has them and they
20:38
Speaker 1: play everybody a little bit closer to the middle. That's
20:40
Speaker 1: seventy four point nine, so about seventy five wins. BETAMGM
20:43
Speaker 1: has the total at sixty nine and a half. For
20:47
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, Giggity beat you to it. But what do
20:49
Speaker 1: you think, aj, I.
20:52
Speaker 4: Think they're closer to the fan grabs than they are
20:54
Speaker 4: the VITMGM. I think that I just think that they'll
20:57
Speaker 4: figure it out. They oh last year, the last couple
20:59
Speaker 4: of years, they haven't, you know, supposed to be that gray,
21:02
Speaker 4: but they always end up around five hundred ish Now
21:05
Speaker 4: I think. I think seventy for four to seventy five
21:08
Speaker 4: wins is a great number. I think the sixty nine
21:12
Speaker 4: is too low, So I like the I like the
21:14
Speaker 4: higher little bit of a higher number. I think there
21:17
Speaker 4: were low seventies, the mid seventies win team.
21:21
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go below.
21:23
Speaker 5: I think they're going to lose one hundred games, and
21:25
Speaker 5: I think it's going to be a tough, a tough
21:28
Speaker 5: build because of the fact that you're already using your
21:31
Speaker 5: depth pitching wise, like had they had they re signed
21:35
Speaker 5: to Miles Michaels, had they kept a sunny gray. Now,
21:38
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, you're using some of these young
21:40
Speaker 5: guys to be that depth. You're already using that depth,
21:44
Speaker 5: and I just think I think the NL central is
21:46
Speaker 5: a little bit tougher. So I'm going under the giggoty
21:50
Speaker 5: that the bet MGM put out for us.
21:53
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's look at the lineup, and there are
21:57
Speaker 1: a lot of numbers on here AJ that are sub
21:59
Speaker 1: one hundred for ops plus as in league average. Not
22:03
Speaker 1: quite there. Do we think anybody on this lineup will
22:06
Speaker 1: emerge and get past that that vaunted one hundred number.
22:10
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm not saying nobody on here is on hundred.
22:12
Speaker 1: Von Herrera had a banger season for them and is
22:15
Speaker 1: a name not many no, but should know. Alec Burlison
22:18
Speaker 1: is going to get every day be mostly at first base. Great,
22:21
Speaker 1: those are the only two guys in the projected starting
22:25
Speaker 1: lineup from Fangrafts that were registered as above average bats
22:29
Speaker 1: last year.
22:30
Speaker 4: Anybody like, yes, it's Jordan Walker's time. It's time, Jordan here,
22:36
Speaker 4: It's time. It's just time. It's time for Jordan Walker
22:39
Speaker 4: to take the next step, and I know he's had
22:41
Speaker 4: some and we talked to him and we talked to
22:43
Speaker 4: Ali about Jordan Walker.
22:44
Speaker 3: But it's time.
22:45
Speaker 4: It's time for him to swing and it's time for
22:47
Speaker 4: him to hit, and it's time for him to be
22:49
Speaker 4: the number one prospect that everyone thought he was going
22:51
Speaker 4: to be. So I think Jordan Walker is going to
22:53
Speaker 4: be free. He's not going to be any worries and
22:55
Speaker 4: he's going to figure it out. I mean, this kid's
22:57
Speaker 4: still what twenty five years old, I think he is,
22:59
Speaker 4: so he's not He's still super young. So I think
23:02
Speaker 4: Jordan Walker is gonna have a huge year. And listen,
23:04
Speaker 4: if I'm betting JJ Weatherholt is going to be a
23:06
Speaker 4: stud for the Cardinals and they're really gonna enjoy what
23:09
Speaker 4: he does.
23:09
Speaker 3: He's Jack. He just walked by.
23:11
Speaker 4: I know he sat earlier with us, but he kind
23:13
Speaker 4: of was covered up. He's walked by. He's freaking Jack, dude.
23:16
Speaker 4: That's why when he brought up the Paedroia comparisons, I'm like,
23:19
Speaker 4: you're way bigger than old.
23:20
Speaker 1: One to five was Jordan Walker. By the way, He's
23:23
Speaker 1: twenty three turning twenty four in late May. He's pretty
23:26
Speaker 1: damn young.
23:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:30
Speaker 5: To me, that guy on there is Mason Win. I
23:34
Speaker 5: think you gain confidence from your defense, and I think
23:41
Speaker 5: his feet are firmly on the ground and defense.
23:44
Speaker 1: I think his.
23:45
Speaker 5: From his bat speed to his speed to just another year.
23:49
Speaker 5: I know we make fun of some teams who say that,
23:51
Speaker 5: but I think Mason Win takes the next step. Is
23:54
Speaker 5: he ever going to be a one thirty ops plus? No,
23:58
Speaker 5: But I think he takes the next step in pushes
24:00
Speaker 5: it over that one hundred because I also think you
24:03
Speaker 5: have if the lineup's constructed where like Nolan Gorman's around him,
24:08
Speaker 5: who I think is going to have a better year
24:10
Speaker 5: this year. And Jj Weatherholt is what I've seen in
24:14
Speaker 5: the few at bats from spring training, and I watched
24:16
Speaker 5: a couple of his triple A at bats, like, now
24:20
Speaker 5: you have a little bit more protection, not that you're
24:23
Speaker 5: protecting Mason Win, but just that I think he takes
24:26
Speaker 5: that next step because he's completely solidified, he's got gold,
24:31
Speaker 5: he's got those things. And now the offense, which really
24:36
Speaker 5: good defenders at shortstop in history that I've seen recently
24:40
Speaker 5: of shortstops who don't hit right away, they slowly learn
24:43
Speaker 5: it because they're out there every day. So I think
24:45
Speaker 5: that's where he's going to take the next step.
24:48
Speaker 1: And we didn't get to talk about this aj from
24:51
Speaker 1: the last few days, but we mentioned it of course
24:54
Speaker 1: to Ali Marmole. He gets extended, so you get some
24:57
Speaker 1: stability in there. He knows he's going to be the
24:59
Speaker 1: guy for the next few years.
25:02
Speaker 4: Yes, he does, and that's big for a manager, especially
25:04
Speaker 4: a guy who's going into this process where they're going
25:07
Speaker 4: to have to have young players. You have to give
25:10
Speaker 4: a guy a chance to teach the young players and
25:12
Speaker 4: grow with him. And Ali Marmle I believe is the
25:14
Speaker 4: right guy for this. Oli Marble is only thirty nine
25:16
Speaker 4: years old. He's not even forty years old yet, so
25:18
Speaker 4: you know he is a younger coaching staff that a
25:21
Speaker 4: lot of the players around here know most a lot
25:23
Speaker 4: of them played for the Cardinals. They're people in Saint
25:26
Speaker 4: Louis trust their opinion. John Jay descalso some of these guys.
25:29
Speaker 4: So I think that giving Marvel the extension gives him
25:32
Speaker 4: the confidence and gives him the freedom to raise these
25:35
Speaker 4: young kids the way that he thinks they should. And
25:37
Speaker 4: all he's been in this organization for a long time.
25:39
Speaker 4: So he knows the Cardinal way and he knows what
25:42
Speaker 4: he's expecting and people of Saint Louis expect out of
25:44
Speaker 4: their big league team.
25:47
Speaker 1: He's managed this team and they've had some success, and
25:49
Speaker 1: they haven't been as good the last couple of years,
25:51
Speaker 1: and that's probably going to be the case here. So
25:53
Speaker 1: he knows how to do that side of the equation.
25:55
Speaker 1: And also we're trying to get some information crats out
25:58
Speaker 1: of some of the young guy In terms of what's
26:01
Speaker 1: going to look different, I would say I'll look back
26:05
Speaker 1: at a Katie Wu article that we discussed, what was
26:08
Speaker 1: it two years ago at this point about how the
26:10
Speaker 1: Cardinals had fallen very behind on some of the development
26:15
Speaker 1: that they did a really nice job of in the past,
26:17
Speaker 1: because they kind of had to make the decision, Hey,
26:19
Speaker 1: do we want to spend a little more on the
26:20
Speaker 1: major league roster, Yes, but then we have to take
26:22
Speaker 1: that away from what we do on the development side.
26:25
Speaker 1: Whether they weren't getting the best tech, whether they weren't
26:27
Speaker 1: you know, having the most loaded coaching staff in terms
26:30
Speaker 1: of numbers, how many coaches they had, all of that
26:33
Speaker 1: right that the Cardinals did so well, they kind of
26:35
Speaker 1: sacrifice that and it sounds like the pendulum is shifting
26:38
Speaker 1: back towards that side and that should help on the
26:41
Speaker 1: development front. Now, eventually the team's going to build up,
26:44
Speaker 1: and then fans and basically everyone's going to be like, hey,
26:46
Speaker 1: well now you've got to support that team again, So
26:48
Speaker 1: don't take from your development side, just add on and
26:51
Speaker 1: we'll see if that happens eventually.
26:55
Speaker 5: And talking to him, unfortunately I missed the him interview
26:58
Speaker 5: and he gave me a hard time for but talking
27:01
Speaker 5: to him off camera, he is and I guess, I
27:07
Speaker 5: guess I'm a proponent of Hein Bloom because I worked
27:10
Speaker 5: for him for a little bit and I played in
27:12
Speaker 5: the organization that he was one of the assistant jams for.
27:14
Speaker 5: But he has a track record of understanding what it
27:17
Speaker 5: takes to build up a farm system, and when he
27:21
Speaker 5: came in there were things lacking. Some guys come in
27:25
Speaker 5: and they're like, oh, we're going to re reboot this
27:27
Speaker 5: farm system. We're going to do this, and they hack everybody.
27:30
Speaker 5: Look at the Marlins. The Marlins came in and Peter
27:33
Speaker 5: Bendex came in and just hacked coaches after coaches after,
27:37
Speaker 5: you know, assistant directors of this and him came in
27:42
Speaker 5: and he did it differently. He did it more like
27:44
Speaker 5: what happened in Boston, where he said, okay, there's a
27:47
Speaker 5: few few people that we had to get rid of.
27:50
Speaker 5: But he was like, that wasn't his goal. His goal
27:53
Speaker 5: was to say, there's been twenty years of success here.
27:56
Speaker 5: If you've been here for twenty years, you've been doing
27:59
Speaker 5: something right. Do you need and he had he attached
28:03
Speaker 5: the hey, I want to I want to be I
28:06
Speaker 5: want to be a help. I don't want to be
28:08
Speaker 5: the you know, the person who lords over everything from
28:11
Speaker 5: the Ivory Tower. And so instead of hacking jobs, he
28:18
Speaker 5: added to positions that organizations had been adding, you know,
28:22
Speaker 5: a fourth coach to triple A or DOUBLELA. They added
28:25
Speaker 5: those ten years ago, and the Cardinals were behind on that.
28:29
Speaker 5: Their their system of analyzing stuff like analytics stuff. Their
28:34
Speaker 5: system was way way behind, but they didn't need it.
28:37
Speaker 5: And we talked about this on this show. When they
28:40
Speaker 5: got Wilson Contreras from the Cubs. There was a lot
28:44
Speaker 5: of things that Wilson Contreras was asked to do that
28:47
Speaker 5: Yadi Molina was doing before. And it's evaluating who you're
28:50
Speaker 5: playing against. All that stuff that it was unfair the
28:54
Speaker 5: organization to say, oh, hey, we're going to have you
28:56
Speaker 5: do this, and him Blooms come in and he's seen
28:59
Speaker 5: how two differentiations, the Rays and the Red Sox did
29:03
Speaker 5: things settings up out from an in structure, and from
29:08
Speaker 5: what I heard and what he told me, it seems
29:11
Speaker 5: like ownership has been like, Okay, we're we want to
29:14
Speaker 5: get back on track, we want to do this. While
29:16
Speaker 5: you're not seeing them spending a big league team, there
29:19
Speaker 5: is some behind the scenes spending and it kind of
29:23
Speaker 5: kind of starts with what AJ sees behind them. In
29:25
Speaker 5: the addition that they made at the at the complex.
29:28
Speaker 1: There, that's right, the complex is shiny.
29:31
Speaker 4: The complex is brand new. But that was that was
29:33
Speaker 4: not the Cardinals. I mean they the Marlins are will
29:37
Speaker 4: be there tomorrow fifty feet down the road, and they
29:39
Speaker 4: have the same thing. So that was more the city
29:40
Speaker 4: of Jupiter and the county down here did not want
29:43
Speaker 4: to lose the Marlins and the Cardinals, so they did
29:45
Speaker 4: a nice job. I mean the Cardinals didn't. As much
29:48
Speaker 4: as I love the Cardinals, the Cardinals did not pay
29:50
Speaker 4: for this. Okay, let's just let's let's not go.
29:52
Speaker 1: There, right right, Yeah, the cities put in money to
29:56
Speaker 1: keep the teams and drive the tourist dollars.
30:00
Speaker 4: And also it was time. Also it was time because crats,
30:03
Speaker 4: you know you were here last year. This was outdated
30:05
Speaker 4: and listen outdated.
30:08
Speaker 3: But a lot of the things, a lot of a
30:12
Speaker 3: lot of the things are outdated.
30:15
Speaker 1: Yep, sauna's in place. AJ is ready to go for
30:17
Speaker 1: it in like seven minutes.
30:19
Speaker 4: When I gotta go, I gotta walk. I gotta get
30:21
Speaker 4: a towel and put my underwear on and walk though
30:22
Speaker 4: across the street, across the walkway here to get to it.
30:26
Speaker 1: They call it the walk of fame, to walk to
30:29
Speaker 1: the sauna.
30:32
Speaker 5: Not not at as age shame.
30:36
Speaker 1: No fame, fame crafts. By the way, I liked your
30:39
Speaker 1: Ivory Tower drop. That's what Pat Murphy calls the front office,
30:43
Speaker 1: or any front office