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Transcript

Cardinals 2025 Opening Day preview · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: It is Wednesday, March twenty six. Happy Opening Day, Eve.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Katie Wu.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Who's Bernie Weekless?
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And we are ready for the twenty twenty five season
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to officially begin.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to Cardinals territory, Bernie. How you doing?
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great. Good to be with you relatively soon
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: after we did the last one. This is fun. I'm
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: glad a lot of people watched what we did the
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: other day, so that gives me even more inspiration. So
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: let's go. I can't wait for baseball to start me too.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: On Tuesday, the Cardinals sent out their official like opening
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Day schedule, and it got me really amped up.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: I just I love Opening Day.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I love the ceremony, especially in Saint Louis, and I
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: just love the symbolism of like a brand new season.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: You truly have no idea where it's going to go,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: especially with this organization, The Saint Louis Cardinals can go anyway.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Bernie, how are you feeling? How are you feeling going
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: into this?
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: You know, I got an open mind about everything. I
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: don't know if I mentioned this the other day. I
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: tracked the forecast and the projection models, and you know,
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: the people I really respect so I say the Cardinals range,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I've seen a range from seventy eight to eighty two.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: That seems about right as kind of a starting point.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: You know, it doesn't mean that it won't go below
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: that or above that, but that seems like it be
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: a good starting point range. A lot of things have
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: to go well for them. You look at their offense
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: and you know, just about every one of their hitters
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: has something in the recent past that shows that they
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: can be really, really good. And I talk about more
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: like the younger guys. So if you know, best case
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: scenario type thing, if a lot of their young hitters
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: or at least a cluster of their young hitters, exceed expectations,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the offense will get better. I think the ballman's going
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: to be pretty good. I would never I would never
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: like put it on them to be as good as
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: last year because that was ridiculous how great they were.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: And you know, a lot of it's just going to
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: have to be sort of the push pull of this
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: season because it's still it's still very weird. Were still
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: not sure what they're their number one priority is this season,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: like it, you know, balancing trying to win, trying to
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: win every game at the expense of maybe not using
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: young players or not right. We mentioned it the other day.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry for the long answer, not riding a long
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: time with Walker and Gorman if they're doing poorly. You know,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know what to expect. I think it's going
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: to be an adventurous season. I really do.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I know it will be.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: It always is, and I feel like every time I
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: go into a season with some sort of expectation, the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: exact opposite happens. But I will say seventy six to
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: eighty two wins, whatever projections that you use, that seems
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to be right for this Cardinals club. They seem to
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: be just under five hundred now. Whether or not that
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: will fly in baseball heaven, I don't think so. I
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: was doing my own season preview, which maybe out on
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the athletic this morning.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Can I ask you a question?
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: You know what's up?
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Because you get a lot of you get your mail
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: bags at the athletic are terrific. Thank you? Do you
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: do you get a sense at all? I get some sense,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: but I think you're more in tune with it that
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: a lot of Cardinals fans, while disappointed that there's been
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: a downturn, They could get behind a true like young
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: you know, play all the young guys, let all the
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: young guys pitch you. We could get behind that. The energy,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: the enthusiasm red thing. So I wonder if the Cardinals
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: even realize that, you know, they'd actually they may have
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: more fans if they really did turn this youth movement
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: loose instead is sort of going halfway with it. What
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: do you think about that?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Oh? I agree? I think Cardinals fans are very smart.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: And if ownership and the front office went out and said, hey,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: we're going to play the kids, and we're going to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: help develop the next core of Cardinals baseball and it's
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: not going to be the type of baseball that you've
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: come to expect here, but by doing this, we are
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: going to get there again.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I think the span base would be totally fine with that.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: And if you think that your young talent is good
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: enough where you don't have to rebuild fully, which clearly
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals do because they are not rebuilding fully, then yeah,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I think the Cardinals fans would get behind it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, think this city is not going to show
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: up if Jordan Walker has like twenty Devils hitting two eighty,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Nolan Gorman parking ones out of the park, you know,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: fifteen twenty homers. You think that this city is not
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: going to rally behind the players if they play well.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I know that they might have some sort of frustration.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Or discernment against the front office, but that will be,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, at least on the back burner if
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the players perform well. This is a baseball town for
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: a reason. I absolutely believe that they would be behind that.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: And the other question I wonder is, and I know
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: we got to get to some things, so I'm not
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: trying to like already put us behind schedule, but I
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: like to ask you questions. You know, the Cardinals listen,
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: all due respect to Nolan Aernato, because seriously, he's he's
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: been a star for a long time, and I think
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: he'll be a Hall of Famer. But I was going
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: through something earlier today and it's just like stunning to
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: me in a way. They what little star power the
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Cardinals have. I mean and dash all these years since
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I've been writing columns and doing stuff about Cardinals baseball
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: since nineteen eighty nine, but even in nineteen eighty five,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: help and out, Rick Hammel, just Hall of Famers, MVPs,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: you know cy Young Award winners, all stars. I mean,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: on and on and on and on. It's like, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: a galaxy of stars, and I think that's part of it.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: I mean, who among this group do you see anybody
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four or twenty five? I'm sorry, who
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: can jump out? And it's like, oh, that's the team star?
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Would it be Mason Winn? What do you think about
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: all this?
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: It's a great question and one that I've had conversations
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: about as well, because you know, Nolan Arnatto, of course
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: future Hall of Famer by all means a star. But
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: when you think about his performance in Saint Louis over
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the last two years, I think he'd be the first
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to say that wasn't star worthy. Wilson contrerists, he's a
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: he's a name fans love, and I really think that
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: we're going to see a really impactful, offensive performance from him.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: And then Mason Winn has the opportunity.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: To be provided that spring training campaign was just a
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: spring training campaign. But you're right, it's, with all due respect,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: it's a boring roster. I mean, these are not names
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: that MLB are marketing is marketing. This is not names
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: that you're going to see on ESPN. The Cardinals have
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: one Sunday night baseball game. They have barely any of
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the six pm Saturday Fox games.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I think they have a couple Apple ones.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: But you know, the good teams are on ESPN and
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals are on their one time so and I'm
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: pretty sure they did that because maybe it's against the
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Red Sox on Sunday April sixth. There was going to
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: be some crossover they thought with Arnatto potentially going to
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Boston and that would be kind of like a Marquee matchup,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: but that didn't even happen. So yeah, I'm a little
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: concerned about the Star Powers far down like to the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: stadium and they have the banners of all the players,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, all.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Right, these are people else in the St. Louis. These
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: are players that people definitely know. These are the Stars.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Okay, maybe the Stars are going to be in the
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: minor leagues this year. Maybe the future stars are going
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: to be JJ Weatherhold at Double A and Quinn Matthews
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: at Triple A. Tin Canton I'm not sure about is
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: if he can ever get to one hundred innings, I'd
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: probably get excited about it. But yeah, maybe the stars
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: are actually going to be in the minors. I hope.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I's a screamer just with just me being like a.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Part of this scene for so long, for decades, it's
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: just so weird to see the place just devoid of
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: like real star power at this moment, you.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Know, especially outside of Saint Louis.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I think they have one of the most unrecognizable rosters
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: in the National League.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, offto a good start there.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: You can now stream the Saint Louis Cardinals games through
• 7:24
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• 7:27
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• 7:29
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• 7:34
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• 7:36
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• 7:40
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• 7:45
  Speaker 3: May I be your assistant and add that I am
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: a subscriber to that service and so far I'm very happy.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Let's get to it because we found out some things.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: This is our part two of our Cardinal Territory Opening
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Day preview. If you miss the last episode Tuesday, we
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: had one out with Dan Hayes covers The Twins for
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: The Athletic previewed the Cardinals Twins series. This is the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: more Cardinals centric episode, though we found out just how
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals will be lining up on Thursday behind manager
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Alie Marmel. On Monday in Memphis, Marvel released his opening
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Day lineup. I will put it up here on the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: screen for you and for your podcast people. I'm gonna
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: give it a run. This is how the Cardinals will
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: line up against Pablo Lopez on The Twins on Thursday.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And before I read it, Bernie, are we smart? Did
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: we or did we not call this leadof move?
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, I know I've been raising
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: Kine about it. I'd just been like a big time
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: nag about it, and yet and we talked about it,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: but I think everyone has kind of gotten to the
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: point where it's like, no, no, you can't do this again.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: You just can't. No disrespect to Mason Win by the way,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: he's great when he hits at the bottom of the lineup,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: you know, so, and all of a sudden boo poof
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: it happened, right.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: See, this is proof if you manifest things, they will
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: happen for you. So here's the starting nine with Cardinals
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: on Thursday. Lars Newbar batting leadoff in left field. Wilson Contreres,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: he's at first base, in the two hole. Brendan Donovan
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: will play a second base, batting third. Nolan Arnatto cleanup
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: at third base. Alec Burlason gets the start over. Nolan
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Gorman will circle back to that. He'll be the DH.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yvon Herrera behind the plate, batting six. Jordan Walker, our
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: guy on this podcast, in right field, betting seventh, Victor
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Scott the second, in center field batting eighth, Mason win
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: ninth at shortstop, Sonny Gray on the hill. All right, Bernie, what.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Do you think I love Newt Bar a leadoff you know,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: no need for me to just kind of beat the
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: thing in the ground about Mason winning his two ninety
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: on base percentage as a leadoff guy. You can't have that.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, the manager came around on it.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: You know, I thought he was going to run it back.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I give him credit for saying no, it's not smart,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: because he had he had good options. I love neut
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Bar in the leadoff hole because he what he's done
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: the job. Look at his numbers in twenty twenty three,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: specifically as a leadoff hitters, like three hundred and nine
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: plate appearance numbers are outstanding across the board. The other
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: thing about him, you can plug him in at lead
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: off and you don't have to worry about, oh, well
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: they're started left hand or I can't use him there
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: because Nutbar's numbers against left these are actually really good. Yeah,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: he's better against righties, but you would expect that. But
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: his numbers are good, so you don't have to worry
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: about if he's healthy, you don't have to worry about
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: platooning him out. I love the way he set up
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: the top three too, because all three of these guys
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: with an asterisk we're talking about going against right handed pitchers.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: All three of these guys, Nutbar, Contreras, and man Donovan
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: have high on base percentages and they have power. Because
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Brendan Donovan fans will want to know this. He's got
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: a four to thirty slugging percentage against right handed pitching,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: and that's why Ali Marmel put him in the three hole.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I don't think we're going to see him there against
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: left handers who start, but all three of those guys
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: the first time I can remember this, really, you know,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: in a while, all three of those guys what I
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: look for at the top of the lineup, high on base.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: But you want damage, you want the capability of doing
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: damage dangerous. They can, they can take take a picture
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: out of the park and all that stuff. So I
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: like it a lot. The top, I like I like
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: the top a lot.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Do you I love this lineup.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I there's a benefit to carrying an absurd amount of
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: left handers in your lineup, and we're seeing it here.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I think the switch up the lefty riety variables here
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: makes it very hard for our posing managers to game
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: plan against this in terms of when you're gonna sub
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: in your believers love New Barret lead Off.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: We've talked about this.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Contrarists, you know, my pie dream of Herrara abadding second
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: is probably not going to happen. And Conturists is the
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: best hitter on this team. I like him there, and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I don't think Donovan necessarily profiles
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: as the number three hitter all of the time, but
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: in this case I do understand it. Also, I'm not
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: quite sure where else you put him. Uh And when
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you're looking back, I like the Herrera and the sixth hole,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and I like if Walker has a little bit more
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: protection here. But the speed combination of Scott and win
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that is really interesting because if they get on, all
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, that lineup flips over and you have
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: new Are who is no longer like the leadoff guy.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: He's now being able to do damage with two runners on,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and those two are so fast. New Bark gets on
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: base contact guy also has some slug in there, and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden you're generating a.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Much better offense. So we get so focused on the
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: one through nine.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: But if you're looking at it as you know, eight
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: through three, I think that's a really well done lineup,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: and it's one of I think Olie Marvel's better ones.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I'm really I'm really intrigued by it.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, assuming that Victor Scott's going to be good,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: and again, I mean we're not talking about he's gonna
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: be an all star. I don't want to get carried away,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: but he was a different hitter this spring. So it
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: really matters with the power that he's added, the changes
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: he's made. So when you have you have the as
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: you said you have, there's two burners at the bottom,
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: and here's like one one other added benefit in my opinion.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: So so Scott gets on first base, Let's say, okay,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: he can steal, right, he can steal, but Mason Winn
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: hits the ball right to the Apps field a lot
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Olie Marvels all of a sudden going to have real live,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: real live opportunities for hitting runs or runs and hits
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: where he yeah, where he can get everybody moving. And
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: so I could just see the situation, you know where
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: just the one I described. You know, Scott's on first,
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: he takes off, you know, Wind goes opposite field, and
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: you know the fielders are kind of out of position
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: because they see Scott running, and everybody kind of goes
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: a little nuts, and you know, Scott and Win are
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: just like scooting around the base, is just really putting
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: pressure on the defense. I love that. And like you said,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: then then the lineup cycles shoot at the top again
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: and then you know three really highly capable hitters in
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: terms of on base percentage, working counts, drawn walks, and
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: hitting for power. So that part of it works a lot.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I think my questions, uh, you know, four, five, six, seven,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: I'm not quite sure what they're going to get from there.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Although I think Burley will be good playing against right
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: handed pitchers aar I I'm caustiously optimistic he'll have a
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: bounce back. I mean a reasonable bounce back. But it
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: is interesting that it's so loaded at the top and
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: it's really really intrigued in the bottom. And Win, by
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: the way, last year what he got at eighth or
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: ninth he hit three ninety six. Yeah, it's just like crazy.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: So I'm not so sure about the middle. And I
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: know the fans will be to say, well, wait a minute, like,
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: you know, okay, it's great, those guys are gonna go
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: on base, but you know who's going to drive him
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: in that kind of thing. Well, they're gonna have opportunities.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: They're gonna have a lot of opportunities.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Maybe who drives them in at the top of the order.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Here's another thing that I'm thinking about with the speed
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: tandem of Scott and Win eight to nine, Let's say
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Victor Scott gets on base. If you're an imposing team,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: you know he's going to try to steal that extra
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: ninety What are you, as an opposing pitcher doing.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: You're pumping in fastballs. So Mason win is going to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: be able to game plan a little bit better and think, hey,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: I'm probably not going to see a ton of off
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: speed in this sequence. Here they're pumping in fastballs because
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: they're going to try to throw a victor out. Okay,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: that changes my game plan.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Same thing can be said if Mason Win gets on
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and he's trying to run Lars Newpark, he's going to
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: see a lot of fastballs. Much easier hit a fastball there,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and I think that can It's another added component that
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: we don't think about on the like big picture broad
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: terms of a lineup. But when you have guys that
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: you know are certified base dealers like Victor Scott and
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Mason Wynn, that opposing picture is going to pump fastballs
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: in and all of a sudden, that can help spark
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: an offense. So yeah, maybe the middle of the order,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think Carrera has a pure bad
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: I like Burlison. There again, I don't.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Think he necessarily profiles as like a true five hitter,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: but for.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: The sake of the lineup, I get it, and I'm
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: on board with the Nolan Arnatto bounce back. Do I
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: think he's going to go back to his Colorado Rockies days?
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Probably not, but you know, I think it's probably a
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: good sign in the lineup if, like your biggest concern
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: is the sixth seventh areas. I think this is overall
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: a pretty strong lineup from Ollie Marvel and so obviously
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: not what we're going to see every day. We'll get
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: to Gorman later in the segment and what this means
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: for him and what this lineup might look like against lefties,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: but for an opening day lineup, I think this is
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: probably as strong as you can go.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: And what I like the different components here. I like
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: that there's speed. I like that there's power. I like
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: that there's slug. This is a good one. This is
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: a good one. Bernie, we got Let's we got?
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: What? What what got an Oli? What got into him?
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: I think he watched.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: He's he's uh, I just I'm sorry, did name drop?
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: I was chatting with him today actually, and I was
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: really kind of teasing him about this I said, oh, wow,
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: hold lot of this were you little surprise before opening Day?
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Like everyone's dog and Ali marvel for the lineup and
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: what is he doing? And it's all of a sudden
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: balla here. How do you like this? So you know?
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: And he laughed. No, but this was really a delightful surprise.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I didn't expect any of this. I really didn't. So yeah, anyway,
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: it's fun.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: No.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: One of my favorite things to do, much to the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: chagrin of the reporters actually actually reporters who actually show
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: up to work, is I like to start all the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: pregame press conference like a little joke or a snide
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: comment just totally ruins the mood.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: And if I was in Memphis, I think it would
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: not have I think I.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Got all sideways because I probably oh, right, off hitter
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: and then he just probably tell me to get out
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: of here, which is how it usually goes. But no, again,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I like this lineup. It's a They're in a good spot.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: We should, though, talk about the Cardinals Opening day starter.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: And this is where my strengths as a producer are
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: really gonna shine because there's a lot I have to
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: do here, so bear with me. It is time for
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the player to watch. Presented by a FanDuel Sports network.
• 17:22
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• 17:25
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• 17:27
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• 17:46
  Speaker 2: If that wasn't a radio voice, I don't know what was.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: You did a wonderful job and may I be your assistant?
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: And add these that I am a subscriber to that service,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: so I'm very happy. So there, there we go.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: That's it all thirty at Fantale Sportsnetwork dot com slast
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: packages to stream Saint Louis Cardinals games. Our player to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: watch in the segment is none other than the Open
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: day starter Sonny Gray.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, Bernie, let's call bs he.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: According to reporters out in Memphis, including Derek Gould, to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the Saint Louis post dispatch, Sonny Gray has been dealing
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: with an illness, and to be fair, Derek did not
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: say this.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: President of Baseball Operations John As.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Elected an illness that has apparently zapped him of energy
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: over the last couple of days. Do we think that's
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the problem for the below or can we also point
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: back to the four other starts where the blow was
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: low and say, maybe that's this shoe well.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Number one, you know, the old jaded, the old jaded
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: goat that I am is gonna, you know, kind of
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: rise up again. I when Moe all these years, MO,
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: when they assimilate injuries, I don't, I don't. I very
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: rarely trust what they're saying. It's not like he's intentionally lying,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: but I will. I really don't think he's lying. But
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: it's like, hell, they they always want to minimize it.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: They always want to kind of go with the best
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: case scenario rather than you know, saying they're concerned. So
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: the fact that it came from Moe, I'm kind of
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: like I thought I tossed that aside. Man, I just look,
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: you know, his fastball velocity was down last year from
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: his uh the year after his second place finished in
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: the American League s I Young Award, and that caused
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: him some problems, it really did. They pounded his fastball
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: last season like really big numbers. It probably didn't help him. Also,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: uh you know they they they didn't. They didn't have
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: to swing at some of his trickier pitches because they
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: just wait for the fastball and punish, punish it. So
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know what to expect from
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: him Thursday, and that's probably not a good thing when
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: you're talking about your designated ace, your number one starter.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: When you say, well, I don't I.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Don't know what to expect from him, that's the spirit
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: that's not good right today.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: It's not good.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Also, I do not think Moe was lying about the illness.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: I do think Sunny Gray is dealing with them stuff.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he's not feeling well. There's been something going
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: around that clubhouse. Michael Sianni had it, Nolan Gorman had it.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: They all miss games. So I do believe there's validity
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: in that. It's not why his vlo's down. Sonny Gray
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: has been in this league for what over a decade.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: He's earned the benefit of the doubt. He's earned the trust.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: But when a veteran pitcher comes up to reporters and
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: his candid and honest about no idea where his velo is,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: that is a sign for concern. And it's not like
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the Vila was like a minimal drop. I mean, he's
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: his best pitch, fastest pitch on his last start topped
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: out at ninety one seven. That's not the sunny gray
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: that I think the baseball world knows and is used to.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I will say this, I do like what he said
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: about learning to pitch different. There's something to be said
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: about him going out there on that last start to
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: not go through the second inning and he was just
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: getting tagged. I think he gave up four and runs
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: in that second inning before Daniel descalso removed him from
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the game. But then he came back and he threw
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: thirty seven pitches over the next three innings, gave up
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: one ear and run, did not use the fastball very
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: much and became a pitch maker and used a different
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: way to utilize the sweeper and the rest of the
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: off speeds, mixing some curve balls every.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Now and then to get out. Is that what we
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: see on Thursday?
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: We might and I think Sonny Gray is talented enough
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and experience enough to get away with that, at least
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: for a couple times, until ideally his bilo comes back.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: But I hate to always invoke the name of a
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: former cardinal, you know, because there are other ways to
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: look at things. But I really think there is a
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: parallel here. Listen in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty two,
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Adam Wainwright, Well, actually, no, I got my years wrong.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Let me back up in twenty twenty one. I'll we'll
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: just go with that. Twenty one and twenty two Adam Wainwright,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: his fastball just kept dropping miles per hour. His fastball
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: was no longer potent. His fastball was kind of hittable.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: But he was so resourceful. He's like a wizard, you know,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: and he had these bag of tricks, and he could
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: fool hitters and change his armslot do all these different things.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: And it was just guile and resourcefulness and he was
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: able to finesse his way through a loss of velocity.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: And I think Sonny Grace got that capability too. I mean,
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: he's got a wide array of pitches, and the sweepers
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: wasn't quite as effective last year as it was in
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. But his sweeper's still really good. He's
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: got a bag of tricks the way the aging Wayno
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: had a bag of tricks in twenty one and twenty two,
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: and then the bag of tricks ran out in twenty
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: twenty three. But Gray's not there yet. I don't think No.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I agree, I'll extend on the benefit of the doubt.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I think he'll be able to get out of it.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: It's certainly frustrating as an ace of the staff when
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: your veila is not where it is.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: He said as much. Do I think that maybe?
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I don't think Sunny Gray is the type of guy
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that's going to go out there and be like it's opening,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: damn fired up, you know.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: He's the type of guy that's like, yeah, let's go,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: this is my job.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: But I do wonder if pitching in a major league
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: game and having that kind of adrenaline will help the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: bilo tick up a little bit. But I think the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: aim of the game for Sonny is just keeping the
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: ball in the ballpark. The homers plagued him a lot
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: in the second half after he gave up just eight
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: home runs in twenty twenty three. He also gave up
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: eight and spring training, So that's good.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: You know what I liked there They went back to
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: the old uniforms because I watched Cardinals games last year.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: There's those chintzy uniforms were so gross. And Sonny Gray
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: more than any player, even more than say Lance Lynn
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: because you would expect, hey, lance Linn, big guy sweating.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Sonny Gray was like dripping from the first pitch until
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: he left the game, and like he's in the dugout
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: and it's like things are things are pouring off of him,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: and it looked like his uniform like came out of
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: the washing machine. I mean just like wow, you know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: it's like it's just it was like I was almost
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: like a concern for him because the uniform, those cheap
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: uniforms make it made him look like he was like
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: a drenched, drowning man, you know, overwhelmed or something. So
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: he's kind of funny. I like his mannerisms when he pitches.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: But he'll have like real good uniforms now this year,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: Like he'll look real good.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Out major league uniforms. That's love.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: He would have to set aside like four five uniforms
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: from one sunny grade pitch, not just because he was
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: sweat through them. But also I will never forget this.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: This is one of the first conversations I have with him.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: If he's not like in the way he's pitching as
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: we know, Bernie, let's say, is a bad inning, things
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: aren't feeling right, he will go in that clubhouse and
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: his words, strip down naked and just stand there and
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: put a new uniform on, change everything up and come
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: back out. He had that conversation We've on live TV,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, that sounds like something
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: a pitt would do. Yeah, you know what, Let's thank
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the clubbies in Saint Louis. They have to do a
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: lot of things that we do not see, but they
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: are the true heroes.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Of it all.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get into the Nolan Gorman situation, but
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• 25:42
  Speaker 2: All right, Bernie, let's get to it.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: When we started the season the spring training, if you will,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: one of the things that we heard all off season
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: was that three players, Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker and Lars
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: newbarber're going to see extensive playing time. I believe John
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Mozelac himself said that he was looking and hoping for
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Gorman to see around six hundred bats, and when Allie
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Marmel finalized that roster on Sunday, one of the first
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: things he acknowledged, to his credit was it might not
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: longer be feasible to get Gorman six hundred of bats
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: for fifty.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they still think they can do that, but by
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: keeping Victor Scott on the roster who earned it. We
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: talked about it.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: If you haven't seen our episode on Sunday, go check
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: it out. It's gonna cut into playing time, and what
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: we've seen is Gorman on the bench to start the year.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Do I think he's gonna be on the bench every
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: single game?
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: No, I do not.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I think they're gonna vary between Burleson and Gorman to start.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Donovan's gonna have to sit every now and then, but
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: he's more or less a mainstay in that lineup. But
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if the whole premise of this season was
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to evaluate what you had in young players like Nolan
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Gorman and Jordan Walker, can the Cardinals still do that
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: with this roster configurated? And how do you expect Olie
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Marmel to work Nolan Gorman into this mix?
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: More consistently.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I you know, I was, I was in the camp
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: and I think I said this Sunday when we did
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: a Cardinal Territory that the one guy that we would
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: get squeezed in this scenario, you know, Burleson wouldn't get
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: as many at bets. Well, there show there that shows
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: you how knowledgeable I am on the situation. No, it
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: looks like Burlson now clearly has priority status over Gorman,
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: like the decision on a lot of days with with
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: you know, Donovan's not going to be a left field
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: a lot, so the days when he's playing second base,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: it really comes down against right handed pitching. It really
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: comes down. It's like you either choose Burlason or you
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: choose Gorman as your DH, unless Burley's playing first base
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: that day, and maybe Gorman will start at third here
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: and there. I don't know. So it's but a lot
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: of days it's going to be Burleson or Gorman. Well,
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: Olie tipped his hand obviously with his opening day lineup,
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: and I can understand it because gorman swing is really
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: messed up. I mean, does do a little intel work
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: on that, and he's he's kind of in between. You know,
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: you know Brent Brown's been helpful, but I think in
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: the off season he was working on some other things.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: I don't know. He's kind of in that caught in between,
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: you know, the approach might not, might not, might not
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: be part of me, might not be totally synchronized, I
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: don't know, confidence whatever. So in that context, I think
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I think it makes a lot of sense to go
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: with Burlison, even though I'm a Gorman guy. Well I'm
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: a Burleson guy too, like him. Burlason had a really
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: terrific year last year against right handed pitchers, I mean,
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: really good numbers. Gorman did not. So But to your point, yeah,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: I don't see. I don't see Gorman. They're not gonna
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: bury him on the bench. She's not gonna be like
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: you know, Luke and Baker, the right the left handed
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: version of Luke and Baker where Pinch hit her first
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: base off, you know, on occasion or something. I don't
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: I don't see he John Moza, like, I don't see
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: how Gorman gets to five hundred and fifty plate appearances
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: or five hundred and seventy five plate appearances. But he'll
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: play a lot and then it's up to him to change,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: Burlison has priority status. Now if it's between the two,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Gorman will be able to play enough to change that,
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: and maybe he'll be he'll get priority. Stated, I don't know,
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: as always log jams, jigsaw, puzzles, Ruby's cube, it's you know,
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: welcome to Cardinals Baseball. I don't you know, it's always
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: it's always something right.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: It just it could be so simple, but then it
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be the team that we cover. So I agree
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: with you.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I think bur Listener earned the opportunity based on spring.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: And let's not like talk about Burlson like he's not
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: some like borderline.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: I mean he was one of their.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Five picks in twenty twenty, so yeah, of course he
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: had a great spring. Nolan Gorman did not. To your point, bur.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Listener earned the opportunity to play every day, or play
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: at least on opening Day. Do I think that they
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: that they can mix it up? Yes?
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Do I think it's going to be very challenging for
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Alie marmal, Yes, because there's I saw a tweet. I
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: wish I could remember it verbatim, but I did laugh.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Very rarely does a tweet make me laugh, Because if
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: you guys are so mean, but it was essentially like, hey, Ollie,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: here's a lineup in which you need to play all
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: these all these players get six hundred bats for every
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: single one win ball games and also make sure that
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: like a your bosses are happy, go have fun.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: And that's really challenging for the manager. So I don't
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: know how he's going to do it. I think no
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: matter where you dice this up, someone is on the
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: bench that probably shouldn't be whether that's a new bar
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: because on days that Burlison and Gorman are in the
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: lineup and Donovan's and left bur listen or not listen
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: new bars on the bench. It's confusing just to keep
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: track of. I can't even do it. And then there's
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: the flip side with Jordan Walker. And this is a
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: question I have. I'm not saying the Cardinals are going.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: To do this, but logically speaking, if Michael Sianni, who
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I like Michael Sianni, and I've said this before, there
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: is value as the fourth outfielder defensive replacement. Any postseason
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: club has that on their roster. I don't know if
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals necessarily fit the definition of a post season
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: club at the moment. I don't know, I don't believe
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: there was room for two of them. I'm not quite
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: sure why they took both Scott and Sianni. But if
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Michael Sianni's on your roster, definitely not to serve as
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: a left handed pinch hitter, but to serve as that
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: defensive replacement. Who is he replacing in Lake games, Bernie?
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: He's replacing Jordan Walker? And what good does it do
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: for Jordan Walker to know he's gonna get Okay, you're
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: gonna get two or three at bats in the early
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: innings of the game, But when the game is on
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the line, buddy, you are out to see it.
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: We don't exactly that.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: We don't want you in the in the on the field,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: we don't want it. We don't trust you, is what
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: they're saying there. How is that good for his long
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: term development?
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: It's not.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: It's exactly you. You absolutely nailed that. And and you
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: know you could almost I could you could almost start.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: You guys could start like a pool in the press
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: box where it's like, okay, all right, what inning tonight
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: does Ali put I.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: Like my little press box games? Nobody else does?
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, do you know, pull it out? Pull it
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: out of a hat. You know, it's like what you know, Okay,
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: pull it out of the hat. Oh you got the
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: fifth inning? Well, yeah, he might bring him in the
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: fifth inning if they have a two run lead, you know,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: something like that, you know, and then yeah, you know,
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: I always think about it in extremes. But what if
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: it does get like extreme to where they have a
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: one run lead and it's the fifth inning and all
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: of a sudden you see Siani trotting out the right field.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, is there going to be any limit to this?
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Because we we know and I kind of tease more
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: mol about this because I'm with you, Ciani does have
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: attributes that can help a team, there's no doubt, agreed.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: But if he's if he's pulling Gorman out of games,
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: like in the middle innings, if they have a one
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: or two run lead, maybe fifth or sixth inning, Yeah,
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: how you know, And you're telling him now we think
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: we you know, we can't trust you, like you just said,
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: we don't trust you in the last three innings of
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: a game we have a lead, and you know, by
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: the way, I don't know if we trust you with
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: the plate either, So I mean it's like, wow, I mean,
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: this could be a this could be just one of
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: those years where it's just a lot of craziness going on.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I just hope it doesn't bring in shades of twenty
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: and twenty three.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: I will say, though, Ernie, I was very strategic in
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: my travel schedule to start the year. I'm on every
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: single road trip except for one in the first six weeks.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Because in twenty twenty three there was a ten game
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: swing Seattle, San Francisco, LA And that was at the
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: end of April and it defined the sea in So
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not prepping for worst case scenario. I'm not prepping
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty three. I think it's going to be
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: better than that. But some of the messaging and some
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: of the questions that we have with the roster in
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: terms of playing time, consistency, roles, it kind of reminds
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: me of that, and maybe not to that extent, but
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: it is something to keep in mind.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: But hey, what do we know.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: We'll see in the next three days what this could
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: look like when the Cardinals take on the Twins at
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Bush Stadium.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: Before we go, I have to ask you this question.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: We talked about press box games. I try a lot,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I play a lot of them.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I'm going to work on not talking as much during games,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: but I just have so much to say, and I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: personally think I'm very funny. So when I think of
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: a joke, por Daniel Guerrero next to me has to
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: hear it, whether he wants to or not. But one
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: of the things that I do before the first game
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: of the season is we take a poll for the
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: first Cardinal you think will hit a home run.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Of the season. Who is your pick?
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: Contraras?
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, I like that. I like that.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: I was between him and Arnatto said, because you took Contraras,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: I'll take Nolan, who was the player from the Dodgers
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: that they wanted to trade so badly and they couldn't,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: and he like begrudgingly came back.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Not like Nolan begrudgingly came back. Nolan's actually do a
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: very nice job this spring of handling that.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: But then he Homer and his first plate appearance and
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: everyone went crazy and it was great.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: I can't remember the name, but that happened.
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: Well, you got the Pablo Lopez factor too. He was
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: the guy that ended Wilson Contreras season in Minneapolis last year, right,
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: And so revenge. I love this Canterra's is what's first
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: of all, this guy, I hope Cardinals fans give him
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: a great, great ovation. He wants to stay here. He
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: loves being a Cardinal, he wants to be a leader.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: He's tough, he's competitive. He I mean, he tell this guy,
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: you appreciate the fact that he wanted to stay here.
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: That's number one. But anyway, the way his mind works, yeah,
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: it's not that he hates Pablo Lopez, but it's like, oh, okay, yeah, yeah,
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: I remember that. Okay, I remember that. Okay, come on in,
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: come on inside.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, you're spot on and that was right.
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: So but I hope he has a great season. I
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: really do.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: I hope so too. So we'll lock in you for contrarasts.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: I have Aron Otto.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: It's probably going to be Victor Scott. That's probably what's
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: going to happen. But no, I'm so ready for real baseball.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: What I think gets me not to be sentimental. But
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: towards the end of the twenty twenty four season, when
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: it was clear the Cardinals weren't going to make the postseason,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I shifted.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: To you know, the downfall, if you will, of player development.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: And really the month of September, I didn't really I
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: was at the games, but I wasn't watching them from
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: a critical analysis point of view, and I've really missed
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: doing that. I certainly was not doing that during spring training.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, any of you who are credit to you.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: But I am so excited to sit down seat seventeen
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: at Bush Stadium and have my little scorebook, fill it out,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: watch a ball game and analyze it and share it
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: with you know, people on the athletic our friends here
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: at Cardinal Territory. I love baseball season, and I'm super
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: excited for what this could bring because you just never know.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: One hundred and sixty two games is a very long time. Bernie,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: I have no idea what we're in store for, but
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: I know it's going to be fun regardless.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: No, I agree, there's a lot of things that can
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: happen and it could be a really wild ride. And
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: even if the team's five hundred is it can still
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: be an entertaining season because there's going to be always
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: something happening, always something we're trying to figure out, always
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: something like what's he going to? What's he doing?
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: Now?
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: You know, you know it's going to be a lot
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: of that this year, and that makes for good conversation.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: And that includes fans too. I'm not talking about a
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: media standpoint, ohsil Be, fans will be. You know, we
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: all love the second guest managers and all that stuff.
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: Fans will have a festival of just like analyzing every
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: move and well, who's in, who's out, who's who's got
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: priority status? Now, oh what what did he do? He's
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: not playing as much, and Ali's going to be trying
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: to juggle this this torn between trying to win every
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: game but also trying to maybe build that bridge for
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: twenty six. Andybe, He's not even going to make it
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: across the bridge to twenty six, I mean just hypothetically.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: So oh no, there's so much like.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: I That's where I feel. I don't even know where
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: to start. Overwhelmed, but in the best way. I will
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: tell you what I'm anxious about. A little running bit
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: that I've had on Twitter since twenty twenty one is,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, people think I make the freaking lineup,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: I don't make the lineup.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: I'm just passing it.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: On to you. I am going to get shredded every
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: game because no matter what, somebody that is not in
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the lineup that should be will be on the bench
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: right and Twitter is going to go crazy. I am
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: not looking forward to that, but in a sick way,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: I kind of am so. Like you said, Bernie, there'll
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: be so much fuss to talk about.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: And one other thing, I mean, we keep dragging out,
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: but we're having so much fun with this. The other
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: thing too that you and the other beat writers are
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: going to have to put up with, you know, the
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: season of the Nolan Hour, NATO rumors will pop up.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure. I'm not quite sure. As soon as
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: somebody gets hurt, as soon as the third baseman gets hurt,
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: as soon as somebody let's just say it. I'm not
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: taking a shot like John, hey minute, I'm just saying
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: someone with some name and some you know, recognition puts
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: like one little note in a Sunday column somewhere right
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: about you know, you know, my friend, my friend Bob Nightingale,
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: like you know, it's like just one little line about well,
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: this team is you know, they really want to upgrade
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: at third base, so you know, they may make some
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: call and there it's like away we go, here we
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: go again. I think twenty thousand blogs reacting to one
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: line in a notes column. You know, so are you
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: ready for that? Are you ready for that?
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: I'm not. I am not at all. I was so
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: glad to put that to bed for spring training. But
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: you're so right. That's going to pop up again, and
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: we're going to start this whole all over and you're.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: Going to get the big up, slow start. You, Katie
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: will be getting mailbag questions like why haven't they traded Fettie?
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: Why haven't they traded Hellsley?
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: You know, so, I'm scared.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: You know, if they get off to a bad start
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: after the first week, Katie, we'll be getting not only
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: things on x uh, she will be getting mailbag questions.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: She would getting begetting emails Katie, why haven't they traded Fettie?
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: Why don't they trade Helsing? Why do they hold one
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: of these gals?
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: They one and two against the twins? And I'm going
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: to get rat And I'm not I'm not ripping that.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: I'm just saying, but that's just the way it's going
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: to be. There's no question about it.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: It is.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: And I'm here to be a soundboard. I'm like a
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: personal therapist. I should really get paid more. We will
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: trauma bond through the rest of the twenty twenty five season.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: If you're feeling down, don't worry, you have me, you
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: have Bernie, and uh we will have again a lot
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: of fun. I guess maybe after that's Bernie.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know if I'll be having
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: fun anymore.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: Well, we always have a lot of laughs here on
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: when we work on the Cardinal territory, so that this
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: this is our haven. We can all have laughter and
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: be a little silly, is it in addition to the
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: serious stuff.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: I'm a very un serious person. I only lock in
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: when I have to.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: Right right, absolutely, no, no, you yeah, you do a
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: great job. I can't wait to be following track in
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: your coverage. And and Derek, you know, and my old
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: friendI colleague, and John denn I love beat writers for
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: obvious reasons. Beat writers are like the real stars of
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: sports journalism, no doubt.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: But I very much enjoy being a beat writer and
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: being with those group of guys. Like you said, and
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: we are going to spend a lot of time with
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: each other in the near future. So when you watch
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: this video on Wednesday, whatever time you are, will be
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: less than twenty four hours into the regular season starting,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: and you can follow along with me on the Athletic
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: with Bertie and myself here on Cardinal Territory. Bernie's everywhere
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: STL Sports Hub, KMOX. Wherever you go, you have us
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: in your corner. Let's get to a Cardinals fan Z
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: year five. For me, I'm so stoked. We will catch
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: up with you after the series. Hopefully everything goes well,
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: but if not, we'll talk about it. For Bernie Miechlis,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I'm Katie who this is Cardinal Territory. Happy twenty twenty
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: five regular season
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: Ne