Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray's futures in St. Louis are up in air

Transcript

Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray's futures in St. Louis are up in air · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hi, Happy Friday.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: The last series of the twenty twenty five season is
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: upon us. Welcome back to Cardinal Territory, the official Saint
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Was Cardinals podcast of the Foul Territory Network. Come into
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: you live from Ridleyfield. I'm your host, Katie Woo. If
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: you miss today's game, you didn't really miss much. But
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: let's just start with the news. Mason Wynn underwent successful
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: surgery to repair his torn meniscus Thursday in Dallas. It
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: went as expected per manager Ollie Marble, so Mason should
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: be a full go for spring training. Matthew Libertore has
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: been shut down. He will not make his final scheduled start.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Michael m'greeby starts Saturday. Kyle Lahy will get the start
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Sunday in what will be a bullpen game. Expect the
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: team to stay away from Brendan Donovan the series. He's
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: basically for emergency use only that groin titaness is plaguing
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: him a little bit. Nothing that needs to be addressed
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: in the off season, just rest in recovery. So, with
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals eliminated, no reason to push Donnie for any reason.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Let's go back a little bit though, to Matthew Libertour.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: So as we know, it was a big focal point
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: for the Saint Louis Cardinals to give Livy a full
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: season of work.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: After his last start, which I.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Believe was in was at home against the Brewers, his
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: vila was good, sustained it quality. Outing manager Ollie Marmel
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: said that they are going to go ahead and shut
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Libby down.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: He's done a tremendous job this year.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: His last outing was exactly what we needed to see,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Allie said, especially with the overall workload and how it
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: sets up for next year. But for him to bounce
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: back and be ninety seven to ninety eight, he showed
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: exactly what he needed to show. To throw in an
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: extra game on top of him. This point based on
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: being eliminated does not make sense. So no, Libby had
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: a great year in terms of figuring out if he
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: could sustain a full season as a starter.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Kyle Lahey will get that start in.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: A bullpen game as the Cardinals continue to evaluate what
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: his role looks like next year, whether or not he
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: could be a starter. Allie said that it'd be good
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: for a Libby or for Libby, it'd be good for Lay.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: He to go out and experience the whole prep of
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: getting ready for a start and what that feels like.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: My inclination is, I'm led to believe that come next year,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: we'll see Lakey as a tryout for the starting rotation.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: All right, news over, let's get to the game. We
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: don't have to spend a lot of time on it.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: It wasn't good.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: The Cubs throttled the Cardinals twelve to one thanks to
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: a casual seven run seventh inning by Chicago. While the
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Cardinals were officially eliminated from post season contention on Wednesday,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Friday's loss mathematically guaranteed that Saint Louis will finish with
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the record below five hundred. Now, there's two ways to
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: look at that stat both of them true. You can
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: frame it this way. The Cardinals have had two losing
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: seasons in their last eighteen years. And if you're looking
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: at that, you're thinking, hey, you know what, that's really
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: not bad. Actually that's pretty impressive. Not ideal that happened
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: this year, but pretty good track record. Two losing seasons
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: in eighteen years, almost two decades, that's a pretty good run.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Or or you can say the Cardinals.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Have had two losing seasons in their last three years,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and that sounds much much worse.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: You're not feeling as good about it.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: You're kind of like, eh, I don't love that you choose.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: You get to choose the way that you look at
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: this season. All jokes aside. I think fans can all
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: agree that it has been a frustrating rebuild, reset runway year,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and I think that's something that's been magnified over the
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: last two weeks when you look at the state of
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the NL playoff picture. I mean, the Mets just tried
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: to give their spot away essentially, and nobody will take it.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: The Reds and the d Backs are still firmly in
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: the wildcard picture for the sixth spot at time of recording,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: and the fact that the Cardinals were a mathematical possibility
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: up until Game one hundred and fifty nine. It really
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: makes you think about what a handful of games could
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: have done for this club. You know, if it's not
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: fair to look at it this way, but it's it
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: also is. I take that back. I think it is
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: fair to look at it this way. If the Cardinals
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: bumped erk Fetti out of the rotation and replaced him
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: with Michael mcgreeby sooner do they win a few more
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: games if they didn't stick to Andre Polante once he
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: started faltering in the second half, which you know they
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: did because of their desire to see him through an
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: entire year as a starter. And that is a situation
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: that John Mozaeloc said at the beginning of the season
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: might happen, that the Cardinals might not put out their
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: best option. They might sacrifice that in order to prioritize development.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: It might cost them ballgames. So we were warned that
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: that could happen.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: But I digress.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: If this team simply plays better the first two weeks
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: of July, does Mozellac keep one of the top free relievers,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: does he keep Hellesley, get rid of Matt's Mayton, does
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: he keep one of the other gives them somewhat of
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: a chance. I think these are questions that are going
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: to haunt the organization as they look at the season.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying the Cardinals deserved to be a playoff
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: team this year.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Ownership in the front office made it very clear that
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: wasn't the top priority this year. But a couple of
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: reverse decisions might have changed their destiny. We'll never know
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: speaking of changes in Destiny, there are player futures in question,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: and in the last series in San Francisco, both Nolan
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Ronado and Sunny Gray spoke to the off season, the
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: winter and what that could look like. So we'll break
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: down what both players said. After a quick message from Drafting.
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• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, up on the Athletic?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Where is it? That's wrong? That's also wrong? There we
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: go third times a charm. You think after a full
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: season of doing this, I would have better control over.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: The podcast, but I don't. Up on the Athletic.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Nolan Arnado said that he will be more open minded
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: to trade possibilities this winter and that he will expand
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: his trade list. Obviously, he did not disclose those teams,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: but if we reverse back to the off season prior,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Nolan gave John Mozelak five teams that he would consider
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: keyword consider waving his no trade clause for They were
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: at the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: San Diego Padres, and Houston Astros.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: We know how that Tsago went. It's why we are
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: still here.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Nolan is prepared for another winter of heavy trade discourse
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: this season. Coming into this winter, it feels, at least
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: to me, much much more definitive that Nolan Arnado will
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: not be a Carden.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Will come next year.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Last year, I didn't feel like I felt like it
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: was fifty to fifty, and then I believed it was
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: going to be seventy five to twenty five. Once Moe
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: said that trading Arnada was priority one, two and three,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: are inclined to believe that that's going to happen.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It didn't.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: But with the new front office coming in and a
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: clear clear direction coming in under hind Bloom, who was
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: expected to take over pretty much as soon as the
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: season ends for the Cardinals, it doesn't make sense to
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: keep Nolan. For Nolan, it doesn't make sense to stay here.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: He knows the riding is on the wall. He expects
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: to be traded, but he knows in order to make
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: that happen, he has to make some concessions based simply
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: on the contract and the fact that he just didn't
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: play well at the plate this year. The defense is
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: still the defense. He's still a Hall of Fame third baseman.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: But if you are a contending team, because Arnatto wants
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: to play for contender, you're not going to go pay
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: that monster contract. He still has two years over forty
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: million dollars remaining on that deal for a guy that
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: has a career low and slugging percentage under three fifty
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: and has hit just eleven homers this year and knows that,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: so he knows he's going to have to make some concessions.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Here's what he told me in an interview with The Athletic.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: He said when I asked him if he'll be more
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: open minded to the trade process this winter, Nolan said,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I think I have to be. That's something I'll discuss
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: with my agent and my family. I think the discussion
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I'll have with my agent for sure is that the
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: list will be different. Yeah, it kind of has to
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: be out of fairness. Nolan Arnatto is not the only
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: party here that needs to make some concessions. Cardinals' ownership
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: has historically declined or refused to take on a substantial
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: and of their definition of substantial portion of a contract
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: in order to move a player, and in the entire
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: history of the Saint Louis Cardinals under the DeWitt era.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: It sounds insane that this organization would pay to move
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: a future Hall of Famer off of their roster.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: But we know a multi year rebuild is coming. I
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: would expect.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Fans to have more transparency on what that looks like,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: or I would hope so by the first couple of
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: days the off season. So not much I can really
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: say yet because the people in charge of the messaging
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: aka He and Bloom, have not said anything yet. But
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: my hope is that we all have a better clarity,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: a better idea of what this looks like come next week.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: If ownership wants to really prioritize drafting and developing and
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: as committing to this multi year rebuild like they said
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: that they have, they have to be willing to make
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: concessions as well. They have to eat a lot more
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: money of the contract to move Arnauto. That's just a reality.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Nolan has to be more open minded to other possibilities.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Ownership has to take on more money of that contract.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Otherwise we are sitting here in an absolute mess. Come
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, it was this one about as well
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: as it could in terms of the player and the
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: organization handling this without any drama. There's no way that
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: is replicated in twenty twenty six. Arnatto has to be moved.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: It's what's best for the player, it's what's best for
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: the organization. In order to make that happen, both sides
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: have to say, Hey, I need to not be as
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: adamant here and I need to make some concessions. I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: need to scale back.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I need to be more open minded overall to this process.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: And no one has said that he would.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: He's also said that he's really hopeful that this off
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: season doesn't go the way that it did last offseason.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: When you think about the Botch deal, the Astros, the
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: fact that he was connected to the Red Sox up
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: until Bregman signed.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Just a lot of drama, a lot of rumors.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: That's natural for that this point of the season, speculation
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: rumors kind of drive the entire offseason. But this, this
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: is different to me. This both things can be true.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: What the Saint Louis Cardinals are doing, whether it's popular
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: or not with the fans right now, is totally your decision,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and I get it. It's probably what's best for the
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: long term. Sustainability of this organization. When I say the
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Cardinals are looking to contend, let's scale back the definition
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: of contending. By definition, the Cardinals were contending in September
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: this year for a wild card birth.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Were they a good team?
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I don't think any of us would sit here definitively
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: and say yes. But by the definition of the word contending,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: they were in it up until the last and they
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: had a mathematical chance of sneaking into that wildcard spot.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: The Cardinals don't want to contend that way anymore. Ownership,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the new front office wants to make the Cardinals legitimate
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: contenders like the status of the Phillies and the Dodgers,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: just obviously not to that level of market.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Size or payroll.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: But they don't want the goal to be the wildcard
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: participation trophy that the Cardinals have had since twenty twenty. Okay,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: they want it to be nationally pennant minimum back to
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: when the Cardinals and they're twenty ten's, we're doing Cardinal things.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: That's what they want to return the level of contention to.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: So that's going to take time if they're going to
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: commit to that multiple years, because it's going to take
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: two three four seasons to get there. When you look
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: at the overall minor league system and the current players
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: on this team, that does not fit into Nolan Arnado's timeline.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: He'll be thirty five next year. It's best for him,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: who wants to go play for contender, to go find
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: a contender to play for. And it's best for the
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Cardinals to offload a thirty four year old third baseman
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: and create room four players like JJ weatherhol for Thomas
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: the JC. Where's Nolan Gorman going to play like? Those
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: are questions that they hope they'd answered this year but
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: weren't able to. So they need to move Nolan in
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: order to make that happen. Long story short, TLDR moving
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: to Arnado. It might suck to hear for fans. I
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: know he's a fan favorite. He's a Hall of Fame
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: third baseman. It's what's best for the player, it's what's
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: best for the team. But for the things, both of
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: those things.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Can be true. So here's the banner that I made
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: for the segment that I forgot to put up. We'll
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: throw it up there right now. He will expand his
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: trade list.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: He said there are drastic changes that need to happen
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: for me individually and probably with this team. I'm not
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: a part of those plans for those changes for the team,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and that's okay. I understand that. Obviously I could come back.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: That's always a possibility, so I try to understand that.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, it looks like it's best
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: to move on. I think the Cardinals agree. Now both
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: parties need to ensure that they can actually make that happen,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: all right. Coming up next, we'll discuss Sonny Gray, another
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Cardinals who came to Saint Louis under the pretenses that
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: he would be playing winning baseball, and that does not
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: look to be the case. He has some interesting comments
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: in San Francisco after Wednesday's loss. We'll get right to
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: after we hear from Fair Harbor.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Ftfam, it's still time for you to check out what
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: bathing suit you're wearing and why it's not Fair Harbor.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Can we get a little show and tell from Eric
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: Krats Nice?
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: I mean, unfortunately, you can't even see all the little intricacies.
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: We got sharks, we got patterns, we got waves, we
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: got sailboats. Oh, and they feel super buttery on your skin.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: Can you show us the liner so people can understand
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: how it's different, because I've actually been talking it up.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: I was vacation.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: I got the Unique Liner too, I got the I
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: got the Baby Blue John something about it. I don't
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: know it like it pops.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Head to Fairharbor Clothing dot com slash foul twenty and
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: use code foul twenty foul two zero for twenty percent
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: off your order. Once again, that's Fair h A R
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: B O R Clothing dot com backslash foul twenty for
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: twenty percent off. Makes use that promo code foul twenty
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: so they know FT sent you.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, quick comment about Fair Harbor as they sent me
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: a couple of their shorts and I'm obsessed with them.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: They're running shorts, super comfortable for all my girlies who
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: like to work out but hate running because your shorts
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: like kind of right up, These do not.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I could wear them every day if I could.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: All right, Sonny Gray has a decision to make about
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: next year, he said to reporters after Wednesday's loss. His
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: final start of the season in that sunny through a
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: quality start, three earned runs, two earned struck out seven,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: amassed two hundred strikeouts for the second time in as
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: many seasons with the Cardinals, and I want to commend, honestly,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I want to commend both Sonny Gray and Nolan Arnado
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: for their honesty and their candor here. It's so much
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: easier for everybody involved when players can just be honest
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: about their situations, both their personal ones.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: And the team and just say what we are all thinking.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: They don't have to do that, but both Nolan and
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Sonny have been total pros and would have been del situations.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: So let's talk a little bit about what Sonny Gray said.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I'll pull this article also up at The Athletic when
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: he was asked by John dentnem MLB dot com, it
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: was a great question with a team basing a rebuild,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Sonny signing here in free agency before the twenty twenty
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: fourth season to win. Obviously in twenty twenty four, after
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: that weird year, Sonny said he'd like to stick it out.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: That could change now because twenty twenty five was about,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe they can compete. Twenty twenty six is
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: going to be like, hey, we're really looking to rebuild here.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: So when Sunny was asked that question, he said, quote,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: just to be frank and honest, I definitely think I
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: do have to make a decision. Having said that, whether
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I decide I want to go somewhere, whether that actually happens,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I still don't have complete control of that. Obviously, I
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: have a control of where I don't go. But I
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: think I have a decision to make. He went on
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: to say, I mean, I'm going to be thirty six,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: it's going to be my fourteenth season, last year of
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: my contract.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know what that looks like for me yet.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know what the future holds for me.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: So I thought that was super interesting because we're all
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: thinking it. Sonny Gray like he said, the thirty six
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: next year, fourteenth season was brought to Saint Louis to
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: be an ACE and hopefully play.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: For a contending team, and that's not what's happened here.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: He said as much.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: He said, I've enjoyed my time in Saint Louis. I
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: love the people, but I came here to win. I
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: signed here two years ago with the expectation of winning
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: and trying to win. That hasn't played out that way.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: I want to win, I expect to win. I came
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: here with the expectation to win. He also went on
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: to say that he's had conversations with Hein Bloom. He
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: knows the direction, he knows what the plan is, so
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: it's up time to make that decision. A couple of disclaimers.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Sonny Gray, as we know, full not trade cost, so
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: he's not going to go anywhere just to go anywhere.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: He's also entering the final year of his contract, like
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: he said, his heavily backloaded contract. Mind you, Sonny Gray
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: will make thirty five million dollars in twenty twenty six. However,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: if he decides to be traded, and my gut feeling
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I've said this for the last couple of months now
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: is that he will decide that. I'm not worried about
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals finding a suitable trade partner. I don't see
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: this being a Nolan Arnatta situation at all, one because
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: this is the most important reason starting pitching is so
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: coveted and in such high demand.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Thirty five million dollars.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: For one year of a top quality starting pitcher is
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: pretty much where the market is right now.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think we might have.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Different opinions or definitions of the word ace, but Sonny
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Gray is someone that you plug into any team starting
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: rotation and he's your top two, so I think they'll
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: be able to find a suitable partner what he's looking for.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I've always thought the Braves made sense.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: They're very close Atlanta to his home city in Nashville,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: the Giants. Susan Sluster of the s F Chronicle Reporter,
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: there's interest there. Bob Melvin, his manager with the oapwen A,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: is still the manager in San Francisco, and Sonny really
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: really enjoyed his time in open under Bob Melvin, so
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: maybe that's a connection. He has a decision to make,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: and when we asked if the direction of the Cardinals
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: aligned with what Sonny wants about his decision, he was
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: honest and said, I'm not in the right state.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Of mind to answer that question yet.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Cool fair. As a reporter, I appreciate that. I would
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: never want a player to go out and say something
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: in BS.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: He could have just been like, oh, yeah, I don't know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: He said, straight up, I can't answer that year that
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: my mind's not there yet. I expect this to be
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: decided relatively soon in the off season, and I would
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: add Sunny Gray right there with Nolan Arnado on players
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals expect to trade in the winter. That opens
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: up a whole new can of worms as to what
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: that rotation will look like, I don't have any answers
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: for you there.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I really don't know, and I don't think the organization
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: does either.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: But they'll be able to clear a lot of money
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: from Sonny Gray, and Sonny Gray will get you a
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: profitable return that could exite this rebuild a little bit,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: because the Cardinals know that a picture like Sunny Gray
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: doesn't come on the market via trade very often, and
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: they can really maximize the return there. So it sucks
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: as a fan to see these players like Nolan Arnaudo,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: like Sonny Gray ultimately decide to leave. The was the
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: once proud franchise that kept these kinds of players, that
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: these kinds of players wanted to come to.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: We're probably not going to see that narrative for a
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: couple of years, and as fans, I'm disappointed.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I get it, I do, but this is the nature
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: of the rebuild again, It's not a full tear down,
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: though these trades make it seem that way. It's probably
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: just what's best for the organization from a payroll standpoint
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: and from a personnel standpoint, Both of these players were
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: brought to Saint Louis the expectation.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: To win and that just hasn't happened.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Here one more player that we haven't heard from that
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: absolutely fits this bill was Wilson Contreras, who is with
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: the team in Chicago.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: We saw him today.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: He has said that he will speak to reporters this
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: weekend about what his decision will be. If he, like
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: like Sunny Gray, would consider waving his no trade clause,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: if he, like Nolan Arnatto, will be open minded to
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: a trade, we don't know yet.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: I do know that he had conversations with Heine Bloom
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: in Chicago on.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Friday, so also has a better understanding of what the
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: future is and what his role could be going forward.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Both Wilson and Sonny last year were adamant that they
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: wanted to stay.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: They wanted to what twenty twenty five look like and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: have a.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Better idea of what the future, long term trajectory of
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: this franchise would be.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: They got it in twenty twenty five.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: The conversations that him has had with these players, they
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: need to believe that this is not going to be
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: a competitive franchise going forward at least in twenty twenty six,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: so decisions to make. Contreras has two years left of
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: his eighty seven point five million deal that he signed
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: before twenty twenty three. He's doue eighteen million and eighteen
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: point five million, so that's thirty six point five that
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: they could clear if he decides to stay. He's proven
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: that he can be an impact bat, set a career
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: high in RBI twenty plus homers.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Stayed mostly healthy.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I'm not as convicted that Contrarast will be traded or
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: wants to be traded, but we'll certainly have more.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Answers to that by the weekend.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: So that's a wrap from this Friday afternoon edition of
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Cardinal Territory. I'm going to go to Happy Hour in
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Chicago after that game. I think we all need it.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: We'll be back Sunday with an end of season breakdown,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: and then I would expect the off season news press
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: conferences wrap ups to start almost immediately at.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Now next week. So you know I got you covered there,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: all right? For yeah, just me here.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: This is another episode of Cardinals Territory. Stick in, guys.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: We've got two more games left of the season, and
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: then I think we will hit the ground running in
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: terms of this winter.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for watching. We'll talk soon.