Latest / Foul Territory / Matt Carpenter talks retirement & EPIC untold Yadi story
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: You know, I loved my time in Saint Louis.
- 0:01Speaker 2: I tried to do, obviously my best every time I
- 0:04Speaker 2: stepped on the field, tried to wear that jersey with pride.
- 0:14Speaker 3: Hey we're back, and so it's recently retired Matt Carbnder.
- 0:17Speaker 4: Go ahead, AJ, you can start this one.
- 0:19Speaker 5: I didn't know he retired. I thought he retired in
- 0:21Speaker 5: like twenty fourteen. I didn't know he was still playing.
- 0:23Speaker 5: What team do you want?
- 0:26Speaker 1: I love it.
- 0:26Speaker 2: I heard you shot, I heard you're right. I mean,
- 0:29Speaker 2: the retirement's official. But I've kind of been done playing
- 0:32Speaker 2: for a few years now.
- 0:33Speaker 5: Well, you know what it ended. When you grew that mustache.
- 0:35Speaker 5: That's when it all went. Actually for about a week there,
- 0:38Speaker 5: you got hot. And now Kratz was trying to copy
- 0:40Speaker 5: you think in the softball league he.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Can get Kratzy. We got a little mustache battle going
- 0:45Speaker 1: on here.
- 0:46Speaker 6: I mean, it's not a battle right now. It's like
- 0:49Speaker 6: the difference between AJ's career and my career. Your mustache
- 0:53Speaker 6: is AJ's career, My mustache is my career.
- 0:56Speaker 5: Just give me a few weeks, give me a few weeks.
- 0:58Speaker 1: But it's a good start. It's a good start, Okay, Okay,
- 1:02Speaker 1: that's good.
- 1:02Speaker 6: I appreciate that.
- 1:03Speaker 5: There's no way your wife likes it. There's no way
- 1:04Speaker 5: mackenzie likes that mustache. There's not no change.
- 1:07Speaker 1: My kids hate it, but McKenzie's on bold of.
- 1:11Speaker 5: Wow, Wow, she's changed.
- 1:14Speaker 3: You got to try new things. He's retired, all right.
- 1:16Speaker 3: So first off, why did you decide to throw.
- 1:19Speaker 4: The note out now? And what do you want to do?
- 1:20Speaker 4: What do you want to do next?
- 1:22Speaker 2: You know, I I just you know, I felt like,
- 1:27Speaker 2: more than anything, you just really wanted to thank a
- 1:29Speaker 2: lot of people. I mean, you know, I was so
- 1:33Speaker 2: fortunate to have so many great teammates, so many great
- 1:36Speaker 2: staff members, so many great coaches, and I just wanted
- 1:39Speaker 2: to throw a message out.
- 1:40Speaker 1: There thanking them all.
- 1:41Speaker 2: And you know, the Cardinal fans and the City of
- 1:43Speaker 2: Saint Louis Yankees and Padres organization all giving me opportunities.
- 1:49Speaker 2: And you know, when you get to the end, you're
- 1:52Speaker 2: just so grateful for all of the relationships that you
- 1:55Speaker 2: were able to build and just wanted to, you know,
- 1:58Speaker 2: put that out there. And you know, as far as
- 2:00Speaker 2: why and the reasoning of you know, I think that
- 2:05Speaker 2: that that road came to an end. Playing was fortunate
- 2:09Speaker 2: enough to play for a long time, and now the
- 2:12Speaker 2: focus is on my family. And I got two little
- 2:15Speaker 2: ones that I own, a third grade girl and a
- 2:17Speaker 2: first grade son, coaching both their sports and and just
- 2:20Speaker 2: really enjoying it. I'm not sure exactly what's next, and
- 2:25Speaker 2: you know what what what what's.
- 2:27Speaker 1: In store, but certainly some quality family time is on
- 2:31Speaker 1: the horizon.
- 2:33Speaker 6: First of all, before I have my question, any shade
- 2:36Speaker 6: that AJ throws at you, just make sure it's because
- 2:39Speaker 6: he's jealous of you, because he never officially retired, so
- 2:43Speaker 6: he feels like he can still hang on. He's still
- 2:45Speaker 6: pulling at the thread. But my question is now that
- 2:49Speaker 6: you are like, like right away, you are done right now?
- 2:54Speaker 5: Is there one memory, one thing that you're.
- 2:56Speaker 6: Like, man, that was the coolest thing that I got
- 2:59Speaker 6: to experience in the big leagues?
- 3:01Speaker 2: Mm hmm, Man, there's there's a lot, but you know,
- 3:07Speaker 2: I think for most guys, you know, that first time
- 3:12Speaker 2: in a major league clubhouse, in a big league uniform,
- 3:15Speaker 2: on a major league field, making your major league debut.
- 3:17Speaker 1: That's that's tough to be.
- 3:19Speaker 2: You know, as a kid that grew up playing baseball,
- 3:22Speaker 2: I was the son of a high school baseball coach.
- 3:24Speaker 2: We lived at the baseball field. My dream since the
- 3:26Speaker 2: time I could walk was to put was to play
- 3:29Speaker 2: in the big leagues, just like a lot of kids.
- 3:30Speaker 2: And when you actually get that opportunity and you walk
- 3:34Speaker 2: through that door for the first time and out onto
- 3:36Speaker 2: that field, that feeling is something that will never leave.
- 3:41Speaker 1: I'll never forget that feeling.
- 3:43Speaker 2: It was a combination of of nerves, excitement, a little
- 3:48Speaker 2: bit of panic, but a lot of a lot of joy.
- 3:52Speaker 2: And uh man, I got to put that at the
- 3:55Speaker 2: top of the list.
- 3:58Speaker 5: Cart you could have said it was playing with for
- 4:00Speaker 5: two months, it would have been fine three months actually,
- 4:02Speaker 5: But it's okay. I forgive you for that one. It's okay.
- 4:04Speaker 5: I understand. You know, you played with other titles.
- 4:06Speaker 3: It was a highlight.
- 4:08Speaker 5: You played with other people that were almost as cool
- 4:10Speaker 5: as me. So I get it. I totally understand. But
- 4:13Speaker 5: I always thought, and this is this is the one
- 4:14Speaker 5: compliment you're gonna get from me, is I thought you'd
- 4:17Speaker 5: make a good coach. I mean, John Jay, you're a
- 4:19Speaker 5: better coach than he is. Descalso, come on, I mean
- 4:22Speaker 5: really right, I mean, Matt Holliday might as well be
- 4:24Speaker 5: a coach with his two kids. I mean, all those guys,
- 4:27Speaker 5: big City Matt Adams, he's coaching. I mean, you got
- 4:30Speaker 5: to be next, right, you can teach the Cardinal Way
- 4:32Speaker 5: to all these young kids, and then you can tell
- 4:34Speaker 5: me what the Cardinal Way was.
- 4:38Speaker 2: Oh, you know, I appreciate the compliment. You're right, It's
- 4:41Speaker 2: rare to get one from you. So I'm gonna take that.
- 4:44Speaker 2: But you know, I could see it happening one day.
- 4:47Speaker 2: I mean, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it. I
- 4:51Speaker 2: do love the game of baseball. I feel like, you know,
- 4:54Speaker 2: coaching is in my blood a little bit. You know,
- 4:56Speaker 2: I mentioned just a few minutes ago, I was raised
- 4:58Speaker 2: by a baseball coach, and I'm enjoying coaching my sons
- 5:03Speaker 2: and sons and daughters teams right now. And who knows,
- 5:05Speaker 2: you know, I maybe in the future, something a little
- 5:09Speaker 2: bit more serious than uh, you know, seven year old
- 5:11Speaker 2: all star baseball uh might might show up.
- 5:18Speaker 5: Did you I'm gonna ask this, did you expect the
- 5:22Speaker 5: Cardinals to play the way they're expecting they're playing this year?
- 5:26Speaker 5: Because they went into this season and last year obviously
- 5:29Speaker 5: we're you know, around it, and they but now they're
- 5:32Speaker 5: here and they're over five hundred, they're playing well. Is
- 5:34Speaker 5: there is this what you expected out of the Cardinals?
- 5:36Speaker 5: Because I know when we played together on the Cardinals,
- 5:38Speaker 5: they were expected to win every year, right, they tried
- 5:40Speaker 5: to win every year, and then for them to come
- 5:42Speaker 5: out and say, well, we're not going to spend money,
- 5:43Speaker 5: that really was never what the Cardinals did.
- 5:47Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I mean, look, they're playing great.
- 5:50Speaker 2: Did I if I you know, did I think that
- 5:53Speaker 2: they would be off to the start that they are
- 5:55Speaker 2: right now?
- 5:55Speaker 1: Probably not. But I also think, you know, and I
- 5:59Speaker 1: would be in the last year.
- 6:00Speaker 2: I knew that they had good players, and they've got
- 6:02Speaker 2: good young players, and they've got some guys that they
- 6:05Speaker 2: wanted to see kind of take that next step, and
- 6:08Speaker 2: if that happened, then they had a chance to play well.
- 6:11Speaker 2: And that's what's what's happening.
- 6:13Speaker 4: You know.
- 6:13Speaker 1: I'm I'm I wouldn't site shocks not the right word.
- 6:16Speaker 1: I could see.
- 6:20Speaker 2: Those guys taking those steps and them being a good
- 6:22Speaker 2: ball club and and it's happened, and it's great. It's
- 6:26Speaker 2: been fun to follow keeping up with the teammates and
- 6:29Speaker 2: pulling for them every step of the way. You know,
- 6:32Speaker 2: obviously we all know it's a long season. They're gonna
- 6:34Speaker 2: have to continue to struggle. That NL Central is up
- 6:36Speaker 2: for grabs, so hopefully they can pull it off.
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- 7:12Speaker 6: You essentially took a two year hiatus from the Cardinals
- 7:16Speaker 6: and then you went back. Did you see a difference.
- 7:19Speaker 6: Did you see a difference before you left, like maybe
- 7:23Speaker 6: your last year I think it was at twenty one
- 7:25Speaker 6: was your last year with the Cardinals, and then you
- 7:27Speaker 6: went Yankees Padres and then you went back to Cardinals.
- 7:30Speaker 6: Did you see a difference between those years in how
- 7:33Speaker 6: the Cardinals were like making decisions or anything like that,
- 7:37Speaker 6: or did you start seeing it at the end of
- 7:39Speaker 6: your first tenure with them as far as difference in
- 7:44Speaker 6: what just how just how Like Like I tell people
- 7:48Speaker 6: are like, well, what's what's the difference in the Cardinals
- 7:50Speaker 6: from when you first got called up to the big leaves? Well,
- 7:52Speaker 6: besides the fact that they didn't have Aberpulhost or Yadier Molina,
- 7:55Speaker 6: to me, it was like the pitching wasn't quite what
- 7:58Speaker 6: it used to be, Like they used to have like
- 7:59Speaker 6: a stand or every picture had to be a one
- 8:02Speaker 6: two five to the plate. Then it was like, well,
- 8:04Speaker 6: we'll call up pitchers who kind of throw strikes, but
- 8:07Speaker 6: they throw really hard, don't hold runners well. Hitters always
- 8:10Speaker 6: had you guys always had incredible plate discipline.
- 8:13Speaker 5: And then it looked like that kind of like it.
- 8:16Speaker 6: Was like once your your era, your group of players,
- 8:19Speaker 6: it was like, hey, we're gonna kind of find some
- 8:21Speaker 6: dudes who really swing the bat neat And it was
- 8:25Speaker 6: like it just seemed different playing against the Carlos.
- 8:27Speaker 1: Did you see it? Why?
- 8:29Speaker 2: You know? You know, you go through competitive windows in sports,
- 8:34Speaker 2: you know, I mean you look at not just the Cardinals,
- 8:37Speaker 2: lots of franchises. I mean you go through competitive windows
- 8:39Speaker 2: where you've got, you know, a run of some really
- 8:42Speaker 2: good players coming up through the system and really good
- 8:45Speaker 2: coaches and careers come to an end and people move
- 8:48Speaker 2: on and get traded. And you know, we had for
- 8:51Speaker 2: the when I first got drafted in Saint Louis. Towards
- 8:54Speaker 2: the end of twenty one, we just had this long
- 8:56Speaker 2: stretch of really good players and really good see seasons,
- 9:00Speaker 2: and you know, we went through a little bit of
- 9:03Speaker 2: a hiccup and and now they're you know, trying to
- 9:06Speaker 2: get on the on the on the road again back
- 9:08Speaker 2: to that to that form. I just think it's so
- 9:11Speaker 2: hard and you guys, know, to to compete at the
- 9:13Speaker 2: level that we did in Saint Louis for as long
- 9:16Speaker 2: as we did, and and to just continue that year
- 9:19Speaker 2: in year out.
- 9:20Speaker 1: I think that goes through waves.
- 9:21Speaker 2: But what I love about this organization is recognizing that,
- 9:26Speaker 2: you know, we needed to you know, pivot and try
- 9:29Speaker 2: to find a way to get back to that.
- 9:31Speaker 1: And I think they're doing a great job.
- 9:33Speaker 2: And I think, you know, it's exciting that this season,
- 9:37Speaker 2: when they're supposed to be in a technical you know, rebuild,
- 9:40Speaker 2: they're going out and winning ball games and finding a
- 9:42Speaker 2: way to be finding a way to be competitive.
- 9:45Speaker 6: One of the things we talked about all the time
- 9:47Speaker 6: in twenty three was while on Earth of the Padres,
- 9:50Speaker 6: not winning the Padres in twenty two, went to went
- 9:54Speaker 6: to the break. It was basically Bryce Harper away from
- 9:57Speaker 6: going to the World Series. Was there anything you could
- 10:00Speaker 6: put your finger on from the twenty three Padres season
- 10:03Speaker 6: that like, why could they just not get it done?
- 10:06Speaker 5: Mark, Matt Carpenter comes to mind, Matt Carpenter, Coney.
- 10:14Speaker 1: You know, that was such a strange year.
- 10:16Speaker 2: It was one of those seasons where, you know, we
- 10:19Speaker 2: had everything we needed, The pieces were in the room.
- 10:23Speaker 1: And what was.
- 10:24Speaker 2: Really odd is if you look at like statistically, if
- 10:27Speaker 2: you were to look at that year, we had a
- 10:29Speaker 2: guy who won the sign on. Our pitching was elite,
- 10:33Speaker 2: our bullpen was great, our defense was great.
- 10:35Speaker 1: We had gold glovers all over the field.
- 10:37Speaker 2: Offensively, you know a lot of guys had good seasons
- 10:41Speaker 2: and put up numbers and it just didn't transfer to
- 10:44Speaker 2: the win column. For whatever reason it was, we just
- 10:47Speaker 2: never got on that role. It just felt like we
- 10:50Speaker 2: were constantly just grinding to try to find a way to.
- 10:53Speaker 1: Win a game. And you know, sometimes that happens.
- 10:58Speaker 2: You know, I wish I had the answer for you
- 11:01Speaker 2: of what exactly it was, but you know, it just
- 11:03Speaker 2: never clicked. We couldn't get hot like we thought we would.
- 11:07Speaker 2: I mean, it kind of started to show up at
- 11:09Speaker 2: the end of the season, but it was just a
- 11:10Speaker 2: little too late, and you know, disappointing season. But you
- 11:15Speaker 2: know that that organization, I mean, they're they are continually
- 11:19Speaker 2: getting better every year and you're seeing it right now
- 11:23Speaker 2: with the way that they're playing. It's been fun to watch,
- 11:26Speaker 2: uh Manny and Toddy in that group. Mike Schild is
- 11:29Speaker 2: doing a great job with them.
- 11:31Speaker 1: AJ.
- 11:32Speaker 2: You know, his ability to continue to get players in
- 11:34Speaker 2: that organization. AJ was just talking about it, you know,
- 11:37Speaker 2: a few minutes ago. So yeah, I don't know.
- 11:43Speaker 5: All right, let's go back to the Cardinals. Enough about
- 11:46Speaker 5: your time with the Padres. When they call you and
- 11:48Speaker 5: they say, Matt, we're gonna give you a red jacket.
- 11:51Speaker 5: Are you going to accept? Are you going to accept
- 11:53Speaker 5: the red jacket to the Cardinals Hall of Fame?
- 11:55Speaker 2: Well, wow, Well, if if that happens, I'm gonna have
- 11:59Speaker 2: a hard time saying no.
- 12:01Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, I think I would have.
- 12:02Speaker 5: I mean, if you don't think that's gonna happen, I mean,
- 12:04Speaker 5: there's very few players that were more loved when you
- 12:09Speaker 5: stepped into the Cardinals batter's box for the amount of
- 12:11Speaker 5: time you did, the amount of walks you took, the
- 12:13Speaker 5: amount of singles that you hit, and the amount of
- 12:15Speaker 5: times you got thrown out on the bases. Like Matt
- 12:17Speaker 5: Holiday used to say, Carp, you're not fast, So I
- 12:20Speaker 5: mean like you deserve it just for that alone.
- 12:24Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate I'm not sure if that was a
- 12:27Speaker 1: compliment or not, but I do.
- 12:30Speaker 2: I do appreciate it, uh man. I you know, I
- 12:33Speaker 2: loved my time in Saint Louis. I tried to do
- 12:36Speaker 2: my obviously my best every time I stepped on the field,
- 12:39Speaker 2: tried to wear that jersey is with pride and try
- 12:42Speaker 2: to give the Saint Louis fans you know what they deserved,
- 12:46Speaker 2: which was you know, players who got after it when
- 12:49Speaker 2: they got on the ball field. And you know, if
- 12:51Speaker 2: that happens, I'll be more than thrilled and extremely excited,
- 12:55Speaker 2: And obviously of course would say yes, all right.
- 13:00Speaker 6: Since AJ hasn't retired, he can't ask this question. But
- 13:03Speaker 6: since you retired, is there a story that you can
- 13:06Speaker 6: tell now that you're retired, you know the whole Like.
- 13:10Speaker 5: Well, I'm still playing. I don't know if I.
- 13:12Speaker 6: Can tell this story or not, or is there is
- 13:14Speaker 6: there a couple of stories that you can tell now
- 13:17Speaker 6: that you know what you're done.
- 13:21Speaker 2: Okay, well going on the base running, you know, just
- 13:26Speaker 2: to pivot to, you know, add on to what Aj
- 13:29Speaker 2: was just talking about. I'll tell you a story one
- 13:31Speaker 2: time with YACHTI and this was I don't know, it's
- 13:36Speaker 2: like like third or fourth year in the league, and I,
- 13:41Speaker 2: you know, in my mind thought I had, you know,
- 13:43Speaker 2: been playing pretty good to this point and felt like
- 13:47Speaker 2: I had kind of made my you know, name for
- 13:49Speaker 2: myself as a baseball player, and especially in our clubhouse.
- 13:53Speaker 2: And you know, Yati was a you know, AJ can
- 13:56Speaker 2: speak to this, a man of few words, but obviously incredibly.
- 14:01Speaker 1: Respected and feared for that matter.
- 14:05Speaker 2: And uh, I can't remember exactly what the play was,
- 14:10Speaker 2: but I had made some kind of base running mistake
- 14:14Speaker 2: in the in the game before and Yati comes up
- 14:19Speaker 2: to me and asked me, he said, hey, will you
- 14:21Speaker 2: come into the video room real quick?
- 14:22Speaker 1: I want to show you something.
- 14:23Speaker 2: And I completely forgot about what this play was or
- 14:27Speaker 2: so I had no idea what he wanted to talk
- 14:28Speaker 2: to me about. And he calls me into this video
- 14:33Speaker 2: room and he pulls up he pulls up some video
- 14:36Speaker 2: of some and it's like this highlight reel of all
- 14:39Speaker 2: the base running mistakes that I've made and like the
- 14:42Speaker 2: last I mean, who knows how how many games. And
- 14:46Speaker 2: he's like just he's not saying a word. He's just
- 14:49Speaker 2: clicking through them. And I'm standing over his shoulder and
- 14:51Speaker 2: he's just clicking through each one. And then it turns
- 14:55Speaker 2: around and he looks at me and he goes, you
- 14:58Speaker 2: are the worst base runner I have ever played with.
- 15:03Speaker 2: And I know, and I like looking at him and
- 15:07Speaker 2: I'm like, I can't tell if he's made serious or not.
- 15:09Speaker 2: And I'm like, no, you're not the worst. I go, surely,
- 15:14Speaker 2: I'm not the worst. Yeah, you played for a long time.
- 15:16Speaker 2: And he goes he turns around and he goes the worst,
- 15:19Speaker 2: and I was like, oh my goodness, this is bad.
- 15:22Speaker 2: I gotta get better.
- 15:24Speaker 5: See see it wasn't just Matt Holiday, it was other
- 15:28Speaker 5: people too. So see, maybe Matt Holiday does have a
- 15:31Speaker 5: future in this coaching thing. I mean, he's got two
- 15:33Speaker 5: kids that are both gonna go top five of the draft,
- 15:36Speaker 5: possibly one one. By the way, were playing Golden tea
- 15:38Speaker 5: when we were there. Just think about how old you
- 15:40Speaker 5: are carved that they were playing golden tea in the
- 15:42Speaker 5: clubhouse and now they're one of them in the big
- 15:44Speaker 5: leagues and the other is going to be probably the
- 15:45Speaker 5: first pick in the draft. All right, before we let
- 15:47Speaker 5: you go, we got to make a wager. I know
- 15:49Speaker 5: you love TCU and their little thing and they do
- 15:52Speaker 5: whatever whatever it is is this no, wait, is it
- 15:55Speaker 5: this this he signed? Oh yeah, where they shoot blood
- 16:00Speaker 5: out of their eyes, because that'll scare you. Who's gonna
- 16:02Speaker 5: win more football games this year? TCU or Florida?
- 16:06Speaker 1: Oh TCU, Oh coup on.
- 16:10Speaker 5: Than you? Yeah, I don't know. I've been to a
- 16:17Speaker 5: TCU game. I mean I've been on the field for
- 16:19Speaker 5: a tc I watched.
- 16:21Speaker 6: Get into those alligator arms one time. Pay Karp his money.
- 16:26Speaker 1: I don't know much about Florida. Are they going to
- 16:28Speaker 1: be good this year?
- 16:29Speaker 5: I mean, I mean they don't play in the Big twelve,
- 16:31Speaker 5: so they're gonna have a little bit of a tougher schedule.
- 16:34Speaker 1: So you know, I'll take that.
- 16:38Speaker 5: I don't know. We'll talk about it, but there's got
- 16:40Speaker 5: to be a wager we'll have you back on before
- 16:42Speaker 5: football starts and we'll come up with some sort of
- 16:44Speaker 5: a wager.
- 16:44Speaker 1: We'll put something on the line. I like that.
- 16:46Speaker 4: I like it too. Yes, he's got time. I was retired.
- 16:49Speaker 4: Can you guys can talk about this stuff all that?
- 16:53Speaker 3: Uh, carp that was a great story, by the way,
- 16:55Speaker 3: the Yaddy story, that's epic.
- 16:57Speaker 4: Appreciate the time, dude. Yeah, I would love to hear
- 16:59Speaker 4: more than you.
- 17:01Speaker 5: Had to be there and play with him and watch
- 17:03Speaker 5: just holiday in there and just get on him because
- 17:05Speaker 5: he would just think he was invisible. At times he
- 17:07Speaker 5: would just run and they're like, you're not a visible car.
- 17:09Speaker 5: If you can't just run to the next pace and
- 17:11Speaker 5: hope they don't see you.
- 17:13Speaker 1: I try to be aggressive. Sometimes it didn't work out.
- 17:17Speaker 4: Gotta take risks. Hey, an overall body of work. The
- 17:20Speaker 4: career worked out. So congrats on retirement.
- 17:22Speaker 2: Car.
- 17:23Speaker 4: Yeah, don't be a stranger. You would love to have
- 17:25Speaker 4: you back, man.
- 17:26Speaker 1: I appreciate it, guys, thanks for having me.