Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Are You Worried About The Cardinals Injuries?
Transcript
- 0:00What's up everybody? This is low hanging fruit.
- 0:02I am Charlie Marlow. That is Brendan Schaefer.
- 0:05Brendan, how you doing buddy? And we got some breaking news
- 0:09when it comes to Tommy Edmond. So first of all, how are you
- 0:12doing Brendan though? Oh, I'm doing.
- 0:15I mean, the doing couldn't be more done with where I am.
- 0:19Yeah, we're doing great. Great.
- 0:20OK, here's the news, Katie Wu. It's from 9:07.
- 0:25It's about an hour and a half ago.
- 0:26As we record here on a Thursday, Katie Wu tweets, Tommy Edmond
- 0:31has been shut down from hitting activities for a minimum of one
- 0:34week. He will not be cleared before
- 0:36opening day and will start the season on the injured list.
- 0:40Hashtag STL cards. I think we all kind of assume
- 0:43that, don't you think? Some of these is it.
- 0:46Prognosis, prognosi. Some of these, It's like I never
- 0:50expected Tommy Edmond to be on the Opening Day roster, but I
- 0:53guess this now solidifies it. When you say never, you mean
- 0:56like in December you didn't expect it, or like once we
- 1:00started learning about the setbacks, you kind of figured
- 1:03this is going to take a while. No, I knew all these things in
- 1:06December. OK, what I'm saying is, and
- 1:08look, we could start this podcast now with with the fact
- 1:12that in years past the Cardinals sometimes are too aggressive
- 1:15with with saying guys might be back if if you if you have the
- 1:20trifecta of Edmund Nuke bar, which happened after we recorded
- 1:24last week, and Sonny Gray. I don't anticipate any of them
- 1:29being on the opening day roster. Now they might miss a week or
- 1:32so, but to me it's early. The season hasn't even started.
- 1:36I don't expect any of those guys to start opening day on the
- 1:40roster. That's what I meant.
- 1:42Well, and I think you're right, like the the news that we just
- 1:45got from the reporters that are down in Jupiter about Edmond is
- 1:48not too surprising. It it is a little bit alarming.
- 1:51I think that the reason they can solidify in saying he's not
- 1:55going to be ready for opening day is that they're shutting him
- 1:57down again. He's not going to hit for
- 1:59another week and he never did progress to live pitching.
- 2:02It's not like he got to the last step of live pitching and he was
- 2:06feeling pain and they had to to go backward.
- 2:08He never even got that far along.
- 2:10And this is a surgically repaired wrist.
- 2:13Like he had the surgery to fix the issue.
- 2:16And he's dealing with a lot of inflammation.
- 2:18Ollie Marmel, I think his quote said something like they've got
- 2:21to let it cool all the way back down before ramping it back up.
- 2:24But every time they've tried to ramp it back up, it's barking at
- 2:27him. And I I don't.
- 2:28To me that says, hey, you've got a long term opening in center
- 2:32field, like that's the way you almost have to treat it.
- 2:34And anytime Tommy Edmond gets back in the first half of the
- 2:37season, it's a bonus. And that might sound a little
- 2:39bit, you know, alarmist, but I for me, mentally it's like,
- 2:43could it be June? Yeah, because until he gets to a
- 2:46point where he's actually progressing and not having this
- 2:48inflammation in this pain, it's impossible to say.
- 2:51New bar. I thought it was a little bit
- 2:53wild when they said initially we're still hopeful for opening
- 2:57day when you've got cracked ribs and that's typically an injury
- 3:01that's going to take a little bit longer to heal.
- 3:03And again, why at risk it because it's the beginning of
- 3:05the year. So I agree with you on new bar.
- 3:07I don't think he's on the open day roster either.
- 3:09We'll see if there's any little Nuggets that come out about him
- 3:12here in the next couple of days where we can get a better view
- 3:14of that. Sonny Gray is the one that I
- 3:16actually think does have a chance, but I wouldn't say it's
- 3:19a better than equal chance, but it's just dependent upon, like
- 3:22he's already back to throwing and throwing bullpens and things
- 3:24like that. So as long as he doesn't have
- 3:26another set back, I think you'll be kind of cutting it close.
- 3:29I expect him to be pitching in that first turn through the
- 3:31rotation. Maybe you just bump him back
- 3:34from Opening Day. That's kind of unless he has a
- 3:36set back where I'm thinking about it right now.
- 3:38But yeah, the outfielders in particular, I'm just, you don't
- 3:41know, especially with Tommy, Evan, You really don't know.
- 3:44And so we'll we'll roll this conversation into Victor Scott
- 3:48here momentarily. But I think it also speaks to
- 3:52you know we're all know it alls I I try to I try to always give
- 3:56the Cardinals the benefit of the doubt.
- 3:58But as we've talked about this outfield glut over the last
- 4:01couple years and let's be real this this could go back ten
- 4:04years in terms of just. I mean there's a lot going into
- 4:07that Oscar Taveras, Steven Pascotti, Randall Grichuk.
- 4:10But like the Cardinals have been really bad for about a decade on
- 4:15either choosing or finding or bad luck with their outfield.
- 4:19And what I'm trying to say is even after trading Palacios and
- 4:24Tyler O'Neill, I still kind of thought they they still have
- 4:28probably too many. You got Burleson, you got Dylan
- 4:32Carlson. And I think this does show all
- 4:34of us and and know it all's like me.
- 4:36Here we are. The season hasn't started.
- 4:39Newt is probably not going to be in the open day roster.
- 4:41God knows how long until Tommy Edmond.
- 4:44So you you never have as much as you think.
- 4:47I think with pitching we always know that.
- 4:50But this does show that because we're thinking OK, is Burleson
- 4:53now going to start the year as a starter in the outfield is Dylan
- 4:57Carlson Who? Let's be real.
- 4:59Nobody. Nobody I know is really high on
- 5:01Dylan Carlson. He might be your starting center
- 5:03fielder. Obviously we have Victor Scott,
- 5:05but I'm just saying you never have enough is my point.
- 5:07Yeah. And and that's kind of been the
- 5:09challenge too. When we say there's always a
- 5:11glut, it's like they've got too many and then they're not
- 5:15getting the most out of the ones that they have or they're
- 5:17choosing to prioritize the wrong ones without really knowing.
- 5:21Because like, you know, we certainly don't know.
- 5:23It's kind of their job to know and to get those decisions
- 5:25right. But they, you know, they're just
- 5:27trying to go on the best information and beliefs.
- 5:29And last year it was kind of, hey, Tyler, O'Neill's going to
- 5:32get sort of the benefit of the doubt to begin and let's see if
- 5:34he can make good on all those raw materials and and the the
- 5:37great tools that he has. And it didn't really come to
- 5:40fruition for him. And now you're coming into
- 5:42another year after as you mentioned, O'Neill is gone,
- 5:45Palacios is gone. So you've cleared the deck a
- 5:47little bit. You know Jordan Walker is going
- 5:49to be stationed in right field where you want him.
- 5:51But then the other two guys that you were planning on new Par and
- 5:54Edmond are at at best questionable for opening day in
- 5:58Dupar's case and in Edmonds case we now know he's not going to be
- 6:02there. So it is nice to have those
- 6:03other options and it makes us feel a little bit silly for
- 6:06three weeks ago going oh is Alec Burleson.
- 6:08I mean they signed Brandon Crawford I guess Alec Burleson's
- 6:10in Memphis. No he's probably in your opening
- 6:12day lineup in hitting in spring training like he deserves to be.
- 6:16So it's it's a good point to be made that we often times think
- 6:19we know everything and you know things happen and and it
- 6:23completely changes our scope of a vision on some of these deals
- 6:26within a matter of weeks as we've seen this spring.
- 6:29I agree. And I was one of those guys.
- 6:31But to be fair, it wasn't as much about Brandon Crawford as
- 6:35it was going back to Matt Carpenter.
- 6:37Because to me, you have the leadership guy with Crawford who
- 6:40also fills a need of backup shortstop.
- 6:44True, But Paul Goldsmith didn't ask for Brandon Crawford.
- 6:46He asked for Matt Carpenter. So.
- 6:48You know what? Yeah.
- 6:48What Goldie wants, Goldie gets. I I hear you.
- 6:51OK, so let's talk a little Victor Scott.
- 6:54So I always like to be honest with my audience.
- 6:57I I haven't been locked into every single game.
- 6:59But here we go. Well, I'm just being honest.
- 7:02Hey. So he's played.
- 7:03He's played Eleven games, 30 ABS, eight runs, eleven hits for
- 7:09Victor Scott. Four walks, 4 strikeouts, 4
- 7:12bags. Has stolen 4 bases.
- 7:14I'm in. Really nice start. 367 average,
- 7:17457 on base, 433 slug for an 890 OPS.
- 7:22It's the Grapefruit League. I do think for a guy like this
- 7:25who entering the year, I kind of look at him a little bit like I
- 7:30did Mason win last year. Well, let me let me change that.
- 7:34Mason win, I didn't think there was any chance he was going to
- 7:36make the opening day roster. So it is a little different.
- 7:40I think with injuries now and the fact that Victor Scott has
- 7:43had a really good spring so far, he has an opportunity and I
- 7:47think it's kind of the perfect opportunity for him.
- 7:50There shouldn't be a ton of pressure.
- 7:52This is because of injuries. Like they're not.
- 7:55They're not really counting on him because in theory, admin
- 7:59will be back. Newbar will be back pretty soon.
- 8:02But if he's good, if he's really good, he's going to play.
- 8:06So to me, it's a win, Win for Victor Scott.
- 8:09What do you think? Well, I I think, and I've said I
- 8:12think they should have him on the open day roster and that he
- 8:15should be the center fielder. Unless we see Dylan Carlson
- 8:18catch fire, which to be fair, he hit a home run yesterday.
- 8:21And if he starts to to put it together offensively, then I do
- 8:26think it's incumbent upon the Cardinals a little bit to say,
- 8:28look, we have sort of yanked this guy around.
- 8:31Yes. His ability to hit right-handed
- 8:33pitching is going to be everything for determining
- 8:36whether he can be an everyday guy and and someone we can rely
- 8:39upon or more of a of a, you know, short side of a platoon
- 8:42playing against left-handed pitching, which he's been able
- 8:45to handle historically. But if Dylan Carlson kind of
- 8:48doesn't have the spring that they're hoping to see and you
- 8:51know that Tommy Edmond is not necessarily coming around the
- 8:54corner very soon, new bar should should make it back before
- 8:57Edmond in my estimation. But he's supposed to play left
- 9:00field. Like the answer wasn't going to
- 9:01be, hey, we'll put new bar in center and Burleson and left.
- 9:04Like that's not the best version of your defense.
- 9:07I think if you're going to have Burleson and left, which it
- 9:09seems like he's he's hitting, which is good, and he's he's
- 9:12trimmed down, he worked on his defense.
- 9:14Is he going to be a plus left fielder?
- 9:16Probably not. But can he be close to league
- 9:17average? That's the hope.
- 9:19Can Jordan Walker, with all the work he's put in, be close to
- 9:21league average and right field? That's a hope.
- 9:23But if you have two hopes on either side of you, I am going
- 9:27to prioritize the guy that can track down any ball in the gap,
- 9:30that has great instincts, has great speed.
- 9:32Victor Scott to me is the answer.
- 9:34Defensively, he's a match for what they thought Tommy Edmond
- 9:37was supposed to be in stabilizing that defense for the
- 9:41pitching staff in center field. Dylan Carlson, I think could do
- 9:44that if he's playing confidently.
- 9:46And part of what I think Carlson's thing is, Ben is like
- 9:48when he's not confident and the team hasn't exactly instilled
- 9:51confidence in him. It's been kind of hit and miss
- 9:54with his production. So if if they think, hey, he's
- 9:57looking good at the end of spring, we really want to kind
- 9:59of throw him a bone and and maybe feed into his ability to
- 10:03show us the most of of what he can bring to the table.
- 10:06Maybe then you don't have an everyday role for Victor Scott
- 10:08and you don't kind of jump the gun on bringing him up.
- 10:11But if Carlson doesn't look like he's as good of an option for
- 10:15you in April as Victor Scott is to win baseball games, which I
- 10:18think is important because you don't want to get off to the 8
- 10:20and 19 start you had last year. Then Victor Scott would 100% be
- 10:24my guy. So yeah, I'm in a spot where I
- 10:26agree with you. He don't have to lead off.
- 10:27Look he's leading off in spring. People might be getting this a
- 10:29little bit confused. He's leading off in spring
- 10:31because they want every possible glance at him that they can get.
- 10:34They wanted to get the most at bats the most opportunities in
- 10:37the field. They want to see what it looks
- 10:39like. This is a a proving ground for
- 10:41Victor Scott and so that's what's happening.
- 10:43That's why he's leading off. That's why he's playing center
- 10:45field everyday or or whatever he's playing.
- 10:47That's where he is because they they want to see what that looks
- 10:49like. So for me that's kind of what it
- 10:51boils down to is they're definitely taking a hard look at
- 10:54this. It's going to be a 40 man roster
- 10:55decision. It's going to be, you know,
- 10:57start the clock, service time, all those things that
- 10:59historically we think the Cardinals are are trying to be
- 11:01hesitant to do. But if he helps, you win more
- 11:04games as an everyday player there than Dylan Carlson and you
- 11:07can platoon Carlson and Burleson and left, I think that makes a
- 11:11lot of sense for the Cardinals and trying to start on the right
- 11:14foot this year. And you can kind of do a little
- 11:17Jordan Walker from last year. You start him up, OK, what
- 11:21happens? Somebody comes back, you send
- 11:24him back down, you bring him back up.
- 11:26Oh, all of a sudden maybe then you do have the 7th year of of
- 11:30service time. But look, I I don't, I don't
- 11:33know that Victor Scott would be on the opening day roster even
- 11:36if he had a great spring. If not for injury, right?
- 11:39Like if Edmund and Newt were both healthy.
- 11:43Even if he's really, really good, he would he.
- 11:46Would make it an interesting conversation, don't get me
- 11:48wrong, but I don't think he makes the roster right.
- 11:50No, it wouldn't even be interesting.
- 11:51It would be a great comp to win from last year who had a great
- 11:54spring. And then he looked at the roster
- 11:56and it's like even with Paul Deyoung starting on the IL last
- 11:59year, there still wasn't any playing time for Mason.
- 12:02Win, right? And then Deyoung came back and
- 12:04it would have even been more impossible.
- 12:07A player like Victor Scott, 23 years old, regarded prospect,
- 12:11You want him to be playing every day wherever he is.
- 12:14So not only is it the injuries that open the door, it's it.
- 12:18It really is. To me, a lot of this is bakes
- 12:20into what Dylan Carlson is doing because if he's having a great
- 12:23spring, we're going OK. Obviously he's your center
- 12:25fielder and then the other outfielder that makes the team
- 12:29needs to be kind of 1/4 outfielder type who's maybe not
- 12:32a prospect that you're worried about or are we going to stunt
- 12:35his development by having him ride the bench 4 out of seven
- 12:38days? That's Michael Siani.
- 12:40Like that would make a lot of lot more sense if you trust
- 12:42Carlson as your everyday center fielder and and feel good about
- 12:45that going into the year. But if he's having a lackluster
- 12:49spring and Scott's having a great one, that would be the way
- 12:52that I would kind of view it and say look I I think Scott might
- 12:55give you a better chance to win today and for the next six
- 12:58weeks, however long it is that Edmonds out.
- 13:00And yeah, I don't think it's the end of the world if Victor Scott
- 13:03goes out there and has a 600 OPS and doesn't really thrive
- 13:07offensively as your 9 hole hitter and then has to go back
- 13:10to Memphis where he's never been.
- 13:11By the way, we say back to Memphis like Jordan Walker from
- 13:14last year he had, he's never played in Memphis so that's part
- 13:16of the risk in like elevating him so quickly.
- 13:19But if he has a 600 OPS and then goes to AAA to refine himself,
- 13:23how is that all too different from last year bringing up Mason
- 13:26win, his OPS is 470. And then you say he's our
- 13:30starting shortstop. Like nobody is thinking that
- 13:32they ruined Mason win by doing that.
- 13:34That's not the narratives that are around that player.
- 13:37They say, oh, we think he's a a smart kid, confident kid and
- 13:39he's going to figure it out like he always does when he reaches a
- 13:42new level. I kind of view the the kind of
- 13:45the the swagger, the the just the regard that Victor Scott has
- 13:49when he can think about the game and that the way that he's
- 13:52spoken about with regard to hit the head on his shoulders.
- 13:54I feel like he can put it all together and find the
- 13:57confidence, even if he doesn't immediately thrive in the big
- 14:00least and if he thrives well, then he's here to stay.
- 14:01And that would be a great thing for the Cardinals.
- 14:03Good problem to have. Yeah, I I hate to say it, but at
- 14:06this point I don't really have any expectations and I certainly
- 14:10don't have any positive expectations about Dylan
- 14:13Carlson. To me it's it's all he has to
- 14:15prove it. I know he's not having a good
- 14:16spring and I'm not saying that 100% matters, but I I do want to
- 14:20do the the next little segment here about in your opinion,
- 14:25which guys you think it does matter that they're good or bad
- 14:28and I'll start. So Mason Wynn, who we've already
- 14:31talked about, I do think that's a guy that you'd like to see
- 14:34better stats from in spring. And look, he's in 25 at bats, he
- 14:39struck out 10 times, you know, 200 average, 333 on base, 320
- 14:44slug. So again, I'm not, I'm not
- 14:46saying it's the end of the world, but but that is a player
- 14:48that I think would benefit from a nice camp.
- 14:51It's it's so far not so good. You mentioned Dylan Carlson,
- 14:56he's got a OPS of 620. Now here here's a guy where
- 14:59again I would put Alec Burleson in the same category of Mason
- 15:04Wynn of I think a good spring is more important for those type of
- 15:08guys. And as I said Mason win not so
- 15:11much. Alec Burleson is having a really
- 15:14good spring 400 average 471 on base, 567 slug OPS over 1000.
- 15:20He's got a Homer couple double s and and there you go the
- 15:24opportunity is there for him and it it probably would have been
- 15:27anyway in more of a bench type role.
- 15:30But this guy we've we've heard that the all the batted ball
- 15:33stats, despite some of the results, weren't there in the
- 15:35big leagues. But the Cardinals have always
- 15:37loved this guy. He's doing great and I think
- 15:40that is big for him. He's a guy where I think his
- 15:42spring numbers and his spring performance matters more than
- 15:46others. I definitely think it matters
- 15:48for Burleson because yes, now that there are two injuries to
- 15:50the outfield, there would have been an opportunity for him to
- 15:53be on the roster anyway. But they would have been trying
- 15:56to consider like, OK, are we putting Donovan in left field,
- 15:59which they still may do with Burley as DH.
- 16:01But either way, I think both those guys are going to be in
- 16:04the the opening day lineup and then maybe Burleson's a bench
- 16:07bat like you said, but he's forcing the issue.
- 16:09And last year the Cardinals gave him a lot of playing time where
- 16:12some fans were like who's this Burleson guy?
- 16:14Why are they so obsessed with Alec Burleson?
- 16:16And you you you look at the abets that he takes and I I do
- 16:20think it makes sense. He doesn't strike out a lot and
- 16:23he does put the ball in play there.
- 16:24There's a a really good hit tool there and he's worked hard in
- 16:28the offseason to kind of put his body in a in a good shape.
- 16:31He's trimmed down. Can he find a power stroke
- 16:34within that as well to go with the contact rate and then maybe
- 16:37have a little better luck? I mean, Alec Burleson was
- 16:39hitting balls to the wall last year that were just like
- 16:41highlight reel catches against him on like almost a nightly
- 16:44basis for a while it was kind of bizarre and and you just kind of
- 16:47throw your hands up. What can you do if you're Alec
- 16:49Burleson at that point? But I do think that there's a a
- 16:52good tool there to be had and he's a left-handed bat as well.
- 16:55The Cardinals have some mainstays in their line up that
- 16:57are right-handed like Arenado and Goldspit and Wilson
- 17:00Contreras and Jordan Walker. So having another guy like new
- 17:04bar would have been in that left field spot having Burleson there
- 17:06to kind of slide into that role. Is it another way to balance the
- 17:09line up really nicely, which some people say I don't care
- 17:11about just get hits, which is absolutely right.
- 17:14But if you're a lefty that does often give you a a nice edge
- 17:16against right-handed pitching, which is what you're
- 17:18predominantly going to see. And then I do think it works out
- 17:21nicely for a platoon because he he's a lefty bat and then Dylan
- 17:25Carlson who's better against lefty pitchers can kind of slide
- 17:29in, which is why I think earlier this week when we saw Scott and
- 17:32center and Dylan Carlson and left.
- 17:34But that was kind of interesting, maybe a little bit
- 17:36of a a signal from the Cardinals that like yeah, they're they're
- 17:38wanting to see what this looks like and consider that that
- 17:41could be an alignment that we actually see during the season.
- 17:44I I think Victor Scott is definitely getting that type of
- 17:46consideration. OK let's switch over to the
- 17:49pitching side and again I'll just throw some stats out there
- 17:52and and guys that I think again for some it matters more than
- 17:56others. Zach Thompson is having a nice
- 17:58spring. I think it matters more for him.
- 18:01Matthew Libator so so 6. ERAI did watch his first outing.
- 18:06I still I like him in the bullpen.
- 18:08I'm not saying he can never be a starter, but to me, I just think
- 18:11he trends better out of the pen in terms of starting pitching.
- 18:15We know what's going on with Sonny Gray.
- 18:18Miles Michalis is having a nice spring.
- 18:20Basically. Everybody else in your starting
- 18:22rotation, not so good. Kyle Gibson pushing a 13, ERA
- 18:26Steven Matz at a 12. I mean, this is only three
- 18:29innings, so I'm not going crazy. Lancelin, what has he got one
- 18:32inning? So I'm sorry.
- 18:35No, you're right. He's only pitched.
- 18:37A little bit like 2 innings. Yeah, so Lancelin, 2 innings, 18
- 18:41ERA. I'm not going crazy about any of
- 18:44those, but it's not a good start for for a lot of the starters.
- 18:47So what do you think of the guys I mentioned or some other folks
- 18:50you think were? Maybe it matters more so to have
- 18:52a good camp for a for a guy. We'll talk about the the
- 18:55performances, but first you bring up Lance Lynn.
- 18:58Did you see Angel Hernandez ejected Lance Lynn from his
- 19:01spring training start? Like, is that not the most
- 19:04classic Angel Hernandez thing ever?
- 19:06And then because Lynn So the deal with Lynn is he has worked
- 19:09his way up to a pitch count on the back fields, which Ollie has
- 19:13described. That's just the way he prefers
- 19:14to do it. It worked out for the Cardinals
- 19:16because they could showcase Thompson and Libby Moore as they
- 19:19kind of try to figure out who's going to be that that next man
- 19:21up in the rotation. And so it worked out for
- 19:23everybody. But now he gets his chance to
- 19:25actually pitch in a great fruit league game and he is ejected
- 19:29from that game and then goes out to the bullpen to try and
- 19:32continue because he needs to get to his pitch count.
- 19:34Like that's still work he needs to do.
- 19:36And Angel Hernandez, like goes out there and says no, you can't
- 19:39throw in the bullpen. I've ejected you from the game.
- 19:41So Ollie Marmo gets ejected and they like, walk off the field
- 19:44together. Ollie and Lance Lynn with his
- 19:46glove on his head, that's that was classic.
- 19:50So I don't know if you had any thoughts about that, but I
- 19:52thought it was pretty good. OK, I did see that.
- 19:55And even though I do think Angel Hernandez is horrible, I
- 19:57actually liked, I liked that because it was interesting and
- 20:00it's such an Angel Hernandez thing to do.
- 20:03And Lancelin is also like the one ornery guy that he would do
- 20:06it too. And then of course, we all know
- 20:07these are exhibition games and the guys have to get their work.
- 20:10And hey, by the way, again, I, I, I like to be 100% honest, in
- 20:15terms of not watching all these games, do guys still run their
- 20:18poles during the game, 'cause that was something growing up.
- 20:21I always laughed at that during the spring training games.
- 20:25You would have dudes getting the pitchers, getting their work in
- 20:28and running polls during the game, which I always found funny
- 20:32because we all know that on the back fields there's just tons of
- 20:36fields and space. Do they still do that?
- 20:39I don't think I've seen anybody doing that on a field during a
- 20:42game or or in the in the stadium, no.
- 20:45But you remember that right back in the day?
- 20:46Vaguely. I mean, my day was maybe
- 20:48different than your day, Charlie.
- 20:49So I don't know if it's a little bit of a age gap there, you
- 20:52know? How old are you?
- 20:5429 I'll turn 30 this summer. Oh, nice.
- 20:58OK, so I'm 41. I'll be 42, you'll be 30.
- 21:01So I'm so I'm 12 years old. 1000 years man.
- 21:05That is, you know what, we are kind of different.
- 21:07We are kind of different generations.
- 21:09I'm a millennial, So what are you?
- 21:10What are you? I don't know if I'm tail end of
- 21:12millennials or the beginning of whatever the next thing is.
- 21:15I don't believe in generations either.
- 21:17So that's like a whole other thing because like, what are you
- 21:21like? Well, if they tell me I'm the
- 21:22same thing as you, I'd say no. There's a lot of differences in
- 21:25US growing up a dozen years apart in age, and so it's kind
- 21:29of hard to group it that way. That's a podcast for another
- 21:31day. I'm sure you have a channel with
- 21:33all with all your channels you have a a channel where that
- 21:35podcast would go. Well, I have discussed this
- 21:38before. I agree with you in this sense
- 21:41sometimes, and we'll go off on a quick tangent.
- 21:44Sometimes, like millennials, they've cut it off where it
- 21:47starts at 1980, which I don't think it makes any sense because
- 21:50I was born in 82. My older brother Sam was born in
- 21:5479. So technically he's in a
- 21:56different generation. But but we had the exact same
- 22:00upbringing because it shouldn't be based on arbitrary years, it
- 22:04should be based on technological advances.
- 22:07And to me, I didn't grow up with a smartphone or social media.
- 22:11That was the big change. That was the disruption.
- 22:14So myself and my older brother are way more like growing up
- 22:19than folks who were maybe five years younger than me but had a
- 22:22smartphone and had Facebook, let's say, in their teenage
- 22:26years. Right.
- 22:27And I just googled it. It says 81 to 96 is millennial,
- 22:30I'm 94. So they would say, yeah, we're
- 22:32both in the same, but like you said, you and I had completely
- 22:35different upbringings regarding you know what was going on in
- 22:38the world, technology being a big thing there.
- 22:40So that's that's Exhibit A of why I'm like, I don't even pay
- 22:44attention when people ask the generation question, 'cause I'm
- 22:46like, it's all fake, they just made it up.
- 22:48OK, so this might have gone out of style 10 years ago and I
- 22:51forgot, but people who are watching this, this podcast or
- 22:54listening will remember that back in the day in Grapefruit
- 22:57League games, the pitchers used to run polls on the warning
- 23:01track during the games. That was a thing.
- 23:04I just don't remember when it stopped.
- 23:06Right. Yeah, I don't really remember
- 23:07it. It might be one of those things
- 23:09where, like I say, Oh yeah, I remember it just because I've
- 23:11heard somebody talk about it. But did I ever actually see it?
- 23:14I don't know that I did. I don't know.
- 23:17On that note, what were we talking about?
- 23:20Because I don't. Remember.
- 23:21No. I remember you asked me about
- 23:22the pitchers, kind of you. You read their box scores, which
- 23:25is really enthralling. I'm glad you did that.
- 23:27And then I was going to and then I was going to say what I
- 23:31thought about those guys. So Lance Lynn, whatever, I think
- 23:35he's going to be what he's going to be almost regardless of
- 23:37spring performance. And like you said, so minimal of
- 23:40what we've seen, partially thanks to Angel Hernandez that
- 23:42it's hard to draw any conclusions.
- 23:45It'd be nice to see some good things from Steven Mats, I
- 23:48think, but the main thing is getting him healthy and and
- 23:50having him be healthy when the season begins.
- 23:53But you remember the beginning of last year, he pitched so
- 23:55poorly that they took him out of the rotation, so having results
- 23:58for him would be kind of nice to see.
- 24:00I don't know. The one I want to ask you about
- 24:01is Kyle Gibson. He's been getting kind of
- 24:03shelled into oblivion just a little bit.
- 24:06His first outing was like back-to-back homers against the
- 24:09Nationals, and that was how he began his Grapefruit League with
- 24:13the Cardinals. So his ERA is to the roof.
- 24:16I get it. Are you worried about that for a
- 24:18guy that's 36 years old and also like had kind of a high ERA last
- 24:22year, so you kind of with what you're getting with Kyle Gibson,
- 24:25it's like he will throw 30 plus starts, his ERA will be 5 and
- 24:29that is what you were getting. And that's kind of what the
- 24:32Cardinals paid him to do. I don't think they paid Kyle
- 24:34Gibson thinking he's suddenly going to be like a 3 1/2 ERA guy
- 24:38this year. That wouldn't have been
- 24:39particularly prudent, and I know that's probably part of why
- 24:42Cardinals fans were underwhelmed by the offseason and what they
- 24:45did in the rotation, because they they sensed the lack of
- 24:48upside and more like, OK, stability on the floor.
- 24:52That's great, but this doesn't feel good if a guy's going to go
- 24:54out and and and get beat up every fifth day.
- 24:57So what are you worried about, Kyle Gibson?
- 24:59I'm going to, I'm going to just kind of shove the question in
- 25:01your direction because I don't really have a great read on how
- 25:05I should feel about this right now.
- 25:06OK, my my short answer is is kind of, and here's why I think
- 25:11I think you'll appreciate this as a fantasy baseball guy.
- 25:15I think sometimes you can think about these pitchers in terms of
- 25:19fantasy baseball, and I usually think of this with guys in the
- 25:24postseason. I think about it.
- 25:26Do I feel good about that guy starting a postseason game?
- 25:30I kind of think about it in the fantasy lens.
- 25:33There are guys that you're going to start no matter what.
- 25:35There are guys that suck. There are guys in the middle and
- 25:39sometimes you have to start them, but you know there's a
- 25:42very good chance they could give up 7 urn runs.
- 25:45And I was trying to Google this right as you're asking my
- 25:48question because I I knew what you're getting to.
- 25:51I also have this image in my head.
- 25:52I think it was a couple years ago.
- 25:54Didn't Kyle Gibson give up an insane amount of homers
- 25:57consecutively? Was it?
- 25:59Four he might have. And all I'm saying is I'm not
- 26:04trying to knock Kyle Gibson. I think he's a very nice, solid
- 26:08middle to end of the rotation pitcher at this point, his
- 26:10career. I think with a guy like that,
- 26:13there's going to be some games where he gives it up, like prom
- 26:17night. I think there's going to be some
- 26:18games where he's good. But correct me if I'm wrong, I
- 26:21was trying to see it. No, you're not wrong.
- 26:23It happened against Cardinals too, OK.
- 26:25So yeah, what what what was it? Nolan Arnado, Nolan Gorman, Juan
- 26:29Yepez and Dylan Carlson or the history making crew is each
- 26:32connected for a long ball against Philly starter Kyle
- 26:35Gibson. That was July of 2022, beginning
- 26:38of July 22nd, you know. It's funny, I I forgot it was
- 26:41the Cardinals. I figured it was two years ago.
- 26:43Maybe that's implanted in my brain that if any guy can give
- 26:46up four straight homers I'm never I'm sorry I'm never going
- 26:50to feel just really great. So I I don't know like I don't
- 26:55have, I don't have high expectations.
- 26:57If Lynn, Matt, Michaelis and and Gibson.
- 27:03If their ER As are all around 4/4 and 1/2, I think that's OK.
- 27:08I I don't know if that guarantees.
- 27:10I don't know if that guarantees him a playoff spot.
- 27:12If Sonny Gray, if his ERA is closer to three, if everybody
- 27:16else gives you healthy starts and you're around 4 to 4 1/2.
- 27:21I think the Cardinals can sneak in.
- 27:23So I don't know if I answered your question.
- 27:25I just think, I think Kyle Gibson is who he is.
- 27:28He had a really nice win loss record last year.
- 27:30I don't think his win loss record will be the same, but he
- 27:33very well could be the same kind of pitcher which is 4.
- 27:37ERA gives you innings, nice, solid, dependable guy, but you'd
- 27:41never feel great starting him in a post season game.
- 27:44Is that fair? Yeah, and I think the ERA was
- 27:47closer to five, right? Like 4.7 was the ERA last year.
- 27:50It's kind of he's like 4645 for his career.
- 27:53That's kind of around what he is.
- 27:54And so I agree with the sentiment he's going to be what
- 27:56he is, but that is going to maybe mean some of those games
- 28:00are going to be like 6 innings and six runs.
- 28:02Like he might get the innings you were looking for.
- 28:04But that's how the ERA balloons. But if that's the case, there
- 28:07should also be a hefty dose of 6 innings, two runs that are that
- 28:12are games you're going to feel good about and he can get a win
- 28:14in those games if the offense does its job.
- 28:16So like that's that's going to be one that's interesting.
- 28:19And then with other guys like Lance Lynn, I'm going to want to
- 28:22know like what's his velocity at?
- 28:24Because he throws only fastballs predominantly.
- 28:27And so if the velocity is solid, you're like, OK, you know, this
- 28:31can work. But if the velocity is 89 and
- 28:34and he's only throwing fastballs, you're like he's
- 28:36going to really have to mix his pitches well and hit his spots
- 28:38or they're going to be days where he sort of gets gets
- 28:41beaten up a little bit. So there is risk there.
- 28:43With this cardinal rotation, I don't think there's the
- 28:46perception of a ton of upside. And so I think that's why
- 28:49Cardinals fans are a little bit, you know, they're feeling a
- 28:52little bit iffy about things And I get that the way they've built
- 28:55this team. And and I think you're right, if
- 28:57they're all four, even if all four of them pitch 30 times in
- 29:00our 4.5 URA, I still think that can be enough because I I do
- 29:04have faith in the bullpen to be pretty good.
- 29:06But then you're going to have to say is this offense top ten, top
- 29:08eight or top five. Like it might have to be top
- 29:11five and with the health issues that could be a question as
- 29:14well. So there before we even get to
- 29:17game one, I do feel like they're teetering a little bit like
- 29:20today. How many wins would you predict?
- 29:22I think we've always been in that mid 80s kind of range, but
- 29:25have have the injuries and the way this has started taking you
- 29:28to a lower number or have the issues for the rest of the NL
- 29:32Central made you go. This is just going to end up
- 29:35with the Cardinals finding a way to get there.
- 29:37How do you lean on that, I guess?
- 29:39Well, and and we'll get the Devin Williams thing, because
- 29:41that wraps into what you said. I still am right around.
- 29:44I think Pakoda might have it right now with the 85.
- 29:47But again, to me, remember, like everything can change at the
- 29:51trade deadline. Everything can change.
- 29:53If you suck, you're going to suck more.
- 29:55If you're in it all of a sudden, that could be 90 if they add to
- 30:00me. I just have a real hard time
- 30:03with this Cardinals team because I think one of the one of the
- 30:07things is they're never bad. And they were bad last year and
- 30:10you wonder were they really that bad?
- 30:12I've said a million times, you never start Wayno in any of
- 30:15those games. They didn't care for the
- 30:16second-half basically after the trade deadline the last couple
- 30:21months. So I I still am probably 8485.
- 30:25I do think these injuries chip away a little bit here and
- 30:28there, but again, if they're in it at the deadline, they
- 30:31probably add a starter and they add a reliever and then 8889
- 30:34wins wouldn't surprise me. What I was going to say, though,
- 30:39is is you brought this up with the pitching staff and I think
- 30:42this is interesting and I think this could make Ollie Marmol's
- 30:45job a lot easier. I think last year was the
- 30:48perfect storm where the pitching sucked and so Ollie had to make
- 30:53all these tough decisions, especially early in the game,
- 30:57and we would critique them. But it's never a good decision.
- 31:00If you're oh, should I pull this guy in the fourth?
- 31:02Well, it's because the guy sucks.
- 31:04I also think Ollie maybe is a little too by the book for me.
- 31:08I think there could be a little more feel there and and this is
- 31:12him just learning to be a big league manager after a couple
- 31:14years. So you brought up that there's
- 31:17going to be some games where Gibson and probably Lynn, they
- 31:19go six, they allow five more. Hell, maybe in a bad game it's
- 31:24six, but maybe the game is 5, four at that .65, whatever it
- 31:28is. And I think it makes sense for
- 31:31Ollie to let those guys pitch their six.
- 31:34I think that takes a lot of tough decisions off Ollie's
- 31:37plate. Hopefully you're still in these
- 31:39games. If you're down a run and you let
- 31:41Lynn leave the game and it's 54 or 43, whatever it is, you still
- 31:46have a lot of time to to make it up.
- 31:48And I think that makes Ollie's decision making better if you
- 31:52allow these veteran pitchers to throw their six innings, even if
- 31:55their ER As are going to be 4.6. Yep.
- 31:58And they can they can yell at me if I'm speaking for them and I'm
- 32:01wrong about this. But I think that's exactly how
- 32:03they view it. Like that's precisely nail on
- 32:06the head exactly how they see it in last year and I can't
- 32:09remember even when I asked Ollie this question.
- 32:11I think it was somewhere in the offseason and it was to the and
- 32:14I and I forget specifically what his answer was, but I remember
- 32:17sort of the gist of it, which was like you had those sorts of
- 32:21decisions last year and you you did tend to pull guys early with
- 32:24with some level of frequency. Does part of that decision
- 32:29process have to do with knowing the pictures and and kind of
- 32:32believe in what you can get out of them and how does that
- 32:35compare to now you have these guys who were kind of trumpeting
- 32:38as their workhorses. They go 6-7 like that's what
- 32:41they're built to do. That's what they're expected to
- 32:44do. They know that and they they
- 32:45embrace that. And he basically was like, Yep,
- 32:47that's exactly it. Like, that's that's why you
- 32:50couldn't necessarily do it with last year's group, because look
- 32:53at last year's group. Look at the players he had on
- 32:55that rotation. Even guys like Jack Flaherty,
- 32:58who right now is looking great with Detroit and spring.
- 33:00But he wasn't that last year. He was talking about the art of
- 33:02pitching and throwing 91 like that.
- 33:05They didn't have the guys where you want a manager to let him
- 33:09go, right? And inevitably, on a Tuesday in
- 33:12June, there's going to be a guy who's going well and he throws 5
- 33:16and he's at 82 pitches, but his track records not great.
- 33:20And so when Ollie pulls him, because the third time through
- 33:23the orders coming up and he's got bad numbers analytically
- 33:26against that handedness of batters, and they're 123 of the
- 33:29opposing lineup and they make that move, fans go crazy because
- 33:33they they don't maybe have the bullpen covers to do it.
- 33:35He was damned if he did, damned if he didn't last year.
- 33:37That's kind of my view on it, because the bullpen wasn't quite
- 33:40good enough to cover for the starters that just weren't going
- 33:43very deep, and the starters weren't good enough to be
- 33:45trusted to go much deeper because they just weren't
- 33:48consistently getting the job done.
- 33:49So I completely agree that that's a big crux of what the
- 33:53Cardinals are hoping they're going to be allowed to do this
- 33:56year. But these pitchers have to do it
- 33:58like they They gave him 12,000,013 million bucks apiece
- 34:01to do it. Can Lynn and Gibson do that?
- 34:04Can they actually, in practice, make that happen and make that,
- 34:07make that easier on all the normal by pitching through some
- 34:11of the the issues that they might encounter early in games
- 34:13and getting you into the 7th inning despite having given up
- 34:16four or five runs? Like, that's going to be the
- 34:18test of whether this model that they've built for the 2024
- 34:21season actually works. Yeah, I know you and I have
- 34:24quasi debated this once before, but I do want to.
- 34:27Say. No, that in terms of what he
- 34:32gave the Cardinals. I know he sucked with the
- 34:34Orioles once he was traded, but to me, Jack Flaherty's numbers
- 34:39in production with the Cardinals weren't much different than what
- 34:42Kyle Gibson did. I understand that Flaherty was
- 34:45bad once he was traded, but like Flaherty, they kind of had the
- 34:51same numbers. I know Gibson had a great win
- 34:54loss record last year, but in terms of kind of what what you
- 34:58got, that's why I just, I always like to wonder like how much
- 35:01better did they get? If you are, you're essentially
- 35:04trading, I've said this 1000 times I'll go quick, but you're
- 35:08you're kind of replacing Monty with Sonny Gray, which I think
- 35:11is fair. You're kind of replacing Kyle
- 35:13Gibson. Excuse me?
- 35:15Jack Flirty with Kyle Gibson. And then Wayno was horrible.
- 35:17Let's, let's be honest, we all love Wayno, but he was horrible.
- 35:20And you're replacing him with Lance Lynn, who could be pretty
- 35:22good. So there's the big upgrade, in
- 35:25my opinion. Yeah, and I think that is, is
- 35:28accurate. And I've looked at this before,
- 35:30too, when it comes to Flaherty versus Kyle Gibson.
- 35:34Because, all right, the the, the thing with Flaherty was he had
- 35:38several games last year, and I'm trying to make sure which of
- 35:41them were with the Cardinals, because some of them were with
- 35:42the Orioles. But several games where he would
- 35:45not get you through five innings, like at least that it
- 35:48feels like at least a handful, maybe more with the Cardinals,
- 35:51where he was not, you know, he was getting shelled and he was
- 35:54also not able to get you deeper in the game.
- 35:57So I was like, well, I wonder how often Kyle Gibson had that.
- 35:59And you kind of go back and look and it's like, well, he had
- 36:03maybe a similar number, maybe not quite as many instances of
- 36:06that as Flaherty over the full season, but it's going to happen
- 36:10to him at times too. So that's where I think it is a
- 36:12little bit interesting that I don't know that you got a ton
- 36:15better. Ideally, Kyle Gibson goes out
- 36:16there and he's the best version of himself.
- 36:18He's had years where he's been much better than he was last
- 36:21year. But generally he's going to kind
- 36:22of hover around what he's always been.
- 36:25I think you're right, though, Lance Lynn replacing way.
- 36:27No, Lynn could be there too. I mean, we'll see what Michael
- 36:31has ends up doing. I just think there's more upside
- 36:33for Lynn if he's on to strike guys out, which is always going
- 36:35to make your life easier as a pitcher.
- 36:37And so he could end up being, yeah, a little bit better than
- 36:41Michael. It's like I'm thinking again
- 36:42about that playoff rotation. But there's the other side where
- 36:44if Lynn's velocity is not there and he's, you know, not able to
- 36:48to dot up his pitches and his spots the way he needs to, he
- 36:50could be your your five that you're going me.
- 36:53And this is kind of the guy that we we saw him be last year and
- 36:56we signed him anyway, Like very, very wide range of outcomes.
- 36:59I feel like for Lynn, and obviously for Matt's too,
- 37:01because we've seen various versions of him went healthy
- 37:04over the last couple of years. Yeah, and I don't want to
- 37:07belabor this point, but also with Flaherty, I do think there
- 37:10was the one outing, and I just found it here against the Angels
- 37:13where he gave him a 10 spot, he gave a 10 spot, two and a third.
- 37:17So also I think I'm I'm not saying I'm, I'm gonna do a Steve
- 37:20Spagnola. If you take away the 85 yard
- 37:23touchdown run, you can't take that out.
- 37:25But that particular outing absolutely destroyed his ERA.
- 37:28It's kind of like, remember the Randy Choate game years ago
- 37:30where, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, he threw.
- 37:32He threw one inning for every game.
- 37:34But then like one game Mike Matheny left him in and he gave
- 37:37up eight. And his ERA never recovered for
- 37:39the rest of his life. Yes, that.
- 37:41That is pretty much what happened.
- 37:43I'm right. When, when was that the the game
- 37:45against the Angels was in May. It was early.
- 37:48Yeah. Flaherty's ERA was like sub four
- 37:51before that game and he spent the rest of the year trying to
- 37:54get it back down, so I don't know what.
- 37:55Look at this. The number would have been.
- 37:57I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt, but look, look at who
- 38:00wrote the article. That was you.
- 38:02Wait, my my ring light is. Oh yeah, Schaefer.
- 38:05OK, Brendan Schaefer. Oh, that is Brendan Schaefer.
- 38:09KMOV. I'll take your.
- 38:10Word for it. No.
- 38:11It says Cardinals suffer second consecutive sweep as angels
- 38:14bombard Flaherty for ten runs. That was by Brendan Schaefer on
- 38:18May 4th of 2023 at 3:59 PM Central Time, he posted.
- 38:23That article, that was a that was a tough one.
- 38:26That was a rough one. OK, so all right, let's move on
- 38:28from that. And Devin Williams, St.
- 38:31Louis area guy, Hazelwood. I've talked to him multiple
- 38:35times. Great dude.
- 38:36I remember doing a story on him when he was drafted at his
- 38:38workout facility. I think that was 2013.
- 38:40I talked to him a couple years ago when I was still in TV.
- 38:43Did a nice interview, cool guy. Bad news for him.
- 38:46Jeff Passan's tweet from what? Last night?
- 38:49So Devin Williams, two stress fractures in his back, expected
- 38:52to miss around three months. Sources tell ESPN Williams
- 38:55pitched through back soreness in September, but it returned
- 38:58earlier this spring. He'll rehab and should return by
- 39:00mid season. And again, it's just it sucks,
- 39:03'cause we like Devin Williams and you want to see.
- 39:05I mean, he's amazing. His change up is just absolutely
- 39:08sick. Yeah, so.
- 39:09But also, it's the Brewers. You just keep nicking away.
- 39:12Corbin Burns already traded. You have amazing closer, one of
- 39:15the best relievers in baseball with Devin Williams.
- 39:18I mean, are the Brewers going to be there now when they have
- 39:21another big time injury? The Central, It's kind of always
- 39:24there for the taking for the Cardinals.
- 39:26And it looks like, you know, Cardinals, Cubs.
- 39:27We'll see if the Reds make a step.
- 39:29But the Cardinals, I feel like, will at least just fall into
- 39:32second place, at least based on just the other team's rosters.
- 39:35Yeah, I mean, we kind of thought that last year though, too.
- 39:37But I I agree, like that should be the way that it shakes out.
- 39:40And I would have had, I don't know, Milwaukee's the toughest
- 39:42team to figure because I think mentally everybody's looking at
- 39:45the Corbin Burns trade and going, oh, oh, they're basically
- 39:48tanking. They're giving it up.
- 39:50I think that was more isolated to they didn't think they could
- 39:52sign Burns. They were right.
- 39:54He was pissed at him from the arbitration stuff and they
- 39:56probably want to pay him what he was going to cost anyway.
- 39:58So they made the trade, got what they could for him.
- 40:01But really the rest of their roster is someone intact.
- 40:03They've got Jackson Churio that they gave the the big contract
- 40:07to, that's he's never played a game, but he's going to his top
- 40:10prospect for them. They signed Reese Hoskins, which
- 40:12I think is an underrated AD at first base.
- 40:14So, like, I think they're going to be OK.
- 40:16I would have had them, you know, 81 to 82 wins, maybe with Devin
- 40:19Williams. So maybe they're like 79.
- 40:21I don't know. They've got, they really do a
- 40:24nice job, though, of producing random relievers that you didn't
- 40:26know were good until you look up and they've got, you know, 50
- 40:29strikeouts in 30 innings. You're like, who's this guy?
- 40:32So I I think they're going to still be like, in that soft
- 40:35cushy around 500. The Reds, as we've talked about,
- 40:38are to me very dependent on the young pitchers that are going to
- 40:41line their rotation, stepping up and and kind of taking that next
- 40:44step. I think the Reds are still going
- 40:46to be threatening and then the Cubs, you know they're going to
- 40:48be right in that range too. I think all four teams are
- 40:51really close and it's great that Pakoda says Cardinals are at
- 40:5484.6. Everybody else is between like
- 40:56787981. That's nice that that makes you
- 41:00feel good going into the season. But I really don't know that
- 41:03there is that level of separation until the Cardinals
- 41:05show it on the field. There's they did lose 90 some
- 41:07odd games last year, so they they got to figure that out.
- 41:11OK. So because you mentioned Corbin
- 41:14Burns, I want to make sure that that Burns looks like he did
- 41:19change to being a Scott Boris guy last last March.
- 41:25And so I had this conversation earlier today.
- 41:28I was on Hot Take Central of course, which you're also a part
- 41:30of 590 The Fan, 590 thefan.com. And we were kind of talking
- 41:34about the need for the Cardinals to to add that front end pitcher
- 41:40with Sonny Gray and how you how you get it.
- 41:43And we started the conversation with Dylan Cease because
- 41:45obviously Dylan Cease gets traded to the Padres.
- 41:49There was a lot of talk of the Cardinals potentially being
- 41:51interested in Dylan Cease. And my thought was, well, if you
- 41:54don't get a Dylan Cease or a Logan Gilbert, you know what's
- 41:59the market look like next year. And I thought it was actually
- 42:02worse than it is. There's more names than I
- 42:04thought but but look, Blake Snell.
- 42:08Jordan Montgomery. This was a pretty good class.
- 42:10Those guys are still available. Obviously.
- 42:12This was a pretty good class of of pitchers out there with with
- 42:15Yamamoto with Aaron Nola who didn't leave.
- 42:17But Shohei Otani, so next year. So, so Shane Bieber.
- 42:22I'm not giving him a big contract with what I've seen for
- 42:25him as he's aging strikeouts down velocity down.
- 42:28What not Corbin Burns strikes me as the guy who's going to get
- 42:31the absolute biggest amount of money.
- 42:32Boris guy. He's not, to me, a Cardinals
- 42:35match. Max Freed is the guy that kind
- 42:38of we always do. This feels like a Cardinal.
- 42:40Everybody else, how about, you know, Kyle Hendricks feels like
- 42:44a Cardinal. Then there's all the older guys
- 42:46with the opt outs and Max Scherzer's there.
- 42:50Doesn't it make sense? Doesn't it feel like Max
- 42:51Scherzer finally ends up with the Cardinals when he's, you
- 42:53know, 44 years old? Whatever it is, if he's healthy,
- 42:56he certainly might. He's out till mid season or
- 43:00whatever it is. But that's possible.
- 43:02Like I don't know if he's going to be wanting to still pitch.
- 43:05Depends on how this year goes probably for him, I could see
- 43:09it. Kyle Hendricks feels very
- 43:10Cardinals because he's 34, so that that goes right in line
- 43:13with what you're looking for. So Reed would be the one that's
- 43:17interesting and also like he's good and and not yes, so you
- 43:21could see a long good term deal. Right.
- 43:23That's the one. Like, I almost feel like it's
- 43:25funny you say Kyle Hendricks, but to me, Kyle Hendricks is
- 43:27going to replace either Lynn or Gibson.
- 43:30So if if they were to get Kyle Hendricks.
- 43:32This is to me, said state of affairs, but keep going.
- 43:34Oh, it is. But my my point was if the
- 43:38Cardinals, in my opinion, really want to win in the next 2-3
- 43:41years, whatever it is, and of course they want to win.
- 43:43But to be able to win, I think you got to match somebody with
- 43:46Sonny Gray. And I don't think there's any
- 43:48chance of Corbin Burns and you know, Garrett Cole has an opt
- 43:52out Verlander vesting option. You know, Walker Bueller, Ace
- 43:56like he's always hurt. Again, Max Freed is the one that
- 43:59jumps out, and I'm just throwing that out there.
- 44:01There's a bunch of names, but eventually the Cardinals need 2
- 44:05front end guys and it's really hard to get the other one.
- 44:09But Dylan Cease was moved, so we can't we can't say anymore.
- 44:12Oh, he wasn't traded. He was moved.
- 44:14And I saw what the top prospect was.
- 44:16It like #85. I know they gave up four guys,
- 44:19but. The headliner was Drew Thorpe.
- 44:22But what you have to realize is the Cardinals don't have a Drew
- 44:25Thorpe. You can't look at #85 and go
- 44:27well the Cardinals have somebody above #85 so they should have
- 44:30been able to do this deal. It's not at all how it works.
- 44:33They they wanted a guy with the skill set that Drew Thorpe has
- 44:37who's now I think it was in AA last year and and lightened it
- 44:40up 44 strikeouts in 30 innings with A14 ERA after getting the
- 44:44call up mid season from high A. If I'm looking at the right guy
- 44:49I think I'm looking at the right guy.
- 44:51What? About Tink.
- 44:53Well that's what I was going to say is like you might have a guy
- 44:56that you go well this guy's similar and and I believe Thorpe
- 45:01by the way the reason I was getting confused is because it
- 45:03was saying New York Yankees I think he went to San Diego in
- 45:06the Juan Soto deal and then now is is flipped around in this
- 45:11trade for Dylan sees. So like OK Tin Kents but how do
- 45:15the White Sox view Tin Kents We really don't know the answer to
- 45:17that If the Cardinals were really involved let's pretend
- 45:19they were and they were saying hey we really like Dylan sees we
- 45:22want to add it. I don't think that was the case
- 45:23but let's pretend and they they would say, hey we have this Tink
- 45:26hence to offer he's a really good pitcher that can headline
- 45:29the deal and the White Sox could look at him and go OK kind of a
- 45:32smaller build. We haven't really seen him build
- 45:34up and throw a lot of innings yet in the minors.
- 45:36What if maybe he's just kind of going to profile as a future
- 45:39reliever. We really need a guy that
- 45:41profiles as a future ace. I don't know that any of these
- 45:43conversations were were had but it's it's the only kind of
- 45:47insight that we can glean of we don't really know how certain
- 45:50teams view certain guys maybe the White Sox said look at the
- 45:54Cardinals man. If we're going to trade with the
- 45:55Cardinals we're getting one of those those stud hitters, we're
- 45:58getting Donovan or Gorman because that's what they have,
- 46:01right? And and if the Cardinals were in
- 46:02that conversation, they go, well, you're crazy you're not
- 46:04going to get a Donovan or Gorman level player from somebody else
- 46:08for this guy and the white section say OK fine, but that's
- 46:10who we want from you. Like, I don't know that these
- 46:13things happened, but I could see that's a little bit more of how
- 46:16it probably works. Then what's his ranking on the
- 46:19prospect rankings from MLB.com. Well, we got to you know it
- 46:23probably doesn't go that way. So that would be the little bit
- 46:26of a frustration there. But you're right.
- 46:28Like that's let's not just make excuses for the Cardinals.
- 46:31They they could have tried to get into the deal and sees you
- 46:34know the situation if they if they really wanted to.
- 46:37But it what would it have cost them.
- 46:39We can't just look at what it cost the Padres and say it would
- 46:41have been I identical to what the Cardinals have in their
- 46:44system. That's number one.
- 46:45Number two, how do you get the guy that paired with Sonny Gray?
- 46:49Well, I'll say it. I'll ask the same question you
- 46:51asked. Well, what about Tink?
- 46:53You got to develop somebody at some point you winning recipe to
- 46:57having multiple frontline aces is not paying all of them.
- 47:01And right now the Cardinals don't have multiple frontline
- 47:03aces and yet you look in their rotation, they're paying all of
- 47:07them. All five of them are guys that
- 47:09have free agent contracts or extension.
- 47:11In the case of Miles Michaelis, they're paying the whole group.
- 47:14So this narrative of like, Cardinals don't want to pay any.
- 47:17It's all they're doing is paying starting pitching because they
- 47:19haven't been able to develop any.
- 47:21This has to be a summer where that changes, where we see one
- 47:24of these guys latch on and know that going into next year he can
- 47:27be not just. Well, maybe that's your #5 if
- 47:30there's an injury, like no, somebody.
- 47:32I don't know if it's Gracefo, if it's Thompson, if it's Libby, if
- 47:35it's Drew, ROM if it's Tink. Hence if it's Cooper jerky, like
- 47:40I don't care who it is. They got to start having some of
- 47:43these guys. They drafted all all these guys.
- 47:46Can they advance? Michael Mcgreevey?
- 47:47Like can some of these guys advance to be worth anything to
- 47:50be able to plug into a rotation and compete and be a number two
- 47:54or at least a #3 in a rotation or the Cardinals every year
- 47:57going to have to go out. I mean we like Randy Flores but
- 48:00eventually some of these pitchers have got a hit.
- 48:02This is just, it's it's been kind of a while and that is
- 48:06what's holding the Cardinals back.
- 48:07Not their, you know, their inability or their unwillingness
- 48:10to spend their spending, but they're they're having to kind
- 48:13of toe that line. Because if you throw out
- 48:15multiple 5-6 year deals to starting pitchers in, one or
- 48:18both of them get hurt. You are the Phillies of 2011
- 48:22when Ryan Howard tears the Achilles and then like, oh, that
- 48:26was the last moment that they were relevant and it was all
- 48:29downhill from there. And then it's a, you know, 5-6
- 48:31year rebuild like the Cardinals are trying to avoid putting
- 48:34themselves in that spot. So is there spending kind of
- 48:36savvy and penny pinchy and annoying?
- 48:38Absolutely. But you could be more effective
- 48:41with the way you spend if you didn't have to fill 5 spots
- 48:44every time, Like they got to have somebody developed that can
- 48:46get in that rotation and pitch on the minimum for a couple
- 48:49years. So then you can allocate your
- 48:51resources effectively around that.
- 48:54Yeah, I agree with you 1000%. I've said the same thing a
- 48:58million times, but you know, Tink, Tink is not close.
- 49:03If he's the guy, you know, maybe maybe next year, but from an
- 49:08inning standpoint, maybe really a workhorse in 2026.
- 49:12And so my point is, I agree with you 1000%.
- 49:15That's the teams that were great for the Cardinals from 11 to 15
- 49:19had all those pitchers, not just starters, but relievers.
- 49:22The Rosenthals, the Wakas. The Carlos Martinez's Lance
- 49:25Lynn. Shelby Miller for a while Kevin
- 49:28Segrist The list goes a I think I said Trevor Rosenthal the list
- 49:31goes on and on and on. The reason I brought up a cease
- 49:34like player is the Cardinals need to fix that.
- 49:38But if we don't think that guy is here for a couple years they
- 49:41they still need a guy for the next couple years and that's why
- 49:44I think a cease like pitcher could be that guy.
- 49:48But also you know we had this conversation either you and I
- 49:51are on the radio. You know Dylan Cease great
- 49:53strikeout guy, career fit, 3.86 career ERA, 3.83 one amazing
- 50:00year in 2022 with a 2.2 ERA. But also that that 3.8 pitcher,
- 50:08you know that's that's a Jordan Montgomery type pitcher.
- 50:11So I'm not some guys are just aces like boom that dude's ERA
- 50:16is going to be in the twos or 2.8 Dylan sees had one really
- 50:21great year. And don't get me wrong, he would
- 50:23be the the ace or the number 2 on the Cardinals, 1000%.
- 50:28But you could also say maybe the Cardinals don't think he's as
- 50:30good as as other teams think he is.
- 50:33I don't know. He's pretty damn good.
- 50:34Strikes out a lot of guys. I don't know.
- 50:37Yeah, And was pitching on that same White Sox team last year
- 50:39where we say, well, Lance Lynn was kind of going through it
- 50:41last year. That team sucked.
- 50:43It was a terrible clubhouse environment, etcetera, Which
- 50:45then I I don't even know why, I didn't realize this until a
- 50:48couple of days ago. But they didn't fire that guy.
- 50:50They didn't fire the manager that everybody is saying this
- 50:53was the worst clubhouse in the history of the universe.
- 50:55Pedro Grifal or whatever his name is.
- 50:57I just saw like a quote about him talking about some like wait
- 51:00a minute, he's still there. They had literally everybody
- 51:04come out and say, Yep, I've never seen a clubhouse this bad.
- 51:06We all did whatever we wanted and they didn't fire him.
- 51:09I just, I don't know why. I just assumed.
- 51:11I guess I assumed and missed that nugget that he was still
- 51:14there. But my point being the 4.5 Adra
- 51:17for Cease last year was maybe in a in a A-Team environment that
- 51:20wasn't so good. He was still striking out a
- 51:22bunch of dudes, kind of like what Lance Lynn did for them.
- 51:25And maybe Dylan sees goes to a better team and kind of reverts
- 51:28back to maybe not the 2.2 version of himself but like a
- 51:32little bit closer to his career norms and and the fact that the
- 51:35strikeouts never went away is encouraging.
- 51:37So I do think Dylan sees is really good, but I I wouldn't
- 51:40have given up Brendan Donovan for him like Ting Kent.
- 51:44I would have yeah. But I don't know if the White
- 51:46Sox are are interested in that. They might have more faith in
- 51:49Drew Thorpe. Right.
- 51:50So that's where it gets a little bit tricky.
- 51:51But you're right, they need a guy.
- 51:53And I don't know the answer to getting one if it's not paying
- 51:56somebody. If we go through 2024 and none
- 51:58of these guys who you got like 8 to 10 names, you could point to
- 52:02the guys they traded for at the deadline to KOA Roby.
- 52:04Like you've got a bunch of names.
- 52:06Can somebody emerge? Other teams haven't happened all
- 52:08the time. Other teams have.
- 52:09Who's this? Where'd he come from?
- 52:10Oh, now he's an ace. Like, Cardinals need one of
- 52:13those. It's time.
- 52:14It's time for one of those to fall into their lap.
- 52:16But that doesn't happen by magic.
- 52:18Like they have to develop them. The players got to have the
- 52:20drive. He's got to have the
- 52:21determination and he's got to go out and do it and have the right
- 52:24coaching and leadership, etcetera.
- 52:26So like, it's not going to fall out of the sky for them but me,
- 52:29and it would be nice if it could.
- 52:31Well said, you said it's time and I think it might be time to
- 52:35end the show. Is that OK?
- 52:36We're we're, I think that we're over we're over 50 minutes.
- 52:40You know, I I did make some notes on the back of a piece of
- 52:42paper and I think I think I hit on all of them there.
- 52:46Look. At that so.
- 52:47What did I miss? Is there anything else we always
- 52:49like to say? Brendan.
- 52:51Empty or. Notebook.
- 52:52I'm not at spring anymore. I have no notebook.
- 52:54There's nothing to empty. I barely can watch the games
- 52:56when they, you know, sometimes they're not even on.
- 52:58It's going to be a lot better When we get to the season.
- 53:01The notebook will be a little more, a little more full.
- 53:04But for right now, no, we're watching Victor Scott.
- 53:06I keep talking about that being the thing because I think the
- 53:09Cardinals should put him on the like, you think they should put
- 53:11him on the roster. Where are you at?
- 53:13Like, opinion? Not like, give me the wishy
- 53:15washy, but what? What do you think they should
- 53:16do? Well, at this point, yes,
- 53:19because because of the injury issues and that that means he
- 53:23might only be up for a week or two.
- 53:24But do you worry about that tanking his development?
- 53:27You know, if he comes up and goes back down.
- 53:29No. So I actually, we discussed this
- 53:32on Hot Take Central this morning and I said this and I understand
- 53:36that narrative and I do agree with the development of position
- 53:40players, which is why in the past, going back to the Dave
- 53:43Duncan era, if you had a guy that you thought was going to be
- 53:46a future big league starter, they did this with so many
- 53:48people wayno, that first year use them out of the pen, you
- 53:53know, you can kind of manage his innings.
- 53:55He gets a taste of the big leagues, boom, he's a starter
- 53:57next year. I totally understand that if
- 53:59you're a position player and you're a prospect and a a future
- 54:03starter, a a future position player starter, you don't want
- 54:07that guy playing twice a week with a pinch hit here or there.
- 54:10So if there weren't injuries, I would say Victor Scott stay in
- 54:15the minors and and my point was this.
- 54:18Now if Victor Scott stayed up in the big leagues all season and
- 54:20played twice a week, I think that would be horrible.
- 54:23If he gets a cup of coffee for a week or two, if he's good, he's
- 54:26bad, he's in between. If he can't deal with the
- 54:29failure of a couple weeks in the big leagues then I don't think
- 54:32he's going to be a good player anyway, so if that.
- 54:34Agree if I don't like you. Yeah, and by the way, that is
- 54:38not specific to Victor Scott. I don't know the dude.
- 54:41I'm saying in general, if two weeks of failure in the big
- 54:44leagues breaks a player, that player probably is not mentally
- 54:48strong enough to be a really good big league player.
- 54:50And I have no doubt that Victor Scott is the opposite of that.
- 54:55Like the way that that that you talk about him getting to hear
- 54:57him speak at winter warm up too was kind of like the first
- 54:59integration where everybody gets a chance to see what he's about.
- 55:02And just the way he answers questions and you can tell he
- 55:04thinks through things and talked about his upbringing in the way
- 55:07that he was kind of raised to to to kind of be analytical.
- 55:11And I think kinesiology even said was like his his field of
- 55:14study in college. So like this is a guy who is
- 55:17smart and and again smart guys have been, you know, chewed up
- 55:21and spit out by MLB before I get it.
- 55:24But I look at Victor Scott and I'm like, I don't know, I don't
- 55:26it's just call it a gut feeling, whatever you want to call it.
- 55:29We all are going to have our various opinions on whether or
- 55:32not that's something that could be damaging to a guy.
- 55:34My opinions is that it won't be with this player and I'm
- 55:37perfectly comfortable with him coming up, even if it's for
- 55:39three weeks and if it's for three weeks and he's good, he's
- 55:41not ever going back. So that's that's the other side
- 55:44of that. If it's three weeks and he has a
- 55:46Mason win like OPS that he had in September of last year, they
- 55:50can send him down and then he can learn from that.
- 55:52But nobody's looking at Mason Wynn right now.
- 55:53Going Cardinals ruined him by bringing him up.
- 55:55He wasn't ready. Nobody's saying that because
- 55:57it's not true. I I mean, 10 years we could go,
- 56:00Well, Mason Wynn never panned out and maybe it will have been,
- 56:02but like, I I just don't. I'm agreeing with you.
- 56:05I don't personally subscribe to that narrative.
- 56:08So we get to end the show on an agreeing tone.
- 56:10That's good. But one more thing.
- 56:12I'm going to make one more football analogy, because here's
- 56:16where. What's the old football analogy?
- 56:18On the road in the playoffs? Defense travels.
- 56:22Run, game travels, whatever you want to say, tough weather.
- 56:25I'm making a football analogy. I like it.
- 56:27Victor Scott. Speed is always there.
- 56:31Speed kills. If you're not having a fantastic
- 56:34week bat to ball, you can slap a ball around, get an infield hit.
- 56:38You can bun a ball here, get an infield hit.
- 56:41Defense. Your speed in the outfield, that
- 56:45usually doesn't slump. So again, I don't know if he's
- 56:48going to consistently hit at the big league level, but when
- 56:51you're super, super fast, there's a lot you bring to the
- 56:55table all the time. I mean, even pinch running
- 56:58again, slapping the ball around, playing defense, that's
- 57:01something you can't teach and it's always there.
- 57:03I want to see a day this week where he goes over three and
- 57:06strikes out a couple times and has to go in the field and like
- 57:09the Cardinals will get a good glimpse at.
- 57:11How does he handle that? You say you know defense doesn't
- 57:14slump. It shouldn't.
- 57:15So, like how does a young player handle a little bit of failure
- 57:17at the plate? Does he go out and and low fit
- 57:19the field or does he make a diving catch?
- 57:20Does he does he help out his pitching staff?
- 57:23Let's ask the Cardinals rotation.
- 57:24You're worried about the Cardinal rotation maybe not
- 57:26being up to snuff. Let Victor Scott go out there
- 57:28and be in center field. He's going to save him runs.
- 57:30He's going to save them potentially games with what he
- 57:34can bring to the table in center field, getting the balls in the
- 57:36gaps, making plays. He would be my day one center
- 57:39fielder, unless Dylan Carlson goes on a tear and I'm, I like
- 57:42Dylan Carlson, man. I want him to have that
- 57:44confidence to play with it. I might like him more than you
- 57:46do. I don't know you're laughing,
- 57:47but I that would be the one thing where I say, look if Dylan
- 57:50Carlson has a 620 OPS today and he ends spring with a 920 OPS,
- 57:54it's because he started to really lock it in.
- 57:56And at that point, I'm back to saying, look, you don't actually
- 57:59have the playing time necessarily to offer Victor
- 58:02Scott every day unless you're benching Burleson, which they're
- 58:04probably not going to do against right-handed pitching.
- 58:06So that would be the one instance where I would go, maybe
- 58:09not, but if Victor Scott continues to look like this and
- 58:11Carlson doesn't like just stake a claim, Carlson's going to play
- 58:14plenty. There's going to be lots of
- 58:15opportunities to go around. But if there's enough for Victor
- 58:18Scott to kind of be your mainstay in Center for that
- 58:21first month or so, whatever it is that Tommy's out, get some
- 58:24run, I'm all for it. Because I think too, it can help
- 58:26the vibe of the team. The team knows when there's a
- 58:28guy out there making place in center and and and doing things
- 58:32on the bases that can get everybody kind of integrated and
- 58:34pumped up. So I'm all for it.
- 58:36I think you should be their day one center fielder.
- 58:39And we will end. But I have to say my favorite
- 58:42saying, to be fair or to be clear, I have nothing against
- 58:45Dylan Carlson. I just until he proves it to me,
- 58:49I no longer view him as a Major League starting player.
- 58:53Now whether he's a fourth outfielder, he could be good.
- 58:56I'm just saying. I no longer have those
- 58:58expectations for him until he proves it.
- 59:01Is that fair? Yeah, I mean it's just the
- 59:03consistency against right-handed pitching.
- 59:04But he had a 780 OPS in 2021 like that.
- 59:07I know that we're talking about three years ago at this point,
- 59:09but like that's really good and I think he's a good athletic
- 59:12defender too. So I think he's certainly can be
- 59:15an everyday but like figure out against right-handed pitching.
- 59:18He's been a switch hitter his whole life.
- 59:19A lot of Cardinals fans would say stop switch hitting.
- 59:22It's like that's what he's always done as the Cardinals.
- 59:24Do you feel that way internally? And how do you relate that to a
- 59:28player that may already kind of feel like he's on the outs
- 59:30because they're not giving him playing time like it's a it's a
- 59:32delicate balance, but at the end of the day, you're right, he
- 59:35just has to go out and do it and that that'll clear everything
- 59:38up. Look at that.
- 59:39We snuck over an hour, even though, you know, I pressed
- 59:42record. I don't remember when we
- 59:43started, so whenever I shut up it might be exactly an hour, but
- 59:47great show. Brendan Low, Hanging fruit,
- 59:50whatever the hell episode this was.
- 59:51One of these days we are going to make it up and do two in a
- 59:54week. And again, when the season
- 59:55starts, we. Can do more.
- 59:57We'll do a bunch if if people are liking it.
- 59:58So Brendan, thank you B Shave Daily.
- 1:00:01Follow him. Subscribe.
- 1:00:03That's right on on youtube.com. Slash at B Shaffer 12.
- 1:00:07Subscribe. There you go.
- 1:00:09Harley steals all the videos. I need some love.
- 1:00:12Charlie's been doing all NASCAR. Charlie's a Charlie's allowing
- 1:00:15an opening for yourself and Jim Hayes and all these new
- 1:00:17Cardinals creators because Charlie's balls in the wall.
- 1:00:20NASCAR It's been a year almost that I've been doing.
- 1:00:23It OK, but newish. I didn't.
- 1:00:24I didn't say that as a pejorative.
- 1:00:26OK, I think it was a little bit of a pejorative.
- 1:00:28No, we're all hey, look. I was talking.
- 1:00:29It's like saying the Democrats, right?
- 1:00:31Oh, now we've gone political. Uh oh.
- 1:00:33No, just real quick. I I tweeted that wrong.
- 1:00:39You did. I don't agree with this.
- 1:00:40Somebody was saying that, saying the Democrat Party instead of
- 1:00:45the Democratic Party. Was a pejorative.
- 1:00:47And I said, even if that's the case, I don't think most people
- 1:00:51at all view it as that. Right.
- 1:00:54OK, 'cause that's you tweeted, like if you call someone the
- 1:00:57Democrats, then that would be the pejorative.
- 1:01:00But it was the party name. OK, well, we talked about that
- 1:01:04all last Friday too on the. I put that in there and I was
- 1:01:08wrong about it. What on on the radio you did?
- 1:01:10Yeah. On High Tech Central, yeah, that
- 1:01:12was about you all the time. I hear you like that.
- 1:01:13You like that when we talk about you when you're not there.
- 1:01:16Well, you guys talk about me. Yeah, I feel like, should I?
- 1:01:18Should I still get paid when I'm not there If I'm always?
- 1:01:20Definitely not. You could just listen, though,
- 1:01:22and then you would know what's going on.
- 1:01:24But I'm. Busy.
- 1:01:25All right. On that note now we're
- 1:01:27definitely over an hour. Brandon.
- 1:01:28Thank you. Comment, like, subscribe, share
- 1:01:30the channel, share the videos, share the show, put in your
- 1:01:32group text, post it on social media.
- 1:01:34Let's grow this bad boy, Brandon.
- 1:01:37See you, buddy. Peace out.
- 1:01:38Bye.