IMPLOSION: Sonny Gray’s WORST Career Start Dooms The St. Louis Cardinals

IMPLOSION: Sonny Gray’s WORST Career Start Dooms The St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals get crushed by Arizona again. Grab the hammer and nail and hang the open for business sign up. It is time to sell. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hey there Cardinal fans. I’m JD Hafford and I’m your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day. Follow me on X at JD Sports Radio, the podcast, also on X at L_Cardinal. We’re on YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram. Find us at locked on Cardinals. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving the best fans in baseball. All of the info about the Birds on the Bat. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Now, the last thing you wanted uh is for the Cardinal to come out of the All-Star break like this, flat. Might as well call them the St. Louis Pancakes because they have been completely flat in the first two games in Arizona getting pummeled again on Saturday by a score of 10 to one. And the really depressing part about it is that they had Sunny Gray on the mound. Th this is your guy, right? Sunny Gray. He’s the man. He’s the guy that you turn to when everything else is burning down all around you. He’s the guy with the fire extinguisher to put out the flames and instead he grabbed an extra couple of gallons of gasoline and drenched the entire building with it. Up in smoke everything went. He was dreadful on Saturday. Lasted just three and a third innings. He allowed nine runs on 11 hits. Career-high nine runs by the way. two home runs to Auaneo Suarez who now has 33 ding-dongs this season. Um, of the 15 balls that were put in play against Gray, 11 had exit velocities above 95. 10 of them reached 100 miles per hour or higher. He was batting practice is what he was. Like they never even had a shot in this game. Like the game was over by the third inning. There there was no coming back. It was done. The trade deadline is less than two weeks away. And perhaps this beatdown and I I I try to look at things through a positive lens. Perhaps this beatdown was a good thing because it hammers home the fact that this team should be selling there. There’s no more sitting on the fence. It It is sell time. I don’t think that’s really that tough of a pill to swallow though either, to be honest with you. It sucks that the small glimmer of hope that they might stay relevant in this playoff race is all but extinguished. But at the same time, this season it wasn’t supposed to be at about the playoffs. And the fact that they had a good first half, enough of a good first half that they stayed relevant, I think that’s commendable. I’ll give them props for that. They weren’t supposed to be here still. They were supposed to be hanging out with the bottom feeders, right? Rockies, White Socks, the Sacramento A’s, those type of people that weren’t expected to win either. The Cardinals were picked to be down there with all of them and they’ve been better and for a few months they kept their head above water. They had that outstanding May that really helped out and it wasn’t that long ago that they were within striking distance of the Cubs. Remember they they won those first two games at home against Chicago back on June 23rd and 24th. That is less than a month ago. Today’s July 20th and they were 2 and a half games back in the division. Since then, they have gone 7 and 12 and are 4-1 12 against anyone not named Cleveland. They’re now 8 and 1 half back of the Cubs, 2 and 1 half back in the wild card. And I realize that two and a half games back that is not that far. That isn’t much. And I’m not suggesting that this team should quit or they are quitting or giving up on the season. I’m not saying that. But what I am willing to concede is that even if they do make the playoffs, which is a big if, the chances of them getting through the wild card and then doing any damage there on is extremely thin at best. They do get to face the Rockies after they leave Arizona today. The Rockies have been a squad that teams have used as a getright team all year. you know, if you’re if you need to turn things around, teams like the White Socks and the Rockies are the guys you want to face. So, if they get swept by the Diamondbacks, they got Miles Michaels on the mound today. If that happens and then they sweep the Rockies, you get a three and three road trip and you’re right back at square one. You haven’t really lost all that much ground, but it’s not a given that that will happen. And it seems like they would really just be pushing off the inevitable and just really need to start planning for 2026 and beyond and not worry about what’s going on this season. Again, don’t quit on the season. I’m not saying like you blow everything up and then you don’t start from scratch. I’m not saying that. I sincerely hope that some of these young guys can rally together and start playing some good baseball again the rest of the way. I mean, hard to do that when your pitching staff is just getting by people. How do you trust it? How do you trust this pitching staff right now? I don’t know how you can. Sunny Gray, after Saturday’s annihilation, now has an ERA over four. In fact, all five of their starters are in the fours now. And I’ve looked at the positive side of things and pointed out that, you know, well, if you took away three or four starts, they’d have these outstanding numbers. And that’s still true. But they still could get blasted at any moment. I always make that joke about Michael Roulette. It’s kind of like St. Louis Cardinal starting pitching roulette. We don’t know what’s going to happen. They’re either going to get killed one day or they might pitch all right and get away with one and you’re like, “Okay, that’s not bad.” But there’s always that hint that they could just get crushed like they had the last two games. And many fans are saying what a lot of us are thinking that, you know, if we’re going to watch our pitchers get blasted all the time. I don’t want to see the veterans do it. I want to see the young guys come up, take their bumps, take their lumps now, and learn from them than watching veterans just get hammered into retirement like we saw with guys like Lance Lyn and Kyle Gibson. I I say that because two of the Cardinals Reese’s starters from last year, two of their starting five are now both retired. Lance Lynn was pitching for the Savannah Bananas this weekend, you know, and those were two of the three big signings last year along with Sunny Gray, who gave up nine runs on Saturday. Lance Lynn had a better Saturday than Sunny Gray did on the mound. So, two of them have hung up their spikes. What are the futures of like, you know, an Eric Fetty and a Miles Michael after this season? I don’t think they’re going to be they’re in retirement mode yet. They’re not getting signed by a team that is legitimately trying to win anything. They’ll end up on another one of those lower spending teams and probably dominate the Cardinals when they face them because that’s what happens. And I’m just done with those type of players being on the roster. I I’m I’m with the fans. I’d rather take my chances with the young guys. I want the younger dudes up and pitching and hopefully watch them grow and develop than sit here in 500 purgatory like they’ve been doing. So, sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell get some of them inflatable tube men that you see at the car dealerships put the faces in the names of Fatty Michael Matson Hley Aronado Newar everything is on sale so come and get them while they last I’m just I’m frustrated I’m frustrated just like you guys so let’s do some Cardinals confessionals next that always brightens us up right the natives are restless and I’m in the mood to hear some anger. So, let’s take a trip to the dark side together. This is Locked On Cardinals, summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, maybe some high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re already following the action. 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So whether you’re placing a same game parlay or watching a bet right into the ninth inning, FanDuel will make it feel like you’re part of the action. And if you’re new to FanDuel, that’s great because new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com/lockedon to get started. Thanks again for making locked on Carlos first. Listen every day, leave comments on YouTube as well as on X and Tik Tok anytime you want. Your feedback is always welcome and encouraged. It is time to unleash the fury. We’ve got some some slightly unhappy fans. We’ve got some disappointed fans. Remember when your parents used to say that to you? I’m not mad. Just disappointed. People always said that made them feel worse. I don’t know. I didn’t like getting spanked or anything like that when I was in trouble. Uh we’ve got some who were uh just plain angry at this point. A lot of them. Um, some of these, like I said, you know, I just mentioned, some are from Tik Tok, some are from, uh, YouTube, from X, you know, Tik Tok, in case you don’t follow us there. You can, uh, that’s where I put like short clips up, game recaps, those goes on on YouTube on the shorts stuff, too. But we’re available in all these places, but you can always comment on these things and, uh, it’ll get right to me. And, uh, we’re going to go through some of these right now. These are your cardinal confessionals, so no names will be given, but your voices will be heard. So, please speak freely, my child. All right, first one. Simply said a while ago, this is the end. Exclamation points. So, I’m trying to read it the way they wrote it. All caps, by the way. This is the end. Has been the end. The cards suck. The manager and team are not good at all. No one on the cards are worth anything. I I feel like Emperor Palpatine right now. I I can feel your anger. Let the hate flow through you. I get it, man. My rebuttal to that is that as upset as you are, there are some players on the on this roster who do have some worth. All right, let’s let’s not do that. I mean, this is not again, this is not the Rockies or the White Socks right now with 20 30 wins. We’re talking about a team that’s a couple games over 500 um and two and a half games out of the wild card. So, let let’s blow things out. Let’s not blow things out of proportion here. I genuinely like some of the young core guys that they’ve got. Mason W, Ivon Herrera, Victor Scott, Alec Berles, Matthew Liberator. Uh still waiting on, you know, he’s what Thomas and Jaci could be. He’s got to get regular playing time, right? Uh hasn’t hit much uh since he’s been back up the last couple times that he’s shown up. uh Jordan Walker, um Nolan Gorman, they continue to be those enigmas that, you know, if those guys were doing things, you’d feel so much better about what the future could be for this team. You know, Gorman was showing signs of production, but he’s out again with the back issue and and it’s always his back every year on the IIL multiple times with this back thing. So, that sucks. Um back issues for a guy in his mid20s, like that that’s not great. Uh, and Jordan, I I I don’t know what else is left to say about Jordan Walker except that he’s got to produce. Like, you know, he’s tinkering with everything. He’s tinkering with his stance. He’s wide open one week, he’s closed one week, now he’s just kind of like in the middle and he’s he’s trying. He’s he’s doing everything they’re asking him to do. He’s working on his swing. He’s been to double A. He’s been to Memphis. He’s done it with the Cardinals. Nothing is working so far. He’s trying everything though. It’s not a lack of effort. He’s probably more frustrated than you and I are because he’s used to being awesome his whole life. He has been awesome at this sport called baseball and now he’s not. And it’s got to be frustrating and it’s got to be pissing him off and he can’t seem to get it right. I don’t know what else to say about it. You’re You’re not going to trade him. I’ve seen those people out there. You’re not going to trade him. His value. First off, it’s rock bottom, so you’re not going to get anything for him. So, the plan is to live and die. People who are asking you about Jordan Walker, if you want to trade him, they’re trying to rob you blind. They’re hoping that they can come in, swoop him up, and then he becomes a star with them. So, you’re not doing that. The plan is to live and die with him in right field. That that’s just it. And hope that it finally clicks for him. He’s hit a couple balls hard in this series against Arizona. that Alec Thomas catch and left center was awesome which I Jordan wanted to spike his helmet after that. I felt the pain there because you know when you’re in the situation he’s in and you finally smoke a ball like that. I thought it I didn’t couldn’t believe it stayed in the ballpark. But um yeah, he you’re just hoping that it’ll work out for him. He’s a good kid. He’s got all the tools. Just needs to have it finally come together for him. And uh I’m rooting for him. I’m rooting for him as much as I want it to work not only just for him, but for the Cardinals, too. Like I I want to see Jordan Walker succeed. Uh fire Marmal and Blake. This team blows. No pitching, no offense. I stopped watching the Cardinals three weeks ago. This franchise is broken. I probably will not live long enough to see the Cardinals come back to relevance. I don’t know how old you are. I don’t uh but I hope that that it happens. I I would hate for you to, you know, to pass on to the other side and uh the Cardinals not be relevant. I think they’re relevant right now. They’re just not one of the top teams, you know, two and a half games back out of the wild card. Like, you guys, it’s this is not again not Colorado. It’s not Chicago. But I get it because we’re pissed because we expect the Cardinals to be better than this. They’re not supposed to be meddling around 500. That’s not what we grew up on. So, I get it. I’m not bashing you for that. I’m just saying like I people are angry right now because they’re not winning. And I I I am curious to see how things are handled this off season with Ali and Dusty Blake and this coaching staff, you know, with Hinim Bloom taking over. Is he going to want his own guys in there or not? Is it time for new voices? You know, I I I think Brandt Brown has been awesome on the hitting side of things. I don’t think there’s a lot of complaining there. Things have gone quite well for them until the injury started. Um, but does he like what Ali and Dusty have done with the talent that they were given to work with? You know, how many other managers in baseball and pitching coaches in baseball would have succeeded with this group? Like, if I gave I don’t even know who the best pitching coach in the league is right now, but if I gave that pitching coach Miles Michaels, Eric Fetty, Andre Palante, is he gonna turn them into 15 game winners with eras around three? If so, go get that guy and pay him whatever you need to pay him and bring him in here. That way you pay him, not the players, and he can work this, you know, black magic that you think is out there that would fix these people. Um, you know, who is the guy that is going to come in as a manager and magically make some of these other guys hit for more power or get more swing and miss with the the pitchers that they have and the, you know, the arsenals that they possess. I I always blame the GM in any sport. It’s not just the Cardinals and it’s not just baseball. I’ve always blamed the GM in these situations and not the coaches because that’s the guy that assembled the talent. He picked the talent and said, “This is the group that I think is going to be good enough to go win ball games.” And the manager’s job is to manage that stuff and get the best out of them. And I think most of our opinions are are the same where there’s just not enough talent in that clubhouse. Like these aren’t guys that are not living up to their potential. You know, the Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman thing is a different story, but they’ve been struggling this whole time. It’s not just this year. But why is it always on the manager or the coach who has to take the fall? Like the GM is the guy who said that these were the guys and this is how we’re going to spend the money. And there have been ownerships out there that don’t pay a lot and still find ways to win. But, you know, I I I say this to give some credit to Mo. He had to go the backwards the last couple seasons. He he was used to, you know, money going up a little bit here and there and using it that way. Uh last couple seasons they’ve had to go the the opposite way and not pay people. And uh unfortunately the guys he did chose to go along with that situations they they have not worked out. The trades have certainly not worked out. Uh Heim Bloom will be picking up the pieces after the season and I’m not sure what changes he’s going to make but it wouldn’t shock me if you saw some new blood in the dugout next season. I mean why wouldn’t just a fresh start for a lot of people be the best thing moving forward? I’m not blaming Ali. I’m not blaming Dusty. Mo’s going to move on. Ali was kind of attached to Mo. Dusty is attached to Ali. You know, I I could see it totally happening. And whatever changes Heinble Blue makes. Uh I The other things is you can’t expect instantaneous results where they all of the sudden will be part of the top tier teams in the National League like they have in the past. That that’s kind of fool’s gold right there. The only way to do a turnaround that quickly is buying free agents. Go splurge. Get three or four guys that can help turn it around quicker. And ownership doesn’t appear to be interested in paying that sort of money to rebuild that way. And it certainly has to sting, too. I’m sure you’ve seen the footage of uh Bush Stadium pack this last couple nights with the Savannah Bananas in town and Wayne Wright and Lance Lynn coming out and uh you know you’ve got this mad house where it there’s not an empty seat in the place and then when the Cardinals come in town it’s just a sea of empty red plastic seats. It the fans still love baseball in St. Louis that has that passion has never gone away but they don’t love this product that the Cardinals have put on the field. They don’t like the message that ownership has given them. And if you want butts in the seats again, you’re gonna have to do something. And I don’t even, you know, your top prospect JJ Weatherhold, if he’s on this team next year, is that really going to bring people back? Are you spending what it costs to go to a ball game to just go see JJ Weatherhol in his rookie year? I love the kid. I think he’s gonna be a nice piece, but I look at the division and I see, you know, the Pirates, they’re not any good, although they’ve been whipping the Cardinals butts this year, but they got a star in Paul SK to build around. You know, they you could always look at that and go, “Dude, Ski a star. Let’s get down there.” The Reds have got Ellie de la Cruz and Hunter Green and a nice little group of young guys that uh are doing some good things in Cincinnati. The Cubs have got Picro Armstrong and Michael Bush and Seya Suzuki and Showa Emanaga. Uh we don’t know if Kyle Tucker is going to be back next year or not. U but they they’ve got those nice pieces right there. The Brewers, they invested highly in Jackson Cheerio. Uh they got Freddy Peralta. They got the Miz Allstar after five games. Like who are the Cardinals guys? Mason Win could be but needs his offense to develop to become a star player. The defensive side is awesome. Ivon Herrera looks like a slugger when he’s on the field, but he’s been hurt twice. Brennan Donovan, he’s a solid player. He was alone allstar, but he lacks the wow factor, you know, that that attracts fans. Jordan Walker should be that guy with the amount of talent he possesses, but hasn’t progressed to that point yet. Has dealt with injuries this year. No Gorman shows flashes. the the pizzazz that first round pick Liam Doyle has like he just has a vibe and an energy to him. That is something I’m excited to see in St. Louis at some point because that is sorely needed. But we don’t know how long it will take him to get to St. Louis, if he ever makes it. We never know there. There are always possibilities that they never get here. So, uh we’re going to continue with these confessions uh next before we wrap things up for the day. So, uh more to come on Lock on Cardinals. Thanks for making Lock on Cardinal your first listen today. For your second listen, check out Locked on MLB Game Night. It’s every game, every night, all season long. You get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB Game Night on the Locked on MLB channel on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Uh, a couple more of these. Uh, no matter if we were in a playoff spot, we should we should still be Okay, horrible English here. We should have still been selling regardless. Sell for the future. I never understood the idea of buying potential rentals for this young team. Sell Helsley, Mats, Natto, Matts for whatever prospects you can get. If Michael is for cash considerations in theory, that sounds great, but Nolan Aronado would have to wave his no trade clause. No guarantees he’s going to do that. I again I’ve said it since they started talking about trading him last year. That feels like an offseason move for Aronado, not something he’s going to be interested in doing in the middle of the year. Maybe maybe I’m wrong, but it just his personality. It just feels like he’d rather plan ahead and do it in an off season. Uh Michael has to wave his no trade clause. Who wants him by the way? Uh Eric Fetty is almost worthless on the market right now. Rock bottom. Um, Helley and Matts could net you some stuff. So, I’m sure they’re listening with but with the closer market, you’ve got some other names, some big names like uh Emanuel Class’s names been floating around. Batista from u Baltimore, uh, Kinley Jansen from the Angels also being dangled. I I don’t know if there’s a team that covets Hley like we think they will. Maybe, you know, uh, who was it? uh Philadelphia, Detroit. I don’t know. I was trying to think who they were talking about the other day. Uh but there are a couple of teams that obviously could use another guy. Um I hope I hope people like him and want him, but I I just don’t know right now. Like his stock has dropped since what he did last year. Like when when some when teams are hitting over 400 against your fast ball, that’s that’s not going to attract people. But his fastball does come in at 102. Uh I hate being right about the Cardinals, but I’ve been telling everyone they just aren’t good enough to be a playoff team. I predicted a fourth place finish and it’s looking that way. I really did want to be wrong. Yeah, that, you know, the Cubs and the Brewers and the Red, they’re all playing very well right now. Uh and then the Cardinals at the same time, they’re fading away. So, a lot of distance being made here. You know, I I didn’t care where they finished in the division. I just figured they’d be similar to last year. I I had them right around 500 is what I thought they’d be. Uh what I say 84 wins I think is where I was at. I never thought they’d be embarrassingly bad the way many predicted them to be, but it has been tough to watch over the last few weeks. Um this series for sure, this series for sure has not been a whole lot of fun. Uh you got Michael on the bump today to try to avoid the sweep. Maybe he comes out and surprises us again. Maybe he gives up 15 runs in the first three innings. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Could be anything. Although, he’s pitched better since giving up all those home runs against the Cubs and they figured out whatever it was they figured out. Uh whether he was tipping pitch pitches or what not, but uh he has pitched better since then. So, maybe he comes out and uh and dots up the Diamondbacks today. I don’t know. But the Diamondbacks look uh like they’re they’re trying to, you know, again, they’re under 500, but they are playing like a team that is pushing for a playoff spot. So, they’re going to be an interesting team here at the deadline, too, because are they really gonna make it all the way back? And if they do, you know, uh, do they add or do they trade guys like Suarez? You got a 33 home run guy on your squad and if you’re selling, you know how many teams are going to line up to get him? Oh, it could be dangerous on a team like like the Cubs. Like, that would be that’d be something. Anyway, not rooting for the Cubs to get him. I’m just saying like thinking out loud. Wow. Imagine if he goes and plays third base for them. Cubs are all in. You know, they got Kyle Tucker this year. We don’t know if they’re going to have him next year. So, this is this year is a window for them. And with them playing as well as they are, I I could see them making a push for him. I mean, why wouldn’t they? Um, but we’ll see what happens. You know, they’re going to try to avoid the sweep today. Then it’s off to Colorado, who again on pace to set a new record for their worst winning percentage in baseball, but have now won their last two games. So, wouldn’t that be the Cardinals luck that they get hot right before St. Louis shows up? They go on a run of winning like six of seven and the Cardinals are in the path of that. I I just would be their luck, wouldn’t it? So, all right, enjoy the game today. Thank you for making Lockton Cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven’t already, give us a follow on X at l_cardinal at JD Sports Radio, Tik Tok, Instagram, Locked on Cardinals, YouTube as well. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. I know we’re all frustrated. We’ll get through it together here at Lockdown Cardinals.

0:00 Intro: Cardinals crushed by Arizona again

3:36 Cardinals’ playoff chances slim after losses

7:40 Calls to sell players at trade deadline

10:44 Fan reactions: Cardinals confessionals begin

15:49 Questioning coaching staff’s future with team

20:54 Comparing Cardinals’ prospects to division rivals

24:29 Predictions for Cardinals’ season finish

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