St. Louis Cardinals Rotation Could Be a NIGHTMARE in 2026! | Yadier Molina Coaching Update
What are the scariest things about the St. Louis Cardinals as we move towards 2026? Get your popcorn ready. This is Locked on Cardinals. You are Locked on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I am JD Haffron, also known as Freddy Krueger today, former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. And I’m your host for Lockdown Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day. A big thank you going out to our everydayers who have been here with us the entire season and now into the off season. Of course, if you’re new to the show, welcome aboard. Happy to have you here. I’m not normally dressed like this if you’re watching on YouTube. Uh being that it is Halloween though, my favorite holiday, I got to dress up. So, doing the Freddy Krueger thing here today. Hope you enjoy the content. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today’s episode brought to you by Fandal. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, download the app today. Happy Halloween everybody. Enjoy the candy. Enjoy the costumes tonight. We got World Series game six is tonight in Toronto. So, that’s pretty cool. Can the Blue Jays finish off the upset over LA? Uh today’s episode, we’re going to go over some of the uh new staff decisions that have been made over the last uh 24- 48 hours that have been announced. Uh I know people raised an eyebrow or two or maybe even a fist in anger and shook it at the sky when you found out about Yatier Molina. Uh but we will start today with uh something that’s kind of in the theme of Halloween here. scary things about the Cardinals upcoming 2026 season. Now, before we get into it, obviously things are going to change as we move on into the off season. Things will get picked up where like free agents, trades, things are going to change, things are going to happen. But as of right now here on October 31st, these are the things that I’m a little scared about. Now, there are plenty of areas that the Cardinals need improvements after their second losing season in the past three years. We went over some of those concerns and questions in yesterday’s episode with Jeff Jones. Big shout out to Jeff Jones for joining us yesterday. Lot of great information uh in yesterday’s episode. He was fantastic. So, if you missed it, make sure you go back and check it out. Um so, I guess we should start with what I believe is the scariest thing. at least it it sends shivers down my spine thinking about the upcoming season. Uh to me, it’s the number one thing. It’s the starting rotation. I I have and I I will always believe that good pitching can win you more games than a good offense and subpar pitching. So, as we head into 2026, the Cardinals have some decisions to make and not a whole lot of strong options at their disposal right now because some of the guys that we were hoping would be ready by 2026 have dealt with injuries. Uh, but let’s start with Sunny Gray. Sunonny Gray, who has been the best pitcher on this pitching staff in the last two seasons, could be traded to a contender. They find something that works out for both the team and Sunny, then they’re going to probably pounce on that. um he’s got significant salary next year. Um final year of the contract. There’s also the uh the team option for this for the season after that, but Sunny wants to play for a contender. The Cardinals aren’t where they thought he was going to or aren’t where he thought they were going to be at this point and voiced those concerns at the end of the season last year. uh losing him would make this an even bigger issue because as of now you don’t really have anyone that at least I would consider a top of the rotation type of guy. Heck, some fans don’t think Sunny Gray is a top of the rotation type of guy, which is uh certainly debatable. Uh they want better than him and that’s fine. I mean, I wish we had a starting rotation like the Dodgers. I wish that was something that was possible, but we don’t. Don’t have that. Uh, so Sunny Gray, if he’s still here, which is a possibility as well, great. If he’s not, it it makes the rotation look uh a little a lot more frightening, right? Uh because you have Matthew Liberator, former first round pick, who is now in year two of being a starter. You hope he’ll progress. You hope he’ll stay healthy. We know how it is with pitchers. You You just never know. um had those fatigue issues last year, but first year being a full-time starter, almost kind of expected that he was going to wear down a little bit. Um but there were some good things to build off of. It’s not like he was a bag of hot garbage, but he went 8 and 12, 4.21 RA. The RA plus was at 97. Remember, league average is 100, so that’s a tick below league average. So, you hope that he will make the jump and be better than that next year. Uh Michael McGrevy, another former first round pick. He was he was like a breath of fresh air, right? You you had been through the the Eric Fetty stuff. Um you’d seen what Palante was doing. You had your issues with Michael and when McGrevy came on board. It was like, all right, this is a new face, a new kid, former first round pick. We saw a little bit of him in 2023 or 2024. I get all my ears confused. 2024. So, uh, we’ve been kind of itching to have him back up on the big league club and then when he came up, yeah, he went through a couple of tough games. All rookies do normally, unless you’re Trey Savage. Uh, but but I think we I think we all like his makeup, right? You know, we kind of like the type of dude he is on the mound and he just kind of gave you a confident feeling when he was the starting pitcher. you just felt like he had a better chance to win than most of the guys in the rotation. So, um, he ended up winning more than a lot of them. He went eight and four with a 4.42 RA in 16 starts. The RA plus a surprising 93. So, that’s below average as well. You hope he can improve on that. That would be great. But he’s also, you know, one of those guys that’s uh in the mold of a Miles Michael and Eric Fetty type of guy where it’s not about strikeouts. It’s not about, you know, swing and miss. It’s about weak contact, putting the ball in play, making them hit the ball to get out. It’s not about strikeouts with Michael McGrevy. So, um, that’s one thing that, you know, we worry because we’ve seen a lot of those guys come through and you’re like, “Oh, can we just get somebody who has some swing and miss?” And McGrevy’s not that guy. He’s just not he’s not built that way. So, um, and then talk about scary. The Andre Palante 2025 season, that was one we would like to forget alto together. 31 starts, which if we’re being positive, 31 starts, that that’s great, right? 31 starts with Michael McGrevy. Any starter that you can get for 31 starts, that’s positive. That means they were healthy. But he had a 6 and5 record. He had a 5.31 RA. His RA plus was 77. Having to start somebody like that 31 times is a problem. Almost everything about his season was disappointing. Almost every category went in the wrong direction for Andre Palante from 24 to 2025. His hits per nine up. Home runs per nine up. Walks were about the same, which is still an issue. Strikeouts per nine went down. It was, if I were to compare it to a scary movie, it wouldn’t even be in the Freddy Krueger Nightmare on Elm Streets or the Michael Myers or the Friday the 13th. It’s worse than that. It It’s like terrifier style where it’s just blood and guts and gore and gross. It was gruesome. It was gruesome last year. Now, does one year wipe out any of the good that he did in the first three seasons with the Cardinals when he was a reliever and then he came into the rotation? Does it wipe all of that out? In some fans eyes, yes. Like they were over it. Had his chance. Laid an egg. Move on. Get him out of here. Find somebody better. Um, we’ll see. I mean, there’s probably going to be a role for Andre Palante next year, whether it’s in the rotation or uh in the bullpen. They’ll try to figure something out because he’s got some arm talent, let’s be honest. But, uh, last year was really, really bad. But that is it as far as starters from this past year. Like guys who made starts like that’s it. That’s still around. The Cardinals were very lucky in the fact that most of the year their starters answered the bell every fifth day. Problem was a lot of those starts weren’t very good. Uh the only person still around that actually made a start and u is under contract still is Kle who as we’ve talked about numerous times will have a shot at a rotation spot. They’re going to stretch him out but there’s no guarantee that he’s going to win that spot and if he doesn’t back to the bullpen he goes. But uh they would love to see if that’s something that they can pull out of him and have him be a part of this rotation. Uh Jeff Jones told us yesterday that he expects the Cardinal to sign a couple of starters. He absolutely does thinks that they’re going to get into the free agent market and uh sign a couple of guys. Um John Denton, who covers the team for MLB.com, he kind of reiterated that thought in his newsletter that he put out and he also listed some names that could be in their price range. So, uh we’re going to discuss those next. I have to take the Freddy Krueger glove off. I’m right-handed and Freddy Krueger is too and I can’t use the mouse with with the Freddy Krueger glove on. So, apologies that the the uh whole costume here is not going to be as cool as it was just a little bit ago, but um just forgive me. Okay. Uh we’re going to go through those uh starters that John Denton mentions. We’ll do that next year on Cardinals. All right. Now, we got to take this the holiday thing off real quick because There we go. All right. Now, we’re set. This episode brought to you by Price Picks. You and I, we make decisions each and every day. Uh, I made a decision to wear a claw on my right hand a few moments ago. But on price picks, being right can get you paid, which is great. We like money. 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We touched on it a little bit yesterday with Jeff Jones. Again, if you did not see that episode, get over there and check it out because it’s good. Uh, great information coming from Jeff Jones, who covers the Cardinals. Uh, but here’s what John Denton said about the Cardinals and free agency. Says, “Will they be active in free agency? Active? Yes. Aggressive? No. With Michael likely gone, Palante and Quinn Matthews coming off shaky seasons and Roby talking about Takoa Roby injured. Um, the Cards must pursue pitching to fill out their rotation. Some pitchers who might fit their price range. Zack Allen, Chris Basset, Austin Gomber, or Gulp, Max Scherzer. Could veteran leaders Andrew Ketridge or Phil Eton return to the bullpen? Now, we’ve talked about Zack Allen here on the show a couple of times recently, right? Uh Zach is a guy that used to be in the organization, got traded as part of that Marcelo Zuna deal, was very, very good with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Remember, the Marlins shipped him to Arizona after the Cardinals gave him to Miami and was very, very good for a number of seasons. starter in the all-star game not that long ago and then the last couple years things have gone in the wrong direction for Zack. Um Jeff Jones yesterday when I brought up Zack Allen’s name said that he’d be surprised if the Cardinals were going to invest into a multi-year deal with anybody because the opinion is that Zack Gallon will command three to five years somewhere in that vicinity is what somebody will sign him to. So, if the Cardinals aren’t interested in multi-year deals, kind of wipes him off the board, right? Um, but as I as I brought up to to Jeff yesterday, I was like, well, you know, Hein Bloom said that the if they see somebody that fits the mold of what they want that they’d be willing to invest. He just said he’d be surprised if that actually happened. Um, but to hear his name mentioned again by John Denton, at least to me, says it’s not something out of the realm of possibilities, but I would still say that the chances of landing him are very, very slim. Uh, Chris Basset is going to be 37 years old next uh season, currently pitching in the World Series with the Blue Jays, has been pitching well. Uh, he’s a guy that I I’ve been a fan of since he was with the A’s during their Oakland years. Uh, he was a late bloomer. So when you see his name and you’re like, “How the hell is he 37 already?” Well, he didn’t really get his major league career going until 2019 and he was already 30 at the time. So late bloomer, a guy that I’ve had interest in for a while and u you know was bummed when he went to the Mets and now he’s with Toronto and the guy’s just been kind of a winner, you know, the last few years. So a guy that if I’m the Cardinals I’m definitely looking at. You mentioned Austin Gomber who used to be with the Cardinals as well was a part of that deal to get Nolan Aronado. Massive disappointment in Colorado just last season. He was 0 and7 with a 7.49 RA before getting released. Ended up signing a minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs. That this is a guy where I’m like, you know how we use that phrase, lowhanging fruit? Like that’s fruit that’s on the on the grass, bro. Like I I don’t No. Come on. This would be a signing that would drive fans bonkers. It would drive me bonkers. We don’t need reclamation projects and hope they work out. I need somebody I can rely on. I need somebody steady. Austin Gomber, I know it’s Colorado, but he hasn’t been good there. And he wasn’t even that much better on the road. So, it’s not like his splits were crazy and he just got his brains beat in when he’s pitching at Kors Field. It just wasn’t good anywhere. So, no. last name Max Scherzer. And as I’ve said before, this dude loves winning. He loves winning. And at the stage of his career, the only reason I could see him signing with the Cardinals is that if in his heart, he just wants to put on the birds on the bat, that he wants to sign with the Cardinals, his hometown team, before he retires. Now, as a fan, I would love that. I’m sure you would too as a fan. Did my stuff go away again? There we go. I need to keep my spooky stuff up there. There we go. Um, I would love it. Who wouldn’t want Max Sherzer on their team? I I would love having Mad Max here. I think that would be awesome. I think it would be something fun for the fans. I think they would enjoy that. Would Max enjoy that? coming to a team that isn’t in a spot right now that they plan on contending next year. They could surprise people. We know that. I mean, he did sign with the Blue Jays, who were 20 games under 500 last year. Now, he’s in the World Series. So, we think that the Toronto is supposed to be better than that. But, um I I just feel like I’d expect him to sign with a team that has a better shot at winning than the Cardinals right now. But, if he wants to be a Cardinal and he wants to play in St. Lewis before he retires. Come get some Mad Max. Let’s go. Um, if you want to hear another scary notion, John Denton also says that in this newsletter, Miles Michaelis, a Cardinal since 2018, is the team’s lone free agent this off season. He’s been very open to a return, but the club might be ready to move on after three forgettable seasons. An all-star in 2018 and 22. Michaelis has been too often victimized by homers and two strike hits over the past three seasons when he posted RAS of 4.78, 5.35, and 4.84. However, he has been a very dependable workhorse and made at least 31 starts each of the past four seasons. If the Cardinals can’t replace him with a younger, more promising pitcher, the club could look to bring Michaelis back on a oneyear deal. Like, come on. Come on. Can we not Can we not do better? Can we not do better than Miles Michaels, Andre Palante, or Austin Gomber at this point? Like, why are why does it seem like the Cardinals are like begging for scraps? Like, go get dudes. You can do better than this. It’s like the wet blanket that was the Kyle Gibson, Lance Lens signings in 2023 all over again. That’s what it would be like if they went down this path. No, stop it. Do better. Are you trying to drive the remaining fans who do come to your games away? No, thank you. No, thank you. Be better than that, please. Other scary thoughts for this off season? Um, what if Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker fall flat again? Where does the extra offense come from? The offensive production from the outfield was awful. Exorcist, green, vomit, awful last year. And right now, there doesn’t appear to be any in-house bats that are ready to help out in any capacity. You’ve got some prospects. You know, Joshua Bayz was obviously a breakout star, but he was a double A. Chase Davis, former first round pick, has not had the breakout numbers that you’re hoping for by this point, considering he was a college player and he was also a double A. So, these dudes haven’t even produced at Memphis yet, AAA. So, to expect them to do something for you in 2026 seems unlikely, right? Um Jeff mentioned yesterday that he’d expect them to sign a bat, but again, who are they going to get on a one-year deal that would make that much of an impact? I mean, going through the free agent names, there’s not a lot out there. It’s genuinely on the shoulders of the guys already in the room, already in the clubhouse to step up. And if they don’t, uh oh, scary, scary stuff. Once again, um we’re going to go over the staff announcements because uh a lot of staff uh management type of stuff was announced over the last couple days. Uh plus the yachti news which uh you know made some people sad. So uh we’ll talk all about it next on Lock Dawn Cardinal. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Now, even if you missed the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who’s going to score next to fourth quarter comebacks. I have been preaching to you. Austin Reeves from the Lakers, have I not? Last game, 28 points, 16 assists, game-winning shot. What’s not to like? I’m going to give you another name. Ryan Rollins from the Milwaukee Bucks. That’s the other guy that you ought to look at. Last four games, 21 points, five and a half assists, almost three three-pointers, and two and a half steals per game. Just loading up the box score. Look into them. Austin Reeves, Ryan Rollins. That’s what I want you to look at. Now, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shout out to bigger payout. It keeps every game more exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fandal.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Thank you again for making lockdown Cardinal your first listen every day. For your second listen, check out Locked on MLB Game Night every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Yeah, local analysis, but on a national scale. Find MLB Game Night on the Locked on MLB YouTube channel or wherever you listen to your podcast. Um, this could be the last night, you know, game six of the World Series tonight. So, uh, we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens. Um, Katie Woo from The Athletic updated us on the staff news that the Cardinals announced and the, uh, changes that they’ve made, which we’ll have linked in the description, in the show notes, just like, uh, John Denton stuff. So, if you missed it, um, here’s what we got for you. The Cardinals hired Joe Douglas here. Let’s get a picture of Heim Bloom up there. There he is. Um, the Cardinals hired Joe Douglas to oversee the professional scouting department and Jacob Buffa as a international scouting director. The first two significant hires under new president of baseball operations bloom. Douglas spent eight seasons in the Pirates organization and most recently served as the head of player analysis. While Douglas will help facilitate the Cardinals player acquisition process overall, his main responsibilities will involve working with the pro scouting staff under assistant general manager and scouting director Randy Flores. Buffa, a Missouri State University graduate who co-founded a baseball performance facility in St. Louis, spent seven seasons in the Houston Astros organization. That’s gonna make some people happy because everybody whines and complains about ever since everybody went to the Astros organization, the Cardinals have sucked and Houston’s been good. Here, you get you get a guy from Houston. Now, uh, according to the Astros media guide, he was responsible for building the organization’s first performance science department and in his recent role oversaw biomechanics, sport sciences, and player development. The front office changes indicate significant operational shifts under Bloom, who has said he’d prefer to add positions rather than subtract. Additional support roles under Douglas and Buff are expected later this off season. St. Louis will also add a director of hitting, new assistant hitting and pitching coaches and a new head trainer. This follows the news from Thursday that, you know, bench coach Daniel Dalso, hitting coach Brent Brown, pitching coach Dusty Blake, first base coach Stubby Klab, third base coach Pop Warner, and assistant coach John J will also return to the organization as their bullpen coaches. And then there was the sad news that Katie mentioned as well. It is not believed that longtime catcher Yadier Molina, who lobbied earlier this month for MLB coaching jobs, will be on the staff next year. But the Cardinals remain open to finding a role for Molina within the organization. So, uh, Jeff spoke on that last part about Yachti at the end of yesterday’s episode and how he never really expected him to be a full-time member of the staff either. So, if that was something you were hanging your hat on for 2026, then I I am sorry to disappoint you. And I’m disappointed, too. I think it would be great. I think it’d be really cool to see Yachty back just like everyone else. But I understand that they have a vision of how they want to retool this thing and with or without Yachti, they’re they’re moving forward with guys that they believe will benefit the organization at this time. So, I’m okay with that. You know, you you know what you’re doing, right? We’ve given you the keys to the car. Let Bloom use his guys. And then I if something does work out between the Cardinals and Yachti or maybe even Albert Pooh is still out there. I didn’t see any updates on him getting the job in San Diego yet. Um or any other former players, right? You know, Matt Holiday was in the fold for a hot minute. Um but you know, if if things work out with any of these people seeking positions in the big leagues, then so be it. Just because Yachty shows up doesn’t guarantee winning. It doesn’t. Still the same players, still the same pitchers. It’s a talent issue for the Cardinals for me. It’s not the coaching staff, it’s not the manager. It’s getting more talent in the organization and developing them, getting them up to the big leagues. That’s where I think the problems lie and he’s going to he’s doing what he can do. Uh, one final nugget from Katie here as far as payroll goes. Uh, she says at the end of the season, Cardinals chairman Bill Det Jr. stated he would provide Bloom the resources needed to build a better team. While the organization still has plenty to configure regarding next year’s payroll and needs to finalize its television rights deal for 2026, the added position suggest ownership making good on its word. So, they’re adding resources to hire more staff members. Will they put it into what the roster is going to look like? That’s the real question. Um, again, I wouldn’t get my hopes up for any of those big-time free agents to come to town. Uh I I agree with Jeff who was talking about it yesterday where it just feels like one year, two-year deal type of dudes uh are what they’re more interested in. You’ve got the threat of the lockout in 2027 and things could change after that. So I get it. I understand it. Doesn’t mean we have to like it as fans, right? World Series game six. Something I do like the World Series. It’s been quite entertaining if you haven’t watched any of it. Game six tonight, Yoshi Nou Yamamoto against Kevin Gosman. Uh, so entertaining. Lots of history has been made during this World Series. Personally, no offense to the Dodgers or the Blue Jays. I want it to go to a game seven no matter what. So, that’s going to upset Toronto fans, but that’s what I want to see because it’s been so good. I want one game, all the marbles, no holding back, everybody’s available, and let’s see who wins. That’s what I’m hoping for. Toronto’s got all the momentum right now, but Yamamoto has been almost unhitable in his last two starts. So, uh we’ll see what goes down tonight, but uh I’m excited to watch it this evening. Um but I think it’ll be cool if we got a game seven. So, give me the Dodgers tonight for my own selfish reasons, right? All right, that’s going to wrap it up. Thank you again for making lockdown Cardinals your first listen every day. If you haven’t already, give us a follow on X at L_Cardinals and at JD Sports Radio, Tik Tok, and Instagram at lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube. Help our channel. love for the Cardinals grow. Like 12 subscribers away from 13,000. Just 12. 12. We know 12 people, don’t we? Let’s get them in here. Let’s get them subscribed and let’s hit that mark. Happy Halloween to all of you. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We’ll see you next time on Locked On Cardinals. And don’t eat too much candy and give yourself a belly ache tonight.
St. Louis Cardinals fans face a terrifying reality heading into 2026: a starting rotation in crisis. With Sonny Gray potentially traded and no proven ace to replace him, the pitching staff looks more like a horror show than a playoff contender.
Host JD Hafron breaks down the Cardinals’ most frightening roster concerns, from Matthew Liberatore’s below-average performance to Andre Pallante’s gruesome 6-15 season with a 5.31 ERA. The discussion covers potential free agent targets like Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt, and hometown hero Max Scherzer, though multi-year deals seem unlikely.
Hafron also examines offensive question marks surrounding Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker, plus the surprising news that Yadier Molina won’t return to the coaching staff despite recent lobbying efforts. New hires Joe Douglas and Jacob Buffa signal organizational investment, but will ownership provide resources for meaningful roster upgrades?
Discover why the Cardinals’ pitching situation might be scarier than any Halloween movie and what moves could save their 2026 season.
0:00 Intro
0:32 Welcome and Halloween theme
2:03 Scariest thing: Starting rotation concerns
4:36 Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy analysis
7:09 Andre Pallante’s disappointing 2025 season
10:12 Price Picks sponsorship segment
12:14 Free agent pitchers Cardinals might target
15:19 Austin Gomber and Max Scherzer possibilities
18:25 Miles Mikolas potential return concerns
19:58 Offensive production and outfield struggles
22:31 New staff hires and organizational changes
25:04 Yadier Molina not returning to staff
27:06 Payroll and ownership commitment discussion
28:07 World Series Game 6 preview
https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/news/cardinals-go-into-first-offseason-with-chaim-bloom
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6761517/2025/10/30/cardinals-mlb-coaching-staff-front-office-changes/
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6764506/2025/10/31/stl-cardinals-front-office-hires-jacob-buffa-douglas/
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16 comments
What scares you the most about 2026?? π»
Steal Yadier Molina #WHITESOX
What scares me is not only the pitching.Which will be suspect, but we need a power.Hitter in our lineup and we don't have that, and it scares me that we won't score runs like we have not been doing.And you know, the cardinals did not hit a grand slam home run.This year I hope they can.Hit a couple next year.It'd be nice
As opposed to what it's been the last few years? No disrespect meant, but the rotation is something I've been bemoaning since 2019. I know some years have been better then others, and no, I don't expect a rotation with an upside to equal the Dodgers. However, I just want to see a rotation that is in the same ballpark as what Detroit or Philadelphia does. I.E. a rotation that has a stud or two at the top, a genuinely good number thee, and two serviceable back end guys. Nothing crazy: just competitive. I know that's not happening for two to three years, but by that point we better see SOME progress…
Resign the LIZARD π¦ KING π!
Bring back Montgomery, Quintana, Maton
I can start, Iβll sign for league minimum, my fastball is Randy Jones style along with a Knucklecurve ! What ya say ?
I loved what Bloom said about relying strictly on models and programming vs. eyes-on scouting:
βI donβt see it as either/or. I donβt think it can be,β Bloom said last month. βIt would be dangerous for us to make the assumption that seasoned evaluators canβt help us. I do think smart organizations are finding different and better ways for those evaluators to help out than what they might have done five, 10, 15 years ago. And actually, I think if we donβt do that, weβre going to get beat by someone who does.β
I love that approach, it is exactly what I think is needed.
DJ good evening brother happy Halloween… Too you… The Freddy Krueger outfit is banging… π―π§One of your best yet ohhh man… You hit everything on the head with pitcher's sweet mother of everything good and pure… Go after the best and the best out there forget everything else You're no scrap's you're 500% true… Get the very best out there at the timeπ§ work your magic.. picture is so crucial right now!!!π§π§π―… to yadi hype the man up teach them what you know and prep them… But that's all you can do π§ bring up JJ weatherholt, at second base or stort stop.. and blaze Jordan in Left field holding it down… Now we open 3 base and more … Look at the Marlins coaching staff.. they built all their prospects to make millions and beyond without trade-in too much only for high value π§π§π§π― I still think we have the best farm system in the baseball league π§ that pays millions when you set it up right…. Have a great night brother be safe!!!! π―π§
My god lol the rotation is gonna be treacherous next year π
Itβs difficult to think of anything about the 2026 Cardinals that DOESNβT scare me.
The Cards rotation has a hard time being worse than they have been in recent years.
Naaaah, βhave a little faith, baby.β πππππππππππ
This team is a total mess. Rotation is scary, and Burleson is our best hitter. It's so not motivating to watch, even on TV.
100% agree it's a talent issue in StL, not a coaching staff or field Manager in the dugout issue. It was Mozeliak. And now it will be Bloom, who hasn't exactly impressed me with any of these hirings.
We need Maton back. Kittredge on a 1-year deal — is a maybe. I would prefer Mikolas back — but as a middle inning relief pitcher in the bullpen. He gets in trouble when he goes through lineups a second time as a starter, but has been decent the 1st time through, so make him a bullpen arm. Bellinger has been willing to sign 1-year deals with options, he can take over CF and improve the outfield offensive production. He tailed off at end of year with Yankees, he might be available at a reduced contract price right now. But back to pitching, with or without Gray, the Cardinals MUST get Dylan Cease and Zac Gallen to make the starting pitcher staff competitive in 2026. Make them 1-year offers if necessary, but get them on the roster, with incentives to stay for 2 or 3 years at club option built into the contracts.
For anyone talking about big-name pitchers, the Cardinals don't spend any money so I don't know how that is going to happen unless something changes drastically with spending. Bloom has been a guy who does not spend money either as far as free agency so our farm system better start producing quickly.