RUNWAY: Which Of The Young St. Louis Cardinals SEIZED Opportunities | Arenado’s EMOTIONAL Farewell

RUNWAY: Which Of The Young St. Louis Cardinals SEIZED Opportunities | Arenado’s EMOTIONAL Farewell

As the season comes to a close, which Cardinals actually took advantage of the runway they were given in 2025. 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. My name is JD Hafford, former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis, lifetime Cardinals fan, and I’m your host for Locked on Cardinals, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, covering your team every day. This right here is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today’s episode brought to you by 5Hour Energy. Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5Hour Energy Shots. Go to www.5ourgy.com or Amazon today. So, on today’s show, we are going to be taking a look at the Cardinals victory over the Brewers on Sunday, which is why you get the ugly shirt if you’re watching on YouTube. Uh, so that’s always nice. We’re going to preview the upcoming series uh against the Giants a little bit, but our main focus today is going to be what I deem another positive spin on what actually happened during this 2025 season. And to help us break it down is the wonderful Thomas Goane from redbird rants.com. Uh joining us here today. Welcome back in Thomas. Hope you had a a good weekend. I did. Yeah, it was pretty good. My wife and I celebrated our 5year anniversary on Friday. So we got to go out to a nice steak dinner on Saturday and watch a movie. It was good. All right. What your What’s your temperature on the steak? What do you do? I can’t say this out loud. I’m gonna get run over in the comments, but I do medium. I don’t think medium’s a bad thing. I’d rather you see it undercooked than overcooked and get the well done where it just becomes a piece of charcoal. So, yeah. No, I’m I’m definitely medium medium rare. That That’s me as well. And uh if they overcook it a little, so be it. But as long as it’s not gushing blood, uh I’m good to go. Yep. Yep. I agree. All right. So, um, let’s talk about what this season was about. All right. Like, uh, you know, the the grand scheme of things was to have this this this runway season, right? You know, the whole idea was about letting the younger players get as much playing time as they possibly could so that, you know, the Cardinals and Heimlum could evaluate things for when he takes over for next year and he can make the decisions on, you know, who he seems, you know, deems worthy of staying or going. You know, that that term runway uh got got used to exhaustion. Personally, if I never hear the word again, I’ll be just fine. I’m tired of it all year. It’s just been regurgitated repeatedly and you know I’m just kind of over it. But that’s what they wanted to call it this year instead of the rebuild. It’s a runway. Uh there were some obstacles from the get-go obviously the inability to move Nolan Aronado and other veterans in this off season to clear room for some of them which created issues for playing time in the infield, the outfield pitching staff as well. So Ali did his best to get the guys in as much as he could and for a bit the Cardinals were were very competitive. You know, they they were overachieving. You know, they were in the thick of things after the first two months. Eventually they started to slide a little bit. Finished the first half at 51 and 46. Here in the second half they’re 24 and 34. And whether it was due to injuries, guys just not playing well, trade deadline, you know, eventually more and more of the younger guys were finally getting to play and get at bats and get innings. and you recently put together a list of of nine guys who you believe took advantage of the time that they received during the season. So, we’re going to uh link that story in the comment section down below so you guys can check it out for yourself at rebberbranch.com. But, uh we’re going to give you a little taste of some of the stuff that Tom has talked about. So, let’s start with one of my favorite guys. I know you like him, too. Let’s start with Ivonne Herrera. Your thoughts on Herrera’s 2025 season? Yeah, when you’re looking at his success, it has to come on the offensive end alone. His OPS is the best on the team. It’s in the the low 800s, which is it’s pretty good for a core bat. Um his his batting average is not as high as it was last year was 301, but it’s still pretty high, somewhere around the 285 mark. It all starts with his offensive output, which is what we need. We’ve been looking for a right-handed power bat ever since Jordan Walker came up and and faltered a little bit, and he seems to have filled that hole pretty well. He’s got his his shortcomings as does every other player on my list. His shortcomings are on the defensive side, but he seems to be addressing those this offseason with an elbow surgery. So, what we need now is some pure offense. That was one of the struggles for the Cardinals last year with runners in scoring position and then this year as well. And he seems to be a perfect fit for a plus offensive player. Yeah. And we remember how hot he was to start the year. you know, he had the big game against the Angels and things were going well and then in Boston he has that knee issue and we all thought it was like over. We thought we’re like, “Oh gosh, he like blew his knee out or something.” Uh, but he struggled with a couple of different injuries this year. Uh, so which that’s held him back a little bit. But like you said, you know, you go back and you look at the numbers overall and you’re like, this seems like a good building block, you know, as far as offensive side to to build around somebody who can be uh a solid bat in the meat of the order on a really good team, he’d probably be batting like five or six, but you know, way the Cardinals are right now and they’re they’re starving for offense, you know, he’s probably going to be more important to uh to them than he would to another team. The real question I have for you in your opinion, you know, obviously you mentioned the elbow surgery, which is something he said he’s been dealing with and it’s going to it’s going to help him out. Um, but is he a catcher? Like what are we doing with him when you look at the depth that the Cardinals have at the catcher position, not only coming up in the minors, but on the roster right now? Because uh I I would assume you would expect Pah and Krooks to to come back next year. Is there room for Ivon Herrera to be a catcher on this team anymore? Yeah, there’ll be offseason trades, I’m sure, from the catching position. It it has exceptional depth depth in our system. If you move Herrera back there, that gives you him, Poso, Pah Hayes with MLB experience. Krooks has gotten a taste this year. Behind Crooks, you have Bernol, Leo Bernol, and Real Rodriguez, two two very hot prospects. They have to trade at least one of those guys this winter. I I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of the prospects. Crooks, Bernol, I don’t think they’ll trade Rodriguez. They like him quite a bit. One of Crooks or Bernol and then Pahes or Posa. So get two of them out of there. See what you can get in return. Maybe a pitching prospect or reliever or something like that and then you’ll really free up some space. I think a Herrera Jimmy Crooks combo next year. Good righty lefty matchups. I think that’d be pretty interesting to see behind the plate. Uh Krooks has received pretty rave reviews from the miners for his game calling. I heard yesterday in the broadcast that he has also been seeing positive feedback from the major league staff and the coaches there too. So I think a righty lefty split between Krooks and and Herrera would be pretty fun next year. So we you think maybe PZ is on the move? You think that that they might actually Do you think they have the Do they have the courage to move on from Pedro P? Because they haven’t they haven’t shown that uh that ability at all. And let’s be honest, he’s he’s hit a lot better than I think we all thought he was going to. For sure me. Uh I know that he’s been uh uh much better recently after not our hitting coach, but Thomas and JC told him to make an adjustment to his batting stance and go back to what he used to do and now uh you know, things have been much better for him recently. But do you think that Pahes is the guy that might get moved? Uh pro probably. I hope so. Personally, I don’t know. Pedro P. I think putting stock in a catcher whose primary skill is framing is is pretty weak. Um he has he has been better in the second half. His his August OPS was 1097, but he’s back down to 552, which would be his second lowest of the year in any month this year. So I He has a surge in August. Let’s not pretend that’s who he actually is, though. I’m just I’m trying to think like what And I gotta quit doing this. I got to quit thinking what Mo would do because I’m so used to his his ideas and how he would look at it where because I don’t know high bloom. I don’t know what the hell he’s going to do, which is uh adds a little pinch of excitement to what might happen this off season because I think we’re we we’ve all we know what Mo’s going to do. We knew what his ideas were and what he was going to lean towards. And now we’re not totally sure what what’s going to happen this off season with some of these guys and uh how Hine Bloom’s going to, you know, make decisions on who stays and who goes. So, you know, it’s um it’s kind of nice. It’s a little refreshing to go into this unknown, if you will, uh with Hen Bloom taking over. So, um all right. So, Ivon Herrera, do you trust him as a catcher? What if he goes back there and he sucks? What if he can’t throw and he’s still terrible back there? Where would you like to see him play if you had to give him a secondary position? Yeah. Well, my hope is the elbow surgery fixes his throwing issues, but if if he needs a secondary position, DH feels like a waste of who he is. I think that he still has some potential to play in the field. He’s still really young. So, I think corner outfield would be a good spot for him that hinges partially on the trades this offseason. Again, do we see Lars Newar go? I don’t think it’ll be this guy, but Alec Berles might be on the block if if they can get a nice return for him. So, corner outfield would be a nice place for him. Uh, DH is probably more likely, although that feels like a little bit waste of of who he is. Yeah, I got you. Yeah, I’m very curious what Ivon Herrera’s future is going to be if it’s not behind the plate. Uh, we’ve seen him play a little bit of left field. I’ve always said that I don’t know why he doesn’t just start becoming a first baseman. Obviously, you got Wilson over there and if Berles’s not going to play outfield, you got him over there first base now. You got Bla1 Jordan coming up. So, got a lot of first baseman on this team. Here we go again. another log jam position. So, uh we’ll see what they end up doing. All right, we’re going to switch things up and uh go to some other guys cuz you did mention uh in this article and I want people to go check it out. Uh you mentioned Alec Berles and Thomas and JC and Mason Win as other infield guys that uh you know that have have done quite well with their their time on the field this season. But we’re going to switch it up and go to the pitching side of things and talk about some guys who uh you know impressed impressed Mr. Thomas Coain from redwoodrants.com. We’ll have more with him coming up next here on Locked on Cardinals. This episode is brought to you by Zipix Toothpicks. Now, whether you’re looking for nicotine satisfaction or an energy boost, Zippix has you covered with their nicotine and caffeine infused toothpicks. Now, for nicotine users, Zipix provides a discreet way to satisfy your cravings and the hand-to-mouth habit without vaping or smoking. It can be helpful tool as you try to, you know, reduce your dependence on things like that, on vaping. Available in six great flavors with 2 milligrams and 3 milligram nicotine options. 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I’m going to give that a try. They got Outer Worlds, too, Purple Berry Punch, and Glow Motion as well. Those are other ones that interest me. I like how it kicks in real quick. Sugar-free. Like I said, don’t have to drink a whole can of stuff. Small, quick, and potent. Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour Energy Shots. Get the favorites you love. Or be bold. Try something new in store and online at www.fhourenery.com or Amazon today. Thanks again for making locks on Cardinals your first listen every day. You enjoy daily Cardinal content, I’m sure, or else you wouldn’t be on this podcast. So, make sure you’re following us on X at l_cardinals. We’re also on YouTube, Tik Tok, and Instagram at locked on Cardinals. Got Thomas Coane from redrance.com. You can follow him on X at Thomas Coane and obviously get all of his work at redrants.com. We’re talking about players that used the runway that they got this season and made an impression where they’ve locked themselves in for the 2026 season. We already talked about Ivon Herrera. Let’s switch to the pitching side and start with a guy that I know you like, I like, and the Cardinals like too because they actually won ball games when this guy took the mound. Let’s talk about Michael McGrevy. Thomas, what did you like and see from Michael this season that uh impressed you and kind of locked himself in for next season? He just kind of churned through his starts after he was brought up. I think what was most impressive was the beginning of the year. He had four or five spot starts and they weren’t easy games. One of them was in Colorado. He had a couple against division rivals. I think he had a start against the Dodgers early in the year too and none of those really phased him. He was up and down AAA majors. He probably deserved a spot in the rotation out of spring, but didn’t get it. And he kept his mentality strong throughout the year. None of his numbers really pop off the page. His strikeouts are below average. His walk rate is in the 97th percentile, which is really strong. Ground ball rate is probably about league average as well. But he just went through did his business and I think what’s most important like you said is he won he helped the team win games and he was significantly cheaper than the rest of the guys who were pitching ahead of them between Fetty Michael all those guys and he was just as good if not better than than them. Yeah. The unfortunate side of it and and you can’t really blame the Cardinals for doing what they did was that everybody expected more out of Eric Fetty. like what they got from him was beyond unexpected. Like it was not supposed to be this bad. Nobody thought he was going to be as bad as he was. I mean, it was basically after that game against the Nationals where he was amazing and he throws this complete game and we’re all like, “Yeah, we nailed it. We got this guy and he’s going to be worth so much at the deadline if we do trade.” And then he just right off the cliff, dude. Yeah. Like it just went south so bad. Goes to the break. Now he’s going to the playoffs. It’s crazy. Now he’s with the Brewers and he pitched against and before he played us this weekend, he was not that bad for the Brewers either. Like because that’s what happens. It doesn’t matter how terrible you are in a Cardinal uniform. You play against the Cardinals later, you are an all-star. Doesn’t matter who you are. That’s just the way it works out. And I’ve said that before. I don’t know if that happens to other teams as much as it happens to the Cardinals cuz it feels like every guy that goes away and goes somewhere else, whether the little bit player for some other team, they are going to burn the Cardinal in some way, shape or form. And yeah, he pitched well. Uh they still lost, but that’s fine. Uh but yeah, now Eric Fy’s going to be going to the playoffs. But um you know, McGrevy had to bite his time. And I I I assume he was bored to tears at Memphis at some point where he’s just like, I don’t even know what I’m doing here anymore. Yeah. And it was a rare case where the Cardinals pitching staff just didn’t get hurt this year. Like that that was, you know, that doesn’t happen where all of the same guys took the ball every fifth day. Like they were always available. Uh so that was another thing where, you know, that was one of the things we worried about. Remember in the offseason we’re like, gosh, the if anybody goes down, we’re screwed. And nobody went down. They just weren’t very close. They did. It was just the miners. It was all the prospects who went down. Yeah, that was the problem because the guys you were excited about, they’re like, “All right, if we do move on from guys like Fetty and Michael and uh you know, if we need to move Palante out, uh we’ve got these guys.” And then all of them got Tommy John surgery like any of the guys, especially Taka Robia, that was a real bummer to to lose him. Um but yeah, Michael McGrevy. Is any part about him worry you because he is in the mold of the guys like Michaelis and Fetty where he is a pitch to contact guy. Does that worry you at all going further down the road with him that you know at some point he’s going to continue to have games like where he does get blown up like uh he was a couple times this year which is the same stuff that would happen to Michael. It does. But I think it’s it’s a mentality difference for me. Like we’re paying him 115th of what we’re paying the other guys that we had, which helps a lot. It gives you more financial flexibility in other places. I think that there is at least some optimism that he can improve, whereas what we saw with Fedy and Michael that that is who they are. There’s no changing them at that point. They’re established veterans. McGrevy doesn’t get hit very hard. Like Miles Michael is like a pitching tee most of the time and Eric Fetty was as well, especially in the second half of the year. U he’s not going to be an exciting picture pitcher, but he’s probably going to be a very solid four or five in most rotations throughout the league and I think that’s an important feature to have within an organization. Yeah, he he’s certainly a guy I just enjoy watching pitchers instead of throwers and you know to see McGrevy he’s a pitcher like he goes out there in the way that he attacked the you know the Reds where you know he just threw against him and then he comes at him again recently and he switched up his whole game plan. you know, he was like they were expecting one thing and he came at him with two different things that time and was able to to to beat him again. So, uh, that encouraged me a lot and like you said, the demeanor on the mound, like he just looks like he believes in himself. He’s confident and, uh, you know, he’s got a he’s got a youthful energy to him and the smile and stuff. So, uh, certainly a guy that I think fans are going to enjoy, uh, moving forward. Now, let’s talk about the bullpen real quick because you also had some guys out there after the trade deadline, which opened up a number of different spots. Uh, that helped open things up for more guys to to get some looks. And, uh, you were impressed by a few of the bullpen guys that you saw this year, too. I cheated. I threw three people in one account here. So, whatever. I mean, you lose you lose u Ryan Hley, you lose Phil Anton, you lose Stephen Mets. are three reliable re relievers for the last two years for the Cardinals or last year at least who’s going to come in and replace them and Matt sponsson, Kyle Ley, and Riley O’Brien have done excellent job doing that. With Riley O’Brien, you have to have a little bit of worry with guys with that much stuff usually with this control and he seems to have settled down. His walk rate is probably a little bit too high for for most people’s comfort, but he’s striking out batters. He’s got that high heat, that high power stuff that that’s tanalyzing for a bullpen arm. if he can get it figured out and in control, he would be an excellent late inning guy. And he’s proven that kind of late. He has been a work workhorse all year. Gives me like Matt Bowman vibes, you know. Hopefully he doesn’t fall off like Bowman did. But he he’s his strikeout numbers are solid. He’s got a low RA for most of the year. He had a rough June. Uh he’s having a rough September, but overall he’s still having a really good year. And then Matt Swanson came up last year’s save leader for for double A for the Cardinals. He had 27 saves then and he seems to be fitting in quite nicely late in games. His sweeper paired with his fast ball is pretty ridiculous. There were a couple pitches he had over the weekend against the Brewers. I was like, that’s not fair. Nobody should be should have to see those two pitches back to back. So th those three guys late in games have proven themselves. I’m not a big believer in runway for for relievers. They’re pretty volatile as far as the mold goes, but these three guys have given me some confidence this year heading into next year and beyond. Yeah, I I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed uh watching these guys pitch. You know, Riley, as you mentioned, the the wildness that he has from time to time, really keeping him on the field has been the most difficult part about his career. So, keeping him healthy and uh that’s but you see why the Cardinals are like, “No, we kind of like this dude.” Like, there’s some good stuff here. So, uh that was great. What about Ley going to the rotation next year if uh if another spot opens up? There’s been a lot of discussion about that fan or foe of trying to work that out. I’m fine with stretching out this winter and giving him a shot in spring. If he can come in stretched out three innings, four innings right off the bat and then get a little bit more work in the spring, I think that’s fine. The more rotation depth you can have, especially with Cooper Jerby and Takoma Roby out still for next year, I think that go a long way. He could be Stephen Matz from last year and a little bit this year where we flex him in the rotation sometimes, but he’s long relief in the bullpen. That kind of stuff. I’d love to see just what he can do with the starters workload, too. Obviously, he won’t be getting 150 innings, that’s too big of a jump. But 110 somewhere around there, I think that’d be a nice fit for him next year. 10 starts or so. Yeah, certainly an an interesting thing. Again, we don’t know what Bloom’s going to do, what moves he’s going to make to bring in starting pitching for next season. It seems like it’s something that they need to attack because they’ve got some decent bullpen arms. But uh you know, we we’ll have to wait till the offseason to find out. But Ley seems to be the guy that most believe has an arsenal to be successful as a starter as well as a believer. So that’ll be interesting. But it’s been nice to see how well they’ve done uh after moving those guys and everybody kind of shifting and getting bigger roles. And for most of it, they’ve succeeded, you know. And again, like you said, that word volatile when it comes to a bullpen. Yeah. Like they make one mistake and you’re like, “This guy sucks and you’re so mad about it, but you know, you don’t look at like how, hey, he just threw like six straight appearances without giving up a run.” Like, I get real mad at guys like Ryan Fernandez who’s just been terrible this year for the most part, but his last three appearances, he’s looked all right. So sometimes you just gota, you know, it’s that’s the bullpen, man. It’s it’s it’s it’s going to happen from time to time. So, all right. Coming up next, we’re going to reflect on what we saw on Sunday with the Nolan Aronado situation and uh you know what what were our feelings about how things went down, how they did that moment with him coming off the field and stuff. So, we’ll discuss that the uh series went over the Brewers and talk a little Giants that all coming up next here on Lockdown Cardinals. Today’s episode brought to you by Neutrifold. Now, you’ve probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought, “Sure, like that actually works.” But there are a lot of products out there, and it’s hard to know which ones are actually going to do something for you, and that’s why you should give Neutrifull a closer look. Neutrifll is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand. Number one, trusted by over one and a half million people. And it’s not just hype. This is a supplement that is clinically tested to target the root causes of thinning and shedding with a proactive approach. In my life, I’ve learned that confidence is key in everything you do. 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Use code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on MLB. Thanks again for making locked on. Carlos your first listen every day. For your second listen, check out locked on MLB game night. Every game every night until the World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis but on a national scale. You can find MLB game night on locked on MLB on the YouTube channel or wherever you listen to your podcast. We’ve got Thomas Goain from redwoods.com joining us here. All right. real quick. Emotional weekend for a number of different reasons for Cardinals fans. Uh we had the John Mosak thing which uh I know people are like what have you done for me lately? But in the overall his career, John Mosak has been an excellent part of this Cardinals uh organization and there was a lot of winning baseball under John Mosak. Things have not gone well the last couple of years. We all know this. But saying goodbye to him obviously is uh something that was a kind of like well do we cheer? Do we not? The Nolan Aronado thing was a a very strange situation and uh you and I were talking about this before we started this show and we’re like did you like how they did it because it it confused a lot of fans who were in attendance. What were your feelings on the way they handled Nolan Arnonado coming off the field on Sunday? Yeah, I didn’t love it before the game. he wasn’t in the lineup card. That’s what a lot of the reporting was. And then I think it was like 5 minutes before first pitch. We get updates saying that he was swapped in directly for Nolan Gorman. Goes out in the field, talks Brewer’s third base coach, and then Ali comes out for a fake mountain visit and pulls Aronado. It felt weird to me. Like I can’t imagine everybody who was going to the game was already there at that point. You always get those fans who show up in the first through the third innings and they just missed the beginning. They’re okay with it. So a the stadium wasn’t full enough. B, a lot of people probably had assumed that they saw the lineup card. He’s not coming in until later. Let’s just forget about him for now. And then all of a sudden, he’s walking off the field. The ovation felt lackluster for what he’s done for us. I didn’t love it. I mean, you look last year, too. The organization didn’t do much of anything for Gold Schmidt, Lancelin, and Matt Carpenters departures. I feels like they just kind of forgot or didn’t care. Yeah. Yeah. It seemed very poorly planned which is very Cardinal like recently of the way that well this is what we’re going to do and the idea was to do this but we kind of did this instead like it just looks very like what it looked confused. It did confuse everybody. It was odd. You you came up with a better idea was like maybe like in you know have him come in as a pinch hitter at some point that way he can get that moment at home plate where he can you know tip the helmet and do his thing and everybody would realize that like this could be his last at bat. Um after the game, the uh reporters spoke with Aronado uh and he talked about his time with the team saying that his favorite thing about being a Cardinal was probably just Albert Poles just going off and playing in front of a packed Bush Stadium. Uh when you come to the games now and you see there are seats open, it just doesn’t feel even feel like Bush. You know, when you think of Bush Stadium, you think of a packed house. To not have that anymore, it’s been disappointing. But at the same time, it’s not their fault. It’s ours. We’re not winning enough for them. and he said, “I I miss a packed Bush.” Does not regret anything. Uh does not regret opting back in when he had a chance to get out. Does not regret the trade. Uh he genuinely just feels like I I just wish we could have won more for the fans. And uh I got emotional a little bit yesterday. Not that I was crying like that, but it it felt weird to say goodbye to another legend who’s going to be in the Hall of Fame and uh to to see him walk away and that that’s probably going to be it. It just uh I was a little bummed about it. How did you feel about it? Yeah, it felt sad probably like a good word for it. Bittersweet maybe like we wanted more. We couldn’t get more when he was here. It if if his career hadn’t ended on such a down note with the Cardinals, I think I’d feel a bit more different about it all. But yeah, it’s just I don’t know. It didn’t feel good enough. And I wish there was more that that could have happened with him. Yeah. Yeah. maybe a better send off than what what he got. And uh in a half empty Bush Stadium probably uh yeah, like you said, kind of I kind of felt like Yeah. And I know there’s a lot of mixed opinions on his career, a lot focused on like his playoffs, but you know, still really good. We got to see a Hall of Famer for five years. His defense was extraordinary at third base. We haven’t seen that since Roland really. So it it’s tough to watch him go. Yeah. Well, uh it’s it certainly seems like uh more finality than it was last year where the the talk was, hey, this offseason they might be moving these guys. It never happened, but it feels it feels like now everybody is on the same page and if he gets an opportunity to to go anywhere else, he’s probably going to he’s probably going to grab it. So, the question is, will they try to do similar things with guys like Wilson Catus and Sunny Gray? That is something we’ll have to wait and find out about. All right, be sure to check out Thomas Cove on X at Thomas Cove. Of course, read his work at redbirdrants.com and get more on the nine people who he says actually took advantage of the runway season the Cardinals had here in 2025. Again, thank you guys for making lockdown Cardinal first listen every day. If you haven’t already, give us a follow on Axadella_Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio, Tik Tok, Locked on Cardinals, and on Instagram. You can like and subscribe on YouTube. Help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. They will be taking on the Giants tonight. Uh, another chance to play spoilers. So, some late night West Coast baseball games. Uh, I don’t know. You hope for the good. like you you want to be the reason why some team seeds don’t make the uh they don’t make the uh the playoffs. Uh but it is going to be weird if like the Reds, the Cubs, and the Brewers are all in. So that’s going to be uh that’s a tough pill to swallow as well, but uh they’ll take on the the Giants tonight. And uh if you’re going to stay up late, I’ll be up late with you guys online talking about it. So come out, hang out. You guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason. We’ll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals. Thank you, Thomas, for joining us again today, buddy. Of course. Thank you.

Cardinals’ Did Find Some Runway Success: Herrera’s Bat, McGreevy’s Arm Top The List

St. Louis Cardinals fans, buckle up for a deep dive into the standout performers of 2025. Ivan Herrera’s offensive explosion and Michael McGreevy’s mound mastery take center stage. JD Hafron and Thomas Gauvain break down Herrera’s team-leading OPS and debate his future position. They analyze McGreevy’s impressive starts and bullpen heroes like Matt Svanson and Kyle Leahy. Plus, the emotional rollercoaster of Nolan Arenado’s potential farewell game and its impact on the Cardinals’ future.

Tune in for expert insights on the Cards’ silver linings in a tough season and what these performances mean for 2024 and beyond.

LINK To The Story: https://redbirdrants.com/9-cardinals-who-took-advantage-of-their-runway-in-2025/2

0:00 Cardinals’ 2025 season review

5:01 Ivan Herrera’s impressive offensive output

14:22 Michael McGreevy’s solid pitching performance

19:30 Bullpen standouts: Svanson, Leahy, O’Brien

27:23 Nolan Arenado’s confusing farewell ceremony

30:35 Final thoughts on Arenado’s Cardinals tenure

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