The St. Louis Cardinals YOUNG Core Actually Matches Up Well With Toronto’s BREAKOUT Stars!

The St. Louis Cardinals YOUNG Core Actually Matches Up Well With Toronto’s BREAKOUT Stars!

The Toronto Blue Jays worst to first season has given a glimmer of hope to some teams like the Cardinals who didn’t have such a good year. Could the Cardinals somehow someway recreate that Toronto magic? This is Locked on Cardinals. 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 Hford, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinal fan. I’m your host for Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, covering your team every day. Big thank you to our everydayers for joining us here during the off season after hanging out with us throughout the entire regular season. Now we’re trying to fix things, right? Uh, so we’re going to be going through this the entire off seasonason. Thanks for being a part of it. For those of you who are new, welcome aboard. Hope you enjoy the content. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you the info about the birds on the bat each and every day. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’re going to get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So download the app today. Now today’s episode, we’re going to have a little fun. We’re going to have a little fun because we are comparing our St. Louis Cardinals to the Toronto Blue Jays. Essentially piggybacking off what we briefly discussed in our last episode, and that’s what can the Cardinals do to try and achieve the Toronto Blue Jaysesque type of turnaround. Now, before we get into this, because I know you’re already saying, “Oh, stop it. Stop it. The Cardinals aren’t as good as the Blue Jays.” Yeah, let’s be realistic. Doing what the Blue Jays did this past year, it is not easy. This is not normal. It does not happen very often. In fact, a total of 14 different teams have gone from the worst record in their division to the best in one year since 1969. Nice. And the Cardinals weren’t even the worst team in the division. That title goes to the Pittsburgh Pirates. So, in a sense, the Cardinals don’t have as much work to do as the Blue Jays did this past year. Toronto was 14 games under 500 in 2024, 20 games back in the division. The Cardinals finished six games under 500 and 19 games back in the division. Still nothing to like smile about and be proud of by any means, but record-wise, it was mathematically better. Once again, we’re trying to be positive here, not negative Nancy’s. So, in 2024, the Blue Jays got that monster year from uh from Vlatty Guerrero Jr., one of the best hitters in baseball. He’s got this enormous contract, but most of the rest of the team did not perform all that well. And that’s the first thing that I noticed when I uh I was looking at this stuff when I was comparing the differences between the 24 Blue Jays and this year’s team. Um the Blue Jays got some huge huge years from guys in 25 that they just didn’t get in 24. Uh it started with Bob Bashed. Bob Bashed had a terrible year. George Springer wasn’t nearly as good as he was in 24 as he was in 25. Plus, you get the difference between players like Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger from 24 to 25. Massive, massive upgrades. So, who are some of the Cardinals players that we can compare these guys to and try and mimic that type of turnaround because that’s really what it’s about. It’s about getting more out of the guys that you have already. It’s not like the Blue Jays went out and signed a bunch of big-time free agents. Like that’s why we’re not comparing them to the world champion Dodgers because the Cardinals can’t do what the Dodgers do. They’re they’re not going to at least some will argue that yeah, they do have the money and they could go spend it if they wanted to, but they’re not going to. So, it’s pointless to even argue that. So, why compare them to what the Dodgers do? They’re not going to go out and and buy four free agent pitchers and get the greatest players from Japan and like that’s just not going to happen. The Blue Jays redid this thing with the guys they already had and they just got more out of them. Uh again, this isn’t going to be identical. This isn’t easy, but this is for fun today because there’s not a lot going on at the moment. So, let’s look at this. Let’s start with the Bob Bashette stuff who got hurt, didn’t even play in the postseason until the World Series. went from a negative0.3 war and a 70 ops plus in 24 to a 3.5 war and a 129 ops plus in 25. Now it didn’t hurt that he was in a free agent year. Probably going to sign something pretty big with somebody. If it’s not Toronto, I’ll go somewhere else for uh lots and lots of cash. Um you know, players seem to step their games up when they are getting ready to hit free agency. It just kind of happens before they hit the market. And Bette had a monster year. 311 average, 18 home runs, 94 RBI’s, 135 WRC plus in 628 played appearances. So, who do the Cardinals have? If anyone, they could step up their game to be a much bigger offensive force in 2025. Now, it’s a guy in my opinion that it’s not like he just had a bad year, but if he’s going to mimic something that Bo Bashette did this year, the only guy I trust to have anything remotely close to those particular numbers is Ivon Herrera, who, as I mentioned, did have himself a a pretty darn good 2025 WRC plus of 137, hit 284, 19 home runs, 66 RBI’s in just 452 played appearances. I personally have a lot of faith in Ivonne. He’s coming off elbow surgery. I know that he’s a catcher, not an infielder like Bobette is. Um, at least he’s a catcher for now. Um, but if they can keep him on the field and healthy, which was the the difficult part last year, he and Wilson Contrarus are the closest combination to the Bo Vlatty duo that the Cardinals have. And yes, I know Wilson Contrus is not Vlatty Guerrero Jr. I am well aware of that. But if you look at the numbers, Guerrero Jr.’s OPS plus of 133 obviously very very good. Wilson Contreras was 123. It’s not like Willie was like below 100 or something like that. He was in 123. Vlatty hit 23 home runs with 84 RBI. Willie hit 20 home runs with 80 RBI’s. And Vlatty had 99 more at bats than Willie. So before you make fun of me, just think about that for a second. He wasn’t that far off statistically than what Vlatty did for the Blue Jays this past year. Do people fear Wilson Curus the way they fear Vlatty Guerrero Jr.? Hell no. I’m aware of that, but it’s the closest thing we’ve got. Uh next spot I want to look at is the George Springer spot. um went from a 1.1 war in 24 to 4.8 in 25. The OBS plus jumped from 91 to61. What a resurgent year it was for George Springer. Hit 309 with 32 bombs, 84 ribbies, 18 stolen bases. Where the hell did this come from with George Springer being the age that he is? WRC plus of 166. I mean, are you kidding me? Like, where did that come from? I have no idea. But the Cardinals do not really have anybody that can do all of that. They don’t have a guy that’s going to hit 300, hit 30 bombs, drive an 85, steal almost 20 bases. Unless, I know you’re waiting for it, right? Unless Jordan Walker, that’s right, Jordan Walker comes to life in 2025 and finally becomes that guy that many thought he could be. Now, Springer was the leadoff guy for Toronto. Walker is not going to be batting a lead off for the St. Louis Cardinals. Heck, at this point, we’re just hoping that Walker can be, you know, a top five bat in the order. That’s where you envision him when he was coming up. you’re like, “Oh my gosh, this guy’s gonna be like your three, four, five, one of those places.” Right? If we can get the guy that he was in 2023 when he hit 276 with 16 home runs, 51 ribbies, and seven stolen bases, and 465 plate appearances, if we can find that guy in that massive body that Jordan Walker has somewhere somehow, and add on to that, then perhaps we would have something. Again, I compare him to Joe Adell from the Angels who struggled, struggled, struggled, and then this past season, he broke out and finally became the guy that the Angels envisioned he would be. Is it going to happen for Walker this year? There’s no guarantees of that, but I’m staying positive in today’s episode because I know most people don’t think that that version of Walker exists anymore. They think it’s gone. He’s a wash. He’s terrible. Get him out of here. I’m not there yet. I’m not gonna give up on him yet. I want to see him get one more year. And if it doesn’t work out this year, then I guess we’ll have to have a discussion. But this is about what the Cardinals need to happen to turn this thing around super quickly. And Walker becoming a real threat is something that will need to happen to get them there. You cannot have what he did in right field last year offensively. We’re not going to even talk about the defense. We’re not going there. But offensively, he cannot be what he was in 2025 offensively. And for this team to to become a winning team, they need more. They’re going to need more. He’s got to become better. Bottom line, uh we’re going to match up some other guys like uh you know, Barger, Kirk, Clement, including the pitching staff, Trey Savage. We got somebody for that, too. We’re going to talk about all of it coming up on today’s episode of Lockdown Cardinals. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. 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But there are other names, different names that maybe you haven’t relied on so much and maybe you should be paying attention to like Phillies Tyrese Maxi, uh the Bulls, Josh Giddy, Scotty Barnes over there in Toronto. Just a few of those guys that may not be on your radar and definitely should be at this point. Look into them. Take advantage of the odds that they have. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets. Win your first $5 bet win. So head to fando.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Thanks again for making lockdown Cardinals your first listen every day. If you enjoy daily Cardinals content, you can follow the podcast on X at l_cardinals. We’re also on YouTube, Tik Tok, and Instagram at lockdown Cardinals. So, let’s talk about the side pieces that it took to get the Blue Jays back on track and who I think the Cardinals match up with. Uh, we’re going to start with Addison Barger. 25 years old. Uh, first full season in the bigs this past year. Hit 243, 21 home runs, 74 RBI’s, OPS plus of 105. His WRC plus was at 107. Very solid player for them this year. a guy who didn’t do anything the year before for them, but he shows up and he adds 20 home runs and 75 RBI’s. I mean, that’s something that you like. The guy I compare Edison Barger to, similar age and everything, Alec Berles. Alec Berles for this one. And honestly, Burley is actually a better offensive guy than Barger already statistically. Uh should win that Silver Slugger award. We’re going to find out about that here soon. And uh finished the year hitting .290, 18 home runs, 69 RBI’s. is the ops plus at 125, WRC+ uh at 124. The optimistic side of me believes that Alec Berles is just scratching the surface of things. You know, this is his second full year. At the beginning of the year, didn’t have the full confidence that he could hit against lefties. That ended up fading away as he proved everybody wrong, including myself. So perhaps the numbers can go up even more with, you know, the the confidence that he is the everyday whatever player that he’s always going to be in the lineup. Whether he’s playing in left field, whether he’s playing uh DH filling in for Willie over at first base from time to time that they’re not going to put him on the bench lefty righty matchup, who cares? He’s going to be in there. So uh perhaps he can push those numbers to the next level of 25 home runs, 80 RBI’s. Um, there’s other people out there who think he’s going to regress, that he’s already, you know, plateaued and that there’s nowhere to go but down. And for those people, I say, then I apologize for spitting all over the screen. But, you know, raspberries to you, but for our purposes here, he needs to be who he has been. And it would be great if he stepped up even more and became even better. That would help the cause. Uh, next up, Ernie Clement. Now, Clement has been around for a few years now. You you haven’t heard his name all that much until this year. He’s almost 30, okay? But age be damned. The dude had a solid year at the plate and really shined in the postseason. Was all over the base pass for for the Blue Jays in the postseason. Regular season had hit 277, nine home runs, 50 RBI, six stolen bases. The OPS Plus only at 95, WRC Plus at 98. Average, right? Average stuff for me. I think the guy that matches up well here is Cardinal shortstop Mason Went the Gold Glove winner. Had some moments this season where it appeared that offensively he was beginning to blossom a little bit that like oh here we go. Especially remember he had that awful start to the season which really put him in a hole. uh finally broke out of that, but then the knee injury happened and in the end his numbers 253, nine home runs, 51 RBI’s, nine stolen bases, OPS of OPS plus of 90, WRC plus of 91. Not really the most exciting numbers, but again, the knee thing, the knee thing is where I’m going to put a lot of blame on this. I feel like it held him back. He was better with the stick in 2024. you expected him to progress and get better in 2025. That didn’t happen. I I’m going to put a lot of uh a lot of the blame on the knee there. So, we could expect more than what than what uh Ernie Clement gave the Blue Jays from Mason Win playing every day for the Cardinals. I I would think that I don’t think that’s absurd to think. Uh what about Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk who really jumped offensively in 25 going from an OPS of 92 and 24 to 111. his W wrc plus this year jumped to 116, hit 15 home runs. He drove in 76 RBI’s. Again, they don’t play the same position, but we’re just talking about offensive numbers, building a lineup that could compete similar to what the Blue Jays did. Uh, this feels like a great match for Brennan Donovan to me. Donnie dealt with a lot of injuries this year as well. Uh, and yes, there are legit reasons that the Cardinals could and should trade him this off season. There’s no guarantees that that’s going to happen. But if if if they have him back and he does what he did last year and is able to stay more healthy, 287, 10 home runs, which felt low. I felt like he was more around the 15 home run range. Uh injuries obviously hold him back there. 50 RBI’s that should be higher. OPS plus of 119, WRC plus of 119. I feel like that fits the bill for what Alejandro Kirk did for the Blue Jays offensively and that Brennan Donovan can can match those numbers. I don’t I don’t see how that would be all that difficult. Again, you got to stay healthy and again, he’s got to be on the team. Uh so, we’ll see if that happens. Uh next up, 31-year-old rookie Nathan Lucas, who finally got a crack at an everyday job in the big leagues and really filled a nice role for Toronto this year. He hit 255, 12 home runs, 65 RBI’s. Uh the OPS plus of 100, WRC plus over at 103. Uh my comp here is a guy that would actually was not even on the roster for the Cardinals this year, much younger at age 23, and that is top prospect and infielder JJ Weatherhalt. All right. Now, we don’t know if he’s going to make the opening day roster. It really all depends on what moves the Cardinals make this off season trades. Uh what his production is at at Memphis or just in spring trading whether or not he’s on the opening day roster, but at some point you have to imagine he’s going to be in St. Louis in 2025, right? And probably for a significant portion of the season. And if the Cardinals can get the Nathan Lucas production out of JJ Weatherhalt, again, 255, 12 home runs, 65 RPI, RBI’s, um, I believe they would take that for sure. And it really doesn’t seem with the talent that JJ Weatherhold brings to the table that that would be all that difficult for him. you know, I I’m not I don’t know about the power-wise what what his power is going to be at the major league level, but obviously uh he hasn’t had an issue in the minor leagues hitting a similar amount of home runs. The batting average might even be higher. Uh he seems like that like, you know, he’s got he’s got a better batting average type of bat than what Nathan Lucas did, but again, he’s going to the major leagues, so things aren’t aren’t always that easy. Obviously, it’s the the best league in the world. So, uh, if you can get the Nathan Lucas production from JJ Weatherhold, I feel like that’s something that, uh, would make a lot of sense. Uh, next up, we got one of my favorite guys from the Toronto roster, former catcher, turned center fielder Dalton Varo. Now, Varo was an interesting story because he only played in 71 games last year. He was hurt, but he did a lot of damage in that small window. and he ended up hitting 20 home runs, 55 RBI’s. The OPS plus was 122, WRC plus 123. Similar to the Jordan Walker scenario earlier, this is where the team needs another young guy to step up. His name is Nolan Gorman. Got to get back to mashing in 2025. And 162 game average for Gorman in his career. He averages 28 home runs and 79 RBI’s. You need that. That’s what you need. The OPS plus reach 116 in 2023. That’s what you need out of him. And he’ll need to be more of that guy than the dude that we’ve seen the last two seasons where like last year 205 14 home runs, 46 RBI’s in 402 plate appearances. There’s more there that they need to get out of Nolan Gorman. Similar with Jordan Walker. How do they do it? How do they pull it out? I don’t know, but they got to figure it out. That’s why they’re getting paid the big bucks. Uh the Blue Jays also got a lot of good stuff from other players on the team. Uh Andre Gimenez, uh defensive guy mostly, uh Miles Straw, Davis Schneider, Isaiah Kinder Falafa later on. Uh they didn’t even need, this is what’s crazy about this team is they they had all these guys. They didn’t even need their big free agent signing, who was Anthony Santandere, who did almost nothing for them after accepting that 5year $92 million deal. Perhaps it pans out at some point over the next four years, but he only hit 175 with six home runs and 18 RBI. So that is an albatross of a contract already making $18 million per and getting that in return. Uh again, there’s four more years on that deal to see if it works out for him. But that’s how deep their lineup was, which is something that the Cardinals need this year. You need to, you know, have that that depth in the lineup. And when you look at the Cardinals bench, you’ve got guys that have ceilings, right, that that are up there. You know, Thomas and JC, what what can he be? Jose Famine did very very well in the limited time we saw him in St. Louis. Will he have a bigger role this year? Uh where does Lars Newart fit into this with the with the bum heels in the after surgery? Like what’s he going to be? You’ve got the combination of Pedro Pah and Jimmy Krooks and on top with the Ivon Herrera. Uh, how does that combo work as the backup? The assumption is that the Cardinals will likely sign a veteran hitter to a a short deal. Um, in John Den’s article discussing the subject, he mentioned that, you know, strikeouts were were a big thing that needs to change about the Cardinals offense, pointing out that Toronto was MLB’s hardest team to strike out in 2025. Cardinals found that out firsthand when they got swept by Toronto in St. Louis early on in the season. And we’re like, “Good lord, these guys don’t go down.” The Cardinals made, and this is Denton’s quote here, “The Cardinals made tremendous strides in the first half of the season under hitting coach Brent Brown, who preached about there being a time to slug and a time to hit. Much of that progress fell off, but the club now knows the scrappy, relentless approach it must have to be successful, cutting down on strikeouts.” The Cardinal said the ninth fewest case in MLB in 2025 at 1,321, but he says that will be key. And I couldn’t agree more. You know, remember early on when the Cardinals were lacing the ball all over the yard, we were we were praising BR Brown. You know, we were singing songs about him and how great he was and and how he finally unlocked this offense’s potential. And now the Cardinals had a chance and they did. They looked really good in the month of May because of that offense. But then, as John said and pointed out, it faded and they became a similar offense to the previous year, which was inconsistent uh and not very good. So, how do they get back to being the way they were in those first two months of the season? That’s what they’ll have to figure out. And of course, we got to point out the pitching side of things. We need to get to there. Do the Cardinals have a Treya Savage like guy in the system? Some people think they do. We’ll delve into that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. This episode brought to you by Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on prize picks, being right can get you paid. So don’t miss out on the excitement of this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, the NBA, or both, no better time to jump in on the action. Now, if you haven’t tried it yet, Price Picks is the simplest way to play. You just pick more or less on at least two player stats, and if you get them right, you win. 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It’s good to be right. Thank you again for making locked on Cardinals your first listen every day. For your second listen, find Locked on MLB hosted by Sully who brings you that daily blend of humor and baseball throughout the off season. You can find Locked on MLB on the YouTube channel or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. So, the Blue Jays had a nice mix of veterans in their starting rotation this past year, much better than the Cardinals. And as much as we found ways that the offense could step up and, you know, be similar. Like I have a lot of faith in what these guys have uh to offer offensively, the pitching, that’s a different story. They they do not match up very well in my eyes whatsoever. So, here’s what I came up with. All right. Kevin Gosman, 34 years old. He was the ace of the staff. Remind you, ace of the staff and went 10 and 11. That’s crazy, right? But he was. The rest of his numbers are great. 3.59 RA 3.41 41 fifth 1.062 whip RA plus at 119. This is what Sunny Gray needs to be. Sunny is 35 years old and went 14 and 8. So better record than Kevin Gosman but everything else was worse. 4.28 RA uh 3.39 FIP which was very very good which actually better than Gman but the whip 1.234 RA plus 96 below average. Uh Gosman was able to throw more innings but gave up less hits and runs. Sunny had seven games where he gave up five or more earned runs. Seven of them. And then he had 17 games where he gave up two or less. So you know it’s in there. If he cuts down on those really bad games against seven of them where he was just awful and got pounded, how much better would his numbers be? Cut those in half. shave it down to like three games like that and go look at what Gray’s numbers would be. Can he do it is the question. Will he be in St. Louis to do it? That is another question. Uh Jose Bereos, 31 years old, 9 and5 4.17 RA 4.01 fifth and an erra plus of 108. And this is where I need Matthew Liberator to be. I need Matthew Liberator to have those numbers. Former first round pick turned 26 today actually. Happy birthday, Libby. Uh was 8 and 12, 4.21 21 RA 4.03 FIP 1.305 whip. That’s got to come down. Erra plus at 97. Uh like what we saw in this past season, which was essentially his rookie year as a starting pitcher. You know, the Yeah, he pitched in the bullpin, but this is this was his rookie year as a starting pitcher. All right. Need to build on that, right? You just need to take those next steps and progress because he’s going to be a huge piece of this rotation. Whether Sunny is traded or not, Sunny is here. Great. He’s still probably your number two guy, barring something they do in trades or free agency. And if Sunny is gone, is is he your number one? Again, depends on what they do in free agency and trades. Chris Basset, 36 years old, 11 and 9, 3.96 RA, 4.01 fifth, 1.327 ERA, the RA plus at 108. Uh, this is actually more similar to Sunny Gay’s numbers than Kevin Gosman, but you need Sunny to be the number one. So, who matches up with Bassin? Nobody. Nobody really. This is where the Cardinals need to go sign someone to fill this spot. And guess who’s a free agent? Chris freaking Basset. Go get him. Why settle for a knockoff? Why? Oh, I hope he’s as good as Chris. Go get Chris Basset. He’s out there. you can get the real thing. Same could be said about Max Scherzer, who John Denton brought up that, you know, bring Max home. Wouldn’t that be great? Sherzer could fill the Chris Basset role if you need to. Both free agents, landing one of them. That would be a nice gift for this rotation as we approach the holidays, wouldn’t it? Uh Eric Lowour, 30 years old, had only 15 starts, appeared in 28 games, though, 9 and two, 3.18 RA, 3.85 FIP, 1.108 108 whip the RA plus at 134. Outstanding numbers. Cardinals don’t have anyone to really match up with those either. But I’m going to put this one on Michael McGrevy to fill a similar role in the rotation this year. I do not expect him to be that good. Wouldn’t that be great? But I don’t expect it. But nobody expected Eric Lowour to do what he did with Toronto after he played in Korea in 2024. He was terrible with the Brewers in 2023. Went to Korea. Wasn’t all that great over there either. Signs a minor league contract with the Blue Jays this year and then had that season. Sometimes you got to get lucky. Sometimes you got to get lucky. And the Blue Jays got lucky with what they were able to get out of Eric Lowour. Could Kyle Ley be the good surprise that Kyle Ley was for that Eric Clower was for the Blue Jays this year? or will it be an outside arm that they haven’t signed yet? We’ll see. And finally, we get to rookie sensation Treya Savage, who pitched at every level of professional baseball last year. Had a guy that did that and Quinn Matthews didn’t make it to the pros, but did it the previous year in 2023 when he was outstanding. Uh, but you Savage goes on to become that postseason superstar. Drafted in the first round in 2024. The only comparison I have for this dynamo is the potential of Cardinals 2025 first round pick Liam Doyle. Jim Callus at MLB.com uh talked about this as well in a recent piece uh talking about people who could be the next Trey Savage here in 2026 saying that Doyle would rank higher on his list. He had him at number four if the Cardinal projected a stronger contenders in 2026 which they don’t and we understand why. He topped D1 in strikeout rate at 15.4 per nine innings last spring. He reached double A at the end of his brief pro debut. He features an explosive fast ball that reaches triple digits and he has three other offerings, an 82 to 85 slider, upper 80s cutter and splitter that could be solid or even better. Doyle we know got to double A last year. Barring any catastrophes or major setbacks, I would expect him to probably start at double A and then get promoted to Memphis fairly quickly. And after that, it’s simply production and need at the major league level. You know, don’t forget that Trey Savage, it’s not like you Savage was up with Toronto all year last year. Made three starts in the majors. They brought him up at the very end of the year to get his first taste of Major League Baseball and then rode his momentum and how good he was through the postseason. So, if Doyle isn’t up by the All-Star break, people don’t need to start freaking out or anything. If he doesn’t make it to the big leagues at all this year, you shouldn’t be freaking out. But fans will want to see him and JJ Weatherhull up there this year if they’re doing what they are expected to do in the minors. You know, JJ had an outstanding year last year. It’s a matter of when with him with Doyle. We haven’t seen much yet as a as a professional. So, this is, you know, we’re we’re in it for the long haul here. This isn’t about 2026, but what we’re doing today as far as like turning it all around for 2026, Doyle will probably need to be a part of things at some point, but making knee-jerk decisions on prospects, not the wisest thing to do. Doesn’t mean they can’t be more aggressive with their decisions. Didn’t mention that in his piece, saying the Cardinals would be wise to be similarly aggressive with hard throwing lefty Liam Doyle and catcher Real Rodriguez. Uh Doyle pushed to pitch in the pros last season. Cards got him into single A and double A. Maybe, just maybe, the season college pitcher will open in double A next year and have uh an attainable path to a Cards club needing swing and miss stuff. Maybe he comes into the bullpen. I don’t know. The club she he says might be more patient with Rodriguez who doesn’t turn 19 until January 4th. But the 954 OPS is an 18-year-old and rave reviews from Nolan Aronado. Following hitting sessions scream potential greatness for the DH and catcher, which is fine, but unless they make a deal from that catching depth, there’s no reason to talk about Rodriguez being up on this team. Uh Leonardo Bernal on the other on the other hand, he’s a guy that I I could see making his way to the pros at some point um in 2026. Now, in my opinion, the Cardinals have a nice grouping here. I I really do believe that barring any trades, this team should be better than they were last year if the proper pieces elevate their games. Walker and Gorman on the offensive side. I would love to see more from Victor Scott on the offensive side as well. On the pitching side, they need a lot of work. They need a lot of work. Let’s be honest. If Gray stays, he has to be more consistent. Libby needs to take that next step. McGrevy will need to continue his path of success that he’s found over the last uh year and a half. They need to sign one or two guys or have Lehey and Palante step up and do something or another minor league starter come up and do something. The bullpit I’m not stressed about. I don’t even need to go through the bullpen pieces because I feel pretty confident they know what the hell they’re doing there. But we don’t know who the closer is. That’s a that’s a real question and that could be something that uh needs to need some attention. You know that that’s something that I think they need to figure out. It’s always nice to have that one guy that you can rely on in the ninth inning. There’s plenty of good ones out there right now. So, I would imagine they’d sign somebody to to bring into that role. That way, they can still have Jojo as kind of the setup lefty closer type of guy if they need him to be. But, what are your thoughts on this? You know, again, I realize that we’re being very optimistic here and we need a lot of things to happen, but it’s the same way Toronto thought coming into their season. and they were like, “Yeah, we’ve got some good pieces here. We need other guys to step up.” And it and it happened. Can the Cardinals have that same magic? I feel like there’s some pieces here that could get them there. What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments section. Am I drunk thinking about stuff like this? Maybe. But that’s what fans do, right? Thanks for making Lockdown Carlos first listening 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 and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We’ll see you next time on Locked on Cards.

St. Louis Cardinals fans desperate for hope: Could your team pull off what the Toronto Blue Jays just proved is possible without massive free agent spending.

Host JD Hafron breaks down player-by-player comparisons between the Cardinals’ current roster and the Blue Jays’ breakout performers. The analysis covers whether Wilson Contreras can match Vladdy Guerrero Jr.’s production, if Yvonne Herrera’s return from injury mirrors Bo Bichette’s resurgence, and whether Jordan Walker finally becomes the George Springer-type impact player many envisioned. Key discussions include the Cardinals’ need to maintain their early-season offensive approach that emphasized contact over strikeouts, critical pitching staff upgrades through free agency targets like Chris Bassett, and aggressive development of top prospects Liam Doyle and JJ Wetherholt.

Discover which Cardinals players could have career years and what moves the front office must make to compete in the NL Central.

0:00 Intro

0:31 Can Cardinals Recreate Toronto’s Turnaround Magic?

2:04 Blue Jays Historic Worst to First Season

4:06 Bo Bichette’s Breakout and Cardinals Comparisons

7:11 George Springer’s Resurgence and Jordan Walker’s Potential

10:14 FanDuel NBA Betting Segment

12:16 Addison Barger and Alec Burleson Comparison

15:51 Brendan Donovan Matching Alejandro Kirk’s Production

19:25 Nolan Gorman Needs to Return to Form

22:27 Cutting Strikeouts Key to Cardinals Success

25:31 Pitching Staff Comparisons and Sonny Gray

28:37 Cardinals Need to Sign Chris Bassitt

30:09 Liam Doyle as the Next Trey Yesavage

33:12 Final Thoughts on Cardinals Turnaround Potential

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